Year-End Wrap Up

I was talking with a friend at church the other day and he likened the Christmas season to a car accident.  Despite how much preparation goes into getting ready for everything, it still manages to sneak up and leave everyone wondering what it was that just hit.  Given how the past month has gone, I felt that this was a very appropriate analogy.  Now that things have started to settle down, I decided that I finally better sit down and try and recap our activities over the past few weeks.

An Update On The Family

As I have been going through some of our old posts, I realized that we haven’t given a really good update on the family lately. I have some time to kill while some software installs so here’s something keep you entertained.

Hannah: She’s doing really well… except for the fact that she has a bad cough and a runny nose for the last week. She’s getting better though. She constantly has a dirty face and I can’t figure out why. I wash it multiple times a day but there’s always something there… She’s also pretty much potty trained which is nice because I’m done with diapers forever. Or at least until I have to wear them.

So Many Thoughts…

I have a lot of things running through my mind right now that I’d like to share. Since school started last night, I’ll start with that.

This semester will be my last before I can graduate with an Associates degree. After that, I’ll only have a handful of classes left before I get a Bachelors degree. It’s nice to see the end of the very, very long tunnel that I’ve been cruising through. The ten year plan is getting old. It’ll be nice to finally finish.
Now for some of my thoughts about stories that have been in the headlines over the last few days…

The Golden Globes award show has been canceled due to the writers strike. While I’m very upset about not being able to watch 24 or new episodes of The Office, I have to say thank you to the writers for this one. I get so tired of celebrities and their own sense of self-importance. They have award shows to congratulate themselves on achievements that nobody but their own care about. Unless there’s a hobbit or a wookiee getting awards, I really don’t care.

A Letter To Santa

Emma recently wrote a letter to Santa in school. Actually, it’s not to Santa, it’s to Kristkindl. According to Emma, he’s Germany’s version of Santa.

Today Holly found the letter in the front window. I think that this German Santa enters houses through windows instead of chimneys. The most likely reason that he doesn’t do that here is because it’s called breaking and entering. I guess that it’s OK in Germany though. It’s definitely a lot easer to go through the window than down a narrow chimney. Especially if you’re a fat guy. I know that I wouldn’t want to go down a chimney when a window is readily available.

The letter was so amazing that I thought that I’d post it here for all to see.

Dear Kristkirol I was good all year. I would like a dog a toy tiger. If you see a little boy in the house, he was bad. I want a draw book. From Emma Zohner

Holly’s update

Well, it has been a great semester. I am glad that it is almost over. I have two more finals next week and then I have two weeks off for Christmas and then I am back to school on January 2nd. I have really enjoyed my clinicals at the hospital. I am amazed at how much I have learned in such a short amount of time. I never thought that I would be comfortable and confident giving people shots but now I can say that I am. Next semester I will be learning how to do IVs. Yikes. Talk about scary. It is awesome to know that by this time next year, I will be an R.N. The kids are doing great and are looking forward to Christmas. I hope all of you have a great Christmas and I will keep you posted.

Stress Reduction Time

With Holly in nursing school, there is a lot of stress in our home. As you might imagine, with three children, two dogs, a job, and school, plus a husband that works full-time and also goes to school, Holly was feeling a bit stressed.

Holly’s stress has been magnified with the start of clinicals last week. The fact that she’s doing clinicals isn’t what’s stressful, it’s the homework that associated with them that causes problems. She finishes her clinicals on Friday afternoon and then has approximately 48 hours to complete 40 hours worth of homework. That’s in addition to all of the other studying/homework that she has to do during the rest of the week. The cycle then starts over again on the following Thursday.

School Is Going Great

I just wanted to update everyone on how things are going in nursing school. It feels like I have been in school forever already. I have already taken three tests in my main nursing class and I am averaging a 96% on my tests. I have learned how to do a baseline assessment. I can now tell what I am supposed to listen for when I listen to the heart and lungs. I do my first clinical next week and I have to do my oral presentation tomorrow. I prepared a PowerPoint on Russian culture. I hope it goes well. I am staying busy with studying and more studying.

Alex’s Adventures At School

Alex started preschool last week. He seems to really be enjoying himself. Yesterday morning at 6:30, as I was getting ready to go to work, he got up and dressed himself. He then grabbed his backpack and threw it on his back. He was ready to go to school even though he hadn’t eaten and still had more than two hours to wait. He was so excited that he could barely contain himself.

Last night when I got home from school and was tucking him in, he started counting off all of the friends that he is making in his class. He has a tough time saying some of their names so I’m not sure who these kids are yet but he does and he likes them.