A Boy in 2004

He was nine years old in this picture. Where has the time gone? He looks so little here. In less than 2 months he will be a teenager!

Another little girl in 2004

Alicia was only five years old in these pictures. Where did the time go? She is enjoying a peanut-butter finger that her Aunt Rachel brought to the tye-dye party we had that summer. We invited lots of kids and everyone took home a tye-dyed shirt. More on that soon!

Hey...my flowers and hostas look pretty good, don't they? It must have been fairly early in the summer! LOL!

Memories-Summer of 2004

I cleaned out 4 different drawers today. In one of them I ran across a disk of pictures Martha gave me from the summer of 2004. These were taken at a 4th of July picnic on Keuka Lake. Audra is 7 and Hannah...her accomplice is almost 9. They decided that burying Audra in the playground gravel might be lots of fun.

She turned out to be one very dirty little girl. I remember thinking, "Oh Audra!" after discovering this. Now I'm thinking that it really wasn't that big of a deal and they certainly had fun that day. It's nothing that a bath couldn't take care of quite easily.

A Fresh Path

It's a brand new year. What will it bring? Are you into New Year's Resolutions? Usually I am not...but this year I am. Do you know that saying that goes something like this: "If you aim at nothing, you will hit it 100% of the time"? That's kind of what I feel my life has been like for the last year or so. So I am changing my aim and aiming at something...rather than nothing. I have a new path to walk down this year.

An update on my plans: I have made a final decision to go to the University of Buffalo. Renewing my teacher certification was going to be more of an expense, time consuming and pain in the neck than I cared to take. So I will be getting a whole new teacher certification with School Library as my concentration. I have started the rough outline of an essay and have found one person who has agreed to write a letter of recommendation. I have another person in mind to ask. (I need 2) My submitted application needs to be in by March 1st. If all goes according to plan, I will start my grad courses in the summer. I'm planning on attending school full time. I don't see any need to drag my heels with this. That will be 2 courses this summer and 4 in the fall. Then we'll see from there.

And of course I have the usual promises....get rid of clutter, have a meaningful quiet time every day, get more exercise, eat better...(yawn). I always seem to start out well with these sorts of things and then...you know. How about you? Do you have any new goals or resolutions this year?

Oh....Happy New Years everybody!

Season's Greetings!

Merry Christmas to all my blogging friends both near and far! May God bless you and keep you during this season of celebrating our Savior's birth!

Skaneateles Lake

This is one of the Finger Lakes here in NY state. We live on one of the Finger Lakes...but not this particular one. They are all very pretty.

This is a good area to visit. There are lots of wineries and quaint towns to visit. Lots of beautiful scenery.

Soon this Lake will be frozen over and there will be ice fishermen out there. I've never been icefishing. I don't think it would be appealing to me, but there are some "die hard" fishermen who get up at the crack of dawn to make a hole in the ice and sit there waiting for the fish to bite. Some of them even make little huts.

Christmas...to come.

There is some discussion on the streets of London that Mr. Scrooge is dead.Two young London town girls.
Carolers singing "God Bless ye Merry Gentlemen". I wonder if the 2 men on the left are aware that the ghost of Mr Scrooge's old business partner (Marley) has joined them.

Bah Humbug!

We went to Skaneateles for "A Charles Dickens Christmas". There were people dressed in character walking about the town...stopping occasionally to do a short sketch from "A Christmas Carol". Here is Scrooge's nephew and his wife.

Here Scrooge was kind enough to allow me to take his picture with my children and husband. Alicia wasn't sure she wanted to stand next to such a grumpy old guy!
I'll post a few more pictures soon.

More chocolate....

Audra decided to ham it up a bit for the camera!

Like a kid in a candy shop....

Ever hear the expression? Here's Alicia, gazing at all the confections. She finally decided on a "Dark caremel cashew turtle".

For Allen and Audra...it was plain dark chocolate and a chocolate haystack.

A very satisfied customer!

Incoming!!!!!!!

I took Sherman for a walk in the snow the other day. I think he enjoyed himself!

For Aunt Rachel

"We are all being good girls and brushing our teeth twice a day! Aren't you proud of us? Now as long as we remember to floss as well......"

Love, some of your favorite and most beautiful nieces!

Allen wasn't so sure...

Allen wasn't sure he wanted to hold Josh. He seemed a little nervous. He finally obliged and did just fine. Aren't they cute? They both look a little unsure of it all...but I'm sure they will be friends one day. Allen will be the "big cousin who plays with me" for Josh.

Meeting Josh

Here is Alicia and I meeting baby Josh. Alicia just loved holding him. She will be a good mother some day.

Nothing's Ever Easy

Getting recertified as a teacher in NY state is involving a bit more than I imagined. It is going to be time-consuming and expensive...and a headache to say the least. I still KNOW that I am going to grad school to be a school librarian, but I'm no longer sure exactly what route I'm going to take. There is the option of forgoing the recertification and attending the University of Buffalo. In this route, certification is a part of getting the Master's Degree rather than it being a prerequisite.

The pluses for Mansfield is that the program is entirely on-line. With UB, it is only partially on-line and that would mean I would need to travel back and forth to Buffalo to attend some classes. Which way should I go, God?

And so it begins...

I've been tagged by T. What could I possibly say about myself that I haven't said on subsequent lists of arbitrary facts? Who knows? I am not that interesting of a person. I'm taking this opportunity to update on what is going on with me in regards to going to grad school.

Here goes:

1. I am planning on getting a Master's Degree in school library science enabling me to be a school librarian.


2. In order to begin grad work at Mansfied University, I must currently hold a valid teacher certificate.


3. Mine expired in 1999.


4. I am in the process of recertifying.


5. It could take an entire semester to do this...thereby delaying grad work until the fall 2008.


6. I'm waiting for an official transcript evaluation.


7. From what I can figure out on my own is this. I need to take 3 exams. Take a course in special education. Go to 2 seminars about child abuse and school violence. And get fingerprint clearance.


8. I'm really excited about starting the library program. I think it is a great fit for me!!!

Up Up Up...it is time for Up!

Go Allen! Go Allen!

Don't fall!

Now Audra's turn!

Weee Haaa! You go girl!

These are pictures that were taken by my niece, Danielle. She just emailed them to me today! They were taken in August.

What's up?

You are all right. I haven't been blogging lately. I just really haven't been in the mood. I don't know why.

An update on me. I am seriously considerring going to grad school. I'm looking into online programs for Library Science that will certify me to be a school librarian. I just feel like I need a change. I need to do something to fill my empty days. I used to be quite content staying home with my babies, but now they are all in school. I have too much free time. At one time, I studied to be a secondary math teacher. I never did that and I can't see myself teaching math, but being in the school system still does appeal to me in a lot of ways. I'm really excited by the idea. I just have to figure out what, where and when. (and how to pay for it)

Run, run as fast as you can!

Well...this isn't the greatest picture...but it shows you what Allen has been up to lately as a member of the school's cross country team. This is actually the McQuaid Invitational up in Rochester. It attracts teams from all over the state, and even a few from other neighboring states and Ontario, Canada. I missed it because that was the day Mart and I took our sister trip...but my hubby and girls were there cheering him on.

Up up and away

These pictures were taken a week ago on a ski lift in our area. The colors this fall have not been as impressive as other years. First of all, we are not at the peak of the colors...and what colors we do have simply are not as bright as other years. I think it is because of the warmer autumn we have been having. It was a beautiful day on the ski lift. Allen does not like heights that much and was happy to reach the ground. I don't really mind the heights. I thought it was beautiful and peaceful. You can't really tell by the pictures that we were really up quite high. But we really were. Hope everyone is doing well. It has been busy at my house. We are having a new heating system installed in our house...which is turning it a bit upside down.