Spring Break and then some....

Well, spring break came and went. And here we are with another week gone without a post that I meant to make a week ago. Shame shame! Spring break was't exciting for me, but it was a nice break from work and all that goes with it. Here is a quick snapshot of my spring break (notice the BORING of most of it....)

MONDAY: It was a little gloomy, so I opted to stay in and complete a series I was watching on Netflix. Since then, I haven't started anything new on Netflix because I wanted to focus on reading again and the shows that I have on my DVR. Get ready Netflix because I will be back with vengeance this summer!

TUESDAY: I spent the day with a long time friend and her family during a difficult time. It was nice to be able to have the opportunity to show love and support to dear friends when they need it most.

WEDNESDAY: This was Cooper's day off so we went around town doing some window shopping and actual shopping. Love spending days with that man.

THURSDAY: I stayed in and relaxed and even did some reading...FINALLY!!! I actually got 2 books read over the break. I'm ashamed to say that that's way below average. I usually put away at least 10 books during a week break from school.

FRIDAY: I ran a few errands during the day before getting ready for double date night later that evening. We met up with some friends from church to go to the shooting range. This was my very first time to shoot a gun. I had always wanted to do it but never had anyone to take me that would teach  me what to do. Of course I loved it! So glad that we had someone to show us. I used my own personal gun. However, since it hadn't been used in probably over 20 years, it was dirty and didn't shoot well. Luckily, the friends we went with had a couple of guns that were much easier to shoot. I'm not a great shot, but I enjoyed it so much that I want to go back when I can to get better. Our next shooting adventure with these two will be at the end of April when we go to an outdoor range to use our shotguns!!!! The hubby got a video of me shooting, but I made sure to get a few pics to commemorate the moment, too. (ignore the big goof in one of the shots....that's the "teacher";)

SATURDAY: I spent the morning with some ladies from church having our monthly ladies devotional. It was a nice time to get together for some food and fellowship. I went straight home and made food for our group potluck for the next day. I always bring a main/side dish and a dessert. If I don't then I definitely catch "major side eye" for not doing it. I know this because when we hosted in January I was so busy that I bought food instead of made it. All in good fun. I love to cook and love that people enjoy it. Later that day, we went to Cooper's parents' house and grilled burgers and spent some time with them. We live 5 minutes from each other and go weeks without seeing one another. We were long past due for a visit.

SUNDAY: We went to church, our potluck, home for a quick nap, back to church, then home to rest before beginning the new work week.

This week has brought a lot of emotions. I found out half of my wonderful #dreamteam is leaving for better adventures for their families as well as our principal. This was sad news for me because I've grown so close to these wonderful ladies the past two years. I also enjoyed working with this principal. I know things will work out the way they are supposed to, but change is often difficult for many to accept. (Stay tuned for a separate blog post on this subject in my "Forever Faithful" blog....wordsoffaith4ever.blogspot.com)

We had a short 3 day teaching week since we had a field trip and data day the other two days. We took our firsties to the Dallas Arboretum. I'd never been, but it was beautiful and the kids really enjoyed themselves. They got to explore the children's garden where there were many activities relating to Science for them to explore. They got to go into a classroom and experience a lesson on plants. They were engaged thoroughly in lesson since the instructor gave them a kinesthetic connection to how a plant grows. They were able to take home a plant they planted and a sheet of a flower they dissected. We got back and decided to take a #dreamteam selfie (we are missing 2 of our teachers). These ladies are such a joy to work with. We laugh together and cry together....but mostly laugh due in large part to "the thread".....our group text convo that can get pretty crazy but oh so enjoyable.

Our Friday was spent discussing data, enjoying time talking together, and of course....EATING! Because after all, it's all about the food with us #foodmatters

I really should have taken a picture of our spread yesterday. 

After a crazy emotional week, I needed some serious fun time with friends. Luckily, we were having our friends from church (and shooting companions) over for game night. We ordered a pizza and some wings along with a bag of Cool Ranch Doritios....because we can. We started off teaching them a card game we've come to love....Nertz. Somehow along the way it became known as "Nartz" but whatever....tomAYto/tomOto. Not surprising the key starting phrase became "Let the Narting begin!!!" **I will be keeping the identity secret of who said what and who came up with what in these games so as not to embarrass certain individuals.....

One of our group though a lot of themselves and their ability to win at anything. Well, that person lost. Of course, they will claim they were cheated out of a victory since they were "missing" all of their aces for some of the game (which will be forever known as "operation banana"....don't ask). However, later the rest of us came to discover that this same person was winning all the time because they were playing with 4 fewer cards in their "nertz" pile the whole game. (insert side eye emoji here)

Then we moved on to the game of Scategorgies. You have a list of things to come up with in a certain amount of time and all the items on the list must begin with a letter that you roll on the alphabet di. Everything on that list begins with that same letter. There were many laughs at some things that were shared. We found it strange when our answers were the same as the other person's spouse's answers. When my friend's husband and I kept getting the same answers I became worried since he is an evil genius. By far, the best one of the night was the letter J and the item on the list that stated: an activity you can do in 5 minutes or less. If ya'll know me, you know I don't run and/or jog...like ever! So I'm thinking, "well, I certainly could be done jogging in less than 5 minutes." When it came time to share our answers, I kid you not, that evil genius says the exact same thing I was thinking! I just about died laughing....like literally, "hyperventilating laughing so hard I'm barely breathing and tears are streaming down my face" laughing. Which, coincidentally, I've been known to do while reading "the thread" from the dream team.

The ridiculous answers started piling up, so I just had to make a list and inform those involved that these would be making the blog. Here are some of the answers that were just too much....

• country that starts with "I": Islam
• excuse for being late that starts with "W": wet my pants
• items in a suitcase that starts with "R": right shoe "cuz you ain't gunna bring just the left"
• something that weighs less than 1 pound that starts with "L": less than 1 pound
• things you can tie in a knot that start with "H": hang a plant
• chain store that starts with "B": wait for it.....Macy's
• things that fly that start with "J": joey...as in a kangaroo

We will be hanging out with this couple in another couple of weeks to go painting. Stay tuned for more crazy!

Making Nice with the Snow and Ice

Ahhhh.....February in Texas. I have often found that this is probably the craziest month for weather in the Lone Star State. We experience "normal" mild winter temps, get teased with some spring-like temps, then BAM! out of no where get blasted with crazy Arctic weather. That was the case this past week. My previous post told of our journey to Lubbock and how we got back in the midst of the freezing rain. Well, as I sat on my couch last Sunday night it became clear to me that we perhaps might not have school the next day. I kept checking the school's Facebook page for updates. Sure enough, the post came that thrilled teachers across North Texas....No School on Monday!!! Cooper had to work, so I spent the day in my onesie PJs (courtesy of my lil' sis) with a blanket, 2 dogs, hot cocoa, and Netflix! You know you're watching too much TV when Netflix sends you messages of judgement such as this:

I mean, yes, I'm still watching One Tree Hill! Stop judging me Netflix!!!! I'll turn it off when I'm done. Hello, my name is Ashley and I have a Netflix addiction.......

Side note, the hubby and I finally finished all 10 seasons of Friends on Netflix and now don't know what to do with ourselves. It was a sad day at our house when that final episode finished. I now understand how the rest of America felt 10 years ago.

Ready for some cuteness? Here are my sweet furry babies snuggled up with me:

Now during these snow days I'd have ongoing text conversations with a few girls at work. Apparently we still need to communicate like we are actually still at school. Only these conversations are way better! Of course we started talking about food since that is what we're known for. Somehow, pancakes got mentioned. So you know what we had for dinner that night.....

with strawberries and cool whip, too!

Now, seeing as how temps never got above freezing that day and the rain kept coming, we were on the lookout for another cancellation for Tuesday. Sure enough, that evening more good news came:

This was great news for me because Cooper was off on Tuesday, so we would get to be lazy together that day. That doesn't happen very often for us. We took full advantage!

Had to throw in this cute pic of Harley desperately seeing permission to get up on the couch with me!

Now, I did have to rock the onesie PJ another day since it was so comfortable. The 4 of us decided we needed a family selfie to commemorate the day:

Dixie is camera shy, and Harley is showing of his tongue.

I was able to go to work Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. It was a crazy week, so I kind of just made things up as the days went on. This was a chance for my kids to get to do things we normally wouldn't have time for during normal weeks. I read lots of stories and poems to my kids just for fun. They absolutely LOVED sitting on the carpet listening to me read funny books in funny voices.

Mid morning on Friday the snow came. And boy did it come! It was a crazy hot mess on the roads and in the front office as parents were swarming in to pick up their kids early. Thankfully, the school district decided to shut down at 12:30 due to bad weather conditions. My amazing team knew I had a long drive, so they let me cut out pretty quick after dismissal. My normal 35 minute commute took 2 hours. But I made it home and enjoyed an evening of TV and delicious food. We'd been talking about this queso dip we'd been craving at work, so I asked Cooper to pick up a few "survival" necessities on his way home from work. It pays to have a hubby that works at a grocery store in times like these so I don't have to get out in this mess. We made sausage queso blanco and brownies for dinner that night!

Here are a few pics of us enjoying the snow Friday afternoon. As you'll see in some pics, the dogs were not crazy about the snow. In their defense, we did throw some snowballs at them while we were out there. Our cul de sac was a beautiful blanket of unmarked snow until I came driving up. The same thing with our backyard. Our galavanting about and snowball fights disrupted the picturesque view in our backyard.

I had to take a pic with my #1 pup

and my #1 man

Here's hoping for a week of normalcy before Spring Break!

Here's a P.S. for you....My little nephew, Jude Douglas, was born Tuesday afternoon at 12:31 pm. I won't get to meet him until April, but here is a pic to get you through until then:)