Fun-filled Week.......

C-man at recess with his friends....lots of bunny ears going on.

Back to Front: Tristan, C-man, Marley, Joel, & Luka

some real good buddies of C-man's!

Road-runner friends

Miss-O at library hour being a big helper; she's holding up the traffic sign in the front.
They learned about trains that day. Coincidentally, she played train duplos in the afteroon!

Miss-O being C-man's #1 fan...and also a #1 fan of pizza!

(she ate that thing almost gone, guess she was hungry!)
It's definitely bigger than her tummy!

It's a HIT! C-man's first L.L. game....he is now on the Cubs team!
Played Short-stop, 3rd, Center field with gusto.

Ran with all his might and slid into home every chance he could get!

Our Fun-Filled Week

Monday: C-man & Paul went to C-man's last mass for RE at church.

While Mom was doctoring a migraine headache....yuck:(

Tuesday: Pictures from previous blog entry shows C-man's Raingutter Regatta.

Wednesday: Miss-O's library hour, Road Runner's Parent's Day during noon recess.

I managed to embarrass C-man by racing his friends in a sprint....it was neck to neck 100 yd dash...then they pulled through for a victory, while I was wheezing for my breath!

Today: Miss-O's preschool, Mom's 2 mile walk & talk around the lake, Miss-O having picnic with Grandma, Marin, & Aunt Angie, Road-runner's tally gal (that's me!), and then LL baseball.

Tomorrow: Miss-O goes to her first art class with Grandma R. She'll have a blast, this is her forte'; coloring, painting, cutting, pasting....she does it with such passion,

and I may be biased but she has talent!

Raingutter Regatta

Showing the final project!

Lego rock band with a dude playing a guitar.

He had some nice compliments from his friends.

On your marks, get set, BLOW!

This time blow without a straw!

Joel, C-man, & Caden

(also class-mates in Mrs. A's room)

Now fill up your mouth with.........

gold fish and try blowing on your regatta!

EW!- factor was a hit with the boys!

We had great weather for the races today. No serious awards for this race, just good clean fun!

Happy Birthday Tatum!

We celebrated Tatum's 5th Birthday with a special apple crisp & ice cream.

We blew out the candles for her and made wishes for her.

Then she got a chewy and some toys for her birthday!

Happy (35 yrs) Taty!

Double 1 Birthday Party!

Happy Birthday Jaydin! 11 years old! Where did that time go?

Wasn't that great Happy Birthday singing?!?

These boys are a bit tired of jumping on the trampoline.

"Just Dance" a Wii game...boy these boys could boogie!

Emma and Miss-O jumping on the trampoline!

Miss-O with the Birthday girl!

10 Year Reunion!

Here we are 10 years ago,















my nursing college friends and me. Emily, Laura, and myself. We were study buddies. We talked of our relationships, our dreams, our troubles in life. We were each other's shoulders to cry on. We also kept each other in check (what paper was due, what did you answer on this test question, we'll go together for clinicals so we won't get lost.) A lot of memories that I can't even gather because nursing school was exciting and overwhelming all at the same time.


10 years later.........we are still connected. Sometimes, we may only have annual get togethers, but we always start where we left off. We all traveled to the same city. Worked for the same hospital system. Emily and Laura worked Rehab & Neurology clinic and Neuro-surgery clinic, I did telemetry and stayed. We all are mothers of two. Emily has two girls, Laura has two boys, and I have one of each. Our last pregnancies; we were all pregnant at the same time with due dates Sept. Oct. & Feb. We share so many similarities that it is unreal!
We traveled 2 hours to our old Alma Mater. We listened to the 50yr. reunion nurses tell their stories. Toured the new college and the old one; where many memories flooded back of classes.....and our seating arrangements (the three of us sat together!) We toured the hospital; and I realized that I really had a tunnel vision during clinicals (SURVIVAL), because I only felt glimpses of memories at the hospital. Probably because I was greatly overwhelmed with clinical anxiety. Emily told me that our instructor assigned her to me to get me through our clinicals......bless their hearts! This is probably why I have great empathy/excitement for nursing students, they shouldn't experience what I did.
The three of us visited non-stop, we did have to take a break during the dinner program. Unfortunately, we were the only three that represented our class of 47. We've networked through face book, but it didn't work out. I guess there's an informal reunion being planned but I'm nostalgic and want to meet where we all left; our college. We did a little mingling with the new grads at our table, and were flattered when they asked if we were the December 09 grads!

We did get to visit with one of our favorite instructors; Jackie. She was tiny but mighty (literally). I would present her with my medication and her silence was powerful...(I like to replicate this in my instruction!) We joked how she would tell me not to drop a pill and I would, don't faint watching the bronchoscopy and I did! Power of suggestion!

I told Jackie, I made it! I bloomed into a great nurse! I'm not anxious anymore! She had a hard time recollecting me as a student with anxiety, but it was great release to prove to her (mostly myself) that I survived and want to be a teacher now!

Good times, Good memories, Good friends!

Embarking Change

Both Paul and I are doing some changes in our lives. We've established 11 and 10 years respectively in our nursing career and change is needed.

May 10th, Paul will be working in a different hospital, working on a Cardiac Medical Intensive Care Unit (CMICU). There he will be challenged with actual cardiac patients and new technology that help sustain cardiac patients. He will be stepping down from the supervisor position; for he is missing the direct patient care. I don't blame him; this is his forte when it comes to nursing. I've been blessed to see him in action and he can critically think and act on the fly. The patients that come to me and have been cared by him all have great things to say about him. So in the staff nurse position he thrives.

August 23rd, I will officially be a nursing student again. I am going full time with education and part time working. I am enrolled to get my MSN in nursing education. So some day, I'll be an instructor; providing theory classes as well as the clinical work that I've done in the past.
I just found out that all my classes will be web-based and this will cut out commuting. So I will have an extra 5 hours to spend studying or with my family. I thrive better on a traditional schedule, so much dedication, will and self-motivation will be needed to get through this first semester. I can't wait to see a syllabus! They excite me and help me organize my learning for the semester.

So here's to Paul and I as we close an old chapter and open up a new chapter in our lives. We're excited and nervous all in one. So we welcome prayers as we go through these changes, but know that God will be with us as well as the support of you; our family and friends.