Drew's Best Day Ever

Right after he got the job. Meet Mr. Self!!
His first day of school. Yes I got the size sticker off before he walked out the door :) He's wearing one of his birthday shirts!!

Drew has a JOB!! After 3 interviews at Navasota ISD, one for Pre-K & 2 for a 4th grade position, he was offered a job!! As of 9/8/09 Mr. Self is a 4th grade reading/social studies teacher at Navasota Intermediate. He could not be happier, & neither could I. He said it's like a weight had been lifted & life got easier right away. Of course I screamed, cried & did the happy dance. It is amazing to see him so happy. Now we are trying to get him ready to replace the lady who was in the job & convert her ways & classroom to HIS. He loves the kids & always has a great story when he gets home. This week the class is his by himself & he is on cloud 9. His only complaint is his feet hurt from standing all day long, but we'll get him some better shoes & he'll get used to it. The students seem to love Mr. Self & he has already picked out a couple of kids that he thinks will be his biggest challenge & hopefully reward. It is awesome to hear him talk about the kids as his & the ways he wants to help them personally as well as in the classroom. He is going to be a fabulous teacher!! As I posted on facebook, it's amazing when God's answer to your prayers is a YES!

The Big 2-7

The only boy in the world who doesn't like cake!! He loves pie though :)
He also loves searsucker. Wierdo

How do I look?

My Dork

Ugh, put this on your blog!

Happy :)

So Wednesday September 2 was Drew's birthday!! Yeah for 27. He keeps saying he's soo old he's practically 30 & I just laugh! :) We had a really great birthday day for him. He had an interview that day & then we had a special date night. Dinner, a movie at the theatre, then some major jonzn & another movie at home. It was a quiet perfect night for the two of us. He didn't get to see his Nanny for his annual birthday apple pie so I made do with two slices of apple pie from Must Be Heaven in Bryan. He loved the pie but he was right, it just wasn't Nanny's. Here are some pics from his birthday night. Since we knew he would be hired soon we got him lots of clothes & his big gift was a black ostrich belt to go with his wedding boots. I love you Drew! Happy Birthday!!

My new wheels

My new ride :)

All it needs now is a grill guard!
i requested the new Texas license plates

I was doing soo good at this blogging & then, nothing!! Okay, so I am back with lots of updates. First, I have a new CAR!! I know yea, new cars!! But also, jeez, bad timing!! Just what I need while still planning & paying for wedding stuff & going into a new financial situation with the fiance. Our big plan was for Drew to get a new car first, after about 6 months because he needs one worse then me. His truck seems to always have something that is about to go wrong & he just doesn't trust it anymore. Well, so much for plans! On my way down to Sinton 8/28 to get some last minute wedding stuff done, my car started acting funny in about Goliad. It sounded like it was really struggling when I pushed the gas & wasn't accelerating the way it should be. Well, it got me all the way to the HS where my mom/brother were & then when I passed up a parking spot, it wouldn't reverse. Then it wouldn't go forward. I turned it off, said a prayer & then was able to get it to drive into a space next to my mom. Well, that was it for her! We got her to Joe's & he confirmed every one's suspicion, transmission completely gone. Well our options were 1. get a new transmission that they could only guarantee for another 2 years or get new. After two years, my car would be 9 years old, & they said it wasn't worth it. So, me & mom went car shopping!! I LOVED my escape & all I wanted was a new one. She was a GREAT car who deserved to go out better than that! That was the only time I'd ever had anything wrong with her, in 7 years!! Sad for my red escape, but I have to admit the new one is SWEET!! It is black w/ black leather interior, has a sync package, sports package & ambient lighting (random I know). For some reason, this one seems more like a he to me. It smells amazing & makes me want to keep this one clean!!

in progress...

So after the failed attempt at Lowe's Sunday, I went back at lunch on Monday. I found two colors that I liked, but they only had the right base to make one sample so we went with what they had. The color we decided on is darker then we originally thought we wanted but it was the best that Lowe's had to offer. After two days of serious painting, we think we really like the results. The winning brown is called hot chocolate, which is perfect name for me! We did the green in the dining room & one wall in the living room on Monday and we did all the brown last night. The pictures above are proof that Drew helped! Of course we both would rather do the trim work so that meant to keep Drew happy & helping, he got to do the trim while I got to do the roller. Not fun! So the living room is completely finished (YEA!!), & the dining room is half done. Next step in the dining room & kitchen is to remove the awful wall paper! We had originally thought the top half of the walls in the dining room & the hallway would be the same color brown that we picked for the living room but now, we think we've changed our minds. I think it's too dark for the hallway, since it's such a small place so we're not sure what we're going to do in there. As for the dining room, Drew suggested that we do a creamy soft white. Which the more I'm thinking about it, the more I think he might be right! So, for now, our project is about half way done & we are excited about the results! I can't wait for it to be completely finished so I can start hanging everything up on our walls!!

the before...

So me & Drew finally have a week of no wedding, no training, no other random things, & have time to fix up our house! I have been wanting to paint ever since I moved in July 4th weekend. So, 7 weeks later, we have time to start. We like the way the two bedrooms & the bathroom were painted, & will only have to make minor adjustments, like trim arount the top in two of those rooms. The rest of the house, the living room, dining room, hallway & kitchen were soo ugly! The living room, hall & dining room are this light yellow color & the dining room & kitchen have this horrendous wall paper!! So we have a major project on our hands. We want to do the living room/hall/dining room a really pretty tan or khaki color. The dining room has a chair rail that goes around the room, so we have picked a really pretty green color that matches our curtains to use on the botton half of the room & one wall of the living room. The kitchen is still undecided, but we're thinking the same tan/khaki color with pink trim. Yes, I said pink! My fiance said I can have a pink kitchen :) We went to Lowe's & picked out two different colors to try, camel & arabian sands. Good news, they are better than yellow, bad news, we don't like either of them. So, the hunt is on for the perfect tan/khaki. We did go ahead & tape the entire living room/hall to be ready to paint in case we find a great color when we go back to Lowe's at lunch tomorrow. Wish us luck!

date night :)

The group
handsome :)

Drew & I

Tiffany & Kevin

Kaitlyn & Darren

Sam & Kinsey

So now that me & all of my friends are growing up, getting married & some having babies, we decided that we need to have a regular date night. It's a way that we can stay close & keep caught up in each other's lives. We were so excited for our first official date night, last night. We talked about going places off the beaten track, to avoid some of the crowds & maybe try new things. Drew has been wanting to go to Sodalek's so that's where we went. It was Drew & I, Tiffany & Kevin, Sam & Kinsey and Kaitlyn & Darren. The two babies were left with sitters, so the parents could have some adult time. Most of the boys had some kind of steak/pork chops, some of the girls had hamburgers & Kaitlyn & I decided to go with the kid's menu, hamburber for me, corn dog for her. The food was good but the service was horrible!! Then everyone came over to our house in Bryan. It was very fun to have everyone in our new house & to get their opinions on paint colors, decorations, etc. We had some great girl talk where we discussed how gross all our boys are!! Girls are wayy better ;). Then Drew & I, & Sam & Kinsey went out dancing at Harrys. We love to boot scoot & had a great time!! Overall it was an awesome night out with our friends! We decided from now on, our dinners will rotate to each other's houses. That way they won't always have to drive here to Bryan. It feels very exciting/strange to be this grown up!

the weekend...

Nanny in her "shower uniform"
the bride & groom

Drew & his favorite aunt Tui

US :)

We made it to Beeville Saturday night for Kaitlyn & Darren's shower. It was a very nice, beach themed event with great finger foods, CAKE & a chocolate fountain. We got to see most of Drew's family, including cousin Shelby who gave me grief all night for having our wedding during hunting season. We really had a great time & they got alot of great gifts!! It was an ABC shower & me & Drew had the letter Z. It was a little challenging but we thought we pulled it off pretty well. Our gift included zip ties, zinfandel's & the best part, a zebra print cross! It was really cute & I would have gotten me one also for my cross wall, but they only had one. bummer. We made it back to Sinton pretty late where I got to do some wedding stuff with mom. Sunday after church we headed to New Braunfels for Ashley's baby shower. Drew was the only boy there, because we couldn't stay the whole time & the other boys headed to Gruene to hang out. Secretly, it didn't bother Drew one bit, he does not get intimidated by alot of women! Ashley also got alot of great gifts! I had fun playing with ms. Kynlee who was prancing around in her "drag queen" outfit, with a crown on her head & wearing way to big Cinderella high heels. Super cute!! I took lots of pictures, but all on Ashley's mom's camera. I'll have to try & get some of them because they were hilarious!! We finally made it back to Bryan around 9 & I brought with me a monster headache! Hopefully this week will go by quick :)

it's really real

As some of you may have realized by now, the invitations are in the mail. We mailed them Saturday morning on our way out of town. It was very exciting for us!! We kept saying, this is really happening...like soon! We are beyond excited & can't wait for our day. Of course, I had to get a picture of the invitations before they left us. I put the first ones in the mail & Drew finished us off. Send in your RSVP!! We can't wait to see yall!

Bobbi & Roy

Here's pictures from the big graduation dinner. Roy got his bachelors in communication & Bobbi's masters is in education.

just guests...

After a whole summer of events that surround our upcoming wedding, we find ourselves at a weekend that has absolutely nothing to do with us! We're kinda of excited about it :) We start tonight with Bobbi & Roy's graduation party. Roy graduated from A&M this morning with his bachelors & got to say the invocation. Very cool Roy! Bobbi graduated this afternoon with her masters. Tonight we celebrate with them at one of our favorite mexican restaurants, Mi Cocina. Afterwards, maybe a night out with Andie & Clay. Tomorrow we're headed down south for a wedding shower for Kaitlyn & Darren. One of my college friends marrying Drew's cousin. Small world & they were totally made for each other. I'm trying to talk Tui into a finder's fee :) Then Sunday, it's on to New Braunfels for Ashley's baby shower. Drew said he's crashing because Kambryn is his niece. No arguments here!! Then maybe, hopefully, we will make it back to Bryan before midnight!! I should have lots of pictures to post after this weekend.

he knows how to make me happy :)

Just a quick post about how amazing I think my future husband is. Every night this week he has done his part in helping me get out our invitations. He has addressed some, sealed all of them & last night helped me stamp them. They are set to go in the mail tomorrow!! But the real awesomeness is that I came home from work yesterday & the house was clean!! We all know I am messy so I was very excited that someone else cleaned my mess! He had picked up the living room, organized the invitation stuff in the dining room (you could actually see our beautiful new table again!!), cleaned (i mean swept, mopped & cometted) the bathroom & the kitchen! It even made me want to help, but luckily it was almost all done :) Then to top it all off, as we speak I am at work eating my favorite breakfast, a Shipley's cinnamon twist that Drew brought me this morning. I love him.

invitations...

It's finally time to send them out!! We've had them for about 3 weeks now & we have been very busy assembling them with our team :) It was soo exciting to go pick them up from the printer!! We had approved all the proofs but to actually have them, all of them, sitting on our dining room table, was like wow! I was so excited that Drew really loved them! We both decided it was exciting & scary all at the same time because invitations means it's really happening, like soon!! The first step for me & Drew was addressing all the invites. He started w/ GW, me w/ Sinton & who ever got done first (me, of course) got to start with our friend list. This part was not all that exciting & I realized very quickly that Drew has better handwriting than me. Not cool & kinda annoying! He's a boy! ugh...! Bobbi & Roy were the first to offer their help. The job that night was gluing. Lots of gluing. We really had a good time & their help came cheap! All I had to do was make dinner :) Bobbi even taught Astro how to use the doggie door. Sort of. He's apparently not that bright & it took a long time!! He still refuses to use it if anyone is watching or in the room but he's trying. The next night it was Tiffany's turn. While the boys moved in the washer & dryer we got to tie bows & do what we do best, gossip. Unfortunately, or luckily for Tiffany, we only had 5 spools of ribbon so that was only enough for 75 invitations. Lots more to go!! Due to some bad events in Bryan, the next week I spent two nights at Leanne's, where lucky for her, I had gotten more ribbon. We were able to finish the last step of the assembly of almost all the invitations!! This week is crunch time. We want them to go out Friday. To achieve that, we have to get all the last minute address corrections, stuff, seal & stamp them! Drew has decided he likes to seal. So the last two nights it's been a little assembly line, I stuff, he seals. Tonight is the night they all get completed!! (I hope) By Friday night, I will be excited that they are on their way to our family & friends & he will be excited that we got our table back & that some of "my" mess is gone. A huge thank you to everyone who helped out in our invitation process! I love you all! And to Drew, you have been amazing help even though this is NOT the "fun part". I really hope you all love our invitations & send in those RSVPs! now :)

the beginning...

Okay, so I spend alot of time on the computer. One of my favorite things to do is read all of my favorite blogs. So instead of me bugging them to hurry up & post more things, I have decided to start my own. This will serve as a the wedding is almost here, trying to keep my sanity, place to share what's going on, pictures & maybe even a place to vent!! So I'll try to get organized & get everyone up to date :)