And she's off, Without Me.....

Today was Katie's offical first day of Kindergarten. I really thought sending off the "Middle Child" would be so much easier. I was wrong. As soon as the bus pulled away I got all choked up and started to cry. Every time I thought about her I would get choked up again. Silly me.

 

Here is Katie and her cute Kindergartner sign. I didn't realize at the time it matched her dress. She was very excited about that!

 

And here is Katie on the bus, WITHOUT ME!! I have driven a school bus for 4 years now, and my kids have always ridden with me. This is the first time she is on a bus and I am not driving it!

Kindergarten Round Up....

Katie had her Kindergarten round up today. The kids go in and meet their teachers and their new friends while the parents get the low down and what to expect in Kindergarten. I have already done this one time with Braeden so it wasn't total news to me, but there were a few new things.

 

This is Katie and her friend Sarah from church, they and another boy Brandon from church are all in the same class!

 

Katie is inline with the rest of her class and her "Pirate" teacher ready to head to her class.

 

After are meeting we met up with our kids in their class, and did a little scavenger hunt. Part of it was reading a book, so Katie picked one and sat down and read away.

 

And her she is sitting at her table ready to learn!

Back to School.....

Today was Braeden's first day of school. I cannot believe my baby is in 2nd grade already! Where did the time go? He is such a smart person, I am really excited to see what the school year brings for him!

 

 

 

 

New Year New Everything

So I haven't blogged FOREVER. Really I don't even know who reads this one anymore! I have a master plan for my life this year. I want to beautify my home and myself. “Organize yourselves; prepare every needful thing; and establish a house, even a house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of order, a house of God.” I fall so very short on these things. I want my house to be so organized I end up making it a HUGE mess! I also need to make me healthier, obviously. These are things I plan on working very very hard on. Anyone who wants to help or encourge me on my journey please do! I truly need all the help and prayers I can get!

Kristyn Anne

She is finally here! Thank you to my super high blood pressure I seem to only have the last 4 weeks of my pregnancy she came at 38 weeks too. She was born on 09/18/09 and 12:10pm. She weighed 6lbs and 15oz and was 19.5in long. She looks just like her daddy! This was truly an amazing delivery. Very painful, but lots of great rewards. My mom, my good friend Heather and Chris were all balling in the delivery room! So here she is!

So Sorry

I know I know my blog hasn't been updated in forever. It will be coming. My computer fried and I lost almost all my pictures, then my memory card in my camera went bonkers and my computer doesn't like to read it anymore. I don't usually like to blog without pictures, so I haven't posted anything in forever. So....when all starts to work again, I will post!!!

Zoo Trip

Last week was Braeden's spring field trip for preschool. Braeden was really looking forward to going this year. Last year he was in his wheelchair because he had broken his leg. He was so happy to be able to walk around and see all the animals up close this year. I know it's a hard picture to see, but his favorite thing in the whole zoo (it's a very small local zoo) are the otters. He just loves them. Since the weather was warm the Mountain Lions or Cougars were out enjoying the warm weather so we got to see them right up close. And as always the boys love the reptile house. I have to admit for a small zoo, their reptile house is pretty darn cool.

Finally A Post

I really hadn't realized that it had been so long since I had posted. I read everyone else's and never updated mine! So here we go. For Valentine's Day we took the kids to Build A Bear. It was Katie's first time there, and Braeden LOVES to go there. They had a blast, they lady stuffing my kid's stuffed treasures however looks less than thrilled. Katie decided on a soft curly bunny, and Braeden fell in love with the smallest bear in the place. No complaints here!! Aside from the line wrapped through, outside, and around the corner from the store (note to self, skip Build A Bear in V-Day falls on a weekend), we had a blast, and it was great to see the kids with their new friends!

GIVEAWAY

My longtime dear friend Becky and her friend Jess are giving away a beautiful hand-made heart necklace for Valentine's Day. Check out the website here. Good luck to everyone, I really love Becky's designs. Amanda I need you to take pictures of my kids so I can have her make me the beautiful photo necklace. Check out Becky's designs here!!

Something Fun....

I saw this on an old friend's blog. I thought it was cool, and did it too.

Bold the things you've actually done
01. Bought everyone in the bar a drink 02.Swam with dolphins 03.Climbed a mountain 04. Taken a Ferrari for a test drive 05. Been inside the Great Pyramid 06. Held a tarantula 07. Taken a candlelit bath with someone 08. Said "I love you" and meant it 09. Hugged a tree 10. Bungee jumped 11. Visited Paris1 2. Watched a lightning storm at sea 13. Stayed up all night long and saw the sun rise 14. Seen the Northern Lights 15. Gone to a huge sports game 16. Walked the stairs to the top of the leaning Tower of Pisa 17. Grown and eaten your own vegetables 18. Touched an iceberg 19. Slept under the stars 20. Changed a baby's diaper 21. Taken a trip in a hot air balloon 22. Watched a meteor shower 23. Gotten drunk on champagne 24. Given more than you can afford to charity 25. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope 26. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment 27. Had a food fight 28. Bet on a winning horse 29. Asked out a stranger 30. Had a snowball fight31. Screamed as loudly as you possibly can 32. Held a lamb 33. Seen a total eclipse 34. Ridden a rollercoaster 35. Hit a home run 36. Danced like a fool and didn't care who was looking37. Adopted an accent for an entire day 38. Actually felt happy about your life, even for just a moment 39. Had two hard drives for your computer 40. Visited all 50 states 41. Taken care of someone who was drunk 42. Had amazing friends 43. Danced with a stranger in a foreign 44 . Watched whales 45. Stolen a sign 46. Backpacked in Europe 47. Taken a road-trip 48. Gone rock climbing 49. Taken a midnight walk on the beach 50. Gone sky diving 51. Visited Ireland 52. Been heartbroken longer than you were actually in love 53. In a restaurant, sat at a stranger's table and had a meal with them 54. Visited Japan5 5. Milked a cow 56. Alphabetized your CDS57. Pretended to be a superhero 58. Sung karaoke 59. Lounged around in bed all day 60. Played touch football 61. Gone scuba diving 62. Kissed in the rain 63. Played in the mud 64. Played in the rain 65. Gone to a drive-in theatre 66. Visited the Great Wall of China 67. Started a business 68. Fallen in love and not had your heart broken 69. Toured ancient sites 70. Taken a martial arts class71. Played D&D for more than 6 hours72. Gotten married 73. Been in a movie 74. Crashed a party 75. Gotten divorced 76. Gone without food for 5 days 77. Made cookies from scratch 78. Won first prize in a costume contest 79. Ridden a gondola in Venice 80. Gotten a tattoo 81. Rafted the Snake River 82. Been on a television news program as an "expert" 83. Gotten flowers for no reason 84. Performed on stage 85. Been to Las Vegas 86. Recorded music 87. Eaten shark8 8. Kissed on the first date 89. Gone to Thailand 90. Bought a house 91. Been in a combat zone92. Buried one/both of your parents93. Been on a cruise ship 94. Spoken more than one language fluently95. Performed in Rocky Horror 96. Raised children 97. Followed your favorite band/singer on tour 98. Passed out cold 99. Taken an exotic bicycle tour in a foreign country 100. Picked up and moved to another city to just start over 101. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge 102. Sang loudly in the car, and didn't stop when you knew someone was looking 103. Had plastic surgery 104. Survived an accident that you shouldn't have survived 105. Wrote articles for a large publicatio n106. Lost over 100 pounds 107. Held someone while they were having a flashback108. Piloted an airplane 109. Touched a stingray 110. Broken someone's heart 111. Helped an animal give birth112. Won money on a TV game show 113. Broken a bone 114. Gone to Africa 115. Had a facial part pierced other than your ears 116. Fired a rifle, shotgun, or pistol 117. Eaten mushrooms that were gathered in the wild 118. Ridden a horse 119. Had major surgery120. Had a snake as a pet121. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon1 22. Slept for 30 hours in a 48 hour period 123. Visited more foreign countries than U.S. States 124. Visited all 7 continents 125. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days 126. Eaten kangaroo meat 127. Eaten sushi 128. Had your picture in the newspaper 129. Changed someone's mind about something you care deeply about 130. Gone back to school 131. Parasailed 132.Touched a cockroach 133. Eaten fried green tomatoes 134. Read The Iliad and The Odyssey 135. Selected one "important" author who you missed in school, and read 136. Killed and prepared an animal for eating 137. Skipped all your school reunions 138. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language 139. Been elected to public office 140. Written your own computer language 141. Thought to yourself that you're living your dream 142. Had to put someone you love into hospice care1 43. Built your own PC from parts 144. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn't know you145. Had a booth at a street fair 146. Dyed your hair 147. Been a DJ1 48. Shaved your head 149. Caused a car accident 150. Saved someone's life

I Love the Holidays......and all the crap that comes with them.

The past two weeks have been very hard on my system. Not necessarily bad, or a reason for BAH HUMBUG, which I am not, but none the less very rough. It all started just over a week ago. I work two jobs now as many of you know. The mall I work at has a "Midnight Madness Sale" that actually starts about 10pm on Thanksgiving Eve. I was slated to work the first shift which I did of our Black Friday sale, so I worked from 9pm on Thanksgiving until 9am Black Friday morning. Oh I forgot to mention that was after we had to call 911 at my mom's house I Thanksgiving to take my Grandma to the doctor because she had Pancreatitis, what a mess. So on no sleep Chris picked me up at work, we ran to Toys R Us and Meijer hoping to catch a few of the Black Friday specials they were having, which we did. The back in the car, drive through for lunch, and a 5 hour drive to Ohio to visit family. We came back on Sunday, and it was a fun, much needed visit. Then comes Wednesday night. I go back to work at Crocs, where I leave around 9:30pm. I get home. Katie starts screaming in her room around 10:15pm, she has the flu. I held her all night, until about 3 when Braeden started throwing up too. finally around 4:30 in the morning they both fell asleep, me too for 30 minutes, my alarm went off at 5 to get up and get ready for work. Yay for no sleep AGAIN! LoL!!! So I went to work, hurried home to my still sick children, got them to fall asleep again, and I jumped in the shower, this time it was off to COURT. My final court date for my divorce. I am now officially single again. Crazy, it has been 10 years for this one. So, Thursday night I was exhausted, feel right asleep. Friday comes and nothing. Friday night....I GET THE FLU!!! Seriously, do I need sleep? Apparently, not. I can function without it lol. Saturday morning I get up, drag myself out of bed, and take my kids to Breakfast with Santa because I had promised them the night before and already bought the tickets. I love the holidays I really do, but I can do without Black Friday, and the cold and flu Season. So Sunday rolled around and we decided to really the Christmas spirit and have a little fun with the kids (after recovering all morning from the flu and no sleep) and we built a Gingerbread house, like we do every year. And yes, my kids do eat it! I hope it gets better from here on out, otherwise I am taking a vacation in January from my holidays!!

GIve Away

I found this on a friends, friends blog. Good Luck to all of you!

Vote for Values......2008

This morning on my way home from work I was the 649 person to vote in my precinct in Kendall County Illinois. Hehe. I know that is alot more than needed information, but I feel pretty cool. I saw a sign at the local gas station that said Vote for Values. I think that sums it up pretty well for me. I am an education woman, but I don't speak well, or write well. Heck, try as I might I may not know all there is to know about politics. But I felt so proud walking to to vote today. Win or lose, I know I did the right thing. As a school bus driver I have had lots of questions from students about who I was going to vote for, and I never tell them. I just let them guess (even though I am wearing a red white and blue elephant jibbit in my crocs). I have had to experiences I want to share. One happened this morning. After the kids asked me who I was going to vote for I took a poll and asked them. First I said Obama, then I said McCain. When the McCain students raised their hands a black students said to them, "Stupid White People." I has so angry. A few weeks ago I had a third grade student tell me he was going to "Vote for Barack Obama because he feels that black people should have the right to be president." All I can say is what the heck are they teaching these kids in school!!! So that was totally off the subject, but I am proud to be an American, and I am proud that I exercised my right to vote today. And, Katie is great full because she was with me, and all the kids that came with their parents got candy!!! Here is to the future.

Tell Me Tuesday......My Favorite Teacher

I was really blessed to have lots of great teachers while I was growing up. I just ran into my 7th grade science teacher and can I tell you....she is just as excited about sciene now as she was back in the 7th grade! My absolute favorite teacher though was Mr. Lademan, my 8th grade history teacher. He was awesome! He was fun, warm, willing to help, and really made learning just plain cool! I remember studing the stock market. We broke into groups and over the course of serveral "months" we bought and sold stock, based on the actual happenings of the economy around the time of the great depression. The winning team received a bunch of "plus tickets" that could be used as currency in the end of the year 8th grade auction. I also remember more the time we were studying the civil war. We talked about the actual distance that men on the battlefield had to stand from each other while using mukets and bayonets. So Mr. Lademann marched us down to the football field, gave us all tennis balls, had us stand 15 or so yards apart, and then ordered us to "FIRE". A few bruises later we got the point, they were really close to each other!! Anyway, here is to Mr. Lademann!! Thank you!

Happy Birthday Kathryn Marie!

I realized I haven't posted in what 2 months? What is my problem! lol. So I am going to start off with Katie. She turned 2 just last Monday. How the time flies. I love that little girl so much, and to think I only wanted boys....








My mom and I took Katie To Libby Lu to get her ears piercred. Here is the before...


...And the after. Yes her eyes are closed, the gun got stuck, but she didn't shed a single tear! I can't believe she is such a big girl!

Tell Me Tuesday-My Bucket List

I like this post. I am sure I could make it huge and long and ramble on more than I usually do, but here I go with the first few things to pop into my head.

1. Get married barefoot in the sand-Seriously, I am doing it my way this time. Not everyone gets to do it twice...
2. Buy a nice single family home-I love my townhomes and duplexes but one without common walls would be nice.
3. Buy a brand new car-never done it, I have always had great great used ones, but a brand spanking new one would be fun.
4. Go back to Switzerland-I loved it so much the first time, I need to go back someday.
5. Go to the Summer Olympics(in Chicago 2016 I hope!!)-I am an olympic nut. I love the swimming and water polo events, I would LOVE LOVE LOVE to see them in person.
6. Go on a cruise-this may happen sooner than I think. A disney cruise for Thanksgiving is in the works. It is still warm enough there in swim right?
7. See my kids start families-I know this is all sentimental, but it would make me so happy.
8. Lose all this DAMN weight!!-Ok sorry for being vulger. I am trying right now. I want sooo badly to get back down to my pre-college/baby/kids/depression/fast food weight. Thank heavens for the gym and personal trainers right?
9. Be ORGANIZED!!-Can I pay someone to come into my home and get everything all organized for me? I would LOVE it.
10.Personal Chef-I have always said, if I won the lottery I would get a personal chef.

Tell it to Me Tuesday-This summer.....

This one is great Chelsea!!

I have so much on my plate for this summer. I have had quite the interesting year and I have alot of work to do. So here are my plans.

1. LOSE WEIGHT!!! OK, now I know everyone wants to do this, but I am sooooo doing it. I have lots to lose. I joined a gym which I have been going to, and paid extra for the daycare there. My kids love it. My DS4 asks me if we can stay longer every time I go. I also am paying for a personal trainer once a week. I am serious about this goal. I can't have this weight affecting my health anymore so off it comes!!

2. Get organized. This means my house and my schedule. I am on a life changing mission here ladies!

3. DECLUTTER!!! Awesome Flylady advice. I very wise friend once told me that we need to live in the present. Keeping all that old junk around is living in the past. Besides, who wants pictures of the ex-husband to be hanging around??

4. Be a FUN MOM!! I was always a snuggler mom. You know the nurturer. Now that I am the one with my kiddos the most, I need to learn how to be a fun mom. Starting with swimming lessons, and a Just the two of us class my my DD and I this summer. Some of my dear friends from work and I are planning a mom and kids only camp out too.

5. Be happy!! I am a new me. I have has so much drama and unhappiness in my life for so long and its ALL GONE!!! Yay!! I may not be a perfect church goer or member, but I love the church and it's in my heart. My friends are always in my mind and my heart. Let's be honest, being here with my kids and working I am lucky I know my own phone number let alone yours. CALL ME!!! I always love to hang out. And thank you so much to those of you who have called, you have no idea how much I love that!!

So all in all, here is to a wonderful summer, and after that rest of the year. I can't wait for you all to see me when I am thin again, and back to the real me!

Let's Go Fly a Kite....

The kids and I had a fun filled weekend starting with the 2008 Naperville Kite Festival. Before we went, Braeden would not leave the house without a tatoo, and Katie just looked cute with her girly one.

To bad there's no more Bozo show, Braeden hit every bucket!!

Here are the kiddo's and some "other" family standing in front of the kite flying fields. These pictures don't do justice, the squid and penguin kites were enormus.

The kids loved playing with these "spikey soccer ball" kites.


Hey nice legs!!


I french fried myself a little bit, but I did remember to put sun block on the kids, ya me! Later that night after everybody napped and cooled off we went to see Kung Fu Panda. Super cute movie. We went to the 7:20 show and there were alot of adults. Even they laughed throughout the movie. Fun for all ages, I recommed it. I however do not advise bringing your 21 month old daughter who refuses to sit for the show.