Update

Hello everyone, I know it has been way to long since my last post. Things have been kinda of crazy lately. I will give you a brief run down. I spent most of August applying to every Science teaching position I could find in the area. Unfortunately, I still haven't found a full time position. I did have one interview a few weeks ago with Arlington ISD. They had 2 Science Teaching positions open. I felt like the interview went really well and the Vice Principal even told me, that I had very insightful answers for someone who had never taught before. I was bummed when i found out that I didn't get the position, but I also new it was a long shot because they had 16 applicant for the 2 positions and I'm sure at least 2 of them had some experience. I decided not to focus on the fact that I didn't get the job and I just let it motivate me more in my job search. I applied to substitute in several school districts and I actually just had my first day as a sub this past Wednesday. I subbed for a 2nd grade teacher in a brand new school in Everman. I was nervous because I was actually supposed to attend a substitute training before I started substituting, but a lady form HR called me on Tuesday and asked if I was available to sub on Wednesday. I told her that I haven't done my training yet and she informed me that they were kind of desperate, and since I was in the alternative certification program that they were just going to let me skip the training. I agreed to sub on Wednesday, but I was definitely nervous. It went well, the kids were good, just very talkative. I think I spent most of the day trying to keep them quiet. After subbing one day in a 2nd grade class, I am sure that I want to teach high school. I will continue to sub in elementary schools, but I am going to try and get as much high school teaching experience as possible. I just wanted to give a quick update. I will post new pictures soon, I have a lot but I still need to upload them to my computer.

And the verdict is....

So last night I decided to check the website and see if my test scores had been posted. I didn’t think that they would be because they told me that it takes 7 days. Which is kind of ridiculous when you think about it because I took the test on the computer, which means that it was graded instantly. So I was kind of surprised when I logged in to my account and next to the Test name it said “View Scores”. I looked at the screen for a minute and then I Nervously clicked on the “view scores” button. It took a few moments for the pdf file to load, but when it popped up all I saw was the word PASSED. This was the only part that mattered. I didn’t have to have the highest score, I just wanted to pass, and I DID. I was so excited that I jumped out of the chair and screamed, which then had the rest of the house asking me what was wrong. I then exclaimed “I PASSED MY TEST”. It was a little late to be screaming and Ainsley was asleep not to far away, but I was so excited that I had actually passed. Thanks to everyone for all the prayers. Now I will start applying for jobs. Please pray that I will be able to find one before the school year starts. Love to all. Goodnight

The moment of Truth...

Well...I just realized that I haven't blogged about anything that's going on with the job search, so I thought I would fill everyone in on whats going on. I have decided to get my teaching certificate so that I can teach High school Science. Ideally, I would like to teach Biology or Anatomy and Physiology, but most first year teachers don't get those jobs. I will probably have to start off teaching the Science Composite, which is basically a combo of Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Earth Science and Astronomy. So before we went to Florida I started looking into alternative certification programs. I applied for one and got the process started before we left for vacation. Basically all I have to do to start applying for teaching jobs is pass a content test. Once I pass the test I can then apply for jobs and hopefully start teaching this August. When we got back in town, I signed up to take the content test. Science is a "high-need" area for most school districts so they are usually pretty desperate for teachers. Also, in most districts you get a $1000-$2000 stipend just for teaching in Math or Science. I decided to take the content test for the Science composite because that is the subject with the most job openings. I signed up for the test and decided that I needed to get a study guide because its been a really long time since I have done high school science. I thought that I would just be able to go to the bookstore and pick one up. Unfortunately it wasn't that easy. I went to 4 different bookstores and one library and I couldn't find one. I was starting to get pretty worried because I only had a few days to study. I decided to go to half price books and pick up some old high school textbooks. I studied all weekend and I took the test yesterday. Through all of it I remembered how much I liked Chemistry when I was in High School, it wasn't until I got to college that I really started hating it. I also remembered that I NEVER liked physics, NEVER, not even a little bit. I was pretty nervous about the test, because it was over a lot of information and I only had 3 days to study for it. I can honestly say that with the amount of time that I had to study, I did the best that I could. There was so much information to cover that I couldn't spend very long on any one topic, which made it kind of frustrating when I didn't understand something. I basically had to move on to the next topic whether or not I completely understood. I was very rushed. I spent 3 days studying for a test that most people spend months studying for and that's after they have just taken classes covering all the material. Its been a long time since I have covered most of the material so I know that I did the best I could regardless of what score I receive. I REALLY hope that I passed because I can't start applying for jobs if I didn't. I also will not be able to take the test again for 60 days, if I didn't pass. So please say lots of prayers that I passed it. I would also like to ask everyone to pray that I can find a job (assuming that I passed the test, of course). I have seen several openings in some school districts in the area, but I'm just hoping that the positions don't get snatched up by someone else while I am waiting for these scores. I am trying to be as optimistic as possible because I have decided that that is the only attitude I can have and still get through each day. Its hard when you go from having your own house and all the privacy you could ever want to no privacy at all. We love and appreciate everything that my parent and Patrick's parents are doing for us, its just hard as I'm sure you can all understand. I'm actually very excited about teaching, but I don't want to get my hopes up that I am going to get a job because I don't want to get let down. I keep seeing things at the store that would be great for my desk in my classroom, but then I remember not to get ahead of myself since I don't have a job or a classroom just yet. We will keep praying for patience while God works things out in his own time. Patience had definitely never been my strong suite, but I am learning more and more each day as I wait for the blessings that God has in store for us. That's all for now. I'll post again when I find out the results of the test. Also, please pray for baby Stellan. Check out his story by clicking on the button that says "Praying for Stellan".

My throat is burning...

So last Friday there were lots of people over here for dinner. Me, Patrick, Ainsley, Mom, Dad, Jenn, Boston, Zach, Peggy and baby Lily. We were all eating dinner and watching the kids play when Boston started coughing. Then Ainsley started coughing and we all thought that she was just mimicking Boston. But then my mom started coughing and about that time I felt a little tickle in my throat. If was becoming kind of a joke because everyone was coughing. I got up and left the room and I started coughing, then Zach, Jenn, Peggy and Baby Lily were all coughing too. We couldn't figure out why we were all coughing until I realized that My throat was burning. About that time Zach said that his nose was burning. A few moment later, Patrick walks in the house from the garage and finds everyone inside coughing. Zach and I were still complaining of the burning when the culprit was revealed. Patrick started asking Peggy what was on her key chain. She casually replied " oh... that's mase". Apparently before Patrick walked out into the garage, he picked up a bottle of water off of the table and he accidentally knocked Peggy's car keys onto the floor. This allowed the mase canister to release some spray. Patrick said that he heard it make a little noise but he didn't know what it was so he just threw the keys back on the table. So while he was outside in the garage, we were all inside unknowingly breathing in mase. After we figured out what it was, we all decided to go outside and get some fresh air while the house aired out. Luckily, the mase didn't seem to cause any major problems for anyone and even the babies were okay. A slight burning sensation in my throat and some coughing was all I experienced, which isn't too bad considering we all got MASED.

Florida 2009

Look at that Snapper

Patrick, Brayden and the Barracuda

Patrick working on reelin' in a shark

Brayden on the fishing boat

Daddy and Ainsley on the cruise boat

The Fam

Brayden and Ainsley before we went on a sight seeing cruise

The view from our living room window

Ainsley and Brayden enjoying the view

Daddy and Ainsley at the airport


We had so much fun in Florida. Well...except for the part when I got sick. Saturday morning I wasn't feeling very well. I felt like I couldn't breathe and of course I didn't have an inhaler with me. My mom called the Dr. and had and inhaler called in for me so that I could breathe. I stayed at the hotel most of Saturday, the inhaler made it easier for me to breathe but I finally realized that the reason I felt so bad was because I had a fever of 101.9. I took some Motrin and after that I finally started to feel better and we all decided to go down to the pool. I started feeling lousy again later that evening. By Sunday morning I felt just awful and I couldn't get rid of my fever. I didn't leave the room on Sunday, but at least I had a nice view to look at. My dad called the Dr. again and had him call me in some antibiotics, which is what finally got me feeling better. Tuesday, my dad, Brayden, Patrick and me all went out fishing. We had a great time. My dad hooked a fish which quickly turned into a shark, when a shark came up and ate the fish that was on his line. The boat captain, the deckhand and Patrick all took turns trying to reel in the shark. But, after about 45 minutes and 1 mile later, the line broke and we were all a little disappointed because we just wanted to get a picture of it at least. We also had a interesting run in with a barracuda that kept eating the fish we were catching, but a gaff, took care of him. We caught quite a few snapper and my dad caught a bunch of weird fish, but all in all we had a good time. Brayden spent most of the fishing trip sleeping, but he did catch a couple fish and he got to see the barracuda. The rest of the time there was pretty low key, but it was nice just to relax and take in the beautiful scenery. Ainsley wasn't a huge fan of the sand but she still had fun at the beach. Overall we had a great time in Florida we can't wait to go back next year. If you want to see the rest of our Florida pictures, leave me a comment and I will email you a link so you can check them out. Oh, and btw, the above pictures upload in the reverse order from what the actually happened. The last picture is of Patrick and Ainsley on the way to Florida. One day I will figure out how to get them in the right order, but today is not that day.

We Made It!!

We are in Florida. Traveling with a 1 year old was definitely a new experience but it was actually really good. Patrick walked Ainsley around the airport terminal for about an hour before we got on the plane to make sure that she was good and tired. When we got on the plane (quite possibly the smallest plane ever) she had a bottle and little snack and then it was nap time in daddy's lap. This was the smallest plane that I have ever been on and I will definitely say that I much prefer the huge jumbo jets to the little puddle jumpers. It only had 3 seat in each row, one on one side of the aisle and 2 on the other. I just glad that Ainsley slept most of the way because they took her diaper bag from me and put it somewhere several rows behind us in the over head bin. So I didn't exactly have easy access to it. We decided not to wait at the airport for mom and dad, instead we just took a shuttle bus to our hotel. When we got here all 3 of us were exhausted so we put Ainsley down for a nap and me and Patrick relaxed for a little. we have an amazing view from our room. We are right on the corner of the beach and the intercoastal water way. I will post some pics as soon as I take some. I can't wait to see all the things there is to do. Check back soon for pics.

Ainsley Loves her New Blanket!

So of course Ainsley loved all of her birthday presents, but there seems to be one in particular that has been a big hit. Her new blanket that Mimaw made for her. She absolutely loves it. I set it down on the floor for her to see and she immediately laid her head down on it and put her thumb in her mouth. So Cute! She has never done that with any other blanket so it was very cute. She knew that this was a special blanket made with love just for her. Here are a few pictures of her with her new blanket. Thanks Mimaw for the beautiful blanket.

Just testing it out

Oh, it's just perfect!


Let me get a closer look...

Nap time anyone?

BTW...my mom did the embroidery on the blanket. Her new business is called Simply Stitched and her website will be coming soon.

Birthday Party Pictures!!

I promised some Party pictures, and here they are...

She decided to really get a hold of it

Sharing with daddy

Ainsley just wanting to share her cake

Just getting started...

The birthday girl and daddy

Water slide Fun! Brayden loves this thing.

The Birthday Girl in her Birthday Outfit

I am still trying to master the art of uploading pictures, I can never seem to get them in the right order, but oh well. A big thanks to my parents for helping with the Party, and also to Jenn who designed Ainsley's birthday attire. All in all I think the birthday party was a big success despite the 103 degree temperature. We had lots of fun and we enjoyed getting to spend a special day with family and friends. There will probably be more birthday pics to come. My sister took some with her camera and I haven't gotten them from her yet. Stay tuned...

I'm still alive

I know that it has been forever since I last posted anything, so here is a run down of what is going on with us.

Well, we moved to Fort Worth, that is definitely the biggest change. Moving is always stressful, but I think that both of us underestimated how stressful it was going to be. We ended up having to make multiple trips and we still couldn't get everything. We started new jobs working for Paladin Prepared, which hasn't gone exactly as planned. I was working part time because I was also staying at home with Ainsley, but now I am not working at all and I am just staying home. I do enjoy getting to spend so much time with my baby girl, but I also wasn't expecting to only have one income, which is definitely a source of stress. So now I am actively searching for another job and hopefully something comes along. Please pray for us.

June is a busy month for us. Me, Ainsley and my grandma, all have June birthdays, and there is also Father's Day. I had a good birthday with family and friends. I'm a whole quarter of a century old (I guess I can't tell Patrick that he is old now, being that we are both 25 now). We had dinner at my parents for my Grandma's birthday and that was nice. Ainsley's birthday was on the 22nd. I can't believe that my big girl is One! We haven't had her party yet, it's going to be Sunday the 28th, and I will post some pictures after that.


Patrick's 1st Father's Day
I wasn't sure if I wanted to tell the whole story that goes along with Patrick's Father's Day present, but I think that its only fitting that I do. So, I wanted to get him something special since it was his 1st Father's Day. I wanted it to be personal in some way, but I also didn't want to get him something cheesy, like a "World's Greatest Dad" shirt. He had been telling me about things that he wanted for weeks, I mean months. But none of those things seemed like good 1st Father's Day presents. So a few weeks ago I was checking my email and I had an advertisement from Big Lots. I looked at the ad and they had this really cute Wagon Wheel Bench. I liked it and I thought that Patrick would too. I decided that me and Ainsley would go and take a look at it before we had lunch with Patrick. We went over to Big Lots and we combed the entire store and I couldn't find it. I was a little disappointed but we didn't have a lot of time so I picked up a few other things and headed for the check out. We got in the car and about that time I saw the bench in the window. I didn't see it originally because it was on the other side of the checkout which is not usually where you find things for sale since by the time you get to that part of the store you should have already paid. I was annoyed because I already had Ainsley in the car and I was backing out. I decided that I would just come back later.

So later that evening I decided to go to a Big Lots which I thought was a little closer and see if they had the bench. I get all the way over there to find that Big Lots is no longer there anymore. I got back to the house and I told my sister where I had been and she informed me that Big Lots didn't close they just moved farther down the street. I decided not to worry about it and I would decide later if I really wanted to get it for him. A couple of days later I decided that I wanted it so I went over to the relocated store and picked it up. Patrick is incredibly nosey and he makes it very difficult to surprise him. So after I bought the bench I decided to take it to our storage unit and hide it in there. This way he wouldn't be asking any questions and I knew that he wouldn't be snooping if he thought that I didn't buy anything. I thought it would be really cool to somehow brand "Happy Father's Day, Love Ainsley" on the back rest of the bench. I remembered that I had a wood burning tool when I was younger and I thought that that would probably work. I went and picked one up at Hobby Lobby and a couple of small pieces of wood to practice on. When I got home I practiced a few times on the wood pieces and it proved to be harder than I thought. It was really hard to get it to look evenly burned and being the perfectionist that I am, I wasn't sure if it was going to work. I left the wood burner sitting out on a shelf so that it could cool down.

Later that evening my mom sees the wood burner and was like "oh, you went and bought one of those burners". Patrick was sitting right there and she knew that all of this was a surprise. I gave her this look, you know the look I'm talking about (the shut up look). She then tried to cover up her flub because Patrick of course starting asking questions. Her response was terrible, but luckily he let it go and didn't ask anymore questions.

Several days later, Patrick and I went to Michael's to get some things to make Ainsley's birthday invitations. We looked around the whole store and I saw some alphabet stamps that attach to the wood burning tool. I knew that if I used the stamps, it would look way better than it I did it free hand. So, I made a mental note that when I was alone I would come back and get the stamps. This story is getting way to long, so I will just say that I did go back and get the stamps and I burned into the bench "Happy Father's Day, Love Ainsley". I completed it the night before Father's Day and I went ahead and gave it to him because I didn't have a way to hide it. Needless to say, He loved it. I was very excited and I was glad that he appreciated all the effort that went into it. Oh, btw, when I was putting it together I had to take it back apart 3 times because I messed up. I can't imagine why I messed up, could have been the tiny pictures and the fact that the instructions where very obviously written in English by a Chinese person.

Father's Day was great! We had a nice lunch here at my parents and that evening we went over to Plano and had dinner with Patrick's parents. It was fun.

Ainsley
Ainsley is now talking so much. Most of it is jibber jabber, but she does say quite a few words (Mama, Dada, Daddy, Thank you, tree, sit, uh oh, bed, baby). She loves her daddy. She is constantly talking about daddy, its very cute.

I am going to try to stay caught up and keep you informed of whats going on with us, since I am staying at home now. But I'm not making any promises. Also, pictures will be coming soon, I have to upload them from my camera. Love to all.

-Steph

Updates

Our big girl pushing her giraffe in her stroller

Pretty girl in the Bluebonnets





Boston and Ainsley at the Borg Egg Hunt

Happy Easter everyone, I hope everyone had a great Easter. We had a really good one. We went to see Patrick's parents and then we went and saw my family. It was a great 4-day weekend. Everyone enjoyed getting to see Ainsley. She is getting so big, she's almost 10 months now. It did make me sad that she doesn't know our families and was scared at first of all the unfamiliar faces. When we went to my parents and everyone came over on Easter Sunday, Ainsley was a little overwhelmed and she cried a lot more than she normally does. I'm not used to her acting like that, but then I realized that she is only ever around me and Patrick and her babysitter's and we are all familiar to her.

The weekend before Easter Ainsley and I went up to Fort Worth for the 1st Annual Borg family Easter Egg Hunt and Lauren's baby shower. We had a great time riding the train and getting to see everyone, including baby Lyla and baby Beckham, who were only 10 days old and 3 weeks old at the time. Me, Ainsley and my mom went to Super Target saturday night and we ran into my sister and Boston. It was so cute as we were walking around the store Jenn and I were pushing our carts right next to each other and Boston and Ainsley were just talking to each other. It was super cute. The next day we went to Lauren's baby shower. She got lots of wonderful things for baby Lily, who we expect to arrive later this week.

I know that I am jumping around with the order that all these things happened, but I am just typing them as I think. When we saw our families at Easter it was the first time that we had seen them in a while, and it got me thinking about how I really don't want Ainsley to grow up with out knowing her family. When I was growing up my grandparents were a constant in my life, and I want that for Ainsley. I want her to know her grandparents and great grandparents and her cousins. Boston and Ainsley are only 4 and half months aparts, what an awesome thing it would be for them to grow up together. On that note we have made a big decision to think about moving to Fort Worth. My family is there and Patrick's family is only an hour away in Plano. We have some plans in the works and we are trying to get all the details worked out so that we can move forward. I feel like this is an awesome opportunity for our family and I am nervous but very excited about it. We will be very sad to leave Conroe, because it is where our life is and where we had our baby girl. We will also miss all of our wonderful friends. I'll keep you updated on when all of this is going to take place. Please pray for our family as we prepare for this big change in our lives. By the way, our Ainsley bug, is getting so big she is now standing up by herself without pulling up onto something. She'll probably be walking before we know it.

Sick...

Our big girl

Ainsley and the little piggy
At Boston's party

Boston and Ainsley looking at the chicks

First haircut

she's already driving




It's been a rough week in the Houlihan house, each of us have been feeling bad. Its as if as soon as one starts feeling better the other one starts feeling bad. We are very excited because we are supposed to take Ainsley to the Houston livestock show and rodeo tomorrow. We are still not sure if we are going to be able to go because I started feeling really bad yesterday afternoon and I've been in bed all day today. I really hope that I am feeling better tomorrow. I am anxious to see how she reacts to all the animals. She has really started to gibber jabber lately, she is now saying "Da Da" all the time and occasionally she will say "Ma Ma". She is such a happy baby she's always talking and smiling, we are very blessed. She has begun to pull herself up. I think she is still very surprised when she does it. Sometimes she tries to use "non stationary" objects to try and pull up on and it doesn't turn out good. We've had a few bumps on the head lately. That's all for now, I think I'm going to go back to sleep and hopefully get to feeling better.

I wanted to share some recent pictures, so the ones above are from her first haircut, Boston's birthday party, and a picture of her looking like a big girl with daddy.

Time flies...

Christmas morning

Too many sweet potatoes made my nose orange

My happy Girl

My little Ainsleybug driving her car

Just a few photos from christmas and the first few weeks of 2009.

So I looked at my blog tonight and realized its been way too long since my last post. One of my main reasons for keeping this blog was to post photos to share with our friends and family, but it has become increasingly hard for me to upload photos to the blog. I'm not sure what the problem is but it will take a really long time for my to try and upload just a few photos and I usually only have a limited amount of time to write and post a blog. Anyways...enough excuses.

Things have been going well for us. Ainsley and I recently went to Fort Worth for Boston's birthday party. It was a lot of fun and I'm pretty sure that Ainsley's party won't be quite as nice but I will try to make it great. On that same note, Ainsley is 8 months old today! I can't believe that my baby girl is getting so big. There is a good chance that she outweighs Boston by at least a little bit. He only weighs 21 lbs. She definitely weighs at least that much. She started crawling on her hands and knees this past Wednesday. She has been pretty mobile, but she would just roll around or turn herself in circles on her belly. I only thought that she was mobile before, now I have to get up and few seconds to keep her from getting into something. Its a whole different ball game now. We will be buying a baby gate in the very near future to at least keep her out of the kitchen.

Another big thing...

We are looking to buy our first house. It's exciting, and overwhelming and scary all at the same time. I am the type of person that likes to be fully informed and educated on something before I embark on it, because I don't want to feel like I don't know what I am doing. Buying a house is a big deal and I am trying to educate myself the best I can with the help of my parents and the Internet. I never thought that I would be looking to buy a house at the age of 24, but it just seems like the next step that we are supposed to take. Patrick is currently looking for a new job and that is why we are looking for a house. When he does finally leave this job we will have to move. We are just getting started in the home buying process and I am very excited about it. Hopefully we will find exactly what we are looking for.

I will try to post more photos soon. We love you and miss you all.