The bojo mojo

2009-10-20T10:45:00.001-04:00

2009-10-20T10:36:00.001-04:00

Homecoming and Pumpkin Patch

2009-10-20T10:28:00.002-04:00

So, I've been informed that I am neglecting my blog:) I'm sorry! It's just that posting pictures on here is so time consuming. I'll try and be better about posting pictures, but for those of you who don't have Facebook accounts, you need to take the plunge and do it! It is alot easier and quicker to post pictures on Facebook! Enjoy the pictures and take care!

Happy 16th Birthday Lauren

2009-08-21T06:55:00.017-04:00

Sixteen years ago today I became a mother for the first time. While I was young, I was blessed to have a wonderful husband and supportive family.

The day Lauren was born was almost missed by Dennis. I began having contractions on Friday at 10 am and was nervous, as Dennis was out to sea until later that afternnon. Since Dennis was gone, I was spending the week with a good friend, Tracy, who was also a registered nurse. It was time to go to the hospital and Dennis' ship finally pulled into port in Jacksonville. He made it to the hospital in plenty of time, as I was in labor for 20 hours!! We were blessed to have our good friends Tracy and Amy there to help as well. Lauren came into this world at 6:49 am on Saturday, August 21, 1993 and it's been an adventure ever since!!

Lauren was a good baby - after 4 months of age. This is what she did for the first 4 months of her life:)
This is were she usually fell asleep.

This is what she usually looked like after her daddy would feed her:)

This is when she was learning to stand alone around 9 months.

This is Lauren at 12 months old.

Here is my baby all grown up!!

We love you Lauren and look forward to seeing you grow into adulthood!!

Happy Birthday Julie!!!

2009-07-21T08:40:00.002-04:00

To a great person and friend! Love ya!

Happy Birthday ToniAnne!!

2009-07-01T10:07:00.001-04:00

To a great sister and friend! Love ya!

Happy Birthday Jill!!

2009-06-30T11:06:00.003-04:00

To a wonderful person and friend! Thanks for being a part of our lives! We love you!

Most Clumsiest

2009-06-27T20:46:00.002-04:00

Well, I've gone and done it! I've always wondered how I managed to get to my current age without any broken bones, as I've always been so clumsy. I was even voted Most Clumsiest when I was a senior in high school.

This past Thursday, I was getting up off the couch to pick up Lauren at her friend's house when I slipped on the wood floors and rolled my ankle completely over. As I was going down, I heard a loud crack! I laid there with Emily and her friend Macy starring at me lying on the ground crying. Must of been a funny sight. I couldn't get up and after about 15 minutes I scooted my way to the couch.

I propped my foot up and managed to call my friend/neighbor Angela to come over. She took one look at me and told me to call the doctor. My foot was warm to the touch and there was the beginnings of a large golf ball size knot on my foot. Next, I called my mom to take me to RediMed, so Lauren could stay home with Emily and her friend.

My mom and I went to RediMed and they were really nice to me. I had x-rays done and they discovered that I had fractured the bone between my ankle and my toe bone. YAY! So now I have to keep it basically propped up for 1 week with no pressure on it. After that week then I'm supposed to use a special shoe to walk around in. The nurse practitioner says it should take 6 to 8 weeks to heal. Which is basically the whole summer, the rest of my time off! Yuck!

So for me, no more softball, no cleaning, no New York City(might have gone with my mom and dad), no nothing!! I'm praying that since it is only a fracture it will heal quickly and I will be able to do all the things that I want to do soon!

Dance Recital Rehersal 2009

2009-06-13T08:18:00.014-04:00

Yesterday, was Lauren and Emily dance recital rehearsal. They've been working hard all year and now they finally get to show us what they've been doing. Both girls like dance, but Emily is more into it than Lauren. She tried out for the Extreme Team again and we won't find out if she made it for a couple more weeks. The team is a more intensive program than the regular dance classes.

Anyways, yesterday we had to be at the rehearsal at 2pm sharp and I had to pick up Emily's babysitter, Alex, and Lauren's boyfriend, Jared, who couldn't come to the recital so he came to the rehearsal. Both the babysitter and boyfriend live out past Reese, so we left home at 11am to run out to my classroom, first, and then left to pick everyone up. We arrived at the Temple Theatre around 1:30pm and got everyone situated for the rehearsal, which lasted until 7pm! We were there for a long time, getting Emily ready for all her dances and once she was done with them and Lauren was done with her dance, then we could leave, so we actually left and they had more dances to go.

Afterwards, we headed to Fuzzy's for supper and ice cream! Yum, Yum! Then we took both Alex and Jared back out to my school, where they were being picked up by Alex's mom. We all had a nice time and Alex and Jared didn't seem too bored/disturbed by the length of the rehearsal:) So, tonight we have the real deal, the recital! I'm excited because my good friend, Dawn, is coming and I'm glad! Below are pictures of the girls at the rehearsal and then tomorrow I will post a few pictures from the recital. Enjoy!!

Happy Birthday Dawn!!!

2009-06-11T08:41:00.001-04:00

Hope you have a wonderful day, friend!! Love ya:)

Happy Birthday X2!!

2009-05-17T11:35:00.005-04:00

On the way home from Emily's Starpower dance competition last night, we decided to eat at bd Mongolian Barbeque in Flint again. We had just eaten there on Tuesday for Emily's birthday, but what the heck, we like it that much!

The waitresses always ask if you have eaten there before and Dennis went on the explain that we had just eaten there on Tuesday for Emily's birthday. We all laughed, being we were already back. The grill guys even asked Dennis if we lived there!:)

Anyways, Dennis, Emily, and Chloe were up at the grill getting their dinner while I was back at the table eating my salad, when I noticed our waitress putting ANOTHER foil hat on Emily!! This one was a princess hat! Emily dug it and I looked at Dennis confused. The waitress must have misunderstood us because she also gave Emily ANOTHER free sundae! Below are another set of Emily in her birthday hat!!

Why?!?!?

2009-05-14T19:23:00.003-04:00

Today I took Emily to dance class, which is off Midland Road and State Street. On my way home, I was driving down State Street and was completely cut off by an older man. He butted right into my lane leaving me no room. On the inside, I was ticked, thinking "you jerk!" But, that was it and I am on my way, driving down the road to home:)

So, on my way home from picking her up from dance, I was turning right onto State Street. To my left there is a HUGE bush which blocked my line of vision. I inched my way up and didn't see any cars so I turned. After turning, I looked in my rear view mirror and saw a small car coming at me really fast! I thought, "oh crap!" and began to speed up.

Well, this car pulls up next to me and the guy is literally shaking with rage, bobbing up and down, shaking his hands, yelling at me! Wow, hard to believe that someone could feel that much anger from being pulled in front of!

I don't understand it and why does it seem that things like this really anger guys so much more than girls? I almost wanted to laugh at him and say, "Really?"

Happy 9th Birthday Emily!!

2009-05-13T11:55:00.009-04:00

Okay, so yesterday was Emily's 9th Birthday. She woke up to find "Happy Birthday" written on the bathroom mirror with red lipstick.:) I love for my kids to see something unusual first thing on their birthdays!

Emily had a busy day with school, then dance, and then we drove down to Flint to go to bd's Mongolian barbecue for dinner. I made "dirt" for Emily to take in for a snack at school and then we also took in cupcakes for dance class. Dance class got out just after 6:30 and I have to add that yesterday was one of the first times that Emily actually played games with her teammates between dances. For some odd reason, she is extremely shy around her dance team. One of the moms even commented to me that some of the girls said they actually got to hear Emily's voice for the first time! Weird, I know! Some days I wish she would be more like that at home.

After dance we boogied down to Flint to have dinner with Dennis, who was working in Detroit. We got there and got right in, as Dennis was waiting for us. We had a great meal and no sickness on the way home:) Thought about Mike though as we drove past his spot:) Emily was given a foil hat that was supposed to look like a cobra snake. She loved it and she also got a yummy desert for free. Another year, another birthday! Hard to believe that my baby is 9 years old already! Time sure does fly. Below are pictures from the dinner last night. Enjoy!

My Dancing Queen:)

2009-05-04T20:25:00.003-04:00

Below I've posted a slide show of Emily's dance competition that was held at Walled Lake High School in Novi this past weekend. We drove down Saturday morning and arrived with plenty of time to get ready for the first dance. The teachers are VERY specific about how the girls dress, do their makeup, and fix their hair. So, needless to say, I was nervous, as I've never done this before. I didn't know if I could get her hair and makeup right! Talk about stress! After much help from all the moms, Emily was dressed and ready to go by 9am. Her first dance was at 11 am and then her second dance wasn't until 8:42 pm. Long time in between, but what could we do?

I have to add too, that Emily's Cruella dance won the following: 1st place, Gold medal, Best Costume, and Simply Irresistible! We couldn't have been more proud. She walked off the stage and met up with me. The first words out of her mouth were, "that was so much fun, Mom!" "We got the crowd going, too!" I could've cried because she was so happy about performing! I thought she would be nervous, but no, not Emily:)

Her next competition is May 15-17 in Detroit, so hopefully they do well there too!

2009-05-04T20:24:00.001-04:00

2009-04-20T20:34:00.001-04:00

Easter Vigil 2009

2009-04-12T21:28:00.006-04:00

It's been a long time coming...but last night, Dennis, Lauren, and Emily all became a member of the Catholic faith. Dennis and I made the decision last summer to have the girls begin attending classes to learn more about Jesus and become Catholic. Dennis agreed to this as long as I didn't pressure him into becoming Catholic, as well. Although I never pressured him, I said many prayers every night. I wished for my family to be united in faith.

In September, the girls began classes with a wonderful teacher at St. Agnes church in Freeland. They set up the girl's classes different to work into our busy schedules, as I would also have to teach them from home to makeup for only attending classes every other week. The girls worked hard and really enjoyed learning more about the Catholic faith. They never once complained about any of the work, which makes me proud. Quite the opposite, they enjoyed this process and loved to talk about all they learned. After their last class, their teacher told me that she didn't think this was going to work in the beginning, but it worked really well and the girls did an amazing job!

Lastly, for Dennis' story: every November, Dennis goes hunting with my dad up north. This year our neighbor and friend, Mikel went up with Dennis. I've been told, repeatedly, that what happens at hunting camp, stays at hunting camp. I don't think I would ever want to know anyways:) Surprisingly, Dennis came home at the end of his week hunting to tell me that he too wanted to become Catholic! I was stunned! He had always been quite negative towards the Catholic religion, especially all the rituals. So, I don't know what my dad and Mikel said to him, but he felt it was important for our family to be united in faith,too. So, soon afterward he began taking classes every Sunday with three different teachers. He too, enjoyed learning all about the Catholic religion and was happy with his decision. For me, it was many prayers answered!

Dennis and the girls spent many hours preparing for this day, and they were so excited to have it finally here. It was a long service, but well worth it. They were baptised, confirmed, and then received the Body and Blood of Christ, of which I was able to give to them for the first time out of the chalice. I'll end this post with Emily's words on the way home from church at 12:30 a.m. On the drive home we were talking about the night, laughing and such and then Emily says, "That was fun, I want to do that all over again!" Stay tuned for a slide show with more pictures...

It's a Girl!

2009-03-13T16:23:00.006-04:00

Contratulations to Dawn, Joe and the boys on the arrival of a healthy baby girl, Ashley Marie! We have all been anxiously waiting the arrival of the newest Papesh and are thrilled she is here:) We can't wait to be a part of her life and watch her grow! Best Wishes and much love!

Sleep and Read...

2009-03-10T19:16:00.003-04:00

This is for those who don't have Facebook. I'm beginning to love Facebook and all the fun catching up with old friends and family members. Anyways, my cousin posted some questions yesterday, on Facebook, that you could ask your children to answer about their "moms." The answers her kids gave were hilarious and made my day, so I decided to ask my girls the same questions to see what they were say. I didn't think their answers would be as funny as my cousin's kids who are younger, but it was worth a shot. Below are the questions with Lauren and Emily's answers:

1. What is something mom always says to you?
L- You're grounded :)
E- Clean up your room

2. What makes mom happy?
L- When I do well in school
E- My smile and hugs

3. What makes mom sad?
L- When I lie to you
E - Us not doing what we're supposed to do

4. How does your mom make you laugh?
L-When you do something funny
E -by dancing

5. What was your mommy like as a child?
L-a trouble maker:)
E - popular

6. How old is your mom?
L-37
E-37

7. How tall is your mom?
L-5 feet
E-5'1"

8. What is her favorite thing to do?
L-read and sleep
E-play volleyball and spend time with family

9. What does your mom do when you're not around?
L- sleep or read
E - read

10. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for?
L- reading
E -singing

11. What is your mom really good at?
L- sleeping and going to school
E- bowling on the Wii

12. What is your mom not very good at?
L- exercising
E- dancing

13. What does your mom do for a job?
L- teacher
E- teach

14.What is your mom's favorite food?
L- Spaghetti
E- corn

15.What makes you proud of your mom?
L- that she is hardworking and deals with us
E- when she takes care of Lauren and me

16. If your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be?
L- SpongeBob
E- Tweedy

17. What do you and your mom do together?
L- we talk and go shopping
E- we play the Wii and go outside

18. How are you and your mom the same?
L-we both get into trouble
E- we both like corn

19. How are you and your mom different?
L-I lie/you don’t
E- You’re older than me

20. How do you know your mom loves you?
L- you tell me all the time
E- you give me hugs and you’re nice to me

21. What does your mom like most about your dad?
L-that he is becoming Catholic
E- his big belly

22. Where is your mom's favorite place to go?
L- church
E- Genji's

So, as you can see, according to Lauren all I do is sleep and read:) I was afraid she was going to throw me harder under the bus, but she wasn't too negative towards me. Being the main parent and disciplinarian, she and I tend to butt head very often. Anyways, I hope you enjoy a few laughs, at my expense:)

Rite of Election

2009-03-07T10:43:00.004-05:00

Dennis, Lauren, and Emily have been attending classes this past year to become Catholic. They have had to attend classes every Sunday and on special days. Last Sunday was the Rite of Election which was held at St. Mary's Cathedral in Saginaw. It was a special ceremony in which Bishop Carlson presided and they (Dennis, Lauren, and Emily) wrote their names in the book of enrollment for the Easter Vigil Rite. During the Easter Vigil Rite, Dennis and the girls will receive the sacraments of Baptism and First Eucharist. They are all very excited and have enjoyed learning more about the Catholic faith and God, so please add them to your prayers as they enter this new phase in their lives.

Below is a picture of Bishop Carlson with Dennis, Lauren, and Emily.

Jump

2009-02-16T15:49:00.003-05:00

We spent this past weekend in Dearborn to attend a dance convention with Emily and her teammates from the Extreme Dance Arts center. The dance convention is hosted by the company "Jump - The Alternative Convention". We had a long but fun filled weekend, which almost wasn't!

On Friday, Emily didn't have school so she went to work with me. Right before we left the house she said her stomach was upset, but that was it. I checked her forehead, but it wasn't warm at all. During the morning, she sat at the computer all droopy eyed. Then, around lunch time, she started to get sick and began throwing up in the bathroom! After she was done, she went back to my classroom and laid down on a mat to rest while my students were eating lunch. She laid there for most of the day and periodically continued to get sick! My students were so awesome, as I was having a difficult time with the smell! We all know how I am about smells:) One of them even told me, "Mrs. Bojo you can walk away, I'll take care of Emily." And a different one took care of getting rid of the trash bags filled with unpleasantness, as well! They were so sweet!

Anyways, after work, Dennis and I decided to head down to Dearborn anyways, praying it was only a 24 hour bug. She continued to get sick in the car on the way down, as well! We got down there around 7pm and headed out to dinner at Red Robin. During dinner, Emily finally started to perk up, as she began to get mad that she hadn't eaten all day. She finally ate some carrots and Gatorade, so I knew she was starting to feel good.

After dinner, we headed back to our hotel, scouted out where Emily would need to be the next morning, and then headed to bed, as we had to be at the welcome meeting at 7:45a.m.

The welcome meeting went great, as they introduced the dance teachers for the weekend. The teachers that Emily would be working with were: Mandy Moore, who choreographs for American Idol and has been on the Drew Carey show, Misha Gabriel who has danced and choreographed for Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake, Mike Minery who produced the off Broadway show "Slide", Kim McSwain who has worked with Britnay Spears and NSync, Doug Caldwell who has worked in the movies: Mr. and Mrs. Smith, 13 going on 30, and The Sweetest Thing, and Katy Spreadbury who has worked with Ben Vereen and Karen Ziemba. Needless to say, these teachers were excellent and Emily was excited to be working with such great teachers.

The convention consisted of dance classes with these instructors from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. both days, with an hour off for lunch. It was a long day for them, but I will say that I was extremely proud of Emily. She enjoyed each class and instructor, didn't complain about the work, and gave her all for the entire time. There were several other student that I saw crying and complaining, but Emily didn't, which made me proud.

For some reason, so many younger people, these days, feel that school, dance, whatever should be easy! I get so frustrated when my students or daughters have that attitude! So, it was nice to see her work hard and stay positive throughout the weekend! Dennis and I were just glad she wasn't sick and could participate.

On a side note, Saturday after Emily's last class, I talked Dennis into taking us to the Somerset Mall. We love this mall and love to shop there, as they have so many different stores. Anyways, I had promised the girls that we could eat at PF Chang's for dinner. This is a restaurant that I have wanted to eat at for a long time and just never have, so we got a take out menu Saturday before hand and all selected our entrees. When we arrived at the restaurant I asked if we could make a reservation or be put on the waiting list. The girl replied, "sure, our first opening is at 11:30." I said, "p.m." to which she replied, "Yeah!" The current time was 6 p.m. so there was no way in the world we would last until almost midnight, nor would we want to eat that late. So, we still haven't eaten at PF Chang's, but I promised the girls that we would go this summer and eat there. Hopefully I can talked my two Somerset buddies into going with me:)

Happy early Anniversary to us!

2009-01-31T08:32:00.009-05:00

Dennis and I will celebrate 16 years of marriage in 27 days, which I consider an amazing feat, considering how difficult marriage can be! I look forward to many more years together.

Anyways, we, or more correctly I, decided that for our anniversary we would do something together as a family. So, I bought tickets for all of us to see the Harlem Globetrotters:) I remember as a kid going and I loved it! So, I bought tickets that were right down on the floor so we would have great seats!

This past Thursday, we went out to eat at Applebees and then headed to the show. We got there alittle early, as Dennis wouldn't have it any other way:) Before the game started we ran into one of the teachers that I work with and her son, as well as several of my students! We even sat 4 seat down from one of my 5th graders! His grandpa asked if he could get an A for being there:) I said sure, if he writes a paper about teamwork and basketball. That didn't fly with my student. Most kids now-a-days detest writing!

All I can say is that everyone needs to see them at least once in their life! It is such a great family show and fun time! We didn't stop laughing all night. They are just so comical with the basketball and each other! I loved it and the girls had a blast, even though neither of them much care for basketball!

At one point, the coach from the Washington Generals, the team the Globetrotters play, started messing with Lauren calling her the "Princess of Booing"! We were booing for the Generals, as they were cheating to try to win the game. The show lasted about 2 hours and then they had an autograph session afterwards. We bought the girls a program, basketball, and lanyard, so they had all the players autograph there things. I was able to get some pictures as well!

Christmas 2008

2009-01-02T14:46:00.001-05:00

The Bojo's Year in Review

2008-12-31T15:58:00.007-05:00

Since I haven't posted yet this month, I saw it fitting to post on the last day of the month and year. Also, Dawn's last post was her favorites from the past year, so I thought I do something like that, as well. Just alittle different. This is a highlight of the past year in our lives. Thank you to all our friends and families for being a part of our lives, we love you all!

2008 was my 3rd year of teaching at Saint Elizabeth. I feel extremely blessed that God has led me to this job, which I almost didn't get. Not many people know this but, I had just finished a grueling round of interviews and second interviews for Bullock Creek schools when Gabbie called me to come in for a second interview for Saint Elizabeth. I had to teach a lesson to some parents and students; aargh! I had to figure out what to teach that would be quick, easy, meaningful, and wow them! I spent a couple days getting it all together only to wake up the morning of the interview and just dread going. I called my neighbor/friend and told her I didn't think I was going to go. I didn't want to go through all that again, it was to much stress. She convinced me that I would always regret not going. So, I guess I owe my job to her:) Thanks, Anglea!

February brought a milestone anniversary for Dennis and I. We celebrated our 15th year of wedded bliss:) I'll be the first one to admit that is hasn't always been a bed of roses, but I wouldn't do this with anyone but Dennis. He may drive me nuts and make me want to cry at times, but he always makes me laugh! He has supported me in my life when we've had to make difficult decisions. He stood behind me when I quit my cushy job at the credit union (where I could take naps, do homework, surf the Internet, and do basically anything) to go back to school and follow my dream of becoming a teacher. He also stood with me as I a returned to the Catholic faith and supported bringing our children into the faith. Low and behold, he has followed suit! Without any nagging from me, I might say! So, now we have talked about renewing our wedding vows and having our marriage blessed in the Catholic church. My dad jokingly told me to make sure this marriage is going to last, because as of right now, according to the Catholic church, I'm not married.

In May, Emily decided that she wanted to try out for the competitive dance team where she dances. She tried out in May and we didn't find out until the end of June that she had made the team. She was so excited and I was proud of her. We approached this with a try and see attitude. We would give it one year to see if she liked it and we could afford it. So far, so good!

We had quite a busy summer! First, we flew to Florida for 10 days to spend time with Dennis' family. While we all had a lot of fun, I will admit that 10 days was just too long! We went to Busch Gardens, Clearwater Beach, the Nickelodeon hotel, and visited with friends and family. The girls hadn't been to Florida in several years, so we were due to visit. They love everything about Florida, especially the warm weather and beaches!

Then a few days after getting home from Florida, I boarded yet another plane and headed to New York City with 3 of my girlfriends from work. I've never had so much fun, although it was especially difficult for me to board another plane, after both flights, to and from, Florida were rough. Dawn was the lucky one to sit next to me and she did a terrific job of keeping my mind off of the plane, although it didn't stop my trips to the restroom:) We had so much fun, I would do it all over again. It was nonstop fun, laughter, excitement, and good times! We visited and did many things that I hadn't done in my prior trips, so I was glad. If you want a recap of this trip you will have to click on my past posts for a more detailed version of what we did!

In July, Lauren began Driver's Education classes! Boy, was that a treat! I believe both Dennis and I lost some sleep and years off our lives! She has never had any prior experience with driving before, so this was all new. She did and does well driving. She hasn't done much driving lately, as I won't let her drive on the snow yet. She needs to become more experienced before we cross that bridge:)

Also in July, we took the plunge and had a big above ground pool installed in our backyard. Both girls love to swim and that inflatable pool just wasn't cutting it. Again, this was another experience in itself that was a joy to go through, between mad neighbors, late pool installers, broken filters, and no power! Several weeks after getting it installed, we finally were able to swim and enjoy it. I'm glad we got it!

This summer, Dennis and I also played summer and fall softball. We enjoy playing this together and with all our friends. I'll admit I didn't play as much this past year, as we had so many people on our team, but I plan on playing more next year. It is a great way to get some exercise and spend time with friends. We have a good group of friends who aren't too competitive, which makes for good times!

In October, Lauren had her first Homecoming dance, as she couldn't attend her Freshman dance. Her and I had so much fun finding just the right dress, shoes, and all. We made Dennis go with us, to warm the bench:) I think he enjoyed himself as he sat there and said yes or no to each dress. Lauren values his opinion alot, so I'm glad he went, even though towards the end, I was getting the evil eyes! She attended the dance with her then boyfriend, Jeremy, and they went to eat at Spencer's Restaurant and drove around in a limo. For her first experience, I'll say it was a good one.

We rounded out the end of this year with our yearly trip to Bronner's with our neighbors and friends, the Lupisella. Every year we go out to eat and then take the kids to Bronner's for an ornament. This year, we went to Genji's, which turned out okay for me, thankfully. I haven't had the best of luck eating there as I break out in hives after each meal. I decided to not eat any meat and that must be the trick, as I didn't break out in any hives and wasn't sick afterwards. So, now I can eat at one of my favorite restaurants again!

The kids always love going to Bronner's, even Lauren. I always worry that somethings will be too boring for her because of her age, but I guess Bronner's is ageless. She picked out an ornament that was in the shape of an old fashioned candy snowflake and Emily picked out a dance ornament. Our neighbors have two young kids, 2 & 3, who love to run wild! The youngest one, Avery, has always been on the "plump" side and she cracked us up when she picked her ornament. She picked a pig and wouldn't give it up, only to break it when she got home:(

For our school Christmas program this year, my kids, all 6 of them, were going to sing a song and sign it at the same time. They had learned the song pretty easily, until we introduced the signing. They ended up concentrating so much on the signing that they didn't sing. Our Daycare director, Jill, knows sign language and was so good teaching my students the song. I swear she needs to be a teacher, as she is so kind, patient, and understanding with kids! Thanks Jill for taking time out of your day to teach my students! They enjoyed themselves and I know their parents did as well!

We had a good Christmas; the girls got a Wii among many other things and I got a new camera, as mine died! Dennis got a new watch and thing for his truck. We spent several days at my parent's house visiting with my sisters and their children. A good time was had by all!

Lastly, Dennis and I have both decided to live a healthier 2009 as we have both begun to exercise. Dennis gets up every morning at 5:30am to exercise with his friend Jason, which I'm proud of him for! I couldn't get up that early to exercise! I usually exercise when I get home from school with my friend Anglea. She is 6 years younger than me and kicks my butt on the cardio machines! The first day I stepped onto the elliptical machines I thought I was going to die after only 3 minutes! I managed to make it to 5 minutes, but that was it!

I'll post pictures in the next couple of days, as my goal was to get this written before the end of the night. So, here's wishing everyone a Happy New Year and see you all in 2009. A special "Hello" to Kentucky from Dennis!

Ok, so I overreacted!!

2008-11-28T19:20:00.002-05:00

Did I ever tell you when Dennis and I lived in Jacksonville we attended counseling sessions early in our marriage? Why might I bring this up now? Well, as part of the counseling, our therapist required both of us to complete a personality trait test. Guess what my biggest personality trait was???? That I overreact!! I won't tell what Dennis' was. I try so, so hard to keep this wonderful trait in check, but sometimes, many times, it gets the best of me:)

Anyways, long story short - I found my GPS!!! It was hidden underneath my CD holder! And the cord was hidden underneath my umbrella, boy my car is started to sound like the inside of Dawn's car, hehe!

The only excuse I have is that I was so panicked about getting the gift at Kmart that I didn't calm myself down and search alittle more. Added to that, the car door being open and I just freaked out!! Thanks for all the support and condolences, girls but I'm alive again!

Happy Thanksgiving

2008-11-27T11:09:00.005-05:00

I was going to title this entry "Happy Flipping Thanksgiving", but I didn't because I have so much to be thankful for, although at the minute I'm ticked!

I noticed in the Kmart ad a big ticket gift that my girls want (can't say because Lauren read this blog), and so I called and they had one left. I hurriedly dressed and got into my car. I noticed the open door light on and check mine and the driver's side sliding door, nope they were closed. Then I looked to the passenger's sliding door, yup it was cracked open. I put my key in and then noticed that the cord to my BRAND NEW, only 2 weeks old, GPS unit was missing. I store the actual unit in the storage bin between the two front seats. I opened it, although I already knew the answer, sure enough it was gone.

I couldn't run back into the house because I had to get to Kmart before the thing I wanted badly was sold, so I left and called Dennis. Maybe, just maybe he had taken it out to play with it. Nope, not so lucky, he didn't touch it, it was gone, stolen from the lady that continues to either leave her car unlocked or doors open! Aargh!

I even pushed the lock button on my remote before I went to bed last night. I didn't notice that Emily hadn't shut the door all the way, or that the seat belt had gotten stuck in the door!

So, it was nice having that GPS unit for one month! I've now begged the girls to make sure the car doors are shut and we won't be leaving anything valuable in the car anymore. Angela, my neighbor, is determined to stay up one night and purposely leave my car door open to catch these thieves with her bat:)

Oh, well, it was only a material good and I have my family, friends, and health to be thankful for! I just feel like such a fool! So, here I sit writing this, willing myself out of my bad mood! Wish me luck!

Halloween 2008

2008-11-01T13:24:00.023-04:00

What a great time of the year. Every year we get together with my sisters, their families, and our parents to visit the pumpkin patch. We get pumpkins, apples, and Halloween decorations. This year we headed over to our usual place, KC Apple Orchard in Freeland, only to find it had gone out of business. Yikes! So after much deliberations, we decided to go to Bayne's and then head over to Hemmeter's.

At Bayne's we played on the blow up jungle gym, got apples, drank apple juice and enjoyed looking around in the store. Lauren found a sweatshirt she wanted that said, "How do you like them apples?" She thought it was hilarious.

Anyways we headed over to Hemmeter's in search of pumpkins. Pumpkins we found! They had so many pumpkins, and they were resonably priced! The kids went crazy. Emily went for the biggest one she could ALMOST carry and Lauren went for the tallest one:) All the kids had a great time together! Emily even had fun dropping and spilling the 1/2 gallon of apple cider when she wasn't goofy around, or so she says!

Halloween Day was a long day! I didn't realize how draining it would be. I had my normal schedule in the morning, and then around 10:30 I started cooking lunch for my students. For the rest of the day, they watched a movie, made Halloween votive holders, and partied! I was exhausted! By the way, I won "Best Costume" for the entire school. The kids really enjoyed my costume and many times I would catch them looking at me and shaking their heads! It was fun!

Finally, after a school meeting, I made it home, got the girls ready, ate Subway with our neighbors, and met up with our friends, Jill and Tiffany, to go trick-or-treating. We all decided to go trick-or-treating up and down Adams Blvd. It isn't too far from us and we thought there would be more houses with lights on. We had a lot of fun! There were tons of people and many people that past by us began singing, "Oompa, Oompa, Oompa de do"! Ha, ha!

Below are pictures from the pumpkin patch and Halloween night! Enjoy!

This is a picture of my class and I.

Emily and her "just right" pumpkin!

Lauren and her "too tall" pumpkin.

Lauren & Emily posing in the pumpkin patch.

Lauren, Emily, Carter, Chloe, and Jaden posing with the pumpkins.

Lauren & Emily Halloween morning.

Emily harassing Tiffany and her horse because they are hogging her camera space:)

Lauren, Emily, Tiffany, Aidan, and Avery before going trick-or-treating.

Another One Bites The Dust...

2008-10-16T18:52:00.003-04:00

What I was afraid would happen before the homecoming dance, has in fact happened, just two days after the dance. Lauren's boyfriend broke up with her on Tuesday.

Lauren and I were at a soccer game, of one of my students, when he broke the news to her over the phone. He hadn't really spoken to her Monday and Tuesday, so I think she was kinda expecting this. It still hurt, but hopefully she will get over him soon.

So, stay tuned for the next letter, as Dennis would say.

Lauren's Homecoming Pictures

2008-10-12T19:22:00.001-04:00

Rock The Night Away

2008-10-12T08:47:00.006-04:00

Lauren's homecoming was yesterday and she attended with her new boyfriend Jeremy. Dennis likes to say she is on the "J's" now. We hadn't met him before tonight, which made me nervous. She has been with him for just over a month. He is a football player on the freshman team and is one year behind Lauren in school. She either likes them older or younger:)

Anyways, we went dress shopping several weeks ago. Lauren tried on 50-75 dresses, until we had it narrowed down to 2 dresses. Dennis liked this black one and I liked this goldish dress, of course we like different dresses.

Dennis and I were stationed outside the dressing room with about 10 other parents. Lauren had just come out with the black dress on and Dennis determined that it was the one she should get. I wasn't convinced and asked her to try on the goldish dress one more time. As soon as she came out with the dress on, another parent said aloud, "That's the one!" I was favoring this one, as well, but she gave me the push to determine that this was the one. She looked amazing in it. Kinda like your wedding dress, you know when you try it on. It was made for her; her skin tone and hair color. So, we bought the dress and then began the quest for the perfect shoes and jewelry. I thought finding shoes was going to be difficult because this dress was an odd color. In the store, it was a dull gold, kinda like a pastel shade of gold. But outside it appears to be chocolate brown, which we didn't realize until yesterday and you should see in the pictures. Jeremy's tie is gold and Lauren's dress looks brown.

We went to JCPenney's and found shoes right away, which surprised me. Next, we had to find jewelry. We went to Icing in the mall; surprisingly they only had 2 options for her, being she needed gold jewelry. By this time, Dennis was getting ornery, because he just loves to shop with us:) Lauren and I enlisted the advice of the salespeople and found a nice gold necklace and earrings. Done!! Lauren was so excited!

Next, we made a hair appointment and my mom gave her the money to get her nails done. She had her hair and nails done at the Avenue. When we were there watching Lauren, one of the Avenue workers asked Emily if she wanted her nails done. Of course, she did and the lady did a great job on her! She made Emily feel special on Lauren's day, of which Emily was having a difficult time dealing with.

After hair and nails, we hung out at home for a few hours and then met up with Lauren's date and everyone else at Roethke Park. After everyone was at the park, they piled into the limo and headed to one of the kid's house for pictures. All the parents followed the limo and took more pictures at this house with a pond, flower garden and nice backyard.

Once all the pictures were taken, the kids piled back into the limo and headed to Spencer's for dinner. Lauren told me, this morning, that she had steak for dinner; yikes! She has never been one to consider anyone else's cost. She said Jeremy split a pizza with someone else, probably because she got a steak! After dinner, the kids headed to the mall to flaunt their stuff and from the looks of the pictures, they had a good time.

After the mall, the limo took them to the dance and again, the pictures Lauren took show she had a good time. Dennis had to pick her up from the dance at midnight and then take her and Emily to my mom's house because they both have their Religious Education classes this morning at 9:20 a.m. All I can say is, glad it isn't me:) They both don't seem to mind. Lauren said she was tired this morning, but she didn't complain about going to class.

I'm working on posting a slide show of pictures I took and ones that Lauren took as well. Stayed tuned!

2 weeks down and 38 weeks to go...

2008-09-13T17:31:00.013-04:00

The new school year has begun, again. I'm one of those spoiled teachers who looks forward to the benefits of teaching, most importantly the summers off!! It so recharges me.

This year I only have 6 students, so I am anticipating a fairly good and should I say easy year? I hate to say it, because then the opposite happens. I've got 6 great students who all work hard. I'm looking forward to doing a lot of fun things with them this year, beginning with Hartley in November.

Things are also looking up for me health wise. I haven't been seriously sick, just very under the weather for the past 1 1/2 months. I found out last week that my tonsils ruptured in the beginning of August, then eventually healed, but it left me with a enormous amount of inflammation that went undiagnosed and untreated until a week ago. I also found out that I had congestion in both my ears, which was driving me nuts! All that pressure and headaches.

So, after a visit to an E.N.T. doctor, I was given a heavy dose of anti-inflammatory medicine and I am also taking allergy pills. Yesterday and today are the first two days I've felt normal since the first week of August, so YEAH!!! It feels great to feel good. You don't realize how bad your attitude and your overall effectiveness are effected until you feel good again. I feel such empathy for those who suffer from chronic pain, I can't imagine what their lives are like. I know I'm a whiner when I don't feel good. Something I need to work on. Anyways, I've gotten so much done today, things I've wanted to get done for months.

I've decided to start a big project that won't need to be completed for another 2 years, but why not start now? I want to put a slide show together for Lauren's graduation from high school. I am going to begin scanning the pictures according to age and putting the slide show together according to age, as well. I'm not sure if I should buy a program or download a free one. I want something that doesn't limit the number of pictures in the slide show. Any advice out there? So, we'll see!

In other news, last Sunday was our first Fall softball game. I went telling myself I wasn't going to play because I couldn't hear and didn't feel well. Well, I played and was sorry I did. At my second time at bat, I hit a grounder to short stop. We had a guy on first, so when I realized they might get a double play on me, I tried to step up the running a notch. Step it up, I did. I ended up tripping over my shoes and skidding into first base, face first! I got up and asked our first base coach, "Did I trip over the base?" He replied, "no you were already down when you got to the base." I ended up safe and so was our player on second!! Needless to say, it was funny and I am surprised Jill didn't blog about it:) I ended up scrapping my knee, elbow and hand. I also sprained my left hand so bad that Dennis had to help me wash in the shower and dry off the next day. I think he enjoyed that alittle to much:)

My parents are leaving on Tuesday for a cruise to Hawaii and then spending extra time in Los Angeles and San Diego. I'm glad they have this time now to travel and enjoy each other, but I am sad for me. I would love to go with them. California is someplace I've been dying to visit. My time will come.

Both girls are doing well in school, Emily is in the third grade at Handley and Lauren is a sophomore at Swan Valley. I forgot to take pictures on the first day of school, something I've done since Lauren started school. What a bad mom:) So, sorry no pictures.

15 Years Ago Today...

2008-08-21T22:15:00.007-04:00

my baby was born! Yep, Lauren turned 15 today! Hard to imagine that my baby is almost grown up. We spent a quiet day hanging around the house, Lauren waiting for all her birthday calls. She had her boyfriend, Taylor, over and he gave her a really nice gold necklace for her birthday! He is a really nice guy who Dennis and I both like. When I get a picture of them together, I will post it online.

We are having a small party on Sunday for her, but tonight we went to bd's Mongolian Barbecue restaurant, in Flint, for dinner. We always allow the girls pick where they want to eat for their birthday dinners, and this was it for Lauren. We had fun, my mom went with us, my dad was supposed to as well, but he had an Elks meeting at the last minute, Lauren received a "foil" pigtail helmet, and last but not least, the dreaded stomach issues we have. Something about these types of restaurants wrecks havoc on our stomachs.

Lauren, Emily, and I all complained on the ride home of stomach cramps. Emily was the first "victim" and stunk us all out of the bathroom:) Of course, I was next up! So far Lauren is good and Dennis never has a problem, as he has a stomach of steel.

Below is a picture of Lauren with her birthday helmet.

Lauren eating her birthday dessert.

Dennis, Lauren, Emily and I posing for the camera~

She Putts, She Pitches, I Drive

2008-08-03T16:40:00.010-04:00

And so it went....Saturday Dennis and I golfed in my school's golf scramble. Dennis was on a team with our friends Joe and Mike, who we also play softball with. I was on a team with Dawn and Jill, their wives.

Dawn, Jill, and I played eighteen holes and soon discovered our respective talents, hence the title. After the first several holes, in which I couldn't hit the ball to save my life, and so Dawn replies, "either your great or your s**t", I became the driver. Most of my hits got "good air" as we would say and mostly stayed on course, except for those 3 trees I hit. Dawn was our pitcher, as she managed to get those close balls closest to the tee! Thank you, Dawn. Finally, we had our putter, Jill with some amazing putts. Great job, Jill!!

All in all, we had fun, encouraged each other, and came in last at 36 over par!! Not too bad for our first golf game, for two of us. I won't mention the jokes we played on each other, or should I? I'll let Dawn or Jill fill everyone in on these pranks. Make sure to check out their blogs for future posts.

The guys also had a great time, or so we heard. I'm told that Dennis and Joe lost many balls and were carried by Mike. These boys ended up at 8 over par. I think they paid more attention to the beer girls:)

Both of our teams received the prize for last place team, a case of toliet paper! Needless to say, we are now stocked up on toliet paper.

Dennis and I both look forward to playing in this scramble next year. It was alot of fun and raised money for a great cause, my school:)

It's Never a Dull Moment at the Bojos

2008-07-31T18:10:00.009-04:00

Tuesday afternoon my mom came over with the twins, Carter and Chloe, so they could swim with my kids. The kids played and swam while my mom and I visited. We had a nice time. I ordered Chinese for supper and we all ate up.

Right after eating, my mom and I felt sooo full, but okay. Later that night, I went to Bingo with my girlfriends. I felt okay at Bingo, still really full, bloated full. Anyways, we had a great time at Bingo, I even won $25.00!! Afterwards, I went home, Dennis is still gone, and went to sleep.

I woke up around 3am with terrible cramps and a burning sensation in my stomach. Cramps that wouldn't allow me to lay on my stomach or side. So, I got up and walked around, looked outside (it was raining, thundering, and lightening bad), checked on the girls, took 8 tums, etc. After about an hour, I went back up to bed and read a book for awhile. I couldn't fall back asleep because I felt like I was going to either puke, or go from the other end:)

So, 7:30 rolls around, I finished my book, and it was time for me to take Lauren to Driver's Ed. The cramps and burning even made it hard for me to walk. After I came home from dropping off Lauren I laid in bed for awhile, but it hurt to much. So I got up and went downstairs to watch T.V. Then my back began to hurt, as well. It was hard to sit, lay, or walk. I was not a happy camper and I couldn't eat or sleep. I made myself stay up until noonish, thinking I might fall asleep from exhaustion.

Finally, I laid down around 12:30 and the phone rang, it was Dawn. She was so excited, she had gotten her golf clubs out from storage, all happy wanting to talk about the golf scramble we were going to be in on Saturday. My response, "I've been up since 3am, I feel terrible, I'm trying to take a nap." Sorry, Dawn!!!

I tossed and turned until 3ish and then finally got out of bed. Oh, by the way, did I mention that I that I'd been having diarrhea all day, too. I was miserable, just trying to make it through the day.

Then, Dawn called again around 4:30 and said they were going to Kokomos with the Muylle's to drive some balls to practice for Saturday. All the kids were going to play putt-putt golf. Both my girls have been wanting to go there all summer. So, my thought process was, maybe if I do something I wouldn't think about how I feel and the girls could have fun with all the other kids. So, I showered, got the girls ready, looked and looked for Dennis' golf clubs, found them, and headed to Kokomos.

We arrived at Kokomos, Jill and her family was already there, so we waited a few minutes for Dawn and her family. After Dawn and family arrived, the kids went to play putt-putt while the adults went to drive balls. Before the girl worker would accept money for the driving range, she made sure to warn us about how hot it was in the dome. "No, problem," we all replied.

When she said, "hot", she meant hot!! It was like a sauna in there. I think I sweat 10 pounds off! We all hit some balls, laughed at each other, and gave advice! It was alot of fun!! Afterwards, we decided to play laser tag, boys against girls. All I can say is, "Girls rule and boys drool!" We won, of course. We had a great time and we were glad we went!

Lauren, Emily, and I headed home with a stop at McDonalds for their supper, I was in no shape or mood to cook dinner. We got home, they ate, I drank Sprite, and that was that.

I was still feeling pretty crappy, so I decided to take my temperature. It was 100.1, huh. I called my neighbor, Angela, and explained my situation and she wondered aloud if my appendix was beginning to rupture. So, I got out my new encyclopedias and looked it up. I had many of the warning signs for appendicitis, which started to freak me out. So I called my doctor's office after hours and she quickly called me back. The big thing she told me to look for was blood in my stool, if I had that then head to the ER.

Well, low and behold, 2 hours later, there was blood in my stool. I called Angela and she took me to the ER. We got there around 10 p.m.

Side note (funny story) - while I was waiting to be checked in, a guy came in holding a ice bag to his head. We heard him say he had gotten "bit" by a bee. While I was in my room later on, his room was next to mine, we heard the doctor go in to asses the situation.
The doctor asked what was wrong, his reply, "I got bit by a bee."
The doctor asked, "are you having trouble breathing?"
"No," from the guy.
"Are you feeling faint?" the doctor asked.
"No," from the guy.
"Are you allergic to bees?" the doctor asked, finally.
"No," the guy replies.
Anglela and I cracked up and then we couldn't hear the rest of the exchange. This story fits in with our neighbor who is an ER doctor who always complains that "stupid" (her words) people go the the ER for dumb things. Which reminds me, should I have gone to the ER last week when I got stung by that hornet?

Anyways, back to the story. They put me on an IV right away for dehydration, gave me anti-nausea medicine and Pepcid. They also took blood work. We waited and waited. They said the blood work would be back in 30-45 minutes. An hour later they came in to say all the blood work was good, but my lipates were elevated which could indicate a viral infection. It wasn't the Chinese food, which I had thought all along. I was still in alot of abdominal pain, though.

So, they ordered some narcotics. The nurse came in with 4 vials of narcotics to add to the IV line. Wow, they made me high, but they instantly took away the pain. I finally got released around 1 a.m. Which is around the time Dennis was arriving home from his work trip to Kentucky. I had told him where I was, but when I was talking earlier to him, the doctor came in to tell me about the blood work. After the doctor left, I had forgotten to call Dennis back.

Angela and I pull into my driveway and Dennis' truck was gone, which has been parked there all week because he had been in his work truck. The phone rang and it was Dennis. He was wondering where I was, I told him I was at home and he told me he was at the hospital. Awwwh! He was so worried, that when he got home at 12:45ish he went to the emergency room, mind you I discovered later the wrong emergency room. I was at St. Mary's on Tittabawassee and he went to Covenant on Michigan. Finally, after he got home we went to bed and I didn't wake up until 12 noon the next day! Must of been the medicine.

The story doesn't end there. The next day, when I woke up, I was greeted by none other than a migraine headache!! Yeah!! I had forgotten from previous ER experiences, that narcotics often give you what is called a kick-back headache. So, I took some of my migraine medicine and headed back to bed. I woke again around 3 p.m. and a couple hours later I began to feel more human.

So, it feels good to be back in the world again, regretfully two days of my week were wasted. But, what can you do. I was just thankful it was nothing serious and I can still kick some butt in our golf scramble on Saturday:)

God Help Him, Now

2008-07-25T16:15:00.003-04:00

The trials and tribulations of driving with your teenage daughter:) Dennis took Lauren today to return some videos to Family Video on Bay Road.

I turned to watch as Lauren was pulling in the driveway and all I saw was Dennis' hands on the wheel steering her away from the house. Lauren came in, looked at me (her face was red and on the verge of tears), and went to her room. Dennis followed, sat on the couch and told me that we wasted our money on driver's training:) He said he can't do it anymore, that she needs to drive with her Papa.

He was telling me that she doesn't do the same things I've already said, but now he has experienced the same terrifying loss of control that I've experienced and will have to continue to experience. Lucky me!!

So we'll keep everyone posted on our fun times with helping her learn to drive.

God Help Me

2008-07-21T15:43:00.002-04:00

Please pray with me, because I'm gonna need it! I just came back from riding in the car with Lauren while she was driving since she now has her official pink slip to drive with parents. She begged me to take her out and I warned her that I wasn't going to do well, but she insisted!!

I needed to take my purse to the dry cleaners which is less than 5 miles away, but it is also on State Street. So, off we go and all I can say is someone else needs to step in for me because I don't think I can do this with her. Where are all my friends when I need them?

I was a nervous wreck and now I've got a migraine from the stress. She didn't do that bad, but she is sooo inexperienced at turning, pulling out, and stopping. I was yelling, "Stop, Stop, Stop," because she is obviously a fan of stopping when he gets right up on the car. I need that emergency brake on my side! Anyone know how much those cost to install and where I can get one?

Needless to say, we made it, but not without loss of years on my life. Her legs were shaking while she was driving, I was raising my voice, and then finally we made it home alive. That is until next time.

She tells me, "you are going to have to get used to this." Boy, I don't know how many more times I can handle this anxiety! To be continued...

Another One Bites the Dust.....

2008-07-21T04:05:00.004-04:00

Yesterday, my softball team had our tournaments. We were moved up a division being that we were 5-2, so I was nervous about our chances of winning. Also, our neighbors had their annual party, which meant a really, really late night and alcohol for three of our players, one being my husband.

Needless to say, it was an interesting game. We got behind in the beginning of the game, which surely couldn't have been caused by the following: the lopsided ball, the other team's deceiving line up, no numbers on their jerseys, the other team also trying to add a different player during the middle of the game, Sniper Bob yelling at our score keeper, and the umpire chaning his calls, which was their winning run!

Going into the seventh inning we were down, 7-4 and we were at the bottom of our line-up. It was time for a RALLY!!! Jill and I had made the decision at the beginning of the game to space out our good hitters, with several towards the end of the line-up. Well, the end of the line-up came through and we all got base hits and scored two runs. We had two outs, one player on third and at the top of our line-up. Our fingers were crossed, but unfortunately, it was a pop-fly hit to third base, GAME OVER!!

Everyone did a good job, we had fun and that is what is important!!! As the saying goes, there is always next year or more importantly, fall ball!!

Little bit of this, little bit of that.......

2008-07-18T20:43:00.007-04:00

Well, it's been one week since we have finally been able to swim in our pool! We have the perfect spot for a pool because our backyard receives full sunlight for most of the day. The pool temperature stays mostly around 78 degrees without a solar cover!

Both Lauren and Emily have been enjoying the pool, and inviting friends over, as well! We swim daily and enjoying the refreshing dip!

In other news, Lauren has completed one week of driver's education classes. She has driven on the road twice this week, with today being the second day. She said the first time she drove, "It was easy." Today, she was asked to drive in more populated areas, merge with traffic, change lanes, etc. and she said, "Today was more stressful, Mom, I don't think I did well today." So, we'll see. I dread the day when I have to start driving with her, being it is coming Monday!! She will get her pink slip, which allows her to drive with me. I could handle it, if I only had that emergency break on my side of the car as well!

Emily, left unexpectedly today for Chicago. Her best friend was going to Chicago for a dance competition; when her mom brought Emily home from a sleepover she asked if Emily could come with them. Aargh! I had to back for 5 days, as she won't be home until Wednesday, and pull everything together in 15 minutes. I hope she has fun and enjoys herself. I will miss her, but I think I might surprise her and paint her room while she is gone, we'll see.

As for Dennis, he keeps himself busy doing this and that for the pool. Building a solar cover holder, vacuuming the pool, swimming, etc. It think he is enjoying the pool, as well. I finally got him to put down some mulch today in our landscaping, which I have asking for him to do all summer. Yeah! Today, I reminded him that his last summer project was to wash the outside of the house!! It needs it really bad, so hopefully he can get to it.

The Fourth at the Yacht Club

2008-07-08T21:47:00.006-04:00

My dad has been a member of the Bay City Yacht Club since I was in high school and I've always enjoyed spending time out on the boat with family. Every year we go out on the boat for the Bay City fireworks. We always have great seats, just yards away from where they are shot off from. This year was no different, except Dennis got called away for work to Detroit, which he hated. He did make it back in time to head out with us to the fireworks.

We spent a nice relaxing day at the Yacht Club with my parents and many extended family. We had a cook out and played some bean bag toss and then we all piled into our boats for the trip to our "spot", which takes about an hour to. We pulled into our spot with 30 minutes until show time. I have to say, the Bay City fireworks are definitely worth seeing, we really enjoyed the show!

P.S. The pool guys came yesterday and finally installed the hose to fix the filter, and..... Dennis noticed today that it still leaks:) It is a very small leak, but I guess it shouldn't leak one drop. So, we'll see!

Also, my electrician came by last week to look at what we wanted and give me an estimate. After giving me the estimate, he said he would be over Monday and work all day to do the job. Monday came and went, no electrician. Aargh!

I can't seem to win with this pool! I called my dad to get some names of electrician and one came over today to see what we needed, he said he would call tonight or tomorrow with an estimate. Then, later in the day, one of my student's parents called me and we got to talking, well low and behold, the dad does electrical work!! Yeah, he came over later in the day and will be coming tomorrow morning to start working on the pool circuit!!! Finally, we might get this pool operational;)

The Saga Continues....

2008-07-02T18:59:00.002-04:00

Well, guess what? The story of the pool doesn't end, yet! Brace yourselves:)

The night of the pool installation, the installers used a Bobcat to dig and level out the ground. Well, they couldn't get into our backyard unless they went through our neighbor's yard, the neighbor who is 90+ years old and lives in a nursing home. The house is empty, with my neighbor's children checking in from time to time.

Dennis gave the OK for them to go through the neighbor's yard into our yard. Needless to say, the Bobcat somewhat tore up the neighbor's yard. The grass is flattened, there was dried mud on the grass, and there is some flattening of the ground where the Bobcat was spinning out.

Since Dennis has been gone all week, I've been doing little things to repair the grass, with the help of Angela's brother, Ken. We raked the dried mud and raked the grass to help with the flattening, but there is still worked that needs to be done to repair it.

Today, I received a "nice" email from my neighbor's son about how shocked he was to see the back yard and wanting to make sure that we were going to repair the damage to the grass and level out the ground where the Bobcat flattened it. "He doesn't want to sound b*****, because we have done so much for him and his mother." AARGH!!

These are the same people whom we shoveled their driveway, mowed their grass, cooked food for their mother, carried heavy appliances out of the house, etc. all without any reimbursement expected. Nice neighborly thing to do, right!! Just give me a hole to crawl into!!

So, the story goes, the pool is adding so much joy to our lives, thus far! And on a side note, the leaky filter was a cracked hose. Still waiting to get that fixed:)

The Best Fisherwoman in the World

2008-07-02T09:14:00.005-04:00

My dad called to see if the kids wanted to go fishing in the Bay yesterday and Lauren said, "Yeah!" Emily was at her cousin's house and they didn't want to go. So, it was perfect bonding time for the first born grandchild with her grandpa. She was so excited, I didn't know she liked to fish so much. She certainly doesn't get her fishing ambition from me!!

They were gone all day, left at 10 a.m. and Lauren didn't get home until 11:30 p.m. My dad said Lauren had a great time with her second or third, (not sure exactly what)cousins, Logan and Hunter, who we often spend time with in the summer. They fished, with Lauren catching the BIGGEST walleye of all them. Everone was holding it and taking their pictures with it. Lauren, Logan, and Hunter also swam in the freezing cold waters of the Bay!!! Finally, Lauren drove the boat all the way back to the Yacht Club. She had a great time and loved spending time with my dad, alone! Below are pictures of her with my dad and her fish and then her driving the boat home. Enjoy!

It's Pool Time....Soon

2008-07-01T21:07:00.007-04:00

Boy, Oh, Boy! I completely underestimated the simplicity of installing a pool! Dennis and I took the plunge and purchased a 24 foot above ground pool. We all enjoy spending our summers swimming and always have. Emily has recently become more proficient in swimming. She swam really well in Florida and is trying to learn how to keep herself afloat while swimming. Lauren loves to swim and have her friends over to swim. Sooo we thought what a great investment a pool would be.....

There are many things we did not even think about when we decided to do this. First and foremost, we purchased the pool from Beattie Pool and got a good deal. The next big decision, installation! Dennis refused to even think about installing it himself, so we contacted pool installers recommended by Beattie.

The first thing we had to do was coordinate the day the pool was going to be installed. Dennis scheduled the sand to be delivered between 8-12, the pool installers were scheduled for 12 noon, and the water delivery would be around 2 p.m.

We figured the pool would be completed around supper time, so Dennis and I planned a nice "date night". My sister had taken the kids for the weekend, which allowed us to have some alone time. We definitely had our alone time, all day.

The sand arrived on time and took about 5 minutes to dump in the driveway.
Next, we waited and waited and waited for the pool installers. They ended up showing up at our house at 7 p.m. Being they only had several more hours of daylight left, they went at the task with gusto! They faced many obstacles, the first being getting to our backyard. They ended up going through our neighbors, which I now have to find a way to fix the dried mud and deadened grass. The next obstacle was the impending darkness. Two of the installers assembled the filter, which now leaks, in the darkness. As if the darkness wasn't enough stress for these guys, it began to rain, lightening, and thunder. Wow! One of the workers commented about how he loved to work at 110% at the end of the day. They ended up finishing the job at 10:30ish during the downpour.

After the pool wall and liner were installed, the water boy began to pump his 7,000 gallons of water in the pool, which only filled half of the pool. We were still left to finish filling the pool the rest of the way, being we only wanted to pay the water boy $200.00 up front for the water. Below is a picture of the water boy, AKA "Padington Bear" as we called him.

The story doesn't end there. The pool installers dug out, from our backyard, and deposited in our driveway 10 yards of dirt and grass in order to have level ground for the pool.
10 yards of dirt is ALOT of dirt. We didn't know what to do with it, I called nurserys, landscapers and noone wanted our dirt!:) Finally, Angela and I went driving around looking for signs of fill dirt wanted; we finally found one on Midland Road. Dennis and Angela's brother, Ken spent the ENTIRE day, Saturday, shoveling dirt into the truck and then out of the truck in some guys yard off of Midland Road.

Sunday, Dennis had to go to Kentucky for work and left us with strict instructions that we wouldn't be able to swim until he got back on Friday. So, we had an installed pool, no chemicals, no ladder installed, and a leaky filter.

Monday, I called the electrician to give us an estimate on installing a pool circuit. I also called the pool installers to fix the leaky filter. Both said they would be out sometime Monday. Lauren and I waited around at home all day. Finally, around 8 p.m. we decided to go get dinner and rent some movies. Wouldn't you know, during this time, the electrician stopped by and we weren't home. So, Tuesday morning I called both people again. The electrician finally stopped by and gave us an estimate, and I am still waiting for the pool guys to fix the leaky filter. Until the filter is fixed, we can't fill the pool up past the skimmer, because if leaks out! So, tomorrow I'll call again, and this time I'm alittle more miffed!

Dennis will finally be home Thursday night and we will then go get chemicals and he will get them in the pool, as well as the ladder. Hopefully the leak will be fixed by then and we will be able to swim in the pool by Tuesday, (the electriaian isn't installing the circuit until Monday).

It has been an experience, with so many unexpected expenditures! Everything cost so much money and we still need to buy stones for around the perimeter and install some type of walk way to keep the grass and dirt out of the pool, Dennis' insistance because we all know how he is Mr. Clean:) It makes sense, but it is soo him!

Whew!!

2008-06-24T14:30:00.003-04:00

Yeah, I'm finally caught up on my blogs!! I've been working on getting the pictures online, which was taking forever being Jill took pictures of EVERYTHING!! Serioulsy, though thanks, Jill for all the great pictures!

It's been one thing after another since school got out. We went to Florida for 10 days, Emily and Lauren had their dance recital, I flew to NYC, we had our yearly garage sale, we are having a 24foot above ground pool installed, we had a double header softball game in which I played my heart out and I now feel like I've seriously been run over by a semi, and lastly I have an educational conference in Lansing tomorrow.

I'm looking forward to a more calm and relaxing rest of the summer. I've enjoyed all the activities, but I need to chill, now! Hope all is well with everyone! Take care! Now I have to work on getting all my pictures printed and put into frames or photo albums!

New York City Times Three:)

2008-06-24T13:02:00.013-04:00

Well, as most everyone knows, I flew to NYC with three girlfriends from work earlier this week, making this my third trip to the city. We flew in Monday morning and flew home Wednesday morning.

During the school year, Jill casually mentioned that if I ever found cheap tickets to NYC that she would go. As it happened, in May I found cheap tickets and rounded everyone up, getting Lupe to call me ASAP by stating it was an EMERGENCY, and someone else I had to badger into going, but I won't mention any names.

I am the last one to blog about our trip so I'm going to just highlight some of the fun and interesting things for me. Make sure you check out Dawn's and Jill's blogs for a more in dept recap of our 2 days in the city.

I HUGE shout out to Dawn for helping me manage both flights. I was a nervous wreck because I really dislike flying. My flights to and from Florida were rough, with the one coming home even dropping significantly in the air. The woman next to me yelled, "What the ****!" I was seriously dreading this trip because of the flights, but Dawn talked to me the whole time, made me laugh, gossiped, watched a movie, and didn't make me feel like a fool for having to use the bathroom so much:)

We left Detroit on time and would have arrived early in NYC but there was haze, which put us into a holding patten high in the sky. Thus, more anxiety for me, but we landed on time and found a cab no problem. Off to the city we went!!! We saw Shea Stadium on the way, which was cool!

We were a block away from our hotel when I heard Dawn say, "Oh, no!", followed by a grinding crunch and long scrap. The driver pulled over and I said, "We can get out here and walk to the hotel, no problem." I didn't want to be a part of two cabbies yelling at each other. Isn't that what we see on TV? The cab driver replied, "No, I will take you to the hotel." So, we proceeding the one block to the hotel. When he pulled up again, the other cab driver, who had hit us was there. Our cab driver asked, "You okay?, I'm okay!" and off the other driver went. They were so nice!! I guess cab drivers don't mind hitting each other?

Dawn and I went to check in while Lupe and Jill stayed outside, on my command. (I didn't know if we would get charged extra.) After much anxiety and waiting, we finally checked into our room, freshened up for the day and headed out. We met up with Amanda, Lauren, and Amanda's mother for lunch at one of the many soup, salad, and sandwich places NYC has to offer.

After lunch, we decided to do the Double Decker buses. I've been on them both of the times I've visited, but really enjoyed both trips. We took the Uptown bus and headed for Central Park. Last time I was in the city, my sister and I walked all over Central Park with out kids looking for the zoo. We didn't' see much, so it was nice to see so much this time. It was great to see the John Lennon memorial, Strawberry Fields, the Boathouse and Pond, and Cherry Hill! After walking around Central Park, we decided to get back on the bus. We got on the downtown bus and headed for the sights downtown. On the way we got caught in a rain storm, which was fun, if you like pouring rain, blowing plastic ponchos, and wind. We ended this day with a fun meal at the Brazilian restaurant, Plataforma, I found on the Internet. Four tired girls, no kids, wine, and a good time was had by all:) I think we got back to our room around 11:30 p.m.

The next day we planned to do the Today show, Ground Zero, the Statue of Liberty, the musical Hairspray, and Chinatown. We had to get up early to go to the Plaza for the Today show. We arrived shortly after 7 a.m. and soon after Billy Ray Cyrus was there. It was neat to see him so close up, even those he didn't sing. I had so much fun doing the whole Today Show thing. I got to shake hands with Al Roker and Meredith Viera and I also got my picture taken with Al and Piers Morgan, the most recent winner of The Apprentice. We all got on TV at one point or another, yeah!! Again, this was another thing I had wanted to do and hadn't done on previous trips. Make sure you check out Joe's blog because he has a few clips of when we were on TV. What a great time!!

After the Today Show, we took the subway to Battery Park for the Statue of Liberty ferry. This was another thing new for me, and fun. We took the ferry over, ran into our friends from school, ate a cold and crappy meal, took lots of pictures, ticked off a woman who wanted to have a seat and view on the ferry over:) One or the other was all you could hope for, you either satisfied your eyes or your feet! Oh, and I can't forget to tell you about the personal rubber item used to prevent pregnancy Dawn spied in the water:)hehe!!

Towards Ground Zero and St. Paul's church we headed, next! It's amazing how silent everyone becomes at these sites. I've been to both before, but was glad to revisit them and refresh my memory. We took a tour of some sites at Ground Zero and received a talk from a Ground Zero survivor, which was extremely moving. If I could have brought the man home, I would have. The most moving part for me was the American Express memorial in the World Financial Center. It was incredibly touching!!

Needing to boost our spirits, we headed into the outlandish world of Chinatown! I've done this scene before, so it was nothing new. Dawn, Lupe, and Jill couldn't get over the people, the hidden markets, and the persistance of the people. After everyone was done purchasing the goods, we rushed back to the hotel room to freshen up for the musical.

We had to walk qucikly and couldn't stop for batteries for Jill's camera because it was exteremly important that we arrive early, even though we had assigned seats:) Love you, Dawn!! The show was super, we had great seats, and again we ticked off an old man because we stopped to gawk at the stage. He was shaking his cane at me!! Finally, we got signatures from Ashely Angel Parker, Marissa Perry, and Kevin Meaney, who had lead parts in the musical. Being it was so late, we decided to eat at the diner next to the hotel. Again, four tired girls, no kids, water this time, and a good time was had by all!!

We took one last trip up to the 35th floor, pack our suitcases, and went to bed. The return flight home was uneventful, but I am glad we took the morning flight after talking to our school friend, Amanda. She took the 4 p.m. flight with her family and ended up sitting on the tarmac for 4 hours! Yuck! Everyone made it home safe and we had a fablous time! Can't wait to do this again, maybe next time we might let the guys come:)

Dance Around the World

2008-06-24T09:34:00.006-04:00

Two Saturdays ago, (Yes, I know I'm behind), Lauren and Emily had their dance recital. We got lucky and were home in time from Florida to make the dance rehearsal and recital. I booked our trip to Floirda more than a year in advance. We got back from Florida on Wednesday and had the dress rehearsal on Thursday for 5 hours and then the dance recital was Saturday from 4-7 p.m.

Both girls did an amazing job! Now for the funnies - Lauren had a breakdown at the rehearsal because her teacher changed her hip hop dance while we were in Florida and her friends gave her grieve about showing her the new moves. Girls can be so mean. She cried and told me that she wasn't going to do that dance, and I told her to buck up and she was going to do it. Eventually, her teacher showed her the new moves and her new "spot", which made her feel alittle better. She ended up doing the best at this dance during the recital.

She was off on her lyrical dance because she kept messing with her undergarment. Explanation - The night before her recital, she was told by her teacher that she couldn't go bra less, she would need a brown bra or a strapless bra. So, off to Wal-Mart we headed. She tried on many bras and found two that would work. She had a regular brown bra and a strapless one. I told her to wear the brown one during the recital. Which one do you thing she wore, being that she always does the opposite of what I say? She wore the strapless one, and ended up holding herself the entire dance.

Now for Emily - In September when dance started, Emily was 7 years old, so I put her in the 5-7 years old class. Her teacher said she was too good for that class and moved her up to the 8-10 years old class. Emily came home from the first class bawling and saying it was way too hard. I like things to be challenging for my children, so I explained to her that because it was hard, she would learn more.

Fast forward to the night of the recital - Now it was my turn to be nervous for Emily, wondering how she would do compared to all the older girls in her class. Would you be able to tell she was the youngest? Would she screw up? Would she be hidden in the back? She did great!! I shouldn't have expected any less from my perfectionist daughter! She was perfect, knew both dances to a tee and she was front and center for most of both dances! All WAS well, until?

The finalie - All the students are on stage together, with all the students 7 and under receiving a dollar store baton to shake. I knew watching the finalie, that Emily was going to be upset that she didn't receive one. I wasn't prepared for how upset she was going to be!! She had a total meltdown and acted like a spoiled brat!! I was stunned and embarassed! She wouldn't smile for the pictures, nothing!! Needless to say, we have very few pictures, I was stressed, Emily was crying, she will never get a baton, the night ended badly, I eventually calmed down, Emily apologized.

Busch Gardens - Part 2

2008-06-23T22:49:00.001-04:00

Clearwater Beach - Part 1

2008-06-23T20:33:00.001-04:00

Busch Gardens

2008-06-11T11:20:00.004-04:00

It's been a few days since my last post, but we haven't done too much. On Saturday Dennis and the girls went fishing, while Debbie and I ran some errands. Sunday we attended Debbie & Bill's new church. It was interesting, the first half hour was songs and the next hour was baptism and testimonials, finally it ended with a sermon from a missionary from Chile, who spoke no English. He had an interpreter, who had a heavy accent, as well. Needless to say, I didn't catch a word of what he said:) After church, we went to eat at Sonny's Restaurant, it is the one restaurant that I have to eat at when we come down here. They have the BEST smoked pork. On Monday, we swam in the pool at Dennis' grandpa's mobile home park and then had a picnic there. It was a nice pool and fun!!

Finally, Busch Gardens!! We got to the park right as it opened, and hightailed it to the Rhino Rally ride. Debbie and Bill said it was one of the best rides. It is a fun safari ride through the safari where you are on land and float in the water. After this ride we went to the various other rides, Lauren's favorite ride was the kite zip-line ride in Jungala, Dennis' favorite was the Critter Castaway show, Emily's favorite ride was the Cheetah Chase, which is like the Mouse Trap ride at Michigan Adventure, and my favorite ride was the the Cheetah Chase, as well. We had a great time, it was still scorching hot, but we survived.

We left to go home one hour before the park closed, and went to eat at Olive Gardens. After we got back to the hotel, we went for a walk on the beach, with our glow sticks:) Everyone had glow sticks so they could be easily spotted.

Today, Dennis and Bill are deep sea fishing. Emily and Debbie are down at the beach, with Emily picking shells and building sand castles. Lauren was laying out at the pool. I've got to go, Emily just informed me that she built an AWESOME sand castle and wants me to come see it. I'll post a slide show later today or tonight of Busch Gardens. Tomorrow we come home, I miss my home:)

OMG, It Is Sooo Hot!!

2008-06-06T19:12:00.004-04:00

Wow, the heat is scorching! I've forgotten how hot it gets down here! We spent the day at the pool yesterday at the Nickelodeon Hotel in Orlando. For anyone visiting Orlando, I would recommend this hotel and the experience.

The hotel has two main pools with various slides and water gadgets. Lauren and Emily both enjoyed themselves, with Emily even going outside her comfort zone and going on the water slides. It is the first time she has ever done that, believe me I've begged, threatened, and pleaded. She said it was because the slides were open on the top:) The hotel staff even played games with the kids and adults by the pool. Many of these games involved ICE water, SLIME, or other various gross liquids. Speaking of gross liquids, the hotel has a mass slime event everyday, which both girls enjoyed, as well.

After swimming for most of the day, we washed and fixed ourselves up to have dinner, which was delicious. Next, the girls played in the game room and we also watched several Nick movies that were 4D. The attendent girl explained that 4D was the bubbles, smells, water, and various other elements. It was alot of fun!! Finally, we ended our day at "Club Slime". This was one big club event, with: slime pretzels, drinks, pudding, hair, pictures, and dancing. We all got to learn to do the "slime slide" and put together a "slime puzzle". It was a great way to end the day!!

Tomorrow the girls are planning on going fishing with Dennis and his dad. I bowed out of this, too hot!! Debbie and I will hang out at home. We might run by my old house because my parents always like to know if anything has changed.

Monday we are heading for the beach for 4 days. We will leave for the airport from there. I'll post more pictures soon! Miss everyone!!

Nick,Nick,Nick, Nickelodeon....

2008-06-06T15:56:00.001-04:00

We're Here:)

2008-06-03T21:53:00.003-04:00

Well, I'm still alive:) It was a rough flight!! Sooo bumpy!! Anyways, we made it safely and the girls had fun on the plane! Below is a picture of them waiting to board the plane.

Today we just visited with Dennis' parents and grandma. It's been over 2 years since we've seen some of Dennis' family. Tonight we played LCR. Lauren and Emily both won a game, with a big winnings of $2.10.

Dennis' mom has a bird, whose name is Princess!! Lauren and Emily love her and are afraid of her at the same time. She flies into them and scares the daylight out of them. I'm enclosing a picture of Emily with the bird.

Tomorrow we are heading to the Millennium Mall in Orlando with lunch at Sweet Tomato, which is a restaurant that I've been waiting to eat at. We've been to the Millennium Mall before, but it is soo huge and I'm always up for the mall!!

Florida or Bust!!

2008-06-02T20:29:00.002-04:00

Hello Everyone!!

It's been awhile since I've posted again, blame it on the last few weeks of school. Yep, I am done with school for the summer, 3 whole months off from work!!! Yeah!

Lauren has spent the last week taking exams and Emily has finished school today. Lauren is now a sophomore!! We met Emily's teacher at McDonalds yesterday so she could say goodbye to Emily. (She had professional development today and wanted to say goodbye).

Well, our summer vacation officially begins tomorrow!!! We are flying off to Florida to stay with Dennis' parents for 10 days. Dennis' mom has a lot of fun things planned, so I will post pictures while we are down there. We will go to Busch Gardens, spend 3 days at Clearwater Beach, etc. The girls are extremely excited, they love Florida. So, I'll try and keep everyone up-to-date on what fun we are having!! Looks like we will be having warm weather here in Michigan while we are gone, so I won't feel so bad:)

Happy Birthday Emily!!

2008-05-10T18:15:00.011-04:00

Emily's birthday was this past Monday!! It is hard to believe that 8 years have past since she was born. We had her birthday this past Friday since we had prior commitments every weekend this month. It was a small party, which was nice, but we still had a good time. She received several more Webkinz animals and her new Nintendo DS from mom and dad. It was nice to get together with family and friends. By the end of the night, Emily had me talked into letting her cousin, neighbor friend, and school friend spend the night. Below is a picture of Emily at her party.

Saturday morning we all got up early to watch Emily play soccer on her school league. We enjoyed watching her team play. But when I speak of Emily playing, I say it lightly. Emily mostly stood around watching the ball pass her by. She is too afraid to get hurt, so she doesn't get involved. She isn't much of a contact sport person, as Dennis stated so precisely, "This isn't her sport." Anyways, it was fun and we thought we would give it a try. Below are some pictures of the game and the girls that went with us.

Last, but certainly not least. Lauren was recently invited to the high school award's ceremony. She received a Magna Cum Laude award for her Freshman school year. She did an amazing job this year with her grades. Dennis and I are very proud of her. She has really pulled it together and done very well, grade wise.

To round out all this "happy" news, I can share that we are now broke after getting my car fixed:) It broke down Mother's Day and has been in the shop ever since. I should be getting it back tomorrow, after I find that money tree:) Anyways, pray that nothing else goes wrong with my car, we have put almost $4000.00 into it within the past 2 months, and we need a reprieve. Dennis jokingly mentioned that I wouldn't be able to afford my trip to NYC in June and I added that we ALSO wouldn't be able to afford his hunting trip in November. He didn't say too much after that. I think I got my point across.

Finally, an Answer

2008-05-09T17:15:00.004-04:00

As most of you know the second week of April I took my students to Hartley Outdoor Nature Camp. The class that I was helping to teach was the Ecology class. During this class, the students were expected to investigate the forest and its surroundings.

On our first class outing Monday afternoon, I picked up some leaves off the forest floor thinking it was wintergreen, so the students could smell it. One of my students said, "Mrs. Bojo, I think that is poison ivy." Another student chimed in, "No, it is too early for poison ivy." So, okay, I thought.

Fast forward to that Wednesday night. I began to break out in a rash on my legs. It soon spread to my thighs and then my arms. It also itched like crazy. I went to the doctors and he didn't know what it was and gave me an antibiotic and itch medicine.

A week later the rash on my legs and arms were gone, but the itching persisted. Back to the doctors I went to have him tell me I have dry skin. Another week went by and the itching persisted, but wasn't as bad.

Then this past Tuesday, while I was at work, I went to the bathroom. When I was washing my hands, I looked in the mirror and I noticed red spots all around my eyes and down the left side of my face. Within a day, it spread to my forehead, other cheek and down my neck. So, I called my doctor's office and he told me to go to a dermatologist. It was late in the afternoon that day, so I went to RediMed. Again, this doctor told me he didn't know what I have, but gave me three prescriptions to take.

This past Wednesday, the rash got worse and then Thursday I called the dermatologist to make an appointment. Today, Firday, I went to the dermatologist, who was a very nice man, and he told me that I have Poison Ivy.

Finally, someone knew why I was itching and breaking out. He tells me that I need to rewash everything. Nice!! Sounds like fun. So, Lucky Me!!! Now I know what the deal is and I hope to have it cleared up soon. We'll see!!

Dawn's Surprise Party

2008-05-04T21:24:00.001-04:00

Dawn's Surprise

2008-05-04T21:22:00.005-04:00

Several weeks ago, Dennis and I went with friends from my work to a Detroit Tiger's game for a surprise party for our friend and coworker, Dawn. Above are pictures from our night in the suite. Enjoy!

Smooth Sailing

2008-05-01T06:18:00.002-04:00

Well, our re-accreditation is over!! They recommended our school for accreditation!! Yeah!! It wasn't so bad and there was no need to be so nervous. Everyone was really nice and said so many positive things about our school. So, it is smooth sailing from now until May 30th (the last day of school). It is hard to believe that this school year is almost over. It flew by!

This and That

2008-04-27T15:30:00.013-04:00

The past couple of weeks have been a blur of this and that. It's been awhile since I've posted, so I'll try to update you on what I've (we've) been up to over the past couple of weeks.

Two weeks ago on Monday through Wednesday I took my 5th and 6th graders to Hartley Outdoor Nature Camp. The kids got to discover many new and interesting things. They found a goose's nest with 5 eggs in it that was being guarded by the father!! We also found a snake pit! I didn't get too close, as I dislike even looking at snakes! Students learned more about the local mine industry that was discovered on Hartley's grounds. Also, they got to participate in an Archaeological dig with many finding interesting items, such as tools. Lastly, and most importantly, they participated in a "Game Show" that required them to work together. It was a blast! We had a lot of fun and everyone came home exhausted. It took me two days to recover!! Below is a picture of me with my girls at the Recreation night on Monday.

Thursday and Friday were spent recovering from Hartley and then Saturday I spent the entire day at my school coaching our volleyball teams. Our head coach wasn't in town and so it was up to Julie, Lupe, and I to coach the teams. Both teams had 3 matches with 3 games for each match. We had games starting at 9am and finishing up at 3pm. It was a long day!! Both teams won all their matches. Yeah!! Our 5th and 6th grade team ended their season being undefeated and the 7th and 8th grade team was in first place, even though they had lost two prior games.

Dennis and the girls spent the day helping my dad at the Yacht club cleaning and whatever it is they do:) They had fun and spent time with my dad out, so it was a win, win!

This past week seemed to be a blur! Between having an Anniversary dinner for my parents who celebrated their 41st wedding Anniversary, helping to pull off, surprise, and attend Dawn's 30th Birthday party at Co America park in a party suite, attending a CPR/First Aid class, and last but not least, calling in everyday, sometimes two times a day, to see if I had to serve my jury duty. Where do I begin?

First, and most importantly, I am proud of my parents for keeping it together for 41 years! Dennis and I recently celebrated our 15th year together and it isn't always easy, so I'm proud of them for setting a good example for their children.

Next, Dawn's party! What fun it was: keeping the secret, driving down to Detroit with good friends and laughing about everything, decorating the party suite, and lastly, surprising Dawn. Her reaction was priceless. She was shocked and rendered speechless for much of the night. I'm thankful that we were invited to be a part of Dawn's special day. At the moment I can't find my camera, so I'll post pictures when I find it.

This weekend was filled with volleyball tournaments, again! The 5th and 6th grade had their tournament on Saturday and the 7th and 8th grade had their tournament on Sunday. Being that Dawn had a prior commitment, Julie, Lupe, and I drove up to Pinconning to coach the 5th and 6th grade team to a hopeful victory. Being that we were undefeated, I suspected that everyone was gunning for us. Boy, was I right! We played the first match and won easily. Our next match was with a team we had beat before, but they came in strong. They won the first game, we won the second game. The third game was a nail biter, but they pulled out the win! What a bummer that was! I was so proud of the kids for doing so well the entire season, but it just wasn't meant to be. Oh-well, there is always next year.

Sunday we were planning on driving back up to Pinconning to cheer on the 7th and 8th grade team, but I woke up with a migraine. So we stayed home and prayed for a win, which unfortunately, didn't happen as well. The 7th and 8th grade team was taken down by the same team that took down the 5th and 6th grade team. So, while both teams had a great season, they didn't do well in the tournaments. I had a fun time coaching and look forward to helping next year!

Saturday Dennis took Emily to her first soccer game. She decided to try out the sport and see if she liked it. They only had two practices before their first game, with Emily only attending one practice. She had dance class on the first day of practice. I was sorry that I had to miss her first game, but I didn't want to miss the finally volleyball games. Emily has 4 more soccer games, so I'm good. Anyways, Dennis said Emily did good. Shy, but good. She got the ball 3-4 times and ran with it. I'll post pictures again, when I find my camera.

Well, that about sums up the past two weeks. Nothing much going on with Lauren, except she is starting to get back with boyfriend #1, who we liked alot. We'll see, she seems to be finicky. This upcoming week is looking to be intense, being that our school is going through a re-accreditation. You'll find me at the bar Wednesday night when it is all over:)

The Bar Not the Freezer

2008-04-12T20:15:00.003-04:00

Another Emily funny:) This past week after picking up a bunch of canned vegetables at Krogers, they were on sale and everyone knows that I like sales. Anyways, I asked Emily to put them away in the bar (downstairs we have a bar setup which we use for food storage). I didn't think any more about it until last night.

I asked Lauren to put some meat in the freezer for me. After putting the meat in the freezer, she ran back upstairs and said to me quizzically, "Mom, did you put canned vegetables in the freezer?" I said, "No, why?" and she answered, "because there are a bunch of canned vegetables in the freezer." It dawned on me then, oh, Emily. Lauren and I went downstairs and I called Dennis and Emily downstairs. After they met us downstairs, I opened the freezer and said, "who did this?" We all started laughing, and Emily said, "Oh, I thought you told me to put them in the freezer." Needless to say, we now have a bunch of canned vegetables that have been frozen. It will be interesting to see if they are still good once they are defrosted!

Anyways, today we got up early and drove to East Tawas for our volleyball games. I help coach our school's volleyball teams. It was a long drive, but we got there early, so we had lunch before the games. The 5th and 6th grade team played 2 games and they won both. They are still undefeated. Yeah!!! The 7th and 8th grade team unfortunately lost their game and have now lost 2 games, which is still good. I find myself getting so involved in these games. They are so intense for me and I love watching them play. I never played volleyball in high school, but I am really enjoying helping to coach these girls and boys!

Dennis and I just finished watching the movie, The Number 23, which was a weird movie. I don't think I would recommend it. Now we are watching, The Departed, the jury is still out on this one for me, lots of swearing:)

Emily, just ran in here to announce in her "younger sister" voice, that Lauren's new boyfriend is a sophomore. Lauren is yelling at her from the other room, So, we'll see. Boyfriend number one has already asked her to be his girlfriend again, she said, "No." If I had my way, I would've said, "Yes." I can't help that I like him.

Well, gotta go, Dennis is giving me the eyes(making sure I am watching his movie, since he watched mine). ~Amy

Doldrums and Boyfriends

2008-04-07T22:54:00.002-04:00

What a boring weekend I had. I didn't go to the store or anywhere. I spent most of the weekend in my pajamas grading papers! Yuck! Although it always feels good when I get them done, a necessary evil!:)

Now for the boyfriend part. Throughout my high school years I always remember my parents telling me to get my head in my studies and and away from the boys. I did like the boys, but not excessively. They say you get paid back in spades, right. Enter my first born daughter, Lauren.

Lauren is a freshman this year and hasn't shown any interest in boys until 3-4 months ago. I was beginning to worry. Finally, she had her first boyfriend, who we really got to like! Within 2 months, she broke up with him and was with a new guy. Her new boyfriend was okay, not the first one, whom we had gotten close to. Well, tonight she broke up with boyfriend number 2 because she found out that he smokes. I don't know whether to be proud or talk with her about going through boys excessively, because I think she is already eyeing up the next one!! I always spent more that 2 months with my boyfriends in high school! So, stay tuned!!

Funny story - Last week when I was taking Lauren to school and Emily was with me she noticed the moon in the sky. It was big and highly visible, a beautiful sight. Anyways, Emily was silent after pointing to the moon and exclaiming how big it was and then she says to me, "Mom, someday can we go to the Moon?" Just like we can go to the mall, right! I told her, Emily, if you have 20 million dollars, we can go to the moon." "Oh," she replied, and that was then end of that:) There are no boundaries with her, she reaches for the stars in her mind!

This is the same daughter who after being told about how Jesus died for our sins and rose again, says, "Mom, if he can die and come back to life, why can't I?" I love her quesitons, she challenges me! So, stay tuned!!!

Have a good week!!~Amy

Grosslogy

2008-03-30T12:07:00.018-04:00

I've been promising Lauren and Emily that I would take them to the Grosslogy exhibit at the Midland Center for the Arts. Being that Spring Break is coming to an end, yesterday we decided to go. Emily brought her friend Alexandria and Lauren brought Garrett, her boyfriend.

Everyone had a good time. They had so many fun exhibits, but if I had to pick my favorite it would be the smell exhibit! At this exhibit there were four squeeze bottles that you could squeeze and a puff of smell would then come out. You had to place your nose over the hole and then guess what smell it was; your choices were: mouth, feet, armpit, and anus. Believe me, it was disgusting! I gagged!! Emily and Alexandria enjoyed climbing the skin wall and playing Operation using a life size person. It took about 30 minutes to work our way through the entire exhibit,so we decided to visit the other exhibits at the museum, the Armour of Army and the Hall of Ideas. All in all we enjoyed ourselves and spent over 2 hours there.

Afterwards we came home, ate supper, took a walk, and then laid around. About the same time, Dennis and I looked at each other and said that a chocolate milkshake sounded good. So, we headed back out to the store and got ice cream to make the milkshakes. Everyone enjoyed their milkshakes as we watched the movie, Just Friends, which is a good movie. I always feel awkward though when we watch a movie with Lauren's boyfriend and it shows inappropriate stuff. Oh - what to do, what to do!!

Bye for now! ~Amy

Okay, Okay, I will!!

2008-03-28T18:49:00.002-04:00

Finally!! After much pressure, I won't mention any names, I have decided to start a blog:) At first, I thought, why, because nothing really interesting happens in my family. Everyone else seems to have way more interesting happenings in their families. So here goes everything interesting and uninteresting about the Bojos.

I just purchased my own laptop, which I'm using right now:) It is kinda nice having the ability to work online while being in front of the T.V. You know how we have to multitask:) Also, two of us can be on the Internet at the same time, yeah! So this means I should be able to get more work done! We'll see!

Yesterday, Dawn, Jill, and I went to the Somerset Mall and ate at Benihanas. We had so much fun! I've been waiting for both of them to blog about what we did and saw and nothing from either of them. So, here I go. First big bonus, I didn't get sick from eating at Benihanas. We were all worried and Jill even gave me some Imodium AD to insure that it would be a good outcome:) Background info: I break out in hives when I eat at Gengi's so we assumed that since they are so similar, I might have the same problem. All was good, though!

After walking around for awhile we came upon the Godiva store. We were salivating over the delicious looking food from the window and then Dawn said, I'm gonna buy one! She paid $7.50 for a chocolate covered fruit kabob from Godiva that had 3 strawberries and 2-3 bananas on it, which her and Jill shared. And if that wasn't enough, Jill then bought two $4.00 chocolate covered peanut butter cups and they ate both of these right in front of me. How rude:) Think of all the extra running you both will have to do that I don't:)

Then, Emily got to go to Build-A-Bear and buy her third bear. She got a white bear with light pink splotches and a cute dress to match it. Dawn and Jill have never been to one of these stores and were impressed with the store and amazed with how many people were in the store. Remember it was Spring Break and every child was there with his/her parents, many of them yelling, crying, etc. It was crazy in there!!

Lastly, Dawn wanted to go into this nice store that sold all black and white clothing. She needed a dress for Joe's Knights of Columbus ceremony, a wedding, and this year's 8th graduation. She picked out the first dress and it looked nice on her, but it was an old woman's dress. Now, this is my thing! I love to pick out stuff for other people to try on, so I started handing dresses to her to try on! She tried on between 7-10 dresses and found a nice, much "cooler" dress that made her look "hot". The salesclerk then found some funky cool shoes and we topped the outfit off with a dressy shawl! She looked great!! Joe will eat his heart out!

We ended the day with smoothies and headed home in the snow! Yuck, I hate driving in the snow but it was worth it! I had alot of fun and hope we do it next year!

It is hard to believe that Spring break is over! But on a positive note, I only have 2 months of school left! Yeah!