HOUSE

We bought a house... a HOUSE.  I know we are in our 30's and this is a normal adventure for people, but I really can't believe that we are at this point.  We are 'for reals' settling into Kingsport, TN?

Don't get me wrong.  We love it here.  Madeleine is doing great, Cory loves his job, and the people are so friendly and nice.  I am grateful that things have worked out, so that we can buy a house in this beautiful country. 

I think the house, along with everything else that is going on, we are a little stressed.  Madeleine is finishing up her school year, and I with work.  We are slowly but surely moving everything into our new home, movers are coming on the 25th to move the big stuff that we don't want to.  Cory's work load is keeping him busy several nights a week, and sometimes on the weekends as well.  Cory has also signed up for the Virgina Bar.  Which means studying at night, to get ready for the big two day test this summer. 

So, we've been 'a little' stressed. 

I am hoping once we are settled into the house, I can arrange a birthday party for Madeleine.  We haven't had much luck on birthdays, but I figure I gotta try again at some point. 

Easter Trip

For Easter this year we went to visit my sister in the D.C. area. Madeleine doesn't get to see her cousins often, and I was very happy to see that they played so well with each other.

My sister and husband were nice enough to take us on a date night. Cory and I don't go on date nights often. (Madeleine is almost 8, and it is too easy to just bring her along to come out with us.) We had fun with just us 'adults', even if we did go see Wrath of the Titans. I don't even think the kids noticed that us adults were gone.

We had a great time, and were sad to call it so short, but we had to get back to 'real life'.

Whaaa?

I realize it has almost been two years since I have posted. Soo... lets see.
I finished my teaching certificate, and worked at a pre-school for about a year.
Cory finished law school, took the TN bar and passed.
Cory got a job in Kingsport, TN, so we moved last year.
Madeleine is currently in second grade. (I still have a hard time believing this.)

We have really enjoyed the Tri-Cities area. Who would have thought I'd end up in the mountains of Tennessee. When Cory and I were dating, he asked me, "where do you want to live?" My response, "anywhere but the south." So... there you go...

Cory enjoys what he does, so it makes everything so much easier. I have a job at Madeleine's school as an assistant, which I really enjoy. I'm there when the kids are there, and don't have to bring any paper work home. Madeleine had a difficult time with the move, but I think she has adjusted really well.

We recently put in an offer on a house. We went in and signed our loan application, and have inspections and such lined up. I don't feel responsible or mature enough for this. Of course it could be the fear of owning a house. We've rented for so long, feels like a huge step. (I'm sure everyone says that about their first house.)

Hmmm... is it sad that the last two years can be summed up so quickly? Well anyways, we are just plugging away, trying the best we can.

Keep On Swimming

Cory had his last final for spring today. He is very excited to have a few days off. I'm in my last week of student teaching, and then next week I'll be preparing for the interview/presentation thing to exit the program. Madeleine will be done the 21st.

Since we'll all be "done" with things for a few days we are hoping to go for a little vacation to my sisters in D.C. Cory's never been and we thought we'd head up before he starts back up June 1st.

Cory and I had our 7th anniversary this Sunday. We celebrated by going to Iron Man 2 with Madeleine and then out to dinner. We then proceeded to spend the rest of the weekend doing course work or studying for finals.

We have turned into VERY exciting people.

Overall we are doing well, just extremely busy. We are both looking forward to being done, and are hoping that things work out for us.

Hope you are all doing well, wherever you are!

Organization!

Today I've spent most the day organizing and re-arranging the desks. I stole the desk we had in Madeleine's room and put it our room. I also stopped by Target to pick up a few random desk organizers. This is all in attempt to better help my situation while I'm in my second placement of student teaching.

During my last placement I had some papers upstairs, some down, and some that moved around throughout the day. I'm going to attempt to have everything in one area this time. Between Cory, Madeleine, and I the kitchen table always seems to be covered by someone's schoolwork. And maybe by having my stuff in one place upstairs, I'll be less distracted.

Madeleine has lost both of her teeth! Sometimes I can't believe how big she is, at least she still likes me. She's been doing great in school and I still find random pictures or crafts that she has hung up in the house.

Cory is workin on a variety of projects. He is trying to get everything done that comes along with taking 18 credit hours, trying to look for summer internships, and looking for jobs for when he finishes in December.

We continue to be busy, and have somehow survived. And once we've finished all we got to worry about is real life jobs... that is it... nothing to worry about... nothing at all...

February What?

I realize the end of the month is already gone and it seems like it has flown by. Cory is taking 18 credit hours, I'm student teaching and Madeleine doing her school thing, it is a miracle that dishes get done. We are trying to keep our head above water.

Cory was recently diagnosed with adult diabetes, so we have a new diet and exercise that we have to follow. Cory is doing really well, I do too (except for that one week). But this also means that he has lots of doctors and testing that he has to do too. So far, so good.

Madeleine is doing well. She loves to read and Cory works with her nightly on phonics and sounding out words. It snowed the other day, and she was not happy. The "excitement" of snow has worn off this winter, and I must admit I feel the same way. Tired of the cold, ready for spring. This winter has been unusually cold for Knoxville.

I change placements in the middle of March, if I pass of course.

We All Fall Down

So all those balls that I have been juggling the last few weeks all came down on Tuesday. I had one of those weeks when I feel like another ball is being thrown at me, then another, and another. Until at one point on Tuesday night they all just came crashing on the floor. It is one of the down sides of not being near family and asking someone who is "obligated" to help you when you call with ridiculous requests.

Luckily there is a friend that saved my sanity. She watched a sick Madeleine all day on Wednesday so that I could still make it to student teaching, and Cory could still make it to his classes.

So I have a grasp on my sanity once again... we'll see how long it lasts!