"It looks like Narnia!"

Ok, so due to the unusual amount of snow that was dropped on South Carolina about a week ago, Darlington County School District was out of school for the entire week. Usually, when we get snow it is gone the next day. This time, however, the temperature didn't go up! It didn't get above freezing until Wednesday. Then, it was barely above freezing. By the time Thursday got here, the snow and ice was still there. Then, it melted a little but froze again and has repeated the cycle over and over all week. So, as you can imagine, that posed a problem for busses. Now, I absolutely love snow but by Friday (yesterday), I was plenty ready for it to just melt. Friday was considered a teacher work day, so my parents had to work but I was still out of a job. However, I got to spend all day with 2 kids (one of which was celebrating her 11th birthday!!!).

Now, my morning started off pretty good. I got ready and got in my car only to find out that my "Check Engine" light was on. Now, many of you know that my luck with cars has not been good at all lately. So, this put a damper on the morning. However, I was still looking forward to my surprise birthday breakfast that I was getting ready to make. We got back to the house and proceeded to make Chocolate Chip Pancakes, eggs, and bacon. I decided that we were not going to follow the recipe for pancakes in the amount of chocolate chips we added. So, I allowed the birthday girl to pour the chocolate chips in. We ended up adding about 2 or 3 times the amount we were supposed to. That made the pancakes so much better! HA! We then walked out to my back yard (which let me tell you was still covered in snow and ice on FRIDAY!). The land behind my house is a Natural Reserve so no one will ever hunt or build back there. It is all woods! I used to live out in the woods with friends so I decided that the kids would love to be outside for a little while (especially since the extra chocolate chips were starting to kick in). We walked out the back gate and I immediately said, "It looks like Narnia!" to which one responded, "Can we go find the Snow Queen?" So, we walked through the woods to Black Creek looking for the Snow Queen the whole time. :)

Afterwards, we met up with their mom and had dinner. Can I tell you that I absolutely love their family and Ms. Montgomery met us as well. So, for those of you who have never experienced Montgomery/Blankenship/Flowers, you will either run for your lives or never want to leave. It was so much fun laughing and cutting up with them.

Countdown to Australia: 1 month and 3 days. :) I have booked my flight, my visa has been accepted, and my classes are lined up. Now, all I have to do is wait for Feb. 18 (very patiently of course......)

sledding

my mom and I driving around town

It's a new year! Welcome 2011!

So, 2011 has come, and I will still be writing 2010 for the next 2 months. Most people have a New Years tradition. Mine is going over to the Jordan's farm (people from my church) to shoot fireworks, eat way too much food, and have a scavenger hunt on the farm. We all stay the night there and wake up to waffles and friends. I love my New Years tradition and love spending time with friends from high school.

The group on New Years Eve (we were supposed to all wear our school colors)

I mentioned earlier that I am working as a substitute teacher while I'm home until February. So, the first full week of school started back up last week. I worked 4 out of those 5 days! I subbed in a 5th grade classroom and a 1st grade classroom for 3 days. The kids were absolutely adorable (a little talkative) and I could not have asked to spend my days with a better group. They were a little talkative but I think they were just excited to have someone knew for a few days. :) The best part of the job: I get $60 a day! It is giving me a taste of what a real job will feel like.

Although I am enjoying my time substitute teaching, when I saw all of the Facebook statuses of my friends going back to PC, I began to wish I could be there with them until I leave for Australia! Thankfully, semiformal was this past Friday so I got to spend all weekend on 3G! I enjoyed every minute of it and did NOT want to go back home. However, work was calling me (until I got home to find out that school had already been cancelled...). So, the weekend was spent with all of my friends at PC only to leave for home after 2 days. However, don't you worry. I will be back before I leave! :)

Paige, Elise, and I at Semiformal

part of the Diamond Family

Ellen and I getting ready

So, once I got home, I found out that school was cancelled due to the coming snow storm. My reaction to this was: "Yeah right. We're going to get a dusting MAYBE. Everyone will be upset that school was cancelled due to a little snow dusting." So, since I went to bed with that kind of attitude, I had a dream that I woke up to very little snow. So, when I woke up at 8:30, I decided that a little bit of snow was not worth me getting out of my warm bed for. However, I ended up getting out of bed at 9 since my stomach is on a very strict schedule and was telling me that it was time for breakfast. My dad was getting up about this time as well and asked me if I wanted to go outside. I then looked toward my window and it looked bright (you know that brightness that only a night of snow can bring?). So, I ran to the front door and was surprised to see WHITE and a lot of it! Apparently, Darlington got 9 inches in some places, but I measured 6 at about 2 PM. The snow was still falling though. Now, I haven't seen this much snow since I went skiing with my youth group in WV. So, as you can imagine I immediately turned 6 years old again. I ran across the street to make snow angels and play in the snow with my neighbor (who is in elementary school). My mom then came over to their house and we had coffee with 2 of our neighbors. We also rode around town (to get pictures of course!) with the neighbors and ended up cutting donuts on the square and sledding down the hill by my elementary school! Once we got back (thankfully!), my mom and I made a snowman and ended the day with homemade vegetable soup. Ok, so I know to some of yall I sound like I have never seen snow before in my life. Well, I haven't seen this much in a really long time! School is out again tomorrow in Darlington, and it is about time for things to start moving again. I'm getting a little stir crazy in the house. I love the beauty of all the white stuff, but I like going places too!

sledding down the hill! :)

our snowman

my mom and I taking pictures on the square

Well, off to watch the back to back episodes of Criminal Minds and spend all day tomorrow reading and baking cookies. :) Enjoy the snow! Love to all!