Choosing a Name: Rosalyn Eloise

Like most girls I spent a lot of time thinking about my future children's names when I was younger.  When I was about 6 or 7, I just knew I was going to have a girl (a boy was totally out of the question), and her name would be either Nicole or Michelle.  I adored those names.  As the years changed, so did my favorite names.  In middle school after doing some genealogy research, I stumbled upon and fell in love with Phoebe.  My friends didn't like that name because "it was old", so my search for the right name continued.  In high school I was set on the name Kali, and in college, it was Araby.  I never spent a whole lot of time thinking about names for boys because I just really wanted a girl.

Throughout our relationship, Derek and I would discuss baby names periodically.  It always happened that Derek would think of boy names while I thought of ones for girls.  I don't know if that's just something that's built into our DNA--that we associate more with one gender than the other because that's what we are, or because that's what is comfortable and familiar--or just what we preferred.  Derek would throw out names like Milo and Xander (or something like that).  Ones that I just really wasn't fond of.  And I would toss in Ellen and Emma.

When we found out we were pregnant, we excitedly considered various names.  I'd mention a few I liked while watching TV, and he'd text me his thoughts throughout the day.  We began a list of names including Emmett, Lane, Milo, and Asher; Ella, Bonnie, Piper, and Rosalyn.  Eventually we settled on Asher if we had a boy and Rosalyn if we had a girl.

Almost all of the predictions were for a boy (including my students' predictions), and although I somewhat secretly wanted a girl, I had resolved to the fact that I'd have to wait until the next baby because this one was a boy.  But around Valentine's Day, along with Derek, my mom, and my mother-in-law, we found out that we were expecting a GIRL!

We continued the next several months preparing for the little Miss, and finally welcomed her into this world 6 days after her due date.  Her name: Rosalyn Eloise Nesselrodt. 

I know if I were to go back to middle school, my friends would tell me it's an old name, but I love it.  Neither Rosalyn nor Eloise are family names (that I know of), but I think they fit her perfectly.  They're not the super common Sophia or Isabella, but they're also not the strange Tinlee or Ember.  Rosalyn comes from (I believe) three of Shakespeare's works, which is perfect for an English major like me, although I didn't think about this until later, and means beautiful rose. 

Rosalyn is my beautiful rose.  From a little bud in my tummy, she has grown into the incredible bloom that I am so blessed to have in my life.   I just can't wait to watch her grow and see what all life has in store for her.

Chalkboard Signs: Ashlee & Grant's Wedding!

Three years ago my principal texted me a few weeks before school started and said a new teacher was hired for the math position in our middle school. This isn't a conversation that typically occurs after new staff are hired, but my principal wanted me to meet this new teacher because we both lived in the same town.

Although I'm originally from the town in which I teach, I moved to a neighboring town after college (where my husband is from).  I commute the roughly 35-40 minutes to work every day even though I live about 2 seconds away from the high school in this town.  My principal knew I was interested in carpooling with other 'imported' teachers, so she sent me the number of this new teacher.

I'm kind of weird when meeting new people sometimes.  I get excited, but then anxiety begins to creep in and I start to imagine all of the possibilities of who they are and how much we won't get along. (This is dumb because there are few people I don't get along with.)  I left her number there in my text messages and told myself I'd call her sometime before school.

Luckily Ashlee hunted me down on Facebook and sent me a message because most likely I would've left her number in my phone and waited until school started to meet. (I can be a bit of a terrible person.)

We met for lunch one day before school began, and I'm so glad we did because I love her! This will be my third year working with Ashlee and carpooling with her and our friend Katie who teaches in the elementary school.  I dislike the days when I drive alone because our conversations are greatly missed.  We get a chance to share recipes, vent about whatever happened during the day, talk about the funny moments we had with our kids, and talk about our personal lives.

This post wasn't meant to share my "origin story" with Ashlee, but to share a piece of her wedding.  Shortly after we began the school year that first year together, Ashlee got engaged.  Earlier this summer she finally married the love of her life in a beautiful rustic barn wedding.  Seriously, it was one of the most beautiful weddings I've ever attended.

Prior to the wedding, Ashlee asked if I would create some chalkboard signs for her.  I was a bit skeptical of my skills and worried that they wouldn't be at all what she wanted, but I told her I'd give it a shot.  Thanks to Pinterest, they didn't turn out so bad! :)  I don't take credit for the design of any of the signs below.  Seriously, I found the designs from ideas on Pinterest.

Derek "joked" that he wanted to skip the ceremony and go straight to the reception to eat!

Ring bearer sign: side 1

Ring bearer sign: side 2

There were a few more that I didn't have a chance to capture, but I think all of them turned out pretty good!

Isn't it beautiful?!

This table was filled with delicious goodness for the reception.

An ice cream float bar!

Such a wonderful, godly couple!

Derek has a thing about angrily eating cupcakes.

The carpooling gals! (Please excuse the fact that I look as large as a house... This is one of about 3 pictures I have at 9 months pregnant.)

I wish Ashlee and Grant nothing but the best! I know that they'll have a long, happy, and beautiful marriage! :)

10 Moments from the Past 10 Months

When I posted the Mumford cover of "Fare Thee Well" back in August, I didn't actually think that I would be saying that to my blog for the next several months.  Unfortunately, though, that's what happened.  School began which meant putting my creativity into lesson plans and leaving little room in the bucket to keep up with personal writing.

It's been quite the busy 10 months since I last wrote.  Here's a quick recap of our top 10 moments from the past 10 months:

1. I began my third year of teaching.  This year definitely had its ups and downs, more so than normal I think, but hopefully it was successful.  I never really feel like I've accomplished much at the end of the year; I don't know if other teachers feel this way, but there's always SO much more that I wish I would've done with my students before the year ended.

2. We celebrated my niece's baptism in September and became Godparents! It was a beautiful day and a really nice service.  She was baptized along with our pastors' sweet daughter.

3. Probably the biggest news of the past 10 months was finding out we're expecting!!  I'll post more about this later, but we are super excited to be pregnant with our first child--a little girl--who is due to arrive in just a few short weeks!

I always think posting pictures of pregnancy tests is a little weird... but this is from the actual day we found out after my doctor asked me to take the test.  We were so surprised!

4. We celebrated our 6th annual Friendsgiving dinner.  This is the second time we've been able to host dinner at our new house and decided to hold it in our garage this year.  We strung up lights across the ceiling, lit a fire in the stove, and moved in enough tables and chairs to hold the approximately 30 guests who came.  In the craziness of it all, I managed to forget to take pictures of the food & decor--something that seems to happen about every year.

These are about the only pictures we captured from the evening :)

5. Little Miss Niecey turned ONE! It's so nuts to think that she's already old enough to have had a birthday, but life has definitely been more interesting with her around! :) My sister threw a really nice Winter Wonderland/Frozen themed birthday party for her.

6. I turned 26. What? I'm on the downhill side to 30... and I'm not really sure when that happened. We celebrated with my in-laws' incredible BBQ chicken, cake, and a trip to the park.

Where did this toddler come from? She was just a baby a minute ago!

A 26-week bump

7. We completed a few home DIY projects including re-landscaping in front of our house, painting our shutters, and getting the nursery ready.

8. We spent a lot of time with our families, celebrating both ups and downs of which there have been plenty.

9. We paid off our car a year early! Derek has been really focused on budgeting for the past several months (maybe the past year or more?), and we're slowly seeing the positive results of it.  I just keep telling myself that it'll all be worth it down the road when we can vacation and travel freely without needing to worry about student loans and other debt.

10. We (when I say "we", I actually mean Derek) planted our garden.  We're experimenting with a few new vegetables this year and will hopefully see some good results! :)


Now that it's summertime, I'm hoping to get back on track to blog regularly.  We'll see how that turns out once the little miss arrives in a few weeks. :)

Bubbles with Livi

Can I just say how much I adore this little one?!  I have no idea where the past seven months have gone because it really seems like she was just born. She is growing so quickly & is full of personality. She smiles at everything and is just generally the happiest baby I've ever met!  Yesterday we played with bubbles.

Where did they go??

Baxter is less than amused with both the bubbles and the baby.

"I'm so happy I could drool!"

Honor Flight

I've always been incredibly close with my grandparents.  There was only a field separating our house from theirs when I was growing up, so most days were spent with them on the farm.  Grandpa was always my hero.

I can remember going to Washington, D.C. for the first time when I was in 3rd grade with a family friend.  As we were walking into the Air & Space Museum, a reporter and camera man stopped us outside and asked to interview me and the other little boy for the evening news.  Their question: who is your hero?  My automatic response: my grandfather.

We spent many summer days riding around in the dump truck, fishing for bluegills and catfish, eating fish sandwiches at the Korner Shop, and visiting the Senior Citizen's Center where I was formally known as "Jim's Little Helper".  I thought he was the coolest person on Earth and always loved to hear his stories.

My Senior Prom

Among Grandpa's favorite stories to tell included his time in Cuba during WWII and the period of time when he was assigned to march at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.  Over and over he would reference words in Spanish that he had learned and his girlfriend, Violeta, that he'd met during the two years spent in Cuba.  Over and over he would talk about the two little girls who ran up to him for a picture as he was marching at the Tomb.  I loved hearing these stories (and still do).

Grandpa in the middle with his brothers

He lived through the Depression, served our country during the second World War, raised a family, and worked harder than I ever imagine I'll have to in my life.  It's no wonder why I consider him to be my hero.

A few months ago, Grandpa was introduced to the Honor Flight program which takes Veterans on an all expenses paid trip to Washington, D.C. to see the war memorials.  The Veterans go and return all in one day, and all accommodations will be made for those Veterans who have special needs.  He was hooked.  This was the first time Honor Flight had come to our area, and he wanted to go on the trip.  He had been to Washington, D.C. many times and was even stationed there for a while, but he hadn't been able to go back since the WWII memorial was constructed. 

Grandpa on the far right in uniform with his brothers & sisters

At 92, Grandpa doesn't get out of his house and do much anymore, but he was incredibly excited for this trip.  He needed a guardian to go on the trip, and Mom was afraid she wouldn't be able to push his wheelchair all day.  The trip was the day after school ended, so I volunteered to go as his guardian.  For months, whenever he'd see me, he'd mention the trip that was getting closer and closer. 

Finally, the day came for us to leave on the trip, and he was ready.

We met at 7am and traveled with about 20 other veterans on a chartered bus to DC where we spent the day visiting the war memorials.  It was a beautiful, clear, and sunny day.  There were other Honor Flight programs visiting as well, so we had the opportunity to meet other veterans from around the country.  We had specific times to be back to the bus, but we were able to go and look at what we wanted at our own pace.

We started at the Korean Memorial, and on our way out toward the Lincoln Memorial, a group of kids on a school trip from California surrounded Grandpa.  I didn't really know what to expect at first, but each student came up and shook Grandpa's hand, thanking him for his service.  Each student was SO sincere as they took his hand and looked him in the eyes to thank him.  It was incredible.  This was the beginning.

We made our way around the area and back to the bus so we could head to the WWII Memorial.  Unfortunately,  there were some bus issues throughout the day (a bird had gotten stuck in the exhaust somehow which made the bus break down), so we decided to walk to the WWII Memorial instead of riding there.  It's not a far trip for most of us, but when you're in your 80s and 90s on a 90 degree day, the walk there and back can be a little daunting.

As we moved closer to the memorial, I noticed flags.   There were tons of American flags being held along the sidewalk, kind of like what you see along the sidewalks of a town on patriotic holidays.  I pointed them out to Grandpa, but he didn't really know what they were for either.  As we walked a little closer, we could see that there were people holding them.  A motorcycle group lined both sides of the sidewalk, each person holding an American flag.  We began our walk through the 100 or more people gathered in the group, and as we walked, each member stopped us to shake Grandpa's hand and thank him for his service.  This continued with every member in their group and every Veteran in ours.

We reached the end of the line only to discover a mass of people leading up to the entrance of the memorial.  I wondered if there was a special event going on that day that I wasn't aware of and if I should find a different way around to enter into the memorial.  As I pushed Grandpa forward, the crowd separated into two lines around us, and everyone began clapping and cheering.  There were thousands of people along the sides of the walkway looking and cheering.  Most said something specific to Grandpa; others shook his hand.  It finally occurred to me that they were here for all of the Honor Flight veterans.  Some were there with their families.  Others were there as school groups.  There were people who just looked like tourists and other people dressed in suits.  There were some people who were in costumes (who were later jazz dancing in the area) and some in motorcycle gear.  They all stood together and cheered as we made our way through into the memorial.

We toured the memorial, took some pictures in front of the West Virginia pillar, and explored for a little while.  Grandpa had the opportunity to talk to people from all across the country and tell his stories.  He was asked by kids in several school groups to take his picture with them (all the while I'm thinking, "These kids are so nice. I can't imagine my students being this respectful and asking for pictures."), and he was able to meet Senator Bob Dole. 

We were able to catch a bus to take us back to our regular bus, and we all rested for a while under some shade trees.  The nice comments and greetings continued while we were waiting outside of our bus, and we had the chance to talk with some New Jersey folks on an Honor Flight trip before getting on the bus to head home.

Each veteran received a packet of "mail" with letters, cards, and pictures school kids from the area made for them.

The day was incredible.  It's amazing to see your personal hero treated as an all-around hero by SO many people.  I think all of the veterans had a great time on the trip despite some unexpected bus problems.  I hope that Honor Flight does some more trips for Veterans in this area because the statistics are staggering for WWII and Korean veterans (1,300 die every day in the US).

If your family has a WWII, Korean, or Vietnam veteran, I strongly suggest looking into the Honor Flight program.  It is truly a remarkable experience that your veteran deserves to have.

Everyone's looking great at the end of a long but wonderful day!

For more information: www.honorflight.org