Merry Christmas!

We have been having a wonderful time celebrating Christmas all week!  Jeremy's parents and sister came over this weekend for dinner and lots of Wii playng.  They gave Jeremy Wii Karaoke for his birthday and the Wii FIt Plus for Christmas.  We went to see the grandmas on Sunday together and had a wonderful visit with Grandma Beth in Iowa Falls.
Spent Monday at the movies and the mall with Jason- my dearest friend from my days at Prairie!  We saw Black Swan- which I recommend, but I will say it is a nail biter.... then off to mall for a few last minute things!
Steph and Kyle arrived on Monday night from Portland we were able to spend the day with them on Wednesday.  After seeing "Tron" the movie and getting great Indian food, we exchanged gifts and played cards.  A perfect evening! To top it off- Steph's mom made us this fabulous blanket- perfect for winter and our upcoming arrival! 

We are preparing for our family bowling game on the 26th! Jeremy and I stayed up late on Tuesday making 25 trophies for everyone in the family!  I am now off to look up soup recipes and make a few more last minute gifts!
Merry Christmas to you all!

December is flying by already

We celebrated Jeremy's big birthday last weekend - woo hoo he's now 35!  We went lunar bowling and out for sushi! 

On Saturday we painted the baby's room and it is finally coming together.  It was fun to incorporate some of my art with some of things we have collected over the years together with some of my childhood toys. Here's a peek at the baby's room!  The kitties really are enjoying the changing pad on our new dresser.  It has become the bathing/napping station for them!

 

Today was my last day of classes!  Just gotta get through finals week...
Then it will be time to buckle down and figure out our Christmas cards and finish up Christmas shopping! December is flying by!

Victoria's Secret

My dear friend Vicky who I worked for many years ago at Preucil Preschool held a lecture and art exhibit Friday at Mount Mercy University in Cedar Rapids. It was a fabulous show filled with great paintings and a Graphic Narrative about the death of her father from Cancer.
I am so happy for Vicky earning tenure at Appalachian state University and having such a successful exhibit!
Here are a few pictures from it.  It was great to see her daughters Emma and Nelle, who played chello at our wedding and a few other old friends!

If you want to see Vicky's work:
Victoria's Secret - A Graphic Novel of Mid Day Ghosts
Victoria Grube, head of Art Education Department at Appalachian State University
November 12 - December 9
Artist Reception: November 19, 5:00 - 7:00 p.m. in the Janalyn Hanson White Gallery

Gallery Hours
Monday - Friday
4:00 - 6:00 p.m.
Viewings outside of normal business hours can be arranged by checking out a gallery key from the Lundy Desk, or by calling 319-363-8213.
The exhibit uniquely showcases the artist’s journey of sculpting a personal narrative of her late father. As Grube studied photograph after photograph of her father, her intent to translate him into the future ended up providing a bridge to her past. “My feelings were telescoped into loss, confusion, joy, shock, disappointment, regret, surprise and anger. I was imaginer and producer, the ruthless critic, the archivist, the mourner,” says Grube.

20 week Ultrasound

We had our 20 week ultrasound on November 5th and a second ultrasound at the University of Iowa Hospital on November 10th because of my age.  Both looked really fantastic and the doctor in Iowa City commented the perfection of the baby's head.
So... I guess we're doing ok growing this baby!
Updates on pregnancy-  I am moving into some maternity clothes thanks to my mom who took me shopping this month.  I can actually feel the baby move especially after a good meal. Jeremy got to feel the baby move as well when we were laying in bed other night. What a wonderful experience!
We are hoping to paint the baby room this week while on break but not sure- school work just keeps piling up!  We are thinking of painting it a buttery yellow and I am working on a mobile to go above the crib! 
No new cravings since soup obsession and need for lemon desserts!

Here are some photos:
The first is a picture of the baby's face and the second one shows the little legs crossed. It's kinda like those magic books when you have to focus your eyes real well to see the image!
The baby's legs were crossed in both ultrasounds so even if we wanted to find out the sex of the baby- we were not going to!  Good thing we really like surprises!   Love to you all and Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Halloween!

From Jeremy, Wendy and baby!

Happy Halloween...

We spent the weekend getting geared up for Halloween.  We went to the pumpkin Patch on Friday and got three beautiful pumpkins to carve tomorrow!
Jason came up for a visit on Saturday night and we went to two haunted places. The first was a haunted funeral home in Waterloo. I was not disappointed!!! It was fun and scary but a little hard to climb through the tunnel like hallways.  The second place was called Heart of Darkness and it was a big castle in the middle of a farm field. I was impressed by how popular it was, it had venders, a DJ, games, and you opt for a FASTPASS for a few extra bucks- like the rides at Disneyland!!! We toughed out the wait and it was fun!  We all had to walk together on a rope as to not get lost in the darkenss!  Jason is not fond of clowns and this had many fun neon scary clown-like monsters so you know it was a hit! We ended the night with a scary movie and pumpkin coffee and hot apple pie a la mode!!!

Soup Exchange is successful!

We held our first soup exchange last night!  I read about this idea in my Readymade magazine a while back but it wasn't until I was craving soup constantly that I put my idea into action! We invited 3 couples over and each brought a different soup then containers to fill up with others soups and of course the recipe! 
Jeremy and I made pumpkin scones, garlic cheddar biscuits, fresh wheat bread, and for dessert Grandma Klaas'es Sshmandkuchen! ( a German custard pie/cake that is amazing!!!)  We made Wassail too to warm everybody up as we ate on the screened in porch!

Everyone brought really good soup and I now have tone left over for the upcoming month as it gets colder!  Everyone should hold a soup exchange- it is so much fun and filling too! 

 Spicy corn Chowder

 Pumpkin Scones

 Garlic Cheddar Biscuits

 SchmandKuchen

 Hot Wassail

The best part- leftovers!!!

More house updates!

With fall finally here, we are working hard to get a few more home improvement projects in before it is too cold and I am too pregnant! 
Here is a picture of the new trees we planted to replace the one that fell in our yard this summer. One is an Autumn Blaze Maple tree and the other is a Honey Crisp apple tree- yum yum!!!( it is the small tree in front of the blue truck!)

 Next we tackled the chimney ( or really we hired someone to tackle the loose bricks at the top of our chimney).  The storms this summer loosened a few more and we decided we better not wait to see what the winter would add to this! 

Last, it was time to start tearing down the garden.  We are still getting lots of peppers and broccoli and a few beans but will be too cold soon for any of those!  Here is my last harvest of the season!

Now I think it is time to carve pumpkins!!!!  I need to investigate where the best pumpkin patch is in Cedar Falls/ Waterloo!!!

Breaking in the new house!

We are really enjoying our new house- especially the basement.  Last month we had a make your pizza party with Chef Jeremy and in October we are hosting our first soup exchange!  ( I am craving soup like crazy...)
Here are a few shots from pizza night!

Elizabeth squeezes Jeremy's dough...

Tara and Sarah test out our pool table... don't they look like real sharks

Jeremy and Steve playing so furiously that I think I see the puck smokin'

Come on over and join us anytime! 

April Fools Baby

I am sure everyone knows from family, myself, or facebook that we are expecting a baby on April 1st!! This would be an interesting April fools day prank, but it's true.  Here are some pictues the little one at 11 weeks!  We are so excited!!!!!

We are also getting very excited about picking out a good color to paint the baby's room and what  baby names to put on our list!  If you have any ideas, send them my way.  I will use this blog to send some updates as I progress along. I am now 14 weeks and feeling fantastic!  I go in for my 20 week ultrasound on Friday the 5th of November! 
Love to everyone!!! xoxoxo

composting!

This spring I started up our compost in Waterloo. There was already a great spot started from the previous owner so it was a snap.  I moved some of the black dirt to our flower beds in June and everything took off. In July I noticed some funny things were growing around our bird feeder and to let them be see what I got.  I found several sunflowers that the squirrels promptly ran off with when they got big and beautiful and rich with seeds. I also noticed some cantaloupe growing.  I think it is about time to finally pick our cantaloupe.  It is starting to take over our yard!!!

We also lost a tree in our front yard during a vicious storm in early July.  Last weekend, Jeremy and I picked out two trees to put in the front yard. They will be delivered today. One is an Autumn Blaze Maple. It will turn the brightest red. The second tree we decided upon was a Honey Crisp Apple tree. It won't have apples for about 5 years but that's ok- I figure I might be done with my PhD that year and have time to pick it then!!!

back to school

It was a great week back to school. I love all my classes ( they are small groups of very respectful and delightful students).  I finally don't feel new- I guess the third year in teaching usually works that way. I have forgotten what it feels like to be confident in my teaching.  I hope this is a great semester!  We cleaned the art ed room all summer and now I am teaching in an organized and half empty room.  I am excited to fill it up again with beautiful creations. 

Here is Andrew ( my colleague) knee-deep or maybe even waste-deep in our classroom mess!

Happy back to school everybody! 

Refinishing the floors- is as hard as it sounds!

Here are a few photos of our upstairs loft bedroom that we refinished in 7 grueling days!

That concludes the end of our home improvement plans for the summer! Jeremy starts his new job at Hoover Middle School on Thursday and I start next Monday!  It was a great summer and I am looking forward to an even better school year!  Happy back-to-school everybody!!!!

Great places to see in Wisconsin!

We took some friends to House on the Rock and to Dr. Evermore's Art Park- featuring his famous "Foreverton" sculpture!  Here is a link to read more about Foreverton - it is a must see if you are in Wisconsin. The best part is that unlike the $25 it cost to go to The House on the Rock (with our coupons) Dr. Evermore's Art Park is free and right by the Dells if you are interested in a very different kind of fun.

First photo:  Forevertron,  Second photo:  Dr. Evermore  Third Photo: The birds of The Bird Band
(if you look at my photos from Baltimore in April, I saw one of the Doctor's sculptures at the American Visionary Museum.)
It was really great to meet him in June, we were sad to hear that when we came in July with Steph and Kyle that he was not doing well and was not present.

House on the Rock....

 Wisconsin is full of great art- from the Dickyville Grotto to these fine places I have mentioned.  Don't forget Frank Lloyd Wright's Taliesin (his school of architecture) is in Spring Green as well.  I wonder about the correlation between F. L.Wright, Alex Jordan ( House on the Rock) and Tom Every ( Dr. Evermore). That would make a very interesting dissertation!

Two Words...

Mini Kiss!!!

 

Camping

The ladies of the Prison and Juvenile home all went camping this weekend!
(OK so it was really the ladies who volunteer together at the ICIW and IJH) 
We had a great time roasting weenies and making s'mores and telling really great stories!  Sadly, Rebecca is moving to NYC this August so we are losing one really great volunteer and friend!

Here is Rachel's new RV called the Odyssey that she just purchased this summer!  We made sure that we had a very exciting adventure in it to add to her RV log - starting at the Hy-Vee parking lot where we had some difficulty parking! 

It was an interesting evening due to the only camp sight available was on a slight incline.  We lost a few beverages and plates due to this slant.  But after getting a few drinks in us, Rebecca and I decided to hold a photo shoot in the RV to showcase some of the Odyssey's terrific features! Here a few to share with you! 

Another great adventure for these volunteers!!!