A fun weekend outlook

One more trip to the lake for the summer. My brother and his girlfriend are visiting from Florida, so we are heading up to my parents boat in the morning. My grandparents are coming for the day too, so it should be really fun. The weather looks good and Brian actually gets to ride with us in the van this time. (I think it might be the first time all summer.) I have got the swimsuits and sand toys packed. It's amazing to me how 3 hours away can seem like another world.

I am going to Best Buy today

to get my camera fixed. It is driving me crazy to not be taking pictures. Every time I look at my blog I see all the text with no pictures!!!

Everybody's Workin' for the weekend

I am going to need a break from my weekend before I can go back to work on Monday. It was a fun Pampered Chef party last night and then Megan's baby shower today. That was super fun. I am so excited for our kids to have their first cousin! She got a lot of great gifts for baby.

We did her shower in a Peter Rabbit theme. I thought it turned out so great! We had everything all done up like a garden with fresh veggies and stuffed bunnies as centerpieces. We made "seed packet" labels for the food, like "Mr. McGregor's Vegetable Patch" for the vegetable tray and "Stay out of the dirt" pudding. She requested children's books instead of a card (a great idea for anyone hosting or having a baby shower any time soon) and got so many great books--classic picture books, board books, funny books, and advice books. It was really a lot of fun.

Happy Birthday Elijah

I honestly can't believe it. Five years ago we said how much we loved being parents and couldn't imagine our little precious baby ever being, say...five years old!! I suppose the next time I wake up I will be at his high school graduation. What a fun five years it has been. I can't imagine my life without him. Happy Birthday Elijah Alexander (Jehovah is God, Protector of Men)!!!

our crazy new life

What a whirlwind last week was. Brian and I both went back to work; he at his new teaching job and me at my old teaching job. We crashed every night in our messy house, ate pizza for dinner like 3 nights last week and went to bed most nights at 9:30. It was kind of like slamming on the brakes of our summer life and leaving a big skid mark on the road.

On Saturday we finally got to reconnect and packed up the kiddos for Turkey Run State Park for hiking trails and a picnic. It was wonderful fun to spend time together. This week promises to be just as nuts with Elijah starting preschool tomorrow morning, leaving the house earlier than we're used to so I have time to drop everyone off, my kindergarten students start tomorrow morning, Elijah's birthday is Wednesday (snacks to make? ... no, buy. for daycare AND preschool), and then next weekend is my sister-in-law's baby shower of which I am helping to plan and make food for 35.

I am trying really hard to get organized and plan healthy meals for the week, find time to work out, and keep the house relatively clean. Brian has been amazing. He is so helpful with the kids, cooking meals, and helping clean. I know how tired he is--first year teaching is so draining!

The deal

Here's the deal with the bat. Our very first night at this vacation house, I was coming downstairs after putting the kids to bed. Everyone else was sitting outside. There is a light fixture over the kitchen table and I thought there was a moth circling in it (you know how the shadow sometimes looks bigger than the actual insect...) So as I come down the stairs I think, "oh no, that isn't a moth--it's a bird." So I kind of scurry outside and tell the group that there is a bird trapped in the house. Some of the men go inside and I hear them shouting, "It's a bat!" They spend the next five minutes chasing it around the house to catch and release it, and finally after several failed attempts, they knock it to the floor dead.

Later that night we went outside to look at the dead bat, but it wasn't there. So we assumed it was just stunned and flew away. The next morning I look on the floor of the house and there is the dead bat still attached to the butterfly net. It apparently was stuck and it wasn't outside on the ground after all. At that point we decided we should take pictures (Sam, Brian's animal loving cousin is the one holding it up) and stick it under the windshield wiper of my brother-in-law Everette who was still asleep at 10:00 that morning. After that, I don't know what ever became of the dead bat. It was never to be seen again.

Just a few more vacation shots

We're Home!

What a wonderful vacation with our family. It started last Friday morning when I loaded my children and our van while Brian frantically tried to finish his 50 page curriculum project for the class he took earlier this summer. He mistakenly thought he had until December to finish...oops, it has to be done now or Purdue wouldn't allow him to take this teaching job as his student teaching. He drove up later after he finished the project.

Okay, back to vacation. So. I drove me and my kids to Holland, MI where we rented this huge house with Brian's family including his aunt, uncle and 11 year old cousin. The house is next to the marina where my parents keep their sailboat. So, other than my brother, we had all of our family with us. We spent the whole week on the beach, or fishing, or in the pool, or sailing, or shopping, or just relaxing. The house is a short walk from the beach and marina pool, but we had this great dock right outside the back door. The kids loved to fish there. We loved sitting there at night watching the stars and drinking wine. (Well, not Megan and me. We were drinking prego drinks.)

We also celebrated both Mary and Elijah's birthdays. Whew, what a lot of gifts they got this year! The highlights are (Mary): a doctor kit, one of those heads that is for brushing hair and doing makeup (She says upon receiving it, "I needed one of these!"), and lots of Dora things. (Elijah): a Spiderman web shooter, remote control truck, transformer, and soccer net.

We did have a bit of rain this year for the first time in 3 years of doing this, but it was never an all day rain and we did kind of enjoy just staying in the house and drinking coffee. Oh, and we went to see the Bourne Ultimatum which was fantastic. I am quite sure I never would have gone to sit in a movie theater on vacation if it weren't raining. Thanks to all of our family who helped make this year another successful vacation!

Exciting news!

Brian got a job today! He was supposed to student teach this semester, but Purdue told him that since he already has a bachelor's degree in this field that he could take a teaching job that would substitute for his student teaching. So, he interviewed today at Seeger High School and they offered him the job as the Consumer and Family Science teacher. So, not only will he not have to student teach, since he will be making money and not taking out (more) student loans this year I will most likely get to stay home with the baby for the rest of the school year after my maternity leave. Yay! I will have from December-next August home with my baby.