Thursday, February 18, 2016

It is Spring!

I am amazed how quickly time flies by.  I have not updated our blog since before Christmas.  We had a nice Christmas.

Nathan made honor roll the first semester!  I am so proud of him.

On New Year's Eve we stayed home.  I was the only one who stayed up until midnight!

I turned 41 on 1/2.  We went to Phoenix .  I went to Butterfly Wonderland while the boys went to the train park.  Then we went to Portillo's for lunch.  Next, we all went to Wildlife World Zoo.  On the way home we stopped at Olive Garden in Casa Grande for my birthday dinner.  We also got some donuts at Krispy Kremes.

Nathan had his 6 year old pediatrician appointment on 1/4.  He weighs 47 lbs which is in the 60th percentile and he is 46 inches tall which is in the 50-55th percentile.

I started my diet and exercise plan on 1/5.  My goal is to lose 40 pounds.  I started doing the elliptical every day.

One of my pictures was published in Arizona Wildlife Views.  It is a picture of baby prairie dogs taken at the Desert Museum.  I was paid $100!

I went to Tucson Botanical Gardens on 1/21,  There was not a lot blooming, but they had an abundance of orchids in the butterfly house.

Paul went to Chicago for work 1/19-1/22.

I went to the Desert Museum on 1/28.

2/2 was Groundhog Day or as Nathan likes to call it, Ground Squirrel Day!  Phil predicted an early spring.  It was a cold, rainy winter so I was looking forward to warmer weather and to spring flowers.  That day I also found out that one of my butterfly pictures taken at Tucson Botanical Gardens was chosen as an Arizona Highways Magazine photo contest finalist.  40 photos were chosen as finalists.

My photo of a steller jay taken at the Desert Museum was chosen as photo of the day on Capture my Arizona on 2/5.

We found out some disturbing news about Nathan's school.  Sue Lamberson, a friend of ours from church, forwarded us an article.  It seems that Nathan's school is one of many STEM schools in our country run under the Muslim influence.  We did our own research and it appears to be true, even though I think most parents there are unaware.  They supposedly offer a lot of visas to Turkish teachers to teach at these schools.  While they do not push the Muslim beliefs during normal school time, they do have a Turkish Club and Turkish is a required foreign language.  We really did not want to take the chance that they could be influencing our son's religious beliefs.  So we started researching schools.  I was drawn to Leman Academy, a new school that opened here in Marana this year.  It is a free charter school, but it has a Christian influence.  It is getting great reviews.  Nathan's teacher from Kid City Christian Preschool last year is now a teacher at Leman, Mrs. Robbins.  We took a tour on 2/8.  We were pretty impressed so we ended up enrolling him that day for next year.  He has already been accepted so it looks like he will be going to Lehman next year.  I like that it is closer than Sonoran Science Academy.  I was never really keen on Sonoran in the first place.  Paul was the one who pushed for it since it is a STEM school and rates so high in Arizona.  We were not impressed when we went to their open house, though, and they seem so disorganized.  I do have to say that Nathan has really excelled there.  The curriculum has been very challenging and yet he has done so well.  I feel bad making him change schools again, but we explained to him why we are doing so.  He understands as much as a six year old can.  I hope this is a good move and that he does well at Leman, too.  Right now the school goes up to 6th grade with plans to go to 7th grade next year.  I think ultimately they want to go to 12th grade, but we are not sure if they can make that happen or not.

On 2/11, I went to Tohono Chul Park.  There was not much in bloom yet, other than some desert bluebells.  That day was also Bella's 8th birthday!

On Valentine's Day I was sick with a sinus infection.  It started earlier in the week.  Nathan made me the sweetest Valentine's Day card.  He told me that he loved me and that he wanted me to get better.  He and daddy had gone to the Tucson gem and mineral show so they bought me a stone butterfly and a jewelry holder from there for Valentine's Day.

2/16 I found out that my mom went to the hospital with a kidney stone.  They ended up doing a procedure on her that night to remove it.  She was able to go home that night, but she had to return in a couple of days to get a stent removed.  I also found out that day that my Grandma Ariel was sent to the hospital.  A couple of days prior she was at Bingo and could not walk when she stood up.  They got her home, but the next day she fell in the bathroom and hit her head.  Come to find out she has stomach and colon cancer as well as an ulcer in her chest that may be cancerous.  It is not good at all.  She is still in the hospital getting tests done.  They need to determine how far along the cancer is and what they can do for her, if anything.  That night I also decided to go to urgent care.  They confirmed I have a sinus infection and they gave me an antibiotic.  Since the sinus infection started I was not feeling well enough to do my elliptical.  I also lost my taste buds so I was not eating as much.  I lost almost 5 pounds in one week.  I expect I may have lost more this past week.  I weigh myself now on Saturday mornings.  I am glad to be losing weight, but I am not happy about not being able to do the elliptical.  I was really trying to get in shape and get in a lot of steps on my Fitbit.

I was sick for our anniversary, too.  We did not do anything special since it was a school night and I was not feeling well.  Paul had ordered me Portillo's ribs.  They came that day, but he put them in the freezer until my taste comes back!  I ordered him Giordano's heart pizzas and they are supposed to arrive tomorrow.  Paul also bought me a ring at the Tucson gem and mineral show.  He was looking for "peach colored" gems.  The ring is a little small right now, but I told him not to get it sized yet because I still intend to lose more weight.  It may fit my ring finger if I lose the weight I want to lose.  He also bought another gem that we need to make into something.  It is pretty big so I am not sure what we are going to do with it just yet.

Nathan stayed home from school today because he was not feeling well and had a fever.  Last semester he had perfect attendance.  This semester we knew he was going to miss some days anyway because of our upcoming D.C. trip in April.  He seemed to do good today, but tonight he is not feeling well again.  It is looking like he may stay home tomorrow, too.

I sure hope all of us are feeling better next week because next Wednesday we leave to go to Disneyland.  Nathan has Thursday and Friday off for rodeo days so we decided to take him to Disneyland.