What's the plan, Stan?

(Look at those baby faces! I think this was around when we first started dating!)

TWO MONTHS UNTIL WE'RE MARRIED!

So, you (and everyone else) ask, "What's the plan?"

Of course, we WISH we had it all figured out, but we don't. Here's what we DO know:

Steve has a job in Kalamazoo, MI. So, we're moving there after we get married. This week, we are going there to find and apartment. We're looking for something that we can live in until we find a house/town to live in.

I am currently looking for a job. It's not quite "hiring season" for teachers so I am not panicking...yet, but I am a bit sad to leave my current job. It's not easy, and sometimes it isn't fun, but I have loved the kids (most of them) and my co-workers. I have 6 more weeks of work until I am finished, and I am planning on enjoying (and packing) every minute of it.

Steve finishes school with his masters May 9th. After that, he is going to start moving our stuff to our new apartment. Then, I finish May 27th. However, I am not focusing on moving...my job is the WEDDING!

The wedding planning is going well. I worked last week and this week on getting the invitations ready. It was a bigger job than I thought, but they turned out really well. This weekend I have my second shower, and I am really looking forward to it. The first one was a bit nerve wracking because there was no electricity so I hope this one goes well. I also am picking out beads for my bridesmaids jewelry with Karla this week and picking out my jewelry with my mom. Last, but not least, I have my dress fitting this week.

So, that's the plan, Stan. I am sure I left some stuff out, but that means I will have something else to blog about next time.

A cruise, mon!

A couple of weeks ago, we went on a Cruise! Why?!?!...because it was offered...and we never say no to a vacation. Steve's parents took us on a cruise to celebrate the 50th anniversary of his mom's aunt and uncle. Lots of people from his mom's family went and this was my chance to meet all of them before the wedding.

Friday, after school, we flew out of Louisville to Ft. Myers and stayed at his grandparents' house. Then, we got up on Saturday and drove a couple of hours to the ship in Ft. Myers. Steve was a bit apprehensive about being on a ship for a week, but he had fun.

We went to Jamaica for a day and then Grand Cayman. Jamaica was neat to see, but very poor, which made me sad. Grand Cayman was beautiful! We did lots of shopping, and bought a few neat little treasures (shoes!).

We got off the ship on a Thursday and were able to spend a couple of days in Ft. Myers with Steve's family. We visited a FABULOUS orange/fruit shop, played putt putt (Steve won), went to the beach, caught lizards, and filled ourselves with his grandma's wonderful chicken and dumplin's.

It was a great time, and we were so lucky that we were able to go. It was great to meet lots of Steve's family that I hadn't met yet, and we can't wait to see them at the wedding.

Wedding "Woo-Hoo"s and Wedding "Woes"

Last weekend was a busy wedding weekend. With only three months to go, a lot of my spare time has been occupied with wedding planning. So, last Friday I was off work and ready to plan! I met with the invite printing place, hairdresser, and the photographer on Friday. The invites will be ready to "stuff" in a week, my hair is all planned, and we are ready for pictures!

Here's what my hair will look like...you'll have to wait 'til the wedding to see it with the veil ;)

Saturday, we met with our wonderful minister, Reverend Brock Davis. :) We got some stuff figured out and pigged out at Bob Evans for breakfast. As soon as we left, we noticed that the streetlights were out. This wasn't too surprising because we had about 5 inches of snow on top of already existing ice. Once we were home, we noticed the power was out there as well as nearly everywhere else in New Castle. That's where the "wedding woes" comes in. My shower was on Saturday. There was no power in town not to mention 5 inches of snow. I was worried that the shower would have to be cancelled or nobody would show.

Fortunately, we continued with our plans. My fabulous aunts had me a "romantic" shower by candlelight. Although some people could not make the drive in the snow, several people showed up! After about 20 minutes in the dark, the lights came on in time for me to open all of my great gifts. Then, they went out for about 10 minutes, and back on again a bit later. It ended up being a great and memorable shower and I am so lucky to have people that want to drive in a bunch of snow and sit in the dark to celebrate my upcoming wedding. :) Susie, Carla, Robin, and Colleen. My aunts. :)

Katie, Karla, Betsy, and Meggan. My BSU friends.

Wendee, Steven's mom. Patty, my mom.

What's coming up? Well, on Friday we leave for Florida. We are going on a cruise with Steven's family. After that, I have a busy couple of weeks at school and we hope Steven will have a contract signed. Then, we will start looking for a house and a job for me! The wedding planning will start back up in April during my spring break! Check back in a couple of weeks to see cruise pictures!

Something to Blog About!

There has been a lot to blog about over the past month...working out...wedding plans...visiting family...visiting the Retherfords and Rauschs....Betsy's shower, but this one takes the cake!

I didn't take any pictures (you'll know why when you read on) but picture this:

It was a normal Wednesday. I was teaching my second math class in my 4th grade classroom. We had just finished up doing some long division and the fire alarm went off. Now, fire alarms aren't uncommon because we have to have so many drills every month, but they ARE uncommon on especially cold or rainy days. Still, have you ever had a fire alarm go off in school and it NOT be a drill?

So, I had my kids line up and we headed out to the cold, wet, rainy outdoors. While walking out the doors, I noticed a couple police officers. Again, police officers aren't uncommon at our school, but a FIRE ALARM in the RAIN on a COLD day with POLICE OFFICERS is a little strange. Still, I am pretty naive and continued to think it was a drill. Needless to say, at this point I was ticked at the admin for making these little kids stand in the rain for no good reason.

As soon as the kids were lined up and counted, they told us to get on the busses that were parked outside the school . At this time, I knew something was up! When I got on, I asked "two per seat?" That's the usual. The bus driver said, "honey, if you want these kids out of here we need to pack this bus." Oh dear! I hope I didn't show it, but I panicked a bit. We put three wet kids on each seat and packed about 10 adults in the aisles. Imagine the noise level! After they were settled, I found time to ask the bus driver what was up. He informed me that there had been a bomb threat!

A bomb threat in an elementary school?!?! Seriously!

After playing several games of "miss broyles says"...the silent version, we got the news that we were heading to the state park convention center. There, we packed about 300 9-11 year olds in a big fancy room with cloth tablecloths (the kids called them sheets...haha) Of course, there weren't enough seats so my kids sat in a circle on the floor with me while I thought of every stupid game I could to keep their minds off of what was going on. Even though I wouldn't tell them what was wrong, they obviously knew something was up. We had several worried looks and tears. I mean, it isn't every day when you stand in the rain outside of school, take a bus to a park, and sit in a big fancy room. They stopped believing that it was just a drill.

After a bit, parents started coming in to pick their kids up. The good thing about Carrollton is word travels fast! The remainder of the kids were taken home on the bus (most of our kids are bus riders). I felt so bad for the kids who did have parents that cared enough to pick them up! There were a LOT.

Anyway, by 3:15 I was able to leave. Still, I had to beg for the school to let me in to get my purse and keys. Since then, the building has been searched by bomb dogs. There is/was no bomb...just 300 wet, scared, impatient kids in one big fancy room with sheets on the tables for NO REASON.

Hopefully, we'll find out who the idiot was that made the call....and he'll spend many many years in jail.


Now, can you see why I didn't have any pictures to share?

Chalk that one up to teaching experience!

Update!

So here's the update. I know I don't blog often enough, and really there are no excuses, but the best one I can think of is we are really busy.

We had a fabulous Christmas. Steve was off for a whole month! It was great to spend so much time together. We spent a few days in New Castle, a week in Marshall, and a lot of time down here on the river while I (megan) was working.

Only 4 1/2 months until the wedding! We worked our tail off to get the guest list ready for the wedding.....ahhhh...nobody told me how they grow when you recieve Christmas cards! Woodz's aunt, Margaret, picked up the CUTEST flower girl dress for our girl, Syd. It's precious!

We also registered at Bed Bath and Beyond. Steve complained a bit, but got a little "zapper happy" and registered for some goodies for himself (Michigan State stuff and BUBBLE TAPE). We still have to register at Target.

Steve has had 4 interviews. He has received two job offers. One is in Indy and the other is in Battle Creek. He's hoping to hear good news back from a firm in Kalamazoo. We're both hoping he'll know where he will be working in March so we can start a house search and I can start a job search.

I think that's about it. We have a lot to look forward to:
Feb 2-Betsy's bridal shower and a weekend w/ my girls
March 8-a shower for me :) thanks Aunts! :)
Mid March-cruise w/ the Woods fam!
April-baby Retherford due
May-last month teaching in Kentucky!
June-WEDDING!, moving, etc. :)
5 months of FUN!

Of course, I forgot something.

After reviewing yesterday's post, we realized we forgot two big things.

Patty took me to the Colt's game a week ago. The Colts played the Jaguars in Indy. It was a blast! Thanks Patty! Sorry...no pictures.

Steve and I have a couple of beta fish. Mine's name is Bruce and his fish is TF (really, it's not a nice name so I am shortening it). Unfortunately, TF is in his last days. He has a large clear bubble over his eye. After googling it, we found that it's "popeye." If we treated it, it could go away, but we refuse to pay more for the treatment than we did for the fish.....inhumane? probably? If you know any cheap home remedies for popeye let us know....until then....he will be known as Popeye.

pathetic monthly post

When Steve and I were thinking about all the things we needed to put in the blog, it kind of sickened me to think about what we needed to tell you. I just know it's going to sound like one of those disgusting Christmas card letters...only this is only going to be about the past month. If this bores you...sorry....maybe the pictures will help.


Where do we start????

My parents started building a garage for the river house about a month ago. We're hoping it will be the party site for the rehearsal dinner. It's two stories...you know big Mike...gotta have some place to put all your toys. Everyone down in KY asks me who is building a house next to ours...pretty sad. It should be finished by January.


A few weeks ago Steve was out of school for a week. It's like Fall Break and Thanksgiving break combined. I put him to WEDDING WORK! He designed our save the dates (expect them in January or February), designed the invitations (soooo awesome), and made the table numbers (each of them has a different black and white picture of things we love in Madison and KY). We also got to taste cakes for our wedding cakes. Our baker make 9 cupcakes for us to taste. We were so excited we quickly ate 4 and felt sooooo sick from large amounts of sugar. We finally decided on caramel chocolate (Megan's favorite), strawberry (Steve's favorite), and french vanilla (for all those boring plain people).

After I got out of school on Tuesday we headed up to New Castle on Wednesday. Steve agreed to take dad's four wheeler to New Castle, but was a little upset when he had to stop suddenly and it went through his back window. NOT GOOD! Luckily, we were able to get it fixed a few days later, but it was funny driving around with the "hillbilly replacement window."

Once we got the window taped up, we ran some wedding errands with Patty and then took my cousin, Noah, to Wal-Mart so he could make his Christmas wish list. That was a pretty silly idea because he wanted EVERYTHING. It was still fun watching Noah and Woodz both look at the toys with amazement. Afterwards, we met up with aunt Robin for pizza. Thursday afternoon was the McClure family Thankgiving. It was sad on the way there knowing that Grandma Kate wouldn't be with us, but we were all soon reminded that she was with us and life will go on. It was a hilarious and great time.

We had to leave a little early to head up to Michigan. Steve was really excited to get up there to go hunting. He went out Friday morning with no luck, but got a buck on Friday night. He was super excited and made me take picutres....ewwww!

Unfortunately, when he shot it, the buck took a little fall and broke an antler. ouch!

Sorry it's sideways! Check out the boots and the thermal shirt....my soon to be husband is a HILLBILLY!

Good thing Steve had his buck because he couldn't go hunting on Saturday night. We had his grandma's 80th birthday party to go to. It was sooo nice. It was great to see all his crazy little cousins, but the best part was how "unique" the party was. First of all, there was a KEG!...for an 80th birthday party...haha. Also, there were AMISH people there...a whole family! It was really neat to see them...the kids were so cute...no pictures...gotta respect the amish. :)

While we were on "vacation" Steve mailed out his resumes to architecture firms. He already has 4 interviews. He'll be interviewing in Michigan during Christmas break.

As for our plans for Christmas break, it goes like this:

Dec 15th-Steve's last final

Dec 16th-Steve heads to KY

Dec 20th-Megan's last day before break

Dec 21st-dinner with the Burgers and Retherfords

Dec 22nd-dinner with SAEs

Dec 23rd-dinner with Robin and Noah

Dec 24th-Christmas with Megan's family

Dec 25th-head up to Michigan for Christmas with Steve's family

We'll be up there probably until I have to go back to school on the 4th.

I am sure I missed something. I'll post later whatever I missed. I hope everyone is enjoying the holidays! Only 6 months until the wedding and we get to see everyone!