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.