Tis the Season

I cant believe the holiday season is coming to an end. It went by so fast. It was nice to have all this beautiful white snow for Christmas but now it can hit the road. I am totally sick if it. We did however have a fabulous Christmas with our families. Lots of great memories were shared. As for gifts...I have to say my favorite is Wii Fit!!!! I was so excited :) Now its time to prepare for New Years Eve. Jon and I are hosting it at our house this year. Well see how it goes...

I MET KATE GOSSELIN!!!

Oh yeah....Wednesday I waited in line for 3 1/2 hours to meet Kate Gosselin. Best day ever!!! I couldn't believe she was actually coming to GR. This picture was the best I could get with her. She wouldnt look up and smile :)

Officially Alumni of GVSU

Hurray!!!! I graduated yesterday from Grand Valley. I still cannot believe that part of my life is over. It was a long road but I made it through. Sometimes I wonder how?! It was an exciting day! Now tomorrow I start my JOB!!! First time working in a school system and getting PAID!! This is going to be AWESOME! :)

The Finished Product

We finally finished decorating the tree this afternoon after many trips back to the store for more lights, then more ribbon, then more ornaments. We had no clue how much we would need. I guess our tree is a little bigger than we expected.

(It looks way better in real life. The colors look messed up in the pic)

Claire and Stephen's Wedding

Claire and Stephen tied the knot yesterday. Their wedding was beautiful. The day turned out to be gorgeous and everything went great. I still can't believe that Claire is married. I am so happy for the two of them. We pray for Stephen as he is deployed to Iraq in a couple weeks and that he is kept safe while he is there.

Mr. and Mrs. Labadie

Dancing with the Bride

Me and Jonny

"...O Christmas Tree..."

Friday, after a long day of shopping, we went to get our first Christmas tree. Growing up my family has always had a fake Christmas tree so it was quite the experience for me. We decided to start a tradition with Matt and Lori to get a real tree every year. This year Lori's mom, brother and sister went with us as well. We headed into the woods and cut down the trees ourselves. So much fun! Here are a few pictures from our day.

Group Shot (Lori, Jaci, Deb, Dan, Me, and Jon)

Matt had to go into work :(

Jon and I next to the winning tree.

Lori and I

Where has time gone?

Oh my...so I just realized that I haven't posted in a month. It doesn't even seem like it has been that long. It is now Thanksgiving break and I am sooooo happy. Four more days at Buchanan Elementary. I cant believe my college years are over. I also havent posted yet about my NEW JOB! Thats right....it starts two days after graduation. Back at Bauer Elementary in Hudsonville. I am Very Excited. That was a great school and awesome school district. Well see were that leads. Well, lots going on this weekend so I will post again soon!

Grant Wyatt

Finally a couple pictures of my new nephew....Grant Wyatt.

Auntie to Number 9

So exciting....Kirk and Courtney had their baby on Thursday (Oct. 14). They had a baby boy...Grant Wyatt. He was 20 inches long and weighed 7lbs 12 oz. Absolutely precious. I am so excited to finally have another boy in the family. I will have pictures up soon but just wanted to announce the news.

Family Pictures

The fam...

Today we went to Spring Grove Park in Hudsonville to take family pictues. It was my mom's side of the family. My G-ma was so excited...she was even loosing sleep at night because she couldn't wait. Well, they turned out great!! There were over 300 pictures but these are a few of my favorites.

I LOVE this one!!

We couldn't be serious for the entire time so us grandkids decided to try something fun....

I thought grandma was going to have a heart attack she was laughing so hard :)

Britt's Powderpuff Game

On Wednesday I went to Brittany's SENIOR powderpuff game. It was SO stinkin' cold!!! It was fun but they lost 14 - 0. Britt was a little mad :) Oh well. Here is a picture of us cousins after the game. (minus jon...he wouldnt go)

I hate clowns...

Out of all the stressful things going on in my life I forgot to post about the fun stuff that has happened...sad isnt it?? Last week I had the Lindhout boys for 8 days. It was a lot of work but I loved every minute of it. I have missed them so much and now that I am back home I already miss them again...its too quiet around here. Anyways, we had a very busy week with school and hockey but on Saturday I surprised them with circus tickets. They loved every minute of it. We all had a great time. The picture below is my favorite one from the night...so cute. I do have to say though....I sure HATE clowns...there were definitely some creepers. :)

Oh My Lanta

The word AAAHHHHHH explains my life right now. I have reached the point of beyond stressed out. School is going alright, its just crazy busy. I have one little kiddo in my class who is horrible. I think I might call in sick tomorrow :) Other than that I have no new news. School has taken over until December.

I might be going insane

The first couple weeks of school have gone really well. However, things are EXTREMELY busy. I miss my life. If I make it through this semester without tears it will be amazing. I am very stressed out but feel like I have no time to waste for relaxation. This weekend I am going up to the Lindhout's cottage and I am very much looking forward to it. I will have some time to relax but my computer is going with me since I have two ITIPS due next Wednesday and become a mother on Sunday. The Lindhout's are going to Washington and I have the boys for 8 days. I can't wait because I miss them dearly however I am thinking I might me a crazy women for taking this on. I haven't quite figured out how I am going to get through the week. I guess well wait and see.

El primer día de la escuela...

Well, this is going to be a short post because I have an ITIP due in less than 24 hours and of course haven't even started it yet....Anyways....Today was my first day with the 2nd graders at Buchanan. So far so good. Only one trouble maker....at this point. I definitely need to work on my Spanish. EVERYONE in that building speaks Spanish to each other and it is really annoying when you have no idea what they are talking about. Enough for now....gotta go type up a lesson plan on water :(

Holy Guacamole!

WoW....School has not even started for kids and I am already stressed to the Max with no time to spare...is this really how the entire semester is going to go? I may end up in the hospital! (Lets hope not) Anyways, my unit is now switched to water.....water? seriously? I think I would rather be doing bugs. Whatever.... Lets see what else....I got my class list today, it started at 26 students on monday, then 20, then 18, now 19. Lets hope it stays put!! I can tell I am going to have issues pronouncing names. Well, enough for now. I am off tomorrow to Sandy Pines for one last weekend of Sanity!

Mixed Feelings

Well, I totally have mixed feelings about how this semester is going to go. I love my new CT, she is wonderful and I can tell she is going to be a lot of help and a great role model. My prof on the other hand is another story. Her and I DONT see eye to eye and I can tell we are not going to be the best of friends this semester. Unit plan on insects??? Not sure what to think about that!? Well see how it goes...I'll keep ya updated :) hopefully...

It's Official!

Today was my first day as an official member of the Buchanan staff for the next three months. It went great. The staff is wonderful and I can tell this is going to be a great semester...busy, but great! Today I spent the whole day organizing the classroom and Sept. two is when I meet at the kiddos....man am I excited. (I just hope I can pronounce their names :))

Weekend in TC

This weekend the science girlies all headed up to Traverse City for once last get together before we are all back in school. ( in one way or another) We had a blast!! The pictures show some of our excitement!!!

We started out with dinner at Sledders....an old time favorite for my family :)
We couldn't leave without smooching the moose!Then off to MOOMERS for the best ice cream in America

Day Number two was spent wine tasting, and lots of it!!!
"detention" was our favorite...perfect for all us teachers!
We all purchased that along with two other bottles....12 total :)We ended the night at the beach bums baseball game.
They weren't very good but we supported them with our new t-shirts anyway

Let's try this again...

So I have not been on this thing in forever. Surprise, surprise. Now I really am going to try to keep up with it. We have had a crazy busy summer. Being first time home owners takes a lot of time. We are loving every minute of it though. Jon is now busy preparing his classroom and I am getting lots of last minutes things done before school starts. Come Sept. 2 I will have NO life until December. :)

One down, One to go...

I have finally completed one more semester toward my degree. All I have left now is a semester of student teaching and then its over!! About time!! Nothing else new here. Just lots of time to prepare for the big day!

Too Quickly!

Oh man... So I just realized that we are getting married in less than a hundred days. Yikes! When will I ever get everything done and ready? Time is flying by too quickly. I have less than two months left of assisting. Yeah!! That is the most time consuming thing of my life!!! Jon's teaching is going well. As far as I know he loves it!! Good news!

Busy, busy, busy...

So, as you can see I havent posted in over a month. Oh my gosh, I dont think my life could get any more crazy! School is very time consuming but fun. Well, just a quick update, I will try to be on this thing more often. (I kinda forgot about it!)

First day as a T.A.

So today was my first day assisting. I am at Bauer Elementary in Hudsonville in a first grade class. I can already tell that I am going to love it! The kids are so sweet and SO excited to have another "teacher" in their class. Everyone was so welcoming.

First Attempt

Well, this is my first attempt to create a blog. I thought it would be a great way for people to stay updated on our lives. Things such as all the wedding planning, Jon's teaching and my schooling. Now we will have to see how good I am at keeping this thing updated!