Really IMPORTANT things I've been meaning to SHARE!

I'm soo proud of Emily. :) She's just the best kid. Her report card was great again. She got straight A's and we are so proud of her hard work!! I love her so much for all the things that make her special.... and there are a lot! I haven't written about this yet but I wanted to quickly share with you, how great Emily did in the Americanism show this year. It was on November 19th this year. She once again was a POM POM girl in it. Her grade (the 4th graders)sang the "Armed Forces" medley & Emily had the routine and songs down perfectly. She performed her little heart out, BUT they positioned her a little tooo close to the balloons on the side of the stage and at one point she got all tangled up in them, but she kept on rocking out. (you know the show must go on... such the little performer that she is) I was really proud about it, I thought it might rattle her but she kept on going and was even able to get herself out from them. :) It actually was really cute and got a bunch of giggles from the audience. I LOVED the whole show!! It was really great. Let's see....... What else has been going on? Emily had a pittsburgh Steelers themed birthday party this year. She even wore a little steelers outfit and ofcourse she looked adorable! I can't believe she's 10! WOW!! How time flies. I think she had a great time at her birthday party. Also we've been playing a lot of "CANDY LAND" lately. She's just really into it. It's funny cause she's soo advanced in sooooo many ways but in some ways the simpliest games/toys still bring the most joy to her. Anyway of course Christmas is coming and I HOPE that Emily likes the things that she gets..As a parent you want to get your kids everything but this year we've had to cut back, and while I know it's NOT a good idea to get your kids everything they ask for---- it sure is hard not to. Right now, Emily isn't feeling well.. she's got a slight fever. I am definitely going to keep her home from school tomorrow & try and nip it in the butt before it turns into a full fledged cold. I really want her to get better by Christmas! NO kid should be sick on Christmas. Please say a prayer or send some positive thoughts her way. PLEASE! Thanks... anyway. I guess I should go but just wanted to share these few memories with you! Good night everyone and HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Elizabeth Edwards 1949-2010

Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack, a crack in everything
That's how the light gets in.

By Leonard Cohen

This was a quote that Elizabeth Edwards liked. I've been really sad over her death, like SERIOUSLY crying over it.... perhaps it's just feeling very sad for her family. perhaps it's reminding me of my mom's death & opening a little of that wound, perhaps it's being Christmas time and I'm always a little sad at this time of year.... I lost my mom in 2001--- Both Elizabeth & my mother were born in 1949.
SO I'll send some prayers up to the heavens, for it is all I can do.. Prayers for her family and mine too.

Sometimes life is hard---- tonight I'm thinking of my friend & her family, wishing so much that I could help somehow, and finding it hard to know what to say or do--- so I'll do what I do when I have nothing else to give. I'll pray.

Emily the "little Russian girl"

Untitled poem by Me 11/10/10

I’d rather my heart be in the right place
Even if people seem to think I’m idealistic
In the mirror I see my face
I breathe, comfortable in who I am.

I don’t lie but I have secrets
I don’t cheat but I’m not perfect
I’m not still but I’ve accomplish no great feats
Atleast that are great in others eyes

For me….there is but one truth
I try to be the best me
without criticizing you,
Sometimes I fail- my words get angry.

My passion is too strong
my mouth gets moving before my thoughts can intercede.
I wish others could see their wrong
That they could learn from their mistakes.

That their wants aren’t the most important
They’re just a small seed in a great big garden.

Emily the Philanthropist....

So this is a letter I've been meaning to share on here. My daughter is the kindest kid.. and as proof here is a letter she wrote to her Grandma. She decided to do this all on her own and I was very proud. :)



Dear Grandma,


I just heard that in a library book I got about cheetahs, very few are left. They are endangered. So I decided to save the cheetahs by making a few posters. I wrote on the posters that people should not have hunted cheetahs for their beautiful fur because they need it to survive and hunting is illegal. The Cheetah Saving donation will begin August 1, 2010 and will end August 8, 2010. In the donation, we plan on going to the Philadelphia Zoo to tell people about the cheetahs being endangered. I love you.




Love, Emily Roach
Sent July 31, 2010

Emily Brianne 4th Grader

HI I know I'm a little late with this post considering school started over a month ago. BUT WOW!!! I still CAN'T believe Emily is in 4th GRADE!! What a big girl she is becoming, But I'm SOOOO proud of Emily. She's been doing really good in school this year so far. Her teacher seems really nice, we meet her at Back to school Night. Emily is again in the EXCEL program this year and we are really very proud of that as well. She did great on her NJASK test. We got the scores a couple of weeks ago... Emily was above proficient in both areas. She did SUPER in math, missing a perfect score of 300 by only 15. Anyway, she seems to be doing really way behaviorally as well. We started giving her 1/4 of a chewable melotonin tablet to help her to fall asleep at night and it really seems to be helping her alot. :) She used to have a hard time falling asleep but this just helps her so much and I really think she's a lot more refreshed in school. :) This makes me feel a lot better!! I think it's going to help her in sooo many ways.. it's so important to sleep well. Anyway, we couldn't be prouder of our girl. In just a little over a month she'll be 10!! I can't even fathom it but she's so special and I LOVE HER SO MUCH!!

a quiet shout

I don't go to church on Sundays

Nor Tuesday or Thurdays too

But it doesn't mean I'm a sinner

Perhaps thats more like you

Are you like the gangster?

who murders on Saturday

But shows up on Sunday

and thinks a prayer will do

It's about ones heart & morals

So.. I'll try not to disrespect you

when I express my point of view

I don't like guilt by association

But why be at a party with

Racist, bigots, and fools.

I'll never know all the answers..

But I'll follow my heart

And that includes being sad for you

You don't see the hate you spew

By Missy
8/20/2010

Emily Library day...

She's so funny... she came running in SO excited about the 5 new dinosaur books she just got from the library..these were HER choices... and NO book report is due.. I don't get it.. but I LOVE my WONDERFUL inquisitive & smart girl. She once told me she wanted to "KNOW EVERYTHING" in the world.. and I told her "NO ONE knows everything- not even ALBERT EINSTEIN" and she said, "WELL I'm going to the FIRST" LOL! I guess it's dinosaur info gathering week. LOL!! LOVE HER!

Hi was thinking about something as I was walking to work today. Did you ever wonder if your opinions would have been clouded if you were with a different person. I mean I love who I am. The views I have on God, politics, friends etc. I think my take on things such as that are ME, what makes me--- well me. But what if I was with someone who had the complete opposite view of mine. Would their opinion change mine. Especially if I wasn't as strong of an individual as I am today. Perhaps all of our views are skewed by the people we are around. Would I even like myself... would I even care...or would my opinion be sooo far removed that I wouldn't even know it's mine. I think this...because the boy I went with in High School and who I'm a "facebook" friend with... has a radical different view than my own on many aspects of life. Our political views couldn't be further apart. I wonder if things would have worked out with him.... if I would have his view. Would being around him change me, or would I have been a strong enough person to stay true to who I really am. Cause I really like me...and I guess I'm lucky that my husband and I have very similar views in life. Thank god.... cause I really don't wanna be a FOX news watcher. LOL!

Forgot how much I love the song, "Barely breathing" By Duncan Sheik

‘Cause I am barely breathing
And I can’t find the air
I don’t know who I’m kidding
Imagining you care
And I could stand here waiting
A fool for another day
But I don’t suppose it’s worth the price, worth the price
The price that I would pay

Saving my insanity one discount at a time

Hi.... we just got home from running some errands. I'm making potato salad & cupcakes for a 4th of July BBQ @ Dan's house tomorrow. While we were on our way to the store I got this urge to write.. its not as strong right now but I thought I should STILL give it a try. I wanted to write about the efforts we are doing to try & save money and improvements I'm trying to make in my life. I gave UP soda completely. I'm not drinking it anymore. I haven't had any since the middle of March. I drink ice tea & water mostly, and occasionally a 100% juice box or a flavored water. That's it!! I'm soo proud of myself. I've also been pretty consistently walking to work. I've lost about 10 pounds!! I'm not trying to brag-- I'm just feeling GOOD about it!! Yay! Me! HEHEHE! Anyway, what else.. Brian & I have been trying to trim expenses since he's making less on a yearly basis... and we won't be getting that BIG bonus at the end of year. So while it's a big bum, there has come some good out of it, like for instance making us live more efficiently. That part makes you feel good, you know, trying to conserve. Especially when you know that you haven't always been the BEST at doing that. Like we would buy groceries and waste sooo much by not eating them before they expired. Now we plan our meals out better and aren't wasting as much. Also just thinking about what your buying and the impact it will have on the BIG picture. We aren't perfect and we still spend more than we should but we are better and that's good. We try to only buy things when they are sale or we have a coupon! So it's just about buying what makes sense. It's kind of a high to know that you're saving money. Making a choice that makes sense. For instance Brian needed a new wallet, his wallet was literally falling apart and he wanted a Steeler's wallet to replace his old one... well we found a coupon in our Entertainment book and used it. So we were still able to get it but we got a deal on it... and it was for his father's day gift. Brian bought the entertainment book for this year (since it's 1/2 over) for only $5 as long as he RESERVED next years for $14.99 so we EVEN saved on that.. and we've already saved about $20 by using it. I keep track of the savings in the front page of the book to know if it was worth it for the next year. But also trying to NOT buy things we don't need just because we have a coupon!! Just about using your head and thinking about something before you buy it... Do I have a coupon? Can I make it cheaper!! We also have a Upromise acct that we need to utilize more often because there are ALOT of good savings that way. I'd LOVE it IF I never had to pay the full price again for something... we do every now and then but it feels good when you don't have to. Anyway, what else has been going on... well yesterday we went to the lake with my aunt, Danielle, and the 3 kids... it was a LOT of fun!! I enjoy the lake sooo much. Emily does too... I just find it peaceful and also Emily feels comfortable there so it's NOT stressful like sooo many places with Emily can be. She's just a worrier and it's hard for her to be completely comfortable with situations (even situations that you would not typically think of as scary) she is very intimidated by. So it's just good for a lot of reasons... it gets her some exercise, sun and it's just good for both of us. :) Anyway...I'm glad it's only early July... I hope this summer doesn't seem like a blink & it's gone! They always do but I'm grateful that it's only July 3rd today. Emily is doing good... we went to the library today. So she's in her glory right now... because she has new books to read, and we borrowed some DVDs for her as well. (See, this is another thing we are trying to do to save money.) Borrowing not renting. Brian is even BORROWING audio books... he's spent a lot of money on them in the past so it's really good that he's changing a little of his spending ways as well.. we've all been trying! So I just wanted to write this blog to remind myself to keep doing it and to maybe encourage others as well (I'm still pretending that other's read this blog of mine) BUT if you do read it... THANKS!

the NON-VACATION blues

I know it's been a while... I guess I've just haven't felt like writing. Everything is fine, NOW I guess... the last month or so has been tough. Brian had lost his job the beginning of May...after 9 years with the company. Sucks because they said he didn't have permission to do a side job which he in fact had gotten permission to do, but it wasn't in writing, and so they USED that has the excused to fire him, when we think they were just looking towards going in a different direction that didn't include or need him. They didn't pay him severance or nothing... it was a really scary time, but thankfully it's worked out. Brian got a job about TWO WEEKS ago, and he likes it. SO that was just a HUGE relief.... but since it's a new job that means NO VACATION for us. I SOOOOOOOOOO NEED a VACATION.. as I'm sure Brian does too. Life is just sooo hard sometimes..... we were planning a vacation to Florida in July before he lost his job but now that's not going to happen. It's so frustrating cause I feel like it's been forever since we had a REAL Vacation!!! We've done a day here or there but not a FULL WEEK of something.. so it's just hard. I hate complaining especially because I know we're blessed that Brian got something soooo quick. It's just I think we all really needed this vacation & I was really looking forward to it... and it was just taken out from us. SO it's hard!! I'm feeling soooo BORED lately. Brian has been working really hard at both his new job & also trying to finish up these side jobs that he's doing as well. And since his new job pays about $18,000 less a year than his old job--- it's not like we have ANY extra money to do anything. I've taken on more hours as well at work. Which again is needed, on all fronts. Where I work has been busier.. which is great considering all that is wrong with the economy still. So in some ways I'm sooo grateful to take on the hours but in other ways it's hard too like being away from Emily more (especially summer cause it goes by sooo fast already) but like I said we definitely could USE the $ so I'm NOT gonna complain toooo hard. :)

Emily "BIG GIRL" email

Dear CVS,
I would like you to STOP MAKING SUCH NASTY MEDICINE! That one medicine my dad got for me- the Children’s Cough and Cold DM Exlir-
was so nasty it almost made me THROW UP! EWWWW! It was so nasty that I thought it was the nastiest medicine ever!  And Mommy thought it was BETTER than Delsym-which is also nasty! Also EWWWW! All the medicines I have taken over the years are NASTY and EWWW- except for moxcacillan(I think that’s how you spell it). Moxcacillian is the greatest medicine ever taken.  But as for the others- STOP MAKING THEM!    

Your Friend,
Emily Roach, Age 9

a prayer by Emily...

I always find little precious things that Emily has written when I clean.. Today I was cleaning up Emily's room and I found this little book of prayers.. and the end of the book you can write in your own prayer.. Emily wrote:

Dear God,

Bless my Mommy
and my Daddy
Bless me
and Bless you!!

Amen.

My Jump Rope Poem by Emily Roach age 8

Jumping, Jumping, all around
Jumping, Jumping on the ground

We love to jump, but who are we?
We are the Jump Ropes,
You can see!

We Jump and Jump and bounce around
And wiggle-jiggle on the ground

We love to jump, but who are we?
We are the Jump ropes
You can See!

A cute poem that I found while cleaning up the office.. I had never seen it before and thought it was wonderful!!

The world according to Emily....

This is a conversation I just overheard from Brian and Emily.....

Emily says, "I wanna be the next Albert Einstein"..." I wanna look at my Microscope"

to which Brian say, " I thought you wanted to play WII Sport Resort?"

Emily says, "NO I CHANGED MY MIND.... Because looking in the Microscope is WAYYYYYYYYYYYYYY Cooler!!!"

Only our daughter.... :)

A guilt post....

Been feeling kind of guilty lately for not posting anything on this blog in a while.. Why? I don't know.. I don't think anyone outside of Emily & Me care, but isn't that enough... Emily keeps telling me to post about her Americanism show which was back in NOVEMBER!!!! Yikes... SO now I'm feeling really really guilty. Emily was sooo cute in the show, she did THREE songs with her class.. but two of them she got to "perform" a little.. in the one she held up a cardboard tea pot and had to pour pretend tea in one of her classmates cardboard cup... it was soooo cute because Emily was faster than all the other pourers and it was soooo funny and cute!! LOVED It!!!! Luckily I was able to tape it!! Although I learned a very very important lesson--- don't tape other kids UNTIL you've finished taping ur own, because a little bit of the 3rd song she did... I had run out of tape on. Which annoyed me, she was sooo cute in that one as well because she got to have pom poms and was soooo good at it. I was really impressed with her----- SHE DID SOOO GREAT!!! :))) LOVE HER!!! I love that the school puts this on... it was like the 33rd year they've been doing it!! It was really amazing.. plus just love the fact they are honoring the vets & military.. Anyway... we are all doing pretty good.. Brian had surgery several months ago and it seems to have helped alot although just lately he's been complaining again about being tired but has finally worked out all the issues with his CPAP and is back to using the machine.. I think we were all hoping it would be unneccesary after the surgery but no such luck. :( OH well... it is ALOT better.. just not perfect although not much in life is, Right? I have to make some doctor's appointments which ofcourse I've been putting on the back burner... I know I need to... it's just uuuuggh... hate it!! Fernando just turned 24! I can't even believe it... life is flying at super speed--- it really is. We are hoping to go to Florida in June or July if we can. Haven't been on a real vacation in soooooooooo long. Also we are planning on going to a campground this summer too. IT's been such a loooooooong winter, and SOO MUCH snow, I'm sooo looking forward to SUMMER and warm weather. Right now, I'm trying to give up soda!!! I've become soo addicted to it, it's one of my few vices, but I got to cut it... because It's sooooooo not good for u. I've been drinking ice tea instead, homemade ice tea and adding just a little sugar to it.. hopefully this will help me to lose some weight. I got on the scale the other day and was horrified at how much I weight. Emily is doing pretty good--- she has to go to the neurologist at some point, just for a check up... her medicine hasn't been adjusted in some time and they just need to see her. We haven't been seeing too many of the Absence seizures from her, so hopefully that is a good sign that maybe she is outgrowing them. :) Fingers crossed! She's doing pretty good in school... her grades are still excellent.. she was having a little bit of a crying issue but is doing much better at that even. :) YAY!! She still LOVES pokemon.. Probably more than ever. SHe has even learned to sing one of the Japenese Pokemon Songs.... YES she's singing Japanese.. TOO MUCH! Isn't she great? LOVE HER!!! I know I already said that.. can't help it. Anyway... I'm still watching Josh and working @ TG. Both are good... Josh is getting sooo BIG!! Love my GODSON! He's just the cutest boy!!! Dan is always saying, Isn't he soooo cute!! And he really is... we just can't help saying it.. BIG BROWN EYES, cute face and just a sweety! We are hoping that we can stay a night at the big yogi campground in Lancaster with Dan & the fam this summer. Emily really LOVES camping and even more so with Madeline, because they enjoy playing with each other, makes it even more FUN!! I'm soo glad those girls have each other. I hope they like each other when they are teenagers.. that'll be the test. I think they will but u never know.. the cliques, oh the cliques.. luckily they aren't in the same school so that should help. :)) What Else? Well we are walking in our 8th March of Dimes walk this year!!! Pretty impressive.. we've been walking in it since Emily was two. WOW!! I'm so proud of us for doing it every year.... and our team has two new walkers, a friend of mine from FACEBOOK and a friend (and newly friened by me) of hers!! :) YAY!! It was so nice that they joined our team, made me soo happy. Their names are Dawn and Heather... Dawn said she read my note about Emily and wanted to help.. WOW! Isn't that sweet? As a team we have already raised $465!!!!!! and we still have 44 days til the walk.. I think this is the best start we have ever had!! I'm hoping to raise $2000.00 this year!! Wouldn't that be impressive.. I was thinking we've probably raised over $10,000 for the March of Dimes over the years... that gives me such pride! I can't even explain it! Anyway the walk is on April 25th this year! :) So anyway still on Facebook obviously... still having fun on it. Completely addicted to FARMVILLE... but haven't yet become addicted to any of the other games on their. INfact all my fish died in fishville.. I'm a one application women I suppose. I guess I should go but I must say I feel pretty good about taking a moment and writing this blog... Feel good!! YAY!! Anyway... peace out !