Saturday, January 31, 2009

Friday, January 30, 2009

I.Am.A.Genius...

maybe not all the time, but last night I decided that I.Am.A.Genius. Arriving home after their bedtime, and dog-tired myself, I had to get both girls ready for bed. AND both girls dressed and out the door by 6:25 am. Here comes the genius part--

Intead of pj's, I put them to bed in their CLOTHES for TODAY!!!

Yep. Sure did. Then this morning, I put shoes and socks on them, combed their hair, and we were in the car by 6:25.

As I said, GENIUS.

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Is this my child?

I've complained about Kaylin's behavior in the mornings before--she is sooooooo grumpy and whining and some days I just can't stand it. Yes, she is that bad. She complains that her shoes are too tight, or the light is hurting her eyes, or I touched her, or she wanted to put her shirt on herself. It's because I have to wake her up at 6:15; when she wakes up on her own at 8:30, she's fine. Anywhoo, back to my story.

Kaylin is taking karate. Last night at her class, her homework was to make her bed. She told me before she went to bed that she needed to make her bed in the morning. "Ok, Kaylin" I say, not expecting her to remember, or to care. (We never make beds at our house. And just like the store-bought cake from Walmart, we have survived.)

This morning I was getting lunches,and loading things in the car. I noticed then that Kaylin's light was on. Normally if a light is on anywhere upstairs, she begins screaming to turn it off. I go in her room, and she is not in there. Her bed is made, though. I track her down to our room, where she is giving Bobby a good-bye hug. Fully dressed. With shoes on.

"Good morning, Kaylin." I just stare in shock at her.
"Morning, Mom. I made my bed and I'm ready to go to school." She bounces out of the room, and I follow, flabbergasted.

We were 10 minutes early to school today. I didn't have to get her dressed, or fight with her about anything.

If this is the karate influence, she is taking karate until she is 35.

Monday, January 26, 2009

Macy's Basketball Game

Macy had her first basketball game on Saturday. Once again, the gym is so dark! It's so hard to get pictures in there.

Playing a little defense.

Bobby was the refree. Macy kept showing him the scoreboard. He said it was hard to not tell her what to do while he was out on the floor with her.

Posing before the game.

One of her BFF's, Kaylee.


No idea if they won or lost. Remember, it's not the score that counts. Yeah, right. :)

BTW, Bobby's basketball team is 0-2.

KK's 5th birthday party

Yesterday afternoon we celebrated Kaylin's 5th birthday. I always move her party towards the end of January to get it far away from Christmas. We did the same set-up as Macy's 6th birthday--we painted nails, did their make-up, did their hair, and they changed into dress up clothes and ran hysterically around the room. It was fun to watch!

The birthday girl with her cake--Hannah Montana, of course. From Wal-mart, of course. My kids have never had a homemade birthday cake. And they have survived just fine.


Blowing out her candles...

The whole group--mostly kids from her preschool, along with a few other friends from our neighborhood. It was a great group of kids!

The famous Hannah Montana birthday cake...

Hannah and Macy were really big helpers--they painted nails, handed out plates and forks, and basically all I had to say was, "I have a job for you!" and they were all over that. Of course, they were "too cool" to play dress-up or look like they were having fun, but they loved helping, that's for sure.

"No, Mom, I wasn't putting on make-up all by myself while you were helping the other girls." Yikes! You should have seen her face. And of course she got that bright red make-up all over her nice pants. Oh well.

My sister did everyone's hair, and the little girls loved sitting there having their hair done. Here's Kaylin's...

Smile, birthday girl!

Towards the end, we did a "fashion show" where they modeled their dress-up clothes on a paper runway. For some reason Kaylin did not want to, and I didn't force her. At the end, though, she did run up and down the runway in her clothes.


I'm sure she had dreams of make-up, hair glitter, yummy cake, and Hannah Montana songs all night. And now I have 11 months to rest up for the next birthday party!

Thursday, January 22, 2009

Martin Luther King, Jr and Me

Macy brought home a journal today that she did in school, comparing herself to Martin Luther King, Jr. A couple pages were cute, so I scanned them in to share with you.

This first one is about hurt feelings and sadness. The paragraph talks about when MLK had hurt feelings and sadness, and she had to fill in a time for her. She put "when my dads unk dide" [translated] "when my dad's uncle died." But look at the picture--it is him in the casket, with blue lining, and he's frowning with a tear on his face. And flowers around, just like the funeral. Cute! I didn't realize she was so sad about that, considering she really didn't know him that well. Luckily she has nothing else in her life to be sad about.

I'm just thankful she didn't put something like, "when Jessica is mean to me" or "when people laugh at me"



This one is about what they are good at. She put "sunging and dasin and swimming"[translated] "singing and dancing and swimming." Look at her singing! And look at her swimsuit! Hysterical! Like I would let her out of the house in a swimsuit like that!



I think this last one is MLK, judging from the hair and mustache (although it kind of looks like Hitler to Bobby and me)



Cute little project! As an English teacher, I appreciate the text-to-self connections made. As a mom, I love the artwork and her thoughts.

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Busy weekend

We had a busy weekend!

Saturday I did about 10 loads of laundry, and that wore me out. Macy woke up with a fever, and a trip to the doctor revealed an ear infection. She missed her basketball game, which we were sad about.

Sunday we traveled about 4 hours to attend Bobby's uncle's visitation. The girls later went swimming for a long time at the hotel, and Bobby had fun throwing a boy cousin into the pool over and over again.

Monday was the funeral, along with lunch at a church, then visiting his grandmother, then home at about 8 pm.

My student teacher is taking over 2 classes today. Woo-hoo!

Friday, January 16, 2009

Happy Birthday, Kaylin!





Dinner at a Mexican resturant of Kaylin's choice and then off to Build-a-Bear are our plans for the evening. Can you believe Kaylin is 5? I'm not going to talk about it anymore. :)

Macy has her first basketball game tomorrow!

Thursday, January 15, 2009

Pink Nails and Red Swords

I have weird dreams. People who know me have heard some great ones. Last night's was pretty funny.

Before I went to bed, I checked the time of Obama's inaugration to see which hour it was in on Tuesday. I almost painted my fingernails, but was too tired to wait for them to dry.

On to the dream...

I was at the inaugration, on a warm sunny day, with millions of other people, watching the speech on a plasma tv the size of a small building. Everyone left, and I decided to sit down on a man-hole cover to paint my fingernails. I'm painting them the exact shade of pink I have at home, when Michelle Obama sits down next to me and asks if she can paint her nails too; she's been so busy she totally forgot to paint her nails. I say yes, so we paint away. She gets up and walks away.

Part II

I leave after her, and walk to this glass building that holds an old document in a fancy glass case. I'm looking at it, when I realize Barack Obama is also looking at this document. I'm not surprised to see him, and it doesn't seem odd that he doesn't have Secret Service all around him Then suddenly we are locked in this glass building together. No idea where the Secret Service are! People are looking at us from the other side. I call 911, and explain calmly that I am locked with President Obama in a glass building on the Mall in D.C. As I'm doing that, President Obama starts running around with a plastic red sword and yelling "I have a red sword!" The dispatcher tells me help will be on the way. President Obama hands me the sword, I thank him. Then one of the glass walls disappears, and we walk out onto the grass and that's the end.

Holy cow, that was a strange dream. Ranks right up there with some of the best.

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

One Word

I was tagged, so I thought I'd play along. You can only use one word; harder than it sounds!

1. Where is your cell phone? purse

2. Your significant other? funny

3. Your hair? brown

4. Your mother? helpful

5. Your father? wise

6. Your favorite thing? appreciation

7. Your dream last night? strange

8. Your favorite drink? coke

9. Your dream/goal? wanted

10. The room you're in? classroom

11. Your fear? unloved

12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? content

13. Where were you last night? home

14. What you're not? skinny

15. Muffins? yes

16. One of your wish list items? griddle

17. Where did you grow up? kc

18. The last thing you did? emailed

19. What are you wearing? sweater

20. Your TV? on

21. Your pet? comforting

22. Your computer? needed

23. Your life? happy

24. Your mood? content

25. Missing someone? no

26. Your Vehicle? black

27. Something you're not wearing? necklace

28. Favorite Store? Target

29. Your summer? beach

30. Your favorite color? pink

31. When is the last time you laughed? now

Sunday, January 11, 2009

Not Me Monday

When making lunches one day this week, I did not discover a completely untouched peanut butter and jelly sandwich from that day's lunch. I did not leave it in the lunchbox and send it with the same child the next day.

When playing the "My name is Amy and I sell apples" game, I got the letter P. I did not say "My name is Priscilla and I sell panties" and then I did not giggle hysterically because my children didn't know the hidden meaning behind those words. It is wrong that I thought that was funny.

When eating out Saturday night, I was not served a basically RAW hamburger. I did not send it back, and with immense apologies from the chef, I did not receive said hamburger back with a little less pink, but no where near the medium well I requested. GRRRRR....

When my youngest was acting spastic tonight, I did not tell her she had ADHD. She then did not run around the rest of the night saying, "I have ADHD!"

[Note: Jesse and Melissa, you can skip the next one here.]

When watching an almost-two year old tonight, I did not lose track of her for a moment. I did not find her playing with the dog food while the dog was eating. This is the same child who was not bit by her own dog on her first birthday while playing with the dog food while the dog was eating. However, Gabe just stared at her like "what are you doing!" and I steered her successfully away. [Sorry, Jesse and Melissa. All was fine! I am a qualified babysitter, I promise.]

I did not succumb to peer pressure and join Facebook. And I'm not enjoying it immensely.

Have a great Monday!

Friday, January 9, 2009

Like the new header?

Took me about 15 minutes after school to create on a cool website called Scrapblogs. I'm so excited! I've been wanting to do something like that, and this was so easy!

Flighty Friday

Some random, flighty thoughts for this gourgeous Friday we're having:

1. I hate getting stuck behind trucks up on the highway, when everyone zooms by you in the other lane and you can't get over to pass the slow truck.

2. There's nothing better than when you wake up out of deep sleep to find your seven-year-old's arm slung around your neck and her snuggled up next to you. Until she kicks you, or course.

3. While I am not a fashionista, I don't get the the fluffy boots the high school girls are wearing--tucked into their pants, or worn with a dress, either way they look odd to me. Oh well, at least I am not wearing pants from the 90's.

4. Kaylin thinks today is her birthday. It's next Friday, and I gave up trying to convince her otherwise this morning. She also refused to eat breakfast and dinner three days last week.

5. It's supposed to be 60 degrees today, and 20 tomorrow. Unbelievable. How I wish I was off today, and could go play somewhere.

6. I went to the eye doctor yesterday, and one eye is inflamed so I can't wear my contacts for a week or so. Also, she's going to give me daily contacts, instead of the 2 week ones I have now. AND I get new glasses--purple frames!!! AND they are adult glasses, instead of the kids ones I usually get.

Have a great weekend!

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Conversations with the young...

Kaylin: Mom, maybe you should get a job.
Me: Kaylin, I do have a job.
Kaylin: No, you don't. You should get a job.
Me: I do have a job. I teach high school, at the same place you go for preschool.
Kaylin: That's not a job. That's just something you do.
Me: Ok, where do I get a job?
Kaylin: At a work place.

Monday, January 5, 2009

Not me Monday



Back by popular demand (or at least three people demand) Not Me Monday! This is a little late, but it's still Monday.

My newspaper students gave me these cute Day of the Week socks, and I currently do not have one Monday, one Tuesday, one Wednesday, one Saturday and one Sunday. What happened to Thursday and Friday altogether? And where's the other sock for those days?

I can not wear the same socks as my seven-year-old and almost five-year-old. Nope, we can't share socks. That would just be weird.

I did not buy the cutest pair of knee high socks at Walmart, but am too chicken to wear them because I think I will look stupid. However, I did not let my seven-year-old wear them to church and brag about how adorable she looked in the socks.

I am not wearing one purple fuzzy sock and one blue fuzzy sock because they are my favorite, and I was too tired to look for the matching one.

And I did not just write an entire Not Me Monday blog about socks.

UPDATE ON THE ICE SKATING PICTURES

Please let it be known that while my brother was spinning and waving his arms wildly in the air, he never fell. NOT ONCE. He stayed upright the entire time we were ice skating.

Just in case anyone thought otherwise. I wouldn't want someone to think my dear, wonderful brother fell on his tushie after that picture.

Bowling pictures

Friday afternoon the family ventured out to the local bowling alley. Mom stayed behind to replace their 25-year-old microwave that suddenly couldn't heat anything (suspiciously after my niece's fiancee used it), and my brother took a nap.

George, the microwave breaker who has been bowling quite a bit back home. He got a new bowling ball and bowling shoes for Christmas.

Josh got tired of bowling and wanted to take pictures instead. Me too!

My niece Lauren...good form!

My sister...good form again.

Josh made it about 4 frames. He dropped the ball on his foot. :(

My dad wanted to bowl at least a 150, but he didn't make it. He said he used to be on a bowling league back in the day--didn't know that!

My nephew, graduating from high school in just a couple months.

The three girls, Macy, Kaylin and Hannah, would pick up the ball and literally heave it down the lane. Pretty funny to watch it land and bounce. I kept waiting for someone to complain, but no one did. They bowled pretty well--80s and 90s with bumpers. Not too bad!!





I NEVER bowl above a 50-60. I was totally shocked to bowl a 98 this time! So shocked that I took a picture of the screen for proof.

Sunday, January 4, 2009

Ice Skating Pictures

Thursday night the entire family went ice-skating. Even my 69, almost 70, year-old father went a few rounds on ice-skates and my mother was a trooper to hang out in the cold with us to take pictures. It was pretty cold out, but it's amazing how quickly you warm up when ice-skating. The rink was crowded; I'd like to take the girls again when there are less people to bump into.

Here's Dad with his younger grandchildren--Macy, Kaylin, Hannah, and Joshua.



Kaylin and her new favorite cousin, Lauren. She was quite obsessed with Lauren this week-might have been because Lauren was staying with us and sleeping in her bed.

Our family. Love the Superman hat? It's my dad's orginal hat, probably from about 1970.

These girls were so excited. When we got there, the Zamboni was shining the ice. When it finished, I looked over and the three of them were making a break for the super slick ice without any adult help. I'm sure I looked like a crazy mom when I ran over and forced them off the ice, but those girls would have hit that ice and fallen, then been trampled by the people behind them.

Macy fell repeatedly all night, but hopped up and kept going. Mom caught Macy pulling Bobby down on the ice too.

Joshua wasn't sure of the ice, and didn't last very long. But he seemed to have a good time. The headless people holding his hands are his mom and brother. (Josh is my nephew; a couple months younger than Kaylin.)

I spent most of the night helping Kaylin. She kept saying "I think I'm getting the hang of this!" over and over as she clung to the side. She asked a couple times to go out in the center, but no way was I taking her out there! She fell, and fell, and fell, and fell and got back every time. At the end, her finger was cut by a skate and she cried, but she was a great sport the whole time.

Dad and my 17-year-old nephew Brandon. I think the grandkids were pretty excited Grandpa got out there.


And the picture you're all waiting for...the picture that will cause my brother to not talk to me for months, but is a classic picture of what you look like when you try to keep yourself from falling on the ice...

Wait for it...


Wait for it...


Here it comes...



Friday, January 2, 2009

Not resolutions, but something...

It's been a jam-packed couple days with my brother's family in town, and sometime soon I'll put up pictures from our ice-skating trip, bowling trip, and Christmas with my side of the family. We've had a really good time.

In honor of the New Year, I thought I'd share my Not Resolutions for this year. People say they don't make resolutions because they end up breaking them. Well, I agree that is true, but there are several things I'd like to work on this year.

1. Lose weight--the classic resolution, but very needed for me. Especially as much as I've eaten over the last week. Today alone I think I ate 10 of my mom's ginger snap cookies and had 3 helpings of her Mexican Casserole. So losing weight/getting more fit is a key goal of mine this year. I'm going to dust off my bike, purchase some new running shoes, and get after it.

2. Read my Bible every day--I'm not so good at this. At church they are asking people to read through the Bible in a year, and I've tried that and failed. Something about reading 25 chapters of Deuteronomy in one night does me in every time. So the goal is just to read it every day.

3. Write a book--Or some short stories, or something. I'm sure I won't get published--not everyone can be Stephenie Meyer of Twilight fame and have your first book published and made into a movie, but hopefully eventually... Writing is my passion, and always has been. I think I'm fairly good at it, been told I'm fairly good at it, I just need to knuckle down and do it.

That's it. Just three things to work on this year--
Work out
Read the Bible
Write a book.

I'm sure there are more things I could work on in 2009, but this will be it for now.

Happy New Year, a day late. Hope it's a good one for you.