Long Overdue....but nobody's surprised, right??

I have about a hundred pictures waiting to be posted to my blog....we've also had a fairly fun and eventful summer that I have been planning on writing about. All you avid fans and supporters of our southern life, get excited...you will hear more sooner or later.

However, this blog is just a teaser to let you know that it will probably be later. Brent and I are being induced first thing tomorrow morning, and will (if everything goes smoothly) have our new little girl in our arms by early afternoon. We love you all!! You'll hear more in due time!

Starting the Summer Off Right

As soon as school let out for the summer, Brent and I took off for the beach! We both really needed the break, and with the baby coming it may be the last one we ever get....so, we booked a hotel and spent three days in Myrtle Beach. Although over-commercialized and way too "city" for me to ever dream of living there, it was a perfect vacation for a couple days and we had a blast! Here are some of our favorite pictures from the trip.

This is the beach we stayed on. It was absolutely beautiful! Our hotel was right on the beach so it was easy to walk down the stairs and onto the sand.

We spent most of our trip basking in the sun and soaking up rays.

We also searched for seashells, and found quite a few beautiful and unique ones.

We got to see a bunch of living creatures like this hermit crab! Brent grabbed it because he thought the shell was pretty, and then realized there was a crab inside...so cool!

This star fish washed up on the shore near us. He's missing one of his limbs, but Brent threw him back into the ocean in hopes of saving the little guy.

In addition to those, we also saw a regular ocean crab about the size of a softball, an entire school of fish glistening across the top of the water, and birds that dove into the ocean in search of food. Then, Brent had a "National Geographic" moment when he happened to glance out into the ocean and saw a fish about 1 foot long jump out of the water, followed by a fish about 3-4 feet long in hot pursuit. They came about 6 feet out of the water, arched, and dove back in. It was so fun for him to see that!

Here we are just enjoying the water.

Since Myrtle Beach is practically the golf capital of the world, we just had to hit the miniature golf course! They have over 50 mini golf courses in that town with a variety of themes. This one was a Captain Hook theme.

Brent is a bit proud of his hole-in-one...

Then I got my revenge with a hole-in-one of my own! (Of course, I lost by about 15 strokes, so I don't know if you can really call that revenge...)

One of the last things we did was visit the Ripley's Believe It or Not Aquarium. They had full-size sharks, sea turtles, plenty of fish, an octopus, and much more. In one area, they had a huge tank that you could walk underneath, or ride the moving sidewalk. It was really neat. However, our favorite part (by far) was....

Petting the sting rays!! They had a huge tank full of about 5-6 different kinds of rays, and they were awesome! Some had soft, slippery skin while others had rough skin. Some were really friendly and playful like dolphins, and others were more mellow. Some had spots, dorsal fins, upturned noses, funny shaped mouths...it was quite the experience! We both could have spent all day there!

After three days, we were exhausted! We had a great trip, and felt blessed to have so many wonderful experiences while we were there. It was really hard to head back home and back to real life, but we were refreshed and ready.

Baby Bump

Here is the newest picture of our little baby bump. I have officially crossed over from "Hmmm...she looks like she might be pregnant, but I don't want to embarass myself if I'm wrong" to "Congratulations! How far along are you?" In other words, everybody, including complete strangers, assume that I'm pregnant and then proceed to touch, point at, and use my belly as a out-of-school lesson for the youngsters they are toting around with them. Fun stuff! In this picture I'm about 28 weeks along.

Summer Time

School is finally over!! My last day of work was Saturday May 30, and now I have the entire summer off! Today Brent and I are heading to Myrtle Beach for a few days of fun in the sun, and then I plan to sit by the pool, work on sewing projects, and read lots of books for the next three months. It should be great!

One more week and counting

We only have 6 school days left....yahoo!! And actually, tomorrow is the last day for seniors, so we threw a little bash for them today. I decorated my first cake ever, we had cute decorations, and we ended the year with a bang. Here are a few of the pictures:

This is the cake I made. It's nowhere near perfect, but I'm proud of it anyway.

These are our graduating seniors...their fingers say "2009."

And this is the gang: Me and the other deaf education teacher, our classroom assistant, and both of our classes together. Seven of them are mine, and three of them are hers...but the quote "it takes a village to raise a child" certainly applies to all the students in our program. One of our traditions at the end of the year is to take turns acting each other out...it is hilarious to see the funny little habits that these kids pick up on, and then they're portrayal of it. This year, our classroom assistant Debbie did the honors. We laughed for 45 minutes straight. Here's a little clip of it...she's making fun of me in this video---the body language is easy enough to understand! :)

I love my job so much, and these kids are so great. I can't wait for another great year! (I mean, I can definitely wait...I do need my summer!)

And the "Best Husband in the World" Award Goes to...

my husband, Brent! Yeah, that's right...I really do think he is the best husband in the world. Now, I do realize that I have a bit of bias towards him. But, I also think that most of you will agree when you read the following story:
Two days ago I was craving donuts--but not just any donuts. I really wanted one of those long, thick maple bars that I have loved since birth. It has been almost two years since I have eaten one, because I have never seen them in a store in South Carolina. Brent and I have gone to Dunkin' Donuts a few times and we've eaten plenty of their mediocre donuts, but it certainly wasn't going to cut it this particular time. So, 10 o'clock at night, Brent heads out on a mission. He comes home forever later with stinkin' Dunkin' Donuts!!??!! Well, I can't be too mad because he procedes to tell me that he stopped at 3 different grocery stores searching for the coveted maple bars, and nobody has them--it is after 10 pm, after all. The donuts were great, but didn't satisfy the craving....thanks anyway baby!
**Side note: I realize that many, many fathers-to-be have run insane errands like this for their mild-to-profoundly crazy pregnant wives. Therefore, I think it's only fitting that the "Best Husband in the World" Award is dedicated to all of these blessed men. We wouldn't make it through without you (no matter how many times we tell you 'I hate you'....'you don't love me'....'you did this to me'...etc)!
Now the story gets really good--I wake up early the next morning and get in the shower. When I come out of the bathroom, my husband is nowhere to be found. I proceed to get ready for work, and he shows up about 20 minutes later with four thick, delicious, perfect maple bars in tow. Last night he had hunted down one of the bakery workers, found out that the store didn't make donuts like that ever, and special ordered them!!!! He had four maple donuts especially made just for me!! What a total HUNK!!!! He's just the greatest ever....

More about Baby She-Dukes!

We had another Dr. appointment today, and another ultra sound (which is obviously my favorite part of any Dr. appointment)...these things are absolutely amazing! We can actually see the baby that is growing inside of us! They can even do them in 4D now, which completely astounds me! Here's our latest picture of our sweet little girl.Isn't that unbelievably mind-blowing!! Who does she look like more--me or Brent? :)
Everything looks healthy, she moves around a ton, we saw fingers, and she smiled and yawned while we were looking at her (or at least made crazy facial movements that resembled a smile and a yawn). Cool stuff!!