A Marquette4 Update!

I'm grateful to have a job, and one I love at that. However, work is really cramping my personal life!
I'd have to say that I'm working full time these days. It's very rare that I work less than 40 hours in a week. Gotta get while the gettin's good in this industry, and in a couple of months it will quiet down. So even though I'm missing out on some fun stuff, not home at night too often, and can't keep my blog updated, I really can't complain!

Sooooo, what have we been up to, you wonder? Take a peak below :)

Zoo time!

We haven't been to the zoo since last Fall. That's a little unusual for us, considering we used to have a membership and would go at least twice a month! I let my membership lapse this year though. Now that Hayden's in school full time, and Tay is in preschool, I figured I wouldn't use it as much.

So last Thursday, on a whim, we hitched up with Becky, Kady, Faith and their grandma and went to the zoo. We enjoyed a picnic, soaked up some sun and let the girls overload on cotton candy and snow cones. I came home and had to go to work, so I let Conal deal with the repercussions of the sugar high! ;)

Taylor Update

Tay's about to turn 4 in just a few weeks. That meant that her IEP was due at her developmental preschool. I was pretty convinced that she wouldn't be approved for the program any longer, but wasn't quite sure if they'd keep her through her birthday, the end of the year, or what. The week before her IEP the school psych. told me that they would be releasing her on the last day before Spring break. That was music to my ears!!

On March 12, the last day before Spring break, I met with her teacher and the therapists at Erie school and we all signed off on Taylor's release from the developmental education program.

Taylor has done so well and is now mainstreamed! Her vocabulary, vocalization and socialization have exceeded far beyond the expectations and goals that were set for her a year ago. In fact, all of her educators and support staff involved recommended that I get her into a program or class that will allow her to express herself. They think a quiet dance class is too docile for her. She's been around quiet kids for awhile and they'd suggest I enroll her somewhere where talking, singing, and noise in encouraged. So, I did just that! I enrolled her in the summer Broadway Kids camp at the Chandler Center for the Arts. It's a bit pricey, but she's never done anything fun like that. By this age Hayden had participated in dance, gymnastics and soccer...now it's Tay's turn!

We also left her school that day after her IEP meeting, and went over to St. Tim's. I had spoken to Monica the week prior about enrolling her for next Fall. When we went in on Friday, Miss Terri took Tay into music class with the rest of the kids. Taylor had a ball! Miss Mary has a small class right now, only 6 kids in the afternoons, so they invited her to attend for the rest of the year. I'm not sending her until the week after Easter when they resume their schedule. I wanted her home while Hayden is off on Spring Break. Taylor is really excited to go to the "big kids school where Haynen went". She will only go for the remaining six weeks left in the school year, but will return in August.

Taylor is doing really well, it does my heart so good!

The social butterfly with Emme, Reagan and Jackson

Mary Poppins!

I found a bargain online the week before Mary Poppins rolled into town. Four tickets for forty dollars! I called my mom to see if she was available, knowing that even if she wasn't she'd probably clear her schedule for this! ;)

So, a few days later, on the Friday night before Valentine's day, we went on a girls date! Mom treated us to dinner at Cheesecake Factory, and we enjoyed an AMAZING production of Mary Poppins! We were in the upper level...but quite honestly, our seats were really good and I'd sit up there again! The bathrooms were not crowded (if you've been to Gammage, you know what I'm talking about!), and we had an unobstructed view!

The show, itself, went beyond anything I could imagine. The broadway producation of Mary Poppins was practically perfect in every way! Captivating, magical and totally imaginative! Hayden and Tay loved it so much that they watched Mary Poppins multiple times throughout that weekend, trying to re-live it!

Neighborhood fun!

I've been a slacker and haven't been carrying my camera with me too often. It's really too bad. We've been having so much fun with new friends in our neighborhood, and I'm missing out on a lot of photo ops.

Our neighborhood school has been more than just fun and new for Hayden. Living here as long as we have, we've always been a little down on our neighborhood. There's nobody fun, or even friendly on our street. Well, since Hayden has started school, and I gotten involved with the PTO, we've met so many nice families that live in our development, just blocks away! AND, this isn't a crappy development! There are actually friendly and social families around...they've just somehow skipped our street!

We've been to everything from a Mardi Gras party to a Sangria party. Dinner parties, lunches, and playdates. We've gone out to dinner and had friends over...it's been so much fun! And it's great, because the kids are included in most everything, we don't have to find a babysitter as often as we used to!

Hayden and Lauren at Lauren's House
Hayden and Lindsey at the Sun's game. It was a school sponsored event and so much fun. Their friend Ryan's mom is a local newscaster who had Media passes. So, she took Hayden, Lindsey and Ryan down courtside during the game and for a behind the scenes tour. These two crazy girls had a BLAST! They met cheerleaders and the Gorilla, and their friend Ryan even high fived Steve Nash!
I watched the Moore girls, Faith and Kady, last Friday while their mom worked. These girls all get along really well, and we see them often!Sitting in a bubble 'copter

The Haydens...aka H1H2End of season (2) soccer party. Hayden with Coach Randy and Coach Efren (who I actually went to highschool with). Crazy, small world!

New profession?

Should I send these two to beauty school now and get it out of the way? They both took up hairdressing in the same week.

Indoor Upgrades!

Living in one place for 9 years gets a little old. Would I like more space? Yep! Would I love a pool? Absolutely! BUT, the fact of the matter is that we're not going anywhere. For a while. Probably a long while. So, we've been freshening up the place a bit. Paint here and there, we're getting ready to put crown moulding up in the family room, and we trimmed out our windows in the family room. I've been refinishing furniture instead of buying new. It's actually been quite fun! (And cheap!)

I bought my very first power tool! All by myself. Home Depot has surpassed Target as my favorite store. In fact, one sales person laughed at me, as she saw me there three days in a row...asked "does your hubby know about your new love?" Apparently, we both must spend a bit of time there for her to know who my hubby was. Maybe I should be worried?!