Olympic Fever

The Olympics need to end sometime in the near future because I am dying from Olympic sleep deprevation! Wanting to stay up til after midnight when I have to get up at 5:45 is no fun...so I'm forcing myself to go to sleep, even though I don't really want to! I have fallen on to the Michael Phelps band wagon! I am in love! He is amazing! I didn't get to see him grab his 8th gold medal last night but I am so happy that he did! It seems like everyone has gotten "Phelps Fever", and I'm not ashamed to admit it! I saw this video on the news the other day and thought it was so cute. Take a look!



Friday night I was so excited that I got to stay up and watch the women's gymnastics all-around finals. I love gymnastics! It's forever been one of my favorite sports to watch. Dominique Moceanu will always be one of my favorites. I'll never forget when she and the Magnificant 7 took gold in Atlanta in 1996! It was amazing! Our team this year was pretty awesome- taking the silver in the team competition. As I sat there and watched Friday night (and EARLY into Saturday morning) I found myself crying as a I realized we had won gold and silver. Natsia Liukin became only the third U.S. woman to win gold in the all-around competition, and I bawled like a baby! Congrats to Natsia and Shawn Johnson (who took the silver!)

Okay, so that's my Olympic Fever update for today! Just one more week to go...and then maybe I'll be able to sleep again! :)

Crazy week!

You will probably notice the new background. I loved the Olympic background, but it made things very hard to read, so I've settled for a patriotic background to show my support for team USA. It will change again after the Olympics are over, but for right now I like it.

This week has been crazy already! Bri started preschool on Monday (for security reasons I'm not saying where...) and she is loving it! She throws a fit when it's time to leave, which is better than throwing a fit because she has to stay, so I'll take it! She's a very happy girl though, and I'm happy because she's happy!

Jonah started with a new sitter and he is enjoying himself also. This sitter is great. She does crafts with the kids every day, and so I'm always bringing home something cute that he made. Monday was a butterfly made out of a popsicle stick, coffee filter and pipe cleaner. Tuesday was a lizard made out of pipe cleaner. Today was a poem with his handprints on it. He's very happy too, and is adjusting really well to all the changes...especially to being somewhere without Brianna all day. That I was worried about because they've never been seperated.

School is going well for me. I must say though that I am totally exhausted! I haven't had to get up this early since high school, and by noon I'm beat! But, as I get used to it, it'll get better. Right?!?!?! But so far I love the kids and I love the school. We have a new principal this year and she is awesome! She's going to do great things for the school, I can tell! Plus, she's from Boston, so I love to listen to her talk!! :) I'm enjoying it so far though, just trying to learn names (I have a 104 students in grades 5-8 that I see every day!) and get used to waking up before dawn again! Pray for me! :P

Well, that's the update for today. I took pics of Bri on her first day of school, but I can't find the camera so I'll try to post them on Friday when I'm OFF SCHOOL!!!! YEAH! 3 day weekend! I LOVE teaching!

2008 Beijing Olympics Opening Ceremonies

Last night we gathered around the TV with the rest of the world and watched the opening ceremonies of the 2008 Beijing Summer Games. We love the Olympics! I have very fond memories of watching the Olympics, both summer and winter. I want to instill this same love in my children. There is something magical about the Olympic Games. A time when the world comes together to compete and enjoy one anothers company. It is wonderul and I enjoy every competition and every event! My dream would be to go to the Olympics one day (so Kyle, you better start training hard, because I'd love to go to London in 2012!!!!!!)

To start our Olympics celebration we went to a chinese resturant for really good take out. We love chinese food and thought it would be a good way to put us in the mood for the games in Beijing! The kids loved it all, especially the crab rangoon, chicken on a stick and boneless spare ribs. Jonah also loved the low mein noodles that came with my orange chicken. When mom went in to order the food the woman at the counter asked if it was a special occassion. Mom said "Yes, we're getting it to celebrate the Olympics in Beijing!" The woman was so tickled!

Bri enjoying her chicken on a stick!

Yes...I'm cute!

After dinner the kids played outside for a little while and then we came in and made a sign. I'd been telling Bri all day that she could make a sign for the Olympics so this is what we came up with...if we'd spent more time on it, it would have been much better, but we did this about 10 minutes before the opening ceremonies started. I told her she can make another one soon if she wants to!

We were totally amazed by the opening ceremonies! They were the most impressive I think I've ever seen! I don't know if anyone will be able to touch it in the future. China has set the bar high! Many times I found myself choking back tears and just sitting in amazement of the beauty and wonder of it all! Mom and I commented how sad it is that in our country we really have no traditions, not like the chinese. When you look at their history, the beauty in art, costumes, theatre, architecture, it just makes you stop and catch your breath! I think the chinese are such a beautiful people, and I loved every minute of last night. If you missed it, here is a slide show from You Tube that I really liked, and I thought it does a good job at capturing the essence of the ceremonies. I hope you'll spend time to watch this games over the next two weeks, and root for your team, whatever country that may be. As for me....I'll be rooting USA! USA! USA! USA!

More house pictures- finally!

I realized that I never really took you all on a tour so that you could see the inside of our house, and not just the outside! While we do like the outside, we really love the inside too! The layout of the house is so open and spacious, definately a step up from the condo!!! :) I thought I would do my best to take you on a tour, the way that you would see each room if you were actually here. Since you would walk into the house through the dining room we'll start there! I apologize now, some of the pictures are blurry, and some a darker than I would like. I think it's time to upgrade the camera (any suggestions of a really good camera that takes amazing digital pictures and won't wear out in a few year!?!?!?!) Hopefully you'll be able to get the general idea. A couple of weekends ago we spent the whole weekend painting. The dining room is ornate gold from the Biltmore Estates collection by Olympic paints. It is really pretty, and not as orange as some of these pictures make it look...even though we did joke while we were painting that it looked like a hot dog stand exploded all over the room. It dried really pretty though, and we love it! The furniture and stuff is Mom's. She has fallen in love with the rustic stars motiff over the last few years, and I have to admit it looks very pretty, and more formal than you would think when paired with the black furniture and gold walls. Mom also made the curtains. She's not thrilled with them, and will probably end up redoing them one day, but for right now I think it's all perfect! Okay, so here's the pictures!

This picture is one of my favorite Greg Olsen pictures ever. It was a wedding present from my dear friend, Megan (Howard) Hess and hung in the entry way at our condo. Them frame and colors all worked so well together I knew it had to hang in the dining room. Every time I see it I think of Megan, so thank you! We still love it! It is a very special part of our home!

And just some fun pictures for you! My mom brought home some really good salsa from the store the other day. I love salsa and this stuff was amazing! It's made by local farmers so unless you live in Northern Kentucky you won't find it. But the kids also loved it! They were sitting on the kitchen table shoveling it in! Literally, Jonah was using chips as a shovel for the salsa. What funny kids! (And yes, Bri is wearing a slip! Don't ask why... I think she was playing dress up!!!)

Winding Down

Okay, so another post without pictures. Sorry, but I've been really bad about taking them lately! I'll make up for it next week though because it's going to be a very big week! On Monday Bri will start preschool! I can't believe it! It doesn't seem possible that my sweet baby girl could be old enough to go to preschool. But she is and she will begining Monday morning! She is so excited and tells everyone about her new packpack and lunch bag that have her name on them. We go tomorrow and Thursday for her transition visits so I'll let you know how those go, but I'm so not worried!
I start student teaching on Monday so Jonah will start at a new babysitter. We went to meet her the other day. She and her sister run this daycare out of her home and she's great! They are very organized and structured and Jonah loved it there! There were two other little boys around his age so he was very happy to have little boys to play with. And get this...her daughter and Bri have the same birthday. They'll both be 4 on Nov 19th! How wierd is that?!?! So next Monday is going to be a very big, very busy day! And as it gets closer I get more and more nervous! But I'll just have to wait and see.
Thursday evening our good friends, the Newtons, stopped in to see us on their way up to Dayton to spend time with Denny's sister and her family. We went to dinner at the Montgomery Inn (Dionne's favorite!) but the visit was way too short! After several hours they were on their way to Dayton and we were saying good bye again. But at least I finally got to meet Brazen, which was a real treat! He is sooo cute, and soooo sweet, and so a clone of his daddy when he was little! It was great to be able to see our friends, and I'm looking forward to the next time! But that also meant that we missed Emily's baby shower! I was so bummed, and Em, if you read this I need your address so we can forward your gift on to you and little Zoe! So email me so I can get that to you, okay!?!?!
And on a house note.... Steven and his dad have been working on Mom's apartment for the last three weekends and they have it completely framed out now! It is amazing what they got finished in three weekends- it's feeling very exciting now! The next step is the electric and then the drywall. I will try to take some pictures and get them posted tomorrow so that you can marvel along with us at the progress that is being made!
Okay, well, that's a long enough post for today. I'll try to post some pics tomorrow, both of the basement and of my precious chilens!