End Of School Year

Hey Everyone,

Can't believe it has been a whole school year since I wrote on our blog. Things were pretty busy this year and once I got onto facebook, that pretty much took over my computer time. But I thought it would be time for an update. We have 3 full days of school and 2 1/2 days of school left before summer. Miranda will be completing 5th grade and CJ will be completing 1st grade. So in less than a week I will have a 6th grader & a 2nd grader. Just took Miranda shopping for sneakers yesterday and she has now officially passed me in shoe size. We had to get her a ladies size 9. I'v still got her about 2 inches in height, but I am sure that's not for long. She is becoming a young women very quickly....still such a little girl emotionally, but physically growing up fast. We are talking about contacts this fall before she enters 6th grade. She really wants them, so we told her we need to see how responsible she will be during the summer, and if she can be responsible
with putting her items away in her room...then she will be allowed to get them. CJ has grown a lot this year too. I think he's grown about 3 inches this school year. I had to go out and buy all new pants for him a few months ago, because he all his pants had gotten too short. I survived my first year working with Kindergarten. My class will graduate on Thursday 6/18 and I must say I really enjoyed working with the kindergarten. I had an old ACL injury that was bothering me, so I went to the Dr. in March and ended up having Reconstructive ACL Surgery on April 23rd. It's been pretty good since the operation...my range of motion came back in 18 days which is really fast and now we're just working to get it stronger. We are all excited about school being over. We don't really have anything planned, but the days will go by fast. I have to get to the store and get their summer bridge workbooks so I can keep them fresh over the summer. Hey if you are not on facebook, then get with it. Thats where most of my updates will be, but I will update here as well. God bless everyone...........

A New School Year For Everyone!!!

Yes, summer has come and gone and I can't believe I didn't blog all summer. We were busy, but not so much that I couldn't blog. I think I just didn't have a long period of time to sit and write. So I'm finally writing now.
We started the New School year and things seem to be going along smoothly. Miranda is now in 5th grade and joined the volleyball team this year. She had her first game last week and she did really well. She was able to serve well and even help her team get some points. I think she was very encouraged. I'm hoping this is something she really likes, so far it is! I think this might be a challenging year for her academically though. Math seems to be hard for her this year, I'm hoping it's just this first semester....it's all about decimals which somehow confuses her. I think it will eventually click, I just hope it's not too late. CJ is in 1st grade this year and doing great. It's so cute, because he has real tests this year and he has to study for them. He has spelling words that he has to write in a sentence. He's got all 100's on his tests so far and he really likes school. I got moved up this year and am working with the Kindergarten (what I asked for) and I am loving it. I'm a lot busier working but it's more enjoyable for me then working with 3 year olds. So I am really enjoying this year as well. I also joined the youth group team as a high school youth leader and I am so excited about that. I really felt that God was leading me back into service, but I just couldn't tell where for a while. Then when I realized it was Youth, a peace came over me and I am enjoying it so much. The Youth Ministry at our church is really starting to thrive (your word PK) and it's so exciting to watch where it's heading. I also finally have a facebook account. Everyone was telling me to get it and when I tried I had trouble so I just said forget it. But this weekend I finally did it. Hopefully I'll be able to keep up with it. It was great though because I got to talk to two of my dear friends from the past, one from high school and one from college. And I got to catch up with some of the past youth group kids who are grown up and in college now. I'm so happy I joined. Now if I can just figure out some more stuff with it. Cowboys are 3 - 0 this season and I'm hoping tomorrow they'll go to 4 -0, but they have to make it by the Redskins. We'll see......love to you all!

Pool Parties & Two Wheelers

Summer has begun.....with lots of excitement. We haven't made it to the beach yet, but the kids still seem to be having a fun start to the summer. Miranda had two pool parties last week, which she thoroughly enjoyed. The first was on Friday night and was the with the youth group at our church. Now that she is entering the 5th grade she can join the Youth Group. We are so thrilled and so is she. It was really great for her to be out with kids her age and older and to not have her little brother around. The party was for the kids and their families, but I left CJ home with Chris, so Miranda could have some time without him. She is excited because now she gets to go to Youth Group on Wednesday & Fridays. Wednesdays they have teaching and Fridays are the outings. They've got miniature golf coming up and another pool party next week. Then on Saturday, she had a pool party at one of her friends house. We actually dropped her off and didn't stay, a first for me. She had a good time there as well. And so starts the social life of a 5th grader. Yesterday we were at the park and the kids were riding bikes and I had that moment where I was like "CJ is 6 years old and he's never going to learn to ride a two wheeler" (his bike still had training wheels). It was such a random thought because I had never attempted to teach him, so I don't know where the thought came from. Anyway, Chris was at the park umpiring and had his work van there, which luckily had a wrench in it, so I decided to take the training wheels off CJ's bike. To my amazement (seriously) CJ rode it right away with no problem. I couldn't believe it. I was planning on holding him up, running along side him, breaking my back..lol, but nope I didn't need to do that. He had amazing balance and was fine. We just have to work on the turning a stopping a little more, but my son can now ride a two wheeler!!! Our friends came over yesterday and the kids had a nice water gun & water baloon fight outside. Somehow the parents managed to get wet too, not sure how that happened. Anyway, we had a nice night of dinner, smores, and cards. My friend's three children ended up sleeping over, so I was up at 7:00am this morning. They are actually doing really well though, a little loud this morning, but now they are all sitting and playing games. Not sure what's on the agenda for today, I know we are planning on going to the lake this week and fourth of July and also the beach and the movies. All of you in NJ know about this, but in the summer there are two movie theatres here that have free movies on Wed & Thurs mornings. They are children's movies, that usually the kids have seen before, but it is a nice free outing and the kids love it. Last week we saw Evan Almighty, we brought our own popcorn, candy, and water and we were all set. So when there is a good movie we make sure to go. I imagine they have this in other states as well...it's the Clearview Cinemas & AMC Theatres. It's worth a check. I'm all for free fun in the summer. Okay, well I'm off to get everyone dressed and clean and ready for the day!! Have a great day!!

SCHOOL'S OUT!!!!!!!!

It's official, school is out for the summer!!! Thank you, Jesus!!! CJ graduated Kindergarten and is now an official 1st grader. You can see the pictures of graduation at www.pixagogo.com/1726954109. He had a great day! Miranda is now officially a 5th grader. She will actually be switching classes now and have a different teacher for each subject. Also, we say goodbye to the plaid jumpers and hello to gray skirts (which she is very excited about). It was a tough year for me with my class, so I'm happy to have the summer to recooperate. I asked to be moved to an older classroom next year, so hopefully that will happen and it'll be a better year. Today was our first official day of summer vacation. The kids and I have a routine planned and so far it's started off great. We get up and read a devotional together, the kids each read a verse from the bible, and then we pray together. After that, they start their summer workbooks (1 page a day, plus reading) and I do my workout. Today it started off great. The kids are excited about it and seem to enjoy doing the workbook, it will definitely keep them on task this summer. There's a reward after they complete each series. The first series is 15 days and they decided for their reward they would like a Webkin. The next is 20 days, when they complete that we will go bowling & to a movie, then when they complete the last 15 days we will all take a family trip to Hershey Park. I'm hoping by the time this summer is over, we all will be in good shape spiritually and they will be in good shape academically, and I will be in good shape physically. I'm still at my same weight loss, but I really would like to lose some more and definitely tone up. The kids have a couple of weeks of vacation bible schools, we'll do some library trips, as well as beach & lake trips, so it should be a great summer. The one goal we are shooting for this summer is to get a car. Please keep that in your prayers when you think of us. I should be able to update the blog more now that school is over. Hope you all have a great summer. Love you!!

Long time No blogging....Miranda got Baptized

Hey all. Yeah, I know it's been a while since I wrote, but things have been pretty busy here. As I write this I'm sitting in my friend's kitchen in Boston, Ma while she is in her room sleeping. Yep, this weekend I came to Boston to visit my friend Ann. She has been my friend for over 25 years, since we were kids. We don't get to see each other that often or even talk all that much, but it's that kind of true friendship, that no matter where you are or when the last time you talked was...you can just pick up right where you left off. I came here last year for a visit with Miranda and we had a great time. I love Boston! So, I wanted to come back and have a girls weekend. We had a great time and the weather was beautiful. I got here on Saturday and we went for lunch, then we walked over to Boylston Street and did some window shopping. The streets in Boston are soo pretty. Yesterday we took a drive up to Newberry Port (outside of Boston) and went to the beach. The weather was beautiful, but a little windy on the beach, but it was just really nice to be at the beach again. Then we spent the afternoon walking around Newberry Port, which is a beautiful town with all these cute little shops. We got home about 8pm and were exhausted so we just ordered in some food and watched a movie. We watched "Atonement" which I really loved! Today I'm heading back to NJ and I'm excited to see my family. I think it was really good for me to get away and enjoy some grown up time with my friend, but I did miss my family and am glad to be going home today. The only problem is, I'd like to be able to sleep in when I don't have the kids, but no matter where I am I always wake up early. And for me, once I'm awake, I'm up for the day. So, that's my trip to Boston. Let's see, what else....Well as of tomorrow there is only 17 days of school left!!!!! Thank You Jesus!!!! It has been a long year for me. I think the kids are ready for summer as well. CJ will be graduating Kindergarten on June 17th, so that's a big day for us all. He has made so much progress acedemically this year. He is reading so well. But, sometimes he forgets that he can read. He'll ask me to read something and I'll remind him that he can read and he's like "oh yeah". It's so amazing to see it all come together. On May 17th, Miranda decided to get baptised. This is a big step in her Christian faith. It's a public declaration of her faith in Christ and her decision to follow him. It was all her decision. She saw that there was going to be a baptism and told me she wanted to get baptised, so we talked about it and I asked her if she knew what that meant and she did, so she decided to do it. We are so happy for her. I have some pictures if you want to see them the website is: http://www.pixagogo.com/2897364391. She was a little nervous about saying something in front of everyone, but she did great and she said the water was really cold!! She will be going in to 5th grade next year, so she'll actually be able to join the youth group at our church which we're all so happy about. Our church hired a new Youth Pastor, Pastor Korey, so we're looking forward to getting to know him and his family and seeing what he has in store for the youth. My friend Stephanie had some minor surgery about 5 weeks ago and is having some problems, not from the surgery, but from how they positioned her & for how long so we have been back and forth at her house helping out. They believe that some nerves in her back got "squooshed" during the surgery, from the way she was positioned, so they have to get "unsquooshed", but meanwhile she's in major pain and basically confined to her bed. So, please pray for her when you think of it. Well, that's about all I got for now......I hope you all had a great Memorial Day weekend. Please pray for the soldiers that are overseas fighthing for Freedom. Love you all!!!!

1 Month Later

Hey All, Well I just realized it's been almost a month since I blogged. Not much really new. It's just been busy with work and school and friends. This week is our much needed Spring Break. I don't know if the kids needed it, but I sure did!! We're pretty much just laying low and relaxing. Yesterday we went to Chuck E. Cheese with our friends and the kids had a great time. It's really a nice play when it's not too crowded, because the kids can pretty much play on their own, so the moms can sit and chat. Today Steph's bringing her kids by and I'm gonna take them to the park. The weather here has been great. Last week we were actually able to wear shorts towards the end of the week. This week not so much, it's back down to the 60's, but still nice to be outside. I started this great new bible study on Monday nights. It's called "Discerning the voice of God", How to recognize when God speaks. The author is Priscilla Shirer and I really like her. I'm glad to finally be back in a bible study....I love it!! When school starts back up I will be assisting one of the teachers with putting together a Softball Team. It's really hard to do for our school, because getting fields to play on is tough. But we were invited to play in a tournament and a scrimmage, so we're going to try to get a team organized. We'll start practicing next week on Monday, Wed, & Fridays. I'm looking forward to it. We'll have a scrimmage on May 19th and then a tournamenton May 31st. The kids got their report cards last week and both made the honor roll. They really are doing well in school. Miranda just started working with fractions, so that will be a challenge (for both of us). It's funny how things come back to you, it takes a minute, but they do. Speaking of that, I need to practice with her over the break. I guess I'd better get to it. Anyway, just wanted to get a quick blog in. I'm going to Boston over Memorial Day weekend to see my friend. It'll be a great girls weekend, I love Boston. Hope you all have a great day!!!

Happy Easter!!!

Happy Easter everyone!!!! I know Easter was yesterday, but I didn't get a chance to write so I wanted to make sure I acknowledge it today. What a great day we had yesterday. Church was really good!! The music was great and the message was great as well. Pastor talked about "The God of the Third Day". How the first day was very dark, because it was when Jesus died, and day two was spent waiting, not sure what was going to happen, but DAY THREE....that's when He rose and gave us hope and a new life!!! It was so easy to relate to our lives, we all have those days that are really dark (been there plenty), then the days spent waiting and not knowing what's going on, but then there's always that day when Hope comes in and things look up....that's the God of the Third Day. Thank you Jesus, for raising yourself from the dead and giving me HOPE!!! Hallelujah!!! So anyway, we had a nice day. We went to our friend Steph's (well really they're family)house after church and had a nice dinner and played some games. We met some new friends, Krista & Jima and their family who came to dinner as well. It was a beautiful day. What is even more beautiful, is that the kids and I are off from school today!! Easter Monday....just one of the many benefits of going to a Christian School!! So, I got up made breakfast for the kids, downloaded some pictures, sent some email and I'm about to get on the treadmill when I finish this. On another note....The 21 days of no complaining challenge finished today!! Miranda passed with flying colors, I am not so sure about myself, I may need to add a few more days for me LOL. Actually, as I told Miranda, it's not an attitude we should have for only 21 days, but an ongoing process that we should be working on. So, that's what we're going to do.....be aware of our complaining and stop ourselves before we start. Miranda still gets her reward though....she settled for a new Webkinz rather than a trip to American Girl Doll. Easier and less expensive for me! I'm really proud of her though, she really rose up to the challenge. Maybe she is becoming mature....is that a good thing or a bad thing....I'll have to let you know. Okay...well have an AWESOME day everyone!!