here I am!

Hi everyone!
Its been awhile since I've written and I'm sorry. I, like Breanna, am tired teacher. :) It sure has been fun to read some of your entries, though. Sarah, sometimes when you write I think you should get a job at a newspaper--you have great persuasive, informative entries!
Things here have been fine. It gets a little monotonous to go to school, come home, cook, clean, and put Julia to bed. I love playing with her, but the rest of the stuff get old FAST. I am not a person with a cheery attitude about housework. I think if I didn't have to work on top of it, I'd be okay. Anyway, that's life, so I'll deal.
I have a couple of concerts coming up in December, so I am busy getting ready for those. One is on Friday, December 8th at 1:30 in the afternoon if anyone wants to come! :) Anyway, I spend too much time thinking about the concert and it makes me feel stressed out. I also have been fighting a womanly infection (TMI I know...) which means I've been on pretty strong antibiotics for week, and they make be feel disgusting. Nauseous, tired, just gross. So, when I add stressed out to that, it kind of sucks. On the up-side, David has been a little extra helpful this week, so that has been nice.
Julia continues to grow and make us smile. She is really starting to talk a lot. We hear words like thank you, more, please, uh-oh, oooohh, and tree a lot. :) They don't always sound perfect, but once you hear them enough you realize that's what she's saying. Its so amazing to watch her learn and figure things out. She is really getting tall, too--31 inches long! Wow. When she stretches out in the tub I always think, "Oh my gosh!! How did she get so big!" :)
My parents had a very interested couple look at their house this week...they may get an offer and have to move out by January. Now that its more real, it kind of makes me sad, but that's life. I need to realize that our house is just a thing and its the people that i care about. It will be hard to leave behind all of our memories there though.
My brother got a new job in Bloomington. He is still working for US Bank, but in a different department. He has worked there for MAYBE three weeks. His department met their quota or something like that this week, so they all get to go to Cancun. He gets to go too! Sounds nice. I think they should send teachers to Cancun after the school year. Or maybe in the middle. But wouldn't that be nice to go there after only working for three weeks?! Sounds like a nice job.
Elizabeth- how was the trip out West? I hope that you had a nice time visiting and have a feeilng of closure getting all of the loose ends tied up!
Sarah- How is your mom? Thanks for the info on the meteor shower. Cool! And I agree with you about the whole parent thing. For some they just don't care, others they are working so hard they don't have time to care. It is sad, and a cycle that I think is hard to break. But hey, lets go for that performance-based pay anyway, right Mr. Pawlenty? parents have nothing to do wtih it!
Breanna- I'm sorry you're sounding so burned out! I hope that once in awhile your kids show you why it was you went into teaching. You are a super teacher!!!! They'll be so much better off because of you, even though you might not see it now.
Everyone else--WE NEED TO HEAR FROM YOU!!
Well, Have a very Happy Thanksgiving everyone!! I love you all, and love that we can catch up on this blog. What a genius idea, Sarah. :) Have a fun weekend, and hopefully we can all see one another soon.

Love ya,
Mandy