Really Rocori?

Until Friday, James and I were both under the impression that it was almost a sure thing that Rocori would hire him back as a full time social studies teacher next school year. One of the older teachers at the school had decided to retire and since James had proved himself there as a part-time teacher with glowing reviews, we thought the job would be his. We were making plans to stick around the St. Cloud area for a while and even talking about the possiblity of buying a house. Unfortunately, we both found out on Friday that Rocori was forced to make cuts and the job we thought would be given to James is going to be dispersed between three tenured teachers to keep them on full time.
We are both a little bit upset, to say the least, but obviously James is meant to be somewhere else. Over the next few months, we are crossing our fingers that he will find a job somewhere sooner than later so that we do not have to worry.
But maybe this is an opportunity for adventure. Maybe we could both go teach in Japan or Korea? Or tag along with my sister on her possible journey to Israel.
I told James that if all else fails, we can go sell tacos on the beach in Mexico. I could wear my moo-moo and tend my little garden. And he could wear his pancho and take long walks on the beach with me at sunset. After all, this has always been a dream of mine.
He didn't seem too excited.
One thing we do know though, is that it's all going to be okay. But we will be hoping and praying that an exciting new job opportunity comes up soon!

Our Fabulously Boring Life

It's been a long time since I last posted, and what I've realized is that our life is really, well........uh...the best word for it is boring.

We don't really do anything in particular on the weekends. In fact, our usual Saturday consists of sleeping in late, watching various HGTV shows and way too many sporting events, arguing about what to do, and making dinner. When people ask me what we have been up to, I have to think really hard to find anything eventful to discuss. The strange thing is, it is SO MUCH FUN being boring. I love that we act like total weirdos when no one else is around. I love that we sometimes sing random songs together and brush our teeth together every night. I love that almost every argument we have is only half serious and we always end up laughing instead of being mad. I love being called "Indiana Jones, Clownsauce, and Wee Willy Wagner..." I just love the wild, crazy, totally exciting boringness. I know (actually, I hope) that our lives are not always quite THIS boring. Someday we'll join a dance class, travel the world, meet new and exciting people...and maybe even buy a house and have babies. We'll have things to work on around the house, diapers to change, little league games to go to....it will all be wonderful.

But for now, life is good. It is SO good. And I really, truly, honestly wouldn't change one boring thing.

James: "Babe, I can't cut up the chicken with you all up in my grill."Me: "Look how domestic I look in my apron! We better document this!"

5th Place

Last Sunday, James came home exhausted from lots of beer ponging and pizza eating and reported that he and Mike came in 5th place out of 128 teams in the big tournament. The games started at eight different houses or "regions" and the winners of these 8 houses were called the "elite eight" and gathered in the final house where all the losing teams stood cheering. Unfortunately, midway through their last game, James and Mike hit a "cold streak" and began to miss cup after cup, resulting in their loss. According to James, although they came in 5th, they were hands down the best team there. So good in fact, that people were betting money and a car on them winning into the wee hours of the night. Oh team Avenement de Vinyle, your talent amazes me. :)

More Beer Pong Excitement

So, I was surprised last night to come home to James and Mike working on their beer pong team shirts...This tournament is a big deal in our household. I was impressed to see these two working hard on something so crafty!
Their shirts actually turned out very professional looking! It was quite the process making them. First they printed out the letters they wanted, then cut them out and taped them to a cereal box, then put the cereal box inside each shirt and traced the letters. I would never have thought to do this...I would probably have gone out and bought iron-ons...very creative! These guys are going to be looking oh-so-professional at the tournament this Saturday. ha ha. Good luck guys!

New Bedroom Decor

Now we have curtains and bedside lamps in our bedroom. Hooray! Now we can read in bed in our cozy room!

I had been obsessing over getting some life into this room since we moved in, but I've realized that decorating of any kind takes lots of MONEY! Believe me, this bedroom would be a lot more done looking if I had more dollars :)

I decided to get some red curtains, which was a very bold choice for us. But really, we needed some color in this stark white room! We feel a lot more at home now...the room has a much cozier feel already. It still feels half done though...so I still have more plans...I want to finish filling those little frames with pictures and I want to get a dark wood or black-ish wooden bed and matching night stands. The new furniture might not happen for a while, but atleast the pictures for the frames are on their way!

Beautiful Weather Finally!

Today was a great way to end a fabulous weekend. Friday night, we had a lively night of beer pong and we got to see our friend Chad. And last night, we played bar bingo with our good friends Bill and Paula, who we also haven't seen in a long time.

This morning we woke up late and had a delicious blueberry pancake breakfast and then headed out to go grocery shopping since we were out of food (we pretty much only eat pancakes when we're out of milk for cereal...lol).

When we walked outside to go shopping we were really excited about how warm it was! Our thermometer on our deck read 59 degrees and we had the windows wide open all day long. Words cannot describe how incredible it feels to have open windows after months of being shut inside! It's wonderful to breathe the fresh air and hear what's going on outside. Tonight, we stuck to Sunday night homemade pizza tradition (4 weeks in a row i think...) and of course watched Desperate Housewives!

What a great day...hopefully the start of a wonderful week!

Rainy Days

It has been rainy since yesterday, most of the snow outside has melted, and everything is brown and gloomy. But I must say that I really am enjoying it! I guess I missed the rain...and rain means that SPRING is here! It's so peaceful in our apartment today with the lights on and the quiet drip-dropping sound outside.
A month ago, it was impossible to even tell that there is a pond outside because it was covered with so much snow. But now it looks like our pond is melting...and maybe our little beaver friend will come out to play soon! That is, if he survived the frigid cold. I actually googled beavers this morning to see what they do all winter(I know, totally dorky). Apparently beavers don't hibernate, but are active all winter long, swimming around under the ice and eating the food stored up in their little lodges. Pretty miraculous!
Anyway, I can't wait till everything turns GREEN!

Celebrate

I was reading an article about happiness today, and apparently, happy people find something new to celebrate each day, simple as it may be. I really want to try to find things to celebrate in my own life on a daily basis...what a wonderful way to recognize happiness where it is often overlooked in our day-to-day. Here are a few things that brightened my soul today:

....My delicious, french vanilla flavored coffee this morning......

...blueberries in my cereal..........

...........sunshine..

...chatting on the phone with sis-in-law Nicole and hearing about our nephew's newest antics...

..a clean house and the smell of my laundry detergent................

...and my handsome hubby of course!

Beer Pong Madness

So, basically, there has been a lot of beer pong going on around here since my last post. Since James and Mike have decided to venture back to Gustavus to win the big "March Madness" beer pong tournament, they have been practicing every weekend and James has been practicing around the clock. We have cups full of water set up on our classy card table....which serves as our dining room table... and every time he walks by, he takes a shot. I think it's so funny that I have been snapping pictures here and there. Here are a few shots of James practicing:
















The tournament is March 20. Good luck GUYS! hah hah