A Week of Happy Happenings :)

"A baby will make love stronger, days shorter, nights longer, bankroll smaller, home happier, clothes shabbier, the past forgotten and the future worth living for."

We folks, here she is...sweet little Elise Anne made her way into the world at 1:40 in the morning on October 16, 2009.
She was 20 inches long and a little over 7 pounds. She is a cutie! Ryan and I went to the hospital to visit her Friday night... She is absolutely adorable. She has Liz's nose and Eric's dimpled chin :) We are very happy for our friends and have absolutely no doubt that this is going to be one SPOILED little girl! Congrats again Eric and Liz!!!! We love you guys! xo This week was super busy again...we had our ESL Family Math night on Thursday, and I taught my 2 adult classes on Monday and Wednesday night. As you can see from the pics, we had an awesome turn-out again... Here are Alissa and I presenting our PowerPoint and modeling the math games for the families. We taught the families 3 math games. A money exchange game, an addition/multiplication game, and a game involving multiples.Our Family Nights are my favorite events! I LOVE to see the children excited about all the things they have learned at school. It makes it even sweeter when the families get involved and a connection between home and school is made. Even though I leave feeling exhausted (usually heading out to work by 6:30am and not getting home until after 9pm), I always feel good on these evenings, because I know I am making a difference... With work comes reward and we will be rewarded with Fall Break (no school) on Thursday and Friday of this week!!!! Wooo Hoooo- a mini vacation! But, before the fun can begin, we still had more to accomplish this weekend. I had to meet up with my friend Edyza to plan for the upcoming adult classes and Ryan had to turn in quarterly grades. To gain our strength, we had to make a pit stop at Steak N' Shake... Then we drove to Edyza's school to lesson plan. Edyza teaches ESL in the same district as me, but at a different site. She is also teaching Adult Ed like me... During this time of the year, it would be a TRAVESTY for me to pass these gorgeous photo opportunities by... Once we arrived, Ryan got busy submitting grades for his 5 periods of Physics courses... And Edyza and I got everything done for the next 2 weeks, so we can enjoy our Fall Break and not have to stress about work!!!! On the drive home, we were blessed with this lovely sunset to enjoy...

Mom and Garrett are flying out here late Tuesday night to spend Fall Break with us! We can't wait!!!! We LOVE having visitors! It will be my brother's first time to Indy...we are excited to show him around and spend some quality time with the two of them.

Until next time...xo

Halos, Horsies and Halloween :)

This week has been sooooo FUN for us!!!! Not only are our Colts 5-0, but the Angels are in the playoffs!!!! We have been staying up WAYYYYYYYY past our bedtime (remember folks, we are 3 hours ahead on East Coast time) to watch the Angels play! We are keeping our fingers crossed for a spot in this year's Word Series!!! Go Halos!!! This week we went to the Pumpkin Patch. Ryan really gets into carving pumpkins. In fact, last year he got out his dremel tool to use on a pumpkin and got pumpkin guts ALL over our garage!!! The pumpkin patch is less than a mile from our house. From the pic below, I guess we really do live in the "sticks!!!" But we looooooooove it.....

We went to Russell Farms to pick out our pumpkins...

We decided to try out a corn maze (we have been wanting to go in one ever since we moved here)!

Corn mazes are extremely popular, as crops like this are all over Indiana.

Ryan taking the lead....

Mmmmmmm.....corn!!!

The stalks are sooooo tall!!! We gave it two tries, but never made it out the exit!!!! We kept walking around in circles and ending up back at the entrance! Oh well... What a beautiful day! I LOVE the cool, crisp, Autumn air... There were a few farm animals hanging around. Here is Ryan next to some Pygmy Ponies. Me petting a baby goat. Bahhhhhhhh :) We took a hay ride out to the pumpkin patch. There were sooooo many to choose from! Ry holding up our selections! Me getting ready for the ride back to the farm :) I will post pics of our carved pumpkins in the next couple of weeks... Even when I lived in California, Fall was always my favorite season! I love wearing jeans and sweatshirts and feeling a chilly breeze blow across my face. Now that we are Mid-Westerners, I adore Fall even more. I am MADLY in love with the trees here!!!! I think the colored leaves are just breath-taking! I can't even imagine how beautiful they must be on the East Coast in places like Vermont and Massachusetts~ This is the view we have across the street from our house. The white clouds almost give the illusion of snow-capped mountains in the background...heehee! Green and yellow... Red and purple.... A RAINBOW of foliage... These are pics of the route I take on my drive home from work... Everyday I think to myself, gosh these trees are sooooo beautiful! The seasons are so AMAZING!!!!! Our world is filled with so much beauty! I think Autumn leaves are absolutely magical...Looks like God hand-painted each one... Even our baby trees that line our side yard are beginning to turn... With the Fall months comes preparation for Winter...Won't be too long until all the beautiful leaves are gone and a blanket of snow is covering the frozen ground. Here is a pic of the neighborhood kid aerating our lawn (a necessity this time of year to prep the lawn for cold weather)....Not too bad for twenty bucks! This week we also bought our Halloween costumes. I am going to be Dorthy from the Wizard of Oz and Ryan is going to be the Scarecrow. Steave and Lisa are having a party at their house. We are really looking forward to another fun evening with our neighbors :) Have a great week everyone!!! We wish our Halos good luck in the American League Championship Series!!!! WOOOOO-HOOOOO!!!!

Until next time...xo

Week of Work = Weekend of Play

This week was VERY loooooooong for us....we didn't get home until after 9pm four out of the five workdays!!! Our neighbors texted us to make sure we were not out of town...heehee!!! I started teaching an English class for adults two nights a week and we had to attend a dinner held by Purdue University for "Science Bound," an after school program that Ryan is mentoring at his high school. We are busy, busy, busy....but it is a good, productive busy!!!The weekend is our time to unwind and that is what we did! We started off the weekend by heading to Syd's (the local "podunk" bar in Noblesville) with all of our neighbors (except Liz- pregnant + smoky room = no no). It was pretty fun. Definitely reminded me of a movie set- small, local pub in a dark, smoky atmosphere, serving a vast assortment of fried food and alcoholic beverages. Add in the Shuffleboard and Jukebox to match.... The perfect Indiana stereotype I suppose :)After Syd's everyone went home, put on their jammies and walked over to Steave and Lisa's house. Yes folks, this is what we do for fun...and we do it at least once every weekend. Sabrina wanted all the girls to wear pig-tails~ so that's what we did....We look like Cindy Lou Who clones from the Dr. Seuss books...Me and little Layne....Lisa, Liz, Sabrina and me....Liz is due any day now!!!! She looks so great! You can't even tell she's pregnant in this pic, huh?Since we were looking like 12 year olds, I suppose it was only appropriate that we act like 12 year olds and bring out the ORIGINAL Nintendo! Here is Brian playing Super Mario Brothers. Lisa getting ready to sing Karaoke!!!! I am not joking when I say Steave and Lisa have all the fun toys at their house....Old School Nintendo, Rock Band, Wii Dance Dance, Ping-Pong Table...there is never a dull moment...

They even have props/costumes hanging around...LOL

Here are the guys making root-beer bombs (Rootbeer Schnapps shot dropped in a glass of beer)...Bottoms Up!!!!

Liz leading us in a tune....

I really don't know what was happening at this point. Thankfully I was asleep...

Seriously-Thankfully I was asleep. Are these guys for real???? Silly boys.....Snoozing and Ryan took the pic to prove it! There is an on-going joke in our neighborhood that I hibernate during the fall and winter months- SERIOUSLY!!!! I can't hang past 11pm when the temperature starts to change...I ALWAYS fall asleep. I personally think it is work~stress related, but my neighbors think otherwise and chalk my peaceful slumber up to hibernation. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!!!!

Until next time...xo