Tuesday, September 24, 2013

Classroom Fish Tank

Today as our outing I decided to go to the pet store to buy a fish tank and some fish. It all sounded great in theory because there's a lot of life skills that go with this fish tank: picking them out, knowing what is needed in the fish tank, paying for them, learning about how to care for fish, how to assemble a fish tank then the weekly maintenance and cleaning of the fish tank and daily feedings. Oh so much my kids can and will learn!

Then after we purchased the fish and tank and placed the fish in their new home, I realized that school is 9 months of the year with several week-long breaks. Guess who is now going to be bringing fish home over breaks?! The Lockwood family has just added grew in size with one red beta and one blue beta. My cat should get a kick out of this...Jason probably not so much. :)

Tuesday, September 17, 2013

22 Weeks



Here's a pic at 22 weeks. I especially like it because it kinda has the flowers in it that Jason surprised me with for our anniversary which is tomorrow. I've been asking for flowers for about a year now so I am really loving these (they're my favorite color too!) As for the picture I'm so glad I finally posted about the pregnancy...it's pretty much the only thing I think about all the time so it's nice that I can finally write about it!

Friday, September 13, 2013

New Girl


Jason and I have always enjoyed watching TV series on Netflix or DVD's. That way you can watch them on your own time and no wait time until next week's episode. (Oh how I wish I had done this with Parenthood...which, by the way, is starting up again on September 26th!) But our latest new show we are addicted to is New Girl. Could that show get any more awkward and lovable?! Love it. We finished up the latest season last night so will have to wait with the rest of the world until it comes back on this Tuesday, 9/17! (how good as that timing?!)  So excited!  Tune in!

The Best Dessert for fall


My absolute favorite dessert in the fall is pumpkin pie. I could have it every day for the season of fall, or maybe even every season. But since it's really not offered throughout the year my favorite dessert for the rest of the year is cheesecake. So imagine my excitement when I learned that Olive Garden (also my very favorite restaurant) is serving pumpkin cheesecake!?

I was hopeful in my order that it would be good but I had no idea just how good until I actually tried it. Heaven in my mouth! If you like either pumpkin or cheesecake I suggest you try this heavenly delight. Wow, it's amazing! I've already had three slices since I've discovered it about 3 weeks ago and technically fall hasn't even begun yet so I imagine I'll have just a few more slices before this one is off the menu! ;-)

*image found here

Rain Day - No School!

Woohoo! No school!  And I've kind of been waiting to post this to make sure all is really okay in the area because it wouldn't be that great to be excited about a day off school while peoples houses are flooding or being destroyed, right?

Obviously Colorado is making national news with all the rain we've gotten the past few days. It's comical to me because I've been wanting to post all week how I have had a new car for 3 months now. I've had the car without mats for 3 months but haven't given it much thought until this week and was reminded that you need car mats because of rain and snow. Well it never rains here in Colorado! It's one of the reasons we LOVE living here...if it rains, it'll rain for a little bit then the sun pops up. But even though the lack of sun shining in Chicago was a HUGE reason we moved to Colorado I have to admit that sometimes it's really nice to have a gloomy, rainy day where I can just stay under the covers or sit on the couch and blog or read or just do nothing and not feel guilty for needing to be outside enjoying life while the sun is shining. I mean that's how us Midwesterener's think, right?  If it's nice outside you better get outside to enjoy it because it won't last long! I remember many days in high school and college in April or May where the sun would come out and it was nearly impossible to go to school. In college we'd certainly not go to class and call it a personal day. Heck, half the professors would let you out early to enjoy the day and if they didn't they we're clearly mean-hearted awful people. Obviously work days were no different...when the sun is out after months of hibernation, you get out there and enjoy it! Call in sick, eat your lunch outside, go get your car washed, go for a run, whatever...just do something outside! Living in Colorado with a typical Midwesterner's mindset of sun = get out there and be busy, it gets truly exhausting! The sun is always out! Please just give me a gloomy day where I can just stay in and be lazy for crying out loud!

Well lucky me! I got those days...4 of them to be exact.  The rain never stopped this week and the sun never came out to shine. The week at school got really busy and rather stressful. I was having a hard time dealing with some issues at work and was literally almost in tears yesterday. All I wanted to do was crawl into a ball and cry, or lay on the couch with a good book or some Sex and the City reruns. Who'd have ever thought I'd actually get that wish?  Really...who'd have thought? They canceled the entire school districts school because of possible flooding?! In Chicago we would get as much rain we've had the past 4 days in just a few hours and life goes on. Heck, this much rain is pretty much normal in Illinois...and instead we in Colorado get a day out of school?!  Woohooo!  (as a discloser...I am, in no way, saying that I am judging the superintendents decision...things were getting really bad in our district's area last night and the devastation up north is horrendous. And this is not normal at all for Colorado to get this much rain, therefore the water has nowhere to go. People were not overreacting at just a little rainfall...it was real folks! Instead, I am just fully enjoying the fact that things haven't gotten any worse here and that we got a day off for it!)

This day off has been an answer to prayer for more reasons that I can even say. The gloominess and cooler temps are such a warm welcome for me!  (easy for me to say when I know the sun will come back out and shine all winter long!)  I have already caught up on some much needed sleep, spent some quality time with God, done laundry, relaxed with a book, cleaned, am blogging and have a long list of other things left to do today that I know I can get done. What an amazing, wonderful day it's been.  And the kicker...I'm starting to see a little bit of sky behind those clouds and have a feeling the sun might just be shining pretty soon!

Happy 3 day weekend to me...happy weekend to all of you!

Thursday, September 12, 2013

Its a Boy!


Jason and I are super excited  to announce that we're expecting a baby boy in January! We found out back in May that we are pregnant and it's been one crazy fun ride the past 21 weeks! We had been trying to get pregnant for just over a year and I was really starting to get discouraged! Even though we are this far along I am still in shock sometimes when I look at my belly in the mirror! Ahh I'm pregnant and Jason and I are going to have a little boy to call our own!

At our appointment last week our doctor said everything looks great! We got to see his little feet and hands along with  every other part of our sweet boy. Jason and I wanted it to be a bit more personal of how we found of the gender so we had the ultrasound tech write it down in a card and we took it to dinner to open and celebrate just the two of us. After dinner we called out families and friends. That day is up there as one of the best days of my life with our wedding day and when Jason proposed!

Being pregnant and working in a classroom of  5 boys with autism has been extremely exhausting but I am just so thankful that we're pregnant and everything is going well! I had a little nausea each day in the first trimester then had about a week of a constant migraine coupled with really bad back pain. I have been totally exhausted (like where I can hardly function!) since the day I found out but have thoroughly enjoyed watching my boobs grow (I've been waiting 20+ years for this moment!)!  Now that I know everything is going okay and my belly is growing every day I am starting to "feel" and like being pregnant!

YAY for our sweet little baby boy who is due January 21, 2014.  Life is about to get really interesting in our lives!



Sunday, September 1, 2013

Keith Urban at Red Rocks


Back in April we bought tickets for Keith Urban and Little Big Town at Red Rocks. Jason and I decided after our first concert at Red Rocks that every summer should include a night there so this year I decided on a country show. :)

Keith Urban did not disappoint! He has a new CD coming out next month so he played a few from that but most of it was his old stuff that everyone could sing along to. The weather cooperated and we had great seats (only because there isn't a bad seat in the entire amphitheater!) Only thing we forgot was our cowboy boots and hats and because it was on a Friday we weren't able to get there early enough to tailgate but all in all it was such a fun night with Jason!

Sunday Song - Awakening

Happy Sunday and LONG weekend!  We went to church last night and I'm so excited for a new series to begin! We've been going over the book of Luke since we started going there and the church been studying it for like 20 months or something. (my very small attention span needs things spiced up every once in a while!) Now we're doing a series on leaving a legacy and it's short and sweet...just 4 weeks. The series couldn't come at a better time in my life too.

I've been having a hard time connecting with God the past few months (this seems to be a common theme for me when things in my life are going well.) After prayer and prompting by the Lord, I bought a Bible study by Kay Arthur (my first by her...finally!)  I am not usually successful in doing Bible studies on my own but both of my small groups aren't doing studies that require outside homework and with the new job and everything else going on in my life the next few months I can't commit to another weekly obligation. I will try this on my own and am really hopeful that I'll finish it and get where I need to be with God.

Today's Sunday Song is one by Chris Tomlin (shocker!) and I'm praying God will awaken all of our souls to His will this week.  What a hard prayer to pray but one I definitely need this week!  I hope you enjoy your Sunday and Labor Day weekend!  

"Awakening" -- by Chris Tomlin

Mornings Just got a LOT Better!


I don't drink much, if any caffeine and certainly not enough to have a full cup of coffee every day (an occasional coca-cola makes me jittery enough!) But I still like my morning cup of coffee or tea.  Teas have a few decaf choice in different flavors but store bought coffee has one flavor...the green canned decaf PLAIN coffee. Boring!!!

While I drink my coffee black (I thank my husband for bringing me over to the dark side, literally) I decided I'd try the overly sweet creamer to add a little flavor to my morning cup of jo. While it is way too overly sweet, the Nestle Coffee-mate Pumpkin Spice is Heavenly!  This added flavor has changed my morning routine!  Gives me something to look forward to each day- YUM!!  Love love love it! Happy almost fall!