A great day!

Today we spent the day as a family going to Mystic Aquarium. Ben's favorite part of the whole day was the sting ray touching pool. We went back at least 5 times and each time he was able to touch a sting ray. His second favorite thing was the tarantulas. YUCK. He even talked Jane into buying him a remote controlled tarantual. DOUBLE YUCK.

It was lots of funs with only a few meltdowns. Here are some fun pictures of the day. We leave for camping tomorrow so I'm so excited for the down time. Love to all.

The big stingray tank. Not as much fun as the touch pool.

Feeding the birds. (Mum would NEVER do this one)

End of the day...

Peace to all who read this blog today and everyday..Joan

Time to download...

What a week this has been for me! I was given the opportunity to present to the principals this week. They are such a welcoming group. Already know I'm going to be teased about my Brooks clothes. I laughed with one of the principals today that I'm not allowed to have a bad outfit day now.

I don't feel ready for vacation. Much to my dismay I had planned to stay at work tonight until everything was done. That did not work because the man with the alarm key was closing up shop at 5. UGHH. I hope to swing in there tomorrow for just an hour to clean up. I really don't like leaving things unfinished.

Okay, Ben is so funny. Here is a picture of him being the firefighter. He loves to spend time outside playing like this.

Tomorrow he gets to go to a Princess birthday party. He has decided he will be Prince Darth Vadar. I'll let you all know how that goes.

Back to vacation, I'm very excited as we are going to Mystic Aquarium on Monday, then to Magic Wings on Tuesday then Ben and I head up to the campground for the rest of the week. Ben is going to have his first friend stay with us (the Mom's coming too). Should be loads of fun.

Had a great time catching up with some of my sisters tonight. Those of you I haven't reached yet I'm trying tomorrow. I love you lots.

Well all, need to get Ben to bed.

Peace to all who read this blog today and everyday.

Love ya

Joan

Life is so Good!

I know I have been away and I am sorry. Let me try to catch you up on things.

Last week I went to RBA to go over a project that needed some explanation. It was fun to catch up with JT and DD. I got to see my 3:00 chocolate buddy. I miss the people an awful lot. My former director left for me Fearless Fourteen by Janet Evanovich.


Then we headed off camping where I read the book! It was so funny. Phil kept asking what is so funny. We spent time in Peru. Did you know there was a Peru MA? Friends of our own property and it is only about 35 minutes from our camper. Ben rode his first ATV with his Uncle. He had a full helmet on, but you could see the smile he had on from ear to ear.


Work...well, this has been a truly awesome week for me. I was able to help create two presentations and do part of them. Tomorrow I will be at training sessions with the Principals. I love the energy of the school district.


Oh, yeah, Ben is continuing to ask for a baby brother. I told him that it just doesn't work that way. I, then teasingly said, what about a baby sister. His answer was "NO WAY". LOL


Ben is going to the twins "Princess" birthday party. His invitation came to Prince Benjamin. I can't wait to go and see how big the girls have gotten.


Next week we are on vacation...YEAH.

Love to everyone


Peace to all who read this blog today and everday.

Joan

Sorry I've been away...

I hadn't realized how long it had been since I'd posted. Sorry for all of you out there who looked.

Life is going along just beautifuly. Congratulations to my cousin H on her recent wedding to C. It was one of the most beautiful weddings I have ever been too. I also have decided that I no longer prefer yellow roses. The sunset orange roses that were at this wedding are now my favorite. I made darn sure that Phil knew. Not that he's sending flowers lately, but on the off chance that he does, he knows what I now prefer.

Did you know that I love camping? We headed up first thing on Saturday morning. The boys had already packed most of the car before I even got out of bed. Then, off to the grocery store while the boys went to the local Rocky's for self-tapping screws for the deck and then picked up up my coffee. Even my four year old knows that Mommy NEEDS her coffee in the morning. Not just wants, but NEEDS. He has been known to remind Phil to get me coffee on the weekend. God I really do love that kid! Camping eventhough it rained part of the weekend was full of wonderful family moments.

Okay so JM is back. I am so thankful she had a safe and wonderful trip to Texas. I so enjoy hearing about where her son and DIL take her for their side trips. I am glad she is back because now I have someone to have a nice lazy dinner conversation with. When she is not here I am rushing to get dinner done, on the table, dishes, bedtime then laundry that I barely have time for how was your day. With JM life is not in chaos. I am eternally grateful she is in our family's life. JM has quite the decision to make for 2009 ...Cruise or Hawaii. I, of course, told her it was a no brainer...Hawaii and that I can fit into a carryon! I asked if her son and DIL wanted to adopt me. She laughed at that one. She also told me I'm not the first to ask. So, A and J if you continue to read my blog eventhough JM is home...I'm available to suffer through a trip to Hawaii ;)

I got together with one of my friends from RBA/BB. It was a lot of fun and a ton of laughs. I need to do that more often. Thanks for such a great evening. Let me know when we can get together again.

I suppose I should get going. Oh...Thursday I find out what my sister S is having. I'm betting a boy, but it could be a girl. I can guarantee it is NOT a puppy.

Peace to all who read this email today and everyday.
Joan

The wonderful blessing of my family!

This weekend instead of going camping we decided to stay home and work on the construction site I call my house. Now, really that meant Phil needed to get some things done because I lost it when I realised I now not only have the room he is working on, but he put a hole in the dining room for a light and fan, a hole in the hallway for a new hard-wired smoke/CO detector, and another similar hole in Ben's room. Now, I shouldn't be complaining as one of my sisters politely reminded me because at least he does things around the house. I really just wish he'd finish it. He is definitely on the right track and is working all alone for the most part on it. Ben helps... he even has his own bucket for his tools now. But man, I really don't like all the dust. Top it off Jane is still away and she balances me and reminds me what is important. So this morning while cleaning I called lots of sisters. Unfortunately some of you weren't home. Imagine that! Here I am actually home and having time to call and they weren't there! (can you hear me laughingly saying this)

Well, those of you who were kind enough not to screen my call THANK YOU! I really needed to talk to you all. On top of that, my sister number 3 invited Ben and I over....THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU. I had such a wonderful time catching up with her while her boys wore out Ben. While he didn't sleep on the way home, he had lots to tell his Dad when he got home.

I quickly pulled together dinner for a friend who had surgery yesterday. A group of us from the most recent Cursillo Team are each taking a night. Tonight was mine. We went as a family to drop it off. Silly me, I thought we'd be able to go out to dinner as a family. So Phil dressed in his uniform because he had to work the fireworks tonight, Ben and I headed out. Well, yes Ben fell asleep. So I rushed in to drop the meal thinking that with the car stopped he'd wake up. No go. So, we did take out instead. We did at least have one hour together.

After Phil left, I took Ben outside to play in his pool. Of course he fell off the top of the swingset. Nothing broken just a few scratches and bruised ego. He was more embarrassed I think about not paying attention to what he was doing and losing his balance that he was hurt.

Well family, I am home tomorrow so those of you who missed my call just might get another one! Love you all. I feel truly blessed to have all of you! Some people don't have a list of people they can call. I have a great list.

Peace to all who read this blog today and everyday.
Joan

Mondays...

Mondays are always tough. Why is that? Is it because we cram so much into a few short days? For me it was that I had a hard time with the heat.

After the wedding Mum held a brunch for the out of town guests and some of her co-workers. It was another HOT day. The kids all played in the kiddie pool while the adults hung out inside watching the British Open (I think?) or were looking for shade. Em's house is great for a party. After a short time though I was ready to go to our camper. As soon as we got there Ben and I headed for the pool.

Ben is definitely enjoying the pool. He made great progress once again. He saw the same little girl as a couple of weeks ago and she was doing cannon balls...yes, now Ben does his own version of a cannon ball.

The constuction site is moving along slowly. With the wedding and my need to go up to the campground, not much has happened in the last week. The big closet is sheetrocked and I hope to have a ceiling in the room by the end of August. Weekends are for fun, not work.

I love catching up on my older sister and her blog. You can see it on the right of my blog. She has decided to go back to college. I have to say I keep toying with the idea and now that I am working a less stressful job (at least at the moment) I am again contemplating it. We'll have to see. As always money does come into play. Some days I wish it really did grow on trees.

My roomate from college checks this blog from time to time and so I must do a little call out to her and say HI and that I am so glad you are checking this. Now you need to create a blog so I can comment on yours...By the way, we took a picture at the wedding of everyone there that either works or went to the Elms. When it is available I'll post it for you to see.

I hope everyone at RBA is doing well.

Peace to all who read this blog today and everyday.
Joan

The Final Wedding

Wow! What a beautiful day for Sheila's wedding. It was sunny, but very hot . Here are some pictures from the day.

This is Ben with his teacher. We stopped there before heading to my mom's house. His friends were giving him the "Thumbs Up" and lots of high fives.

The wedding was very hot and I spent a lot of time making sure Ben kept his jacket on. It was all worth it...look at these shots...

The Bride with Ben and the flower girl, my niece.

Just missing the Bride.

We has so much fun!

Dancing cousins.

It was great to see everyone! Love to all.

Peace to all who read this blog today and everday.

Joan

PS updated this a little to remove pictures of his friends.