A New Beginning...

It's almost time for the big move! I am so excited to have my own house, well I don't actually own it, but It's mine for the time-being!

Having all this extra room is great, and I am looking forward to making the little house in the backyard into a gym for me and my friends to work out for FREE! How cool is that?! I also have an extra bedroom for all of my scrapbooking stuff, and also a place for friends & family to stay over.

The kitchen is now over there and finished up, I planned on packing my clothes and bringing them over yesterday, but with this sickness that popped up out of no where, it didn't happen. So I guess it will all have to get done Friday. Saturday, everyone is coming over to help with the big furniture (the hard part) and then I am in for good! I will be so close to downtown, and so much closer to everything else that I do, including work. What a relief!

This weekend is going to be crazy. I am taking Friday off of work so I can get a head start with the moving, Saturday is the rest of it, Sunday is the CKF kids party all day and then another event that night, phew! I think I am ready for this...

Where Has the Time Gone?

It's been a while since I've been blogging. It's always nice to get back into it. Lately I have been so busy with everything going on..trying to pack for the move in 2 weeks, teaching, babysitting, tutoring, hanging with friends, doing my own school work for grad studies, and watching too many episodes of The Real Housewives of New Jersey.

I need to do this more often though, because it is pretty theraputic, and from what I hear, people seem to read it!

Right now I'm babysitting the Georgoudiou kids, I can't believe how much Miller has grown. I still remember him as a little 3 year old who was always anxious and only wanted Miss. Mallory around. Not so much now, I am not the cool one anymore :)

I move in 2 weeks! I can't believe it and am so very thankful to the Krantz's for this house! I will have so much more room and able to have people over...and a nice kitchen! You take things for granted when you live in a house, and when you wind up in a small apartment, you realize it! I can't wait to make the little house in the backyard into a Gym. But that will happen in time.

That's all for now, check back soon!

Mallory

A Full Bucket

Each year at our school, our principal has a "Book of the Year". This year, our book theme is "How Full is Your Bucket?". You are probably wondering what I am talking about and every time I mention this to a non- co worker they look at me oddly. It is simple...

How many times a day do you feel down? Is it because of a situation with work? or a situation with a certain person in your life? How many times a day does someone come up to you and want to talk out their problems? And then the problem feels like your own? These situations are draining your "bucket". Don't get me wrong, I love talking to people and helping them. Many people tell me I am a great listener :)

OR...

Do you ever get friendly notes or encouragement? A facebook post that made you smile? a phone call or text that brightened your day? This is all "filling" your bucket. I know with me, each day I feel drained at times and it is important that we help each other by giving encouragement or just giving them something to smile about. My hope is that whoever is reading this thinks about their "bucket". What does it feel like right now? Has anyone done anything to fill yours this week? Think about it, and do something in return for that person.

Here are the people that filled my bucket so far this week:

Tiffaney, Ryan, Kathy, Joe, Michelle, Erika, Johnny, Amna, Mamaw, and Dad.

I am thankful for each of you!

When Summer Comes Around

Wow, what a summer it has been. I can't believe it is already time to go back into the classroom after a wonderful 2 months off. For the first time in forever I was able to take a few vacations. Going to New York City was so much fun! I can't wait to get back to that city, what an awesome place it is. Thank you Anna for everything and all our adventures for the few days I was up there :)

Last week, I went up to Nashville to see my dad and family. We also drove to Atlanta to see my aunt, uncle and cousins. It was so nice to get to hug on my sister and TRY to put bows in her hair...this is what she will always remember of me, a sister who bothered her to fix her hair and clothes! haha I sure do miss Michael and Cathryn, and of course my dad too. I hope it won't be too long until I get to see them again. But until then, it's time to re-group and get ready for the start of another school year...

Big Apple Adventure

This week I am teaching Vacation Bible School at Delaney. The theme this year is the Big Apple Adventure, New York City!

It's bittersweet as I am there with a lot of my old co-workers, parents and students. I am having so much fun teaching these children about Jesus and the kids are great. We have a group of children from Restore Hope Orlando who are coming to VBS and I have about 10 of them in my class. They are in a program for underprivileged children in the downtown area of Orlando. These children come from homes in one of the worst areas in our city. What a joy it is to see these children find hope in God's word as they sing and memorize their Bible verses. We all are having an awesome time!

Snack and recreation time! Today the kids enjoyed NYC taxi cabs made out of cake and candy!

Taylor and Theron. Taylor has grown up so much since being in my class over a year ago!

My Amanda. She is a chatty little thing, and has kept me on my toes since the day she walked through my classroom door. Not much has changed since :)

Sugar is Sweet

This past week I babysat ALOT. So when Friday came around, we wanted to do something fun while the boys were off at baseball. We found this candy making kit in one of the bedrooms while we were on a quest to cure the boredom. I never knew how fun it would be! We started by asking everyone in the house what kind of candy they wanted from our "Candy Factory". We got all of our ingredients together while I boiled the corn syrup and water to make lollipops, melted the gelatin powder for gummy bears and mixed together some sour powder candy!

Corn syrup and water is all it takes to make lollipops, the key is getting it to the right temperature to mold into the right form. This process took the longest.

All of the ingredients were ready and in the cups! Watermelon, Grape and Raspberry flavoring, Citric Acid, Gelatin, and Sugar.

Prepping the lollipop ingredients was tricky because of the thick and gooey corn syrup. We had a sticky mess! The end result was definitely impressive. I had never made lollipops before from scratch and it sure is a lot fun! Let's just say they didn't last too long...dad ate them all :)

Adventures of Summer!

I am so glad summer has arrived. I am definitely in need of a break, even though I'm not really getting a break from anything but my actual workplace for 2 months! I am still babysitting everyday and I am on the go almost 24/7. Now begins a summer adventure of being on the go! Yesterday the kids and I tackled the Florida heat and headed to Downtown Disney to have lunch at TREX. This restaurant has the same owners as Rainforest Cafe, so they are very similar. TREX is just filled with dinosaurs and they have much better food! We dug for fossils, found a great crystal making science experiment, and the kids snacked on dino chicken nuggets :) It was a fun filled day.

I sit here now in a hotel at Disney chatting with a 5 year old about her day at disney while her brother ignores us as he plays his DS. She is in awe of the glitter all over my eyebrows and my unattractive purple painted fingernails. I guess the makeover I had earlier in the day was a hit!