We Are Family!!

I LOVE my family. I couldn't have asked for a better family to be born into or a better family to marry into. God has truly blessed me with an amazing family.

Yesterday, Katie asked us to share pictures of our family. You should be warned now, this post is going to have a LOT of photos.

Let's start with my immediate family. If you have been reading this blog for very long you know all about me, the husband, and the furbabies. Andrew is absolutely my best friend. He is an amazing man who loves me than I deserve, even when I'm not easy to love. He is incredibly smart and talented. He works so hard to provide for me. He doesn't look too bad either. :) Miss Liberty Belle will always be my first child. She has taught me more about patience than I could ever share with you in one post. Liam Bailey is my sweet cuddly boy. He has taught me that my heart has room for two puppies. :) I'll share more about them in today's challenge which will be all about them.

As for the family I was born in to.... My Momma is my best girlfriend. We are so much alike that it is scary at times. I can cry my heart out to her about anything. I love to hang out with her every chance I get. I so wish they lived closer. My Daddy is just that...my Daddy. I definitely think of him like every little girl should think of her Daddy. He's my hero. He loves my Momma and works hard to take care of us. In my eyes, he can do anything. Seth, my sweet baby brother. I love the young man he has become. He is so sweet although I think he tries to hide that at times. He is so much fun to hang out with. I cherish the time I get to spend with him. I know that when God sees fit, he is going to make a wonderful husband.

The In-Laws.....That really isn't the right term. In-laws has such a negative connotations in today's world. I hear so many jokes and stories about how awful the in-laws are. I just feel sorry for those people and so thankful that God blessed with the perfect in-laws. They are my family. I love them dearly. Daddy & Momma Weaver are wonderful. They love me like one of their own. I could share story after story of times when they have made me feel loved.

I grew up with just the one brother. when I became Mrs. Weaver, I gained a whole big crew of brothers and sisters. And I LOVE it.

Andrew's oldest brother, Chris is married to Kerri. Kerri has two daughters, Kacie & Kaitlyn, and they have Kandace. They are a beautiful family that we enjoy hanging out with.

Andrew's older sister is Jayna. She is married to Tony. They have three kids, Jessica, Waylon, & Joylyn. They are such a sweet family. I think of them as the quiet ones. I'm not sure a quiet Weaver even exist, but they are as close as it gets. :) We don't get to see them nearly as often as we would like.

Next in the line up is Joy and her husband Gerry. They have the three boys, Tyler, Cody, & Pryce. Joy and Gerry are such a godly couple! I love to spend time with them. I always leave filling a desire to know God in a more intimate way. We love the boys too! Andrew loves to hang out with them and play ball.







Jill is married to Alex. They have sweet little Amelia. Jill is very near and dear to my heart. She is the sister that scared me when I first started dating Andrew. :) She loves her family and you just don't mess with that. Alex is Andrew's boss so they of course spend lots of time together. And Miss Amelia...Well you know what we think of her. I get to hang out with her Tuesday evening and to say I'm looking forward to it would be a huge understatement.

Last but not least is Cary. Cary is married to Sara and they have Jackson & Millie. Cary is probably Andrew's best friend. They are two years apart and as far as I can tell have always been close. Andrew really looks up to Cary. I can't tell you how many times we've been debating a decision about this or that and Andrew has called for Cary's opinion. Sara is a lot of fun too. And creative!!! That girl could make anything. Jackson and Millie....I miss getting to see them on a regular basis. Jackson is a hoot! Millie is just as sweet as she can be. She celebrated her 1st birthday today. Millie, Uncle Andrew and I wish we could have been there. We love you sweet girl!!

So that's the family! I can't say enough about how much I am truly blessed to have each and everyone one of them as my family.

So Far Behind....

I have been so far behind this week. Missing school is hard on a teacher. In fact, I think it much harder to miss work than to be there. I have spent this week getting caught up on the three days I missed last week. That has only served to put me behind on this week.



I'm even behind on my blogging. My Internet decided to quit working this week. So frustrating. It always seems to do that when my IT guy of a husband is one the road. He literally walked in tonight and had it working in about 2 seconds. Love that man!!



Wednesday's challenge over at Katie's blog was to share something we have learned. Hmmm.... What have I learned that is worth sharing. The one thing that comes to mind is something I'm still working to put to practice. Happiness is a choice. I'm the only person that gets to decide if I'm happy or not. No one else gets to determine how I react to any given situation. Life can stink at times, but it is my choice and my choice alone how I respond to the people around me and the circumstances. I can look to anyone else for my happiness. At least not anyone on this Earth.



Thursday's challenge was the iPod Shuffle. We're supposed to put our iPods on shuffle and list the first ten songs that play. I've been looking forward to this challenge. I have a ton of stuff on my iPod and a pretty big variety. I'm curious to see what songs pop up. I'm going to cheat a little. I have three or four versions of the Bible on my iPod. I'm going to skip when those come up and just do the first 10 SONGS that play.

1. Ooh La La by Rod Stewart
2. Take it All by Hillsong United
3. Get Rhythm by Joaquin Phoenix
4. Dive by DC Talk
5. We Belong Together (Tarzan & Jane) by Steven Curtis Chapman
6. Cry for Love by Michael W. Smith
7. Cheers (TV Themes)
8. Perfect Strangers (TV Themes)
9. Every Little Thing by Hawk Nelson
10. El Shaddai by Travis Cottrell

There you have it....Interesting Mix.


I'll finish getting caught up this weekend. The husband is home, but just for the weekend. Our only plans are pictures tomorrow. We are going to take it easy and just rest from our weeks.

I've Got The Fever!

It actually feels like fall outside today. I walked out of school and was hit by this wonderfully cool weather. Then it started misting. It was perfect. Felt like fall.

But this kind of weather does something to me. As soon as I got in my car I put on my Christmas music.

Yes, you read that right.

I stand firm in my belief that it is never to early for Christmas music. I had to listen to "Baby It's Cold Outside" by James Taylor. LOVE IT!!

I wanted to come home and curl up with a bowl of chili and a good book.

Instead I came home had a grilled ham & cheese (which was very yummy) and curled up with a huge stack of papers that needed to be graded. :) Missing three days last week is kicking my fanny.

I have to miss to class periods tomorrow afternoon too. I made a dentist appointment because I've had a toothache since Saturday. You know it hurts if I'm voluntarily going to the dentist. If you know me at all you know that I despise the dentist. I cry every time I have to go, even for just a teeth cleaning. I'd rather get a pap smear every day of my life than to ever have to go to the dentist. I hate it that much.

Hopefully there isn't anything too major that is causing this awful toothache.

Since I've already wondered off from my original thought, I'll go ahead and throw in today's challenge from Katie. She is asking us to share our favorite vacation.

That's a toughie! Any vacation is a good one in my opinion. I have loved all of our vacations for different reasons. I have to say that I really loved DC. It was the first vacation Andrew and I took by ourselves since our honeymoon. It was a lot of fun and educational too!!

30 Days: My Favorite City

I'm a country girl at heart. I don't think I would ever want to live in the city. So....my favorite city is one that was fun to visit.



Washington DC

Who Dat! 30 Day Challenge

I thought I would combine Katie's challenge today with a "normal" post. Katie's challenge today is to share a picture of yourself. Not my favorite one so far. :)

Wednesday morning 4 of my coworkers and I headed out for New Orleans. The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics held a conference there on Thursday and Friday.

It was a long drive down, but it was a lot of fun. We talked and laughed until we nearly cried. I am incredibly blessed to have coworkers that I enjoy being with.

We got into town Wednesday night around 7:30 and were exhausted. We grabbed dinner in the hotel restaurant and then went to bed.

Thursday morning we woke up and got ready for our first day at the conference. I attended some great workshops. They also had several exhibits there with different companies presenting their ideas/products. I purchased a few things that I'm really excited about. Teachers, you should totally check out Faceing Math. It's great! They have something for all grade levels. If you don't have math, they have something for you too.

One of my coworkers has an aunt who lives in New Orleans. She made reservations for us at a fancy spancy restaurant called Dragos for Thursday night. It was really yummy. I even got brave and tried fish.

Friday after the conference, we went to the aquarium. Oh My Goodness! It was so neat!!! My two favorite parts were where you walk through a tunnel and fish are swimming above you and around you and getting to watch them feed the penguins. I LOVE PENGUINS!!





We also walked through the Riverwalk several times while there. They had some great shopping and food.
On the trolley



Friday night Starla's aunt treated us to Beignets and hot chocolate. Beignets are French donuts. They taste a lot like funnel cakes.


It was definitely a great business trip! We had so much fun!! And I learned some too!

But, I was glad to be home last night. I stopped by to see Miss Amelia Earhart and then headed home to my furbabies. They were VERY happy to have Mommy home. They slept outside all week and my nephew, Pryce, came over to feed them every day. We were thankful to have him this week.

30: Nicknames

We are sharing our nicknames today over at Katie's Journey. I have had several nicknames throughout my life. When I was little my family called me Lainabug. Oh I hated this as I got older.

In high school some of my friends called me Lainer. My senior year of high school, I worked at Sonic and all my friends there called me Skinny or Slim.

My mother-in-law calls me her little one, which I like. :)

The husband calls me Wifees.

My Aunt Tammy always call Elaina Ann, and yes that is my name, but no one other than her really uses my first and middle name.

I always think about nicknames when I think about what we want to name our kids. Nicknames can be very cruel to a young kid in school.

30 Days: Something You Miss

Today we are sharing something we miss.

Tonight I'm missing the husband. He is out of town again.

:(