Easter in California!

Grandma and Ali visiting the Easter bunny!

All of us after our bonfire and foil dinners, just before leaving the beach to eat our scrumptious cherry pineapple cobbler before it rains!

Michelle and Ali havin' a swingin' good time!

Ali and grandma in their Easter dresses ready for church.

Christina with one of her first sewing projects- a chubby duck for Ali that she LOVES!

I got to spend my Easter break in California with Christina, RJ, Tim, Mary Susan, Ali, and Michelle. We had a fire dinner on the beach, played with eggs, and enjoyed lots of laughter and singing together.

The Last Time we got together...

 We had Tim's family, DeAnna and Josh ( the newlyweds!) and Michelle and Matthew. We all went to see Ali's first ever full length movie- TANGLED- and we loved it!

 We celebrated matthew's 15th birthday with a Culver's ice cream cake and a dozen Krispie Kreme donuts!

 I watched Ali in the museum down below while all the brave kids ( notice who's missing) rode to the top of the 630 foot St. Louis arch.

 We spent a few wonderful days before Christmas being grand parents! ( 7 months)

 Packed to get ready for a rode trip with the others who were home...

And spent Christmas and New years in Branson Missouri with these four wonderful kids!

My next adventure happens in just 2 weeks, when I will leave Steve and Matthew home to fend for themselves and take a plane trip to California with Michelle to visit all of our California kids!

Three Weddings in Three Years!

 Tim and Mary Susan Jenkins married on May 3, 2008 in the Raleigh NC Temple.

 RJ and Christina Schultz married on April 3, 2009 in the Salt Lake City Temple.

Josh and DeAnna Thomas married on August 3, 2010 in the Washington D.C. Temple.

How lucky we are to have our family grow with the three wonderful people that our grown children have chosen to marry. We love each and every one of them and are so happy to see our oldest children happily married and enjoying sharing their lives with such amazing people.

I am Finished!

This is how I feel today! Courtesy of my darling Alison Dawn ( 6 months)

When we moved to Illinois I discovered that, while fully certified to teach middle school in Virginia, I was certified to teach through 9th grade here, but not really. In Illinois, you have to be endorsed in one or more subjects to teach in the upper grades, which is where I want to be. So, since last July, I have been taking a class a month online to complete this certification. NINE classes later and $6,000 poorer, I am finally finished! I will take my Reading Teacher Endorsement test on April 16th and hopefully land a classroom teaching job for the fall-which will pay back all the money I spent on classes AND still give me plenty to spend on children and GRAND children! In the meantime, I do love the job that I am doing teaching a variety of remedial classes at a wonderful little middle school of less than 300 kids- I just don't love the pay.

What's New- Jekyll & Hyde

                                    Matthew as General Glossop just before his murder...

                                     Matthew with the cast before hair and make-up.

Matthew made his stage debut as General Lord Glossop in the dark and eerie high school production of Jekyyl and Hyde. The murder scenes were pretty stomach wrenching, but the songs were beautiful! Matthew sang in 4 numbers and had 2 small solos before he was killed in the streets of London by Mr. Hyde for voting against his experiments.

Steve is coaching track with me at Joseph Arthur Middle school. Our first track meet is April 5th! He is also working 12 hour night shifts since the thing in Libya kicked in - yikes!

I started group piano lessons for old people, playing right and notes and left hand chords- and no, it is not cheating!

Michelle's grad pictures

 
 
 
 

Michelle, Christina, Matthew, & DeAnna at Christmas