as of late...

• we have been in our house almost a year now.  we have done a few projects, but there is still much to be done.  we are currently on the verge of a kitchen remodel.  looking forward to new cabinets, counter tops, floors, etc.  we were fortunate enough to get the first time home buyer tax credit, which will be funding our project.  we are also hoping to paint the exterior of the house soon.
• we have loved living in raytown for this year.  we have made a lot of new friends and have really integrated into the community.  we even got 2nd place in the kickball league at the park last summer!  you can see our trophey on display at benetti's coffee experience. (watch out, we're coming back this summer and anything less than first will be unacceptable!)  i love being part of a community that i can be proud to call my own.  it has also been great living close to our families, we love spending time with them.
• i have been at St. Luke's for one and a half years now.  this is actually the longest time i have spent at a job since i graduated college.  it has been good, i really have enjoyed working there.  i have made some good friends there, which always makes going to work much more bearable.  we on taking over the accounts payable for St. Luke's North hospital on April 1st, so although things have slowed lately, they are about to pick up again!
• little debbie is about to turn 7 months old!  as cheesy as it sounds, she has been such a wonderful addition to our lives.  still, 6 months after bringing her home the first thing we do every day when we get home is go straight to debbie and pick her up so we can love on her.  she survived all her baby shots and getting spayed and declawed.  she loves to find small spaces to snuggle in.  once we couldn't find her anywhere-we were both getting a little worried as we looked for 5-10 minutes; and then deb just hopped out of a box like nothing was wrong.  other places we have found her have been inside the linen closet, in a bag of trash, in ben's laptop bag, the dirty clothes hamper...  we have bought her a few kitty toys, but her favorite thing to play with is a ball of aluminum foil.  go figure!  i learned that cats should not get cow's milk because most of them are lactose intolerant, but i discovered whiska's cat milk.  debbie literally goes crazy over this stuff.  as soon as we pull it out of the fridge and get a saucer out of the cupboard she starts meowing like crazy!  well, i could go on forever about deb so let's move on!
• ben has officially been co-owner/editor of the raytown post for about 5 months.  he loves it.  he works so hard on it, and as a result he has gotten quite a bit of positive feedback from the community.  i am so proud of him!  i've enjoyed going along with him to high school games that he covers.  we followed the ray south cardinal football team to a state championship in the edward jones dome in st. louis, where ben got to cover from the sidelines.  that was so exciting!  and it was heartbreaking when they lost in the final seconds after a hail mary pass into the end zone by the other team.  :o(  more recently i enjoyed following along with the raytown girls basketball team to the sectional game.  i love watching sports, so this has been a great outlet for that.
• we are going on a trip to florida in late june with ben's family.  i am looking forward to a nice, relaxing time away from work.  ben's grandparent's host this trip for the entire family ever summer after one of the grandchildren graduates from high school.  this will be the third that i have been a part of.  we will be staying in condo with an in ground pool, a hot tub, a game room....yeah i am pretty excited.
• the trip is due to the fact that our megan is graduating from high school.  i can hardly believe this, and the thought of it gets me all teary-eyed.  she recently found out she was accepted into missouri western university in st. joseph, mo.  i am so proud of her!  and i am glad she won't be too far from us.  it has been amazing watching her blossom into a beautiful and intelligent young woman.  god definitely has great things in store for her!
• in just a few short days, baseball season will be here.  we are especially excited because this year, we made the decision to purchase season tickets to the royals.  we got a half season plan, that includes 2 seats.  i cannot begin to tell you how excited my precious husband is for this.  he has pretty much wanted to do this forever.  we are looking forward to seeing all of the new renovations that have been done over the offseason.  kaufman has always been a beautiful stadium, so we are excited to see all of the new additions.
• danny and megan are visiting in 2 weeks!  we have not seen them since christmas, so it will be great to hang out with them for a few days.  we will all be going to the royals game on saturday to see them play the yankees-should be a fun time!  it has been quite a while since i have been to a game with danny or my parents.
• well, i should probably quit now, as i have written a novel.  also, i have mounds of laundry to do and a kitchen to clean up.  i can't stand to start off the week with a messy house, so i must get these things accomplished today!