Today is RACE DAY...OR More Like Two Months Ago...

Still playing catch up...

If you notice on the screen, it says "TODAY IS RACE DAY."

It took a long time to get this picture because I would never have my camera ready and the screen would change before I could get the picture snapped.

I think Stephen ended up getting this shot because I failed for so long.

There is too much to watch that it is nearly impossible to just sit and wait for the screen to scroll back around.

For the Memorial Day weekend, we went to Indianapolis for the Indy 500 with Stephen's parents. I think this is my favorite thing we do every year. I know what you are thinking... All you watch are cars going around a track, whoop-di-doo! That is exactly what I used to think! But I have become a HUGE fan. When I go, it is like sensory overload. I always think, if only I taught a grade level that learned about their senses. I feel like I could use my Indy 500 experiences to give them explicit instruction.

Let me try to convert you...

First, you SEE the most interesting people/things EVER. It is a wonder I don't run into people more often walking to the track because I will sometimes walk by people and think "did I just really see that?" And then, turn my head to confirm that my eyes weren't failing me. Nope, don't need glasses. It works as my annual vision test. I mean the most red-neck-ness you will ever see in your life. You will be walking and see a 300 lb. man with his shirt off, but you have to give him a second look because his farmer's tan is so prevalent. His purple back from such a severe burn confirms that he really does have his shirt off. Oh did I mention he is wearing shorts with tall white socks with sandals? Okay, I sound so critical. But I think I am justified, I proudly admit I come from a red-neck father. I think I finally just convinced him a few years ago that the socks/sandals look was not so hot. I mean my dad doesn't have hair on his legs because he got a chain-saw too close to his leg - not once but TWICE. He screams redneck! But I love him for it! I can also be critical because we look just about as bad. Sleeves rolled up awkwardly. Sweat marks all over our shirts.

Here is a picture taken while we were walking to the track..

Still walking...

[Disclaimer: I realize not a single thing I have said thus far is making you jump up and buy tickets to the race - but give me some time!]

You also SEE some of the nicest cars in one spot. All the brand new trucks, Tahoes, sports cars, and the race cars! This year Michael Andretti and Mark Wahlberg rode in an Indy 500 car for the parade laps. Pretty cool!

You will also never SEE so many people in on place at one time. It is unbelieveable. If I am not mistaken, it is still the largest single-day sporting event in the world with 300,000 spectators! The next few pictures will give you some idea...

This is inside the gate of the stadium...

We are almost at our seats...

We are at our seats! This is the mass of people from our seats...

I walked down to the bottom row to take these next few shots...

This is probably only like one-fourth of the stadium...

Is this not incredible? People, it's the place to be...

This is looking in the opposite direction into the first turn of the track...

Where's Waldo?

So who's jealous?

This is Stephen in about 40 years...

We bought Stephen's dad some racing headphones for Father's Day/his Birthday.

He is testing them out.

You HEAR the loudest sounds you will ever hear. You have to basically yell at each other or wait for the car to be on the opposite side of the track. The yellow things around Stephen's dad's neck (in the picture above) are ear plugs, which are a necessity. But you can't put them in for the first 10 laps because you are soaking it all in! Stephen taught me that... And the best words you will ever hear are...Drivers, START YOUR ENGINES! A.K.A. Let the noise begin!

You also get this huge FEELING of pride to be an American. They do a great job of recognizing our military. It gives me chills everytime I watch the men and women serving in the military spread the flag during the Star Spangled Banner. Then, they have people from the military stand in the back of a ton of Chevy trucks and ride around the track like a parade, while the fans give them a standing ovation. It's cool...

Jewel singing the National Anthem

Then, there are excited/adrenaline like FEELINGS you get all throughout the race.

First, you get it when they say "Start Your Engines!" I can hardly control myself when the cars start to move let alone when they wave the green flag. They have the drivers warm up their tires for quite a few laps before they wave the green flag. The anticipation kills you!

The Race is about to start...

Last warm-up lap until the green flag...

EXCITED...

Another adrenaline/exciting FEELING is when the cars pit. We sit right at the end of pit row. It is so awesome watching the cars exit pit row... It was in pit row plus his incredible driving that helped Tony Kanaan move from practically last place to become a contender in the race. It was so fun to watch.

The white line is the end of pit row - so literally right in front of us...

This is terrible to say, but the crashes generate a pretty exciting FEELING too (as long as they are not serious).

Here they are carrying a crashed car in a yellow tarp to the garage.

So I have to mention the food! There is nothing like an awesome ball-park hot dog, hot pretzel, and nachos! Yum! It TASTES so good! For some reason when you have sweat running down every inch of your body, hot race food tastes so good. Makes total sense, NOT!

And the SMELL is...well, I am trying to convince you, so I'll just stop there. =)

Oh, I can't forget to mention that we leave for Indianapolis for the race on my first day of summer break. That probably has a lot to do with the love I have for the race and the whole weekend as a whole. Plus, the catch-up time we get to have with Stephen's parents, the incredible meals they treat us to, Ritter's Custard (delicious ice cream) EVERY night, learning/hearing stories about Stephen's grandparents and parents growing up (Stephen's parents grew up in Indianapolis and his grandparents lived there until they passed away), and visiting their old houses.

Here is a picture of Stephen's grandparents (mom-side) house...

[These are not the greatest pictures - they were taken with Stephen's phone at dusk.]

The back of their house that backs up to a creek that goes through the neighborhood with a sidewalk around the whole thing... Very peaceful.

Here's the creek...
So, here's the question...any changes in heart? I'm not asking for you to repent for your negative thoughts - that's between you and the Indy 500, but I want you to know that you can come forward and admit you would love to go sometime. [That's for you Church of Christers out there!]

P.S. I tried to put videos on here, but it didn't work. I'll get pointers from other, more experienced bloggers, and then post them later. Hopefully! One of them is kind of funny because you can hear me yelling, "This is so exciting!" Funny!

One year, eleven months, and 6 days ago...

... was our wedding day. So what? You ask.

Well since that day...
Our first niece, Katie Grace, was born...
Stephen applied and was accepted at Trevecca for PA school...
He has completed one year of school...
I started/complete almost one year of graduate school at Lipscomb...
I survived my first year of teaching as a second grade teacher...
I also survived my second year of teaching third grade in a testing year...
Blake and Julie had their first child, Emery Claire last Monday (surprise #1 that I mentioned from last post)...
Our first nephew and Katie Grace's brother, Caleb Andrew, was born last Tuesday (surprise #2 from last post)...
[I will post pictures if I get the okay from their parents. They are so cute! I think I have offiicially gotten over my fear of holding newborns. I love holding sweet Emery! I am at Blake and Julie's almost daily - it's pathetic! Julie, I am not getting "the itch," so don't get your hopes up! Ha!]
AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST... I finally, yes finally, just finalized our wedding album...

Pathetic, uh? In fact, I was afraid to contact our photographer because I thought he would say it was too late. Thankfully, we have the kindest photographer in Nashville. Not to mention, I personally think his work is incredible. I definitely recommend him, not just for weddings but for anything. His name is Derrick Pierce. Do you think I will get a cut in price for that advertisement?

I made so many changes that I have to wait for another mock-up to be completed - but at least the ball is not in my court anymore. I do need to decide between two different album types. The album has been on my to-do list since I received it shortly after our wedding - to be able to cross it off feels incredible.

Maybe in the next 706 days of our marriage I won't procrastinate so much...

Update on Stephen's School
The last two weeks have been ridiculous. Test, after test, after quiz, after mid-term, after mid-term... They are also putting random extra classes in his schedule to prepare them for clincals and other things, which gives him even less time to study. By the way, did I mention that this semester is his hardest one academically? According to Stephen, "I am convinced they want us to fail." There is so much information he has to know; there is no way he can really know it all. It's unbelievable. Doesn’t that just give you the utmost confidence to have a PA giving you care? But just to give you a glimpse of the kind of stress he is experiencing... The night before last he comes to bed at 1ish. He wakes up about an hour later, sitting straight up in bed, and said, "I need to get up, I need to study." My reply, "No you don't!" He tried to continue to tell me that he needed to, so I finally said, "Stephen, it is 2 o'clock in the morning, you are not studying." He lay right down and went back to sleep. He did not recall this occurring when I told him the next morning. One day all this stress will be worth it, right?

P.S. Did all the Bachelor/Bachelorette lovers out there hear that Vienna and Jake BROKE UP? So shocking…right?

BEACH VACAY 2010

Okay, this is the post I have been dying to get to...more pictures and more fun! A few days of surprises (more on that later), however, caused me to lose focus on the blog for a few days, but I am back on track to catching up!

A few months prior to going, we planned a trip to go to Gulf Shores for a long weekend between Stephen's third and fourth semesters. Well, the trip ended up landing on the weekend after the flood. The original plan was for Stephen to finish finals on Wednesday, go to Elite (where he previously worked) on Thursday, leave Thursday night, and return Monday night. He would, then, have another day at home before school started again the following Wednesday. What a long break, Trevecca! But with his finals being moved back a day due to the flood, he missed out on the trip to Elite. Not too big of a deal.

Remember, I mentioned sub plans in the last post. The plan was for me to miss school on Friday and Monday. I hate missing school and I am adamant about saving my sick/personal days for when the time comes to have a baby. Well, I can tell you I would have used all my days to take this trip. This was much needed for the Hasselbrings. It made it that much sweeter when friends would come up to me and say, "You guys totally deserve this trip." I mention all of that to say, even though the teachers had to report on Thursday and Friday (students didn't because of the flood), Dr. Register (the head of schools) forgave those who took any absences for either of those days. So, I went to the beach with only having to take off Monday instead of Friday as well. This made it even sweeter. I felt like this time God was telling us, "You guys really deserve this trip!"

Thursday night we set out with Stacy and Wes (Stacy is in school with Stephen). As we drove along all of a sudden, we heard this loud noise under the car. An armadillo jumped out onto the road and Wes nailed him. He couldn't avoid it - it happened so fast. We stopped not too long after it happened for gas and to check that everything was still intact. When we got out of the car, it smelled like meat was being cooked on a grill minus the seasonings. There was armadillo guts hanging from the undercarriage of their car. We tried to go through a car wash. Didn't come off. The armadillo accompanied us the entire trip. It didn't fall off until about a month after the trip ended.

Even though our dear friend armadillo didn't have such a good fortune, the rest of us made it safely. We met up with Maci (she is also in school with Stacy and Stephen) and her boyfriend, Chad. I will be honest. I wasn't too optimistic about the trip when it drew closer. Stephen, Maci, and Stacy were the only ones that really knew each other. It could have potentially been a very awkward weekend. Fortunately, it was the exact opposite. It was like we had been friends forever. It was such a great trip. A break from studying and PA school for Stephen. A break from grad school and work for me. Perfect weather. Great food. Lots of laughs!

Now for the pictures...

The First Day on the Beach with Stacy and Maci

Our First Night...

The Second Day on the Beach...
So I probably should explain this next one...

Growing up, Blake and Stephen would joke around and take team photos because they thought it was funny. They would always have a really cheesy smile too....

Everyday on the beach, we played ladder ball. We loved it!

So Stephen is posing with the balls as if he were a 5 year old getting his team photo...

Our game faces...

More fun with the girls... I'll just say - a gust of wind and I would have been on my butt. I didn't have the best balance - never did the cheerleading thing growing up.
The Second Night...



Our last day on the beach was Mother's Day, so Wes, Stephen, and Stacy wrote this in the sand with seashells.

So, this is the pictures we sent to our mothers on Mother's Day...

Our last night, we made the boys go down to the beach for pictures...they loved it!

When we decided, we were going to take pictures that night on the beach - Stacy and I looked through magazines for cute poses. Well, I can assure you, this is not what the magazine had shown. We failed miserably with the pose below. Stephen is smiling, but before and after the picture, he was like "Jill, are you serious? Jill, why are we doing this? Jill, this is dumb!" How romantic...

Failed attempt #2...

Back to Normal...

The Boys after four or five attempts - it was like taking pictures of children....

The girls...

For the record... I cannot do the sexy, serious face! Nope. I look like I am going to kill someone is this picture!

Group Shot...

Stephen and I have only gone on two beach trips together (this one and our honeymoon), but thus far there has been a trend. The trend being - the sun having some kind of beef with us.

In fact, I think I might call it our traditional "sun mishaps."

The last time we went to the beach (our honeymoon) this happened...

I was wearing lip gloss and my lip got fried. Then, I ate something spicy for dinner that night, which I think made it worse. The next morning, my lip was huge.

This time I burned my legs! They killed one night - but it was amazing what 4 Advil and aloe could do!

And Stephen's feet swelled...

As you can see, we avoided the oil spill disaster. I think we went at the perfect time of the year - in between spring breaks and summer breaks - because the beach was not very busy. We asked the locals if this was typical. They said they weren't sure if it was the time of year or how much the oil spills caused people to relocate to another beach. It was unbelievable to see how much the oil spill would kill these coastal towns' economies. Makes you frustrated with the whole situation. Someone told us that when oil hits the coast, the area becomes contaminated for 3 years. 3 years!

Well, I'm already ready to go back...

Rain-Shmain...is what I thought!

On Saturday, May 1st, my sister and I made plans to go to Cool Springs to shop for birthday and Mother's Day gifts. We set out about mid-morning and it was raining. No big deal.

When we got to the mall, a Lexus in the middle of the parking lot was surrounded by water that was up to the bottom of the doors. I remember thinking, "Had it really rained that much?" With shopping on the brain, I forgot all about the rain. Joce (my sister) and I shopped around at the mall for a couple of hours and ate lunch, all while it rained. No big deal.

Then, we headed to Dick's. (Dick's is my family's go to spot for gifts for Stephen!) It wasn't until we were about to walk out the doors of Dick's that this lady stopped us and said, "The tornado sirens are going off - that's why we're waiting here." So what did I do? Convinced my sister that we should run to JoAnn's to get tie dye for the tie dye shirts I was planning on making with my students that week for field day. If I had children, I would have definitely entered a disclaimer that might sound a little like this: Little Hass - do as I say, not as I do.

Joce called her husband to find out that the weather was getting really bad and we needed to get home. Her husband is pretty laid back - so for him to have a sense of urgency meant something. My sister was pretty much freaking out the entire time we were in JoAnn's while I was making sure I got the best bang for my buck. Very typical. We finally ran out to the car and got completely soaked in the process. The whole way home we could hardly see out the windshield and we pretty much hydroplaned on 65 the entire time. So maybe this was kind of a big deal. I remember telling Joce that I didn't even know it was supposed to rain this weekend.

It continued to rain all afternoon. When it stopped, Stephen and I set out to find dinner. I can't remember where we originally wanted to go, but this is what we ran into about a mile and a half from our house.

For those of you familar with Nashville, this is on the corner of Edmonson and Danby.

What? I had no clue it rained that much. We were shocked. All evening we heard emergency vehicle sirens. So this is a pretty big deal.

Sunday morning I was up as usual at 5am to work on grad school and sub plans for the next week before church. Then, it started raining again. Hard. I basically sat in our love seat working on my computer for a couple of hours watching it come down in buckets. I turned on the TV to get an update. One of the news broadcasters mentioned that church goers should go to later services, if they felt the need to go. Of course we are going, I thought. I am a Church of Christ-er. You never miss Sunday service. I woke Stephen up and was talking a mile a minute about the rain. Let me tell you - he LOVES that in the am. Ha! While he was in the shower, I wondered if there would be church. I checked my email. Church was cancelled! I will never forget what the same broadcaster said about 30 minutes after his later church service comment - "Look, I am a PK (preacher's kid) and I am telling you NOT to go to church." All I am thinking is: This is a big deal people!

All joking aside, I have never seen it rain so much, for so long. It was a horrible disaster for our city. The days to follow were humbling; listening to stories of victims. One man interviewed on the Local News said that he had no job, no money, and lost everything. The only thing he owned was the clothes on his back. Sad.

School was cancelled all week for the students. The teachers went back only on Thursday and Friday. Instead of working in our classrooms, we were encouraged to go out into the community and help. I had to keep reminding myself that this happened in my city because everywhere I ventured looked beautiful and untouched by water. The waters in the picture above had down by Monday. I don't really understand where it went.

Just the other night, I attended the Metro Nashville Public School Board (the district I work in) monthly meeting for a grad class requirement. At the beginning of the meeting they allot time for awards and recognition. The principal at McGavock Elementary School came to the podium. He got a call at the beginning of the last week of school from the General Manager of Nike at Opry Mills Mall (the entire mall was flooded in May). She was given the choice to purge all the items in the store or salvage what she could and donate the merchandise. Fortunately, she decided to do the latter. She called the principal at McGavock and asked if she could use his school to set up all the merchandise for the flood victims in Metro School District by Friday. His reply was that all he had time for at the end of the year was closing up shop - but he knew someone that could lead a project like this. He walked down to his gym and asked his gym teacher if he would be willing to head up the project. They washed all the clothing, set it up in the gym, the gym teacher got over $2,000 worth of donations for food for the workers on that Friday, and found people to donate drinks for the victims waiting in line to shop. They had over 2 million dollars worth of Nike clothing in their gym for FREE to flood victims. Each family had a personal shopper accompany them as they found merchandise around the gym. It was incredible to hear. It made me feel proud to be a part of this city and school district.

For Stephen, when the rains began, he was studying for finals. Monday was to be the start of his crazy week. The original plan was to have two finals a day for three days. Sunday night he was informed that Trevecca would be closed on Monday. He was frustrated. He just wanted them over. The Monday finals (the ones he wanted to get over with the most) were moved to Thursday, which also meant his short one week break between semesters was decreased to just 6 days. Bummer. We did doing pretty good though if that was the worst thing that happened to us from the flood.

Stay tuned as I continue to catch up...

Graduate School Grind...

Excuse me for the close to three month hiatus...

It has been a little crazy around here - but with school over and summer here - I am able to play catch up.

I last left with the stress of a research paper on my back. I successfully turned it in on time with no last minute, up till 1 am in the morning, freaking out, hating myself for procrastinating moments. Huge weight lifted off. Oh wait, I forgot to knock on wood. Oops!

After I turned in my paper, I basically stalked my class online daily. You know ... When you bring up the site in the morning, leave it up all day, and press "Refresh" constantly hoping that the professor graded your paper, but wishing all at the same time, she hadn't for fear of seeing a bad grade. This was a daily occurrence for A MONTH.

In late April, I got a generic email the professor had sent to the entire class stating that she was finalizing our grades and would be finished entering them online that night. She also let us know she would email if we had any missing assignments. Finally, I thought...

Nope - My paper grade was never posted that night nor was my final exam grade.

At school the next day, I got another email saying that my professor never received my paper nor my final exam. Panic attack. (Don't worry there were no students in my room - it was my planning period.)

I immediately go to my course online to find that I had submitted both. However, when I looked at my "Submitted" work tab, I found that she had resubmitted my paper to me with suggestions and changes nearly THREE WEEKS AGO. I was completely unaware she could do that - so I never looked. In other words, I had one night to make changes to my paper and resubmit it.

I had sent my paper to her prior to the due date to revise, so I assumed there was little to fix this go around. (You know what they say about assuming!) My arrogant self didn't even open the document to see the changes that needed to be made until about 7ish that night. I had a bunch of random APA format changes to make with my references, which took much longer than I ever intended to fix. (Side Note/Frustration: Whoever established the APA format and then decided it was necessary to change little things about the format of it every year - should be fired. I'm just saying...)

Not only did I spend hours making small changes, but I was told two of my sources weren't research based and therefore I could not use them. I had to have ten resources and they had to be cited in my paper. Now I had eight. Awesome - tears just rolling down my face. Stephen started looking for resources on the Internet for me trying to help when he had mountains of work to do himself. I am convinced he resorted to doing that because it was obvious I didn't want a hug. Oh how marriage counseling never prepares one for moments like this...

I was mainly frustrated because my professor never mentioned issues with my resources in the first viewing of my paper (which in my opinion would have been the perfect opportunity). Not to mention, I had difficulty finding ten resources in the first place. My topic was on gender differences in education. I don't know if this is a relatively new phenomenon in the education world as we are now realizing that boys are falling behind girls each year. Or if it is not a politically correct topic and thus there is very little research out there. Regardless, telling me I had to find two more resources and make those sources fit into my paper somewhere brought on a late night, freaking out, hating myself for waiting until 7 to start, and hating my professor moment. Needless to say, there are no pictures to document the occasion.

I found my sources and fitted them in my paper - not perfectly - but good enough and submitted my paper that night. My final...I forgot to put my name on it! Kind of makes me laugh now because that is one of my biggest pet peeves as a teacher. I didn't dare mention that mishap to my students!

And all is well again in the Hasselbring household...

More to come as I try to catch up...

Pig's Feet, Power Outages, Pliers, and a Paper...

PART ONE: Pig's Feet

This all began Friday night. As Stephen was walking upstairs to study (of course; and yes, on a Friday night), he stopped mid-way to begin the following conversation:

Stephen: Can I bring home a pig's foot?

Jill: No! (Stated without hesitation due to the sheer randomness of the question.)

Stephen: Why not?

Jill: Seriously? Are you really asking that? Remember when you taught yourself how to suture by cutting a banana and stitching it up (I am not lying, by the way), and I opened up the refrigerator and found it? It made me want to vomit. I do not like things like that, especially in the kitchen! (I hate hospitals. I get queasy when I see anything medically related other than a band aid.)

Stephen: But, this is for school!

Jill: (My thoughts: Well, duh! I figured!) What are you planning on doing with it?

Stephen: Practice suturing.

Jill: Where are you planning on storing this foot?

Stephen: In the freezer.

Jill: NOPE!

Stephen: Why? It will be in a bag.

Jill: I do not want a nasty pig's foot in my freezer...

The conversation continues with me defending myself by saying that we cannot put a pig's foot that has walked in manure in our freezer (fully knowing that it would be completely sanitized). Then, I suggested that he bring it home, immediately practice, and then throw it away. Not going to happen. Little did I know that a pig's foot is very expensive and you do not throw them away. We have yet to come to a decision/compromise, but I would not be surprised if Stephen has already hidden a pig's foot in our freezer. I am just going to play "the ignorance is bliss" card.

In situations like these, I try to step back and think: Am I ridiculous to not want a pig's foot in my freezer? Then, I imagine myself getting chicken out of my freezer and thinking about a yummy dinner when I see a pig's foot that looks like it has been mutilated and then stitched back together. Or opening the freezer door in the morning when I am half asleep to grab a Lean Cuisine for lunch and a "railroad track" looking pig's foot falling to my feet and scaring me half to death. NOPE, I am NOT RIDICULOUS at ALL!

PART TWO: Power Outage

At approximately 2 am Saturday morning, our power goes out. You are probably thinking how do you know the time? Well, Stephen and I sleep with a fan and when that humming noise turned off, we were both wide awake. It came back on at 4 am for ONE MINUTE. Awesome. According to my neighbor, the top of the line was hit and they had to repair the damage. Needless to say, we were without power until 2 pm Saturday afternoon. The whole day I kept turning on lights and then saying, "Dang it! The power's out!" You do not realize how much you use electricity until it is gone. Oh yes, and my main to-dos for Saturday were: Do the Laundry, Clean the House (since I couldn't use a vacuum, that meant I also couldn't clean a bathroom - don't you love my rationale for avoiding cleaning?).

PART THREE: Pliers

Stephen went out of town Saturday afternoon for a boy's weekend. About two minutes after he walked out the door, I decided to get a drink of soda out of a two liter. BUT I could not open it.

Just a little insight on the "routines" in the Hasselbring household: When Stephen closes something with a lid and I am the next person to open it, I have to yell for him to come open the container almost every single time. I cannot get them open, and it frustrates me to no end that I can't, so I eventually yell for him. What does he do when he looks at the container? He says: "Jill, c'mon, you can open that!" My reply, "Um, no I can't! Why do you think I asked you to open it!" Then, he makes me attempt AGAIN in front of him just to make sure. At this point, my palms are sweaty, my hands hurt from the many attempts before - it is like they have become raw (so it is definitely not going to open), and my blood pressure is through the roof. After all that, he opens the container with ease and I need a shower from the workout.

Back to Stephen not at the house to come to the rescue...

So I try and try to open it. Once again, hand raw from trying so hard. I then think...PLIERS! I go get pliers, and they worked like magic. Then, I took one itty bitty sip and secured the top back on the two liter. REALLY, all that work for one SIP?

PART FOUR: BIG Paper

I should not be writing on the blog right now because I have a 15 - 20 page paper due in 10 days for grad school, of which I am still in the researching stage. I am not behind at all. Awesome. I say that to inform you that another drought is coming on the blog. I am telling myself that I cannot blog again until I am finished with the paper and the presentation. Who knows, that may mean I will post more frequently than ever...

So to leave you on a "good" note, here are a few pictures of Stephen suturing using a SUTURING KIT. Why would you ever want to practice on a pig's foot when you have a suture kit that has been recycled through many other PA students before you? Seriously...

Inserting the suture...Practicing...Stephen was so proud of this stitch (the first one from the left)!

Big News...

Since I shared slight differences that Stephen and I have in the last post... I might as well keep the ball rolling and add to it.

Last night, Stephen recieved an email from his dad with pictures of Katie Grace (our niece) attached with a short message that included this question: "Have you heard the news?"

Stephen asked me if I had heard any news. My reply: no - but with a strong sense of urgency for him to call his parents and find out! What does he do? NOTHING. While I am sitting on the edge of my seat, thinking "is he seriously not going to call?" NOPE, he seriously isn't going to call UNTIL OVER AN HOUR LATER.

I am just laughing to myself as I write this because I feel like if someone were watching our lives and commentating they would say: "There goes Jill overreacting and flipping out again. And Stephen just ignoring her as usual!" That's so funny to me because it is so true; I can't really blame him.

The other thing that makes me laugh is that I think Stephen purposely waited to call because he knew it would kill me. That is his subtle way of saying CHILL OUT!

Or let's be real, he's a guy - he wasn't really thinking about any of these things at all! He just wanted to wait till the end of American Idol to call them.

Can the statement, "Men are from Mars and women are from Venus!" be any more true?

Now for the BIG news...

Stephen's brother and sister-in-law are having another child in July, which we already knew. I had a feeling the news would be about them finding out the sex of the child. I patiently waited (well, not really) for him to call his parents and ask. Guess what? They are having a BOY!

Our precious niece below will be a big sister to a brother!

Can you believe I actually have pictures on my blog for once?

All these pictures are taken of her at a park in California.

Notice the cute sun dress in MARCH - unfair.

A girl after Stephen's own heart - a ball already in her hands.

I love that she is wearing tennis shoes - that-a-girl!

She is walking all over the place. Rachel (my sister-in-law) told me that she doesn't even let them hold her, even far distances. The girl loves to walk!

So cute...

Congrats Andy, Rachel, and Katie Grace!

We are so excited to meet him!