Thanksgiving Break Continued

Thanksgiving break was amazing. I love Thanksgiving break so much. It's always very much needed, and it's long enough to really enjoy it, and you get all of the fun parts of Christmas and none of the stress. Love! I had my kids for a couple of days, and we tried to fit in as many shows, baking, shopping, puzzling, and gaming as one can do in two days. They spent the rest of the break in Utah, and I'm sure they had a great time. Corbin stayed here as he likes to be home and have more time with his girlfriend. On Monday night, we had a Beal pie night at Alex and Anna's. There were many delicious pies. It was great. I made a pecan pie for the first time, and this will become a new tradition. So tasty! I hosted Thanksgiving dinner for John's mom and stepdad. We had a nice visit, and they seemed to enjoy my dinner, so it was great. John and I had a great first Thanksgiving break together. We did some puzzles, played some games, watched some shows, and John did a bit more work on getting moved in. I am mentally gearing up to go back to work tomorrow. Just three more short weeks and then it's Christmas break. Woot!

We dog sat for John's best friend. Maple had a few accidents, inspiring John to get a carpet shampooer on a black Friday sale.

John built this desk and hung these shelves to make some room for some of his stuff.

We walked to the Christmas tree on the Capitol steps, and it wasn't lit. What the heck?

This tree was lit, though. Yay!

Shahar, she's so cute!

Gabby took Hutch on a walk. Good work, Gabby!

Hutch will come over and demand a hug of sorts sometimes. haha.

Thanksgiving Break!

Woot! It's Thanksgiving break. I'm not totally dying like in years past, so that's progress! This past week, my Adult Living class did their food truck challenge, which is always nice to get done. They are in charge of picking their food item, planning, and cooking it, so it always makes me nervous, but they always do pretty dang good! I'm so excited for a much-needed week break. Thanksgiving break is my favorite. On Friday night, I hung out with Shelly, my friend from my caretaking job. I brought Idaho pizza twists, and we played Barbie Queen of the Prom and watched a Christmas movie. I'm going to try to take her to the movies next month. She doesn't have easy transportation, but I think John will be strong enough to hoist her in my van. We will see how it goes. She is obsessed with Freida McFadden books, and one of her movies is coming out next month, so that should be fun. 

John built a moving workbench and shelves on Friday. He's been thinking of ways to make the garage more usable. We worked on cleaning things out a bit on Saturday morning. That evening, we joined my aunt and cousin for their birthday dinner at a Mexican restaurant. It was fun to catch up with them. I get to hang with my kids for a couple of days during Thanksgiving break, and I'm looking forward to that! 

This was loaded fries, and it was really good!

I got my ring! I love it!

The teacher across the hall made AI elves of our whole hallway. My door is ready for Christmas!

A picture update from Shahar and Ori! Beautiful girls!

Update

 5 more school days until Thanksgiving break. We can't wait! I don't have much to blog about. I'm just tired per usual and ready for a school break per usual. John and I are working on making space for him over here. There is zero space, but it makes the most sense for him to move in here. My kids cannot handle more change right now, and they have ZERO interest in moving, so we will make it work the best we can. Of course, my getting engaged is a change, but I'm trying to make the transition as thoughtful as possible. Parenting is hard, and I just try my best to take care of my kids and take care of myself as well. Oof. Life.

Saturday was busy! John and I ran some errands, and then Gabby and I went to Dejah's bridal shower and then Gabby and I went shopping for an FCCLA service project. One of my student's parent's company is in charge of buying $4,000 worth of presents for children. We had quite a bit of help and it went pretty fast. It was fun spending someone else's money and buying gifts. It made me want to put up Christmas so I did! After that, I had to make dinner and pumpkin pie in ramekins (experiment for class). 

I picked out my engagement ring. It's kind of similar to my old ring. I like what I like! I don't like traditional rings on my finger. I like flat and practical. I had to get it resized, so I will pick it up tomorrow. It's going to be weird to wear a ring again. Alright, that's all! 

The kids were all playing a video game together, and it was SO LOUD! It was pretty cute to see them play together, though.

Cutest!

New family pics on the wall. Yay! I love them!

Toys for Tots shopping

Christy's amazing spread for Dejah's bridal shower.

My friend Chelsey bought me this sign for my birthday. Cute!

We are kind of hiding all of the filled Toys for Tots boxes.

There were actually 2 more full carts not pictured.

Christmas is up! I couldn't wait. I don't know why the middle section looks so dark, it doesn't look that bad in person.LOL. 

A Birthday, A Conference, A Halloween, A Fundraiser, An Egagement!

 It's been a week! I knew it would be a super busy week, and I was right! I planned accordingly in my classroom and at home to make it work as best as possible. It was Ryan's 12th birthday on Tuesday! What a kid! He's so sweet, funny, laid-back, and smart. Love that kid! I took the day off kind of just because, and I was busy the entire day. That's adulting. You take a day off from work to spend the whole day doing work. Ryan wanted his chicken noodle soup (the recipe he found, it's good!) for his birthday dinner and the usual pumpkin cake. On Wednesday, we had FCCLA fall conference, and it was pretty fun to skip school for the day. Gabby joined FCCLA at Centennial, so we got to go together! On Thursday, FCCLA participated in Borah's Trunk or Treat. It was very busy and luckily, the student council bought a ton of backup candy because we needed it! Friday was Halloween, yay! We went trick-or-treating and later I slept through a movie. I am dead on Friday nights. On Saturday, I had to go set up and spend half the day at a Holiday Bazaar to try to earn some fundraising money. It was pretty dead, and most of the booths did pretty bad. My co-worker only made about $20. I was luckier than that, making around $70. It's so much work. I'd rather just pay $100 and stay home. Oh well, it's just one of those things we have to do! Later that night, I got engaged! What! A little backstory.

I’ve been open and honest with John about wanting to get married, and he was on board because of me and willing to do it with me. We had a ring conversation a while back, and I said I wanted to pick out my ring, and he was disappointed with that, as he felt it took away his part in surprising me. I told him I could still be surprised when it happened, but I wanted to pick out my own ring. In true John fashion, he wrapped his brain around it and listened to me and still found a way to honor us both. This is why I love him so much. He also took hours to research earrings and buy just the right thing. He went to the proposal spot three times to check out the lighting. I just love how thoughtful he is. His plan went to crap as I tend to mess up his plans. 

I told him I wanted to go ring shopping for my birthday. He asked me a few weeks ago about going to Luciano’s and if we would have conflicts afterward, and I told him no, so I wondered if he would do something, but I didn’t expect him to propose. I was looking up which ring stores were open on a Saturday night for after dinner, and then I said I wanted to go to dinner way earlier than he expected, so the lighting was off during the proposal. The earring box actually had a light. 

He proposed at the train depot and it has been shut down and of course we drove up early and there’s a wedding and people all over so the time of day was off and the location was off because he panicked with the people and proposed in a spot where people couldn’t see us as easily. I can’t remember what he said, and I want him to write it down so I can re-read it. He just told me he never thought he would do this again, but wanted to with me and how this isn’t special enough for me because nothing is. I don’t remember, it’s a blur! He was nervous and I was nervous and I kept kind of laughing and saying okay over and over, and he was like stop staying okay. 
It was beautifully awkward and wrong and perfect. I was so nervous, he picked out a ring for me so I was so happy he presented engagement earrings to me! 

I love that he’s been planning it for about a month and a half and managed to surprise me even though I tried to make him take me ring shopping that day. I don’t make it easy for people to surprise me. On the way to the depot, I was literally talking to him about getting engaged, and if that’s not what he wanted, we needed to have a different conversation. Haha. Omg. Anyway, it’s hard to explain it all, but I love him so much. He’s just what I want!

Ryan's nickname is Roy. Piper made him a crown.

Ryan got recognition for getting 3.5-4.0 grades. Good job Ryan!

 

"Dearest Ryan, I hope this day finds you well. You are wonderous boy. Give my love to the family. With love, Hutcha!" John is a dork. 

It was dress up week and Piper came up with a quick superhero costume. 

FCCLA Fall Conference

Gabby too!

Trunk or Treat. Not sure about the tinsel but whatevs!

Oh, my Child Development also hosted a preschool party.

Happy Halloween

Annual sort candy while watching Garhalloweefield!

We're engaged!

Engagement earrings!