Merry Christmas!

Wild Olive Contest!

Wild Olive is hosting another giveaway, this time with the theme "Pin It To Win It."

To find out how to enter, click here. Hurry, though, because the deadline is midnight tonight!

You can see my pinboard here: Wild Olive.

Have fun pinning!

First Day of School 2012

Today was back to school for our bunch. Here are the obligatory "First Day of School" pictures:

All 3...I love M's expression and body language in this one. He was so ready for his first day.

Here is our first grader.

And here is our kindergartener.

Our 3 year old preschooler was not cooperative when it came to taking an individual first day of school picture. Maybe we can get one on the second day...well, I can hope.

By all accounts, their first day went well, as did mine. I am totally exhausted, though. I have to get used to this whole working thing again. :-)

Remember Me?

Wow, it has been awhile since I've updated the blog. It has been a crazy busy summer for us...good, but very full. We traveled to Louisiana in June, came home and had an amazing Vacation Bible School, and traveled to Georgia in August. We've spent time with family and friends and have generally enjoyed ourselves.

Oh, and Miss K went and turned 5 on us...hard to believe! Her birthday was on Monday of this week, and we're having the big party tomorrow. It is at the park, so pray for sunshine or at least for the rain to hold off for a few hours tomorrow afternoon. I will try to be a better blogger and post some pictures.

I think I've mentioned it before, but our family is moving into a new phase of life. Before motherhood, I was a school teacher, and the opportunity has arisen for me to teach again at the private Christian school where both of our girls attended preschool and where M will be attending preschool this fall. This also has given us the opportunity to have both of our girls attend school there, MJ for first grade and K for kindergarten. We are very excited to have this opportunity for our family. MJ had a great year in kindergarten in public school and learned a lot...she had an excellent teacher, but we feel that it is best for her and for our family for all of us to be together. She had 2 great years in the private school before she went to kindergarten and still feels very at home there. So pray for us as we begin this transition.

And you want to hear one of the really neat "God things" about my new class of students? I have a daughter who was born in China, I will have virtual twin sibling students in my class who were born in China, and another of my students has a younger sister who was born in China. How's that for a "red thread"?

Last Day of School!

School's Out!!!!



This is the shirt that K and her class all made. It has her teacher's name and the year on the back...very cute!

And a Kindergarten Graduate, Too!

On Monday, MJ graduated from kindergarten. I sound like a broken record, but just like I can't believe K is finishing pre-K and moving on to kindergarten, I have a difficult time believing that MJ is old enough to be in a "number grade" next year. She is reading well and loves math. She had a great year in public school this year, but will be changing schools this fall when I go back to work in the private Christian school she attended for preschool. (That's another blog post for another day, though.)

Happy Graduation to my biggest girl!

A Pre-K Graduate!

K graduated from Pre-K last Friday! I cannot believe she is old enough that she will be starting kindergarten in the fall. Her birthday is in August, so she is one of the very youngest in her class, but she is doing great. This afternoon, she was sitting on the couch reading one of the little phonetic readers she brought home from school. K may be tiny, but big things come in small packages!

So Much for that Sunday Snapshot...

My camera chose to go kaput yesterday at the park when we got together with the M family, so I was not able to make any pictures at all. However, we had a great visit with them. Ky and MJ hit it off like they had known each other forever, and all of the kids played well together. Chet and I enjoyed our visit with Kristi and Ian, too. I hope we are able to visit again someday.

To see actual photos of the kids from yesterday, visit Kristi's blog.

Disappeared from Bloggy Land...Again

A couple of weeks ago, I started my long-term substitute teaching job at K's school. It came about a couple of weeks early because a teacher resigned unexpectedly. Now, though, they have a new teacher coming in for that class, and I started this week with my maternity leave class. The teacher's baby still hasn't arrived, though, so we're all on "baby watch." Every morning, that is the first thing the kids want to know.

We've also been busy with MJ's basketball, but her last game of the season was this morning, so we have most of a year before next season starts. (We don't do the summer league--life is just too hectic for us in the spring/summer.) Love Upward Basketball, though. It is a great sports program.

Now, we're getting ready to head to the park to meet up with Kristi and her crew in person. Love getting the chance to meet bloggy friends in real life. (It helps to live on one of the major routes to Disney.) Hopefully, I'll manage a Sunday Snapshot tomorrow with some photos from our visit...hopefully...

Sunday Snapshot: {CNY 2012}

Friday Night, we had our annual local Chinese New Year gathering...

Here's MJ...

Both girls (M was not in favor of having his picture taken.)...

And K...

There was a fun dragon craft...

M was also not in favor of making a dragon craft...

My friend, A, and I were even brave enough to attempt M3's dragon cake for the occasion...

There was lots of yummy food...

"Again with the camera...really?"

And finally, the yearly group photo...

And this was just funny...A's daughter AG was wanting to wander, and we weren't quite done with the pictures. We told the bigger girls, "Someone hold onto AG!" And they did...she wasn't going anywhere. :-)

Hope you all have a wonderful Year of the Dragon!

Wild Olive

Have I mentioned before how much I love Wild Olive shirts? Well, I do! :-) And they are having a contest for Valentine's day. Pay them a visit and check it out.

Excuses, Excuses...or Why I've Been Neglecting My Blog

I was so proud of myself for blogging every day during the month of November, but after that, I’ve been an awful blogger. First there was the craziness of Christmas, and all that goes along with it. It was good craziness, but craziness nonetheless.

Then, the first two days (on a Thursday and Friday) that the girls were back in school, I substituted for one of the teachers at K’s school, and then Monday was my parent volunteer day in both girls’ classes at two different schools. Then Tuesday was MOPS meeting.

Somewhere in all of this, we bought a treadmill, and I have been trying to walk regularly. I’m not doing it for the weight loss, but I am in terrible shape and need to be exercising more. And also, and more importantly, I’m trying to make sure to have a quiet time daily. As strange as that may sound for a pastor’s wife, I way too often let the craziness of daily life get in the way of my quiet time.

I’m also in the process of applying to teach full time at K’s school next fall. (I will be doing a maternity leave substituting job there this spring, also.) That means application paperwork, applying for transcripts, and applying for a Florida teaching certificate, since I haven’t been in the classroom since we have lived here.

Oh, and I’m potty training M. So far, so good...he’s pretty good about staying dry, but he’s also pretty “good” about waiting for his pull-up at naptime before taking care of business. I remind myself that K started out very much the same way and turned out to be rather easy to potty train. And as long as it is done by August when he starts to 3 year old preschool, we should be good. Our grocery budget would appreciate that happening sooner, though.

And in addition to all of this, we have added a new Adoption Voyages family, so I’ve been doing website work. Check out their site here.

And all of this in addition to car rider lines, bus stops, dance lessons, Upward basketball, plus the usual church activities, laundry, cleaning house, etc.

No wonder I haven’t had time to blog...maybe I shouldn’t have put all of this in writing. Just reading it makes me tired.

Hopefully, I’ll be a better blogger again soon...

Wordless Wednesday: It's Basketball Season!

(MJ is #3 on the gold team.)

Wordless Wednesday: Cute!