A Relaxing Weekend

For the third year in a row, we spent Memorial Day Weekend camping at the beach.

We normally go camping at the beach with a bunch of families from church, but we were the only ones who secured reservations when they had to be made back the 1st of November. This camping trip it was just the four of us, and some very good friends of ours.

It's been a busy few weeks for me with school events and activities and responsibilities, and the same for Steven with work, and church and ministry duties. As for our friend, she is four weeks post op from a hysterectomy. So a relaxing, low key weekend was just what the doctor ordered for all of us.

I took a book. I took my continuing education materials for my nursing license. I took magazines. But when it came down to it, the afternoon I sat on the beach, I just sat. I sat there watching Rachel pounce about the beach. Sat watching my husband attempt to sculpt our church logo out of sand, and I sat and watched the waves come crashing onto the shore, one right after another. It was relaxing. So much so that I snuck in a little nap. My Dad will be so proud! :)

I never thought I'd enjoy camping so much, but I really do. I love enjoy tent camping. I love being outdoors. And I can't wait until we return for an entire week during our summer vacation!!

The End is Quickly Coming

The end of the school year that is. The girls have only ten days of school left. Where has the 2010-2011 school year gone?? I feel as though it's flown by!

Teacher request letters were turned in months ago, but this morning, I found out that the teacher whom I requested for Rachel, is moving down to first grade! I cannot tell you how bummed I was upon learning this. I've been waiting three years since Hannah finished out her school year with this teacher for us to be able to work with her with Rachel. She is a wonderful Christian woman who prays for her students daily. She always encourages me when we get the chance to talk, even if it is for five minutes in passing in the school halls, and she's become a treasured friend. I was so looking forward to Rachel having her, as was Rachel excited to be having her for a teacher as well.

But today, a little birdie told me there were lots of changes being made for the teachers and grade assignments for the new school year. All these changes coming in just the last few days.

After confirming the rumors I'd heard with our school principal, slowly, my sadness over not having this particular teacher began to fade and I started looking forward to the great opportunity of working with teachers I've not worked closely with before. I've written up a new teacher request for Rachel for 2nd grade and I look forward to working with whoever she gets as her 2nd grade (:::WOW!:::) teacher.

The next ten days of school are very busy ones. Tomorrow I have a Box Tops contest ending. And over night, I have promised to notify the contest winning teachers, and then will announce the winners of the Year Long contest on Thursday. We have reward play days coming up, Magnet Open House on Wednesday, Perfect Attendance lunch and assembly, and year end parties! I have a feeling the next ten school days are going to go by just as quickly as the entire school year did!!!

It Happened All Too Quickly...

This afternoon, we witnessed a serious accident on the freeway.

To be honest, we were almost a part of that serious accident.

We were coming home from a nice lunch out celebrating the retirement of my sister in laws mom, stopping off at Costco on the way home.

We were traveling in the slow lane of the freeway when all of a sudden traffic started to slow down. As Steven looked in the rear view mirror, it was apparent that the car behind was not making any attempts to stop. Steven continued to drive forward and even off to the shoulder of the freeway to avoid being rear ended.

The car swerved to the left and then tried to compensate for the swerve and there we watched the car spin and then tip onto it's side. At some point I remember saying outloud "Lord, be with the people in that car".

Steven stopped the car, and the freeway traffic came to a standstill. He told me to call 911 and I did. Voice shaking and all, giving a description of the scene and the location. Getting out of the car and walking toward the overturned car, there were many on their cell phones, all calling the same phone number I'm sure.

With the help of many people who stopped and got out of their cars to help, the people in the overturned Ford Expedition all crawled out of the car, non appearing to be majorly hurt. THAT was a miracle. There were a ton of people there, helping, there was no need for me to stay, so I went and got back into our car and off we went. Thankful we'd not been rear ended like it looked like we were going to be. Thankful that the people in the car appeared to overall be okay.

This was the first time I'd ever witnessed such an accident. I've always driven past the overturned car after it'd happened. I've never witnessed the overturning first hand. And to be honest, it was scary. And it was a real eye opener as to how quickly something like that can happen...

What I've Been Up To...

My lack of blogging already paints the picture of how other things have taken precedence in my life. I've missed blogging and I feel so horrible that I've let all three of my blogs become so neglected.

Life the last month and a half has been crazy for me. And I'm more than ready for a few days away like I wrote about in the previous post. LOL.

The biggest thing that has occupied my time has been our Women's Ministry Spring Tea at church. This is the second year that my Mom and I have overseen it. And to be honest, planning a tea is much like planning a wedding. So many details to stay atop of. The tea was held Saturday, April 30th and it was a huge success! We had ten tea tables and seventy women in attendance. The days and weeks leading up to the tea were filled with "to-do lists", food shopping, food preparing, and a 12+ hour day at the church preparing and decorating the day before. But the day was wonderful and many women were blessed. It's hard to believe, but our school year is winding down and we only have four weeks left. My time has also been filled with school things - helping with the Spring See's Candy Fundraiser, picking up $12,000 in See's Candy in my van, separating, sorting, and being available for pick up by the students. Teacher Appreciation Week is this week at the school and I'm learning the ropes of coordinating that as I will take on the coordinator position next year. And then there's PTA meetings, nominations for next year, and year end business finishing up.

Hannah turned 11 mid April and rather than have a party, we had family meet us at Hannah's favorite restaurant for dinner. She'd let everyone know that she was saving for an iPod Touch and well, after all her presents here opened, she had more than enough and it was off to The Apple Store for her first Apple purchase. I think other than the time she's away at school, and when she is sleeping, that thing is glued to her possession. LOL. She's become quite social in her texting and.We had a pleasant surprise early last month. We came home one evening to a message on our answering machine that our sister in law and niece who currently live in Georgia were 'in town', they were in San Diego looking at colleges for our niece to possibly attend when she graduates next year. The girls and I ended up meeting my sister in law and niece at Disneyland, along with my father in law, on a Friday afternoon. And then we all met up on Saturday for lunch and visiting. It'd been six years since we'd seen them and it was so very nice to spend time with them, as short as it was. Hannah and Rachel LOVED hanging with their cousin, especially Hannah. Since getting her iPod Touch, she's Facetimed (video chat) with Alisha a few times when it works out with the time difference and being busy with school, etc. My father in law with the girls at Disneyland. Alisha, our sister in law Laura, and Hannah
I think things are starting to slow down. I'm very much looking forward to upcoming camping trip over Memorial Day weekend, whereas I can just sit and relax and unwind. About a week after that, the girls will be out of school for seven weeks and I look forward to doing some fun things and having a break from all the running, hopefully having more time to blog!