ThirtySomething

I know I have been away for WAY TOO LONG!!!!  I hope to remedy that.  So I am going to start with this blog and soon I will catch up with what’s been going on here.

Jack is in Kindergarten this year and is doing VERY well.  They’ve completed their first quarter and Jack got the highest marking in EVERY aspect of school (except music and art…which surprises me) and is doing VERY well.

Jack is what is considered a “highly able” kindergartener.  He is in the top 5% of the entire kindergarten class at his school.  He is in an enriched reading class and they do enriched learning in their classroom with both reading and math.  We were told he will be nominated for testing into the gifted and talented program in our county.  So far he has tested into 2nd grade level for reading, but I am sure he is even higher than that.  We are sooo very proud of him and I am thrilled how well he is doing this year.  He goes to school very willingly and happily.  Loves his teachers and is pretty easy going.  He has gotten a good behavior (Hero) award every month so far (they only get it if they stay on Hero status all month). 

Jack has also been making friends this year.  His best friend by far is a little boy named…JACK!  :)  So there are 2 Jack’s in his class.  Jack B. and Jack F.  They are both in the enrichment classes together and have the same teacher.  They have become buddies now and Jack tells me every day they play together.  He says Jack F is funny and he likes Star Wars.  I love it.  Yesterday Jack came home from school with a gift from his friend and it was sooo sweet, I HAD to share it!  Jack F. had made Jack B. a book (and this is how they refer to each other all the time too, LOL!)  I took some snapshots of the book…it is so sweet:

I just thought this was too sweet to not share with my blogging world!  :D  I will catch up more soon!!! 

So, Friday was the kids last day of school.  I decided to call of work at the very last minute because I just couldn’t miss this day!  I couldn’t….it was possibly the last day my children GO to that school and I really needed to be there.  So, we took the kids to their classrooms.  I always loved going to the last day of school when I was growing up, I guess really the whole last week of school b/c everything was so laid back and fun!  So, I was glad to be there then too. 

We gave the teachers a gift and they each loved what we got them which delighted me.  Aeryn decided to color her teacher a picture and asked me to write her a letter.  She basically told her she loved her and her jewelry!  LOL!  Her teacher told her/me that her and Aeryn are kindred spirits when it comes to jewelry.  Aeryn adores her teacher and is always talking about her jewelry, makeup and shoes.  And it’s so true, Aeryn is completely and totally into shoes, jewelry and makeup!  It was so sweet for her teacher to say that.

 

Aeryn was, for whatever reason, very shy to take a photo with her teacher.  But check out Mrs H’s shoes!  Awesome!!!  I am so happy and very satisfied with Aeryn’s year at this school.  She had an AWESOME teacher and has come sooo far academically and socially!  I am very proud.  I can’t wait to see what her last report card will show.  :)

Jack had a fantastic year as well.  We went from screaming and fighting school tooth and nail to him being very excited for school and even participating in the final program of the year.  I am so proud of him.  Jack is much more reserved than his sister, so he didn’t make anything special for his teacher.  But he did something awesome the night before the last day of school.  He made a “story”.  He drew an elephant, a tiger and a parrot with a tree and sky too.  Then on the other side he drew water with a crocodile eating fish and wrote on it, all on his own, “So we are playing with 1 crocodile” (he needed help with spelling crocodile) and then on the other side he wrote “and with 2 animals” I was totally amazed…but he didn’t want to give it to his teacher, so I filed it with the love notes he wrote to me.  I love it!!!  So, he had a great last day of school, they got to play with shaving cream, so they were cleaning there desks at pick up time:

Heehee, see the little girl in the orange top?  Jack has a total crush on her.  He says she’s the “smartest in the class, so she’s pretty!”  She is one of the kindergarteners in his class.  He was really having fun playing in that bucket!  LOL!  So much for cleaning, it’s more fun to play in the bucket of water!  LOL!  What an awesome last day of school for him!

His teacher is an awesome woman….she truly is a wonderful teacher and I am so glad she was my son’s teacher this year.  She had to carry him into her classroom countless times when he was kicking and screaming and fighting…and he is a strong kid!  She always did it with a smile and a very supportive word to me, his mom, feeling totally helpless while her son was so upset.  It was very hard on the days I had to just walk away from him crying his heart out, broken hearted.  Yelling mommy, mommy, mommy, don’t go!  Don’t leave me!  mommy, mommy!!  And I could hear it all the way down the hall.  Mrs B always told me, it’s ok, it’s ok, he will be fine, he will be smiling and having fun with his classmates very soon after you leave.  He has fun here and does well.  She truly got us through some difficult times for us.  He turned a corner in late winter, so it was a long time coming.  God bless her for what she did for us.  Jack has grown tremendously this year and it has a lot to do with his wonderful teacher. 

    

It has been an awesome year for us, school-wise.  We are not sure if the kids will get to go to the same school next year due to finances…but we are praying hard that will change.  I haven’t enrolled the kids into school for next year because I am just completely overwhelmed with it.  I want them to go back to this school forever.  I just don’t know if we can yet.  Please pray for us this summer as we struggle to truly decided what we need to do and what direction our family should be going.  It is going to be a difficult summer for sure.  God will be by our side and we have to seek Him for guidance.  Breathe in, breathe out, breathe in, breathe out, breathe…

I know, I’ve wanted to write a post for over a week now and I am just now sitting down to do so.  Although my knitting is really calling for me, so it may be short and sweet.  :)  I know, I know you’re so disappointed.

Last Thursday Jack and Aeryn’s school had their awards program for preK (and kindergarten graduation).  The kids performed the Jungle Jamba

and Never Get Tired of Doing Good.

They had hand motions and all that fun, cute, adorable stuff.  I think I was in tears when the first note came out of their cute little mouths.  LOL!  Jack, my stubborn and shy guy actually sang and did the moves…he smiled and gladly performed as he was asked to do.

Well, you’ll have to trust me that he was smiling and having fun up there.  And Aeryn once again sang her pretty little heart out.  She was so precious!!

If you remember the Christmas program Jack did not sing or move through their program then.  I remember even before the Christmas program we had to practically drag him to his classroom while he was in tears.  His teacher was very comforting to us and to him….but it was difficult to say the least.  Then when they all came out to sing he was like a statue and did NOT smile.  I was so disappointed. 

Anyway, back to the awards program.  I only got a video of Jack getting his awardiand it was actually AFTER he got his award…we had some technical difficulties that night.

Jack was recognized for his Quiet Spirit and got an Emerging Reader award…one of a very few to get that in PreK.  SO PROUD!!!  He also had no tallies this year (actually his certificate said low tallies, but I am fairly sure he didn’t have any).

We are just so very proud of him!!!  He has done so well and has grown SOOOO much this year.  I am just in awe of how much he’s learned and accomplished.

Aeryn was recognized for her Quiet Spirit (she got all the awwww’s from the croud) and really shined this year in school!  We are so very proud of all her accomplishments too.  At the beginning of the school year she could have cared less about numbers and letters (she could count, say her ABCs, knew colors and shapes) but she has really come far with knowing her letters by sight and even knows some of the sounds for them as well.  And she has really shined with numbers (funny how Jack excelled with words and Aeryn with numbers).

 

We are sooo very proud of both Jack and Aeryn.  As a reward for doing so well in school Grandma and Granddad are treating them to a night at Chuck E. Cheeses and we bought them scooters…which they loooove.

Last day of school was today.  I will have to blog about it another day.  Until….

This was a good and horrible weekend all wrapped into one.  We’ll start with the good.

We went to Hershey Park!  We had a wonderful time, we stayed at a hotel for 2 nights (thanks Nannie and Poppy!!!) and went to the park on Sunday (we got great ticket rates at $20. a piece!  w00t!!!). 

The weather was perfect for the day and every one had a BLAST!!!  I asked Jack what his favorite ride was and he just listed almost all of the ones he rode!  LOL!  Aeryn loved the fishing game where she won her hot pink monkey!  Sweet!  Actually they both won a monkey (Jack’s was fluorescent green) and we didn’t help them…much.  Aeryn got her face painted at the end of the day (we didn’t see it until late). 

My favorite ride was the Great Bear ride!  OH that was AWESOME!!  But I had to ride alone, which was a bummer….but still sooo much fun!  :)  http://www.hersheypark.com/rides/detail.php?q=yes&id=1  I hope to get to ride again soon and maybe add some others…I only rode about 4 rides the entire day. 

I had to ride the space ship ride with the kids b/c they were too little and Chris wouldn’t ride, so they each got a turn with me!  :)  That was a lot of fun and both kids really loved it!  http://www.hersheypark.com/rides/detail.php?q=yes&id=74

Chris and I had to do the water ride with them too b/c they were too little and yes, we got just a little wet, splashed really.  They rode almost ALL the kiddie rides at the park minus maybe 2 or 3 b/c they just weren’t interesting enough to them!  LOL!  Jack actually rode the hot air balloon ride this year, he refused to get on last year and the space ship ride was also new to him this year.  I was so glad he decided to ride them!  Aeryn had no issues getting on either one of them this year either (I was too scared to let her on a lot of the rides last year…I was a worry wart).  Aeryn wanted to ride the froggie ride, but I just didn’t feel comfortable allowing it this year. http://www.hersheypark.com/rides/detail.php?q=yes&id=39  Maybe next year!

So, here are our photo’s of our fun time:

 

 

So, in other news, we got home at about 2 pm today and I got a letter from a place I had applied to for employment and in it was a letter denying employment and a copy of the background check they did on me…the one where they decided NOT to hire me from. 

I found out something very interesting, I have a criminal record from the time my sister stole a truck drove it into another county and also stole some other crap (and then told the cops she was ME…this is one of MANY times she’s done this)…plus some other crap…but those two were the only ones that REMAINED on MY record!!!  Something I totally did not do and WOULD NOT EVER do!!! 

Now, I have to go through the annoyance of filing (AND PAYING) for this to be expunged off my record!  I went as far as calling the states attorney on this matter (thanks dad!) and it’s all I can do apparently.  Never mind I was never officially charged with it and never mind that I DIDN”T DO IT!!!!!!  Why do I have to go through all this to get it off my record???  WHY WHY WHY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  AND NEVERMIND SHE WENT TO JAIL FOR THOSE CHARGES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

I was already extremely inconvenienced when I had to show up in court a few times regarding this matter years ago and now it resurfaces SEVEN YEARS later!  Yes, I am miffed.  No, there is nothing I can do about it to change the process.  I am done complaining b/c really, there is more to life than these silly, stupid, ridiculous annoyances…that costs me a job offer!!

I am soo soo soo sad and sick over the tragedy that occurred in the town I grew up in, only a block or two from the home(s) I lived in during middle school and when I was a newlywed.  It was so surreal to hear that something so tragic could happen in such a quaint town, where crime is unheard of for the most part.  It has been quite a shock and a huge blow.  Then for it to be someone I knew.  Someone I went to HS with, while I didn’t talk to her on a daily basis or even know her phone number and I wasn’t even a FB friend with her.  I knew who she was and completely recognized her posts on FB.  I knew her as a very kindhearted person and not a single mean bone her body at all.  Her smile was infectious and her heart was HUGE!  She was merely a classmate to me and yet, I knew this of her.  She touched so. many. people. in her short lifetime than a lot of people touch in MANY lifetimes.  I am truly amazed and stunned, actually at the outpouring of love and support the families are receiving now from the community (and of those no longer living there, but will always call Middletown, MD home). 

I am not an eloquent writer at all, but I needed to write about this tragedy.  My heart pours out to the Billotti and Wood families for the tragic loss of their daughter (sister, cousin, aunt…), grandchildren (cousin, neice/nephews…) and son (brother, cousin, uncle…).  I cannot fathom what would push someone to do this sort of horrible act to their own flesh and blood.  It is so very tragic and horrifying and sad and….words just cannot describe it!!!  Not at all.  I don’t know what else to write really.  I mean, words can’t and won’t express the sadness I feel for them all.

http://www.fredericknewspost.com/sections/news/display.htm?storyID=89209

 

This photo was from my sisters cheerleading squad in grade-school:

Francie is the curly headed girl in the top row…directly below her is my sister.

We went to Washington DC last Monday.  We were sitting in the kitchen finishing up breakfast when I was feeling bored and not sure what to do for the day.  It was spitting rain outside and the temps were cool.  So, I thought, how about we take a trip to DC with the kids…immediately everyone was thrilled and jumping for joy. 

We took the metro down, the kids loved that!  I did too because I was able to also get some knitting done.  :)

 

We ran into some people I went to HS with, in the Metro…which was so…I can’t even describe it, because not only did we see them on the way, we also saw them on the way back.  It was just wild! 

This guy greeted us first thing in the door:

Jack and Aeryn were absolutely amazed…awe struck, really.  They were so excited to be there I couldn’t possibly describe it with words.  It was so special…so very special for them.  :)

This is what Jack decided was his most favorite exhibit…

(a life-sized whale, suspended from the ceiling)

And a close second for Jack was this:

This was AWESOME!!!  I loved, loved, loved watching all these fish and other sea creatures.  Jack really enjoyed finding all the different sea-life.  They had a chart showing and describing all the different life.  We visited this exhibit a few times through the day.

Aeryn’s favorite site was this:

The Hope Diamond.  A girl after my own heart…and how fitting since her middle name is Hope.  She was in awe of this precious gem!  It was beautiful.

We neglected to get a photo of our favorite exhibit, which was the forensics exhibit…I guess we were way too busy reading and keeping track of the kids.  But it was oh so very cool!

The Dinosaur exhibit was quite impressive too:

We took sooooo many photo’s on our visit and this was just a teeny tiny glimpse into how wonderful this day was for us…we all had a blast and didn’t really want to leave.  We had a wonderful day!!!

  

So, then today was Easter, Jack and Aeryn really LOVED what the Easter Bunny brought them:

   

Then we got ready for Church, how adorable are they in their Easter outfits:

 

   

The rest of the day was spent having dinner with the in laws and then visiting with my parents…but I didn’t capture those on camera!  Oh well, it was a pretty good day!!  :)

Oh and just for the record, Jack has his first loose tooth…make that TWO loose teeth!!  My baby is growing up way too fast.  His outfit today was a size 7 and I don’t think I am ready for this!  And he can now read anything you put in front of him pretty much…he has been doing this for quite some time now and I am just so proud of my boy!!!!