Star Student!

At an assembly today, Macy was awarded the Star Student of the 3rd quarter award! We are very proud of her. She was chosen "for showing good character and for having excellent classroom attitude and behavior." Here she is with the others.



I've mentioned before how well she is learning to read and write. She got all 20 words right on her spell-a-thon this week, and here is a story she wrote. The teacher had filled in "The gorilla went to" and Macy wrote:

"Wrlds of fon. and she ridaid the mobo and she loved it so she ridaid it agian and she wit home."

Not bad for a kindergartner! Let me know if you need help translating what she wrote!

Kaylin's first soccer game!!

Spring 2008 soccer season started tonight! Kaylin is finally old enough to play, and has talked about nothing else for days. The girls are playing on the same team. This will be the only time, as Macy will move up a league this fall if she continues to play.
Here's Kaylin during pratice; she was so proud of her jersey, new socks and cleats.

Macy played pretty well. She almost made a goal, but a little girl on the other team came running from out of no where and tripped right in front of Macy, and Macy tripped over her. It was so nice to see Macy playing hard; sometimes she doesn't while playing soocer.

Kaylin's BFF Madelyn was upset Kaylin couldn't play with her, but she sat with us during the game and watched the girls. They are cute together.

At first, Kaylin wasn't sure what to do. She kind of just ran around, and kept hopping up and down. The coach would have to remind her to keep running after the ball. But about 1/2 way through, she figured out what to do. She couldn't really keep up with the other girls, but she tried. Her little legs are just too short! At least she didn't cry, like Macy did every game her first season!!

My two soccer stars!

It will be interesting to see how Kaylin develops this season and grows. It is just a miracle to me that she is able to run as well as she can--she didn't really walk until she was over 2 years old, she had severe hip problems and spent 4 months in a body cast. That's what I kept thinking about as she was running around the field. I can remember asking her doctor if she would ever be able to play soccer, and here she is. I am so thankful.

Over 1000!

Sometime while we were on vacation, the blog went over a 1,000 hits! Not quite as good as the Confessions of a CF Husband blog I follow, which has a million hits. But 1,000 hits is decent in about 8 months time. Now,those of you who check it 6 times a day definately help bump up that number. :)

A week's hiatus...

It's been a busy week! This week was spring break, and we decided to drive to Atlanta to see my brother and his family. We had a really great visit; when they come up at Christmas or Thanksgiving, we have to share them with both sides of the family and friends, so it was nice to have some one-on-one time. We didn't do anything big or exciting, just hung out. Julie made green pancakes on St. Patrick's Day, we played at the park, hiked up Kennesaw Mountain, went on a hike around Allatoona Lake, dyed Easter eggs and had 3 egg hunts. Josh is only 6 months younger than Kaylin, so they had a good time. We got to see the other cousins Lauren and Brandon a little, but they are 16 and 20, and busy, busy people.

My brother kept the kiddo's contained while Julie, Bobby and I hid the eggs in the yard. Here they are about to bust loose in excitement.

Stopping for a rest on the hike up Kennesaw Mountain. It is a national park, as it was a big battle during the Civil War on Sherman's quest to capture Atanta, and his march to the sea to Savannah. The hike is a mile, pretty much straight up. It was very very windy. Especially at the top!

Oh, no! This poor tree was going to fall down if Rod, Kaylin and Josh didn't prop it back up!!

The girls especially had a good time, and didn't want to leave. But we set out for Bobby's dad and grandmother's, to spend some time with them on the way home. Dyed more Easter eggs, had 2 more egg hunts, then headed for home.

During the week, I think we spent far more time in the car than anywhere else. The girls did fabulous, until the last 2 hour stretch from Columbia to home. I have a huge knot on the back of my head from a baby's bottle that was thrown (oh, sorry, mom, I didn't mean to hit anyone!!) and then we can't forget the cooking experiment--they dumped the rest of their fruit punch into an empty tub and poured in their goldfish crackers to see if they would float. Oh, to be young again.

Macy goes back to school tomorrow, but Kaylin and I have one more day. I really want to spend it laying around the house, but I will have to go in to work for a little bit.

I updated the pictures along the right hand side with pictures from our trip. Before we left I also updated the Books Read in 2008; if you click on the name of the book you will be able to get more information.

To keep from going insane...

To keep from going insane on a 14-hour car ride with 2 children, you need the following:
1. Tons of DVD's--Princess stories, Cinderella II,
2. CD's--we listened to Hannah Montana,Hannah Montana II, Miley Cyrus, Hannah Montana 2, High School Musical 1 and II. And our girls love "Ice, Ice Baby." Strange, I know.
3. Snacks--a bag of food is always good. Then when they whine, give them food so they can't talk.
4. Breaks--when stopping for gas/food, find a grassy area where they can run off some energy.
5. Patience--lots and lots.
6. Naps--take one when they do. Don't try to take one while they are awake. Doesn't work.
7. Equal amounts of toys--we have 2 Hannah Montana pencils each, 2 HSM notebooks each, 2 princess notebooks each, one Barbie each, but only one car. That one car caused problems.

So sad, so sad...

The moment some of you have been anxiously waiting for has finally arrived--when buying socks tonight, I bought a double pack for me and Macy to share. Yes, we can wear the same size socks now.

Edits

Edits to yesterday's post:
We've had Kobe for 8 years.

Two of the students caught with vodka and gatorade were my ads managers for newspaper. One is in the hospital with alcohol poisoning, and one is in juvenile detention. And since last night was deadline night, we had to untangle the post-its and try to figure out they had left to finish. It could have been a lot worse.

My newspaper students collect quotes, stupid things that we all say, and we keep them in a book. I'm in there plenty of times for saying stupid things, but not last night for some reason. Here are the 2 best ones from last night:

(a boy is reading the back of a lotion bottle) "Look, this lotion is made by American Eagle. Oh wait, that's vitamins A and E."

(looking at a picture) Phil: "Who is in that car?" Leah: "That's an airplane."

Slobbery tennis balls

We've had Kobe for 7 years. Brought her home as a tiny puppy in a cardboard box; she clawed and scratched at it so bad. In the 7 years we've had her, she has never learned to drop the ball for me when playing catch. She will stand right next to me, chomping on her tennis ball, slobbering all over my leg, and I have to reach into her mouth to get the ball while she playfully growls. Most of the time I use two-ball approach, and that works.

Imagine my surprise when we were outside playing this week and Macy wanted to play catch with Kobe. "Good luck," I thought. No way would Macy stick her hand in Kobe's mouth to get the gross tennis ball. She throws the ball, Kobe runs after it, and drops it right at her feet. I couldn't believe it. Over and over again Macy throws the ball, Kobe drops it right at her feet, waiting for more. 7 years I've tried to get her to drop the ball at my feet, and this girl does it in one afternoon.

On another note, one more day of school before spring break. Some kids apparently started their fun a little early with some vodka in Gatorade bottles. How stupid can you be? Tonight is deadline for newspaper too. One more day, one more day.

For Tricia...

I have been reading this blog for quite some time, and have become quite addicted to it. It's the story of Nathan, his wife Tricia, and their baby girl Gwyneth. Tricia has Cystic Fibrosis, was on the transplant list for a double-lung transplant, and found out she was pregnant. Ignoring the advice of their doctors, the elected to keep the baby and she was born 15+ weeks early. She is still in NICU at Duke, and Tricia is back on the transplant list. The blog last week of Tricia holding Gwyneth for the first time brought tears to my eyes. Their story is raw, full of emotion, and inspiring for their faith in God.

This weekend, this blog encouraged Mommies who blog to post the things they can't wait for Tricia to be able to experience with Gwyneth. I'm doing my part...

I can't wait for Tricia to experience...
1. opening the fridge and finding Dora underwear
2. her shooting off the school bus, arms open wide to give you a hug
3. her crawling in your lap and saying "I love you, Mommy"
4. at 4 am, when you get up with one child, and then realize the other one isn't in bed, and find her laying on the floor in your bedroom.
5. watching her dance to "Ice, Ice Baby" in the backseat of the car
6. watching her learn to read, and be so proud of herself
7. tickling her until she can't get a breath in
8. her peaceful face while she sleeps
9. her waving out the window at you when she is supposed to be asleep and you're running to the grocery store
10. when she wraps her arms around your neck and hangs on like a little monkey
11. when she refuses to put on what you've picked out, and you are 10 minutes late because you had to change outfits 5 times.
12. sleeping on the floor in her room when she is sick because you can't bear her waking up and you aren't there
13. when you look down at her while she's talking and realize what a little adult she is becoming
14. her crying because Gillian/Ana/Katlynn/Hanna said she wasn't her friend anymore
15. her honest, sincere prayers about things that are bothering her

Anyone else have a list?

End of the basketball season...

Bobby's basketball team finished up last night at 0-8. Yes, they did not win a game. But they did get better as the season went on, and almost won last night. It went down the wire, with trying to call a timeout with just a few seconds left, Jesse drawing up the play in the huddle, and then the ball rolling out. Tough loss.

Macy's basketball season ends on Saturday as well. She has made 4 or 5 baskets throughout the season, and says she's going to make 5 on Saturday. They have a big program planned, complete with KC Wolf. Sounds like fun.

Little fun for your Friday afternoon!

My students borrowed Kaylin and her BFF Jericho to take some pictures for a class project. We used our Mac's, which have a Photo Booth and can do really cool special effects. Kaylin and Jericho were dressed almost identically--white long sleeved shirt, brown High School Musical shirt, denim skirt, tights, brown shoes. And they already look like they could be twins! Here are some funny ones that they didn't use in the project.

This is Jericho, believe it or not.


Two Kaylin's and Two Jericho's!

I like this one--morphs their heads into one.

This one is just freaky...


Have a good weekend!

Ode to a chocolate chip cookie

I can't believe I forgot to blog about this! On Friday, Kaylin and I didn't have school thanks to parent-teacher conferences (luckily, I don't have any horror stories from that), so we took Macy McDonalds.

We were sitting by Hanna, who I have met several times. Funny little girl with a mullet. She is describing to us how her chocolate chip cookie blew up in the microwave, and when she opened the door, she said, "Holy S***!"

Macy chuckles, because for some reason she found that story funny. My reflexes were lightning-fast, and I just quickly changed the subject. Now I'm waiting for Macy to just randomly use that expression.

You can only shelter them so long...

Firefighting tales...

Bobby worked an overtime shift on Friday, and had a couple interesting calls. The first one was to an overweight, older man with congestive heart failure. Bobby had to do CPR, and said he could feel the man's ribs cracking under his hands. Another fireman said he could hear the ribs cracking. I've always heard that's how you know if you are doing CPR correctly. When he stopped doing chest compressions, he said you could see the imprints of his hands on the man's chest. The man didn't make it.

The girls and I went to the high school for a showcase night for their dance studio, a fundraiser for a trip to nationals. About 1/2 way through the show, another older man was showing signs of a stroke or heart problems. The show was stopped, and in comes Bobby and the others. The girls and I thought that was pretty cool, watching Bobby in action. They did a good job. He said later he forgot we were there. The man will be okay.

About 4 am they got a call to a car accident. He said the car was totally destroyed, rolled several times, and a mess. They came on the scene expecting fatalities. The driver was standing up, talking, covered in road rash. Probably the .176, two times the legal limit, he blew on the breathalyzer kept him from feeling much pain. He will be okay, but his third DWI will cause him some problems.