Sunday afternoon - Weekly update

It has been a busy week. Of course last Monday was Memorial Day. We had Roland last weekend through Monday. Jeff and Roland went and saw the new Indiana Jones movie. They said they really enjoyed it. Later in the afternoon, Jeff and I had scheduled family pictures at JcPenney. We haven't had family pictures taken of all of us since October 2006, so we thought it was time. JcPenney had really good pricing with their online coupon. We bought their portrait club thing so we would have no sitting fees for the next two years and I found coupons online good through next January.

This past Tuesday after returning from Target, I learned our water was off at the apartment. On Monday, I saw water flowing down a section of the apartment but figured it was probably a broken sprinkler head. Nope. It was a broken water line and the city had shut off the water. The water is a private section and not part of the Lewisville. Luckily, Jeff had filled a gallon of water from an empty milk carton. He tends to fill them up with water so I can use for either the aquarium or my plants. I was able to use it for basic things like washing Jakob's hands after lunch. However, after Jakob's nap I was at the point where I really needed to use the restroom and the water was still not on. So we headed out to the mall and walked around and Jakob played on the mall playground for a bit.

I had my tennis lessons Tuesday night too. It is sure fun to play again. My racket was ready after leaving it last week to get new strings in it. Practice was fun and after the hour was up, three of us stayed to play for fun together some more! We stayed for an extra hour and I can sure tell I did the next day. Not extremely sore but I had two small blisters on my hand and my feet were sore to an extent. With our next lesson, I have to ask about the next class and learn about the leagues. Oak Creek Tennis Center has a singles league beginning June 9th and I am thinking of doing it. Then, I'll also probably do the next lesson to continue to relearn and improve.

Either Tuesday or Wednesday, I received an email from the State Board of Educator Certification. I was required to take two test and officially take and pass all the courses at UNT to officially become certified to teach within Texas. It all went through last week and I am officially certified! I am waiting on the formal documentation to arrive in the mail. I keep an eye on the job boards and multiple middle school math positions have posted recently. I sent resumes and have an interview for a 7th grade math position on Monday, June 2nd! What is really neat is on Thursday, I went by both of my mentoring schools to pick up purchased yearbooks! Exciting!

This past Thursday, Jakob had his early education screening at the special education offices in Lewisville. He did okay, but he is slightly tongue tied which is effecting his speech. We finished through all the testing which between paperwork and them working with Jakob took about an hour and a half. They referred him for a full evaluation and the diagnostician at Rockbrook Elementary should contact me soon. At this point, if he qualified he would attend public preschool from 8AM-11AM and then probably be bused over to Children's Courtyard. I spoke briefly with Children's Courtyard and they said they have a few small school buses who bring over PPCD (Public Preschool for Children with Disabilities) students. At this moment, he has a slight speech problem since he is tongue tied a little. Jeff and I are waiting to determine when and if necessary to have it clipped. He is not obviously as bad as I was as a kid since mom says I could not even stick my tongue out of my mouth! Interesting, must be hereditary.

Yesterday, Mom, Mema, Barb, and I went and saw the musical CATS. It was pretty neat and amazing. I didn't realize how much ballet was within the musical. After getting home and reading more information about the musical, it actually helped me understand the story line a little better. Mom and I have tickets to see THE DROWSY CHAPERONE in about two weeks and then the four of us will get to see HAIRSPRAY at the end of the June!

Our Weekly Update

As Mom mentioned, I graduated on May 10th as everyone knows and we had a good time visiting with all the family in town. Mom and Dad had ordered me an iMac from Apple and it was supposed to be delivered before my graduation. However, Mom kept joking about how I was not going to be able to use it until I had graduated. Anyhow, somewhere after it was shipped Fed Ex misplaced it. The Monday after graduation, Apple was able to reorder my iMac and it arrived the following Friday! I have really enjoyed the machine.

Last Sunday, I went to my cousin Janet's baby shower. We all had a good time and ended up taking a nice group pictures. Many of her friends were there and she received many baby items she will need for her new baby boy. The little baby right around July 9-10th.

Beginning this past Tuesday evening, I started up on advanced tennis lessons at Oak Creek Tennis Center in Carrollton, TX. It was so much fun getting back into playing. While we were practicing, the instructor had said he could tell I had experience playing but was not sure where yet! After practice I asked his advice in regards to my racket and told him I played in middle and high school. My racket is over 10 years old, but the only recommendation for starting back was to get new strings in my racket. So I left my racket and they will have it re-strung by next Tuesday. Before starting, Jakob and I went on Monday to Sports Authority for new tennis shoes. As we looked around, I also found a cute inexpensive clearance skirt and shirt to wear for tennis practice! YEAH!

The apartment pool has been a popular place this week since the weather has officially gotten really hot and muggy! So far for last week, we went Monday, Friday, and Saturday. I am thinking of skipping today! I need to catch up on the laundry. I am not used to washing towels so often!

Jakob has been playing Blast Ball in Lewisville. They took their team pictures a while back and they were finished. After Jakob's nap, we headed over to pick them up so we would have them for our last game on Saturday. The kids took fairly well pictures for a rough cold morning we took them. It was cold and windy and noses were running and they could have cared less to stand together and take pictures! Overall, they looked good though! After we picked them up, I took Jakob to a local school playground where he played and ran for about 30-45 minutes! He had a blast and luckily it wasn't as hot as it could have been that afternoon on the playground.

We have been attending Barnes and Noble's reading time on Thursday mornings. Jakob does okay listening to the stories. His attention span is not too long if he's not interested. This past week, she had farm animal books and he thought they were a little more interesting than the week before. She also brings cookies which helps a little to get them to sit and eat and listen. Sometime in July, it appears Roland, Jakob, and I will make a trip out to San Diego, CA and visit Randy and Nikki. While at Barnes and Noble, I purchased a travel guide which focuses on the Top 10 things to see and do! I know we would visit the San Diego Zoo at this point, but I need to figure out the rest! I have to look and determine the best time to fly stand-by through Southwest Airlines. After looking at the calendar, it appears if we do indeed visit, it will be the second week beginning on Sunday, July 13. I haven't decided how long, but I am interested in visiting the San Diego Zoo and the USS Midway Museum. Mom/Nancy is looking into the trip as well. I will get to fly standby but it is the just the case of flights and trying to plan so we get lucky and get the right flights! =)

I watched the final episode for the season for Grey's Anatomy on Thursday night! I was actually quite productive while watching since there were many commercial breaks. I would quickly switch laundry or dishes while they took their commercials. Jeff laughed at me. =)

Yesterday, the boys on our Blast Ball Braves team played their last game for the season. They all did very well. I am working on a video for the team with all the video I recorded. So far I used yesterday's game clips and put them together by person to Centerfield by John Fogerty. The song fits perfect!
He sings, "Put me in coach, I'm ready to play today..." It's cute with the video from the boys! After the game, we headed over to the new Going Bonkers in Lewisville. One of the moms brought a cupcake cake that looked like a baseball! The boys enjoyed playing and climbing and then eating pizza and cupcakes! We discussed next season and it appears a few for sure will do next season. It has been neat to see the boys have actually gotten better throughout our season! (Even Jakob! hahah!) The parents got together and bought Jeff and I a gift card good at Chili's for $50 to say thanks for a great season! We were completely surprised.

Nothing major planned for the Memorial weekend. We have pictures scheduled at JcPenney on Monday. We are wearing red, blue, and white to hit on the summer time frame. I am looking at flying down to Killeen/Austin between June 7-9th. Jeff is planning to go to New Mexico to see Joe on June 7th, so we figured that worked nice because it would be my first time to use the special tickets, etc. With gas prices as expensive, it is easier to pick the right time frame to try to fly standby for free and Mom can pick me up. The plan is to visit in Killeen for Saturday-Sunday and then visit Austin grandparents on Monday and fly back Monday afternoon-ish. I'll get to see if Jakob will like airplanes!

Advanced Tennis Lessons

Beginning this past Tuesday evening, I started up on advanced tennis lessons at Oak Creek Tennis Center in Carrollton, TX. It was so much fun getting back into playing. While we were practicing, the instructor had said he could tell I had experience playing but was not sure where yet! After practice I asked his advice in regards to my racket and told him I played in middle and high school. My racket is over 10 years old, but the only recommendation for starting back was to get new strings in my racket. So I left my racket and they will have it re-strung by next Tuesday.