NK 37

I've been meaning to write about NK for a while, and while I've got one minute, I'm going to quickly. It ended up being a wonderful weekend for all involved, and I got more out of it then I was expecting to (but I shouldn't have doubted it!). The talks were all really good, Agape (which was 'construction site' was honestly one of the best I've ever seen!!! But, I still can't find any pictures of it!) was so much fun, and CC was completely amazing. My good friend, Lauren LaCoy, was CC and it was as moving to me as my first, on NK27, 10 retreats ago. One of my favorite parts of it was Charlie (junior at Newman), who is not a small guy) crying the second it started until hours after it was done-more then any of the girls. :)

And, I know many of you 'older' Newman people have seen these pictures from Molly's blog (oh, and Molly-thanks for letting me use these pics without asking you ;)), I wanted to put them on here anyways for the rest of you to see. Reunion was such a blast, and Simon, Maria, and Lucy were definitely the highlight of the evening for all(and of course Charlie, Cecilia, and Bridget too, they just couldnt dance as well as the older ones!)! They all looked so stinking adorable, I can't wait till we can all get together again! I was craving Lucy all weekend, but after only one hug for me she wanted to be on the dance floor with all the action or in other people's arms. She espiecially liked Elizabeth and Susie that night. She insisted that Susie hold her, and Susie, being the super mom that she is held both Maria and Lucy, until I went over and Maria happily let me hold her; so we ended up switching girls, as the pictures show. Enjoy!

spring semester & "Roomie"

I've been quite busy this semester between everything going on in our lives, and been a bit overwhelmed by it. I am only taking three classes currently, but one of them has been the toughest I have hit in college yet. It has been the one class since I've been a "non-traditional student" where I am sure I am not getting an A. I would be very happy to receive a B. This professor just keeps grading lower and lower every assignment. Granted, I have learned a lot in this "Advanced Child Development" class, but it's just not as easy as I thought it would be (and I have two young children to pull experiences from, and I'm still not living up to her expectations!). Next year, I was planning on taking my last 5 classes, and then doing my internship and graduating in the summer, while getting many more hours of babysitting for the girls (hopefully some from Patrick, whom I will refer to later). But, now I am thinking that I just won't be able to enjoy our family and will be a overly grumpy wife and mother which won't be good for anyone. And, from a talk put on last week to some of my friends and I, Father Dittmer really stressed the importance of taking care of ourselves as wives and mothers first, because, like I said, we won't be able to live our vocation out to the holiest, or push our families' to be holy, if we can't deal with our own emotions. But, not taking a full load next semester means that I would push my graduation back (again!) to december of 2009, which is another depressing thought. ugh....
In other news, the girls now have a new 'roomie' living in the fourth bedroom upstairs! No, not a dog, Battey's (thank goodness! we will never be a dog family!), but a friend from Newman, Patrick Wood. Some major roommate issues forced him to be pushed out of his apartment and was homeless for a few weeks before we even found out. It was when people were asking him after K-Mass one night where he would stay for the night that I realized what was going on. And, since we didn't buy our home for our current family, but for our (hopefully) larger future family, we actually have two open bedrooms (as Bridget hasn't moved out of our room yet, nor have we tried to move Lucy to her 'big girl bed' yet). So, a few weeks ago, Patrick and his crew moved all his stuff in. He is actually only a few months younger then Ryan, because he was in some kind of service ( I forget which one) and went to Iraq for a few years, and is now returning to school. I got to know him more this semester because he was on my NK team as the Mary speaker. When we were growing up my mom let multiple people in need of a home live with us for different amounts of time, and now I can really respect her for all that she did for them. And, her house is maybe half as big as our house right now.
Also, something you might not expect from the most eligible newman bachelor (I think he is literally one of a few men there who isnt dating, engaged, or in the seminary), is that he is head over heels for Lucy and Bridget. Before he moved in, he honestly held Bridget more then all the other newman girls put together. And our (big) little B just adores him right back. Lucy goes in spurts of liking Patrick, but she does that with us too. :)
Anyways, just keep us in your prayers, as these last few weeks of the semester are really hectic, and still living out of boxes makes it even more stressful (although I'm hoping to get a lot done this week with break! whoo hoo!).

Mom Expo

We have been plenty busy with the move, so we haven't written in a while. Almost everything is painted and the basement refinishing will begin on monday!! I can't wait to post before and after pictures!! It's been pretty stressful, but tomorrow afternoon I'm taking a break-I've been looking forward to the annual MamaPrenuer Bazaar at the new hotel by Target (if you're in Bl-Normal). It has all my favorite local mom businesses, such as Pinstripes & Polkadots, Summer Knoblach Photography (we're saving up for her to take some family pics in a few months!), and The Sling Connection. I'm really excited to have all my favorite places in one spot!...Plus, I'm hoping to win lots of prizes (since we are pretty good at that)!