Birthday and Christmas

Those two go hand in hand for me! Having your birthday 2 days before Christmas isn't so bad... I am now at the point when combining gifts is encouraged (especially when they come in the form of KitchenAid stand mixers... I'll brag about that later!) but I will always love and appreciate my mom wrapping my gifts in actual birthday paper and making me a normal birthday cake. (leaving the red and green icing behind!)

Looking back at all my birthdays, I have come to realize there are a lot of things that make Christmas birthdays great! 1. Family is in town! 2. Christmas vacations means I have gotten to spend my birthday in some fun places! I will never forget eating "birthday" breakfast with the characters in Disney World! 3. Its the most wonderful time of the year :-) 4. My husband can take me to the Nutcracker...

Which was my wonderful gift from him this year! Gold stars go out to Greg for sitting through a ballet!

Getting ready for the show! Greg was way more interested in the orchestra pit than what was happening on the stage...

The mice... I didn't have the guts to ask for a picture with them.

Greg wanted to take me ice skating at the "Discovery Green" park in downtown Houston, but it was closed due to "unseasonably warm temperatures." Of course. 75 degrees and rainy. December 23rd.
But I had no clue this cool park was in the middle of downtown! Here's a couple pictures.

I had an amazing birthday! And an amazing husband!

Now on to Christmas!

This year, being Greg and I's first meant that a "Christmas schedule" had to be planned! Lucky for us, my family seems to do things early in the day and Greg's side celebrates later in the evening. So on Christmas eve, we made our first stop at Grandma's house.

This year Trey got to be Santa! A Santa with skinny jeans? Is that legal?

Opening presents. Ciara never gives a normal smile.

Neither does Trey.

Grandpa's calendar! It is a tradition to pass around the calendar and see what month and what pictures all of us ended up in!


Looking through my camera, I noticed that I am not the best "photographer." Thank goodness for my sister-in-law Cristie who always takes great pictures! I just might link her blog when she has them up because I am missing all of Greg's family pictures!

But I did get our first "married Christmas" morning!

I woke Greg up at 7:00 am...(hence the coffee) because you just CAN'T sleep in on Christmas! We started the morning off by reading from Luke, the Christmas story. It is so important to remember the true meaning of this holiday as sometimes it can be easily forgotten in the "hustle and bustle"

Greg opening his stocking!

Sour patch kids and a very sleepy Greg.
I wonder how long I can keep these pictures up on my blog... before Greg tells me to take them off!

MJ cd... now I get to hear "Billie Jean" 24/7... what was I thinking??

The Office trivia game!

Barbie Fashion calendar. Perfect for my classroom! (And this will be the only "early morning" picture of me!)

Wireless printer... we have wasted a lot of paper and ink playing with this! haha

Santa heard Greg this year and he finally got his firetruck he has always wanted! Cristie... we are saving this for Tyler! haha!

And drumroll.... Santa heard me this year and brought me an iTouch. I now have way too much technology in a device that is meant to play music! But it is also way too much fun :-)

On our way to my Aunt Julie's house, we spotted Santa... except he wasn't on his sleigh...
And at the Mercer's house later that day, Rowdy (in his classy sweater) opened up his gift from us!


I wanted to throw this one in... Christmas this year would not be complete without a snuggie! Thanks to Greg's Grandma, we can now stay warm AND use the phone, read a book, hold the remote, cheer at a football game...


And for the final picture, as I said in the beginning of this post, here is an example of a sweet combined birthday/Christmas gift...

Yes... a stand mixer... a KitchenAid stand mixer! In the past 2 days I have used it 4 times :-). Thank you Mercer family!!!!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and have a Happy New Year!!
I think my next post will be on some New Years resolutions... I have a lot! :-)

An attempt at a Christmas card...

I was really excited about being able to send out Christmas cards this year (by the way, everyone will be getting them a little late....) so of course the picture had to be perfect. Join me on my journey to the "perfect" Christmas card picture...

The first one was okay, but a little awkward. Check out my Frankenstein hand.


Then it just got out of control...

Very funny Greg.

Merry Christmas from the Grinch's?

Merry Christmas from the Mercers!

Christmas firsts

Greg and I are getting ready for our first Christmas as a married couple!

And to commemorate this wonderful occasion, I photographed every step of putting up our first Christmas tree! :-)

Yes, this is the first step... it's pre-lit. Which is pretty much amazing.

Our naked tree needed a skirt...

Next is the beads. But I had to smell them first. Ever since I can remember, the beads that went on the Christmas tree smelled awful. And why I would make sure they still reeked year after year... I have no clue. But a Christmas tree is not a Christmas tree without those stinky beads.


The stinky beads on the tree!

The ornaments...

And now the star!

Drumroll please......

O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree!

Oh and I almost forgot! The ornaments collected for me by my mom through the years were passed on to me for when Greg and I were to start our own tree.

Check out the "globe" in the middle. Every year we joke that mom must have been feeling very "multicultural" that year. haha.

We have yet to find an "Our First Christmas" ornament, but I might just have to make a Hallmark trip this week to pick one up... and maybe a Tyler candle...and some Vera Bradley. :-)


Well, there is our first tree! I will be posting some more Christmas "firsts" later next week as I will have plenty of time on my 2 week long break!!!!

teacher appreciation at its finest

Today my 6th period class expressed appreciation for me in the best way that their generation knows how. A rap. And here is goes.

(I advise you to get a nice beat going before reading)

Mrs. Mercer
She's not a curser
But she's much worser....
Than Chuck Norris.

Thanks 6th period. I feel the love.

MiMi

This past Thanksgiving was a sad one for my family. My dad's mom, or Mimi as we all called her, passed away early that Thursday morning. It brings tears to my eyes just thinking of the funeral, all our memories of Mimi, and especially all of the things we will dearly miss with her being gone.

My mom recently posted on her blog a beautiful tribute to my Mimi and I want to share it on mine. I am not nearly as good with words as my mom is, and I think she expressed Mimi's life and legacy perfectly. You can read her post here.



We can all take comfort is knowing that she is now with our Heavenly Father happier than we could ever imagine here on earth. Until we see here again, she will be missed dearly. I love you Mimi!

Operation Prom Dress

I am back! It has been quite a while since I've posted anything; there really hasn't been much to post about! My life for the past three months has consisted of gradually lightening my stress at work and finally getting into a routine where I have found a nice (and important) balance of work life and home life. I just might have to share some of my time saving tips I came up with sometime!

And now that I am no longer lesson planning on weekends, I have finally found my way back to my favorite hobby! And what a way to kick off this wonderful occasion with a special project for my sister!

Ciara is now a senior meaning prom is just around the corner! Most girls would be rushing to department stores or specialty dress shops to find the one... but we (my mom, Ciara, and I) made a fun trip down to High Fashion Fabrics yesterday to create the one.

Ciara's inspiration for her dress comes from Taylor Swift's gown in one of her music videos. Here is a pic:

How cute is that!

We are going to follow the same basic design and materials adding in a slight sweetheart neckline, a corset back laced up with ribbon,"sprinkling" some crystals throughout the dress, and Ciara changed the color to a pretty sea foam blue-green.

I am so excited to start this project and keep posting the progress each step of the way! Next post, I will upload my preliminary sketches of our version of the Taylor Swift dress. :-) Until next time!

The crazy coupon lady is back!

Well for today at least!

I actually found the time to go through the deal blogs this week as well as my "coupon files" and match up some pretty sweet deals! (One done by myself, thank you very much!)

Now, in the past I have posted pictures with my kitchen table almost full of goodies, but today it is smaller than usual... its going to take time to get back into the swing of things!

Here is what I got at Kroger (minus the regular groceries!):

4 bottles of Dial hand soap (all free!), Gillette MVP razor (1.50), and a febreeze plug-in starter set (.79) So my total for all these items was 2.29! The retail price (even with the kroger card discount) is a whopping 19.78!


And they all went into my lovely stock-pile box which has really come in handy! Its nice not having to add these kinds of items to my shopping list when we run out... I just go to the "store" under our sink! And its even better when I bought them for next to nothing!

Well it is good to be back :-)
Is it weird to say I think I found my ultimate stress relief in couponing? haha!

Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad

I am always in awe of how much God has blessed me, and constantly questioning what makes me special enough to receive them all.

Apart from the blessing of being saved by Christ, I am always brought to this question when I think of my family and especially, my two parents. Of all the two people I could have been born to, I was fortunate enough for Him to choose Paul and Annie Latour.

I am proud to say that today marks their 24th anniversary, and as I would love to present them with a 2 week Alaskan cruise to express my thanks for giving me such a wonderful life, right now this blog post will have to do. (I haven't even gotten my first paycheck yet! haha)

Dear Mom and Dad,

Thank you for....

bringing me into this world- Mom, you risked your life, and Dad, you risked your sanity! You have sacrificed so much for me to be here.

raising me in a Christian home- I know that being shown Christ's love from you two was what started me on my path to being saved and living a life to glorify Him. I don't know where I would be without everything you both have taught me.

giving me two..... wonderful....siblings- I got to have my 5 short years of only child glory, but I am happy you brought them into this world as well... We wouldn't be a "circus family" without them!

supporting me in whatever I wanted to do- From girl scouts to softball to dance to art classes to choir to even that nerdy "discovery" club at school :-) , you made me realize that I could do and be anything because I knew you would always be there to cheer me on!

helping me through those awkward years- this one definitely earns you gold stars! I cannot even imagine what it was like for you both having to deal with a junior high aged girl who came home crying every other day about the most ridiculous things! :-)

loving Greg as one of the family- from the very beginning, (and after some discussion with dad and his guns I'm sure, haha!) you both supported us and loved Greg as another son. We are so blessed in knowing that you will always be here for us.

and in celebration of today, thank you most of all for being an example of a marriage that I will always strive to create in my own life. Listening to all the stories of the very beginning to the ups and downs along the way, and seeing it as I grew up, I know for a fact that this is how God intended marriage to be and why He created such a beautiful thing.

I remember growing up hearing from so many of my friends and the kids at school of how their parents were divorced, and sometimes being told how unusual it was for mine to be married for so long. But these were the times when I was so proud to be the odd one out!

Thank you mom and dad for being "odd"

Happy Anniversary!

the end of a better day

First of all, let me say that prayer is amazing. After I blogged that horribly depressing post earlier today (sorry! haha), I got into my car and started driving to the middle school with the most miserable feeling inside. These questions and more where going through my head "How am I going to wake up every morning knowing this is where I am going?" "Am I going to get fired for being so behind and overwhelmed?" "Would that be a good thing?" (I am laughing at that now, but it seriously went through my head!)

And then I began to think about all my dear friends and even people I don't know too well who were praying for me each day. I was amazed that I have so many people supporting me, not to mention a God who is so much bigger than any lesson plan, discipline problem, or lack of tables and chairs (I had to throw that one in there!) So I did something I have never really done before. I prayed in the car... out loud :-) It really helped me realize that God is so much closer to me than I seem to think sometimes. He was in that car with me, He was with me in the classroom, was always with me, and will always be with me. What an encouraging revelation :-) I recommend praying aloud by yourself to everyone!

The rest of the day went so much better than I could have imagined. I know that the strength I was given to take charge and lead the classroom was from God and God alone.

God knows His will for me, even when in times, like now, I don't know why.

Maybe its to teach me be in constant prayer, or to teach me to place my full trust in Him.

I have always said my favorite verse was 1 Peter 5:7 "Let the Lord have all your worries and cares, for He is always thinking about you and watching everything that concerns you."

Now is my chance to really live that out!

I want to end this post with a picture I had Greg take of me Monday morning that is dedicated to my mom! Every year since Kindergarden, my mom has taken my picture in front of the door on the first day of school. Yes, even my senior year of high school (and probably my freshman year of college!) So mom, here is a picture to add to the timeline:

My First Day of School- August 24, 2009

A Classroom in Progress

I have been MIA for the past week as in service has started and a new school year begins.... tomorrow...

I've already vented, cried, and expressed my anxiety to poor Greg to last a lifetime it seems, so I won't bother my blogger friends with any of that!

Instead, here are some pictures of my brand new classroom! Cy-Creek has undergone a MASSIVE "facelift" to say the least which has on one hand given all teachers MASSIVE headaches in return, but on the other hand has also given us some state of the art facilities. Oh the price of beauty...

I am going to show some before pictures I took on Monday first..

Only 3 sewing machines.... there are now 30!

The big pile of "stuff" stored in our classroom waiting to be moved... oh how clueless I was on what was to come...

The front of the classroom- Its huge! I also have 2 ceiling mounted projectors which is amazing! The right side is the "sewing lab" and the left is the "classroom" side

And now here are the pictures my mom took yesterday as we decorated what we could!

The much improved "sewing lab"

My "chic" posters from Hobs Lobs. (hobby lobby lol) As you can see, there is much white wall space and as a design teacher... this is not going to work! I think I am going to put up some fabric stretched canvases up to add some much needed color.

My little corner. Where I am sitting should be tables for the "instruction" side of the room. Except as of today at 12:00... no tables. We might all be sitting on the floor. seriously.

These are the decorative body forms.....just kidding. I am so used to seeing construction men from this week... they might as well be accessories in the classroom!

More body forms. Mom thought this was necessary to take a picture of...

Decorating a real body form.

So this week has been a nightmare I could have never seen coming, but I am hopeful and in constant prayer that this week as well as my first year teaching is.... survivable!