Our vacation to DC

We had such an amazing time, and I really don't think there is anything left to do in DC that we didn't do. It was quite EXHAUSTING!! We went to all of the monuments, did the Smithsonian (all of it), went to a Washington Nationals game, walked, walked, walked, and walked some more!!

The day we got there was the day we went to a Nationals game. Steven was able to get us seats in the diamond club level for $100 off the ticket price. Now I have sat in the suites at an astros game, but can say that I have never had someone disinfect my seat when I arrived before. That was a little weird, but whatever we were rich for a night :). The game was a new experience for me because I can honestly say that I have never been to a game where I didn't care about either team. Here's the view from our seats...

Not bad, huh? Notice how empty the section is in front of us. This was great! We enjoyed the first half of the game thoroughly, and then about 30 22(?) year olds came and sat by us. They were obnoxious, and had the waiter running back and forth for tequila shots. We decided at that point that we should just walk around and check out the stadium.

The next day we started our hunt for the monuments and such. It was a lot of walking, and I have to say all of the monuments were quite impressive! We also started our Smithsonian tours. If you have never been there, it's huge and there are a ton of buildings to go through. There is NO WAY you could do them all in a day, so we did them in a few days. Here's just a few of our pictures from the monuments:

There's a miniview of our vacation. We decided after this one, that our next vacation will be on a beach somewhere. We want to relax and have people wait on us hand and foot! Mom said she wants to come with us too :).

Well we decided on our vacation that when we got back home we would look for a friend for Lilly. We found a cute little boy named Cody. He's 5 months old, and he's a heeler mix. We decided to go to the pound, and rescue a little puppy from being euthanized. So here's a picture of him we got off of the Internet. We will get him today sometime between 12 and 2.

Elisabeth is EXCSTATIC! I will post more pictures of him with us after we get him. Wish me luck on training a puppy, good thing I have done it before! Also, it's great timing since I'm home for summer. We decided if we don't do it this summer, we might not ever do it because hopefully next summer we will have a different new addition to the Falgout family ;).

I hope you all are doing great! Sorry if this post is a little long. Until next time...

So much going on...

Well here it goes...

I'm offically a 2nd grade teacher at St. John Elementary and couldn't be happier!! I am going to be an inclusion teacher (which scared me at first, but now I'm excited). I am so excited about all of the ladies I get to work with, and can't wait to get to know them better :)

Steven and I are leaving on Sunday for Houston to spend two days before we leave for Washington DC

I CAN'T BELIEVE I have been married for a year!! This has been the most incredible year of my life!! I have moved, found a job, and most of all...married the MOST AMAZING MAN in the whole world!! I know most of you have hubby's too, but none compare to mine (for me). I just can't believe how much my world has changed in a year!!! I will post pictures of our 2nd honeymoon as soon as we get back, but think about us on June 6th because that will be our one year anniversary!!!

GOT IT!!!

Woo wee!! I got the job I have been waiting for! It's been a LONG year coming, but I'm finally there. I'm not sure what grade I'm teaching, but I'm thinking it could be 2nd grade. It really doesn't matter to me though, I HAVE A TEACHING JOB!!!

I'm going to have a girl's night tonight with some of my friends from work to have a nice night of dinner and wine! We are going to celebrate, and I'm excited about that too. We've been talking about getting together for a while now and we finally have an excuse.

Where in the world has Laura been???

It has been absolutely FOREVER since I have posted anything!! I could give you the "I've been busy" excuse (and it's true), but the real truth is I just haven't felt like coming home and typing on the computer! I'm sure some of you understand this. I have been keeping up with all of your busy lives on here via my palm, but it's such a pain in the you know what to comment that I haven't been good about that either.

So, all in all I'm a terrible blogger these days. Oh well summer's coming up and then I'll have LOTS of free time, and let me tell you I'm SOOOO READY!!

So where have I been? Home and school, and not much else! We moved into a house in the middle of March, and I love our new place! The hubby and I have become hermit crabs because we love our new place, and are saving up lots of money for our anniversary vacation! We're going to Washington DC for 7 days/6 nights, and let me tell you I CAN'T WAIT!!! I feel like I haven't seen my husband for 2 weeks! Since this is the case, I'm counting down until I get to spend 10 whole days with him. We are leaving on the June 2, and coming back on the 8th. We are flying out of Houston, and this is perfect because my Mom's birthday is on June 1st so I'm so excited to spend it with her. Last year on her birthday I don't even remember if we did anything because it was a little over shadowed by wedding preparations.

Elisabeth is now 10 years old, and I swear she's getting taller EVERYDAY! That child will definitely overshadow me any day now (not that it's saying much since I am only 5'2"). My dad got her a slip and slide for her birthday, and I think it's become more of a present for Steven than Elisabeth. He LOVES it! Here's a picture of the fun (he would KILL me for doing this).

Lilly couldn't help herself! She HAD to join in with Daddy!!

I really thought we were going to have to make a trip to the hospital!

Professionally things are about to change for me, and hopefully for the better! I did say before that I am not quite doing a full teaching job. What I do is a reading initiative program, and I'm paid by title 1 (for all of you non teachers this is a government funding program for underprivileged children which we have a lot of). The job doesn't pay a full teacher salary, and is a temporary position based on funding and needs. Well now that we are coming to the end of the year I have been VERY nervous about what's in store for me next year because of cuts in our parish. I have been sitting on pins and needles hoping and wishing for an interview, and yesterday I got one! I feel really good about the interview (especially since I was told about it 2 hours before the actual interview). I have it much better than the other candidates because I do know all of the people who were sitting in, and I just was granted a very expensive technology board for my classroom (without actually having one). I am just in the waiting phase now to see, so prayers please!! I'm thinking it's for 2nd grade, but wasn't actually told what grade I was interviewing for.

Well I think I've rambled enough, and I promise to be updating more soon! I hope all of you Mommies had a fantastic Mother's Day!!

Until next time...

Well things are going great!!

It's Tuesday so I figured I should make my Tuesday 10 about all of the great things I'm looking forward to, or am doing at the moment...

• Good news on the front is that my Dad found an amazing job! He is now making more money than he did before, has an amazing car allowance, and will travel a lot. It's all wonderful for him, and I haven't heard him sound this upbeat in a WHILE! He actually has been exercising (he has type 2 diabetes that he's ignored for YEARS) so I'm a happy camper.
• We moved to our amazing new place! We got all of the furniture in fairly easily, but now it's the dreaded decorating issue. I can never make a decision, and now I'm at the point where I refuse to try. I will get all of my decorations up soon, I promise :)
• My hubby's bday is coming up on Sunday. I took the day off on Monday because I wasn't sure if we were going out of town or not. We may come to Houston, but it's looking more like we might stay home. I don't care what we do I'm just looking forward to my 3 day weekend.
• My spring break is coming closer....we don't have spring break until easter week since we have 2 days off for Mardi Gras. I'm definitely looking forward to that!!
• My hubby's best friend is back from Korea, and I might actually get to meet him soon. Steven and I met the day after his best friend's wedding after which he went to Korea so I've never met him. I'm really excited about that possibility because he was such a huge part of Steven's life for so long.
• Elisabeth's birthday is coming up, and she'll be 10! I'm trying to plan a camping weekend for it because she's never done that and is excited to try it out. It should be a blast if I can get it all figured out.
• I'm going to a really wonderful training at the end of April for work, and I'm really excited for two reasons. #1 I have heard nothing but amazing things about it! #2 I love that my prinicipal is sending me because it makes me feel like she wants to keep me around for a while :)
• We are just 3 months away from our 1 year anniversary!! I'm so excited and I can't wait to go on our 7 day 6 night vacation to Washington DC!! I can't believe I've almost been married for a year!! This year has flown by so quickly....
• I just talked to my best friend and we want to plan a trip to Greece in a few years. I feel like if we get everything lined up soon, maybe it could happen...
• Well I just filled up 9, and I can't figure out what to put for our 10th. I thing this is pretty good though...

I'm so glad I can finally not post a depressing blog! I promise I will post pics of our new place soon, well as soon as I can figure out where to put everything.....

Well it's a new week so hope is in the air...

Well we just had gloom and doom all week long! I'm so ready for this week to be over, and for things to turn up. They should as we are going to start moving into our new place. I'm very excited that we found a perfect patio home. It's brand new and really nice so we are very excited about it. Elisabeth is excited because it's 2 stories and you know kids just love stairs! Also on the upside my Dad has two interviews this week, and had one last week. It's looking like things aren't going to be so down for him, and he is in MUCH better spirits than I have heard him in a LONG time!!

On the not so upside, some tragedies have fallen upon our families this week. We have had 2 deaths, a hospitalization, and a lost job. Since all of this stuff has happened in a week things have to turn up right?? Please pray for my husband's family as Steven's 26 year old cousin Nick was in a car wreck very early Saturday morning and passed away. It's an absolute tragedy, and his parents are not doing so well. We just need prayers while the family copes with their tragic loss.

The other death was an old family friend Bruce Willis (not the actor) who lived to the ripe age of 98. That is a happy occasion because he will now get to meet his family in heaven. Bruce drove himself around until two months before his death, and didn't suffer throughout his long life. He lived longer than his wife and children, so it is a very happy occasion.

So there's my update, hopefully my next post will be very happy all around as we start a new week!

What a day...

Well I want to start off by stating that this one is a bummer of a post, but my life isn't all gloom and doom these days. I really am a happy person, and I love where my life is right now. Now that that's cleared up...

This morning I got to work to find out that they are cutting back in Calcasieu Parish (where I work) on 200 education jobs and upping the kids in the classroom to 35 from 23 for next year. SERIOUSLY???? Tell me what person could handle 35 kindergartners/1st graders at a time? Am I going to have a job next year? This had me concerned, and worried a bit. Right as I decided to just let God take over, and started calming down I received an email from my Dad.....

I read the words, "I just got laid off" and my stomach hit my toes! I know that this isn't all that uncommon these days, but you just don't think it would ever happen to someone so close to you. My parent's divorce was final just a few weeks ago, and now this happens to my Dad! He now doesn't have a car, cell phone, or a job. I'm just worried sick about him because I think he's about at his max. Please pray for him that he will get himself a new job, and get out of his downward spiral sooner rather than later. I don't know I'm just sick with worry, and I have to unleash so here it is!!

Then my brother is having some trouble finding a job. He finished his 4 years in the Marine Corps, and came back to have a wonderful job working on seismic testing for oil rigs. Well he worked that job about 2+ months and has since been laid off. He's been trying to find a new job which has been harder than he originally wanted, and is getting frustrated too. He does have some possibilities, but we'll see. So I guess the Turner family needs your prayers, so please help!!

Came across a giveaway

I have never done an entry for one of these, but Krystyn mentioned it in her blog so I had to take a look. It's really a great giveaway so I'm trying to win! You can find it on Rachel's blog. Wish me luck ladies!!!

Oh and just to add I'm feeling MUCH better now just had to get a good cry out. Every once in a while I do that, and I'm sure I'm not the only one out there! I am excited today I'm going to Beaumont with my hubby, and my Mom's meeting us to go do some shopping and have lunch. I NEVER thought going to Beaumont, TX would be exciting to me, but then again I never in a MILLION years thought I would ever move to Lake Charles, LA!!! I'm thoroughly enjoying my long 4 day weekend (love living in Louisiana) for Mardi Gras. I even went to a parade Friday night with Elisabeth and her Mom. Hope you all are having a fabulous weekend :)

I'm having a bum week

So I know it's because my hormones are completely out of whack, but I am just extremely bummed out this week. I feel like so many things are right in my life, and for some reason I'm just bothered by things. For instance I cried my eyes out today because my hubby told me he probably wasn't going to work tonight, and then it turned out he had to go in. Ugh, I'm really not that much of a baby I swear!!

I have started tutoring for one of my students after school on Tuesday and Thursday until 4:30, which means I don't get home until 5:00ish on those days. It's been really great for this child, and I love seeing improvement in him from this. The only bummer is on Tuesdays and Thursdays I don't see my husband at ALL! I know later in our marriage (like 15 years or so) I might feel different about not seeing him for two days a week, but I still really like spending time with him. It just makes the night a little sad for me while he's at work.

I am also really missing my girls. I am getting friends out here now, but no one I would go hang with on a regular basis. I was thinking about coming to Houston this weekend, but I'm so behind on things at my house that I don't feel like it's the right time for me to come. Ugh!!

And then to top it off today I found out how hard my job can be at times. One of my kindergarten students told me this morning that he didn't get any sleep last night because his Mommy and Daddy were fighting. Then he told me that his Daddy was attacking his Mommy, and he went to ask them to stop. His Daddy told him he would stop, and then "C" said that his Daddy tricked him because he didn't stop. I went to the counselor with this information because it of course absolutely broke my heart, and it ended up that we couldn't do anything about it. Ugh this is the part of my job that sucks because it is our duty to report suspicions of abuse, but if it's out of our hands and we can't do anything it makes it really hard.

So I'm not trying to be a "Debby Downer" I'm just having an off day. Good news is that I am off for the next 4 days for Mardi Gras (one thing I love about living in Louisiana) so I should have time to get back to normal. I hope you guys are all doing well!!!

Having a case of the "Not Me Mondays"

Today has sure been a day!!

1. I did NOT get in a huge fight with Elisabeth this morning over the knots in her hair!
2. I did NOT call my Mom shortly after to apologize for being such a butt when I was a teenager, hoping that if I apologize enough God won't punish me like he should when Elisabeth (and our future kiddos) become teenagers!
3. I did NOT make some of my kids do extra work for fillers because I got behind on making some copies!
4. I did NOT wait to pick up the dog poop in our backyard so my husband would pick all of it up himself, oh no not me!!
5. We are NOT going to look at a house today because some extremely "ghetto" people were looking at the condo right next door.
6. We did not decide to go to Washington DC for our one year anniversary, and I'm NOT extremely excited about it!
7. I did NOT have to pick my child up from extended day care today because she didn't understand that her dad and I were picking on her when we told her she had to go after school today.
8. I did NOT have a great date night with my hubby on Saturday!
9. I did NOT give my husband all of my "little kid germs" and not get sick because I'm immune to them now.
10. I did NOT want to throw up myself when a teacher told me about one of her students having PROJECTILE vomit that went from one side of her room to the other! UGH!!!

It's been a while...

I haven't been able to update my blog in a while, and for that I do apologize! Things have been really busy for me lately, and I haven't quite figured out how to manage everything yet. I'll get there soon though, I promise.

I have one question, how do all of you with a full time job keep your house clean all the time? When I get home I'm exhausted because I'm usually running around all day at school. The thought of doing laundry, or vacuuming really just doesn't appeal to me at that point. My house isn't dirty by any means, I just don't have everything in it's perfect spot, and my laundry basket is quite full. Of course having a husband (who like most other husbands) that completely forgot how to do these things the second we said "I do" doesn't help at all!

I am really loving my new job! My 73 kids that I have (that's right I said 73) are wonderful, and they have really been putting their best face forward. We'll see how long that lasts! I am now working with k-3 instead of just k-2, which will be challenging I know. I'm trying to manage how to get my planning all done for the week, but I'm learning quickly!

Steven and I are looking for a new place to live because we are soooo tired of sharing walls with people. Our noisy neighbors that I may have mentioned in the past are moving out as I'm writing this, but we don't know what kind of people are moving in. We are just ready for more room! I didn't think it would be possible for us to fill up a 3 bedroom/2 bath condo but we definitely did! We're looking around our neighborhood for a place, and have a few possibilities that we are going to go check out tomorrow so we'll see how that goes. We just want to find a decent house to live in until we're ready to buy, but we're not ready to buy until we know for sure where we want to live for a while.

We were able to go to New Orleans for my birthday, which was amazing! I really love that city, and with our opposite schedules it was really nice to get some one on one time with my hubby! We had wonderful food, went shopping, and just walked around (freezing our butts off). I was very excited we got to pop in and visit my friend Lauren at work, I haven't seen her since our wedding so that was great. While we were spending time in New Orleans we realized that we could live there one day, so we'll have to see what the future holds.....

I hope you all had a wonderful week, and have an even more wonderful weekend!

I got sent to the principal's office!!

Well today was a great day!! I was subbing for a friend of mine Courtney (who's preggo and about to pop any minute) and I got a call from the office, "Mrs. Falgout, Mrs. Kingham wants you to meet her in her office in 20 minutes". All the kiddos started saying, "Ooooooohhhhhh Mrs. Falgout what did you do to be called into the principal's office?" also "Oh NO Mrs. Falgout you're in big trouble now!!!" Well my friend Lori (who's the inclusion teaching that stays in that room all day) says, "Oh my gosh Laura, I think you got a job!" I told her to stop saying stuff like that to me because I didn't want to get my hopes up.



Well fortunately for me, she was right! I FINALLY have a full time job!! I'm a reading coach for grades K-2, and am soooo excited!! It's not quite a teaching job, but I do have to have a teacher's certificate to do it (which makes me happy I can use my degree). I will have my own classroom, and my own kiddos. I am soooooo excited to be able to make my own plans, and have my own students. I start Monday, and couldn't be happier for my new job!! All of my friends that I sub for a lot are a little upset because the substitute list is slim, but they are all happy for me! One great thing about this job is that I will be in the prime spot for a job next year, one of the teachers Jaimie (who did this same job last year) told me that she was hired in April for the fall and had her pick of a grade level!! That would be amazing if I could get that :)



I hope you all are doing well, and since none of you live here I'll add a picture of my adorable school. It looks like an old timey school house, but it's only been opened 2 years.