Birthdays, Christmas Programs and SNOW!!

~We had such a great few weeks! Hanna had her Gingerbread Christmas program, they sang some adorable songs and had refreshments and Santa on hand. She told me she was going to sing the loudest and she was right! Everyone heard Hanna- I have no idea were she gets it from;) I loved it, that's my girl- no doubt about it.

The weekend before we really enjoyed our first snow and all the fun that comes with it! We made snow angels and snow slushie's. This weekend came even more snow and we all had fun as a family trying to clear our driveway-whew- it took us a while after the 6+ inches of snow fell.

We also celebrated Joe's 30th birthday this weekend!! Hanna and I baked a cake and made him steaks on his birthday. I let her choose his present and she loving picked out Whoppers, Fruity Pebbles and Twizzlers...these are Joe's favorite things;)

Saturday we headed to Terre Haute for his adult birthday party. We had such a great time complete with Maurizio's pizza, karaoke and great friends! While we were in town we actually found a great car for him too! It is exactly what we needed. We bought a Saturn Ion, 35 mpg, and brand new tires. Joe is relieved now that we have that off of our list. We have had some fun times the past few weeks!! This week we are planning on making Christmas cookies, wrapping loads of presents and taking Hanna to the Children's Museum for Jolly Day's.

Sad news....

We found out a couple of weeks ago that Home Lumber is closing it's doors. With thes harp decline in the housing market, they have not been able to recover. The opportunity came for them to be bought out, and they seized it, after 45 years in business. Operations and the continuing lumber business are being taken over by Truss Manufacturing Co. Joe was a lucky one. He was offered and accepted continued employment with the new company. However, nearly all the other employees, Joe's friends whom he has worked side by side for almost 4 years, all lost their jobs.

We are thankful he still has a job--there is but one catch. The new location will be in Westfield. Approximately 45 minutes north! He will also loose his company truck tomorrow. This all means that in the next few weeks we need to find the money and the time to buy a second car for him to once again start commuting.

This all makes me so angry....I am trying so hard to understand why this would happen.
I wish for simplicity and being settled. I am wondering why we always seem to make the wrong decision, no matter how right it seems to us. Should we have not made these decisions....? I am tired of thinking what if...? It is getting so hard to be the happy, funny one. Is my fake smiling wearing off.....

How Tall?!

We took a trip to nearby outdoor Metropolis Mall for some shopping and were so excited to see they had covered their water fountain with this gorgeous tree! Hanna loved it so much and Joe was so proud he was able to snap this picture with the entire tree in it, I had to post for all to see!

Chirstmas time is here....!

We have had a great time the past couple of weeks getting our Christmas things out and decorating the house! Our tree was up on Friday after Thanksgiving as usual and Hanna was just so interested in everything this year. She and Daddy totally ganged up on me and made us put rainbow lights on the tree this year :/ (not a big fan). Oh well, she thinks it is the coolest!



Last weekend we traveled to The Kopetski's for Evie's first birthday and had a great time with friends, Leah just had her second daughter literally days before Evie turned one--she has Irish twins!! So we enjoyed meeting Ellynor Kopetski for the first time as well. And somehow or another Leah and Pete pulled off a fantastic party and she already looks like she has lost 20lbs! Wonder woman I tell ya!

This weekend I am really looking forward to all of my college girlfriends and their families coming over to The Walker house for our annual Woodsie Christmas dinner. I love when we all get together, we all have such a a special bond and it is so great to see us all growing and changing with marriages and families.

Wise words......

So, it's the holiday season and that means eating! This is such bad timing to be told you are insulin resistant and be put on a strict diet--- (more on that later)! But... I have found a very inspiring pep talk! Please check it out if you are having trouble sticking to a diet.....it is sure to put a smile on your face!!! Here's to wishing us all luck!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving....hope you all had a wonderful time with your family and friends!! We had a great day! We hung out as a family this morning and Hanna helped me make the turkey and the ham, she is such a chef, helping Mommy cook is one of her favorite things to do!

Making Tom!

We carried out all the traditions-( I am a little crazy when it to comes to traditions) We watched the parade, had dinner with Joe's family in Terre Haute, went to visit my mom and all went to see Mr. Magorioum's Wonder Emporium. Hanna absolutely loved this movie and we did too! It was just a great day, with great food and fun family time.


Joe loosing Uno!

Mom and the Girls!

Even though I am having a tough time right now, today was a day to really let go of those feelings and celebrate the millions of things I have to be thankful for. Regardless of the details, any way you look at it- I am one blessed lady!

A *very* Happy Halloween! (added a video!)

We had a wonderful Halloween in our new neighborhood! This was our best Halloween yet...so much fun. Our neighbors all sat out on their porches and dressed up to give the kids their candy, we just loved the festiveness. Hanna was Barbie Island Princess this year and she loved that costume- Aunt Amy even gave her some blue and pink eye shadow with glitter to match her dress. That was one of her favorite parts. She practically ran from house to house this year because she was so excited! We went to almost all the houses and then Hanna enjoyed giving out our candy to the trick or treaters. We even brought Daisy Mae out to join in the fun. She was "dressed up" like a pumpkin:) Here are some pictures and a sweet video too of my family fun.....I just love Halloween!!

Peyton, an Island Princess and Devil:0)

Cheese!!

Daisy Mae

~Family Reunion~

Our fall family reunion to Crooked Lake was absolutely wonderful!! We traveled to a beautiful lake house in Angola,IN over the weekend for a get together with my mother's side of the family. All the aunts and uncles and nearly all the cousins made the trip and of course all of our children. Hanna is so blessed to have so many (2nd) cousins. We shopped, ate, played games and even threw a Halloween party with costumes, treats and crafts for the kiddos!! And with no shortage of Goldie ;), I even took a polar dip in the nearly frozen water with my cousins James and Heidi--now that is something I will never forget! There is no better way to pass a weekend then to spend it with my wonderful family. I am so thankful for times like these! I have posted a few highlights of our weekend...but there were just so many to choose from...enjoy!

Pumpkin Works...

Had a wonderful weekend in Terre Haute! We went to Pumpkin Works, hung out with the in-laws for a while and had a night at Rafter's for some good o'l karaoke. We like to multi-task when we know we are going to be in town!! Now after all the fun of the weekend, Hanna is sick with a cold:( Hope with some rest, she will be able to go on her field trip tomorrow.....
This week we are packing for family reunion, carving our pumpkins and I am stating to plan Joe's 30th birthday party....that will be a blast!
Also....my Thursday is shaping up to be amazing.....**Only 3 more days until Liz gets here!!! Watch out America, she's back (for a week)!**

Here are some pictures from Pumpkin Works....

It's all politics:)

I had made a post earlier about a poll I had taken about presidential candidates...the results shocked me and gave me a tie score between Rudy and Barack!! I chose importance of issues and came up with some similar, although possibly vague answers, that these two gentleman had in common. I got some flak...I just wanted to say I understand these men are different and I don't take my decisions lightly. I have taken down this post because it is not completely reflective of my overall decision. But, the quiz was all in fun. I wanted to post it to get people interested, I have some friends and a stubborn sister who at this time do not even vote at all!
Some of the most important issues I see in the upcoming voting year are:
The War in Iraq
Energy Efficiency
Immigration
Universal Health Care
and
Stem Cell Research

I think Rudy and Barack each have their own forward thinking ideas, however, it is the follow through that is the most important!

Tomorrow will suck!

Pardon my choice of words but, tomorrow I have a 3 hour blood glucose test! Which the lab technician said will actually take more like 4 hours!! I have to fast from 7pm tonight until the test is over around 11:00am. I will get my blood drawn 4 times in about 3 hours, they will test a number of things, including insulin, liver functions and cholesterol. The only reason I am really dreading this is that I can not leave the lab the entire time....so I am going ready with my "I have been meaning to read this forever book" and my mp3 player! Send me some positive vibes tomorrow, something tells me I will be grumpy;)

In other news...over the weekend I found out one of my longest and closest friends in the whole world is pregnant and I am over the moon!!!! It was literally the most surprising news I think I have ever heard! She will simply be the most amazing mother ever!

~Success~

I wanted to say thank you, thank you, thank you to my wonderful friends for coming to my book show today! I had such a wonderful time...today was just one of those days where I looked around at all of you and knew, I have the best friends in the whole world!!!! I hope you all had a great time as well!

Laid Back Week...

We have just had a pretty laid back week. Everyone new at the preschool had cooperative parent training (cpt) this week. It has been really interesting actually. Other than that we are just getting ready for the Usborne Books show and the Covered Bridge Fest!!! Couldn't be more excited about either, and I am so glad that the weather finally turned, you really can't go to the covered bridge fest in shorts and a tank top, it is just not right.

In fertility news....
I have been reading the book What to do When the Doctor says it's PCOS...
It has some wonderful information, I am hopeful that I will be able to make changes to progress my ovulation. We shall see. I have my HSG scheduled for Oct. 31st and 3 hour blood glucose test and Joe's analysis are both on Oct. 16th. We are excited to be moving so fast!

It has a name...

Yesterday was our first visit with the fertility doctor. The visit took 2 1/2 hours! They did a full history, lots of questions and answers, a blood draw and an ultrasound! Ha- I thought it would be questions and a follow up appointment- I couldn't have been more wrong. I left with a diagnosis. I have Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome or PCOS. This basically is a metabolic disorder that means I produce too much insulin, have low metabolism and I have a higher amount of androgens (female version of testosterone). This explains why I never really lost my baby weight, why I still have acne and why we have, of course, not been able to have another child! It will be a hard road for us, but there is a name and treatment and hope, that makes me feel better, just knowing new information!! Pray for us, in the next few weeks we will be science projects!

What we did yesterday!

With the wind blowing and the sun shining we thought it would be a great idea to get Hanna's kite out! She burnt off some energy and had a blast!I forgot how much fun it was too....... I cherish those completely unplanned, wonderfully fun, belly laugh afternoons!!!

Parties, Pictures, Preschool!

We have been movers and shakers since my last post. Thursday was Hanna's preschool picture day- it was so cute! Here is a sneak peek that I snapped while I helped get all the kids situated.

Saturday we worked our shift at The Heritage Festival. Apple House preschool had a little booth and advertised for the school. I am so proud to advertise and share our experience with everyone....it is no secret we LOVE Apple House. We gave away candy and play-doh and had a bean bag toss....the kids loved our booth:) In other preschool news...I was also voted as the Field Trip chairperson for the preschool! I am so excited about my new job, I will be in charge of our next field trip at Tearmans Farm. I hope I am cut out for this!

After the festival we went to Lillie's birthday party in Brownsburg, then to Terre Haute for Carmen's birthday party. After the parties Hanna and her cousin Allison stayed the night at Ashley and Jeff's and we headed to Charity's bonfire. After lots and smores, hot dogs and beer we slept outside in a tent. That was the first time I had ever slept in a tent or outside! ( I know- I am weird) It was quite an experience:) What a wonderful weekend we had. This week is a slow one, we only have one birthday party to attend in Avon, and we also hope to finally get Hanna's room painted!

Decisions....

Joe and I have made some more big decisions lately. After trying our low dose fertility pills with my obgyn in Terre Haute for over 6 months with no luck, we put a lot of things on hold. Everything was getting to be too much to handle with my dad, let alone basal boy temperatures, charting and schedules! We stopped everything! (well almost everything;)

Since we have moved we have weighed so many options. We've gone back and forth several times with what God's plan might be for us. We have prayed, cried, researched, and finally decided to go ahead with everything we have to try and get our miracle!

We booked an appointment with a highly recommended fertility specialist Dr. Jarrett. We are hopeful, scared and excited to start this journey. We are cautious with our eagerness and although it may seem unrealistic to place a time line on these things, we are committing to one year. So bring on the tests and shots and hormones and bills....you know what? We truly feel that it will be worth it. What do you think- send us some prayers!!

~I was Super mom today!~

Today I truly felt like super mom! Here is how my day went: Breakfast, laundry, bath for Hanna, lunch. Off to preschool, while Hanna was in preschool I had to try and hunt down pink ballet shoes in a toddler size 10 that were all leather (this was very hard) so I found some and they didn't even have her size grrr. I had to stop and get Joe's Rx refilled. Then it was back to preschool to pick Hanna up and off to Emilia's house for a tea party. After the tea party we came home, read a few of her new books, ate dinner and changed for her first ballet class, off to ballet class and back home at 7:00pm! We did this all without meltdowns and we actually had fun too! Yay for me and Hanna!!

She was very excited to start her new ballet class, even though she told me she missed her old class with Miss Patty. We signed her up at The Dancer's Place in Avon and the staff seemed really fun, she met a girl named Becca, got a sticker and had an all around good time. Looking forward to tomorrow when all we have to do is go to the library ;)

~Hanna's First Field Trip!~

Yesterday was Hanna's very first field trip! Her preschool class went to Beasley's Apple Orchard in Danville. We (mommy got to go too!) got to tour the whole place and some of the information was very interesting---Did you know that the apples are stored at 32 degrees or below but the apples don't freeze because of their sugar content----neat huh? Anyway, all the kids got to pick their own apple right from the orchard and we even had cookies and glass of freshly made apple cider too! What a wonderful time, if you are in the area you should check them out.... We had such a wonderful time!

Busy week and weekend....

Whew! Excited to start a new week, the last few days have been quite hectic:) How about a little catch up......
Hanna is doing so well in preschool, she is so happy and full of stories when I pick her up! Thursday was my first class to be mommy who worked and brought snack. I loved it, we got to bring cupcakes and juice because it was the day they were celebrating all the summer birthdays including Hanna's!!

We also made a trip to Peru for Molly's 4th birthday party. So much fun, it is always one of my favorite things to spend time with the Nords! The new twins aren't so new anymore, they are sitting up now and Kevin is even army style crawling....can't believe how fast time flies! It is such a testament to what a wonderful mother she is.

Sunday we went to visit my mom at the nursing home in Greencastle. I think you all know how hard that was for us. But it was actually really wonderful!! She was happy and upbeat and looked rested. We took her some framed pictures for her room and she loved that. Towards the end of our visit she started asking about my father a lot and it is always so hard to answer those questions. I don't want to answer them with anger so I try my hardest to sugar coat things for her. This is my own issue to work on as well. We are going back next weekend as well, and Hanna is very excited, she loves Grandma!

Blue Thursday!!

Well, yesterday was Blue Thursday, our first experience of Colts festiveness since moving to the Indy area, and I ...LOVE IT! The whole city was supposed to wear their Colts gear, so Hanna wore her jersey to preschool and nearly her whole class was dressed up too! How cool is that. Joe and I both represented as well ! I love getting involved and showing spirit like this, how fun. So, in short, we are looking forward to attending our game, dressing up and cheering on our team all season. Doesn't that just make ya feel good! GO COLTS!

Hanna's FIRST Day of Preschool!

Wow! My little baby girl is no more, today was her very first day of preschool! She was so excited she slept with her new back pack next to her bed last night! She was also anxious to wear her first day outfit, which she chose at the store specifically for the occasion! Do you not love how she matched her dress, headband and backpack? What can I say--pink is her world!

Daddy even snuck out of work to come see her at school before class stared, he had to give her hugs and kisses for good luck ;) Aw! Mommy stayed for a few minutes and bravely left the building---and then cried in the van, but only for a few minutes.

Two and a half hours later, I came to pick her up and she was on the swings talking to her teacher Mrs. Bartley about how much she liked Princesses. How sweet. She wasn't even phased at all---what was I worried about?? Did I forget for a moment how SOCIAL my daughter is? Ha! It was just the prefect first day and Hanna talked the whole way home about the books they read and new friends and circle time and the apple tree and painting and......well you get the picture. Yay!

So what did we do our Labor Day wknd???

Well, what didn't we do!! We painted our living room, had a blast at Jaden's 4th birthday party, went to the end of summer Skyconcert celebration downtown Indy, and had a wonderful last minute cookout with The Schelppy family! Here are a few pictures of our jam packed, super fun, multi-tasking weekend.

Joe at work- a warm khaki color!

Hanna wrapping me up as a mummy at
Jaden's Scooby Party (we won that game!)

Happy Birthday Jaden!

The Sky Concert with the Schleppy's- soo cool!

An impromptu Labor Day cookout (so Tony could join in the fun)
with our friends the Schleppy's!