buying transportation

we have been in the business of buying transportation lately...

first was a bike. the last bike i had was the pink and purple 10 speed that i got as a birthday present in grade school. i had brought it to college and it served me well. but after the chain rusted out and you could hear it squeak from a mile away, i figured other college students would appreciate a free bike. so after saving up for a while, i was able to buy a new one....


and second was a car! much to matt's disappointment, it was time to trade in the beretta. but he had a very proud moment when the manager talked to us after he inspected it for trade in value. he said...and i quote "that's the best beretta i've seen in a long time. you must have loved that car!" i have a feeling they don't see many berettas come through there, so i have to give him props...he's a pretty good car salesman - obviously he knew just what to say to my husband!

when we were finally ready to go home, matt jumped into the driver's seat, turned the ignition, and..... instantly a look of confusion and concern. i could only think - you've go to be kidding me! we've owned this thing for 5 minutes and something is wrong?

me - "matt, what's wrong? something with the car?"
matt - "well i turned the car on, but i don't hear anything. is it on?!"
me - laughing hysterically .... the car was definitely on :)

i think this qualifies as a - you know you've had an older car for a LONG time when...... no worries, the car is just fine and it's running great.


now we are ready for summer road trips and bike rides! :) i hope everyone is having a wonderful spring!

spring break

last week was spring break for both of our schools, so i took off work and we headed out on a spring break adventure. we started off the week flying out to new mexico to visit tim & chels in zuni. it was great to see where they live, work, and the people they talk about. here's a few pictures...

we thought jeremiah looked pretty good in a twin's hat.....he only liked it for about 3 seconds. someday...

on monday, we hiked up DY, the mesa near zuni. zuni is in the background of the picture, and was awesome to get up that high and see for miles!

one night we also went to turtle rock to watch the sunset. once again....beautiful!


tuesday and wednesday we went to the grand canyon - matt and i's first time! on tuesday we went to a lot of lookout points and watched the sunset over the grand canyon at night. it was amazing just to take it all in! that night we camped out, and wednesday we hiked the kaibab trail. although a little chilly, we had a great time.


thursday we flew back to chicago, but not before i snapped a happy picture with jeremiah. the poor guy was working on 3 top teeth all week and usually just wanted chels. by the last day he was feeling better and i got a good smile. i told him he could practice saying my name for the next time we see him....but we just may have to visit again for that to happen! :)

after a few short hours of sleep, we unpacked and repacked our bags on friday morning and headed out to minneapolis for the 1st twins game in target field. zack, one of matt's college roommates, got us tickets.....matt was like a kid in a candy store. it was rainy all day, but as soon as we got to the stadium, the rain stopped and it was great weather!





and on our way home, we celebrated easter with family. this is just a little family game of carrot baseball. team siblings-with-spouses took the W this year, but team parents-and-unmarried-siblings did have an impressive showing....snapping the carrot top off the bat and breaking a ball in half.
and finally back to chicagoland. it was a great spring break....the only thing missing was a vacation day to recover from our vacation before monday rolled around!

children's books

this quarter i'm taking a literacy course for K-4th grades, which means that i have spent a great deal of time in the children's section of our local library. i've read some really great books and now have a new found appreciation for them.....and realized that this section of the library is not made for people my height. the book shelves come up to about my hip, so for me to browse the top shelf, i have to stick out my rear end and crane my neck sideways in a very awkward way. with the bottom shelves, i usually just sit indian style on the ground, but my long legs take up most of the aisle. i know the obvious - the shelves are made for the little people. but i had to laugh the last time i was there....most of the people searching the shelves were the parents, while the kids were comfortably reading by the tables and on the couches. maybe i'm not the only one feeling like a giant among the children's books after all.

taking a break

so what have we been up to for the past two months? well, january was a lot of basketball. matt and i both had teams to coach this year - he had 8th grade boys again and here's my team of freshmen girls. it was a lot of fun to coach them this year....it's easy to get to know your team quite well when it's so small. we ended up 16-4 on the year and were conference champs. they made me look quite good :).

this year i decide to brave the homecoming game crowds, but it was all worth it to see matt dance with the pommers in a father/daughter dance that they put on every year. one of his former students asked him to step in cause their dad couldn't make it. i have tried for years to get that boy to bust out a move at a wedding dance and i've got nothing so far.....so i wasn't going to miss this. (i think he's going to post the video someone took on facebook)

february has been the month of homework. school is going great and i'm a few weeks away from being 1/2 way done. but as any college student knows, the last few weeks are always the busiest. next quarter i have a 50 hour practicum (classroom observations) and in the fall i'll be student teaching....which also means that i'll be looking for my own teaching job in less than a year!

teaching is going well for matt. he enjoyed his february break between basketball and baseball...and i did too. he went to the chicago auto show with some friends a few weekends ago and has actually made it home from school before 5:00 several nights this month. but tryouts start for baseball on monday so he'll be off and running once more. he's coaching the jv by himself this year and has a lot of guys trying out for the team, so he also has the awful job of making cuts. it's hard to believe that the season should start already when i woke up to 4 inches of unexpected lake effect snow on my car this morning!

well i'm off to do another project for school. adios!

there's no place like home for the holidays

there really is no place like home for the holidays! we were very blessed with good travelling weather, considering the storm that rolled through the midwest the week of Christmas! it was great to catch up with some friends and spend quality time with family. although much too short, we are thankful for the time we had.

we started off our trip in minnesota...



and then made it down to iowa, right before minnesota got pounded with lots and lots of snow!


this was our "sick" picture. the plan was to go to michigan for Christmas day, but ben came down with pneumonia so it was an iowa Christmas. dad, i think you need to work a little bit on your sick pose. :)


and the annual funny picture!


and speaking of being home for the holidays, i just got a call from matt. he survived his canadian dogsledding adventure! they are going to hit the road tonight and make it back by tomorrow morning. :) i've had many requests for him to post pictures, so i'll have him blog as soon as he can. i hope everyone has a great start to the new year!

'tis the season

what's black, red, and itchy all over?

matt's sweater!

this past weekend we went to an ugly sweater bunko party and i think we did a pretty good job with the ugly part. you can't see it from the picture, but my sweater came complete with puff balls on the christmas tree, courtesy of the 8th grade social studies teacher who wears a different ugly sweater every day of school from december 1 until christmas vacation. matt wore this same sweater to school on friday for their ugly sweater competition and came home with the "itchiest sweater" award.


we have another ugly sweater party coming up with our small group from our church, and i'm going to wear pam's sweater for that party. there are more beads on this sweater than lights on a christmas tree!


the rest of our evenings are usually filled in the gym (big surprise, huh?) between practices and games, we are definitely getting our fill of basketball this winter. my team is tons of fun to coach, which is what really makes the season enjoyable...an undefeated record helps things out a little bit too :). but please don't think i'm being cocky...these girls are the ones making me look pretty good!

well, christmas break starts friday! we are heading out to minnesota, then dropping down to the farm for a couple days and finishing off our travels in michigan for christmas day. it will be a busy break with lots of great time with family and friends! so for the few days we will be home around the holidays we did a little bit of decorating in our apartment, and even got a tree this year to put our presents under.

end and begin

today i am officially 1/4 of the way to getting my teaching certificate....all the papers are handed in and i just gave my last presentation today. now i'm on break until january 12 and loving the idea of this big thanksgiving and christmas break! the quarter went by really fast so if the rest of it goes this quickly...student teaching will be here before i know it!

we also had our first basketball game tonight. i'm coaching the freshmen girls team - we are small in numbers but big in talent. it's going to be fun...and when you only have 7 girls, you definitely don't have to worry about playing time questions!

i hope everyone has a very safe and happy Thanksgiving!