Can you believe it's raining here? Blessed rain, cooling off the earth, Thank you, God!

OK, as promised, here are some pics from the trip to the Ft. Worth Zoo. We went Saturday and were going to go see the StarWars exhibit at one of the museums in Ft. Worth but the line to get a ticket was 35-40 minutes long and then you wouldn't get in until 3 hours later. Forget that!

So, here's the best picture I've ever taken of a Gorilla. My experience in this is vast (not). It's actually the only picture I've ever taken of a gorilla (children not included).
This is possibly the worst picture I've ever taken of my children. Had it been in focus and not in front of a big window where the flash shines through, it might have been a keeper. Thought I'd share it anyway.


Some of the pictures didn't load, don't know why. But, I'm forging on.

Since we didn't get to see C3PO and R2D2 from Star Wars, we went and got Ice Cream and sat by the fountain. The girls and Conrad had found a letterbox here before and Sadie had to show me where it was. This is her retrieving it. If you're a letterboxer and haven't found this one, skip this picture.

And for the most exciting news...I no longer have to upload videos to YouTube for your viewing enjoyment. That means you may get more videos on here because before, it was a pain in the hiney to remember to upload before I started to post and if I had more than one, it was a painstaking process - one you are all worth, by the way, but a pain nonetheless. So here is my first video not uploaded to YouTube.

I liked this video because you can hear the tiger growling. What an awesome sound. If I were out in the outback or wherever tigers live (yes, I actually don't know that right now - I'm sure somewhere in my vast store of knowledge it's there and if I were given a million dollars to come up with it, I could) I would probably wet my pants if I heard it.

First General PTO Meeting

My perspective before the meeting started. There were lots more people there once we actually began. That's the VP's computer. She made changes to the budget as we went along.

I thought, tonight, I would share with you all my exerience at my first ever General PTO meeting (being the President over one, anyway).

First of all, after I got there and helped set up, the Financial person of the school came to me and gave me some information -maybe 10% of what she told me stuck in my head. I was nervous. I had no idea if I was going to be able to do this. People were coming in like this was an important thing. Well, it was, we were voting in our budget. But, I have this habit of thinking anything I could possibly preside over couldn't be that important. Well, think again, Missy.

Then, Mr. Simon, our principal came up to me and told me the teachers were there (lots of them) to show me support. Made me tear up. How embarrassing, I need a tissue moments before I am supposed to be all presidential.

Our programs person, Elsa, did a FABULOUS job of setting up the table for the ice cream social to take place during the meeting. Soften 'em up with sweets, how can they hate you, right?

Then, the meeting got started. Everyone gave their committee reports. Short, concise, informative, just lovely. Then I gave Mr. Simon the floor and he had very nice things to say about this year's PTO. Made me tear up again. "Tissue!" That took all of 45 minutes to go through. We broke for 15 minutes to get ice cream and potty break.

Then the budget part started. We went through the budget section by section instead of line by line and it went quickly. Lots (and I mean lots) of questions were asked and I answered those I could, gave those I couldn't (that had nothing really to do with me) to the treasurer and Mr. Simon supported us through it all. 55 minutes from start of budget to adjourning the meeting. IMPRESSIVE to say the least. I've been to budget meetings that lasted 3 hours or more - at this school - recently. Not this one! YAY!

So, sorry this wasn't very exciting. But, I wanted this down for posterity. If I did nothing else in life, I proved a budget meeting could be done without lasting 3 or more hours.

The next blog will deal with our trip to the zoo on Saturday.

First Days

Madeline has decided to dance this year. Last time she danced, she wanted to do it her way. That doesn't sit so well with dance teachers trying to teach fundamentals. Her teacher said she did fabulously yesterday (her first day). This picture is of her right after her first dance lesson...still smiling! It probably helps that her boyfriend (Kolton) is in her class.
First day of school!!!!!! WooHoo!!!!! I mean, BooHoo, NOT! My little girls are off to another year of school. Except, their not so little anymore. Sadie will be in third grade this year. She'll have the same teacher as last year because Mrs. Solis moved up a grade. (She got smarter, too! haha)
This is Madeline, the first grader, leaving the house this morning, all ready to go. She was up at 6 am (with a bloody nose) but ready to go.
This is Sadie, NOT up at 6 am but ready to go when it was time. That's all I ask.
And Anna, toddling after them, raring to go.

Unusual sleeping places

Yesterday, when I went to wake up Anna and Madeline, I saw that Sadie had made her way into the other girls' room, sleeping beside Madeline. I couldn't find Anna anywhere.
No wonder! She was under the bed! I don't know how this happens but somehow, she made her way under the bed and that's where she slept, at least part of the night.

More birthday party

The girls got to go fishin' out at Uncle Joe and Aunt Bonnie's house yesterday. This is one of the fish Sadie caught. It's as big as Anna!

How yummilicious does this cake look? Sadie made it all by herself. Madeline wanted to frost it but Sadie did that herself. Madeline did, however, put the gingerbread muffin and razzles candy on it.

As "Happy Birthday" was about to be sung, I looked over at the counter and there sat this stick of butter. I thought, hmmm, the cake mix Sadie had was a "butter recipe" cake mix. I asked her if she took two sticks of butter out and she said "no, just one". I thought to myself, hmmmm, I'm thinking that stick of butter ought to be in that cake. I prepared myself for the worst.

The cake actually tasted good. Dry, but good. I'm very proud of Sadie for doing it all herself. Maybe next year, she'll learn how to clean up after making a cake!

High School Musical 2

Several weeks ago, when I found out High School Musical 2 was coming out on TV, I thought to myself "wouldn't it be fun to let Sadie and Madeline invite 3 friends over each and have a sleepover and watch HSM2?". One of the friends invited was Taylor whose mother is my creative, artistic friend Jessica. When I told her of the plans and that Conrad and Anna would be finding someplace else to go she told me her husband would be at his yearly Naval reserves week so he wouldn't be there and suggested we have it at her house.

Of course, that took the pressure off of having my house kid-ready so I gratefully accepted. Her kids also got to invite people so it wasnt' just my kids friends (although our kids' friends are all pretty much the same so it works out).

We decided to have a red carpet and crafts, make-overs, pizza, the works. Jessica even made star shaped cookies that were very yummy.

As it turned out, I was sick ALL week ( and if you remember the trend in my house this year, it has been for the birthday person to be sick on their birthday - held true with me!) so on Thursday, I called one of the other girls' mother and asked if she could fill in for me in case I wasn't well. I was still running a fever on Friday so there was no way I would be able to stay up all night and sleeping anywhere besides my bed wasn't a comforting or healing thought.

I took the girls over there and stayed until the movie started and that zapped most of my energy. But, here the big girls are, on the red carpet, showing their "diva" side.

And here are the first-graders in full "diva" mode.

Jessica is so creative, she made this sign with lights...how great is that sign?

After the movie, they made a "poop pile" which is just all the pillows available in a big pile, then the girls stand on the coffee table and JUMP!

Now, how fun did that look?

I am feeling a bit better now. My fever may be gone. I'm taking it easy until Monday when we have to go "meet the teacher" at school and take all our school supplies in. And, I'm sure there will be PTO stuff to do, just not sure what it is right now, I'm still a little fuddled in the brain (no more than usual, probably).

Conrad took the girls (all 3 of them!) out to Joe and Bonnie's out by Lake Tawakoni to celebrate J&B's 20th anniversary. They're going to go fishing and have a great time, I'm sure. I, on the other hand, am going to enjoy some peace and quiet and maybe find some of the floors in my house. I'm sure they're in there somewhere.

Happy 20th Anniversary, Joe and Bonnie. I wish you many, many more!

Anna's birthday party

Sorry I am just now posting Anna's party pics on here. I've been sick since Tues. night and I'm just now feeling like I can be up without keeling over. Concensus is either the flu or heat exhaustion. Either way, I don't like it one bit.
This was Anna's birthday cake. Jon and Tylar came over and I made chicken and shrimp enchiladas as well as fresh pico de gallo and the cake (which was brownies, by the way). No wonder I got sick. That's more cooking than I've done in awhile!
This is Anna opening her presents. Hmmmm, a ball! Yay! That was from Madeline as was this...
... The funky monkey. You press his foot and he plays "Hey, Hey, we're the monkeys" and raises his hands up and down. Oh joy, oh rapture! Try hitting that thing in the middle of the night and see if it doesn't scare the crap out of you! On the bright side, Anna knows up and down now. Looks like we should have gotten her some clothes!
Anna's gift from my mom was this "cocoon" bike seat that goes on the back of Conrad's bike. Conrad got her the helmet. I wanted to get her a foam padded suit, Conrad said that would be going a bit overboard.
You can't see it on her face in this picture but she really does love going biking. If someone else touches that bike and she's not on it, she screams "mine" at the top of her lungs and cries until they get back.

A good time was had by all and I think she loved all her gifts. Happy Birthday, Anna!

Happy Birthday Auntie B. and me!

The Big 2!

Wow, Anna turns two today. Here's my yearly letter to her.

Dear Anna,

You turn two today. Wow, how time has flown. But, yet, it seems to creep by because I'm ready for you to go to school. I would be less than honest if I didn't say that. It's who I am, your mother, ready for you to be in school, learning about reading, writing and arithmetic, things I can't teach you.

But, until you get there, I can teach you some things. I can teach you to love life, help others, be happy, know that you won't always get your way - and, that's OK, know that God will always be there for you, you always have someone to go to for strength, patience and understanding in Him. You always have someone to cry to, laugh to, grumble to, let off steam to, tell your fears to in me (and God). I won't always take your side but I sure will listen to you. I can give you a hug, a tissue and a punching bag but I can't always make things better, but if I can, I will try my best.

You woke up this morning singing "e i e i o". You're so sweet when you're singing and you sing alot. "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" is a favorite as is "Old McDonald" - well, the eieio part anyway. You like me to sing to you before you go to bed and say a prayer for you.

You're sleeping in a "big girl" bed now, much to my surprise. Your daddy said to let you decide when you wanted to sleep in it - we would keep the crib up until you were ready to make the change. It took moving the bunk beds into your room and you were ready that day. No more baby crib for you, you big girl.

You talk to where I can understand you but it's almost a language all your own. I'm ready for the real words, the words the world understands to see how your mind thinks. I already know you understand most everything we say. You seem very smart. I'm just waiting to see what comes out of your mouth besides "Sponge Bob" and "Hannah Montana" and "binkie" which you say VERY clearly.

I know you're going to grow up faster than I truly want, if I search my heart, and it sure is fun watching the milestones. Knowing there are just three more years to impart MY wisdom before others start imparting theirs makes me try to make the most of each day with you. Hug you one more time before you're too big, get one more kiss before you're too embarrassed, show you one more butterfly or one more "pidda" (your word for caterpiller) before they all fly away.

I love you, Anna, my little exclaimation point. You complete our family and I cannot imagine my life without you. Happy Birthday.

Painting a masterpiece

This past week, as you know, we were painting the girls' rooms. What an undertaking. This picture shows how we have lived for a week now.
You have to know where you are going before you start out, little paths everywhere - very little. Even the kitchen had stuff in it, it was awful.
Sadie had wanted horses painted on her wall. I painted these flowers and have had to look at them for years now. I told her no horses would be painted on her wall unless we hired our friend, Jessica, to paint them. I mean, these are only flowers and look how they turned out. The butterfly was cute but that was a small thing compared to the huge ugly flowers. This is the before picture and under is the after picture.
And this is the mess I made while backing up to get a better angle on the paint brush. Thank goodness for drop cloths or she'd have "cloudless sky" floors, too.

Our friends, Grace and Michael, who ran the Montessori School Sadie went to when she was 3 and 4, came into town last week. This is their 7th child, David(held by Grace- literally and figuratively). He survived being run over by a car while he was here. You may have read about it in the paper. You can still see the scrapes and stuff to his head. His main problem was a 3rd degree burn to his bottom. What a little miracle. I was so happy to be able to meet him for the first time and see his family again. I miss them so much. The last time they were in town, I didn't get to see them because I was on bed rest, pregnant with Anna. But, this time we got to get together. What a blessing! Angels be around y'all as you travel back to California!

My week in pics

This week has been one of "those" weeks. It started out with a Urinary Tract Infection. (TMI? Sorry but in an effort of full disclosure, I wanted you to know what you were dealing with.) I finally went to the "Care Now" clinic on Sunday and they gave me anti-biotics which finally kicked in sometime during the night Sunday as the workers tried to restore our power.

Yep, that's right. What sounded like a transformer blew somewhere in our neighborhood and so the electricity was out from about 4pm until maybe 1am or later. I just remember when it came back on being very grateful that it wasn't a typical end of July day and that we didn't have to go get a hotel room just to survive. As it was, it was a cooler July day than normal and we'd even had some rain, which is when the transformer blew. We managed and survived.

The next day, (after being under the weather for about 5 days - trying to treat the UTI on my own which worked - kinda- but not in the end - so you know what my house looked like) Wendy and the kids came - Auntie B. and Uncle Howard brought them but basically just slowed down and shoved them out the door. So quickly did they drive through that my camera couldn't even capture their image.

Wendy and the kids were on their way back to Colorado Springs. You know, the place Mumsey broke her leg better than anyone the doctor had ever seen? They were finally going home after being here several weeks. Wendy, Conrad and all the kids went swimming on Monday night. I stayed in bed after doing too much on Monday during the day to prepare for their arrival. It hit me like a ton of bricks about 20 minutes before they left for the pool. A wave of nausea, exhaustion, and pain in my you-know-where and there it was. I was no longer "super woman" able to conquer infections in a single bound. Able to straighten up the house with no repercussions. I am human. Translated: I am getting old.

Well, I do have a birthday coming up so it is expected that I would take an evaluation. I just wasn't planning on doing it that day or in such an exhausted manner and with such wet eyes.

OK, on to the pictures.

This is all the girl cousins at the airport.
Ashlea, Alysse and Austin.

The day after we took the Armstrongs to the airport. I was feeling WAY better and it was time to start looking for paint for the girls rooms. We're switching room assignments. Sadie will now have her own room and Mads and Anna will be sharing. And, of course, paint has to be applied because if you're going to be changing, change everything.

So, after traveling all over to find the best deal on paint - going to both Habitat for Humanity stores and finding none - we settled on Wal-Mart. It goes to prove the saying my Daddy was always spouting "If you can't find it at Wal-Mart, you don't need it". Anyway, after all the traveling for paint and after all the discussion about paint colors - two days of this - oddly, both rooms will be the same color "cloudless sky" but will have different borders at the top. Mads and Anna will have a "Pirates of the Caribean" border and Sadie will have "SpongeBob Square Pants".

Mads and Anna's room has begun the transformation.

Before.

After.

And if you can't really tell what color "cloudless sky" is, here, look at this, it might help.

Oh, I had it everywhere - on me. Sadie had barely pried the lid open on the can - not even all the way off yet - when Anna stuck her hand in it. I nearly popped a blood vessel. I'm sure my vocal chords are damaged from the yelling I did. I called Conrad and told him that the next time I decide to paint during the week, during the day, I wanted him to say these words to me "what are you going to do with Anna". That should stop me in my tracks.