Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Embarrassed to be from Illinois!

I am so embarrassed of our state's government. The arrest of Gov. Blagojevich today has made our state look like a joke to the rest of the country and the world. In the press conference one of the men basically said that we were the most corrupt state in the nation. Just from the things revealed at the conference this morning, I think that he is worse than Nixon!

All that I can say is that I hope he sees serious jail time for his crimes. I hope that they put a cot right next to Gov. Ryan and they can sit in a 10 X 10 cell with each other! That will never happen but it sure would be fitting!

ARRRRRR!

Friday, November 28, 2008

Thanksgiving...

We had such a wonderful Thanksgiving this year! My mom, Mary, Ben, and Danny all came over to our house for the first time! Since Mary lives in Madison now and has to work at 4 the next morning any other place was just too far to go and they would have been sitting at home alone on Thanksgiving. We couldn't let that happen so we decided to have it with just our little family at our house. We were a little bit nervous and not sure how it would go because this is the first time that we are not one of 70 some people at the Ryan Family Thanksgiving. It actually turned out to be quite a success.

My mom and Mary came between 12 and 1. Phil already had his turkey going in the roaster so he and Ben headed right for the TV and started watching football, and the three of us started to prepare all of the food. The kids all helped too. Danny helped to measure things and stir things, Jimmy actually made the pumpkin pie all by himself, and we used Joey's teenaged muscles to mash our potatoes!! It was so fun to all be in there together preparing every part of the meal. At around 3 the turkey was done and we all sat around the dining room table passing the bowls of food that we had just made. Everything was so good. The turkey was very moist thanks to Phil's "secret" recipe. And all of our side dishes were delish! When we were done we were so stuffed that Jimmy went upstairs and put on his jammie pants because they were strechy!!

During desert, as a joke, Mary pushed Ben's cupcake at him as he was going for a bite and got a little frosting on the tip of his nose and his beard. Ha, Ha, right. Well that turned into a food fight right there in my kitchen. I tried to stay unnoticed, you know laughing at everyone else but not actually getting any on me, but before I knew it I got hit from behind with a paper plate full of whip cream! While I was peeling the plate off of my face I could hear big foot steps running away from me and I knew it was Phil! Before I knew it Mary got Phil back for me which looked even funnier because he wears glasses. The whole thing only lasted about a minute and a half but it was so much fun that it may become an annual part of our Thankgiving feast!! Mary took pictures of all of us so when she sends them I will share them.

Overall, it was one of our best Holidays. I am so glad that we made these memoires with the kids and with each other. We all look forward to many, many more!

Friday, October 31, 2008

Congratulations Troyer Family

Congratulations to my cousin Kate and her husband Joe. They just had a baby girl yesterday. So far the baby doesn't have a name that we know of! We are so happy for them and for Izzy who now has a baby sister. Having a baby sister myself I know what a special bond sisterhood is and I am glad that Izzy and her new baby sister will have that! We wish the new family tons of happiness!

Just as a side note this new baby is Nana's 27th great grandchild and is the 106th member of the Ryan family!

Saturday, October 25, 2008

Things are looking up!

We have been so blessed!! I know that sounds corny but you would not believe the way that our luck has changed. Phil was able to fix our washing machine with just a little $7.00 part; just as we were removing the toilet to bring it to the garage the cap fell out; and Phil was able to get a temporary fix on his car! If that is not the power of prayer I don't know what is!

On Friday Jimmy and I went to see High School Musical 3! Both of us are huge fans of the series and have had this on the calendar since we found out the premier date. We watched the first two during the week before so that we would have it fresh in our minds. (It was also just a really good excuse to watch them on a busy weeknight when we usually don't watch a lot of movies) I picked him up after school and we went right to see the matinee! Our review..... it was the BEST ONE YET!!! We talked about it and sang the songs all of the way home. We are going to get the soundtrack the next time that we are at the store! We were a little sad at the end because according to all of the actors this will be the last one! I sure hope that they change their minds. I really enjoy the movies because I have loved musicals my entire life and I am so glad to share this love with Jimmy. I know the critics don't like it because the story lines are simple but maybe that is why I love it even more. Times are hard enough right now, I don't mind 2 simple hours of singing and dancing. So, if you saw the first two and liked them at all, you will enjoy this move. If you saw the first two and loved them they way that we did, you will LOVE this movie! Besides even if you only go for your kids, watching Zac Efron for 2 hours will make it worth it to you...what a cutie he is!!

Mary, Ben, and Danny came down today and we went to Edward's Apple Orchard. Sadly, the apple picking was closed for some reason but everything else was still open so we still had fun. Danny got to ride a pony, Jimmy and Danny played at the playground, we ate apple donuts and had hot apple cider. Phil and Ben also decided to try something new to all of us...Apple Pie with Cheese on top. The sight of it made my stomach turn but both of them enjoyed it. Whle we were there a news crew was filming a segment on the orchard. Jimmy noticed their cameras and placed himself right in the background pretending to be really into the pumpkins. Well it worked because there he was on the 10:00 news behind the woman who was being interviewed. What a ham!!

After the orchard we came back to our house and had a big spaghetti and meatball dinner. Then we played some Wii fit and all got a good laugh watching each other. They headed home just a little while ago. I am so glad that we get together as often as we do because we all have such a good time when we are together.

Tomorrow we are going to rest, rest, rest! I love a lazy Sunday. I hope all of you are well!

Later Gators!

Sunday, October 19, 2008

When it rains it pours...

...and it is pouring here! Our hall way bathroom has a broken toilet, the washing machine broke yesterday afternoon, and then Phil called to say that his transmission was blown and that he only had 2nd gear in his car. Can it get any worse? Uggggg!!

It started a few weeks ago when Jimmy got sent up to clean the bathroom. Apparently he scooped up some things from the floor and thought that they would all flush. Well, all of them did except for the HAIR SPRAY CAP!!! Now all of you that remember Jimmy's toddler years will get a good laugh out of that because he flooded our toilet more than once between the ages of 2-4 and he did it with many funny items! So, what better person for this to happen to, right! Well, for a couple of days the toilet was completly out of commision but then it seemed to fix itself because we were able to use it again. Then earlier this week it over flowed. Phil got out his plumbers snake, took the toilet off and did all that he could do to try to fix it. The cap is stuck in the toilet right where we can't get at it!! It is a done deal, we need a new toilet. So we are now living with a hole in the floor of our bathroom until payday when we can run and get a new toilet. Too bad that our Joe isn't Joe the plumber!

That would have been no big deal except yesterday I was doing laundry when all of the sudden it sounded as if the washing machine had a bowling ball in it. I ran down to the basement to see what was going on and lifted the lid. The center stand in the basin was completly broken off and flying around with all of the clothes. Phil is going to work more on that tomorrow when he is off and we sure hope that he can fix it.

The worst news was the news of his car! We can live with one bathroom and I can go to the Laundry Bin to do laundry, but we NEED him to have a car. Worst case scenario he will take the van and I will have to miss some of my classes on the days that he is working. I am hopeful that we will get it fixed before we need to take that drastic measure!

On a happy note the old saying goes that things come in threes so I feel like we have paid our dues for a while. I can only hope that the universe agrees!

Friday, August 29, 2008

OK, its been a while...

It has been so long in fact that I entered my password wrong two times.

According to the blog I have not been on here since the last weekend of June! Yikes. I will try to catch you up without putting you to sleep in the process.

JULY
It will actually be quite easy to catch you up for July because not much happened in that month for us. We had a Fourth of July Bar-B-Q with Mary, Ben, and Danny. Mary and Ben purchased a whole bunch of fireworks and Phil and Ben set off the most amazing back yard firework show that we have ever seen. It was like watching a professional show. We only got scared twice. Once because Ben gave himself a pretty nice burn on his hand and the other because one of the fireworks decided to go off about 15 feet above our heads instead of way up in the sky! Besides that it was a perfect night. For the rest of July we finished up baseball where Joe's team took 4th out of 12 and Jim's team took 1st out of 13! It was a good baseball season for us but I was excited to be done with the four nights a week. That excitement only lasted for one week however because Jim started football and that is five nights a week for two hours!

I was able to get away on a girl's weekend, which is always so much fun. Mary, Annie, and I took my mom to Shipshewanna, Indiana as her Mother's Day gift. It is a cute little Amish village with shops and resturants up and down its few main streets. We had lots of fun walking in and out of the little stores and getting a chance to visit with out the "boy/men" interuptions that usually happen when all of us get together! What we didn't know when we planned the trip was that the town completely shuts down at 5 PM. We were sitting in the hotel room wondering what we should do when Mary saw that there was a county fair going on a few towns over. So, we all packed in her van and drove to the county fair. We had a surprise when we found out that Pat Benattar was perfoming that night. We sat and listened to a few of her songs and walked around the fair eating food that was OHHH so tasty but OHHH so bad for us. It was great to get away with just us girls and I can't wait until we can plan another trip. Where will we go next time, girls?

So, that was July!

August

August started out with a bang! On August 2nd my baby brother finally got married to the love of his life, Annie! Most of us did not know what to expect of the ceremony because it was going to be different than anything we had ever been to. They got married under a canopy of flowers, out on the lawn at the Grand Geneva. It was such an elegant and beautiful yet personal ceremony that almost everyone was left in tears. It started out with their very good friend and roommate for the last four years, Bergen, singing while Annie came in with her dad. From there it went right into their personally written vows. Each of them vowed things that were meaningful to all relationships and things that were meaningful to just the two of them. For instance Annie vowed to bring him green apples when he is sick and to scratch his back until he falls asleep. Anyone that really knows Ray knows how much those two things mean! He had very personal vows that even included some of his students from Gage Park that had attended the wedding. He started out by saying, "I know that marriage will be ...." and his students all yelled, "HARD WORK, COACH!" It was really cool and unexpected which made people wipe their tears for a minute and giggle! After the vows they took love letters that they had written to each other along with a bottle of wine and two glasses and put them into a box that was made of cooper roofing materials. (It was made by Ray's boss, and roofing owner, because that was how Ray supported himself through his college years.) Together they nailed it shut and will not open it again until their 10th anniversary. They also used a Celtic tradition and "tied the knot" with a ribbon around their hands. To end the ceremony they released two doves that promptly flew away side by side! Immediately after the ceremony we all went in to the reception hall and that's where the real party began! All of us in the bridal party were introduced to the White Sox theme song which was quite hard for Phil and the boys!! At least Ray had given them Cubs hats to wear during this difficult time!! Besides that it was a very typical Ryan wedding with a full dance floor all night long. It was fun to see that the Clark family pretty much kept up with us in the dancing department. I would say the floor was pretty equal with Hagerty/Ryan's and Clarks! Jimmy ended up to be the family member with the most stamina however because he NEVER left the floor. He danced all night long with anyone that would dance with him. At one point Phil and I looked over and he was in the middle of three teenage girls just dancing away. We both looked at each other and knew that was a sign for what lies ahead!! All in all it was an awesome wedding and we wish Ray and Annie all of the luck and love in the world! Welcome to the family, Annie, we love you!

August brought us more than a new sister-in-law and aunt! It brought the boys and me back to school. (insert sob!) It is a mixed bag for me because I want so badly to finish school and have my degree but I love summer and being off too! I always mourn my time with the kids when school comes. We spend so much time together in the summer staying up late, laughing, going to baseball games, just making memories. As every summer ends I get so sad because I actually really like my kids and enjoy being with them! Sadly though the time has come when we must once again live our lives by homework, assignment notebooks, and bedtimes. We will live for weekends and holiday breaks!

Even though I am upset about having to go back to school I am actually excited about the classes that I am taking. I am finally in some classes that are for teaching. After all of this time with Gen Ed classes it is so nice to have a subject be something that you actually feel you can and will apply in your future career. It has been so fun to hear the professors say things like... "When you are a teacher" and "Your students will..." The first time I heard that I got so excited that a spontaneous smile came onto my face. MY STUDENTS!! Yes, I will soon have my own students. It really gives me the drive to keep plugging along at this!!

We also attended another Ryan family gathering in August. This one was much more casual than the wedding, which was a fun change after this year of weddings. We went to a Kane County Cougars game that Bridget and Dan Fors arranged for all of us. We first met at their house for some swimming, hot dogs and brats and then went on to the game. It was so fun visiting with everyone and their kids. The Cougars were losing through almost the whole game but came through in the end with a win. (HA, I bet most of you thought that I didn't know that b/c I chatted for the whole game!!) After the game was an awesome fireworks show then all of the kids got to go and run the bases. Everyone that attended had so much fun and would love to see it become an annual event. Thanks to Bridget and Dan for doing all of the leg work!

Well, now you are pretty much caught up on our lives. Sorry that this was such a long one!!

Later Gators!!

Monday, June 30, 2008

You just can't beat a Ryan wedding

Over the weekend Phil and I went down to Chicago to attend my cousin Tom's wedding to his new wife Julie. The mass was beautiful from little three year old Jack, the adorable ring bearer, and his shamrock pillow to the awesome bag pipes and drums that lead the bride and groom away from the alter.

The reception though was once again the best part of the whole day. Phil and I have been to many weddings with his photography business and we have decided that there is no better wedding, for us, than a Ryan wedding. The food was delicious then the dance floor was at full capacity with awesome tunes being played and the company couldn't be beat. The liquor was flowing fast from the open bar but you would never know it because when you looked around the room all that you saw were fun, happy people giggling over old stories or sharing new ones. Once again my aunts and uncles rocked the dance floor with all of us and some of them even lasted longer than the people my age. Even Nana got up to dance for a few of the songs. In the middle of the dancing they announced that out in the hall they had opened a "Chicago Style Hot Dog Stand"! They were so good and such a unique touch to the wedding. When you have 35 first cousins like we do it gets tough to think of things that no one has seen or done before. Well, Tom and Julie did that with their hot dogs. Everyone that I was with had at least one dog and some of them had even more. It was very much appreciated by the all of us.

When the reception ended at 1:00 we shuttled back to the hotel on the late bus and continued the party as we always do. My Aunt Nonie and Uncle Gary hosted all of us in their hotel room where we stayed and chatted and laughed until close to 4 a.m.

So, to Tom and Julie Ryan, thanks for another great family wedding and may you both have a happy and wonderful life together!

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Birthday, Anniversary, and Father's Day...OH MY!!

The beginning of June is always busy for us. First we have my birthday, then our anniversary and then Father's Day.

Birthday...On June 5th I turned 31! I know that it's not old, in fact it's not even close to old. However, it is an age that I can remember thinking was old when I was younger. Anything over 30 sounded old to me and now I am not just 30 I am officially over 30! I spent my birthday where else but the baseball field for one of Joey's games. After the game we went to get some ice cream at a little place I love in Rockton. All in all it was a nice day.

Anniversary...On June 14th Phil and I celebrated our 11th wedding anniversary. We actually didn't have a lot of time in the schedule to celebrate because Jimmy had a tournament game all day and that night we had to go to a Quinceanera for someone at Phil's work. Earlier in the day though I went down in the basement and read all of the cards that had been given to us on that day, we looked at our wedding photos, and I watched a little bit of the video. It is amazing what 11 years has done to both of us. At the wedding I had just turned twenty 9 days earlier, I was a size 8, I had red hair, and I truly believed that it was impossible to be more in love with Phil than I was that day at the alter. At the wedding Phil was only 21, weighed in at 185 lbs, and had every hair on his head! Well today we are older, neither of us is close to the weight we were, I have gone back to my roots with mousy brown hair while he has lost quite a few of his hairs, and life has thrown us some twists and turns that at 20 and 21 we just didn't see coming. I have also beat the impossible because I do love him more than I did that day. Yes on that day he was young and looking good but something is to be said about taking the twists and turns of life and staying by each other's sides. Truth be told we have had many more happy times than hard times, but the hard times have been there. Either of us could have jumped ship and said it was just too hard, but we haven't. I love him for that! So, as we have changed on the outside our hearts have changed too because we are more in love today than we were 11 years ago. Here's to the next 11 and beyond!

Father's Day... June 15th was Father's Day. The boys and I took Phil to a Rockford Riverhawks game. Father's were allowed to take their children out on the field for a half hour and play catch before the game started. Then we watched the Riverhawks barely win in the 9th inning 9/8. After the game Father's got to run the bases with their children. Phil and the boys really loved playing catch and running the bases out on the field. We love going to those games because the players are so cool too. They were really good with all of the kids there signing ball and mitts and just talking to the kids. When we got home we watched National Treasure 2 and ate some Ice Cream. It was a nice relaxing day for all of us especially Phil for whom nice relaxing days are far and few between. I hope that all of the wonderful father's out there had just as nice of days with their families!!


My scanner isn't working great but here are a few pictures of us 11 years ago...





Until next time.... Later Gators!

Tuesday, June 3, 2008

Zoo Madness and the end of another school year!!

Ok, get the tune ready...

SCHOOOOOOOL'S OUT FOR SUMMER! SCHOOOOOOOLS OUT FOR SUMMER!

The boys are now officially in 5th and 7th grade! WoW! Now we can do what we love, stay up late and sleep in the next day!! No more, "Do you have homework?" "Let me check your take home folder", "How many AR points do you have?" ect. ect.! Woo Hoo!!

Now on to Zoo madness...

Yesterday I went on the Fourth Grade field trip to Madison Zoo with Jimmy's class. Since I had worked in the school just last year and because I know Jimmy's teacher so well, she felt comfortable putting the, shall we say, "naughty" boy in my group. I know this boy from last year and I know his background story so I know what discipline to use and when it is necessary! To give a little background he has not had a good childhood. Both parents have been in and out of prison for very bad crimes and he is currently living with his grandmother because they are there again!! The many tragedies of his childhood have turned him into a perpetual liar and a boy that likes to run away, just to name a few traits. Well, I knew all of that so I was more than ready, so I thought!

We arrived at the zoo and started off to see whatever animals the 5 boys wanted to see. Every single place we went he would do his very best to try and get away from me. I ended up having my hand on his shoulder most of the morning until he started to wiggle away from even that. At that point I told him that if he got more than 6 feet away from our group in a crowd I was going to hold his hand the rest of the day. Guess what, within 2 minutes he became my hand buddy!! Also , during this whole time he was telling me what a mean helper I was because I wouldn't buy him ice cream, pop, or toys at the store.

Towards the end of the day we had seen all of the animals and the boys wanted to play at the new playground. There is a 3 foot entrance / exit to the playground so I felt safe letting all 5 boys go in and play without me holding any more hands. I then sat myself right in front of the entrance with my eyes watching everyone that went in or out. I was doing that until a huge group of students came rushing in at the same time and for about 10 seconds I couldn't see the whole gate. I got a bad feeling about this so I called Jimmy over and told him to find our group of 5 so that I could do a head count. Well, you guessed it, four of them were in front of me almost immediately and the one boy was GONE!! I screamed his name a couple of times and when he couldn't be found I called the teacher and the other moms that were with us. Lucky for me the teacher was standing right near the other teachers, a few bus drivers, and some of the other parents! Everyone scattered and went looking for him. After what felt like forever, but according to my outgoing and incoming calls on the cell phone was only four minutes, he was found begging a vendor for some free ice cream.

I had held myself together for the entire time that we were looking for him but once we found him I just started to cry! Not a bawl, but a cry of fear and relief!! That was so scary to think that I had lost a child that I was responsible for. When he was asked why he did that he at first told the teacher that I had said it was ok to leave. He then said that another parent told him to go with her. He finally admitted that he saw the group of kids running in and snuck past them. I was feeling so horrible but the teachers assured me that it was not my fault and that it had happened on the last field trip to the actual teacher. Who would have thought that he would sneak away even with me sitting there watching like that.

After I got over the feeling of relief I was feeling ANGRY. I was so pissed off at this kid who had the nerve to act this way when people were just trying to be kind to him and help him to have a good day. Then I had to have a little chat with myself and remind myself that I have no idea what it would be like to have lived his life. I had to remind myself to just be grateful that my boys are not like this and to think of his poor grandmother who has had this put upon her to deal with. I also reminded myself that Jimmy's poor teacher, and my friend, had been putting up with this B.S. all year long and I only had to deal with it for the day! That made me feel better.

When I got to school today to help run the fourth grade picnic lunch and ice cream social a friend of mine and a fellow chaperone at the zoo gave me the funniest card and a Dove candy bar. (my fav!) On the front is a hand and it says wave this card back and forth. Then you open it up and it says "This is me waving hello!" She had scratched out the word hello and written, "This is me waving... I found John Doe*" We passed the card around to all of the other teachers and moms that had been on the "hunt" and everyone had a pretty good laugh about it. Then as we were serving ice cream he came up to me, put his bowl in front of my face and said, "Whip me!" He was of course demanding whip cream but all of the moms started laughing and one told him, "You better watch it, she might actually WHIP YOU!" He totally didn't get it and just walked away!!

Alas, that day is behind us and the school year is now done. Yet another year gone by so quickly. Fifth grade is going to be Jimmy's last year of elementary school, the first year that he goes trick or treating alone, his first overnight field trip with the school, and more than likely the last year he will want me "hanging around" as his room mom! For Joey seventh grade will mean that he is half way through middle school, he will finally get the cell phone he has been begging for, he will join even more clubs & be home even less, and this is the year that he turns 13. To quote Scarlett O'Hara "I won't think about that right now, I will think about that tomorrow." For now I will just enjoy the benefits of summer; our time together with family, the warm weather, picnics, bike rides, baseball, and so much more. I hope that all of you do too. Happy Summer.

*Name was changed to protect the "innocent" :)

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Summer is almost here!

Hello everyone! I know that I haven't been on here in a while. Here's what's been happening...

Phil...
Most of you know that Phil has an online radio show that he does. He does a really good job and loves it. Well, on Monday night he got a chance to interview a real TV celebrity. He talked to one of the captains from the Discovery show The Deadliest Catch!! It was the captain that brought his wife along with him on his ship and ended up losing a bet to her. He talked to them for 2 hours on his show and was able to get answers to many questions that we had. It was so fun and I was so proud of him. Thank you to those of you that tuned in! This Friday he and Ben are going to NY to stay in a Haunted Hotel. He is going to do a show on Saturday night while they are on an investigation. It will be like having a TAPS show on the radio. If you are interested I will send you a link so that you can tune it.

Me...
I have had the last couple of weeks off which has been awesome! I really got to relax my brain and now I feel ready for my summer math class.! Hip, Hip, Hurray!! Besides resting and getting the house in some order I have been up at the schools doing end of the year things. Phil and I were just up there in fact for Jimmy's field day. I will post some pictures of that some time soon. Also I have been out at the ball field four nights a week. (2 nights each)

Joe...
Last Friday Joe went on a field trip with the band. They started at Johnsburg High School for a competition and then went on to Great America. His school scored a superior at the competition which is the highest score available. When I picked him up at 9 that night he was exhausted but couldn't stop talking about what a great time he had. The first thing he said when he got in the car was that it was awesome because they spent the whole day without any adults!! He said that he went on every ride except for the Raging Bull. The place was so empty that when a couple of rides ended they got to stay in their seats and go again because no one was in line for their seats. He is enjoying baseball. Right now his team is 3/4. Not too bad since last year this same team took last place!!

Jim...
Praise the Lord, he finally got his hair cut! It is nice and short with spiked up bangs. The best thing about it is that I didn't force him to do it. On the way home from one of his games he asked me if I would take him to get his hair cut because the catchers mask kept pulling his hair. I didn't hesitate in saying YES!! The next day as soon as he got off of the bus I was sitting in the van ready to go. He said that he is loving the short hair again! Jim is VERY ready for summer, we all know that he is just not a school kid. He is having an awesome season of baseball. So far his team is undefeated!

Misc...
Phil and Joe planted some new trees in our backyard the other day. If you remember our backyard it is very empty because we used to have the pool and we didn't want leaves and things in there. Now that we took the pool down we felt like we needed something out there. We chose two baby maple trees and truth be told when they finally fill out and look just right, we'll be downsizing! That's ok though because Phil and Joe had a fun time planting them and you can't take back memories like that. Also so far Joe has been quite the gardener out there everyday with the hose, so maybe he found another hobby!!

The boys are done with school on June 3rd and I can't wait! I just love it when we are all off and we can stay up late together or go places during the day!

Friday, May 9, 2008

T.G.I.F.

Man, what a long week it has been.

I had 3 of my 4 finals which all of you know is very draining. On top of that I had so much to do with the boys and it was Phil's long week at work. It was Teacher Appreciation week at the school and I am a room mom and the secretary of the Booster Club so I had a lot to do. Pretty much everyday this week I have been in the school doing something for the teachers. It started at the beginning of the week presenting gifts and serving food and it ended today when I was at Joey's school from 11-1:30 helping the 6th graders make their Tye-Dyed shirts for their field trip and field day!

On top of everything at the school baseball season started. That means that I am out at the ball field 4 nights a week from now through the end of July. The early games run from 5-7:30 which puts us home close to 8. We had one late game this week that didn't even start until 7:45. Try waking up 2 boys the next day who, like their mother, require a certain amount of sleep. All three of us were very crabby....NOT FUN!!

A couple of stats for you...Joey's team started out rough on Tuesday losing the first game but they came back strong on Thursday winning by a huge lead. Jimmy's team won their Monday and Wednesday games so he is a very happy boy.

I love doing all of these things and given the choice I would just do the "mom" things at the school. However, that is not the case and this week I had to squeeze all of that in with some major studying!! Well, I did it and I just have my Psychology test left on Tuesday which is not cumulative so I am not as worried. I wish that I could say I would be on summer break after that but that's not the case. I have three weeks off and then I am taking a summer math class. God help me and my poor family because math is hard enough for me in 14 weeks to do it in 7 is going to be really hard. I will muddle through though!

So, my long week is over, I have given Jimmy and his friends strict instructions and bed times and I am headed off to bed where I hopefully will not wake up until around 9 am.

P.S. Huge props to Uncle Jim on his amazing ride! I have told everyone that would listen to me talk about it, truly amazing!!

Wednesday, April 30, 2008

I'm on my way and so is Ray!!

I met with one of the Rock Valley College counselors today to see exactly where I am in this long process. He had good news for me. If I take a summer class, five classes in the fall, and then five in the spring I will have my associates degree this time next year! It is worth it for me to take the heavier load of five classes and be done in May 2009 instead of December of 2009 because when it gets down to it I just want to be done with school and have a college degree in my hand!!

Speaking of college degrees my brother is graduating this Saturday. He is the first member of our immediate family to graduate college. For those of you that don't know he already has a job lined up, teaching History at Gage High School in Chicago. He has been there since last fall doing his observation and student teaching and they want him so badly that they told him not to even bother going to any job fairs or interviews. He was also their wrestling coach this year and was able to get a bunch of the boys to state for the first time! It is really wonderful to see him so fulfilled with his career. It was a long, hard road for him from Afghanistan to here and we are all very proud of him. So, think of him on Saturday and I will post pictures of our roof top party later. Way to go, Ray!!

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Blue Man!!

I had plans to go and see the Blue Man Concert with my friend Lynne, her daughter Courtney, and Courtney's friend on Sunday. At the last minute Courtney's friend was not able to go and they called and offered the ticket to Joey. He actually was a little hesitant because he was out in the yard playing football and didn't want to have to leave his friends and come in for a shower. I pulled up a clip on youtube to show him what it was and that it was in fact worth missing the neighborhood game for one day!! He relented and went to get ready.

The show started at 7:30 and we were still stuck in traffic at 7:25. The crappy thing was that we were stuck right in front of the Metro Centre. There we were starring at the big orange building knowing that we should be in there. I was so mad! It ended up that more than 1/2 of the people were in the same situation because they had closed the parking garage and parking in downtown Rockford is not easy. We were very lucky and we found an empty parking lot about 5 blocks away. We got out and ran to the Metro as fast as we could. Not easy to do when you are wearing flip-flops like me and Courtney.

Well, we were late but luckily we were only missing the opening act which from what I did see, was not a big deal to miss. It was just some guy scratching records!

The show finally did start about 8:00 and it was well worth all of the craziness!! If you have not seen a Blue Man Group show I am not really sure how to explain it to you. It was fascinating. There was an unbelievable light show, rock music with lyrics that were really meaningful, and lots of comedy. I had never seen them perform before and I went in thinking that it was some men painted blue that would bang on PVC pipes and make music. That was going to be interesting enough to me but they totally blew me away! I was completely amazed at the simple things that they were using to make recognizable music. They also had an awesome percussion section and that always helps. In total there were 4 drummers.

All of us talked about it all of the way home which is always a sign of a really good show. Joey and I were still talking about it the next day. He said that he was so glad that he had decided to go with me and not keep playing with his friends. If any of you ever get a chance to go and see them in concert I highly recommend it to you!

Friday, April 18, 2008

Better late than never....

I have been so bad about logging on here and posting. Mostly because the things that have been going on seemed so day to day and I didn't want to bore anyone. Anywho, here's what's up.....

Joey had his Spring Band Concert and the whole band showed incredible improvement! What a difference from December. Joey really enjoys playing his saxophone and I am so proud of him that he has the ability to play an instrument. I just never had that talent and believe me I tried.

Jimmy had his 4th grade Spring Musical and the theme was Oliver. He was the Funeral Director. We enjoyed that just as much. It was so fun for me to see many students that I have not seen since I left last year. Amazing what a year can do!!

Nana and my mom got to make it out to both shows which made us so happy. Thanks for taking the trip both times. (And special thank you to Nana for sitting in the bleachers for over an hour at Joey's show.) You two are wonderful and have never missed anything for the boys!!

Phil and I are just going along, same 'ol, same 'ol. I have been spending 4 nights a week out at the baseball field watching the kids practices. Their games start in the beginning of May which will be nice because practice is getting a little old to watch. Joey has been practicing by the school track though so I have been taking advantage of that hour and half by walking the track. Jimmy has been walking with me and we get to have some very nice time together without any distractions. Plus, we are exercising!

Last weekend I was at Dawn's house for a Girls Night Out. We were celebrating the fact that Dawn quit her old job! It was a blast. We played Guitar Hero which I actually own but I have never played because the boys and their friends are always hogging it. Now that I know how much fun it is I am going to put my name on the list and get my 10 minutes of play with the egg timer! Watch out Holly, I am gunning for you at the next party!! We also played Dancing With The Stars because most of us are huge fans of the show. It reminded me of the old school Nintendo Power Pad! Way too much work and the highest I was able to get was a 5!

Today Phil and his friends put in my new kitchen door. We needed to get rid of our slider because last winter it was actually snowing in my kitchen thanks to the horrible seal on the door. It always had a cold draft but snow was ridiculous! The handle on the door was also broken and didn't lock anymore. We red necked it until now with duct tape and paper bags as installation. We replaced it with a set of French Doors that have the blinds inside of the windows. It ended up to be a good thing that we did that because when they pulled the old door out they found out that the wood underneath it had rotted completely. Phil simply put his finger on the wood and it crumbled. They had to run to Menard's and get all new wood. All the while I am sitting here with a HUGE hole in my kitchen and rain on the way. Well they started the job at 9 and thanks to the extra work did not finish until 4:15! A few prayers helped hold off the rain too. It literally started raining just as his friend put the last piece of siding up!! Thank you God. I really LOVE my new doors though so it was totally worth all the hard work. (Of course I did none of the work so I guess that its not really my place to say that) I will post pictures soon, when it is sunny out!!

Well that's all for now. Later Gators!!

Monday, March 10, 2008

When you wish upon a star....

This is a wish that I bet all men have wished at one time or another. Even if they won't admit it out loud.

The boys were sitting at the kitchen table doing some homework while I was cooking dinner on Friday night. Somehow the subject of wishes came up. They asked me if I had one wish what would it be. I said to be done with school and have my own classroom. Joey's wish was that he was rich. Then it was Jimmy's turn. Here was his wish.......

Jimmy: "I wish that I could be a girl for one whole day!"

I stopped stirring and Joey put his pencil down on the table. Both of us gave him the "what are you talking about" look. Then he explained......

"Well, no offence Mom, but girls are so weird and so confusing. I just don't get them at all. I thought that if I was a girl for a day I would find out all of their secrets and then I would understand them. (Insert huge grin on his face) Then when I came back as a boy, I would get all of the girlfriends!!"

I just laughed and Joey just shook his head. It is always interesting when you get into Jimmy's brain!

Thursday, February 28, 2008

Back to normal!

My psychology class was canceled today so I am sitting in the school library with nothing to do. I figured, why not blog!!

Everyone in my house is finally back to normal. The boys have been on their antibiotic for 2 days and they are doing great.

I knew yesterday that they were doing better because all of the sudden the fighting began. They had laid on the couch together since Sunday night watching whatever came on the TV. In fact, they were so sick, I believe they would have laid there and watched paint dry. Well by yesterday morning I started hearing, "Get your NASTY foot off of me!", or "I don't want to watch your dumb shows, I want to watch Sports Network!" and a lot of "MOOOOOM, he's doing ________"!!! By noon I told them both that if I heard one more argument I was driving them to school! They stopped pretty fast. I wished that I had their school work for them to do but the school only gives work after 3 missed days and you can only pick it up after school. Well, yesterday was the 3rd day but I couldn't pick it up until 3!!

They finally went back to school for the first time today. They have a lot of work to do, especially Joey. I went yesterday to pick up school work and I was shocked at how much Joey had to do. Jimmy had quite a bit too but it was easier work like spelling worksheets, and fill in the blanks for Social Studies. He also had to finish the read aloud book that the class had been reading so that he could take the AR test. We were able to get all of his work done so he is officially caught up. Pre-teen, hormonal Joey would not stop going on and on about how unfair it was that Jimmy was done and how middle school was the worst!!! He was truly mad! They are off tomorrow because of conferences at school so we will just work all day long to get his stuff done. I guess it will be like a day of home schooling which should be real fun because as I mentioned above he is a preteen and hormonal but, only with ME!!

Today I did my second Speech for my Speech class. I am quite sure that I bombed it! It had to be an informational speech and I did it on how to make chocolate candies and suckers. When I get nervous I talk way too fast so I did not fill the time requirement. Also, I was shaking so bad that everyone could see. When I went to pass the molds around for everyone to look at, the mold was visibly vibrating in my hand!! Oh how I hate this class. I know that it is a fear that I must conquer so that I can do parent orientations and other things someday when I have a job. I just don't know how to get over it. I hate talking to a room full of adults! I feel like they are all judging me. Have any of you ever been afraid of public speaking and been able to get over it? Or anyone who is just naturally good? Do you have some tips you would be willing to share?

My Speech professor really scared me when class ended and he asked me if I would stay behind. When everyone left he told me that another student had come to him to talk about me but wanted their name left out of it. (Enter my heart beating out of my chest, sweat on my brow, and a dry mouth) I just stood there with my mouth open and he said, "Oh, no, it's good! She wanted me to tell 'the mom in the front' that she really appreciates the eye contact you gave her during her speech. She said that you were the only one in the room that looked like you were paying any attention to what she had to say." I asked him if that could give me some bonus points on my own speech and he just laughed. I am guessing that is a no. So, that is what I am to my fellow students of 18 and 19. 'The mom in the front' Oh well everyone needs a label I guess.

Later Gators!

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Well, Hello again!

It has been quite a while since I was on here. I guess I was busier than I thought, but with what?? Pretty much just day to day life.

School is keeping me pretty busy right now. I love having all of my classes on Tuesday and Thursday. It gives me Monday, Wednesday, and Friday to do everything else that needs to be done. This week I have two essays due and one speech!! Ahhhh! Thank goodness for the extra days of work time.

Just last weekend we took our annual February getaway with Mary and Ben and went down to Springfield. We all had an awesome time together like we always do. We saw many sites that put us in awwww but that is because Phil and I are huge history buffs. We just love it. We went to see Abraham Lincoln's home and I didn't want to leave the street because I was enjoying soaking in all of the history from every single original house!! We also toured our new capital building and our old capital building. The very best part of the whole weekend was the Lincoln museum and library. If any of you are history buffs like us I highly recommend it to you. We spent well over 3 hours in there and frankly we could have been there even longer. Joey and Ben enjoyed it almost as much as Phil and I did. Mary, Jimmy, and Danny all liked it but could have gone through it in about half the time and felt satisfied about it. Mary is just not into history, Danny is too young to really choose if he is into it or not and Jimmy hates anything to do with school!! Thank goodness for Mrs. Lincoln's attic where Mary took the boys and let them play for about and hour and a half. (Love ya Mary!!)

Sadly, once you step outside of Capital Square, Springfield is a dump! It is actually embarrassing to have that city represent our state! I never would have expected that. We have been to a couple of capital cities before and they have all been decent. It is too bad that so many people come there to see the Lincoln Museum and walk away with such an awful perception of Illinois. I sure hope that they clean it up some time.

The boys had fun swimming and hot tubing at the hotel. To tell the truth I enjoyed that too! With all of this crappy weather it was nice to take a dip and pretend like it wasn't only 9 degrees outside. This was the first trip we have taken where we got adjoining rooms and now I will never do it another way! It was so nice for the boys to be able to run back and forth between the rooms without hearing the slamming of the hallway door and then having to keep getting up to let them back in.

The worst part of the trip was the drive home. Joey all of the sudden was flushed in the face and said that it hurt really bad to swallow. He was eventually driven to tears which is not common in Joey when he is sick. Later that night Jimmy started to have the same symptoms and by Monday morning Phil had it. When we were finally able to get everyone into the doctor they were diagnosed with strep throat and the flu! My poor boys are sick still today, all three of them.

So, that is where we are as of today. I will try to get on here more. Spring Break is coming and I will finally have a break!

Friday, January 18, 2008

Happy Belated Birthday, MOM!

Yesterday was my mom's 54th Birthday! Mom, sorry that I wasn't able to get on here yesterday. It was good to talk to you though and I am glad that you had a nice dinner with Nonie and Gary.

Well as for the Gorski Happeinings we are all back to our busy schedules.

I started school again on Tuesday. I only have classes on Tuesday and Thursday now and I love it! My school days are long but I love having Monday, Wednesday, and Friday off to study, get into Jimmy's classroom and help, or clean the house.

Joey and Jimmy are also back in school. They are right back in the swing of things. Jimmy joined basketball at the Y so we will be there Tuesday and Friday nights for practice along with Saturday morining for the game. (I enjoy being at that stuff though because many of my friends are there with their kids and we get to chat.) He is such a "sports kid"! Whatever sport season it is; that is his new favorite sport! He has been walking around the house bouncing a basketball for the last week. I thought that the football flying up in the air all day was annoying! I would trade that for the thudding that I am now hearing! I can not wait until it is warm out so that he can get back outside and run and play with his friends. Right now my basement has become their new playground!

Speaking of weather, what is going on? We have a high of 5 all weekend! Yuck, I hate the cold more than anything at all. It isn't worth taking my 11 year old van out in this weather. It doesn't have good heat when it is 40 degrees out forget about it when it is 5! So, that means that by Monday I will have serious cabin fever! Thank goodness that I have my wonderful sister-in-law Kate and my best friend Lynne within 10 houses. I will be walking to one of their houses sometime this weekend just to get out of here!!