Thankful: Day 15

I'm piggybacking on last night's post.  Tonight I'm thankful for another internet resource; Twitter.  I use Twitter as a professional development tool for school, mainly.  One of the bummer things about teaching Special Ed. in a rural (small) district is that there aren't multiple elementary special educators to bounce ideas off of.  That's one of the biggest things I miss about teaching in a large district.  So, to make up for it, I connect with other special educators across the country via Twitter.

I've found that some of the most passionate teachers are using Twitter to share interesting articles, blogs, classroom ideas that work, etc. and I'm thankful for social media to help me "stay connected"

I'm telling every teacher I know to get on Twitter.  It can be a time sucker (like most things on the internet) but it has some of the best resources out there.  I've even convinced my good bud, @RachelUrbain to Tweet this year.  Woohoo!  :)

P. S.  To all of your future Tweeters out there, use the actual Twitter website ONLY to sign up.  From there, use a #hashtag managing website like TweetDeck or HootSuite!

Thankful: Day 14

Today I'm thankful for the internet.  Seriously...WHAT did we do before the ol' www?  I'm especially thankful for blogs.  It's probably an understatement to say I love blogs.  I'm addicted to them.  I read all types of blogs.  Personal friend's blogs, money-saving blogs, school blogs, home-decor and remodeling blogs, crafty blogs, recipe blogs, and many other random blogs.  Here is a Symbaloo with a few of my favorite blogs bookmarked. 

http://edu.symbaloo.com/mix/favblogs

There isn't enough room on the Symbaloo for all of the blogs I like...I need to start another one! 

 Here is a Symbaloo with some of my favorite teacher blogs.  I can't believe how much time some teachers put into their blogs.  It's amazing and I'm very thankful because I steal borrow their ideas for my own classroom!

http://edu.symbaloo.com/mix/favoriteschoolblogs


 Well--off to read some more blogs.  Goodnight!

Thankful: Day 13

Well, I've covered all of the biggies.  My faith in God, my husband, my kids, family,  & friends.  I could spend the entire month of November posting about the abundance of blessings that they (all of above) provide on a daily basis but those are the major things I blog about regularly.  I'm going to spend the rest of the month blogging about "life's simple pleasures".

Today, I'm thankful for music.  I do NOT  have one musical bone in my body.  Not one. As my dad says, "I can't carry a tune in a bucket."  But--I'm glad someone has musical talent because music is a blessing to me daily.  I start my day, everyday, listening to music.  Usually with a cup of coffee and my computer or bible, I listen to music.

I like all types of music but I spend most of my time listening to Christian music.  It keeps me calm and helps me stay sane.  Plus, it allows me memorize Christian principals that I can apply to my daily life.  Like music, I'm also NOT blessed with the gift of memorization.  "They" (pastors, christian leaders) says it's important to memorize scripture but I'm not good at it. So, Christian music helps me with this.

My 2nd favorite type of music is Country.  I love me a good Brad Paisley or Kenny Chesney song.  :)

When I'm running (which isn't as often as it should be) I like to listen to some hard rock.  There's just something about songs with a good beat to inspire me to keep truckin' despite my I-think-I-might-die-before-mile-one attitude.


Music is a such a blessing.  Thank you rhapsody.com for the pleasure of unlimited listening!

Thankful: Day 12

Today I'm thankful for friends.  Whether it be friends I don't get to see on a regular basis (thank goodness for Facebook) or friends who live in the same town as me, I'm blessed with lots of different friends.  There are high school friends, college friends, neighbors, former work friends, former church friends, current work friends, current church friends, and everything in between.  I look around at all of the friends I've had the opportunity to come into contact with over the years and just like everything else, I'm blessed!

One of these days, I'm going to take the time to scan in all of my non-digital pictures. I didn't have a digital camera until Alexis was born (in 2004) so every photo I have before then is printed and in an album.   Because of the time constraints kids involve, I don't get nearly as much time with friends as I'd like or as I used to.

Here are a few photos of friends taken in the last couple of years.  Sorry, they're the only ones I have on my computer. :(     I've also noticed that since having kids, that's 90% of what I take pictures of.  Looks like I need to do a better job of snapping photo op's of people other than my kids!   I also haven't done a good job of taking photos since I've moved to Newell.  To-do item #987.


Here are a few pictures of friends I've met through the years.  :)

Thankful: Day 11

Just like 99% of Americans, today I'm thankful for veterans!  Without them, we wouldn't be able to enjoy the freedom that living in America gives us.  So many suffer when a veteran goes to war for our country.  I am eternally grateful for the sacrifices the veterans and their families make for our country.  I'm proud to be an American!

Tonight, we invited my Grandpa Ike and my brother, Adam over for dinner to celebrate Veteran's Day.  Adam couldn't make it as he's had several long days at work recently but we enjoyed nice conversation with grandpa (and grandma) and loved hearing stories from his military days.  Grandpa served in the Korean war and Adam served 6 years in the Air Force and has recently moved back to Newell and gotten a job with the Buena Vista County Sherrif's Office.  We're thankful for Grandpa Ike, Adam, and the millions of other American Veterans!

Here's a picture after everyone was done stuffing their face with ribs, potatoes, rolls, veggies and brownies tonight.  :)

Thankful: Day 10

I am SO thankful for family.  I'm close with both immediate and extended family.  When we lived in Clive, we were very close to my aunt Brenda and Coby's family.  We did a lot with them and she did daycare for our kids.  We miss seeing their family more often!!!


Now that we live in Newell, we get to see my parents and siblings all the time...which is awesome.  We watch my nephew Kenley after school most days until Angie gets off of work.  We make an appearance at my parents house at least twice a week so the kids can see them....they LOVE the apple tree farm.  My brothers, Adam and Aron, show up at our house quite often for a home cooked meal too.  I'm also blessed to live near all of my grandparents.  My grandma and grandpa Hunter live here in town and my grandpa Nieland lives in Storm Lake now.  I don't know what I'd do without my family.  I love each and every one of them!

Here are a few of my favorite pictures of my family in the last couple of years! 

I'm also thankful for Justin's family. Although living 5 states away, we don't get to see them often, they're still a blessing. His parents are wonderful parents and grandparents and my kids are very blessed to get to call them Grandma and Poppa. We get to see them at Justin's sister's wedding in 2 weeks. We're looking forward to seeing them. I'm sure we'll make some good memories!

 Justin's parents, Glenn and Kathryn, during their visit to Iowa for Austin's 1st Birthday party!

Justin's dad flew in and surprised him for his 30th birthday this past March.  They spent some quality father/son time!

Thankful: Day 9

Today I'm thankful for faith.  Since moving to Newell, we've made the Baptist church here in town our church home.  We don't believe in joining a denomination (we're believer's in Christ, not Baptist/Catholic/Lutheran, etc) but go to Bethel because it's a bible teaching church.   My faith has saved my sanity so many times in life...and I'm so thankful for it!

I'm also thankful for their Wednesday night children's ministry, 105.  It has been called Awana for the past 20+ years but this year they changed the name and the philosophy of the program a bit.  Alexis LOVES it...she looks forward to going every week.  I'm so thankful for each one of those volunteers to invest their busy lives into the life of so many children in our community.

Here is a picture of Alexis last year at the Awana awards ceremony.  She won the award for the best sportsmanship during game time (which Justin helped with). She was so happy!

Singing her little heart out at the end-of-the-year Awana program last spring.

At our church's child dedication service last spring when we had Austin dedicated.