Our Fall

Since I've started working I haven't blogged very much so I thought I'd take the time to tell you about what we've done this fall and show you some pics too.

For Dave's Birthday in September we visited an apple orchard near our house. We went on a hay ride,


walked through a corn maze,

and fed the animals.


As you can see, it was a beautiful Fall day and we had a lot of fun.

At the beginning of October Lexie got her first loose tooth - actually two of them - her 2 bottom front teeth. She is very excited and can't wait for one of them to fall out. The one on her left side is getting pretty loose so hopefully it will happen soon!

Towards the end of October Dave and I went to the Michigan v. Michigan State game. It was cold but it was still a fun day.




Next came pumpkin carving which we did one night right after Lexie took a shower - notice the wet hair and pjs. (This is the "before" picture.)
Lexie even got to help carve this year but it was Mommy's job to get all the yuckie stuff out of the pumpkin first.


We were really happy with how the pumpkins both turned out.


October ended with one of Lexie's favorite holidays, Halloween. Can anyone guess what Lexie decided to be? That's right, Hannah Montana! All we had to buy was the wig & microphone, the rest came from her closet!

For the 2nd year in a row we had my parents, my sister & her family, and my sister's sister-in-law's family come over to eat and go trick-or-treating. Here are the 3 girls - Hannah Montana, Daphne (from Scooby Doo) and Princess Madalyn - aren't they so cute!?
It was a lot of fun trick or treating, especially because the weather was so amazing. It was in the 70s most of the day so Lexie didn't even have to wear a coat!
My niece Madalyn is now 2 and she had so much fun trying to keep up with the big girls!

In the end, the girls came home with over 100 goodies in their bags!



The last big thing for us this fall was the election on November 4th. Dave and I have spent the last few months watching all the campaign news on CNN and Fox News. We were very excited for November 4th to finally arrive and we were glued to CNN all night watching the election coverage. As I watched Barack Obama's speech I was so moved, I felt I was listening to a historic speech, one that will be remembered and quoted in history books.

Dave and I are so happy with the choice of Barack Obama as our next president. This is the first time in a long time that the person we voted for actually won! :) We both feel very hopeful about the future of this country under the direction of President-Elect Obama! Congratulations to him and to this country!

With winter almost here, we look forward to Thanksgiving and Christmas and also to the new year. We continue to pray that God adds to our family and that we have patience while we wait for His perfect timing.

Happy Anniverary to Us!

Last weekend Dave and I celebrated our 9th anniversary!!! As usual we went away for the weekend, just the two of us. Dave always does all the planning for it - picks the location, makes all the reservations, etc. All I have to do is pack and find someone to watch Lexie and Sandy for the weekend. This year he chose one of our favorite spots - Mackinac Island.

The timing of our anniversary weekend is great because Dave is always just getting done with budgets. This means that the couple of weeks before our anniversary are especially busy for him - lots of late nights, some out-of-town trips, etc. So this special weekend is a nice time for us to relax and reconnect. This year I appreciated it even more because with me working and Lexie's nightly homework I feel like I never have enough time to do everything, let alone spend quality time with Dave. So this weekend came at just the right time for both of us.

We packed so much into so little time, it's hard to include everything. So I thought I'd share some pictures and a list of 10 of my favorite memories from the trip:

1. That first view of the island (especially the Grand Hotel) from the ferry
2. Sleeping in until 9am two days in a row!
3. Walking hand-in-hand or arm-in-arm everywhere with Dave

4. Riding bikes around the island - over 8 miles!



5. Eating ice cream after our bike ride - YUM!!!

6. Stopping at the "Somewhere in Time" site - I love that movie!

7. Taking our "secret" path to the Grand Hotel


8. Making friends with a horse that Dave named "Honey-pie Pony"
9. Watching how scared Dave was walking up the stairs to see the Arch Rock

10. Enjoying the beautiful Fall colors



But I think my favorite thing of all about the weekend was that I got to spend 48 hours alone with Dave. It was so nice having no schedule to keep, no place to be, just doing whatever we wanted, whenever we wanted. Oh and we got to eat whatever we wanted too!!! :)

I've got a JOB!!!

No more sitting around the house eating bon-bons all day...I've got a job!!! With Lexie in school all day (and no new baby in the house) I knew I needed to find a job to fill my days. Of course I could've found LOTS to do around the house! But I thought I'd at least "look" for a job. I didn't think I'd really get one though with my limited schedule - no nights, no weekends - and not having had a job for over 6 years...I mean who would want to hire me???

Turns out our local library wanted to hire me!!! :) I am now working part time as a Page. I work 4 days a week (18 hours total) while Lexie is in school. It has taken a lot of getting used to. The first full day I started second-guessing myself - I came home with a headache, a sore back and aching feet and I wondered what I had gotten myself into. Who knew working at a library could be sooo physically demanding - lifting heavy books, pushing carts with TONS of heavy books all over the library, straightening shelves of heavy books, etc. (Did I mention that the books are HEAVY?!) Luckily after the first few days and a change in shoes (who cares if they're pretty, as long as they're comfortable right?), I am really enjoying myself.

I usually don't start working until 9 or 10 am so I still have an hour or two to myself in the morning. Then my workday ends around the same time Lexie gets out of school so I get home just in time to meet her at the bus stop. On my day off I plan on running errands and catching up on housework. That's what I "plan" on doing, we'll see if that's what REALLY happens. :)

So far it's been great having a job but there is one bad thing - I'm sooo tired at night! In fact I've been going to bed by 10pm most nights and even earlier sometimes! Speaking of which, my bed is calling to me now...

First Day of School

Lexie had her first day of first grade yesterday!!! She got up before I even went in to wake her up! (She only pushed her snooze button twice!) She quickly got ready and was so excited that she wouldn't even eat breakfast. We were ready early and were able to take a lot of cute pictures...




Then I drove Lexie to school and took her up to her classroom. Even though she didn't know anyone she didn't seem nervous at all - she just kept smiling. I, on the other hand, was very nervous - What was her teacher going to be like? Would Lexie like her teacher? Would she make any friends? Would she miss me too much? Would she like the lunch I packed for her? You get the picture - mostly I guess I was nervous about how I would do all day without my girl. :(

When I finally left (No, I didn't have to be asked to leave by the teacher in fact there was one other mom still there - of course her son was crying - but at least I wasn't last!!!), Lexie was sitting on the rug and didn't even care that I was leaving. That's always the hardest part - one more sign that she's growing up and doesn't need me as much.

Luckily my day alone flew by with lots of excitement - washing dishes, doing laundry and vacuuming - and before I knew it school was out and I had to go meet the bus around the corner.
As promised I brought Lexie her scooter so she could ride it home - like she'd seen some of the other kids do last year.
Once home I didn't get many details about Lexie's day just that she made a monkey, had Spanish class (she learned to say "me llamo Lexie"), had 2 recesses and made a new best friend Elizabeth. She also mentioned that she missed me and of course I missed her too. But I think we both did pretty well on our - oops I mean "her" - first day of school.

Addicted to Blogs

It's funny because a little over a year ago I didn't even know what a "blog" was. Now not only do I know what one is, but I have one of my own and, worst of all, I'm totally and completely addicted to reading them. I guess it'd be okay if it were just one or two blogs but it's WAY more than that! So I thought I'd share my addiction with everyone. You can thank me later. :)

The blogs I read can be broken down into categories.

First came the scrapbooking blogs:
Stacy Julian
Lisa Bearnson
Ali Edwards
Becky Higgins
Cathy Z
Elizabeth Kartchner
Donna Downey

Then came blogs I found thru the Bethany adoption forums - these are all written by women who are hoping to adopt or have already been blessed by adoption:
Our journey to adoption
William, Glenna & Isaiah
Blessed by 3 miracles
I love you more than there are stars in the sky
sugar & spice speaks out

One of the biggest problems with reading blogs (besides eating up your time) is that most blogs share links to other blogs (just like I'm doing right now). So you just keep adding more and more blogs to your favorites, like these:
Nesting Place
creative organizing
Recipes to Share
SouleMama
Hello my name is Heather
no time mom
Today's Creative Blog

So there you have it - my secret revealed. The first step in ending an addiction is admiting you have a problem...right??? Oops, I gotta go I saw a great idea on "Nesting Place" when I was creating the link!!!

Maybe I'll try to stop tomorrow...

Fall Giveaway at Simple Mom

What's your favorite thing about Fall? Mine is the weather, the leaves changing and going to the pumpkin patch & apple orchard. Now another great thing about Fall is a chance to win prizes! Simple Mom is giving you a chance to win over $200 worth of prizes! Just head over to their website and leave a comment telling them what your favorite part of Fall is. It's that easy! Good luck! (Hurry! The giveaway ends on August 25th!)

Touching Infertility Video

Though infertility is not what has kept us from being parents again, I can really relate to this video. (Thanks to Angie and Aaron for posting a link on their blog.) The only thing I would add is that instead of unsolicited advice I want PRAYERS (in addition to the other things listed towards the end of the video) - nothing can help more than that!