Blogging

This semester was the first time I have ever blogged.  I did enjoy doing the two blogs per week.  It was fun to write about topics that I enjoy and being able to just write without worrying about grammar errors, etc.  I do think that it has to help with our writing skills.  Just to sit down and write about 1000 words a week in general would help, but there were some topics that we may have had to do a little research on. It helped to prepare me for the papers we had to write.  The only real complaint I have was running out of things to write about.  That should be the easy part, but I found that towards the end of this semester I had a hard time coming up with topics to blog.  I am sure I was just thinking too much about it.  It could have also been that this is my first time to ever blog.  Maybe it comes easier the more you do it.  I also did enjoy reading about what others wrote.  I especially like the plain casual blogs that talked about your week, or a bully at school, or just talking about your family or friends.    I feel like I actually got to know my online class a little more this way.  When you are forced to be more involved it makes for a better semester, like you’re not the only one out there.  Sometimes these online classes can make you feel alone.  The blogs helped me to remember that I am in a class with other actual students that have real lives.  For me, it was very interesting to read about.  As much as I did enjoy reading what others have blogged or blogging for my first time ever, I will probably not continue for now for the simple fact that I am busy with the kids this summer and working.  I am sure that probably isn’t a good excuse but that would be my number one reason.   I know there are more of you that can relate to being busyJ.  Have a wonderful summer.  Be safe and enjoy your time off of school.  Next year is my last year!  Yay!  I am so excited.   Six years later, I should finally be done with my degree.  I wish everyone well!

What a Wonderful Week

This has been a good week.  Not only are we in the last week of classes, but I have a new baby niece.  My sister-in-law went to the hospital on Monday to have her baby.  After sitting at the hospital all day and night Monday she still didn’t have her.  She finally delivered on Tuesday morning around 9:30.  She had quite a long labor; however, this was her first baby.  I know with my first it also took me 17 hours.  Sometimes your first can take a while.  Well I guess, it doesn’t matter how many you have they come when they are ready.  My sister had her 4^th baby and took her 24 hours.  It was miserable.  Anyway, my new niece is Allie Mae.  She ended up in the NICU Tuesday morning because she was having hard time breathing.  They said her lungs were not fully developed, even though she carried her baby to term.  She is on a ventilator and feeding tube.  My sister-in-law has had a hard time.  She left the hospital on Thursday without her baby.  The hospital was very generous though, and put her up in the Ronald McDonald house.  The baby seems to be doing better today.  They said she ripped her feeding tube out last night but is doing well without it because they are slowly trying to take her off her oxygen.  So far she is doing great with it!  I feel so bad for her.  I can relate.  I delivered my oldest son early.  He was in NICU for a while.  It is always hard when you deliver your baby and they take them away from you and without even being able to hold them.  We could not even touch him because it would excite him and make his oxygen level go way down.  I know that baby Allie was the same way.  Cox Hospital was also so great to us.  Children’s Miracle Network paid for us to stay in the Cox Hotel the whole time he was in the hospital.  Needless to say it is a wonderful organization and I donate any chance I can.  To make a long story short, I have a beautiful new niece and she is doing much better.  I am so anxious for her to come home so everyone can rest easy.  You might say a little prayer for her so she can recover soon.:)

On top of having a new baby in the family we got to hear the great news that they finally got Osama.  It has been a long 10 years, but we finally succeeded!

Royal Wedding

     I am sure all of us were fortunate enough to see the royal wedding on television.  It was so amazing to see such a “fairy tale” event.  I recorded it all, so I didn’t have to get up at 3 in the morning.  I probably didn’t even need to do that.  It was on all day!  They kept showing video and pictures of the wedding.  I must say, I was mostly excited to see her dress.  I didn’t realize she was going to change her dress three times throughout the day.  I probably liked her second dress she put on the most.  It was gorgeous, as they all were. 

     I was reading an article on the internet and the media was going as far as getting professionals to try to interpret what he was saying to her at the alter and different parts of the day.  I am assuming they are some kind of professional that can read lips.  Who knows.  I do think that is a little much.  That would stink to not even be able to keep that much of their ceremony private.  Not that I would mind to be a princess or anything.  Ha ha.  I just think it must get somewhat old to not have any privacy. 

     The build- up to the wedding was a special occasion itself and attracted so much media attention.  The service was broadcast live around the world.  It was compared, in many ways, to the wedding of William’s parents, Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer.  It was watched by a global television audience of over two billion.  A lot of the attention was focused on Kate Middleton’s status as a commoner marrying into royalty.

     Just hours before the service, the Queen granted Prince William the titles of Duke of Cambridge, Earl of Strathearn, and Baron Carrickferfus.  Upon her marriage, Middleton therefore became Her Royal Highness Princess William Arthur Philip Louis, Duchess of Cambridge, Countess of Strathearn, Baroness Carrickfergus, but is not styled as ‘Princess Catherine’.  

     This wedding was not a full state occasion; many of the details were left to the couple themselves to decide, such as much of the guest list.  There were about 1,900 people that attended the wedding.  However, this was a public holiday in Great Britain and featured many ceremonial aspects, including use of the state carriages and roles for the Foot Guards and Household Cavalry.  It was attended by most of the Royal Family, as well as many foreign royals, diplomats, and the couple’s chosen personal guests. 

    The couple is said to be staying on the Isle of Anglesey in North Wales, following their wedding.  This is where Prince William is based as an RAF Search and Rescue Pilot. 

    

    

My Week

     As it gets closer to the end of the semester I am finding it more and more difficult to come up with what to blog about.  Maybe it is because I am new to this blogging, I am not sure.  It is fun to read what other people write about though.  I really like the blogs about everybody’s week and what they do.  It is interesting to read about how we all have such hectic but wonderful lives!   I wouldn’t trade it for the worldJ. 

     We start our baseball games next week.  It looks like it may not be as bad as I thought.  We will only be at the ball field 3 nights a week.   I love this time of the year!  I am so happy that we won’t be down at the field so much that we get burned out.  It should be just about the perfect amount of days.  However, I was sad because this is the first year I will have to juggle my boy’s games.  My husband coaches my youngest sons tee ball team and my oldest travels to different towns, so it looks like I will miss 3 out of 7 of my youngest son’s games.  My oldest, Conner, will have to be out of town at his ballgame the same time my youngest, Evan, is playing.  Welcome to parenthood!  I guess this is what a lot of parents go through when you have more than one child in sports.  I don’t know how mothers do it with more than 2 kids.  They keep us so busy.  To all of you with more than two children, I admire what you do. :)

     To end this week, I have to also say how thankful I am that it is not raining today.  It has been a beautiful couple of days.  I was so sick of seeing the rain.  The back of my house was flooded so bad.  We normally use the back door to come in and out of, but this week there was no going through our back yard.  It kind of made it a pain for the simple fact that our garage is in the back of our house so it was a long walk to the front door.  I shouldn’t complain though, it could be a lot worse.  I am thankful to have a home period. 

     I hope everyone has a wonderful couple of weeks.  That is all we have left in the semester.  We are almost there!  I can’t wait for the summer break.  I am sure we are all beyond ready for it.  We leave for vacation June 19^th.  It is getting so close.  I am excited to be able to take the boys to the beach this year.   This is the first time they have been.  Have a great week and pray we don’t see anymore rain!

Easter Weekend

     I hope everyone has a wonder Easter weekend.  My boys are very excited about hunting eggs!  I wrote my first blog about the history of Easter.  It is nice to remind ourselves of why we celebrate this day:)  It was also very interesting to read about why we hide Easter eggs and where the Easter bunny fits in. 
     We plan to go to church Sunday morning and then head to my mother-in-laws house for dinner.  She always has a pinata for the kids and an Easter egg hunt.  They love going to grandmas house!  She also makes wonderful sugar cookies.  It's an amazing feeling to see your children and how excited they get about the holidays.  They love when the Easter bunny comes!  It is sweet.  They asked me this morning how many more days we had until they woke up to their Easter baskets.  They just make my heart melt.  There is nothing I love more than making my boys happy.  I hope it doesn't rain us out Sunday.  We normally spend almost the whole day outdoors.  We may have to make other arrangements this year, as everyone else will too.  That always stinks.  I am already so ready for this rain to end!  I am ready for the sunshine and warm weather.  I think it makes everyone in a much happier mood. 
     Have a great holiday weekend and enjoy the last few weeks of the semester!  We are almost done and can enjoy the summer.  Happy Easter!

Easter

     Jesus rose from the dead on the third day after his crucifixion.  His resurrection is celebrated on Easter Sunday.  Easter makes the end of Lent, a forty-day period of fasting, prayer, and penance.  The last week of the Lent is called Holy Week.  It contains Good Friday, commemorating the crucifixion and death of Jesus. During Lent, many strict Catholics will give up eating meat on Fridays.  Meat is also not consumed on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday as well.  Catholics between the ages of 18 and 59 are obligated to fast on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday.  In addition, all Catholics 14 years old and older must abstain from meat on Ash Wednesday, Good Friday and all other Fridays of Lent. 
      Easter is a holiday not fixed in the relation to the civil calendar.  It occurs during the Spring, either March or April.  The method for determining the date of Easter Sunday is based on the lunisolar calendar. 
     Easter customs vary across the Christian world, but decorating Easter eggs is common among everyone.  History.com says, "Easter egg hunts and egg rolling are two popular egg-related traditions.  In the U.S., the White House Easter Egg Roll, a race in which children push decorated, hard-boiled eggs across the White House lawn, is an annual event held the Monday after Easter.  The first official White House egg roll occurred in 1878, when Rutherford B. Hayes was president.  The event has no religious significance, although some people have considered egg rolling symbolic of the stone blocking Jesus' tomb being rolled away, leading to his resurrection." 
     Much like Easter eggs, the Easter bunny most likely has nothing to do with the religious observance of the holiday.  According to an article from Discovery News, the symbol of the Easter bunny hails from Pagan traditions.  The bunny represents the re-birth of life with the coming of the spring season and the blooming flowers

Mom Drove Kids into the Hudson River

I am sure most of you have heard about the mother from New York that drove her four children and herself into the Hudson River.  The 10 year old boy was able to escape the minivan and ran to a nearby fire station and alerted the firefighters.  He told them that his mother had driven the van off a boat ramp in Newburgh, about 60 miles north of New York City.  When the firefighters and police arrived to the scene it took them about an hour before finding the van submerged in 10 feet of water about 25 yards offshore.  Everyone inside the van was dead, including the older boys siblings: two boys, ages 2 and 5, and an 11 month old baby girl.  The police chief said that there was some kind of domestic altercation that occurred about 10 minutes before the incident happened.  That was all the information they had. 

This story is so heart wrenching.  I do not understand for one minute how anyone could harm their children.  I do not for one second agree with harming yourself, but to put your kids in the car.  What do these people think!  I know they clearly have mental issues, I just don’t understand why these people don’t seek help.  I would think you have to know if you are mentally unstable.  I’m not sure, I am not a psychologist.  This would be interesting to maybe learn a little more about.  Why do people that are mentally unstable think the way they do?