It's been a while...

It’s been a while…

I haven’t written in forever! Things got super busy our anniversary, the school year winding down, Special Olympics, and bible school at church…But now its summer!

Speaking of summer, I still haven’t found a summer job! I’ve looked and applied everywhere! So if anyone out there knows of anywhere that might be hiring…please let me know!

Since I wrote last…John and I got new phones! We finally joined the 21^st century and got smart phones! And now I’m not sure how on earth I survived without being about to Google anything at any time at anyplace. A big reason that I wanted to switch phones was so I could easily track and keep up with my points for weight watchers….so when I was within two tenths of a pound away from my first set goal weight…I was so happy and so sure that I would meet it very soon!  But…the next time I went to weigh in (about 3 days later) I had gained two tenths of a pound!

I went home and cried. Since then I have not been so great with sticking to the plan and going to the gym like I should. I haven’t lost any more weight but one really great thing is that I haven’t GAINED any weight either. I am getting back on track this week!

In other news…

 John and I celebrated 6 years of being together. Our first date was on May 5, 2006. I was still at Gardner-Webb University and John was living in Asheville. He came to visit and we went out to eat at Ruby Tuesday and watched a movie. Every year we go to Ruby Tuesday on Cinco de Mayo to celebrate…this year being no exception. We also went to the Pisgah-Tuscola Alumni Football Game…

So the obsession begins…

John really liked the idea of getting together a bunch of guys that used to play for Erwin (his school) and having a football game against their rivals, Enka. To make a long story short he did it…and the game is June 30^th at 7! Come out and watch my {super cute} husband and a bunch of other guys relive their glory days. It will be a lot of fun and if you buy your tickets before- hand a portion of the proceeds go to help a local coach pay for medical bills.

Also, I made this fabulous pizza!

And it was amazing!

All you need is:

·        Pizza crust (I used a store bought crust but you could make your own if you wanted to. I used Rustic Crust Thin & Crispy Italian Thin Crust)

·        ½ tsp. garlic powder

·        1tsp dried oregano

·        10 oz. chopped frozen spinach

·        1 large fresh tomato

·        1 cup Fat Free Ricotta Cheese

·        ½ cup Fat Free Feta Cheese

All you do is:

·        Preheat oven to 400°

·        Combine ricotta and garlic powder and spoon mixture over crust (don’t get it too close to the edges…stop about ½ inch away).

·        Top with spinach, tomato, and feta.

·         Sprinkle with oregano. Bake until edges are golden (about 12 minutes or so).

It was so yum and only 4 points per piece. We had 8 pieces total. 

What else you ask?

Memorial Day Weekend!

Our first anniversary!

We had anniversary pictures taken by the wonderful Kendall Chandler of Sister’s Photography! I’ve known Kendall and Kelly my whole life and love them like family; they do great work and also did my bridal portraits

And our wedding pictures too!

We were going to go somewhere for our anniversary but John torn a hamstring in his leg so we decided to stay home at the last minute. We exchanged the traditional 1^st year anniversary gifts of paper. John got me a reservation for a class at Paint and Mingle and we had sooo much fun! It’s this awesome place where you can take snacks and such and learn to paint a painting (of all things!) and have fun with others! Here are the paintings we did.

I got him this journal

It’s the Happiness Project Journal…it’s a one sentence a day journal for five years. So far we have had a lot of fun writing in it every night before bed. It will be great to look back on these years later in life. I also got him a map…so we can plan vacations together and a really cool paper puzzle thingy.

Shortly after that school ended! I made it through my first year teaching! :)

Then we went to Raleigh, NC for the North Carolina Special Olympics Summer Games. Our power lifters did amazing! So proud of them!

And then Bible School started. I’ve been involved with Bible School at my church for as long as I can remember. I am so grateful to my parents for raising my brother and me in such a great church family. If you are in need of a church community ...you should come check us out at Maple Ridge Baptist Church. 

Then…my cousin and his wife had their precious baby boy. Colton Jack Robinson came into this world on June 10 and we got to go see him that day! He is precious! 

Have I mentioned I’m slightly baby-crazy?

Which brings me slightly up-to-date. 

This week I recycled crayons and made some new ones! It was a super cool and easy way to reuse the broken and gross crayons from my classroom instead of having to throw them away. 

Step 1- lots of old and broken crayons! I just saved all the ones from my classroom this year.

Step 2-take off all the paper. It is much easier to use a razor blade when doing this…rather than peeling each paper wrapper off each crayon. Carefully use a razor blade to glide down the side of the crayon where the seam is in the paper…then just simply pull it off.

Step 3- sort the crayons by color. If you want to make multi-colored crayons you can skip this part.

Step 4- break or cut the crayons into small pieces and put them into cyclone cups. I also put the cyclone cups into a cheap muffin tin I bought from the dollar store. This helps catch any spills during the melting process.

Step 5- Carefully remove from the oven and let cool for a couple of minutes, you don’t want to let them sit too long or the hardening process will begin. Then pour them into a mold or popsicle maker thing that you get from the dollar store. The first round was a little messy but I got the hang of it by the end…but I forgot to take a picture of the less messy sets. 

Step 6- Cool the melted crayons in the fridge…make sure they are completely hardened before removing. Most of the crayons came out easily after setting in the fridge for an hour or so. If you have trouble getting them out run cool water over the outsides. 

I am so happy with the way these turned out! Not only is it great to be able to reuse supplies from last year but the shapes are easy for young children or children with fine motor delays to hold and use.

You could use this basic concept to do lots of different shapes, sizes, colors, and crafts!

I plan on doing at least 1 classroom project a week this summer to get ready for August! I’ll try to share as many as I can with you!