Breaking News!

Ok, so the blogs have been a little bleak and boring of late. As I mentioned before, we have been quite distracted. Some of you know why and have been sworn to secrecy. In fact, we must express our gratitude keeping it hush, hush for so long! For those of you who don't know yet, the green light has finally been given!


So without further adieu.....we are happy to announce that we are expecting a little Schnelle!

I can hear the collective sigh of relief and the murmurs of "Finally"! Yes, it is what you have all been waiting for (and so have we).


Affectionately referred to as our little Lima Bean (because of the resemblance in the ultrasound image), the estimated date of arrival is around March 12, 2009. I am currently at almost 14 weeks along. Lima Bean isn't an accurate description anymore, but the name kinda stuck.


After the miscarriage last year, we were careful not to get too excited this time around. Even now, I am still cautiously optimistic and a bit nervous about making the formal announcement. However, we have been pretty free in conversation the last couple weeks and we thought we shouldn't hold out on you any longer.


A common question we get is how I have been feeling. I was pretty sickly for the first 12 weeks and was incredibly tired with no energy, but nothing too major. I read that either you are so sick you can't keep anything down, or you have to eat every couple of hours so that you don't get sick. I was the latter, of course. I have the ever growing tummy to prove it. Before you all ask- no, I am not ready to post pics of the belly yet. Might scare off quite a few readers if I do it now. Not sure if I will ever be comfortable with it, but I will try to get at least one or two up before the end.


Now that I am in the 2nd trimester, I am feeling much better though I still have bouts of fatigue. No crazy cravings yet, but I do have frightening moments of record time food inhalation. Having said that, I have noticed desires for fried pickles and shrimp coming up more often. hmmmmm.


Gabe has been a fantastic Dad-To-Be. He dotes on me when I feel poopy and is very patient with my hormonal mood swings. So far, I think those have been minimal, but I am not sure Gabe would agree! hehe.


I pledge to update the blog more often now that I have some energy back and have things to blog about. I anticipate this blog may become a pregnancy diary of sorts but I promise to still have updates on our 4-legged kids and latest shenanigans.

From Buffalo to Mule

My apologizes. It has been a while since I have posted a new blog. We have been quite busy and distracted lately. But will update everyone on that in a later post.


In the meantime, one of our distractions has certainly been my decision to return to school. As some of you know, I have been talking about going back to obtain a teaching certificate to teach spanish. The decision was a tough one. Graduate school is very expensive, and I wasn't sure I wanted to invest money into a field I knew nothing about nor if I would be any good at. So I waffled and chickened out last fall.


It wasn't until I was sitting at my nephew's graduation ceremony, listening to the class Valedictorian speak about life that I renewed my motivation to pursue this new career. She quoted Mark Twain who said "in 20 years, we will regret the things we didn't do, vs. the things we did". That statement hit me like a lightening bolt and almost immediately, I began to look into options again.


It was in this renewed effort that I came across a program at the University of Central Missouri for an Alternative Certification Teaching program. One with a Bachelor's degree can obtain a Masters degree in teaching with an accelerated program to obtain state certification. This turned out to be a great opportunity for me to get a Master's degree and the certification at the same time.


With much angst, I applied and was accepted into the program and started classes last week. One online, one on-site. I have to say, I sort of forgot all the reading that is required for these classes!

With luck, I will finish my degree in three years. My plan is to resign from Remel early next year, try to pick up some freelance marketing projects, and begin substitute teaching in the Fall of 2009. Not only will I hopefully be moving into a more rewarding career, but also be working closer to home and making the same salary as I do now (thanks to the Masters). Which is hard to find in smaller communities.

This move doesn't come without a profound sense of fear. After all, I am leaving a semi-successful and solid marketing career. But, I keep going back to that Mark Twain quote. Worst case scenario I will be a terrible teacher, or hate it, and will just go back to Marketing. Either way, I will have a Masters Degree under my belt and can't say I didn't try and spend my life wondering "what if?"

So, I am now officially a UCM Mule....hmmmmm



But I will always be a CU Buff at heart! Yea!

Finito!

Yey! The bathroom remodel is complete!! I can't express how happy I am. It took about 5 times longer than planned (about 6 weeks), but it is finally done. I am no interior designer, but it is better than before and we are happy with it. I must admit, I don't care if I never see a paint brush and a piece of tile again.

Let's recap...
Here is the bathroom before:


And after:
Another before; notice the terrible vanity lights and the ugly faucet...
ahhh.....much better!

It feels great to have this done. Its one major project that we can take off our list. Now we can embark on the basement remodel.........well, maybe later. Much later.

Latest Fun/Project Updates

Missouri in July is darn HOT! Some days it is so humid, it takes your breath away. But we don't let it stop us from having fun. This last weekend was no exception.

What started out as a small excursion to the Cass County Fair with Chris, Barbie, and their kids turned out to be an impromptu BBQ party at our place. Our friend Mark, Chris' mom Jane, our friend Tof and his two boys, Aiden and Miles joined us as well. Though it was hot, we made the most of the day, enjoying the food, fun, and conversation.

The kids brought their fishin' poles to see what they could catch in our pond. Here they are heading out to fish.

Aiden waits patiently for a bite...


Grandma Jane gives Zachary the family fishing secrets (hint: it's bacon!)...

Looks like the bacon worked!

The kids had a great time fishing. Since our pond is full of hungry perch and catfish, you never have to wait long for a bite. After an hour or so, everyone headed back in to avoid heat stroke. The kids immediately crashed for a nap. The original plan was to go to the fair, but I think the fishing was the highlight of the day. By the time we got around to going to the fair, it was late and everyone was beat, so we didn't stay long. Regardless, it turned out to be a really fun day. I love when things turn out like that!

Sunday, we got back to work on our projects. Gabe helped me lay the rest of the tile in the bathroom. He cut the tile, and I laid it.
After which I decided to crash in front of the TV for the rest of the day. Apparently, Brody and Linus had the same idea!

Gabe finished the mailbox. It looks awesome! Nice for a first job, eh?

Once the mortar on the tile had a chance to cure, it was time to grout. So I finished that up Wednesday night. I am so glad this is almost done! The grout has to cure for three days, then I can seal it and start to put everything back together. I am really excited to see the final results and really glad its almost done.
Do-it-yourself projects are not very friendly to the old body anymore. Had to visit my trusty chiropractor this evening to get put back in line. I don't think I will be doing any more tiling any time soon. Whew, time for bed.

Rocky Mountain High (belated 4th of July fun)

In between all our remodeling, we did take some time out for fun. For the 4th of July weekend, Gabe went down to SW Missouri to see his family while I flew home to Denver. I hadn't been to Denver since Christmas and I was pretty homesick for family and friends. Plus, I LOVE Colorado in the summer.

I was lazy and didn't lug my big camera on the trip and now I am regretting it.

The weekend in Denver was awesome. It is always good to be home, see my family, sleep with the windows open...etc. My dad and stepmom have a great house to relax in. But as usual, it was a very busy trip. It is so hard to be able to see everyone in a short amount of time. I tend to have to go with a specific plan. Everyone is pretty good about the give and take. This trip, the goal was to spend some quality time with my girlfriends and also with my nephews, Alex, Austin and Richie. It had been entirely too long since I saw either.

I had a great time with my nephews on Friday. We had an early lunch, went to my brother's (Phil) to play some Rock Band, went to see Hancock, squeezed in some family time with a small BBQ at Dad's house then took the boys to see the fireworks. It was very busy, but an awesome day.

Saturday was my girl time day. I hadn't been to the mountains since we moved to Missouri, so I went with my BFFs Kristi and Collie up to Silverthorne (about an hour west of Denver) to shop at the outlet stores and have lunch at the Dam Brewery in Dillon. We had a total blast. I can't say how much I miss my girlfriends! Plus, being in the mountains again was wonderful. Its hard to be without them. Here we are posing for a pic on Kristi's blackberry. Just as we thought, time flew by and the day with the girls ended too soon. Saturday night I had dinner with Mom, Phil, Gretchen, and my aunt Maxie at our favorite sushi spot, Wasabi's then crashed at mom's place.

It was so great to be able to spend a little time at home. Its amazing how fast time flies and how much time goes by in-between visits. As always, I never get to see everyone I would like to, but there is only so much time. I wish there was a way to combine both places into one. But for now, I just do what I can, when I can.