Back to the grind stone

I just finished up my vacation from work and school. This past weekend I went back to work, and Monday I started back to school. At the beginning of my vacation I wanted to do something fun with Anna. I have been wanting to take her to the Crayola Factory for some time. My sister called to tell me that her husband found a great deal on the Crayola Factory so he bought tickets for us to go. Sweet!

Anna, Nanny and I went to my sister's house for an overnight than off to the factory. I will say we got a later start than I would have liked. We ended up spending about 2 hours at the factory but I am sure we could have spent more time there. Anna and Sloan's favorite part of the factory was by far the modeling clay. I think that the factory was a great experience for them. Anna has a terrific imagination and I would like to see her color a little bit more than she does now.

During the week when Anna was in school I decided that my bedroom was in serious need of an overhaul. This bedroom is by far the most undecorated bedroom that I have ever had. I am in the process of trying to simplify my life in terms of my home. I want to spend less time cleaning and putting stuff away.  I started to think back to when we moved into this house and that is when it hit me that we have been here for close to 7 years.

When we moved to this house it was a train wreck. We were leaving a beautiful brand new home that we built for one that we were not able to live in for over 4 months. By the time it came to my bedroom all I could think about was "I don't want to spend another dime." So we painted the and plopped the furniture in the room. Because I work at night I have special curtains that I had made in 1998 (yes I know that is a long time ago without an update) that enables me to have the room completely dark. I often joke that they are motel 6 curtains.

Over the past couple of months I have been collecting a few new things for my new bedroom. My search for a headboard has not been successful but I found a quote that I really like for my bedroom as well as some beautiful old windows that I want to make into something for the other wall. I promise that I will post some pictures soon.

Hello...

Anyone still out there? I know it has been a while. I have so much going through my head right now. I know this sounds like an excuse but in fact it is the truth.

Last weekend Anna and I had the pleasure of staying at Stacy, Pat and Aidan's home for the weekend. Anna and I had such a good time that we have made plans to do it again next year. Saturday, Stacy and I took the kids to the Easter party at the Russian Embassy. Stacy and I remarked as to how different each year is at this party.

This year the party showcased Russian folk music. I love music and hearing the band play made me wonder why I have never investigated into Russian folk music. The children put on a short play about a giant who disliked having children play in his garden. The story was sweet and taught about how we should be kind to one another. I recognized a song the children sang from the previous year that I thought was sweet entitled May There Always Be Sunshine. The children gave us little cut out suns with the chorus written on the back.

Chorus:
May there always be sunshine
May there always be blue skies
May there always be Mother
May there always be me.

This year the party was in a different part of the Embassy. The room was spacious and must have been their grand ballroom for major events. I thought it was very interesting to be in a different section of the embassy this year.

I got the pleasure of meeting up with another blogger friend (Liz) and her family. Her boys are so sweet. Anna LOVED playing with Aidan and Landon at the party. She keeps asking "Where the boys?" I love the picture I caught of Aidan and Anna running to get into the Embassy as well as a picture of the three of them outside the Embassy which was pretty cool too.  You can not appreciate just how tall Aidan is in these pictures.

Hopefully tomorrow I will be able to get caught up on last week. I have been feeling emotionally exhausted for close to a month. I really am so glad that I have this week off.

Another one bites the dust!

Ten minutes ago I posted my last homework assignment for the class that I have been taking. What a relief! What a miracle! How did I manage? Hoping and praying the next fits into my life and schedule as seamlessly as this last one did.

What was my grade you ask? I got an A!!! My forth class has been completed! Only 10 more classes to go which translates into 9 trimesters or 3 years to go but who is counting?

Happy Easter!

What a busy day today has already been. I thankfully was called off so I did not have to rush around to arrange things prior to leaving for work. Gerard was also off last night so we got to wake up just the three of us. Since Easter falls on my weekend to work every year for the next 20 or so years this was a big bonus for me.

The Easter Bunny arrived and left a basket for Anna, one for Hans and one for JoanMarie. The Easter bunny left a picture in Hans and JoanMarie's basket so Anna would know which belonged to who.




I have to say I think the Easter bunny did a pretty good job. We asked for only a little bit of chocolate candy (this is the only type of candy Anna is allowed to eat) and a few toys. Anna received two books for her TAG reader. She was super excited about these books (Nemo & The Little Mermaid). If you have a small child I HIGHLY recommend the TAG reader. I often find Anna using it to read a book to herself.

After we combed her hair and got dressed we ventured out to Me-Me and Greg's house for an Easter egg hunt with Hans before he had to go to his Great Grandparent's house for lunch. There were about 140 eggs for the two of them to find. I love it when there is a bunch of eggs hidden.





We told Hans not to cry (which he did) when we left because he was going to have fun with his other cousins. Off to Grammy and Papa's house for a short visit. Anna told Hans JoanMarie needs me. I love that she loves the baby so much. She walked straight in and asked "Where a JoanMarie?" The baby is as cute as a button I would post pictures but I do not have clearance from her parents...sorry guys. She has flame red hair and her eyes look green at times and blue at other times with a big toothless grin.

After about 2 hours it was off to my Mother's house. Originally I was suppose to sleep all day so my Mother made plans to go to my cousin Valerie's house for dinner. I did not want to disrupt my Mother's plans so we packed up Anna in her car and off she went. Gerard and I came come and promptly fell asleep.

I have been having some terrible headaches lately, I have also noticed my one eye is swollen a bit so I will be making an appointment at the eye doctors for Anna and I this week. I wanted to upload a few pictures before I left for work.

Happy Easter!

How about some pictures?

Today we decided to meet AM (Gerard's sister), Uncle Eddie and baby JoanMarie at the beach for an egg hunt. What a shame that it was overcast and quite chilly. Anna did not mind. Once she saw the beach the shoes came off and she started to dig in the sand to find the eggs.




Anna and Papa

She got to see the Easter bunny after all

Anna says the funniest things. A couple weeks ago we were reading a book about Easter and the Easter bunny. Anna decided that it was time for her to read to me so I let her. It went something like this..."A nude bunny rabbit pooping on the table..." No Anna I am pretty sure that is just his tail.
The second funny thing she said this week was when I asked her about her day at school. She responded with "Nichole had a booger on her sniffer."