Thankful

I love this time of year!  Thanksgiving provides a wonderful opportunity to reflect upon what we are thankful for and I find myself especially happy this year.

I am thankful for family - we had a very special Thanksgiving holiday this year.  We enjoyed a delicious dinner and great conversation with the Olsons on Thanksgiving day.  We also spent time with Jake's family at the annual cribbage tournament.  While neither of us took home the trophy this year, we had a great time!

I am thankful for my students - a few weeks ago we were reading Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes, which spurred a discussion about names.  It was a fun opportunity to hear their suggestions:

I am thankful for time - soon we will have more!  Although the past few years have been crazy busy with homework, Jake and I will both be finished with our graduate school work in the next couple of weeks (Jake with his MBA and me with an MA in Early Childhood Education).  We are both thrilled and proud to be so close to the end.

I am thankful for Jake - he is a truly amazing husband.  He has taken on extra housework during the pregnancy and gives me nightly back rubs.  I could not have found a better man to be starting a family with!

I am thankful for friends - I wish I could spend more time with all of them!  I have recently enjoyed celebrating several friends' engagements, births, and pregnancies.  Jake and I are both so happy for all of our friends with these exciting life changes and hope to see everyone more often as the holidays approach.

I am thankful for baby - our little maniac.  It has been pure joy to experience the growth of Baby Schulz.  He or she is moving SO much now and one of our favorite activities has become feeling and watching the kicks, punches, and somersaults.  I think I even felt some little hiccups the other day!  Take a peek at the new growth from weeks 29 and 30 (we missed 28 and 31).

Soccer

One of the hardest things about being pregnant has been sitting out of soccer.  When I originally found out about our little one I planned to play through the first trimester per my doctor's okay, but it was apparent in the first game that it would be impossible.  It's amazing how fast you become protective of your belly when you know such precious cargo is inside and I was no help to my team at all!

Well, I have stayed connected to my indoor and outdoor teams through going to most of the games and cheering them on and, while it is fun to stay a part of the team, it is also torture to constantly be watching and not able to play.  The past couple of weeks, though, I got a little extra soccer fix through cheering for my sister-in-law in the high school section finals and state tournament.  She played so well in all of the games and it was pure joy to watch such talented players.  Congrats Anna and the Burnsville girls varsity team on 2nd in the state!  We are so proud :)