Jam Packed Christmas!

We're back from our busy weekend at home for Christmas! I think by the time we were all said and done, we attended five different Christmas'. Again, the reason I said busy weekend!

Friday night my parent's hosted Christmas Eve, Saturday morning we went straight over to Alex's mom's house for breakfast and to open presents. Later that day we went back to my parent's house to do presents with them and Christmas lunch/ dinner= linner. That night we went to Alex's uncle's house for the George family Christmas. Then Sunday morning we met up with Alex's dad and had breakfast with him and exchanged presents. Wow..... holidays when you are married are quite busy! But, we were able to manage and were really happy that all of our traveling back and forth totaled about 1 mile on 231. Yay! Below are some pictures from the weekend.

This is how we keep Josie occupied while we open presents... she gets her own present! Dingo bones, her absolute favorite!!

The game off we had with Alex's family to determine who would choose giftcards in our gift exchange first. We played 4 rounds of games: Uno, Candy Land, Sorry, and Trouble. It was really fun and everyone got in to it! Alex's mom even made it to the finals.... Jenga!

The board we used to keep track of the points.

The giftcard poster. I scored a giftcard to The Cheesecake Factory and Al got one to Best Buy. Major props to his cousin Whitney for planning out everything! It was really fun!

OMG what a surprise!! When we got back to my parent's house Saturday night after his family's Christmas we were greeted by a lovely 3 year old screaming at the top of her lungs..... Ryan, Shannon, Hunter, and Kirsten made a surprise visit!! This is Kirsty showing off her presents from Santa.

Rock Star Hunter showing off his guitar game he got from Santa. That kid has some moves!

Pops trying to be as cool as Hunter, with Kirsty and mom dancing!

The wine cooler Alex's mom got us for X-mas... along with the 6 bottles she bought us too! :) We're thinking about hosting a wine tasting party now.

New towels for our bathroom that mom and dad got us from our wedding registry.

New shower curtain.

Before we headed back on Sunday we spent some time at my cousin Chad's house and we were able to see a lot of my family on my mom's side. It was so great getting to chat and catch up with everyone. Chad and his wife Alisha are expecting their first baby (a girl) anytime now. She's technically due on Jan. 14, but we all think she's going to be here early. I know 5 babies that are expected by the end of June.... WOW!! So exciting and I can't wait to meet them all.

Thursday we are off to Connecticut and NYC. Our friend Miles, who flew out yesterday had some major issues with his flight, so I am hoping all of those things are taken care of by the time we leave. It makes me a little nervous! We're super excited to see Mere (we haven't seen her since Sept) and all of the sights of New York. Once we get back from that.... its back to school time. Its been a great break, unfortunately they always go by soooo fast!

Its Beginning to Look A lot Like Christmas...

I am officially on Winter Break!! WAHOO! Two weeks of vacation that was desperately needed!

We had a busy weekend getting ready for Christmas and traveling to LaPorte to do Christmas with Ryan, Shan, Hunter, and Kirsten.

Saturday we went to Schaumburg to basically start and finish our Christmas shopping. Of course we had to make a stop at our favorite store IKEA. I think Alex is starting to love this store even more than me. He was insisting we get a new chair. We've had a desk chair in our living room since we moved here and he was tired of it, so we got a new chair as well.

Sunday, we went to LaPorte for our early Christmas with Ryan, Shan, and the kiddos. We had a good time chatting and catching up.

This week I plan on crossing off some things on my to do list such as: cleaning, doing a few things for school, wrapping the rest of the presents, making banana bread, and watching the first season of Glee! haha A lot of people I work with watch it and are always talking about it, so I am intrigued. We've watched a few of the latest episodes, but because I don't know their back stories, I feel slightly lost. I also plan on starting the 4th and final book of the Twilight series. I still haven't seen Eclipse, so hopefully that will make it off of my list as well.

Currently, I am watching Oprah's Favorite Things show.... and definitely wishing I was in that audience. Coach purses, Ugg boots, iPads..... yes please!

Anyways, we are heading back home on Thursday for Christmas, but we have to come back to the city on Sunday since Alex works again on Monday. We leave for the east coast next Thursday and are really looking forward to getting away for a few days with some good friends. Then its back to the grind! Hopefully this break goes by slowly so I can enjoy my break because there won't be another long one until the end of April.

I really love having a kid in my class who's parents own a bakery!! :) YUMMO!

The new chair. This would make a great chair for a nursery, just a little tip for all my friends who are mamas to be. (It comes in many different colors. )

Winter Wonderland created by Hunter and Kirsten.

Mr. Hunter opening up his gifts. Go Boilers!

Dad and his new Calvin Johnson jersey.

Kirsten opening up her Disney princess dolls from Alex and I. (I think this pose means she liked them.)

Josie Girl hanging out with her favorite guy!

The awesome snowman Shan got for us. She orders it from a ceramic store, then she goes in and paints it! She made one last year for my parents and I loved it, this year we got one!

All lit up!

I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas!!

"Oh Christmas Tree"

For those of you who have seen our apartment know that we don't have a whole lot of storage, just the necessities that we need throughout the year. We would love to have a Christmas tree, but again because of lack of storage.... not possible, and trying to get a real tree and everything for that in the city... yikes! Not something I really want to venture out to do! So, Alex's mom went out and got us the perfect little Christmas tree for our little apt. This is our official "first Christmas tree" together and our very first ornament as a married couple. It looks great and we love it! Definitely something we will bring out for every Christmas to come. It reminds me of the Charlie Brown tree, which we love and is very fitting for a newlywed couple with student loans! haha

A little hard to read in this picture, but it says "Our First Christmas 2010"... and its even in red!

The first snowfall of the year. It seems a little earlier than most years. I'm just glad it happened on a day that I don't have to go out and scrape it off at 6:15 am. :)

Happy first snowfall to everyone in the midwest. There's no point in hating it.... that's something that is just out of our control! Now don't get me wrong, I'm not a fan of snow, but its something I am working on accepting. :)

We're off to CostCo and the grocery store!

Oh, the joys of adulthood!!

Catch Up

Today we returned from our trip back home for Thanksgiving. It was nice to go back and have more than just a day to spend with everyone. Thursday we stuffed ourselves with two Thanksgivings (one w/ my family and one w/ Alex's) and a lot of laughs- particularly during the board games we played with Alex's cousins. We had no idea his cousin and his wife were board game people as well. They even had one of our favorite games, Ticket to Ride. Finally, after several attempts and one major fit Alex finally won the game! It only took him about 2 years. haha He was so excited he took a picture of the game board. Yeah, I know...... a little silly.

Friday, I got up at 3:00 am (Alex did as well to be my chauffeur) to go Black Friday shopping with Brandy and her mom. (Also, a little silly, but totally worth it!) We had a good time going around the mall and grabbing a few deals.

Currently, Alex is at the Bears game with Fife thanks to Tom who offered his season tickets to the boys for today. Let me just tell you..... it was better than Christmas morning for them. They were pumped! Alex is even rocking my brother's old Bears winter coat, circa 1994. haha

Last week I had parent teacher conferences and I survived! Wahoo! They weren't really bad at all, just a little overwhelming to think I did 32 of them. Yikes!

Alex has been working for the past 3 weeks now. He enjoys his job and is learning a lot each day. He travels a lot to the suburbs during the week, on those days he gets up with me around 5:30, so he can take me to work and then drive out to the burbs. So far, so good. He started going into the courtrooms by himself his first week, and has been trucking away at it ever since.

Well, its hard to believe Thanksgiving is over and Christmas will be here so soon. I have 3 weeks of school until break, however this year will be different since Alex is a working man now and doesn't get all of that time off as well.

Hope everyone had a great Turkey Day and you are enjoying the beginning of the holiday season!

You Can Contact My Lawyer

Because as of yesterday, Alex is officially licensed to practice law in Illinois! And on top of that........ he is an EMPLOYED licensed lawyer! Yes, that's right- three hours after he was sworn in he received a job offer and he happily accepted! He will be working for a smaller firm in the city that does commercial litigation. Basically, he said they deal with a lot of collections. His job will require him to be in the courtroom more than he ever thought he would, but it will be great experience for him!

Clearly, we are soooo excited and incredibly relieved! We were expecting the worse, but hoping for the best when it came to the job hunt- and we are extremely grateful that everything turned out so well.

Below are some pictures from the day. Alex's mom and grandpa both came up for the ceremony. We went to lunch with them afterwards at a great little Italian place near our apartment, and that was where he received the e-mail about meeting with the firm again. His mom and I were both about to jump out of our seats with excitement! haha

It meant so much to Alex (and I) that his grandpa was able to make the trip up here as well. He said that he hasn't been up here in about 60 years. He told us a story about when he was last here, they came up to go see a show at the 6th Street Theater. Afterwards, they went to find a hotel room for the night. They went up to a guy working at the front desk of the hotel and asked how much the room would be for the night, the man replied it would be $19. Alex's grandpa then replies to the man, "We don't want to buy the place, we just want to stay the night!" haha!! Al and I got the biggest kick out of that! Obviously, from his reaction they didn't stay there. They found another place where they paid $6 for the night. What a bargain!!

Congratulations Counselor Dimitt!

We are all so proud of you and all of your accomplishments!

Visitors

This past weekend we had some very special visitors. The Withers came to the big city, and I HOPE we convinced Kyle that this place really isn't all that big and scary. But, then again maybe not.

We spent the weekend eating at some of our favorite places like Flat Top, Cali Pizza Kitchen, and dessert at The Cheesecake Factory. Other than eating (haha-which is what we do best), we went to the Shedd Aquarium. Alex and I haven't been there in several years, so it was nice to go back. Plus, one more perk of being a teacher.... I got in free with my school ID. Wahoo! That saved us $26. (Which is pretty steep).

I have a very short week of "days w/ kids" at school this week. Tomorrow is a professional development day, so my 32 little kiddos get the day off and I get to go sit in meetings (sooo not fair). Then on Thursday I took the day off because Alex gets sworn in. It will be Friday before I even know it, wahoo! Not that I am wishing away days, but I do enjoy the weekends. :)

October was definitely a busy month for us, and November seems to be a little more relaxed, which we are OK with!

The job hunt is still in full swing, even though he has had a couple of interviews-which makes the process a little better. The worst is when you apply, and apply, and apply and get no response. Our fingers are crossed and we would appreciate any positive thoughts you could send our way. Its definitely tough out there!

Congrats to all of the mothers, who either just delivered or are anxiously awaiting the big day, out in our blogging world. We are so excited for you and your growing families!!

Its Friday again, my favorite day of the week. I love the feeling of having the whole weekend ahead of me. On Fridays I usually feel so exhausted from the week, so I spend the whole evening just hanging around the apt. I love this! Its not something I get to experience much during the school year.

School is going well this year, busy and always stressful, but I am beginning to feel more comfortable with things. I have more confidence in what I am doing and enjoying the ability to think a little more outside of the box. I also don't feel nearly as overwhelmed as I have the past two years. Part of it being because this is my second year in the same grade level and my school no longer requires us to do an after school program. Which means I have more time for planning, grading, and all of the other millions of things we teachers do.

Halloween is fast approaching. I miss not being able to have trick-or-treaters come and ring the doorbell. I always liked passing out the candy (and even more receiving it, but that ship sailed a while ago). We get to dress up at school though on Friday, which is always really fun. I am going as Pippi Longstocking. I've always wanted to be her and I started reading it to my kids, so it works out well. I'm keeping it a secret from them, I think they'll be pretty excited. :) I got the red braided wig with wires and all! Hopefully it turns out good, I'll post pictures.

Alex gets sworn in on November 4, so he will officially be a licensed lawyer. I took that day off of work to attend the ceremony. His mom and grandpa are coming up for the event as well. He's busy applying to jobs! He's had two interviews so far, and he just received an e-mail for a second interview with a firm next week. We're very excited!!

We're also really looking forward to a trip we just booked to NYC over New Year's. Not to see the ball drop, but to spend time with my good friend Meredith (who lives in CT) and Miles (our friend from high school). We're going to see a concert with them on NYE in the city, and spending two days in the city. Alex has never been, and I've only been once for an over night trip with Meredith and my cousin Adriane, who lives in the city. I'm really excited to go back and hopefully see a lot more of the sights. We booked our hotel and flight, so we're ready! Thank you reward points because one of our flights was practically free.

Enjoy the last few days of October. I can't believe how fast this month has gone! Turkey Day will be here before we know it!

Happy Halloween!!

Oh My!

How did I let this poor blog go neglected for soooo long! Yikes!

Well, life is definitely busy again (hence the reason why I haven't blogged). School is obviously back in session, so there goes 95% of my time. Plus, it seems like we have had something going on each weekend. Lots of visitors lately and to come- which we love and are super excited about! At this moment we are waiting for the Standefords to arrive for the weekend. We are going to the Purdue/ Northwestern game tomorrow night with them, and just hanging out and spending the weekend together. We haven't seen them since the wedding, so this is a long over due visit.

Last weekend Alex's buddies were in town, so we had an apartment full! Then.... at the end of the month Brandy and Kyle are spending the weekend up here. Kyle hasn't been up here since 5th grade, so this visit is long over due as well. haha

In other news, Alex finally received his Bar results. After a loooooong day of extreme nervousness he found out that......... HE PASSED!!!! WAHOO!!!! He was sooooo relieved. I have never seen him so worked up about something, and he was a mess! Which I don't blame him b/c I would have been much worse, but it was interesting to see him like this. Generally, he is the calm one out of the two of us. haha So, now the fun task of finding a job comes. Wish us luck!

That's about all for now. Hopefully it won't be a month and a half before I update again.

We have furniture!

Yay!!!!

Our furniture was delivered on Friday, and we love it!! After a slight ordeal (oil/ grease from the elevator dripped on one piece, so we sent it back w/ the delivery guys, and then we decided we like the furniture how it is w/o that one piece so... we just returned it and got some money back- all in all a blessing in disguise) So now, its all in place.

On our way back up to Schaumburg (to get our money back from the couch piece) we stopped at Super Dawg for lunch. Its similar to Dog N' Suds in L-town, except this place is obviously known for its Chicago style hotdogs. We saw it on Rachel Ray and since we knew we were going in that direction anyways, we decided to stop. Plus... I wanted to see the giant hotdogs on the roof in person! :)

Mom and Dad came up for a visit today b/c they haven't seen our new apartment yet. We had lunch with them and walked around for a bit. They did us a huge favor by bringing up Kelsi's old couch, that I am going to put in my classroom, and taking back the futon so Kelsi can use it in her next place. Enjoy it Kels!!

I go back to school tomorrow for teacher days... so this is officially my last day of summer. :( I hope all of my teacher friends out there had a great start to their school year, I can' t wait to hear all about it!

More Costa Pics

This is the link to the rest of our Costa Rican pictures. Our furniture is here and in place. I will post pictures soon!

http://gallery.me.com/alexdimitt

p.s. The pictures are in reverse order- sorry!

Back to School, Back to School

Well... not quite yet, but its getting close. Yesterday, Alex and I moved all of my school things from the storage unit into my classroom. Then today, I went back and started unpacking it all- BOO! I'm glad I've gotten a head start on it, but there is still a lot left to do. Teachers go back on Monday, but the kids don't come back until Sept. 7. So, I still have some time to get things exactly how I want them, if that's even possible.

Since we have returned from Costa, its been nice just to hang out with each other in our apartment, we really haven't had this opportunity since we moved in (you know with the Bar and wedding and all).

Last Friday, my good friend Stacey (who I taught kinder w/ my first year up here) got married, so we went to her wedding which was out in the suburbs. It was soooooo nice! It was our first "Chicago wedding". The church was more Indiana-ish, it was super cute and out in the country. Then we get to the reception and that was definitely more Chicago-ish- very swanky and super nice! We had a blast talking with some of my other co-workers and dancing to her new husband's fav... Garth Brooks! :) No complaints from this girl!

On Sunday we made a trip to our... or maybe just my, favorite suburb Schaumburg. We went living room furniture shopping, returned some duplicate gifts at BB&B, bought our pots and pans, and got a few other things from our registry we were needing, and of course visited IKEA. Well, we found a sectional we really liked, but weren't quite ready to make the plunge for yet. So we thought about it for a few days then went back on Tuesday to buy it. We are soooo excited. It will be delivered tomorrow (b/c they luckily had it in stock). We can't wait. And while we were at IKEA we purchased a coffee table, which we love! Our little place is definitely starting to come together.

Mr. and Mrs. Stinson lighting the unity candle.

The reception sight.

Me and the stunning bride.

Our new duvet cover courtesy of Alex's aunt, uncle, and cousins. This was waiting for us when we got back from Costa, and I recall jumping up and down when we opened it up. :)

Our amazing pots and pans. We love them!! Its not often a newlywed couple will have an argument over who gets to cook dinner, but we do now that we have these awesome pots and pans, plus its one argument I don't mind "letting" him win. :)

I'll post pictures of our new furniture once its here and arranged. Plus, more Costa picts- Alex keeps putting off making the Mobile Me album of all of our picts.

Costa Rica Costa Rica

We are back from our wedding and honeymoon! We had a GREAT time this past week and a half and we are sooo grateful for everything everyone did to make the whole experience perfect for us.

Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures from the wedding, but I do have LOTS and LOTS of pictures from Costa Rica! When I get the pictures from the wedding I will definitely post them!

So here is a little taste of our trip. Alex is going to create a photo album link on here soon so you will be able to see all of the pictures we took.

We just wanted to let all of Costa know that we had arrived. :)

Part of the hotel from the pool area. The hotel we stayed at was awesome! It definitely had the neatest pool I've ever seen. We made sure to stay in the area by these little loungers in the pool, as well as the swim up bar. Mmmm.... Miami Vices and Pina Coladas!

Me on the zip line.

Sunset on the beach.

Posing by a fountain in the hotel lobby.

Our favorite spot.... swim up bar!

Snorkeling in the Pacific.

A lizard climbing the rubber tree.

Streets in Playa de Coco

Waiting for the boat to take us back to the hotel from Playa de Coco.

I'll be sure to post the link to the album once we get it created. If you have any wedding pictures out there, please send them my way if you get a chance!!

Before you go....

A couple of big announcements in our close circle of friends.

First of all, our very close friends the Standefords are expecting their first baby in March and we are sooooo thrilled for them!!! Rox told me the big news the night before the wedding and I still can't believe it. We can't wait to see her prego tummy and meet Baby Standeford in the spring. Cruise SB..... 2012???

Secondly, my BFF Brandy is now teaching 1st grade for the West Side School Corp and she officially begins next week. I'm am so excited for her and I know this is such a huge weight off of her shoulders. Way to go B- I knew it would all work out for you!!

Lots of big and exciting things going on around us and we are so glad to be a part of it!

The latest and upcoming events

Last weekend my cousin Jennifer and I went down to Tinley Park for the Brad Paisley H2O tour. We had a GREAT time! I told Brandy, next to NSync in the 8th grade.... this was one of the best shows I've been to. :) The following day was my bachelorette party, so I had quite the eventful weekend. We had a blast going out around my new neighborhood!

Jennifer and I waiting for the show to begin.

Darius Rucker aka Hootie was one of the opening acts.

Brad... we were about 2o rows back.

Well, the big event is one week from today. I'm definitely starting to feel nervous, just because of all the planning and prep that goes into it. I am sooo excited and I can't believe that it is finally here.

Alex takes the biggest test of his life on Tuesday and Wednesday- we would definitely appreciate any good thoughts while he goes to tackle the Bar. I am so impressed with how dedicated to studying he has been. He will, with out a doubt, deserve a week of rest and relaxation in Costa Rica- we're both super excited for that! We plan on doing a zip line tour, kayaking, and whatever else is available while we are down there.

I'm not too sure I'll be doing any blogging for the rest of the week. I head down to L-town on Monday to put the final touches on everything.

Its going to be a busy week, but I'm ready for it!