Happy 10th birthday Jake!

Today Jake is 10! Can't believe it.  He is still quite the wild dog.  But we love him.  Every night is an epic battle of keeping him out of food, laundry, and from eating Olivia's toys.  Olivia loves him soooo much! I am so glad she loves to entertain him but sometimes she does bother him...

But Brendon got him a special bone and Olivia and I gave him a Frosty PAws ice cream treat!

I am going to draw you a picture...

Sunday Olivia surprised Brendon and I with some pictures of us...

I wrote the words mommy and daddy but she went in her tent and drew these two pictures.  Daddy first and then I wanted one =)

Love it!

Breaking the Silence- Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day

It is a difficult day for many women, husbands, and families who have experienced pregnancy and infant loss. Just because today is a designated day to remember pregnancy and infant loss doesn't mean that we don't remember it daily.  Still almost 5 years later it doesn't get any easier especially when I year ago I experienced another loss through an Ectopic pregnancy. 

I read a great book by Stacey Thacker, "Being Ok with Where you Are."

 

It is a great book and really has helped me deal with the struggles of grief and letting go, and any other life event that I struggle with.  When I struggle the most, there is a great prayer I try to get through (I am really trying to memorize it but my memory stinks lately!)

A prayer to start the day with, “Lord, I invite You to do the work You want to do in my life today.  I need your grace more than I know or can express right now.  This broken place is tender to the touch and everything within me wants to struggle within your will.  But today, I offer my plan for your purpose.  I surrender my hopes, dreams, and discouragements into your hands.  With my tiny fragment of faith, I say to you, ‘Lord I trust You,’ not only with this one thing, but with my entire life.”

I also read a great post about 15 lessons learned from miscarriage...

15-lessons-learned-from-miscarriage 

Please refer to my post from last year about some things that you can do as a friend or family member who have experienced pregnancy and infant loss.

http://familybarth.blogspot.com/2013/10/breaking-silence-pregnancy-and-infant.html

Fun Stuff

Today Kristy came and babysat Olivia while we both worked...yes..we had to work...we didn't get Columbus Day off...don't get me started!

Kristy and Olivia had tons of fun all day! I am sure Kristy is pretty tired tonight!

Making a tent and having fun!

Here are some other random pictures I found...

Friday after her flu shot!

Waiting patiently while daddy gets his shot.

Saturday we went to dinner at the new Irish Pub in town with our friends! It was yummy!

Olivia has UGA on sitting next to her Gator friend...

Fronzen on Ice

Today we made the trek to Atlanta for Frozen on ice.  Traffic was a hot mess!! It was fine until we got close to Phillips Arena.  Lots of stuff going on downtown today.  So I ended up getting out of the truck and walking with Olivia about 4 blocks in the rain to get there while Brendon patiently sat in traffic.  It took him 1 hour to move 4 blocks...the same 4 blocks I walked. We had great seats and could see the whole show.  It was a great show.  Olivia loved it and was mesmerized the whole time.  After the show we went to CNN center and had lunch...another hot mess...soo many people.  We ended up eating outside by the big CNN logo...it had stopped raining and was nice and sunny.  Traffic wasn't as bad getting home...thank goodness!!

Perfect Day for the Park!

The weather was awesome today! After school Olivia and I decided to pack a picnic dinner and have dinner at the park!  It was great.  We played first.  Then ate dinner and then played some more!! She even went down 2 of the 3 big slides tonight.  She went down the tall bumpy slide and the swirly twirly tunnel slide.

Such a great night with my girly!

Working Hard

I never talk much about work on here BUT....

Needless to say I have been working hard at being the best teacher, wife, mommy, daughter, friend, and runner.  The past two weeks I have had several nights of staying up almost to midnight working on school work.  In no way am I complaining about my job.  It is my job and I have prioritize my time needless to say.  Some of my best work gets done late at night!!

Today we had a big visitation day at school.  Our school is a BYOD school- Bring Your Own Device.  Our students are allowed to bring their personal tablets, phones, etc to use for instructional purposes.  Today we got to showcase that going on in our classrooms.  It was really great to showcase my students working.  They did such a great job and answered questions from the teachers visiting. 

I have to say that I work at a phenomenal school with great teacher colleagues! We really came together and really worked as a team!

Here is a link to the article about what our school did today!

Gwinnett Daily Post