Pinning

Well after many, many, many years, I finished Nursing school. It was a long, long, long road one that if I'd known from the beginning how hard it would be I wouldn't have taken it, but totally worth it!

The pinning ceremony was a really neat experience, it was more like a "mini" graduation with just the CSCC nursing department and family and friends. There were talks from the head of the department and the student presidency and then there was the actual "pinning" of the RN pin onto all the students and then the lighting of the ceremonial Florence Nightingale lamp.

Josh and the boys along with Leah (my mother in law) and Helen (my grandmother in law) were there. It was special to have them in the circle of all the nurses when we passed the Nightingale lamp. (both Leah and Helen are nurses). The boys were generally well behaved but to head off any nuisance I packed IPODs, Itouch, and Ipad and DSI and snacks!

Along with the family, I had 2 good friends come. It was wonderful to have Megan and Crystal there!

/div>

Preschool Graduation

Collin graduated preschool today, it was adorable to see him all dressed up in his cap and gown, and looking like such a big boy. He sang songs and got a "diploma" and then we had a luncheon outside in the picnic area. Next year I'll be sending him to a different school but he has so enjoyed his time and I've enjoyed seeing his personality shining all by himself without the assistance of his older brothers. He really is so funny and happy all the time!

Cinco de Mayo

Cregan had a Cinco de Mayo party at school and had to give a presentation, well the whole class had to and Mrs. Dapoz told them to give them "with expression". That is NO problem for Cregan, he gave an outstanding and expressive presentation on the volcano in Mexico. Here is a copy of his talk

Paricutin Volcano

by Cregan Hughes

There was a farmer and his son working in the corn field.

When the farmer was almost done, the plow went into the earth.

The earth cracked.

The farmer and his son ran away.

A volcano was born. Lava and ash shot out of the volcano.

They call it "The Monster".

This happened in 1943.

Health fair

We are at the VERY END of a long journey in our family. I'm just about done with school!! My final is done and I just finished my 2 healthfairs, and all I have left now is the pinning ceremony next week. Well actually I have to pass the state boards, that's kina a HUGE deal, but as far as Columbus State Community College goes it's over!!

The health fair was really nice, we had the first one at the college and it was nice and all but the one the next day was even better. We did the Health Fair in downtown and it was not the nice side of downtown if you get my drift. We were in a church that holds a free store, where people can come in and "shop" for clothes for free. As I looked around at the different people coming in, it really hit me these people need to see this health fair stuff more than anyone else. As I see a mother with 2 kids walk by and take some pamplets for Domestic Violence, or see an elderly man get screened for diabetes it makes it worthwhile! Also we got to go help with the free store and that was amazing! I will definetly be back and want to bring the boys and let them see how fortunate we are.

Last Day of School

Today was the last day of school and the kids and I have a mini tradition that we go to Tim Horton's and I get them all "sugared up" before school. I like to think of it as a fun last present to give the teachers before finishing out the school year. Something to really help them appreciate the summer that much more... I'm just a giver you know...

After Tim Horton's, I drop them off and plan for when they get home. I made a big banner this year (which I should have made a picture of before the boys came home because it was ruined pretty quickly after that, and I attacked them with water balloons! It was so fun!! and now I have officially a 4th graders, 2nd grader and a Pre-Ker...

Clay had a special "ball" at school the other day, he was the narrator in a play and then there was a dance afterward for the whole 3rd grade. No one said so but the boys took it upon themselves to ask girls to the dance, Clay didn't ask anyone, but one of Clay's friends asked a girl for Clay, she said yes, but the next day said she couldn't go with him because she was going with someone else, I was secretly worried for Clay, was he sad, embarrassed, hurt that this girl had backed out? I asked him if he was OK, and he replied, "oh yeah, I asked Mrs Tucker and she's going to be my date... so ofcourse I had to get a picture of Clay and his "date"!!

Nursing

Last week, I put in my PETITION TO GRADUATE!! and the week before that I TOOK MY NURSING PICTURE and today I took my NEXT TO LAST FINAL!! and PASSED with an 88!! So much relief with that! And now I have one LAST class starting at the end of March. This ones a hard quarter though, we have to take the HESI (state like test in preparation to our state boards), we have to do a healthfair (which apparently means we have to be at school all day on Mondays) we have to do a presentation on care mapping (I hate that the most), and we have 2 clinical days (7-5), and that's not even lecture and tests!!

It'll be a hard quarter but worth it! I started school before Collin was born! I was taking pre-requirements while pregnant and the class had a surprise baby shower for me! Now look, he's almost in Kindergarten!! It's a testimony to me that if you keep chugging along, you will eventually met your goals! (Now I have to chug along on weight loss)

Field Trip

Collin had a field trip to Giant Eagle last week, it was darling to see the tour guide trying to ask these preschoolers things like, "Do you know what foods have Dairy in them?" - He'd get a response like, "I have 2 different socks on today!!" Finally he realized that he was getting no where and asked questions like, "What color is a banana??", and he would sometimes get the right answer, :)

It was a fun tour though, they took you around the Produce, Deli, Meat and Ceral departments and gave them little samples from them (except meat of course), but at the Meat Dept, they pulled out the Lobsters and let the kids put on gloves and touch the lobsters!! Collin was having NONE of that though, wouldn't even get near the lobster tank so I could take a picture! I did get this good shot of him looking in the meat case, he was being "boooorrreeedd" as he puts it.