Fill a Bucket

There's a contest here to win a teacher appreciation kit for the end of the year. It clearly states that you can keep it for yourself.

Well, as someone who is going to be a teacher, I would LOVE to win this and get my very first start on stuff for my classroom.

It's all about a book where you talk about filling your bucket (and the buckets of others). Basically, you can do nice things for others and they can do them for you and you all get your buckets filled up.

One person who has filled my bucket is my seester, Val. Valerie is a great example of a person. When I was going through my divorce, I was a full time student, working 20 hours a week, dealing with three kids on my own, and my house was a pit!! To top it all off, Annie's birthday was around the corner and I was stressing out!!!

Valerie put the offer out to host the party at her house. Then she proceeded to throw the coolest birthday party ever. She did the goody bags, the cake, and a super cool Dora party for all the kids to enjoy. She even enlisted Mom to be Swiper (thus scaring the crap out of Annie, but that's besides the point).

I have always looked up to my big sister and I love her more than I think she knows. She and I may not be super close or talk very often, but when I get to spend time with her, I always feel uplifted and better about life.

There are many many other people who have filled my bucket. To name a few:

Check out Traci's blog. She doesn't update it very much but I love it for keeping me entertained with the goings on of her life and family. I also love it because it's genuine Traci. She is like a sister to me and I am SO glad I get to know her.

I also LOOOVE reading The Meanest Mom. She posts almost every day so I get to have something fun in the morning (she's 3 hours ahead of us). She keeps parenting real and has an excellent use of snarkiness and sarcasm, two things I enjoy thoroughly.

Obviously I love Tales of an OCD House Husband. Not only is it written by my lovely, wonderful husband, it provides him an outlet for all things clean-y (and that means I don't have to listen to him rant about the Alka-Seltzer toilet cleaner)(even though I thoroughly enjoy his ranting in real life). It also gets him to write. He has always wanted to be a writer and I believe he is good enough to be published over and over. He just doesn't have the time or motivation to actually write anything. This keeps his feet in the water, as it were.

One Fine Year

It has been said that the first year of marriage can be the toughest on a couple. I don't buy it. I've spent the last year of my life relishing in the fact that I wake up every morning next to my best friend and the love of my life (they are the same person, by the way).

Through all of the insanities that life has thrown our way, we've grown closer, fallen more deeply in love, become better friends, and laughed all the while.

If I could come up with a way to thank you for making it the best year of my life, I would. For now, all I can do is write and share with the world how lucky I feel to call you my wife.

I still, and always will, find myself imagining our future. I love watching our children grow with you. You ground me so often and remind me to relish the little things they do. You keep me sane when the house doesn't seem clean enough. AND you've managed to teach this OCD clean-freak to put down the rag/mop/scrub brush and spend more time with the family. And I sincerely thank you for that.

I'm so proud of all of you done in school the past year. I know we made a tough decision when you changed majors, but I look forward to watching you change children's lives. I really look forward to getting summers off with you.

So, in my own little way, thank you for what has truly been the best year of my life. I look forward to the next one that will be filled even more love, laughter, and friendship. You are the most important person in my life and I am thankful every day to have you by my side.

I love you, Holly.