Merry Christmas Eve Eve

Hello! Hello! Hello!

As many of you know Benjamin and I will be staying in Arizona for Christmas this year. It will be my first year and Ben's second year not spending it at home. We are pretty sad about not going home. No holiday parties with friends and no giant family gatherings. No delicious home cooked meals, or beer pong games at the Ellinger resident. 

However we have this to look forward to...

My family (except John but with addition to my grandma) will be here on CHRISTMAS DAY. 2 more sleeps until I see them ALL. However, they are only here on an 8 hour layover, but still I get to see them, exchange presents, and eat a holiday meal whatever I can cook ;) Thank goodness we live so close to the airport! 

If that isn't enough, Ben's parents will be here starting the 27th. We can't wait to spend time with them and show them around our new home. We also can't wait to take them to some of our favorite places! Stay tuned to see where we go! We will be sure to take lots of pictures. 

But for now, we will tune into the Bengals game before heading to the Tempe Marketplace to enjoy food and drinks with wonderful friends.

Happy Holidays!!

Love,

Kate and Ben

Merry Christmas vs. Happy Holidays

Happy Holidays or Merry Christmas? Which do you prefer? I have noticed a lot of people commenting on which they find the most appropriate for this time of year lately and I can't help but chuckle to myself when I hear their one-sided explanations. You all know who I am talking about, the people who get mad every time someone mentions the holidays instead of Christmas. The person who writes a twitter or Facebook update about how they were SO offended by someone saying happy holidays to them. The person who constantly reminds you that "Jesus is the reason for the season!" Well here are my thoughts.

If you celebrate Christmas you are most likely a Christian, OR a person who really likes getting presents...either way you are okay in my book :) Just remember that this season is not only the time of Jesus's birth. It is a time for many other holidays that are often over shadowed by the commercialization (is that a real word? Spell check says so. Oh well.) of Christmas. As a Christian I think it is important to remember that "Jesus is the reason for the season" but I also know that I need to respect the religious choices others may make. So before you post your next rant via social media remember that your views are not everyone else's views and most importantly your views are not more important than anyone else's views. 

Happy holidays everyone :0)

-Kate 

today.

Sickness. Heartbreak. Curiosity. Hurt. Anger. Nausea. Pain. Sadness. Love. Fear. Anxiety. Dislike. Disgust. Surprise. Wonder. 

Just to name a few of the emotions I felt today. I honestly can't wrap my head around such a tragedy. Innocent lives were taken today, the majority of them were children, young children. My heart breaks for all of those affected by what happened today in Newtown, CT  and my thoughts and prayers are with them all today, tomorrow, and the years to come.

The news today made me think about a lot of things. Why? How could this happen? Who would do such a thing? But I kept coming back to the same question, What do we do now? This is not the first shooting to happen at a school, and unfortunately it most likely is not the last. What can we do to take the hate out of the world?

I am not a parent, but I consider myself the next closest thing, a teacher. I can not imagine what those teachers involved were thinking today. During my schooling (K-12) I have probably gone through at least 100 practice drills: fire drills, tornado drills, lock down drills, evacuation drills etc. Out of those 100 I probably took 1/4 of them seriously, if that. I was a child, I didn't think any of those things would happen to me and I always thought to myself "Why do we do these ALL the time?" 

Fast forward to 2011. It was my first year teaching EVER. We had a fire DRILL. I KNEW it was a drill, my kids KNEW it was a drill, but my first initial response was PANIC. Absolute panic. I was responsible for my 27 students. I was the one who was supposed to get them to a safe place. I had to know who was there and who wasn't and I needed to know where they were if they were missing. That was only a drill. 

Since then, I have done several fire drills and several lock down drills but that initial panic attack NEVER goes away. Today was a reminder why. It breaks my heart to think of those teachers today, to know that someone is located on your campus, who is there to harm your innocent, loving, adorable, cute, funny, sweet, and kind kiddos has to be the worst feeling in the world. To know that your decision could mean life or death for those babies. To not know the well being of any child outside your room. To have 20 plus students scared, asking questions, crying, screaming, etc. It breaks my heart, it simply breaks my heart. 


My heart is with not only the teachers, but the students, the ones whose lives were taken entirely too soon and the ones who lost the innocence of being a child today. My heart is with the families of those who had to endure the lost of a loved one and to those who had children and or family members who were on campus today.

I am blessed to be a teacher. I wouldn't want to be anything else. I am blessed to get to spend my day with my students. They are one of a kind. They continue to transform me into the person I am today. They love me, and I love them. I would do anything for them, absolutely anything. 

But, what are we going to do now? How do we move forward? How do we make ourselves feel safe again? I don't know the answer, and it breaks my heart.

- Kate

Blogging >>>>> Facebook

Hello! Hello! Hello! Welcome to our blog. Isn't it so fancy plain? I promise to update that soon once I figure out what all these buttons/options mean. Right now I am currently trying to figure out how to change our blog name. oh well. I just wanted to create the blog and send you all the link before Ben and I give up on Facebook entirely. 

I know many of you are wondering why give up on Facebook. I really have nothing against Facebook, I think it is a wonderful way to keep in touch with people, I just feel like it something I can live without. To be completely honest I didn't think as many people would care that Ben and I are leaving the Facebook world but here are the Top 5 reasons why we decided to:

1) Privacy settings. Before you even think it, yes I know that I can change all my privacy settings and make it so few people can actually see my account. However, it is a hassle. Facebook is CONSTANTLY changing and I really don't have the time to figure out how to keep up with it. 

2) I use Facebook for all the wrong reasons. The number one reason I am online is to procrastinate. Whenever it is time to clean, cook, lesson plan, etc. I find myself typing facebook into my search engine. I have NO self control. I waste my time online and I figured if I deactivate it problem solved...hopefully.

3) Blogging >>>>> Facebook. If you really love me and want to know what is ACTUALLY going on in my life read about it here. I will tell you much more and you don't have to sift through all my pointless posts about my boring day, cute puppies, or mindless rants. 

4) I already stay in contact with those who I want to stay in contact with and I barely use Facebook as a means to communicate with them. Yes, I write on their walls occasionally or send them a PM but I realized I would much rather shoot them an email, text, or actually TALK to them on the phone. Facebook makes me a lazy friend and I don't like it. 

5) Last but not least, I just feel like I have outgrown it. I have had Facebook since I was a junior (or senior) in HS. I remember having to have had an "invitation" and being pathetically excited to start my profile. Almost 6 (or 7) years later, I finally feel as if I don't need it anymore. 

I am not 100% sure what Ben and I will be blogging about, but I promise to ALWAYS (try to) make it interesting! Follow us and check out our awesomeness.

See you later...right?

- the Shindelshowers

P.S. leave a comment!!