a wHiRLwiNd weEkeNd

friday

we hung out with our friends andy, kylie & carter. they are so fun and we love playing with baby carter.

saturday

we started our day off with some house hunting. we are currently in the process of praying about where the Lord wants us to buy a house. our realtor is so nice to take us out once a month even though we aren't quite ready to buy. as always we found one house that we really loved. we hope this trend continues into the spring when we will be ready to do something about the cutie houses we find.

saturday night we partied it up in style at the lathrop & gage holiday celebration. it was especially fun because clay works with two of our great friends. so the six of us met at jessie & evan's house for a little pre game and then headed over to starlight for some drinks, dinner and dancing.

from left to right: travis, heather, jessie, evan & us

sunday

clay won tickets at work to the chiefs game. i was pumped because i have been wanting to go and experience a little nfl football. the weather in the morning was really nice, but as we were driving to the game the temperature dropped about 20 degrees. lucky for us, our seats were in the l&g suite. free football, food, drink and heat...what else could a girl ask for. unfortunately the cheifs let us down yet again. we left with about three minutes to go because we were up by almost two touchdowns. when we got to the car we turned on the game for the end. stinkin' san diego scored two touchdowns in the last 45 seconds to win the game. bummer.

after the game, we made a stop by clay's grandma's house to say hello and then headed to church for a volunteer dinner. we had delicious food and fabulous fellowship.

the weekend was busy, but fun. the Lord has blessed us here in kansas city and we are so very thankful.

aRe yOu kiDDiNg?

kansas city weather update

12.15.08

high: 11 degrees

low: 3 degrees

windchill: -12 degrees

7:00 am...clay starts my car...battery dead.

8:00 am...get to school...the heater is broken in my side of the building.

3:30 pm...bus duty. 2 pairs of gloves just doesn't cut it.

can i get a little sympathy?

bAby iT's coLd OuTsidE

why yes it is. it's very cold. so cold that today the high was 34 and i was actually warm at recess. now, i knew that i was going to have a hard time this winter since i am accustomed to mild, texas winters, but i had no idea i would be so ill-equipped.

allow me to explain.











the first morning i walked out to my car and found ice covering the windows, i thought "no problem. i have an ice scraper. i am so prepared." so the other day as i leave school and find 4 inches of snow covering my car, i pull out my handy dandy ice scraper. after a few strange looks from other teachers, my sweet, helpful coworker told me that wasn't going to cut it and came over to help me with this...












apparently just a scraper isn't enough. i need the dual sided brush & scraper.










i thought my feet were good to go since i had a pair of these. now don't get me wrong...i couldn't live without my uggs here. nothing, and i mean nothing keeps my toes toasty like these sheep skin wonders.

the problem however, lies in the fact that they are not water proof. standing outside in 4 inches of snow for 10 minutes, whilst scraping snow off my car with the aforementioned scraper leads to wet uggs which leads to cold toes. apparently i need these...

i'm certain that as i trek through the next 3 1/2 months of a kansas city winter, my list will grow even longer. but for now i shall say farewell. i hope you are staying warmer than me.

*side note...i have a really good husband that usually starts/scrapes my car for me in the morning. one of these occasions was at school, the other time i left really early in the morning. please do not call clay and leave him hate messages about taking care of his wife during this frigid season. rest assured, he does.

iT's tHe moSt wOnDeRfuL tiMe oF ThE yeAr!

i. love. christmas.

i love putting up christmas decorations. i love wrapping presents. i love having two weeks off of school. i love being with family. i love opening presents. i love christmas music. and most importantly i love jesus...the reason for the season.

this year i have been extra eager to decorate since it is the first time i have had my very own place. i was ready to put up our decorations about two weeks before thanksgiving, but clay forbid me. however, he could not hold me off for long. i did put a few things up the week before thanksgiving even though i was "disrespecting thanksgiving" as clay says.

i thought i would share a few pics of our christmas decorations with you. unfortunately for you i am not a very good photographer...i just don't know how to make my pictures look light enough and pretty like in the magazines. so, everything looks a lot cuter in person, but unless you want to come visit us, this will have to do.

i wAs taGgEd

so i pretty much never do these little things...i mean seriously i don't know if i can ever remember doing one of these in my life...but i have never been called out either.

so natalie this is for you friend.

TYPE ONLY ONE WORD FOR EACH ANSWER. IT'S HARDER THAN YOU THINK!!!

1. Where is your cell phone? table
2. Your significant other? work
3. Your hair? ponytail
4. Your mother? servant
5. Your father? hilarious
6. Your favorite thing? people
7. Your dream last night? none
8. Your favorite drink? diet coke
9. Your dream/goal? God's glory
10. The room you're in? living room
11. Your fear? lots
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? mommy
13. Where were you last night? bible study
14. What you're not? confrontational
15. Muffins/donuts? donuts
16. One of your wish list items? fleece
17. Where you grew up? Abilene
18. The last thing you did? email
19. What are you wearing? jeans
20. Your TV? America's Next Top Model (i mean, you can't do that in one word)
21. Your pet? none
22. Your computer? little
23. Your life? blessed
24. Your mood? relaxed
25. Missing someone? family
26. Favorite pastime? shopping
27. Something you're not wearing? shoes
28. Favorite Store? crate & barrel
29. Your summer? transitions
30. Your favorite color? turquoise
31. When is the last time you laughed? today
32. Last time you cried? sunday
33. Who will/would re-post this? annalee
34. Four places I go over and over: church, school, the mccallons, hyvee
35. Four people who e-mail me? mom, annalee, terri, 4th grade parents
36. Four of my favorite foods? anything unhealthy
37. Four places I would like to be right now: abilene, belize, albuquerque, europe
38. Four people I tag: heather mccallon, annalee mccord, sara smith, allison assunto

*sorry my links aren't working for some reason.

a feW oF my FaVoRitE tHingS

here are a few of the things i am currently obsessed with.

1. midwest fall leaves
one benefit of living in the midwest is fall. the leaves are changing colors and they are gorgeous. it makes me smile. this is a picture from our balcony.

2. glitter pumpkins
they make me smile everyday.

3. bootsi just ordered these from aldo. not only are they cute, but comfy too. i love them.

4. sweatshirt blankets
i am ALWAYS cold so this blanket does not leave my side when i am at home.

5. my husband's shirts
they're the perfect length under my sweater. so cute.

7. griffin house
if you want some good mellow music, download this album. you'll love it.

6. cute kids

have you ever seen such cute kids.
on the left we have miss adelaide, my bff annalee's
daughter.
on the right we have miss arle, my new kc friend heather's daughter.
and below we have mr. emery, my precious nephew. unfortunately emery and adelaide do not live close to us, so i really have to get my kid fix with arle. good thing heather and travis trust us to baby-sit.

kRiStiN foR pResiDenT

tonight clay and i were talking about the elections. if you include the primaries, all this campaigning has been going on for almost a year, and we both are still pretty undecided as to who we are going to vote for. so, this leads me to my soapbox of the day.

do you know how much money is spent on campaigning?

well, neither do i. however, in the general elections alone, just the presidential candidates combined have spent close to a billion dollars...A BILLION DOLLARS! that is ridiculous.

nobody knows how to improve education. (i only speak of education because that is the issue closest to my heart) do we increase teacher pay, do we add a little competition, do we continue No Child Left Behind, do we increase early childhood programs? i can tell you how to start...stop spending $1 billion to travel around and not really tell us anything, and put that money into the education system.

so, here are my suggestions to improve the election process...in no particular order.

1. co presidents. combined, i think mccain & obama would make a great president. clay did inform me that the constitution would have to be amended in order for this to work, but i say desperate times call for desperate measures.

2. eliminate campaigning. candidates are no longer allowed to campaign. they must post their views regarding each issue on a government named website and all citizens will be required to read it. i guess they can have a few debates too. honestly, who has really made a decision about who to vote for based on what the candidates have said over the past year. they don't do anything they say anyways.

so in conclusion, i say, save that $1 billion, save a whole heck of a lot of trees, save your time and vote for the cutest candidate or the best dressed first lady.