What's new with Zee and Zip?

Zee became a wolf in cub scouts. One more patch until Weblos. He was so excited that he was howling when he came home.
He was sad on Saturday when he realized that he wasn't going to school this Monday. He really loves school and as ready as he was for summer vacation, it just didn't sink in until Friday. We are working on a Time Line in the hall way so we can achieve a better grasp of history before the second grade. I also want him to maintain his math so he can continue to soar through his GT curriculum. I want him to memorize addition tables this summer so he won't struggle with the next grade.
We bought a little pool for the backyard. I'm sure they will spend many hours getting nice and brown while fighting over pool toys. It's great that we live so close to our cousins so we have playmates a phone call away.

Tzipi went to her cousin's 3rd birthday recently and had a blast. It was "my little pony" and now she keeps telling me that she NEEDS a pony now. And that Deedle (her name for Zee) told her it was ok for her to have one.

She is missing school a bit. She keeps asking me each morning if she's going to school. I keep telling her that it's summer vacation, but it's just not real to her yet.

She's still a great help with housework and loves doing scrapbooking with me. She wants to spend all of her time with me. We went shopping today for some cute little summer outfits. When she dresses herself, she keeps grabbing winter stuff, so I realized we needed go find some cooler clothes. She had fun, but worried we were spending too much money. :-) We went to Dollar General and spent 26 dollars and bought three complete outfits and a pair of sandals. I think we did pretty well.

I found a DVD of really old cartoons for $5.00 at Wal-mart. Little did I know there were 4 DVDs in the box! The kids love them. They are really old. Hoppity Hooper, Betty Boop, Popeye, Superman, and some that are so old I don't even know what they are. Definitely my best buy this week!

My Manager's last day...

Friday was a sad day. My manager retired and her last day was Friday. I didn't cry a lot, but I did cry. I'm not as upset as the rest of my team that she's leaving, but it will be strange without her there. I know that Amarillo is a small town and I'll still see her and we'll keep in touch. We are going through reorganization at work and we've lost two team members (they've moved to another department) and replaced them with 4 new ones. Most of my team mates don't handle change well so it's been a rough few weeks to say the least. I'll be glad when we get our groove back.

My latest project

I still have many more pictures to do, but I thought I'd show my progress thus far. You'll notice that some pages seem rather plain, but I haven't embellished those ones yet. I also have to be in a specific mood to journal and the kids have to be absent in order for me to write. Sure enough the minute I start writing, the kids will jump on me and my words will be messy.

Scrapbooking/Blogging

My little helper

My spool holder turned scrapbook tool organizer.

Scrapbooking and blogging have a lot in common. Scrapbooking is a tangible form of blogging. The downside to scrapbooking is that you can only share it with people that are in the same room with you. Blogging can be seen by many people at once. The downside of blogging is that people without computers lose out on seeing your creation. With scrapbooking you need a lot of tools and materials to make a cute book. With blogging all you need is a camera and a computer.



These drawers hold my stickers, papers, embellishments, adhesives and whatnot. It's a lot of fun and I can do a little bit at a time.

I hope to show my latest project, but I'm still trying to figure out how to take a picture of my layouts without the flash glaring the photos. Once I figure that out, I'll show you my latest album.

School Photos

As you can tell, I don't use my scanner much, so my apologies for the angle of these photos, but I figured that I would post them anyway.

A beautiful picture

Just had to post!

Hope this makes you smile. :-) This was taken almost three years ago! Tzipi wasn't quite 1 year old yet. Golly time flies!

What a great movie!

Either there are a lot of closet Trekkies out there, or this really is a great movie. RottenTomatoes gives this new Star Trek movie 95%! My hubby and I went to see it today and it was so much fun! It really has everything you want in a movie, humor, action, good acting and amazing visual stimulation. I am not a movie critic by any means, but I highly recommend this movie. It's worth going to the theatre to see it because I just don't think it will carry across as visually striking on a small screen at home. It was 2 hours of non-stop fun and I only wish I could afford to do it every weekend that it's on, I would see it more than once, twice...three...you get the idea. I also plan to buy the DVD which I do not do. I really want to see the bonus footage. Go see it if you can!

Zippy's End of School Program

May 13th 2009... Mrs. Wormsbaker is one of Zippy's teachers. She has helped Zippy transition into Head Start. We all like her very much.

She was not interested in performing at all.

Here she got in on the fun a little bit.


She actually took a bow!!

Our precious little girl! I'm so glad I got to see her in her class. She is shy in class which is odd to see, but she was pretty happy to see BOTH Eema and Abba at her program. Typically Abba helps Zippy with all of her school activities, which is extremely helpful to me. I just couldn't miss out on this!

Hi!

Motherhood

I don't think children ever really appreciate how important mothers are until they have children themselves. Being a mother is very difficult. It's painful and joy-filled all rolled up into one! I've once heard it compared to taking your heart out and watching it walk around and climb on your furniture. You want to protect your children and you want to give your children the confidence to be independent. It's a crazy balancing act. And I also think that the best gift that I have ever given my mother by birth and my mother by marriage is grandchildren. Nothing makes me feel more fulfilled than to see the sheer pleasure on their faces. I know that neither get to spend near enough time with us, but they are dear to our hearts and always in our thoughts. I love you both very much!

Thank you Laurie!

Since I've been bitten by the scrapbooking bug, I realized that my photo chronology has gaps. I am working on a Hanukkah album and realized I didn't have any prints of the Hanukkahs in Lubbock. Well, I found a CD that Laurie (my sister by marriage) made for me that has over 600 pictures! I just wanted to thank you publicly for taking the time to save all of these pictures. I owe you big!!! I know some people don't have many pictures and it's really not such a big deal, but I love pictures and it's a luxury to be able to relive the good times. So 2006-2007 is ready for my albums. I'm still looking for the Hanukkah that I had Tzipi. We know we took pictures of the night in 2005 before I was admitted into the hospital, I'm just having a hard time finding them.

Remembering the warm days...

It's cool outside due to a cold front. I took these pictures on a warm spring day and felt like posting them.

My Mother's Day Surprise!!!

My wonderful husband and children surprised me with these beautiful red roses. I was so surprised! It made me cry! I love my little family so much!

Tzipi's first haircut

Before

After the cut

After the style

Diagnosis: Computer

Well I got home from work and guess what was waiting for me? My lovely laptop! And it was more serious than I realized. They replaced the hard drive, restored operating system (which I was expecting) and they cleaned the CPU/VGA fan. I'm so happy to have it back. It hooked up to the WI-FI quickly and easily, but then Windows had a bunch of UPDATES to catch up on. So I just had to log on to Avi's computer one more time so I could blog about my excitement! YEAH for warranties!

Latest Happenings...

Well, much has happened since I posted last. First I went to the dentist on Monday. It has been about 6 years since my last dental visit. This year was the first time I've ever had dental insurance. Dr. Curry is very nice and gentle. I've had some really bad experiences, so it is nice to finally find a dentist that listens. I had a very bad bacterial infection and I have to go back for four cleanings. I don't really have any cavities, but my gums are a wreck. The medicine he put me on is really strong. I'm starting to feel better, but it's been a rough couple of hours. Dr. Curry says that my front teeth will need to be removed and I need bridge work. I still have a few questions about that, and of course I need the estimate after insurance. I'm hoping Avi can come with me in June when I have my gums cleaned because I know it will be painful.

On Thursday I did my team training. It was definitely a learning experience as my audience just stared at me for 20 minutes. I got some good feedback. But with 14 team mates, I had 3 that were actually listening with interest. But I'm proud that I did it and glad that it's over. :-)

I was Toastmaster during Thursday's meeting. It was a really good meeting. I'm glad that I got to have some fun after working so hard.

I will be working again this Saturday. I'm looking forward to next week's pay check. :-)

May 1st

My computer is on its way to Simi Valley California for repair. I was so worried until I spoke with the Tech guy. I feel so good that my computer is going to repaired by professionals. I miss my computer very much.

I have worked ALOT of overtime the past two weeks. Things are all in flux at work. We're getting a new manager and our office is being reorganized. One of my performance goals for this year was to hold a training meeting for our team. So before our manager retires, I'm going to speak on Professionalism/Business Etiquette. It's this Thursday! I'm a bit nervous since I'm speaking to my peers who may or may not care about what I have to say, instead of my fellow Toastmasters who actually WANT to hear what I have to say. This will be the biggest challenge of my young career. My manager feels I would be a great asset to the Training Department, and in order to work towards that end, she wants it on my performance review that I held a training session for my team. This will also be the longest speech I've given. Keep me in your prayers this Thursday May 7th at 10 am.

Azariah is excited about school being over in a few weeks. Tzipi will be out of school sooner than Zee. My goal for this year is to get our bedtime routine in shape. It's been a nightmare since I started working. Zee is easy to get to bed, but Tzipi fights it with every bit of her tiny body.

I woke up at 5am and walked this morning. It was so clear and beautiful. The humidity curled my hair and I heard the birds singing their morning song. I felt jazzed after my long walk. I got back inside my home and jumped in the shower, got dressed, organized my work things, did my hair and make up and boy was I shocked when at 7am the fog was so thick I could barely see. The guy on the radio made me laugh so hard. He said that the visibility was less than a quarter of an inch... and then corrected himself to say mile, not inch. But it was too late.

I have to work again this Saturday. Hopefully I'll be able to get a lot done in the few hours I'll be there. The house isn't too messy, so maybe the weather will be pleasant and we can do something fun.

Well, I've rambled enough I guess. Just thought I'd blog while I could.