Over half way there!!!!!

Finally, I have had some time to sit down and reflect on life.  It has been a long time since I have posted a blog so there is a lot to fill in.  I am sure by this time everybody knows that our little nugget is a boy and we couldn't be anymore excited.  His name will be Aaron Jonathan Prebish.  We have been working on painting the nursery and picking out all of the things to go in it.  The paint is pretty much done and the furniture has been purchased.  I can't wait to start getting everything put in there and getting it set up.  My mom is going to make the bedding for us so that will come sometime next month.  I promise, I will post pictures, but not until it is done :)  We have decided we wanted to do something different than the baby blue and brown that most nurseries are done in so we have gone with bright colors; like Jon says, "Think a box of crayons".

Jon and I are starting to get very restless as we finish up our respective grad school programs.  It has been a long time since I have had senioritis like this, and it is bad.  I am currently working on two classes and will finish them the beginning of May.  After that I will take one mini-mester for the month of June and then I am DONE!  Jon, is much more fortunate than I am, he will be done in May.  He has been working on his capstone class, the final project, since January and will begin is last 8 week class next week.  Both of these classes will be done in May and he will have his MBA!  I am so proud of him and his perseverance in working through this program.  It is crazy to think of all we have accomplished over these last few years while working and doing school, however I will not be sad to see that business come to an end.

Another change that is in the works is the the exciting move of my parents.  My parents have talked for awhile about downsizing eventually and we are excited they have decided to do so a little closer to us.  They didn't live too far but it was a good 45 minute drive from their house to ours.  My mom has so graciously offered to watch Aaron so that Jon and I can both work and not worry about having to send him to day care.  We are so excited that we don't have to face that difficult decision and feel it is a blessing to have them moving closer. Their house was on the market for a wopping 4 days and they had 4 offers!  They have been busily working on downsizing their belongings and moving things to storage for their approaching closing date in early April.  They are building a house near us that is also in the works but won't be done for a few months so they will be our house guests, and assistants for a little bit.  Selfishly, I am very excited about them being here when I am big and fat to help with things.  I have no idea how women to some of life's chores through their whole pregnancy.  I am almost 6 months pregnant and am already struggling doing the grocery shopping, and yes I know it gets much worse.  Thankfully I will have my mommy here to help :).

In February Jon and I celebrated our one year anniversary and it is amazing how fast time flies.  We are very excited to be taking a late anniversary/babymoon trip to New Orleans the beginning of April to celebrate.  We are looking forward to some fun time to just play and be visitors while enjoying good music and food.

Year in Review

2011
This year we had a very exciting and eventful year. We started the year off with the craziness of the wedding and all of the family that came with it. We were very blessed to have so many of our family and friends present on one of the biggest days of our lives. We had so much celebrating with everyone that was able to come. We had some long travelers come; Grandma Mary made the journey all the way from Hawaii and Laura happened to be home from Africa then. We had many travel from California, Washington, Nebraska, South Dakota, Kansas, Missouri, North Carolina, Virginia and I am sure I am missing some. Following the wedding Jon and I enjoyed a wonderful honeymoon to St. Lucia. We had a lot of fun just relaxing and seeing all of the beautiful sights. I got scuba certified so not only did we sight see on land but under water too.


St. Lucia was one of our many travels this year. We were fortunate to travel with Jon's family to Hawaii for a wonderful cruise this summer. Following the cruise we took several weekend trips to visit friends and family. We ventured to Denver to visit David and Candice, we went to Virginia to visit Paul and Stacy and we went to Waco to visit Dan and Traci.


We came back to a crazy life and more school work. We both continued to truck on through our year of masters work. We are both getting a little tired of being in school and ready for the end to come. Thankfully as another year closes so does another semester of school. We will both finish school this summer. Jon will be done the end of May and I will finish the end of June.

In the craziness of the end of the year we also had some very exciting news, I am pregnant! We are not only excited for summer to come because it means the end of school but it also means we will welcome and new little bundle of joy. The baby is due mid July. As I went to the doctor today and saw the most amazing miracle of life, I was totally amazed. It is crazy to think this little thing that is so tiny is so developed and active.

We look forward to all of the joy and excitement this year has to bring. We hope that everyone had a blessed holiday season and that 2012 finds you healthy and happy.

Courtney

Wrapping up another semester

Well we find ourselves in the hustle and bustle of finishing another semester of school and getting all of our holiday preparations done.  I am very excited to announce that we will both be done with school in 6 short months.  This has been a long road and not the ideal road for newlyweds but we have faith that it will pay off later.  This semester Jon took a heavy load of 5 (all of them were 8 weeks, 2 sessions) classes and I took my normal 1.  In the spring he will finish up with his final 3 classes and graduate the end of May!  I will be taking two classes this spring, more than I am used to, and one the month of June.  Although I won't finish until June it is getting closer every day. 

As the holidays are getting closer we are trying to enjoy the festivities amidst the chaos of school, work and whatever else.  The nice thing this year, we will not be going out of town for any of the holidays.  We usually go out of town for at least one of the holidays but this year we were lucky enough to not have to.  We convinced my dad's side to come and visit us for Christmas.  I am very excited to be hosting the first Christmas celebration at our house with most of our family.  Luckily I have finished the semester and started to do some shopping but there is still plenty to do.  I am very excited for this week to come to a close and to have some time off work.  I often feel like our lives are so hectic we seldom have time to take care of the basic things around the house.  This break I have big plans for cleaning out my closet, and who knows what else ;)...we will see how that actually plays out.

We hope this holiday season finds everyone and their families happy and healthy.  As we reflect on this past year we realize how truly blessed we are.  God has given us a beautiful house, wedding and the love of one another.  We both have jobs and the opportunity to work on finishing our degrees. 

Slow down life...no wait speed up...

Well it has been awhile since either of us has posted on here and there is a reason, well actually many.  This year I decided to make the switch in grade levels.  I had taught 3rd grade for 8 years, wow that is a long time, and was looking for a change.  I was excited to find out the end of the year last year that I had the opportunity to move down to 2nd grade.  This thing that brought me the most joy in this move is the fact that I no longer had to teach our state test, the TAKS test.  After dealing with that test for 8 years I was ready for a break.  Well, as we all know with change comes work.  I knew it would be a challenge at the beginning of the year as I got the hang of something totally new but I had no idea how much of a change 1 grade level truly is.  I can say as we 'round the corner on the end of the second six weeks I am finally falling into a routine at work.  Things are settling down and everyone is happy at the end of the day, that is a plus. 

I am continuing my work on my masters and feel like I have TERRIBLE senioritis.  I can see the end, so close yet so far away.  I have about 6 weeks of my current class and then I will have three classes to finish.  I am planning on carrying a slightly heavier load in the spring so that I can finish in June.  I will have two classes for the spring and then take a month long mini class in June.  I can't wait and I will not be sad when I am not a student anymore.  I am not really sure how some people go to school their whole life.  It has been crazy with both of us working and in school but I sure am glad we are doing it at the same time.

Jon's job is going well.  Since he was hired...a year ago, hard to believe...two of his good friends were hired there as well.  The guys have been having a good time carpooling and just being guys, I never know how many mouths I am going to feed on any given night. ;)

Jon has taken on a large load this 8 weeks for school in an attempt to finish up by the end of May.  He is taking 3 classes instead of his normal 2 so he spends many hours listening to lectures and working on assignments.  We keep telling ourselves we are so close and to just push on through.  He will have a big project that kind of wraps up his MBA that he will work on in the spring along with two classes.  After that, he will be finished.  We look forward to the day that maybe we can become addicted to some TV show.

One last thing:  The month of October we were blessed with the opportunity to open our home to a lady who is the daughter of some of Jon's parent's friend.  She is a missionary in Mali and is on her home stay.  She was taking a class at the community college near us and would stay with us during the week.  It was a month that went by fast with everyone's busy schedule but a great experience all around.  As we all sat at dinner it was so interesting to hear what life was like over there and how God was working.  This is our first week without her but luckily we had trick or treaters to keep us busy tonight. ;)

Until next time...
Courtney