January
-I began the year making my first TV news appearance as a teacher. It was a moment of slight panic when my principal called my classroom to tell me the news was coming to do a story and she picked my class. She said they would be down to my room is 15 minutes! I was a nervous wreck, but my students did awesome! Nothing like having an interview on TV and rocking the "Elvis Lip" I inherited from my father!
-My sweet Laury was still in the hospital in rehab from her surgery in December. I continued to go and visit her almost every weekend. I worked out plans and was able to bring Peanut to the hospital to visit her. I'm not sure who was more excited ... Laury or Peanut.
February
-February was brought in gathering the family together to celebrate my Mom's birthday even though she was sick with pneumonia. That same weekend, Amy and Tyler joined me on my weekly visit to see Laury.
-My Mom and I also enjoyed a couple nights of keeping Brynzlee. We even got her an extra night due to bad weather. It sure was fun!
-On the 22, I went on a first date with Bill. We'd been talking since the end of December, and I was still scared to meet him, but it went so well!
-February ended with a trip with some coworkers to The Leader in Me Symposium in O'Fallon, MO. It was a great time listening to speakers, visiting schools, and learning more about TLIM.
March
-In march, my Mom, sister, and Dad's cousin, Georgia, visited Painting with a Twist. I wasn't looking forward to this since I don't have much artistic ability, but it was so fun! I would love to go back sometime!
-After one of my weekly visits with Laury, I made a trip to Georgetown to visit Adam, Jamie, Addison, and Rinley! I just love getting special time with such special people!
-Bill and I continued seeing each other every couple of weeks.
April
-It was sometime in the beginning of April that I received the MOST exciting news that I couldn't share with anyone! My sister confided in me that she was pregnant, but swore me to secrecy. I was soooooo excited for her and Tyler. I even had to keep it a secret when we spent the weekend with her celebrating her birthday.
-We celebrated Easter. Many of my Connor family members were able to make it over to celebrate with us. It's so wonderful that Robert's family and my family have joined together into one. I just love my RoCo's!
-Brynzlee also celebrated her 1st birthday this month! Such a fun time celebrating a precious little girl. I got her a pair of boots that she has come to love!
-That dreaded day of the 23 came .... and dragged on. I spent time reliving that week in April 2012 where my life changed for ever. I went through cards and notes that I received from students at school in 2012 to help make it through the week. It's hard to remember a day that I lost the man I loved! He was my life and I had to find a way to move forward without him. I still love and miss him every single day!
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| Flowers from Amy and Tyler. So sweet of them to think of me! |
-Laury was FINALLY released from the hospital! It was a glorious day to know she was going home! She had made a miraculous recovery!
May
-I went on another trip for work to visit some schools. It was a great time!
-We took our annual Kindergarten field trip to the zoo and had a blast!
-Mother's Day was celebrated at my Grandma's house. It was so fun getting to spend time with family!
-Bill and I attended our first Cardinals game together on my last day of school. It was such a good time! It was at this point that we began to spend almost every weekend together!
-I ended May celebrating a very special lady in my life, Laury! A benefit was planned to help raise money for her to offset some of the costs that accompanied such a long hospital stay. I had a slumber party with Adam, Jamie and the girls (where I may have lost a toenail), completed my first 5K, and spent the whole day celebrating Laury. It was such a wonderful feeling to see that many people supporting her!!!
June
-I began packing up my classroom that I had been in for FIVE years! The kinder teachers that I work with and I decided that we would make a "big" move to the other end of our school to be in our own world. I was able to get rid of some stuff I hadn't used and get all of my stuff packed up and ready!
-Courtney and I packed up and headed to Southern Illinois to celebrate Bailey's wedding. Courtney, Bailey, and I met our Freshman year at Illinois College. We stopped at a winery on the way before heading to the hotel to get ready for the wedding. It was a fun weekend!
-Mom, Bill, and I headed to Indy for a Zoo trip with Nathan, Kristin, and Bryn. I always love visiting zoos and it's more fun with Brynzlee!
-Chris, Jen, Bill and I attended a concert at the Sangamon county fair where I may have been slightly "over served"! It was such a fun time!
-Spent many evenings watching Dylan play baseball!
-Also, I spent many afternoons enjoying that pool .. just as a teacher should on summer break!
July
-We celebrated Dylan and Laury's birthdays on the 4th of July weekend with a backyard barbeque. It was such a fun time to spend together!
-Courtney and Brandon came over for a dinner, movie, and fireworks date night! The movie theater may have had a hole in the ceiling and the fireworks were 4D ... so good you could taste them! It was quite a fun night!
-Robert's annual birthday party arrived. Bill joined me this year and we headed over to celebrate an amazing man! It's always a good time to get together with family and friends to celebrate Robert!
-Many family members were able to gather together to celebrate my Grandma's birthday! We all went out to lunch and went back to Grandma's for desert! It was fun to see all the kids playing together!
-After Grandma's, Bill and I headed down to spend a night with Amy and Tyler. We hung out a bit and then we hit up the St. Louis Zoo before heading home.
August
-It was time to unpack that classroom full of boxes! That was quite the scene trying to find a place for everything (and some things still aren't put away ...). Kinderland was formed and we just love being all together!
-Katie, Peyton, Sawyer, and Paislee came to visit and we were able to go to the zoo! I had such a fun time with these ladies!
-We had our first triple date with Chris and Jen, Courtney and Brandon, and Bill and I. We went mini golfing, ate at Cheddars and back to my house for some Cards Against Humanity. It was so fun and we WILL do it again sometime!
-The 2014-2015 school year began! I'm always anxious to meet my new kinders!
-My family got together to celebrate Kristin and I's birthdays. Love getting family time!
-Bill and I went to see the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Movie with Chris and Jen.
September
-Nathan and Kristin made their first big move! We spent a weekend moving them to a rental house! It was a lot of work, but fun to spend time with family!
-The majority of September was spent planning a baby shower for Amy, Tyler and sweet Landon! Kristin helped me perfect the details and it turned out to be a wonderful shower!
-Also, spent many weekends attending football games for Dylan and Jacob. I love seeing my boys play football!
-One weekend was spent moving Bill and his mom to Decatur! Yay for not having to drive to Springfield to see him anymore! :)
October
-Halloween was fun this year! The Kinder teachers decided to dress up like Superheros and the kids LOVED it! Fun time!
-Bill and I also attended his friends' Halloween Party together as Superman and Supergirl!
November
-Celebrated Bill's birthday by going to Cracker Barrel and a movie with no heat! Fun times!
-Nathan and Kristin moved AGAIN but this time it was to their brand new house!
-Landon made his arrival right before Thanksgiving! BIll and I drove down there to see him before heading to Carrollton to celebrate Thanksgiving!
December
-We had our annual Girls weekend at Jen's although Megan couldn't make it this year and Molly didn't stay the night since she had Dean, but it was still fun to get together!
-Dylan and Jacob helped with the annual making of the Christmas treats. I loved getting to spend a day with them and I definitely enjoyed their help!
-Christmas week began and seemed to fly. We went to Amy and Tyler's for Christmas day to spend time together and snuggle Landon and then had our family Christmas on Saturday. Laury, Jake, Melissa, Kaz, and BIll's Mom, Betsy, were all able to join us for lunch that day! It was so nice to have everyone together! We were laughing and playing games together. The kids enjoyed opening presents and I got some more snuggle time with Landon!
2014 sure has been good to me! On top of all this fun, I've also managed to lose 58.2lbs with the help of Weight Watchers. It's such a nice feeling to go through pictures and see how much better I look!
I look forward to what 2015 has to offer. I look forward to spending more time with family and making new memories while still holding those we've lost so close to my heart. I can't believe that we're approaching 3 years since losing Robert. It just breaks my heart, but I'm so thankful for his wonderful family as well as Bill and his understanding heart.
Here's to fun, family, friends, making memories, and more weight loss in 2015!
