Wonderful Weekend

The long weekend turned out to be a lot of fun and exactly what I needed. On the drive to Indiana, I finished reading A Thousand Splendid Suns, which was a really good book, but also really sad. I would highly recommend reading both that and The Kite Runner.

On Sunday Matt and I took the train into Chicago, where we met Grace, her sister Kari, and Scott. We then all hopped on another train to get to the Lincoln Park Zoo. In all the times I've been to Chicago in the last few years, I've never gone there and it was a lot of fun, and best of all it's free! It was a lot bigger and nicer than I thought a free zoo in the city could possibly be.

The polar bears were my favorite.

I wanted to be one.

Grace and Kari wanted to be fishies.OK, maybe the meer cats were my favorite too.

The gang on the train.

After the zoo we went out to lunch. After that Grace and Kari left and Matt, Scott, and I walked down to Navy Pier and got some ice cream and watched the kiddies play in the fountain for a little while. It was SO good to be able to get out of my house for a weekend, actually DO something, hang out with friends, and have some warm weather. I really needed all of those things.

Matt and I made it back to his parents around 7. Mel had just put in a fire pit and patio in the backyard, so we all had an inaugural fire and roasted marshmallows :). I really wish Grand Rapids would allow fire pits. Monday morning Grace joined us again and after some coffee and chatting on the deck, we had brunch. On our way home we stopped by the outlet mall, but it was insanely busy, and we didn't have much time anyways, so we just stopped in the GAP :).

On another note... tonight we had our spring program for the preschoolers and toddlers at work. Let's just say there was crying, running off stage to parents and other directions, hands hiding faces, a little bit of singing, some motions, and plenty of teachers only singing moments. Oh, and a few disappointed parents that their two year olds wouldn't sit still and under control and sing and do motions... but yet again... I did say two year olds.

Quick update and on the road.

Thankfully I felt much better yesterday and was able to go to work. And by today I am back to eating whatever I want :). We ended up having 3 kids home sick with the same thing I had on both Thursday and Friday in the toddler room.

Tonight when Matt gets off work at 7, we're driving to his parents in Indiana. Grace is riding along with us and her sister who lives near Chicago also is going to pick her up from there. The both of them plus Scott are going to meet Matt and I in Chicago on Sunday for the day. Yay! Then Monday we get to hang out with Matt's fam some more and leave after lunch to get Grace back for work in GR at 5:30. It's gonna be a whirlwind weekend, but hopefully lots of fun! Not only that... it appears that summer is finally arriving :). The forecast is filled with 70s at least - it's about time!

Well, I need to get going on packing a few things before we leave tonight, but I hope everyone has a fun and/or relaxing long weekend!

I just had to...

YUCK

Today has been a huge disappointment. For pretty much the first time ever, Matt and I both had the same day off and I was very much looking forward to it. I was going to sleep in and spend a lazy morning with my husband. We were going to go for a bike ride together and go to look at a new bike for me and a bike shop that my friend Sarah works at. Then I had softball at night and Matt was going to come watch me play for the first time ever. But instead... I woke up a little before 3 am and started puking. The 5th and last round so far was around 11 am, but I have still been quite nauseas and achy most of the day... so needless to say, all I've done is lay around on the couch with a bowl nearby. It has been super nice to have Matt home to get me things and take care of me though, that is much better than being sick alone. I am sure I got it from kids at work, a couple have been home sick with the stomach flu lately. A major downside to working with kids. Hopefully I'll be better by morning to go to work, and I'm praying that Matt doesn't catch it so that we can still have an enjoyable weekend together in Indiana and Illinois in a couple days.

Our Backyard Meadow

Our backyard is VERY green and full of trees (I especially love the dogwood), bushes, ferns, blackberry vines, ground cover plants, and various types of flowering weeds. However, I think it kinda works together with the rockery along the back and Matt and I like to refer to it as our meadow :).

The panaramic pics are a little distorted from stitching together several pictures.

Here is also our front yard which Matt's fam helped us to spruce up last weekend.
Praise God for springy greenness!

Cars and Jobs

On Monday, we ended up only having 4 kids in my room at work, and since our ratio is 4:1, 2 teachers weren't exactly necessary. But my boss let me do some much needed planning and then I got off around 3 pm. I ran home, picked up Matt, and we headed to the downtown Beaners for him to study for finals and me to read. I got email coupons for a free drink of any size at that location only... so of course we got like the most expensive ones in the biggest
size (Trente Big Chill... like a frappaccino) :-D. It was a very nice unexpectedly relaxing afternoon and some extra time with Matt that I haven't had very much of lately.

Wednesday night I babysat after work again. They have a new girl to watch the kids for the summer, so she was there also to get an idea of what was going on. She's in the ed program at Grand Valley State University. So of course she asked me about looking for jobs once she found out I graduated with education. I really do hate having to explain my life... how hard it is to find a teaching job (let alone any job) in the Grand Rapids area, that I need something full time with at least health benefits while Matt's in school (so I can't really sub), that the more education-oriented jobs like pre-school or kindergarten in daycares that I found didn't pay enough to live on, that 300-400 people are applying for like every open position, etc... Actually it wasn't bad talking to her about it because she 's heard it all and knows how bad it is here, but to most people, I hate it when they ask, "So, what do you do? Oh really? What did you graduate with? Oh, that's too bad. Someday you'll get a real job." Gee thanks, someday a lot of things will be different. But not this day, this day I don't always like to advertise my life. And I do realize that with the economy we have right now I really just ought to be happy that I have a job at all, but still, it's hard. Apparently God has enrolled me in the school of contentment and patience in my life right now. It's always harder when someone else forces you to go to school.

A side note on my job... it's really not that bad, it's just not what I am really longing to do either. The kids are fun and make me smile and I absolutely love helping them grow and learn, but they're also 2 and make me scream inside and take away all of my energy.

Today I had the day off for the first time in a long time. Matt had his last final this morning. Hurray Matt, you're done!! It's weird not being in school and taking finals, my whole life's timing of seasons and stuff has worked around school, and now my mind is all confused that's it's the middle of May already and that I don't get a "summer." Oh well, welcome to being a grown-up I suppose. Anyways, after his final, Matt and I FINALLY went and picked up his car. Now, I purposefully have not been mentioning his car on here because it's a bit of a sore spot for me. Matt's car first broke down almost 2 months ago now. It took a couple of weeks, got fixed, then broke down again, and since then has been to different garages and has had several parts put in and taken back out because they didn't work for one reason or another. It has honestly been one of the most frustrating experiences ever. There have been SEVERAL times along the way when we thought we were getting it back in the next couple of days, and then something, yet again, went wrong. Graciously, Matt's parents loaned us one of their cars (the one Amy uses) for several weeks and worked out the carpooling on their end. That was truly a huge blessing, and I know that God was trying to teach me about patience, and trusting Him, and responding with joy like I've been hearing in church... but it has been SO hard for me to do all those things. And every time I thought I was doing pretty good about dealing with the situation, something would happen again and I would be back to square one and would have to realize I couldn't deal with it alone, I needed God's strength. It's not always very much fun when God is teaching you things. Anyways, we got the car home now, and I am praising God for that and hoping I've learned a lot so that just maybe I can have a learning break for a little while.

More Evangeline...

Busy Weekend

So, Friday I only worked until 1 pm, which never happens, so it was weird but oh so nice! I forgot what it was like to be home in the middle of the day :-P. It also makes the weekend feel just a little bit longer, which I needed before this busy weekend.

The boys t-ball game was awesome and hilarious! There were like 5 dads standing out in the field with all the 4-5 year olds to keep them in line and to stop the ball from leaving the infield. Everyone on one team got to bat while the other fielded, then they switched spots, and did that whole thing twice. Noah told me he was going to hit a home run. So he hit the ball and stopped on first (everyone runs to first and then the rest of the bases as others hit, no matter if they are safe or not), ran to each of the other bases, then after he got home, I could hear him yelling, "Yah! Homerun!" There was also an instance of base runners getting either backed up or not stopping at first and that resulted in three little boys running right behind each other all the way home. They also all run to the ball no matter how far away from it they are and tackle each other to get it. It was priceless.

Saturday Matt's fam came up for the day starting at about noon. We all went to Lowes and got a bunch of bushes and wood chips and stuff for the front yard and then put that all in. Our yard looks SO MUCH nicer now :). And it sure is nice not being the owner and paying for and doing the brunt of the work ourselves... I don't think I'm ready for all that yet. We went out to TGI Fridays (which he always picks because their Jack Daniels burger is his favorite) for Matt's birthday dinner with his grandparents. Then we came back to our house for dessert :). After they all left Grace came over and we watched The Last King of Scotland, which was pretty good, interesting, but gory. I am trying to get in as much Grace time as I can because she's moving back to Illinois at the end of June :(. I am going to be VERY lonely without her.

Church today was good, we had our last sermon out of James. I've really enjoyed this series. We've talked about choosing joy in troubling times, taming our tongues, and really doing and not just hearing what the Bible tells us. Today Jeff talked about why we fight. He said that when emotions start getting high and we go off on someone or attack them, it's always because there's something that someone wants, but they're not getting that. Whether that be respect, compliments, help, an emotional connection, etc. He said that it's OK to desire those things, but the problem comes when you start to demand them, because then you're going to hurt someone. For example, you can desire for your husband to tell you more of what he's thinking and feeling... but if you demand it by means of an ultimatum like, "if you don't, then i am not going to talk to you," then that is not OK. I guess the main reason I've enjoyed this series is because it's all about relationships and applies a lot to my life and particularly my marriage. There are a lot of really good things that I am working on from those sermons.

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there, and especially to new mommy Allyson :). Here are a couple more pics of Evangeline, my favorites so far.

Softball + A Picture

Hurray!! I got to play softball tonight! Although it was a double-header, so I'm a little tired, but oh well. It was a lot of fun and there are some really fun women from church on the team. It was especially nice after a long, trying day at work. But tomorrow I only work until 1 pm, hurray again! And then it's Friday and I get to go to a T-ball game that night, awesome.

Here's another picture of Evangeline. I love her so much already, and I haven't even met her! And she's wearing the hat I crocheted for her! They say it's a little big, but it'll fit her better in a couple weeks I bet.