Oh.My God.

You are not going to believe what happened tonight. I have the absolute BEST news! Tonight was the Scholarship Ceremony at Joseph's high school. A student only attends by invitation, and Joseph and I were invited.

HE GOT A SCHOLARSHIP!!!!! $2000 A YEAR FOR ALL FOUR YEARS!!!! A TOTAL OF $8000!

(can you tell I'm excited?)

Yes, that's right, folks. My son now has his annual tuition covered by his student loan and his scholarship. My son can now actually afford to go to college! I was in tears. This means so much to our family, to me, to him. The first picture is of Joseph and his good friend Sarah. He has been in school with her since kindergarten. She got the same scholarship (they gave 4). The second is him and the 3 other winners with the two presenters.

Okay, I'm tired. It's been a long day. But I can go to bed with one less worry on my mind.

J.

Aren't these hilarious?

I was blog-surfing and found some funnies over at Turnbaby's site. So I checked out the link and found these:
















Aren't these great? I definitely want the "crabby mommy powers" one!
Go HERE to see more great stickers.
J.

Manic Monday

Yep, here we are again. It's time for Manic Monday . Only 2 more Mondays until SCHOOL IS OUT!!! YEAH! (Can you tell I'm ready to be done?)

If the statement, 'You are what you eat' was true, I would be a bowl of cereal. I love cereal.

If you had to have one piece of music (softly) playing in your mind for the rest of your life, what would you want it to be? Vivaldi's Four Seasons. I never get tired of listening to that.

What is the most important thing in any relationship? Honesty.

Have a good Monday, or at least a decent one!
J.

More Free Graphics and Myspace Layouts at pYzam.com

Happy Mother's Day!

Scrumptious Sunday:
This is a weekly meme for Sundays. A theme is given each week. You can include a list of the foods, original pictures, pictures you find, stories, how-to’s, recipes…Participants can also add what kind of scrumptious dinner they had on that Sunday or a previous Sunday.

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there. I am very lucky to be spending Mother's Day with my 4 children: Joseph, Rachael, Daniel and Aaron. I have been a mom for 18 years. It's hard to believe. 18 years sounds like a long time. I can hardly remember a time when I wasn't a mom.

When I was a kid, I always wanted to be a mom when I grew up. I loved babysitting, especially babies. Then, before my ex and I were even married, I got accidentally pregnant right after college. I was in shock, but before I could get too adjusted, I had a miscarriage. My ex and I got married, and we decided to start a family, but I had another miscarriage. I thought I was going to be one of those women who never has kids, which seemed unreal to me. Me - the one who loved kids, who went into elementary education to be with kids!

Finally, in 1989 I got pregnant for the third time and in March 1990 I became a mom to Joseph. Only 19 months later Rachael followed, and 2 years later, Daniel arrived. In 5 years, I went from wanting a baby to a mother of 3! Those were crazy years, but good ones. Almost 6 years later, God surprised me with another bundle of joy, my fun and silly Aaron.

Quite honestly, there have been times when I have looked with envy at people who have no children, who can spend all their money on themselves, who can come and go as they please. But I wouldn't trade being a mother for anything. Really.

As for a menu for Mother's Day, we are celebrating as my mother requested: pizza from Pizza Hut so none of us has to cook, at her house. I am bringing a salad of my own creation: Romaine lettuce, spinach leaves, strawberries, mandarin oranges, sliced almonds, with a raspberry vingarette dressing, and my sister is bringing dessert. As a gift from my kids to my mom, I got her a rose bush.

Happy Mother's Day!

J.

UPDATE:

My gifts from my kids: a Toby Keith greatest hits CD from the older two, a pretty watch from the younger two. The pizza "buffet" was good. My salad was a big hit - my mom had two bowls of it! Best part of Mother's Day: a long nap this afternoon!

LOOK BELOW FOR PROM PICTURES!

As a special bonus: Prom pictures!

Tonight my oldest son, Joseph, went to the Senior Prom with a group of friends. Doesn't he look great in that tux?
J.

Saturday 9

Saturday 9: What Do You Notice?

1. What is the first thing you notice about a person (that you are attracted to) when you meet them? Eyes and smile.

2. What has been your worst illness or injury? I was in a car accident a few years ago. A man sideswiped me. I never saw him coming! I hit my head on the steering wheel, the car ran into a ditch, and I was unconscious for awhile. I had to been taken to the hospital in an ambulance and I got stitches in my forehead and I had to spend the night in the hospital to make sure I didn't have a concussion. I got two black eyes and had a very sore back and neck for monthes! I also hurt my calf just below my right knee where my leg came up and banged the steering column in the crash. It still hurts sometimes!

3. Have you ever had a secret crush and then told the person? If yes, how did it go? Once I admitted to liking someone who was younger than I am and I knew had a girlfriend. All I got was a kiss and the comment that if he was "available", he would definitely be calling me. But nothing more. (sigh)

4. What was the last drink that you ordered at a pub or a bar? Strawberry margarita.

5. What car have you owned that was your favorite? The one I have now: my Taurus. It was the first car I ever bought all by myself. And it was the newest and had the most "bling". Now I have new van fever and all I can think about it getting a little more space again.

6. What is your favorite holiday? Probably Christmas.

7. Have you ever had sex with someone that in retrospect was (and stayed) a stranger? Yes.

8. Who is your favorite female singer? Sara Evans.

9. How often do you read the newspaper? Every day.

Happy Saturday everyone! I'm off to clean!
J.

Friday Fill-Ins

Yay! It's Friday again. Time for Friday Fill-ins! No weekend visit to or from my sweetie, but it should be a nice weekend! Have a great weekend everyone!


1. The answer to the problem had an extra secret ingredient; it was prayer and patience!
2. Sunshine comes flooding in on Saturday mornings through my window.
3. Right now, I need sleep! And money!
4. To meet Steven and have dinner is where I went Thursday night; it was great, even if our time together was short.
5. Why does heartburn hurt so much?
6. All I can think of is the last day of school. May it come quickly.
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to crashing at home, tomorrow my plans include cutting the grass, cleaning my bedroom, and taking pictures of Joseph going to his Senior Prom, and Sunday, I want to celebrate Mother's Day with my mother, my sister, and my kids!


What are YOUR plans for the weekend?
J.

My Life in Pictures.....

This is a post I have been wanting to do for a couple of weeks now. My life has been very busy lately. We have had several special and/or important events in our family, and I have not had time to do justice to any of them, much less include pictures. So, here is the last two weeks of my life:


My oldest son Joseph and my daughter Rachael were in the spring musical "Peter Pan". Joseph was Mr. Darling and Rachael was a pirate.










My middle son, Daniel, was inducted into the National Junior Honor Society. He is my 3rd child to receive this distinction. The middle picture is him with his buddies from the football team.











Just to show what an outstanding student/athlete he is, I snapped these two pictures of Daniel and his girlfriend Stephanie at their last soccer game. Their teams played each other and at one point they were opposing goalies. Stephanie is drawing on Daniel's shirt because we couldn't find his official team shirt, so we had a makeshift one.













This is Rachael's latest "headshot" for auditions. I included it here because she has been trying out for a lot of summer shows, and because I think she's beautiful!












As you may have read earlier this week, last weekend I got to steal away for a weekend with Steven, and we drove up to Chicago for dinner and sightseeing. We had a terrific Chicago-style pizza and parked the car for a walk on the Navy Pier. The one of me asleep Steven took when I got sleepy sitting with him in the truck while he was blogging.













I love this guy so much!








Finally, we have Aaron's First Communion. Doesn't he look great in his jacket and tie?







These last two were taken yesterday. After 2 long weeks, Aaron finally got his stitches out. The one of him in the blue shirt is him waiting in the doctor's office. After it was all over, we went home, changed into more comfortable clothes and went out to eat. The cut has healed nicely and we have a much more relaxed boy!


So, there you have it. My life for the last two weeks.
Have a great Thursday!
J.

Hump Day Humor

Welcome to another Wednesday, which means it's time for another "Hump Day Humor"! The theme this week: Moms!






I'm working on a montage of pictures from the recent events of the last two weeks. I promise to have more meaningful stuff here soon - it seems like it's all been quick bits and fluff.






I hope everyone is having a good Wednesday.
J.