Almost break time!

Well it has been a long time since I have made a post. I am in my 8th year of teaching and love it. My kids are now in 10, K, 1, and 2. They seem to enjoy school and are getting along great. I was afraid of how Landon would do being at school all day but he is doing great. He was recently out of school for two days and had our first overnight hospital stay on November 16/17. He had a really bd allergic reaction to an antibiotic he was taking. His fever got up to 102.5 and he was red all over his body. I was so scared. He thought the hospital stay was great though. Skyler has joined more at school this year and is in a chess club now. Kenzi is enjoying second grade and lives doing the activities they do. They are also starting a research project in class. Devin likes school and lives math. He just turned 7 and was able to celebrate at church with some friends and family members. We are now in the rush of getting ready for Christmas. We have two more weeks before our Christmas break and I have so many things to do and to wrap. Some of there favorite things: skyler lives the computer, Kenzi loves to read, Devin loves math and the planes movies, and Landon still loves cars. Landon is a funny guy also. His recent favorite phrase is "all nuts!" He also says dang a duck once in a while. Kids are so funny! That's all for now. 

This summer we got family pictures done with my side of the family. They turned out great. 

New School Year

Well today was the first school day back for Jarred and I with our first teacher day. Tomorrow is our second day back and then on Thursday everyone goes back. Today I mainly did stuff with FKOM but was able to attend a few meetings also. Tomorrow I have a busy day because it is FKOM Kick-off day so I won't have much time for getting my classroom ready. I am looking forward to starting school and most of the kids are also.

Skyler is going to be a sophomore this year. He is looking forward to some of his classes but still doesn't like others. I can't believe he only has 3 years of high school left and will then be going to college.

Kenzi is growing up way to fast and getting so tall. She has become a spit fire little girl and has an attitude. She will be in 2nd grade this year and is very excited. She has just this year left in her current school and will then move on to the next one where she will spend 3 years and then to middle school. I can't believe how fast they grow up.

Devin is also growing and is very hyper without his medicine. He does a great job during the day and is really excited about going back to school. He was originally going to have the same teacher as last year but that has now changed. Devin is going into 1st grade this year. I think that he will enjoy the year and looks forward to everything that is coming up.

Landon is a happy little boy but man does he get angry about some of the craziest things. He will be going into "Devin's grade" according to him, which is Kindergarten. He is really excited about meeting his teacher and starting to go to school like his brothers and sister do. He will be full time now and is excited about that. 

As the school year goes on we will get to see how the kids grow and become smarter. They all are so smart and really do a great job in school. Sporting events will come up and I can't wait to watch them playing. Hopefully this year I am better at updating my blog.

Until next time.....

What's going on?

Well I went for my MRI on Thursday July 17th at 6:45. I got in there and was able to get in a little before I should have. Once in he room I noticed how small the machine was. Oh my goodness! MRI machines are so small. I wouldn't consider myself claustrophobic at all but this machine was smaller than I thought it would be. I had an MRI at Whitham but the machine was bigger plus I wasn't head first in the machine. This time I had to go head first and stay in it for up to 30 mins. It was so loud and even though I had headphones on I could hear the machine over the music. I counted the time by the songs that played. I knew that I would have to listen to 10-15 songs before I would be done. I counted each song and left my eyes closed. It was crazy. When I would open my eyes the machine was just so close to me and I couldn't move at all. The technician said that the results take a couple days so I am hoping that they call me no later than Tuesday July 22nd. 

I didn't get a call from them and had to wait until Monday July 29th for my appointment. I went in and had to get more X-rays. After getting X-rays I went in to see the doctor. Dr. Berrios said that the MRI showed a fracture on the rotator cuff and possibly a small tear on one of the ligaments. He said that since the tear isn't very big he expects it to heal on its own. The fracture is a 4-6 week healing process where I basically just have to wear a sling whenever I leave the house. After the six weeks I have to go to therapy to get the movement back in my shoulder area. 

I was given some exercises to do between now and the time it fully heals, but I can't raise it out, only forward. I go back on August 18th for my 5 week checkup.

Skating

So on July 12th I went skating for a Girl Scout skating party. I've been skating a lot in my life so I figured it be just another day at the rink. I forgot my skates and had to wear my sisters, which are two sizes too big, but everything was going great. My feet were hurting so I took them off but then it was time to race. The owner mentioned me racing and so I put them back on to race. I started on the back line because the other two weren't great skaters. Well I caught up but turned the corner too hard trying to make sure I didn't run over them. I ended up hitting the edge of the carpet, which is a step of sorts, and flew to the ground. Normally I would of just jumped on the carpet but I was going so fast that I couldn't slow enough not to hit the children up there so instead I tried to just raise a skate and miss it. I ended up getting one foot up in time ur my other foot hit and I bounced off the ground. I was able to get up but my left arm was killing me so I went to ER. Good news was that it's not broken nor was it dislocated however it still hurt to move. The doctor said that it could be a torn ligament so I will be making an orthopedic appointment to see what is wrong. Today my body is hurting more than yesterday. I hurt in far more places then I felt yesterday. Let's just hope that nothing else is wrong. 

Lesson for me: don't forget my skates EVER AGAIN!

Time to go HOME

July 4, 2014

Today it is time to go home. We cut one day off the trip  by eating at both chicken places so we will be able to get home on July 4th now. 

We got up and left the hotel at 10am to start our journey home. It is a 4 1/2 hour drive from St. Louis and that is without stopping along the way. Of course we had to stop twice for the restroom before driving either an hour and then also had to stop to eat lunch. We got back to Lebanon around 5pm. Around 7pm we took my dad home and stayed the weekend in Anderson. 

We had a lot of fun, but man was driving that much crazy! Now the rest of the summer we will be at home most of the time.

End of Vacation 2014

St. Louis Day 6

July 3, 2014

Well we got to St. Louis a day early and checked into our hotel. We then went to the Gateway Arch to go up inside it. The Arch is 630feet high. It was neat to go inside. We first had to get inside this thing that looked like a spaceship. There were a total of five seats inside it. Once inside the doors closed, if you are claustrophbic then you wouldn't want to go in it, to start our journey up 630 feet high. Once at the top you could get out and look through the windows they have on the observation deck. I had Devin and Landon with me. Devin was so scared, but Landon loved it. We stayed up there for about 10 minutes and then we got in line to go back down. 

Once we got down we went back to our hotel and ate dinner before going to bed. The drive to St. Louis was really long so all of us were tired.

Last day of the vacation is next!

Kansas Day 5

July 2, 2014

We are now reaching the last leg of our vacation. Today was the day we left Iowa and drove another 5 hours so that I could see the Wizard of Oz Museum and so the kids could see it also. I was there about 4 years ago when Jarred and I went to California with my parents, but I love the movie and wanted to see it again. The kids have seen the movie and I knew they would like it so we added it to our trip. 

On our drive to the museum we had the kids watch the movie so that they could remember what it was about and what happened. They talked about it on the way and at rest stops. Then once we reached the museum and went inside they seemed to be just as excited as I was. We went through the museum and they wanted pictures with every character from the movie that they saw had a certain area in the museum. It started with Devin asking me to take his picture in front of Dorothy and Toto and from there they got a picture with every scence from the movie. They talked about as much as I do about it and really enjoyed seeing some of the artifacts behind the glass. I think their favorite character seemed to be the Lion. He looks so real! We also went through the forest and the kids thought it was a little scary, especially when you see the Wicked Witch! Towards the end of the museum they now have a balloon that you can stand in and get a picture inside the basket part. It was pretty neat and all of the kids got their picture taken inside together. I think the museum was a HUGE success!

We then left Wamego, Kansas and headed for Pittsburg, Kansas so that we could eat at Chicken Annie's and Chicken Mary's. These two chicken places were showcased on the show Food Wars (i think that's what it was called). We got family meals from each and decided to take it to the hotel and eat it for dinner. They have some GREAT chicken and side dishes. I think we are divided on who's taste better, but honestly it doesn't matter because both were really good!

Iowa Day 4

July 1, 2014

First I want to start this post by saying Happy Anniversary to my husband and Happy 15th Birthday to my son, Skyler. We got to ride in a car for quite a while today, but once we made it to our spot it was neat. We drove from Bloomington, Minnesota to Dyersville, Iowa in order to see the Field of Dreams. The Field of Dreams is a movie that Jarred has always really liked. He has been wanting to see this Field of Dreams for while and since we were only about 5 hours away once we decided to travel to MOA we decided we might as well do it all. 

Driving 5 hours with three little kids can be crazy but luckily they have a tv to watch which helps to keep them entertained. One thing that we did was bring the movies along that would go with a couple of the areas we were going to so that the kids could watch them before we got there. The Field of Dreams movie is one they have seen before, but we brought and played it again anyways. The kids had just finished it about an hour before we got to the actualy site of the movie. Man was it fun to be at the site of a movie! The house was the same one they used in the movie and the field looks the same also. We stayed for about an hour to hour in a half and played on the field, took pictures, and even hit the ball and ran some bases. It was a good time for the kids to run off some energy also and it worked out well for us. Jarred and my dad really loved seeing the field. I think Jim and Jayne enjoyed it also.

After seeing the Field of Dreams we headed to Kansas so that we could go to Wamego, Kansas to see the Wizard of Oz Museum. We ended up stayin in a hotel in West Des Moines, Iowa.

About half way through our vacation now. 

Minnesota Day 3

June 30, 2014

Today is our last day in Minnesota to explore and use our Big Ticket. We saved what we though of as the best day or fullest day for the last day. Today we got up and rode the shuttle to the Mall of America at 10am. Once we arrived at the mall we entered by the Sea Life Aquarium so we decided to go ahead and use the Big Ticket to go through the aquarium. 

The aquarium was so neat! When you first enter you see this little stage like thing that adults and kids can climb up and look over into a tank of water. It is filled with little sharks, stingrays, and plenty of fish. Then we got to pet/touch other sea life animals in the water not to far from the tank. They had starfish and some other animal. We did get to see a worker feed the animals in the tank squid and fish pieces. They smelled really bad. We started our journey into the aquarium and saw many things along the way. The wall was filled with tons of facts as you walked through the aquarium which made you want to stop and read it every step of the way. We got to see what is known as garden eels. They were neat looking! We also got to see octopus, HUGE crabs, HUGE lobsters, and many other seafood type animals. They were awesome! We then walked into the sea horse area. The sea horse were so small it was weird to see them. There were also many other star fish around that couldn't be touched. One of my favorite areas was the Moon Jellyfish area. This area had mirrors with jellyfish tanks in front and it just looked so neat. The kids loved the aquarium. They really loved when we got out of the jellyfish area and got to go to the little fish tank area because they found Nemo and his dad in the tanks. They thought that was cool. They also saw Dori. After that area we went into the area that surrounds you and has sharks. I am not to keen on this area because I hate sharks, but the boys loved it. We saw many sharks, fish, turtles, and other weird looking sea fish in the water. Later on the walk through we got to see many more fish and even some baby turtles. They were very cute! At the end of the aquarium we went through a rainforest where they had turtles, frogs, crocodiles, and a few other different types of fish. The aquarium was really neat and especially to be inside the mall. 

The last thing our Big Ticket was used for was for the Nickelodeon Attraction Park in the mall. This is the area where you get to ride the rides that are inside the actual Mall of America and the main reason why many people want to see the mall. We got our bracelets and rode a little bit before lunch. The kids really had fun and even got to ride a roller coaster or two. One of their favorite rides was the water log ride. They thought that was a blast and we rode it a couple times. Other rides included the swings, bumper cars, balloon ride, carousel, etc. 

We ended up being at the mall from 10:20am-8:20pm. It was a long day but I think everyone enjoyed it!

Now we are moving on to Iowa!

Minnesota Day 2

June 29, 2014

Today was Day 2 of being in Minnesota. Since we have the Big Tickets we are using part of them each day. We started out by going back to the Minnesota Zoo so that we could watch and IMAX movie since that was part of our ticket. We got to see Lemurs-Madagascar 3D. It was an education film about Lemurs and it was actually really neat. 

Next we traveled to the Science Museum of Minnesota to explore. It was pretty neat inside the museum. There were a lot of things to do and just about everything was hands on. My dad and all the kids had a TON of fun. Devin really LOVED the dinosaurs, as did I. There were three floors of things to explore. The first floor was about water, air, and fog. The second floor we visited was about math and body parts. In this area I saw what a thyroid would actually look like. It was strange to really see that. The last floor was the dinosaur floor mainly. It also had hands on science experiments. 

After the museum we went to Water Park of America and stayed for about 5 hours. One of the water slides they had was 10 stories high and went all the way down. It was considered a family slide because it used a raft and the kids could go in it. There were 136 steps to get to the top, but we all had a blast on that slide. Our favorite part was probably the wave pool or the lazy river though.

Once we left the water park Skyler got to pick where we went for dinner for his birthday. We ended up going to Subway for dinner on the way back to the hotel. 

We had so much fun today on Day #2 in Minnesota!

Minnesota Day 1

June 28th, 2014

Well we stopped on the way to Minnesota in Wisconsin to spend one night there after driving the majority of the way to Minnesota. We slept in the hotel, got up and ate breakfast, and then headed out for the last 1 1/2hrs of our journey to Minnesota. We arrived at our hotel, but we were to early and couldn't check in. We went ahead and went to the Mall Of America where we needed to go in order to purchase what is known as the Big Ticket. This would give us access to 6 different things in the twin cities that we could do while here. While at the mall we checked out the rides and the different things they have. It was really cool. We finally found the store we needed, after some searching because the mall is HUGE, and bought our big tickets. We then left the Mall and headed to our first activity the Minnesota Zoo. 

The Minnesota Zoo was pretty big but not because they had a lot of animals. It was big because each animal was so pampered that they had a castle to themselves of land. The tiger in general had such an open space to roam that you didn't see it just sitting around. It was neat to see. They didn't have my favorite animal, the elephant, but they did have penguins and monkey's. While at the zoo it started to rain on us, but luckily we were almost done anyways. One thing we got to see were the Brown Bear's. They were so neat! They were up in the water swimming/walking around. I have some neat pictures of them walking on their hind legs in the water. They also had camels, moose, gazelles, etc. 

After the Zoo we went back to the hotel and checked in before heading out to eat dinner at Perkins. Today was Jim and Jayne's Anniversary so they picked the restaurant and Jarred and I paid for it. It was good. Once we were done eating we had to go to Target to buy Kenzi a bathing suit and then back to the hotel to swim. It was a fun day!

After swimming the kids went to sleep. My dad, Skyler, Jarred and I played Euchre for a while before going to bed to get up and do what we had plan for the second day. 

More to follow later tonight. 

Summer Trip Time

Well we are getting ready to take our summer vacation that I have been planning for a while now. Monday started with going to get the car serviced and ready for the vacation. We are going to be driving our car and then we are also going to be in Jim and Jayne's car. Jarred and I invited his parents and my parents to go on our vacation. My dad is going but my mom is having too many medical problems to really travel much so she isn't going with us. However, both of Jarred's parents are going and I think this will be a fun vacation.

    On Tuesday we ended up taking two of the kids to the dentist for their check up and also took Precious, our cat, in for her check up to the vet. We ended up getting blood work done on her to check out her organs because she lost some weight and also has hair balls a lot. I am hoping that everything comes back okay. At the dentist Kenzi came back as clean and healthy, but Skyler had three cavaties. While at the dentist Jarred got a visit from the Lowe's guy and he was able to come measure our patio door area. We are planning on getting a new patio door this summer because the sliding one we have we HATE. We are getting french patio doors with blinds in them.

    Then on Wednesday Devin and Landon had to go to the dentist. Skyler went back also because they had openings so that he could get his cavaties filled. Landon had good teeth with no cavaties, but Devin had one cavaty and needed to get sealants on two teeth. Luckily they were able to do all of that in one appointment. Once we got home I went through clothes with Devin. I had already done this with Landon and Kenzi the previous week and Devin was the only one left. It took us two hours to go through all of his clothes. He had so many! Landon ended up getting some from him for his drawers and all of the little kids have the bags packed now. That is one thing that came from going through clothes. After going through clothes it was time for Kenzi's tournament game. It is single elimination so if they would have lost then the team would be done, however her team won today so they play the championship game Thursday. Once we got home I cut the boy's hair and then Jarred, Skyler, and I mowed the yard. It really needed it. 

Today we have much to do before we get on the road on Friday. I will be going to bed once I am done writing this and will start my day bright and early. I have to go to the grocery store to start out with because we need some stuff for our travels. Then I will take Landon to his appointment tomorrow afternoon. Once I am done at the doctor's office then I will take sweetie to my mom and dad's house since my mom is going to watch her while we are gone. My dad is going to ride back with me and we are going to watch Kenzi's championship game. Then I have to pack and we have to pack the vehicles. Friday morning we are heading northwest to Minnesota. First stop, Mall of America!

I hope everyone is having a fabulous summer! Enjoy this hot weather while you can. 

Wow! What a year this has been.....

What a year this has been for my family. So much has happened and is still going to happen that it has been crazy.

We are almost at the end of another school year. This will be the end of my 7th year and Jarreds 8th year of teaching. I still enjoy doing it and love my students! I do have one student that is leaving this year who has been with me since I began and I don't know how I am going to do when I go back to school and he isn't there. I will miss him so much!

Our four kids are growing up way to fast. I wish they would stop growing. I really miss those sweet little days when Landon couldn't say his name, but I also love the days of Kenzi and Devin writing and reading. It is so hard to balance it all. Skyler is just a typcial teenager and keeps getting taller. When I go back and look at older pictures there are so many differences.

Skyler is now 14 years old and will be 15 in July. He started high school this year and has stayed pretty busy. We made him join marching band last year. Even though he didn't like it or us at the time he did a great job and kept up with it also. This summer he is excited about playing so that is a plus. During the school year he stayed busy because he took three trimesters of band and had to play in everything. He had concerts, basketball games, big broadcast, and other things he did with it. He did a great job! He also got involved in Academic Bowl, Spell Bowl, and Best Buddies. He has stayed busy himself and kept us busy. He also got his first girlfriend in October and man has that been a whirlwind for us. Teenagers are just hard to raise and understand. Sometimes I think I would rather have 6 little kids than 1 teenager. Then I think about that and realize that would be dumb because they would eventually be teenagers! LOL! Back to the girlfriend, she had been a good person for him and he really started opening up. Then he started doing stupid stuff and they are currently not together. I hope that they can both mature a little more and become better people and see where they are in a year or so. I also think that with this being his first girlfriend that their relationship was just too much too fast and they relied on each other way to much. Hopefully that will change. Even through everything at school and having a girlfriends etc. He has managed to keep up his grades and has made honor roll every trimester. What an INTELLIGENT kid! I am so PROUD of him. Love you SKYLER!!!!

Kenzi is now in the first grade and has love every minute of it. She enjoys school so much and continues to grow and become a better person. She was reading on a level O, but I think she said she can read a level S now. This is really good for a first grader! She reads everything!!! Sometimes she reads things that shouldn't be read allow like my uncles hat that he wore the other day. She has lost two teeth, but is still behind Devin with that. She doesn't think that is okay since she is older (only by 9 months mind you), but older still. She is getting pretty bossy and gets in trouble for that. She also got in trouble at school for showing someone the answer on a test. Hopefully she will learn from that mistake early. She is playing softball again this year and loves it. She has improved greatly and we are looking forward to more games. Her last three have been canceled due to the weather. This summer she was hoping to take summer school just for enrichment in science or math, but we haven't had any papers so I guess she is stuck with us!!!!

Devin started kindergarten this year and man has that been crazy. He is on ADHD medicine and sometimes it is a great thing and at other times I don't know what is going on. For the most part he has done a FABULOUS job at school. We did find that he likes to chew on things and have started giving him chewelry. This has helped at least one day so far. Devin has now started reading and spelling also. Jarred and I found this out the hard one actually. We were taking Devin and Landon to see a movie and they didn't know what we were doing. I was on the phone with my dad and he asked what we were doing and I told him "We are taking Devin and Landon to see a M-O-V-I-E since they haven't gotten to do much and the other two have." Devin then said "MOVIE, were going to see a movie." That was the only lesson I needed. I now spell things REALLY fast or I just don't spell them. Instead we sometimes have to TEXT them. Yes, we do have to talk through text sometimes because our kids are so darn smart. We are sometimes sitting right by each other also. Devin I know is ready for summer break, but first he has a field trip coming up. Another thing that happened is that he got kicked off the bus because he didn't know how to sit down in his seat. We are hoping that he has learned his lesson since riding the bus was something he LOVED to do and can't now.

Landon was in the preschool class this year as a special friend. He only went to preschool on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday but he seemed to enjoy it. Now he keeps telling us that he is ready for it to be over. He has two field trips coming up and I think he will enjoy those. Preschool has been good for him and will definitely help him for when he starts kindergarten next year. He has been diagnosed with ADD and started medicine this week. Hopefully this will help him focus in class and learn faster/more. He is going to someone else for daycare and I have loved having him there. She works with them and they get to do so much. They also just have fun! Landon was also kicked off the bus because he didn't know how to sit in his sit properly either. Instead he decided that he wanted to crawl under all of the seats while the bus was moving. He would also walk in the isle and swing his backpack at people. He even told the bus driver that "there were no rules and he didn't have to follow them" plus that the bus driver "was not his boss." I can't believe some of the things kids say now. Landon even told me one day when I had them cleaning up their mess in the back yard that I needed to go clean the yard because it was dirty. He said it in a bossy/mean way though. I was so shocked! I love him, but my goodness!

I know that families can be crazy and that good and bad things happen. Sometimes we have the best of times and sometimes I just need a day off! Overall I love my family and wouldn't change anything (okay maybe somethings, but who doesn't). Skyler is a normal teenager, Kenzi is a girly girl, Devin is a crazy six year old who knows everything, and Landon just likes to be funny and act silly. What else could Jarred and I want!

A VACATION as a FAMILY actually! We are planning one for this summer and I am excited to be going somewhere and being together. That will happen after my surgery on June 6th. I have GOT to get this GALLBLADDER out of me.......

UNTIL NEXT TIME!