Yes, an actual post from me!

It's February...I've been busy which is what I always say. But here goes....


November - We drove down to Bobby's parent's house in lower Alabama. We had a great time visiting both of his sisters, his brother and all of their families. It was a little rough for me, I really missed Dad as it would have been his 80th birthday, it our first Thanksgiving without him...so I knew Mom was missing him - it was just rough. It was a 16 hour drive down and 21 hour drive back of course split with a stay overnight at the Marriott to let the girls swim and get a break from the long drive. Coming back was so long with traffic being backed up for miles and bad weather didn't help matters any. Still taking the kids skating every weekend.




December - I went for training to get my 24 credit hours of Life, Health & Accident training so I could take the test and get my Insurance License. (Which as of to date, I haven't had much time to study...so I'm not ready). I had to search for a cute outfit to wear to a White Party. Christmas Eve the girls got to open a present with new pajamas and a webkinz. Christmas Morning we woke up, I baked the cinnamon rolls while we opened our stockings, Bobby and the girls had a silly string fun, we ate the breakfast then opened presents. Abby got her own pair of professional roller skates for Christmas. Catherine has her guitar and received other presents. Still skating every weekend. It was on to Christmas decorations, cookies and parties. Christmas parties a the girls school. The girls had a Pink Christmas tree decked with cute little candy canes, Hello Kitty ornaments, pink snowflakes and glittery balls. A week of Christmas break then straight into New Years celebration. We brought the new year in with friends playing games so that was fun.




January - Catherine turned 9, we had her birthday party at the Roller Skating rink...several kids didn't know how to skate when they first got there and left skating like pros! :) It was a lot of fun. Catherine wanted a chocolate chip cookie cake..so I made that (love my pampered chef stone). Yep, still taking the girls skating every weekend (great exercise and fun family thing to do.) oh, and Catherine got her own pair of skates for her birthday.The girls had try-outs for the talent show in February...so they're practicing their routines. I took a weekend trip to Atlantic City with by BF Jenn (her daughter had a Dance Expo) and we hit the casino's I won some $ :) although I was only willing to risk $20! :) For PTO, I had a big 2 week reading challenge at the school that included 2 family nights, a Dr. Seuss Theme and tons of planning and work. Bobby made Green Eggs & Ham for the event too. :) 2 events during the day as well for a Pep Rally (where every student got a free book) and a guest reader day where I had community members come in and read a story room to a classroom (Every classroom had a reader).

Oh, and we bought a wii...so we've all had fun playing that. Catherine kicks butt though!


February - I'm tallying the points from the reading challenge (each student had an individual goal, then there is a school wide goal) so I'll be ordering prizes once I'm ready. I'm working on getting pictures gathered for the school yearbook...which will be due in March (tons of work there!). I'm doing our taxes, refund is looking good - which is good because we have debt sitting on a credit card that needs to disappear! I'm trying to study every free second I can. We just had the Valentine's party at their school, kids had a great time. Bobby and I went out on a hot date :D We ate my favorite restaurant 2201 in the Boro - it's fine dining and they treat us so nice. It's such a pleasure going there to eat.

Parent Teacher conferences today at school

First off was Abby's 1st grade conference. Abby is struggling with her reading. She gets really frustrated because she wants to learn (at least that's what her teacher says) but it's not connecting well for her. Her writing skills are not that good either, which is connected with reading. Otherwise she's doing good. She follows instructions well, she gets along well with the students and is really good at math.

Next was Catherine's 3rd grade conference. Completely opposite where her teacher said that if all her students were like Catherine then her job would be so easy. Catherine is reading at least a 4th grade reading level. She comprehends what she's reading. She's very creative with her writing, she edits herself well, etc... She's doing good in math, social studies, science, etc... She had all A's & outstanding marks with the exception of 1 B in Social Studies, which Catherine was extremely bummed out about because she wanted all A's.

After that, I meet with the reading specialist for Abby. She says that Abby doesn't have a learning disability but she's not sure what the problem is yet. Abby is getting a lot of attention when it's time to work on reading/writing, she's in the smaller reading groups. They push her really hard and she comes home so tired so I only have about 5 minutes of good reading time with her before she's checked out. When the teacher told me that Abby doesn't cry anymore (frustration levels reach that high apparently) it made me feel so sad for my little girl. I've felt the frustration of her not reading, but I didn't think about how frustrated she is about it too. :(

I'm exhausted after the conferences. :) The PTO prepares lunch and dinner for the staff during the conferences...so last night I made 2-3 dozen of each cookie variety, White Chocolate Macadamia, Toffee Crunch, Ghiradelli Coconut Pecan Cookies with chocolate drizzled over top. We also have our Book Fair running during this time. I helped set up Sunday night and will help with sales Wednesday night and to pack it all up. I'm still working on the fundraiser, collecting the donations for the Race for Education. Otherwise, I think we're pretty good on PTO stuff this month.

Trick or Treat

The girls had a great Halloween. Catherine counted 124 pieces of candy. :) We went with friends as usual and had a great time walking through the neighborhood.

Abby wanted to be a Mommy, so she's sporting a dress, apron, (rain boots, because I wouldn't allow her to use the high heels that she used for her classroom party - it's cold trick or treating in PA, and she didn't want to wear her sneakers. She pushed the baby in the stroller for 2 blocks then we dumped it off at our friend, Jenn's house (her two girls are pictured with my two). She carried the baby for awhile and I carried her trick or treat bag then she'd trade off for the other. So I teased saying that I was a grandmother. I said I should have worn a tiara because it is the one day of the year that I can get away with it! :) Jaime said I could get away with wearing it any day. :)
Catherine wanted to be a crayon after reading Amber Brown is not a crayon. We couldn't find a costume so I made her one. Catherine was cute, she was so proud of me for making it, she told all her teachers that I made it for her. :) While trick or treating she said that she was "Original Pink"...I giggled when I heard that! We were going to write princess pink but the letters I bought didn't allow for that. The hat is even slanted like the crayon tip had been used a little. :) I was so proud of myself too actually for making it, it looked so professional, especially done without a pattern! :)

October!!!! Turn Leaves, Turn!

I love changing out my background desktop all the time...I just finished adding photos to the one for my work computer. This desktop was created by Shabby Princess. Pictures are vintage! :) The blue eyed blonde curly headed cutie was me...there's my adorable twin sister beside me with the brown eyes and straight brown hair! Also pictured is our sister Angelia (almost a year older than us), Rebecca's in 3 of them, and Tammy is one. There's a few of us girls when we were younger. :)

I also downloaded the one from Shabby Miss Jenn which I've got to prepare for my laptop here at home.

I need to get some pumpkins and pics of my kids...none yet for this year! :O

Long time no see...

Sorry... it's been busy, learning how to make time for family, work, pto, etc... Blogging has fallen to the bottom of the priority list. Sorry! Well, at least I didn't miss the entire month of September!


Fall is here, although it's been a very soggy weekend so far. We were supposed to go to an Apple Festival...but we're not taking the kids out in this muddy mess. The girls have yet another birthday party to go to today which we'll do at 2 today.


Catherine and Abby both are Brownies this year with the Girl Scouts. They had their first troop meeting this week. The girls scouts are going to paint the US map on the school playground. We were supposed to do this Sunday but with all the rain it won't be happening this weekend!





Here are pics from Abby's birthday...I told you I'd eventually get them posted! :)

New Job & another {new} Car

So, I just completed my first week of work. It's been great, I really enjoy it and I can't wait until Monday so I can go back! .....That is just wrong, I know it!......I know it will wear off, but for now :D I'm loving it!

I've had to get the girls up at 6:30 for the last two days to get Bobby to work while his Blazer was in the garage for the State Inspection, but as he knew it needed some work...almost $1000 worth though!!!!! So, instead of dumping more money into it...we went last night to look at used cars. Tonight we settled on one, shook hands, and will do all the paperwork tomorrow (already pre-approved with a lender so we're good to go). Wanna know what we bought? I'm so proud of it I can hardly stand it! :) We're the owners of a BMW 325i!!!! Granted, it's pre-owned but I still love it! We're already fighting over who drives the 2008 Mazda 3 vs. the 2002 BMW!

I stayed up last night to submit the pages I got together to take advantage of the Shutterfly 8x8 book. I used a "piece of cake" digital kit because I was in a time crunch to get it submitted by Aug 1st. I did get some great pictures of the girls though. I'll upload pictures...sounds like I have homework! :)

Have a great weekend!

Working

Well, so far (all two days) work has been great. I'm really enjoying it. It was funny, yesterday I came home and said to Bobby "I think it's wrong to be so happy to be working again, but I can't stop smiling from ear to ear". I can tell you however, that I'm glad I don't go in until 9:30 (which for me, means that I try to be there 10 to 15 minutes early) because it gives me time in the morning to get ready and spend some time with the girls. I'm still not sleeping well at night, so I'm glad that I get to sleep in until 7 or 7:30.

My goal is to keep the downstairs nice and clean and keep laundry up to date and not get behind (which I'm starting at being behind...but I have goals to be better). Both girls rooms are nice and clean because I helped them get them nice and clean. Abby's room is gorgeous right now (minus the carpet which we didn't get replaced yet) with her new additions of furniture. Catherine's room has always looked cute, but she'll get a redecorated bedroom for her birthday too.

I'd like for us to sell this townhouse or keep it and rent it out, while we buy a new larger house next spring but I'm not sure that that will happen. It may be more like next fall or the following year. I'm hoping that we won't come dependant on my salary and that we can pay off bills, and create a bit of savings. Then my salary could be used to pay this mortgage while we do the house transition if it doesn't sell right away.

Abby's birthday was great! I'll post pictures later when I have more time (they're still on the CF card).