Sunday, January 27, 2013

What a day!

Little helpers! Homemade pancakes for breakfast.

A walk in the woods...
Ellie thought it was alright! Daddy and Ellie are warming up by the fire.


Found a little time to go sledding!

Again, Ellie wasn't too sure about the cold, but she thought the sled ride was fun!

The start of our fire. We hung out by it for 15 minutes are so.

Hadley and I hanging out by the fire!


I pulled Hadley in the sled while we walked.

Hadley enjoyed the woods very much!

Sledding... backwards!
Then after lunch we went to the skating rink. Hadley's second time out!

Nevaeh and Nessa on the ice. Ve Ve did very well!
Gee what a day...
First we started with homemade blueberry pancakes. Then we went to the farm for a long walk in the woods with sleds and a bonfire. The girls enjoyed it. Ellie cried a little when her hands were cold, but mostly she liked it. We all warmed up around the fire. Then we came home and I made a ham dinner for lunch. After lunch Hadley and I went to the ice skating rink to meet up with Nessa and Nevaeh. It was Hadley's second time out, she still is unsure on her own, but she loves to use the little balance thing to practice. She also tried a little without it. She seems really wants to learn to skate. There was a little girl there named Arin and she can skate, she is probably 8 or so. Anyway, Hadley kept saying she wants to skate like her. Then we napped... all of us. Leftovers for dinner and a movie to relax. It was a great day!

Thursday, January 24, 2013

Sometimes...

A few tears rolling down my cheeks as I just get off the phone with my mom, the girls are spending the night. They will often spend the night Thursday's to help with my school work, my early mornings and to just provide a simple break. But today I dropped them off at 5:25 a.m. and I won't see them until Saturday sometime. This is unusual and well I will miss them. I love them so much it is so hard to be away from them. That is why I have tears...

I heard Ellie crying a little as I was trying to tell her goodnight on the phone and it made me cry. I couldn't pick her up and comfort her. Hadley was great, she and I had a wonderful conversation. She is finally at that age where she understands that phone and how it works. Ellie barely talks into it.

I know it will all be alright... but I worry... it is normal.

Yesterday Hadley went to preschool screening. Everything is great. Grandma took her as I was in class and the report from her was wonderful too. So much has changed I guess since we (myself, Chad and Andrew) went to school, my mom (grandma) couldn't believe it! The teacher who examined Hadley said she was a delight to be around.

Sometimes...
I wonder if going back to school is right, I know it is but it is just so hard to be away from my little ones. I am so fortunate though that they get to be with Daddy, Grandma and Papa a lot!

I miss them a ton!
Hopefully they know I love them to pieces and my love will always find them wherever they are.

Thursday, January 17, 2013

Childrens Museum













Music

This is how I make it...
I travel a lot by car and I love love love to crank the MUSIC!
Lately I have been listening to Grace Potter and the Nocternals... AND... I get to see them live in a week with Michelle at First Avenue. I have never been there so I am super excited and I love her music. It is amazing!
I also LOVE...
The Lumineers! They are so good. Plus... I love most all new music on Cities 97.
I ran yesterday and today to FUN. Their album rocks.
But the reason for this blog is that Robert was purchasing music tonight on iTunes and I said I want the Lumineers and I flip the computer open to see what's up and on iTunes is The Lumineers album!
LOVE!

Thursday, January 10, 2013

What's up?

I have declared today to be a lazy day. I have only 3 days left of Christmas break and I feel like I have spent most my days worrying about what I was going to clean or working. Of course Christmas fell in between that too and for the most part it was a success minus the eating too much and feeling bloated for days. I am not kidding... my Christmas day meal consisted of a lettuce salad because the weekend prior we spent time with the Heinsens at the cabin and Auntie Michelle, Danny and Cody brought us a lavish lunch of lasagna. The girls received a slew of wonderful gifts and have enjoyed watching their new favorite movie Brave, it plays every morning.

I had the best intentions to run on the treadmill 3 days a week and pick up yoga again. I did run on the treadmill a total of 3 times and I have no idea where my yoga mat is. I thought I would take the kids swimming at a local hotel but my days to do that are numbered. We did venture out to the Children's Museum last week and after all my dismay about the ride down and whining about how tired I was... it was a wonderful day filled with learning and growing. We rode along with Shanessa, Laurie, Nevaeh and Parker.

But it is almost over and soon I will be haunted by assignments and iCal reminders ringing. This coming semester is filled with two classes one on the young, the other on the old. I also get to finish up medical surgical nursing, a 3 hour class that is interesting but often I find myself doodling because my attention span can only handle an hour of straight lecture. I also have two clinical days in the hospital in Little Falls, 8 hour shifts, which requires me to leave the house at 5:30 a.m. My schedule leads me driving somewhere 4 days a week which is one more day than last semester leaving me with Tuesdays off. I am trying to stay positive as I am blessed to be able to go to school full-time and work when I can around my schedule but as most of you know school requires your 24 hour attention and it seems to always nag at you, just when you cross an item off the list you can't help but think of the next thing that needs to me crossed off. Really the list isn't gone until the semester is gone. I also added a A&P II class that starts in March, it is an 8 week online class, a pre-req for the RN program, of which I need to get my ducks in a row and keep my fingers crossed I get in in the fall. If not, I have thought about getting my EMT license. And, I have already thought about the NCLEX exam, that scary thing I need to pass in order to become an LPN and move on into the RN program. I can take the exam in July along with a couple summer classes, comp II and dosage calculation. The reason I can't take the exam until midsummer is I have clinical 3 for a month of so after spring semester before I am officially done with the LPN program. Are you lost? Well I sometimes find myself lost too but after the fall semester I maintained a decent GPA considering you need a 94% for an A-, my average was above a 3.5 with 2 A's, 1 A- and 4 B+'s. In order to obtain a B+ I needed 89% to 93.4%... so if this were normal grading like, I would have all A's because my B+'s were all above 90%, one was actually 93.75% but that class didn't round up. Ugh... but it isn't about the grades, it is about passing and that is 80% and I am thankful I didn't have to ride close to that line at all. All nursing programs maintain an 80% or above to pass and we should be thankful for that, right? Who wants a nurse that only knows 70%? Not me, I guess... however when we learn we retain for a short time and we really learn from experience.

So I can chalk up my break to a calendar with something on it everyday except 4 days. Many days were filled with MLHS, 14 days to be exact.

But it was nice...  I now know the words to the title song in the move Brave, which I have heard to many times to count. But is cute because Hadley loves it and sings it out loud...
It is kinda relevant to my life...

When cold winds are calling,
And the sky is clear and bright,
Misty mountains sing and beckon,
Lead me out into the light.

I will ride, I will fly,
Chase the wind and touch the sky,
I will fly,
Chase the wind and touch the sky.

Where dark woods hide secrets,
And mountains are fierce and bold,
Deep waters hold reflections,
Of times lost long ago.

I will hear their every story,
Take hold of my own dream,
Be as strong as the seas are stormy,
And proud as an eagle's scream.

I will ride, I will fly,
Chase the wind and touch the sky,
I will fly,
Chase the wind and touch the sky.

And touch the sky.

Chase the wind, chase the wind.

Touch the sky.