Many, Many Moons

After our precious nephew was born, life skyrocketed into madness. The following is what we have been up to since then.... with pictures!

October

October was a preciously fast and busy month! We made it through with a few pictures.

1. We quickly traveled to Tulsa to be with my brother and his darling family including this sweetheart who was quick to cuddle and love on us. I think someone was a little jealous of her new baby brother's attention stealing!

2. While in Tulsa, this sweet baby angel, our nephew James, came home from the hospital, and he was progressing wonderfully!

3. We came home, and not one day later, seriously, dad fractured is femur while at work. Never a full moment around here!

4. We still celebrated Halloween, albeit low-key, with this adorable cutie, our little pumpkin puppy.

(Starting in the top right corner going clockwise)

November

No pictures for November! It was fairly calm. We spent Thanksgiving with Josh's family while Mom and Dad traveled to Tulsa to be with my brother and his family.

December

Finished off my second semester of graduate school early in the month! It was a tough one but I learned a lot and was very glad to finish with good grades! We made a few trips and celebrated our one year anniversary! Of course, we celebrated a wonderful low-key Christmas with mom and dad, and then we moved! Not our first choice for winter break, but our heater quit working, and our landlord was just not willing to replace it quickly. December, cold, no heat. Enough said. And then December led us to the end of 2010!

1. My best friend taught me how to make delicious cookies with a cookie press. We also made rice krispies treats, fudge, and Santa cut-out cookies! And so began our annual tradition of baking together for Christmas!

2. A wonderful reminder of our special day! Our first anniversary was low-key, the "it" term of 2010, and we enjoyed some rest and alone time before the busy holidays!

3. We ended December with The Tumbleweed Fiasco of 2010. The high winds and overgrown fields led to a massive amount of tumbleweeds which strategically piled themselves around my parents house. We spent two days helping them remove and deal with the tumbleweeds (on ongoing battle, by the way).

4. We said goodbye to 2010 and hello to 2011 with prayers for peace, health, and happiness. We figured low-key was the way to go! We were all so tired from the tumbleweed fiasco, we ate dinner with my parents and some friends, watched the ball drop in Times Square...ha, on TV..., and then crashed pretty early for a New Years Eve!

January

January. Well January was a blur. School started back full swing, and in my insanity, I signed up for an 8-week class which made the first eight weeks of 2011 absolutely nuts, so not many pictures were taken!

February

1. A short and quick month, the one exciting thing we did was visit family and friends in Josh's home town. My best friends all got together for some much needed girl time. This picture is of my best friend Monica and myself at dinner.

2. My other two best friends, Tracy and Becky at the same dinner! I don't know why I don't have a picture of us all together. :(

3. We also visited this darling Sweetpea and her Momma CupKate since we had not yet met her. Aren't those the sweetest cheeks you have ever seen?

March

Three months into 2011, the year already one-fourth done!

1. (on the bottom) Spring Break was the first big highlight of the month. Josh worked quite a bit while I spent time with my parents. We did make a brief trip to Portales, but of course, no documentation! Mom made the best french toast using french bread instead of Texas Toast. So delicious!

2. (top right) These little angels and there family, my brother and his crew, came to visit! We celebrated my Camilla's second birthday! She is spitting image of me when I was little. All girl and all brat!

3. My darling nephew, James, is growing like a weed! He just hit 6 months and doing amazingly. He stuns all the doctors, charms all the ladies, and has some yummy cheeks to squeeze!

April

And so here we are. So far, Josh started a new job at a local hospital, I am finishing my third semester of Graduate school, I survived State testing at school, and it's already coming to an end!

I know I missed a lot that happened over the past six or so months, but these are the main highlights. Life is still chaotic, but we are so blessed to have family and friends.

I am not even going to promise to blog more. I plan to take a pretty heavy load of classes, attend a workshop, travel to Tulsa for James' baptism and to visit family, improve my teaching style and management for next year, and maybe, just maybe I might get some rest and relaxation this summer. So the next post might be another six month update. Bare with me friends! Eventually, I will become a regular blogger. Maybe.

Maybe, I will even rename this little ole blog. We shall see.

Progress

I am working on a post to update the last couple months. Bare with me oh few readers.

Blogging in Bed

So I know I've been a very bad blogger, but I never said I was a pro. Truth be told, I am still trying to find a routine for this crazy semester. So for now, blogging will be done when I have time, or when I am laying bed and can't sleep.

It's been a while since I've updated, so I will just do a brief run through of life as I know it these days...

I mentioned in my previous blog that I started student teaching. I have since then been relieving myself of other responsibilities because student teaching is a critical time in my education and it requires about 90% of my time and energy. My term as an officer in Chi Omega finished and in January I passed all my duties to my amazing lil sis. While I will remain a Senator for ASENMU, I resigned my position as Director of Student Concerns. I knew I would not be able to do the best job possible because of the time constraints so I knew it was the best thing to do. 

I am sure many people who know me are thinking I must be crazy, but....in true Jamie fashion....out with one thing means in with another. I was really lucky to be given the opportunity to teach Extended School Day. I work with a small group of students after school for eight weeks, four days a week. In addition to gaining some amazing experience, I am getting paid! Talk about a small relief!

So along with the plethora of paperwork student teaching brings, I am working on my resume and job hunting! This is probably one of the scariest things I have ever thought about in my life. Again, those who know me can probably figure out why! For those who don't, here is a glimpse into the life of Jamie! I am a planner and organizer. I like to know what I am doing, when I am doing it, and how I need to do it. So the mystery of where I will live, where I will work, and oh, the rest of my life is driving my crazy. I do realize for some people this is exciting, exhilarating and whatever other emotions it may evoke in other people. However, for me, I am just ready to know! 

I also realize there is no better time to count my blessings than now. So I do. Everyday I thank God for the opportunities I have been given, the opportunities still to come, and the life I am living. 

Now, looking back on this blog, it is mostly a rant about how busy things have been lately. But I see it as a good rant. I did get sick this week (still getting better). I may be exhausted when I leave school at the end of the day. I may get frustrated when a lesson doesn't go just right or I have to type or copy another useless paper for my notebook. However, when it comes down to it all, I am truly happy with the choices I have made and the path ahead of me.

P.S. I will now promise to try and write at least one a week. The key word in that sentence is "try!"

Just beginning....

I guess the next step in my recent obsession with all things blogging is to create my own. I currently blog occasionally on MySpace, but I think it might be fun to have a "bigger" blog on the net and one that I will probably share with family and friends.

Most anyone who reads this will know that I love to share stories, concerns, triumphs and much more related to my life. Also, besides recently having found a love for reading blogs, I have developed a love of writing. A love I wish had always had in my life. So, blogging is my way of combining my love of sharing and writing.

I am not going to set a goal or limit by saying I will write everyday or once a week, but I am going to do my best to update when possible!