#Mexico2013

Speaking of my cup running over with blessings, here's another one. Marsh and I got to go to Mexico 2 weeks ago for FOUR DAYS! And what made it even better was that most of my favorite people in the world were there, too. It was uh-mazing. I hadn't ever been away from the kids for more than a night before this, so by the time we were flying back home, I was physically ACHING to kiss those three messy faces.

But I won't lie, it was a nice break.

We'd been looking forward to this since last year when my good, long-time friend Kate got engaged to Walt (aka Crazy Dub), the awesome guy she met while working in DC. That's right; he's new to the crew and already has a nickname. He wastes no time. And by "looking forward to this," I mean my friends and I had been obnoxiously texting about it and hash tagging everything possible #Mexico2013 for like 6 months.

And it lived up to everything I hoped it would be. Kate looked gorgeous while marrying the man of her dreams, I spent my days sipping frozen margaritas with my very best friends (minus a few who we're greatly missed), and there were no dirty diapers in sight. I even had time to reteach myself how to straighten my hair and apply make up.

Here we are in all our glory.

These Are My People!

Some of you probably know that I recently missed out on going to one of my good friend's weddings in Cabo San Lucas (if you didn't know that, then you probably haven't been around me in months because I have been complaining about it for that long- ha!). Madisen was the bride and she is one of my eight long-time "Girls' Weekend" girlfriends from high school. Marshall really enjoys her fiance (now husband) James, so as soon as they announced their engagement last year, we booked our flights and room. Then we got pregnant...but luckily the doctor said we could still go. Then we had some complications....and the doctor said there was no way we could go. *Tear*

They say they missed me while they were ALL eight there except for me, but I'm absolutely sure I missed them and missed out WAY MORE! I've been looking forward to putting the pictures from the wedding on here so you could see these girls that are such an important part of my life. (Just crop me in in your mind...that's what I've been doing). I stole this picture collage from Natalie's blog:

From left to right in the biggest picture: Molly, Kate, Jackie, Natalie, Madisen, Alison, Claire, Mendy

Here's the link to the photographer's blog post. She did such a great job capturing the day. Not all the girls in the pictures are the Girls' Weekend girls (some of them are Mad's college friends).

So here's the link to Natalie's pictures of the day, which only contain our Girls' Weekend friends. Haha did that sound as exclusive and snobby as I think it did?

Back to School

I'm not even going to try to write about ALL the things that have happened in the past month. I'll get stressed out and end up not posting anything at all! Ha! So, in short, school has begun, Marshall is back in the swing of his busy season at work, and Laney is STILL growing up too fast.

School started on August 23rd, and has already been much less stressful this year than last. Staring down the beginning of this school year was a piece of cake compared to last year. Then, I was pregnant, in the middle of a move, starting a new job, and unsure if my husband was going to be able to move to Abilene in time for Laney's birth. This year, I know the ropes at school, I'm not a "first-year teacher," and I have a little more pep in my un-pregnant step. I'm finally being able to get ahead, plan, and stay ahead at work. I can already tell I'm a better teacher and I hope my students reap all the benefits! Also, with lots of help from my loving mother, I finally got my classroom decorated like I want it. Since I spend a lot of time there, its important to me for it to be a homey place. Though I miss Laney a lot while I'm there, I sure do love having a place to go everyday! Being home all summer made me appreciate and miss my wonderful work environment.

School isn't all I've been doing. My 8 good high school friends and I took our 5th annual Girls' Weekend trip this past Labor Day weekend to Horseshoe Bay and it was another success! Kate made the plans this year and Natalie, well, she made the "pink" plans, as always. I know many people have "Girls' Weekends," but we take ours pretty seriously! I mean, we even have matching pink swimsuits and sunglasses. If you'd like to have a Girls' Weekend that's as official as ours, you should contact Natalie McCarty, professional party planner. You'll have to plan ahead, though, because she's already booked for this entire fiscal year! Ha! Seriously, though, it was an amazing weekend. Being with those girls that I know oh so well but see oh so little is always good for the soul. We're all growing up, changing, and learning how to stay friends even though our life stages differ greatly, our ambitions just aren't the same, and our schedules never quite line up for us to talk as much as we'd like. They're my best friends, though, and always will be. They know me. Really KNOW me. I hope the 9 of us keep up until we're old ladies. And  hopefully we'll all be rich old ladies so we can "upgrade" our trips to Turks and Caicos or somewhere fabulous like we've always said we would! I'm kicking myself that I didn't even get a picture of all 9 of us, but let's be honest, I'm never good at getting pictures taken. Here's the best one I have with the majority of us.

That concludes my random update. You may shocked that I did not even talk about Laney ONCE in this post! Well, you can rest assured that I have an update all about Laney, complete with videos, coming very soon! Keep checking!

Let the Weddings Begin!

For a girl raised in a family that follows the social rule book of the South as if it is the bible itself, the passing of Easter is quite an exciting time. My favorite part of the holiday, second only to rejoicing that He is risen, indeed, is finally being able to wear my white shorts, shoes, and skirts without fearing the disapproving look on my mother's face. And wear white, I did, nearly all weekend long!

I retired my white on Saturday, though, as we got ready to attend our first wedding of the season! My good friend and sorority sister, Tara, married her long-time best friend and boyfriend in a beautiful church in Houston and followed it with a sassy reception at Lakeside Country Club. I feel confident saying that it was the most fun, movie-like wedding I've ever attended, full of glamorous people, gorgeous arrangements, and an absolutely stunning array of delicious food!

Though we had some reservations about the idea, we took Laney along on the road trip to Houston so she could meet many of my college besties for the first time! It was so great to see them all. It gets harder and harder to say goodbye because the time between our visits sadly gets longer each time. Laney ended up being an absolute doll the whole weekend and barely fussed at all. She had a perfect outfit for the occasion- a baby Burberry dress that her Mama C had picked up for her a few weeks ago. Looks like Daddy has many expensive shopping trips ahead of him- ha! It's so hard to capture her smiling face, but we did get one really cute family picture!

As far as plans for this week go, I don't have much on the agenda other than keeping up my classroom count down of days until summer and preparing my kids for the upcoming TAKS test. Nonnie is walking in the door for her nightly visit, so I'm signing off for tonight! Hope you all have a wonderful week!

Hungry for Spring!

Snow cone season is here! And the Morris family is loving it. The beautiful weather is somewhat deceiving, though, because it's still a bit chilly for all the springtime things I'd love to be doing- landscaping our yard, sunbathing outside, & going to the park. It's just springy enough to give me that itch for summer vacation (only 60 days away, not that I'm counting or anything). Even with the extra daylight, I'm convinced the days have started passing more quickly. Where did this weekend go? Here's what we did:

Saturday, our friends Andrea and Mark came over for dinner and brought their 4-year-old daughter, Albany. I can describe her perfectly with one word- busy! Our baby schedule was far too boring for Miss Albany, as Laney fell fast asleep 20 minutes after their arrival and left Albany to entertain herself. She did so quite well by chasing our poor white kitty cat Penny around all evening. Though she tried, Penny never could quite seem to evade Albany's awkward grasp for very long. As we were all finishing our pork tenderloin and twice-baked potato casserole, Albany came in and announced that the "party" would begin in 5 minutes. So, we headed into the other room for the party, which basically consisted of sitting on the floor that Albany had lined with every baby blanket we own and watching her dance. And we all had to wear bows, too, of course. It was fun for me to watch Marshall, who has never been around little girls, participate in this "party." I know he was thinking about all the years of fun "parties" that Laney will have in store for him! I bet he never thought he'd be such a lucky guy.

Albany hanging out with Laney (who was asleep haha):

The "party." Please look at Marshall's expression:

Andrea is expecting her second daughter, who will be in Laney's grade. We're already making friends for Laney. Who cares is they aren't even born yet!

Sunday, we took our weekly drive around Abilene and ran some errands to get ready for the week. We took a walk, which Laney enjoyed for a mere 15 minutes. Her smiles absolutely make my life worth living.

We then decided that it was high time we started the process of feeding Laney solids. We've been looking forward to this! So we pulled out the cute baby dishes that we got at our shower and set the stage for the show. Laney was a little unsure about this whole experience.  She actually only "ate" about a bite of rice cereal. The vast majority of the food was spit out and dribbled down her chin. Surely it wasn't because she was distracted by the two cameras that were in her face, right? Well, good thing there were cameras in her face, because now I can show you the precious pictures. Bon appetit, Laney!

Fortunately, we remembered the bib at the last second.

She is sure that we are crazy.

Looks like this is the beginning of the end of me as a neat-freak.