Summer's End is Drawing Near

~Here is a recap of Summer 2012 for the Taflans~

We celebrated our first Mother's Day and Father's Day!

Grama and Grampa Taflan visited from Ohio

We reaped the benefits of home gardening

Our little one began sitting up (5 mos) and eating solids (6 mos). We're mostly following the baby-led weaning approach to food. He also got his two bottom teeth in!

5 months

6 months

We celebrated July 4th with cousins and Matthew got in a swimming pool for the first time! 

We took a trip to the mountains - went in caverns, shopped, and stayed at a nice resort. 

I hosted a Christmas in July crafting party - getting a head start!  

I celebrated my 25th birthday the beginning of August, the same day little man turned 7 months.

We went to the beach with my family in August, as we do every year, only this year Matthew was there to join the fun! He had such a good time! Our boy loves water :)

While at the beach, our family drove down to Medieval Times and cheered for the yellow knight! We got the biggest kick out of little Matthew raising his arms in the air and yelling in excitement over and over again until he crashed in exhaustion from all the fun. 

We've also spent days at home catching up on housework, working outside and around our home, enjoying time with friends, and reaching new milestones... like crawling!

7.5 months

It's been a wonderful summer and though I'm sad to see it come to an end, I will certainly welcome the cooler weather and colorful leaves! In the meantime, Matt and I will continue to enjoy every moment with our son, (his happiness amazes us!), as it is already going by so quickly. We look forward to what the months ahead hold for our little family!

A Pilgrim & An Indian

I would just like to take a moment to post how awesome my husband is and how much of a trooper he can be when it comes to putting up with my childlike ideas. I'm a kindergarten teacher, so silly ideas are to be expected!

It was two Fridays ago when all of kindergarten had a Thanksgiving feast together. My students wore their Indian headbands, macaroni necklaces, or Pilgrim hats and I wore an Indian outfit I found at an vintage/costume shop. My sister spotted the dress and at $7, I couldn't resist. I fringed the bottom and sleeves, and found a headband for $3 at the same store. Not bad for something cheap and simple! When I got home from school that day I said, "Why should this only be worn once, when it's very appropriate for this time of year? Let's dress up for Thanksgiving!" (Picture my husband rolling his eyes). Matthew laughed a little at first, then realized I was serious and didn't say much else until Thanksgiving morning. I helped him choose Pilgrim-ish clothes and he wore the hat I made just for him - same as my students, just adult size ;) I got excited at the thought that this could be a new tradition and we can dress up for Thanksgiving every year... but my husband told me he thought differently...

Here we are Thanksgiving day at my parents' home. This Indian maiden is in love with one handsome Pilgrim!

A little fun with the SiStErS! (oh, and some little Thanksgiving friends!)


Comical...yes, but silly things lead to great memories!

Thoughts here and there...

I have several things I wish to write about, each of which could be a separate blog post of their own. I have been putting off blogging because lately I've been quite wrapped up in reading these other blogs I have found. Amazing craft blogs, thrifty blogs, and sewing blogs have found their way into my bookmarks folder making it all the more tempting to read and set out on a creative craft adventure instead of using the time to blog myself. Tonight I will attempt to type all that I've been meaning to blog about and to do so in a concise manner, I think I'll post a photo and write briefly about each. With my almond cookie tea by my side (definitely a good purchase on my journey to acquiring a taste for hot tea), I'll begin.

This is me and my wonderful mom! She came to visit me a few weekends ago. Mom was able to come in and spend a day with my class and what a big help she was! She took down winter things in the classroom and helped put up my spring items. Mom also worked with my students, met other K teachers, and the kids loved having her there. It was amusing to them to have their teacher's mother there that day. It was special having mom come see and experience my very first classroom! The weekend followed with some relaxing, Sonny's BBQ, and shopping. Boy do I love and miss my momma :)

Remember the scrapbooking software I mentioned? MemoryMixer arrived the other week and I eagerly set to the task of scrapbooking our first year of married life. This photo here is only of the first page. Yes, it may be plain but I'm only a beginner ;) I'm working on understanding the software and sorting through page selections and embellishments can be quite a task itself! With so many options I tend to take a looooong time sorting through and deciding what I'd like to use. I told my husband I'll probably change every page I make a hundred times before I decide to get it printed. Actually, looking at this one now I think I've decided what needs to be tweaked a bit. Anyhow, it's quite exciting and I look forward to creatively scrapbooking future photos.

These two photos are our latest garage sale finds. The neat lanterns were $1 each and I'm still looking for good place for them. Apartment space can be a bit low. The pretty glass made them unique. For $2 we found this plant stand that we bought flowers for the next day. I love having color outside our apartment door. I also found a rolling chart stand for my classroom. I've been wanting one of these for a while so I can hang poems, songs, etc. that we've learned throughout the year and the kids can have easy access to it during centers. This lady had one for $8 and it works great in the classroom!

My middle sister Hillary and dad flew back to NC today. Dad happened to have meetings here in town and Hillary came since it was her spring break. It was great seeing them both! We went out to dinner, saw Alice in Wonderland (a bit strange), and went out to Inlet Harbor - a great restaurant on the coast. This is us on the jetty at Ponce Inlet. Notice the windswept hair? The weather was quite awful while they were here and that particular evening the rain had finally subsided but the wind was still blowing. I'm glad Matt & I were able to spend time with them both. Now all that's left to visit is my youngest sister :) We'll see...

North Carolina here we come! Well, not for a few months anyway. It is official - the Taflans will be relocating to NC this summer :) The what-ifs, hows, and wheres are numerous, but we know God will surely provide. We feel at peace about moving there to be closer to family. Our prayers are for guidance and job-seeking. I'm in the process of getting my teaching license in NC and he's already made contacts in the Raleigh area here and there. I got side-tracked tonight looking at apartments online. Thankfully, if no jobs turn up by the time our lease is up here in mid-July, my parents have graciously opened their home to us until we are able to locate jobs and get back out on our own. I can't wait! Family will be close again and his family will be only 7 1/2 hours away as opposed to 17! I just need to continue praying and remain patient.

I think this is all I'll write for now. It's getting late and my mind is not focusing so well - probably due to our squawking bird... poor little guy had to have his wings clipped today after a not so nice flight into the closet door. It was then that we said we'd had enough and didn't want to risk injury. I think I'll go get him and sit with my hubby on the couch as we wind down before bed.

It's a New Year!

I'm back and ready to set forth in the blogging world again. It's a bit embarrassing that I haven't posted since September... but I'm going to try much harder this year. My life has been crazy busy since my last post, with teaching and the holidays making time to sit and type a bit difficult. I want to record more events that happen with us Taflans because it's important and satisfying to me to have memories and thoughts stored somewhere that I can revisit in the future. So here's my enthusiastic attempt at blogging more than once every few months...

I'm not going to spend time catching up on all that's happened in the last few months because I'd like to get on to what's currently taking place. I will sum up Oct-Dec. with:

1. My kindergarten class is exciting, a blessing, challenging, and tiring - but I am learning so much as a first year teacher!

2. Married life just gets better and better. We had our one year anniversary Dec. 27th and eagerly look forward to the next year together

3. Our holidays with family in NC and OH were filled with many precious moments. God truly blessed us with amazing parents and siblings :)

You can see photos of 2009 here:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2525895&id=5123936&l=e959dc0e8f

Today was one of the most relaxing Saturdays I've had in a while. My husband and I slept in (no work for him today!) and we went looking for garage sales. We enjoy this activity although our routine is usually the same: Stop at many, many homes... ooh and ahh over odds and ends that we think we would like to have... mull over whether it's a necessary purchase... drive on to the next place and do the same :) We have actually bought things at garage sales before, but usually because a great idea comes to mind and we figure we can do some kind of project with an item. A few times we've driven away saying, "Oh, we'll come back later and if it's still there, then we'll get it." Do you know what happens when you do that? The beloved item is always gone! I passed up an amazing country style wooden kitchen cupboard once because I couldn't make up my mind. Deep down I wanted it because we could fix it up and make it so charming, but we live in an apartment and honestly had no room. We said we'd come back and it was gone. I kicked myself for it the rest of the day. Today I decided to actually go with my gut and get something if it's reasonable. I bought cute snowman accents for next year's Christmas/Winter decor. Matthew bought a staple gun for $2. We got to experience our first estate sale today as well. Very, very strange going through someone's house... we decided it was a bit creepy having so many people walking around a house buying food items, looking through linen closets, and walking out with anything they could get their hands on.

We decided to go to Wekiva Springs afterward and have a picnic lunch. I can't believe people were swimming in the spring! Yes, today the high was 76, but it was chilly in the shade and the water is only 72. We enjoyed some card games and walked the nature trail, soaking in this beautiful weather before the heat comes and sucks the life out of things once again. Last time we were there we had a new addition to our growing camera family... a Canon HG-20. Today we had our newest addition - the Canon 7D (very exciting!).

We were in need of a new camera, especially with a wedding coming up in March. Our other camera is still good, but the new Canon is great :) TaflanPictures, our videography/photography business is something we are pursuing with even more dedication. Matthew has had video gigs here and there through freelancing, and our opportunity for filming weddings on the side is becoming more numerous. I absolutely love assisting with shooting weddings! Here is a link to our latest: www.taflanpictures.com/vrbensky

Our website is getting a needed makeover and we hope to book more events in the near future. Matthew loves filming and editing, and he's been doing it for 9 years or so - definitely his niche. He's currently working here in Borders on editing a wedding we shot last weekend (a beautiful one with unique details that make me want to plan a wedding all over again!). We pray God will use us and TaflanPictures for His glory as we meet new people and produce new things.

I think I'm going to go explore the craft/diy magazines before the store closes. I only have 20 minutes! I love being inspired by neat ideas - although usually this inspiration happens late in the evening and by the time I round up supplies for a project, I'm tired and ready for bed :) I would like to work more tonight on the afghan I'm crocheting. I chose colors from our wedding and a simple pattern I found in a magazine. I'll have to post pictures soon. It takes me a while because I'm teaching myself and would like to spend more time on it in the evenings after school. Oh dear school, takes up so much of my time. I think about my classroom as I go to sleep, when I'm out shopping, as soon as I wake up (no exaggeration) - possibly because I'm a first year teacher? There's ALWAYS some cute poem or song I can research, project I can buy supplies for, and techniques I can read about to incorporate in our daily routine. Wonderful job, it truly is... a consuming one, but wonderful and rewarding!

Time to wander on over to the magazines...

2 Months in One Post!

About a week and a half ago, I was flying over Georgia during this time. I had about 45 minutes before the plane touched down in Florida and it was back to my husband (smile) and work. I had just spent Labor Day weekend in NC with my family and it was great!

So much has taken place since I last took the time to write. I spoke of a cruise with my family to the Bahamas and shortly following our return, Matthew and I boarded a plane to Ohio for a week with his loved ones. We stayed in his parents’ home, visited with many friends and family, and relaxed during our time up there. My in-laws planned a reception for us at their church that Saturday so those who couldn’t come to the wedding could come fellowship and see wedding photos, etc. It was nice to celebrate our wedding once more. We even had a small, beautiful wedding cake! Aside from seeing some of Matthew’s friends, we spent the majority of our time relaxing with family that we don’t see often. Actually, I hadn’t seen them since the wedding and that was 8 months ago! We held our three week old nephew (that makes 4! And one niece!), toured OSU where his brother attends, played card games with Matt’s grandma, and drove around Bellaire – enjoying the sights of his hometown. It’s neat to visit his side of the family because his parents live in a log cabin they built in the hills around 30 years ago. The property is the same property that his Grandma grew up on and the sidewalk, as well as the stairs from the house still remain. Also, the local high school was attended by Matthew’s dad, brother, sister, sis-in-law, and bro-in-law. Lots of family history in a small town that I find interesting because I’m married into it ☺



On our way back down from Ohio, we stopped in Charlottesville, VA for the night. It’s a city we have considered re-locating to in order to be closer to family. We drove around looking for garage sales as a way to get to know the area better. We were praying that if God wanted us there, we would know. We left feeling ok about the place. It’s beautiful and very historic – but we didn’t feel a strong pull in that direction. I don’t think God has closed the door completely, but it’s not in our near future. From there, we drove to my parents’ house for the night. It’s always so good to go home. I love being there at the house and seeing my sisters and parents. Walking around the property is exhilarating. The two of us left there with an even greater longing to move. We even considered moving things out of our apartment and into my parent’s basement starting Thanksgiving if I didn’t get a full-time teaching job… which leads me to my next news…

Driving home from NC after our Ohio trip was a long, bittersweet drive. We were sad to leave family behind and go back to life in the Sunshine State. We were happy though to know that our quaker parrot we’d been wanting was weaned and ready for pick up! Yes, we now have a new addition to our family – Sunny ☺ We decided on that name because it seemed fitting for a bird from Florida. He’s about 4 months old now and has quite a personality. Matthew has enjoyed building perches and play areas for him and we enjoy spending time with him, waiting to see what noise he’ll make next. So far he can say “step-up,” and makes a LOT of noise when we turn on the tv. Here he is:



Now, back to my news. On the drive back down to Florida, I received a phone call to come in for an interview at a local elementary school the following day. Well, I went and was called back the same day to come in again for a second interview, and then was called later that evening to let me know that I got a kindergarten position! I was so incredibly excited. It’s such a blessing! And here I thought I’d have to go back to subbing all school year… When Matt got home that evening, I waited for him to greet me with a kiss and I said, “do you know who you just kissed?” A bit confused, he said, “yes, my wife.” I then proceeded to tell him that he kissed not just his wife, but a teacher! We went out to dinner to celebrate and now I have a classroom of my very own.
I can’t believe we have been in school for four weeks now. My class of 18 is quite wonderful! The team of 8 K teachers I work with are such a blessing as well. So far, so good for a first year! It’s been exhausting and overwhelming, but each time I’m in the classroom most of that fades away. Now Matthew and I can really begin saving to move out of state, Lord willing! We discuss and pray about it quite often.



The day is coming to a close and sleep comes earlier now that I have so many little ones to care for. It feels great to post again. Hopefully once I get a better grasp on a schedule and routine, I’ll be able to post more! I look forward to catching up on my reading of other blogs…

What's round on the sides and high in the middle?

oHIo!

Matthew and I leave in less than an hour for his home state, Ohio. We'll be spending the next week visiting his family and friends. I'm looking forward to it! We're flying up and then driving back on the 10th in the old suburban his parents are giving us (we plan on selling my rodeo). On our way back to Florida, we'll stay the night at my family's house :) Let the family vacation begin!

Here are a few photos from our cruise. It was a WONDERFUL vacation with my family last week. I'll post more on both trips when I get back.

Matt & I on the boat

Me with my mom before a show

Sisters <3
Dad and I in front of a wall in Nassau that read... "this is how much I love you."

Freedom School...

Oh how I wish my days provided adequate time for some much needed blogging. I will not even attempt to explain all that is happening in my life right now. And when I say all, I mean - Freedom School. Remember that 10 day training I attended in TN? Well, we have completed one full week of Freedom School and now have four more to go. As much as I'd like to indulge you in the details of the last week's events, I am going to refrain because I'd risk giving into frustration and negativity once again. Let's just say it's been one of those weeks... My prayer is that I am able to handle whatever and whoever crosses my path.

I need to take a minute and brag about my husband. He has been absolutely incredible through all of this. While I was away in TN he organized and cleaned the apartment - he made a list for me to look over when I got home that sent me around our little home "oohing" and "ahhing" over what he had accomplished. He has cooked me dinner many recent nights and held me when I could no longer hold back my tears of frustration. My husband whisked me away on a spontaneous hotel/beach trip a few weekends back and has also informed me that he has planned a full day for us this Saturday to celebrate our 6 month anniversary (it's a surprise, so I'll have to share next week!). It's wonderful to know that no matter what is happening during the work day, I have a safe, warm, and loving husband to come home to. The words husband and home make me smile :) I am truly blessed.

My last day of Freedom School is July 17th. Guess what happens July 20th? My family will be down from NC and they will be taking Matthew and I on a cruise with them! I am so excited and really looking forward to a vacation. It's a 4 night/5 day cruise with Royal Caribbean (the best!) and we'll be visiting the Bahamas. My family and I have taken this cruise before, but it's Matthew's first time on one. Yay for making memories! I'm very thankful for family and that we'll be able to spend quality time with them in only several more weeks :)

6 a.m. comes early so bedtime is soon. I'll close with a couple Freedom School week 1 photos. This was during our morning Harambee time - Photo 1 is of the scholars sitting quietly for Read-Aloud and Photo 2 is of the scholars doing one of their chants & cheers :

A Mess of Blessings

What a week it has been! I can't believe this time last Wednesday I was on a flight with my husband to NC. It was an incredible trip and seeing family was so wonderful. Here's some trip highlights:

Thursday morning we visited my Papa. It was good to see him because I'm not sure how much longer he'll be around. Afterward, we came home and took my youngest sister to have her ears pierced - second hole. That was part of our birthday present to her.




I can't believe she's 16! She got her license while we were there so we were sure to have her drive us around some :)

On Friday, Matthew, Meredith, and I went to visit my other sister at UNC Chapel Hill. She's a music major there and loves it. It was fun walking down Franklin St. and the beautiful campus (probably my favorite!) and seeing her dorm. We hung out in her room while she went to Spanish class, then took her home so we could all get ready for Meredith's party. Matthew took a picture of us with a UNC ram (not the official, I don't think) - he was just wandering around the area...



Friday night was the Sweet 16 party. What fun! It was held at this classic soda shop and they let us have the entire front portion of the restaurant. There was a stage for karaoke, a dance floor, everything was in the classic red/black/white colors, and of course there was unlimited soda! It was the cutest place and I'd love to go back on a Saturday when they have live music. Matt & I provided the music for the party and even sang karaoke with my middle sister and her friend (nothing to brag about). The cake was very unique and overall it was a great birthday for her. Here's just a couple of the photos taken that night. I don't have a good one of the inside of the place - it's on another camera in NC.





Saturday morning Matt & I left with my mom to go visit relatives on both sides of the family. They all live in the same town which makes visiting easy! I love going to Danville, VA because it's where we've always gone to see family since I was born. I like the familiarity of it and the memories the town has. We started off seeing my Grandma - she's the crazy one (dad's side) :) - and then saw my mom's aunt, stopped for lunch at Momma 'Possums (yum!) and off to visit mom's sister. When we left my aunt's house we visited my cousin and her husband at their adorable home. They've been married a year now and seeing their house made me hope Matthew and I can have one of our own closer to everyone soon! Our Saturday was busy, but completely worth it!

We had a unique opportunity while in town. Matthew's cousin happens to go to college somewhat locally and was in an art show this past weekend. The art show was in Durham, less than 20 minutes from the house. We took advantage of the opportunity since Matt doesn't get to see his cousins often and headed to the big art show. Adam is so talented! You can see some of his work in the background of our picture. You can view his artwork at www.achmoser.wordpress.com



Sunday was filled with church, relaxing, and good-byes as we boarded our plane back to Florida. It was 5 days filled with family blessings.

The blessings kept coming when we got back to our apartment. On my way to a sub job Monday morning, I got a call from a secretary at a school in Orlando letting me know a temporary teaching position for Kindergarten opened up until the end of the year. She basically told me the job was mine if I got all my paperwork in and the county approves, etc. Overwhelmed at first, I wasn't sure what to do. Just the week before I had come home from a day at that school and told Matthew I wasn't crazy about going back there again. Then the next day the secretary called and said she was going to use me more... and now she's been bending over backwards to help me get this job! I finished all the paperwork today so I now just wait to hear something. I'm still going to try to sub somewhere tomorrow, since I've spent the last two days getting paperwork done and missed out on working. What a blessing it'll be if I do get it! Even though it's only for a month... it's consistent work and that means the stress of not knowing where I'm going or what I'm walking in to will be gone (for the most part!) It'll also be teacher pay for a month which would be great :) We'll see what happens...

Another blessing happened yesterday when the lady in charge of my summer job e-mailed and asked if I'd be willing to step up from servant leader (teacher) to site coordinator (more like a principal). It's a 5 week job for the Freedom School and I was looking forward to being a teacher to the students. The possibility of being site coordinator would be wonderful too! I've always wanted to organize and oversee things and this would be great experience. The pay is $800 more too - not that money is everything, but every little bit does help pay those bills and Matt's student loans. I won't know until Monday because she is waiting to hear from the current site coordinator about whether or not she will be able to fulfill the role based on family problems. God's been opening some major doors this week and I'm anxious to see where they go...

My evening has been quite relaxing - I baked us some grouper, caught up on e-mails, drank pineapple smoothies with my husband by the pool, and played an intense game of Rummy while watching Planet Earth. He won by the way... we were tied and then his natural winning ability took over :( Next time I'll get him! Time for bed...

Going Home!

This evening Matthew and I will be flying home to see my family. I can't wait! We'll come back late Sunday night - so we'll be able to enjoy 4 days there. I probably won't post while I'm there, unless we have some down time. If not, I'll be sure to post about the trip next week. Our plans are to simply relax and enjoy being with family :) We haven't seen them since the wedding in December and haven't been home to NC since Thanksgiving. We'll also be providing entertainment/music for my youngest sister's Sweet 16 party Friday night and visiting all my extended family on Saturday. It's so nice that my relatives on both sides of the family live less than an hour away - in the same town. Matt and I will also go hang out with my other sister at UNC Chapel Hill (she's a freshman!) on Friday and bring her home for the weekend.

Here's pictures from the last time we were home.

That's Dad and Matt putting up Christmas decorations. I love having the house decorated!

This is me with my sisters ~ Hillary is in the middle and Meredith is on the right.

Well, I have much to do before we leave! I must get busy tackling the things on my list...

Hawaiian Island Eruption

Since I didn't get a sub job today, I decided to pack up my laptop and head to my favorite coffee shop - Volcano's Coffee Bar. Hawaiian Island Eruption is by far the best cold coffee drink and tastes great hot too! I love this particular location because it's rarely very busy and the internet is free. This is where I would come when Matthew and I first got married and internet wasn't yet connected at our apartment. I can dive into researching whatever I'd like on my computer without being distracted around our home. Today I will research cities that we would like to relocate to...

I have lived in the sunny state of Florida for too long (9 years?) and greatly miss NC. Matthew has lived here for almost 4 years and he misses Ohio. We have this longing in common that has lead us to much prayer and consideration concerning how to go about relocating. My family moved back to NC after my freshman year of college and going home to them is one of the most fulfilling things we do. Visiting family in Ohio also gives us a warm, complete feeling so we have opted to move somewhere North of SC. Before we were married Matthew printed off a map - dotted where my parents live and where his live - then drew circles around areas that were within 3-4 hours of our parents, and 6-8 hours. Family is a priority to us and we want to raise our kids within a reasonable driving distance of them.

We long to experience four seasons once again, own land, live near or in the mountains, and keep it simple. We don't mind living near a large city (that's where it'd be best for Matt to find his type of work anyway), but we would choose to live some miles away where we could come home to the quiet peacefulness of the country. To start out, we'd like to live in an apartment for a little while so we can scope out homes/land while working to save money. 

Matthew and I talk about our aspirations and are focusing on being active about them. I stumbled across this website yesterday about a young couple in their late twenties who sold everything they had to move from the West coast of Canada to the East to pursue their dreams. They have a blog on their site that I sat and read for an hour - I just love their house and how they worked so hard for what they have. Their story is crazy, yet inspiring. I shared it with Matt last night and told him I'm not saying I could do what they did, but the overall idea is encouraging. You can check out their site here... www.whimfield.com  

There are so many questions to sort through... every time I moved as a child, it was because my dad we being relocated with his job. He knew he was going to have a job when he moved us as a family. In our situation, we're not even sure how to go about finding a location to move. We know we want to be near family, that's the easy part. How does my husband find a job in this economy - especially along the line of work of film and photography? Are teaching jobs for me readily available up there as opposed to Florida? How do we begin looking? What about finances? It's overwhelming for both of us, but we know God will provide a way. Despite the questions running through our heads on a regular basis, we do know that moving is in the near future and God is our guide.

Matthew encouraged me to look up school districts today and local churches. We have a list of cities we are going to be acquiring information about: Charlottesville, VA (my favorite), Roanoke, VA, Raleigh, NC (where my family is), Nashville, TN and surrounding areas...  We know we'd like to make a weekend trip home to see my family this summer, then drive to Charlottesville for a day or two and explore there. We really like what we've seen about this area so far, and have looked into various towns outside of the big city. Who knows what could happen? We can't keep talking about wanting to move and not do anything about it. We want to be open to where God sends us - and I'm well aware it could be an entirely different place aside from what we're thinking - and that's ok. We just want to go and be in God's will throughout it all.

Ok, enough of sorting through my thoughts - I must research before I go tutor two of my students. My hawaiian island eruption is almost finished, meaning I should order a sandwich soon in order to feel like it's ok for me to keep sitting here for another hour (although I'm the only one in this place!) 

*As an exciting side note, my dad is in town on business and we're meeting him for dinner tonight! He took me to lunch yesterday and came by our place Sunday evening. It's so nice having him here - definitely makes me miss my mom and sisters!

The apartment's clean...Food is made...now I wait

Tonight Matt & I are having the juniors and seniors from the youth group over to our place. We teach the 12th grade every other Sunday at church and decided it was time for another "night out." We're excited because it's our first somewhat big hosting event as a married couple! Matthew wanted to give it a fun title... so tonight is officially "Captain Planet's Home Party." :)

I'm not sure what prompted him to use Captain Planet - but it definitely grabs their attention. We even found Captain Planet's Planeteers Certificates to hand out! Basically we're just going to relax and hang out with the youth: playing the Wii and other video games, board games, maybe walk to the cheap movie theater. It's great getting to know them outside of Sunday School. I'll have to remember to take pictures.

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Last night was wonderful! My dad was in town on business and came by to have dinner with Matthew and I. We sat down to a bowl of rock soup that I had cooked and enjoyed conversation around the table. I absolutely love my dad - definitely a Daddy's Girl. He introduced us to this site called LinkedIn and we all sat on the couch with our laptops making profiles (nerds!). The night ended with the three of us playing some games on the Wii (it's always fun to watch dad play!). I have to say that it was a great feeling sitting in between the two men I love the most!

**Oh, so I have a funny "newlywed" story....

When Matthew gets out of the shower, or changes his clothes at all for that matter, his clothing winds up on the bathroom floor. We have a clothes hamper in the closet (just a few feet away!) but his clothes are rarely there. After a couple weeks of this, I kindly asked him to put his clothes in the hamper instead of throwing them on the floor... Ok, well maybe I didn't exactly use the kindest method of pointing out that his clothes don't belong there. I began by asking him if the clothes on the floor were dirty - knowing full well they were. Then I asked him, "Where might be a better place for the clothes?" Needless to say, "mothering" your husband isn't the best way to get a point across.

The next morning after Matt left for work I walked into the bathroom to find the hamper where his dirty clothes used to be. I laughed and moved the hamper right back into the closet. He's a smart one and I love him ;)

Well the youth should be here any minute...