It's a boy!

We found out yesterday that we are having a little baby boy! He is growing as he should be and was moving quite a bit during the ultrasound. So much that Matt was amazed I couldn't feel him yet. The ultrasouns tech told us that usually they have to be about a pound before you can actually feel their movements which is around 20 - 22 weeks. That's only 2 weeks away, I think that will be an exciting experience to feel the baby move for the first time. We have decided on his name. It is Levi which means "united". We are still working on the middle name at this point. I wouldn't want to just post pictures of us without highlighting little Levi since this is all about him. Here they are.

All the New Beginnings

I am now about a month into the fourth year of my teaching career. My classes are really large this year with at least 30 kids in each class. I teach four classes of 6th grade science. This year is going really well in our beautiful new building and my huge science lab classroom. It feels bigger than some of my college science lab classes! My little sixth graders are finally adjusting to using lockers and getting to class on time. They are adorable...I love them:)

Matt just got back from a trip to New York for business. He has been working hard and still enjoying Pepsi very much. He is starting to look into the process of starting grad school next fall. While he has been busy with this, I have started the giant process of working on my national board certification.

My sister moved down to NC again and I am SO excited. We have been spending some good quality time together. We are sad that her husband, Bart, already had to leave for military training though. We will be excited when he returns again.

Today we (Matt, Beka, and I) went to a church called Vintage 21. We went to a concert there a while ago with our good friends the Bennetts but now returned for our first Sunday. We really liked it and are going to continue. We have missed having a close church family and it feels like there are so many ways to get involved and connected there.

The most exciting new beginning for us is that we are ecstatic to say that we are expecting a baby, due March 26th. I am now in my 13th week, nearing the end of the first trimester. We are hoping that the symptoms of the first trimester soon too shall pass. I have been able to work through it until this week, I had to cave and get some prescription anti-nausea medicine this week. It seems to help a little bit but it wasn't the magical pill I was expecting it to be...haha. All of this is overlooked when I think about all the joy to come with our little one. We plan on finding out whether we are having a boy or girl and will post it as we find out. I know I can hardly wait to find out :)

A whirlwind summer so far!

The first month of summer break has gone by so fast. I went up to Michigan for three weeks to be a part of all the wedding happenings for my little sis Beka and my bff Nicki. I was able to go to Nicki's bachelorette party which was a lovely day on the beach and then a fun dinner and sleepover. It was fun to have a sleepover...I can't remember the last time I had one:)

For my sister's bachelorette party the following weekend, we went to Cedar Point and then went bowling and spent the night at a hotel. It was also a ton of fun!

Of course, while I was in Michigan, I had a lot of time to spend with family. It was awesome to celebrate Father's Day with my dad and his birthday was a couple of days before that. We had a picnic at a state park in Michigan and went walking and visited one of my childhood favorites...the petting zoo!

I was so excited when Matt finally joined me in Michigan for the third week. I've decided that two weeks is a really long time to be away! It was so good to have him back again:) He also got to attend Nicki's wedding and he was in my sister's wedding as well.

Both of the weddings were beautiful. I had a lot of fun being in both Beka and Nicki's weddings. It's an honor to be able to stand up in their weddings to support both of them. Here are some pictures.

When we got home from Michigan, we recooperated for a week and then decided that we were going to get that new puppy I'd been hoping for. She is a Pembrooke Welsh Corgi and we named her Riley. She is 13 weeks old. Her and Dilbert are becoming friends. She likes to chew on him and he doesn't exactly love all the attention yet. But I am sure he will come to appreciate it:)

May Happenings

The month of May has brought a lot of beautiful weather and a lot of events. Late last month (April) we helped our friends the Bennetts pack up for their move to Oronogo, MO. We miss them greatly but are very excited that they were able to move closer to both their families.

Then early in May we went to a surprise birthday party of one of my coworkers. When she walked in the door to find us all hiding in the kitches shouting Happy Birthday it was very neat!

Last weekend we went to Artsplosure in downtown Raleigh. It was a lot of fun to walk around and see all the interesting artwork and all the creative people. While we were there we saw a good share of interestingly dressed people but for the most part it was really nice. On Sunday of that same weekend we went to a wedding. It was in Benson, NC. One of my coworkers from my old school was getting married. It was a beautiful ceremony and reception at a bed and breakfast.

This past week was a somewhat stressful week because my students were taking their end of grade tests. It is three straight days of boring silence while the students work away. After the tests are over the kids think that they are done for the year so on Thursday and Friday I worked to prove to them that our year is not over until June 10th. Although, I wouldn't mind if it was finished now either ;-)

On Friday Matt and I went to see Terminator and it was pretty good. Last night we had a game night with the Shannons and one of my coworkers. We played some Balderdash. Good ole game! I woke up this morning and suddenly I am sick as a dog with a cold. I dread those summertime colds they always feel so much worse because it's unexpected! I hope that with this long weekend I can relax and feel better quickly though.

I cannot express how excited I am that the school year is almost finished and I will be headed home for Brighton for three weeks. I will be in two weddings (my sister and my best friend Nicki's). It will be fun to go back home and see everyone and not worry about teaching for the summer!

Last but not least, Matt has been working hard at Pepsi. His hard work has paid off and landed him a promotion. He is now an analyst. We are very excited!

Spring Break 2009

Spring Break started a little bit earlier for me while Matt had to continue working to support the family...ya know. I headed out for balmy Brighton, Michigan on an early Saturday morning at 6:00 AM. Once I landed my mom and sis were waiting for me at the airport and we headed out to get my sisters wedding shower cake and preparations were underway for her shower.

During the shower we played a very humorous game of the soon to be wed game. This is a picture of my sister having to cram 15 gumballs in her mouth after answering a question wrong!

After spending some time with my wonderful family and my bff Nicki I headed home at 3:45 the following Thursday, Matt picked me up and we were off to Washington D.C. We spend Thursday night and Friday with my aunt, uncle, cousin, grandma, and grandpa in Falls Church, VA. We hadn't seen my aunt's family since our wedding so it was awesome to get a chance to catch up and spend time together. We had a lot of fun:)

On Friday night we headed to our friends' house in D.C. to spend the rest of the weekend. The Robinsons are wonderful hosts. We spent time reconnecting with our old small group which was us, the Robinsons, and the Bennetts. We had a lot of fun sight-seeing, eating yummy food, playing games, and celebrating Easter at Mosaic Church in D.C. Here are some pictures of us out on the mall and hanging out with friends.

P.S. Gracy is cute and has become my second favorite dog to Dilbert:)

Until next time... dah...dah....dahhhhhhh

Snow Days!

We Heart Snow Days!

I really never thought that we would be taking a picture like this of our house. The snow was beautiful and just what I needed as I was getting homesick for Michigan. A couple of my coworkers called and asked me if I was happy because I kept saying... "Oh, I wish we could just have one good snow, I miss it so much!" Well, as you can see from the picture, it arrived!!!

Matt worked from home yesterday and I had yesterday and today off from work. It has been a wonderful very long weekend. Yesterday we were able to watch the inauguration and enjoy a relaxing day. After Matt's work day was over, we went outside to play in the snow. It would have been beatutiful skiing snow, but we were not able to pack it into a snow man... trust me we tried!

I hope that if you live in NC that you took a few minutes to enjoy the beauty and fun of the snow too! Enjoy it while it lasts!!! Crazy weather... its supposed to be 60 degrees by Friday!

Dilbert loved the snow too!

Christmas in Phoenix

Merry Christmas... a little after the fact!

Matt and I ventured to Phoenix to spend Christmas with his parents, his brother, and his brother's wife. We had a good time with everyone. Our picture is in front of his parents house in Arizona. Their house was beautiful, but the weather was not really. It was actually warmer in Raleigh than it was in Phoenix the week of Christmas.

After we got back from Phoenix, Matt and I had most of last week to spend together because neither of us were working. We went to see the Nutcracker in Raleigh. We went to a New Year's Eve party at my friend Heather's house.

We had a very fun and relaxing vacation. Back to work tomorrow though! I am actually looking forward into getting back into my routine and seeing my students again. This week we will be dissecting cow eyes. The idea of it grosses me out but I wouldn't want to be the only one in my department not doing it. Yuck! Haha...but I'm sure it will be fun.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and New Years.

Much love from the DeJong's!