Sweet Life in the City

Well here we are, the last day of 2011. This year has been a whirl-wind of events and it has passed so quickly. Jeremy reminded me this evening on the way home that this year is probably going to be pretty crazy and full of change. As we started talking we realized that every four years (which also happens to be election years:) we have major changes in our life. In 2000 we got married. 2004 I had my cancer surgery, we moved back to TN, we both started teaching, started the adoption process, both of my grandparents passed away within months of each other, and Samuel Jae entered this world. 2008- Our small family of three became a family of five within 6 months. We were now the parents of three children under the age of 4 years old. So, on the eve of 2012 I cannot help but wonder what this year has in store for us. We are pretty confident that it will lead us into the biggest adventure of our life as we move away from the place we have known for so long and move to Chicago. I do not usu...

We have been enjoying our break so far. This crazy weather has given us all a stuffy nose and stratchy throat, but nothing to severe. Yesterday our good friend took Sam and Emma to Chuck E Cheese. She was going to take Chloe too, but I did not think it would go too well. So, Chloe and I went to lunch and her favorite store, Wal-Mart. This moring we opened presents with our family and we plan on leaving tomorrow for Illinois. The kids loved their presents, except Chloe was a little bratty after she opened her first present. They each had a small gift that I got from the "stocking stuffer" baskets at Target. They did not have any thing Mickey or Minnie Mouse so I got her this cute litte LaLa Loopsie doll. She opened it and took one look at it and through it on the floor saying "I wanted Minnie Mouse!" She is lucky I let her open the other gifts! We did not get her anything Mickey/Minnie Mouse. That is all coming on Christmas day. She has had a few good days but her at...

I did not realize I had not posted since Wednesday. Thursday was a crazy morning with our class parties. It was awesome, but I was worn out when I got home. I was also a little too emotional to blog. It was hard saying good-bye to one of my students and it just reminded me that my time at my school is quickly coming to an end. It is a great joy for me to see my students move on from grade to grade or see them around the community and I realized as I told my sweet girl that I would see her around somewhere it was probably not true. Friday the teachers had a work day so I was at school getting everything ready for when we return in January. Friday night we went and got new phones (Merry Christmas to us). We switched phone companies and for some reason neither one of our phones would work Friday night. We had a showing of our house Saturday morning, so the rest of Friday night was spent scrubbing and cleaning. The showing went great and our realtor said she would not be surprised if we go...

We have had a busy few days. I am actually surprised it is Wedneday already! We have a half a day tomorrow and we will be having our Christmas party from 8:30 until it is time to leave. It has been hard to keep track of what the kids needed for each day. Chloe had pajama day yesterday and Emma needed her present to exchange yesterday. Today Emma and Sam had pajama day and Chloe needed drinks for her party. Tomorrow Sam needs drinks for his party and my class is wearing pajama. I was sure that one of us would end up wearing our p.j.'s on a day they were not supposed to be wearing them:) The kids have been so excited about Christmas and I have to admit I am just excited! We are leaving next week to go to Illinois to spend Christmas with my family. We will all be there and I LOVE that fact! Jeremy is finsihing up two of his classes for his doctorate so he is super stressed and has not been feeling the best. He will be finished on Saturday. Yesterday after school I took the kids to Cla...

We had a good weekend. I am thankful that I got to spend some one-on-one time with Sam, Emm, and Chloe. That does not happen very often. I am thankful that I got to spend some time with a great family and I made one sweet little girl smile just by showing up to something that was important to her. I am thankful that the pile of unfolded socks that have been taunting me the past few weeks has finally been conquered. I am thankful that I took a nap today and did not have to worry about getting any school work done. We have a busy but fun week! We have school Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and then a party day (which ends at 11:00) on Thursday. We have a work day on Friday but I am looking forward to getting some things done in my classroom and get ready for January.

Today I am thankful that it is Friday. I am thankful that I am finished with my classes and managed to pull out an "A" in all three classes. I am thankful that we are going out to dinner tonight so I do not have to cook. I am thankful that I might actually have time to get my house cleaned this weekend. It has been driving me crazy but it has been on the low end of our priority list. I am thankful that Chloe had a good day at school today so we could reward her and not feel like we are always punishing her. It has been a wild week with the kids (my school kids and my own kids) and I am sure next week is going to be worse. The truth is I am getting pretty excited myself. I feel like I can now enjoy these busy days with my classes behind me. I have a busy day planned tomorrow. One of my girls in my class (actually the one that is leaving me, sniff, sniff) is an amazing little gymnast. Her state meet is tomorrow and so I am taking Emma to go watch her compete. I think she will l...

I started to post last night, but I was working on finishing my project kinda late and then one of our favorite shows came on. We love the Psych! If you have never watched it you shoule sometime:) So, I will post my thanks from yesteday and today. Yesterday I was thankful for the joy a few snowflakes bring to the face of children ( and myself:) It snowed for a an hour or so. It did not stick to anything, but it was beautiful! In our morning prayer time at school our principal read a verse about seeing God's faithfulness in the changing of the seasons. As I watched the snowflakes fall I was thankful for God's faithful. I am also thankful that time does heal our hearts wounds. I was reminded of something the other day about a difficult time in my life and I realized that the pain was not as bad as it was last year or the year before. Maybe that sounds silly, but I am thankful that we can move past the pain in our life. For today, I am thankful that I finished my last class!!!!! T...

Today I am thankful for coffee. I have not always liked coffee, but since I became the mom of three I have learned to be addicted to   love it! I am thankful that it gives me that extra push each morning. I am thankful for all the lessons I learn each day from teaching. Today we did a craft and watched the movie "The Legend of the Three Trees." Each tree has big hopes and dreams to be made into something amazing. Each tree is cut down and they are made into lowly things like a manager, a fishing boat, and a cross. The lesson is that God knows what is best for us and had better plans than we could even imagine. We made a little ornament and on the back and it said something about trusting God's plan because they are always better than our own. It was a great lesson for me to remember. I took this picture of Sam the other night after he was feeling better. I love it because it totally encompasses his personality. He is using a plastic bowling trophy that he won in a Wii bow...

I saw  several people on Facebook during the month of November post some thing they were thankful for every day. Well, I am a little behind, but I thought I would take these last 25 days of 2011 to focus on what I am thankful for. It is easy to go down the generic list (not that they are generic:) of what I am thankful for, but to take 25 days and see all the blessings that come my way. So, today I am thankful that I have the opportunity to teach. Every morning Monday-Friday I am greeted with 13 beautiful smiles that are eager to learn. I am amazed at what I learn from them each day. It has been quite an adventure teaching 1st graders because I never know what they are going to say! I have so much fun being with them. I am thnakful that I have students who are now in the 6th grade (my first year teaching kids) who still hug me and are happy to see me. Friday night I had a young man that I had in my 4 year old class 7 years ago come find me after Sam did his Homecoming thing. He came to...

Look at me posting two days in a row! I just wanted to let everyone know that Sam is much better today. He has been fever free since last night (Woo Hoo!) He wanted pancakes for breakfast so that was a great sign. He also wanted to play today. He and I laid down on the couch around noon to take a little nap. His was not so little. The child slept until 5:00 and we had to wake him up! Guess who will not be going to sleep early tonight? I know being sick just wears you out and I am sure his little body needed the rest. We stayed home all day today even though we are in desperate need of groceries. Jeremy did run a 5K this morning for a race hosted by our church. I cleaned the house until I got tired and organized and threw away a bunch of stuff we do not need. I found mine and Jeremy's college ID from 1999-2000 in the drawer in the kitchen, so, yeah, time to throw some stuff out:) I have one final project due for one of my classes and then I will be done, Hallelujah!!! Now if I can o...

I hate that it seems the only time I have been posting is to describe some calamity in the Riggs' household, but here I am again. The whole week of Thanksgiving Sam was not feeling great. He complained of a sore throat and was stuffy. He never ran a fever and he seemed to get better. This whole week I could tell in his eyes that he was still not feeling the best. Yesterday morning when I went in to wake him up he was burning up. His fever was 102. Jeremy stayed in with him yesterday. No new symptoms, just the fever on and off and he took a 4 hour nap. When I got in from class last night he was in bed but he was awake and he seemed to be feeling better. I had already called in because he still had the fever, so I slept with him. Jeremy came in around 5:30 this morning to give him another dose of Advil. Around 6:00 Sam shot out of bed and said his nose was about to bleed. Bleed it did. I have never seen so much blood come out of somebody's nose. It was shooting out. Our bathroom ...