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.