A Fun Coast Visit

Lee, Alyssa, Sam and I went to the Coast for a quick visit with MoMo and PaPa this weekend. We left Friday afternoon and came back Saturday night. We had such a good time. MoMo cooked for all of us Friday night, and we watched a movie. On Saturday, we went to a flea market and the thrift store. Then we got some crawfish...my very favorite. Lee even picked up some Barq's root beer in a bottle. It just doesn't get any better! We took the crawfish back to their house and had a good time talking and peeling! Look how dirty our hands are! They're so nasty but so good. What a great way to bring in the summer!

I'm so glad it's finally summer. The break seems to come at just the right time. I do start back to grad school on Monday, but only for four weeks. Then I'm finished!!! I can't believe that it's already been a year. I'm really excited that we get the whole month of July off to just hang out and do whatever we want. It will be a nice, REAL break! But I'm going to miss my wonderful MC friends so much. I have really formed some great friendships, which has certainly made it easier to endure this year. Unlike my sweet husband, I do not enjoy school or being a student in the classroom. To me, it's just a means to an end. Weird, I know, since I'm a teacher, but I am so ready to just be a teacher. This will be it for me for a while. I'll let Lee take his turn...gladly!!

YAAAYYYYYY for summer!!

She Made It!!!

Lia made Standleader! Lee and I went to Texas this weekend for Klein High School's Variety Show. Lia danced in the show, so we really wanted to go see her do that. But more than that, they were announcing who made Standleader at the end of the show. We decided months ago that we wanted to go, and Lia gave us the ok after she made it through the first round of cuts. I guess you need some background info! Standleader is the most prestigious honor you can receive at her school. It is a group of 42 students who basically serve as ambassadors for the school. They coordinate freshman orientation and things like that along with cheering on every single athletic team at Klein. It's really funny. Their uniform is blue and gold striped socks, a gold shirt, and denim shorts. Cute, right? And Lia got a huge bucket of blue and gold tacky bows and jewelry from her friend who was a Standleader last year that she "gets" to wear. Hundreds of kids tried out for this. The first round of cuts was teacher recommendations. After she made it through that, she had to go to an interview where she had to create a t-shirt that described her. That was right after Easter, so we've been waiting all this time to find out if she got it. As each former Standleader called out a name of a new Standleader, I got more and more concerned that Lia wasn't going to get it. We all were about to throw up out of nervousness for her. Poor Lee was saying prayers nonstop. "Lord, please let this be her." "Lord, please prepare our hearts for this disappointment." We weren't sure what to pray. And her sweet friend Kim, who's in the picture with her, saved her until last to announce. We were so relieved and excited!!!

People who haven't known our family very long probably can't fully appreciate how much this means to all of us. When my family moved to Texas three years ago, Lia was in the ninth grade. And she was miserable. She did not know a single person. She would make my mom drive around the school until the bell rang so she wouldn't have to walk around by herself, and she didn't eat lunch for the longest time because she couldn't figure out how to pay for it. At different times, we were all ready to move back to the Coast so she could go back to her old school. But Lia knew that God had put her in Houston for a reason, and she clung to that belief. So to see her make Standleader is not only a testament to God's faithfulness, it's also a testament to Lia's faithfulness in Him. We couldn't be prouder or more excited if we'd made it ourselves!

I'm Back!

I know, I know. It's been a really long time. Things have been so busy I've barely had time to breathe. But I turned in my portfolio tonite, so the load is significantly lighter. Now all I have to do is make it through these last few days with these crazy seniors!! I've had tons to blog about...just not enough time.

Lee and I are going to Houston this weekend to hang out with my family. We're leaving tomorrow afternoon and coming back Sunday. Quick trip.

I'll update more later. Just wanted everyone to know that I'm alive and back!

While you're waiting, you can click here to watch Lia dance. (Remember that I know that I'm obsessed!) Her dance teacher from the Coast invited her to come back and dance in her recital this past weekend. Since I didn't get to go, my mom recorded it like a crazy person so I could see it. Thanks, Mom!

What a fun time...

My college roommate Leanne is having a baby! Leanne and I lived next door to each other as freshman and became quick friends. Then we both dated Lee H.'s, who were also friends, and we did so much together throughout college. So it was very natural for Leanne and I to live together in an apartment our senior year of college...the first year we were able to live off campus. We had such a great time and learned sooo much! She's such a great friend, and, lucky for me, she and Lee were always going through the same things Lee and I were, but they were always first. So she always had tons of wisdom to pass down. They got married just a month before Lee and I and now, three years later, are having a little boy! Alicia Mattern and I decided it would be fun to have a little party for Leanne and Lee and invite some of our friends from college. We had the best time. It's just so good to be back with people who really know you and who you're so comfortable with. We laughed and had lots of fun. They got some great stuff for little Samuel. We're so excited! They're going to be fabulous parents, and I'm glad to again have someone to tell me what to expect!

leanne and lee's shower

Extreme Yard Makeover

Our yard finally got a much needed makeover this weekend. Our friend, Lee's freshman and 5th year roommate, Kyle Jeffreys is so great. He owns a landscape contracting business in Coffeeville, Miss. Lee asked him a few weeks ago to give us some ideas of things to put in our yard. (It looked like junk. We had a lot of plants, but there was no order to it. Lee has a bad habit of just planting things wherever he wants with no rhyme or reason to it!) Kyle called this past week to tell us that he not only had some ideas but was coming down on Saturday to help us do it. He brought all the plants with him. The two of them worked outside tilling and fertilizing and planting new stuff. It looks so great! I'm so excited for it to all grow and bloom so we can see how great it looks. Thanks for your help, Kyle! You're a lifesaver. And Lee is no longer allowed to plant things in anywhere without calling Kyle first!

Aaahhhhhh...

What a great way to end the week! I had a massage this afternoon at Trio. Some of my sweet little students gave me a gift certificate at Christmas, and my yearbook girls gave me one for my birthday. So...I put the two together and made an appointment. It was so great. I think I could have stayed on that table for 3 more hours. When I got home, Lee kept wanting to talk and wanted me to tell him all about he massage, but I wasn't saying much. I felt like I'd been asleep for 2 days. I was just worn out! But it was so worth it. Give Mindy at Trio a call. She is wonderful!


These are my sweet little girls who gave me the gift certificate. LeeAnn Dean and Spencer Ferguson are missing! Thanks, girls!

A Great Concert

We went to a really great concert Tuesday night. We saw Shane & Shane in Hattiesburg at Temple Baptist Church. This is Lee's absolute favorite band, so we couldn't pass it up. We made plans to go down right after work with Alyssa and Sam. What we didn't know was that Phil Wickham and Shawn McDonald were opening for them. I only knew one song by Phil Wickham, but I really liked everything he sang. He has a really smooth and steady voice. We have a strange liking for Shawn McDonald. He is Lia's absolute favorite person. He came to her church in the fall for a youth conference they had, and Lia got to be his "errand girl." He even sang her favorite song just for her while they were all hanging out at the church. So....we feel like we know him. And them, of course, there was Shane & Shane. If you've never seen them in concert, they are fabulous! It is such a worshipful experience. It's great to hear them sing, but they really lead worship. It's not so much a concert. It was pretty much the four of us and a church full of teenagers, but it was really fun. Lee would not sit down the whole time. I know this is a terrible picture, but it was so funny. On the songs that no one knew, everyone would sit down and listen. Not Lee. He stood strong for his favorite group through the entire concert!! I put the songs at the bottom in the order they played. Click through and take a quick listen!

The Big Parade

Ok, so I had a first this past weekend. My very first Mal's St. Patty's Day Parade in Jackson. I had heard from so many people how absolutely wonderful it is, so I was pretty excited. Our friends Cliff and Katy had a St. Patrick's Day brunch at their house that morning to get everyone prepared for the parade. So we met at their house and ate and talked to everyone...all in our green. Finally, it was time to go downtown for the parade. I was so excited. We piled into the car with Kell and Mary Straton and Chris Roberts. Little did I know that we would have to walk 100 miles to get to the parade!! Seriously, everyone in the state must have been at this parade...and they came from all over the state. Car tags from everywhere! We trudged uphill to the parade route and met up with the rest of our friends. I really love parades, so at this point, I just couldn't stand it. And then it started. First come the Sweet Potato Queens on their float. They were cute. I mean, I've read the first book, so it was fun to see them. Then came all the Wannabes. One of the craziest things I've ever seen. There were groups from all over the country. At this point, I'm thinking that I'm ready to go home. I kept asking Mary Straton if things were going to get better, but it was her first time, too. I was too scared to ask any of our friends around us because they had already told me how great it was. I didn't want to hurt their feelings! So I just continued to watch. FINALLY, the floats came through throwing beads. There was a pretty good number of them, so we stayed to watch. We were a little too far back to catch a whole lot, but we were able to get some things. Of course, by the end of the parade there were people everywhere either too drunk to stand up or throwing up everywhere. Ridiculous.

All in all, the parade was fun. We got to see lots of our friends we haven't seen in years, so it was worth going. This parade brings out the state's finest, so watching people was as much fun as the parade itself. People came up with some crazy things to wear! The whole thing really was like Mardi Gras...just all in green and shrunk down into one big parade!