Long time, no post!

So, what more perfect time to post than on my best day ever!!! I started with finding out I passed my Praxis II exam (big teacher test - state given, 110 multiple choice and 4 essays). Then I had my exit interview with my university supervisor in which I discovered I have an 'A' for the semester and turned the very last piece of paper (and check) to UNC Charlotte, all I have left is to walk across that stage this Saturday!!!!! YEEHAW!! Then, I got to go to my sons' very first Christmas Program, and they did SO awesome!!! It was just an incredible day filled with blessing after blessing, including seeing my family. Here is a little Christmas video for you to enjoy if you didn't get to watch it on Facebook. I hope you guys have a wonderful Christmas!!

Lots of love, Diana and The Ham Fam

Here are some other pictures to bring you up to speed...

Video

Here is a video I finally got together. I have lots of picturess to post as well but wanted to try this..

Rolling in 2010!!

Wow, I can hardly believe I am actually posting things from this year! What a relief... ;)

So, here are MORE pictures of our winter this year. We had so much snow this year and Samuel really loved it. We don't have a sled, but he and Michael would ride Michael's snowboard without the bindings down the hill in our backyard. They really had a good time, but Samuel's favorite part of the snow was snowballs and snowball fights! It was hard to not go outside with them, but with Owen's recent bout with pneumonia I didn't want Owen outside unless it was absolutely necessary.

The boys pretty much stayed sick all winter. Not with anything real bad, just cold after cold. I thought I would never see the end of snot in our house! I know this is probably because Samuel being in school, so I hope that we are getting through it now, instead of later.

So, most of you know how much Samuel loves to dress-up and pretend to be super heroes. And he has acquired quite a collection over the past year and I thought what better thing to do than create a slideshow just of his costumes!! Enjoy...

Fall and Winter of 2009

I am finally done with school!! I just took my LAST final, and all I have left is my student teaching in the fall. I will be at China Grove Elementary in a fourth grade class. I got the boys enrolled at South Rowan Academy which is right down the road from the school, and my cooperating teacher has her boys there as well. It is Christian daycare/preschool, and I am really looking forward to them going there. It will definitely be a deciding factor as to how quickly I begin teaching school. I have thought about pursuing other options until it was time for Samuel to start kindergarten which won't be until 2012. So much has happened since my last posts, but here is a brief catchup as to how the boys have grown...

Here are some random pictures from the end of 2009:

Here are some pictures from Christmas:

Earlier in December, we went to Columbia for Lisa's big graduation... Officially DR. LISA YOUNG!!!!!

The day of her graduation, we got there just in time... Owen had been sick the night before and had a pretty high fever along with being completely miserable. I got him into the doctor that morning and he was diagnosed with pneumonia! I asked her if he would ok to still go to Columbia and she said he would be ok, just keep him bundled up when outside. She gave us an antibiotic injection as well as oral ones to take for the next ten days, and we had to come back three days later for a follow up and things had already cleared up. Thankfully, we caught it early!

Samuel's Third Birthday - October 4, 2009

For Samuel's birthday my parents took us to the zoo. We had a lot of fun and Samuel actually walked the entire time!!! Talk about a surprise, I was ready to hear; someone to carry me! :) It was a beautiful day and not busy at all. He loved seeing all the animals and spending the day outside!

His big gift this year was a Spiderman bike, which he loves to ride, but didn't get to ride very much because it was getting too cold. It took him a while to not be "lazy" about peddling, but now he just goes and goes. I will be excited to see how much better he will be when we get it out again this Spring. We decided to have a joint birthday party with his cousin, Breyanna, who's birthday is September 30th (except she was turning 5). We had it at Rockwell Park and it turned out really well. I think almost everyone we invited made it and the kids had so much fun. And of course Samuel was showered with tons of gifts.

Halloween

So, the night before Halloween we took Samuel to TIger World for "Boo at the Zoo" which is a non-profit animal rescue facility right down the road form us (less than 5 minutes). They had it all decorated for Halloween and the kids got to walk around and get candy as they saw all of the animals. It was absolutely crazy how close you could be to these animals! While we were there two of the lions started to fight. It was amazing how loud the sound of their growls were. Then on Halloween we just went to downtown Faith and let Samuel Trick-or-Treat. He had a great time and got lots of candy!!

Time, time, I need more time...

So, I have been rethinking my family website and have decided to not renew our dot-mac account this year and instead publish our blog on a free website. I have been experimenting with the new Picasa app (hence the slide show to the left) and am in love with it's compatibility. So many things have happened in the past several months and school has been overwhelming just in the workload alone. I have class Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday nights until 7:45 and then usually work in the library until it closes at midnight and still never get everything done. The boys are growing up so fast and Samuel has been having a hard time with me being gone so much. the other day he tore up his coloring book and hid it under my bed (he very rarely does things like this) and when I found it and asked him about it he said "I mad because mommy goes to school." I felt my insides wrench with agony and wonder what am I doing? But, to be so close to finishing and stop now seems like a huge mistake. These are my last three classes!!!!
Anyways, I hope to at least blog a little more often now and with this Picasa business I plan on at least keeping more current photos of the boys up. Thanks everyone for taking the time to follow our family and go through life with us.
It certainly is a challenge sometimes, but well worth the fight therefore "I will run in such a way to receive the prize" the prize of my Heavenly Father looking at me and saying, "well done my good and faithful servant!"