Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays

At this time of year, I have to always steal the line from N'Sync's Christmas song--Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! What a wonderful/classic song! What a wonderful Christmas The Carlton's had this year, too!  I feel like for a month--we run non-stop to find the perfect gift for the ones we love the most.  Then in a flash of a light, the day is done and we're trying to catch our breath from the wonderful Christmas day!

Craig and I are so blessed to be surrounded by both of our families. Here is a quick run down on our Christmas extravaganzas:  We had dinner and gift exchanging at Craig's family on Christmas Eve followed by the Christmas Eve Service at church.  Today, we exchanged presents with each other, gift exchanged with my parents/sister and then attended our Christmas Day church service.  After church, we went back to my sisters for gift exchange with the WHOLE family and lunch!  It sure was a blast getting to spend the day with our nephew, Brayden; he sure was fun this year!  We then, went to visit and see Craig's family at his parents house.  Can you tell all we do is run around on Christmas day? I definitely can't complain because we're extremely lucky to have both sets of our parents around and able to spend time with everyone.

Now, we're sitting on the couch trying to catch our breath and relax for what's left of Christmas day, as well as thinking of all the blessings we have in our life! Nothing can beat spending time with family and the ones you love most.  I hope you all are taking a minute to relax and reflect on the any blessings you have in your life!

We hope you all have had a VERY Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from the Carlton's and

Happy Birthday Jesus!

Tis the Season

Tis the season for warm beverages, cute scarves, and a continuous to do list. I sure do love this time of year. I can't believe November has passed with only one post--but November flew and it was Thanksgiving! Time to travel with family and begin getting ready for one of the biggiest holidays of the year.  Although at times it has seemed I don't have time to think about what comes next, I continue to still enjoy the decorations, family time, and giving to the ones I love the most.  Since Thanksgiving in North Carolina with family, my life hasn't slowed down even though my body wants to.  From shopping to Christmas parties--it always seems to be something.

The Carlton's have lead an exciting December and have enjoyed getting ready for the holidays.  Christmas decorating, shopping, and weekend day vacations have kept us exhausted. We have decided to enjoy this week of relaxing and well..doing NOTHING. (Besides a little online shopping, of course!)

School continues to keep me on my toes. Twenty-two kindergartens always have something in mind for me. I can't believe the second nine weeks is half way over and we're already sending out progress reports.  I continue to lose track of time. As for Craig, he is still out of work with his wrist and at times wants to go crazy sitting at home.  He heads back to the doctor on the 22nd of December so let's keep our fingers crossed he'll be released for work again!

Well, it's off to watch a few ABC Family Christmas movies and enjoy myself a cup of hot choocolate.
I will leave you with a few photos of the crazy life we live.

The past month or so in a nut shell:

Colonial Williamsburg Grand Illumination

The Carlton's in Williamsburg

 Christmas Town

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Seems Like Only Yesterday...

Remember that time I didn't blog for months. Oh yeah--school started and my blog life was put on hold.  It's amazing how fast time goes by and how easy it is to get wrapped up in work.  I mean lesson plans, grades, and centers totally takes over your life at nights when you teach.  When I'm not working at night--I just don't want to sit down to "think."  I absolutely love my job and so glad I chose the profession I did but it sure is exhausting.  I totally believe that we have summers for a reason.  It's our time to recoup for the next school year.  This first nine weeks is already over and I have to say--I made it.  It seems like only yesterday that I was blogging about the fierce Irene hurricane and preparing for my kinderbabies to arrive on the first day.  I can't believe I closed out grades today.  Sure does scare me on how fast time flies.

Well, in the past few months Craig and I have been busy with work, celebrating birthdays, and hanging out in hospitals. Here is a super quick run down month by month on the crazy life we lead:

Septemberr:

1. School started--took over the whole month of September.

2. Went to the Jason Aldean concert.

3. Erin came to visit and I ate at Citrus for the first time.

4. More school work.

October:

1. My wonderful mom turned 50!

2. I went to my first Redskins game as an Eagle's fan with Craig to celebrate his birthday.

3. My wonderful husband, Craig, turned 26.

4. We ran the Wicked 10k!

5. Craig broke his wrist playing hockey and had surgery.

6. Celebrated Halloween with our nephew.

As for November,  it's just beginning and I'm sure it is going to keep us just as crazy as the previous months. With Craig's wrist broken--I think things got crazier.  I am definitely looking forward to the upcoming holidays and can't wait until after Thanksgiving so I can put up my Christmas decorations (definitely my most favorite time of year)! I love decorating for Christmas but I sure do love all the family time that comes along with it!

I will leave you with a few photographs of the events from the past months and I hope to keep up to date with the blog life. After a teacher work day that got me caught up and the first nine weeks under my belt--I hope I'm in the clear for the next few months! Have a great week!

 Our Past Few Months In Photographs:

My life for September....

Erin came to visit!

Happy 50th Birthday, Mom!

My first time at Fed-Ex Field! Happy Birthday to Craig! (Go Eagles!)

Celebrating Craig's Birthday!

We survived the Wicked 10k!

Happy Halloween! What a cute giraffe nephew we have!

When did they get soooo big???

Recovering after surgery--2 plates and screws later--he's doing GREAT!

HAPPY NOVEMBER ALL!

Goodbye Summer.

Well, Irene has been gone for a while now and I've still not finished the blog I promised I would write.  I have no aftermath pictures because all-in-all...we had no aftermath.  Unless you wanted to look at a few leaves in our yard, there were no pictures to take.  I am glad to say we never lost power--a few flickers scared me but we were super lucky to have faired like we did in Irene!

It's sad to say--this is my official last day of Summer.  Ready or not--those kiddies are coming TOMORROW!  I can't believe it's already time for them to come.  I guess I have all day to get my life back in the swing of things.  Classroom looks ready--big question is..am I?  I guess the easy way to answer this question is I'm ready as I'll ever be.  Bring on the school year--I'm ready for the excitement and the challenges!!

I am going to try to keep the blog updated but as we always know--it's so easy to get tied up into the life as a teacher that at times the rest of our lives get put on hold.  I'm still learning the balance between school work and life and I hope to master it this school year.  Until next time..I'll be "diving into Kindergarten" with lots of young minds to moldddd.

I'll leave you with a few pictures from my last weekend of summerrrr:

 Great night with great friends. 

Goodbye summer.

Hello IRENE!

I love living near the beachhh..even if we do have visitors like Irene! It becomes stressful getting ready for the big event but all in all--it has it's moments where it's fun to watch in suspense on what will happen.  Last night we had one last dinner out with my family before we're stuck in side, staring at each other, and me continuing to ask question after question to Craig. Yes, I can ask lots of questions.  We discussed what we used to do when we were kids (yes, we grew up at the beach) and how we loved going out and exploring what happened afterwards--needless to say i'm 24 and I still can't wait to drive around and see what all happens!  

We've stocked up on food, snacks, and water. I have a few school things to do and card games to play!  I'll post pictures after Irene decides her visit is over and hopefully we'll make it through with no damage!  We're keeping our fingers crossed. 

Our preperations:

 No patio furnitureee.

All tied downnn.

My biggest worryyyyy.

I'll post tomorrow after Irene decides to leave us aloneeee!

PS. I think everyone should experience one good hurricane down here in Hampton Roadsss.

Picture Perfect

Geeez--I took forever to post again. I'm FIRED.  I tend to get busy with the crazy life that us Carlton's lead that when I come home it calls for a little rest and relaxation and it's hard for me to find time to try to entertain y'all--especially when the earth is quaking and all.   As for our update: it could be a long one so I'm going to try and keep it short and sweet....and by short and sweet I mean a picture perfect updateeee.

I enjoyed my last Friday with my two favorite ladies and nephew of course. Had a great lunch at Doumar's, Zoo Trip, and a took a Ride on the Tide with my BFF! 

 

Nags head this past weekend was definetely needed.   A nice "getaway" and a lot of rest and relaxation.  Beach, PuttPutt, Sweet Frogs, and Good Times!

 

 

Monday, Craig, took off work to spend my last day of summer with me. We took my nephew to Botanical Gardens to the "kids section" and rode the tram!  It was a great ending to the year!

I hope you enjoyed my snapshot updates!  Since then, I have been sitting in "eye-stabbing" boring Orientation classes for schools.  I can't complain but I would have much rather been lounging around the house--enjoying my last few days of summer! Oh well, I am super excited for the school year now!  I have my first official report day on Friday so we'll really be getting the new school year going then!

I'll keep you all updated on Craig and I's "Irene" adventures! We'll be batting down the hatches soooon and preparing for Irene!!! Happy Hurricaning Everyone!

Exhausted: Enough Said

The Carlton's have been extremely busy!  I kept saying I was going to update my blog and well--something seemed to always get in the way.  The last week or so I have traveled to Richmond with good friends, traveled to Lake Gaston with the husband, worked on my classroom, and babysat.   Needless to say--there's been barely any other time to breathe or sleep.  I wake up every morning dragging so I'm looking forward to some rest and relaxation this weekend.

Road Trip: Last Wednesday, Rachel, Kristin, and I headed out to Richmond to visit my little sister in my sorority--Caitlin!  Fun isn't the word to describe our trip! It was a BLAST!  It was so nice to frolic around her new house, love on Kodi (her new puppy), and just catch up on life!  We shopped, got Sweet Frog, and had the infamous Chicken Tacos.  It was a needed trip and a great time with such wonderful friends.

 

 Loooving our original tart Sweet Frog!

 BFF.

As Kristin said....then we went to prom.

 ..and I loooved Kodi!

After a great trip there I spent Saturday shopping with my BFF, Rachel, while Craig played a round of golf with one of his racing buddies.  We ventured all around town finished by a date at Chili's.  That evening we went to dinner with his parents and friends to celebrate Craig's father's 60th birthday! It was a great time.  We then left LATE to head to Lake Gaston!  We had a great time at the lake visiting my grandparents!

 

Feeding the fishhh.

 

Love my nepheww!

We came home Sunday evening and well..it was time for the work week (well, for Craig).  My mom took off Monday and helped me decorate my classroom--needless to say I didnt realize how much bulletin board space I had.  We got a lot done and I only have a few more things to do before I feel "good" about starting the school year!!! It was a super successful day in Room 10! Here are a few pictures of my room so far (it's not completed).

Room 10

 Soon to be "Reader's Reef"

 

 

I looove my helpers chart--Thanks to my sisterrr!

 

 My Desk

Needless to say--The Carlton's are exhausted (I know I am).  I am looking forward to the beginning of the school year and my new "home." I will be happy to have it all complete--Stay tuned for more classroom updates and pictures. Craig and I are off to Nags Head this weekend for some rest and relaxation (hopefully).  We hope you all enjoy the rest of your week! 

Happy Wednesday!

Bring On The Good Times

Good times were had by the two of us this past weekend!  We are so blessed to have such wonderful family and friends in our lives!  The weekend started early--well, we started celebrating the weekend early with a little Kenny Chesney!  We went to the Kenny Chesney concert on Thursday night and we had such a wonderful time.  He sure does put on a wonderful concert!  We were able to go with our good friends Rachel and Kristin!  We're really looking forward to Jason Aldean in just a month or so!

 Love.

 Kenny Time!

As for Friday, I watched my nephew and Craig worked.  We ended our night with a relaxing night watching the Benz Twins and our ring bearer Owen!  It's so amazing to see how fast they are growing!! We ate pizza, played with castles, and watched a movie--couldn't have been better!

 The twins are getting soooo big!

It's castle time.

Saturday was full of TAX FREE shopping for school supplies!  Yes, I made a poor young man ring up over 75 folders--you can never have enough..especially when they're only 15 cents!  I decided to be create and create new artwork for my kitchen--not sure how it really looks but I'll blog pictures about that soon.  We finally got to go meet ISRAEL GRACE!  Craig's best friend, Josh and his wife Jessica, just had a very precious little girl!  We were so excited to go meet her and really enjoyed her so much!

As for today--what a BLAST!  My sister found a book about "Cake Pops." Soooo--we decided to take on the task.  Needless to say, it was a lot of fun and we had a lot of fun making them! They turned out wonderfully and surely were "Heaven on a Stick!" 

The finished product!

This week I have meetings with my new Kindergarten team and hopefully finishing setting up my furniture in my classroom.  I am very excited to be traveling to Richmond to see my little sister, Caitlin, and her brand new puppy with Rachel and Kristin!!  Keep checking back for updates on our wonderful road trip to Richmond!