Thoughtful Tuesday

I need to start being better about taking pictures!  I went over to the Watts' house today to hang out with them before they move.  They are going to be leaving next week, and since we head out of town tomorrow, I knew I had to go over there to see them today.  I love them, and they have been one of the families that I have grown the closest with over the past five years.  I have had two of their children, and I was going to have their third child this next year.  Any ways, I went over there this morning with the kids to hang out before we had to say goodbye.  I had my phone with me the whole time, and I didn't take one single picture!  I even cried with Eileen before I left, but no picture.  Luckily, I had Eileen take a picture of the girls and I on the last day of school, and then she took a picture of E and I at her party last week too.  I am going to miss this family tremendously.  They have been such amazing people, and one of the reasons that I was so adamant about staying at Shepherd.  This family always goes above and beyond, and does more than is ever asked of them.  I love them, and have been so blessed to watch E grow up over the past five years.  I am honored to be able to call Eileen a friend as well!  They will be missed at Shepherd, but they will also be missed by me!

First day of school, August 2010 

Last day of school, May 2011 

August 2011

Brandon's Baptism, December 2011

Last day of school, May 2013

Friday Five

1. I love my new application that Tyler bought me last week!  Thank you Christ staff and families for all of the Script money, so we were able to buy iTunes gift cards.  I bought Pixelmator, and have been playing around with it.  Check out this awesome picture of Natalie!

2.  I had a great week at work, but it was hard saying goodbye to people.  Luckily I have put off saying goodbye to everyone until later this next month.  I am not looking forward to saying goodbye to any of them!

3.  I love my bible study friends!  We have a blast, and I am looking forward to celebrating tonight for Kristi's bachelorette party!!

4.  I found out that my insurance is going to give me back the money that we had to pay for Natalie!!  I am so thankful.  I have a really high deductible ($3,000) and we just found out that we also have GAP insurance, which will pay me back for my time in the hospital!  I wish we would have known about this with Brandon too!!

5.  I am so thankful for my loving husband, who is going to have both kids tonight so that way I can go out with the girls!!  It is going to be a blast!!

Family of Four . . . 5 weeks

New things about Brandon:  Brandon is spending his first week up at grandma and grandpa's since Natalie was born.  He is having a blast up there, but has been getting up super early!  He was able to go try out a new park too, since school is out now.  He misses daddy and sissy, but is having a lot of fun with grandma and grandpa.

Swinging away

New things about Natalie:  She is growing like a weed!!  She also slept through the night last night!!  It was amazing, and so nice to be able to sleep.  She only slept until 5:15 this morning, and finally fell back asleep when it was time to leave for the doctor's office, but at least she didn't get up at 2 or 3 too.  She is a lot more active now, and she still doesn't like to be on her back.  Today during my meeting, before the other teachers went to pick her up, she kept looking like she was trying to roll over, and was rolling to her sides.

One month check up

New things about Tyler:  He is done with school!  He had a lot of fun at the graduation, and at the end of the year party with his class.  He is excited to be on summer break though!

New things about Cassandra:  I have had to say goodbye, even though I am avoiding actually doing it so far, to coworkers, and friends.  There is a lot of change going on at Shepherd this year, and some of my favorites are leaving to go on to start new journeys.  I was able to take Natalie with me to work this week, and everyone loved being able to see her.  I also took her in to meet both of our classes, and all of the kids loved being able to see her. This week has been very go, go, go, and I am looking forward to relaxing this weekend too!

Avoiding saying goodbye!  Happy birthday Chelsea!

Current Weight:  137

Total Weight Gain / Loss:  I am up half a pound.  I have been drinking a lot of soda at the different parties we've had this week.  I think for the month of July I am going to try to only drink soda when I have a drink.  :)  I know cutting out the soda will help me take off the pounds, as no one needs the extra sugar.

Wordless Wednesday

Thoughtful Tuesday

I think the saying is true, you never know how good you have it until it's gone. I went to work today for yearbook signing and then graduation is tonight. I am going to miss these people. I am going to miss my daily hugs from E. I'm going to miss talking with Eileen after school. I'm going to miss my good morning shouts from down the hall. I'm going to miss the witty humor. I'm going to miss the sounding board. Most of all I'm going to miss my best friend, the person I could go to at any time. I'm going to miss knowing she's right next door, and ready for ice cream whenever I had a bad day. I know God has much bigger plans for her, and I've been blessed by her friendship and love for the past three years, but I'm going to miss her.

Friday Five

1. So thankful we got to go out for a walk this week. We were able to walk a little over six miles this week! It was good to be able to start exercising!

2. I have been working on my teacher binder for next year, and have my monthly planning calendars done! I love them and can't wait to use them.

3. Fast and Furious Six came out today!! Can't wait to go see it with Tyler. Hopefully we're going on Monday!!

4.  Swings. I hope Natalie learns to like hers soon. We're going to have some long days if she can only hang out on my chest.

5.  I finished the first part of the Baxter series by Karen Kingsbury.  I can't wait to read the next five books on the series!

Family of four . . . 4 weeks

New things about Brandon:  Brandon has loved being up at grandma and grandpa's house this week!  He gets to go outside and play, go to the park, and he has been enjoying his toys that he has up here.  We were so blessed with an abundance of toys from awesome school families, that he has a total new set of toys up here from what we have at home.  This way we don't have to worry about transporting toys, and h doesn't really get tired of his toys because he can only play with them a week at a time.  He has also been enjoying his water table that my parents bought him.  It is so funny to watch him stand out there and play with it.

Brandon's toy corner

Playing in grandma and grandpa's backyard

New things about Natalie:  Natalie has been enjoying her time with grandma and grandpa as well!  She has had lots of snuggle time with all of us, and Brandon has even enjoyed holding her after bath time.  She has been awake a lot more during the day now, and is sleeping for stretches at night, some longer than others.  The other night she slept from 9 - 1:30!! Amen!  She does not enjoy being on her back, but is slowly getting used to the bounce chair.  I was able to put her in the chair long enough to take a shower yesterday!  It is also so hard to believe that she is already four weeks old!  Where has the time gone!

Sleeping Baby

Nap time with Grandpa

New things about Tyler:  Tyler is excited that all of his grades and comments are done.  He is now starting to pack up his classroom, as he gets to move into the new building this year!  He is very excited to be able to do that, even though it means moving classrooms again!  He has been enjoying his week at home, getting lots of sleep, but misses the kids and I.

New things about Cassandra:  We have been going on nightly walks.  We have only been walking a mile at a time, but something is better than nothing.  I just strap Princess on the front of me, and my dad has been pushing B in the stroller and off we go!  Brandon loves his nightly walks, and enjoys seeing the animals and airplanes around my parent's house.  We also got to spend some time with my grandma this week, the kids great grandma.  Brandon started to warm up to her before the week was over, and they had a lot of fun.  

Enjoying our nightly walks

Weight: 135.5 pounds

Weight loss: This past week I lost another half pound.  Not too bad.  I have been eating healthier up here at my mom's house, especially since she eats that with me.  I'm hoping that I will be able to keep this up when I go back home next week, but I am more worried about when we go on vacation during June.  Here is to hoping to keep getting it down!

Bubba loves his sissy!