Here are some pictures from Christmas. My blog was having issues: mainly, I couldn't post pictures. And, I was having issues: mainly, I didn't want to blog. But, I hate to not post all these pics about our holiday. It really was good.
This little creature gets very nervous when I bring out the luggage. She KNOWS what it means and she always wants to make sure she's coming with me!
And, here's her first ornament! It looks a lot like her, I have to say!
We spent a lot of time watching sports. Well, they did. I was mostly upstairs watching stuff on Netflix.
This was her favorite place to lay when the tree was set up. I don't know why, but she kept going back to it! She's weird, guys.
And, she spent so much time playing that she would have to take a little siesta in her crate. So cute :)
Christmas morning smiles :)
Matt and I found a bunch of pictures of us from when we were kids at my grandpa's house. So, we had a lot of fun tweeting these and making fun of each other.
We had a hey-day with this one! Look at the boy's weenie socks!
The Fam.
Aunt Blakely got Finley and Hampton some snowflake pajamas. Check out that shaggy hair. She got groomed soon after and looks much better now :)
See! This is her "Best in Show" pose, I'm pretty sure. Don't tell her she's not a pure-breed!
This week has been rough, guys. Just one of those weeks where we've been OFF. Nothing major has gone wrong, but then again, nothing major has gone right. I think having Mondays off are great. Nobody loves a lazy day more than me, honestly. But, it does throw off the whole week. And, then you go home on Tuesday and you realize half the week has gone by and it's now Thursday night and I still don't have lesson plans done for next week.
Uhhhhhhhh.
And, to top it all off, we had a resurgence of the Thunder Girls Club. I don't think I ever told you about the Thunder Girls Club.
Sit back, this is good.
About two months ago, I found a piece of paper on the floor in my classroom after school. I, of course, did what every self-respecting teacher does when they find a note on the floor and ripped that sucker open hoping for something juicy. I found a note that basically said:
Dear _____, You're invited to join the Thunder Girls Club. We will meet at recess. Don't tell anybody.
Like I said: JUICY.
So, the next day, I called over the little girl who I thought had written it based on handwriting. I asked her about it and she IMMEDIATELY burst into tears. Like, burst. Oh, and she denied it. So, I finally get out of her that she and another little girl had written it. I wasn't mad or anything, I was just asking them about it.
They told me that the club meets at recess and sit together at lunch. I asked them who was in the club and they named every girl in our class except one and they said they were working on her invitation next.
So, I just casually asked out loud, "Who's heard of the Thunder Girls Club?" And, I looked out and every girl was raising their hands... and TWO BOYS! I honestly just laughed out loud. I mean, the image of all the girls and then two boys with their hands up was the funniest thing ever.
I asked them what they would do if somebody from another class wanted to be in their club and one of them said "Well, we already got Mariana!" She's a kid in the class across the hall. And, excuse me, you "got" her?
It's too funny. And, I think what impresses me most is how organized they were! Goodness, they had handwritten invitations that they worked on one at a time! And, all the girls started pulling out matching bookmarks that someone had made them that said "Bring this to the meetings." HA!
And, the name. Where did they get the name? That's too funny.
I know what their club song could be:
Third graders love AC/DC, right?
Sadly, I put an end to the Thunder Girls Club.
Or, so I thought.
Fast forward to today. I went to pick up my kiddos from lunch and the cafeteria lady was waiting for me at the door. Never a good sign. She said "The Thunder Girls are all crying! They've been fighting all week."
WHAT?
How does the cafeteria lady know about the Thunder Girls??
Why are we still dealing with this 2 months later?
Needless to say, we had a looooong talk after lunch and, fingers crossed, we took care of it. I've got to say, this is all new to me. We did not deal with this stuff in first grade at all.
To top it all off, we spent some of the afternoon learning about Europe. We're working our way around all the continents. I said something about the Queen of England. One little boy goes "I think her name is Queen Latifah." And the kid sitting next to him goes, "Yeah. It is. I'm pretty sure."
So, just to clarify:
The Queen of England
NOT the Queen of England.
But, I bet she'd love to be in the Thunder Girls Club!
I was home sick from school because I've had an awful stomach flu. I started to finally feel better this afternoon... so I got on the computer.
And, I was like "Oh yeah! My blog. Wow, it's been a loonnggg time since I posted on there!"
And then I fell asleep.
But, I'm awake now and it's icing like crazy outside and fingers are crossed that we will not have school tomorrow! Why is it that you feel so much more cozy on nights when it's freezing and sleeting and snowing outside? Because, I feel pretty dang cozy right now.
Anyways, I went to post some pictures... and my picture upload bar is missing? I looked into this (read: I googled it) and apparently this is happening right now? On lots of people's blogs? Is it happening to you, too? It's seriously irritating, I'll tell ya' that.
So, since I can't post any new pictures and update you on what's been going on (don't get excited: the answer to that is pretty much nothing), I'm going to take this chance to post some pictures from Matt and Blakley's wedding via Facebook. The pictures finally came in and they are GORGEOUS! And, I wanted to do a post to share them so... now's as good a time as any, right?
Look at the bride and smile!
Our new family!
The Ridings Clan
Blakely and Abby
I'm horrible at the "Be Carefree and Crazy" shots!
Seriously adorable :)
Wedding Party
Matty and I
Getting ready...
Rehearsal Dinner
They were so proud of this one :) They talked about it all night!
Holding hands, but not looking at each other :)
Picture of the Parentals
Guys, how cute is my mom?
Three Generations
Okay, that's all I've got. Hopefully Blogger will fix these shenanigans and I can post again soon! As always, thanks for reading!
If you do, you know that for YEARS Vanderbilt has been the joke of the conference.
Well, not any more.
Thanks to this guy right here:
Vanderbilt Football is an exciting thing!
Don't believe me?
-They currently hold the longest winning streak in the SEC - 7 games.
-They had their first 9 win season since 1915!
-They attended 2 bowl games in 2 years. (Stop laughing, that's never happened before!)
-They beat 7 SEC teams this year. And, I've heard all the "They only beat those teams because they're not as good." Well, um, isn't that the point? You're SUPPOSED to beat teams that are not as good as you. And they did. They used to get beat every year to teams like Ole Miss and Auburn and Tennessee and now they beat them. So, what's the problem? And, just saying, they played Florida and USC VERY close!
-They beat UT for like the second time in 28 years. This in particular feels good because, I'll just say it, I hate UT. Their players are thugs. Living in Nashville, I've always had to hear how UT was so superior. It's been fun to have a successful year at the exact same time UT self-imploded. It was awesome yesterday after Vandy's win to hear all the UT fans calling in to the radio stations upset. Before, they didn't care enough about Vandy to even waste their time. They care now. I love it!
-They have a top recruiting class next year for the first time ever.
It's especially exciting because we're not fair-weather fans. I've been going to games since I was a kid. Games where the stands were half empty. Games where Vandy found a way to lose again and again. Games where there were a LOT more fans for the other team than for the home team. Games where we couldn't give our extra tickets away.
It's all thanks to James Franklin. He's a fiesty, fun guy with a football-field sized personality. And, he's done something that no other Vanderbilt coach has done: he's made people believe. He made the players believe. He made the students believe. He made the fans believe. He made Nashville believe.
He's got people, young and old, throwing up the "VU" gang sign on the streets of Nashville, for crying out loud.
Yesterday, we went to the Music City Bowl to cheer them on. We were all really dissapointed that the game was in Nashville... because, honestly, the fun of a bowl game is to travel.
But, looking back at it, I think it was perfect.
It was awesome to see 55,000 people at the game. And, NC State probably had about 5,000 people there. It was all Vandy fans and that was really fun.
We left the house at 7 because it was of upmost importance that we be at the "Player Walk." I don't really know what it's called... but, we line up and yell and the players and coaches walk through on their way into the stadium.
Matt and Blakely came with us. Blake's a huge UT fan, but we're trying to convert her. Otherwise, their future kids will be so confused...
My dad was so cold he refused to smile. But, FYI, he's the biggest Vanderbilt fan there is. He doesn't miss a basketball or football game.
The Commodore led the way!
Then came the band, playing our fight song "Dynamite."
The players walked through looking sooooo serious.
Coach Franklin
Our seats were in the endzone, which I don't love. It's hard to see what's happening on the field from that angle! Luckily, LP Field has some new massive screens to help you out :)
We all discovered it's impossible to use your iPhone with gloves on... so we got a little creative - ha! It was so cold. It sleeted for half the game. The guy behind me said "It's raining Dippin' Dots right now!" and everybody died laughing because it honestly looked like it was!
After they won, the whole team ran over to the student section and sang the alma mater and the fight song.
It was a really fun day and a perfect way to ring in the new year!
I'm so proud of Vandy and their hard work this season.
And, just because I love it, I'll end this post with my favorite Vanderbilt football YouTube video. It's worth watching: trust me :)
Here's what you should know about me: I'm a third grade teacher, I love to decorate, I watch way too much reality tv, I have an adorable puppy named Finley, I'm all about shaved ice and Tim Riggins and I laugh a lot.
