Helmet head!

Back before Christmas break, way before, the Mayor of Dalworthington Gardens (where Arlington Classics Academy is technically located) came to read to the 3rd grade. While there, they somehow got on the subject of bicycle helmets and he put a boy, Preston, in charge of finding out which 3rd graders didn't have helmets. He said he would try to get helmets for all those kids. Well, who knew a politician could do what he promised? (That was a little political humor for this election year.)

Today, I got an e-mail from Mr. Simon asking me if I could be up at the school today at 2:30 because the mayor was going to deliver on his promise and would I take pictures (and, Sadie was one of those kids without a helmet).

So, Anna and I went up to the school and watched and took pictures while the kids got their helmets. Here are some of the pictures. You local people, watch for more pics in the paper sometime soon.

This is the whole helmet-less group, eagerly anticpating their new head gear.
Sadie and Mr. Simon with her new helmet.
The whole group with all their helmets.
Helmet head!

And on a personal (meaning me) note, I took my final on Saturday. Big "shout out" to Ann Wood, my proctor - YOU ROCK! She's been my proctor on all my exams during this course and I so appreciate her willingness to help. I'll let you all know "if" I passed. OK, I know I passed but we'll see how well I did.

Christmas pictures '07

I am happy to report that I finally got pictures of the girls in their Christmas dresses in front of the Christmas tree. The tree is now undecorated, the top third has been dismembered from the bottom two-thirds and the whole thing is awaiting a certain male in the house to take it out to the garage to be stored until next year's festivities begin. And, lest you think there are other male bi-peds in our home, Aaron has already gone home, that only leaves one.

For whatever reason, Anna wouldn't stick her tongue in her mouth.
Nor did she want her picture by herself. Not like her at all, really.
Had no problems taking in Mads limelight.
Finally got her out of the picture and Mads all by herself.
Miss Sadie looking all grown up. Where does the time go?

Happy New Year!

Here's your New Year's black-eyed peas for good luck! Enjoy!

New Year's Eve!

Jon and I took Aaron to the airport yesterday (New Year's Eve).
These are my boys! Handsome and tall! We had a blast while Aaron is here and I love that they get along so well and enjoy each other's company. Gives me hope for the girls.
Then, on to the New Year's Eve party. What are you looking at Anna, that has your hair standing on end? Yeah, I know, it's static, but it's still funny!
Sadie, laying the trap for our annual laugh at people driving by and popping our pop-its. See this blog for last year's romp. OK, don't click on anything, I went back to link last year's New Year's Eve party on here and I guess they get dumped after a certain amount of time. It only went back to February. Sorry! You'll just have to know we get a big kick out of unsuspecting people driving right into our Pop-It trap!
Mr. Ricky being the "grillmaster".

Me playing "Guitar Hero". I am JAMMING DOWN, PEOPLE!
Lisa, my neighbor, calls me in and tells me that Anna wants her picture taken. I look over and she's sitting there like this, holding up my camera, saying "picture". Is she a ham or what?
First picture of the new year! Aren't Lisa and Phillip cute?
Our first picture of the new year. Awwww!
And, finally, roasting of marshmallows. Yummy!

Happy New Year, Everyone. I wish you and yours (and mine) a year of prosperity, excitement of the fun kind, adventure and laughter.

Thank you all, once again, for reading my blog and taking this journey through life with me. I enjoy doing it and I love hearing that it makes you laugh, or cry or think. Well, I don't know that I've ever made anyone think but, just humor me.

Here's to another year of wanglerworld adventures!

Wangler Christmas Party, '07

Sunday, we had the Wangler Family Christmas Party. Lots of Wanglers were there, some were not due to illness (hope you're feeling better, Dana!) and distance, we missed you, John, Nora and your gang, Andrea and her gang and everyone else who couldn't make it for whatever reason. You missed a good time.

This is Rylan(d?), Rainee and Briley, the newest kids on the block at the party. Esther's little one wasn't there, so these were the youngest. Briley is on the left, then Rylan(d?) and Rainee. I really need to learn to spell his name since Conrad and I are going to be his Godparents. But they are sweet as they can be (all 3) and cute as buttons as you can see.
Madeline went fishing by herself which sent Grandma Peggy into a tizzy. She couldn't stand it that Mads was out there by herself, even though she goes it alone all the time. Finally, Mads started back and Grandma walked her in.
This is Aaron, fighting off the efforts of his little sisters...
...and, winning.
Anna following Daddy. How sweet!

We had a Chinese gift exchange and while I understand all the men just complacently opened their gifts and accepted what they got, we women got fiesty. I stole a gift that had a blanket and a Starbucks gift card, which then got stolen from me. By far, the most sought after gifts were the beautiful home decor pieces which would last about a minute in my house. After the blanket, I got a flask (oh the places I could go with that!) but that was stolen, also. I ended up with a very practical knife and kitchen shears set. It was fun watching the women get catty.

The Wanglers always have fun when we get together. How many times have I typed that out on this blog? It just happens to be so true, I can't say it enough.

The Saturday after Christmas

Every now and then, even big girls need snuggle time with their Mommy. Puss was no exception. As soon as Sadie sat in my lap, he came crawling up lookin' for some lovin'.
We went and got Auntie B. and Uncle Howard at the Airport on Saturday. This is them in all their glory! Go Air Force!
When I had gotten back from airport duty, I noticed someone had affixed Anna's binkie to her face with a band-aid. Very creative. I've often wanted to place velcro on the sides of her face and binkie to keep the "where's the binkie" game down to a minimum.
Later, I went out into the garage and heard alot of leaf rustling outside of the garage. I thought to myself, "that doesn't sound like a cat" and went out and there was the newest "Pogo". I'm sure it's one of the original "Pogo"s prodginy but there's no way to really tell. I don't tag them and study them or anything. But this thing came right up to me, freakin' me out!

The second day of Christmas

An always-generous Madeline let Anna use a pair of her socks this morning. They looked cute in their matching Christmas socks. In case you can't see it, they have frogs on them.

Today was day two of Christmas for us. My sister (the one who is ABD - which for those who are graduate degree illiterate - I include myself in that category - is All But Dissertation, which means she is VERY close to having her Doctorate in Literature) and her already a Dr. of Political Science husband, Greg - whom I call Gregela - came to visit and we had a great time!

Here is Gregela making Madeline's request for our "official" Christmas dinner, dirty rice. We saw Paula Dean making it on a show and Madeline said she wanted it. I told her she'd have to ask her "Parrain" who is the only person I know who makes it. Of course, he said "yes". How could one say "no" to Madeline? For the record, I tried to help by making the rice so it would be ready for him when he got here, making it faster but ended up not only burning the rice but ruining my big pot/pan in the process.
This is Gussie! The cats are not happy that Gussie is here. Gussie is getting on up there in years and she doesn't need to be out in the cold so she came to Auntie Lisa's house to join in the festivities.

This is Tylar and Jon checking out my new Iphone. Oh yeah, it's totally cool.
For Anna, this was a two-binkie day. If you enlarge the picture, you can see she has one in her mouth and one at-the-ready in her left hand.
Sadie in her new head gear.
Madeline in hers along with her new boa, posing with "Parrain".

Pamela with a new toy she got in her stocking, not able to figure it out.

Ahhh, success.

I hope your Christmas season is still in full swing as ours is. We'll have the Wangler Christmas on the 30th this year, stay tuned for pictures from that!

Merry Christmas, 2007!

Merry Christmas, Everyone! This is what our living room looked like before the tornado went through. We had our traditional reading of the story of the birth of Jesus, then checked out our stockings then, the package opening started in earnest.
This was the girls trying not to check out the stockings before we read the bible. Oh, it's so hard to wait!

After reading and presents, we went to church, well, some of us decided to be heathens and stayed home. I won't mention any names...Jon and Aaron. They felt like going to church two days in a row was quite enough for them. Well, Ok, I'll give them that.

Then is was our non-traditional Christmas dinner. Lasagna, garlic/cheese toast, salad, it was delicious, and served in a timely fashion. That's only funny because last night, it took hours for the rice to cook for our red beans and rice and we were chewing off our arms in hunger.

Anna with her new baby who has a bottle with milk in it that looks like it disappears and makes sounds when you turn it upside down. (Thank you, Michele!)
She also got 4 binkies from her brother. Probably the most loved and appreciated gift given (by both Anna and her parents).

This is me when I was asked where Jon and Aaron's gifts from my Mom were. Oops! I forgot to put them out. Yikes~!
OK, you'll have to turn your head for this one, unless you're drunk or asleep on your computer desk. This is Anna at Christmas pagent practice, feeling very comfortable being up on the part that we don't call a stage. She actually got up there and did her part on Christmas Eve and I will try to get that on here tomorrow.

But, now, I'm tired and want to go to bed.

I hope you all had a great Christmas and you were surrounded by loved ones and happy times. May God bless you all!

Fun Christmas webpage

You can go to the following link and have blast from the Christmas past.

http://members.shaw.ca/cybernana/html/funpage/hippoxmas/hippoxmas.html

And, Happy Birthday to my sweet Mumsey! I love you!

Various Christmas activities

So this blog is a little late in coming. Sorry all you curious people, just been a bit busy around here lately. So here's a bit of what's been going on.

On Friday night, we put up the Christmas tree. Jon and Tylar came over and ate with us then helped us decorate our lovely tree. Here's the before picture...

Here's Jon with the beloved "New Orleans Saints" ornament. He got the honor of hanging it this year.

And here's the after picture of the tree...

Yeah, I know, we don't have a top for our tree. I've never found one that reached out and grabbed me. I will one day.

Now imagine it with a large portion of the front missing a bunch of ornaments. Say about the height of one 2 year old who lives in our house and doesn't know how to keep her hands off of things.

On Tuesday morning, Anna's school had their Christmas party. This is Anna in Santa's lap.

She does NOT like Santa or anything else dressed up in a costume.

Then Anna and I joined Sadie and Madeline up at their school for their "Holiday" parties. And because Anna is usually the "picture girl" on this blog, I decided to use a picture of Mads this time, instead. I took this one after the parties on the playground.

And, guess who just got her final quiz grade in and made a 100? Yep, that's me. A far cry from the 34% I made on the quiz before that. But, in my defense, it was about a 4 line dictation and one comma wrong and you fail. The lady at the school said NOONE passes that quiz. Final, here I come! I'll let you know when I pass.

We've been elfed

OK, this was a totally fun thing to do. If you want to do it for your family (max of 4 people) check out www.officemax.com - I don't mind giving them a plug since they let me do this...I think you have to copy and paste this link below to see what I did, it's worth it~!

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1466715396

Happy Birthday, Sadie!

Sadie got a gift card to Target today and we happened to be going there for other purposes so she got to shop and chose the "Disney Channel Holiday" CD, much to Madeline's chagrin. "Sadie always gets the discs" she says. Whatever. Anyway, Madeline is enjoying it as much as Sadie and by the looks of this video, so is Anna.

This was the "other purpose" for why we went to Target, the girls' Christmas dresses. Sadie went with non-traditional, but yet still pretty, brown. You can't see her shoes very well, but they're brown, too, and really go well with the dress. The others got theirs, too, they just haven't tried them on yet.

Happy Birthday, Sadie. You are very loved and we are happy you joined our family 9 years ago. We can't imagine our lives without you.

In these last nine years, you have shown us how loving, caring and intelligent you are. School comes easy (too easy, probably) for you. You love to sneak into our bed in the middle of the night and sleep so close to us you practically push us out of the bed. You also make sure your legs are out of the covers right as you fall asleep so that makes for interesting coverage for the rest of us who may be sharing a bed with you. You love your sisters, although you sometimes would rather not show it. You are the one who comforts Anna when we correct her and she cries. We don't always appreciate that, we feel you may be undoing our disciplining, but it is sweet to witness.

This past year, you took your first communion. How proud we were that you took this sacred sacrament seriously and you are enjoying going to Mass with us and being able to take part in the whole service.

You're hard to figure out. When we send you to bed, you take your homework with you so as to put off going to sleep as long as possible. But, if I tell you to go to bed and take your homework with you, you don't. You just go in and go to sleep. Go figure. Lesson learned on my part.

You like to play school but only if you can be the teacher. How many times has Madeline come to me in tears because you won't let her be the teacher? You probably have a career in teaching, I can see that in you.

You also love horses, dogs, cats and you love to take care of your Webkinz online. At least those animals I don't have to feed. Puss-n-Boots is your constant sleeping companion. You almost can't fall asleep without him.

Thank you, Sadie, for these last 9 years of love and joy. You are a special girl with a brilliantly bright future ahead of you. May God direct us to show you your path.