May So Far

Our busy spring continues, and it feels like time is speeding up and our time here in Iowa is going to be done much too quickly!  When we started this whole deal in December, the end seemed SO FAR away, and now that it is almost here, I can hardly believe it and am not sure I am ready!!

We are enjoying spring weather, and it is so nice that Adam does not have to worry so much about weather when he is traveling back and forth!

The first mow of the year!  May have been late April, but a big event like this should be documented!

Our neighborhood has both an ice cream truck AND a Kona shaved ice truck that come by regularly...

Where do I buy one of these trucks?

J is definitely a fan of the shaved ice!

The first weekend in May, we hit both the opening day at the Des Moines Farmer's Market (we will miss that!!!!) and Pella's Tulip Time!

J absolutely LOVES going to the farmer's market!

Tulip Time was nice-- we drove through rain all the way there, but after our first stop at the Mexican restaurant for dinner (our tradition) it cleared up nicely and was sunny the rest of the evening!

Our Dutch boy.

The main attraction for J was not the tulips (or "betunias" as he kept calling them), it was all the tractors!  We looked at tractors for a long time.

Last week we also had a day that hit 90 degrees!  We loved it!!

I had a lovely Mother's Day weekend!  J has apparently become very good on the computer or something, because he had 2 dozen roses delivered to me at school on Friday (or maybe he had help from Daddy?).  It made my day!!! :)

Then Friday afternoon I got to enjoy a lovely Mother's Day Tea with my boy at Michelle's house.  She does this every year, and I love it!  I'm so sad this was my last one. :(

We read a cute story and then had yummy snacks (J especially enjoyed the chocolate cookies and chocolate donuts!), and then we made a cute craft together!  It was such a fun time with Jeremiah (and also his daycare friends and their moms!)!  And of course, there were gifts!

The little candle to J's right is the craft we made together. :)  And there was a nice card, plus inside the jar is a beautiful apron painted by J!

The inside of the card:

4 out of 5 things he loves about me have to do with food/TV/being lazy..... hmmm.

J wanted to take a pic of me modeling my brand new apron-- isn't it so cute?!?!

Let's go ahead and count this as my 17 week baby bump pic, too. :)

Sunday we had a very nice, relaxing day.  J and I got to spend quality time together, as usual, after Daddy left for Michigan.  After rain in the morning, it turned into a nice day and J was able to get some good sandbox time in.

And then J wanted to get the vacuum out, and who am I to argue with that?

Figured if he was going to push it around, I might as well plug it in!

It's hard to believe we only have a few weeks left here!  For those of you who are interested, we have found a place to live so at least we have somewhere to go now.  We will be renting an apartment in Holland for probably at least the first 3 months, so we can try to settle in, get to know the area, and look at houses together (that will be so much easier when we are all in MI!!).  Any friends in Iowa, we will be loading up on June 5ish, so we'd love to have anyone and everyone over for pizza that day/night!  We may ask you to load a box or 2 while you are here. :)  And friends/family in Michigan, we will be unloading probably June 6 or 7, and we'd love to have you all over for pizza, too (and move a box or 2)!  Oh, by the way, anyone have boxes?????  We need them!

Not real sure what my job situation will be next year.  I have started the process of renewing my old, expired MI teaching certificate, so at least that should be in place in the next month or so.  There have been very few job openings posted on any district sites I have seen, so I have not been applying much yet (which is understandable, as contracts have not been given out at my current school yet, either).  I am afraid that I am not the most desirable hire, though, for these school districts-- there are so many colleges/universities around and if you think about it-- in thinking about $ (which most districts do...), who would they rather hire?  A new (cheap) college grad?  Or me, who has been teaching for 12 years AND will be 7 months pregnant at the start of the school year and will be taking maternity leave for 8 weeks (at the least) in October?  Anyway, those are just my thoughts, and I could totally be proven wrong, too.  I will probably apply and see what happens, but most importantly we want to do what we believe God wants us to do.