i feel pretty, oh so pretty!

 

Aunt Jen bought her a new dress. And she is LOVING it.
She thinks she is the STUFF.

fill in the blank friday - 6!

1.   My most favorite birthday was   probably my 24th birthday, because it was my first birthday spent with Nate when we were married and my first birthday spent in our first house. :)

2.  My worst birthday was    probably the year my friend got my cat stuck up in a tree. That might have been my sixth birthday?

3.  My favorite birthday memory is     just getting to spend time with family and friends.

4.  The best birthday present I've ever received was   my new purse!

5.  The  best birthday present I've ever given was      ...I don't know. I guess you'd have to ask the people I've given presents to!

6.  Birthdays are   a great way to celebrate life and growth, how far you've come and where you're going. They're great times to spend with loved ones and show them your love with gifts. They're also fun when you're the recipient! :)

7.  My favorite age so far has been   26 definitely. I know it's just started, but so far this year is starting out to be a big one and I can't wait to see where it's going! 

If you want to join up, go here to 'the little things we do' and follow the instructions. And have fun! :)

 

Oh, and speaking of birthdays and celebrations, our blog has officially reached ONE HUNDRED POSTS! 

 

Also, little Miss Cocoa Beans turned TWO YEARS OLD this past weekend!

 

 

We celebrated with a birthday haircut!

And here she is with her gift. She LOVES it! :)

We also have some big news coming up, but I'll wait and save that for later. ;)

So, is anyone else out there as obsessed with your dogs as we are?

i carried a watermelon.

So, how was your Fourth of July weekend? What did you do that was special?

Nate and I had some craziness; but overall, ours was pretty good.

On Thursday night, Nate and I were on the way to get dinner and run some errands when we experienced some pretty serious car troubles. We had to call our friends, Ryan and Steph, who were AMAZING and came all the way to the mechanic's to pick us up. But it was a blessing in disguise because we got to go to dinner with them when we hadn't seen them in at least a month. :)

On Friday Nate got a call from one of the guys at the shop. Me, being the GENIUS that I am, locked the car using the security system and didn't leave the key FOB with the key. So of course, when they tried to get into the car they couldn't. So Nate had to come all the way back home to get the rest of the keys and take them over to the shop.

After that trip, we went to our new favorite spot - JASON'S DELI!

Nate is in LOVE with their salad bar.

And I am absolutely addicted to their Chicago Club.

smoked turkey, bacon, provolone, organic spinach, roma tomatoes, smoked red pepper cilantro aioli, herb focaccia. <3

Pretty yummy.

We went down to Columbia this weekend to see the family.

On Saturday morning, Nate and I shared a watermelon that was quite delicious.

chloe jumped in my picture.

nate loves his knives.

After our tasty breakfast, we spent the day with Nate's family. We went shopping with his sisters. He actually came too! I got a pair of silver sandals from Payless for only $6 and a pair of nude flats from Target for $12. Which was SUPER exciting because I love love LOVE shoes, but don't like to pay a lot of money for them. And you just can't find shoes as cheap as you can find clothes.

We were supposed to go to my grandma's house with my parents for dinner on Saturday night, but her power went out, so we all met and went out somewhere instead. After dinner we got to go by my parents' house and look inside! They're doing a ton of renovations and aren't living there right now and we didn't think we'd be able to go in because the hardwoods had just been redone. But we did - and it looks great! I can't wait to see the finished product! :)

On Sunday we went to church and lunch with Nate's family. His sister, Jen, and her husband brought their little girl over so we could give her the birthday present we got her. We had to miss her third birthday party because it was the day Nate's back went out and we had to rush to urgent care. :(

Being the teacher that I am, I have to get her a book every year. This year was Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss. And we just happened to find a floor puzzle to go with it on clearance!

opening her gift!

working on her puzzle with aunt "smeshmie"

all done!

We also had a belated birthday celebration for Nate. And his mom baked his absolute favorite. Carrot cake. It was AMAZING.

After all of that, we packed up all our things, loaded up the dogs, and headed to my grandma's house for our second try at dinner. Everything worked out and she fixed a wonderful meal consisting of roast, string beans, squash casserole, homemade rolls, tomatoes, and quite a few other things. And for dessert?

homemade cherry cobbler!

We came home Sunday night and spent our Fourth pretty low key. We had some stuff to figure out regarding the car situation and we were exhausted from our long weekend with the family so we ended up heading to a small farmer's market and getting a ton of fresh, local fruits and vegetables and then finishing up our grocery shopping, fixing dinner and eating together and spending a relaxing night watching Cosby reruns.

But we had a great weekend full of family, friends and celebration. We had watermelon, ice cream, cake and cobbler. We got to worship freely in a church of our choosing. I'd say we had the perfect celebration of our Independence Day. :)

chloe says bye! :)

gettin' crafty.

I am NOT a crafty person. I love art, fashion, interior design. But I don't do crafts.

BUT we did get the dogs a new food and water holder the other weekend at the farmers market.

And I actually decorated it for the puppies!

And that, my friends, is probably pretty close to the extent of my craftiness.

Before I take off, I would like to say CONGRATULATIONS! to Heather and Ben, wonderful friends of ours. They just recently got engaged. And we are SUPER happy for them. :)

That's all.

our little bean needs help!

Friends, meet Chloe.

She is our youngest puppy. She's a lovable, playful, energetic, joyful, amazing shih-tzu who will be TWO YEARS in August. Chloe is the life of the party and she doesn't meet a stranger. She isn't really scared of anything, either. She'll even fight the vacuum cleaner. 

Until recently.

A couple of weeks ago, we had a HORRIBLE storm here and something happened to Chloe. She's experienced quite a few storms in her lifetime and has even played outside in the rain without any issues. But for some reason, this one storm really bothered her. And she had a really bad panic attack. Here's some video of part of it.

It all started when I got out of the shower that night. I went in the bedroom to change and when I walked out, I found her crouched in between the toilet and the shower violently shaking. I called her to come into the bedroom with me and she ran into the corner in between the bed and the wall and hunched over. When I walked over to her to try and comfort her, she started frantically running around the room in circles, and after much comforting by both Nate and myself, she resorted to what looked to me like pacing all over the apartment.

And now, ever since that storm, she starts to have these anxiety attacks every time she hears thunder. We've been putting her in her crate or holding her really close to us to help her feel safe, but I'm still not convinced it's really working. Any other ideas on what to do? Or do y'all think we're doing the right things?

surprise.

Check out the trust30 challenge here. I'm on day thirteen and it's been a pretty enlightening experience.

I will not hide my tastes or aversions. I will so trust that what is deep is holy, if we follow the truth, it will bring us out safe at last. – Ralph Waldo Emerson

Think of a time when you didn’t think you were capable of doing something, but then surprised yourself.  How will you surprise yourself this week?

(Author: Ashley Ambirge)

This one isn't going to be very interesting. Or seem major. But I think it might be for me. May actually be life-changing. We'll see how it goes. I'm going to surprise myself this week by getting up and working out before I go to work this week.

I'll let you know how it goes.

On another note, our eldest (Abigail) has apparently inherited my OCD. She tore up "Lobster" and this is how we found his legs:

Now it is time to finish lesson planning. The theme is ice cream this week! And go to the grocery store. And iron clothes for the week. 

How will YOU surprise yourself this week?

wait for it...

Nate and I started the day off with a giant greasy breakfast at Hardees that was in no way good for us but it was SO GOOD.

Then we headed to the flea market and antique mall where I found a pair of Tiffany blue lamps that I thought were gorgeous but couldn't get because:
     1. We don't have a house in which to put them.
     2. Apparently mine and Nate's tastes do not agree, because he thought they were hideous.
     3. They weren't in our budget for this week anyway.
So, c'est la vie! Right? I DID manage to find a lampshade for the lamp we have that's been missing one for AGES. Anyone who has visited our apartment knows exactly what I'm talking about. So anyway. Here it is!

After leaving the flea market, we headed over to the farmer's market. For the first time since we've been up here. And we've been up here over a year now. Which is pretty crazy. We'll definitely be making the trip more often now that we've finally found it and made it out.

I found some heirloom tomatoes and was SUPER excited. And the woman who was running the booth had one sliced so I actually got to try it. I had been wanting to for a long time now. And OMG. It was DELICIOUS. I normally can't eat tomatoes by themselves, but I could definitely eat these with nothing else. And I love how unique they all look.

So what did we bring home from the farmer's market?

We got red, yellow and green bell peppers. And some romaine lettuce. And we'll be getting much more the next time around!

We also got a handmade food and water holder for Abs and Chlo. I'm going to paint it for them, so I'll post another picture once I've finished it. I'm going to try and work on it tomorrow if we don't have too much else going on.

And we ended the day with TACOOOOOOO NIIIIIIIIIIIGHT! Then took the puppies for a ride in the car to look at houses. And now we're about to curl up on the couch and watch The Cosby Show on Netflix.

So pretty much. In the words of Barney Stinson, today was legendary.

a good day. :)

Today was a good day. :)

I made it through my first week as a real live teacher alive and with no injuries. There were some crazy times, but nothing can beat the hugs and having the children hold up their work, beaming, saying "Miss Stephanie! Look at what I did!" It's a tiring job but it's worth every ounce of energy spent. And there is nothing in me that wishes I had chosen to do something else with my life.

Nate and I had a Mexican night tonight! Fajitas for two! Which is more like fajitas for about six - SO. MUCH. FOOD.

After dinner, we took the dogs for a walk down to the dock at our apartments. The weather was perfect. And there was nobody down there but us. It was so nice to have some time to relax together. :)

beautiful view from the dock.

watching the boats.

abby LOVES her daddy.

:)

her favorite place to be.

And here is a wonderful video of what happens when you try to get Chloe to do a trick.

Absolutely nothing.

 Most people say she's stupid. I prefer to say she does things on her own terms.

Anyway. Now it's 8:00 and we have the rest of the night ahead of us (and I have a four day weekend ahead of me). And it has been a good day. We are definitely blessed :)

Oh, I almost forgot. Nate just reminded me. We went to Carowinds yesterday for the bajillionth time so far this year and rode the Intimidator. And Nate took his iPod ON THE ROLLERCOASTER and took video. So here it is. In case you can't tell from the video, my anxiety level was through the roof because I thought he was going to drop it. I was seriously having a panic attack. I'm glad we have the video now, though. So yeah. Here it is. Enjoy. :)

I'll try to get to work on my trust30 post later on tonight. If not, it'll be posted in the morning.

What is something you've been blessed with today?

there's no place like home for the holidays.

So this holiday season has been pretty wonderful.

Nate and I have been blessed with his new job. We discovered that we're a little over a month away from paying off another student loan, meaning there will only be ONE left. I got to spend extra time with my three amazing kids the week before Christmas. Nate and I got to spend three days in Columbia with the family. We got to see parents and siblings and aunts and uncles and cousins and grandparents. We were blessed enough to be able to afford to give gifts and cards to everyone. We enjoyed a lot of good food and good times with family. It even snowed in COLUMBIA the day after Christmas - and the snow stuck!

Now I am taking my day off to recover from the past weekend and get everything in the apartment back in order.

And I figured I'd move on to truth number six since it's been awhile...

6. Something you hope you never have to do.
I hope I never have to move somewhere north of the Mason Dixon Line. I HATE cold weather.

Chloe, on the other hand, LOVES it. Abby? Not so much. Last year, Abby was the one running through the snow and playing in it while I had to hold Chloe just to keep her warm. This year was the exact opposite.

Now it is time for me to do some more housework and get some running in before the hubby gets home. I will leave you with some pretty insightful words that were on Dave Ramsey's Facebook today:

"Not until the pain of the same is greater than the pain of change will you embrace change."

What words of wisdom have had a great impact on your decision making and how you live your life?

Also, I got a Barnes and Noble nook for Christmas. So if anyone else has one, let me know! I want to figure out this whole book sharing thing.

it's christmas!

Merry Christmas from all of us to all of you! We hope it is filled with joy, peace and love! And thankfulness - not just for friends and family and all that you receive during this blessed time, but for the most wonderful Gift of all. :)

stick a fork in me, because i'm DONE!

I'm going to write a more involved post later. But I just had to share this.

Chloe's hair was getting a little out of control. It was at the point where she couldn't even see where she was walking and she had grown to twice her normal size. We have clippers, but Chloe HATES them and it takes both of us and about 3 hours to get her completely cut and we just really didn't want to have to deal with that this weekend, when we finally had a weekend to ourselves to spend time together and do what we wanted. So we dropped her off at the groomers this morning. And when we picked her up she had candy cane bows in her hair and all the people at PetSmart fawning all over her.

And this is what she looked like on her walk tonight:

I always swore I would NEVER put my dog in clothes and bows. But that's before we got this adorable, girly little puppy.

And on another note...

I have OFFICIALLY finished grad school and have my M.Ed. in Special Education! I was pretty sure this day would never come. In fact, it still doesn't seem real. But it's pretty nice to know that, if I choose to be, I'm done with school FOREVERRRRR. I know I won't choose that, because I have more goals I want to accomplish, but it's still a pretty good feeling. :)

What have you done lately that has made you feel successful, like you're on the right path in life?



blessed.

Things have been pretty hectic around here lately. We've been driving all over the world, Nate's been working extremely hard, and I've been trying to get all the loose ends tied up for the end of the semester and for graduation. So I guess I'll just start where I left off a couple weeks ago...

Nate and I had a pretty great Thanksgiving. He had the entire week off and I had three days off. His grandpa came down from Minnesota and stayed with us for a day. He was supposed to be here longer, but the airline does what airlines do best and screwed his flight up. He had arranged for someone to take him to his plane in a wheelchair, but the person never showed. By the time someone got there and got him across the airport, the plane had left. Early. Without him. Sooooo we had to go pick his baggage up at midnight and then Nate had to go back the next day and get him. We packed up for five days away and loaded the car with all our bags, the dogs and all their belongings, Grandpa G and all of his belongings and Nate and I. I had about 10 inches worth of room in the back seat which I had to share with Abigail, Chloe and my purse. Then we drove Grandpa down to Columbia and spent the next couple days with Nate's family. We had a very yummy Thanksgiving meal. I made squash casserole and pumpkin cookies. And Nate made sauteed green beans. We played games and spent a lot of quality time with everyone, including our adorable niece, Alexa.

This face is priceless.

I really do love this girl!

Everyone worked hard on these decorations!

Heidi, Christiana and me with Grandpa G!

The placecards.

Nate and Alexa!

We also took advantage of the fact that we had the whole family together and took some family pictures...

And here we are! :)

The day after Thanksgiving we packed up all our stuff and the dogs and loaded the car back up. This time, sans Grandpa and his bags, which meant Abby and Beans got the backseat all to themselves and I got to sit up front. Actually, let me make a correction. I got to drive. Down to James Island (Charleston). While Nate got to nap. Wooooo. Hooooo. We spent the next two and a half days camping with my extended family. It was a ton of fun! We had all the essentials. S'mores. Campfires. Bikes. A buffet for every meal including things like brisket, homemade biscuits, oysters and pancakes. A flat screen TV to watch the Clemson v. Carolina game. You know, the necessities.

Watching USC kick Clemson's tail!

This works WAY better than a campfire! And burns marshmallows in about 5 seconds.

Our beautiful rented motorhome.

The James Island County Park is decorated in amazing displays of Christmas lights every year, so we got to see that every time we went out at night. Plus, they have a winter festival and adorable Christmas shops. I got an penguin ornament with our names on it for our tree! (I buy one everywhere we go. I'm not big on themed trees. I like them to be personal and unique. Also, I'm obsessed with penguins. I want one for a pet but Nate keeps telling me no. I have no clue why.)

The trip down to Charleston was great and the perfect way to relax. And it was so nice to see so many family members. Overall, I'd say our Thanksgiving break was pretty amazing. :)

Now, two weeks late, I'm going to end with a list of things for which I am EXTREMELY thankful. I know I have more updating to do, but we have been so blessed that I don't want to go without this.

I am thankful for...
...the love and grace which bas been bestowed on me by my perfect Father.
...my amazing husband, who constantly puts up with me, takes care of me and loves me.
...our two beautiful, adorable, crazy puppies who make sure our lives are never boring.
...the amazing families we both have and the fact that we can be near them and spend so much time with them.
...being given the opportunity to get to know so many amazing children and their families and be a part of their lives.
...finally finishing school and the fact that I was able to go to grad school for free.
...being able to stay in Charlotte and not having to move eight hours away.
...being able to get super cheap flights so we could go visit family we wouldn't have been able to see otherwise.
...all my amazing friends, who, even though we don't talk as much anymore, are always there.
...finding a church home here in Charlotte.


I could add many more items to this list, but it's almost 11:00 and I have to be at school at 7:30 in the morning. AND we have to drive to Columbia late tomorrow. Needless to say, I need sleep if I'm going to function at all. So the rest of the updating will hopefully come very very soon.

Goodnight. :)

one day our dogs will be able to do this. one day.

Please go here and watch the video! It's amazing. And adorable!

playing catch up!

So last weekend ended up being GREAT.

We couldn't go visit the family because I thought I was going to have a crazy work schedule. But then my therapy session on Saturday morning was cancelled, so Nate and I got to make a road trip up to a corn maze and spend the day together. It was our first time going to one and was a ton of fun!

Then, I got a random phone call from a school I had interviewed at like 3 months ago. They had needed a teaching assistant and I was one of the top three candidates, but they ended up going with someone else. She had to leave the position, though, so they called me in for another interview. I went back in and the next day they called and offered me the job. So I started last week and I have now been working there for a week and a half! This job has been such a blessing and answer to prayer. And I love it! So thanks to all of you who were praying. It means a lot.

This past week and a half has been pretty crazy. Between the new job and my job doing ABA and driving to Columbia and working on weekends and trying to visit the family I've barely had time to stop and breathe. On top of all that, Nate has had a lot going on with work. He has been super busy and it's been very crazy. We have barely had time for each other, much less for family and friends. So if y'all want to be praying for that, we'd GREATLY appreciate it.

We did get to spend the weekend in Columbia this past weekend, though. And we got to see family members we hadn't seen since Mother's Day. Which was nice. And even though we couldn't be with my mom on her birthday, we did get to come down for the celebration with the family. It was a weekend jam-packed full of things to do, but getting to spend time with everyone was completely worth it. We really hate that we can't spend as much time as we want with all of our family. But we definitely try our hardest and have learned to treasure every moment we get with them.

And on that note, here are some pictures from our weekend in Columbia!

The most adorable pirate EVER.

Me, Nate, Jenny, Matt and Alexa on the hayride!

Nate and me with Alexa!

Nate made me play basketball.

I love this little girl! :)

My mom and me at her birthday celebration! :)

Blowing out her candles! :)

Chloe hanging out at her grandparents' house!

And the end of our trip...Abby was READY to be back home and sleep in her own bed!

And now I will end with truth number five.

5. Something you hope to do in your life.

There are a lot of things I want to do in life. And it's really hard to pick just one. But I think one of the biggest for me is that I hope to be able to make as much of a difference in the lives of the children I work with as they make in my life. No matter what each child is like, each one of them teaches me something. The ones who are slow to learn teach me patience. The ones who are full of compassion teach me how important it is to care for others and always be willing to lend a helping hand. The ones who are dismissed by others because they might be aggressive or say mean things teach me to look deeper because there is usually a bigger issue there. These children brighten my day when I'm feeling crappy - whether it's through a hug or a smile or an "I love you Miss Stephanie." And I hope and pray everyday that I can be the teacher, guide, helper, friend, advocate, comforter... that they need me to be. It really is amazing how you start off wanting to teach and then you realize how much you are really learning.

What do YOU hope to do in life?