I am married to the BEST New Teacher of the Year!!

A couple of months ago Eric came home and told me that his peers had nominated him for New Teacher of the Year. He came home a few weeks ago and told me that he had been nominated to the top 4! I didn't even know this award existed! Last night he was chosen out of the top 4 for the award! We were so proud! He worked so hard!

 I can't even believe he is done with his first year! I feel like yesterday we were just hoping he would get a job after several weeks of nothing, even being brushed off by one principle that told him she didn't hire new teachers at her school. Well, last night when we got his award, the lady's signature was on his award. Touche! She apparently had no idea who she let walk out her door.
I knew Eric would be a great teacher, I mean lets face it, Eric is a child himself. But more then just that. I rarely hear teachers talk about their students the way Eric does (no offense to any of my teacher friends, I guess I am a little particle). Every where we go he tells people about his students. He genuinely loves those kids and wants them to succeed not to make him look good, but to make them better. Most of all he defends them, and I have never heard him say anything bad or mean about them. I think every child deserves to have a teacher that loves them, defends them, see potential in them, and believes in them.
  He had six kids leave, six more new kids come. He has had a few with some challenges and one that could barley speak english when she started. When he came home and told me all of this at the beginning of the year I thought he was in over his head, that this was going to be a rough year. But I underestimated him. He embraced it and took it in stride and that child who could barely speak english at the beginning of the year is now reading on almost a 3rd grade reading level. He did the impossible and made reading FUN!! I hated reading until I was in high school. These kids are in the first grade and reading chapter books!! I didn't pick up a chapter book till I was in the 4th grade!! He got 16 iPod touches, and 6 iPads funded for his classroom, as well as hundreds of books, along with some of our own money to make sure the kids had the books they needed for the year. He also had almost every child in his class pass their CRCT.
Overall I believe that he deserved this award. I didn't know the other teachers that were nominated, but I am sure they were great teachers mostly because they were nominated.
I am so proud of him! I still can't believe its almost summer break! I am still accepting any ideas for summer activities for Eric!! =) He is going to be terrible bored. I am afraid one day I will wake up and my house will be some crazy color, or my kitchen table painted black, or a new animal in my house. Who knows! We will start in a few weeks preparing his classroom for the next year.
Thanks to everyone who congratulated Eric and supported us in our careers. We could have done it without the support of our parents through out our college years!
Way to go Eric! I love you pookie!!

Fill in the Blank Friday!

Yay!!! It's Friday!! Which means nothing to me btw. When you work in a 24/7 operation TGIF means NOTHING!! But for those of you that is does, here are some cheerful blanks!

1.  Something that is very near and dear to my heart is,   marriage. No offense to my parents or grandparents, but my family doesn't have a good reputation when it comes to marriage. I am bound and determined to make mine work,  no matter what it takes! 

2.      Today.   is good cause to celebrate . Tonight is Relay for Life where we are going to celebrate LIFE after cancer and remember the ones we lost. Its a great time to fellowship and get together!

3.  The most fun I ever had was     its hard to say, but recently it was our Honeymoon and going to Disney World .

4.  True friends are   the ones where no topic is off-limits and you can always pick up where you left off even if there's a time lapse between visits  .

5. Something that makes me terribly happy is      Going anywhere out of town with Eric, either new or somewhere we have been before . I just like going places!

6. A good way to spend a sunny day is     with an ice drink out by a pool or lake. I wished I lived near a lake. 

7.  My favorite celebratory food is   cake! I love cake! Anything with cake is a good reason to celebrate. I can never pass up cake.

Blanks and picture from Lauren

I just got back from a cruise with my mom and sister. It was fun, but I did miss my husband! He told me on the way home that he had some surprises for me....that he moved some stuff around and got some things changed (he had a habit of doing things like this when he gets bored!) I came home and he had a bow on my car tire. He had when out and got me some much needed new tires (i was told i needed some about a month ago) and came in and he had gotten the carpets cleaned (which was much needed too!) and kept the house clean while I was gone! I knew I picked a good one! He even told me that he made the bed everyday and he enjoyed it!! He should have never told me that, because now I am going to hold him to that. Hehe! For now though I am up to my ears in my own laundry and  I have to go back to work on Saturday after being off for 10 days....Booo. Se what I mean....TGIF....I dont know what that means anymore. What I do know is that when all for you have to get up on Monday morning I get to stay in bed!! =)

Happy weekend!

Going on vacation.....if they let me on the boat!!

So I am excited about going on this cruise. But since last week things keep working against me. Started last week when I decided out of the blue to look for my passport...Its kinda gone all down hill from there.

• Last Tuesday....realized my passport was not where I usually keep it. Eric and I looked for 2 hrs tearing apart the house looking for it. No where to be found. I am usually smart about these things. I was sick to my stomach for 2 days coming to the realization that I wasn't going to find it. So I am going to show up tomorrow with my other documents and hope they let me on!!! Not to mention let me come back!!!
• I sick!!! Some kind of sinus junk....just what I need getting on a cramp boat breathing everyone else's air....yay. 
• I decided, like a dummy, to go to body pump after not going for 2 weeks. Now I am sore all over. 
• Knox chewed up my ipod holder and my headphones yesterday. I think he was jealous because I have gone for "walks" without him. 

I am still going though....passport or no passport. What stinks most about the whole passport thing is that I am going to have to pay to replace it. Booo! This is also the longest time I will have spent away from Eric without any contact. ;(

In other news I have decided to start training this summer for a half marathon. I know...who would have thought?? Just incase you dont know a half marathon is 13.1 miles. Its like me running from my house in Ellerslie to my mom's house on Moon Rd!!!! I am scared. Mostly of failing. But I have a knack of accomplishing things I want to do when I put my mind to it, even when people tell me I can't, or its hard, or stupid. I guess I just like proving people wrong. The only thing is it cost more money then I ever thought it would. Once you buy the shoes, the clothes, then pay for the races....it cost. Not to mention the training. A patient asked me a while back what I did for fun, or if I had any hobbies....the sad thing is I couldn't give her an answer!!! Sad! I realized outside of work I really didn't have anything to do!! I mean I paint, and sew, but not as a part of a group or anything. I just taught myself and when I feel up to it I do it. And Eric has his photography, which I can tell you, is way more expensive then some running shoes!
The half marathon I plan on running is the week before Thanksgiving and is called The Solider Marathon.   Not sure what exactly it benefits, but its kinda cool because you pick a fallen solider and run in honor of them. I have an idea who I am going to run in honor of, but I haven't asked yet. I want to run in honor of someone I have some kind of connection to. Anyways, I'm excited. I know its going to be hard, and its going to push me to physical and mental limits that I have never been to before. But if I could get through nursing school while planning a wedding, mentally I feel like I can do anything! Plus I feel like it will prepare me for other things I want in life.....
I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend! Go and love on your mamma!!

Fill in the Blank Friday

This weeks blanks are health related. Kinda fitting since it is Nurses Appreciation Week :)

1.  On a scale from 1-10 the frequency with which I get sick is,   a one. Even as a child I was never really sick, I usually have one bad cold a year....infant last year I dont think I had something that lasted more then a day. Working in a hospital, even though i dont typically work with sick patients, I am constantly washing my hands....maybe that has something to do with it. 

2.   The last time I felt sick was   today.Of course days before I leave on vacation I get sick....could have been last week. 

3.  The worst part about being sick is     the lack of energy you have       because   I still have to what I would normally (Go to work, school when I was in school, clean house, whatever)

4. When I am sick I like to be taken care of by   Left to lay in bed. 

5. Something I do to keep myself healthy is    nothing really. I mean I wash my hands regularly just because of my job. Other then that I really dont take any supplements or anything....I should be taking a multivitamin though but they tend to make me sick more then do anything good for me. 

6. A secret remedy that I use when I'm sick is to    depends on the sickness. If I have a cold I drink hot tea with honey and lemon, nauseous I drink ginger ale or sprite. I also usually take something to help me sleep...sleep is very important. 

7.  One thing that always makes me feel better when I'm sick is   a sprite, chicken noodle soup and a movie.