I'm spoiled....

My friend from work, Jennifer, threw my first shower. At KMS we always do a little cake and punch in the teacher's lounge for weddings and babies but she wanted to host a little special get together at her house. I felt so spoiled by my school house girls. They are so excited about Baby Weems....they keep saying they are going to be at the hospital with us....but I think I'm drawing the line about who gets to see the actual birth....

Mom and me at the shower. I was really glad she came out to meet my work friends. I can't believe I won't hang out with these girls everyday next year. They've been such good friends through our entire journey to parenthood.


Hostess Jennifer with crazy Heather.

Jennifer's mom knitted this precious yellow blanket for Baby Weems. It is unbelievably soft and just perfect!!


This cute little outfit is totally girly. All of the work girls insist that Baby Weems is a girl. In fact, they gave me girl's clothing with gift receipts because they refuse to buy anything neutral.

The belly grows....

Both of these pictures were taken during my 32nd week. I thought the patterned shirt just made me look big all over so I made Josh take another picture the next day when I was wearing black. I know it is a big shocker to see me in a black tshirt since I only own about a billion of them. Anyway, this black tshirt is special because it says "Due in June" on it. It is always amazing to me how many people talk to me when I'm out and about wearing it....sales people, random little girls, all sorts of people. Of course their 1st question is "Is it a boy or a girl?" And then they look at me like I'm crazy when I tell them I don't know.

Where have I been???

Well, shortly after I wrote that last post about updating my computer died. And I mean it died. The official word from the tech department was "Critical Hard Drive Malfunction" although the tech actually said, "Girl, your computer is MESSED up."
So it has taken me a little longer to update than anticipated....but here's what we've been doing....

40 days....

The ticker officially says only 40 days to go!! I really can't believe that....although sometimes I can't believe it is getting so close and other times I can't believe that I still have that many days as things are starting to get a bit uncomfortable.

We of course still have tons of things left to do--finding a new job is probably the top thing on the list. I am finishing up the semester in grad school this week which is a huge relief....and hopefully once I wrap that up I'll have some time to update the blog with pictures of my baby belly and the wonderful shower my work friends threw for me. Aren't you on the edge of your seat now??

Interuppting Regularly Scheduled Programming...

I was tagged by Rebecca....so here is my list of 4's....

4 Jobs I have had in my life:
1. Counter Girl at Sweet Temptations
2. Attorney's assistant at a title company (I didn't even know what a title company did the first three months I worked there)
3. 6th grade teacher
4. Student Advocate

4 Movies I’ve Watched More Than Once:
1. Waiting for Guffman
2. Drop Dead Gorgeous
3. Madagascar (thanks Amanda)
4. Casino Royale--it's been on cable lately so it is always on

4 Places I’ve Lived:
1. Georgia
2. Garland, TX
3. Waco, TX
4. Fort Worth, TX

4 TV Show I Watch/Watched: Only 4????
1. The Office
2. Grey's Anatomy
3. Desperate Housewives
4. Current network reality show--the Bachelor or survior or big brother, etc

4 Places I have Been:
1. St Lucia
2. Belize
3. Turkey
4. London

4People who email me regularly
1. Josh
2. Jennifer P.
3. My mom--she recently sends me weekly updates about job openings in Garland
4. Tie between Pottery Barn and J. Crew

4 of my favorite foods
1. Sushi
2. All Mexican food
3. Profiterol--sounds like medication but I promise it is awesome
4. a great steak

4 Places I Would Like to Visit
1. Greece
2. New Zealand
3. Bora Bora
4. I'd love to go to NYC with Josh

4 Things I am Looking Forward to in the Coming Year
1. Meeting Baby Weems :)
2. Setting up a nursery for Baby Weems in our new house
3. Drinking margaritas after the arrival of Baby Weems
4. Seeing my feet again :)

4 Friends who I’m Tagging
1. Sharee
2. Jessica
3. Diana--because you haven't updated in FOREVER
4. Kelli K

Sabotage update...

Well, I contacted our real estate agent to let him know about the terrible showing....and he emailed the showing agent to apologize.
It turns out that the potential buyer doesn't like dogs and that they could hear Monty barking so they never even opened the door to the laundry room!! They didn't know about the sabotage attempt and they'd like some more info about our house!!!

WOOHOO!!

SABOTAGE!!!

We think that Monty doesn't want to move. He loves his house with the big back yard. He's probably worried that if we move the squirrels and birdies will start to think they own the place. So, he's trying to sabotage real estate showings....

Take today for example. I received a call at 5pm that said they'd like to show the house from 5:30-6:30. I was still at work but we've gotten really good about leaving the house "ready to show" so I said sure. When I left work I stopped by Old Navy to look through their very picked over maternity section for a few minutes just in case the people were at our house.

I came home and noticed that there were some random lights on which is pretty typical when someone looks at the house. I opened the door to the laundry room where we keep Monty's kennel and the smell hit me!! Monty had pooped in his kennel. And I won't go into detail except to say that Monty and the kennel both immediately went to the back yard for a good hose down....after I fashioned my own gas mask from a dish cloth.
We haven't heard any feedback from the potential buyers....I'm sure their real estate agent is trying to figure out how to word "This house smells like dog poop" in a nice way. I want to call the agent and tell him it isn't always like that and to bring his people back or at least bring other people by.....

We have another showing tomorrow. Hopefully Monty will stick to just growling and barking when they are in the house and will keep the intestinal fireworks to a minimum.

Most Smartest....

Well, it's official. We've finished all our baby classes. We went to parenting, childbirth and breastfeeding. It made for two VERY long weekends but we learned a lot. I'm not sure if we feel more prepared for the baby to arrive or if only now we are able to realize how unprepared we truly are.

We took parenting first. The best part was that we got to learn infant CPR which we will hopefully never use. We also learned a lot about infant car seats. The worst part was some really awkward videos we watched about the importance of skin to skin contact. After all, we didn't really need a video explanation of what "skin to skin" meant.

Then this weekend we took childbirth on Friday night and Saturday. The first video we saw was about laboring. The instructor forgot to warn us that it would show a live birth at the end.....let's just say that it wasn't like on "A Baby Story" and nothing was blurred out. The second video was even more frightening. I looked at Josh several times and said, "I don't think I can do this." One of the videos said something about massage and how even household items could be used as massagers....it showed a rolling pin and I told Josh he could hit me over the head with that if things got too tough. Our childbirth class was very small and there were some fun people....so we got to make lots of jokes and comments such as when the instructor asked about the stages of labor being able to say loudly "Transition: that's when the yelling REALLY begins."

And then today we took our breastfeeding class. The lady was really positive and informative. She wasn't near the "la leche nazi" that I envisioned or had been warned about. I'm still not 100% sure how all that is going to work out but I feel better about it then I did before we went to the class. And strangely enough the videos in the breastfeeding class weren't nearly as awkward as the ones from parenting....go figure!

So, now I'm officially 32 weeks and despite the fact that we've finished our classes we're not really any closer to being "ready" for the baby to get here....I still have a TON of things on the to-do list such as 1) Finish grad school projects 2) Find job 3) Buy carseat....although I'm not sure those three things are the top three things....except maybe for the grad school project because it is due on Tuesday night and I'm blogging instead of working on it. Since it is already late Sunday night, I'd better get my "most smartest" self back to work on the project.

**Bonus points for you if you can name the movie that the quote "most smartest" comes from!! I'll give you a hint: "Amber is the best tapper, the most smartest"

Reality again...this time on TV

Okay, I admit it. I watch reality TV. Some people (like my husband) might even say I watch a lot of reality TV. Currently I'm into four reality shows--Big Brother 9, the Bachelor: London Calling, Survivor and Dancing with the Stars. I'm not really sure if Dancing with the Stars counts as reality TV though. Is it just a game show? Oh well.

I usually only watch shows that I've DVR'd. Ever since Jason bought us TIVO a couple Christmases ago it has become impossible to watch actual live television. So, tonight I finally watched this week's episode of The Bachelor. Now, if you've never seen the Bachelor you might think that it is about a guy dating a ton of women and trying to find the one. This is what ABC wants you to believe the show is about. The show is actually just about the drama of a bunch of girls living together and dating the same guy....it isn't about love and it doesn't matter who he picks in the end since it never works out anyway. I mainly watch to make sure that the drama queen I like makes it through to the next week to create more drama. Most of these girls are so detached from real reality that sometimes I'm not sure if the Bachelor qualifies as reality TV either.

Anyway, this week's episode of course contained the "Most dramatic rose ceremony yet" just like every other week. And the Rose Ceremony was indeed the best part....although not because of the girls. Here's what happens:

Our Bachelor, Matt, (pictured above) has 5 women to choose from but only 3 roses. He hands out rose #1 and rose #2. The host, Chris Harrison, steps in to say his famous line, "Ladies, Matt, this is the final rose this evening." As Chris is saying this we notice that Matt looks down at his hand. He's studying the palm of his hand. He looks at it for several seconds. And I wonder "Does he have the names written on his hand?" I rewind the DVR. I play it again. I call Josh into the room. "Does it look like he's reading his palm?" Josh agrees!!

And that ladies is true love right there. He's picking 3 out of 5 women to continue in a contest to maybe be his wife and he can't even remember the names of the three chicks he wants to pick!! Awesome. Truly awesome. I love reality TV.

Reality sets in....

Today I officially resigned from my job in Burleson.
Tomorrow the for sale sign is going in our front yard.
Saturday I'm going to a job fair to look for a new job.

This whole moving thing is starting to become VERY VERY real.

Need to do? Nesting? or Just Procrastination?

I feel this crazy need to do stuff around our house all the time. I'm talking about cleaning stuff out, rearranging, getting organized type stuff. Things that have been in a certain place since we moved in suddenly need to be moved. Closets that I never open suddenly need to be purged of whatever is in there anyway.

Now honestly, most of the stuff needs to get done so that we can put our house on the market next week. But some of it is kind of irrational....for example, we got our baby furniture last week. We didn't buy bedding yet because 1) we don't know the baby's gender and 2) now that we're moving I'm not going to create a cute neutral nursery for just a few weeks. So, Josh and I decided that it would be best to just not create a nursery until we get to the new placce. The baby has an awesome bassinet that it will sleep in for the first few months. But, I really want to go get something to put in that crib!! Part of my brain says that a crib with a mattress, sheet and dust ruffle will look nicer to potential buyers but the other part of my brain questions why I would spend money on something that is just for show at this point?? I'm not sure if this is motivated by the need to have the house look nice or if it is the fact that I'm almost 30 weeks pregnant so I could be starting into that whole nesting phase.

I also have a 20 minute presentation about compensatory education looming and need to work on another presentation and paper about effective staff development as well. Plus, I need to go to the bookstore and get the book I'm suppose to read for class next Wednesday. So, it could totally be procrastination. In the past I've been so good about putting stuff off until the last minute but I'm not sure how many minutes I'm going to have free with working my current job and trying to find a new job in the midst of all these grad school projects.

Well, whether it is moving pressure, nesting or procrastination I'd better stop blogging and get a move on since that book store closes at 2pm and it's in Arlington.

So long Explorer....

Well, we traded in the explorer last night. It was exciting and sad at the same time. I bought the explorer over Easter weekend my senior year in college. It replaced the teal cavalier which was awesome....oh wait, not so much. The explorer was a luxury car compared to the cavalier and I've loved driving it for the past 5+ years. Yes, it has problems--a dent in the side we never got fixed, a leaky transmission, no cruise control, a smoking stearing column (we did get that fixed)--but it was mine and I loved it.
Josh did not feel the same way about it though.

We've known for a while that we had to get rid of the explorer. It is a two door and trying to get a baby carrier car seat in the back would've been ridiculous. Honestly there were a few tears and I was a little sad....

Until I drove my new car home! It's the first new car I've ever owned and I love it. More pics of the mom ride (it has 4 doors!) to come....

Sad puppy...

Monty had to have a little cyst removed from his side last week. He's fine now but he had to wear the E-collar for two days....and he was so sad about it. He would just stand still most of the time...and when he did try to run around he'd hit the walls and furniture. It was so so sad.

I thought this pic pretty much summed up how Monty felt about the whole situation.

He was pretty happy though when he got to take his medicine wrapped in cheese.

3 trips to Lowes equals 1 productive Sunday

Josh and I made 3 trips to Lowe's this weekend. Well, we made one trip together and then each made a trip solo.

And here's what we got:
Trip #1: We went to Lowe's on Saturday night (because we're cool and romantic like that!). We picked up two quarts of white paint....different whites though...one for the kitchen cabinets and one for the ceiling in the hallway. We got some special cleaner for the deck around our hot tub and a pump thing to spray it on with. We also got some samples of deck stain to try out on our deck as well.

Trip #2: After church on Sunday I ran to back to Lowe's to pick up a gallon of the deck stain that seemed to match best.

Trip #3: Josh went back to Lowe's to pick up some stuff to fix the light in his closet.

So, what did we do with all this stuff???

Well, Sunday my parents came over to spend the day and we put them to work. We prepped the deck around the hot tub to be restained. We didn't stain it because of impending rain (but my mom and dad promised to come back later this week). My dad touched up some of the areas of our cabinets that were missing paint in spots. He also used the ceiling paint to touch up the hallway where I managed to get brown paint on the ceiling while attempting to paint the walls last summer. Dad and Josh worked together to replace the light in Josh's closet. We cleaned off all the patio furniture and made it look nice and spiffy for Spring.

Originally the plan was for my parents to come over for Spring Break and help get the nursery ready. The furniture comes tomorrow!! But we've decided to not paint the nursery at all....instead we've decided to put our house on the market and move to the other side of the metroplex due to Josh's job. He's currently driving over an hour each way to work and that stinks.
So, if you know anyone who wants to buy a 4 bedroom, 3 bathroom ranch style home in Fort Worth let me know!!

Thanks so much to my mom and dad for coming over to help us. We had fun and things look great.

We also hung up a painting Josh's parents gave us for Christmas and it is unbelievable how great it looks. Gwen, I can't wait for you to come up and see it in the dining room. It is perfect!!

**I would post some pics but it is a yucky day today....maybe once the deck is totally finished and the nursery furniture arrives.

Baby bump....

So we got the digital camera...so I guess we should put it to good use. Here's me and Baby Weems at 27 weeks. Maybe for our next picture I'll throw on some make-up :)

Wedding Weekend...

EMILY and MATT got married. We had so much fun this weekend attending Matt and Emily's wedding. Matt and I have know each other since the 6th grade and Emily was a Chi Omega with me at Baylor. It is so fun to see these two worlds come together. Matt is one of the greatest and funniest guys I know and if you've ever met Emily then you know she is one of a kind as well. I'm so happy these two found each other...thanks to Carole's matchmaking skills!!!



This is Carole (who's been my friend since we were 14) and she was listed in Matt and Emily's wedding program as "Matchmaker." (She was also singing at the wedding.) Anyway, a few years ago Carole set up a group "hang out" time so that Matt and Emily could meet. Who knew that all of us hanging out at Snuffer's would eventually turn into a perfect match!!
I forgot to tell Josh to take a picture of all the Chi Omegas who were there but here are some of the high school friends: (Marcy, we missed y'all!)



And here are Mr. and Mrs. Matt Mulkey right before they took off for a fun filled honeymoon and a new life together...

Let it Snow...

This was the house we came home to this evening after work. Gotta love Texas in March. I'm sure my neighbors thought I was crazy as I crept carefully across the street to get this pic....I was being very cautious because it was damp and icy...and well I've already fallen and broken my tooth once :)

Blame it on the squirrel....

So, I got home from work and Josh mentioned that there had been a power outage and we couldn't drink the water....a quick google search explained:


FORT WORTH, Texas — A squirrel is blamed for an electrical outage in Fort Worth that affected thousands of customers and prompted a boil-water advisory for parts of the city.

Oncor spokeswoman Carol Peters says the rodent Friday got into a substation and made a connection between two high-voltage points, causing an arc.

Peters told The Associated Press that the transformer sensed the surge, caused by the now-deceased squirrel, and shut down.

Service was interrupted to about 10,000 customers and two Fort Worth water department pumping stations. Electricity was restored within one hour.

Residents of southwest Fort Worth, mainly south of Interstate 20, were advised to boil their water before drinking it, or using it to cook or make ice, until likely early Saturday.
___

Am I a bad person because the now-deceased squirrel sentence cracked me up?? I guess you could say he went out in a blaze of glory.

6 months already....

So, suddenly I look up and find that I'm six months pregnant. The image that best describes my life right now is plate spinning. My plate isn't just full....there are several of them spinning in motion and I must keep them all spinning. (Thanks Carol S for providing me with this image weeks ago in reference to a totally different situation. I want to give credit where credit is due.)

Anyway, so suddenly I'm six months pregnant and I realize all the things I "need" to do before this baby gets here....and while I still have three months I also know those months will be filled with work and grad school and other things too. During the two years we tried to get pregnant I thought a lot about making a baby scrapbook. So many of my friends have these cute pregnancy scrapbooks instead of traditional baby books. I love them. I've thought and thought about how I want to do one.....but I have yet to do anything. This really shouldn't shock anyone though since the last scrapbook I did was for my senior year in high school--and I didn't even finish out the whole year...I think it stops in about March or April.

I want to make a cute, simple scrapbook that details this time in our lives though.....from the first picture:

to the pics of how we told my parents, the ultrasounds, a page about me (the mommy) and Josh (the daddy), pics of my growing belly, baby showers and of course the hospital pics for once this little miracle arrives.

The truth is that I don't even really know where to begin scrapbooking though. I guess I need to get a scrapbook and some paper.....but otherwise I have no idea how to attach all the stuff or what the current trends in scrapbooking are...

If you are a scrapbook queen and would allow me to come and peer at your creations and learn how to do this then that would be awesome. Let me know and I'll clear a place on a plate...I mean, a place in my schedule and come be inspired.

Slight delay on the pics....

Something got messed up with my camera order online so the delivery of the camera will be displayed until next week....keep holding that breath!!

Guess what I did today???

Well, several times I've posted about my lack of pictures on this blog...or I've been really excited when I've been able to post pictures of something. But today we FINALLY took the leap and ordered a new digital camera. It has been a year and a half since ours stopped working. It just quit on me shortly after I came home from our Florida vacation and makes a weird noise when you rattle it. I wasn't really committed to having it fixed because I got it 5+ years ago and obviously digital camera technology has improved a lot since then.

I'm so excited. It should be here within a week of so. It is just a small Canon that a friend recommended but should meet our photography needs. In the meantime I need to develop our kodak disposable camera and get those pics put on CD so I can upload them. I've been using the same kodak camera since September so who knows what will be on there. My number 1 goal with my new camera is to take pictures more often. I've gotten out of the habit since our digital broke and I've let other people take over the picture taking duties because having to wind the camera up was just annoying.

So here is a list of some things I'll be taking pics of in the next few weeks:
1) Before shots of the nursery
2)My growing belly. Suddenly I'm looking pretty pregnant.
3) Matt and Emily's wedding. I'm so excited about this because one of my good friends from high school (Matt) is marrying one of the funnest girls I knew at Baylor (Emily)! It should be a great evening. (Yes, I know funnest isn't really a word but it is the best word to describe Emily Parker.)
4) Ava. Ava and more Ava. Did I mention that she turned six months old on Saturday? Did I mention that she's crawling everywhere?? Or that she almost gave my sister a heart attack by pulling up in her crib the other day???

I know you're on the edge of your seats now ;) Stay tuned.

Good as new, sort of....

Well, I went to the dentist today and he fixed the tooth. It looks good as new. The only problem is that the fix is really just temporary. He told me that when I come back for my next cleaning (which will be after the baby since I just went in January) that we'll discuss more permanent solutions such as a veneer.
For now I'm super happy though because I felt like the chip was just glaring out at people everytime I opened my mouth. Some people didn't notice at all of course but others asked me right away, "What did you do to your tooth?"
So now it is fixed and I can smile again without feeling like the world is looking at my tooth. YIPPEEE!!!

Fall down, Go Boom!!

So, last night our neighbors called and needed some help moving a couch. Josh and I headed over so I could chat while Josh helped move the couch. After quite a while chatting we walked back over to our house.
Our neighbors' driveway is raised up higher than ours. Since it was dark I misjudged the distance between the step I was on and the ground. I stepped off and lost my balance. I started the stumble forward and completely ate it. I imagine that I looked like a baseball player sliding into second...except I was sliding across the pavement of our driveway. My hands weren't very successful at breaking my fall but I did catch most of my weight with my front tooth.

Josh helped me up and we went inside. My jeans weren't torn but my knees were bruised. My hands were scraped up but not bleeding. My lip was swollen and my tooth is jaggedly chipped....but of course our real concern was about the baby. Sliding across cement on your belly isn't the best idea when you're 22 weeks pregnant.
We called the on call doctor and she told me I was probably fine but that I could come in and get checked out if I wanted. So, we headed down to the hospital. The main doors were locked so we had to enter through the emergency room....which is always interesting at 10pm on a Friday night. Due to construction the hospital is kind of crazy right now and it was quite a maze making our way up to labor and delivery. They put us in a room and asked me to put on a gown. The gown had these weird sleeves that had to be snapped and it took both Josh and I working together to figure out how to even put the dang thing on.

The nurse came in and set up the monitor....it seemed to take forever for her to find the baby's heartbeat. It probably took less than a minute but it felt like 20. I don't think I took a breath the entire time she was looking. Finally we heard that sweet sweet sound. The baby was really active and kept kicking the monitor. So, I got to lay in the comfortable hospital bed and listen to my baby for a while.
Then the doctor came in and said, "Everything is looking good but I thought we'd go ahead and check the baby out." And in rolled the portable sonogram machine. By now I was relieved that the baby was fine but it was exciting to be able to see our little one again. She got a great shot of the face and it was so clear. The baby was moving his/her hands and kicking his/her feet. The doctor seemed to be enjoying the sonogram just as much as Josh and I were so we got to watch the baby for quite a while. It was a pretty happy ending to a bad night.

So, despite my "flying leap" nothing was hurt but my pride....and my tooth. I am now banned from walking around in the dark which is probably for the best since I hear that clumsiness will only increase as my belly gets bigger.

It's a.....

SURPRISE!!!!
That's right. We didn't find out the gender. Yes, we didn't find out on purpose. We had discussed not finding with the first one if it was only one....and indeed the 7 week sonogram showed only 1 heart beating so it was settled.

At our 20 week sonogram we stayed strong and didn't find out. I thought we might crack from the suspense but by that point we'd told so many people we weren't finding out that we couldn't go back on our word. So, now we need to pick a girl name and a boy name. And find some cute neutral bedding. Is it sad that I think picking the names is actually going to be easier than picking the bedding and planning a neutral nursery??

Of course, with the sex of the baby a mystery we have all sorts guesses and wagers being made.....so, check out the pic from the sonogram below. Feel free to make your own predictions although my mom won't start gathering formal poll data for a few more weeks.

Time flies....

Time flies when you're having fun.....and working and going to grad school and just living life day in day out. I can't believe we're already 20 weeks along. Tomorrow I have a day off and another doctor's appointment. It's a big one with an ultrasound and everything!!! So, I'll have more pics to post tomorrow but for now here is one of my niece, Ava:

She is gumming this awesome wooden toy that was her favorite Christmas gift of all....and of course it was from her Aunt Yo-yo and Uncle Josh. She's five months old now and wants to crawl more than anything. We think she is amazing and the cutest baby ever.

Grad school again...

Grad school starts up again tomorrow night. I just finished my winter session last week and it was actually REALLY interesting. Seriously. It kind of shocked me how much I enjoyed the class, the professor, the other people, etc. Most important the stuff we learned seems like it will actually be stuff I use on the job if I ever become an assistant prinicpal.

The last night of winter session a guy in my class asked me if I'd looked for the books for the class I'm taking on Tuesday night. I replied, "No. That class doesn't start until 5 o'clock next Tuesday so I won't be thinking about it at all until 4 o'clock next Tuesday when I leave work to come to school." Geez. My life doesn't revolve around school....it didn't in undergrad and it doesn't in graduate school either. I do at least attend all the class meetings of my grad school classes. They are all at night so I don't have to worry about those pesky 8am or 9am classes like in undergrad.

How to win over your Mother in law....

Want to know how to win over your in-laws in one fail swoop?? Just bring your aggressive little schnauzer to their house and have him attack their four month old yorkie puppy.
That's right. Don't let that cute face fool you. If you've ever met Monty, then you knew it was only a matter of time before our little schnauzer ruined Christmas.

We brought Monty to Houston with us for Christmas. Monty has always gotten along well with my in law's dogs, Jackson (a huge lab) and Maggie (a schnoodle type mut). This year though my mother in law got a new dog. A sweet little yorkie puppy named Chester. Chester is about four months old and weighs less than 5 pounds. He is SO SO cute.

Well, during the initial dog "hellos"...which means the sniffing of rear ends and what not.....Chester batted Monty in the face with his little paw. Monty didn't like that at all and aggressively growled at Chester. Poor little Chester just ran away and tried to hide.

For the next day or so this is how things went....Monty would see Chester and growl and Chester would try to hide. We started trying to keep Monty contained to parts of the house away from Chester but alas....

Eventually Monty charged Chester and scared little Chester half to death....as he tried to run away either Monty or Jackson the lab stepped on Chester's leg and he let out the most awful scream. A trip to the emergency vet confirmed that Chester's leg was broken.


MY DOG BROKE MY MOTHER-IN-LAW'S DOG!!!!! THE DAY BEFORE CHRISTMAS EVE!!!!


I'm not sure if I've ever been so mortified in my entire life. His little leg was broken and he had to stay at the vet until he could have surgery on Wednesday. Now it is all wrapped up and he can't run around and play. It is so sad. Josh and I felt (and still feel) terrible.

I know if you've visited our house than the idea of Monty barking and growling at someone or something isn't really surprising. Josh is now making plans for Monty to endure some puppy boot camp training type of thing so that this aggressive streak can be fixed before Baby Weems arrives in June.

I think Monty keeps wondering why Santa Schnauzer didn't come visit him this year....and we keep telling him it is because he is nothing but naughty. He just gives us a confused look.

My mother-in-law while heartbroken was actually very gracious and calm about the whole situation. But I'm sure her feelings about Monty have changed and Jason and Hailey will get to be the favorite kids now (at least until June!!).

**Note: The picture in this post was actually taken last Christmas when we still thought Monty was sweet.

Did I forget to mention??

Oh yeah, by the way, I'm pregnant!!

We're so excited. We're so blessed. It was quite a journey to get here and Josh and I both have learned so much about the goodness of God in the good times and bad times. We can't wait to meet our sweet baby in June!

Maybe I should've paid attention...

Freshman year at Baylor I had to take a computer programming course. It was part of my major--elementary education. Other education majors didn't have to take this class....just the girls who wanted to teach math. I'm not sure why this was part of the requirement but it was.

So, I would walk all the way out to the computer science and engineering building for class. If you went to Baylor then you know this building is on the other side of the world from Collins Hall in more ways than one. I went to my intro to C++ class every day. This is significant because attending class really wasn't my thing in college. There was an attendance policy at Baylor but let me tell I took EVERY absence I was allowed....except in programming. (I actually missed a math class 15 times--that's 5 weeks of class...but that's another story.)

The programming class was taught in a lecture hall without computers. The professor would talk and we would write notes. I think there was a book to read too. Then we would go in the computer lab on our own time and write programs for assignments. This was the toughest class I took at Baylor because learning programming language is like learning a foreign language and it was all taught on Macs....and at the time I'd never used a Mac before so there were lots of issues there. It was also the toughest because classes like "Music for educators" and "Jesus at the Movies" just didn't quite tax the brain.

It was a frustrating semester because you can type hundreds of lines of code, forget one comma and BAM! the whole thing won't work. I remember writing one program that wouldn't run and none of the computer science majors who were in the lab could figure out my mistake. I took the program to my professor and he couldn't find the mistake either. This is the beauty of C++ programming. (Yes, I admit I took advantage of the boys majoring in computer science and sweet talked them into helping me. There weren't very many girls in the lab and they spent A LOT of time there because like I said these classes were hard.)

Anyway, today I've decided that I probably should've paid more attention in the class or done more work independently instead of in groups or with the computer guys I mentioned before because I cannot figure out the dang blogger code sometimes! It is so frustrating. I accidently deleted the links to other blogs I read and I've been trying to add them back but to no avail. I did add a nifty ticker but it's presence seems to be preventing me from adding the other links. Not to mention that I spent a good 15 minutes trying to add the ticker into the title part of my blog before just deciding to stick it into the links because it was easier.
I do know enough about code that I realize I'm probably just missing a / or < somewhere but who has time to look for the details...I mean, after all I'm at work.

So, Dr. Vargas maybe you were right in giving my the B+ when I argued in your office for an A....because if I'd truly deserved the A I would be able to add things to my blog without tearing my hair out.

If I used to link to you, don't worry I'm still reading your blog. You are on my bloglines and I love seeing bold names on bloglines.....so update, update, update!!

TGIF!!!

Ever have one of those days when you want to just put your head down on your desk......I've felt that way all week.

Long awaited photo....

Well, today I finally tracked down a photo of the infamous float from the Homecoming parade. The girls look extremely bored but this was taken in the parking lot before the parade actually started....we were waiting for over an hour for the parade to begin.

Anyway, it is a great shot of the "poles." I do love my girls but I won't miss the parade one bit next year.

Ughh... Oprah

I'm not a big Oprah fan. I know it is almost like un-womanly or un-American or something to say that but for lots of different reasons I'm just not a big fan. I mean it isn't a personal thing. I don't hate her or anything. I just don't usually enjoy her show.

Oprah does however encourage reading and sometimes picks some good books.....and she's picked some classics that I love like Their Eyes Were Watching God and Night. But now she has gone and done it....she has picked one of my favorite books of all time. I've been trying to get Josh to read Pillars of Earth for a while and he just hasn't seemed interested....he even teased me about buying the newest Ken Follet book (a follow up to Pillars of Earth) because it is about 1000 pages long and he doesn't know when I'll have time to read it let alone finish it with grad school and what not....anyway, well how am I going to convince him now that it is going to have the big Oprah seal on the front of it??? I'm pretty sure he doesn't want to seen trecking through the airports of America (mainly DFW and Hobby though) with an Oprah book. Maybe I can order a copy quick off of amazon before they print those big O's on them. Despite the fact that I love the book I don't own a copy because I borrowed it from my dad....hmmm, maybe he still has it.

Anyway, if you haven't read Pillars of the Earth I highly recommend picking it up. In fact, all of this talk about it has made me determined to start the sequel this weekend.

Side note: The version with the O on the cover is $5 more than the book without.

I forgot my camera the night of the parade but I've asked the cheer moms to send me any pics they have of the float. There were indeed poles but no one danced on them.....although it might've made the parade a little more interesting.

Saturday we went to Waco for the Baylor vs. Texas game. The highlight of the game (besides the few minutes when Baylor was actually ahead) was when we scored and the Baylor Line ran the flags down the field.....they spelled out B-E-Y-L-O-R. So much for those increased admissions standards. It was hilarious and pathetic at the same time.

Two weeks....Baylor Homecoming. Who's going??

So about those stripper poles....

Well, I made the phone call and it turns out there aren't any stripper poles. There are large pipes that are 4 feet in diameter and 6 feet tall. They are on the ends of the floats and no one will be dancing on them. These moms are into this float like Baylor frat boys....but the Burleson Homecoming Parade isn't quite the big deal that the Baylor one is....although last year's float was featured on the front page of the Burleson Star---we're big time!!

The float is indeed "Cougar Cat Dolls" and it is somehow based on the first Pussycat dolls video---which of course I've never seen. So, say a little prayer that we don't look like a bunch of teenage hoochies.

I wonder if googling "stripper poles" will pull up this blog. HA!!!

I bet you wish you had my job...

So, I'm the 7th grade cheerleading sponsor at our school. 99% of the time I love it....but days like tomorrow make me so glad this is my last year.

Tonight at the football game some moms approached me about our homecoming parade float....this year's theme is "Cougar Cat Dolls." I was a little worried about this because the Pussycat Dolls are kind of skanky (maybe more than kinda) but I figured the moms had it under control. Well, it turns out there is a rumor that there are "poles" on the float.....of the "Pole dancing" variety. HOLY CRAP!!

So, tomorrow morning I get to call the mom in charge of the float and ask her if there are stripper poles on the float that my 12 and 13 year old girls will be riding in front of the entire town. I'm pretty sure this conversation is going to be completely awkward and uncomfortable. I mean how do you nicely say, "Hey, are there stripper poles on the float?"

I bet you wish you had my job, don't you?

They call me Aunt Yo-yo!!!!

The beautiful and amazing Ava joined our family yesterday afternoon. She has a head full of dark hair and big blue eyes. We are all over the moon in love with her....I think my sister summed it up best last night with, "How can I be so in love with someone I didn't know existed a few days ago?"

Adoption is a beautiful thing. Ava's birthday is August 16th which is also the anniversary of when my sister was diagnosed with cancer 6 years ago.

We spent yesterday evening oohhing and ahhing over everything she did (which was mainly sleeping although there was a bath involved that didn't seem like much fun for Ava) and I miss her already. I'm so sad that I can't go back over there tonight because I have to work.

I can't wait to see her again!! Needless to say, Ava already has her Aunt Yo-yo and her Uncle Josh wrapped around her little finger.....

FYI....

Josh and I have season tickets to the Bears.....so if you're in Waco let me know and we'll meet up at the game. Or maybe we can eat at the Elite Cafe (did you know they redid it??) if the game isn't good. Next week I am dragging Josh to Spice beforehand because I love that place. :)

Sic Em Bears!!

Josh and I are headed to our first Baylor game of the season this weekend. We are now season ticket holders so we will probably attend 5-7 games this year. Obviously we love the Bears since we are going to trek out in the hot afternoon sun on Saturday to see them play TCU....the Bears are 26 point underdogs and attend other games where there will be various degrees of slaughter.

Josh and I are hoping that a miracle will occur and Baylor will beat TCU on Saturday. Being a Baylor grad and living in Fort Worth is tough because TCU people LOVE to talk about how they deserve to be in the Big 12 and Baylor doesn't. Grrrrr!

I'm excited about this weekend because our good friends, Brian and Amanda Toogood, are coming as well as Jason and Hailey and Josh's aunt Beth and his cousins Margaret and Peyton. I'm excited about hanging out....although it also means that I'm going to have to clean the house.

Sic Em Bears!!

The First Days of School

The school year is officially underway. Kids are back. They are in the classrooms and I'm.....well, I'm not.

I had a first day of school but I wasn't in my classroom playing my two favorite back to school games or explaining some basic procedures including what to do if you need to throw up.***
I was in my office working on schedules and going over TAKS scores to identify at-risk kids. It was kind of weird but wonderful at the same time. It is weird because I am realizing that I'm not going to have relationships with kids the way I use to. But wonderful because I like what I'm doing, I'm not stressed and I'm not too terribly jaded yet. Plus, I'm working on my administrative internship for grad school....and about half of what I do for my job will count. Woohoo!!

***About the throwing up thing: I get grossed out easily and would never want a kid to throw up in my class. All good teachers know that at the beginning of the year you go over your procedures and have the kids practice them multiple times. Well, I always spend the first day practicing the throwing up procedure. 1) Jump up out of your chair. 2) Run across the room. 3) Grab the trash can 4) Step into the hallway and vomit. It is silly and fun and helps the nervous little 6th graders relax. And when a new kid arrives later in the year someone is always eager to show them the other procedures (getting their folders, where the bathroom passes are, etc) because they know they'll get to demonstrate the vomitting procedure. Plus, it is pretty memorable when your teacher talks about throwing up on the first day of school. I'm not sure if this is what Harry Wong had in mind but it is fun and I've only had one kid throw up in my class in 5 years.....and that was a complicated issue.

Last Day of Summer. What a bummer!

Today is my last day of summer. I officially go back to work tomorrow. Although I have been at school on and off all summer it is different once it is "official." I have inservice the rest of the week and orientation for the kids on Saturday. Then we'll start the school year off with a bang on Monday, August 27th. It is weird because this is my first school year to not have a classroom of kids to prepare for. There is still a ton of work to do but it is a different type of work. In fact, I have more to prepare for inservice week then for the first few days of school.

In honor of this last day of summer I treated myself to a manicure/pedicure. The girl asked me if I wanted a flower put on my toe. I didn't really understand what she asked but said yes anyway. I look down from my magazine moments later and she is putting little white dots on my big toe. I figure "What the heck." It is summery and I know it will impress my cheerleaders at practice tomorrow. I'm all about being down with the 7th grade crowd. (Kidding!).

I also have a doctor's appointment today because I have to squeeze everything in before school starts. Actually I make a big list of "to do's" at the beginning of the summer.....and then try to get them all done during the last week.....so I also have a ton of errands to do that are probably not going to get completely.

I still need to pick out an outfit to wear tomorrow too.....the attire for inservice is "casual--no shorts" but I'm giving a presentation and I have a feeling that my boss will be wearing "professional attire." So, I guess I should dress for the job I want.

HAPPY LAST DAY OF SUMMER!!!

I have the best husband....

I am in love with my husband. He's awesome. He came home tonight after being away on business all week. So what did we do to celebrate his return???? We went to DSW and I got 3 pairs of shoes for work (good thing they sent me that $10 off coupon). Josh didn't watch me try on shoes most of the time....he went and looked in the men's section. But still, I took longer than he did and he was such a good sport.
Then we went out to eat Mexican food.
Shoe shopping and Mexican food.....what a perfect evening!!!

Disclaimer: I am totally in love with my husband for at least 1000 other reasons too!!

Pics not possible...

Well I would post a pic of my new hair but we don't have a camera. All the Simpsons pics were taken with my sister's camera and we had to borrow my parents' camera when we went to Belize. We actually needed a camera last Christmas when we were in Boston so we took one of the disposable ones from Josh's firm's Christmas party and used it as our personal camera.....there were some pics of people we didn't know at the beginning of the roll....but the rest was all us and the beautiful city of Boston.

I have a digital but it broke last summer while we were in Florida....something inside it is rattling and it won't turn on. I've been lazy and haven't taken it to be fixed. We keep discussing our need for a new one but we were waiting for the right time (right time translates to when we get pregnant) and who knows when that will be!!

Anyway, sometimes I think I just want a good digital camera that is small but then I see my friends (like Emily P and Meredith) with their nice cameras and I think about all the great pics Brittney took in college with her nice camera and I think maybe I need one of those.....for those you who don't know Em, Meredith and Brittney: a nice camera equals one with a big lens on the front that you turn to zoom and where you have to press the button half way down to focus and then all the way down to take the pic. (See, I was listening!!) I don't really know a ton about pictures so getting a fancy camera might do me more harm than good. Maybe I'll go spend some time at Wolf Camera asking the guys there about it.....or maybe I'll just run to CVS, get a disposable and get a picture CD when I get the pics developed.....yes, I still get pics "developed" because you can't just print from those $7 kodak throw away cameras.

So now here is the response part (if you got this far): If you have a camera that you like, tell me about it!!!

Fun times.

I taught another workshop this morning. It was fun....mainly because I had already done the workshop twice before so it required no preparation and I got paid. Woohoo!!

Tonight we are just hanging out. We'll go out to eat because I can't cook on Fridays (or Sunday afternoons or Wednesdays because of church or any night when I have football or a grad school class.....so basically one night a week tops....no wonder we're both gaining so much weight) and maybe we'll rent some movies. Josh has been out of town all week so it will be nice to just hang out at home.

Tomorrow we're going over to my mom's to go swimming. I love my parents' backyard. Basically last summer my parents' took a cue from "Pimp My Ride" and "pimped" their backyard. The pool is amazing....sometimes it makes me sad that it wasn't like that when we actually lived there....maybe I would've learned to swim. :)

I got my haircut yesterday and it is the shortest it has been in about 5 years....I'm still adjusting and trying to figure out how to fix it. Overall I like it but it won't go into a ponytail at all anymore so I'm not sure what I'm going to do when I go the gym...because I've commited to going to the gym on a regular basis now.

On a side note: Shannon, the girl who cuts my hair, does a great job and she's located in Frisco for all you friends who live over in the Dallas area. And don't say that Frisco is a trek from where you live.....I know. I live in Fort Worth.

Today kinda sucked.

Today kind of sucked for three reasons:

1) Josh is away on business.

2) I got dressed to take Monty for a walk and got him all excited about it by saying things like "Get your leash" and "Let's go on a walk" until his tail was wagging so fast that I'm surprised his butt didn't fall off.....but alas, I can't find his leash anywhere. How in the world do you lose a dog leash?? How many places could it possibly be?? Honestly, we don't walk Monty all that often so I'm not even sure about the last time we used the leash.

And here's the doozy:
3) I had to go to work yesterday and today. Yesterday I worked in my office and today I taught a seminar. Anyway, waking up before 7am and working all day just drives home how amazing summer is....and makes me so sad that it is almost over. Ahh....summer.

However, I'm doing nothing tomorrow and going to the pool Thursday and then having my hair done....so the week will get better!! Woohoo!!

Kwik-E-Mart

Well, as y'all know Josh and I love the Simpsons!! We named our schnauzer Monty after Montgomery Burns from the show. Anyway, this past weekend we went to the Kwik-E-Mart in Dallas with my sister and her husband. We had so much fun. Here are the pics: (Yes we took pictures at a 7-11....don't judge us!)

We are so blessed.

We are so blessed. We are members of the best "small" group ever. I put the word small in quotations because there were 22 adults and 4 kids at our house last night so the group isn't exactly small. (We were also missing 4 members.) We ate and caught up with what everyone has been doing since summer has flung our group far and wide.

The best part was when we finally all got settled in the living room for the Bible study part. Nick, our group's leader, asked if anyone wanted to open us in prayer. Harrison volunteered. Harrison is four years old and this was his first time at small group because his parents are just staying in town while stateside for a few months. But he is a bold little boy and Harrison opened us up with the sweetest prayer I have ever heard. He thanked the Lord for being able to worship Him and for all the people who were there. I wish I had had a tape recorder.

We are looking forward to getting to know Harrison and his parents and sisters better during their time in the states.

Today I met the mailman

Today the doorbell rang around 12:15pm. I've been working on my paper and presentation for my grad school class all morning so I'm still in my PJs. So I open the door and there is my mailman. He says, "Did you know the price of stamps went up?"
Actually I did but the stamps I have don't have numbers on them so I thought you could keep using them....he says no....and although he's the mailman and does this for a living I still think I'm right. He says he's been mailing the letters anyway and they've been going through....I figure that I've got 6 stamps with Lady Liberty and no number on them so I'll keep mailing stuff with them.

When I shut the door I caught a glimpse of myself in our mirror in the foyer....nice. I'm sure the mailman was totally impressed by my old Chi O t shirt, my pajama pants and my nice "I was sleeping and then working on a paper" hair do.

Lunch with Friends

My sweet friends Sharee and Jessica came over to my neck of the woods for lunch yesterday. Jessica brought her little girl Emmy and we had such a good time.

We went to Lucille's, a Fort Worth favorite and Sharee's friend from childhood, Hailey, met us for lunch too. It was so fun to just hang out like old times.

The Quest for the Perfect Coffee Table...

We've been on the quest for the perfect coffee table since we bought our house, which means I've been searching for a year and a half. We are currently using the same coffee table Josh had before we were married. It is functional but it is also from IKEA and our dog chewed it a little as a puppy. For those of you who haven't stopped by our home, here is a pic:
I found a great one when we first started looking but had a REALLY REALLY bad experience with the sales woman and the manager. Long story short, when we went to close the deal on a sectional these actual words came out of the managers mouth: "You're young and I'm not sure if you've bought quality furniture before." For the Baylor grads out there, the saleswoman reminded me of Dr. Curry for the curriculum class. UGH!!
Anyway, I haven't been able to find it at another store but here is the pic:

Then we went to Stacy's furniture. Everyone in the DFW metroplex knows the commerical slogan that "If you aren't shopping with Stacy, then you're burning money." Of course we don't want to burn money. There we found a coffee table which might be the one. It is HUGE but it is also the perfect height to sit at while we eat dinner...which is a major plus in a coffee table since we eat at the coffee table a lot more than our kitchen or dining room tables.
So what do you think??

Driving without contacts = Bad!!

Today on the way home from class and I experienced one of the scariest things that has ever happened to me. I had just exited the highway and was sitting at a red light on the service road. My eyes were a little dry and itchy so I rubbed them both. When I opened my eyes my vision was a little blurry.....for those of you who wear contacts you know this isn't too unusual when you rub your eye for your contact to get messed up.....but then,
BOTH OF THE CONTACTS FELL OUT OF MY EYES!!!! AT THE SAME TIME!!!

Now, I've worn contacts since 1993 and can count on one hand how many times a lens has popped out of eye. So I turned the corner and pulled into my neighborhood was able to pull over and tried to find the contacts. I could only find one and when I tried to put it in I dropped it again. I was searching everywhere but couldn't find them. So I continued to drive home, squinting through the pouring rain because I couldn't see a thing!!! To tell you how blind I am, I passed three stop signs and could make out the red octagon but the word never came into focus!!

I did make it home safely and somehow managed to even park the car in the garage without incident. Praise the Lord that I was close to home when this happened because I don't know what I would've done if this had happened to me on the highway.

I finished...

I finished Harry Pottery Sunday afternoon around 1pm. Josh hasn't even started reading yet but of course I'm dying to discuss. So, if you've finished and you need to talk about it....call me!!

I married Harry Potter.

Yesterday, Josh went to Baton Rouge for work. In the airport a woman asked him, "Has anyone ever told you that you look like Harry Potter?"

Then later when the flight attendant was giving the safety briefing and when he finished he looks at Josh and then says, "We have Harry Potter on the plane tonight." He has experienced several incidents like this....especially with all the "Harry Hype" going on right now.

It is just the dark hair and glasses and the lightening bolt scar on his forehead (kidding!). Personally I think Josh is cuter than Daniel Radcliffe (who plays Harry Pottery) but I might be a little biased. :)

I keep trying to convince Josh to throw on his graduation robes and let me draw a little purple lightening bolt on his forehead and go out in public. Wouldn't that be fun???

However, he told me that it is crazy that people dress up to go buy their Harry Potter books.....so we will be waiting at home on Saturday for the mailman to bring ours.

I don't think I'll finish reading it Saturday though because we have Matt & Emily's engagement party that night. It will give me a good excuse to avoid studying or working on my final project for my grad school class.

I thought that I liked school....

I thought that I liked school....but as I start graduate classes I realize that I really liked the fun part of undergrad---eating in Memorial with all my friends, walking around campus, hanging out, wearing the same tshirt as 200 other girls on the same day (this is such a Baylor thing by the way).

Now that I'm back in school it is all coming crashing back how I sat in the back of classes and slept or worked on other stuff while the professors talked. Or how I was late for almost EVERY meeting of my curriculum design class....it started at 8am on MWF and lasted for two hours....the entire course contained only about two weeks of useful material so I still made an A despite arriving at 8:15-8:20 every morning. I remember skipping all my classes when a big project was due at 5pm.....and just working on it all day.

But now I'm really doing school. I have papers to write and books to read. My school district will reimburse part of my tutition if I get good grades....so I'm motivated to get some money back since we are trying to do this without loans.
It isn't all bad though. I am taking two classes--one on Monday nights and one on Thursday nights. I LOVE LOVE LOVE my Thursday night class. I hate Monday nights....so I'm batting 500....not too bad.
And I keep trying to focus on the positive side that I'm only taking one class in the fall and then maybe a wintermester and I'll have 12 hours done by the end of the year. Woohoo!

I forgot how good I was at procrastinating!!!!

I should be writing a paper for my Foundation of Educational Policy class but I'm not. I haven't been for quite a while. I'm forgot how good I am at procrastinating and now I'm just amazed at myself. It is 10:45pm and I've been back here in the office most of the night.....I have almost 2 pages written but I've also checked all the blogs I like to read, read some message boards on The Nest, checked out cnn.com and done a little "window shopping" on Coach.com.

The paper is due Monday night....so I guess I still have some time....although it is difficult to write mainly because I'm bored to tears. The topic: Political Agendas in Education. I had to read a book about it and now I have to write a book review. Did you know a book review is different than a book report??? A book report is much easier by the way. Anyway, I had originally planned to finish the paper tonight so I could work in the yard tomorrow.....but it looks like I'll be back in here typing after church. Woohoo!!

Happy 4th Anniversary to us!!

Woohoo!!! Today is our 4th Anniversary.....but Josh had to work today and I had class from 5-9pm so we are actually celebrating tomorrow. Here is what we will do to celebrate:

--eat at some point this week off of our china
--drink champagne while we watch our wedding video

This is what we do every year. However, this morning I woke up to find a dozen roses on my kitchen table and a sweet card from Josh. He woke up early and got them before he went to work. Isn't he great??

You'd better Belize It....

Well, we've been back from Belize for a few weeks and I'm just now getting around to posting the pictures. It turns out that grad school is a little more time consuming than I thought.
Anyway, Belize was amazing. It was probably the best vacation we've ever been on. The country is beautiful and the people are friendly. We had so much fun relaxing, snorkeling and exploring.

This is a picture we took of ourselves our first day in Belize. Please notice how incredibly pale we both are. The next day we would spend 2 hours snorkelling and return to the resort redder than red. It was a bad sunburn....like I can't sit down or wear pants bad.....however, the snorkel trip was so amazing that it was totally worth it.


This is the front of the casita we stayed in. It was our own little thatched roof house for the week. It was amazing. So amazing that I told Josh if we ever build a custom home I want a master bathroom just like the casita's....


We spent a great deal of time on these chairs under this umbrella---especially after the sunburn. This was directly in front of our little casita.



We went on a tour and they told us we had to ride across a river on a ferry.....we were quite surprised when we realized this was the ferry. The guy standing on it just turned a crank to pull the boat across the river.

Exploring Belize....

We spent an entire day in Belize exploring the Mayan Ruins in the western part of the country. Our first stop was Xunantunich. This is El Castillo--the 2nd tallest structure in Belize.


And here's the view from the top: (if you look closely I think that is Guatemala out there)


This is the side of the El Castillo temple. We learned a lot about Mayan culture that day. Long story short, it was pretty brutal.


We also checked out the ruins at Cahal Pech. These ruins were smaller but had more passageways and little rooms to explore. One of the families on the tour had a 13 year old son who loved taking pics. He volunteered to take several for us and it was kind of like having our own personal vacation version of Flash.


This is a Mayan ball court. The losers were sacrificed but sometimes so were the winners. Fun, huh??

Leaving Belize...

Here is Josh getting on the plane that took us from Dangriga back to Belize City for the American flight home. It sat about 14 people and flew about 500 feet off the ground.....which sounded scary until we did it and then it was awesome.
We were sad to leave Belize and head back to the real world.....I think Josh was the saddest since he had to go to work the next day.

SPAMALOT!!

Tonight we went to see Spamalot with my sister and her husband. One word: HILARIOUS!! We laughed so hard. I think I might have forgotten how funny the movie was in the first place. But the musical had it all--singing, dancing, a black knight, terrible taunts by the French and of course the Knights Who Say "Ni."

You must go see it if you get the chance.....but if it isn't coming to a city near you than you can just watch the movie and laugh all over again.

I'm off to find a shurbery!

Our second honeymoon....

Our bags our packed, Monty is at my mom's and we're ready to head to Belize!!! I'm so excited. Five days of laying in hammocks, exploring Mayan ruins, snorkelling and getting tan!! (Hopefully, it is the rainy season in the rain forest though so I might come back just as pale as I am now.) Some people think you aren't suppose to go on a second honeymoon until you've been married a long time but we think 4 years is long enough.
I'll be sure to post pictures when we return!!!

Woohoo!! I love vacation!!

4 1/2 more days of work

This year has flown by. It is weird to think that there are only 4 1/2 more days of school left before summer. I am excited but also a little sad. I'm not really saying good bye to kids now that I'm working in the office but it will be weird not seeing my work friends on a daily basis. I don't know how I'll eat lunch without Maurie and Heather. The other people in the office actually work a longer contract than I do at this point.....so they'll be up at school without me. I will probably have to stop by to hang out a little.

Of course I have a lot planned for this summer----2 classes toward my master's, cheer camp, youth camp (yes, I'm 27 and still go to camps), our dream vacation, finding the perfect coffee table, touching up the paint in our hallways, tons of other projects around the house, etc.

I actually have a list of stuff to do....it's the "After May 25th list"....I can't wait to get started.

It's May! It's May!

It's May. Despite the rain showers and tornado warnings I love May....because it means summer is coming. Woohoo!!! 15 school days left.
Of course summer won't be totally a blow off this year because I'm actually going back to school this summer to start working on my master's in Educational Leadership. Fun times, right?

Actually, with 15 school days left I'd better stop blogging and get to work.