Jump In

It's been sooooooo long since I was here!  The last month seems like a blur! The end of the school year was full of chores and excitement!  And the first few weeks of summer have been full of sun, sand and water!  So thankful for a job that allows me to have such a long break to regroup and regain strength.  I would go NuTtY if I didn't have the summer to look forward to!  God bless my husband and all the rest of you who work year round!  I'm sorry!  I would tell you to join the teaching profession but right now is not a good time!  Unless, of course you enjoy a pay cut and risk of lay off every year, then, by all means, join in the fun!! 

I think that was a tangent!  The point I was trying to make is that.... Its SuMmEr!!! Yay! And what is a necessity of summer?  Spending time with a bestie!! 

And where is the best place to hang with a bestie?? On the water!

If you notice, we are actually sailing! Which is sometimes stressful because I am an anti-risk-taker.  But not that day! It was perfect!  Enough wind to sail but not death defying gales!  So then, because it was hot, we had to find a way to cool off.... :) this is the fun part!

We all got in a few jumps!  I have to make a conscious effort to not think about what might be lurking below me as I swim swiftly to the ladder!  Risky for and anti-risk-taker, I know, but its fun! The kids were good too!  They are becoming quite fond of the boating experiences.  Luc always wants to go to the "but"! A tiny escape for some "mostly" stress free fun!  

Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa who are always ready to host our rowdy crew!  Grandma after a busy day....

I will try to blog more often now that I have a bit more free time.  And hope to see lots more friends for some serious fun in the sun!!

M.O.M.

I have been a mother for 8 years.  I would be lying if I said I didn't look forward to the great cards, flowers and gifts that shower me on Mothers day.  All so that my family can celebrate my awesomeness :) That, of course, is a joke because I know there are many times when I fail as a quality mom. But here is the beauty....they love me anyway!  And they wouldn't trade me for the world.  The same goes for my mom to me.  She put up with the adolescent me.  Yikes!  And I think the 2's are hard! But she still loves me and she didn't kill me.  Mothers Day is to give our Moms a little extra love and attention.  This year, I have to say was probably the best yet.  And it had nothing to do with flowers and gifts.  The day went something like this......

First things first like any Sunday, our family went to church.  I usually sit alone while Andrew runs the computer, but this Sunday, I was lucky enough to sit between 2 fantastic ladies!  My sister in law Jenny on one side and one of my BF's Sarah on the other!  Just a small blessing but a good start to the day!

After church, it was bbq time back at our crib.  We had Andrew's parents, his sisters, and their kids, and my parents over.  Andrew grilled up some sweet hamburgers and hotdogs!  We also had 2 kinds of salad, and baked beans.  My personal fav was the chips and Helluva Good dip!  Sooo goood!  We all just ate and talked and enjoyed each other!!

After all the excitement, and all of the food, the party died down a little.  Some people had to leave.  I'm pretty sure they were going home to nap.  Cause that's what we were ready for!  The kids went to sleep after a bit of persuading and the left over adults took turns napping on the couch.  It was the most relaxing part of the day!  A little later still and all of our guests departed.  It was at the top of the list of successful family bbqs! 

But the fun wasn't over.  Last October, one of my best BF's ever, Katie, moved to Georgia :(  Supposedly they love it there, but how could they without me? Anyway, she was in town to visit her fam.  It worked out that she was able to come and spend a few hours with me.  Thank goodness too because she had to leave the next day.  We were able to spend some great times talking and laughing, and of course planning (we are always trying to plan the next get together)!  All that time we got no pictures together!  The only pic I got was one of Lucy double dipping in Katie's bowl of Helluva Good!  And of course she didn't mind! I will post it because I miss her already!

Can you even believe how great that day was? I have to tell you that it was 1 of the best days ever for me.  It had the perfect amount of everything.  Am am so thankful for the wonderful women in my life.  I am thankful I got to spend time with them in celebration on Sunday.  I am thankful for Andrew, who put much time and effort into the shopping, prepping and cooking for the day so I didn't have to!  And although it wasn't the best part of the day, I did get flowers that were picture worthy!

I would love to hear how you spent yours! Please share! And if you are so blessed to have her close, don't forget to squeeze your mom.  Oh, and don't forget those who make you a mom they are squeezable too!! 

Beach Babes!

Schoooool's out for summer!.......Well, not yet, but it sure did seem like it today.  I guess the feeling started yesterday.  It was the last day of school before the Easter holiday weekend.  I had like a million things to do.  Let's see, there was packing things for Lucy's party, packing things for Gavin's party, packing things for my class party, cooking for the staff breakfast, an Easter egg hunt, a class party, parents coming in, last day for Meredith (best intern ever!:() and still had a little time to teach about fact and opinion, living vs. nonliving things, time of day and poetry!   I have no idea why I was so exhausted by 4:00!!! Anyway, after I dropped the last of my sweet angels off at the bus, I had this giant exhale.  Like I had made it to some kind of milestone.  Like something fantastic was about to happen. Like, like I had made it to summer!!!! Then a tiny thought popped in....

Tiny thought "ummmm, it's only a 3 day weekend"
Me "ummmm, I'LL TAKE IT!!"

LOL! Okay, so thats how we got to today.  Andrew had to work...surprise, surprise.  Gav went to hang with a cousin, so it was just me and The Bug.  What to do, what to do?  We couldn't stay home all day. 1-because it was too beeeeauuutifuuulll out and b-we have to be quiet at home while Andrew is at work.  LOL! Have you met Lucy??????  Needless to say, I was packing our bag.  Just in time too, cause we got a call from good ole Grammy.  Grammy, aka, my mom was looking for a good time too :)  We discussed the usual suspects- shopping? lunch? How about the beach?  

Tiny thought "ummmmm don't forget the last 2 times that you took Lucy to the beach.  Remember how she kept running away and trying to dig into other peoples' things?  Remember how she ran face first into the ocean over and over?  Remember that it was the opposite of fun and you swore you'd never do it again?"
Me  "ummmmm Okay, let's go!"

LOL! Why not, right? So off we went! My mom is great company.  And Lucy behaves for her way better than she does for me.  The drive was nice.  My mom and I got caught up on each others' business and when we arrived at our destination, Pass A Grille, there was ample parking.  Good sign.  We drug our chairs, umbrella, towels, lunch, bags, and 2 yr old out onto the gleaming white sandy beach.  WOW!  I believe 100% that there will be a beach in Heaven.  Beyond being completely gorgeous, the beach is also therapy for me. Not necessarily when Lucy is present but we were gonna give it a shot :)  We set up camp near the crystal clear water.  As I started to organize, I also anticipated Lucy taking her 1st giant leap of the day into the blue abyss.  I watched her as she approached, bucket in hand.  She moved slowly to the edge....then stopped.  WOW!  I could not believe it!  That was the beginning of the 1sts for the day.  1st time not running into the ocean.  1st time not running away constantly. 1st time not digging in strangers' lunchboxes. 1st time being content at the waters edge.  1st time attacked by a seagull over a chip!  LOL!  We had such a great time.  The day had a perfect balance of fun and relaxation and excitement!! 
1st Best Day at the beach with 3 generations!!
1st sign that when Schooooool's out for summer, these 3 beach babes will be headed back to the beach!   

 

Iron Girl 2011

I know you are probably thinking-Wow 2 blogs in 1 day! What up with that?  Well, it just so happens that I went to dinner with my parents and drank about a gallon of Diet Coke! mmmmmm I heart it! One day I will blog about it :) Anyway, by my calculations, all that caffeine will have me awake until, say, Tuesday or so :)  Sooooo, I thought I would take some time to share with you my latest accomplishment.

I have a degree to teach.  I have a license to do hair.  School is my thing.  I can do it.  Always could.  Sports, however, is a different story.  I have never been particularly athletic.  I played soccer in high school where I kept the bench warm the first few years.  And I usually join a gym (and never go) every once in a while.  This is the extent of my athletic career.....until the beginning of March.  

At school I have a friend.  We will call her LP.  LP does the running and gym thing often.  She mentioned to me, probably in jest 1 day that I should run this 5k race with her coming up in Clearwater.  Maybe she thought I was a runner, or maybe she was giving me a subtle hint, I dont know.  Anyway, I kindly told her no thanks because the only time I would run was if someone was chasing me!  We laughed and I went on about my life.  Except I had this nagging feeling.  For days I questioned myself.  Can I do it?  Am I too afraid to try?  What would be required of me?  So I set out to find out.  I decided that it had been way too log since I had done something out of my comfort zone.  A challenge was just what I needed to test myself.  I decided to sign up.  

I only had a few weeks to train.  I wasn't trying to beat any records or win 1st place, I just wanted to do my personal best.  The 1st week was great.  Training went well, I was eating well and feeling great.  I had all kinds of motivation.  Week 2 brought daily monsoons to good ole Land O Lakes.  Bad weather, friends.  Tornadoes, power outages, school bus delays-bad, bad weather.  During that rainy week while everything else was rinsed away, so was my steam :( So the last week of training was more like a week of resting up :)

The big day arrived! I was not nervous.  I knew that all I could do was to give it my best.  My 1 hope-I truly hope and pray that I do not come in dead last.  That would be too embarrassing.  Not to mention LP would prob laugh at me :) Anyway, it was dark until right before we took off.  At 7:00, the 1/2 marathon began.  Now those ladies are hard core for sure! Alas. 7:15am Sun. April 11.  It was my turn!!!! The energy at the starting line was electric. I was hoping for a gun shot to signal go, but we settled for the announcer on the mic.  Mark. Set, Go! Off we went.  I knew I wouldn't be able to keep up with LP and another friend of the day Primo.  But I also didn't expect them to tear off the start line like it was the 50 yard dash, but they did.  I was on my own.  For the 1st 1/2 mile, I worked on finding a good pace.  It was still crowded at that point too, so only a few were out ahead.  Shortly after that we saw the 1 mile mark.  WOW! I was 1/3 of the way finished with this race and I was still running at a pretty nice pace. At this point, I made a conscious effort to steady my breathing.  I could see up ahead was the turnaround point which would mark the 1/2 way point.  Happiness!!! I still felt okay.  It was during this leg of the race that I began to start getting weak.  We were close to 1.5 mi and I wanted to stop and walk.  You can do this, you can do this, you can do this.  I began chanting to myself.  I blocked every other thought out of my head except these words.  And guess what..it worked!  Another 1/2 mile down (we are at 2mi now) And here is where we I ran into a small technical difficulty.  Okay so picture this.  1.2 miles to go.  Middle of the course on the side of the road.  Breathing steady.  Positive self talk going on.  What could go wrong now?  Remember this song "When youre slidin into first......._________!
Yes.  Okay.  So needless to say my jog immediately slows into a walk.  What the heck?  It came out of nowhere!  And I already have serious public bathroom issues/anxieties.  Okay.  I can handle this.  The feeling subsides after a bit of walking.  So I am still in a race and I want to run again.  Not so fast!  I played this walk-or else game with my body until close to the end of the race.  I was back to jogging by the last 1/2 mi and actually sprinted to the finish line!  Holy Cow! I did it!  I ran a 5K!  I was and still am super proud of myself.  


The rest of the morning was great too. They served us this delish and healthy meal of breakfast burritos, muffins, yogurt, banana and juice.  Then we shopped around at little booths.  Close to 10am we were ready to head out, still on a high from our fab morning.  I went home and showered and took a little nap before my family got home from church.  Then I gave them all the play by play of the day!
Check out all my Race Bling.

And my race number.  Pinned to my shirt, it made me feel so official! :)  (Its the little things for me remember)

And the look on my face....

Thanks to LP and Primo for the invite and the encouragement!  I am looking forward to more racing.  This was a blast!  Strong and healthy is how I want to live.  Hopefully this is my 1st step!
Thanks,
KBO

SPRING!

I am a big, no, HUGE fan of warm weather!  You already know this about me if you read my "Who am I" section :) So when the past dreadful winter season ended and the weather became more bearable, this girl was SUPER happy! Christmas is definitely a fav time of year also.  But when all the hustle and bustle, 1,000 parties, and excessive gift giving/receiving (not to mention the cold) starts, I am pretty much OVER it!!  Spring brings with it so many wonderful things!  First and foremost.....

  

He Is Risen!!!

Friends, if you did not know this, or are taking it for granted (as I do sooooo much of the time), let us all reflect.  Do you sometimes wonder how you got so "lucky"? We have an answer!!! Drum roll please........."Every good and perfect gift is from above...." James 1:17 NIV.  WOW!  I am so thankful and blessed in my life and NOW is the best time to refocus and reprioritize!  Happy Easter!!

Other fantastic Spring occurrences are.... Chick-A-Thon, of course. And by the way, in context of the world, this should be called PVE Bird-A-Thon. In our hallways at school there is a nest every few feet full of baby birds!  The mother birds are super aggressive toward all humans on campus!  You will get a few flyby warnings, then you may get a full blown knock out if you get too close to the babies.  Speaking of the babies, just yesterday, a scared and probably wingless baby bird latched onto a kids' shirt and pooped all over him!  He was in the office running all around and the secretary went and hid in her office.....hi-lar-i-ous!! I know the poor kid was scared but no doubt the bird was more scared.  Anyway, we are knee deep in the egg hatching around here and it is always exciting!! 


More good news from the home front, outside play has become the hot nightly routine.  My son is the ultimate "Indoor Person"  He even has a shirt that says it, lol.  But lately, the trampoline is in high demand and even the footballs and soccer balls are getting some play time.  I foresee some improvements in the back yard for mom and dad as well.  I attribute all of this outside time to the beautiful afternoons and mild evenings of...... SPRING!!   
Lastly, my baby's preschool does an annual Hat Parade to celebrate Spring.  This was our 1st experience so we were pretty hyped!  The morning of the parade, my husband took her to school.  He didn't dress her in what I had laid out (we had a conversation about that later) so I didn't even recognize her!! Anyway, seeing the 2 year old class come out is cute enough, but then I recognized someone I know and my heart melted!!

This is my most favorite 2 yr old on the planet.  She is a big fan of me, too, now that I came to see her showcase her Spring Bonnet!

LOL! She was little confused about the objective.  Listen people, I told you it was her 1st parade, so of course she didn't know what was going on! 

She got comfy with a friend, but poor Tytan wasn't as fond of picture time :)

We got a good smile out of our pal Logan.  I also hear he put that whole outfit together on his own!! He is def stylin'


Friends, sometimes we all feel like everyday is "Groundhogs Day" Like we wake up and do the same thing over and over again everyday and we are constantly running in a rat race.  But we have to take a moment to reflect on our blessings and prioritize the things that matter most.  Try to turn negative thoughts into positives.  Try to smile at someone in passing.  Listen to a bird chirp.  Throw a football.  Watch a hat parade.  Spring has all the elements needed to focus on just..... the little things! 
Love,
KBO 

Chick- a- thon

All my personal friends know that I have been on a mission for the past 21 days.  We have been expanding our school family. We are hatching chickens.  Well, not me personally.  I have way too much to do to sit on eggs all day and night.  So I acquired an incubator from a parent, Anne, in our pod.  

If you know anything about hatching eggs (which I didn't) you know that the eggs need to be turned 3 times a day. This presented a problem.  Our eggs would be incubating over Spring Break.  Surprisingly, no one volunteered to come up to school 3 times a day to turn the eggs!  No idea why..... :) Anyway, our wonderful parent Anne got us an automatic turner for the incubator.  Then we were ready to rock and roll! 

We started with 37 fertilized eggs from a farm in a neighboring town- 12 Brown eggs which would hatch into Rhode Island Red chickens, 18 white eggs hatching into White Leghorns, and 7 little green eggs hatching into Easter Eggers!  Listen people- I had NO idea that different colored chickens laid different colored eggs!!!! I also never knew specific names!! I just thought chickens are chickens!! :) The incubator was set at 99.5 and now we had to sit.....and....wait.....

On day 15 we were able to "candle" the eggs.  We set up an overhead projector, cut a whole in a box and put each egg on top.  You can actually see the outline of whats developing inside.  By day 15, about 3/4 of the egg should be filled with the developing chick.  I am attaching a picture but it is not great quality.  Candling each egg allowed us to see into all the white eggs to make sure progress was being made.  The brown and green eggs' shells were too thick to see into :( A few eggs were not developing so they were discarded. 

      
The 21st day was a Tuesday.  This day was called HATCH DAY!  I am usually late to work.  This day, I was not late :)  When I walked in the door, I knew the peeps that I heard were louder than the tinny peeps I heard coming out before they hatched. (I forgot to mention earlier that on day 20 you can hear tiny peeps inside the egg) So, friends, I walked in on HATCH DAY to find 2 tiny wet chicks peeping away in the incubator.  1 tiny brown chick and 1 tiny white chick.........RELIEF.........


My intention for this project was to teach and learn about things concerning life cycles, living things, and chicks. There is no guarantee that any egg will hatch.  We assume, hope and pray that they are fertilized and wait nervously for HATCH DAY.  What if they don't hatch? How will I explain this to 80 5-7 year olds? What if they die? Should I get more/new eggs and start over? 
These questions rolled in my mind for 21 days and with those 2 tiny living things, all my fears went away.For the rest of Tuesday and most of Wednesday 11 more brown and white chicks hatched.  We were in awe every time we got the chance to see a tiny animal take its first breath of fresh air. Take a look....

It has been a truly amazing and educational experience for me. I believe it may have built some character in me as a few times I had to clean or adjust something gross.  If you know me, you know that I am not a big fan of gross things :)(Also a giant thanks to Anne for a lot of the dirty work) The end result of this project was sweet tiny chicks that will live with us for 1 week and then move to their permanent home at Nanny's Educational Zoo.  Its not too far and our students can go there and visit anytime.  Thanks for reading!
KBO

Spring Break 2011

This year for Spring Break, Andrew and I decided to vacation alone.  Gasp!  I know some of you are thinking "How could you?", and others are thinking "I'm so jealous!"  The fact is that vacationing with kids is not relaxing.  At least that's true for my kids.  And yes, I felt very guilty a few times.  However, I believe it is vital for husbands and wives to spend time together.....alone!  

At my request, we decided to go some place warm but still in driving distance.  Since we live in central Florida, our choices were limited. We chose Key West.  Some of you may be able to make a personal connection to this city like "Oh yes, we went there a few years ago." But now I'd like to ask you this question... Have you been to Key West during Spring Break????? I believe it is a totally different animal.  I suppose I am somewhat of a prude according the worlds standards and that is okay with me.  I enjoy my conservative existence.  I was naive to think that I knew what to expect.  Spring Breaks are much different than they used to be. :) 

Outside of all the debauchery, there were some nice sights.  And Andrew and I Had a great time together laughing at all the drunkards. Once we even got called "cool-for old people" by some college goers.  At first I was offended, but then I realized that he was right- we are pretty cool! :)

Here are some of the G rated sights....

 I think next time we will schedule our trip at the 25 and older resort :) 
KBO