It's been a while

Wow! I really need to write something! Let's see, since my last update, we've been quite busy. We took a short trip to Colorado this summer to visit Kerry's cousin. We brought Kerry's dad along with us too. It's been around 20 years since he'd been there, and Kerry really wanted him to get away to see his brother and sister. We spent the bulk of the summer between the ball field & swimming pool. Ryan played coach pitch for the first time, and LOVED it! He also took swimming lessons at the YMCA. Lenae was on the summer AquaPups swim team where she earned 16 ribbons for the season! We spent every Tuesday evening at a meet, and Wednesday evenings at the ball diamond. We had a great time cheering them on.

At the end of July (the day after Ryan turned 6) we left for Tennessee. Having never been there before, we were all really looking forward to the trip. We spent a couple days in St. Louis first. Took the kids up in the Arch and played lots of cards with my Aunt Sharon & Uncle Clair. We then spent a week in Fairfield Glade, TN. While we were there, we spent a day at Dollywood, and another day in Nashville. We even went to Dave Ramsey's studio and got to watch him tape the last few minutes of his show. Of course we missed meeting him in person by just seconds. We were wanting to yell our DEBT FREE scream - live on the air. Instead, we bought some souviners. I got to meet one of my online scrappin' friends, Rhonda. That was fun, and we hope to meet up again.

After our week in TN, we headed to Kentucky to spend a few days with some friends that used to live here. We had a great time with Gerry & Cheryl and their girls. We got to spend a nice day with just the "adults" too! The four of us celebrated our 16th wedding anniversary. Gerry & Cheryl and Kerry & I were married on the exact same day, July 30th! We went to "Shaker Town" for lunch and then walked around the area. It was a lot of fun! We wound up the trip by spending a couple more days in St. Louis before heading home. It was a great vacation, and we hope to get back to that area again. Tennessee & Kentucky were absolutely gorgeous! I've never seen so many trees and winding roads!

Now, school has been in session for about a month and a half. The kids seem to be adjusting well, along with myself. I get the privilige (I think - LOL) of having Lenae in one of my classes this year. Hopefully it isn't all bad for her. :P Ryan is loving 1st grade, and being at the big school all day long. After school can get kind of crazy with trying to get things done with them both in my room, pestering each other. Of course there's after school activities too: Angel Choir and Winter Swim Team for Lenae, and Soccer for Ryan. It sure makes the days go by fast!

Hopefully I'll get back here before 5 months pass by again! Until next time......

Almost summer...

You'd think that after many years of teaching that I'd figure out to wear sunscreen on play day. Nope! I got home yesterday only to walk in and hear Kerry tell me, "Your red!" Of course you always feel it more the day after. My face is tight and my chest and arms are a little tender. *sigh*

Speaking of school, there is only one more week left for this year. My 6th grade homeroom students will be graduating on Tues. evening, which will be the last time I am with them. They were a pretty good group of kids. We had our challenges this year, as well as ups and downs, but overall I can honestly say that I am proud of how they conducted themselves as the year went along.

With that said, I am SOOOOO looking forward to summer! Back in March or April, Kerry and I made reservations at Wyndham Nashville. We were supposed to be going for a week in mid June. Of course with the recent flooding, our reservations have since been cancelled. I found a video on youtube showing just how high the water was at the resort...chest deep! The resort is right near the Cumberland River and just down the street from the Grand Ol Opry. So, we revamped our vacation plans. We are now going to Fairfield Glade, TN (another Wyndham resort) which is an hour and a half east of Nashville. We are still hoping to spend at least one day in Nashville. It'll be later on in the summer though.

Well, we are off to a graduation reception today. It's raining and chilly out, but what can you expect for spring?

Another day in the life

It's Saturday, finally! This week has just been a long week. Not for any particular reason, it just has. I think as spring and summer grow nearer, the anticipation of both make them seem like something far off in the distance.

December and January were busy months. I did most of the Christmas meal to help my mom out since her back surgery. She still did too much, but unless I was to lock her in a room, I don't think I could stop her, LOL! We both had a good time right before Christmas when I took her to Hutch to do some last minute shopping. Luckily, every where we went the stores had those motorized carts. If not, I don't think we would have been able to shop as long as we did. We both finished up the shopping we needed to, and we got to spend the evening together - bonus!

Kerry, the kids, and I rang in the New Year with our friend's the Jakaboskys. We always have a good time when we get together. We spent the night at their house out in the country, and then got up and made a New Year's breakfast. It was a good time, with even better friends!

January was spent driving all over. Lenae finally had her first swim meet on Jan. 9th in Topeka! She did great...even though she had nervous jitters the entire day before the meet. We had the next weekend off - in which I played catch-up. The following weekend we spent in Wichita with my brother since she had a meet there on Sat. & Sun. Then the last weekend of the month was spent in Salina and her final meet for the short course season. She ended up earning her first ribbon at the Salina meet - 6th place in the 100 IM! WOO HOO! That gave her a ton of confidence, and some acknowledgement that she really is competition worthy.



It's been exciting being a "swim mom" and I know this summer will be filled with running around to different towns for meets. I hear they are less hectic, except for the divisionals. Either way, I'm looking forward to it! Oh...and throw in Ryan's activities of soccer and probably t-ball too. We are finally starting to be what most families are for their kids...taxis! I love it!