Christmas 2011

This is the debut of our new christmas tree. It is quite an upgrade over our old 4ft tree (pictures of that tree are on this blog from 2 0r 3 christmases ago). We now have reached the point in our lives where he have a grown up tree. Now, the only thing missing is some presents below the tree!

The final act of a grad school student

Knowing that we would be living on one income last year, I decided to take out loans to pay for grad school. I never had intentions of paying interest on the loans, so the plan included saving up to pay off the loan before the grace period ended. I got a job earlier than I thought I would, but it was at that time that Keith started school, too. So, we were still on one income. Both of us worked this summer, and the bank account started moving in the positive direction again.

The grace period on my loan ends this coming week, so I called to pay off the loan a few days ago. I realized today that my final act as a graduate student was not writing a paper, receiving a degree in the mail, or getting a job. Paying off the loan is the last thing I had left to do to finally close the books on graduate school. With some planning, I am glad to say that we figured out how to do that without paying interest.

Congratulations are in order

It's official! Jay earned an Associate degree in Physical Therapy Assisting.

Without a doubt, Jay's program was more rigorous than my master's degree. Several times, I called him to hear his stories so I could feel better about my own micro-crises.

Jay has always been smarter than me, and getting into this field is only proof that he still is smarter than me!

Jay, we are proud of you!

It's almost time for school again

Jennifer just got home from teaching GHP for a month this summer. It's the best summer out of the four that she's had down there.

Keith is very close to wrapping up his summer semester with grad school, and he's figured out that school in the summer is just not right! His grades have been excellent, but he's looking forward to shorter class meetings and more time to get assignments done.

Jennifer finally got her paperwork saying she's a fully certified teacher (with all of the dollars that come with it!). Since the paperwork came through in early May, the last few days of last school year are paid at the higher rate. In eight years of teaching, this is the highest annual salary she's seen. That's what the master's degree was all about, right?!

Keith has been working in landscape a few days each week this summer, and he'll continue with it until his internship starts this fall. He likes staying busy when he can't get away from home to travel.

Once the semester starts, Keith will be taking three classes this fall. This is the hump semester--he'll be more than halfway through his program once this semester is done.

So, in short, we're busy but making progress toward our new life together. We're looking forward to some short getaways this fall, but there's nothing major on the calendar yet until we know what our school schedules look like.

Keith is done with his semester now, too!

He just submitted his last assignment! I'm so proud of my husband for his good work this first semester of grad school. He brought his hard-working attitude with him, and it shows!

I'm done

I submitted my last assignment for my masters degree last night.

Now I can get on with my spring break!

Keith's new dish

We were at Panera Bread a couple of weeks ago, and Jennifer saw a picture of a cheesesteak sandwich that was new on the menu. A few days later, Keith was inspired to buy the ingredients for his own rendition of a philly cheesesteak sandwich. It was such a success that we did it again the next week. We had to show you our over-sized but delicious sandwiches!

Washington Park - Two Years Later

We took our own pictures at Washington Park today. One of us set up the shot while the other served as a target. Then, we learned how to make our camera take pictures on time delay, and we got these. We had a great time remembering all of our guests at the park in 2009.

Happy Anniversary to us!

We're happy to be celebrating two years of marriage today! We went to dinner tonight, but we've been talking about our anniversary for a few days now. We're hoping to visit Washington Park tomorrow if the weather cooperates.

Is it right that two years moves us from newlyweds to an "old married couple"?! We sure have enjoyed our first two years!

Landscape improvement project

On Thursday Keith decided to tackle a wild section of our yard. This little trail is overgrown and muddy when it rains so he decided to make it look it a little more inviting. It took most of the day to get as far as the gate. When the weather improves he will finish the small section in the backyard side of the fence.

Before.

After.

Everglades National Park has alligators!

On our way across Florida from cruising to camping, we made a stop at Everglades National Park to ride bikes out to the observation tower. The ride is 15 miles round trip, and we started counting alligators after mile three. We counted over 100 alligators in all, and this picture is the one we came closest to (although some of them were only a few feet further away from the path!).

Keith took Jennifer's picture as she rode first.

Thank goodness she didn't get a flat tire!

As Keith rode by the same alligator, he had the presence of mind to steer and snap a close-up of the gator!

Our last four weeks, in summary

We were reminded yesterday that we haven't given an update here of everything we've been up to, so here's our attempt to give "the rest of the story."

Immediately after Jennifer got done teaching in December, we went on a short cruise that we found at a great price. We enjoyed wearing shorts in Miami, Key West, and Cozumel. In fact, we were downright HOT in Cozumel as we walked to the beach. Keith picked up a cold on the cruise that would stay with him for more than a week.

After the cruise, we camped near Naples for two nights. The lows got down to 51 degrees, but the daytime highs were nice. Keith was too sick to do much, but we were glad to have access to good cold medicines, which we didn't have on our ship.

On the night we got home, Jennifer started showing the symptoms of the cold. We left 36 hours later for Birmingham. We were glad to be with Keith's family on Christmas Eve and then Jennifer's family on Christmas Day.

A few days later, on our way home, we stopped by Lynne's new house to visit for a few hours. It was great to see her and her dog, Charmer.

Keith was mostly well by now, but Jennifer was miserable. We bought more medicine and tissues, and we tried to enjoy the rest of our break.

Jennifer was still sick, but not as bad, when she went back to school on Jan 4. Students came back the next day. Keith made a trip to Alexander City to help his dad with some work outside in excellent weather. After three school days, Jennifer was the lead chaperone for a group of 50 students and 10 adults to a robotics competition in Atlanta. Since it was an all-Saturday affair, Jennifer lost a chunk of her weekend.

On Sunday, Jennifer got a call that school was canceled the next day for weather. On Monday, Jennifer got another call that school was canceled for Tuesday.

Monday was the first day that neither of us took medicine since December 18. It was also the day that we set aside to watch Auburn play their last football game of the season, and we hoped they would be crowned national champions.

Our power went out in the first quarter of the game, and we "watched" the computer screen for play-by-play updates for the next three hours. When the computer battery died with two minutes left on the clock, we went to the car to listen to the radio announcers tell us that Auburn won the game at the buzzer!

Keith's first night of class in canceled, so we're enjoying our last night of tv watching together during the week for a while. Keith will have class on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and Jennifer will have class on Wednesdays. It will be a busy semester with lots of changes and adjustments, but we're ready to see these days come.

We've done a lot since we last posted on our blog, eh?!