Flashback of Hillside Inn

We got to North Carolina late Friday night. After getting our bags and our rental car, we headed to our hotel ready for a good night sleep.

As always, we got lost on the way to the hotel. For some reason, this happens to us on EVERY trip we take. I thank our lucky stars for the iphone. But as our "direction skills" go, we still got lost, even with its help. Next time we will rent a GPS with the car.

Once we finally made it down the dark, scary street to our hotel, the front door was locked. We rang the buzzer multiple times with no response. I finally called the hotel to tell them we were outside. A nice woman with half her teeth (if even that many) answered the door. She checked us in and gave us our room key. I knew it was not my type of place, but I tried to be as optimistic as possible.

As we brought our items into the hotel, I almost passed out due to the amount of smoke in the air. We made it into our room, and I almost died. I wished I was almost anywhere else. Since it was after 1, and I knew we would get lost if we tried to go to another hotel, so I sacked it up and decided to stay for one night.

It was a long night. I might have slept for a total of 4 to 7 minutes. There were multiple high school parties going on. I tried to call the front desk, but no one answered. I could go on, but I think you get the point.

First thing in the morning, we changed hotels (yes, we did get lost on the way to the new hotel). I am so happy with our new hotel! It has clean air, sanitary beds, internet access, and many other ideal items I never thought I would need to wish for in a hotel. Most importantly, we (meaning me) feel a lot safer in the new hotel!!

Through out the time, Chad just continued to say, "I'm so glad you're the one who booked the room."

P.S. The rest of our trip has been a blast. I will blog about it later...

North Carolina, Here we come!

We are taking off today to North Carolina. I cannot wait to venture around Durham and North Carolina for the next few days with Wick!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Waking up to see the fog in the sky and to feel the crisp air, I could not wait to start the day! We took Maple on a long walk around Clayton to enjoy the fall weather, and to make us feel better when we ate a ton of food.

Once we came back, we made guacamole and salad to bring to Thanksgiving dinner at the LaSala's. I made the yummy red pear salad that Paris brought to Cooking Club; it was a hit. From there, we put up the Christmas lights...well, Chad actually did, but I made sure the lights were working before he hung them. I love watching him hang the lights. He takes this job very seriously and makes sure that each strand is in place. I love having the lights up on our house. I cannot wait to drive around at night and see all of the houses decorated for Christmas.

After the lights, we got ready and headed down to the LaSala's for Thanksgiving. THis was the first year my family celebrated Thanksgiving with Chad's family. We all had a wonderful time eating, talking and sharing funny stories. I am so thankful that my parents and the LaSala's enjoy each other's company; it makes holidays sooo special to have both families together.

Mindy did a wonderful job making too much yummy food and decorating the house! She has a ton of pumpkins that made the house truly feel like it was Thanksgiving. I only wish that I had taken more pictures!

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving too!

Family Time!

One of the main reasons that I love the holidays is due to all of the special family time!

Yesterday, my Aunt Judy, Uncle John and their grandkids came down form Santa Rosa for some family time. My mom made us a yummy waffle lunch. All the girls headed to downtown Clayton to visit the library, get some coffee, shop at Royal Rooster, and play at the park. When we got back to my parents' house, the girls made some holiday cookies. It is so great to have such a wonderful family to spend time with.

P.S. Dad and Uncle John,

I added the playlist again just for you guys. :)

Bad Luck!

Although Chad doesn't go out of town often, I do NOT like it when he is gone. Not only do I miss him, something (or a couple of things) are bound to go wrong. Well Sunday night was no different than any other night he has been gone.

First I fell and got this:

Then I woke up Monday morning to find one of these on our garage:

I am sooo glad he is back!

Classroom Thanksgiving Feast

In the month of November, my class learns about the Pilgrims coming to the New World. We share the good, the bad and the funny stories with one another. Although they learn the typical information, I always add some of the more interesting facts from Don't Know Much about the Pilgrims. I think one of their favorite stories is that the Pilgrims could not take a bath during the 66 days they sailed on the Mayflower from Holland to the New World. Some think it is cool, while others are absolutely grossed out! During this time, the kids write more paragraphs than they could ever want to, as they describe their new learning.
This year, after all of their hard work was done, we got together with Mrs. McCurdy's class and had a feast! We were the pilgrims and her class was the Indians. We made costumes, read poems, and exchanged gifts (necklaces and place mats). My room moms did a wonderful job decorating the room and getting all the food together. As the kids came in, all the lights were off and the room was lit by a few candles. The kids were adorable as they said what they were thankful for. They also enjoyed all of the delicious food that the families prepared. They had turkey, corn, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, cranberries, salad, 7 pumpkin pies (yes, I said SEVEN!!!) - you name it and it was there. The kids just loved it. It was a great payoff after all of their hard work.

Gobble Gobble

Last Saturday we had Cooking Club with a twist. Instead of preparing the food as a group, everyone brought over their own favorite Thanksgiving side dish. We also decided that it would be fun to let the men come an join us for a change.

For some silly reason, I offered to cook the turkey. I have heard multiple horror stories of turkeys gone wrong, and who can forget the scene in National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, when they go to cut the turkey and it is basically nonexistent, but I decided...what the heck. Although the turkey turned out delicious, there is no way I would have been able to do it with out my mom's help. She coached me (aka- pretty much did most of the dirty work) as I learned how to cook a turkey. Not only was she there when I began to cook it, she answered multiple phone calls, and even did a surprise drop by when she could tell I was getting quite nervous. Thank you mama! Fortunately for everyone, the turkey turned out delicious in the long run, despite my panic!

As I said, everyone brought a dish (some even brought a few) so there was way too much food. We were all super stuffed by the end of the night. I could do little more than sit by the fire pit and laugh at all of the hilarious stories being told. I distinctly remember on about deep frying a Twinkies as well as a snack well cookie (YUCK!). It was wonderful eating, drinking, and talking with everyone. I cannot wait to do it again next year.

CMA Awards

Being such a huge country fan, I was so excited that the CMA Awards (Country Music Association - for those of you who do not know) were on tonight. There were so many wonderful performances; it just kept on getting better.
I just about jumped up and down on the couch when Brad Paisley announced that one of my favorite songs ("Just Got Started Loving You" by James Otto) was going to be played (WOOHOO!). I turned up the volume on the TV in anticipation. "This is the best," I thought to myself as I closed my eyes to take in the first few words. As soon as I opened my eyes, my jaw just about hit the floor (and not in a good way). This song is pretty steamy, so I have always pictured a steamy man singing it (think my husband or McSteamy from Grey's Anatomy), but no - the exact opposite... Here is the "steamy" singer... I hope this image does not pop into my head every time I hear this great song. Maybe I can talk Chad into making a lip sync video of it for me so I can replace the image in my head.

Getting Crafty!

Yippie! I have the next two days off! I woke up this morning in a crafty mood. I decided to make cards, gift tags, and some yummy treats. Here are a few pictures of some of the items I made:

The Willis'

We have not seen the Willis' in more than a month, so we stopped by yesterday to hang out. It is amazing how big the boys are getting! Jaden is 4 and Brady just turned 2 Friday. The boys are at a great age where they are able to play together and entertain one another. Brady got a Thomas the train set, so the two of them worked together to set it up. It is so fun to watch these two grow up!

God Bless the USA!

Today was an amazing day! I went to the gym early to make sure that I was home in time to get ready by 7 am. I headed to the local voting booth to cast my vote. I truly felt nervous as I was turning in my ballot because there were so many important votes to cast. Who will be our next president? What will happen to marriage in California? What about teenage abortion, not to mention the farm animals? The list of changes could continue, but you get the gist.
Although I thought that I was excited, I could have never imagined the buzz among the students in my class. They were all so excited about today's election too. Their conversations were too funny. They were debating (mind you they are second graders) about whether McCain or Obama will raise taxes, who will truly help us with the war, and who is old or young enough to do a good job.
We held an election with id's, voting booth, ballots and "I voted" stickers. The voting booth was a total hit. The kids loved voting in secret. To my surprise, the kids were quite nervous to "vote." One child even yelled, "I can't remember who I was supposed to vote for!" from the voting booth.
The kids could not wait to hear the outcome of our vote. After our chat about majority vote (which needed to be 10 of the 18), I began to tally the votes. It was hilarious to watch the kids responses. I had a few (2) grumpy faces after the first ten votes (10 Obama, 0 McCain) because the McCain supporters knew they were out numbered. At the end of the tally,Obama won 14 to 4.
Two of the McCain supporters were so upset they were giving everyone dirty looks. I had to explain to the whole class that we could all be friends no matter our political party. Unfortunately, this did not help. I tried to explain that we were the only ones in control of our own emotions, and we could make or break our day...still no luck.
Then I explained that we would all be able to all have snack no matter our political affiliation; this made things a little better.
Fortunately, we made it through the day with out anymore dirty looks or upset children.
As I look back on the day, I am quite impressed how my students handled the situation. No rude words or tears, just friendship through the thick and thin.
They also proved that food can solve most problems.
I hope the rest of the world is able to handle the outcome in a mature fashion too no matter who wins.

Jamie and Anthony's Wedding