weekend happenings...and the tulip festival

This weekend, was B-U-S-Y!

Friday, I came home and CRASHED after a crazy week at school!  My hubby let me sleep for about an hour on the couch...which was exactly what I needed.

We headed out that night to go to dinner at my sweet friend Donna's house with her hubby Byron and my parents.  We spend the evening laughing, eating, and playing a very fun card game called SCUM.  Let's just say I got second place and we stayed until 11PM.

We work up EARLY Saturday, which is very rare for us.  However, it was totally worth it.  My sister-in-law was celebrating her birthday and the whole family somehow was able to come together!

We woke up at the crack of dawn...hopped in the car, got on the ferry, and drove some more!

LOVED getting to spend special time with all of my family....can't believe I have been able to call them MINE for almost a year now!

Sweet Abbie playing the guitar with grandpa...love her little look of concentration!

She obviously has great style.

This is my brother-in-law and my sweet niece.  I snapped this as we were walking up to the fields...and thought it was just too sweet!

And NOW for picture overload... we spent most of Saturday at the Tulip Festival... SUCH an amazing sight!

I seriously won the mother-in-law jack pot.

 In-Laws.  Never knew I could love them this much.

 Being an Auntie is awesome.

 My hubby and I...love the bright flowers.

 Such an amazing example of God's awesome creation!

 Fields for days.....

 Gorgeous.

 Beautiful.

 Amazing.

 Stunning.

 Striking.

 Delicate.

 Special.

My sweet hubby and his Mama...in the pink field!

This is Ryan's side of the family!  The day we got married, I inherited a Mom, Dad, 3 sisters, 3 brother in laws, 4 nephews, and 4 nieces!  And miraculously, with only a weeks notice... all of us but two were able to get together and celebrate Terra's birthday!

 

I always wanted a sister...and now I have 3!

All the siblings and spouses.  Funny story... Stacy's husband Jeremy had to work...so my nephew Ian made a balloon.  It came everywhere with us, and gave us a great laugh!

 

All the women in Ryan's life :)

Fun, fun weekend...now back to the daily grind!  One more week before state testing...we are cramming! :)

P.S. Here is a neat video of the aerial view of the tulip festival... so neat!
http://www.komonews.com/home/video/148579185.html

sweet celebrations...

My hubby and I, along with 3 other amazing people, get the privilege and honor of leading a high school 'small' group through our youth group at church.

I put small in quotes because our 'small' group has ranged everywhere from 8-80! 

Yes, I have 80 kids that I love dearly and willingly subject myself to their never ending drama. 

In other words, I truly love it. 

This past Wednesday, happened to be one of our leader's birthdays.

Mel joined our group in January when she came to Winter Camp... and hasn't left since.  She has fallen in love with all our kids...and honestly, I think they have fallen in love with her!

She responds to Mel, Mama, Mama K, Mama Kunkle, Mrs. Kunkle...the list goes on.

We decided a celebration was in order, and spent part of our Wednesday eating cupcakes, laughing, and praying over her.

{Mel is the tiny woman being squished in the middle of the picture}

 

I am so thankful God brought her to our group...she brings with her years of youth leading experience, wisdom, the knowledge of teenagers since she has raised FOUR boys (currently who are 17, 18, 19, and 20...WOW), and one of the kindest, biggest, sweetest hearts. 

Thank you Mel, for your love and commitment to youth group, and to our small group! 

grey clouds...

I live in Washington {for those of you who didn't know that}.

And while we may be famous for our rain and clouds.... well, that is just what we use as a 'cover' to keep too many people from settling down here.

Granted, it does rain a lot.  And we have a lot of grey days.  And a good portion of them involve some sort of precipitation: rain, sleet, mist, hail, snow....

Today is one of those days. 

After our first few B.E.A.Utiful days of the year this past weekend... Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday have been...icky. 

Rain.

Mist.

Grey clouds.

This morning as I was getting ready, I was listening to our local Christian radio station on my phone {LOVE the new app!}.  The great thing is that they don't have the normal commercials, and instead have these great little mini sermons.

This morning the speaker was talking about being {joyful}.  How our attitude reflects our joy.  And how we are all witnesses to the joy of the Lord.

Ouch. 

I realized that my attitude, was not reflecting the joy the Lord brings...and in turn my attitude was not bringing the joy of the Lord to others.  I love those moments when you have read a verse a hundred times...but it sticks out to you in a different way.  

So this morning, opened my bible, and read about joy...here is what I found. 

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 ~ Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

Romans 12:12 ~ Be joyful in hope, patient in trouble, and persistent in prayer.

James 1:2 ~ Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds.

Philippians 4:4 ~ Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, Rejoice!

1 Chronicles 16:27 ~ Honor and majesty are in His presence; strength and joy are in His sanctuary.

Psalm 118: 24 ~ This is the day which the Lord has brought about; we will rejoice and be glad in it.

I wish I would always remember to go to the Word when I am feeling down... it really does bring me JOY!

blessed...

This morning was a particularly rough morning at school. 

This past weekend was beautiful and gorgeous weather.  So was Monday. 

Tuesday?  Woke up to rain and dark clouds. 

And that is kind of how my heart has felt this morning. 

{Dark and cloudy.}

Honestly, I was grumpy with my kids this morning.  Not displaying the patience I should have.

But in the midst of all of that... I feel so blessed to have people in my life who truly care.

My dear sweet friend Nicole hand delivered a hot white mocha to my classroom this morning.  In the crazyiness of her day, she took the time to write me a little note and share some of her love. 

I cried in front of my kids. 

On the bottom she write this verse: Ephesians 3:14-21 which says ~

"For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen."

Thank you dear friend for a much needed 'pick-me-up' and encouragment. 

     

task cards...

After discovering an amazing collection of task cards on ProTeacher (a free site, but you have to create a log-in!), I hopped on the 'task card' bandwagon...and wanted to make as many as I could!

I quickly realized there were THOUSANDS available...and they matched up EXACTLY what I wanted to review!

After a quick e-mail to my student's parents... 6 of them volunteers to spend their evening cutting and gluing. :)

So in what would have taken me forever...is now almost done!

Here is one collection of them... each color represents a 'topic'.  They are currently in the laminator, and when I get them back I will hole puch the corner, put them on a ring, and the kids can flip through and answer each card!

I even discovered an answer sheet!  All the kids have to do is put their answer in a box, and it will correspond with each topic covered on the card!  I am REALLY hoping this will help in covering all those 'last minute' things, as well as all the things we covered in the beginning of the year!

My students test May 7th, 8th, and 9th... only two more weeks to go!

7PM...

Tonight I stayed at school until 7PM.

The kids left at 3:25.

My 'paid day' ended at 3:40.  That's 3 hours and 20 minutes of unpaid overtime.

Started the day at 7:30...but started PAY at 8:20.  Again, that is 50 minutes of unpaid overtime. 

Not that anyone is counting...but that is 4 hours and 10 minutes of unpaid work today.  

If we also count the time I spent at HOME working on my project...which was about an hour...I'm up to 5 hours and 10 minutes of overtime...thank you very much. 

Around 5:30, I needed a pick me up.

Enter my amazing husband. 

Who showed up with a Wild Cherry and a touch of Banana slurpee.

And in the midst of my {state testing review, calling parents, planning for next week, and filling out paperwork for student's Dr. visits{.... 

I was reminded how much my hubby loves me. 

So thankful for him. 

  

ready or not...

What my school bag looked like on Friday, when I brought it home from work before break. 

What my school bag looked like on the Sunday night before school starts after break. 

I had really great intentions... but {coffee dates, lunch dates, laying out in the sun, meeting up with friends, house cleaning, car cleaning, laundry, oral surgery, ice cream eating, husband loving, and resting} seemed to have gotten in the way. 

So here I am BLOGGING, at 9:26 PM the night before my first day back....and juuuusttt starting to open up this {mess}, to prepare for the upcoming week!