$500 & a free IPOD

I went to a class tonight about incorporating American History trade books into your reading, writing and social studies lessons. It was pretty interesting, as I am a nerd and love learning. I am always up for a free class, especially when it's only 5 weeks long and there are only 2 face to face meetings. I had to take a pretest earlier this week and found out I can hardly recall the facts I am supposed teach these 5th graders. Thank goodness I only teach the reading and writing. When I got to class there were a zillion books all set up on this really long table. I signed in and was handed an 80GB classic ipod. At the end of class, we were asked to line up and select one of each book as if we were getting food from a buffet. NICE!! I came home with 18 books and the entire Laura Ingalls Wilder, Little House series. The class will also pay me $500 as long as I get a 60% or better. COOL HUH? Now I better get to reading...

WHY?

Why

~won't my son listen to me?
~can't I get rid of this sore throat?
~am feeling so exhausted when I am exercising and eating right?
~won't Raine potty train faster?
~can't there be more hours in the day to get my work finished?
~am I so behind in my grading?
~can't I get out of debt when I haven't been spending?
~won't my laundry just iron itself and put itself away?
~don't I have any good beer in the house? (Miller Lite is horrible)
~can't it be Friday already?
~won't my son stop lying to his teacher?
~doesn't my house stay clean?

Why oh why, can't it be summer break?

One Last Hurrah of the Summer

We did it! We touched both oceans again this year! Are we spoiled brats or what?

On Saturday, August 16th, we packed up a few things and jumped in the truck for one last road trip of the summer. We headed to Temecula, California to visit the DeRusha family. On Saturday, we drove straight to Oceanside and played on the beach for a few hours. We didn't tell Reece we were going there until we could see the water. He was so thrilled, he couldn't sit still. It was all he could take to not run down the hill to the beach by himself. As we held hands and walked he kept pulling me and saying, "Come on Mom, let's go." It was so great to see the ocean again. I love listening to the waves crash on the sand. The Pacific Ocean was much warmer than the Atlantic Ocean. Although we were tip toeing in the Atlantic at the end of June and swimming in the Pacific at the end of August. We brought Dublin with us because the DeRusha family loves her as much as us: they used to dog sit for us. Mo made a few trips back to the truck to check on her since there are no dogs allowed on the beach. I felt so bad for Dublin; stuck in the back of the hot, smelly truck.

After a few hours of playing on the beach and in the water we cleaned up and went to walk around town. It was dusk and I so badly wanted to watch a sunset over the ocean, but the kids were ready to eat and my patience for the sand was decreasing. We rinsed off, changed into clean clothes and headed to the local pizza joint. It was just a few blocks from the ocean. The DeRusha family recommended it because they are friends with the owners. It was just a few blocks from the ocean. A small quaint place with the best pizza I have ever had. Dave the owner whipped us up a chicken & veggie pie that was to die for! The kids loved it too. Afterward, we walked over to Cold Stone Creamery for some yummy dessert. I ordered Peanut Butter Cup Perfection, Mo had Coffee Lovers and the kiddos shared a cup of strawberry with gummie bears. It was so very delicious. It was now 8pm and we still had to drive 40 minutes to the DeRusha casa. Both kids feel asleep 10 minutes into the drive, I guess the surf, sun and sand wore them out.

We played at the DeRusha home for about three days and actually made it back to Oceanside one more time. Reece loved playing with Ashleigh and Jake in the sand. Raine enjoyed eating snacks with Ashleigh on the blanket. We miss our friends Tom & Erin but we are so thankful they take us in for a visit to conclude our summer travels.

Saturday Mornings

Boy do I love my weekends! I pulled my waffle maker out a few weeks ago and it seems to be the thing I do on Saturday mornings. Yesterday, I went to make waffles and didn't have any eggs for the batter. YIKES. I called our friends Jared & Jess a few doors down and invited them over for waffles, if they brought the eggs. No response from them, so I sent Mo to the store. As he is pulling in the driveway with our breakfast necessities, Jess calls back. I told her Mo just returned but to still come over for breakfast. How impromptu of me and them!! It wasn't that nice of a breakfast, (nothing my dear friend Mel would cater) but it was yummy! The menu consisted of: waffles of your choice, blueberry, banana, cinnamon or plain, kiwi fruit, bananas, lemon bars, oj and coffee. Let's not forget the sprinkles for your waffles if you are Reece and Raine. All in all a meal that fattened the best of us, which in turn lead Jared to the couch with Reece for some serious TMNT cartoon time! So much fun for Reece!


It was now 10 am and the kids had to get to their tumbling classes. Not to be rude to my breakfast guests, (they were heading to a birthday party soon anyway) but I asked them to be on their way, that we had some forward rolls to do! Raine was a few minutes late for her class but that is probably better since she isn't really fond of acting like an animals, crawling up and down the mat. She is all about the wedge and bar.

JOY

I started a new bible study and it is so great! It is called Joy by Calvin Miller. I think things in my life are finally feeling smooth and systematic; which may have helped me find joy again. It's really hard to find joy when you have to jump back into the real world; a Monday-Friday work week. Especially when you are a spoiled brat and travel the country for a month.


One of the questions asked: Where is the most beautiful place (outdoors) you have ever been?


How does one who loves nature and travel answer that question? IRELAND indeed. There are so many amazingly, beautiful places there. California has some pretty amazing beaches and national forests. Utah is an incredible place with all of the red rock sculptures. Colorado has those enormous mountains that take your breath away. I could go on and on. So how would you answer that?

Happy 4th Birthday Lil Man

HAPPY 4TH BIRTHDAY REECE

BATMAN, BATMAN, BATMAN, that is all Reece wanted on his cake. I asked him if we could make chocolate cupcakes with yellow frosting. He wasn't convinced so we added some Batman confetti to the top of each cupcake. I forgot to get a picture of that though:( We had a breakfast birthday for him before his afternoon swimming party. Daddy made us a yummy breakfast and Reece got to eat a cupcake for dessert. He opened his presents and seemed a little disappointed that more of them were not Batman oriented, until we gave him his Batman Trike. He was so excited! Reece screamed with glee when he heard the sounds it made. It so fun to see him so interested in one set toy. Mo started this Batman obsession on their journey home from the east coast with Batman cartoons. It is all he wants to watch, play and act like. Reece was very excited when his Auntie Jen gave him a Batman that rides on this super cool motorcycle. He even takes that present to bed with him. Can you guess what he's going to be for Halloween?

Hectic Life 101

Update: Life is really going a bit too fast for me. I have several posts to catch up on. Some are even written and just need pictures added to them. Why oh why can't I stay on top of this stuff. Let me just list the reasons:
~schoolwork
~housework
~homework
~dinner
~laundry
~baths
~stories
~snuggles
~relaxing time in front of the TV with spouse
~conference
~schoolwork
~housework
~Sunday school
~in laws visiting
~brother visiting
~laundry
~La Reve
~Aspen Leaves
~Disney Playhouse
~quick trip to LA
~laundry

Oh so you are able to get all that done and blogg...
Check back daily for a new but old post!! ;)

Back to work :(

I have been back to work now for a three weeks and it seems like things are in 5th gear. I felt like I was drowning the first few weeks but now I'm just swimming upstream against the current. One day soon I hope to be floating on a raft with the warm breezes blowing by.

I have returned to my first love, 5th graders! They are so fun. I teach 2 blocks of language arts. My schedule is so sweet. I come to work, walk my kids in, take attendance and walk them to their special (art, music, pe or library). While they are at specials I have 50 minutes to figure out my day. At 10:10 the chaos begins. I teach one class of 27 5th graders reading and writing. At 12:10, I take them to lunch and go back to pick them up at 12:40. From 12:40 to 1:20 I teach a small group of kids an extra reading lesson. At 1:20 the second batch of 27 5th graders get their reading & writing lesson. Then it is time to go home! My day flies by so fast!

All in all, school is going really well. I am so happy to be back with those big kids. Plus, I get to teach the subject I love the most, READING!

Reece's 1st day of Preschool

On Tuesday, September 2, 2008 Reece started Cornerstone Christian Academy Tikes program. Mo will take him to school with him three days a week. Reece has been asking to go to school for months. He was very excited this morning. He said he had a great time playing & coloring. His teacher is Miss Michelle. She said he was a "slithery snake" when it came to nap time. Reece had to lay by the teacher's desk. Mo has the perfect "big brother" view of Reece's classroom. He can look out of his classroom windows right into Reece's. I text him on my lunch break and ask how our monkey is doing. It gives me such peace of mind knowing his daddy is there watching over him.

Happy 2nd Birthday Raine

HAPPY 2nd BIRTHDAY BABY GIRL!

I can't believe my baby is 2 yrs old. She is growing up way too fast! Reece helped me make the cake. He especially loved putting all of the mini m&ms on it. Raine was so excited about the little Elmo figurine I found at the dollar store. Then the two kids dove into the cake like nobodies business. It was so funny. Reece was a very helpful big brother. He wanted to unwrap every one of her presents. It was a really sweet family night. Raine loved every aspect of it.

Batman

Reece has become quite fond of Batman this past month. Mo picked up a DVD before the drive back across the country and it is now all Reece talks about. He has told me several times that he wants to have a Batman birthday and dress up as Batman for Halloween. We have already begun looking for the costume online. I think I will buy it for him for his birthday so he can play dress up with before the big trick or treat event! Yesterday, we picked several coloring pages from the computer to print out and color. Today, as we were driving home from VBS I was giving the play by play of what would take place when we got home.

Reece then replied, "I wish I was Batman! He could do anything he wanted to do and he won't have to take a nap!"

I chuckled and said, "You're right Reece Batman does get to do whatever he wants, can I be him too?"

Shouting, "NO MOM, there is only one Batman! You can be the bad girl, Poison Ivy!"

All I could do is laugh right out loud!

Life with Reece is so funny; see why I don't want to head back to work!

Changes

I've been feeling kind of morose lately. Fall is a very hard time of the year for me. I hate leaving my kids with a babysitter after being home with them all summer long. It brings me to tears every morning for about a week straight. School is starting in a week and I haven't even started rearranging and setting up my classroom. Ahhhh!

I am excited about this school year because I get to go back to 5th grade. 5th graders are so much fun, PUNKS but fun! We are trying a new block schedule to help the 5th graders prepare for the transition into 6th grade. There will be 2 reading & language arts teachers. I get to teach reading & language arts to 60 students instead of 120 students. I will be able to use all of that great stuff I learned 5 yrs ago during my master's degree program! I can't wait for this new experience but really I can, maybe just a couple more weeks...

I just want to go back to this place:

Fishing in Penny Peck Creek

I have so many pictures from our summer vacation that I need to post some events that were never recorded when they actually occured.

Friday, June 27, 2008 Fishing in Penny Peck Creek
After leaving Butler, PA we headed to Mo's hometown of Hatboro, PA for a few nights before checking in at the Jersey shore. Mo always takes a trip through his favorite place in the world, Penny Peck. He really wanted to take Reece fishing there, so we tried to get there in the early morning before the 98% humidity got a hold of us. It was fun to watch Mo in his happy place. He had a ball sharing all of the neat facts about the creek and woods to his children. Raine hung back on the edge of the creek with me and played in the dirt. She had just as much fun as her big brother.



The best part of the morning was when Reece caught his first fish! His daddy was explaining that the fish were biting at the little pieces of corn so they put some on his Spiderman rod. It was in just a few seconds that Reece had a little yellow sun fish on his line. Mo said that will be the best part of the summer hands down. Reece catching his first fish in Mo's favorite place; the creek he grew up fishing!

Philadelphia Zoo

Sunday, July 13, 2008 Trip to the Philadelphia Zoo
Remember when trips to the zoo were about looking at animals? Well when you take a 1 yr old and 3 yr old it's about camel rides, pony rides, the petting zoo and getting your face painted. Reece choose to get Batman painted on his face. It was very hot and humid so his paint would smear every time he touched his face. Look how much fun he had riding the miniature pony.

Reece and Mo fed the goats at the petting zoo. Reece enjoyed it immensely and said that it tickled when their tongues touched his hands. He would crack up laughing every time the goat licked him.
Here we are waiting to ride on the camel. Mo said he would take pics since he was too heavy for that poor camels back. It was interesting, glad it was only 100 yard ride.





The kids love checking out Reece's face in the mirror. He loved his Batman face more than you'd ever imagine! Thanks Pa Pere for that special treat.


Three generations of Maurice!

Thanks Aunt Amber for letting us borrow your season pass. We were so glad we saw half of the zoo. Maybe next summer we can see the other half!

August Already :(

I can't believe it's August! While on our 5 week road trip vacation time went rather slow. Now that I am home the days are flying by and I don't feel like I've done very much at all. My friend had her baby so I brought them dinner and loved on their beautiful baby girl. I went back a few days later and borrowed her other two girls for a morning of swimming. I purged 5 bags of clothes from our newly organized closet and 3 boxes of clutter from our home. I finished my 3rd book this summer. I bought the kids their birthday presents from Target and Borders. I restocked our fridge and pantry with food. I watched 2 movies, read lots of bloggs and emails.

But the best thing I have done since I've been home is play with my kids! It's been awesome playing with Raine. We are working on her colors and shapes. Her vocabulary is improving and she is speaking more clearly. She just started to say YEAH, when she wants something. If I ask her if she wants a drink she'll say YEEEAHH. It's a nice change from her saying NO all the time. She still says MINE a lot though. Raine is finally sitting still while we read books and really becoming interested in them. She still obsesses over Elmo but has grown very found of Monk Monk aka Curious George. Raine was very excited when her brother came home. Yesterday the two of them were playing dress up with their old Halloween costumes. Reece was Spiderman and Raine was Tigger. It was hilarious!

I love being home with my kids, as much as they drive me crazy they sure do crack me up! Only 16 more days of summer for this teacher. BOO HOO!

We Are Here, We Are Here

Well Raine and I are home sweet home but Reece and Mo are still travelling. They should be home tomorrow tonight. Raine and I flew home last Friday 7.25 from Buffalo, NY. The flight went exceptionally well. I bought Raine a seat since it was the man's big idea that the girls fly home instead of drive back with the boys. His patience with our 23 month old was gone after day 2 of the drive. In her defense she was cutting her I-teeth and two more on the bottom.

For the first 90 minutes of the flight we had a great time playing with toys, reading books and eating snacks. Then we both took a little nap (2 hrs). When we woke up the pilot was talking about us flying over Colorado and that we were about 50 minutes from Vegas. YAY! We played with more toys and ate a few more snacks. We landed, found the nearest bathroom to change Raine and headed toward baggage. I wish I took a picture of Raine walking through the airports with her little backpack on. It was loaded with toys and books and quite heavy but she did it! Thankfully she was miss independent and didn't ask me to pick her up and carry her.

While at the baggage carousel, Raine spotted our suitcase coming around the belt thing-a-majig. She shouted, "there, there mama". The people standing next to her cracked right up. One lady said she needed her to find her bag. I grabbed the suitcase, strapped the car seat to it and we went to find the Russo family. Jen drove us home and showed me our beautifully remodelled closet. I'll add pictures of the amazing job she did later. It is sooo great!

Fun with Daddy

Here are some action shots of super daddy at the beach!

He had so much fun playing with his kids. Reece and Raine loved the water but it was freezing cold; 58 degrees! Mo was trying so hard to get them to go in further but they wouldn't.

On the boardwalk the kids love to go on the rides.

Some of them require an adult because Reece is to small.

He really wanted to go on the caterpillar roller coaster.

You can barely see him sitting there next to Mo.

Reece loves to play in holes and build tunnels.

Mo had a fun idea to bury him in the sand.

Beach Babies

How cute are these kids?

This is the best picture I took of Raine on the beach.

She was in great spirits and very cooperative.

Reece the fishing fanatic; check out that grin.

Blowing Bubbles with Aubrey

Click on the play button to see Raine and her cousin Aubrey playing with this super annoying frog bubble toy. It is super cool for about 5 minutes then the croaking of the frog really grates on your nerves. The kids love it though! Don't forget to pause the music on the sidebar.

Ocean City, New Jersey

YIKES! Has it really been that long since I posted. Well I have been at the beach for two weeks and the internet connection was pretty poor. It took me hours just to try and read my bible study blogg, so I gave up and relaxed. It was a nice break from the world of technology that I am so addicted to. Now that we are back in Philadelphia for the weekend I should be able to catch you up on our East Coast Vacation.

Pictures are always better than words so let's see if blogger will cooperate before Reece needs to come to bed.

Mo's dad otherwise know as Pa Pere caught this huge flounder that we ate up on Friday.

Here we are getting ready to visit a pool at the condo Mo's Grandmother was staying at. Aubrey did not want to join us for a picture.

Mo and I in our favorite spot, relaxing on the beach.

We always go to the Crab Trap for dinner while on vacation. We were able to enjoy the yummy sea food on two occasions this time. Once with Kris & Mel and once with Amber & Doug.

I could never get a break. I just wanted to lay on my belly, but nope the kids just love me too much!

I can hear Reece saying his good night's so I best be finishing up this post. More pictures to come soon...