Happy Thanksgiving!

Wishing you all a very Happy Thanksgiving!

We are so thankful for the love and friendship of everyone and we are so blessed to have been given so much to be thankful for. We hope that God has blessed each one of you as much as he has blessed us.

As for our Thanksgiving, today Phil is completing his 9-day stretch of work, so for our afternoon (he will be home about 4p), we are having some of his co-workers over for some appetizers, adult beverages and of course, watching the football games (Phil says that he roots for anyone that plays against the Cowboys!) and just having a relaxing evening. Tomorrow, we will have our real feast of turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, cranberries, bread, green bean casserole, cookie salad and pumkin pie. Yes, it is only the two of us and yes, we will be eating leftovers until we are green in the face :) I'm sure we will have stories and many memories to share of our first thanksgiving, our first big meal to cook and our first Black Friday shopping experience!

Last year in Midland, the town was 'covered' with a little over an inch of snow, but with the high around 65 today, I don't think we'll get anything but sunshine. I'm hoping the snow is just building power and we'll have a few inches of snow for Christmas (but not much later because I want my mom and dad to be able to drive down here on the 28th)!

Once again, happy turkey day to one and all and may you have much food to fill your stomach and many blessings to fill your heart!

time is flying by

Now that Phil and I are 'grown-up adults,' we can't believe how quickly time is passing us by! It seems like we just got married and moved down here a few weeks ago and when we realize that we've been in our apartment for 2 months, we can't believe it. It has been such a great experience thus far and we are so blessed with all of the opportunities and adventures that have come our way. While we are beginning to miss winter and real cold weather (down here, people don't know what to do when the temperature goes below 50), but we're both holding out hope that we'll be able to experience a white Christmas :)
Phil hit a milestone this week as he celebrated his one year anniversary with the City of Midland. He's been very busy at work and this week, he was the lucky guy to go in three hours before his shift to help oversee the construction project that was taking place during the nights. Both of us were very glad that he only had to get up a few mornings at 3am in order to make it there in time. Another thing that we're thankful of is that he is back to the day shift, so for the first time since I started working, we are both home around the same time in the afternoon, which means that we actually get to see each other when both of us are awake! This week, he's working a grueling 9-day stretch, so I don't think he'll be too happy when I drag him out of bed on his first day off (Black Friday). All in the name of love, I guess!
I also can't believe that I have finished my first four weeks at the school. There have been so many emotional rollercoasters during that time, but I think I am finally getting the hang of it all and the kids are getting used to my presence in the classroom. The only downfall is that since they are getting more attached to me, I am getting attacked by their germs. I finally am starting to feel better after battling multiple symptoms for the past 3 weeks. But, now that I'm almost in the clear, Phil has finally been attacked. I think we'll be sharing germs and diseases for the next year. I have to say that the best part of working with the kids is hearing the nicknames that they come up with. I thought that it would be easier for them to have 'Mrs. Tiedeman' instead of 'Ms. Chmielewski,' but they have proved me wrong. One of the little boys couldn't pronounce my name correctly after trying a few times to say it, so he just decided to call me 'Mrs. Cinnamon!' Well, the other kids have started to hear him call me that, so they put together cinnmamon and toast, so one student introducted me to his mom as 'Mrs. Toaster.' Oh goodness! Needless to say, I think I'll be letting them call me 'Mrs. Katie' when we return from Thanksgiving break :)
Everything else is also falling into place. We've found a church that we both enjoy and while it's a little bit smaller than we had hoped (congregation is about 40 people), we think it will provide us with an opportunity to get to know people on a more personal basis and we'll be able to provide a younger person's perspective (the majority of the congregation is middle-aged). The other night, we went out with a few friends and enjoyed (well, at least watched) the Odessa Jackalopes hockey game. Hockey down south just isn't the same as up north! But, it was fun to be back in an ice arena, so I think we'll be going to more games in the future.
Hope you all have a great Thanksgiving!

So much has happened since the last time that I wrote, I don't even know where to start! First off, I am finally employed! I know that being a Domestic Diva and CEO of Tiedeman Family was tough work, but I think the hubby and I would agree that being out in the community with people has done wonders for me! The best wonder of all is finding out that my immune system is not used to children or Texas germs. Yes, after being in the classroom for one week, I officially had a cough and here we are another week later, and I have a full-blown cold :( I am trying to fight through it, so hopefully by Monday, I will be super-charged and ready to go! The picture of me is after my first day of school :)

The next exciting thing is that Phil and I finally got to celebrate a holiday together! Yes, we know that Halloween isn't the most special or significant holiday, but when you've been dating someone for almost four years and you can count on one hand how many holidays you were together for, you get really excited about the small things. Unfortunately Phil had to work until late on Halloween night, but we still carved a pumpkin (there's Phil revealing what's inside our pumpkin), decorated and got some candy (wishful thinking that we would have little kids come trick-or-treat). Halloween night, we went to a party with a few friends (Phil came to that party after he got off work) and it was a great evening with a lot of fun decorations and costumes (I was a rag doll and Phil was a tourist).

After all of the Halloween festivities, we got to celebrate Phil's birthday! He has now entered the 'quarter-century' club and as of right now, nothing much has changed! He had to work the evening shift on his birthday, so I headed out to the airport to have dinner and birthday pie with him. Now we are taking a little breath before Thanksgiving and Black Friday activities (yes, I am dragging him out of bed in the early morning of Friday the 28th to do some shopping)! I mean, is there a better time than 6am and with a crowd of people to point out what I want for my birthday and Christmas?!? I'm sure we'll survive and I probably won't get him out of bed too early... at least by my standards :)

As for now, I plan on taking it easy for the rest of the weekend. Hopefully my immune system will bulk back up and I'll be ready to take on the kids for two more weeks (then, it's a week off for Thanksgiving Break)! I love school!