Halloween Party

I'm updating my blog so the next few entries will be about previous events. Last Saturday night, the lady who watches Carson had a HUGE Halloween Party. I don't know how she did it. The people who attended were daycare kids, friends of her kids (teenagers), adults, and older people. It was a great party! It just amazed me at how great she is with throwing a party. It was very well organized. There was a hayride. The daycare kids got to ride separately from the teenagers. This was great because when we left the party, we saw tons of hay in the road from the teenagers. There were two different piñatas (one for the daycare kids and one for the older kids). The piñatas were full of candy, prizes, and animal crackers. She made great costumes too for herself and her husband. She was Cookie Monster and he was Oscar the Grouch. The daycare kids learned a Halloween song and sang it at the party. It was so cute! Carson had a great time playing with all of his friends from daycare. I will kind of be sad to see him leave at the end of this month. He has come a long way socially and academically from going to daycare. I love this picture of Danielle and Carson. It just so happened that she was a princess and he was a knight in shining armor. It was priceless.

Halloween

Today was an extremely long day at school. I could not wait for it to end because the kids were so restless. We had "Vocabulary Day" today. Everyone in the school dressed up as a vocabulary word (since it's Halloween). My word was grouchy. I borrowed a Oscar the Grouch costume from Carson's babysitter and put a big E on the front. It turned out cute! Hopefully I will get a picture of it back from Mrs. Adams who was photographing everyone in their costumes. Tonight I took Carson trick-or-treating with my mom. (Poor Jordan has had school the night of Halloween for the past two years and has yet to take Carson trick-or-treating.) Anyway, we went in my grandma's neighborhood (I went there as a kid). I love it because it's usually not very crowded and it consists of mainly retired people who love to sit outside and look at everyone's costumes. This afternoon I left school right at 2:45 and picked Carson up for daycare. I got home at 3:15. I had to dry some clothes because Carson had an accident in his costume last night at my dad's house. (My dad is going out of town tonight so last night we went up to his house and showed off Carson's costume.) I ran to get pizza for dinner. Carson was excited about pizza, but when we got home he would not eat any no matter how hard I tried. Then as we were ready to leave (Carson was in his costume and everything), Carson had an accident AGAIN! He was in a pull-up, but his pants somehow did not make it. So I ran around frantically looking for some pants for him. Carson has outgrown everything recently so I was freaking out because I knew he did not have a big selection of clothes that fit. Luckily I found a pair of black windbreaker pants that worked. It was so frustrating though! After the incident, we made it to my grandma's and went trick-or-treating. We had a ball! Carson got way too much candy. He got a shower and crashed. Too bad we can't go trick-or-treating every night. I LOVE how tired it made him! How was everyone else's Halloween?

Twins!

So we've been trying for baby #2 off and on this summer. We kind of scared ourselves out of another baby at the beginning of the summer. By the end of the summer we changed our minds yet again. So, to the big announcement...our dog had twins!! We never were able to get pregnant this year, so we may try next summer (we have to stay on the school schedule for my job). Anyway, back to the dogs. We went from no dogs to three dogs recently. They are all little wiener dogs. A lady from church is in the middle of a divorce and cannot have animals at her new place. I really just need to learn the n-word...no, but thankfully they are pretty good dogs. There are two girls (both are black) and one boy (brown). One of the dogs was pregnant. Wednesday night at about 11 p.m., she had a tiny baby (black). We put her in a little kennel that was dark for the rest of the night. When we awoke the next day, Jordan let the dog out to go outside. He said there was another puppy. Sure enough, she had another puppy (brown). Both are girls. We were surprised because the lady said they normally only have about one puppy since they are so tiny. The brown one is bigger than the black one. They are so stinking cute though. Cute comes with a price...the lady normally breeds them and the local pet store buys them for $250 each. Hooray for two puppies!!! I just hope we don't get too attached. We cannot keep them, and $500 will definitely help us out with Christmas and me only working 4-5 hours on Saturday during my internship. Here are some pictures of the cute little things. Carson keeps getting in the kennel with the dog and her puppies. I have to pull him out constantly because he can open the kennel.

Where oh where has Meagan been?!!

Who knew teaching was so time consuming? I mean I knew it was that way, but I didn't take into consideration the other things that I still have to do on top of teaching (church, Gap, being mommy, being a wife, etc.). Don't get me wrong, I absolutely LOVE it! I am just having to figure out how to juggle it all. Any suggestions?? I thought I'd post some pictures of my home away from home...the classroom. This is my little desk. It is in the back of the room and faced against the wall. I rarely use it when the kids are there because my back is to them. Instead I'll sit at the guided reading desk.
I took these pictures at the beginning of the year because I loved my supervising teacher's bulletin boards. This one is at the Working With Words Station. This is the Practice Reading area. The kids go to this cozy spot to read for 15 minutes during stations. There are a ton of books. It's practically a mini library. I have more pictures of the classroom, but I these are my favorite. Since I'm in the teacher mentality, everywhere I go I am looking at things differently. I am always thinking...Hmm...That'd be nice in my classroom. I don't even have my own yet! When things are on sale though, I tend to pick them up while I can because they are usually things that I am going to need and I might as well get them on sale rather than pay full price right?! This is one of my Target exclusive finds. I LOVE Target!! These are just little fold up chairs that sit on the ground. I thought they'd be perfect at my Practice Reading station. My teacher has a couch at hers, but we're poor so these will work just fine. Carson loves them. The best part is they were on sale for $2.48 normally $9.99. They fold back to a straight position for easy storage.
Another Target find is for my treasure box. Target always has that $1.00 section at the front of the store. I love when it goes on sale. I rarely find it on sale, but I caught it at 75% off. So, I got everything for a quarter each.
Then I had to find a treasure box to put it in. I looked online and at Ms. Mary's (a local school source store) for a cute treasure box, but couldn't find what I wanted for a decent price. So once again, at Target I found this little box in the Halloween section and thought it'd be perfect. Not everything fit in there, but a lot of what I bought are duplicates. It isn't decorated yet. I think it needs to be decorated, but I just haven't got around to it yet. I have also been busy working on my classroom library. I bought some classics at...no not Target...Books-a-Million for $2.97 and then I got a teacher discount. I don't have a ton of books, but I'm working on it. I also found out that the scholastic newsletters they send home monthly have great deals in them. I've never read Junie B. Jones books, but the kids cannot get enough of them. At Books-a-Million, a boxed set of 4 was $14.95. In the newsletter they were $14.95 for a boxed set of 8. There is always a $.95 book each month. I think that is awesome because some kids (or teachers..haha) cannot afford to buy books, but $.95 is very affordable for a book. Well, that is what I have been up to these few months. CRAZINESS!! I love it though! I have some excited news to announce tomorrow! Stay tuned!

My Miracle

It's been a while since I have had the time to stop and blog. Last month I had one of the worst days of my life. Carson and I had been out running errands. He fell asleep on the way home. I decided to go open the door to the house and then come back and get Carson. As I opened the door, I clicked the button to open the car doors just to make sure they were unlocked. I threw my purse and keys in the door and went back outside to get Carson. As soon as I closed the door, I realized I locked it. I ran to the shed to get the spare key. I searched and searched and could not find the key. I started to panic because neither of my neighbors were home. Jordan wouldn't be home for 3 or 4 hours. I ran back to the car to get Carson out. At least I had made certain the doors were unlocked. However when I got back to the car, the doors were locked. I panicked! This is one of those moments that you hate as a mother. It's a feeling you cannot even describe. Apparently my Gallant has a "safety feature" that locks the car back if you haven't opened the doors within a certain amount of time from unlocking them. I ran back and forth from the car to the shed. I was looking for something to pry open the door with or a key I had overlooked. The worst part was when Carson woke up and started crying. The entire time I just kept praying for a miracle. This was the hardest I have ever prayed in my entire life and I have been praying since I could talk. I kept trying to get Carson to undo his car seat (which I know he cannot do). If he was out of his seat he could easily unlock the door. All of the sudden I grabbed a screw driver and just started trying to get in. Somehow within 3 minutes I was able to open the door. I ran and grabbed Carson who was hysterically crying. I just held on to him as tight as I could. Looking back, it was amazing that I was able to stay calm and think during the whole ordeal but as soon as I had him in my arms, I had a panic attack. I am so grateful for my baby boy. I know he's two, but he's still my baby and I could not even imagine life without him. This experience has made my faith grow immensely. I now fully know the power of prayer. I am so grateful for my own personal miracle.

Tackle It Tuesday

Today I am only tackling one thing...DINNER! I started my district inservice last Thursday and have been at school ever since. Since I am student teaching, Carson is going to daycare. He's attending an in home daycare. Last Thursday was his first day. He cried when I left him, but he has done that at my grandparents' (they have watched him for the past two years so I could finish my degree). When I picked him up, he was so cute. He showed me where his shoes go, where his mat is, and where everything is at. The next day I picked him up when they were tumbling. Of course, I had to watch him. He's really been doing well with daycare. It is good for him because nursery at church is really the only time he is around little kids.
Back to my tackling of dinner...I never realized how hard it is to get up early, go to work, come home, and then cook dinner. I LOVE to cook, but I am so tired by the time I get home. Tonight I decided to tackle a new recipe. I always seem to be making the same thing for dinner. Tonight I am trying beef enchiladas! I have an amazing recipe for chicken enchiladas, but I've never done beef ones before. I thought I'd post my chicken enchilada recipe. If the beef one is good, I'll post it later.

Chicken Enchiladas

Ingredients
1 c. chopped onion
2 Tbsp butter
2 c. chopped cooked chicken
1 4-ounce can green chili peppers
¼ c. all purpose flour
1 tsp ground coriander seed
¾ tsp salt
1 ¾ c. chicken broth
1 c. sour cream
2 c. shredded Monterey jack cheese (8 oz)
12 6-inch flour tortillas (8-10 if thick)
1 can green enchilada sauce

Directions
In large saucepan cook onion in 2 Tbsp butter till tender. Blend in flour, salt, and coriander. Stir in chicken broth all at once; cook and stir till thickened and bubbly. Remove from heat. Add chicken and chili peppers. Stir in sour cream. Spoon green enchilada sauce on bottom of 9 x 13 pan. Place filling in flour tortillas and roll. Cover enchiladas with remaining green sauce and cheese. Bake uncovered in 350 degree oven for 30 minutes or till bubbly.

*You can use red sauce if you want, I prefer green though*

Tackle It Tuesday

Alright so I have totally slacked on my blogging. I keep feeling like I have to wait for pictures to tell what has been going on. I checked my camera the other day and there are 200+ pictures which haven't been uploaded to my computer yet. I keep putting off blogging because I know that there is so much that has happened and I feel I will need a good 2 hours just to write. In between making lunch and doing the laundry today, I decided to go ahead and write. I'll fill in the gap from July to August later. Today is Tackle it Tuesday. Since I start my student teaching Thursday, I have a lot to tackle!! My biggest thing that I am tackling today is LAUNDRY!!! I am behind somehow and as soon as I think I have caught back up, there is another large pile to be tackled. So today is my huge laundry day. I don't think that laundry is every completely done, especially if you have a kid or a husband. While that is my big Tackle it Tuesday chore, my to do list is long for today.
-Take back movie (Return...not a fan of it)
-Cut out fabric for bags (We're making school bags as a service project at church)
-Buy velcro, bobbins, and thread (For church tomorrow)
-Dishes (seriously dishes are never ever completely done either)
-Dinner: Chicken Pot Pie (The Veg All recipe is great because it takes no time. I'm going to see Hair Spray at 4:15 so I have to have something cooked when Jordan gets home...he'll beat me home today)
-Make banana bread (Last week bananas were only 39 cents so I bought too many and have to use them somehow)
-Vacuum the living room (Carson always leaves behind crumbs)
-Work on Young Women In Excellence (I'm putting together a slide show for this special night in November. I have to start it while I have the time.)
-Work on Recipe Book (I want to type my recipes up so it's easier to share and read than on cards.)
While my list doesn't cover everything and doesn't seem too long, it is very time consuming. Hopefully during Carson's nap I can get some of it done. What are you tackling today??