So Much To Talk About!

For the record, I started this post on January 18th. It's just taking me a while to finish it! Let's see if I can get it posted before I have to add Valentine's Day!

Wow! So much has happened since my last post. We had a surprise birthday party for my dad in December, Christmas Eve/Christmas, New Year's Eve, the Hogs played in the Cotton Bowl, and, of course, more wedding planning!

My dad turned the big 6-0 last month, so Brooke, Mom, and I threw a little surprise party for him with some of his closest friends. We went to Mojito's and had a taco bar for everyone. I think he was pretty surprised!

Dad's John Deere/farmer cake from Rick's

Brooke and I

Our men :)

Mom and Dad with their friends

More friends!

Best parents in the world!

Happy Birthday, Dad!!

Kirby and I before Dad's birthday party

A few days before Christmas some girls from school and my good friend (and bridesmaid) Myka went to the Boom Kinetic Christmas Concert at George's. It was lots of fun!! It was always "ugly Christmas sweater themed." I made my own..ha!

Me and Myka

We spent Christmas Eve at my aunt and uncle's in Rogers. Kirby and I also decided to exchange gifts that night because we just couldn't wait we wouldn't have much time in the morning. I got him a new driver and a pair of jeans. He got me a silver Marc Jacobs watch and some red and white Tom's...perfect for Hog football!

Kirby was so surprised to get a new driver! Ok, maybe he added it to my shopping cart one day while we were playing on the computer.

Christmas day was great! We got to spend time with both of our families, and we got a lot of wonderful presents! I'll just share some pictures to recap. Pictures with my family are on my mom's camera. Maybe I can share those later!

We had a great time opening gifts with my family, and so did Chip! Chip and Phoebe got new Christmas squeaky toys. Chip loves anything that squeaks!! Here he is on top of boxes and wrapping paper with his Christmas tree toy, then under the tree with his Santa toy.

Kirby's parents got us an awesome new camera for Christmas! We were playing around with it and taking some pictures of their holiday decorations.

Stockings

LOTS of presents!! We all must've been really good this year!

Caroline got a new comfy chair from her Nana and Coach

Kirby and I got her the Cozy Coupe. She wasn't too sure about it at first, but she ended up loving it! She would shake her head "no" when we tried to get her out!

What a cutie! I'd say she had a pretty fabulous first Christmas!

It also just happened to be a certain someone's birthday a few days after Christmas, so we went ahead and celebrated while we could. Caroline was pretty much over the cake, but she liked the singing!

On the 28th I went to Dallas to spend the week with Kirby before I had to go back to school. We celebrated our third New Years together!

JD, Kirby, Cory, and Burger

Whit and Kara came to Dallas for NYE!

Cory and Kirby lookin' good

All of the boys!

I cooked dinner for everyone before we went out. Chicken and salmon, green bean bundles, roasted potatoes, and bread. It was yummy!

One night I made Chicken Tortilla Soup for dinner. It was pretty good, too!

We decided to do something new and go the a hockey game. Go Stars!! They lost and to be honest, it wasn't the most exciting sporting event I've ever attended. At least I can say I've been, right?

The Hogs played in the Cotton Bowl in Dallas at the beginning of January. I had to work, so I let Cory have my ticket. We played Kansas State, and we won!! WPS!

Cory, JD, Kirby, and Burger

The boys with their tickets!

And just because they're so cute...

Sadie got a new bed!!

Chip liked Sadie's new bed :)

He loves pillows!

This little guy showed up in our driveway one day. Max and I had pretty much decided we would keep him until we found out it was our neighbors, ha! :( Soooo cute!!!

Such a cute puppy!!!

I took this pretty picture of Miss Sadie with our new camera. I thought it looked pretty cool!

One last thing...Kirby's grandmother passed away on Friday afternoon. Please keep him and his family in your thoughts and prayers.

Have a good week!!

~Janae

You Know You're a Teacher If...

HOW DO YOU KNOW YOU ARE A TEACHER? 

Jeff Foxworthy 

1. You can hear 25 voices behind you and know exactly which one belongs to the child out of line.

2. You get a secret thrill out of laminating something. (I do love laminating!)

3. You walk into a store and hear the words "It's Ms/Mr. _________" and know you have been spotted.

4. You have 25 people that accidentally call you Mom/Dad at one time or another. (ALL the time!)

5. You can eat a multi-course meal in under twenty-five minutes.

6. You've trained yourself to go to the bathroom at two distinct times of the day: lunch and prep period.

7. You start saving other people's trash, because most likely, you can use that toilet paper tube or plastic butter tub for something in the classroom.

8. You believe the teachers' lounge should be equipped with a margarita machine.

9. You want to slap the next person who says "Must be nice to work 7 to 3 and have summers off." (It's NOT an easy job!)

10. You believe chocolate is a food group.

11. You can tell if it's a full moon without ever looking outside. (SOOO TRUE! Goodness gracious!)

12. You believe that unspeakable evils will befall you if anyone says "Boy, the kids sure are mellow today."

13. You feel the urge to talk to strange children and correct their behavior when you are out in public. 

14. You believe in aerial spraying of Ritalin.

15. You think caffeine should be available in intravenous form.

16. You spend more money on school stuff than you do on your own children.

17. You can't pass the school supply aisle without getting at least five items!

18. You ask your friends if the left hand turn he just made was a "good choice or a bad choice." (I ask if that was a good choice or bad choice ALL THE TIME.)

19. You find true beauty in a can full of perfectly sharpened pencils.

20. You are secretly addicted to hand sanitizer, and finally,

21. You understand instantaneously why a child behaves a certain way after meeting his or her parents. (Couldn't be more true!)

Thankful

Warning: longest blog ever and a little random

Lots of exciting things have been going on lately! Like...my dress came in!!!!! It came in while I was in Dallas, and I could not wait to get home to try it on. I still love it just as much as I did back in July. :) I also ordered my wedding shoes a few days ago, and they came in today! I love them! I feel like I've been pretty productive on the wedding front lately. I have been working on favors and other little details the past couple of weeks. My mom has been busy making things, too. She is making the ringbearer pillow, my garters, and table runners for the reception. Everything is turning out so cute! Other accomplishments in the past week or two include, bridesmaid dresses and getaway car! Yay! Now we just need a band...any suggestions? Only 192 more days!

The Saturday before Thanksgiving I flew to Dallas to see Kirby. I got there at 11:00, so we went and ate lunch at Maple and Motor. They have the most delicious burgers ever! After that we went to Petco in Plano to look at a dog. Tell me this isn't the cutest face you've ever seen besides Chip's of course.

Kirby spotted Whiskey on a flyer at Schlotzsky's one day while eating lunch and fell in love thought he was a cool dog. He emailed the adoption group, and they told him they were having an adoption day on Saturday, so obviously we had to go meet him. There were probably 20 dogs there that were for adoption, and they were all barking and going crazy every time someone else walked up with a dog, except for Whiskey. We just knew we had to have him! Well, we start talking to the people about adopting him, and they said they had to do a home visit first. Then we told them Kirby lived in an apartment in downtown Dallas (because they asked), and they were not fond of the idea. They said he needed a yard...which is understandable, but come on. We then asked if I could take him since I have a yard, but they said no because they can't do a home visit in Arkansas. :( We were so sad. We thought it was kind of crazy how strict they were about letting people adopt a dog. It's a good thing, so that the dogs will hopefully never have to be homeless again, but just a little frustrating!

After that we were devied, but it was time to go cheer on the Hogs! We went to Hully & Mo's and watched most of the game with Burger and some other Razorback alums that were there. Then we went and met Cory to watch the end of the game. The Hogs played great and beat Mississippi State!

On Sunday night I cooked dinner for Kirby and I. He claimed it was the best chicken spaghetti he's ever had. I got it from The Pioneer Woman, and I have to admit it was pretty time consuming, but worth it!

Kirby has been wanting to see The Rum Diary for quite some time, so we finally went and saw it on Monday. I don't recommend. Johnny Depp was nice to look at though. :)

We were going to cook on Tuesday, but decided not to. Instead we went to Cane Rosso in Deep Ellum. It's a pizza place, and it was really good. It was supposed to be more like real Italian pizza, and you eat it with a fork and a knife, not with your hands. The best part may have been the dessert pizza though. I'll let you take a look for yourself.

It had caramelized apples and some other yumminess, and you could tell it was so fresh!

Wednesday morning we headed back to Arkansas to spend Thanksgiving with Kirby's family. That night we played "Screw Your Neighbor" with his mom, dad, sister, and brother-in-law. It was a lot of fun, and we shared a lot of laughs! Sorry for the iPhone photos below...

John and his poker face were hilarious!

Caroline and I looking at a book

Caroline and "Coach" on Thanksgiving Day

We spent Thanksgiving Day at Kirby's cousin's house with all of his family. We ate lots of yummy food and spent some time together playing basketball, football, and Phase 10. I'm so glad I got to go this year!

That night we came back to Fayetteville and visited my parents for a little bit (and I tried on my dress for the first time).

On Friday the Hogs played LSU. This was such a HUGE game for us, so my extremely superstitious fiance insisted on watching the game at Kingfish, the same place we watched it last year when we beat LSU. The Hogs started off doing so good, but then they fell apart. We were very disappointed and left a little early to go eat at Mexico Viejo. We still love our Hogs though! 

Kirby and Max at Kingfish (wearing the same outfits as last year, or in Kirby's case, the same outfit he wears every game)

Saturday we celebrated Thanksgiving with my family. It was great to see all of my family and spend some time with them since we hardly get to see each other. Again, we ate lots of food! My mom is such a good cook! We played "hide and seek," teacher and baby, and mommy and baby with our cousin Audrey. She is too cute!

Where's Brooke??

"1, 2, 3..."

I know I'm a little late, but I have so many things to be thankful for!

My job that allows me to see these kiddos every day

My fiance ;)

My fab friends

My family

My future family

My dog

Those are just a few things that I am so blessed to have in my life! I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving! Now it's time to get ready for Christmas!!!

Happy Hump Day!!

Janae

Janae Lately

What a wonderful weekend! Kirby got in town on Friday afternoon, so that night we ate dinner at Mojito's. I just love that place! Steven's Special is the best! It was so busy though. We had to sit in the very, very, very back room (I wasn't even aware it was back there) and use paper takeout menus...ha!

After that we decided to rent a movie from Redbox. There wasn't much of a selection, so with a little begging I talked Kirbs into letting us rent Something Borrowed. I have to say that I liked the book much better. The movie was alright, just a little slow and the acting was subpar. I don't think Kirby was too impressed either. He said he only agreed to watch it because he knew how much football we would have to watch the rest of the weekend. Awww ;)

Saturday morning I got a manicure while Kirby stayed home and watched Gameday. After that I came home and we got ready to run to the mall. We needed to pick out some coordinating outfits for our engagement pictures on Sunday. Actually, I already had my outfits, but I decided to buy another dress that I'd had my eye on for a while. Kirby didn't really care for the shirt I had bought for him (I didn't really care for it either, ha!), so we exchanged it and got out of there.

We headed to campus to tailgate with friends and family before the game. We had lots of yummy food! Chili, chicken and dumplings, soups, and lots of dips and sweet treats! I've got to get better at taking more pics, but these are the few that I have.

Kirby with his niece Caroline

Go Hogs! Beat the Vols!

What a great game! If you look closely by the lights in the middle of the stadium you can see the moon. It was so big and bright, then the next time we looked up it was gone!

Speaking of the moon, I walked into my bathroom one morning and this is what I saw...

The moon was HUGE and shining right in the window. It was actually like this two mornings in a row! So pretty!

Back to the weekend...so, it was an awesome game and the Hogs won 49-7. There were some awesome plays made by our guys (#1 and #2 play of the week on ESPN), and we moved up to #6 in the BCS poll!

After the game Kirby and I went home to get some beauty sleep. Sunday was the big day for engagement pictures! Pictures went really well, and I can't wait to see them. We took some on campus with the beautiful fall leaves and on the square. When we first started it wasn't very sunny, but luckily the wind had calmed down. Later on it was the opposite. I'm hoping we got some good shots though!

Kirby usually heads back to Dallas on Sunday afternoon, but since our pictures were later in the afternoon he stayed last night and left this morning. We cooked steaks, green beans, and twice-baked potatoes for dinner with Brooke and Max.

FOUR MORE DAYS OF SCHOOL UNTIL THANKSGIVING BREAK!!! HALLELUJAH! Then, I'm hopping on a plane Saturday morning to go see Kirbs in Dallas until we head back to Arkansas to celebrate Thanksgiving with our families. I got a one-way ticket to Dallas for $40, and then we will ride back together.

That's all I've got for today. Have good night!

Janae

Woo Pig Sooie!

What a big win for the Hogs this weekend! For whatever reason though, we slipped to #8 in the rankings. It makes zero sense to me! But, here are some pictures from several of the games this season. Believe it or not, Kirby does have other red clothing, but he's very superstitious and wears the same red Polo every game.

Tailgating before the first game - Hogs vs Missouri State

Ready to watch the game in Dallas - Hogs at Alabama

Kirby didn't wear his lucky Polo this game and we lost...it's all his fault!

Cowboy Stadium - Hogs vs Texas A & M

We were in the nosebleeds...2 rows from the very top! Ha! Our seats last year were so much better, but it really wasn't as bad as you'd think.

We finally made it down to Lot 56 before the Auburn game to see Whit and her family!

I made cupcakes for the tailgate yesterday. Some were strawberry and some were red velvet both with cream cheese icing. They were delicious! I had another set that said "GO HOGS GO!" Kirby and I didn't take a picture this game for some reason.

In other news, Monday was Halloween. Sadie dressed up and helped me pass out candy to the trick-or-treaters. She was a motorcycle dog with a sidecar. She just loved her costume! Haha! She acted like the sidecar weighed 50 lbs and could hardly walk straight!

Kirby came in town on Thursday for the Razorback game this weekend. That night I cooked a super easy dinner in the crockpot. It was good, too! On Friday, we went to Wasabi with Brooke and Max, Jessica and Craig, and their friend Taos. After that my cousin, Alex, and some of his friends were having a little party at the Garden Room on Dickson. We went for a while, and they had more food and a band playing outside. And, of course, we had to go to Buster's before we went home :) Good times!

I have a busy week ahead, so hopefully I'll have lots to talk about next time. We also have our engagement pictures this weekend! Should be fun!

Have a fantabulous week!

Janae

I Don't Even Wanna Talk About It...

My absence, that is. Ridiculous, I know. But, I'm back for now and that's all that matters, even if it did take me 5 minutes to figure out how to get to my blog.

So, I told you months ago, seriously, like 3 months ago, I would show pics of my owl-themed classroom! Well, here they are! They were taken on my iPhone, so I apologize for the quality. They aren't too bad though!

This is the view when you walk in the door. I LOVE how big my classroom is! It's a huge improvement from last year!

This is another view once you walk in the classroom a little ways.

Our calendar/math board (and ABC chart and pocket chart for phonics) and carpet area. Not sure why I can't get this picture to be centered. Aggravated.

A close up of the calendar and birthday chart. You can also see the little owls on the border!

Another close up. The paisley cutouts are the table helpers for each day.

Calendar board

Number chart

The inside of our classroom door

Word Wall

Classroom library

 Computer center and colors on the wall

This is what I'm using for my classroom management system this year. It works pretty well. If the kids move to yellow, they get to add a "jewel" to their clothespin, and they just love it!

I just love the cute owl signs that I used to label each center.

And, lastly, my new refrigerator! One day our night custodian asked if I wanted a little fridge for my room and I said "Of course!" I thought it was a steal at $10!

So, there's my classroom. I forgot to take a picture of their nameplates on the table and their cubbies. They both have cute little owls on them, too!

Ok, question. Does it take everyone else forever to upload pictures to put on your blog? Is it faster to upload them one at a time instead of all together? Also, I think blogger has changed since I last used it. I don't think I like it. It made everything more difficult. Maybe I just did it wrong...who knows!

I promise I am going to get better at this blogging thing. I have a lot to talk about!

Until next time,

Janae