I’ve been composing a new post in my head for several weeks now, but I’ve just been too busy to write it down. If only I got paid to blog!
Ben and I had a lovely first Christmas with Brynleigh! We woke up Christmas morning, just the three of us, and spent the morning eating homemade cinnamon rolls, shooing Barkley away from the presents, and enjoying the quiet brought on by the snow – YES, SNOW! – that had fallen all day Christmas Eve. It was, it seems, the first white Christmas our area has seen in 94 years.

The snow melted quickly on Christmas Day, so we had to snap a picture before it was gone!
Later that morning, Papa (my dad) arrived, along with my brother (David) and sister-in-law (Joelle) and my nephew (Dawson). It was such fun to have them spend the day with us! Joelle and I cooked Christmas dinner – I have to tell you, she made the most amazing Mexican corn (similar to this recipe, except I think she also added some chili powder and some of the juice from the jalapenos) in her Crock Pot – and we all gorged ourselves on too much food. It was awesome.

Brynleigh in her Christmas pajamas

Shiny ornament!

Getting a closer look at the Little People farm from her Papa and Grammy Seifipour.

Even Barkley got into the spirit!
Brynleigh added a new word to her vocabulary on New Year’s Eve: “dog.” A few days later, she added “duck.” Now, EVERYTHING is either a dog or a duck – she definitely knows both words, but she pronounces them the same at this point. When she says it while pointing at Barkley, she clearly means “dog,” but in the bathtub, while playing with her rubber duckies, we know it’s “duck.” Regardless, it’s super cute!
The second weekend in January, Ben took a little overnight trip to Austin with our friend Joe. He came home with some fresh vision for our family this year; we are really excited about making some changes soon.
Just a few days later, on the 14th, Ben left to spend a weekend in Washington, D.C. with his brother, Brian. They were able to have some good “brother time” – seeing the sights, eating at fancy restaurants, and living the life I imagine many people live on Capitol Hill. Seriously, I called him on the Saturday night he was there, and this is what he says to me: “I’m at a wine party right now. Is this really important, or can we just talk through text?” I couldn’t help but laugh! I think he had a really fantastic weekend away, and I’m so glad he was able to go and spend time with Brian. The two of them also trekked over to the Baltimore area to spend an afternoon with their grandmother. Ben hadn’t seen her since our wedding day, seven and a half years ago!

Looking toward the National Mall from the Lincoln Memorial.

The Capitol Building

The Jefferson Memorial

Just another fancy house....
Back at home, I was really intimidated by the thought of spending three nights on my own with Brynleigh. So, since it was a long weekend (MLK Day, I think), I called my mom and asked her if she’d like to come spend the weekend with me and Miss B. She graciously obliged, and we had so much fun! I haven’t felt that relaxed in…well, I don’t really know how long. Honestly, it was like breathing for the first time. It was so nice to just be ME for a few days and not worry about entertaining anyone or accomplishing anything.
When Mom left, it was back to work. WOW – were we busy! My friend Angela recruited me to help her build an online English course for our district. In the middle of January, we were informed that the State of Texas would like us to be finished with the course by January 31. WHAT?! We were only four units in to an eleven-unit course…and those four units had taken us about six months to complete. However, the promise of a sizable bonus was enough to convince us to work REALLY HARD for the next two weeks to finish the course. It was a LOT of work – keep in mind that it was separate from my regular job(s) – but we did manage to complete it, and a couple of days ahead of schedule at that! Poor Ben had to put in some extra time with Brynleigh at home so that I could work, but it was only for a couple of weeks. (And the larger paycheck should help, too!)
I have also been relieved of my Advanced Placement duties at school. Quite frankly, the course required more prep time than I had to give, and it wasn’t fair to the students to have a teacher who could not devote the necessary time and attention that they need. It also wasn’t good for me to be under all that pressure all the time. I was in a constant cycle of personal and professional failure, and when I talked (yelled?) it over with my principals several months ago, we all agreed that I needed some relief. The course is now in FANTASTIC hands, having been graciously taken over by a colleague at the beginning of the new semester. Now I have a schedule full of all “regular” students – I’m thrilled. I just love these kids. They make the hard parts of my job worthwhile.
Our hearts have been captivated by the situation following the devastating earthquake in Haiti. We made a donation to the American Red Cross, and encourage you to do whatever you can to help. The disaster relief agencies say cash is best right now, unless you have some sort of specialized training and can go with an organization that has the resources to support you while you are there. Ben and I both feel strongly about doing what we can to care for the widow and the orphan (both real and metaphorical), and one of our goals for the year is to give. We’re not totally sure what that looks like yet, but we know that we need to do it. We also watched the Hope for Haiti Now telethon (you couldn’t help watching it when it was on every channel) and discovered a love for Matt Morris and his music. I read a couple of days afterward that the event raised some $57 million. Amazing. Beauty for ashes, indeed.
We are looking forward to the Winter Olympics (okay, that’s probably more me than Ben), Spring Break, and, of course, summer vacation. We’re contemplating a trip to France in the summer/fall…. We’ll post details about that if/when it comes to fruition.
I have another couple of posts to write that I’m hoping to get to later today. I want to tell you about Brynleigh’s first birthday – can you believe she’s one already?! – and I’m also going to share information from her check-up with the doctor yesterday afternoon. I will also update this post with some pictures, as well as add pictures to the aforementioned forthcoming posts. (Two big words in a row!)
I hope all is well and that 2010 has been good to you so far!