Field trips are definitely a "trip"

Today was Julianne's class (the whole 3rd grade, really) field trip to Wonder Works in Orlando. Richard and I both went on this trip as they were in need of chaperones and quite frankly we probably could have used more than the 5 we had for our class. Between Richard and I we had 9 kids and let me tell you keeping 9 kids together in a place like this is almost impossible. We did manage to get back to school with all 9 though ~ phew! We took 3 charter buses for the 1 hr trip to Orlando. The kids were really good and we watched "Herbie the Love Bug" ~ the one with Lindsey Lohan. The place itself is great. We've driven by it many times (I mean how can you miss a building that looks like it is upside down?) but hadn't been in. I would love to go again with just our two. There was so much to see and do, we probably missed a lot. Here is Julianne and friends in the hurricane simulator. They went on this a couple of times. And here is most of our kids waiting for the earthquake to start.
And Julianne's friend Ashley literally pulling her own weight And here's our entire group as we were leaving for the day. We never got a chance to go on either the roller coaster simulator or the fighter pilot simulator cause the lines were too long (we had something like 140 kids with us) but they looked really cool. I guess that'll be the first thing we hit next time. In any case it was a good trip. I do think I got a couple of more grey hairs when we lost a kid a time or two but only for a minute at a time. I can't imagine not going on a field trip like this cause I'd hate to put my kids fate in someone else's hands but having everyone else's kids fate in my hands is a bit unnerving sometimes but alls well that ends well. Tonight we have the "wax museum" at school for Nathaniel's grade. Boy am I glad the week is almost over! So, how was your day?

So far so good

Teacher's appreciation week started off a bit bumpy. Each child in the class was supposed to bring in a flower for their teacher. I know that Mondays are always a bit crazy so I brought in a whole bouquet which was a good thing because, as expected, most of the kids "forgot." I was able to pass them out to the kids before they went into the classroom so the teacher had a really nice vase full of flowers. Good thing I brought in a big vase for her. By Tuesday they got the hang of it and most everyone brought in candy for their teacher. I think we more than overfilled the candy dish I brought in. Wednesday I had them all bring in notes telling the teacher just how much they appreciated her which she really loved. Thursday they all brought her in foo foo bath stuff ~ her room smelled wonderful all day. I was supposed to bring her lunch on Wednesday but she was in some type of teacher training until after noon so I will do that next Monday. Tomorrow I will bring her a card with the money that has been collected this week. I was going to get a gift card but I think that I will do cash instead. This way she can spend it where ever she wants. I think all in all it was a good Teacher's appreciation week ~ but boy I'm glad it's over. So, how was your day?

Such a busy week

I know I haven't written in a few days... it's crazy. When you do something worth blogging about, you are too busy to blog. When you are not busy ~ you have nothing to write about! It's been busy busy busy here.
Before I forget... thank you all so much for your well wishes and concerns on the new house being saved from the fire. Here's an aerial photo of the Wexford house taken a while back. You can see where all the trees are Right up to (and including) those trees burned! How crazy is that. The good news is that we did get some rain and nothing is smoldering anymore and there was no damage to any of the houses. We are going to sign the papers today for the house. I'm very excited. We went over for a bit this weekend and took some measurements and a couple of photos. This is my new kitchen (photo taken from the family room and the alcove leads into the "formal" dining room. The other door leads to the laundry room and garage. Pretty swanky, huh?
Friday afternoon we went to Richard's company picnic which was at the Crown Plaza Hotel on the beach. All the "players" (aka employees) were given company team jerseys, the kids received kites and frisbees and slinky's etc. There was much food and drink and a few contests. Here's Nathaniel maneuvering 4 hula hoops for a chance to win tickets to Disney.
The company even hired their own life guard. My question was, what if someone NOT from the company started to drowned ~ would he save them too?
Seriously both of the kids had a great time. Julianne is very happy to play just at the water's edge while Nathaniel likes to get right into the roughest of waves . We did let him touch this jelly fish we found but before you get all crazy on me ~ we made sure he knew to only touch the top and leave the underside alone. Do you see how long his hair is getting? I personally like it short but he wants to grow it out (mostly cause his head is so sensitive it hurts when they buzz it) but I figure it's a battle I don't need to fight and besides it might look really cute once it gets a bit longer ~ Look at Cobin Bleu . I mean, come on, how cute is this kid?
My week this week is chock full of "teacher appreciation week" stuff, packing boxes, cleaning the house (it's being shown on Wed). We have a field trip to Wonder Works in Orlando with Julianne's class on Thursday as well as the 5th grade Historical Living Wax Museum Thursday night for which I will leave early enough to get to my first "Meet & Greet" at the quilt shop where I will be teaching later this month.
I will try to get lots of pics to show you all... Until then I will ask once again... So, How was your day?

All is well for now

Thanks everyone for your well wishes. I went over to the house today to check in and could not believe my eyes. The 60 acre "preserve" that burned all night comes right up to our property line in the back and it is completely burned right up to our property. As a matter of fact, it is still smoldering.
This picture was taken from the cage that covers our pool. The green grass is our property and you can see right where the property ends is where the fire ends. Talk about a close call! There are pieces of ash and things all over the yard like this but I can certainly deal with that. The fire dept is still in the neighborhood and the news cameras are right next to the house but it looks like everything is under control.
Here's some better pics of the house. This is the awesome pool Wanna come for a swim?
and here is the back of the house looking thru to the front. I just can't wait to get in there.
Last night there was a little concert at Julianne's school. Here she is with a couple of her friends.
If you look really closely you can see Richard and I way in the back row. Oh and even better news. Turns out I can keep the kids at their current school which they are thrilled about!
Well we are getting ready to go to Richard's company picnic at a hotel on the beach. I'll be bringing my camera and posting about it tonight or tomorrow. Thanks again for all your well wishes. So, How was your day?

Good news and hopefully not bad news

Well the good news is we got approved to get the new bigger house with an awesome pool. We've been a little apprehensive about it and tried not to get our hopes up ~ but they called today and we were approved and the papers are being drawn up for the lease. The possibly bad news is...this is the view from our future neighborhood. We were gonna drive by tonight to show Nathaniel the house and before we could get too close we could see a huge fire burning and guess what.. it's right near the new house. It is a 60 acre brush fire they are trying to contain. They mentioned the streets of the houses in danger and ours is one of them. They have not evacuated the homes yet but they are also not letting anyone (including residents) in. So please keep your fingers crossed that not only our house will be safe but all those others around it and I will try again tomorrow to get into the neighborhood to see how we fared. It's always something, isn't it? So, How was your day?

This is why I live in Florida

I just have to tell you about my lunch today. Richard and I had to go sign some papers at a realtor's office down by the beach, so I went over at lunch time to meet him. After dropping the papers off, we stopped by the grocery store, got some sandwiches and drinks, and went back to his office. Richard's office is right on the Indian River which leads directly into the ocean. I've written before about seeing a dolphin out there, and he has seen manatees many times. Well, we took our sandwiches and sat on the seawall to eat and chat about upcoming events (and spend some quiet time without the kidlets). Next thing we know, here comes the dolphin. It really came right up to check us out. At one point, it swam right under our feet with its belly up to us. A little while later, a second dolphin came and checked us out too, and the two of them swam around for quite some time. It's a good thing I don't actually live on the water cause I'd get nothing done ~ I'd sit and watch them all day.
Then, right as we were getting ready to leave, Richard sighted something else. A HUGE manatee swam right in front of us. Just about the time he got in front of us, he came completely up from the water to check us out. It was just the coolest thing ever. This is why I love living in Florida! So, how was your day?

*Just so you know, I did NOT take these photos. I left my camera in the car and only had my camera phone. I snapped one photo of one of the dolphins, but it wasn't very clear, and of course, I got my finger in the picture ~ so these two will have to do!

Shop sample

I know I haven't had much blog worthy news lately and I apologize for that. It's just been life as usual. I did finish the split 9 patch quilt today. I'll be teaching the technique mid May at one of the local quilt shops here in Melbourne. It feels good to be back in the business. I'm starting off slow with just one class for the summer and we'll see how it goes. Maybe in the fall I'll do more. I may be sewing some samples for them over the summer. That's when they start getting in the new Christmas fabrics and they need samples sewn immediately. I guess they were impressed by my ability to crank out products and still do quality work so we are working out the terms for doing this. Anyhow... Here's how the split 9 patch turned out. Julianne, of course, tried to keep it for herself (she only has about a million quilts squirreled away in her room). It's definitely a "girly" quilt.
This weekend I will start on Nathaniel's indian costume for school. Hopefully it'll turn out well. I tried to get him to go with just a loin cloth but he was having non of it (just kidding really!) I haven't made an Indian costume since Jen was little. I actually made the same outfit for her cabbage patch doll. Sure wish I still had these! I think they probably went to my niece Danielle at some point. Anyway... I'll definitely post pics ~ I think with his skin color he'll absolutely look the part (if you don't take the curly hair into account!).
Well I'm off to bed for the night ~ tomorrow's another day. So, How was your day?