Newest Trend for Expecting Couples....Gender Reveal Parties

So who knew that it was cool to have a party to tell your family the gender of your baby? Not this guy. Well we had one of those parties this past weekend. Since I have nothing to compare it to, I would say it went great.  We invited our parents, grandparents, and siblings to share in the occasion.  Here is an overview through pictures of the day.

The votes came in at at 7 to 7 tie in the end.

Waddle It Be?

I know it's tough to see but everyone has either a pink or blue ribbon on.

Here goes nothing...cutting the cake

It's Blue!!!

Jos and I are so excited that we are having a little boy. I'm pumped because that means I got myself a new disc golf partner. It feels so much better now that we don't have to keep saying he/she/it anymore as well.  We look forward to working at picking out just the right name for our little guy too.

New School (Year)

Pictures are worth a Thousand Words so here are some pictures of my school and new room all ready for tomorrow.

Blue Disc + Pink Disc = Mini Disc

There's a saying that pictures are worth a thousand words so here's a picture to describe our words.

We are so EXCITED to "add a mini disc to our bag." When Jos and I found out we were so excited and happy that we really didn't know what to say other than Wow! That happened fast. ;) We have slowly been telling family and friends and now the world our news and look forward to welcoming our new addition to the world around the end of February.  Jos is handling the pregnancy like a trooper pushing through (no pun intended yet) the morning sickness that seems to occur morning, at noon, and well at night too. We had a doctors appointment last week and were able to see an ultrasound of the little one as well as the heart beat. What an amazing experience; everything checked out good and healthy.

Trading YME for a KMS

Well in keeping with tradition of this blog...it seems I am due for a blog post. Gosh I am bad at updating this...maybe this year I will do better. If only I had a good reason...maybe one will come. But anyway I wanted to update you all on my job.  As many of you know I was teaching at Yellow Medicine East High School in Granite Falls, MN this last school year.  The school itself was/is awesome. I absolutely love the students and staff that make up YME.  However, due to budget cuts they had to cut the short man on the pole. That was me and a few other teachers.  Sparing you a super long story, there was a possibility that I could get rehired at YME but at a part-time status which is not at all what I wanted so....

Resolution Update...

Well it's the end of February and I haven't gotten around to updating the world on how our "New Year's Resolutions" are coming.
January began with the Town of Granite Falls, MN holding their annual Ole and Lena Day's Festivities (only in Minnesota right...) The town had various activities planned out including a Medallion Hunt and ended the week with a Buck Euchre Card Tournament. So we thought it would be fun to search for the Medallion and maybe try and win the prize. We had done such events in college so we figured "What the hey." One after noon later of searching (well about an hours worth actually) We found the first Medallion worth $100 Granite Dollars. It got our picture in the paper too, Check it out!!!!

 As you know January's resolution was to read a book together. We chose to read
The Resolution: for Men and Women the book is based off the movie Courageous which came out last year. Check out your local movie shop for a copy or Family Christian Stores. Anyway, I learned one thing from reading this book during January and it was never try to read a book during the school year because you don't have time if you are a teacher. Between the prepping for classes and the grading. I read probably two chapters out of the book.What I read I liked and will definitely pick up the book this summer and re/read it.  Jos got a little farther than I did but she also was unsuccessful. Hey now we all know most people forget about their resolutions by February anyway so we are still doing good.

February's Resolution: Knit/Create Something was a little more of my style anyway. I also had the perfect opportunity to "create something" while attending a teacher in-service day at school. It was our "wellness" in-service meaning the topics discussed centered around being healthy both physically and mentally while at school and helping students do the same.  The day for me was broken up into 5 segments, we began with a speaker from Washington D.C. who is an actress who helps get the message across that students come to school with a ton of "baggage" and we as teachers need to help them through some of that "baggage." Next came my favorite part. I chose to take a mini-art class from the art teacher and create three drip paint tiles. It was so fun and kinda cheap too. We first started out with three white tiles you can find at a Menards and then took oil based paints and dripped them onto the tile. You can use all sorts of variations to create these pieces. First one (in the middle) was just a drip only method and then scratch it around with a paper towel. Second I use a paint brush to achieve a different texture (green) and finally the last Mixed the two together and came up with the last creation.

The One in the Middle is my personal favorite.

Joslyn's project for February on the other hand is still a work in progress as you can see:

Still in the plastic....maybe by March she will have something Crochet'd up.

January Resolutions

Like many other millions of people this year Joslyn and I decided to make a few resolutions for the year. Putting them on here will like anything you put on the net...will force you to make sure you stick with them. We chose to go with twelve small goals that could be accomplished in a month or so. I'd like to say in advance thanks to our friends who did an excellent job at modeling this idea last year. You did it...we liked it...so we're doing it too. :)

January:         Read a book together

February:       Knit/Create Something

March:

April:

May:

June:

July:

August:            Visit Colorado

September:

October:          Carve a Pumpkin

November:      Make a whole Bird to eat

December:

Other Activities yet to be Decided:
-Take a boat cruise
-Visit a historic site
-Complete a 5k
-Stay at Wisconsin dells
-Go to a Broadway musical
-Go on a picnic
-Go camping    

Here they are for all to see. Some are big tasks others are small but all in all they are meant to create times for Jos and I to have fun, be creative, and try some new things.

Christmas 2011

Christmas 2011 has been interesting to say the least. First of all it's December 29th and there still hasn't been a legitimate snowfall to warrant a snowman.  But I'm not really complaining on that part. Only thing better would be to be able to play some disc golf. I'm all for extreme sports but playing disc golf at 32 degrees is not my ideal situation.

Here in Granite Falls, Jos and I had the opportunity to host the Kurtenbach's and Anspach's on Christmas Day. It was so great to see everyone. We even got our fire place going although it was 49 degrees out. (DK was looking for something to fix, Thanks btw.)  So much food was eaten...laughs were had...and presents coming out of the woodwork not to mention the bats screeching in the walls. Yea long story about the bats...we have new roommates for the winter.

Kitchen Aid Mixer!!!!

Nephew Axten got an activity walker from us. He's Pumped!!!

Christmas Highlights Include: 

               *Jos getting a kitchen aid mixer

               *Axten getting an activity walker

               *DeWayne fixing the fireplace

               *Christopher getting a Dynamic Discs Shirt

               *Macy getting an ugly sweater