New Year - BIG Changes!

Happy 2011 everyone!!! I hope that each of you had a Merry Christmas, ours was absolutely wonderful! My brother and sister in law came for a visit a few days after Christmas, it was nice to see them both and Addison really enjoyed seeing her Uncle K and Aunt J!

I have several favorite Christmas gifts that I want to share over the next few weeks, but the first one is a devotional book that came from my mom.

I cannot say enough about this book each day has a short devotional and it is written as Jesus is actually speaking to the reader. I have loved reading these during my quiet times at night before bed, and just reading all of the promises that He has for me and my life. I also found that there is a Jesus Calling app for the iPhone which is the same as the book - I encourage anyone to check it out. You can go HERE to read a few pages of the book.

On December 26th this little man arrived!! Congrats to my sister in law and her hubby on the birth of William Anderson Fambrough - we are so excited to finally have a BOY on Shawn's side of the family.

Mommy (Shawn's sister) and William

And I FINALLY have started student teaching!! I am at Kate Bond Elementary School and loving every second of it except for one part, I am ALREADY sick!! This is my first week and I already have a pretty rough head cold and ear infections in both ears. I went to the minor med clinic this morning, so hopefully I will be good to go by Monday. I am missing my 1st graders all ready! I have really switched into teacher mode, I have found myself coming home every night and looking on the net for different lesson plans and activities that I can do with the kids. I am working on some cute things for the 100th day of school so if any of you teachers out there have any ideas please send them my way!!

This is what it is ALL about....

Just Dance...

Tonight was parents night at Addison's dance class

she did WONDERFUL, I cannot wait to see her up on that stage in May

30 Day Blog Challenge Day 28, 29, and 30

Okay I realize that I am little behind on completing my 30 day blog challenge! I wanted to take a few mins and do my last three posts in one.

- Day 28 - Something that stresses me out -

Currently I am a tad bit stressed about student teaching in January. I am overly excited about starting my new career but I am a little stressed about not being employed! Shawn and I have been planning ahead for this day but it is still stressful going from a two income family to one income. I do trust in The Lord and I pray that He will be with us as we go through this season in our lives. I also ask you all to pray for Shawn as he is going through the interview process for a new job within his company - if he were to get this new position my stress about student teaching would be greatly reduced.

- Day 29 - 3 Wishes

1. - To have unlimited wishes

(ha, didn't you hate when people would say that when we were kids??)

1. To Win The Lottery

2. To be able to meet George W. Bush

3. To become an amazing educator!!

- Day 30 - A Picture

Hahahahhahaha......silly silly girl

It's In the Cards...

I have been a Shutterfly fan for over 5 years now, I started using their site when Addison was born and continue to use it today. One thing that I absolutely love about their site is the fact that even if my computer where to crash all of my photos that I have uploaded to their site will be saved! I sure hope I did not just curse myself by mentioning a computer crash - please, please laptop do not fail me now!

It is that time of year when I start getting Addison and Jena's picture made for the family Christmas card and this year Shutterfly has some fabulous card choices! I was browsing their website earlier this week and found several styles that I thought were super cute.

I have always been a fan of the collage photo cards, I like being able to put a variety of shots on a card to share with all my family and friends.

Here is another classic card with the multiple picture option.

Several other collage options can be found by clicking here

The next two cards were my absolute favorite and I am going to have a hard time choosing which one should be The Banks Family card for 2010. I always try to add something on our Christmas card about the birth of Jesus, sometimes a Bible verse or just a simple saying to share what the meaning of Christmas is all about.

You can check out all of the Christian themed cards here

So not only do I have to decide which card I am going to send this year, Shutterfly also has some precious address labels to match the various Christmas cards.

Click HERE for all the cute address labels.

Shutterfly really has out done themselves this year, as if the cards and address labels were not enough, you can even give them your list of card recipients and they will mail the cards for you!!

So check out Shutterfly and all the wonderful products they have to offer not only at Christmas but all year long, I assure you that you will be pleased with your purchases! Once you check out the site come back and tell me which cards were your favorite!

30 Day Blog Challenge - Day 27

-Day 27 - Pets

We have a crazy, yet loving black cat named Nala. We adopted her as kitten from the Bartlett Animal Shelter after Addison had a slight traumatic experience with a guinea pig. To make a long story short, I thought it would be a fabulous idea to get Addison a guinea pig which ended up being a very bad, bad idea. Addison was only 3 when the guinea pig came to live with us and Addison just did not understand the concept of the guinea pig living in the cage. After about 12 hours of Addison crying wanting the guinea pig to "play" with her; Shawn and I decided that it was time for the guinea pig to live with another family. We found a local pet store who actually took the "Lenny" and a few days later we adopted Nala.

Nala had grown to be a lap cat and love Shawn more than she does anyone else in the family!! HA - she knows who normally puts her food down for her!!

30 Day Blog Challenge - Day 26

-Day 26 - My Family -

This picture of Shawn and the girls was taken at the Memphis Zoo in 2009. One thing that I have learned doing this 30 day blog challenge is that I need to take some MORE pictures!! All of my shots seem to be either of Addison or Jena and not many of them together. My goal in 2011 is to take more pictures of the girls and myself - it seems that I am the one always taking the pictures and never in them.