be safe

back in december,
i came home from work
to tell flake that i had gotten him a present

now to be honest, i'm not good at being hush hush about
good surprises.
most people that know me IRL

(in real life....for those people like my mama who don't know bloggy shorthand)
can vouch for the fact that if i have a good surprise, like a gift, or exciting news,
i can't hold it in.
i just HAVE to tell (or give, show, etc)!!!
i hate waiting until christmas, birthdays, whatever days.....
i just can't stand it....

so ...... when i came home from work
and told flake i had gotten him a present,
he knew better than to ask me to keep it quiet until christmas
however.....he tried.
i told him, i wouldn't tell him what it was....
but i had to give him a hint.
(aka in l.o.v. language....i'm getting ready to cave!!)

so our conversation went something like this
but do remember....this took place 8 plus months ago....
l.o.v.: i got you something today
flake: a present?
l.o.v.: yeah, well, kind of
flake: kind of? well, don't tell me
l.o.v.: but
flake: please, i'd like to have at least one surprise
l.o.v.: fine, i won't tell you, but.....how about a hint?
flake: fine
l.o.v.: i got you something, but i don't want you to ever use it
flake: what?
l.o.v.: i got you something, but i don't want you to ever use it
flake: i heard you, but i didn't understand you
l.o.v.: and....it really isn't a christmas present
flake: what? .... fine, just tell me
l.o.v.: yay! i got you accident insurance, but please don't ever use it!

yep.....that's right....i got the boy accident insurance!
to those of you who know flake IRL....
you know that accident insurance is probably one of the best gifts the boy could ever get!
(both of us actually!)
neither of us were given much grace,
and both of us find ways to get hurt,
but always have good stories to tell in the end!
so, as you can imagine, i was quite excited with my purchase!

fast forward to present day....
flake is making good safe choices....
(well at least he says he is....down in texas)
while LF, has put himself in some compromising situations....

so i wonder, do you think that the accident insurance will cover him if he gets hurt??

extra

i found some more pictures of LF through the years

seems that he was quite busy
in lots of extracurricular activities!

(can you tell i had a little too much fun with yearbook yourself?)

because of

i was able to spend this past saturday with my nina
to help her celebrate her birthday!
it was great to see her
and the rest of our family
and just be together....
we all had a great time together

but as you guessed....

we
were
sad
flake
couldn't
be
with
us







-----------------------------------------------

on another topic,
my bloggy friend, stephanie, over at because of love

gave me this sweet bloggy award

thanks so much stephanie!!!
it has been great getting to know you and your precious family through your sweet blog!!!

so to accept the award, i followed these rules....
The rules of the One Lovely Blog Award are: Accept the award, post it on your blog together with the name of the person who has granted the award and her blog link. Pass the award to another blog that you've newly discovered. Remember to contact the blogger to let them know they have been chosen for this award.

i'm giving this blog award to my newest bloggy friend
amethyst moon over at life, music, laughter
not only is she super funny
but she ties all her post to music
and i LOVE that!!! :)
from the first post i read....i was HOOKED!!! :)

so go check out stephanie's blog
and amethyst moon's blog
and tell them i sent you by! :)

through the years....

i've been looking at pictures of LF through the years....



it seems to me that the only thing that has changed about him
is his hair!

(don't you just love yearbook yourself?!?!)

members only

i was never cool enough to have a members only jacket
but .... boy did i always want one
(ok, not really!)
so i guess i was never cool enough to be a member

but i am proud to say, i'm now a member of an even cooler group
a group that was the brain child of one of my friends
she thinks enough is enough, she is tired of hanging out with a box of cornflakes
so she started a coalition to bring my flake back home
and because of that.....a facebook group was born.

so, if you are on facebook, you should totally join!
maybe if flake sees how many people want him to come home
he will!
:)
if not,
it makes me laugh to think how many people are tired of seeing the cornflake box!

out on the town!

as you know, LF loves to go out
and get his picture taken
he is kind of demanding
and insist on having his picture taken with everyone where ever we go!

last night, was no exception.
LF and i went to dinner with a bunch of friends

to help celebrate our friend, nicole's birthday.
(you know nicole, that is laura lane's mommy)

we had a great time spending the evening with friends
getting to see little laura lane
and about the great the great food at pf changs
and the wonderful cake from dewey's

and as you guessed, LF was most excited about his new hat!


**please keep praying for laura lane!!

traveler.....

A good traveler has no fixed plans,
and is not intent on arriving. ~Lao Tzu

LF is a good traveler through and through
he loves to go
and he could care less where he goes
that is....
as long as he gets his picture taken!!

so.....
as you know
LF and i have been traveling

we stopped to see the bfarrs
and LF was almost as excited to see them as they were to see him....

but probably not as excited as i was to see them!

and then we headed to see mason and the other m's
to help mason celebrate his first birthday!
mason and uncle LF had a blast together.

mason showed uncle LF how to open a birthday present....

mason showed uncle LF how to dance....

mason showed uncle LF who gives
some of the best hugs and kisses....

and mason showed uncle LF that getting
your hands icky sticky isn't that bad.....

after mason's birthday party, LF stayed for a short visit
while i headed to texas to see the real FLAKE!!!

:)

it was so good to see him,
but as you can imagine,

it was super hard to leave!
(but atleast i had a nice new necklace to make it a little easier!)

but,
now i'm home,
hanging out with
the most precious puppy around
and catching up on lots of blog reading!!

the wandering man

as you know, LF and i went on a little trip
to visit one of my most favorite people

LF and i met robin at her store on thursday
where LF got to meet the newest serta sheep

(and yes, we brought a little 3/8 home too!)

after robin got off work, the three of us headed to her house,
where we played phase 10

as you can tell, brad found the entire game excitingly WILD
and thought that it was time to skip LF when his turn came.


i personally felt that wasn't fair,
so i decided to let LF play with their dogs

but when i realized that the dogs wanted to eat LF,
i decided against their play date
and put LF in the chair beside me

which made me feel a lot better than the alternative,
but ..... after i found this

i felt a lot better about the fact that the dogs were drooling over LF.

over the next few days,
LF spent most of his time relaxing
and doing some sightseeing

he found some sunflowers


went to one of my favorite restaurants


did some shopping


and spent time supporting a friend

LF was really excited that robin and i were
running (aka walking) the road race
so he helped us celebrate with a cookout

and more phase 10 with friends!

on the way back home,
LF and i stopped by to see my nina
where LF got one of the best hugs a boy could ask for

and got to spend some time with one of the sweetest girls i know


ahh.....i love this woman.....and LF isn't bad either!


what could be better than time with a great friend
getting to see the best nina in the world
it could only have been better if the real flake had been on the trip with me!

i apologize for the comment absence,
but LF and i are off again to visit the b farr's
and then off to see the 3 m's

and then i'm leaving LF to spend some time with the 3 m's
while i go to see the real flake!
woo hoo!! :)

on the road

little flake and i hit the road for a visit with one of my most favorite people
but don't worry....
we remembered

safety first!

have a great weekend!
i'll be back ..... sometime soon! :)

don't you think

i need this.......



don't you think??



i'm thinking i need a little cornelius for my desk at school

and that bag wouldn't go to waist either! :)

cornelius

i had this scheduled to post a few days ago, and then rescheduled it,
so i'm sorry if it showed up in your reader....

i wonder how much cooler we would all be if we had our own cornelius to take us on adventures!!




instead i'm trying to be cool by taking little flake and cornelius on adventures

i'm not so sure it is working....
but atleast we are having fun!!

and days go by

And days go by
I can feel 'em flyin'
Like a hand out the window in the wind.
The cars go by...
Yeah it's all we've been given,
So you better start livin' right now
'Cause days go by...
*Days go by--Keith Urban
and the days certainly have gone by
since the last time i posted...

on wednesday
my little friends and i went to a play
in a big kid class (aka second grade)
the big kids had worked really hard
on learning their lines
making costumes
and props
and background for their own production of
jack and the beanstalk
my little friends had the most fun watching the big kids
act out the story of jack and those magic beans.
after school, i went and got my hair cut
not a big deal to most people...but for some strange reason i just don't like getting my hair cut
but when i got home and little flake approved....

i was excited about my new cut!

on thursday....
my little friends had field day...
i was totally excited
i love field day
we all had matching shirts....

and we were ready to go
we talked about our expectations for the day
and we talked about all the fun we were going to have

the day was so very nice
overcast and cool
which made for being outside so very nice....

16 stations full of fun and enjoyment
we started at station 12
and made our way around
when we got to station 14
one of my little friends made a not so nice choice...
he decided to choke a friend
leaving me to think
really?!?! did i just see that with my eyes?!?!
sad...but true...
i asked him what his punishment should be...
he said
"be done with fun"
and that is exactly what he did

so there he sat...being done with the fun.....sitting beside me (also having no fun), and watching the rest of our friends enjoy field day

that was....until we got around to station 9
and all my little friends lost it
seriously....
for some reason my entire class got in a fight over a ball...
and that is when i decided my little friends were done
my assistant and i marched all our friends around the track and back inside.
and we rested our bodies until we could make good choices again
oh choices
after school....i got to go out to dinner with some great friends and celebrate the end of the school year! yay!!

on friday
some school friends and i met for breakfast at ihop before our last day. one of our friends was moving....so we needed one more time out with her before she left :(

then we had the joy of going to school
one more time
and my little friends had the joy of being kindergartners .... one more time...
this day was exciting in so many ways
but most of all
because mr. caterpillar
the one who my little friends have watched grow and learn each and every school day

went from simply a caterpillar
to a big beautiful butterfly
each day we have added a number to mr. caterpillar
and watched him make his way around our room
we used mr. caterpillar for so many things when it came to learning
he helped us learn our numbers
he helped us learn about patterns
he helped us learn to skip count (by 2's and 5's and 10's)
he helped us learn about how living creatures change and grow
we just love mr. caterpillar....
but my little friends loved his new form just as much!
we were all so excited to see mr. caterpillar become mr. butterfly
that we had to show our friends from next door too
they were super excited too!!

after mr. caterpillar became mr. butterfly
my little friends helped to take all the tape off of mr. caterpillar
and then we put his numbers in order from 1 to 180
fun for them
help for me
....all of us benefited from the activity!

after all our fun with mr. caterpillar,
we had a lot of fun playing outside
and eating ice cream
and just taking in our last moments as kindergartners
and as soon as the bell rang....
the kids
and their teacher
were OUT THE DOOR!!!

after school, i met one of my bestest friends for dinner, who also is a teacher, and we had a blast talking all about how our year had gone, and how thankful we were that the year was over :)
yay for dinner and friends!

on saturday morning
i headed to the airpot (at 4:05 am)
to fly to texas to see flake
it was so exciting to see his precious face!!
we had lot of fun on saturday driving around his new home town
looking at new things
and just talking
and being together

:) i sure had missed him!

on sunday we got up....looking for something to do
a little too late to find a church
so we decided to rent a jetski and head out on the lake
we had so much fun
the best part for me was seeing the cows by and in the water

i have never seen a cow even close to water....
so i just couldn't get enough of how cute they were in the water
flake couldn't get enough of the real estate on the lake

neither of us could get enough of being together

and just having a blast!

i also got the joy of meeting his landlord
all i can say is that he is an interesting man
and by interesting i mean
annoying and weird
but .... to each their own

on the way home from dinner.....
we saw an armadillo
flake had been told that he would never see one alive in texas....
and i made it my mission to find one alive....
and was so super excited that we found one only days after he moved down!
:)
sadly....i didn't have my camera with me
and have no proof....other than we both saw it

on monday
flake had to go to work
which didn't make me all to happy
being that i was left to find something to do
i did have a job of finding him a cleaners
and meeting him for lunch
i did both of those things
as well as explored around his new town
i didn't find very much that was exciting to tell him about
not for lack of trying
but for lack of exciting things to show him
it makes me a little sad
that he has moved to a place that has no target or radio stations....
but i too will adapt
(right?!?!)
after he got off work, we had another great night of being together....
we went out to eat and went and looked at the cutest little house
and when we got back to his new home
i got my stuff together to leave the next day
:/

on tuesday
i took flake to work
and went back to his new home
and got ready very slowly (aka i texted with a few friends for about two hours, before i got ready)
after getting ready, i headed to the store and printed a picture for flake
to keep on his desk
and then i went to his work.
i met all the great people that he is working with,
and then hung out with him until it was time to leave for the airport
my heart broke a little when he dropped me off, and then headed to a meeting he had scheduled in austin
but
i had plenty of time (while waiting for my delayed flight) to think about how lucky i was to have spent such a great weekend with him
and that i will again see him in only two weeks
and that these days are flying by
like a hand out the window in the wind
:)

flaws in a picture

so, the other day, i posted that i'm struggling
flake and i have been struggling
waiting to hear the news....
about how our lives would change....

so here is the picture
i've spent a lot of time looking at this picture...

do you see what is wrong with it?

no,
well,
take a closer look....

to the untrained eye...
it might be hard to see
but there is a flaw
a major flaw

here take a closer look

do you see it now?!?!

well, if not, maybe this will help....

now do you see the flaw?
i'm sure you do...
yep ...
something is in north carolina
and something is in texas....
but what?!?!


there, that picture is even more clear
do you see the flaw?!?!
i'm sure you do....but do you understand the flaw?
if you do, then maybe you can explain to me how it happened...
:/

so for the next year or so....

this will be my view of the world

flake got a job down in texas...
and i'm staying here in nc...
we have our responsible reasons why being apart is gonna be the right choice for us...
the company flake will be working for is going through restructuring....we want to make sure that the job is a sure thing before packing our lives up...and both heading down....
i already committed to being at my school through the end of next year....and i need to finish up my third year of teaching, in order to be fully licensed in nc...and hopefully making it easier to get a teaching job down in texas (however that is seeming quite hard...apparently they don't have a birth-kindergarten certification down in texas....but i have a year to figure this out!?!?!)
but i still have the right to feel sad about his being away from me...
you know, i kind of like him
and having him around isn't all that bad either :)

we've prayed about this
we know this is going to be hard
but we know HE would not give us something we could not handle...
either way....we (i) have come up with a few ways to make this next year go by a little quicker...
*flake will come back home once a month,
and i'll head down once a month (i've already told my principal i'll be taking a few days without pay each month...she didn't seem to mind too much)
*i've already picked out lots of jewlery that i feel like will make up for the fact that i don't get to see him, and his leaving will not be as hard with a nice new piece of jewlery to keep my mind off of things...
*to make up for a lack of pictures with my sweet cornflake....
i'll be taking this with me on all my adventures

and diesel might come too, since she can't be left out of adventures