Happy Birthday Little Brother!

Today is my baby brother's 18th birthday...it's hard to believe he is already that old! :'(  Happy Birthday Josh!!

Baby Josh (even though I had planned on posting his newborn picture...he's just too cute in this one!)

Josh today at his birthday dinner!

New Easel!!

This probably should go in my teaching blog, but it is how I spent my weekend so I thought I could post it on both for different reasons.  Our principal ordered us an awesome easel for all of the kindergarten classes and although we knew it was big, we did not realize just HOW big it was (seriously...you'll see in the pictures).  So when it arrived in 3 boxes at least my height and 2 of me wide, I knew this was a task that Miss Independent had to ask help for.  So I proceeded to call Alex and sweet talk him into coming to help me and this is how the conversation went:

Me: (In my sweetest, poor damsel in distress voice) So, um, I need a favor
Alex:  Ok, what's that? (already annoyed I'm sure)
Me:  I need you to help me put together my new easel
Alex:  Okay, but isn't an easel just like three sticks.
Me:  Well, this is a really big easel and I can't do it by myself.
Alex:  Okay (still not convinced that he is needed for this project)

The next day when he arrived at school:
Alex:  Holy cow, you didn't tell me that this was like the monster of easels.
Me:  I told you it was big! :)

Anyway, him being wonderful Alex, he got to work putting my monster easel together.  My co-workers had their husbands put it together and they said it would take about three hours so after we got the million pieces unwrapped and sorted out, Alex settled in with his Ipod and one of my kids' chairs and did what he does best....put things together. 

We are having walk-throughs on Monday so I thought I would get some work done in my room while he worked (since most of the time, it is better for me to just stay out of the way :) and I actually got quite a bit done.   It only took Alex about an hour and a half once he got started (without the drill that the others used might I add...yeah he's that good :)) and he even had to wait about thirty minutes on me to get finished with my stuff so we could leave together.  Although I hadn't finished everything, I was so ready to leave that I decided I would come back the next day.  Here's what I got finished though (Note:  I forgot to take pictures of the finished easel so I'll take them tomorrow when my room is all cleaned and ready for walk-throughs)

Nathan's Prom Fashion Show 2009

For the second time, Josh participated in Nathan's Prom Fashion Show. This year was a little different because it was the day after Winter Formal which was great for me (it saved me a trip home), but hard on them because they were so tired! Anyway, everyone looked great and they made it through the show :) Again, I took too many pictures to post them all on here (what can I say, I love my new camera), but you can check them out on my picasa website (click link below).

Web Albums

Josh's Winter Formal 2009

Josh had his senior Winter Formal tonight (sniff sniff) and we took tons of pictures!! I'm exhausted just from running around with my new camera, but this is one of his last formals so I toughed it out :)  I wish I could post all of the pictures on here, but blogger won't let me so I'll give you a link to my picasa album, so check them out! :)  Click on the link below the picture and then click on the Winter Formal album :)  I'm heading to bed to snap more pics tomorrow at the Fashion Show!

picasaweb.google.com/maegan.slaten

Doctor's update

So I finally heard from the doctor, after calling them and leaving them a message to call me back (if you remember, my appointment was on the 29th of December...it's ridiculous) and this is the whole conversation.

Me: Hello
Nurse: Hello, I'm (insert name here) from Dr. Spear's office with your test results
Me: Oh, hi
Nurse: Your echo came back fine and she wants to check your ANA (antinuclear antibody test - to check on autoimmune diseases) in about a month.
Me: Oh ok, thank you (Pause - waiting for her to say something else)
Nurse: Have a nice day (click)

So yes, I have no idea what I have or what I need to do about my hair falling out. So this doctor's visit was a complete waste of time...go figure.

Anyway, we're back to square one! I got my doctor's bill today and thankfully I only have to pay 23 dollars, but I have not gotten the hospital bill yet so I'm going to be so angry if it's expensive.

Anyway, just wanted to share!

Football Party

To celebrate our wonderful season, the football department threw us a party at Chuck's to celebrate. It was originally planned for before Christmas, but Chuck's actually caught on fire about 30 minutes before the party was supposed to begin so it was rescheduled to tonight. I wasn't really too excited about going because it's Monday and I'm exhausted, but I'm really glad I did! We had a great time! I was hoping the coaches would be there, but unfortunately since it had to be rescheduled, they'd already made plans to go to a coaching clinic in Tennessee. However, the food was amazing and they even gave us some goodies: an Alabama baseball cap, a 2008 media guide that Nick Saban signed thanking us for all we did, and a thank you card from all of the coaches. Even though it wasn't a lot, it meant a lot to us that they threw that party and gave us anything, especially since in the five years I've been working, these are the first gifts I've received! :) Anyway, I took a few pictures, but I have not gotten them off my camera so I will be updated this post as soon as I get them off :) Happy Monday!

Update!! Pictures below! 1.) My friend and fellow hostess, Rebecca and I, 2.) The fabulous Rachael and I (she's the GA over recruiting...I love her!), 3.) The amazing Brandy and I...she's the only one in the office who has been there as long as I have (she's actually been there longer!) so we go way back :) She's awesome!

Josh's Football Banquet

The first set of pictures are an award Josh got. Josh's football coach doesn't usually give out awards, but Virgil Starks, the man the award is named after, recently died so this is the first one they've given out so Josh got to be the very first recipient! As you can see, it is for him having the highest GPA of 4.09! :)

The second set of pictures is just a picture that they gave him of him making a tackle (which is one of my favorites) and they framed it for him.

Needless to say, he was very excited! They also got to watch the highlight video so hopefully I'll have a copy soon to share! :)

I'm heading to bed, have a great Monday!

Back to School (in more ways than 1) :)

Well school has started back (both my school and the University) so this week has been eventful trying to get back in the swing of things in both worlds. I got two new students at school and I also had my first class meeting at the University today. So now I'm back to juggling both school and work! Although this class is going to be tough, I'm actually really pumped about this class. It's times like this I wish I wasn't having to work too because I could really get a lot out of this class :) Anyway, this class is all about instructional design and for our final project, we actually have to design an online course. Although most of my classes are obviously relevant, this is really exciting to me because I eventually want to teach college courses, in hopefully an online setting so this is especially relevant to me. I also really enjoy my cohort...it's a lot like my undergrad because we all take the classes together. Anyway, I don't really have anything exciting, but I thought I just type a quick post while I had time :) Have a great weekend!

Doctor's Visit Results...sort of

I've spent the last two days trying to call the doctor's office and with the holidays for both the doctor's office and the lab, I'm having trouble getting in touch with them to find out the results of my blood work. What's so frustrating is they were supposed to call me two days ago! Anyway, today, I finally got in touch with them (after waiting on the phone 45 minutes)and they told me that most of my blood work was in and the parts that were in were fine, but they were still waiting on quite a few more and the results from my echo. I don't know what exactly they tested me for and I'm not sure which results are in, and which aren't, but I did specifically ask about my thyroid test and the nurse said that it was fine (which means it is probably stress). She said that I would probably get a phone call on Monday when everyone is back in the office, so keep praying!

Happy New Year!

So it is officially 2009!! It’s so hard to believe that another year has flown by (not to mention my baby brother is graduating in a few months *sniff sniff*) To celebrate, Alex and I went to the Brick in Decatur (a place where we hung out a lot in high school) for its first New Year’s Eve bash in its new location (the original burned last year L) We had a great time and it was nice getting to ring in the new year with Alex, especially since we didn’t get to see each other last year. One of Alex’s friends’ band was playing so we had some great entertainment as well. Here are some pictures from our night :)

Since it is customary to make resolutions, I thought I would list mine here so maybe it will give me a little more accountability:
1. Get back to my high school weight by my 25th birthday (This is a little over a year, but I feel like this is more attainable :))
2. Spend more time with friends
3. See Alex more often
4. Exercise daily!
5. Take some time for my self
Although there are a million more things that could go along with this, I do much better if I make them broad so I don’t get overwhelmed J Let’s hope this time next year, I can say that I accomplished all of my resolutions :)

Happy 2009!
Much love,
Maegan