WOW It sure has been...

a very long time since I have posted. A lot has happened since then, that is for sure.

After 14 years of teaching Chemistry & Biology and running the Health Academy, I hung up my teaching hat after I was awarded the position of Asst. Principal of Curriculum & Instruction. When I first heard that our AP was moving on to bigger & better things, I didn't think I would apply, but after about 80 calls, emails, & notes, I thought that I should at least give it a try. After all, it would be a good experience to go up against the other 150 people who were applying for the position. Over 40 current Asst. Principals and 20 Principals applied, so there was no way I would actually get the job. Well three months and 4 interviews later, I had a new office and new responsibilities. WOW what a learning curve!

I have to admit that it is fun. I am technically in charge of the school's Budget, library, textbooks, testing, & college cupboard. If it has to do with this, then I am probably the one responsible for it.

Meanwhile, the girls are still growing. All five of them. Skye, is now 1.5 yrs old and as fiesty as ever (they say that labs are puppies for 3 years - Oh Man!). Regan is 11.5, Ahnika just turned 9 and Kiana is 6.5. All three girls have finished another season of soccer and Ahnika made the All-Star team as a goalie & defender. Kiana would have too, if there was an All-Star team for u8. Ahni's team went to the finals, were they lost to another LM All-Star team. We had a great time with Raul, Tim & Hitesh coaching the team. I love this picture of Kiana because of the way the other team is holding her (and she still managed to get to the ball). Lily had the chance to play soccer for the first time this year as well. She just turned 11 and was on Regan's team, the Speed Demons. She is looking ofrward to playing again next year.
Kiana Ahnika

Regan Lily

We are just starting the Spring seson withthe same 3 coaches. It is set to be another great season with the group of girls and parents that we have. Kiana is also playing on a spring team, tim is coaching that team as well. After finishing her 2nd U12 season, Regan has decided that she no longer wishes to play. She discovered the joys of refing (or at least of getting paid) and has decided that she wants to ref now instead of play.

We have also had the pleasure of going on two cruises. One, an eight day cruz to Puerta Villarta, Mazatlan, & Cabo San Lucas occured during spring break (08) and the other a four day to Ensenada was in August 08. We had a great time on both and can't wait to go agian, of course we realize that we did it backwards and now want to go only on an 8 day or longer voyage.

We are planning on going to Australia to visit Shannon, Trude, and the boys in Aug.09. We are really excited and can't wait to see them again. We really do miss them since they went home last Sept. We got use to having them around after a year of spending so much time with them. We enjoyed many late nights playing Guitar Hero or singing Kareoke. It was also because of them that we enjoyed the second cruise. It was great getting to know them during the year they were in the states.






It was definitely a pleasure to get to know Shannon & Trude and their boys.

I have also read all of the twilight books, which I thought were just fantastic. Regan has also finished the books and has gone to see the movie "Twilight" with me.

Well that is about all I have time for for now. I will try to update more frequently.

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A New Addition To The Family......

No I was not, nor am I now pregnant. The girls finally talked us into getting another puppy. Her name is Skye.

She is about 5-6 weeks old and is a mix (probably small shepard, maybe lab). She is almost completely black, except for a little bit of white sprinkles on her chest.

Tim finally told the girls that they could get a new puppy and we had to go down today to find one. We went to the South East Area pound to look and didn't find one. We left (with a few dissappointed girls) and went to the Southgate area pound and there, after walking around for 30 mins, we saw Skye and her sister & brother. Ahnika knew which one we were going to get and asked the kennel tech to tell us the number for the "puppy in the middle". They were all so cute, I don't know why she pick her (unless she looked the saddest).

We took the number up to the front office and they said that she would cost $77 and that we could take her home today. The girls were so happy.

On the way home (with a stinky puppy) we stopped and bought a few supplies - food, a dog toy, a little kennel (for inside), a big kennel (for outside), and a new water dish.

New names for the girls...

Regan

1. Your real name: Regan
2. Your Gangsta Name: (first 4 letters of real name plus izzle:}Regizzle
3. Your Detective Name: (fav color and fav animal)Navy Tiger
4. Your Soap Opera Name: (middle name, and childhood street)Ashley Gardenhill
5. Your Star Wars Name: (the last 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first name, first 3 letters of mom’s maiden name)NesRestr
6. Your Super Hero Name: (2nd favorite color, favorite drink)Green Tea
7. Your Witness Protection Program Name: (grandmother/grandfather’s first name and Jones)Maryann Jones (ironically it is my grandmothers name)
8. Your Goth name: (black, and the name of one your pets). Black Hanna

Ahni
1. Your real name: Ahni
2. Your Gangsta Name: (first 4 letters of real name plus izzle:}Ahnizzle
3. Your Detective Name: (fav color and fav animal) Yellow Dog
4. Your Soap Opera Name: (middle name, and childhood street)Marie Gardenhill
5. Your Star Wars Name: (the last 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first name, first 3 letters of mom’s maiden name)Nesahstr
6. Your Super Hero Name: (2nd favorite color, favorite drink) Green Milk
7. Your Witness Protection Program Name: (grandmother/grandfather’s first name and Jones)Maryann Jones (ironically it is my grandmothers name)
8. Your Goth name: (black, and the name of one your pets). Black Hanna

Kiwi
1. Your real name: Kiwi
2. Your Gangsta Name: (first 4 letters of real name plus izzle:}Kianizzle
3. Your Detective Name: (fav color and fav animal) Pink Snake
4. Your Soap Opera Name: (middle name, and childhood street)Nichole Gardenhill
5. Your Star Wars Name: (the last 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first name, first 3 letters of mom’s maiden name)NesKistr
6. Your Super Hero Name: (2nd favorite color, favorite drink) Red Juice
7. Your Witness Protection Program Name: (grandmother/grandfather’s first name and Jones)Maryann Jones (ironically it is my grandmothers name)
8. Your Goth name: (black, and the name of one your pets). Black Bubba

They thought that this would be fun to do. They enjoyed reading all their new names.

New Names (Thanks Laura!)

I found this on my friend Laura's Blog. I thought it was way to cute to pass up.

Please feel free to add this to your own blog too!

1. Your real name: Shellie

2. Your Gangsta Name: (first 4 letters of real name plus izzle:}Shelizzle

3. Your Detective Name: (fav color and fav animal) Yellow Horse

4. Your Soap Opera Name: (middle name, and childhood street) Renee Hastings

5. Your Star Wars Name: (the last 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first name, first 3 letters of mom’s maiden name) Nesshwin

6. Your Super Hero Name: (2nd favorite color, favorite drink) Purple Tea

7. Your Witness Protection Program Name: (grandmother/grandfather’s first name and Jones)Peggy Jones (Man I didn't even get to change my name!)

8. Your Goth name: (black, and the name of one your pets). Black Anushka

These are too cute! I like my Soap opera name and my Detective name.

Ahnika took bronze

I have to ask - Where did February go? It seems to have flown by.

Last weekend, on the 18th, Ahnika competed in her 2nd Red Scorpion Tae Kwon Do Tourney. We spent the day at US Irvine's "Bren Event Center", where the event was held. Ahnika did a great job out there on the mat. She was more than agressive and she actually forced on of her opponents (a little boy) off the mat about 5 times. In all Montessori took about 25 kids to compete and there was about 400 competing in all.

Ahnika turns 7...

When the girls were born, everyone with kids told me that the time would go by quickly, but I have to admit - I am amazed by just how fast it seems to have gone. I can't believe that Ahni turned 7 on Feb.9th. Where did all the time go. NO only that but Kiwi will be 5 in May and Regan (who was a baby yesterday) is going to hit the double digits this year and turn 10. OUCH - does that make me feel old.

We spent Ahnika's birthday together as a family. She chose to go to dinner at Elephant Bar. She had a great time. The waiter was great and really made her feel special. She opened presents from us, Grandma, auntie Linda, and aunt Kathy (Jessie & Colie too). On Saturday, we planned a special morning of just us. We went to Downtown Disney and had the girls get makeovers at Libby Lu's. Regan got a "rock star" look - complete with microphone, Kiana got the "Tween Idol" look with an tiara added in just because, and Ahnika got the "Pop Star" - the pink hair and curls looked adorable on her. It did help of course that she was wearing pink anyway. In addition to getting their hair done, they also got their nails polished, and make-up done. They had a great time (they normally don't like their hair done). After they were done, they got a backpack and were able to pick five items from the store to put into it. They also had the chance to make their own lip gloss or get pixie dust.

As if that wasn't enough, after we were done, we dropped Ahni off at Grandma's house for a birthday sleepover. Each girl (for her birthday) gets to have a special sleepover - just for her.

HAPPY 7th BIRTHDAY AHNIKA!

The Holiday Break is over...

and we have had tons of fun.

We spent New Years Eve with the Skenes' Family - hanging out, talking, and playing games. We all had a blast - It is so nice that the kids get along so well. We celebrated an Eastern Newyears (@9pm) so that we could get on our way home before the crowds.

On New Years Day - we stayed home and just vegged. Grandma Maryann and Auntie Linda came over for an early dinner of Pizza and played with the girls for a while before going home. I was able to get some things cleaned up as well.

Ahnika and Kiana went back to school on Tuesday, but Regan & I still had the week off. We went to Disneyland on Tuesday and had a great tim e 0 just the two of us. We were able to ride adult rides for once.

On Wednesday we went to breakfast at IHOP and then ran errands. We needed to go to the ranch and take care of George (our horse) and a couple of other things.

Thursday was the best day of the week. Tim was able to get the day off and we all went up to snow (Ahni & Ki played hooky from school). We put the girls into the childrens academy up at Mt. High so that they could get some more ski lessons in. Tim & I sat at a table at the lodge and watched them during the lessons. I was able to get some great pics of them skiing (& falling) LOL. They are a blast to watch. Here are some of the pics.

Friday - we just kinda vegged again and recoperated from the week.

Sat we took Grandma Maryann to lunch at the Cheesecake Factory and then walked around Eddie Bauers and Nordstroms. Tim & I went to see "Night at the Museum" - I thought it was a great flick and highly reccommend it. We will be going back to take the girls.

Needless to say, I am sorry that I have to go nback to work tomorrow.

I hope you all had a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS

I know that it was here - along with being very hectic and tiring, that is.

On Sat - mom, Jenny, Darryl, Valerie, & Kris came over and we did a bit of baking. I think we made a total of about 35 pounds of Fudge, 8 batches of rice krispie treats, and about 100 cookies. What a busy day that was. That night we went for "Christmas Tacos" with Maryann and Linda. The girls got tons of toys from grandma and Auntie. It was a good night - we were able to sit and relax for a while and just talk.

It was a busy Christmas Eve. We started out by visiting Karen and Craig. The girls had a blast playing with the kids and I enjoyed being able to see Karen again (It has been about 2 months). We were only able to stay for 2-3 hours, but I know that we are going to tea on Thursday so at least I can see her again soon.

After that we went home to clean a bit for Christmas. We were also able to finish up a bit of last minute wrapping and "hiding". Kevin bought the girls a TinkerBell Dresser for the playhouse - we cleaned the playhouse and then put the dresser in so that they could find it in the morning.

Maryann came over for a bit and we did the Tamale thing for dinner on Christmas eve. It was nice spendind time with Grandma a bit. The girls always enjoy the time with her.

On Christmas the house of crowded. We had about 30 people here and boy does my house feel small with all those people in it. I really enjoyed having the new sofa set though. It sure made it nice with all those people. Before everyone got here, we opened our gifts. We got Kevin a 3 days Singles cruise (I made an album for his pictures), I got a cricut from him, and tim some tools. I got tim new tube steps for his truck, as well as a new pair of boots, and he got me a new lens and a new flash for my camera.

Regan was happy - she got a Robosapien and a pair of Heeleys.

Ahnika was perhaps the happiest - this year santa fulfilled her greatest wish - a Roach farm. It has two Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches in it that she absolutely loves. It is the only thing she has asked Santa for for the last two years. She also got a pair of Heeleys.

Kiana was also ecstatic. She finally got the Nintendo DS lite she has wanted. She also got a pair of Heeleys.

Over all - it was a great and exhausting day.

I can't wait to do it again next year.

I know it has been a while

Since I posted anything, but it has been crazy around here.

I will start a few weeks back, to at least catch you up a little.

About 3 weeks ago, I was asked to go to Boston (by Prentice Hall - a publishing company) to help them with their Biology book). I went with a friend and fellow teacher for a3 days and two nights and stayed at the Jury's Hotel (what a fantastic place that is). We arrived on Thursday, after a 5 hour flight and we were both ready to go. We had dinner with our host (and the two other Bio teacher - from Ohio, Kim and Jennifer) that night and then had a chance to walk around a bit. Unfortunately, most things were closed. Although Bostonians said they were having a heat wave (I do not consider high 50's & low 60's to be HEAT) we were dressed to stay warm. On Friday morning we headed off to PH for a meeting with the editors, graphic designers, etc... that work on the Biology books. We had a great meeting and were able to give opinions from the eyes of teachers and students who are using them in the trenches. I am sure they didn't like all of what we said, but we sure did have a great meeting. In fact it spilled over into lunch (about 5 of the 15 people at the meeting chose to go with us). By the end, we were asked to be consulting/contributing teachers for PH - what an honor). After the meeting, we dicided to go to Salem. We took a taxi to the north station and then the train out to Salem. While we were there it started raining pretty hard (good thing these California girls took down parkas). We had fun none the less - we visited the Witch's Museum and then walked around to find the burial site of the "witches" - It is amazing how much I remember about the layout of the city from 5 years ago. By the time we were finished, the shops were pretty much closed and we needed to get to the train station. Once back in Boston we decided to eat at Smith and Wallensky's - what a great steak house. On Saturday we spent the morning on the Freedom Trail - 5.5 hours later we caught a taxi from the U.S.S. Constitution back to the hotel. It was time to get to the airport and a 6.5 hour flight back to our families.

SUNDAY
I thought I could have a nice peaceful day to rest up fromthe trip, but boy was I wrong. Tim went into work (since he took 3 day s off while I was gone). On his way home (about 2pm) I received a call from him telling me that his car was on fire. I expected a small fire - but hte kids and I were on our way. Meanwhile, I get a cll from the stables - something is wrong with my horse - I need to get down there right away - well, as I previously stated I am on my way to get my husband - need less to say the car was totally gone (tires melted and painted turned to ash gone). We decided to head straight down to Longo Toyota and get a car (There is no way that we can survive on 1 car). After we were done (8:30pm) we could finally head home - The girls wanted to ride in the new car of course. Tim didn't even get off the lot before - you guessed it - KIANA THREW UP IN THE TRUCK. Too bad you already signed the contract Tim.

This continued throughout the night - my bed was striped 3 times - Kiana kept climbing in to my bed when I was asleep - I woke up abut 3 times, to her throwing up - what a joy. I went back to work on Monday (as tired as I could have possibly been - totally not rested). On Monday, after work I went to see my horse, and I figured out that he had only had some rocks in his hooves. Thankfully. Of course - a week later - he did have thrush in one of his other feet. What a pain to have to deal with. Cleaning out and applying medicine every day.