Back to The Grind

Hello WordPress fam!! I’m happy to announce that I survived my first 2 days back at school!! Yesterday was just a teacher work day with no students. Me and my co teacher, Mrs. Chase, got a ton of things done. We switched out some toys in our centers. It’s nice for the kids to come back after a break to new things. We got report cards ready to be sent home, and I did tons of copying so that they could bring back practice sheets to earn stickers for the Treasure Chest Day! We also had a staff meeting in which we watched a podcast about constructive discipline. It was pretty interesting.

I put this doll house together all by myself!!

Today was our student’s first day back. Boy was I glad to see them!! They were bursting with excitement to tell us all about what Santa had brought them! Isaiah said that he got a set of drums so now he can be a rock drummer. It’s so nice watching them learn and grow into their own little personalities.

Surprisingly everyone was good today. Usually when we come back from a long break it takes about a week to get everyone back on track. At the same time it always seems for some reason after Christmas they “bloom”. They will need us less and less as the year goes on. I really do love my job but…..55 more work days till Spring Break 😻.

After I got home today, I had about and hour and a half before I had to leave and go get Tj from work. Eli stayed after school for baseball practice so I had the house all to myself. I felt a bit motivated and I honestly have to take those moments when I can. I did about 45 mins of power cleaning and although I wasn’t able to mark everything off my to do list, I still managed to do 11 out of the 15 items I had down. I think that’s pretty good after working all day.

After Tj got home we both randomly decided to go for a walk. We walked to the school and back which was about half a mile. I’m pooped!! I’ve already had dinner, and showered so now i’m catching up on my shows for the rest of night. Today was a good day. Here I come “This is Us”. Be Blessed!!

💛 LaBrada

We Travled

My Mom and I took a trip on Wednesday to the Miss/Alabama line. We took Tj’s cousin , Mark home. The older I get the less I see myself as a road trip lover. I use to love road trips. I guess my anxiety has gotten worse throughout the years.

I’ve mentioned before how I’m not a very confident driver. I’m learning to build that up though. These last two weeks I’ve taken two road trips. Both I drove there and back. It has actually helped my anxiety a great deal. I suppose it could be that when i’m driving I have to keep my mind focused on what i’m doing, so i’m distracted from all the terrible things that usually go through my mind.

There is an under ground tunnel that we had to drive through just as we got to Mobil. I have been in it lots of times, but never while driving. My first reaction when i have to go in it is to close my eyes all the way through. Not this time though. I mastered that tunnel not once, but twice on Wednesday! I was so proud of myself!

After we dropped Mark off, Mom and I found a few thrift stores and a new Wal-Mart. We did a little shopping and exploring and then went to O’ Charley’s for lunch. I had the French dip sandwich, and Mom had a cheese burger. We didn’t realize that it was free pie Wednesday. Score!!

This jet was just chilling at the welcome center

Momma was flirting with this guy!!!

fter lunch we drove around town looking for other cut little stores to check out. Soon it started to rain so we decided to head towards home. It takes about 3 hours and 45 mins to get home. It took us a little longer because we wanted to take our time.

We stopped at the cutest little Florida welcome center and took a few pictures. Around 4 I started getting so sleepy. We stopped and I got me a Monster to help me get through the rest of the trip. On the last leg of our trip we went to another Wal-Mart in Marianna. Lol what can I say we are women of habit. Besides, you can always find neat stuff at different Wal-Marts.

We really enjoyed our trip, but were so happy to be home. I was so tired but could not get to sleep at a decent hour. I guess it was that late energy drink.

I know in the back of my mind I’ve got to start getting my body use to going to bed early again. I don’t really want to talk about it, but whether I like it or not, I will have to go back to the real world come Monday. I have really enjoyed doing nothing much the last two weeks, nevertheless, I miss my kiddos. I can’t wait to hear everything that Santa brought them. These next few weeks are going to be super busy since we will be completing lots of parent/teacher conferences. After Christmas time usually flies by. Before we know it, Spring Break will be upon us. Gives me something to look forward to!! Be Blessed WordPress!!

💛 LaBranda

20 Things We Did in 2018!

HAPPY NEW YEAR FAM!! I hope you all had a safe and happy time last night. Kate and I ended up going over to our friend Rachel’s house. The boys wanted to spend New Years watching 5 hours of wrestling. I just could not bring myself to do that. LOL! We had a good time and was still home in time before the clock struck midnight.

I wanted to try something different this year. I’ve read a few blogs that instead of listing all the things they wanted to do in 2019; they listed all the things that they accomplished in 2018. I decided to do something like that as well. Except mine won’t just be about things I have done, but things that my family has done. So here goes my 2018 at a glance.

1. I enjoyed my very first adult Spring and Summer Breaks. Those were amazing and I’m so spoiled now. These are one of the main reasons I worked so hard to get my degree. I wanted more time with Elijah.

2. During Summer Break I lost 30 pounds doing Keto and being super active. It was something I had time to put my mind to. I did pretty good sticking to it till my Birthday rolled around in September and then I allowed myself to go a little wild and lost all mind set and motivation.

3. I made 5 new “Mom” friends. That’s pretty impressive for me since I don’t really have many of them. It all started with Rachel’s son Dawson and Eli playing on the same baseball team. I knew her in school but she was a few years younger than me so we didn’t hang out in the same crowd. We just clicked and then started hanging out outside of baseball. And with her i’ve meet my other Mom friends. We love just relaxing, drinking wine, eating good food, and watching football. I’m so blessed.

4. Eli played his last pee-wee baseball and football games. He has moved up to Junior Varsity. We learned just before we got out for Christmas Break that he made the JV Baseball team. We are so excited, even though it’s going to be very different than it has ever been.

5. My Dad gave me his Dashound puppy Tiny. My brother had bought it for him for his birthday in March and after a few months he realized that he was a little too old to keep up with him. Tiny has been my little side kick ever since and I love him so much!

6. Me, Mom and Kate went on a road trip this summer. We took her to UNA for the orientation weekend. We stayed in this super nice hotel and did lots of relaxing. Even though Kate ended up not going off to collage, it was nice to get away for a few days. We did lots of shopping and I found the cutest thrift store and got some amazing deals on book bundles. It literally saved the rest of my summer.

7. We spent most of the Summer on a “staycation”. We put the tent up, had lots of bon fires and worked on our tans. We went to the State Park a few times as well.

8. Kate graduated from High School and moved in with us. We are so proud of her for all she has done for herself considering all she has been through. She continues to amaze us with her adult like mentality .

9. Tj and I celebrated our 14th wedding anniversary. I’m still amazed when I think about how we finally ended up together. We have our differences like every marriage does, but for the most part we have an amazing marriage.

10. We did a few upgrades on the house. We have along way to go but it’s something.

11. Eli started Middle School. The neat thing about living in a small town like we do is that he has two of the same teachers that Tj and I had. Its funny to hear him tell stories about these two teachers and we are understand so much about where he is coming from.

12. Eli got baptized. This is the one area of our lives where I feel the most shame. Going into the new year last year I really wanted to make church the priority for our family that it use to be. After all the main reasons we switched churches a few years ago was because Eli had started being uninterested in the big production of a large church. So we decided to move to a smaller church, closer to home that most of his baseball friends went to as well. I really want to do better about our attendance this year. Lord help us!

13. I turned 36, Tj turned 37, and Eli turned 12. He is two months away from that dreaded teenage word and he has already been acting like one terribly for that last few months. I have always feared that his teenage years would be tough on us since he has always had a strong willed personality. I guess I need you guys to pray us up, cause it’s getting thick around here.

14. I hit a ton of good yard sales this year! There was one I went to that I got like 10 pairs of brand new flip flops for like $7. Since we all wear the same size in this house, those things are like gold.

15. I had a few girl slumber parties with my friend Nickie. We usually get up super early on Saturdays and hit yard sales and thrift stores. It dosen’t take much to keep us happy.

16. We had a low key Thanksgiving and Christmas. Those are always my absolute favorite. I love how we don’t have to run ourselves ragged going from house to house. We just eat and relax. For Thanksgiving this year we added a new tradition and went to the movies after dinner. It was nice. Tj had a cousin come for Christmas this year. Mom and I are taking another road trip to Miss tomorrow to take him home. We are planning on making a whole day out of it and doing a little shopping.

17. We enjoyed Fear Fest 2018. It’s something we like to do during the whole month of October. We find ways to scare each other and we earn “scare” points. The boys sometime take it to the extreme so we had to set a few ground rules. For example, you can’t scare someone in the shower or that is driving down the road. Safety first. I think Eli ended up having the most points this year. But there is always next year!

18. We helped throw a surprise birthday party for a friend and it was so much fun!

19. We had to show some tough love to one of our family members. That was so tough, but they are currently in rehab so maybe it was all for the best.

20. We started a chore chart around the house. It works for a few weeks but we have not done so well with staying consistent.

Thank you for all of your support this year. I have really wrote more than I ever have. I hope this new year helps me make my voice a little louder. Happy New Year Fam!! Be blessed!!

💛 LaBranda

My Thoughts Exactly

Welcome to my world inside my head!!

Look how handsome my little guy is!!!

I’m off to relax with my wee boy. Be Blessed!