Show and Tell Tuesday

I promise sometime I'll post about our weekend, but it was obviously a great one if I was too sleepy last night to post about it! Ha! ;)

This week's topic is how to win your heart. 

Now listen. My hubs totally knew how to win my heart a million years ago. He's always been supportive of me and knows when to put me in my place (like fifty times a day. Sometimes I think my students' attitudes rub off on me, and he puts up with it. Seriously, he's amazing). He's silly and knows how to make me laugh. He reminds me that I don't have to be so stressed out and crazy all the time- I definitely need his laid back style to help chill me out.

He love, love, loves God. Here's a photo from the first mission trip we went on together. He is always encouraging me to become a better person, and to continue growing my faith. He's also a great spiritual leader in our home- I know that regardless of what questions come up, we can look to him for guidance.

He's adorable. For real. Here's one of our engagement photos. #babies

Fighting is not something that he's a fan of. I have a tendency to go on the defensive immediately without even thinking, and he is generally able to turn me around and keeps from blowing up at me. Sidenote: I grew up in a home that was not like that. Even though we've been together for years, I still feel like it's a personal attack (even when it's not). Basically, he's a much better person than I am.

If we're being totally honest, I've always planned to marry Tim. At least since high school. He was (and is) charming in a goofy way, cares fiercely about others, and wants everyone to know God. How could he get any better?

He also knows how to work hard... even if he doesn't know what exactly the point of it is. ;) Here he is helping me decorate my classroom the first time ever- I got hired like two weeks before school started that year, so it was crunch time!

Instead of a honeymoon, we went on a mission trip. I am so thankful for the fact that he wants to put his all into working with the youth in our area- he loves them strong and worries about them.. even when they act like turds because they're middle and high school kids that only know how to act like that. ;)

Tim is a great daddy. He would do anything for our boys, and that is a big deal. Hearing "Daddy!!! I need you to come here and help me!" 500000 times a day could probably drive some people crazy, but he still goes and helps (even though he's done the exact same thing every 20 minutes all day ;)). <3

Did I mention that I totally fall in love again and think he's way hott whenever he's speaking at church? No? Too much? Get over it. ;)

Also. Some people hate beards. Not me. ;) Haha. Okay. I'll stop. 

Tim is basically the best guy I've ever been around. He takes care of us (even though sometimes he tries to throw me in nasty lakes. This picture might look cute, but really. Ew.).

Facebook does it again.

For those of you that aren't married or dating or whatever, I hope that you listen to your heart and know who you're supposed to be with. I also hope that if you don't think you're ready for that kind of real, run into the fear, not away from it like I did. That last picture- I was a freshman in college and totally not ready to deal with big picture. Tim and I talked a ton and I loved him then. He always told me though that he didn't want to date unless we were getting married. Well, I wasn't ready. In the next few years he seriously dated another girl and I dated a guy 100% wrong for me- and I was beyond jealous. I literally kept thinking "Girl, I'm the one gonna marry him. Stop dating him." Yes, I realize that's totally insane, but ... that's how I thought. *Yes, there's more to our story, but you have to wait for our anniversary to hear the whole thing. :)

In the end though, here we are. Living out our crazy life and our dreams. I couldn't ask for anyone better. Here's to the mandatory switch date, followed by a long protest. 

I love you, Timothy.

W^W

We're eating: 

A lot of takeout. I've been a slacker this week!

I'm missing: 

Bible study with my girls. So much. Luckily, we're talking about James tonight!

I'm loving:

Monkey talking! The kid hardly says anything (I think because his big brother is always talking for him), but we're getting there!

We've been up to:

Lots of family time. AKA a whole lot of nothing, which is one of my favorites!

I'm dreading:

Laundry. #momofboys

I'm working on:

Planning, planning, planning. Such is the life of a teacher!

I'm excited about:

Tomorrow and Friday! I'm taking a few kiddos back to Winter Jam tomorrow and then Friday I am spending the day at a science teachers' conference with my best friend from high school.. and college.. and now we work in the same district. Win! Also, I love conferences. I'm a nerd. Deal.

I'm watching and reading:

We are rewatching Doctor Who, because we never watch new shows, but just cycle through our favorites.

I'm reading Ruth a chapter a day, and I'm on The Goblet of Fire. Again. 

Notice any similarities? Branching out is tough, people.

I'm listening to:

Crowder and Rend Collective on repeat. And, go find them! 

I'm wearing:

LuLaRoe. Almost daily. I just love it! Also, if you haven't seen any clothes or tried them out, I'm linking my favorite shop here. I'm absolutely in love with their pencil skirts. It's like wearing yoga pants in skirt form, and they always look super nice!

Also, if you check it out and order something, you should totally tell Savannah that I sent you there. ;) 

It's Shop LuLaRoe Savannah Doris on Facebook - and she always has new clothes! I love it!

This weekend I am:

Going with the fam to some kids' museums and activities- look forward to telling you about them on Monday!

I'm looking forward to:

The things I'm excited about? Yeah. That. And planning Monkey's birthday party!

What else is new:

Does me needing a nap count as new? No? Oh. ;)

Happy Wednesday! <3

Weekend Recap

Happy Monday! 

This weekend we had a lot of fun running around and being crazy kids!

Friday, we finished our Valentines and someone had to test them out. ;)

We visited with my grandparents, and the boys loved it! Apparently in this picture, she was being Lois Lane and he was being Flash. I love that my grandma plays with my kids like this! <3

We also introduced my grandma to Snapchat. I can't handle the picture.

After one grandma's house, we obviously had to go visit the other great-grands! While we were there, this group of crazies put together seven puzzles. Seven. Glory.

Saturday morning, we made a trip to the store with the circus (aka, my sister and her two kids, my mom, and me with my two kids). Someone decided that he needed to wear my "funny sungwasses" because the sun was so bright.

Saturday afternoon, Tim and I were off to Winter Jam STL to hang out with our youth kiddos. What a great night!

I don't know if any of you make the trip to see Winter Jam, but you should. And if you do, you should definitely pay the extra money to join Jam Nation. Sure, tickets are higher, but you get early entry (huge bonus, especially if you're with a group) and to see the artist Q&A session. We actually ended up getting passes this time that will let us into multiple shows early- so I'm taking a few of our kids again Thursday night! :)

While walking to the venue, we passed a guy outside talking on the phone. Turns out that it was Dave (the lead singer from Sidewalk Prophets)! These two decided to go back and get their picture taken with him, and he was super cool about it!

Love this man and his heart for serving and teaching these kids.

Okay. I love me some Sidewalk Prophets. Always have. This night though? They pulled a girl on stage that wants to be a singer... and gave her some spotlight time. How awesome?! 

Also, Matthew West and his band are Cardinals fans. ;)

While we were there, we found these two! Well, sort of. We saved seats with our group for Tay, and found out once the concert had started that Kay was there... and in some terrible seats. When the people in front of us left for three bands, we decided to share our good seats with her group! I love these two (and the other two in our bible study group) and getting to spend time together!

We got home from STL, dropping youth kids off, and picking our kids up a little after three Sunday morning (we knew it was going to be a late night, so we stopped for coffee once we got out of the city). Our Sunday looked like this:

Dinosaur fights at the Mexican restaurant. 

Hope you have a great start to the week!

Fri-YAY!

My absolute favorite thing this week? The fact that I am currently on my third snow day in a row! And honestly, I'm that weird teacher who is all for snow days. I don't mind staying at work until the beginning of June, because 1) I don't like to sweat, and they keep my school freezing. 2) I don't like to drive on the snow. 3) June 1st is not too late into summer. Basically, give me all the snow days!! As of today, we have used 4 of our 5 built in, so we might as well use a dozen more. ;)

Here's what we've been doing this week:

 First off, these are just a few of the giant dinosaurs that the boys got for Christmas. Obviously, they need a few more. ;) Really though, the boys love lounging on them, and they make a great crash pad for their crazy! I might have snuggled with them for a nap or two this week. Shhh. :)

Snow days mean that we stay in jammies extra late and that Mommy gets all the cuddles!

My mom got us a gift card to Fresh Market for Christmas, so I used it to pick up stuffed chicken breast. Ohhhh dang. Guys, it's delish. Get some. Also? That edamame salad was great too!

Monkey man and I went to the store a few nights ago before the storm hit- I love getting to spend time with each of my boys one-on-one!

Obviously, powdered donuts are needed for snow day breakfasts!

SNOW FUN!

Also, I'm not a big Snapchat user, but these pictures... I died. The boys both loved getting to make faces with the different options, so we spent a good 45 minutes on my phone a few nights ago! 

Today's plans? Make the boys' Valentines to give out at church. I found them at Target, and knew we had to get them, Think of the pictures! 

Tomorrow we're taking our youth group to STL for Winter Jam! Hope you all have an awesome weekend!! <3

Happy Reading!

Okay, I'll quit being a slacker. I guess. ;)

We got another snow day today! Monster is so excited because the snow is actually the good kind to play in and the temps might get high enough that we go outside for a bit this afternoon (probably 30 minutes at the most). He loved the snow last year, so I'm excited to see how he feels about it this year!

So normally, I don't make a New Year's resolution. Mostly because I never keep them. Also because any time that I would make one, it ended up being about not drinking soda or as much coffee, and let's be totally real-- there's no way that's going to happen. 

This year though, I made a commitment (see- different word. So far it's working!) to write a note/scripture from my bible reading each day. I usually try to read 1-2 chapters each day, and I always write in my bible, so I thought this would be something extra I could do to help me really internalize what I was reading. 

Let me start by saying this: The bible I use is from high school. It's the first thing I bought myself after I started working through high school (before this I always used a KJV bible, and it was just too much for me to handle. To me, I want something that doesn't give me a headache when I read it!). It's been to all the mission trips with me, though college, to most camps... I've got a lot of history with this thing, and I love it. Another fun fact- my bestie that I went to church with had the same bible, so one of us would always find the page we needed and just tell the other. We're good like that. 

On the inside, I've got all sorts of things. Underlined verses that I liked; notes from sermons and bible studies, important statements that I loved; pictures... my bible is definitely one of my favorite things.

I picked a few random pages, along with the two covers to show you. Also, just to letcha know- my absolute favorite pens to use in my bible are the Flair pens. Every year before camp I buy the rainbow pack ... and then don't share them, because I'm a teacher too. ;)

Also, sorry they're turned. Blogger hates me.

My MIL got me a planner type thing for Christmas, which I am currently using for my notes. I love it because there is enough room for lots of writing per day. And I can add in the days as I go, which is super fun. I also really like that I can go through and read the inspirational message on each page. I don't know that she meant for me to use it like this, but I still am. ;)

^Notes from only two sessions at Passion. What a weekend!

Our pastor challenged us on Sunday to make sure we read each day from our bibles. I'm already doing that, so I'm going to challenge you, too! <3