HAPPY 7TH BIRTHDAY

Wow !! Seven already?! I is showing her normal toothless look . . leotard and whispy hair.
Today I is seven. Her brothers presented her with a couple little gifts, her Grandparents sent her a few gifts and her parents are LETTING her get her ears pierced on Saturday. She has been asking for her ears to be pierced for at least 3 years so I think I have held back long enough. I will try to post pics of the piercing but make no promises as she is the third child of a working Mom. Enough said. :) Oh, by the way . . happy birthday to Mrs King as well.

Ahhhhhh, Saturday.

I know I say it over and over again but life cannot possible get ANY more hectic. We have been going in so many directions I am dizzy. C had his District Swim for the high school swim team all day on Friday so the students missed classes. The top 16 out of 700 swimmers came back in the evening for finals. I knew we were safe on that one as C is without a doubt the smallest swimmer in the pool. He is swimming against "men" with hair under their arms and everything. BUT, he is a year round swimmer so he can hold his own against SOME of them and even beats a few of them. I'm sure the other "men" are thrilled with that one! Anyway, D's former tours were in West Palm and he had secured all access passes for the family. All was going according to plan until C's freestyle relay team made it to the finals due to another team (of men !) disqualifying.
Ugh. So even though we knew his team would not go onto Regionals (they are just little guys) he and I had to go back to the pool (about 30 minutes in the opposite direction) for his swim. Then . . . driving rain. Delays. More driving rain. More delays. Meanwhile, M, Is and D are hanging out backstage with the Brooks & Dunn/Alan Jackson people. C and I finally made it down there around 9:15 and the whole family got home around 1 am.
I was PLANNING on the kiddos sleeping in this cloudy but warm Saturday morning. But M had other plans as a friend of D's GAVE him, which D presented to M, an ocean kayak!! So . . as I staggered in the kitchen to get my first of probably three cups of joe, I heard them closing the garage door. I ran outside and gave D the sign language for "DON'T FORGET LIFE JACKETS!!" Even in deep fatigue, Moms have to function. Now . . did he remember the Alligator repellent?

Can you hear the Island Music?

This is an excerpt from Connor's school online paper. He was one of the students that stayed for the master class. I'm thinking a cold frozen drink with an umbrella straw and a relaxing day under an umbrella hut. Ahhhhhhhh.

Students get a close-up experience of steel drums and percussion instruments.

Lower School Goes Caribbean

For an hour on October 3, the Ashley Carroll Student Center vibrated to the music of Caribbean Sound as this musical group led the Lower School students through a lively history of the steel drum, or steel pan. The program was conducted in cooperation with The Fort Pierce Jazz Society. For the second hour of the program, some music students were able to participate in a Master Class and try out the instruments for themselves.

Random Ramblings

I think this blog is feeling a bit neglected by it's owner so I thought I would post some random thoughts and happenings around the Jewett house.

We are moved into the new digs. People keep asking us if we are excited . .. do we feel at home yet, etc. When you are tired from the move and have to keep up with three in school and their activities as well as your own work, its hard to get excited about anything other than making sure all the above mentioned run as smoothly as possible. I had a "Martha Stewart" friend ask if I had hung pictures and all that decorative stuff. I laughed and told her that would come later but as I was analyzing my reaction, I realize I really don't care about that kind of stuff. Don't get me wrong, pictures will get hung. I cannot quite put my finger on my feelings. Those things just don't drive me anymore. Besides . . have you noticed that once you get that "perfect" picture/accessory, etc that it is not long before it is not the perfect one anymore. In Farragut, I truly had a great time decorating the house on a dime. I took pride in the fact that it all came together and I didn't venture too far beyond Goodwill or Ross's. Don't misunderstand me. I don't judge others who are into that kind of stuff. It just doesn't matter to me anymore. It is really sort of a freedom. Hmmm. More for me to think about at some time.

You want to know what does thrill me. Seeing my kids do well with their studies. Not because they need to do well for me, but because they are capable and they are learning study habits, responsibility and discipline that I NEVER learned. C is learning that if he has a Science test on Friday and a Swim meet on Tuesday and practice in between, he has to spend a bit of time studying along the way. I think that is so cool. All three of them accept the NO TV and no Video Games during the school week (we may fudge when American Idol returns) without any complaints. Is pulled a fast one on me. She asked if she could play on the computer. C brings home lots of cool sites from his new school. If you want to do a virtual frog dissection, just let me know. Anyway, she asked if she could play on the computer. Little did I know that there are full episodes of Hannah Montana on Disney.com. Lovely.

Work is going really well. I am blessed. Yes I work hard, but I am blessed above all my hard work. In an industry where Realtors are leaving the business in droves (Good!) and those that remain have racked up 15-20K in credit card debt just trying to stay in the biz, I am doing well. The challenge is do not get accustomed to the $$. The biz could change even more than it has. Check back often .. I'm sure down the line I will be asking you to pray for business.

So I am training for a 10K. Yep, just a 10K. That's like almost 7 miles??? I am up to 3 without stopping. It has turned into my stress reduction therapy. For those of you who know me, know that I am . . . how should we say . . . "runner-body-challenged" . . . But I am doing better and better everytime I run and starting to enjoy it more and more. That's huge for me.

Does anyone ever watch Ed Young on Sundays? You can catch some of his preaching on youtube. He is with Fellowship Church in Texas . . and I think they have a Sister Church in Ft Lauderdale. Anyway. Awesome. The boys love watching him as well. I'm not sure if he is with the same group as Fellowship Church in Knoxville. If anyone knows, I'd love to know.

I guess that's about it for now. It is late and our week starts at 6 am in the morning. If you pray, remember to pray for my mom who is having back surgery in a couple weeks as well as my partner at work, D , as he is still trying to bounce back from a sudden stroke at age 52 and is dealing with some new complications. Thanks so much.

Back to School x3

Whew! Back to school week is finally here. Is gets up first and turns on the Star Wars music to awaken her boys. They pop right up. Dale and I split up the kiddo drop offs and begin our day. So far, so good. C seems to really love his new school. There are only 16 in his class so that is a huge change from years past. They had an opening day ceremony which had a lot of pomp and circumstance type music, prayer, charges, honor code reciting, alma mater singing and introduction of classes (not individual students) by graduation year. C's class is the "honored" class as they are the oldest ones of the Lower School campus. Everyone stood for their entry. There are 64 of them. No wonder these kids feel special. Wasn't he just in the 3rd grade?????

M and Is started the day before C. It was kind of sad to have the pic with just the two of them. M has only 17 in his class due to No Child can get ahead .. er . . . I mean, No Child Left Behind. 3rd grade is a pivitol year in FL. Literally, the students must make a certain score on the reading portion of their FCAts to progress to 4th. He adores his teacher and apparently he has already used his magic powers on her b/c she thinks he is the "sweetest thing" .

Is seems to be doing just fine. Although she is the third child so I really wouldnt know how she is doing. Kidding!

Work . . . SLAMMED. That's good. I'm not complaining. Just pooped. One closing this month and three so far next month. I love momentum. But I love spending time with my kiddos more.

I have a couple pics of the back area of the house. Consider them the before shots as we will paint, plant and play. Sliders to the left are to the Master Suite. Sliders on the far right (just out of the pic) go to Is's room. The black net around the pool is a child safety fence. Since the house is vacant, it is a liability if a neighborhood child roamed into the yard and fell in. Happens all the time down here. Ugh. I am so thankful for strong swimmers and kids who understand that no adults on the pool deck mean no kids in the pool. Period.

We are still here!

Ahhhhhhh . . we are down to the wire with our Summer vacation. The two younger ones had their back to school/meet the teacher/open house today. Our little community school is growing. We have a new elem. school that will open next school year. It will split up the classmates but this town loves the idea of the community school aspect. So do I. We don't want anything that resembles what we had in Farragut. Is got a fabo teacher for first grade. Old school marm type. Her kindergarten teacher had a role in her placement, I'm sure. Also, M got a wonderful third grade teacher. She is the one that all the teachers own children are placed with . . same with Is's teach. M is with his special friend J and the teacher is already in love with his heart. M was impressed with the stack of books on his desk. He has been ready to go back to school around the middle of June . . . no kidding.
Connor was with us and really received mixed messages and reactions regarding his new school. Interesting . . yet kind of sad at the same time. The local middle school had a dry run for the sixth graders this morning. 400 plus. We were told it was a zoo but I am sure the admin is used to that and all will settle down in a couple days. C has 15 in his class. Most people he responded to and shared where he was going looked at me with the "Why !!!!" look. His fourth and fifth grade teachers were super pumped and said , "what a perfect fit!!!" He was encouraged by that. His fifth grade teach had to fill out forms on him so she was in the loop. I explained to C that if people don't have a common point of reference,they don't know how to respond. I also explained that if they thought his school was never a possibility for their children . . they may not react positively. Also, if we are going down a different path than them . . they seem threatened by it to a certain extent. He seemed to understand all that and was really happy to just to see some familiar faces.

Any advice from Mrs. King would be appreciated. I have to say I love that he will still be at the lower school. Although his peers are going to Middle school, I am praising God for the gift of another year. We have a "welcome back" reception for parents tomorrow night. Actually it is a cocktail party with an Island theme. I have no Island theme outfits. We'll see what we can find in the morning.

We are uber swamped and can't catch our breath. We are keeping the townhouse "show ready" and pulling out bedrolls for the boys each night and rolling them back in the morning. Only a couple more weeks of that. Work has been beyond swamped. I really like it though. Funny how perspective changes. I turned in two contracts today which I represent the buyers. One is a foreclosure for 160,000 and the other is a new construction for 320,000. Those are both small to me. My partner has lots of zeros on the end of his deals. Some day.

Gotta run. As I am writing this, we are into the second hour of High School Musical 2. All three of mine are totally into it.

Stay well.

Blessings.

Sorry I have not posted in awhile. Summer schedules and work has got me totally kicked. Lots going on with the Jewetts . . so much, actually, that I'm not sure where to start. So I will do what I do best . . . . ramble!

We received notification that C has been accepted in a fabo private school here in town. I had not brought too many people into this loop as far as us looking into it, touring it, interviewing, etc. Naysayers are not welcome ;) On one level we hesitated due to the fact that our public schools here in our county are the top in the state. Yeah, yeah . . every county says that, but it you have extra time and have nothing else going on in your life . . . surf the web and check the stats. From K to the IB programs and dual enrollment in our HS, it is one reason the Jewett's have lived in a "oh-so-small" townhouse. We could have had much more room in a neighboring county but I would be homeschooling my kiddos out on a rock somewhere. The schools in comparison to K-town are night and day. Nuff said. But . . . . middle school is middle school. And my left-brained, artistically gifted son is who he is. The 6th grade is still at the lower school campus (much like elem. school when I was young) so I see this as a gift of another year . .. they grow up waaaay too fast. For those in K-town . . the school is a smaller version of Webb. C is disappointed he won'g be wearing the navy bazer until the temps cool off a bit . . . say . . November. Anyway, huge academic and art emphasis and we are apparently already behind on Keyboarding (call me if you need a great learn to type program) as well as Chinese and Spanish. Conversational Spanish. Not numbers and colors. Conversational Chinese . . . not "sweet and sour chicken" and moo goo something-something. He is looking forward to the powerpoint he gets do make on the American Constitution. So am I. He will be able to swim on the HS swim team in the 6th grade b/c it is considered Middle S. 60 6th graders. As opposed to 450 at our ms. Blessings.

The boys had awards ceremony last night for their last swim meet. M was only one of 2 swimmers who received a medal for lowering all his times. Both boys received numerous ribbons. Is has started swimming as well. Not that we were looking for something else for her to do, but she was there anyway and it is easier for me to keep up with the little gymnastics monkey if I know she is in the water than hanging upside down on a fence bar. Yeah . . . just imagine.

The house thing is going along as well. Just little details here and there. I actually don't think about it all that much. Isn't that crazy. It definately changes how you look at the whole process when you are in the business.

Monday I ignored my phone and took the kiddos to the beach for a couple hours. I packed a cooler and we just played in the 88 degree water and built sand sculptures. C's team won the sand sculpting contest at camp last week and he wanted to show us how it was done. We had a great time . . . something I need to make myself do more of as our Summer is going by quickly. By 4:00 I had about 7 calls to follow up on.

Speaking of calls, my phone has rung three times since I started this post and I have to jet.

A New Address . . .

Well, it looks like the Jewetts may be changing our address.

We have not have the inspections yet but trust all will go well with that. The house needs a lot of updates and the pool enclosure blew away in one of the storms but we have tons of great ideas. I have to praise God for the direction. We would have never found this if I were not in the business. . . it is a huge bargain in a fab gated neighborhood and a bike ride to school for the younger two kiddos. We are very fortunate and to get a paycheck on top of that is abundance. Please keep us in your prayers as we navigate through a long closing at the end of August. I hope our Realtor knows what she is doing. ;)

Here is a pic of the back porch/pool area

JUST KIDDING! but it is the design Mr. Jewett would like to follow. Take away one of the arches and we are a bit closer.

C begins his two week camp at a local environment place. It is all day and he will no doubt come back dirty and tired . . . but hey, he will love it. They will spend a lot of time in the water, etc. I will let him update you every few days. We also have a swim meet this next weekend. It is close by so we don't have to travel but swim practice will be tough after a day in the sun and surf.

M and I start a music camp at our church next week. They will be doing a program at the end of the week. It is sort of a "Stomp" idea. Lots of noise and rythmn. All day with their uncle the music dir. and FREE. Cool . . . no child care $$ that week. Again, abundance.

D and I are both staying very busy. Some of you know I partnered with an agent at our Stuart office. He is fabulous and full of energy. He adores his kids and love my comittment to mine. We are working on building a group/team of 3-5. I will most likely be managing them. My mom is laughing as I cannot even manage dirty laundry for a family of 5 without at least one load going sour in the machine. D is leaving this week for a month at his house in the Bahamas. My work load just increased. Whew. More prayers, please.

We hope all is well with everyone as we are almost to the halfway point of our Summer.

Happy and Safe 4th.

MJ . . . LOVE HIM!!!

M and his BFF(Best Friend Forever) J. She had just had surgery a few days before this pic. She has had a tough time and has some a lot of healing to go but she loves to have her buddy over to visit . . . and he likes it as well. For those who don't know about our friend J, she was born at 27 weeks and has CP. She was/is a twin but only J is with us. She doesn't talk but can utter M's name. We don't know much about CP but ask a ton of questions. What we have learned the most is friendship and love are precious between these two. He can make her laugh in a second. . . even when she hurts. We have also enjoyed getting to know her sweet family. Ironically, she has older twin brothers who love to mess with M. One calls him "Goldilocks" . . . and he lets him.

I know this is Father's Day but I am late posting M's Mother's Day poem he wrote in school for me. It is one of those poems where the first letter of each line spells something:

Mom, I cherish you!
Often you work too much.
Through all my life you cared for me.
Heaven has given me you, but
Especially, your love is for me.
Remarkable, your miracles are to me!

Love, M

Someday I will share the one he wrote to the extinct dinosaurs.

Is it July yet?

I cannot believe how fast this summer is going. It feels like just last week we were gearing up for the end-of-school parties. I have not done a good job with keeping up with my posts on this blog but don't take it personally . . . I also have not kept up with our laundry, the house cleaning or any of my other domestic duties. Ah . . . life as a working mom kicks me in the rear quite a bit. Can Moms "have it all?" Absolutely!!! Just not all at the same time.

M turned 9 last week and was so sweet to spend it driving a couple hours to Miami to visit his sweet friend J. She had surgery and will be laid up until mid July. One day I will find a pic to post of them if it is okay with her parents. J is handicapped . . is it pc to use that term anymore . . who can keep up with it all? She adores M and he has a "way" with her. He can get her to work with her paraprofessional, occ. ther.. etc. I'll share one quick story about J. She has been able to go to church with us several time . . not with us but she meets us there with her para. She doesn't talk but she sure can squeal! And as you can imagine, M can get her going. Well, I was wheeling her into the sanctuary and she started squealing with excitement. I (inside voices, please . . .) shushed her and the little old man usher stopped me and said, "The Bible says, 'Make a joyful noise unto the Lord' let her squeal . . ." Wow.

C joined the youth group at church. They integrate them in the summer before Middle school. He loves it. I can't let him participate in all the activities as he has swim team and art. These youth do something almost every night of the week.

Is joined swim team as well. It is a bit much with gymnastics but she is doing fine. I'm exhausted watching her.

Summer bridge books are going great except C has figured out the answers are in the back. One day he asked me "what does 'answers may vary' mean" Ah-ha! Caught!
M just finished reading Because of Winn Dixie and C just finished Island of the Blue Dolphins and has started The Revealers. I think that one is about Middle School bullies. The two younger ones are waaaaaaaay into webkinz. M is because his friend J gave him one for his b-day. It is a cute thing but can eat up a ton of time in front of another screen.

M and C go to spend the night camp next week. Guess I'd better find that paperwork, huh???

That's all for now. Wait, M wants to say something.

Please pray for my friend, J.

WHEW !!!

What a week! All three closings actually closed. Lots of final details to hold a couple of them together but all in all it was very successfull. I slept great last night for the first time in several nights.

The boys had a great swim meet last week. They saved some time off a couple of their events, establised some times on a couple events they have not swam before and added some time to a couple as well. I try not to over analyze added time as we are only talking fractions of a second. Their team took first at this meet so that was an added bonus.

Isabelle started with her new coaches and the training is definately stepped up a notch. One of her coaches motioned to me from the floor and said Belle is a great listener. I cannot tell you how important those words are to a parent. I thank God for those little rewards.

We are about to get a ton of rain here in South Florida over the next couple of days. There is a tropical depression coming and we are practically dancing in the streets as the drought has gone on way too long. I think we are to get around 4 inches later today. I then thought about all the kids getting out of school around the country . . or at least the eastern part of the country, who may be headed to "are we there yet" Orlando. Maybe the rain will take a break so they can catch a ride or two.

Well, that is a little update from the Jewetts. Next week includes VBS and a little blond headed boy's 9th birthday. Gosh! I blinked again and another year flew by.

May Madness

Tomorrow is our last day of school. Connor is graduating from Elem. School. He is most excited. Maclain is very sad the school year has come to an end. Isabelle is somewhere in between.

We have graduation in the morning and then Connor does not have to go back to his class. So, that means he hangs out with me for the rest of the day. The boys have a swim meet this weekend, but it is close by so no travel involved. We will start warm ups by 3:45 Friday afternoon and they swim on and off through Sunday morning. Dale has come down with something so he has been in bed all day today. Pray for him if you think about it.

Monday starts a new week with a college girl coming 3x a week, Dale taking the kids with him one day and I will have them one day. Monday I will take the kids to get their Summer Bridge books (no rest for the Jewett kids) journals and a book or two. Tuesday, Belle starts with her new coaches, Wednesday I have 2 walkthrus scheduled because Thursday I have three closings!! Do I hear a collective Whoo-Hoo. I am both the listing and the selling agent on two of the closings. (another whoo-hoo) and then the third was a total shocker. I was covering for one of our top producers and showed a lovely 5 acre homeplace for her. Wrote up the offer, which did not go very far, and thought it was dead. She called me a few days later and told me the seller had a change of heart and they were able to put it together. She is paying me a hefty referral fee for doing the initial leg work. Crazy business. Then it looks like another dry spell. Not that I am being negative . . . but I have learned to recognize the timing and trends and know how long it takes from point A to point Z.

So, there may not be any posts for me for a week or so. We will see how things go.

A Few Pics . . .

Isabelle had a mini-meet a couple weeks ago. I am a little late getting our pics posted but have had sick kiddos, big field trips and end of the school year festivities. We still have another week and a half of school. I will post more later . . . especially a Mother's Day Poem Maclain composed for me in his 2nd grade class.


Isabelle and one of her coaches, Miss Gina. We are going to miss Gina. Belle is moving on up to the Russian coaches. "$ell more hou$e$, Mommy!"

Belle's brothers presenting her with flowers after he meet. She sure has put her time in on the sidelines of soccer fields, swim meets, art lessons, etc. Her brothers are proud of her.

The good news is . . . She doesn't even know there is such a thing as the "Olympics". yet.

More later.

Mothers

I wanted to post a pic or two that celebrates mothers. The first one is Connor's early Mother's Day gift to me. I had taken a picture (or 1000) of the boys when we would visit Seaside. In my picture, Maclain was a month shy of 2 and Connor would be early 4's. (Ahhhh) Connor painted it for me in his art class. He goes to a local studio and only works in oils at this point. A little impressionistic, wouldn't you agree?? Post back and let him know what you think.

Also, the boys have been training at a pool about 20 minutes away due to the fact that their pool is being resurfaced. The good news is it is a long course pool and their next meet is there, so it will feel like a homefield advantage. Isabelle and I walk around the campus and found a pond with a Mother duck and her little gaggle (?) Is that right . . . a gaggle? Anyway, she has 12 of them . . .okay, even though she laid eggs and did not have to birth these little things the way we do, that is still a heap of eggs to sit on!! So that is my second set of pics. The "mom" factor in the pond.

So, an early tribute to Moms.

Lost, I tell you . . . LOST!!

It's official. My cell phone is lost. I hear a collective gasp. Seriously . . . I cannot tell you how much of my life was tied up in that little device/tool/ball and chain. We went through the entire tracing of the steps, cleaning out of the van (that was a positive consequence) and searching the condo. Hey . . another plus! Going from 3000 sq. feet of living space to under 1300 made the search faster. But the results were still the same. The little thing is lost and with a dead battery at that so we cannot search by calling it. Can you imagine a day in the life of a Realtor with no phone. Not pretty. So, I now have a new phone but am painfully trying to input my phone numbers. Those of you who are regular readers, please give me a ring so I can input your name into my contacts.

Our weekend in Winter Haven was great. The boys swam well for a their first long course meet (50 meters) and Connor swam a couple 100's. Maclain won one of his heats . . . . 50 meter breaststroke (I think) and got a heat ribbon so he was pumped. Then he got DQ'd (disqualified) on his 50 meter Butterfly. He came out of the timers box so bummed, he didn't want to talk to his coach afterwards. I told him we take the good with the bad and to get is little surfer dude rear end over to the coach to discuss his event. The boys have really strong strokes . . . just not a ton of speed. Connor is a bit more tuned into that fact as he swims with the 11-12 yr old boys and some of those little Olympians are fast. We just ask them to do their best.

I did a Priceline.com deal and we got a great room in Orlando near all the parks. Priceline books smoking rooms first so I always call the hotel to confirm our arrival and make sure it is nonsmoking. We were upgraded upon our arrival so that was even better. We went to Downtown Disney Saturday night and waited for our table at the Rainforest Cafe. While we waited we did the Lego store and a couple others.

We finished the meet by mid afternoon on Sunday and headed home. It was only about 1.5 - 2 hrs so not bad overall. Lots of orange groves to drive through.


We are back into our routine with the school week and work. I am picking the kids up after school so I don't feel as productive as I have over the last several months. My prayer is that I will find peace in that.

Have a super week.

A Little Update

Thanks to Miss Becca and Mrs K. for their input into our "don't-touch-the-sunshine-state-books" dilemma. It pretty much blew over. I can walk into a dark room and find Maclain in one little patch of light creeping in from another room . . . straining to read. I'll start saving for the glasses. He still loves to bury himself in a book and can do so with all sorts of activity going on in the room . . so overall, the little incident did not wound his desire to read . . . that's a blessing.

Not much going on around here. I put a townhouse under contract after I just listed it 14 days earlier. That is a record for this market. And it is nice to be on both $ides of the transaction.

The boys have a swim meet in Winter Haven this weekend so we will head up to Orlando for a couple days and enjoy that. They have been training extra hard the last week or so and Maclain is pooped!

Dale is doing a lighting job right now and was able to take the boys with him after school to assist. They get a big kick out of that . . . and a few bucks as well. We match what they put in the savings so they are pretty excited to see how 5.00 can become 10.00.

Belle is getting ready for a "mini meet" at gymnastics. I will try to get pictures. It is not until the end of the month but she asks about it every day.

Connor is on the downhill slide to Middle School. Can you believe it? He is not so sure about it but I have a meeting with the 6th grade counselor next week.
In middle school they only carry a three ring binder. That's all. No backpack. No books. They have a set of books at school and a duplicate set of books at home. I chuckle when I remember trying to bring a book home from Farragut Intermediate School. We were told "no" so many times I confess I snuck it out for him. Don't get me started! The books are also available online . . .

I have been picking the kids up right after school instead of them staying until about 3:30 or 4:00. (They get out at 2:00) I liked it b/c they had homework club. Since I started picking them up at about 2:20 (Connor is a saftey so he has duties) Isabelle has been falling asleep in the car on the way home. We only live about 1.5 miles from the school. Wish I could take a nap everyday!

That's about it. Nothing too exciting. Jordan rocked on American Idol tonight. She reminds me of Miss Becca. May we all keep the victims and families and students/faculty at the VT massacre in our prayers. And the parents of the gunman. Can you even imagine?

Have a peaceful rest of the week.

Get Out of Maclain's Way!

I caught a glimpse of myself in my middle child today. Boy was he ticked! I have to go back a couple weeks and fill in the pieces and then I think you will understand where we are.

The kids have AR reading at school. Overall, I think the program is fine. My boys have pretty lofty 9 week point goals and thankfully, they adore reading so it is not a problem to consume the higher point value books. You will recall that Maclain had that extra year of Pre-K so he entered Kindergarten as an independent reader. Well, our school/state has a "Sunshine Book" program. Basically, there are new selections chosen each year. The Sunshine Book program begins in the third grade. Maclain is reading and testing at a 6th grade level. A couple weeks ago at his library time, he chose a book called Chasing The Falconers.

He was very excited because he had seen Connor read the series. Well . . . (Mrs King will get a kick out of this one) when he went to check it you could have felt the earth shake. He was told he could not read that book, that it was only for those in the Sunshine Reader Program. He was embarrassed, sadly. Don't misunderstand. We have a fabulous media specialist and a wonderful library system. When he came home and told me, I at first did not think too much of it . . . I mean . . how many other books are there he could choose, right? But then I got to thinking about it. I explained to him that the Sunshine Reader program only has so many books each year and they have to keep those available to the 3-5 graders . . . Easy enough. We just made a fun little trip to our public library and checked it out ourselves. No big deal . . . one would think. He took it to school today and was informed (again) that he was NOT allowed to read that book. When he got in the car he was tearfully trying to explain the situation to me and then he exploded.

That is the part of me I saw in him. To feel strongly about something and then have others holding you back. I can feel it in my core. Well, certainly his teacher did not understand it was not one of the school library books . . . that we had checked it out on our own as to not mess up their little system. So I called her. I calmly explained to her that I had an upset son in the car and needed some clarification as to why he could not read that book. She went on to explain it was for 3-5th graders. Fine. We are not using their book . . . got one of our own. "Well, the other children will see him reading it" and then if she makes an exception for him . . blah blah blah. She said she is just trying to follow the rules and to please understand her position. I told her I understand rules and to please understand my position and our plan of action: Maclain WOULD be completing the book at home, he will not test on it for his point goal (stupid anyway) but that we would be rewarding him at home for finishing it and for choosing a challenging level book that is at the top of his range. I told her I would hate for Maclain to finish out the year with a negative feeling about reading for a kid who challenges himself and has consumed more books than I ever have.

So. Mrs Kubo. You're a 3rd grade teacher. Give me your thoughts. Did I handle it correctly?

Mrs King. You are #1 in my book when it comes to book selections and library stuff. Give me your thoughts.

Last note. Their school has been one of the top Elem. schools in the state. Their teachers and admin. are under a tremendous amount of pressure. His teacher is dear, professional, tenured, and as is typical, has a couple firecrackers in her class that exhaust her. She adores Maclain. Not sure how she feels about his Mom at this point, however.

Is our week over yet?

Actually . . . it is. Our Spring Break officially begins tomorrow (Friday) The kids have lots of plans but we are just going to hang at the beach. It has been a crazy week with work so I am ready for a bit of downtime. I wrote two contracts, both of which fell through. Financing problems on the borrowers part. I closed a sale yesterday . . $yea$, and I took a new listing in my neighorhood. Dale is pretty busy, the boys are at swim team and Belle is at a playdate with her little buddy.

Connor came home with a notice that he had been selected to receive a scholarship to a two week summer camp at the Environmental Study Center. It is open to 4th and 5th graders. I had heard it was a good camp but was discouraged to see the cost. Each teacher in 4th and 5th grade can choose one student. He is so proud and so very excited. Maclain and Isabelle are already trying to plan things those two weeks. Connor's 5th grade trip is to Sea World, the Safety Patrols are going to Universal Studios in Orlando and now this camp. God is really blessing him as he ends his elementary school career.

Here is a picture of the last house I listed.

Tiffany, my new BFF

So today I was having a pretty rotten day. Yesterday was a wild day and I was hoping today would bring closure to all the hard work I did yesterday. I have been working with a new buyer and we put an offer on a great "first time buyer" house for her. I jumped through lots and lots of hoops to get this offer in only to find out there were two other offers at the same time. I wish you could have seen me rushing through two counties, delivering keys, changing lockboxes, calling the necessary offices because I could not remember my code to unlock my boxes that are located in neighboring counties, adjusting our offer while driving, finding my buyer to get initials, coordinating with Dale to pick up the kiddos, taking pictures at a new listing in order to get it loaded to REaltor.com so the sellers could see it before they leave town, getting Isabelle to gymnastics and begging the gym to use their fax machine in order to get our offer in on time. (My Mama said there would be days like this!)

The first call I got this morning was the other agent telling me the sellers went with another offer instead of ours. For you who kinda know me, know that this bothers me. For you who REALLY know me, know I hate to lose!!! The hardest part was calling my buyer to give her the news. I told myself, "It's not like you are a doctor telling a parent their child has cancer" Still . . . not fun.

So I was sort of bummed most of the day. Silly, I know, but Dale and I put so much into our days . . . I like when it all flows perfectly . HA!

Enter my new BFF (Best Friend Forever) Tiffany. I have not been a huge jewelry person but am becoming one in the second half of my life! I have been admiring these Tiffany bracelets and necklaces. I ran into a student teacher at school who had on a set and I told her how much I like them. I bought a set from her like the picture below for hardly any $$. She needed the money and I needed the pick-me-up . . and it was a belated birthday present from Dale . . he just did not know it yet.

So, that is my rambling for the day. Now back to real life . . . Connor has a math test tomorrow. Fun.

"Is Honey Good for You?"

This is the question Isabelle asked me while we were doing some quick shopping at Publix. I am trying to focus on healthy food and snacks and the troops are a bit bored with my choices. We passed the Little Debbie snacks and Isabelle saw her "best friend" the box of Honey Buns. She spent the next 4 aisles trying to convince me that they are made with mostly honey so they must be good for us. I did, however, cave when we got to the pop tarts. What can I say, they were Buy one get one free. There is sensible and then there is $ensible.

We are getting ready to head out the door to Gymnastics for Belle, choir and handbells for the boys and then back home for elimination night on American Idol . Idol is Tuesday/Wednesday night entertainment around here . . . sad but true. I'll be glad when Idol season is over . Then my only appointment television is Saturday evening "Flip this house" and a glass of wine.

I apologize for the delay in posting on this blog. It sounded like a great idea when I started it and like most everything else in our lives, it got pushed to the back burner. Julie K has a great blog and has inspired me so I will make another attempt.
How are the kiddos? Pretty good. Connor is in FCAT's right now and came home and informed me that kids need 10 hours of sleep a night. OK. Maclain spent Sunday after church with his good friend Jordan. She is a sweetie and he has a standing Sunday afternoon playdate with her. Jordan is in his class at school. She was born early and has CP. So . . Maclain does most of the talking, walking, running and joking for both of them! But she can play a mean game of hide-n-seek with her motorized chair. She has a beautiful laugh that Maclain can bring out at anytime he chooses . . and sometimes (in class) it is the wrong time. I will ask her parents if I can post a pic of them. Isabelle is completely in love with gymnastics, friends, Barbies, Heeleys, reading, writing and playing with her "DaDa" Don't ask me where she got that from?!

Work is picking up for me again after a slow Feb. I am working on two contracts this week. They seem very small to me. Both slightly under 200,000. Funny how in S. Florida that became "small".

My Mom was down here for a few days. We did the shopping thing in West Palm, the sightseeing thing in Palm Beach and the pool and beach thing here on the Treasure Coast.

I am going to post some pics of our holiday trip to Tennessee. For the few of you we got to see, it was too short. I am reminded of a Michael W. Smith song that has some words that say, "Pray for me, and I'll pray for you,
Pray that we will keep the common ground,
Won't you pray for me,
And I'll pray for you,
That one day LOVE will bring us back around . . . again."

Connor and Maclain with T and C .

They are still talking about summer camp with these guys!

Instant friends again. The Jewett kids with the C's . . .

Maclain and K.

Remember when Maclain had no hair????

Connor and S.
I have a picture of the two of them in a tree when they about 3 yrs old!

Lipstick duo, Belle and MS