Getting closer

We now have cabinets, electrical covers, recessed lights, ac units and tile in the house! Wahoo!!! Rumor has it that we could be in by Feb. 27th. I hope so!! We still have many decisions to make such as lights and fixtures. We did knock out granite and appliances (kinda) this weekend. Hopefully we can stay on track, get moved, and have you all over for a party!!

Check out some tile pictures.

Kitchen
Jack and Jill bath
Half bath
Master bath shower
Indoor fireplace
And some cabinet pictures...
Kitchen
Bar upstairs

A good laugh...in honor of my long weekend

A friend sent this to me and I had to laugh. Hope you enjoy it too!

HOW DO YOU KNOW YOU ARE A TEACHER?
by Jeff Foxworthy

1. You can hear 25 voices behind you and know exactly which one belongs to the child out of line.

2. You get a secret thrill out of laminating something.

3. You walk into a store and hear the words "It's Ms. Mr. ________" and know you have been spotted.

4. You have 25 people that accidentally call you Mom/Dad at one time or another.

5. You can eat a multi-course meal in under twenty-five minutes.

6. You've trained yourself to go to the bathroom at two distinct times of the day: lunch and recess.

7. You start saving other people's trash, because most likely, you can use that toilet paper tube or plastic butter tub for something in the classroom.

8. You believe the teachers' lounge should be equipped with a margarita machine.

9. You want to slap the next person who says "Must be nice to work 8 to 3 and have summers off."

10. You believe chocolate is a food group.

11. You can tell if it's a full moon without ever looking outside.

12. You believe that unspeakable evils will befall you if anyone says "Boy, the kids sure are mellow today."

13. You feel the urge to talk to strange children and correct their behavior when you are out in public.

14. You believe in aerial spraying of Ritalin.

15. You think caffeine should be available in intravenous form.

16. You spend more money on school stuff than you do on your own children.

17. You can't pass the school supply aisle without getting at least five items!

18. You ask your friends if the left hand turn he just made was a "good choice or a bad choice."

19. You find true beauty in a can full of perfectly sharpened pencils.

20. You are secretly addicted to hand sanitizer and finally,

21. You understand instantaneously why a child behaves a certain way after meeting his or her parents.

Busy Weekend

We have been running around all weekend trying to pick out tile for the new house. I think we have made the needed decisions. This week they are supposed to pour the sidewalk, begin laying tile, and begin the cabinet installation. We are about 6-8 weeks from finishing. Very exciting! Check out the newest pictures.

Here is the interior paint in the great room.


This is the ceiling in the master bedroom. It is symmetrical to the great room.


Here is the insulation in the attic.


Have a great week and call us up to see the house!

Life is not fair

I post this with a heavy heart today....life is not fair. Why you ask? Today was the day my college roommate buried her mother. That is just not fair. I can't even begin to fathom the grief and pain she is experiencing. Today is also the day I learned that a beloved co-worker is facing a battle with ovarian cancer. That's not fair either. I can't imagine how scary that must be. Certainly puts my problems in perspective. Please keep both Miranda and Cathy in your prayers.....

A New Year

We are excited to begin a new year! Progress on the house continues and we are still hoping to be in by February. We were out today to see the paint and the attic insulation that was completed over Christmas. There are still lots of decisions to be made but hopefully they will be easy and we can hurry and move in.

Joel is going to the National Championship game on Monday. He actually has a ticket this year. I just hope it is worth the money he spent! Hopefully he will take some pictures for me to post this next week. We will see!

Finally, in celebration of a new year, we have started a new blog. It will chronicle our struggle in starting a family while trying to follow God's path for us (it is also linked over on the left). We will continue this blog too so hope you enjoy them both!

Happy 2008 and may God's blessings surround you!

A Few of My Favorite Things

Christmas is in full swing...at least in our lives. Here a few of my favorite images from the past couple of days. Enjoy and may you be blessed this holiday season!

Here are the cookies I made for my co-workers gifts. They are fun to make and everyone loves them!

Here is part of my class as we celebrated Christmas in England.

Here is the "gang". They are driving me bonkers this week but I still have to laugh at them! After all as Katharine Hepburn said, "If you obey all the rules you miss all the fun."

Home Sweet Home, The Big 3-0, the House and Signing Santa

That's right. It's been almost a month since I last posted. Thus there are several topics to catch up on.
First, Joel did make it home and is feeling great so far. We were blessed to be able to go to my parents house for Thanksgiving. We were even further blessed by snow in the Panhandle! It was cold but fun to see our first snow of the season. Rumor has it we will be in for more at Christmas in Ohio!

The week after Thanksgiving, we celebrated my 30th birthday! It started with a party at school (Thanks Rebekah!!) and continued into the weekend. We had a party at a winery close to the new house. It was so much fun to see all our friends and hang out. My parents came down which was so nice. My mom saved the day by helping with and cleaning up the food. Thanks mom!! I had an amazing time, ate some fantastic cake and enjoyed all the fabulous conversations. So far the big 3-0 is treating me well.




As far as the house, the progress is continuing. Since the last post, they have dry walled and textured, hung the interior doors, buried the septic and propane tanks, hung the garage doors, and leveled the land. We even have a mailbox and house number!They are supposed to paint and do baseboards/crown molding in the next two weeks. After Christmas we will be about 6 weeks from moving in. Crazy but very exciting.








Finally, we got to take the kids to see the signing Santa this last week. It is always so much fun to see their faces light up when they realize Santa can understand what they want for Christmas. I love going!!


Have a great week and finish that Christmas shopping! It's here before you know it!

Not so fun

Check out where we've been for the last 2.5 days. That's right....Joel has an infection in his intestines and has been on high dose steroids. We were hoping to come home today, but it got pushed back to tomorrow. Hopefully we will be home and get settled for a time before we leave for Thanksgiving.

Playing Hooky

It has been a long time since I've stayed home from work when I wasn't sick. Today was one of those few days. I did have good reason (a doctor's appointment) but I still feel as though I'm playing hooky. What a great feeling! I know my kids are in good hands, my appointment went well, and it is a beautiful day outside. What more could one as for. A guilt free day off....okay maybe I still have a little guilt!

We checked on the house this weekend and this is what we found...

Beautiful! They are almost finished bricking and are hopefully starting dry wall this week. Can't wait to see the walls go up. As you can see, they've finished the electrical, plumbing and pest control systems and they've treated for termites. They also poured the driveway. Fun stuff!


Here is what will surely be Woody's favorite part (and maybe ours too!).

Have a great week and get ready for turkey day....it's sneaking up on us!

Catching up

As was pointed out several times this weekend, I have been absent from the blog world for a while. Sometimes that happens with work, the house, and crazy weekends. So this is my effort to catch up.

The house is coming along nicely (minus the brick fiasco). We were out there today with our friends Henri and Allison. They have finished the electrical, the plumbing, the HVAC, and have started bricking. They have also installed both fireplaces. This week they will start drywall (hopefully!) and will finish bricking. They have also laid the path for the driveway so hopefully that will get poured this week.

Here is one of two HVAC units

Here is the shingled roof.

And the frame for the driveway.

The beginnings of the bricking process.

Margo hanging out on one of the brick pallets.


As mentioned previously, work included several field trips in October. We went to the pumpkin patch (which I have no pics of because I forgot my camera!), the fair, and Old City park. As you can tell from the pics the kids had a blast.


This weekend I helped host a baby shower for Holly. It was so much fun to see her and her belly! Even better was the fact Aimee got to come down from OK for it! It was fun to see her and catch up. Hopefully Holly (or in reality Justin) will post some pictures on her blog so you can see the fun we had. It was nice to have a reminder that this road we have been on will be worth it all in the end. Thanks Holly!

That seems to be all from our corner of the world. I will try to to be better about updates because I know you are all anxious to see the progress on the house (or at least you pretend like it!)

A Busy Week

This week is shaping up to be very busy at school. We have three field trips and parent conferences. Yes, one of those trips is the dreaded fair trip! I promise to post some pics of my class next weekend enjoying the three outings!

This weekend was equally busy. We went to a birthday party and a retirement party on Sat. Then today we went out to the house. We actually ran into our friends Andrew and Amy out there. It was fun to walk around and give them the tour of what is finished.

Check out the pictures of the latest progress. As always...call us if you want to check it out in person!

Here is the back of the house and a close up of the back patio. It will have an outdoor fireplace!


Here is an interior view from the front door. It looks into the family room and the kitchen to the right.

Finally the front of the house. They have put a few of the shingles on but obviously need to finish!

We have a roof!

Look at the progress on the house in the last week. It is framed and ready for the windows which should be in tomorrow. Call us up if you want a personal tour!

Here is the back of the house. You can kinda see the covered porch.

Here is the side with the garage. You can also see the stairs up to the gameroom.

Here is the front. It looks a lot smaller in pictures!

Columbus, O-H-I-O

Yes that's right. My very first trip to Columbus for the sole purpose of attending a home game at the Shoe. We had a great time as you will see from the pictures. My favorite part was going to German Village and getting to eat cabbage rolls at Schmidt's! Delicious! Joel was grossed out but I loved them! The game was fun too but after the first 5 minutes with a score of 27-0 it was anti-climatic. Nevertheless, I'd do it all again. Hope you too enjoy our trip via the pictures.

Here is Schmidt's. I highly recommend strolling through German Village and eating here if you ever find yourself in Columbus.

Here are the fantastic cabbage rolls. I couldn't resist a picture before I dug in. By the way the potato cakes and applesauce were just as delicious!

Here's Brutus Buckeye! We happened to run into him on our way to the Skull Session. I felt kinda silly asking for a picture because the only other people around were little kids but Joel really wanted a picture of us (don't be surprised if it shows up on our Christmas card!). The things one does for love!

Inside the stadium as the football team warmed up. The Shoe is huge and we were part of the 12th largest crowd ever at almost 106,000 people!

Getting ready to dot the I for script Ohio! It truly is the "Best Damn Band in the Land!"

The hot, sweaty and happy couple. We had to celebrate the 58-7 victory with a picture of my first home game.

Finally, here is Woody sporting his new Ohio State collar tag. He's not spoiled at all!