a camping we will go

We kicked off our spring break with a camping trip in Glen Rose, Texas. This first blog is pictures of our bunch while on this memorable weekend trip.



Matt (13 years)


Ashlyn (7 years)


Kayla (10 years)

Clayson (13 years)

Trey (11 years)

We had a great time together. The kids are starting to act like brothers and sisters , bickering and picking at each other but that's okay, it's just part of it.

I plan to add more collages and more words soon but I get so bogged down with details that I am breaking the blog up into parts. Stay tuned for part 2.

thank goodness there were only 28 days

February was just plain crazy. Theres nothing like four ice days and two late starts in just ten school days to throw you off balance. It made for a hectic month at school. You can only coop kids up inside with no recess, because it's too cold, for so long. Then, throw in a full moon the third week of the month and you have been granted three weeks of chaos - controlled chaos, of course. And, it's the time of year, we teachers refer to as "crunch time" - how many days until the TAKS test, what concepts do I still need to teach and how are we going to get it all done. You take away four days and that disrupts the timing that was all perfectly, well almost perfectly, planned out. It is time to step up our game.

Speaking of game, Dallas (Arlington) hosted the Super Bowl this year and we tried to give the kids a little taste of Super Bowl fever. Joey and I took our kids to the NFL experience one night; my kids and I went with my parents to Cowboys Stadium the day before the Super Bowl to try to "get in the game" a little bit - just being amongst fans, tourists, security and the stadium in all its glory; and then (apparently I got wrapped up in the hoopla) date night with Joey was spent cruising around it again. We wrapped up the NFL season by watching the game and eating some good grub at Sharon and Brian's house with lots of friends.

It was a month filled with basketball practice two nights a week and Saturdays revolved around three games. Ashlyn and Trey both enjoy this sport a lot. Clayson's baseball season started with Saturday practices. We are thankful that his elbow has healed nicely from surgery and that he is back in the game. Between all three of my kids and Matt playing and Joey coaching, life as we know it is about to get crazy busy(er). We wouldn't have it any other way. Batters up!

Joey spent nine days of the month out of town - two trips to Austin and a trip to Houston - for work. I was reminded that "absence makes the heart grow fonder" each time. It wasn't so bad on days that I had my kids but days without all of my loves were long and lonely. (I know, I am such a sap these days.) We did manage to have some fun when he was home - we had a Poker night with friends; a night out at Pete's Piano Bar with Jason, Megan and another couple; and dinner and a quick shopping trip after school one Friday. We spent Valentine's weekend and the day together - he made it one I will never forget. It's these times together that I am reminded how blessed that I am.

My weekends with the kids were filled with fun. We saw two movies, they had friends over and went to play with friends. We spent an afternoon with Mamaw and Papaw and they spent time with their Mimi and Pawpaw. All is well in their little worlds. A month later, I can see that the new schedule has improved their stability and consistency and it has created a lot less drama in the family. I miss them when they are gone but since I work where they spend their days, I still see them often.

February was a rough month, glad to see it become a part of history. I am glad it wasn't a month with 30 or 31 days.

Another six weeks has come and gone, now we're down to two. Another sports season has ended, now we are all involved. Another month has ended, now we are approaching spring. Bring on the sunshine.

how sweet it is

Valentine's Day. 2011. Not just my normal hearts day. I've always just considered this holiday to be Hallmark created and have just gone through the motions of helping the kids fill out their cards and preparing for school parties. It was just another day for me to love my kids. This year, I loved my kids but I had a bit of a different perspective in my own love life.

We had made planned to do something for Valentine's Day. The "where and what" were not finalized until the day before. We go and we do things all the time so today we decided to do something different. We went out to White Rock Lake, threw out a blanket and enjoyed our Arby's sandwiches and fries. (We even shared a little with the ducks.) Of course, I had to set the self-timer on the camera and capture a couple of pictures of this memorable day. After lunch, pictures and talking we decided to take a little walk. We walked, talked and stopped to sit on a bench to talk some more. It was such a relaxing afternoon - the sun had come back out after many days of experiencing the Ice Age, the wind had died down and I had gotten a pedicure because the weather was perfect for my new flip-flops. We enjoyed the walk back to the car and headed home. I am so thankful that he is willing to give me one of the most important things in any relationship - time.

The day before Valentine's, I came "home" to his house to find these beautiful roses, balloon and a card that melted my heart.

He even got single roses for Ashlyn and Kayla. I shared my gift and a photo montage put to music with him.



I've always heard it said that love is just a word until someone comes along and gives it meaning. Joey has given it meaning. He's given new meaning to my life. It means so much to have someone that I truly enjoy being with every single day. Every day I realize how blessed that I am.

On this "holiday", I didn't love him any more than yesterday or any less than tomorrow. We love each other every single day. How sweet it is to be loved by him.

our team

the coaches:

4 outta 6 team players: (not pictured: Justin Smith and Clayson Davis)

SCORE!

Ice and snow didn't keep us from heading to downtown Dallas for the NFL experience. After all, it's not every year that the Super Bowl comes to town. We thought that the team players, especially the boys would enjoy it. Not so much. The girls had fun but got cranky when there was nothing to drink. After they refueled with a trial cup of Pepsi Zero, they were able to smile (instead of pout) again. The boys just weren't willing to be outgoing enough to "get in the game". They played a few football games but mainly just stood around complaining that they were ready to go and that their feet hurt.

As soon as we left and went outside to head to the car they noticed a hill covered in snow/ ice and spent twenty minutes going up and sliding down ... for free. The experience was expensive yet they enjoyed the bitter cold snowy hill that nature had to offer. One day they will think back and remember this experience and maybe even think it was fun :)

It was a memorable night for us and the snow that came falling down on the way home was amazing. All's well that ends well.

Arctic Blast Break '11

White out. It's taken on a new meaning. It's not something used to cover errors, it's what happened to our small town . The meteorologists were calling for a winter storm and they were right on. The first day was ice and flurries, the second day it was too cold to melt the ice but no flurries, the third day we were able to go to school and then the fourth day buried us in six inches of snow. I was iced in at Joey's house for two days and we enjoyed the slow down that it brought. On Thursday night, we took the kids to the NFL experience and by the time we got onto the highway that leads us home, it started snowing. It snowed harder and harder and would be what we Texans might consider a "blizzard". It was hard to see and the driving was slow. We eventually made it back to his house to drop him off and then I got my first "driving in snow" experience - I was a little nervous. The kids and I were snowed in at home on Friday and they played in it for a bit but apparently, they got their fill during our first snow storm in January. It was just a good reason to be out of school to them. Saturday, Joey, Matt and I went to a big hill and went sledding (on skim boards) for a little while - we had a lot of fun. My kids were at my mom's so if we get lucky/unlucky enough to get more snow, I will take them for some thrill rides next time.

Here are my picture collages that captured our memories.

Snowflakes are kisses from Heaven. (author unknown)

one year later...

One year ago on February 4th, I came to the end of a sixteen year journey. It was a journey filled with many emotions - happiness, sadness, anger, frustration and trying to find self-worth. But, along this journey I received three of the greatest gifts a mom can receive and for this I will always be thankful. I experienced life, as I knew it, at it's highest and lowest points. This journey made me a stronger person through all of the struggles. I won't say that the entire journey was miserable and I won't deny that some of the misery wasn't self created. It was an unhappy situation for many years but pride and my kids kept me there. It wasn't until I was able to let go of this pride, risk disappointing my family (for the sake of my own well-being) and pray that my children would be okay, that I was able to realize that I was at a crossroads and it was time to take a new path. I'll never regret the journey that I was on or the decisions that were made because all of this created who I am today.

They say the grass isn't always greener on the other side but I have been fortunate enough to find greener pastures. A couple of months after the divorce was final, Joey walked into my life. He came along at a time when I had reached a very low point - afraid that I would be by myself the rest of my life, worrying about growing old alone and all the fears of the future that a young girl might worry about. He was good for redirecting those thoughts. With him, I've realized what I had been missing for so long - true happiness. Sometimes we don't know what we're missing until we have what we have never had. He brought my smile back. Since then he has also eased the fear of being alone and fear of the future. He's my hero :)

As the year has progressed there have been many ups and downs with Jared, with his parents and with my family members but the one constant is that I have remained true to myself. No one knew of the many nights that I would cry alone or the anxiety and bitterness that had slowly overcome me - mainly because I cared too much about what everyone else might think. That was good for everyone but me. I was hurting and this, in turn, unintentionally hurt my children. By being true to myself and learning to live with choices that I choose to make has helped me overcome and be a "survivor" in my small world created by the journey's end.

I am happier than I have ever been. What a difference a year makes.

change times two

It's the end of January, which is hard to believe. This year I didn't experience the post-Christmas depression as bad as I have in the past. In thinking about the differences, I've come up with one big reason as to why I didn't get the blues. When taking down the tree, putting away the decorations, turning off the Christmas music and finding a place for the gifts, I knew that there were still things to look forward to. In years past, Christmas was good for mind altering - it clouded the vision of reality. This year, reality was as good as it seemed. So, it wasn't as if my happy season was ending, I knew that there would be more fun things in store. (Maybe this isn't making a lick of sense but in my mind it does.) Let me wrap this up - it's been a month since Christmas .. hard to believe.


I've had two significant changes this month, both very positive.


One: This is the first time in ten years that I have taught a self-contained classroom, meaning that we did not switch classes. Even though Reading was my specialization, I had never taught it before. It was challenging. The kids have to take a Reading TAKS test and pass it in the 5th grade and I just wasn't confident that I was doing the students justice and another teacher felt the same way about Math and Science. After voicing some concerns and frustrations, we were able to go back to the way it had always been and we departmentalized. I am now teaching Science and Social Studies, which I love, love, love. Math is also a passion but these subjects are fun. (We also take a Science TAKS test but now we are each responsible for one test instead of all three. Can you hear me taking a huge sigh of relief?) I'm back in my comfort zone. Another benefit of this is that I have all of the 5th graders, including Trey. I've always wondered what it would be like to teach one of my own and it's been great. He's adjusting to calling me Ms. Davis but sometimes "momma" slips. I am enjoying spending half the day, everyday with him.

Two: For the past year, my kids have been spending a day and half with me and then a day and a half with their dad. They did great with it and always knew where they were going to be. But, we finally got "smart" and realized that it was just too crazy, too much back and forth, they were never really settled and a lot of days they were at both houses. So, we have come up with a new schedule and it seems to be working so much better and allowing them to get to enjoy being wherever they are without all of the shuffling. Jared has them Monday & Tuesday, they are with me on Wednesday & Thursday and then whomever has them for the weekend has them Friday through Monday. This always gives them a five day stretch staying at the same place. I can imagine that it has took away some of the stress in their young lives. Ashlyn and Trey are playing basketball on Saturdays so we always get that opportunity to see them when it is not "our weekend". I am having to learn what to do with all of my spare time, I am not used to having so much time on my hands.

The changes have been good at home and in the workplace, both taking some pressure off of me. I am truly blessed through and through.