~Maureen~

December Daily...December 1st, 2009

I thought it would be good to document the month of December.  I created a "December Daily" album last year that I never used.  This year, the work is done so....I will change the '08 to'09 and use it this year instead :)

My goal...to document each day of December with thoughts, words, and photos.  Hopefully, this will motivate me to get back to blogging....which I really want to do :)

December 1st, 2009
We started a new tradition a couple of years ago.  It's the "Christmas Book Elf".  I got part of the idea from my friend Melissa Deakin.  I then added the "elf" part. 

So...today, Johnny woke up to a letter, a wrapped book, and the elf.  He was excited.  We read the book tonight.
A new tradition for this year is one I copied from a friend of mine.  She uses a jar for each of her children.  She fills the jar with 25 chocolate kisses.  They get one each day. 
I found small, inexpensive jars at Walmart, threw in some kisses for Johnny and Katie and some fruity tootsie roll things for Kellyn (she is not eating chocolate)...got to www.notforsale.org and find out more....slavery is big in the chocolate world.
I am a lover of tradition!  Hopefully, some will carry on with the kids :)

Kellyn, in review :)

Since it's been so long, I thought I'd do an update of each of the kids; who they are today, likes/dislikes, what they've been up to for the past few months....etc...starting with Kellyn.

• just got her driver's license YESTERDAY!!
• is closer to 17 than I care to think about :(
• is a junior in high school!
• loves photography and is really good at it!  She won 2nd place in her age bracket last weekend at the local state fair for a photo she took.
• she does some pretty cool stuff with photos and adds scripture and effects....it's very cool!
• is working really hard in school and it shows!
• thinking about college
• I said college
• COLLEGE?!!
• Yikes!
• will be taking PSAT's next weekend!
• was nominated for the National Honor Society (see my pride?)
• is a beautiful young woman!
• is tri-captain of the JV volleyball team.  She is a little sad to be on jv and not varsity but being captain helped make up for that.
• is a mentor for this year's confirmation class at church.
• enjoys Jodi Picoult books, tv shows "House" and "24" among others. 
• doesn't let me take enough photos of her :(
• doesn't feel good about herself most of the time and that breaks my heart.
• needs to find a job.....
• grew closer to her cousins on our Alaska trip and that was a really great thing!
• went on a huge trip with our church youth to Tennessee for CHIC (covenant high in christ) in July. She had an amazing time!
• still has personal space issues....we are a huggy family and I'm not sure what this is all about, although Katie is beginning to get the same way so maybe it's a phase?

Okay....that about does it for now.  She is such a great girl and I pray for her to be happy and to know that I am here for her always.  I pray that God blesses her and that she lives a full and wonderful life.  She is so full of love, life and talent. 

 

My friend Melissa's Giveaway!

My talented friend, Melissa Caligiuri, is having a giveaway on her blog!  Go check it out!

Alaskan Adventure~09

Okay, so I said I'd be back....a month ago?!  I'm hoping to do some posts to catch up, and decided to begin with this one :)

My whole family (22 in all) was lucky enough to all go on a vacation together this past summer.  It was the trip of a lifetime and we had an amazing trip!  We flew to Seattle....which is a beautiful city that I'd love to go to again!  We spent a full day there and then headed by bus (chartered for just us) to Vancouver, where we boarded the Celebrity Mercury.  We sailed the inside passage, where we made stops in Sitka, Juneau, and Ketchikan.  We had excursions on each stop.  We also made out way into Hubbard Glacier and were lucky enough to get about as close to it as they can. 

Of course, the best part of the trip was that we all got together.  Cousins really bonded!  We are so blessed to have this amazing family, who love each other, despite our differences in lifestyle, raising children, religious and political beliefs, and opinions on anything.  We can see (or even talk or email) each other for days at a time or not for months and months and it's okay.....we are all busy and we are all accepting of that. 

Between Johnny and I, we took 2000 pictures of our trip!  The girls also had cameras and I forget the number that my entire family took but my sister and brother in law took them all, and weeded through, making a wonderful cd for us, to music and with videos too :)  If these aren't enough, you can go to My Alaska Adventure Facebook Album (which I highly recommend) to check them out (if the link works?) I have some amazing pictures there of the glaciers, our excursions, our family.....great shots of them, whales and much more!

 

  
(all thanks to these 2 people....my parents, mom and stepfather).
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Summer's over....back to school and back to blogging!

I have seriously neglected this blog and hope to catch up a bit soon and then get back to it.  For now, here are my 3 beautiful children.....today was the first day of school! 
Kellyn is 16 and a junior!
Katie is 14 and a freshman!
Johnny is not quite 7....the 10th.....and in first grade! 
Where has the time gone?

June 23rd, 1990

One of the luckiest days of my life.......

 

 

 

 

Here's to us babe....and to many many more years of this blessed marriage.

Katie, 8th grade dance

Katie is finishing 8th grade next week.  I'll have another high schooler...yikes!  When Kellyn finished, it was a different school, and, long story short, they did a huge graduation ceremony and then a semi formal grad dance and a huge outdoor celebration.  Now that we have a high school in town, and a new middle school....they have changed everything (yippee!!) and do the dance, but it's not the "deal" it was....the dressing up used to be way more and some kids even got limos....craziness!!!.
Now, they do the dance, a trip to a local amusement park for the day (sadly, I think it may rain), and a feast, where the 8th graders go eat....not sure what they eat but they eat ;)

Here is Katie, ready for the dance...wearing her Confirmation dress!  Gotta love when they wear something twice :)

 

Katie got ready here with her friend.  They have been together in school since 3rd grade...it will be weird once they are in the high school.  Katie also asked a boy to the dance.  Just friends.  She met him there.  Here are Katie and her friend.

 

Katie turns 14!

They just keep getting older and older....sigh......as always, our tradition of cake for breakfast continues :)

 

 

Johnny's Kindergarten Graduation

My baby graduated kindergarten on May 29th.  I can't believe it.  Although, I thought for sure, I'd be a wreck, I'm doing really well.  I'm not sure if it is because we made the decision when he was a toddler, not to send him when we technically could have.  He made the cut off by 10 days, and being a boy, and having taught, I knew we'd be giving him an advantage by waiting.  Plus, many other districts in other areas have a different cut off.

Anyway.....we waited and it was exactly the right decision for Johnny. 
The preschool where Johnny went, offers private kindergarten and it's a Christian school...and I work there.  It is a really special place and the fit for Johnny could not have been more perfect.  He was also able to do the Enrichment program, which a lot of friends from the public kindergarten also send their kids to. It's an amazing program, where they learned about a lot of extra things (the body, bugs, countries, and so much more). 

And again, back to graduation.  The ceremony is held in the sanctuary (we go to this church...the school is it's own non-profit but works well with the church) and the kids sing songs they have rehearsed.  It's one of the most wonderful, truly special things I have ever been to.  I cry every time....even when it's not my own children who are graduating....it's *that* special.

So...here are the pictures of my sweet little boy...who isn't seeming so little anymore :(

 

I'm adding an album over to the left.....because there are just too many photos to post on here.

Katie's Confirmation

Katie was confirmed in church this morning.  It was a long but wonderful day.  The year flew by!  For confirmation, the mainly 8th graders in our church attend classes every Wed night for an hour and a half. They do a project on Justice and Mercy...Katie did a canned food drive in February, called "An Act of Love; you CAN make a difference."  She collected about 170 cans that we brought to the Soup kitchen.  They have a weekend long retreat as well.

   Katie led the congregation in "The Lord's Prayer"

Kellyn snuck this picture in...all of the parents went up to pray over each of the Confirmands.

Us with Adam, our youth pastor, who did a wonderful job with confirmation!

The confirmation class with their mentors, Adam, youth pastor, and Pastor Joel

The beautiful girls

The boys with Adam..3 of the 4 wore pink :)

With Grammy and Pops.

 God bless you my sweet Katie bug!