Nephew Noah :)





I've been wanting to blog about my sweet baby nephew Noah for awhile now. I'm such a baby lover I hate to see how I am when I have my own kid, because my facebook is already so full of Noah pictures and he's just my nephew, haha. I just love him so much though! He's the first baby of the family in my immediate family and in my whole family he's the first baby of his generation as well. I'm sure there will be more from my sister in a few years, and hopfully from Jared and I too!

Anyways, Noah was born January 11, 2010. I'll never forget that day! It was my first day of classes for the spring semester up at EIU. I remember that I had a morning class at 8am and then I had another night class at 430 pm. I was really nervous about skipping class the first day, but I figured it was a pretty legit reason!

So after my 8am class I sped home and arrived at the hospital around one. I don't remember the exact time Noah was born, but it was only a few hours after I had been there! I guess I was just expecting Jen to be in labor allll day and night but he came pretty quickly after the pitocin was given. Little Noah was not so little, he weighed a whopping 9lbs 3 oz. That was the biggest baby in our family so far! Hopefully it remains that way! He came out with chubby cheeks and we love them, they're still there today!

I wanted to share some pictures of the little budger (as my dad has nick named him, because since the day he was born he's always been such a grunter and a squirmy little guy). He is now 8 and a half months old, so the pictures are from months 1-8.



Month 2



Month 3

month 4

month 5

month 5



 I might be a little biased, but I honestly think he's the cutest little guy ever. As he gets older I can't get over how much he looks more and more like a little man every day!



month 6- Aunt Randi didn't do well feeding him plums!




month 7




month 7



month 8

month 8

month 8- little screamer, haha so happy!

month 8- he loves uncle Jared

Needless to say, I love taking pictures of him. He's one of a kind, that's for sure! He's getting so big though! Jen (my sister, Noah's mom) is already excited about planning his first birthday party. I have no doubt it will be amazing! 





Our date :)

Yesterday Jared and I went on a date. I told him to plan it so I could just enjoy a stress free day with him! So, we drove to St. Louis and went to The CiTy Museum! I had never even heard of this place, but it's not your typical museum. This place is for adults and children. The whole museum was a huge maze of nooks and crannys to climb in and through, tunnels, slides, etc. I can't even begin to describe all of the features of this museum. There was an aquarium exhibit, a circus, a skate park, caves, a ball pit, and so on. It was a great date. We both had a lot of fun. It was nice just to spend the day together by ourselves too. After the museum we went to Union Station and bought some fudge, yum!

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caves

We will definitely be going back here, especially when we have kids some day!

Volleyball!

This past weekend I went to Mt. Pulaski to watch my sister Kate play volleyball. I'm in love with this sport. It's so fun to watch and even more fun to play! I really really really wish I would have played in high school. Since I didn't play, I try to go watch my sister play as much as I can. I am sad she is a senior this year because it'll be the last year to watch her play! I wish I was able to go to all of her games, but because of my class schedule and me being up at Eastern, it's just not possible. I'm blessed to have Friday's off from school though so I'll probably try and make it to all her Thursday night games. Anyways, this weekend was their tournament in Mt. Pulaski. She played really well! She is an outside hitter so she gets to slam the ball! Here are some pictures I took while at the games this weekend. They got 2nd in their division!

Rottweiler Puppy





Well, I never thought I'd be saying this, but Jared and I are looking into gettin a rottweiler puppy. For those of you know who me, I've grown up with golden retrievers and miniature dachshunds my whole life. From the time I was born till now we've had one of the two, if not both. So, those are the only dogs I've ever been interested in. I always pictured Jared and I getting a golden retriever puppy from my dad (he rasies them). BUT, Jared has always wanted a rottweiler. We kind of argued about this a little bit, but it's only fair that he get the kind of dog he's always wanted. So, he told me about a month ago he'd like to start looking for a rottweiler puppy. Immediately I said NO. I didn't think that we were ready for a dog 1. because we don't have a house yet 2. because we're not even married yet and 3. because we can't afford an 800 dollar dog right now. So, I never really gave it much more thought since I pretty much ruled that out right away. Well, then Jared told me last weekend that he found a place that raises their rottweilers with children, and they were near Terre Haute and ready to be picked up. Again, I said no.

Well, last night we had a little argument, and I felt really bad afterwards. He told me that it upset him that I just ruled it out immediately. He said that he wanted a dog to live with him at our house so he's not so lonely until I move in. Well after telling me that, how could I say no? The only thing hindering my decision now is the money. So I told him we just needed to start looking for a cheaper breeder. So today I found a couple in St. Louis for a couple hundered less than the other breeder was asking. I would still like to wait until we get the house which isn't too far away. I also told Jared that if he saved money for one instead of taking the money out of savings that I would agree to him getting one. So, for his birthday he is getting money from me towards a dog. I think he might ask for money from other family members as well so that he can get a dog within the next month or two. He also said he'd be willing to pick up some extra hours on a Saturday to get a little extra money. Now, I'm worried about the potty training since I won't be there to help until May! AHHHHHHH.

But hey, I'm going to try not to stress about it because I know it will truly make Jared happy to have the dog he's always wanted! Don't sweat the small stuff in life :)

Little by little, we'll get there!

I got an email today from the knot website saying that they were having major clearance sales and also an extra 20% off your total purchase today. I decided to browse the site and I found some cute stuff! I ordered something for all my bridesmaids, then while I was shopping I thought I'd check out Victoria's Secret too. So, I ended up buying 2 things for all my bridesmaids today. Even though I only got 2 things for each girl, it adds up quickly! I know what your thinking, well don't have such a big wedding party then! But, I'd rather spend more money and have everyone in my wedding :)
That's why I decided to get some of the buying out of the way now. I know that if I wait till May, I'll be completely broke and we'll have to get the guy's gifts at that time as well.
I can't reveal what I bought in case anyone in my wedding decides to read this, but they sure are cute and I'm excited about it!

Little by little, we'll get there! I am taking advantage of the fact that I have 7 months and 29 days till the wedding (I'm not counting or anything). So, I was trying to think of something different to do at the ceremony and I have a couple ideas. I thought about doing balloons at the end when we walk out of the church, but then I saw a picture from someone's wedding and they did sparklers! I love this idea! I haven't researched the prices yet, but I think that's what I want to do. The fire makes for great pictures and the kids really have fun with it as well!

STRESSED!

After a day like today I just want to quit school and be a waitress forever. Tuesdays are my really long days, so I know that played a part in my day being horrible. I got up for class at 8, came home for lunch, then went to my literature class (which I HATE reading), then came home and ate supper, then went back to class from 7-945 pm! And my last class is supposed to get out at 930, but she let us out 15 mintues late tonight, which just put me in an even worse mood. If you can't sum up your lesson in 2 and a half hours, then maybe you shouldn't be a teacher. Uhh!

Okay, but here is the real reason why I'm stressed out. Projects, projects, projects, papers, papers, papers!
Here is all of the stuff I have to do in a matter of a couple weeks:
Social Studies-
a week unit on the state of Illinois, and actually go teach the lessons to kids at Marshall.
an aricle review which is like a 2 page paper on a schollarly journal
Middle Level Reading-
Read Holes
read Moby Dick
Do a presentation on an article review plus a paper of the actual review itself
Middle Level development-
A research paper on Anorexia
A group unit- 2 weeks long
an article review and paper
Elementary Diagnostic Reading-
an article review and paper
assess a child outside of class and present the research and findings in research paper format
Science in the classroom:
a lesson on plants and actually teach the lesson at Mattoon elementary
a thematic unit for 2 week span on recylcing
a research paper about recycling
several article reviews and papers
Literary Masterwoks:
read a novel every 2 weeks, really boring and hard ones might I add!
Practicum
while doing all of this stuff, I also have to go out into the school for 4 weeks and teach for half a day every day.. all of these lessons are also being created by me and implemented in the classroom.
plust more professional development binders (2)

Let me tell you what a "unit" is
a unit is like a ton of lesson plans which are each at least 10 pages long each, plus all of the extras that go into a lesson like the materials, the resources, the title, the concepts, the purpose. blah blah blah All of this has to be planned out and put into a binder. All of the lessons go together and intertwine with different subjects.

This is why I am so stressed! I feel like I just have WAYYYY too much going on in my classes to even be able to keep track of it all! That is another reason why I wrote it all out, just for myself so I can use it as a check list kind of thing. I'm guessing this isn't everything, this is just what I know about after the first 3 weeks of school. Sorry if I seem like I'm complaining, but hey, I am! Teaching is HARD and not always fun :(



This is only the beginning of the semester, my collection of binders will only grow!

 Please pray for me this semester as I go through all of the stress of school/buying a house/ and planning a wedding. Exactly 8 months from today and I'll be done with school and a married woman!

2nd Practicum

In the education field you are required 2 practicums before you actually student teach. A practicum is a 4 week period that the pre-service teacher is actually in the classroom teaching for. We go for just half a day and during this time we don't go to our other education classes that we have at that time. They call it a block because it blocks off part of your day to allow you to do the practicum when its time.
Well, last semester I was in a 6th grade classroom at Neoga. I never thought I'd like the older kids but I actually enjoyed teaching them quite well! I had a great class and an awesome teacher to help me along. Most of the time while I was there I taught science to 3 different 6th grade classes.  So, this semester I wanted to try out a younger grade to give myself some range in my experience.
I just found out that I was placed in Paris Crestwood Elementary for 1st grade this time. I'm not really as nervous this time around since I have already had one practicum. I'm only nervous about getting all of the work done! It requires sooooo much planning and creative thinking, and I'm also in 3 other classes while doing this. So, I'll be a busy bee this semester!
But, once this semester is over with I'll be ready to student teach and then graduate! My last day of student teaching should be April 22. I just found that out last week and I'm really excited about it because that means I'll have almost a whole month before the wedding off from school! This will be a much needed relaxation period!

NFL!

Football has officially started! I never used to be a big sports fan, but as I've gotten older I enjoy watching sports more. I think it also has something to do with the fact that Jared loves football/basketball/baseball and so does my dad. So, anytime there is a game on T.V. we'll most likely have it on. I think I also enjoy the fact that football comes with fall, which I love :) Jared was laying on the chair today watchin the Bears, and I had to get a photo since today is the first Sunday football of the season! Yay! Bring on the chili and wings! Maybe someday we'll get to go to an actual football game in Chicago!

Sneaking some pictures of the first Sunday NFL!

Hannah enjoys football with Jared, haha

Home Inspection

Our home inspeaction was today. I was kind of nervous to get the results back just because it is an older home so I was worried there would be a ton of stuff wrong that you never see with the naked eye. Well, we must have had a really good inspector. He was there for hours! When we got there he was just finishing up the report. He took lots of pictures a long the way and was just very thourough with his inspection, which is good for us! When he gave us the report he told us what was all wrong and needed fixed. As he was saying stuff I really had no idea what he was talking about, but afterwards Jared said that it was nothing major and it could all be fixed by him! The only thing he said was that our wires on the breaker box needed guards on them, we need carbon monoxide detectors, a cast iron pipe has a dot of rust that could turn into a leak later on, and the chimney needs caulked around the edge. So, Jared will have a few things to fix when he first moves in, but nothing major! I'm so thankful for nothing expensive! I would reccommend the guy who did ours to anyone needing an inspection done!

Paint Colors

Ever since we got the accepted offer on the house all I can think about is decorating! As you saw, we already registered, and I've been adding a few things to the lists here and there. Well, now it is time to think about paint colors! I love the sherwin williams website! They have a program where you can actually upload a picture of the room you are wanting to paint and then you draw a line around the part you want to paint and then pick a paint color and it shows up on the wall! It is so neat! Here is the link to it:
http://www.sherwin-williams.com/do_it_yourself/paint_colors/paint_color_palette/visualizer/index.jsp

Well, I was looking throught paint colors and trying to decide what colors I want for our new home. I had thought about yellow for the living room, but I'm not sure that would look good with the tan couch. So, then I thought about tan or brown, but that's kinda boring, and I'm not much for boring rooms. So then I found this color which was like a dark tealish/gray looking color. I loved it! I kept looking and then I lost the color I liked and forgot the name of it. A friend on my facebook posted pictures of her house for sale and I saw the teal/gray color again on her living room walls! It really looked good in her pictures, and they have wood floors and tan furniture as well. So, we'll see if this is what we end up going for, but I do love it! It's called link gray. I hope Jared lets me try it out! Then I thought maybe the dining room/kitchen could be that pale yellow color instead? Those are my ideas for now... I'll have to think of what color of pillows I can get with those wall colors.. that's my next thing!

We got our bedding in yesterday! I was so excited to open it up and see! The colors aren't much different than they looked in the online picture. The orangish color looks more copper brown in person, but I still think painting an orangish color for one wall would be cute. Then we would prob. do tan for the others. We'll have to see on that one though! The colors may be hard to match on that bedspread.

I can't believe we have just 35 days until our closing date! It will be here before we know it! I'm actually going to the bank bright and early to turn in some papers to get the process moving! Yay!!!

Wedding Ring

This weekend Jared and I went to Tuscola to look for a wedding ring for Jared. He had one picked out at the Zales in Effingham, but we wanted to see if they had any at the outlet mall, only because the outlet has 40% off men's rings all the time. So, he tried on a couple, and we had no success. So, I asked if they could order the one he wanted and they said it was a "specialty ring". Which means it can't be special ordered, and it won't ever be on sale. Figures, the one he wants is a no sale item. So we went back to Effingham and just got it from their Zales. I was okay with it though because he spent so much thought and money into my ring, I figured its only fair he gets the one he wants as well! So anyway, here is a picture of the ring I bought for him. I can't wait to see it on his finger! :)

This is it! Only his will be white gold instead of yellow gold.

Labor Day Weekend

This weekend I came home from school and got an extra day off for Labor day. It was so nice to get to hang out with Jared a little more than usual! Sunday we started the Labor day festivities. Dad had a cook out at our house for a few friends and family. It was fun; we played yard games, some people swam, and we ate chili, hot dogs, and brauts! It really felt like fall since we were eating chili and later that night we had a fire with smores, yum!

Mmmm Smores!

The first fire of the year, YAY!

Poor Noah was zonked out by the time we had the fire!

Meanwhile, this whole weather changing thing has gotten Jared very excited about hunting season coming up. He usually just goes deer hunting during shot gun season, but this year he bought a bow and he will be going during bow season too. This is the only part of fall that I don't look forward to, I lose my fiance to hunting! I think he shot his bow about 15 different times this weekend alone. Each time he went out to shoot he was gone for about 20 minutes. So, you do the math, and you now know why it's not my favorite! However, I do hope that he gets a deer this year, I'd like to see a nice buck!

Here are some pictures I took of him while he was practicing shooting the bow.

Then, Monday, which was acually Labor Day, we went to get that couch and then hung out at home for a little bit before it was time to head to my mom's house. Jared wanted to once again shoot his bow, haha imagine that. We had fun at my moms. We ordered Papa Johns, and then we played some yard games and just hung out. I had to head back to school that night so I didn't get to stay too long. It's always good to see my mom though! Overall, we had a good Labor Day weekend :)

New Couch!

I knew that Jared and I didn't have the money to buy new furniture for our new house, so I've been looking on Craigslist, Ebay, Garage Sales, Newspapers... anyplace I can think of that would have cheap used furniture. I figured that in a couple years we can get nice furniture but for now we didn't need anything fancy. Even though I say that, I really can't see myself with an old floral print couch or a stained piece of furniture. I think it would just drive me nuts. At my apartment up at school we have mis-matched furniture but at least we have slip covers. Well, I would consider that for Jared and I but those darn slilp covers are about enough to drive me up the wall. I'm a freak about making sure they are always tucked in and neat! So, anyways I really wasn't sure what we were going to do about furniture right away.

However, I found an awesome deal on craigs list! Most of the stuff on there in our price range was not worth driving anywhere to pick up. It was mostly outdated and holey or stained. But, I came across this nice tan couch for 200$. I figured it probably had some holes in it or stains, but hey it was tan so I was happy!! I also found out that the couch has recliners on the ends of it! I love this feature!! I could actually see myself happy with this purchase and being content with it! So, I called Jared and asked him if we could go to Danville to pick it up on Labor day. Just what he wanted to do with his day off, haha. Good thing he loves me :)
Anyway, here is my steal of a deal! Our new (to us) couch!

It's a one year old Berkshire reclining sofa, microfiber.

I meant to take the picture before we got it in the shed, but I forgot. So that's why there is random furniture around it, and it's not a very good picture.

We are pleased with our purchase :)

Our first home!

We decided to go out and look a second time despite how upset we were about the other home. We came across a house which was much closer to town than the Funkhouser home, but still sat on an acre of land. It is a little bit smaller than the other house, but it has a basement!! I am SO excited it has a basement. It makes me like this house ten times more than the other one! We looked at it last Sunday and fell in love with its cute charm! The house was built in 1940, so it is very old but has a lot of character! The wood work is so cute, it's very large baseboards and big old wood trim make it seem so homey. The home has it's original hardwood floors, but they have been re-finished and look brand new. We bid on the house and had a little bit of a bidding war with the owner. We didn't really get too much knocked off of it's original listing price, but that's okay! We are in love with it!

I've only gotten to see it once because I was up at school the second time our Realtor showed it. But, I had Jen take some pictures for me since I didn't have my camera the first time we went. Below are pictures of our soon to be "first home." Our closing date is October 15. So, only 40 more days and Jared and I will hopefully be first time home owners!

Side view of the house, minus the garage.

-Kitchen. It needs a good paint job!

-dining room. Here you can see the trim!

living room. The Pink/Mauve walls & ceiling have got to go! I can't get over how they painted the ceilings as well! Yuck!

The bathroom is very modern. I love it! Can't wait to get my new shower curtain for it!

I forgot to say that this house had everything on our wish list except for 2 bathrooms. But, since it has a basement, we want to eventually finish it and put a bedroom and bathroom down there. October 15 cant come soon enough!

House Hunting!

Jared and I were both really wanting to buy a home instead of renting one. We both know that buying is more expensive, but we also would rather have our money be going towards something rather than nothing... So, about a month ago we began house hunting! Well actually I should say I began searching online as soon as we got engaged. Since then, I think I've known where every house in the area for sale by realitor was located, how much they were asking, how many bedrooms, and basically everything about all the homes if they were in our price range. Well we decided to work with a realitor who we both know and trust. So, about a month ago we showed him which houses we were interested in. He took us out and showed them to us.
Here is a little wrap up of what we were looking for:
2 bathroom,
3 bedroom,
basement,
garage,
somewhat private,
and some land.

The first couple houses we looked at were very discouraging. Since we don't have a very high budget, I knew that it was not likely we would get our "wish list" in a home. The first couple houses were just crackerboxes, and none of them had basements :(

Then, we thought we found THE ONE! It seemed so perfect to us. It needed a lot of work on the inside though, it hadn't been updated since the 70's, when it was built. It was in Funkhouser and that was one of the only things I was worried about. I wasn't sure that in ten years we would be able to re-sell it due to it's location. It had everything else on our wish list, except a basement.
Below is a picture of the Funkhouser home.

So, after looking at this house a couple times, and bringing out Jen and Matt to look at it, we decided we wanted to bid on it. We bid a week ago from last Saturday and we heard back Monday. I was so anxious to hear back from the realitor, only to find out that someone else had already bid and was under contract with the house. I was SO upset. I just didn't see ANYTHING else on the market that I was even remotely interested in looking at. I got an email from our realitor the next day asking us to consider going out and looking again. I was pretty bitter and really didn't even want to go look anymore. But I was trying to be positive and trust that there was something else that was for us!

Registering & Bedding

Earlier today I was thinking of what else we needed to do for the wedding. I was working on a wedding guest list, and then I remembered that we hadn't registered yet. I know it is a little early, but I thought this way we can ask for stuff off of our registry for our birthdays and Christmas as well. So Jared and I went ahead and went to Kohls and Wal-Mart today to register. It was so much fun! All of the bathroom stuff is so cute! Here is a picture of the shower curtain. I just love it!

I had my heart set on this bedding from bed bath and beyond, but I decided to look at Wal-Mart and Kohls today to make sure that was the one I wanted. So, we came back from registering and I just went ahead and ordered the bedding. I know it is a little early, but I couldn't help myself, it's exactly what I wanted. The colors are cute to. Here is a picture below:

I can't wait to decorate!

Engagement Pictures

We recently had our engagment pictures taken by Lauren LaPlante. She is a friend of mine who I met up at Eastern. I am really picky about pictures, because I had researched photographers and types of photos for a long time, I knew exactly what I was looking for. I had thought that I wanted a certain photographer, untill I called him and found out his prices! Holy Cow were they high! I knew that Lauren would do a really good job as well, and decided to go with her! I was truly blown away by the photos she took of us! I couldn't have asked for anything better! Of course it helps when we know eachother and I had a ton of ideas written down, but needless to say, she exceeded our expectations for photography!
I just can't wait for her to actually take the wedding photos now!

Below are some of our favorites from our Engagement session.