Fall Fest 09

Tonight our church had our annual Fall Festival. Kailey dressed up as a flower, and she pretty much had the cutest costume there. (I'm not biased or anything..) She really enjoyed the festival this year. There was a whole toddler area where she could crawl through tunnels (her fave), toss beanbags (or..just walk up to the holes and stick them in, which was her preference), play with blocks, a ball pit, and she also got to paint a pumpkin. She was very particular about how she painted this pumpkin, and she was very very careful. She also got to slide down the big blow-up slide with her daddy. Here are some pics:






Here is our attempt at getting a pic of Kailey with Parker, Erin and Matt's son:

A New Blessing

Well today, we officially found out that I am 9 weeks pregnant with Baby number 3! We waited to tell everyone, until we went to the doctor to make sure everything was ok. It looks like the baby is doing great so far, and we heard the heartbeat. ( I say we..really I mean me. Casey ran out of gas on the way. haha). It was definitely a relief to hear that heartbeat and see that everything is ok. Definitely keep us in your prayers though!

Here are some pics of Miss Kailey in her "big sister" shirt. The front says "I have a secret" and the back says "I'm going to be a Big Sister!".






And here is the first pic of the new baby:

Pumpkin Pics

Casey's sister, Kenya, our brother-in-law, and Caden all came in town this past weekend to take Pumpkin Pics of the kids. We did the same thing last year, and had a ton of fun. It is crazy how much the kids have grown! My computer crashed, so I don't have copies of the pics from last year to show you, but here is a link to the post!

We had a lot of fun with the kids. It was freezing, so their little teeth were chattering away, but they seemed to be having a lot of fun with the pumpkins. They also got to go inside a mini-petting zoo, play in a haystack, and ride a little kiddie train. It was really fun. I hope to go back sometime soon. Here are some of the best pics:

Question...

I have a lot on my mind right now. I just thought I would pose a question to my readers and get some answers. Without using names, or really the exact details of the situation at hand, here goes:

A really great friend of mine, over the past year, did something truly devastating to her spouse, also a really great friend, and their marriage ended because of it. It has truly been a very sad, sad, upsetting situation. I mean her spouse is like one of the best, most wonderful, Christian men you could ever meet, and that anybody would love to have as a spouse.For whatever reason this friend of mine, just did what she did and it is what it is. I have mostly kept my mouth shut in regards to the situation. At first, I tried to be there for her, but as the situation progressed, she showed absolutely no remorse for what she had done, and so I guess I just felt I needed to be there to support her spouse. Over the past year, things have continued to happen, and today was no different. I guess I just got sick of her doing things to my friend (her former spouse) and so I decided to send her an email and ask her to please just leave him alone! Sometimes it seems nobody actually acts like what she has done is wrong. Instead it seems as if most people condone it!

She of course responds with the whole "wow. that was not a very christian thing to say". I mean honestly, what I really had wanted to send in the first place, probably wasn't very Christian. But luckily I calmed down and sent the 2nd one instead, which I thought was pretty tasteful and to the point.

Here is my question:

As Christians, are we never allowed to tell somebody when they are out of line? Are we never supposed to tell someone when they are doing things they shouldn't? Is it always considered "immoral" to let somebody hear the truth, even if it is not the nicest thing in the world?

Ok so that was like 3 questions.

But do you know what I mean?

I get so tired of being railroaded over because I am a Christian. Why should people be able to say and do things to us, because we believe in Jesus?

Why can we not defend ourselves?

I mean I think there are obvious biblical examples of this. Jesus didn't defend himself. So does that mean we shouldn't either? It says to be "slow to anger and slow to speak", so does that mean we are allowed to get angry and speak, just not right away?

I was just curious what ya'll thought on the issue. I mean I know this situation is pretty vague, but I just thought I would see what you thought. And if you think I was wrong to tell this person anything...let me know that too! :)

Relaxing Weekend

I haven't posted in awhile...mainly because we haven't really been up to too much lately! This weekend was nice because it rained the whole weekend and we just relaxed at home. Here are some pics, just so you can see how big Kailey is getting!

No we did NOT give her the whole container of puffs to eat, she was just finishing them off for us!

Talk about Attitude!

I can already tell (as in, I could tell on the first day of school..) that some of my students have a pretty bad attitude. Especially in like, my entire 5th period. Those are the typical, defiant, "you can't tell me what to do", "I don't care you're an adult", type attitudes. But to me there is another attitude that I just simply cannot stand, and that is the Pre-AP (Pre-Advanced Placement)I know more than anybody else in the world attitude. Here is an example of a conversation I had with one of those blessed litte souls yesterday.

Background info: Every day my students come into class, sit down and write in their planners (their homework assignments , etc.) then get started on their warm-up. I take attendance and initial their planners as they do this. Yesterday, however, a student was 10 minutes late to class, and was 15 minutes late the day before, so I had to take this student in the hall and scare the living daylights out of him, so that he would never be late again. So I sit back down to take attendance afterwards and...Conversation:

Student: (In her best "duh-mrs.-Williams-you-are-such-an-idiot" voice) "Aren't you going to guh-rade (grade) our puh=lanners (planners)???"

Me: "Didn't I say, I was going to grade your planners?"

Student: "Uhh I don't know"

Me: "Don't I usually grade your planners?"

Student: "Yes, but you SURE are taking a LOOONG Time"

Me: "Didnt' you see what I just had to take care of in the hallway?"
(Because seriously those kids were like plastered to the door listening..)

Student: " I thought you went to the bathroom"

Me: "Well, I didn't. I was speaking with another student in the hallway"

Student: (Roll of the eyes, and a huff)

Me: "Well..is it ok with you if I check attendance first, or did I need to come grade the planners right now?" (sarcasm)

Student: (Bright red, annoyed face)

So then the class passes by, the bell rings, and the next class starts. Then another student comes up to me and says:

"umm. Mrs. Williams...somebody wrote something really bad about you on my desk!"

I said: "Already?? It's only the 7th day of school!"

So I go and look and of course it is little Miss Pre-AP's desk, and it says "Mrs. Williams Sucks". (which seriously wasn't that bad compared to what is usually written on those desks!)

So long story kinda short, I went and found her, she confessed, and I told her to let me do my job, because I could handle it without her help.

Now onto my little angel and her "Terrible Twos" attitude.

OH. MY. GOODNESS.

What has happened to my sweet little, bubbly, happy, princess??

She is now going through an "i-can-do-it-myself-leave-me-alone-pitch-a-fit-every-five-minutes" phase.

It's LOADS of fun.

I mean she's cute. And I love her. But HOLY COW. I can't wait til this has passed!

Sooooooo tired!

It always amazes me how starting back to school gets to me! I mean summer is only 2 and a half months long, but by the way I feel, you would think it has been 5 years! School started back on Monday, but it feels like it started back like 3 weeks ago! I think part of the reason I get so tired is because I teach sixth grade. It is their first year in middle school, so they are sooo needy.

"What period is it?"
"Where do I go?"
"How do I get there?"
"My locker won't open"
"When do we get library books"
"I don't have a planner"
"I don't have school supplies"
"Can I go to the bathroom?"
"I forgot that in my locker"

Over and over and over and over. I am usually pretty patient with them, but by the end of the day I am so mentally and physically exhausted from answering all the questions and standing up!

We also started a 7 period day this year, instead of 6 periods, so that has been interesting. Especially since my clock isn't working, and today was the first day the bells actually rang on schedule all day long! It has been pretty interesting using my cell phone as a clock and hoping it was timed with the bells! Since we have more periods this year, my classes are only 50 minutes long instead of an hour. It goes by so fast, it is crazy! I don't know how I'll get everything taught, when I already left things out as it was! But on the bright side I have two conference periods, which is sooo nice!

We got a new principal this year too. I really really like him. He is such a nice person, and seems to always be out and about helping and getting to know the kids. He seems really positive so far, so I am looking forward to working with him.

So anyway, it has been a crazy week so far with all these changes. I just wanted to give a quick update so you knew I was still alive, just incredibly exhausted!