Grid Iron Weekend

This weekend I find myself studying late into the wee hours of the morning so that I can be available to attend activities with the kids.  It's all worth it though, right? 

I bought this shirt for Daniel today during the half-price sale of Lake Brantley Patriots pop warner football gear.  It says, "competitive by nature, champion by choice" with the team logo on the front. 

Saturday morning we all hung around reading and relaxing.  Then we decided to grill some dinner and invite Megan's BFF and her brother over to swim for a bit. 

Daddy and Lilly hanging out poolside with a snack. 

Five kids...and they all played so well together!  

After a few hours in the pool, my crew slept so good last night!  

This morning was Grid Iron day at Forest City Elementary School.  The girls practiced cart wheels and tried on uniforms in the gym, while the boys demonstrated their skills out on the field.  

Buddies with their snow cones. 

Joshua (in the grey shorts and grey shirt) getting ready to run the obstacle course with his fellow Junior Pee Wees. 

Pop Warner football takes anyone that registers, as long as you register while there are still spots available.  Grid Iron day is a chance to show the coaches what you know (or don't), and from there, the coaches will assign positions on the team roster.  

Learning our lesson from last year, we ordered Megan's cheer uniform a smidge bigger than what she wears now.  Last year, it seems she grew so much over the summer, her uniform was a tight fit by the end of cheer season. 

We are so excited for another season of football!  This year Joshua will be playing for the Junior Pee Wee division, and Megan will be cheering for that same division...so she gets to cheer for her brother's team!  Daniel will be playing in the Tiny Mite division.  This is the boys' first year playing football, and we are so thrilled to be part of such a great football/cheer family.  

Happy Mother's Day 2013!

Last week at work, we celebrated Nurses' Week.  I had the opportunity to assist with the carnival that the hospital had put together for the nurses to enjoy.  It was very fun...

  

and I got to meet some super heroes, too!  I'm in blue scrubs beside Ironman. 

The weather has been spectacular, and we've all been spending as much time as possible outdoors.  While going for a run around the local park, I saw this sweet sculpture and snapped a picture for Megan. 

It's been 11 months since I started Grad School.  I have hit the halfway mark with just about a year to finish up, depending on how long it takes me to feel confident/competent in the clinical setting.  In the state of Florida, I have to become Board Certified (by an exam by either the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners or by the American Nurses Credentialing Center - depending on which test I want to take) before I can apply to the Board of Nursing for my state license as a Women's Health Nurse Practitioner (or any NP for that matter), and so, under the advice of a wonderful friend who recently completed this crazy nurse practitioner school journey,  I ordered an audio review course to add to my arsenal of study aids for Board Certification. I'm loving these CDs! Joshua rode with me to Costco yesterday and asked if we could listen to my "school CDs", because he likes to listen to the test taking tips! 

Last week also found us at a local ice cream walk-up place for a Pop Warner Cheering party.  The girls got to meet up with some of the rest of their team. 

It was a beautiful warm night and it was nice to see many familiar faces. 

Daniel pointed out to me this sign this week....because it has good manners.  

I was scheduled to work all of Mother's Day weekend.  So Friday evening, we went to get some yummy dinner together.  

Keith and Megan searched high and low in Lowes for the perfect plant for Grandma Holloway. 

Saturday morning, I woke up very early to volunteer for the first annual milk run.  It was a 5K race to raise money for the Central Florida Breast Milk Bank.  Now, nobody bats an eyelash when the Big Red Bus drives by asking folks for blood donations, but once someone starts talking about human milk donation, people get creeped out by it.  The run was to raise money to help get the milk bank up and running, to decrease the cost of shipping in milk from other states' milk banks.  Human milk saves human babies' lives, especially all the little miracle premature babies.  

I was given the job of watching over the post-run snacks and then handing out food after the run.  I may have eaten a Krispy Kreme donut. 

The kiddos each made me something spectacular for Mother's Day. 

Daniel - a sweet magnet 

Joshua - an origami Yoda with a nice handwritten note inside 

Megan - a teapot card with a teabag for some green tea

The we played a little Ticket to Ride before bed. 

The following day, Keith got a package from something he ordered from the Phillipines.  The kids needed some extra help finding that on the map. 

A late night study session with sweet Lilly. 

Hey, look, it's the Google Maps mobile filming streets for accurate pictures for the website.  

Megan has been working on learning multiplication facts.  She sits on the couch with me in the evening, and she studies her flash cards, while I study mine. 

Evidently, the American Girl dolls were helping her to get her homework done. 

Having finished her Nancy Drew book, she moved onto a mystery from the American Girl author.  

And this is what happens when I take Joshua with me to Costco. 

My sweet Daniel and his fresh smoothie. 

Daniel's artwork from the Art Show.  I guess if I had looked closer, I would have known it was his...notice the ninjas! 

The oven has been working on and off for the past month.  It stopped working, then started working fine the next day, then stopped again a few days later.  So, Keith is working on it, and it now resides in the middle of the kitchen floor.  

The boys went for quick Sports Physicals today and both are cleared for football. They loved that Spiderman (the movie) was playing on the TV in the waiting room. 

Looking forward to another great week!!

What a beautiful day!!!

Today's weather was perfect!!  

Keith decided to do some yard work, while I took the kids to the Farmer's Market for some veggies.  

They had to investigate the lily pads, and while doing so, a little boy about 10 feet away from us fell into the lake.  He ended up being just fine, just very wet and very cold.  

Megan and Daniel checking out the ducks.  

There is a white duck hiding in the brush.  I asked the kids what the duck was doing in there and Daniel's response was "waiting for someone to get hurt...AFLACK!".  Oh boy, he's such a clown!!

We saw quite a few turtles and ducks.  And then we bought fruit, veggies and a big bag of kettlecorn.  Yummy!!!

Rain, rain, go away!

I'd forgotten what life is like when it's raining for days on end.  For us in Kodiak, that was just normal Springtime weather, but here in Florida, I've gotten spoiled and enjoy my sunshine.  Add into the rain, one child not feeling well, and then me not feeling well, then Keith not feeling well - on top of an already busy week, and we've got pure chaos. 

Towards the end of last week, Keith's starter on his truck decided to stop working.  After weighing the risks/benefits of fixing the starter himself, he decided it was best to go ahead and have it towed to our trusty mechanic.  Monday morning, I ran out the door for  Day #1 of ACLS (Advanced Cardiac Life Support) and Keith used Grandpa's van to take the kids to school.  When he came home, the tow truck arrived shortly after.  Our wonderful neighbor took Keith to pick up the truck while I was still in class.  Then Keith took the kids to gymnastics, during which he started to feel sick.  He texted me to ask how much longer class was going to be, and when I finally answered him (nearly an hour later), we were all on our way back home.  Daniel earned his Brown Ribbon at gymnastics this week!  Yay, Daniel!!

Tuesday morning, I considered taking the kids to school for Keith, but that would have put me late for Day #2 of ACLS, so poor Keith had to drag himself out of bed and take the kids to school.  He got to sleep all day after that and I was home to pick the kids up from school.  

My deadline for updating my ACLS card was coming up fast and with some new changes since the last time I took the class, I knew I'd need the 2 day class.  Day #1 was long, but fun.  We were broken down into small groups and the instructor was funny and really easy to listen to.  I was paired up with another class participant and it turns out she's a nurse practitioner that graduated from the same university I'm attending.  It was really cool to talk with her.  Day #2 of ACLS wasn't as fun as the first one, since we had to do our skill check-off and the fun guy was off at his other job, so we had Mr. Hardcore Paramedic doing our "megacode" check off.  I didn't really have a problem with getting through that part, but there were a couple of people that really struggled with his teaching style.  We all took a minute to decompress and then went to take our 50 question test, were given our updated cards, and were free to go.  I was so glad we got out early, because this wasn't a great week for me to spend a couple of nights reviewing for ACLS, when I have so much studying to do for my classes.  As soon as I got home from ACLS, I gathered all my stuff to study...and promptly fell asleep on the couch. 

I was nice and warm so the animals decided to join me. 

Wednesday night, Megan and I studied multiplication flash cards for an hour, as all of a sudden, with just a few weeks to go before school gets out, learning multiplication has taken a huge priority.  Hmmm....if there hadn't been so much pressure about the FCAT last month, perhaps that time could have been used for multiplication.  We'll see what kinds of changes are in store for next year, since the FCAT is going away and the school will be using more of the Common Core Standards approach to education.  

Thursday night it was back to work for me, and I was still feeling exhausted.  I had some soup before I left the house, made a nice big container of hot tea with honey, and made a fresh orange/carrot/ginger juice to have with my sandwich for lunch at work.  I made it through the night, came home and slept until I just barely had enough time to get to work the next night. 

Megan's book report on Ruby Holler was so cute!  She did such a good job and earned an "A" on the project and her presentation of her book.  

So far, this weekend it's been raining, raining, raining.  We did get a little break in the rain earlier tonight, and I ran outside to work on the pool.  Last weekend (this picture is from last Sunday evening), we were swimming and having all sorts of fun (well, the kids were, I was studying).  This weekend, the pool nearly overflowed!

I snapped this picture of Megan earlier this week.  We were heading to Target to get some t-shirts for Daniel's class project.  I was talking to Megan about just general chit-chat, and she reaches over to get her book out and says "so we're done talking now, right?  'cuz I want to finish this book".  I guess I can't get mad at that!