Just to clarify.......

We  found this video last night.  After questioning Kevin in depth, I have determined he is NOT the same man that did this horrible crime. Just thought you all should know : )

I love all the interesting things you find when you google your own name.

End of summer catch-up #1

I'm not sure why, but I have been really slow with blogging lately. I have plenty of time, I just haven't had the energy. I think it's also that we have been doing so much lately, it seems impossible to cover everything. Here is an attempt to get caught up. 

First, a few weeks ago, we decided to go see the Harry Potter exhibit at MOSI in Chicago before it closes. All the museums in Chicago are expensive and crowded but so worth it! You have to reserve tickets before hand so they can space out the attendance. Our time to see the special exhibit wasn't until 4:00, so we walked through the other exhibits first. The whole museum is amazing! Here are a few of my favorite parts:

First was a U-Boat that was captured and has been in Chicago since the 50's.

Lego towers

They had this amazing doll house that was super intricate. It was all handmade and had everything a real palace would have. All kinds of real diamond encrusted things and gold leaf dishes only mini size. 

This was just one side of it. It filled up a whole room.

Josie's favorites were the colored bubble water room (I forget what it really was for)



And the chick hatchery. Several of them hatched while we watched.


Then we were finally off to the exhibit! There was no photography allowed, so we don't really have pics of all the cool stuff. It was AMAZING, though! Everything from the movies was there!

I did sneak this one of Josie getting "sorted" (sorry it's blurry. I didn't want to get caught)

They said she was a Hufflepuff. I think she is really a Gryffindor.

The magical Ford Anglia from the movie was in the lobby.

Overall, it was a great time!

We also went another weekend to check out the new Lincoln exhibit at the Studabaker museum in South Bend. They were having a car show in the parking lot at the same time. I think there is a car show every week here. I see them every weekend in some random parking lot. 

Packards with a Packard
Daddy smelling something stinky.

Once a year, some of Kevin's coworkers get together for a "team building" exercise. They take off early and go mini golfing. One of the guys has a brother that has Down Syndrome that comes along. Of course, he always wins and is given a big trophy with his name on it. He looks forward to the tournament all year. It's very sweet. 

Ok, I don't want to do overload on this post, so next post will have the rest. It will include the Blueberry, Marshmallow, Popcorn, Apple, and Fall festivals. Also, a little about Josie cause she's 11 months now!!

Non-Josie Update!

I started fall semester last week and I think my schedule is finally set. It was really hard to settle on, and for a couple days, I considered not going back to school after all. After taking a couple classes over the summer, I thought I would postpone anymore school until we sold the house and things weren't so crazy. Then, a week before fall semester, I found out that they were giving me a pretty substantial scholarship. I was very excited since I didn't really expect it. With the scholarship I was able to register for a few classes and only pay for some of the extra fees. I have 3 classes on Monday and 1 class on Wednesday. Together, it's only about 5 hours a week. I decided I couldn't stand to be away from Josie more than that. Since going back to school is totally optional, I don't want it to affect my family. So far, it's been great! A girl in my ward who has 2 kids lives near the campus and has agreed to watch her. I am able to stop in between classes on Monday and Josie seems to really like it. Though she doesn't like being away from me, she seems to enjoy a change of scenery and playthings every once and a while.

In house news, someone made an offer on the house. It was a ridiculous offer, so we decided to counter. They sent back another counter offer and we countered again. We haven't heard back yet. I am not getting my hopes up, but I hope we can agree on a contract or get another offer soon. There seems to be more interest lately. Hopefully, we will sell it by the time our tenants leave in October.

Lately, Kevin and I have decided to go to bed earlier and get more sleep. This has done wonders for us both. We had been going to bed after midnight most of the time. I can function fine on 7 hours no problem, but we waste less time when we know we need to be in bed earlier. We also have started back on one of my favorite activities. Reading aloud to each other. I look forward to reading time all day! Basically, one of us reads aloud while the other gets something done (laundry, dishes, cleaning, projects, etc.) We have been rereading the Harry Potter books and are now 1/3 of the way through book 7. Nerds, I know. Whatever, they are great books! I makes me not dread cleaning up so much when I can focus on storytime instead. I love it! Anyway, have been so into our books, we bring them everywhere! We read in the car on the way to the store, before bed, and any other chance we get. I highly recommend it. It's also fun discussing together what's going on. 

So my next post will include our activities lately. A few weeks ago, we went to the Chicago MOSI, the Blueberry Festival on Saturday, and the Marshmellow Festival on Monday. (Mike and Chantel, we missed you guys at the festival this year!) We are going to the Orville Redenbacher Popcorn Festival tomorrow.  I know you're jealous! 

It's been so fun seeing other cities and their traditions. We do get a little sick of fair food, but I am strangely always attracted to it as soon as we get there. 

We have been festival junkies ever since we found this great site. You can see all the festivals in the state for the whole year. Getting excited for fall festivals!!

indianafestivals.org

Ready, set, GO!!

Josie took ONE step the other day. She's done that twice now. I think she's teasing us. Walking soon? Maybe? I know you can do it Jos!

Parks.........and more parks!

We love all the parks near our house! They regularly have free evening activities for the community that we love to attend. They do free movies (with free popcorn!), concerts, and other such events. Last week, we decided to go for family night and see one of the free concerts. It was awesome! It was a guy singing with drums and accordian as accompaniment. Weird combo, but quite nice. They played standards and the old people loved it. Josie sang along of course and danced with daddy. 

Then, we decided to try the swings again since she hasn't been on them in a while. This time, she loved them!

I couldn't help posting some I took the other day on one of our walks. We decided to stop at another park on the way home.




Tasting bark for the first time.

And eating leaves.
So sad this one was out of focus! This is classic Josie!! She does this face all the time!

We are off to enjoy 2 fairs this weekend! The Blueberry Festival and the Marshmellow Festival. Should be fun!