Sunday in a hotel...

Sunday dinner =)

HOT

Awesome chicken fried rice - he thought it came in a bowl, but it didn't...so he waited until I was finished with my chicken dinner and used the tray from that!

PDYM Youth Conference 2008

On the airplane...

The restaurant =)

The car =)

The speaker - Mr. Doug Fields

A shot of us at the conference the second day...

The store =)

MCDONALDS! Little things make me happy!

YUM! We were so excited to have McDonald's for breakfast 2 of our 3 mornings there! Bacon, egg and cheese McGriddle. =)

Mother's Day

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY to our moms, Ruth and Becky! We love you and couldn't ask for anything better!

Last night, my mother-in-law and I attended our church's Mother-Daughter Banquet. Mom spoke and did an excellent job speaking about the fragrances of our lives using various flowers as illustration. On top of the stress of speaking, she ended up with a sore throat and fever.

At the banquet - before it started

Adam got these flowers and made the card for me. =)

half-way through

...and she's off

This morning we said "goodbye" to my best friend, Maria. She flew out at 7:40 this morning. I waited in the airport with her until she had to go through security. She's sitting in Miami right now, and will be for the next few hours... =( We were in school during her visit, so we were limited with what we could do (and most of our evenings had something in them, too). We had a great time with her being here. Maria, we love ya, and want you to know that you are welcome to come back and see us anytime!

Downtown Grand Cayman

After youth, at KFC

We took my class to the airport fire station for a field trip this past Monday. It was cool. This guy took us all for a ride in his truck.

Adam had really been wanting me to make the cinnamon rolls using the recipe from Jana's blog a while back. Well, I hadn't gotten around to doing it, so Maria made them for us on Wednesday. Adam was very excited! They were awesome. Thanks, Maria!

We took my kids to the park for a picnic lunch on Friday and then they had some playtime. Maria had a good time, too!

Adam and Maria having fun gathering things for the registry at Little Darlings

Getting her all ready to go to Guatemala!

Outside Canton with Mandy

We didn't plan to match... =)

YAY for Stephanie!!!

Today my beautiful sister Stephanie celebrates her birthday. She is such a wonderful lady and is a great sister (whom I miss...). She is the mother of 4 of my beautiful nieces/nephews who I love dearly.

This is not a big week for her for only this reason...she is graduating this Saturday from Liberty University with a Masters in Counseling. By the way, she has done this with 4 kids under the age of 8...the youngest being born between classes. What a woman!

Love you bunches, Stephanie. Hope you have a wonderful day. I'm looking forward to seeing you soon and can't wait to hang out again!

TAG!

Lynette Williams tagged me a while back...sorry Lynette it's so late.

Rules: Answer the following questions, then tag 5 other people on their blogs.

*What was I doing 10 years ago? Well, I was 14 years old, so I was in High School babysitting Andrew Wheeler (I think at that time). Probably most of my time was spent at the school with my dad and mom while they were trying to "tie up lose ends" until late in the evenings!

*5 things to do today:
-do the last 2 loads of laundry that I didn't have the time for yesterday
-maybe tutor Kaleb...not sure if his mom is planning for that today or not!
-fix supper - or maybe we'll eat out...again!!
- spend time with God
-relax with my husband and Maria after a long day with 6-7 year olds

*Snacks I enjoy:
-fruit
-ice cream
-cheddar chex mix
-french fries
-string cheese

*If I were a billionaire: I would invest most of it wisely! And then, of course, I would shop and donate.

*Bad habits I have:
-not cleaning my house when it needs it
-not sweeping my classroom
-not planning ahead for meals (that's why we always eat out!)
-leaving the same bulletin boards up in my classroom for too long

*Places I've lived:
-Mackenzie Drive - Lima, OH (birth - 4 years)
-Lincoln Highway - middle of nowhere - Lima, OH (4 years - college)
-Young Street - Cincinnati, OH (college)
-Wessels Drive - Fort Wright, KY (last year and a half of college with my new hubby!)
-Nixon Avenue - Lima, OH (after college - present)
-West Bay, Grand Cayman (present)

*Jobs I've had:
-babysitter - off and on through HS, college and summers
-Flips pizza (only for a day - it was horrible) - I was like 16
-JCPenney Portrait Studio - from when I was 16 until after I was in college, then I didn't want to spend my "home time" working...great job!
-home health care for an older lady in Cincinnati
-GBS - traveled with quartet for 2 years and was on work study during that time.
-Pilgrim Christian School - HS supervisor
-Wesleyan Christian Academy/Wesleyan Holiness Church - 1st grade supervisor/youth pastors wife

*5 people I want to know more about:
-Andrea Witmer
-Mandy Yount
-Mandy Whitmer
-Hannah Heintzelman
-Stephanie Burley - as if I don't know her!

Maria!

This post is coming quite late as our computer at home was having issues getting online. It's now fixed. Don't ask me why the default gateway disappeared. Oh well.

Maria arrived on the island this past Wednesday! Yay! She's staying until this coming Saturday. The picture of her and Val outside DQ was the first one to catch my eye... hopefully it will not cause my soon death. It's great to have Maria down here!

It's a...

Yesterday, we had a doctor's appointment scheduled for 3:20. On our way there, my cell phone rang and it was the good doc himself (or his wife, actually) saying that they were behind for the day and were running around 30-40 minutes late. So, we arrived on time and sat. Eventually, we got to see the good ol' doc and he gave us the news. It took him a while, as Little P wouldn't cooperate at first. But, after much prodding, she finally made herself visible.

So, we left the doctor's office a few minutes later and returned home, eager to call family members with the news. Life is good, eh?

New Youth Building

We've been in our new youth building for a couple weeks now, but just this week have gotten new lighting and the projection system installed. The extension cord you see dangling will be removed Saturday, at which time we'll run a conduit to place an outlet close to the projector. On the left-hand side of the picture you can see the split-unit air-conditioner. It's a pretty cool little fella, and it does a great job of cooling down the room.


Here is a shot of the back of the room. You can kinda see the three new sets of lights we put in this week. I am now a certified electrician. Not really, but I did complete just about all the wiring for these lights. Fire insurance, you ask? Whatever for?

Youth starts at 7:30. You might be able to notice that it's around 7:15 when this picture was taken. And the chairs are empty. Funny enough, they were just about completely full by 7:30.

A tradition from yesteryear...

Seems like polishing shoes is a thing of the past. At least for people like me. I know that just two short generations ago, my grandfather polished his shoes every Saturday. So his shoes were freshly polished every Sunday for church. Somewhere between his time and mine, that activity was dropped. I can probably count on my hands and feet the amount of times I've polished my shoes since going to college 8 years ago.

Are manufacturers making shoes to stay nicer-looking longer? Or is it just a tradition that I failed to pick up on? It somehow reminds me of traditions like drinking coffee with your breakfast at McDonald's while sitting at the bar-type tables along the outside wall, gazing out the window all the while. Sure, your friend is there every morning, too, but talking isn't quite as important as just sitting there slowly eating your breakfast and drinking your coffee.

How come my era didn't pick up these things?!? They're so totally cool. Which is probably why we didn't pick them up. We think of them as a novelty, whereas 60 years ago they were thought of as a necessity. Oh well, for what it's worth, I polished my shoes the other night.


And as you can see, quite a difference between the two shoes. And I pulled my pant legs up for the picture. Wearing high-water britches is another tradition that I did not pick up.

Homemade Ice Cream

A while back, Andrea Ratcliff posted a recipe for homemade ice cream. It looked really easy, so one night Adam made some. It turned out really good. Here was the result. If you'd like the recipe, just click her link from our friends list.

Yum!

National Champions!

A shout out to KU on winning the championship! Incredible game. What a shot by Chalmers. Anyways. Woooooooohoooooooooooo!

Thanks.

Adam

New Youth Building!

This past Friday night, our youth group was able to meet in our new building for the first time. Getting the building constructed and ready for us has been a months-long process, but it's now almost completed. Some little things still have to be done, such as decorating, etc., but it's meeting-ready, for which we are thankful. The walls are bright and the carpet does not match, as the carpet company sort of screwed up our order. But it matches the chairs we're using right now, so it works.

After youth Friday night, our activity was "3-legged Kickball." You all know what kickball is, and you all know how 3-legged races work. Put the two together, and *bingo* you have a great sport that requires teamwork to play. The video clip is about 2 minutes of the game.

A Little P update =)

On March 19, I went to see Dr. Peck for the second time. This time he did all my blood work, and I'm glad to have that out of the way! He said that everything with little p looked good. We were able to have another ultrasound. We got to hear the heartbeat that time too...a great experience! There is something that is just so incredibly precious about seeing "your little baby" moving all around and seeing and hearing the heart beating. Absolutely a miracle! Little p's heart rate was, the first time he checked it at this visit 155ish and the second time he checked it - just a few minutes later, was fluctuating between 160 and 168. Maybe little p was just completely excited that mama and papa Nichols got to see him/her and listen to the heartbeat as well. =) That was cool. My blood pressure was 115/71 - I'm just hoping it will hold this through the rest of the time. My cousin, Sarah Ann, just had a little baby boy on the 20th and before he was born, she was put on bed rest because of her BP. :( Little p now measures in at 3 inches from head to rump...maybe a little more by now! As you can see in the pictures, little p has grown quite a bit in the time between doctor appointments. My next appointment is scheduled for April 30. At that appointment, Dr. Peck said he should be able to tell the sex of the baby! Let's hope little p cooperates!

The latest picture of little p - it's blurry. Dr. Peck said he'd print off another one, but I think he forgot and I didn't think to remind him.

Comparison of pictures...

Ok...I know it isn't much yet, but I have family that hasn't seen me since having the slightest bump! I will be 15 weeks along on Wednesday.

Happy Easter! (im only 6 days late)

Sorry for the foggy picture...when you have the camera inside in the AC and then take it outside, it takes time to adjust to the humidity...we didn't give it time. Oh well, at JCPenney's we would call this "soft focus." :)
Easter Sunday just happened to be Nate's 18th birthday. We didn't have too big a celebration, but did have ice cream pies (turtle or hershey's chocolate)! Nate, hope your birthday was a great one!