Hello April!

So... April just snuck up on me and now it is the middle of April and here I am with my first post of the month! EEK! Where does time go? I am always so busy and so this is one of the things that gets squeezed out when I run short on time. I do enjoy blogging. It helps me keep track of the things I do, and remember the good times I have with family and friends. It is fun to look back and see what we were doing a year ago. I have always been sentimental like that. That is why I love to scrapbook so much, to record memories. I have always done it, even when I was a kid. I loved to look back and see what I did the year before or the birthday before, etc. I also love to write, so this is a combination of both. So that's just me in a nutshell. I get so busy living life that sometimes I don't have a chance to record it, so here I am now catching up in one long post!

How are you?? I hope you didn't give up on me, those of you who do read my blog. I hope you will stay with me because eventually I will always be back to update.

So here's what's been going on...

Sammie finished up her ballet and tap class with Ms. Tina and started a new one called Princess Dance at the Freckled Frog. The ballet photos are from her last class mini recital. They did a little show for the parents and then each child got called up to get a goodie bag and award certificate. This is her preschool friend named Hayley. They have fun together. Sammie takes horseback riding lessons from Hayley's aunt, Victoria. Hayley likes horses too.

The princess dance class is cute. The girls wear a princess dress each week, dance with ribbons and wands, do a craft and listen to a story. It is a lot of things in 45 minutes but very well organized and well-paced. She is enjoying it. ( she is in the pink dress)

Speaking of princesses, here are some cute Disney pics. We went right after her princess class one day.

Here is something unusual.. We were out in the front yard and some ducks flew by and landed in the street right in front of our house. Not something you see everyday. They must have been heading to the nearby lake but stopped to say hello and eat some bread at our house.
We finally got to see Jennifer and Julia after a few rescheduled plans. We went to Color Me Mine and the kids painted pottery. ( it was very expensive) Sammie made a unicorn and Julia made a birthday cake.

I finally got to scrapbook at Christine's crop to benefit Autism Speaks. It was a successful event and many wonderful prizes were donated by popular manufacturers. Here are some of my recent pages.

It was a fun day and I got to spend time with my friends Christine, Donna and Jennifer. Christine raised about $600 for Autism Speaks. WHOOO HOO!! I am getting ready to join her in the walk for Autism on April 25th. This is the 3rd year I am walking with her. If you would like to sponsor me I would appreciate it. You can click this link and go to "support a walker" and type my name to find my page. All donations are for a wonderful cause and are tax deductible.

I finally got to go on Sammie's preschool fieldtrip. They went to Tanaka Farms to pick stawberries. It was a lot of fun and the kids got to taste fresh veggies from the garden. ( romaine, carrots, radishes, cilantro, sugar snap peas,) and of course all the stawberries you could eat!! They do the tours year round and change it seasonally. I want to go back in the summer and do the watermelon tour! YUM!!

In other news, I have had a bad pain in my neck for a few weeks. I tried EVERYTHING I could think of to help ease the pain, ( tylenol, motrin, muscle relaxers, heating pad, ice, jacuzzi tub, even a massage) and nothing worked. When the muscle relaxers and tylenol, etc. did nothing, I knew there was something going on. After talking to a few people and getting suggestions, I went to a chiropractor. I was pretty skeptical but figured I should give it a chance since nothing else was working. In 2 visits after having electro-therapy, ultrasound, and spinal manipulation, I began to feel better. He took x-rays of my neck and determined that I have a reverse curvature of my neck which is the beginning of spinal degeneration. ( sounds terrible but it is treatable) One of those "turn 40 things"... It was sort of shocking to hear that though. Anyway.. I have been going several times a week and it is helping tremendously. I still have the pain but it is not like it was. I started to realize that my hip was hurting on that same side and that because I sleep on my stomach with my leg pulled up ( like a frog) it puts a lot of strain on my neck, back, etc. I have been trying to sleep on my side but still wake up on my stomach every day. uggghhh Anyway... it all makes sense now and I am glad that it isn't as painful. I couldn't even turn my head when backing up the car or changing lanes. Now I am able to turn quite a bit before I feel the pain. The doctor may send me for an MRI if it still doesn't improve soon. He thinks it could be a pinched nerve.

Well I have more to ramble about as always but this is getting long so I will stop for now and hope to be back soon. Meanwhile, say hello and come back again because I will try to write again soon!