The Garden of Love

As many of you know, I have a small garden that I LOVE! This year I was determined to get some fruits and veggies so I decided to plant the seeds earlier and shun the dogs to the dog run (aka Doggie Alcatraz). 

This is the layout of what I decided to plant this year.  If you are wondering how I am going to get watermelon, cantaloupe, and pumpkins to grow in this tiny garden, I planted the bigger plants on the corners and border so they could grow out on to the grass.

This is picture of the garden was taken on February 27-  Everything started from seed except the strawberries and rosemary. 

Jerry's Jalapeno and tomato!                                                               

The tall plant is a sunflower.  Hopefully it will bloom soon!  Here's my strawberry!

Squash!

Here's the full view of my garden.  There is a tiki torch in my garden so the peas will grow up it and not on to my other plants.  The only thing that did not grow was my marigolds.  I think I might put something else there... maybe some lavender!  Lavender is my favorite!

 Dogs in their dog run....AWAY from my garden!

Here are some lilies that I planted back in February.  Aren't they pretty!

 

I love having a garden! It amazes me how fast the plants grow!



Crawfish Boil!

Jerry and his friends decided to do a Crawfish Boil!  They bought 40 pounds of crawfish, 20 pounds potatoes, 8 bags of corn cobs, 12 pounds of sausage.  Needless to say... we could feed an army! 

The crawfish kind of grossed me out, especially when they were moving around in the cooler. 

 We had a great time listening to music, eating crawfish, and hanging out with friends!

 



Opening Day!

It's baseball time!  This year, Brandon, Natalie, Jerry and I decided to get a 20 pack of tickets to the Ranger's games.  The games are on various dates and our seats are on the bottom deck on the first baseline.  We are pretty excited! 

We started Opening Day having a wonderful tailgate!  Jerry and Brandon cooked hot dogs and the weather was AMAZING!

This was our first Opening Day and we were super excited!!  We were set to go!  We had sunflower seeds, peanuts, water, nachos, cheese fries, and a bacon wrapped hot dog! We definitely did our part on purchasing food!

The new video screen looked amazing! 

 The Pre-game ceremonies were pretty cool. 

I am very excited!!  Opening Day means summer is right around the corner!!! YIPPEE!!!

The Ice Break

In the months prior to the Super Bowl, I was told Arlington was going to be insane with tourist and media.  I tried my hardest to imagine what it would be like....I never expected this! 

On Monday night I got out of yoga and it was cold... not freezing, just cold.  I heard on the news that bad weather was coming, but I'm one of those people that believes it when they see it.  Well I believe it!  I was awaken by sleet hitting out windows at 4:30 on Tuesday morning.  By 5:30 school was closed!  Here is a breakdown of what I have done over the past few days:

Tuesday-

Jerry did our taxes, while I watched with the dogs. 

 I wrote my Gender Equity Reflection Paper, read an article about self-esteem and how it affects our lives, watched an amazing documentary on two adults with downs syndrome that got married (I cried the entire time), did....tried to do yoga with Jerry, watched TV, went to bed.  Jerry attempted to work from home, but he couldn't get his computer to work. 

Here is a picture of Monica and David and their website:  http://www.monicaanddavid.com/

Wednesday:
Jerry went to work and I pretty much sat around and did nothing all day!  I did a little homework, played with the doggies, worked on some school stuff, and talked to my friends, mom, and sister on the phone. 

Thursday- 
Jerry had to go to work again :( I decided it was time to get out!  I drove Jerry's truck to Tom Thumb and bought grapes, diet coke, and fire wood.  While I was out I decided to go for a joy ride and got stuck!  A really nice man drove Jerry's truck up the hill and saved the day!  I read an article about the fixing achievement gap, did a little homework, and went to yoga. It felt so amazing to go to yoga to sweat and stretch! 

Friday-
No work for Jerry!  We decided to make waffles, play with the dogs in the snow, and watch the news.  Eventually we made our way up to Walgreen's bought some soup, pizza, and filled a prescription.  When we got home, I wrote my Diversity in Curriculum paper while Jerry played video games.   I am officially 1 week and 2 days ahead of schedule in my class!  Here are some pictures of Fridays activities:

Lucy loves the snow!  I think it reminds her of the good ole days in Lubbock!

 Rowdy would rather be inside with us!

 Rowdy decided he would play with Loo

Jerry playing video games:

 My Aunt Chris had this picture on her facebook.  To be honest... it feels amazing to be forced to do nothing!  If I were to gage myself on this graph, I would say I'm about at Day 2 borderline Day 3.  I am starting to get a little anxious, but I'll find something to keep myself busy!

Christmas

So I realized that I haven't blogged for sometime!  It's crazy how busy life is right now! 

Jerry and I had a great Christmas!  We had a great time celebrating Christmas with friends and family!  Here are some pictures:

This was at Kristen and Brady's house!  We had a blast hanging out with friends and having a gift exchange:

We always buy each other pajamas for Christmas and give it to each other on Christmas Eve.  This year  gave Jerry a Texas Tech shirt and gray sweat pants and Jerry gave a white shirt with yellow lab pajama pants.  Christmas Day was perfect!  We slept in, drank hot chocolate, and opened presents!   For Christmas, Jerry and I bought a new camera for each other! 

It was wonderful spending time with family and relaxing!  Merry Christmas!

Oh Christmas Tree....

After a long week and a crazy day, I was very much looking forward to coming home and taking a nice nap.  Boy... was I wrong.  I was on the phone with my mom, when I walked into my house to find Lucy and Rowdy greeting me at the door.  Immediately my stomach sunk....I walked around the corner and saw our Christmas tree in the middle of our living room (formally in the corner). 

 Next, I saw tiny little pieces of what were ornaments.

Then I found what was a golf ball- 

The most shocking moment was when a bird... yes a BIRD flew past my head in my own house... I couldn't get a picture of it, but this is what it looks like:

It's official... we have the worse dogs ever..

So here is what we think happened:

The dogs were mad that they were outside.  I accidentally left the back door unlocked (ooooppppss) and they seized their opportunity and pushed the door open.  The door remained open and a bird flew inside and decided our tree would the perfect place to hang out.  Obviously, the dogs could not allow a bird to sit in the tree so they pulled it out of the corner, jumped on it, shook it, and did anything they could to get the bird...

I cannot explain why the golf ball was chewed up, other than Rowdy was just really excited and might have gone a little overboard.  I will say that there were two loaves of bread still on the counter that were untouched (very unlike Lucy)... This leads me to believe the dogs were chasing this bird all day.

Jerry says that this is a reflection of our "parenting."  Well, I hope that someday we will better at raising children...

Thanksgiving

This year my mom and sister delegated me as the host for Thanksgiving dinner.  When was first told of my assignment, I went into complete panic mode.  Me...do the turkey... I've never even cooked a whole chicken!  Fortunately, I was able to do a practice run several weeks before Thanksgiving. 

After effectively cooking my first 8 pound turkey, I was feeling more confident.  The week before thanksgiving I bought a 18.25 pound turkey.  I was still feeling nervous about making the turkey... in fact one of my students described my feelings perfectly.  He said, "You practiced on a 8 pound turkey and you plan on making a 18 pound turkey?  Don't you think that's kind of going from the Little Leagues to the Majors?"

The day before Thanksgiving we prepared the house and made 2 pumpkin pies.  We were ready for the "Big Show." 

On Thanksgiving Day everyone arrived around 1 and the festivities began.  Granny brought a ham, Jane brought green beans, deviled eggs,a strawberry dessert, and cheesecake bites, my mom brought corn and 2 pecan pies, Lauren brought mash potatoes and rolls, and I provided the turkey, stuffing, and pumpkin pies.  We had a feast!  Everything was so delicious!  Including the turkey!  I feel so accomplished in making the turkey!  It was so great being with family and seeing Claire experience her first Thanksgiving.  We have so much to be thankful for.  I am most thankful for Jerry, my family and friends. 

(This is the turkey after we took all the stuffing out)

Over the next few days, Jerry and I ate lots of left overs, decorated for Christmas,  went shopping, and hung out with family and friends.  It is a tradition that we buy an ornament every year for Christmas. 

This was last years:

This is this years. 



I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and is looking forward to Christmas!