All-Day Date!

Marcel isn't even a real teacher yet and I already LOVE the schedule of being a teacher's wife.  There are SO many "no school" days!

Last night, around midnight, Marcel suggested a trip to Boise, which for us is very special! 

• We went to get our rings cleaned, something that was long overdue.  Even Marcel has been asking for awhile when we'll go get sparkly rings again.  I love how much he cares about showing the world he's taken.
• We went to Joann's and ended up not getting anything for me, but did find 2 clearanced ring-bearer pillows for Hannah's wedding.  $2.97 is a steal!
• We enjoyed delicious drinks at Moxie Java.
• We saw No Strings Attached, which we loved.  It was a really funny romantic comedy.  And Regal's facebook page had a coupon for $2 nachos so that was our lunch date.  I can't believe they normally sell them for $6.25!
• We spent some time at Guitar Center and Marcel even got some new drum sticks, thanks to some "surprise" money from giving drum lessons.

Then we came home and got ready for an at-home dinner with Megan & Astin, before sending Marcel to the bedroom so we could have girl-time!  It was a great day.  Can't wait for the next "no school" day!

Valentine's Day

Marcel and I decided not to exchange gifts for Valentine's Day and instead save the money for our upcoming cruise.  Even if it is June or July when we go, we decided we'd celebrate Valentine's on the beach somewhere and that would be way better than anything we could have done here.

I'm here to admit that I broke the rules, but just slightly!  We received a $10 coupon to Old Navy and even though I tried extremely hard to spend it on myself, I just couldn't find anything I wanted/needed, but of course there is always so much for Marcel.  After their clearance prices and the coupon, I paid just $0.63 for 2 new sweaters to add to his "teacher wardrobe", besides they weren't specifically for Valentine's Day, but I decided to save them until Valentine's.

Our day looked like this (minus all the boring stuff we did a part from each other, like me being at the dentist and Marcel being at work)

--Dinner at Taco Bell!  I know it is so romantic, but we had coupons for free tacos that were expiring so we were able to eat for $2.50 and that is budget friendly.
--Ice cream at Baskin Robbins!  I had a buy 1 cone, get 1 cone free coupon and decided that Valentine's Day was the best day to go out for ice cream, especially since we've given up all eating out for above-mentioned cruise fund.
--We then came home and watched Valentine's Day and Salt, which we rented for free thanks to Redbox's free promo codes.  We still have Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps to watch today when Marcel gets home from school.

And now to the pictures:

The BEST date ever

I LOVE how giddy I look in this picture.  It's like you can see the love I have for Marcel

Thanks to "The Dating Divas" for this idea!



Close-up of Marcel's love note



We spent the weekend leading up to Valentine's Day at home playing a lot of games.  Friday night, I went 2-0 in skipbo and 1-1 in Phase 10, which is great considering Marcel almost always wins.  Saturday night, we played Racko & Sequence.  We went 1-1 in Racko and Marcel beat me so many times in Sequence I didn't keep track, but I did beat him once!!  It was a HUGE success in the Bailey house, because we're approaching having been together 5 years and I have NEVER beat him at Sequence.

Playing game has never been more fun!

I got the camera out to take a picture of my winning board, but Marcel messed it up, because he didn't want it to be all over facebook that I finally beat him!

14 Things

Thanks to another friend, I have another Valentine's inspired post:

14 things I love about Marcel!

1. He has a great relationship with God, and encourages me daily in my walk with God.
2. He has such a heart to serve.
3. He longs to see each of his students succeed and becomes so distraught when they aren't reaching their full potential.
4. He desires nothing more than to provide for us (which is hard, financially speaking, as a student teacher that pays to go to work).
5. He will be a fantastic father one day.
6. He works hard at everything he does: student-teaching, school & homework, church....
7. He'll listen to me whine and complain when I've had a rough day.
8. He supports me in everything I want to do.
9. He always seems to help around the house on the very day I need it most.
10. He puts up with my crying.  Seems most real, heart-to-heart conversation, whether happy or sad, brings me to tears and he looks past them.
11. He gives up his rare Taco Bell visits so we can put that money in our cruise fund. 
12. He always says, "I love you, pretty girl" at just the right time
13. He knows a side of me no one else does.
14. He loves me.

14 Days of LOVE

I was inspired by a friend (thanks Jenny!) to post one thing I love each day until Valentine's Day.

February 14
I love Valentine's Day!  I still think it is a pretty silly holiday, because people shouldn't need reminded to treat their loved ones extra special, but it is a good excuse to spoil Marcel!  It's nice to have a day where it is okay to be extra lovey-dovey and have a great date night.

February 13
I love flip-flops!  Yesterday it ws 61 degrees in Boise and I didn't wear flip-flops, but this morning I woke up and was so excited to have the chance again.  It was colder than yesterday but still warm enough that I made it to church in flip-flops.  Plus, I went a few days ago and finally redeemed the gift certificate Marcel got me for my birthday for a pedicure, so my toes are so pretty!  It just makes me so excited for warmer weather, when I can wear shorts & tank tops with my flip flops.

February 12
I love the present!  It seems we talk so much about the future: Marcel's graduation, our cruise, moving (if necessary) for a job, babies, etc... but I absolutely love where we are right now!  It's so wonderful to just be the two of us.  I wouldn't trade it for anything!

February 11
I love games & movies!  This morning, Marcel said, "let's stay home, do nothing except play games and watch movies."  It is such an awesome date night, especially since it's budget friendly.  It's just about having some dedicated time together!

February 10
I love kids!  Today, Lilli and I went to our church's "Mommy & Me" playday.  I had never seen Lilli interact with other kids.  They were all quite a bit older than her, but that didn't stop her from building blocks and playing balls with them.  She even made her very own valentine, which I know her mom will adore!  It also reminded me that kids are so honest and really do say the darnest things.  A little girl who's parents led our home group for church asked me, "When are you and Marcel going to have your own baby, not Lilli, so you can really be married?"  What a loaded question for a 4 year old!  And to think she thinks we're just pretend married for now since we're not mom & dad.

February 9
I love Sisters!  First, it means I love Emily and Hannah, just wish we didn't all live so far apart.  Secondly, I love my church's women's ministry: Sisters.  It is always such a great night of great fellowship and support.  I always leave the event refreshed and reassured of my many roles as a woman.

February 8
I love being healthy!  Today, Marcel is home sick and it reminds me that, in general, we're fairly healthy and I'm so glad for it.

February 7
I love Marcel!  It didn't really take 7 days, we just had a great day together today.  It is so wonderful to be married to your best friend and have him supporting you every step of the way.

February 6
I love coupons!  I'm headed to a friend's house shortly to teach her all things coupon.  We have been so blessed with how coupons have allowed us to stretch our budget.  But besides the food & toiletries, it also allows us to get cheap movie tickets, clothes and other entertainment.

February 5
I love marriage!  I spent time at a wedding show today and it is so consumeristic (is that a word?)  A wedding is fun, but over in a day, and what is truly important is the relationship you have with you spouse!

February 4
I love my mobility! I've spent the day with my sister, Emily, who is on crutches and wearing a brace from just below her hip to nearly her ankle after a skiing accident. She's realizing fast how much we take our legs for granted.

February 3
I love being able to pray! As Marcel and I started a marriage class at church last night, I was reminded of the fact that my marriage can only be as strong as my relationship with God, and that comes with spending time in His Word and through a great prayer life.

February 2
I love having a chance to sleep in! It was only until 8:30am, but it was still very enjoyable.

February 1
I love how helpful Lilli has become.  She helped me move all of the clothes from the washer to the dryer and then handed me all the clothes from the pile for the next load.  Granted, I could probably do it much faster without her help, but she wants to help!  And she gets so proud of herself when she's done and we start clapping for a job well done.

Girls Weekend in Portland

I was able to fly to Portland Thursday night and spend a wonderful night with Allison, Kelly and Kelly's family. 

We spent a little time at Pacific University, which was very weird.  Like my home away from home that really isn't that for me anymore.  It will still always have such a special place in my heart!

Kelly, Allison and I did a lot of walking around stores, to pass the time for Amy to be done with work.  Target, Best Buy, Sports Authority, Michael's, Old Navy, Barnes & Noble, which was the most fun!  That night we all went to Macaroni Grill and were unhappy to find the calorie counts printed next to each item. 

We enjoyed breakfast at Elmers, even with the worst waitress I've probably ever had.  We watched Inception and The Social Network.  Then Kelly went back to her parent's house for a birthday party and Amy, Allison & I went to Chipotle for dinner.  It was delicious, as always, and I ate way TOO much of it, as always.

Sunday, we went to the church we all went to together in college and were blessed to hear Phil Joel (old member of the Newsboys) speak.  He was fantastic and spoke the message straight to my heart.  We then spent some time cleaning up the house we stayed in (Amy was house-sitting and they agreed to letting us all stay there.  It was like a dream house, a house I'd love to have but realize is probably too grand for us!)

Monday, Kelly & I met up with Amy in Portland for lunch before I had to get on a plane.

Intermixed between all those activities, was plenty and plenty of girl talk, which we all so desperately needed and wanted.  It was such a simple weekend, but perfect just the same, as each time we get together it is like no time has passed and we pick up right where we left off!

Now to the pictures!

This is the 1 picture I took!  We were headed to Chipotle and decided since we were only going to pick it up, we didn't need to change out of pajama's, which we wore pretty much the entire weekend.  But the only shoes we all had were dressy ballet flats.  We got to Chipotle to find the parking lot very empty, which excited us, but as soon as we got out of the car, so did 5 other car loads of people.  I'm sure we got some very interesting looks, but we were gone as fast as we got there!

We did manage to get 1 group shot before we parted ways but it was on another camera and I don't have it yet!

An Afternoon Spent at Petco

Today, Lilli and I met my mom for lunch at KFC/A&W.  I've always wondered if Lilli remembers my mom since there is often so much time between visits, but today it didn't matter.  She received such a warm greeting.  Lilli enjoyed plenty of french fries, but only after she dipped them in ranch, Wende's iced tea, NOT my lemonade and a chocolate pudding dessert, my mom just had to buy her, since she is in a far-off, very distant, way her grandbaby.

Then we headed to Old Navy to spend a $10 gift card I had and in a very unusual fashion after Lilli was out of the cart, she decided to walk on her own, as opposed to being carried.  She made it in front of PetCo and when the automatic door opened, she walked in like she'd done it a million times.  She found a cart just her size and began pushing it around.  She didn't not appreciate my hand on the silver pole helping to steer her, but I did it anyway because I'm the adult and I didn't want to cause any crashes :)

The first animal we found was a cage full of rats, and I really didn't know if she saw/noticed them, but she definitely saw the ferret in the next cage and didn't like it, which Marcel blamed on the fact that I don't like them.  Then we saw a huge display of books, (in the picture above) all of which had pictues of dogs on them, so Lilli began barking at them (She can tell you what a kitty cat, puppy, and cow says; when we read one of her books she moo's at the zebras, which I LOVE; and she's close to knowing monkey & snake even without the pictures from her books).  Then we saw a real-life dog and Lilli just froze, got super excited and blew kisses at it; she blows kisses when you say "I Love You" to her.  Guess she loved the dog.

She LOVED the fish, and enjoyed talking back to the singing birds.  She was also amazed by the turtles that would come up from out of the water, rest on a rock and then swim away.  I don't know how she feels about reptiles, because, while I can handle ferrets in a cage, reptiles and I aren't very good friends!

This was the first time around the store and only seconds before she was at the tank.  She wasn't afraid!

We had made it around the stores about 3 times, each time stopping by the adoption center and looking at the kitties, but the first 2 times they were all sleeping.  On our last visit the 2 in the bottom cages (just at her level!) we awake and sort-of interested in playing.  Lilli blew them plenty of kisses, and even gave them a few real kisses (through the cage and never getting all the way to the cage).  She waved hi and meowed at them, and stared at them as if in confusion as to why they weren't also meowing.

We had a great time getting out of the house and doing something fun!  We'll definitely be going back for more excitement :)

PS:  I used my phone to take these pictures so I could send them to Lilli's mom so I apologize for their poor quality.  I really need to remember to start using my real camera more often

PPS: I LOVE that I labeled this post "Jobs".  I was in fact working during this trip and I'm so blessed to have such a wonderful job!

January Updates

There has been no picture taking this month, thus no real blog posts, so I thought I'd do an update.  Not necessarily for all of you, but for me. 

MARYBETH

• I'm doing great on my "2011 goals".  I've found it very beneficial to use Lilli's morning nap as my Bible reading time.  I've tried to do it first thing in the morning, but since I'm far from being a morning person, my eyes may read over the words, but I don't really get anything out of it.  I've already finished a book this month, The Pact by Jodi Picoult.  I had read it before but once again it was so wonderful.  Now I just need to get myself to the library or I'm going to seriously fail on that goal. 
• I still love Miss Lilliana to pieces.  She's almost 16 months and is as bright as can be.  We struggle most days to find stuff she'll eat, but she'll ask for "cackers" (crackers) all day long, only as long as I put peanut butter on them. 
• I'm headed to Portland, OR this weekend for a girl's weekend with my roommates (people I tell this to here are so confused because Marcel and I don't have roommates, but I can't get myself to say anything like "college roommates" or "old roommates"; they will always just be my roommates!)  They were all going to come visit me here, but in the end we decided it was cheaper and probably more fun for me to just go there.  I'll take pictures there and then can have a real blog post when I get back!

MARCEL

• He's been working with a new mentor teacher at Skyview High & South Middle.  He's enjoying it a lot (at least that's my impression).  He and Mr. Garner seem to be working really well together and Steve is full of advice and tips that Marcel is glad to be receiving. 
• He still volunteers for church's creative arts & worship teams, which is going to pick up A LOT as we're about to start a second church on the northside of Nampa, thus the name: CFC North.

THE BAILEY'S

• We're both doing great on our "not-a-diet-just-eating-healthier" goal.  We're really working on portion sizes, and having more fruit and vegetables.  We're still eating about the same type of dinners, but tweaking them just enough to get more produce in them. 
• We just enjoyed our January date.  It was a stay-at-home date.  We made our own pizza roll and watched The Social Network, which we both really enjoyed.  We do watch plenty of tv and movies together, but since it was date night, there were no computers on our laps while we watched.  It was truly a night to spend together!
• We're both counting down the days until Marcel graduates, which is only 130 days away!  Doesn't seem that far away when I think about the days, but to say graduation is June 4th, makes it seem like an eternity.  We're both beyond excited for no more school!  Marcel still has a lot of work to do between now and then, but of course, it will all get done.
• February is the month we've been told to start looking for teaching jobs, so that is exactly what we're going to do.  This is the area we've been praying about most.  We want to follow God's will for us, and feel that a BIG part of that is where we'll end up living.  We're not going to be very limited on where we look for jobs.  We know we'll find the perfect job where God wants us to be.
• After finally receiving Marcel's paycheck for being the Skyview Marching Band Assistant Director, our cruise fund is fully funded!  At least as far as we can tell now.  We're still living cheaply (I'd like to say frugally but truthfully, cheap is probably more accurate) and adding any extra money we find to it, just to make sure we have enough saved so it is 100% paid for WITH CASH!  The best part, however, is that we don't need any of our debt snowball money for the cruise (read Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover for more information on the debt snowball) so we are now able to still save a little each month for our cruise, but also resume paying down our debt, which makes me so happy!

Goals for 2011

I have never really been too keen on resolutions for the new year, but this year I felt really motivated to set some goals for myself, so that is exactly what I did:

• DAILY devotional time
• Ability to allow God complete control in my life and marriage
• Read for pleasure
• Realistically, I'm aiming for 1 book per month
• Exercise and eat healthier
• I don't want to be on a diet, just be a little more aware of what I'm eating :)
• Monthly date nights
• This will require some creativity as we're not spending any money outside of bills and necessary expenses, but I know we can manage it!
• Monthly budget meetings with Marcel to stay 100% focused on what we've been working towards

There is still so much unknown about 2011, which I am kind of enjoying, but I know myself enough to know that sooner than later I'm going to want answers about our future (Marcel's job, where we're living, all sorts of big important things like that).  Hence, goals 1 & 2.  And the rest are just things either I've wanted to do or we've been meaning to do for awhile and am just now getting around to making it a bigger priority.

Christmas

This year, our Christmas celebrations began on Christmas Eve. Marcel and I attended church and then headed to my mom's house for our Christmas there. We had delicious appetizers and desserts, which is our normal food when she has us for Christmas Eve. That group of people is getting quite large as just about all of us have spouses/significant others to bring. It was a lovely time together, but we didn't get any pictures.

Marcel and I asked for money for Christmas so we could jump start our cruise fund, but my mom still got us a few presents. I got new slippers, an iTunes gift card and a bathroom scale, which I already love having (especially this morning when it said I've lost a few pounds!). Marcel got a new purple argyle sweater, which he has been dying to have, and blank DVDs. Also, one of the traditions for our stockings is to get lottery tickets and I've never had much luck with them but this year, Marcel and I together won $33, hooray for more cruise money!

We hung out for awhile before heading home for a short night of rest before Christmas. Marcel and I got up at 5:45am, so that we could have our own Christmas before heading to my dad's at 8am. Yes, it was early, but it was so wonderful to have that time together. We continued our tradition of having monkey bread for breakfast and not having stockings. We'll start that one either when I find semi-matching stockings that I like or when we have kids, whichever comes first!



Our tree with presents

Trying on my too small slippers from my mom

Marcel's corn on the cob grilling tool, but the picture is even better because we both wrapped just about all our gifts to each other in either cereal, oatmeal or frozen waffle boxes.  We LOVE breakfast at this house :)

Marcel also decided to seal every edge of every box with masking tape so I had to cut them all open

Marcel got me a new wallet (which I desperately needed and asked for constantly) that I love and new slippers

Marcel and his Harry Potter movie collection (Movies 1-6)
I think it was what he was most excited to receive and now we're about to have a HP marathon

2nd married Christmas!

After presents, we headed to my dad's for our 3rd Christmas of the year.  We enjoyed another delicious breakfast of egg mcmuffins (are they still called that if they aren't from McDonald's?) and spent quite a bit of time opening gifts.  And yet again we were spoiled!  Payton & Presley got each of us new pajama pants, while my dad and Cindy got us a new knife block (the only thing we asked for) and a box full of $1 bills!

New hats from Aunt Dede

Payton & Presley each showing off their new iPods, which they LOVED and used all day long, even before they had music on them, bcause they record videos and play the radio.

A fun gift to receive :)

Emily and Matt were very happy to get a blu-ray player and surround sound system but are now asking to take Marcel home with them so he can get it all set up.

So excited to receive a box full of books (including the whole Harry Potter series)

Again, with the excitement for books.
Hope one day my kids will love reading as much as I did at this age (and these 2 do)

We enjoyed a great ham dinner and then hours and hours of playing Wii Sports Resort & Rock Band 3, where I was finally able to move up to medium level on the guitar/bass! We also watched the Top 40 music videos of 2010 according to VH1.

Overall, we had a GREAT Christmas season.  It always seems to be over so fast, but it is always so much fun!

Marcel's Program

Thursday, Marcel had his program.  Well, the 3rd graders had their program and Marcel got to direct it.  There were 2 performances, which worked out well for me.  I took Lilli and met my mom for the first one.  Lilli LOVED it.  She kept pointing to Marcel and blowing him kisses and since they started late she tried wiggling her way out of my lap to go get him, so we walked around until it was time to start.  After each song, Lilli looked at my mom, in such a way to get approval before she could start clapping, but once she started she's a clapping machine. 

The next performance was so much better!  And I was able to get in a few pictures and recorded all of the songs.  I even got to meet Marcel's mentor teacher from George Fox, who was so proud of all his work, but honestly, I think I'm much prouder!

All 4 of the 3rd Grade Classes and their student teacher

So, Marcel told all the kids to always have smiles on their faces because his wife was going to take pictures and they'd be so sad if the pictures had frowny faces in them.  We found it ironic, that 1 of the few pictures I got of Marcel had him not smiling.

Welcme speech at the night performance, tux and all!

One song from the performance