Happy New Year!

The blessings of a new year include a clean slate:

Here I can here Anne Shirley of Anne of Green Gables saying, "Each day is a new beginning, with no mistakes in it."

And, you can leave your past behind you:

Here I can here Rafiki saying, "Yes, the past can hurt, but the way I see it, you can either run from it....or learn from it.....so what are ya gonna do?"

.....I hope, learn from it!

Happy New Year everyone! For those of you who know me well, I do don't New Year's eve, day, week, very well....I'm not sure why. I think I'm always sad to see the old year go and I'm scared to death of what the new year brings! I always feel badly about the things I didn't get done and I dread the list of things I still have left to do. See, now you know why I'm such a basket case! :o)

Okay, well, then, "learn from it", my mistakes of last year: I didn't blog as much - poor time management? Probably. Internet surfing - yes, for sure; sucked into what I like to call the Pinterest vortex. (A blog post coming about that for sure in the near future.) But, I've put on my "big girl panties" and I'm ready to try this again.

Let's start with a little video of our Christmas.
Another mistake, I didn't take very many pictures, so I had to improvise with this slideshow. When I was all done, it still made me cry, so I think I still managed to record what was important. Enjoy:



For the daughter who likes to cook and bake, but still only eats five things in her diet,

she got a Kitchen Aid from Santa! This was totally inspired by Ree Drummond, the Pioneer Women.
For the daughter who is now a college student,

she finally got a real, bonafind, updated, working laptop!
For his Man Cave, Scott got beer...

and a cute little fridge to keep it in!
I got clothes, purses, slippers and jewelry....and then, just a little something....

to decorate my walls with!!! Yes, that's a Thomas Kincade print of my favorite Disney movie of all time!!
(OMG, I can't believe I just posted this picture of me - eek!)


There are a few more changes to make to this here blog for the new year that I'm still working on. One change is the tabs at the top, I've added two new ones and condensed some others. One is 50 @ 50, click on it to see what that is about. And then, the "My two cents" tab which will include bits and tidbits of things I find on the internet (since I spend so much time there) that some of you may find helpful from time to time.

Okay, well then, another mistake I make, all the time, is procrastination....and letting my kids sleep in too long while on break.....SO, here's to starting the new year off right - I better go wake up those girls and start putting the holiday decorations away......

.....right after one more cup of Earl Grey.....
I'm on break too, you know!

Love, Melle :o)

Good news - it was a sweet weekend;

Bad news - too tired now to fill in the details....

Good news - all you need to know is Andrea came home this weekend, her first time since her move to college, to celebrate her birthday and we had a wonderful time!

L to R: McKenna, Andrea and friend from high school, Caitlin

Friday night started at dinner with family and friends at Kotobuki's! 

Saturday was a day at Disney.

McKenna and Andrea in front of Tower of Terror at Hollywood Studios

It was almost harder taking her back today than it was the first time....but, so so very proud of her, and I know in my heart that she is in the right where she is supposed to be. :o)

P.S.
I still cry when I walk down Main Street at the Magic Kingdom. I love it there.

Melle :o)

birthdays and miscellaneous....

September always seems to kick of our busy time of year, and then it quickly blends into Christmas - so hold on.....and here we go.......
Well, with Andrea off to collage, we aren't as busy with high school events, but with McKenna in the middle school, there still is some school spirit to share. Homecoming at the high school was already this Friday, so McKenna's school had 3 themed dress down days. Each day was carefully planned and accessorized over the weekend. For example, she crafted all three pairs of shoes,

And splatter painted in the studio,

The first one "Patriotic Day" (9-11 - yep, my birthday),

The second one "Super Hero Day", and Secret Agent Perry the Platypus 

(from Disney's Phinius and Ferb cartoon), is her favorite,

And the last day was "Spirit Day"!

It's been crazy busy at work with more than 475 Kindergarten or first grade students either creating their first painted paper collages or trying watercolor crayons for the first time! However, I still get to see the students for a full hour once a week and in my own beautiful classroom. So many of my fellow art teachers in this area can't say that anymore. 

Now that my birthday falls on a national day of mourning and with a husband who is a firefighter and 

bagpipe player,

we can be sure that he and his brothers will be honoring those who were lost on 9-11. So, we just moved my birthday to Friday the 13th instead!! (These photos are awful, but I give up.) We started with a traditional dinner at the Japanese Steakhouse, Kotobuki's,

Then we headed down to Orlando for the night and woke up and hit my favorite Disney Park, 

Animal Kingdom! 

We visited Pooh,

and Tigger, too!

And of course a visit with Simba and the Festival of the Lion King show!

And although it was really weird without Andrea with us, we finished the day with a delicious dinner at the Yak and Yeti! A favorite Asian restaurant there in the park.

 All in all, a very nice way to celebrate my 49th year on the planet! Still thinking about that tattoo to commemorate my youth....'cuz starting next year, I'll be VINTAGE!! LOL!

And finally, what you really might be reading this post for......an Andrea update!! :o)
The best I can tell, she is doing really well! There have many activities that she's participated in and an archaeology club, too that she says she likes a lot. She's won a VERY nice pair of headphones from the bookstore and a gift card to Target for 3rd place during gaming night on the Wii for Just Dance! She sent a photo of the "screen". I couldn't believe it!  

Scott, McKenna and I visited last weekend and I couldn't get over how amazing she looked, older and more confident. I still had to resist the urge to stay with her!  I just like it there so much and I hate missing out on making these memories with her. But I'm thrilled for her all at the same time; hard to describe. She says the classes are about the same as her classes in high school, so not too difficult yet, but none to easy either.
We'll bring her home for a visit closer to her birthday in October and you can bet it will include our traditional visit to Kotobuki's......'cuz this little girl of mine misses it!!

Andrea's

 first birthday at Koto's and her first kimono! 

Oh how I miss you sweetie, but we'll see you soon!!!

Moving-In Day!

Eurika!
My computer and Blogger have made up and are talking again!!
And good timing too, because in all the things I have attempted to blog about in the past few weeks, none are more blog-able than Andrea's move to college yesterday!!!
So here they are, a few photos and commentary:

"The Moving Crew"

I am certain we have many more friends and family who would have gladly helped us out yesterday and all we would have had to do was ask, 

but Aunt Debbie and Uncle John's "Flagler know how" were invaluable. (Their pick-up truck came in handy too!) Their daughter, our cousin Devin graduated from Flagler and she lived all four years there in the dorm. John knew exactly where to pull-up for unloading and knew exactly where the prime parking spots would be.

The love and support from Grandma and Grandpa, 

and from Aunt Lisa,

was also invaluable. It's a special kind of love that can either wait with your piles of belongings in the hot and steaming breezeway or to carry those belongings up the several flights of stairs! Andrea's room is on the second floor, but the first floor is called the lobby, so, in my mind, it's really like she's on the third floor!

A little history about the building: these photos are all taking in the courtyard at Flagler (pretty cool that it looks just like Hogwarts!). This was built by oil and railroad tycoon Henry Flagler 125 years ago. At that time he would bring his wife to Florida for her health and there wasn't a place to stay. His hotel was state of the art, with electricity throughout by Edison himself. The hotel was gifted to Flagler College in 1968, originally as a women's college, but became co-ed in 1971. The girls' dorms are the original hotel rooms (the boys and coed dorms are separate buildings). I find it especially fascinating that Flagler wanted his guest to have a different experience each time they visited the hotel, so each dorm room is unique. There are a few rooms that hold only one student, but some as many as six!

Andrea's room holds four girls and for now, their beds are bunked and she wanted the top one.

I just realized that their room doesn't have one of the cool (closed up of course) fireplaces, but it does have a really big window. Andrea wasted no time placing some of her prized photos in it. :o)

My camera just can't capture the beauty and grandeur of this place, although I still have hopes of coming one weekend to try, I thought this photo was kinda cool. As I mentioned, the bottom floor is the lobby, then the "1st floor" and Andrea's is the 2nd. Looking straight across you might be able to make out some steps. Her room is the room just to the left on the landing before the last set of steps (and boxes). 

The Parent Orientation meeting was filled with tips and advice for first year college parents,

but the underlying theme that came through loud and clear was, that as much as I may want to do things for her, (after all that's a parents' job), she is now ready and very capable of embarking on this new adventure on her own. 

So, go forth by first born child, make lots of unforgettable memories and know that I love you with every fiber of my being. Just please remember to call me, write me or text me to tell me all about your adventures!! :o)

....but I've tried.....

Well, my absence from the blog isn't due to neglect.....well, not completely.  I've had the darndest time get Blogger to work correctly. I've tried to trouble shoot this now for at least two weeks. It seems to be working now, so I'll keep going - keep your fingers crossed.  (I love when I told students that this week, that they still cross fingers literally....do you remember doing that as a child; crossing everything, fingers, legs, arms, everything!)

Catching Up....Part II

 Well, Andrea's graduation day ended with a party and a surprise gift from Grandma and Grandpa!

 Although, she still needs a little more practice, I'm sure she's going to really appreciate her scooter when she's off to college!

Thank you Grandpa!

But we weren't quite done celebrating yet....
One more treat from Grandma and Grandpa was fulfilling Andrea's wish of seeing The Blue Man Group!

It was a great show! And Andrea picked Bubba Gump's to eat at:

The following night, McKenna got to pick the restaurant (Pizza Hut, which we had a heck of a time finding) and she picked Putt-Putt as the activity.

 Thank you Grandma and Grandpa!!!!

Even though McKenna made a-hole-in one, Grandpa and I tied for first place!

I know the above photo angle is a little odd, but Scott had to head home for work the next day, so our "photographer" was my camera's 10 second timer resting on my purse....I just wanted to be sure to include the waterfall and the pirate flag!! :o) By the way, that cute red-head next to me was "Aunt" Lisa...the girls are so glad she could join us to celebrate!

Our four weeks into summer break also means at least one of my youngin's back in the pool! Which I love!

 It was one of McKenna's good friends, Jillian and Miss Deb who got us to the Y (finally) and we really are enjoying it so far. McKenna even got signed up in time for a "meet" this past weekend, which was really.....

just a big ol' party!

Nite, nite for now ya'll.

Part III.....our return to "The Happiest Place on Earth".....

Catching Up: Part I

As my summer break winds down to only about 4 weeks left, I admit I already feel a panic about the "things" I haven't gotten done.
Why do I do that?
Why do WE do that?
Why don't we celebrate the "things" we have accomplished?

So, how about my return to blogging tonight be just that; a celebration of the last few weeks. They have passed quickly and I am grateful for this time to reflect!
The following video has been sitting in my Animoto queue waiting to be finished, and even though it obviously isn't done, I liked the way the photos fell and I decided to leave it the way it was.....enjoy.... (may I recommend you watch in "full screen", just click the rectangle in the bottom right hand corner)






On May 25, 2013 our first born, graduated from The Villages High School. Both family and friends were there to help us celebrate. Thank you family and friends!! Love you so much!!!

 Andrea's Aunt Sue, Uncle David and Cousin Donnie came up from Spring Hill. The day just wouldn't have been complete without them there!

 The day also wouldn't have been complete without two of my closest teacher friends who have literally watched Andrea grow from Kindergarten to graduation day!

 As is true for all of us, some of our high school friends will come and will go, I hope these sweet girls have a friendship that lasts a lifetime!

And my mom, so grateful that three generations could be together on this special day. I only hope we all still look this good in seven more years when it's McKenna's turn!

McKenna too, ended her school year with some major accomplishments. Her 5th grade awards night included a certificate for ALL "A" Honor Roll  (wow! just amazing to me!). Also, each teacher chooses one student out of the entire 5th grade as their "Shining Star" and McKenna received one in Spanish!

 By the way, I thought I'd include this; McKenna's first day of 5th grade and her last....there was a whole lotta growin' this year! She's pictured here with two more amazing teachers to add to her list.
 Thank you Mrs. Fort and Mrs. Canon for an amazing school year!

Most of the "family gang" were all there! So very, very grateful......

Okay, Part I of "Catching Up" has taken a very long time on this end, so, I won't promise, but please check back tomorrow for Part II..... ;O)
Love,
Melle