Merry Christmas!

School's out...again.

I finished my finals last night. I'm sooooo glad it is over. I spent 8 hours studying yesterday (with short interuptions of course). It all paid off with some good grades for me.
I am excited to be home with my kiddos for more than two weeks, just relaxing. We all need this time together.
I am taking physiology + lab, and psychology next term. That should be interesting.
I am so excited for Christmas time. We have our tree in the livingroom, and Rusty has been tipping it over once in a while, so it's a good thing the tree and all the ornaments are made out of plastic!
I wish you all a Merry Christmas, til I blog again...

Finals Week

I am taking finals this week for Anatomy and Anatomy lab. Wish me luck! I took my chemistry final yesterday, and I did well.
Finally got to go see New Moon Movie on Friday night with Jared. It was really good. I think it was better than the first one by a country mile.
This week is the last week of school for me and the kids. It will be nice to have a break for a couple of weeks. We have plans for Christmas crafts, baking and service projects. Merry Christmas everybody!!!

Sleepy Sam

This kid is strong willed. He will not take a nap, but he frequently falls asleep in the oddest ways.

Crazy Kiddos

I hear Tommy shout "Mommy, I'm ready for Ballet!", so I go into Mary's room and this is what I found.

Another great Thanksgiving with cousins!

Isaac's Baptism

We're proud of our little buddy Isaac for getting baptized last weekend.

First trimester report cards...

The kids did excellent in their first trimester of school. Here's what the teachers said about them on their report cards:
Jr.-
Can you guys believe that his teacher had nothing to say on the report card? She left it completely blank in the comments section. I am having a hard time with her. She only gives negative feedback, and all my friends who have a kid in her class agree. She actually had Jr. fill out a self evaluation where he wrote: Reading-excellent "I read just right books and I get to be a better reader."
Writing-Satisfactory "I don't really like to write."
Math-Excellent "I know a lot of math."
"I need a few reminders once in a while to stay on task and return my homework on time, everything else I almost always do."
When I went to Parent teacher conference she pulled out that self evaluation and proceeded to criticize what he had written, and expected me to agree with her. She said "He just doesn't get it, he thinks he is doing great!" I am still trying to get over that one. I want to cry when I think of my son being stuck with a teacher who thinks he is good for nothing. It will just damage his self image and make him hate school even more. If you never mention someone's efforts to do well, they will do well less and less because what's the point of trying to please someone who will never appreciate your effort? There's no point. He consistently gets all his spelling words right, he's great at math, and he is a strong reader. She never mentions these things. I think he is a normal 9 year old boy who is bored with school.

Isaac-
Isaac's teacher wrote the following: "Isaac reads with fluency and expression. He can answer questions about the stories that he reads. Isaac is a great speller. He spells most of his words with conventional spelling. He tells his story in logical order. He understands concepts taught in class. He has great number sense. Isaac enjoys humor and likes to be silly. He is fun to be around and has many friends. We will be working on helping Isaac make sure to keep his silliness under control and be silly only at appropriate times."
I am very proud of Isaac. He is a unique individual, and I celebrate that!

Mary- Her teacher wrote this: "Mary is blossoming! Her gentle kindness, enthusiasm for learning, and willingness to listen are such gifts to our classroom. As a learner, Mary has a work ethic that is second to none. She is growing in all academic areas and is beginning to share her spark with others! Mary is continuing to gain fluency in reading and we are working to add several new comprehension strategies to her repertoire. Mary is developing confidence in problem solving strategies and in explaining her mathematical thinking. I am very thankful to be Mary's teacher."
I am glad she is Mary's teacher too. Isaac had her last year, and he loved her as well. She is a good christian woman with kids who go to the same school.

Tommy-
His teacher said "Thomas has transitioned nicely during this first trimester of Kindergarten. He is less shy and has made new friends in our classroom. There is a tribe of boys that have formed a friendship, and he is part of that tribe. He has started to participate in group instruction and works well with his classmates. Thomas knows the letter names and most letter sounds. He is working on using that knowledge as he writes words. He is a sweet boy and I am so glad he is in our class!"
I am glad that Tommy is doing so well in school. I was so worried! I feel better about him entering school early.

I'm so busy

I have two exams tonight. One in Anatomy lecture, and a midterm in Anatomy lab. Wish me luck!
I thought I'd include a picture of my two smallest little angels. I hang out with these guys all day. I sure love being a Mom, have I mentioned that lately?

Hi Ya'll

Here is something I'm learning in Chemistry, THIS WILL BLOW YOUR MIND!!!

Random pics from this weekend...

We did Halloween sugar cookies with friends. The kids had orange and green frosting and all sorts of sprinkles and candies to have fun with. Sam used a whole bottle of green sprinkles before I saw what he was doing, but he sure was proud of that cookie he made.

We made chocolate spiders. Marshmallows on a skewer stick with pretzel stick legs, dipped in melted chocolate, with red hots for eyes. They were devoured immediately. Yum.

Jared had to go to St. Louis for a business conference on Thursday and Friday, so boy did we have a ball while he was away. I moved a mattress into the family room and we snuggled up and watched a movie and ate dinner down there. All the kids know it's party time whenever Dad leaves. (Sorry hun)!! It's our tradition to do fun stuff, and most importantly, everyone sleeps in the master bedroom with Mom. It is GREAT FUN!

I bought some sharpie markers and let the kids draw faces on a pumpkin. I think Isaac's is my favorite.

We spent hours and hours outside on Saturday raking up leaves and let me tell you-- it is a tough job. The kids helped so much, I was delighted. Of course they had to jump in the leaf pile a few times.

Soooooo Cute! He did this on his own. I just love having kids.

Here's my little Sam and Tom. All dressed up for church! They are so handsome, aren't they? We had a pretty good weekend.

School's Out...until tomorrow.

This is my lab group from biology, working together. Going clockwise: Shahid, Jessica and Amanda, Matt, and me. It was so nice to have a group of friends to work with. The work went a lot faster that way, except when we made mistakes and ended up the last ones in the room with the teacher! I really enjoyed my time in Biology, and here are some of the things I learned about:
*How the cells turn oxygen and food into a useable form of energy for the body.
*How to make beer! haha
*How the food chain works, and how plants make food and oxygen for everybody.
*How to use a microscope (How embarrassing that I didn't know this and I'm 32 years old!)
*How plants reproduce
*What causes genetic disorders, and how genetic inheritance works.
*How to count the kernels on an ear of indian corn (don't ask)...
Overall I had a great first semester, and I'm looking forward to next session. I will be taking chemistry online, and Anatomy lecture and lab on campus. Hooray!
Hope everyone is having a beautiful and peaceful sabbath day.
HUGS!

We've been having some fun...

We had a girls night out last week. My friend Dana and I took our girls out to see the Toy story movies in 3D. We all had a great time. Aren't they cute?
We like to go down to the creek at the end of our street back in the woods. Here we are playing with some of the neighbor kids.

Sam is starting to love the water. He fell in and got wet, so I took his clothes off. I made Mary take off her leotard under her outfit and I put it on Sam. He was cute dressed in purple and stars. LOL

Here is Mary with her little stuffed animal riding in her shirt. She's going to be a great Mom, she already takes great care of her stuffed animal "babies".

Here we are playing at Cosmo park. It is pretty close to our house. We are playing in the volleyball sandpit. We made a castle and a pyramid together. I wanted to do something fun before I had to go to school that night. I feel like I need to be a good Mom so much more now that I'm going to school.

Notice how Isaac is trying to keep Rusty from demolishing the pyramid before we could get a picture of it.

I hope everyone is doing well. I'll try to post some more stuff tomorrow. I'm cramming for finals. I have two final exams next Thursday. Pray for me! I have to get good grades to get into the nursing program next year. xoxo

A quick post

I am again having wildlife issues here. Yesterday Suzy and I found a squirrel in the middle of the road that looked like it was having a mental issue. He kept going around in a circle in the middle of the road, and wouldn't get out of the way. We stopped and I tried to push it away with a piece of cardboard, but it wouldn't leave the roadway, so I picked it up in a little blanket and put it in a box in the van. Poor little thing. He was perfectly tame. He had a bald spot on his head, so I think he had been hit by a car. I took him to a wildlife rescue place on the outskirts of town. I hope he gets better.
Then today Jr. caught a baby frog, a full grown frog with one leg missing, and a full grown toad. They were racing them around their bedroom tonight (yeah, I caved in. More creatures in the house, I know, but what's a mom to do?) Rusty was just chasing them around as fast as he could. It was so cute to see how he just screamed and giggled. The toad was the fastest, probably because he's more of a land animal where the frog lives more in the water. The frog is more beautiful though. The toad peed on Tommy's hands, and we began to laugh, but he had a serious face and said it was NOT FUNNY. I'm going to lay low for a bit because I've got a midterm and a quiz on Tuesday. Every spare moment is going to be spent studying. Have a good weekend ya'll.
Julie

Labor Day Fun!

We went an hour North of here to the Long Branch State Park and had so much fun at the lake! The kids never wanted to leave!

Sam turned 3!!!

Here are the birthday party pics for Sam's 3rd birthday!

I know I need to visit Blogland...

I'm just so busy I can't even stand it! I'll try to blog soon. Here is a picture of a butterfly that I photographed when we were at the park. There is so much beautiful wildlife here.
I took my math midterm today. I think I did well. Rusty started walking a few weeks ago.

Also, Isaac got his braces on a couple days ago.

He is trying to get used to it. Poor guy. Well, in other news, it was our 11th anniversary today. Yes, we made it to 11 years! I hope the next 11 years are not as hard as the last 11 years, but something tells me they may be even harder (can you imagine having 4 or 5 teenage children at once? Yikes!) So, I guess we better hang on to our hats, it's gonna be a wild ride. Well, it already is.
Tommy is doing well in kindergarten.

His teacher is giving me some really good feedback, thankfully. Jr. is the one I have to worry about. His teacher says he is already getting lazy in doing his work at school. I know he is smart enough, but he just gets lazy.
Labor day, we might go visit a potential camp spot about an hour North of here. It has a lake with a beach where the kids can play. What are all of you up to? I haven't heard from many of you, and I hope you are all doing well. Love and hugs!