Happily Ever After

Below is a letter my mom wrote to us inside our guest book at the wedding. We had put engagement pictures into a mypublisher book, and she filled up the last page. I love it. I'm writing it here so I never forget it...and so you can enjoy it, too! :)

Once Upon a Time there was a princess born. Her name was Erin and her parents were in awe of her. She had an independent nature, was head strong, but was very loving and very beautiful.

She led a fairy tale childhood. Her parents gave her everything she needed: food, clothing, shelter, and the opportunity to learn about and accept Jesus as her savior. They made sure she had the extras also: walks in the woods, romps in leaves, building snowmen, dancing, and "BEAR".

As Princess Erin grew up, she continued to amaze everyone with her ability to excel in everything she did: making friends, dancing, Bible Drill, school grades. She understood how rich a princess she was: she had parents who adored her, who pointed her in the right direction and covered her back while giving her the opportunity to make her own decisions. He riches also included a sister who looked up to her (mostly) and would be there for her always, and being raised in church.

Princess Erin grew up continuing to lead a storybook life - including friends, education, travel and career. Then one day she met (under dubious circumstances to be sure) her Prince.

Prince Jonathan was the perfect match: in intelligence, commitment to God, and he had also grown up appreciating the finer things in life - God, walks in the woods, music, and a younger sibling to boss around.

Princess Erin's family welcomed their new son, Prince Jonathan, and watched with love as they married and every last one wished that they would....LIVE HAPPILY EVER AFTER!

Erin, I still love you with all my heart and am still in awe of you. You make me proud.
Jonathan, You are easy to love. Welcome to my family
Both, Be happy and let God lead.

~Mom

God smiled on us...

I have a lot to post about from this weekend....but for now I want to tell you a great story of blessing. Long story short - we found a great house and put a contract on it last week. We've been talking to the bank for pre-approval, counter-offering like crazy, and discussing timelines and timetables galore! As of today, both sides have agreed to the contract and it's ours as long as we sell our house and they don't get a better offer while they're waiting for our townhouse to sell. So, our bank lady (yep, aren't we cool?) told us we needed 2 months of mortgage payments in the bank at closing (in addition to the 11,000 we have to bring to closing and the 1,000 good faith deposit we paid already). Speaking of good faith. We've been trying to set aside money to boost our savings up to this amount. We knew we needed about $1,000 more in the bank before closing (whenever we sell our house and close on our new one). So, today I get an email from Jonathan. He logged in to his bank account and saw a direct deposit from his work for an unusual amount. He then logged in to check his pay stub. On it, it said "Incentive....$1,000". Yep, he got a random $1,000 bonus. Didn't even know he was getting it. His boss had nominated him for it and not even told him. Thanks boss, but we know that money wasn't really your doing. God is beyond faithful and he has a sense of humor, too! Isn't that cool?

Run of the Mill

Not much is new here, but I still thought I'd update! I'm sick (again) with some serious chest congestion and coughing. Trying to Mucinex it out of me, so hopefully I'm on the upswing! We've been busy working on some real estate stuff this week, so time is of the essence! Hopefully I'll have good news on that front soon! (However, the dream house in Blacksburg sold, sad!)

6 1/2 days left of school. Geez, I'm gonna miss these kiddos. They are by far the best group I've ever had, and I just adore them! I'm super ready for some R&R, but I definitely will miss them. I'm probably in for it next year after having such a great group this year. Up and down, up and down. We've got a Mega Party, Awards Assembly, Field Day, and 3rd grade movie day left - so it's definitely almost over. Oh, summer!

This past weekend we enjoyed some fun fellowship with Jonathan's church family at Angie's wedding. Angie grew up with Jonathan and their families are very, very close. She had a gorgeous wedding by the river in Jefferson, NC....followed by a reception with delicious BBQ and other yummy food. My mother-in-law designed their cake (same flavor as ours - yummmmo) and I helped her finish it up when we got there Saturday. She does a great job! We then headed to Bristol to visit with my family for the day on Sunday, before heading back to our day off on Monday to look at houses and such. Below are some pictures of the wedding weekend:

This weekend we're headed to Grayson for Darin and Lyndsie's engagement party. VERY sadly, we won't be at their wedding, because it's the same day as my sister's. So, we can't wait to celebrate with them on Saturday - we miss them being here in VA with us! I'm also considering running a 3K in Salem before we leave on Saturday - we'll see how the chest congestion clears up. I figure it's a good lead-up to my 5K with Kelley in 2 weeks - EEK! I need to be running more!

I'll leave you with a great 3rd grade quote from today:
Anonymous 3rd grader with hand raised: What's a chicken sink?
Me: A WHAT?
3rd Grader: A chicken sink....pointing at a question on his screen.
Me: Honey, that says kitchen sink.
3rd Grader: Ohhhhh!
Do you get laughs like that at YOUR job? ;)

And just for you baby lovers, check out Baby Jacob, born 2 months ago to my teacher friend Kim. He's the first boy to be invited to our girls' night ever!

Basil Chicken and a Sore Booty

Have I mentioned how much I love holidays? I do! Yesterday my hubby and I packed up and headed out (in the rain, mind you) to hike Dragon's Tooth trail. We drove and drove, but found it! It was a 2.5 mile hike up, and then 2.5 back. The first mile and a half wasn't bad - but the last mile up was quite tough. It was pretty much sheer rocks, which isn't great for an unathletic dog (and her semi-athletic mom). We ended up tying Maggie up as we climbed the last little bit - and she whined like a baby. However, the view from the top was awesome, and I was quite proud of us. We made it down without event, with plans to get back in to hiking like we used to do in our dating days! :) My behind is not so sure about these plans.

Jonathan enjoying his snack!

Maggie enjoying her first rest break.

We made it!!

Quite a view!!

Where's Waldo?

Now, for a recipe. April stole this one from Rachel Ray, and I stole it from her. It's pretty simple and quite tasty. Just don't read the label on the fish sauce!

Basil, Chili, and Garlic Chicken
Ingredients
1/2 cup water
2 tbsp soy sauce (we use low sodium)
2 tbsp fish sauce (seriously, ignore the label)
4 tsp sugar (we use splenda)
2 tsp crushed red pepper (we use a mix of black and red peppers)
1 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup sliced onion (we leave this out)
3 tbsp chopped garlic (about 8 cloves)
1/2 lb. rice noodles
1 1/2 lb. chicken, cut into bite-sized pieces
1 cup torn basil leaves

Mix water, soy sauce, fish sauce, sugar, and pepper until dissolved. Set aside
Cook rice noodles in salted water (they stick quite a bit, be careful!)
Put oil in wok or skillet and cook all onion and garlic until soft but not brown. Set aside.
Put oil in a wok or skillet and cook chicken on one side - then turn and cook other side until no longer pink.
Add water/sauce mixture and garlic/onion mixture to chicken and cook until fully done. Remove from heat and add basil leaves (torn) until they start to wilt. Serve chicken/sauce mixture over rice noodles.

I hope yours is as pretty as April's. Either way, it'll taste good! :)

3 Day Weekend

I am so, so excited about this three day weekend. We don't have a lot planned - but it will just be nice to have an extra day away from school. The weeks after SOL testing are always rough, because the kids seem to think school is over. I'm trying to do some last-minute units to wrap things up and get them ready for fourth grade. Anyway, 13 more days (not counting the one last personal day I plan on taking sometime!). Speaking of school, ALL of my kids did pass their History SOL test. Yep, 100%. Super awesome - never happens at my school and it happened in 3 of the 4 third grade classes this year! Wahoo!!

In other, more exciting, news - we put our house on the market last night. We are listing it for about $14,000 more than Jonathan paid 3 years ago....which is more than most have sold for. But, it is 9,000 - 13,000 less than the other two listed in our neighborhood right now. We'll see what happens. We did go look at that house in Blacksburg and we loved it as much in person as in the pictures we had seen. We're researching some comps in the neighborhood and history of the property to see what the best offer would be. The only problem, of course, is that we have to sell one to be able to buy one. This house is definitely perfect for our family - and is exactly what we want, though. It has a very nice, flat yard, a guest bedroom AND guest full bath on the lower level, a family room with a fireplace, a nice patio and deck, and 3 bedrooms on the upper floor. Should bode well for the 5 kids we're planning on! ;) Oh, I hope this is the one!

Tonight I will cook Indian food for the 2nd time in my life. Granted I use kits to make it, but still! April and Jeremy (and Tad) are coming to enjoy it with us. Yay for good friends! :)

And, today I'll leave you with the only 3 pictures taken during the Lower Girls Reunion on Wednesday. Ironically they are all of me and Baby Cara. I don't really mind....

Fly in the Soup

My husband just said, "Not to be a fly in the soup, but it's pretty boring when you're not a teacher and you read a blog about SOLs." So, here's to a blog that has nothing to do with SOLs.

We're thinking about buying a house. There are two main reasons for this. We want a yard and we like the interest rates right now. However, we're slaving away at paying off my student loans, and a higher mortgage is going to really put a damper on this. So, we're trusting God to help us make the perfect decision for our situation.

Up until this weekend, we'd decided to wait until next Spring. Then we found a bunch we liked that are in our price range. And today I found one that is a little out of our price range, but I think it's my dream house. Oh my gosh, I drool just thinking about it. It's in Blacksburg, which is ideal. It has 1/2 acre of flat land, which is hard to find in our price range. It has 4 bedrooms (3 upstairs and 1 downstairs), 3 bathrooms (2 upstairs and 1 downstairs), a good sized living room, a remodeled master bath with awesome tile and fixtures, and the best kitchen on Earth. It's been remodeled and has white cabinets, light greenish walls, and stainless steel fixtures and island. It's painted so nicely, it looks super nice, and we both just love it. We haven't even been in yet - this is just from pictures. We're going Friday (or hopefully sooner) to look. I really hope it isn't sold by then - sweet houses in Blacksburg go FAST! I know if it is "our" house, it will be there and they will accept a lower offer AND we will sell our townhouse. But, oh, I love this house.

In other news, my lower girls are coming to visit! Ashley is fanatical about Macado's, so we're heading there while she's home from FL. Christy is bring baby Cara and Mary is coming, too. We'll miss you Lo! It's so fun to catch up with them - and adding Cara to the mix just makes it better.

And last on today's agenda....my new IPOD. I happened upon $100 in Wal-Mart gift cards and spent them on a new IPOD nano. I love it. It makes running so much more fun and quick! I'll have a prize for the best recommendation for a playlist that will keep me motivated during my daily runs. Heavy metal lovers need not apply. Oh, and my ipod is blue. That makes me a good wife. Everything in me wanted the pink one, but I knew my hubby wouldn't be too keen on borrowing a pink one. How cool am I?

Stick a fork in me....

SOL tests are OVER! VGLAs are finished, signed, and turned in. Kids have officially shut down. All of these things mean one thing - I am officially a babysitter. No, that's not true. Since we have FOUR WEEKS left (why 4 weeks after tests? Darnit, I don't know!) I have units planned. We'll see how that works out. Here's what we have planned. A novel study on Charlotte's Web. A SS unit on Jamestown. Math units on multiplication, lapsed time, and possibly GCF and LCM. I'm sure you don't care. I just needed to let you know that we are done proving ourselves to the Department of Education in Richmond. Now, they just have to answer to me! Enjoy your weekend.