Can't believe it is already fall here

September has come and gone already.  The kids started school, soccer, Sunday School and Girl Scouts. So our days during the week and the weekend are very busy. The kids are loving their teachers this year. No surprise there. My kids always love who they get for a teacher. School started off pretty well. The last two weeks have been exceptionally challenging for Manny and Yamira. I am not sure why. However, I am working feverishly on getting to the bottom of things so that they can have a successful year. They love school. They love their friends and they have quite a few of them. They don't ever come home unhappy for the most part. They are always excited about their day. So I am not sure what is going on there. Maybe it is that it is getting colder and darker? I am hoping things turn around for them soon because I really want them to be able to be happy with their behavior.

Soccer is going well. Shayla is on a team with people I know, but don't know that well.  She is really having a good time and is getting better weekly.  Our soccer teams have gone with a new division. A more competitive division. It is good for them. It really pushes the girls.  So the games are a lot of fun to watch. A little stressful for us parents too, but that is all part of it. Watching Manny play soccer has been a trip. I love it. He is always falling on the ground. The thing is that he is really good at soccer when he is paying attention. He is a great goalie too. He is the smallest kid on the field, but he is mighty. Over the years, his skills will improve. Right now it truly is about having fun and getting the energy out.

Yamira is in Brownies this year and is enjoying it. Shayla is in Juniors. She is enjoying it as well.

Shayla is participating in art club at the school. She goes once a week. She loves it. She also is a Peer Buddy this year. She was selected after writing an essay. This is a new thing this year. So not much to share on that front as of right now.

Bill is very busy working at both his full time position and his job at the fire department in town. It is so nice having him working again. I love having the house to myself when I get a day where I can be home for the day. I put on my tunes and go to town cleaning, organizing or making phone calls. It is so nice to have a quiet house sometimes. Don't get me wrong, I love having them all home too. However, I do get a lot done when the house is empty!  I am still going to the gym steadily too. So glad I rejoined. I look forward to going.  I have stopped booking my schedule to the max so that I may get a few things done around the house. I have a couple of large projects that I want to get done and I am hell bent on getting to them this year. Then I want to move on to my next goal. One thing at a time though.

In addition to school, soccer, the gym and other assorted things, I have done some other things as well.  I went to the Lion King with my girlfriend. It was phenomenal. Had a great time. The kids were bummed they were not invited. It was a long show though on a school night. It was nice to go with just my friend. I also took a class on how to create a mosaic piece. That was a lot of fun too. I did that with two friends of mine one night. I look forward to going again. I had a massage by a new person. She was a sweetie and she gave a good massage, but I won't be returning. She runs her business out of her home and I really wasn't a fan of going to her house for a massage. I rather go to a salon. I didn't know when I booked the massage, that she ran it out of her home. That was never mentioned and the address didn't lend itself to knowing that information either. I have also gotten together with friends for breakfast a few times and dinner. It has been great to spend one on one time with them. I also went apple picking with Manny's class on a beautiful Friday morning. I took the kids to Start on the Street in Worcester one Sunday. Unfortunately, it rained, so we were not there long.  Lastly, I attended a conference on working with challenging children recently. That was great. A wealth of information.  So clearly we are not sitting around here bored.

I am pretty sure our October is going to fly by. Soccer will be over at the end of the month and then we will be on to the next thing. Not sure what that is yet though. Stay tuned.

So that is about it for now. I hope you are enjoying the changing of the leaves. The colors are just beautiful. Hate to think about it now, but winter will be here before we know it. Then it will be snow and ice and school cancellations!

Till next time my friends.

Mama Out!!!!!!

First Day of School

Shayla's soccer team

Start on the Street

Kids with Blades

Butterfly release

Summer as we know it is over. Back to school!

I can't believe we only have one more day of summer left. So disappointed that summer is coming to a close. We have had a phenomenal summer. I don't want it to end.  There is a very small part of me that is grateful that the kids will be back to school so that I can get a few things done here. However, I am really sad that our summer flew by so fast.  We did a lot.  The last time I checked in, it was mid-July. So what have we been up to? Let's see if I can remember it all.

We went to Comet Pond a few times with various friends.  The kids love it there.  They swam for hours or built funky stuff in the sand while I chatted with the ladies.  We hung out with Lisa and Evan at a new playground I have wanted to visit for some time. That was a lot of fun.  We went to the new splash park in Worcester with another mom and her two children.  The kids ran through the sprinklers and then played on the new playground.  I really liked this splash park because they had nice umbrellas you could sit under. Earlier that day we attended a critter show at the Worcester library. Very cute show.  That weekend, Yamira had a play date with her friend Kendall and then that night we celebrated Shayla's birthday with our friends Tom and Shelley and their three kids. We went to an authentic Luau. The kids had a great time dancing and drinking fancy drinks with blinking light ice cubes.  I had a fancy drink, but no blinking cube!  Bill worked that weekend as well.

On Monday after the weekend, we had our family picture taken as well as pictures of the kids.  They came out decent.  I am not a fan of being in photos, but Shayla insisted on having a family photo.  So I obliged her.  Later that afternoon, we packed for our trip to Grand Cascades. We had a wonderful time on vacation. We swam inside and outside at the various pools. We also visited a local coal mine.  It was a short getaway, but a great one. That Friday I took the kids to visit Maura and her handsome boys. It was great to see her. Saturday we met my friend Christine at a local state park so the kids could all swim together. There were 7 kids. She had four with her and we had our three. We sat on the beach and chatted while the kids ran in and out of the water.  The water was a little cold, so they were more interested in digging in the sand. We then headed home without Ping as she was sleeping over Christine's house. The next day we met Christine and the crew at Heberts Candy Mansion. They were having a huge event that was free for everyone. It was to celebrate first responders, emts, paramedics, firefighters and our military.  We spent most of the day there walking around to the different vendors and watching shows.

The last week of July brought a finger printing appointment for me and some time over Shelley's house in the afternoon. Two other friends joined us for the afternoon. The place was hopping with kids!  It was a beautiful day out so the kids played in the yard while the mom's sat around the table chatting.  On Wednesday, I had an appointment in Boston and then we headed to a place where Ping was taking a horse lesson as part of a gift she received at the Autumn Moon Festival the October before. She was very excited. Made for a long day, but it was worth it. On Thursday we had plans with Lisa and Evan again. We were gong to go to the zoo, but we ended up going to their house instead. The next day we went to Comet with friends.

We started the week off great with visiting our friend Mindy's house and swimming in her new in-ground pool.  That night they had VBS, which they love. The next day the kids jumped for an hour at SkyZone with some of their friends while the mom's chatted.  I took the kids to the movies on Wednesday. It was so crowded, we had to sit in the front seat. It was fine because Shelley had her little one and she is in a stroller. Great place to park the stroller is the very front. I then took all the kids to the library and back to my house for a play date while Shelley went shopping. That night the kids went to VBS. They all had fun. On Thursday we headed up to Lowell to see the Dino Man and then we went on a trolley ride. It was a toasty day and poor Manny got stung by a bee.  Lisa and Evan were able to join us on that little adventure.  The next day I had an appointment and we just laid low because we had the last night of VBS and so we didn't want the kids to be exhausted. We had dinner and then watched the little show they worked on all week.  It was very cute. On Saturday, we went to Look Park for Shayla's birthday because it rained on her birthday this year. We rode on the train and then we had a picnic. The kids played at the splash park and played at the playground.  It is a beautiful park. Very peaceful.  The next day, I headed to Sarah's shoppe for a tarot card reading. That was a lot of fun. We actually left at 9 am and headed to the MOS to see a panda movie that was playing. It was an adorable movie. Then we had lunch and went to Walpole where Bill dropped me off so I could visit with Sarah and friends and have a reading. Bill took the kids to the local park.

Monday of that week brought camp for all three kids. The girls went to Girl Scout camp and Manny went to a recreational camp in the next town.  It was an insane week. Shayla went by bus every morning at 7:45. Manny had to be at camp for 8:30 and Yamira had to be to camp for 9:00. I drove Yamira and her friend Erica to camp some mornings and Erica's mom drove them some mornings. We thought that driving them daily would be better than them taking the bus with the older kids. However, it was a big commitment on our behalf to get them there every single day. Especially because each day had a different theme. So we were packing for the day plus packing costumes!  On Wednesday, I had a fantastic visit with my friends Christine and Stephanie. The best part was that I could enjoy their company without any interruptions as my kids were all at camp!  On Thursday I had a few appointments and then we took the kids to the library program's end of summer party.  Then Bill dropped me off for dinner with friends and took the kids home.  It was a fun night after a very busy day. The next morning after we got all the kids off to where they needed to be, I had breakfast with Renee, Heather and Kirsten. I brought Manny with me that am. He wasn't really digging camp. It was not structured enough for him, so we decided to take him out of camp.  So he got to have breakfast with four ladies.  I was glad the week was over as it was a busy one. I rather have the kids home, but they really loved camp and are begging to go again. On Saturday, I took the three to the Latin Festival in Worcester. We attend a lot of Asian events, so I wanted Manny and Yamira to enjoy exploring their culture. It was a nice time, but we missed a lot of vendors who were closing when we got there. So the kids enjoyed the dancing and the music.  On Sunday we had our 51st Family Reunion.  The kids had a ball at that. This year seemed so quiet. It was a nice time, but I don't know who half of these relatives are!

On Monday, I had lunch with my friend Deb. I say lunch, but it was almost lunch and dinner.  We sat for hours and caught up on everything. It had been forever since I had seen her last, so we had a lot to chat about.  Bill was home with the kids.  On Tuesday I had a doctors appointment in Norwood, so that took up most of the day. On Wednesday I took the kids to Comet Pond with a friend and then Shayla had soccer practice. Thursday we didn't do much. I had an appointment at the house in the morning and then we packed for our weekend to Jiminy Peak.  We left on Friday to drive to Jiminy Peak. We checked in and went to dinner. Then the kids swam. The next day we had a buffet breakfast and then rode on the mountain coaster, the alpine slide, the eagle zip line, the gigantic swing, the chair lifts as well as other things. The kids went on bouncy houses and inside a really cool zip line structure for their age. We had dinner that night with the group that we were there with which is an adoption group. We then let the kids run around before putting them to bed. They were exhausted, but very wound up. The next day we let the kids swim for an hour or so and then we checked out and headed home. We stopped at a few places along the way.

Here we are back at Monday now. I had an appointment this morning. I then ran some errands and came home. It was hot out today. Shayla had a play date and then she and Bill hit up the grocery store. The kids watched Turbo before bed. As for tomorrow, well I am hoping I just wake up. I am tired and it is late.  Despite the boring appointments sprinkled throughout the summer, we really had a ball and made the most of the summer.  Reliving it makes me happy because of all of the special moments we had, but I am sad too. Sad it is over.  Now comes September, school and soccer!

I hope you had a great summer too. I know it was a hard summer for a few people. The great thing is that it comes every year. So if this wasn't your summer, I hope next year it is! Till next time......

Mama Out!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Birthday presents

Cupcake time

Playground fun

Luau time

Swimming at Grand Cascades

Yamira with her goggles

Hebert Candy Mansion

Comet Pond

Trolley time

Train trip

Goofy kids

Girl Scout camp

Latin Festival

Jiminy Peak

Summer Vacation

I can't believe it is the middle of July already. Gulp! Where is the time going? I feel like the kids just got out of school.  It is hard to believe that it has been nearly a month since they have been home and soaking up the rays of summer.  I have talked to a lot of my friends who say they feel the same exact way. They feel like summer is passing so quickly already.  Glad I am not alone in that feeling.

So what have we been doing to pass the time? What haven't we been doing is an easier question. Let's see, we said goodbye to a family who was moving out of state. At first we were sad to see them go as we were hoping to build a better relationship, but then we realized we were not at all unhappy that they left. They turned out to be fair weather friends. The kind that use you to hang with when another friend is ignoring them, but then dump you the minute that the other friend comes around again.  You would think that I would learn to not trust people. That I would learn to stop sticking my neck out to help. I have yet to learn this lesson. I suppose that is why the lesson keeps being thrown out in front of me. There is a saying out there that is about having to constantly confront the same issues till you have mastered them. I am way too trusting. I love people and love to get to know them better and hang out with them.  It saddens me to think how much time I wasted proving that I wouldn't desert them in their hour of need like their other friend did. I heard over and over again how just because they were moving, they didn't deserve to be treated so badly. I tried to bring comfort and tell them that it wasn't that they were leaving, but that during the colder months, this particular person goes underground. Why I was sticking up for that person is beyond me as they have proven they don't deserve any attention from me. However, how could I lie? I didn't want my friend to be so sad and feel like this person turned away from them.  Well in the end, it didn't matter. The person moved without so much as a "see you later and please keep in touch" and I am really okay with that. When I looked at what I was missing, I realized it was nothing. I was a little done with the person anyway. The endless complaints were a turn off. Everyone has a right to complain, but until you have experienced some real losses and such, you have no idea how silly you sound when you complain over simple stuff.  In addition to that family, we said goodbye to another family that we adore. We were very sad to see them go, but know that they were going on to a better state for them and their family.  We will see them again and there is always Facebook to keep in touch.

The kids got out of school on the 19th. That was a big thing. So they are now home full time.  Yamira has been to Davis with the Daisies and had a wonderful time. I went to my friend's house at Comet Pond to have dinner and un-wine with my dear friend.  I babysat a three week beauty one night and enrolled the kids in swimming lessons. Ping did an art camp with her friends for three days. She loved every minute of it.  For our anniversary, we took a beautiful boat tour out of Salem and then had dinner.  Shayla has had soccer clinics and we attended an Asian Festival. Shayla had hives for a few weeks too. We have no idea why. They seem to be gone now. Thank goodness.

The kids have been going to swim lessons daily with friends and then in the afternoons we go back and swim or meet friends for lunch or at the playground. We have been to the library and I have been out for special drinks with special friends. I have been out to lunch and inner a lot too. Not just with the family, but one on one with friends. Bill has taken the kids to the Seekonk Speedway and we have been to the beach a couple of times. I also joined a fitness center. Love it. I learned how to shoot a hand gun, revolver, rifle and an AK-47. Beyond awesome. So much fun. Yamira lost a tooth another front tooth.

Next up is Shayla's birthday. My oldest is turning 9.  I think I have done a fairly good job of including everything we have done so far. I am sure I have forgotten a few things. It is hard to remember everything when you are going non-stop and trying to cram as much in as you can before the summer is over.

I hope you are enjoying this beautiful summer with your family.

Until next time.....Mama Out!!!!!!!!

Art Camp

Shooting Range

11 Years

Salem

Swimmers

Dinner and ice cream

Toothless Beauty

Besties for over 30 years

Wow! It has been forever since I was here last!

I am so sorry to disappoint my "local" followers. I feel awful that you check so regularly and I have not been here updating you on my life.  I have been incredibly busy with living life.  It is pretty hard to get here when you have three very busy children.  I have been incredibly busy as well.

Well let's see here. What have we been up to since March?  I have been incredibly busy taking classes. You name it, I have taken it. Ideally I would love to continue my education. So since my three are in school all day, I have decided to take a lot of classes on various subjects. I have to say that I have really enjoyed them. I am still taking them at this time, but that should end soon as I am taking a break for the summer. Unfortunately, my three don't go to camp all day long while I lounge around. Why should they? I am a stay at home mom!  If I am home, they should be home. Camp for a week or two is great. However, camp is not affordable for the entire summer. That and the fact that I enjoy the summer with my kids. We love to explore places we have never been to. I already have a full list of places we are going this summer. I can't wait!  Neither can they. Camps are great for those who have to work and are not able to be home with their kids. However, I am home and the kids are only young for so long. Before I know it, they will be grown. It goes way too fast.

When I am not in class, I have been busy at home. I love being home. I love being out, but some days I just like to stay home and catch up. Do all the boring things like making sure my house is clean or organizing something that has been neglected for forever.  In addition to that, I have been able to have breakfast, lunch or "muffin dates" with good friends who have flexible schedules. That has been good for the soul. Nothing like going out and realizing after talking for hours that you have to dash home to pick up the kids. I love spending one on one with people when I can.  I have seen some long lost friends I haven't had the pleasure of seeing in a long time.

I had a great birthday this year. I went to Connecticut to meet my friend for a manicure and a long lunch. That was a fantastic day. That was on Wednesday of my birthday week. Then on Thursday, I went to a friend's house to visit for a few hours. She made me cupcakes. Sometimes it is the little things that make me the happiest.  On my birthday, we piled in the car and went to Rhode Island to visit a cute shopping place that had a greenery, animals and a bamboo forest. We then had dinner before we headed home. On Saturday, my dear friends came to my house to bring dinner and dessert. Delicious. So it was a great birthday this year.  I decided that this is the year to embrace my age. How much time does anyone ever have left?  That may sound sad, but it is a fact. Anything can happen at any time. Might as well live well when you can.

May was a crazy month. Shayla had soccer and softball. So we were always running either to a practice or a game. Softball this year has been harder as it is "girl pitched" now. Last year it was ":coach pitched." So the games are much longer than last year. Takes some getting used to. Manny and Yamira have loved it as it has been a new playground for almost every game!  Same with soccer. Her soccer team is fantastic. It is not a town team, but a travelling team. She loves it as do I.  I really love some of the girls on her team. I enjoy their parents, so it is like a mini gab session for every practice and game.

May was a month of birthdays too. The kids were all invited to quite a few birthday parties. I had them go to every one they could attend, but some were impossible because of games.  However, there wasn't much missed. We also celebrated Manny turning 6.  He wanted to go cosmic bowling this year. So we took him to a place we have never been before and then out to dinner. He was a happy guy.

One of my highlights in May was having one of my besties sleep over. I picked her up and we went to a paint night where you paint a picture while drinking and eating. We didn't bother drinking or eating as we were too busy painting.  Then we headed to my house. The next day we went to Ping's soccer game and then back to her area for a birthday dinner for me. She gave me an awesome gift certificate for Mother's Day and then I dropped her off at home. We had a great time!

One of Bill's highlights was that he graduated from college. Four hour graduation at DCU!  There were 1,400 students. I didn't take the kids. They would have been bored. So some sweet friends took the kids for the afternoon and evening.

On one Saturday morning, I worked an adoption party. The weather was gorgeous. They had a petting zoo, a slide, crafts and a whole bunch of other things set up for the kids to enjoy. I had a great time meeting social workers and children that are looking for forever families.

I also was a chaperon for Yamira's field trip. I was a chaperon for Manny's in April. Tomorrow I am Shayla's. It is nice when the school asks you to go along to help them watch all of the students. It is a great time.

I have not done a lot of subbing, but I have done some. They often want me to sub the one day I have appointments or a class. That is the way it goes.

The girls have been really busy with Daisies and Brownies as well this month. There has been all sorts of stuff over the last few months. Rock climbing, Chuck E. Cheese, archery, Dads and Girls day at camp as well as a teddy bear outing. So they have had a blast doing all of that fun stuff.

I can't think off the top of my head what else we did. Probably because we are always doing something!

Now we are at the end of the year and we have all of the end of the school year stuff. Volunteer appreciation time, concerts, carnivals, field days and more. Both girls are bridging up in Girl Scouts too. Softball is coming to an end with a play off and soccer is ending very soon too. Before I know it, we will be out on our many excursions!

Well I should be heading off to bed. I have a very long day and then night tomorrow.  I will try to get here a little sooner than I have been, but I can't promise anything. My friend has a brand new baby that I can't wait to get to know better. I have a baby shower coming up. There are a lot of birthday parties this month too for the kids. We have a couple of graduation parties as well.  I am also going out with a friend to complete something on my bucket list. I will have pictures to show after I am done.

So that is all for now my friends. Until next time, enjoy whatever you are doing. Hoping you love the fact that summer is nearly here!

Mama Out!!!!!!!!!

Easter Time

Easter Candy

Christening of a Liam

Easter Beauties

Winslow Farm

Me and Stefani

Rhode Island Point Judith

Softball

Birthday party at a friend's house

Socheat's crew with Manny, Ping and Yamira

Graduation

I scream for ice cream

Yummy

Memorial Day

Renee and Joanna

Third grade field trip

March Madness

It has been forever since I was here last. Where has the time gone? I have been awful about updating in the past, but never have I ever taken this long of a break. So much has been going on, I have lost huge blocks of time to these projects.

2014 I have made a commitment to being a better person. A better person to myself really.  I happen to be a pretty good person to others. However, I am not a good person to myself. I put my husband, three kids and my friends in front of me. Well I am now trying to change that. The biggest change I have made in 2014 as well as in 2013 is that I have walked away from friendships. Now if you really knew me, not by my blog, but actually knew me, you would know that friendship is everything to me. I mean everything. There isn't anything I would not do for a friend. Including doing it to the detriment of myself. Well that has stopped. I have walked away from four people at this point.  As hard as it has been for me, it has been the biggest relief ever!  One friend was not a friend for long. She was really very rude. Very blunt. Always talked about friends behind their backs. I had never experienced anyone so toxic. At first I thought maybe I was just sensitive. Maybe I just could not get used to her personality. I blamed myself. Then I told myself that her bad traits were not a big deal because she had great traits as well. I think it was around the time that she told me that one of my best friends had a child that was Autistic and that my friend was the worst mother that she had ever met, that I decided that I needed to get far away from her. Who says that about a friend of theirs? Even if you truly feel that way, why would you ever verbalize that to anyone?  She was convinced that my friend's child was Autistic or that this child was the way he was because her parenting was so awful. She neglected her child and fed him horrendous food. That really threw me over the edge. Then another time she told me to "Shut Up" when I was trying to help her find something. It was at that time that I decided that I would in no way ever put up with her crap again. She is a nasty person. It isn't me. I am not too kind or too sweet or too sensitive.  I am all of those things, but those aren't bad traits at all.  Needless to say that I needed to get away from her. It has been a year since I have done so and what a glorious year it has been.

The next friendship I had to walk away from happened over the summer. I had to walk away from two at the same time. It was a shame as I had been friends with them for three years, but I didn't have any other options. I put all of my effort into this friendship and yet it still was too hard for me to do it alone. One person wasn't so bad. However, they are the best of friends, so what else could I do? I had to walk away from both. I got exhausted constantly asking them if they wanted to hang out with me or with me and the kids. They could never commit. They were too busy. Well that is fine, everyone is busy. However, you can't be so busy that you never have time unless you really just don't want to bother. That is okay too, just don't leave a girl hanging.  I just never felt like I could get a commitment from them and so I had to walk away. It wasn't for lack of effort because I tried for a very long time. Finally I had to throw my hands up in the air. I threw my hands up in the air when I saw that they had time for each other, but not for me. So clearly they were trying to tell me something. I got it loud and clear!!!!

The last friendship I walked away was more recent. It was in January. Unfortunately I couldn't save it. I was the only one holding up the friendship after eleven years.  She chose someone incredibly toxic, loud, obnoxious and cruel instead of me. What can I say?  I was worried about this friendship for a year. I kept saying that we needed to stay strong and keep our relationship separate from her relationship with Ms. Toxic. However, she couldn't do it. She had to talk about me and my life constantly to the other one and the other one would tell her to get rid of me. Clearly she was too weak to see what was really going on. If she only knew what Ms. Toxic has said about her behind her back. I know what was said about her, but I never shared it with her. How could I? It would have devastated my friend who was like family to me for almost eleven years. I didn't have it in me to break her heart. In the end, she chose her vs me. I thought the good guys always should win, but I guess that isn't true. She rather change teams and go down a nasty path. Well she is welcome to it. I reached out to her recently because she was going through some tough stuff. What a waste of time. She couldn't even be bothered to say "thank you." Very sad. She is in her 40s and can't say thank you when someone reaches out to her? Especially someone who had no desire to reach out?  Shame on her.  I look at photos and remember all of the good times we had and I get sad. However, then I realize I am mourning who she was and not who she is now. She has fallen so low at this point, that she has "refriended" a friend of mine that she hated. She could not wait till I said goodbye to the other friend. The minute I did, she deleted her relationship with her. She should never have friended her in the first place as she was my friend and not hers. Now the two who could not stand each other are friends again on FB. Who does that? Why cheapen yourself and refriend someone who you couldn't stand just because we are no longer friends?  Just more proof that I did the right thing. I don't need these people as I have some absolutely wonderful people in my life that don't make me feel small while they are puffing out their chests and making themselves feel bigger. That isn't really friendship at all. Sad that this person had such low self esteem that they had to actually constantly put me down in order to make themselves feel bigger. Well I could go on, but I have wasted too many years on this person and her family and I don't need to waste one more moment on her. I have to chuckle a little bit because they are all now friends on FB. Ms. Toxic couldn't stand the born again one and vice versus and yet neither would agree to delete each other. One thought the other one was cheap and the cheap one thought that one was dirty and neglectful. I always kept this all to myself.  I have never shared it with any of them. I am not going to now either. I just have to chuckle. They can have each other. Toxic breeds toxic. All of them deny that I walked away from them. They can't even tell themselves the truth. Very sad.  Oh well, none of them are my problem any more. Life has never been so anxiety free! Onwards and upwards!

So as you can see, 2014 started off with a bang!  So far so good though. In addition to all of that stuff that has been going on, we have been our usual busy family. Shayla had basketball every week. We have gotten together with a lot of friends for play dates and then there are the appointments and school. I have subbed in the school as well.  I love subbing, I really do.  I also had an endoscopy that went fine.

In February we had a few Chinese New Year parties to attend. That was fun.  My kids like to go, go and go. They don't like down days like most kids!  We also were very busy selling Girl Scout cookies. Both girls are in the Girl Scouts. We went away for a long weekend. It was actually Valentine's Day weekend. We had the best time. We ice skated and went snowshoeing. That was so much fun as the weather on that Saturday was picture perfect. The kids swam in the pool for a few hours at night. After they went to bed, Bill would read or watch TV and I would sneak out to the movie theater they have right at the resort and watch a movie. I saw two great movies while I was there. Then I would catch up with my People magazine. We also attended a presentation on sled dogs. We then went outside to meet the furballs. It truly was a beautiful weekend. It was very relaxing even though we were super busy the entire time. The kids are begging to go back. Right after that weekend, we went into February vacation. It was a great week. We saw a lot of friends. We went bowling one day and ice skating on another.  We went to the movies and went out to breakfast. The week flew by. I was really sad to see it over as the kids had a wonderful week and were so well behaved. I was so proud of them.

Shayla got to sleep with her Brownie troop at the Ecotarium and my Daisy chick got to visit a shelter that has just cats. I went with her. It was wonderful. The cats were all incredibly sweet.

Bill worked some during the month and is working on weighing all of his options. He gets to walk this May at graduation. That will be here before we know it!!!!

March has been great so far. Basketball is over, so we all miss that. However, soccer and softball will be starting soon.  I have been able to go out during the day with a few friends I don't see often and that has been fantastic. We had friends over for dinner one night. That was a great time. The kids had a blast.  Shayla and Daddy went to the Sharks game with the Brownies.  I have been able to see one friend who has been house bound due to an injury and another friend that was home on maternity leave.  Manny had his first birthday party to attend alone with his classmates.  We went into Chinatown with three students from MIT. They are mentoring the kids. Trying to keep the Chinese culture in Shayla's heart. The three ladies are wonderful. We all had a great time. We had dim sum and the kids did origami. We had a Behavior Specialist in our home for the last three months, but we no longer are having her to the house. Believe it or not, we don't need her. She is wonderful and we will miss her. There isn't anything for us to work on at the house. It is really in the classroom. Manny struggles with transitions at school. So unfortunately, having the BS here at the house was not helpful because we are already doing what we need to do. I do believe Manny just needs to mature some. Time will tell.

We aren't out of March yet. We have another week or so to go. I have to say that March has been fairly enjoyable. We are excited that we have arrived at the first day of Spring.  I can't wait to plan our summer activities. The kids are dying to swim and frankly, I could use a little sunshine. I can't wait for the kids to get out of school. They love school and having them home full time all day long can be difficult, but they are healthier when they are not in school.  I can't complain as they really have done well compared to some children this year that have been taken down by sickness over and over again.  However, I just love summer now. I love the sun. I love swimming. I love the pool we go to now. I love the playgrounds. I just love being out. Feeling very cooped up at this point. We have had a tough Winter. Cold, snowy and tons of ice. Bring on the good weather and fun outings. That is what it is all about, is it not?

Well I best get on to the next thing I have to do before I sit and watch a little bit of TV.  Hope you are enjoying your family and friends.

Mama Out!!!!!

Dinner after a fun indoor play place

Lunching with the girls

Lion Dance

Me ice skating with the chickens

Snowshoeing 

Ice skating with Evan

Our oldest chicken

Crazy cat family

Manny singing at Lisa's house with Emily

Chinatown fun