More news!

Sorry it has been so long since I updated.  I haven't been feeling great the last few weeks, but today I feel GREAT so I thought I would write.  Because I haven't been feeling well, we haven't taken any pictures! I know I said I would, but oh well.  We will take some on Thanksgiving and post them I promise!  We have a NEW due date: July 5, 2009. Its about 6 days later than we originally thought.  I was a little bummed at first when the doctor said I wasn't as far along, but its only a week.  I did feel like we were at 7 weeks forever! Now we are 8 1/2 weeks and I have been suffering terrible morning sickness, except not in the morning, ALL DAY!! I even stayed home sick from school one day last week because it was so bad.  Today I have felt great, so hopefully (crossing my fingers) the worst of it is over.  I hope it at least lasts through tomorrow since I have to drive 7 hours.

Now, on to the "more news" I was talking about.  We are moving to.....ALABAMA!!!!!!!!!!!! Daniel accepted a position with a company called Hancock Forest Management.  The job is actually in Harpersville, AL, but we will probably live somewhere closer to Birmingham, like Chelsea or Inverness.  Daniel actually starts Dec. 1 and his last day with Sewall is tomorrow, Nov. 26.  We are trying to get all of Daniel's clothes and stuff packed tonight! Tomorrow we will drive two cars to Birmingham and Daniel will move into his mom and dads house.  He is also taking the animals with him, so that I can get the house ready to sell.  His wonderful Granny and Pa have offered to keep Missy (the cat) for a while, and Charlotte (the dog)  will stay with Daniel at the Crawford's house.  I will come back to Charlotte after Thanksgiving break and finish teaching through the end of December.  I haven't told my students or parents yet, and am dreading that!  This is the part that makes it a little bittersweet.  I will join Daniel at the Crawford's house Dec. 2o (or close to that date).  Hopefully our house will sell fast (crossing my fingers and praying for a miracle!), and we can find something in Birmingham.  We are SO excited to be moving home to the grandparents!!

Have a Happy Thanksgiving Week! 

Belly Pics 11-6-08

Sorry Amy! I did say I would post them.  I decided I would do very Thursday since thats the day I started...once a week.  There isn't any change...and I am arching my back some, but its the best I have.

Fire!

This evening, we were watching National Treasure on TV and kept hearing fire trucks drive like right past our house.  After the 3rd or 4th one, we decided to go outside and check it out.  As we walked out our back door, we saw a house engulfed in flames.  Here are a few pictures:

As far as we know, no one was in the house.  So that is good news!

Halloween

Every year on Halloween, I invite my students to come trick-or-treating at my house.  It is something that my mentor, Jan Roberts, told me she did my first year. I thought it was a great idea and have done it every year as well.  The kids love it! They think it's so special to see where Mrs. Crawford lives and they get to meet Mr. Crawford.  This year it was special because they got to meet Charlotte the dog.  I write stories about her all the time when teaching writing lessons.  This year I was smart and took pictures with all of them.  Out of 21 students, 11 came.  I am missing a picture of the first visitor, but hopefully her mom will send it to me soon!  Enjoy these pictures of my cute students (some of who I couldn't even recognize!)

Baby Crawford

Daniel and I are so excited to announce that we are expecting "Baby Crawford" June 30, 2009.   The other exciting news in the Crawford family is that Courtney and Scott are also expecting in June 2009.  It looks like we will be doing things together again. Daniel and I are really excited to be able to share this special time with Scott and Courtney and look forward to the cousins growing up together!  It's also nice to have someone to talk to that is going through the same things.  We had a doctor's appointment last week and he told us that we were 5 weeks 4 days, so that puts us at 6 weeks 2 days today.  We were so excited that we just couldn't keep it a secret!  We will need plenty of prayers and support in the next 8 months and then for the next 18 years (at least!!)  Our next appointment is next week, November 12 where we will have our first ultrasound and blood test, ect.  I am feeling fine so far, just REALLY tired (and hungry)!  We will take a new picture every Sunday as well as on each day of a doctor's visit.  Here is the first of many pictures of my belly...even though there's nothing to see yet!

Funny story (or not so funny) about these pictures.  My oh so wonderful hubby took these pictures and he says to me "Quit poking out your belly!"  Thanks a lot honey...I might be pretty skinny, but I DO have some fat and of course my husband just HAS to point it out!

BIG News!!!

We're expecting!

At Home Teacher Work Day!!!

Well, it's a once in a lifetime day tomorrow! An at home teacher work day! Because of the gas shortage mentioned in my last post, CMS has decided that tomorrow's teacher work day will be a work from home day.  We are suppose to use our time at home tomorrow for work and to find gas while everyone else is at work.   Well,  I don't have to get gas because my wonderful husband found some gas and filled up my car.  He had to go to South Carolina to get it, but it was only about a 20 minute drive.  He went and waited in line for just a few minutes and filled up my car and then came home, switched to his truck and went back to fill it up.  I intend to enjoy my "workday" tomorrow!  I will go into school for a little while, but mostly I will enjoy my paid day off! HAHA! I probably shouldn't refer to it as that.  I will do work, but I bet a lot of teachers and staff won't.  I hope you enjoy your Tuesday as much as I intend to enjoy mine!

-Leslie

Football and Gas...

Well, I'm sorry I haven't posted anything in a while.  We have been busy with work and other things, but nothing too exciting has happened, so I had nothing to write about.  We did go to the Auburn vs. LSU game last weekend.  We enjoyed seeing my family (Mom, Jamie, Whitney (Jamie's girlfriend), Uncle Henry, Aunt Leigh Anne, Abby, and Sarah), Daniel's family (everyone!!!), and a few old friends.  Lane rode to Auburn with us and we enjoyed spending time with her.  On the way we saw a motorcycle run into the back of a stopped car...not too pretty....I have to call 911, that was a new experience, but it looked like everyone was okay.  It was a good game...even though we lost.  We did better than I could have ever expected, so I can't complain.  Now, after this weekend, with Alabama at #2, LSU at #3, Georgia at #11, Florida at #12, Auburn at #13, and Vanderbilt at #19, the SEC looks pretty good.  It just stinks that we have to keep knocking each other around!  Hopefully we will work out these kinks in our offense and beat a couple of those teams I mentioned before.  

Anyway, on to what this post was really suppose to be about.  GAS...  Mom and Dad (Crawford) were suppose to come visit us this weekend, but on Wednesday we had to cancel because there is NO gas anywhere in Charlotte.  They were afraid they would get stuck here longer than just the weekend.  Daniel and I were trying not to panic like it seems the whole city is doing and felt fine with our 1/2 tanks of gas (each). Well, after driving back and forth to school all week and then going to church this morning, my car is almost down to a 1/4 of a tank and Daniel's not far behind.  So Daniel decided to get on the phone and call gas stations rather than driving around to find one (and using gas).  Well, just a few minutes ago, he called a station in South Carolina down 77, and they said they have 16000 gallons!!  He is headed to the station now!  Hopefully at least one of us will have gas now...I guess we could carpool to work with each other.  Who knows??  

WAR EAGLE!  

Leslie

Visiting Friends and Family!

Over Labor Day weekend, Daniel and I were able to go to Auburn and Georgia.  We spent time with my family in Auburn and met Jamie's girlfriend, 

Whitney (so cute and sweet!)!!  We got to see some old friends before the game and a few more during the game.  And of course we won! WAR EAGLE!  We stayed with Scott and Courtney at their beautiful house in LaGrange.  On Sunday, we went to Columbus and spent some time with my grandmother and then went to dinner at 

Amy and Will's wonderful house!  Amy made a wonderful dinner and it was so nice to spend time with them and the kids since we don't get to

 see them very often.  Charlotte (the dog) made the trip with us and she had a fun time playing with Rudy all weekend.  All in all, it was a great weekend!

Here are some pictures of the weekend:

Classroom Pictures

I promised pictures of my classroom so here they are! And a bonus pic of my sweet class!!

I survived!

I am so glad that I made it through the first day of school alive!  It was a long, exhausting day, but all of my students ate lunch and made it home! (I think...)  I had great intentions of taking lots of pictures so I could post them, but there was too much going on and I never had a chance to even go near my camera.  

The day started out with all 21 of my students coming in (many with parents attached) unpacking supplies and drawing a picture of themselves and writing their name.  It was so quiet in my room, I was sure there weren't any kids in there!! I couldn't believe how lucky I was to get such a great, hardworking, quiet class.  Well, Haha!  Later I found out they were just being shy!  Then we went to a flag ceremony, where we talked about the flags and what they were for.  After the flag ceremony we attempted to tour the school...but of course as Mrs. Crawford (me) is new to the school, I don't know where everything is....but we did okay.  The worst part of the school tour was when we went into the lunchroom to practice lunching and I didn't know what to do.  I even told them the wrong tables to sit at. Oh well...  After botching the school tour, we had another assembly to go to.   This one was about, well, I'm not really sure...  You see, the most important thing about the first day of school is getting the kids home the right way.  I have had two failed experiences with that and so I was very nervous.  I had a boy who I didn't know how he got home, so I left the assembly to call his mother.  When I finally got her on the phone, she couldn't understand what I was saying and just said "yes" to everything.  Needless to say I was getting very worried about getting this boy home from school.  When I got back to the assembly, I realized that he had been wearing a yellow bus tag all along!! Dummy me!  Oh well, better to worry for nothing, than to not worry and be wrong.  After the assembly, we went outside, ate lunch and had a bathroom break.  (We made it through lunch okay and managed to find the correct tables to sit at.)  We went over the rules, behavior plan, jobs, etc. and played a name game with some jelly beans!  Then we did a short lesson for reading (yes, on the first day).  After that we talked about how to pack up and made sure I knew how everyone was getting home.  

Then the chaos started!

I didn't know what all the bells meant so I didn't know when to leave and then we realized it was raining...  Now this wouldn't be a problem except for my classroom is outside in a trailer.  So I got my umbrella and we went down the hall to the gym, where we were to meet for the buses.  The buses weren't there and it was raining and then some came and it rained harder.  It was not a happy time.  I think my shoes and pants are possibly ruined, but oh well!

BUT.... my kids are cute and sweet and the parents are great (so far!) So all in all, it wasn't a bad day, just a long, crazy one.  I think its going to be a good year for everyone!  I promise to post pictures of my classroom and students soon, when I have time to use my camera!  

Timber!!!!!

Today Daniel got home from his trip earlier than expected, so he decided to do a little yard work.  He started by trimming a few of the bushes and cutting down the trunk of a dead tree (very small dogwood).  Then as he surveyed his work, he decided he didn't like a bush/tree that is in front of our house.  He called me out to look at the tree to see if he could cut it down.  I think it is ugly overgrown so I didn't really have a problem with him cutting it down.  The only problem is that in order to change anything (and I mean anything) about the outside of our house, we have to get it approved by the HOA's architectural committee.  We have actually talked about cutting this tree down many times before, once with our neighbor who happens to be on the HOA board.  She said before we could do it we had to submit an application to be approved.  Well, Daniel decided that he didn't want to wait to cut it down, so now its gone (without being approved!).  We will have to see what happens with the HOA, but it looks a TON better without it.  Here are some before and after pictures.

Before....

After...

End of Summer...

Somehow, my summer is quickly ending.  It has been a great summer and I am ready to get back to school, but I feel like it has snuck up on me.  We have had a great summer!  The Crawford family came to Charlotte,we went on a 7 day Alaskan cruise with the Myer family, Colby came to Charlotte for a week long visit, we went to Gatlinburg with the Armstrong family, visited Birmingham of course, and celebrated our 1 year wedding anniversary! I will post pictures in a different post.  

I am teaching at a new school this year: Elizabeth Lane Elementary.  I have heard many great things about this school and am looking forward to a great year.  I am also hoping to stay there for longer than just one year.  I will still be teaching first grade but in a mobile classroom.  It is very small but I know it will be fine!  I will post pictures of my classroom soon.  I went to lunch with my new 1st grade team today and really enjoyed meeting them.  They seem like wonderful ladies and I can't wait to get to know them!  School starts for me on Aug. 18, but the kids don't come until Aug. 25.  I know this seems late, but we didn't get out of school until June 10th! 

Daniel flew to Alabama this morning for work.  He is enjoying working for Sewall and continues to make a name for himself in the forestry world every day!  

Charlotte (the dog) and Missy (the cat) are doing great.  They get along pretty well most of the time, but Charlotte sometimes gets a little overexcited (surprise, surprise)!  

Gatlinburg

We went to Gatlinburg with the Armstrong family at the end of July.  We stayed at a wonderful cabin.  It had a pool table, a foozball table, an airhockey table, a hot tub, and plasma TV's in every room.  It had two humungous porches, one on the top floor, one on the bottom.  We had a beautiful view too!  Daniel and I didn't get to stay the whole time, but while we were there, we watched Aunt LeighAnne and Abby zorb (roll down a hill in a giant ball) and we played putt putt golf.  Here are a few pictures from our trip.  

Colby's visit!

Colby came to stay with us in July for a whole week.  We did a ton of fun stuff while she was here.  Unfortunately we didn't take very many pictures, but here is one of her playing Guitar Hero on the Wii.

Crawford's come to Charlotte

In June, the entire Crawford clan came to Charlotte for a weekend visit.  Mom, Dad, Amy, Will, Nolan, Mallory, Scott and Courtney.  We had a very full house but a great time! They even brought us Missy! Here are a few pictures.  (Yes, we went swimming in a fountain!)  To see more, go to our photo gallery site:  http://gallery.mac.com/lesliedaniel