My Little Garden

We love our house, we do. But, we would love it even more if we had our own back yard. We are currently waiting for the land across the street to be landscaped into a 25-acre park which will be A-MAZ-ING when it gets finished (whenever that is)! For now, we decided to get creative and really use our balcony space. ***Note: It was really cloudy the day I took these pictures. Usually, the mountains are VERY clear from our balcony, which I why we love to be out there. :)

My pretty petunias.
Where we hang out. Notice Sofia's water bucket. She likes to help water the flowers. :)

Candle lantern turned potter! This is my favorite gardening design.
Last, but not least, the Topsy Turvy Tomato Plant! We already have about 12 tomatoes!

I just love her!

I was watching Sofia today thinking about how much she has grown up and came up with this. Enjoy!

Happy Father's Day

It's no secret that I am desperately in love (still!) with my husband of 5 years next week. I'm not sure that God could have designed a better match. He is my everything. :)

Watching Chris over the past 2+ years be a father to Sofia has drawn me back over and over to the first moments that I realized I was in love with him. To see his tenderness, commitment, humor and unyielding love toward Sofia simply melts my heart. Chris is an incredible father. Period.

I think often back to the days when I was a young girl and Father's Day would come around. I would think and plan and think some more about what the gift would be the perfect one. I wanted my dad to LOVE it! Most of the time, my sister and I would decide on a tie (which we would paint on...another story for another time) and then watch, barely holding ourselves together as my dad opened his long awaited gift. Without fail, my dad would make the hugest deal over his gift telling us it was the "best one yet!" and my sister and I would giggle with glee. We had done it!

Sofia is still a little too young to plan her daddy's Father's Day, but I did teach her how to say "Happy Father's Day!" to Chris without him knowing. This morning, I pulled the secretly stashed cards out from under the bed, gave them to Sofia and sent her into the other room where Chris was sitting. As she handed him the cards she said, "Happy Fawdder's Day, Daddy!". Chris looked so stunned and the smile that grew on his face was incomparable to any other he had shown as a father. I was immediately propelled back to being a little girl...but this time, Sofia had done it! This really was the "best one yet"!

To all the men in my life, Dad, Brian, David and Chris, THANK YOU for being such an inspiration to what fathers can be. You are so loved. :)

So Proud

My mom is one of the most inspirational people in my life. I feel so honored to be her daughter...especially as I now watch her pursue one of her life-long goals: obtain her PhD. My mom begins her program in the Advancement of Leadership and Service tomorrow in Milwaukee at Cardinal Stritch University. She has also decided the join the ranks of the blogging world. Be sure to check out her Journal from the Journey as she writes about her experiences pursuing an advance degree.

Go Mom!

Irony

I recently purchased a recommended reading for my program at Walden. The book is called How to Read a Book. Supposedly, the book talks about ways to read quickly, efficiently and break down different types of scholarly readings so that you take away only what you need. The irony? The book is 426 pages!

So here's where we're at...

Last week was rough! Sofia and I both had the stomach flu AND it was the last week of school for students and teachers. By the time Friday hit, I was so excited, I could hardly stand it. Granted, I still have a few days left at work to wrap up odds and ends, but hey, a Friday is a Friday!

We had a really great weekend. On Saturday, we did dorky stuff around the house, hung out in our pajamas until late in the morning, went for a walk, took naps and then had an awesome impromptu dinner with our friends Matt, Linda and Lilly. It was just one of those days where I truly enjoyed the company we had in one another and our friends.

On Sunday, after having a bite to eat in the morning, we decided to head over to the mall so Sofia could play on the giant bananas, bacon strips, eggs and waffles and we could do a little browsing. We seriously have not gone to a mall in forever! It felt so foreign. We didn't have anything in particular we were shopping for...just wasting time. It was fun!

Once we got back, it was time to get to work. Sofia went down for her nap and I got down to writing. In week 2 of my PhD program, I was already writing an 11 page paper! So, I sat down at my cool new desk that my hubby built for me, and wrote. And wrote. Oh yeah, and wrote some more. 6 hours later, done!

This program has certainly reawakened my scholarly sense. I really forgot how much I love being a student. So dorky, I know! But, it's true. I love being challenged by my classmates and I particularly love the format of online learning. There are some really cool aspects (i.e. one of my books is on a DVD) about it all that I will be sure to share in the near future.

That's all for now. We'll be sure to update soon when there is actually something worthwhile to talk about. Love to you all.

Munch - Short for Munchkin

Sofia has a stomach bug. Last night she went to bed saying, "My tummy huuts." She vomited a few times and then slept in until 9:30am. She still isn't 100% but she is feeling a little better. She lifted her shirt to show me all the goldfish crackers she ate and said, "I got a lot of fishes in my tummy." Five minutes later she was passed out again.
Finally got a "cheese" while the camera did it's thing. Love this smile. Love it!

Here's to you Raider Fans! Go Broncos!
Growing up so fast it makes my heart skip a beat.

At dinner tonight...

Sofia: I wanna say grace. Hold hands! Hold hands!
Chris and I: Okay. Go ahead...
Sofia: Grace, grace. A-men!

Here We Go

As of today, I am officially a doctoral candidate! I began my first two classes today:

1. Research Form I: my first research class designed to plan out my research, studies and time line for my dissertation.
   
2. Foundations to Doctoral Studies: In this class, I will learn many of the foundational pieces to scholarly writing, research, put together a professional development plan, as well as a clear description of what I hope to achieve throughout (and beyond!) this program. All these things will be used to match me up with my academic adviser who will hopefully end up being my committee chair for my dissertation defense.
   

The courses are actually kind of cool and I am pleased that Walden has developed a program that sets a strong foundation for their students to be successful in. Once I am matched with my academic adviser, I will have 4(!) mentors to watch over and guide me during my program. There is certainly no shortage of support!

So, that's that. Hopefully I won't get carpal tunnel from all the typing. :) My first quarter ends August 23....

P.S. This is my "First Day of Graduate School" photo. Do I look doctor-y? :)