He's Gonna Have Hair . . .

Chad had a dream last night that Mouser was born. Apparently he had a head full of dark (yay!) hair! Also, according to Chad he "popped right out" with very little effort on my part. Now, let's all hope that Chad is psychic! Chad and I are going to Kalamazoo today to meet up with my sis and her husband to show our hubbys around the best school in the Midwest - Western Michigan University!!!! I can't believe I spent 4 years of my life there and other than my graduation I have never brought Chad there to look around. I am pretty excited. I think there are some changes but it will be fun to remember the good ole' days. Also, we are meeting up with some friends for dinner so that should be fun too. We are going to Old Penninsula or O.P. for the locals. They have really great locally brewed beers, my favorite is Raspberry Wheat. Of course, I can't have any this time but at least Chad can give it a try!

SCHOOL'S OUT!

School's out for SUMMER! School's out for EVER! Well, maybe not but it is out for two and a half months! I know I will be busy this summer but Mouser (our baby) and I will get to sleep in soon and I couldn't be more excited! It was sad to say goodbye to my kids. I love them all so much and it is amazing to see the change they go through each year. I also love the end of the year because parents take the time to send such kind notes to show their appreciation. I always save the notes because there are plenty of days that I need a reminder that all of this hard work is for something important. It is so nice to hear that parents are happy and it makes me want to work even harder.

Ahhh, but for now we are going up to our parents' houses for Father's Day. I am going to do a bit of homework in the car but mostly it will be a nice relaxing weekend! Hooray!

The best gift in the world!

Well, it seems like only yesterday when I opened the most thoughtful gift for Christmas. My husband got me a trip to see my sister, Mary, in South Carolina. At the time it seemed like it was a long ways away. But now it is TOMORROW!!! I can't wait! I saw her at Thanksgiving but I missed her so much at Christmas.
My sis has so many awesome plans for us. We are getting pedicures, going to a comedy festival, and seeing 27 Dresses. I wish my sis lived closer to me so we could do stuff like that all of the time. It seems that for the last couple of summers we were so busy with our weddings that we haven't had much time to spend just the two of us. What's worse is that I feel like I never get to see her husband so I am really excited to spend some time with him as well! I think that we will have LOTS of fun while I am down there. I get to stay at their beautiful house and spend some time with one of my favorite people. Who could ask for more out of a long weekend?

Christmas WHOO HOO part 4 (Scroll down to start on Part 1)

Okay, so finally on Christmas Day we went to my mom and dad's house for Christmas. We foolishly didn't take any pictures but we got a lot of wonderful gifts and my mom made a YUMMY meal. We had ham, scalloped potatoes, broccoli and cheese, rolls, and chocolate pie. Oh boy was it good! My grandma, Uncle Joe, his girlfriend Jamie, and my cousin Cristina came over to share dinner with us. We then watched Animusic which is a cool computer generated music DVD my dad loves. We had a nice time and it was really hard saying good bye to my mom and dad. Then later we went to my grandma's assisted living home and then back to Chad's grandma and grandpa's house.
Christmas night rolled around and our friends Megan, Evan, Chris, and Sarah came over along with Chad's brother and girlfriend to Chad's parents house and we all played on the Wii. It was lots of fun. So, overall we had a great holiday and although it was busy we wanted to see everyone! I hope you had a great holiday too!

Christmas WHOO HOO part 3

On Monday, Christmas Eve, we went to Chad's parents house I visited with his grandparents for a while and ran some errands with Chad's mom. Then it was time to get ready for mass. We picked up Chad's grandparents who have a hard time getting around while Chad's parents, brother, and sister-in-law (almost) saved us seats. Mass was nice it was good to sing all of Christmas songs and the homily was cool because the priest brought a bunch of kids up to help him with the sermon. Then we went back to Chad's parents house for a wonderful Christmas Eve dinner. Later that night we opened our gifts from Chad's parents and brother and girlfriend. It was lots of fun. Here are some pics . . .

Christmas WHOO HOO part 2

On Saturday we went to my Grandma's house for our family Christmas. We had lots and lots of fun and opened a million gifts. My mom has 8 brothers and sisters and all but 2 of them were at Grandma's along with their kids and grandkids. It was great to hang out with all of my aunts, uncles, and cousins. There were so many people and so much laughter. I am so happy that our family all gets along so well that we can have so much fun together! Our family is huge and I used to think it was weird but now I love it so much. The only sad thing was that my sis and my little cousin Sarah (who is like my sis) both weren't at Grandma's. Oh well, maybe they will come next year. I get to visit my sis in January anyway, thanks to Chad!
Here are some pics from the family party . . .

Thanksgiving!

Well, I know it is December but I have been busy with working full time, taking two master's classes, and decorating for Christmas. But, I wanted to share some pics etc. from Thanksgiving.
First, Chad and I split our time between both of our families during Thanksgiving. Our parents live about 25 minutes from one another which is both a blessing and a curse. We seem to run ourselves ragged going back and forth several times in a couple of days. I think, however, that we are lucky in the fact that we get to see both families instead of having to choose one.
We started at my Grandma's house for Thanksgiving. There are always a MILLION pies (and my mousse in the back left corner) and PLENTY to eat. There are also a million people there. I can't imagine a Thanksgiving with less than 20 people. Here are some pics:
Here are all of the pies and desserts


Dad and Sis


Chad and Unc


Then we went to Chad's mom and dad's house. We had another Thanksgiving meal just a few hours later. Chad's brother's girlfriend made a huge dinner for us. It was really good!
Chad's Mom and I


Lots of food!


We had a great time at both Thanksgivings. We are so blessed to have such great families to celebrate with!

My Sister's Wedding

I am leaving tomorrow for my darling sister's wedding. She is marring an amazing man on Saturday. I am flying down to Charleston, SC to get the party started. We are having a bachelorette party on Thursday, manicures and pedicures on Friday along with the rehearsal and rehersal dinner, Saturday it is hair and the wedding and Sunday and Monday Chad and I are going to see the sights! Should be LOTS of fun!
Tuesday SCHOOL STARTS! BUSY BUSY!

Nice Weekend!

My cousin Sarah got married this weekend! It was a fun family party. She had a beautiful shower on Friday. It was a tea party with scones, fancy tea cups, sugar cubes, and flowery hats all over the place! My aunts and mom put it together and it was very interesting.

The wedding was Saturday and it was so beautiful. Sarah and her new husband Rick wanted a backyard barbeque wedding and that is exactly what it was. One thing our family knows how to do is throw a party. Everything was so fun and almost all of our cousins came up for the wedding. We defintely had a BALL!

This weekend was also Father's Day. It was a fun day too as I saw my dad and Chad's dad as well. We also went to see my grandpas, which sadly means a trip to the cemetery. Its one of those things you just get used to after a while. I am glad we went, its just kinda sad to make that a part of the day.

One cool thing about marrying Chad, among the million other things, is that he still has a grandpa and he reminds me SO much of my dad's dad who died in 1999. It is so fun to have another grandpa to love!

Anyway, Sunday night always has a special feeling, namely a feeling of dread. I didn't get to sleep in at all this weekend and with a Professional Development conference every day this week from 8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. my summer vacation has REALLY not started yet! I hope everyon enjoys their week!