It's been a while...

So, it's been a while since I've blogged....other things have been consuming my time! It seems much less important to do this now days, but here it goes anyway...

We're gearing up and getting ready for another school year at our house; Nick's first day of second grade is just around the corner. Can't believe he's almost 8 years old...time flies! My sweet little baby boy is growing up so fast. His current obsession is a waterslide. He's saving his money, and trying to talk dad into ponying up for the rest of it! ;-)

Zack is ready to start preschool this year. He attended summer camp with big brother for 6 weeks this summer, and loved it. Now he's obsessed with going to school, too! Great, another uniform!!!

New job for me...teaching in the MLS program. Much better than the lab, especially working nights! Some lab clinicals still involved, but every job has it's downsides! LOL

Finished the Master's degree, recently applied/accepted into a doctoral program. Not sure about the plan there. Still thinking about whether I want to jump back in or not.

Decisions, decisions, decisions....

My new addiction...

Okay, I will admit it---I am addicted to facebook! I resisted for soooo long...thought it was a "kid" thing, but I finally gave in and registered. And WOW-I have found so many long lost friends it is amazing!!!! It is great to be able to catch up and keep up with the friends from Faith and HHS! I do, however, find myself spending time looking around the 'net when I should be doing homework ;-)... Have to reign that in!

So last night was the TLS dinner auction, and it was a disaster (for me!). For the school, it looked like a great success! I was, unfortunately, outbid for our class scrapbook by a measly $13 (secret bid...I hate those!), scolded by bryan for trying to bid on the class quilt (I wouldn't have won, anyway), and lost the vacation package I wanted because bryan kept my "bid card..." Imagine, a 7 night stay in Orlanda that went for only $225......and I could have had it if Mr Stingy hadn't taken my card away.... Oh well, wait until he sees the vacation I book in replacement (hehehehehehe!!!!)! I'm thinking disney, on grounds....... Then to finish my night my dear mother called MAD that we weren't home yet (at 9pm). So we had to leave early (although I was signed up for clean-up duty!) and she didn't even speak when they left... Thought I was done with all of that drama after I hit 30 (LOL).

Today is bryan's birthday, so we are trying to make his day a great one. His "project" left over from yesterday is hanging our new storm door (with retracting shade!!! I love it!!!), but hopefully it won't take long. We're grilling outside for dinner, and the boys and I are making him a "hot dog" cake! If I can find a way, I'll post a picture....

Aside from that, it's the usual Sunday. Church, cleaning, laundry, homework (me and nick!). Looks like it will be a pretty day, so hopefully we can get outside some...Busy day!!!!

Ready for the weekend!

Yeah! It's Friday, and I'm off this weekend! Two whole days at home with my boys (all 3 of them!). Right now Zack is laying down under my desk with Leela (yep, no place for my feet!!) and Nick is "working" with his papers and pencils. We plan to do some cleaning, scrapbooking, reading, and catching up on schoolwork this weekend (for nick and mommy...). Zack has an icky cold that is making him feel tired and cranky, so we will be sticking close to home all weekend. We had a new evening project, which is following Nick's principal's blog...She and 15 others are re-enacting their father's march as WWII prisoners of war. This will be an interesting project, and great for the children to follow. Although Nick is a bit young to fully understand, I think that he will enjoy seeing everywhere Mrs Maurer goes. If I can figure it out, I will post the link for anyone else to follow...

http://cloudcorridor.blogspot.com/

Been a while....

since I've made a post. Things are busy here....really busy! The "situation" with Lola still hasn't been resolved-we go to court on February 4th to hear the man's plea. Tell me how someone who signed a confession can plead anything but guilty???!!! Anyway, on a much happier note, we have added a new member to our family-a sweet little female shepherd named Leela. The boys (and maggie!) love her, and it is helping them deal with the loss of our dear Lola. Nicholas is doing much better in school, and Zachary is growing by leaps and bounds everyday! School is still taking up much of my spare time, but I am finding moments to spend working on the TLS auction projects(coming up in March!!!). I have recently found myself in touch with some childhood friends, via "facebook." I thought it was a site for teenyboppers, but have happily been proven wrong. I love chatting with old friends from Faith, and from Woodson Terrace! It's great to see how we have all changed, but yet stayed the same....

Our loss

This was a hard weekend. A monster (in our neighborhood!) killed our dog. Here is the link...story and video. The police won't even respond to me...I'm so mad I could spit. I'll take any advice you all have. We have a suspect...another neighbor came over after the story aired on the news and said he got an almost identical note, but his was signed. The "suspect" is a mail carrier, so I think his prints should be on file somewhere (right? a federal employee?) If the police won't fingerprint the pan that the antifreeze is in, my friend's husband (a college forensics teacher) said that he would. But do you think that would hold up in court? My idea is that if the police won't press charges, and we can get these prints off the container (and they match his), then we could have a civil suit against him. Let it go to a jury...I think the facts would be on our side.


Family Concerned Over Dog Poisoning A Cape Girardeau family feels uneasy in their own close knit neighborhood. This, after the shocking death of their German Shepard, Lola.http://www.kfvs12.com/global/story.asp?s=9337256

Can kindergarten really be this tough???

WOW! I don't remember kindergarten being this hard when I was 5! My poor little Nick has been having problems since the beginning of the year...his teacher has requested that we remove him from class, but I said no ;-) ! We've met with an independent consultant who specialized in autism (that's not his problem at least!), and went for an occupational therapy evaluation last week. The concensus is that he has a vision related processing disorder, which is causing him to have difficulties understanding what his teacher is showing him. We found a tutor who is a former special education teacher to work with him twice each week after school, and we will be going to OT twice each week to try to help his processing improve. Add tae-kwon-do twice a week, and that equals a busy little man! And mommy is just about as stretched! I volunteered for "room mother" for his class, and have to coordinate all of our parties and field trips. Add to that working on our class scrapbook, class quilt (I guess I'll learn how to quilt!), and class "basket" for the dinner auction and I feel a bit overwhelmed, too! It takes so much to keep a private school running!! Now I feel even stronger about private school tax vouchers!

So, what else? Pictures tomorrow evening...Zack's 2 year, Nick's 6 year, Christmas, and hopefully a fun one of the boys (even daddy) together. Something to go up on the wall with my special pic with the boys when Z was a little baby. Got a great coupon from JCpenney...can't let it go to waste!!! ;-)

Class starts back tomorrow...it's been a great 2 weeks off. Work is getting crazier by the day, but at least bryan is helping out much more at home now. Memphis was great, the kids loved the zoo, and we will DEFINATELY be going back! Now its time for some Zzzzzzz's!

Done with another class!!!

YEAH!!! It's over! Transitional Leadership is behind me! I just finished up my last paper...1229 at night, but it's only 1029 Phoenix time! I have a whole week off now, just to catch up with the boys and try to get the house cleaned up. We're going to Memphis to celebrate Zack's birthday, and our 10th wedding anniversary...leaving Friday morning and coming back Sunday night. It should be fun...my monkeys love the saint louis zoo, so I'm sure they will love the memphis zoo! Can't wait to see a real live panda!!! And we're going to ride the "duck", take a riverboat cruise, ride the trolley, and of course see the peabody (real) ducks. I'm still searching for a "thomas the tank" cake pan for z's birthday cake...I might have to resort to cutting and piecing a train together (doesn't that sound fun???). Nick has early out on Thursday, Bryan is coming home early, and I have the whole day off with my guys. Can't wait!!! Now, if I can just make it through tomorrow on 3 hours of sleep.....

Oh, can't forget....Congrats to mindy, paul, hailey and cain!!! I can't wait to see pictures of baby CJ!!!!! Post them soon!!!