Giant Leap!

Just today I had seen a great deal on Facebook for a one night stay at The Great Wolf Lodge in the Dells that included water park passes and a $25 voucher and pretty nice room. I mentioned to Aaron that I thought this would be a fun Christmas gift for our family to do while we were on Christmas break. We looked at the calendar and came up with a Sun-Mon that we could make work. Therefore I went ahead and bought the offer. I then went on Great Wolf's site to book the room with my voucher only to find the dates we wanted weren't available. I searched a couple more dates during the week and no luck. I did find that Christmas day till the next was available. Of course Aaron was at bball practice with Owen. I decided to make the executive decision and go for it. My thoughts were that Aaron would be off for sure Christmas day and how much business could be going on the day after?? So, as of right now he doesn't know I booked it yet :) It will be a great surprise when he gets home tonight!!! I am actually really looking forward to it, I think it will be a perfect surprise Christmas morning for the kids!

Just one of them days

A bit of a stressful day today.  Feeling the effects of starting a new job. Start to wonder if I chose the right path and feeling overwhelmed with what goes along with a new job. I know every new venture has a learning curve and it's just a matter of time before you catch on. 

Grace brought home the stressful school day and lots of homework on a dance class night. This always brings on a big dramatic act with her laying on the floor moaning about it going on and on about how the iPad technology is messed up and it's not her fault if she misses something. This goes rolls into a tough night at dance with a sore ankle and a teacher that is "too hard". This leads to a discussion about pushing through when times get tough. Followed up by a pep talk, a big stress relieving hug from Mom and encouragement to get back at it. She starts homework again only to have the wifi crash. Thank goodness mom could reset it so she could watch her YouTube video of a guy she can't understand talking about the Mayan calendar and having to guess on the answers to finish her worksheet!!!

Blahhhhlahhlahh, thank god this day is done!

Ohh ya did I mention Aaron is gone all week?!?!?

Side Note: It made my day to receive a nice card and gift certificate for dinner out for kids and I from Aaron's boss! We will look forward to that tomorrow night!

I also had a football dad offer to bring Owen home from football tonight knowing Aaron was out of town so one less trip for me tonight!

My kiddos

Caught some candid pics tonight of these two gems. Sure am one lucky Mommy :)

Chinese Exchange Student

Last night we welcomed in the new member of our family for the next 3 weeks! She is a 7th grade student from Far East China School outside of Beijing China, her name is JingYu Ye or her American name, Shirley. We didn't have a whole lot of notice of her arrival maybe 2 weeks. In those few weeks we prepared by cleaning Grace's room and making a bed for her. We also shopped for a few gifts which we got her a Wisconsin Tshirt, photo frame and some tea. Upon her arrival yesterday they kept us updated via text on their pending arrival into OHare airport. They landed about 5pm and got into Janesville via coach bus service about 8pm. She seems to be a very shy modest girl. Not sure if the shyness is due to her overwhelmed feeling of being in a new place or the language barrier. She seems to understand us fairly well but has a hard time communicating to us in English. After getting her settled into Grace's room I spent some time trying to find a good translation app on my phone. She wanted to ask us a question but was having a hard time finding the words. After playing with Google Translate I was able to figure out that there is a note pad that she could write the Chinese symbols on and it would translate to English. She told us she would like to have our wifi hookup so that she could contact home! Later on as I was showing her how to use the app she told me she likes me very much. That made me relax a little bit and know that it will all come together and that she was happy to be here! She brought me a couple of gifts one of which was a Chinese fan that has an old photo of her home town the other was a bottle type thing that you drink out of. This morning her and Grace are still asleep. I may try and rouse them about 11am to have some lunch and take Shirley with us to the grocery store. I am happy we ended up on this adventure, I think it will be a fun one!