Jenna's Preschool Program

Reciting the Pledge of Allegiance (you'd think a girl whose mom just finished an anatomy class would know where her heart is)
Jenna as one of the angels in their little nativity play.
Jenna with 2 of her best buds, Cooper and Braden

We were lucky enough to go to Jenna's little preschool program today and it was so much fun. She has been so excited and talking about it for a couple weeks now. Everytime we hear a Christmas song she recognizes she yells "Mom, we are singing that in our program!" She kept telling me they were going to sing and do a play and have cookies and oh the excitement in her voice! It was really cute, she has a great preschool teacher and a cun bunch of fellow students.

Rylee, the storyteller

The last few years at school Rylee has had the oppurtunity to participate in the storytelling class. Only a handful of students are picked and they get to go to a special class a few times and then share a story with other classes. They get to choose a story and then they have to memorize the story and present it during another class's library time. Rylee knew she was doing her story for kindergartners this year so she chose a Dora the Explorer Alphabet story. She made (with the help of fellow classmates) a paper for each letter with a picture on it and even wore Jenna's Dora backpack. It was so fun to watch her "perform", she was very animated and cute. Way to go Ry!

A Little Bump...

Last week as I was in the kitchen I heard a bang from down the hall that was followed by crying. Noah came into the kitchen holding his head. He had a huge bump almost instantly. I asked him what happened and he said he walked into his room and then turned aroung quickly to leave again and ran right into the door. Oops! It wasn't too noticable since his hair was getting longer. He has been begging Mike to give him a haircut for a few weeks now and Mike finally gave in the other night. I didn't realize how nasty his bump looked until his hair was gone. OUCH!

Sadness

I got a text early Monday morning from my sister that an amazing young man had passed away from cancer. Our families have been friends for years and they are an incredible family. I have been thinking of them the last couple months and even more the last few days. He passed away 2 years and 2 months to the day that my brother Brandon died from cancer. The last couple months as I have thought of this family and the pain and sufferering (physical and emotional) that they must be feeling, I have also thought a lot more about Brandon and our family. There are no words to describe the emotional roller coaster that a family goes through when losing a loved one, especially one so young. I am sure it is different for each family, each individual, but it is just so sad. At the same time there also seems to be blessings and comfort and peace and amazing emotional experiences that again cannot be put into words. Life is so precious...

YEAH!!!

The semester from hell is over! It wasn't really that bad and I realize when I am in the actual nursing program it is going to be even harder and more stressful, but this last semester was CRAZY! for me. My final was not too bad and our teacher posted our grades yesterday and I got an 89 on the final and an A (96%) for the class! I'm not trying to be boastful (well, maybe a little) but it feels sooooooooooooooooo good! All the stress, hard work, long study hours, sacrifices paid off. I also got an A in my Chemistry Lab and my Nutrition class, so I am just waiting to hear about my Chemistry Lecture grade which I am pretty sure is an A as well.
I went to sell my books back and buy my books for next semester the other day. For those of you who have not had to buy college books in awhile, they are not cheap! I was bummed thinking I didn't want to spend any $$ on books right now, I would rather spend it on Christmas for the kids and Mike. Anyway, I went and got $120 for the books they would buy back and then got the books I needed and the total was $121. YEAH! I was so excited!
So now what I am I going to do with all my "free time", which I have realized isn't all that much extra time. Oh, well. I can still read some books I have been wanting to read (I started Twilight today). I am also hoping to get Jenna's room painted before I go back as well. If I accomplish that as well as finishing Christmas shopping and spending quality time with the fam it will be a wonderful break.

It's Almost Over...

This semester that is and I can't wait! I think I bit off a little more than I can chew this semester with school. My schedule seemed so full and crazy but now it is almost over and I am soooooooo glad. I took my last 2 tests yesterday and today. Next week I have 1 final and then I'm done for a few weeks. Next semester I only have 1 class and it is my last prereq. which means in the spring I can officially apply to nursing school. I don't know how long of a wait it will be but figure I will wait until the waiting starts to decide for sure which route I am going to take. For now I am just going to review all my Anatomy and hopefully kick butt on my final. Then, I have to decide what to do over my "break". First thing I need to do is Christmas shopping.....Then I have some books I have been wanting to read, but have not had time for "fun" reading...Then I think I am going to attempt to finally paint Jenna's room. I have had all the stuff to do it for a year or so now and it's time to just do it.....I also will enjoy volunteering at the kids school a little, which I have really missed. I think that should fill up my month off, if I have any extra time I will just hang out and relax.

More Christmas Fun!

All bundled up to enjoy the light parade!
I loved all the lights!
The family favorite was definitely all the VW's
The kids by the newly decorated Christmas tree.

Friday night we made it to the light parade which was so much fun! We all dressed warm and headed out. We arrived just a few minutes before it started and had no problem finding a parkig spot and a good parade watching spot. It was neat to see all the vehicles and floats covered in lights and they passed out candy canes. I think this is one activity that will become a family tradition.
After the parade we went to Shopko so the kids could pick out their ornaments. We decided not to decorate the tree that night though and finally did it lastnight. The kids had fun hanging all their own ornaments and reminising about which ornament was from which year and which child. They also like to see all the ornaments Mike & I have from when we were little. I think the tree turned out pretty good.

Merry Christmas!!!