Monday, October 30, 2006

Funny thing that sugar

I've been trying to update the blog but so far nothing. The pictures won't load. So I'll tell you this parenting story.

Yesterday, I wasn't feeling well. I stayed in bed literally all day. I napped all day. I don't think I was awake for more than an hour at any point during the day. Madeline was invited to a birthday party a few weeks ago that got rained out and yesterday was the rainout date. Conrad took her and dropped her off.

When she got home she said she wasn't feeling well because she hadn't had anything healthy to eat at the party. All she ate was sweets. A little later she started throwing up. She threw up all night long. In between episodes, she tells me she's never going to eat so much sugar again.

Now who of us (after a bout of overindulging in....well, you fill in the blank) has not said "never again". As a mother - knowing Halloween is coming up - I couldn't tell her she probably had a virus. Even though it's probably true because Sadie also joined in the nausea fest later.

AND, I would like to thank God and my husband for having me sleep all day so I would be capable of functioning during those wee hours when I was having to get up with one or the other of the girls. Funny how things work out.

Friday, October 27, 2006

Someday...

Someday she's going to be able to open that door wider and walk out all by herself.

Somedays I feel like pushing her out of it.

Here's what's in store for me very soon. She's practicing for the terrible two's in this video.

Monday, October 23, 2006

Nanny's here!


My sister, "Nanny" to my children, came to see us this weekend. She came for a reason - we'll get to that in a moment. Parrain (Greg, her husband) sent books for the girls. I don't know if you can see Anna's..."Is Your Mama a Llama"? Thank you, Parrain!

Since my sister was here...I left Anna with her this morning while I did traffic duty at school. I was just about to leave when I get "the" phone call. Me: Hello? Desperate voice on other end (Pamela): How do I change the diaper? Me: I'll do it when I get home, don't worry about it. D.V.: But it's STINKY! Me: OK, here's what you do...and I proceeded to instruct her on the ways of diaper changing. And before you even ask, no, my sister has not changed a diaper. She's not a bodily function kinda girl. Can't stand 'em, doesn't deal well with 'em, just tries to avoid them at all cost.

My friend, Angela, who had run out of gas at the school and was with me when I was giving Pamela directions tells me she wants a full update tomorrow. Well, here's the picture....it should tell it all.

(the diaper is on backward)
In her defense, she did a great job for a first timer. Especially one as phobic about bodily functions as she. I just don't understand backward diapers, it's WAY harder to put them on that way.

Now to why she was here. Sadie's class (second grade) is learning about Greece. Pamela went to Greece. The first chicken was fried in Greece (sorry, Pamela, couldn't resist it). So she came to share about the country where the Olympics got their start. She had pictures and told them about democracy getting it's start there.


This is her worrying about what she looks like before the big presentation.

This is her reading part of Homer's "The Odyssey" to the second graders. It's the part about the Cyclops. They were eating out of the palm of her hand.

Another great job done by my sister. Thank you, Pamela. You were terrific.





Madeline got to say goodbye to her "Nanny" before she went back to Houston.

Things I haven't blogged about

WOW. So much has happened in the last few days. Here are the things I haven't blogged about and believe it or not I didn't take pictures of these things. I'm grateful to Linda, Renee's sister for this picture. Renee' is the one on the front row by James (the guy in blue).

Friday night was Conrad's swan song with the Killer Ducks Soccer Team. He "officially retired". They told him they will hold a place open for him and to take a year off. Then see if he wants to come back.

We have enjoyed his 12 years with the Ducks. They are like family to us. They were there when we got married, they rejoiced with us at the birth of all our "ducklings". We travel to San Antonio with them every year and...well...what happens in San Antonio stays.....you know the rest. Let's just say fond memories are stored away in our minds. Thank you, Ducks, for all the memories. We love you. We'll see you, of course. We plan on going to San Antonio, retired or not.

Now something else I haven't blogged about. My mother was here this weekend and filled in for us nicely. She handled the children all by herself (with help from Jon Michel, I hear) all Friday evening (while we swam with the Ducks) and all Saturday while we participated in the 3rd Annual Most Blessed Sacrament Golf Tournament. Conrad played in it and I helped put it on. I will say I think we made more money this year than ever before so I'm calling it a success. I think fun was had by all.

Then the next thing I haven't blogged about is the ugly side of letterboxing.

After the golf tournament we went letterboxing. The first one we looked for wasn't there. However, I got some beautiful pictures of the girls and Conrad in the beautiful park setting. I got some nice pictures of the flowers growing around there. Then on to the next one. Conrad and the girls stayed at the playground where the clues started and I got to go off on my own and find one. I found it, did my stampin' thing then got back to the group. Then, off to find one more. It was a geo-cache in a place called Crystal Canyon. I didn't even know this place had a name because it's a place we pass by all the time.

I stayed in the van with Anna because it was rough terrain and I knew it wouldn't be stroller friendly. Off Conrad and the girls go. Tick...tock...tick...tock...time goes very slowly when you're in a van trying to amuse a 14 month old. La la la la time moving along...slowly...slowly...suddenly I hear Madeline's voice "Mommy, there's BEEEEEESSSSS in there! I see she has the camera in her hand and (much to my dismay, now) my first thought was "why is Conrad letting her carry the camera over CEMENT?" Then I thought "where ARE Conrad and Sadie?" After a minute, they came around, too. Sadie was crying and Conrad was looking frazzled.

They get in the van and Madeline showed me her bee stings (3 of them, on her body and ankle) and Sadie shows me hers (3 on her left hand-two on one finger- and one on her right hand). Conrad also has Multiple stings but is holding up much better than the girls. He tells me that he has to go back for the GPS. I said "what"? He told me I didn't understand the situation. He explained that they were close to the coordinates when all of a sudden Sadie -who had been holding the GPS- started screaming, dropped the GPS and started flailing about madly. Madeline also panicked and Conrad dropped the camera to start handling the situation. Luckily, Madeline picked up the camera (thank you, Madeline). Unluckily, when it was dropped, somehow the memory card in it got unformatted so when I went to look at the pictures I had taken all day (you know, the cute ones I took of the kids at the park?) they were now lost. On the bright side, everyone survived and Conrad found the GPS in short time with no more bee stings The kids are a little leary of letterboxing but overall OK.

Here is a not very good picture of Sadie's hand before it got swollen all the way.

The good part about the bee stings is the accepted treatment for them is Benedryl. The good part about Benedryl is it usually makes kids fall asleep. WOOHOO! I was in bed and asleep by 8:30 Saturday night.

Wednesday, October 18, 2006

Catchin' up


School's back in!!!! Life is back to normal. This is Sadie at her piano lesson. That's Michele, our piano teacher, in the floral print shirt.
This is Madeline creating a book of the alphabet and numbers for Anna. She's a little giver.


I love "Anna crack" pictures. I can't resist them.
When Sadie came home yesterday she said she had to read 12 books. I didn't ask why. I just let her read them. This is her reading out loud one of her 12 books. And yes, she read all 12.

This is Doug. He tunes pianos. He had his work cut out for him today. But our piano sure sounds better. Thanks, Doug!

Saturday, October 14, 2006

bonding...

This is our chiminea. It used to get lots of use as you can tell. In the last year or so it has been neglected. However, tonight, we sat around and bonded as a family. Built a fire and...
...cooked hot dogs and smores. The last of both you see here.
And this is the "asparagus" that is growing on the side of our house. Conrad told Madeline it was fungus and somehow she remembered asparagus and that's what she told me it was.

She also said today "Christopher Columbus and God were brothers". I asked her how she figured that out? She said "my brain". And so it goes with Mads, you never know how her brain is working but there it is for today.

Thursday, October 12, 2006

What we did on fall break part 2

This morning my friend, Jessica, called me and asked me if we wanted to go letterboxing today. She had sent me a link to a letterboxing website last week and I was intrigued/instantaneously hooked. I thought this is scavenger hunting at your leisure! "We're in" I told her. So off we went to look for letterboxes.

Letterboxes, in case you've never heard of them, are boxes that people hide in public places then put clues to find them on the internet. Jessica sent me this link: www.letterboxing.org and it is a wealth of letterboxing information as well as the place to look up the clues. What a wonderful idea and pastime.



This is our intrepid crew. From left to right: Anna, Sadie, Taylor, Madeline and Bailey. Jessica is taking a picture to my left so you can't see her.I found the first letterbox!!! Oh, Joy! In between the two rocks and just over the topmost stick between the two rocks you'll see a little army green with what looks like yellow writing. That's the box. This one was an old ammo box. It's weather-proof so a perfect container for it.
Inside this particular box was a bunch of little toys. You were welcome to take one but you were supposed to leave one if you did. We did not take one. Also, there was a rubber stamp, a pad of paper and a piece of paper with information about this particular box.

The purpose of letterboxing is that you take the stamp they have in the box and stamp your book with it and stamp the book in the box with your stamp so people know you have been there. This particular box is also a GPS box. People use their GPS instrument to find it. Don't ask me how, I don't even know what one looks like. I just know it has something to do with coordinates and if I ever get lost I hope I have something on me that tells people my GPS so they can find me and take me home.

This was a great outing for all the girls, they loved the hunt and this particular box was a great first find because of all the toys. I wish we had brought toys to leave. We've learned now. Next time we'll be prepared.



Madeline found the third box we looked for. The second could not be located but we think we may have just overlooked it due to the camouflage wrapping on the third and fourth boxes (they were all placed by the same person and part of a series of 3). But I really don't think it was there. We may go back and check it out again, sometime.

The bonus of letterboxing is the flora, fauna and live stuff you see. Here's one of our bonuses.

I hope none of y'all look at these pictures and say "oh, I hope they know that's poison ivy" or "look at that snake - what do you mean you didn't see it". If you see a snake in the pictures, please don't tell me. If you see poison ivy, please do. As allergic as I am you would think I would know it, but I don't.


Wednesday, October 11, 2006

What we did on our fall break

Things we did on our fall break:
We let the kitten get into the paint-by-numbers paint and then let it gorge itself on our fingers. The paint on the kittens nose is the same color as on Sadie's fingers. The story I heard was that the kitten got into the paint. Suspicious that it's the same color as on her finger? I think so.
We're also kickin' the habit. The thumb-sucking habit that is. This chart is for the first two days. It was divided into morning, afternoon and evening. Madeline found it hard to make an hour, much less a whole morning so we divided it into hours. Sadie's (the purple one) has two less hours because she slept really late. So far so good. It's the hardest thing I've had to do yet. It's constant vigilance, keeping their hands busy, keeping their minds off of it. IT'S HARD! But I guess necessary. I know their little teeth will thank me for it later and maybe even my pocket book should this keep them from having to have braces. But I'm not sure I'll make it through.

And by the way, I thought Madeline would sail through because on several occasions she has said she doesn't want to suck her thumb anymore. However, now, I have my doubts if she's really ready. I'll keep you posted. Pray for all of us.

And, while I'm asking you to pray, here's an even more worthy cause. My Aunt's sister's grandbaby Lane was diagnosed with a brain tumor and they did surgery and thought they had it and "all" they had to do was radiation but now they've found another one. Please pray for Lane and his family. For the Drs. to find everything and get rid of it. Mostly, I think, pray for a sense of God's divine will in this for his family. Only God knows why these things happen and it is in his infinite wisdom we must trust.

Tea party


We had a tea party today. The girls are out for fall break...all week. Please keep me in your prayers. I may not make it through.
Anna is enjoying her "tea". I don't know who dressed her in this. It was raining out and I think they thought this would protect her should they decide to go out.


"May I have some more, please?"

Sunday, October 08, 2006

Happy Birthday!

I'm so proud of Sadie. She made it the whole campout. No one had to call me to come get her (not that I would have...I don't think). She had a great time and got dirty. These are her socks, the dirtiest thing on her. She was very proud of them.


After she got home she, Madeline and Anna sat out front at their little table. Anna held court while they did whatever it is they did.Happy Birthday, Jon!!!! This is Jon and Tylar. Jon turned 20 today. When I called him to wish him a "happy birthday" he said "I'm 20 and you're old". Thanks, Jon. I only gave you life. You could have been a tad nicer. Oh well. We went to see "Employee of the Month". It was a funny movie. And then we went to Jason's Deli and then went and relaxed by the fountain in Lincoln Square.
This is Madeline totally immersed in her "Birthday Dance for Jon which you can see in action here. Madeline also reprised her "Hallelujah Chorus" while we were out there, much to the delight of the other fountain patrons. You can hear it (although you can also hear the fountain - just so you're prepared) here.
And this was too sweet to pass up.

Happy Birthday, Jon. I love you!

Friday, October 06, 2006

Spaced out birthday party

Sadie was invited to the most spaced out birthday party. It was tonight at the UTA Planetarium. We got to see a show about how the stars were viewed in ancient Egyptian times and what the different constellations were called back then and what they meant. Then they showed us the present day Texas night sky - both in the city and out in the country. The lovely man in charge showed us how to "star hop". It's finding things in the night sky using easy to spot constellations or stars. I did manage to stump the star guy by asking what a little conglomeration of stars were that I see all the time. He didn't know, but I bet he's gonna find out.

This picture if of the cake. It looked like the moon and you see earth over there in the corner and there are stars all around on the cake platter.

They also had these cookies for treats. Man, they were delicious as well as thematical.
Anna enjoying one of the aforementioned cookies.

Sadie and the birthday girl, Madeline. Happy Birthday, Madeline!!! Thanks for the educational yet fun birthday party! It takes a really creative kid or Mom (or Dad) to come up with something like this. My hat is off to whichever one of them came up with this. We had a blast (pun intended).

Thursday, October 05, 2006

fashionista

Here Anna is modeling the latest in baby bohemian fashion. All black. Her sister Sadie dressed her. It doesn't matter that it is 400 degrees outside, she's all decked out in black jeans with a black turtleneck. All the "in" babies will be sporting this this fall. Anna's such a trendsetter.

You can see Anna walking a long way in this video here.

Tuesday, October 03, 2006

Chastised

I was gently chastised for yesterday's blog. I was told in no uncertain terms that no one wants to see a lone tooth with a Marks-a-lot. Y'all wanted to see the head from whence the tooth came. Well, here it is. Chocolate face and all.

Conrad took the girls out tonight so that I could take my mid-term test (I made an 88, thank you for asking). Thank you, Conrad. Anyway, he took them to Panchos, and of course they had ice cream for dessert. Sadie obviously had chocolate.
This is Sadie practicing her piano lesson. She really does practice! Until I saw this picture, I had no idea how dusty the piano was. What a disgrace. I know what I'll be doing tomorrow - dusting.
And I can't very well leave Madeline out. This is her explaining something very complex to my very simple mind. I've already forgotten what it was.

By the way, before you even ask, I'm taking a course on how to become a Medical Transcriptionist. I'm having a great time learning all this medical terminology.

By the way, a very big milestone was made by Sadie tonight. She actually decided to go on a Girl Scout campout WITHOUT any of her parents. I can't go, I have obligations here and Daddy's aren't allowed to go. I figured she would just opt out (she couldn't even spend the night across the street without getting homesick) but when she got home she told me she had decided to go. I asked her what changed her mind. She said "I get to get dirty and I'll be with all my friends". I'm so proud of her. I hope she doesn't change her mind. I'll keep you posted (you knew I would).

Monday, October 02, 2006

yet another tooth

See that white thing under the "Marks-A-Lot"? That's yet another tooth out of Sadie's head. That child...she will not pull stickers out of her feet, but she'll pull teeth out of her head. I remember actually sitting on her to get a sticker out of her foot. When it came time for her first tooth to come out, she stuck her face in my neighbor's direction and my neighbor pulled that tooth out. Not so much as a grunt from Sadie. Hmmm, maybe if we started leaving money for stickers.....

Sunday, October 01, 2006

S is for Saturday and Soccer

I just loved this picture of Madeline. She's such a ham.
I hear "take a picture of me, Mommy"! And I turn around and there's my little Hamm (as in Mia Hamm - great female soccer player for you who might not know) posing. How could I resist?
Dealing with the papparazzi already at such an early age. It was picture day at Soccer. When we get the real pics in I'll try to get it on here but I'm not sure I'll be able to (copyright laws and all).