if it's not one thing...

Because life isn't nearly enough fun in and of itself...God gives us pink eye. Sadie's school calls today and tells me Sadie has pink eye, it's going around up there. Oh, joy. She can't come back until she's been on the eye drops for 24 hours. The DOCTOR says she can go back tomorrow but apparently that's not good enough for the school. I called them back and told them the DOCTOR said it was "ridiculous" that she couldn't go back tomorrow and they said "the handbook says"...yadda, yadda, yadda. Whatever.

This will make week number 3 with a trip to the Doctor's office. Valentine's day was Anna's 6 month check up. Last Wed. was when Mads went for Strep and today was Sadie's turn. I told the Dr. we would try to stay out of there or at least skip a week and he laughed and told me "that's ok, I have a daughter getting married soon, you can come back everyday, three times a day if you want".

No I don't want. Not that I don't enjoy our 2 min. conversations but I would really like to go a week or more without seeing him.

Stay healthy, y'all.

Was it worth the trouble?

Here they are, in all their curled glory and then the one in the middle, well, she's just cute. She's actually in between Sadie's pics, sorry. I don't know how to control where the pics go yet. I'll work on it.

It's Saturday night, break out the curlers

Would you like a little cheese with that ham?

Yep, folks we really do still roll hair on Saturday nights. Madeline finally let me do hers, too. I doubt they'll still be in there by the time she goes to sleep but we can hope.

I'll take a picture tomorrow morning of the finished product.

Madeline before she took her first dose of antibiotics -
"Goodbye, cruel world".

self portrait

This is Sadie's self portrait. I think it's pretty good. She also had a piece of artwork selected as a possible candidate for the second annual Young Masters Art Show and Adoption held in April. That is a show where people can come check out artwork done by students at ACA and adopt it for a year. I'll let you know if it gets chosen.

They had student led conferences at school today and she showed me her work to this point. Let me tell you, the girl is smart. I can see it in her work and her teacher says it too. I think her teacher has submitted her name for some extracurricular things and advance learning things. I'll keep you posted on that, too.

reading

This is Madeline reading to me with big sister looking on. You can see just a bit of Anna. Red letter days in the Wangler household! Mads has strep right now, too. Oh, Joy!

Yesterday, Madeline read her first word to me. It was Mat. I was so proud. She's on her way. We're going to read some more today. She gets a little frustrated that it's not coming easier but I know it will in time.

I know the picture doesn't match what happened but that's for two reasons. One, I didn't take a picture of her reading to me. Two, I haven't put very many pics of Sadie on here and who can resist a picture of Sadie AND Anna?

This picture is of Sadie and Anna. Sadie stayed home yesterday with a "stomach ache". NEVER AGAIN!!!!!! I don't know why I let her this time. It is a whoopin' when she stays home. But I made her stay in her bed and she had to miss Brownies (the group - not the food). By the way, if anyone needs anymore Girl Scout cookies, please let me know. I've got a bunch of them.

This is the real reason...

Ice on the chair in front of the house
Ice on the van
Ice in the bed of the truck

This is the "real" reason we didn't go to church this morning. There was ice everywhere. It wasn't because I couldn't find the matching shoe and felt like I looked like a hag and was in general having a terribly hormonal morning. That wasn't the reason at all, really...

Sadie's party

Sadie came to us a few weeks ago and asked if she could have a Valentine's party. Whatever possessed me to say "yes" I'll never know. Well, it was scheduled for last weekend. Invitations went out, plans were made, excitement was building...then I remembered, we're going to visit Aunt Bill that weekend. OOPS! So, I made phone calls and rescheduled for this weekend.

The good thing about rescheduling for the weekend AFTER the holiday is that you can get stuff pertaining to the party for 1/2 price or less. WOOHOO right up my alley.

Taylor and Taylor's sister Bailey were the only ones who showed up (it was threatening icy conditions) but they had fun. I made heart shaped ham sandwiches served with the curly cheetos (not the plain or straight puffy - curly!) They drank ginger-ale with heart-shaped ice cubes (thanks to 50% off at Wally World). They made Valentine cards, decorated cupcakes and played games. I think a good time was had by all.

So now the house is relatively clean on this lazy Sunday. We have delicious ginger-ale (with heart shaped ice cubes if we so choose),ham,curly cheetos and cupcakes leftover so we're all set to stuff ourselves with food and olympics.

maytag jetclean II quiet series

Out with the old....
In with the new!!!!

Yep, you're eyes are not deceiving you. We have a new dishwasher (and I don't mean me). Our old one sounded like it might have the plague and washed like it had had it for awhile. Oh my, the grime left on the dishes, ewwww. Well, friends, no more grime, no more washing the dishes before I put them in the dishwasher. No Siree. I just scrape off the big stuff and put those babies in there and they come out clean as a whistle. AND more stuff fits in this one than the old one. Oh, it's just lovely.

I know you can't tell it in the first picture but the water is leaking out of the pipe that is over the floor. My floor is clean, now, too.

red letter day

WooHoo!!!!! Madeline can ride her bike without training wheels! Gone forever the irritating noise those hard plastic wheels made. Unfortunately, now I won't be able to tell where she is by the irritating sound those hard plastic wheels made. We were all standing outside - by we I mean my neighbors, Lisa, Phillip and Ricky, Conrad and I and all our assorted children. Madeline, apparently being of the "I have an audience I can do anything" mentality heard someone tell her that she might as well take those training wheels of her bike. Well, that's all it took...an audience. She went and put on her pads (she already had on her helmet) and put on shoes (she never has those on) and got back on her bike and off she went. Trouble was, the training wheels were still on it. After fixing that little problem she took to it like a bee to pollen, like a bear catchin' trout, like a 5 year old to a training wheel-less bike. The crowd went wild! A few spills but she got right back on every time. We're all so proud, especially Sadie. She helped, too. The second picture is of her taking over for Conrad and the third picture is of Madline running into the black car (she did this several times).

More red letter stuff happened today but I'll save it for tomorrow. Gotcha wonderin' now, don't I?

happy valentine's day

Happy Valentine's Day Everyone!

This is what we had for dinner. Everyone got to make their own heart shaped pizzas. UMMMMMM Good! The one pictured is Madeline's. I saw her Spanish teacher today out and about and she told me that Madeline is very smart and participates in class and sings very well. I was so proud.

wooden treasures

One thing I remember from my childhood is that Uncle Steve (Aunt Bill's husband) was a wonderful craftsman of wood. I don't know if that's the proper terminology but he made great things out of wood. These pictures show two of the things he carved, the top picture is of the last supper and the bottom one is of Moses with the 10 commandments. He also made grandfather clocks and in my Grandmother's case a grandmother clock. These pieces of work are all so beautiful, it amazes me they were done by man. And someone I know!

Meet the family

What a weekend! We went to Houston to visit my sister and see our Aunt Bill. Aunt Bill is my grandmother's sister. The only one I ever met. She is a hoot! She and her daughter Elaine were wonderful hostesses. We had a delicious lunch of chicken spaghetti and barbeque and dessert of Apple cake (my grandmother's recipe) and the best sugar cookies I've ever put in my mouth. But by far the best part was seeing Aunt Bill and visiting and hearing stories and seeing pictures of when they were younger.

When we had my grandmother's funeral, Aunt Bill rang the doorbell and I answered the door and I nearly fainted, that's how much she looks like my Nonnie (that's what we called my grandmother). This weekend really made us all think about Nonnie and what she would look like had she lived. I don't know about everyone else but it made me really miss her and remember her - think of things I hadn't thought about her in a long time.

To the pictures: The first one is my mom, Aunt Bill and Aunt Brownie (my Mom's sister). The next one is of the only male present at the 4 generation reunion. That's my Uncle Howard (he belongs to Aunt Brownie) and the patriarch of the family. Then comes my sister Pamela - don't call her Pam or Pammy - it's Pamela, thank you very much. She's the greatest sister ever. The next picture is of all of us women. It's not a great picture, but then, Uncle Howard took it. You can't leave a man in charge of something like that. Aunt Bill's daughter Elaine is the one holding the baby. And the last picture shows Madeline adding another instrument to her repertoire, the organ. She played and sang for us (at the top of her lungs).

It was a wonderful weekend except the travel. Driving with young'uns is anything but fun. Here's a helpful travel hint. When you can't stand being on the road with your children anymore, stop at Dairy Queen and get yourself a Blizzard (my personal favorite is Oreo). You'll probably have to get the kids something sweet, too, but you won't care, you'll be in Blizzard heaven.

Boy, we sure have fun!

These are actually from last night. This is what we do - sit around and look at each other quizzically. We sure have fun!

Budding rock star

In honor of the Grammy Awards...This is our little budding rock star. She really does love to play this guitar and sing at the top of her lungs. She's on her way...

I am NOT a dog person

So this is the new, temporary addition to the family. This is Paris (or parrot - as Madeline calls her) and she is Jon's (the 19 yo) ex-girlfriend's dog. She is coming to get her on Friday. She better. I am NOT a dog person. I don't want, need or wish to have a dog. We have 2 cats and an outdoor neighborhood cat who was married to one of our cats in a lovely outdoor ceremony performed by Madeline. We're petted out. If she doesn't come get her, please know that there will be a dog up for adoption on Saturday.

She is cute, isn't she?

more party pics

More pictures from the party. Today was lazy day so nothing cute or exciting happened so we'll relive yesterday's victories. OK, Conrad threw a 16 dart game or so he says (there are no witnesses). I will go out and challenge him after I finish this and we'll just see about his dart prowess. I'll let you know what happened.

Anyway, these pictures - to me - show what a good time people had. Plus I think the one of Conrad dancing with his mom is sweet.

83rd Birthday Party

These are some pictures of our party today.

If there's one thing the Wanglers know how to do, it's have a party. This one was a great one. Dancing, game playing, visiting, gifting and of course, eating.

This is my mother-in-law. She is the mother of 10 children. Including my wonderful husband. She turned 83 years old January 24th. We're having a party for her and her twin sister tomorrow. The pictures from which you will be able to view here tomorrow. It should be quite the shindig. I'll give you a full report.

She still lives on her own (although at present not by herself) and drives herself around and lives a full life. She is a giving, trusting, forgiving, beautiful soul and we should all hope to live as well as long as she has. She's headstrong and stubborn and strong as an ox. She walks a mile everyday "around the track" although I don't know where the track is. She went to Italy last year and from what I hear no one had to wait for her on any trek, she led the way.

I hope when I am 83 I am as vibrant as she.

what does it rhyme with?

I was in the van with the creative, freespirit Madeline last night when she said "Mommy, that man singing that song said a bad word".

I said "what word did he say", thinking surely I would have heard an offensive word since we were listening to RadioDisney.

She said "do you really want me to say it"?

"Well, what does it rhyme with" I said,congratulating myself on my creativity.

She thinks a minute and says "poopid".

I'm so proud. These words are bad words in our home:

Stupid
Butt
Shut up
suck - as in "that sucks"

and your normal list of bad words which they wouldn't know from shinola. (or so I naively believe).

trial run

I couldn't resist using this picture as my trial run since it is these three who continually amaze and amuse me.