Where's the Fall weather?

Hello Friends :)

I have REALLY enjoyed my first few dayz in the blogging world! It was very exciting to check and see the new comments. I was rather surprised at how many comments I did get - guess I am more popular than I thot!

I was able to go out of town this weekend with my children to my aunt's house in Ohio. She doesn't have children of her own, so she always spoiled my sister and I growing up. Now, she passes that on to my children, which is so very cool. She lives close to Cincy, OH and about a 1/2 hour away from King's Island. She used to take us there when we were younger and continued the tradition when my kids got old enough. She buys my kids season passes every year for Christmas - which is such an awesome present - and allows us to crash at her house whenever we go up. It really fits into the budget so much better when you only have to come up with gas money and food money. Anyways, so that is where we got to go this weekend. During the off-season they are only open on Saturdays and Sundays - except for the spooky scary stuff that goes on after it gets dark, which we totally are not interested in. They have family friendly stuff during the day til about 5 or 6. During the summer it is so hot that we usually spend most of our time soaking in the many wonderful things at the water park, so it is fun to go and just ride rides a couple days. Even if it was so blistering hot! Which finally gets me to my title, where's the Fall weather? It was above 90 degrees both days, and we were almost miserable. I also had forgotten my cups which can be refilled for a fraction of the cost to get a drink or they can be filled with ice water for free - yeah for free! I usually take the Kool-aid singles and add to the water to help save $$ - yes, you guessed it - I forgot those too! So we kept getting these miniature free cups of water that would last about 3 or 4 big gulps and then devour the ice cubes in a hurry. There was only 1 water ride open, due to the fact we are usually in hoodies and blue jeans this time of year, so that line was incredibly long & none of us particularly care for the ride anyways. Austin & I finally broke down on Sunday and rode it, just for the water's sake & boy it did feel good.

This latest trip did make me realize I am getting a wee bit older - well let me preface that by giving an overview of my last several weeks. Since I started teaching this year (last week of August) and I have never been this extremely busy so early in the year, I have worked every day but 3. Granted for those of you used to working every day will think, "What a wimp!" and I sorta would agree with you, but if you have never been a substitute teacher, I will tell you - some of these classes leave you physically and emotionally drained at the end of the day. One of these classes I taught for 3 1/2 weeks in a row because the teacher had back surgery & I did get really attached to those kids, but man, those 8th graders wear me out!

So, after working all these days in a row and working at my house, I am also on the PTO at my youngest two kids school - where we had a school carnival the day before I went out of town. I helped set up booths, run errands, find equipment, move said equipment, individually bag 216 cookies (I did have help with 12 of them!), bag peanuts, popcorn, and cotton candy, organized silent auction baskets, ran home, changed clothes, got kids, came back and proceeded to help run the carnival until the much needed rain hit in a furious way, and then stayed to help clean up - only about 12 hours of work. The next day, the kids and I cleaned house in a big way since alot of things had fallen by the wayside with me working so much - I really hated to leave Derek ad mist the mess. I finally got out of town close to 9 pm that evening after all our stuff got done and we ate dinner at mom's house. I arrived at my aunt's house about 1 am and we all fell into bed.

Okay, so I am already major tired, but as a mom of 3, rarely do I ever let that stop me - off to King's Island we go in 90 + degree weather for some roller coaster excitement! I have toned down a bit on my coaster riding, as after having kids my body reacts to fear and heights in different ways. But I am a fun Momma, so will ride most of everything the kids want to get on. Thus part of the reason as to why I MAY be getting a wee bit older: after all this work at school, at carnival, at home, driving 4 hours late at night, two fun filled HOT days of coaster riding at KI, and a 4 hour trip home - me n Aleve are REALLY good buddies right now! I may even have to go visit my chiropractor tomorrow & I know he will give me a lecture about those coasters I was on!

Before anyone asks, no I don't have any fun pix to share. My digital camera got broken when I was in India and I have yet to get it looked at, as I'm afraid it will cost more to repair than it is worth. If my scanner would straighten up and work right, I'd get more other photos on here, but that hasn't happened yet. So, until then, enjoy this ramblin post!

Cheers to Fall Break - Xtra time with kids & time off from school! Yeah to both!

Innagural Blog

Okay, I got the name picked out, even if it's not what I wanted - I got the layout working, well sort of anyway - I got some pictures loaded, old ones, but hey, it's what was already on the computer, no extra work required - now comes the hard part.............WHAT TO SAY?!?! (And no comments from the peanut gallery on that statement either - you know who you are!)

So, I have finally stepped into the World of Blogging, officially now! I have been peeking thru the window for some time at other blogs and have even rang the doorbell a time or two by posting a comment, but today is the day I have flung open the door - & for some reason I feel I should post a warning or a disclaimer here - all I can think of is BEWARE!!

I am a writer at heart and strive for the ever elusive perfection in my writing - thus part of the reason to be slow in joining the blog party - so forgive me if this sounds too "storified" (sorry couldn't think of a word to say - so I just made up one)!

To those I have lost contact with or never had contact with prior, here's the Cliff's Notes verson of the last 13 years (has it REALLY been that long that I've been married to Derek Miller?!?!) Derek and I got married in Tennessee in August of 94 and was set to move away to Iowa rather quickly, but we stayed in TN. I, of course, was overjoyed to stay near my family. We welcomed our first blessing fom God in February of 95, Austin, who informed us on his last birthday - is now a pre-teen! Yikes! In March of 98, our little Ladybug, Alyssa flew into our world. Due to a very difficult delivery I was thinking, "I do not EVER want to experience this again!" I was done having babies. I just had to convince Derek, because he wanted 4. Well, the Lord took both sides into consideration & blessed us (ok, GREATLY SUPRISED) with our third child and truly a miracle from God, Aric in August 99 - just a mere 17 months after Alyssa! So here I was with 3 babies in 4 years while still being somewhat of a baby myself at 24. We kinda grew up together & are still working on that - together.

I stayed at home with them until they were all in school. The year Aric started kindergarten, I became certified to be a substitute teacher and was able to work in his class quite a bit that year. That helped Momma adjust a little better! This is now my 4th year of subbing and I work in both the city and county school systems. I have been trying to get a Teacher's Assistant job, but am waiting on God's direction in that area.

Austin is in 6th grade, Alyssa is in 4th and Aric is in 2nd. This is the last year Alyssa is at elementary school and next year Austin moves to middle school, so starting next year and until Aric gets into high school, they will be at three different schools! And me teaching in different schools, no wonder I can't keep my schedule straight! And, no, it has absolutely NOTHING to do with lack of organizational skills! It is commonly and formally referred to as mom-with-multiple-children-sydrome. Those of you who have not been officially diagnosed, schedule an appointment right with your doctor right away. I am sorry that there is no immediate help that can be given, and you may experience wild n crazy side effects, but it is highley possible to notice an improvement in 18 - 25 years!

Okay, okay, okay, I KNOW I said the SHORT version, but I have always struggled with summarization. In school, my summaries would be just as long as the research paper! I do have to get this posted before I receive any more "constructive criticism" on the lack of blog dialog on my page here! So any further catching up to do will have to wait until next time! I hope to soon get newer pictures of my family on here, so you can see how they have grown like weeds - me included!

Take care y'all - be like the Moon: reflect the SON!