Adorable Audrey

Audrey came over last night and she is soooooooo cute and sweet and getting so big. She has 2 teeth now and is pulling herself up to stand. Time has flown! I feel like I was watching her being born yesterday.

I love chunky baby thighs......mine still look like that...but somehow they lose their appeal once you are out of childhood.
Wondering how Aunt Gee Gee makes that fishy face

Stealing Uncle Evan's Dallas Cowboys hat while he is dozing off

Loving on her Uncle Evan

The sweetest girl in the world!!!! I love this picture...however it is right before I accidentally dropped the camera on her ...Yikes..I felt awful and she cried and I felt worse...sorry Bunny!

Cajun girl already...biting crawfish tails.

Moving Madness!

Well, we moved over the weekend. Weekend...what weekend? I am so tired today...my eyes are burning and I need caffeine like never before! It was non stop...all weekend..moving, cleaning, unpacking and having family over for dinner...yes I am crazy! Finally everything is in our new place, and it is bye bye to the old apartment.

As I drove by it this morning on my way to work I waved with a sad face :( But, I really like our new place. It is now a 12 minute drive to work instead of a 1 minute drive....but now I can listen to my worship music:)

We still have lots of boxes everywhere and it seems like as soon as I get one unpacked, another one appears to take it's place and my sense of accomplishment. Evan tells me to chill out..it doesn't all have to be done right away. I know it doesn't but that's the home decorator in me coming out. Of course I want my decor up so it feels like home. I actually got a good bit unpacked and the living room and kitchen are coming together more than anything. Here is a pic of the living room thus far..still some boxes.

And of course my favorite...the window seat.

So moving into the new place was exciting.... but I had a big highlight of my weekend!!! When I arrived at the new place to clean on Saturday morning, I found this box on the bookcase in the bedroom with the sweetest letter than made me cry and a $75 gift card.....................






I HAVE MY OWN SEWING MACHINE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


My wonderful husband surprised me by leaving it there for me to find along with the gift card to buy supplies. If only I could read you the note he left....I was bawling like a baby while having the biggest smile on my face. I have the most amazing husband in the whole world...he is so good to me.

So, overall it was a good weekend...just a short one. I am sad that I don't have Internet at my new place or cable (I can deal with that). So, I won't be posting to the BLOG as frequently :( I will try to post here and there on my snippets of breaks at school.

Once the new place gets all together, I will repost pics....until then.....I need a NAP!

Angry Eyes

While doing Phonics this morning, I was waiting for students to write their name on their paper and put their heads down to show me they were ready to begin. However, most of my students were cutting up and giggling. Some days I will say something and some days I just give them my "teacher look" and wait to see how long it takes for them to get the point, which is what I did today. You know the one...eyebrows raised and the stare like you are burning a hole into them. If you are a teacher or a parent...you've done "the look" Eventually one of my students saw my face and shouted out "Oh no...Mrs. McGinty has her angry eyes on...we better get quiet" I had to bite the side of my cheek to keep from laughing and look serious. I wonder how many times a day I put put my angry eyes on.

Hoochie Mama Halloween

I have started looking for a Halloween costume earlier than normal this year. My sister's Bachelorette party is on Halloween and it will be a costume party...so I decided I wanted something not so last minute and cute. I looked online at a lot of costume ideas to see ahead of time what I wanted to be. I finally decided it would be wiser to go into the store and try the costumes on so I don't waste money if they don't fit. I found a couple that I thought were pretty cute: red riding hood, robin hood, Dorothy, and a rag doll ( which I really want to be!!) I asked the man to get all of the costumes for me by giving him the 3 digit numbers, which I said over and over in my head in order to remember them.

So, I take the costumes and go into the dressing room, which by the way has no mirror. They have conveniently placed the mirrors outside the dressing room in the middle of the costume department. I think it's so they can get a good laugh at your expense when you come out looking like a dork in your polyester get up. I opted that I would simply decide if it fit well and forgo the mirror embarrassment. I even tried to set up the camera on my cell phone from far away so I could get a full body shot...No Bueno!

I took out the rag doll costume first as it was my favorite. I don't know if you have ever taken a costume out of those plastic bags..but the smell is horrifying it's like burnt plastic and BO. Holding my nose, I tried to slide the costume over my chest...not happening. Onto....the Plus size costumes. Oh how I despise that word! I was determined not to go there...but the polyester and me were not agreeing and one wrong tug and those things rip.

I decide to try on Dorothy first because that is an all time fav costume of mine since I was little. It slid right over hips and chest...no problem. I love the design, it even has a cute Toto on the skirt...ok let's start to zip the zipper. Hey, I think this might work....that is until I realize that my butt cheeks are hanging out the back. This thing is SHORT!! Maybe if I pull it down a little bit better...NOPE....cheeks are feeling the breeze. Bummer...ok maybe the Red Riding Hood will work better.

Gosh the smell of this material makes me want to vomit! You know red is more of my color....I think I like this one better! Pull it up....put on my red hood and I am feeling it..no big bad wolf is gonna mess with me! Check around the skirt...seems a little longer in the front...check the back...CRAP...cheekage! You have got to be kidding me! What is it with these costumes? My butt is not bubbly enough to lift this thing more than normal. Since when did Dorothy and little Red Riding Hood join the Hoochie Mama Realm? Aren't these kids stories?

It has come to my realization that 95% of cute idea women's costumes are sleazy. They are all about being as small as possible to flaunt your body.. I was appalled and frustrated! I am now attempting to make my Rag Doll costume myself. I was trying to avoid that because of time and money..it adds up. But if I want a cute costume that includes more than 1 yard of fabric....I am going to have to make it myself. I have never made anything more than an apron....this should be fun.

Bike Ride Bust

Woke up this morning (not to an alarm..Awesome) and snuggled up to my oh so handsome husband! I love Saturday mornings! I was especially excited this morning, because we had decided to go bike riding on the lake front. The weather in the morning has resembled Fall and a bike ride with my honey sounded enticing. After some cuddle time, and breakfast, we grabbed our bikes, pumped up the tires, and headed to the beautiful lakefront. I couldn't wait to feel the breeze through my pigtails and "Bring" my little American Flag bell as Evan and I shared some fun time.

We get to the lakefront, get my bike out (I love my bike and can't wait to take off). Evan takes his bike out and I hear "Oh Man!" With an "I don't like the sound of that" look on my face I ask what is wrong. His front tire has a flat! The tire must be busted and although it held air when he pumped it in...it decided to let it go after we drove all the way to the lakefront. My sweet husband said that I could go ride for a little while if I wanted and he would wait. This was not what I pictured for our Saturday morning ride. I declined and with forlorn faces we loaded the bikes back up and headed home.

We were both pretty bummed, especially since Evan had to go do yards today. He had put them off so we could bike ride 1st thing this morning. On top of that my Awesome American Flag bell that made the coolest "Brrrrriiiiiingggg" noise is broken :(

I got over it fast...although it was a bust...it's still Saturday, it's still beautiful outside, and God is still Wonderful! Now I am back in the apartment...and guess what I am about to do....PACK!!!! Can you believe it? We actually got most of the office packed last night. Anyway, I have to document everything through photos...so here we are at the lakefront right after we discovered the tire.

Notice the front tire is FLAT!!

Totally Bummed out!

Bible Study & My Best Friend

This Thursday I started our new Bible Study Group with 4 of my lady friends. We are doing the study: The Lies Women Believe and the Truth that Sets Them Free. I have done the study before and remember enjoying it. I was more than thrilled that my best friend for the past 13 years, Lyndsey joined us. I have been Sharing my walk with Christ with her for years and trying to get her to come to church or Bible Study. FINALLY.....she accepted....probably because she knew I would never let down. Anyway, I have been praying for her for years in the hopes that she comes to know God in a very personal way and have a relationship with Him.

She said that she enjoyed it and had misconceptions about what it would be like. My other 3 friends and I are laid back and just real...so there was nothing for her to be intimidated of, but I understood where she was coming from because I was in her shoes way back before I came to know Christ. Anyway, we cracked jokes about how she was actually at a Bible Study and even brought her Bible that I gave her 3 years ago (it was still in the box;)

With her permission to post this picture (because we pose for everything), here is my dear friend posing with her Bible to show that she was in fact at Bible Study. As much as it makes me laugh, I pray that in all seriousness she grows and falls totally in love with Christ. Thank you Lord for the opportunity you have given me to minister to her and love her. If you would, keep Lynds in your prayers as she embarks on this new journey and learns more about the AMAZINGNESS of the KING! Also pray for me that I can be a supportive friend and let God do what he wills through me. I love you Lynds...thanks for stepping out and joining us. You're in for a real treat! By the way...you look cute in this pic:)

The New Digs

Here it is 9:30 and Evan is in bed and I am blogging. Guess how much packing we got done?? NONE! The time passes to fast and we had to go visit our quaint little 1 bedroom tonight to see if we wanted any of the furniture to stay in there when we move in and make a Wal-Mart trip. So....another day down and nothing accomplished. I think we will skip the football game Friday. Anyway, I took some snapshots of the new place so you can get an idea of what it looks like. I will re-post once we have it decorated.


The view when you walk in the door aka the garage. Right now there is a kitchen table to the right which blocks the small door to the stacked washer and dryer...I cannot have that small space filled, so we will be having our table in the living room. To the left is the window seat, past the table is the entrance to the living room and straight ahead is the wood panel kitchen (my least fav part of the place).



Can't wait to sit here and read I am thinking a good quiet time spot...and check out the 2 built in shelves!! Sweet!

The view of the living room from the foyer and our room. Once again awesome book shelves and wood floors. How we will fit everything..I have no clue!


The foyer between our room and the living room. Cool pics but we want them down...just not ours!
Looking into our bedroom from the foyer. It's a big room! ALl of this furniture is not ours and will be out when we move in.

Our room from the opposite view. More shelves and cabinets. LOVE IT!


This cool Singer old school sewing machine was left in our room on the shelf. I love it for decor purposes!

The 1 closet we will share. Luckily it is walk in with lots of shelves and 4 hanging racks. It looks the exact same on the opposite side
The bathroom, which is in our room. Has lots of cabinet space and a laundry closet...1 down side...no bath tub. It is a shower only :( No hot baths to relax anymore. There is a seat in there...so maybe I can just sit in it and pretend I am taking a bath.


This will be Evan's corner for reading and playing guitar in our bedroom. That door actually goes to the kitchen...but we figured we just won't be lazy and we will walk around to get there so he can have a little area.

Well, that's it...can't wait to add my style to it. It will be a few weeks before we get settled...you see how long it has taken us to get packing!

Putting off Packing

I took a look at my calendar and realized...holy cow..we are moving not this weekend, but next. We have not packed a single thing nor found a storage unit. I am wondering when it will actually happen. It seems like every night of the week is filled with something to do, and yet I keep adding to it. I think I am addicted to being busy. You would have thought that after doing the Martha and Mary bible study I would have learned to slow down and get more balance in my life. I am always afraid of missing out on something. Knowing that I have to pack this weekend, I have already planned a football game, a fishing trip, and a night out with friends. Now tell me, how I am going to get anything done? I just hope it all comes together and I stop stressing out and adding to my stress. Evan is always telling me that there is nothing that should stress me out because stress is not from God. I know that..but man it is hard! Tonight the packing begins....I hope we are actually diligent in it and I feel somewhat accomplished.

Something Blue

Sunday was my sister Jaimie's bridal shower. I was so excited because I love party planning and I remember what an exciting time it was for me when I had mine. I was hoping she was as excited. It was a lot of work and a group effort. I feel like the weekend flew by! Here are some pictures from the shower. It turned out really nice and she loved it!

I was so excited about making these paper balls by Martha Stewart. They looked awesome but after making 3 of them..I was over it. I made 7!

These were the favors. Inside the boxes were little diamond paper weights. We had diamonds and crystal decor everywhere along with the blue.

We always over plan and we had way too much food. We all went home with enough for a few days...but the food was AWESOME!!!

Audrey matched the theme!

This little girl is on Cullen's side of the family and we think Audrey is going to look like her at this age. Can you see the resemblance?

Jaimie and Jessye

Of course i made her an apron. It is embroidered with Mrs. Kemp but the picture does not show it very well. The bottom ruffle got cut off also. I will take a better picture and post it soon.

She is so pretty. This dress looked gorgeous on her. I helped her pick it out! We had a fun day shopping for it!

Feeling like a bride: compliments of Bed Bath and Beyond tulleJaimie and Momma. They look so much alike!

"Do you want another one?"

I was so excited to hear that I only had 16 kids at the beginning of the year. It has been great. I find myself counting them all the time to see who is missing, and then they are all there. I know it's crazy, but 16 is a huge difference from 18 (how many I had last year). Well at the end of the day on Friday my principal comes in and asks if I would like another student. I wanted to say "Not really....I am quite content with my 16 THANKS!" However I put a smile on my face and said "sure." I got to meet the little girl and she came into the classroom to meet everyone and get a feel for it. I found out that she comes from a Montessori school where there were only 3 K kids in her class. Her mom said she decided to move her when the child said "Mom, who are my friends?" and the mom had to answer "me and your daddy with tears in her eyes." I called all of the little girls over and introduced her and automatically my students embraced her and took her by the hand to show her around. To my surprise...mom was crying in the background, in relief that her little girl would now have some friends her own age. She seems sweet as does mom and so, I am just fine with adding another one. I hope that our classroom is just where she needs to be: filled with love and friends. So, 17 kids now. Hopefully she is so well behaved, that it still feels like 16. We shall see.

Stopped at 13

The chain has officially been broken. Brian Collins managed to break the cycle, and boy is he excited! Shannon and Brian will have the first boy in the family. Van Jackson (or so I think) will make his debut into this family of girls in January. Well ladies it was a nice run...13 in a row but I guess we have to let the males in sometime. It sure will be an experience to see how this little cutie will fit into the fam. I am looking forward to learning from them in case we ever have one, because i would have no clue what to do with a boy. Way to go guys!!!!!! So much for our cult of women.....it's been fun!

El Shaddai

I have been reading the book: Praying the names of God here and there in my quiet time. Today the name was El Shaddai which translates "Almighty" or "The one for whom NOTHING is impossible." It's reassuring to know that I serve a God who can do anything and He has proven that time and time again. He is strong and unchanging. I am glad to know that God does not come down to my level when I think things are too hard or impossible to accomplish. With Him all things are possible. I pray that I can exhibit enough faith in Him to really believe that. Wow..to think about if I really did believe that, how different my perceptions and outlook would be on so many things. God is so powerful and so many times I water Him down. Just looking back in the bible there are so many times when God did the IMPOSSIBLE and yet I doubt Him now sometimes. God help me to see you as El Shaddai and know and trust that YOU can do all things....Your Power is greater than any limitations that I put on you. Thank you for that!

Labor Day in Texas

I just realized that I have not posted pictures yet from our Texas trip. I take way too many so I can only post a few. But here they are:

Katy Bug loves her Uncle Evan

A very fun night of sneaking onto Evan's old high school baseball field.
Tyler is getting so big!
Blake gave Evan this boat for his graduation present. He fixed it up and now we have a boat...so if you ever want to go out...let us know. I bought a pink fishing pole yesterday!!!We celebrated Debbie Cakes birthday!

Spending the day on the Party Barge...so relaxing!
The dreadful traffic on the way home!....13 hours on a normally 8 hour drive back home.

The Shack: A MUST READ!!

If you have not read the book The Shack by William P. Young yet...I highly recommend it. Evan got it from the library and I found myself picking it up on our Texas trip and not putting it down.... I read it in 2 days. Now I want to buy it, reread it and highlight in it because it was filled with that much goodness!!
It is a fiction novel, but WOW...it taught so much!!!! Very powerful and restoring. I did not agree with every little detail in the book, after all it is not the Bible and you have to use discernment in reading it...but it was an eye opener into how much Christ loves us, how intimate our relationship with Christ should be and how He can restore broken hearts. It will have you in tears and laughing at points. One of the best books I have ever read!! It will blow away some of the "religious boxes" we put God/Christ in. Read it and let me know what you think. You won't be disappointed.

Diva Apron

We are back home with power and Internet..YEA!!!!!! I will be updating the blog with pics from our trip to Texas soon. In the meantime, I had to show off the newest apron that I made. This one was for Evan's mom. Kind of Diva-ish What do you think?