here's to happiness.

after reading naomi's post on appreciating the things in life that make us happy, i decided that a great way for me to remember the good things in life would be to do the same thing. :)

here is a list of 10 things that have made me happy as of late:
1. the leaves have started changing to bright reds, yellows, and oranges.
2. pumpkin lattes...enough said.
3. snuggling under quilts at night.
4. when luke wakes up at 7am just to spend a few minutes with me before i leave for school.
5. zooey deschanel's new show "new girl." hilarious and adorable.
6. getting to know my students better. i almost know all 150 of their names!
7. finally getting used to waking up at 5:30am.
8. the cooler weather means cardigans everyday!
9. laughing my butt off while watching bridesmaids with my girlies.
10. knowing that a little over 9 months from now i will be a mrs.

xox, eden

ps. what has been making you happy!?

recent life in pictures.

1. pizza date with luke at our favorite local pizza place, sammy's.

2. bowling with my family when they were here for my grandpa's funeral. such a fun time with the people i love.

3. Taking it all in while my kiddos were at lunch. It's getting better.

ups & downs.

my stress levels have been at an all-time high lately. with my recent death of my grandpa, the man that i've looked up to since childhood, and beginning my career, september has been the busiest and most complicated month i've had in a long time.

saturday was my grandpa's memorial service. it was the hardest day of my life. i hand wrote the blog post that i wrote to my grandpa and read it aloud at his service. it took all of my being to not fall apart. thank god for my mom and sister who were standing right beside me. not only was it hard because of the loss of my grandpa, but being at his funeral brought back many of the memories of losing my grandma. as my mother stated in her letter to my grandpa, they were the only babysitters my sister and i ever knew. two of the greatest people i've ever known...gone. just being at my grandpa's house and knowing that it would all have to go away, the thousands of childhood memories that i had with my grandma and grandpa in that house, in that yard, in the garage, down the street by the river, at the neighbors.' toys we had played with years ago were still sitting where we left them.

being around my family that weekend, especially my cousins, brought back even more flashbacks. we're all growing up. we don't play tag anymore, or make forts in the front yard, or play house, or dress-up...we're all boring now. the things we used to do when grandpa was around are gone too.

i miss you grandpa, and i'm going to be just like you. i'm going to always find time to smile and joke around and make people laugh. i'm going to do everything i can to make you proud.

this brings me to stressor number 2...teaching. i was so excited to start student teaching. sure, i knew it was going to be a lot of work, but i knew i could handle it.

oh. my. god. i was so wrong.

7th graders are mean to the max. the girls are catty. the boys talk too much. and neither of them care what you have to say. at least that is what i thought after week one in my classroom. things have gotten substantially better, but i still semi-question my judgement when it comes to the career i've chosen.

you know, the one where i'll be basically making minimum wage for the number of hours teachers put in. the one that i'll be sacrificing all my time for, and will probably still have to have a second job in the summer to get by. the one that will have me working until i'm 90 because i won't make enough to retire...yeah...that one.

so even after all of this second-guessing, i am so excited to have my own classroom someday.

i'm not a fan of sharing one, but for my sake i won't get into that on here. OCD over here.

So, teaching + losing loved ones = the most stressful month of my life.

but i know grandpa's watching over me. giving me strength to go to school everyday and hear students say things like "ms. mckee, what's with all the white today?" or "i'm not going to do my homework." i know they'll appreciate me someday. :)

i do it everyday for you, grandpa. your old timer misses you so much, and thinks of you everyday.
♥ eden

p.s. i should mention that i do have some of the most evil children on the planet in my classes, but i also have some of the sweetest smartest ones too. no school is a utopia. ;)

the first days of school...

...are fast approaching and i couldn't be more excited about it! i can't wait to meet the rest of my kiddos, (i met some of them at open house this past wednesday) and i especially cannot wait to start teaching. i have the greatest cooperating teacher, and i feel like i'm going to learn a ton from him this semester. i'll be teaching 7th grade u.s. history...6 sections of it to be exact....in a row. it'll make for long afternoons, but i'm ready. so to prepare, i've been writing lessons, pre-tests, and reading up on my classroom management literature. i think i'm set! :)

tomorrow, i work 9-5 and then am getting my hair did. yay for dark hair and bangs again! i'll post pictures soon!

xox, eden

recipe: sugar cookie peach pie

You MUST try this recipe that I found. When Luke and I came back from Colorado, we brought with us an entire crate of fresh and organic Colorado peaches! At first we just ate them, they were delicious and juicy and sweet, and I couldn't have possible imagined ever baking them or using them in recipes. Then after my 13th peach I changed my mind and decided it was time to find some yummy recipes. The first one I made was Pioneer Woman's Peach Crisp with Maple Cream Sauce, which was so sinful that I probably should have said a prayer, and managed to only lasted 2 days in our household...which consists of two people. This was the next recipe I decide to try because...you know, we had like a million peaches left, and it was fabulous! I've never really been a fan of pie crusts. I was the kid that ate the pie filling and then got yelled at for leaving the crust...well with THIS pie the crust is a sugar cookie. Needlesstosay....I ate the pie crust. It was really yummy, too. Give it a try!

crust
1 (16.5 ounce) package sugar cookie dough
1/2 cup all purpose flour

filling
4 1/2 cups sliced peaches
3 Tablespoons unsalted butter
3 Tablespoons all purpose flour
3 Tablespoons packed light brown sugar
3 Tablespoons sugar
1 Tablespoon dark rum

Peel and slice the peaches. Measure out 4 1/2 cups. Set aside.

In a large bowl, mix together the cookie dough and flour until combined. Press it out into a 9 inch pie plate. The sugar cookie crust should be about 1/4 inch thick.
Put the peaches in the sugar cookie pie crust. Place the crust in the refrigerator.

In a large saucepan, melt the butter over medium low heat. Add in the flour and mix to form a paste.
Then add in the sugar and mix to combine.
Pour in the dark rum and stir. Increase the heat to medium and cook for about 3 minutes.

Take the pie out of the refrigerator and pour the sugar rum mixture over the peaches. Spread it out.

Bake the pie at 350 degrees F for 40 minutes. Then put foil over the edges of the crust and bake for another 10-15 minutes
The total baking time is 50-55 minutes. If your pie doesn’t look done, continue baking for 10 more minutes.
Cool completely on a cooling rack.
Enjoy!

in my dream reality...

(via)

...i can pull off this hair-do. in actual reality i cannot, but boy do i wish i could.

it's such a classic, bombshell, pin-up look.

happy september!

via

i'm so excited that fall is finally on its way! there are so many things i love about fall. fall means pumpkin spice lattes, apple orchard visits, pumpkin home scents, scarves, sweaters and cardigans, getting to know my little kiddos in all of my classes, changing leaves, cooler weather, halloween, and the list goes on and on. so, here's to fall! i'm beyond excited!

are you? what is fall like in your hometown?

xox, eden