it's here!

where does the time go? has anyone else felt like december has flown by? we never even put up a tree (i know! awful), my box of christmas decorations that i got out in NOVEMBER is still sitting on the table, i still have some shopping to do, and we leave at the crack of dawn on christmas eve to follow the sun to california (if our flight can get out of this chicago snow). enough of this cold business.
i just made a huge batch of christmas treats, only to realize that most of the people we want to deliver them to have already left for the holidays. great timing, jess. we're not trying to be grinchy, but we've been preoccupied with other things like....hmm, having no hot water at random times? awesome. so, we're moving. more on that later.
our kids will thank us in the future. by saving all of this christmas decorating energy this year, i'll have tons saved up for the coming years and will decorate ten times better.

nate came to my school's christmas program last week. i was so pleased that he could finally see the chaos that i work in. now maybe he'll listen to my daily report of each child in my class instead of nodding while steathily crusing espn.com. just kidding. he only does that sometimes :)
my class performed "up on the housetop." little D danced in the front the whole time, shouting the song. you know his mom loved it.

even with all the commercialized madness of this season, it's been good to reflect on why we really get together with our families, and act out nativities, and give to others, and try to live the best way we can. i love this time of year.

happy christmas to all.

twelve days of office supplies

sometimes i wonder what nate really does at work all day. he works with a cool group of people who play pranks on each other all the time. that's what i hear about. the pranks. today nate showed me a witty email he sent out to the office when they were asked to email in requests for necessary office supplies for an upcoming order...here was his request:

12 - Sheets of paper
11 - Stapling Staplers
10 - Folders a Folding
9 - Post It Notes
8 - Wireless headsets
7 - Uniball Pens
6 - White boards
5 - VACATION DAYS
4 - Small binder clips
3 - Pranks on Shortleaf (his co-worker)
2 - Bulls Box Tickets
And a Successful EGOC! (end of quarter report with the CEOs of the company)

cute, nate. i wouldn't mind the vacation days and bulls tickets either.

skating

i met up with some friends to go skate in millennium park. it was a chilly -2 with the wind chill, but i didn't even mind. i think i built up the cold in my head, but i'm not dying of frostbite yet. i kind of like bundling up.

the song silver bells came on at the ice rink...and the line it's christmas time in the city was a reality to me. it's so beautiful here! i love the lights and the snow we got last week. it's pretty sad though that there are no mountains or even hills anywhere around here. i already miss ski season!

happy holidays!

i really thought about sending out christmas cards. i even put a list of addresses together. but, let's be honest...i didn't get around to it and we don't have any cute kids to be front and center for the picture. we might be moving next week to a different apartment, so before things get too busy, i give you our e-christmas card:

Merry Christmas from Us!

this is so me

in a perfect world, i think santa would put one of these under the tree for me.

i've felt this way every december since 2005

remember this? it's that time of year again...here i am doing a major major project the night before. and all i want to do right now is make brownies or lay in my bed or think about christmas. the only detail this time is that i actually have to be at work tomorrow and do a good job since i am being observed by teach for america...oh, lovely.

happy finals to all, and to all a good night.
and by good night i mean all-nighter.

cloud gate

one perk of hanging out with my brother over thanksgiving weekend was photography lessons. i am kind of an idiot when it comes to understanding cameras, so chan gave me pointers and let me play with his camera, lenses, and flash (the flash! who knew a flash could do so much?)

i love the cloud gate sculpture in the park by where we live. chan and i got up early one morning and almost had the bean to ourselves. his pictures are a thousand times better than mine, but here are some shots i got...

the balkmans came to town

this could get long. but, it doesn't get much better than being surrounded by your favorite people and amazing food. my mom, dad, little brother and sister came for thanksgiving this year. we kicked it off with the mcdonald's thanksgiving day parade bright and early (and then there were some who slept in...)

with my dad, you always manage to get in where you're not supposed to be. we walked into the mcdonald's employee section where they were handing out free hot chocolate with front row seats to the parade. perfect.

chandler let me play with his lenses

the turkey was fabulous. so was the company. and so were the five pies for six people...

we did the black friday thing, only with the start at 9am part. it was still a little crazy, but so fun.

nine floors of macy's decorations at the flagship store. unbelievable.

chandler doing what he does best - taking pictures

the view from nate's office building. we took my family to the top of the aon center instead of the sear's tower. almost as good.

oh i love her.

and because we live in the heart of tourism, we did touristy things. like navy pier. and the ferris wheel.

steph acting her age

dad acting his age

we ended the weekend with chicago deep dish pizza and the blue man group

it was so good. thanks family!
geoff and kash - we missed you a lot.

grateful

i used to keep a poster above my bed as a teenager that said "gratitude is an attitude" and i wrote everything i was grateful for to remind me everyday (pretty sure nordstrom was the top of the list, followed by starbucks hot chocolate...hmmm, where were my priorities?). my young women's leader gave me the idea and actually had a poster up in her house that her whole family created, so it included things like ariel the mermaid and college football. i've been slacking on making one for our apartment, but i think this is the perfect time of year to finally do it.

nate and i have either been really, really lucky or extremely blessed. we have so much to be grateful for. i think working in the area i do intensifies my gratitude for the simplest things. i also think being married, and being far away from my parents, has made me realize how privileged i am/was to be raised by them. why is it so easy to throw aside gratitude in the day to day? i think "be more grateful" is on my new year's resolution list every year.

at the moment, i'm so grateful for...

nate.heat.indoor plumbing.parents.a roof over my head.a job.chicago friends.far away friends.my siblings.my sweet sister-in-laws.never being starving.baby niece aspen.fleece.a body.vitamins.a car.hope for the future.dayquil + vitamin c.a college education.the book of mormon.dark chocolate.tupperware.cellphones.computers.family.a bed.email.cinnamon scented pinecones.christmas lights.a camera.christmas music.and all those tips on cooking a turkey!

happy thanksgiving week.

turkey turkey

okay. so. i bought my first turkey. and i want to know...since i am completely clueless, what are your turkey secrets? is there an amazing rub (i love a good lemon pepper rub) that makes a turkey divine? do i need to put it in a roasting bag? my mom will be here to help me but claims that turkey is on her "not the best" list when it comes to cooking. my chef uncle normally does the turkey at our family dinners. got any tips?

i want to know!

if anything, please help me so my turkey will not end up like the one on "christmas vacation"

p.s. nate and my brother say what's the big deal about turkey? they want steak for thanksgiving. i say no way. i'm all for tradition. now i just need help making this tradition turn out edible...

up by maine huh?

quote of the day from a parent at school:

him: "so, where are you from?"
me: "well, i moved from utah, but i'm originally from washington state"
him: "oh, yeah, it must be really cold up there by maine"
me: "um, yeah, it's not that cold. nothing like a chicago winter"

i decided not to correct the error and make him feel stupid that washington state is in fact on the other side of the country, but definitely cracked up later.

my babies

mondays are hard. okay, sunday nights are hard. it's back to the grind and i always seem to feel unprepared for the week. today was hectic and my behavior management skills were lacking. my class was kind of out of control at times. the great thing about teaching pre-k is that the kids take a nap for two hours in the middle of the day. nap time = HEAVEN. i get a lunch break, then spend the rest of nap time working on paperwork, laminating things, and the other paperwork-y things i do not love about teaching. if i was frustrated with my little devil children before nap time, everything changes at 2:30 when they wake up. i love them again and they are soooo cute. this is a sampling of who i get to hang out with all day:

when my students say, "i want my mom!" i look at them and say "ME TOO!" they always tell me i don't have a mom because i'm the teacher, and i always say my mom is far away. they are very interested in the fact that i do, actually, have a mother and that her name is susan. we talk about what we did over the weekend every monday, and today N asked me, "did you play? with susan yo mama?" no, N. i did not. wouldn't that be nice?

scout's honor

it feels like the weeks just fly by in our lives right now. there isn't much news around here...except that nate and i got a new church calling (volunteer job): cub scouts.

ahhhhhh! i don't know the first thing about pre-teen boys. help! luckily we get to do it together, but i am still scared. i think my brothers were most annoying at this age, or maybe i am remembering wrong. pine wood derby? pretty sure i'm gonna need a lot of help with this one...

smells like the holidays around here

i am not a potpourri kind of girl. i like scented oils, candles, and the occasional plug-in. didn't get on the scentsy train either, but love the smells. however i came home from the grocery store with a giant bag of cinnamon pine cones. i couldn't help myself. jewel-osco smelled like christmas and i wanted in on it. i also used to be pretty staunch about the no christmas before thanksgiving...mmm nope. i brought the christmas decorations out this morning...

68 degrees...

...in chicago today! oh we love this weather. just bracing ourselves for the inevitable cold.

these last weeks have been a little busy. nate has had some late nights working and i've been trying to get over this cough while teaching. my class went on a field trip to a community health and safety fair yesterday. when we got there, my cute little deveion started crying. when i asked what was wrong, he said through sobs, "where are all the pumpkins?" turns out field trip = pumpkin patch in his mind. after i explained that we already went to the pumpkin patch, he still said, "but i just wanted a pumpkin!" he melts my heart when he's not running/wandering away (i lost him at the pumpking patch. oops!)

right now, i'm just thinking about thanksgiving.

these guys

will be here in 18 days. i'm not sure if i've ever been this excited to see my family. the fun part about living somewhere out of the ordinary is that people want to come visit you. can't wait!

happy halloween
this is the one and only pumpkin we've carved together (thanks for the picture danica!)
go dodgers!

thoughts

i have been sick, sick, sick. i think my class's cold, rainy trip to the pumpkin patch did me in. nate thinks it is kind of ridiculous how much i've gotten sick lately, but what can i say? i work in a germ-infested environment a.k.a with children. even though i'm obsessed with purell it feels like i still pick up whatever sickness is going around.

with some extra time for lounging around on my hands, i've been looking at way too many beautiful crafty blogs and wishing that i had a million extra hours in the day to do more with my time. do blogs do this to you too? sometimes instead of getting inspired or enjoying great ideas, i feel awful about myself. i feel like i am uncreative, i have no sense of design or style, and why can't i be super woman too? i don't even have children yet! and then i mentally have to slap myself in the face and remember what's important in life. so, here's to being creative in ways i have time for...like planning an objective-driven lesson for preschoolers that they will actually pay attention to, or improvising with what's in our bare pantry for dinner, or writing a legit five-page paper thirty minutes before it's due. creativity takes many forms, even if i don't have time to refinish furniture and sew my own fall dress.

that's all. time for nap.

now the colors are really here

when we woke up yesterday, it was like the leaves had turned over night. the colors are gorgeous! i'm hoping and wishing and really hoping that this weather will stay until my family comes for thanksgiving...

downtown and gray

i'm in a collage-y mood.

la vie en rose

for all the hard things about my job, that happen in life, that happen in marriage, that happen to our families and to our friends, and that are going on in the world, i could write all day about how good life is. one of my favorite authors said this:

"there are a thousand thousand reasons to live this life, every one of them sufficient."
i turned a year older this weekend.
i feel like an adult now, complete with responsibility, life insurance, and a job.
moving here has been good for me. i'm getting to know and understand myself better.
i was thrown out of my comfort zone and i'm adjusting. i like it.
my perfect day ended with my favorite things.

this and this.

ladies night

i skipped school on thursday night for a girls' night out at the melting pot.
best.decision.ever.

this is what we did the whole time.

the aftermath.

these nights are good for the soul. i think we should make this a monthly occurence.