Sweet Baby Liana

Dear Diary,
I have been the WORST blogger for the past few months. I got so busy at the end of the school year. Plus, the summer seemed to be over before it even started. Last time we talked I was spending time with my pregnant sister. These days, I am spending time with my brand new, sweet baby niece. (Can you tell how I feel about her!!) Ok, so technically she's not brand new anymore (she was three months last week) but she is still precious. I was finally able to gather some pics so I put together a little collage. I hope you are able to view this, I uploaded it a little different! Hopefully it won't be another 4 months before I blog again!!

Girls Night Out

(Me and Kara definitely did NOT plan to color coordinate, but isn't it neat that it worked out that way)

Last week while at home for spring break, both my sisters, my mom, and myself went to see Sinbad at the Civic Center in PC. We had so much fun together. At points, mom laughed so hard, she cried...literally. After we left the civic center, we went to eat a little restaurant on the water called Gracie Rae's. I hardly ever get to spend time with my older sister, so it was nice to do that before things get crazy with the baby. By the way, Liana Rose is due to arrive in 42 days... I can't wait!!!

Happy Happy Birthday!!!

Okay, so not a technical birthday, but an important one just the same. Tuesday March 10, 2009 Maddox Lee Isbell turned 10 months old. On the tenth of every month, Maddox gets some kind of present from his Killer (that's me). It's nothing fancy or too expensive, just a little something to show how much I love this little man. Don't worry this is not a tradition that will last the rest of his life (sorry Kimmy), just until he's one. Then maybe I'll stop...maybe. A few months ago Kim mentioned that Maddox needed a nice bib that she wouldn't be ashamed to pull out in public. So I found a cute reversible one at My Kids Attic. Then last week when I was at You Name It (a monogramming store that I visit religiously!!) my friend Brooke pointed me in the direction of a table that had some merchandise on sale. She said, "I just know that you can find something on this table for Maddox". That's when I remembered that his 10 month birthday was coming up. With her help, I found this. Isn't' he precious!!

he is so excited about this bib...
so excited!!

A little under the weather :(

Shade her skin a few shades darker, and give her color treatment in a box, and that would be a perfect picture of how I looked this weekend. Sick, sick and more sick. I lived on the couch from Friday night until Monday morning. I tried every over the counter drug you can imagine. From Nyquil, to Singulair, to Claritin, to Tylenol Severe Sinus, and the list goes on and on. Nothing worked. The crazy thing is that normally I would have went to the doctor Friday night. I'm not one to "wait out" a cold. If I sneeze too many times, I'm at the doctor. But at the beginning of this month we switched our insurance from BCBS to something else that I'm not real sure of. One of the ladies in the Business Office e-mailed us temporary ids to use until the real ones came in the mail. I, of course, assumed that I wouldn't need it, because there was no way I would be sick this weekend...I WAS WRONG!! On a brighter note, I do feel better today, than I have all weekend. I only wish I knew which of those 7 medicines finally did the trick!!

In case you've ever wondered...

what high school boys write to high school girls in their love notes, it goes something like this:

Hey Beautiful! I hope your having an amazing day, cause I know with
you in my life all my days are amazing. I love you so much Baby like really you
don't even know. Baby you are my everything, you are my world Baby. When I'm
around you everything is perfect everything falls into place. Baby but when I
look in your eyes Baby I get lost in my love for you. Baby every time I look in
your eyes it's like the first time I get butterflies like crazy and it reminds
me why I get up every morning and thank God for putting you in my life. Baby you
are the only girl i ever want in my life Baby. The way...

This is as far as he got before I confiscated the letter. I could hardly contain myself as I began to read it. Lucky for him I decided not to read it aloud to the class. I informed him that if any boy wrote me a lame letter like this I would cut him off with the quickness. He should be glad I saved him from himself!!

Have You Ever Felt Like....

You were losing your mind?

Dear Diary,

I know that you think I have completely abandoned you for about the last 6 weeks. Things have been so crazy. Between Thanksgiving, and Erica's (my sister) wedding, semester exams, and Christmas parties, there has been NO time for anything else. And now that we are a week away from Christmas Eve, I am beginning to feel a bit overwhelmed. I have not bought a single present...not one. This is so out of character for me. My tree is usually filled with presents by this time. And the one day I actually did set aside to go do some shopping, I ended up with 3 bags full of stuff for me. What is wrong with me?? Mom expects me to come home for Christmas break this weekend, but I cannot show up without any gifts. Needless to say, I am starting to stress. If this were a movie, a good friend of mine would call me out of the blue, and offer their help...Louise, Kimmy, Leigh, ANYBODY!! Just kidding. Maybe if I can get through exams, there will be some time to shop quickly on Friday afternoon.

Love and Hugs,

Happy Halloween!!

GOOOOOOOOOOOOO......

GATORS!!
It seems like lately I haven't had very much to write about. For the most part school is going pretty good, as far as me and my classes go. So I decided that with football season in full swing, and a major SEC East football game coming up Saturday (#6 Georgia vs #8 Florida), this would be a perfect time to post a few pics of the fam in our gator gear. Unfortunately, all of us don't bleed orange in blue, so they had to be left out of the pictures...you know how it is!

Blog Facelift

Dear Diary,

I am so lucky to have a friend like Lindsey B across the hall from me. Is it weird to say that she completes me? Whatever if it is!! She is like everything that I want to be when it comes to computer literacy! She has completely helped me pimp my blog. I don't know how or what she did. I don't think I could even change it if I wanted to. The whole time she was trying to show me I just kept getting further and further lost. The best thing is that she loves this. I kept feeling like I was burdening her by asking for help, and she was like so totally on top of the whole thing. I guess she is as much a computer nerd, as I am a math dork...and I love it!! Thanks Baggs!!

Love and Hugs,

Family Portrait

This weekend while I was at home for fall break, my mom was very insistent that we get a family portrait. I was so pleased with the way that they turned out. These aren't the ones taken by the professional (we have to wait for those). I just snapped these in between shots. In case you are wondering, the loser in the pink and blue striped shirt would be my little sister. She was sooo adamant that she was not going to match everyone else. My mom claims that at her age (which is not even that old), some things aren't worth fighting over. Whatever, me and my brother kept telling her that she ruined the picture. Though, actually, they still didn't turn out too bad!

Finally Figured It Out!!

I finally figured out how to do this collage thing. I thought I would start with some school portraits at kinder-care!

Some People are NEVER satisfied!!

Dear Diary,

Have you ever had a friend who you just can't please? Well I have one! I don't want to call her out so for the sake of keeping her identity concealed, I'll call her "Mrs. Jones". First, I was in the hot seat for not writing enough. So to make her happy, I decided to write two in one day. Wouldn't you know that now I'm in trouble for not enclosing enough info about our Homecoming game. Just FHE (for her information) we did win the game, and it was so exciting! Also, one of my dear favorite students was crowned queen. The sweetest part about this is that her dad is head football coach at a neighboring private school, and he missed their homecoming game (or at least the first half) to escort her...how sweet is that.

Also, I'm sure "Mrs. Jones" would hate for me to leave this last story from the game out. During the game Friday night I decided to sit with Izzy and the gang. Let me also say that I never know who "the gang" will consist of. So Maddox wakes up from his nap and he is a little rank if you know what I mean. As soon as I point this out Izzy is the first to holler 'not it', followed by Adam. I must have been the last to say not it because I got stuck changing him. So Lindsey B (a girl I teach with) volunteers to go with me to the bathroom. Wouldn't you know there was not a changing station in sight, so we decide to go to Kimmy's car. We get all the way out to the parking lot in our heels, get Big Mad undressed just to realize that there is not a SINGLE wipe in the joint. (Please understand that I had just informed Kimmy that the child needed more.) We searched the car high and low and all we could find were a pack of preparation H wipes and one, count em one, napkin that hadn't been written on (there were about 12 that had been). We were a little skeptical about the medicated wipes so I had to make due with that one napkin. The things you do for people you love!


Love and Hugs,

*K*

Homecoming Week

Dear Diary,

So, last week was homecoming at school. This is about the most exciting week of school for me second only to Exams. The reason is because it is the one week that I give little thought as to what I wear to school. You may or may not know that I am known around school as the teacher who never wears the same outfit twice in a school year. I may wear the same pants, but never with the same shirt. And I can think of only a handful of times that I have worn the same shirt in a school year. I could go into all the details of how this crazy system came about, but that is another story for another blog! Anyways, everyday of the week we have dress up days, and the last week we get to wear our homecoming shirt with blue jeans. Yes, we the teachers actually get to wear jeans to school. This is why I love this week. I don't have to stare at my closet for what seems like an eternity and try to remember if I have worn this shirt or that dress. I took some pictures of me and some of my kids on the different days of the week.

Monday- A Winning Tradition (Toga Day) (sorry I didn't have enough time to put a toga together...you know how mondays are!

Tuesday- Know Your Opponent Day (We played Montgomery Catholic High School)

We actually didn't plan to look like this. I was fussing at her about something

Wednesday-Total Domination (Sports) Day

Thursday- Drive The Nights Crazy (Wacky Day)
Friday- Sprit Day (Sorry, I forgot to take a picture of me with my H.C. shirt)

Love and Hugs,

*K*

Kinder-Care In Room 109

So some of you may or may not know that recently rm 109 has turned into an afterschool care. It started off with me just picking up the twins on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and just keeping them for a few minutes until Lisa could get there. A typical Tuesday and Thursday will consist of me keeping Big Mad in my room during cheer practice, because it is WAY to hot outside for lil man to be out on the field with those crazy cheerleaders! And on a very rare occasion, if Paige M is in a bind I may have to get my other sweet angels, Parker and Cam. Well, would you believe that on this particular Friday a few weeks ago, I actually had all five munchkins in my room at one time. This had never happened before. When people walked by, they must have thought I was running an afterschool program of some kind.

(It took me literally 5 times to get everyone looking at the camera!!)

Even with the slew of kids I honestly did enjoy the few minutes we were able to spend together. It is always so neat to hear them talk about the exciting events of their day. Things that seem so small to me are often times the BIGGEST deal to them. For example, yesterday afternoon, Payton was so worked about a girl who said a bad word in the bathroom. "Oh my," I asked, "What did she say?" The little girl had said shut up not once, not twice, but a 'hundred ' times and Mrs. C didn't even hear her, and she didn't have to move her card. Can you believe it!! She was so excited up and I just kept thinking, If I had a nickel for every kid I heard in the high school say that, I could retire early!

Blogging Woes

Lately I have found that I just don't have anything excited to blog about. I guess someone has placed a spell on my students, because I haven't had the slightest problem yet (knock on wood). I keep telling myself "Next week they will come into themselves" but so far notta! I've had a few parent issues, but nothing really to write home about.

I have searched and searched for something fun and witty, and being math minded, these really made me smile. For some of you it will probably remind you of how much you hated math, and how pumped that you never have to see it again!! Hope they make you smile!










Love and Hugs,

*K*

Just Me and My Boo!!

(picture courtesy of our good frind Baggs!! She's great! check out her blog)

Dear Diary,
Every Tuesday and Thursday, I am blessed to spend a few hours with my main squeeze. As you probably know Big Mad came into the world about three months ago, and he is just about as precious as could be. However, like most babies, he is real hard to get a hand on. You know how it is at church. Soon as Kimmy gets in the door, there is a "Girl Fight" (not really) over who is going to get to love on him. And if you are so fortunate as to get few hugs and kisses in, you better be quick about it, because someone will be coming up from behind to take him from you.

This summer I realized that a good way to avoid the mess was to come to cheer practice once a week. This allowed me to catch up with some of my girls that I had been missing over the break, and spend some quality time with Maddox, just me and him! I enjoyed this so much that I asked Kim if we could carry it over to the school year. She thinks I am doing to help her, but we all know the real reason!!(j/k) These are just a few pics that I was barely able to take yesterday. (Keep in mind that these were taken with a camera phone, and only one free hand!!)

I know he looks scared, but that's really the "I love my Killer" face that you probably aren't familiar with!

A bottle, a stinky diaper, and a LOT of screaming later, a little bit chillaxin'!!

I love, love, love this boy!!

Love and Hugs,

*K*

*Wedding Bells are in the Air*

Dear Diary,

I feel so bad for the blog I posted the other day that left out my older sister, so this one is all about her. My sister and I are fifteen months apart. One might think that our closeness in age brought us together growing up, but actually it wedged us apart.

However as we grow older, we are slowly becoming better friends. You could imagine my surprise (in a good way) when she asked me to be her maid of honor. I am so happy to be a part of her big day! Because I live in Alabama and she lives in Florida, it will be dificult for me to be involved the actually planning. For this reason, she decided to get her gown here, so that I could help pick it out. This meant so much to me! Here are some pictures that we took during the shopping process.

We arrived a little early so we killed some time at Barnes and Nobles Bookstore

For some reason I was really into the book on how to plan a wedding. Like I'm going to need it anytime soon!

This is not the actual dress...I didn't want to ruin the surprise!!

Love and Hugs,

*K*

Easter Pictures

Dear Diary,

Since Easter fell on spring break this year I was able to get a few really good "after church pics". I know that these are in the slide show but I just wanted to you to see how cute we are!

*I should note that there is a sister missing. She always hates to miss a good photo opportunity!*

Love and Hugs,

*K*

Making a Comeback!!

Dear Diary,

I know you feel like I have abandoned you for a few months (which I really have) but I just needed to take a little break. Well, at least I thought I was taking a break. Between working at the Y, and

keeping the twins,

summer just FLEW by. Now I am back at school, so I can hopefully get back into some kind of routine.


Love and Hugs,

*K*

Having a baby changes everything!! ( A tribute to Kimmy)

Dear Diary,

Let me start out by saying this," I'm not having a baby!!!"

Now: This week goes down in history as the day I lost one (glad your still here bags!!)of my best school friends. I am hardly even to where I can talk about it but I will try to fight through the pain.

This is Kimmy. Kimmy has been my thick and thin friend for the past 3 years. We started teaching at the same time. She has been my shoulder to cry on, my friend to laugh with (or at occasionally), basically my Dee-ay-double-you-gee, dawg!! I knew that the day was coming when she would have to abandon me, but I really thought we would be able to finish out the year. But something came between us. What you might ask?? A boy!!! I know, I'll let you catch your breath for a second...
I used to be able to e-mail her at any point during the day, mostly to talk about some crazy student, or an even CRAZIER parent. But there will be no more of that. Monday, something happened in class and the first thing I thought about was telling Kimmy. Well, 3 text messages, and 2 sore thumbs later, I decided that this just wasn't going to work. A story that used to take one quick e-mail is now a never ending text message. I don't think I can keep that up.

Mama always said, "Killer, never let a boy come between two friends. Boys come and go, but friends...they're forever." Well, mama must have never seen a cute thang like this before (or had some of the crazy friends I've had!!)

Maddox's outfit is a courtesy of K.O. (killer's orignals)

Kimmy, you can let this angel come between us any time!! I will truly miss you next year!

Love and Hugs,

*K*