Can't believe it's been a month!!

So many things have happened since I last blogged so this will be a long post.

First, school ended. It was an interesting year and to say that I am not in love with my school would be an understatement. I am sticking it out one more year to see if it gets better but if not I will be looking for another district and or grade. At this point I am thinking maybe second or third grade might suit me.

With the end of the year came the 8th grade dance, I chaperoned for my school and Justin's school. We also had Justin's 8th grade recognition night in which he and his fellow classmates were recognized for various achievements.

All three kids did well on their report cards although Justin's 8th grade blahness did creep into his grades just a bit.

Since school ended, we have been watching Hannah play tons of softball. She and the Boomers are doing well. As always, Hannah is a powerhouse with her bat!

Justin and I are both doing summer school. I am teaching an enrichment class called What Happens and Twilight and I love it. It's only 3 hours a day four days a week for four weeks. So as of now I am in my 4th week of it. Justin is taking a class at his high school called Freshmen Success. Even though he initially didn't want to go, he is enjoying getting to know the ins and outs of high school, touring the school, meeting new friends and teachers. He is also required to work out everyday for the football team. So he attends summer school from 8-12 and goes back to school everyday from 3-5. Luckily summer school is over this Friday and then he will only have his workouts everyday.

We have been catching up with friends and family and basically enjoying having the time off. By this time in previous summers I have been bored but I am really enjoying my schedule, even though most of it consists of me being a taxi for my kids. Their activities keep my active as well.

Adam went on vacation to the Lake with my parents, brother's family and he had a great time with his cousin Megan and her friend on the boat and in the pool. Pics to come later.

Hannah just got home last night from a camping trip with her friend Kelly. They were gone for four nights and five days, too hear Hannah tell it, that was about 2 days too many due to the heat.

We will be heading to the Lake ourselves in mid July. Can't wait!!

We are also very happy about my mother in law's recovery from heart surgery. She had micro valve surgery in late May and spent four weeks in the hospital recovering. She is now out and doing quite well in her rehab. We are planning her 70th birthday at our house in July. She is one tough lady and we are so thankful for her recovery.

Planning on posting some pictures of all these events from the last month very soon.

Glad to be back on the blogging scene!

A Soapbox Issue

It is extremely difficult to work for a school district that stifles students' creativity, individuality, and free speech and thinks that every child should have an A in every subject every time.

~Nuff said!

Gosselin Haters Aplenty

Apparently I am not alone in my dislike (wouldn't say I'm a hater) of the Gosselins. There are entire websites and blogs devoted to Gosselin bashing. But this one is my favorite!

Since there are so many other sites devoted to anti-Gosselin info, I won't be bothering to post anything further about this hugely exploited and annoying family.

Annoyed at the Gosselins

Is anyone else really annoyed at all the rumors concerning the Jon and Kate plus 8 parents? I am personally tired of seeing these people and vow not to watch them anymore. All they have done is take a situation that they created themselves and tried to profit from it! They choose to have 8 children, no one forced them and now each has accused the other of infidelity, they make $75,000 per episode and live in a $1.5 million home??? Who can afford that with 8 kids? Celebrities, that's who and that's all these people are now, celebrities with 8 kids!!

So much to say, so little time

My blogging hiatus is over and I can hardly believe it's mid May. This last semester has flown by and there are only 10 days left of school. Over the last month our family has been really busy with sports, homework and end of the year craziness! Hard to believe, but this weekend is Justin's 8th grade graduation dance. He got his first suit and is excited to go with his friends although dreading the fact that I will be there as a chaperone :)

The other thing that has kept us busy is trips to the hospital to be with Bob's mom, Barbara. She spent the last two weeks of April in the hospital after having a heart attack. She had a stint put in and artery and they discovered that one of the valves of her heart wasn't working properly. During her stay her health greatly deteriorated to the point that she was on a dialysis for kidney failure, oxygen for breathing problems and had a contracted a staph infection of the blood. She was released from the hospital for a week while she continued iv antibiotics and dialysis in hopes of getting strong enough for valve replacement surgery. Unfortunately her heart could not manage with the faulty valve so she was re-admitted over the weekend and had the surgery Monday. She survived what was a very risky surgery but still has a long recovery. Her kidney are still not functioning and she is having a hard time being weaned off the respirator. Prayers for her recovery are welcomed!

At school, I am gearing up to teach summer school. It's an enrichment class about the book Twilight and I am really looking forward to it. We are also hoping to spend some weekends at the Lake with the family. Adam is going camping with his Cub Scout troop and Hannah is playing lots of softball. Justin will be gearing up for football camp, and two a day football practice starting in August. He will also be taking a summer class called Freshmen Success that introduces the kids to high school and all the responsibilities that go along with it. So it will be a busy summer but hopefully an enjoyable one. I plan to blog more frequently as soon as the school year ends. I will hopefully have some good pictures of Justin in his new suit to post over the weekend.

It's 10:15 and I should be teaching, fortunately for me this is a great class!

Still here

I'm still here and still planning on updating my blog, still have DC pictures to post. Just been too plain busy to get to it. End of the school year craziness, plus my mother in law has been in the hospital for a week. So don't forget about me readers, I plan on an extensive post later this week.

Frustrated

There are bunch of things I am totally frustrated with right now. Let's name them, Hannah's grades, Hannah's math teacher, Justin's grades, my PINK EYE again, kids at my school, the weather.......... I could go on!

I hate this time of the year as a teacher, the kids don't want to be in school and since we are just finishing up standardized testing they know there is no point left to school anymore. Plus on top of this Hannah and Justin have basically just stopped doing homework altogether. My eye is pink AGAIN, 4th time in a year!! I have a huge sty and my top eyelid is swollen, red, and crusty plus it is really painful. I am going to the eye doctor tomorrow afternoon but not sure if I can put up with the pain much longer. Starting to worry that I have some kind of underlying problem.

Oh and Happy Easter!! ugh!

More from our trip

These photos are all from Monticello, Thomas Jefferson's home in Charlottesville, VA. The home and the grounds surrounding it were very beautiful, it's in the foothills of the mountains in a very picturesque area. On the day we were there it was a bit rainy.

I was very impressed with how brilliant Jefferson was, he not only was a prolific author but an inventor as well. Unfortunately no photots are allowed inside the home but there are some interesting rooms and stories that are told during the tour. Monitcello is also on the nickel as is Jefferson's profile. This was just another part of our wonderful trip. Still more to come, the war memorials, and the Louisville Slugger Musuem.

Here comes Peter Cottontail

Am I a totally terrible mother because I wish that my youngest son no longer believed in the Easter bunny and I didn't have to fool with baskets and hiding eggs and dyeing eggs and filling eggs.....?

At Christmas time I kept thinking this will probably be the last year that Adam believes so I need to treasure it, now come Easter I am wishing that he already knew the truth. WHY?? I can't put my finger on it, maybe work related stress, end of the school year related stress, family stress, STRESS!! Could that be the answer?

Off to go fill, hide, dye eggs!

DC in pictures

My beloved family making history!







The Lincoln Memorial was truly awe-inspiring. Standing at the exact spot where Martin Luther King said his immortal words "I have a dream" and looking out at the National Mall and the Washington Monument was so historical to me that I can hardly put it into words. This was what I came Washington to see...



Visiting the Iwo Jima Memorial... this was something Bob always wanted to do. What a breathtaking monument.


There is so much more to come...

Got Pacman for you

I put a new gadget on my sidebar. Yup, that's right it's PACMAN! COOOL.

The good old Pacman game. Instructions: Use the arrow keys to guide Pac-Man. P - Pause/unpause game Q - Quit game M - Mute/unmute sound L - Low quality on/off.

Enjoy!!

New Market Battlefield

On Monday of our trip we traveled north to New Market Virginia to see a battlefield and the Civil War Medal of Valor Museum. It was quite interesting. This particular battle took place in a farmers field and involved a platoon from the Virginia Military Institute. Several of whom were killed in the battle. However the original farm house has been restored as well as several of the original farm building like the smokehouse, ice house, kitchen, and chicken coop were also restored and available to tour. Adam also got the cutest Civil War Confederacy Hat and Flag. Grandpa Nixon who is a huge Civil War buff and despite having just finished radiation treatment for brain cancer, went with us on the trip and thoroughly enjoyed this historic site.






Isn't he the cutest??

Home Home on the Range

We are home from our spring break trip to Virginia and Washington DC. It was a really great trip!! Although the weather was a bit cool and rainy, we still enjoyed all the historical sites. Some of my favorite times were driving through the mountains of West Virginia and Virginia they are so beautiful even if nothing was yet in bloom.






I took so many pictures and have so much to post that I will do each day/place we visited in separate posts. These first few pics are of the mountains we passed driving to and from the resort and some from the actual resort itself which was right in the middle of the Shenandoah Mountains which are part of the Blue Ridge.

Check back tomorrow for more updates, I need to get started on grading some papers right now :)

Affton Hockey Pictures

The kids had their annual Hockey All Star Game this past Saturday. They have been playing floor hockey for years and they love it. This year, Hannah and Justin played for the Stealth. Adam played for the Mowhawks, coached by Bob. The Stealth finished in 2nd place and the Mowhawks finished last, but they still had a great time playing. Did I mention that this league has been around for over 30 years? Bob and I both played when we were in grade school and junior high. It's probably one of my favorite sports for young kids because it requires very little equipment, it's fairly cheap to play and the games only last about 45 minutes but they are super fast paced. We love to watch them play!

In Like a Lion

March isn't exactly in like a lion although this extreme cold could possibly be called lionish. When is spring coming? We need it here now!

Going to DC

We're going to a resort in Virginia that's close to Washington DC for Spring Break. I'm very excited because I've always wanted to go and we will be there about 2 weeks before the Cherry Blossom Festival which I have always wanted to see so hopefully the trees will be somewhat blooming. Our resort is called Massanuten and it features an indoor waterpark, skiing, and snowtubing....IDK if I will try it but it does sound and look really fun!!

Back to Blogger

I have been so neglectful of my blog lately. So here I will take the time to quickly update. We've been keeping busy with sports on the weekend and in the evenings. At school I got a smart board installed in my classroom this week. It's the one that I wrote a grant for and received over $6000 for technology in my classroom. Not sure I mentioned here but I was pretty proud of myself. The weather has been really good lately and we've been able to get out more. This is a three day weekend for me and a four day for the kids but we've actually kept ourselves busy and have enjoyed the time off. I've been addicted to facebook's word challenge like crazy so that's why I haven't blogged. The kids have one more hockey game and I plan to take some much needed pictures to post. WHEW, that's the update. Now back to more word challenge :)

Buerkle Talent Show Video

I worked with a group of five 8th grade boys from my school for a talent show act. Orignally they wanted to be the Village People but I talked them into trying the Temptations. The video below is from our talent show Wednesday night.




Way to go Joe, Will, Brendan, Phoenix, and Blake!

Welcome Rogers Middle School Readers

It seems that by chance a few classmates of Justin's have found this website and have been giving him a bit of a hard time. He is totally embarrassed but me being me, I think it's hilarious. So Hertel, Jimmy, Scott, Codie and all the others........ you might want to check out these other posts for embarrassing moments from Justin's past.

Just click on the blue highlighted words.

Justin's birthday, football highlights

Enjoy! (and comment if you'd like)

Hello February!

Hello February, when did you slip in? I didn't really note the calendar change this week, it sorta slipped by but I am thankful that with every turn of the page we get closer to warm weather.....BRRRRRRRR. It's cold here today!

Lovin' January Now!

I admit that I may have been wrong about January, see this post and this one to understand. I mean what other month has such great snow days???? Yep, that's right snow day number 2!! Here we are hanging out after having slept til 8:30 instead of 5:30, eaten chocolate chip pancakes, and then leisurely checked out facebook, hotmail, and blogger for an hour or so!! What could be better?!?


I also want to thank those that commented on my blog after I whined that no one ever comments. Thanks Amy, Andrea, Aunt Anne, and Mom. It's nice to know that there are a few but faithful who read this wonderfully written publication :)

Now back to the regularly scheduled snow day routine of laying around, watching movies, playing board games with the kids and making cookies. Jealous anyone??

PS. Justin's feeling a lot better, Hannah still has a runny nose and Adam is fine.

Another negative thing about January

SICK KIDS!

All three of them seem to be under the weather. My mom took Justin to the doctor yesterday and he has a sinus infection and asthma flare up (hence the hacking cough and clogged nose) This morning Hannah woke up with a fever and said her throat hurt, so she's home sick and hopefully my mom (who's off work cause she herself had her gallbladder removed last Friday) will take Hannah to the doctor. Adam was blowing his nose this morning and wheezing a little (just love asthma) but I sent him to school with a dose of allergy meds and a puff off the inhaler. I think Bob is okay although he always has some kind of sinus thing going on and I am feeling fine (knock on wood) except for a backache that has turned into a chronic thing. Every winter it's the same thing.... BLAH!!

But I do appreciate the fact that my mom is home this week and able to help out (as she always does). Thanks mom!!

No comments

No one ever comments on my blog. This isn't like facebook where everyone has something to say. COME ON!!

1 reason to like January

Okay, there is one reason to like January... Hannah playing basketball!! Just got home from an AWESOME game. She was kinda sluggish in the first half but came on hard in the second. They were behind 21-10 at the half and Hannah scored 4 baskets. At the end of regulation play it was tied up 23-23. They went to a 2 minute overtime, Hannah got a basket and they were up 23-25 when the other team tied it up with no time left so they went to another 2 minute OT. The girls were playing tough defense and holding on to the tie. At 11 seconds left in the OT, her coach called a time out and then with 7 seconds remaining Hannah came up with a rebound from someone else's missed shot and put it in the net!! It was AWESOME as the clock ticked the last few seconds!! What a fantastic game!!

BUT>> I forgot my dang camera! :( ARGGGGGGG.. oh well still have 10 more games to go.

Who likes January??

Does anyone like January?? Unless maybe you or your child's birthday is in January, I see no reason to like it. First you have the holiday letdown, then the New Years Resolution guilt trip, then the cold, cold, cold, days of no sunshine. Sorry to those that actually like this weather but I need some sunshine and temps above 50. I know in 6 months I'll be complaining about the St.Louis HEAT but since its been a pretty slow week in blogger land I thought this might be a good complaint for now.

WOO HOO for the 4 day week coming up though. Gotta love those National Holidays that keep the schools closed!

Going to Hannah's b-ball game soon so maybe I will have some pics or video to post, if I can get the camera to work right :)

(also, I'm still loving facebook so that may be the reason to blame for my lack of blogging)

Nothing new really

I'm back to work after my two week hiatus and back to running kids all over in the evening so I really haven't had time to post. Plus I am secretly hooked on Facebook, shh don't tell blogger!

School's been pretty good this week. Luckily I prepared in advance and things went smoothly. I was also fortunate enough to get to go to my writing class all day Wednesday so it was technically only a 4 day week for me. However, first semester grades are finished and the school year is half over. OH YEAH!!!

This 50 degree weather has got me thinking hard about spring though. For the first year ever, my school's spring break coincides with the kids' spring break. So I, for one, would like to do a little trip. I'm thinking Memphis for a few days maybe. I actually have never been there and since it's pretty close... I'd love to go to San Antonio to visit friends but that would likely be a lot more costly considering I don't think my friend Bridget and her family of four would want my family of five staying with them for any length of time. Maybe I should go by myself?????? (that would be the day)

I'm on Facebook

Yep, I did it. I'm on Facebook and I found like a zillion of my old Affton Classmates. Too funny to see how much they have all changed in the last 18 years. Did I just say 18...YIKES!

Another link

I have another link on my sidebar. It's to an old high school friend, Amy. She and her husband have a 3 year old boy and are expecting a daughter soon. Amy and I first met in middle school when we played softball together for my dad's team. (Smitty's Welding) She also grew up on the street that we live on and her parents are still here. It's fun to see them in the neighborhood and at the grocery store. Amy and her family also live nearby. Can't believe it's almost been 20 years since high school graduation!