If I had a million dollars...

Shane and I can argue over the most random things. With that being said, we always argue over what we would do if we won the lotto. Tonight he bought 5 scratcher tickets with the big prize being $1000.00 a week for life. I told him if we won that, I would quit my job and go back to school. Shane looked at me like I was crazy and informed me I would do no such thing and all of that money would be put in our savings account. I pointed out that even after taxes, that $1000.00 a week was way more than my paycheck is every two weeks and if I went back to get my masters, when I finished, my paycheck would be even more plus the &1000.00 a week. I am clearly in the right in this argument but Shane is still not a believer. In the end we only won $20.00 out of all of those tickets...but I'm still right and that's all that matters.

If everyday could be Christmas...

I miss Christmas. Not just the actual day, but the days leading up to it. I'm not really sure why. Tonight Shane and I were talking about/planning our vacation in July and all I could think was "I wish we were planning Christmas."

This past Christmas was really great. We (or at least I) had a lot of fun shopping this past year for gifts. Thanksgiving night we went to Wal-Mart to get Garrity a car for my parents. Then on that following Saturday we went to Joplin and started our shopping. We had fun. It was one of the first years we have really been able to afford to buy really good gifts for others and I think that's one reason I enjoyed Christmas so much. It made my heart happy to be able to buy our parents things that in past years we would not have been able to afford. I know that they did not/do not care if we give them anything, but both sets of parents always go out of their way to make sure that gifts are a plenty. I know that that is not what Christmas is about, but it sure is fun.

I also had a fantastic time shopping for sweet Garrity. This year she was finally old enough to tell us what she wanted (anything and everything she saw on tv commercials). I loved seeing and/or watching via text video her opening her 1-12 days of Christmas gifts from us. Amy made her last day really special for me by inviting Shane and I to their house to watch her open her last days gift and have a little party. Shane was unable to make it (I may have forgotten to tell him all the details of the plan). It was priceless when she opened the box and saw her real life Dorothy Gail dress. It made me so happy that she was so happy to get it and promptly demand that she put it on. Christmas morning at my parents was also really fun to watch her open her gifts and be so excited about everything she received. I guess age makes you understand how when you were small your parents and family were excited to watch you open your gifts and that's why when I was growing up (and even to this day) my parents and family still make Christmas special.

We also started a new Christmas tradition this year with Shane's mom's family of working Lights around the Lake in honor of Shane's grandma Mary. Mary loved Christmas and loved her house being decorated to the max. She passed away suddenly in December of 2011. Due to her love of Christmas lights, we worked the lights on her birthday and donated all the money we collected to Lights around the Lake. All in all, we raised a little over $400.00! We had a great time and plan on doing this every December 14th on Mary's birthday.

Christmas 2012 may be long gone, but at least I have the memories. I'm sure Christmas 2013 will be even more wonderful, but this past Christmas will be hard to beat and I miss it all ready.

Sunday night dinners

I love Sunday night dinner at my parents house...these pictures may help explain why...

Hook 'Em Horns

I was super excited about Shane's birthday cakes....he had no clue what they would be or that there would in fact be two cakes, his only request was that the cake be chocolate. The amazing Kim Williams took my ideas and then made them reality and they turned out better than I ever could have imagined! Everyone loved them...except the University of Oklahoma fans...

Shane is 30

Shane turned 30 on Tuesday. The Saturday before we had his party. While I feel the need to blog about it, I just don't want to right now.

I like birthdays. Doesn't matter if it's my birthday or not. I have in fact been known to take the day off of work because, duh, it's my birthday! Monday night I was super tired, but wanted to leave something special for Shane to wake up to (especially because he does not take off work for his birthday and he would be in court all day and didn't think he would be out until around 7:00 pm). I decided I would leave him 30 notecards laid in the path he takes every morning from our bedroom to our bathroom. The cards were not 30 reasons I love you (that's just not me), but more "hey! You're 30!" Cards mixed in with sarcastic tidbits (which are truly me). When you start a project of having to think of something to write on 30 cards at midnight, it's a lot harder than one would think. One of my favorite cards said, "30 years ago today your mom thought your name was Nate, but your dad said no so now you're Shane." True story.

After all was said and done, I was pretty pleased with the results. I laid the path and worried he would slide and trip over them when he got up (since the house was so dark and he uses his phone for light), but he survived and even posted a picture on Facebook that morning...now people will think I'm all sweet and stuff...which we all know is not true.

Shane's 30th birthday party setup

Tomorrow is Shane's 30th birthday party which I have been calling his Super Sweet 16....and was told tonight if I refer to the party as that again I am uninvited. Tonight after I got off from school, we met his parents, and two sets of his aunts and uncles (one set which flew in from Arizona this afternoon for Shane's party) at the grand 3M Clubhouse to decorate and set up. I had two things I was in charge of...the photo collage and photo booth set up.
I had planed on using magnets on the backs of the pictures for my collage, but there was no room on the wall so now the collage is in the entry way...by a fire extinguisher. Sooo, I had to make do with the small space I had and am pleased with the results. I backed all the photos with black card stock and used scrap booking scissors to cut the paper. Last night I arranged them on our living room floor and took a picture with my phone so I could remember the picture placement. I'm glad I did that because it made taping them to the wall much faster.

The photo booth was easy. We hung black plastic on a section of wall from ceiling to floor and then hung an orange plastic tablecloth (for his beloved Texas Longhorns) down the middle and set a table a few feet in front that has all the props and camera on it so it should be easy for everyone to use tomorrow at the party. Of course Shane and his Uncle Dale had to try on some of the props and have a picture taken to see how everything worked. Our plan is to mail people their pictures with a thank you card after the party. I hope everything works out with the photo booth and the tape holds the pictures on the wall!

Things kids say...

I thought I would share a funny question I was asked today in class. This afternoon we were playing outside and I was talking to a little boy about what Santa had brought him for Christmas. He was naming off random things and then stopped, looked at me and said, "Ms. Blair, what would you do if I fell down and busted my brains out all over the playground? Would you scoop them up for me?" I assured him I would and then he continued his list of things he received for Christmas.

I also had a little girl run up and tell me she had a Dream Light and she had "waited all her life for one!" For the record, she's four....

Photo fun...

After work today I got to spend a few hours with my favorite little person...who just so happens to enjoy taking and looking at pictures of herself.

I've got nothing...

I don't think anyone reads my blog...except for Amy, but I am a blog reader and I look forward to new blog posts. With that said, my goal when starting this blog was to try to post often. The problem with posting often is that I lead a pretty boring life and I've nothing to blog about...nothing that's really interesting. So, I'll just make this post about nothing.

Today was my first day back to work from Christmas break. I already miss Christmas break. While on brake, a group of my supervisors decided to totally change the layout of my classroom and left orders that I could not change anything they had done. I'm not a fan. It could be worse, but it could also be a lot better. They took away all of my storage cabinets. I don't understand why they would do that! Tomorrow my students come back. I know without a doubt they will be crazy due to being away for so long and the changes in the classroom. Pray for me ;)