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.