Sunday, January 31, 2010

Basketball and cheerleading

Saturday was our second Saturday of basketball and cheerleading games. Last Saturday, Macy was very unsure--she played GREAT defense, but wasn't very agressive and didn't get in there to grab the ball.

We had many pep talks this week, and it worked. She made three baskets! She wasn't afraid of the ball this week.Next week--who knows! Here's a little 5 minute video of her playing; I got one of the baskets on video. I'm not a steady videographer; please excuse that. :) It needs to buffer every minute or so.

Bobby's her coach, and I really love watching him with the girls. He is a natural coach, and really makes it fun for the girls.



Kaylin elected to do cheerleading this year, and she loves it! She's with a couple of her friends, and she really loves shaking her pom pons and yelling. She likes to spin around, as you can see. Here's a video of her:


Wednesday, January 27, 2010

DUI Girl is Back!!

Many of you remember DUI girl, from this post . She apparently was a hit in the Blog World. Today she added to that infamous legacy.

Vocab word was confront:
Boy says, "I confronted the principal about ISS, so he moved my day to Monday."
My Favorite Girl: "Omigod! I have ISS on Monday too! How fun for us! I can't wait!" Imagine this spoken in true Valley girl dialect.

Vocab word was detrimental, and they were supposed to finish this sentence: "I think _____________ is detrimental to kids."
My Favorite Girl: I think education is detrimental to kids.
Class: Much Laughter
My Favorite Girl: What? Imagine true Valley Girl dialect again.
Boy: Do you even know what detrimental means?
My Favorite Girl: Well, not not really.
Boy: It means harmful. It's right there on the vocab sheet in front of you.
My Favorite Girl: Oh! I didn't know! Well, that doesn't make sense does it!" Starts laughing and falls out of chair.

Such bright students shaping the future of America.**

**Actually, I have many, many bright students who will do great and wonderful things in the world. She is an unfortunate example that is not indictive of everyone.**

Sunday, January 24, 2010

Bathroom humor

The first app I put on my iphone (after Facebook of course) was called Atomic Fart . There's probably 30 different fart sounds, ranging from The Pants Stainer to the Squeaker to the Lawn Mower to the Short but Sweet to the Princess. I did this for my children, who have learned from their dad that farting is funny.  This was not a trait I passed along to them.

So Friday night we went to Kohl's to buy Macy new basketball shoes. I had to go to the bathroom, and Kaylin went with me. As soon as I sat down on the toilet, Kaylin pulled my phone out of my purse and started hitting all the different fart buttons. Let me tell you, they sound really realistic. After the first one, I whispered, "Kaylin, don't!" She just giggled. Then she hit another one, an especially long fart sound. She giggled louder and said, "Mom!!" After the third and fourth time, she was downright howling with laughter.


At this point I grabbed the phone out of her hand and stuffed it back in my purse.
 
We got strange looks when we slunk out of the bathroom.

Thursday, January 21, 2010

And she's only 8...

I know the teenage years are going to be rough, with two girls. Bobby wants to move into the fire station when that happens, but he is not leaving me alone with them. I expect those years to be rough. But I didn't expect it to start so soon...

Macy was a different child this weekend. A snotty, whiny, bratty, talk-backy, rude version of herself. There were moments when I spotted the real Macy through that, but by and large she was not herself. I'm not sure she smiled, unless it a close-lipped snarl at her sister counts. She argued over everything--a girl who loves Sprite suddenly argued with a friend that she hates Sprite, just to be argumentative and difficult.

Then Monday morning she woke up, and my sweet Macy was back. The one who likes to play with her sister instead of being downright hateful to her. The one who is nice to me and not rude. The one who smiles and laughs and runs around trying to fart in our faces. The one who hugs her dogs and loves all over them. It was a pleasant day, after a weekend of tears.

She did have a minor fit Tuesday night over a cell phone. She wants one. Yes, she's 8 and wants a cell phone. A 9-year-old in her dance class has one. "But I'm going to be the ONLY one of my friends without a cell phone!"  She must have forgotten I'm friends with her friends mother's, and we quickly decided none of them were getting a cell phone anytime soon, shutting that down pretty quickly.

I am so not ready for this...

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

MU and KU in a different light

Sunday afternoon the girls and I ventured out to unknown territory--Allen Fieldhouse in Lawrence, Kansas, home of the most-hated rival of our Missouri Tigers. The women's basketball teams were playing each other, and tickets for females were just $1. We went with our good friends, who happen to be major Jayhawk fans. I've never been to a collegiate women's basketball game, and never been out to Allen Fieldhouse.

Macy and Jessica



Kaylin and Madelyn

All four kids

Here we all are--


I had to have discussions with the girls before we went about taming down their "I hate KU" talk, considering where we would be. Kaylin yelled it in the parking lot before we went in, but inside they were fine. It was a great afternoon--REALLY fun atmosphere, time with good friends, Dippin' Dots all around, and a fantastic acrobat show at halftime.

Saturday, January 16, 2010

Birthday girl

Sweet, crazy, spunky Kaylin turned 6 today! We had a nice little party for her today.  I made a huge parenting tactical error by scheduling her party dead-smack in the middle of the MU basketball game, therefore, Bobby was MIA most of the party. He did appear to light the candle on the birthday cake.

First, birthday spankings from Papa.


Here's a cake...she choose Barbie princess this year; I was surprised it wasn't Hannah Montana or High School Musical!

We decorated princess sashes and princess mirrors.

My mom curled their girls' hair.

My sister helped with make-up. Some chose to do their own make-up, and boy, that was interesting.

Of course, what birthday party is complete without a dance party to "Party in the USA" with multiple costume changes?

Here's the beautiful birthday girl while we sang happy birthday to her.

It was an exhausting day to say the least. Today was one of those days that I hate as a parent--Macy had spent the night with a friend last night, and they stayed up until 2. Needless to say, she was over-tired today and took it out on her sister, culminating with her writing a note that said "You are mean" during the middle of the party. It was early bedtime all-around.

Following in my friend Sarah's footsteps, here's 6 things I love about Kaylin on her 6th birthday:

1. She doesn't walk anywhere--she runs, skips, gallops, hops, or bounces.
2. She is FULL of energy all the time.
3. She can't say her r's, so she sounds like she is from the East Coast.
4. She really doesn't care what others think of her, which is a positive thing. She wears the strangest outfits, and doesn't care that others might look at her funny.
5. She falls asleep in the strangest places and in the strangest positions.
6. She looks nothing like me or Bobby, but rather she looks like my dad, sister and brother.

Looking forward to # 7, Kaylin!

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Guess what today is?


It's January 14, 2010-- also known as National Delurker Day. Also known as the day I put a weird picture of a man wearing a trench coat flashing someone on my blog.

Feel free to make a comment about anything you want--your favorite candy, your favorite Wii game, how much you'd like to win in the lottery, your favorite color of socks, or how you wish I'd jump off a cliff with this reqest. Or you can tell me how wonderful you think I am. Or whatever.

I tried to pull you out of hiding with naming my blog, but obviously that failed. Maybe this will work!

Random tidbits to complete this blog post:
  • Girls got report cards yesterday--wonderful all the way around. Kaylin continues to amaze us with her reading, and Macy is still reading above average too. The note did say that Macy needs to work on telling time. When I read that to Macy, she said, "Yes, I do need to work on that." Ha! She cracks me sometimes.
  • Kaylin's birthday party is this weekend. Our house is going to be assaulted by ten six-year-olds wearing fancy dresses, make-up, sashes and nail polish.
  • Girl Scout cookies are in and we get to start sorting them. Joy of my life.
  • First meeting of my book club was last night, and I must say it was fabulous. Looking forward to next month!
  • Bobby was WATCHDOG at the girls' school today.
  • Gabriel got shots and a haircut today. Can't wait to see what he looks like, and more importantly, can't wait to not have clumps of white hair all over the house and my clothes.
That should plenty of info for you to make a comment on. Right?

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Selling my house...

It started innocently enough.

When the email came through, I knew it wasn't intended for me, so I ignored it. Emails came once every couple weeks, and I continued to ignore them. Until yesterday.

The emails were between a husband, wife (me) and their real estate agent. The first emails were about getting their house ready to go on the market, what needed to be fixed, or what they will ask for the house. I ignored them. I didn't want to respond initially in case it was some sort of weird virus, but then I didn't respond because I was intrigued.

Yesterday apparenently they held an Open House for other agents and brokers. Everytime one of them left, he/she filled out a report with what he/she liked or disliked, and I got all the reports. My inbox flooded with these reports, so I looked at them. Then I got really intrigued, so I went to Remax (dot) com and typed in the MLS number that was on the reports. I even did a Google map to find the house.

The house is in a suburb of Philadelphia, is 4 bedrooms, 2.5 bath, 2 car garage, finished basement. The pictures looked gourgeous! They are asking $335,000, which, according to the reports, is a little high for that area. The driveway looks small, and the street is very narrow.

I'm also intrigued that the husband hasn't noticed the email address is wrong. His wife and I share a first name, but our last name's are different, and I'm not sure how my email address was put in there. And why hasn't anyone noticed that I haven't responded?

I'm not going to respond now, because I want to see what happens.

Monday, January 11, 2010

Like, it's stupid.

On a day like today, it is easiest to start class with a five-minute discussion about what Christmas presents were received, how many times they went sledding, and so forth. I have learned that if you don't, they will have the converstation regardless. It is easiest just to be the leader of that conversation. Thus, the following conversation:

Girl: "So, I was pulled over on New Year's Eve at 3:00 am. "
Me: "Ok, Do I want to know why?"  (Stupid question. I should have just left it alone.)
Girl: "Well, see, I was drinking and so I was weaving all over the road. They pulled me over and since I had  like, alcohol in the car, I was arrested. I think it's stupid."
Me: "Well, I'm sorry you made a bad decision. Why was it stupid?" (Now I had to dig myself out of this hole)
Girl: It's stupid because there shouldn't be a drinking age. Like, anyone should be able to drink anytime they want. And the cops didn't arrest the others in the car even though they were as drunk as I was, just lucky me because I was driving. So I'll be gone Feb. 12th, YEAH! A day off school! while I go to court. I hope they don't take my license away, because that would just bite.
Me: PAUSE.... Thanks, Girl, for sharing that with us. I'm sorry that happened to you. Maybe you will be more careful next time. Did you learn anything?
Girl: Yes...don't get pulled over when drinking and driving.

Such a fun conversation.I was watching the other students during her little speech to gauge their reaction, and they were all looking at her like she had three heads, and shaking their heads. If they had been cheering her on, I would have have handled that differently. I also didn't feel a lecture on underage drinking would have accomplished much.

Sunday, January 10, 2010

Back to reality tidbits

After a crazy three-week-long Christmas break, we are all back to school tomorrow (hopefully!). They are fighting bedtime tonight, so the early wake-up call is going to hurt for them.

I updated my blog with some of the blogs I read on a regular basis. Some are friends IRL (in real life, those of you not up on blog slang) and others I have found through various places. A couple of them I have read for just about two years.

Friday night we went out with firefighters on Bobby's shift, along with their wives. We went to a local Japanese steakhouse. I share that with you to tell you that my husband tried shrimp. Granted, the chef flipped a small piece into his mouth and he swallowed it without chewing. But still.

There's a six-year-old birthday coming up this week! Must go shopping for make-up and nail polish soon.

Thursday, January 7, 2010

Project 365 and Twitter

Thought I'd share a project I've started, in the hopes that by sharing this with others, it will force me to continue.

I'm doing Project 365--the goal is to take one good picture a day for a year. That's it. Simple, right? Not so simple. I've succeeded so far, although  2010 is only 7 days young. I'm probably going to focus on my children, although I will branch out here and there. I've already branched out once, because I remembered after the girls were asleep. I'm also trying different angles, etc. to try to get good pictures, not just ones of my kids smiling at the camera.

I'm using Flickr for the time being, although I might end up changing. You can access my 365 Photostream here. I'll let you know if I change spots. Check out my pictures sometime. I hope to keep it updated every day. So far so good!

And in case you haven't noticed, since I got my iPhone, I update my Twitter a lot more. I also attach pictures sometimes. Something to keep an eye on, if you are interested. The five most recent ones are listed on my Twitter feed, but you can always click on the link to see more.

And that completes Snow Day #3. Snow Day #4 is up tomorrow!

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Snow Day # 2

Finishing Snow Day #2. Here's what I've done today (since I know you are dying to know)

Slept late
Took the kids to our church's gym to run around with friends for a couple hours
Went to Mr. Goodcents for free lunch
Took a nap
Read
Figured out newspaper things
Played with the girls
Made cookies
Cleaned up the kitchen

Snow Days #3 and #4  will probably be similar.

On to my contest--which obviously failed miserably. Maybe it was the lack of a real prize, or maybe you guys just don't love me. Sunday 20 people visited, Monday saw 30 people, Tuesday saw 29, and today has 34.

Winner for most creative goes to my brother--oh, how I love that wacky, crazy brother o' mine. His suggestion?

Sham Wow Higgs Blog Now!

He says, "Sham Wow Higgs Blog is a revolutionary, multi-use cleaning BLOG that holds over 20 times its' weight in liquids."

I think I will just stay with Life With Higgs.

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

June, here we come

Seriously. I love me some snow days. What good teacher worth his/her salt doesn't love snow days? That's why we become teachers. Tuesday and Wednesday already, and I'm sure Thursday and Friday will be snow days too. I've never had 4 snow days in a row. I'm not quite sure what to do with this.

But now we will have to go the week after Memorial Day, and maybe into June. I know I'll be cursing these snow days come then, but now it's fun.

Love my newspaper kids--we still have to put out a newspaper in January, so we are doing some work on these snow days with no complaints. Good kids.

Still need suggestions on names for my blog! C'mon, people! Help a snow day lady out!

Saturday, January 2, 2010

Something New for 2010

I need a new name for my blog. When I started this back in 2007(wow!), it was on a complete whim and all I could come up with Life with the Higgins Fam. Really creative for an English teacher, I know. The name just stayed. I shortened it to Life with us at some point, but I don't like that either.

I read a lot of other blogs, and they have cool names. Why don't I? For the same reason my newspaper kids don't ask me for help anymore on headlines: I am not good at it.

So I'm offering a contest. Help me come up with something cool, creative, different for a name for my blog. I have nothing to give you, except 50 free points of admiration from me, and a name mention on my blog.  According to my handy statcounter, there are about 25 people a day who visit my blog, sometimes more. Good time to come out of hiding and suggest something!

I'll give you creative people until midnight on Tuesday to give me something.

Oh, and did you notice that today is a palindrome? 01 02 2010

Love it!

Happy New Year!