Moving, Graduating, Jobs….!

So I see the last post was on April 17, and now it's nearly been 2 months....WHAT have we been up to?!

It is amazing to me how quickly things happen. Here’s a quick re-wind of the past few months:

January:
-Chris began training at Omni Air International for his 757/767 Type Rating
-Robin began last semester of Graduate School classes

February:
-Chris and Robin announced expecting baby in August
-Chris began phase 2 of training—in Atlanta, Georgia
-Robin went to Aviation Conference in Florida

March:
-Chris COMPLETES 757/767 Type Rating! Yay!
-Robin interviews for job in Wichita, KS (and gets called for a 2nd interview!!)
-Chris and Robin begin looking for a house to buy in Wichita, KS
-Robin officially gets job in Wichita, KS at the Wichita Mid Continent Airport (yay!)
-Robin puts in 3 weeks notice at OSU in order to begin new job in Wichita

April:
-After looking at nearly 40 homes, Chris and Robin FINALLY put a bid down on a house…and it is ACCEPTED!
-Move in date: End of April
-Robin starts job at airport
-Final walk through before closing (are the current home owners REALLY moving?! It doesn’t look like they have started packing…..eik!)
-Close on house (yes, they did pack and move, as promised)
-MOVE: Friends/family were gracious enough to help us move both from Oklahoma and into our new house in Kansas. Thanks everyone! (I soon discovered that my growing belly was getting in the way…so mainly I pointed to
where things were supposed to go and directed people
-Chris works hard on and around house, making it a home for his new family (gardening, garage, kitchen……the list goes on!)
-Chris still waits patiently for IOE (aka on the job training with his company before they let him go fly internationally)

May:
-GRADUATION! FINALLY !! We graduate with our Masters Degrees from Oklahoma State University (officially titled: Masters of Applied and Natural Science: Aviation and Space Option)
-(time to start cleaning out the old school files….and donate LOTS of paper to the recycle bin!)

Pictured below: Robin, Delton, and Chris:

(Delton is a close friend who made it possible for both Chris and I to start working for Oklahoma State. Thanks Delton for your connection and being such a great friend!!)

Family pic:
Back row: Carl, Kathy, Wayne, Terry, Carol
Front row: Robin, Chris, Theresa

-Chris still waiting for IOE (yet making SO much progress on our new home…..it looks fantastic darling!)
-Robin getting used to early morning schedule of starting work at 5am (apparently when kiddo comes I will see all hours of the day….so I guess starting work at 5am is good training!?!)

June:
-Chris GETS CALLED FOR IOE!! (traveling to Hawaii, Nevada, Texas, Washington....and a few more states....just to name a few!)
-Air Conditioner gets fixed...Welcome to being homeowners!
-Baby Laws is becoming MORE active...it's alive....! And kicking lots!


As you can see, it has been a quick and busy spring….and we are looking forward to this summer and fall.

2nd Sonogram: Video!

Life has been SO busy lately, I haven't been able to post this previously. My apologies. I think you will all enjoy this, if you haven't already seen it.

My favorite part is actually seeing the little baby yawn! (For those who are not experts--the baby head is on the right and the legs are on the left. You can see it's spine in a few of the shots too!!)

Here is a video of our 2nd Sonogram, just a couple weeks ago:

So many changes all at once

Tomorrow is my last day of work at Oklahoma State. It seems the past couple of year have gone by so quickly! We began here at OSU in August of 2008 and just under 2 years later, we are off on another adventure! We have about 2 weeks left before we close on our house, (We are moving to Wichita, KS !!) I will be starting a new job at the Wichita Airport (for Operations), and Chris will be finishing his last bit of training in May before flying internationally.

As we speak, Chris is flying over the ocean on what I like to call a "backseat" flight. Look how handsome he looks in uniform:



He is observing what he will be doing "for real" here in a few weeks. I think he just wanted to go play in Vegas and Hawaii...but can you blame him?! ( I was hoping I could tag along, but it didn't quite work out ) See him there? I think he's waving!!


So, while he is away-I am enjoying a beautiful, peaceful evening. I just made one of my new favorite chicken recipes Chris came across....! Lemon Chicken.
(basically, you just warm up a little butter on the stove on medium heat, put thawed out chicken in the pan, sear it on one side-flip it over---and add a bit of lemon juice to the chicken as it cooks the other side. When it is cooked all the way through, it's done! and OH so delicious!)

So, here are a few pictures from Easter.

Easter, all dressed up!



Here is a "Lamb Cake" that Grandma Alice always used to make. Now Mother Mary makes one in her honor every Easter.



Mother Mary also makes the cutest place settings, including dyed eggs with our names on them. It was quite a treat to see that she even remembered our little one, whom she seated at my dinner place! (hehehhe)

Good Decisions + Friends = Great Day

A few weeks ago I was having one of those days...you know--where it's cloudy outside and it's just easier to stay home and sleep than go out and conquer the world? Well, that particular Friday happened to be the day two of my students were to take their checkrides in Tulsa. So, we were up bright and early-oh about 6ish....to decide whether or not the weather would cooperate. Unfortunately, at 6am, my brain was having a hard time deciding whether or not the weather man was predicting 100% accurately--especially the clouds.

We decided to cancel the checkrides and play it safe--since the flight over there in a multi-engine plane would be $200+...and couldn't see the benefit if my students could not take their checkrides to spend that kind of money to just fly right back home.

Sometimes I hate making good decisions. You know they are good when you feel bad about them all day long. This was that kind of day. Sadly, the clouds and weather did hold off and my students could have taken their flight checks, but on the other hand, I did not want to fly to Tulsa and get stuck....having to wait out a storm or even worse--not make it back to Stillwater due to temperatures and weather (rain + low temps = ICE.....and our plane had no de-ice or anti-ice equipment...unless you count a pitot tube!)

Anyway:
In my bummer of a mood, I trudged on and went to work. A bit (ok-a lot) bummed out, I worked my shift at the office. Since my mood was not so fantastic--I tried to kindly warn my coworkers that I was less than happy that Friday--and that I would try to be pleasant, but was not so thrilled in general with how the day had progressed thus far.

It was lunch time and TA DA! My 2 devious co-workers and a few other secretaries on campus surprised me with a gift basket of goodies for baby and myself! (ok so I shared with Chris too!!) I could not have been more surprised with their kindness and generosity. Here are a few pictures of them below, holding the basket they all went in on for us:

Here is Eleri (works in my office) and Lisa (I used to work with when I was a secretary):


And here's one of Charmaine, my other coworker:


They sure know how to make a girl feel special, especially after having a rough morning. I am so blessed and thankful to have so many great friends. It sure brightened up my day. (At that time, Chris wasn't coming home for another week--so this really helped to cheer me up)

Thanks to all my friends!

PS: I have also received a few other small gifts .... one is a hat to match Chris' wildcat hat!! (thanks Grandma for sending this out to us!)

Another is a cute book from our friend in Colorado...it's a cartoon book involving airplanes...how perfect!

Again, thanks to our friends and family. We are so blessed.

1+1=3

It is so nice having Chris home again. It's funny how quickly I can forget the little things I appreciate about my significant other.

Just the other night, I thought someone was sleeping in MY bed...oh-wait-that's just Chris. (I forgot that he was home after him being gone for a month!)

Despite my forgetfulness, I'm thrilled to have my other half home who completes me so well. For example: Laundry. I don't mind doing the laundry, folding the laundry, and putting the clean laundry back in the basket. But somehow between getting it all clean and folded, I lose interest in actually putting it away. So, when Chris got home, he laughed a bit and helped me get our clean laundry piles all put away. Additionally, I was getting a bowl of cereal (Chocolate Cheerios--by the way-if you have not tried them, you should! They are quite delicious), and I noticed that miraculously all the clean dishes in the drying rack have disappeared. Amazing! And again, I am thankful my wonderful husband is here to fill in for the things that I do not do as well. (Although....I know he's thrilled he doesn't have to do the dishes all that often....so I'm glad we are a good team)

1+1=3
Ah yes, I'm sure you are wondering what this equation is about?

Yesterday we got to go to the doctor for another check up appointment. Since we are not sure what to expect, the element of surprise in the visit is always exciting. Yesterday we got to hear the heartbeat of our little one. Thump Thump, Thump Thump....
It will be another month before our next visit--and we decided we are not going to find out the gender. While I know this is frustrating for the mass number of people who are excited for us, you will just have to wait in anticipation until this fall to find out : - )

Also, we have been on the mad hunt for houses since Chris returned last week. I we have made 2 trips to Wichita in the past week...with a forecast of another trip this weekend. The nice thing is that a 2 hour drive is not that bad.....but we wish we were flying there instead! We have a few prospects in mind, but are going to continue to look this weekend, hoping to find our new home. Since we graduate in May, we are excited about moving closer to friends and family and actually having a house. We can't wait!

Happy Valentine's Day

Some call it "single's awareness day" while others call it the day of LOVE. I simply call it February 14. (I anxiously wait for Feb 15 when all the CHOCOLATE goes on sale!!)

This weekend I was able to travel to Lawton, OK to visit a college friend, Cristina and her two beautiful children. Since Cristina's husband and my husband are both in Georgia, I decided I would come visit her and the family for Valentine's Day.
(yeah-crazy-right? Chris is in the Atlanta area and Josh is somewhere not to far from there)

Here is a picture of Cristina and I:

As part of the festivities, I took a trip down memory land and thought it would be fun to make some Valentine's Day cards!! (we used to make them with Doily's--you know those funny paper things that look like lace? DOY-leeee? I am not sure I spelled that right above!)

Well, I did not have any Doilies (sp?!) but I did find some cool hearts and stickers. I thought this would be perfect for Jocelyn (2 years old) and fun for both Cristina and I to watch her put together a card for her dad. Here are a few pictures from the event:






Since it is one of my favorite things to eat...I decided to make our Valentine's dinner:


I was Olive Garden deprived (Chris didn't want to eat Olive Garden when I was visiting him in Tulsa a couple of weeks ago--I took it upon myself to order OG to go for our dinner Saturday night!! It was MUCH better than waiting the 1+hours in the restaurant. We had a fantastic dinner after the kids went to bed--and I even got to have my favorite dessert: Tiramisu!!)

So...now all I have to do is wait a few more hours....then the real holiday begins....CHOCOLATE SALES!!

Until then,
Robin

Expecting a Baby in August!!

As you can see from above, there REALLY is a little one in there! We are expecting our first baby on August 20, 2010. As of today, we are 3 months along!!

We will not be able to find out the gender for a couple more months--but all the better. We are not sure if we are going to find out or not...we are still trying to decide. Part of the fun of not knowing is the growing excitement...so I guess we'll just have to think about it more : )

We finally got to tell our family and close friends over the past day or so. It is SO nice to have the secret out...it's hard to keep such an exciting thing like this quiet for so long. We just wanted to make sure all went well in the first trimester. So far, so good.

The best part is-I haven't really been sick (thank the Lord!!). I only had one day where I was really under the weather-and for the most part, not really felt nauseous or anything. Although, despite my best efforts...naps are a wonderful thing. I do find that it is quite pleasant to take an after lunch cat nap when I get the chance. Oh, and I was in pretty good shape and used to eating all the time-due to marathon training--and it's a good thing because I seem to be hungry ALL the time. Since I only trained for 4 months for the marathon...I cannot imagine how hungry I will be in the last 5 months of pregnancy!

We are so excited! Please continue to keep us in your prayers as our little one continues to grow and I am job-searching (preferably in the Wichita, KS area-fyi!).

In the mean time-Chris just left for simulator training in Atlanta, Georgia this morning. He will be there for a month--and I'm thinking he is going to enjoy actually applying all he has learned over the past 1.5 months. (So don't feel too sorry for him being away on an exciting adventure!)