quite a week

 (4/28) sad deflated chocolate bunny. still enjoyed biting the ears off first!

 (4/29) penny's favorite spot when i'm hanging out on the couch. love her crazy paws.

 (4/30) my peonies have been beautiful this year!

 (5/1) our nephew cody got confirmed at his church on sunday! he is such a wonderful kid, so glad we got to be there!

(5/2) chicken enchiladas for cinco de dos

 (5/3) not the best day of ricky's life. bad day at work and a bad driver at a gas station. caused the wreck and then fled the scene, leaving 5 pieces of ricky's truck with scratches/dents/holes.

 (5/4) running errands. the man loves his braves!

 (5/5) some of my mentor group i've spent the past year with, they are amazing!

(5/6) sometimes i let ricky use the camera. this is what happens.

we had some chilly nights this week, but this is one beautiful saturday! through a series of unfortunate events, we are the lucky recipients of some free concrete/labor so our driveway is getting widened and our entryway/stoop are getting redone, all for the cost of a few pizzas and beer, pretty awesome! and my momma is on my mind, wish i could be with her on mother's day. and pretty much any other day of the year. seriously, pam bram is the bees knees. but grateful we get to spend tomorrow with my sweet mother in law, i definitely lucked out in that department!

bram fam time!

we had a WONDERFUL weekend with the brams and macs! haven't seen my mom & the indians since christmas, which is officially way too long!

 

daddy bram came in on tuesday (4/19) for a conference and was delighted to see his biggest granddogs

 

on 4/20 he brought home some swag (the office anyone?)...didn't last long!

my beautiful mom came on 4/21, just can't get enough of pambram! we also got to have dinner at henry's louisiana kitchen...including seafood "fondeaux"...just ridiculously good!

and on 4/22 the party really got started! reunited and it feels so good! and big pie in the sky tastes so good!

(4/23) there was some shopping, a lot of eating, and plenty of this...nothing like quality time with the family. and that look on lib's face. classic.

(4/24) Easter Sunday at JF! it was a little bright outside...ricky is hilarious

we also went to lunch with mom & dad mac, we are so lucky to have parents that like hanging out with each other!

(4/25) how sweet is this guy?

(4/26) mountain of laundry...did i mention penny peed on our bed on Easter Sunday? awesome.

(4/27) we were so fortunate to miss these horrendous storms. what happened in alabama was way worse than anything i ever saw in kansas.

well i'm ready for another weekend! my future is on my mind, i could be potentially hired for next year as soon as next thursday, but it's not looking promising at my current school due to teacher cuts and reassignments elsewhere in the district. not ideal :(. i'm trying not to think about it though, bottom line is do i trust God's plans for my life or not? He's been more than faithful to me, i can certainly put my faith in Him!

POD update 2

4/13: food for our 180 pounds of lab...went up $2 a bag, bummer!

4/14: Zaxby's birthday cake milkshake. um, YUM. dinner of champions!

4/15: another penny shot...not happy that we were abandoning her for a night out with friends!

4/16: we have real grass, hooray! view from the front step.

 

4/17: all my loves enjoying the beautiful day + pretty leaves. couldn't decide.

 

4/18: just another monday night...coordinate proofs unit

this project has been fun so far! and we have a GREAT week ahead with most of the bram fam coming in town! look out, ATL!

new project

i made it to 26! for some reason i got really emotional about being in my "upper 20s", but that's kind of ridiculous and i had a great birthday. i have the best family and friends in the world! and for my birthday, ricky and both of our parents chipped in to get me a new fancy camera! i have a LOT to learn, but straight out of the box this thing takes much better pictures than any i've taken before! here are some of my first few shots:

 chloe! love having this pup around!

 never a dull moment with this one!

 think ricky's from georgia?

 

i've decided to take on the picture of the day project (thanks for the inspiration, emilie!) to document my 26th year on earth. i'm going to take a picture every single day this year and post them on the blog. i figured it would get me to learn how to use my camera and keep me blogging a little more consistently. so here's to 365 pictures of our dogs! just kidding...maybe...

April 11, 2011

 

bday red velvet, couresy of my father-in-law, a man of many talents!

April 12, 2011

first day sporting my new keens. get some now, they are the most comfortable shoes i've ever had! not cheap, but they will last for YEARS! sorry ricky, i have a dominant shoe gene, just can't help it!

spring break

whew, i made it to spring break! really, the past five weeks have FLOWN by! i love being a teacher, and i find myself actually excited to go to work on a monday morning, weird but good! but fridays will still win every time. i love my students and my school. i've got enough students to give me hope and enough students to give me purpose, a good blend of my previous teaching experiences. i don't love the curriculum so much, but it's constantly changing, welcome to education!

ricky and i have had so much fun the past month...
-trip to orlando with his parents for spring training (stayed at the animal kingdom lodge, literally had zebras and giraffes out our window, went to harry potter world and tried butterbeer, cirque de soliel, and an amazing meal at shula's)
-march madness!! my worst bracket of all time, but i have loved everything about this tournament with the exception of wisconsin and seeing pullen's incredible career end.
-we found out we'll have a new niece in august, can't wait to meet little abby!
-i miss being on staff at jf, but it's really awesome to just be a church member on sundays! love our church and our community.
-we've done a little updating to the house, ricky even built a headboard! pics one of these days...
-we just spent a beautiful weekend with our AZ friends the walkers. robert earl keen concert, coke museum, centennial park, sweetwater brewery, beautiful weather, laughter, and great conversations. can't wait to see them again, we're hoping there will be an az trip in our near future!

life is full, indeed! i'm thankful to have this week to recover and gear up for the last 6 weeks of school!