march already...geesh

I know it has been a while since I updated and I know that some of you have probably given up on me ever updating again :) however, I have not failed at this blogging thing quite yet.

February was a pretty good month. Of course the highlight was my trip with Shawn to sunny and warm San Diego. It was so great. We were there from the 14th to the 18th. The weather was fantastic and we had so much fun. I think that we ran Jay and Jackie a little ragged with all of our running around and sightseeing, but we couldn't resist. There is so much to see and do there! We went to the San Diego Zoo (fabulous by the way), La Jolla cove, Old Town, Sunset Cliffs, Cabrillo National Monument, Ocean Beach (a cool little beach town with a lot of great shops), and, well, I think that is it.

Jay and Jackie were fabulous hosts and their apartment is fantastic! They live in a nice area close to lots of good things. We also got to see Conlon and TracyAnn while we were there, first for dinner and margaritas in Old Town, then for breakfast at Jake's (this fantastic restaurant right on the beach). It was so great to see them and catch up a bit.

I am going to try to post some pictures on my picasa site when I get them all ready, but they are not quite there yet. So I will post a link to that when I get them uploaded.

In other news, our family was so excited to welcome Samantha Sue Nistico to the world on February 21st. She is such a small little wonder and absolutely gorgeous. Mom, Courtney, and I visited last week. She is such a little darling and we are so happy she is here.


Last Friday I visited the Howes' for dinner and some card making with Stacie. I loved getting to spend some time with Mr. Simon, he is so grown up now! The little guy is walking all over the place, happy as can be, and cute as a button. I can't believe how quickly he has grown. Here is was at dinner, showing me some straw tricks while we waited for our dinner. We are such good buds!


Well that is all for now. I really can't believe it is March already, this last year has gone by so quickly and I just can't believe it. Take care and love to you all!

Ahh February

Well, as always, it has been busy around here! I cannot believe it is February already. When I think back to this time last year, boy was my life a lot different. Regardless, these last few weeks I have been feeling pretty peaceful and things have been going very well, so I can't complain about that.

So this week is quite exciting, as Shawn and I are getting ready to go to sunny, warm, San Diego on Thursday. I am totally looking forward to a little sunshine and color and fun. It will be nice to be away from work for a few days. Also can't wait to see Jackie and Jay and Conlon and TracyAnn.

Today I had my second class for CLS, which is a class I am taking through the county. It is such an interesting framework, but kind of overwhelming, really makes you evaluate what you do in your classroom and how you interact with your students. I have 5 more sessions, all on Thursday nights this spring.

Last Saturday night, Shawn, Bert, Leah, and I went to the Washington Capitals game. They lost by two points in the last few minutes of the game, but we had awesome seats in the third row and we had a great time. We took the Metro down and that was so nice, takes the stress out of driving in the city, and it was Leah's first time on the Metro, so that was nice. Plus, it's a little "green" of us, saving gas by using public transportation :) Of course, every time I ride the Metro, I think of how disappointed Sean would be that I am using public transportation and relying on someone else to get me where I need to be. He was never a big fan of the public transportation :) (But I love it...shhh)

This week I got a new hairdo, and I must say I love it! It is shorter than it was before, dark, and spiky :) I am having so much fun with it already! Check it out...




A few weeks ago, during Martin Luther King weekend, Shawn invited me to tag along with him to Deep Creek Lake to stay the weekend with Nick and Vicki. We had such a nice time. It was freezing cold, but it was nice to get away and experience a little bit of winter. That is one thing that I love about living in Maryland is that we have the beach just a few hours away and the mountains a few hours in the other direction. We did a little bit of snow tubing, which was lots of fun, but it was so cold that I only made two trips down the hill and watched everyone else's fun from the warm building.

I guess now I am just looking forward to the trip and getting prepared for that. Can't wait!

Reflecting on a Busy Week

It has been a very busy week for me. Report card time is upon me and I have spent the whole week getting assessments finished and getting all my ducks in a row to be able to get my report cards completed on time. It has been a week of long nights at work and I was happy to see the weekend come.

Of course the weekend was not quite as relaxing as it could have been. On Saturday morning at 8:30 I had to be at school because I am taking a course through the county that started yesterday. This class is going to be so informational and helpful to me in creating a more harmonious classroom. It is a class on a system called Classroom Learning Systems and it is based on goal setting and giving the students more say in how things work in your classroom on a daily basis. It is really great because it gives a lot of responsibility to the kids, even at a young age like my little guys. Anyway, I am really excited about this class and what new things I am going to learn throughout the course of this class.

After spending the morning and afternoon in class, Shawn and I went to see a movie. We had gone to the movies a week ago to see Juno, but it was sold out when we got there so we ended up seeing Alvin and the Chipmunks instead (such a cute movie). So last night we headed out early to try and catch Juno and we were successful. Such a smart and funny movie. The dialogue was great and the whole story was just entertaining.

Then today I slept in a little and then Shawn and I decided that we would go to the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore. We took Courtney with us and we all had such a great time. It is such an interesting place, there was tons of great, unique artwork. Their current exhibit was all about faith and religions and so it was interesting to see how that was interpreted by the different artists. I enjoyed it because it was a lot of local artists and not the same type of art you would see in a regular art museum. They had a second building that was full of very unique things. There was a giant Divine statue, dedicated to the local actress who played a huge role in many of John Waters' films, which was so cool to see. There was also an exhibit dedicated to the painted screens found in Baltimore in the row homes in the city, so cool. Overall, it was such a fun experience and I can't wait to go back again when the exhibits change. After the museum we had dinner at Johnny Rockets, which Courtney was excited about and then ColdStone for dessert.

This week promises to be just as busy, but there are only 2.5 school days for the kids this week, with 2 days of professional development at the end of the week. So the workload should be a little lighter this week with the only focus being getting my report cards finished. Then a nice long weekend!

Here are a few pictures from today, the three of us playing in the sculpture garden at the museum:

Back to Scrappin'

Well it has been a very, very long time since I have done any scrapbooking. However, after about 10 months, I finally got some pages done. I am about a year behind on scrapping, not to mention the California album from 2005 I have yet to finish, or the Alaska album I have barely started. But I am hopeful that I will be able to catch up in no time.

I joined the Calendar Girls again this year on 2Peas for the fourth year. This is a group of women who conduct a monthly scrapbooking challenge based on the Designing With...Page a Day calendar, which has a different layout for scrapping inspiration for every day of the year. So I am hoping that this will give me some motivation to get all caught up one of my favorite hobbies.

So here are the two pages I worked on last night...Enjoy!

Courtney Turns 13!

Courtney celebrated her 13th birthday (which was Friday) with her friends on Saturday at Bounce Party. Bounce Party is this big warehouse filled with moon bounce activities. There was a boxing ring, a barrel of monkeys moon bounce, a few obstacle courses, and a giant slide (like at the carnival). Everyone seemed like they had a great time. It really was a lot of fun for all ages. Shawn and I were invited to the party and he took a lot of great photos that can be seen here...Courtney's Party

So to Miss Courtney...Happy Birthday and welcome to your teenage years!

Photo Goal for 2008

This year instead of making New Years Resolutions that I would not follow through with, I have decided that I would like to make a list of Things to Do in 2008. On this list one of my goals, is related to my photography. After taking the photo class this fall and learning a lot, I have realized upon picking my camera up after a brief hiatus from taking pictures, I had lost a lot of what I had learned and do not want this to continue.

So after doing a little bit of research and finding a little inspiration, I have decided that my photo goal for the year will be to take a photo every single day this year. Being a scrapbooker, this will be helpful in that arena also (where I also have some major goals for the year). So in the interest of trying to get this jumpstarted, I am going to go back and post a few pics I have taken this month already with the official count starting today.

I will post my photos on my Photo Blog, at least once a week if not more often, and will also post them in my Picasa Photo Gallery
and my Flickr Gallery

So I hope that you will check out some of photos from the year and maybe be inspired to set a similar goal for yourself. Happy 2008!

Welcome 2008!

Well I can hardly believe 2007 is already gone, so very bittersweet. This year for New Years Eve, we had Courtney's 13th birthday party (omg!) and welcomed the new year with family at my house. It was a great time. First we celebrated Courtney's birthday with a house full of people, mostly family and the Eichners and Bounds'. Then after the party died down a little, we played the Wii and welcomed the New Year! Not terribly exciting, but it was a nice evening. Not much else to say...Happy New Year to everyone! May 2008 bring you love, happiness, health, and good fortune.