We celebrated the kids' birthdays last Sunday. My daughter is now eleven and my baby is three. Can I even still call him a baby? Yes, I can; he is my baby. Anyways, we had a really nice time. There were like a thousand people there for the baby's party. Well, maybe not that many, but you get the general idea. His party was Go Diego Go theme, which is a cartoon spin-off of Dora the Explorer. I made him a chocolate cake and iced it orange with green lettering. He loved the cake but was not at all interested in eating the icing. His favorite gift was a little riding quad. (Not motor powered; he pushes himself on it with his feet.) By the way, there was "some assembly required on that"; thanks to my husband for taking it upon himself to put it together.

My daughter had a few of her friends come over and had a nice time. Her party was not themed. (It's the first time; she's getting older.) All of her stuff was black and pink. I made her the cutest cupcakes. (Well, my mom baked them but I decorated them.) They were devil's food with pink icing and chocolate sprinkles. They were too cute and they looked like they came from a bakery. Her favorite present was her X-Box Kinect. It's crazy, the technology of this device. Anyways, her friends and she went to her room and played with this and had much fun.

It was a great day for family and friends and, like every year, I thank God for blessing me with my wonderful children.

We had a nice Christmas holiday. My brother was married the Saturday the before Christmas and so we traveled to my parents for that event. He was so happy and I was happy seeing him that way. The next day we had our family Christmas at my parents house. It was nice seeing and spending time with everyone. I miss my family.

Christmas Eve was spent with my husband's family, as is tradition. It was nice; good food and seeing all the kids open presents like it was a race.

Christmas morning was spent at home, just the four of us. My kids enjoyed the peaceful time and, of course, the present opening. Santa Clause came again this year. No one left anything; no cookies, no milk, nothing. Oh well, it was fun being Santa again after a reprieve of about four years.

This year I did not catch the Midnight Mass on Christmas. I did watch it on the internet a few days later. It was nice and I have placed an excerpt in my facebook notes. God bless us with unity this year.

I started school today. I am very excited about this junior semester. Specialty areas sound way more interesting than adult medical surgical areas, to me. I hate leaving my children during the day but this is the price to be paid. Hopefully all goes well and I increase my knowledge. Here is a recent picture of my two precious babies:

So, I am finally a junior nursing student! I'll be done in May. I am very excited. Sophmore semester was very difficult. It was so much information in such a short amount of time. Thank goodness I have the adult med-surg part of school out of the way. From here on out it is specialty areas. I am very excited for obstetrics next semester. This summer, however, I am going to try and relax, spend time with my children and read, (because I want to.)

My kids are just growing, growing. My daughter finished school with a bang; earning eleven academic awards at the end-of-the-year awards ceremony. I am so very proud of her. Her teacher had very nice things to say about her. Also, it was a little funny listening to her teacher talk about her incessant need to know how her little brother was doing. She told me that she would ask at least once every other week if she could go to the office to call and check on him. I had no idea how much her life was going to change when I had the baby. He should feel very blessed to have such a dedicated "little mommy."

My son is growing taller quickly. He is talking a great deal more recently, as well. We are working on potty training. I am not sure I am at the point where I can say 'its going well.' We'll stick with it and hopefully by the end of July, when my summer is over, he will be doing well enough to continue while I'm at school. He is loving this summer time, as it brings the probability of going outside daily. He loves to be outside.

Its good to have family. My children are blessed with a very large family. The Saturday before Easter my husband's family had a family reunion at the county park. We had a really nice time. My daughter was able to play with her cousins and second cousins and third cousins... She enjoyed the day. My son played with his cousin and had fun running around outside, one of his favorite places. We watched the kids play volleyball, ate some very tasty barbecue, had an egg hunt for the children, played softball, (my husband and my daughter; not me), and played Spanish Bingo, (a first for me.) It was good to see everyone laughing and enjoying each other's company. It is so important to keep in touch with family, I believe. It was nice to see that, even though it has been some time since everyone was together all at once the bonds of love and community have not been broken. Family is invaluable and it is so nice to have such a large one.

The kids celebrated their birthday parties at the end of last month. My daughter is ten and my son is two. I had both the parties the same day, at different times. The baby's theme was dalmations and fire trucks. My daughter's was football and Dallas Cowboys. My husband's family and my Grandmother were there for the baby's party, (can I call him 'baby' still; he is two now), and my daughter had a bunch of friends, mostly from her girl scout troop, come over for her party later in the afternoon. The baby played with his cousin with his new bulldozer. My daughter played that sit on and pop the balloon game with all her friends. She received the Super Mario Brothers game for her Wii and it is a bunch of fun to play with her. I think they both had a nice time and, most importantly, felt special and loved. My sister-in-law made the cakes and they were great, looked really nice and I appreciated her help. It was really nice having a day set aside to celebrate my wonderful children. I thank God for another year together as a family.

Wow, it has been a long time since my last post. I am finally a sophomore! I know that sounds crazy. Next semester we will have an OR rotation. I am dreading it. I just have this horrible picture in my mind that I will contaminate the field or slip and fall or something equally embarrassing.

We had a good Christmas here. We spent the day with just the four of us here at home. It was wonderful not having to stress out about anything at all. The kids played with their new toys all day. My daughter received a new lap top. She kept having to borrow mine to do homework so I figured it was time for her to have her own. The baby has been vacuuming the house non-stop with his new vacuum. I wish they made a toy vacuum that actually worked. My floor would remain spotless! I was able to watch the Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve. It was beautiful. It was from Washington D.C.. (Are there two periods there?) I like to be reminded that the Christmas season, Advent, is a celebration of the coming of Christ to this earth. Not only that but of the promise of his death and Resurrection. Hope springs eternal from the lowly birthplace in Betlechem.