This was one of those weeks that I was a little nervous for, mostly because it was packed full.  But like I’ll describe in the point below, we made it and I am feeling good! Now on to a weekend of some fall fun and sweet time with our favorite people!

1) Parent-Teacher Conferences

There are so many things I love about being a teacher.  Usually I actually enjoy parent-teacher conferences because I love the glimpse I get into kids’ lives and I love hearing how my students feel about my class when they don’t have to act cool for their friends.  But as a rapidly-growing pregnant mama who has gotten used to taking 20 minute naps with her puppy every day after school, working from 7:00 AM to 8:00 PM straight for two days was pretty tough.  I was really anxious about feeling dizzy and exhausted (and/or having heartburn) during conferences, but I managed to make it through with nothing but a few dazed conversations in the last 30 minutes when my energy finally faded.  And then I came home and crashed on the floor with this girl and life was good again.  I did it, guys.  Fall parent teacher conferences are DONE!

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Happy Friday, friends! I hope you all had wonderful weeks and are heading in to a weekend of goodness and fun time with family! Here’s a few updates from our week.

1) A Proposal Anniversary

This week marked three years since Jordan got down on one knee and asked me to marry him.  Even though I had my suspicions he was going to propose that Friday because he’d been acting weird all week, it was still a sweet day full of joy and anticipation.  He took me to get my nails done and then we spent some time reading the letters we’d written during our 1.5 years of being long distance (you can read more about our love story here).  He took me to Liberty Memorial, a place we’d gone to many times to watch the sun set over the city.  After reading me one more letter, the letter he’d written to my parents asking for my hand in marriage, he got down on one knee and asked me forever.  Lots of squeals and jumping up and down later, I said yes! And the cherry on top? He’d had my two best friends fly out to photograph the proposal and then spend the weekend wedding dreaming and planning with me.  It was such a fun and exciting time and I’m so grateful for all that’s happened since then!

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Happy Friday, friends! This week I’ve been grateful for cool mornings, pumpkin coffee (#noshame), after school naps, and slower days while my students worked independently on a project.  Here are some updates from our week!

1) Teacher of the Month

Time for a not so humble brag…my students voted me for our school’s teacher of the month! It’s silly, but this was super encouraging in a few weeks where I’ve felt kind of overwhelmed with balancing work, life, and blogging.  And when your middle schoolers vote you for teacher of the month and you get a cool trophy, is there any other appropriate response besides taking a selfie? No, ma’am, there is not.  You’re welcome. #lemmetakeaselfie #middleschooler4lyfe

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Happy Friday, friends! It is officially fall, even though the weather still feels more like summer, and I know I’m excited for all the stereotypical but still wonderful things that fall brings.  I’m excited for time this weekend for some fall crafting and cool mornings! Here are some updates from our week as we continue to transition from the lazy days of summer to the busier days of fall.

1) Reading, reading, and more reading!

I made the decision a few months ago to limit my Netflix and try to read more (and by that I mean I ran out of new shows, rewatched every episode of Gilmore Girls, and then gave up on finding something else to watch).  I finished For the Love by Jen Hatmaker this week and she had me laughing out loud on our couch (especially her rants about how leggings/tights aren’t pants – wish I could share that one with my 8th graders).  This week I’m starting Emily Freeman’s It’s Simply Tuesday and can’t wait to wrestle with the idea of what it looks like to find joy in my small, ordinary days.

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Happy Friday, y’all! These first few weeks of the school year we’ve had lots of slow nights and chances to just hang at home, watch Friday Night Lights, and snuggle our puppy.  This week was our first busy week with church stuff back into gear for the fall and some other random commitments and we both felt a little frazzled for a while there.

We intentionally try to keep our lives and our schedules slow for lots of reasons, and this week was a reminder of why! I love all the things we’re involved in but also love having slow time at night to rest, recharge, and reconnect with that husband of mine.  Our lives are usually pretty slow and I wouldn’t have it any other way! Anyway…here are some updates and pictures from our busier than usual week!

1) Kicking off our church small group for the fall!

We started hosting/leading a small group through our church last year and have loved getting to know these folks.  I learn so much from them each week and love getting to share life with them.  Most of them live pretty close and I love getting to share walks, coffee dates, pedicures, and shopping trips with all these lovely ladies (and the occasional double date with our hubbies too).  We kicked off the fall with a big family meal and I made one of my favorites for big groups: this meat sauce from Lexi’s Clean Kitchen with a huge pot of spaghetti and some roasted spaghetti squash for the non-gluten inclined folks.  It’s so easy to make and works for large groups of people.  You’ve definitely got to try it if you need an easy recipe for a big group of people!

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We made it to the weekend! Wooooooooo! It’s been a fun week in my blog world and my real world, and I’m excited to share it all with you folks!

1) New Blog Design

You might notice things are looking pretty different around here! Like I mentioned in Wednesday’s post about being willing to invest in my blog dreams and take my blog seriously, I spent the last few weeks working with the wonderful Madison Wetherill of Grace and Vine studios to makeover my blog.  I LOVE how it turned out and feel so much more comfortable in this new space! Working with a designer helped me to accomplish and change some things I’ve disliked about my blog for a while now, and I can’t recommend Madison enough!  To give you some perspective, my old blog design looked like the picture below.  I am so glad I took the time to change it and make it something I love!

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Oh my word, what a fun week it was! Aside from some craziness with multiple Back to School nights and end of summer get-togethers, it was a fun, joyful week as we shared our fun news with our friends, colleagues, and the social media world (see below for more details).

1) Our Growing Family

In case you missed this post on Tuesday, Jordan and I are SO excited to announce that we are expecting our first little one next March! It has been a crazy few months full of prayer, squeals, and lots of fun moments when we got to share our joy with our family and friends.  I’m about 12 weeks pregnant now and so ready to leave the nausea and worry of the first trimester behind me! Check out Tuesday’s post for more details on our decision to try for kiddos and all that’s happened since then!

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So remember that trip to Mexico we took way back in July? And all those yummy fruity drinks I talked about enjoying on the beach? Well, all of those drinks were actually non-alcoholic, because at 4 AM on the morning that we left for Mexico, this happened:

After lots of conversations and prayer last year, we decided that we’d, let’s just say, “remove the goalie” and see what happened this summer.  We weren’t in a huge rush to start a family, but had seen lots of people we love wrestle with infertility and miscarriage and wanted to open ourselves to whatever God might bring to our family before we reached a point of feeling desperate.  Two short months later, after being a day late on my period and wanting to see if I’d be able to sip on real piña coladas during our Mexico trip, I thought I’d take a pregnancy test.  And to our complete surprise, it was POSITIVE!

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