Half Day Off of Work

I took a half day off of work because of a doctor's appointment, so I thought I'd update everyone on what we're doing. What a great day to have off, too...it's almost 80 and beautiful outside!

We're heading to New Orleans in a little over a week. Cody, Jean (his mom), and I are spending the week of spring break in New Orleans. We are both excited to get away for awhile. It's been a long time since I was there. I was in college and we didn't really get to see many of the sights.

We've set a date for the wedding and booked the church and reception site. Who knew how expensive a wedding would be! We will be getting married at my church here in Overland Park. We priced several reception sites and I was astounded by how much it would cost. We finally decided on the VFW which was much more reasonably priced than anything else we looked at by far. We have been getting prices for photographers...WOW! This is one of the most important expenses (in my opinion) so I want a good photographer but they are asking for a lot. Cody and I have both had mild freak-outs over the costs, but we're getting it all figured out. We are thinking about taking a 4 day cruise for our honeymoon, then maybe staying an extra night or two in Miami. I feel good about the progress we've made in planning. We've only been engaged for a couple of weeks.

The plan has always been for us to buy a house this summer, but Susan just emailed me a listing that is too good of a deal to pass up. We are going to look at the house tonight with Brandilyn (Cody's cousin's wife--a real estate agent). I don't know what we'll do if we like it...we don't want to buy the first house we look at, but we also don't want to pass up a steal (if we like it) just to look around some more. I'm super excited to go look at the house!

Goin' to the Chapel...

...and we're gonna get MARRIED!

That's right...we're engaged! Last Wednesday night Cody came home with a dozen roses. He told me he heard somewhere that it didn't have to be Valentine's Day or my birthday to bring me flowers (and he said he didn't have to do anything wrong, either!). Did I mention I was running on the Gazelle in my sweatpants. Anyway, we went to put the roses in a vase but I had to cut the stems so that they would fit. I turned to the sink and was ready to cut when Cody said, "Hey, Mags..." I turned around and he was down on one knee holding out a ring and said, "Will you marry me?" After a little bit of stuttering (during which he later told me he was thinking say something, say something) I said yes (of course!) I also asked him if I was awake. I think I even made him pinch my hand. Then he went to his truck to get out the champagne that he had bought. After calling our parents, we went out to dinner at Carmen's Cafe (an Italian restaurant in Brookside). Of course I changed out of the sweatpants before dinner : )

Cody's biggest concern was surprising me...which he definitely did! Since we have been together for awhile and talking about getting married, he didn't want to propose in a way that tipped me off. I must say he certainly caught me off guard!

We are both so excited to get married! We will keep everyone posted with plans as we make them.

The Latest

It's been awhile since I got on to write anything. I am currently looking for a new job. I got my reading specialist license and am hoping to get a job as a reading teacher or coach. But for those of you who don't know, Kansas is cutting education funding tremendously...which means many districts are on a hiring freeze. Many positions that open because of retirement, etc will not be refilled and many places are actually cutting positions. This means larger class sizes, less supplies, etc. (I probably shouldn't get started on this rant!) I had a screening interview in Spring Hill last week and I have one in DeSoto this week. The Spring Hill interview went well. That's where I'm hoping to get a job since that's where I would like to move. I'm getting tired of living (and driving) in the city. If I don't end up getting a new job, the commute would be about 35-40 minutes...not wonderful, but doable.

Cody texted me on Friday to say that he had been nominated for the bank's leadership academy. This is a great honor since only 4 or 5 people are selected each year. He will be taking classes, etc. to further his leadership at the bank! Way to go Cody!

Yesterday morning I had to get up to go to an ESL class. As I was putting toothpaste on my toothbrush, it flicked a huge glob of toothpaste in my eye! My eyes have never burned so much! I yelled for Cody and he came into the bathroom thinking I had cut something shaving. He read the toothpaste label as I frantically flushed my eye with water. It was very red and hurt for several hours, but everything turned out okay.

That's all I have for now. I will try to do better at getting on and updating everyone with what's going on here.

I PASSED!

Just a quick note to let everyone know that I passed the reading specialist test! All I have to do now is have KU submit my scores and coursework to the state and I will have my reading specialist license. I am going to talk to my principal this week to let her know that I will be looking for a new job, and to ask for a letter of recommendation.

On another note, I stayed home sick today. My voice has been going in and out for the past week or so. Yesterday I went to work and felt horrible by the end of the day. My chest was very congested and I was exhausted. I got plans ready for today and stayed home. I feel a lot better, but still have no voice. Good news is that since there was such bad weather, I only had 12 kids show up today and I had a good sub. I will probably go in to work tomorrow provided I still feel okay. It is an early release day for students and we are having our staff potluck instead of professional development, so I could most likely go home early if needed. I'll have to completely make new plans if I don't have a voice though.

Anyway, I'm going to focus on the great news that I passed the test!!!

The Surprise!

Tuesday, November 25th was my parents' 30th wedding anniversary! Unbeknownst to them, we had planned on visiting for quite awhile. Francie was in on the surprise. She picked us up at the airport on Tuesday night. Momma and Daddy were shocked when we walked in the door. The surprise worked!

On Wednesday we had a little surprise anniversary party...okay, we had cake and a present. Francie learned a neat photography technique in one of her classes. She was able to transfer pictures from their wedding onto a tile. It turned out really well. Then we all went out to dinner at Big Dog's (the local watering hole).

Thursday was Thanksgiving. Everyone pitched in to create the meal. (I volunteered Cody to make the mashed potatoes.)

After the obligatory post-meal nap, we all went to Freemont Street, where Cody and I had never been. They have a show set to music on the canopy every hour. We watched Born to Be Wild and American Pie. This was pretty cool! We also got our picture taken with a million dollars. I'm sure that's the closest we'll ever be to that much money.

Unfortunately we had to leave on Friday afternoon. Plane tickets were much more expensive on the weekend. But I'm glad we got a chance to go see my family and I'm sure they enjoyed the surprise.

Well...it's done.

I did not do much this weekend on account of my test on Saturday morning. I took the test for reading specialist licensure. We'll know within four weeks if I passed or not. I feel pretty good about the test, but there were some things that caught me off guard. There is no official study book or guide for the test, and I was the first one in several years to take it from KU, so I didn't really have any guidelines about what to study. If I passed, then KU will submit my application to the state and (cross your fingers) I will have my license around Feb./March. Just in time to start applying for jobs for next year.

While I was studying Friday night, Cody went down to Spring Hill and had a sleepover with Larz. He finally got Jeff to hear "the noise" that his truck was making and they got it temporarily fixed. He bought the part Sunday morning and fixed it permanently (knock on wood!).

Saturday evening we went to the Bennetts' wedding. It was very nice. They had the ceremony at a church on the Plaza and the reception at the Shriners' Hall. Lots of fun had by all!

Sunday was spent as lazy as possible. The only things we accomplished were fixing Cody's truck (which only took a few minutes), watching the Chiefs' lose again, laundry, and dishes. It was nice to have a laid back day.

Another Busy Weekend

I had the day off last Friday (for some reason the district gave us a random Friday off...we get another one in April). I got my oil changed in the morning. Then I met Cody for lunch since we don't get to "do" lunch very often. On the way home, I went to Target for last minute Halloween costume supplies and decorations. I also went to the grocery store. When I got home I began a mad dash to clean the house for our Halloween party. I don't think I sat down and relaxed at all on my day off.

Our Halloween party was a good time. Even Darwin got in to the spirit of things and dressed up. He was a jack-o-lantern.

On Saturday we went to Liz's wedding. Liz was my student teacher 3 or 4 years ago. It was a pretty wedding. They had their reception at Terrace on the Green, which neither of us had ever heard of. It is a reception hall that overlooks Ironhorse golf course and it is beautiful. It was an afternoon wedding, so we were home at a reasonable time and just vegged in front of the TV.

Sunday morning was for sleeping in. When I finally got up and checked my phone, I found a text message from Janell. Her water had broken around midnight and she was on her way to the hospital. Cole Steven Urban was born on Sunday at 3:12 in the afternoon. Cody and I went up to visit with the family. Cole is CUTE! Congratulations to Janell and Tim!