Makin' a list....

I was thinking of the things I wanted as a child for Christmas while I was wrapping my last few presents tonight. I was laughing at some of the stuff I was remembering... everything from a pogo stick to speed skates, Popples, Debbie Gibson cassettes and Electric Youth perfume, a curling iron that would magically curl my bangs the 'right' way- not the kinked way(Lynette, you know where I'm going with this), my own set of skiis, and the list went on of course! So just for the heck of it, I've updated a few things. I'm finding I've must have been a good girl! ;)

1) A powerful and loving marriage (check)
2) Healthy, happy, giggly little girls (check)
3) A warm, cozy home of our own (check)
4) A dependable vehicle to drive (check)
5) An amazing set of parents, both sides (check)
6) Loyal, truly wonderful friends (check)
7) A sister, please!!! (in laws count ;) Julie, Cam, and Apryl (check) Step-sisters Jasmine and Julianna (check, check)
8) An iPod- to not think about things sometimes (check) I need music.
9) A plowed driveway- hallelujah! (check)
10) A job that I honestly enjoy, most days ;) (check)
11) A study bible to read the Word, and understand it! (check)
12) A church where we feel is the best fit for our family (check)
13) My own kitchen to cook in! (check)
14) A friend that I can call any hour of the night if I needed to (check)
15) A friend who tells it like it is! (check)
16) A friend to share a bottle of wine and dance with (check)
17) A husband that helps around the house (check)
18) A truly devoted father to my children (check)
19) Making Christ the center of my home (check)
20) Brothers to remind me that life is a journey ;) (check)
21) Blogger and a computer to let it out! (check)

Whew. I could go on, but really I think my list is complete for now! This time of year is truly about remembering our Savior's birth and recognizing what it is we are here to do. Love up your husband and kids, spend time with loved ones, and cherish those unforgettable, irreplaceable moments.

Merry Christmas!

Getting ridiculous folks....

well, besides the weather- it's the fact that I have seen Barney way too many dang times this month!!! We watch the same stinkin' movie over and over. We take it in the truck when we leave. We transfer it into Ryan's truck when he takes the girls to plow. We then take it back inside- and the cycle goes on!!! Seriously. How r-i-d-i-c-u-l-o-u-s are WE?? The sweet demands of a 2 year old have taken over!! ;) I am ready to throw the thing in the snow and see what happens to the happy go lucky dinosaur digital video device itself! Then the song pops into my head 'If all the snowflakes were candybars and milkshakes, oh what a snow that would be...' bah!! I am living a purple dinosaur love song nightmare! The frustrating part is that I am allowing this. I should say no. I should say we're not watching Barney any more today. Once is ENOUGH. Actually, she doesn't even sit and watch it the whole time- she just kind of likes to have it in the background while she plays or colors. And I don't watch tv during the day at all, usually I'm cleaning or playing w/ her (or dinking around on the computer) ;)...

Ok. This is my announcement that I am putting the cabash on Barney all day long if it's the last thing I do!

Happy Dance!

As much as we have been anticipating this.... Maddie was rewarded tonight for her hard, solid work in gymanstics!!!! She is officially a level 3!!!
She couldn't open this letter until she got home tonight (per her coach)- but it was a moment of sweet accomplishment!!! Her face turned bright red and she got teary-eyed, at first I didn't know what it was, but she then said it a very calm voice 'I moved up.' and literally fell into my arms crying. (dramatic, I know) I thought something was wrong with her so I peeled her off me at first to make sure she was ok, I just don't think she knew how to process those emotions! She has been waiting so patiently for this- they told us a while back she was ready and most likely in Decemeber they would move her up. So the first couple weeks went by and we hadn't heard, until tonight. ;) Way to go girl.

Then once she got her composure, the little drama queen she is, we started cheering for her. I told her to do a little happy dance to let it all out! (I kept quiet during video taping of course ;) But Mayci was all about it!
*video is sideways, sorry!

Jammies

Our niece, Taylor, with our girls last night. (I know Maddie's long leg is showing, and Mayci... in her mixed match PJ's, but oh well! ;)

Ramblings

I'm getting SO excited for Christmas. Maddie and I wrapped a few presents yesterday for everyone... well, actually my plan was to put my iPod on and have some alone time in our room to wrap up presents- but she REALLY wanted to help. To the point where she was pouting that I wasn't letting her help me. (Mainly for the fact that I just wanted to get it done!) Ugh, I can't handle the pouting and head-hanging... it drives me crazy. So, I caved and let her help with a few. There really was no reason she couldn't- I just had my mind set. Anyway- GIRL for ya.

I feel like I've been a scatterbrain lately trying to keep everything straight w/ Christmas parties, gifts, programs, concerts, a birthday party, working, just being a good mom and wife, etc, etc. I love this time of year so much- but do you sometimes just feel overwhelmed a little?? I have a ton of education to complete at the hospital too- just annual stuff that I have put off. Now it hangs over my head! This soon shall pass!

We took the girls to see Santa Friday night. Actually, we drove all around 8th street looking for the guy- Santa's House was supposed to be from 5-8:30 and we couldn't find him. So we ended up going to the mall- which was fine- but I forgot to bring my camera in. They were cute. All Mayci wanted was 'a purple present and Barney movie'. Maddie- she rambled on and on. It was funny b/c she's the one who doesn't believe in Santa, yet she had lots to say! ;)





I went out w/ a few girl friends last night... so much fun. We went to hear Sweet Japonic play at Founder's in Grand Rapids. They have really, really good music- sort of like a Dave Matthews Band feel. Founder's brews it own beer and I had the Cherry Ale- yum. We also shared a beer-cheese dip that was dee-lish! Anything with cream cheese I'm all about!



Ryan took the girls out for a night to play games/win tickets at Craig's Cruisers. They were pretty excited to show me what they won this morning.

Ok, I'm off to work for a couple hours. I taught SS this morning, Ryan is at our church service w/ the girls and I need to quick change into scrubs.

Have a great day!

Got it back... and A crush

Email is up and running again... I had to reset all of my internet settings/security/privacy and b/c Ryan and I have different logins (he uses SBC Yahoo and I use internet explorer) I just reset everything. It was fairly easy, but let's hope I did it right! ;)

So, Mayci is in her 3rd night of her big girl bed! We are so excited about this. I thought it would be a very long time, but the transition has gone incredibly well! I put a basket for her books and her mini-doodle right next to her bed (the toddler bed sits so low to the ground) and she just plays and looks at books, whatever. I don't want to jinx myself so I will just stop right there. It's adorable, but our little girl is just getting so big ;( I will post a picture later when I have a little more time.

Lastly, just to brief you.... Maddie has a little crush, so to speak, at school. Nothing major, just a boy she thought was funny and cute. We talk about it every now and then, I am just nosy and want to hear what she says. Maddie has told NO ONE this secret (not even her friends according to her) so I've been sworn to secrecy myself (of his name at least). Anyway, the reason I'm telling you this is b/c I was tucking her in tonight and she was telling me about the 3rd grade concert coming up and how they had to do a quick dance with a boy. So I teased her just a little about ****** (this boy) and said 'Ooh, I bet you want to dance with him!' Her comment... 'No way! He just got a really bad haircut!' I started laughing but she was so blunt and serious about it. Poor kid!!

Off to get my comfies on! Prison Break tonight!

Email issues

If you have sent me an email within the last, oh 3 days or so, I have not been able to get into my hotmail account. I need to make a phone call today!

Hope you had a great, snowy weekend!

Idiot on campus

** I hope this is read with my sarcasm in mind! I was laughing as I typed it!
Yes, that would be me. You'd think I would have it down pat since I took classes last Winter- but honestly most of them were online and the only one I had to actually go to was a lab- and it was a single destination. The last time I was in the nursing dept. was 4 years ago, and with alot of construction- everywhere- there have been alot of location changes. So, today I had to bring in copies of my CPR card and nursing license. I walk down to the nursing dept to hand them in. The admin assistant says 'oh, you will need to make copies of those for us'. I'm thinking to myself, 'ok, can't you do it real quick since there's a copy machine right behind you?' But I just smiled politely and said 'where is the closest copy machine?' Thinking she would offer the one behind her.. but NOOoo, the closest one is in the library. Ok. I know where the library is. I'll be back. So I grab my stuff, walk up 2 flights of stairs, all the way around the building to the library. Except it's not the library anymore. Honestly, I didn't know what it was. I walked into this big lit up room to the front desk. 'Hi, ma'am. Can you tell me where the library is?' She gave me the 'look' and said 'you don't know where the library is??' and she smirked. 'Uh, no ma'am I don't that's why I'm asking. I haven't been here in 4 years and the last time I was here, this is where it was.' Ahh, yes. Now she knows why I was asking such a stupid question. So she tells me how to get there. Once again, grab my stuff(apparently I kept setting it down) and walk all the way around the other side of the building, now up 1 flight of stairs to where I thought she directed me. Nope. Financial Aid office. Crap. Ok, next lady to help me. 'Hi, can you tell me where the library is?' She also gives me the look- like are you from the moon or what. She gave me much clearer directions and I walked now the last mile of the building back to where I literally parked. There's the library. Right where I walked in. Hmm. Never saw it. Ok, so I walk up to the lady at this desk. I'm in the library. 'Hi, I need to make copies and get my student nurse badge picture taken. Can you show me where to go?' Oh sure, now I had to go BACK down a flight of stairs 2nd floor commons area of the library for all of this. Great, thanks. Freaking stair stepping today and I feel like I AM from the moon. So I get downstairs... find a copy machine. 10 cents to make copies!!! Are you serious??? So I dig thru my wallet and find a quarter, thinking to myself 'please make change!' Which it did. Whew. Next I'm walking to the desk for my badge. Tell them what I need and had to fill out all kinds of paperwork. Ok, easy enough. Finally, get my copies and bring them back to the nursing dept. Then, I'm off to a scrubs store downtown Muskegon to get my MCC emblem sewn to my lab coat. I printed up directions (smart, eh?)and they also gave me pre-printed directions- so was on my way. It tells me to take the North Muskegon BR South and turn right on Pine. Only about 2.9 miles. So, I do... and I'm looking for Pine.... and looking for Pine... and end up on the business loop in Norton Shores heading to who knows where!! By this time, I got anxious b/c I truly didn't know where I was and it was completley WHITE outside. Grrr. So I move over lanes to try and back track and oops, pulled right in front of someone. Sorry. I waved like 'hmm, yes, I'm the idiot of the day'. Thankfully I called my mom who was able to tell me where I was and I found the ramp to head back toward Grand Haven after about 15 minutes of driving nowhere!! So, needless to say, I didn't make it the scrubs shop and don't really care! ;) It was just one of those days that I could laugh or cry at the situation. Today, I chose to laugh!

A very.. long.. story

Some of you saw on Facebook that I posted I was accepted into the RN program. Some of you are probably like, what's the big deal ?!?! It's just a true testimony of God's timing and how things fall into place even when its seems impossible...
December of '04 I graduated college to work as an LPN. I went to college a little late in life and already had little Maddie at the time ;) LPN wasn't my original goal, but we were building our house and getting married in March so I felt that I had to stop nursing school at this point to get a job and contribute! So, everything ended up working out just fine. We were married, I worked as a nurse in an OB/GYN office and enjoyed the work, things were going well but I still had it in the back of my mind that someday I would still like to finish my RN. Someday maybe when our kids are grown, or at least in school I wanted to work in the ER or trauma somewhere. I just figured it would be put off until then. This was definately a dream, a passion of mine since '96 when I was in a nearly fatal accident with my bff (ha, like that?) and loved the nurses I had. (When you're in the hospital for a month you get to know them pretty well!) Well it was the ER- then I was inpatient for almost a month. So anyway. Our family grew with Mayci in '06 and things continued on as they were. Life was just fine!

One night Ryan and I were talking about it and he actually said to me 'I know you're dying to go back, let's just do it now' I am not kidding people, my eyes filled up with tears and I was like 'are you SURE? Are you serious?' Of course I would LOVE to go back. I mean, don't get me wrong, nobody likes homework and tests, whatever, but this is what I want to DO. Forever. I want to go to work and save lives band-aid by band-aid! jk. So he was serious. He wanted to support and give me the chance to finish this now! So long, sappy story short I started looking into it. Looking into what classes I had to take, etc. to get back on the waiting list. First I had to get Chemistry out of the way since I had been out of HS for a while it needed to be validated. So I had the option to test out, which I did and did not pass. I missed the bar by like 2 points. This meant alot b/c if I couldn't test out of Chemistry, I had to take a whole bunch of math classes in order to prepare me for Chem. This actually was devastating for me b/c I hate, HATE math. So I emailed the nursing director and told her how close I was and that I just didn't prepare myself properly to take the exam. After some coaxing, she finally agreed to let me re-take it in 6 weeks. Meanwhile, I'm thinking 'Ok God, is this where you're leading me or am I just getting my hopes up?' I was torn b/c I didn't want to fore-go the opportunity but I wanted to do exactly what He called me to do! Be home with my kids? Not think twice about going back to school? But I felt so called to do this and my husband supported me 110% so I went for it, and of course after studying for 6 weeks I passed the stupid Chem test.

This allowed me entry into a few other classes that I took last January thru May and put me back on the LPN to RN waiting list. In the meantime, I took a position in the ER at Zeeland. The college told me to expect to get a call this Fall 2008 and be ready to finish the last 2 semesters. Yay! I would be done by this April! There is always a waiting list in nursing schools and to only have to wait 4 months or so was great! Well, I didn't get the call this Fall. Then they told me maybe Winter but there are quite a few LPN's ahead of me. So once again, I questioned myself and what it was that God was leading me to. I kept thinking if it's not meant to be, then it's ok. I will just move on. But knowing the Almighty and how He gives us those strong desires or 'gut feelings'- I knew something was going to happen. I just had to let it happen in His time, and not my own. That, my friends, was tough for me!

So I could bore you with all the junk about Ryan's job in the Winter months and all that, but let's just say that it is His perfect timing for me to start this Winter. Not last Fall. Not the Fall before. But now. I hope when my time comes to leave this Earth, I will have done and waited to do exactly what He wanted me to do as a nurse, plus some. Even if it just means comforting the mom of the crying baby, or hugging the wife of an dying man- it's not just a paycheck, I'm in it to serve!