Jammies from Grammy!

The boys love their new pajamas from Grammy Pammy! Cale did not want to take his off the next morning.

Happy Mother's Day!

Flowers+cards(some hand-written)+ gifts made in preschool=a perfect day

Road trip to Ball State

We took a little trip to Ball State today so that Andy could get a feel for the layout of the campus, get a parking permit, and so we could get out of the house after a day of constant rain yesterday. First, we looked at a map to figure out where we were.

Then, we waited while Andy got his parking pass.

Discovering the fountain was lots of fun.

We toured the science building and one other building before we got back in the car and headed home-with a quick stop at McDonald's, of course.

Things happening today

That's right! Today was IUK's graduation. I checked my online transcript to make sure my degree was now listed-it was (let me say that the degree was not listed last night and I was a little nervous that I had forgotten to take a class or something and wouldn't get my degree). I graduated "with distinction" which I assume is kind of like "with honors".

Instead of going to graduation, we had an appointment for the Nielson Media people to come out and hook up instruments to our televisions so they can monitor what programs we watch. We think this will be fun, and finally a way for those under-viewed tv shows (which are usually the ones we like) to get the attention they deserve. Although, we did tell the installer "they'll see we watch a lot of Disney and Nickelodeon".

An update

Just to update those who might be wondering, Andy went out and bought a new-er minivan today while I drove the boys to preschool and went grocery shopping (finally-Andy gave the boys PB & J raisin toast for breakfast because we were out of cereal, milk, eggs, butter...coffee too, which I forgot to get-ooo my head is hurting right now). I haven't seen it yet, but the van's a red! Dodge caravan 2003, I think. Our next step will be to find some sympathetic junkyard to take our other minivan off our hands for us.

Marcus seems to be doing fine. No complaints of sore throat, no fever, nothing that I can see down his throat. So, I guess that's that.

Also, yesterday was my final class at IUK. It seems weird to think of not going back to school for class next week. For a while, I've always had the mindset of "now this [project, paper, test] is done, what's next?" I won't have that preoccupation any more (or at least for a lwhile-I could see myself doing grad school at some point). Graduation is officially next Tuesday morning but I am not going. It seems like such a scam to have to pay $50 for a cap and gown. And, I already had the graduation experience at Millikin, so, no thank you to this one.

The perfect storm...

...of events that is. After work on Saturday night, I was greeted at home with 1) the alternator went out on the van, 2) our babysitter was not available on Monday to watch the boys while I went to work, and 3) Marcus might have strep throat. Needless to say, not the best way to be met at the door. Well, because of all this, I stayed home from work Monday. I guess that works out-no $ spent on gas or a babysitter. We're still keeping an eye on Marcus's throat just in case something develops.
We've decided the van is done. We replaced the alternator a few years ago, anyway, and, we have a sneaky feeling that the transmission is going bad too (we have also replaced that once). Now, it's on to hunt for a new-er car. We'll see what we can find.
To top the above off, I got a call from work today saying that effective immediately, graduate nurses have to pass their state boards before they will be allowed to do nursing activities. For me, this means I have to take a Kaplan review class the week of May 12th instead of in June like I had planned. This also means I need to arrange for babysitting for that week-hopefully someone that can take Marcus and Cale to preschool that week.
I realize that many people have to deal with more pressing issues. But, it feels good to write these problems out here-I guess as a stress reliever. Anyway, stay tuned to see what happens...

Bikes for the boys

When we went to buy Andy's birthday presents last week, we also went to Goodwill for fun. Well, we spied 2 little bikes for sale there. The bikes looked pretty new, and they were priced at $7 each and they each had training wheels already attached! Needless to say, we bought them up and shoved them into the back of the Kia. Marcus loves to ride his and has gotten pretty good at cruising around-today, he even rode it to the park and back. Cale-not as excited about his bike-he's content on the tricycle right now.