Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Long Time No Post...

How many times do I say to myself I need to make a blog before I forget everything I want to journal? A lot of times I assure you.
The Thanksgiving feast went off well. The students seemed to really enjoy it. My mom came and helped me serve the meal along with Kara who had a break at that time and wanted to come see my kiddos since she comes twice a week to my class and helps as part of our Mustang Mentors program at the high school. One little boy said it was the best Thanksgiving ever.:)
Right after Thanksgiving we rushed into Christmas activities. Somehow between the Aimsweb benchmarking ( I was very proud of their progress this semesterπŸ˜ƒπŸ˜ƒπŸ˜ƒ) and staying on schedule with our curriculum outline we managed to get in some easy fun Christmas crafts and ornaments for the kiddos to keep. There was a lot of sickness that hit our class and school during December-stomach virus and flu were at the top of the list. I managed to escape it but Kara and Kali were hit hard the weekend after school got out for Christmas break. At least it made its rounds early so they could enjoy our Christmas activities.
Our class Christmas party was held the morning we got out early- Friday, Dec. 19. We always keep that party simple and just have breakfast foods. The kids are anxious to get their goodie bags filled with anything from candy to ornaments to play dough to yo-yos, etc. They all contribute to the bag and I fill them. That way they all get the same things and everyone is happy!
We had our Christmas get together with Marty's family at his sister's house in Covington on Saturday the 20th. Kali came down with the awful stomach virus when we got home that night and then it hit Kara got it the following day.:(
We usually try to do something fun and memorable at Christmas and this year me, mom and the girls went to Nashville on Monday, Dec. 15 and enjoyed all the decorations and lights at the Opryland hotel and then saw the Rockettes Christmas spectacular at the Opry House. Kara's best friend from FBLA, Elizabeth, met us and enjoyed the night with us.
When Marty and I married 21 years ago, we had a total of 6 different Christmas gatherings to go to. It was crazy and busy but sadly all of our grandparents have since passed (our 3 grandmothers were the only ones still living when we married). Now things aren't quite as busy and as the kids have gotten older not quite as stressful. The kids seemed happy with their gifts none of which they really asked for as we had said we were keeping it simple since we went to Disney over fall break. It was a good Christmas as always in that we were together and we are healthy. We had our Ward family get together on Christmas Eve, breakfast at Moms on Christmas morning and lunch with the Towater brothers and sisters ( Marty's daddy's brothers and sisters). Then we settled down for a long winters nap.πŸ˜‰πŸ˜‰ at least me and the girls did. Marty and Kirk both went up to our store Imart as it is open 24/7 365 days for the remainder of the day. It was a busy day and people enjoy having a place to stop as they are traveling to fuel up, eat or just take a break and the locals enjoy it too.
We will ring in the new year at home. Kara is going to a sleepover at her BFF twin sisters' 18th birthday party, Kirk is going with friends to concert at Nashville and staying overnight, and Kali is having some friends here for a sleepover. It will be a miracle if I don't doze off before midnight.
January will be busy for us. Starting up second semester of school, me and the girls are going to Florida for a dear college friends daughter's bat mitzvah in mid January and then Marty and I will travel with Kirk to Orlando the last weekend of January to move him in to start his journey as a Disney college intern.πŸ˜ƒπŸ˜ƒπŸ˜ƒ
Wishing you and yours all a blessed and happy 2015!!! I am hoping to do better with my spiritual walk with Christ this year and do better with staying focused in my prayer and quiet time with him. I also want to live by the motto of "Pray more, Speak less." Happy New Year!!!