Christmas '08

Christmas is my favorite time of year! I love getting together with all my family! Christmas Eve the Spear family went to Lebanon to hang with Mike's parents, the LaClave's. MiMi and PaPa had a wonderful meal waiting for us and gifts galore for everyone! Michael's sisters, Katie and Andi, were there with their kiddos too! My neice, Madi, such a lil' sweetie and my nephew, Liam, such a smart lil' guy full of energy! We gave Madi a new princess jacket and of course, still had the security tag on it!! I was soooo mad! Crafty MiMi made Grace a sweater and Jackson a Colts hat! So cute! Michael and I received a WEBCAM! WOOHOO! We are so excited! Not expecting that at all!! So fun! We all went, as a family, to attend the 9pm Christmas Eve service! It was really neat! The kids were so into it! Jackson was so excited to have fire in his hand! HA! We all had candles to light when we sang Silent Night at the end of the service. Jack just couldn't wait- he kept saying really loud- "Can we do the fire thing!" It was so funny! MiMi sang a beautiful Christmas song too! The kids loved hearing her sing! Lil' Madi said real loud, "I like MiMi's music!" It was so cute! What a great Christmas Eve. Our kiddos were ready to put cookies out for Santa, so we headed home, while MiMi, PaPa, Madi, and Katie put flowers on Uncle David's grave. Christmas is always a hard time w/o Uncle David around! So, we got home pretty late and Jackson put the reindeer food out on the porch and Grace wrote Santa a letter, put out some milk and cookies.
The next morning, the kids woke up and were in awe that Santa really came! Theie innocense is so sweet! The got way too many gifts! Mom went overboard! I popped MiMi's egg caserole in the oven (thanks Mimi!) and put on the coffee, shortly after, Nana, PopPop, Uncle Nicky John, Cassie and Carly arrived! MORE PRESENTS!! We had a wonderful morning! A lot of laughs and fun! Then we all got ready and headed to Evansville to hang with the newest members of our fam- Ethan and Eli! What precious lil' angels! Ali and Quinn just had identical twin boys Dec. 7th! It was so fun spending Christmas Day with them! They add so much joy to our family!! PopPop bought the Wii for all the kids- so it was pretty fun watching us all learn to play Wii! Quinn and I got pretty competitive in Tennis!:) The racket even flew off and almost broke their TV! HA! It was really fun! We even played a lil' TWISTER! Fun family times!! We are now ready for 2009! I start my student teaching here in IPS, and Michael will continue to work, trying to hold the number one position on his team at Charles Schwab! Go MIKEY! Jackson goes to an in-home daycare in Geist. He loves it and is doing so well there! However, he is always the class clown! Then there's Gracie! Our sweet lil' princess! She is in 1st grade at a new charter school- the Project School. She has become our lil' author! She loves to write and draw! So proud of her!! K- I know this was long, but I wanted to update you all! Sorry for NO pics! I hate that- but I lost my camera! UGH! Love to you all!

Aunt Court

I'm sooo in love!! I can't believe the special love I feel for these lil' guys!! Just precious angels!! Michael and I went to visit them over the weekend by ourselves! I couldn't keep my hands off of them! They are sooo tiny and sooo handsome! When we left, the entire drive home, I couldn't stop smelling my hands b/c they smelled like the babies!! I'm seriously obsessed w/ them! Can't wait to leave on Christmas Day to go see them again!! -Aunt Court

My Handsome Nephews are FINALLY here!!

So precious! My lil' men! Ethan and Eli arrived on December 7, 2008. Immediatley we jumped in the car and headed to Evansville to meet them! Ali went a lil' early- she was 35 weeks! But the babies are doing great! Gaining weight everyday! They came home last week. Michael and I are going to take a trip this Friday to visit them w/o our kids. I just can't wait! They are soooo precious! What lil' blessings from our Lord Jesus! My lil' muffins! I just love them sooo much! Then Christmas Day, Grace, Jack, Mike, and I will head down to E-Ville again to spend time w/ the Shepherd's for 4 days! I just can't wait to see them again!! Aunt Court and Uncle Mikey love them soo much! Oh and Grace and Jack Jack can't stop taking about them!!

Chi Omege Monthly Dinner!

So fun that my sorority girls from BSU go out every month for dinner! It's so fun to catch up monthly and enjoy a good glass of wine together! It's crazy that we all have families now, and are all grown up! What happened to the years?

Great friends, good sushi!

Love my best buddy, Jenni Hufford! She is such a great friend! We had fun eating w/ our hubbies at a sushi place! I LOVE my friends and I LOVE good sushi!! :)

My Gracie's in 1st grade!

Grace just started 1st grade at a new charter school downtown! She loves it! The first day she was eager to meet her new teacher, classmates, and see what her new school is like! But our "Nervous Nellie" (a.k.a. Grace) got very anxious on her second day of 1st grade! Change is not a fun thing for our lil' girl! She gets really nervous! So, Grace was throwing up all morning on her second day of school. Needless to say, we didn't even make it to school, after pulling over 3 times in the car for her to puke! Poor Gracie! So her MiMi came over and watched her and comforted her all day, while the rest of the Spear's went to work and school! Ever since Grace overcame her nerves, she has loved going to her new school! She can't wait to go each day! She has made great friends, loves her teacher, and is learning a lot! She wants to be a writer when she grows up! She loves to write stories! So cute! Our baby is growing up soo fast!

Oh Boy- I'm a sixth grade teacher!

Oh no! Leave it to IPS that they call me and ask me to teach 6th grade in school number 27 until they find a teacher to fill that spot! School starts this coming Wednesday! And they said they have no potential candidates for this position! That means that I could potentially be teaching there all year! Scary! I don't even have my degree yet! So sad for those kids! I mean, I think I know what I'm doing- but do I? Who knows?! We will find out on Wednesday! HA! I think I'm in for a rude awakening!! Anyways, I have to student teach in January, so I know I can't teach this grade all year. Pray for me! I'll be the lil' white girl teacher in an all black school! :) I have Monday and Tuesday to set up the room, figure out what I'm suppossed to do and teach, and get acquainted with the school!
Gracie will be going to the new charter school in Indy called The Project School. You can check it out online- www. theprojectschool.org ! Very cool new concept to education! God worked this all out perfectly b/c the school I'll be teaching at is around the corner from Grace's school. Plus, there are hundreds of schools in IPS and they placed me in #27, exactly where I will be doing one of my student teachings in the winter semester! God is very clever! Also, pray we get the home downtown! Still waiting on that! The home is a few blocks from Grace's and my school too! It would be perfect! Pray for us! :)