Tenley

Today I had a lunch date with Julie, tiff, and tenley! Tenley was the star of the show! We went to chuys, target, and yogurt mountain!

Christmas gifts

I am so blessed! Below are photos of some of my favorite Christmas gifts this year. I love them all! I also got modern family season one and two. I've never seen it before, but I've already watched three discs-- they are so funny!!!

The greatest gift of all though was quality time with the people I love! I've gotten to see all of my best friends over this trip and it makes my heart so happy. I'm about to spend the afternoon with Tiffany, Julie, and tenley... I couldn't ask for a better way to end this trip home!

Chloe

Chloe is my baby cousin. For years I wanted a little girl cousin, and when I was 15, I finally got one! I love her so much and love spending time with her. She is my favorite kid in this world! When she was five, she got a stepsister who I also adore. Today I took the two of them to lunch, to he frozen yogurt, and to the book store. They both love reading and I let them pick out a book. I hope that they made memories today that they will always look back on and smile!!

I found this picture of me and Chloe when she was three, and then we took one today where she is 9. She is growing up so fast!!

Home for the holidays...

Holly and I made the trek back to Alabama yesterday. I'm so looking forward to a week of relaxation, friends, and family. Merry Christmas!

Photo updates

I finally got around to uploading some pictures on to my computer from my nice camera, so I thought I'd do a post updating with some pictures! Enjoy. :)

Last Friday night I babysat this adorable little boy! Then I spent the day Saturday with him and his sweet momma. I am so thankful for her friendship and for this precious little life! When we were getting ready to go out to eat, Lacey told me to go grab him a bib- and I found this one in the drawer! It says "My Aunt is hot and single", so of course I made him wear it! Isn't he adorable??
This past Friday night we had a Secret Santa trade with some of my best girl friends from church. I had Kathryn and I got her this adorable purple hat and scarf! It is so her style. I really enjoyed picking it out for her, so I hope she enjoys it!
This is Holly and Sarah at the girl's christmas swap.
Last Saturday night was our sunday school class's Christmas party. This is Holly and Zack at the party in their matching shirts. Aren't they adorable?
Here are three of my really good friends here in Dallas! Stephanie, Alex, and Kathryn. And no, Kathryn does not normally dress like this! It was a tacky Christmas party. :)
Me and Ian at the tacky Christmas party. This boy is hysterical! I am so thankful for his friendship and the numerous, numerous giggles he brings into my life. (Also, I hate this photo of me!)

With three of my sweet friends here in Dallas! Amy, me, Kathryn, and Stephanie! I am so thankful for their friendships. We laugh WAY too much and have so many hysterical conversations! It's hard for me to believe that I've only known Amy and Kathryn for a few short months, because I feel like we've been friends forever!

I love this time of year. There is so much time for friends and family! It is so gratifying to remember your blessings during this time. I'm so thankful for the life I live here in Dallas! However, I am super excited about going home in a few days and spending the holidays with my family and friends back home. Merry Christmas!

That kind of Christmas...

I love the Christmas season. I love the parties with friends, I love seeing members of my family that I only see during the holidays, and I love giving gifts-- I love to see people's excitement over things you picked out just for them. I love focusing on the amazing gift of Christ that God gave us. I love the lights, and the mood, and the festiveness. I love almost everything about Christmas.

Except for the fact that my mom isn't here to do Christmas with anymore. She loved Christmas. More than anyone I've ever known. She loved getting her friends and family together during the holidays and she loved decorating and she absolutely loved reading the story of Jesus's birth over and over during the season.

Whenever I hear this song, I think of her.

She had her bone marrow transplant right after Thanksgiving. She told us beforehand that she would still be really sick at Christmas and that Christmas wouldn't look normal that year, but to just hang on because she was going to get so many more Christmases out of this bone marrow transplant, and each one would hold so much more meaning for us. She was right in the fact that Christmas didn't look normal that year, and it hasn't looked normal since.

However, I am so thankful that my lala taught me the love of Jesus, because I know that one day, Christmas would hold so much more meaning for us. Because one day, we will all be with her again on Christmas Day, except we will be with Jesus celebrating with Him. That idea is what keeps me going on the days that I miss her the most. I can't wait for that kind of Christmas.

Thoughts on Thursday

Hello, long lost blog world. I feel like I haven't updated on life in about... forever. I apologize for that, but life has been simply crazy. Story of my life, right? So here is a list of random thoughts...

1. There are 9 days of school left before Christmas break, and I am dying.If you keep up with my blog, you know that I adore my job. But seriously? Trying to keep 147 7th graders engaged in the days leading up to Christmas? Yea, it's impossible. And exhausting. And turning my hair grey. Is it December 21 yet???

2. Besides work, life has been pretty crazy too. I've been selling a lot of my personalized gifts as Christmas quickly approaches. I've also had outings with friends pretty frequently-- dinners, movies, christmas parties, etc. I am looking forward to a nice, quiet night at home soon.... I'm just waiting to find out when that will be!

3. This weekend we are having our Sunday School's Christmas party on Saturday night. It should be pretty fun. I love the people in my sunday school class. They have changed my life here in Dallas and have become some of my closest friends that I have ever had. I look forward to celebrating the birth of our Savior with them (as well as dressing in tacky Christmas attire and trading White Elephant gifts!!)

4. I am pretty much done Christmas shopping. That is always a sad time for me because I love wrapping Christmas presents. It's almost like there is a void that needs to be filled when it's over. We do still need to buy a gift or two for our older brother as well as our grandfather and two guy cousins. Obviously, we struggle with the whole buying for males things. I wish they were easier to buy for!!! If anyone has any suggestions for an 80something year old man, a 26 year old guy, an 18 year old, and a 12 year old you let me know! Ha!

5. I am sooo excited about Alabama going to the National Championship this year! Like, so excited. I want to go to the game so bad. I finished my under-grad in 4 years... and ever since Sunday I am wishing I had taken five years followed by a 2 year masters degree because then I would be a student at Alabama right now with an easy ticket to the game! Unfortunately, that didn't happen. Which means I'm a poor teacher who can't afford the $1,500 ticket! I have texted my dad every day telling him I reallllly want a ticket, but he keeps saying he can't find any for cheap. I'm crossing my fingers that one will be under the Christmas tree like it was two years ago, but I'm not getting my hopes too high this year! Maybe something will work out.

6. Today I sent my request to the district to take two days off in May for my little brother's graduation. Since it is the Thursday and Friday before Memorial Day, I had to get special permission. They said yes, of course. I am just so sad that my baby brother is a senior in high school and about to graduate! Where did the time go? It seems like just yesterday when I was the senior in high school and he was the chubby little fifth grader. Geez! I'm so proud of him! :)

7. I really need to go to wal-mart this afternoon, but I'm dreading it. Is there anyone else out there who hates the idea of going to wal-mart? I dread it. It's awful!!!

8. I went to the dentist again on Tuesday to get my crown put on that tooth that I had a root canal on a month ago. It cost so much money. I'm so broke right now. These teeth have cost a fortune this year. I'm praying that I don't have to go back to the dentist until my next cleaning in June! I'm sure he likes seeing me (because me=$$$), but I don't care to see him again anytime soon! (Because he=spending $$$$)

9. So at one point last week, holly and I thought that we weren't going to be able to Christmas with our mom's family. It has always been a tradition that her family gets together on Christmas Eve. We use to do it at our mom's house. It has always been so much fun!! It's seriously the highlight of my Christmas. Well, we found out that they were giong to move it to the 23rd. Holly and I aren't even going home until the 23rd, so there was no way we could make brunch on that day. I was so upset about it, because it basically meant no Christmas for us. Kevin and Alicean aren't coming home until the 27th, so they won't be there for Christmas. We normally do Christmas morning with my Pawpaw, but he passed away in January. We normally do Christmas lunch with my Mawmaw G and Mawmaw K, but Mawmaw K passed away in Janurary too and I don't know if Mawmaw G will drive down alone. So when we talked about the fact that the Moore family Christmas was going to be on the 23rd and we wouldn't make it, Holly and I discussed the idea of not going to Alabama until the 27th when Kevin and Ali went home-- because we literally wouldn't be doing anything until then away. But then my grandmother emailed us the other day and it's all worked out-- the Moore family Christmas will be on Christmas eve! I am so glad. This Christmas will be so different from the past few, so I am thankful that at least one thing will still be the same.

All right, that's enough for random thoughts on Thursday. I hope you are all doing well and enjoying the holiday season!!!!! Happy Thursday!

ROLL TIDE!!!

#2 in the country.

Rematch with LSU.

Road to #14.

Revenge.

Never Again.

Nola---

HERE.

WE.

COME.

ROLL TIDE!