This week in a Nutshell!

Aunt Cindy gave Olivia a Fairy outfit...Olivia loves it! She loves to tickle her face with her wand!
Here's another love of Olivia's: ELMO!
Checking out her new wand; look at that serious face!
This was from last night, I get home and it's almost 1am and both the kids are awake...I put them in bed while I got my jammies on and they looked so cute snuggling together, it was a picture op.....I rocked Olivia and placed her back in her crib to sleep and Connor wanted to do the "Rosemary" with me and then he fell asleep. He's getting good! He knows bits of the "Our Father" and bits of the "Hail Mary"
This is just the pretty icicles that are on our roof, depicting the cold weather that we are still enduring....(and maybe a hint that we need new gutters!) when will winter end??
Avery, Elijah, and Connor in play mode
Lauren found a nice seat! Olivia and Connor busy at it.
Avery and Connor are sleeping in their "bunk beds" while Elijah looks on.


Our Week in a Nutshell!

Monday: Olivia said "shopping" for the first time, as we were getting bundled up for Target.





Tuesday: My Sister went into the hospital that evening to be induced Wed. am.





Wednesday: My Sister Jolyn had her baby at 12:42; Girl! Jacqueline Jo Kennedy! 7 lbs. 10 oz. and 19.5 inches! My sister says that she'll never forget her 30th Birthday! Yes, they share the same birthdays!


Meanwhile: the kids and I had a playdate at my friend Emily's. Laura, Emily, and I all went to nursing school together. It was so nice to get together and talk and the kids played so well together!





Thursday: Happy Valentine's Day! Thanks to everyone for their wishes and the kids' cute gifts!





Friday: Cleaning day for me, Connor is celebrating Valentine's Day as I blog. He wrote out everyone's names in his class this year.....he did so well! Tonight I'm going to church with my mother-in-law, it will be my first "Stations of the Cross." There's a mass that follows and then fish fry............





Enjoy the pics of the week:

TMI, or things you wouldn't know about me.........

Welcome to the 2008 edition of getting to know yourFriends. Change all the answers so they apply to you,and then send this to your friends including theperson who sent it to you. The theory is that you willlearn a lot of little things about your friends thatyou might not have known!
1. What time did you get up this morning? 8:30


2. Diamonds or pearls? diamonds

3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema? Veggie Tales Pirates Who don't Do Anything

4. What is your favorite TV show? Gray's Anatomy
5. What do you usually have for breakfast? Cereal

6. What is your middle name? Marie

7. What food do you dislike? Too Spicy and Too Hot foods

8. What is your favorite CD at the moment? The Pond, It's a Children's Christian CD with stories that are comical.

9. What kind of car do you drive? Chevy Impala
10. Favorite sandwich? Turkey,Bacon,Ranch from Arby's

11. What characteristic do you despise? Negativity

12. Favorite item of clothing? Cozy sweatpants

13. If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation,where would you go? Someplace tropical

14. Favorite brand of clothing? NYC

15. Where would you retire to? Right here in my home with my Hubby.

16. What was your most recent memorable birthday? 30th and 16th

17. Favorite sport to watch? Gymnastics

18. Furthest place you are sending this? Not sure who reads it???

19. Person you expect to send it back first? Oh, this is re: email!

21. When is your birthday? Aug. 19th

22. Are you a morning person or a night person? night

23. What is your shoe size? 9.5

24. Pets? Black Lab, crazy, kooky, loveable Tatum.

25. Any new and exciting news you'd like to share withus? My Sister's going to have her baby very soon!!!!!

26. What did you want to be when you were little? It was a tie between an artist, clothing designer and a nurse......

27. How are you today? Great!

28. What is your favorite candy? chocolate, thanks to my pregnancy with Olivia I have a new found love for it!

29. What are your favorite flowers? Roses

30. What is a day on the calendar you are lookingforward to? October 11th our 5th Anniversary

32. What is your full name? Jana Marie Roberts

33. What are you listening to right now? Portable heater

34. What was the last thing you ate? Cinnamon Toast Crunch Cereal

35. Do you wish on stars? Yes--especially the first one of the night and shooting stars

36. If you were a crayon, what color would you be? Coral

37. How is the weather right now? 4 degrees, really cold

38. Last person you spoke to on the phone? Kris, my clinical instructor mentor

39. Favorite soft drink? Pepsi, but only on rare occasions or bad days do I drink it

40. Favorite restaurant? Latin King

41. Hair color? Dark Blonde

42. What was your favorite toy as a child? My Baby dollies Mary Lou and Treena Sue
43. Summer or winter? Summer

44. Hugs or kisses? HUGS

45. Chocolate or Vanilla? CHOCOLATE

46. Coffee or tea? Chai Tea, does that count?

47. Do you want your friends to email you back? n/a in a blog

48. When was the last time you cried? Last Monday, after I failed two students from clinical and then had an extremely rough day at work.

49. What is under your bed? my slippers, Paul's slippers, and some dust bunnies.....and a die cast car!

50. What did you do last night? Worked

51. What are you afraid of? Losing a loved one without any warning.

52. Salty or sweet? depends on my mood.

53. How many keys on your keyring? 5

54. How many years at your current job? 8

55. Favorite day of the week? Thursdays

56. How many towns have you lived in? 7

56. Do you make friends easily? Yes

58. How many people will you send this too? N/a when blogging
59. How many will respond? we'll see.

The End

Blooming

Thanks Jolyn for the Amaryllis

Happy Lent

Hello all,
This is my first official Ash Wednesday and start of Lenten season. I have not participated in the fasting and almsgiving during Lenten season, so this will be my first. As a family we decided we were attached to the TV, so on Wed. and Fri. we are taking the TV out of our life for 40 days. Personally, I am taking watching TV every night before I go to bed out of my life. I have decided that has become a habit for me and I'm definitely attached to that. So, instead I'm going to pray the rosary and read a book before falling asleep. This is so much better for my mind and soul anyway. As for Paul, he has declared to take fried foods out of his life for 40 days, with the exception of fried fish on Fridays. This may lower his cholesterol and he will benefit from this....I know it just shows you that skinny people can have sky high cholesterol too!

Almsgiving, Paul and I are having much debate over this....he thinks it is okay to give a homeless person a cigarette, because they don't have the means for one. I say that our bodies are God's temples and we should treat them as temples and provide them with health and love. A cigarette wouldn't be a healthy almsgiving.....I say donate our clothes, provide to the food pantry, etc. We were going to take our debate to the deacon yesterday but our class was cancelled. Tell me your thoughts on this one........
In any ways, say no to things you are attached to and say yes to God!
Blessings to you all.

Jake's Birthday Snapshots

Sunday, we travelled up North to celebrate Jake's B-day at Cody Bear's Cave.

Connor's Hero!
Olivia and Emma operating large machinery together and having fun!
Zack, Connor and Austin playing my favorite game: Skeeball....boys called it "bowling"
Birthday Boy, Having a good time...look at all those tickets!
Olivia enjoyed the cake!

It ain't over until the fat lady sings!

Okay, the evaluations are out of the way for my students who failed. They are going to appeal it, so will be taking it to the Director of Nursing Education and then possibly to the Dean. I have support from my mentor instructor, from both program chairs and the Director of Nursing Education.
I believe I have documented thoroughly which will help back me up. One of the program chairs told me that this appeal is going to make me feel crappy for awhile..........SO, even when I was glad of the clinicals being finished.....it still is going to hang over my head for awhile.
So, I'm going to put on my nursing instructor armor to shield off all the horrible things that the students (failing ones) said about me and not take it personally. I'm trying to recognize that this is a defense mechanism they are using. Blaming me for their failings because I wasn't a good instructor, I didn't ask any of them questions, I was unapproachable, I graded unfairly, not to mention that I am the one to blame for my students failed marriage and the other student's anorexia.............yeah, some low blows huh?
never in my mind would I ever argue with my instructors in the past........I think I would take their evaluation and advice and try to better myself.........in fact, being that this is my second time as a clinical instructor, I'm still a novice and I acknowledge that. I've asked my mentors for books to read to help me improve my evaluation skills and my questioning skills. So, I'm trying to better myself as well.
So, I pray that this torture won't be too long.........hey, if Jesus can suffer through all that he experienced, I can surely get through this which is sooo minute compared to his sacrifice.....