Today's list:

1. Two emails in six days. 5 or 6 more days to go. It's that time again.
2. Maybe one day there'll be a good reason for a real Christmas tree.
3. If it has to rain, at least it is a Saturday. Good for staying inside and my students don't miss out on recess. My perennials are perky again.
4. You connect with who you connect with. You can't make everyone happy. I'm so thankful for my closest friends.
5. A Christmas tree and "It's A Wonderful Life". The perfect way to end this Saturday.

A Thanksgiving Feast

beautiful centerpiece

 Can't contain the excitement!

  Shane and Adam

enjoying a turkey leg

Jenn's homemade whipped cream

 the funfetti tradition continues

A low key day with friends, food, the Macy's parade, and Clue.

Thankful for food, friends, and a day of rest.



I sometimes feel I am caught in this in-between life. A life of a military spouse and the life of a civilian spouse. Sometimes life gets normal enough, if only for a moment, for me to forget that my husband is a Marine. I sometimes find myself yearning for that normalcy. A house somewhere far from here, a 9-5 job, dinner with my husband every night.

But this life. This crazy never-knowing-when-he's-coming-or-going, nights-weeks-or-months-apart, moving-and-never-quite-feeling-settled life. This life is....Opening the car door and finding my husband's helmet and flak jacket. Watching helicopters take off, fly around, and land all from the comfort of my front porch. Helicopters coming in for a landing buzzing right over my car so close I think I might be able to touch them. A sea of green running in formation. That slick blue uniform with gold buttons and white pants. Insignia in every drawer of the desk. That leather aviator jacket in the coat closet. A green cover on the end table that tells me he's home. Last name and rank on the front of the house. Artillery firing at random times of day or night. The days when American flags line the light posts adorned with yellow ribbons welcoming them home. This life comes with a sense of adventure and a calling.

What is "normalcy" anyway? I am ever so thankful for this life. This man. My Marine.

Everyone has a story. This one just happens to be mine.

Fall Fun

Most of the things going on around here are boring. Lesson plans, lesson plans, training, grocery shopping, oil changes. But every once in a while we manage to have a bit of fun.

This past weekend our OCF bible study had a get together featuring chili, pumpkin carving, smores, games, and good company.

It was a beautiful fall day.

Our Pumpkin




This is how far Adam got into carving before deciding.....He wanted cookies instead.

And to play with the bow and arrow.



Anna did manage to con him into helping her carve her pumpkin though.

Luckily this time Adam's attention span lasted longer than the three year old's...

We got competitive with a cookie eating contest using only your face muscles to get the cookie from your forehead to your mouth:

The kids enjoyed dancing with each other,

and roasting smores.

The evening ended with good fun games and vanilla lattes.  What a fun night and a blessing to be a part of OCF and the bible study here in Jacksonville.

A Beach Wedding

Our wonderful new second grade teacher was married last weekend.
Our second grade team took a trip to Holden Beach, NC to witness the event.
And so I could play with my new camera.
And eat cake.

It was a gorgeous day!

 Look who caught the garter...



Flood Day

September has been a blur.

  

And now it is over.

North Carolina is not infamous for snow days, but we do get the occasional flood day.

School was cancelled and an "optional" work day was put in place for teachers. I left work early for fear they would close the last open road that would lead back to my house.

I caught up on housework.

Warm cider.

A friend.

Schoolwork.

And rest.

I need a good flood day every now and again.

As long as the water doesn't rise any closer to my porch.

I did not want to do my lesson plans tonight. I started anyway. As I pulled up my email and opened my books I became increasingly overwhelmed with this week: editing that movie of my students for Open House, that chapter I need to read before Wednesday's professional development, assessments, planning, centers, visitors coming two days this week, preparing for observations, little tasks to complete, and maybe finding the time to actually teach.

I began to have a brief dilemma minor meltdown. Do I work too much? My house is collecting dust, my garden is pleading for grooming, and a pile of laundry the size of Mt. Everest has been waiting for folding or ironing for well over a month. Has this taken over my life?  How will I keep up? Oh right, and my car needs an oil change. And Adam's car. Am I boring? When will I have time to do anything else? Will this job ever get easier? And I need to go to the grocery store again. Why did I take on more responsibilities at work? It's 9:30pm Sunday and my lesson plans are not done. Is this really what I want to be doing with my life?

Then I remembered: A student brought me an apple this week.
This sweet little girl.
This sweet girl with big, bright eyes and braided pigtails.

Yes. This is exactly where I am supposed to be. I have 21 children depending on me to teach them, encourage them, inspire them.

Whew.

I should probably finish those lesson plans.

Farmer's Day

Today was Farmer's Day in Richlands. You know, one of those only-in-a-rural-town-pronounced-"Rich Lands" kind of events. Jenn and Jackson joined us. It was a gorgeous day.

There were vendors with country crafts and antiques. Firetrucks. And, of course, no Farmer's Day is complete without funnel cakes, bouncey houses, cow milking, and antique tractors.

I have a new toy. I have wanted a digital SLR camera for a LONG time. However, I didn't feel I could justify spending the money when I wouldn't have time to use it anyway.

That is not the case anymore though. Even though I'm still working about 12 hours a day, at least I don't have classes and homework when I come home. I also have my Saturdays back...oh how glad I am to not get up early on Saturday to do grad work for five hours and then turn around and spend five hours Sunday evening catching up on lesson plans.

So as a graduation present to myself, I bought this:

And I have taken every opportunity to use it.

You know those Dominos Pizza ads where they tell you to take a picture of the pizza because they don't need fancy photography to make their pizza look good? Well, neither do I.

Doesn't this look super yummy with jalapenos from my garden?

I made Adam take me on an adventure my first free Saturday. We visited Cliffs of the Neuse state park. "Cliffs" is a loosely used term in eastern North Carolina, and the hike was only a mile, but it was great to get out and explore anyway.

And, Saturday wouldn't be complete without a date night with my husband from the comfort of our own home.

Ok, so I'm still learning how to use this thing. But it feels so great to finally learn photography and to get out of the house a LOT more.