Yum!

I made my first thanksgiving dish yesterday! It was a corn casserole recipe I found on pinterest! It was so good! I also helped mom make 2 dips, squash casserole and veg-all casserole! We stayed up til 1am Wednesday night cooking up a storm!!! It was good bonding time :)

After thanksgiving, we went out black Friday (or Thursday night) shopping! We went to outlet malls, kohls, belk, and target!! We got home around 4:30am from shopping! More bonding time :)

I hope everyone had a fabulous thanksgiving!!!

I feel very blessed to have such an amazing family & group of friends, a sweet boyfriend, and a job that I'm totally in love with! God has blessed me with so many things to be thankful for! My list could go on and on!

Happy black Friday and ROLL TIDE!!!!!

Pictures: my corn casserole, the beautiful tree at our outlet malls, and the crazy black Friday shoppers at belk!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Early Thanksgiving!!!

From my babies, to yours!!!

I mean really, how cute are these fingerprint turkeys???

Chickfila Cow

Took the kids to Chickfila while Christen shopped on Saturday. We were there for awhile and the cow came out a few times while we were there...

Aubrey was not too fond of the cow. The first time it came out I didn't know it was behind me and Aubrey starts screaming NO! NO! NO! And shaking uncontrollably...i finally turned around and figured out she was screaming at the cow. It was quite hilarious. And yes, I did torture her each time by holding her and walking as close as possible to the cow while she completely freaked out by screaming and shaking while death gripping me. :)

Levi & Luke had a much better time with the cow. :) Luke wanted to hug the cow and Levi liked petting her (yes, it was a girl cow with a big bow).

This is how Aubrey & Levi felt about the huge cow....

BAMA/AUBURN

Today begins the week of rivalries. Down here, it means, are you a BAMA fan or an AUBURN fan? It means my house is split, it means my boyfriend and I are split, it means I don't watch the game with my future in-laws. It means I stick with my bama people. Yes, it is also Thanksgiving week, but more importantly (ha, JK!!!) it is the week of the IRON BOWL!!!!!!!

Happy Iron Bowl Week!!!

Glasses

So I lost my last left contact down the drain Saturday night and I don't have the extra $$ to spend on new contacts so I'm wearing my glasses until I get one ones. I knew some of my kids might flip out when they saw me Monday but only one noticed....

-student: Ms. Alfano why are you wearing sunglasses!???
-me: are these sunglasses?
-student: I don't know?
-Me: these are my glasses, i usually wear contacts but I lost one so I have to wear these for now.
-student: what's a contact?


How do you begin to explain to a 5 yr old what contacts are!??

a fabulous end to last monday

Mondays are always a drag. Something always goes wrong - you're late, you spill your coffee, you forget to eat breakfast, someone makes you mad (in my case, a 5 yr old), you get stressed about the week ahead - need I go on?

Well, last Monday wasn't a normal Monday - it was pretty great (for a Monday). Nothing huge happened to upset me, it just felt like a normal day. I was excited to head to Hobby Lobby after school for the first time since April 27th, when the tornado took ours in Tuscaloosa. After school, I went to Hobby Lobby & then Michaels to grab some stuff for my craft show next month. Then, the normal, typical Monday slapped me in the face just as I thought my Monday couldn't go any better....

I was pulling out of Michales onto a 4-lane side street, pulled into the median to wait for a car to pass and next thing I know I got rear-ended, then side swiped. My immediate reaction..."UGH!" How dare you hit my car for no reason. No reason at all. My next reaction, MY BABY!!!! YOU JUST MESSED UP MY BABY!!!!!! I got out of  the car and put my face in my hands and told the lady I didn't want to look as she said she was sorry a couple thousand times. She apparently thought I had gone & was looking backwards at oncoming traffic as she pulled out, which in turn is why she smacked me.

When I went around to look at the damage, I immediately lost it. As I called Ty and My mom they both asked if I was ok of course and all I could talk about was the poor Malibu. This car is my baby. I drove a clunker for so long, and I treat this car like gold. No, it is not new, but its new to me.

Well, to sum up the rest of the story, The back corner of my car is all smushed in, there are scrapes all down the passenger side of my car, a dent in between the 2 doors on the passengers side, my back wheel got pushed up, the rim got smashed, and my mirror is broken. The tow truck took it away as my heart sunk. I spent 2 hours on the phone with both insurance companies & drove Ty's mom's car til Thursday and then got a rental car...

Meet my rental car. A mazda 3. And BOY does it GO! I'm scared I will end up with a ticket before this is all over. :/

Hoping my car will get fixed ASAP because I miss it!!!!!!!

Very thankful I did not get hurt because I know it could have been way worse!

Friday photo dump

Ok so it's technically Saturday but we'll still call it Friday :)

Happy Veteran's Day to all our heroes out there. I am so thankful for each one of you.

Pictures: my poppy (who served in WWII), my hobby lobby visit (first time since the tornado took ours in Tuscaloosa, I was in heaven!), beautiful sunset one night driving home, operation Christmas child wih bible study, and a few from the Bama/LSU game last weekend! Sorry they are all out of order :)

Melt my heart

These are the moments I live for,,,,

Last week I got a note from a parent saying that the day I was absent, her little boy cried all the way to school because I wasnt going to be there & he was worried about me because I was going on a plane "far far away"...

Today the same sweet baby was getting in line for the bus and looked up at me when he was hugging me and said in his sweet little voice, "I will miss you so much"...


Thank you Jesus for allowing me to be these precious 5 yr olds' teacher. They are so special to me!!!

last weekend...

Last weekend was Molly's Bachelorette Party! I flew to Austin, TX early Friday morning...

When everyone got into TX, we went out to lunch at a cute little restaurant...

After lunch, we went back to her mom's house which was a beautiful house on the lake to take naps before the Halloween Party.

The Halloween Party was at the Yacht Club that her mom belongs to. It was really fun and we got to all watch the last game of the World Series!

After the party, we had a bonfire and made smores!

Saturday morning, I woke up to this view from my bed...

Then had my coffee with this view...

We got dressed and went to a wine tasting!!!

On the way there, we had to stop for lots of these to cross....

After the wine tasting, we sat outside a drank wine & ate a cheese tray...very relaxing! It was such a beautiful day!

After the wine tasting, it was time for a boat ride...

We then laid around, ate pizza and watched football..

Smores Pizza


We then got ready and went out for her bachelorette party at a local piano bar, it was so fun dancing all night!

I love you Molly!!! I had so much fun with you last weekend and I cannot wait to see you again in January!!! Next time I see you it will be Wedding Time!!!! Yay!!!

Media Fast and Trixie

This will  be quick because I am about to head to Ty's to eat dinner but I wanted to post really quick.
Sorry I have been MIA...my bible study went on a media fast for a week so I did not get on and post or read any blogs! I was very proud of myself :) It was kind of freeing...ha!! I did good about staying away from blogs and twitter, only got on facebook about 4 times in the week and ONLY to check if anyone had posted pictures from Molly's bachelorette weekend (will post on that later) and never once checked status updates or looked at anyone else's pictures or profile! I was literally on and off those 4 times. I was so proud :) haha The TV fast didn't go that great but when the TV was in my control, I did not watch! It was only if I was at someone else's house. Our fast also included only listening to Christian music, which I did okay....I listened to the Christian music station when they were playing music, but I cannot stand talking so when they talked, I changed it to country....but I would change it right back when they played music again. I now find myself changing it to Christian more often, so I'd say the fast was a success. :)

_______________________

Ty's dog, Trixie, passed away Monday. She was 12 years old and such a sweet, laid back dog. She was born on Halloween, which is why they named her Trixie, and she died on Halloween. They treat their dogs like kids so it was really rough on his mom. Please pray for their family, it is very weird going over there and not seeing sweet Trixie!

We love you Trixie!!