Spring Break

Things could not have been any busier during spring break! Danl started his new job at Vaughn and Melton and moved into his apartment in Knoxville, Noah worked and spent time at Hillbilly Days eating all sorts of yummy food (4 funnel cakes, 3 gyros, 1 polish sausage, 2 mountain dew slushies, 5 full throttles, 2 strawberry smoothies, 3 slices of pizza, 1 blooming onion, 1 flaming stick of pork and God only knows what else!) and for basically the same amount of money that it takes to feed Noah at Hillbilly Days, Chloe' and I flew to Texas.




Chloe' and Nolan going for a walk.

Texas (i.e., NOLAN) was a blast. Rachel and Jed picked us up at the airport (luggage and all) and we spent the weekend stealing sugar from the cutest baby in the world. We toured a model of their new house! Woo Hoo! Beeaautifulll! Sunday we got to go along with Rachel and Jed to have Nolan's five month pictures made. (Uncle Danl will love the golf pictures!) Nolan also started eating green beans and peaches during our visit! We purchased him a walker and he is offically mobile now. This kid is off the charts amazing.



(monkey face)


Tuesday night Rachel hosted a Bunco night for 16 of her closest friends and everyone enjoyed a "girls night" with a taco and ice cream bar.




We spent Thursday at the Witte Musesum viewing the Human BODY exhibit (amazing) and had lunch at Le' Madeline's French Bistro. Yummy french onion soup and a super yummy lemon tart! (Nolan liked it too!)

Friday was a beautiful day at the pool and Nolan loved the water.
All and all, Spring Break was tons of fun and now we are back to school for two weeks of CATS testing! Danl is busy at his new job and learning his way around Knoxville. The house hunt begins!

Exciting, busy, long, interesting week of changes...

Where to begin...

Let's start with my favorite subject-NOLAN!
Nolan is changing everyday and thanks to Rachel and Jed's commitment to photograhpy I am loving every minute. Snapfish, our families mode of sharing, has seen a lot of changes this week.

This week alone Nolan has:

started giving kisses (sweet gobber kisses). Check out Nolan and his mommy as she gets all of Auntie's sugar.

started using a "jumper" for what looks like an admirable attempt at walking. In the videos, you can his determination. He desperately wants to run with Lexi.

started mimicking what he sees...he rocks his head back and forth as Jed does the same giving him belly goobers. You can almost hear Nolan saying, "Do it again Dad." The video is priceless. You can hear Nolan giggling and turning his head back and forth just like Jed. The funny part is, Jed is laughing as hard as Nolan. Too cute.

Work was unbearable this week. One word: PORTFOLIOS

As Writing Cluster Leader at our school this is the toughest time of the school year for me. I spend almost the entire day reading portfolios entries and conferencing with students. By the end of the day my eyes are cross and my thought process is useless. The good news...one more week until Spring Break! Assessment begins the week we return from Spring Break and portfolios are offically a thing of the past. Which brings me to my point-Spring Break!

Our Spring Break is the week of "Hillbilly Days" in Pikeville this year. Chloe' and I have opted out of the food at Hillbilly Days for a week with our little nugget, Chewy! (E! network's Chelsea Handler/Chelsea Lately reference) We are so excited to spend a week with Jed, Rachel, and NOLAN!!! By the looks of how fast our little spicy taco is growing we should arrive just in time for him to pick us up at the airport.

Now for the big news of the week-the life altering news-the big change!

Danl has offically accepted a job with Vaughn and Melton, Inc. engineering firm in Knoxville, Tennessee. Our family will be relocating this summer. We are all excited and happy for Danl and we know this is something he has worked for and prayed about for some time now. We will all be making changes, Danl with his job, obviously and me with my job, which is still a work in progress. Noah has some decisions to make and for now plans to stay at Pike Central for his Senior year. Chloe', she will finally get to move to a city with a Qdoba Mexican Grill! She is looking forward to starting high school in the fall! This is the perfect time for her to make a move. Please pray for us! Our house will be going on the market this week and we are desperatley praying for the perfect neighbors for our Dustin, Leslie, and Madi family. Seriously, we have the best neighbors in the world, people who are family to us, and we will struggle leaving them most of all. I will keep you posted on my job search. Knoxville has more schools per square mile than Pikeville so I am very optimistic.

Like I said...exciting, busy, long, interesting week of changes!

HILLARY

Thursday, April 3, 2008, Bill Clinton made a campaign visit to Pikeville, Kentucky. The Expo Center was filled with young and old waiting to hear the president speak.


This was Noah and Chloe's second time seeing Bill Clinton although they were too young to remember the first time.


Leslie and Madi, Danl, Noah, Chloe' and I had a blast. Madi made "Mr. Clenton" (as she spelled it-which is pretty good for a 4 year old) a drawing and as he left the Expo she had the opportunity to give him. Chloe' got to speak to him as she handed him the drawing and well, I think the pictures say it all....