A Trip to the Aquarium

One of our main "adventures" that we did while visiting Nana Joan and Papa Joe was going to the Ripley's Aquarium in Gatlinburg. The kids love aquariums. It was a 2 hour drive there. We drove through Pigeon Forge which is amazing and want to go back and spend some time there. The aquarium was very nice, the best part being the walking tunnel where the fish are above and all around you - it included the sharks - amazing!!! After that, we got some ice cream and headed home which ended up being a long, long drive. There was construction between Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge and it took about 2 hours just to get through that section - which didn't include the main drive home. We did stop for dinner on the drive home and the kids drove us a little crazy in the car but all in all it was a great day and the weather that day was so awesome!!

Proud of our Emily

This week we got Emily's third quarter grades. She has been doing so very well this year and this report was no exception. Reading - A; English - A+; Spelling - A+; Mathematics - A-; Science - A-; Social Studies - A+. Her main area of work, as her teacher explained, is continuing to organize her spoken thoughts into one complete sentence. Seeing how successful she has been this year has really confirmed that the decision we made regarding her education was the right one.

As decided at her IEP meeting, she will continue on to 2nd grade general ed with 3 speech sessions a week. There is no summer school offered now that she is out of the special ed program and has been academically successful this year.

When we attended the Pasta night fundraiser for their school this past Friday night, the principal commented to me that Emily has had a great year. I remarked that hopefully next year will be just as successful and he said he is sure it will be.

Emily, we are just so very proud of all you have accomplished, keep up the great work only 2 months to go until summer vacation.

We Go to Falls

One of the Papa Joeisms the kids picked up while we were visiting Papa and Nana in TN was "we go to falls" that and "it took a miricale". Papa loved asking Matt whenever we were heading out somewhere, "Matt, we go to falls?". Well, after a while, the kids took going to the falls a little literal and were ready to backpack there. This is a picture of them down by the burn pit ready to head out on an adventure.

Matt really loved being down by the burn pit with his Papa. He was very handy in bringing over limbs for the fire. The big limb of bamboo at the bottom of the picture Matt brought over the night before when he was down there with Nana Joan. He showed his mighty muscles by toting it over his head according to Nana.

I think if we had a backyard like Nana and Papa Matt would be more of a homebody than he is and would be outside all day long.

Thanks for the adventures and now "we go to falls".

Show and Tell Projects

One of the things we love about Emily's teacher, Ms. Palummieri, is that she is very creative. Instead of doing the normal "Show & Tell" where the kids bring in anything they want, she does themed "Show & Tell". This has definitely brought out our creative juices. These are just a few of the items Emily crafted this year. The turkey and the wreath were kept by the teacher to use as future classroom decorations. This has really helped us to prepare for upcoming "required" projects that will occur in Emily's school career.

What a Messy Week

This week has been crazy here in the Wessel house. Ever since we got back from our trip to TN, we have been constantly "working" on the house. It all started with putting 4 rooms back together from having the ceilings repaired due to the storms water damage. Then this Monday, while waiting to get the final write off on the basement renovation, I started working on reorganizing Matt's closet which had become a dumping ground for toys when his ceiling was being repaired. The pictures above were the during and after results. On this same day in the late afternoon, Emily told me she couldn't find a Barbie shoe. I opened up her closet to find a mess of toys and "things" so that got me "motivated", I'll admit in frustration, to clean up her room. In the midst of this, the kids wanted glitter for a "project" and I pulled all the craft items out of my craft closet in the upstairs craft/closet room. Then, that night we were able to put the basement back together. On Tuesday, I spent the morning, dusting and going through all the downstairs toys and putting that room back together. Wednesday brought the "demolition" of the kitchen. The counter tops and back splash were removed. Dave took the day off so we spent the rest of the afternoon making trips to Home Depot and Lowes for additional renovation materials. AWANA was that night. Thursday brought more frustration when I couldn't find the baby shower gift I had purchased and stored downstairs in the basement mechanical side, so I "torn up" the storage area down there along with the cedar closet. Thankfully it was not in vain, I did find the gift. Of course, that night was a MOPS meeting at which I lead the craft time. Friday the granite guys came to measure for the counter top and I spent my time putting back all the craft items in the craft cabinet that I pulled out earlier in the week. Saturday was spent at a baby shower and getting my hair done along with family time in the evening. Today was church, lunch, a nap and now computer time. Tomorrow will bring more organizing I am sure but at least I can say a good amount has been done.

Going Roger

Matt is probably not going to forgive me for this post in the future but it is just too hilarious not to tell you. Matt is still wearing a pull up at night. When he gets up in the morning, he takes it off, throws it away and pulls up his PJ bottoms. Yes, what your thinking is correct. So, we said to him the one day, "are you going commando?" - that is the word used for going without. He laughed and said "yes". Well, Matt is a person who does not go by the rules or the norm. The other morning he came out and said "I'm going Roger." We were like what are you talking about and then he showed us - yes, showed us. So, if Matt tells you, he is going Roger you now know what he is talking about. Oh, the pic is from the other morning. He was told to get dressed for school and this is what he did - underwear and pants on his head and socks on his hands. Oh, and there is no doubt he is going Roger....too funny!!

The Basement is Finished ...YEAH!!!

Our basement renovation is complete...YEAH! If you remember the walls were knotty pine paneling, well no more. It has been covered and painted. The results are amazing. I took these pics prior to putting all the items for "living" back into the room. The kids are loving the new room. Today I moved in the rest of the toys and workout items. Tomorrow starts the kitchen renovation. We are putting in new counter tops and back splash. Hoping it goes quickly. Enjoying the face lift we are giving to the place.

Matt & His Pals

While we were in Tennessee, Matt loved spending alone time with Papa Joe and Uncle Bob. On this particular day, Matt had already eaten his lunch with Emily but got very upset and wouldn't come out of his "mood" until he sat down and ate with his pals. Being with them made him very happy! His second "lunch" consisted of a chocolate chip cookie (baked by Nana) and was happy to share in eating the chips and mango salsa with the boys. He absolutely loved it when they gave him some of their strawberries. Matt was so pleased with how they shared with him that he gave each of them a piece of his cookie. I'm sure that Papa Joe and Uncle Bob enjoyed being with Matt as much as Matt enjoyed being with them.

April Fools - NOT!!

This is the first year that Emily has grasped the concept of April Fool's day. I think her teacher, Ms. Palummieri, helped "educate" her and the rest of the kids in her class on the idea because she came out of school saying "Mom, there is a spider behind you. April Fools" and the "fools" just kept coming.

Of course, April Fools day, happened to be the same day/night we were driving the first leg of our trip to TN. You can only imagine the first 1/2 hour of the trip...every other sentence ended with "April Fools".

Well when we made our stop for dinner I looked at Emily and noticed that her bottom tooth that was loose happened to be missing. So, I said to her Emily this is not a joke but when did your loose tooth fall out. Of course she asked, "Are you joking me?" I told her no this is a real question. A short time before we stopped Emily decided to eat and apple and now her tooth was gone. We searched the apple but never found the tooth.

Now for the second part of the story which shows that Emily is quite the "thinker". Emily misplaced some of her money that she has been saving to get her American Doll for her 8th birthday (unfortunately, it is not a small bill she "misplaced"). When we explained to her that by misplacing it she may not be able to get the doll or extra items for it she was upset. A few minutes later she came out to us and told us of her "idea". She will give all of the teeth that she has lost to the tooth fairy and see what money she gets for them. Emily has kept all of the teeth that she has lost and the one she had pulled. Quite a "genius" plan for recouping her loses. In the end, she did not make what she lost but did okay enough to make her happy. Let's hope she doesn't misplace any more money, I'd hate for her to start yanking her teeth in order to turn a profit.

Easter in Tennessee

Due to the unpredictable weather during the kid's winter break from school, we decided to make our annual visit to Nana and Papa's house in Tennessee over spring break instead which included the Easter holiday. Surprisingly, Dave's work schedule actually allowed him to be able to come for several days too. The trip started off rough as it took an hour and 45 minutes for me to drive from Lodi to Hoboken, NJ where we picked Dave up from the PATH train. It seems like it took forever for us to make it out of New Jersey. We stopped around 10:30/11pm at a hotel in Hagerstown, MD (our normal stopping area for this trip) and arrived in the afternoon on Friday. It was very nice spending the Easter holiday with my mom, dad and Uncle Bob, who moved in with my parents this past fall. The weather that weekend (and our entire visit) was fantastic as you can see by what we are wearing. This was our family picture for the holiday - all but one us is looking at the camera - Matt, which is pretty good for us. Unfortunately, Dave had to fly back to NJ on Monday. The kids and I stayed until Friday and then made a two day trip (Friday and Saturday) back to New Jersey. Thanks Nana, Papa Joe and Uncle Bob for a wonderful visit!

Oh what a storm....!!!

I thought I would share with you a few pictures of what we experienced from the Nor'easter that hit us several weeks ago. The wind was horrific -sounded like a freight train - and the rain was hard and nonstop. So, the flat roof system that is located on the back bump out section of our cape cod styled home was basically lifted up and folded over. It was flapping up and down during the whole storm and pounding down on the roof. We did get water damage on the two bedroom ceilings upstairs along with a waterfall of water from the ceiling lighting/fan unit in the bathroom. Matt's room on the first floor also had ceiling damage. Thankfully all of our repairs were covered by our homeowners insurance. While the kids and I were away in TN over spring break, the contractor was able to repair all of the ceilings without our being in the house and in the way. The roof was actually repaired the weekend after the storm. The nice part of it all is we were able to eliminate the "tile" styled ceilings that were in one of the upper bedrooms and Matt's room. It all looks amazing.

Happy Birthday Dr. Suess

Last month at school the kids celebrated the birthday of Dr. Suess. Matt came home with this hat and tie. Both kids love reading Dr. Suess books. Matt can even recite parts of Green Eggs and Ham.