Florida or bust

Florida or bust.

Whatever that means?

We take off on a road trip this evening. Looking forward to seeing my mom and dad, resting and relaxing with my family, feeling the warm air, watching the sunset on the beach, watching the kids swim, Timm going golfing, and just getting refueled for life.

Praying for a safe drive.

I doubt I will update this from FL. I typically "unplug" while on vacation. But, maybe I'll hop on and update.

Oh, by the way, it is BIRTHDAY WEEK in the Pank family! Shout out to my nephew who can now officially sing the "throw it on the GROUND song" because "He's an ADULT!" My sister who is making 40's look AMAZING! And, my niece who reaches the double digit milestone this weekend.

Also, we found out that Timm has an interview with the board for a different school his company is opening next fall. The interview is scheduled for April 7. THe school is in Queens. Here we go!

And, Olivia has decided to have a "Survivor" birthday party when she turns 8. It was my idea, now I'm wondering what I've gotten myself into. If anyone has any cool ideas, please share. The hardest part is that 8 year olds are still very sensitive to winning and losing. SO, I have to figure out how to keep it fun and competitive, but sensitive to all. It will be fun.

Life is good.

Happy Easter.

A few pictures

A picture of our beautiful Saturday morning on the terrace.

Just outside of Madison Square

Garden where we went Sunday to see the Knicks play. Great game, and we all got t-shirts!

Not sure how to turn this. Oh well, Happy belated St. Patty's day.

COME ON

COME ON! Can a Saturday get any better?

Sunny, breezy, 72 degrees.

Slept in, enjoyed a huge breakfast of pancakes (some chose banana and chocolate chips added), bacon and coffee while sitting on the terrace watching the birds and enjoying the fresh air.

Timm biked, I jogged, the girls relaxed.

In the afternoon, I took the girls to their fort area in prospect park with some new friends from the neighborhood. Two nice little girls. They played, I read in the sunshine (with sunblock! As I have resolved to take better care of my skin and avoid the usual TAN)

The girls came to our house to play. Timm and I played scrabble and enjoyed corona with lime on the terrace. I smiled at the sound of the girls being CRAZY and SILLY and having fun. Somehow they play hide n seek in this little place, which cracks me up!

Dinner from the grill, now chillin out. NCAA games are on.

Relaxing

Beautiful

Happy

Day

Tomorrow we go to church and then to a Knicks game! Fun family weekend.

Not to mention, Friday was small group here, burgers on the grill, good friends, food, and sharing. Ahhhh, the weekend.

Another good, not so good post

Well, another week filled with good and not so good.

Not so good: Saturday Timm found out that the board he has been interviewing with for months did not have a unanimous "yes" to appoint him principal of the new school. And, since they want the vote to be unanimous, they had to turn him down. Ugh.

good: At least we are done WAITING for that board to make a decision

good: The company Timm works for wants to keep him employed. They are invested in him and are trying to find a position for him for next year. He should be interviewing soon with another board for a school in Queens. A little further than we hoped to have him commute, but if it is God's will for him to be there, so be it!

good: Monday night I had the coolest opportunity. Through a friend from MI, got connected with a guy who was hosting an event at the Hyatt in NYC. He needed a little help with hospitality for the event. Long story short, I "worked" with a couple of friends for about an hour and a half, got paid some cash, then was invited to enjoy the rest of the evening which included delicious food, open bar, entertainment! SO FUN!

not so good: did someone say open bar? Might have had one too many glasses of (free) wine :)

good, good, and good: (Ew, weird, that doesn't look like a word to me anymore, I've overused it and it looks strange) ANyways, the girls had a half day yesterday and I attended their parent/teacher conferences. I could write for an hour about how PROUD I am to be the Mother of these incredible, smart, obedient, loving, kind girls who just radiate with the fruits of the spirit!! I was almost in tears at their conferences, just hearing about them through the perspective of their teachers. JOY!

good: Spent the gorgeous day playing at the park, and walking to Mc Donald's to celebrate their awesome report cards.

good: Forecast is sunny and mid 60's the rest of the week.

good: neighbors coming over tonight for corned beef n cabbage and green drinks. (we usually just dye our milk green- the girls love it - Timm thinks it is disgusting).

God is good.

Great week, overall.

Of course, there is always the good...and the not so good, right?

Good: Went to the Metropolitan museum of art Sunday as a family. So cool!

Good: The girls went to an ice skating party with the neighbors on Monday night and had SO MUCH FUN they were floating on a cloud of joy for days!

Not so good: I didn't go with them, so I missed out on some of the fun stories, and they didn't get to bed that night until after 9:30pm.

Good: Found out that our friend/neighbor got back good results from her pet scan and the chemo treatment has been effective in attacking the cancer!

Good: THE WEATHER

Good: Timm did end up having his third interview with the board for the new school, even though he thought it was going to be postponed AGAIN!

Not so good: Although they told him they would make a decision about appointing him as principal of the new school before they left the meeting that night, they did not do that. So, we continue to wait.......

Good: Timm invited one of the teachers and her boyfriend over for dinner this week.

Not so good: The night before they were supposed to come, she found out that her boyfriend is a lying, cheating, messed up individual who betrayed her completely.

Good: Timm happened to stop by this teacher's apartment to visit RIGHT when she had discovered the above information. So, he was able to be there to help her in her distress.

Good: We played basketball last night with Communitas at the school where we meet on Sundays and it was SO AWESOME to play again!!! It has been way too long and I've missed it.

Not so good: I either dislocated or broke my finger while playing.

Good: (for me) At least it was my finger and not my ankle like it was for one of the guys :( Ouch!

Good: The kids had so much fun ice skating that we plan to go back tomorrow, since it is that last weekend the rink is open for the season.

Not so good: If you check the weather forecast, it actually says "tons of rain" for tomorrow's outlook. Might not be able to skate, we'll see.

Good: Alli invited a friend from school to come over and play after school today

Good: We are having our small group tonight, and it is "second Friday" so, we're just having a fun night. Looks like pizza, drinks, dessert, games, and we might have 4 couples! YAY!

Good: We are invited to come over Saturday night, as a family, to hang out with the family of the woman who hosted bunco last week. New friends, YAY!

No so good: I lost the memory card for our camera and I swear it vanished into thin air and will never be found, it is gone.

Good: At least all of the photos, with the exception of 3, were loaded onto the computer before it got lost.

Good: We got our tax return, and it was a good one. And, we cashed in on our Chase reward points and have gift cards to Amazon and Itunes.

Good: Was asked to share my "story" at the Easter sunrise service in Central park and hope to glorify God and all he has done for me.

Not so good: If I'm honest, I almost threw up when I was asked to do this. And, I immediately responded, "no, not me. I'm sure you can find someone with a much better story".

Good: It didn't take me long to reconsider and agree to do it. It will be ALL GOD, not me.

Good: Really, all is good. Can't complain about a thing. God has blessed us beyond anything we could ever deserve. Love my husband, my kids, my home, my neighborhood, my church family, my opportunities to have fun and to serve, my family and friends who I MISS but LOVE so much. I'm overwhelmed with the blessings and can't possibly name then all.

Make new friends...but keep the old

Anyone sing this song in Girl Scouts growing up? "Make new friends, but keep the old....one is silver and the other's gold...."

Olivia was pounding that out on the keyboard the other day and singing the words so beautifully. And, I just love those words! THat is how I feel today.

Hopefully by this age, I should know what fuels me. What fills me up. What re-energizes me. And, I do. There are a few things. One thing I love is time spent with other women. Just time to GAB and connect. Last night we had our second neighborhood get together to play bunco. Someone else hosted this time. It was so refreshing! So fun to just relax and visit with some new friends. THere were 10 of us. Some had come to my place last month, some were new. But, all of us has our own story, and it is so fun to get to know each woman. It just so happens that all of us are Mommies, so we have that common bond right off the bat. And, we are all raising our kids in this urban environment, which is a little bit different than the suburbs. So, that is a topic for conversation. Anyways, it was just a great time. And, I am thankful to have met some wonderful new friends.

I was also able to spend some time last weekend with some girlfriends who are not so new anymore! They are my friends from Communitas. So, I've known some of them for a few years now, and some of them for just a few months. But, we had a ladies afternoon/evening. Walked around Central Park, ate dinner, then had coffee and visited at one person's apartment. It is actually a "40 and over" girls night out, but I weaseled my way in. And, I was so blessed by the conversations I shared with some women who are just a few steps ahead of me in their journey as wife/mom/child of God.

In other news.......it may seem like all I do is hang out with my girlfriends all the time, but I also had the chance to take my sweet baby girl out on a date this week as well. Liv and I went to the bookstore, then out to dinner where we enjoyed doing "mad libs" and visiting and laughing. What a fun time. Meanwhile, Timm took Alli out on a date for dinner, and a visit to a school. He will be taking her to three different schools this week. One is a charter school we wanted to check out, the other two are her top two picks of public middle schools in our district. They have her scheduled to come in for an interview/audition. So, it's really cool that Timm has been available to share that with her.

It is SO AWESOME to step back and really see how God created our two girls so uniquely, so special. The other day, I was tucking Olivia in and I had been feeling like her and I do not share the same kind of exchanges that Alli and I do. Alli has been pelting me with questions since she has been old enough to talk. She is always inquiring about life. She asks deep, penetrating questions about her faith, social issues, feelings, the human body, creation, EVERYTHING and anything. I never know what she's going to ask. But, we are forever having these deep conversations. So, I was explaining to Olivia that she can ask me ANYTHING she ever wants and we can talk things over. I told her that if she ever has anything on her mind, she should talk to me about it and I'd love to spend the time with her. I just left it open for her to respond. She just looked at me with her brow a bit creased, as if she was contemplating what she could possibly question me about, then she said "I can't really think of anything Mom." So, I just said "OK". Then I kissed her and was tucking her in, smiling at the fact that her sister would have taken that opportunity to dive into me with 18 different questions about life. Then, Liv looks at me and quietly says "well, I do have something that I've been wondering about mom." So, I look her in the eye, brace myself for her question and say "What is it hunny?" She says "Well, I just don't understand how......when we talk on the telephone to someone so far away, how does the sound travel so fast that we can hear each other right as we talk?? How can our voices possibly travel so fast like that?" As I briefly expressed to Olivia my fascination with the speed of sound and how it really is amazing and almost mysterious how it is possible....I openly SMILED at how different my two girls are! That was the only question that came to Olivia. I love it!