New year's goals

Okay, here are my goals for 2010:
1. Lose 67 pounds
2. Bring the missionaries into our home more often
3. Have family scripture study each night
4. Do my visiting teaching each month

Vacation

So far, vacation has been great. I've been sleeping in, getting lots of things done, but not stressing about anything. I'm almost done with a scrapbook I'm making for Gram Record. I sent a form with 4 questions on it to all 22 of her grandchildren. I also asked everyone to send a picture along with it. 17 have sent them back so far. I love how it's turning out. I can't wait to give it to her on Christmas Day! I've also been making a few digital pages, watching TV, reading to Nathan, etc. I'm going to go make some chocolate chip cookies right now, because Santa is coming early! Amber & Ashley flew in this afternoon and Dan is picking up Megan on his way back from the airport. We'll have all the kids tomorrow, but we have to bring Megan back tomorrow night, so Santa is coming tonight!

The Blind Side

Dan and I went to see this movie last night. It was so good! It was so inspiring, especially knowing that it is a true story. It even caused me consider taking in a teenager (but only for a few seconds). I totally recommend this movie.

9 down, 27 to go!

I now officially have 9 credits done towards my master's degree. Yay! We just finished up our class tonight. It's been fun and interesting, but I'm ready for a few weeks off.

Snow Day

Aaaaaaahhhh, the first snow day of the season! Unfortunately, I didn't get called, so I thought there was school. Nathan and I got ready and drove over to school. There were only two cars in the parking lot, so I knew I had missed something. So we drove home and are now enjoying this day off. Nathan is watching Busytown Mysteries, eating snacks and coloring. He's a happy guy today. I'm catching up on lots of various things, going to do a little schoolwork, maybe some scrapbooking. Life is good.

Santa

We took Nathan to see Santa on Friday night. There was no line so he was able to chat with him for a few minutes. We told him he could tell Santa three things that he wanted, so he told him he wanted a Car Muncher (Hot Wheels), a Snuggie and a Nintendo DS. Santa asked him, "Have you been thinking about what you want to get your mom for Christmas because Christmas is about giving." It was so neat. Then he asked Nathan if he could leave some cookies and milk out for him. Of course Nathan said yes. Then Santa said, "Chocolate chip." Nathan said, "Okay." It was the cutest thing to watch.

Tens list

10 things I'm thankful for:
1. the gospel
2. my testimony
3. my husband
4. Amber, Ashley, Megan and Nathan
5. my extended family and Dan's too
6. my home
7. my job
8. memories
9. scrapbooking
10. my computer

9 things I want to do for the holidays:
1. Make Thanksgiving place cards for dinner
2. Prepare Thanksgiving table talk questions
3. Make gingerbread houses with Megan & Nathan
4. Wrap Christmas books to read each night
5. Make an advent calendar
6. Do some cool Family Home Evenings
7. Do some fun holiday crafts with Megan & Nathan
8. Watch lots of Christmas movies from Netflix
9. See the new Christmas Carol movie

8 things I need to do this week:
1. Fill out a financial aid form for school
2. Schedule hair cuts for Nathan and I
3. Order Christmas movies from Netflix
4. Order our family Christmas cards
5. Buy two kissing balls from The Candle Place
6. Cook good meals for the whole week
7. Prepare two really good FHE's for when Megan is here
8. Order pictures from scrapbookpictures.com

7 movies Nathan and/or I want to see:
1. Astroboy (again)
2. Santa Buddies
3. Christmas Carol
4. G-Force
5. Where the Wild Things Are
6. The old Underdog movies
7. Shirley Temple movies

6 websites I want to check out:
1. Etsy
2. Designer Digitals
3. Food network
4. Raz-kids for Nathan
5. Fun things to do with kids (not a particular site)
6. Nitwitcollections.com (the most awesome site for digital scrapbooking)

5 people I miss:
1. Gram LaFlamme
2. Gramp LaFlamme
3. Gramp Record
4. Isaiah
5. Delson

4 things on my to-do list today:
1. Have Mom & Dad over for supper
2. Make enchiladas
3. Organize my scrapbook room
4. Listen to Nathan read for at least 10 minutes

3 things I want to learn or memorize:
1. arigumi (crocheting tiny animals - super cute!)
2. all the countries in Asia and South America
3. brush up on my French

2 people I'm excited to see:
1. Amber
2. Ashley

1 event I'm looking forward to:
1. Christmas!

Literacy conference

I have so much to write about. I haven't been doing a good job of keeping up on my blog. Here goes:

• Last weekend (actually, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday) I went to a Literacy For All conference in Providence, Rhode Island. I got the opportunity to go just a few days before the conference, and I decided to take it. We heard a couple authors speak and went to several workshops. All of the sessions I attended were good except one. We also just had a great time hanging out together as a staff. There were about 12 or 13 of us that went. (I rode down with my second grade teacher, along with 4 other teachers. How cool is that?) We also had some good food, like breadsticks from Sbarro's and cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory (the Godiva Chocolate cheesecake was heavenly!). I came back feeling renewed and energized.
• Nathan went to his first school-friend-birthday-party today. It felt a little weird because I didn't know anyone, but he had fun. The little girl, Katia, seemed glad that he came and he was thrilled with the goodie bag and the sand art that he got to make.
• Tonight, in Nathan's bedtime prayer, he asked Heavenlty Father to "bless our house that it can support lots of snow." He cracks me up.
• Nathan has been doing a great job with reading. He has a little repertoire of books that he can read. We keep it in a little yellow basket by his door. When I was in Rhode Island one of my friends bought these little wooden pointers that have a hand at the end. I gave it to Nathan when I got back. He loves to use it to point to the words as he reads.
• Megan and Nathan were in the Primary Presentation last week. They did a great job. The whole Primary did. I always love playing the piano for Primary because you can always feel the spirit so strong when the children are singing. I love it! I would stay in Primary forever if I could.
• Dan and I are almost done our Christmas shopping. I'm so excited for Christmas this year. I want to make an advent calendar during Thanksgiving break. I also want to get a couple of kissing balls for the front porch. Making gingerbread houses this year is also on my plan. I'm going to buy the premade gingerbread, though. It takes so much time to bake the gingerbread and cut it, etc. I want to just concentrate on the decorating.
• I called Delson's mom to see how he's doing the other day. He's doing really well. He's officially adopted now. His name now is Dylan Joseph Alan Binette. He's had his first haircut. He still smiles all the time, and his eyes still disappear when he smiles. He says, "Hi." He's going to Cancun for Christmas. His mom also told me that his birth mother is pregnant again, and is probably due this month or next. He/she will be number 11 for her.
• I've been feeling super "motherly" lately. I've been thinking about Delson and Isaiah a lot and just longing to have a little baby or even a little pet to take care of. A pet is out of the picture, though, and we have to wait until I'm done my master's before we do foster care again (unless we get one in the summer).

Halloween

Halloween was so much fun. We had Megan again, which was super fun for Nathan. Here are some pics of them in their costumes:

Two More Birthdays

My brother Mike turned 39 on October 26th.
My grandmother turned 93 on October 28th!

Apple picking

Here are some cute pictures from last weekend. We took Nathan, Megan, Justice and London to Wallingford's to pick apples (Justice and London are out great nephews). It was so fun and they all had a great time. They loved the tractor rides, picking apples, the donuts and apple cobbler!

9 down, 27 to go!

I'm now done with the first 5 credits of my Masters degree. Actually, 4 transferred, too, so now I have 9 down, 27 to go. Yay! I'm enjoying it so far, but it is a lot of work. This was the first weekend since I started my classes that I didn't have to work on assignments all weekend. It was so nice.

Nathan and I went to Owen's birthday party this afternoon and now I'm going to make an apple pie. Aaaaahhhhh! Life is good.

Nathan is doing well in school. I love looking at all the work he brings home. He's learned so much already. He reads beginning books now, which is so cute to hear. He has talked about various other concepts or words that I know he's learned at school, like "equal." He's also become so much more confident around people. He told all the recess duty teachers about his winter coat. He didn't talk that much at the beginning of the year, so I know he's getting more comfortable. He confidently waves goodbye to his friends at the end of the day, and he often has a whole bunch of children saying, "Bye, Nathan!" It's so cute.

Misc.

• Well, I finally finished my work for my class. I have to work at least an hour a night and longer on weekends to get everything done when it's due. The class will be over in a couple of weeks, and I'll only be taking four credits instead of five next time (not by choice, it's just the way the program goes). Hopefully, it'll be a little easier.
• My mom is getting her horse today! I can't wait to see it! Dad is converting his old shop into a barn, so the horses will be right out in the field. I can't wait. Felicia will keep her horse, AJ, there, too. The horse's name is Bubba, but my mom is definitely going to change it.
• I'm going to make Nathan's Underdog costume today. Fun!
• Nathan is going to teach FHE tonight on Fire Safety. He's all excited about it and reminded me thing morning.
• Nathan was telling me about a little girl at school that he likes. Unfortunately, she's not very nice to him. He was explaining this to me and said, "Mom, every day I like the looks of her." So cute!
• Nathan was asking Dan a question last night, and started it with, "Dad, have you, by any chance, seen...? He also used the work "peered" correctly yesterday. He's got a great vocabulary.

Happy birthday, Dan!

Dan's birthday (47, yikes!) was Saturday, but we celebrated yesterday with his family and mine. He was so annoyed with me when I was taking this picture. He hates to be the center of attention. Anyway, on Saturday, Nathan made him a card and gave him one of his toys (how sweet) and I gave him a book (Missionary Miracles) and CD (Vocal Point) I ordered from Deseret Book. We also went out for lunch at Applebee's on Saturday. We listened to the CD on the way there and back, and we both really liked it. I thought of keeping it in my car, but thought twice about it since it is his birthday present. I'll let him enjoy it for a couple weeks :-)

This fall, so far

Nathan learned to ride his bike without training wheels!

Trying out his new raincoat and matching boots

He was so excited about his new Halloween pajamas. They glow in the dark!

Nathan got his first Webkinz yesterday. He named his new golden retriever Cutiehead. Megan registered it for him and showed him how to play on the Webkinz website. He was so excited about it. Megan got a little cat, but I didn't end up getting a picture of her with it.

Megan's friend, Aubreigh, came over last night and stayed until tonight. She watched conference with us and they just had a fun time doing their 10 year old girlie stuff:-) We're so sad that Aubreigh and her family are moving, probably to Virginia. We're goint to miss them so much!

Happy Birthday, Mom!

My mom turned 59 today. My parents are exactly one week apart in age. They grew up in the same town, just a few miles away from each other. High school sweethearts. Aaaawwww! Anyway, I made her a cake, Mike & Hilda brought ice cream and we met between conference sessions at Mom & Dad's house. We gave her a big stuffed frog, which was so cute! I forgot to take a picture of her with it, though. She really liked it.

Happy birthday, Dad!

My dad turned 59 on Sunday. We had a little party for him that afternoon. I made chicken pot pie and Mom made a cake. Dan, Nathan and I gave him a container full of goodies to bring to work. He's pretty hard to buy for, but I know he likes goodies. Nathan had decorated the container with a permanent marker. It was really cute.

Retiring so soon?

Nathan: Mom, you should retire teaching.

Me: I'm too young to retire.

Nathan: You're not young. Just write a note. Say, "Michelle Cooper retired."

Sick

Nathan and I are hanging out this morning while Dan and Megan went to Stake Conference. We were all going to go, including my mom and my cousin Kathy, but Nathan started coughing in the middle of the night and he sounds horrible. He's been sneezing like crazy, too. I have the feeling I might need to stay home with him tomorrow, too. (I used to send him to my mom's when he was sick, but now that she works full time I can't do that.) Anyway, my mom is feeling sick today, too, so she didn't go. That left Dan, Megan and Kathy. I think that would have been really awkward for Dan and Kathy. I know I wouldn't want to go sit with someone else's husband at stake conference. I can just imagine the rumors that would have started (or at least questions). Kathy felt the same way, so she didn't go either.

I've been super busy with my master's class. I spend at least an hour a night each night either reading or writing papers. I hope it's not quite this intense the whole time. I've had several other meetings after school lately, too, which leaves me even less time with the fam. I'm trying to give my spot on the leadership team at school to someone else because that is another several hours a month that I really need. We'll see how it goes.

Nathan had a really hard time in the mornings this past week. He did fine for the first couple of weeks, but this week he cried every morning (except Friday). I think it was because I had morning recess duty, which I didn't have the first couple of weeks. I lined up the Kindergarteners and walked them in, but he didn't want to go to class after that. He cried and carried on. It was kind of embarrassing and I think the teacher was getting a little annoyed with him. Anyway, I think I solved the problem on Friday by having someone else walk the Kindergarteners in. He can't cry and carry on when he gets to his classroom because I'm not there. Hopefully, that will work next week, too.

I think it's time for Nathan and I to spend some time cuddled up on the couch with a big stack of books.

Delson is 1!

Delson (or DJ, as his new family named him) turned one on Sunday. He was our second foster baby, for those of you who are wondering. We had him from September to January. I thought of him so many times on Sunday. I thought it would get easier as time went on, but I still miss him so much. Pictures of him come up all the time on my computer slide show, and sometimes I feel a physical aching to hold him and see him in person. I just love that little guy! I bought him a really cute card the other day. It's an Elmo card that "talks" when you press a button. I mailed it to him today. I'm hoping his mom will send us a new picture of him. The last one we have is when he's 6 months old, so I bet he's changed a lot.

Julie & Julia

• My mom and I went to the movies on Saturday afternoon to see Julie & Julia. It was such a great movie! We both loved it.It made me want to come home and cook.
• Nathan has learned how to ride his bike without training wheels! Dan taught him when I was at class last Tuesday. He was so proud of himself. They went to Walmart on Saturday morning to buy a kickstand. He'd been wanting a kickstand for months, but Dan kept telling him he couldn't get one until he had no training wheels.
• I joined Facebook about a week ago and I've connected with a whole bunch of people that I haven't talked to in years. It's been so fun!
• I've been working on assignments or readings for my class for at least an hour a night all week. I hope it's not quite this time consuming the whole time. The assignments aren't hard, just time consuming.
• My parents are going to turn the old shop into a barn. Felicia will move her horse, AJ, there and my mom is going to get a horse. She knows of someone who is trying to find a home for one of her horses, free! How cool is that?

Who's my boss?

A couple funny things Nathan said/did recently:

The other day, I had to drop something off at the central office, so Nathan and I headed over there after school. I was in the lobby, filling out another form, when the superintendent came through. He asked who Nathan was, and then started chatting with him. He asked, "Do you know who Mommy's boss is?" Nathan paused and then said, "Me?" You wish, buddy! Dr. Eastman got quite a kick out of that.

Nathan was telling me about a little girl at school. He said she was a "meany-cat" because she wouldn't let them (Nathan & Branson) play with Kacie at recess. Nathan asked her, "Didn't your parents teach you to share?!" He's quite blunt. We'll have to talk about being tactful.

We'll also have to talk a little more about modesty. One of the ed techs who helps out in Kindergarten told me that Nathan said he had to go pee. She said, "Go ahead." There's a little bathroom right in the Kindergarten room. When she looked over, though, he was going pee with the door wide open! She quickly went over and told him that he should close the door before he goes to the bathroom. As he left the bathroom a little girl was waiting to use it, and he wanted Mrs. Donnellan to make sure she told her to close the door, too. I laughed because I doubt any of the other kids needed to be told.

Nathan's first day of school

Nathan started school on Friday! He was nervous, but he did great! He didn't talk much about the activities, but he did mention a few times that he had two recesses! He thought that was so cool.

Tomorrow is the big day!

Nathan starts school tomorrow! I'm so excited. He's not excited at all. In fact, he's pretty nervous about it, but I think he'll be fine. He is always timid in new situations. Dan gave him a father's blessing tonight, which he plans to do each year before the first day of school. It was really nice.

We also started reading the Book of Mormon as a family again. We've never really read it with Nathan, and we realized that it is time to start doing that with him. We should have been doing it all along. Anyway, we've only read a chapter and a half in three days, but I'm excited that we're doing it. I know the blessings will come from it. We've started doing family prayer again, too. Dan always said Nathan's bedtime prayer with him, but we weren't really saying family prayers. Dan and I had both been feeling like we need to step it up a notch spiritually. It's so awesome having such a righteous husband. I'm not saying that to brag, but I am really blessed.

Some more highlights from earlier this summer...

Our week long family vacation to the Catskill Mountains. Here we are at Zoom Flume, a fun water park that we went to twice.
Amber, Ashley, Nathan and I went to a miniature horse farm in Windham. It was really fun to see such small horses. Our hopes of getting one didn't turn out so well, though.

We did respite a couple times for Larry. What a cutie!

We saw lots of family that we hadn't seen in a long time when they flew in for Joe & Crystal's wedding. The cousins had an awesome time playing together.

Joe & Crystal's wedding. I just had to post this picture of Maddi, Jared and McKenzie at the reception. They, along with Zander, were in the wedding. They were so cute!

Catching up

Nathan took a LOOK class this summer, "Outer Space and Flying Machine Construction". He LOVED it! These are the projects he came up with. They are (from left to right), a bacteria saver, 2 rockets, a flying machine, a cannon camera (no pun intended) and a robot. The teacher said he has a great imagination. He went into great detail when he was sharing his creations with his classmates, and he came out of class each day so excited to show me what he made.
Nathan, Branson and Kaedon have been having some great times this summer. There's hardly a day that goes by without them playing at some point in the day, sometimes for hours at a time.

Nathan went to an MLS Soccer Camp this summer. It was such a great program. It was his introduction to organized sports, so I was really hoping he'd like it. Luckily, he did. He had a great time. The coach was so good with the kids. He got his own tshirt and soccer ball to keep. It was just 1 1/2 hours per day for a week, but he was so tired after each session. The coach really had them moving a lot. It was so good for him.

We celebrated my Aunt Diane's 60th birthday last week. My Mom and Kathy planned a really nice party for her at Kathy's house. I think she was really surprised and pleased.

We went to Storyland with Gus & Darcy and the kids on Tuesday. It was so much fun going with them because Nathan had friends to go on the rides with and Dan and I got to chat a lot with Darcy and Gus. The kids were really good and they all had so much fun going on the rides. Tannon is an amazing baby! He hardly made a peep all day! We had one big thunder shower around 2:30, but other than that, it was sunny (actually a little too sunny at times).

A couple more scrapbook pages

My friend Eliza Cedroni designed the kit that I used on this "My Little Star" page.

Before school starts...

Here's what I want to accomplish before school starts again:

1. Go school shopping for both me and Nathan
2. Finish Nathan's scrapbook (1 1/2 pages left)
3. Go into school several times
4. Go to Freeport (L.L. Bean and Play and Learn)
5. Visit Gram Record

Amber & Ashley's visit

Amber & Ashley are flying back bright and early tomorrow morning. The few weeks that they were here just flew by. I'm not ready for them to go back. There's so much more that I wish we could do with them. But, I learned a long time ago, to focus on what we were able to do with them because you simply cannot fit everything in. You have to be happy with it, and not stress about it. I used to stress myself out every summer trying to fit too much in. So here's what they were able to do:

Went on vacation to New York as a family
Went to game night with the Coopers a couple times
Watched a few movies from Netflix
Went to see a miniature horse farm in Windham
Went swimming several times (at Mom & Dad's pool, once at the lake, & once at Range Pond)
Played lots of games
Scrapbooked and stamped a lot
Had JJ, Allyson & Joshie over for a sleepover
Slept in the playhouse
Ashley went riding with Fe
Ashley went to Girls' Camp
Hung out with Ryan a couple times
Went to the races a few times
Watched Nathan at Soccer camp
Ate way too much junkfood
Got frozen custard a couple times
Went to the Maine Mall
Amber read the Mt. Olympus series
Went to see their Mom's side of the family for a few days
Made bracelets with embroidery floss
Played a lot of Gameboy and Nintendo DS
FHE, Young Women and church a few times
Hung out with Olivia & Felicia a few times
Amber went to O & F's 17th birthday party (Ashley was at Girls' camp)
Amber & I played tennis once

Positive cycle

I walked on the treadmill for 20 minutes this morning. I know that doesn't sound like a big deal, but it is for me. I've been on a negative cylce for a long time. I stopped exercising, which led to gaining weight, which led to feeling bad, which led to eating more, which led to not exercising, etc. I am trying to create a positive cycle so I'll lose weight, even if it's really gradual. I'm trying to eat less and exercise more, which will lead to feeling better, so I'll feel like exercising more, and who wants to chow down when they've just put all this work into exercising? So hopefully, I'll be more careful about what I eat.

A few pages I've done recently

Seven Various Thoughts

1. The girls and I just watched a creepy movie, Conjurer, that we ordered from Netflix. I had each of them pick out 3 or 4 movies for us to get this summer, and Amber picked this one. We wanted some creepy movies to watch, and of course, we didn't let her get any that were rated R. Horror movies that are PG or PG-13 are hard to find, but we did find some. It was a pretty good movie, but we were disappointed in the ending.

2. We've been playing lots of games lately. We went over to Steve & Lil's on Sunday night. JJ, Allyson and Joshie came home with us, and spent the night. The next day, we went swimming down at Mom & Dad's and played lots of games. They stayed for FHE on Monday night, along with Shelli, who had come to pick them up. We taught her how to play Acquire, which I'd been wanting to show her for along time. That was really fun. Then I had my mom, Aunt Diane and Kathy over last night for games. We played a couple games of Rummikub, then Aunt Diane taught me (and reminded everyone else), how to play 63. It's a card game that my mom and aunt used to play with my grandparents when they were growing up. It was so fun. Everyone brought snacks and I had even bought some Spanish peanuts, in honor of Gram. She always had a bowl full of them when we played games.

3. I'm all set now to begin my Masters' program in the fall. The first class is September 7th. I'm excited about this new journey. I'm also excited that I won't have to travel far each week, just to Auburn every Tuesday night.

4. I'm reading a Jodi Picoult book right now, but I decided that once I finish it I am going to be more picky on the kind of books I pick out. The plot is good and everything, but she puts some language and scenes in there that are not very wholesome.

5. It's been so fun having the girls home. I knew it would be fun having Ashley here, but I didn't know if it would feel awkward to have Amber around. It's actually been much better than I thought. She's been nicer than I expected her to be. There have been a couple of incidents that we are not happy about, but overall, she has not been hostile.

6. JJ is going to be going to EFY in a few days, and when he was talking about it to Ashley, I decided to see what she would think about going next summer. I had been thinking about taking Ashley and Emily next summer to BYU for EFY, but I didn't know if Ashley would even want to. I talked to Emily about it a couple months ago and she seemed open to it, as long as Ashley went. Ashley sounded like she really wanted to go, too, as long as Emily went. So hopefully, it will happen!

7. I want so badly for all of the girls (all 6 of them: Olivia, Felicia, Amber, Emily, Ashley and Megan) to have wonderful experiences with living the gospel (EFY, youth conference, stake activities, FHE, family prayer, Young Women, Personal Progress, etc), but unfortunately, they only have a small amount of those things in their lives. It is truly so sad to me. I struggle to understand why it has to be that way, when they all have righteous fathers. I know Heavenly Father can't take away their mothers' agency, so he has to let them live their lives, but all the girls will have to pay for it. They will all suffer the spiritual consequences because of it. Mike and Dan are almost powerless when it comes to their girls' lives. We try really hard to give them those experiences when they're here (and I know Mike does, too, with his girls), so they get a few Family Home Evenings a year, go to church less than 10 times a year, and family prayer and scripture study when they're here. That's it. Oh, Ashley & Emily have gone to Girls Camp twice, Amber went to Girls' Camp 2 or 3 times, Amber went to Youth Conference once and a few stake activities. Olivia and Felicia stopped even going to church with Mike a couple of years ago. They go to Young Women's sometimes, and that's it. Megan goes to church every other week with us. I'm so sad for all of them. The saddest thing is that they don't even realize what they're missing.

Olivia & Felicia - 17!

Felicia & Olivia

They turned 17 on Monday, July 14th! I can't believe they are 17. It seems like they were just born. Only one more year and they will be adults! AAAAGGGGHH!

They came over to our house in the afternoon on their birthday, and they just hung around with us. It was really fun. They always make me smile. Felicia really wanted her hair French braided. I had to do one side 4 times and the other 3, but it was really fun. I love doing the girls' hair, but hardly any of them want anything done to it. Then we went down to my mom and dad's and had supper and cake and ice cream. Mom, Dad, Mike, Amber and Nathan and I were there along with Olivia's boyfriend, Chris (Ashley & Emily were at Girls' Camp). It was really fun. I sure love my nieces!

Vacation scrapbook pages

You can click on them to enlarge them if you want to read the journaling.

Photo Hunters Theme: Pink

McKenzie is just so adorable in her little pink bathing suit!

Vacation

Well, we got back from vacation on Sunday afternoon. It was a really relaxing vacation, which was good for all of us. We stayed at Friar Tuck in Catskill, New York. The decor of the place was really neat. It is set in medieval times, so the hallways in the inn are brick and the doorways are curved at the top. It felt just like you were in a medieval castle. The individual buildings for time shares were like little cottages. We spent quite a bit of time in the pool at the resort, and we also went to a water park, Zoom Flume, for a couple of days. Nathan and I took a little trip to a Firehouse Museum, which was fun. (I was so proud of myself. I drove there myself! For those of you that know me and how incredibly horrible I am at directions, this is a great feat. Of course, I wouldn't have even attempted it without the GPS. I just love that thing.) We also played Shuffleboard and Bocce, which they have at the resort. I'll be making some digital scrapbook pages of our vacation during the next couple of days, and I'll post them as I make them.

I never finished writing about Larry, the little boy we did respite for, the week before we went on vacation. It was really fun having him here. He's an adorable little boy. We only had him for a week, but we found ourselves thinking about him during vacation. When we went on the train ride, I was thinking, "Larry would love this." His favorite thing to play with was Nathan's trains. He and Nathan got into arguments because they were both so strong willed. They even argued about who was going to talk first. I wanted to take them swimming a lot and maybe to the beach one day, but the weather was horrible that week. I only ended up taking them swimming a couple of times, so we had to come up with things to do inside most of the time. That was a little challenging. Anyway, whoever adopts him will be a lucky family. He was getting more comfortable and loving with Dan and I as the week went on. He loved following Dan around in the evenings, talking and asking questions. It was so cute. He's such a sweet little boy. Even when he was grumpy, I found myself grinning because he was so darn cute. I kept thinking how sad it is that his forever family is missing all of his cute mannerisms, expressions and the way he pronounces things. His mom would be cherishing those little things, just like all mothers do. Hopefully, he'll get to his forever family soon.

Ashley left for Girls' Camp this morning. She's been really excited about it. I'm so glad she wanted to go. I already can't wait for her to get back. Four weeks in the summer is not enough! We've been having a great time with her here. Amber has been in a pretty good mood so far, too. Megan was in heaven with both of her sisters here. We had to drop her off on the way back from vacation, but I'm sure we'll have her a couple more times before the girls go back.

The girls played Nathan's Game Boy and Megan's Nintendo DS while we were on vacation. They had never played a hand held game before! I couldn't believe it. Anyway, they were hooked and they played them a lot at the resort and in the car. They really like Mario Brothers and Catz. It just goes to show, you never know what kids are going to like.

We got to see a lot of Dan's family before we went on vacation, too. A lot of them had come for Joe & Crystal's wedding, and some of them came right after. It was really fun seeing all the kids, especially the new babies. There were three that we hadn't seen yet. We also got to meet Hannah's boyfriend, Cam. He was really nice and seemed to fit right in. He was holding the babies, and just seemed comfortable around everyone. The best thing is that they ended up getting engaged a few days later!

Respite

We've been doing respite this week for a little 5 1/2 year old boy. He's been really good, and it's been a fun experience to have him here. He's adorable, and has the cutest facial expressions and lisp. The only problems we've had is that he and Nathan are both strong willed and they've gotten into a lot of arguments. Other than that, he's been really good. The weather has not been cooperative this week, though, so we weren't able to do a lot of the fun things I had planned. It's been raining all week! We've been doing lots of stuff inside. Luckily, Nathan's toys are new to him, so he's kept busy.

Photo Hunters Theme: Flags

We did not plan this, but we ended up with three vans parked in a row, red, white and blue, the colors of the flag . The red one is my friend's, the white one is mine and the blue one is my mom's.

Photo Hunters Theme: Creamy

Shaving cream fun!

Scary

A couple nights ago someone tried to come into our house around 3:30 in the morning. It was so scary. The door is only a couple feet from my bed. The sound of the person at the door woke me up (and it takes a lot for me to wake up). I listened for it again, just to make sure I wasn't hearing things, and I heard a scratching sound and pushing on the door. I jumped out of bed and ran into the living room. Dan was sleeping on the couch, and I said, "Dan, someone's trying to get in through that door!" He jumped up and looked out the window with a flashlight. He didn't see anybody, but he checked the other windows, too. Nothing. The next morning he looked out back and could see footprints leading up to the door. Creepy! I keep wondering what would have happened if that door hadn't been locked.

We have a little visitor for 8 days. We're doing respite for our friend Diane, who's a foster mom. Larry, a little 5 1/2 year old came last night. He is so adorable! He's tiny for his age and has the cutest lisp and facial expressions. He calls me Sister Scoop, which totally cracks me up. He has some issues, but things are going well so far. He and Nathan have had a few disagreements, but for the most part they're getting along. I hope the rest of the week goes well. It will be fun for Nathan to have someone to play with.

Last night, at bedtime, Megan's stomach started hurting. She ended up going home, which was totally disappointing to me. I was actually kind of upset with her, because Dan had to drive two hours to bring her home and she had just gotten here. Now, she won't see any of the family that's here. She hasn't even seen the babies yet, and she probably won't see some of these people for a few years. It annoys me that no matter how good your relationship is with your step children, you're never really good enough. It's times like this when I feel like they're not really mine. I can put all the effort I possibly can into them, but they'll never really be mine. It's so sad to me. I see my students at school for more total hours than I see my step daughters.

Our 8th Anniversary

Our aniversary was June 21st. We've been married for 8 years! Those 8 years have flown by. I got out some pictures of our wedding, and I was surprised at how much younger Dan and I looked back then. On June 20th this year we went to our nephew Joe's wedding. We had one of his other nephews take our picture, since the next day would be our anniversary.

Marriage has been so wonderful. It's all I dreamed it would be, plus more. I love Dan just as much (actually even more) than I did when we got married. He is perfect for me. Life has been good and I've been so blessed!