susans world

CUPCAKES!!!

2011-06-07T18:38:00.003-04:00

I have decided that I want to cook cupcakes, and not just the regular ones, from a box, but from scratch, work on decorating them with more that just icing from a tub. Josh bought me a cupcake book from the grocery store and I thought, why not try and make some of these? They are fairly simple, they look yummy and have a little in the way of decorating and a little in the way of baking. I am going to attempt to make a batch a day- so if you are a local friend, be ready to have some cupcakes dropped on your front step. I want to practice, but not get as wide as a house while doing it.

So today, while it is the 2nd day of summer, I made my first batch.
pink velvet cupcakes.
It is all completly from scratch.

So here we go:

The ingrediants- well most of them. I forgot to show the eggs. But otherwise it is all there.

Here is the batter. Does it not look too die for! It taste delicious! Not that I tried any.

Here is the finished product: Is it not beautiful!

I wouldn't feel right if I made you think that I made those and they were all that beautiful. I had my fair share of poor looking ones. But they all tasted the same!

Lent

2011-03-09T11:38:00.001-05:00

I grew up in a town with 4 options for a church of my religion. The Spanish speaking one, the ultra conservative one, the ultra, ultra conservative one and the last one, sort of a middle of the road, medium sized church. We went to the latter. We never spoke of lent in my church. I knew about it because the rest of the churches in my town were Catholic. However, lent was never brought up. I never had to choose what to give up, I never had to make the sacrifice.

A few years ago it became “all the rage” to give something up for lent. I felt like all the cool Christians were doing it. I felt like they were doing it to be cool, to make a statement, to rub their Godliness in others faces. I know that I was probably wrong in that, now that I am so much older and wiser. Insert sarcasm here.

Yesterday was Fat Tuesday and while we were making our dinner I mentioned that we should give something up for lent. It had been on my mind for a few weeks and since yesterday would have been the day to decide if we would participate, I mentioned it.

Josh immediately said, “You should give up Freebirds and Papa Murphys!” I almost died on the spot. He had me pegged. Because we had never participated in lent before, we discussed with the children the basic idea. We should sacrifice something small to say thank you to Jesus and God for giving up something SO very BIG. Emily immediately replied with, “Wow, Mom, use God against me.” We all had a good laugh at that one.

So after we sat for dinner we discussed several options for the kiddos to choose from. Some of the options were candy, computer time, Wii time, texting, brownies, soda and homework. It was decided after much debate that the kids would give up soda and Josh and I would give up Freebirds and Papa Murphys. It was an interesting time of conversation in our house around the dinner table, one that I enjoyed and am glad I have to reflect on.

So this year, we are participating in lent. Because we should be able to give up something that we enjoy for 40 days. The Lord gave up so much more than that for us.

I write real good.

2011-02-01T19:59:00.000-05:00

My mother is bugging me that I have not updated in a while, so here I go, trying to give it a try.

The problem is that I always surround myself with people who can write better than I can. I like to think that I am a rockstar writer, but I really know better. I am average at best. I have attempted to write several books. That is laughable at best, seeing as how I am a mediocre writer, I can’t spell to save my life and my story is fairly mediocre.
But then I think about the writing “training” I obtained while growing up. And while I am not perfect, it did teach me more than I will ever know. Mrs. Garcia, Mr. Tomlin, Mrs. Comer and my mother taught me how to write a proper paper, how to write a letter, how to write both professionally and creatively. You see when I was in high school I thought I was a fabulous writer, mostly because (once again) I surrounded myself with fabulous writers. I believe Mrs. Comer gave me my first “C” on a paper and it just about sent me over the edge. I was not used to that. I scheduled a conference with her to discuss the paper and she didn’t budge. She told me it was truly “C” quality work. Which was true, I hadn’t given it my all. It changed the way I wrote and approached writing. I never was as good as those around me, but I know that because of the tons of edited papers that each of the previous mentioned people gave to me, for all the red ink that has bleed over all over my work I became better. And because my mentors where so tough on me it made me become better. It made me try harder. It made me re-read my work, looking for mistakes (except spleeing (leaving, cuz, well- let’s be real it is truth)) and really giving it my all.

I am certainly not good now, but I am thankful that I can push publish and not be embarrassed about what I have written. Well, at least after I run it through spell check.

What? Me worry?

2010-10-04T22:36:00.001-04:00

Have you ever thought about turning over something to God? Something you have worried about and worried yourself almost sick? And then you pray about it and then you turn it over, or you think you turned it over. Then it comes back. Or maybe it doesn’t.

A lot of times I would look at people who worried and laughed to myself. Because, while I worry a little, I have always been able to really turn my worries over to God. Just let them go. I just would pray over it and I wouldn’t worry my pretty little head over it anymore. I even prayed for the worriers. Because that is such a horrible thing to have to carry around with you. I really could not understand why they couldn’t let their worries go. Honestly, just give that over to God- He will make it better.

Then I read the following from Frances Chan’s book crazy love:

“Worry implies that we don’t quite trust that God is big enough, powerful enough or loving enough to take care of what’s happening in our live.

Stress says that the things we are involved in are important enough to merit our impatience, our lack of grace towards each others, or our tight grip of control.

Basically, these two behaviors communicate that it is okay to sin and not trust God because the stuff in my life is somehow exceptional. Both worry and stress reek of arrogance.”

Wow, ok- so worry I am good with, oh, but the stress. That rings a little too close for comfort. I do stress. And when I do I am in a way worrying, but simply placing a different name to it and reacting differently. How angry that must make God. How dare I think that what I am doing is way more important than anyone else. I was quickly convicted and also, felt a little nauseous.

You see for me, I really do believe that God is big, powerful and loving. I know He is going to take care of anything I might be inclined to worry about. But the stress, oh the stress. I mean- I am a wife, a mother, a teacher with 4 preps, a girl scout leader, a school club sponsor, a friend, a confidant, a Sunday school teacher and the list goes on. How could I NOT stress?

I wanted to fix this, but was not sure how that could be accomplished. Then, the next Sunday in our sermon we learned about the Exodus and how in 14:14 of Exodus, Moses says, “The Lord will fight for you; you only need to be still.” And a wave of still came over me. It is hard to believe that this scripture had never been taught to me before, or at least not when I was paying attention. I checked, none of my Bibles had it underlined. (They do now, but you know, that sermon was a couple of weeks ago now.) And you know what, the more I started to pray that scripture and began to ask for that stress to be taken from me, the better I began to feel. I began to let my stress go. I can’t say that I am cured completely or even forever. But I know now that I have found that when I sit still and let God take the burden for me, that I can and will be ok.

The Plastics

2010-06-18T19:18:00.000-04:00

I love having friends.

Now, I know this sounds ridiculous, but I love having friends.

Friends who will text you two days out and say, “hey- you up for lunch and shopping at Goodwill on Friday?”

That is the text I got from Jane two days ago and could hardly wait to have happen.

Candice, Jane and I are friends from school. We all work together and have created is amazing bond over the last two years that rivals almost any other friendship in my life. We are always together. If you can’t find one of us where we “belong” you need to just look in the others rooms. We are the bobby triplets of the high school. In a lot of ways I equate us to the Plastics on Mean Girls. Not that we are mean, but we all have our roll, just as they did in the movie.

Regina: Candice- She is the queen bee and she is always planning and plotting.

Gretchen: Me, because, I have SO many secrets in my hair and I want so much to be loved.

Karen: Jane, she rounds us out and is as sweet as pie, but is a little slow sometimes.

We are the Plastics, but in a nice way. We aren’t out to get those around us, we are not going to take anybody down. But we all three fit into those rolls so perfectly it is almost scary.

Well us three went out for a little lunch, goodwill shopping and Dairy Queen with Jane’s baby. He is almost too cute for words. I ALMOST want another one, but after what I did to myself this week we won’t be having anymore babies. And it was the best time. We gossiped about school and talked about babies and talked about each other and our lives. And we laughed. I laughed so hard that people at the tables around us were looking at me, but I didn’t care. Because when Candice starts in on about the truck driving women her husband works with, it is to die for. I almost wet myself. Luckily I had not had that much to drink. It was SO much fun. The three of us have such a great time with each other and we complement each other so well. Like when Candice told the waiter no guacamole on my dish, because I forgot to tell him- that is a good friend. I miss having them around on a daily basis and laughing and having a great time.vIt almost makes me ready for school to start again, ALMOST.

Surgery

2010-06-15T16:41:00.001-04:00

I am alone in my home right now.

I sit here in my room alone while my insides begin to heal.

My family has headed out to see a movie to allow me some quiet time.

I can’t sleep.

So, I will write.

I am not sure I have thought provoking or fantastical to say, but I have had the urge to start writing again and I think I will start putting it all on “paper” again this summer.

This morning I had minor surgery. I had been diagnosed with menorrhea. This means that I have excessive, horrific, painful menstrual periods. This had begun probably four to five years ago. It was becoming more and more of a problem so I began to see doctors about it and found out about a procedure last summer. But, I waited and didn’t do anything about it. A year passed and things got worse. So I was on it again. I made the appointments and took care of business. And today was the day.

I was scared.

Really scared.

But I wasn’t really sure what I was scared of. Just that I had a sinking feeling of doom.

I went into the hospital and was scared. But as I was waiting for all of the people to come and see me and for all the nurses and doctors to do their thing I began to feel a wash of calm come over me. I knew at that moment that the prayers I had said and those my friends and family had and were saying were “doing their job.” God gave me a calm. And suddenly I was ok. Then… they came in and gave me valium. HA! I thought, if only you had been here 15 minutes ago! But then, I would not have been reminded that I am not the one in control. That the doctors and nurses are not the ones in control. No, God is the one in control. And He will always find a way to remind you of that.

Reflections

2010-06-14T21:37:00.000-04:00

When I look back at the last two years and the changes in my life that have taken place it is quite amazing. This time two years ago I was in a job that I hated, I was stuggeling with my kiddos and while Josh and I were not in a bad place we certainly were not in a good place either. Then I got the call to ofer me a change at a change. And the transformation began. I truly believe that God was watching every single minute of my life, watching, waiting and anxious for me to learn the lessons that I needed before he moved me along in my life.

I look at myself today and I am such a different person. I stand up for myself. I am more humble. I am looking out for the good of the whole and not just myself. I am learning to like myself a little more. I am learning to not be a door mat. I am learning how to serve in the way Christ would like me to. I am finding a place for me and my family on this, our temporary home. I am talking about Christ more with those around me. I am more open with my problems and struggles. Before I was such a private person. I did not want to share myself with much of anybody. I had a small handful of friends who held what few secrets I would share and I never felt more alone. I never would give myself over to anybody completely- sometimes not even to my husband. I am not perfect now by ANY stretch, but I am learning that by talking to others about my struggles I am not alone. I may be able to help others. I may learn something myself. It has been so rewarding to open myself up to those who have surrounded me and I am feeling so much better about who I am.

Now this isn’t to say I have completely come out of my shell, but I have in fact begun to climb my way out. I am stretching my arms and I really like the view. I like the way it feels to share my life and to be heard. I enjoy listening and growing that bond with those around me. I can’t wait to grow it even more.

Thyroids are for the birds.

2010-03-03T22:37:00.000-05:00

When I was 21, only a few short months after I had given birth to my dear daughter Emily, I started to gain weight at an incredibly rapid rate. I was EXHAUSTED and was having other issues, that I won’t share here, because they are gross. Anyhow- I went to the Doctor, because I thought to myself, “Oh, gracious, I think I am pregnant again. Oh and by the way I have a four month old. ACK!”

After talking to the doctor and having a ton of blood work, the nice little doctor sent me home to wait for a call to figure out what was wrong. I went home and the doctor’s office called me that very afternoon to tell me that I needed to come back for more blood work. There had been an error and that they needed to redraw my blood. No problem, except that I am so tired it hurts to even think about walking to the car to drive across town. Once I arrive they take the blood and send me on my marry little way again. I received a call the next day that I was not pregnant, but instead I was broken. I had hypothyroidism. Meaning my thyroid don’t work. It went on vacation and is never coming back. Meaning that my body likes to be tired and fat all the time now, forever. In fact so broken that the doctor was shocked that I was functioning at all. He told me people with less of a “problem” never leave there home because it can be so debilitating. He put me on meds and told me I would feel better soon. The problem was I started to feel ok, but the weight, it never went anywhere.

Now the problem was that I have never enjoyed exercising. I remember in college going to the athletic center and riding the stationary bike for 30 minutes and thinking, “Wow! I am so fit now!” HA!

So I lived my life and the baby weight never went away, but now I had a bit of an excuse plus- there were days in the beginning of my journey that I literally had to drag myself from the bed I was so tired. Simply caring for my child and trying to not live in a pig sty were the more important thing in my life. I got pregnant with Jacob and got a desk job and the weight came on and never went anywhere.

Well, I am tired of it. I began in January eating healthier and have been visiting the gym more often than not. I am trying to go, even when I would rather sit on the couch and stuff myself full of chips. My endurance is raising, but the pounds are staying put. And I am frustrated. I hate my thyroid. I want it to get fixed and make my life a whole lot easier. I want to try to be healthy and see some results. I will stay with it. Because I will win. I am in a competition with myself. I have someplace fabulous to be in August and I want to enjoy it, even if I haven’t lost a single pound- I will have at least gained endurance for the trip. What is most frustrating about it all is that I want it, I am trying, and there are no results.

Also, I literally cannot remember the last time I wasn’t tired. It has been at least 12 years. And that, that really sucks.

Isaiah 43:18-19

2010-02-25T21:58:00.001-05:00

Last night at Bible study the wonderful Georgine shared what may have become my new favorite verse with the group, right as we were closing for the night.

Isaiah 43:18-19 “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing!”

I can honestly say that I have never once read this verse and it have any sort of effect on me. But, when she read this out loud to the group I immediately thought about where I was a year ago and where I am today.

This last year has been interesting and full of times to grow as a person, a wife, a mother, a friend and most importantly as a Christian.

As a person I believe I have grown in many ways: like how I approach people, how I can stand up for myself. I have grown in the ways in which I deal with situations that would have at one point left me wringing my hands in worry. Now I simply deal with it and move on to the next problem. I feel much more comfortable with who I am as a person. I believe myself to be a good person, a truly optimistic person, one who really gives people the benefit of the doubt until she is proven wrong. I want all people to be “good” and deserving of one, two and three chances- but at the same time, I also have learned that sometimes my initial opinions of people are incorrect and I can own that and say, “Well, Susan, you gave them the benefit of the doubt. Even when others were unwilling to you did. And they proved you wrong. I am done.” I also feel as though I can stand up for myself a little more and not be such a push over. I am a very deserving person- and while I generally bend over backwards to help or put myself out for others I have learned to see when I am being taken advantage of and I don’t allow that to happen anymore.

As a wife I believe I have grown in the kitchen and as a loving and supportive wife. I believe that I have become more vocal of the support of my husband, both while he is around and not around. I try really hard to only speak highly of him, saying only kind words about him to anybody. Even if I am super angry with him. I learned in a class at church that what I say about him matters, whether he is around to hear it or not. That the words I say about him to another person may be the only impression they would ever have of him. So it is my job to only say positive things.

As a mother I have grown. Dealing with a preteen, who is hormonal and literally about to drive me crazy- I have learned that I have to take a deep breath and keep the calm. I can’t say that I am always 100 percent good at it, but it is something I am always trying to do. If I stay calm, I can help her see that calm is a better way to attack a situation, rather than all crazy upset like she so often likes to try and do. And wouldn’t you know that once I started this tactic she generally responded in a more positive way that when I yelled, kicked and screamed at her. Who would have ever guessed. I am not claiming to be perfect at this yet- I doubt I ever will be- but it is a difference in who I am trying to be, for my sanity and for my daughter and I’s relationship.

As a friend I think I rock! There I said it. I think I am an awesome friend. I am ALWAYS thinking of ways to try and make the friendship better, how to grow it, how to nurture the relationship into a longer lasting organic thing. This past year I have grown many of my friendships. I have gained more close friends than I have had in years. I feel SO blessed by those people who surround me on a day to day basis as well as through my church family and also friends from years past. Anyone who has ever called me a friend is special to me in ways they probably don’t even know and has blessed me in ways I can’t even count. My goal this last year was to do the same to as many others as I was able to.

As a Christian I have grown leaps and bounds. My “new” church family that I have been worshiping with for the last 5 or so years has blessed me in ways I can’t even explain. I feel like we have settled into this family and will be here for the long haul. I feel like we have been blessed by so many at the Round Rock Church of Christ that I can’t even explain it. They have been standing by us, in good times and bad times with no judgement. With some of the drama that has been happening at my “old” church home in NM, I am so happy to have found a home that I feel I fit in- and that is glad to have me. I only hope I can bless them in one ounce of the way they have already blessed me and my family.

While I have always loved Isaiah, I had never had Chapter 43, verse 18-19 strike me like it did last night. But it did. I am such a different person than I was- and I am glad I have forgotten many former things in my life. I am thrilled that I no longer dwell on things in the past. But thrilled to pieces that I am doing new thing and enjoying my life the way it is going right now.

Weekend retreat

2010-02-15T21:51:00.001-05:00

This last weekend, I attended a ladies retreat with the women from my church. It was a wonderful time of fellowship and renewal. I went to the retreat excited to hang with my good friend Erica and her buddy Francis. We were going to hang out and really just have a good old time. I went with the expectation that I would enjoy myself- have some good time away from the stresses of my life for a while, but not really walk away from the weekend a different person. I thought that my spiritual life would not be greatly affected – whether this thinking was right- wrong or indifferent, that is what I believed.

Boy, was I wrong.

I was SO thirsty and didn’t even know it.

Friday night I was enjoying myself while we were worshiping and I asked God to let me gain something from the weekend. I opened my heart up and asked that He open my heart and fill it up with all things good and joyful. He heard me loud and clear. He opened my eyes, my heart and my soul and filled me so full of him that I can barely breathe now I am so full.
The theme of the retreat was Homecoming, and it was fun and heartwarming. I had gotten myself into a rut in life, just living day in, day out. Still doing all that I thought I needed to do, but feeling like something was missing- but not really knowing what was not quite right. I couldn’t ever really put my finger on it, except that I was really weighed down by the everyday life. So, when I opened up and let him fill me and it is such a wonderful feeling.

In fact, just last night I grabbed my Bible and flipped it open to a random passage and this is what the Lord led me too: Ephesians 2:1-10

As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive in Christ even when we were dead in transgressions-it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised up with Christ and seated is with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith-and this is not from yourself, it is the gift of God- not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advanced for us to do.

Did you read that? Really, really read it? It is AMAZING! I had to slow down, read it out loud to really HEAR it. I read it 4 or 5 times last night just soaking it all in. I think this may be my new favorite passage.

Know that God is has covered us with grace and that he knows we have all been in those trenched, but he there waiting for us. I am so glad to be home.

Archived: A button

2010-02-14T23:05:00.004-05:00

In Jacob’s kindergarten class everyday one person gets chosen to pick from the treasure chest. He has gotten to be the lucky winner twice this year. The winner is chosen based on how well they behave during rest time. If you are quiet and don’t wiggle and squirm you get to be the winner.

Jacob was the winner on Monday. He was so tired he slept through rest time, so of course he didn’t talk, wiggle or squirm at all. Poor guy wasn’t used to school after 6 days off.

When we all get home I have started making dinner, spaghetti (an all time fav around here) and Emily says, “ Jacob, show mom what you got from the treasure chest!” I turn around from my browning meat and addition of Girl Scout money on the counter to ask him, “Jacob, what did you choose?” He runs to his backpack and runs back to me with
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a button.

“A button, wow, um, that’s nice.”

He just grins at me.

“Well, Jacob, what do you want to do with your button?” “When we go to the store we can buy some yarn and put it on there and swing it around and it will make noise.” he says with more excitement than I could ever muster over a button. “What other stuff was in the treasure box?” I ask, thinking maybe the pickings were slim; it is near the end of the first semester, maybe Mrs. Smith needs to restock. He tells me he skipped over kaleidoscopes and cool sunglasses and pencils. For a button. Now the button rests in a very special spot in my jewelry box, safe from all things evil. He is a special boy; I wouldn’t have him any other way.

Revamp

2010-02-14T22:32:00.001-05:00

Well, I wiped the dust and prettied her up. I feel like I have a lot to say as of late, and I need a place to do it. So, this will be it. I may only have like 1 reader, (hi mom), but that is ok. I got to get the stuff out somewhere and this was a fantastic outlet for me a few years ago, so I am coming home to it.

Be on the look out. I have a few in drafts already with more stewing up in my pea sized brain.

Howdy there

2010-01-09T18:42:00.000-05:00

It has been a while since I sat down to write some of my thoughts and what not down onto “paper”- life with 1 husband, 2 kids, a busy job and animals to boot made time scarce. But I think I am starting to get a grip on the way I should handle myself and my business… so to speak.

We have been a busy bunch in the last several months. I have really come into my own in the last year or so. I feel like I have spent so much of my life trying to please others. I was SUCH a people pleaser. And now I feel that I have my priorities in place. They are in fact my priorities and they don’t always align with what others think I should be doing or how I should be spending my time. But I know myself better than anybody else.

I feel like I have been going to therapy without having gone to therapy. I know understand why people say turning 30 is so wonderful. I have truly become quite introspective. I think about things in such a different way than when I was in my 20’s. I am truly my own person now. I feel like God has put in a place where I can be of service to Him, in my home, in my job and in my church. I have not felt so happy and fulfilled in a long time.

Summer time is upon us

2009-06-08T19:54:00.001-04:00

Ahhh summer.

It has finally come upon us. There was a time last November when I didn’t believe it would ever exist. But, alas it is here. And I am LOVING ever minute of it!

Except for the part where the kids decided to hate each other. That part really stunk, but I think we have moved past it and have moved onto the point where we can bear to be in the same room as each other. Which is good, because I was just about up to here with it, if you know what I mean. Today was the first day in, well, forever that I didn’t have to be at a job that was going to pay me. I was required to be at a job that was not going to pay me, but I wanted to be there. I am able to volunteer for the first time ever to work our churches VBS, and this is the first year that my kids could attend as well. We were all so super duper excited.

Really, we were.

So we woke up early, about 2 hours later than usual, and got ready. Off to the church building we went. The kids off to their groups and I didn’t see them again until lunch time. And they came and found me. I was with a group of kiddos that had just completed the third grade. They were precious. I knew some of them from small group, and some I have never met before. They were all precious. I was paired with another adult and 2 teens. One who has an infections energy. I love my group.
When we were done at 2:30 I gathered my own children up and headed home. The kids couldn't stop talking about it. Jacob LOVED it! Which really suprised me, but thrilled me! I was exhausted. We had slowed down considerable at school the last 2 weeks and this was like the first day of school all over again. I was BEAT! I made the kids come home and take an hour rest time and when I was feeling human again we headed off to the neighborhood pool. I have a feeling we will spend MANY an afternoon there. The kids know others at the pool, I can lay there and read, and actually may end up with a nice, color to me, rather than this pasty white I have been for 8 years. The kids had a great time and we were there for almost 2 hours. We left only because Emily hurt herself, but not to terribly.

The kids have commented several times that this is the best day ever and we didn’t spend a dime and there has been NO fighting. I only hope the rest of the summer continues like this. Even though I know there will be days where they will bicker and things will not go as planned, I enjoyed this, our first official day of summer.

Reflections

2009-05-24T19:03:00.002-04:00

It has been several months since I have even had a simple moment to sit down and reflect on what the last year has looked like. But know, I find myself in that position. Sitting back and reflecting. Something that I think we should all do, especially when we change our lives in such a drastic way and several months have passed- you should sit back and think about if the choice you made was a good one, was one that you are proud of, is it making your life better or worse.
One year ago (almost exactly) I was hired to teach high school. This was a goal I had been working towards for longer than even I will admit. But I finally had accomplished it. And I was thrilled and terrified. I had never done anything like this before. And it was a drastic change. I had changed from a hotel manager to a cube dweller, and while that change was a lot bigger than I thought at the time, I knew this change was big and that things were going to be hard, but good.

And they were. Hard, so incredibly hard. Harder than any job I have ever had. But good. Better than anything that has happened in the recent years.

The last nine months have been so incredible that I wouldn’t trade them for anything in the world. Those first few days were terrifying, but I think the kids are so wrapped up in themselves that they don’t even realize you are as nervous as they are. And I was. Terrified. I wanted to do my very best but I was nervous. I also left my previous job with a sour taste in my mouth for “upper management” and was nervous that they wouldn’t like me anymore than those “in charge” had at the previous place.

But I started and poured my heart and soul into the job. So much in fact that my son asked me to go back to the other job because when I left the office at 5pm, I was gone, but this teacher thing followed me around everywhere. Always writing a lesson plan or thinking about a lesson or worrying about papers to grade. And if that was all done, then… I worried about those stinking kids like they were my own. But, his tune has changed, as I learned how to better use my time and now when I am home, I am almost always not working on school stuff- that he can see. Plus, with summer within sight, he is pleased as punch that we will be home together to play and act silly all summer long.

With only a little bit of school stuff left to do. Only I will do most of that while he is away of asleep.

So the last year has been amazing. I only had 9 seniors this semester, but a few of them were extra special. One who is too cool for school. Who painted a beautiful mural on my wall which I will cry over not being able to take with me when we get our new school. She wouldn’t even look at me at graduation, but I know she was happy to see me there acting like a silly, crazy person who had shown up to see them graduate. I saw that twinkle in her eye as she walked passed me. The second was that kid who took my class, a freshman level course, as a senior. He just had to have a place to park himself every other day for an hour and a half. He was a good boy, who always did his work, even the stuff he thought was ridiculous. He carried that flour baby around and he sewed several pillows, and I think he might have learned a little something in the process. These two kiddos will help me remember my first year teaching. Along with a dozen or so others crazy under classmen. Like the mechanical baby girl, who talked incessantly about those silly mechanical babies until she had to carry around a flour baby for a week. Haven’t heard a peep about them since. Or the student athlete who always did her work BEFORE she was going to be out for athletics. And managed to get a 98 in my class. And the poor little boy who transferred schools at the semester and gave me the first and last teacher gift I have ever received. The teacher mug with candy. This boy was special to me, because after the first day of school if I had never seen him again, it would have been too soon. But we muddled through and when he left he had been clean and sober for 4 weeks and was proud to tell me about it. And I was proud of him for it.

So over all the last year has been a whirl wind of time. I don’t even remember feeling down in the trenches, but I know I was there. I know there was a time when I felt overwhelmed and under qualified and lost for what to do and say. But know I know better than I did before and I will know even better this time next year. I can’t believe how far I have come. I can’t believe how excited I am to go back next year and start all over with those silly little freshman. And some other classes that will have more upper classmen in them. This has been the best career change I have ever made. And I think I am only as good as I am because I come from a line of educators and because of the life I have lived up to this point. If I hadn’t worked all the crazy jobs I had in the past, then I wouldn’t be half as prepared as I am for this now.

I love it. I love hearing “SUMPTER!” in the hallways, from several students. I love the nothing drawings that students have made for me. I love the exhaustion that I feel most days. I love that there are students who love me and students who hate me. I love that I am making a difference in the lives of some of these knuckleheads. They have left their mark on me, I just hope that I have left a mark on them.

End of the drought

2009-03-25T20:10:00.003-04:00

I have nothing profound to say, just finally feeling like I might have something to write about again. Not that my students don’t give me more material than my own children, but their privacy must be maintained.

Things have been crazy around these parts with school and the move and just life that I quite literally have not had 5 minutes to rub together a thought to write down. But now things are calming down and I would like to start getting my writing juices out on paper again.

I will leave you with some pictures that I took a few weeks ago when the wind was high and the sun was shining. We headed down to the new neighborhoods park and broke out the new kites. We had a great family evening flying those kites and the kids have been bugging me ever since to get back out there to fly some more. There just hasn’t been enough time or wind to get back out.

My rockin' New Years Eve!

2008-12-31T19:09:00.004-05:00

Josh was working on New Years Eve and Emily had gone to spend the night at a friends house to "work" on her cience Fair Project, leaving Jacob and I to fend for ourselves. Jacob was about to make his regular dinner on the fly, Taco meat, when I thought it would be way more fun to cook up a pizza and watch Wall-E, which we had picked up from the Red Box the night before. Jacob was game, so I let him make the pizza all by himself- with a little direction from me.

Now when I say, "Make a pizza" I don't mean make the dough. My mother used to make the dough from scratch when I was a kid, but once these little pouches came out where all you have to do is add water, she went to that and that is all I have ever done with my family. So here is Jacob puring in the dough.

Stir it up! He loves to stir!

Got to grease the pan. I remember having to Cisco it with my fingers whn I was a kid. It was SO gross. And my mom always made me do it!

Spreading the dough out. He did a very good job. I had to help him in the end, but he almost did it all himself.

Extra seasoning. Got to make it our own!

And the sauce. We don't use anything fancy. What ever we have in the house already. This is some sort of 4 cheese sauce.

Add the cheese, oops! Caught ya! He loves to eat shredded cheese. I think he may have eaten more than he got on the pizza!

But the smile makes it all good!

In the oven! Yummy!

Once it was done, we snuggled up and watched Wall-E, the third viewing for him and the first for me. I enjoyed my rather tame ringing in of the new year. But I wouldn't have had it any other way.

Prayers and Blessings

2008-12-17T12:42:00.001-05:00

I have been attending a Sunday school class using the book Revolutionary Parenting as a guide. During the last 5 minutes of class our children’s minister stands up and would issue a challenge for the week. A challenge to get us to be better parents. She usually would give us something along the lines of bringing God into the conversations more or praying around the dinner table.

This class has been so wonderful. It allowed me to have the gumption to ask Jacob to pray at dinner and when he said no, again like he does every time we would ask I tucked that information into the back of my mind and that night when I tucked him in I asked him why he didn’t ever want to pray at dinner. His response was of course to say nothing at all, just like when I ask a difficult question to him. I asked if it was because he didn’t actually know how. If he was intimidated because when our babysitter prays at her table it is always very flowy and showy? His response to this question was a big nod and big scared eyes.

I quickly informed him that he was ok to have very simple prayers and that his prayers would be just as important to God as any big showy prayer he had heard anywhere else. We now, have nightly “prayer time” and he is excited to do it and getting more confident in his prayers every night. They are still very simple and “thank you for the trees” kind of prayers, but he is comfortable doing it and it pleases me more than anything else in this world.

Additionally another challenge given was to write a blessing for your children. This was especially difficult for me. I was very unsure of what to write. But I did it. I am sure it is horrible. But I plan to give these to the kids on Christmas Eve, and make it a tradition. And let me tell you--- it blessed me more than I am sure it will bless them. It is nice to sit down and really think about the wonderful things about your children and how they bless you and how you only hope for the very best for your children.

This class has come to a close and I am really sad about it. I know that the next class we will begin after the new year will be fabulous. It is a more Bible based course and I love to delve into the Bible during Sunday School, but I will miss this class, it is the first “parenting course” that I REALLY enjoyed and will miss going to every week. I am glad that I purchased the book in order to read and re-read it as my children grow. I would recommend it to anybody!!

Happy Birthday little one

2008-12-02T11:20:00.002-05:00

Today, my baby girl is 10. Take a moment and let that sink in. She is 10. (Insert HUGE sigh from me.)

It seems that just yesterday we were bringing her home from the hospital when I was just 20 years old. I know I just gave my age away, but, seriously people, we have bigger fish to fry.

In these last 10 years I have watched my child go from an extremely strong willed child. So much so that I had to hold her down some nights to get her to go to sleep. She was a fierce child.

She turned into an even stronger willed child, who has already been picked up from the police station. She sure gave her father and I a run for our money. Never a dull moment with my little one.

She developed a speech “thing” that even the diagnostician had never heard of before. She began going to school 2 years earlier than she should have. She worked her way out of that speech thing, but began to struggle with reading. What a long year 2nd and 3rd grade were.

Then, it was as if a switch went off and she got it. She became my little academic. She is excelling in all of her subjects. She is reading so much that we can’t keep books in the house for her. She is currently reading Marley and Me, and eating it up. And that is not exactly at a 4th grade reading level. I am SO super proud if her.

She has also developed her first real crush. She told me about it just last night. I was so happy and sad at the same time. I was so sad because she is becoming a young lady, but so happy that she felt comfortable enough to tell me about it.

Here she is just last weekend. Beautiful as ever.

I love you Emily, Happy 10th. I hope it is everything that you want it to be.

Well, Hello there

2008-11-22T22:41:00.004-05:00

Well, my oh my. It has been nearly 2 months since I last thought about writing anything on this here blog. But I thought I might give it an old college try.

The last 2 months have been hard. If you are still in school, thank your teachers. If you have kids in school, thank their kids. Because this career choice I made, it is hard.

Now, don't get me wrong, I love it. I have not once thought "I do not want to go to work today." Except for that one day when I had a stomach bug, but that was because I didn't want to puke on all of my students. I love going into that classroom everyday and teaching these knuckleheads things that I would like to think our children going into high school should know, but all too often do not.

I have been swimming in it all for the last 8 weeks. But with Thanksgiving right around the corner I actually feel like I might find myself as a person again. Maybe.

Take tonight as an example, even though I spent all day in class I still had time to take Emily to a birthday party, and have some one on one time with Jacob, and finally upload photos from like the last 3 months and a few other fun items. While sorting through the previously mentioned pictures I found one that I had forgotten i had taken. I had wiped the memory of the event from my memory all together. But seeing that picture, it all came back to me.

You see a few months ago my dear Amy and I finally made our much anticipated trip to see NKOTB. She recounted her fabulous memories HERE. She does quite a fantastic job of retelling the account in a fabulous voice with lots of anticipation and well thought out writing. But what she didn't tell you was that she became very violent on our little adventure. She was out right crazy. I became fearful for my safety when she insisted that she purchase a shot gun.

And then, ladies and gentlemen, she shot an animal. And liked it!

I know, I know, we are from Texas, where people shoot animals for sport. But, I really was shocked when we are walking through downtown San Antonio and she opens fire on a poor, defenseless animal.

I even took a photo of our dear friend with the "kill" and as you can see she was quite proud of herself!

I know, I know. I am almost ashamed to call her MY Lucy.

But in all seriousness, I think that weekend helped keep my sanity. With the craziness that is my life now I rarely have time for myself. But me and my girlfriend rocked a fabulous time and I can not imagine doing it with anybody else. Plus the music was pretty rockin' too!

Time with my boy

2008-09-24T20:04:00.001-04:00

Tonight Emily had softball practice and since Josh is the coach they headed out the door after dinner together. I decided that Jacob and I needed a little one on one time, since that has been pretty rare here lately. Plus I needed to get my supplies for the craft for my Girl Scout meeting that is Friday night.

Jacob and I got into the car and headed out to Hobby Lobby to pick up scrapbooking supplies. FYI- Scrappers, all paper and albums are 50% off this week. Saved myself, er, well, I saved Girl Scouts A LOT of money. We had such a good time and he helped me pick out paper and albums for the girls. He showed my some beautiful Christmas decorations and very cute Halloween decorations that he thought we ought to buy right then and there. He showed me how he can stand on one foot for several minutes at a time while we were checking out with my 100 pages of scrapbooking paper (5 for $1) and even smiled and held my hand most of the time while we shopped around the store.

He told me about the book they are reading in school about a porcupine who loves salt and how he uses somewhat inappropriate language, which he finds hilarious. And also, the chapter they read today is when the fox dies, and he (Jacob) almost cried. “I had tears in my eyes.”

I loved spending this evening with my son. It reminds me of how important spending just a little bit of good quality time together can really reconnect a parent and a child. Plus, the ice cream from “Basket and Robbins” didn’t hurt either.

Mistakes

2008-08-31T07:17:00.004-04:00

Right now things in our part of the world are pretty rough. I won't go into it all right now, because too many things are up in the air, but changes will coming this week for my family, ready or not.

It is really frustrating to be put into a situation that you can do very little about. When decisions are made for you because of a mistake you made several years ago and are ready to fix, have been ready to fix, but nobody wants to listen- it's hard.

Right now, I ask only for prayers, understanding and no judgement. We know the mistakes we have made. We have punished ourselves more than anybody else can. Right now, we need support. We know we messed up.

Now we are pulling ourselves up from rock bottom and we are going to be successful once again. Who knows when, but I know we will. I know deep in my heart we will be ok. Josh and I have put this situation completely in God's hands. I know He will stand by us in our shame. I just hope that everyone else will as well.

First day of school

2008-08-26T19:47:00.002-04:00

Around these parts kids have been staring shcool either yesterday or today. I started my new teaching job, with kids in class yesterday. It was a day.

My kids started school today. They were all dolled up and daddy took their pictures before taking them to school. Hard to beleive they are in 2nd and 4th grade. Seems just yesterday we were bringing Emily h ome from the hospital.

Here are obligatory first day of school pictures in front of the door.

Attitude

2008-08-20T22:13:00.004-04:00

Recently we have had abit of an attitude problem with my nine-year old daughter Emily. This evening, after returning home from the pool and heading up the street to see her friend for a minute, she returned home to change out of her bathing suit. However, it was already 8pm, which is late for us, especially since we are trying to get the kids acclimated to earlier hours because of school starting next week. Her father told her that she actually needed to call it a night and was going to need to get a bath and get ready for bed. I followed Josh by saying, "But first, please run up and tell Jacob to come on home."

You would have thought I poured hot acid in her ear.

"I thought I was supposed to get a bath!!! I was going to get in the bath!!" Never mind the fact that she still had one foot out the front door.

I politely told her to get her butt in the bath and I would get her brother, and deal with her in a minute. When I went outside, her friend Danielle, told me should would be more than happy to send Jacob home.

I returned inside to discuss with Emily how her attitude needed adjusting. When she gets upset becasue she is in trouble she begins to almost scream "I am sorry! I didn't know!!" over and over. I told her that I accepted her apology, and she needed to stop, calm down and listen. And then I had nice little talk to her about the need to listen and had she been listening rather than throwing me attitude she would have heard me say that she would actually been given a few more minutes with her frined this evening, while walking back to her house to pick up Jacob. We had a nice chat and it almost seemed to have made an impression. I didn't drone on and on like I normally do and left her to get her shower.

About a half hour later Josh called me into the hallway to point out this:

Here is the note:

After talking to Josh, we decided this might be a little drastic, but we agreed to have no electronics, including her phone, radio, computer, and TV. But only for one week. But she was informed that if we encounter attitude again, the punishment would be extended.

I don't know why, but I think we really got through to her this time.

The sweet is so sweet.

2008-08-19T20:00:00.003-04:00

So as many of you may or may not have noticed, I apperantly took a little bogging break for the last week and a half. I have been so super busy with new hire training, and in-services and my on-line courses that time has become very precious. Gone are the days of sitting in front of a computer for hours a day with nothing to do.

But I love it.

I am SO tired and my feet already hurt. I can hardly sleep for all the thoughts and ideas racing through my mind as I try to fall asleep.

I have not loved a job like this in years.

Now I may not feel that way in a week, when the students actually show up, but I am toughing my exterior, preparing my first weeks lessons and gritting my teeth.

I know it will be sweet, because I made it through the bitter.

My classroom

2008-08-07T17:35:00.002-04:00

I have been spending my time this week attending the first of my three weeks of training that I am required to have prior to the beginning of the school year. I was released early today around lunch time and I headed out to my school so that I could take a look at the class room I might be placed into, hopefully get my schedule and find out exactly what I will be teaching and finally take some of the materials home with me in order to start completing some of my lesson plans prior to the school year starting.

I was shown the room that everybody thinks I will be occupying.

The room is in the middle of being painted and cleaned out prior to the beginning of the year. I am excited to have such a huge room and I am really glad they got rid of the blue paint on the wall and painted it "Navajo" as I was told by the nice painter, Joe, that was in the room working. This is not for sure my room, but the councilor and my teaching partner seemed to think this is where I will be placed.

I also was given my tentative schedule. I will teaching 5 sections of the same class: Personal and Family Development and 1 section of Housing/Interior Design. There are 8 periods and I will have 2 conference periods, 1 each day as we are on a block schedule.

And I brought home tons of books. I brought home as many as I could carry in one trip.

I know it will be hard and over whelming and I know I will cry, but I am SO excited!

Changes are coming

2008-08-01T09:56:00.001-04:00

I recently was looking back at my blog posts from when I left my previous job and took the job I currently have (for 6 more hours). I was looking to see if I had written a grand farewell to this job kind of piece, I mentioned that I had found a new job and that I was excited about the new opportunity and such but nothing like the post I had written in my head over the past couple a weeks about this job I have now.

But then, as I was looking at the posts I came across this picture:

And I immediately thought of the picture I had just posted earlier this week:

And I got mad at myself.

Really, really, really mad.

Because that sweet little boy has grown three years in my time with the Evil Company (EC) and I missed a lot of it because I spent my time angry about my job. I missed first days of school and Kindergarten recitals and parent/teacher conferences because of EC. I have been mad for the last three years, and you know what? That makes me mad! I missed so much of my babies childhood because of my situation.

And that day I vowed that I was done being mad. I know that this next year will be hard. I will be angry, I will be frustrated, I will feel unappreciated, I will cry. But I will not let it allow me to miss anymore of my children’s lives. No job I could ever hold will be more important that the one’s I already have, Christian, Wife and Mother.

With that said, I am SO stinking excited at the gigantic change that I am making right now. It is scary and nerve-wracking, but I know it is the correct choice, because I have no regrets of leaving EC. None, zero, zilch. I feel like I had to work at this place, I had to have these experiences, I needed them to grow as a person. But I also know that my time here is done. I have no reason to think this is a mistake. And I am ready to wake up again and start living my life, as a happy, joyful person.

A change

2008-07-31T21:34:00.001-04:00

My mother, who has been a teacher for a “few” years decided to send me a “back to school” box. I received it in the mail this afternoon and opened with the excitement of a young child. You see, my parents oftentimes send my children boxes filled with prizes and fun toys. Only this time, it was all for me.

I slowly opened the box and found this:

It was almost as good as it gets for me. I love school supplies. They bring me happiness that is really quite unnatural. The post-its and highlighters. They bring me joy that many people do not understand.

When I left a job about 4 years ago, because I was being promoted, my boss had left for the afternnon in order to go to Sam’s Club. He returned later that evening to the office with his hands full of stuff. In one hand was a beautiful framed print, in the other was a box with a 2 pound bag of m & m’s and a stack of yellow post-it’s. I asked him what he had been up to and he told me he had been out to purchase my going away present. I immediately was giddy with the prospect of my going away present being the box with the m & m’s and post-it’s. It wasn’t, and I left that place with a beautiful framed picture which I have kept at my desk for the last four years and it has reminded me daily of my time at that hotel. It will make it’s way into my classroom as well. And now, I have these wonderful office supplies, which will carry me through my teaching career.

I can’t wait.

He is the marrying kind.

2008-07-30T15:22:00.001-04:00

I went home from work yesterday because I was feeling pretty lousy. When I arrived home the whole family was home and I crawled into the bed and attempted to die. Emily came and joined me first, being sweet and gentle with me and just plain snuggling. Something that is rarely happens with her in this house anymore. After awhile Jacob realized I was home and joined us in the bed and I had my two babies, one on each side loving me. Emily left the bed after a while leaving Jacob and I alone in our gigantic king sized bed. He was really being sweet, kissing me and gently stroking my hair. I looked up at him and told him that some day he would meet some girl and fall in love. He was going to make some girl very happy. He looked me straight in the eyes and said, “I am not going to marry a girl mommy, I am going to marry a woman.”

At that moment I could not even keep a straight face. I fell into a fit of giggles unlike any I had seen in ages.

Jacob

2008-07-28T11:39:00.001-04:00

Rock Star Shopper

2008-07-26T16:01:00.004-04:00

I was out running errands this morning and decided to head to the mall on a whim. Just to see what I might find, really looking for a replacement for the stinky shoes I have. While I did not find the replacement shoes (stinky feet live on!) I did find some rockin' deals on kids clothes. I bought 3 shirts and a set of 2 "pj's" for Jacob and 4 shirts, 1 dress, 1 pair of pants, 1 hat and a watch/bracelet set for Emily. Look below for the visual aid:

Please do not mind the Fruit Pebbles scattered on the ground next to the table, I will sweep after I tell you the exciting news of my fabulous finds.

How much would you pay for these clothes? I added the price together with the full prices: $261.93. Do you think I would pay nearly that? NEVER! I paid....

are you ready....

$39.12.

That is a savings of $222.81. Can you believe it? I totally got the best deal! I love walking up the cash register and watching as they scan and the price is way less that you expected. Like the pants for Emily: $2.49! My gracious. I nearly fell over right there in the store.

It was so fabulous! I even bought Josh a handful of shirts for work, a pair of shorts and a pair of pants for next to nothing. Not as great a deal as the kids, but pretty darn close!

Baby Blankets

2008-07-25T09:09:00.002-04:00

Last night I pulled out some fabric that I had purchased during a shopping trip earlier in the week. I proceeded to make 2 baby blankets. With each one, I really learned about silly things, like cutting in a straight line and sewing straight. Those minor things really help with the quality of sewing that takes place. But here are two more blankets I made as gifts for two of my colleagues at work who are pregnant.

I hope that they like them and that they will help keep their babies warm during the cold winter nights.

My builder

2008-07-24T14:14:00.001-04:00

Last night after Jacob ate his “dinner” he went into his room and began building. He received a set of Lincoln Logs for his birthday from Mamagrand and has been building with them almost every day since he received them. He had created a house and had added the small logs all the way across the room that were supposed to be the “electricity” for the house. He was so very proud and wanted me to take a picture of him with his creation.

Yesterday

2008-07-22T12:13:00.000-04:00

Yesterday was a hard day. It was the first day at work after I gave my two weeks notice. It is really hard to stay focused on a job that you are ready to leave, ready to move on from and start something new. I am doing it, but man, it is hard.

I went home and ate some fabulous stuffed bell peppers that my husband had made and left in the fridge for me to cook. The kids ran to their friends house and I didn’t see them again until they were hungry. And then they still left again after that. Since I was by myself I began the nearly impossible task of cleaning. Just cleaning. I think the stress of leaving this current job and the fear of the unknown allowed me to kind of check out of the cleaning, regular household duties persona. Plus Josh, who usually picks up the slack when I have a week moment has been working such crazy hours he is lucky he is even standing upright most days.

I began in my bedroom. Probably the worse of the entire house. Because I can’t let the kitchen get too terrible and the living room is a hot spot, so I tend to at least “police the area” as my mother used to say more often that anywhere else in the house. But the bedroom, it was the dumping ground. I only actually threw away one garbage bag full of stuff yesterday, however, I didn’t finish the room. I have this stack. It is a stack of things from the kids that I want to keep. I am not a pack rat mother, keeping every drawing that my children make, but if something is especially nice, or took a long time to complete I like to keep it. Only I have NO way of organizing these items so they end up in the stack. There are crafts from when Emily was in Kindergarten, to the TAKS test results and nearly every report card for both children. That area and the dreaded bathroom closet are my charge tonight. I don’t even want to tell you about the bathroom closet, it is just literally a place where we throw things. Maybe, just maybe I will document my progress. If I am feeling generous.

After the cleaning of the bedroom I began watching my new guilty pleasure The Two Corey’s. It is like a train wreck. I have to watch, because it is so horrible. It is almost painful to watch. That is why I love it. And then, for my weekly weep fest, I watch Army Wives. I start the show, pull out the tissues and cry for an hour. It is very therapeutic.

I put the kids to bed and they gave me all sorts of grief. When I finally checked on them before I went off to bed, Jacob was asleep on the floor in Emily’s room. I guess Emily wasn’t willing to share her new mattress with him. I loaded him back into his bed, only to be woken up by him twice in the night. It was a long day, yesterday, but today will be better.

I can't promise this won't become a craft blog

2008-07-20T21:02:00.005-04:00

So I went to the WalMart today and bought some fabric. I made some aprons. I am absolutely no expert, but I am having a lot of fun learning and can't wait to try something else. I don't know what that will be, but the work week is starting, so there will be little time for sewing. The only problem I am really having is it hurts my back more than sitting at the computer for 8 hours a day. Oh, well, muscles will be built.

Here are the aprons I made today. Emily was going to model both of them, but she went next door and got sopping wet so she went straight to the shower and I wanted my picture then. Jacob reluctantly modeled it for me.

Here is my first attempt. I like it, but I need longer ribbon. I really think this would make a better child's apron, simply because the ribbons around the neck are so small. And look, that's Bessie in the back ground. Just plain dead.

Next is my second attempt. With no pattern, I was just winging it with my extra fabric. I really, really like this one.

Over all I am very pleased with my efforts. Too bad the bathrooms didn't clean themselves while I sewed. Hmmmmm....

Look Ma! I can sew!

2008-07-19T19:00:00.003-04:00

After trying and failing at threading the sewing machine which belongs to my MIL (who is currenlty in California, therefore little help with the whole threading thing) I finally begged Josh to pick up the instruction manuel. He did and I have had success!

Since I will be teaching this to students in approximately 5 weeks, I figured I needed to figure the whole sewing thing out. It has been quite a while and I have never been much of an expert.

Once I got started I thought, "I should blog my experience, because that's what I do."

Look, here is the machine, threaded properly with my material waiting to be sewed. I will be making two baby blankets. One which is humongous, perfect for the modest breast feeder and a smaller one, which was made from my left over material.

Here I show you my fabulous stitching.

This one shows you how focused I am. I am really getting after it.

Final product:

I am impressed with myself because I actually did it. They are not perfect, but will help keep somebodies baby warm this winter. And I gave myself the confidence that I can in fact to the job I have been hired to do: High School Family and Consumer Science teacher.

Old Bessie

2008-07-10T15:08:00.003-04:00

Well, it appears that “Old Bessie” may be down for good.

On Sunday, as I was driving to drop Emily off at camp, Josh was driving to work. Only he didn’t make it. About halfway the car started over heating and he had just enough time to get her off the highway before she just plain stopped. After towing her back into town, and getting an estimate for a new engine ($4000!) we have decided it is time to let her go. But she has been good to us, for 7 long years. We bought her right after Jacob was born, because we thought we needed a bigger car.
I thought I would show her off in the best way that I can.

Hanging out in the car wash.

Running to the car with our friends.

Reading the Bible in the car.

Just being silly.

Sleeping.

Riding our big boy bike next to her.

Wearing ridiculous hats while driving her.

Carwash again. See, we took car of her.

Working on her.

Taking the dogs for a ride in her.

Going to Six Flags in her.

She even went to Kentucky!

Being dramatic while riding in her.

Celebrating the holidays with her.

Just being Jacob while in her.

Sleeping after seeing the Cheetah Girls.

Lounging in her.

She even made it through the huge ice storm 18 months ago.

What is really odd about the whole situation is- it is really like almost loosing a family member. We have owned her for so long and she has been with us through think and thin.

I am sad to see her go, and even sadder to think about what we are going to do about it.

Goodbye Old Bessie, its been fun.

Time with the "baby"

2008-07-08T08:43:00.001-04:00

After dropping his sister off at camp, Jacob and I had ourselves a nice long drive home from Abilene. Most of the time he played his game but we had ourselves a little bit of fun along the way as well.

About an hour into the trip home, we needed to refuel the car and refuel ourselves. We stopped and filled the car up with gas and headed into the gas station. I told Jacob he could have anything he wanted from the store, he was after all on an 8 hour road trip to no where. He immediately headed to the candy aisle and picked up the king sized pack of Reices Peanut Butter Cups. And then he moved over to the coolers for his soda pick. He of course picked Diet Dr. Pepper, because the boy is watching his weight.

I picked up a drink and a small canister of Pringles. Pringles have always held a special place in my heart. When I was younger, my family would go camping. I know, me camping. Not a pretty sight. Anyways, the ONLY time we ever bought Pringles was when we went camping. Maybe that was why I liked camping, it was all for the Pringles. Also, driving back home from LCU I would stop in Roswell, (yes that Roswell) to fill up the car and pick up a canister of Pringles and a Gatorade. Because of all the physical exertion I was about to have, driving for three more hours. And only the Lemon Lime flavor, because that was what my dad drank. Probably because that was the only flavor in 1980, but whatever.

I opened the top of the canister of Pringles and chomped on a few while he ate his 4 Peanut Butter Cups, one which he spilled some of his Diet Dr. Pepper on top of. Yummy combination. Once he had downed them all and was getting giddy on sugar he started munching on the chips. At first he was munching on them one at a time and then, I looked over at him and he had 4 chips all layered together eating them all at the same time. And he was proud of it.

Once we got home he and his father went swimming and attempted to get me wet, but I successfully locked them out of the house while I laid on the couch and tried to not have knots all through my body from driving a little car for 8 hours. After dinner, Josh took him to the corner store for ice cream. Something that rarely happens with Emily in tow. He had devoured his cone before they got home and was flying high on the sugar. He then showed me how to play one of his games on the DS. We snuggled up on the couch and played a few rounds of Step Up on Mario Games. I showed him off to bed at 9 and followed myself about 5 minutes later. It was a nice afternoon drive with my baby boy and a wonderful evening with just the three of us. I miss Emily like crazy… but I am enjoying being a three person family for a little bit.

On growing up

2008-07-07T11:01:00.001-04:00

This weekend I made the 4 hours one way and then 4 hours back trip to ACU in order to drop my 9 year old daughter off at church camp. Her real first sleep away camp. I was a bit of a mess. Mostly because she wasn’t. She had spent the week prior in New Mexico with her grandparents, having a great time, apparently behaving like an angel- with occasional attitude and she had only arrived home the day before I made the trip to take her to camp.

She was SO excited. Wearing her brand new High School Musical dress that Memaw had bought for her at the Disney Stores annual “It’s so cheep, we pay you to take it” Sale. She was so adorable in it and looked like such the little lady. And honestly, excited does not give justice to what she was. She was just plain thrilled. When we saw the first sign that said “Abilene” she squealed. Literally, like a pre-teen at a New Kids on the Block concert. Not that I would know anything about that, at all.

Anyhoo.

We made the drive up with her brother in the backseat playing Mario Games the entire way, complaining about the length of the trip about once every hour. Once we arrived, she checked in, got her room assignment and off we went to unpack the car. After hauling two suitcases up to the third floor she went looking around while I made her bed. It was like I was in some sort of weird Freaky Friday moment, only I was the mother this time. I remember doing the same thing to my mother; only she was dropping me off for college.

When she came back 15 minutes later she tried shoving me and her younger brother out the door, but I insisted that we stay until she was completely unpacked and moved into that college dorm room. (And that part I am not even exaggerating about. They stay in college dorm rooms!) After she was entirely unpacked I tried to get her to walk around the campus with me and her brother, to get a feel for the place, but she simply shoved me out the door and said, “See you on Friday!”

Jacob and I made our way down the 2 flights of stairs, went and paid for the picture package we ordered and got into the car and left.

Just like that.

It was so dramatic…. in my mind.

I am sure she is having a fantastic time and I can’t wait to hear all about it on Friday.

But I have found that I am having quite a time letting her go this time. I have been leaving her for weeks at a time since she was 6 months old, but I have always left her with family. With any camp environment, I have been with her, as the leader and even then it was only for one nighters. But this, this is so big. No contact for an entire week. No family members there to keep an eye on her. The freedom she will have is like none she has ever tasted.

And what funny is that I am not worried about her. I know that she is perfectly safe. I know that she will be accounted for more times than I will ever know. I know she will have a great time, making new friends and learning all sorts of things. But the thing that I am having the most trouble with is the letting go. It is so, so very hard. I want so much to be by her side when she is making those friends and learning those things. But I can’t be. And I don’t really want to be. Because I know that I am who I am because my parents dropped me off at camp and left when I kicked them out the door. I made my way just fine, and I know she will too. I just know how much I grew as a person and as a Christian at those camps and I am sad and selfish that I won’t be there to witness it. I just have to be ok with it. And that is so very hard.

I know she is going to come home a completely different young lady that who I dropped off, and I can’t hardly wait to meet her!

World I never thought I would hear.

2008-07-03T10:35:00.002-04:00

While the kids are gone this week I have been even more busy than I am with the kids. Ok, I am busy with things that are all about me, but I am ok with that.

I decided that while the kids are gone I would try a few recipes that I had found that I didn’t want to deal with crazy kids in case they were horrific. So, on Tuesday night I made a Mexican Lasagna. That’s what the recipe called it anyways. It was fairly easy, and from the my recipes website. It was so easy I made most of it while on the phone with Amy, talking about something of vital importance, like world peace, hunger in third world countries, or maybe it was what Britney was wearing that day on Perez Hilton. I don’t really remember.

Anyhoo.

I made this meal while on the phone, and I am not really a cook so that should tell you that the recipe was super duper easy to make. I did dirty 4 dishes/pots in the process but I will just have to get over that.

And when I pulled it out of the oven, it looked and smelled delicious. I waited for it to cool down and carved me a little piece out to try and it was fantastic. I was in love. I thought I was the new Rachel Ray. But I was home by myself and the true teat would be what Josh thinks when he got home later that night and tried some.

The next morning as I was heading out the door I asked him what he thought of the Mexican Lasagna and he said, “It is the best thing you have ever cooked!”

Now, I don’t cook much, but I think I have a few good meals up my sleeve. But now, Mexican Lasagna is one of the food that will be added to the rotation at our house. Plus now that I have made it once, I can think of a few ways I want to tweak it to make it my own. I am just thrilled to have found something that at least 2 of the members of my family will enjoy. I think that even Emily might like it and Jacob MIGHT warm up to it in time.

So here you go: the recipe.

Ingredients
1/2 pound ground mild pork sausage 1/2 pound ground beef 1 (15-ounce) can jalapeno ranch-style pinto beans, drained 2/3 cup canned diced tomatoes and green chiles 1 teaspoon garlic powder 1 teaspoon ground cumin 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon pepper 1 (10 3/4-ounce) can cream of celery soup 1 (10 3/4-ounce) can cream of mushroom soup 1 (10-ounce) can enchilada sauce 9 (6-inch) corn tortillas 2 cups (8 ounces) shredded Cheddar cheese 1 cup (4 ounces) shredded Monterey Jack cheese 1 medium tomato, seeded and diced 4 green onions, chopped 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro 1 medium avocado, chopped
Preparation
Cook sausage and ground beef in a large skillet over medium-high heat, stirring until meat crumbles and is no longer pink. Drain. Stir in beans and next 5 ingredients; cook until thoroughly heated.
Stir together soups and enchilada sauce in a saucepan; cook until thoroughly heated.
Spoon one-third of sauce onto bottom of a lightly greased 13- x 9-inch baking dish; top with 3 tortillas. Spoon half of beef mixture and one-third of sauce over tortillas; sprinkle with half of Cheddar cheese. Top with 3 tortillas; repeat layers ending with tortillas. Sprinkle with Monterey Jack cheese and next 3 ingredients.
Bake at 350° for 30 minutes. Top with avocado.
Yield
Makes 6 to 8 servings

Yummy.

If you would like to be bored to death, please read the following.

2008-06-27T14:45:00.002-04:00

Clever title, I know.

I have been absent from the old blog due to nothing. I haven’t been at work, so there has been little time for my brain to set to neutral, until today.

I am back in the office after a week “on the road” traveling. Only the traveling I do now is local, so I don’t think it really counts. Last weekend we had Jacob’s birthday party, which I believe was a smashing good time. But I also just love to hang out with Amy. Even the husbands got along better than normal. Jacob had loads of friends over and hot dogs and tacos to eat and a fabulous cake. He actually turned 7 yesterday, but since his plane to New Mexico to visit the grandparents leaves at 7:30am – that’s like a 4:30 wake up (Thanks Dad.) we had his party early rather than late.

He received his beloved Nintendo DS for a gift. I haven’t seen him since. Oh, just kidding, I saw him that one time on Tuesday when he came up for food- but not since.

No kidding, the kid is addicted. We have had to set some serious time restraints for the use of the system. Otherwise we might never see him.

Last night we went to eat his birthday dinner at a local Mexican joint of his choosing. We arrived early in order to miss the rush, which also was during Happy Hour. During Happy Hour they have free taco meat and queso at the chip and salsa bar and the kid ate 2 bowls of meat before our food came out. Of course then he only ate 1 taco.

After dinner we headed over to the always lovely Target in order for him to spend all of his birthday money. He had received quite the hall this year and it was burning a hole in his pocket. He purchased a new game for his DS, something Mario, I honestly don’t remember what it was. I do remember telling him that he could NOT buy the same game he already had for his DS for the Wii. Talk about a waste of money. He also purchased a Indiana Jones lego set and a Webkins earlier in the evening. He left the store with $10 still in his pocket. Or my pocket, because he always looses his money.

Emily spent her allowance that she had been saving for over a month on a camera. It is a small, cheep digital camera, but she is thrilled with her purchase as well.

I bought…. blush. I dropped mine about a month ago and have been dealing with the powder mess for long enough. It really was quite the exciting trip.

But speaking of Emily, I am reminded that I have been sneaking into her room at night and peaking into her notebook and finding beautiful drawings. Just fantastic. I think I am going to head over to Hobby Lobby this week while they are in New Mexico and see if I can find her a real drawing pad and some good color pencils. Right now she is just using a Number 2 pencil and notebook paper. These little drawings she is doing are better than anything I could ever do, much less at 9 years old, so I definitely want to encourage this gift she has discovered.

His laugh

2008-06-19T21:24:00.001-04:00

I mentioned his laugh in my previous post and captured this on "film" tonight.

His laughter is infectious and I love it with my whole being.

Jacobs crazy dance

2008-06-18T14:07:00.000-04:00

I have two children. They couldn’t be much more different if I had tried. But one thing they both have in common is their “whiteness.” They are both so, so white. Both my husband and I are very pale as well. Now, call it global warming if you like, but the sun seems to be out this summer like never before. It is hotter than I ever remember being, and I come from Southern New Mexico, where it is HOT! I remember growing up and getting into a car, and your legs melting to the seat, almost literally. But this summer the heat has been cranked up. And here in central Texas, it is HOT!

Anyhow, it is really hot here as of late and the kids like to head out back and take a dip in the pool. I spray/rub them down with sunscreen, with reapplication at appropriate times and they still have ended up burnt to a crisp. The first burn they got this year was horrible. They both blistered and moaned and groaned about the pain for weeks. They also stayed away from the pool for a while. They went last week to the local swim park with their sitter and got burnt again. But this time it wasn’t nearly as bad, because they had that first layer of color on them.

Last night, I was chasing my son into the bath and he lowered his britches about 3 inches on his hiney and showed me his white, white, white booty. And giggled. When he laughed it caused me to loose it and began to giggle as well. Then, ladies and gentleman, he began to shake his little white booty at me, nearly falling over with laughter.

It was one of the funniest things I have seen in weeks. That boy, shaking his white rear-end at me while laughing his infectious laugh. I finally had to walk away, but only so I could tell my husband.

Oh gracious- they are fabulous!

2008-06-17T20:00:00.003-04:00

On Saturday night I decided to try and make the dessert that Kim mentioned on her blog. It seemed super simple and looked to die for.

So I made some ka-bobs and the dessert so that once Josh got home from work he could grill up the ka-bobs and we would have a nice relaxing summer evening.

Let me tell you- those desserts- were FABULOUS! I had to stop myself from eating more than one. They were so good. Even my picky-puss son Jacob loved them, and that is the real test.

So thanks Kim, because I know have a new fabulous, easy to make dessert in my arsenal of fine, homemaking.

A pool story

2008-06-16T10:23:00.002-04:00

I haven’t had much to say, or much time to say it in the last week. Ok, that’s a lie. I have a lot to say, but can’t say much of it, and I really haven’t had much time to say anything at all. So I can be mysterious about my “drama” only, its not really drama at all.

My weekend was long, boring and just kinda there. I did mountains of laundry and tried to be interested in doing anything except sit and do nothing.

We did some planning for Jacob’s birthday party, which is next weekend. We ordered/bought the cake from the best cake place in town. Really, they make donuts, but their cakes are to die for. We searched for party favors all over town, before I just went back to HEB, where I knew they were to begin with. Bought Jacob’s gift- it’s a biggie- all the money he gets for his birthday from all the grandparents is going in the communal basket for this one. I know he will just die when he opens it. When I showed Emily, he jaw dropped and she was washed over with envy. I know I did good.

However, Jacob’s party was to be a swim party, just like his lat two have been. Maybe a little more exclusive- to those an invitation had been given, but a swim party none the less. He choose it over almost every other party idea I threw at him. Only now we have a problem.

You see we have a fairly low-key above ground PVC pipe pool. I can sit on the bottom and my head is still over the water. It is perfect for the neighborhood kids and it keeps the kids happy during the long summer months. Now, the pool had been looking pretty nasty as of late, so we ran the filter all night long (hello electric bill!) scooped out the debris, added chlorine tablets and it was looking fairly good. Josh went outside to change the filter and get it crystal clear- and hopefully stay that way for the party next weekend.

He unscrewed the top, set it to the side, replaced the filter, put the lid on and what?! The screw piece was missing. With out that piece the pump will not work- water just poured out of it, for hours, until the pool was nearly drained (hello water bill!). We still can not find the stupid lid. I think one of the dogs came and took it and we will never see it again. But we literally have looked all over the yard, the house, pockets, everywhere possible, and nothing.

We may be in trouble for the party.

***Edited to add***
Josh found a replacement part at Academy today! Yeah!

Jacob and Clarissa

2008-06-10T17:42:00.004-04:00

The last day of school, Jacob received an invetation to the birthday of a special little girl. His little crush, Clarissa. He was super excited to pick out a gift and make her a card.

We had a good time and I think she will be invited to hhis party that will be taking place in a few weeks.

It's what we do

2008-06-07T21:16:00.004-04:00

Here is what my day consisted of:

Tunes:

Tickets:

And reinforcements:

And videos of our adventure:

My spin on Parenting

2008-06-06T10:41:00.001-04:00

We have had quite an eventful week in our house and as I look back and reflect, I think about Amy’s post, which was in response to Brandy.

On Monday I received a call from my husband asking about what appeared to be bug bites of some sort on Emily’s forearm and check. There had been no bites the day before and she was asleep when I left for work on Monday so I had no clue what he was talking about.

When I got to the Y to pick the kids up from “camp” I looked at Emily’s face and arm and was concerned. Mostly because the spot on her arm was larger than a quarter and when I asked her if it itched or hurt, her reply was “hurt.” After consulting with my mother and she with Nurse Sandy, we decided a trip to the Doc in the Box was necessary. After dinner was complete Emily and I jumped into the car and headed over to the clinic. We packed books, just in case. But when we arrived, it was like a ghost town. Not a soul in sight besides the desk clerk.

After we see the doctor and are diagnosed with a boil, that is possibly a staph infection (but we don’t know because we came in when the infection was still at such an early stage that there was no puss to culture) we head over to the pharmacy and sit and wait for what seems like hours in order to pick up her prescriptions. It was a late night for us on Monday, but her well-being was my concern.

With that diagnosis, I am extremely grateful that I, after much consultation, made the decision to take her to the doctor and felt that I had made a good parenting choice.

With this diagnosis she is required to take 3 teaspoons of antibiotics twice a day for 10 days. 10 days! I can hardly remember to take the medicine I have been on for 9 years daily, much less remember to make sure my child takes her medicine twice a day for 10 days. I have forgotten almost everyday, but bless her heart, she has not forgotten and has self medicated nearly everyday.

I don’t like it one bit. Next thing you know, she will be dosing her own baby with their medicine.

So, I had a point.
We are not always perfect. Hardly ever. But our efforts do not go unnoticed. And honestly, when it really matters, we get it right. I got my child to the doctor. Almost too soon actually, and that is what matters. Luckily, I can lean on her to remember to take her medicine on her own, because I know she can. Plus, she hates it when I nag her. And let it be known I am not claiming to do everything right, I rarely do. But I know I get it right when it counts. And that is what really matters.

Disney World Do's and Dont's

2008-06-04T10:21:00.002-04:00

Because I was “begged” to give a list of my do’s and don’ts of Disney World and because I have nothing interesting to say today, here is my list.

Disclaimer: This is what worked for or didn’t work for my family. Everybody vacations differently- especially us.

Don’t try to see everything. We tried to see everything we could the first couple of days and as we slowed down to enjoy what we could, we really enjoyed it. I know there are miles of cool, fun, fabulous stuff we didn’t even think about going near the last couple of days. And we were ok with it, because we enjoyed the places and things we did see. Plus, now we can always plan to go back, for longer. And if you know that you will not see it all you won’t force yourself to

If you are planning to make evening ADR’s (Advanced Dining Reservations) for any place while traveling go with early evening over late. We had some of both and the early evening reservations allowed us to head back into the park revived and energized. We were actually able to see more this way than on the evenings of late reservations, because those evenings left us with very little time after we finished eating for time in the parks. Or, just plan your sit down meals for lunch.

Plan. This is so very important. I know that we were able to enjoy ourselves as much as we did because of all the planning. I was very commando, as some Disney travelers are, we really flew by the seat of our pants, but we had acquired some key information and were able to use it in order to minimize our wait times and increase the fun factor. One key piece of advice: If your kids want to ride Dumbo, DO IT FIRST. Period. Be there when the gates open and get to Dumbo as quickly as possible. You may still be in for a 20 minute wait with this strategy, but it is better than the 90-120 minute wait later in the day. Also spend time at these websites: All Ears and DIS boards. I received SO much invaluable information from these sites. I also highly recommend picking up books. I carried my Unofficial Guide with me almost everywhere during the months leading up to the trip. We also picked up The Complete Guide to Walt Disney World a few weeks before the trip and it has quickly become a favorite of my husband who has lent it out twice already to people traveling. It has lots of fun, colorful pictures and lots of trivia and facts included as well. I also picked up the Passporter which was nice, but not my first choice. We used this one for the wonderful descriptions of the restaurants and food available, which is nice to have because there are so many different kinds of eateries, many that we found because of this book.

Take more sunscreen than you ever think you will need. Florida is HOT and sunny. We took a can of spray sunscreen for the week. I mean seriously, these usually last us an entire summer, but we were out by day 3. And sunscreen prices in Florida are inflated beyond control. We had to pay $11 for another can of it, because that was all that was sold at our hotel. Better to have too much, than to run out.

If it is in your budget, stay on-site and in a Moderately rated hotel. We stayed on-site, in a Value rated hotel. The hotel was nice, but just a room. If you have children they will NEED to swim. And the value resorts have a pool, but they are just a pool. The moderately rated hotels have POOLS. They have really cool slides and they are larger and just nicer. Not just a hole in the ground. Next time we will pay the little bit extra to bump up in the hotel ratings. But I think staying on site is fabulous. There are so many perks to it, plus you are simply immersed into the whole Disney culture. Which is what I love anyway.

Don’t force your kid to ride something that frightens them. As frustrating as it can be, just don’t. We saw way too many kids being drug onto rides that the child didn’t want to be riding. Jacob tried everything he was tall enough for once. And only chose a few to ride more than once. Like I mentioned earlier in my daily re-caps, he loved the ride parts of the ride, but the story lines got to him on several of the rides: Expedition Everest and Tower of Terror. He rode EE more than once, but would shut his eyes at the “shadow part” that was too scary for him. The Unofficial Guide does a great job of letting you know if a ride might be too intense for a child, but like anything else everybody’s kids are different. This also goes for the characters. has never been a fan of characters at any theme park we have gone to. I finally think I figured it out. He was fine with all the “face” characters, but the only “fluff” one he would see was Mickey. And Scooby Doo at Six Flags. But those are the 2 favorite characters, so concessions were made. I think they scared him a little. Not enough to scream and cry and make a scene, but enough to where he wasn’t interested in meeting them or taking a picture. But, he did always want an autograph.

Give you kids their own spending money. This really worked for us. They got to buy what they wanted and I didn’t have to tell them no. Even if your budget is $20 per kid, they will quickly learn to budget it and buy something that they really love and will want to keep forever, rather that some junk that will be forgotten within a week of your return. I think this may have been one of the best ideas we had, because the items that our kids bought are still in high demand in our house and items that can be “played” with are, on an almost daily basis. That horrible Indian Jones hat is put on at least one head everyday, and it has been nearly a month since we purchased it, which is long past the life span of most toys in this house.

Make sure to take lots of funny pictures of your family in hats. And you don’t even have to buy them! We only purchased one set of ears for each kid, but we had lots of fun with the hats that are located in nearly every shop. And we didn’t take pictures with nearly half of the hats available. This is a fun way to “shop” and not spend any money. Plus, it takes you out of the heat for a few minutes.

I think that if you just slow down and remember that it is a vacation, you will have a great time. Once we did that, it was some of the best days our family has had in a long time. I am glad that we did it, and I can’t wait to go back. In 2011. At least that’s the plan. :)

Disney World Update VI

2008-06-03T15:24:00.001-04:00

On our last day in the most Magical Place on earth we went back to the Animal Kingdom, so the kids could ride Expedition Everest once more and maybe we could catch a few of the shows we missed earlier in the week.

When we arrived the crows were considerably lighter and we walked over to the Expedition Everest and we all four rode it together. Once we got off Emily wanted to ride again, but Jacob was done with it. So I went back onto the ride with Emily while the boys hung back and shopped. After we were done Josh rode it with Emily while Jacob and I shopped. So Emily rode it 5 times total and loves to tell anybody who will listen how many times she rode the coolest ride at Disney World.

After our time at the roller coaster we headed over and caught the Nemo show. It was SO cool. It was all puppets with people in the stage next to them, singing. It was just really neat. Once that was over we walked right onto It’s Tough to Be A Bug, which is one of my least favorite shows. It is a 3D show with smells, air, pokes and prods. Not really my idea of fun. Josh and the kids liked it, but me…not so much.

We head over to Dinoland to try to ride one last ride, but Jacob is too short so we play a few carnival games just to kill time. We are all starting to get a little depressed and the exhaustion from the week is quickly catching up to us.

We have our last lunch and start working our way out of the park. As we are almost to the exit we find Lilo and Stitch and stop to have our pictures made. Jacob will have nothing to do with it. It was very typical Jacob. We hit the last gift shop on the way out and Jacob spends the rest of his money. He buys a Mickey Mouse pirate ship play set. One piece has been destroyed by the dogs already, but the rest still gets a lot of play at bath time.

We arrive back at our hotel to wait for our car to pick us up and Emily plays with some of the chalk they have on the sidewalk outside our hotel. As we load everything into the car we are all a little sad and decide then that we will be back.

Once we got to the airport we realize that we are about to stand in the longest lines of the week: Security.

Disney World Update V

2008-06-03T09:11:00.002-04:00

On Wednesday May 7th we woke up extra early and headed out to Epcot.

We were really excited but sad at the same time. We knew our time was coming to an end. We arrived before the gates opened and kinda wandered around checking things out. The opened the gates and then held us back, similar to what they had done at nearly every other park this week. Our first order of business was Soarin’. We figured out who to follow and when the rope dropped, we high tailed it to the ride. We only had about a 5 minute wait, and that is because there is a little movie you watch prior to the actual ride. This is one of the newest rides to the park, and none of us had ridden it. You basically feel like you are hang-gliding. You are pulled out over a huge IMAX type screen, which is on the ground and then you watch this movie and you can feel the breeze in your hair and the aromas of the pine trees and orange orchards as you “pass” over them. It really was such a cool ride. I think it became my new favorite ride.

After Soarin’ we headed straight across to Mission: Space. Also a newer ride that we had not ever been on. This is a ride which is so “intense” that they have a gentle side and a high intensity side. We put our big boy pants on and all 4 of us rode the more intense side. In this ride they spin you so fast that you feel like you are taking off into space. The “problem” with this ride, is that if you look to the side you can become very disoriented and nauseous. If you follow the rules, you get the thrill of the ride, and no throwing up.
Both Josh and I looked to the side for a second and both of us felt the effects of this choice. Both kids followed the rules and were totally fine. The ride is really fun and very realistic. We all enjoyed it, but were not jonesing to get back on it. Right next to Mission: Space is Test Track and we jumped into line for it. It was very cool, and one Josh feel into love with many years ago. It was still really neat and the kids enjoyed it. It was also nice that the ride was so empty that we were able to be in a 6 person car with only the 4 of us. When you finish the ride it dumps you into a showroom for GM and the kids ran up to every car and got in and pretended to drive and got finger prints all over the glass for some poor cast member to clean off.

Jacob had been eyeing the Mickey ears all week long, but could not commit to a pair, until he saw the sorcerers set. He tried them on and he was sold.

Josh tried a pair on for fun as well.

After Test track we walked through a butterfly garden, and I took about a bazillion pictures. I could of stayed there all day long. It was so neat to see all the butterflies.

After the family dragged me out we headed over to the World Showcase to have lunch. We ate in Japan, at a nice little place were we had chicken teriyaki and rice. It was nice. Jacob ate something completely different. Nuggets, I am sure.

After we ate we headed through the rest of the showcase, taking in all the cultures and shops. The kids both got a henna tattoo at the India pavilion and Jacob didn’t follow directions and his was gone within 5 days, but Emily did follow the directions and hers lasted at least 10 days. It was very cool and I wished afterwards that I had gotten one as well. They both really liked the way it looked and were totally excited to be able to do something like that with their spending money, something I never would have paid for myself.

We eventually made our way into the United Kingdom Pavilion. And guess who was right around the corner? Why, it was Mary Poppins!

After we had seen her we walked off and Josh got into line to get us something to drink, and I took the kids to take some funny pictures and Emily went to wait in line with her father.

Jacob wanted to go watch Mary Poppins.

Here he is watching her:

Here is our view of her:

And here is the last picture he asked me to take of her:

I am afraid we may have a stalker on our hands. J

We continued on through the countries, enjoying the ride in Norway, the miniature trains in Germany, wishing for a vacation in France, watching an amazing 360 video of China and walking through the plaza in Mexico. I really enjoy the World Showcase. We wandered into Mexico just in time for our early reservation and enjoyed a lovely meal there. Not as wonderful as we had remembered, but good none the less. After the meal we rode on the Mexico ride, which was horrible. It is a boat ride with movie clips from the Three Caballeros. It was bad, just bad.

We wondered back into future world and went on Space Ship Earth. They have recently redone this ride and it was better than before, but already outdated, as technology is growing by leaps and bounds. When you get off this ride it dumps you into a world with educational video games and interactive games like shuffleboard. The kids and Josh were really enjoying it so I stepped away to the Kodak camera shop and bought myself a new camera neck strap with Mickey icons on it. It is so much softer and not nearly as scratchy as the neck strap that came with the camera was. I love it.

We made our way back into the World Showcase and settled in for the fireworks show. We were determined to catch this one, since we had missed the show at the previous days park. Illuminations is a neat show, but I don’t really “get” it, so it is never really touching to me. It was ok. I really enjoyed Wishes at the Magic Kingdom ten times more.

After the show was over, we, along with 50,000 of our closest friends started heading out and we got caught up in the shops at closing. Big mistake. The lines are SO long and there are so many people and the kids were tired. We finally made it out of there and headed back to the hotel for out last nights sleep at Disney World.

BFF Beatdown

2008-06-01T20:29:00.003-04:00

Amy and I worked on this Sunday afternoon in response to another pair of bloggers...

So without further delay:

Happy 10 years!

2008-05-30T12:37:00.002-04:00

It was 10 years ago today that I woke up a little nervous and excited. I had several of my best girl friends that were to be my bridesmaids staying with me at my parent’s house. Girl friends who I am STILL in contact with today. Granted some more than others, but I am still in contact with them! They are some of the greatest friends I have ever had.

We hung out in the nursery at church, our dressing room of sorts, ate Burger Time rolled tacos for lunch and made floral head wreaths for my Maid Of Honor and the flower girls who all had hair too short for the gently placed flowers like the other girls.

Amy helped me into my dress and did my make-up. And attempted to keep my nerves down.

We headed into the auditorium for a few pictures prior to the ceremony. But once people began arriving I was quickly whisked away to be hidden from anybody’s eyes prior to my entrance.

I was taken into the cry room at my childhood church and left alone. I watched through those windows as friends and family members began finding their seats. As the music began, both sets of grandparents made their way into the auditorium and found their seats near the front of the room and then the groomsmen filed in, with Josh as their leader.

I watched as the music changed and my four bridesmaids began their walk towards the front of the auditorium at which point I felt my father tap me on my shoulder and tell me it was time.

I walked down the hallway of my childhood church and waited as the flower girls were sent down the aisle before me. As the music swelled, I made my entrance with my dad by my side. In the pictures, I look terrified. But I think I was more nervous than anything else.

I was lead down the aisle by my dad and given away. My “uncle” Dean began the ceremony which had horribly embarrassing stories sprinkled throughout that only those who have known and loved you for nearly your entire life can retell at your wedding without the bride loosing her cool. As horrified as I was, I was grateful to have people surrounding me who knew me and my history.

I really don’t remember much of that day, but I doubt many brides do.

So honey, here’s to the last ten years and I can’t wait for the next 10!

Disney World Update IV

2008-05-30T09:38:00.002-04:00

On Tuesday, May 6th we headed out to Hollywood Studios. We had originally planned to go to Epcot that day, but the kids REALLY wanted to ride the Tower of Terror, so we switched things up. We were able to change our lunch and dinner reservations, so the switch was complete.

We arrived at Hollywood Studios before they opened. And it was actually not to crowded! YEAH! They let us through the gates about 15 minutes before the park opened and down the street. Where they held the crowd at bay until the opening time. There was a short opening “show” and we all watched and laughed. We ran down Sunset boulevard and the family got into line for the Tower of Terror and I went to Fast Pass the Rockin Roller Coaster. I caught up with the family right before they were going to enter the first room. There was so little wait. We watched the movie about the Twilight Zone and headed into the “basement” and walked right into the “elevator.” Our ride didn’t seem very exciting, but Jacob was done with it when we were through. He liked the actual ride part of it, but all the physiological part of the ride messed with my little boys brain a little too much. So we moved on.

We headed over to the Rockin Roller Coaster to find that Jacob was 1 centimeter too short to ride. We were all devastated. So we moved on.

We headed over to Star Tours, which we walked right onto, and really showed its age. Everybody enjoyed it, but it could really use an update. After Star Tour s we stopped and waited for the next Jedi Academy to take place. It was interesting to watch the little kids go up on stage and fight Darth Vader. Unfortunately our kids didn’t get picked.

We scooted over to MuppetVision 3D. The kids had been enjoying the other 3D movies we had seen, so in we went. It was silly and ridiculous, just like anything Muppet related should be. We poked around and headed over to the 50’s Prime Time Café for lunch. We enjoyed the food, but our server was from someplace where they have VERY thick accents and we could hardly understand her. The food was ok, and after we headed over to the Indiana Jones Stunt show. We were some of the last folks to make it in and we barely found a seat. I was excited to have the kids watch this, as they both enjoyed the movies and this was a neat show. We really enjoyed it, especially the part with the giant rock! Jacob thought that was amazing.

As soon as the show was over we raced out of there and literally ran over to the Lights!Moter!Action! Stunt show. This is a show that shows how the movie making folks choreograph all the fancy car chases. The kids and Josh enjoyed the show, I wasn’t thrilled, but, that’s ok. It isn’t all about me.

After the show we were headed out of the park, but got caught by the parade! This is a new parade that is really fun! Lots of high energy cast members and LOTS of character interaction.

After the parade was over we decided to head back to the hotel for a break. The week was catching up on us and the kids were hot and tired. Once we got back, the kids and Josh went for a dip in the pool and I sat. It was wonderful. Once I finally became human again and went to join them at the pool, they were heading back from one pool, to head to another. Apparently the first was too crowded. We hung by the pool for a while, but we were anxious to head back to the parks!
We cleaned the kids up and headed back to Hollywood Studios. It was nice because the air had cooled down, the crowds were not bad at all and we just strolled through the park. We hit up the great movie ride, which I love, the backlot tour in hopes of getting wet, we didn’t and saw a few characters.
We had made it down to see Mickey, finally. Jacob had been on a bit of a mission to meet Mickey. I think we had sufficently brain-washed the boy to love all things Disney at that point.

When we had gone back to the hotel we had changed Jacob’s shoes in hopes that he would be able to ride the Rockin Roller Coaster, but he was still just a hair too short. So Emily and Josh went on the ride and Jacob and I had ice cream. Once Emily and Josh came out of the ride Josh ran across the park (literally, to the demise of his knee) over to Star Tours and he and Jacob rode the ride twice without having to get off.

Emily and I went onto the Rockin Roller Coaster and then thought we could get one last ride on the Tower of Terror before they closed down. We did, there were only 3 other people in the ride with us, and we were the last ones to ride it for the night! We had a great time and caught up with Jacob and Josh at the big hat and walked through the shops on the way out and beat the crowds, since we didn’t make the nighttime show, Fantasmic! But we did beat the rush back to the hotel and got ready for a great, big full day tomorrow at Epcot.

Disney World Update III

2008-05-28T16:04:00.002-04:00

On Monday, May 5th we woke up early and headed back out to the Magic Kingdom. We grabbed breakfast, “Breakfast on the go” as Emily named it. Just some donuts and lots of Diet Coke. We did this a couple of times during the week, so that we were not wasting time eating at the food court while we could be waiting in line for the bus! We made it to the Magic Kingdom before rope drop and were able to catch the opening ceremony. This is where we first caught a glimpse of Mary Poppins. We were not able to met her, yet, but we did get to see her.

After the gates were opened we headed straight to Fantasy Land. The kids wanted to ride Dumbo, for some reason.

So Josh stood in line with them, the only ride with a line at this time, while I went and attempted to Fast Pass Mickey’s Phillharmagic. I was unable to get the machine to spit my coupon out and when I went over to ask for help, he just gave me some and said, “Use your tickets to Fast Pass Peter Pan, that line gets long really quickly” So that is exactly what I did. So we were able to hold 2 Fast Passes at the same time. YAY! After the kids got off Dumbo we headed over and walked right onto Snow White. I love this ride. It is just simple and reminds me of my trips to Disneyland. After Snow White, which the kids didn’t seem to enjoy nearly as much as I did we went over to Winnie the Pooh. This already had a slight wait (10 minutes) so I broke out the bags of nuts from the back pack and I think everybody already needed a boost of energy and didn’t realize it. They were chomping those nuts down so quickly I thought I would loose a finger when I had to put them away to get on the ride. This is a neat ride. We all enjoyed it, and once we got off we had a decision to make. Jacob did NOT want to go on the TeaCups, and really, neither did I. So We split up. Jacob and I went to the Winnie The Pooh play area (which is kinda lame for a 6 year old) and the other two went on the TeaCups.

After they got off they found the Mad Hatter and Alice signing autographs. Josh called us and Jacob and I hightailed it over there to get autographs. And Jacob actually let me take his picture with them.

Once we were done here the kids and Josh began to skip to the other side of Fantasyland. I took pictures.

We headed over to Peter Pan but we still had about 10 minutes until our Fast Passes were good and we were right across the way from It’s A Small World. So, haha, we rode it again. I really do love it.

After that we headed over to Peter Pan, which is honestly my favorite ride in Fantasy Land, even over Pooh and Small World. I love how you feel like your flying, and the city is below you. It is my favorite. I took no pictures, because I just sat in the pirate ship and enjoyed the ride with Emily.

Once we were done with Peter Pan we realized we had done everything in Fantasy Land, since we didn’t want to wait in line to see Ariel and the Carousel was under repair. We had finished everything in that area in just a little over an hour! I was thrilled, because this can be the most time consuming part of the park, because there are so many rides and such slow load times. So we headed over to ride Space Mountain again. The wait time was minimal and so we just rode standby. It was just as good as it was the first night. The kids were both laughing and enjoying themselves the entire time. Once we got off Space Mountain we high tailed it over to the Crystal Palace to have lunch. This is where I once worked, many, many moons ago. The food was good, the characters fun and the kids liked the freedom to go back and fill their plates as often as they wanted. Plus, meeting Pooh, is like meeting a celebrity.

After lunch we headed over to Toon Town and waited in one of the longer lines we were in all week for Goofy’s Barn Stormer. Too quick of a ride for the line we waited in. Pus, I remember it much more fondly when Josh and I rode it 9 years ago. After that we waited in line again, to meet the Princesses. Jacob was a little nervous to meet them and a little embarrassed. But they were all very gracious and kind to my poor little boy.

We didn’t spend too much time in Toon Town, because it was CRAZY with people. It was probably the most crowded section of the entire park. The people, they were everywhere!!! So we hopped on the train, which Jacob had been hounding us to ride all day long and went over to Frontierland. The kids wanted to ride Splash Mountain. They really wanted to GET WET! It was so very hot and they thought they would get wet like we did the day before at Animal Kingdom. The wait was the longest we had seen, at 90, minutes we knew they would have a melt down before that line was up, so we Fast Passed it and headed over to ride Big Thunder Mountain again. The wait was minimal and the kids enjoyed it once again. After we got off the ride the Parade was getting ready to begin. So we worked our way through the crowds to go to the Hall of Presidents. One of the longer, cooler, darker shows in the park and it was 3pm and HOT! When we arrived the nice colonial gentleman told us that the show would not start until after the parade. Jacob wanted to watch the parade, so we left and watched the parade and the kids both loved it.

They really liked the parades more that I thought they would. I really thought they would not enjoy the parades at all, but I was dead wrong. I had to re-work some plans in order to see the parades in the parks.

After the parade and the Hall of Presidents, which the children complained loudly about, we headed over and got onto Splash Mountain. I thought I would be smart, and have Jacob ride on the right side of me, because he wanted to get wet and I didn’t. I forgot that my poor son is as thin as a rail, he didn’t protect me nearly as much as I expected him to. We all got wet, but not as much as the kids would have liked us to. But enough to cool us all off for the evening.

At this point we need to start heading out to make our dinner reservation at O’hana. We head out through Adventureland and are able to take in the Tiki Room and allow the kids to roam through the Swiss Family Robinson House before making our way to Main Street. The kids really enjoyed the tree house, because about a month ago we rented the movie and both of the kids really, really enjoyed it. So because here was a frame of reference the kids thoroughly enjoyed their time in the tree house, while I sat with all the stuff and rested my quickly blistering feet.

Once we arrived to Main Street I had to get my shopping going. I had not purchased anything except for the ride picture at Expedition Everest the day before. I wanted to have the kids silhouettes cut, like I had Emily’s done the years prior. While Jacob was having his cut, Emily and I went into the shop next to the stand where the silhouettes were being done and looked around. Emily found what she HAD TO HAVE. A crystal slipper with her birthstone in it and a tiara. Another reason why I am glad we gave them their own money, because I would not have ever purchased the crown. Maybe the shoe, because it was “affordable” but never, ever would I have purchased the tiara. But she loves that tiara. Once the silhouettes were completed we watched the glass blower do his thing. It was really fascinating for the kids, I remember watching a glass blower in Europe somewhere, as a middle schooler and finding it really interesting. After we pulled the kids away from the glass blower, we headed a little further down the street towards the gate. Josh found a beautiful print that I purchased that I need to have framed and a postcard which I have at work to inspire me to do my best.

Once we had completed the shopping we excited the gates and hopped on the boat which took us to the Polynesian Resort, where the restaurant O’hana is located. We checked in and almost immediately were seated. This is a different kind of place to eat, in that it is a fixed menu. Salad, several appetizers, and then lots of meat, brought out on sticks. It was delicious. I loved it. The roasted turkey was to die for. Jacob of course ate chicken nuggets, but Emily tried everything and loved almost all of it, even without ketchup.

After fully stuffing ourselves we left and headed back to the Magic Kingdom, by Monorail this time. Our only monorail trip the entire vacation. Once back inside the gates we saw Stiches grate escape, Monsters, Inc. Laugh floor, and finally Wishes.

Wishes is the “new” fireworks show at the Magic Kingdom, and I feel in love. It was fantastic! The music, along with the choreographed fireworks was simply amazing. We found a pretty good spot to watch the show in the rose garden and really enjoyed the show as a whole.

After the show we left, with all the rest of the visitors to that park. It was a crazy mess, but we finally made it back to the hotel and collapsed into the bed. It had been a long day, but one that was wonderful.

Aren't ya'll lucky---two posts today.

2008-05-27T19:21:00.001-04:00

Here she is in all her glory. She is excited to be able to see properly for the first time in what appears to have been too long.

Disney World Update Day 2.5

2008-05-27T19:06:00.002-04:00

After our relaxing time at the pool we got cleaned up and headed back out. We first went to Downtown Disney, because there is a Build Your Own Lightsaber at one of the toy shops.

From the moment that I told Josh about this over a year ago, he had been super excited to do it. We head over to the Once Upon a time store and build some lightsabers. Emily and I pick out our My Little Ponies. You get a box and then you cram it as full of stuff as you can and you get everything you can fit into the box for $20. When I was young I LOVED My Little Ponies. I spent many hours in my room playing with them. So when I head about this, I was all over it. Emily and I filled our boxes so full, they almost didn’t close. This is where Jacob found his Indian Jones dress up set. He was going to get a light saber like Josh, but once he saw that set, which has a machete, whip, treasure, gun and most importantly the hat- it was all over. He loves that set, so much he still is playing with it like crazy.

Once we were done “playing” we headed over and check out some of DTD. We saw the Lego Store and The World of Disney. The Christmas store and the pet store. We really enjoyed all the picture opportunities presented through out the area.

We decided to head over to the Wilderness Lodge to hit the Whispering Canyon Café a little early to see if we could get in a little early. We couldn’t. So we waited for our table and the kids (Josh, Emily and Jacob) went to the arcade and played a little games while we waited.

Now, I don’t know how to describe this place. Our waitress was the best ever. She was friendly and over the top. It was great. The kids were allowed to have milk shakes with their dinner, Bubble gum flavored to start. Yuck. They both moved on to a more traditional flavor later in the meal. Josh and Emily got a “platter” of sorts with chicken, steak, corn on the cob, beans, mashed potatoes and who knows what else. Jacob got chicken nuggets, of course and I had a steak of some sort. The food was fantastic.

But the food was only half the fun.

Josh, who always drains his first glass of iced tea within moments of it being set down in front of him was given a nice surprise when he did that at this restaurant. He was given at least a gallon of iced tea, maybe more. And he almost drank it all.

Emily, who can not eat any meat without ketchup asked our wonderful server for some ketchup. Big mistake. We ended up with 20 bottles of ketchup on our table. Now, some nice young diner also was needing the ketchup, but not wanting the hop-de-doo that went with it came up and took a bottle of our table. Well, we were fully into the “game” of the restaurant and Josh politely told our waitress that he had taken a bottle. Well, she certainly wasn’t going to stand for that. We all had to grab a couple of bottles and wait, hidden behind a door while she called him out in front of the entire dinning room and waved to us to bring in the ketchup. Which we then did, to a bright red-faced man.

Jacob ate all his chicken rather quickly and the raw broccoli but was still hungry. The wonderful waitress was able to get him another serving of nuggets- just one of the many times that the people who worked there went over and beyond what they were required to.

In addition to the simple casualness of the place and the fun we were having with the waitress, she made us all napkin hats. It really was one of the funniest meals we have ever had and we will defiantly be back to the restaurant again when we return. The kids are still talking about that giant glass of iced tea that their father drank.

Indiana!!!

2008-05-23T14:38:00.002-04:00

We here in the Sumpter household are all very big fans of the Indian Jones movies. We are all very excited about the new movie which opened yesterday, even if Harrision Ford is 102 years old.

Here is how Jacob is gearing up for our trip the the Movie Theater on Sunday night:

We love Indy!!!

Cookie Jars are my passion

2008-05-22T17:06:00.004-04:00

Amy’s post today has inspired me. I have not continued my Disney World posts because I have them half written at work, and I am “traveling” this week and away from the office. They will continue on Monday.

I love to make cookies. I love to eat cookies. I maybe swayed by Amy’s post today to actually make cookies this evening. If I do, I will use her recipe, even though I have a pretty darn good Peanut Butter Cookie recipe myself. Only mine comes from a cook book. But it is mine and I know exactly how long to cook them to keep them from burning, yum.
I enjoy making cookies, and my favorite has always been Peanut Butter Cookies.
However, I thought I would take you all on a journey of my cookie jars.
First was this one.Look behind my crazy daughter, it’s on the counter in the back ground. It is shaped like an old victorian house. I wish I had taken a good picture of it, but this was as good as I could find.

I bought it in an outlet mall in the late 1990’s and loved it. I was in Kentucky with Emily, when she was an infant and when I found this I knew I had to have it! I spent all the spending money I had brought with me in order to buy it. I loved that cookie jar.
It broke in the move to the house we live in now.
Next my mom bought me this next cookie jar, it’s from “the cracker” as we call Cracker Barrell in my house. I have nearly the entire line, because I fell in love with it, my mom was in town and it was on sale. Score times three.

BUT, my absolute favorite cookie jar is this one:

It was my mother’s while I was growing up. This cookie jar rarely didn’t have cookies in it. She was the best mother ever, and always had a fresh batch of Peanut Butter or Chocolate Chip cookies waiting to have for dessert or an afternoon snack. I oftentimes tried to get into the cookie jar with out the help of my parents. It was a heavy lid for me with my small arms and hands. I dropped it more than once. But my Dad could fix everything, even the cookie jar lid that had been broken time and time again.

And after I had moved into my home now, it made the trek from New Mexico and now has a place of honor on top of my cabinets next to my Fisher Price playhouse and my Winnie the Pooh snow globe.

***I almost dropped it again, while taking it down to take the picture. I still blame the small arms and hands.***

Disney World Update II

2008-05-19T09:15:00.002-04:00

On Sunday, May 4th we woke up as early as we would have on a normal work day and headed to the Food Court for a little breakfast. We bought only 3 trays of food and split the food between the 4 of us, as it was really enough for us. In fact it was just exactly the right amount. None left over and nobody was left feeling like they didn’t get enough.

We headed out to catch the bus to Animal Kingdom. Josh was very excited to head to this park, as this was the one park that we had not been to when we came for our land/cruise anniversary 9 years ago. Plus, they have the newest, coolest coaster in the park.

We head over and are really surprised to see SO many people. I knew that we would not be the only ones in the park, but at rope drop, I expected it to be far fewer people than it was. We walked in and immediately after you cross the turn styles they have cast members there holding “animals” in boxes. Spiders and giant crickets and other things I like to not think about. My children love stuff like this, so they stopped and chatted with the lovely ladies holding these large clear boxes about whatever insect they were holding.

Once I could drag them away from the bugs, we headed straight to Expedition Everest. We first got a fast pass and then stood in the stand by line. We were in, on the ride within 15 minutes. It took longer to get to the queue than we waited. We got into the “train” and took off. This is one of the few rides at the entire Walt Disney World that I have not ridden previously, since it is so new, and as we head into it I think, “wow, this is really kinda lame. They really hyped this up and AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH” Anyways, it got really good. So good that we were very excited that we got to get right back onto the ride and ride it again. The ride picture they snap was SO good on the second go through that I begged that we would buy it. I don’t normally buy them, because, well, they aren’t cheep and I usually look like a goon. But the whole family looks great!

We find some drums to "play" and take a quick picture.

After this we head over to Kilamajaro Safaris and on the way stop and catch King Louie and Baloo. Emily is super excited, as we haven’t seen any characters up to this point. She grabs her autograph book and goes to it.

Jacob wants nothing to do with it. But as we continue on to the Safari he starts to break down and cry because he wanted the autographs. Not to have his picture taken with the characters, but the autographs from them. Josh and him and head back to see them and Emily and I start to stand in line for the Safari. Once we get to the loading we catch up with the boys and hop on our safari. It was really neat to see all the animals. It was still early enough in the day that many of them were out and we saw tons of animals. As with every Disney ride they dump you into a gift area of sorts. They vary in size from a large room that is nearly as large as the ride itself (Pirates of the Caribbean) to a small cart located at the exit of the ride (Nemo show). At the end of the Safari they have multiple carts set up with…drum roll please Webkins. Disney is one smart cookie. This is where the very first “souvenir” is purchased. Jacob had to have the Tiger Webkins. So he bought it and carried it around for the entire day, and has loved it just as much as the 10 other Webkins he owns.

After the safari, we kinda roam around, not sure where to head next. Animal Kingdom is set up in such a way that it is somewhat difficult to navigate at first. We stopped and picked up Fast Passes to the Kali River Rapids and continued checking things out. We went through some of the animal areas, seeing tigers, and a ton of birds, and other strange animals that I don’t remember. When it came time for our Fast Pass time at the Rapids, I become apprehensive. I don’t mind getting wet on a ride, but soaked is not my idea of fun. Plus, my hair never recovers from the water. There is a reason I blow dry my hair almost every day.

We get on the ride and as it takes off I immediately get soaked. top to bottom. Not missing one stitch of clothing or one strand of hair. The ride is fun, as it really is like rafting, so much more than other raft type rides, except that you get soaked.

After we are soaked to the bone we head over to the Rainforest Café for our lunch reservation. The food was good, the atmosphere was good, but the kids didn’t seem to enjoy it so much. I don’t know if we will be back there until they are much older. However, sitting in a dark, cold restaurant soaking wet was a bad idea. I ended up with a slight cold from it. Luckily, I had brought medication with us, and nobody else seemed to have been effected. Probably because they did have nearly the same amount of water dumped on their heads.

After lunch we headed over to Dinoland and rode Dinosaur.

We had picked up a Fast Passes on the way to lunch. By this point the kids have really figured the fast pass thing out and are loving the idea of not standing in line. Dinosaur was not nearly as good as I remembered and was a lot rougher than I like. Neither of the kids seemed taken with it, so while we could have ridden it again, with little wait, we ran (literally) over to try to catch the Finding Nemo show. This was one show that Josh was really interested in seeing and we missed it by minutes. After some time in the Boneyard we decided to head back to the hotel for a little down time. Some swimming and relaxation.

The kids had been begging to go swimming, so we headed off to the bus. On the way, Emily purchased her first souvenir. She found bride Minnie Mouse ears.

She loved them. Because they were like a headband, she wore them most of the days in the park to keep her hair back.

I will continue this day in a separate post, because our time at the Whispering Canyon Café deserves its own post, we enjoyed it so much!

Disney World Update I

2008-05-16T12:23:00.002-04:00

It has been a week since we returned from our little adventure in Florida and I think I may finally have a moment to get some of it down “on paper”. I plan to have a separate post per day in order to not confuse myself. As that happens easily enough. I want to write it all down, because I know there is moments I have already forgotten and I do not want to forget the ones I have still in my mind.

So as you all saw, the big reveal was wonderful. They loved the idea of a treasure hunt and had no idea what was going on. And truly didn’t believe it after they received the final clue. Once the realized it was real they ran all through the neighborhood yelling it to anybody who would listen. And then Emily immediately wanted to start packing. Silly girl, we are already packed.

Getting them to bed that night was a bit of a struggle, but they did in fact finally fall asleep. Josh and I finished packing and loading the car up with everything we could the night before, that way in the morning we only had to add the one final suitcase to the trunk of the car and be on our way.

The alarm went off at 4am, but I think I had been awake all night. I got up and got cleaned up and finished the last minute packing of contact solution and hair brushes. We woke the kids up at about 4:30, they got dressed and we were on the road before 5am, a true miracle for us. As we are usually running late in situations like this. I had checked us in with Southwest the day before, so we simply checked our bags and headed through security with little problems and onto our gate area to sit and wait for a while.

The first flight to Houston was uneventful and short. We arrived in Houston and we were all famished, so we headed to the food court for a little breakfast. Josh and I had breakfast tacos, Emily had a breakfast sandwich from Wendy’s and Jacob ate 10 chicken nuggets. He was hungrier than usual.

We next boarded the “Disney flight” as it was filled with families with young children all heading to Orlando for vacation. After we boarded, we waited and waited and waited. It seems that the bathroom needed to be replaced. The removed and replaced the commode in the rear restroom. After about 2 hours with no updates as to why we were delayed (we were just close to the restroom, so we knew what was happening) we were finally in the sky. Jacob took a little nap, as did I. It was late afternoon by then and it had already been a long day.

We arrived in Orlando and we found our car and off the hotel. Disney World is quite a way from the airport and the kids got a little antsy as we headed there. Even I was antsy. I was ready for the fun to begin. Our delay has not only with our flight, but it set the whole day back a few hours.

We drove up to our hotel, Pop Century and the kids were amazed. Tons of oversized icons and tons of memorabilia littered the grounds and lobby. It was really neat to see. We got checked in, after a small wait in line and headed off to our room. We had a decent room assignment. All the rooms are exactly the same, just a room, but we were close to one of the three pools-but not too close that we could hear the noise coming from it and not to far from the bus stops. After settling in a little and up packing a little, in order to get the suitcases out of the way-the room wasn’t nearly large enough to leave them out for the week-we got ready to head out. We went straight for the bus stops to the Magic Kingdom. We waited for what seemed like ages, and finally a bus arrived and we were off to the park.

We walked in and it was just as I remembered it. I love main street and as we walked down I realized that there were more people there than I had anticipated. We were headed towards Tomorrowland and a show at the castle began. It had Mickey, Minnie, several princesses and their princes, Peter Pan, Wendy, Hook and Maleficent. We all stopped as the kids stood in awe, trying to take it all in.

After the show was over I insisted that we eat first thing, as we hadn’t eaten since Houston and I knew that crankiness would begin if food was not added to the stomachs of everybody. Jacob refused to eat, because he wanted ride the roller coasters. So, we ate a quick meal, with Jacob only eating some grapes, carrots and a cookie.

After the meal we headed straight for Space Mountain. The wait lime was 90 minutes, so we Fast Passed it and headed over to the Buzz Lightyear ride. This ride is very similar to the Scooby Doo ride at Six Flags, so the kids jumped right in and really enjoyed it. After we rode Buzz Lightyear we went back to ride Space Mountain, as it was nearly time for our Fast Pass to be good. Oh NO! Space Mountain is “down” and they don’t when it will be back up, but keep your Fast Pass, it will be good all day now, since the ride went down.

The kids were disappointed so decided to get our first treat and headed over to the ice cream cart. Because we were on the meal plan, it was “free” meaning we had already paid for it up front. SO no money left our pockets at that moment. The kids were thrilled to get the ice cream and by the time we were done with our snack, the ride was up and running again.

We head through the Fast Pass entrance and down the long dark queue. Zipping by all the poor folks who are waiting in the stand by line. We get up the loading station and Jacob rides in the very front, with Josh behind him, followed by me with Emily in the car directly behind me. And we are off. I love Space Mountain. I think it is my favorite mountain ride at WDW. Hearing Jacob cackle with delight as we whipped around in “space” and listening to Emily scream with delight was one of the best memories I have of the trip. It was great. And they loved it, and of course wanted to ride it over and over again. But we moved on.

Next was … a Disney classic… It’s a Small World. I love it because it is so simple. But Josh had tainted my children and it was like torture to them. I loved it, but… alas, the family, not so much.

We headed over to Frontierland to ride Big Thunder Mountain but on the way passed through Liberty Square where the Haunted Mansion lives.

We decided to hit that since there was NO wait. Jacob was too scared to watch any of it and I am not a fan of the updates recently added to incorporate it more to the movie made with Eddie Murphy. After we scared the kids to bits we headed over and rode Big Thunder Mountain. The wait was minimal, maybe 20 minutes and the kids were hyped up by this point. We all enjoyed the ride, but it wasn’t as wonderful as I remembered it being. Splash Mountains wait was ridiculous, so we passed on it and headed through Frontierland into Advetureland where we got onto Pirates of the Caribbean. Now, this has long been one of my favorite rides, but they have made it too PC and added (dare I say it) too much Johnny Depp. Not a favorite anymore. After Pirates and quite a stay in the gift shop, we moved over to the Jungle Cruise, which is surprisingly quite a bit better in the evening, when the sun has gone down. It doesn’t look quite as worn as it does in the daylight. The kids really enjoyed it, but were confused that the animals were not real. At this point we are all about to die, so we decide to head out of the park and back to the room. Plenty of time for the Magic Kingdom on Day 3, when we will be back.

Once we return to the hotel we all realize (at 9pm) how incredibly hungry we all are. We head down and buy a pizza and purchase the refillable mugs at the food court. This was all out of pocket, as the credits needed for the pizza were not worth what they would be at another restaurant.

We head back to the room, chow down like people who haven’t eaten in a week and head to bed. While we are laying in the dark, trying to contain our excitement, Emily says, “This is where dreams come true.”

Sever weather? Play my show!

2008-05-15T10:31:00.000-04:00

Last night we had a little bit of severe weather around these parts. The little map of the area showing were the storm was and where it was going, along with the scrolling type at the bottom telling people to get away from windows and not to outrun the tornados in the area. It was severe enough for the alarm to go off on the radio and for the weather teams to break into primetime television to alert the masses as to the severity of the storms. Now, its fine to interrupt the television show during commercials in order to alert those who don’t hear the pounding rain, whistling winds and hail coming on top of their homes. You can even go over the commercial a little into the show. I am fine with that. But, don’t you start try to tell me that this storm needs to interrupt panel on the season finale of Americas Next Top Model. Oh, no, you don’t. And more than once. Good old Jim Spencer interrupted the show 3 times- all during the meat of the show, not ever during the commercials, to warn of our impending weather. You, know what? I just want to see Fatima’s commercial and Whitney’s cover girl shoot. I don’t care if there is a tornado three hours from my house.

While I was very happy that Whitney won ANTM, I would have loved to see the show in its entirety, not around the weather.

Even the president knows not to interrupt primetime television, why can’t the local weather men figure it out.

Emily's first dance recital

2008-05-11T20:45:00.005-04:00

Here are some pictures and hopefully a video of Emily's first dance recital. She has been taking class with her friend Anya, whose mother runs a language studio. The classes are free of charge, all I had to do was buy the costume. She really enjoyed learning the dance and I love her being exposed to people of a completely different culture. We look forward to her continuing in the program next fall so that she can be involved in Yolka next December, which was the performance we attended last year.

Warning:

Jacob took the video...so there is some cometary and shakiness, that comes when a 6 year old is behind the camera.

We're back!

2008-05-09T09:20:00.002-04:00

Boohoo, we made it home. We are tired, tan with lots and lots of laundry to do. We are taking it easy today. Yeah! I plan to upload about 1000 pictures to my flickr sometime today, if you are interested.

It was a great time, the kids only bikered as siblings do, no real fights and lots of laughs, giggles and wonder.

I am ready to go back...after the blisters are healed.

2008-05-02T20:31:00.002-04:00

The tickets are bought. The bags are packed. And we finally decided to tell the kids we were going.

NKOTB-Part IV

2008-04-30T12:56:00.002-04:00

As you all know, I am quite the NKOTB fan. I have written about their come back tour time and time and time again. Well, I received, via email, because I am THAT special, the (hopefully just the first leg) tour schedule.

9/20/08
Montreal, Quebec
Bell Centre

9/21/08
Toronto, ON
Air Canada Center

9/23/08
East Rutherford, NJ
Izod Center

9/24/08
Uniondale, NY
Nassau VETERANS MEMORIAL Coliseum

9/26/08
Boston, MA
TD Banknorth Garden

9/27/08
Atlantic City, NJ
Borgata Hotel and Casino Event Center

Sat
10/4/08
Chicago, IL
Allstate Arena

Anybody want to go to Boston? Or how about Chicago? Because they are not coming to the South, or at least those dates have not been released. And gracious, I need to know if they will be coming here, or if I need to start looking at plane tickets and hotel rooms.

Am I crazy?

I don’t think so.

At least I am not like Jen, from the 7th grade, who was determined to marry Joey. And I mean, determined. Not like an enthusiastic fan, but more almost like a stalker. She was the crazy one. I wonder who she did marry, because it wasn’t Joey. I don’t think he ever married anybody. I may have to Wikipedia that.

Let's go ride a bike

2008-04-28T10:02:00.001-04:00

I received a beautiful pink bike when I was in grade school. I think it sat in our garage until I was in the fourth grade when I decided maybe I wanted to learn how to ride the bike. I was not good at it. I had several run ins with rose bushes, curbs and once with another bike being ridden by my friend Danette. It was quite traumatic. I remember than incident with great detail. We were riding bikes around the neighborhood and as we rounded one corner, the wheels hit. And I went down. Hard.

I don’t think I ever really rode my bike after that. Even when I was in highschool and was in Germany as an exchange student with a humongous family. (The amount of children was huge, not the family themselves. They were quite fit.) We decided to go for a bike ride one afternoon. It was not pretty. You know the saying: It’s like riding a bike, well if its like I was on that bike all those years ago, then it is hard, frustrating and probably painful to watch.

It was a disaster.

I purchased a bike for myself in college, with my birthday money. I rode it once. It was just as bad of an experience as it had been while I was in highschool. Just bad. I made it around the block, but not before having to stop several times to get my balance, or to not fall off.

That was before Jacob was born, so at least 7 years ago. I had reserved myself for the bike at the gym. It wouldn’t fall over on me. It was safe. It was stationary after all.

So I was quite surprised at myself when I decide on Saturday evening to jump on Emily’s bike that she received for Christmas from my parents. It is an adult sized bike, almost a little big for myself. I asked Jacob to join me in a ride around the block on his bike. He took me up on my offer and off we went. It was one of the best times I have had in a long time. The wind in my air and my ability to not fall off. I was actually stable on the bike and enjoying myself. We had to stop several times, but not because of me this time, but because his little knees started hurting. So I would ride circles around him. And as we rounded the last corner, which is a big wide turn, but downhill, the speed got to Jacob and down he went. Hard. He skinned his knee pretty bad, but I think the fall scared him more than the injuries hurt. I brought him back home and bandaged him up, got him situated on the Playstation playing Scooby-Doo and I headed back out on the bike.

Josh wants to buy me a bike now, but I figure I can just ride Emily’s until she decides she wants it. And that may be sooner than later if I keep riding it.

2008-04-23T14:09:00.001-04:00

Last night Jacob had a present for me.

He had found an old cross charm, which was faded and frankly, had seen better days. He had no chain to put it on, so he found a thing of thread I had up the closet. He gently placed that cross on a piece of thread and used one of Emily’s jewelry boxes to present it to me. With a huge, silly smile on his face to go with it.

Sometimes his heart is so big it just might burst. I know mine did.

Al Gore, I will tell you about the REAL inconvenient truth.

2008-04-22T09:53:00.001-04:00

Blah, blah, blah, global warming. I have my own thoughts on global warming, and what we as humans need to think/do about it. They are similar to Amy’s, if not even a little more non-earthy.

But I hate me some Wal-Mart.

You see, every time I walk through those electric doors I just hate myself a little. I am never happy when I leave, always angry and yelling at the kids. The lines are always SO long and the help leaves a little to be desired. And the prices, they are not that much cheeper. Before this weekend, I couldn’t tell you when the last time I went to Wal-Mart was. It had been at least 6 months. I usually can last on my ban of Wal-Mart for about that long, until I decide to give it ago again.

Last weekend I had dropped of Emily at dance class and after lunch I needed to pick a few things up for our up-coming trip. Lots of random things, which I could have pickled up at other stores, but honestly, it would have taken longer than the hour I had to do it in. So I told Jacob we had to go to Wal-Mart. He responded with, “No, mom, I am staying in the car.”

I have passed my hatred for the Wal-Mart onto my offspring, isn’t it wonderful?

I tell him, tough, we have to pick up things like goggles, a pink tank top, iron on transfer paper, sharpies, shorts and crayons. It has to be done at Wal-Mart, we don’t have time to go to Michaels, Target, Kohls, JCPenny, and the outlet mall. We just have to do it.

“Don’t make me go in there” is his response to me.

I had to pull the mom card to get him out of the car.

We walked into the giant supercenter close to my daughters dance class and got to work. We made it out alive, with $100 less in my checking account and a lot of stuff that could have been purchased somewhere else, but darn it Wal-Mart, you are too convenient, too available and too affordable, and that is the real inconvenient truth.

I have fallen!

2008-04-21T12:59:00.001-04:00

I have been absent for a week or so, due to the craziness that is my life. I have actually been working (I know, its s shock, even to me) while at work, in order to complete the work necessary so that I can take my much anticipated vacation in less than 2 weeks. Any time I have that I am not working I am obsessing over ever little detail you might not even think warrants a thought.

I was talking to Amy the other night about my trip, not something that I torment many people (except my husband) to even a fraction of the amount of time I actually think about it. (I am SO excited!!!) She mentioned, as I finally let go of my fear (you know, the fear that someone will think you are a freak) and began to spill all the information and excitement out onto her and she told me that she knew I would go off the edge at some point. And I had finally done it. I had fallen off the edge.

But really, I hadn’t.

Yes, I had fallen, but many, many, many years ago.

You see I have had a love affair with Disney since, well, forever.

I remember listening to the Jungle Book with my mom on a RECORD(!) in our living room when I was in early grade school. Dancing around and acting like an elephant with my mom, is one of my greatest memories. Plus, those are some jamming songs. I mean, who doesn’t know Colonel Hatahways March?

I remember seeing The Lion King and Beauty and the Beast as a high schooler and being mesmerized. I was not too cool to go see a “cartoon” with my friends, in fact we readily saw all things Disney in high school. My only disappointment was Pocahontas. And what a disappointment that was. But that is another post altogether.

Even for my 18th birthday I received a Winnie the Pooh playset. I had that set for years, until children. (Need I say more?) I also received a Winnie the Pooh snow globe from my parents that is still proudly displayed in my kitchen, many years later.

My first job was with The Disney Store. I worked there for 2 years, and I loved it. I so enjoyed it, except for the horrible uniform, but we won’t go there. I bet my parents have a picture of me in that uniform somewhere. That is there nature, to take pictures of me in all my uniformed glory.

I even “left” my husband and first born when she was 18 months old for the summer in order to work at The Walt Disney World in Florida. Now, mind you, I needed an internship in order to graduate from college, and that was the only one who picked me. I was so sad. ;) I enjoyed those three months more than anybody might really know. Not because I was away from my family, but because I spent 6 or 7 days in a park. If I wasn’t working, I was most likely figuring out a time to be in the park. There were times I would get off from my job at the Crystal Palace and get changed and head back up and ride a few rides in the evening before heading home. Where else in the world is that an option?

Josh and I even took a cruise/park trip there almost 9 years ago for our first anniversary. It was wonderful. I loved spending that time with him, there in a place I loved so much!

You see, I had fallen for Disney before I even had a chance.

I guess I had just held my obsession in for a few years and she (Amy) had forgotten about it and now I was leaking it out and it was oozing all over the place.

And it is all over the place. I am planning like crazy.

With less that 2 weeks until we leave, it is just about all I can think about. I love the planning, probably as much as I will love being in the park. We have picked the perfect time to go (I hope) and the kids won’t be missing things with school. I even measured Jacob last night and he is tall enough for everything! That is super exciting! I dream about it, think about, worry about it. There are so many details that I don’t want to forget, at the same time I am trying to get lots of regular life things accomplished as well. You know, like laundry and dishes.

Ice Cream

2008-04-12T17:57:00.001-04:00

One thing I liked about being home early from work almost everyday last week was the ability to catch these moments.

Thoughts on hair

2008-04-11T11:06:00.003-04:00

Since Amy referenced Emily’s pink hair from last summer I thought I would throw the picture of her up on the site for all to see. She loved having it dyed and I think we may end up with it dyed again before too long.

I decided on my current hair policy after a conversation with my mother in which she told me, “I wished I had let you shave the back of your head like you wanted to.” I was unable to find a picture for reference, but you know the look, back in the 90’s. In the moment my mother told me that I decided hair is where I wouldn’t care. I would just let them do as they pleased. Blue hair? Sure, lets go get some dye. Checkerboard shavings? Sure, lets head to Amy’s. Tattoo? NO. Piercing? NO. I knew I was going to have to give somewhere and hair is where I decided that would be. Besides, they would be the one who had to look at that picture in 20 years and know that they made that choice, not me. Also, I figure if I give a little in this area, they might not push the other areas quite so much.

That’s my plan, hopefully they will stay with it!

Flag Football!

2008-04-07T09:55:00.001-04:00

Whew!

I am exhausted from the weekend. I need a weekend from my weekend. It was good, but busy and WAY to short and quick.

Saturday morning Jacob had his first flag football game. It was quite a site. We arrived about 30 minutes prior to the game, as Josh is the coach and wanted to be there for when any of the other players showed up. So I sat my chair up and had a seat. Emily and I watched the end of the game that was taking place before Jacob’s game. Once the other kids started showing up they practiced a little bit and then got ready to play. Only the other team had no mouth guards. “I didn’t know!” yelled the coach which is a bunch of bunk, because if I knew, then he knew and failed to follow through with his parents. So we waited. When the mouth guards finally showed up, 15 minutes later, the game began. It was as exciting as a bunch of 6/7 year olds playing flag football can be. Our team was clearly the better team, as we won the game 13-0. Jacob was by far the shortest, skinniest player - on either side of the field. He played “center” most of the game- if that means anything to anyone. And he was a running back for the last play of the game and took 3-4 yards before he was de-flagged.

He had a good time playing, at least that is what he told us. I received a horrific sun-burn from the whole experience. But I got some great pictures- most of which you can see on my new photo-blog http://www.ethelsimages.blogspot.com/ but I will leave you with the best shot I got of the game, in my opinion. It shows everyone on the field moving around, and there stands Jacob, still as a statue.

Are you in there?

2008-04-04T12:00:00.001-04:00

Something odd happened to me this weekend. I caught a glimpse of who I once was in the mirror of the church bathroom on Sunday morning. And I liked her a whole lot more than the girl I have turned into in the last two and a half years. I was happy, hopeful and ready to grab life and jump in. A feeling I haven’t had in ages. When I was out talking with folks Saturday morning, I did so with confidence and authority. I sure sounded good, I thought. And I felt alive, and it felt good.

For years now I have simply been chugging along. Just doing what had to be done. Not really happy with anything. Things have been rough. When I tried to make changes last fall and it didn’t happen, I felt horrible. I felt like a huge loser. I knew I wasn’t, deep down, but after a while of hearing it from different people and in different situations you simply begin to believe it. And that is tough. It was a rough winter, at work things were rough, at home the kids were rough, I just didn’t want to deal with anything anymore.

But I persevered. I knew I wanted to make changes, but it was a slow go. This year, I have been trying to change my attitude, but I have been trying to do so in my own way. And really, don’t we all know that doesn’t work. And the horrible week I had last week, paired with the events I attended on Saturday I was forced to turn it all over. And I did with such a desire to change myself and the situation I am currently in and I think I am on the way to becoming that person that I once was and want to be more like today. (Whew! That was a run on, wasn’t it?) And I owe that all to the Lord. He gave me that glimpse of myself in the mirror of the ladies restroom at church on Sunday morning. He let me see that she was still alive and well, buried deep inside me fighting her way to come out. So now I am fighting for her. I am deciding to have fun again, rather than sitting inside alone, I am outside, almost craving the outside. Or if I am inside I am not in front of the TV, I am trying desperately how to learn Photoshop or reading with the kids. I am allowing myself to be ok with me. And I like it.

NKOTB Part III

2008-04-02T20:18:00.003-04:00

Maybe you remeber my previous post about the New Kids On The Block?

Guess what?!?!?

They are having their big comeback on the Today Show on Friday! I got a message from my wonderful cousin, Lauren allerting me to this event, however, becasue I am signed up for updates on their website, I knew before anyone else did- or at least I like to think that.

Here they are now, I sure do hope they tour through central Texas. I will SO be there!!!

Yeah! Spring!

2008-03-31T11:00:00.002-04:00

What a weekend we had.

My parents drove in from New Mexico for a short, but great visit. They unfortunately had to endure what we in our household call, “The gear up for the end of the year.” The months of April and May usually consist of weekend so packed full of events and meetings that rarely have a minute to relax. And that was when only Emily was participating in “extra-curricular” activities. Luckily we made the decision long before we were to emotionally involved with activities that the children could only participate in Scouts and one other activity. Whatever that other was, was up to the child. This year, Emily has chosen dance (jazz) and Jacob played soccer in the fall and has just started his spring sport of football (his dad is SO proud).

At the end of the school year, comes the recitals, and end of year ceremonies and camp-outs. And a full schedule. It makes every morning, day and evening a time where we are trying to remember where we are supposed to be and what equipment should we have?

Lets just take for example the coming week:
Monday: Emily has dance practice. This week is also the time the kids are supposed to bring there suggested clothes for the dance recital which is in 6 weeks. I have a yummy massage scheduled to deal with the stress from last week which leaked into my back.

Tuesday: Jacob has football practice. Josh is the assistant coach, so he has to be there as well.

Wednesday: Both children have dentist appointments and I have a regular doctor appointment. We also are going to have the tires balanced on the van that day. Josh is also going to start the process of moving his mother (more on that on Saturday). There is church in the evening and I have a tentative photo-shoot with Amy- which I hope we can get fitted in.

Thursday: By this point if we have any homework which not been completed, we have to get it done, and practice the spelling/vocabulary words which we may or may not have had time to actually study earlier in the week. More moving plans for Josh.

Friday: Gear up for Saturday. This maybe the only night in which we stay home and just chill out as a family. I know that the MIL is planning to move some of the things she will be taking with her to California into our place.

Saturday: Seriously, the day with no time left and its still a week away. This is the day in which Josh will be moving his mom out of her apartment and into a storage shed and into our house for a few days before she moves to California to move back with her parents. Jacob also has his first football game and Emily has dance class. I guess I have broken the only one thing per child plus scouts, because Emily is in 2 different dance classes. I have no excuse except that she likes the second one, it’s free and she gets a much better work out from it than she does from her jazz dance class. The church is also having a children’s event on Saturday afternoon that the kids want to attend. MIL is moving in with us until Wednesday and I am sure there is something else that I am forgetting.

Sunday: Church in the morning and small groups in the evening. I might get to the grocery in the afternoon. Ugh, the worst time to go is Sunday afternoon. But Josh will be sulking since he won’t be at the race in Dallas.

So that’s just what we have planned for this week. Are you tired yet? I am and its only Monday morning.

We did have a great weekend and I think I made some great contacts and hope that all that was attempted this weekend, will not be for nothing.

2008-03-28T16:00:00.002-04:00

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for the saints. Philippians 6:12-18

I opened my Bible this morning at work and this was the scripture I laid my eyes upon. It was a moment sent straight from the Lord. This week has been one of the most emotionally trying times of my entire life. The place where I spend 9 hours a day has begun to attack me. I have spent more time on my knees this week crying my prayers of patience, wisdom and restraint the last three days than I believe I ever have in such a short period of time. The Lord has been good to me. I believe I will rise from this situation with a clearer head and a gratefulness for the time that I didn’t think I could ever have. I think that this situation clarified a lot about myself and those around me. It was an eye opening situation that in hindsight I am glad happened. Even in the moment, I knew it needed to happen. Things NEEDED to be said. And being placed in this situation I was allowed to be me and encouraged to stand up for myself and lay everything on the table. And I was able to do it because I had spent those hours upon hours in prayer to the Lord.

As difficult a time it was for me and as truly mentally and physically exhausted I was at the end of each day, it was worth it.

Is it the weekend yet?

2008-03-26T20:23:00.002-04:00

I have always been taught: "If you don't have anything nice to say, then don't say anything at all."

So there you have it, I am not saying a thing, because what I have to say--could probably get me fired.

And that's my week.

Ugh.

Ice Cream thief

2008-03-25T09:04:00.001-04:00

I walk into the kitchen briskly, on a mission, only to find my son standing on a stool, with his head in the freezer, with the box of Chocolate Chip Ice cram open and a spoon in his mouth.

No bowl, no time for that!

I was so shocked all I said was “Jacob?!”

To which he turned to tears and ran to his room, giving himself more punishment than I had planned to.

At least it wasn't down his underwear this time.

Who me, crazy?

2008-03-24T09:58:00.004-04:00

For the last six months or so as I lay in bed I felt as though I might slip right out. You see, when you sat on the bed it felt fine. It was only after you laid down and tried to get comfortable that you realized something was wrong. I would mention this to Josh and he would laugh it off, and call me “crazy.” But I knew I wasn’t. I couldn’t be. I would start the night off down about a foot away from our headboard; see: wall. In the morning I would be crammed up in the corner between the wall and the night stand. I move around at night, but not that much.

I tried to figure out what was wrong with the bed, because something obviously had to be “wrong” and I was not slowly slipping into crazyland. I flipped the mattress, I flipped the box springs. I moved it around. I had finally given up and basically moved my sleeping in the middle of the bed in order to have a only slightly slopped sleeping experience rather than one that mirrored the alps ski slopes.

My sleep had become restless and downright painful because of this problem. I woke up nearly every morning with a crick in my neck from trying to keep myself from slipping of the bed. Between my time at the computer and my time in bed, my poor neck never got a break.

Yesterday I decided to clean our bedroom. I even documented the before and plan to document the after-once we finish the final stages today. I started on my side of the bed, under the night stand. I simply plunged my hand between the bed and the nightstand to pull up whatever treasure had fallen off the night stand or had be brought there by the dogs. You will never guess what the first thing I pulled out was.

The wheel to the bedframe. The wheel had fallen off! I wasn’t crazy! The bed HAD been at a slope. I had been slipping off. I grabbed the wheel and proudly walked down the hallway and forcefully showed Josh the wheel.

“Ha!” I said, “I am NOT crazy!”
“You may have been right about the bed,” he says, “But that doesn’t mean your not crazy.”

Happy Easter

2008-03-23T16:04:00.003-04:00

For Easter this year we attended church and then had a wonderful meal at our house with the neighbors as our guests. After dinner we had the traditional Easter Egg Hunt- which takers longer to hide the eggs than to find them. We had about 60 eggs for 3 kids to find. They had a great time.

Bowling on Good Friday

2008-03-22T10:12:00.007-04:00

Sorry for the lack of posts, but this has been a terrible, horrible no good week.

But I did have a half a day yesterday and we took the kids bowling and had a great time.

Emily, stepping up to the line.

The lift off.

How will she do?

Daddy with the release.

Wow, this ball is heavy.

How will it do?

We did have a fun time. I actually won both games, which if you have ever bowled with me, know this was a Good Friday miracle. I never bowl over a 60 and easily broke 100 each game. We did bowl with the bumpers up, but I swear that didn't help my game, much.

Awareness test

2008-03-18T15:32:00.002-04:00

Awareness test- courtesy of my father. Thanks DOD! I totally passed and failed!

Sick Kids

2008-03-18T10:48:00.003-04:00

So now after getting up at 5:30 and dragging my butt to work, I get the call that Emily has a fever. Yeah for me. So now I am home, in my pj's again (YEAH!) and working on my reports from home. With "The Fairly Godparents" in the background. Oh, yeah, and a sick child who is hacking up her left lung.

My favorite things

2008-03-17T12:00:00.000-04:00

I was listening to one of my favorites songs this weekend: “My favorite things” by Julie Andrews. I remember the first time I heard this song, I was in the first grade and my teacher was Mrs. Susan Harris. I only remember the first name because of the obvious. She must have loved that song, because we would listen to it, over and over again. And I feel in love with it. It wasn’t until I was much older that I realized where the song had originated. I listened to the song this weekend and was inspired. Here are a few of my favorite things.

I love pink.

I love Hallmark commercials.

I love movies that make me cry.

I love memories.

I love watching my children swing.

I love holding babies up to my chest and listen to them breathe.

I love getting mail.

I love a good sale.

I love wiener dogs.

I love oogeling peoples lives on the internet.

I love planning.

I love children singing.

I love to think of myself as someone I’m not.

I love giraffes.

I love surprise presents that are true surprises.

I love talking on the phone.

I love my friendships.

I love writing letters.

I love pink lemonade and peanut butter cookies.

I love shopping for other people.

I love shoes and bags.

I love finishing a SuDuKo.

I love all things Disney.

I love the smell of rain in the desert air.

I love high school basketball games.

I love good green chili.

I love snuggle time.

I love that Jacob calls me “Crumbcake.”

I love good friends.

I love tiny pink baby dresses.

I love the smell of fresh cut grass.

I love Greys Anatomy, Thin Mints, Oprah, birthday money, afternoon naps, tomoatoes, Burger King crowns, shortalls on little boys, glitter, office supplies, a brand new blank notebook, lists, fleece, my new camera, red shoes, making cupcakes, puffy loveseats, elevators, Joey and Pacey, REM, clean sheets, lip gloss, a good steak, Tom Petty, wrapping presents, the smell of coffee brewing and when the sun comes out from behind the clouds.

2008-03-15T08:57:00.002-04:00

Today is Saturday! Yeah! I am so excited! To not be a work! And use lots of exclamation marks! Yeah!

We have "big" plans for today which include a "photo-shoot" with the kids in their Easter clothes, possible "photo-shoot" with Amy and a much needed cut and color for me! Wrapped up with a little light cleaning and I think I will call it a day.

In other news, Congratulations to Annika in the birth of her son, Liam. He is TOO cute!

Jury Duty?

2008-03-11T09:25:00.004-04:00

So I had to attend Jury Duty yesterday and was actually picked to serve. So if I am a little out of pocket this week, you all know why. This particular trial is scheduled to last all week long, yeah for me.

**********************
Edited to add:
He plead guilty, wasted a day for me, earned me $46 and a Jury Duty "war story".
I am back at work and back to postin'-just have to be motivated now...

When I am 100 years old

2008-03-07T08:59:00.003-05:00

I had a post all ready about Jacob’s big Blue and Gold Banquet from last weekend, but that has been shelved to bring you what I find to be one of the funniest things Jacob has done it quite a while.

Last night I was going through his “Thursday Folder” which contains all the work he has completed in the last week. Usually one every two weeks he brings home a story that he has written and illustrated. There was a story in his folder last night. I read the story he brought home while I sat at my kitchen table I laughed harder that I had in weeks. It has to be the funniest thing I have ever read. I scanned it last night so that I could write about it today, so here you go:

When I am 100 years old I will have a TV. I will have a mustache. I like to watch TV. I would look like a old man. I will also be old. I will have a baby.

And a picture of him-with his mustache.

You may all laugh now.

My babies, oh- my babies

2008-03-06T14:04:00.002-05:00

Recently in my home my eldest, Emily has been “reverting” if you will to her childhood- which she left 5 minutes ago. She is still in fact still 9 years old but was going on about 16 for a while. Talking back, slamming doors, the eye-roll and the great stomp off into her room. It had become quite a place to be in our home, especially in the evenings, when she is tired and worn out from the day. There would be all out wars. Serious attitude adjustments and serious contemplation of boarding school. Her life was about the make-up, shoes, HSM2 (High School Musical 3 for all of you lucky enough to not know what that stands for) and iCarley. She had turned into a tween, and she wasn’t supposed to be there for another couple of years.

But recently she has begun to cling to her stuffed animals a little more in the evenings and she has wanted my assistance in choosing her outfits for the day. It was a bit odd in that she wanted my help with anything, or that she wanted my opinion, as it has been shunned for quite a while. She has been allowing me to hold her hand in public and not just when we cross the street. She has wanted loads of hugs before I leave in the morning and is always excited when I get home. She has been extremely helpful in the kitchen- cooking dinner on Monday night all by herself! It was as good of spaghetti as I would have made. She has just been more pleasant.

But now when we sit down in the evenings after dinner has been eaten, homework has been completed and baths have been had I have a little boy sitting to my right to snuggle up with me and my girl- who has been beating him to my side in the evening in the snuggle departments. It is a time that I am required to slow down, sit still and enjoy just being with my children. I know this time will end, sooner than I ever want it to. So for now, I sit on the couch and soak up their love and snuggles for as long as they will let me.

TAKS Master

2008-03-05T19:04:00.005-05:00

Today was that dreaded day. The day we have been fearing for months on end. The day that I lost as much sleep over as Emily. It was the day of the first of her TAKS tests, the reading portion.

They have been prepairing for the TAKS all year. Their entire curiculum is based around the test preperation and how to pass this stinky test. One thing they did was yesterday they had a red-carpet event with all the TAKS masters. When I came home last night and picked up Emily from the sitters house, she and Claire were still all done up in there duds and actually excited about the test today. For which I am grateful. I wanted Emily to not be worried about it, like I was.

Here she is in all her glory!

March 4, 2008

2008-03-04T19:42:00.004-05:00

I voted today, did you?

Update

2008-02-22T10:10:00.001-05:00

An update blog- nothing really interesting or life changing, but I haven’t been excited to speak about anything in particular, but have wanted to put “pen to paper” all week, and nothing seems to come out well.

Josh is enjoying his new job, it has its good and bad days and challenges. But I think that it is something he can excel in and I am excited to see him loving his job again.

Emily did well in the science fair. It was a few weeks ago and everybody got a participation ribbon. She enjoyed herself and was proud she had entered. I have a feeling we will be conducting 2 science experiments next year. She also has started to do better in school. We received a progress report last week and she has raised most of her grades and only one of them is below what we would like it to be. I think it was this time last year that she started doing better, so maybe it just takes her a little longer to grasp the concepts and run with them. When I gave her a spelling test last night she only missed 2 and they were the hardest 2 words, one which I still struggle with today. So I think we are trucking right along with school. The dreaded TAKS test is on March 5th and I am anxious for that to be behind us and get ready for the next one. I am confident she will pass, but nervous at the same time.

Jacob is going to drive me crazy. Plain and simple. He won’t eat, he poops in the bathtub and he has turned into this horribly whiny child. Last night we had another showdown over dinner. We had lasagna, which was really good for coming from a frozen box and he tried to throw up while “trying” it. I was so angry. It just about threw both Josh and I over the edge because all he eats is chips, crackers, carrots and rice crispy treats. Ugh, I don’t know what I am going to do with him. He got into big trouble at school this week and lost recess for the week and the Wii at home. He is just struggling in every way possible.

I am doing well. I am in the process of getting prepared to start looking for teaching positions again this spring/summer to begin in the fall. Hopefully if I hit it hard and fast this spring I will be able to go into the summer knowing that I will be in the classroom this fall. Also, I am busy planning our fabulous trip to Disney World and now a cruise with my best friend Amy. I love to travel and feel like this is the year to do it. I want to do and see as much as possible. I want to take the kids and expose them to as much as possible. I got called for Jury Duty! I am so excited. It is in a couple of weeks and I can’t hardly wait! I know it sounds silly, but I have wanted to be called for a while and I am so excited that I finally was. I hope I get picked and actually get to see the entire process.

So that is all for us. Same boring stuff as usual, but I need to break the writers block that I have.

The Nerds

2008-02-19T11:34:00.001-05:00

In high school we were the nerds. We were a group of friends that were relatively smart, liked to have a good time and were relatively well behaved. We had our stupid high school moments, like Kathryn yelling at the poor lady at a restaurant about some chicken in her salad, Vance letting me drive his mustang, Annika and I with our spider, Heather and my time in Germany, the drive to buy Garth Brooks concert tickets which resulted in a speeding ticket for me and our “Senior Trip” to White Sands. These were the people who I spent hours upon hours with, laughing, learning and just being kids. Many Friday nights spent at Village Inn, the Movies 8 and at all of our homes.

Just 2 years ago the last of my friends from high school got married. I was the first almost 10 years ago and Kathryn was 2 years ago. Two of my dear friends are pregnant right now, adding a fourth and fifth little “nerd” to the group of people. Three of the “nerds” don’t have children, yet. We are all busy living our lives in several different parts of the country and do our best to keep in touch via twice yearly email rounds in which we all update each other on any events that have taken place in our lives. If a significant event has taken place, such as an engagement or pregnancy we update each other immediately. It is exciting to be involved in these peoples lives still after all these years in any way possible. So far, any special update has always been great, wonderful news but unfortunately we all received horribly sad news about a week ago. My dear friend Annika, whom I have known since the 2nd grade has had a horrific event take place. The person who I confided in about a lump I found in my breast in high school and repeatedly urged me to tell my parents. The one whom with I created and performed a play in the second grade and wore matching Esprit sweatshirts in the fourth grade. She was the one friendly face in my classes when I moved back from the three years I spent in Germany. The spider. My dear friend Annika’s mother was in Puerto Rico a few weeks ago on vacation with her husband and was snorkeling. She fainted in the water and was taken to the hospital there in Puerto Rico and was there for several weeks. Last week they transferred her to Fairfax (where they live) and after consulting with several neurologists decided to take her off life support. She passed away Monday morning.

This news has devastated me and cemented me into my “middle-age” status. When I thought we were all doing well, getting married and having babies we are all shook by the event in which all of us know is coming. We all know all of our parents will eventfully pass away, but we are supposed to be quite a bit older than we are now. This kills me for Annika, for her siblings, for her father and for her little unborn baby boy who will never know his grandma “Big Mama.”

NKOTB part II

2008-02-13T10:47:00.001-05:00

With the probing of my dear friend Amy I thought I would let you into what it was like to grow up in my house. I am an only child and was privy to many “adult” conversations and included in the sarcasm fests that would often time take over our house. My parents, a conservative and a liberal (in ALL ways, shapes and forms of the word) made for an interesting time growing up. I like to think I came out right in the middle- a little bit of both mixed together and created the mess that I am. Now because they are as opposite as white and black, they have always “bickered” over things which really don’t matter. Not ever really fighting, no chairs thrown or angry words but a good jabbing from both of my parents to each other and myself has always been the norm. And then it crossed into blogland.

I never knew I would get such a strong reaction from my post on the great NKOTB. But apparently my parents have some strong feelings about the concert that I was taken to back many, many years ago. Here are their comments from my previous entry.

Lets make one thing very clear. Your parents did not drive 8 hours to see the NKOTB
concert. They drove 8 hours so you and your friends could see the concert. Dear old Dad
never even went into the concert hall - he spent the evening in the hallway with the rest of
the taxi drivers.DoD

Your father complains a little too much. The truth, as I remember it, was that he begged to go
to the concert and you FINALLY conceded to let him go. I think he was on the front row
singing along to "The Right Stuff".Momwho has a much better memory that DoD

And there you have it. I am surprised that it ended there, to be honest. But I think what is even funnier is the image of my very conservative father on the front row with his hand in the air waving along to “The Right Stuff”. And if you have ever met my father, this should be hilarious to you as well!

NKOTB for LIFE!

2008-02-11T11:11:00.000-05:00

So, what is one to do with a few hours to kill on a Sunday afternoon and no desire to clean her house?

Why this of course:
http://www.nkotb.com/

I watched every video and sang to every song and hoped and prayed that a reunion was in fact going to happen. As they were the first boy band of my era, they will always hold a place in my heart. I knew every song they sang- but none of the dances, because living overseas at the time, we did not get MTV, and I didn't see many of the videos until years later. But my parents did drive me over 8 hours on their anniversay to see them in concert, so I can't complain too much, can I?

2008-02-08T11:58:00.000-05:00

Life has really been eating me alive this week. I have been super, duper busy with not a moment in time to work on anything truly fun. with the exception of actually booking the trip and making quite a few other plans.

So, let’s see, what has been going on here…

On Tuesday night we had a second failed attempt to attend the science fair. We now know FOR SURE it is next Tuesday. We got a note home yesterday confirming this. I am about ready to kick myself over it. Plus, you have to love how the PTO hi-jacks the affair and requires that you attend the PTO meeting before the Science Fair. I get that that the PTO is important, but, everybody volunteers in their own ways and the Sumpters have sold their soul to all things Scout.

Wednesday night we hurried up and headed over to church. The kids have this new class that they really seem to enjoy- it is more activities based and they are excited to attend church on Wednesday night, which is more than I could say when I was their age. I also enjoy going because we have begun a new Beth Moore study. I think I will really enjoy it, I just got my book this week, because I was out of town last week. So now I am playing a little bit of catch up but I am excited at the possibilities.

Last night we had Boy Scouts, at our house. 7 boys that are 7 years old running around like hose monkey’s, need I say more?

And then, there is the cookies. Thank goodness we are only 2 full weeks away from the end of the sale. Emily is about 380, still a ways to go to hit her mark, but we have three booths this weekend and hopefully we will boost those numbers up here this weekend. Work has dried up, I have only sold like 6 boxes all week, yuck. I was selling 20 boxes a day the first week. So, I hope we can make our goal of 540 and she can earn all the stuff she is aiming for. I am ready to be done, because I am afraid we are going to end up with a ton of cookies. I am not checking anymore out because I am afraid to have to turn them back in. I am not going to be the one to turn in too many. Not me, no sir-ee.

So there is our life in a nut-shell.

2008-02-05T16:52:00.000-05:00

I have nothing today. Work has sucked the soul right out of me. I have tried several times to be cute, witty, profound and I got nothing. I can tell you all about the property I saw last Monday if you like, but trust me, you don’t want to know.

Wow, it is actually going to happen

2008-02-04T17:06:00.001-05:00

Wow, it is almost real. We are really going on this long awaited trip and I can hardly believe it. I have wanted to return to Disney World since I last left it almost 8 years ago. I love the magic and whimsy of it all. Even though I have seen the underbelly of the “show” that they produce everyday while working there, I still love the idea of taking my children to such a wonderful place. Even though I have seen The Little Mermaid smoking out back with her fin unzipped, I want more to see my kids faces light up when they see the castle.

We have been planning this trip for years, the kids have heard me talk about it time and time again. I think Jacob is excited at the possibility (as he gave me the money he made in his garg sell yesterday to go towards our trip to Disney World, even though he doesn’t know we are going in 3 months!) of going, I don’t think he even really knows what the whole thing is about, but he is still excited at the possibilities. And even though Emily has been to the Magic Kingdom she doesn’t remember it, and when we talk about it her eyes light up. I can’t wait to see their faces when they see where we are going.

And now it is almost real, because today, I bought the flights for Emily, Jacob and I. We will see if Josh is going to come, haha- I am half a credit from getting a free flight, so we are holding off to book his, as I should get that extra credit sometime soon, hopefully. And then it will only cost $10 to book his flight to join us. It is an amazing feeling knowing that we are actually going. I can’t wait. It’s only 88 more days! I think I might drive Josh a little crazy talking about dining reservations and height requirements (Jacob can ride all but 2 as it stands right now, and he is only 2 inches short for those 2!). But I really don’t care who I drive crazy because this is our big vacation that I can’t wait to take!

Now I just have to get over my fear of calling and booking the room/tickets/meal plan. That really scares me for some reason.

Grag sell for kids

2008-02-03T15:02:00.000-05:00

So what do you on a Sunday afternoon when mom has kicked everybody outside because it is finely a nice day and there is NO need to be inside playing on the computer, Wii or watching TV?

You have a garage sale for kids:

And someone actually gave my son money for half used pencils. I have to wonder about these neighborhood kids!!

A two week update

2008-02-01T12:35:00.000-05:00

It has been a day or two since my last post and many things have happened around our household.

Most importantly I turned 30. It was a great day, I got everything I wanted and more. Except the promotion, but I didn’t let it dampen my day at all.

Cookie sales are going very well. As of this morning Emily was at 258 boxes sold and we have both a Wal Mart booth and a Wag A Bag booth tomorrow, so we should be able to kick it up over 300 in no time. We are ALMOST half way there. I am not sure we will make it, but I am sure hopeful! She is neck in neck with another girl in the troop for most cookies sold. It will be a race to the end!

Jacob had his pine wood derby last weekend. He only won one race in his heat, but he had a great time and I feel good about next years race. There were a ton of boys participating and there were some really neat cars racing.

Josh received official notification that he has been released from the county last week. A bit of a bummer, but not a surprise at all. The surprise is that because he could never take/have any time off his check for unpaid vacation and holiday pay is enough for us to take a nice little vacation. We are planning a nice little SURPRISE trip to Disney World this spring. We are not telling the kids, but I am so excited I may pee myself. Plus we can’t really tell the kids, because we have been having some trouble with behavior and don’t want it to seem like we are rewarding the bad behavior.

I guess nothing besides cookies and planning a surprise trip is going on with me. But that is plenty for me. And the whole turning 30, well, that was exhausting. I am glad its over and the stress of it has past. Now I just have to figure out how to get my face back up where it used to be.