A Quarter of a Century...

Can I really be that old?  As much as I appreciate the cheaper car insurance, I would much rather pay extra and still have my youth.  People say that age is a state of mind... we will see about that one.  Just kidding, I am not that bent out of shape about it. 

This weekend was an interesting one...  Tom came down to Chicago and brought Emily along with him so that I could have some "girl time."  It was so nice to spend some time with her now that she is out of Medical School and in transition.  She is still pretty exhausted from the 4-year brain-fry that she endured, but she was able to let loose a little and have some fun.  And, she even got to practice her new medical skills!  Mother Nature decided that I should  start off my 25th year of life with an awful cold.  How thoughtful, huh? 

On Saturday, I told myself that I didn't really feel awful so the three of us headed to the Chicago Botanic Gardens.  The garden is huge.  We enjoyed the first nice day walking around, smelling the flowers, and enjoying the company of each other.  We all decided that if working was optional for us, that we would just dedicate all of our time making a wonderful garden.  Unfortunately, gardening loses right now, HA!  Below are some pictures that I took while there...

Sunday I spent the majority of the day in bed.  It turns out that the fun on Saturday, coupled with a lack of sleep caught up with me.  Emily and Tom did an excellent job of taking care of me though, so I was very fortunate.  Thanks, you two, for all the love!

Take some time to smell the flowers this week! 

Doctor In The House!!!

Congratulations, Emily!  Even though you thought (more than once) that you failed out of Medical School, we all knew better.  And, here you are, 4 years later-a Doctor of Medicine!

There you have it folks, Dr. Emily Schafhauser!

The SkyFari at the Omaha Zoo

 It is on paper.. it must be official!

Uff-Dah!

What a weekend!  My Mom and Dad came down (once again, poor parents) to help with the house.  Tom's Dad also made appearance on Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning.  There is absolutely no way that Tom and I would have been able to do the projects this weekend without them.  So, thank you, parents!  We both feel that after this weekend things might actually get completed on our house.  We have always had so many projects going on and none of them completed... until this weekend.  With 90% of the trim up, and all of the windows replaced and framed in, this place is really starting to come together.  What a relief it is to know that the end is in sight and that before we know it, the house problems will be someone else's! 

Enjoying Raclette after a hard days work

Why do I always walk into a room and find a HUGE hole in my house?!

Alison with powertools... scary isn't it?

So, Mr. Rooney literally climbed up this ladder with the huge window in his hands, held it up, and managed to secure it to the house without dropping it... twice.  

This window may not look that large in this picture... but trust me, if it was yours and it was being carried up a ladder, it would make you quite nervous!

So, now my rickety old house has new windows that actually work, including upstairs.  I am pretty excited to have the crank-out windows gone (including the used one that my Dad discovered) and put in a window fan on hot summer days.  It is the simple things that make me happy these days! 

We are all headed to Omaha this week to watch Emily officially become a Doctor.  I am so proud of her and all of her accomplishments!  I can only imagine what it must feel like for my parents, to watch their kid do such great things.  Congratulations, Emily!  Minnesota is getting a good one!