Happy Holidays from the Bennetts!

Love, Mark, Maria, and Guinness

*Many of you will be receiving New Years cards from the Bennett clan this year*

Also, notice Guinness' Bengals jersey!

Tacky Christmas Sweater Competition 2008

Some of you have already seen these, but for those who haven't I thought I would share my pictures from the Tacky Christmas Sweater Competition between myself and one of my dear co-workers, Jacob Brown. Last year Jacob wore some absolutely horrible sweaters for an entire week and I told him that I would join him this year in a friendly competition.

Now, since we work at a school where some teachers could unknowingly beat us, we had to refer to our competition as the "Spirited Holiday Outfits" competition. Jacob and I were both featured on the morning newscasts and each class voted. The students and teachers really got into it!

Day One

This one came with a little help from my mom. While I didn't win, the results were much closer than you might think.

Day Two

I channeled my inner 80s on this one with the help on one of my co-workers' old applique sweaters. Jacob won on this day after a late costume change when he saw how I came to play. All of the co-workers said I should have won on this day. You can't see in the picture very well that I have light up Santa earrings AND giant Christmas tree earrings. My ears still hurt!

Day Three

I won this day hands down!!! I had the jumper with the giant vest, the velvet purse and shoes, the elf hat, a light up necklace, and Christmas light earrings. This day helped my clinch the popular vote for the week while Jacob clinched the electoral vote.

I still considered the week successful and I honestly had about 10-15 sweaters that I didn't even wear (I have some generous co-workers!), but unfortunately we had 2 snow days that week so it cut our competition shorter by 2 days.

Hope you enjoy these priceless photos!!!

Thanksgiving List

At my parents' house, we wrote down a list of 20 things we were thankful for. Then we cut them into strips, placed them in a basket, and passed it around the table taking turns to read what everyone was thankful for this year. There were a lot of repeats in there. I really enjoyed getting to hear what everyone is thankful for and I think that it's important that we take the time to really appreciate everything that God has given us. I'm including my list on here (in no particular order) to the best of my memory.

1. Mark- He is my best friend and the light of my life!
2. Mom- She is a constant support and is always there for me to talk to.
3. Dad- He was the 1st man in my life and he is such an encouragement to me.
4. Jen- I love that Daniel has met her. She fits in so well with our family.
5. Daniel- I am most thankful for how far Daniel has come in the last year. God is continually working on his heart and he is turning into the man we knew he could be...a man after God's heart.
6. Answered prayers.
7. A God that is ever-faithful and graceful. His unconditional love amazes me each day when I realize how unworthy I am to receive it.
8. That Grandma Osborn and Grandpa Durick are now cancer-free.
9. My job- I love my students, my co-workers, and the fact that everyday I know I'm getting to do something that I love.
10. Em and Jen- I would be so lost without them. They are my favorites!
11. Guinness- He's such a goof, but he is so loyal and loving. I couldn't ask for a better dog!
12. Crossroads in Georgetown- I love the smaller community and that's it's so close to home.
13. That Mark has a job that he enjoys and that he's been able to start working towards the career of his choice.
14. Freedom of religion
15. Education- As difficult as it is, I am grateful that I am able to go back for my Masters.
16. Bengals football- Without it, what would we do on Sundays???
17. Friends- I have some of the best friends that anyone could ever ask for.
18. That I am never in need- God is too good!
19. In-laws that I love and I know they love me back
20. The fact that I have been blessed with so much and that I have the ability to give back to others physicially and emotionally.

Some others mentioned that I can't claim were:

• Heat and energy- People are working so hard to provide us the easy conveniences that we take for granted everyday such as heating, central air, refrigerators, microwaves, electricity, etc.
• The fact that I was born fully healthy both physically and mentally. I think this hit me so hard since I work with so many students who were not.
• Food. We ate and will continue to eat a ton this week. So many don't have that luxury.
• Music.
• All 5 senses. I can't imagine life without just one of them.
• The simple pleasures in life such as doughnuts (that one was Mark's)
• Not having to work on Black Friday

I have so much to be thankful for and I think so often we forget to say "thank you". We also forget that we are blessed on a daily basis. At church in Cincy last week they talked about how we live in a "culture of forgetfulness". Gas is down under $2.00, but you don't see that all over the news like you do when it reaches $4.00. Too often we focus on the bad rather than stopping to be grateful.

OK, that's as deep as I'll get for a while.

Irish Thanksgiving

Irish Thanksgiving was so much fun! It was met with great success and has already been deemed a family tradition. Mark and I (and my brother) are very proud of our Irish heritage (you can make fun of us all you want) so we were so excited when my parents suggested an Irish feast rather than the normal Thanksgiving spread.

As promised, here are some of the pictures...

Mark and I started cooking pretty early. Mark took care of all of the bread. Plus, he was my wing man!

Me making the brandied yams. They were a hit!

Hanging out in the kitchen. Yes, I'm wearing an apron. It got pretty messy!
Irish Thanksgiving couldn't have happened without these sponsors.

Daniel with Guinness (our mascot). Guinness looks pretty evil in this picture!
Mark's Irish Flag Bread
The full spread...we couldn't eliminate anything from the menu
A plate full of goodness!

Bread Pudding with Whiskey Sauce for dessert

Mark was STUFFED!

Daniel wasn't sure what to do after all of that food!

Another dessert, a Blarney Bulldog!

The Blarney Bulldog was great! I'm including the recipe if anyone wants it. It's delicious but dangerous!

Blarney Bulldog

You need:

• Vanilla ice cream
• Vodka
• Kahlua
• Heavy cream
• Root beer

1. Put 3 scoops of ice cream in a pint glass.
2. In a separate bowl, mix 3 Tbs. Kahlua, 2 Tbs. Vodka, and 1/4 cup heavy cream.
3. Pour mixture over ice cream.
4. Fill the rest of the glass with root beer (about 1/4 cup)

This drink is very yummy!

Friend's Thanksgiving

Our 2nd Friend's Thanksgiving at Jen's house was a success this year once again!

We had plenty of good friends all in one place...

Everyone brought something to eat...

The table was prepared beautifully...

...so it was time to get our grub on.

Mark wanted to be as close as possible to his food at all times!

The guys and gals:

Paul, Tim, Mark, Colin, and Seth

Me, Jen, Em, and Fink

(Diva B left early to catch a showing of Twilight)

O'Durick's First Annual Irish Thanksgiving

Today marks the 2nd of 4 Thanksgivings that Mark and I will be a part of this year. I absolutely LOVE all of the food at Thanksgiving, but 4 rounds of turkey and all the fixings in one week is a little much. My parents suggested this year that we have an Irish Thanksgiving. If you know anything about us, we are proud to be Irish!

I'm heading into Lexington in just a moment to start preparing our very 1st annual Thanksgiving dinner. On the menu is:

Rum & Coke Baked Ham

Shepherd's Pie

Irish Flag Bread

Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes

Creamed Corn

Cabbage

Brandied Yams

Red Potatoes with Warm Beer Dressing

Wild Rice Pancakes

Bread Pudding with Irish Whiskey Sauce

and

Blarney Bulldogs (Basically root beer float with Irish Whiskey)

I'll make sure I post pictures from the day. I'll also be posting pictures from my 1st Thanksgiving with friends very soon!

4 Years and Counting....

Today is mine and Mark's 4th anniversary. It is so hard to believe that we've been married for 4 years, but it is so neat to go back and look through our marriage. There have been ups and downs, but I can say with 110% of my heart that I married my best friend and my soulmate. God has blessed me with the funniest, kindest, most unique man. I am so proud to call him my husband.

I thought I'd commemorate the last 4 years with pictures from each of our anniversaries!

This one was actually from our honeymoon in the Maya Riviera. We had such a great time together and we were just embarking on our new life together. We're such babies in this picture!

We spent our 1st anniversary in Gatlinburg in a great cabin for 2 nights. I remember how exciting it was to reach the 1 year mark!

We spent our 2nd anniversary in Cincinnati. We went to the Melting Pot (this was before it was in Lexington). We had a great time together!

For our 3rd anniversary, I suggested staying in Cincinnati again and getting tickets to the Bengals game (Mark was happy to oblige). We stayed on the river and went to the Hofbrauhaus on Saturday then the game on Sunday. This was one of my favorites to date!

This is obviously not from our 4th anniversary, but I thought I'd include it since it's a picture of our family to date. This year, Mark and I will be going to Cincinnati again (do you see a recurring theme???). We plan on spending the weekend away from work and school to just enjoy each other's company. We're planning on hitting up some museums (we realize that we are geeks...), staying the night at the Hyatt Place (an anniversary gift from my parents), and going to church at our favorite church which just so happens to also be called Crossroads. My brother goes to this church and Mark and I try to go at least once a month. We're going out to eat together tonight before watching the Bengals-Steelers game. I think the best anniversary present would be to see the Bengals win...I'm not holding my breath.

Who knows what will happen in this upcoming year. I'm excited already to start our 5th year!

Grandma Dorse

Yesterday morning we lost my great grandma. She passed peacefully in her sleep and I am so happy for her, but of course, I already miss her so much! Grandma Dorse was the most resilient person I've ever known and she had the sharpest memory of anyone I've met anywhere close to her age (did I mention she was going to be 101 years old next month???).

She lived such a long and full life and I loved listening to her recall memories such as when she and her friends made scarves for WWI soldiers who rode in the train past her house. Or when I heard her tell about how she and my great grandpa used to go dancing all the time. Or when I asked her what her favorite decade was (since she'd lived through 10 of them) and she told me all about the fun she had in the '40s.

I think about how lucky I am that I was able to enjoy 24 years with my grandma when many people never even meet their great grandparents. When I think back on all the years, I can remember the landmark birthday parties, decorative buttons, deviled eggs, cards in the mail (somehow she actually found cards that were for "Great Granddaughters"), chocolate covered cherries, Spam for Christmas, the number 17, crocheted afghans, and most importantly, rolls of pennies!

I hope that I am able to portray to my kids what an amazing lady my great-grandma was. It's also my wish that my own kids are able to have just as many valuable years with their own great grandparents.

I Love You and Miss You Grandma Dorse!!!

Starbucks

Crossroads is doing a new series on some of the mistakes that churches have made. Basically, we've been discussing the things that turn people off when it comes to church and talking more about the fact that we were built to have relationships with others, which allows us to represent Christ. We've also talked about evangelism has become such a dirty word. On the Georgetown blog, Greg included this video about what it would be like if Starbucks "marketed" itself like churches. While it is funny, it's also eerily all too true.

I know many of my friends have been turned off by the church, but are still very much in love with Jesus. I know even more friends who have been turned off altogether. There is truly nothing that saddens me more. I just found this interesting and thought I'd share.

Enjoy!

Wordle

Philippians 2:14-15

So, one of my professors told me about using "word clouds" to put writing into an artistic form. I've started playing around on http://www.wordle.net/ and absolutely love it! You can put in quotes, paragraphs, verses, etc. and it generates art using your words. You can change fonts, color schemes, and layouts. You can even "wordle" your blog address and it takes words from past posts and creates artwork. Very fun!

Ria's Rhetoric

Happy Birthday to Guinness!!!!

Yesterday was Guinness' 1st birthday so we spent the weekend celebrating it. He got special treatment from us, a new chew toy, and I even made him his very own batch of peanut butter muffins. These muffins are safe for dogs to eat, but tasty enough for his mom and dad to eat as well. They tasted good, but were very plain. Guinness, however, absolutely LOVED them!

Here's some pics of the big birthday boy!

You can tell he loves that hat.

I don't have any kids yet...humor me!

Guin with his daddy

Checkin' out the muffin...

Yum, yum!

He forgot all about that annoying hat on his head once he got to start eating!

I thought I'd include the recipe in case anyone else has a special pup who would enjoy a birthday muffin!


Peanut Butter Muffins
Makes about 12

1 3/4 cups whole wheat flour

1 cup skim milk

1/4 cup honey

1/2 cup all-natural peanut butter

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. vanilla extract

2 eggs

1 tsp. baking soda

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a bowl, mix all the ingredients until blended, then beat the batter for 2 minutes. Spoon the batter into muffin cups, three-quarters full. Bake for 18-20 minutes. Muffins are done when a toothpick insterted in the center comes out clean. Remove from the pan once cooled.

Halloween Festivities

We had a marvelous time at the 2nd Annual Halloween Party this year. Everyone came out in their best costumes and everyone had a great time. We had good food, s'mores by the fire pit, scary movies projected outside, and even dancing. I've included some pictures from the night.

We were salt & pepper shakers!!!

Daniel and Jen were Mr. Plumpy and Princess Lolly from Candyland

Eric & Molly came as John McCain & Sarah Palin

Another Sarah Palin with a witch

(Fink & Jen)

Clint & Mark were Heaven's Gate members

(with fliers and grape beverage)

Lexington's "James Brown" and "God's Gift to Women"

(Seth & Paul)

Lucy & Snoopy

(Mom & Darlene)

Big Boy and Lucy

Pepper, Vampire, Salt

Dancin' the night away!

Ami was a mad scientist and had some exciting experiments to demonstrate

The BLC Ladies (best ladies ever!!!)

Which costume is your favorite????

10 Things You Love to Talk About

I'm feeling kinda uninspired, so I thought I'd steal from Ten On Tuesday and list...

10 Things I Love To Talk About:

(these are in no particular order)

1. My students and all things education
2. "One Tree Hill"
3. Food/Favorite recipes
4. Twilight series
5. My family
6. "LOST"
7. Cincinnati
8. Funny memories
9. God
10. Bengals football

Someone You Should Know........Chris Hurst

So, this is only my 2nd installment of "Someone You Should Know", but I've known who this would be about for far too long (I just couldn't sit down long enough to write it).

I truly consider Chris to be part of my family. I think to fully understand why I love Chris, we have to start at the beginning.

Chris was the first friend I was introduced to when I started dating Mark. Chris came to meet us at Common Grounds (our favorite hangout) and I immediately loved Chris. I have always said he is the most genuine person I know. What you see is what you get. Chris embraced me from the beginning as part of Mark's life.

I watched Chris as he tried to figure out what he wanted to do with his life and I remember the day he called Mark to say he'd joined the army. I was obviously nervous for him, but anxious to see how he would do. I remember as Chris got through 2 years of college, some time in Korea, and was then accepted to West Point. While this has proved to be a little difficult later, I am so proud of his decision to stick it out in the army and proud to know that someone like Chris is working to make our country's armed forces even better.

I don't believe Chris has even intentionally tried to hurt anyone. Chris has a way of putting a smile on your face no matter what. It is literally impossible to stay upset with him. He loves music and rock climbing, so he always keeps Mark happy! I couldn't think of a better best friend for Mark to have and I will always appreciate him for what he means to me and Mark.

With that being said, imagine my joy when MY best friend started showing interest in Chris. I mean, how could she not? And, to top that off, Chris became very interested in Em. How could he not? With a little prompting and coaxing, Em and Chris started their own little budding relationship. It was almost too good to be true. They fit together perfectly from the beginning and I knew it had to work out (I also knew that if it didn't, it would be very awkward when we all hung out).

Luckily, it did work out! Chris and Em stayed together through all of the distance (Chris in New York and Em in Bowling Green and now Lexington). He is the perfect addition to her life and it works out so nicely for Mark and I as well. We are able to double date all the time and while Mark and Chris do their thing, Em and I can do ours.

Our excitement increased in February 2008 when Chris proposed to Em in Philly. I cannot wait until June 5th when they will finally say their "I dos".

Like I said before, Chris is family to me. I could not pick a better best friend for Mark. I could not pick a better best friend and soulmate for Em.

So, if you don't already know him....

Chris Hurst is someone you should know!

Anyone agree?