17 Years!! Sept. 28, 2008

Well, today Richard and I celebrate our 17th wedding anniversary. He picked out the perfect card for me that made me cry- it was just what I needed to hear. We have had some hard times in the past years, but overall it has been a happy 17 years. I'm blessed to have someone who is so kind and a good dad to our kids. So here is to the next 17 years!! He got me some stuff from Bath and Body Works that I was checking out the last time we went to the mall. We also went out to eat.

The past few days Richard has been taking a motorcycle training class. He absolutely loved riding!!! He can now get his license; we just need to find the money for a motorcyle now!

Whitney is at it again: being a little saboteur. She loves to bake- which doesn't help dieting! Right now she has cakes in the oven! She was traumatized the other day by a visit to the Dr. It was just for a well visit. Being the independent girl that she is, she wanted to go into the Dr.'s by herself. I was just joking with her and told her if she had some lung disease or something, make sure I know. However, the Dr. did come out with 2 things that we need to check on with her. One is scoliosis, and the other is a mole that she should have checked out by a dermatologist. Whitney is like her mom- not a big fan of Dr.'s, so she wasn't pleased by the news. We will probably go to get her x-ray tomorrow to see if the scoliosis will require any intervention (I'm thinking no, but we'll see). She also has a dentist apt. on Tuesday- poor girl!

And so it goes..

September 21

MY new motto is "put one foot in front of the other". Being back in school has been an adjustment,so I'm trying to take one day at a time (sometime one class at a time.) I'm doing okay so far, but it is a lot and I'm trying to keep everything in balance.

We had plans to go to Darien Lake (amusement park) yesterday, but Jayna ended up being sick. I wasn't excited to go, but it would have been better than having a sick child.

Grocery shopping and freezer meals- any ideas??? I use to go grocery shopping every 2 weeks, but it got to a point that I would come home and not have enough freezer/refrigerator space for everything, plus the produce and stuff might not be so fresh when I was ready to use it. I'm going shopping now about every week, but I wonder if I spend more money that way. (hard to tell with the increase in food prices!) With school and everything I'd like to do some make ahead freezer meals- does anyone have ideas for any recipes or websites? I've done stuffed shells, pizzas, and meatballs before, but not too much else regularly. I'm thinking a few extra meals available for those crazy days would be nice, but looking for something healthy too.

Weight loss- I have kind of hit a plateau and am basically maintaining a weight loss of about 40 pounds- I know I have more to lose, but am finding it hard to keep at it. Hopefully I can maintain this loss and get more motivated in a bit. I'm still keeping the weight watchers online program.

Reading now- (mostly textbooks!), but have started reading The Long Walk The True Story of a Trek to Freedom by Slavomir Rawicz

And so it goes...

BACK TO SCHOOL !!

Phew!!! We all made it through the first days of school! Jayna started first grade and has 2 friends from our street in her class. It works out well that she is an early riser- she gets on the bus around 7:40. So far she seems happy. My complaint - although I don't let her know it, is that I wish they would let them play on the playground more, especially when the weather is so nice, and probably won't be for long. Out of the 4 days she's gone, I think she got to play on the playground once. They did play duck duck goose outside too, so maybe it's not terrible, but I believe down time and fun can lead to better learning!

Whitney and Andrew are both in the same middle school now. Most of Whitney's friends are on her "team", so that was a great relief to her. She seems to have had no problem from going to a few teachers to a bunch. This is all old hat to Andrew- who is now in 8th grade. So far, so good for him also.

I started college! I have 15 1/2 credits this semester. So far it looks like my anatomy and phsiology class and lab will be the things I really need to keep on top of. It was a bit overwhelming! Wednesday's I'm in class basically from 9-3:30. That's my long day- luckily the rest of the week my days are shorter. Occassionally I panic a bit- am I really going to be able to do this? However, other times I'm just excited about being able to learn stuff that will allow me to hopefully have a "real" job some day. I'm proud of myself for taking this step! I do have 2 occupational therapy courses this semester, hopefully that will give me a chance to be sure this is where I want to be.

**Just Finished: "The Host" by Stephenie Meyer- a really good read

And so it goes...