Here's a picture....

A picture from the 2015 March of Dimes Kickoff dinner... Brian & Emily sharing her preemie story and encouraging the "family teams" to keep on.... Marching for the babies.  :)

Life.. updated

So I thought I'd hop on here to give an update.  Emily got her high school schedule in the mail a few days ago.  The main 4 subjects which were "suggested" based on her grades/test/ report cards over the last few years of middle school were  HONORS English,  HONORS Geometry, HONORS lab science, & HONORS World History!!! WOW!! We are so proud of all her hard work over the last 2 1/2 years to have earned those classes.  WOW! Impressive! That's the most honor classes a freshman can take.    Fingers crossed she can manage all them----- if her history is any indication she'll do just fine.  Fingers crossed *anyway though.  :)   Our family attended the March of Dimes 2015 Fundraising kickoff last night.... & guess what?  Emily became a "local" ambassador for our chapter.  SUPER COOL!   Brian also shared our NICU story & we were very touched by the other "family" team's there who shared their stories of their journey with premature birth.   We were very moved and reminded why we care so much about helping the March of Dimes so that all babies can be born healthy!!!!! We will be starting our March for Babies fundraising soon.... so come back here from time to time to check out our progress & please help anyway you can,  join our team, walk with us or simply donate to our family team.  I'll put up links soon. TY!

High school.... already?? What, how did this happen already?

We went to Emily's "HIGH SCHOOL" Orientation on Tuesday night.  Let me repeat that... H I G H  S C H O O L! Is that really possible.... time... it just keeps on rolling.    It surely felt surreal to be there.   My baby can't possibly be old enough to be going to high school but it's happening next year whether I can believe it or not.   When we first got to the school, we sat in the auditorium to listen to the vice principals & the principal.   I think there are several vice principals.   They gave the parents/students a lot of information.  They are starting a new schedule next year.  Which is good & bad.... It's helpful that our incoming children don't know any other schedule BUT then again I'm sure there will be "kinks" that need to get worked out for the school because it's new.   It's suppose to be more like a "college" schedule thus preparing the students for life after high school... the thing that I found just crazy is that all the kids eat lunch at the same time during their "free" period & and it starts at like 10 am.... WHO THE HELL EATS LUNCH AT 10AM? That's ridiculous! But it is what it is.   Honestly I'm just hoping & praying that Emily likes & can manage high school as well as she did middle school.  It seems like such a big change but then again so did middle school.  It's a pretty big school & it seemed overwhelming to me but like Brian said after a few days Emily will get used to the place & it won't seem so big & scary. I'm sure she'll do great.  There were some parts of the "tour" that were cool & some parts that have me a little concerned for example the random high school girl who shouted down the hall, " Don't have your kids come here!!"  "This place sucks!"  I'm hoping the girl was just having a bad day... but whatever it was, it wasn't very encouraging for the "newbies".   They did have us visit some of the "elective" classes.. for example...art, music, tech, and world languages.    Emily liked the Italian teacher, and we all really REALLY liked the "music" dept- the kids that were there to speak about the music dept were all uniquely cool & super FRIENDLY & we thought Emily would really fit right in with that group.  Not to mention the teacher seemed very encouraging of her students & the program.  Since Emily loves music so much that's right up her alley.  We left a little worried but also more informed & a little hopeful as well.  They told us we should be getting the "suggested" main core schedule for the entering students in the mail in a few days.  (the counselors & teachers, suggest a course study for the kids based on their class grades, & state test scores from middle school)  It can be anything from a basic course for kids who were struggling in the grade dept, to a college prep course, to the advanced or even HONORS courses for kids with high grade averages throughout middle school. (including state testing).   I honestly can't believe that Emily will be starting the next chapter of her life in a little over a 1/2 a year.  We are so proud of her & know she'll again surprise us & make us proud in high school just as she has done with every other challenge she's ever faced in life.

Happy Saturday!!! :) Brian's been away for 2 weeks & comes home tonight!!! YAY!    Em & I miss him so much.  It just isn't the same.  We manage but it's hard not having him here with us.  Our family isn't complete.  Anyway, just thought I'd hop on & give a little update of what's been going on.  Let's see...    The last two weeks with Brian being away I asked for a light schedule at work & have only worked 2 days,  my paycheck is going to be so pathetic.  But oh well...it's a little more difficult when Brian's away to work too much.  I was so happy that my work was able to honor my wishes & allowed me to have less hrs than normal.   My manager was so sweet to do that for me and I'm grateful.  But when I went in on Thursday to work though, I got some sad news... the manager who hired me,  is no longer there.  I don't know exactly what happened & it's not really too much of my business anyway.  I'm just grateful to him for having hired me & for the kindness he showed to me while he was there.    I hope he finds something soon & that it ends up being a positive thing for him in the long run.  What else... Oh yes... Emily went to her first middle school dance last night.   Her friend Madeline had asked her if she was going & if she was, did she want to carpool there together.  I was kind of "Happily" surprised when Emily said she wanted to go.   Emily is generally kind of a loner & has never expressed much interest in going to one before.  So... GO EMILY! We've been encouraging her to get more involved in activities in school.   She decided on her own to go & I was super happy about that!   What's even better is she said she had a great time!!!  Apparently there isn't tooo much "dancing" at the "dance" but Emily said Madeline taught her the "cup" song & she & the kids danced a couple of "group" dances.  Cotton Eye joe & some "shuffle" song.    It was kind of excited too because it was the first time Emily was picked up by a friend's dad & taken somewhere with out us being involved.  I was all alone without Brian here & waiting for Emily to get home from a dance.  Those two hours moved so slow.  It really put things into prospective & I felt well like a.... "teenager's mom".  It was kind of exciting & scary all at the same time.  :)  But it was a good thing.