An Early Christmas Surprise!

Sorry I have not posted in so long (for those of you who check this daily, waiting for my next magnificent post)...

I have been sooo busy with school (Dec. 13th is the big day!), and moving into our new house. Ted and I have been trying to put our house together before Thanksgiving and Christmas, which I think we may be 99% done by Christmas.

Right now we are painting our bedroom. The color is called Mercer Blue, or in other words a grayish-blue. It is very nice and is going to go awesome with our new sleigh bed. Today we are actually going to paint the trim and we will be done.

Our next item to tackle will be furniture/TV. We are going to be buying bits and pieces over the next few months as our budget allows. We are excited, and our house already feels like home.

So you are probably wondering what the early Christmas surprise is....well, for those of you who do not already know, I am pregnant!

It is crazy, fun, exciting, and even more CRAZY! But we love it and we are so excited for this little baby growing in my belly as we speak (or type). Right now, I am 11 weeks along, so I am not showing or wearing maternity clothes or anything like that....yet.

All I can say is that God couldn't have planned a better time for us to have a baby. He or she will be born around June 13th, a perfect little summer baby! :) I have all winter and spring to care for and nourish this baby while it grows, we can't wait!!!!!

So, I guess the next item on our To Do list should be the nursery!

Love you all!

Halloween! (Is it over yet?)

Today, the day before Halloween, I just discovered the magnitude of the holiday when it takes place inside a elementary school. Want to here our plans for our students tomorrow? (well, here they are even if you care not to know..)

1. A morning writing activity where students will write riddles for their friends to solve about the costume they are going to wear later on.

2. Walk 4 blocks to Sunnybank (assisted living), to sing Halloween carols. They are to the tune of Christmas carols, it's quite funny. Enjoy a snack there.

3. Back to school for a special Halloween lunch.

4. A movie with popcorn and a drink. Students will change into their costumes. The movie is to kind of just take up some time and tone down the craziness of 24 second graders changing in a bathroom.

5. Parade out of the school, as a school to downtown Charlevoix for business's to pass out candy.

6. Back to school for an in-class Halloween party for the last hour and a half of the school day.

WOW! It is going to be such a crazy day, but I am going to love it. Students are soo excited about their costumes and they are so proud of them as well. I will have to stop by and make sure I see my kindergartener's costumes too.

Roxann and I are going to be Raggidy (sp?) Ann and Andy. :) It will be fun.

BUT, the best part of the day is going to be at 8pm when Ted and I f

inally reach my dad's house and catch the very end of our niece's coming off their sugar high! :) Izabella is going to be spiderman, and Liv is going to be either a dead ballerina, a princess, or a regular ballerina...I haven't heard the latest. :)

Here are some cute fall pics of some of my favorite girlies!

Izabella

Olivia

Football, Paint ball, and the OG

Today, I am taking a much needed day of rest. I have been kind of sick all week, not sick enough to call 3 different people and let them know that I can't make it in to school, but sick enough to dread every moment I am teaching and running around.

I am trying to get all of Central's "extra" requirements for student teaching done today, while I am sitting around with my feet up. I promised myself I would take a huge chunk out of my To-Do List, while Ted is out and about shooting youth group kids with paint balls.

When Ted gets home we are going to catch the end of the Michigan/Michigan State game together, which should be an interesting game, and I am kind of scared that if Michigan doesn't win, Ted will be scarred forever.

Well, I should get back to my To-Do List, writing a message is definitely not a part of it. Oh yeah, and on a really happy note, last night Ted, Mom Polleys and I went to the Olive Garden. Nothing helps a sick, tired girl like a bowl full of noodles and cheese. :)

Oh and P.S. we are counting down until we can move into our new home. Probably about 2-3 weeks to go...oh Joy!

Why Live Anywhere Else?

A day at Avalanche...
We think these pictures will speak for themselves. Enjoy!

A Prayer Comes True!

The answer to our prayers is: A Gorgeous Home!!!!

Theodore and I have a place to live and it's IN Charlevoix, 5 minutes from everywhere we always go! It has 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, and a finished basement! It is on a nice corner lot, has a heated garage, and we LOVE it!

Sorry for all of the exclamation marks, but I really can't help it. We are so excited, and we can't wait to move in. We now have a place that we can call our own. We can be home by ourselves, make dinner together, and have an hour less in the car each day. We get giddy when we talk about it. We can have small group, youth group, friends, family and more come over to OUR house.

Now we understand the pride that comes with home ownership. Ted and I are excited to care for our home as well as clean it, fix it up, mow the lawn, shovel the drive, paint rooms colors we want, and more. We are excited for the responsibility. Now for some pics of our HOME!

Here it is! (more pics once we move in)

Happy Birthday ya Griggs!

Today is Ted's birthday, and he is now a quarter of a century old. Yikes!

I think I get more excited for his birthdays than he does.

"I've been around for 25 of 'em...it's not a big deal."

"But, Ted, I have only been around for 4 of them!"

He laughs, but we both still know that he needs to go lead a small group full of teenage boys, which is going great by the way.

You can tell how excited I get for his birthday, because I think about what the PERFECT present could be, what a card should say, and what we should spend the evening doing. But, this year, the first birthday after we are married, is different.

He picked out his own present, after running it by me first (a volume pedal for his guitar). We can't spend the actual night together. AND, I didn't even go out and get a card (partially because Ted thinks cards are a waste of trees and money.)

So here I am, on Ted's b-day, hanging out at home by myself (yes, even the parents are out), while Ted is off having fun with some guys. I guess I'll get to my homework.

Happy Birthday Ted! (gotta love a mac!)

Fall!

Today was the first day, for Ted and I, where it actually felt like fall (even though temps keep getting into the mid 70's).

We woke up around 8:30, took our time getting around and headed to Friske's at around 10am. We drove through East Jordan and Ellsworth, and lots of the trees are popping with color; reds, oranges, yellows and browns. We kept stopping each other mid-conversation saying, "Oh Oh look over there on that hill. See it? See it?" Also, Ted and I had a friendly debate about which season we each loved most (after fall of course). I decided on summer and Ted decided on Winter.

Friske's was having their Fall Harvest Festival, which was super exciting. There were so many families enjoying the weather, the apples, the pumpkins and the wagon rides. Ted and I decided to do the "U Pick" apples. We got LOTS of Honey Crisp, and then we got a variety of baking apples. (We decided to try to make our very own, first, apple pie!)

After we got our apples, we got some cider and donuts, which were very delightful. Ted said, "I just had the best donut of my life! Do you know what that means?!?" Which I didn't.

When we left Friske's we went to Bolt's Farm and bought a small, a medium and a large pumpkin...all for $10. Sorry to Friske's who charges $9 a pop.

While driving home we decided to go for a bike ride since it was so beautiful. We

packed up our bikes, changed, and headed for Petoskey, so we could get on the Wheel Way and ride to Harbor Springs. What a ride! We hadn't rode in a while and we could feel it. But, it was gorgeous and super fun. We ate lunch at Turkeys, where I had a Tuna Tomato, which was delish! We rode back to Petoskey at a faster pace, and we made some good time.

At home, we watched Michigan football and listened to Central Michigan football. We then enjoyed some dinner, and went to a concert with Secondhand headlining.

Ted and I realized that it was such a perfect day. We had tons of fun, got to spend a lot of time with just the two of us, and it felt like fall was finally here. We were so thankful for where we live and all of the things we get to do. And, I just love doing it all with Ted.

A Home for Sarah and Ted?

We are very excited to announce that we might be in the process of almost buying a house!

WOW, we have come so far!

For those of you who may not know, we have lived in three different places during our first year of marriage. Each place has been unique, each place has had its ups and downs, and each place has never really been our own.

Place #1:

Apartment, Charlevoix, MI

Very cute, 2 bedroom, 1 bath apartment. Comes with your own yard and a white picket fence. Please disregard noisy neighbors, skunks who enjoy the trash, and the kitchen/living/dining room combo.

Place #2:

A Farm House, East Jordan, MI

AWESOME, 5 bedroom, 3 bath home, with extravagant country views. Professional grade appliances included! Tons of room for hunting and Christmas parties. Also includes the one of a kind experience of chopping, stacking, and then the chucking of wood into an outdoor boiler...twice a day!

Place #3:

Parent's House, Boyne City, MI

Spacious, walkout basement with 2 bedrooms and 1 bath. Parents in the upper level of home are practically unnoticed. Free meals on the dining room table around 6pm every night. Offers the chance to bond with mom and dad in a way that you thought was never possible with your spouse; including sharing a washer and dryer, having lengthy debates about politics/education and more!

Three houses, three towns, one year.

Ted and I are ready for a place to call our own, to say the least. But, in all seriousness, we have had such great experiences in each of these places. We will never live in a house that is as nice as Place #2 or Place #3. And, we will never trade living in downtown Charlevoix at Place #1, during our first summer together, for ANYTHING else. We are so grateful for what we have and where we live. No matter where it is. Our home is wherever Ted and I are...together. That is enough for us!

Thanks to CHX Apt.'s, the Shaw's, and the Polleys Parents!