Our Christmas Surprise!

Just before Thanksgiving, Jamie and I found out were are pregnant! As you can imagine, we have been and still are, floating on cloud 9!! But, we decided to wait until Christmas to tell anyone. That would allow me time to go to the dr. and we also thought it would make our news more special (I'll post a blog about how we told them too). The week before Christmas, we got our first glimpse at Baby Godfrey. The Dr. said everything looked great and blood work was great. We even got to hear the heartbeat, which I wasn't expecting at all. Baby G's heartbeat was 176 bpm. Looking forward to our January appointment!

We truly are so very blessed!

Brayden turns two!

Look at my sweet boy! He turned two on Veteran's Day. My how the time flies.

Bella and the Skunk

So, the other night, just before bed, we let Scooter and Bella out to do their business. Usually, at night, they quickly go out and back in so we don't leash them. All of a sudden, we hear crazy barking. We immediately ran outside and found that Bella had cornered a skunk that was in the yard. She was giving him the buisness, so he decided to give her the buisness and sprayed her right between the eyes. However, we didn't know it, so we got her back in the house and then realized what had happened. Oh my goodness...worse smell ever!!! It didn't smell like the skunk smell you smell outside, but it smelled like burning rubber. It was awful. To make matters worse, the spraying happened right near our air intake so it got into the central air. Thankfully, Jamie's mom had some tomato juice and brought it to us so we could bathe Bella. It helped quite a bit, but the smell was still unbearable in our house. Neither of us could sleep--I coughed me head off because the smell made my throat scratchy. It was awful, and unfortunately, the smell has stuck around. Hopefully, it will wear off soon.

Back to School, Back to School

Today was my first day back in school. I started an EDS program through Lincoln Memorial University. I'm seeking the degree in administration and supervision. For those of you who may not be familiar, an EDS is a education specialist degree, which consists of thirty hours of study beyond the maters level. You can stop after the thirty hours and receive an EDS degree, or you can continue in to the doctorate program, where the thirty hours of the EDS program will serve as the first year of the doctorate program, leaving 42 hours to complete the entire doctorate program. While I'm completely undecided about whether I will continue or not after this year, I am excited about being back and school. :) However, this does mean, blogging will like be limited (again). :(

The Black Widows...

So, I was out working in our garden the other day and I noticed one of the pepper plants had fallen down. So, naturally, I decided to pick it up. I had planned to just build up the dirt around the base for extra support. But, when I reached in, I felt something crawly. I immediately jerked my hand out and grabbed my shovel to see what it was. Low and behold, there was a momma black widow and her baby (and maybe babies, but I didn't stick around to find out). I will be wearing gloves from now own in the garden! GROSS!

Sarah Got Married!

Many of you know my college roommate, Sarah. I recently had the wonderful privilege of being a bridesmaid in her wedding. She was a stunningly beautiful bride. During our time living together, we both experienced the pain of being broken hearted. To see Sarah find such happiness and to marry a man who is so good to her and for her brought more joy to my soul than you can imagine. It was an honor to share such a special day with her, even if it was at a 98 degree outdoor wedding :)

Sarah and I used to joke that when we got married we should write a book for each other's husband after all we learned about each other while living together. So, the night before the wedding, Sarah, her sister, and all the bridesmaids, made a book for Ryan. I hope he takes us up on our advice to him!

National Board Tests

In addition to the dreaded portfolio, the National Board process also requires that you take a six-part test. Each part (for me) was on a different subject area and included literacy, math, arts, social studies, science, and health. Each essay must be completed in 30 minutes--it's a booger to say the least. But, I was thankful to have my friend, Sara with me. What an adventure the day turned out to be. When we arrived at the testing center, they would not let Sara in to take the test because her driver's license was expired. She had several forms of id, but they wouldn't accept any of them. I thought this was ridiculous because even if it had expired, it was still able to verify who she was. Nonetheless, the lady there agreed to let us push back our test time so we could go to the DMV and get Sara a new license. We had to wait there at the DMV for about an hour and a half, and by that time, we were just giddy, and laughing about everything. By that time, it was time for lunch, but we didnt' have time to eat. We had to start the test by one or we wouldn't get it finished by the time they closed. As frustrating as that all sounds, I actually think it was God's way of taking my mind off things. By the time the test actually started, I wasn't nervous anymore and was just finding the humor in the day. As a matter of fact, when I read my science question (which was beyond ridiculous!!), I was able to laugh instead of cry! :) The best part of the story is what happened after the test. Apparently, the test, along with the events of the day, took quite a toll on me. We decided to do a little retail therapy after the test and I went to Michaels to buy t-shirts for my kids so we could make EOG spirit shirts. So there I stand in Michaels with an arm full of shirts and this lady says, "Awww...you must be a grandmother!" I know I must have looked dumbfounded--I must have looked rougher than I thought, but grandmother, really??.....Glad that NB crap is over, at least for the time being.