august

zoe is one year old! alyvia is 18 months old!! logann started school @ amanda. abbie & i are adjusting @ westfall. i love working with children but i am reeeeally missing my time with tasha & the kids... life is wonderful, life stinks... what to do!!

July

Megan and Devon have been married one month (tomorrow)! The wedding was awesome and Tasha captured fabulous pictures from all angles (of course). They are preparing to move from their apartment to a house they are excited to be renting in Canal Winchester :-) I love that our family is growing. Russell and I are either going to have to move to a bigger house or add "a wing" so each of them can have their own rooms!!! I always want them to feel welcome...

Russell and I are taking our first vacation without our children/family :-( We are going to the west coast to stay a short while :-( with my cousin and her four children, so our time away will still be eventful! I also have another cousin, aunt and uncle that we will be visiting. Tentative plans are to travel to the San Diego Zoo, Tom's Market (Russell's fav), Disney Adventure, the BEACH, and Orange County Flea Market...

Zoe will be ONE on August 13th. Time goes by incredibly fast :-( Tasha is planning a big celebration for Zoe; family and friends from all over will come to spoil our little owl baby with love!!!

School will be back in full swing soon after Zoe's birthday, so I will continue to check off "things to do" from my summer list and be prepared to the kids to arrive their first day Aug. 23rd.

Abbie and I will have to adjust at Westfall with Logann going to Amanda; I will plan for to complete the internship/practicum for my second Master's, Mental Health Counseling; the rest of the calendar year will have holidays, anniversaries, meetings, and...

Friday, June 18: Decorating, Rehearsal, Dinner.... Rest
Saturday, June 19: Devon and Megan's Wedding!!!! We have planned, shopped, shopped some more, organized, shopped.... and their day will be awesome. The McGinnis family is very excited for Megan to be an "official" part of the family. Pictures will be fabulous ('cause Tasha is the wedding photograher and the bride and groom are photogenic!!); Food, dancing, and visiting will be great; Gifts will be exciting :-) Off to bed, tomorrow is a busy day...

May and June

The 2009/2010 school year is officially over. I am usually on an emotional roller-coaster the last few weeks and this year I made it worse on myself... A good friend from ECOT, my previous employer, phoned me to ask if I would consider going back to ECOT! Long story short, I listened, considered/prayed, accepted, and..... retracted my acceptance!!! The offer seemed to be in God's plan for my life; however, another good friend saw me struggling with the acceptance and nicely stated that I needed to follow my heart, which-for-now is with children in a traditional setting at Westfall Elementary! I believe God takes us out of our comfort zone but I also need to believe He wants us to be passionate about our choices in life. I am passionate about working WITH children :-) So hopefully I made the right decision and life will remain to be grand!!!


Devon and Megan's wedding is only days away.... We have spent a lot of time planning and preparing. Tasha has been an awesome "big sister" helping and doing a lot for Dev and Megan and the wedding. Russell and I are trying to help in any way we can with the emotional and financial challenges. I'm fairly certain something will go wrong (cause history says it will!); however, the day will go by quickly and when the sun goes down Megan and Devon will be Mr. and Mrs.! Russell and I are excited for them as well as grateful to have Megan as our daughter-in-law :-)


June also brings nieces with high school and college graduations, days with Logann and Abbie, Dev's paramedic graduation, Father's day, our wedding anniversary, as well as Russell's birthday... busy, busy!!! Then in July we are finally going to California to visit some of my family!!!

March AND April

March was craaaazy.... snow, rain, 70 degrees, 3o degress, you think we live in Ohio or something!!!

Signs of SPRING are upon us and I am so releaved. Winter depresses so many of us in different ways :-( Me, I just need the cheer of sunshine... snow and cold are not a biggy, but days without sunshine is too much.

We celebrated Abbie's birthday with her @ The World of Bounce in Grove City the first of March. Then we celebrated Megan's 21st!!! birthday with a trip to The Cheesecake Factory to celebrate; Megan had never eaten there. It was yummy and relaxing :-)

April brought Easter, Josh and Tasha's birthdays, as well as our friend Heather's birthday :-) Not to mention more spring!!!

The past few months have been eventful. with our celebrations we had a few "scares" too... Zoe had a fever, seizure, and... roseola! but a few days passed before Tasha determined the roseola so we were a tad worried! I struggled with a cold/allergies/asthma that wiped me out for several days, and I unfortunately passed to Tasha and Zoe... but now all are mostly well!!

Now the school year is coming to an end; we have 15 school days left and still so much to teach :-( We will do our best to teach to the end and look forward to next year! However... next year will not be the same because Logann will not be attending Westfall next year, and I am going to be verrrrrry sad. She is like a grand-daughter since her mom and I became friends and they became part of our family since conception! Tasha caring for Logann @ birth, and her attending school with me during her kindergarten and first grade years. I WILL have Abbie and we will adjust our mornings and after school time without "Logi"

Devon and Megan's wedding is getting closer!! They are down to getting the details... marriage license, dj, flowers, counting RSVPs!!! We are excited for them and will have pictures to post before we know it :-)

Febrrrruary

February's temperature has been slightly frigid with quite a bit of snow.... however, it is beautiful!!! We have used our five days of calamity days, so we will be making up school days if we miss any more days from here on out!

We celebrated several January & February birthdays.... Russell's brother, Todd! me! Alyvia's FIRST! Zoe's 1/2 birthday! our friend Audrey also! So much fun :-) Alyvia is getting closer to walking and Zoe is sitting up independently. I love getting unexpected picture texts from Tasha, Devon, or Megan of the girls doing something new!!!

Dev, Alyvia, Zoe, & Tasha with

Grandma Nita

(Russell's Mom) @

Todd's 40th birthday party

Megan and Devon are putting the pieces together for their wedding. They are excited and we are excited for them. They have secured the church and reception facility along with other details (like tuxes, wedding dress, and decor!!) We love celebrations so we are enjoying anything we can do to help them with the planning!!