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.