...And then there were four

Miss Mia turns 3

2010-04-29T08:14:00.004-05:00

So I know her birthday was a while ago, but a good friend took pictures that day for me and just gave me them yesterday. So here's my little princess Mia at her Hello Kitty party!

Winter Storm and Soccer

2010-02-25T10:10:00.004-06:00

Luke's soccer team this year is the "Golden Bears" --- he's #12. He has had several games cancelled due to cold/rain, but all three they played they won (thanks mostly to two awesome 2nd graders!) He played really hard his last game - he's a lot less scared out there this year!

First grade never has an award assembly in the winter, but Luke did bring home his perfect attendance certificate. Then we found out they would have one - today! - so I'll have pictures of him getting his awards later.

His two top front teeth fell out soon after one another

Last Saturday's game - action shot!

We finally got snow! Tuesday the 23rd it snowed ALL day! Perfect packing snow too. Sadly, it's all gone now, just two days later, except for some little dirty remnants!

Holiday Photos

2010-01-13T10:02:00.003-06:00

Luke's new Texans jersey, shades, and jammies!

Loving bitty baby Grant!

Cookies and eggnog for santa, and carrots for the reindeer

Christmas Eve

New Year's Eve - noise makers a little early... hard to keep them up till midnight!

Here I am!

2009-12-14T09:12:00.005-06:00

Let's see if anyone still checks my blog. I've become a facebook addict so I haven't been on here much... Here are some photos of our lives lately

Halloween -Indiana Jones and a sick witch

getting ready to plant plum trees

Planting the trees with Nonno

Luke's disguised turkey project

Thanksgiving... in bare feet

Going to UH game

First day of school - I mean, first grade

2009-08-24T21:27:00.003-05:00

That's for you Nonni... When we mention that Luke was going back to school, he makes sure to point out that it's "first grade"! Today was a good day, but seemed very long! Have some challenges this year with my kids so hopefully I can manage to have a great year like last year again.

I thought we were going to be off to a rough start when Luke woke up last night at 10 feeling really sick. He finally fell asleep at 11:30 feeling ok again. Luckily he woke up feeling great today, ready to go!

Notice how BLACK it is outside in these photos... it was 6:45 am. So early! And Luke had me take a photo of myself too.

And so she's not left out, Mia had a big day too! She started back at daycare last week, and our sad efforts of starting potty training over the summer were blown away by how great she started doing once she was with fabulous Ms. Sonya and her friends! We were told after only a week that she was to start with panties today... So she got her elmo and dora panties and we sent them off to school today... and she came home in the same dry pair! Friday night when I got home from buying them, she put on a pair of elmo, then a pair of dora on top, then said "I want to go dance in my unnerwears!" and off she went to dance in her room! silly girl! Should have gotten a picture of that one!

Photos. Finally.

2009-07-21T17:03:00.006-05:00

I am going to just post a few of my fave photos from my Ohio trip on here. If you want to see more, check them out on my facebook page! In backwards order...

Cuyahoga Falls river

My college roommate with her baby and my friend Vickie - we got to hang out on my last day at a park with all our kids

And here are all the kids, minus baby Benjamin. He wasn't up to hanging on the rock wall for a photo at only 4 months old

It was hard to get everyone to sit for a photo with my grandma after a long day at the beach in Lake Erie, so this is the best I got

Taking a snack break at the lake

Luke worked on this for a long time. He wasn't sure what it was, but he was proud of it.

In grandpa's tree

At Jenna's gymnastics party

4 generations with great grandma Lehman

Cousins ready for a bonfire

Sesame Place

2009-06-20T15:12:00.007-05:00

We spent our first day in Philly at Sesame Place. We rented a car and drove the 30 miles there, expecting a crowded, crazy day. I was very pleasantly surprised to see that it wasn't crowded at all -in fact by early afternoon, there was no waiting in line for anything! We pretty much did everything including rides, shows, parade, and water activities. I have to say that this was my most pleasant and enjoyable theme park visit. Everyone was polite, and with the lack of crowd (school was still in session around there) and great weather, made for a perfect visit. I took so many photos, but again will narrow it down to the hilights!

Waiting for our turn on the ride

Flying fish ride

Hanging out on Sesame Street

Teacup ride

Waiting for the parade

Ernie stole Mia's hat... but he gave it back. She was not happy about it.

This is her reaction to the Count. Not a fan.

Abby show

Luke and I are on this inner tube ride. We were freezing and soaked!

In Count's Castle - a giant water play area with slides.

Elmo Live Show

Philly

2009-06-17T21:16:00.009-05:00

We got back Monday night from Philly, and we really did have a great time! But we're all still tired and trying to recover. We spent the first day at Sesame Place (which I will give its own post), then the other days seeing the sights, eating a lot, and enjoying the cool weather in a really neat city. We walked EVERYWHERE - many miles a day - and the kids for the most part were real troopers and hung in there with us. I enjoyed being up North again -got some good childhood comfort foods, saw a lot of bushes and trees I haven't seen, and love that it wasn't 97 degrees in June. Enjoy the photos. I narrowed down the 300 that I took so you don't have to see them all. I may get bored and not post them all tonight, so keep checking back!

Enjoying our first round of Dunkin Donuts... with many more to come during the week.

On our way to Sesame Place, I felt like a little kid on Christmas day when I saw a sign that said "Friendly's"! We ate there on our way home that night, and I enjoyed every bite of my giant reeses pieces sundae.

This is the second bank ever (I think??) Just a neat building for a photo, and had an art gallery inside.

This is the court side of Constituion Hall. I included this to share something I learned. See the metal box? That is where the criminal stood... and he stood the whole trial, and that's where the phrase "stand trial" came from. Maybe everyone else knew that, but not me!

Love Park - I was surprised at how little the LOVE sculpture was!

Family photo at the bell - had to be at the back side of it... too hard to get a good photo of the front with all the people there!

Betsy Ross House

Trying to stay dry

Photo by Luke at Constitution Hall

Marc in Constitution Hall - behind him is where the Constitution and Declaration were signed.

My former coworker Jenn drove in from Jersey to hang out with us for a little bit. I finally got to meet her adorable son Nathan.

Franklin Square was a beautiful little park downtown. There's a carousel, park, fountain, and lots of birds to chase and feed.

Fountain at Love Park

While waiting forever for daddy to go back and get an umbrella in the pouring rain, we found shelter at a building that had giant game pieces from sorry, bingo, monopoly, and dominoes.

Luke earned this junior park ranger badge. He had to complete a booklet of activities and go on a park ranger guided tour. He was so proud of it! Now cookie monster wears it for him.

Franklin Square carousel

At Hard Rock Cafe

The birthday boy!

At Penn's Landing - in front of a submarine

View of Penn's Landing/Philly from the ferry

At the aquarium

Leaving NJ on the ferry

The return trip home

Luke's 6th Birthday Pary

2009-06-08T10:15:00.005-05:00

We had a party for Luke's 6th birthday at our house Saturday. Although it was really hot out, that didn't seem to stop the kids from having a great time. We had a bouncer/slide, tattoos, cupcakes, ice cream, sno cones, a pinata... so they kept busy and seemed to have a lot of fun. I'm
not going to comment on all the photos - should be self explanatory. Don't have any photos of all the kids that came, but I think there were about 13.

This is Luke's tough face!

We gave him our gifts Sunday night since we'll be out of town on his birthday still.

It was finally our big day...

2009-06-03T19:10:00.005-05:00

... in more ways than one. Today was Luke's kindergarten graduation. I started the day with mixed feelings - so proud that he had such a great year in kinder, sad to realized my baby is almost a first grader, and nervous that he wouldn't say his line in the graduation program.

A few weeks ago Luke was assigned a speaking part in the program, and anyone who knows him well knows that Luke speaking in front of a huge crowd is not something that would probably happen. He learned his lines, and practiced them with the other kids during rehearsals. But we didn't know what would happen when the time actually came to speak in front of a huge crowd of strangers. His classmate had the first line in the program, and when it came his turn to talk, the microphone wasn't on, and I thought "Great -of all kids for this to happen to, it has to be with Luke?" and Marc turned to me and said "He's not going to do it." But the mic came on, and so did his voice, and the most precious words I've heard in a long time came out of his mouth: "It was finally our big day - the first day of kindergarten." He did it. And I cried. This was a huge accomplishment for him, and shows how far he's come this year, and I truly owe it to his fabulous teacher and my great friend Mrs. Gonder. I feel so fortunate that my child has been blessed with learning from her for a year, and am having a hard time accepting that he's moving on.

The rest of the program was great too, but nothing could top my boy saying his lines. Enjoy the photos, and know that he has one proud mama today!

And a special thanks goes out to Nonno and Nonni who came today for the ceremony and then took the kids to IHOP (tradition after kinder grad) and then kept the kids all day.

Graduation morning, all dressed up

Waiting in line with two of his classmates, Jasmine and Edina

The Processional

Saying his lines --- see, he really did do it!

If you look hard, you can find him in the top left of this photo

Posing for one of mom's many photos

Receiving his diploma from his teacher

View from behind (I got front row seats!)

After receiving his diploma

Nicholas and Luke - his best buddy... I love this photo!

Back in class with Mrs. Gonder

With his graduation puppy

Last Week

2009-06-01T13:55:00.003-05:00

It's the last week of school, and I can't even say "finally!" This has really been a great year, and I'm dreading sending this group on to 4th. We have school till Friday and a workday Saturday morning. Thought I'd put a little message on her letting everyone know how busy I am so you understand why I haven't posted much. Plus, when I do take the time to post, it seems only 2 people check it and comment anyhow! Alright, enough of making you feel guilty for not posting comments. Moving on... :)

This week, we have kinder graduation where Luke is supposed to have a speaking part! If he actually says it, then yes, I will cry. That will show how far he's come this year. Then I have my awards ceremony, end of year parties for me and Luke, a birthday dinner for my friend, prepping for Luke's party including shopping, cleaning, and making cupcakes, workday Friday, then his party in the afternoon. We are supposed to be getting a combo inflatable bounce/slide for the backyard for his party, so hopefully that'll keep the kids busy.

Then Sunday I start getting us ready for our trip to Philadelphia. Anyone been there? What do we have to make sure to see/do before we go?? I have a long list, but love input from people who have actually gone.

In case some one you haven't heard, I am thrilled that Brenda and I found cheap flights so we are no longer driving with the 4 kids to Ohio! We will be there July 7-17. Hopefully we'll have time to see everyone.

I should have plenty of photos after this week is over, between graduation and parties.

And one last thought... how is it that Luke is getting ready for first grade? A child in kinder still seems young, but a first grader?? Having a hard time dealing with that one!

Photos

2009-05-11T07:34:00.005-05:00

Luke and some classmates at Field Day Friday

My birthday roses

We went to Cheesecake Factory for my birthday... many silly photos were taken!

Mia will not keep her eyes open when getting her photo taken!

Don't know what happened here, but had to add this photo to show that it wasn't all relaxing at dinner that night! I think she was trying to rip out my earring here.

Cinco de Mayo - Luke's class came and made pinatas in my room - he's paired up with Tabitha, his teacher's daughter

And here's the first tiny quail that hatched in Luke's classroom. We went Saturday night with Mrs. Gonder to our friend Mandy's ranch to release the 16 quail.

This week in review

2009-05-08T21:39:00.002-05:00

I posted before the week started about my busy week, so thought I'd update on how it went. And I do have tons of photos to add, but it's not going to happen tonight. So enjoy just my words, and photos will come later this weekend.

School - had a pretty good week, and we're one week closer to the end! field day today - this year it was called kid karnival instead, and was one of the more enjoyable ones. i even went down the inflatable slide with the kids. the only downside was the 94 degrees and the fact that i was fighting off a fever and aches still

Birthday - had a good birthday! got some great gifts from the fam, and luke picked out most of my gifts, including several great pieces of jewelry. he shops with me so much, he knows what i love! also got a heart necklace from james avery. love it. was surprised with a dozen yellow roses delivered to school, and then we all went to austin wednesday night to eat at cheesecake factory. good times. thanks for all the cards, gifts, and messages!

Kids - they are doing well. mia never ended up sick after having a fever sunday thankfully. luke seemed to enjoy his kid karnival day a lot today too!

Sick - last night was rough. i started to feel bad, then ended up with a fever and severe chills. marc wasn't around (in san antonio) to help with the kids, so i was thankful that they went to bed early for me! i went to bed with 3 covers and a heating pad, still shaking. then woke up an hour later sweating so badly and couldn't stop for an hour! today i was surprised to feel ok most of the day. it helped i was outside in fresh air and kept busy. tonight the fever is back, but not nearly as bad as last night. needs to just go away and not come back!

Rain - the skin care place i'd been going to had a one year anniversary open house tonight. i went with luke at 4 and got a great deal on 2 packages - well, it still cost a lot, but i got a whole package free so that is a good deal! they were doing door prizes all night. as i was paying, the lady next to me won a giant starbucks gift basket- coffee, mugs, chocolate espresso beans, truffles, a starbucks cd -and she asked if i wanted everything but the mugs because she doesn't like coffee! that made my day. about an hour later i got a call from Rain, and i had won the diamond hoop earrings they had as their "grand prize"! i couldn't believe it -they are gorgeous, and looked really great with my dirty trimmier t shirt, sunburned face, and pig tails from today. i loaded the kids up in their pjs just to go back and pick them up tonight. everyone was envious and it was quite a production when i got them. will be sure to post a photo. someone commented on my facebook just now that maybe i should go play the lotto with my luck today!

brenda - unfortunately, her swine flu days ended early. we were so disappointed she wasn't coming but in the end, i had a staff meeting until after 4:30, another meeting at school at 6:00, then was sick, so probably good they couldn't make it as i may not have even seen them!

tomorrow if the book warehouse sale, and looking forward to meeting up with friends there. my aide/friend michelle offered to keep the kids, and they scored a trip to the zoo out of this deal with her, so everyone comes out happy (well, except for maybe michelle , at the zoo with 4 kids!)

sorry so long - it's been a long, eventful week. if anyone is still reading this, check back this weekend for photos.

Gearing up for a busy week

2009-05-03T18:58:00.002-05:00

It's not quite seven, and everyone has showered, lunches are packed, clothes set out for tomorrow... and it's a good thing I'm feeling prepared to start my week, because it's going to be a busy one!

Monday - regular day, decorate room for tomorrow, work out, relax.

Tuesday - Cinco de Mayo! I have the classroom decorated in red, white, and green, put out confetti and maracas, and we spend the day learning about the holiday (it is actually one of my TEKS I'm supposed to teach, so I'm not just having a fun day!) - video, books, math word problems based on the holiday for the morning. In the afternoon, I've invited Luke's class in to make pinatas with us, and eat chips and salsa. After school, we have a baby shower, then workout, then home.

Wednesday - birthday day for me! not sure what's going on, but we're headed to eat somewhere that night.

Thursday - Marc leaves for san antonio for 3 days for a clinic. Thanks to the swine flu and their extra days off, as soon as school is out, brenda and the girls will be at my house to hang out and spend the night.

Friday - kid karnival day at school, complete with bouncy things and water balloons. then out to eat with friends from school, then hopefully going to an open house at the skin care place i'd been going to.

Saturday - every year in may go to waco to their scholastic warehouse, where everything is half off. usually some friends from school go along, and this year i think i've managed to spread the outing to about 10 people. if you love books, this is an awesome outing!!! the only problem is that it's hot (no air conditioning), but we can hope for a mild day saturday. Marc comes home - hopefully in time that i can leave the kids home and not take them along!

Sunday - mother's day! early church, probably out to lunch.

it's a super busy week, but everything seems enjoyable!! hope everyone is doing well. oh, and any ohio readers... brenda and i plan to leave TX July 5 and be there 7-10 days, so hope everyone will be around. also hope we all survive this road trip! :)

Finally...

2009-04-22T15:41:00.007-05:00

I haven't been able to find my cable to download photos, so that's why I'm just getting these on here! So here goes...

Fort Worth Zoo

Ft Worth Zoo - went a few weekends ago and met Brenda and the family there

feeding the birds... Luke had a very cooperative bird who sat there forever

more zoo photos

Dying eggs seemed very fast this year... why do I recall spending forever to dye them as a kid?

Good Friday

Ringling Bros. Circus - Easter Weekend

Luke trying to jump with the circus folk... he missed the first time, got defeated, and quit

Front row seats and sno cones... courtesy of Nonno and Nonni

And cotton candy at the circus, also thanks to Nonno!

Easter Sunday, showing off new treats and some awesome bed head for Mia

Luke's First Lost Tooth

2009-04-09T08:14:00.003-05:00

Finally, Luke lost his first little tooth last Sunday night! That tooth seemed to be loose forever, and I was wanting it out soon since his permanent tooth was halfway in behind it already. Saturday night he let me try to pull it, but I couldn't get it. On Sunday we knew it had to come out, but he got scared and didn't want me pulling it, so he went to bed. While I was in the shower, Luke was eating some string cheese and he started crying and said to Marc "Half my tooth fell out!" Since it was so tiny, he thought it broke and only part of it came out! He was a little scared by it, but after he calmed down he was excited to get his tooth pillow out and tuck it under his pillow for the tooth fairy. He barely has a hole where the tooth was since the new one is in its place already.

The before photo... not sure if you can tell, but you can see the big tooth in behind it.

It's so tiny!!

Tucked away carefully in the tooth pillow... thanks Grandma for making it!

Night night... time for sleep so the tooth fairy can come

Home again

2009-04-01T14:52:00.003-05:00

For the second Wednesday in a row, Luke woke up throwing up, so I stayed home with him again. He's been fine ever since 6:00 though thankfully! Just wanted to check in and say hi since I haven't posted in a while.
A few random happenings:
1)We got our TAKS reading scores back, and all my kids passed and 16 out of 21 got commended, meaning they missed 3 or less out of 36 questions. I am so happy!!
2) We booked our Philly trip -June 9-15! Very excited, and we got a great deal on flights which is good since we have to buy 4 tickets now!
3) Had photos taken of the kids in Salado and am very happy with how they turned out. Now I just have to decide which ones to order!
4) I won a weigh-in Sunday at Jazzercise - out of everyone who weighed, I lost the most weight (I think by percentages). I got a prize pack - a backpack, water bottle, 2 stretchy bands, a tshirt, and a towel.

Here are two photos I found from when I took Luke to putt putt over spring break - the one of us both is when we were driving the go carts. Wanted to see pictures of him happy and healthy, not sick and sleepy like he is today!

photo session

2009-03-21T10:13:00.002-05:00

Thursday I met a girl in Salado and she took Mia's 2 year photos, as well as some of Luke and both kids also. She is a friend of a friend, and reminded me so much of Amy and her style of taking photos. Click on the right under "Blogs I Visit - Melody" if you want to see a sampling of what she took.

Landscaping Day

2009-03-20T18:28:00.005-05:00

the day had finally come for us to do some type of landscaping to our yard. when we moved in, there were only 3 bushes, and they were ugly, so we pulled them out. since then, we've mostly had dead grass and weeds to bring out the beauty of our yard. today marc's parents came up to help. nonno and i did the shopping, and i had found a great nursery in town where i got most of the bushes. we ended up putting in 9 bushes - 6 to hide the slab and pipes on the front of the house, and 3 to try to hide the big green poles/boxes that i guess are for electricity?? marc dug up the grass for the flower bed and we were fortunate enough to have white rock left from the house that we used to edge the bed. we hoped to add a big magnolia tree, but the one i wanted was already sold to someone. we ran into a few issues along the way. we live right across the road from an area called "white rock estates" and it's called that for a reason. as soon as you start digging holes, you hit plenty of white rock. we're not even sure if we could have dug a 2 foot hole for the giant tree i wanted, so glad i didn't spend $219 on it if it can't even be planted! the other issue came in planting bushes by the front of the house. nonno was digging and very quickly water came spraying out everywhere- so because of the rock, the water line is not very deep!!! luckily he had experience with this and was able to fix it. so here's our improved front yard. things will grow and cover up slabs, boxes, etc soon, and we have to add some new sod since ours died before we bought it, but it's an improvement!
PS (added Sunday morning) Last night after midnight Marc woke me up. We were running the sprinklers through all 9 or 10 stations, which takes a while. Well, it came time for the area in front of the windows to water, and guess what?? another broken pipe! water was spraying everywhere. luckily this time it is the sprinkler pipe, not the main water line, so we just shut it off and tried to go back to sleep. now we are on our own fixing it today.

before shot... nothing but dead grass

getting some help

after... no regular bushes here - 2 rose bushes, 2 blue plumbago, and 2 of something else i can't remember right now, but one has pink flowers and one yellow. plus, a lantana in the middle. i love that the white rock is the same as what the house is made of!

these are red tipped bushes... they will eventually hide the slab more. there are also 3 little ones to the left of the tree. on the far right is where we busted the water line!

you can still see all the pretty utility cases, but when the bushes grow it should help hide them! the house to the right is for sale, and currently has 2 foot weeds everywhere, so just know those aren't OUR weeds!

birthday girl

2009-03-12T09:05:00.005-05:00

i love this girl. happy birthday miss mia!

birthday dinner at jason's deli

eating ice cream from the bottom of the cone... this was all good until it started to drip out the bottom!

her final present... radio flyer tricycle, complete with a horn, radio, and light up/noise making turn signals

Mia's Elmo Party

2009-03-11T08:20:00.003-05:00

I'll let the photos speak for themselves...

Couldn't get a good photo of Mia smiling with her presents - she wasn't into waiting and smiling at the camera that day!

Had to put this one on... what is Carsyn thinking at this moment??

I knew I had to have a pinata... if you've seen my house, I have the perfect spot to hang it inside my front door!

Feeding Abby at the end of the day

...and daddy just couldn't keep up with the rest of us and had to check out for a little while.

Go Chargers!

2009-03-11T08:10:00.002-05:00

Luke's soccer season officially ended last Saturday. He really showed a lot of improvement from last year, and almost kicked a goal at one of his last games. The problem this year was that the weather would be great all week, but every Saturday it seemed to end up 40-50 degrees and super windy. Thankfully his last day of games was much warmer for us all to enjoy.

Pretty Piggies

2009-03-11T08:06:00.003-05:00

Mia loves having her nails painted, so Monday night I painted both her toes and fingers orange. She sits so still, blows on them, and knows to keep her fingers apart until they dry. Too cute. Last night Mia was missing and way too quiet for a few minutes, so I sent Luke off to hunt her down and see what she was up to. He came back to me with the OPEN bottle of orange nail polish and said Mia was painting herself! I had visions of an orange face and it spilled all over her new Elmo jammies and my bathroom floor, but when I went in to check on her, she was seated on my ottoman in the bathroom, neater than expected! She had been repainting her nails - guess she knew it had chipped off a bit and needed a touch up?? - and she did surprisingly well! Just a few orange toes and fingers (not all nails!). She is way too silly and definitely my little girlie girl.

What did YOU do today?

2009-03-06T22:02:00.002-06:00

Today I took a personal day and skipped work, knowing I had a lot to get done before tomorrow... and now that's it's almost 10:00pm I am realizing why I am so exhausted!

Today I...

*started my day with an hour work out

*got haircut and hilights

*returned a few things at the mall and bought several more things

*bought plants and soil at Lowes

*went searching 3 stores for red sandals for Mia, but with no luck... but managed to buy a few other things at Kohls

*spent some time on facebook and emailing friends

*picked up Luke from school and ran home to empty out the car

*drove to Cove to pick up Mia's cake (which is once again adorable, and worth the hour it took to drive to get it and back!)

*got Mia from daycare then went to Target and picked up dinner

*cleaned the kids' rooms, study, living room, bathroom, and cleaned off the patio

*put away laundry

*filled an Elmo pinata

*made goodie bags for the party

*read half a novel

*wrapped Mia's presents

And finally I'm sitting down, while Marc is mopping and finishing up the kitchen... glad he didn't get home too late tonight so he could help out!

Check back soon for photos from Luke's last games and Mia's party!!

Done.

2009-03-03T14:05:00.002-06:00

The reading TAKS test is done. My kids worked hard, and whether or not they passed, I'm just glad it's over for now! It was a long day... I got very little sleep because Luke was up sick. He ended up staying home with Marc - so much for the Minatreas staying healthy!

Hoping your day ended better than mine...

2009-02-25T20:32:00.001-06:00

This is the view of how my day ended... That would be my blue pathfinder being towed away. After a very long day, I had my facial appointment at 4:00. Luke went with me, and after we had parked and I opened my door, a lady pulled right into the spot next to me and smashed in my door. So to make a really long story short, first we waited 30 minutes for the police who were maybe a fourth of a mile down the road, then I had to talk to insurance for what seemed like an hour, then they connected me to a tow company, so we waited for them for 20 minutes, all the while with the two kids there (Marc arrived with Mia). What made me more upset was that the lady who hit me had been able to drive away an hour earlier, while I was stuck waiting for someone to take my car. I realize I didn't get a photo of the door, which I wish I had, but it wouldn't shut by like a foot - so dented and smashed into the hinges that it just bounced back. Fabulous.

Soccer and Silly Kids!

2009-02-25T20:13:00.004-06:00

I have lots of random photos to share from the past few weeks.

Ta Da!!

My students - Valentine's Day Party

Luke's class came to my room to visit. They were having their fairy tale ball and were all dressed up!

This girl LOVES her yogurt!

We couldn't resist the temptation of these freshly dipped strawberries at HEB!

This year Luke is a Charger for soccer. He enjoys playing so much more than last year, and actually runs after the ball. He is #8 in the yellow shirt right by the coach.

Officially a soccer mom now that I have my matching T.

Taking care of a runny nose while watching "Loo" play soccer

Ready for his first game!

Marc's birthday dinner at Fish City Grill

Marc

2009-02-21T08:36:00.002-06:00

I realize when I read Nancy's comments that I never told everyone the latest news from Marc's tests. We believe everything is caused by his rotator cuff. He has some stretches to do (which he hasn't been doing!) and in a few weeks, if he's still as bad, he will go to an orthopedic at the hospital to get it checked out. Hopefully it's not in need of surgery, and will heal with time.

Luke's Tree

2009-02-20T11:17:00.003-06:00

A few weeks ago, Nonno came to watch Luke while we had a day off and Marc had one of his tests at the hospital, and brought him a fig tree. Everyone got in on the action of planting the tree- even Molly! And then there's a random photo of Mia's first corn on the cob experience. For some reason, I feel that's an event worth capturing on film!

Fairy Tale Ball

2009-02-20T11:08:00.003-06:00

I have a lot to post, but haven't downloaded photos or thought much about posting during the craziness of the past weeks. So keep checking back the next few days to see what's been going on in our lives the past weeks. For now, I will share with you photos Luke's teacher sent me from their Fairy Tale Ball. Last Friday, her class was to dress up as nice as they could and they learned how to dance and they had a ball in the afternoon. They'd been studying all kinds of fairy tales. I missed the actual ball since my class was having our valentine party at the time, but I am glad because I have a feeling Luke wouldn't have danced if I'd been in the room! And Mrs. Gonder said he managed to hide in every photo of them dancing, but you can see him in some after he came through the line of kids.

Super Bowl Party - Minatrea Style

2009-02-06T18:31:00.004-06:00

We had a pretty lame superbowl Sunday, but we were all together and happy, so I guess it wasn't that bad!
While watching the game...

Luke and Mia built things with blocks,

Luke read some books to Mia,

played with daddy's facebook pet,

while mommy read her latest Twilight book,

and daddy texted (probably Doug about sports...) while Mia finally layed down with him and relaxed.

Recap of an eventful week

2009-01-31T21:13:00.005-06:00

Still no photos to post... guess I'm too busy to ever think to pull out my camera and capture some moments. I promise some photos soon! This week was crazy busy, and I can't believe my weekend is more than half over. I don't feel rested and haven't accomplished much off my to-do list either. So, what's happening in our lives?
Monday - Did my taxes. Planned a possible summer trip to Philly and Sesame Place. Never been to Philly, the kids would love S.P., and one of my dearest friends lives close by and hopefully we could meet up.
Tuesday - My student teacher started. The next 11 weeks (1 week down already) may be interesting. I hate to say that she is old, and offend some of my faithful readers, but let's just say she seems old to just be student teaching. She has been an aide for 8 years at Marc's school, but he doesn't know her. My friend Jeff calls her "grandma"... not to her face of course, so that gives you an idea that she's a bit older. I'd guess late 50s or early 60s? Anyhow, she's very sweet, willing to learn, jumped in helping the kids at their seats, and said she's already learned a lot from a pro (I guess she meant me!) I see her being a great aide, but not sure about teacher. She is timid, and I am the very outgoing in my classroom and LOUD! :) I will say I felt like I was a great teacher all week since I knew everything I did/said was being watched carefully. Monday she starts teaching her first subject, then picks up one more each week from there. The part that's hard is that it's TAKS season, high stress teaching time, and I'm giving up control. Hope it all works out ok. Tuesday night there were threats of ice storms, so Luke's first soccer practice and Marc's game were cancelled.
Wednesday - We went to school. I say this only because everyone who reads this blog got to stay home! We had ice, but no cancellations. When the bell rang for school to begin, I was the only person there for 3rd grade -all other 4 teachers and our aide were still trying to make it to work! But at least we get to enjoy Good Friday off still! I have been going for a series of hydrafacials with microderm about once a week. The 6 sessions were expensive, but wanted to do something nice for myself! When I showed up Wednesday, they said the microderm tip was broken, but I got the intense facial still - for free! That's about a $100 facial free. Love it! From there we went to Marc's game -make up game from Tuesday. We got there at the half, and they were playing the best team in district, and one of the best in the state, and were doing so well! Then Marc got 2 technical fouls and thrown out of the game. Not so good. The team ended up in OT, a big shocker for everyone, and I had to do a play by play on the phone to Marc since he was stuck in his office. They ended up losing, but played great despite everything else.
Thursday - Luke had his first soccer practice of the year, and did so well. Played hard, talked to the coaches... and had a great time!
Friday - Another basketball game, and they pulled out a win. Still in the running for playoffs.
Today - Today's been a long, busy day. Mia has yet another "bug" and we spent the first few hours of the day changing diapers every 10 minutes. I managed to sneak out for a good workout and an hour of time to myself. Then Luke and I had a "date" -went to see Hotel for Dogs, and I actually really enjoyed it. He loved it. On our way home we noticed smoke near our home, and then I spent the next hour basically standing in the back yard watching a rapidly spreading grass fire burn out of control -about a mile from my house. And the part that made me nervous was that the only thing between the fire and our house was a road and a lot of dead grass and dried out trees. Nothing to slow it down if the wind turned our way. Later, Luke and I drove to get Chipotle for dinner and saw where the fire had burned. It had gone all the way across the highway and the grass in front of Mia's daycare was burned... so we're lucky her daycare is still standing!
As for tomorrow, I will find an hour to work out after church, but then it's lesson plans, putting away laundry, making lunches and ironing for the week, and helping Luke create his 100 day of school project. (and don't ask what it'll be... still not sure!)
My apologies for a long blog. If you really don't care what I did all week, then hopefully you just skimmed my detailed version.

more updates

2009-01-22T18:38:00.002-06:00

Marc had his follow up appt yesterday. All his lab work came back great as did the stress test. The past few days he's had a lot of back pain now, and is walking at a nice angle, so they did a spine/back xray to check that out. He got some relaxers and we think everything was triggered by back muscles. If he still feels bad in a few weeks I guess he'll go back and try something else.

In other news, my student teacher starts Tuesday. I know nothing about her except that she's going through an alternative certification process and will be with me 12 weeks. I meet with her mentor Monday afternoon, so not sure what to expect. Just hoping she's easy to get along with and willing to jump in and help.

Marc won a game Tuesday, so right now he has a shot at playoffs if the team can keep winning. The big game against the arch rival is tomorrow, so that'll be a big deal.

Well, I got Mia to bed at 6:30 without screaming, so I'm going to take this little miracle as a sign that I have to get my kids' writing graded and get busy. Thanks for all the messages the past week while we were wondering about Marc.

Update

2009-01-16T20:46:00.002-06:00

Sorry I've been an absent blogger all week... but it's been a long, tiring week. Most of you know by now that Marc and I spent Tuesday night in the ER. He had chest pains and numbness/tingling on his left side. I knew he felt bad because he missed a district basketball game to go. The ER doc did lots of tests but we left knowing nothing except it was a low likelihood of anything cardiac. Marc went to the dr Wed. and got thoroughly checked, but no real news there either. Today we went to Scott and White Hospital for him to have a stress test. Again, no real news, but they did say if it was anything bad, a dr. would have been called in. He has a follow up Wednesday, so we just wait till then. The problem, in the mean time, is that he still doesn't feel any better, and is starting to get pretty upset not having an answer or solution to his pains. He couldn't really coach his kids tonight at his game because he really needs to take it easy, so that just makes things harder on him. It will be interesting Wednesday to find out what happens next if there are still no answers, and he's still feeling lousy. So we're tired, a little worried, and I also had a super busy week at work that I just did my best to get through. So pardon my silence... not really having the time or energy to do much of anything this week.

Just sayin hi

2009-01-11T20:35:00.003-06:00

Last week was very busy, and I'm gearing up for an even busier week starting tomorrow bright and early. No photos opportunities happening unless you want me to take a photo of Marc cleaning the house or me grading papers. That's about all that's going on right now! Last week Marc won a great district game, and has two more this week and we're really hoping he can pull off wins for both. Then I think next week is the first of the big game vs. the arch enemy of Heights. This coming week is the last week of the semester, so I have to give 3 big tests, finish grading, do report cards, and permanent records. I'm tired already just thinking about it.
Have a super week everyone... will try to update again next week.

Holiday Photos

2009-01-04T11:22:00.010-06:00

A lot happened the past 2 weeks, so rather than telling you all about it, I'll let the photos and captions speak for themselves.

Christmas Eve (do you notice Mia's black eye?? Day care incident)

Cookies and Milk for Santa - well, just one cookie since Luke said he gets them at every house and doesn't need to be fatter! Plus, 8 carrots - one for each reindeer.

Christmas Morning

Carsyn and Jenna at my house

Little Old Lady, sporting her new shoes and purses

Luke got a golf club from uncle Michael!

Mia at the end of our Davis family Christmas last Sunday

Luke and Jenna at lunch at Cheesecake Factory

Austin Arboretum

Waiting for the pizza guy at Brenda's

At Brenda's

New Year's Eve - kids got to be the band for a few songs

Cheers!!!

Ft. Worth Stockyards New Year's Day

This is when I knew it was time for Luke, Mia, and I to head back home to Killeen

Three Christmases

2008-12-29T21:52:00.002-06:00

Well, all of our Christmas celebrations are over. The kids cashed in with tons of great gifts, and I didn't do so badly either! Marc got his 2 framed Houston jerseys and seemed happy with them. After many trials and tribulations, Luke's trampoline was put together and has been enjoyed by all the cousins and even mommy! (Check Amy's blog eventually for a possible photo of me in action!) The Ohio clan arrived Friday night and tomorrow we take off to Brenda's for a few more days of family time. Today well all went to Austin to the Arboretum, and it turned out to be a gorgeous day for some outdoor shopping! We ate at Cheesecake Factory, and I got to spend my big Sephora gift card -and my best purchase was Smurfette brand glitter eye liner. Fabulous. We hung out at the fountains there, that someone had filled with bubbles, and grandpa let Mia slip a bit and she went face first into the bubbles!

Marc is away at a tournament so we won't be seeing him all week, but we'll enjoy these last few days with the rest of the fam.

Photos will come over the weekend... until then, happy new year everyone!!

My 12 favorite things about Christmas this year

2008-12-23T22:20:00.005-06:00

12. Listening to Luke singing Christmas carols (even in the shower!)

11. Plugging in my new skinny, prelit tree every night

10. Picking out the perfect ornament for each of my kids

9. Starbucks eggnog lattes

8. Shopping shopping shopping!!

7. Two weeks off of school

6. Falalala Lifetime - Christmas movies all the time!

5. Making cut out cookies with Luke... and eating them too

4. Helping the kids make their Christmas lists, making sure to guide Luke to pick the things I already bought!

3. Getting cards with photos of everyone's kids, especially since I haven't sent any out yet!

2. Waiting to see if Marc is as excited about his gift from us as we are to give it to him!

1. Impatiently and anxiously awaiting time with family, especially my nephew Jacob and niece Jenna that we haven't seen in a year! Can't believe I haven't seen those two in so long.

updates

2008-12-20T21:45:00.005-06:00

seems like several things have happened the past few days and need to blog it all before i forget! it's late, i'm tired, so sorry but no photos added tonight.

1. yesterday was party day at school. luke and i got to wear pjs all day and watch polar express, so that made it even more relaxing! got some great gifts from students this year including a dillard's gift card which i may use to buy a fabulous mascara that vibrates! what will they think of next??

2. mia had her party at school and stayed healthy through this one!

3. the kids and i went to killeen high school to watch marc's game. this is the school where a few years ago HUGE fights broke out and it was scary. it's not the team's fault, just the fans who get worked up with two killeen schools play each other. anyhow, the game was great, but they ended up losing at the very end, not that i saw the end. with only seconds to go, someone threw a full bottle of gatorade from the upper level that bounced off the rafters and hit my shoulder and luke's head. he was crying so hard and i knew it hurt because my shoulder hurt! if looks could kill, the kid (age 18ish) would be dead after i stared him down. i've never come close to being in a fight, but i was ready to run up those stairs after him. i call it my "mom rage" that came out. i think the cops got him, but they couldn't prove who did it so they took the 3 guilty looking ones out. you just don't mess with my kids. and luke had a nice lump on his head as a souvenir.

4. today marc and i went to april-dawn's wedding. she was my roommate about 10 years ago and played piano at our wedding. we didn't head to the reception because we really didn't know anyone else, but it was great to be there and see her so happy.

5. we had a family dinner out tonight. may not seem like much, but with our busy lives and 2 little kids, we haven't been out anywhere that requires a waitress in months! we've been wanting to go to cracker barrel since it opened a few months ago, and it was worth the wait. i think we all agreed that it may have been our best meal in a long time - plates were scraped clean, we were eating off everyone else's plates, and the kids were so well behaved! and all for $24. not bad.

oh, and if you're checking your mailbox for a card from us, stop looking... i just didn't get with the program this year and cards are not headed your way. doesn't mean i don't love and miss you all though!

Fa la la la humbug

2008-12-12T18:04:00.002-06:00

What a day. It seems like everyone at work today was a scrooge, making the rest of us who thought we were happy feel like scrooges too. I thought it was tis the season to be jolly... anyone else finding a lack of "jollyness" out there this year? Everyone seems so grumpy and moody. Last night was my school party and I wasn't able to go since Marc is out of town and I had no sitter. I was upset till I found out there were rude comments still being said today over the staff gift exchange, of who didn't get what they wanted. Come on people, they were $10 gifts. Who really cares what you left with? So now I'm pretty glad I stayed home in my PJs making goodie bags with the kids. I, for some crazy reason, agreed to make them for Luke's class, Mia's class, and my class... so now Luke knows that 13+18+20=51 since that's how many we made last night. My kids at school today were crazy, and I'm starting to buy into the "full moon effect" on kids... has anyone else checked out the moon last night and today? So cool. I even saw a man stopped by my house snapping a quick photo. Go out and see it tonight if you haven't yet.

In other news... Marc is still out of town at a tournament. I feel bad for him, missing 2 days of school, only playing one game a day, getting a good night's sleep in a hotel, spending most of today shopping at a nice mall in Dallas area. The kids and I have to clean the house and cook tonight since I'm hosting my third grade teacher party tomorrow night. We voted on a soup and hot drink party, trying to force ourselves into the holiday/cold weather spirit.

Well, not much else to say. I should have some photos to post after this weekend. You aren't missing much - right now both my kids are a mess from dinner, and Mia is burping while Luke is repeatedly saying "fart fart fart" while eating. **Sigh** When did Luke become such a boy????

Back to work

2008-11-30T17:42:00.004-06:00

Well, back to work tomorrow morning. Thankfully the break seemed long for once. It's sad though that I'm still on Thanksgiving break, and I'm already counting down to Christmas break.
Here's my week in review:
1. Went on Wednesday to Marc's game- first one I could go to and their first win.
2. Spent Thanksgiving in Bryan with Marc's family -ate a lot, read a lot. Good times.
3. Brenda's family was at my house when we returned Thursday night and stayed till Saturday morning. She and I spent about 6 hours out Friday morning, WITHOUT KIDS!!, shopping and going to the Sami Show. I spent way too much money, but it was all worth it!
4. Saw Twilight Friday night with Brenda -now waiting for the second one to come out.
5. Marc went to Houston to a game Saturday with his dad so the kids and I hung out all day together, and had a really good and relaxing day. Luke and I watched Iron Man last night together too.
6. At the TAG convention, I got 2 caterpillars to grow to butterflies. They turned to chrysallis', and the first one hatched (is that what it's called??) Friday and the other one came out this afternoon. So we have 2 butterflies, and we'll probably let them go tomorrow. In all the times I caught caterpillars at home and put them in jars with sticks, I never did successfully grow a butterfly, so I was as excited about it as Luke.

As I prepare to head back to work tomorrow, I leave you all with this thought - 15 school days until a 2 week break! :)

My tribute to Grandma Davis

2008-11-25T19:28:00.004-06:00

Every year around the holidays, I get homesick, especially since I haven't been to Ohio for a while this time of year. I know all my relatives think I'm crazy, but I really miss the snow and cold weather. I have a hard time getting into the holiday spirit here when it's 75 degrees still, and some days are just a little sad for me. I miss my Ohio Thanksgivings, with all the gravy, mashed potatoes, and playing games around the table. This year I've been thinking about Grandma Davis quite a bit as I look forward to Thanksgiving, as she is known for her perfect spread of everything from turkey to jello molds to the tray of olives and carrots that I always passed by. After all, who wants to fill up on carrots when there's all the other great foods you only get once or twice a year? And I especially remember going back into the fridge a few hours later and snagging a huge piece of cold white turkey. So in honor of Grandma's Thanksgivings which I will not be a part of again this year, I made banana bread, her cheeseball, and drank some eggnog. I always thought grandma had homemade eggnog just because she put it in a bowl and added whipped cream and nutmeg. Thanks for all the great memories of the holiday Grandma, and I wish everyone a happy Thanksgiving! We will be at Marc's family's house for an equally wonderful meal, especially when you add in the Oreo turkeys Luke and I made tonight to take!

7 school days and counting...

2008-11-16T18:23:00.001-06:00

...till a much needed 5 day weekend from work! can't wait till thanksgiving break. this past weekend went way too quickly, but doesn't it always? i had a good time at the TAG conference in dallas. had dinner at cheesecake factory (but wasn't hungry enough for cheesecake! can you believe it??), got a bed all to myself, then went to several good workshops and one not so good (an old lady reading poetry. really??) i came home to mia with a goopy eye so we went to the dr. saturday and sure enough, pink eye! but she will be fine for daycare tomorrow. marc's first real game is tuesday but i think we'll have to skip it since it's in waco. different now that luke doesn't get to nap the next day - have to be more picky which tuesday night games we go to! off to get the kids ready for another week!

bloggedy blah blah blah

2008-11-12T19:12:00.002-06:00

have nothing much to say, just bored and felt like blogging. so here are my random thoughts...
1. i leave tomorrow after school for my tag workshop in dallas. i get to go with my friend ginny - luke's teacher- and we are getting a hotel and then coming back friday evening. i know it's a short trip but it's 24 hours to only think about me and to get a good night's sleep! oh, and i'll probably learn something about teaching too.
2. christmas shopping is more than halfway done! woohoo!
3. basketball season officially started last night with a scrimmage. the team played well so maybe it'll be a better season than expected. now mia is going to be a challenge at the games though!
4. mia update - her favorite words are "nack" (snack), "emo emo emo" (elmo), and "mama mama mama" repeated. she talks a lot, but also cries a lot these days!
5. luke update - had a test today on word wall words and knew them all. brought home a turkey family project- make a disguise for the turkey so noone will eat him. after spending an hour turning him into an elaborate snowman complete with real buttons and stick arms, luke scribbled his whole face blue because he couldn't find any other crayons.
6. i've been on facebook a lot lately and this past week got back in touch with several high school friends and a college roommate. neat to see where everyone is, what they are up to, and how much they have/haven't changed.

Halloween

2008-11-04T19:59:00.003-06:00

Despite a rough start to the day, trick or treating did happen for the Minatreas. However, Mia's school party didn't as she'd had well, let's just say many dirty diapers, on her costume and change of clothes, then threw up on her plate of party food and her last bit of clean clothes. So we brought her home early. She perked up and went out begging for candy and she had a great time. Luke was so cooperative with photos and everything, and he did great too!

I was so proud of the kids -they both came home from school with a certificate! Mia won first place in the costume contest in the morning, and Luke was one of 4 kids chosen to go to the library for a reading celebration for the first 9 weeks. I didn't know he was going, and was so glad to see him get chosen for his reading skills!

They look so tiny!!

It was hard to get a good photo of Luke's sword -he had it all over the place, not sure how he wanted to hold it for pics!

This was at the party, minutes before she got sick on those clothes and everything else in sight!

To tide you over till Halloween pics are uploaded...

2008-11-02T21:41:00.004-06:00

I am way too tired to upload Friday's photos, so here are a few from the past week just so I can't get picked at by a certain aunt for not blogging!
Friday we had 50s day - so this is my grade level and Jeff Ball (2nd grade teacher)

Big moment for Luke- he never liked tattoos, face painting, or even bandaids, and finally he wanted his face painted the other day at school!

What I never thought I'd do...

2008-10-22T08:17:00.004-05:00

About a week ago, I received an email that asked a bunch of questions about me. One was "What is one thing you have done that you never thought you'd do?" I wasn't sure at the time what I would have answered, but now I know what I would answer even 20 years from now if asked the same question. Sunday night, I was able to be in the delivery room with my friend/aide while she had her baby, and I got the cut the cord! It was definitely one of the most amazing moments of my life.

The past few weeks have been so busy and tiring, so let me recap:

Our grade level aide Michelle has had a rough pregnancy, and finally, the month baby was due, her husband was deployed to California with the army and wasn't here to help her. So my grade level all pitched in and helped with the 3 false alarm trips to the hospital, watching her 3 year old during those trips, and being on call 24/7. Saturday she was finally admitted and induced. I was out of town, so when I returned I decided to relieve Camill since she'd been at the hospital forever and still no baby. By the time I got on Ft. Hood, I got a call that baby was coming. I literally ran into the hospital, and the nurse was waiting for me in the hall, and within 15 minutes, baby Robbie was here and I was crying and cutting the cord! It was just amazing. He is the sweetest little baby, with a head of dark hair and the tiniest little head! And he has a stork bite between his eyes that looks like the UT longhorn symbol! I brought mommy and baby home Monday night and they are doing great.

Besides having baby duty the past week, I had my pdas - formal observation -and it went really well. Glad it's done!

We went to Brenda's this past weekend for Payton's birthday and Luke woke up so sick Saturday. He missed the build a bear event, but later that night felt well enough so Brenda and I took him back to make his monkey that evening. (FYI - took him in Monday and he has double ear infections. He was so miserable Sunday night and Monday morning! But he's doing great now, just missed one day of school with daddy)

Enjoy some photos - a little baby, a little birthday, a little hanging out... a little bit of everything from the past weeks! (in no particular order)

Build a Bear, trip #1 with Carsyn, Payton, and Mia. Carsyn and Mia both named their animals Bella and we didn't realize it till on the way home! Payton named her longhorn Brown. We also made Luke a get well puppy, and named him Buddy.

Mia putting the heart in Luke's puppy

Trip #2, with Luke making his monkey, which he named Luke!

Holding Robbie for the first time... and the photo was taken by his 3 year old sister!

Big sister Gwen with baby Robbie at the hospital

Paging Dr. Jill... You are needed in Delivery!

Last Thursday, Michelle invited the third grade teachers over and made us fried tacos (so good!) to thank us for all our help. It was actually cool out, so everyone showed up in their hoodies.

Playing at Michelle's - (standing) Allyse, Tiffany's daughter and "Lute's" buddy from school (she calls him that all the time! She is also in kinder, but a different class); Gwen and Luke

Learning to multi-task at an early age -driving while on the cell phone. Later she also added drinking to the tasks!

Just hanging out in Michelle's yard

Sweet Berry Farms

2008-10-04T21:26:00.009-05:00

Last Saturday was our family outing to Sweet Berry Farms, a strawberry/pumpkin patch about an hour from our house. We had never been there, but I found it online last year and wanted to check it out. The weather was beautiful, although it was over 90 so we ended up sunburned unexpectedly, but there was a breeze and thankfully I was over my allergy problems or that could have made me miserable. We started at the hayfield maze, opting for the child one, not the one in the shape of TX that someone said took them 4 hours! We spent about 20 minutes in it, with Luke leading the way and Mia hitching a ride on daddy's shoulders while carrying a long, green stem. Luke was so proud when he led us out of the maze! Next we headed to the hayride. We rode on a short hayride that took us to a large field of flowers. For $1 you could get a cup to fill with fresh cut flowers. I don't know right now what kind they are but sure someone out there can tell me from the photos. Some kind of gerber daisy maybe? Again, Luke was leading the way, picking out flowers for me to cut, and not even freaking out at all the bees around us. At this point, you could also pay $2 for Okra, but seeing as we don't like it, we skipped it. But somehow Mia ended up with a large, stolen piece of Okra when we climbed back on the hayride! This part of the hayride took us through trees and fields where we went right by goats and donkeys. I was sitting right behind the tractor, so by the end my legs were black from dirt! We took a short break and shared a homemade strawberry lemonade and then it was time for Luke to ride the horse. I really thought that after we paid for the ticket, he'd get up there and refuse to ride, but he surprised us by getting right on Puddin, the beautiful brown horse. He later said the horse ride was his favorite part of the day. Before leaving, we tried to take lots of photos on the hay and pumpkins. Luke was all about the photo opportunities but Mia was either too preoccupied or too tired to "pose" with Luke and the pumpkins. Before leaving, we bought some little gourds and some homemade strawberry ice cream.

We were tired, sunburned, and so dusty and dirty, but everyone seemed to have fun, even Marc. I loved seeing the kids, especially Luke, experience new things like the hayride and horse ride, and just them being happy little kids. We get so busy and tired at the beginning of the school year and all week long, so I am glad we made this day all about them. Now, I have to convince Marc to go back in the spring to pick strawberries! Not sure that I'll make jam like mom always did, but it would still be fun to go strawberry picking again!

There are way too many pictures for me to comment on them all, but they are pretty self explanatory!

This is the kiddie maze through the hay field

This picture just makes me laugh! Luke was too funny, chillin on the haystacks while Mia wanted nothing to do with photos!

Flower field where we cut our cup of flowers

Dress Rehearsal

2008-10-03T19:53:00.003-05:00

Mia's costume came in the mail yesterday so we tried it on her. Seeing hers on, Luke finally decided to put his on. He's been weird about not wanting to try it on. They were too funny, because they sat and played in their costumes for the next 2 hours. I had to be sneaky about taking photos because Luke would have hid if he'd seen me doing them! Mia will have black antennae and tights added to her costume, and Luke has a sword.

On another note, I am so glad it's Friday. The past 2 weeks have been exhausting with being sick, but I am now on steroids and antibiotics and allergy meds, so I am feeling so much better! The only problem is that the steroids make me wired- I was up so late last night! I even had energy to finally go work out again after work today. We have had such a lack of family time lately, and since we're nearing basketball season, I decided we needed a day out. Tomorrow, weather permitting, we are going to Marble Falls to a pumpkin farm. I will take lots of photos and post about it when we get home.

For some reason, the kids were pulling themselves around the house on their bellies using their arms. They are too silly together!

Miss Independent - wouldn't let anyone feed her yogurt

Dress Rehearsal for Halloween

Photos

2008-09-28T14:53:00.004-05:00

Luke and his new friend Gwen. She came over for a while today while her mom went to the hospital to have her baby. Turns out she didn't have him, but the kids had fun together for a while at the park and having a picnic.

This is Mia's new game. She runs to her room to get changed, then hides from us behind her crib. She's so silly!

Luke helping Mia take her shoes and socks off... He gets so annoyed with her sometimes for messing with his things, but then he turns around and is so sweet to her!

TGIF!!

2008-09-26T21:05:00.002-05:00

What a long, tiring week. My allergies have been the worst they have been in a very long time, and I think I'm working on a sinus infection on top of that. I haven't really eaten in about a week either. I have woken up every morning this week saying "Is today Friday?" and so glad today really was. My plans for this weekend were to go to dream dinners tomorrow morning and do nothing much else all day but start reading a new book. Now, though, I'm on call for babysitting. My friend, and our third grade aide, is pregnant and due in a month, but started labor today after school. As much as some people wouldn't want baby to come early, this little guy has no more room to grow and is ready to come. Plus, her husband is army and is being sent Tuesday to CA for a month and isn't allowed to come home when baby gets here, so we're all hoping he comes before daddy is shipped off! My job is to babysit the 4 year old daughter to help them out. Thankfully we had her baby shower this past Wednesday already!

I have some photos to post, but it's not happening tonight. Mia has a new game - going to her room like she's excited to get changed, but then runs and hides behind her crib!

Luke got his first progress report this week and is doing great! He still loves getting up every morning and going to school to see his friends and learn. The best part of having him in my friend's class is that every day I get to hear a little story of something he did, while other parents don't get that same joy!

Off to bed. Not sure if I'll get a babysitting call at 3am, so I'd better get sleep while I can!

School Pics

2008-09-19T16:50:00.004-05:00

Luke's teacher sent me some photos she's taken of Luke. I feel like most of my photos on here are of Mia, so I'm giving Luke his own blog entry of school photos!

The boy to the left of Luke, grinning widely, is his new best buddy Nicholas. His brother is also in my class.

This is from the freedom march on 9-11. Notice he is right by Nicholas - they are never far apart!

No more #23

2008-09-16T17:52:00.003-05:00

Well, what a day I have had! I thought I should update what happened with my new Ike child. First, he was pretty excited about the football, so I thought the day would go well. I will give the quick summary of how it went instead!
*He refused to do any work
*When asked to participate, he layed on my floor under my table and wouldn't get up or talk to me
*When I went to find someone (administration, counselor) to help us out, he broke a pencil and was acting like he was going to hurt someone with the broken part
*When an AP came back with me, I had to clear out my class and spent the next 40 minutes trying to get him off the floor!
*He left with the AP and I was a bit upset still. After lunch, he was sent back, before I was ready to take him back.
*5 minutes into our first lesson after lunch, he started mocking me behind my back, then in front of my face.
*When I said something to him, he laughed and continued on.
*He was "smoking" a piece of paper. I took it from him, and he started "smoking" a pencil. When I took that, he laughed again and smoked with his fingers and said "What are you going to do, cut off my fingers?" Then he said "I'm flying high, high as a kite" while smoking.
*I called and told the AP to come right away. She took him, and I never saw him after that.
*Found out once he was in the office, he said/wrote the most obscene, vulgar things about everyone and was going to get suspended, but his dad withdrew him instead.

Wow, how does a 9 year old get to be like that? So he's gone, and it really is a good thing. I tried to be positive, but he obviously has some issues besides a hurricane. So thanks for the nice thoughts. And by the way, the football was left in my room when he took off, so so much for that nice gesture!

#23

2008-09-15T17:30:00.003-05:00

Well, I got student #23 today. Our limit is 22, and 3 of us now have 23 kids in third grade. Now we just have to wait a month and keep our numbers that high to get another teacher, which probably won't happen. Let me tell you about #23 though. He is coming to us from Alvin, TX because of Ike. We got 17 kids enrolled today that are staying at the boys and girls club near my school. I found out my new one is dyslexic and was in an anger management program. So now I have two very angry boys, and this one has even more reason to be angry since he's homeless. I think he may only be staying a week or two, but you never know what they'll find when they try to return home. Even with all his problems, I have to remember that he's still just a 9 year old boy who left everything and is staying in a strange city with strange people. He told me he's scared this his dogs are dead since they left them behind in their home. I asked what he missed the most and he said his football, so Luke and I made a stop on the way home and picked him up a new one. He's going to really struggle in my room, since I have so many kids and it's way above his learning level. But I will do the best I can just to try to keep him somewhat happy and not too angry. Keep everyone in your thoughts. Some of these kids came crying so hard, and some parents didn't want to leave their kids behind and were just so embarassed that they didn't have nice clothes to wear.

Greetings!

2008-09-09T18:44:00.005-05:00

My kids are growing up way too fast these past few weeks. Luke is doing so well as school today, and one of the kinder aides told me at lunch how cute he is, and how smart he is. She had to test him today, and said he did great, and had a conversation with her. What an improvement from last year! So proud! He continues to love his teacher and his new best buddy Nicholas.

Mia goes a mile a minute lately. She's really started to repeat everything we say and seems to have a new word each day. It's great when we know what she wants, but this morning when she woke at 5:30 and just kept crying "me me me" forever and we had no idea what she wanted, it got a bit frustrating! Today's word is "bubbles!" She now says "please, bye bye, more" very well, but I do miss the frantic rubbing of her belly to say "please" in sign language. And thanks to aunt Brenda, she can say "again" in sign too. She's so determined too. She will go to the fridge and yell and hang from the handle until someone opens it to get her string cheese.

Her favorite things to do now are wearing other people's shoes and getting her own snack and bowl from her cupboard and bringing them to us.

To update from the past days, we all had a great visit at the Elliotts, despite a few bumps and bruises. Luke somehow landed face first at the bottom of the steps in the trim around the door and had nice black and blue lines on his face. Then not long after, we found him bleeding on Carsyn's top bunk, saying he'd accidentally been hit in the nose with the ladder. Good times. We stayed longer than planned on Sunday just so we could relax and play. Thanks for the house guys!

My class is going well. I am at capacity again, but tomorrow a kid or two may be moved out. And for those that volunteered to be temporary homes to Pippi, be warned that the Pippi's are coming! I hope to get them mailed the next day or two. And some others of you may be getting contacted if I need a few more willing babysitters!!

Cheese!!!!!

Can I have a snack please? I got my own food and bowl!

These were some of the most frightening ducks I've ever seen, because they were so huge! Before I was even out of the car, they were marching up to us ready to attack!

While Brenda and I were unpacking in her upstairs room, the bigger kids kept busy with instruments while Mia was wearing a giant plastic flower on her head.

Another of Mia's favorite things - reading! She will sit in her chair and turn pages while making noises. I'm getting her ready for that 3rd grade reading TAKS test early!

Where's Mia? There she is! (And she'll say "there she is!" if you ask where she is!)

Kindergarten!!

2008-08-25T18:47:00.004-05:00

Ok, the following was written Monday, when I had every intention of posting photos, but just never got around to it! So it may be old news, but here it is: (and I'll update at the bottom!)

Well, Luke and I both survived his first day of kindergarten today! He wasn't at all afraid to say goodbye to me, which made me so proud! I saw him during the day twice and it was so weird to just look out in the hall and see my little guy walking around! At the end of the day, he was all smiles and so happy. His teacher, Mrs. Gonder (and my good friend) said he was like her best friend, talking away to her, which was a good thing. He even got an award, one of 2 kids, for best behavior in the hallway. He is more than ready to go back tomorrow, and told me he'll never get in trouble, because he's 5 years old!

Getting a photo this morning was the hardest part of the day because it was still dark out when we left, and our indoor lighting is so poor. Plus, it was 6:30 am and Luke was pretty tired! But at least I captured the moment.

Friday Night Updates...
Well, I didn't really capture the moment as it turns out. The photos were way too dark and blurry, so we did retakes after school, so that's what I'll share! Luke loved school all week, and really did well. His teacher said he "thinks ahead" alot.

As for me, my class is pretty good. Third grade has the most kids per teacher. Our limit is 22, and right now all teachers have 22 but I have 21. I was the "lucky" one that only had 20, so even though he has no business being in my tag class, the very angry boy who just returned from alternative school got put in my class thursday! Awesome. I am doing my best with him, but he's already showing some pretty angry behavior. But the rest, besides being talkative, are great. An interesting mix of kids, that's for sure! I'm really enjoying my grade level. Our new teacher has so much personality and is a bit crazy too, so she fits right in. A good change from the man we had last year that never showed an ounce of personality!

Tomorrow is an exciting day for Luke... he's (and the rest of us too!) going to Carsyn's new house with lots of stairs! We're headed up to Ft. Worth for the day and will return Sunday. Brenda and I made the plan that we will do nothing. Sounds great to all of us the first weekend after heading back to work.

Alright, I've probably already lost most of you with my super long update. I finally have an ounce of energy to blog though, so wanted to share. Hope all the other teachers out there are surviving if you've already started back!

Here's parts of Luke's room - instead of painting, we chose to paint a shelf and hang wall stickers. MUCH easier!

Ok, who can guess what they are doing? My money is on Brenda...

Luke is on the phone with Carsyn, debriefing at the end of their first day of kinder. It took him 3 phone calls to her to get all the conversation in! And he cracked me up... he kept saying, "So anyway..."

Is it really possible to be this tired?????

2008-08-23T21:05:00.002-05:00

What a week! First off, I will let you know there are no photos coming. That is just asking way too much at this point! Don't even have it in me to write complete thoughts any longer, so you're about to get a bulleted list of the happenings of the past week!

*First, I discovered that if I sit on my bed, I can pick up someone's wireless signal, so I've enjoyed hanging out in here this week, getting some school work (ok, and a little surfing and emailing) done!!

*Went back to work. Mia went to daycare and Luke stayed home with a babysitter(s) who was absolutely wonderful! Thanks for the hookup Brenda!

*Work has been ok. Grade level is pretty good this year. Got a new teacher who seems to have a personality so already a huge step up from the guy we had last year. Just very tired from getting back into a routine.

*Had a party last Friday at the house for coworkers, and had a good time hanging out and showing off the house.

*Survived Meet the Teacher Night. Have a lot of really good parents this year so hopefully things will go well.

*Luke was tested for kinder and made it into the TAG cluster class (for those non-texans, that stands for talented and gifted). My good friend is teaching it, and I am teaching her daughter this year. Plus, Luke's friend that he went swimming with over the summer will be in his class.

*Mia made it 3 days into the year at daycare before getting sick. Really? We couldn't make it a month, or even a full week? She went to the dr. today and has a viral infection. Hopefully she'll be good to go Monday!

*Mom and dad popped down from Brenda's for 2 days before heading home for good. It's a good treat for Luke and Mia before starting back to school.

*Our friends Jill and Doug (that went with us to Vegas last year) had their first baby girl, Alexandra Renee, today! Can't wait to make a side trip when we visit Brenda to squeeze the baby.

*After a little peer pressure from a high school friend, I joined Facebook 2 days ago and have enjoyed finding a few long lost friends and even a former youth pastor. Just seeing their photos online is wonderful after so many years.

I'm sure there's more, but I'm about to fall asleep on my laptop, so time to sign off for the night!

Q: What have the Minatrea's been up to??

2008-08-11T21:53:00.002-05:00

A: A lot!!

We have been working on the house, hosting visitors, trying to do some fun things with the kids, getting ready to go back to work, etc etc etc.

My parents arrived last Thursday, just in time for Brenda to move out of her home. Friday night we had the 4 of us, my parents, and Brenda's family all enjoying our new home for the night! Friday the Elliotts officially left town, and it was a bit hard for me to absorb, but knowing we will visit them (hopefully!) labor day weekend made it much easier to say bye! We miss you guys already and can't wait to come see your new home soon!!

With mom and dad visiting, we've tried to balance relaxing with getting a few things done around here, and even managed a trip for shaved ice (Amy and Chris - dad had the butterscotch love nest and mom and I tried Rootbeer love nest -- yummy!). A huge thanks to dad for figuring out our lighting system and getting things to work properly, along with creating shelves in some closets. Today we all went to the Austin Children's Museum. I found a great book in their store that I can't wait to use with my gifted kids this year. Anyone ever heard of "Not a Stick"? There's also "Not a Box". Great use of creativity... check it out.
Time to post photos. I'll add more as they come this week.

Finally having time to enjoy the Jacuzzi tub...

Luke and Carsyn doing what 5 year olds do best... making a mess! (They also painted parts of the house, a ball glove, and the bucket)

How cute is she??? Notice the bows? We've finally been able to do piggies and bows. The best is when I do two on top, then she gets food in them and they stick straight up like antenna! (Jill, she's wearing one of your outfits!)

Now two CALM 5 year olds playing with Leapsters. Amy and I got Carsyn hers for her birthday.

Friday night, when everyone was staying, I decided to celebrate a few things. I found this cute little puppy cake for Carsyn's birthday...

An ice cream cake for Mom and Dad's 40th Anniversary...

And I wanted to celebrate the Elliotts selling their home but didn't think a third cake was necessary, so they got a banana moon pie!

Payton, Luke, and Carsyn cooling off in the sprinklers...

...and Grandpa distracting Mia so she'd stay out of them!

Children's museum

Luke wanted his photo taken in our tree out front... Amy, are you proud of my good photo spot??

And finally, Luke helping Grandpa cut shelves for Mia's closet

Off to Kinder!

2008-08-04T20:15:00.004-05:00

I enrolled Luke in kinder today, so he's officially ready to start school in a few weeks. Still can't believe he's old enough already! I also got my room keys for school today and spent the day working on getting it ready, and surprisingly got a lot done! And our last piece of furniture that was on order came in - our server/console table! It looks so good in our house. So the house is coming together, except our room which is so big and beige and needs some help!

Challenge: I have a bit of a challenge for my teachery friends and family. I found some things that are bugs and flowers, with quite a few sunflowers, and plan to make a welcome board for the hallway with it. Each student will have their name on a flower/bug, but I need a catchy welcome to my class title. Also, possibly a job chart will come from the same things, so could use a title for that. Anyone???

Mom and dad start their journey down to visit tomorrow. It'll be different since there is a 2-3 hour drive between my house and Brenda's instead of 30 minutes, so we can't spend as much time together as we usually do. Marc's parents are coming this weekend too, so they'll all get to see the new home together!

On a happy little note, when I checked the mail today there was a check for $678 from our home insurance that we totally weren't expecting! I guess ours was already paid right before we paid off the old house, so in my eyes, it's free money since we didn't count on it!

And back to reality big time with a full day of inservice tomorrow. A big thanks to mom and dad for arriving Thursday so that I can skip out on another full day of math textbook training! :)

New Additions

2008-08-02T09:08:00.003-05:00

Friday some of our new furniture came in, so now we don't have a big empty room as soon as you walk in. I picked up the little table at Target last night, and not sure about it. Plus the curtains are ugly (came with house) and so are the throw pillows on the couch, and I plan to add a light rug. But it is much better than it was before! This came out dark, but the sofa is a green/grey color.

We are still waiting on a server/table and our big floor rug, which was also delayed.

Here's our new futon - not the one we ordered, which also fell through!! - but we're happy with this. It also has storage underneath which is always great. This is in the study. Now we're ready for company to come and stay!

The rest of the house is a bit at a stand still, with nothing much on the walls yet. The only problems we have are the lights still and the lawn, which died while sitting empty and doesn't seem to want to come back to life.

House Photos

2008-07-29T15:54:00.006-05:00

Well, here it is... our house! Keep in mind not everything has a place yet, nothing is really hung on the walls, and we are still missing several pieces of furniture. But, you can get the idea. I realize I didn't put any photos of the outside, but I think most of you saw them from the realtor's site. I'll add some later. Also missing are photos of the study, kids' rooms, and bathrooms.

This is our bedroom -new bedding we bought before the move. Just started hanging curtains after this photo. The room is much longer than we thought! Now I also have 2 new Ikea lamps to add to it.

View from the study area - living room and kitchen - the rest of the kitchen is behind the big blank wall. We bought a server to put there, and have to wait until Monday for our large floor rug to come in.

Door to back patio

Our new table!! We went those 2 months without one, then the order fell through, so we went out Saturday, picked this out, and had it delivered a few hours later. LOVE IT! The windows go to the back patio.

The door leads to our bedroom.

Archway leads to dining room (which will be another living room)

Pantry on the right, other door goes to laundry then garage.

Playroom - thanks to our IKEA shopping day Monday, I found curtains, table, rug, easel, and a few other things that aren't up yet.

The dining room will become another living/sitting room. We have a green love seat and grey/green checked arm chair on order. Wow, that sounds ugly, but I promise it's very cool! Then we just need curtains, small tables, and that room should be good! The front door is right to the left of the room.

Our last photo at our old home

Mia messing with her Molly!

Day 3...

2008-07-26T08:49:00.002-05:00

...of waking up in our new home, and for the first time, it's starting to feel like my new home. Today I woke up in my bed (not on the couch), and there was coffee waiting for me. Yesterday was a very productive day, and except for the study and a few other boxes, we are almost unpacked. Here are the highlights from yesterday:
1) Ok, so this was a low light. Marc found out our table, which we've waited for all summer, wasn't going to be coming in. Seriously? So we chose to get our money back and shop elsewhere.
2) Brenda and the kids came out and after getting some Jason's Deli for lunch, we left Marcus here with all the kids and the three of us took off to furniture shop. After going out with intentions to buy a table, we also bought a really cool chair grey/brown/green checked chair (ok, that sounds ugly, but it's really cool!) and a greenish loveseat for the formal dining which we decided to make into a formal living instead. We also got a server instead of just a sofa table to go on one of our many blank walls. Those should all be in in just a few weeks. Today we plan to head out and buy the table!
3) While we were out, Marcus put together my 2 new barstools, so now we actually have somewhere to sit!
4)At 11:38 last night, I finished unpacking my kitchen, and I love how it looks!! It looks so different without boxes and junk all over it.
5) We finally went out and spent a while 15 cents at Lowes for the hardware that was missing for our bed so we could put it together. Once we did, we realized our bedroom is so much bigger! Brenda suggested putting a pull out sofa at the end of our bed so that our guests can sleep at our feet. We opted not to. But, our new bedding looks fabulous!

What's on today's agenda??
1) Buy a table!
2) Head to Bed Bath and Beyond and get our new dishes and hopefully some art for the walls.
3) Find an ottoman for the bathroom (big open area, great place to sit and dry hair, etc)
4) Unpack boxes......
5) Hang curtain rods and curtains
6) Possibly attempt to redo the frequencies on the fans so they aren't psychotic anymore. (Got a suggestion off line and from Lowes. I'm sure I'll be on my own doing this as Marc usually doesn't do the manual labor!!)

I will have pictures soon, but still can't find my cable for the computer. Feel free to visit anytime, now that you can actually walk through the house!

Home Sweet Home

2008-07-24T12:52:00.002-05:00

We are in our new home! We moved in yesterday and for the most part things went well. A big thanks to Brenda for putting up with us for several days while we were homeless! We closed on this house yesterday morning and were so excited to come right over and show our mortgage guy (Marc's friend) the home. When I tried to unlock it, no keys worked. Turns out the owners didn't want us in until the funding all went through officially. We got in early anyhow, but it took some of the joy out of coming to our house! We did have a few incidents - 1) no air for a while until we figured out to flip a breaker 2) a constant beeping all night of the smoke detector because we didn't have a new battery 3) and thinking the house was haunted. I was home alone with Mia, and she was asleep. I went back to her room, and her light was on. This happened throughout the house. I finally figured out later that night that our "really cool remote lights/fans" in every room are very sensitive. If you turn one light off, it triggers another room's light. So we have to figure that out still. Luke and I just got back from a big target trip, which is always exciting for me, but this was at the new one that just opened and we bought many great things that of course all require assembly.

I will share photos later, when I can find my cord! Here's my address in case anyone needs it:
5703 Bald Ridge Court
The rest is all the same. Off to unpack boxes!

Packing Day

2008-07-11T09:39:00.003-05:00

9 hours, a garage full of boxes, 5 rolls of tape, one hole in the ceiling, several trips to the dumpster, and two showers later, Marc and I are pretty much done packing and are headed out to spend an Olive Garden gift certificate for dinner. The day went very smoothly, well, for the most part, and it helped so much having the kids gone during the process. The best part of the day was when we were emptying out the attic. I really wanted to show you photos to go with it, but my camera cable is packed somewhere and there's no way I'm finding it any time soon.
First, Marc was pretty excited to find a mystery box full of his old atari and games. I'm sure he'll be attempting to hook that up when we move! Then he threw down the computer box, and I let out a small yell as I noticed a snake in it! Luckily, he was very crispy and very dead, but I still wasn't too happy to see him. He was getting the crib box next, which is a 5 foot box, and next thing I know, I am getting hit with the box and knocked out of the way. I thought Marc had fallen down the attic steps, but when I turned around and looked up, I saw Marc's leg hanging through the garage ceiling! After a brief panic when I called out to him and heard no reply, I found out he was fine. It was probably 120 degrees up there, and he was so tired and hot, and just slipped. I'm very glad he's okay, but now we get to add a $100 dry wall bill to our list of ever growing expenses. At least it wasn't the $100 ER deductible! Now, of course, it's a bit funny and I laugh out loud every time I see it! Well, we're off to a much earned dinner. Have a super saturday!

Luke's Bowling Debut

2008-07-11T09:39:00.002-05:00

Luke has been wanting to go bowling, so we took him yesterday for the first time. He had so much fun, and although his form needs some work, he did quite well with the help of the bumpers! I did notice that bowling alleys are probably the last place on earth that as an employee, you can smoke while on the job, without taking a break!!

Under Contract

2008-07-09T18:09:00.003-05:00

I went to the website for our new home and now it says "Under Contract!" So nice to see something in print that shows we're getting the home we want. Here's the latest:
We are waiting to hear from our realtor to see if we'll be able to lease the new home before our closing date. We're hoping it all works out, because we're set to move our things out next Wednesday! We have to have it all out for cleaners, carpet people, and painters (ok, so the painters are going to be Marc and Marcus...) to come before closing.

Both home inspections went well - except for the man inspecting our new one was a bit odd - I found out way more than I need to know about my home inspector, including that he's been married 4 times, his ex wife died, and he even shared about UTIs. Nice.

Today Brenda was in town so I took her by the house - we had to settle for peeking in windows - but I was so happy to know she liked it alot! She's the first person to see it, and I have such great thoughts about the home and wanted everyone else to like it to!

A thanks in advance goes out to Nonno and Nonni for taking the kids this weekend so Marc and I can pack everything up without worrying about kids, and to Brenda, who agreed to take Luke on moving day!

I just can't wait to get in the new house, because I have high hopes for an IKEA trip to decorate the playroom and other areas. And I've already decided Marc isn't going- it'll be Brenda or another female who gets excited about decorating!

No new photos to post -Mia hasn't done anything new or remarkable, and right now Luke has a mysterious rash/bites on his face, so we're skipping photos for a few days!

Um, can't think of a title today...

2008-07-06T11:04:00.004-05:00

First things first: We close on this house on the 21st, and our new house on the 23rd!! So far everything seems to be working out quickly for us. We had our current home inspected yesterday and our new one we'll go do tomorrow, so if both of those goes well, then we should be set. The biggest problem will be figuring out what to do those few days from when we move out of here and until we get in the new home. We may get to lease the new one and really hope that works out as it seems the easiest situation.

Ok, now for what else has been going on. We've been able to do a few things not involving the house lately, which is a nice change. We spent the 4th at Brenda's, swimming, eating, and seeing fireworks. This year there was no rain, and the weather was perfect at night, so the fireworks were a lot of fun. Except for a small incident (ok, maybe not so small) of a glass patio table shattering and making a mess, it was a great day!!

Today Luke is invited to do his first "friend" activity, so we're excited about that! There's a family that lives a few streets over and we knew the mom from years ago. Now, her oldest son will be my student this year, and her youngest will be in kinder with Luke (possibly same class), and they just got a pool and asked him to come swim today. He's pretty excited about that!

Mia is a bit of a trainwreck lately. She is finally getting rid of her 6 facial bruises from a variety o falls and unknown accidents. Now, she's walking funny - sort of dragging/not using her left room properly, and today she fell over a pillow and smacked her head on the bed - and has a nice fat purple lip to show for it! She's just a mess, but still cute!

As for me, I seem to be spending my free time going through furniture stores or looking online for things for the house. Here's my challenge for you all - especially those creative, HGTV friends and family members! The biggest room I'm focusing on changing will be the kids' playroom - the middle bedroom will be theirs for toys for now. I don't want to do too much, but I think I'm focusing on doing it in primary colors. I am set for a trip to IKEA to purchase a little table and chairs and some other random things. But I'd like some ideas for decoration/toy storage that is on the cheap end but easy and cute. Not sure if I'll paint the room right away, but thinking of letting the kids paint some canvases to hang. Other ideas??

Here are some photos that I finally have time to upload! :) Hope everyone had a great holiday weekend!

Here are my children, eating at our ghetto table. Since we sold ours at the garage sale, and our new one is yet to arrive, we end up eating somewhere new each day.

Cooling off in the new kiddie pool

Little Miss Thing making a total mess with her rice and being a bit crazy as usual!

Happy 4th of July!

Um, no explanation for what is going on here... just a typical 5 year old boy photo!

Mia quickly figured out how to ride Payton's 4 wheeler

Smores!!

This is at the fireworks - a man gave the kids boxes of little poppers and even Mia got in on the popping action!

Ready for fireworks!!

Random thoughts from an exhausted blogger

2008-06-30T09:06:00.006-05:00

For the past few nights, our new neighbor has had all 3 little dogs out in the middle of the night, and they bark NON STOP. How does she sleep? We are wide awake and a bit bitter for a few hours. Last night we'd had it, and Marc called the police. Not sure what happened, but I guess we'll find out tonight! Also, with all the house stuff going through my brain, I'm having a hard time resting too! I have some photos I could post, but that takes too much effort at the moment so they will come later. Let's see what I have to share...

1) Yesterday someone put an offer on our house, after just 2 weeks. It wasn't a terrible offer, but had a few things we weren't happy about so we changed it a bit and we'll find out today if they like what we changed or not and accept it! The two things that stand out, besides $, are that they wanted in by July 18 and wanted us to paint Mia and Luke's rooms to match the beige in the rest of the house. So in 3 weeks, they want us to find a house, close on it, move out, and also paint for them? Not going to happen.

2) I think we found the house we'll put an offer on if things work out, but we're going to look one last time today just to make sure.

You can check out the house we're interested in here:
http://www.jeanshine.com/MyHomeDtl.asp?lstPages=3&HomeID=715611

(ps - we both still love the red door house, but aren't too comfortable with where it is located, so unless they want to pick it up and move it, it's out of the running)
3) Luke is still learning throughout the summer. He loves to add, and will ask random questions all the time about math. We went to story hour last week and checked out books and he's enjoying reading and learning new words every day. He'll go in soon to take his kinder test with my friend.

4)Mia - what can I say about her? She is walking/running everywhere, and climbing like a Monkey. She loved a few houses we looked at with her that had stairs, and was up them to fast! She's been very sad lately if noone is holding her. I think it's that last molar making its appearance. Her other tricks are: pointing where she wants to go, shutting every door she can find, says "uh oh, hot, and possibly dada and more", LOVES to eat, and gets very excited over the little einsteins theme song. I'm sure there are more wonderful things she's going, but I'm drawing a blank right now.

This week is going to be nuts if this offer goes through. Besides finding a house for us, we have plans to go see WallE, lunch for me with some coworkers, and fourth of july events with Brenda. This year we may even venture to the parade in Belton.

Off to make coffee so maybe I'll be able to function the rest of the day!

Super Sunday

2008-06-23T09:08:00.004-05:00

Yesterday was one of those really busy, but really great days as I look back on it. It started with church. Luke attended VBS for the first time last week, and while so excited, it took me an hour with him before he'd stay and not follow me out, crying. In the end, he loved it and was so excited to go each day. (And I have to say, as far as VBS goes, I am super impressed! We paid $5, but ended up with a tshirt, tons of great crafts, and a CD of all the songs which he loves!!) Anyhow, the kids were to wear their shirts to church and sing yesterday. Simple enough, but not for my child. We talked a lot about going up there, and even if he didn't want to sing, just try it and go up. After a very brief hesitation, he sat with all the other kids, then went up when it was time to sing and sang all 3 songs with motions! I will admit, I got tears in my eyes. People probably thought I was nuts, but it was such a big deal for him to do that and I was just so proud!

After church, we went to feed the ducks at the nearby pond. Mia had a big day too, because she wore a bow for the first time! I bought some Saturday that stay in her hair, as long as she doesn't pull them out! She looked so cute in her yellow dress from grandma and grandpa and her yellow bow, standing by the duck pond!

I then took Luke to the new splash pad in Belton, Tx. I'd heard about it since they put in in last year but thought I'd check it out. It's free, and meant for littler kids. I was quite impressed, and Luke had a blast! So I think we can put that on our list of things to do again this summer.

After the splash pad, Luke was a trooper and drove by many new houses with me and checked out the model homes. We did find another good option - a house partially built in an area we love (White Rock) that will be ready in a few months. The great thing is that this builder said we can still choose everything for inside even though it's started already, and they'll even put in fans and blinds if we need them to. Plus, a big back yard, already sodded, fenced, and with sprinkler. So that's at the top of my list. Now, to just sell this house...

Luke grew sunflowers from seeds at school this year. One died quickly, but we were pretty excited to see the other one bloom this week!

This last photo was from Saturday night. In a nutshell, mom was gone, dad was in the attic, and Luke decided to give Mia his chocolate milkshake.
So that was our Sunday!

This is Heelarious!

2008-06-17T20:34:00.006-05:00

Check these out... Jill and Doug, I think Alexandra needs a pair of these!

http://www.heelarious.com/index.php

F-I-V-E

2008-06-14T12:02:00.003-05:00

Happy fifth birthday Luke!!

And a few outtakes of my silly boy pretending to be 1 and 10!

Photos, Photos, and More Photos!

2008-06-13T19:44:00.008-05:00

Well, I got a new camera today, so I am able to post photos, and I have plenty to post, so here goes...

Outside the hotel in San Antonio

Cooling off in the fountain outside Mi Tierra in San Antonio

This photo is very special to me, as it's the last one I took right before my camera broke. So, technically, I could say Carsyn broke my camera. Luke was afraid of the penguins, so that's why she's alone in the photo!

While the kids were riding rides, Mia hung out with Nonno in the foam play area.

Feeding sea lions

Carsyn and Luke loved this roller coaster... if you look closely, you can see Luke in front of the large afro!

Sweaty kids, waiting for the Shamu show!

The next few photos are in the kids' play area at the end of the day. They were so good all day and so hot, so I let them go in the water area in their clothes right before going home. Then you can see that Marc joined in the fun at the end!

These last photos I took today, testing out the new Nikon Coolpix plum colored camera. This is my new toy - I got a giftcard for mother's day that I decided to spend on an ipod speaker system, and love it!

Luke spent his toys r us card from grandma and grandpa on a new leapster game and have been stuck to it ever since we got home!

And then there's Mia... she's been a mess this week. Constantly crying and whining and we're not really sure why. So this photo shows how she's been the past few days.

And finally, this is our newest addition to our front yard!!

Sea World

2008-06-12T11:21:00.002-05:00

We are home from our mini vacation! We had a good time at Sea World, despite the really hot day! The worst part of our trip was that my camera broke as soon as we got inside Sea World. I did put my media card in Marc's mom's camera so I managed to still take some photos, but now i have no way to put them on the computer until I get a new camera. So they will be coming another day...

Today I took Mia for her 15 month appt and she's finally gained 2 pounds! After that I stopped by Ashley Furniture just to look around and ended up buying a table. It's a dark wood counter height table with bar stools. Can't wait till it gets here... but as of right now, it may not arrive until mid July! That's not a big deal, except we're having a garage sale next Saturday and may sell our table at it, so we may be table-less for most of the summer.

And the last bit of news is that I think we're meeting with a realtor tomorrow to decide if we put our house up for sale or not! I'll let you all know what we decide later. Sorry for no photos - they'll be put on here as soon as I find a way to do it!

It's Officially Summer!

2008-06-08T10:27:00.005-05:00

What a week! The past 7 days have been very busy, eventful, and tiring. I'm still struggling to get enough rest and this week hasn't been restful at all! The best news is that school is finally over. Luke is pretty excited that the next time he goes to school, it'll be at Mommy's school! Lsat Sunday Mia took enough "first steps" for me to finally get a photo, and it was well worth the wait! She seems to love to walk with flip flops on her hand... maybe it helps with balance? Last Sunday afternoon was Luke's birthday party at Wazoo's, our inflatable jumping place. We had his party early so some school kids could make it. He had a Little Einsteins theme, and once again, everyone was quite impressed with the cake lady's talents. We are taking our first mini-vacation starting tomorrow. We are going to San Antonio, where Marc's family will meet us, and headed to Sea World Tuesday. I have to admit, I'm as excited as Luke to go! We decided to ask Carsyn to come along with us, so that'll add to the fun I'm sure. And a special shout out goes to uncle Sudsy - we will be eating at Mi Tierra Monday night. For those of you that have heard the story, that is the place where Luke threw a fork at Sudsy's head when we met them there a few years ago! We'll be thinking of you...

Mia's First Steps

Wazoo's Birthday Party

Luke with Carsyn and Josh, his "best buddy" from daycare

Mia slept late all week, so I didn't get to see her before leaving for work. This is how I found her sleeping one day earlier this week

Top moments from this week

2008-05-31T21:29:00.002-05:00

This has been a crazy week, full of highs and lows, so I'll quickly recap for you:

7.Sunday night, a group of coworkers got together at my friend Mandy's ranch and had a potluck BBQ. We had a good time, and Luke loved playing with other kids and opened up to some adults and talked.

6. Luke started his new class Tuesday, which is considered kindergarten at his daycare. He feels so big and important now that he's in kindergarten already! The best part is that he no longer naps, so as soon as he got home Tuesday, he fell asleep in his chair.

5. My knee has been hurting off and on for over a month, so after waking up at 2:00 this morning in a great deal of pain, I finally went in today. I'm very happy to know it's not as bad as it feels - it's an inflamed bursa sack (didn't know I had one) and with a month of meds and rest, it should get better. If not, I just have to go in and get a shot in the knee, and that'll do the trick. As long as their is relief in sight, I'm happy!

4. I got my money for mentoring two teachers this past year on Thursday. Well, I got paid for one and a half, because I'm still mentoring one until January. So after taxes, I got over $900! Nice extra pay to start off the summer...

3. One word - CRICUT. If you're a scrapper, you may know what it is. I've been eyeing it for a while, and once my pay went in Thursday, I went to hobby lobby and bought it! It's pretty cool - just haven't had the time to check it out. And to go with that, I made my first ebay purchase this week - and it was for a cricut cartridge. I felt pretty powerful winning my ebay bidding war in the last few seconds.

2. Tonight we went to Pluckers, a new wing restaurant that is opening on Tuesday. Marc was selected to go eat for free on their training night tonight and up to 4 people could go. So we packed up the fam tonight, ate among tons of KISD employees, and had a great, way too filling and fattening free meal! Good stuff.

And the #1 highlight (or should I say lowlight??) from the week goes as follows:
I was in the hall with my friend Camill, who also teaches 3rd grade. A prek class, taught by my friend Ms. Cuevas, was walking by and a little boy (who happens to be the grandson of our custodian) looked at me and Camill and said to Camill, "Is she your granny?" in reference to me! So maybe I'm no spring chicken these days, but a granny??? I had to admit after feeling a bit depressed for a second, that I got a good laugh out of it... and as word spread, so did many other coworkers, especially the custodian!

Hope you had a good week too!

Like father, like son

2008-05-28T19:23:00.003-05:00

Monday, Marc went out to mow the lawn and Luke usually goes out to play while he is mowing. I peeked out the front window to see what Luke was doing, and this is what I saw:

Class of 2008

2008-05-23T20:50:00.003-05:00

Today Luke graduated. When he woke up today, he walked in the bathroom and asked me, "Do you know what special day today is??" I knew he was very excited about graduating!! The kids all looked so cute in their graduation caps! Luke didn't like his much, so towards the end it had to come off in photos. Marc missed the ceremony due to being out of town, so I focused more on the video than the photos, but did get some of Luke and his classmates. There were lots of tears from the teacher, kids, and parents. Ms. Kuehl was such an incredible teacher, truly being patient with Luke's shyness and she did wonders with him. Each child wrote a "speech" that they were to read at graduation. They could write about whatever they wanted, and draw a picture. Ms. Kuehl and I were both suprised and very proud when Luke's turn came, and in front of probably 30+ adults, he read his speech aloud! It was very simple... "Off and on." I'm sure there's a deep meaning to his words in there for you all to ponder, but he drew a road and sky and water. I'll let you analyze what Luke wanted you to learn from his speech! I was disappointed though when he read his speech - as I took the photo, a boy stood up and got in the way, and then he was done. Enjoy the other photos from his big day!

13 more days...

2008-05-18T19:32:00.004-05:00

It's Sunday evening, and I'm just dreading Monday morning arriving, but am taking joy in the fact that after tomorrow, I only have one more Monday of this school year! And it'll be quite a Monday too... I get the math TAKS scores first thing in the morning.

We ended up spending most of the weekend in Bryan at Marc's parents' house. We went Friday, stopped there briefly, then all drove to Houston to go to the cemetery where Nonni was buried. We went back to Bryan after that and planned to leave Saturday morning, but I think we all just needed a little more time together. Friday night we all went to the park, even Molly, and I tried to capture some photos of the kids (and by kids, I mean Luke, Mia, and Nonno!) playing and just having fun! Saturday the girls went to the mall for a while, and then we left this morning.

And in other news, Mia took what I'm calling her first steps tonight! Ok, so maybe she was just on her way to falling down and it took a few extra steps to do so, but they looked like real steps to me!!

Mia loved the tunnels, but this one was very hilly, and she got stuck trying to get up the hill!

Luke loves checking out Nonno's garden - they picked some fresh zucchini for mom to take home and make bread!

Peek a boo! This is from a few days ago, just showing Mia's talent of carrying things around in her mouth!

Hey everyone!

2008-05-14T07:38:00.002-05:00

Well, I know I've been missing for a while, so I wanted to take a few minutes to give an update on everything going on with us.
First of all, Marc's grandmother, also known to Luke as "Old Nonni", passed away this week. She was such a neat lady. I loved how her face lit up when she saw Luke and Mia. It was so easy to tell how much she loved her great grandkids. It's been a hard week for everyone, so keep us all in your thoughts and prayers.

In other news, I am pretty much back to 100% health. I still crash exhausted once in a while, but otherwise doing just fine.

We are anxiously awaiting the end of the school year. This year we get out so much later, but still, only 15 days left!! There is an end in sight... We don't have any real plans for the summer, but I'm sure we'll manage to plan a trip or two sometime in there.

As for the kids, here's what they are up to:
Luke - We are planning his 5th birthday party! Hard to believe he's almost 5. He "graduates" next Friday from pre-k. He is getting excited about coming to Mommy's school every day and being in Ms. Gonder's class. Next year, my friend Ginny will most likely be his teacher, and her daughter will be in my 3rd grade class! He is working hard on overcoming his shyness. He is earning stickers every time he speaks to someone that normally he wouldn't, and working towards some fabulous prize when he gets his sticker chart full. He is growing up so much. Instead of falling asleep to cartoons or a movie, the other night he asked to put on the Astros game. He is really enjoying watching sports with daddy, and learning a lot about the teams. I guess a love of sports was inevitable as long as Marc was around him!

Mia - Well, she's just our crazy little one. Still not walking on her own, but getting very close. Her favorites/tricks right now are singing the Itsy Bitsy Spider, sneaking in the bathroom and trying to play in toilets, putting blankets, toys, etc on her head as a hat, climbing onto the coffee table, playing with Luke's trains, carrying things in her mouth (toys, blankets) as she crawls or walks around the house, and telling us constantly that she wants to eat in sign language. And, she is finally getting hair!!

I won't take up any more of your time, but wanted to update the world on our family. I hope everyone had a great Mother's Day!!

O-R-E-O

2008-05-01T09:37:00.002-05:00

Saturday night we were all in the mood for some cookies, so Marc bought us some double stuff oreos. Mia had never had one, but loved it! I guess I didn't think ahead about how messy a 13 month old with an oreo could be!

Sick again

2008-04-21T11:46:00.003-05:00

This family can't seem to stay healthy this year. It seems like once one person gets well, someone else gets sick. Mia was sent home Friday with a fever, and she ended up with an outer ear infection and sore throat and cold, and $97 worth of meds! Saturday I woke up with a fever, and was either freezing or sweating all day. Yesterday I thought I'd be better, but no luck there. Today I planned to go to work no matter what, because next week is the math TAKS test and I need to be with my kids. But I woke up with another fever and an extremely sore throat, so I skipped work and went to the doctor. Glad I did, because I have strep and mono. I really hope the steroids and meds kick in quickly so I can get to work to help the kids cram for their math test. The good news is that Mia seems to have responded well to her meds and is doing much better.

House Hopes

2008-04-14T16:48:00.004-05:00

I found it. The house I want. It doesn't look like other houses in Killeen. It has 4 bedrooms, 3 full baths, and a bonus room above the garage - perfect for ALL the kids' toys (and for Marc when I need a break!!)
So now we have to decide if we want to seriously pursue it or not. But I really love it. And it has a red front door. Marc claims that's not a reason to buy a new house, but I think it helps...kind of like the cherry on top of a sundae!

Look down...

2008-04-08T19:07:00.002-05:00

Not sure why, but I finally published my Easter photos, and it appeared a few entries down, so scroll down for Easter pics of my kids!

Baby Jack

2008-04-05T09:00:00.002-05:00

My friend and college roommate Darcy had her baby last night. They are both doing well. I wanted to put this on my blog to ask that you all keep her and baby Jack in your thoughts and prayers. Her husband was killed a few months ago, so she is going through this wonderful experience without her husband, and I can't imagine how hard that is for her. Thanks.

Color blind?

2008-03-30T22:13:00.002-05:00

It's late, and I know I need to be asleep, but I am online researching color blind tests. Now, anyone who knows me well would know that I know my colors and am big on matching - things have to be just the right shades to go together, and I feel that I am quite good at my color matching skills! Anyhow, recently I had my eye exam for contacts, and I get a bit stressed every time I have to go. Since my first eye exam when I guess I was in 7th grade, I have failed the color blind tests. You know those circles of dots? Well, in many, I see nothing. And once again, I failed it. So I got online tonight to try to figure out why I fail those tests. I made Marc come over and look at the dots, and he saw things I didn't. It really frustrated me, to not understand why I see nothing, but seem to know and see all my colors well. It's a lot less common for women to be color blind than men. I know there are lots of variations of it, and I read that it can be inherited. So family members, anyone else out there ever fail it? And if you're not sure what I'm talking about, then you must have good vision. You can go to the following site to take a mini-test. Let me know if anyone else has issues... I'm just frustrated about it all right now!!

http://colorvisiontesting.com/online%20test.htm#demonstration%20card

Easter

2008-03-30T20:03:00.004-05:00

Ok, so I'm a late with photos. I know. We went to church in Killeen, and then drove to Brenda's for brunch and our annual egg hunt. We had a bad day of photos though - noone wanted to cooperate much, so there's not really anything where everyone is looking. Oh well. :)If you look closely at the one of Luke adn Mia dressed for church, you'll notice her teeth are blue. The only way she'd sit quietly without crying was if she was eating blue peeps!!

Spring Break Hilights

2008-03-20T19:31:00.004-05:00

So I know break isn't quite over, but the majority of our outings are done since mom, dad, and grandma leave tomorrow morning. We have kept busy this week. Sunday Marc and I took Luke to Houston to the Rockets game (Marc's birthday present) and spent the night there. It was good to have that time with just Luke. We went to the Aquarium for dinner and had a great time there. Yesterday we went to see Horton Hears a Who, and I hear it was a great movie... I only caught about 40 minutes of it since Mia was fussing and I had to keep leaving with her. Luke summed it up for me today - I asked him if there were tiny people in the speck, and he said "It doesn't matter how little you are -we are all people." So I guess he got the underlying message of the movie! (If you haven't seen it, that may mean nothing to you!)Today we all went to the zoo in Waco, and then hung outside at Brenda's enjoying the sunshine, and unexpectedly got our first sunburns of the year. By the way, another very exciting moment this week when was we got our replacement Samsung TV! We only had to call them for 8 months and complain before they did something about it. And Mia had her 1 year appointment yesterday. She is still at 18 pounds, and went from being in the 80/90th percentiles to the 10th! Not sure what is going on there. She looks great to me and the doctor, so maybe she's just watching her figure and doens't want to gain too much weight. The girl sure does eat enough though!

At the Rockets game, with his new Clutch bear

Hanging out outside the Aquarium Restaurant, waiting for dinner

On the balcony of the restaurant

Leaving the hotel

Luke and Carsyn, outside of the zoo, waiting for everyone else to arrive. They found this little pile of leaves and were so happy playing in it! We don't get piles of leaves around here much.

Checking out the stinky elephants (they argued on the way to the zoo about whether they were stinky or not... and they sure were!)

Mia, checking out the elephants from the stroller view

I wanted to make sure we got a photo of the kids with great grandma, and we found a great spot out of the sun at the end of our zoo trip. Thanks grandma for making the trip to see us!!

Oprah's Big Give

2008-03-17T22:35:00.002-05:00

Does anyone watch the show? I have heard negative reviews, but I like it because people are actually helping someone else for a change, not being selfish. Anyhow, I called dad from Houston last night and talked him through the process of recording it on my DVR for me, and I'm glad I did! I watched it tonight, and they were helping out two Texas elementary schools. The one school, Velasco, wanted a Christmas celebration because its kids are so economically disadvantaged and they wanted them all, for once, to get a gift. The neat part was that Velasco is in Freeport, TX, where Marc and I taught 5 years ago! I interviewed to teach and that school, and of course they loved me and wanted to hire me, (seriously, they did!) but I didn't like the principal at all. He seemed nice enough when he got a 50 inch TV though! I just thought how neat it was that I could really picture those kids, as that school was maybe 2 miles from the one I taught at, and I know the kids are quite poor - many are even from migrant families. Now I appreciate the efforts of the show even more as I can personally identify some of the people affected by unselfish generosity.

Princess Mia's Birthday Bash

2008-03-15T18:09:00.004-05:00

Today we celebrated Mia's birthday with a princess party. Thanks to everyone who came - grandma and grandma Davis, great grandma Davis, Nonno, Nonni, and Michael, Brenda, Marcus, Carsyn, and Payton (and a brief visit from Scott), Doug and Jill, and Malcolm, Adrian, and Kennady. Once again, my cake lady came through with an awesome crown cake. Mia received many great gifts, but seemed to enjoy her spoons from her tea set the best for now!

Good morning! I'm ready for my party!!

Mommy and Mia pre-party

The cakes

The princess, posing on her throne with her gifts

Blowing out the candles (with help from big brother Luke)

Mia enjoying her smash cake

After a bath and a costume change, Mia took some time to check out her American Girl Doll of the Year, MIA!

Luke and Mia playing with her new little people house

And towards the end of the party, she just couldn't take it anymore. Within a minute of laying her down, Mia was sound asleep and snoring!

Happy Birthday Miss Mia!

2008-03-11T18:53:00.003-05:00

It's hard to believe little miss Mia is already 1 year old. She started her day off by getting her new chair, which she loves! After school we took her out for ice cream since it's her favorite thing ever. She will get the rest of her gifts at her party on Saturday.

At one year old, Mia...
... has 8 teeth, including a new molar
... eats everything and loves big people food!
... walks holding onto things, but not on her own
... waves and smiles at everyone, and is learning to blow kisses
... knows "eat" in sign language and looks to the kitchen when we say it!
... can find mommy, daddy, Luke, and Molly when we ask her where they are
... and her favorite trick - opening her jar of puffs with her teeth!

Here she is, in her new big girl chair, taking the lid off her puffs as mentioned earlier, and wearing her birthday tshirt (compliments of Aunt Brenda!)

Enjoying her ice cream

Not the best shot, but Luke had cookie monster ice cream... blue with cookies in it. Nice. I believe his hands and face are stained blue still.

Random photos from the past weeks

2008-03-09T16:48:00.003-05:00

Baby "Linus"

Sound asleep...

Last game of the year, kicking the ball in

Luke celebrating the end of soccer and showing off his medal

Mia stealing Luke's hat and soccer medal!

Quote of the Day

2008-03-05T20:12:00.002-06:00

In the words of one of my third grade girls...

"Mrs. Minatrea, you look like you just came from Las Vegas, like one of those girls that shakes everything."

Um, is that a compliment?
(For the record, I wasn't wearing anything sparkly or with a feather headdress!)

TAKS Time

2008-03-03T13:56:00.002-06:00

Tomorrow is the much anticipated TAKS day for my third graders. I can't believe how hard we've worked the past weeks to get ready. I'm not as stressed this year, but it's also the first year that all my kids have a shot at passing the first time, so my hopes are a bit higher. I can't wait until Tuesday afternoon when it's over!!

In other news...
This week is sure to be busy! Tomorrow is TAKS. Luke has 3 soccer games -Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. This is conference week for me, so I have some pretty much every day and quite a few on Thursday. Marc is balancing soccer and being in Austin for the state basketball games Thursday-Saturday. On top of all this, I'm preparing for Mia's birthday party, and battling illnesses. I woke up early Saturday morning very sick, and finally felt better last night. However, today at school it all came back but I made myself stay to get the kids ready for TAKS. Luke had a fever Saturday and Sunday. We did what any good parent would do - shoved him full or Tylenol and sent him on to school today - and so far, no call that his fever came back. Hopefully he's done being sick!

I'm excited about Mia's upcoming party. It's not a huge ordeal, but it's princess themed and I also found out mom, dad, and grandma Davis will be making the trip down for the party. Now my biggest stress is what she'll wear, and getting her 1 year photos taken by someone other than Aunt Amy!

February seemed way too crazy - with TAKS prep, soccer, basketball season, birthdays, valentine's day, sick people, family job situations and doctor visits... so I sure am glad to welcome in a new month. Hopefully March will be full of positive experiences and good news for everyone!

I know I have some photos to post, and will try to put them on in the next day or two.

Long Time No Blog

2008-02-18T17:06:00.003-06:00

Wow, the past weeks have been very busy and even more tiring. To sum it up, basketball is over, Mia's been sick and got 2 new teeth, we've had birthday parties and soccer games weekly, and it's 2 weeks to TAKS time for me. Marc's team missed playoffs by just a few points in a tie-breaker game. They played well, but just didn't pull off a win in the end. School has been crazy for me. I interviewed for a new aide for my grade level and the one we hired started Friday. It's nice to have a little help again since we've been without an aide for about a month. Below are a few photos of everyone from the past days.

Causing mischief, her new favorite thing to do!

Watching buddy's soccer game

Hanging out, waiting for some action as goalie. He enjoyed it, until the ball went in. Then he just looked at me and said "I don't want to be goalie anymore!"

Waiting to block a goal at last Thursday's game

Luke's Ticket

2008-02-04T19:49:00.000-06:00

When I picked up Luke at school today, he was sitting on the floor with Ms. Kuehl getting tested. She told him to go and show me his ticket. He pulled a little ticket out of his cubby that read "Putting together a 36 piece floor puzzle (backwards!)". She proceeded to tell me that her teacher was observing her today, and they looked over at Luke, who was working alone on a puzzle. He had it turned over upside down, so every piece was just plain white. He sat there and put the whole thing together on his own. Not only was Ms. Kuehl impressed, but she said that her teacher (she's doing classes with KISD) said she'd never seen anything like it. So, since they were so impressed, Ms. Kuehl wrote him a good work ticket award. She went on to say that she barely ever gives out tickets, and if anyone gets 3, they get some great prize. She also said that none of the kids knew what they were, because she hadn't found a reason to give one out yet this school year, so Luke is the first! I was so proud of him. I never thought my son getting a ticket for doing a puzzle could bring me so much pride as a mom. I'm not sure what I did with my time before he came into my life, and I'm just not sure that I ever could have truly been happy, because I know what true happiness is at times like this - when the littlest thing seems so amazing, just because MY child did it.

Go Vikings!!

2008-02-02T15:22:00.001-06:00

Today was Luke's first soccer game, and it was a perfect day for it! After all the cold and windy days lately, today was sunny and 70. I was so proud of the kids for getting out there and trying. It was so crazy - 18 little kids all running around, falling on each other. I have to give a shout out to our goalies for a couple of good blocks! Luke did well. He had a good kick once or twice, but towards the end got a bit tired and lagged behind the rest. He did spend a lot of time pulling at his shirt, which is way too big. At least he wasn't one of the kids that ran off the field crying, so I am proud of him! And thanks in part to the 7 year old on the team, we scored one goal and won the game. Thanks to all our fans today that made the drive to watch this high-action sporting event- Brenda, Carsyn, Nonno, Nonni, and Michael. We appreciate your support!

In other news, we've been absent from bloggerville for a while due to being busy and sick. I was knocked out most of this week with a sinus infection and the flu, and even skipped a few days of work due to it. Basketball season is winding down too. The last regular season game is a week from Tuesday, and hopefully that won't be our last game of the season though and we can get to at least one playoff game.

I'm off to join the rest of the family for nap time. We are run down and just need a rest. Have a great weekend, and I know there are many others out there feeling sick, so get well and stay healthy.

Luke, pre-game

Luke kicking the ball in

Looking tough??

Team huddle - Go Vikings!

Mia, enjoying some puffs more than the game

Little Miss Mia (and a Purple Viking)

2008-01-24T18:57:00.000-06:00

Last weekend, Mia grew up right before our eyes. In 3 days, she decided to start kneeling and pulling up, sitting up in her crib facing the door (waiting for us to come and get her!), and has even climbed up onto Luke's chair. It's so exciting to see her learn so quickly, but hard to watch, knowing my baby is turning into a toddler already.

Also, last Saturday was Luke's first soccer practice - with daddy as the coach. It was about 45 and very windy, so I was proud that none of the kids cried or gave up. I will have many more photos to come of soccer season, but had to take one of his first day as a purple Viking! (Could be worse... a coworker's son's team is called the Smurfs!)

Questions to Ponder...

2008-01-19T21:23:00.000-06:00

A friend sent me an email called "Haunting Questions." Most forwarded emails I've seen before, but this one was new so maybe it'll be new to some of you. Enjoy!

Why do you have to "put your two cents in".. but it's only a "penny for your thoughts"? Where's that extra penny going to?

Once you're in heaven, do you get stuck wearing the clothes you were buried in for eternity?

What disease did cured ham actually have?

How is it that we put man on the moon before we figured out it would be a good idea to put wheels on luggage?

Why is it that people say they "slept like a baby" when babies wake up like every two hours?

If a deaf person has to go to court, is it still called a hearing?

Why do people pay to go up tall buildings and then put money in binoculars to look at things on the ground?

Why do toasters always have a setting that burns the toast to a horrible crisp, which no decent human being would eat?

If Jimmy cracks corn and no one cares, why is there a stupid song about him?

Can a hearse carrying a corpse drive in the carpool lane ?

If Wile E. Coyote had enough money to buy all that ACME crap, why didn't he just buy dinner?

If corn oil is made from corn, and vegetable oil is made from vegetables, what is baby oil made from?

If electricity comes from electrons, does morality come from morons?

Why do they call it an asteroid when it's outside the hemisphere, but call it a hemorrhoid when it's in your butt?

Did you ever notice that when you blow in a dog's face, he gets mad at you, but when you take him for a car ride, he sticks his head out the window?

Just my kids

2008-01-18T20:52:00.000-06:00

Nothing much to say about this. Just wanted to share a cute photo of my kids hanging out in their jammies, watching Yo Gabba Gabba!

Gulling anyone??

2008-01-18T20:35:00.000-06:00

So, I have heard of TPing, egging, chalking the street, forking, reflectoring, and even yamming (don't ask... high school memory!) but tonight I had a first. Driving onto my street, I first noticed an odd round thing in the road, about 6 inches wide, with a blinking light. Then I turned the corner, and saw what I thought was a cat on top of a car in the street. Turns out, as I got closer, I was wrong. It was actually a ceramic frog! Then I pulled in to my drive and just busted out laughing. There, in front of the brick post of my front porch, was a seagull sitting on some logs. Someone had a few laughs at the expense of a neighbor's lawn ornaments, and I have to admit that I had more than a few laughs at it! I had to snap a few photos just to show how silly it was. Not the best quality of photos due to the rain, but you'll get the general idea!

When I returned from Marc's game tonight (sad loss to the Death Star) I stopped down the street to get the mail, and there sat the frog, on a water drain cover, greeting me as I got out of my car. Enjoy the photos, and hope they bring a silly laugh to you too. It's been a long, draining, and hard week, but a simple seagull lawn ornament managed to brighten even this cold, rainy day. And by the way, I still don't know what the odd blinking light was, but it was a nice touch to the other decor.

So, I've been "gulled." Can anyone top that?

***UPDATE***

I went outside after posting this to show Marc, and we both had a laugh... until I noticed that the pumpkin cutouts that I had staked in my flowerbed were missing. Yes, I know... I still had pumpkins in January, but they were small, and I kept forgetting to remove them! Guess some neighborhood punk took care of that for me. I'm still laughing about it, but not quite as loudly.