My favorite Christmas present

This year I received two presents from students at school. One was a pair of earrings and one was a letter.

The letter came from an older sister of one of my students. She attends the same school and stops by for hugs and to check on her brother a lot. She is also part of the school musical that I am helping with.

Here is her letter, spelling and grammar errors left intact :-)

Happy Holiday Ms. Stewart I think your a great teacher and your always trying to do your best. I think you will be a great princalebel. I hope you will be here next year cause I will be so happy if you stayed at LoveWorks Academy. I hope your wonderful family have a very nice holiday over christmas break. I really want you to be my teacher forever cause I really like you as a friend and I hope you remeber me.

Not to downplay any of the other gifts I have received but this letter is my favorite. It is amazing how one little note can inspire and motivate me to keep trying to do my best! I love that she said that in her letter. I always tell my students to keep trying, never give up and to always do their best.

Growing up my sisters and I each had a plaque on the wall that described the meaning of our names and had a Bible verse on it. This is what mine said:

Olivia: Peaceful Spirit

Pleasant words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.

Proverbs 16:24

That verse describes what that letter was for me. What a wonderful gift.

It must be said

I just want to say I love my husband.

He is everything that I prayed for. He is my soul mate, my best friend, my encourager, my protector, and my dance partner for life. I am so crazy blessed by him. I love you Joel.

Day Five: A quiet Christmas morning

Merry Christmas! The day has barely started and already I feel blessed. I am sitting in the kitchen by myself enjoying the day. I love being the first one awake and getting to enjoy the quiet of morning.

I was also happy to receive a text from my sister this morning saying she was able to board her plane to Miami. I am so glad. I thought the snow might deter her trip. Thankfully my mom and twin sister are on their way to Antigua, Guatemala...lucky ducks!

Hopefully everyone will wake up soon so we can celebrate together. I had a dream last night that I woke up and walked into the living room only to find that everyone had opened all of the presents without me and no one was home. It was sad, but thankfully only a dream! I looked as soon as I woke up and found this still waiting for me :-)

Day Four: Christmas Eve

I have no pictures to share of the day. I just wanted to record what we did today.

Joel and his mom finished another puzzle. My favorite part was the piece that had obviously been chewed by a dog. I love pets and the spice they add to life :-)

While they did the puzzle we discussed dinner and what to make. I mentioned the amazing carrot souffle I had in Duluth this fall during my girls weekend. I had no idea how to make it but still salivate at the thought of it. I looked up a recipe online and used the one I found here. It was pretty easy and everyone loved it. I only put half the sugar in but it was still a little sweet for me. I am in it for the carrots not the sugar. I love carrots!

We prepped all the food and put it in the oven with a timer set so that we could go to church and come back with dinner ready. We headed off to Christmas Eve service. It was a great message about Joseph and the role he played as Jesus's father, not something I had thought about very much as Joseph doesn't say much in the Bible. After church we greeted friends and caught up on who is engaged, married, pregnant, away at school etc. Joel's sister is pregnant, but some people thought I was pregnant! Thankfully no one came up and asked me when I was due... I have put on a little bit of holiday weight but hope I don't look pregnant!

After church we came home to find that the oven timer had been set for the wrong oven (this oven is very fancy and has two ovens!) Some people were hungry but I thought it was a fortunate mistake. We still had one hour to wait for the food so we played games. It was great! I love sitting around and laughing with family.

An hour later we stuffed ourselves silly with dinner. Promptly after dinner I put on my pajamas and curled up for a nap on the couch. It is my own holiday tradition I guess!

The family sat around and talked for a while and then all went to bed.

Day Three: Fun with Friends and Family

Today our plan was to go hiking or snowshoeing in the mountains. We decided to change our plans because Colorado got so much snow overnight. We thought driving up and down the mountains might be stressful so we stayed home.

Instead I relaxed with Joel and his family, finished a puzzle, ate homemade turkey dumpling soup, saw the movie Blindside and spent the whole time wiping Joel's tears. Just kidding :-) Then we met up with friends at our favorite local restaurant, Roma's. I was going to post a picture of the delicious Carolis but didn't remember to take a picture until I only had a couple bites left. A picture wouldn't do it justice anyway. Then we went to a friends house and played games, I took a nap on the couch then woke up to a friend wearing a wizard costume, played a few more games, laughed a lot, took a few pictures and then went home. It was a very full and fun day. It is fun to meet up and carry on the traditions of Roma's, playing Round Robin ping pong, playing games and having fun. I am so thankful that Joel had these great friends growing up and that they still get together and enjoy each other's company. They even refer to themselves as brothers. Of course the group has expanded to include a few ladies and even a baby on the way. Welcome to the family Baby Olive!

Day Two in Colorado: Early Retirement

Day two was very relaxing. I slept in, had breakfast, finished a puzzle, had lunch, did some sewing, used the elliptical machine, soaked in the hot tub, made dinner, ate with family and fell asleep on the couch. This must be what being retired feels like. Anyone have suggestions on how to be able to retire early?

My favorite part of the day was getting to sew. I woke up with the desire to make something, but being on vacation I don't have access to all of my crafty supplies. Thankfully my mother-in-law was planning on making a privacy curtain for guests sleeping on the hide-a-bed and she let me make it. I had a great time learning how to use her sewing machine. I always love getting to see and use other people's crafting space and because she is part of my family it was an extra special moment for me. I love getting to look in sewing boxes that have been passed down through the family. I have my grandma's sewing box. I love sewing with her needles, thread and buttons. It makes me feel close to her again.

Day One in Colorado: Having fun in Boulder!

Joel and I are in Colorado for a week visiting his family. Today we set out to do our Christmas shopping. We went to Longmont and then to Boulder to meet up with his sister for lunch. We went to a great Thai restaurant in Bolder called Khow Thai. So delicious!

These are pictures of Joel and I while shopping. We passed a little hat kiosk and had a little fun before moving on! I love my husband...we have so much fun!

Beginning of Christmas Break!

Friday, December 18th was my last day of teaching until January 5th! I am going to miss my kids but I am SO thankful for a break. Joel and I spent all of Saturday with friends. Our day started off with meeting up with a one of our favorite couples to workout and have breakfast. The workout was just a good excuse to get together! Then we went home and made chili for a potluck lunch with our small group.

I love our small group. We spent the rest of Saturday with them. We went caroling at a nursing home. This is a small group tradition and was our third year doing it together. Then we went back to our leader's house and made cookies. This is a picture of one of my best friends and her adorable son! We had a great time decorating (and eating) cookies.

This is what the boys did while we made cookies. They played poker and consumed cookies!

After a full day we went downstairs, snuggled up in blankets, had tea and watched "The Holiday". I took a few naps on the couch throughout the day as well. All in all this was probably one of my favorite days. We have great friends.

The little things

After a 12 hour day at school including 6 kids being kicked out for disruptive behavior, "I will follow directions" copied 5 times, 4 kids on the naughty list at music, 3 temper tantrums, 2 kids puking, and 1 after school musical practice I was blessed by one very small thing.

At the very end of my drive home I was stopped at a light waiting to take my final turn home. There was a dog hanging out the window in front of me and I could see it's breath when it barked. For some reason this just made me laugh. I love that this dog wanted to hang out the window and bark at cars driving by even though it was literally freezing outside. Just proof that joy can be found in the little things.

Finding time to be creative

Lately it has been difficult for me to find time to be crafty. A couple times I have sat down to make something and have been too stressed to be creative. Thankfully I have started making fun headbands. They are quick, easy and fun accessories. Here are a couple that I have made.

I am so thankful that I have a space to be crafty in. It really helps when I only have a few minutes to make something that all of my materials are organized and in one place. It is also wonderful to know that I have a collection of supplies on hand so that if I need some kind of fabric, yarn, button, paint etc. I should have something that will work without needing to run to the store. This is just one of the reasons that I love my life right now! It makes me feel really blessed.

Rite of Passage

This November Joel and I hosted Thanksgiving at our house for the first time. At first I was overwhelmed because I had no idea how to cook a turkey and all of the fixings. Plus we were also hosting five people for the week... oh yeah and we redid the living room the weekend before everyone came (I will post a few pics of that soon).

In the end we had a week full of time enjoying our new living room with Joel's family and eating delicious food. Joel's mom made the turkey. I have another one in the freezer and I will let you know how that one turns out when I make it :-)

This was one of those Rites of Passage that prove I am growing up!