~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!