Our Weekend

We had a SUPER but very busy weekend! Since I have been out of school I have yet to have a free day. We have been on the go constantly. Friday was my very first day to get to stay home since summer began. I worked around the house doing laundry, working on yard sale stuff, napping, catching up on my DVR's and working outside. It was a great day! Friday evening we went to my school and Josh took a photo of me in front of the masonry sign for my beginning of the year postcards. I am trying to get a head start on my school stuff this year!

Friday for dinner we were invited to the Thompson's for a BBQ. We had originally planned to go to Dawt Mill, but Kody decided to treat us to a great meal at their house. We had grilled burgers, squash, the best guacamole I have ever had, baked beans, and I made a salad. It was delicious! We had a great time visiting and laughing! After dinner we took a short drive around their home and into town. We got home late and went to bed.

Saturday morning we woke up and got ready to go to Springfield for the Richter/Roper Wedding. The wedding was later in the evening, but we decided to go up early to eat at Hinode (our favorite) and shop a little. I have the best hubs! He will shop until he drops and will not complain one ounce! :) I got new material for classroom curtains at the FM store. I love the material...I will share pictures soon! We checked into our hotel and got ready for the wedding. We went to the wedding at 6. It was very hot, but luckily the ceremony was in a shaded area. Chance is a family friend of my family and close friends with Josh. We are so happy for him and Danielle. After the wedding we made our way to the Springfield Stock Yard Center for the reception. It was a great time! :) We made our way back to the hotel late Saturday evening/Sunday morning.




We woke up early Sunday morning and went to Cracker Barrel for breakfast. It was the best! We stopped at one of our favorite grocery stores in Spfd. before making our way back home. Josh grabbed a few necessities for grilling. We got home around 12:30 and I took a ciesta, did up our laundry, we worked in the yard and our garden, and began preparing for dinner. We had my parents over for grilled chicken, squash, zucchini, potatoes, fresh tomatoes (not from our garden....yet) and strawberry shortcake. It was a great end to a great weekend.

Introducing my niece; ELLIE

I have been so excited to introduce ya'll to my new pride and joy...my niece Ellie JoLynn Tyree. She is such a bundle of joy to each of us. It is so hard to believe that my brother has a baby! I remember when he was just a young tike himself, but now he has his own spitting image. Yes, their baby photos are so similar its hard to tell them apart! My sister and I have also been told she looks a lot like us too! :)

Birth Story:

Ellie was due on January 2, 2011. I was so hopeful that she might come during my Christmas break and I would get to love and hug on her before I went back to school after the new year. No such luck. Heather was set for an induction for January 5th with the plan of a scheduled c-section. Luke, Heather, my mom and Robin arrived at the hospital early morning on the 5th to begin the induction/c-section. I took the 5th off of school so I could be there when Ellie was born (I wouldn't have missed it for anything). Dr. Barrow began Heather on medication to induce her labor, Dr.B said that he would watch her closely and if she wasn't dilated to a specific cm. by noon he would consider a c-section. Dr.B was one busy doctor on the 5th. He delivered four babies before noon. He would check Heather's process periodically. Around 10 a.m. he gave her an epidural. Heather did a great job. She dilated approximately 6 cm. in less than an hour! We couldn't believe the progress. Heather pushed for less than 20 minutes and our sweet baby girl was here! Ellie JoLynn was born at 12:05 p.m.weighing in at 7 lbs. 2 oz. and 20 inches long. We could hear her crying from the hallway and couldn't wait to get our hands on her. We finally got the okay to go in. She was perfect. It was amazing to watch my brother hold her and to witness my parents seeing her for the first time. Tears me up still to this day! We passed her around and loved on her before it was time for her bath. We stayed most of the day and then went home later that evening. It was so hard to leave. Here are some photos from Ellie's BIRTHday!

She does have a SET of lungs! ha!

Luke, Heather and Ellie

Daddy and his girl!

MiMi and Papa with Ellie

Papa, Uncle Josh and Daddy with Ellie

My pride and joy!

Aunt Kate and Ellie

Thesis is DONE!

I began working on my Masters degree in February. I am getting my degree in Elementary Administration with hopes to be an administrator one day! It is going great. Its been a wonderful experience taking classes with some of my co-teachers in our school district. We are learning great things from our instructors as well as each other! I have completed 12 hours thus far. Several more hours to go...but I have the MAIN project DONE! Yes, I said DONE! Writing my thesis is something that I have dreaded doing for quite sometime. I began working on it in April and finished it this week!

My thesis is about how organized classroom structure does impact a students learning. I compared a self-contained 5th grade classroom to a departmentalized 5th grade classroom and found that departmentalized classrooms are the best choice for 5th grade students. I compared our; departmentalized 2010 MAP scores to a comparable school district in the state that is self-contained in the 5th grade and found that ours was much higher. Just exactly what I wanted to prove! :)

Summer school is almost over, my thesis is DONE and now its time to relax! Let my Summer vacation begin!

I am BACK!

Hello long lost blogging friends...I am back after taking nearly a year break from the BLOG world. Through encouragement from friends and the addiction I have reading your blogs...I am BACK! I have made a pledge to myself that I will take 20-30 minutes a day or every other day to document something into my online "journal".

This is what has been keeping me away from the BLOG world for quite some time now.

I just completed my first full year of teaching 5th grade. It was AMAZING! This was me on the first day: August 18th, 2010

I have also been chasing this pretty girl around watching her play ball. She had a great season and got a great softball scholarship to Lyon College in Batesville, Arkansas. (1 1/2 away from home)

I took on LOTS of extra duties at school this year. I was the Student Council sponsor of approximately 200 middle school students. Can I say...BUSY! ha!

On January 5, 2011 my brother had the most precious baby girl born: Ellie JoLynn Tyree. We cannot get enough of this little bundle of joy! You will be reading lots about her in posts to come.

Late winter/early spring I began knitting! I have knitted many things...headbands, handwarmers, baby items...the list goes on and on! I cannot wait to share my new hobby with you!

Josh and I hosted our 2nd Annual Easter lunch at our home again this year. It was a great celebration!

On May 19, 2011 Kate graduated high school. It was a great day and something worth celebrating for days to come! Congratulations!




On May 30th Josh and I celebrated our 2nd Anniversary. We celebrated by going to St. Louis to a Cardinal baseball game. We both LOVE Cardinal baseball. We hold the CARDS dear to our hearts because we became engaged moments before going to a Cardinal game in 2009! Its a tradition that we go each year on our anniversary!

Since school has been out I have been teaching summer school. I taught a 3 day Camp Bear program (Missouri State University: offered a kids college course). It was great fun and I got to spend some great time with some of my previous kiddos! I have two weeks left of regular summer school and then I will definitely be ready to RELAX!!

More to come soon...until then Happy Summer!