06.20.12

I was sitting in the parking lot of the thrift store eating my lunch from Chick-fil-A when this little guy decided to come say hello. He hung out with me for a good twenty minutes and was still on the windshield when I went inside.

I have a lot weighing on me right now and this new friend was a nice break from everything. He gave me a reason to smile, stop and text Nate and take my mind off things for a few minutes.

When I came back to the car he was gone, but I'm glad we had the time we did together. :)

06.19.12

I haven't posted in a VERY long time, but I thought I would start back since school is out and I have some more time on my hands. I've decided to go with a new format for each post - a picture from each day and a post to go with the picture.

I've recently started decorating our house, which has been a ton of fun. And it's been really nice to finally have somewhere that feels like home, somewhere to make OURS. We've moved around A LOT the past couple of years and haven't been able to plant our roots anywhere.

I went thrifting yesterday, which is one of my favorite ways to spend the afternoon. And I found a couple things for the house. Along with a pretty awesome shirt. One of the things I found was this pitcher, which has initials carved in the bottom, which makes me think it was handmade. We have this huge bookshelf from IKEA that is a pretty huge disaster zone right now and it looks perfect on one of the shelves. And it is slowly turning into something we can stand to look at every day.

It's the little things that make a house a home.

setting goals.

So, Nate and I sat down and made lists of our goals for the year last week. It was really good to commit them to paper and set up a system for tracking them. We decided to start small, and then add to and revise as we meet them so we can set ourselves up for success right away!

I thought I'd share some my goals with y'all in the spirit of the new year and to help hold myself accountable. I feel good about my plans for the year. I've started off strong and have Nate's support too. So I'm pretty excited to see how 2012 goes!

1. Brush/floss twice a day. I am really bad about flossing regularly, so I decided this was going to be the year I made myself get into the habit of doing it everyday. They say it makes thirty days to make a habit and so far I'm on day four!

2. Exercise at least 2 times a week for 20 minutes. In the past six months, I haven't been working out like I used to and I've definitely felt the loss in energy. Plus, I'm just not in good shape anymore. So I'm starting with two days a week and then hopefully working up to more. Nate's goal is four days a week, and I hope I'll be there with him soon!

3. Have a 10 minute “quiet time” at least 3 days a week. My quiet times are very irregular right now and I don't feel like they have much purpose and I'm kind of all over the place. So I'm stepping back and starting from the beginning to get myself refocused.

4. Have my own classroom in the fall. I'm so ready!

5. Drink at least 6 cups of water a day. It's good for me and I need to drink more water. Plus, it helps to keep me from snacking on candy and junk all day.

6. Eat a fruit and vegetable every day. With the lack of exercise and eating a lot of junk, my diet isn't as healthy as it was last year. So I'm going back to the basics and making sure I get some sort of fruit and vegetable everyday. Once I've done this for a month, I'm going to up it to two servings, but I'm making sure I start simple and don't overshoot. Because that's what I normally do and I end up getting really upset with myself because I can't meet the goals I've set.

 I'll share the rest later. I don't want to bore you too much! But I'm curious as to what some of your goals for 2012 are. I know I've read some of your posts with resolutions, but I'd love to hear from anyone who wants to share. I know y'all can do it! :)

from us to you. :)

  

The holidays have been very busy for us, as has getting back into the swing of things with school since I've been pretty sick for the past week. I'm not sure when I'll start back posting regularly, so I just wanted to share a few pictures from Christmas and say that I hope everyone had a very wonderful holiday season and happy new year! :)

I hope you are all able to reflect on the past year and go into 2012 with a fresh outlook and new goals. And that you have a very blessed new year.

From our family to y'all, thanks for following and sharing in our lives with us! And we can't wait to see what's in store!

family weekend.

There is a lot going on, but I just wanted to stop in and say hello. :) I hope y'all had a good weekend and got to spend time with family and friends!

Nate's grandpa came down from Minnesota this past Thursday and stayed with us until Sunday. Then we took him down to stay with the rest of Nate's family in SC. He's celebrating 90 amazing years of life this month and it was really great to be able to spend this time with him.

(thanks for the picture jen!)

How did you spend your weekend?

the MOST wonderful time of the year.

I love Christmas and I love decorating, but I'm not one of those people who likes to go crazy and cover the house with kitsch or theme it up or go with a ton of gitz and glam. Not that those are bad things, I love seeing all different kinds of decorations and think they're all great! But I try and keep things simple. That's just how I like it at home. And I've been slowly adding things around to get us in the holiday spirit. Because this is absolutely my favorite time EVER.

So I'm sharing with y'all because it's Christmas...and why not?! :)

our front door. (i keep the wreath and change the decorations out with the seasons.)

our back door. (i made this for $6 total!)

our windows at night. i love candles. :)

we're ready for all the cards! (totally stole this idea from pinterest.)

love came down.
(this manger scene has been around for as long as i can remember. i had it in my room and used to turn it on when i went to sleep. and i hope our children can do the same.)

Now I just need to put up some lights and we'll be good to go. :)

How do y'all decorate?
I would love to hear about it! And if you have pictures on your blog of your decorations, PLEASE link back! It would be great to see how you make your homes special for the holidays and how each of you make the decorating experience unique to yourselves.

future architects.

So my kids can do some pretty amazing things. I love teaching four year olds because they're learning and discovering SO much about the world.

Four of my boys who couldn't work in a center with each other without fighting the whole time at the beginning of the year built this massive structure TOGETHER today. :)

And one of the youngest children in the class built this all by himself. He said it was a "spooky house." He sat in the block center for a good thirty minutes working on it without saying a word and then he came over saying, "Mrs. Bredeweg, Mrs. Bredeweg! Look at my spooky house!" I LOVE it.

And then I got to help one of my boys write a letter to his cousin today. At four years old, only three months into school, he's already wanting to write sentences. Together, we wrote "I LIC U BCOS U AR ALWAS MI FND. U HAV A LOT OF LEGOS." Most of these kids are writing their name and drawing pictures still, but for him to be wrapping his mind around the purposes of writing and running with them like this is just so great!

Days like today that remind me that even though I'm waiting on my license to come in and the classroom isn't "officially" mine, I'm still playing a HUGE role in these children's lives and I still am their teacher. And they're learning! They're working together and problem solving. They're hearing letter sounds and associating those sounds with letters and beginning to make words and understanding that those words have purpose. And I know I sound lame, but those things still make me so excited!

What is it about what you do that makes you excited?