Trees!!!

One of the things we've been wanting to do at our house is plant some trees. We have a 15,000 sq. ft. lot and 75% of it is in full sun literally 90% of the day. So, in hopes of keeping our grass from frying, and to give some relief to the puppies when they're outside, we planted some trees today!

We got an awesome $150 credit to a nursery for a 2" diameter tree as a part of Wentzville's tree program. So we got to splurge and get a really nice tree from a nursery! We also hit Home Depot and got a couple more. We planted 4 trees today!

We got a Weeping Cherry tree from Home Depot for our front yard for some decoration. It is gorgeous when in bloom!

We took the Crabapple out of the spot in the front yard and replaced it with the cherry. We then put the Crabapple in the front side yard.

We got a Acer Rubrum Burgandy Belle Maple (from the nursery, in case you couldn't tell) for the back side yard.

Then we got another maple for the back yard.

I'm so happy! It was a LOT of work but it looks great!

I love my babies....

I really do. But, I really HATE them right now.

Before Rob and I moved in together after the wedding, Oliver and Dudley were happily living at my parents house and doing just fine. I mean, what dog wouldn't with someone home to keep you company ALL THE TIME. Obviously, that's not the case anymore. Oliver and Dudley live with Rob and I and are home 9 hours a day by themselves. Before we moved, we could let them roam the house without worry. They didn't chew (and still don't) and wouldn't mess in the house. Ahhh, until now.

Now, everyday, I come home to a pile of dog poop. And lately they've been peeing on the carpet. And it's not in a single spot everytime. It's all over the house. I'm so done with this right now. Poop, I can handle (though I still hate it) but pee is a totally different story.

Now the question, what do I do? Should I buy a crate for them? Should they share it? Have their own? What about blocking them off in the kitchen?

I would love to take like two weeks off of work to devote to housebreaking them again. It doesn't help that we don't have a fence either.

I'm so mad right now... :(

The Before's

Just for fun, I wanted to post the "before's" of the pictures I posted of Isabella last time:

Ahhhh... she's such a sweetie!

I couldn't resist...

My beautiful niece was baptised yesterday. I wanted to share some pictures!

This is my attempt at making some of her pictures look better in Adobe Lightroom. I've shown you some pictures I played with in here before, but I was really excited to see what I could do with Isabella.

Some of them are the best in quality, but I tried!

What do you think?

I've made my decision.

After MUCH thought and consideration, I've made my decision. I told Westgate today that I wasn't going to student teach and that I would work for them next year.

Wow.

That last post was a lot longer than I thought! Sorry!!!

Decisions, Decisions...

I hate decisions. Especially the small ones. See, usually the big ones aren't that hard to decide on. But when it comes to deciding where we're going to eat tonight or where to put that picture in my house, I totally sink.

Getting married? A lot of people say that is the biggest decision of their lives. For me, there was no question. How could I not marry Rob?

This is different, though. I have a really big decision to make. One that could, and will, ultimately effect the rest of my life. I don't even know where to begin. The worst part? I have to decide by Friday.

I've mentioned before about second guessing my decision to become a teacher. Especially a public school teacher. Let me start from the beginning.

Last summer I landed a job working at a summer camp mainly helping in the preschool. I was working with 2, 3, and 4 year olds all day. At the time I didn't really like the job too much, because I never knew what I would be doing from day to day and if I'd be stuck doing something I didn't really want to (teaching the elementary kids). This is one of the places that made me realize that I don't want to teach elementary school. Well, I'm back at summer camp this year and am loving it! I'm teaching 4 year olds in my own classroom. It's awesome. I really love the age group and the atmosphere of a private Christian school. This is where things turned on me.

One of the assistant teachers had a baby in June (he's so cute!). She won't be coming back. This means there is an opening in the fall for an assistant teacher. They wanted me to do it! I was so super excited and said yes right away. Of course I want a full time job working with the kids I love! Then my little bout of joy came to a screeching halt. This job is for the school year. Which in the fall is cool. I'm only taking night classes (boo.). But... I'm supposed to student teach in the spring. NOOOO!!! I DON'T WANT TO!

I don't want to be an elementary school teacher anymore. I don't want to teach middle school math anymore. I don't want to have a full time job I don't get paid for and not have a job to pay bills with. I don't want student teach!!!

Then the wheels started turning. Maybe I don't have to student teach. I can graduate in December with my bachelors in educational studies, work full time at the preschool, go back and get my masters (which I planned on doing anyway) and get certified in early childhood there. But, if I student teach, I can graduate certified in elementary and middle school math, take my Praxis in early childhood and get certified that way. But, then I'd be losing out on an awesome opportunity to get some experience for my resume, which is SOOO important in finding a job!!

Then, another idea popped into my head. I could take all of the early childhood classes in the next two semesters and student teach in the summer. Well, they don't do student teaching in the summer (boo, again!). So, maybe I could student teach in the fall.

Or, I could take all the early childhood classes and not student teach at all. And go get my masters.

I don't know what to do!!! I REALLY want to work next year. Rob and I want to pay off some bills and start saving. I really DON'T want to student teach next spring. But, maybe I should anyway? I'm so confused and hate this feeling. I wish I could fast forward time and see what each decision's effect would be on my life.

Anyone have any advice?

PICTURES!!!!!!

All of our pictures are up!!! I'm thrilled. They are absolutely unbelievable.

Check them out!!!

Click on weddings, proofing and the password is: 061308

Enjoy!

Finally!!!

Okay, okay. It really didn't take that long, but I'm excited to say that a preview for our wedding pictures is up!!!

Check it out!

A Rainbow!

There was a beautiful rainbow behind our house yesterday during the storm. I could see the beginning and end of it and it had all the colors. It was gorgeous!

Ignore the blue-looking sky in the picture. It was really that dark grey storm cloud color with the sun shining on it.

Settling In

My worries are subsiding as we're closing our third week living in our new house. My biggest worries were Oliver and Dudley. They were moving to a new place, leaving Sadie behind, as wells as being away from my parents, brother and sister in law and nephew.

But, they seem to be enjoying themselves:

I'm really happy with how they are adjusting!

Miscellaneous Home Improvement

I'm super excited. Today, Pest Shield is coming to activate our bug system. All the houses in our subdivision are equipped with the system and all you have to do is sign up for them to come and spray the house and charge the system. The tightwad side of me says this is a huge waste of money. But, the inner bug scaredy cat says we can't live without it. So, bye-bye buggies! No more spiders for me!

Now we need a fence. The problem? Fences are freaking EXPENSIVE. Anybody get a fence recently that can recommend a company I can get fencing from for a good price? I'm open to any suggestions. It's killing me (second to the spiders).

But, before we get a fence I would love to install our sprinkler system. See, all we need to do is rent a trencher to dig the trenches. We have everything else. Yeah, that's a heck of a lot of money too. I don't like this homeowner thing. It's too expensive.

No, no. I take that back. I love having my own home. I don't mind cleaning, I like having my own space. It just stinks that everything that you want to make it better costs so much freaking money.