Back to School

My kiddos are now split right down the middle - two in middle school and two in elementary school. They've had a great first couple of days of school . . .



Meredith and Catherine started third grade on Monday, and have adjusted better than ever - no tears for anyone (I think that's a record!), and I'm proud of them.



Ryan is in seventh grade, and is taking all AP classes, with Spanish, Band, Choir and Woodshop (??), but he's happy with all his choices so far.
Logan is in sixth grade, in his own little fishbowl of sixth grade classes (they don't really mix them with the "upperclassmen" too much). He is also taking Choir and Band, and he opted to take Creative Writing as well. I've been surprised the most by him - have heard no complaints yet about being in middle school, and he seems to really be enjoying himself. When he comes to the car after school, he just drops his things and goes back to his friends while we wait the next five or so minutes on Ryan to saunter out. Cracks me up!

Vacation 09

We've finally made it for our vacation this summer - in Galveston for a couple of days. We took the kids to the beach for a couple of hours late this afternoon before dinner. They LOVED it! The last (and only) time they've been was five years ago, when the girls were 3, boys were 6 and 7 years old. Our greatest memories from that trip were that the girls wouldn't go near the water, we were worried about the boys getting swept away (weren't strong swimmers yet), and Logan was heckled by seagulls who wanted his Cheetos. Fast forward five years - the boys had a blast body surfing, and the girls were thrilled with the seashells and water. The only problem was when Meredith got a mouthful of sea water and complained about a sore throat and bad taste in her mouth for about an hour.
Everyone took a quick shower and we headed to Rainforest Cafe. Kids loved it. Very special day overall. Can't wait until tomorrow. I have my beach chair and a good book and plenty of snacks for the kids. I'll take my camera, too!

Shades of Grey

Grey and Anna have spent quite a bit of time at our house this summer playing in the pool. Anna loves swimming - Grey's favorite is to play in the baby pool or the sprinkler. I just love to watch the faces he makes while he plays.

Fun on the Fourth

We had a great weekend relaxing with family and friends. We started early at Nana's on Friday night with a cook-out and fireworks with my family. Connie and Duaine, Jeremy and Erica and their kiddos came out to visit, and we had a great time with them and Jon and Lee and their family.

Blog Renovation

I've been working on my blog for the past couple of nights - be patient while I tweak it a little!

Backyard Soccer

This has become a favorite summer activity this year, but I'm not sure why. How can it be fun to play a soccer game around obstacles such as a trampoline, swimming pool, two dogs and their poop (ew!), lawn chairs, and whatever else happens to be in the yard at the time?? Maybe I'll never understand . .

"Boys Only" Road Trip

The boys and their dad went on a little overnight trip a couple of weeks ago. They took another father/son pair with them on their journey to Balmorrhea in West Texas. It's a state park with a natural springs pool, so it's nice and cold. They had a great time.

I think Logan looks a little blue in this one.



Liam, Logan and Ryan

Swimmin' in the backyard

Meredith

I've been trying to take more pictures of the kids lately, but all we've done is lay around the house and play video games and swim. I took lots when the kids were swimming this evening, and got some really funny ones.

Logan

Could the girls look any goofier (or alike?) Logan and Ryan, Meredith and Catherine

The boys, being boys.

Logan's best trick this summer - a flip off the innertube!

Some Randomness

Went to Dallas this past weekend to see our nephew graduate from high school. It's hard to believe I've known that kid almost all his life. I took some pics from the ceremony, and a few turned out (he was so far away), but the kids had a ball with the cousins.



We got the grown-up kid an X-Box for his birthday. All the boys think they've died and gone to heaven. I think I'll be kicking myself soon for suggesting the purchase. He's still playing after midnight, and he has to work tomorrow. This could be bad.

We're just busy having summer - swimming, working in the yard, having fun with friends. I need to brush the cobwebs off the camera and give it a little more effort. The kids are growing and changing so fast - I gotta get on it!

Work is great. Busy and crazy, but great. I've seen some interesting things the past month or so, but so far I've lived to tell about it. Really enjoy the people I work with, and learning alot from their experience, too. It's been a great first year.

My to-do list

1. Put together and load the new furniture I bought a WEEK ago at IKEA for the boys' room.

2. Find and purchase new twin mattress sets for the girls.

3. Put the day bed I also bought last weekend together and organize the office.

4. Gather the miscellaneous things we have no room for the put them in the attic or take them to goodwill.

5. Laundry.

6. Vacuum.

7. Dust.

8. Load photoshop on my computer (mom got it for my birthday a couple of weeks ago)and figure out how to use it.

9. Gather pics of Logan for his 5th grade banquet slide show.

10. Organize the girls' bookshelves before they throw all their books away to make room for more clutter.

11. Post something meaningful on my blog. With photos.

12. Clean out my closet.

13. Take a gift to James Avery to exchange it.

14. Give the dog a haircut before she has a heatstroke.

15. Call to chew out the home warranty people who haven't sent the air conditioner repair man to my house yet (since I'm about to have a heatstroke).

16. Call the home alarm system people to come fix the annoying beeping sound coming from my alarm once every few days (low battery).

17. Try to figure out if insurance has paid on all of Logan's Christmas day hospital visit. And pay the balance.

18. Update my calendar with kids'/husband's end of year stuff so I don't miss something really important.

19. Go to work tomorrow night. And the night after that.

20. Decide where we can go for vacation this year, get time off, make plans.

Need I say more? The sad part is, there are probably more pressing things I need to do, and I just haven't thought of them in the last 20 minutes. Don't see it getting better anytime soon, either.

Renaissance Man

Last week at school, Logan's fifth grade group held a Renaissance Festival. They've been studying all things Renaissance - people, lifestyles, government, class-systems, food and activities of the time. To celebrate their studies and end the unit, they all dressed up and had a feast. Parents served roasted chicken legs, cheese, bread, fruit, grape and apple juice, and fellow students read poetry and jesters entertained everyone. It was quite a production, and Logan loved every minute of it.

icanhascheezburger.com

Okay, I know alot of things are just funnier after about 3am, when you're really getting simpled out . . . and there have been plenty of nights when we've laughed until we cried at some of the pics on this website - soon the hospital techies will figure this out and block the site.

But, until they do, we'll keep chuckling our way through the night shift. You really need to check it out. I'm not sure why it's called icanhascheezburger, but it's hysterical.

I'm laughing out loud.

And it's not even midnight yet.

And I'm not at work.

Spring Break

We have finally kicked the bug, I guess. Everyone seems to be over all the sickness, except for the girls and their cold. I can live with that.

We have absolutely no plans for Spring Break this week. I'm working the next three nights, the boys and girls have soccer practice several evenings, and the girls have their first soccer game on Saturday (what were they THINKING when they made this schedule?). I hope we have enough players to play . . . I'm hoping someone gets the bright idea to clean out the garage, hang the ceiling fan in my kitchen, and install the new thermostat he got for Christmas. Oh, and do the taxes. He knows who he is.

Wait, did I say we didn't have any plans?

Ick.

There's nothing I hate more than having the stomach bug visit our house. Now, could someone please show him the door?

We've had varying forms of this illness for over a week now, and I'm really ready for it to go away. Catherine started with it a week ago Friday, and then Logan and Meredith on Tuesday, then me on Friday morning . . . now Ryan has been sick for two days. I swear, that kid has a terrible stomach. He's had some kind of stomach illness at least three times this school year, and has missed a lot of school because of it. I guess he will miss tomorrow, too. Just started eating a little this evening, but still feels really crummy.

All I've done for the past week is clean house - you'd think it would be all clean now, huh? It's not. I did get to the store tonight to get some groceries, though (and more cleaning supplies, yeash).

Poor Nana will probably get it next (although I hope not!). She kept the kids last weekend so I could work and C was out of town. They loved it, but she may regret it later on . . .

My Stupid Cat

For several weeks now, our cat Daisy has been "adopting" stuffed animals in our house. Not just any stuffed animals, either. The kids all have Webkinz, a very special stuffed animal that comes with a code that, when entered on their website, allows them to play in a virtual world, create environments for their pet, earn play money to buy supplies and clothes and furniture for their pets, and so on. They remind me of Beanie Babies, but with the computer-age twist. You get the idea.



I began to notice the "adoptions" one day not long ago when Daisy brought Logan's chipmunk Webkinz to my bed and began to play with it. I was afraid she would tear it up, so I hid it under the covers and went back to sleep. The next day, she brought the same toy back to the bed, and I again hid it from her and went back to sleep. That afternoon, I encouraged Logan to hide it or put it somewhere that she couldn't get it. He put in on a bookshelf in the living room, and she left it alone. The next day, she brought Ryan's chocolate lab Webkinz to the bed, same story. By the next week, we noticed that no matter where the kids put the toys, she would go find them and drag them all over the house.



I soon grew tired of trying to keep the toys away from the cat, and she got tired of us hiding them from her (she eventually found the one on the bookshelf and abducted it), so we came up with a compromise.

Sacrifice one to save the others.



The kids decided they could part with the Panda, which, ironically, could pass as Daisy's baby. She's happy, the other Webkinz have been spared (sort of - she had the chipmunk again this morning), and I don't have to hide the only thing she really plays with from her.

Desperate

A few weeks ago, we had a sleet/ice/light snow storm over the course of a couple of days. It made for interesting driving and was pretty to look at, but not really "play in the snow" kind of stuff.

My kids, however, had other plans.



It's not the prettiest snowman I've ever seen, but has to rank right up there as the most creative. It only stood about two feet tall (if that), and amazingly enough, didn't melt for a couple of days since it was in the shade. It was a desperate attempt at playing in the snow, and it may be their only chance this season. Where did winter go?

Blog abuse

I've turned myself in to the authorities . . . for blog abuse and neglect. I know you've heard it all before. I won't make excuses. I need priorities.

A friend from work has committed to blog every day this year. While I can't even begin to make that promise, I'm going to try to blog at least once a week. I'll post a few catch up posts tonight, then try to blog each week about something fun or interesting that we've done that week.

I'll have to dust the cobwebs off my camera now and get busy.

Happy New Year!

. . . and a belated Merry Christmas. I hope everyone got what they wanted for Christmas (my kids sure did), and that all are safely back home ready to start the new year. The kids were sure bummed tonight about starting back to school tomorrow, but they'll get back in the swing of things quickly, I'm sure.

I finally took down all the Christmas decorations tonight. It's always kind of sad to put it all away for another year, thinking about how different the kids will be next year, and wondering what surprises await us in the next 11 months. I do feel like I can breathe again, now that my house is de-cluttered and furniture and other things are back where they belong.

If I can figure out how to do it (and I'm going to try), I'll post the picture I took with my phone of Logan on Christmas day. We spent a couple of hours in the middle of the day in the emergency room of our local children's hospital getting three stitches in his wrist. Was he riding the new skateboard he got from Santa? NO, he was trying to open a box of laser tag guns with scissors and slipped, cutting an inch-long part of his inner wrist - bad. Good nurse that I am, I tried to clean it up and steri-strip it, only to have it ooze and bust open the strips about 30 second later. The stitches are gone now, and it's healing nicely - but he has a story to tell at school tomorrow. Wonder how bad the cut will sound by the end of the day (like a bad fishing story, I'm sure).

I'll post some pics soon - I know I've been bad about posting pictures. I haven't even looked at my camera in a week, and I have no idea what I got Christmas morning.

Oh, and check out Anna's blog - follow the link and vote for my sister!