Kitty Kitty Kitty

The newest addition to the 5391 household is little Patton II! We got him from a litter of kittens at my Grandma Spaeth's house- he's about 17 weeks old and him and Elliot are working on adjusting to having someone new around. At first they wanted nothing to do with each other but over the past few days they have began to play and even cuddle!! Elliot is our little white kitty (we've had him since June) and Patton is our little gray kitty (whom we just got a week ago).

Random facts:
I named Elliot and he is named after the dragon from the movie, Pete's Dragon- one of my childhood favorites.
Matthew named Patton and he is named after General George S. Patton- a famous U.S. Army officer.

Elliot and Patton cuddling--

It's a Girl!

Heather just found out last Thursday (Dec 18) that she will be having a...GIRL!! The three of us girls went with her to find out the exciting news- I think everyone was hoping for a girl and that's what we were told we're going to get! :) My niece (Jessa) is on the way, now I'm hoping for a nephew from the other side of the family!!

Baby shopping shall begin (as if I haven't already started that- ha!)

Aunt Tara & Uncle Matt x2

Matthew and I just recently found out that we are going to be an aunt and uncle times two!! Matthew's brother and sister-in-law just found out that they are expecting. Due date is sometime late July early August.

Since I will be getting a niece or nephew from both my side of the family and Matthew's around the same time-I personally want a niece from one and a nephew from the other so that I can buy for both little girls and little boys! :) I think Matthew mentioned a nephew. I'm not sure what this mommy & daddy are hoping for, but (Jennifer) Grandma Strohman swears she knows it will be a girl! We'll see if she's right or not...only time will tell :)

Exciting news; the only sad thing is that this is another baby that Matthew and I will be far away from once we move to Colorado in September. We'll have one in Ohio about 22-24 hrs away from us and one in Oregon that will also be about 22-24 hrs away.

"Will you marry me?"

November 23, 2008 (Brooke's 18th Birthday) started out as a regular Sunday afternoon. Matthew and I decided to go geocaching- (to learn about geocaching click here). We were going to go find a couple caches and then go and meet up with a few friends to watch the Columbus Crew play in the MLS Cup. It was nothing out of the ordinary and I was just going with the flow of the day. We decided to head to the cache down by Griggs reservoir first, we drove back to a little parking area and then walked back a little trail in search of the cache. The cache was hidden up a little slope underneath the trunk of a tree that had fallen down covered up by bark. I was the one to spot the cache- I turned around to let Matthew know that I had found it. I was standing up on the little slope and he was just a few feet away from me and down a slight bit. I had asked him if he brought anything to switch out something in the cache with- his first response was "No, I forgot" (even though I had reminded him 10 minutes ago when we left the apartment) he then said, "well actually I might have something." The next thing I knew I was crouched down and he was in front of me on one knee with the most beautiful ring ever and asked "Tara Dawn, will you marry me?"

I was in shock! I looked at him and then at the ring, then back at him and then at the ring again. All the while thoughts were running through my head saying: "Oh my gosh is this really happening?" "This can't be happening!" "Matthew Strohman is seriously sitting in front of me with a ring!" "The ring is so pretty & so big!!" "Oh my gosh this is really happening!!" "Shoot, I'm supposed to answer him!"---so I looked up at him gave him a kiss and said "YES!"

He said it felt like 10 minutes before I finally answered him, it was probably more like 30 seconds. But nonetheless I said yes. He put the ring on my finger and we just took it all in for a moment. I then put the cache back in its place (and accidentally dug my beautiful new ring in the mud) and we headed back to the jeep to call our family and friends to share the good news.

We were in the woods without a camera so we have no pictures of the actual engagement but I will add a few pictures of my ring for those of you who haven't seen it yet.

"If it weren't for trucks we wouldn't have tailgates"

There's been lots of smiles around our apartment lately- because we just got a TRUCK! After lots of wanting and a few months of looking we finally decided on a black F150 :) Matthew enjoys driving it and I enjoy riding in it. I've only driven it once so far- it's just a little bit bigger than my car so I get a little nervous. Nonetheless I love and and so does he- so glad we have it!!

Below are pictures of our new addition:

Tara Spaeth, LSW

I took my social work licensure exam on November 4th and did indeed pass. I needed a score of at least 70 to pass-my score was 81. After taking my exam I had to send my score report, my college transcript (proving I had my Bachelors Degree in Social Work), and get a background check. Upon completing all of the above they officially approved my license on December 5th, 2008- making me a Licensed Social Worker (LSW) in the state of Ohio.

To show his support Matthew brought me home a dozen roses, the day I passed my exam. I also had two cards to follow- one from my family and one from Matthew's family. I really appreciated having others their share excitement in my accomplishment.

The only downfall to this situation is that I won't have much time to utilize my license in the state of Ohio and I will have to do this all over again once we move to Colorado. Social Workers must be (re)licensed in each state- only some states will accept a transferred license and Colorado is not one of them.

Back to Tricks and Treats

Once again, time has passed by too quickly and I am behind on updating you all on what has been happening in the life of Tara, Matthew, and Elliot! While things get busy and time goes so fast we still try to make time for some fun and because I'm still a kid at heart I decided that we must carve pumpkins! So we did- and Elliot even helped! See the pictures below for proof!

Busy Busy

It's been a little while since the last post and that's in part due to the busy schedule I have once again. I ended my first quarter of grad school with a 3.82 gpa and now I am currently almost half way through my second quarter out of four for my graduate program- and the papers keep me stressed and busy nonetheless. I am also doing my placement working about 30 hrs a week (which is part of the graduate curriculum) at The Ohio State University Nisonger Center, which is a University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities. My current projects include helping coordinate and prepare for both the national and Ohio adult sibling conferences to be held here in Columbus in November. These conferences are designed to provide information and support to individuals with brothers and sisters with a developmental disability. My duties include things such as outreach for attendence, coordinating travels, creating welcome packets, and working with registration and other needed odds and ends at the conference(s). I am also going to be starting counselling with my first two clients next week- and I might be just a tad bit nervous!! There's also plenty of other random little tasks that must be completed on a daily basis and once the conferences are over I have some other big roles to take on-more to come on those later.

Aside from work, school, and homework I have plenty of other things to keep my busy as well. I am trying to find the time and motivation to study for my licensure exam which is coming up in 2 weeks! Eeek!! And of course there's always things needing done around the apartment- it seems neverending and I don't know where it all comes from with only the two of us plus a cat and some fish. Free time is hard to come by but when it does come around we alwys find something to cram in there- things like Buckeye football games, weddings, birthdays, cook-outs/get-togethers, trying to get home to spend time with the family and things of the like. One day runs into the next without even getting half of my "to-do" list accomplished but I can't complain too much because I surely do love this crazy tragic, almost magic, awful beautiful life!!

Go Bucks!

I was able to work out an arrangement with our tickets so that Mom and Dad could come up and go to the game with me this past Saturday. We played the Minnesota Gophers and won 34-21. Other than mom being pretty tired I think they both enjoyed the experience and spending time with me, of course :) I was glad to be able to have them there with me and for them to see a little bit of what being a buckeye is all about. After the game we came back to the apartment and accidentally all ended up taking a few hour nap. We ended the night with dinner at Joe's Crabshack (one of daddy's favorites) and a quick little shopping stop. It was so nice to be able to spend some quality time with my parents and I hope they enjoyed the day as much as I did!! ---Also if you're wondering why Matthew is in uniform...it's because he was the officer in charge for the flag raising.---

Updates to 5391

A few new updates to our apartment include new furniture, a fish tank, and some home-made decorations.

We got our new couch and chairs a week or two ago. (Grandma Spaeth wanted to see some pictures of it so I figured I'd go ahead and put them on here for everyone to see.) The big round chair was what I really wanted...I've had my mind set on that thing since before we even moved into this apartment and I finally got it -and I love it! Matthew enjoys the recliners; our couch has reclining seats on both ends and we also have a rocker/recliner but that is in our bedroom for now because this living room just isn't big enough here. Hopefully it will all fit in our living room at the next place...although thats not for another year or so. The couch and recliner were a package deal and obviously I had to have my round chair in addition. :) So that's the story behind the extra piece of furniture.

Our fish tank came just about a week ago now. Matthew had the tank at his parents house and brought it back up after a weekend at home. We now have 3 fish added and a little hiding place (that Jim claimed immediately) and a live bamboo plant. We just bought more bamboo to add because I like the bamboo plants and the idea of live plants in my fish tank. We are planning on adding about 3-5 more fish and a couple more tiny hide-out caves but we still have a few weeks to wait on the rest of that. We named our fish after one of our favorite shows...The Office. Right now we have Michael (the yellow fish) Dwight (the white fish) and Jim (the blue fish). Not only does the fish tank serve as something nice for us look at, but Elliot finds it to be very intertaining as well. Sometime he just watches the bubbles and sometimes he trys swatting at the fish through the glass. And I find that entertaining to watch!

As for the 'home-made' home decor- my painting just made it up on the wall. I am planning on adding a bit more to the wall around it and will post a picture of all that when it's finished. Grandpa Jones has offered to help make a shelf and some decorative signs (and I am hoping some box shelves) that I will hopefully have finished within the next month or so. Went to Goodwill a couple days ago and got some random nic-nacs to add to the box shelves once I have them...so that's kind of where the apartment stands at this point. Lots of things yet to do-but the projects are sort of fun and keep us busy in our spare time! Or in otherwords it distracts me from the homework I should be doing.

Aunt Tara

For those of you who haven't received a call from Heather and don't already know...I'm gonna be an aunt. Heather found out this past Friday that she's pregnant- due date is said to be May 10th at this time. She's about 7 weeks now I believe. I was very shocked at first and kind of speechless; but as the shock wears off I'm able to show a bit more of emotion (haha). And as everyone else has told her, if she's happy I'm happy! :) ---I'm rooting for a little girl---

Meet Elliot

Elliot is my little white kitty cat that isn't quite so little anymore. I think he shall be a fat cat one day- all he does is eat, eat, eat with a little play and some sleep. I decided to get Elliot back in June after coming to terms with not being able to get a dog. I wasn't much for cats but I really wanted a pet to help keep me company (especially when Matthew leaves me for trainings) but my looong days of work and class just didnt leave me enough time for a puppy; and because cats are so much more independent I decided I could manage to care for one of those. Anyhow I finally decided on getting a kitten for sure (well I was pretty sure). I spent the week after graduation at home with my family and mentioned that I had decided on getting a cat and that I wanted an all white cat- and next thing you know Brittany comes home with a little white kitten....I couldn't say no. So then there was Elliot and boy do I love that little guy! :)

And while talking about Elliot and I can't help but mention little Patton. Patton was our little blue-eyed guy that was meant to be Elliot's playmate for when I start back with classes and placement and both Matthew and I will be gone for the majority of the day. Matthew and I seem to both like instant gratification so we talked about getting a new little kitten one day decided we would the next day and brought home our little guy the following day. We're not quite sure why but Patton just wouldn't eat. We tried EVERYTHING we could think of at the time and I was literaly giving him around the clock care but to no avail. We lost our Patton six days later and burried him in 40mph winds. It broke my heart (our hearts) and I still just can't seem to get past it; the little guy won me over quite quickly!

We plan on getting another little friend for mr. Elliot soon; once we recuperate that is. It seems that these little guys have become a big and important part of my life- who would have ever guessed? (NOT ME!)

The New Apartment

For those of you who don't already know, I have upgraded to a new and much nicer apartment for my last year in Columbus. It's less like a college apartment and I guess you could say it's more of a "grown-up" apartment. Which I guess is fitting as I complete my year of grad school and work as a professional in my placement at the Nisonger Center. The complex we (Matthew & I) live in has a pool, tennis courts, a basketball court, a workout room---which I don't really need right now because I just got Wii Fit-- a tanning bed, a car wash, and a few little ponds. There's also plenty of parking which is a nice change from the limited parking on campus that requires once kind of pass or another; and I think I feel a little safer having my car here as opposed to on campus. So far, so good; just still need to get around to fixing the damage of campus living. Our apartment is a two bedroom apartment (one is our bedroom and the other is our office) with a big bathroom. The bathroom comes complete with a nice big tub and a washer and dryer---and they don't take coins!! The kitchen is small but is open to the dining room and living room so it makes it a little better. We have decided not to get a table for the dining room (since we always just eat dinner on the couch while watching tv) and use that room for the fish tank and a kitten tower that we are going to build for Elliot. We just got new furniture for the living room and are really excited! We are just doing a little bit at a time and day by day its becoming more of our own "home sweet home!"

Keeping in Touch

I am always looking for a better way to keep in touch with all my family and friends that I cannot see on a regular basis. I try to send out weekly letters and cards to a random assortment of family and friends but I don't always do so well at that; my intentions are good but the actions just don't always follow. Anyhow when I got an email from Randi the other day about her family blog page I decided that it might be a great idea for a project for me to try out. If I can keep up with my page on a regular basis you all can know what is happening in my life even if I don't always get around to those letters and phone calls. (and you all can post comments right on this page and if in no other way we can communicate via this page). I guess I'll try it out and see how it works...