The Phillies win the Pennant AGAIN! :-)

With most of Philadelphia, we celebrated the Phillies win in only 5 games against the Dodgers. This team is young, passionate and incredibly decent. Every member of this team is humble and when interviewed always are first to credit the "team" instead of basking in any personal glory. That impresses me and I have no problem with my kids looking up to men of such caliber, especially in the world today when there aren't many role models. In addition, most members of this team do incredible philanthropic work, have foundations and help those who are less fortunate. There are many who have money who do no such things.

So, my family is proud to cheer for these guys! They have brought an amazing pride to our city. Last year when they won the World Series, it was incredible. The kids and I attended the parade and in the midst of a horrible economy and 2 wars, there was a genuine camraderie amongst strangers, a joy that hasn't been seen in a long time and it was just plain fun!

So, we are all enjoying this ride again. It wasn't a fluke that we got there the first time. This team has more than talent, it has heart and you need both to succeed! Go Phillies!
P.S. Yes, I went out and bought the shirts minutes after the win so we could all wear them with pride the next day! :-)))

Off to the Zoo today

My husband took Kiddos 1 and 2 to Dover, Delaware for the weekend. They are going to the NASCAR race tomorrow. From what I have heard, they are having a great time. Spent some time at the Air Force Base today, toured their museum, climbed in and out of planes and went to Mass in the base chapel. I think it is awesome that they have their time with their dad. It is so important at their ages. Their uncle (my cousin's husband and godfather to kiddos 3 and 4) is meeting up with them tomorrow at the race.

Wanting to spend some quality time with the younger two kiddos, I headed out with them to the Zoo. It was a beautiful cool and sunny day, perfect for animal watching and outdoor fun.

I renewed our membership (a must for a family my size. It just doesn't pay to fork out regular admission everytime we go somewhere) and was happy to find out that the "extras" were included with our level of membership. These include draft horse rides, camel rides, carousel rides, swan paddle boats and a train ride. It would have also included a ride in their giant hot air balloon, but it was grounded today due to some wind. So, I made sure they got on every one of them (in addition to seeing all of the favorite animals, of course). :-)


We were lucky that the animals were very active today and we were able to get extremely close to most of them. The big cats exhibit is made so that you walk right through it, so you are always getting a great view. This is in comparison to the "look over at that speck. That's the lion." that we got when we were kids. :-)















Kiddo #4 finished up her day with a painted face and both of them got treated to a couple of souvenirs in the gift shop. (certainly can't make that a habit!)

It was a great day! :-)

Summer just flying by.....

Wow, I can't believe it's August already. The summer is just flying by. I always thought it was a cliche when the adults would tell us that the older you get, the faster time seems to go, but I have found that it is an unfortunate reality. Like the fact that our baby is set to start kindergarten this year. Wow.... When she was born, Mike was in Iraq. In some ways, it seems like yesterday. In other ways, it seems like a lifetime ago.

Work is going well. I don't think many people know how much it takes to run a school. It is crazy busy. I have been giving tours almost every day and signed up 4 new students this past week alone and 10 more in the last couple of weeks. I should have my enrollment at 100 soon. I haven't hired an assistant yet, so I am doing everything myself. It's hard enough to do one job, let alone two. :-) But, to be honest, I was doing that for sometime since my predecessor was pretty inept and didn't last more than a few months. In that time, she managed to mess up more than I could possibly describe in a blog post. Every day, I am trying to "fix" more of her mistakes. Just keep in your thoughts or prayers in the next couple of weeks as I prepare for our state inspection.

I am looking forward to our annual trip to the New Jersey shore. This year, my parents rented the place for 2 weeks instead of one. I am grateful that Mike was able to get both weeks off. In the past, they didn't even give him one week and he had to do a lot of commuting. The post office is a horrible employer, abuses their employees (without the union doing a darn thing about it) and pays them wages that are a disgrace (we qualified for WIC throughout all of our childrens' early years because of his measily salary!) Now that I have a job, though, I am worried about being away for that long. I am trying to get everything together and am training someone on how to process the tuition payments that are going to come in while I'm gone, etc., but I have a feeling that my cell phone is going to be ringing! :-) At least, the 2nd week, the school is closed. It is the "prep" week for teachers and they will be transferring everything over from "camp" mode to "school" mode. But, I am looking forward to 2 weeks of sun, surf and fun (well, maybe more pool than surf since I just finished watching "Shark Week" on the Discovery Channel, lol! :-)

Well, I just wanted to post a quick update. Back to getting the basement "kitchen" ready for "Tomato Day" tomorrow. Mom, Dad and Mike are going to be canning/jarring the 10 bushels of tomatoes. It is a day-long ordeal, but we get a year's worth of homemade gravy (sauce for the Italian-impaired, lol) as a result!

Love to all!

Sorry so long no blog....

My kids have been on me lately for not updating the blog. :-) I figured the fact that I updated Facebook several times a day (with photos, no less) was enough, but much to my chagrin, they told me it wasn't. :-)

Summer Camp at work is in full swing, and all of the children really seem to love it. (including my own) They swim twice a day, we have really neat and educational entertainment (we had the "bug" guy this week. The tarantula was the star.) such as a petting zoo and magic show coming up and there is a special activity every day. This is all in addition to outdoor games, sports, etc.

I really enjoy my job, even though the hours are really long and it can be stressful at times. I don't think people realize how much goes into running a school. The administrator gave her notice and is leaving in a couple of weeks. I was asked to take over the position! :-) Actually, the owners told me several months ago that they wanted me to run the place (for all intents and purposes, I have been doing that anyway) and were considering terminating her employment. So, here I am. Who would have dreamed when I found the school for my boys back in September, that less than a year later I'd be running the place. Wow. God works in mysterious ways, doesn't He?

On the homefront, we (actually my husband and dad, but "we" sounds better, lol) opened the pool and the kids have been enjoying it after camp (not that they don't swim enough everyday) and on weekends.

I started teaching again last week. So, for the next 7 weeks, I will be teaching Colonial and Revolutionary America from 8-10 pm. I know the hours are crazy, but I love the material, I make the class fun for my students, and hubby and I earmark my teaching money for Santa gifts. So, we all do what we have to do, right?

I can't promise that I will be able to blog as much as I did when I was home full-time, but I will try to make a concerted effort especially for those who aren't on Facebook. :-)

Happy rest of the weekend to all!

Kiddo #2's First Holy Communion

First of all, let me apologize for the long period of time with no blogging. My transition to full-time work has been going well, but it doesn't leave me with much time for computer-related interests, other than Facebook, which I can check periodically from work. Since I do not get in every evening until 6:30-6:45, dinner, recreational time with the kids and bedtime then consume the rest of the night.

Our Kiddo #2 made his First Holy Communion at the Easter Vigil. It was an absolutely beautiful Mass and he made us very proud. What an opportunity to receive Our Lord for the first time during the Mass which is the very epitome of who and what we are as Catholic Christians! And, how many kids can say they received their First Holy Communion from their own grandfather? :-) My dad is a Permanent Deacon and we were lucky enough that he could be with us on that very special evening!







God bless you, kiddo #2, we are so proud of you! :-)

Finally a real snowfall!!

The kids were right. March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb. :-) Although we have had an extremely cold and icy winter, there has been no remarkable snow accumulation. Nothing that could be played in or with or on. Until today...

We are lucky to have a neighbor down the street (right at the deadend) who has a very steep front lawn and who is generous enough to let the kids sled down it whenever they want. So, that we did for hours today. They got to use their new tubes and boy did they fly down that hill, into the street and a couple of times, all the way across to the other side! I even indulged myself and went down a couple of times. It was really fun!

Spring can come now....

Sorry so long no blog!

I can't believe how the time has flown! February is already almost gone. Well, with all 4 kids having a terrible case of the flu and with starting my new job, things have been even more crazy around our house, but we are starting to get in a comfortable, albeit tiring routine. :-)

We did manage to all get away for the holiday weekend last weekend, though. It was a nice diversion from all of the madness. My mom has to spend the entire month in D.C. for work, so we thought we'd go down and visit her and let the kids have their long weekend in Washington.

We left Thursday night, which ended up being the best decision. They had off from school on Friday, so we didn't have to use it for a travel day and could spend the entire day sightseeing. Since it was forecast to be the nicest of all of the days that we were going to be there, we spent the day at the National Zoo. It was a wonderful day, it wasn't at all crowded (I guess many schools in the metro area don't do long weekends for the holiday like around here) and the kids loved seeing all of the animals. I really loved the zoo. It is laid out well, the houses are beautiful and new and the animals have large, spacious quarters. We got to see the elephants (huge to our kiddo #3 who has a book about those very elephants), the pandas and even got to witness the feeding of an octopus. (really neat)














On Saturday, we ventured out to Dulles Airport to the Air & Space Museum's new (well, it's 5 years old now) added area. It is huge. It is literally an entire hangar. The highlight there is the space shuttle. Yes, a space shuttle! The Enterprise, the first shuttle, was donated to the Smithsonian, but they never had anywhere big enough to display it. It is really awe-inspiring to see how absolutely enormous it is. Also there is the Enola Gay, the Concorde and thousands of other aircraft.



















On Sunday, we went to the Mall and went to the Museum of Natural History (the kids loved the dinosaur bones and animal exhibits) and the Air & Space Museum, which has so many hands-on things to do for them! We didn't even see a quarter of the museum! There is so much to see.

And, our weekend came quickly to an end. Monday was our travel day. We had a nice leisurely breakfast at the hotel (mom's hotel has a free breakfast every morning which the kids just love. The highlight is making their own Belgian waffles!) got to play a while in the room and then head to the train station for our return trip home.

Mom made it extra special. She went to the supermarket and bought all of the kids favorite foods and snacks and had the fridge and cabinets fully stocked for when they got there. (the unit has a kitchen which is a necessity with kids!) :-) She also sent dh and I to the movies on Valentine's Day, while she watched the kids, which was a very nice treat.

So, here we are a week later, getting back into the grind and feeling like we were never away! LOL. :-)

Until next time, which I promise won't be as long!