Em and Blake

Summer...?

2010-06-25T19:13:00.000-07:00

You know that the Texas summer is present when your electric bill is up, you turn your car on 3 minutes before you leave in order to cool it, and Luke refuses to stay outside more than 10 minutes at a time. Unfortunately, even though I've been out of school for 3 weeks, I have yet to take a day off. I've been in trainings and writing curriculum for my district since the day we've gotten out! My motivation to keep going is the amazing paychecks I will receive in July and August :) Also, I just love my job!
I know that seems cheesey for me to say, and although I get bogged down and frustrated sometimes, I cannot imagine not using my life to teach my students how to find their strengths, weaknesses, and passions for them to act upon, and watching them develop into the success young man or woman I know they can be. I just think about the students I have taught in my short 3 year career and how much I have been through with them, and how many will drive me crazy in the future :) I am so lucky to have found my passion so early in my life!
The AVID Institute this week was very inspiring for me. Although this is the 3rd time I have been (and it is inspiring each and every time), it was different this summer because I will be teaching the actual colloege-prep class, so I had a whole different spin on it. I will have 15-18 students for the next 4 years to help them be successful, not just in high school, but after they leave. Essentially, I will be creating a family. Although this makes me terribly nervous... how exciting and how amazing that I get to do this for students who don't always have that unconditional love and support that I have been so lucky to grow up around.

Ok, enough about work :) Other than that, Blake and I have tried our best to relax and see our friends and family-- and hang out with Luke, of course :) Luke has been a mess, as usual, but below is one of my new favorite pictures. Who knew that Luke was a spooner :)

Education's purpose is to replace an empty mind with an open one.

-Malcolm Forbes

The End is in SIGHT!!

2010-05-18T18:44:00.000-07:00

That's right, friends... summer is only 12 more work-days away! I have NEVER been more ready for summer in my whole education career-- student and teacher. It's been a school year that has truly tested my strength (mentally and emotionally)-- if I can make it to June 7th, I feel that anything is possible :)
Since getting engaged, Blake and I have had a pretty hectic schedule. This last weekend is the first one since then that we were able to relax more. We spent Friday night out with some friends, which is always a blast :) Blake had a softball tournament for most of the day on Saturday, and I got to spend the day playing with sidewalk chalk, on a playground, and reading children's books-- babysitting my nephew, Cole. I had a blast :) Afterwards, we had dinner and spent the evening with Nick and Annie. It was definitely a relaxing weekend!

The big question from others lately is about wedding planning-- don't worry, we haven't completely been slacking on this, but haven't made a whole lot of progress either, for numerous reasons. Overall, we do know that we want a Destination Wedding, which has always been something we've wanted. Where the destination is, is still a mystery, but it will be an amazing party and celebration!!! Our goal is to make it a trip and adventure for everyone to remember, which I am sure we will succeed with.

I stole this from Annie's blog, but it is probably one of my all-time favorites of Cole. He's winking for all the ladies out there :)

On a closing thought, I want all my readers to do me a favor. I learned today that someone I graduated high school with and have known since third grade passed away recently. I realized that this was the 5th death of people I knew associated with Coppell HS in the last 7 years. My favor that I ask of is to cherish what you have. There are many people mourning for Brian's loss right now, and although we all have our problems, many of us are gracious enough to have one of the greatest gifts-- our lives.

Life is what happens while you are busy making other plans.

-John Lennon

Engagement Weekend!

2010-04-18T18:20:00.000-07:00

What an amazing weekend we had in Austin. I originally thought we were going to see friends and attend the Austin Wine and Food Festival-- who knew it would change my life!

We planned on hanging out with Paige Friday night, so when we were on our way, so let me know that she and others were starting their evening at a friend's house. Since it was in North Austin, I told her we would meet her there. For the last 15 or 20 minutes of our drive, all I heard was how badly Blake needed to pee. I told him that we could stop if it was that bad, but he said that he could wait until we got there.

So, we get the address and pull up to the house, but Paige's car was not where in sight. I call her, though Blake told me not to (should've taken the hint), to make sure we were at the right place. She was on her toes and said that she needed to go pick-up something at the store and was just down the street. We knock on the door so that we wouldn't have to wait in the rain, but no one came to the door. We sat out side for a solid minute knocking and ringing the doorbell, and Blake decides to open the door. All I can think is, "What are you doing??" but I remembered that Blake really had to use the restroom, so that was why he decided to just walk in. The next thought I had was how amazing the house was and I was jealous that someone could afford it on a teaching salary (Paige's friend that she used was a teacher). As I about to walk back outside because I felt so uncomfortable being in someone else's house without them knowing we were there, Blake says to me, "Hey, they've got champagne!"

That's when I realized all the lit candles and flowers and Blake got down on one knee! It was such a special moment! Of course, I said yes and all I wanted to do was hug him. In midst of all this he says, "But you haven't seen the ring!" Ha-ha! Hopefully he is glad to know that I am marrying him and not the ring :)

Minutes later, friends and family showed up to celebrate our milestone with us! Blake had rented the house for the weekend, and with the help of Paige, organized such an amazing time! Expectations for a "relaxing weekend with friends" (or so I thought while I was on my way to see friends), were definitely exceeded :)

Our first picture after getting engaged-- I was told I had to do the cheesey hand-on-the-chest engaged pose :)

Here's what all the ladies want to see... :)

Thanks to all of you who wished us well-- we are very excited to start this next journey together!!

The greatest thing you will ever learn is to love, and be loved in return.

-Moulin Rouge

Happy Easter!

2010-04-04T13:46:00.000-07:00

Happy Easter from Abe :)

(Blake's nephew)

Spring and Snow...Welcome to Texas!

2010-03-23T14:23:00.000-07:00

North Texas welcomed Spring 2010 with a hilarious snow-storm! We had dinner with the family in Coppell Saturday night, and as mom went to let Max outside, there were huge snowflakes falling. Unfortunately, I did not get any pictures of it, but it was insane!! Now, 2 days later, it is gorgeous and 70 degrees outside. Welcome to Texas!

I spent the first half of Spring Break in Orlando with the parents. Dad had a conference, so mom and I tagged along for the ride. Luckily, mom and I got to hang by the pool, eat great food, shop, go to Epcot, etc. Dad got to joing for a few of the festivities, too.

Unfortunately, the last half of my break was not nearly as fun as the first. There were a few things that happened, but the worst was my health. I went to the doctor on Friday of last week with a UTI and got antibiotics... no big deal. But then, I started to get worse as the weekend progressed. On Sunday afternoon, I couldn't take it anymore and had Blake take me to the ER... and thank goodness we went. Apparently, my body was rejecting the antibiotic that I was prescribed and was not far away from having a kidney infection. How scary!! Now, I am on 3 antibiotics and starting to feel better. Unfortunately, I cannot seem to get rid of a headache, but I am sure that will fade with the rest.

Now, I am back to work and working on the finishing stretch of the year... only 10 more weeks of school! Crazy! I must say that it's been a rough year of teaching this year, so it'll be nice to have a little break.

Blake and I have a real busy 3 or 4 weeks coming up, so hopefully I will have more to post soon.

I'm a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it.

-Thomas Jefferson

Recovering

2010-02-21T15:05:00.000-08:00

I cannot remember EVER being as lazy as I was this weekend. I have been having stomach and head issues since Wednesday night, and am finally starting to feel up to par again. We were supposed to head to Austin yesterday to celebrate Paige's 27th Birthday, but because of a migraine, we had to cancel. I spent the day on the couch watching movies, re-runs and the Olympics.
Today, luckily, I have felt better and been able to eat more solid foods. Blake was a sport and took me to see The Lightning Thief since I have been reading the book series with some of my students. Although I felt like a bum, it was really nice to be able to get healthier and spend quality time with Blake and the dog.
Speaking of... below are some of our newest Luke-Dog pictures. We have TONS, but I am sure some of them are just funny and entertaining to us. I'll be sure to censor for your pleasure :)

Playing with dad

Sleeping because mom and dad had a party that went later than my bed-time

Playing in the snow during our crazy snow-storm

(can you tell he was forced to sit for this picture and really wanted to play?)

Taking a break under the tree at the dog park yesterday

Some days you're the dog, some days you're the hydrant.

- Unknown

Inspiration Needed

2010-02-15T12:07:00.000-08:00

Sadly, I've needed a lot of inspiration at work lately. I am trying so hard to keep expectations where they've always been (if not higher) in my classroom, but with everything combined together (teachers, you know what I mean), it has truly been difficult. For example...

Today, one of my students was whining (literally, like a 6 year old) as to why they had a test tomorrow. I followed her whine with a pretty decent speech about how the knowledge over the test (reading and critical thinking skills) would help them in the long run. Unfortunately, nothing I said sunk in. I stopped everything they were doing and read them the following poem. After reading it, there was a long moment of silence. I was not sure if it was they didn't understand the point of the poem or actually understood where I was coming from. I was just about to open my mouth and another student said, "Thanks, Miss." Everyone stared at her for a second. She continued with, "She is not just teaching us for the year, but for the rest of our life." I wanted to cry (happy tears), but held it back. Suddenly, all were quiet, working and asking relevant questions about the test. I need to keep this moment by each and every day. I want to teach everyone everything, but I need to realize that the one student who got the life lesson (and not necessarily the grammar double-negative one) will keep me going.

A Pretty Good Student

by Charles Osgood

There once was a pretty good student,
Who sat in a pretty good class.
And was taught by a pretty good teacher,
Who always let pretty good pass.
He wasn't terrific at reading,
He wasn't a whiz-bang at math,
But for him, education was leading
Straight down a pretty good path.
He didn't find school too exciting,
But he wanted to be pretty well,
And he did have some trouble with writing,
And nobody had taught him to spell.
When doing arithmetic problems,
Pretty good was regarded as fine.
Five plus ve didn't always add up to ten,
A pretty good answer was nine.
The pretty good class that he sat in
Was part of a pretty good school.
And the student was not an exception,
On the contrary, he was the rule.
The pretty good school that he went to
Was there in a pretty good town.
And nobody there seemed to notice
He could not tell a verb from a noun.
The pretty good student in fact was
Part of a pretty good mob.
And the first time he knew what he lacked was
When he looked for a pretty good job.
It was then, when he sought a position,
He discovered that life could be tough.
And he soon had a sneaky suspicion
Pretty good might not be good enough.
The pretty good town in our story
Was part of a pretty good state,
Which had pretty good aspirations,
And prayed for a pretty good fate.
There once was a pretty good nation,
Pretty proud of the greatness it had,
Which learned much too late,
If you want to be great,
Pretty good is, in fact, pretty bad.

If we did the things we are capable of, we would astound ourselves.

-Thomas Edison

A Month?!?!

2010-02-02T15:35:00.000-08:00

I honestly feel as though I just posted. The last month has flown by with work, weddings, birthdays, showers, etc. Blake and I have had something to attend every weekend for the past four weeks, and we are excited that we will soon get to relax a bit :) This weekend is the last of events, which is my ESL certification test (yes, it is a requirement--not an option). Luckily, I get to end the day with my own birthday party at our house! We always have a blast when we throw parties, so I am pretty excited :) There are a couple of landmarks that we've hit already in this new year...

1. Roommate!
We now have a roomie to keep us company and in line. Our friend from college, JT, has moved in for a bit to find and job and do all those fun post-college-adult things. It'll be nice to get help with bills and the mortgage for the next couple of months.

2. Cole's 1st Birthday
Yes, I know he is not my child and therefore not necessarily my landmark, but it was exciting to realize that I've been an aunt to the most adorable child for a year already! It's been so fun seeing Cole grow from a little boxer baby to a curly toes boy! We love him so much and are so excited to continue to see him grow.

3. Baylor Men's Basketball Beating Texas
Again, this may seem unimportant to you, but it was such a great landmark for our school!! SIC 'EM!

Some events to look forward to...
1. RELAXATION!!!
It'll be so nice to relax and have weekends filled with fun and not always obligation. What we really need is a vacation, but don't get me started with that... ha!

2. Baby Abe
Blake will become an uncle again and have another nephew, Abe, in March. Lauren and Matt live in Ft Worth, so we are lucky enough to be close to them and see Abe as he grows! We are so excited for Lauren and Matt!

3. Our Tax Return
This is probably going to make me shed happy tears! With buying the house, we will be getting a hefty and exciting tax return this year. I wonder what we could do with it... Hmm...

Don't be afraid your life will end; be afraid that it will never begin.

-Grace Hansen

Welcome 2010!

2010-01-03T19:55:00.000-08:00

My two weeks flew by and I feel like I've gotten nothing done! As always, I have this long list of things to get done while I am on Holiday Break, and yet again, I have accomplished maybe half. AND this month is going to be crazy!!! Blake or I have something every weekend and I always have tons of grading to get done. Whew... is it February, yet?

For 4 days, we were in Silverthrone, CO with Blake's family. It was great to have a true White Christmas and get away for a bit. Here are some pictures from our new camera to document the fun:

The view from Blake's parents' duplex

Blake and his parents skiing

Blake's nephew, Cale, hiding in a snow Snoopy House

And no, you will not see any pictures of me skiing considering I was holding the camera and skiing for the first time. I took a lesson, which really helped, but another one will definitely be needed next time :)

I hope that everyone had a relaxing Christmas and New Year! I can't believe that the holidays are already over and it's time to start another semester. It'll definitely be a crazy one... but when is it not?

A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step.

-Lao Tzu

Happy Holidays!

2009-12-22T08:21:00.000-08:00

Do you think it's been long enough?

The month of December has been a crazy whirlwind and I can't believe it is almost Christmas. This month has been full of family, friends, work, house furnishings, hard-core cleaning, work, etc. Yes, I know I listed work twice. We both have been busy with it lately, so hopefully it'll calm down in the New Year (yea, right--I know). The good news about Blake's job is that he is getting a raise in JANUARY! I am so proud of him. His work ethic and optimism are so inspiring to me. Hopefully it'll wear off on me more :)

For Christmas we are going to Silverthorne, CO to spend time with Blake's family. We are so excited about taking a trip somewhere for the holidays. I am sad that I won't get to spend the holidays with my nephew Cole (it's his first Xmas) or Luke-dog. I know that sounds silly, but he is basically our child. I know he'll be in good hands staying with Chris for a few days, but we'll miss him.

Because of our trip, we opened Christmas presents early. Poor Blake didn't get to open much, but I am paying for his first day of skiing, so that was the bulk of his present. We opened presents earlier than usual, which was strange to me. Blake had to open them Friday night. I figured he was just excited to see what he got and I felt horrible knowing that he didn't have much to open. But... his real intention was actually selfless. I had talked about going shopping this past weekend for a new camera for the CO trip. Well, he apparently had thought the same thing and got me a camera!! Since he knew I planned on going shopping, he wanted to open presents early so I wouldn't go buy one... haha! It's a great camera, too. Look below at the camera's first picture. You can see all the details on Luke's nose! Ha-ha!

In substitute for Christmas Cards, I hope everyone has a holiday full of laughter with their friends and family! MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Special Tuesday!

2009-12-01T17:10:00.000-08:00

No, today is not Thanksgiving, Black Friday or Cyber Monday, but in our house it is a special day :) Blake's favorite holiday is Thanksgiving due to the amazing weather, football and the meaning behind it all. Because of this, we agreed to not decorate for Christmas until December... well, it's the first :)

I got to put up my legendary Irish tree, though it is not as glamorous as I usually have it. Since it is our first holiday season in the new house, we bought a smaller (5 ft) tree for the office to house the Irish ornaments. Our bigger tree is our stuff combined and sitting in the living room. Right now it's all random and not real impressive since it has ornaments from students, the Chichago Bears and Target/Walmart fillers, but we have plenty of time to fill it up :) Luke is quite tempted by it all, so we put all the cloth ones that could remind him of toys towards the top, so it's not an issue.

Other than decorating we've just been rejuvinating ourselves from Thanksgiving weekend. We had a BLAST seeing friends and family, but we were definitely exhausted on Sunday. I have 13 more days of school until the Holiday Break and Blake's working some extra hours so that we can spend Christmas with his family in Silverthorne, CO. We are so excited to have (hopefully) and white Christmas with some skiing in the mix!

I hope everyone is have a special first Tuesday of December, too!

Blessed are those that can give without remembering and receive without forgetting.

-Elizabeth Bibesco

House Pictures

2009-11-15T15:11:00.000-08:00

I know that it's been a while since blogging, but besides work, cleaning and unpacking, there hasn't been a whole lot to blog about. So instead of going on about normal day things, I thought I would publish the pictures we've taken so far!

Here is the Dining Room, but we are going to make it just a sitting room. As of now, there is only one place to sit, but that should change over time.

The Family Room! One of my favorite rooms because of how it looks during the day. Those windows are awesome and the sun shines in... love it!

The messy kitchen :) We just bought the island and love our new fridge!

We just painted the office, which is why you only get to see an odd corner. To the left is the desk and most of the furniture, but we painted last week and are pretty pumped about the color!

Not a very good pictures, but this is our bathroom, which we also painted. It was a bright lavender color, but now it's olive green!

Well, that's it for now! We will be hopefully getting more stuff done soon and I will post the pictures. I hope everyone has a great week!!!

Books serve to show a man that those original thoughts of his aren't very new after all.

Abraham Lincoln

The Queen of Wishful Cleaning

2009-10-27T18:58:00.000-07:00

So, ten days after the move in and we have made pretty good progress considering how much we both have going on at work. We have the following completed:

bathroom painted a deep green instead of being bright lavender
linen closet painted white instead of ugly brown color from the 90s
about 60% of our boxes unpacked
have had our first fire in our new fireplace
bought new dishwasher and fridge (and got a killer deal!)
two paintings are hung
bedroom drapes are up
computers and internet up
liquor cabinet organized (this was one of the first things Blake did... surprise, I know)
book cases in family room organized
EVERYTHING IS CLEAN!!!!!... or as clean as it's going to get...

...that is everything I can remember

Today, I cleaned the oven for the THIRD time since we've been back and it is still dirty, but it looks a hell of a lot better. I am sure I will clean it a couple more times before using it.

Other than getting the house together, we don't have much of a life! We did get a couple of breaks last weekend. Jess and Matt came up to see us Friday night to see the house, help paint and live it up in downtown McKinney. We have lots of fun, as always, and got to light our first fire in the fireplace! The logs were kind of wet, so it wasn't a big fire, but thanks to newspaper and some light fluid, it was successful.

Saturday was so fun! We missed out on an awesome Halloween Party, but we went to the Majestic downtown and saw Brian Regan live. He is a HILARIOUS comedian-- here is a good taste of what we got to see for two hours the other night. I thought this one may be appropriate considering what we shopped for this weekend...

It's Nice to Have a Moment to Breathe

2009-10-20T19:45:00.000-07:00

Sorry to keep you all hanging for a couple of weeks, but luckily I have a moment to catch you all up with our crazy life :)

We finally got into our new house, but of course, not without some chaos and drama. That wouldn't be the Emily and Blake way. We closed last Thursday at 3pm, but originally we were supposed to close at 9am. Because of Blake's work schedule and the paper work not being complete at the bank, we had to wait until 3. The papers came in at the last minute, so we got lucky to close on Thursday-- which was nice considering I took the day off.

Unfortunately, we did not get the keys to house right away. The couple that we bought our house from are getting a divorce and the wife moved to East Texas during this whole process. Instead of she giving the power of attourney to her realtor or husband, she had to make things complicated. They had to fax ALL of the closing documents to her Thursday evening and instead of just faxing them back, she had the brilliant idea to FedEx them. Blake only worked half of the day on Friday, so he waited for the keys until after 4pm that day. You would think that the phone call I got from Blake would have been filled with relief, excitment...? Oh no...

The house was FILTHY and DISGUSTING! Thank goodness that my parents were in town for the weekend to help with the move-- unfortunately, they had to help clean, as well. Mom almost threw up a couple of times while in the bathrooms. I think that it had been months since they cleaned ANYTHING. We got to come back early Saturday morning and continue the clean. Luckily, Blake has amazing parents, too, and they helped out a bunch! The moms helped with the cleaning and organizing, which I was extremely grateful for. I think that I would still be cleaning if it was not for their motivation and expertise.

Believe it or not, we did take pictures of the filth, but I don't have the heart to show them. Trust me, I am doing it for all of you :)

Well, all the drama is over and now we are doing all of the fun stuff! Hanging up pictures, unpacking boxes... we are far from finished, but it always a good time to figure it out. Hopefully, it'll be finished soon so we can plan the house-warming party :)

My new slogan for the month...

I've got a great ambition to die of exhaustion rather than boredom.

-Thomas Carlyle

One weight off... How many more to go?

2009-10-04T13:14:00.000-07:00

We have turned into brand new people this week. We are officially out of the Plano house and recieved half of our deposit back!! It has been a huge weight lifted off of us to be done with that proprerty. We are staying in Coppell for the interim of our move and hopefully closing on the McKinney house before the 15th. We are doing our final walk-through tomorrow night and then will just wait on the bank to do the rest :) We are hoping to take some pictures, so I will have more to show soon!

Our life is still in the fast lane!! This was my second weekend in a row to work, but hopefully it'll be the last for a while. Six days a week with teenagers will press ANYONE'S nerves. Next weekend it Blake's Quarter-of-a-Century birthday, so we will be catching up with our social lives starting then.

Below is a picture of the latest highlight for me..

For retro/decades spirit day, we decided to dress up as the different decades/stages of Michael Jackson. From left to right: Courtroom Jackson, Bad album Jackson, Thriller Jackson and Off the Wall Jackson

Needless to say, we were pretty freakin' awesome dancing to his hits in the hallways during each passing period for the day :)

In the name of God, stop a moment, cease your work, look around you.

-Tolstoy

"The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees opportunity in every difficulty" -Winston Churchill

2009-09-27T17:26:00.000-07:00

Hmm... who is the optimist and who is the pessimist? I think we're each a little bit of both.

The last month or so has really pushed and pulled us in anyway it knows how. But for me, this weekend was the true test. This weekend is when we did the bulk of our moving out of the Plano house and into a storage unit since we are not closing the McKinney house until the middle of October. But, we did not get finished and still have loads to do before it gets cleaned on Tuesday and we turn in the keys on Wednesday. I seriously considered taking off part of this week, but with what I have planned, I can't. Besides, I am trying not to let this stress bleed over into my classroom. Most days I do well with it, but then there are others that I become another teacher (who the kids don't like-- and neither do I), and nothing but stress and frustration is accomplished.

We have a catch-22 on our hands which might help reduce my stress level in one way. Blake is not really needed at work the next few days, so he will be able to work on the house during the day. It is one less thing to worry about for me, but unfortunately, he does not get any hours. Less hours = less cash.

According to TIME magazine, the following things are the most stressful on a relationship: moving/buying a house...CHECK... job security/finances...CHECK... & death... NO-CHECK. Two out of three. Whew.

The exhaustion of stress hit me this afternoon and I about had a breakdown. Luckily, we were at the end of the moving for the day, so I got to finish and just lay down for an hour or so. I woke up refreshed, but then I realized everything I had to do for tomorrow and this coming week at work and the panic arroused. I think that if I can get through the next 6-8 weeks, then I can get through the rest. Hopefully, I'll be standing at the end :)

"When you feel like giving up, remember why you held on for so long in the first place."

~ Unknown

Where did the weekend go?

2009-09-20T16:18:00.000-07:00

We had planned to do a lot more than we got done this weekend, but I guess that is not abnormal. Today, we started moving boxes over to my parent's hosue in Coppell. We are moving out of the house we are currently in by the first, but we do not close on our new house until October 15th. So during the interim, we will be residents of Coppell. It'll be nice for me to have a very short commute for a couple of weeks.

The progress on closing on the new house is going quite well! We got the results of the inspection this week and we only need the sellers to do two things (window replacement and fix a bathroom leak). We sent them the amendment today, so hopefully we'll get to hear back on all of that soon.

This weekend was crazy, to say the least!! Friday, we did a lot of packing and organizing for the move and the garage sale we are donating to next weekend. Late that night, Jack and Stephanie were in town, so we saw "The Informant" with Matt Damon. It had it's funny parts, but I could have waited for the dollar theater. Saturday morning was a lot more organizing, packing up and yardwork. Luckily, Jack and Stephanie gave us enough convincing to get out of the house for a little bit. We got to see Nick, Annie and Cole for a little while, which is always fun :) Then, we went to Oktober Fest in Addison for about an hour or so. It was nice to have a break from packing and stress. Yet, we both have noticed a little loss of weight, so maybe this stress will have some good outcomes.

Now it is time to decide if I should continue to pack up the house or grade papers. Oh, the possibilities!

If the only tool you have is a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail.

-Abram Maslow

Bandwagon

2009-09-16T19:16:00.000-07:00

Yea, yea... so I did it. The whole blog thing. Honestly, this is for selfish reasons. There has been so much going on lately that I thought it would be nice to just say things once and not a thousand times :)

Many of you have been to our house on Stone Trail, which we planned on buying this month. Due to the bank and seller not agreeing and us being stuck in the middle, the purchase of this house is impossible for us right now. We have been pretty heartbroken. We grew very emotionally attached to this house, but there is only so much money can handle.

And now, for the good news!!! Because of this mess, Blake and I started house hunting last week. We got with an amazing realtor and looked at tons of houses! It turns out that the best place to get the most house for our money is in Allen or McKinney. So... we focused there. We saw an awesome house in McKinney on Friday that we immediately crushed on. It was built in 1992, 1750 sq ft and in a great neighborhood. We stayed in it for about 30 minutes talking about the possibilites and what we could do with it as an investment. We continued to look, but we kept comparing it to all of the other houses we would look at. It always had something that the other houses didn't. We took a second look and decided that we should take a risk. Well, the risk DEFINITELY paid off! We made an offer last night and after very minor deal changes, the sellers accepted our offer!!! So... as long as things continue to go smoothly, we should be moving in by October 15th.

Whew... sadly, that is not even half of the whole story. Writing it all would stress me out even more than I am about moving... AGAIN! Therefore, I will just post a few pictures of the house instead :)

Obviously, the front of the house

The backyard... I know that it isn't as 'amazing' as the yard at this house,

but we can get it up to par.

Alright, those are all of the pictures that I have for now because it is taking me WAY TOO LONG to put pictures on this thing!!! Annie, I am not sure how you do it, but hopefully it is faster.

Courage is fear that has said its prayers.

-Dorothy Bernard