Here lately

Since my last post was a little random and didn't contain one picture...I thought I'd post some of my pictures from the last couple of months! Enjoy!

{blakely's 3rd birthday}

{grandma and grandpa got her an awesome microphone}

{singing on her "stage"}

{went straight from b's party to see my dear friends new rock! I was SO excited..can ya tell?}
{one of my kiddos decorating his "Native American Vest"- they were each given "Native American Names"- his was Tall Pine}

{Arkansas Reading Conference in Little Rock. These are my fun teacher friends}

{while in LR for my conference, I stayed the weekend with my best friends Cal and Mo. I had a wonderful time pretending we lived in the same town again.. tear}{headed straight to steven's fams duck club for Turkey Day- Sweet boyfriend, Deek, and me enjoying a night with family}
{I'm so thankful for him}
{b and me at my mom's birthday party last night}There ya have it folks....the last month in a teeny tiny nutshell! I can't believe it is already December 5th! Whew1 I can't wait until the 18th!! Christmas break here I come! :)

-A little shout out-

My mom doesn't read my blog, but just in case...Mom- hope you had a wonderful birthday! You are seriously the best mom ever! You are always SO willing to help me in any way possible. We are so lucky to have you! I'm not sure if I would have made it this far without you by my side at all times! I love you and HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Highlight of my day...

So, I'm not going to lie. I've had a pretty terrible, horrible, no good, very bad do today. For starters, I forgot my lunch at home, THEN it was flu shot day at Root Elementary and Hillary forgot her insurance card, OH and while we're on the topic of FLU SHOTS- 22 five year olds receiving shots is NOT my idea of a great day! Let me tell you!! Ha.. my day started out pretty terrible, BUT my amazing boyfriend brought me something yummy to eat for lunch, my dad emailed me my insurance information, and I had a pretty darn good day with my little kiddos. BUT... I get home and I begin to read my blogs as I unwind and enjoy 25 or 30 minutes of complete silence. I get to Hailey's (my sister's) blog and about wet my pants. HA... hailey and matt had their first thanksgiving this year. HA... I really can't stop laughing. She didn't know that a pumpkin pie had to bake? Oh mee oh my! You gotta love Hailey! I haven't really heard the whole story, but from what I read made my day! Thanks Hail!

While I'm blogging I might as well give you a little update on my life! Thanksgiving was great! I have so much to be thankful for this year! I spent it with Steven's family because he's spending Christmas with me this year YIPPIE! Out of five Christmases together, this will be our very first! I'm really excited! Kindergarten is going great! I'm really getting the hang of the little kiddos! For the next three weeks we'll be learning all about Holidays around the world- How fun!? School has slowed down a bit, but I'm still working pretty hard to wrap up my last assignments before next week! Blakely is growing like a little weed. She's no longer my little baby, she's a big girl now! She's such a doll. I'm cherishing every moment I spend with her because I know she won't be at this sweet/hilarious stage for long! Well I hope all is well with you! I hope to be blogger more over the holidays due to lighter work load- although I have homework assignments over Christmas! Happy Wednesday!

I know, I know...

So...although you may have expected I had fallen off the face of the earth...I really haven't. I'm just stuck underneath TONS of books, research articles, crazy assessment tools, and my trusty, new best friend- my computer. Ohhh do I have a lot to blog/catch you up on- second grade, a sweet four year anniversary, my bff's birthday, my sister's wedding, solo week, my sweet steven's 23rd birthday, leaving my second graders, and loving on my new five year olds... but I'm afraid that must wait until Thanksgiving break or Christmas break or perhaps May 6th. But for now, I'll leave you with this....

{you can find me here from 4:30-10 pm every night of the week... including most Fridays}

{Ah..how I miss my precious second graders, I'm LOVING kindergarten. This is what we did for math on Thursday. We made these adorable spiders and graphed them. Next week's math plans- counting candy corn!! WOO}

Just a teener update on this so called life I'm leading right now. Happy Fall Y'all!

Exhausted....seriously exhausted

Sorry Ive been on a blog break...I honestly come home every NIGHT (not day bc I work until night) and I am literally drained of ever ounce of energy I have. I don't even listen to music in the car on the way home- i just need silence. My internship has been going great and I've honestly enjoyed every minute. Today was open house and I got to meet all of my little kiddos- and boy are they something else. They are SO precious...but that is a completely different post.

I'm dedicating this post (a little early) to one of my best friends KK because its finally her birthday (8.18)!!!!! Oh KK...I meet KK my senior year in high school at greek weekend. She is from "De-Queen" Arkansas and MAN we loved her accent. We hung out all weekend and then became really close after we both pledged tri delt our freshman year. We lived together in the house a couple of semester and made some great memories. KK is one of the sweetest people in the world, she always puts others before herself (esp when it comes to getting others ready to go out). For those of you who aren't lucky enough to know this gal- she's one of THE smartest people I know. She actually started Law School here in Fayetteville today, which I might add she got a scholarship :) . I was BEYOND thrilled when I found out she was staying up here to go to law school- I really don't know what I'd do without her. Not only is she genius- she's AMAZING at doing hair and make up. Having her around the last four years was like having your hair and makeup done for every single thing we did. There were many nights when there was a line of girls in the tri delt house who wanted KK to get them ready. Gah.. that poor girl- but she was always so sweet about it! KK will ALWAYS be there for advice or just to listen to me talk about my day. She can relate to almost anything I tell her and that is one of many reasons I love her so!

{thug life 2005- please excuse my freshman 15}

{ha...we love each other}{delta disco divas}{new years}{girls night}{spring break}{DDD senior night}{another girls night}{senior pictures}{graduation- tear}

KK ( I know you're reading this), I want to wish you a HAPPY HAPPY birthday!! Thank you for being such a great friend for the last four years i love you dearly!!!

Inservice

So, today was my first full day of inservice and it wasn't as bad as expected. I literally sat in meetings from 8-4...and I know that sounds terrible- but it wasn't. My mom started back to the High School today and said "Ugh, wasn't it just terrible?" and I said "Well, you know what? I am SO used to sitting in class all day long and learning pointless theories that I know for the test, but two hours afterwards I couldn't tell you a dang thing (I know I'm a bad student, BUT honestly folks some of the undergraduate elementary ed. info is B-O-R-I-N-G). And every single topic that was covered today made sense to me and has a purpose for our school. It it crucial for me to understand this information to run my classroom successfully." So all in all- first day of full inservice was a total success. All of the teachers are super sweet and treat us "interns" as their peers and not students. I can tell they expect a lot from us and that is good! I'm really needing to pick out what I'm wearing tomorrow and iron it! hopefully talk to you soon (not making in promises) ;)

Crazy, overwheleming, not relaxing AT ALL last weekend off

WOW WEE!! This was my last stinkin weekend off before i officially take the dive into my student teaching. My ideal plans were -laying out by the pool, loving on my favorite red head, eating some good food, shopping a little, getting my planner ready, laying out by the pool, and did i mention kissing and squeezing an adorable red head? WELLL... I should have known better- Hailey was coming in town and this wonderful schedule probably wasn't in the cards for me.... Now that you know what I wanted to do...heres the run down of how my weekend actually played out.

Thursday: Mom and I ran around (what seemed like) all day doing stuff for hailey- taking veils to be cleaned, picking up dresses, doing other little things...for some reason running errands really kicks my butt. All I want to do it come home and CRASH on the couch for a few hours...but thats what I did- for about 6.5 minutes. I then got the phone call from my teacher and went to meet her at Root to work for a few hours (great time), but I was whipped. Then went to Steff's (I sometimes refer to my sweet boyfriend as Steff, Steffy, or Stephanie (thats only the Stephanie renditions of his many nicknames- that may be a post of its own..hee) SO, I went to Steff's just to chill for about 15.5 minutes then we headed back to my parents house for dinner. This is when I got to snuggle, tickle, chase, and sing with that amazingly awesome red head (Check). Then it was off to bed because I was literally about to die and I knew friday would be ten times worse.

Friday: Mom, Hailey, and I headed to "Monogram It" in Springdale to get some stuff -monogrammed- (imagine that?). Im pretty excited because I bought this super cute black and white printed canvas bag for school that I got a big red H on it. I can't wait. Then we headed home and got prepared for the days events. Makeup sessions, hair do appointments, and photoshoots after photoshoots. I was excited because I finally got to meet the famous Dale and Meredith and let me tell ya - they both lived up to the hype everyone makes of them. They are SOOO fun and truly experts in their field. I told Dale I was going to go ahead and book him for my imaginary wedding day- HA! That'll really make Steve happy! Hee...we laughed. Then at about 830 we came back home to eat some dinner and GO TO BED. AH... we started running around at like 830 am.. Im about to pass out just thinking about it.

Saturday:

I got up bright and early hopped in the shower to get ready for hailey's first bridal shower. Blakers came over with some "pigs in a blanket" from Ricks (the girl knows the way to my heart, Im SO obsessed with them). We headed up to Springdale for the shower and it was a good time. I got to see a lot of my mom's friends that I haven't seen in quite sometime. It was nice to chat and catch up. I also got to spend the morning with my busy bff Hannie Banannie before she had to leave to go to Branson (she's ALWAYS on the go). Hailey got a ton of great stuff and the shower was really nice. We then went to get Blakely's flower girl dress.. she will be so pretty. I ended the night with Steven's parents over dinner from noodles. They are in town moving Emilie into the Tri Delt house.

Today, has been pretty laid back. Steven was golfing this weekend and ended up staying another night due to tire problems on his car? Ugh..:( Deek and I are pretty sad. Anywho, going to bed early today I have a big teacher filled day tomorrow- Can't wait...I'm going to pick out my outfit and iron it! Ha! Hope your weekend was great.

And My Predictions Were CORRECT

I LOVE LOVE LOVE her...she's amazing!!! We were friends at first sight and I couldn't be more excited. She showed me around her lovely room and then I got the tour of the other second grade classrooms! THEN I got the whopping tour of the entire school.. including the nice bathrooms and the not so nice bathrooms, the teachers lounge (which is very nice, if I do say so myself), the cafeteria, the copying room, the library, the office, and the playgrounds. Whew! I even was lucky enough the get the COPYING 101 class...which I loved! I learned how to make copies with 3 hole punches and staples! I'm becoming a teacher before your very eyes! We did some housekeeping in the classroom and its really cute! I'll try and snag a few pictures of it on Monday! She asked me "Do you like to sing songs?" and I responded " Well, I'm not great a carrying a tune BUT I loooove to sing". HA.. this is funny because around the McChristian household we have a song for everything- and by "we" I mean to teachers in our fam...me and mom! HA! She informed me we'll be singing a ton of songs- YIPPPPE! I knew I picked the right career! I was at Root today for a few hours and it just FLEW by! I'm really looking forward to this coming school year! Bring on those sweet little second graders!!!!! :)

{this little beauty is where i'll be spending the next year}

tomorrow is a very busy day...need sleep!

Ahh.. I'm soo excited

So, after a week or two I finally got in contact with my first teacher I'll be interning with and I couldn't be more excited. I emailed her and she wrote back "just give me your number...and Ill call ya"- this is my kinda girl. We talked on the phone yesterday for about ten minutes and we were planning on going up to Root to put the finishing touches on her room...but she called back and her repair man was running really late and she wouldn't be able to make it. I can already tell I'm going to love her. I have heard from many teachers that she is an amazing person and even better teacher. Apparently, she's SO organized and very "with it". If you know me what so ever- I am a person of structure and habit...so it seems like we will get along great. I am really excited that I have her so I can see how she gets her classroom in order within the first few weeks of school! Ah.. I couldn't be more excited! I'm about to jump in the shower and await her phone call today. I'm really hoping she calls today and not tomorrow..because I've got a JAM PACKED schedule tomorrow. hailey is coming up this afternoon and we are preparing for her bridal portraits. I am really excited! It will be really weird to see her in her wedding dress that actually fits and isn't 15 sizes too big.

{insert my picture here..ha}

Well I better hop in the shower! WooWhoo for Thursday!!!

Happy Happy Birthday

Today is Steven's little sisters birthday, Emilie! She is 19 today and will be a sophomore in college this year. It is so crazy to me that I met her when she was a sophomore in high school and she is now grown to be one of the most beautiful little ladies I have ever met! She has grown up so much over the last four years, it seriously blows my mind. Em is like the little sister I ALWAYS wanted but never had. One of my favorite memories I have with Emilie is about this time last year when I was getting ready for my last RUSH and Emilie was my number one rushee!!! I was so excited because I had been looking forward to her going through FOREVER, but I was also very very very nervous because her two lovely aunts were Pi Phis and I knew they would loved for her to follow in their footsteps. I tried my hardest not to pressure her throughout the years (but hey, it was hard because that's all she heard about from me- she even stayed with me in the "Delta Shelta" a few times...talk about no pressure..HA HA. I know, I'm terrible) I literally couldn't wait for her to come to the Tri Delt house because I knew everyone would obsess over her (not only is she bubbly and fun- but freaking adorable!!!) After a loooong rush week...Little Miss Emilie was a DDD...and I was SOO excited! I knew how much she would love it and how many amazing friends she would make. This is a bond we will share the rest of our lives (this is saying I become her sister-in-law in a few years ;)) plus...if we have little girls they will hopefully carry on our tradition. She is moving into that great green house on Maple street on Saturday and I couldn't be more excited for her. I know how much fun is in store for her the next couple of years- actually I'm kind of jealous! I sometimes find myself going back to the years I lived in the house and just reminiscing about all of the amazing memories and friends I have made. I could not be more proud of the person Emilie has become and there is no telling what she will accomplish in her future. She is SO smart...snagging a 4.0 last semester- Who does that freshman year..I know right? ((these pictures are in chronological order..))

{Florida 2007)

{summer 2007)

{em's graduation}{Tri Delt Bid Day 2008}{lovin on stevie wonder}{bid day paaarrrttaaay}{first DDD function, Delta Airlines}{Each pledge class goes to a different destination. Freshmen went to the "Wild Wild West" and Seniors went to "Woodstock"}{halloween party at Steven's House, 2008){grandparents 50th anniversary party, 2008){hillary's graduation party}{Kenny Chesney Concert- this summer}

Anywho, just wanted to wish Emilie the best 19th birthday ever! We can't wait until she's back up here for the year! We love you so much and have a very happy birthday!!!

What Have I Been Up to Lately?

Bows, Tutus, and more bows

I have had to best time making bows and tutus for Steven's cousins babies, Emmery and Ava...and of COURSE that sassy red head that I love so much. Ava is having her 6 month pictures taken soon and her momma sent me her outfits and I customized a bow for each. I put each bow on one of my old dolls I used to play with ALL the time, just picture two cute little dark headed girls...not this ugly Lee Middleton doll HA....here they are

Okay...let me explain this bow. Laura has these GREAT heels for little miss ava (www.heelarious.com) they are called "Heelarious" and are SO stinkin cute. Anywho- they are fushisha in color so I made this black bow with fushisha peacock feathers attached. You really can't see the feathers that well, but boy its cute. She is putting her in black frilly bloomers with pearl necklaces and braclets- How stinkin cute will this 6 month old be! Ha

{Ava's first tutu}

{matching bow}{Emmery's Tutu and matching bow}{This will be worn with a leopard dress with a red A monogrammed on it}

{miss emmery's feather zebra bow}

I also made a bunch of daisy/ flower bows that are TOO cute. I actually sold some of them today before getting pictures of them!! Hope everyone had a great day! I'm just sitting back and enjoying the rain!

I must explain

No No.. Im not (dare I say it) "bored"... I do have TONS to blog about...but I've lost my camera cord and i REFUSE to bore you with just words. i have to have pictures. BOO.. I'm going to search today HIGH and LOW and if that fails head to best buy.. I will have pictures sooner than later. Hope everyone is stayin cool on this AWESOME day

I miss my friends

I've been thinking a lot lately about how excited I am for my friends to come back up to school...then I really got to thinking and it hit me like a ton of bricks. Two of my best friends are NOT coming back to this great place...I just don't understand it (I mean I do, they are chasing dreams in little rock). I so miss the days of cramming into one room (when there were three bathrooms and three perfectly good OTHER rooms that could have been utilized) to get ready, waiting in line for KK to poof and fix our hair PLUS do our eye makeup, drinking a glass of wine or ridiculously strong martini before going out, nice walk or run around wilson park, or just a nice SHORT phone call about the day. These days when I talk to my friends on the phone it can't be under 20 minutes because there is SO much to catch up on. Ha..this is the same with Hannah- I swear I could talk to that girl EVERY DAY and I would still talk to her and laugh for a good 30 minutes..Thats another girl that I miss- although she lives in Fayetteville SHE IS SO BUSY!!! She is in school and working constantly and I'm always out of town on the weekends. What happened to the summers where all we did was swim and we seriously had NOTHING else to do or to even thinking about doing. We would sit on my front porch and long to be able to drive so that we could "do something" probably like go to the mall and just walk around- ha. I guess this is just a sign of the times. Soon our lives will take us all different places and we will be so busy that we won't have time to stop and think. Just want my friends to know i love them and miss them dearly! Lets have a girls weekend SOON..Please?

{my busy bff}

{mo, jac, cal, KK, me}

happy happy rainy thursday

I heart early days

Ah... how i love when steven gets off work early! It makes me soooo happy! He usually doesn't call me until 5 saying "what are you doing? well I'm on my way home.." Today he just showed up at 1445 around 230 and my heart just about stopped! Im having a blast hanging out with him on this rainy afternoon! :) Lucky me!!!

{xoxo}

Hope everyone had a great hump day!

As Promised...

As I promised- here is THE best summer dessert. Its not too sweet, but just the right blend of sweet and a light treat.

Ingredients

1 package of Pillsbury sugar cookie dough (I only use about 3/4 of it)

1 package of cream cheese

Sugar (I use anywhere from 1/4 of a cup to a little more)

Apricot preserves

Peaches

Strawberries

Kiwis

Blueberries

Preparing

I have always used a Pampered Chef baking stone and I'm not sure if you could use a cookie sheet,but I don't see why not. I spray my stone lightly with Pam then spread the cooking dough out to resemble a pizza crust. * I usually use a round pizza stone, but I only had a square one for this occasion- any shape works wonders. Bake according to sugar cooking package and let cool. Run a knife under cookie to ensure it didn't stick. Next you mix the cream cheese (softened) and sugar in a bowl (This can be done while cookie is baking). I add anywhere from 1/4 of a cup to 1/2 of a cup, it's really just to taste. Spread over cookie. Next, spread apricot preserves over the cream cheese. Then place the freshly cut fruit in a neat design. Cover and refrigerate...and ENJOY!

{the finished product}

I'm not really a "sweets" fan, but this really is such a refreshing dessert that almost everyone loves!!! Also, it seems really complicated and hard- people think you've slaved all day over it..HA!

Enjoy

A Birthday Bash

I apologize for the blogging hiatus. As I have reunited with my best friend Spare Time, sadly enough- Ive really had nothing to blog about. I don't think think yall would find sitting on my butt watching TV or sitting on my butt in a lawn chair the LEAST bit entertaining.. so after my family filled weekend I have a lot to talk about. Steven and I loaded up Deek and Penny Poo Girl and headed to Little Rock on Friday afternoon. Why is Penny Poo Girl along for the trip you ask? Oh.. you know- my parents are in Maine for 9 days and Steven and I will be house/ dog sitting. Anywho- the whole reason for our trip this weekend was for Steven's sweet MiMi's birthday and we were having a birthday bash for her. Some of my favorite cousins were coming to Little Rock all the way from Louisiana for MiMi's celebration. I have been looking forward to this WAAY before summer school started. Let me explain my excitement...there are two sweet little girls coming from Louisiana as well- one of which I haven't even met...whew I could barely stand myself. Steven's cousins Laura and Josh had baby girls 11 months apart...and they are SO stinking sweet. Josh's little girl is Emmery(16 months) and Laura's chubby little girl is Ava (5 months). Okay...back to Mimi's party. Steven and I got up pretty early on Saturday morning because I was making Heather's famous fruit pizza (recipe soon to follow) and HAD to go to the Little Rock Farmers Market to get some home grown Arkansas goodies to go with. We headed downtown about 9:30 to pick up some peaches, blueberries, strawberries, and the most gorgeous sunflowers for the birthday girl. The the Louisiana crew rolled into to town about noon and the party began. It is so funny to see all of them with little ones. When we first met they were all just getting married! Wow.. how the time flies. David and Laura(Ava's precious parents) own a few restaurants in LA and ALWAYS bring some delicious food for us to eat. They came bearing ribs and the biggest beef tenderloin I'd ever seen...it was SO great. We ate, drank, played with the little ones ( I was in heaven), talked and celebrated Mimi's big day. For dessert we had my fruit pizza (which was a hit BTW) and some awesome cupcakes from this new cupcake joint in the Heights. I truly love Steven's family and very rarely get to spend time with all of them. They are the most loving and FUN group of people to be around. Steven is so blessed to have grown up with this great fam! Overall, we had a great weekend and I actually gained a purpose for this week: To make Emmery and Ava some BIG Arkansas bows and some Tutus. Gotta get on it because Miss Ava's 6th month photo shoot is right around the corner!:) Hope everyone had a great weekend! And sorry I took 9.4 million pictures this weekend.

{The birthday girl}{MiMi and Steven}
{mmmm}{Emmery with her beautiful momma}{Emmery says WOO PIG!! LSU who momma???}{Baby Ava...her eyes are breath taking}{happy to be sitting in Steven's lap}{Mimi, Josh, and Emmery}{Ava with her beautiful momma}{Little Sassy Thing}

Happy birthday Mimi..hope you had a great day!