2nd annual cookie exchange

Last year, I made a kid-friendly recipe to take to the first annual NMBP cookie exchange. This year, I decided to stick with the kid-friendly theme again. It didn't turn out so good though. Well- the cookies turned out amazing! (oreo popsicles) It was the work put into it that made it not so good.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving this year was filled with many emotions! We had dinner for the two of us- turkey breasts, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, and a glass of wine. We had a dinner and enjoyed relaxing with each other.

GO BLUE!

Last week we had a faculty and staff flag football game for a PTO fundraiser. "Coach King" really had us practicing like we were about to play for the 2008 Superbowl! It was a cold night, but none of us cared... we had a great time tearin' it up on the field!



It was a serious game... coin flip and everything!



This was the "C squad"! These were the ladies I played with on the field.






And of course we had a cheering crowd of 6 and 7 year olds! One of them even brought her pom-poms!









We had a great time!! The announcers and score keepers gave some extra credit, so the game ended up a tie! We are already looking forward to our spring kickball game!

Bodkin's Halloween Party

Just a few pictures of us dressed up... Can you guess what we are?



Here are the hosts- They played their parts VERY well! What TV show are they from?

Hearts' Stories

Hearts' Stories is a program that began in our school a few years ago. If you get some time to check it out, it's great. http://www.heartsstories.org/

My class has been doing it since the beginning of the year and we love it. One of our first adult guests was Mr. King (as the kids call him). They loved it! He played his guitar to a song our class had been practicing. They had a great time and learned so much!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

1st Halloween as newlyweds-

We don't get many trick-or-treaters (as in only 3... haha) but we've had a good time carving our pumpkin together.

sorry...

I know it's been a long time- I guess after the wedding, there isn't as much going on that would be interesting to blog about. I do want to try to keep up with it though.

I have been very busy with school. It takes up pretty much every minute of my day. I don't have much time for anything else during the week. I love what I do, so that helps keep the stress level down. Luckily, I have Kirby who is a great listener and understands what I'm going through. It's very nice to come home and just vent to him. I've had everything from a little girl chase after me and pull my shirt as we both fall to the ground, to parent phone calls at night on my cell phone.... and recently hearing another little girl tell her friend she was going to go home and stab herself with a knife. BUT of course there have been times when I've stepped back and realized how much I love my job. A student asking us to go to church with her and her family, long heart to heart phone conversations with parents, and the many hugs I receive during dismissal.

Kirby has been having a good year. He gets along with the other 2 PE teachers and well... who wouldn't like getting out at 2:45 and having nothing to work on after school!?

We've recently bought a new vehicle. Kirby worked hard to clean the Jeep and make it look new. After his hard work, we were thankfully able to sell the it on Criagslist quickly. We now are driving the Honda and our Toyota FJ Cruiser.

We have decided on a honeymoon. We are going to take a few weekend trips during the school year and then Costa Rica in June. We are going for our friend's wedding, but plan on staying longer to make a honeymoon for ourselves. We both can't wait. We are just waiting to get my new Social Security card so we can get our passports.

We are starting to feel the fall weather. Cool and 70's- it's kinda nice. I've got excited recently to come home in the evening and put on a sweatshirt.

Hope I haven't let anyone down by not updating the blog lately. I'm going to try to do better... I'll even add pictures next time.

not a spelling bee champ!

Well Kirby has informed me that I have a lot of misspellings in the last post... oops! Sorry if it was hard to read or understand. I guess I was in a hurry to get something written since I hadn't in awhile.

Anyways-
We aren't up to anything different really. We are thinking about buying a new car. My Honda Civic has been sitting in the driveway for over 6 months now and needs jumped everytime we move it. We plan on getting it fixed soon, but we know it'll put a dent in our pockets. The Jeep isn't too bad now, but it's been making noises that Kirby doesn't like and with over 100,000 miles on it, it'll probably go soon.

We go invited to our friends' wedding in Costa Rica next June. I'm going to try and convience Kirby it's a once in a lifetime chance.... We should do it while we don't have kids... they are covering our room... So we'll see. Maybe we'll have a second honeymoon!

Hanna hits the Kings

Hi everyone! I'm excited to get the blog back up and running. Kirby and I have been so busy and I haven't got a chance to update everyone. Here are a few things that have been going on.

• School started 2 weeks ago. Kirby and I both have had a good start back at school, but haven't enjoyed getting up at 5:45 again.

• We just bought new furniture with a lot of the money from our wedding gifts. THANKS EVERYONE :)






• Tropical Storm Hanna hit Friday night at the border of North Carolina and South Carolina. School was cancelled Friday so we were able to "prepare" for the storm. We didn't have to do much though- bring in the grill, fix the mailbox post (which was loose) so it wouldn't blow away, and make sure we had flashlights, candles, and water & food. Luckily we didn't get bad effects. We had a lot of landscaping debri in the streets of our neighborhood, streets were flooded in Cherry Grove Beach (just down the road from us) and the power went out in a few areas of N.Myrtle Beach. We made it through our first storm together! Here is a picture of us on a walk before it hit that night.
  
  


• Due to the storms (Hanna, Gustav) Kirby has been surfing a lot with his buddies. They have been going to Sunset Beach in North Carolina where the waves are better. And yes... he went out on the day that Hanna hit. He went that morning and had a blast! And of course- I wasn't surprised when he came home and told me he jumped off the end of the pier with his surfboard so he didn't have to paddle out through the rough surf! He's still a kid at heart! Here are some pics.

• Kirby is working on our honeymoon. We are starting to think a lot about Hawaii. We'll see what happens with that though.

Well that's all we've got for now. (I'm sure there are things I've missed) I hope to do a better job updating the blog more often. Hope everyone is doing well!

We love you- The Kings

quick post

I haven't been suscessful at keeping this updated after the wedding like I would have liked. I hope once we have things settled around here, I'll get back on track. Our "to-do-list" is huge and with school starting we just haven't got much done on it.

Anyways- I thought I'd post our slideshow on here for you guys to check out.
www.bluecrushphoto.com/Slideshows/KingWedding

I hope to post some other things soon! Kirby and I are planning on getting our passport soon so we can plan our honeymoon.

More later....

favorite photo so far

School starts tomorrow... and the photos aren't ready yet, but I thought I'd post my favorite picture so far! :) More pictures soon!

It's all sinking in

Well almost all of our families are gone.... slowly one by one they are leaving. We have been able to spend time with everyone since Saturday and have really enjoyed it. We have tons of pictures and details to share- so we'll post them as soon as we get a moment to breathe. It's all starting to sink it though- I held in the tears the day of really well, but the past 2 days...not so good.

...more to come soon!

the "wedding planning" room

Here it is... it looks like this now & it'll look like this for everyone when they come to the house next weekend too. Gosh- no matter how I rearrange it, it doesn't look any better. Maybe we'll just have to close the door next week.










But.. we are almost ready!
We are going to the beach today though- we need a break and some sun!

our first cruise!

Kirby is planning on taking his groomsmen and all guys in town to the SunCasino. It's a ship you go out on and eat... gamble... drink. It seemed like a lot of fun, but we wanted to make sure it was. So- we went to check it out! It was a great time and even though we came home with no winnings, we think the guys will have fun.

a little putt putt

Kirby and I decided to be tourists last night. We went to the Dinosaur Putt Putt across the street from our neighborhood and played a round of 18. :) As most of you know, I'm amazing at putt putt, so I kicked Kirby's butt.... actually he kicked mine... but I did beat him on 2 holes! We had a great time together!

I picked up a pink ball- my fiance decided to make me excited and picked green. Guess what that is... OUR WEDDING COLORS!! And of course Anna had to take a picture!

special guest

I just found out my special friend from Baltimore is coming to the wedding. Jesse was in my 3rd grade class 2 years ago at Harford Hills. He has been through some big struggles in his life already at about 10 years old, but with the help, love, and faith in God from Ben and Carissa... he's come a long way and has made many good changes in his life.


My buddy is able to make it with part of his family. Ben and Jesse are coming together to North Myrtle Beach for the wedding. Unfortunately, they have to leave behind the others. Carissa, Sophia, and Shane will be back in Baltimore and hopefully we'll get to see them another time soon. Here are a few more pics of these wonderful people!

2 weeks!

After lunch today Kirby and I realized it's only 2 weeks away!! We can't believe it's coming up so soon. In about a week, our friends and family will start to come into town... I think that's when it will really sink in. We also talked about how so many people ask if we are nervous- we both agreed that we aren't nervous at all. Many people would be shocked to hear that- but the only nervousness I have is for rain, one of us getting sick or hurt, or something going wrong. Other than that... we are 100% excited and ready for our wedding day!

I finished up the girls' gifts last night- I really hope they like them. :) The gifts are all wrapped in (no other than) cute pink polka dot bags. I'm excited to give them out!

No pictures today... I don't want to spoil the whole weekend and show off the pictures now. You'll have to wait and see them in person!

last DIY project

I've been getting things together and finalizing the seating on the computer so I can finish my last project! Here is a picture of the beginning stages of the seating board... I think it'll turn out nice.

This was last week's project... menu cards for the napkins. Last minute idea- hopefully they'll be worth it.


Well not much left to do on my list.
-finish up girls' gifts
-write letters
-borrow someone's serving utensils for the cake
-buy some food for the OOT bags and drinks for the rehearsal cookout
-pick a song for Kirby and his mom to dance to

I'm going to my final dress fitting on Sat. :) Should be fun.... :)

weekend projects

Yesterday started some of the projects I hope to accomplish by this weekend. Kirby had planned to ride to Charleston to get his bike checked (but didn't end up going because of the rain) and I planned on spending the whole day driving around town doing wedding stuff. I made appointments for manicures and pedicures, made the final payment with the cake lady, talked to the new coordinator at Bay Watch about reception details, and then enjoyed shopping for a bridal shower dress (and some other wedding stuff) :)

Here is what we are using on the beach for the ceremony. The tubs will be filled with lemonade and ice tea (or water) for our guests to stay cool on the beach... because it'll be very hot!

I feel very accomplished already but have some things to work on still. Today- since it's raining, I am going to continue creating our seating chart board. We finalized the seating yesterday- so now I just have to get creative. Pictures of that to come....

IT'S HERE!!

I've been waiting (impatiently) for our guest book to arrive for about 3 weeks now. Our photographer took our favorite engagement photos and designed an album for us. She did a wonderful job and it really turned out great!




Thank goodness there are only 23 days left until the wedding because I'm getting impatient! :) (I guess I need to work on my patience..haha)

The 5 Love Languages

I've heard of the book before and when Pastor Steve said something about it when we met with him last week, I got very excited to hear what he had to say. Kirby and I met with him again, yesterday, and talked through the 5 love languages. He talked to us about how couples think they are giving and doing so much, but in reality they are "missing" their partner because it's not one of their partner's love languages. Here they are:

1. words of affirmation (i.e. you're a good cook, I love you)
2. physical touch
3. spending time together
4. gifts
5. acts of service (i.e. taking out the trash, mowing the lawn, emptying the dishwasher)

We talked about this a little after Steve left. It was interesting to decide what my love languages are... and what Kirby's are too.
What is/are your love languages? :)

almost a King

1 month (31 days) from now I'll be with my bridesmaids waiting ever so patiently to see my soon-to-be husband. I'm so excited!!

Here's a blast from the past! (well only 2 years ago) What Kirby and I consider as our first date...the Kelly Clarkson concert on July 6th!


"Time flies!"- that's for sure! I just hope the next month goes by just as fast!

family & friends

The last week or so Kirby and I have been able to visit with some of his family and friends. It's been very nice for me to meet them all.

His Uncle Steve came to visit while they were on vacation last week. Here are some pictures of us hanging out together while they were here.

One of Kirby's groomsmen came into town. They are staying in Surfside, but we also met them at Broadway at the Beach. We did some rides, watched the fireworks, and got some ice cream. While Rachel, Megan, and Ryan rode the rides, we were able to catch up with Pete and Kristi. They are great people and can't wait to hang out with them again at the wedding.

4th of July

We celebrated our first 4th of July at the beach! Yesterday was a lazy, fun day. We started off with breakfast at Atlanta Bread Company. By 10:00 we were at the beach and didn't come home til about 1:30 for lunch. We dropped the surf board off, ate lunch, and went back to the beach. We took naps in the sun and stayed there til about 5:00. After a quick workout, we showered, grabbed dinner at subway, and went back (AGAIN!) to the beach to prepare for the fireworks.

We had a great time! 2 years ago... we were anticipating seeing each other in downtown Baltimore after the fireworks. Gosh- it seems like forever ago! Now- we're getting married in our new hometown on North Myrtle Beach!