Song of my Life

This is definitely the longest I've ever gone without posting anything. When I first started the blog, I was writing every day. Now, it seems more like a chore than something fun. Maybe that should tell me something, but I'm just not ready to completely bid goodbye to my blogging days. I'll still be around for at least a bit longer, although I know fewer and fewer people read this with each blog-less day. Maybe I'll have new, exciting things to talk about coming up soon!

On the school front, things have been getting better and better. I still have days that seem to be straight from the pits of Hades, but in general I'm getting the hang of this first grade thing. At this point, I'm planning to stay put for the next couple years unless the TAKS gods decide to play fruitbasket turnover at our school, but that's a whole other story. My kids are really hilarious. I have a couple of little ones that drive me crazy when they forget to take their medicine, but other than that, they're all pretty sweet. The kids are still calling Lucas my "Beyonce," but they're insisting on calling me "Mrs. Takala" already. I'm just glad they can remember the name, because it's kind of a strange one! We have a wedding countdown on the calendar board (which was their idea) and we're reading Junie B. Jones is (Almost) a Flower Girl. They've got wedding fever! Several of them are asking if we're going to have a baby after we get married, which I try to steer clear of, because that leads to all kinds of fun discussions I'd rather not have. :) A quick first grade funny: on Friday we began a unit on Presidents, focusing on George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. That afternoon, one of my little ones was telling all the others at his table that our current president is George Clooney.

The past couple of months have been absolutely insane, but tons of fun. Of course if you were to ask Lucas, it's been sheer torture, which is so funny considering the source. The groom hardly has to do anything! I suppose the biggest part of the torture is just the waiting. As I'm sure you've guessed, about 90% of my non-work time has been spent on wedding preparations. Although I've had my moments of stressed out breakdowns, the majority of planning hasn't really been stressful at all. Although I would never recommend an engagement of more than about four months, the seven months we've had to prepare have been a blessing. We were able to spread out the plans so they were manageable to accomplish on top of our already ridiculously busy schedules. I haven't gone Bridezilla (yet) and things are just about to be finished. Basically all we have left are the little details like finishing the programs and putting together favors. I'm so excited and ready for March 10th to be here! I cannot wait to put on my beautiful dress and promise myself to an incredible man with whom I will get to experience the rest of my life! Three weeks from right now, all we've been working towards these past six and a half months will be over, and we'll be cruising the Gulf of Mexico on our way to Montego Bay, Jamaica!
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We've had both of our big wedding showers and the only one left is my girly shower, which will be the night before the wedding. Our South MacArthur shower was January 21 and our Lively shower was February 8. The gifts are continuing to trickle in and I STILL haven't caught up on all the thank you notes. Of course, I'm not complaining! The outpouring of love and generosity we've received from so many people has been amazing. It literally pays to live in the same place and know the same people for your entire life! :) Here are a few pictures from our showers. Alot of them are kind of blurry, which is disappointing, but what can you do? They'll be good enough for our memory book.

South MacArthur Shower
January 21, 2007