It's been awhile. We have been busy. That's pretty much the story of my life. But I figure if we stay busy, then the kids stay out of trouble and I definitely never have an idle mind!

Here's what's been going on:

Cory is doing great with his Psychology classes. He just received a letter that he was officially accepted into the program. You have to do well in the first few classes before you are accepted into the actual counseling program. So far he has gotten nothing but A's! I am so proud of him. He has been working so hard at it. Everything is working out so well for him to take these classes. His job is cooperating with him so that he can attend all of his classes. I have been teasing him because he is the only guy in his class. The majority of the students are young girls. So I call them his "little girlfriends". He says that he LOVES being the only guy in class because there is never a line for the bathroom during breaks. (lol)

Jordan was just home for Spring Break. He is refereeing intramural basketball for some extra money. He is very sad right now because none of the teams he picked for his NCAA bracket are in the Final Four. I am still so happy that he got a haircut. He looks so handsome. He's got about 7 weeks or so left and he will officially be a senior in college! Time is really flying. We really enjoyed having him home all week. We took him back last night and Corynne cried so hard. She fights with him nonstop when he's home but cries her eyes out when he leaves!

Baseball will be starting soon and then my life really gets interesting. This year Corynne is playing softball in Blackhawk, so that should add to the craziness! But like I said, keeping them busy keeps everyone out of trouble!

Isaiah is the 8th grade student council president this year. He has had a great deal of responsibility this year with that title. He has been working on a student/faculty basketball game. He coordinated and planned the entire game. He even designed the tshirts and ordered them for the students. His teacher emailed me the other day and told me how proud he was of Isaiah and his leadership abilities. I had to laugh because his teacher said he has been pretty tough on Isaiah because he can see the leadership potential in there, but Isaiah is still a typical 13 year old boy who acts like a typical 13 year old boy. Apparently the students were dragging their feet about getting tshirts, so the teacher told Isaiah to just forget it and that there wasn't enough time to get the tshirts ordered. Well don't tell Isaiah he "can't" do something. He came home all sad. I told him to just do it on his own. He then got moving and collected over $120 from the kids, designed the shirt, ordered the shirt and even had extra money donate to Muscular Dystrophy (the charity the game is benefitting).

Our school district is all distraught over Joe Corbett's proposed budget for Pennsylvania. His cuts will take 1.2 million dollars away from Beaver Falls. He has asked that all school officials take a pay freeze. Then our PSEA (teacher Union) president agreed with the freeze. It is frustrating because we just settled our contract last year after some very nasty negotiations. Through those negotiations and mediations we learned that we are the lowest paid teachers on the average in Beaver County. It takes us 18 years of teaching to have a comparable salary to the other teachers across the county. I have worked in the district for 14 years and have already been frozen twice. Taking a pay freeze helps the finances for one year, but then what about next year? We are just very frustrated. We are meeting with our union president on Thursday so we will see what happens. Our district is already talking about laying off teachers...not just because of the budget but because they need to tighten their belts. It should get pretty interesting. I've had a nonstop headache! :(

I've decided that I am not watching the news anymore in the morning. I am tired of starting my day off with negativity. Other than the occasional sunny, warm weather forecast, there is nothing positive said on the morning news and I am tired of starting my day that way. So I am now watching Joyce Meyer in the morning. I need positive encouraging words to begin my day!

The pictures above are from our Sunday afternoon at Brush Creek. We planned on taking basketballs and shooting around, but after walking 3 miles into the park, we learned there are no basketball courts at Brush Creek. We played on the playground instead. These are some pictures Cory got of the kids.