Birthday Fun!

Saturday morning, the birthday celebration began. Jeremy and I started with Starbucks on our way to get manicures and pedicures. It was a wonderfully relaxing way to start my birthday. We made a few stops after this, one of which was to my favorite bookstore. I bought two books that I have been wanting. After some midday relaxation, we got dressed and jumped in a cab to go downtown. We had dinner at a fabulous Japanese fusion restuarant, Niu. We started with cocktails and Garlic Butter Scallop Yaki, delicious. Jeremy ordered Pepper Salmon Roll and I had Mango Chicken. Mine was AMAZING. Jeremy's was okay by me but delicious according to him. He did make me try his wasabi sauce which made fire shoot up my nose and down my throat. Must say, not a fan! We shared an amazing chocolate cake dessert thing with ginger ice cream, also amazing. After dinner we walked next door to the movie theater to see the movie, Date Night. It was laugh out loud funny! Other than the cab driver's B.O. on the way home, it was a great day and a wonderful birthday. It was the perfect blend of fun and relaxing.

FUNdraising with FUN friends!

Last night, Jeremy and I attended a fundraiser for autism. Each year, the mother of a student I had last year, puts together a fundraiser. Her family does the Walk Now for Autism in support of her son. She puts together a super fun event at a local bowling alley. For $30 each we get to bowl, eat amazing food, and enjoy the bar for 3 and 1/2 hours. Several other teachers from my school also attend and we greatly enjoy each other's company. I also won a raffle this year! Which was very exciting, as I don't typically win things. I spent $20 for 10 raffle ticket and won "split the pot." For $20 I walked away with $200! It was a great event that raised lots of money for Andrew's Angels. I never doubted it. Every year, Mary is one of Autism Speaks top fundraisers.
As the event was ending at 10pm, Jeremy and I decided to continue the fun with Josh, Diane, Liz, and Bobby. We headed over to O'Donovan's to kill an hour with some vodka slushies and then headed to the Bluelight to see our other fabulous co-worker, Nadine. Late night on the weekends, she shakes a mean cocktail. We had a great time, raising money and spending time with good friends!

Long Overdue Blog

Katie-I know what you're thinking! It's about time! I've been a BAD blogger. Quite frankly, our lives aren't that exciting. That should be changing a little very soon. Jeremy is getting ready to gear up for summer classes. He'll then go straight into fall classes, winter classes and back to summer classes. Yeah, he means business. Time to get this done!

I have also received good news. With budget rumors and speculation looming I was unsure if I would have a job next year. Fortunately, after about two months of not knowing, I found out I would in fact have a job at my school next year. More recently, I found out I would be making the move from second grade to fourth grade. At first I was worried about this. No more first floor classroom that's been lovingly dubbed fun-oh-fun instead of boring old 101. I will not only be learning a whole new curriculum, I'll be doing it after dragging myself up to the third floor. Currently, when I have to walk my class up there, I am huffing and puffing when I get to the top. Perhaps, this job will double as a weight loss plan. After much thought, I am looking forward to this new challenge. Also, I will have some of kids from last year! I'm also looking forward to working with students with a little more independence. I'll also be working with a great teacher who has been teaching fourth grade for three years.

Most importantly, we're looking forward to summer! June 18 is the last day of school and we can't wait to enjoy all the fabulousness that is Chicago in the summer!

What's New?

It's been a few weeks since our last blog so I thought I would put an update out there. Not much has happened. At least nothing too exciting. I've been working like crazy at school which therefore forces me to sleep my weekends away. Jeremy has been balancing work and classes but is really enjoying school. He spends his weekends doing homework and trying not to wake me up.

Just this weekend we applied for our passports. Jeremy's picture actually looked good. Mine on the other hand, well, I can't decide which is worse, my passport photo or my driver's license photo. It's a toss up really. Right before I got my picture taken, I asked Jeremy if my hair looked alright. He said it was fine. Turns out he is a liar.

Due to tuition costs and other looming financial responsibilities, we've decided to stay in our teeny tiny apartment for one more year. I know this is disappointing to the people who like to come visit us, i.e. my mom and sister. We are really hoping this is our last year in this apartment. By this time next year, we hope to be telling you about our fabulous new place. It remains to be seeen.

Fall Craziness!

It's back to school time! Last week, I spent about 55 hours working in my classroom getting everything ready for my new second graders. Needless to say, by Friday night I was exhausted. After leaving school, I went with my friend, Diane, to get manicures and pedicures. It was so relaxing and much deserved by both of us. I actually got to relax and enjoy Saturday and Sunday. I was debating whether or not I should go into school Monday morning to finish a few things. I really didn't want to go in but I knew if I went in for just a couple of hours, it would save me so much stress on Tuesday morning. So, I got up early spent three hours at school and now I have the rest of the day to relax.

Jeremy is excited to get back to his classes on Tuesday as well. He has purchased his books and has his U-Pass for the train. He'll be attending classes in the morning and going back to working part-time in the late afternoon/evening. Zoey will be sad to go back to spending most of the day alone without anyone for company except Anastasia T. Cat. Sometimes those two fight like cats and dogs. So, we're all back to the crazy days of the busy school-year!

Fun Visiting Family

Tonya and I just got back from visiting my parents in Joplin, MO. It had been almost eight months since the last time we had seen them, so we figured it was time. Once we arrived we realized that nine hours in a car is way to long to drive. For the last two hours of the drive Tonya couldn't sit still, was bouncing all over the passenger seat, and kept counting down the mile markers. Every single one.

Once we were settled it was nice to be down there and with my parents. The first night in town they took us to a great chicken wings place named Hackett's. I will tell you this, if you are ever in Joplin, you have to go there to eat. My Mom, Tonya and I shared 30 wings with three different flavors and I really couldn't decide which flavor was my favorite. They were all good.
The next day, Saturday, we traveled to Silver Dollar City. This place is a small amusement park down near Branson that has a few roller coasters and a bunch of shows. The day we had to enjoy the park was perfect. It was around 85 and low humidity, so standing in the shade you were comfortable. We enjoyed the roller coasters and the food and had a fun time walking around. After the park we got into the car to head home and decided to drive through Arkansas. The thing that's weird about the Joplin area to me is that you can drive through 3 different states in about a half a day. On our drive through Arkansas I realized that it is a state I don't need to visit again. Not that it's a bad state, but I don't need to see that many cows in one area again.
On Sunday we enjoyed a morning at my parents church and then went for a ride through the other two states that border Missouri near Joplin. We started heading to Oklahoma and ended our trip traveling through Kansas. Again there are a lot of cattle in these states, but they seem to be easier on the eye than Arkansas.

On Monday, we kept it pretty low key. We waited for my Mom to get out of work, then headed out for a short drive around town to do a little sight seeing closer to my parents house. In all we had a great time visiting my parents and even though the drive was long, I am sure we will visit sooner than later next time around.

One thing Tonya was extremely excited about was the recipe she got from my mother. It is a recipe for rice pudding and Tonya is already thinking about making it this weekend.

Also the school year is about to start for the both of us. Tonya is still teaching second grade. She is extremely excited about the year to start and tomorrow I am going in with her to work on her classroom to get it ready for the kids to start a week from Tuesday. I am starting classes as well on Sept. 8th. I am really excited myself, because I had to take a semester off and it was hard not being in class. I have been trying to stay on top of my writing and reading, but it isn't the same as being in the classroom. As usual I am not looking forward to being in a classroom with a bunch of young kids, but I am looking forward to the classwork.

I will try to keep you updated with our progress through the school year and I will also keep you updated with the exciting trip information that Tonya and I have this coming year.

Fun Weekend

Tonya and I had a pretty eventful weekend this past week while visiting family in Michigan.
To start things off, we went to a private Lollapalooza party at the Angels and Kings bar downtown to listen to DJ Momjeans aka Danny Masterson. The bar is owned by the Fallout Boy's lead singer, Pete Wentz. It was pretty cool hanging out enjoying free drinks and a free show. Luckily I had the next day off becuase I had a pretty rough time getting Tonya to leave. We ended up not getting home until about 2 a.m. I can't complain though, because I had a great time hanging out with friends and making some new ones.

After finally dragging ourselves out of bed we got on the road by ten and headed to visit my family in Jackson. It was nice to get to town early Friday afternoon because it gave Tonya and me time to play with our neice and nephews. The real fun began around 1:30 a.m. though. I had just taken our dog, Zoey, outside for the night and after coming back in and just getting into bed we noticed she was about to throw up. As we tried to clean it up she began to vomit again. After the second episode of vomit we noticed her lips looked a little weird and upon closer inspection we saw that her lips were swelling and red. Being the dog parents we are, we started to call for the nearest vet that would be open. After a couple calls we found it, 45 minutes away in Ann Arbor. So with the directions and phone number, we got on the road. Tonya sat in the back with Zoey making sure to keep her comfortable while I drove as fast as possible without being to dangerous. Her breathing did seem to get a little labored for a little bit, but as we got closer to the vet she seemed to be getting back to normal except her face was still swollen. Once the vet saw her, she said it was probably an allergic reaction to a bug bite, and gave her a couple of shots. When they came back into the room she seemed to be in a good mood and couldn't wait to leave, but we had to sit there for about another half hour to make sure Zoey was done vomitting and that the shots had at least started to work. Finally we left the vet and headed back to my brother's house and got in about 4 am.

Luckily my brother, Nate, let us sleep in a bit by keeping our niece and nephew out of our room until later in the morning. That was much appreciated because those two can be exhausting on a good night sleep, let alone a few hours sleep. Once we got up and ready we did some more playing with the kids before heading to my grandparents house to celebrate my grandfather's 80th birthday. Some of Grandpa's family came from Flint to surprise him. We had a great time eating and visiting with family.