Merry Christmas!

 

I wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!  It seems like 2011 sure went in a hurry.  Here's hoping 2012 is a great year too!  For a quick update, read here.  Blessing to everyone!  

Here are the kids, including Jakob, singing at Church last Sunday.  It was so cute, there was a television with the words of the songs below them along with their teachers that are out of sight.  If you watch closely, you can see them watching either or both!  So cute!

A Very Merry Christmas

We went to our church's Christmas service yesterday evening. It sure was nice to see everyone and we had a great turnout! Our Pastor, Chris, said there was approximately 260 people there! More chairs had to be pulled for room for everyone. He was super excited especially since the church is considered a baby church since it just started officially meeting September 2011. All the kids at the service received electronic candles and were able to keep them. Jakob was sure excited and careful with his candle. I have volunteered to take pictures and different church events to record the history of our church! It will be neat to look back at them later.

It sure has been nice having the time off from school to visit with family and friends. I think my co-workers along with our students were really ready for the break! In January, I start my Masters Degree in Curriculum and Instruction at UNT. My plan is to take one class a semester for starters and slowly knock it out!

Merry Christmas everyone!

Papa and me

This is a picture of my dad and Jakob at Christmas.  It amazes me this is from 2009 and Jakob was not even fives year old yet (he's now almost 6 1/2)!  My mom and I got them to sit still long enough to take this picture together!  Inspiration is from Sketchy Thursday's 6.2 Sketch.

More Christmas 2009 Scrapbook Layouts

Here's another Christmas layout for 2009.  We were opening presents in Killeen with my side of the family.  Inspiration for the layout is from Sketchy Thursday 5-5.  I'm hoping to finish a few more layouts this weekend to finish up my Christmas scrapbooking layouts for 2009.

Christmas Scrapbook Layouts

The last time I was able to scrapbook was during February during our snow week!  We are down to five more weeks of school and things are starting to slow a little.  I had been wanting to scrap a little and was able to get a few things accomplished.

The pictures are from Christmas in Abilene, TX with Jeff's parents.  Their tree is always so pretty and it spins on a base!  Jakob had gotten too big for his other bike and received a bike for Christmas from Lana and Gregg.  Here is a layout I created using paper from a Coordinates Collections kit and it was inspired using Sketchy Thursday's 4/28 sketch.

We moved into our new home on Wednesday, December 7, 2009.  It was an extremely busy time period with unpacking and buying presents.  The boys were pleasantly surprised with their Christmas gifts.  This layout was inspired using Liz's sketch #117 over at The Scrappiest and paper from a Coordinates Collections kit.

2010 Family Portraits

Jeff and I have not done family pictures in three years, and knew it was time! 

Jakob (5 years old) and Roland (13 years old).  Roland is about to have his 14th birthday on December 1st and Jakob will be 6 years old on February 1st.

I really like this one of Roland and Jakob.  Both boys are growing like weeds, but seeing the height differences is really cool.

This was one of the last pictures and Jakob was wearing out.  Our photographer was great and kept Jakob just laughing and saying funny things.  Jakob was adding his own comments, but he couldn't have had more fun!

May Over the Rainbow Cyber Crop Challenge #4: Gifts

I finished my second challenge for Coordinates Collections May Cyber Crop. This layout was designed for challenge #4. The requirements were to have all the colors of the rainbow in the layout. This was harder than I had expected as I had troubles with adding purple and yellow into the layout. However, I think it came out okay. The layout is designed using Sketch #11 from The Scrappiest.

Journaling: We had Christmas in Abilene, Texas on 12/26/2008 and opened...gifts!

Supplies: SEI Glitzmas patterned paper and stickers, ribbon, flowers, misc. buttons

2007 Christmas Letter

This year has flown by rather quickly! Beginning in January, Jeff and I continued our education at the University of North Texas. He was enrolled in six credit hours and I was enrolled in fifteen during the Spring 2007 semester. In January, I visited the College of Education’s Teacher Education Macintosh computer lab and lucked into a job position working in the computer lab. The position was convenient because I was able to work on homework when the lab was not busy with other task or people to help. Overall, Jeff and I finished the semester well.

On February 1, 2007, Jakob turned 2. We scheduled a birthday party at the local McDonalds in Lewisville. Since we moved to Lewisville in November 2006, we had other daycare choices. April 2007, Jeff and I decided to move Jakob to the Children’s Courtyard. His new school is larger than his old school and has a lower teacher-student ratio.

Summer was here before we knew it and that meant more school! I had six credit hours to complete before starting the first half of my student teaching. I was able to enroll in both of my classes in June. Jeff was also enrolled in six credit hours between the two summer sessions. I ended up working in the computer lab in July and Roland enjoyed visiting the computer lab with me. He was quite spoiled since he was able allowed to play computer games for part of the day!

In late August, the Fall 2007 semester began. This semester has proven to be a challenging one for me, but I am almost finished. I started PDS 1 (Professional Development School) and it is the first half of my student teaching training needed to receive my degree. Between my school district choices, I was assigned to the Lewisville ISD. For college credit hours, I am currently enrolled in twelve credit hours. However, besides college courses which I have on Mondays and Tuesdays; Wednesdays and Thursdays I work an internship at my assigned school within LISD. My first rotation was with 5^th graders at Degan Elementary and I am currently working with 8^th graders at Huffines Middle School. Around October, I found out I was awarded a $1000 General Academic Scholarship. There was a scholarship award dinner on November 1^st to celebrate the award.

I turned 27 this year on September 30^th and Jeff hit the big 30 on October 21^st. We also celebrated five years of marriage on October 19^th. My mom and dad watched Jakob and Jeff and I took a weekend trip to San Antonio, TX. Our six year old black Labrador, Tito, spent the week in Abilene with Lana and Greg!

We stayed at the Sheraton Gunther Hotel in downtown San Antonio. It was only a few blocks away from the RiverWalk. We were walking distance from the excitement and we were able to do extra things since we did not have the kids with us!

Roland will turn eleven years old on December 1^st! He started the 5^th grade at Beverly Elementary in Plano this past August. Roland continues to play soccer in Plano. He played during the Spring 2007 season and enjoyed it.

And for the most exciting news for the year! Jeff will graduate from the University of North Texas on December 15^th with a Bachelors of Science Degree in Business Computer Information Systems! Back in August, Jeff and I made the decision for him to leave GameStop. This allowed him to enroll in his fifteen remaining hours in one semester instead of two. He has had many job interviews with perspective employers looking to hire for January 2008. It should work nicely because after he is hired at a new company, I will know which school districts to apply to next March during their job fairs.

The upcoming year is approaching us quickly! Before you know it, Jakob will turn three and I will have graduated too! We will possibly begin looking at houses beginning in the New Year. We hope everyone has had a wonderful 2007!

An Upcoming Christmas Gift!

My absolute favorite thing to do when I get time is scrapbooking! There is a product called the Cricut machine that automatically cuts letters, shapes, and other objects from 1 inch to 5 inches tall. The retail price began at $299.99 and was really out of the question, but always something that would be neat to have. Well, yesterday morning I sent Jeff an email and mentioning how I really enjoy scrapbooking and how neat one of these machines would be. He understood and actually called a Hobby Lobby where they had 2 in stock for $194.95 and additional cartridges for $59.99. The normal sale price I have seen recently has been around $250, so I was excited to find out Hobby Lobby was selling them for $195. So Jeff told me I could buy the machine for Christmas and then buy 1 extra cartridge. The cartridges have the program on them telling them what to cut, how to cut it, etc. So I ended up buying the machine which comes with the George and Basic Shapes cartridge, and the All Mixed Up cartridge. I got it all wrapped up, so now all I have to do is wait until Christmas!

A visit with Santa

Jakob and I went and saw Santa in the Stonebriar Mall in Frisco this morning. He did really good in line waving at him, but when it was our turn, he was unsure about sitting on his lap. But I'm sure he told Santa he wanted toys for Christmas! :)