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!