What a fantastic weekend!

Truly it was!

Started off Friday night after work, going to get margaritas with some co-workers and then went to our school's ballet. I had four little girls in it. They did such a good job! Came home, relaxed and watched a movie. Nice.

Saturday...went for a run. I actually got out in my car and clocked a 5k in my neighborhood. I did this because I've been training for endurance at this treadmill class. I hadn't actually hit the roads and seen what I could do. I can successfully say that I ran my 5k in 36 minutes. This is pretty accurate because in the treadmill class I've been averaging a 11:45 mile. It stands to reason that I would tack on a little extra running it off a treadmill. After my run, I cleaned house and then headed to the Spring Market at the Agri-center. I got some pretty neat clothes! A couple of items I bought are not my typical style, but I'm going to give them a try! After I got home, Chris and I had some errands to run, and then we went to Olive Garden for dinner. YUM. We came home and played with the pup. Great night.

Sunday...went to church, had a nice lunch at American Cafe. When we came home, I took Bella on a long walk. It was really windy though! So windy it blew Bella off a curb! Lol. She's okay! Chris worked in the yard and I worked on my Ballet Body set that I will be teaching tomorrow night and did laundry. I also meanwhile started a pork tenderloin in the crock pot which we finished a little awhile ago and it was delish! Then Chris and I headed over to a friends house who has a yorkie-poo a little older than Bella and they played while my friend and I went for a run. We ran probably 2 miles or a little less because of the WIND! It was insane! So, then we came home, I finished up dinner, and we ate. Now I have a tired pup asleep on the couch, as well as a tired husband asleep on the couch. I actually also made up a meatloaf that will be cooking in the crock pot tomorrow. If you want the recipe I will share. It is really easy and very good.

It has been a great weekend, and I'm not totally ready to go back to work tomorrow, but it is that time. Time to wind it down, take a shower, and head to bed.

I hope you all had as wonderful a weekend as I did!

Mrs. KB

Bella

My sweet fur child!

Bella went for her last round of puppy shots today and has the clear to FINALLY get groomed! The hair is a wild, hot mess but I love it! She is so fun. Always happy to see you and in a playful mood. Her favorite thing to do is grab something she shouldn't have and run away with it to make you chase her. She also loves playing fetch with her mini-tennis ball. We took her to play with her first fur friend last Thursday. My friend, Sheila, has a yorkie-poo who is just a couple of months older than Bella. They were SOOOO cute together!!

So today Bella is 4 month and 1 week old, weighs 3.5 pounds, and gets cuter every day!!!

Have a good week y'all!

Mrs. KB

Holy Cow, I used to do that?!?!?!

...Ballet. Ms. Ginny, I hope you read this.

So, as you all know I teach Jazzercise. Jazzercise, Inc. has incorporated a specialty class called "Ballet Body." Can I just say WOAH.

Here is some info on the program:


So, I took Ballet from sweet Ms. Ginny at Ginny Mount School of Dance for years. Yes, I was younger then. We did tap, ballet, and jazz. I have to admit, ballet was my least favorite of the three, but I always thought others looked so pretty and graceful when they did it.

Jazzercise actually incorporates a lot of the ballet core moves. That's what the program is, a fusion of many types of dance. Well, this program focuses on just ballet, posture, and body awareness. So, I've been practicing. It's been awhile since I've done 1st-6th positions. It's been awhile since I've done a "ran de jambe," but good grief!!!! I worked on one routine and I'm hurting!!!

Tomorrow morning I teach a Jazzercise Circuit class and I am going to do a brief preview of what this Ballet Body experience is going to be like. That is if I can walk tomorrow. :)

If you would like to know more about Jazzercise, and find a class near you check out Jazzercise's Home Page.

Have a good weekend y'all!

Mrs. KB

5 Months ago...

...I married the man of my dreams. :)

...and it just keeps getting better.

Half way through the week y'all. Whoohoo!

Mrs. KB

Planning for the 5K!

So as many of you know, Jazzercise has been my "thang" for the past 3+ years. Believe me, it still is! I'm still instructing. However, on my "off" days from Jazzercise I wanted to fill them with some good, meaningful exercise.

I tried the elliptical....it was cool...especially because I could read my nook while working out...but it wasn't exciting.

I tried running in my neighborhood...but the paths in my neighborhood, for lack of a better word, suck. Literally, you have to run one direction then turn around and run right back. BORING!

At the YMCA around the corner they offer this treadmill class. They said that this class is good training for 5K's. I thought, why not? I went the first time....it was HARD. It simulates what an outside run would be like as well ask building your endurance and lung capacity. I went to another class and I'm hooooked! I can only go on Wednesday's right now. But that class is a good 5 mile run by the time the class is over. This class mixes things like power walking (warm up), base run speed, sprinting, and inclines. YIKES! I feel so good afterward thought!

On the days when I am not teaching Jazzercise, or going to the treadmill class, I do a short run (30-40 minutes) just to keep the endurance up. Right now a 5K seems really realistic for me.

It just so happens that St. George's has a 5K that is at Shelby Farms on May 6th. My hope is to do one before then so I can have the confidence. As apart of St. George's tradition, the 5th graders are encouraged to train, and run this 5K. I have signed up to help with the training of the 5th graders on our campus. We are going to start this next week. I think it'll be a lot of fun!

Who would have thought I would ever get into running? I mean SERIOUSLY?!

Well, tomorrow is treadmill class...wish me luck!

Mrs. KB

Have you ever been in a funk? / Go Tigers!

No seriously, have you ever just been in a funk? It's like you get in a bad mood...it ruins your day, and it affects other people??

Well I'm here to admit to ya that I have tendencies towards getting in these moods. I don't know what causes them. Stress, fatigue, irritations, and other various things.

Yesterday Chris and I went to his Aunt's house to hang out for the afternoon and I was riding in the car, windows down, and I was...happy! I love being happy! I said out loud to Chris, "No more bad moods!" He looked at me funny, but then I explained that I'm done with these bad moods. Because the truth is, when I'm in a bad mood...I know I am...and I make my bad mood worse by dramatizing it. Me a drama mama? NEVER! ;) So, I'm going to WOOOORK on this. NO MORE BAD MOODS! Positive, positive, positive! There is way to much to be grateful for, and I'm going to miss out on so much sitting and sulking...

"But may the righteous be glad and rejoice before God; may they be happy and joyful." Psalm 68:3

Wish me luck!!

Part 2 of this post is to brag about how AWESOME my Tigers are. We had a winning record (despite the disappointing losses we've faced), won the conference championship, and went to the big dance! We may not have made it far, but we DID it when everyone said we couldn't. We didn't win our first round game...but we didn't give that game away either. And SOME may argue that if a certain call was made we MIGHT have taken that game into overtime, but hey...I'm just sayin'!

Friday night Chris and I went to dinner and after wards we found out that the Tigers were coming in from Tulsa...like RIGHT THEN. So we sped over to Wilson Air Field to greet the team, and we got there just in time. The players were so gracious despite probably not being in the BEST mood coming off of a heartbreaking loss. However, they stopped and talked to everyone and I happened to snag a few players for some pictures! :) Here they are:

Wesley Witherspoon (who by the way is like 67 ft tall)

Will Coleman (Our Senior)

Joe Jackson (yes, I call him Sloppy Joe...but he's getting better)

DJ Stephens!

Preston Laird

Drew Barum

Chris Crawford (3's Baby!)

Charles Carmouche

and...Tarik Black (actually Chris and I tried to get a picture but the person taking it messed it up!)

So the players were SUPER nice, and I'm so glad lots of people showed up to welcome our boys home! LOOK OUT, TIGER NATION IS GONNA BE WILD NEXT SEASON!

Have a great week y'all!

Mrs. KB

I'm a bad blogger...

Yeah, so I had these high hopes of blogging regularly about the new "calm" lifestyle I have adapted into my life. I guess I just haven't done a good job of making blogging a priority! I'll say this again, I'm going to try to do better.

So...since my last blog, how has my new calm lifestyle been going? ....errrr ok....

I will admit, I have had my moments where my new outlook on life has been tested, but at the end of the day, I am calmer.

Let me catch you up on a few things since then...

In February, we continued to love our new puppy, Bella. She is growing constantly everyday and thank goodness in about two weeks we will be taking her for her last round of puppy shots. Once she has this last round, we can finally take her to be groomed, which is great because her hair is getting so long! Yes, I said hair, because yorkies have have and not fur. That is why she was an ideal dog for me, they are hypoallergenic. I'm allergic to dander in animals and yorkies don't have that!

Also in February, we went and had dinner with Chris' dad from Nashville. He was in town for a couple of nights doing business at a local bank. He took us to Folk's Folly. YUM. But there was another surprise, Chris' dad had his daughter come to dinner as well. SO, yep you guessed it! Chris met his half sister for the first time. I feel so blessed to be experiencing all of these "firsts" with Chris. I can tell it has emotionally affected him.

In February I also attempted to fix things with my dad. I sent him a lengthy e-mail that apologized for anything hateful I had ever said to him. I asked him to move forward with me and fix our relationship. Well that e-mail came and went and I got no response. Chris knows how my Dad hangs over my head at times and he took it upon himself to call him. My dad has no interest in talking to me right now, according to his conversation with Chris. Yes, this hurts, but I am working through it. The sting is starting to go away. One other thing came out in Chris' conversation with my dad....he no longer goes to Hope (my church). He told Chris that he thought I had told somethings to our pastor during our premarital counseling that might cause trouble for him. Yes I confided in my pastor, however he is MY pastor...and I can confide in him. I struggled with this for awhile because I felt the blame on my shoulders for making my dad feel like he needed to move to a new church home. I know how much he loved Hope, as do I. However, he loved Hope because they didn't know the really Larry...and now that his truth is coming out, he's doing what he does best...run.

Enough of the heavy.

Work is chugging right a long, and keeping me busy. I have never worked harder as a teacher, but I have NEVER loved what I'm doing more. I thank God everyday for my job. I was drowning where I was. St. George's was the exact match I needed!

Let's move on to March...

March has been very busy at work! We had our Pioneer Party (celebrating the completion of our 5 week pioneer unit of study.) It was lots of fun. If any of you are looking for good pioneer activities I have some good ones!

I had my evaluation. They are thrilled with my performance this year. Which of course felt so good to hear. I'm so used to the powers that be at MCS coming into your room to constantly look for something I'm doing wrong.

Chris, my mom and I went and saw The Grace Card. Wow. That movie was so powerful. Powerful enough that I have written out a card to my dad (my own grace card) and included a free movie pass in hopes that he would go see it. It's still sitting on my counter. I don't have the courage to mail it yet. Don't know if I ever will...

So the last thing I want to talk about is Chris. He is changing... Does that sound scary to you? Not to me, because the changes I am seeing are incredible.

The Lord is working in him.

He is doing more talking about his faith as of late. He is moved by things now. For example, the Grace Card. He also was moved by this Sunday's sermon at church.

When God is working in me, I cry. I'm moved emotionally. Chris is the same.

Now, let me clarify that Chris isn't sobbing all the time. But he'll have one or two tears that escape...and I can't help but think that those tears are from God.

I'm so blessed.

Love,

Mrs. KB