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.