More Good News!

All of Graham's hard work paid off today when he was offered a full time business teaching position at Neuqua Valley High School in Naperville. We celebrated tonight with dinner out and some yummy ice cream:) It is such a relief to know he has a job for next year and that we can enjoy the summer together with no worries. Thanks for everyone's thoughts and prayers while we waited during this grueling interviewing process. Payton and I are so proud of Graham and can't wait for next year.

Influential Teacher

Daddy & Payton at the soccer game
Taking a drink (much needed after all that running around)My little "Energizer Bunny"

Getting recognized during half time

All of the teachers

This week was a big week for Graham. The girls soccer players had to pick a teacher that was influential in their life, and one of the girls picked Graham as her influential teacher. What an honor for a student teacher (at the time)!! He was sooo excited. The best part was that he got to wear her jersey today at work and they recognized the teachers that were selected during half time at the game today. Payton and I went to watch Graham and we were so proud of him. Payton had a great time at the game, running around and entertaining some of Graham's other students that were also there.

Grandma Nancy's Celebration of Life

Payton trying on Grandma Nancy's necklaces Andy, Emma & Gaia
Alyssa & Graham spreading their ashes into Lake Sailorville

The "Brittney Spears" shot (Yes...they were parked:)

Graham with Grandma & Grandpa Brown

A couple of weekends ago we went out to Des Moines, Iowa for Graham's Grandma's celebration of life weekend. We arrived late Friday night and had to leave on Sunday afternoon but we were glad we could go and celebrate her many years of life. On Sunday morning we went to McDonald's for breakfast, one of Nancy's favorite breakfast meals, and then went out to Lake Sailorville. Lake Sailorville is a place that Graham's Grandparents and family spent many weekends and a place that was special to his Grandma. It was here that they spread her ashes, a place that they knew she loved dearly. It was an emotional weekend but one filled with love and great memories.

Ralph Rocks!

Getting ready for Ralph's World

Singing along with Ralph

Dancing with Jolie

Singing along with the songs

Look at those red cheeks!

My sister, my mom and I took Payton and Jolie to see Ralph's World in concert tonight. The kids had a blast. I was laughing the whole time watching Payton dance and sing. He somehow knew exactly what to do at a concert because he was yelling answers to questions, yelling "next song" when one was over and screaming his little head off. You can see in the pictures how sweaty and red he was after it was all over. If you have little ones you should definitely take a look into buying the CD/DVD combo.

http://www.ralphsworld.com/

Natalie's 30th birthday party

On Saturday night, my friend Natalie's husband threw her a surprise 30th party that was unbelievable. Everyone who was invited were kept in the dark as to what the night entailed, other than where we had to meet and that we had to get on a bus. Anyways, this big charter bus took everyone to Natalie's house where we picked up the birthday girl and then headed out to three different restaurants. The first restaurant we went to was Boston Blackies to have appetizers which included Natalie's favorites, nachos. Then we went to Opa's Greek restaurant for dinner. The food was amazing and just kept on coming. Then we ended the evening at the Melting Pot for chocolate fondue! What a great night!

Spring Break Pictures

I can't believe that my spring break is almost over! It seemed to go by way too fast but the positive thing is that summer vacation is even closer now. We had a great time this week once Payton got over being sick. On Tuesday, we went to the DuPage Children's Museum with my friend Jen and her son Sean, who turned 2 that day. The boys had a great time and then we headed out to McDonald's for Sean's birthday lunch. It was Payton's first time eating McDonald's (other than one time for breakfast) and just like any other kid, he liked his chicken nuggets:)

On Wednesday, Graham and I decided it was time to get the summer stuff out of the basement and clean up down there so we took Payton to my parents for the evening and we got some much needed cleaning done. We had the whole truck loaded with stuff for Goodwill. Payton ended up staying the night there so we could go see a movie. We hadn't seen a movie at the theater is soooo long that we totally splurged and got the BIG popcorn and pops! We saw the movie, 21, which I totally recommend.

On both Wed. and Th. Payton and I went to story time at the library, which he loves. We usually go on Saturday mornings but I got to take him a few extra times this week since were were off. We also spent Thursday out at the park for most of the morning. Graham had a lot of appointments on top of his getting ready for one interview, which he had on Wednesday and one more this coming Monday so we didn't get to do any real family activities this week so on Friday we decided to take Payton to Brookfield Zoo. It was a little cold when we got there so we made sure to hit all the indoor exhibits and lunch. By the time we got out of lunch it was warm and sunny, which made for a great afternoon. Its so much fun being off together for these breaks and I can't wait for summer vacation.

For those of you who have either been to the zoo with Payton or have seen any previous pictures are probably just shocked seeing him actually in the petting zoo, brushing the goats! Graham and I were shocked! I asked him, as I always do, if he wanted to go in and see the goats and when he said, "yeah" I had sneaking suspicion that he'd change his mind as soon as we got in there but NO, he wanted to brush them, pet them, hug them and actually had a hard time leaving the goats. Who would have thought that in only a few short months, he'd grow up so much. He loved the zoo this time and I can't wait to go a lot more this summer! Thanks Nana for the membership! Oh yeah, teachers get half off the membership!

At the DuPage Children's Museum

Sean & Payton playing some music

Sean & Payton

Daddy & Payton at Brookfield Zoo

Is it mating season?

Graham getting stuck going down the slide with Payton