I know I missed two days!

Oh well, I had other things on the mind and they were more important than trying to come up with a post. I won't vent or tell any stories here, not the right place. So my humble apologies. Hopefully I made up for it a little by posting the great pictures of Miss B. She's quite a ham! She loves to have her picture taken too!

Introducing my synchronized swimmer~ Miss B.

Here she is! Ready for olympic competition! She had a great time playing in the itty bitty pool (mommy is frightened to get anything bigger right now, and they are not complaining) and got real silly! Anyway, here is Miss B in her new Speedo performing the best of the best moves in synchronized swimming.

Remember When

We first came home! This is the first picture taken of us as family. It was taken in Ethiopia and we had been with our girls about 5 days! What a great picture! These are the sunglasses we sent with another traveling family. They were, we all were so very excited and tired and you name it! Anyway, first family picture and lots of memories to go with it.

trying really hard

to be positive about the weather! I know we need rain for things to grow, but it's getting to be to much. It seems everyday we have either a tornado watch or warning, flash flood warnings and severe thunderstorm warnings. The girls and I checked the weather on the web and there are two days listed without rain! I know I'm cranky about the rain, but the kids get super punchy and well. . . unbearable at times because it's summer and they can't go out! It's also very humid so we are all in the basement cooling off. We really don't like to turn on the air conditioning so we escape to the basement! Oh well. . . . My guess is that July is going to be dry dry dry! And I'll try not complain about that! UGH!

date night with Bobbie

Girls night out, kids home with the hubbies! Bobbie, the great COTA that I work with, and I went for mexican and a movie tonight! Food was good and movie was mostly silly! We saw Sex and the City II. So much gratuitous (mega extra) spending on clothes, food so not needed by any regular person that I know, but then again, I've never lived in New York City! It was a nice time anyway and sometimes its good to have a change in routine!

The end of the day~

Today was a good day! I received positive feedback on the project I turned in yesterday, the girls had a great day at summer school and swimming and we got to sit in the basement as the tornado sirens spoke to us to retreat to the basement for about 1 hour this evening. It felt errie outside and sure enough just as we sit down to say prayers the sirens sound. So I sewed some 2 1/2 inch strips together for a new quilt top I'm working on. The girls ended up falling asleep on the basement floor, we do have a finished basement complete with carpeting so they were comfortable. It was a nice day to start summer school. The girls are at their home school for summer classes and so they are familiar with the layout of the land. This is good. I even had grown up conversation with a wonderful woman, Kathy, at the coffee shop today!! What could be better? Well, that's it for now. Time for bed, but first a little Parker Palmer reading. I'm learning how to Let my Life Speak! Also a good read is Soul Graffiti, a book about making a life in the way of Jesus! All good things to think about. So this is what summer break is for: Rest, Renewal and Rejuvenation! Until tomorrow!

First Day of Summer School

And it's raining. The girls are bummed out that they can't play out on the playground at school. Miss K is taking three classes, reading, math and an art class. Miss B is taking an reading and writing class that is by invitation only. In other words, her teacher recommended her for this class and had to write a letter for her to register. It's an accelerated reading and writing class, so this is good! The girls are excited to be in summer school and are looking forward to some routine too. Mommy is looking forward some time to do busy work without interruptions! Let Summer school begin!

i'm still up, does it count?

I'm still up, does it count for today? Sunday? I had to get homework submitted and have been diligently working on my Project III for most of the evening. GEEZ! One more project to go and then onward to Leadership and Ethics! WOW! I wonder what the content of that class will be?

Anyway, HAPPY FATHER'S DAY to all you daddies out there in cyberspace! My girls had a good time with their daddy today! First worship, then a fun lunch, opening silly gifts and a serious one or two! The girls gave mosquito nets in honor of their dad to people Africa. That is worth a few lives and is important for all involved, the receivers as well as the givers! Thanks be to God! It was beautiful and sunny, not to hot, just right for Father's Day!

so many things to talk about - how about shooting stars or satellites?

We had an eventful day. Madison's farmers market, the apple store twice, picked up projects for the kids at Joann's, and purchased the new Andover fabric line, The Very Series from Eric Carle. Lots and lots to discuss. But I will share the end of day. I decided that it was a beautiful night and Fenric (that's the dog) was running around like a crazy dog and needed some exercise. So I put on my running apparel and when I got out my shoes, of course Fenric starts jumping 5 feet off the ground, I donned them, stretched and we ran 2 miles, actually 1.75 miles, but close enough to two. We had a good run, just enough of a breeze, still light out, etc. etc. We get home and are recouperating in the backyard with water and I see a small light traveling at a pretty quick rate of speed moving the sky. I said to the hubby, is that a satellite? of course it's not, it has to be an airplane. No, a satellite, then we say what looked like a very big reflection happen for maybe two seconds and then went back to its initial state while moving through the sky. Very weird. I think it was an alien space ship looking for a friendly place to land and just happened to be flying over our town. It was pretty wierd and it was definitely not a plane. Until the next alien ship siting. . . . .

no hurricanes in the midwest

Today's question was, "Mommy, are there hurricanes here?" The answer, "No honey, we don't have hurricanes in the Midwest." "What about tornadoes" Well, we can have these in the Midwest. Are they different than hurricanes?" On and on. We have had the most wet week week ever that I can remember RIGHT NOW! We were out shopping for siding and windows and we knew there were storms coming from Iowa and Illinois, but boy oh boy were we in for a down pour. I ran barefoot to the car from Lowe's and the girls were excited about the rain. They get excited about the weather when ever it happens! See they are acclimating just fine! Anyway, we drove home and when approaching our town, we heard on the radio that there were lights and trees down in our downtown area and some were without electricity. UGH. So that put the girls on heightened alert! The questions came again. So we had to go to church and pick up a movie we left behind yesterday and we saw some damage. Not as bad as it could have been, but still some big trees down, lights not working, etc. As I write, it is thundering and lightening outside and that just keeps the girls on alert.

There have been many weather related incidents recounted in the news in the past week. I am sorry for the people and the families affected. I remember when we had the flood here in 2008, actually the summer the girls came home, and how many people we knew were affected by that. I'm thankful for the seasons, but well. . . . enough said.

opps again!

NOW is the time that I remember I forgot to post last night/yesterday!

This is hard! Remembering to post everyday! Geez, I need a little understanding. I actually was doing homework and then spent time with my hubby watching the Bonhoffer movie. These are all good things to consume time with too! So please forgive and I'll work harder at my short term memory skills. Promise!

Beautiful Day

Dear Lord,
I give you thanks for a beautiful day filled with sunshine and fresh breezes. I give you thanks for the time spent with family and friends. I give you thanks for the many blessings you give without us even knowing they are given. I give you thanks for the cross. I give you thanks for my loving husband and beautiful daughters. Thank you Lord.

what is about grades

that gets me so weird? In my summer class I have 4 homework assignments and 4 projects. The homework is graded differently than my projects. And some other miscellaneous stuff like quizzes and threaded discussion grades. Anyway, I do fine on my homework and then there are my two projects? Well. . . my first one, I did fine, my second one. . . not so fine. Passed with a "B", but I guess in some regard NOT FINE! I think the nature of the competitiveness in OT school did not assist me in being ok with getting grades less than an A. Imagine less than an A! And then I think, "Who am I competing against?" NO ONE!! I'm in an educational program, have been for about 10 months now! Heck, I'm getting my clinical doctorate!?! What more can I complain about. A "B"! Geez. So tonight I get feedback on my HW 3 & 4 which essentially are parts of the construction for Project 3 and boy oh boy, I'm not getting it. Rubric development, select-response tests, holistic vs. analytic. . . I'm struggling with this weeks (and I guess last weeks) work! Thank God for peer reviews and honest feedback. I'll keep the public posted on my project III grade!! I'm sure you are all just waiting on the seat of your pants to know! HA~

Starbucks and ET coffee

Another AP that brought home two beautiful twin girls shortly after we brought home our girls posted this link about Starbucks and Ethiopian coffee. I guess I need to find another coffee house! Losers! Starbucks that is. . . .

it's raining, it's pouring. . .

my girls are watching movies! They are sort of like me when it rains, they get slumpy. I don't know how else to put it. I tend to want to hibernate when it rains and well. . . this is the third day of icky, rainy, cool and humid weather. So, no cooking out, no playing in the pool, no bike riding, running, etc. So we are doing inside activities, reading, movie watching, and I'm about to go the Joann's and pick up some summer projects as I just looked through the flyer and there are all kinds of goodies in there! On a different note, I've been able to get quite a bit of busy work accomplished and we are having some wonderful food because I've had some time to cook! THIS IS GOOD! I'm caught up on homework, paid some bills, organized a little here and there. . . WOW and it's only the third official day of summer break for me! Well, we are hoping for some sunshine tomorrow. BTW, our garden looks fantastic and we've not had to water for a few weeks given all the rain :-)

writing prompts?

I'm sure you are getting bored with my random posts by now! And I just don't feel like writing serious stuff right now. So I'm going to write from a prompt from the NaBloPoMo website. Here is the question?

When you were little, what did you want to be when you grew up?

WOW, what a question! Well, the answer? No laughing please, remember I was little! I wanted to be a ballerina!

Like I said, NO LAUGHING! Can you believe I actually thought I'd grow up to be graceful and thin! Well, I think I am anything but graceful, ask anyone who knows me. I bump into things, trip over the invisible, and well, my vestibular system, well. . . probably isn't as well nourished as I think it is. Am I sad that I'm not a ballernia! Heck no. I love being an occupational therapist, playing with little kids and helping my teams at school! It's cool and fun and outside of the box. My girls think it's pretty cool too!

There were many things I wanted to be when I was little, but I'm glad I am what I am! I remember drawing picture upon picture of ballerinas and the multiple types of tutu's they would wear! Each of the ballerina's also had a different color ballerina shoe (I'm sure there is a technical term for ballerina shoe, but well. . . I don't know what it is). Anyway, ballerina? Not today!

making up for lost posts

I've just finished my second annual post placement report for the girls. It's actually quite amazing to see the growth they have had in the last 24 months. Our report can only be 2 pages long. That makes bragging kind of difficult. We also have to send in 5 pictures along with our report. It's pretty cool to see how they have physically grown as well. And this picture was taken at the END of last summer! WOW! I have to go find my SD card with the more recent pictures.

New look!

Playing around a little with the look of the blog! It's quite busy, but I don't necessarily like the scrappy look, and I'm not sure I have a style! So beware, it'll probably change a few more times until I figure out what I like!

opps!

I totally forgot! Last day of school, done at 11:30 and out of routine. The girls thought I was home early and were totally surprised. We ate lunch and then they let me take a nap! A much needed nap! It was a totally relaxing night, grilled fish for dinner and movies, kids and for mom and dad! Still early, don't know what to write, and I'm drinking a great cup of java!

'Twas the night before the last day of school

And I think I might actually have everything done! I've got some busy work, but I think the main paperwork is finished. I even finished reading about construction of test items and made my post for class before midnight! WOOT WOOT! I am tired and only have 4 3/4 hours of work left before summer break! another WOOT WOOT! Good night, have to get some z. . . . . .z. . . z. .z.z.z.z.z.z.

Last day of school for the girls

So today was the last day of school for the princesses. I think with the end of things, comes a little anxiety. The routine changes, things are not going to be the same for the next few days and then we begin again. Kids really do WANT routine and when it's not provided, they get lost. I am finding that to be SO true. I am done Friday at 11:30, we have a week off and then the girls start summer school, so there will be routine again for a while. THis is good!

I have to share a funny from tonight! As usual, I leave before the kids go to school. I'm not always around for the final packing of the lunches, backpacks, etc. So tonight we are all sitting saying our prayers and Miss B. shouts out that Kidist forgot her lunch today, not her whole lunch, but her sandwich. She remembered to pack her fruit snacks, fruit, water, crunchy food, but left her sandwich in the frig! I don't know why, but I found that hilarious. Kidist didn't. So fast forward, we are saying the Lord's Prayer as usual, and we come to "Lord, give us our daily bread" and I can't stop laughing. I just had this funny vision of Kidist opening her lunch and realizing she forgot her sandwich, or daily bread. And to top it off, it was her last day of school. She's been doing this for 179 days, today would have been 180, but she forgot!! So of course, I start laughing, Bayat begins to laugh and then Bond too! Geez. . . . it caught my funny bone for just a brief moment. So after some laughter and some drama, Kidist got to finish her prayers and all went nighty night!

Remember children, to pack your daily bread that the Lord giveth!

tonight's post

is pretty boring. . . i actually just came down from upstairs to make a post because i almost forgot! ugh. . . so brief and short. . .come on, it's the last few days before summer break and there is still too much to do! the girls are a little sad about school ending, but then a week later, yes, only one week later, summer school starts. so they are excited about this. miss b is taking a class for reading and writing. she was able to take this course because her teacher wrote a special letter stating that she is smart enough to take it, and miss k is taking some reading and writing classes and an art class. then after the morning they will both be in swim at the high school for about 45 minutes. it'll make for a nice morning of routines and then in the afternoon we can play. miss b is a little upset that she can't take an art class, but i've assured both of them that we will be doing some fun activities around our community. so this has alleviated some of miss b's concerns about not having any FUN! so this is my post for this evening. one more day for the girls, 2 1/2 days for mommy!

no access and blogger down

So I didn't post Saturday because we were out of town and I didn't have access to a computer. UGH!! And Sunday, well. . . . we got home about 7:30, put the girls to sleep and went for run! Drank lots of water and came down to post and BLOGGER DOWN! What is up with that!! Can't blog when BLOGGER is down. So here I am - a bad NaBloPoMo poster and so now what? I'm just going to have to start over? Heck no! I'm just going to keep posting each day for the rest of the month. To make up for missed posts, well. . . . . you'll have to keep posted. So for as lame as my post is for today, it'll have to do! I'm so tired I can hardly keep my eyes open. Until tomorrow and when I have more energy, good night! z... z... z...

TGIF

I'm posting now because I don't want to forget and we hae a very busy day! Work and school, and then drive 1 1/2 hours to drop doggie at grandma and grandpa's, eat dinner, drive home. Tomorrow we are going to the Wisconsin Dells. DH has a synod meeting Sat. and Sun. so the girls and I are going to play in the water park! Good times! I'll try and be a good mom and take pictures. New suits are already to go. Beach towels - check, swim caps - check, now mom has to get packed! I work hard on posting again later. But I didn't forget.

WOW third day in a row & Chaos!

I know there are writing prompts, but I'm going to write about chaos! As many know, I work in the public school system. This means that I have a definite end in sight before summer break! My end is June 11th at 11:30 am. Then I am DONE for the summer. But this usually entails much chaos the few weeks before the END! Many many things to finish before relaxing. So today, I've crossed some more STUFF off the list of "To Do's". I am a very happy little person!

Today Miss B made me smile by coming home and announcing that with her 'school money' she purchased a family movie from the school store. She's very good with sharing and thinking of other people! She is always on the look out for things for other people. At her last dentist appt. she chose a ring to give to her friend that weekend at her birthday party! Very generous little girl.

So the girls ask me if they can watch their family movie and I said yes. They've not watched a movie for quite some time it seems. So we put the movie in and then I begin to organize my chaos! In my basement I have this little stash room. In this little stash room, I keep all of our holiday stuff, and therapy toys, manipulatives, etc. My usual MO is to drop and grab throughout the year. So now I am paying in CHAOS! So tonight while my princesses were watching a movie, mommy cleaned chaos up! It looks soooooooooooooooooo cool!! Neat and organized and done before school is officially over! WOOHOO! I emptied bags, boxes and crates. I put art supplies in one bin, paper/pencil tasks in another, fidgets in another and then put tons of cardboard in the recyclables. It's such a great feeling to organize chaos and then step back and look at it! My goal for this next school year is to put back old and grab new. This will ultimately save me lots of time and icky chaos at the end of the school year! So now I am off to do a little homework and then go and look at my organized chaos again before bed!! Nighty night! Until tomorrow.

2nd Anniversary in America

So I'll admit I almost forgot to post. I'm busy working on homework discussion the factors that affect reliability and validity of educational assessments. UGH! And working on my second project for this class.

Ok, so I have a few minutes then bed time!! I'm tired.

Today was our 2nd Anniversary of being home with the girls! WOOHOO! I came home with a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting and the girls were REALLY excited!! About our celebration and about the cake! So we decided as a family that on Gotcha Day, which was May 25th, and celebrated last week at Buraka's in Madison, we would eat Ethiopian food and on our Anniversary of being in America we would eat American food! So we went to the Chinese buffet! Go figure! The girls chose and well. . . what's american food anyway! It was good, they were happy and everyone came home full, although saved room for chocolate cake with chocolate frosting!!

HAPPY 2nd ANNIVERSARY Miss K and Miss B! We love you very much and are honored to be your mom and dad!

p.s. I'll try to post pictures tomorrow as it is very late and I really need to go to bed!

National Blog Posting Month (NaBloPoMo)

So the theme for June is NOW!! I can't think of a better time than NOW to start posting again. I've been delinquent on posting. This will give me a little challenge to get into the habit again. So it's NOW or never!! June 1st. . . post a day, everyday, including weekends, for one month!! There are different writing prompts for each day too!! This would be in case I get bored! Ha! Me? Never!

So here is my first post for the first day of June! Nothing to fancy! Let's see 30 days to go!