just another day at the office

I haven't really said much about school lately, but it's going really great this year. It's flying by super fast though! It's about to be "concert season"- from the end of March through the beginning of May I have about 10 concerts... whoo hoo! But I love it. There are definitely those days when I try to strategize in my mind just exactly how I can finangle my life to just do Children's Choir, piano lessons and photography- and not teach school anymore. But I know there are parts of teaching I would miss alot. Who knows where God is going to take my life so I'm just trying to enjoy my career right now and bracing myself each day for these wild and woolly middle schoolers. As much as I want to strangle them sometimes, they really do make me laugh at how cool they are trying to be, but how goofy they really are! (I mean, do you remember when you were in 6th grade?? I don't know about you, but I was as far from cool as they came!) Here are a few photos I took in some of my classes last week... And middle school boys are a whole other ballgame...!

But we're all jumping for joy because there are only 15 more school days til Spring Break!! Whoo hoo!

fat tuesday

We truly celebrated FAT tuesday by taking Audrie for her very first Krispy Kreme donut! (This was after a big yummy barbque dinner at Whole Hog.) And can you believe I didn't have a camera on me, so Jamie captured Audrie's big moment on his phone... Baby's First Donut.Audrie thought her daddy looked pretty silly in her hat.And Grandma, too! (Sorry, Donna, for posting a photo of you in your glasses!) Audrie was pretty hyped up on sugar from her donut, but a girl has got to splurge every now and then, right??

lookout wimbledon

Audrie and I got to be cheerleaders for Jamie at his tennis tournament this weekend. I always love watching Jamie play and this time Audrie seemed truly intrigued by her daddy running around all over the place hitting a ball . She is ready to be his doubles partner!She made a new friend...
Jamie explained all the rules to her (which I still don't really understand myself)...
And she cheered from the sidelines and dreamed of someday when she could be the ball girl...
Jamie played awesome even though he didn't win. It wears me out just watching him!

I know Jamie can't wait to enroll Audrie in tennis lessons, but maybe she should learn to not eat the tennis ball first.

confessions

I think Friday nights are starting to become my girl's night out. I didn't really intend for that to happen but it seems the past few Friday evenings I've been able to sneak away for some good times with my gal pals. A few fridays ago I got together at Johnny Carino's with a big group of girls that I know from random places- church, neighbors, bunco, college friends, etc. There are alot of really neat girls in this group that I don't know but I like making new friends, too, so it was really fun!

And this Friday night I got together with a few of my dear friends to go see Confessions of Shopaholic and it was a wonderful chic flick! Melanie's belly made a perfect popcorn holder and I ate chocolate til I was sick, but it was great to hang out. (Luckily when the movie was over the mall was closed so we were all able to resist the shopping urges that the movie brought out!) Most of the girls had to get home but Kim and I went to Fish City for a few hours afterward to solve the world's problems.

Kim's a great therapist... maybe she should open another side business- she'll take your photos and also listen to your problems...! And Jamie was actually excited to have the house to himself (well, him and the baby monitor) because he finally got to get some Xbox time in and that made him happy.

everything but the kitchen sink

Jamie and I realized the other night what horrible parents we are.... Audrie is a year old and she's never had a bath in the kitchen sink. C'mon! I don't think you can be raised in Arkansas if you haven't bathed in the sink, right?? So we put Audrie in the sink and at first she wasn't quite sure what was going on...But then she realized how super fun it was and had a great time.

get the RED out

Jamie and I have always had a little "wish list" of things we'd like to change in our house since we moved in three years ago, but it's just been a slow process. (Not a lot of spare time or energy to put into it.) But this past weekend we decided to make a small dent in that list. For awhile now I've been really tired of all the red in our house and been dying to paint our formal dining room/ piano room which has had these hugely overbearing red walls and ceiling...

So after two coats of primer and a gallon of paint... here's the brand new look!

And of course with new paint must come new accessories! Jamie was a little confused why exactly we needed six new throw pillows...

I redid the floral arrangements in my vases, too.

And tied some ribbon around new lampshades...

Not sure how I feel about the random pottery, yet, but it fit the color scheme and was crazy cheap so I got it!

I really like the fresh clean feel with this color, but it has taken some time to get used to this totally different atmosphere.
But here is my new favorite thing. I've had this gigantic picture frame for many years now in my kitchen that I've tried putting different things in (and my brother Caleb even painted me an amazing canvas for it) but this weekend I took his artwork out and spray painted the whole glass with chalkboard paint and I love it!

A huge space for me to do my two favorite things... make lists and doodle!

Here's what kitty thought of all the change...

We still have a lot left on our list but it feels good to have this crossed off!