Busy weekend approaching...

Expect some mega-picture blogs this weekend. We are jam packed!

Friday--Hannah Montana concert at the movie theatre
Satuday--Macy's basketball game and Kaylin's birthday party.
Sunday--Super Bowl party with friends

Of course, I could have used a snow day today to prepare, but the meterologists tricked us into believing we'd have one.

Where do they learn these things?

Tonight Macy said she was going to ask the Easter Bunny for an iPod AND an mp3 player. What does a 6-year-old need with an iPod OR an mp3?

A little while later she said "Gillian is fashionable because she's a full-blooded turkey Indian, but Gillian said Chloe and me aren't fashionable because we're only half people and half Indian." I had no idea how to respond to that.

Edit: In talking with Gillian’s mom regarding something else, I learned that Gillian’s great-grandpa is a Cherokee Indian. Explains the turkey part, but still leaves other answers only known to a 6-year-old!

1-0

Macy's first basketball game was today. Their name is the Lil' Rhino's, and they played against the Lil' Kangaroos. (The names were picked for us.) Bobby and our good friend Jennifer are the coaches, mainly so our daughters Jessica and Macy can play on the same team.

This first picture is them walking out on the court. They did this whole introduction thing, with "Let's get ready to rumble" blaring out of the speakers as they introduced each player. Then, since it was the Upward program, a prayer was said before the game started.Guy should have used a microphone, though.



Bobby has been working them hard during practice on defense, and most of the players went around with their hands in the defensive position even on offense!! Here's Macy guarding her man.



This is Macy catching a pass to bring it inbounds.



And a continuation of that play--Macy dribbling up the court to the basket.



Here's how Kaylin and Madelyn (Jessica's little sister) entertained themselves: running around the track that was above the basketball court.



The Lil' Rhinos played fantastic. Soooo much better than in practice last Tuesday. 1st half was all Caroline: she kept stealing the ball and shooting and making a basket. Bobby and Jennifer talked with them at halftime about passing, and the second half they were much better at passing.

AND MACY MADE HER FIRST BASKET!!!! Of course, I don't have a picture of it, but that's ok. She was so proud of herself, and we all went crazy clapping for her. She made another excellent pass to Caroline later, who scored. Nice assist, Macy! A lot of the time Macy isn't aggressive when she's out playing soccer or basketball, so it was good to see her out there playing hard.

And now we're 1-0 (not that we kept score or anything.)

Every once in a while I have to schedule our newspaper deadline night on the night when Bobby is working at the fire station. I hate to do that, but due to the high school kids busy lives, or production schedules, I have to. Last night was such a time, and the girls spent the night with Mom and Dad.

I worked at the high school until about 9:30 with a fabulous group of kids, then headed home. It was very strange to come home to an empty house--just the hungry dogs to greet me. I was beat so I took a shower and went to bed. I thought, "How nice to not have to make lunches, lay out clothes for the next day, or send a child back to bed for the tenth time." I slept like a rock, and woke when the alarm went off without a child in bed with me. Since I didn't have to get Kaylin ready, I slept another 15 minutes. As I was leaving, I thought, "How nice not to have to fight Kaylin to get dressed and get her in the car."

Then as I was driving to school, again enjoying the quiet (for those of you who have been reading my blog, you know Kaylin is pretty grumpy in the car in the mornings)and I hear a new song by Trace Adkins, "You're going to miss this." The chorus goes:


You're gonna miss this
You're gonna want this back
You're gonna wish these days hadn't gone by so fast
These are some good times
So take a good look around
You may not know it now
But you're gonna miss this

Then I felt pretty selfish for enjoying a quiet night and morning, and thinking of the girls at 16 and 18, or 25 and 27, and wanting to spend some time with them, but they are too busy. Then I started thinking about a good friend of mine who is struggling to get pregnant, and how she would do anything to complain about having to make lunches or get a child ready in the morning. We are truly blessed with our daughters.

Books and basketball

Saturday night was the big MU/KU basketball game. The girls spent the night with Mom and Dad (Macy also missed her Girl Scout lock-in due to bronchitis, so I didn't have to hurry back after the game) and we headed down to Columbia with our usual bunch. The game didn't turn out the way we would liked, but it was still fun to hang out with our group of friends. I'm just glad we didn't get blown out of the water, although others in our group didn't agree.

Sunday night was Bobby's basketball game. He is playing on a league in Liberty with others his own age; their name is the Brick Layers. It's important to point out that most on his team are in their 30's, because they are playing kids in their 20's. The first Sunday they really hung in there, only losing by 5 or 6 to a bunch of my former students who are about 21. Last night didn't turn out that well--they lost by a ton. Bobby had hurt his ankle in the first game--tore ligaments in his ankle and foot and limped around all week. But he was still out there this game, with new shoes and his ankle taped.

I finished a book by Jodi Picoult, my favorite author. I stayed up until midnight last night to finish it. That's what happens to me when I get into a book--I can't wait to finish it, ignoring anything around me until I finish. This one was similar to her others--lots of characters and plot twists that all tie together in the end. One particular subplot: A man and his fiancee were involved in a car accident, and he got her out of the car. He went to rescue the woman in the other car, and his fiancee died while he was rescuing the other woman. Fast forward 5 years, and he has spent those 5 years feeling guilty that he wasn't with his fiancee when she died. Then through a course of plot twists that makes Jodi Picoult so good, he ends up falling in love with the woman he saved, unbeknowst to both of them.

I'm going to put a tally on the blog with the number of books I read in 2008. Anxious to see how many I can read in a year.

Bobby on American Idol...

The other night the girls were in the bathtub upstairs and Bobby and I were watching American Idol downstairs. There was a particularly bad singer, so I turned it up a little to hear better. Macy shouts from the bathtub, "Why is Daddy singing downstairs?" I shouted back that it was American Idol. Pause. Pause. "Ohhhh."

It was priceless. The look on Bobby's face was too.

Macy likes to watch the show with me, but is always turning to me and asking if that person is a bad or good singer. Reminds me of something I heard years ago: ask a kindergartner how many of them can sing, and they will all raise their hand. Ask an adult how many can sing, and very, very few will raise their hand.

I guess Macy can't tell the difference between a good and bad singer. Must be tone deaf like her momma.

Happy Birthday Kaylin!

Kaylin Ruth is 4 today. She was born at 11:50 am, so I'm trying to time this post as close to 11:50 as I can get it. We'll see how that works out. Her birthday party isn't for a couple weeks, so I'll post pictures when that event occurs. Here's a couple pictures of her at school today. Happy birthday, sweet Kay-Kay, our Kayin.

Midwives by Chris Bohjalian

I just finished this book: Midwives by Chris Bohjalian. Excellent reading. It was an Oprah book from a couple years ago. It was about a lady who was a midwife in the 198o's, during a time when home births were frowned upon by the medical community. She thought her patient died, so she did an emergency c-section to save the baby. It is revealed later that the woman wasn't dead, but the c-section killed her. The midwife then ends up on trial for involuntary manslaughter.

It was a fascinating book--really kept my interest. It was a little graphic in terms of female anatomy parts and discussions of childbirth, but as the mother of two, nothing too suprirsing! Having had two c-sections, I would also like to add how happy I am that I was numb from the chest down when they made those incisions.

Jump Rope for the Heart!

Macy's school is doing a jump rope fundraiser for the American Heart Association in honor of Mrs. Wepler. As some of you know, Mrs. Wepler was Macy's librarian who passed away in late November from a heart condition; the same heart condition that killed her son (a student at LHS) almost excatly a year before, and the same heart condition her daughter currently has. Her death has really touched Macy, and she came home asking to do this jump rope activity to give money in honor of Mrs. Wepler. I was touched by her compassion!

In fact, Macy had a friend spend the night (more on that in a minute) and Paige prayed that God help Mrs. Wepler. Macy said, "He will help her because she is in heaven with him."

Of course, to our family, the American Heart Association has more meaning than just Mrs. Wepler. My father has serious heart problems, and has a pacemaker right now. My brother is going in on Monday for a catherization to determine course of action for his heart. Any breakthroughs done by the American Heart Association are greatly appreciated by our family.

Macy would like to raise at least $30 for the cause so she can get a new jump rope (ahh, the selfish side does come out!). If you feel so inclined, she would appreciate any donations. There doesn't appear to be a due date on the form, but the jump rope event is Feb. 8th, so I would imagine that's a good due date. All checks need to be made out to the American Heart Association, and can be mailed to us. Thanks in advance for your help. Macy will be thrilled to give money in honor of Mrs. Wepler.

As I mentioned, Macy had a friend spend the night. Paige is a very sweet, very shy child who doesn't mind my very bossy daughter telling her what to do all the time, and who until recently has been an only child. Macy, Kaylin and Paige played better than I could have hoped for all night. In fact, I was able to run the dishwasher, do two loads of laundry, tons of work on the computer, grade a set of quizzes, and almost finish a book. Paige is terrified of dogs, though, and we have two large ones. Kobe and Gabe spent the evening either outside or downstairs, and both are mad at me now.

And now I must go break up a pillow fight. It's 11:15, children, go to sleep!!!

New blogs!

In the next column, I put a list of my newspaper kids' blogs. We are in the process of creating a new website, but it isn't put together as of yet. We're getting there, and I'll post that link when it is ready. The new Bell website will be interactive: surveys, crosswords, stories the kids have written, pictures of the day, and these blogs.

In the meantime until the website is ready, check out the links for these 8 blogs. They range in ideas, but I think they will impress you with their thoughts.

You know you are a parent when...

You know you are a parent when you open the refrigerator and find a pair of Dora underwear.

And that's why I love my dogs...

When Bobby took the job at Kearney, many of you know the hardest part for me was being alone at night when he was on his 24 hour shifts. Kobe, our black lab, is a good dog, but would lick anyone who tried to break in. Gabe, our American Eskimo, is the opposite. He's not quite as loving as Kobe, but boy, can he bark and protect. They make a good pair.

Last night Bobby was at the fire station. About 1:00 the dogs went nuts--barking their heads off. Woke up me and Macy. I grabbed my cell phone (because if someone was trying to break in, they would cut the phone lines, right? :) ) and looked out the window. I see the ambulance(Bobby driving) and the fire truck, and cop cars. Apparently they had a drunk diabetic that had an altercation with his brother. Gabe would not stop barking until they left. In fact, a neighbor came and stood in our driveway to watch. Gabe went even more nuts until the guy left. I know the guy could hear him.

And I went back to bed feeling safer. While it was just the fire truck and ambulance, the dogs didn't know that and definitely alerted me to what was going on.

Interesting Christmas presents

Bobby's grandmother gave the girls two books for Christmas, along with the obligatory singing stuffed animals whose batteries mysteriously quit working. I'm sure she has no idea what she passed along in these books!

The first book was called "Little Monster's Word Book", and was published in 1977. Not all that exciting, but still a neat old book. Here's the cover:



And here's a page out of the book.



This second book is called "Chicken Little:Count to ten" and was published in 1965. The original edition was in 1946; wish we had that edition!!



Here's the first page:

Both books have held up really well, and are in pretty good shape. I wouldn't say mint condition, but no pages are ripped, no writing on the pages, the cover is solid. Both books were from the Salem Public School Library, and were withdrawn at some point. I have no idea how Grandma Velma got them.

It's interesting to me that the concepts of the books are the same as brand new books Macy and Kaylin have. The monster word book has pictures of different scenes, such as moving day,holidays, wintertime, along with the words next to them. The girls have many books like that, but with Barbie, Dora, Berenstein Bears, etc. The Chicken Little is a count to ten book, and tells a story with one cow, two elephants, three camels, etc. We also have many books with that same concept too. Interesting that while the characters and some situations might change through time, concepts stay strong for 30+ years.

Better than chocolate...

If you are ever in need of quick pick-me-up, or morale booster, bring McDonalds to a kindergartner and eat it with him/her at lunchtime. Suddenly you are the most famous person on the planet, as is the lucky kindergartner. The other kids smile ear to ear, waving like fiends trying to get your attention, and everyone wants to sit by You, the magical person who brings McDonalds at lunchtime. You even hear phrases like, "Macy's mom gave ME a hug!" It is truly a feel-good moment. You can borrow my kindergartner anytime to experience this for yourself.

Happy New Year!!

We had a couple families over last night for New Year's Eve. There were 9 kids, ranging in age from 2 months to 8 years old. Most were girls. Poor Drew (8 years old) bored quickly of having the girls chase him, so he turned on cartoons downstairs and escaped. Below is a picture of the kids (minus Drew, and minus Tucker, 2 months) after they have put on make-up, done their nails, put on dress up clothes, and put blue and pink streaks in their hair. Even Anderson, the only boy in the picture, has a bright blue streak in his hair. No makeup for him, though.

While the kids played as hard as they could, the adults played games. We started with Catch Phrase, and ended up with a riveting game of Loaded Questions that ended at 1:30 am with Jennifer D as the winner. Yours truly was horrible at the game, and ended up in last place. I kept getting my husband's answers confused with our friend Nate's. Below is Nate jamming out on Macy's Hannah Montana guitar.

We lost Anderson and Tucker, and Drew was asleep downstairs, so when midnight rolled around, it was all girls. We had a slight issue, in that there were 4 masks, 4 hats, 4 streamers, and 4 blow things, but 5 little girls. As it was midnight, that didn't go over well. Luckily I didn't give them each bags of confetti. We'd would have been picking it out of the carpet next New Year's. They really enjoyed counting down and yelling "Happy New Year!" Seeing Miley Cyrus on Ryan Seacrest's countdown didn't hurt, either.

The kids really hung in there--everyone left at 1:30, and for the most part, all was well. My mom has a theory that 2 or 4 girls playing together is fine, but 3 just doesn't work. That theory held pretty true--as the oldest girls, and the ones used to getting their own way, Macy, Allie and Jessica fought a little, but diversionary tactics worked to save the night.

Our girls slept until 10 today, waking in time to watch the Tigers beat the Razorbacks 38-7. Great way to end the season.

Have a wonderful 2008; thanks for checking my blog these last 6 months or so. Hopefully it's not too boring for you. :) I've enjoyed updating it.