Super-sized Top 10

It has been a verrrryyyyyy long time since I've blogged. Over two months! Not the ideal situation for me, but after reading my "Super-sized Top 10", you'll see why I've been slacking. April and May were extremely busy months, so instead of writing a super long post, I'll try to condense it into a top 10. :)


1. This one I mentioned in March, but didn't want to say too much. We sold our house and bought a house. All in 24 hours. The sign was literally in our yard for six hours before the deal was done. Everything just fell into place at the right time, and we were blessed to have it all happen the way it did.  

Old house. (Sniff)

New house. :)

2. Scott and I were in such disbelief at our luck with the house buying/selling that we were nervous to start packing up the old house before the papers were signed. In hindsight, this was probably a bad idea since we were getting immediate possession of our new house. This left a lot of packing for the days leading up to, and including, moving day. A little stressful? Yes.

3. Even before moving day we had A LOT to accomplish in the new house. We tore up all of the first floor flooring and replaced it with new. We also painted most of the rooms (including removing some wallpaper borders). It was difficult to tell if everything was going to be accomplished by the time we moved in, but we did it. 

4. One week after moving, Landen moved to the next room at "school" (daycare). This was a BIG deal for Landen. She moved to the "toddler room" in which she now participates in a more structured day with more concrete times for activities, lessons, and even naps. The biggest change was that she would no longer be dropped off to Mrs. Davis (one of her favorites), whom she had previously been dropped off to ever since she started going to school at the age of three months. She was excited to see Mrs. Davis every morning, and I think the feeling was mutual. Some tears were shed that first week by Landen and me. It was hard for us to walk by the room for the first week without tears over seeing/not seeing Mrs. Davis, but we're good now. Landen happily waves at her old teachers when she sees them in the hallways. 

Landen's gifts for her teachers.

5. Update: all of these changes have not been good for the "uh-oh" (pacifier) situation here. Getting rid of the uh-oh is a goal of the summer.

6. We survived the Memorial Day weekend heat wave. We decided to have some friends over to the new house and had to go out and buy a kids' pool and sprinkler for everyone (including ourselves) to stay cool. By the end of the night, Landen was a hot mess (literally and figuratively).

Landen and her buddy, Claire.

Staying cool!

7. I survived the end of the school year! Crestview was THE last school in the area to finish, and after the Memorial Day weekend, we couldn't wait to get out of there. Unfortunately we still had over a week to go. That being said, it's over now, and I'm preparing to finish up the last of the yearbook page shipment tomorrow morning. And that makes me happy. :) On to planning for next year!

8. Speaking of next year, I am changing positions within the school. Instead of teaching English 10 for half of the day and Mass Media, Yearbook, and Web Design the rest of the day, I'll be teaching technology/media type courses all day. What will I miss about teaching English? Shakespeare. Love him. Love teaching him. What will I not miss? GRADING tons of essays! This task got more and more difficult as Landen came along. I'm looking forward to developing my new courses this summer and getting to teach them next school year. :)

9. I'm very lucky to have the opportunity to explore one of my favorite hobbies even more this summer and this coming fall as I will be helping Heather Marie Photography with shooting some local weddings. I'll be assisting her as a second shooter starting in July. So I'll probably be practicing a lot over the next several weeks. 

10. And the biggest event of the past few months...our family is growing! That's right, Baby McCormick is due to arrive in early December. What's more is that we have decided not to find out the gender of this baby. This is not something I would have ever expected to say, but these two "planners" have decided to wait it out....I think. ;) 

So I hope you can see why no blogs have been posted lately. Moving, the end of the school year, and general lack of energy have slowed this mama. The good news is that my energy level is returning and things have slowed a bit around here. More to come soon!

Top 10!

When I was looking for inspiration to get the blog started back up my clever sister-in-law, Katie, suggested "Top 10's". She does them on her blog and it's basically a list of ten things on her mind. I was trying to think of something to write about tonight, but there's too many things going on inside my head to focus on just one. So here it goes....

1. Something that's been on my mind A LOT lately....we bought a house! Details coming soon.
2. And something just as important....we sold our house! (fingers crossed) It happened so quickly I'm afraid to say it out loud too many times in case it was just a dream. 
3. Gotta say it....the weather is amazing. Outside of work, I love it. But it makes me nervous that my students are going to shut down wayyyy too early this year.
4. Landen is doing a great job of getting rid of her "uh-oh" (paci). She only wants it if she wakes in the middle of the night and in the car driving to and from school. The girl is a recovering paci addict. This is progress.
5. Now that she's letting go of the uh-oh, she's become an avid (stuffed) animal lover. Her first love was "Kiko" the dog. Now we have a zoo of animals lining her bed at night to keep her company. She's always got an animal under her arm. 
6. In case you haven't heard enough about Landen, she's growing up so fast and proves it every day by showing us her intelligence. She's now forming her own sentences (2-3 words) and not just repeating what we say. It's so fun to see her learning and displaying her unique personality right in front of our eyes.
7. So when is baby #2 coming along? Um, we just bought a house...give us a break! :)  Oh, and Landen is keeping us PLENTY busy.
8. I'm turning 30 in a couple of weeks. Living up my 20's by partying every night and pulling reckless stunts. If partying and reckless are code for staying up past 10pm once or twice a week, then my last statement is true.
9. I'm planning an awesome baby shower for my best friend, Rachel. I can't wait to celebrate the arrival of her little one even though she's refusing to find out the gender.  ;)
10. In fashion news, get yourself some bright colors for summer/spring. I recently purchased some orangey/red khaki cropped pants and a "highlighter yellow" cardigan and am in love with both. Something about all these bright colors makes me feel so cheerful. :)

That's it! My first top 10 in the books. Enjoy your weekend!