Shrimp and Grits

Ever since my 20 year old summer in Charleston, shrimp and grits has been one of my favorite low country dishes. During a recent week of "shop my pantry and freezer" cooking, I made this with ingredients on hand. It was yummy.

I thawed some frozen, peeled and deveined shrimp and seasoned them with trusty ole' Old Bay. I think I used about a pound of shrimp.

Meanwhile I boiled 3 cups of chicken broth, and cooked a cup of grits in there according to the box directions.

Then I mixed the grits with the shrimp, a drained can of rotel, and whatever cheese I had on hand. I think I used cheddar, Monterey jack, and even a little velveeta that I had left over--Between a cup and a cup and a half. I have used pepper jack before, and that is good if you like it extra spicy.

I kept the mixture in my pan, and then I baked it until the cheese was melted and bubbly. My family thanked me. :)

Teacher Love

My girls have been blessed this year with some of the sweetest teachers ever. They nurture their spirits and let them be themselves and teach them well. My girls adore them, and so do I. We thanked them recently with some teacher appreciation gifts and end of year gifts. The first pic is for the teacher appreciation day, the second is what I gave the lead teachers, and the third is the graduation gifts I gave the co-op girls.

Mother's Day

It sure was sweet this year! Between treats from school that the girls made, gifts from church, and Patrick's shopping trip with the girls, I was pampered and even a little spoiled.

On Sunday morning, I got to sleep in and read a magazine and eat breakfast in bed-- for the first time ever! We went to church, and then during the girls' naps, I watched a movie. It was the perfect rainy afternoon.

After nap time, we celebrated with my sweet mom. It was a great day. Being a mom is such a blessing... And such a huge job... Patrick and I are thankful for our mothers.

Baby Love

One of my dearest friends is expecting. It has been so sweet to get to see her embrace the fulfilled longing of impending motherhood, to watch her grow in excitement, to grow in love, and to grow this precious son of hers.

Jude Briley Price is already one lucky little boy to have such fabulous parents, and it was such a joy to shower this family with love.

We planned this shower around the nursery theme and books... Because what new momma--who is also an English teacher--doesn't love the building of a children's library.

Here are some pictures of the party decor. I hope to snag a pic of the hostesses and mommy in the making that I will post later.

Isn't she a pretty pregnant lady?

This was my gift for the little guy, plus my book choice of The Little Engine That Could... Because boys love trains, duh!

April made these from scratch. She is a culinary rock star for sure.

Our cookies...that are upside down... Sheesh, but still cute.

The food spread. We did a Sunday brunch menu, and it was all super yummy.

Karen graciously opened her inviting home, and this cool and recently refinished hutch served as a focal point for some of our shower decor and sweets.

Drinking mocktails out of mason jars and cool striped straws just made us feel appropriately pinterested. :)

Ever since I became a mom and began hosting birthday parties for my girls, I am obsessed with 2 things: banners and tissue pom poms. My friends feel the same way.

You can see the cute invitation in the background, and we made book plate labels for guests to fill out for Jude.

It was a wonderful afternoon, and we just cannot wait to meet this sweet boy!

End of yearness

Every year as the school year closes, I experience a myriad of emotions, and I am left questioning if I want to keep doing this... And how could I ever imagine NOT doing this... My constant inner conflict. On the one hand, I am dealing with checked out, too-cool-for-school kids, and on the other, I am receiving notes like this:



On that first hand, I am dealing with test anxiety and evaluations being unjustly tied to test scores of kids who forgot to show up-- both mentally and/or sometimes even physically, but, on the other, I am cheering on AP kiddos who have the ability to earn college credit for their year's worth of work with treat bags like this:

And then I remember that feeling I had as my first graduating class from the inner city was walking across that stage. I was hugging crying mommas and holding crying babies. I remember coming home and telling Patrick to never let me forget *this* feeling. Because I thought (knew) that the wear and tear of each passing year could potentially make me forget. Thank goodness I am not there yet.

Tomorrow I have 48 students who will be writing their hearts out as they try to validate their year by earning college credit for Freshman comp. Please send them your well wishes. They are going to do great--I just know it!

The spoken word

Around a month or so ago, I was sitting at a beautiful banquet to celebrate the accomplishments of some of Tennessee's most ambitious high school students. Everyone was dressed to impress, the girls donning their most flattering cocktail dresses with swanky updo's and the guys spiffing up with ties and clean faces and combed hair. We were served the most decadent foods on the most delicate dishes. There was even some nice background mood music. All the elements were in place to provide for the enjoyment of our esteemed company.

And yet it was one of the most awkward evenings I can remember experiencing.

No one was talking. I am not joking. There were hardly any words, much less sentences, uttered. The few that were spoken were politely strained responses to my attempts of conversation starters... I found myself wishing I had brought my old trusty question game book.

Yet they communicated incessantly.

I tell you... it was uncomfortably uncanny...

What happened looked like this: All of the students at the table (There were 8 of them. A dear friend/colleague and I rounded out the table of 10.) had their chair leaned back to be able to look down at their smart phones that rested comfortably in their laps. Every once in awhile one of them would giggle and shoot a glance across the table. Then they would pass a phone to their neighbor to see. A couple of minutes later it would happen again.

This went on ALL. NIGHT. LONG.

There were distractions. It was March Madness. There was anticipation of an ever-looming Spring Break. There were students from other schools scoping them out. I found myself making excuses for their anti-social behavior.

Then I got uncomfortable.

What were these under-the-table-texts about? We were staying at Opryland Hotel, and as a chaperone, I started getting paranoid that they were making plans to meet up later to drink or smoke or hook up. I was worried that they HAD been drinking and were sharing private jokes. I was worried that they were making fun of someone. I wasn't even sure that they weren't making fun of me.

All I know is that it heightened my senses and sharpened my awareness. My mind raced 15 years ahead thinking about my girls and what communication barriers they will face, what their bullies will look like, what their peer pressure will feel like, and I was again reminded that I am an old soul. I am. I want to preserve traditions, even if the spoken word is becoming archaic.

Who would ever really think that the spoken word could become archaic???

It is.

This evening has spiraled my thoughts and curiosity and creativity into delving into the communicative world of the technological teenager.

I shared my experience with one of my AP classes and polled them on their experiences with my experience. They nodded and laughed sheepishly as I shared the awkwardness of the evening, and they confessed to eating at restaurants with groups of friends and realizing at the end of the meal that they had not spoken a word.

One of my refreshingly and honest and, I must admit, favorite students even said that she and her group of friends have made a rule that when at a restaurant, they put all of their phones in a basket in the middle of the table to MAKE themselves talk and not constantly check their phones. She said that they are ok with it because when they check their phones at the end of the meal, they are excited to find that they have 15 new notifications.

It just confirms their popularity and validates their existence, the important things, after all.

"The Januaries"

This month is usually the hardest for me, and this year has proven no different. I don't know why it's hard? Maybe it just begins the longest stretch of time that the carrots dangling with fun things to look forward seem so far away in the distance... Anyway I refer to this time of year as "The Januaries..."

We have remedied this month by trying to plan things--dinner parties, play dates, national championships, birthdays, and we have enjoyed spending time with our friends and families. The exciting newness of my Canon Rebel from Christmas 2009 has unfortunately worn off, and most of our fun times have gone undocumented, but here are some of this month's highlights:

Our family experienced a 3rd straight national championship victory! Uncle Steven came over for a taco soup/guacamole supper celebration!

We've enjoyed hanging around the house

(these were a Sunday morning before church).

And the most documentation comes from Becky's bridal tea that I co-hosted with some of my best friends at my house yesterday. She is having a travel-themed wedding, and we attempted to tie in that for her tea.

My friend Karen made this super cool map wreath! I want one made of book pages!

She racked up, don't you think!?!

We sure could use a good snow!

My Paper Source Mantra of 2012

"Do something creative every day."

I was sooooo pumped when the Hill Center added The Paper Source to its specialty shops. Anyone who knows me well knows that paper is my passion. :) I am not kidding.

When I was window shopping and inspiration hunting there last week, I decided to fully embrace their motto and make it my 2012 goal. I think it will be attainable because creativity is one of those words that has a myriad of definitions... It can apply to cooking, sewing, writing--where it is in the form of writing cards, imaginatively with stories and poems, mechanically with calligraphy fanciness, organizing, taking pictures, dating, crafting, mothering, adventuring, saving money, etc... The possibilities are endless. I hope that it will infuse my--and my family's--spirit with inspiration.

In the small things.

On January 1, I made this book:
Something that has become a yearly ritual. It is always a little sad when Christmas card season is over, and I love pouring over them and cataloging them one last time before putting them away until the next season rolls around. They have been great side table decor and have been fun conversation starters.

Isn't this paper unique? I got it for 60% off at Paper Source's after Christmas sale.

January 2: Storyboards

I finally got over my perfectionist procrastinator identity with this project. I wanted to create storyboards of the girls' 3, 6, 9, and 12 month photos. I wanted to wait until they were finished, and I wanted them to "match" even though we used different photographers (and loved BOTH: Brooke Rainey Photography and Aaron Yung Photography. We are blessed to consider Aaron and Brooke dear friends to our family.) Anyway, I got a Hobby Lobby gift card and decided to take advantage of their 50% off custom framing. This is how they turned out:

Here's Addison:

And Ansley:
I described my girls the other day as being "uniquely identical." When we were choosing which pictures to use, we could have found shots from each of their sessions that would have been almost identical... Sometimes I think they look just alike, and other times all I see are their individual traits. They are undoubtedly sisters, and I think (hope and pray) they each got the best parts of Patrick and me.

I can't wait to hang these in our entryway.

January 3: snowmen and imaginative play

Addison made these:
We started off our morning like this:
Both girls in their chairs, pouring over books. Addison loves her new Peter Rabbit collection, and Ansley loves anything she can get her hands on. She signs "more" for books about as enthusiastically as she signs "more" for food. I love this. The more you read, the more you dream, the more your imagination--and vocabulary--develops, the more you, by product, create.

After we made the snowmen, we colored. Ansley is so happy when she gets to have a spot at Addison's table, and this is her first coloring book.
This year, Patrick and I tried to be intentional in what we bought the girls for Christmas. We tried to fill their toy bins--and minds and hearts and spirits--with items that foster innocent, imaginative play, and it has filled our hearts with joy to watch them create worlds that bring Strawberry Shortcake figures, Calico Critters, Lightning McQueen, Mater, Lincoln Logs, and Little People together.

We were born to create, in our own ways, weren't we? Afterall, we were made in the image of our Creator. Here's to growing closer to Him this year as we intentionally walk this path.

Also, to begin this year, I started my in depth study of James, and I'll leave with His words:

"He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all He created." ~James 1:18