Lots of Things to Share!

Well the news is out! I love finding out who already knows about our new little baby-to-be. Info like this spreads like wildfire. I went back to work today at the library and half the staff already knew! I hadn’t worked since September! It is so funny. I love telling people and seeing how excited they get, and I love how excited Ted and I are.

I am fourteen weeks pregnant now. My clothes are almost too tight, but not yet. I think I am going to have to do some maternity shopping in January. Yay! We will find out if the baby is a boy or girl in January as well. Ted and I cannot wait to find out, because we are dying (well, mostly me) to do the nursery. One of my coworkers just gave me the idea of decorating the whole nursery in black and white (which babies love because it is what they can distinguish most) and then accent with bright red. You can make it cutesy if it is a girl, and it works super great for a boy. So we will see. I LOVE the idea.

In other news…My mom is visiting from Alaska, and she is busy visiting all her friends and family. She got to come to Mount Pleasant to see me GRADUATE!!! I finally have my Bachelor’s and soon I will have my provisional certificate to teach. I am so excited. Hopefully, I will be able to find a full time teaching job for next fall. But, back to my mom…she loves AK (and so does Nick) and she has lots of stories. We are having a family Christmas tomorrow (Tuesday) with my sister Samantha and her two girls Olivia and Izabella. I can’t wait till next year when our baby will have its first Christmas! He or she will be about six months old; it’ll be so much fun.

So that’s all the big news I have for now…Graduation, Baby, Mom visiting, Family Christmas…and we are still organizing and LOVING our new house. We have our tree up and lots of Christmas decorations. I will post some pics from the family Christmas and of the new house. I just need to find the time. I am very busy as you can probably tell. :)

Mmm...Turkey and Potatoes

Happy Thanksgiving!

Ted and I are spending time at the Polleys Parents today. I am kind of bummed about not seeing anyone on my side of the family, but it is nice to just relax and not have to travel anywhere far.

Dad and Tami are in Florida visiting my Grandma Barbara.

Mom and Nick live in Alaska.

Erica, Chris and Emma live in Pennsylvania.

Sam, Bill, Olivia, Izabella and my Grandpa all live 4 hours downstate.

So, our options were sort of limited anyway. I have a lot of school work to do this weekend as well so I can make sure I graduate. :)

Happy Thanksgiving to all and remember to count your blessings. There are so many things to be thankful for that are easy to forget.

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!)