My boys...I love them.

Goodbye Grandma....you will be in my heart forever.

My grandma Jean passed away last night (May 12, 2009) after a long illness. This picture was taken with her and Benjamin last fall.

Love you grandma, you are now at peace. This was her favorite song to sing with my brother.

Where has the last 10 months gone?

Next week Ben will be 10 months old. TEN months! I can't believe it. Over the past 10 months not only has Ben grown and amazed us so has Zachary. When Ben was born he still had a baby look and now he looks like a big boy. He's lost the innocent chubby baby cheeks he once had and now when you look at him you see a mature face. It's sad and it's sweet all in one. It's so amazing watching him grow up and mature into a young man but it also breaks my heart because it just means he's becoming more and more independent and doesn't need mommy anymore.

One more month and Zachary will be in 1st grade. He's doing well in kindergarten except for reading. He's being very stubborn and won't let us know he can read. We've been working on the list of words his teacher gave us every night. We have a dry erase board and we do one word at a time and then a sentence. Usually 5 words a night and we always start with the words we learned the day before and a sentence with all the words. He seems to be responding pretty well.

Intermission - as I type I have the most adorable little man sitting in his play pen clapping and laughing at me. I looked up at him and couldn't help to smile. Now back to my regular post. :-)

About a month ago we got a bike trailer from my SIL. It's wonderful. I love going biking as a family. Ben enjoys the trailer and I enjoy the exercise. We still can't get Zachary comfortable enough to allow us to take his training wheels off. Hopefully soon! I think we've babied him for a long time and it's sort of our fault he's afraid to take risks because we've never let him before. It's our job as parents to protect them but I think we've over done it just a bit. I would like to go biking tomorrow night as long as the weather cooperates wtih us. It's been raining a lot this week.

Ben is still cutting teeth and growing like a weed. Pretty soon I'll have to start planning for his big first birthday bash. I have several locations in mind. We'll probably plan for the 12th or the 18th of July since his birthday falls in the middle of the week (15th). I want to do an outdoor party and cookout. I woud love to have a small pool and slip-n-slide set up for the older kids who will be attending. That would keep them busy while presents are being opened. Stay tuned for details. I love party planning!!

Speaking of planning. We're planning a small family vacation this summer. We can't afford a full week and I don't have a full week of vacation time to use for work. Next year we're hoping for a beach vacation (and then maybe I'll be thinner for a bathing suit!). We are going to Cincinnati for three days in June. We plan on hitting the zoo, aquarium, gardens, parks and the museum. I've got some friends that live in the area I'd like to catch up with if possible. A lot of friends have told us about some free fun activities we could get into as well. It will be nice to get away. And it's going to be interesting because it will be the first time we've been away as a family. I'm already thinking about the diapers, wipes, bottles, formula, water, food, clothes, toys, pack-n-play,stroller, etc. that we'll need to bring along. Thank goodness we have our mini-van!!

So far I have a B+ in my mgt class. I'll take it since my last grade in college was a D-. I'm really trying hard this time and I want to fnish my degree. I need to look at classes that are offered online. I think that is the route I'm going to go this summer. By the end of the summer I need to have a major declared with my academic advisor at OU. I have a few ideas and think I'll go with the bachelor of specialized studies and focus on business mgt, public relations, human resources and public administration. I will need to work on a project list of courses for my specialized degree and then get an advisor from one of the colleges represented in my major to back my choices. I know a professor in the college of business, so I'm hoping I can meet with him and get him to be my mentor through the process. It's going to take a few years, but I want to do it. I have a sophomore second quarter staus now. I'm just worried what will happen when OU switches from quarters to semesters in two years.

It's time for soccer season again. Mike is starting to work with the girls on training and conditioning for soccer. Pretty soon he'll be off and busy all the time with that. It's nice though, I'm super proud of him for his hard work and accompolishments. He loves what he does and it shows. Zachary is playing baseball again this year, this time it's through the local rec center instead of our town league. It will be t-ball again, but that is alright because he needs to learn the fundamentals of the game before he plays with the big boys. I want him to understand and know what he is doing before he is thrown in to a serious game setting.

My grandma jean has been in the hospital for a month now. She's not doing well. I don't know if she'll get to come home from the hospital or not. Talking to my dad he says she wants to come home but it will be difficult because she doesn't have the care that she needs at home and my grandpa, dad and aunt can't do it all on their own. It's a big job. I don't know how they do it right now. At least one of them are at the hospital 24 hrs a day so grandma isn't alone. It's so hard on everyone. Send prayers her way please. My other grandma mary isn't doing well either. She's having heart issues and thought surgery solved it but found out yesterday it didn't take so they are talking about another surgery for her. She's in SC right now for my uncle's wedding. I was supposed to go but didn't have the time to take to go and still have time to take in June for our family vacation. My aunt flew home from Texas so she could drive with grandma to SC - Isle of the Palms. Grandma wasn't healthy enough to be able to fly.

Mike's parents retired last week. Both of them on the same day, I think it's sweet. Mike's dad is an accountant and I am sure he'll be in the office at least once or twice a week (he is partial owner still). Mike's mom worked at a local car dealership and won't be returning - she's home with the grandkids! :-) For the summer they will be watching the grandkids, all 4 of them Tues, Wed, and Thurs every week in the afternoons. We have a retirement party for them on Saturday night. It will be nice seeing family at the party. I just don't know what to get his dad as a gift....hmmm. We had flowers delivered to his mom last week (my reminder....need to pay T for our portion!!!).

The little man wants my attention now. I'm going to go love on him and try to get him down for a nap before I start dinner.

I have tons of pictures to post, I'll try to do that this weekend. Maybe I can get some of the retirement party to include.

Ta-ta for now.