Messy Christmas to All..

Wishing you all the Merriest of Christmas' and the Happiest of New Years!

Love, Cool and the Gang

Guess Who Turned 16 Today

Happy Birthday T!

Sorry it was called "My Super Sucky Sweet 16"

But look at it this way...you now qualify to be on "Pimp My Ride"!

A Few Thanks

The cloud I was sitting on this week has seeped out from under my butt and has rearranged itself around my head like Pigpens dirt cloud, I guess Thanksgiving is officially over. So I thought I'd give you a few highlights of last week.

I'm thankful for a house that allows for twenty-one of my favorite people to come spend the week with me.

I'm thankful for a brother who was not only able to come for Thanksgiving with my niece, but who called me this week and said that he had the most awesome time and that his favorite part was cooking for a big group of people, and would like to help me plan what we could cook next year.

I'm thankful for sisters-in-law who brought me three (count 'em) THREE chocolate cinnamon sheet cakes, which we ate, and which I tried desperately to finish, but took the last one to the Band Booster Pot luck this week and scored points with.

I'm thankful for a mother-in-law who tried to wash every single dish and piece of silverware by hand and who I found scrubbing the grill of my stove, in her spare time.

I'm thankful for gift cards that helped me feed twenty-one people and for those who took turns making the Walmart runs at their own expense.

I'm thankful to the man at Whirlpool corporation who replaced my washer last year. The washer that allowed me to wash towels for twenty-one people for a week.

I'm thankful for the Guardian Spray Bark Control Collar that not only rendered my Chihuahua speechless, it keeps her smelling Lemony Fresh.

I'm thankful for getting waxed at Bananagrams and Scrabble Slam.

I'm thankful for brothers-in-law who are tolerant of being held around the ankles by small children who harass them for hours on end.

I'm thankful for neighbors that did not call the Sheriff's department when the crowd started singing Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen around the bonfire, somewhere near 1 a.m. Tuesday morning.

I'm thankful that no one was injured while using the new propane blow-torch Charlie bought for starting the bonfires.

I'm thankful for Cinnamon Crunch Bagles by Panera Bread, that were brought by request from Houston.

I'm thankful that no one got sick over the holiday. And by that, I mean, I'm thankful that none of my kids spewed while we had company.

I'm thankful for the honorary brother-in-law who spoils my kids with thoughtful gifts.

I'm thankful for the brother-in-law who likes to make pancakes. (p.s., I'm investing in a griddle or a waffle maker (your choice) before next Thanksgiving and assigning you a couple of mornings.)

I'm thankful for neices and nephews who are, at once, too old and too young to want to hang out with Aunts and Uncles, but come from long distances to do it anyway.

I'm thankful for my mother and aunt, who came over on Monday after all my company left, and helped me clean house from top to bottom and redecorated to boot. (And when I say "helped me", I mean they cleaned and redecorated while I put all the random things away that they didn't know where to put.

And that's what I mean when I say I'm thankful for family. I'm not sure what it means when Ace says it...

Wordless Wednesday

Handy Charlie

The projects roll on...
My Mom got a new countertop in her kitchen and we talked her in to letting us do the backsplash ourselves. Charlie dove right in. This one was MUCH easier than the one we did for our backsplash in Houston. The tiles were 2 x 2 tiles on a mesh 1 ft square, very little cutting and it was a really good fit. I'm sorry honey, I mean...Charlie used his awesome skills. Geometry skills, sawing skills, troweling skills, measuring skills, artistic skills.... and here is the beautiful result....

Well, it gets more beautiful down at the bottom...

I know Mom was really nervous because she has the perfection gene, which did not carry down to me. I limited my participation accordingly...

I did some of this corner...

Ta- Da! after grouting. The counter is really nice solid surface. It's not as speckled looking as it appears in this pic...

He had to go back and work on the plugs. And I'm not sure if the undercounter lights have been put back up yet.

But it looks GOOD, if we do say so ourselves....

Karma For Captain Underpants

The dogs have been a menace lately. A.J. was always very good about staying home despite the fact that we have no fence. She might go say "hi" to the neighbors every once in a while, but not too often and she didn't stay gone long. After the addition of Zoey, however, they've become a couple of neighborhood hoodlums. For the most part it's penny-ante stuff. Don't leave your trash bag unattended, they've pilfered twice that I know of. But they're a general nuisance and I keep waiting for someone to knock on my door and tell me enough-is-enough.

So of course being the worry-wart that I am, I keep discussing with Charlie the fact that we need some kind of fence.
"Some body's gonna say something!" I say.
"Oh, they're not hurting anybody." he replies.
"But you would have a fit, if some one's dog was in our yard.", I say.
"Only if they poop in the yard.", he answers back.
"Well, I'm sure they've pooped in somebodies yard!", I retaliate.
To which he scoffs at me and says "They're just fine."

Lately, I can hardly keep them home at all. Yes I have a pen, that we use mostly in the house, but Zoey climbs it like a ladder if I put her in it outside. I haven't tried it on A.J. because she's mostly a follower and not the leader, until about two weeks ago when a friendly stray cat took up residence under our next door neighbor's shed. Mrs. Ne-nache has caused such a ruckus that I can't keep A.J. home if she's caught wind of her. Zoey likes to chase her, but knows the cat would eat her for lunch if she got too close. A.J. wants to grind her bones. Mrs. Ne-nache loves the kids and comes over when she sees them jumping on the trampoline and meows and meows and meows. Now sometimes in the middle of the night, Zoey thinks she sees her and starts barking and barking and just WILL NOT shut up, so most nights Charlie gets up and moves her to the garage.

One night last week at about 1:30 in the morning, Zoey starts in and after about three minutes, Charlie grumbles, rolls out of bed and shuffles half asleep, into the kitchen. All of a sudden I hear "HEY! GET OUT OF HERE!!!" The back door slams and I hear this banging around on the back porch and Charlie's yelling and the dogs are going crazy. When Charlie gets back to the bedroom I mumbled "What was that all about?" and he said "There were TWO HORSES ON OUR BACK PORCH!"

He goes to get Zoey out of the pen and looks out the back door and sees this huge shadow on the back porch and yells, "HEY GET OUT OF HERE!" he said "I thought I was gonna have to go out in my underwear and fight somebody!" and then he turns on the light and sees it's a horse, and the horse is taking it's nose and trying to scoot the big metal pail we keep the dog food in, off of the table it was sitting on and right as he gets the door unlocked the horse knocks it off the table and it hits the porch and explodes dog food all over the porch. He starts shooing it and it backs up and steps in the dogs plastic water bowl and shatters it and slides off the porch. The other horse was out further in the yard and he couldn't scare them off any further that that. He said "By the way, thanks for coming to my aid when you heard the excitement!"

The next morning there were a couple of fresh piles of horse poop out in the back yard and I said "Karma's a bitch, ain't it!?"

Still no fence....

Who Loves You, Baby?

Teenagers. You can't live with em, you can't shoot em.


This is a picture I tried to take of John as he got out of the car as he shouted "Don't even think about it!"

You can see how happy he was when I rushed him out so I could take the group "first day" pictures. I'll pause here so you can click on it and see up close and personal the contempt in his eyes. Is that really the face you want to make at the person who holds the fate of what you'll be driving to school everyday for the rest of your high school career? Really?

On the upside, he's had a very good first two weeks. Likes all his teachers (so far). Has done a little bit of homework (so far). And I haven't received any emails from teachers (so far). He's having a very good time. He's even talking. At school. In front of other kids. The first football game was last Friday, we didn't get to see much of the kids marching, but the Grease program is gonna be a LOT of fun this year. And the Eagles won the game in a blowout. And we continue to embarrass him by working in the concession stand with the rest of the "crazy" band parents. (his description, not mine)

One of the 500 7th Grade Wide Receivers

This is the busiest boy I know! He's happy to be back in school, at least so far...

He has to be at Football Practice at 7:15 in the morning, athletics is first period, he has a day full of Pre-AP classes, then he follows it up with Football Practice after school till 5:00. He's got the strength and size for the offensive line, but does he have the stamina...that's the question!

The first week of school we have SO many papers that I have to sign, enrollment, health, bus riders, on and on. When we got to the Athletics paperwork and they said "Athletics is a Dangerous Activity which could result in concussions, broken bones, pulled muscles (blah, blah blah) up to and including death..." I passed the papers to Charlie and said "I can't do it." So Tuesday Melee' unloads papers for me to sign, one set from each of his teachers. Each one outlining the teachers expectations, grading policies, etc. and by the time I got done reading them I had a stomach ache! Then he tells me that the coaches have told them they HAVE to take a shower after athletics. I know he was nervous, but I was equally nervous. There is a down side to being able to put yourself in somebody else's shoes.

The Good Nacho

Peach got a great teacher for her 2nd grade year! Mrs. R was actually Melee's history teacher last year and she was able to move to the elementary this year which is what she was hoping for. She loved having Melee' in her class and she was one of his favorite teachers so she was very excited to have his sister in her class.

We were running a little late because she was the last of the Mohicans to be dropped off.
A quick pic and we exited the building. Nope, I didn't go to the "Cry Party" in the cafeteria. I didn't even cry. She had a great first day! On the second day she came home and I asked her how her day was and she said "Good. I'm a good nacho."

And I said "A good what?"

"Our names are on a nacho and our nachos are on a platter and if we get in trouble we have to move our nacho to the yellow platter and if we get in trouble again, we have to move it to the red platter."

By the third day she said "I don't like school, it's just work."

"Well you like going to recess and playing with friends."

"No I don't like recess, cause I get all sweaty and all my friends just like to run around and scream and I don't like to run that much."

So much for the school year. The party's over.

The Precious Goes to Kindergarten

The night before he was SO excited. As I was helping him into his pajamas he said, "I hope the teacher is really, really, really, really, neverlasting nice!" And I said, "You mean "everlasting" nice?" He said, "NO, NEVERlasting, like INfinity."



We wants it, we needs it. Must have the precious. They stole it from us.

How can you leave a face like that! Oh sure, it looks like a cute teddy bear coloring page, but it's a slippery slope that leads to Geometry!
He had a really, really, really neverlasting good day. The second day he said he wanted a tray for lunch and he had a horrible day because all his friends ride the bus. The third day he said he had a terrible day!

"Four bad things happened. Number four, all my friends get to ride the bus, and I don't."

"You can't ride the bus, we've already talked about that."

"Three, I spilled my water."

"Your water bottle?"

"No, one of the little ones."

"Did you have a lot of papers on your desk?"

"No."

"Well, good, you didn't make a big mess."

"No, it was a BIG mess. Three, I got a time out."

"But you said you had all your stars at the end of the day."

"It was on the playground. I picked up some rocks. I forgot the rule."

"And what was four?"

"I fell down and my knee got blood."

I cried on day four because he wanted to walk to his room by himself. I said "Okay, I'll stay here till you go down your hall." So he would go a little way, then turn around and look for me, then walk a little further and turn around and try to find me through the crowd of people, then walked down to his hall and turned around one more time before he headed down to his class.

The next day, I said, "Do you want to walk to class by yourself again?" and he said, "No, I want you to walk with me."

I still got it....

Ace Goes to Kindergarten

WWAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!! *sniff*

Charlie says, "It's like having them all out of diapers."

"Uh, no. It's nothing like that."

Tomorrow is the big day. He's excited. So I've got that going for me.

Headed for bed, so I can toss and turn and not get much sleep.

More news tomorrow.

Fantasy Football 2009

Because of conflict of schedules, I was unable to be at our family event, where we had a live draft for the 2009 Fantasy Football season. I let Charlie pick my team because he normally helps me with my picks anyway. So he texted me to let me know they were getting started with the draft. Where was I? In the movie theater watching Harry Potter. So he asked me if I wanted Tony Romo if he was available when my pick came up and I said yes. So he texts me later to say sorry, but my brother in law took Tony before my pick. Easy come, easy go I suppose. So when he gets home from Amarillo, he hands me my sheet of players and his sheet of players and says casually, "If you don't like my picks for you, I'll trade you anybody off my team." I look down at his sheet and I have only two words to say...

TOM BRADY? PEYTON MANNING? (Tom Brady, Peyton Manning...whateves)

TOM BRADY?! PEYTON MANNING?!

REALLY?

HE PICKS CLINTON PORTIS AS MY FIRST PICK (I ALWAYS PICK MY QUARTERBACK FIRST) AND THEN HE TAKES TOM BRADY! I GET HOSED ON THE TONY ROMO PICK AND END UP WITH MATT RYAN. TO WHICH I HAD TO SAY, "WHO THE HELL IS MATT RYAN?" I HAVEN'T EVEN LOOKED AT THE REST OF MY TEAM. I THINK I HEARD HIM SAY HE DID ME A BIG FAVOR BY PICKING THE RAVENS FOR MY DEFENSE. I DON'T THINK THERE IS ONE PLAYER ON MY ENTIRE TEAM THAT I HAVE ANY INTEREST IN WATCHING.

But I'm not bitter.

Wordless Wednesday

Wait!

I forgot to show you around Carlsbad Caverns!











It's all fun and games until the smell of bat poo hits you!

Are we really going down THERE!!

Evidently we are...

Peace, Love and Rocks.

Too cool for the Caverns...






















Do they have earthquakes in New Mexico?

Okay. Where's the elevator?

Why I Hate School # 52

Band Camp starts in 8 days and 11 hours and I have just had to put my foot down. (With the help of Charlie holding said foot to the floor.) John is now squeeing away on his clarinet in a loud Squidwardesque fashion and Charlie and I are in the living room giggling. He's sure showing us. He's teaching us a lesson alright. He can be totally loud and obnoxious and can wake up the Littles if we're going to force him to practice. E gad, we've got a lot of nerve!


The shame of it is he's been on his best behavior lately. Heck, he's been displaying behavior that is normally reserved for his grandmother. I keep wondering what he's fixing to ask me for. That's awful of me, I know. But in the last twenty four hours he's washed my car, cleaned the inside, vacuumed it, and spot cleaned the carpets. This morning he got up at 7:30 in the A.M. to start getting himself ready to get up for Band Camp. (He usually doesn't make his morning appearance until noon.) Then this afternoon, he vacuumed the living room, Ace's room, his room, Melee's room and Peaches room. Nobody asked.

Then I had to go and ruin it by demanding he practice his clarinet.

School is a few short weeks away and the illusion of a carefree summer is quickly melting away.

Transformers 2. Seen it.

(Spoiler Alert!)

Despite the fact that Transformers 2 was rated PG-13, I was hoping I could still let Ace see it. I was afraid there would be too much violence maybe some language but I really wasn't expecting this...

of course I'm not a 13 year old boy so maybe I misread the target audience. Then a few minutes later we get to see this one...

with a camera shot up her dress, we get to see her underwear and a creepy metal tail come out from somewhere, and then her tongue shoots out of her mouth and tries to strangle Sam as we figure out that the hot college girl trying to seduce him, is actually a Decepticon.

Good clean kid stuff.

Of course in the first five minutes we've already ruled it out for Ace because in the first action sequence a couple of the new Autobots are cussing at each other.

Overall it was a disappointment. I just can't give it a fair assesment because I thought they could have done it in a way, that I wasn't embarrased to watch it in front of my seventh grader.

Harry Potter, don't let me down!

If I Can't Post a Picture, Well it's Just Not Any Fun.

Can't find my camera cord.



Summer is sailing quickly by.



I haven't had one blow-up with the kids.



It's only taken me 15 years to get used to them.



100 degree weather is no good for me.



Sleeping late every day is really good for me.



John and I have been reading books for two weeks.



I have a crush on a fictional Vampire.



I still haven't seen Transformers.



Mostly because I don't want to take the Little's to see Ice Age #6?.



More of my plants are dying in the flower bed.



Disneyland. I'm not over it.

Indiana Ace and the Tower of Terror

Day two at Disney started with a trip to the Indiana Jones ride. At the end of day one, we agreed that that particular ride was the number one thing we wanted to do that we were unable to get to. Despite the fact that I had read all about Fast Passes, we really didn't figure out how to work the passes until it was too late in the day. By the time we got to the Indiana Jones ride the wait time was 2 hours or you could get a Fast Pass and come back and cut to the front of the line between 11:30 p.m. and midnight...

Ace could hardly wait! It was all he could talk about. The line was short and the next thing we knew we were exploring the temple and getting in line to take our ride. It was exciting and bumpy and Charlie tried his best to take a picture of us as we bumped and turned through the tunnels. This is our favorite picture of the entire vacation. The eye says it all...

Despite the look of terror, he loved it! Later as Peach and I were waiting in the Princess line, Charlie texted me that he and J and A were riding the Tower of Terror and E and M were gone to do something else. I looked at the text and put my phone back in my pocket. About 15 minutes later I realized what I had read and I called him back and said, "Did you just say ACE rode the Tower of Terror?" "Yea! He LOVED it!"

(The Tower of Terror is the "Elevator" that goes to the top floor and plummets back down to the bottom.) When we met up with the boys it's all he could talk about, "Momma, you HAVE to ride the Tower of Terror!" "Well, I don't know if the Tower of Terror is for Momma." "You'll like it!" "Well, I don't think I would like it." And he went on and on for the rest of the day. Later as we got close to that side of the park they decided to go get some Fast Passes for it and Charlie, John and Ace were pushing for Melee' and I to ride it so I said, "You can get me a pass, but I'm not guaranteeing that I'll ride it." But the three Tigger's persisted and the two Eeyore's were talked into riding.

We were standing in line with an older couple who were riding with their son who had some type of disability, she said "Oh, we rode this at Disney World and he just loved it!" and I saw some other kid in a wheelchair who was being pushed into line and I thought. Well, surely I can ride this ride if it's not too scary for kids with disabilities! And if that old broad and her husband can ride it, so can I! So we get in the "elevator" and I'm sitting next to Charlie, but separated by an isle, Ace is sitting on the other side of me and I'm trying to think about how I can hold on to him, but not crush him if I hold on too tight. Ace held on to my arm, I held onto the handle with one hand and clutched Charlie's hand to my chest with his arm outstretched over the isle. The "elevator" goes up and drops a little and then back up and down just a touch and then all the way to the top where you can see outside and then all of a sudden, you're plummeting to your most certain death. I screamed so hard that my throat hurt, we went up and down like that three times, each time I screamed like a girl and when it came to it's final stop I said "Oh, God, please let that be the last time!" and Ace said, "I think it's over Momma." and Charlie said, "You can let go of my hand now." (I think I left fingernail marks.) As I shakily unbuckled my seat belt, Ace hopped in front of me and said, "See Momma. I told you it wasn't scary." I could have punched that boy. John said "That was YOU screaming? I was looking around for a teenage girl!"

Thankfully for Melee' and I, there is no picture to show you of the Tower of Terror.

Princesses and the Peach

The first day at Disneyland we found out there was a Princess Walk, we went over so that Peach could meet the Princesses and as we got in line one of the cast members said, "Just to let you know, the wait is about an hour and a half. " Well we hadn't been there very long and we didn't want to burn an hour and a half, when the boys didn't have ANY interest in anything that wasn't a ride, so we thought, "Eh, we'll come back later." So later we dropped by and they said the wait was two hours and that was as good as it would get for the rest of the day. Can you believe it? So we rolled in on Disney Day Two, ran straight to Indiana Jones and then Peach and I hightailed it over to the Princess Walk, where the wait first thing in the morning was only an hour! We were very patient for the first 20 minutes. Then she decided she was hungry. Of course I couldn't get out of the line to get her something, although one of the concession stands was within sight, I couldn't leave her alone in the line. So the whining started. Then the little girl behind us got a bag of Doritos. Then the mother in front of us went to get her little girl some popcorn while her friend held their place in line. The whining grew louder. Then she got tired from standing. Cause you know, we've been standing for at least 25 minutes now. It turned out to be a grueling hour and twenty minute wait. A wait in which at approximately 40 minutes in, you could have heard me say "NO! We're not leaving! You wanted to see the Princesses and we're gonna see the princesses!" There was some pouting a little more whining, some cajoling, and then FINALLY, it was our turn for this....

EEEK! It's Sleeping Beauty! And she gave Peach a big hug and said "Look at your cute hair, you look like you could be my little sister!"

And then we went and met Snow White and in a very high little "Snow White" voice she said "How old are you?" and Peach said "Seven." and she said "Ohh! That's my Favorite number!"

And then we went and met Belle, Peach's favorite. She told her she was one of the bravest little girls she knew for riding on the Indiana Jones ride.

And they were all so sweet and she was so sweet and it was all so sweet that I got teary and started to cry...

Then we went and had her face painted with swirly glitter paint with little pink hearts and a little pink on her lips and if I'd had all the money in the world we would have bought one of everything in the "Princess Boutique" starting with the $50 white Belle gown. Walt Disney was an evil genius.

In Flagstaff with a Fever of 102 @ Four in the Morning

It wouldn't be vacation without somebody being sick! Peach already threw-up at my sister-in-law's on the carpet. You know, the house that's for sale.... Charlie had to go fogging around Flagstaff at four in the morning for a pharmacy for the fever. (Alliteration is fun.)





So without further ado... another vacation photo...

Notice the absence of teenagers?

(Charlie says I should clarify. Those were 2 seperate occurances of Peach being sick. The first was a combination of too much junk food and sun. Today's occurance is yet to be determined, she has a cough that has grown steadily worse for the last three days and I suspect she may have an infection. It better not be pneumonia.)

An Old Adage

You can take a teenager to Disney, but you can't make him smile...

The Caverns

Got into Carlsbad at about 11:52. That's New Mexico time, those of us who are from Texas had the feeling it was a little more like 12:52. Pulled into the Best Western and rolled around to our two rooms. It was old school but the beds were comfy. Ace slept with me and around 2:00 I woke up to discover that he was sleeping with his feet on his pillow, I tried to turn him around but he was sleeping angry. At around 4:00 he got cold and turned himself around and got in the covers. I woke up every hour or so and gave up around 7:00 to find Charlie loitering outside our door with bedhead. Everyone slept well and after a little free breakfast boo-fay as John likes to call it, we headed to the Caverns. We got there just shy of the 10:00 guided tour so we had to do the self-guided tour.

When they say the tour is "strenuous" they're not just whistling Dixie. Like a workout you start and after twenty minutes you think "Crap, what have I done, I can't finish this." As we started down the main walkway down into the Cavern and Peach started to cry and said she'd changed her mind and didn't want to go in the cave, I was right there with her. But we persisted through the scary decline and the smell of bat poo. For the record, it was cool and awesome and all that, don't get me wrong...but after you've seen the first hour of stalactites the next hour and a half becomes an exercise in not scaring the crap out of yourself thinking about possible earthquakes or cave ins. And all I wanted to know about the history of Carlsbad Caverns was, "How many people have died in here?" Melee' and I hugged with joy when we finally made it to the elevator that took us back out. (I'll have to show ya'll the pics at a later date as I forgot to pack my cord. But we're not lamenting anything we forgot to bring. Charlie said so.)

The other thing that happened right as we walked into the cave was that I discovered I didn't have my phone. I didn't know if I had dropped it, or left it in the car. The most upsetting thing about that was that I cannot tell you how many steps I walked in Carlsbad Caverns, I'm a little addicted to the pedometer feature of me cell phone. It was safe and sound in the car when we got back. I spent the next hour and a half tapping my phone up and down on my knee to try to simulate how many steps I might have taken, but it's ruined. And I can pretty much say that was probably my one shot at the Caverns.

We're back on the road at 5:58 New Mexico time, my watch says it's 6:58 Texas time and the borrowed GPS says we will arrive in Tempe AZ at 10:04, but I don't know if Arizona time is another hour off. I'm starting to get confused. If I'm right, that would be 12:04 a.m. Texas time. Praise God Charlie likes to drive!

On the way to Cali...

And we're off as of 3:30 p.m. Texas time....

Our first car-sick stop coincides with a tornado warning at approx. 6:00 p.m.

Back on the road after large portions of the most deliciously bad for you truck stop food you've ever seen on a plate at approx. 7:30 p.m.

Clear skies deteriorating to a pounding rain at around 7:46.

Estimated time of arrival in Carlsbad according to the GARMIN, 11:52.

Rolling Out!

I'M ON VACATION,

I'M ON VACATION,

I'M ON VACATION,

I'M ON VACATION!

Chicken Pox. The Sick. Streak. Continues.

Chicken Pox.

Seriously?

Chicken Pox?

Why would we have Chicken Pox? They have vaccines for that, right? Vaccines which were given to my children as I held down their flailing arms and nervously giggled under my breath while they screamed, because it makes me supremely uncomfortable to be doing something to my kids that feels like torture.

Turns out you can still get chicken pox even if you've had the vaccine. The difference being that you only end up with eight chicken pox instead of eighty. It took me a week to figure out that they had chicken pox, even though I took them to the doctor on Wednesday. Ace had just started to get a little rash on Wednesday that I didn't happen to notice until AFTER we had gotten back from the doctor.

They called me from the school last Thursday to say that Peach had a fever and didn't feel good. I went and picked her up and she said her tummy hurt. She barely even had a fever and she said that she had been outside running and then couldn't cool off. So I kind of wrote that off as a fluke, the nurse just took her temperature while she was hot! I went ahead and kept her home, because you need to be "fever free" for twenty four hours before they go back to school. She continued to complain about her tummy hurting, but she never really slowed down her eating. By Sunday she was saying her throat hurt and by the end of the day on Monday, Ace had a low grade fever and said his throat hurt. I sent Peach back to school on Tuesday but decided to take them to the Dr. on Wednesday because they both looked like their tonsils were swollen. I was afraid it might be step throat.

The Dr. wasn't much help, he didn't really address the fever and then we got the whole "allergy" rundown. I'm SO TIRED of the allergy run-down! The sneezing, the runny nose, the claritin, the benedryl, the kleenex, the snoring. Now he wants me to start teaching these two how to do nasal washing. AAAHHHH!!!! I was so desperate the other day, I had just mowed the yard and I was having a sneezy fit so I decided to get out the Nettie Pot that I had gotten for John (that he never uses) and try it myself. All it did was remind me why I pinch my nose when I jump in the swimming pool. There is NO way the kids will do that. And remember how I feel about holding them down and torturing them...so No. I got home after spending thirty dollars for the appointment and another sixty-five for an array of allergy products, and that's when I noticed the rash. I didn't give him any of the medicine that day or Thursday because I couldn't figure out what he was rashy about. Peach came home and I noticed she had a little bump on her cheek. Friday morning Ace came in with four bumps on his face and after further inspection had three more near his belly button, at which time I remembered the converstation I had with Peach last Thursday when I picked her up from school.

"Has anybody been sick in your class."

"Yeah. Ashley and Callie and Jose. Oh, and Brent got Chicken Pox."

Five more days till the official start of summer!
Achooo!

Elmo the Elephant

Ace's "graduation" program was Friday night.

About a week ago, I was told (by way of a paper, stuck somewhere in the depths of his backpack) that Ace had chosen "Elmo the Elephant" as the character he wanted to be for the program. Which meant I had to create a costume for Elmo. You know, the note said "using stuff you have around the house", "be creative" it said. An elephant. In May. As opposed to October. And because it was stuffed in to the bottom of his backpack. It didn't get the attention it deserved until the Monday before the costume was due. But not to worry, I AM creative. So around the house I went and the costume was created.

What I am is Creative.
What I am not is technically gifted.

So in the following video of Elmo the Elephant, you will see his costume disolve before your very eyes. I stayed in the room with him as long as I could, in the 30 seconds after I put on his nose, but before I walked out the door, a kid came up, grabbed the nose and "snap" went the elastic. I had already been to the office once to restaple the elastic after Ace pulled it the first time. By the third time I had to tie the elastic to the inner "skeleton" if you will, of the nose. Therefore, the skeleton was starting to become exposed as he walked to the stage....that's where we start....



He walked in with a crooked nose AND he had lost an ear! Teacher picked it up and brought it to him. Charlie said, "How did you attach those?" and I said "Duct tape." We laughed through the entire program.

As soon as I saw the Tiger I was like "DOH! ZOOPALS!!"

Then for his legs. He was wearing a too short pair of sweats, so I took some sweats that one of the big boys had outgrown and I cut the legs off at the knee, then I turned them upside down and glued elephant toenails on the bottom and he put them on like legwarmers. What I SHOULD have done, was go the extra step and actually sew them on! But noooo....and as he squirmed on stage, he kept resting one foot on the side of his other leg so that halfway through, he had rubbed one leg all the way off. Then he sat down on the floor to fix it and set down his ears and took off his nose. The elastic that was holding on his nose came down from above the ear on one side and kept sliding down the side of his neck so that he looked like he was eating the nose.





"Elmo the Elephant was Excited,
He called all his friends to come.
He was having an Easter party,
Hiding Eggs and Eating some.

Elks were dancing Elbow to Elbow,
Eskimos came south from Nome,
They Enjoyed the Elegant party,
Excused themselves and went back home."

Wheeew. good times.

Happiness is ....

... being adored from afar.

Happy Mothers Day!!!

I'm NOT READY!!

Melee' jumped in the car Thursday and said, "Mom, I've got to tell you something." Usually that's followed by, "I forgot my lunch box." or "I got a 79 on a test today." or something else from the "goodie-two-shoes file". So when he said, "I want to go to the dance tomorrow night. And you can't tell John, but I asked a girl to the dance." you can't imagine my shock and awe. John's in the 9th grade and he still hasn't asked a girl to a dance. This was NOWHERE on my radar.
"Ub-a-dee, uh, um...does that mean we have to pick her up?"
"No Mom. (roll of the eyes) That's like college!"
"oh."
"I'm not gonna tell you how I asked her, because that's personal."
"Okay, I'll just assume you passed a note during class."
"Well, yeah, but I'm not gonna tell you how I asked."
"That's cool. (Thinking, thinking, processing, processing.....) Is this a "girlfriend" thing?"
"Well, I asked her to go out with me, but she just broke up with a boy and she's not quite over it yet."
(Having a stroke...) "By "going out" do you mean "going steady"?"
"Yes. (More eye rolling) But I don't want you to say anything in front of anybody."
"10 - 4."

Of course he didn't have anything to wear to a dance, and I had to scramble Friday to find him something. Does he need a wallet? Does he pay for her to get in the dance? Should he spring for a soda and a candy bar?

I may as well have asked a girl to the dance.




He was way less nervous than I was. He gets points for bravery, cuteness and just being a very good boy. Oh, and if this could just stay between you and me, he'd like to keep this on the D.L.

Zoey in our First Ever attempt at Video

Note to Self

It happened this weekend....

My oldest son is now taller than I am. It seems like it's all sort of a blur. I was on bedrest one day and then I hollered at Charlie and said, "I think I just peed my pants!", next thing I know, there's this big kid with a deep voice hangin' out in my pantry chanting "I'm starving! I'm starving! I'm starving!".

She's in Like Flynn

Mom closed on the sale of her house and has finally moved in to the "Dog House". I took some pics so you guys could get to see how good it looks. But first take a look at how it looked when we were there...

This is the front drive-up, big appeal for her is there is no real lawn to mow. Of course she has some yard in the back, which she and her sister just got through pulling weeds and then she ran out and bought forty or fifty squares of St. Augustine, so I guess she'll be mowing after all.
This is the view from the front right angle. Note the two concrete statues of greyhounds out front, thus the name "The Dog House".

This is the side porch on the left side of the house. This entrance goes into the second living area.

View back toward the front of the house. When we lived here, the porch had no decorations, and was littered with scooters and shoes.

Front entry has vaulted ceilings, which she painted herself. This nifty new chandelier and had room for one of her biggest furniture pieces.

The front living area. (another one of my bad pics. I can't tell I've taken a fuzzy pic on the

3" x 2" screen on my digital camera.) This is the same room you saw at the top of the page with no furniture and a t.v. on a cardboard box.

View from that room into the eat-in kitchen.

More of the dining area.

To the right, the kitchen...

This is bedroom number one off of the dining area. It is the second largest bedroom, and each of the bedrooms has it's own full bath.

This is the second bedroom, off the central bathroom. Keep in mind she has painted each one of these rooms, this one she striped a pale blue and white.

This is the third of the bedrooms, across a hallway from the second bedroom.

Cute desk in the third bedroom.

The second living area, with the large french doors to the porch.

The room is large and bright with two skylights. It has really pretty dark stained concrete floors.

The Master bedroom, is huge!

The bedroom has a sitting area and a huge walk-in closet and a big Master Bathroom.

She loves the house and is excited about getting moved in. However if someone were to come along with 200 large, she might be persuaded to part with it.