Family Celebrations

Last weekend was full of family get-togethers, and I just love weekends like those. 

Friday night we celebrated Gaines' dad's birthday with steaks and chocolate cake.  Two of my favorite things!

Saturday night we headed downtown to the Liberty Market to celebrate Gaines' Aunt Renee and Uncle Tom's 20th wedding anniversary.  Both sides of the family are huge, and it was great to have everyone together in one spot.

Yummy Publix cake

Sign-in table

Amy and Bennett

 
Gaines and his mom

Amy, me, and Jessica - Coral was a pretty popular color that night!

The adorable couple

All of the baby cousins-- I love them!

Me and Gaines :)

The Storys

And then after church on Sunday we headed right down the street to Tom and Renee's to celebrate sweet Bennett's first birthday.

How creative is this?

Betsy with the birthday boy

Can't believe he's one!

Does it get any cuter than this?

Ben (Gaines' cousin), Betsy, Baker, Sawyer, and Bennett

Someone loves cupcakes!

My five favorite kiddies

Opening gifts

Bennett playing with his gift from Gaines' parents ;)

Happy Birthday Grampy!

Happy, happy birthday to a fabulous grandpa, a great business man, and a wonderful inspiration!

I love you Grampy!!!

Sweet Miss Molly

We have a new addition to our little family!!!

Meet Miss Molly Story :)

She's the sweetest little black baby we've ever seen. ;)

Gaines' co-worker Dominee was giving away puppies from a stray that had taken up at their house.  As soon as she put Molly's picture on Facebook, we both had love at first sight.   We drove out to meet her that night and, as you can see, the name they gave her (Piggy) was pretty fitting. 

We "slept on the idea," but drove back right after work yesterday to pick her up.

We took her to Gaines' parents' house so they could meet their grandpup and texted my family pictures right away.

She slept in the laundry room last night and only woke us up three times.  She had no accidents inside and stays right by us when we take her outside.  She even comes when she's called.  We're pretty sure she's a puppy Einstein.

We're so in love. :) 

And feel free to come meet her anytime!

Happy Birthday Sammy and Dales!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to the best brother and sister in the world!!

I wish I could be in two places at once to help you both celebrate, but I'm so thankful for all the great memories we've shared the last 23 years...

I'm so proud of both of you and love you both tons. :)  Happy birthday!!

Red Pepper Flake Crackers

Thanks to Caroline, I've discovered the easiest, most delicious snack.  It's the perfect compliment to any barbeque or pool day.  ;)

 Red Pepper Flake Crackers

 

via [I altered the website's recipe slightly]

Ingredients:
2 sleeves of Saltine crackers
1/2 cup canola oil
1 tsp crush red pepper flakes

Directions:
1. Pour the Saltines into a large Ziploc bag or a glass container with a lid.
2. Mix the canola oil and crushed red pepper flakes and drizzle it over the crackers.
3. Gently toss the crackers with the oil mixture. The longer these sit, the better they get!
Optional: Add 1/2 oz. of Hidden Valley Ranch dry mix for added flavor.

Enjoy! 

Happy Birthday Mr. Sam

Happy birthday to a wonderful father-in-law!!

We love you!

Science CRCT Day

Today my students are taking the Science CRCT, which is one of five tests administered at public schools in Georgia to test the knowledge of students in grades 1-8.  They took the Reading, Language Arts, and Math tests last week, so they'll finish up with the Science and Social Studies ones this week.  Each test is divided into two sections and students get 70 minutes to complete each of those two sections.  Needless to say, it's kind of wonderful they can't talk for the first three hours of the day, but also extremely boring since I just have to sit there and watch them take it. 

Anyways, on our assigned test days my team of teachers decided that we'd bring in snacks for the 80 students on our team.  Since today is the science test, it was my day for snacks.  I wanted to do something a little more creative and special this year, so I searched Pinterest and loved this idea that I saw on one of Amy's boards.

via

So, this morning my kids will get a ziploc bag on their desks with the snacks and note in the picture below to hopefully help them focus and also remind them that their science teacher loves them... most days. ;)

Oh and that part about Six Flags... if they pass all 5 of the tests, they get a free ticket and bus ride to Six Flags in a few weeks.  How awesome is that?  I'm sending up lots of prayers and positive thoughts that they do their best today!