an ode to the 2025/2026 school year

 

Happy Thursday, friends! I am limping through this week...I have almost made it, though, and I've never been so glad. I thought I'd share some funny moments and highlights from a great school year. I hope you enjoy this! 

Things I've enjoyed that have made me laugh:

• my dear friends and co-workers: Karen, Heather, and Carla
• lunch with The Lunch Bunch everyday in room 304
• the hilarious second graders...and the things I've heard out of their mouths 

I'm stopping with the bullet points to expand on this one! I'll never forget the day my little friend A walked in and realized he forgot something. He threw his head back and yelled, "Damnit!", and I about lost it with laughter. I got to where I could hardly look at Karen when this kind of thing happened, because we'd both end up dying laughing.

There was also the day that he was in the bathroom for an extraordinarily long time and told me to come here to see something. Um, no thanks, little bud. It turns out he discovered that when you flush the toilet, the pipes move back and forth, and that was what he wanted to show me. 🤣

There was the time my little friend C asked me who the man on my phone was: it was Chris. She asked if he was my husband and I stammered out a "no"...then she kept asking who he was. I finally told her he was my boyfriend, and she was thoroughly confused and asked me if I'd been married, and now I wasn't because my husband was mean to me. I couldn't keep it together! I had to leave the room for a minute, I was laughing so hard. 

Another day Karen and I were laughing because of a little friend kept murmuring under his breath that he wanted to kill me...all because I was making him participate along with us. 

• discovering my friend Kat is a weather freak
• enjoying the many, many texts that we've shared through the year

Things that I've loved: 

• all the things I listed above
• the co-workers I've gotten to know
• the outings we've shared
• the admin staff
• the fun we've had throughout the year in various situations

This is one example; I took this yesterday during my morning car line duty. I love that they do this for our students! You should have seen their smiles. 

I have loved my first complete school year. I loved starting in August as opposed to January, when I started during my interim stint three years ago. I loved getting to know a new group of people that feel like extended family. I loved almost every morning I spent opening car doors for kids and greeting them with a smile, sometimes a hug, and a "happy (insert the day of the week here)". I loved getting to know the precious students and their families; I will always consider it the highest honor to be even a tiny part of their lives. I've loved seeing the lights go off in their brains as their reading skills improved, and I've loved hearing them learn how to read out loud with more ease. I love hearing kids greet me everyday and waving wildly like we haven't seen each other in weeks. I loved random hugs in public when I'd run into one of them. I loved when they would get my name wrong and call me "Ms. Loyal". That's so much better than Ms. Lloyd! 

I am thankful to have received such kind words from parents, co-workers, and admin this year. I was given the Eagle award of excellence earlier this year, and some really kind words were said about me. I've had two incredible evaluations from my friend and principal; I will miss her greatly next year as she starts a new endeavor within our district. I have loved learning something new, and my friend Karen has taught me so much. I will go into the next school year with a lot of knowledge under my belt, so to speak. To say that I am thankful for all of this and a job that I so dearly love is the biggest understatement of the year. 

God has been good to me; He is faithful. He has never once left me to fend for myself; in His sovereignty, He has provided for me everything I need and more. All praise and honor to Him as I remember this and remind myself of it as I wait to hear about my summer work plans. I look forward with excitement to all He has in store for me! What a privilege to get to live life with Him by my side. 

Thanks for reading my blog and for always being an encouragement! I'll see you back here tomorrow. Love to all!

Jenn

the Wednesday hodgepodge

 

Happy Wednesday, friends! I'm here with Joyce again today for the weekly hodgepodge...this is a post that I dearly love; thank you, Joyce, for your inspiring and thought provoking questions each and every week! I'll jump right in! 

1. What do you make more complicated than it needs to be? My honest answer is life in general. There are days when I feel like my life is filled with drama; it doesn't need to be this way. If I love Jesus and live my life for Him, everything else will just fall into place. 

Enjoy this random picture of us from a sweet little Monday night date. I am so grateful for this man, and for the way that he loves me no matter if I'm at my best or my very worst. He's such a great man, and I'm glad I get to call him mine. 

2. What impresses you? When someone speaks well and thoughtfully; when they seem to have wisdom beyond their years. I am also always impressed when someone asks great questions as a way of learning something about someone, or showing that they were listening as someone talked about something.

3. On a scale of 1-10, how picky of an eater are you (1=extremely picky, 10=not picky at all)? If you had to eat a meal entirely made of one color, which color would you choose? I am a 10 and will try almost anything, within reason. I would choose the color green; I love a veggie plate! This could be okra, green beans, broccoli, salad, spinach...I love all of those things. I love it when Mom and Bill make veggies in the summer; we always have at least one veggie night every year.

4. What does balance in life mean to you? Does your life currently feel "balanced"? For me, balance in life is being equally pleased and content in my professional life and my personal life. It means that I am content in who I am, and in Who I belong to. It means that my time is spent evenly divided between Chris, family and friends, work, and in doing things that bring me joy. Right this moment, my life feels very evenly balanced. 

I loved this list; it kind of reminds me of balance and the things I mentioned that bring me joy.

5. If you could travel the world for a year, where would your first destination be? If I could travel the world for a year, I'd want my first stop to be Iceland. This is the time of year that it's great to go there, because the sun barely sets at all in the summer months. 

6. Insert your own random thought here. Most of you know that I'm having a moment with Ella Langley's country music right now; Marilyn sent me this the other day, and I cannot stop watching her acceptance speech. "Thank you to the women!" 

And I'll leave you with my favorite song by her this week, Butterfly Season. 

I can't wait to read your answers to this week's prompts! I'll see you back here tomorrow, hopefully. Love to all!

Jenn 

Fashion Files

 

Happy Tuesday, friends! I'm linking up with Amy and Marsha today for Fashion Files. This week I thought I'd talk about accessories...I hope you're inspired in some way!

I love a great bracelet stack! My friend calls them an arm party...and I tend to agree. The more, the merrier! I wear bracelets so often now, that I feel under dressed when I don't have a stack on. Do you do this? 

I think it's fun to have quirky accessories, like my bright green glasses that I wear on occasion. I bought these in Louisville in the spring of 2025! 

I love these Buddha bracelets...they're not that brand, but a less expensive knock off version. They come in stacks, and I have them in pink and brown.

I love chunky gold jewelry, too! I need to replace these that you see above. 

I love my purse straps! I have two, this one you see above and another one that is cream, brown, and black for fall. I consider them part of my style, honestly! Do you have purse traps that you use for fashion? 

Sometimes I like to wear hats for more than sun shade...especially when I'm having a terrible hair day. Do you wear hats? I don't all that often, but I love them. I think they can be statement pieces in our wardrobes. 

I also love fun jewelry like earrings and stacked rings like this one above. 

What say you? What are some accessories that you enjoy wearing as part of your everyday style? I'd love to hear from you! Thanks for reading my blog today, friends. Love to all!

Jenn 

Hello, Monday!

 

Happy Monday, friends! How was your weekend? Mine flew by! I'm linking up with Holly and Sarah for today's blog post. 

I'll back up to Friday. It was my last day with students for this school year! It was mostly a fun Friday except for a couple of classes that had tests to finish. Other than that, it was fun with the kids...we had this ice cream party for fourth grade, we played games, we talked about fun memories from the year...it was a great day. Once I got home from work, I sat and talked to Jonah for a while, and then I went and got comfy for my night at home. It was glorious, honestly! I cleaned my house, I vacuumed, I started and finished my laundry, I lit candles, then I sat and read for most of the night. Noah bought my dinner that night; he picked up some takeout for us from our favorite local place. It was delicious; I had two orders of fried dumplings. I took my book to bed and fell asleep pretty quickly! 

Saturday morning was a little more of the same...I drank coffee while I read my book.

I eventually got up to get dressed because I had an early hair appointment. It was supposed to have been at nine, but we pushed it back to about 9:40. This was much needed, and here comes the shocking part...

I got a summer chop! This actually wasn't an intentional move on my part, but I had a lot of breakage on the ends of my hair, so I told her to cut it until it looked healthy again. I'm getting used to it, and I know it'll grow back. In the meanwhile, it'll feel cooler for me as we cross over into summer around here. I can still pull it up if I want to...but no more sleeping with it in a messy bun on top of my head at night! I am probably going to buy one of those silk sleeping bonnets, which are great for curly hair. 

I came home after this and changed, then went to Marilyn's house for the rest of the day. Her friend Larry Ray was visiting from Texas for the weekend, so I was glad to finally get to meet him! I loved hearing about old memories and talking about great food with them both. He left for his dinner plans, and she and I stayed and ate dinner together. We walked down the street from her place for a bit for a Marketplace transaction, then we sat outside for the rest of the night. It was a great night! 

Sunday morning was church; I worked in the tech booth and met up with Mom and Bill after lunch. We went to Huey's (a local burger joint in town), and then I came home afterward and watched a movie. I finally decided to change into my comfies for the night in and did some things to get ready for my week. I also worked on my blog stuff and I read a good bit. 

I'm sill getting used to the new hair...it feels so strange! You may hear me say this for a while. So what did you do that you loved this weekend? I'd love to hear from you! Thanks for reading my blog today, friends. Love to all!

Jenn

Friday Favorites, 5.15.2026.

 

Happy Friday, friends! Today is my last day with students at school; that is surreal to me. Next week I will be there all week, but I will be packing up several rooms and sorting through paperwork for my co-workers. How has your week been? Mine went by super fast...and I have some favorites from the week. Buckle up!

This was a favorite post from Instagram this week; it's true! 

Monday night's dinner was my favorite! Chris and I bought some steak tips from a place called Sprouts last weekend; we cooked that and added rice and sauteed green beans. It was delicious and took about fifteen minutes from start to finish. 

Has there been a more true statement? I think not. Accounts like this that I follow on socials are my favorite! 

Reading is my favorite at the moment! I can't wait for summer reading! I found this book inspiration while scrolling this week. 

Favorite new coffee mug! This was a mother's day gift.

The verse pictured above is one of my favorites! I needed to see this yesterday. 

This sweet little kindergarten program yesterday was my favorite! Seriously, y'all, I cried. They sang a sweet song from The Greatest Showman that just about did me in. 

Getting dressed will always be my favorite. I went super casual most of the week because of field day and because I had to cover kindergarten and first grade classes. 

These were the little kindergarten kiddos I sat with on Wednesday. 

This is a favorite sight to me! My little first graders walking down the hall catching up is the sweetest thing ever. 

I'm leaving you with one of my favorite sayings of all time; I found this on a coaster last year in Louisville, Kentucky...I'd love to frame this and hang it somewhere in my home. 

It's your turn! What was a favorite of yours from the week? I'd love to hear from you! Thanks for reading my blog today, friends. Love to all!

Jenn 

good things from the week

 

Happy Thursday, friends! I wasn't going to share a post today since I worked my old job at the bookstore at church last night, but I changed my mind and wanted to publish something quick before work today. I hope you enjoy this list of good things from the week so far! Stay tuned for my question at the end for you...here we go...

• the fun work things this week...Summer Blast...kindergarten program...so many things
• meeting new students in classes I covered this week...that's not part of my everyday
• priority time with the Lord before I go to work everyday
• good conversations in the mornings before work...I'm talking to you, Mare
• seeing Chris a lot this week and being able to navigate ups and downs
• having time to read at work
• being back in the bookstore at church Wednesday night...it was fun, but I don't miss it at all
• friends that rescue when I forget how to do something
• having a clean home for all of 2.5 hours on Sunday
• being able to see all of my sons on Sunday at Mom's
• a fun new thing we did on Mother's Day...we had a shrimp boil with the fam
• my coworkers who feel like I've known them forever
• a good evaluation at work recently
• meeting the new principal
• catching up with friends from church that I don't normally see
• good rest
• things to look forward to
• greeting kiddos as they step out of their cars every morning
• never dreading going to work in the mornings
• inspiration from other bloggers...Amy, this one's you!

These are just a few, but I could go on! What is something good from your week? I'd love to hear about it! Thanks for reading today, friends. Love to all. 

Jenn