A Year Down Yonder

I'm a Little Horse...

2012-01-10T18:30:00.000-08:00

Todd told the girls to pick up some trash on the floor beneath the kitchen table. They get down there and quite quickly gets off task. Always the pretenders, you hear Delaney whisper to Kaytlynn...

"Kaytlynn, I am a little horse and they call me, ummm, they call me, .....Phantom because I can be quite scary.

2012-01-10T18:29:00.001-08:00

Nursing Home visit...

2011-12-03T17:18:00.000-08:00

As a child, I loved going to this sad little nursing home in Porter. We would go for lots of reasons...with my mom and as a church. My favorite was handing out Halloween candy in our costumes.

The girls are in choir and they have visited a local nursing home twice to sing with the church children's choir. They love doing it.

Today, I took the girls to a nursing home in Conroe. Kaytlynn's violin teacher got her students together to perform for everyone. It was Kaytlynn's first time to perform before an audience. She played Angels We Have Heard On High. She was so nervous but did such a good job! I was so proud of her but more importantly, she was proud of herself! Kaytlynn has become so shy lately that you never know how she is going to respond, but she just glowed. I am so thankful we have been blessed enough to put her in violin! Hoping it pulls her out of her shell.

Delaney also got to play her piano for her first time in front of an audience. She played Silent Night. She is really starting to do a great job! Same as Kaytlynn...glad this will give her a chance to shine :-)

Kaytlynn's Humor...

2011-12-03T17:12:00.000-08:00

I hate the girls growing, but each year they grow more into who they will be. Kaytlynn...will be funny. She absolutely loves corny jokes! Her 2 newest that she loves to share.

"They need to come up with a new HAM. They can call it Abraham!

"What is a hip hop person's favorite city. TokYO. Get it....YO...I like Tokyo...hehehe"

Music Lessons...

2011-07-27T11:11:00.000-07:00

I have signed the girls up for music lessons. They are soooo excited. Kaytlynn has wanted to play the violin for a good year now and Delaney has wanted to play the piano. I have put it off for 2 reasons....a little bit because of money, but mainly, because I wanted to see if their desire would wear off. It didn't so they will start taking them at a place called 7 acre woods on Saturdays as soon as we get all of their books in that we have ordered.

The moment I knew I needed a violin, I called my friend Howie. He runs a music store in Porter and we were in choir together back in high school. He is the most talented musician I've ever known...playing anything that you can blow or strum. We went by his place and bought a 1/4 sized violin. Kaytlynn has thought it was the neatest thing since sliced bread!

Delaney and Kaytlynn outside Andrew's Music in Porter

Kaytlynn being fitted for the right size violin

Howie and Kaytlynn after our purchase! She was truly walking on sunshine!

Fancy Restaurants ...

2011-07-27T11:00:00.000-07:00

We don't take the girls out to eat often. They get really excited when life gets too busy and we go to Denny's for Kids Eat Free! Evidently, when my kids went to stay at my sister's house, they got to have the honor of going to CiCi's Pizza. For those of you that are not familiar with CiCi's Pizza, it is a buffet pizza joint where you get all you can eat bread, pizza, and dessert for 5 bucks. In other words...its a dive.

They had been asking us to take them all week. I had told the girls that I didn't know where a Cici's Pizza was and that was the truth...but I hadn't actually been looking for one either. My mom needed to go to Walgreen's for something and Delaney chose to go with her. Lo and Behold...CiCi's was practically right next door. Clueless Delaney found it...how she can find that and not her hair brush or shoes, Ill never know. But find it she did. She then preceded to tell us that we needed to go. That we could go to a Fancy place and eat Fancy food and have great time. So we did. Both girls had a great time while my mom and I chit chatted. Delaney ate 4 plates full of food! And to top it off, there was a balloonist there, so we left with a sword for Kaytlynn and a Butterfly for Delaney. Don't you just love how simple things delight children. I wish it did the same for me...Life would be so much easier!

We ate Fancy...cause that's how we roll :-)

I'm a Bad Blogger!

2011-07-27T10:50:00.000-07:00

I can not believe that I have not blogged in 3 months! I guess summer came and I got busy thinking of other things. I am going to try to not do this again...but who knows. I want to remember this part of my life so much because I enjoy where my kids are right now...but between homeschooling the girls, being a librarian, wife and mother...I get busy living it, rather than writing about it.

My mom just left after staying 5 days with us. That HAS to be a new record. She just got back from helping her sister, Aunt Barbara, out after having surgery on her neck.

It was a good visit...full of lots of swimming. My mom is WAYYY better at being nice than I am. I don't take them swimming near as often as I want to...mainly because I am sooo tired the next day. My mom takes them swimming every night whether we are at her house or mine, unless it rains. She says it makes her feel refreshed. I don't know what that is about, but I want some "refreshment" too.

The girls are also big into Go Fish right now. Except, when they don't have the card you are asking for they say "Gold Fish". So we played several games of Go Fish this past week.

Kaytlynn's First Pinewood Derby

2011-04-04T08:38:00.000-07:00

Kaytlynn is in AWANA at Spring Baptist and each year the T and T kids (ages 8-12) have a Pinewood Derby race. The kids are basically given a block of wood, 4 separate wheels and told to shape it into a car. You hope in the end that your car either makes it first to the finish line, looks really good, or both :-) Kaytlynn is really into Star Wars, so that is the theme she used for her car. Todd searched all over the internet and I grabbed a few books on the cars for ideas. She did everything herself that she possibly could....right down to using the drill! Todds dad used his saw to cut it in the shape she chose. For design she chose black with sparkly glitter. She cut out her favorite star wars pictures and adhered them, and the end result looked really good. She competed against about 40 cars. There are 4 lanes on the ramp and they give your car a turn on each lane...she won all 4 heats! Then the top 4 cars race again and she won that too. We have been calling her speed racer ever since. She was able to bring Kayla Green to the race and Delaney, Kaytlynn and Kayla were so excited with each race that they would hold hands, scream and jump up and down. It was a great night. I think Kaytlynn's favorite thing about it was that she received her 1st trophy and she is quick to tell people that too! Love my baby girl and so proud of and for her.

Delaney's Daughters...

2011-04-03T19:10:00.000-07:00

When Delaney was little she would tell people she was going to have a pink baby and her name would be Cocoa Calypso.

Delaney has grown and matured. Now she knows that she isn't pregnant yet...but that she will be one day. She knows she won't have a pink baby and she knows Cocoa Calypso is not a great name. She chose 2 much more appropriate names for when she has 2 daughters. Betty White and Josephina.

Here is to hoping for a very open minded future husband.

Mexican Delaney...

2011-04-03T19:05:00.000-07:00

Delaney has decided she wants to be a Mexican when she gets older. I tried to explain what a Mexican was; she didn't get it :-) I asked if she knew any Mexicans. The obvious ones would be Mrs. Carmen or Chris Gonzales, but no. She chose Mrs. Kim. Blue eyed, strawberry red haired, Irish skinned Kimmie.

Each day she asks if her outfit looks Mexican, she lives on tortillas, and now wants the American Girl doll Josephina.

Its one of those times where the age old Motto "you can be ANYTHING you want to be" just ISN'T true.

Spring Break...San Antonio

2011-04-03T18:40:00.004-07:00

For Spring Break we headed over to San Antonio. Todd took the week off, so it really was a nice little vacation. We stayed with Cousin Buddy and Nancy. They have a house that is less than 30 minutes from Fiesta Texas, Sea World and most other S.A. attractions, so its free and convenient. Their pool is larger than most the ones at most hotels isn't bad in the kids eyes either!

The first night there we played spades. We always try to play a few games when we go to visit. They play with domino cards. Ive never seen them anywhere but there, but they work out quite nicely with Buddy's shaking hands. I am not used to using them...and I set them up to far from the edge, so that the people on my left and right have a perfect view of my hand.

We took the girls to Natural Bridge Caverns. They had never been to the cave and it had been a good 20 years since I had. It is as cool as I remember it. We enjoyed looking at the stalagmites and stalactites. ...A cool way to remember which is which...a stalagmite MIGHT reach the ceiling. A stalactite has to hold on TIGHT to the ceiling or it will fall.

We went to Fiesta Texas the next 2 evenings. We like to go in the evenings because it is cooler, less crowded and is so pretty with all the lights. The girls favorite ride is still the swings. It seems like yesterday that they were babies on the swings and they would go to sleep riding it! They also really enjoyed the musical shows. I am sure we will go back a couple more times because we bought season passes.

The girls also wanted to go eat at the Magic Time Machine. We had Ace Ventura as our waiter and he did an EXCELLENT job. The food and fun there is hard to beat.

Kaytlynn and Delaney felt the need to swim twice while we were there too. The water was in the 50s, so they didn't last that long, but had a ball while we were there.

Todd did some honey-dos around the house, and I am so grateful that he was willing and able to do them. Most guys wouldn't find it alluring to replace lights, fix doors, and put stuff up in the attic on their precious vacation time, but he did it with a smile and they truly appreciated the jobs being done.

We got home and needed a vacation from our vacation, but it was definitely worth it.

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The Office

2010-12-22T18:11:00.000-08:00

Todd and I don't get a chance to watch a lot of adult television, but we usually have "a show" that we watch together. Right now, it is The Office. Its been on for 7 years but we are just getting around to watching it. We stream it through Netflix, so I don't even know if its on cable or regular TV, but It. IS. HILARIOUS. It also happens to be a bit irreverent, so it is definitely not for everyone. Todd and I actually have to rewind and watch scenes over again because we can't hear it, due to the fact we are laughing too hard. Good Times!

Christmastime at Our Home...

2010-12-07T09:31:00.000-08:00

We are officially starting to enjoy the Christmas Season. Todd has our lights on the house, the reindeer in the yard and we have the Dicken's Villiage pieces throughout our living room. The girls are definitely getting bigger. It surprises me, but it is still fun. They ask to go outside constantly to "pet the reindeer" and I let them...but there is a nagging suspicion that the question they are really asking is...Can I not do school work right now? Wink wink. I have even wrapped 80% of our gift...Yay for me (too often I wait till Dec. 23 and 24th!!!

We drove through the neighborhood last night to enjoy the lights on the houses. Its quite funny to see Delaney because she is appalled when people don't have lights outside. Why don't they believe in Jesus, she asks!!! Such a dramatic stinker, she is. We have loaded lots of Christmas music onto the Ipod and the girls occasionally whip out the Karaoke machine to sing and spread Christmas Cheer...decked out in formal wear, of course :-) And we are trying to watch a Christmas movie as a family each night. We all love this!

We aren't all the way ready though...We still need to decorate our trees and I have a few more presents to wrap. I also plan to start reading a book about Advent with the girls...but haven't begun it because it hasn't arrived from Christmas yet. We haven't made our Christmas cards yet...even though I am DETERMINED to do them this year!!! And the girls haven't OFFICIALLY written their letters to Santa yet...though I am sure it will be filled with American Girl this, and American Girl that!

I'm not stressed over what has been done though...which is quite unlike the regular Judy Northrup...I'm just trying to savor it...even the to-do lists. I am trying to look at the list in an anticipatory way. And I am enjoying it. Its months like these, I really wish that time would freeze.

Merry Chrstmas Season everyone. May it be filled with Love and Friends and Family and Focus on what this time of year is all about.

Kindle...

2010-11-18T18:39:00.000-08:00

Things don't make us happy...Its a saying that is quite popular. And I know that on a foundational level, its very true...but ya know what? Sometimes "things" DO make me happy :-) Right now...just knowing my brand spanking new kindle is on its way to my house warms the cockles of my heart.

I'm cheap. That's not a surprise to anyone reading this blog. So I have watched the kindle quite closely for a while. I waited for it to drop in price...starting around 3 years ago. It dropped from 300 to 189...and this year they came out with the NON- 3G one for 139. I still didn't get it. But a couple of days ago, I was looking at a new author on Amazon.com that I had heard good things about. Her name is E. Nesbit. She was an early 20th century author that wrote The Railway Children, The 5 Children and It, The Phoenix and the Carpet, and many many more. Well, from what my friends said on the Five in a Row board, I knew that I was going to love them and want to read them to my kids and my school library didn't have them. They were 4.99 - 10.00 ea. in paperback form, which is COMPLETELY REASONABLE...BUT they also had 16 pieces of her work...all the titles that I wanted, plus more...for .99!!! I researched further...they had other books I had been planning on getting for the girls for this price or for free...all the Wizard of Oz books, All the Anne of Green Gables books, all the Peter Pan books. So it would actually pay for itself...and rather quickly. So since I'm all about spending money if its going to save me money...I hit the purchase button and I am anxiously awaiting its arrival. I even bought a great little leather case for it that has a light for it. I'll post later what I think of it!

The Sound of Music

2010-11-06T11:13:00.000-07:00

When I was little there were no VCRs or DVD players. You looked forward to your most favorite shows being played on the TV once a year. We would watch Romeo and Juliet on Valentines Day, The Wizard of Oz whenever it came on, and just before Christmas we would watch The Sound of Music. It happens to be my father's favorite movie of all time (even though he hates musicals), so we were pretty much guaranteed the opportunity to see this amazing film. The Christmas of 1985 we woke up to our very first VCR and my dad had been smart enough to tape it off of the television before Santa left it in front of the tree so we watched it over and over and over again :-)

This past week I had the pleasure of watching The Sound of Music with the girls. They were mesmerized by it. Kaytlynn's favorite part of the movie was the So Long, Farewell song...especially the part that they kicked each ones rear end, sending them off to bed!!! Delaney's favorite part was them escaping! My happy ending girl.

It really is wonderful being able to pass traditions on to your children. To watch them enjoy what you enjoyed and to see them giggle in delight when you explain, you too, were once 8 and danced around YOUR living room to I am 16 Going on 17...

I. AM. SO. Blessed.

Read Alouds...

2010-11-01T18:57:00.002-07:00

It amazes me how much read aloud time has changed lately. We have been really enjoying this time together...even more than usual. The girls are starting to enjoy chapter stories that AREN'T easy readers and it has been such a pleasure to enjoy these quality books.

It is easy to find age appropriate, high quality picture books. They surround us in our home. Finding an AGE APPROPRIATE high quality chapter book is another thing altogether. Its not that they aren't there...but I do have to stop and actually "think" about it for a second.

Some that I have in mind for the rest of the year...and some you might want to try with yours at home if you are looking for some ideas...

1.

2.
3. 4.

5.
5.

6.

6.
So that's my not-so-distant future list. What else would you recommend? Do you have any experience with any of these? I'm sure you noticed that all of them, except Edward Tulane are not exactly new...I don't know why that is ...other than the fact that right now, Kaytlynn has been in love with some oldies. Oldies like Madeline, Katy and the Big Snow, and of course, her favorite Peter Rabbit. I guess it has put me in the mood to enjoy some antiquities right there beside her.

Budding Artists or Naughty Girls?

2010-10-30T05:18:00.000-07:00

My mother and father had been in their house less than a year. The walls were a bit plain, so Kaytlynn and Emily decided to spruce their office wall up a bit. I tried to talk my mother into framing it with molding for "posterity sake", but she wouldn't go for it. I STILL think it would have been a great idea...Who wouldn't have laughed at that!

My Paternal Grandfather's Graduation Invitation...

2010-10-30T04:34:00.000-07:00

I found this in my pictures. Memaw (my maternal grandmother) went with my parents and I to see my dad's sister in Wharton. Aunt Beth brought this out to see, so I took a picture of it. I love that I have it...even if its just a picture. Between the devastating hurricane that flooded my parents town of Freeport/Oyster Creek and the fact that my father's family were stow-aways on a boat from Germany...we don't have much, as far as memorabilia goes.

Water Baby

2010-10-30T04:09:00.000-07:00

This is Kaytlynn's first time in a pool. We were at my friend Jeanne-Marie's house. Jeanne-Marie gave birth to her son the day before I had Kaytlynn. We've always joked that they have been betrothed since we found out that they were a boy and a girl from our sonograms!...This is also the first time she went skinny dipping because I distinctly remember his father coming through the back gate asking..."are they naked in the pool?" Why Yes. Yes they are.

A Strange Family Tradition...

2010-10-30T03:52:00.000-07:00

My sister Lisa, my niece Emily, My grandmother Margaret (Memaw, or Mother T), My daughter Kaytlynn, My mother Kay)

We all have strange family traditions. Ours is this strange hat. Strange in a good way....it makes me smile every time I think of it.

We have this hat that was at my Grandmothers. I can't remember whose it was originally. I will have to ask my mother. It was kept in Memaw's dresser...bottom middle drawer forever. It's a dark chocolate hat of yarn with several large yarn "balls" coming off of both sides of the hat. I believe there is a picture of both Bell girls, and the grandkids in the hat. I just found the one of Kaytlnn in it! I wanted to post, not only share with family now...but so that it is in an easy to reference place in the future as well.

This is in December 2002, I believe.

January Joker

2010-10-29T20:49:00.000-07:00

Today Kaytlynn finished reading January Joker by Ron Roy. It is the first chapter book that she has read from beginning to end without ANY assistance from an adult. She is really proud of herself...but not as proud as I am!

She liked it quite a bit. It was a mystery and she had solved "who dunnit" by the middle of a book!

This milestone made me want to ask her what her top 5 books were...in order. Her answers...

1. A-Z Mysteries series by Ron Roy

2. Calendar Mysteries by Ron Roy (shown on top right)

3. Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter

4. Magic Treehouse by Mary Pope Osborne

5. Junie B. Jones by Barbara Park

Ill have to continue asking her what they are so that I can see how often they change.

Back from Fall Trip to Denton

2010-10-24T18:08:00.000-07:00

Todd was lucky enough to get 2 days off and we headed up to Denton to have a little family fun.

On Wednesday, we drove up after my Dr's appt. to check on my bronchitis and broken toes. All was well, but stuck with the boot for another 3 weeks. He says the pain should be pretty much gone by then too. That was nice to hear, but truthfully...the actual PAIN has been gone for a couple of days. Now its just a throbbing. We also stopped at the Conroe Outlet Mall for a little bit of shopping. We usually get the girls fall play clothes at Sam's, but Kaytlynn can't wear a 6x anymore (which happens to be the largest children's size they sell). We tried Osh Kosh B'gosh. We didn't know if they had bigger kids sizes...and they do!!! All the way up to size 12 if you were wondering! They also sell DECENT kids clothes, which happens to be a hard thing to find sometimes these days. They either have the low ride jeans that are wayyy too low. Or theirs writing on the rear end with words like SWEET, etc. It truly amazes me. Anyway...500 dollars later, we were done with fall shopping for the girls and on our way to Nana and Papa's. We got there at about 10:00. My mom was at work for her last night of the week and Papa had already gone to bed. He hits the hay at about 8:30 these days, which is something I NEVER thought that I would see.

Thursday, after my mom got up, both of the girls got their hair cut at my mom's hair place. It's called Curl Up and Dye...dontcha just LOVE that name??? We also went to Wal-Mart and picked up a few things.

Friday, we went to the same pumpkin patch that we go to every year. This millionaire in the area has a train and the track spans about 20 acres of his land. He opens it up each year for the month of October. You ride the train around part of his property and then the kids can spend as much time as they want on different Bounce "houses", play houses, see-saws, hay mazes,etc. The adults have nice logs and chairs to sit down on to "enjoy the view". They also have 2 covered areas with picnic tables so that you can enjoy hot dogs and drinks for a buck a piece. SOOO worth the 5 dollar entry fee! The girls had a GREAT time.

Saturday, our family and my parents went to Dallas Heritage Village. It is set in an AWFUL part of town, but totally worth the trip. They have taken about 30 different historic building from the North Texas area and recreated a village from 1900. It had a saloon (that sold root beer floats), a school (with teacher), several homes, a mercantile, a blacksmith (hard at work making nails, candle holders, wind chimes, etc., a train depot, hotel and more. All were fully furnished and a lot of fun to see. The girls wore the dresses my mom made for them for the Little House on the Prairie vacation.

They had a scavenger hunt for home schoolers to fill out that helped them pay attention to some of the important things. They got a candy stick if it was all filled out...so they wanted it all filled out!
The infamous blacksmith.
Not exactly the place I want to visit when I am sick. God has really allowed us to come a long way in a pretty short amount of time, if you ask me :-)

I fell in LOVE with this children's bed in the nursery of the old house.

This photo soooo fits my mother ! I told her that all she needed was a mint julip in her hand.

The girls loved being inside the Teepee. Up to 16 people slept in EACH ONE...YIKES.

Can you say lack of privacy? Really! What on earth did they discuss in here?

Pioneer Log Cabin. 22 people lived here during the "school" week.

We left Sunday morning and made it back to a disheveled home. It is now time to unpack, do the laundry, cook dinner, and get ready for the busy week ahead. It makes me wish I was sitting at my mom's table, eating her wonderful food, and talking about funny yester-years, rather than facing the yuckies of today :-)

Another Celebrated Dancing Bear

2010-10-15T16:28:00.000-07:00

We rowed Another Celebrated Dancing Bear over the last 2 weeks and it was truly a diamond in the rough. I just wasn't expecting it to be a huge hit.

The Books summary:
Set in Czarist Russia, Another Celebrated Dancing Bear is the story of a friendship between elegant Max, a famous dancer with the Moscow Circus, and simple Boris, who works at a local animal hospital. When Max learns of Boris's unhappiness with his job and envy of Max's fame, he resolves to teach his friend to dance. After many weeks of lessons and practice, Boris is able to join the Moscow Circus. Garrison's warm etchings printed in burnt-umber ink and highlighted with watercolor washes capture the setting and period, giving a flavor of antiquity. They help transport children to another place and time to experience some of the caring and sharing in the relationship of two rather special bears.

Some of the things we did...
1. We learned about the Russian culture with Russia ABCs by Ann Berge. The girls enjoyed it. It was easier than most ABC books, with just 3 - 5 sentences about each Russian "thing". For those of you not familiar with ABC books...
A is is for alphabet and tells a bit about their Cyrillic alphabet. B is for Ballet and discusses how the ballet is such a huge deal in their culture....all the way through Z

We talked about folk tales and I read The Firebird, which is probably the most popular Russian Folktale. I chose the one with Ginnady Spirin's illustrations, because he just might be the best there is!!! No one seems to be as elegant and detailed at children book illustrations. And he is a Russian artist, to boot!

We watched The Firebird ballet on youtube.com. It is done in 5 parts, so I thought I would watch it in Parts throughout the day, but the girls were mesmerized by it. They sat there the full 40 minutes...and then asked to watch another one! Great free entertainment! Here is the link to part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWRvhLrP3U8

We watched the Reading Rainbow episode Berlioz the Bear .
Summary:
While en route to play the town ball, Berlioz the bear and his fellow musicians' bandwagon gets stuck in a hole in the road. The surprise that saves the day is the strange buzzing in Berlioz's instrument. Also in this episode, host LeVar Burton takes a musical journey through the streets of NYC, and viewers go behind the scenes of the Boys' Choir of Harlem.

We learned about Matryoshka dolls or Nesting dolls and read The Littlest Matryoshka and the Magic Nesting Doll

We talked about occupations...Kaytlynn wants to be a Vet and Delaney wants to be a Doctor.

We learned about Bears, the circus, the geography of Russia and some of its landmarks. We learned the days of the week, and the months of the year. We learned about tea and etiquette. We "had tea" and learned about Samovars. We read an adorable Out of Print book titled How the Tsar Drinks Tea by Benjamin Elkin and illustrated by Anita Lobel (Arnold Lobel's wife)

We also learned about being a good host and friend. All of this out of one simple picture book! The girls also worked on a "lapbook" of another Celebrated Dancing Bear. When their books are finished I will attatch them for you to enjoy!

I Seriously Need Some Rest!

2010-10-15T16:14:00.000-07:00

So, I broke my toes on Saturday. On Tuesday after work, I go to bed really early. Ive been tired and for the first time this week, I feel congested. I chalk it up to allergies and take a Mucinex DM because I DON't NEED TO GET SICK. I wake up and can hardly breathe. I felt like death warmed over. Todd had already made a Dr.s appt.(for more pain killers) for me on Thursday but ended up bumping it up a day because I really felt lousy. Todd drops me off at school (because I can't drive with my foot in a boot) and comes to pick me up. The Dr. is checking my foot out. He decides to listen to my chest...without me complaining, he just hears me hacking. He looks at me and says "YOU SOUND TERRIBLE. You have bronchitis, and probably pneumonia."...Whoops. He gave me two shots...steriod and antibiotic, gives me a Rx for antibiotics, steriod, puffer, cough syrup, and more VICODIN (Yipee). I have another appt. for next week! Can you say weary? I was soooo happy to only have a 3 day work week this week! Its only been 2 days and I feel better all over...but still crappy. Hopefully my next post will not have anything to do with an ER visit or someone's body not working properly. Its been our life lately and I am really ready for that to be done!

Not a great October!

2010-10-15T15:50:00.000-07:00

So each year I go on a scrapbook retreat with some girls from my Sunday School class. We have a ball. We stayed at the Red Victorian in Galveston. Two bedrooms were converted into craft rooms, and two bedrooms were full of beds for us to bunk. I took Kelley Green and Kimmie Gonzales with me this trip. Kimmie's mom lives 25 minutes from Galveston, so we went to her mom's house the night before. I got to stay in her bedroom...which was just too cute because it was still full of all of her "stuff", mums from high school, books on the bookshelf from when she was a teenager, pics etc. LOVED it.

We left Kimmie's kids and car at her mom's and headed to the retreat. We arrived, unpacked and got to "scrappin". We stayed up late, so I slept in the next morning. I woke up to the sound of people eating breakfast. I thought...better get down there before you don't get fed. Out of the bed and down the stairs I went. Well, that night I was a little chilly (as always) so I wore socks. The stairs were wood, but were painted ...with slick oil high gloss paint. I slipped and before I could catch myself, my foot went to a point and then bent BACKWARDS. I kept my arm out so I was hitting the chair rail spindles the hole way down. It caused me not to flip...but, can I say Ow! Did I mention that this was an extremely long staircase. I skiied down on my toes and knees and sat at the bottom of the stairway trying to not pass out. I couldn't speak and I was so nautious. It was one of those severe pains that makes you want to vomit. After sitting there for a good 10 minutes, someone asked "Judy, are you alright"? They saw my feet at the bottom of the stairs. I replied "not really", but they thought I said "I'm okay". I waited another 3-5 minutes when a couple of the girls got up to check on me. I'm trying to feel my foot...knowing something is broken...just not knowing what! I finally felt my toes...and BINGO. The owner kept trying to apply ice on it while holding my foot and squeezing. I really and truly thought I was going to knock her to the ground because I would yelp and lay my head on the stairway in pain, she would apologize and then would DO IT AGAIN!!! Can you say idiot!

Kimmie took me to the emergency clinic in hope for drugs :-) I knew they couldn't do anything other than that, since it was my toe. I was worried they wouldn't give me anything good, since clinics don't like to give the good stuff out. They want you to "go see your primary physician". We get there and hobble to the window. The lady at the window asks what I was there for. I answer "narcotics". She looked startled, so Kimmie stepped in to say I had slipped down the stairs and broke my toe. The lady looks at me again and asks for my driver's liscence and insurance card. Hmmm, no insurance card either (wasn't looking to good, was it). I think quickly and call Todd. He fills the info out and we sit there for over an hour waiting to be seen.

They check me out, give me x-rays (evil rough x-ray woman) and said, Its broken. Duh! "Hand the drugs over" is what I wanted to stay. Instead they gave me a shot for the pain, and then a prescription and a foot boot! I was happy. We went back to the "retreat" and I cross stitched the rest of the time. We got back on Sunday night, and I was back at work on Monday.

I was thankful for the vicodin, thankful for the ibuprofen, and thankful to be home. What I was most thankful for, was having friends like Kimmie to drive me to the ER and try to entertain me in my hours of pain and Kelley who drove me home in my car, while I puked a good 10 times...all the while, acting like it didn't bother her.

God is there and provides through the good times and bad. He provided the weekend, the drugs, the friends, and the wonderful family to come home to. Todd and the girls have been really good trying to make sure I am comfortable this week. Love them!

Happy 8th Birthday Kaytlynn

2010-08-15T05:21:00.005-07:00

So its 7 in the morning...I went to bed at about 1 last night and I finally gave up sleeping well and got up. The thing that I am thinking of is time. I remember things taking so long when I was a child...it seemed like forever before the next Christmas, Easter, Birthday, school year. As I got older things seemed to move at a much more pleasing pace and then 8 years ago I gave birth to Kaytlynn and now, it seems to me, all I do is wish for time to go backwards or at least stand still so that I can enjoy the things in my life for just a little longer. Its not that I don't like who Kaytlynn is...its the exact opposite. Its that she is absolutely perfect and I don't want that moment to slip away.

Some things about Kaytlynn this year...
1. It was our first year to homeschool...and thank goodness she loves it! She is in love with Five in a Row and math is her favorite subject (although math is not her strongest subject...by far).
2. One of her favorite things to do is spend time with her cousins Jacob, Emily, and Gracie, her Nana and Papa, her Grandma and Grandpa and Buddy and Nancy. She is a people person...and I think she always will be.
3. She absolutely loves the song Saturday Night by the Bay City Rollers...she was evidently born too late, just like her momma.
4. She still loves all of the Barbie movies...Rapunzel, Swan Lake, The Nutcracker, Mariposa, The Twelve Dancing Princesses, The 3 Musketeers, etc. but she is starting to like other stuff too.
5. She loves dressing her barbies up and having fashion shows...
6. She loves to paint, or do just about any craft.
7. Her favorite snack is a packet of fruit snacks. Each night the girls can choose a small snack if they have had a good day and have eaten well. Their choices can be some halloween/Easter candy, ice cream, Popsicle, cookie, chips, etc. 9 times out of 10...she chooses a nasty gummy fruit snack!
8. Her favorite color is blue. Her color choice used to change from time to time, but blue has been her favorite this whole year. It might be the one she sticks with.
9. She is the bubbliest little girl I know...seriously. She can find ways to be happy pretty much all the time. She didn't get that from me, but I wish she did! She is hopelessly optimistic and I hope it stays that way.
10. She is one of the most spiritual children I have ever met...She is constantly reminding ME to pray when I'm nervous or scared or someone is sick. She loves church...her favorite thing to read is a book of small Bible stories...and not a day goes by that she doesn't speak of how wonderful and mighty God is and ask a question or 2 about Him.
11. One of her favorite things to do is listen to the music on my I-pod and dance around the living room to it with her sister.
12. She loves people...she is always concerned with people and wants them to be happy. A friend recently came over and she offered them a coke. They accepted. She went to go make the coke and when she presented it to Anne, she said..."just let me know when you need more coke, because I'm your coke getting girl". That is soooo her. She is definitely our Miss Congeniality!
13. This has been the year that she has become a big kid. I don't know how to say it other than that. She just doesn't look like a little girl anymore. You can now see glimpses of what she will look like when she gets older...her frame has changed, her face has matured a little...and sadly...her play has changed quite a bit...certain things are for "little kids" now.
14. She is wild about Webkinz, playing on the computer, and she recently received a hula hoop...and she is becoming quite the expert.
15. She loves gymnastics. She is flexible just like me...pulling her legs this way and that way with complete ease and enjoyment! She also doesn't have a lot of fear...which makes me a bit nervous :-)
16. She has gone from hating to read to in not being so bad. She LOVES being read to though. Peter Rabbit is still her favorite story. But Madeline runs a close second. She has also become quite fond of A-Z mysteries by Ron Roy and The Magic Tree House series by Mary Pope Osborne. She likes non-fiction books more than fiction. She is a factoid!
17. She is my little crier! Not when she gets hurt though...she completely sucks it up and moves on with injuries...its usually when she is sad at a circumstance for someone else or better yet, she will cry tears of joy for herself or other people. She walked into the living room the other day and she was crying. When I asked her why, she told me she was watching Dumbo and he finally got to see his mom. I comforted her, and later she was crying remembering how they made fun of him. It was a perfect example of how tender her heart can be! If we go visit family, she cries for a good hour in the car after we leave. Its not a boo-hoo cry...and she tries to stop, but her eyes are filled with water and she's very quiet as she thinks of those she loves that she will miss.

I hope that she continues down the path she is taking, because I can't imagine her becoming a better human being that I could be more proud of. She truly is an amazing person to me and it boggles my mind that I have been so blessed to have her. I hope God gives me the chance to live a long life with her to see just who she turns out to be!

Missouri...

2010-08-09T09:50:00.000-07:00

We drove a good 6 hours to Nixa, Missouri. We found a nice Super 8 to stay in and pretty much collapsed from exhaustion. The next day we went to Laura and Almanzo's home a few miles away in Mansfield, Missouri. This is the home that she lived in the last 40 years of her life. Almanzo built the house just for her...The kitchen is the first thing that you got to walk in and you see the little bitty countertops made just to suit her 4'11 stature! The day that she died her daughter had the house closed up...and had it ready for tours in just a few months...making sure everything was exactly the way it was the day she died. The calendar still hung on that day...the mail still on her kitchen table where she had read it...it was quite amazing.
1. Some things that were neat that you got to see...Almanzo died several years before she did. She missed him so that she slept in his bed...right next to his medicine bag...still filled with all his ointments...his Vicks, etc. kinda sweet and sad all in one.
2. You see all the things she bought from the Sears catalog and Montgomery Ward catalog...and it was quite a bit of stuff! She still had her Montgomery Ward Catalog in her bedroom...I wanted to see what she had circled or marked inside of it. She loved the luxury of being able to look at and buy all of those things...vs. shopping at the mercantile in Walnut Grove.
3. The house was built bit by bit. The last edition was not built by Almanzo and it was a parlor, tiny music room and tiny library. The parlor had a table built out of a tree trunk that Almanzo had built...it was beautiful. Also, he became interested in needlework in his later years...In the parlor you can see a couple of rugs and pillows he had embroidered. It was kinda funny to see this manly farmer do something so domestically focused. And he did a good job.
4. The land was almost 200 acres. Her daughter Rose was concerned about her parents living in such an old house..no a/c, no water, etc. That she had a house built for them on the land. Its made of stone that was collected from the area and has pecan floors, from trees right off of the land. They never really liked the house but moved into it to make her happy. 7 years later...they packed their stuff up and moved back to the little farm house. The floor plan was bought from...The Sears Catalog, of course.
5. They have a museum right next to the farm house. It was FULL of memorabilia from Laura's house and Rose's. It had tons of pictures, letters, articles of clothing, etc. Most importantly...it had Pa's fiddle...and Laura's favorite porcelain trinket. One day a year, Pa's fiddle is played for people to hear. That would be neat to see one day.

The girls dressed up in their "prairie dresses" that Nana made them. Everyone thought they looked adorable...including me! They bought lots of postcards of the place, since pictures are not allowed to be taken. Kaytlynn got a snow globe, Delaney bought a Christmas ornament and they both bought bonnets for their head. Ma was always getting on to Laura for not wearing her sun bonnet...claiming that they would be as brown as Indians. The girls think that is funny and joke about it all the time! After all the touring...the kids spent a good 30 minutes on the property just running around chasing one another. Kaytlynn found a limb that she used as a walking stick...she played like a little old lady the whole time and was quite the sad girl when she realized she had left it.

We decided to stay in Missouri another day...just to rest. The heat wiped us out and Nixa seemed to be a nice lazy town. We spent our evening at the pool watching the girls swim.

On a side note. The girls were able to see Amish people riding around in their horse and carriages for the first time. They loved it. They would wave at them and sometimes they would wave back. It made you wonder if they got tired of cars driving by looking at them like they were part of a carnival... But who can resist staring, ya know? It makes you kinda wonder what life would be like if you lived so simply. I bet they are happier due to so many fewer distractions in life...and I bet they have a better understanding of what is important.

Kansas

2010-07-06T03:24:00.000-07:00

We spent the night in Northern Oklahoma, but ended up only needing to drive 1 hour to our destination in Kansas. The drive in Kansas was very similar to Oklahoma. Its was not as clean and well maintained as Oklahoma, but still cleaner than Texas. It amazes me how you can drive for 45 minutes and not see more than 5 or 6 houses/businesses throughout KA and OK. And this isn't for 2 hours this is for the full 6. It is just full of COUNTRY...and is all just beautiful. There aren't a lot of trees, but the ones that are there, are gorgeous.

The only bad thing that has occured on our trip so far is Delaney has been car sick. She looks absolutely miserable. We have her wearing her wrist bands and holding her pink "throw up bucket" She drinks sprite and eats crackers and tries to sleep. I really do feel sorry for her because I have been there and done that too many times to count. Kaytlynn has done well so far.

We did find the prairie and it was certainly neat. We stayed for about 1.5 hours. Its a pretty small property of land. I realize that the definition of a prarie is a flat piece of land with not a lot of trees. But I think it strange that Texas is MUCH flatter than "the prairie...which is full of slight rolling hills. On the Ingalls property you are able to see a cabin that is similar to the one Laura's family lived in...it was AMAZINGLY tiny. It was maybe a 10 x 12 house. It as quite neat seeing what it looked like log by log with the clay filling in the spaces and seeing the iron nails poking through the ceiling. In the book Little House on the Praire you are able to see Pa build his little cabin...just he and Ma until Ma gets hurt, then Mr. Edwards helps out and even loans him the nails. I can't imagine. Laura and Mary's job was to pick up the nails that fell or that got bent, so that Pa could hammer them straight again so that he could use them...because they could never be wasted...just one more example of how spoiled and wasteful our society is.

We also go to go into the real post office...another extremely tiny building. It was probably a 8 x 6 building...and the customers area was only about about 3 x6....It had all the little mail boxes and little windows to go to for different purposes. It was all very neat. The kids liked playing with the little number locks for the mailboxes.

The last real building we saw was the schoolhouse. It was REALLY neat. It was a school house that was filled with things that you would see from the 1900s. One room, a piano and organ up front, a bell outside, the students desks were the wrought iron and wooden ones ... alot like the ones seen in the little house movies. The desks were really neat because they had little ones for the 5 year olds, small ones for the ones a little bigger...and then 2 larger sized desks....so it showed you just how small and large all the students were that studied in this room.

It had a book case of books, maps, small clothing articles and even some projects of what a student would have been doing in 1900.

In the very back, they had 2 interesting postings....one was of the salary of each teacher that had taught there at that school house from 1900 to about 1945. I think it started at about 20 dollars a month and gradually increased by about 5 dollars a month every year...until 1930...you could see when the depression hit because the salary started decreasing each year until about 1939.

Another posting was of rules for the teacher in 1900. The kids, and I thought it was hilarious that they expected some of these things from the teacher. Some of the ones that linger in my memory are: Teachers are not allowed to wear a dress any shorter than 2 inches from her ankle; Teachers are not allowed to get married during their contract; teachers are not allowed to go to the ice cream shoppes in town. Teachers must be in their home from 8 pm to 6 am unless given special permission by the school board. A teacher must NEVER, under any circumstances, dye her hair. There were many other rules, but this gives you a good idea!

2 other things that were neat on this property...You were able to see Pa's well. They had it boarded up but it was still quite neat to see that it was still there. Also...they had an outhouse for kids to see/sit in. My girls would not go inside it! Its like they thought the outhouse monster was going to get them. They finally stood inside for a pic once Brave Emily sat on the Potty for a picture!

They had a small farm house that had nothing to do with the Wilders and it was the gift shop. It was full of books, audio CDs, postcards, coloring books, bonnets, etc. My girls left with Laura bracelets. It has has charms of things from the book (a log cabin, Charolotte, her rag doll, Jack her bull dog, etc.) The girls loved them!

Off to Oklahoma...

2010-07-06T03:11:00.000-07:00

We drove 6 hours the first day on our trip and made it to Northern Oklahoma. I can't remember the town we stayed in. We stayed in a Super 8 Hotel. It had been recently been remodeled so I thought it was very nice. My sister is used to staying in hotels that you enter from the inside and that are much pricier, due to safety concerns. So she was laughing on her way inside because she just couldn't believe that she was about to pay to spend the night in this place. It was quite funny.

I've learned that my sister has become quite the safety concerned person...she used to get tickets for speeding about as often as people wash their hair...now she drives the speed limit, to about 3 miles per hour over it. She stays in nice hotels....and she passed the state sign, because it was too close to the road and was in a weeded area. Too unsafe. And last but certainly not least....She will NOT let me drive. She will talk about being tired...her arms hurting, being sleepy, being tired of driving...each time I will offer to drive...and she politely declines. It has gotten to be a joke between us. If you get sick, can I drive? NO. If you have an allergic reaction, may I drive? NO If you pass out can I drive? Well...you can drive us safely to the side of the road and then call 911 for them to come pick me up. Same answer for if she has a seizure. So...no driving for Judy. She says that she just knows I would end up in Hawaii...Its all quite funny.

Oklahoma is absolutely beautiful. Lots of slight rolling hills...very prairie like, and VERY clean. Everyone has seemed very nice and of course, the girls think it is the coolest thing that they are in their first NEW state! I told them that if we finish the trip as planned, they will have gone to more states than I have in 35 years of life.

Our Laura Ingalls Wilder Vacation

2010-07-05T20:21:00.000-07:00

So our plan is to go to many of Laura Ingalls Wilder homesites and also just visit a few interesting places that we will pass along the way. We plan on going to Kansas, which is where the "prarie" was. Then to Mansfield, Missouri. Burr Oak, Iowa, Pepin, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and De Smet, South Dekota. We really don't know if we will be gone 20 days or just 3 due to the kids not being able to handle the long road trip or someone getting car sick.

Getting ready for our vacation...

2010-07-05T20:08:00.000-07:00

So that we didn't have to eat out for every single meal on our 3 week long vacation...I chose to make a few things....Wow...lots of work. I've made 24 servings of my white bean chicken chili and another 15 servings of 10 bean sausage soup. The girls helped me bake 7 dozen no bake cookies and then came the packing.

Since we were going to be 6 in a mini-van....even a spacious mini-van, we had to really limit what we took. Something that made this a little difficult was that we would be in weather that would be in the 90s and weather in the 40s. So we decided on 3 short sets and 1 pair of blue jeans that they could wear over again 2 long sleeve tops and a waterproof coat. This meant we would have to wash clothes every few days...so I cheapy me, thought of filling up a water bottle with laundry detergent :-)

Each child was able to pack a small "carry on" filled with coloring books, colors, Leapster with cartridges, cards, etc. Then they chose a movie "portfolio" and filled it with 100 movies for their movie viewing pleasure. My awesome sister just bought 4 new headrests for her van that have individual TV screens in them. The front 2 can watch one movie, while the back 2 can watch something different, or they can all watch the same one! Pretty nifty, huh? She also bought a canvas car top that will hold our luggage!

It took DAYS to really sort everything, cook everything and then pack everything. It kinda blew my mind just how much thinking it took to prepare for a trip like this....but we didn't want to forget anything! It all ended up being a very tight....but perfect fit!

My Birthday Presents

2010-07-05T20:01:00.000-07:00

I turned 36 this past month. My mom always asks me what I want for my birthday and after thinking about it...I asked her to help me make my girls some pioneer dresses (think Little House on the Prairie) so that they could wear them on our trip. I bought the material, patterns, etc. and then cut it all out for her and she put it all together. They came out looking so darn cute! Both the girls loved it and its one of my favorite birthday presents ever. It gave me and the girls a great memory and something we can use now for playing dress up...and then when they get to small, we can fold them up and put it in our "remember when" box. I'm so blessed that God gave me my mommy and only dream and hope that my girls feel the same way about me when they are 36!

Happy Birthday...From a Terrible Mom

2010-06-25T12:02:00.000-07:00

Can I just say that sometimes I feel like deserve to be punished for my mother sins? Kaytlynn's birthday is in August. Delaney's is in January. They both JUST celebrated their birthdays...on my birthday this year. That's right...May 29th. Kaytlynn's birthday party continued to be postponed because my mom had to work, or my sister's kids were sick, or my dad had to work, or I had tutoring. Sometimes its very hard to get everyone in the family down to Houston on the same weekend. Well, before you know it...its Christmas! We planned on Delaney's to be in January but bad weather occurred. Then the kids got sick, then the gymnastics place she wanted it at was booked for a month...then TAKS season came. I must say, both children were as patient as Job and to make it up to Kaytlynn, I promised her a 24 hour sleep over with whoever she wanted! She was all over that. Delaney got an extra hour at the gym and we all settled on May 29th...not on my birthday on purpose...its just how it all came together. So on May 27th, my sister and her children came into town. On May 28th we started the party at 6:00...We had Kayla Green (my boss's daughter), Brenna Fricks (church friend), Lianna and Whitley Hunt (school friends) Jacob, Emily and Grace Nevin over for the fun. We let them make crafts and play on their new swing set their Daddy put together (with the help of my dad) and then we had hot dogs and moved on to cake. We opened presents and then the girls did more crafts and got into the finger nail polish. By abouta 9:15 Liana and Whitley went home and the rest stayed for movie and snack time. I think the snack time part was their favorite. We had 5 or more types of cola, candy, trail mix, etc. and let the girls just have carte blanche. They were COMPLETELY into this! By 12:30 they were all asleep on the living room floor. May 29th...they were up by 8:30 and ready for their breakfast of homemade waffles. My parents arrived EARLY that morning and everyone just did their own thing until 3:00 when we took all the girls to the Gymnasium...which is where Delaney's party began. They ran and jumped around like wild Indians for 2 hours, then we had snacks cake and presents. Thankfully, my children were very happy with their parties but I must say...I hope and will do my very best to ensure this never happens again. Its one of the many reasons I will be very happy to be working less this coming school year.

Crafts...

2010-06-25T11:48:00.000-07:00

My girls love doing crafts, whether it requires, fabric, glue, foam, stickers, colors, beads or paint. And the great thing is that I enjoy doing it with them. It has to be quick for Delaney to like it as much but its fun when you find something that you all like to do together.

Kaytlynn's slumber party was coming up back in May and she wanted a "snow" party. I found these adorable head bopper head bands. So we put them together, so that they could use them as the birthday party hats.

2010 Tomatoes

2010-06-25T11:41:00.000-07:00

Todd planted 8 tomato plants with the girls this year and to spice things up, he also added banana peppers.

Delaney's Graduation

2010-06-15T08:48:00.000-07:00

Most of you know that we started homeschooling this year. We have a large group of homeschooling families in the area that puts different things together for homeschool families. All the way from play dates, chess club, study groups, class parties for Valentines day etc. to graduation ceremonies. So thankful that my friend Dana got me to join. The girls have enjoyed the outings, meeting other homeschool families, etc.

We had practice the day before at the church in Magnolia. We all enjoyed a picnic on the grounds where I had the pleasure of meeting a new friend Anne. Anne came right to my table introduced herself and all 9 of her kids. Can you imagine. They were such a happy family and her only 2 daughters (so yes...7 boys) happily played with my two. We enjoyed their company so much that we invited them to our birthday party coming up!

The next day we celebrated graduation. It was a great ceremony. The kids sang 3 songs as a choir, then each parent was able to go on stage, call their child's name and say something to their child and then hand them a diploma. Delaney didn't show her usual nerves at all. She was sooo proud of herself. She smiled, sang louder than almost all of them and just shocked us all with her ability to stand in front of everyone on stage by herself and not hide behind me, like she usually does!

Kaytlynn at the Picnic

Delaney...the sun was in her eyes!
Delaney's show off table (Her Art project= tree mosaic, favorite toy= bluefadoodle Webkinz, pic of Delaney, and photo album of her life)

Playing with her tassel

Ethan and Delaney, school mate and best friend

Kaytlynn spinning her new pretty dress...she likes to watch the tiers of the dress fly.

Still spinning

Todd's parents came

Coming in to Pomp and Circumstance

I thought this was such a cute pic of Delaney's praying hands

Delaney singing loud and proud...They Sang Jesus Loves Me; Jesus Loves the Little Children; and John 3:16

Giving Delaney her diploma

So Proud

Balloon Release

Spring Cleaning...

2010-05-10T19:12:00.000-07:00

While sitting on our chair snuggling with Delaney while watching Little House, I spy her picking her nose. In my most shocked voice I tell her to stop picking her nose. She looks at me like I have a 3rd eye and in her most emphatic voice replies "I'm not picking my nose...I'm cleaning it".

Seussical The Musical

2010-05-01T08:36:00.000-07:00

Our wonderful neighbors have their wonderful children in the theatre program called CYT (Christian Youth Theater). Every season they put on a family friendly show at one of the local high schools and this Spring they did Seussical The Musical. I had never seen it before, but it was adorable. It combines several of the Seuss stories all into one. Our neighbors son was a Wild boy of sorts, and their daughter was the Sour Kangaroo's baby. The girls love to dress up, watch the show and eat junk from the concessions! This time, they even had face painting! They are "fancy birds"!

Round Up Sunday...

2010-04-29T14:49:00.000-07:00

Each year the church has something called "round up" Sunday. You are supposed to "round people up" and bring them to church. They also have the kids dress in western wear, have pony rides and jumping houses, and the adults enjoy Bar-B-Q. Those that know my girls, know that they LOVE cowboy boots...but did you know they also like to wear the whole kit and caboodle when the occasion calls for it!

ANN LIKES RED...

2010-04-29T12:13:00.000-07:00

Ann likes red.
Red! Red! Red!
A blue dress, Ann?
I like red said Ann.
Red! Red! Red!
"A red dress instead," said Ann.

These are the first lines to the first book I remember reading. Loved the book. I remembered Ann with her black braids. I remembered her smiling mother. The red dress, belt, shoes and hat she bought on her shopping adventure. I remembered the blue stars on the tag board cover...spine that separated because it was read so many times. And I remembered the title too. It was Bess' Red Dress. Bess likes red...well, its true. That is the exact title I REMEMBERED....which might be why I could NEVER find the darn book. I looked and looked on the internet...and each time it only ended in dissappointment.

Luckily, I'm using Five in a Row as my curriculum with the girls. Some of the books in FIAR have gone out of print. A publisher called Purple House Press republishes some of these lost treasures. I went to their website looking for a specific book, to see when it would be republished (Henry and the Cast Aways if you are wondering) and LO and BEHOLD...there was ANN...Not Bess...But ANN standing in front of a mirror in her black braids, red dress, red belt, her the stars were still in the background. I probably don't need to tell you that I couldn't press the buy button fast enough. It came just a few days later and I can't tell you the joy I had holding it reading it, sharing it with my girls, and then best of all, hearing my sweet Delaney reading it back to me! I am so thankful for FIAR. Im thankful of all the ideas that it has given me to experience with the girls and their education. I'm thankful for its ease and the way that it meshes so well with my philosophy. And now...look what treasure it led me too. Its amazing how God blesses you in big ways and small, and does it in ways you wouldn't have imagined.

P.S. If you love old children's literature and want to take a walk down memory lane, just go to http://purplehousepress.com/ Even if you aren't familiar with them...you won't be let down by these jewels. There is an absolute reason why these books have stood the test of time. And if you don't know where to start...Try Ann likes Red. And if you are beyond Dick and Jane books, try The Blueberry Pie Elf...but don't get it unless you are ready to make some blueberry pie! Its easy...Press buy and enjoy!

Libraries...

2010-04-29T11:26:00.000-07:00

This has been an unusual year. I started the year off setting up my library. Its been wonderful not being in rotation. I hated having 40 kids at a time and not having any time to help any of them individually. I even have their teachers in the library with me as well.

I think that is why I was so thrown when I heard they wanted to move all elementary librarians down to 1/2 time. 90% of the time I am the last teacher to leave the building...around 6:30 in the evening... and I leave a pile of work unfinished. All they see is that I check books in, check books out, and read books to the students. Who do they think creates the catalog of books, who organizes the catalog, who researches what books to buy, who creates the orders, who creates a barcode, prints it and puts it on the book exactly one inch from the top of the book, who creates the spine lable and puts it on the spine of a book exactly 1 1/2 inch from the bottom of the book, who puts mylar covers on hardback books, who tapes paperback books, who comes up with creative little displays to entice readers, who plans the lessons, who looks at what the teachers are teaching and makes sure the library can supplement that subject? The list goes on and on...and all of this has to be done OUTSIDE of school hours, because the students are there the other times.

So I am supposed to complete the same amount of work in 1/2 the time. Because not one person has said...Don't worry, you won't have to do ____ anymore. I think it is sad. I know its sappy but I truly believe that if a kid can read and has access to a library, they can learn to do ANYTHING they want to and if that isn't the 1st Amendment in the flesh, then I don't know what is.

You might wonder how it all happened. Well, the school district is in a recession, just like the rest of the country. So they gathered a list together and came up with a list of 10 ideas they could "do" in order to save the district money. We were number 4. LIBRARIES are the 4th least important thing to the district. No one is getting raises...fine with that. They are going to mow the school yards every 10 days, rather than every 7 days...I'm fine with that. They are not going to pay the math and language arts reps extra...fine with that, but good luck in finding someone willing to do the job for free. Libraries are number 4.

I suggested we move the a/c up 2 degrees in the warmer months...to 74 degrees and down 2 degrees in the winger months...to 70 degrees. It would allow people to "dress the weather", teach students to be more frugal in their own homes, be environmentally conscious AND save THOUSANDS of dollars at EVERY CAMPUS. I also thought that we should get rid of the Styrofoam lunch trays and plastic spork packages. Again, it would be more "green" and would save a lot of money. What did they say..."it doesn't save money because they would have to hire another person for dishes. SERIOUSLY??? I looked into these little spork packages. They have a napkin, a spoon and a fork with a nice wasteful plastic wrapper. An SISD emblem is on the wrapper as well. These packages cost .17 cents each. SERIOUSLY! We have 700 students and they virtually all get their lunch here. 87% of them get it for free or close to it. They can't hire someone for less than that savings...and lets not get into the Styrofoam treys.

It just goes to show you...books, literacy, and the ability to have access to both for free isn't as important as people in education would have you believe. Please pray for our libraries.

Kaytlynn and Animals...

2010-04-28T18:10:00.000-07:00

So we aren't Catholic, but I have a feeling that if we were, Kaytlynn would love St. Francis of Assisi. She has always loved animals. Not a day goes by that she doesn't ask for a dog. She has kept Snails, Ants, Slugs (she has a heart attack each morning that too many snails are on the sidewalk...afraid for their lives). Well, for Spring Break we went to San Antonio. On the way home, we stopped at The Snake Farm, which also has a small little zoo. And even better, a nice little petting zoo. There were brand new pigs...teeny tiny things...llama's, goats, a dog, a bunny, etc. walking all over the fenced in area. All were quite tame and ready for you to pet/hold/feed them. What does Kaytlynn become attached too? A Benny Hen...She wouldn't put the thing down. No one else could even catch the little thing, but she walked around with him for a good 20 minutes completely in love. Now...Delaney, she chose the duck...the one that sat in a huge puddle and wouldn't move. So I'm not going to say she is completely typical either :-)
Delaney smelling all the stinky turtles...She didn't want to spend much time in that room.

She's talented. she can hold her nose and be happy at the same time!

This is Kaytlynn's "Im a pacing Hyena" face. That Hyena paced back and forth the whole time we were there. He seemed a little Cra-za-zy. You have to be happy when feeding a llama!

Daddy and his girls...Notice the boots, did ya? Delaney wanted to hold this duck so badly! It was her very favorite.

Delaney trying to lure the duck out of the puddle with food...it didn't work. It was a content and stubborn duck...not unlike Delaney :-)

And this is the famous Hen!
Don't know why, but I love this pic of both of my girls!

Daydreaming with her hen! She truly thought it was the most beautiful, wonderful creature.

Todd Builds A House...

2010-04-28T17:54:00.001-07:00

Todd bought a play set for the backyard. The only drawback...you have to assemble it yourself. It will have a rock wall, sand box, slide, playhouse, picnic table, lookout deck, monkey bars and 3 swings on it, so I am already positive there will be many happy hours spent on it, but wow...the many hours to assemble it keep multiplying. My dad has even driven down from Dallas a couple of times to help. Here are some pics of what was finished a couple of weeks ago! I will post the completed product...when its finished...whenever that may be! I am so thankful that God blessed me with a man that wants to be a great dad and is willing to give up his time to do it!

Trying to figure out which way is up...it took them HOURS to just inventory the boxes...and yes, there were 2 pieces missing!

Peek-a-Boo! I love her missing teeth in this one!

Having a Ball in her new Home!
Searching For One Another!

Don't you enjoy performing show tunes in a play house in the air?

Two Little Birds...

2010-04-28T17:46:00.000-07:00

I found this adorable bird bath at Sam's and had to have it. The girls liked it so much they decided to pretend they were birds taking a bath in it (hence the reason they are stripped to nothing but underwear and a towel. I don't know if I had heard them giggle this much in weeks...it really entertained them. So forget toys, go buy your kids a bird bath.

Here Comes Peter Cotton Tail...

2010-04-28T17:27:00.001-07:00

Easter 2010...The girls woke up congested and stopped up and coughing like crazy, so we didn't go to church, which is absolutely awful. BUT, they did perk up for 5 minutes when they saw what the Easter Bunny left them. Their favorite thing was the sleep masks! I am so very thankful for my babies!

The Largest Slug in the World

2010-04-28T17:20:00.001-07:00

I don't know if this really is the largest slug in the world, but it has to be close, right? It showed up on our front door...literally...last week. It literally made me gag, but I mad Todd take a picture of it, because I knew it would fascinate Kaytlynn. It was probably a good thing she was off with my sister at the camp out, because I know it would have been adopted into our home if she had anything to say about it!

My Girls Know How to Milk Sympathy....

2010-04-28T17:03:00.000-07:00

My sister called me and asked if Delaney and Kaytlynn could go to Dinosaur State Park with them. I thought it would be a great experience for them, so I asked the girls, they got excited, and off they went.

I met my sister in Fairfield at a Texas Burger. My sister talked the girls into thinking that she had bought this HUGE old house...that looked like it had been vacant for the past 50 years. My girls didn't bat an eye...they were just impressed that it was so big and had such a nice porch and stairs....poor things.

The next day, my sister had all the kids in her minivan headed to camp, when she was rear-ended by another car. It was not a big wreck, but could have been really bad. She said it was so quiet in the van, that you could hear a pin drop. She turned around and said "Is everyone okay". She said the reply was all in chorus together...All at once they all grabbed their heads, their necks, their sides their stomachs and started MOANING and GROANING as loudly as they could..."OHHHH', OWWWWW, OUCH, ACCHHHH, UGHHHH" . The little stinkers!

Luckily no one was hurt...including the elderly passenger of the other car that was using an oxygen tank.

Delaney's Reading!

2010-04-14T07:13:00.000-07:00

What an amazing thing to watch your child grow into a reader. It is one of the only big girl activities that doesn't make me sad when I watch, but it does put me in awe!

Delaney is now reading simple text all on her own and does a wonderful job with it! Best of all, she LOVES it! Truly loves it. She is proud of herself and wants to show you just how smart she is.

Now...if we could just have 1/2 of this enthusiasm transfer over to Kaytlynn...She is way more excited about playing Webkinz and watching movies...I know, because she tells me so :-(...Little Stinker!

Order on the Porch!

2010-04-14T07:11:00.000-07:00

The girls last night kept saying Order on the Porch in a very authoritative voice. When I went to see what was going on...I realized they were trying to say Order in the Court...too funny!

Doesn't Everyone Come Home From Choir With...

2010-03-01T04:43:00.000-08:00

A Gecko.

Yes...she got a cup and caught this little bugger at church choir.
We did convince her to let it go when we discussed that she would have to feed it LIVE crickets and that the gecko would then KILL the cricket since it needed its protein. I know...Im bad, but we do still own 3 slugs and a snail. That HAS to count for something, right?

VOCABULARY WORD OF THE DAY ...DAZZLING

2010-02-27T17:36:00.001-08:00

We are going the Potato Patch tonight and Kaytlynn decided to get all dressed up...with GLITTER! Isn't she Dazzling?

Little House on the Prairie...

2010-02-20T18:32:00.000-08:00

Most of you know that we watch a Little House on the Prairie almost every night. We own all of the seasons and it is a way for us to let down from the busy day together. We are on season 6 and Mary miscarried in one episode, in another episode a boy died of appendicitis because his Daddy wanted him to be "healed" without a doctor, a man's wife died in the next one, and the last one we watched, Ma was excited to see her parents after years of separation...and her mom died on the train ride.

It got so Delaney started crying on every episode, so we have switched for a while to Road to Avonlea...it is a lot happier. I think it a cute show, but it doesn't compare to little house. Since we already call Delaney our little Emo child though (she LOVES sad songs, especially about death) we though it was time to take a breather.

I Miss My Family...

2010-02-20T18:25:00.000-08:00

Ya know...I get to see my family WAYYY more often than the average person that is 35. I got to see them for a week at Christmas, and my parents have visited two times since then. I am grateful for getting to see them as often as I do, but sometimes I just want to whine. My sister has been sick for the past 3 months, with few reprieves, my nephew had his tonsils removed, and I couldn't be there...and I just plain flat out miss them...even the ones that aren't sick.

It is one of the things I hate about society...you grow up, you move away, and you work...you aren't there for each other and you don't see your family members grow up or grow old the way you did when you stayed near one another or even on the same land.

I know that its life. It is what it is. But sometimes, I just wish we could just press the pause button on life and just breath deeply.

Kaytlynn Thinks About my Age...

2010-02-11T18:52:00.000-08:00

Todd and I were talking about something that happened with one of his customers. I told him that she must have been old...trying to excuse a computer mistake she had made.

Kaytlynn said "Mommy, you are not old are you? You have half of your life left."

I started laughing and she said what are you laughing about. I just told her that I was laughing about something that she would think was funny when she was 35.

She tried to smooth things over by saying "You aren't as old as Nana", "How old is she anyway".

I replied 65. "WOW...65...She was born 65 years ago...WOW!

Kaytlynn Wants to Be a Librarian...

2010-02-05T16:15:00.001-08:00

So, it is 6:15 at night and Todd has brought the girls up to the school so that I can work late. I take a break and read Mo Willems pigeon books, Leonardo the Terrible Monster, and Elephant and Piggie's Today I Will Fly...If you don't know Mo Willems...go straight to your nearest library or bookstore and check him out. He is one of my most favorite children's book authors.

Anyway, I finish reading and go back to work. Kaytlynn says, I want to be a librarian one day. I said "Really?, Why?"

And Kaytlynn replied quite simply..."because you don't have to do anything".

I think she has been hanging out and listening to my co-workers too long.

We Have New Pets...

2010-02-03T18:17:00.000-08:00

Last week, I went to the mail box and saw a brown package inside. I couldn't imagine what was in there. After guessing, I got it inside and opened it, and there was a small test tube full of ants! I had forgotten all about the ants we sent off for SEVERAL weeks ago. They were crawling all over the place, which was kind of disturbing to watch, because there was no room they were having to crawl all over each other.

I placed the tube in the refrigerator so that the ants would go to sleep and set the timer for 10 minutes so that I wouldn't forget about them and freeze them. I got them out of the refrigerator and I'll be, if those ants weren't all curled up like balls looking deader than dead. I really thought that I had killed them all, but emptied them in the gel ant farm...30 minutes later, they were all moving and grooving.

The girls got home from AWANAS to see them and they thought that it was just too cool. Katlynn has especially enjoyed watching them. She has a favorite and she named him Fred.

Kaytlynn Makes Parenting Look Easy...

2010-01-10T10:50:00.000-08:00

So we get home from church and I tell the girls not to change their clothes just yet because I wanted to take their picture in front of the Christmas tree before we take it down. They are always up for getting their pictures taken...they are so humble, you know!

The girls hair is in two braids like Laura on Little House on the Prairie or Pippi Longstocking (2 HUGE favorites at our house right now). The hair is coming out of the braids a little though, and so I say, "Come here and I will take your hair out of your braids and take a few pictures with your hair down."

Kaytlynn then said , "No, I like my hair up." Instead of snapping at her, I just put the camera down. She asked if I want to take more pictures, and I tell her that I don't want to....that I already have pictures of her with her braids.

I am sitting at the computer and Kaytlynn comes in with wet eyes, apologizing. I tell her that it is okay, it is just that I am not used to her telling me no, and that I know she didn't learn THAT at church today. She said, "No ma'am, I just wanted to do what I wanted to do. I am very sorry. I then go into the house not being picked up and when they complain, it just makes it hard on everyone. That EVERYONE, including them, enjoys having a clean house, and NO ONE is happy when mommy is unhappy from picking up after everyone or when she is in a messy house.

She says, "I am very sorry mommy. I am grounding myself from Webkinz and Ty.com because I spend entirely too much time on there, instead of helping around the house and doing what I am supposed to be doing." I hug her and tell her that it isn't necessary and that I forgive her, and love her and am so thankful she has such a sweet heart....and she truly does. She sat down and drew me a picture of her with her arms wide open and saying "I love you" all the while humming a happy little song to herself. She said she drew it because she knew it would make me happy!

We will see how long she lasts on her "grounding", but even if she messes up in 5 minutes, I know her heart is good and true and full of love for God and her family and just about anyone else she comes into contact with. And that is why I say she makes parenting look easy.

Dear Delaney,

2010-01-10T10:49:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday Delaney!

2010-01-08T09:54:00.000-08:00

Delaney turned 6 this week. It was a very simple birthday "celebration" because it was in the middle of the week that happened to be a very busy day. I put her to bed the night before reminding her that the next day was her birthday. She was smiling so VERY big and simply said shyly, but proudly, "I know".

I wake up a couple of hours before she does so I didn't get to wake her up saying Happy Birthday, which made me kind of sad, but left school a little bit early so that I could spend a little time with her before church. Her birthday was on Wednesday night and that is when she has AWANAS. When I got to Dana's house to pick her up, she ran to the door smiling from ear to ear. When they let me in I started singing to her and she just giggled and sang along. She sat with me for a few minutes, but then decided that she would much rather be playing on the Crenshaw's playset than be sitting with her mother, even if her mother was giving her all the attention.

This was the first week back to AWANAS since Christmas so the theme was BOUNCE BACK. They had all sorts of bounce houses and Bounce slides and such for the kids to play on, and I think Delaney thought that there were there just for her.

When she returned home, she asked where her cake was! I told her...I didn't make a cake for you. Then I pulled out a pan of cupcakes and she screamed "PUPCAKES". I let her blow 6 candles out and then we sang the song again while Kaytlynn got to blow them out...then she asked if she could do it again...so we sang again...letting her blow them out one more time! Then they got to put confetti icing on their "pupcakes" and then I let them choose sprinkles and put them on as well. I love their excitement for birthdays and will be so sad when it isn't such a big deal to them. She ate up every minute of the attention and the pupcake and we settled down for bed.

It was a simple yet wonderful day. I then went to the computer and something caught my attention. She now needed 2 hands...not just one...to show how old she is and that literally brought me to tears. I posted on facebook that it amazes me how the little things are what seems to hit me the hardest while watching my children grow independent from me. I am so blessed with the time that I have with her and I just don't want all of her wonder and childishness to go away.

Snow in Houston...

2009-12-14T16:05:00.000-08:00

So last year it snowed in Houston. A real snow. It snowed for maybe 4 hours and the kids ran around scooping it up with their hands, licking it off of unclean things, throwing snow, catching it on their eye lashes...you get the idea.

I told them to really enjoy it, because it probably wouldn't snow like that again when they were still kids. I had lived here for 35 years and have never seen it stick like that...

Well...They are probably thinking I'm a liar, because it snowed again. They closed school down at 11:00. I was home by 12:00...I ran in, got my camera and ran over to Dana's to take pics of the kids. They looked wonderful out there in her backyard...They were giggling, laughing, screaming, singing. An absolutely magical moment. Dana was knitting hats as quickly as she could, so that they would all have one...even though the girls had hats attached to jackets, she had Kaytlynn in one that had been knitted that day! Jeff was already home, and he made a coffee run and even bought me one! It was a caramel something and it was yummy! I brought Cocoa for the kids and Dana hauled out the marshmallows.

It snowed more this year than I have ever seen...even more than last year. The flurries would come in huge gusts where they were thick and everywhere in the air. The sad news is that it wouldn't stay cold enough for them to actually stick...so they just had a slushy mess on the ground to play with. We are lucky that they are kids, because this really didn't matter to them...it was as good of a snow day as any.

A Special Night...

2009-12-10T20:11:00.000-08:00

So the girls are playing dress up and strutting their stuff around the house. We try to get the girls to drink a little milk and lots of water and almost nothing else. Delaney comes into our kitchen in my high heels looking like a child streetwalker and says "May I have some cranberry juice please"....she pauses and then says "because it is a special night". I ask her what makes tonight special to her..."Because we are going to watch a new movie".

Its the little things that make it special for her...or is it just that she's a darn cute manipulator? Its okay. She got the watered down cranberry juice. She deserved it for making me smile, on not such a good day. Which is something she is very good at!

The Girls Try it Again...

2009-12-06T10:21:00.000-08:00

We went to Collin Green's birthday at Chuck E. Cheese's. Someone asked me if they had a good time and I replied...do you have to ask???? They had a ball, but while we were there Kayla invited the girls to spend the night. We allowed them to do so....wondering if dear Delaney would make it. She told us that she thought that she would...well, I texted Robbie and he said they were behaving wonderfully (YAY!!!). They took the girls to IHOP and watched the movie Elf. I texted him again at about 10:00 and this is what it looked like...

10:11 Me : Are they asleep? I'm seeing if Delaney is gonna make it?
10:12 Robbie: Not yet but working on it
10:15 Me: Would it be good for me to call adn say good night or make it worse?
10:27 Me Did you get my last message?

I wait a few minutes and try to call...no answer. I tell Todd I am getting worried. He giggles.
10:43 Me: Getting worried...is everything ok?
I call several times leaving a message...no answer
10:48 Me: R U there?

I tell Todd to get in the car...he of course takes a million years to get ready with his finger up his nose...I have to get my jacket...I have to get my shoes on....I have to go to the bathroom. I told Todd I was leaving him...I knew it was that he wasn't worried and thought I was being crazy....

He finally speeds up, I get the car started and call one last time ...no answer. But then Robbie calls back. I tell him we are on our way...he says "WHAT???" I tell him we've been worried...and he explains that he put his phone on vibrate, so that it wouldn't wake anyone, but that he was watching a movie with the girls and that he fell asleep accidentally. That Delaney was the only one up. I ask if he wants me to come get her...he said it was okay either way. I tell him to ask her and he hands the phone over to her. She says she can't go to sleep, so I continue down the road to go pick her up.

She at least didn't WANT to go home, but just couldn't go to sleep, so eventually we will get there! Right??? Thank you again Robbie, for watching the girls for us. We had a nice evening and I know that my girls did too. And you didn't even laugh at me for being a crazy mom!

Thanksgiving...

2009-12-06T09:55:00.000-08:00

We went to my in-laws house on Friday night. Kevin, Marcia, and Justin came down from Michigan. Marcella and Juliana were there and the girls played with them the whole time. We had Hamburgers, homemade chocolate chip , rice crispy treats.

We stayed home Saturday t(Todd worked), Sunday and Monday to clean and get a few Christmas things down. We drove up on Wed. morning to Corinth where my sister lives. We did nothing but play around.

We didn't have Thanksgiving on Thursday because my mom worked that day, But on Friday, we did. I made Cherry salad, candied yams, and brown and served Hawaiian rolls and that is it. They don't trust me with anything else, & I don't like all the pressure, so I am okay with that list! My sister did green beans, green bean casserole, and other veggies, my mother made the turkey and fruit salad, pumpkin pie and pecan pie.

It was all yummy! But the best part was just spending time together. We brought the Wii and it was used all week, but especially by Jacob and Todd. One night, Mother, Lisa and I played Mexican Train (domino game) and I do believe that this game is becoming some type of tradition with us as we have been playing it for about 2 years now. My parents have never been game players, but all of a sudden my mother has decided this is fun. The day before we left, we even got my dad to play bowling on the wii with us. This was a fun surprise! My mother likes to do this game as well.

We drove home late Sunday night. It was full of traffic and such, so it took us about 7 hours to get home...no fun, but well worth the week. To add to the drama, Kaytlynn got car sick from watching too many movies and threw up several times. It was of course in the middle of no where, so there was nothing to do, but we were luckily prepared with towels, bucket, and drinks, etc. so it wasn't as bad as it COULD have been, but still....not exactly a prime driving experience.

Micky Mouse Pee'ed on the House!

2009-11-07T10:10:00.000-08:00

Yep...it is officially the first crude rhyme that I have actually heard from my girls lips...and the winner is....DELANEY! That's right, not the oldest, or the boldest...The quiet stinker. She was saying it over and over again and I didn't know if I heard it correctly so I asked for yet another repeat and Kaytlynn was more than happy to clarify.

I made her call her Nana...she wouldn't tell her, so again, Kaytlynn had no problem "informing" Nana of the faux pas. Nana told her that we needed to keep our mouth clean and that maybe she needed to learn the Bible verse that she taught me when I was a little girl. Thank goodness it went right over her head that her mother had a potty mouth when she was a little girl :-) My mother had me reciting Ephesians 4:29 like the back of my hand. And so you don't have to look it up
"Let no unwholesome talk come out of thy mouth, but that which is good in building others up according to their needs".

She learned it from a friend. It makes you wonder whats next. I didn't dare laugh out loud like I wanted to do, but I am absolutely thrilled with glee that it wasn't something else and only making fun of a crude bodily function!

So if you have a little one that plays with mine and you hear them saying something about Micky Mouse urinating on something, then you know where they heard it. My apologies in advance :-)

Rainforest Cafe

2009-10-30T03:54:00.001-07:00

On our trip to the Riverwalk in San Antonio, we ended the day with an evening at The Rainforest Cafe. The dinner was good, the dessert was awesome, but the decor is what made it worth the money. We had never been and since we don't go out to eat very often, the girls were in amazement the whole time. If you have never been...the walls and ceiling are crawling with vines and trees and have animals like elephants, snakes, and butterflies here and there. About every 15 minutes, the place would get really dark, with audio of a thunderstorm. Every time you heard the lightening "strike" the lights would flash, the animals would start "squaking and trumpeting" and their bodies would move.

2009-10-21T05:10:00.000-07:00

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Our Table...

2009-10-21T04:08:00.000-07:00

We recieved our old table from Todd's parents when we got married 12 years ago. Mrs. Northrup and I went and chose material, I bought it and she covered it and made them look really nice. They are now going back to her house, because I got a new table. The girls, I think, are more in love with it than I am...but I do like it a lot. Very much my style. I don't know what I am going to think of having a wood top vs. a glass top...but boy that glass top was a pain to keep clean. Here is to hoping this one stays nice!

It's Good to Be King!

2009-10-21T03:40:00.000-07:00

That's right! I am getting a King Size bed! Wooo Hooo! I used to fight Todd on getting a TV in our bedroom...I wanted it to be a place of quiet for me to read! I finally relented a few years back and I love it. On most nights, all four of us hop in our bed for a family movie. Lately, we have been watching Little House on the Prairie. We bought all 10 seasons on DVD and watch one episode a night. We all love it! This will give us room to stretch out and be close, yet a little more comfortable.

It should be in here in 3 to 6 weeks!

Publish Post

We bought 2 of these!

I currently don't have a dresser, so my closet will be seeing some relief! Cant wait! I don't know why this chest looks miniature, but it is actually VERY large. 55"...but it looks so tiny in the pic that we had to double check.

My new earworm is It's Good to Be King by Tom Petty. I don't list him as one of my favorites when asked, but I really do like his stuff.

It's good to be king, if just for a while
To be there in velvet, yeah, to give 'em a smile
It's good to get high, and never come down
It's good to be king of your own little town

Yeah, the world would swing if I were king
Can I help it if I still dream time to time

It's good to be king and have your own way
Get a feeling of peace at the end of the day
And when your bulldog barks and your canary sings
You're out there with winners, yeah, it's good to be king

Do you know Zo?

2009-10-21T03:31:00.000-07:00

Meet my new present from Toddles. I had never heard of one of these things until my sister introduced it to me. She is always trying to educate me on ways to keep me healthy in ways that won't change my lifestyle in be ways...otherwise I just won't do it :-) She has amazed with facts that I never knew and with her ability to change her life and health quality. She was a COKE addict...now she just drinks a handful a year. She grinds her own wheat, makes her own bread and yogurt, drinks raw cow milk (which is YUMMO by the way), and the list goes on.

Well, I am going to be able to do one of the above now that I have purchased a Zojirushi bread machine, foundly known as Zo. It is a fancy bread machine that is fancy enough to use flour from a wheat grinder and makes nice 2 pound loaves. My sister has one...and we threw a loaf together in all of 5 minutes prep. time and it was Deliche!'

I can't wait to use it and smell the smell of warm bread cooking in the house!

Kaytybug Caught a Ladybug

2009-10-19T18:49:00.000-07:00

Kaylynn has recently been studying butterflies at school and she has caught insect fever. She loves them right now and was so excited when she found this ladybug that she wanted me to take her picture.

It's A Miracle...

2009-10-18T02:32:00.000-07:00

My mother has been really getting on to me for the past year because Kaytlynn hasn't been taught how to ride a bike without training wheels. I remember riding a bike without training wheels for the first time. I was at Sammy and Wanda Beene's house. I had spent the night in their attic, LITERALLY! (is there a more fun hideout?) I was 5 years old and my best friends Shannon and Holly were like sisters to me. Shannon was my age, Holly was a year younger, and we decided to go out and ride bikes. There was a problem...no training wheels. Mr. Sammy, for the life of him, could NOT believe that I didn't know how to ride a bike...he put me on it and off I went. No pushing me off, no running beside me...NADA. I was free as a bird. I'll never forget my mother pulling into the Jarrett Circle cul-de-sac...my mother, driving Daisy The Toyota Corolla, was smiling at us as we rode our bikes. I intentionally slowed down giving her a chance to see the 2 wheels and BEAMED at the fact that I was a big girl on a big bike. My mother smiled and opened her mouth in surprise. This unforgotten moment occurred 30 years ago. And the feelings attached to it is why I believe I remember it so well. To me, it was really a miraculous moment...A true miracle.

Kaytlynn is 7 years old...2 years older than I was, when I first rode without training wheels. I wanted her to not go through the falls, the scrapes, the bruises, the fear, so I put it off, and let her enjoy her bike with training wheels...and let the bike without them gather dust in the garage. Last weekend, my parents came down for a visit. I pulled onto Single Pine Ct and what did I see....My parents running around the cul-de-sac holding on to Kaytlynn...instructing her how to ride her bike. I was happy to see my parents doing this memorable thing with her. I was jealous and a little disappointed in myself, that I wasn't the person doing that with her. But most of all, I was scared. Scared that she would fall, be bruised, cut, scraped, and then never want to ride her bike again. She was soooo wobbley. I was actually surprised that she didn't take to it just as easily as I had 30 years ago. After a few more unsuccessful runs around the circle, Daddy decided the tire needed to be filled up...it had been sitting in the garage untouched for a year, ya know. I casually asked "Are you sure she is ready, she seemed very unbalanced." Without hesitation...but without meeting my eyes, my dad quietly, but firmly said, "she's past ready." While fixing the flat, my dad realized the brake was dragging the wheel the whole time she was riding it. He looked so frustrated saying "Poor kid, no wonder she couldn't do it.", and then to top that frustration...the tire popped. We took the girls bike gear off and Daddy went off to Wal-mart to buy a new tire for the bike. The rest of the weekend it rained so we never went back out to try it again.

Friday I didn't feel well so I took a nap. Kaytlynn comes in to my bedroom , smiling from ear to ear and asks me if I want to come see her ride her bike. I quickly get up and get dressed, not knowing what I was about to see. I go outside, Todd helps her up and gave her a little push and off she went. No one running beside her or guiding her. NADA. She was free as a bird. She went faster and faster, screaming with glee the whole time! Todd said that she literally did it on the first try...so there really was a problem with the brake. As soon as she started to ride she screamed over and over again "It's a Miracle. It's a Miracle" and then ran inside to get me.

"It's a miracle" she said again. And to her, it was. That same miraculous moment that I experienced 30 years ago, she experienced for herself...and to witness it...to witness my daughter doing this thing, accomplishing this small step and feeling so high with excitement and pride, was a miracle as well. We Both had a day we will never forget. Thank you God for miracles like that.

More of the San Antonio Riverwalk Vacation Day

2009-10-16T01:58:00.000-07:00

The girls first trip to the Alamo...they think 30 years is old...so they really didn't get it, but thought it was a pretty "building".

Don't we look like tourists here. All we need are hats and cameras. By the way, Kaytlynn wore those sunglasses most of the trip...even when indoors, she would pull them up on her head to use them as a headband. She thinks she is so big!

Do you see the boat? They intentionally made this building to look like a ship...sailing ahead. I'm not a big fan of architecture, but I thought this was really cool.

See the Gargoyles...kind of unusual for Texas buildings...

More ugly faces on the building...They were all put on this magnificent building to keep away bad spirits, negative energy, etc. The building cost a ton of money. They opened something like the day before the market crashed during the great depression. Isn't life ironic...and doesn't God have some rough lessons to teach us that we aren't in control of anything!

The boat tour was fun for the kids for about the first 5 minutes. The rest of the 45 minutes, they were hot and hungry!

The outdoor theater. Todd and I came here for 2 days after we got married. They were getting ready for a live nativity. I spotted a goat on the stairs and went to pet it. When I was about a foot away...the goat leaped away faster than a rabbit. Literally. Have you ever seen a goat leap and dart away? Come to find out, it wasn't a goat, it was a small reindeer...and they weren't very happy with me, because a reindeer was now on the loose in San Antonio...I wanted to look at everyone naively and say...Did I do that?

Stopping for a snack! They really did just enjoy hanging out.

'Fraid Not

2009-10-15T17:30:00.000-07:00

So I notice one of my pumpkins are missing from the fireplace mantle. I ask Todd what happened to it. He immediately asks the girls if they knew what happened to mommy's 3rd pumpkin. Kaytlynn is wide eyed and says NO Sir, I didn't touch her pumpkin. Stinker Delaney says "fraid not", and then purses her lips as if to say..."too dang bad for you". I'm embarressed to admit it, but it was one of the first times I saw myself in her!

Daddy, You're My Heroine

2009-10-15T17:22:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago, we were driving home from an evening at Grandma and Grandpa Northrup's house, when all of a sudden we hear Kaytlynn say "Daddy, you're my heroine." Todd and I froze. We went stiff and bug eyed. I then asked her to repeat herself and she did...loud and clear as a bell..."Daddy, you're heroine."

After a little bit of questioning, she correlated the word with the book Fancy Nancy, when Nancy learns that Sacagawea was a heroine...as in a FEMALE HERO.

Lots of giggles followed, and it just showed me in 2 things that I already knew. Kids really do learn a lot of new vocabulary words just through someone reading to them...AND...I have spent a lot of time from kids from the hood...cause I went directly to the drug!

A Fly in the Eye

2009-10-06T10:03:00.000-07:00

Delaney was running around the house a couple of days ago (she doesn't really know what walking is, unless she is in trouble). Suddenly she starts screaming. I am thinking she is just playing around until Todd calls for me. I tell him to bring her to me and he proceeds to tell me she is saying that there is a bug in her eye. I assume what most would...that a bug hit her and she freaked out.

I lay her on the tile with a pillow under her head, so that I can look at her eye to make sure that there is no evidence of actual damage...and so she will calm down. I'll be a monkey's uncle if I didn't find an ACTUAL FLY under her bottom eyelid. Half of the fly was going back behind her eyeball, but the other half is moving around as if to scream ...Help Me, I'm trapped! I'm scared to grab it. I don't want to scratch her eye or only get the half that is in front of the eyeball. I suck in, get the jitters out and try not to focus on the fact that there is an insect in my child's body moving around...and tell Todd to go get some eye drops. I think that maybe the drops will make the bug go to the corner of your eye, just like it does all the gunk in your eye each night. That sounds like a good idea, right?

WRONG...One drop and one blink later, the 100% of the bug goes behind her eyeball. I watched it with my own eyes in complete HORROR. I lie to Delaney and say..."all gone". She is happy, she doesn't feel it anymore, (thank you Lord.) I tell Todd to take her to the bedroom and put on a Saddle Club movie (her newest video fascination), while I call my mother Nurse Kay to ask whether I go to the ER and get laughed at or go to the ER because this is really serious. My dad answers to tell me that Nurse Kay is at work...figures. He tries to talk me into spraying a baby aspirator full of water into the corner of her eye to flush the bug out...but I know how much pressure that is going to take to get behind the eyeball and am scared I will hurt her. All of a sudden I hear a BLOODCURDLING scream...I hang up on my dad...literally and sprint to the back bedroom and find out the bug has now resurfaced and is again halfway behind and halfway in front of the eyeball. I go in with my finger and sweep all but a wing out!

She was sooo mad at that bug...we let her yell at it a little while and cuddled with her as we finished her movie. Isn't it crazy what happens to kids under the age of 10???

The San Antonio Boardwalk...

2009-10-03T16:45:00.000-07:00

They just finished throwing pennies in the fountain and making a wish. It is the first time the girls had heard of this...I guess we don't pass by many fountains!
My girls think they are stylin' with their sunglasses! Can ya tell?

The kids had a terrific time playing in this adorable little church!

As I posted earlier, we took the girl on our first week long vacation to San Antonio. We went with our neighbors, The Crenshaws. The first day we were there, we went to the boardwalk. The girls had a good time at some places, but I think they were still too little to love it. They got tired and hot...but its July in Texas.

Not Baptist...

2009-10-03T16:32:00.000-07:00

"Hey look MOMMA, I am magitating" is what Kaytlynn yelled on the alter of the church just before I snapped this picture!

She learned this from our neighbor Ethan and I laughed so hard that my side hurt!

They did think that the kneeling bench was cool in this church too. They had never seen one.

It actually reminded me of the first time that I saw kneeling benches on a pew. I can't even remember where I was because I was so little, but I actually thought they were a foot rest. I thought to myself "How convenient ...they have a little place to prop my feet up!"

What is that saying..."You can take the girl outta the country, but ya can't take the country outta the girl" :-)

Great info on a Few Ways to Save Money!

2009-09-19T09:56:00.000-07:00

This article talks about how companies market by making us use more...so that we can buy more. It touches shampoo, car oil, clothes detergeant, and baking soda!...but it also just reminds us, the buyer to ...beware!

http://www.divinecaroline.com/22155/80852-five-ways-companies-trick-us

I thought it was short, but interesting!

Happy Birthday Kaytlynn

2009-09-19T09:40:00.000-07:00

This post is a little late...She turned 7 on August 15th, and its a month past that date. Mommy is running behind again!

I was opening the new library, so the day before her birthday, on August 14, we were spending the day at my school as usual. I talked my boss into letting me, him and the secretary Peggy, get on the intercom of the entire school and sing Happy Birthday. Luckily, my friend Charlyn came by on a surprise visit, so she sang with us as well. I told Kaytlynn and Delaney to stay in the library because I had something to do in the office. 5 minutes later we were singing our hearts out and then sending her our birthday wishes over the speakers. When I went to go see her, she met us at the door with TEARS in her eyes and a HUGE smile on her face. She absolutely loved it. I actually think that it was the first time I had ever seen her with tears of joy...and I was so happy that I was part of that good feeling her heart.

Make Way For Ducklings FIAR...

2009-09-19T09:24:00.001-07:00

The next book that we read through Five in a Row is Make Way For Ducklings by Robert McCloskey.

We learned about Boston, Mass.

We looked at the Sculpture of the Ducks in the book...it is a bronze of Momma Duck, Daddy Duck and all of the baby Ducks.

We studied the differences between 1941, the Year MWFD was published, and 2009. We looked at the Pram vs. today's strollers; the cops clothing; men wearing hats; ladies all wearing dresses, children wearing hats; cars; the buildings, etc. The girls really liked talking about this.

We learned about ducks. We discussed their habitats, how they raise their babies, what they eat, etc. We watched a video on them and we also read Ducks Don't Get Wet...which is a Let's Learn About Book. Kaytlynn thinks she is so cool to know what a Drake is now (male duck). She also thinks its neat that she can tell whether or not a mallard is a boy or girl.

We went to feed ducks at my parents house. They have a pond in walking distance from their home and we went with cans of dog food. The ducks, turtles and large fish all love dog food!

The big vocabulary word in this book was MOLT. This one has stuck. Every time that Kaytlynn sees a feather, she tells me a bird must be molting :-)

It was a book that was fun...even though I was concerned that the girls might not enjoy it...due to the brown and white illustrations, but luckily I had no reason to be worried...they loved it

Delaney getting more dog food to feed the ducks!

This Turtle ate more than 50 pieces of dog food...I have never seen ANYTHING like it. They are usually full after 5 or 6 pieces. He was one hungry turtle...

The masses have come for their food.
Jacob 10, Nana 64, Gracie 4, Emily 7, Delaney 5, and Kaytlynn 6

Delaney and Kaytlynn...they like to get REALLY close to the water, but Kaytlynn has only fallen in once!

On our way to feed the ducks...with our Wal-Mart bags full of dog food!

How Cool is This?

2009-09-19T09:18:00.000-07:00

http://www.divinecaroline.com/33710/72200-colorful-deviled-eggs

FIVE IN A ROW

2009-09-12T05:49:00.000-07:00

For Kaytlynn and Delaney's language arts, science, and social studies I have chosen to do something called Five in a Row. Each week, I choose a book to read...five times in a row. If you know kids, they love familiarity, and my girls think they are so smart since they are building on knowledge they learned yesterday...rather than connecting with new characters, setting, problem, etc. each new school day.

On my blog, I will discuss some of the books we gone over and what we have learned in each of them. For your interest...if you are interested, but also for our memories. As we are creating a lot of them by learning in this manner!

The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter.
We learned about gardening and all the vegetables in Mr. McGregor's garden. We picked blackberries at my parents friend's farm.
We learned about different types of communities...the differences between cities, suburbs and the rural areas. We focused on rural areas, and what they look like.
We learned about chamomile tea. We had tea at tea time together (which the girls loved). We talked about how plants are used for medicinal purposes.
We learned about obedience. Why we should obey and what can happen when we don't. We learned about listening to people that have proven themselves to be people of good judgement...and spending time with those people...not people like Benjamin Bunny.
We learned about England, and some of its cities and landmarks. The girls can now sing Big Ben's tune and tell you all about the tower and clock. They know and recognize its flag.
We also spent time learning about Beatrix Potter...where she lived, why she wrote, what she wrote. We learned a little bit about the early to mid 1900's. We learned about her childhood and adult life. We also watched the movie Mrs. Potter with Renee Zellweger (wonderful movie and both girls have watched it again).
We spent time learning about rabbits. We looked at where they live, what they eat, etc. And then we talked about other books with rabbits in them. We read several, including The Velveteen Rabbit and watched the movie that went with it.
We studied Potter's art. The girls learned about the type of art she used...and the difference between animated vs. naturalism.

The girls loved this book and I am so glad that it was our very first book to ROW.

Long Time, No Blog

2009-09-10T03:20:00.000-07:00

It has been really busy around here. I am enjoying my days teaching at Eickenroht Elementary school. Robbie, my principal and friend, has been doing a terrific job. We are so used to 1200 kids walking the halls that it is like heaven dealing with under 600 students. I have sent my order off for the new books and they should arrive in a couple of weeks. I set up for bookfair this week and the kids will be able to purchase next week. We will see how it goes. My head feels like it is spinning in so many directions. My assistant isn't even able to be there because her son has the Swine Flu.

I have signed the girls up for AWANAS for the year. Kaytlynn is in her 2nd year of SPARKS. Delaney left CUBBIES behind and started SPARKS as well. Tonight was their first night and Delaney has been sooo excited about going. When she found out that Ethan Crenshaw was not in her class though, she kinda freaked. So I asked if they could move her. They had no problem doing so, but then she still started crying saying she wanted to be with me. I talked to her about doing the right thing, even if we didn't want to...hugged her, reassured her that I would come back for her in an hour, hugged her again...and then ran off to deliver Kaytlynn to her class. I walked back by about 5 minutes later and she was all happy and listening to story time. I feel so bad for her when her shyness kicks in. She can be a manipulating child, but not when she is like this. She really is scared of the unknown and I hope and pray that it gets better with age.

Were You Good Today?

2009-08-27T00:48:00.000-07:00

I picked Delaney up from Dana's yesterday and she met me at the door asking me "Mama, were you good today?" So cute! I found out later she probably asked me if I was good...because she hadn't been. Apparently, she feels the need to only work in about 5 - 10 minute spurts and wants to play for about an hour before starting a new activity. Dana jokingly said that She and Ethan were made to do Kindergarten together because they both have the attention spans of a peanut.

I can post this now, because today she didn't ask me if I was good today...and she got lots of brags from Ms. Dana for doing all her work in a more timely manner :-) I love my Darling Delaney.

New School Year...

2009-08-27T00:39:00.000-07:00

I dropped Delaney off at Dana's house 2 days ago for her first day at "school". They were going to get to go swimming so Delaney showed up prepared for that. When it got time to leave the back to school swimming event, Dana had them get dressed. She asked Delaney where her underwear was. Delaney just looked at her and reassured Dana that its okay...pulled her dress down and just went back to business as if nothing was wrong. Doesn't everyone skip wearing underwear while wearing a dress on their first day of school :-)

Kaytlynn had a good time at the party as well. Who wouldn't at a small mansion with a 3 level pool and a pebble brook that lead down to a large pond stocked with fish, surrounded by kids your age? Add hotdogs and you have a kids heaven on earth! Kaytlynn got on the top level, and without thinking twice did something fancy off what's called a "jumping rock" and landed about 5 ft. lower into the 2nd level. Dana said her eyes got big and asked Kaytlynn "what did you just do". Kaytlynn smiled and said "a flip". Dana then asked when she learned how to do that. Kaytlynn just smiled and said proudly "just now". She is always going to be my girl without fear.

School Fire Drill

2009-08-15T01:11:00.000-07:00

I've been taking the girls to school with me each day as I work to get the new library set up. It has been fun just spending time with them each day. They have fun playing with wikki stix, watching movies and most of all...pushing each other around on chairs with wheels...and yes, someone gets hurt everyday while they do that! But it is such a big room that I think those chairs are calling their names!

A couple of days ago, the fire alarm went off. The main system was reading that the fire was in room 801. Since it is a new building, no one knew where that room was, so that we could investigate. I'm getting the girls shoes on so that we can leave if necessary, and people are still saying they don't know where the room is. Kaytlynn, sort of repeating what she is hearing, asks where room 801 is. Delaney answered in a voice that sounded wayyyy tooo put out "I don't know where it is. NO ONE knows where it is....except God. He knows where it is, but He's not telling ANYBODY!

Too cute!

Our house update...

2009-08-13T09:49:00.001-07:00

I know that I need to update my blog with words of our family vacation, but I wanted to post pics of the vacation as I wrote about it...and since I can't reach the computer that has those photos on it...I will have to post about something out.

So I figured I would post about why I can't reach the computer!!! Our house is a complete MESS. I am soooo happy as to WHY its a mess...but still, it is quite aggravating. I never knew how stressful getting our house done would be. We started with our tile last Tuesday. They worked from 7:30 A M to about 7:30 PM everyday. They took Sunday off and they didn't get finished until last night...(Wednesday)...which means I had 6 strangers laying tile in my house for over a week. But it meant more than that...WE had to move everything...from room to room 3 TIMES....For example...we had to move the living room and kitchen into our dining room...for them to lay the tile...They did it...then we moved the refrigerator, table, couch, etc. back so that they could lay the tile in the dining room...Then we had to move all the original stuff back to the dining room, after the dining room dried, so that they could grout the kitchen, eating area, and living room. Then we had to move all the stuff back for good so that they could move the dining room.

Lets not forget that any shelf had to be emptied, so that they could move the book case, to tile underneath. It took Todd 1 1/2 days to box up all of our shelves in the house...

And the worst parts, you couldn't walk where they had tiled for 24 hours and you couldn't walk where they had grouted until the next morning....and the DUST...I have never seen so much dust. We can't really stay there too long because our eyes and noses and throats fill up with gunk. (Thank you again, Dana, for housing us.)

So you would think I would be happy that they were done. And I was...I went to sleep last night with a smile on my face as Scooba was scrubbing my kitchen floor. I told Todd to have a good day at work as I watched him leave...and about 20 minutes later, as I was about to walk out the door with the girls to go to work...2 men ring my doorbell...and they are there to do the sheet rock. I let them in and they start telling me "this was supposed to be cleaned out." This area needs to be cleaned too. I call Todd...he says "oh, I must have misunderstood". REALLY? So as he is driving home to fix this...The guys keep asking me when he is going to get there. I really could have curled up in a ball and started to cry....I won't even go into the girls not being able to find shoes or socks...because the house was a mess. Some things are better not dwelled upon. :-)

About to Go on a Vacation...

2009-07-25T15:30:00.000-07:00

Our family will be going on a vacation this coming week and we are quite excited about it. It has taken quite a while to "nail down" exactly what we are doing...and I still wouldn't say that they are nailed down "tight."

We planned on staying in a Comfort Inn hotel, but then I thought about going to see Buddy and Nancy Canady, our cousins, for a couple of days. They called today and asked us to stay the week instead, so that is what we are going to do. It will save us quite a bit of money AND we get to spend time with some great people. The last time we went to the Canady's the girls were 2 and 3 years old. Buddy was able to tell me stories about the Bell Family (my mom's paternal family), that even my mom didn't know about. I told them that I plan on bringing my pad and paper this time to take actual notes!

We plan on leaving Monday. We will go play at the Schlitterbaun in New Braunsfels on Tuesday. Wednesday we will go to Downtown San Antonio and just "be tourist". We think we might go to the mirror maze place and eat at the Rainforest Cafe, other than that, we will just see what we see.

Thursday we will go to Fiesta Texas. Its a Six Flags amusement park. The kids love amusement parks and have fun seeing all of the characters in costume and riding all the kiddie rides!

Friday we will go back to the Schlitterbaun.

Saturday we plan on going back to Fiesta Texas and Sunday we plan on going to the Natural Bridge Caverns and Wildlife ranch. We will then drive home...if our bodies will still be capable of doing so. It will be a busy vacation, but I the girls are still at that stage where the idea of relaxing for a vacation makes them wonder why we are stick in the muds. I'm just hoping my back and feet can stay as young as the kids want me to be!

One reason I am really excited about going is that we went to this same place as kids. My dad would rent out a condo called The Other Place. We would be able to walk out the back door with a tube and hop in the Guadalupe river for some floating fun. We would always go to the Schlitterbaun too. As well as the Alamo, the needle, the house of horns, the river walk, etc. The only thing we didn't do was go to Sea World. We DID drive there though. When my dad got out, he found out what it cost to get in and we got right back in the car and did something else that day. It really must have been a lot, because as frugal as my dad was, he usually didn't skimp on things like that. Its a funny memory...NOW.

Kaytlynn's Portrait of Me...

2009-07-19T16:43:00.000-07:00

She is very into choker necklaces right now, which explains the line going across my neck. I'm also pretty impressed with the triangle nose...how more accurate could THAT be?!!!

I Hate Spending Money...

2009-07-19T13:43:00.000-07:00

I woke up this morning wanting to buy a new outdoor freezer.

Actually I didn't. But I woke up wanting my old freezer to work and it didn't, so I went Todd went and bought us a new one. It was the condenser. That's right. I had to replace the car condenser and the house condenser in the same exact month. What are the chances of that???

We bought my old upright freezer used 8 years ago for $250, so it lasted us about 7 years. The new one is the same size, but being newer, will probably save us in energy. We bought it at Conn's after we wheeled and dealed with them for a couple of hours. We were able to get them to take 50 dollars off the sale price and half off of the delivery charge:-) It will be here tomorrow.

1200 in car repair...600 in a new freezer...How fun is that?

I'm thankful that we had the money to buy a new one. So that is how I am trying to look at it! In life, you never do really know what is right around the corner, do you!