have you given up on us?

January 24th was the last post. I can hardly believe it. Ashley, you should be getting on me for slacking. Since January 24th we've had two birthdays, an anniversary, visitors, flights, etc.

Let's go case-by-case

As a family, first. The Vandament parents came to visit in March and we had a BLAST. They were here on my (Tenisha's) Spring Break. We went to the beach, ate lots of great food, went to base, visited the museum, ate more, played with Belleau, played lots of Monopoly Deal, cooked, had a Pampered Chef party and played with Belleau more. Tori is the next visitor lined up, then we must have our Lynch family out for a visit.

Belleau turned ONE! And although she occasionally pretends to be mature, she is still a gosh darn puppy. We took her to the dog beach just yesterday and she played for 90 minutes with no break. She was a beast, and impressed all of the humans there. We had to literally drag her away from the water when we were ready to head home. Some owners of a retriever were very upset with their dog that would not fetch a tennis ball, but you better believe Belleau was after it in a heart beat each and every time. She is still a riot and keeps us ever so busy.

John is finally back to flying after his wisdom teeth surgery. He was out for several days. You would be amazed with all he has to memorize. He is currently in the office going over his brief for tomorrow's flight.

He flies.

Can you believe it?

I still can't.

I've been asking him to give us a paragraph, in his words, of what he thinks of being up in a plane with the controls at his hands ... and once he has a break from studying ... I'll get him typing.

I am still teaching and loving it. I am only seven weeks away from summer and the completion of my first year of teaching. I received a raise for completing my masters, which is always exciting. Can't decide on my next degree, but be assured there will be another. I have wonderful friends at school that I have absolutely loved getting to know. And my students are the reason I love the job. We are in the middle of Shakespeare, and I am thankful to Dr. Darcy at UNO for making me love and appreciate good ol' William.

I know this does not give you a play by play of what we have been up to in the last THREE months, but our lives are seeming somewhat normal at the moment, and for a life in the Marine Corps normal feels so odd. We have lived in Florida for almost a year and that also seems odd after eight months in Omaha and seven months in Virginia. But normal is nice, and we are enjoying it while we can.

Food. Now, of course that topic deserves its own paragraph. We have been cooking as usual. I am experimenting with pot stickers. I have the dough down, and the Asian filling. Thinking a buffalo chicken and blue cheese filling is in my near future.  Pizza is still a love of ours. In fact, I just made the most "boring" one we've had in awhile: pepperoni, mozz, goat cheese, and sage. Last week we had turkey bacon, apples, maple syrup, and chicken ... mmMm. Oh and for Valentines day we had chicken lasagna. A personal favorite.

On one last note ... I have started picking blackberries in our neighborhood! One of our fantastic neighbors showed me the way to yummy berries, and I have started going out there daily to grab a few more. They are delicious.

For my own sanity, I will not wait three+ months between posts. *I will TRY not to ...

welcome to the Circus.

Settle in for a little end of the month update.

As of yesterday, John started his next school (Primary). And he is sitting in his office (we have his and her offices) studying for his first test which is FRIDAY. They do not mess around down here. He has a lot of work cut out for him.

School for me is continuing to be enjoyable. I teach one block class and have a new group of students for this semester. They are fun and I am anxious to start fresh with all I learned first semester.
There is another class I must mention. I have a new addiction and it is noisy, productive, creative, challenging, and sits on a table.

Sewing! We bought a sewing machine on Black Friday and I finally broke it out last week and took my first class Saturday at JoAnn Fabric. I have many plans, and will keep you updated on what plans I choose to see through.

Belleau is still Belleau. John kicked her out of the house today because she had peed on the floor at some point. She IS maturing, but is still just a puppy. We'd be lost without her. We bought a new rug for the living room and the day John opened it and laid it out she was shaking with excitement. Unfortunately, she believes the rug is hers and that makes Yoga and Pilates quite difficult.

John and I have been attempting to experience more of Pensacola, or the south in general. After hearing that the circus was in town, we decided it would be appropriate to relive some childhood memories and attend. It was quite impressive. A man walked upside down. Legit circus. We had a blast, and especially loved the elephants because they reminded us of jumbo Belleaus (told you, we'd be lost without her).

Hoping a concert is up next. Maybe a football game (senior bowl?).

We are also joining with our church in the Daniel Fast, which has been quite the journey thus far. It started last Sunday (little over a week ago) and goes until February 5. We will make it. We will make it. We will make it. It has required us to become even more creative with our cooking, which we love. But I sure do miss cheese, and fried chicken. And eggs. And I really need some chocolate. But NO ... I will gladly eat veggie burgers, and chickpea stir fry.

One last note, our lap top is acting up. Whistling at me and randomly turning off and back on. Not good signs.

Happy new year.

Already 2012. I can hardly believe it. I remember being eight or nine years old and going to my piano lessons, and hearing my wonderfully old piano teacher talk about how she just couldn't believe she could possibly live to see the 2000's. And here we are, 12 years into them. I think about her at the start of each new year in the 2000s (she talked about it A LOT). She did live to see them.

On to some exciting updates. First Christmas break. We sure lucked out with two of the best families. We spent week one in Topeka and week two in Omaha. Saw grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and long time friends.

Belleau enjoyed her first Christmas. She was a pro at opening gifts. Honest. She just knew what to do like an excited toddler. We had our Christmas here on December 15th. Complete with a fajita feast, presents, stockings, and laughs. I love my mini family.

I'll let the pictures below do the rest of the talking for Christmas break.

But before the pictures ... exciting teaching news. I (Tenisha) am overseeing the Spelling Bee for my school and have been nominated and named the 10th grade English teacher leader, which essentially means I report to the Department Head for all that happens among us 10th grade English teachers. It is an honor ... and work.

John starts school Jan. 23 ... pray for him and his brain :). He also has to have his wisdom teeth out in the near future (more prayers). He is currently "checking in" to the next school, aka paperwork, appointments, and meetings.

Now for the pictures ... Christmas break, folks ...

Bells opening her present

John's present. All he wanted. Honest.

Jude and Belleau

Bowling with the family

He's good.

Cousin Hugo ... they really did love each other.

John's new toy ... and buddy

seeing the g-parents

riding to Holdrege

Grandma Jean

Ice Skating for Tor's birthday

Brother

the girls at sushi

Camp fire for New Years Eve

Cousins

Sunny OK

my classroom

After a request from Natasha, I have decided to dedicate a blog post to my classroom. I really do love my job. Even as I am sitting here with a stack of 50 essays to grade on my lap ... {really long sigh} I cannot believe I am only a couple weeks away from completing my first semester at my FIRST teaching job.

A little refresher ... I teach five classes. Two regular ENG II (Sophomore) classes, one ENG III (Junior) class, and two ENG II honors (Sophomore, again). It's a perfect schedule and the students are by far my favorite part of teaching. I am glad to report that most think I am 27 or 28 (glad? yes, glad ... it's refreshing to no longer be '16' ... and no, they do not know the truth).

Okay, okay, pictures. Keep in mind this is my first teaching job ... my collection of educational posters is lacking. Prepare for a full scan ...

I really have to let go of my OCD tendencies. The non matching desks. Ugh. 
And here are my little touches ... 

crates for notebooks

bathroom pass

'turn in' and 'missed work'

note by front door

organized board ... :)

And back to grading I go ...

Thankful for my husband.

This is my Thanksgiving post, later than I had planned, but I will attempt to do it justice.

Lets start with our plans for Thanksgiving. The plan was for the Vandament parents and little siblings to visit. Arriving Tuesday and leaving Sunday. Beach Wednesday, food Thursday, shopping Friday, pizza Saturday with naps and football in between. The plan did not happen. The family was halfway here and received a call that a wonderful young woman from church back "home" (Omaha) had passed away. Rightfully so, they had to turn around.

Thank goodness for Skype

With $250 dollars worth of Thanksgiving groceries, we decided the show must go on. I prepared everything that was planned (minus two pies) in smaller portions. We had a feast.

the line for the oven, pre feast.

Best turkey I have ever had

coffee coated cheese

And I don't know what I would have done without my amazing husband who went shopping with me on Black Friday and has cleaned up all of the leftovers.

Thanksgiving turned out to be alright. We relaxed, shopped, ate our brains out, and enjoyed each other.

And no post would be complete without a picture of our baby Belleau.

The tree is up ... say a prayer for all of the ornaments.

More to come from this Lynch family soon.

Happy birthday, Marine Corps.

Another Marine Corps Birthday Ball has come and gone. Cannot believe we've already been living this life for more than a year. Exciting. If you remember anything from last years Ball you remember we sat in the basement and watched the ceremony from a screen. This year had it's pros and cons, as well. The Commandant was the guest of honor (pretty big deal). He is the first Commandant that is an Aviator (again, pretty big deal). The Ball was held at the Aviation museum on base. Great location, but (here comes the first con) they did not have enough seats. I'd say 30% of the people there were standing during the whole ceremony. The other con (which actually turned into a pro) is that there was no dinner served. Just a cocktail hour with snacks and drinks. We decided to do our own thing for dinner and went to a WONDERFUL restaurant called Vic and Ike's. It was Delish (that's a capital D). John had rabbit and I had a juicy steak. So the no dinner at the Ball turned out to be quite alright. I do love the whole getting dressed up and eating a fancy dinner. I can do this once a year for the next how-ever-many years.

We are cheesing so much.

Beautiful Linds.

I'm in love with these.