Firsts.

So, this weekend, I put up my first Christmas tree.

It's kind of a big deal, guys.

I mean, I've lived on my own for going on 4 years now, but this is the first time I'm ever able to put up and decorate my own tree. (Technically, it's my parents' old tree, but I've claimed her and named her Norma.)

Ready? Okay, friends, meet Norma:

Isn't she beautiful??

I worked hard to make her gorgeous, and I'm pretty proud of this first effort of mine. :) Just assembling the tree was an adventure in and of itself. But now, I'd like to draw your attention to a few of my favorite things on my tree. There are oh so many I could share with you, but here's a start, at least:

I'm not going to lie, my tree topper is one of the things I love the most about this tree.

It normally would cost $20, but I'm pretty sure I scored it for somewhere between $5-$10.

That's the beauty of shopping the after Christmas sales, my friends.

This ornament was given to me by my parents, and it hangs front and center on my tree.

In case you can't quite read it, it says: "Teachers make a difference."

Yeah, my parents are pretty great. I think I'll keep them.

This picture holds a couple of interesting ornaments. The wine glass in the top left corner

reads "Wine a little, you'll feel better!" and my parents picked it up for me when they went

on a vacation to a winery. The other ornament of note is the little white owl. I bought a set

of three of these babies during my after Christmas sale shopping. I couldn't resist! They're just

too dang cute! Also, with shannon*bear being one of my best friends, it just makes sense for

her to be represented on my Christmas tree, don't you think? Me, too!

This last one is special for a different reasons. That beautiful ornament you see in the center of

this photo was hand-painted by my grandfather, Robert Norris. I was allowed to pick any of

the ornaments he'd painted the last time I was up north visiting, and I was drawn to this one.

Pretty cool stuff, eh? Well, I thought I'd invite you into my humble abode to see how I'm getting decked out for Christmas. What's your favorite part of decorating at Christmas time? Share you thoughts!

Until next time,

♥ Marlee

Thankful.

Sorry I'm so awful at updating lately. Life is busy over here!

I hope everyone had a fantastic Thanksgiving holiday. I know much gorging was had here in our household, and we STILL managed to have quite a bit leftover.

I realized I didn't really take time to do a Thanksgiving-y post about the things I'm thankful for in my life, and I hate to miss out on an opportunity to give thanks, so here's my list, albeit it's 2 days late.

Things I'm thankful for:

My family. We are crazy and we nag and fight like other families, but we're also solid as a rock.
My friends. This group has seen some rather difficult changes over the past year or so, but I truly appreciate those friends of mine who have stuck it out with me and continue to be people I can always count on.
My job. It may not be perfect, but whose job truly is? Ultimately, I get to go to work each day and do what I love. And that's certainly something to be thankful for.
My kiddos. They challenge me, they frustrate me, sometimes they even break my heart. But I love them so fiercely that at the end of the day, I just feel blessed to have the opportunity to help them grow as learners.

That covers most of the big stuff...there are too many little things to name right now.

I hope you took some time to really think about what you have to be thankful for. There's more than you mght realize at first glance.

♥ Marlee

So. Excited.

So, a while back, I won an awesome giveaway on my sweet friend Shannon's blog, shannon*bear. As a result, I won the fantastic layout you all see here on my blog now (care of Sarah from SillyGrrl), I got a large sponsor spot for this month on Shannon's blog (along with all of its perks), and, most importantly...I won a pin.

What?

I know!

But for serious, this pin was the big draw for me to enter this giveaway. It's freaking adorable. So

imagine my surprise when after a stressful day at work on Thursday (not all stress is bad, guys), I came home to find a super awesome stamped envelope containing...

MY PIN!

I was super excited, guys. See?

I'm in love.

It looks perfect on the lapel of my pea coat, and I'm pretty sure I'm going to wear it as much as humanly possible. Thanks, Sara! I love it! :)

That's it for now, friends. I'll post soon about Thanksgiving related stuff, but I wanted to share my awesome prizes with you. I hope everyone is staying warm and drinking lots of hot cocoa and coffee--I know I am!

Until next time,

♥ Marlee

Bittersweet

A great friend and true pillar in my church and in his community, Chuck Baker, lost his five-year battle with colon cancer this past weekend. Chuck was the epitome of a Christian in so many aspects of his life. He was so involved in everything at our church, and even though he'd been at church less and less in recent weeks, I truly felt his absence this past Sunday.

I'm beyond glad that Chuck gets to chill with Jesus now, and I'm so glad that he isn't suffering anymore...but man, it really sucks to lose someone. Even when you pretty much know it's coming.

So tomorrow, along with my parents and what's sure to be a filled sanctuary, we'll pay tribute to the life Chuck led, and celebrate the end of his suffering.

Heaven has truly gained another angel.

♥ Marlee

If you're interested in learning a little about Chuck's life, his obituary can be found here.

Loyalty, Layouts, and...um...something else that starts with an L?

The grand total of trips to jail last night topped out at around 5, I think.

But the best part was that I came prepared. I lined up allies for this night who promised me they would bail me out, and they came through with flying colors. Every time I was put in jail, someone was either in the process of bailing me out, or had already done it, before I even got down to the jail.

That's loyalty, my friends.

I had a lot more fun last night than I anticipated, actually. I figured it would be hard to screw on my smile after such a long day, but I really had a good time. Playing freeze dance for 3 hours straight is actually pretty entertaining, especially when I get the babies in my room dancing. It's pretty awesome to see a baby catch on to the rules and actually try to freeze when the music stops.

I slept hard last night, though, guys. After working a 14+ hour day, I think I earned it, don't you?

On a totally different note, I won an awesome giveaway on Shannon's blog, shannon*bear, and part of my prize was winning a blog template from SillyGrrl. I'm having minor technical difficulties uploading all of the components, so if you saw the random and misplaced-looking banner, it was because I was only able to upload part of the code. This should hopefully be fixed soon--so keep your eyes peeled for a whole new look here! :)

I'm off to enjoy the rest of this Veteran's Day--remember to take a moment to give thanks for all of the those who have fought and are still fighting to secure all of the freedoms we so enjoy in our country!

Until next time,

♥ Marlee

UPDATE!

Fixed the template issue with help from Shannon! Hooray! What do you think?

I'll probably spend the majority of tomorrow evening in jail.

No, really.

It's for my school's Fall Festival.  (What were YOU thinking?)

Tomorrow evening is my school's annual Fall Festival, and one of the big draws is the jail.  For a certain number of tickets, students can put any adult they want to into a fenced in cage in one of the hallways dubbed "the jail."  Teachers, administrators, any staff member is fair game.

And let me tell you, some of my boys have been looking particularly excited about putting me into jail.

I can only hope that my kiddos from last year who love me lots will bail me out--it costs the same number of tickets to bail out a person as it does to put them into jail.

Time will tell.

But until that fateful moment when I'm summoned to the jail, I'll be busting a move playing Freeze Dance in my classroom.

'Cause that's just how I roll.

♥ Marlee

Lots of sleep and chicken soup, or how I survived first quarter.

First quarter is always kind of a bear.

I mean, there's so much that happens in first quarter.  You have to get a sense of where your students are starting from.  You have to establish baselines in all the different areas of academics--reading, writing, math skills.  You have to lay down the rules and figure out what the atmosphere of the classroom is going to be.  You  (hopefully) get to know the parents in your room and form some good relationships.  You have to figure out all of the new personalities you have in your room, and how to arrange those personalities in the most harmonious way possible.

Oh, and somewhere in there, you have to teach.

This first quarter has been a good one, really.  We've worked hard.  I have arranged (and rearranged, and rearranged) my desks, and will continue to do so.  I have gotten to know some fantastic parents, who I know I can count on as allies this year.  I've been able to assess students, with help from the awesome staff we have at our school.

And hey--I've even gotten to do a bit of that teaching, too.

Second quarter officially started this past Monday, and we're off and running, again.  I'm looking forward to continuing to figure out who my kids are, and how I can connect with them.

I'm busy, and tired, and pretty constantly feeling drained.

But I'm so happy to be doing what I love.

So, that's the haps for now.  If any of you have wandered my way because of my lovely friend Shannon at shannon*bear, welcome!  Blogging is a hobby of mine, and I try to post on a semi-regular basis.  Feel free to stick around and let me know if you like what you see!

Alrighty, kids.  I'll talk to you again soon.

Until next time,
♥ Marlee