Auction for NieNie

About a week ago my mom called to tell me about a horrible private plane crash in St. Johns (my old home town). She then went on to tell me about the couple (Christian and Stephanie Nielson) in the crash and that they were friends of my SIL Kellie. I immediately went to their blog and recognized that I have been there before. (Maybe I shouldn't admit it but I spend WAY too much time blog surfing) This blog (NieNie Dialogues)is an amazing example of how to be a wife/mother/and beautiful person. Stephanie and Christian have 4 beautiful children, a wonderful extended family, and the faith and prayers of thousands across the country as they lay in critical condition in and AZ hospital. They are both in a medically induced coma, with Stephanie having burns over 80% of her body. According to the updates that you can read here on her sister's blog they are both doing fairly well, all things considered.

So, now the reason for this posting...to help raise the much needed funds to help pay for their medical expenses and other needs during this time of healing many blogs are holding a silent auction. Check out the many sites participating, find something you like, and bid your hearts out! I have seen some fantastic things up for grabs. It seems like a win-win situation; you get something fabulous while contributing to a wonderful cause.

Check out DesignMom for participating blogs and BID, BID, BID!!

The latest...

ARGHH!!!!! I've put off posting for a couple weeks now because the memory card reader on my computer isn't working and I wanted to put up pictures. So, I've been looking for the cable to download the pictures from the computer but can't find it...where could it be??? Well, I decided that I wasn't going to wait anymore, I'll just post the pictures later.

The last few weeks have been exciting for us. The first excitement came when Brayden started school. Well, pre-kindergarten that it, but he goes to an actual school Mon-Fri all day. He was so excited for his first day that he couldn't even sleep the night before! And, each morning he can hardly wait to get to school - it is so cute! His teacher, Mrs. Lambert, is now the smartest person he knows (I've been replaced!) and he has made some good friends. Yesterday he came home with a little bracelet thing (that he SWEARS is NOT a bracelet) that he called a Principal Paw. He then told me that they talked about respect at school and everyone who was respectful got an award, the Principal Paw. He also taught me what it means to be respectful...you have to be nice and listen and follow directions. He also taught me about trapezoids and parallelograms - since when do 3 year olds learn about these things? It is so great to see him excited about learning...and great to see that he is learning! (We have some great pictures of his first day at school in his cute little uniform with his big-boy backpack that I will post later)

Next exciting thing...we painted part of the house, and I LOVED IT! We painted the kitchen, eating area, entryway, and family room, and it all looks so great! It's nice to not have to stare at white walls anymore. We have the best deep red wall in our family room, a gorgeous light yellow-green in the kitchen, and a green-khaki wall in the entryway, with cream colored paint on the other walls to bring it all together. We also painted Tarell's room (finally) a safari yellow color for his jungle/safari theme room. My next project is the kids bathroom, the downstairs bathroom, and the master bedroom. Then we will have to hire someone to paint the livingroom since the ceilings are so tall. Eventually the entire house will be beautiful! It's kinda hard to picture so just think Model Home - It looks great!

Last exciting thing...I finished another semester of school! YEAH!! I took my last final yesterday and was kinda nervous about it but my grade was posted and I did fabulous! Not to brag but I'm feeling pretty good about my abilities as a nurse! I now get to have one wonderful week off then 10 weeks of school, 3-4 weeks of preceptorship (where I actually work in a hospital side-by-side with a nurse)and then I am done!! My dream areas are Labor and Delivery and the NICU working with premies. I can't believe I am this close to being finished with this part of my nursing school. I have plans to continue on and get my Master's and possibly my Doctorate but we'll see what happens.

So that's the latest and greatest with us. I promise to get some pics up as soon as I can find that blasted cable...I'll keep looking!