Teacher Appreciation Week!

That's right-its Teacher Appreciation Week! I work at a fabulous school that goes all out for us and helps us SURVIVE the last couple of weeks left in the school year. So far, we have had a yummy breakfast, snacks galore, Jason's Deli for lunch, and tomorrow we have a snacks and yaks after school! The kids have been so cute as well. I have received loads of homemade cards and poems (that are beyond adorable), the whole class wore my favorite color to school, beautiful flowers, and 2 awesome room mommas are "taking over" for me tomorrow to relax for an hour. God Bless Them!

Chelsea and Me at our breakfast. I hid my plate so you would not see what a glutenous pig I am!

This week has also been a week of "firsts" for me. I have taught First Grade for 9 years, so not too many things surprise me much anymore, well until this week. I have seen a student taking a #2 with the bathroom door wide open and not really care or get embarrassed, I heard a cell phone ringing from a first graders backpack, and we have adopted some new baby kitties in the front bushes of the building (well, no one knows we have adopted them but they will be fed by some responsible helpers in the class!) My job never gets old!!!

Teachers, you ROCK!

Big Top

We are the type of people who name everything, including our house. The new house cannot be "ours" until she has a proper name. After doing some brainstorming Mike has crowned her "Big Top" due to the enormous peaks on the house and the name of our street has a circus-ish ring to it!
Here are some new pics of her progress...they are predicting a May 26th closing date:)

Carpet is in!

Fireplace and mantle are in!


Wood is laid!

So long, farewell...

We can no longer call Judy our house. That feels weird. She officially became someone else's girl on Friday. We have been so preoccupied packing that I really didn't think I had time to reflect or be sad, but boy was I wrong. Last Sunday when all the neighbors and kids were out playing, as we all did on most beautiful weekends, we were stuck inside packing away all our fond memories of our girl. When we all met outside on Thursday night I cried like I was loosing a family and I did in a way. Let's just say Judy has seen the best and worst over the past 8 years.

Mike and I moved into our first home on January 31st, 2003. We were newly married and had so many hopes and dreams to fulfill. Judy saw us through most of those adventures. Please allow me to share with you a highlight reel of January 31 2003-April 8, 2011...

* Ripping off all the 80's mauve and teal flower wallpaper!

*DIY projects that were a hit (texturing) and miss (back patio)

*Many a fun Christmas and NYE parties

*Wolf pack meetings in the front yard

*Watching all the littles turn into biggies

*No shortage of Judy drama~break in's, break up's, too much of this and that:)

*Power outages and car wrecks

*Guitar Hero jam sessions

*Bringing home new puppies, rabbits, and a baby

*Great neighbors who became great friends

*Love, laughter, and heartbreak

We will love and miss you old girl! We look forward to seeing what you will provide for the new owners and we hope they love you and respect you, cause girl you deserve it!

Into the Woods Wednesday

Life in Woods World is CRAZY Nuts right now! The house selling is taking a lot longer than expected and we are living out of a cardboard box! Boo! Seriously sending my OCD tendencies into overdrive! Here is what's been going on over the weekend with us....

Lucas had his first Soccer game!

Mike had his first coaching experience!

Go Soccer BUGS!

Lucas did the robot during the game! We encouraged him to do this for the half time show next week and not during the game!

Lucas went with the boys to Supercross! This is the cool hat he got with his Cotton Candy!

Into the Woods Wednesday

Weight Watchers and Willpower

With the house plans back on track I am struggling to maintain a healthy eating lifestyle, while packing and planning a move.

Being a lifetimer, I only have to weigh in once a month and knowing this has been a BAD thing for me! Since Spring Break, I have been "cheating" my way through meals Sunday through about Friday and then on Saturday I am drinking water and eating "air" to prepare for my small number on Sunday morning.

BAD, BAD, BAD!

With the kitchen packed we have had to make some dinner sacrifices and plan for more "prepared" meals. These are killin' my points and number on the scale.

Luckily, breakfast and lunch are no brainer meals for me and portion control will have to be my bestie for the next couple of weeks during dinner.

Here's what I count on to get me through the week...

These yummy, salty, crunchy gems are 16 crackers for 4 points. Worth every point!!

1 point per slice-can you say HEAVEN!

This tangy, creamy spread is 0 points if used sparingly. That is a word I am working on! Love you Skinny Cows!!! I have some serious dreams about these bad boys! 4 points of pure bliss!

Into the Woods Wednesday-Casa de Woods

Judy House

I have been waiting to post anything about our house(s) for fear things would not happen! Mike has made me swear that I would not speak a word, in fear I would jinx the whole process. We have now starting talking to people about the plans ahead, so I felt it necessary to share with the blog world.

About 3 weeks ago we had a flock of people come to look at the house. In particular, 2 potential buyers that both seemed really interested. They both put in offers and we had the pleasure of choosing the best of the 2! We went from nothin' to somethin' in a flash! The potentials we went with are very eager to get into the house and the noisy backyard was a non-issue for them:)

They put down "good faith" money, had an inspection completed, and are currently working on the financing part and the appraisal. We are wrestling with Haltom City Public Works about a leak in the city water line that they claim is not theirs. Good luck dealing with my persistent hubs! If the appraisal goes well, then we should be signing away on Judy within the next 2 weeks!

Good news/bad news: they would like to be in by April 3rd-uhhhh! Anyone like to pack boxes and haul things to storage:)

New Casa

We were starting to plan a "bail out" plan for the new house. We were given a one month extension before we had to back out without loosing any money. Mike and I have been praying for God's will to be done, even if that meant not moving. In the past few months we bought a Saint Joseph statue on Amazon and buried it in the front flower bed. We prayed the prayer attached with it in the dark with flashlights, and waited for our intercessory prayer to take over. Well, our Realtors wife, who is Catholic, went to church the Sunday before the 2 offers and also prayer to Saint Joseph and what do you know! Thanks Anne and Saint Joseph for the small pokes on God's arm. I think he was a bit weary from hearing from me all the time!

The new house is coming along beautifully! ETA is the first of June. Until then we will be shacking up with Aunt Keko, Uncle Dodi, and Brutus. This is when most of the hard core praying should probably happen! I am looking forward to staying with my sis. I'm hoping she will want to repaint the room we are staying in lime green and put 2 day beds against opposite walls with sunflower bed spreads!

The praying should be focused on Mike,Shane, and Luke. Now they will have 2 McCord sisters under one roof keeping double eyes on them! Oh, this should get interesting:)

Here are some current pics of the new casa...

Front view

Side view of house

Stained cabinets

Staircase

This is Luke's room.

There is a window seat built in which is already giving me heartburn!

Into the Woods Wednesday!

Weight Watchers

I am beyond beat down by this whole house business and I am and will always be grateful for everyone's encouragement and prayers!

So what do us women do when we are beat down, depressed, happy, sad????

WE EAT!

Before all the house stuff I went to Boot Camp 3 days a week at 5:30am. To save money, I stopped going in August;telling myself I could just workout on my own. Hmmmmm? That always sounds like a good plan until you really have to do it, right?!

After several ladies on my team got on the eating healthy train, I decided to voyage back into the world of Weight Watchers. This is familiar territory for me! I have been a lifetimer for a while and I do know the Weight Watcher plan works for me. I am a planner and I love to have control over totalling points. I even like to have to weight for someone. It just keeps me honest about my eating. I have been faithfully going every Sunday morning at 8:30 and have lost about 6 lbs. so far! My body is not the same "Boot Camp" body that I miss terribly but I do feel better and have started taking Zumba with my Mom and Sister twice a week!

So, for a while I am going to designate Wednesdays to Weight Watchers and maybe post a recipe or 2!

Here are some foods that are keeping me sane right now...

Into the Woods Wednesday!

Ladies Night!

Ruth on my First Grade team has been telling us girls about Ladies Night at Wine Styles for several months! Well, this month I crawled out of my shell and joined Ruth and Carol for some fun! We had a blast tasting and guessing different wines, eating some snacks, and playing Bingo! The best part about the night was hanging with the girls that I teach with everyday! We didn't have to lesson plan, discuss field trip options, or worry about assessments, we just got to be ourselves: Moms, wives, and best of all FRIENDS!

The Wine Posse: Ruth, me (with my Snookie do), and Carol
The sweet Mom and Daughter who sat with us!

Ruth was the Winner Winner Wine-o Dinner at our table! Look at the cute coaster she won:)

Into the Woods Wednesday!

Lucas' BEST day!

Technically, I should have posted this on Maniac Monday, but there were too many cute Valentine pictures to wait!

Lucas goes to preschool 3 days a week. Everyday we get a sheet with curriculum, what he ate for lunch, and my favorite is the Memorable Moments section at the bottom. Being a teacher, and knowing what time it takes to do your job, I would first like to say a GIANT kuddos to those preschool teachers at Lucas' school who have a memorable moment for every child, every day!

So, he brings his sheet home on Tuesday and check out his memorable moment...

I will repeat....

"Lucas is the ONLY kiddo in the entire class who earned 2 prizes today!"

Holy Guacamole! That cannot be the same 3 year old, who the night before, didn't want to go to the bathroom so he just stood up and peed all over the couch! Or the 3 year old who has not earned many "Stop Whining" magnets this week on his responsibility chart!

Needless to say we were so pumped and made a huge deal out of this. We treated him to his favorite place in the whole wide world, Rosa's Tortilla Factory, ON A TUESDAY! Yep, on Taco Tuesday. Now if that's not love I don't know what is!

Into the Woods Wednesday

The New Casa

We have really enjoyed driving out to our new house being built and watching the fast progress they are making. Awesome and scary, since we are STILL trying to sell Judy!

Here are some pics of our new house from the ground up!

Up next: cornice, deck, and shingle the roof!

**Open House this Saturday 2-5pm for our Judy House!**

Into the Woods Wednesday

Our Winter Wonderland

I can't believe the weather people got it right this time! We have been snowed/iced/below zero since Tuesday morning! With no warming temps in the next 2 days we are enjoying our little "mini" vacation at home! Granted, I will be crying and swearing this snow storm in June, but right now it ROCKS!!!!!! Our snow days have consisted of rolling blackouts, sleeping late, dressing only in warm jammers and no make up, a fire in the fireplace, hot cocoa, playing for a total of 5 minutes outside until it's too cold to move, too many hours of Guitar Hero, and plenty of good 'ol TV time!

Here are some pics from our snow day(s)!

Into the Woods Wednesday

As you know, we put our house on the market in August. We have not been successful selling it. At the same time we found a house plan/builder and an oversized lot we could not pass up. So, as of now we have 2 houses! We delayed as much as possible designing the new house, with many un-returned phone calls. In December we finally had to make our final decisions and in the past 3 weeks our plot of dirt has had some major action. The pics show what had happened as of last weekend. Mike went by yesterday and even more had been done! The builder is estimating the house will be move-in ready in early June! Perfect timing for moving and organizing our stuff for me!!!!!

Now we just have to sell our dear Judy Way house. We are having our 3rd or 4th (can't keep track) Open House this weekend! We welcome all prayers for a buyer for Judy and a speedy sell!