I woke up this Thursday feeling very blessed and thankful for the important people in my life.  My hubby and I got some news last night that really put us in a "funk" (don't worry - nothing baby related!).  For some reason, instead of waking up pissed, I woke up feeling grateful for my husband, family, and friends.  My husband is very chill and down to earth - nothing really frazzles him.  He keeps me calm, patient, and reminds me that the little things really don't matter in the grand scheme of things.  I'm not quite sure what I would do without him.  I woke up feeling grateful for my parents and sister.  Having my little one has really taught me to appreciate them and to appreciate what they have taught me as an adult.  I have such great examples that I can model from as I learn how to be a mom and parent our little one.  My sister has shown me what a love between an aunt and nephew can be.  She truly loves my little one and I think it is such a gift for both of them to have one another.  I woke up grateful for my friends because they have shown such kindness since the birth of our baby.  For all of these people, I am grateful and I can't thank them enough for their love and support. 

On a different note, my husband and I received a very special gift from a parent of mine.  I taught her son this year, of course until I left on maternity leave.  She is starting a photography business and gave us the gift of photo sessions for us once our little guy was born.  She has always loved pictures and she loves to tell a story through her work.  Search for Blake Marler Photography on facebook or online to find her spectacular work.  Here are a few of the pictures from our family session.

I am so beyond pleased with her work.  What's special about this session is that my husband and I didn't do wedding professional pictures or engagement pictures.  We just didn't feel like we needed them at the time.  I wish now that we had more from our wedding, other than what our resort captured for us.  I am so grateful for these pictures because we have this moment in our life captured forever and we will cherish these pictures for a lifetime.

Thank you to the special people in our lives that have given us something to smile about.

XOXO

-Ashley-

I know I know.  I said I would wait until later to post the "Reveal Picture" we put on facebook to tell our friends we were expecting.  I think it pretty much explains it all.

I Have Been Inspired.

I have been inspired.  My younger sister decided to start back up her blog called Sense of Wonder.  Her blog is a collaboration of DIY projects, questions to ponder, and a place to journal random thoughts.  I used to blog all the time and I lost track of time and got carried away with work, being booked solid on the weekends, and of course the greatest inspiration of all, my son.  I had this great vision to blog while I was pregnant and to track everything and every moment with my friends in the blog world.  Between morning sickness, teaching my fourth graders, and attempting to get rest, I completely fell short with blogging.  I did however get a chance to snap pictures along the way.  I didn't share ANY of my pregnancy pictures with friends on facebook or even with my closest friends.  I figured, "Who wants to see belly pictures?"  Now I'm wondering why am I even going to share them on my blog?!?  I want them to be seen.  I want to share my journey with you all in hopes that I could share in your journeys with you too. 

 One of my favorite moments of being pregnant was when we revealed our pregnancy to our family.  Have you heard of the game Mad Gab?  We took one of the cards and (kudos to my husband) came up with our own card for the game.  It says, "Jaw In Dash Layer Praying Nut".  When said quickly it should read "John and Ashley are pregnant."  It took my in laws quite awhile to figure it out and we video taped them attempting to read the card.  It was pretty hysterical.  Anyways, I searched far and wide to find a creative way to reveal our pregnancy to our family and my husband spit this idea out.  Who would have thought the Mr. could be so creative?  Wait until I post the picture we posted on facebook for our friends to see?!?  Totally the hubby's idea!

I have to say that I am thankful that my pregnancy is now over although I'm grateful for every moment I had during pregnancy.  There are many women who don't get to share in this experience and I reminded myself of that often.  I didn't want to complain or make a fuss over morning sickness, restless legs, or any of that.  Things could have been worse.  I am blessed with a healthy baby boy now and I couldn't be more happy.  I am looking forward to keeping up and starting my blog back up for you to read and to share.

XOXO

Ashley

Hello my fabulous blogger friends!!  It has been WAY too long since I have spent time posting and exploring on here.  Last time I posted was around Christmas time..yikes!  For all my fellow teachers out there, we know that the school year keeps us busy and sometimes things have to be put on the backburner.  Unfortunately blogging had to come to a halt. BOO!  Now that the year is coming to an end (woohoo!) I will get back into it and be able to read about you guys too!

I wanted to come on and share about some fun things that have been going on in my life recently.  I recently went on a cruise with my younger sister for her college spring break.  It was fabulous to take a week off work (which I never do) and just have some fun in the sun! We sailed out of Port Canaveral, Florida and sailed around the Bahamas!  It was a ball!  I just put a few of our pictures up here to see!

I really love going on cruises and being able to explore different and tropical places!  We had a lot of fun and it was the first time just my sister and I went on a vacation together!  Do you ever vacation with your siblings?  I always have people at my work tell me they go places with just their brothers or sisters and I guess I never thought of just traveling the two of us.  It was a lot of fun and I look forward to many more travels with my little sister!

Creative Christmas Gift!!!

I am continuing along with my holiday posts with posting about the Christmas gift that my 4th graders are giving their parents.  I really have a difficult time thinking of something that the parents will actually use and not just get rid of them.  So I decided to...

 Step 1:  Buy different calendars from Michael's ($1.00)

 Step 2: Take off the clear cover from the calendar.  Use a staple remover to take apart the calendar.  Remove the cover from the calendar.  Use that cover as a template to cut out white rectangles out of card stock or construction paper.  The card stock tends to hold up better.  This rectangle will now serve as the cover for your calendar.  Give the white piece to your students to have them decorate the front and back cover.

 Step 3:  On the inside left side, have the students write a letter to the person they are giving their calendar to.  I had them write in pencil first so they could edit their work, if needed.  Then they could decorate it.

 Step 4:  Put the newly decorated cover together with the calendar pages and re-staple your pages together.  Put the calendar back in the plastic sleeve.  Now your calendar is personalized and ready to be wrapped for your holiday gift!!

Tada!!!!  It is really an easy, inexpensive way to show your families that their children care for them!  I spent $30 bucks total for this gift ($1/calendar).  I plan to have the kids use white wrapping paper to wrap their calendars in.  They will get to decorate their wrapping paper too!

Feel free to use this idea OR even better...share the ideas that you are using in your classroom/personal life!

XOXO

-Ashley-

Five of My Favorite Things!

December is such a wonderful month.  It is a time for giving, making new memories, being with family, and enjoying the beautiful weather we receive.  In the midst of this joyous season, I find myself stressed and living in some kind of chaotic world.  Why is it that holidays bring a huge to-do list that never seems to get accomplished?

Just to name of few of those things on the to-do list: Class Gifts, Finish student parent gifts, student teacher gift, Biz Town jobs/preparing for the field trip on Tuesday, finish Christmas shopping for my family, etc.  The list goes on and on and on.  The funny thing is that I have 8 work days to complete my list.  It seems impossible but I know it will get done....eventually.  Needless to say, I should be working on the list rather than blogging.  However, blogging was calling my name this evening.

Because I am feeling stressed, I wanted to think about things that really made this a memorable season and reflect upon things that really made me happy during the holidays.  We all have our favorites, right?

 Favorite Thing #1: Christmas Movies!!!  I absolutely love when I flip through the channels and find one of my favorite holiday movies on.  I can't help myself even if I have seen them 100 times or more. 

 Favorite Thing #2: Baking Christmas Cookies!!!  In fact this past Friday evening, the hubby and I spent the evening baking sugar cookies from scratch and decorating them with frosting and sprinkles.  Baking cookies never gets old and the cookies always just taste so good each year.

 Favorite Thing #3: Christmas Ornaments!!!  There is something about buying new ornaments that makes me incredibly happy.  I tend to get a lot of really neat ornaments from my students (including one today).  I love it!!!  I also have a bad habit of buying a ton of ornaments after the holidays and leaving them in the packages until the following Christmas.  It makes taking out the bins of Christmas decor exciting!

 Favorite Thing #4: Giving Christmas Gifts!!!  I have to say that spending time Christmas shopping can be overwhelming, frustrating, and fun!  I always have a time buying for the men in my family (is this normal in all families?)  and of course the women are pretty easy.  I like to find unusual items to give people because watching them open the gifts is always fun!  There is something about showing the people you love, just how much you care during the holiday season that lights up my life.

 Favorite Thing #5:  Stockings!!!  My entire family has matching stockings that are hand stitched from one of my great aunts.  They are really cute and I have had mine since I was born.  When my husband joined our family, it was one of the first things that was brought up by a family member.  They made sure he had a stocking for his first Christmas with me.  They are one of my favorite things to take out and hang by the fireplace.  It reminds me of family, those close by and those I won't get to see during the holidays.  I know they hang their stockings up as well and that brings me great joy.

Ok...I couldn't resist doing a Favorite Thing #6!!  Christmas Cards!!!  I ordered our Christmas cards before December even hit.  Yes, I know...I just couldn't help it.  I at least waited until December hit to send them out.  Not only do I like sending a little holiday cheer to friends & family but I love opening Christmas cards in the mail.  Even though it is a simple card that hundreds of people are receiving, just knowing that someone thought enough about us to send a card, brightens my day.  So far...we haven't received any in the mail but I am hoping that we will in the days to come.

So what are you some of your favorite December things?

XOXO

-Ashley-

Fun in the Mud!

Whew!  Did anyone else have a case of the Monday's?  I sure did!  I couldn't get to sleep last night so of course waking up at 5:25 this morning did not go well for me.  Although I couldn't get myself together this morning, I was excited to get home and blog!  I have missed blogging and reading all my friends blogs too.  I was also thrilled to get to share this once in a lifetime event that I did with my hubby and in-laws.  

I had never been 4-wheelin'/ATV riding before and my father in law wanted to go for his birthday.  So, I suited up and headed out with the fam for a FULL day of fun, mud, and sore muscles. (Can I say just say I was sore for a full week afterwards).  Here are some of the pictures from our day...

My in-laws found it hilarious to see me all muddy and disgusting.  Apparently, I don't get down and dirty around the in-laws that much.  Secretly, I thought it was a blast and probably played up the "pretty girl" act just a tad. Ok, who hasn't done that a time or two?  So ladies, have you been out ATV riding before?  Did you love it? Hate it? Still undecided?

I loved it!  However, because I was sore for sooooooo long I will have to prepare myself for a future adventure.  I'll probably make sure I wear gloves and warmer clothes.  I may even consider getting cute pink gear to wear for future pics.

Enjoy your Monday evening ladies!

XOXO

-Ashley-