Happy Birthday to Mat!!

Today is Mat's 35th birthday. Oh, I meant 21st birthday. (ha - he wishes). Happy Birthday to my favorite man in my life! I have been with Mat since he was 16 years old, and I can't imagine being with anyone else. He is the best dad, a wonderful husband, and I am so glad to be going through life with him by my side. I love you!!

We had his little family birthday party last night because today I was gone for most of the day. We had dinner brought in from Ol*ve Garden and got him a yummy ice cream cake from C*ld Stone. We gave him his presents and spent the evening together. It was nice!

Today he got to spend his birthday watching the kids. Doesn't that sound like the perfect present? I thought so too. :) I was invited by a teacher friend of mine to go to see Jersey Boys the musical today in Hartford. She invited me way back in September. She had only known me a few weeks and she asked me if I wanted to go. It was about the sweetest thing ever. She didn't even know me and she asked me to come! Now she is one of my good friends. She even paid for my dinner because she said that I am the best nurse the school has ever had and she felt that I deserved it. So nice! There were 3 other teachers there as well - it was great. The show was REALLY wonderful. I loved the story and music. And we had a yummy dinner out after. It was a fun day.

Mat, on the other hand, unfortunately had to battle the kids all day. They were really off and gave him a hard time. Poor guy. But he took it in stride and wasn't the least bit upset when I walked in the house tonight at 8pm. I am really a lucky girl.

This week was pretty good. The kids stayed healthy and were in school the rest of the week. Finley, of course, did get a lip boo boo at school where she tripped over some blocks and landed on her face. Cainan and Finley still have runny noses and coughs, but they are much better. Arlington, knock on wood, is still healthy, so hopefully she will stay that way! Arlington's new Leapster came (her old one broke after one month) and so she has been busy playing with that as well. She loves that thing. Arlington also came home this week and told me that she and a class mate would be getting married - that they both agreed to marry each other. Lovely.

My week at work went well. Wednesday I was able to have my meeting to explain the health office and hand out the health office passes. The teachers loved them. I was really ready to meet resistance to them, but I didn't. My nursing supervisor came to the meeting just in case the teachers had a lot of questions/concerns, but they didn't. They listened intently, thanked me for doing a wonderful job, and have been using the passes really well all week! And the teacher fills out the pass, I send back what I did, and the pass goes home with the kid. EVERY TIME. And I think this will cut back on the visits AND the parents calls that the teachers are apparently getting. I guess a few teachers have gotten some flack from parents saying "my kid had a sore neck and you didn't send them to the nurse". Goodness, right? Are they kidding me? Poor teacher. So I promised the teacher that I would back them up 100% with parents AND that if they have parents that are that insistent on nurse visits then I need to talk to those parents and explain that I am not a free clinic - that I am here for emergencies. For goodness sake. So, on Wed. (and the other days as well!!!) I saw around 25-30 kids. SO amazing. I hope the days of 50-70 kids a day are behind us now, or few and far between. They had no idea I saw so many kids.

I don't have any cute stories this week except for a first grader that came in after lunch saying that his stomach was hurting. I told him he could sit and rest for a few minutes to see if it passed and I look over and he is doing a somersault on my bed! And this isn't a little first grader - he is a little on the pudgy side. I thought we were going to have a whole new problem if he fell. Kids are nuts.

On a final note, today is also a day of remembrance and some sadness for our family. My Godbrother, Matt was killed 6 years ago on this day, and today we remember what a wonderful person he was and how much we miss him. There isn't a day that goes by that I don't think about him and how much I miss him. He was one of the best people I ever knew and even today, when we are so sad when we think of what happened 6 years ago, I can't help but smile. I think about all the wonderful things I loved about Matt and what a good person he was and how fun he was to be around. So for my Godfamily today, know that we are thinking about you, praying for you, and have our arms wrapped tightly around you and your sorrow.

I have just a few pictures today. I got home so late from the show and am tired for a long day, so I am sorry my post is not more exciting! Have a nice weekend and I will see you Tuesday!