Two Big Announcements!

I have kept forgetting to put our two big announcements up on here but I have FINALLY remembered!! 


So without further ado.....


On August 6th there will be another Hannink wedding!! Ben's sister Alyssa was proposed to on New Year's! Bill and Alyssa are getting married this August! We are so excited for them and can't wait for another big wedding! After all, the last Hannink wedding was pretty awesome... :) 

Congrats Bill and Alyssa! 

Our other big announcement is Ben got a JOB! He works at a Science Discovery Center for Kids as an InterActor. Ben describes his job has one where he plays all day! He spends the day doing demonstrations for kids and playing with all the interactive exhibits. He is alway waiting on word for another job that he interviewed for yesterday. We are blessed! 

Christmas: Part 1

Ben and I were spoiled this Christmas. We received so many wonderful gifts and had so much fun seeing the special things that our family and friends picked out for us. I love Christmas and the thought that goes into it. I wanted to share with you a few gifts that I was blessed with at Christmas. By the time I thought about taking pictures of my gifts most of them were already put away but I did snap a few pictures.


But first, here is a few pictures of our first Christmas tree!! 

With the chaos of everything we never bought a tree so we made our own using crepe paper! 

 Our beautiful tree!

 We put up some of our ornaments (the ones that wouldn't break!) and put our presents under the tree. 

Now on to the gifts, just a few of the many that we received. 

 A calendar from the DeRuischer's filled with pictures of their family with important dates labeled like our 1 year wedding anniversary. 

Some goodies for our kitchen.

                                                  

 A housewarming gift from Ben's parents. 

 A rip stick from the Kruithof's.

 Housewarming gift from my parents. 

 Lots of recipe books! I love them all!

 We bought a new computer with our Christmas money and with money Ben received for Graduation.

 Notepads for every season!

 Ben got a firesafe security box! We really needed one!

 A cute little laundry money holder filled with money!

Flannel sheets!!! Drying in our apartment because we don't use the dryer, it costs 50 cents and we are cheap! :)

Told you we were spoiled!

I also am working on a post filled with some of the Christmas crafts I made this year! 

11 Fun Facts!

At the start of the New Year I saw a lot of blogs that were doing something clever with the number 11. I thought it would be fun to come up with a list of 11 Things You Probably Didn't Know About Jessica (Unless You're My Mother!)


So without further ado:


11 Things You Probably Didn't Know About Jessica!


1. I really dislike vegetables! I just really started eating a few veggies this year and now salads too!


2. I can't drive/ride through a tunnel without thinking of Princess Di's death. 


3. My toenails are ALWAYS painted. I think I've gone a day or two without them painted for as long as I can remember. 


4. I LOVE Blow Pops but would never buy a bag of them because I can eat through an entire bag in a day if I had one around the house. 


5. I would love to be a veterinarian. 


6. I love the name Bindy! It is the name of Steve Irwin's daughter and I think it is the coolest name! It also happens to be one of my nicknames. 


7. I can't go to bed with the closet door open. 


8. I fear someone cutting off my toes if they hang off the end of a bed. 


9. I have dated two guys named Ben. Only married one though! :)


10. I am a murderer. My pet hamster had babies and I was holding one in my hand and it rolled off and fell to the ground. He didn't make it. This memory haunts me!


11. I REALLY want a horse!


Now tell me a fun fact about you!!!! 

2011 - In Review

On December 31st, 2009, I was in my 1st apartment celebrating the end of a year with my fiancée and friend, Rich. I remember thinking about where I would be the next year.I never thought that on December 31st, 2010 I would be celebrating the end of the year in South Dakota! My family has a tradition that we start a small fire in a container outside and on small slips of paper write the things  that we want to "get rid of" before the start of the next year. This way we can start get the New Year started off on the right foot! It is a tradition that Ben loves too so even though I have not spent New Year's with my family we continue the tradition. 

This year was no exception!

I kept thinking about this past year and how amazing it really was!! 

Here is a look at some of the fun we had this year! (In no particular order!)

We got married!

 We planted our first garden! 

 Aunty Jodi and Aunty Lisa came up for the day to Geocache!

 Justin visited us and the boys spent an afternoon playing games!

 Raena also visited too and went cliff jumping for the first time!

 We went to see Tahquamenon Falls with the Hanninks!

 Said goodbye to my teaching friends that I've spent the last 5 years with!

 Met baby Erin who was born in November!

 Slept over at Grandma Hannink's and made breakfast with the Kruithof's!

 Spent some time hanging out with the DeRuischer's!

 Picked a TON of wild blueberries and bear berries!

 Celebrated Addie's first birthday!

 Took Raena Geocaching and she found her first one!

 Walked the Mackinac Bridge with this crazy crew!

 Ben took up fishing!

We took our friends Geocaching too! 

 Got together with some of my old Breakwater Residents from my year as an RA!

 Watched Mikayla swim in her first swim meet!

And said goodbye to Marquette before saying hello to South Dakota!

Quick Update!!

Hello everyone!! 
Thanks for bearing with me on my blog vacation.


The last few weeks have been so wonderful and I really focused on spending as much time with my family as possible. I took a break from the internet and even my beloved camera. I soaked in every second of my vacation. I read a lot, slept in until noon, didn't get dressed until 3pm, spent countless hours playing games, reading and relaxing. 


After a week and half with our families and 30 hours in the car, Ben and I spent my last weekend before student teaching by being very lazy. It was very nice!! We did visit a church on Sunday but then crawled back into bed for an afternoon of reading and again - relaxing! 


My first week of Student Teaching was beyond amazing! The days are long I leave the house at 7am and get back home around 4pm, then dinner, preparing for the next day and on top of everything I've been fighting a pretty bad cold - yet I wouldn't change anything!! 


Right now I am only responsible for the read-aloud part of the day where I read for 20 minutes each day and then I have picked up smaller responsibilities like bringing the students to their bathroom break, staying in for recess to work with students individually and in small groups, etc. Next week I pick up Spelling which occurs three times a week and then every week I pick up a subject or two so that I am teaching all day in a few weeks. I'm so excited! My teacher is amazing and while I am nervous I know she will help prepare me to lead the class well! 


Ben is getting pretty antsy. He is still looking for work and spending his days doing just that! Pray that we hear good news soon! 


Other than that our friend Rich is coming to visit us tonight! It will be so nice to see a familiar face and to spend some time catching up with a good friend we haven't seen in a few months! 


Watch for a Christmas post soon filled with photos of all the goodies we got for Christmas!