Visit with my 3 grandkids

Well, I know it has been a while since I have blogged, but life just keeps getting in the way. It has been a very exciting summer with lots of activities for this old lady!!! First we started off with a visit from Michele and Lincoln and Nate. It was so awesome for Michele to come to Chicago and help with me with the final Vernon Hills Pageant - the pageant is not ending just the Bond Family contribution to it is. We went out with a bang! Michele spent many long hours on the computer and arranged a fantastic pagent. We had a 50's theme in honor of the 50th anniversity of our town. It was such a great pageant with wonderful queens this year. It was difficult to give this up, but with Michele in California and me in grad school there just isn't any time. It has been a great experience and one that brought Michele and I even closer. I will miss that. Speaking of Michele - boy does she have a cute little boy. Lincoln is growing up and just so cute. He really bonded to his grandma and loved the fact that I would get up with him early in the morning and feed him puffs. I miss him so much. Please check out her blog for pictures of the little man. We were so busy we never took any pictures and I apologize for that but Michele does such a good job of posting pictures you can get an idea of what their family looks like. Before Michele and family left, I got a call that Cort was ready to have her fancy girl. Because they have invited me to be present in the delivery room, I took the first flight out to Idaho Falls. I got to be there for the arrival of fancy girl (aka Savannah Belle Bond) and to spend time with my grandson Kyle. It was been a great experience being in their new home and watching the interaction of my kids with their kids. My daughter and daughter in law are wonderful mothers and I stand all amazed at their abilities to spend time with their children and to really enjoy it. Rich and I will be returning to Chicago (oh ya, Rich drove out after the birth to be at the blessing. It was great to see him and he says he will never drive 24 hours again by himself. He likes to have the conversation I provide) on Friday and plan on getting to home sometime Sunday afternoon. I will probably collapse for a week and then get ready to start school again.

End of School and OH NO!!!

Well another school year ended for me. I can not believe I have been teaching third grade for 10 years. You would think by now I would have learned so much more !!! Besides the school year coming to a close, I find myself in a bite of a medical crisis. Nothing too serious, just very annoying and depressing. Two weeks ago, I treated myself to an 1 1/2 hour massage. I have to admit, I am a massage junkie. I love it and while Rich was at a golf outing, I decided to treat myself to a massage and facial. It was a great day. Even had manny peddy. It was a good day. However, over the course of the next few days I noticed I was very sore in my neck area. I did not think too much about it until one day I woke up to a feeling that there was a knife in my back by my shoulder blade. Also, I was numb from my shoulder to my elbow on one of my arms. It was a little alarming, but I decided to treat it as a muscle strain and not tell Rich. AFter several days of an at home treatment and the trip for my brothers wedding quickly approaching, I decided to see the doctor. I won't bore you with lots of details, but the long and short of it is the I have herinated two disc in my neck as a result of being in a position for 1 1/2 hours during the massage. I am on several strong drugs and a pain killer (can you say loopy!!) but as of tonight, have not had a lot of results. The worst part of starting my summer vacation like this is that I was unable to travel to my brothers wedding. I had really looked forward to going - was all packed but was unable to travel. It was a major bummer and I am trying to be positive - the diagnosis could be so much worst, but I find when you are going through one of these trails, it is hard to see the positive. Tomorrow is my birthday and while Rich is being so good to me I am just sad. Wish my kids/grandkids were here, wish I was not in pain, wish I was at the wedding. I start my class on Monday and right now starting to write my thesis is the last thing on my mind. Maybe it will be good to think about something else for awhile. I will write more positively soon I know.

SISTER TRIP TO MICHIGAN

This past weekend, my sisters Susie and Marcia come to visit. On Friday, we ATTACKED the local shopping center and managed to help the local economy. Lets just say, I will not have to go shopping for summer clothes for at least two more summers. On Saturday, we left for Michigan and a visit with our cousins. We visited with Cousin Pam and her sister for dinner. We laughed so hard remembering all the things we had done as young children. Then on Sunday, we went to Cousin Yvonne's house for brunch. Again, we eat and laughed till our tummies and sides hurt. We drove around Grand Rapids on Sunday and saw where we use to live, where grandparents were buried and even where Marcia and I went to elementary school. It was such a wonderful, trip down memory lane.

SISTER TRIP TO MICHIGAN

This is my self and my two sisters. I think I am the cutest, youngest, and certainly the thinnest.












Cousins, Yvonne, Margaret, Kathy, Frannie and Jeanann. In no particular order.













Cousins, Pam, B.J. Mary, and Nancy

He loves me - he really loves me!!

Today was a hard day - things are changing around my school (teachers moving, changing teaching assignments, etc) and I do not do well with change. I also have school tonight which is always a bummer to think about all day long, especially when you just want to go home and sleep. Anyway I was eating lunch when my daughter in law Cortney called. Among other things she related the following story - and I promise Susan and Marcia it is not embellished one bit!!!
Matt and Cort were putting Kyle to bed last night when he started crying. And crying very hard, as Cort described it. When they questioned him about what was wrong he said and I quote "I miss my grandma - I want to go to her house" He is such doll and to Kyle I just want to say - "A check is in the mail - go buy yourself anything your heart desires." !!!!!

April Showers

Not much going on here in Chicago. It has been raining for what seems like days. We go from snow to rain and we will probably be in the 80's with high humidity next week. We really don't have a spring here in Chicago - just winter and road construction seasons!! Oh well, I do love it here. I am currently on the countdown. Counting down till the end of school (43 days left) counting down until my sisters arrive (14 days - can I really lost 30 pounds by then!) and we visit relatives in Grand Rapids, Michigan, counting down until Michele and Lincoln arrive (2 months - way too many days), counting down until my brother Paul's wedding (2 months - can I really lose 30 pounds by then), counting down to visiting Idaho Falls for Matt and Cort's new "fancy girl" arrival (3 months) and finally counting down (and dreading) my research class this summer (2 months). Lots going on. Wish I could be in more places, like Lindsey's wedding, but my goal for my research class is to get at least the first chapter of my thesis done and if I do it will be such a load off my mind. There is a research profession coming in for two weeks to work with us in the cohort so I am hoping his insight will be valuable and I can at least get a start on this overwhelming project. I think I have a topic - Is homework helpful for the elementary school age student?? It is a topic that interests me and from what I have seen already there is lots of helpful information out there. Will have to access when I get into it. For the first time in 8 years, I am not teaching summer school. I will miss this opportunity (and the money it brings) but the teacher who is teaching for me knows it is only for one year while I work on my masters. She will probably be glad to give it up next year!! I am trying to convince Rich that a driving vacation (out to Idaho Falls) this summer would be fun. He is not yet behind the plan, but we will see.....When Susie comes in a couple of weeks, she is going to help me practice posting pictures, so look for that.

A Day at the Races!

one of my former students owns a equestrian traning facility so today they invited us to bring Biggie in for a tour of their stables. We got to see many horses, a rooster, a cat, and two huge dogs. i do not know who had more fun, Biggie, Matt, Cort or me, but i do know i am in the market for a horse. Rich's allergies will just have to deal. Kyle took to riding the horse immediately, and is now training to be a jockey!!