2013- Page 2

Today found me:

• creating & publishing some more teacher stuff- here and here
• taking my hubby to the dr. and hoping they can help him feel better
• getting lunch with Rob after the dr.'s appointment :) :) :)
• doing some "dreaming" about our 25th anniversary- We'd like to take a trip next summer.  We aren't sure if we can afford it or not, but we're going to do some wishing, looking, hoping. :)
• walking around Joann's with my youngest (Thanks for keeping me company Matthew!!!)- I bought fabric to make some skirts & a pair of pajama bottoms for me :) plus fabric/batting for some baby quilts for Rob's coworkers who are expecting their first babies and tons of fabric to make burp cloths and aprons to help my sister and brother (in-law) with their sponsorship/adoption goal.  
• emailing my advisor about the rest of my coursework- I might be taking three courses this term- YIKES!- but if I do, that might also mean I could graduate this December.  That would be killer now, but oh so nice!  Either way, I'm 12-17 months from being done. :)

Now, I need to prepare for teaching tomorrow; it will be nice to see my kiddos again! Not looking forward to being back in general, but I do ADORE the kids at my school, so that will be good. :)  Oh, and thanks to God- I have had three (WOW) projects funded in the last week.  I no longer have any live projects on Donors Choose thanks to strangers. :)  Such a great way to end 2012 and start 2013 as a teacher! Makes me remember this:

Beka :)

Uncle Rob

Rob LOVES Zoe!  And it seemed that Zoe kind of liked him too.  I share evidence of these two facts here.

 Eating and talking and just hanging out on our last day in their corner of the world.

 playing with the blocks together

 I know she's a bit blurry- she doesn't sit still so it was not easy to get a photo of her without her being " in action." :) 

 Loved this one!!!!  Uncle Rob was reading and making all the animal sounds for her as they read together.

These are my absolute favorites!!!!  These tell another story.  Rob and Zoe would play "chase" and then he would hide around the corner and call out to Zoe.  She turned around to come chase/find him.

 Not sure what she was doing for sure, but she would holler and point at Rob.  So stinkin' cute!!!  She knew where her Uncle Rob was hiding though!

 Or, she thought she did.  "Where did he go???"

 "Boo!"  "Oh, there you are!"  hahaha  Zoe has the best laugh!!!!

Zoe and her Uncle Rob from Rebekah Thomas on Vimeo.


Untitled from Rebekah Thomas on Vimeo.

And the last one, Zoe gave Rob some kisses and hugs.

My Guys

Last night Rob had gone out for a bike ride and when he came back in, he was clearly in distress, but was having trouble telling us what was going on- he was obviously being attacked/bitten by something but we couldn't see what was going on. He was just standing in our kitchen, twitching and saying, "Oh!" Robert & I were trying to figure out what was going when finally Rob made it to the bathroom and the dog started tangling with a wasp/bee in the kitchen that followed Rob into the house and was chasing him into the bathroom. Rob got his clothes off and there were two more still on him, stinging him. Robert ran and got him Benadryl, and Rob is okay, but he has been hurting from the stings. He says he got stung four times, but I think he had more on his back. So thankful to God he is okay!!!!

Robert has had a horrible case of poison crud (I don't know if it's ivy, oak, sumac or something else- he's done this before and is VERY allergic to something out there). He is starting to heal from that, but is still really, really broken out all over his legs, stomach... Then Sunday while working he thought he got into more and came home breaking out in new places and was miserable. He showed me, but it looked different, and I wasn't sure. Yesterday he showed me again, and it was clearly spreading, but it was really odd- his hands have developed thick callouses from his work and whatever this is has spread under the callouses and not on top of his skin. He woke me up early this morning in great pain from this and asked me to pray. After we prayed, I looked at him closely, and whatever this is has spread on tops & bottoms of his hands and arms up to his elbows and he has it on his legs (around/on top of the poison crud he already has). I recommended he go to Primecare and be there when they open so he could get seen before he had to work today and maybe make sure he is self-treating it correctly. He called me later, and he definitely has poison crud but the new stuff is chemical burns from industrial cleaners he was using at work. Poor guy!!! They gave him steroids and some other drug to take.

I teased Matthew to look out. It clearly is not a good time for the Thomas men in our house. :)

Today Barbara & I went to Kristen's house and hung out with Kristen & Erin (gals I used to work with who have moved on to other schools). Kristen has the SWEETEST little two year old girl, Elizabeth. She was such a ham- she counted to ten, followed by "Here I come!" She sang songs for us, and was HYSTERICAL when she rolled her eyes at her Mom's request- best eye-roller I've ever seen! We laughed and cut up and shared "war stories" about school. I am always nervous when I get together with people (even my family for some weird reason), but once we got there I was perfectly at ease and fine and had a nice time. I forgot how they just take me for who I am and are okay with this Rebekah.

I came home and fixed a new recipe for supper. It was good- Gazpacho Salad- it was cooked cheese tortellini laid on a bed of lettuce, topped with chopped tomatoes, cucumber & red onion, drizzled with a homemade vinaigrette and topped with croutons. It was done in no time too! Plus more sweet watermelon, and Robert brought home cookies & milk. :) I've done some crafting and am going to call it a night now.

Sweet Sunday

I'm back. :) I don't know why I haven't gone blabbing on here or posted photos sooner. I made it through the end of the school year (one of the worst, busiest, stressful times of the school year), survived my goodbyes, had a WONDERFUL WONDERFUL WONDERFUL (but very short) weekend visit with my family, made it through Matthew's graduation and the cookout/party the following weekend. And a packing up my room to get ready to move classrooms/buildings again, and then a week of literacy training. Oh, and a surprise, AWESOME visit from my cousin, Regina, and her family one day as they were passing through the state on vacation. :) :) :)

And then, I don't know, I've just been a mix of blah, kind of "aaahhhh" relaxed, kind of just being a bum. I have watched my kids play video games, but never could get the hang of the controllers, then I found a computer version of Plants vs. Zombies, and I've been playing it and just been an at-home with my hubby, hanging around the house, going for walks, kind of bum this past week. I don't think I have EVER done that before!

So here I am. I will be back tomorrow or Tuesday to share photos from graduation and our family portraits. I just figured I better come back and say something. For tonight I will just say this has been the nicest Sunday in a long time- church, lunch out at Elizabeth's Pizza (yummy!) with Barbara, Matthew, and Rob, cooking a French roast with Robert, a short Sunday nap (haven't taken one of those in months and months and months- oh so nice!), finishing cooking a delicious supper, a movie with Rob and Robert, and then a walk just the three of us and Samson. Now I'm going to shower, climb in bed and read a book. :)

Marking the milestones

Matthew spends a great deal of his free time in the backyard just walking around. He has worn a path in the yard where grass just simply refuses to grow. We've lived here for two years now and last summer we began to tease him about it, and Rob fought the good fight all last year trying to coax some grass seeds to sprout but to no avail.

But now as Matthew's graduation is looming on the near future and his enlistment is looking more and more likely, we are becoming quite the pair of sentimental fools. :) (Okay, I admit it, I already was quite the sentimental fool to start with!). :) We decided that we should just let the path stay. If Matthew doesn't get into Uncle Sam's club, he'll still be here pacing away any grass that might pop up. And if he's gone this fall.... well, we want to keep this to remember our youngest by. We don't have the finances now to do much with it, but sometime down the road we're going to mulch it in and put walking stones down it.

In the meantime, I got this maybe goofy idea to put a little flower bed in one spot where he's walked a circle and left a patch of ground with about six blades of grass trying to grow. :)- snicker, snicker- I should also tell you that it's very shady back there and any grass that does come up just won't do much because of the lack of sunlight for most of the day. As you can see in the picture down there, the new grass that is coming up is after two years of Rob seeding, reseeding, watering, chasing off the boy and the dog and nursing, digging, transplanting...

Sooooo... Rob and I went out and bought some plants, and then Matthew and I went back and bought some cheap stones and mulch and the hook and basket. It's not much I know, but after a little work with my son, voila! If Matthew stays here, I've decided to call it "Matthew Knoll," but if he goes away, Rob is going to name it "Homecoming Park" and plans to etch Matthew's dates of leave into the stones for all the times he gets to come home to us.

I was thrilled too because I finally found a way to have one of my favorites- this fuschia! When we rented the other house we had a really shady front yard so these did well there, but this house, well the shady part is at the back of the yard, so I can't do fuschias hanging up at the porch or on the deck- way too sunny. But then we did this, and I got the idea that I could hang one in this spot and it would be perfect! :)

This thing is LOADED with blossoms. Just gorgeous too!

And the hummingbirds love these too. :)

Mothers' Day 2011

This was a wonderful day. It is looking likely that Matthew will be sworn into the Army in the next few weeks, so this very well may be my last Mothers' Day with all my kids home. It hit me hard on Saturday (I'm only 40 and my kids are all grown- how did this happen???). It is so bittersweet, and I had no idea how hard letting go would be. I am determined, though, to live for the sweet and not dwell on the bitter. I hope I do this stage with grace and laughter, that I adjust quickly to a new stage of parenthood, and that I make God, my parents, my best friend & hubby, and my kids proud of me throughout every stage of my life. :)

My family has been so much fun. I live for days home with Rob and the kids!!!!!!!!! I am so thankful for them!!!!!

So today's photos (sorry, there's a lot), in no particular order:

My personal chefs for the day :)

Matthew made bruschetta- doesn't this photo make your mouth water? Yummy!

Robert has cooked professionally, so he always has everything prepared and ordered and ready before he will start cooking. Here he is getting everything ready for my chicken marsala. :)

This photo is for my Momma & Pop (Grandma & Papa, here he is 21 years old and he still spins in "spinny chairs." :) hahahahaha Just hope there was nothing breakable around him. :) snicker, snicker

the final product- yummy, yummy in my tummy- Boys, you did an outstanding job. This was an absolutely delicious day! :) Thank you for cooking some of my favorites for me!!!!

A few years ago Rob and the kids started a tradition, only they didn't know it was going to be a tradition. They decided to buy me a flowering tree to plant for Mothers' Day. Matthew picked a peach tree that year; he was in 8th grade. This year, Rob and Robert and Barbara did something else, but Matthew insisted that he wanted to keep the tradition, so on his own he bought me another tree and planted it for me. This year's tree is an ornamental pear.

This is our loyal, loving dog, Samson, also known as Sam and Sammy. He is particularly fond of Matthew and me and follows us around. He sniffed and explored the front yard where he doesn't get to go often and then came and laid down by Matthew and I while the tree was planted.

Matthew asked me to take photos of my other Mothers' Day trees. This is the peach tree from the first year. It was well established at the house we rented at the time we bought this house and moved. I was sad to leave it behind so Rob said we should try to bring it. Matthew dug it up and he & I replanted it here at this house in the rain. We weren't sure it would survive, so we even stood outside, he & I, and prayed for the tree in the rain. Look at it today- doing great!

This is my second tree- a dwarf Japanese maple. It moved with us too and is doing great- really filling out. I hope to work on this part of our yard and slowly over the summer dig it up with the boys' help and find cheap/free mulch and fill it in.

I love lambs' ear, and this patch is just looking pretty to me! :)

Rob & Robert bought me a bike to match Rob's (his was a Fathers' Day gift last year from us). Now Rob & I will be riding bikes together in the evenings and walking in the mornings this summer. :)

Matthew watering the trees. The redbud on the right is the Mothers' Day tree from two years ago, and the dogwood on the left was last year's tree. The redbud had something eat away all its leaves last summer, and we weren't sure it would live. It didn't bloom much at all this year, so I was worried about it, but it's doing very well now. :) Someday these trees will fill up our front yard and make for more privacy.

My Army-bound son, his tree, and me. I asked him what he would do next year when he was gone; he said he will send me money to buy a tree and continue the tradition. :)

I REALLYREALLYREALLY hate photos of me, and it is very rare for me to post them in public, but I decided to do it anyway since this was a special day for me. I hope to have a skinnier photo to share next year. My clothes are getting baggier on me; I don't know if you can tell in the photo, but they are.

I made crepes for us as a special treat. We filled them with fruit preserves. I haven't made crepes since I was a newlywed so it was a bit of an adventure but fun. My silly Barbara Rose made hers into a smiley face. :)

This young lady and I have some doozy of arguments sometimes, but I simply, absolutely ADORE her!!!!!!!!!! She is a terrific young woman, and I am so proud of her!

My crazy, silly, joking, smart-aleck, make me laugh until I pee my pants, drive me crazy, love you to death family.

Thank you God for this family. All I ever wanted to be growing up was a wife, mommy, and teacher. I got to be all of those, and I never had any idea how much love and joy it would bring to me. Rob, Robert, Barbara Rose, and Matthew, thank you for a truly wonderful Mothers' Day. I LOVE YOU all very, very much- much more than words could ever say. I will be eternally thankful for each of you and the love and memories we share.

I made it to spring break!

Today began my three day reprieve from all things insane :). I had to work like a crazy woman, but I was able to leave Tuesday afternoon with EVERYTHING planned and prepared for both myself and my tutor- all copies done, spelling words loaded online, lessons prepared, copies done and stapled and filed... kind of scary being that with it. :)

I was beyond thrilled when my body and mind mostly cooperated and let me sleep in- something I can rarely ever do. After Rob and the kids all left for work, college, and high school, I drifted off to sleep and dozed until mid-morning. I felt guilty because I am Rebekah, it is what I do. But it felt sooooo wonderful, and I felt more rested than I have in ages and ages! I stayed in my pj's until I left this afternoon to pick up my kids. :) The rough draft for one of my grad school projects is now done. Tomorrow I hope to start polishing it up. I have that and the summative 2 year program capstone exam to do this week. Then two or three more projects/assignments, the course final exam and the capstone portfolio and I will be done in one month.

This afternoon, I picked up Barbara, ran her to High Point to trade uniform pants, went to Winston/K'ville/Walktertown-wherever East is actually at???? to get Matthew and take Rob supper. We came home and ate the YUMMO chicken/bean tacos I had started in the crockpot, took Barbara to work, and then Matthew and I took Samson along for my walk. Matthew was my DI and did cadences for us to walk to and set a pretty brisk pace for me. I shaved a few minutes off my time today. :) I sure wish it would get a smidge easier so I could go further or that I could walk faster, but I'll get there eventually. I keep telling myself to be patient, that in a year I will see a big difference.

As Matthew and I were dropping Barbara off a song came on the radio, can't remember the name of the song, but it's about wishing for one more day - "One more day, one more time, I'll be satisfied.... but it'd leave me wishing still for one more day with you..." Couldn't help thinking of how my "baby" is soon to graduate from high school. Soon this stage of our lives as parents will be over. We're still waiting to hear from the Army as to the disposition of Matthew's enlistment. He has an appointment next week to see his ENT to schedule a surgery/procedure that the Army is requesting. Matthew is hoping that this will remove the final block to let him in. If you'd be in prayer for this, I would appreciate it as would Matthew.

I am so thankful for God's help in making it to this small break, for time spent with my children and husband, for still working on living healthier and getting smaller eventually, and for a little rest- I am soooo in need of that!

Hope you are having a great week wherever you are!

Beka :)

Smile, it's almost Friday :)

I have done a killer lesson planning session this evening. Stayed at school until about 7 PM planning out my rotations and independent work and working on copying. Then came home and wolfed down some yummy supper- thanks to my old/young men for cooking a yummy dinner- and went back to planning. I finally have that done! :) Well, mostly, I still have guided reading to do- maybe. :) I missed seeing my Barbara Rose though as she was gone to work when I got home. :( I am not staying late more than one night a week anymore (I used to stay so late- but I can't say here how much/how late or I'd get in trouble with my Momma) :) :) :), and I hate having to do that. As it is, I am not compliant in several paperwork items I am supposed to have done, and will probably get written up for it, but with meetings five or more times a week during the day and after school, I don't know when we're supposed to do all this stuff.

For now, it's time to take my headache to bed. Nighty-night world!

My :) for today:

• We went to the symphony today- so neat! I've only gone to the symphony once a few years back when my parents took me - just them and me, oh, that was such a fun night, getting to go out with my parents as a grown-up, no kids, just my Momma, Pop, and me. :) Today brought back those good memories and made me smile thinking of them.
• Beautiful music- thank you God for music!!! They played music from various places around the world- loved that! My favorites were the African drum piece and the Argentinian dance piece.
• My class was almost saintly today on our trip. I was prepared with my "mean Mrs. Thomas" face (seriously have to share that story), but only had one episode with one student and the rest were GREAT, GREAT, GREAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! SOOOOO proud of my kids! And soooo thankful that the "mean one" didn't have to come out today.
• Helped out another teacher who was called to jury duty. Made me feel good to be able to help someone else. I guess it might be conceited, but I like to feel needed and useful.
• Laughing with Rob while he read to me from one of our favorite teacher blogs as I worked. I did that for him last week while he worked; tonight was his turn. CRACKING me up!!!!
• And last, but not least, tomorrow is my Momma's birthday!!!! Happy Birthday Momma! :)

Quiet weekend

My house is quiet right now- it's happening more and more in the past couple months. The kids are growing up and slowly preparing us for the empty nest. That's a bittersweet thought, some days more bitter, some more sweet.

We had a great time of laughter (Rob & I) with Momma yesterday and that was sooooo nice. We may be 1,000 miles away from the ones we love, but we try hard to stay close. It felt good to help Momma laugh at a really hard time in her life too. I LOVE my Momma (in case you hadn't noticed), and I LOVE when I can give back to her just a portion of what's she's done for me.

I woke up yesterday with a killer headache, and it has not gone away since. Driving me crazy. I am also extremely achy, exhausted, and my back continues to really bother me (and that just needs to stop!). I have not felt this tired in a long, long time, and I've been pretty worn out for a while. I wonder if this is a bug or if my body is trying to speak to me. :)

I finally got the interactive white board stuff through Donors Choose and have spent part of this weekend trying to learn how to use it and downloading lessons for this week. I'm excited to finally have this tool and learn how to use it. I KNOW my kids are going to love it!!!!

It promises to be a very busy week. Two mandatory evening events at my school, a workday (with meetings and report cards), a daytime school event, my intern teaching a lesson (and my paperwork for that), the tutor starting (hopefully the kids take to her without too much drama) and all the normal busy-ness.

Somewhere in all this I have two grad school projects looming on the horizon plus this week's homework. I have no clue where I'm going to get it all done, especially feeling like this, but God always helps me to find a way. I just wish I felt better. It's no fun slogging along feeling icky.

Many, many thanks to those of you who prayed for my kids last week during benchmarks. The final results were not what the higher-ups wanted, but I was EXTREMELY proud of my class. There was a lot of growth in many ways, and I saw my kids trying harder than they ever have before.

Please pray for Kari and her family. My parents could use prayer too.

Thanks! Hope wherever you are, it's a great week!

peaceful Saturday with my best friend :)

Aaaahhhh, it's been a peaceful Saturday, and I am so thankful! Rob was out of town from last Sunday morning until Wednesday night with a school trip to New York & D.C. Then work of course on Thursday, and I had to work a school function Thursday night. Work Friday and Rob worked the baseball game last night. So we haven't really seen each other or had time to talk. I missed him a LOT!

Barbara and Matthew went to Acquire the Fire this weekend, so they've been gone last night and all day today. Robert worked both jobs today, so we've had a quiet house. We went out to lunch and just talked, went and got our groceries, worked together cleaning and reorganizing the frig & pantry and just took a long walk together. I sure do love that man!!!!

Now we'll cook some supper, do some school work, watch some movie and enjoy the quiet a little longer. So glad we can finally have time being in the same house at the same time. I love just having him close by!

News Piece

Rob, Barbara, and I got to be part of one of "Ms. Melissa's" news pieces. Melissa is a journalist that has been volunteering with my class for four years. We had fun doing this together! :) Thanks, Melissa for including us!!!!

Teach-iversary

Seventeen years ago I stepped into a public school classroom as a teacher for the first time. I was 23, a mother of three (ages 1, 3, 4), and excited but terrified at the same time. I had no clue what would come my way, the wide range of experiences I would get, the things I would see, or the places I would go. I didn't have any idea how much my heart would love the kids and families or how hard the heartbreaks would be or the amount of tears I would shed over things I saw/heard.

This year has, without a doubt, been the hardest one of my teaching life. I know I will only survive it with God's help, and without Him, I'd be having a nervous breakdown. To be honest, I really feel some burnout, but I know this is what God made me to be.

My very sweet parents had a beautiful flower bouquet delivered today to my school for my teachiversary. :) (I loved that word as soon as I made it up today!) I will post a photo tomorrow. It is full of pretty yellow & white daisies and other flowers and came in a cute yellow happy face mug! It was such a bright spot in a really rough day filled with a lot of behavior issues. Thanks Momma & Pop for the flowers, but most of all for being proud of me and for supporting me and what I do each day. It helps to know you are behind me!!! I'd never make it without the love & help of God, Rob, my parents, and my kids!!!

Here's to wherever the road is leading me next! As long as I have God guiding me, I know it will all work out for good. (I have to be honest, though, and admit that I wouldn't be upset if the path gets a little smoother- ;) wink, wink).

Sunday, Sunday

Spring is making its appearance it seems, and I hope it is here to stay. The weather is getting warmer, the daylight longer, the buds on trees in our neighborhood are starting to appear, and we are hearing more and more birds singing in the morning and evening. So nice!!!

Only three and one half months to survive. I can do all things through Christ. repeat. times. one hundred. :)

My mind has started its yearly "things I want to do differently next year" list, except it keeps saying, "Where will I be next year?" which makes it more difficult. But, learning is good, and I'm trying to not beat myself up too much for not having a perfect first year in this new grade. I just see so many mistakes and things I did that could have been better, or things I did not know and wish I had....

My :) List:

• Calling my Momma yesterday and having a nice LONG talk! :) :) :)
• I love laughing and making people laugh. I made Momma and myself laugh hysterically and that felt soooo good! BBB, Momma! ;)
• I went to bed early last night (well, early for me- 10 PM, and though I couldn't get to sleep right away, it was nice to be there relaxing and listening to my hubby snoring :) and just finally drifting off to sleep).
• Mandy (my pal from work) called us Friday night and invited Rob & I to join her and her parents at a nearby restaurant. That was so nice of them to include us and we enjoyed some being with some pretty nice people!
• Spring- my hyacinth is peeking out of the ground; can't wait to see the daffodils soon. :)
• Daylight- it is so much easier to get out of bed with a little light then in the dark (and it is already such a struggle to get out of bed to go to "that place" so that really does help!)
• Warm chocolate chip/nut cookies made for Robert (a belated birthday treat)- I only ate one too- yeah me!!!
• One more month in the year of hell about to be over! THANK YOU GOD for helping me get through it all!
• Zoe is the prettiest niece an aunt could ever see- I find myself telling her photo hello and good night every day, and sometimes when I can't focus on work or college work, I just stare at her picture on my laptop. :) I can't wait to meet her!!!
• Walking with Rob & Matthew and Samson this afternoon, and the last little bit we walked in a warm, gentle rain- so neat!
• Rob & I went shoe shopping together and found walking shoes on sale! :)
• most of all, God loves me- even me!

Working Hard :)

Rob and I are working hard to take care of us. We have been walking consistently for almost two months now. :) And we've been extending our distance/time and pushing even more lately. Rob jokingly now calls me the "taskmaster." So I got this idea that we could walk to our favorite restaurant down the road from us (I knew it was around a mile there). So we did. We walked there, ate supper, and walked home. It was fun, we were tired, but we did it!

Today is our oldest child's birthday- his 21st birthday! I can't believe we have been parents for 21 years!!!!! And now our birthday factory ends for a few months.

My :) List:

• We are still walking, and tonight we did just a tiny bit more than 2 miles! :)
• I had a major meltdown this morning working on my next big grad school assignment, but I pushed through it, Rob checked it for me when I was done, and it is turned in- early too!
• I have about 1/2 my papers graded- it was a HUGE stack, and now it's down to just big. :)

18, 20, 20

Those are the ages of the kids in our house. "Kids" is a relative word I guess. They are my kids and always will be just as I am still my own Momma's kid at 40 years old. :) I am smiling as I type because I remember when Barbara loved her birthday for obvious reasons, of course, but also because she loved being the same age as Robert for five days. Oh, how she used to torture him! Sweet memories! (Jessica, makes me think of you and that whole, "I was there when you were born" thing.) :)

Barbara had to work tonight :(, so Rob, Robert, and I went to McDonald's in hopes of seeing her for a second. She was working the back drive-thru window, so we bought Robert a shake, got back in the car and went through the drive thru just to shout "Happy Birthday" at her, drive through and tell her we love her and go home. :)

I'm continuing to walk. Tonight I noticed that we are slowly inching the distance up and the time. So this is pathetic to those of you who are fit & healthy, but I still want to share it. Hopefully you won't think less of me for being a fatso. :) In the six weeks since I started walking, I've doubled the amount of time and distance I was walking, and I've increased the number of days I walk too.

My :) List for today:

• I made time for Rob & me this weekend. Paid a big price for it perhaps, but I am getting MUCH better about putting family and even myself first.
• I continue to walk, drink more water, eat less.
• I like making fun memories with our kids and Rob. I LOVED going to see the kids at McDonald's tonight, especially hollering Happy Birthday to Barbara through the order screen. :) hehehehehehe

Happy Birthdays begin again

This is the birthday week at our home! Rob's was last Friday. He & I headed off on a little weekend adventure so we didn't do his traditional birthday dinner then. We are having that tonight; he always asks for my homemade lasagna. :) Kind of predictable, but you don't hear me complaining. Barbara helped me get prepare my giant pan full of lasagna and in a little bit we'll be munching away on that and salad, homemade bread, and fresh fruit.

Tomorrow is our daughter's 20th birthday!!! Who can believe that much time has gone by since she was born?!?!?! Happy Birthday Barbara Rose! Your family loves you very, very much!! We are so proud of the young woman you have become and who are you learning to be!!!!!

Sunday will be Robert's 21st birthday. Once again, WOW!!!! How did these tiny babes I brought home get to be so old, and Robert now a legal adult!?!?! This young man texted me today to ask me if lamb and asparagus sounded good. He showed up at my school with freshly cooked (by him) lamb chops, roasted veggies, and steamed fresh asparagus. OH. MY. WORD. Can I say DELICIOUS???????????????? I have never eaten lamb before; it was yummy! This young man can sure cook! He went out and bought the food, went home and cooked it, and then brought it to school and even brought plates from home, silverware and everything, sat with me at my table and with my kids and ate lunch with me. SO SWEET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am so thankful for this family of mine! Thank you God for these blessings!

Ocracoke Island

We Love Our Niece!!!!!!!!!

Rob and I are off on a little weekend adventure. I needed to get away from some things, and so did Rob. It was his birthday Friday, so we just took off.

We are so excited to be an aunt & uncle!!!! We went beach combing to find a shell for our niece, Zoe, from each of us, and I left her a note in the sand!

Skype :)

We got to "see" our niece/cousin tonight!!!! The hospital where my sister is at has internet, so we were able to Skype with Jessica, Scott, and Zoe tonight. It kept cutting out and the quality was rough, but at least we got to talk a bit, joke around and be our usual, silly selves, and most important of all see the precious gift God gave to my sister and brother-in-law (and all of us). :)

She is BEAUTIFUL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks Sis & Scott!!!! It's not as good as the real thing, but it is all we have, and I'm so thankful for that!

I'm off to finish packing a change of clothes, get my shower, and put together all the grad school homework I'll need for the weekend.

Tomorrow is my best friend's 44th birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY ROB!!!!!!!!!!! I love you so very much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

quick post

I was "going to go to bed" ages ago- famous last words! Now it's 11:30 P.M. Me and my sore throat are still sitting here, but at least I'm in my pj's. :)

We had a dinner date with one of my third graders tonight; he had to earn this and worked very hard the past few weeks to improve some things. He giggled and smiled the whole time; kind of sweet! :) I hope it made a wonderful memory for him. He picked Cici's pizza and was hilarious watching how much pizza Matthew ate. He & Matthew played some video games afterwards, and Matthew helped him with the claw game. Rob took him to buy some flowers to give his mom as a "thank you" for letting him go, and was whispering to him gentlemanly clues, so my little friend opened doors for me all evening. :) He told me he's going to tell the class all kinds of things about me and my family tomorrow. He was telling his momma about my family and about my car named, Rosie; said his sister asked, "What kind of people name their car?" He told her, "My crazy teacher!" :) :) :)

I have stared at the hospital photos of my niece most of the evening since we got home, haven't done a single thing I needed to do, and now I'm headed to bed.

Rob & I are going on an adventure this weekend. I'll have to take a ton of school and grad work with me, but it'll still be fun and away from my employer and this county- so tired of "them." I'll miss the kids. We've NEVER left them alone; never left them with anyone but parents/my sister. I feel really weird about that, but I guess since they're 18, 19 & 20 (about to turn 20 & 21), this is probably totally silly of me. :)

Have a great weekend everyone!

Rebekah :)