I Tip My Hat to 2013

I have started making it a tradition in my blog world to write a post about the special moments in my life throughout the previous year...so here it is!
If you want to see 2011 - click here!
If you want to see 2012 - click here!
We had some amazing moments in 2013 and it makes me even more excited for 2014! *Click on any of the colored text to see that blog post!*

January

We went on a cruise with my mom's side of the family. It was Trevor's first time to go on a cruise and we had an amazing time. We got to spend time with family and we also had some time to ourselves!
I blogged about that and you can see that here!

February
I went to visit my best friend in the world - Nichole - in Atlanta! We had such a fun girls trip! Read about it here!

March
For my birthday we always take a trip somewhere...this year we decided to go to Fort Worth with our neighbors Randy and Cassie. Cassie's Birthday is the day before mine so we had a great weekend celebration! Click here to read about our Birthdays and Bruised Tailbones!

April
For Trevor's birthday we had a "man day." We had plans to go fishing and shooting, but we only had time for the shooting! It was my first time to shoot and we had a great day! Our friend Katy even got to hang out with us...you can read all about it here!

May
We made a couple lake trips in May and they were both really fun! At the beginning of the month, we went on a houseboat trip and then at the end of the month we went to Lake Tenkiller for Memorial Day Weekend!

June
This might have been my favorite month! Trevor and I made a trip to South Carolina and it was AMAZING!! We visited a lot of Trevor's family and we made it our "anniversary trip!" It was probably my favorite vacation I have ever been on! Each place we visited was such an experience, I have a blog post for each one! :)
Francis Marion National Forest
Beaufort
Charleston/ Mt. Pleasant/ Isle of Palms
Georgetown/Plantersville
Myrtle Beach

July
Summers are always jam packed with fun and July was no different! Three really exciting and fun things happened in July and here they are!
First up 4th of July! We went to OKC to hang out with our friends!

Then, one of my amazing friends and Little in the sorority got married to her high school sweetheart which is one of Trevor's great friends! Such a great weekend!!

To wrap up July, I was asked to teach at a performing arts summer camp and I had the best time...read about it here!

August
Whiskey turned one!! We even threw him a little Birthday Party!!

September
Trevor and I ran our first 5K in September and it was such a great experience! I may even run another in my lifetime! :)

October
Trevor and I have separate highlights in October because we took separate trips! Trevor went to Canada for hunting and I went to DC to visit my brother! Both of us had amazing times on our vacations!

November
Trevor and I made a trip to Austin, TX with some friends for the OSU game...thankfully we got to go to the game and OSU WON!

December
I had so much fun on our snow days! This was my first time to have snow days as a teacher and I probably had more fun now then when I was a kid!

2013 was a fantastic year and I'm excited to see what 2014 has! In the blog world I had some great posts that seem to spark some interest on pinterest...here are my top viewed blog posts from the year!
3. Integer Activity - this is definitely a teacher post
2. Back to School - obviously another teacher post
1. My New Burlap Curtains - here is a DIY post - I absolutely LOVE my curtains!

HAVE A SAFE NEW YEARS!!! We are headed to the Stoney LaRue concert!

Morris Family Christmas

Trevor and I are notorious for giving each other gifts early...so we couldn't break tradition this year. Plus, last year we were so busy running from one family to the next that we never really took time to enjoy Christmas together just the two of us...and the pups! So we decided to do our family Christmas this past Saturday. We woke up late...I mean, I think it's the latest we have slept in all year! We made some waffles for breakfast and then watched a movie. We rented We're the Millers the night before, so we decided to watch that in the afternoon. We bought some Omaha Steaks awhile back (thanks for the gift card Katy!!), so we wanted to cook a good steak meal! We made them in our broiler for the first time and it turned out great! We also made delicious bacon wrapped asparagus and our favorite- mac and cheese! It was an amazing meal!

Then we opened our gifts! We actually already gave each other our big gifts (surprise surprise), so we really just had small things to give each other. Our big gifts were a yeti cooler (for Trevor) and a new laptop (for me). Trevor has been wanting this cooler for years, so I finally saved up and bought him one! Then I decided to give it to him in October since he wanted to take it on his trip to Canada. And the reason I got a laptop was because ours kind of died in November, so Trevor got me a new one since I need it for work. 

Trevor's gifts! 

My gifts!! Please notice the one on the left wrapped in a birthday bag! Haha! I'm just surprised they were even wrapped! Trevor has only wrapped about 3 gifts in his life and they are all sitting right there!!

We of course got the pups a little something and they were so excited!!!!

It has been so pretty outside with this ice storm...I know it's sad when the trees break and things, but the ice makes everything look really neat! 

To wrap up our Christmas weekend, we went to the Christmas service at Lifechurch and of course when there is a photo opt, I take advantage! 

We ended our fabulous relaxing weekend with some hot chocolate!

We are looking forward to spending the holiday with family!! We are fortunate that we get to see all our family members at least for a little while this week. 

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Happy Birthday Winnie!!!

Today is my sweet puppy's birthday....you should know by now that I go all out on Birthdays!! 

Trevor bought Winston for me for Valentine's Day/my 21st birthday. It was the first "serious" gift Trevor had bought me and we definitely referred to him as "our dog." That might have been the first sign of us planning to be together forever!

I actually didn't do too much, but I honestly spoil him 365 days a year! We gave him a specialty bone this morning that he is still working in this evening. I also went to Freddy's after work and picked up a pup cup! He absolutely LOVES ice cream!! 

Here are some adorable pics Winnie the Poo over the years!!

 

Happy Birthday Winston!! Yes, I'm obsessed!!

A Very Special Letter From Santa...Why Teachers Must Be Magic!

Dear Teachers,

I have been meaning to write this letter for a long time! It is a letter that I feel is long overdue and with the elves getting all ready for my long ride, I finally found the time! I have been watching teachers for many years and I am amazed at the work they do. I have come to a conclusion that the teaching profession, like my own, must be filled with bits of magic! Please let me provide ten statements of evidence for my belief.

1. I travel the world one night of the year visiting all the boys and girls of the world. The teaching profession works with every boy and girl all year long. This equates to each teacher fulfilling educational needs for 30—200 children each and every school day. Seems like magic to me!

2. I deliver presents to all the boys and girls. From my Toy Repair Shop statistics, I find many of these gifts are broken or no longer garner a child’s interest within months! Yet teachers find inner gifts in every child. Teachers nurture these inner gifts until they develop into true presents that will last a lifetime. These kinds of gifts sure seem like magic to me!

3. I keep my naughty and nice list for every child. Some people believe this job is pretty amazing! Yet when I look at the teaching profession, teachers provide a constant evaluation of all their students. Their list covers all the aspects of developing and learning which they report to children’s parents and to the children themselves. This evaluation is based on a wide variety of observations, data, and student performance. Teachers will then use this list to help improve each and every student! Wow, keeping track of every student’s ability and prescribing ways to be successful must really be magic!

4. I leave presents to students who are on the nice list and who believe in me. Teachers work with all children because they believe in every student. Teachers continue to do so, even when students stop believing in the educational system’s ability to help them achieve. That type of persistence has got to be magic!

5. I have operated my own workshop using the same technology for hundreds of years and it has worked for me. Then again, I work with children when they are asleep, delivering presents in my own way. Teachers work with children when they are awake and they have spent time learning how to engage children using googles, blogs, phlogs, glogs, prezis, and all these other words I really don’t know. Being able to teach, transform, and accommodate for this new digital generation must really be magic!

6. I have made it a practice to leave coal behind for children who do not make my good list! It seems every year the same children always get the coal. Teacher refuse to leave coal. In fact, they are working hard at leaving no child behind. To work towards a goal of leaving no child behind is a true act of magic!

7. I read the news and I am always thankful to read all the nice articles about my work. It really does provide me with motivation to keep up my vocation. I read news articles about the education profession and it seems that most articles are unsupportive. Yet, teachers keep working hard at providing success for their students! These teachers must be operating on a little bit of magic!

8. I have thousands of elves, of course the reindeer, and the community of the entire North Pole to assist me. Teachers work every day, many times by themselves, as they provide new opportunities for their students. Carrying that load alone must be much heavier than my bag of toys. It must really be magic!

9. I receive many a thank you and millions of pictures of happy faces as children open their presents each year. Teacher don’t always get a thank you, or may never see the present get eventually opened. When they do, appreciation may come from decades later! A thank you that appears after many years must be the result of pure magic!

10. I discovered a light in Rudolph brightens up a dark, foggy, or snowy night so that I can deliver joy to all the children across the world. Teachers provide the light that brightens our world in both the darkest night and the brightest day! It is the light of learning and knowledge! The ability to keep that light burning bright must take quite a bit of magic!

You see, I have found that magic does not come easily. It is made possible only by those who work hard and keep believing, and seek what they know is possible! As you can see, there must be a great deal of magic in the education profession! Please continue to keep this magic alive and know that you are all on my good list. After all, I had to learn all that I do from somewhere! So from across the years I know I have many teachers to thank! To all teachers across the world...I really do believe in you!!

Thanks for all the magic,

Santa

Christmas Time

I'm sure I'm driving Trevor crazy with all the Christmas music...but I don't care! I love Christmas music!! I would love to see the Transiberian Orchestra...maybe next year!! 

We got all of our Christmas decor out the week of Thanksgiving, but since this is only our 2nd holiday season in our new home, we have minimal decor. Between Affair of the Heart, Black Friday shopping and the Darnaby Craft Show, I got lots of new goodies that I adore!! 

Here is our entertainment center! I love it with all the Christmas stuff!! 

All the little decor!! Starting in the top left: my mom gave me the snowman cookie jar. I just got the football snowman at the Darnaby Craft Show and the horseshoe snowman came from Affair of the Heart. I love all the horseshoe stuff!! The three trees are from my mom and she gave them to me in college and the stockings are brand new. They came from the flower shop on Coweta's Main Street. I thought our wine rack needed a hat and the Gingerbread people are from my mom. She gave me a family of 4 but of course, right now it's just the two of us! The snowman came from garage saling this summer and the adorable reindeer came from Gordmans! I just love them all!!

I got these cute place settings a few years ago and I adore the cute deer! They might be my favorite Christmas decoration! The centerpiece was made for us from my grandpa. My grandmas dad made her one when she got married so my grandpa made me one. 

You can't have Christmas without a nativity scene. HE is the reason for the season! Luke 2:1-20

Here is our tree and my adorable new reindeer! 

We took advantage of all these snowdays to get presents wrapped. We still have a few more, but we have made a good start. 

Happy Holidays!!

After I blogged about our Christmas decor, we added a few more things...

The cute Santa on our door!

This is on our entry table! I just love my new reindeer photo!! 

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas!!!