Sweet Life in the City

I guess I cannot use the excuse that I do not have internet to neglect my blog, so I will try to do better at blogging.  We were home again on Tuesday because of the bad weather. Our class missed our field trip but will be making it up sometime in January. My students were so disappointed. They (weather people) were calling for a chance of freezing rain on Wednesday but we had school. Sam's field trip was cancelled but they had their pajama day instead. It was also pajama day for my class and so it was a crazy day back to school. We dismiss an hour early just in case the bad weather hit but it turned out to be just rain. We had a half a day on Thursday but it was Christmas party day so the morning felt like it would never end! I love my kids but the truth is they can get pretty crazy. They are sweet kids and they try to follow the rules but my 9 boys have big personalities and no volume control. They do not do well when our day in not structured. Anyway, I survived the party and th...

    Well it happened, we have a Snow Day. It has not been entirely bad. I slept in until 8:30 and have been just being lazy since I woke up. I cannot remember the last time I just did nothing. My doctor's office called this morning to say that they were closed so I will have to reschedule (again) to see the doctor. We have our small group on Monday nights and that has been cancelled too, so we are free to do nothing all day long :) That would be nice but I know myself too well to know that I will not be able to just sit around all day. The kids and I went outside for a little while yesterday to play and I got a few pictures. I am hoping they do not ask to go outside today because it is way too cold! I am hoping the snow will melt off and we will be back at school tomorrow. Sam is having a pajama day and watching "The Polar Express". He already has his pj's laid out and he will be so sad if we are home again tomorrow. I would also hate for my class to miss their field ...

  We are having our first snowfall here in TN. It is not much but it is beautiful! I know this sounds weird from a teacher, but I am hoping NOT to have a snow day tomorrow. I know, I know why would I say that! We only have three and a half days this week before Christmas Break and I have so much I need to get done at school. Tomorrow is the only real day I have this week. Tuesday we have a field trip to an assisted living facility where we will be singing carols and passing our cookies. We have a little program planned and we are hopefully going to get to practice it tomorrow. I took off work on Wednesday to go on a field trip with Samuel and then we have Christmas parties Thursday morning and dismiss at 11:00. I am looking forward to having two weeks off of school. We will be home the first week and then we are heading to Illinois on Christmas Day. Jeremy will be flying out to Liberty the day after Christmas to finish his last class (well until he starts his Dr.). The kids and I w...

  So my great idea of starting a new blog has not been all I thought it would be! The place I was able to get on the internet now has new blocks so I can no longer post to this website. I can post from my phone but it is kind of weird because it is like writing a long text message and texting is not one of my strong points. I will try to update as much as I can and try to post pictures at least once a week. Anyway, we have been in Illinois since Tuesday night. We had a wonderful thanksgiving with my family and today my mom and I did a little shopping. We took Chloe with us and Sam and Emma hung out with Grandpa today. It was a great day and Chloe was such a good little girl. We are making our way home tomorrow and praying that we do not run into any bad weather. We all go back to school on Monday and then we only have two and a half weeks until Christmas Break. That seems insane to me! Well here are a few pictures from this week. I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I also ...

It has been a busy few days. I have been trying to get everything done before Thanksgiving break and it has been crazy! My students have been so rowdy and I do not blame them. I was ready to be out of school too:) On the way home poor Chloe got sick in the van. She was so pitiful. We got home and I got her (and the van) cleaned up and she seemed to be feeling ok. I had class tonight so I got ready and went to class. Chloe got sick again in the hallway and Jeremy had to clean up this time. I will be sleeping in her room tonight to make sure she is OK during the night. I am praying that nobody else in our family gets this bug.

I woke up this morning to a very rainy morning. The rain causes my body to hurt terribly, but I am up and ready to start a new day. We have a short week this week and then Thanksgiving Break is all next week. Jeremy only has Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday off next week so we will not be able to go anywhere until his break. I am looking forward to getting some things done at home and in my class at school. We are leaving next Wednesday to go to Illinois for Thanksgiving. Well I thought I would give a update on the kids since I have not posted about them in such a long time. Samuel. He is loving first grade! He has developed a new attitude that I am not sure if I like it or not. First grade has turned him into a bit of a punk! He is growing and learning and it is amazing to see how much he is changing. It is also a bit emotional at times. I look at my 2nd graders and I cannot believe that this is where Sam will be next year. On Fridays the girls stay with Jeremy's parents and I just...

Well I know it has been awhile since I posted. The truth is that we got rid of our internet at home and I have not been able to get on my blogspot, so I have started a new blog. We have been so busy!! Since the last time I posted Samuel has turned 6 years old, Emma has turned 4 years old and we have found a new church. We have started going to a church in Clarksville and we are really loving it. We have met some wonderful people and joined a small group. It really has been a great encouragement to us! There have been many other changes going on in our lives. I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia a few weeks ago and so we have been trying to process this new information. I had a feeling that I might have this but I did not want to go to the doctor. I could not deal with the pain any longer and I was starting to fear that it might be something so I finally went to the doctor. I am relieved that I know but it is also discouraging that I now know I will not get better. It has forced me to stop...

This past weekend was our annual family reunion in Eva, TN and we had so much fun. The kids and I left Friday after school and Jeremy surprised us by coming over on Saturday night. Jeremy was not feeling well and was going to stay home the entire weekend, but decided to join us. The seasonal allergies hit us pretty hard last week and Jeremy, Sam, and Emma were coughing and sounded horrible. They were not running a fever so we just treated it like allergies and they seem to be better. I am enjoying our short week of school but it does make things a little bit crazier trying to get everything done that needs to be done. On the subject of my craziness, I learned a great lesson this afternoon. We have been trying to sell our house for a while now. At first my house was spic and span all the time and especially when I knew we would not be home. Well, we have had a grand total of TWO people come to look at our house. Each time I worked myself silly scrubbing and cleaning until every inch of ...

WOW! I knew it had been awhile since I blogged, but I had no idea it had been since the beginning of July. I am not sure if I should mention everything that has been going on or skip to what is going on right now. I guess I will just hit the highlights. When we got back from Illinois Emma had the tubes put in her ears. She did great for the procedure and we have been earache free since the tubes went in the ears. We made a trip to Oklahoma City on a charter bus and the kids had so much fun. I was a little nervous because I did not realize that there were not any seat belts and that meant there would not be any car seats for the kids. We spent the week in OKC at our National convention. We saw family and friends and had a great time. We came home and had to do one of the hardest things we have ever done, say good-bye to our precious Good Springs Youth. We had a our last Sunday and last Wednesday night and the heart ache was much worse then we ever imagined. I think that is one of the re...

Today my sweet baby turned 3 years old. It seemed like for so long I had these three little babies and now they are all becoming so independent and are just growing up so fast. Chloe is almost completely potty trained and she is becoming her own little person. She is our smily little sweetheart and we are so thankful that she is in our family. She had a fun day at 123 Jump and lots of cake and presents. I think Sam and Emma were more excited that today was Chloe's birthday than Chloe. Well we are finally heading home tomorrow. Our family should all be back together tomorrow night. The kids have had a great time of being with Grandma and Grandpa. They have gone fishing several times and went to a fun children's museum. They are coming home with so much more then I brought with them to Grandma's house and it will probably takes weeks to get them back to our house rules, but I am glad they had the chance to spend some time together. Well before I get going I have a funny story...

Jeremy and I and the teenagers got back Friday night from Orange Beach. It was a wonderful week of being encouraged and refreshed. The weather was horrible while we were down there and the oil on the beach was such a sad sight, but we still had a wonderful week. I left at 6:00 Saturday morning and headed to Illinois. The kids and I are staying here at my parent's house this whole week. Jeremy is in Virginia taking a class at Liberty. He is only 8 classes away from his doctorate in administration and I am so proud of him. The kids have had fun at Grandma's house but I think they are ready to go home. When I got here Saturday Sam said to me "Mom, I am ready to go home." I kind of laughed and told him that we were not going home for 6 more days. He then looked at me with the most serious expression and said "Seriously mom, I am ready to go home." We had a fun 4th of July. We went to a cookout and the kids had a blast doing bubbles and watching the fireworks. We...

Here are the pictures I said I would post last week. There is a picture of Jeremy and I at the Cubs game. One of the kids before watching Toy Story 3 and then one of Emma. Jeremy and I are at Orange Beach with four of our teen girls. It has been rainy and their is oil on the beach, but the worship services has been amazing!!! I really miss the kids and I cannot believe that I will not see them until Saturday!! I also have some other things I need to post but it is late and I need to get some sleep.

There have been several reasons I have not posted since last week but the bottom line is that we have been super busy. Jeremy and I had a great time in Chicago. We spent a day at Lincoln Park Zoo and then went to a Chicago Cubs game, We thought the game was going to get rained out but it started almost two hours late. We ended up leaving the game in the 7th inning because it was already 11:00 at night and we had an hour and half drive back to my parents house. We headed home on Wednesday. On Friday I took Emma to the Ear, Nose, Throat doctor to look at her ears. They did a hearing test on her and it came back that she is hearing just fine but there is fluid on both ear drums. We made an appointment to get tubes in both ears on July 12th. After the doctor we came home and got the rest of the family and headed out to see Toy Story 3 in 3D. It was just a great movie! I have to admit that I was crying at the end! The kids also loved it and did a great job watching the movie. It was Chloe...

HAPPY GOTCHA DAY, SAMUEL JAE!!! Five years ago (YES, I SAID FIVE YEARS) Jeremy and I woke up early and boarded a plane headed for Detroit to pick up our son. We were scared to death! There were so many questions and concerns going through our heads, "What if he does not like us?" "What if I do not know what he wants?" What if I do not FEEL like a mom?" and the list could go on. We were greeted in Detroit by my parents and my uncle and cousin (who live near Detroit) and we all waited patiently, or not so patiently, for Samuel to arrive. We waited what seemed like forever and the plane finally landed. We waited with several other families who were also picking up their children as one by one the Korean escorts came through customs toting our precious children. Samuel's escort was the only male and he had Samuel strapped in a carrier on his chest. The moment I saw his little head looking around I knew it was my baby (yes, another question, "what if I do n...

I know it has seemed like forever since I posted but we got back from the beach Friday night and hit the ground running. Friday night we got everything unloaded and the fun of putting everything away started (insert sarcasm). Saturday morning the kids and I headed out to Mt. Juliet for my nephews graduation party. I got there early so I could help my brother get things set up. It is always good to see them but it also hurts my heart so much. Many do not share my feelings, but I hurt for all the people who have been effected by the current circumstances, even the ones who made the decisions to do the hurting. Sunday was church and then Monday started our mission trip for our youth group. We usually go to another state for our trips but ended up staying in Nashville. We had contacted several pastor about coming to do a trip and they all did not work out. It was amazing that we had already planned to stay in Nashville before the flooding and there were many organizations that needed our h...

It is hard to believe that 10 years ago today Jeremy and I were married. Where did the past 10 years go? I was thinking this morning that in another 10 years Sam will almost be 16 and I will have two 13 year olds. HOw scary is that?! I was also thinking about all the things that have gone on the past ten years. We have lived in 6 different houses and two states. Our marriage has survived infertility problems and cancer. We have said good-bye and three Grandparents and two very dear friends. We welcomed three beautiful children in our hearts in a period of three years. We have experienced great joy and great sorrow together. I am very thankful that the Lord has given me a wonderful husband and I am looking forward to what is waiting for us over the next ten years!

We awake to a very rainy and dreary day. Thankfully the skies cleared up and we were able to spend the day outside at the beach and at the pool. I do not have time to write much because it is my night to make supper. Here are a few pictures from our day.