Back to school, back to blogging

Ok so I unintentionally took the summer off of posting on here... This came right around the end of June, which happens to be when I started my first semester of Nursing at Edison. So that is my excuse...

Our summer went by so fast....

Nursing School -

First semester was good - but boy it is a totally different style of learning AND thinking. There's this whole thing called "critical thinking". Sheesh I haven't done that since like...high school? 10 years ago! So that was an adjustment, but I have to confess I was super excited to get going seeing as how I already did all my pre required classes a few years ago.

I have less than two years to go - May 2010 I should be done, provided I don't suffer any major mental breakdown about handling school, parenting a first grader, and trying to bring in some extra cash with my scrapbook site, and Junior League, and whatever else.

This was my first purchase (of many to come) of books I needed for my summer classes, and then most I'll keep using throughout the program in addition to others.

Oh and I did manage to get an A in one class and a B (but sooooo close to an A) in the other. Whoo hoo! Now on to fall semester.. this is where I'll start Fundamentals, Health Assessment, and the anticipated clinicals. Yes - with real live patients. Ack!

Here is my addition to the Massing Library of Nursing Books:

Myka - TURNED 7!

In the world of Myka - we had TWO birthday parties, and one celebration dinner. All for turning seven - life is rough when you are that age. The first party was a family one, then we had a dinner with my mom, sis, and brother, then we just had his birthday party with all his friends at Chuck E. Cheese. This just opened here a few weeks ago and it is "THE" place in town these days among kids (and even some adults). So here are a few highlights from the celebrations:

Star Wars is the favorite now a'days

Yes, he is looking like he is sticking his finger in his nose - but he's not. This is Josh, Myka, myself, and my super cool sis who just got done with hair school, and my cute brother who just moved to Tallahassee for college and all the girls chase him around.

Josh & Ang

We celebrated our 2nd anniversary, and wait till you SEE what my sweet husband did for me. I'll have to save that for another post since this is getting long enough.

Josh is STILL working on getting his contractors license but it seems we keep having to jump through hoops....

We did finally move out of our house - that lovely after effect of foreclosure and buying a house at peak market values, and then losing most of my income last year - but we know God does have a plan for us, so we are just working now on getting settled in our new place.

I actually did a lot of great reading this summer (notice the new GoodRead widget on the side (I didn't read all those this summer, are you kidding?) including a great series, the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer which I loved! Yes, it is considered in the Young Adult category but I heard about it and it sounded good so I read the first 3 in the series in less than a week, then my sis and I actually went to the midnight release of the 4th one - and so that was fun too. But I start fall classes next week so we'll see how much time I have to read.... for enjoyment. If you like to read check out the Good Read site - and then sign up so we can be "friends" - it is a cool way to keep track of what you have read, and plan to read, and see what everyone else is reading too.

And then school started...

So this brings us to now - the first week of FIRST GRADE! I can't believe it. I think Myka will have a super year this year and he seems so grown up sometimes now. Here he is on Monday ready for school.

So that is the latest from the Massing household.. I think.. I don't know I probably forgot some major updates but I don't know what they are right now. SO this was a good start...

Oh yeah, our blog!

Ok, so I didn't FORGET about our blog, I just didn't post for a week....

Not sure what has kept me so busy - Myka started "Science Specialists" camp which is in the afternoons for two weeks at his school, and he has been continuing with Tae Kwan Do. He also started his SMILE group that he does where he goes for Occupational Therapy - and he loves that!

*Summer Reading Update* He has read 14 books now. WAY TO GO! We figured out a reward for each list of 10 books HE reads- he would get $2. Now while some may say it is downright BRIBING him to read, I take a different perspective LOL He is trying to learn about money, and the hard life lesson that it does not grow on trees (dang it) and he gets easily frusturated when I explain why I will not buy him a $20 toy when we go anywhere that has any sort of toy. So we are learning the concept of money, saving your money for something you want, and that mom & dad aren't going to just buy him something anytime he wants it.... and lets be honest - little trinkets don't pull any weight with him as something he earns for reading 10 books. So I figured this would be a good balance. And he does like to read - so this keeps him working toward a goal, keeps him excited about how many books he is reading, and lets him earn a few bucks at the same time....

As for me, I have been wrapping up all the things I need to get done before the Nursing program starts NEXT WEEK! I took a BLS/CPR class over the weekend to get certified through the American Heart Association, and this week I need to get all SEVEN of my books I need for my two classes: Intro to Nursing and Intro to Pharmacology & Math Calculations. I am super excited and I am sure the inevitable panic attack will set in shortly - about how on earth will I be able to study, be a good mom, earn money for our family, and sleep somewhere in there. But I know that God has plans for us, and He will make it possible for me to handle this all!

Josh is doing good - he got in with a new Gastro doc to help hopefully figure out some of the stomach issues and he seems very on top of things and very thourough - the doc, that is - and Josh went in for an Endoscopy today, which the doc said he did about 16-20 biopsies, and he does have an inflamed esophogus and stomach - ordered some more tests in addition to the tests he ordered last week, and put Josh on a new medicine he'll take every morning before breakfast. So I am praying that we continue to move forward and at least get some answers.

So thats the update! Have some cool things I want to share so I'll post those soon...

SUMMER if finally here...

Myka at his end of year pool party!

Ahh I love summer! And it is so darn nice to be able to sleep in a bit too!

Myka is officially a FIRST GRADER! Can you believe it??? Where has the time gone. His last day of school was Friday, and so we have really just been hangin' out since... I know it is SOOOOO important for him to continue reading every day so he doesn't regress. He is such a great reader, and I think if he keeps it up, he'll be headin' in to first grade with flying colors. So what I have done is set up a "Myka's Summer Reading List" and we write down the books that HE reads to ME. When he gets to 10, he earns something - a small treat, etc. We'll see at the end of summer how many he has read! Status now: 5 books read since school got out.

Now, I still read to him too, and we have so many books (gotta love Scholastic Book Clubs) but a new thing we are hooked on now is this series for young readers called "Magic Tree House" books. There are tons of them! They are chapter books, and definately not something Myka can read on his own yet, but he loves them! It's about a brother and sister who discovered a magic tree house filled with books. Each book in the tree house (and thus each book in the series) takes them back in time to the topic of the book. We read about 2 chapters a night, and get through a book usually in about a week. We started at number 1, and just finished number 2 in the series, so we are on to number 3 "Mummies in the Morning"

In addition to getting summer started, I have spent the last four days backing up ALL of our pictures on my new FreeAgent 500GB Hard Drive - got a great deal on it from Office Depot last week and I feel so much better! I was stressing over my pictures. I had tons on an old computer we don't use much, and 3 CF cards full of pics, and knew I couldn't store them on our computer BUT we don't have a CD/DVD burner on my old work computer I am using so that was not an option. My laptop is broke and probably not worth fixing, so I came up with this more affordable solution until we can get a new computer one day. However it will probably take half a lifetime to use up 500GB in just pictures.



I plan to start doing some digital scrapbooking on the computer because it is really bugging me that I haven't scrapbooked in ages. I have TONS of supplies, but for some things, like Mykas school photo books, I think I am going to do digitally on the computer.



So, hopefully now that summer is here, I reallyhope to get this blog going. Plus I am on a new journey to lower our expenses so I will keep you up to date on that too. I lowered our weekly grocery/household buget from $150 to $100, starting now, so we'll see how it goes. I know it sounds like a lot, and from the research I have been doing, lots of people with familes of 4 and even 6 have a budget less than that, so we should be able to do it. And then get it down less before long too. Time to make sure we know where every dollar is going, and save as much as we can. I have some great links to post for anyone else interested in cutting down their grocery bills! Maybe I'll post those soon...



Love to you all!