2013...What a year

My 2013 had its shares of ups a downs for us. I truly hope that 2014 will have a lot more ups.

In January Neil turned the 4 O. He was such a snot and wouldn't let me throw him a party, but we had a fun time as a family.
February was the suckiest month of all 2013!!!! My beloved Grandma passed away on the 2nd. Needless to say Valentines day and my birthday were not to fun for me. I miss her so much :(
March was low key, thank heavens. Andy turned 14, and we had a small party for him.
Nothing of note happened in April.
Nick turned 11 in May.
In June Neil and I celebrated 19 years of marriage. I can't believe I've been married that long! It so doesn't feel like its been 19 years!
July was pretty uneventful for us which is unusual. I was very grateful for that.
Started back to school in August. Felicia started her junior year of high school. Andy is in 9th grade and last year of Jr. High. And Nick started 6th grade and his last year of elementary school. So, there will be lots of fun changes next school year!
Felicia turned 17 in September. I'm not old enough to have a 17 year old! She also went to homecoming! We also had the first birthday without Grandma McCurdy. She is so very missed and her not being here for her birthday was hard.
In October my dad turned 60! So, there was a small party for him which was fun.
November was bitter sweet. Not having my Mikey here for his birthday still gets to me even though its been two years. Thanksgiving was fun, ate lots as usual.
And then there was December. Christmas was good, but hard at the same time. We let some pink balloons go for Grandmas birthday on the 25th.  That was great way to celebrate her and to start off Christmas.
As I stated before. I hope that I have more good to report on in 2014.

Oh My

My has time gotten away from me!! I cannot believe that it's almost the end of the year and I have not updated my blog since school started! unfortunately nothing much has happened in these past few months. The only two things of note actually happened to Felicia. She turned 17 in September, I can't believe that my baby is 17! Where the heavens name did the time go?! Also, in September she went to Homecoming and she had so much fun. I was in tears when she left, it was so hard to see my only girl go on her first date (yes, I am a Mom and sentimental). To be honest I am so glad that this year has been fairly boring compared to last year. With everything that happened at the end of last year it's very nice that this one is going out with less of a bang (I'm keeping my fingers crossed on this because there is still two weeks left in the year).

The 6th annual school is starting tribute

It's that most wonderful time of year for us parents. The kids get to go back to school!!!! So, in honor of my mom doing this when my brother and I would leave for the 1st day of school please enjoy the Hallelujah Chorus!

Independence Day

As I was sitting on my couch cross stitching a thought came into my head that I had to share. I have been reading the Book of Mormon and I have just finished the book of Alma. The last chapters of that Book are about Moroni and the Title of Liberty. It amazed me how much of those last chapters apply so much to today and to what brought the events of the signing of the Declaration of Independence to pass. How those people took up arms against their government and against invaders because they refused to be put into bondage. They wanted the ability and freedom to worship, live, and to pursue happiness according to their own choosing. Doesn't that sound familiar?! In the early colonial days people were tired of England telling them how to live, how to worship, and taxing them to no end. They decided to bring up arms against that nation, so that they could develop their own nation. So, they could worship, live, and pursue happiness. This is written in the Declaration of Independence. Now we have a government (excuse the language) hell bent on taking those very freedoms away from us. It's been just over 200 years and we are forgetting what those settlers (and to some of us) our ancestors fought for. Those men and women who fought against England were committing treason and if the Revolutionary war had been lost, those very people would have lost their lives for their cause. And, now we as a nation are forgetting that. We are becoming very placid and wanting the government to give us everything. We have forgotten the meaning of hard work. We have forgotten the meaning of what true freedom is. We are a nation of "Political Correctness". Heaven forbid we say something hurtful, or if we don't agree with what others think we should agree with. We are called bigots, haters, etc. if we have an opinion contrary to what the socialist media thinks we should have. This is what our Nation has come to in just under 250 years. Our Founding Fathers are turning over in their graves watching what has happened to this great country. We, as a Nation, need to WAKE UP! We need to realize what the government is doing! We have the power, not the government and WE need to remind those in office of that! We need to stop being comfortable with the "status quo". We need to rise up and let Washington know that WE are finished with how they are messing up this great nation. Our soldiers now are taking that Title of Liberty (our Flag) and giving their lives to defend it! And, we need to honor their lives by standing up to a very corrupt government!

My two cute readers

I had the opportunity to work with these two kids one on one this year to help them with their reading. They both started the year reading on (about) a 1st grade level. The little girl (who's in 3rd grade) ended the year reading on a 3rd grade level! The little boy (who's in 4th grade) ended the year reading on a 5th grade level!

The Wild Wacky Women of Woodrow Wilson

These are the wonderful ladies that I have the privilege of working with.

Meet my 3rd and 4th graders for the 2012-2013 school year

My 3rd graders My 4th graders