Blessed

Matt and I spent a relaxing weekend in Dublin and then tonight, I spent a much needed refreshing evening with the original grad school girls. I will write more about our fun Margarita Monday once things slow down! Graduation Pictures + Easter Egg Hunt + Week Before Spring Break + GKIDS = HECTIC! I'm sure I'll have plenty of time to blog next week!

I am sooooooo blessed to have a group of girls that truly know what a struggle it is to teach full time--give your heart and soul to your job, then go to school all night, all while raising a family or being a good wife! We just have such a great time when we all get together for our grad reunion dinners!


These are the awesome women I am talking about. We teach Pre-K to 6th Grade! We are standing outside of Coyoacan!

I never dreamed that God would bless me with so many new friends in a graduate program! Now that this season in my life is coming to an end, I have been reflecting on these two favorite verses...
"God is able to do immesurably more than all we could ask or imagine" -Ephesians 3:20

"Delight yourselves in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart" -Psalms 37:4

I truly am blessed beyond measure!

Take me out to the ballgame...

Yesterday afternoon was fabulous! I got up and worked around the house for a bit while Matt was at work. Then we headed out to Remington Park. I watch my sweet Kaylee play tball. She hit a homer! She was so cute in her hot pink batting helmet with her name on it. Her pink glove and bat and big ribbon in her hair...she's a girl after my own heart. Her grandma is supposed to be sending me a picture to school on Monday.

Then we went over to watch Anna and Abby...they were playing at the same time on different fields. When we got there Becky (she played in college and loves the game) was stressed b/c Jonathan got sick and had to go home and she was helping coach Anna's team. So Matt and I stayed at Abby's game. Abby is #4 (my number)!!! Her and Anna both play first base (my favorite position)!


Abby playing First.


Waiting to bat.

I loved being at the ball field. We saw everyone we knew of couse...it was opening day and all teams played. The smell of the fresh cut grass, the breeze, boiled peanuts, gatorade, etc. I was in my zone :) We had a great time!


Anna and Matt enjoyed these boiled peanuts after the game!


Anna and I after her game.

I ended up coming home and sleeping the rest of the day, woke up and had a temp of 101.3. Yuck! So Matt and I layed on the couch and watched What Happens in Vegas! It was funny. I feel a little better this morning, still achy..so I didn't go to church. I am sad that I've missed so often due to sickness these last few weeks.

It is beautiful outside. Everywhere we go we see beautiful dogwood trees, bradford pear trees (my fav) and cherry blossom trees blooming!! It has really been taking our breath away! Matt is going to hit some golf balls and probably go play. I am going to read for grad school outside. Then come in and work on some other school stuff while watching Twilight. I like the movie, but the books are GREAT!
That's all that has been going on around here! It's back to the grind tomorrow.


Bradford Pear Trees


Dogwood Trees


Cherry Blossom Trees

Multiple Blessings!

I had the best day today.

I'm spending my night with this...


I'm really enjoying this book by Kate. If you're a fan of the show, I declare this a must read!

I'll be at the softball fields/t ball fields bright and early in the morning! Fun, fun :) Happy SPRING!

PRAISES!

I was reading Kelly's praises on her blog and decided to write down my praises!!

1. I am married to the most wonderful hubby (my best friend)! He is my biggest supporter and encourager!

2. I have the most perfect golden ever...she is human to me and my sweet baby.

3. I have an amazing group of friends and church family at FBC who I know will always pray for me or help me in any way.

4. I have a job that I love. I get to be a mama to 20 beautfiul sweet 6 year olds who have stolen my heart! And I have been a part of so many other precious childrens lives. I am with the kids more than they are with their parents!

5. We have a house, no car payments, no credit cards....double income in a town that we love. And that is a huge blessing with the economy the way it is right now.

6. My parents and ginger only live a few hours away. They are both healthy right now. And I am sooo thankful. The same goes for my grandparents. And my brother. He lives close by.

7. God has given me the best friends that I could ask for here....when I never thought I'd meet anyone. School friends (GP and HnH), church friends, grad friends) I feel so blessed!

8. Jesus holds my hand every day and gets me through everything. His plan is something to be praised.

Some other things that I just love: the seasons, the weekends and a clean house, picking out clothes and accessories for people and myself, reading great books, watching dvds and going to the movies, listening to Matt play guitar on our back deck, quiet mornings with Blakely, my Bible, and praise music before school, learning about anything related to the field of education, polka dots, monograms, THE POOL, the Y, downtown Tville, visiting Valdosta, Jacket's games on Friday night, Spring (Baseball and Softball Season..going to lots of rec games), Sunday night church, nice restaurants around town and out of town, facebook, walking at the lake, visiting my family, visitors, Wed nights at church with Becky, Lynn, and LeAnn, grad nights...Margarita Monday and Tropical Thursday's, Community H 07-08 get togethers, VBS, DNOWS, talking to administrators and learning all about their job and them (weird I know), Karen Kingsbury, Casting Crowns, flip flops...well all shoes and accessories, the south, being tan, early to bed...early to rise sometimes...then staying up super late and sleeping in, laughing, bubble baths, sonic vanilla diet cokes, root beer in a bottle, koozies, Hobby Lobby, teaching/loving on my babies all day, old friends and memories, beach towns, pictures, Southern Living, living in a small town but visiting big cities, country music and the windows open, breezy days, front porches, working hard all day...then coming home and relaxing with my family, womens bible study...I mean the list goes on and on....so I'm going to stop now!

Overall, I realize how blessed I am and how much I have to be thankful for and all of the praises that I need to remember! Thank you Jesus :)

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!

We proudly wore our green today! Matt wore a green tie to work.


My room mother is awesome!


The leprechaun hid a few clues around our classroom! My kids were beside themselves!!! Too sweet!


He really didn't mess up our room! (I hate a messy classroom) :)

After a country Idol (right up my alley) and Biggest Loser, I'm off to bed...in green polka dotted pjs!

9 more weeks!!!

This is what it looked like in SGA all day today. The streets are lined in pollen and there are yellow-lime looking puddles everyswhere. Since it was a teacher workday, I spent a relaxing day working my tale off in my classroom. I got an hour off for lunch and I got certified in first aid! I opened my back door for most of the afternoon and the cool breeze that blew in intermittedly was nice! I got a lot done and am ready to celebrate St. Patty's Day tomorrow with my kiddos. This will be our
2nd celebration.


Tomorrow marks the last 9 weeks of school!! My how quickly time goes by. I got a new pocket chart and I love it!


I am very obsessed with pocket charts. I think I will post my collection soon!!


Oh, and how cute is this teaching apron? LOVE IT!!

Memories...

I have a few projects that I'm going to be working on this summer because the one class that I am taking will be completely online. I am going to make a VSU picture collage for my classroom. I have a lot of pictures to add (well, I have to scan them in b/c they are not from a digital camera) but these are a few that were on my computer. I will pick from these. I tried to only choose ones that were taken at sporting events or graduation at college.

We are big Blazer fans but also love the Dawgs!! Good think both teams are red and black!!! I will have to add a picture of graduating with my Master's to my collage when that day comes :)

I realize I'm getting carried away...

But you don't know how much I'm in love with Casting Crowns. Their music touches my soul like no other. AMAZING! I always feel so good, just soaking up their lyrics. So, I know I've been going crazy uploading vidos, but I can't ever get enough of these two videos.




This is obviously a home video and it is sort of shaky. The live song by the girls is one of my favorite..they combine Love them like Jesus and Does anybody hear her!!!! Then I like every man too...mainly because of the lyric "I am your daughter's favorite teacher..." Sometimes I wonder if my parents really know who I am and that even though I am their child's teacher and they talk about me all the time...Do they really know what my life is like? The struggles that I face everyday? Hmmmm...How hard I work to give their kids everything that I can? Or how much I really love their kids.

I will post videos or song clips for Somewhere in the Middle, The Word is Alive, and Here I go again later. Those three are probably my all time favorites.


Look who it is...Brooke Fraser...the shadowfeet girl. I have had this song forever and always love it...but had NO IDEA that she was the one singing it. It is actually another one of my morning songs. Did you know that Hosanna means SAVE ME! Sub Save me for Hosanna. It is powerful!

Rainy Georgia....Sunny Caribbean

I was Spring cleaning here in rainy GA today, and as I walked into our guest room a picture caught my eye. The Georgia Peaches (our name for each other came about after a day of fun in the sun and dinner and karaoke at Toucans in Mexico Beach) leaving for our cruise! We took a cruise to celebrate our graduation from college...well over a year before I actually graduated! :) We left for Jacksonville to sail to the Keys and Bahamas right after Amanda's graduation. She was starting her masters program right after we got back. I think it is safe to say that we had the time of our lives. I've been noticing that a lot of my younger friends are going on cruises for their spring breaks over the next few weeks. I'm definitely jealous! :)

I made a Spring cleaning list.

Here's what I cleaned so far!
-kitchen cabinets
-doors
-appliances
-dusted the entire house
-scrubbed bathrooms

I still have to:
-clean the baseboards
-organize my horribly messy closet

Matt has swept and vacuumed. He is going to mop bathroom and kitchen floors. To me he has the worst job. I hate to sweep hardwood floors.

I love a squeaky clean house!

I'm off to get ready for a lunch date with a friend.

Shadowfeet

This is probably my favorite song right now. I liked it a lot when it first came out, then the radio played it too much. Now I love it again. I hear it every afternoon when I'm working in my classroom. I also play it over and over and over :)...you get the picture in the morning when I'm putting on my make-up (yes, it takes me awhile)! My favorite lyric is "when the world has fallen out from under me
I'll be found in you, still standing" I also LOVE when she sings "YOU make all things new"!!! Matt requested it to be played on the radio when I was driving to Valdosta to take my test yesterday since I didn't have my iPod. It never came on :( SAD. Anyway, I'm so glad it is Friday and I'm on Spring Break from VSU!!! I'll post later about our St. Patrick's Day Picnic Party!

Tennis Fever??

I am LOVING this Spring weather! I've had a wonderful week at school so far. How can my class be so perfect during a full moon? Thank you, Jesus! I gave a big presentation for one of my Reading classes (Grad School) and it went well yesterday! Today I'm just enjoying being home with Matty for an evening. I will be studying in a bit because I have a big test on Thursday.

This afternoon I went to Publix, then while supper was cooking, I went and sat out on the back deck with Blakely. I opened a fresh can of tennis balls and played fetch with her. Well, while I was getting the can of tennis balls out, I FINALLY found my earrings that have been MIA since January! I guess I can stop trying to replace them! I also pulled out my trusty old tennis racket from the good ole days at DHS and of coaching tennis clinics at the country club.


My bag of earrings! Not all mind you. And I do own a very nice vera jewelery tote..but you see what I use!

I love my Prince racket. It was one of the best to have at the time. It was expensive! But I LOVED it!

My brother and I used to play this game in our yard, where he would throw me the ball, I would hit it back to him with my racket, then he would catch it with his glove. We had the best of both worlds. So tonight, Matty and I gave it a try. It was a blast!!! FUN FUN! I am a little rusty and hit a few balls over the fence. Well, Matt lifted Blakely over and told her to get the balls. She did. She brought them back to him, then he lifted her back over! What a smart good girl!! I told her she was a hero! So when she saves the day, she is called a HERO! How sweet is that?

I decided to pull out a few photos from my tennis days! I have many more, but these were just a few that were easy to get to.


This was our team when we were so close to being state champs! We went to the State Final 4 and lost to a big private school in Atlanta. I am next to my coach...back left.

This is at a weekend tourament in Bainbridge. Our other favorite tournament was in Buckhead. I am near the top of the pyramid on the right...big white ribbon in my hair!

My FAVORITE author ever, has a new book coming out!!!

THIS BOOK GOES ALONG WITH MY FAVORITE SERIES...The Redemption Series, The First Born Series, and The Sunrise Series. Well, it has special appearances of the Baxter's!!! Woo Hooo!!! I have passed Karen's or KK's (as I like to call her) books along to many of my friends. Every single friend is now hooked and a die hard fan like me!!! I'm too excited about this book!!!!!! March 10...the book comes out! I will probably go pick mine up Thursday night after my Psychology test. If I get it on Tuesday, I will have a hard time studying :)

Sad, Sore, and Stressed!

I am sad and stressed for several reasons. I just can't reveal any of them right now. I am sore from lifting 20 sweet 6 year olds on and off of "things that move" all day yesterday. I have a few BIG boys.

This is the only thing that can possibly make me feel better right now:

"Come to me, all of you who are weary and loaded down with burdens, and I will give you rest." Matthew 11:28

Ok, enough belly aching. Matt and I enjoyed a beautiful Spring afternoon out and about our pretty downtown. We ate lunch outside at George and Louie's and saw several good friends there. Then we picked up some gifts for family members at a few of our favorite stores.


Matty enjoying the spring like temps!


Can you see the cross? So pretty!


These are our diet cokes that we got at Relish. They gave us a free bottle opener that we love too! Gotta love small towns!


Once you pop the top, it drops down and sticks to the magnet!

We went and visited with Stuart and LeAnn at their house for awhile too. LeAnn and her daughter, Ann Murray, and I went to feed their horse Sky, while Matt and Stuart played the guitar. We had fun hanging around the pond and Blakely loved running out there. Stuart and LeAnn are going to adopt a baby soon, so we were looking at everything for the nursery. She got beautiful bedding from Pottery Barn that is gender neutral, as they don't know if they will be blessed with a boy or a girl. I can't wait to find out. Ann Murray is very excited about being an older sister ;)

I am just cleaning up around the house and working on some grad school work tonight. It's just your average Saturday night around the Whelan house!

She's Country

Read

She's Country Lyrics

here.

We love Jason Aldean and his new song. These are some of my favorite lyrics.

She's a lunatic from Brunswick, juicy Georgia peach.

Country, (shoot) from her cowboy boots to her down home roots
She's country, from the songs she plays to the prayers she prays,
That's the way she was born and raised, she ain't afraid to stay, country



When I clean, I listen to country music on the radio. LOVE IT! Well, I was so tired yesterday from being outside all day at school. We had Transportation Day and rode around on all sort of things, like gators and hayrides, tractors, etc. They even had a helicopter come and land at our school. I laid down and fell asleep on the couch with my cowboy boots still on. I had a drink and my croakies thrown down near my feet and Matt took the opportunity to take a picture! I cropped myself out, but you get the picture!!

What am I thankful for??

Too many things to list...but to name just a few... since it is Thankful Tuesday!

1. I had an amazing walk through today and got a COMPLIMENT!
2. I love my administrators!
3. My sweet friend Becky surprised me at school today! She brought her two daughters, Anna and Abby by after school to visit for awhile! LOVED every second!
4. I will be studying for my test tonight. I like to get to study.
5. Biggest Loser in pj's!
6. My dad likes to SKYPE with me :)
7. My kids are smart!
8. My cooking hubby just steamed lots of yummy veggies!
9. It was partially light when I drove to school today.
10. My GOD is SO FAITHFUL!!!

I love this season of The Bachelor!

And I'm dying to find out who Jason will choose! Tonight is the night!


Will it be Melissa?


Or Molly?


But no one is prettier or funnier than Jillian!! My favorite!

OJ anyone?

Don't these pictures of oj look delicious and refreshing?

I have been CRAVING this beverage for four days now! Well, ever since I've felt sick. I must mention it to my mom EVERY time I talk to her on the phone. I also tell Matt over and over. Even though it is cold, cold, cold out tonight, I'm feeling a little better...so I think I'm going to venture out to Publix and grab a bottle of it! Yum! Hopefully, then I can get it off my mind! :)

Happy Birthday to my sweet Matty!

Matty turned the big 2-7 this year! WOW! I'm a little late with this post, but seeing as I've been sick...you know how that goes. Here are some pictures of the birthday boy!


He requested red velvet cupcakes...he LOVES pecans! Anyway I got the recipie from my favorite blog, Kelly's Korner. They turned out great!


Lots of candles! :)


Here he is blowing out 28 candles (1 to make a wish on)


The one thing our house is missing is an office. In our new house, Matt's office will be decorated in a southern/plantation theme! Thus, his favorite present...a plantation hunting dog. Looks just like Blakely to him ;)

Happy Birthday Baby!

Kiss me, I'm IRISH!

Well, I'm part Irish, but I have tons of IRISH pride!! I'm a proud alumni of DHS...Home of the Fighting Irish, and my hometown is Dublin...GREEN and growing, where shamrocks are painted throughout the street and the month of March is a month of celebrations!! Also, every man in Dublin owns a kelley green blazer...lol!


Please excuse the dust! I dusted under the chair immediately after seeing this picture...gross!


We had freezing temps down here in SGA! Brrr. These socks helped keep my toes warm!


Now, we may not have a snow day tomorrow...but look how pretty the oaks are here...swaying in the breeze because of the gusty cold winds!