Memories and sweet words.

The other day, I stumbled upon some love notes Taylor wrote me while we were dating/engaged.

They were the sweetest notes in the world.

And it made me tear up a little while reading them.

Any of the scoffers who were baffled that I was engaged after dating a boy for 2.5 months...all they'd have to do was read these notes...and then they would instantly understand!

Today, I am grateful for memories and sweet words. 

Puckered lips

Every morning before I leave for school, I climb back into bed to kiss Taylor goodbye.

Right as he hears me climbing into bed, his lips immediately "pucker" for a kiss.

It always makes me laugh.

Sometimes I wait to see how long his half-asleep self will keep his lips puckered before I finally do kiss him goodbye.

So far, the longest he's laid there (keep in mind, he's half asleep, eyes closed) with his puckered lips, waiting for me to kiss him, is 48-hippopotamus-seconds.

This is easily my favorite part of every day.

Winter time.

This was our dinner tonight.

Yummy soup in a yummy bread bowl.

Winter is upon us.

A super glue story

On Sunday morning, I was teasing Taylor relentlessly.

All in good fun, of course.

Even though he pretended to be sad (puppy face and all), we were both laughing.

Then, right as we were about to leave church, Taylor pointed to a bottle of super glue on the counter and asked, "Hey, will you pick that up for me?"

Me: "Why...?"

Taylor: "My hands are full."

His hands were full, but I was more inquiring what he wanted to use it for.

So, I picked it up for him.

He started to unbutton his dress shirt, and said, "Here...I just need some right here..."

I just looked at him with a sincerely confused face.

Then he pointed at his heart and said, "To put my broken heart together."

Haha! I still laugh just thinking about it.

I was laughing so hard, I had tears.

This boy is so dang clever.

He is always keeping me laughing.

At least now you know the cure to a broken hurt. ;)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!

A post of the whole day will follow!

But here's a picture of me and my love on this special day.

This Thanksgiving is with the Gilb fam.

Happy turkey day!

today=my friday

Last day of school for the Thanksgiving break.

I'm excited for the long week!

I have lots of things planned.

And the best part is that TayRay gets the rest of the week off too!

I woke him up before I left this morning and sang to him: 

"Today is our Friday, Friday, Friday!

Wake up, wake up, wake up!"

Then I tried to pull him out of bed.

I was just so excited.

He laughed, but didn't get out of bed.

Ha.

In approximately one hour I will be officially celebrating the start of this holiday!
Hooray for (fake) FRIDAY!

Incentive Trial

I tried something new with my students this term.

Instead of having "punishments" for bad behavior,

I have been using "incentive/rewards" for good behavior.

This is what I said at the beginning of term to my challenging classes:

"If we can get everything done that we need to and if we can stay on schedule, then the day before Thanksgiving break, I will allow you to watch a movie.

This means that if I have to stop every five seconds to tell you to be quiet...you've lost the movie day."

I was so surprised how well it worked!

All I had to say when they got riled up was:

"How much does your movie day mean to you?"

And then they would quieter faster than you could believe.

Today is their movie day.

And they SO earned it.

Which makes me not feel bad about losing a day.

Because we are AHEAD of schedule!

Whoo!

Incentives work!

I brought about six school-appropriate movies for them to vote on and choose to watch.

Why did I bring so many?

So I wouldn't be stuck watching the same movie four times today.

BUT, ironically, all three classes have voted on the same movie.

Blindside.

Ha.

Guess my plan didn't work too well after all... ;)

Oh well.

I'm happy.

They're happy.

It's a good day.

Our weekend.

Friday:

Night out on the town with the Gilb fam.

He's got creepy eyes. But man! He's a handsome man.

Oh, and then we ended the night with some funny faces:

 Saturday:
We went to our good friends' wedding.
Mr. and Mrs. Mitch Oldham!
They were beautiful!
And it was a lovely sealing.

Then we got to eat this yummy food at the luncheon.

 This picture makes me laugh.
Tay was in deep conversation with his Mama.
But it kind of looks like he is posing. ha.

We had fun plans on Saturday night, but then I got sick. :(
So I fell asleep at 7pm and slept until 9 the next morning! Geesh...

Sunday:
I was still feeling a little nauseous, so we took it easy.
church, yummy dinner, and we got to see the lovely Kelsey Briggs.
More about her here.

Hey, guess what?
Only two days of work and then I get the rest of the week off!
Loving this holiday season!

today is...

Friday?

No.  THURSDAY.

But for some reason I keep thinking it's Friday.

And then I get slightly depressed that it's only Thursday.

C'mon week...give me my weekend!

This picture has nothing to do with anything, but I just saw it on my computer and thought I would include it.

Sometimes we are nerds together ;)

Courage.

Amidst the craziness of the world, I love when I come across something truly uplifting.

Lines from this poem have been running through my head all morning.

It takes courage
To refrain from gossip
When others delight in it,
To stand up for the absent person
Who is being abused.

It takes courage
To live honestly
Within your means,
And not dishonestly
On the means of others.

It takes courage
To be a REAL man or a TRUE woman,
To hold fast to your ideals
When it causes you
To be looked upon
As strange and peculiar.

It takes courage
To be talked about,
And remain silent,
When a word would justify you
In the eyes of others,
But which you dare not speak
Because it would injure another.

It takes courage
To refuse to do something
That is wrong
Although everyone else
May be doing it
With attitudes as carefree
As a summer song.

It takes courage
To live according
To your own convictions,
To deny yourself
What you cannot afford.
To love your neighbor
As yourself!
  

I absolutely love this.  I strive to emulate this kind of courage in my daily life. Spiritual enlightenment for the day!

Snow!

Remember this picture from Friday's post?

Well, it never stopped snowing.

Same location, about 15 minutes later:

Later that night:

 I decided to go up to campus with Taylor for a little bit.

Look at this storm we drove through!

 And this is what we woke up to on Saturday morning:

As a California girl, I'm still not used to all of this snow.

It is breathtaking, every time!

The snow makes the world so beautiful.

Looking forward to my first white Christmas!

He's got brains.

My husband is a smartie-pants.

He called me the other day to tell me that he got a 122/125 on his test.

The class he was freaking out over.

pshhhh...

And the only one he got wrong?

Was the one he didn't do!

Haha!

So I had this waiting for him when he got home:

His favorite soda (that can only be found at one store)

and a bag of smarties for my Mr. Smartie ;)

So proud of my TayRayGil!

Friday.

This

 +

this

+

a warm blanket and a good book

+

having Friday off of work (paid holiday!)=

perfection.

Stipulations.

The past few days, Taylor has been talking non-stop about the Apple TV.  

He's been talking about it for awhile...but it seemed like it was all he could talk about lately.  

Before leaving to take a test on Saturday morning (lame, right?) he asked me,

"How mad would you be if I came home with one?"

I was about to say, "I don't care at all."

But then I thought better and said, "Alright, let's make a deal.  You can get one if..."

And then I set a few stipulations.

I figured I might as well take advantage of the situation ;)

So, there were three stipulations:

1. He had to go grocery shopping with me that evening.

2. Anytime I cook, I'm free of doing dishes. And vice-versa.

3. I am allowed to take it away if he doesn't obey stipulation #1 or stipulation #2.

He fell for it like a little kid.

He quickly agreed. 

Then with a big smile on his face, he kissed me and skipped out the door.

We are now a proud owner.

One of the woe days.

Remember this post?

Today was one of those woe days.

Nothing seemed to go right.

And all of the students were little punks.

I am more grateful than EVER for having Friday off.

It just can't come soon enough!

Thank goodness everything is about to be made right.

t-40 minutes until I see my handsome man.

And until we sit down to an awesome dinner.

A yummy crock pot dinner that has filled my whole house with a yummy BBQ chicken smell.

I'm loving every second.

PLUS, looking forward to more friends, games, and yummy desserts tonight.

Dear life: you sure throw me some downs sometimes.
But you always know when to throw the ups as well.

Feeling spontaneous.

Tay and I went grocery shopping late Saturday night.

One of the many reasons we love Winco (open 24 hours!)

Afterwards, we were both feeling a little spontaneous.

So we decided to bring out the little kid in each of us and go swing on some swings.

The last time we did that was when we were dating.

When it was the "new-and-exciting" and "does he like me as much as I like him?" feeling.

It was fun to reminisce together as we swung on the swings.

Being married makes me feel old sometimes.

Why go out and do stuff every night when you live with your best friend?

It's pretty much the best.

 Our swinging feet.

The next two are Taylor's zombie imitations.

Can you tell we've been watching The Walking Dead?

Can you believe it's already November?
I'm looking forward to Thanksgiving Break.
PLUS I get this Friday off...just because.
Why wouldn't you want to be a teacher? ;)

This month it's time to be extra aware of all of the things I'm grateful for.
Let's start with the thing I am most grateful for:
Taylor Ray Gilbert.

Sunday evening.

Tonight at the Gilbert home:

Creamy potato soup for dinner.

Rollo cookies for dessert.

Ticket to Ride board-game.

 And in good company with family and friends.

It was a wonderfully relaxing and fun Sunday evening.

Here's to a great week ahead of us!

Matching socks.

The thing I hate the most about laundry?

Matching Taylor's socks.

There are always sooo many.

And I can never tell which sock goes with which.

They are all black.

But different brands, patterns, etc.

I'm assuming most ladies know exactly what I'm talking about...

I've recently given up trying to match and just put ones together that are the same color.

Taylor has been patient, but I'm sure it drives him nuts.

Ha.

I've consistently told him that I am going to buy him socks with all sorts of patterns:
bumblebees, crazy stripes, crazy patterns, etc....so that I KNOW which sock goes with which.
He would love this, too.  So it's a win-win.
But I haven't found any yet...

Last night, Taylor decided he would throw ALL of his socks away.

Whether they were in good condition or not.

And start completely over.

He went to the store and bought MATCHING socks.

So now instead of 3 billion different kinds of socks, he has one brand for all of his black socks.

One brand for his tan socks.

And one brand for his white socks.

And I can't tell you how EXCITED this makes me!

Folding laundry will be SO much easier!

See ya later, sockies!

Happy boy with brand new socks=happy girl (aka me)

Look how pretty!!

Kelli is Fan-dang-tastic!

Guess what?

Last week our family ate 5 homemade meals! Pretty fantastic, right? This had nothing to do with me, of course. Kelli made a goal to cook more often, and any of you who know Kelli know that when she sets a goal, nothing including, but not limited to, heaven, earth, or dopey husbands, will get in the way of her accomplishing her goals. 

So happy about this goal.

So we invited some people to come over for FHE to play some games and have some treats. Everybody was coming at 7, and Kelli starts cooking at 6:15ish. I asked her, "What are you cooking?" expecting something like waffles or sandwiches, "Navajo Tacos!" kell responds enthusiastically. 

I have learned it's better not to argue :) 

So I am off doing something else, something much less productive I'm sure, and she asks me, "Do you want beans with your tacos?" I know that kell doesn't like beans and was surprised she offered, so I accepted. 

Well, with plenty of time to spare, Kelli and I sit down to eat our beautiful meal.

I start to scoop myself some beans and just start to laugh. 

"What? You said you wanted beans..." Kell said.

"I just thought you meant refried beans, or maybe black beans." I answer.

"I thought that those were refried beans."

No, my lovely Kelli, Beanee Weenees are not refried beans :) Even if you spend ten minutes picking out all of the hotdog chunks.

But I sure do love my wife for trying!

This is why I do it.

All of the woes of teaching:

the never-ending grading

the constant complaining

the immature punks

student whispers they think you didn't hear

the lesson planning

the long hours

the students forgetting you are a person with feelings

the discipline

They are all worth it when you hear:

"Mrs. Gilbert, your class is so awesome!"

"This is my favorite class ever!"

"I learned so much today!"

"Thanks for that lesson, Mrs. Gilbert!"

"This activity is really fun!"

All of those woes combined are worth it for just one of these small comments.

I don't think some students quite understand the woes they can cause.

Or how one simple comment can make it all worth it.

So...to the students who take the time to tell me something great:

Thanks. It means a lot.

And this is why I do it.

Dang it.

I happened to be sick with the flu yesterday (Halloween).

It was the worst timing!

For two reasons:

1. Friday is the end of the quarter for my dear students. So missing ANY day this week means that 10x more students will come in to my classroom the next day (morning and after school) asking what they can make up last minute. ugh...frustrations of a teacher! I'm tempted to say "NO LATE WORK EVER!"  But I have some real moral concerns about doing it this way.

2.  Sick on HALLOWEEN!? ugh!

I didn't get to see any of the cute babes that came to our door last night.

Tay took care of that.

But I did get to cuddle up to Taylor and watch The Walking Dead (oh, we love this show!)

I was back to the grind today. Still feeling a little weak and nauseous, but I didn't really have a choice.

Plus, I'm still at school grading papers (had to take a break).

But now...after looking at the clock and listening to my rumbling tummy, I think I will call it quits, and go home to make some yummy green pizza for dinner.

Okay, I've convinced myself.

Grading and inputing grades can always wait until tomorrow. ;)

Here's a small glimpse into the 60 8-page tests I have to grade.

Thank goodness for TA's who help me with the multiple choice section

But the short answer takes forever because I like to comment on almost each one.  To tell them what I liked, or how they could improve.

Why?

My biggest pet peeve as a student was not knowing WHY I missed the question, or never getting praise for something I was proud of.

So I read everything. And comment on everything.

Waste of time? Maybe.

 But I just hope my students appreciate it.

Moral of this saga:

being sick is never fun.

and neither is grading.