Kindergarten...on the 3rd Day

Today I substitute taught for the first time in a couple years. During my junior and senior years of college I had a couple days in different semesters that I didn't have any classes, so I subbed. Well since I graduated college I have had full times jobs and haven't had the opportunity to sub.

So yesterday I got a call from our local school asking if I would substitute for Kindergarten. I of course said yes. I was pretty eager and ready to start working. Even if it was just a day, I was really excited to get some work in. This morning I woke up very early (well 6:30 which is early for me). Got ready and headed to the school, checked in, went to my classroom and met the teacher. I met all the students, read the lesson plan, sang some songs, learned all we could about the letter B, read many books, played a wiggle worm game, passed out blocks (the same number to each child), lined children up, walked them to recess, administered MANY potty breaks, walked them to and from lunch, helped color lots of pages, counted down from 5...a lot. Who knows what all I did, but I did it. I survived!

I loved subbing! Will I do it again? Of course! Will I do it again in the first week of school when children have had TWO days of structure? ...probably not. Y'all just say a prayer for me for next time!


Before I go, just some highlights from my day:

1. The boy who cried until lunch nonstop because he "just wanted to go homeeeeeee"
2. The boy that asked his friend if he liked his "scratchy hair" (his hair had gel in it, precious)
3. The girl who cried for 3/4 recess because "nobody will play with meeeeeeeee" (Yes I let her know that if she stopped crying they would probably play with her)
4. A cricket jumped UP my pants...yes UP. And I smashed it before I got it out...yes that happened.
5. I had to send a girl to another classroom because she would NOT sit in any chair...and when asked if she wanted to go to the Principal's office, she smiled and shook her head yes...
6. A girl had a mini seizure...luckily I had already called the nurse who called her mother, so they were both there.
7. Same girl cried at the end of the day when I told her to go with the car-riders/walkers. She begged me to "pleaseeeeee put me on a bus, I just want to ride a bus".
8. One boy, when asked his name would whisper "casper"...his name was NOT Casper.
9. During recess my crying boy told me his tag was itchy, so I checked...the price tag was still attached, I would call that itchy too!
10. I didn't pack a lunch because I thought I would have a good 30-40 minutes and this is such a small town I was going to grab something with Taylor. I had 20 minutes so I ate a snack...and had no water. I almost cried, funny now!

I think that's it. But y'all, it was a fun day! And I hope you got at least one laugh imagining me dealing with each!

WE MOVED!

Y'all! We are Texans!!! I am a Texan again, while Taylor is a Texan for the first time. This is very exciting stuff! We moved on August 1st from Mobile, Alabama to Overton, Texas. It was quite the move, but we made it! We have slept in a total of 11 beds...yes ELEVEN since moving back to Texas, and have slept in our own bed a total of...13 nights...HA! Isn't that crazy? The best part about it? It just shows how blessed we are to have slept in those other 10 beds! We have spent the night with many friends, some family and even a hotel! I cannot wait to take you on our excursion on my next blog post. For now I just wanted to update everybody that we are living in Texas! We are SO close to family and friends, it is just amazing. Puts a smile on my face anytime I think about it. If you need our mailing address, just let me know and I'll send it on!

For now, Taylor & I are signed up to substitute teach at the local schools around us. School just started today so we haven't started working yet, but we are looking forward to those teacher conferences and teachers calling in sick soon! :) I'm also signed up with a couple temp agencies in the area. Just ready to work when we can.  Taylor & I are not sure how long we will be in Overton, so as you can imagine we don't want to make any commitments that we cannot uphold. Thus why are subbing and looking for temp positions.

Lastly, sorry I was gone for a little while! I know I keep saying I'll get better...and hey, it has only been a little over a month. And that was during packing and moving, so hopefully it is understandable. As always, thank you for reading and being interested in our lives! We love you all!

Love, Kauffman Krew

My Eight to Five

Have you ever seen somebody so excited to
find their belly button?

Last August I took a position as a nanny for a sweet 3 month old. His name was Lawson and he had my heart immediately. We have had an amazing 11 months together. I have enjoyed every moment of it, even the crying during naps, the stinky diapers, the spit out food - all of it! As my time with him is coming to an end, I had the chance to make some more special moments with him.

Last Friday Taylor came to work with me. We spent the morning as usual, just playing and hanging
out. Lawson was a little shy at first but very quickly fell in love with Taylor (can you blame him?) They hung out together until nap time. After Lawson's nap, I got him dressed and we headed out! We took Lawson to lunch at Cracker Barrel. This is one of his favorite places. Nothing like grilled chicken and carrots smothered in butter. Yummy! After lunch we went to Build a Bear. Lawson built a puppy dog, who we named Brave, as you can probably guess why. Once we had Brave in tow we headed to Barnes & Noble to pick out a book...or two! We of course couldn't go back home until we stopped at the cupcake shop, Twist, and had a bite!

Lawon's new best friend!

He wouldn't hold still for a picture, he didn't want anybody taking that puppy dog away!

With sweet Lawson after Build a Bear

Once we got back to the house it was almost nap time, so we played some more and then laid down. That afternoon we headed to Orange Beach with Lawson and his parents. They invited Taylor & I down to their condo for the weekend as a thank you for my time with Lawson. We all went to dinner that night. It was so funny seeing Lawson's face as he tried to figure out why we were all there together. He is used to seeing his dad and I at the same time and sometimes even his mom and I, butnever all three of us together, especially for a long period of time. Saturday we all had breakfast and headed to the beach. Lawson & I hung out under the umbrella like smart cookies. We went and put our toes in the water for a little while as well. The rain was coming our way so we headed to have lunch at the original Tacky Jacks. We had great timing because as we were seated the rain just started pouring and did not stop for a while. After the rain passed we went back to the condo and then headed back to Mobile.

Like I said - Best friends

Keeping cool and in the shade

It was so wonderful spending that extra time with Lawson. I have eight days left with him. I cannot believe after all this time of seeing him five days a week, I won't be seeing him at all. It is heartbreaking, but very bittersweet. He will be enrolled in a school so he will be learning so much, and I'm headed back to Texas so there are good sides to this. I have been very blessed to be his nanny and I cannot wait to watch him grow up, even from 3 states over.

Happy 4th Y'all

This year for the 4th of July, Taylor & I traveled to Arkadelphia, Arkansas and spent the long weekend with his dad & step mom, along with the many people we visited.

Taylor & I loaded up a U-Haul trailer on Tuesday night with the help of our friends Ryan & Ashley. I was able to get off work early on Wednesday so we were on the road by 3:30! Because the Equinox was pulling a trailer it was a longer trip than usual, but we made it by midnight. We of course stayed up until 2:30 in the morning catching up. We always forget that we have many more days to catch up, but it is a tradition at this point.

Sweet Robert David

Thursday was the 4th and they had made plans for us to get to go out on a boat with their friend Mike. But we had all day to fill so we did one of my favorite things - went to see a newborn baby! We went and met Robert David, Amy's son. He was just precious. Of course I had to fight with Tim over baby time, but I got a lot of snuggling in.

That night we went to Lake DeGray and had dinner on Mike's house boat. Then we went out on his boat and rode around the lake. We made a quick stop at the Lodge to see Taylor's cousins, Katy, Hollis & Drew. I am so blessed to have gained these new cousins. After visiting for a little while we went and parked in the middle of the lake and watched the firework show the lake put on. The show was awesome! Best one I've seen in a while!

My husband sure can pull off the "wind blown" look

My wonderful cousins, Katy & Hollis

Friday we spent the afternoon at a Field Station with a professor (Dr. Engman) that Taylor took two study abroads with in college. It was beautiful. Taylor was able to talk to some students who were about to take off for Peru (a trip Taylor went on). He answered some questions they had about grad school in marine science and then we had lunch with them. That night we went and spent the evening with our good friend, Jill McMillian at her lake house. It was just gorgeous! We had pizza and we hung out on the porch for most of the evening. Once the mosquitos came out we went inside and chatted late into the night.

Concentration men....concentration

Saturday started early on the golf course. We headed over to Fordyce to meet up with Poppy, Chuck &
Drew. Taylor & Tim played with them and I rode with Poppy. I love riding in the cart with Poppy. He has a story for each hole on that golf course, sometimes even two! In the picture to the left, you will see one of my favorite parts about riding while they play - I love to watch how 4-6 men can all be within 20 feet of each other and not say a word. Imagine trying to get women to do that...never going to happen. Haha! They played 9 holes and then we had lunch.

Ahhhhhh!!!! He is so cute & the perfect snuggler!

After lunch I left to go and play with our precious second cousin Reece. He of course took a little nap on my shoulder. I'm convinced it is his favorite spot to sleep. I also got to chat with Betty & Cindy, a favorite past time of mine. That night we met up with Luke, Christy, Spencer and his friend to see Despicable Me 2. It was so good! I laughed A LOT! And of course cried a bit as well. We grabbed smoothies afterward and headed home.

Sunday morning we got up and watched some Dexter, then dropped some things off at Tim's office to keep for us while we move. We had some lunch and hit the road. As always we had a blast! It was nice to get home and catch up on all that sleep, but I wouldn't trade it for anything!

I Married an Artist

Last night Taylor & I went on a double date with our friends Ryan & Ashley. We started the date night just the two of us going to eat at Newk's. It has become a regular for our date night dinners. They have salads, soups, pizzas and sandwiches - delicious! Annnnnd they serve Coke Zero, awesome.









After dinner met Ryan & Ashley at Paint Party Studios here in Mobile. It was their monthly date night, which is what caught our attention intially. I think it may have been a blessing in disguise we didn't know about it before, because we both want to do it again! When we set our reservation we picked out our pictures from their website. Taylor chose a light house from Dauphin Island. I was really excited that he chose this lighthouse because I knew it would be a great picture and a great way to remember our time here in Mobile. I chose an artsy tree blowing in the wind. Mainly I just thought it was pretty :).

The employees at Paint Party Studios set up your station before you get there. They had the canvases out and had sketched the main lines of our photos. They also give you all the paint colors you will need and some brushes. They guide you through the process, what to paint first, what colors to use/mix, they are just very helpful. Taylor started on his sky and water first, and I followed suite by painting my sky and ground first.

I really did have a great time painting my photo, but I enjoyed watching Taylor paint even more. I don't think he even knew he could paint that well. Just watching him mix his colors and paint the oceans, it was incredible! I had some assistance with parts of my painting, I just wasn't very confident in my ability to make the swirling branches, and needed help getting started with other swirls. BUT Taylor did the entire painting on his own. Wonderful!

Here are our finished products! Also our friends finished paintings as well - kissing fish! Very cute!


We completed our date night with fro-yo (my favorite)! Cannot wait for our next date night!

2012 Part 2

Here it is! Part 2 of our 2012!

July - San Antonio/Clader Wedding Weekend

With my handsome date, the pretty bride & Taylor with some of his buddies.

One of Taylor's buddies and groomsmen was married the last weekend in July in San Antonio. It was an amazing trip and we had a great time.  We then were able to ride from Houston to SA with some good friends, Stephanie & Preston and Casey. We stayed at Stephanie's ranch and house with other friends (future Raineys) for the weekend. We were able to kayak and hang out in the river during the day before the wedding - SO MUCH FUN! The wedding was beautiful and we were able to catch up with a lot of friends and Taylor's buddies. We were so grateful to have a mini vacation to Texas!

August - Our FIRST Anniversary & I Started Nannying

We celebrated our first anniversary in Atlanta, Georgia. This was such a fun time that it will have its own post as well! We had many adventures and enjoyed ourselves greatly! 

In July I had some drama with my job (staffing) and made the decision to walk away. Although it was a  scary time for Taylor & I, the Lord provided and I was given the opportunity to start nannying in August. I am so thankful that it happened! I have fallen in love with my little man Lawson. Here he is my first day I started. He is now 13 months old! I will have a post all about my time with him as well. 

CUTIE PIE

September - Arkansas Game Weekend

Arkansas Game!

The Chicken with Kristin, Jacklyn, Ryan and Charles!

In September we celebrated my birthday by going to College Station and attending the A&M vs. Arkansas game with Tim & Betty. It was SUCH A BLAST! It was so nice to beat the ever living out of Arkansas! ESPECIALLY after they have beat us the past three years. And we didn't just beat them, we WHOOPED them! WHOOP! :) It truly was a great time! It was so fun having family there as well. ALSO, my very sweet husband threw me a surprise party with the help of my good friends on Friday night before yell practice. It was amazing. I felt so loved and had a great time being surprised. AND I had the pleasure of meeting my good friend's new boyfriend...and I adored him! (hehe Ryan & Charles). 

Surprise Birthday Party!

October - Ole Miss Game

Ryan & Holly after our VICTORY

We attended our first SEC away game in October at the Ole Miss game in Oxford. It was such a fun experience. We met some friends in downtown Oxford for a BBQ lunch. Then we walked around the square some before heading to the car to wait out the rain. Then we walked to the Grove to tailgate before the game. It was a blast! We had never seen anything like it before. Tents were back to back and they all had the full set up of food, drinks, tv's and even some chandeliers! Then we went to the actual game with our good friends Ryan, Charles, Clay & Holly. It was an intense game, and probably the best game I have ever attended. We were up, we were down, we were down even more...and then we were on the ONE YARD LINE down by +10 with 6:00 left! AND WE WON! It was just....wow! We are hoping to make it back to Oxford this year as the game is there again! 

November - Des Moines & BTHO Alabama and Thanksgiving

As the year ended we seemed to become more and more busy! But it was a blast! The second weekend of November I was able to fly up to Des Moines Iowa and surprise one of my best friends for her birthday! Melissa & Lans moved to Des Moines in 2010 after their wedding in July for Lans to attend podiatry school. I had seen Melissa three times since then. Once she surprised me at our couple's shower in May of 2011, then again in June 2011 at our best friend Caitlyn's wedding and then the last time was at our wedding in August of 2011. So needless to say, it was time to see her again! It was a great weekend. I was able to see where they have lived for the past two years, their church and meet many of their good friends. I loved every minute of it, and of course I just love surprising people! I also was able to watch A&M BTHO alabama while I was there. What a great memory to have! I will never forget it. By the way, WE BEAT ALABAMA! AHHHHH! WHOOOOOOOP!

As always, we celebrated Thanksgiving in November as well. This year was the LaCoe & Kauffman sides of the family to split us. We spent two days with each family. This works out so well and gives us good time with everybody. Thanksgiving was great with both families. I have learned to love the Kauffman thanksgiving of fried turkey strips (SO GOOD)!!!!

And of course I will always love my traditional Thanksgiving turkey with my family. It was so sweet of them to wait until Saturday to have Thanksgiving dinner with us. We have a lot to be thankful for and I love that we have a holiday that reminds us of that. 

December - Johnny Heismanziel & PJ Party : Christmas & New Years in Sequin

WHAT A YEAR! We wrapped it up with some really good memories! Johnny Football helped to start the month off well by bringing home the Heisman trophy! What a fun moment to witness. I cannot wait until Taylor & I tell our children about Johnny Football and the year a freshman won the Heisman! 

We were invited to our friend's daughter's 3rd Birthday party. The Grays are a wonderful couple at Creekwood that they have become good friends of ours. Eric is the youth minister there and they have two beautiful little girls. Kenley's 3rd birthday party was a PJ party, and you better believe we went with our footie pajamas on! Our good friends Ashley & Ryan joined in on the fun!

This year we celebrated Christmas with the Smiths and the Bedrichs. We spent the weekend before Christmas, Christmas Eve and Christmas day with the Smiths. It was fun to experience new traditions and spend a lot of time with family. We also were able to do some Christmas shopping with Madeline which was a blast! She is a fun shopping partner for sure! We also went on the traditional hay ride that weekend to check out all the lights, it is such a fun time with singing, hot chocolate and family. It was fun waking up Christmas morning and exchanging presents. I truly love giving gifts, it is such a joy to know that you found a gift that will make somebody else happy. We then were able to spend some time with Bedrichs. It was fun to exchange gifts again and catch up! We had some great meals and great conversation. 

After our time in Houston we headed to good ol' Sequin for a New Years celebration. This is surely becoming a tradition. The Martin's are SO hospitable and throw a great New Years party! We were able to see our best friends and have a wonderful time shooting skeet, catching up, eating great food and shooting fireworks. We are so blessed with amazing friends that are blessed with amazing families.

2012 was truly one for the memory books. Our first full year of marriage was a beautiful one, full of adventures. We made a lot of memories, and of course not all of them are here. This is just the highlight reel. Hopefully for 2013... at least the 2nd half, I will do a much better job of recording our fun moments. We have a lot to catch up on! Thank y'all for reading! Love y'all!

-The Kauffman Krew

Join us for 2013!

Let's Try This Again

Well...yep. It has indeed been one full year since my last post. Where did the time go? I am not sure! But let's not waste time talking about it. I am here again and I am hoping to keep up with the blog moving forward. For now let me give you our 2012 all wrapped up in a post or two with a couple of pictures!

January - EcKauffs Came to Town

Fort Gaines

Tim & Betty came to visit us in Mobile! We had a great time taking them to the Sea Lab, Fort Gaines and eating lots of great food! Tim & Taylor even got a round of golf in! We just loved having our first visitors!

February - Gibbs Came to Town

We had our 2nd group of visitors in February! It was a blast to have my aunt, uncle and four cousins in town. We showed them the sights as well - the Sea Lab, the beach and of course, the outlet mall! We had all you can eat catfish and introduced them to Foosackly's (aka the BEST chicken fingers in the WORLD). We also stayed up all night playing Just Dance and many other games after a failed attempt to go see "The Vow". The Gibbs Gang is always a good time!

My beautiful cousins: Emily, Madeline, Sam & Shelby

March - Meme's 80th Birthday & Grandparents Came to Town
The first weekend in March Taylor & I drove to Sugarland to celebrate Taylor's Meme's 80th Birthday. It was a wonderful celebration with the Smith family and many of Meme's friends. She was glowing and seemed to have a great birthday! We spent the day celebrating Meme and spending time with family. There was good food, a pretty cake, balloons - it was a party!

The next weekend my Grandmother & Granddad came to visit us in Mobile. I loved having them here. Over 50 years ago my grandparents lived in Mobile as newlyweds. It was so fun driving around and seeing where they used to live (or at least trying to find it), and also seeing how much had changed since they were here. We went to the Sea Lab and also went to the Battleship for the first time. It was really neat to walk all through it and learn the history. We also took a stroll through Bellingrath Gardens, which was gorgeous! I loved being able to host my grandparents and show them our first place as a married couple.

April - San Fran with EcKauffs & McDade Wedding

We took our first big trip since our honeymoon in April. Taylor's dad & step mom took us to the San Francisco area for an AMAZING trip! I'm not going to write a lot here because the trip deserves it's own post, so look forward to that soon!

At the end of April I was honored to be a bridesmaid in my really good friend Kelsey's wedding! It was a gorgeous day in April in College Station. It was a lovely ceremony and a very fun reception! She was a BEAUTIFUL bride. Taylor & I enjoyed being there and sharing in their love.

May - Final Review & Two High School Graduations

Taylor officially felt old the first weekend of May when he returned to A&M to take part in a wonderful tradition. Taylor went to Final Review of the Corps of Cadets to pull boots. He pulled the boots of the class that just three years prior were pulling his boots as freshmen. It was SUCH a fun day! Taylor was able to see and catch up with a lot of his buddies and it was so sweet to watch him pull a couple of his once freshmen's boots. We loved our time in College Station and with those forever friends.

We had a whirlwind the last weeks of May though. One weekend we had my younger brother's graduation from Medina High School. He looked great and we were so proud of all of his awards and accomplishments. We were able to spend some sweet time with our God daughter Olivia while we were there and take some precious pictures that we will forever cherish.

The weekend after that we were headed to east Texas to watch my oldest cousin graduate from West Rusk High School. She was salutatorian and made our entire family so proud! Madeline is currently attending SFA and will be an incredible band director before we know it! It was a fun filled weekend with my family!

June - Taylor's Baptism

We experienced the greastest blessing of our marriage in the month of June. Taylor & I began attending Creekwood Church of Christ on Easter Sunday, and continued going after that. We made a couple friends, really enjoyed the classes and the sermons on Sunday so we discussed placing membership. This discussion led to many discussions and after a lot of studying and praying, Taylor made the decision to be baptized. It was such a sweet and intimate moment. Just Taylor, myself and our minister David were there. I have never been more proud of Taylor. His commitment to the Lord, loving Him and serving Him is beautiful. He is an incredible Christian man leading our marriage and I couldn't be more blessed.

Come back for the second half of the year! If you are still here after all this time - you are a TROOPER! And I am committing to you now that I will be better about this. I have to remember that not every post has to be super long.