Long time coming...

I did not realize how long it has been since I posted. So I am guessing this might be a long one. Sit back, relax, and I will try and figure out what we have been doing for the past month.

First off JJ did not get the job with google. While we are very upset he did not get the job we are not so upset about not moving to New York. Plus, JJ got to see New York for a little while so now he can say he has been. The entire trip was filled with delayed flights and I think he was happy when he finally made it home. The experience was great, but I firmly believe God has a different plan for our family. Now we are putting all of our efforts into finding a job either here in Norman or in Texas. So we could still use all the prayers possible while we work through this high stress time in our life.

I have been quite sick for a few weeks and thought I was feeling better. Now I am not so sure. I went to the doctor two weeks ago and was diagnosed with bronchitis. I finished my medicine and started to feel better, but yesterday and today the sore throat and stuffiness has set back in. To be gross I have started to hack up some nasty stuff. I think I might have to make my way back to the doctor next week and make sure this has not progressed to something else. I had a birthday since last time I wrote and was actually sick for the day. I did get out and go for Japanese food with JJ and Marie. While we lived in Indonesia my dad took me most years to a Japanese restaurant where they cooked the food in front of you. I always loved doing that so I am starting a new birthday tradition for myself. So next year everyone will know where to find me for my birthday! I got some great presents and spent most of the day resting. I finished my last bible study yesterday as a facilitator. I have been facilitating some sort of bible study for a year and a half and am taking a break next semester. We still have our ladies brunch that I am planning and then my work is done. We did a book called courageous Women by Stacy Mitch. It looked at all the important women in the bible. It was an ok book, but the group was what made it great. We had a group of about 20 ladies and were very diverse so there were some lively conversations. I do however look forward to taking a little time off, but I will more than likely join a study as a participant.

Now on to my pride and joy...Marie! She has grown up so much since she started school. We are forever sounding out words and learning so much. I found the other day when we went grocery shopping that I must write neater because she was trying to follow the list and could not read my handwriting. I spent most of the time telling her what the word was supposed to be and she kept questioning why I was writing it wrong. I have however learned my lesson. She loves school and loves her teachers. They are always telling me how caring and compassionate she is to her fellow classmates and to her teachers. I love hearing these things! We are still doing dance and gymnastics. She asked to quit Pom class and we let her. She is really in love with gymnastics and she had her first meet yesterday. Now before people go up in arms about her being to young to compete this was a fun meet. Every child got some sort of ribbon as long as they tried. If they were able to do their entire routine with no mistakes and no help they got a blue one, if they had some help they got a red one, and then if they were helped pretty much the entire time they got either a white or a pink. With that said Marie got the following ribbons: floor routine - blue, vault - blue, uneven bars - red, beam - blue. We are so proud of her that I cannot even put it into words. She has been practicing very hard and loves doing her gymnastics. If we would let her she would probably live at the gym. She is training under Steve Nunno who just opened up a new gym here in Norman. He is the former coach of Shannon Miller (Olympic gold medalist) and former OU girls gymnastics coach. We know Steve because his three kids go to the same school Marie goes to. He is just such a wonderful coach and has hired some great people to work with the kiddos. Marie used to be so afraid of doing some gymnastics things, but some how Steve can get her to do the things and then once she does it she loves them! We feel so blessed to have her in his program and would love to be able to stay here and let her keep training under him.

We are heading to Austin this week for Thanksgiving. We are actually going to drive to Austin and then grab my sister and brother-in-law and head to Houston for Thanksgiving day with my mother. Mom has to work so we are going to eat at the restaurant with her. Then we are heading back to Austin to spend a little time with family. Just a short trip because JJ is trying to save up his vacation time for when he gets close to getting out of the Air Force and also for interview time. While in Austin we will probably spend a little time looking at houses and neighborhoods and also make a drive by some of the schools we are interested in.

For Christmas we are spending our time here at home as usual. JJ and Marie (and perhaps me) will go to Baton Rouge for JJ's brothers PhD graduation. Richie graduates on the 21st of December. Marie will have to miss her last couple of days of school in order to go to the graduation. The reason I am not sure about me yet is because of music practice at church. Graduation is so close to Christmas that I am not sure if I will be able to miss the practices. I have committed to playing flute for two masses on the 24th and then mass on the 25th. We have practice scheduled for the 20th. As it gets closer to the time I will figure out how things are going and then we will make the decision as to who will travel. They will drive back on the 22nd because Marie and I have tickets to see the Nutcracker. We are going to Tulsa to see the ballet and then at that performance they have a special thing where you pay a little extra and the kids get to go on stage and have snacks with dancers, goodies, and their picture taken with a dancer in costume. She is very excited about going and I am excited about taking her for her first time! We used to go as kids every Christmas so I hope to have this become a tradition for us.

I think that is all the information I have to pass along to everyone. I will close now and post some pictures. These are from last night at the gymnastics meet. Love to all!

Just a quick one...

Hello All! We are on our way out for a celebration lunch today. Why you may ask?! Two reasons. JJ has been asked to do a 4th interview with Google and his official date to leave the Air Force has been approved. His last day in will be September 29, 2007. Google will be flying him to New York on Tuesday night and he will be doing his interview on Wednesday and then flying back home. Please, please, please keep him in your thoughts and prayers as he travels and then during his interviews. They will take place on Wednesday from 1-5 eastern time zone. He will not know anything when he gets back, but as soon as we know anything I will post it here.

Love to all...

Third Interview...

Just wanted to let everyone know that JJ has been asked to do a third interview with Google! It will be another phone interview and should take place within the next two weeks. We are SO excited! Please pray that this one goes as great as his other two.

Everything else is going great around here. Love to all!

What to say...

Well it has been over a month since my last update and so much has happened I do not even know where to begin. I guess I will just start with the good stuff.

Marie performed at Texas Stadium on the 31st. I was actually scared that when she got there and saw how big it was and how many people were watching that she would get scared and not want to do it. Well she went off and went through the tunnel and did her dance. She was of course excellent. We had a great time at the game. Our friend Kelly from here and Norman and her boyfriend came to the game as did our old across the street neighbors. They moved to Dallas over Christmas so it was nice to see them again at the game. We had a great time and Marie danced and cheered the entire game. Now the game went into overtime because it was a tie so we stayed. If someone had told me that if neither team scored they would leave a preseason game in a tie we would have left earlier. So need-less-to-say we stayed a really long time for a game to end in a tie! Oh well we had a great time.

Marie is enjoying kindergarten. She does not like the homework, but is working through this. She has been promoted in gymnastics which means we go to class twice a week for two hours instead of twice a week for one hour. Now at least I can go and do something while she is at the gym, but she is really tired when we get home. We are also still doing ballet, tap, and jazz, but I think she wants to quit pom class. I don't really mind if she quits because it is on Friday afternoons and we are just all really tired come Friday afternoon. If it were any other day we would probably stay in, but I am not going to push.

I am busy working hard. They are keeping me busy substitute teaching. I have spent all of my time in the middle school which I like much more than the elementary. There are some kids that I want to just strangle, but overall they are a good bunch. I had a little scare for a few weeks that now that it has passed I will share. I had a mamogram two weeks ago and they found something that looked abnormal. It had not been there six months before when I had a mammogram so they wanted to investigate. Well I had a biopsy on Friday and got the results on Saturday. Praise God it is only calcified scar tissue. It was a difficult few weeks, but we worked through it and are so thankful for the good results.

Well I guess I have saved the biggest news for last. JJ has decided to get out of the Air Force. The Air Force is trying to reduce the number of people in so they are offering an incentive plan to get out. Well we considered it for a very long time and decided it was our time to get out. He has turned in all the paperwork and gotten about a million signatures (not really!) and we are just waiting on the final OK. He has requested to get out next September. So we still have a while to figure out what we are going to do. With all of his vacation time he has saved up he will actually be starting his vacation at the beginning of July. That way hopefully he will have another job lined up and we will pull in two salaries for a few months! So now we are looking for him a new job. We would like to move to Texas or Louisiana to be closer to family, but would love to stay here also. Overall we are just going to go where God gives us work. We really believe God is directing us on our new journey. JJ had a phone interview on Wednesday with Google. He has his next phone interview tomorrow I believe. If he passes this interview there is one last phone interview before they fly him to New York. Google would be such a fun place for him to work so please keep him in your prayers. Also if he works at Google I want to get a job there also. We just LOVE google.

Well I think that is all I have to report. I have to start getting ready to sub in literature. I will be there for the rest of the week. I hope everyone is doing well. Love to all.

First Day...

Well I have just dropped Marie off at her first day of Kindergarden. All went well and there were no tears and she didn't hang on and want me to stay. I think the reason was her best friend Emma is in her class again this year. Here are pictures I took this morning. Enjoy and I will update once I know how the day went. Love to all.

102, 101, 101, 102, 105, 106, 107, 107...

I know this may seem like an odd way to start a post, but I just thought everyone would like to see what our temperatures have been for the past eight days. These are just the normal temperatures not even with the heat index. It is very hot around here so we have not been doing much of anything except trying to stay cool.

Well we had Marie's birthday party on Saturday and even though it was hot we had a good time. It was a Luau and we had a wonderful girl who came and did a hula dance and then taught the kids a little dance. I know the kids at the party had a fun time during the hula dance, but I am not so sure about Marie. She says she had a good time, but during the lesson she just sat there and watched. Oh well at least her friends had a good time. She got lots of great presents and she has been having fun playing with them all week. Even though it has been extremely hot she has been going on the back porch and playing with her sidewalk paint. That stuff is the best stuff we have ever come across. I only wish we had a cover over our driveway so she could have a larger area to paint. Oh well at least we have a covered back porch.

Other than the party we have not been doing much at all here. JJ has been in his room busy studying and working. I have not been busy doing much of anything. I am working on some cards, but mostly just having a lazy few weeks. Planning the party took a lot out of me so I am taking a break. However I need to get started on thank you cards! Well I am not sure what else to write so I will close....Love to all!

Football Ticket Question

Just a quick post tonight...Marie will be performing before the Dallas Cowboy football game on August 31st. Kickoff is at 7:00 and her performance will be at about 6:45. The tickets for the game will be $30. Everyone is invited to attend however we need to know how many people are going to go to Dallas for the game. We have to have the final count in to the Cowboy office by Wednesday morning so I need anyone that wants to go to either email me or call me and let me know. This is going to be a great event with Marie down on the field at TEXAS STADIUM!! So if there is any way you can get away try to come. If not we will have the video available! Let us hear from everyone! Love to all!

A picture is worth a thousand words...

More later. Love to all!

Well....

We came home with a 2nd place trophy tonight. The girls put their heart in the game, but the other team wanted it more. We had already beaten them twice and I just think they wanted blood. I know they were VERY upset and there were some tears shed, but the girls put up such a good fight this entire season that we were really proud of what they accomplished. I mean they went undefeated in regular season. That in itself deserves a trophy!

As a mom I can tell you all the bad calls and why we should have won and how upset the other coach made the parents and our kiddos and also how another team parent got thrown out of the game, but....At least I can say the season is over and out of all the teams in the city of Norman, Oklahoma the All Saints Blue Eagles are #2. They are the silver medalist and for that Marie is getting a piece of silver jewelry!

Well we had day one of Dallas Cowboy Cheerleading Camp and Marie had a great time! The girl that is leading her group is named Starr Spangler (you can look her up!) and Marie had a great time with her. Starr said that she had a fun time with Marie. We are taking our newly won trophy to show Starr tomorrow. She seems like the type of person that will make that 2nd feel like a 1st.

Anyway it is 2am and I could ramble on for hours, but instead I will bid everyone good night and I will write more tomorrow.

Love to all!

We are ALMOST the champions...

Well we have one more game in the tournament and if we win that we are the champions! Last night the team won again in a very close game. It has been very difficult to sit and watch the last few games, but they have pulled together as a team and brought home the win. So tomorrow night at 7:00 pm we have the next game. If we win then it is all over with. If we lose we play again I believe an hour later and if we win that then we can call the girls the champions!

Now for those of you who know our summer plans would think that we should be in Dallas tomorrow night. Well you are correct except for the fact we are driving back in for the game! Call us crazy, but how many times is our child going to be in the championship game? It could be a million or this could be the only shot. Regardless we are going to make the short drive so she can play and then drive back to Dallas.

Speaking of Dallas we are leaving in a few hours to go get ready for Dallas Cowboy cheerleading camp! Marie is so excited about going to camp this year! We are excited about just getting away for a few days! First however we have to get this house cleaned and get packed. So I guess I should get going and work on cleaning this room and then packing! Love to all!

I didn't think I would have any pain....

Well I thought I was going to be a lucky one and not have any pain from this surgery. They said in my paperwork that from the gas they put in me that I might have pain in my upper back. As I went to sleep last night I was thinking to myself how lucky I was that I was not going to have that pain. Well when I woke up this morning not only does my upper back hurt, but my incision spot hurts also! Oh well at least now things are fixed! I have taken some pain medicine about an hour ago and it is starting to work, but I cannot go to sleep just yet. JJ ran into work for a few minutes and is leaving there in 15 minutes to come and get Marie and take her to Jr. Zookeeper and then I can crash out! Actually first I have to get her hair up and her sunscreen on! Ok I have so much more to blog about, but my brain is just every where and I don't think I could type a straight thought. So we are still doing good around here as long as I can get Marie back in my room and get sunscreen on her!

Love to all!

Out of the Hospital

Greetings from my bed! I had my procedures today and have been home resting since about six this evening. While I was awake for a little while and feeling OK I figured I would post a little some thing about what went on and what the doctor said. First off I have to say thanks to the nurses and everyone at the Surgical Hospital of Oklahoma. They are some of the nicest people I have come across in a medical facility. I really like this hospital because they make you feel very comfortable. In the pre-op area they have this big lay-z-boy chairs that you recline back in and they gave me this warm blanket to wrap up in. When they put you in the wheelchair to go to the operating room you sit on another warm blanket. They once you get on the table they put the warm blanket back on you. They really worry about your comfort. For those of you who have been around me for any other surgery you know I normally get sick from the anesthesia well this is the second time it did not happen. In recovery they gave me crackers and water and made me eat them and I felt SO good after eating them. Then I had to walk to the second part of recovery, with a short stop in the potty! There I waited to go home. The crackers had been so good I asked for some more and they offered me peanut butter crackers. I finished those in about two seconds and after my IV was out and got some more. I was being a little piglet, but each thing I ate made me feel more conscious and less like I was ready to go back to sleep. A very dirty Marie and JJ got to bring me home from the hospital and we actually stopped for snocones on our way home. They put me to bed and then ran some errands, got my medicine and then some Jason's Deli as a treat. Daddy you will be happy to know that you still hold a very special place in my heart because you are still the ONLY person to experience me throwing up Jason's Deli Broccoli Cheese soup. I tempted fate tonight and lucky JJ did not get to see any after it went in. I guess my body knows that my daddy will ALWAYS love me no matter what I do after surgery and cannot ever get rid of me. JJ on the other hand.....oh I know he would clean it up! Anyway enough gross stuff! Suffice it to say they were great at the hospital and I felt really good when I left. I need to find out what that anesthesiologist gave me because I need it every time!

Now on to what went on (other than me eating) and the preliminary results. My doctor by the way was Todd Robinett from an OB/Gyn practice in Moore, Oklahoma. Just to let everyone know I did not get my medical degree today rather the hospital gave these great print outs that tell what each procedure was, what it looked for, and then what the side effects will be.

The first thing was a laparoscopy. This is an exploratory test that uses an instrument to see inside of my abdomen. They put gas inside to be able to see inside the abdomen well. They had to do a tiny incision just above my belly button for this test.

Next was a chromotubation. This is where they put blue dye in the uterus and it flows through the Fallopian tubes. This will show if there is anything blocking the tubes. Some times this can help make the tubes flow a little better. My left tube did not flow very well at all. That was as far as the doctor went so we will see in a week or so if there was anything else with that. JJ thinks it is cool because the doctor said there is a small chance there might be some blue come out of the incision. Won't that be great if it happens!

The hysteroscopy was another test done. This is where they go inside the uterus to see what is going on. They discovered I have endometriosis pretty bad. He told JJ that I might have to be on medicine to keep this under control.

Finally her performed a dilation and curettage also known as a D&C. My cervix was opened and the lining of the uterus was scraped of extra tissue. This should help make a good place for a baby to grow.

Dr. Robinett also discovered a cyst on my right ovary that was drained. He took some biopsies and we should know the results in the next few weeks. I will let everyone know what we discover.

I guess I waited a little too long to have all this discovered, but I really feel like my doctor has a handle on what we need to do to get me feeling better. I am starting to get a little out of it and am not really sure what kind of sense I am currently making. I guess this is why they say not to make any major decisions for 24 hours. Maybe for me they should have said no blogging for 24 hours. Well thank goodness for our laptop so I can lay and type. You know so far the only thing that is really bothering me with is the gas in my belly is making me feel like I need to go potty all the time. Also the cat won't come near me because of some smell. I don't know if that is a good thing or a bad as she likes to step on my belly.

I want to thank everyone for lifting me up in prayer today. I know God was working through these wonderful people and I feel very blessed that I am on the road to being healed. By the way when I am feeling better I have this great little women's encouragement that I will have to share that I read right before I went to the hospital. It has nothing to do with medical things, but instead was about doing something with your talents or passions for the Kingdom of God. I have been thinking a lot about this during the summer this little email really brought it all together. Anyway I need to get up, drink some water (they apparently had trouble getting my breathing tube in and now my throat feels raw!) and then make a little visit to the potty. Didn't you want to know that?!

Once I feel better and once my hubby loads a different picture program on my computer I can crop and post some soccer and park pictures. FYI: Failure to Launch with Matt Mcconaughey and Sarah Jessica Parker comes out on the 27th. My sister and I saw it at Alamo Draft house in Austin and thought it was great. This is one worth renting!

Love to all!

Leaving Town...

Greetings all! Marie is currently having quiet time, I am listening to the laundry, and JJ just left for the gym so I figured it would be a good time to update the blog. Well it has been about two weeks since school got out and we have actually had no more injuries to report. Marie went to soccer camp last week and I honestly don't think she had that great of a time. First off it was a full day of camp. Three out of the four days it rained in the afternoon which meant they had to go inside. I would not be so upset with the week if when they went inside they did some soccer related stuff, but instead they watched movies. If I had wanted Marie to watch movies I would have kept her at home. She was not happy about being stuck inside either. I just hope that soccer camp next week in Texas will be better. I know the big difference is the one in Texas will only be a half day. I know she is excited about it, but I am not sure if it is the camp she is excited about or if seeing Kiki is what she can't wait for. I can't wait to see what she will learn during the week. We don't really have any other plans for the week except going to Dallas for an Arbonne meeting and mom coming in on Sunday so if anyone else in Austin wants to get together they just need to give Carmen a call.

This week Marie also went to a Girl Scout day camp. They spent the day at the park playing games, doing crafts, and having a scavenger hunt. She was really excited because she got her first patch. We came home and I gave her my Brownie sash with my patches on it. She was so excited and wore it to her doctors appointment. Marie is not sick we just had to go and get a physical before she can attend soccer camp. While we were there we also had her six year old check up. We did not think there would be any shots involved with this appointment, but I was wrong. Oklahoma requires the hepatitis A vaccine and she had the first part last year and had to get the second part this year. Well she has gotten a lot stronger than the last shot because it was much harder to hold her down for this one. Well we got the shot and then went to get sno-cones. She was in SO much pain that she could not even get out of the car at the sno-cone place. (I am being VERY sarcastic right now!) She is much better now, but I have a feeling it will be difficult to get her to the doctor ever again! Just to let everyone know she weighs 48 1/2 pounds and is 3'8" tall. She is getting tall which I think makes JJ a little scared. I don't think he wants to look up to her when she is bad.

I believe I have neglected to tell everyone about Marie's tball team this year. They are the blue Eagles and are an all girls team all from her school. What I am SO proud of is that they are un defeated. They play so well together! We have really enjoyed watching all the games. We have one tonight at 9pm which explains why we made Marie have quiet time today. We had a game at 9 last Monday and it was not until after 10 that we finished so it was a late night. So we had rest time so we won't be falling asleep in the dugout!

Marie's birthday party is well into the planning stages. We are officially having a luau with a heavy emphasis on flip flops. So far we have a hula dancer hired to entertain and teach the kids a little dance. We will have the normal cupcakes, ice cream, and snocones. While I am in Austin I plan to purchase the plates, napkins etc because party city has a good price on them and we don't have a party city here. You also can't order from party city online and the only other place online I can find them is double the price and then $9 shipping on top of that. So this party will be one not to miss so start booking your flights or planning your road trips. So far we have confirmed out of town guests of Ed, Carmen, and my mom is flying in the morning of the party which is also her birthday! So let us know so we can clear off a bed for you!

Well I should get back to resting! I have spent the last two days cleaning the house and it is now done except for the laundry. I know I should be packing, but I need clean clothes to pack first! Packing is the easy part! I also need to clean out my car and give it a quick vacuum because I hate traveling in a dirty car! So if anyone needs me in the next week they can drop me an email, but I can't promise I will be very quick about getting back to you! Sorry to say that, but I don't know what the week will be like. I will try to post some pictures from the trip as I take them, but if I don't get a chance I will when I get back. Oh by the way my surgery is currently scheduled for the 19th. I have to get confirmation from the doctor, but if you don't read anything about a date change just say a prayer for me on the 19th. I will post once I feel up to it to let everyone know how it went! Take care! Love to all!

83 days until school starts again...

Well school ended today at 11:30 and we almost had to make a trip to the emergency room. Well not really but we did have a little accident. Marie's face had a quick meeting with the arm of the sofa. Actually we were watching High School Musical and she was dancing and spinning and well the rest is history.

Now I thought she had just bumped herself and was going into drama queen mode so I put her in my lap and then discovered the blood gushing. Well we ran to the bathroom and she had calmed down a little until she saw her lip. Not dealing with busted lips very often I made the mistake of putting toilet paper on it. Not working we decided that calling daddy might be a good idea. I know now that putting ice directly on the bleeding lip will in a little while stop the bleeding.

So I guess what I am trying to say is we haven't even officially started summer vacation and this happens. What is going to happen by the end of the summer??? Save us!! Come for a visit!

Love to all.

What a show...

Well we are home from the recitals! We had a very busy day but luckily we were able to stay out of the heat and enjoy some good dancing. Marie was wonderful in all three of her dances. She looked so beautiful and so grown up on stage. We are getting the video of the recitals so be prepared when we come to visit we will be bringing the video! Here are a few pictures so everyone will feel like they were with us. Love to all!

Some Pictures for Your Enjoyment!

Just two pictures for everyone to enjoy. I will post more after the recital tomorrow! I could not believe Marie when she came around the corner with her new baby in the stroller! She wasn't really happy when I took the cheer picture because she wanted to sit under the tree. Oh well I can get better tomorrow! Love to all!

Happy Late Mothers Day!

I hope everyone had a great Sunday even if you are not currently a mommy! In order not to fight the crowds at restaurants we had my mom's day dinner the night before. While I was gone to Houston JJ found that we have a Tony Roma's in Oklahoma City. For those of you who know me well you will know this is by far my favorite restaurant in the world. Just as an aside this is the place where I went for my high school graduation dinner. The Carolina Honey's are the best thing to put in your mouth! Anyway we had a great dinner and it was definitely not crowded which was great.

So on Sunday since we were not going out to dinner we packed everything we needed to get done into one day. We started out with church where as I have been doing since January I played my flute. For the first time however I had a little solo. When I say solo there were times when the piano and choir were not singing or playing and only the one and only marvelous flute player (Me in case you didn't follow) was playing. I had a great time because I just love playing my flute. Then choir was serving the donuts and I got put on clean up so we went over and served and then cleaned up. Once we got home we planted a new tree in the back yard and dug up the pond we had put out there. Why everyone is probably asking did we dig up a perfectly good and new pond?! Well our little doggie was very interested in the pond and thanks to his size if he fell in he would probably drown!

As an aside my moms Labrador fell/jumped in the pond and we had to help her get out.

So back to the new pond. We got a fountain like thing where the water is completely contained and there is no water standing. It is very pretty and looks like a ceramic vase. It goes quite well in my meditation garden. I still however need some religious statues to put in there and then a little bistro set or something to sit on so I can spend nice mornings out there and think and pray. By the way anyone can take that as hints for any presents you may want to get me...

Well you would think we could get this little project done in one afternoon, but we ran out of dirt to fill in the hole. We also didn't have enough rocks to make it look good. So off to Lowe's for more dirt and rocks. So the dirt and rocks are sitting in the garage. Perhaps next Sunday we can get it finished! Wishful thinking!

We are all doing pretty good around here. Marie is getting over a little cold so she has been a little grumpy the past few days. We are struggling with going to sleep at night. We don't struggle putting her in bed the first time, but she continually gets up to give kisses, go potty, etc. We put her in bed between 730 and 800, but she is still up as late as 900 or 1000. We have to get her up by 645 to start getting ready for school. I was told not to go by how long they are sleeping but rather by how they act in the morning and as it gets close to bed time. She is a grump in the morning and a grump in the evening so I figured she is not getting enough sleep. So I am not really sure what we can do without gluing her to the bed! We have told her not to get up unless she has to go to the bathroom. Well she goes potty all the time and we are afraid if we tell her she can't get up to go potty that we will take a huge step back in the potty business. So ideas and suggestions would be greatly appreciated. It just gets a little frustrating putting her to bed and never really knowing when she is going to be asleep or when she will be making an appearance!

We have dance recital this Saturday! Marie will be performing at both recitals this year. At the first one she will be doing her Pom routine to the song Hey Mickey. They are wearing little pink and white cheerleader outfits. They are very cute! At the second recital she is doing ballet and tap. They have a beautiful lavender outfit with sage green accents and I think three dark pinkish/purple flowers. For ballet they are wearing a sage fluffy skirt that goes down past their knees. For tap they don't wear the skirt. For tap they are dancing to Zip-a-dee-doo-dah and for ballet to a song called Autumn leaves. I am not really sure about that song so I will let everyone know. She is really excited about being in the recital this year. We have not taken pictures yet, but I will post some from the recital for all to see.

I am sure everyone is wondering what we are doing this summer so here is a listing of what all Marie will be doing. We would love to have anyone and everyone come and visit! We have not made any plans for travel except for the events that are out of Oklahoma. So pick a date and come and visit!

May 30-June 2 - University of Oklahoma Soccer Camp, Norman, OK

June 7 - Girl Scout Day Camp (a chance to get to know something about the girl scouts so she can decide if she wants to be a daisy next year) Norman, OK

June 12-16 - University of Texas soccer Camp, Austin, TX

June 19-23 - Junior Zoo Keeper at Little River Zoo, Norman, OK

June 28-30 - Junior Dallas Cowboy Cheerleader Camp, Irving, TX

July 6, 7, 8 - University of Oklahoma Gymnastics Camp, Norman, OK

July 11, 13, 18, 20 - All Saints Catholic School Learning Camp

July 24-28 - Vacation Bible School at St. Mark Catholic Church

August 14 - Back to School Night

August 16 - First Day of Kindergarten!

Well we are pretty busy this summer as everyone can see. We are trying to get Marie to find what she likes the most and hopefully after this summer she will know what she wants to do as her after school activities. We also have these great opportunities by being in a college town that we really want to take advantage of it while we can. She is SO excited about all of her camps this summer and she pretty much can't decide which one she is more looking forward to. The only thing we might not do is the vacation bible school depending on if we decide to travel any or not this summer. I really hope some people will be able to come and visit us for some of you for the first time. (Dad hint, hint, hint)

Mark your calendar now because Marie's birthday party will be held on Saturday, July 15 in honor of mom! After the foot surgery we know she cannot come so we are going to celebrate for her! I expect someone to come for her party this year! I know Marie would love to have her family here for the weekend so please think carefully about taking the trip. Other than Christy, Ed and my mom, I don't think anyone else in the family has been here for one of her famous parties. If you thought last year was fun just wait!!!

Well I worked today so I am pretty tired. I want to go and lay myself down however I think Marie fell asleep in my bed. I might just go and sleep in her bed! Either that or JJ can move her! Love to all and please think about coming for a visit!

PS The pictures are of the front flower bed. The tree is the one we planted in the back so that is gone. Also here is a picture of my roses. I just love them!

One of those days...

Have you ever had one of those days where nothing goes right?! Well I had one yesterday! Let me preface by saying if you don't want to know anything personal about me just stop reading now...

Some of you knew I was supposed to have minor surgery yesterday. Notice the supposed in the last sentence. Anyway I was scheduled to have a laparoscopy test (looks inside at the ovaries etc.), hysteroscopy (looks inside the uterus) and a D&C (where they scrape the uterus). I have been having my time of the month about every two weeks or so and it has been quite bad and also quite painful. We arrived at the hospital a little after 630 a.m. I was not brought back into pre-op until 7:30 a.m. Around 8:00 a.m. they told me that the machine used for the procedures was not working. Apparently there was no hot water in the operating room. The hot water would sterilize the machine. Kind of important! Long story short around 12:30 p.m. all I could get out of the nurses was that they might be able to do my procedure at 2:30 or 3:00 p.m., but they could not guarantee the time. Need-less-to-say I went home having no procedure. They are going to reschedule for later.

So now I am left trying to figure out the reason why something like this would be delayed. I know God has a plan, but I never figured I would have this postponed. Anyway so everything we had planned for yesterday has been put on hold. I did however get to go to Marie's first t-ball game which was fun. They won by he way 21-14! She has a really good team this year.

As a little update...I am obviously back from Houston. I ended up staying two weeks. The foot surgery mom had was a little more complicated than expected. They ended up having to put pins in her toes and a screw in the side of her toe. She could not drive for two weeks and honestly if the procedure was not planned I would have probably stayed another week until the pins come out. She is however driving and seems to be doing ok. I know she is really tired, but that is expected after having such an intense surgery. We had a good time while I was in Houston just doing our own thing and not having to rush around for any one or any thing. Marie was with me the first week and then we met half way and gave her to my sister who met JJ halfway so she could come back to school.

So that is what is going on around here. We are all doing good except we would all use some more sleep! I should get going now and get Marie ready for school! Let me hear from everyone and I will post when the procedure is rescheduled! Love to all!

Just a Short One!

Greetings from the windy state of Oklahoma. Just wanted to check in and let everyone know what is going on around here. We spent the weekend working in the yard and our red faces show for the work we did. We dug up the flower beds and planted all new plants. We had to do this because every thing we planted last fall died. We have discovered that the soil here is horrible so we are trying to only plant native plants in the beds. I am doing a lot of container gardening so I can control the soil. I also planted a rose bush in a container and here is a picture of my first rose. I am quite proud of it. I have about four other roses ready to open up. I have always loved growing roses when I was a kid in our backyard so this is just up my alley. I am also trying to grow strawberries which I also grew as a kid. Hopefully I will have pictures of strawberries in the coming months.

Marie started tball practice tonight. We are very impressed by how she has improved since last season. I was a little concerned about playing her in the kindergarten/1st grade team this year, but I don't think we have any need to worry. She is gearing up for her recital in dance and I think that will be a lot of fun to watch again this year. They also started working on their program for gymnastics which will happen next month. She is getting excited about starting kindergarten next year. I bought a book to work on with her over the summer and she keeps trying to take it and work on the pages. I am going to have to hide it from her until it is time to work on the pages.

JJ is sore and tired from all the work he did in the yard. Next week while Marie and I are gone he will have to work in the garage so we can actually get in there again. He has been working out at the YMCA every day so he is pretty much sore all the time. Hopefully the soreness will pass as he works out more.

Now speaking of Marie and I being out of town...My mom is having foot surgery on Monday so Marie and I are flying out on Easter Sunday to take care of her for the week. Nobody needs to worry about Marie missing school, her school is closed for the week so all the teachers can go to a teacher conference in Atlanta. So we are going to spend the week playing in Houston! Roman is going to spend the week with his daddy. He had a very busy weekend with helping us dig and plant and run around. This is a picture of him stealing my little shovel and trying to run away with it. He got so tired on Sunday that he was laying down in Marie's chair resting. We are still having trouble getting him to go to the bathroom outside. At least he only does things in his room and he did go twice outside over the weekend. Next week JJ is going to try and get him going outside more often using puppy pads. We are going to keep our fingers crossed that he trains easily. However his breed is pretty stubborn so we shall see.

Well I should go now. I need some time to relax and then practice my flute. I am playing at church on Thursday, Friday, Saturday night, and Sunday for Easter. I am going to be tired after the weekend. Love to all and I will write again later. Happy Easter to all!

Here we go again!

Ok so viewing my dates I have discovered I like to write on the 2nd of the month. I know I need to put things on more often, but things just spin out of control around here! So lets see what has happened since the last time I wrote.

We went to my sisters house for spring break this year. We successfully helped her clean out and go through her spare room and turn it into a spare room/office. I had hoped we would have had the time to go through her spare room which hopefully will be turned into a nursery soon! We will work again when Marie goes to soccer camp at the beginning of the summer. It was a very busy week, but the room turned out beautiful, in my opinion. I felt like we left their house in major chaos so hopefully we will be invited back again! We had such a great time spending time with my sister and her husband. Hopefully we can go for a visit some time when we don't have a long list of work to do and we can enjoy each others company.

We got to get together with the entire family at Grannys house for dinner one night. My father was actually in town also so there were kids running around all over the place. It was SO wonderful to get together and let the cousins see each other and let the little ones run. Of course the food was great. I still want to get the trifle recipe because it was really good. Since I have given up chocolate deserts have been hard to find.

Roman, the puppy, is growing bigger every day. He is very stubborn which makes him fit perfectly into our family. He has not quite gotten the hang of going potty outside, but luckily he goes in his room (the laundry room) on the towels. I know training a mini dachshunds is difficult so I will be patient. I believe God gave Roman to us to teach me patience so I know as soon as I learn my lesson things should get easier.

JJ is still working hard at work and also at home. He is still working on his masters which will be going on for quite a while longer. He is going to the Y and exercising a lot which is great. We took Marie to the Y on Friday to go swimming. Since we have not taken her swimming since last summer we had a little trouble getting her to take the death grip off our neck. JJ finally got her to hold on to the kick board and kick around. I think I will have to start taking her to the Y each week so we can start to maybe like the water again. For those of you who don't know Marie has this little fear of the water. We had private lessons last year and that seemed to work, but I guess taking six months off was not our best move as parents. Oh well we have learned or lesson.

I am still being a substitute at Marie's school which I still love. I really enjoy being up there at the school and getting to know the children. They are really a great bunch of kids and I have been enjoying each and every day up there. I am still enjoying every craft I can get my hands on and have started making rosaries. I actually finished my first one on Friday. It was just a practice one and is plastic, but it turned out beautiful if I do say so myself. I am still playing my flute in the choir at church and having such a great time. It is about to get really busy with me playing on Holy Thursday, Good Friday, Easter Vigil, and 9am Easter Sunday. Then Marie and I are flying out to Houston on Sunday. Mom is having foot surgery on Monday and then the three of us are playing for the rest of the week. I am also hoping to get together with a friend of mine from college who I haven't seen in probably four years or more. I am hoping that will happen.

Now on to Marie...We are still as busy as ever. She got to carry the cross at chapel last week. I was so proud of how well she did. She finally scored her first goal in soccer on Saturday. The only problem was it was in the other teams goal! She was so proud. Hopefully we can get the goal going in the other way! She is still enjoying dance and pom class and is gearing up for the recital. I can't wait to see the pom routine because it is to the song Hey Mickey which I love. She is still doing gymnastics and is getting better with each class. We are going to do a little three day gymnastics clinic with the OU gymnastics team this summer which she is looking forward to. Hopefully we can get some people to come and visit us this summer because we have quite a few activities planned to keep us busy. Even though I don't like Norman that much they do have A LOT of stuff for kids to do over the summer!

Well I could babble on forever, but I guess I should just add some pictures and do a spell check and get this posted. I promise I will update this more often and I know I say that every time, but at least I will put pictures more often.

Love to all.

Our New Addition

Here are pictures of the newest addition to our family. His name is Roman and he is a miniature dachshund that is almost 9 weeks old. He is really little and will be less than 12 pounds when he is fully grown. Marie is enjoying him, but does not like it when Roman gets hyper and chases her around. He is doing pretty well, but is still having some little puppy problems. He has however slept through the night for about four nights now. So enjoy.













Also here is a picture from the day that it snowed.

Jump Rope for Heart

Hi Everyone! I just wanted to let everyone know that Marie will be participating in a Jump Rope for Heart for the American Heart Association on March 6th. If you would like to donate money to sponsor her let me know. I have sent out some email links, but if you have trouble reading it let me know and I can send it on.

Things are going pretty good around here. I am about to cook some dinner and then run off to bunco! Have a great weekend.

Love to all!

I am back!!

Hello All! I know I have taken a VERY long time off from updating this blog, but I can give no other excuse except we have been busy. So as quickly as I can I will give an update on what everyone it up to in the Muffoletto household.

JJ is working hard and also getting back into his masters program after taking a few weeks off for Christmas break. I know he will be happy to complete the work, but that is still a ways off. I am so proud of the way he was working so hard on getting the courses completed. He has plans to do some woodworking projects, but I think he can't decide which one to start first. We have also got to get the garage cleaned up because it got a little messy over the holidays. Plus he was so wonderful and put down hardwood floors in my office and dining room so there is carpet and carpet pad taking up room. The next nice weekend I know we will spend some time out there picking things up. Plus the baby bed and changing table are in there waiting for me to sand and repaint for my sister!

I am working quite hard on so many different things. Of course I am taking care of Marie and trying to stay healthy. I have had strep throat twice in the past month and a half or so. That is one illness I hate having. I came down with it again while my mom was here so she got to take care of me for a few days. I have started playing my flute in the church choir. There are not many pieces of music that are written for flute so I have had to transcribe all the pieces and that has taken me quite a long time. I have finally finished the set I have currently. Last count I have transcribed 64 songs. It is all worth the effort because I forgot how much I love playing my flute. Finally all the money dad spent on flutes and lessons in high school has paid off! I am so excited that a friend finally convinced me to start playing it. I do have a lot of practice ahead of me, but it is just so nice to be up in front of everyone with the choir behind me and playing such beautiful music. I think church music is the best to play! Everyone will have to come visit so they can hear me. The only downside to playing is the choir is at 9:00 mass so I have to get up early on Sunday. I don't mind so much, but the rest of the family needs a little adjustment time. I have also started substitute teaching at Marie's school. They have been in need of subs for a while and I decided it was the best job to have while she is in school and while we do not have anyone around here to help out with her. I have had a good time with the classes I have been in. Only one class got on my nerves, but I just did not give them recess in the afternoon and made them sit quietly. I have a lot of the siblings of Marie's friends so I know the parents which makes things easier. Tomorrow I am going to be in a middle school math class so I am looking forward to that. I forgot how much I love math until I was teaching math to 2 and 3rd graders. A long time ago my dream was to be a math teacher so I guess I get to live out a little of that dream. I would really like to get into teaching a new course that is going to be offered in schools. There is a new law that requires all high school students to take a budgeting/financial class prior to graduation. That would be SO great to teach! I am going to talk with my friend who works for the Oklahoma Education superintendent and find out how I can get into that and what if any classes I need to take. I think that would be the best of both worlds. I would get to use my financial background and also have good teacher hours. I am also leading a moms group at church. The book we decided on this semester is Stories from a Mothers Heart. It is not too deep of a book which I think will be great for all involved. So I guess what I am trying to say is I am keeping very busy.

Now on to Marie, my pride, my joy, my greatest accomplishment...She is doing wonderful. I did not realize this until I started working at her school, but everyone around there know who she is. I guess she just has that personality that everyone remembers. I am so proud of all her accomplishments. She is doing great in school and excelling at everything she tries. I have always said I want her to try everything, sports, music, dance etc. And let her find what she loves and what she is good at. Well I have to stop letting her try things because she is good at most and we are running out of time to do stuff! She is in ballet, tap, and pom (class where they learn how to cheer) and will be having a recital in May for those who might want to make a long weekend trip. She has gymnastics. She finally did an almost perfect cartwheel last week. We will see if she remembers how she did it this week! We are starting soccer back up this month which she is very excited about. We plan to head down to Austin the 12-17 of June to attend soccer day camp. I have sent and email to UT to find out when the registration forms will be available online so I will give everyone an update when we get registered. She is very excited about going to a camp where she can learn how to play better soccer. This summer she plans to also be a Jr. Zookeeper at a little zoo near our house. All we have talked about since going to visit the zoo was being a zookeeper. It is a neat program they have where the kids get to interact with the animals, clean their cages, make food for them etc. The zoo is a little open free roam kind of place. Mind you the attack animals are in cages, but driving into the zoo we had to wait for the ducks, peacocks, etc to cross the road.

Speaking of birds we had a funny experience last night. I decided we should go up to this big field where all the Canadian geese have moved to and feed them a little bread. The first thing out of Marie's mouth was that the last time she fed birds her Uncle Eddie let a duck bite her! Ed, you will never live that one down! We had a great time feeding a little group that came near us. You could tell who the male bird was because he was being very aggressive toward the other geese. We were doing good until they started making noise to alert the other geese that we were feeding them. I kid you not every one of the geese starting heading toward us. I am not exaggerating, but it felt like 100 were heading our way. Marie had driven her little barbie jeep over and we ran and told her to get going fast. They were being loud and moving in. We got away and told Marie they were coming after her because they loved her. Luckily none of them followed us home, but we told Marie that they would come by the house and tap on her window. She seemed excited about that prospect. I am not sure if we will go feed them again, but you never know when it comes to my crazy ideas.

Well I need to get going! I would post a picture, but I am not sure where JJ copied the most recent pictures on the computer. When he tells me I will post a picture of Marie performing at half time of a basketball game. She went to a pom clinic and they performed a little dance at the high school basketball game. Very cute! Love to all!

Oklahoma City Fires

Just a quick note about the fires in Oklahoma City since it did make the national news this morning . We live about 30 minutes south of OKC. The fires are North of OKC so they are a little less than an hour away from our house. The easiest way to know if we are in danger is if they start saying that the city of Moore has fires or the city of Norman. We are located in the Southeast corner of Norman so we have all of Norman and all of Moore and half of OKC in between us and the fires. Unless someone does something stupid then currently there are no fires in Norman. However the latest fire in OKC seemed to be started by someone throwing a cigarette butt out their window so....Don't worry about us because we will run as fast as we can if there are any fires near us. I promise!

Marie is currently having her breakfast in anticipation of her first day back at school. JJ and I will spend the day getting the house back in order after the time off. Then JJ will be back at work tomorrow then I can get things back in the order I want! Gotta go dry my hair. Love to all.