Hit the road Jack!

Greenwood, South Carolina. Our home for 3 years while in college at Lander University and our soon-to-be home again. We will be puling out of Boone for our final trip to Greenwood on Wednesday am, June 28. Rob will work at his new job for 2 days in June to receive the college-wide raise of 3% (how funny!). Rob will be working at Piedmont Technical College in Student Support Services. He is very excited about this job and is looking forward to the new aspects of university/college student services. He’s happy to reduce his caseload by at LEAST three-fourths. He can spend more time and attention with each student.

We are headed down there this weekend to look for a place to live. Several realtors said they’d meet with us on Saturday. So, mom is keeping the children and we will spend the day there. It’d be nice to get something lined up, as Rob has to return this Wednesday to complete HR paperwork. I’m sure we’ll all go down, but it’d be nice to take a load and have a place to “camp”!

I have several applications out still and am looking forward hearing from a few in particular. I have been notified about a few holds and still waiting on another application deadline (I should probably submit that one ‘cause it’s the one I REALLLLLLLLY want!). I am applying to places near greenwood (within 1.5 hour drive). We decided that if I get one of them I will commute until we come to a conclusion. The idea is to move to where MY job takes me. We MAY split the distance, but that seems like eternity from now. I need the job first!

The children will be staying home with me over the summer. We will take Rob to work and pick him up (should we need the car that day). I plan on LOTS of park and pool days, sprinklers and walks! We have all the details worked out in our heads right now…but who knows what will come to pass??? I will keep you posted, that’s for sure.

Tomorrow is Nicholas’ last day of kindergarten. I can not believe this year has gone. Here he was going out the door on his FIRST day of school!

And comming home!

We are enrolling him in day-camp until we leave. I know he’ll enjoy that time in the sun and with friends. He is very sad about leaving Hayes. Tonight he made bracelets for Hayes and Holly (Holly’s has a heart where the “o” goes!). I met Holly’s mom at school and told her how Nicholas adores her. She said Holly talks about Nicholas a lot at home. She’s a very shy little girl and today FINALLY agreed to have her picture taken with Nicholas.

Here are a few recent pictures of the children and stuff we do!

Robin is zipped up in the body pillow case saying "CHEEEEESE" so I could take a picture of her!!!This was the wildest frog we had. One left, and we will let him go tomorrow!Water balloon fights in the evenings before bed!Who wouldn't want to hire this man?...even at 11:30 p.m.Nicholas and his best friend Hayes!Nicholas and his teachers (Mrs. Blakeley and Mrs. Isaacs)

The "Lost Sheep"

Robin shares Nicholas' chair in his class (she CAN NOT WAIT for Kindergarten!)

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wish list and updates

I found my camera cord and have up dated previous posts with images! Check out “Witty post title” and “life begins on Monday”

So, Robin will be 3 in a few weeks. Where has the time gone. I tried to conjure up some older images. How ‘bout these…

1 week old...

2 weeks old... 4 weeks old... 5 weeks old... 6 weeks old... 7 weeks old... 8 weeks old... 9 weeks old... 10 weeks old...

We are having a little shindig for her on the 11^th. For those family member I have not spoken to about this. Here is a “wish” list for Robin. As you can see from the last item…she’s still not familiar with asking for gifts…so most of this I made up!

Robin (June 12, 2003)

• We’re going to get her a bike with training wheels (she loves Nicholas’)
• Sun dresses (4T)
• Barbie’s and Barbie clothes
• Favorite candies: Gum (sugar free bubble gum), CHOCOLATE, gummie bears…really any candy!
• Loves to write and draw
• Loves all colors but mostly pink and purple
• Any atrociously gaudy girly things (fluff, frills, puffy, flowery….) I think Claire’s is her favorite store. She loves the bracelets.
• Isn’t into fixing her hair at all (no need for that kind of stuff)
• Doesn’t watch TV much but loves to listen to music (ideas my be Disney Princess songs, or any other CD’s where kids sing the music)
• She LOVES VW bugs (she calls them “Jelly Bean Cars”) if you can find any toy VW bug she’d LOVE IT!!!! (We found her a Herbie radio control car and bought her the movie).
• Likes dress up clothes and jewelry (I thought about letting her get her ears pierced, but I think she’s still too young to understand)
• LOVES shoes but PLEASE refrain!! She has WAY too many. We find that just taking her to a shoe store every once in a while satisfies her shoe craving as she tries on as many shoes as she can in the time we’re there! (Same goes for bathing suits too…thanks to several older friends and relatives of hers.)
• Board games!!! (has Candy Land and Chutes & Ladders)
  
• Little People. Doesn't have: Zoo, Farm, Garage (which she would like), airplane, school bus, SUV, Lil Kingdom Palace, or boating fun.
  
• She likes books: Care Bears, Princesses, Clifford, animals (he favorite books have always been the Peterson Field Guide books on reptiles…go figure!)
• She has asked specifically for princess stuff. She’s still rather unfamiliar with asking for birthday gifts. I’m sure this will pass!

I’m still job hunting. We’re trying to determine the best move come July 1. Rob has been offered that job at Piedmont Technical College. We have a lot to talk about! We went to Greenwood, where we were married 10 years ago, for our Anniversary on Thursday. It was a special time. The children stayed with some friends and we were able to spend a lot of time together talking about our future and enjoying the moment! Thanks Chad and Jerianne!

Nicholas’ school play is tomorrow. “E-I-E-I OOOPS!” It sounds very cute. Don’t you know I will have pictures!!! I’ll get to meet Holly too!!

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May 25, 1996

Ten years ago a wonderful man sang a beautiful song to me as we stood in front of our family and friends and he declared his loved and commitment to me alone. There wasn’t a dry eye in the church and I felt like the princess that the day was made for me to be!

I have been blessed to have shared almost 15 years with Rob; from BCC in Cocoa, Florida, to Greenwood then Easley, South Carolina and now Boone, North Carolina. These past 10 years of marriage have been a huge adventure. We have both received our Master’s degrees (8 years apart) and have the honor of bringing 2 beautiful children into the world! Our lives are full and rich. He is my best friend and confidant, I love and respect him with all that I am. I admire his character and passion for things he loves. Our children will never know how they bless him each day, and I watch how their unfailing love humbles him! He adores everything about them and marvels at how they grow and change. From dating to marriage to parenthood, our lives are changing all the time. But as the 1^st Corinthians 13 says “And if I have the gift of prophecy and know all the mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.” Simply: “love never fails”.

I love you Rob.

Thank you Rob.

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Holly

I am getting nothing done. I have spent the last hour trying to create a birthday list for Robin and Nicholas (which I will post soon). I need to be finishing my Thesis edits and working on finalizing my cover letter for an application due FRIDAY!!!!

But I have to post instead.

I still can not find that stinkin’ cord for my camera, so my pictures are all trapped on it!! BUT, here is one Dr. Hoepfl gave me of me and Jess!

And then one here of my whole cohort! Seems like we were all in Leadership class just yesterday (not Aug 04).

Robin was home sick today. She had a fever Sunday and some of today. She got up this morning as Nicholas was getting ready for school. Then after I put him on the school bus she laid back down with me (7:15 am). She woke up at 12:30pm!!! She obviously needed the rest! She is in the habit of getting in bed with us now. A few days in a row of thunder then a fever…bet she’ll crawl in bed with us again tonight!

Nicholas is not doing so well in school and on the bus. *sigh*…what to do. We take it one day at a time and do our best. He is very excited about a school play next Monday. We will work on his sheep costume this week. The whole family has been invited to stay after for a brunch with the children. That will be nice. I hope to get a lot of pictures of him with teachers and friends.

He is particularly fond of Holly. It is so precious to hear him talk about her. I want to laugh because it is so cute. But I am afraid that he will not trust me to have conversations about girls if I don’t establish that RIGHT NOW!!! He confided in me last week about how he really wants to be her friend and she won’t play with him. I asked if he plays with other girls and he said “they all beg me to be their friend”. So we talked about how it’s hard when the one you like doesn’t like you back. I know adults that struggle with this!!! So anyway, Holly is very special to him and I told him that I’d get a picture of them together when I got to the play Monday!

Rob has a follow-up interview and a meeting with the college president that afternoon (next Monday). He will go to the play (8:30 am) then head to Greenwood around 10 am. We are assuming that this will be the conversation about pay and start date if he is offered. Still a lot to think about and decide on. I can not cross that bridge until we come to it!!!

More frogs. It is interesting to see them transform into land dwelling creatures. Particularly this one. He still has a long tadpole tale but was on land the other day…then under water a few hours later and back and forth. He has been on land most of the day today. I can’t imagine….what happens? All of a sudden they can not breathe so they know to go get air instead of water??? Nutty!

Ok so now almost 2 hours since Nicholas went to bed and I still have made no progress on the necessary things! Must go make thesis edits! Check back for images!!!

In the meantime , some pictures from earlier in the month of Robin and her buddy Molly!

and a nice Trillium I fond along Howard's Creek.
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witty post title

The bird feeder was empty and, as the Cardinals chirped outside, Robin was quick to inform me “You need to get them more food, ‘cause they are fussing at y-e-w.” Needless to say, we have more “songbird food” for the feeder. She is also quick to recognize the “Robin bird” and loves that it’s “her bird”.

Nicholas is riding his bike so well these days. He loves it and I swear would ride for hours and hours. Today we went to the Watauga River at a park we love! After splashing for a while he realized that it would probably be a lot of fun to ride his bike into the water! He had a BLAST!

Fancy at the river...

Rob’s interview went well. He said that he’d really like to work there. The only questions now are….will they offer? … What will they offer? … and what will I do there? I have applied at the hospital in town. Who knows.

Some other application are in the process and another soon to be submitted for grant research in a university college of Arts, Architecture, and Humanities. So far my letters of recommendation are glowing and remind me that, every day, I am responsible for being the employee that my resume says I am.

We released 3more frogs the other day. The children are really enjoying watching them change! They do well with the release also. They seem happy to see the frogs in their normal habitat. Great children!

Robin had her first hair cut. Yep almost 3 and this was the first! She was very serious about the event! She likes to do “girly” things and getting fancy in a beauty salon was definitely a fancy thing!

Some friends have developed and shared their blog for their daughter. You can check out Isabella “Bella” Kate from the link to the right.

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life begins on Monday

Did someone say things would get easier when I graduated? A little less stressful? Well, they were horribly misinformed! For now is the transition back into the real world….with a family this time.

So, Rob has an interview tomorrow in Greenwood, SC. He leaves tonight after his softball game. CRAZY night owl. He went through the whole” does the suit fit anymore” fiasco. It worked out well with a mismatch color pant and coat. Wow. He’s so handsome all dressed up. I can’t decide if I am glad that he doesn’t always wear a suit so that I don’t begin to take it for granted or wish that he dressed up more often!

I just got off the phone with a previous grad student who asked me to apply for a full-time teaching job at a technical school in a program he is the coordinator for. He is looking to find a replacement for his retirement in 5 or so years. Ya gotta be humbled when employers seek you out! The job will be posted this weekend. So I have some time left to think and pray.

Still working on completing my application packet for a grants research job that I am VERY interested in at one particular ORANGE college!!! That deadline is next Friday.

In the meantime, I have been informed of jobs that I will NOT be getting; others I applied for have closed their postings…so now I wait; and still others are not quite what I had expected.

The big family question is who gets the job first and go we move based on that job or hold out for the other person’s offer?????

I also found out that a dear friend form high school is not doing well. A very serious brain surgery just a few months ago must be performed in an emergency. She was misdiagnosed originally (not a tumor it was an aneurism) and the surgeon in Chicago (who saw the aneurism) was not able to remove it before because she was bleeding too much. So off she goes tomorrow to Chicago. I was with her in middle school when she had her first brain surgery. Crazy times! Wish I could be there with her to laugh at how the hospital gown is open in the back again. [please mention my friend Angela Dale in your prayers Tuesday May 16, her anniversary is this week also]

On a less intense note, I had a GREAT Mother’s Day weekend. Lots of outside time, walks in the park, bike rides, playground fun, long naps, and good food! It was very relaxing and rewarding. My children and husband are wonderful to me and are such blessings in my life!

We found a baby Catfish. How cool. I've never seen one this small!!!

Can you believe we live here?!?!?! This is the park we love in Vally Crucis.
We have successfully raised ONE of our 7 tadpoles! We released the first FULLY DEVELOPED FROG last night. Nicholas was great! He was so happy to be putting it back in its environment. What a treat to watch them throughout their transition into frogs. Thanks Adrian, the HUGE tank is wonderful. Lots of room for tadpoles, fish, and frogs! There are 6 more at all levels of development!
Dad has a Prius...did I show you that yet?

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