I heart my Valentine!

I am the luckiest girl in the world.

I get to celebrate my Valentine's Day with the sweetest, handsomest, most loving man on the planet!! 

I love him! :)

February 13th and 14th are both very special days for us! 

Because... on February 13th - four years ago - is when our relationship officially started!! 

It was not a planned "date" but it was definitely the start so we consider it our "anniversary!"

But back to him.....

I could go on and on about him...

here are a few things I would like to share with you about MY VALENTINE:

...he is funny (in a corny way, which I love)...

...he is very very sweet...

...he is selfless (ALWAYS thinks of me before himself)....

...he loves the Lord with all his heart...

...he leads me in the right way (when my stubborn self might not want to do that certain thing)...

...he is so smart in handling financial things ( I know that may sound small...but I know I am lucky in that area...there are many guys that are not like that)...

...he gives GREAT hugs! :)...

...he gets interested in the things I am interested in (b/c he knows they make me happy)...

...one of his best friends is his 16 year old sister (I love that he cares for her so much despite the age difference etc...this is something I know will be passed down to our children)...

...he is so close to his family...

...he talks about having kids all the time (I think it is so cute when he refers to our kids!)...

...he takes me to the mall whenever I want!!!! :)...

...he loves my family! (WHO WOULDN'T"T!?!?) lol...

...he is very dedicated to our church...

...he knows how to help me get my mind off the stresses of teaching kids all day long when I come home at night...

...he works so hard at his job...

...he LOVES to cook (which if you know me..that's a very good thing! :)

...I could go on and on...:)

but last of all and most importantly....

...he loves me with all his heart...

and

...he tell me he loves me all the time...

...my Valentine is not perfect...

...but he is perfect for me!! :) 

Happy Valentine's Day, love!!

Science/History Fair

Bethel Christian Academy had it's annual Science/History Fair recently!

The lower Elementary, Jr. High and High Schooler's all do a science project and display the results on this night. While the 4th-6th graders do history projects.

The younger grades don't make individual projects (b/c of the obvious reasons like...they can barely color in the lines let alone come up with a science project and then make a display showing it off). No, what happens is....

The teacher makes it!!!!!!

That's me..by the way! :) 

I was a little nervous about my first science project (as a teacher)...but it turned out great!

  

Since the "theme" of my classroom this year was flowers...I decided that our science project would go along with it! 

All during the month of January I took Science class and taught on plants.

Anything and everything about plants.

The first week back I went out and bought pots, dirt and grass seed (I didn't want to grow flowers...I was just a little scared that they might not grow in January) 

They painted their pots and we planted their grass seed and we waited......

I was just slightly worried when almost two weeks into it....there was no sign of grass!

But one day, it happened!! It started growing and by the time our Science Fair arrived....

our grass was SO tall!!!

I have never been accused of having a "green thumb" but I can grow a pot of grass!!!! 

The kids were so excited about showing their parents our project! I was excited to get it over with....:) 

This was the after noon before the big night! We set up our project together before they got out of school!!

Here is our board!! 

The main thing that they learned was all the different parts to a flower and the reason for each part!

I made it so that the labels to the different parts could come off and on. We had major girl/boy competition matching the the label to the correct parts!! The kids learned a lot and had tons of fun in the mean time!!

I do have to give the kids credit on their awesome job making "grass" with construction paper to go along the bottom!! I was very proud of how it turned out..and of course so were they!!

Their very own pot of grass was of course the MAIN highlight!! 

You see, unlike the Midwesterners, California people don't have huge lawns filled with nice green grass.

Actually, some of the kids were in all seriousness telling their parents that they wanted to replant their pot of grass at home out side their house!! :) 

Of course, the rest of the school had some really great displays too...but having the bias that I do...

I still think ours was the best!! :)

Some of the highschoolers..

5th and 6th graders room

Here is one of my favorites...second of course to ours..:)

but seriously, I thought this was an incredible replica of the Golden Gate Bridge!!
Check it out!!

It was an all around great night at Bethel!

I love these open house nights that we have....

its such a great time with the families....

even though I see them every day it's just a more relaxed setting when you really get to talk more and get to know more about each other!! I'm so blessed with the children I got this year!

They were so excited and most of them came "dressed up" to the Science Fair...well, seeing them in anything other than their school uniform is dressed up to me!! :)

This is Yahir....my mischievous cutie that really took the dressing up thing seriously!

So cute!! By the way, for those of you that have heard the "Seashell in the Ear" story...

That is him...:) 

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Sunday School Bowling

I love love love our Sunday School Class!!

I know I have posted before on our get togethers...but we have them every third Saturday of the month!! We have such a great time together!

This month's event was BOWLING!

We really enjoyed the time together!! 

We have a very wide variety of personalities so it makes for some FUN moments!!!

I love these pictures of Michelle!! The picture on the right is when she was telling me that I better NOT post (anywhere) the picture on the left of her.

OOPS...I think I just did...shh don't tell her! ;)

Then there are those of us that get very excited when we actually knock some of the pins down...because those times are very few and far between!!

As you can see it is mainly the girls that have issues with bowling.

Why is that?? 

What a wonderful night to just spend time with friends and enjoy ourselves!!

I am so thankful for my church family! 

 Here is a picture of Michelle and I. I am so thankful that we are able to be together out here in California. It's like I always have a piece of home with me.

What a wonderful friend she is!

Then of course there is my husband!! He is so good to me!

We are enjoying every minute of being newlyweds...I want to be newlyweds forever! :)

We are already getting ready for our next "event!" 

Our class is hosting a Valentine's Couples Banquet for all the couples in the church!!! Be watching for a post about it..shortly after Valentine's!

Two Peas in a Pod

Do you remember your childhood best friend?

Meet Gabi and Giselle.

These two are currently my favorite set of "best friends."

Gabi and Giselle are definitely "two peas in a pod!"

They are your typical set of "best friends"

Gabi is the quiet, reserved one

Giselle is the witty, outgoing one

I LOVE these two sweet girls!

I love that they refer to each other as " my best friend" even when they are standing next to each other.

Here is an example of an everyday conversation I might have with these two.

Gabi and Giselle standing by my desk at lunch

Giselle: (while raising hand) "Mrs. Balatbat"

Me: "Yes, Giselle?"

Giselle: "Ummm....my best friend and I went biking last night"

Me: "Oh really!! Gabi (standing right next to her) did you have fun biking?"

Gabi: "Yes, and then we went to McDonalds!" (big grin on face)

Here's another: (in the middle of a lesson)

Gabi(raises her hand)

Me: "Yes, Gabi"

Gabi: "Ummm....me and my best friend went to the zoo"

Me: "Oh really!"

I glance at Giselle who is sitting at her desk grinning and shaking her head up and down as if to say "Yep we did!"

These two definitely have the ability to make my day no matter what mood I am in. 

I love that they have this unwavering dedication to their friendship!

As is the case with most children who are best friends, so are their parents. These families are amazing!

They will do absolutely anything to help me in the classroom, whether its grading, cleaning, buying something for the class, fixing something, sharpening  pencils for the kids, running an errand to the office for me, making breakfast for the class, bringing me Jamba Juice on really hot days and coffee on really cold days etc etc....

Separately each parent treats each of these two girls like they are their own!

When the school year started I was almost convinced that they each thought they had two Dad's. They each call their own "Dad" and the other "Poppi" 

It's so cute!!

I have been extremely lucky to have these two girls and their families be apart of my first year of teaching!!

And....

Finally, I LOVE that they are only in 1st grade....

which means...

I have another entire year with them!! 

Our First Christmas

I am aware that I have been a horrible blogger the last month! I apologize!:)

Our holiday season was filled with so many great memories!! We were busy busy busy!!! I took so many pictures of all of the festivities but I tried to narrow it down a little for you! 

The last day of school we had our Christmas party! It was a such a great day! We made Christmas cards for their parents and used WAY too much glitter! Then the whole whole school had lunch together in the church auditorium that was tons of fun! Several of the school parents planned for it, decorated and served us all lunch! After the lunch we then finished the day opening gifts...theirs from me and then mine from them!!

As I mentioned before, the week of Christmas I was able to make a quick trip home to Indiana to see my family and friends back home! I had a very eventful time trying to make it to Indiana...after my flight being cancelled the first day and then delayed till the next night..I eventually made it.

As a result, my trip was shortened to only two days long but I was able to fit a lot in during my stay!

My best friends and I spent one of the mornings doing a fun photo shoot, getting manicures and going to lunch! Great memories were made!

My family and I spent an evening in Downtown Chicago. We went to the zoo and looked at their awesome Christmas lights and ice sculptures! Chicago is such a beautiful city at Christmas!

My girls and I were also able to have our annual Christmas together. Who knows the next time we will all be together for that again! 

I was also present for my family's Christmas! I am such a lucky girl, I have the best family on earth! I miss them so much!

After all that I came back to California and my husband on Christmas Eve.
We had a wonderful first Christmas together. Christmas morning we opened our gifts.

Then we spent the rest of the day with Julian's family. 

Our first Christmas was definitely full of memories and good times!!!

Six Wonderful Months!

Six months ago....

I married the most wonderful man in the world!!

It seems like yesterday! Time flies by!

Happy Anniversary Sweetheart!