Blue and Gold Banquet 2009

The Blue and Gold Banquet is a very important Cub Scout event held in February each year. The most important aspect of the event is that the Webelo II Den "graduates" from Cub Scouting and crosses over into Boy Scouting. Blaise is a Web I this year and will be crossing over next February. At this years event the boys earned their Showman Activity Pin by writing a skit, making puppets and a stage. The event's theme was Happy Birthday to Cub Scouting which turns 100 this year, so they put on a skit about a birthday. The boys did a really good job with it, we all had fun!

Here is a picture of Aidan all ready to go to the banquet. By the way I just caught her a few minutes ago putting on lipstick and staring at herself in her book "Do Princesses Wear Hiking Boots?" which has a mirror in it! What have I gotten myself into?

Taking the good with the bad....

This was a week that I had been looking forward to no exams a fun excursion and most of all Matt bought us a brand new toy, however things did not go as planned. Tuesday evening after Aidan's shower I found lice in her hair. I was sort of prepared because we had heard that a little girl that Aidan plays with had had them, however the Mother never actually confirmed that (which she should have) and I was checking Aidan's hair constantly for any sign of the little critters. I had been noticing the little nits for a day or two and both my pharmacist and doctor reassured me that I may just be freaking out a little, but sure enough we found one. It was not the actual critters that annoyed me it was all of the washing, delousing, shampooing my hair and Aidan's hair, etc it was a ginormous undertaking. I went as far as to call the school, daycare(which everyone should be doing this) and anywhere that Aidan had been to have them check kids hair before she came back to school. I had to take a day off of school just to clean carpets, cars, and do enormous amounts of laundry, it was also a very expensive issue. I am blogging about this because I want everyone to know that it happens to the best of us, and is NOT a "dirty" kid thing. We should stop being so ashamed and alert and educate others to try to put a stop to the vicious cycle that lice create. It is OK, breathe we will all get through it JUST ADMIT WHEN THERE IS AN ISSUE.....

On to the good...last night Matt and I went with friends to my first Blue Jackets game! We had fun, had to cuddle a little to stay warm...all in all it was a great time. Thanks Nick and Crystal for a fun evening!

THESE ARE MY NEW TOYS....Matt got us a new Whirlpool range and microwave. The KitchenAid was last years Valentine's gift from him. I think that he likes my cooking...haha! We are slowly adding new appliances to this condo, next is the fridge and dishwasher. My wonderful Mom was nice enough to help us with living arrangements while I am in college...this was the least that we could do! The old stove was original to the condo and on many occasions did I have to climb into the stove to re-light the pilot light. The cabinets are dreadful I know, that will eventually be changed as well!

Matt has been complaining that I left out a four-legged family member....Bella! She is our neurotic German Shepherd, we love her but sometimes she is just a basket of nerves. Her nature is very sweet but she is so big that sometimes she can be a little overbearing when you first meet her. She drives me crazy however because she thinks that she is a bucking bronco, and whenever I take a shower, put my shoes or scrubs on she knows that I will be leaving soon and has a little bit of separation anxiety. Other than that she is a good girl who just wants your love and affection.

Bella loves to pose for pics but I couldn't get her to stick her ears up all the way like you would normally see in a pic of a shepherd. Crazy dog....

Valentine's Fun

Is it mid-February already? Last weekend the kids were going a little crazy from a case of cabin fever...so I decided to take them to the Westerville Rec Center Pool. It is wonderful family fun equipped with water slides, a lazy river, and a water playhouse. They love going and it was a perfect way to keep them busy....unfortunately I had to study, so they got to play and burn off some energy. Matt was running around with his academy friends at the shooting range...totally a boy thing! Here are a few pics of the fun they had...

Valentine's Day has always been fun in our house....this year I was a little exhausted due to the fact that I worked three night shifts in a row this weekend, not to mention the three midterms that I took in the last week. I am a big fan of week-long holidays so we managed to spread this one out as well. Our Valentine's got off to a great start with Blaise leaving a little surprise in our room...

What would this house do with out Blaise's sweet blessings? He snuck into the bedroom and left this little note for us...I found it as I was heading out to a night at work and it was the perfect little pick-me-up to get me through a long night. Both Blaise and Aidan are good at crafting little surprises and leaving them all over the house.

Remember Valentine's boxes...Aidan's class does not officially do one but I wanted her to have a keepsake box for her Valentine's anyway. She loves to write notes to her friends and will re-read all of the Valentine's that she gets over the next year. Aidan and I picked out the materials and I let them design it however that they wanted to. I had a lot of preparing to do for Aidan's classroom party while they designed. Blaise goes to a different elementary school than Aidan and it has been difficult for me to be able to attend both parties. Aidan's classroom is always in desperate need of volunteers, so that is where I have been for the last two. I designed my own Valentine's Bingo cards and made baby Valentine's cupcakes. Bingo was hard due to the language barrier in the Pointview classroom...60% of the student body speaks English as a Second language and it has been hard for me(not to mention the teacher's) to plan games and activities in the classroom. We still had fun and all of the kids are appreciative. Here is a pic of Aidan during quiet reading time which Mrs.Katz claims is here favorite time of the day.....Later the night Matt and I had our own little Valentine's celebration. We took the kids to a babysitter (thank you Kellie Ann) and went to El Vaquero, then to a favorite homegoods store of ours to pick out more decor for the condo...of course I had to be back at work at 10 so we had to cut it a little short! But we had a really nice time just catching up...thank you Matt for everything that you do!

I am a candy Mom...I know that that is horrible, but I think that it is fun to give little gifts that come in such pretty wrappers! I am famous for overloading the Easter baskets, and stockings at Christmas time. These are the kids Valentine's gift baskets!

Cards...Mine from Matt is the first, followed by the ones that Matt picked out for the kids...and lastly is Matt's from me.

I love getting cards...which is one of the reasons that I love Valentine's day! For Matt I went with silly...I can't really say in the blog what the inside said and Matt's was mushy and the sweetest card that he has ever gotten me. The envelope said "a big card for a big heart"...and it was a huge card. I hope that everyone had a wonderful holiday and this week is bringing some big fun so stay tuned......

My First Blog

I have always loved to read blogs, but thought that they were reserved for journalists and famous folks. Is was not until my friends from Organic Chemistry interested me into facebook and through that I learned that regular people have blogs too! I was so excited.....I could have a blog too. I have been sending tons of pics with no explanation to our family spread out all over the country; we have them in Oregon, Alaska, Florida, Texas, Pennsylvania, Etc. There is literally no one left in Columbus other than my brother Justin. So here it is our family blog......a big thanks goes to Tiffany for allowing me to be a copycat and steal her idea!

The first blog is always the longest, so I've heard and mine will be no exception. Some of you maybe wondering what gra geal mo chroi means. Well it is an old Gaelic (scotch-irish) saying for love of my heart, which is often engraved on Irish wedding bands. I thought that it was beautiful, and expressed what I feel about my family and friends. Passion is my middle name and just about anything that I say or do comes straight from the heart....without stopping at my head first. That has gotten me into a lot of trouble over the years. In this first blog I will introduce our family and tell you a little about each of us. We are not a traditional family and we have had many struggles over the years....but we have a wealth of love.

That's me Shannon Marguerite...I will be thirty in just a few months, not really looking forward to that but I will survive. We have a lot to look forward to in the next few years. My twenties were a roller coaster, with high peaks and deep valleys. I know that all of the heartache that I have suffered was worth the life that I am leading now.

I work in nursing at an assisted living facility in my hometown, I love my job and the awesome people that I am privileged to take care of. I do not get to see them much now that I am working nights but I still walk away from my work everyday feeling accomplished and needed.

My full-time job is as a student at The Ohio State University. I love it, and just made the transition from Columbus State(which I had an amazing experience at) to OSU. I will graduate in Spring of 2011 with dual degrees in Molecular Genetics and Traditional Mathematics. I love math and I would probably get a doctorate in theoretical math and teach forever at the collegiate level, however my mom(love u mom) does not think that math is a real subject....haha! I also love nursing so I will probably go to Mt.Carmel when I am done with my degree's and take advantage of their accelerated bachelor's to RN program. I want the bachelor's first because while I start working I will have all of the science requirements necessary to go to graduate school for Certified Nurse-Practitioner or Nurse-Midwife. All of the graduate school decisions will not be made until I get through this darn organic chemistry....sometime next year I will decide what I am going to do....so stay tuned it will be interesting!

My most important job is a mother to my two beautiful children. I was the typical single-mom, with typical single-mom struggles until two years ago when I met my boyfriend Matt! I will write more about each of them now......

This guy here is Matthew Wayne, the pictures that I chose for him depict the real love of his life....Oregon Duck Football. The picture on the right was taken at the Purdue-Oregon game that we actually went to in Indiana last fall. Matt has lead a very interesting life. Growing up he moved back and forth from Eugene, Oregon to Valdez Alaska. Between the two of us we have traveled to, lived in, or driven through every state in the country including Hawaii and Alaska. Matt left Oregon and worked all over the country before settling in Columbus. What brought him here was the building of The Lodge Bar in the Arena district, it is actually a beautiful place and Matt is very proud of the work that he did there.

His dream however was to follow his Grandmother into law enforcement, so he left construction after the Lodge Bar was built and made the transition into security locally. We are very proud to announce after a long summer Matt has completed the police academy, and is just waiting to take a few more tests before he will have his OPOTA certification. It was a long six months where Matt was working full-time and attending the academy five-seven days a week. We sure did miss him!

This is Blaise Patrick....what can I say I am truly lucky to have a son as sweet and loving as he. Every teacher, daycare worker, or adult that has come in contact with him tells me how good-natured he is. He is slow to anger, and quick to say how much he loves you. He is always smiling....even when he is sad. Blaise has had his share of hard times, and struggled in school for quite a while. I feel blessed to be able to be at home with my kids everyday when they get home from school, and that has made a world of difference. This year Blaise was selected to represent his class in the Westerville Leadership Summit. He is currently helping his principal to design a community service for the whole school to participate in. Blaise hopes to be a teacher someday....but I see my baby in engineering. He can build the most amazing things...with no help from any adults!

Blaise loves video games just like every boy his age, and any kind of Lego or erector set. He is a cub scout in the Webelo I den, and next year he will cross over into boy scouts. He maybe built like a little linebacker but my baby just is not meant for sports right now....the poor guy trips over himself at every turn, hopefully it is a growing thing....haha! I am sure that I could write forever about my kids, and hopefully you will know his personality more as the blog goes on!

Aidan Tiffany....what can I say? She is what the term "When Irish eyes are smiling" was made for, her hazel eyes are beautiful! Aidan is good at so much....she loves art, dancing, fashion design(yes already), she loves to watch cooking shows but hates to eat????? She just turned seven, and is a mini socialite. I wish that she would spend more time learning at school, but I think that she gets it honest. Aidan is my baby, she follows me everywhere...like a little monkey and I hope that that never ends. My favorite thing to do is to take her to dance class...it is such a warm and comfortable environment. She dances at Generations which is run by two of the Straub sisters, and we love it there! Aidan talks like a little Caligirl...she maybe a handful but I love every minute of it!