It's My Birthday!

This weekend was full of fun for my 26th birthday. It was the best birthday I have ever had --- thanks family, friends and Christopher! Friday night we celebrated at Mi Pueblo with our friends.  I was prepared for the sombrero and singing, but being hit on the head with every verse of the song was a surprise!

As a special bonus, we got to bring Hannah home from Uncle Brad and Aunt Cooper's house. Before bringing her home, we thought a backyard bath would be a good idea. Dad and CD did a great job!

   












We then headed to the movies to see The Christmas Carol in 3D.  It was crazy how 3-dimensional everything on the screen was through the glasses.  What could be better for my birthday than a Christmas movie?

Somewhere in there I also got up early and took the GRE exam.  Not fun, but not bad either. No more GRE review for this girl! We ordered stuffed crust pizza for dinner Saturday night --- my favorite!

My friends helped me celebrate all weekend long!  Thank you everyone for your messages, cards and encouragement.  Apparently, everyone is excited to see me get older --- sweet!

Sunday we capped off the weekend with the traditional Henson family birthday dinner and mint chocolate chip ice cream cake, mmm mmm! 26 feels great and my only regret is that the weekend is near over.  My father-in-law has declared it my birthday month, so we'll see how long I can keep this party going!

This book has exactly ten days left to its life. I have been immersed in page after page of GRE practice problems for over a month now. I can say with complete sarcasm that I love, love, love this text. Give me more please!

I happen to be taking the test on my birthday. I know, not the best birthday plans, but that is how the calendar worked out. As one of my birthday presents I will be sacrificing the Kaplan book to the GRE gods. Regardless of scores. This is the finale folks.

Normal posts with pictures of doggies and family fun with resume soon.

It's October 25th.... oops!

I'm not sure where the last three weeks have gone...sorry blog family. With no real way to make up the posting memories, I'll sum it up and make a greater effort this next week to post our life online.

Since we last chatted....
- Dogs have dug a two-foot trench around the huge tree in the back yard. There's a mole deep down in there somewhere. They are relentless!

- We tilled the back yard in anticipation of grass this spring. Progress! Progress!

- I have spent hours practicing GRE questions --- not loving it!

- We walked in the JDRF Diabetes Walk (in the pouring rain!). It was hilarious. Ruth and Hannah didn't seem to mind the weather at all.

- We went to the Wake Forest homecoming game. Awesome night! We got to go up to the sports commentary tower and watch the guys cover the plays!

- Back in the yard, the leaves are falling and we are prepping for colder temperatures.

We are thrilled to be closer and closer to the holiday season. I promise, better coverage and more interesting visuals in the days to come. We're alive and my blogging is still strong.

Have a great week all.

Dogs & Sticks: Story of my life.

Here we have Jack and Tex singing together. Better known as howling, these two are quite the vocal pair. Jack sings baritone while Tex takes second soprano. Loud; yes. Hilarious; yes.

Hopefully, at some point we will catch them on video for all of YouTube to see!

I referenced "sticks" in my title due to my hours of yard work this weekend. The weather was ideal and our yard continues to haunt my existence. I guess I am enough of a perfectionist that there is a deeply rooted hope for better aesthetics outside my window. We are renting, thus the insanity of this project. It's not even my yard and yet, I pine for greatness. Above, you see everything that I hauled out of the back yard. The picture does not do it justice.

This yard has more debris than a demo site. Here are all the bricks and stones that we continue to find amidst the bushes and trees. Yes, the gnome is ours. Not sure why he's in the brick pile?

Miss Hannah Girl on the porch.

Mr. Jackie on the porch. He can't help but pose, can he?

Great weekend. I love working outside. It is truly beginning to feel like fall here and that means two things: pumpkin pies and lots of leaves! I love October!

On the couch at 9:08pm, should be doing the dishes, but it really doesn't matter tonight.

Somehow, we have completed five weeks of school. It's flying by which is wonderful for Christopher as he maintains grad courses, a CPA review class and internship interviews. I'll be honest, it looks incredibly constant. His energizer bunny abilities amaze me.

School continues to be constant for me as well. My responsibilities on campus have expanded this year and that lends to a 90mph day on campus. Sometimes I love it and sometimes I pray for snow days. Above all, I have realized that my favorite part of the day is being with my students. They are like no other! It's a wonderful confirmation for my future in education. It's wild to think this is my fourth year teaching! I cannot wait until I can say it's been ten years!

Do you ever have one of those weekends that was wonderful but you really don't have anything to highlight over the lunch table on Monday? That was our weekend. Wonderful, but unjustified. We rested. We worked. We churched. We worked some more. We bathed the doggies. End scene.

I loved it.

Welcome to Week #6: 3 interview days for CD, classes and multi-tasking for Kate, neighborhood walks for the dogs and an exuberant attitude of determination to stay healthy!

What a Weekend

Somewhere in the midst of babysitting Friday night, CPA Review class Saturday and a Back-to-School Cookout at Verge, we managed to fit in a few things. I love when we have such great weather! It always makes me more upbeat and more productive. Here's what we got on film.

Volleyball team playing rival Greensboro Day School. While I'm not on the bench with the girls this season we still love to go and watch them play!

Next we headed to the footbal game. The guys won by a large margin! Go Furies!

This is what happens during halftime when we're goofing around!

Saturday, I headed to the park with Stephanie while she was watching Anna & Claire. With two little girls and Hannah the dog, there was no opportunity to take a picture of us! But, the girls looked so cute on the swings.


After CPA class and the cookout, Christopher played for St. Baldrick's Day

This event raised money for cancer research. We were outside on the back porch and the weather was perfect! The event raised over $30,000 for cancer! How cool!

Great AND busy weekend as you can tell. This morning we added church and family lunch to the agenda. All that is left is a youth concert in Matthews and family dinner tonight. Is it fair to say I'm a little tired?

Happy Labor Day

Great weekend, great weather and we didn't do anything out of the ordinary! Sometimes the best holiday weekend is spent not planning big plans or traveling many miles, but simply experiencing the joy of being home and appreciating it.

I did attempt to take a picture of the dogs for my teacher page at school. It may actually be impossible to get a picture of all of them together? They get so excited about the camera that there is not a single moment for me to push the shutter button when they are all looking! This may kill the family photo idea for awhile. Anyway, here's what we have for laughs!