Summer is over...

Wow! These last six weeks went by fast. I was busy with 2 classes (remind me never to start a language during the summer again!), Elisabeth was having a blast at summer camp and Joseph started in pre-school. I can't believe it's finished now though. I ended up doing well in both of my classes, an A in German and a B+ in Francophone Cultures, being nice to the teacher must have paid off because there is no way I could have pulled a B+ with an 80, 80 and 68 on my first 3 tests. Anyhoo, my GPA has now risen again, from a 2.93 to a 3.07...I have finally made it back over the 3.0 mark!!!!! (I started last fall '05 with a 1.84, this is a huge jump in a year's time!)

Elisabeth had a great time at Y camp. She went horseback riding every week, swam almost every day, went canoeing every week, had fieldtrips twice a week...a full day of activities every day. I would certainly recommend the program to anyone.

Joseph is doing great in preschool...everyone loves him...and of course he is perfectly behaved at school :) He starts at Baby Gator on Monday, the preschool located on UF campus, costs much less than where he is now and has an excellent program.

I have been knitting as well. I completed my very first baby project, for my dear friend, Kirsten. She is expecting her 4th child in September. I made this sweater for her...I can't wait to see a picture of the new little on wearing it. I made it in the 12 to 18 month size so it will hopefully be useful for 2 winters, since our winters are so short here :)




Elisabeth's first days of school have been wonderful. She is doing very well and her teacher says she is great in class.

I will update more on that later...I need to take Joseph to school now and get on with my day.

We survived week one!

So it's Saturday...we have completed our first week with everyone in an activity all day long. I have two classes this summer semester, German and Francophone cultures. Elisabeth is in summer camp at the YMCA and Joseph is enrolled at O2B Kids preschool.

I am loving my German class...it is really fun to be learning another language...It has been so long since I have been in a first year language course, it is refreshing and I'm gleaning lots of ideas. Of course this is a little different in that this is a 6-week semester, so each day is like 2 days and Tuesday and Thursday we have a 2 1/2 hours class!

Francophone cultures is ok, I find the material interesting, le petit Maghreb (Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco), however the way the professor is teaching the class is less than desirable. She is giving us the material for the first part of the course, in the way of 3 movies, and then we will have a test. The second part of the course, as she puts it, will be built by the students; we have to bring in information from articles, etc... She will pull test topics from the discussions we have in class. I have no clear idea of what exactly I'm supposed to learn in this class, except to understand what le Maghreb is, this bothers me. German, I know, we will go through chapter 6, a clear goal...not so for Francophone cultures. Also, the prof is very detail oriented.

Elisabeth is having a blast in camp. She made a new friend on her first day. Alisha and Elisabeth seem to do everything together. Alisha braids her hair, Elisabeth shares her snacks...they are quite cute :) Elisabeth went horseback riding on Thursday...all by herself on her own horse...no adult leading the horse (I think they were in a fenced in path, but she was guiding the horse by herself) I am so proud of her :) She has also gone canoeing this week and they went to see the new Cars movie.

Joseph has had a good time at O2B also. He is so cute when I pick him up, he tells me everything they did during the day and what they ate for lunch and snack...very verbal little man. They were supposed to have a water day yesterday (sprinkelers and baby pools, I think) but it was rained out...next week maybe. He still clings on for dear life when I pick him up, but Mitch says he is fine at drop off.

So our week went well...the kids are happy...I am overwhelmed with information...it's going to be a good end to the summer :)

By the way BIG, BIG, BIG CONGRATULATIONS to Ben for passing your BAC and earning your Diploma...

I AM SO PROUD OF YOU!!!!!!!

Happy July 4th!

Wishing everyone a safe and happy Fourth!

Summer A finished!!

Well, tonight was the last class of my summer course on curriculum. All in all it was a really enjoyable course. The only downside is that I really have no idea what final grade I'll receive, we turned in our one writing assignment today and the only other grades we will receive are for annotated citatations that were due each week and a group presentation we did tonight.

So now I have a week and a half off until summer b starts. I will be enjoying this week with the kids. Elisabeth said in response to my class ending...good now we can go swimming because you don't have homework to do in the morning :) We cleaned and set up our pool this past weekend and it has been nice to use it this week. The kids are getting to be much better in the water.

I finally finished knitting my cardigan that I started right before our California trip, now it just needs buttons, I may go to Jo-anns this weekend and see what I can find. I will post pictures of my most recent knitting projects sometime this week.

Later :)

Oh my...I've become a very bad blogger

I knew I hadn't posted in a while...but I didn't realize it had been this long...Sorry Carole :)

So life is moving along. I finished my spring semester with 5 A's...including an A from Mme. Cailler...never thought that would happen. I'm in the middle of Summer A, my first summer semester, only 1 class for this 6 weeks, Elementary and Secondary Curriculum...it has been a good class, 2 evenings a week, primarily discussion, choice of take home long answer final or 2000 word research paper. In July, for Summer B, I will be in class every morning, taking German and Francophone Cultures.

We have Elisabeth signed up for Summer Adventure camp through the YMCA, starting in July. She should have a lot of fun. We will sign Joseph up for Swim & Gym camp at the Y. Elisabeth will be a Norton Elementary in the fall, 3rd grade, with me having to take 15 credits in fall and spring there was no way possible to continue homeschooling them. Very hard for me but she will be fine.

We had a wonderful vacation in California. We drove through the mountains around LA and stopped by Malibu Beach, went to the San Diego Zoo (which was fabulous!), Visited Balboa Park in San Diego and went to the Children's Science Center there, and went to Legoland. The whole time we were there the temperature never got above 75 degrees and it never rained...it was perfect, except for the fog/smog that was around every day.

We took so many pictures, about 400, that I can only put a small sampling here.

Well, we are off to a great start to Hurricane season 2006. Tropical Depression #1 in currently gaining strength in the Caribbean...forcast to be Tropical Storm Alberto by this evening and head straight toward us. But this would actually be the best case scenario...we need the rain so desperately that this rain would be welcome.

Well I'm off to work on knitting my cardigan.

Happy Easter!

Just a quick update to share pictures from this morning...


Egg hunting at home...
Egg hunting at church...
Aren't they cute...

Contrary to popular belief...I have not fallen off the face of the planet...

Things have been very busy lately and any down time I have had has been pure vegging :)

I am winding down to the end of my semester, April 26th is my last day of classes!! A few papers left to write, a few exams to take and all the while trying to keep up with the laundry, not happening!

By the way, how about them GATORS!!!

Did manage to watch that game...what a great game!

I have managed to almost finish making Elisabeth's Easter dress and a skirt for myself, and Daddy's socks.

I've got lots of pics to post and will do so soon. But gotta go spend time with the kids. Will update more later :)