Monday, July 29, 2013

Cooking!

One of the things that I learned about Aaron early on when we were dating was that he is an AMAZING chef!  I do believe that Jeanne, his mom, encouraged him to go to culinary school!  I got myself a good one :)


Below is Chipotle's Cilantro Lime Rice...it is amazing and tastes just like the restaurants!  I don't ever want to make plain rice again.  Seriously.


My mom's recipe for sticky buns!  


Homemade pizza!  Thanks Susan Stoltzfus for the pizza stone!


Aaron made Baked Spaghetti, corn, and salad for me!  Ahh I love summer!


Maria

Sunday, July 28, 2013

Getting Crafty

Say hello to my new little friends!  These guys are going to be used in my new classroom :)  I got this idea because my mom ALWAYS has finger puppets in her church bag for all of her little kids.  They love playing with them, especially Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf!  I also started this project because I don't really want to do any of my school curriculum reading...ha!   Anyways, I thought farm animals would be great for preschoolers!  Plus we can sing songs with them on our fingers!  I really want to make multiple of each animal so that every kid can have a choice.  If you have any suggestions for a certain animal, please let me know!  (Aaron thinks the 2 small pigs look like kittens...maybe I need to use the same shape but make some gray and black kitties! ha)  Oh and that black thing in the bottom left corner is an unfinished penguin.  
Enjoy!

-Maria

Monday, July 22, 2013

Summer Fun

Since moving to Hesston, the Possums, have been on a winning streak!  (I'm thinking Aaron brought some luck with him from Virginia!)  After many years of playing with the same group of guys, and not great luck in the tourneys, THEY WON IT ALL!  So proud of the team!   



After celebrating the teams victory on Friday evening, Aaron and I decided to head to Kansas City on Saturday afternoon.  Our first stop was Cabelas!  They have everything sports related you can think of PLUS animal exhibits all over the store!  It's like a zoo!  We could have been in that store all day.



After our Cabelas excursion we ate dinner at the Macroni Grill in Overland Park, Kansas City.  It had been years since either of us ate there so it was a special date.  Next stop...Kauffman Stadium to see the Royals!  We had ideal seats with shade the entire game.
I always love hanging out with this guy! :)




We ended our weekend trip with a visit to see some of our good friends, Calvin and Shannon Wenger (and baby Breken!)  Maybe I'll get pictures next time we visit.  We were both very happy to have a mini vacation together and do a few things that we both love!

Maria

Thursday, July 11, 2013

New Job!

While my parents were in Hesston helping us move, we took an evening to drive around the area.  We stopped outside the building of where I'll be working in Newton, Kansas!  

The building on the right is about 3 years old and was added on to what is known as Cooper Station (a daycare that has been around awhile).  I'll probably have babies crying down the hallway from me!  So this week I went in to meet a few of the staff at Cooper Early Ed. Center and got a tour of the school!  I took a few pics my classroom in all it's summer glory (meaning packed away and looking bare). ha

Tons of storage...already filled with art supplies to the max!  Yes!

Little tables, chairs, and shelves!  The door you see here joins my partner teachers' classroom with mine.  During "center time" we'll open our doors up and let both classes mingle and choose where and who they want to play with!  Cool idea!

A much needed sink area!  I found out that one of the requirements for Head-Start is that the children have to wash their hands before every meal (and no, Germ Gel just won't do) Whoo this could be interesting the first week!

Ahh!!  Little couches for little people!
ADORABLE

I'll post pics later of my classroom after it's organized and kid friendly!

Maria



Thursday, July 4, 2013

Our Home!

As promised, here are our new house pictures!
I love mail so if you are interested...
112 West Randall Street
Hesston, Kansas 67062

Disclaimer:   The lighting is pretty terrible on the inside house pictures, apologies!

This house is a duplex, so the other side of the house looks exactly the same.

The cute front porch!

Parsley and cacti :)

When you walk in the front door you can see the dining room to your front right...

 ...then the living room to the left...  
(notice the AWESOME NEW bench below the window!)

 ...and the kitchen to your right!

AND more kitchen storage to store many of our pretty wedding gifts!

We made 1 of the 3 bedrooms an office. 
Thanks to Aaron for building me this shelf for all of my books! What a handy man!

Office organized by Aaron!

Self explanatory...ha

And finally you walk out to the back yard through the dining room!
Here you'll see the patio, flower bed, and Aaron's boy shed :)  
Pretty cute and a lot less grass to mow! Yay!

I'm so proud of my flower bed!  The mint is from Harrisonburg!

A wedding present from my brother, Nate, is hung in our dining room!  It hung outside our wedding reception at the barn.  Love it!

We have a guest room that is open to any of our friends and family who are traveling out West! :)

Maria

Monday, July 1, 2013

Transitions

The last week has been full of transitions for our family! After living in Virginia for six months after getting married, we decided to move to Hesston, KS. Our last week in Virginia was spent hanging out with our family and friends, and enjoying some of the local wonders!

The weekend before we moved, we decided to make a trip into the mountains with Maria's parents, Elwood and Joy Yoder, and another family from church who we are close with, the Codding's. The weather was great and the views were wonderful!






The few weekends leading up to our move date were full of singing in, and enjoying some of our good friends' weddings!



While I was finishing up my last week of work, Maria was able to travel to Pennsylvania with her mother, Joy, and another church friend.  They traveled to the Risser family farm where Marias brother, Phillip, is living and farming for the summer. He has a large garden and a harvest wagon along the road!




Finally, we started our long journey to Hesston, KS. The packing started mid-week, and continued on until Thursday. We had many great helpers, and did our best to pack all of our belongings away into a U-Haul.




After we arrived safely in Hesston, "someone" accidentally threw the key away to our lock. 


Elwood and Joy made the long haul with us to Hesston and continued on to Phoenix, AZ for the Mennonite Conference. We had such great helpers and support while moving, and are working to get settled into our new home!

Aaron