June

The boys and I just got back from vacation -- see pictures attached. We went to Disneyland for 3 days then up to San Francisco for 4 days. We had a great time!!

K.C. just finished his Junior year and is looking for work to do this summer. Jack is 4 -- four and half if you ask him :) He is doing good.
I have been busy with classes, work, and everything that normally goes on!!

Can't wait to see you in a few weeks!!
Stacey

May 2011

I can't believe how fast the semester flew by!! It seems like we just started in January and now we are in May. I bet you can identify with that feeling. It won't be long until you are back in the good old U. S. of A.!! I can't wait to see you all SOON!


I have been busy with taking my last few classes to end my PhD coursework. I don't have any more classes to take. I have a few more projects to complete and of course the dissertation to write (those of you who have done the Master's Thesis know what I am looking forward to). I have recently passed the qualifying exams which puts me as a Doctoral Candidate. I passed three days of written exams and one day oral exams. That is one of the last hoops to jump thru before getting to the dissertation phase. So I am very excited!!


Jack is four (and let's everyone he sees know it). He wants four carrots for dinner, his bread cut into four pieces, he wants the fourth spot in line -- everything has to be about 4 -- because (as he says) "I am 4." He is loving preschool and has told me about his 'girlfriend.' You won't believe how smart he is and the sense of humor he has!!

KC is finishing his Junior year! Next year he graduates and we have started looking at colleges for him. He is busy with sports -- he finished swimming and is back into soccer. He has started his own side business mowing lawns for the neighbors and is looking for a summer job. He recently bought a little pick up truck and is pretty independent. He is a great son!! Believe it or not, he has grown even more since last summer.

We are looking forward to a scheduled vacation in California next month. We will be going to DisneyLand for three days and then to San Francisco for 3-4 days. If anyone has traveled to San Fran and has any suggestions as to what we should make sure to see, please let us know.

I hope your semester is going smoothly and plans to return are going well.
See you soon,
Stacey

Winter 2010-2011

Wow -- this has been a crazy busy winter!!
KC has been swimming and doing very well. He has also been looking at colleges and recently took the ACT. This is a nationwide test that is sort of like a college entrance exam. The scale ranges to 1-36 with most schools requiring a 22 to be admitted. He received a 27 and this qualifies him for scholarship to his current school of choice!! We went to visit Northern Michigan University and got a campus tour and visited with the majors he is interested in. It went really well. I can't believe he will be going away to school next year.

Jack is doing so well. He is getting so verbal and has a great sense of humor. He is just like me with his smart-ass sense of humor!! He is so independent and loves to spend time with his 'favorite brother' (as he constantly refers to KC).

I have been busy with classes and working at Wayne State. I have also been taking tests. For the PhD program I have to take qualifying exams. These are three days of writing pages and pages to answer questions that cover the whole program. From 9am - 4pm (with an hour lunch break)I was given question after question to answer. I have finished that part, now my advisors - a panel of four - read the answers and then we schedule oral exams for an hour to clarify anything I missed. That is next month. So I have been busy downloading my brain.
Larry and I are legally divorced now, so I have one less headache to deal with there. Things are going very well and I am glad my boys and I are moving forward.

I just received the summer information and am only able to teach one course this year. I will be teaching the intro course again, so unfortunately I won't be teaching any of your courses :( But we will still have to have you come over and have dinner.

Can't wait to see you soon!!
Stacey

October/November

We just got back from our Disney trip and I have had to go thru so much email and do so much work to catch, but it was worth it!!
In all there were 12 of us that went a a group -- Me, KC and Jack. I also brought my nephew, Brandon who is 14 and would be able to hang out with KC and do the thrill rides while I got to be with Jack. My mom, brother Drew, his wife Mauriah, and their child, Jonah - who is 2 also came with us. And my neighbors - husband, wife and two kids (ages 5 and 3) also came with us. We got down to Florida and got into our two rooms (My family and I had a two bedroom suite and the neighbors had a traditional hotel room) and we went to Magic Kingdom. When we got back for the night and I tried to sleep there was something wrong with the air conditioning. So after calling down to the office, getting someone to try to fix it that night and the next day, they upgraded all 12 of us to a Grande Villa which had three bedrooms, four bathrooms, and a full kitchen -- it was nicer than my house!! We had a great time and were able to share breakfasts together and talk about our days at the part since most of us didn't try to stay all together. My mom got to spend lots of time with her grandkids -- it was great.
Jack really enjoyed taking the pictures on the trip. He used my digital camera and probably took 300 pictures. Most are really good, some were not so good, and we have lots of pictures of his face (he liked to turn the camera upside down and take his own picture), the floor, random feet, and other things from a 3 year-olds perspective. ha ha ha
KC also had fun - he had a lot of freedom on the trip. I told him and Brandon to go to the parks and meet us later for lunch and dinner. Of course teenage boys don't want to miss a meal so they were there and we got to hear about the thrill rides. He got back to school and has been busy with making up homework and getting ready for college visits. Also attached is a picture from the Homecoming Dance. This is the fall celebration around visiting your former schools, football and fall. There is usually a parade (where KC played the bass drum in Marching Band), the football game at the high school (KC and Marching Band performed at halftime), and the dance (KC went with his girlfriend Ashley).
Everything else is going well. I am busy as usual, but getting closer and closer to getting done with my coursework. I have one class left that I just signed up for next term. I have been studying for Qualifying Exams which are in February. And will figure out my focus for the dissertation soon.
Can't wait to see you all again and hear what you have been up to.
Enjoy the pictures,
Stacey

September

Holy Cow! (a weird common phrase we Americans say)
I can't believe it has been a month since you were here. I hope you are all back safe and sound. I am sure you are busy with school starting again.
I have been busy with my new job. I am the Web Content Administrator for the Office for Teaching and Learning for Wayne State University (wow, that's a mouthful). What that basically means is that I keep up the web site (http://www.otl.wayne.edu/) and work with faculty with their teaching and learning needs. I do workshops and one-on-one consultations with instructors. I work there full time - 5 days a week, a regular 9-5 job. My co-workers are great and actually just came over for dinner last night.

K.C. is busy with soccer -- he practices 5 days a week and has games three nights a week. He is also playing bass drum in the marching band. He is doing well in school, he is taking an AP class. This is Advanced Placement -- high school credits can be counted towards college. They are more difficult classes, but I think he needs the push.

Jack is doing well. He is liking school -- it is very different from before, when he was doing only three days a week, but he will soon be in Kindergarten so it's good practice. He is becoming so social and verbal --- it is fun!!

We are getting ready for our trip to DisneyWorld in Florida in just about a month.

So all is good!!
I hope it is all good with you and can't wait to hear you updates!!
Stacey

June

Last month I was telling you about the landscaping project or what Jack was calling the gardening project. I finished it up and see the pictures below. Jack and I made the bricks and I painted them. Then we moved the rocks into the rest of the area. I think it turned out great. You will have to see it this summer.

Jack and I have been busy, rearranging furniture in the house, doing gardening projects, cleaning up the outside of the house, working on crafty projects, playing, and spending lots of time together.

I am still working on my class and doing a few side jobs. Busy as usual!! Thank goodness I will be about done with my class when you get here.

K.C. has finished school for the summer, but is busy with sports still. He has swim practice every afternoon, soccer practice every morning and band practice once a week on Tuesday nights. He is also looking for a job – he is still searching for a car he can afford. I told him he can’t get a car until he has a job. So he is looking.

I am getting ready and excited for you all to come here. I can’t wait to hear what is new with family, school, technology, and everything else.

See you VERY soon,
Stacey

May

We have had tons of rain and cold weather for the month of May. It has been unseasonably cold, but the weather is starting to change – we have had a few nice days in a row and we are all looking forward to the end of the school year in a better mood.

KC has less than a month left of school. He is done June 14th. Track will be done around that same time too. He has discovered that track is not his favorite sport but he is glad that he is learning to run better – he says it is good practice for soccer (which is his favorite sport). I was talking with a friend of mine yesterday and she mentioned that he will be done with high school and off to college in two years!! So hard to believe!!

Jack is spending more time with Mommy this month. We have been working on a gardening project at the house and he loves to ‘help mommy garden’ and ‘get garden tools’. It is so fun to do stuff with him. Since I am not working full time and the work I am doing is from the house, he is taking a few months off of daycare (which he calls his school) so we are having a fun mommy/jack summer!!

I am working from home teaching MET 6203 all online for my American students – it is kind of funny that I teach online for the American students and on Campus for the Taiwanese students – most of the time you would think it would be the opposite – but I am glad – I am so excited to see you all and hear how your year has been. I am also doing some work for a few other Universities with their online programs, just as a consultant, on a part time basis. Like I said last month I am also taking just one class right now, it is one of my last so it is very self directed and doing a practice for my dissertation – so somewhat similar to your capstone class. I am looking for a new full time job, so there is always something for me to do. Let alone all the gardening projects, home improvement projects, and other things around the house to do – this year I really want to put in flowers out front and find a small fragrant tree to plant outside Jack’s window. I was thinking a cherry tree – with the beautiful blossoms might be a good idea. So if my house looks like I am in the middle of a project when you come over this summer for dinner – it is!!

The pictures below are the whole family out to dinner for Mothers Day (Jack is sitting with my mom Suzie, my sister Becca is behind her with her son Xander and husband Aaron, my brother Drew is on the side with me behind his son Jonah, KC and me, and Mauriah Drew's wife is across from me) and of course a few cute pictures of my Jack, and me and my best friend from high school - Amanda.

I am looking forward to seeing you soon, just a few short months!!
Stacey