Three Generations

As I mentioned in the previous post, Ben got to go out hunting while we were home over break. One of the guys took a picture of three generations of Schrants. Don't you just love brown and orange?

Thanksgiving Vacation

Wow, it's been awhile since I posted. Ben and I took vacation last week and headed home to enjoy the holiday with our family. We won't be able to make it back for Christmas this year, so we wanted to have a nice, relaxing visit for Thanksgiving. We spent the first half with my family and then went on to see Ben's side. We ate way too much food and saw lots of our friends and family. It was just wonderful. Ben even got to go hunting; which he has been looking forward to for such a long time. We miss everyone already!
While we were at my house, we found a pile of limestone that was free for the taking. Back at home, people carve limestone posts with their names as outdoor decoration. Benj has been wanting to make a stone for one of his friends for several years now and this seemed like the perfect opportunity. He picked out a stone, smoothed it off, stenciled on the letters, carved it out, and then painted it in. I'm so impressed. It looks really good!


We made it here last night and are back to the old routine. Ben started a month of orthopedics today. He caught a nasty cold these last few days, so hopefully he can shake that soon. I continue to feel good and can't believe how fast time is flying by. We got our house all decorated for Christmas last night. I'll have to post pictures of our tree next time. Hope everyone had as good of a Thanksgiving break as we did!

Picture update--32 Weeks

I've been told it's time for another picture update of my pregnancy. I'm 32 weeks now and feeling huge! How much bigger can I possibly get in the next 8 weeks? I don't even want to imagine. I had a doctor's appointment last week and we are still looking good. I continue to feel great and am still able to jog (rather slowly, mind you) about 4 miles a day. Oh, and I don't think I have posted on here yet about my big decision. Ben and I have been talking and thinking about it for a long time and I finally decided to go ahead and quit my job after my maternity leave is over. We will only be in Kirksville for a few more years, and I want to be home with this baby. I am pretty excited and I really hope this is the right decision for us. Now that I have told people here at work, I am a little nervous about it, but I am glad to have this opportunity.

Anyway, here I am at 32 weeks...

Alpo apples

First of all, I just wanted to thank everyone who sent cards, called, posted, or said a kind word. My grandfather's funeral was very nice and the whole family was able to be there to celebrate his life. It was a very fast trip home for us, but obviously, we wouldn't have missed it.

Ben's parents were able to come up over the weekend and it was so nice to see them. We haven't been able to make it to Hays for awhile and we really appreciated having the company!

I also thought I would post a little funny from last week. I came home from work one day to find a huge dog food bag sitting on my porch. I could not for the life of me figure out why someone would bring us dog food. So, I opened the bag to find it full of apples! Ben's friend had brought us tons of apples. This is the second time this year, only last time we got them in grocery sacks. They are actually really good and we have been making several apple pies. But honestly, who puts apples in a dog food bag?? Anyway we have been teasing about eating "Alpo Apples" all week. I know we peel them and everything, but it's still a little odd to eat out of an Ol' Roy bag.

Happy Halloween

We had about 7 or 8 trick or treaters this year, which is more than we have had in the past, so I thought we did pretty well. Ben had to work on Halloween this year, but he did carve a pumpkin for the occasion.

He carved a character from one of his favorite internet cartoons--the Homestar Runner. Really, I think it's a dumb cartoon, but he did do a good job carving out "the Cheat."

In case you were curious here's a picture of him from the cartoon...

On another, sad note...Ben and I will be heading home tomorrow for my grandfather's funeral. He passed away yesterday morning pretty unexpectedly. It is the first grandparent that either Ben or I have lost. We're definitely going to miss him. Thankfully, we were able to see him just a couple of weeks ago when we were home for my baby shower. Here's a picture of me with Grandma and Pop.