Merry CHRISTmas!!!

I hope everyone had a very Merry and Blessed Christmas. I know that we did. We woke up this morning to smiling kids. They were excited that Santa had visited and filled their stockings. We prayed and read the Christmas Story from the bible before they dug into their presents. Later we went to the movies and came home for Christmas dinner. It's been a great day and I'm so thankful for the chance to spend it with the family I love so much. Praise GOD!!

Last weekend we spent time with family in Toledo and celebrated with them. We had a great time. It's so nice to get together with everyone. Everything was great except the weather. It was so cold!!! The pictures above are from up north.

Love and blessings!!
Angel

Our New Addition

We got an early Christmas Gift last week. He's about 11 weeks old now and weighs about 4 pounds. His name is Pepper. He's a good dog except for the fact that he pees way too much!!! We all love him!!!

Pics at Cherry Valley Lodge

Here are a few pictures I took of the kids at The Lodge. We have it decorated for Christmas now. It's beautiful inside.

Pictures to Share

Here is a slide show of our trip to Kentucky to see Darren & Rebecca & family for Gabriel's 2nd birthday.

Hello All!!!

Hi Everyone. Just a little update on what's been going on here. We've decided to get extra help for Madisyn to get her up to speed with reading. We had her tested at Sylvan over the weekend and met with them today to get a plan in motion. She is really behind. One good thing is that she is caught up in Math now. She stuggled with that last year. The director of Sylvan urged us to try her at 6 hours a week!!! That seems like a lot to me, but the way she explained it made sense. She said that it will be easier to go down in hours if she's moving along well, but it could hurt her feelings if we start low and need to increase. Madisyn could start feeling that she's not good enough. So, because of scheduling, we are starting with 5 hrs a week. No more days free of running kids. This will pretty much keep us busy every night except for Sundays. I'm sure it will be worth it.

I'm asking for prayers that Madisyn will have the strength and energy to deal with all this and that it will be a positive thing for her. Also that we have the patience and strength to deal with this schedule. I have to trust the center, especially since they are supposed to be pros at this.

To help with some of the costs, I put in an application to help students with math. I don't know if I'll get it, but I'm going to try. I think that school is so important to kids, and these days, it just doesn't seem like enough gets done. I would love to make a difference in a young person's life, so I think it will be a great blessing for me to help.

I'll keep everyone updated. If you have any info on Sylvan that you would like to share, I'd love to hear it.

GOD Bless,
Angel

Another Song

This video cracks me up whenever I watch it. Silly kids.

Here are a few pics from Mason's b-day party. I think everyone had a great time.

Diet Update

Well, during phase 1 of South Beach, I have lost 4.5 lbs. Not too bad. I would have liked to lost more, but I have to keep remembering that I didn't put it on overnight. I should just be glad that I don't feel like I'm suffering or starving. It really is a change of lifestyle more so than a diet. I'm not big on all the veggies, but that's OK. It's not a huge deal. I still have to work in exercise. That seems to be the hardest to do between work and the kid's activities.

I'll chat with you all later.
God Bless,
Angel

Wind Storm Damage

I never would have thought that we would get such bad weather from a hurricane in Ohio. We had horrible winds, up to 75mph gusts, on Sunday. I guess it was from Hurrican Ike. There was a lot of damage and a lot of people without power. They are comparing is to our ice storm of 2005. We were out of power then for almost 8 days over Christmas that year. Thank GOD, we did not lose our power this time. We have friends that are still waiting for their power to be fixed. They are saying is could be this Sunday before all power is restored. There are more people out this time than there was in that December storm. School is cancelled again tomorrow for the 3rd day. We'll probably be making up school days on Satudays this year. The kids hate that!!! We're praying for all the people that have had damage done to their property and for those without power.

God Bless,
Angel

Here's a video of Madisyn singing about Jesus.

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL PICS

Here are a few pictures of Mason & Madisyn's first day of school. Mason started 4th grade this year and Madisyn started 2nd. Both of them like their teachers and enjoy walking home with friends.

Dieting AGAIN!!!

OK. I'm starting South Beach Diet again. I'm hoping to stick with it this time. I did well about a year ago, but I've been gaining it all back. So, starting Labor Day, I'm back on. It's probably a bad time to start since I'm in accounting and it's going to be busy wrapping up month end. Oh well, I have to learn to suffer through times of pressure anyway. I may as well start off with a bang!!! Pray it goes well. I have about 30 lbs loose as my goal, but I'd really like to loose 40. I'll keep everyone informed. I think by logging my progress it will help me.

Talk to everyone soon!!!
Angel

Slide show of our Family Vacation

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