Another Triple A!!!

Yup, I got 3 more A's in graduate school. My semester finished last week and final grades are out today. I am so happy to be doing so well in my graduate classes. It has been challenging to balance all the things in my life and doing well at school is definitely a nice reward for all the stress and hard work. In other exciting news I will be doing my Practicum or student teaching this Spring. Because I am already a full time teacher I can use that as my Practicum. I will just teach as I already do but now a person from the University will come observe me 3 or 4 times and I will have to prepare an extensive electronic portfolio. Once my Practicum is out of the way I only have 4 classes left til I graduate with my Masters. I plan on taking those 4 classes this summer. So YAYAYAYAY for me I will have my Masters and be done with school this Summer!!!!! HOOORAAAYYYY!!!!!!!!! The idea that I will be done with school before the new school year starts is THRILLING! I can not even tell you how much more I will be able to do at work when I don't have to run to class 3 nights a week! Plus I will have so much more time to relax with Evie which will be a VERY welcome change!

This week is the last week of work for me before we all break for 2 full weeks!! God, I love being a teacher!!!!! I plan to relax and spend time with friends and family and thoroughly take advantage of my break from grad school and work! Whoo HOO!! =)

In other news, I am happy to say that my final divorce hearing is January 8, 2009. If we have no issues between now and then I will be a divorced (free!) woman in January '09! YAY! I am very happy to be closing this chapter of my life and moving forward.

Evie is cute as ever and continues to delight and amaze me at every turn. She is getting very good with using the potty but only when we are not at home. I don't know if that is a normal thing for toddlers. She uses the potty a lot when we are out but then won't even ask or say she wants to go when I ask at home. Strange, but ultimately she will use the potty at home too.

In family news I am EAGERLY awaiting the return of BigBro and DocRom to the States!!! I super duper mega-ly hope they will come back to ATL but if they don't I will just be glad that they are not in a foreign country thousands of miles away!! I miss them SOOOOO much!!!! I can NOT wait to be with them and hug them and talk and laugh and connect!!!

Also, TwinBro is engaged!!! Congrats to him!!! He is with a very cool lady and I wish them the best!! =)

Happy 2 year Birthday Evelyn!!!

Two years ago today you came into our side of this world. I wanted you so much! I could not wait to meet you and hold you in my arms. And you made your entrance into our world so easily. My birth with you was everything I could have hoped for and more. Having you at home with your Dad and my parents and Heather and Christine was exactly what I wanted and needed. There was more love in that house that day then I have ever felt before. You bring so much love and light into my life and into everyone's life you encounter. You could light up the state of Georgia with your smile and your laugh. You are truly a gift to me and your Dad. He and I may not have succeeded at marriage but we definitely succeeded at making and raising the smartest, sweetest, funniest, and silliest child ever. And you are the greatest gift that your grandparents and great grandparents have ever received. Your Grammy and Gramper love you more than anything in this world, anything. They tell me all the time how much they love you and how incredible you are to them. Your Nana never fails to mention how amazing you are when she calls me. Your Mimi and Grandpop feel the same way too. And your Gigi and George and Great Grandma Evelyn and Oma love you to pieces too! And your Uncles Paul and Stan and Aunts Karen and Vanessa all love you tons as well! You won't know for many many more years how amazing your existence is to us and what an amazing and wonderful impact you have had on all of us but that is okay. For now just know that when I rock you and bathe you and kiss you and chase you and tickle you I am in heaven. And the same goes for your Dad I am sure and your Grandparents and your Aunts and Uncles. We all love you so much!!

Happy Birthday Evie! =)

New Blogs

Hey everyone, how are you? Are you looking for some new kick ass blogs to read? Wanting more info about Gramper, BigBro, DocRom?

Look no further than my links section to satisfy your search.

Please check out their blogs, they are super cool!! All three of them are doing extraordinary things. Gramper is hiking the entire Appalachian Trail. BigBro and DocRom are documenting their amazing adventures living in Okinawa, Japan. You can't get cooler people than them!!

=)

Long time...

It's been a long time since I posted, sorry about that. Life has been wonderful and crazy and up and down. Mostly up. I am just going to make a list because there are too many random things happening.

1. Paul and Karen are moving to Japan on Monday. To say I am sad is true but doesn't feel strong enough. I have loved having them so close and spending time with them. They supported me so much while Ben was in Africa. And this past weekend I went to see them for the last time before they move. I know it's not forever and I know they'll be back for Christmas (yay!!!) but I will still miss them so much!!

2. School is still totally fulfilling and wonderful! I haven't made any real friends but I am slowly getting to know people. My favorite class is my Special Ed. class. The prof. is very knowledgeable and encourages us to discuss the major problems affecting education and special ed. It is fascinating!

3. I am 6 weeks pregnant as of yesterday. I had my first appt with an OB nurse yesterday. I got blood drawn for tests and I pee'd in a cup. At my next appt. I am getting a pap smear, blech! Oh well, that's just what you have to do when you are a chick. The baby is doing great as far as I can tell. The queasiness has set in for me. It seems to be linked to certain foods at this point. I know I can't eat PB&J sandwiches anymore, I get really nauseous for a few hours after. And I think bacon might be out of the game too. I ate 4 pieces of bacon this morning and I felt queasy all morning as a result. I also am tired all the time and I have to pee every hour it seems like. Even with all that stuff I am doing great, I know I could have it a lot worse.

4. Ben and I had couples therapy this past week. It was wonderful!! We both felt comfortable with our therapist and she was able to clear some things up for us even in our first session. We are going to focus on couples therapy and wait on the individual therapy.

5. Evelyn learned how to climb onto the couch last week. It has made life really interesting and occasionally heart stopping. She loves to fling herself all over the couch but sometime she misses the couch. No permanent injuries so far. But boy, they should call toddlerhood, evil-knievel-hood. This kid is fearless!

6. Grammy and Gramper are doing great at the farm. They got a new dog to keep Bonnie company on the back porch. The new dog is a little boy named Hooch. He is sweet and Bonnie loves him!

7. Ben and I are hosting our first social event in our new place. Tomorrow afternoon 2 couples and their child are coming over for a game night. The adults will be playing board games while Evelyn and the other little girl her age play with toys and such. It should be big fun and low stress.

I think that is everything for now. Have a great weekend everybody! =)

Thanksgiving Camping Trip

We went camping for Thanksgiving this year. It was really fun and extremely cold. People up North may scoff at us Southerners thinking it is cold here but trust me it was cold. We ended up only staying out 1 night because it was too cold for us and way too cold for Evie. She would have loved to stay because she was having big fun. Here are some pics from our trip.

Evie scopes out the campsite.



She LOVED the beach and all the rocks!



We loved the sunshine and warmth of the heated bathrooms.



Grammy and Gramper were super happy to have their grandbaby.


Good Times!



Evie really enjoyed playing with the rocks and dirt around the camp site.




Something really cool was happening to the right.




Gigi and George and DocRom and BigBro came out to enjoy the fun.



Super close up!



Playground Fun with Daddy.




Evelyn showed off her superior soccer skills.






DocRom and BigBro took pics and enjoyed the warm campfire.




The moon was unbelievably beautiful, just amazing!




This morning we got up with the sun, cold and hungry.



Again we sought out heat by the fire.




Cuddle time in our heated tent, yay!




Group photo after breakfast.




Home, here we come!



Thank god we made it back to heated enclosed spaces!!!

Birthdays and Thanksgiving

The month of November is a big one for our family. There are 4 birthdays in the immediate family plus Thanksgiving. Gramper's birthday was November 1st. And this week is Grammy's birthday and my birthday and TwinBro's birthday and Thanksgiving. Yeah, it's gonna be a busy week.

Ben ordered my gift for me already. It's actually my birthday and x-mas gift. He and my parents got me a laptop computer. I am really excited! I have never had a laptop and in hopes that I will be back in school in the Spring, I wanted to get a laptop to take with me back and forth. It's a Dell Inspirion 1501, nothing super fancy but just fine for me. I love birthdays!

Thanksgiving will be a new experience this year. We are going camping. Grammy and Gramper rented 3 campsites. Auntie V, BigBro, DocRom, Gigi and George, and the three of us will be there. This will be Evelyn's first camping trip so we are hoping she will love it as much we do. I think she'll have a blast! TwinBro was supposed to come but due to things out of his control he won't be able to make it, it's a bummer but we'll see him soon I hope.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!!

Happy Early Halloween

We have had quite an eventful weekend here. BigBro and DocRom came to town to celebrate Halloween with us a little early. We had big fun sitting around our fire and catching up. On a more serious note, we took Evelyn to the ER on Sat. morning because she had an infected bug bite on her thigh. The doctors were concerned about the bite and suggested surgery to get the abcess drained and healed. Luckily, the abcess started draining on it's own and everything seems to be getting better. We go back tomorrow for a follow up. So that was our wacky fun weekend. Here are some pics. =)

I am a Triathlete

I am so proud and excited that I finished the triathlon! This was my first race of any kind and I loved it! I got so pumped up the morning of the race and I just stayed super pumped the whole time, it was awesome! We all finished the race and none of us came in last, I am really proud of us, this was the first triathlon for all of us. We won't have our official times til today or tomorrow. I know I beat Gramper and DocRom. It is too close to call a winner between BigBro and I. Here are some pics from Tri day.


Here's Ben and Evie cheering me on for the swim.



Here's me coming out of the water.



Here's me coming back from the 13 mile bike ride. And here is the transition area.




Here's me going out to do the last leg of the race, a 3.1 mile run.



Here's me running to the finish line!! Whoo HOo!



And here's our Tri Team after the race =)



The only thing I didn't like about this experience was how awful I felt after the race. I was nauseous and had a splitting headache for 4 hours after the race. I think next time I will eat during the race and I will drink Gatorade. I drank water throughout the race but Gatorade and some food probably would have saved me from the post race awfulness.