Let it be Spring! (and other things)

Hello Spring Lovers! Although the weather has not been exactly ideal, I'm still enjoying all the signs of spring. This little fellow was snuggled in the bush in front of my house. Originally he was behind the bush with his head hidden. I watched him, prodded him with a stick and determined he was dead. I could not see even a hint of a breath. So, I went to get my garden gloves thinking I was gonna have to remove this dead baby rabbit. When I returned, he had moved to the other side of the bush and was very much alive. So cute. He just sat there very still while I photographed him. Next time I checked, he had run for the hills.These are tulips I cut from my yard. They are on a side of my house that I don't get to enjoy unless I purposefully go there to view the flowers, so I decided to cut them and bring them inside. So beautiful!

Makenzie meets Great Grandma and Grandpa Walsh

Mother's day weekend, Andrea was able to take Makenzie to meet her Great Grandparents. These are my mother's parents. They both loved her to pieces.
4 Generations


Random pics of Makenzie

Grandpa Grate is a baby hog!
Makenzie likes her little bouncy seat. She was wide awake and
almost smiling at her crazy Aunt Kelley.

Mother/Daughter Banquet 2008


Best Friends Nicole and Andrea with their babies. Nicole's little one had been eating something blue...she's not wearing black lipstick. :)
Andrea and Makenzie with Jon's mom and Grandma.


Makenzie meets Great Grandma Grate

Sunday we all met at Grandma Grate's for a special Mother's Day meal. Grandma who is going to be 90 in 8 days, thought Makenzie was a pretty special treat.
Makenzie and Aunt Kelley
4 Generations


Trip to Cincinnati

Sue and I enjoyed a trip to Cincinnati last Friday night. The Reds played the Indians for a nice inner-state rivalry. It was a good game with the Reds winning 4-3!

So, there you are...all caught up! So, where am I personally? Well, no news about a job which I desperately need for next year. Because of cuts within our system and my licensing I will have to move to 7th grade next year. I love the people on that team, so that's no problem...having this same group of kids again...is a problem. It's been a challenging year and I'm happy to see it coming to a close. The thought of picking up where I left off in a few months, is quite depressing.

My diet is...stalled. I need prayer in the worst way. It is truely a battle, both physically and spiritually for me.

Next weekend is Memorial Day and all the fam is coming to Indiana! I can't wait. All my munchkins together! This will be a special year with our new little Makenzie joining the fun. No doubt, I'll have lots more pics to post next week.

2 Weeks Old

Okay, I didn't want to become one dimensional in my blogging, but since people are asking... Last weekend Makenzie was 2 weeks old. I am on a two week plan. With Mother's Day and Memorial Day, I will see you her every two weeks. Gotta love that! She's a real sweetie! Enjoy!

More Makenzie!

What a beauty!
Cousin Zeke!

Makenzie loves her Grandpa!
Emmy's happy not to be the only girl anymore!

Welcome to the World Makenzie JoAnn!

On Friday, April 11th, 2008, at 8:00am on the nose, Makenzie JoAnn Gorenflo finally made her entrance into this world. It was by far the most amazing thing I've ever experience and I'm so grateful to my sister and brother-in-law for allowing me to be with them during her delivery. I got the "this MIGHT be it" call at 10:00pm. I got the "This IS it!" call at 11:50. I was on the road by midnight. I arrived at the hospital at 3:00am and got to be with Andrea through the night. She was fully ready by 4:10am, but had to wait because the nurse said the bad storms mess with the barimetric pressure and had caused a flood of births. Her dr's were at another hospital delivering. So, water was broken at 7:40 and 20 min. later, she was here. Makenzie weighs 6lb 15oz and is 19.5 inches long. She is absolutely breathtaking. (Maybe I'm biased, but I don't think so.) She has a head full of dark brown hair just like her Momma did. Andrea is doing great and will come home Sunday morning. Enjoy the pics!

I know, I know, I know! I'm sorry! I actually started working on this post last week and then my internet was down over the weekend. Just got off the phone with tech support and discovered all I needed to do was shut down and reboot the computer. AURRRGH!! So, here we go!



Back on March 15th, we traveled to Michigan for Miss Emmy Rae's 7th birthday! She is quite the little diva. She loves Hannah Montana and is sporting a Hannah Montana original in these pics. She also got a Hannah Montant wig from Aunt Kelley. She saw this the day after Christmas as we were shopping and has remained faithful in her desire to have this from me for her birthday. Pretty funny. Looks like her daddy enjoyed the wig as much as her. Oh Baby! What a looker! Emmy is growing up and is quite the lovely young lady. She sang us all a song that was so beautiful. I taped it and will try to attach it to the bottom of the post, but in case it doesn't work, trust me it was precious. I was successful at attaching her cousin, Zoe, singing "Tomorrow" from Annie. It is so cute!









The last week of March was spring break! Sue and I took off for sunny shores! We went to Navarre Beach, Florida, which is known as Florida's best kept secret. That is the absolute truth. It was absolutely glorious! We had a wonderful, quiet, relaxing week on a nearly empty beach. Just the way I like it! The giant yellow house, is not where we stayed, but where we would like to stay. It's a party pad to be sure. There were some fellow buckeyes staying there. Not sure if they attended Ohio State but they saw my Ohio State shirt one morning as we were walking and gave me a shout out! It was pretty funny. I felt so cool. It only cost a measly $10,000 to rent for a week. Anyone interested? It'll house about 20 people, so start saving your pennies! Our little one bedroom townhouse was a little more modest and only cost us $600 for the week. What a steal!

My next post will hopefully be soon and it will be introducing the newest member of our family, Baby Girl Gorenflo as I call her. Andrea's due Wed. and we're all more than ready to meet this little one. Please say a prayer for Andrea as she gets ready to deliver. Well, I've tried unsuccessfully, twice I might add, to upload Zeke and Emmy's videos, but it's not working. So, enjoy little Zoe! She is quite the little entertainer.

Diet Update

I decided that it was time to update my diet journey. As of this morning, I have lost 14lbs. This was weigh in number 7 which means, I've averaged 2lbs. a week and that is exactly my goal. I set down this morning and in my journal that I'm keeping, I charted out my "small" goals throughout this next year. Breaking it into 20 and 30 lb chunks sure seems alot more manageable than 125lbs. which is my ultimate goal. I'm excited to see where I can potentially be at each milestone such as Spring Break, Memorial Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas and then ending with next Spring Break.

I have re-joined Curves and am loving it! It is the perfect workout for me at this point in my journey. I can do it, and I feel great after I do it! I definitly know that I've exercised, but I'm not so miserable that I come away hating exercise, which has been a problem in the past. As I lose, I may want to add more, but for now, it's perfect.

Most importantly, I'm feeling great. My clothes are getting loose and people are starting to notice, which always makes you feel good. As always, I appreciate any prayers you can send up on my behalf. It is definitly a spiritual battle. I know Satan is hitting me full force when I start thinking things like, "I'll never make it." "What's the point?" "Who cares, just eat it." Etc. But, God has really been with me and I've been able to fight through those moments for the most part. I've had bad days and I've shed a few tears, but I've always gone right back to my plan, which is success in itself.

Snow Fun!!!

Last weekend I got to have my 3 kiddos for an extended weekend! The storm of the century was supposed to come in Thursday night so I was just sure that we would be cancelled on Friday. Sadly, this was the storm with more bark than bite as the weather man put it. I had to use a personal day and the kids had to play in a dusting of icy snow. But they enjoyed it just the same. Elijah wasn't so nice to Emmy. Having her face shoved into the icy snow, didn't sit well with her. Her sad pitiful face was too cute not to take a picture of.

Zeke had a ball! He's one tough little guy! Elijah couldn't upset him. He was all smiles in his new Cars coat and matching snow pants!

Awe...Hot chocolate to warm us up! Yum!

What a ham!