Christmas break

I love Christmas break. Christmas was wonderful this year. My girls weren't sick. Carl and I weren't sick. There was no drama. It was just Christmas and that was all I wanted.

Santa visited our home and was very good to the girls (who understood the concept of Santa for the first time this year). I have been organizing the past couple of days, trying to find places for all of the new stuff without turning our home into a giant playroom.

My mom and dad gave Carl and I a wii for Christmas, and we have been playing it pretty regularly.

I have even found some time to read some non-school assigned reading (not that I didn't find time while I was in school...hehe). I sit in my red chair, drinking tea and relaxing and it is wonderful.

The only bummer, my arthritis is killing me. It is actually pretty painful to even type this entry. I'm not sure why.

I am contemplating this years new years resolutions. I have already decided on one, but more on those later.

Finally!!

I finished my last exam of the semester on Saturday afternoon...just in time to turn it in by 5:00 and help get ready for my dad's birthday dinner. I haven't received my grades yet, so I'm crossing my fingers for passing grades...but I'm excited to finally have a bit more time for all of the things I would rather be doing. So much so that after we did our grocery shopping this morning, we made a quick stop at the library. I have actually even read a whole book since I finished my exam (I am a giant nerd, I know).

The funniest thing happened this evening. The girls were running around their usual circle...the living room to the dining room to the kitchen to the living room yelling something. Tonights yelled word during the run was "key nut". Carl asked what key nut meant and Alie, mid run, whispered "Laney, what's key nut?" It was too funny!

Finally, today is one of the days of the year we celebrate annually and feel thankful for. Three years ago today, Laney came home from the NICU!

They're 3!

Laney and Alie turned 3 yesterday, and in celebration of their birthday (as well as the beginning of a new tradition) we spent the weekend visiting Uncle Travis and Nicole in NYC. I took Friday off from work so we could leave in the am. The drive wasn't so bad, except for the giant quick merge across three lanes of traffic in Queens to turn into the neighborhood. Travis, Nicole and their roomie Tara have a cute apartment on the third floor in Astoria (part of Queens) just a short subway ride to Manhattan. The girls loved riding the subway (choo choo train) and really loved spending lots of time with Travis and Nicole (even making a song up about Travis). We visited a giant candy store, the tree, FAO Schwarz, the Plaza, looked in at Central Park, Macys and the gigantic Disney store. NY was busy...but beautifully decorated for the holidays.

I really enjoyed getting away. I think it was just what I needed. I have been so tired and bogged down recently, I really welcomed the change of scenery and break from everyday life. Plus, I always love spending time with my brother. The girls enjoyed themselves so much, and I always love watching them smile and laugh. They seemed to enjoy the ginormous candy store and Disney store the most.

Also this past weekend, a secret I've been holding for over a month (so proud of myself), Brian and Cirucci are engaged! I'm so excited for them!!! Congrats you two!!

New York, New York

We are leaving tomorrow morning at 8 am to visit my brother in New York. I have been looking foward to this trip for months. I started to pack the girls new backpacks last night, I was so excited. Travis is taking us to the fun Christmas spots. I have only ever been to NYC twice, once with my parents when I was much younger, and once on business (which I don't really count, because I was working the whole time).

While we're in NY, my baby girls will turn 3! Time flies.

Almost!

As I have mentioned before, this semester has proved to be the most difficult thus far. Obviously part of that is because I had two in person classes that I was required to attend. But there were other reasons too. Between not getting Carl's commission, having our car repo'd (and still working with the lawyer on both of those) and Carl getting laid off, the stresses of everyday life were far outweighing those of grad school. They made this degree that I've been working towards seem so trivial.

Anyway, one positive side to Carl's layoff (if there is one) is that he's been a stay at home dad. Having someone at home that takes care of the kids, gets dinner ready, runs errands and keeps the house generally clean is FANTASTIC!! Certainly I'm not reverting to 1950s psychology, but having someone at home these past few weeks when I have been super stressed with work projects and final papers has been amazing.

The point of all of this: last night I turned in the gigantic paper and gave my presentation. That means I have one short paper and one exam standing between me and the end of the semester. And, provided I pass both of my courses this semester (which is looking halfway good since I got an A- on the big paper/presentation in my other class) then I will only have one course left to take next semester!!! Passing this semester will be my largest academic accomplishment ever.

Phew...

It's been quite a week. Last Monday, my big paper and presentation were due for my leadership class. I ended up being at Towson from 8:30 in the morning until 9:45 that night. It was a long day. I had class again on Tuesday night, and I tried to get moving on my instructional development paper. I really couldn't do much until after Wednesday, when I conducted my instruction. I spent Thursday night and much of Friday night (until the am hours) working on my paper. On Saturday morning we headed out to celebrate Reese's 2nd birthday. The girls had a great time playing with her new stuff and really enjoyed eating the little oranges and yummy cupcakes. On the way home, Laney requested that we purchase some little oranges for her to eat. I spent most of the rest of the day working on my paper. Saturday evening, the weather gave us a special suprise....SNOW! Although the snow was fairly light, it was very beautiful. We decided that it would be the perfect time to run out to get a tree!

Sunday morning we woke up nice and early to head out to the Jingle Bell run in Canton. We had a flat tire on our jogger, so we really just ended up going to support Cirucci (who I love very much for running...well and for other reasons too). It was C-O-L-D! After the jingle bell run we went home to have some lunch and decorate the tree. During the girlies naptime, I fell asleep too, as my grad-school induced sleepless schedule finally caught up to me. I rushed to ice the cake, decorate for the party and shower before the guests arrived.

The girls really had a blast at the Minnie Mouse/Tinkerbell themed party. They received some great gifts that they are excited to play with. They played with many of them last night since Carl and I let them stay up a bit past their bedtime in all of the excitement. They seemed to have a wonderful time playing with everyone who was able to make it out. After the party, and the girls bedtime, Carl and I settled in to watch the Ravens game. Woohoo Ravens.

I have class again tonight, and my big paper/presentation for ID is due tomorrow night. I have to finish the last two sections of the paper and put together a quick powerpoint before then, but I'm feeling much better about getting everything done on time. I will have two short assignments for ID and a final for leadership, but those are much less daunting than the pages I've written recently. Luckily, this will be my last semester of trying to accomplish everything during the holiday season. Next year, I will have my MS, and I will only need to focus on the fun stuff!

Implementation day

Today is implementation day. I have been working over the past few days on designing my instructional development project and today is the day I instruct. We will be learning how to use webex, a product I have been using for the past few months that allows for communication with prospective students via webcam. I'm a little nervous, but excited to be moving towards the end of my project. I need to design handouts for everyone before our 3:00 meeting.

I am also getting my haircut today and I'm really excited. My hair is really long, and I hope to be able to donate it to locks of love. I cut the girls hair the other night, and I'm hoping to get a cute bob, like Alie has.

i'm getting there

Thanksgiving was lovely. The girls and I spent the morning devouring pumpkin bread and watching the parade (well they ripped apart styrafoam (sp) from the plates my wonderful mother in law gave us for christmas) while Carl played football. We went to perhaps the largest Thanksgiving dinner I have ever been to at the Kleins and everything was delish. I especially enjoyed the cider slush!

I spent the rest of my break working on schoolwork. The first of my big projects, a presentation paired with a paper is due this afternoon. Of course I have been finished the book for a while now, but just started working on the paper. I finally finished it yesterday morning, and decided to take the rest of the day off to lay on the couch. I didn't watch tv, didn't read, didn't really even play with the girls. I laid on the couch....see what school is doing to me ;)

Now I have one to go. The big one. My instructional design project. I'm starting that sometime at work today and I'm hoping to "instruct" on Wednesday. Hopefully I can pull this all together by Friday!