A Couple of Pictures

I realized I never posted pictures of my new skylight in the patio (HA!) and the gorgeous flowers Nick got me for our anniversary. So here they are:

Ya, like the huge gaping hole?!


Another view

My pretty flowers!!!

Today was the last day of testing for the entire year, WOOHOO! It was so nice to get back to my normal schedule. The day went by soooo much faster! And tomorrow is finally Friday!!! I have another good weekend ahead of me, but hopefully it's not as crazy as last weekend!!! And I'm super excited that tomorrow is the start of May!!! That means summer break is on the horizon, woo!!!

Testing

So this week we have been testing. Pretty much for the last 3 days (1 kid had to test on Monday, but the only real difference in the day was that we weren't allowed cell phones in the building). Thank goodness, tomorrow is the last day!!! It hasn't been especially hard, but the days are going by sooooo slowly!!! Its killing me. And usually for the last 5 minutes of the day I pull out my handy dandy iPhone and have something to do. Its been torture having to leave it in my car!!!

Yesterday I helped out in a first grade classroom for half of the day (the teacher I was covering for got done at noon!). It went much better than last time with the Kindergarteners, but my principal stopped by the room TWICE to "check in". Didn't really make me feel too good about my teaching skills, but apparently she did it to everyone else in first grade, so I don't feel as bad. But seriously, my class was being pretty good, so I don't know what that was all about. But, there is a reason I'm not a sub anymore, or a teacher for that matter, so whatever.

I spent the rest of the day in Pre-K, which was pretty fun. They had a bunch of quail eggs hatch recently, so I spent a lot of time just watching the cute little quail chicks! I even held one!!!

Today was good too. I actually got to spend the whole day with the 4 5th grade classes (who I never see anymore!!!). There were 2 teachers there running the show, so I just kind of helped out where needed. I actually ended up playing geology bingo with the kids like alll day (they have a Science test tomorrow), but they were really into it, so it was fun. I'm definitely ready to get back to the routine tomorrow though. Hopefully it will make the day go by much more quickly!!!

We're almost to May, woohoo!!!

Nonstop

This feels like it was the non-stop weekend. I was barely home at all yesterday (Saturday). I'm really happy I didn't have much going on today because I would be worn out! I even took a 2 hour nap this afternoon! Phew!

So Friday night I went over to my friend's house and proceeded to hang out until midnight! It was 2 girls from church and we were just having a good time talking and laughing and then the next thing we knew, 4 hours had flown by! They're really cool girls though, I'm really glad I met them. And now we're going to start a bible study!!! Total answer to prayer. I'm really excited about that.

Like I said, Saturday was super crazy. Saturday morning, I finally had Nick's car towed to a mechanic (literally a month after it broke down...procrastination much?). One of Nick's friends was nice enough to come with me too because I really didn't want to get taken advantage of since I'm a girl and don't really know all that much about cars. The mechanics seem legit though, so hopefully we'll get that all sorted out soon and I can get rid of the dang car already!!!

In the afternoon, I hung out at my friend Michelle's house and watched her daughter, Eva for a bit. She always comes and sits on my lap and stuff. Total cutie! It was nice to hang out with Michelle for a bit too because she's moving this summer, nooooooooo! I'm totally bummed. We've been together since August of 2007. But, knowing the Army, we'll see each other again soon!

Finally, last night was another "coffee", which was pretty fun. We had some really tasty sushi and just hung out. This one only lasted until 10pm, which was good because I was obviously exhausted (2 hour nap today) from the night before! I feel like a social butterfly!

I was thinking about it too, and this week was definitely a week where I realized how many awesome people God has blessed my life with. Numerous people contacted me on facebook just to check in. And just knowing there are great people willing to help out or who just care is really great. I feel like I've reached a really stable point in this deployment. I know who I can depend on and I have some great people that I can hang out with.

Yay for Fridays

My grandmother pointed out to me that I didn't post on my blog all week. So I thought it was due time to update. This week was a weird mix of boring and busy. I guess I was just busy with boring stuff, ha ha. Honestly though, it seemed like the weekend would never get here. Not too much to update on the work front. Next week is 3 days of TAKS (Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills) testing, but thankfully I lucked out and am assigned to cover a really good 1st grade class one day and help out with Pre-K for another. Sounds pretty good to me! Also, my friend Meghan from work had a baby shower yesterday, which was pretty fun. She's one of the few people at work that is close to my age (I'm actually 3 months older, shocking!), so we bonded pretty quickly. And she's an Army wife, so that helps too. Although her husband is coming home in 2 weeks!!! I'm waaaay jealous! Otherwise, we've had a bunch of sick kids. Yuck.

Also, yesterday was Nick and my 6 year dating anniversary!!! WOO! I can't believe we started dating 6 years ago. That seems like an eternity! I got some gorgeous flowers (picture soon, I promise!) and am still waiting on another present to arrive. He, of course, got the DVD set of "The War" and was waaaay excited about it. Ya, I know my military history major husband too well. Anyway, in honor of our anniversary, here is a picture of us from prom a few weeks after we started dating:

May 17, 2003 (also the day my sister got married!)

Yes, we were babies! Maybe someday I'll write about how we met/started dating. It is a long story that involves a trip to Mexico and a pipe bursting. But right now, I have a headache (darn germy kids!). I just had to fulfill my grandmother's request for an update! I promise, I'll update more this weekend, although it is set to be pretty busy!!!

Used to It

I'm realizing at this point that I'm pretty much used to Nick being gone. I'm so into my routine that it kind of seems normal for him to be gone. I guess some people might think that is sad, but I think its kind of an inevitable part of the deployment. And it definitely makes things easier. At this point, it is definitely going to be an adjustment when he comes back home. But definitely an adjustment I'm willing to make!

So I've been keeping up with my running on Wii Fit, so I thought I might try real running. I leashed up Scout (he loves to run) and started going around the block. I made it about 5 minutes jogging when I started wheezing. I have exercise-induced asthma and it has been pretty dormant lately. Ya, I felt like I was going to die. We made it around the block, with some walking in there, and I had to rest and use my inhaler before doing my Wii Fit exercise. Man, I don't know how you running girls do it! Major props to you! It totally kicked my butt. I was all confident with my fake running and it is nothing the same. Oh well. At least I have my fake running!

The weekend was good otherwise. Fairly uneventful, other than Rufus deciding to randomly pee on one of our ottomans one night. He's been potty trained for over 6 months, so I really don't know where that came from. Both dogs have kind of been giving me a run for my money, but I'm amping up the training, which has been helping.

Oh, and the sagging part of the roof of the patio totally broke yesterday. I'll have to take a picture. It was kind of funny. Nick said he'd call one of his friends to come fix it and make sure it won't happen again. It was pretty amusing though, and a whole bunch of water gushed everywhere because we've had lots of rain lately (severe thunderstorms...kinda cool). And here's to another week...

Slow Week

Man, I wish it was Friday. This week just seems to be dragging by. Maybe its because I was spoiled last week having Friday off. But man, I'm just done. I was not really feeling going to work this morning either. One more day until the weekend, yay!

My patience was a little thin too. Not with the kids, moreso with the adults. Twice this week, I have had to wait on people to come relieve me from cafeteria duty so I can go eat my lunch. TWICE! Its really starting to drive me crazy!

The way my schedule is, the only real break I have is my 30 minutes for lunch, and I'm usually starving. And my lovely husband can tell you, you don't mess with Courtney when you're hungry. I just feel so disrespected. The people I'm waiting on are coming from their lunch and apparently have no problem taking an extra five minutes. Meanwhile, I'm forced to wait for them because we don't have enough people in the cafeteria and outside for lunch. Now, I'm not saying I'm always exactly on time, but if I am relieving someone, I make it a point to get there on time. Its just frustrating.

I think I'm just having a grumbly day. It doesn't help that Rufus proceeded to chew on my new sunglasses and rip a gaping hole in the new kiddie pool I bought them (LAST Friday! Didn't even last a week!). And Scout really doesn't understand that barking at me incessently really doesn't help my mood. I'm just over it. Probably why I'm ready for it to be the weekend again.

In good news, I got to cover my favorite 5th grade class today for a little while. I never really get to see them anymore now that my schedule is different, so that was fun. And they were wonderful, so that helps too!

Ok, grumbles over. I'm just so glad tomorrow is Friday!!!

Month 4 in Review

So yesterday officially marked 4 months done with this deployment, WOOHOO! It seems like a pretty good milestone, like we have a good chunk under our belts. Here are some of the highlights from this month:

- Had a wonderful Spring Break in Washington State! Sooo relaxing and beautiful (as always!)

- Got through a reallly bad week, including a fun day where I was stuck on post with Nick's broken down truck! Definitely not the most fun day of my life, and not something I want to repeat anytime soon. The truck is actually still sitting in front of my house because I'm not motivated to get it towed to a shop, but I swear I'll take care of it soon! I also got sick with a sore throat and thought I had pink eye (thankfully it was just allergies!)! Good times. But I got through it!!!

- Had my dogs escape from my yard into the neighbors' yards not once, but TWICE! Those boogers! They drive me nuts sometimes, but I have to love them. Honestly, I couldn't imagine coming home after work or at night without them here.

- Got my morning duty switched at work, but its fine. The little kids are pretty cute! And there is much less clingyness. Otherwise work had been pretty good. Only another 1.5 months and then its Summer Break!!!

- Co-hosted another "coffee" with the lovely ladies from my unit! My co-host was absolutely fabulous and took care of most of the stuff. Really, the only major thing I did was the Evite and buying beer (we did beer tasting in honor of St. Patrick's Day). Lots of fun! Can't wait for the next one!

- Got my taxes done, WOOHOO! HUGE load off my back!

- Found out that my Heroes at Home group at church might be overwith in June, unless they can find someone to take over. But, I feel a little better about it, having made some "battle buddy" friends.

- Got to webcam with Nick a couple times. Honestly, those things are our saving grace. Although they're slightly bittersweet (seeing him, but not having him actually physically in front of me), they're totally worth it! Love it!

- Built (not from scratch, in case you were wondering) my two stools for the patio! Really excited about those! And I ended up getting another 2 that are currently on their way!!!

- Had a glorious 3-day weekend this past weekend. I'd say it was the perfect combination of relaxing and hanging out with friends! And Easter was fabulous! I wasn't planning on doing anything special other than church and got a last-minute invite to my friend's house which ended up being really fun and festive. So sweet of her!

- Lots of fun with the awesome friends that God has blessed me with (including some who even come help me fix stuff!!!)

Countdowns: 34% done with the deployment
38% of the way to R&R!!!

Deployment Goals

1- Get in shape- I started "running" on Wii Fit (running in place mostly) and its making a big difference. I supposedly ran 5 miles on Saturday and today! Pretty impressive! And, of course, I continue to walk the dogs every day. Its starting to get really warm, so I'm even starting to work up a sweat!

2- Cook 2 new meals per month- This month, I made my sister's French Dip recipe (mmmm, I love French Dip) and D.A.R.'s Penne Alla Vodka (mmmm). I'm making myself hungry thinking about them. I definitely highly recommend both! The Penne actually kind of reminded me of my favorite dish from my favorite Italian restaurant...and thats saying something!!!

3- Church- Check on that. Still helping out in the nursery, going to church every week (unless I'm out of town), and Heroes at Home. I'm thinking about maybe going to a Sunday night bible study at some point too.

4- Read a new book every month- Since, this last month involved Spring Break, I actually ended up reading 2 books. The first was the book that Nick got me for Valentine's Day- 7 Things He'll Never Tell You But You Need to Know. It was pretty interesting. No huge revelations or anything, but I think it made me think about things differently and gave me insight into how he sees things. I'll probably read it again before he comes home. It was a pretty quick read. I also read a book my sister, Hillary, got me for my birthday. It is called Sink Reflections and it is basically about getting organized and developing a plan for cleaning your house. It is awesome and I highly recommend it! The basic idea is that you do a little bit of cleaning every day and focus on a specific area each week (bedroom, kitchen, etc.). It has done wonders for my stress level and I feel like it is sooo much easier to keep my house clean! Thanks Hill!!!

5- Work on the house- I weeded the backyard, built the two stools and kept it clean with my ne book! I'd say that was a pretty productive month!

6- Budget- Still doing well on this one. We're going to try to do a little bit better though. But, I did start a savings account for Nick's truck (he's getting a new truck when he gets home) and put a fairly substantial deposit in there, which was really exciting.

7- Dog training- My dad sent me this really sweet dog training iPhone application. I just started using it, but so far, I really like it. Speci

Prayer Requests

- Safety for the troops

- Continued strength and perseverance for both Nick and I through the rest of the deployment

- Faith/trust that God had our future in His hands

Upcoming events

- Our SIX year dating anniversary! I can't believe we've been together for that long. I feel like we were just kids when we started dating!

- A baby shower for my friend Meghan from work

- Another "coffee" with my unit- Sushi this time!

- Participating in Relay for Life with a group from work


Can't wait to update for our 5th month!!!

3 Day Weekend

I had a 3-day weekend this weekend and it was GLORIOUS! Friday involved sleeping in, hanging out and getting some errands done. I made a whole bunch of cookies to send to Nick and packed up a box for him for our 6 year dating anniversary, which is coming up (has it really been that long?!). And then I stopped by my friend Michelle's house for some wine and a movie (Taken...good, but intense) with a bunch of girls. It was fun, but I find it funny that out of 5 of us, I was the only one without kids. That seems to happen a lot though and is pretty amusing.

On Saturday, I was realllly unmotivated and managed to stay in my PJs until 2pm....and took a 2 hour nap. It was really nice to have the chance to just relax and spend times with the pups. I can't help but feel guilty about leaving them all day while I'm at work. So its nice to get to spend some time with them. And there's nothing wrong with a lazy day every once in awhile.

On Sunday, I attempted to wake up early for the sunrise Easter service at my church, but there was a MASSIVE thunderstorm. It was actually kind of cool though. I couldn't help but think about the Resurrection with the loud noises coming from the sky. But anyway, since the sunrise service wasn't going to be outside anyway, I went back to bed until the next service. I helped take care of the 1 year olds, who were really cute in their Easter attire. One kid even had a tie on! Adorable! They were all really good too. We had a couple cry for a few minutes, but they got over it pretty quick.

Then, I went to the next service, which was great, and was then invited to a friend's house for an Easter brunch. It was all Army wives (some from my unit), so it was definitely nice comradery. It felt like a real Easter too, since she made ham and we had some good food to eat! And there were a bunch of kids running around getting Easter eggs and stuff. I ended up being there for a few hours and then came home and webcammed with Nick (awesome again!!!).

Then, after a few hours at home, I went back out and went to dinner with a friend from church. Phew! We both didn't really think about the fact that it was Easter, so it was a little bit of a struggle to find a place that was open. We ended up hanging out for 2 hours and had a great time!

Overall, it was a really great weekend. It could only have been better if Nick was around. If only every weekend was a 3 day weekend...

Too Real

So we had another scare over the last couple days. Unfortunately, there were another 5 U.S. casualties in Mosul, where Nick is. Thankfully, I've talked to him and he's totally fine. But, like his mom says, its bittersweet hearing news like that because you know someone else is getting a very different phone call. Please pray for the families of those 5 soldiers.

Although I understand the policy, it is absolute torture to have to wait 24 hours to find out if your loved one is alright (for those of you who don't know, the Army cuts off communication until the loved ones can be notified). You can't stop the "what-ifs" from popping into your head. You know you'll find out one way or another, but the anticipation is excruciating. This is why I don't watch the news. I'd so much rather find out after the fact.

It's days like that that make it all too real. I know my husband is gone and in a war zone, but I don't really think about the implications of that every second of every day. And then something like this happens and you're forced to think about the reality of the situation. And it sucks. All I can do is trust that God has a plan and that he'll come home alright. But not everyone is that lucky.

Anyway, this is kind of a depressing post, but I just had to get it out. I'm actually doing really well considering. It probably helps that I didn't hear about it right before bed this time so I actually got some sleep. And, after awhile, you just know that they're fine and just have to wait for the call to confirm it. Oh, and there is some good news in all this: Nick & his platoon actually caught the guy responsible! I'm really, really proud of him. Lets pray that there are less and less "real" moments though.

Pretty Boring

So things are pretty boring around here. Work is fine, gets me through the day a lot quicker. We got through another TAKS day (yesterday), but this time it was only 5th grade, so I didn't have to cover a class (THANK GOODNESS!). Otherwise, nothing exciting going on. I've kind of just been in the routine and things are just normal. No dog escapes this week, woo! Oh, there was one kind of interesting thing that happened this week. My awesome neighbor randomly and unexpectedly mowed my front lawn for me! I kept hearing the lawnmower outside & was so confused, but he just did it & left. So nice of him! I was planning paying him to do it soon too! I'll have him do the back once I kill all of the evil weeds that keep springing up!!! Anyway, here are a few pictures So, I thought I'd put up a few pictures:

My blooming herb garden!

One of the stools I built this weekend for the patio

My full patio set! Should I get another 2 stools? I'm thinking about it...

So ya, that's about it! Oh, and we get Friday off this week because it's a "Bad Weather Make-up Day" and we never had to cancel school this year! YAY, can't wait!!!

Sunday

This was another really good weekend. Yesterday I went to a festival in a nearby town with my friend Michelle. It's funny how drastically different this town was compared to where we live. I felt like I was in "real" Texas. I thought the festival was going to be more about plants (it was called Bloomin' Fest) , but it was really like a Farmer's Market. We stayed for a couple of hours and got some shave ice and walked around. I think we would've stayed longer, but it felt HOT. It was only 85 (summers here are in the 90s), but man, it was hot! I felt like I couldn't get enough to drink and it made me sooo tired. It was fun, nonetheless though.

Then, yesterday afternoon, I ended up building the two stools that match my patio table. I should take a picture. I'm so proud of myself. Now I can eat outside...if the weather warms up. Its windy and cold again...oh Texas! I'm considering getting another two stools to finish off the set...we'll see.

Today involved church and I ended up going to lunch with a couple of girls after. It was actually the two ladies I talked about last week. We had a lot of fun and I think we're going to get together more often! I'm so glad I found some friends in that group! I might also start going to a small group with one of the girls sometime soon. She works too, so weeknights don't really work for her, but there is a small group that meets on Sunday nights, so we're thinking of checking it out! We were also going to go rockclimbing, but both of us had adventures in the sun yesterday, so we postponed it to next weekend. I'm just so glad there is another person around my age! I feel so young most of the time.

After lunch, I came home & Nick was online! His finally renewed his internet (it expires every month), so we got to use webcams, which was AWESOME! Seriously, greatest invention ever!!! We had tried Skype a couple of times, but it always dropped the call, so we'd only see each other for like a second. So, we used Yahoo Messenger this time and it was glorious! It froze maybe twice, but then came back really quick. Love it! Its still kind of bittersweet because you still can't reach out and touch each other, but just seeing his face makes such a difference!

Well, I'm off to bed. I can't believe its Monday again tomorrow! We get Friday off though (WOO!), so next week will be a wonderful 3-day weekend!!! I can't wait!

Peace

I took my dogs on a walk this morning and it was soo peaceful. I blasted some David Crowder on my iPhone and just enjoyed walking. I wish I could walk them every morning, but I have to be at work by 7:30 and its dark until like 7. Too bad. There weren't any loose dogs (I probably see an average of about 5 a week in my neighborhood), and there wasn't really anybody out...it was fantastic! And I'm totally loving this Spring weather...although Spring in Texas is pretty much like Summer anywhere else, ha ha. Today's high is 85 (it was only in the 60s this morning)!

But anyway, this week has been so drastically different than last week. Ya, there were some rocky moments this week, but I think my attitude toward them was completely different. Last week, I was just overcome by everything and really felt burdened and frustrated. Last week seems like so long ago. This week, I was able to laugh when my dogs escaped not once, but TWICE into my neighbors' yards. As much as last week sucked, I feel like I needed to go through that to just trust that God is in control. It made me so much more confident that I can get through this deployment (with God's help, of course). My focus is so much more on the day-to-day now instead of how many more months I need to get through until Nick's home. So that's good.

Well, it should be a fun, busy weekend. I'm trying to get most of my chores done because I'm going to a plant festival with one friend today and then possibly rock climbing with another friend after church tomorrow!

Again?!

So I was watching TV & eating dinner and all of a sudden the doorbell rings. And then it rings again and again. I usually ignore the doorbell since its usually solicitors. But, it kept ringing, so it made me realize that the dogs were mysteriously quiet outside. So I walk out & see them through the fence in the neighbor's yard!!! So I answer to door & my neighbor says he has them in his backyard. I ran out with him apologizing the whole way and dragged my boys back in my house. Thankfully, my neighbor was really nice about it. And I can hear him fixing the fence now. I swear though, my boys are giving me a run for my money!!! All I can do is laugh. At least I know the fence is getting stronger!

Also, today I took the dogs for a walk, as usual. I got about 90% through my walk on my normal route when all of a sudden, a little dog runs across the street towards us. It followed us for a few minutes, all the while I'm dragging 2 dogs (equaling about 100 pounds) down the sidewalk trying to get away. This dumb dog obviously didn't get the hint from Scout's ridiculous barking that we did not want to play. If I hadn't had both hands occupied, I probably would've sprayed this dog with my dog pepper spray. And, of course, there was no human in sight! I don't know what it is about my area, but people just let their dogs go willy-nilly without supervision. It drives me nuts!!! Here I am, being responsible and trying to control my two dogs and there's this wild card other dog that could attack (not really in this case as both my dogs were bigger, but it could be a pit bull or something!) or who knows what! And all because this person thought they'd just let their dog roam wild. Ahhh, it drives me absolutely nuts!!! I'm hoping its just a problem in my neighborhood or town and I won't have to worry about it in the next place the Army sends us.