Drumroll please........

This weekend was a busy one, but it sure was enjoyable. Thanksgiving was awesome, great family time and great food of course!  Friday Mark woke up early and him and Jeff went out and Mark got us a new nice 55" LED TV.  Mark may have broke his hand, but we continued with some shopping at the Aurora outlet mall then ended at the emergency room for Marks hand.  Saturday we relaxed, took a nap and woke up when it was dark out (I love those days!).  Sunday we put up the lights and this is what this post is all about. 

It is great living in a new place after you get married.  There are so many firsts that you enjoy and it is the time where you start your own traditions and maybe continue the ones from when you were at home.  We strung Christmas lights on our house and the bushes and we made a big spectacle of it at night.  We randomly had the Humbert's over and a couple friends to watch the Bears game.  When it got dark we made everyone go outside so we could plug in our first ever Christmas lights!  I felt like we were the Griswalds, I asked for a drumroll, but everyone just told me to plug them in...Mark plugged in one set and me the other and then we ran out with everyone and checked it out.  I was afraid they were not going to light, however....they did....and I love them.  I am so excited for Christmas to start traditions with Mark.  We decided we would sneak our presents under the tree the night before Christmas.  I may even wake up in the middle of the night to bring mine downstairs.  I will always be a kid at heart for Christmas and I love that.  I leave you with a picture of our newly lit home!  It may not be a lot but it is a good start that we will be building on for years to come! :) Happy Holidays!

Looking Forward To...

spending more time with my husband now that his work schedule is changing

thanksgiving! :)

spending time with my family

our yearly outlet mall trip with my mom and sisters

caramel apple spice

christmas with my husband which, we decided, will include a real christmas tree

putting christmas lights on our home for the first time

decorating our house more

ordering our wedding pictures finally

times with friends

some well deserved time off of work for the holidays

What are some of the things you are looking forward to these days???

random thoughts

i think about life a lot and how i am lucky for what i have
i miss my husband
i wish i talked to my family more
a full time teaching job really is a full time job - weekends included
i was blessed with awesome nieces and nephews who i miss as well
i love my house but it is kind of far away from people, but it is nice to be on my own
teaching high school sometimes i wish i could go back there
what will it be like when i have my own kids, hard to grasp i am even old enough to have kids
i'm amazed at how much your life can change within a year - marriage, new house, new job - whew i'm tired
sometimes weeks go by too fast and i hope they slow down a bit
weekends are too short
why am i so emotional?
how can i be less stressed when i have so much new things going on and more stressed when i don't?
when will i get home tonight?

what are some of your random thoughts that you think about during the day, or in the shower, or while you are driving?

(I know like 4 people read my blog but hoping maybe some other people do to that I do not know about and they will pop in to give me some random thoughts too!)

3 Years...or 21, however you want to look at it! :)

My little guy turned 3 years old (or 21 years in dog years) on October 5th.  I'll admit that I forgot his birthday only to remember yesterday.  No I am not that kind of person who throws her dog a birthday party, but I AM that kind of person who sings Happy Birthday to her dog and goes out to dinner with her parents and husband, orders a patty melt, and takes 1/2 of it home (the burger part only) to her dog so he can have a birthday dinner....

He lived it up and got his belly rubbed while Mark and I watched TV. I apologized for forgetting his birthday (I think the burger made up for it) and made sure to sing Happy Birthday one more time before we went to bed and told him how much we loved him ;) 

Hmmmm...me and my dog...I just cannot get enough of him!

HAPPY 3RD BIRTHDAY COOPER! Mommy and Daddy <3 you!

 

life

I get to snuggle at night with my lil guy and I am woken up by my husband when he gets home from work to get a kiss goodnight...

Taken by Mark on his iPhone one morning

And when I drive to work on clear mornings I see this

And even though life may not be perfect, there are still those days where you wake up and think to yourself that today is going to be a great day, it is those days that you realize that there really is a lot out there for us and that you just need to let life happen.... 

What A Difference!

What a difference working a full time job makes! I am exhausted and I feel bad for Mark because I am probably always complaining, although he tells me he understands!  I have started my new teaching job and boy is it a LOT of work! I am teaching a class that I have not taught before or never thought I was ever going to teach.  I am a Biology and Chemistry teacher and I am teaching a Research Core class.  I plan week to week and never know where I am going with it so far! I work at school, I work when I come home from school, I work on the weekends, its never ending so far and I did hear that is how it is your first couple of years of teaching! Its hard and overwhelming but I am very GRATEFUL to have a job at all, I am very lucky.  I commute almost an hour and a half each way and work a part time job still.  Mark starts his new job next week and will be working some late nights and he too works another part time job as well... so it is going to be hard to not see him every night, but I know we will get through it.  I guess I just needed to write this all out but thanks for "listening" and sorry about all my complaining!

Off to do more work for school.....

Oh and one thing that is keeping me going through all this crazy hectic work stuff....


Fall....its almost here...I can smell it!

Cannot wait for bonfires, cozy nights with the windows open, caramel apple cider from Starbucks, football, family time, changing of colors....mmmmm it gets me through these hard days!

incredible.

i believe in the saying, "good things come to those who wait."

actually I would revise that to incredible things come to those who wait....

this post does not have fun pictures and cute stories

just plain, simple, and to the point.

i was blessed to get a job for this school year, i will be a first year teacher

and

mark was blessed to get a new job as well

im proud of mark, proud of myself and proud of us...life is good

we are two very happy peas in a pod, well three peas if you include cooper :)

just proves to you that incredible things really do come to those who wait!