A few of my favorite things...

Wanna take a trip down memory lane? Growing up I always wished my Mom had a tree that was "pretty" I didn't like that our tree had just random ornaments on it when all my friend's parents' trees were themed and fancy. Then, I got married and guess what...my tree is JUST like my Moms :) Here are some of my favorite ornaments...

When Brad and I got engaged (the day after Christmas) for an engagement gift my Grandbess put together a little gift of ornaments for us to use on our first Christmas tree and this was one of the ornaments she gave us. It was on their first tree as a married couple :)


Brad gave me this last year for our first Christmas. The other side says "State of Bliss" on the license plate.


Every year ever since we have been dating I have given Brad a Christmas ornament. This was the one I gave him right after he decided to transfer to Tech.


This ornament is from Lindsey and Lincoln's wedding. Cute favor idea right?


My Mom and Dad gave us this cute first Christmas ornament last year, and its one of my faves.


I just think this ornament is cute. It says "me" under "Mistletoe". I gave Brad this ornament the day before we got engaged :)


Go Hokies!! When we have a house big enough for two Christmas trees we will have a themed tree, and our theme will be Virginia Tech :)


I had other ornaments to show you too like a Lucy ornament, multiple soccer and volleyball ornaments, and a really cute first Christmas flamingo ornament from Brad's parents, but I'm too tired to upload them. Hey I'm pregnant give me a break!! :)

Oh, and if you want to see some other cute ornaments head over to the Dowdy House!!

9 weeks preggo...

So I am 9 weeks pregnant now, and I am starting to feel better...slowly. I am pretty much sick only in the mornings and at night now, which is better than the all day sickness I was experiencing before. Anyway, I am at a point where I can still fit into my regular jeans (most of them), but it is extremely uncomfortable, so I have had to bite the bullet and buy some maternity jeans which I DO NOT LIKE!! It just feels really weird to me. OH, and a BIG thank you to Emily for letting me borrow a bunch of maternity clothes, my purse and my husband thank you :) I am not really craving anything in particular right now, but every once in a while I will have a craving, and Brad has been amazing about obliging my cravings!! Yay for Brad! :) The weirdest thing so far that pregnancy has done to me besides the obvious things we won't discuss on the world wide web is that these high hormones have given me some CRAZY dreams. I mean absolutely CRAZY!!! But that's another blog for another day...Anyway here are a couple pics of the baby bump (it is much bigger at the end of the day than it is as the beginning haha)



P.S. Please don't judge me for the second picture it was late and like I said I'm nine weeks preggo I don't have the time or energy for taking a shower, much less actually fixing my hair :)

Oh, and we have lots of fun things going on this weekend, so be looking for some interesting updates soon!!

Merry Christmas to me...

I have always told Brad that I wanted to have a SLR camera before we had kids, so when we found out we were expecting I KNEW I really wanted one for Christmas, but I also KNEW that we didn't really have the money for that. So I just decided I would ask for money for Christmas from everyone who asked me what I wanted. Mom and I had already planned on going out on Black Friday, and the EXACT camera I had my eye on was $250 off. I guess Brad had seen the ad in the paper because he said, you know if you're going to be out at Best Buy you could just go ahead and get that camera that you want. You can imagine my shock because if you know Brad at all you know that his middle name isn't exactly "big spender". Let's just say we balance each other out well in this department. Mom and I went to Best Buy and waited in the line for about 15 minutes, and I got the last of the four cameras that were on sale!!! So I am SOOO pumped about my new camera :) Be expecting to see lots of pictures of the holidays, and let me know if you want any pictures taken I'm thinking of doing it on the side to make some extra money!!

Let me introduce you to someone...

(This is where I wanted to put the ultrasound picture, but I couldn't get it scanned in)

That's right Brad and I are expecting our very first child on July 14th :) After we got over the initial shock since we were not trying to get pregnant, we were THRILLED!! We spent Thanksgiving telling our friends and family the exciting news, and now it is my privilege to share it with the world wide web!!

To tell my parents and brother I wrote each of them a note from the baby (whom we are referring to as "Baby C"), and I wrote a cute little poem to give to Brad's parents. They were all so excited, but not nearly as excited as Haley and Riley! Haley is super inquisitive about the whole thing, and Riley is pretty pumped too.

We went for our first appointment last Tuesday, and we got to see the baby and hear its heartbeat. It was so amazing!! I am so amazed at what an awesome God we worship!

Now that everyone knows they can stop wondering why I can't seem to bring myself to put make up on, clean my house, or for that matter even get out of the bed in the morning. The other morning one of my students said "Mrs. Collins you know you look much prettier when you actually put make up on" haha oops :) All of that being said Brad is definitely giving Chris Dowdy a run for his money in the husband of the year department. He has done all of the laundry in our house, mowed our grass, brought dinner home, and felt really sorry for me. I cannot believe how tired I am, or how sick I have felt lately. I do not like feeling so blah all the time. But only four more weeks of feeling like this, so I can tough it out for that long. My Mom swears that one day I will just wake up and will feel completely better...I'm still waiting for that switch to flip :)

Thankfulness Day 3...

Yes I know it is technically Thanksgiving already, but since I'm still awake this post counts as a Wednesday post :)

Today I was reminded of how thankful I should be for memories and wisdom. My great grandmother AKA Nana was just diagnosed this past weekend with terminal cancer. This has been hard for me to process because she also has dementia, and has not been quite herself for about a year now...she has good days and bad days (don't we all), so I haven't been able to determine whether this is a blessing for her or not. So, today I went to visit her and it was just really hard. Grandbess and Grandbud were there talking with hospice, so I sat in her room with her for about an hour while she rested and I just prayed over her. I thanked God for allowing her to be such a big part of my life and for allowing me to possess some of her qualities that I admire, and for letting me spend 22 years of my life learning from her. I also asked him to be gracious to her and not to allow her to suffer, and to prepare our hearts and help us grieve her death, heal and be able to celebrate her life whenever that time comes. After about an hour of just praying over her I did get to "visit" with her for a little while, and once she realized I was there she was her same spunky self (everyone says that's where I get my sass from...thank you nana!!). I am so thankful for the wisdom and the memories she has given me, she will never know the impact she has had on me!! Ben and I spent every summer of our childhood staying at her house while Debs and Big Steve worked, so Nana practically raised me and that's probably why I'm so tough :)... So I thought I would share with you some of the things I have learned from Nana...
-Don't let anyone push you around, ever, period.
-Always spend time with your family whenever you get the chance.
-Work hard at every thing you do.
-Shoes and purses are important investments.
-Spend your money wisely.
-Make jokes at your own expense.
-Look out for those around you who are less fortunate, especially family.
-Brad has really nice hair, don't let him cut it.
-Sometimes life is hard, but that's life, and you've just gotta keep on going.





I can't even begin to put into words how thankful I am for Nana. She is an amazing lady who has been through so much in her 92 years of living. I can only aspire to be the woman that she is. I'm looking forward to spending Thanksgiving with family tomorrow...I know I've told you this before, but its my FAVORITE FAVORITE FAVORITE holiday!!
-

Thankfulness Day 2....

Today I am choosing to be thankful for my job. I say choosing because sometimes its just plain hard. It's hard to go to work, and sometimes its even hard to be thankful for it. Actually typing those words out makes me realize how RIDICULOUS that is!!! With so many Americans without jobs and losing their jobs how selfish of me is it to be ungrateful for my job. The funny thing is I actually like my job. I love the actual teaching part of my job. There are some other parts that make it a little trying, but the instruction and interaction with my students I LOVE. I love that I am the teacher they can relate to, and that I'm the one they want to come get advice from. I am lucky to have a job, and I am THANKFUL for my job. I am thankful for the students that God chose to put into my classes knowing that I could touch their little lives each in very different but very specific ways, and I love that through that process they are touching my life and they are changing me. I am thankful for the people that I work with because they provide me with an AWESOME support group. I am specifically thankful for those coworkers that have become friends. Wow. I have a lot to be thankful for this holiday season, I am truly truly blessed beyond measure!

Thankfulness...

It is my goal this week to write a post each day about something different that I am thankful for. This should not be a challenge since I have A LOT to be thankful for this year!! Today's post is going to be about one of my favorite blessings :)

I am SO thankful for Lindsey. She is the greatest friend I could ever dream of having. She is always there to listen to me, pray with me, simply just hang out, and sometimes to just have a good old fashioned gossip session (forgive us). I probably tell Brad approximately 20 times a day that I don't know what I would do without her. She is truly amazing. I can't even describe to you how powerful it is to have her pray over me. I definitely believe this is one of her spiritual gifts. She is such an amazing woman. She helps me to be a better christian, a better wife and just a better person in general. Oh Lindsey I am SO SO SO thankful for you!!

I am going to brag...

Yea, I'm totally going to brag about my wonderful husband, so if you are afraid this might make you gag don't read any further :)

I am SO proud of Brad for lots of reasons, but yesterday I got to experience first hand what a difference he has made in the lives of the guys who play on his Roanoke Star soccer team. We had a little get together after their game at one of his player's houses, and just about every single parent there came up to me and had something wonderful to say about Brad. My favorite story was from Matt's mom. She said that a couple of weeks ago her son e-mailed Brad to ask if he could miss two games to go to a YoungLife retreat. She told me that he was so nervous to ask that he almost didn't even do it. When Matt got Brad's response to the e-mail his Mom said he was so excited. Apparently Brad told Matt that he was involved in Athletes in Action and FCA while he was in college and high school and that he thinks it is great that Matt is getting involved in things like that too and that stuff like that is really important. So, Matt went to the retreat and his Mom said he came back and said that after being there all weekend he decided he might want to be a youth pastor!!! How awesome is that!! She told me that she is so thankful for Brad and that as her son has been playing for him the past two years she has seen a major change.

Not only has he transformed these guys into better soccer players, and a better team, he has transformed them from 13 year old boys into little men. It is so cool to see how they all look up to him and how they all respect him. I love to watch him coach because he's so stinkin' good at it!! So I think I'm done bragging for now, you'll have to forgive me, but you can't say I didn't warn ya :)

A day in the life...

I've finally done it. I've accomplished my goal! I am officially a teacher that everyone likes, but I am also a teacher that they think of as being mean. I realized that I had reached this milestone in my life when I received a note from one of my sixth grade students last Friday. It said
"Mrs. Collins,
I love you. You're my favorite teacher. We still love you even when you're really mean." There was also a bible verse inside of this handmade card.

HAHAHA!! I laughed my head off. Anyway I thought on this rainy Tuesday that might give you a little laugh :)

And I also have a recipe to share that is SUPER easy to just throw in the crock pot before heading off to work.
Put in chicken breasts (thawed or frozen)
Add a 15 oz. jar of mango pineapple salsa (I buy the fresh salsa made by Kroger)
Add a regular size can of corn
Add a regular size can or black beans
Cook it on low for about 6-8 hours.
Then an hour before serving it place a fat free block of cream cheese on top and let it melt.
You can serve it over brown rice or cornbread or egg noodles.

This is SO good!! Brad said it was the best thing I had ever made, and it was hands down the easiest. Have a terrific Tuesday! :)

Out of Surgery!!

Just got a phone call from Grandbess that Grandbud is out of surgery and in recovery. Surgeon's nurse says it went well. Thanks for the prayers and continue to lift him up!

Find me faithful

God. Thank you for blessing me with family. My family is amazing, and I am so blessed every single day. Thank you for giving me grandparents that I don't just go sit and talk with thank you for giving me grandparents that are fun, that do stuff with me, that are sincerely interested in what's going on in my life. Lord, thank you for the privilege of having people like that in my life. I am so nervous for Grandbud's surgery tomorrow God, and I know that worry is not what you have for me. Help me to lay this worry at your feet, and help me to place my faith in you and not in the doctors or the surgeons or the nurses, Lord find my faithful in this. I know that everything you give us is for your purpose, and I pray that lots of good will come out of this experience. Please give the surgeons doctors and nurses clear heads and steady hands tomorrow as they perform the surgery and as they take care of Grandbud after. Give Grandbud the strength to survive the surgery, and to recuperate and be back to his old self again. I pray that you will be with Grandbess as she waits for Grandbud to come out of surgery give her calmness Lord, let your peace that surpasses all of our understanding surround her and protect her. Give her strength to care for Grandbud as he recovers and give her the wisdom and the humble spirit to know when to ask for help. God give the rest of us your peace Lord, help us to be confident tomorrow, and God help us to be faithful. Amen.


As you may or may not know Grandbud (my Dad's Dad) is having open heart bypass surgery tomorrow morning at 8 o'clock. He has a 90% blockage in his coronary artery. This surgery is risky because of his age and because the lower half of his heart is very weak due to some health complications from years past. I am so anxious, and I am just asking for all of you to pray with me tomorrow as he goes into surgery and this whole next week as he is recovering. This is a really scary time for all of us, but I know that my God is bigger!!

Fun at the Apple Orchard...

This Saturday Brad and I had a GREAT time at the Apple Barn apple orchard with the Millers and Alisha! We were really lucky that Alisha came because she took some cool pictures, and she knew what kind of apples we needed for baking our apple pies! Here are some of the pictures of the fun.










Days like this make me thankful to be in Roanoke, and thankfulness breeds contentment, so I will choose to be thankful :)

On Missing College...

Lately I have been missing college. Now let's be serious I don't miss the work of college (although I'm definitely doing more work now as a teacher than I did in college, but at least I'm getting paid, well sort of), but I miss the social aspect. I miss all of my friends living in one little town within five minutes of me, instead of all of us being spread out across the state and even across the country. I miss watching movies with all my friends, or having campfires with a big group of people, or cooking an apartment dinner, or getting together to watch Grey's and do crafts. College was such a fun time in my life, and it seems like it flew by. So this Halloween while I have no costume parties to attend, and I am sitting here with my cute dog, and even cuter husband and handing out candy to approximately two children, those of you who are lucky enough to still be in college better enjoy it for the both of us :)

I'm officially a teacher...

And here are the pictures to prove it :)








And don't worry I have LOTS of funny stories. Oh how I love the world of Middle School.

Cutest Kindergarteners I've ever seen!!

Surprise!

Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad!!! Yesterday was an AMAZING day! I have been planning a huge surprise 25th anniversary party for Mom and Dad since May, and the look on their faces yesterday was WELL WORTH IT!! I do have to confess that amidst all the planning and preparation for the party yesterday I forgot to get a new memory card, so I have absolutely no videos or pictures of this party :( That makes me so sad, but life goes on...

They were SHOCKED!!! The best part about the whole party, besides the surprise, was that I tracked down some of Mom and Dad's friends from high school and they were able to come. I'm so thankful that these people think Mom and Dad are as special as I do :)

I wrote a little poem for a toast, and here it is:

We’re gathered here all full of smiles
With friends and family too
To celebrate your life and love
The years that you’ve been through.

Two people could not more deserve
The words you’ll hear today,
The admiration, thanks and praise
You inspire in us each day.

For twenty-five years you’ve walked the walk
Of devotion and respect,
Now we’d like to take some time
to look back and reflect.

It all started at a game
And a trip to seven eleven
It was obvious even from the beginning,
This was match made in heaven.

At first Steve thought that she was married,
But his Dad encouraged him to ask her
With sweaty palms and a racing heart
He pictured this a disaster.

But Debi was eager to respond
She definitely wasn’t taken
Little did the two of them know
Their worlds were about to be shaken.

Then Debi went off to school,
Their phone bills became insane.
So Steve packed up his little car,
For they could not stand the pain.

When Debi came home it didn’t take long
For Steve to buy a ring,
Even though he didn’t have much money
He still provided the bling.

Then on Saturday August 18th,
With their friends and family there,
A blushing bride and a handsome groom
The love was thick in the air.

After just a few happy years
Even though their life was fun
They felt that something was missing
In the oven they put a bun.

They began to build their family
And they built it on the solid rock,
A couple years later along came Ben,
They had their princess and their jock.

After many passing years,
They thought their family was complete,
But God had other plans,
He added four more little feet.

Steve and Debi live for their kids,
They support their goals and dreams,
From soccer to golf to beach trips and college,
This family is truly a team.

The best part of their story is
That their love has continued to grow,
Amid children and work, the ups and the downs,
The light in them remains aglow.

Mom and Dad, you’ve shown us all
What it takes to make marriage succeed,
With every day, your choices and care
Make you real inspirations indeed.

So everyone, raise up your glass,
To celebrate this pair,
A couple whose story, whose love and whose life
Is truly beyond all compare.

I'm such a poet haha...NOT but they loved it and people got my silly humor so that was good :)

Thank you Mom and Dad for setting such a wonderful example of how to love each other for Brad and I. You guys have shown everyone around you for 25 years what a marriage should look like!! We love you!!

Faithfulness...

Have you ever gone to church and felt like the sermon was just for you? Well, that's exactly how I felt today. I have been struggling with trying to figure out what my purpose is in life. I have been so envious of those that are sure of their purpose, and at times I have been downright mad and lost not knowing God's will for my life. In fact, just yesterday I was having lunch with Lindsey and we were talking about this very thing. Brad and I debated on going to church with my parents today instead of Parkway, but for some reason we both just really wanted to be at our church, and now I know why.

The title of this series Pastor Ott is doing is "If you're going to walk on water, you have to get out of the boat". And today's message was taken from Matthew 14:25-27. The first point was that "walking on water sometimes means sleepless nights". He was talking about how the disciples were in a storm in the middle of thunder and lightening and crashing waves, but they were also in the center of God's will, and if they weren't out in that storm Peter would have never walked on water. Wow...that's where I am right now. I am just waiting on God to answer all the questions I have, but asking him to "map it out" is not faithfulness. Faithfulness is being still and knowing that he will provide for me and he will reveal my purpose, but for now teaching at PCA is what he has for me and being right here in Roanoke in this house is what he has for me.

Our God is so good to us. He is so big, and he has big plans for all of us. Let's be faithful in these small things here and now and he will trust us with the big things in the future. I'm positive he is going to call us out of the boat and let us walk on water!! :)

Big first day of school tomorrow, so the bed is calling my name :)

Team Wives

This past weekend our little family (including Lucy) and Chris took a weekend trip to VA Beach. The purpose of the trip was for Brad and Chris to play in an adult league soccer tournament, but my purpose of going was to hang out with Maleka whom I have dearly missed since I graduated! Lucy and Maleka's dog, Bella, had a great time playing together and Lucy has been so exhausted she has barely had the energy to get off of her bed all day...thank you Bella :)



Maleka and I had a great time catching up and hanging out, but we also went and watched all of the boy's games. They did really well and lost in the championship game. Donny, one of the guys on the team, has a wife who I hang out with at the games, and sometime during this weekend the guys started referring to us as the "team wives". I mean we were handing out cold rags and water like it was our JOB since the heat index was over 100 and the guys only had 2 subs...but the verdict is still out on how I feel about that title.

But anyway it was such a fun weekend lots of fun time with friends and we got to eat lots of good food, most notably The Cheesecake Factory...YUMMM!! And I always enjoy watching Brad play soccer he is quite the stud!! :) Here are the pictures from dinner one night.





Have I mentioned my brother in law is great...and SINGLE ladies!!!

Random Thoughts

I have discovered a great thing on kraft.com. There is a section of their recipe website that gives you a list of groceries for the week that will all fit into one grocery bag and you can cook 5 meals with those groceries!! I will be getting a lot of use out of this once we get into more of a routine this fall. But who am I kidding our life won't ever have a routine until we're like 80 years old, there will always be soccer games to coach and play in, and friends to see, and parties to attend. But that's just the way I like it :)

I am also LOVING these dogeared necklaces. One of my roommates bought me one for my birthday one year and I thought it was so cute. You make a wish when you put it on, and you wear it until it falls off.

And my last thought of the day is...am I crazy for taking Lucy with us on our trip to VA Beach this weekend??? Haha the answer is probably yes!

1,250 miles later...

We had so much fun spending time with our families, playing games, finding starfish and sand dollars, laying the sun, throwing football, reading, relaxing, and driving around together!! But all of that fun left me absolutely exhausted! We left on Sunday the 19th for Hilton Head to spend the week with my family, then Brad and I took our time the next Saturday and drove up to Topsail to stay with my aunt and uncle, then left there Sunday and drove through Carolina Beach to eat the best doughnut you'll ever eat at Britt's doughtnuts, then rode the ferry from Fort Fisher to Southport and finally drove down to Oak Island to spend 4 days with his family, and now we're back home. Here are just a few of my favorite pictures...




Look at that Sass...where do they get that from??


















Now if you'll excuse me there is a cute little doggy that I have missed very much that requires my attention :)