Happy Thanksgiving!

Rick and I continue to have so much to be thankful for in our lives! We spent Thanksgiving Day with my family in Chesterton. The company was wonderful and so was the food! Here are a few pictures from the day!

The Wiese Family!

My immediate family, plus my Grandma, cousin Ed, and cousin Michael.


Andrea and me!


The layout of the food!

Visit with Uncle Mike and Aunt Sue

Rick's Aunt and Uncle were in town for Thanksgiving. We were able to spend Monday evening with them at Cindy's house. We had such a nice time catching up and socializing. Here are a few pictures from evening...notice how great everyone looks and my eyes are shut in EVERY picture.

Homemade Apple Pie-From Scratch!

Today I made an apple pie. This is not the first time for the pie, but this is the first time I made the crust myself. The past two times I have bought a crust. We haven't tried it yet -- it is for Thanksgiving, but so far it looks pretty good. Here is a picture prior to cooking it!

Rick and I purchased a headboard for our bed. We have been putting off a bedroom set for quite some time, but decided to buy a headboard. This will probably get moved downstairs once we finish the project of knocking out the wall, but for now we are enjoying it in our room.

We went to pick it up yesterday only to find it wouldn't fit in the Matrix. We tied it to the top of the car and drove home. We were both very nervous, but everything made it unharmed and in once piece. Putting it together didn't go so smoothly, but in the end it looks nice and we both slept well!

IMPA Bolwing Fundraiser!!!

On Saturday Night Rick and I went to a bowling fundraiser for his mom's union. It was a late evening (but I took a nap so I could stay up that late). We had a wonderful time with Jackie, Carlo, and Cindy. These pictures aren't in any particular order, but they capture most of the events of the evening!

There was a raffle during the event and it turned out that Cindy and Carlo won the Wii. It turned out that since Cindy already has a Wii that we were given it on Monday! So, we now have a Wii. It was set up last night.

We bowled three games that evening. The second game was "crazy" bowl. One of the frames was to bowl throw your partners legs. The look on Rick's face is priceless.

My favorite picture of me from the evening!

Jackie bowling through my legs.

Carlo checking the numbers on his raffle tickets.

These are dispatchers from the Berwyn Police Department that organized this event!

Jackie and me!

Jackie and me again (with the dispatcher hat!)

Jackie celebrating!

Bowling through my legs!

Rick doing the same!

Sitting and pushing the bowl-frame 1 of the crazy game!

There were mirrors in the room with desserts. Rick and I thought it was fun/funny to take our picture in the mirror.

Symbols of the evening!

Cindy making announcements about raffle winners!

Glow sticks were given out, I collected a few extras for this picture!

The crew that we bowled with, mostly Cindy's friends!

The prize table!

Just me in the mirror!

Cindy worked really hard on these booklets. They included advertisements and thank you's for everyone that contributed to the event. Unfortunately, not many people too them!

Jackie, Cindy, and Rick :)

Mother and Son!

Apparently proud of myself!

These were the shirts that dispatchers were wearing.
They were bright and you couldn't miss them!

Rick with his desert.

Cindy is selling raffle tickets and I was putting them into the container.

My eyes are closed, but this is a cute picture of Jackie and me.

Cindy was a selling maniac!

This was the beginning of the night, but there was dinner before bowling.

Look at all those people enjoying their dinner!

Raffle tickets before any were sold!

Puffer Student Council Makes the News!!

Yesterday was the culmination of the Thanksgiving Fundraiser at school. Here is an update on what we had done:
Each class donated an entire Thanksgiving Dinner (minus the turkey). We had enough food for 12 families.

Then we did a fundraiser where students could buy a stamp for 10 cents. They could buy up to 10 each day. The class with the most stamps per student would earn a pie party. One of the 1st grade classes was the winner. Last Friday they ate their pies and were very happy. Also, three students from this class were chosen to throw a pie at our principal.

The pie throwing happened yesterday at school. We had some reporters there and this is the video of the event! It was so cute to not only watch the kids throw the pies, but also to see the reactions of everyone else! Enjoy!

http://www.mysuburbanlife.com/downersgrove/homepage/x415852913/Henry-Puffer-first-graders-throw-pies-at-principal

Other Updates!

Like I said there have been a lot of other things going on in the past couple weeks. I have finished my first quarter of school- report cards and conferences! It is a big relief and good to have behind me.

I am almost done with a fundraiser at school for student council. I would have been happy raising around $100, but we have raised over $350. The money will go towards buying turkeys and finishing Thanksgiving baskets for families around our community.

Also, Kathy and Rich got engaged while we were in Denver! We are so happy for them and can't wait to share their wedding day with them! After they got engaged, I had a feeling we would get more good news last week.

Kathy and Rich at a recent wedding we went to together!

On Wednesday night after I got home from my conferences Adam called Rick. It wasn't just a typical call from Adam, but it was to tell us to Taryn was pregnant! I am so happy for them. Their baby is expected to arrive on June 7!

We didn't have a picture of Adam and Taryn in which they weren't kissing so Rick made an avatar of them.

Denver was Fabulous!

It is so hard to believe that I haven't updated the blog in 1/2 a month! Times have been very busy, but we have been having fun and have had a lot of great news from our friends lately.

Last weekend, Rick and I went to Denver to visit Jess and Eliot! Our visit was so enjoyable and it was sad to leave, but I was sure to leave Eliot with job and housing options in the Chicago area.

This is the apartment building in which Jess and Eliot live.

While I went to get a haircut, Rick and Eliot rode to the park to play ball.

Waiting for the traffic signal

And pretending to be "cool"

There aren't really words needed to describe how beautiful the sunset was over the mountains.

The view of the mountains from Jess and Eliot's apartment!

Sunday morning Rick and I took a walk around DU's campus. Rick wanted to take pictures and show me around. Last time we were there it was summer and not everything was open. This is a bridge in a park near campus--a really nice picture taken by Rick.

I probably didn't do a good job selecting meaningful pictures from the campus tour, but I picked a few that I liked!

Here is Rick sitting in his old seat when he used to go to DU hockey games!

Sunday afternoon we went bowling! Jess in action.

We played three games. This is the score from our third game. I chose this one because this is the game I won! Also, notice that our names spell "Jerk".

The "windblown" look using the fan at the bowling alley.

Jess and Eliot at the bowling alley!

And back in their apartment!

And finally, a picture of all four of us before we went back to the airport!

Jess and Eliot were such gracious hosts and we can't wait to spend time with them again soon!