Ending School, Starting X-Mas

We had a great Thanksgiving. I know I mentioned something about you reading all about it through Christmas decorations, but it was regular old Thanksgiving at all 3 places and I'm just not up for details. I can tell you that nothing unusual happened, but we really enjoyed all of our family. So, on to other things. First of all, I am finally finished with my Master's. Hallalujah!!! I took my last final last night, and the semester officially ends on the 11th. My official degree is a Master of Education in Reading, Literacy, and Language, which means I also have a reading endorsement and an ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) endorsement. This semester was absolutely horrid, so I'm just thrilled that it's over. Along with my last few projects being due this week, the first grade teachers at my kids' school (not the one I work at) decided that it would be a great take-home project for the kids to make a gingerbread house. I'm sorry, but I found it to be ridiculous. I felt like it was really a stretch to tie it to standards, which they did with geometry and patterns, and the kids are just too little to be able to do this on their own, so it became a total parent project. They sent these directions home saying that it would be easy and cheap with glue, graham crackers, and a small milk carton, but we just went and bought gingerbread house kits. They turned out ok, but after talking to a few other first grade moms, we all decided it was not the brightest idea the first grade team ever had. Also, Evan and Alli had their Christmas program last night at school. The whole 1st grade sang together, but each class represented a song. Alli's class did Frosty the Snowman, and Evan's did Santa Claus is Coming to Town. Aren't they cutie pies?!

Oh, and I'm blond.

Ready for Christmas

Yes, I'm excited about Thanksgiving, and will definitely be blogging about our 3 big meals this year (yes, 3 - I can't wait!), but you'll just have to read it through Christmas decorations because I'm ready to decorate!!!

Brutal Honesty

So, here's the truth. I almost never cook anymore, unless you count pouring cereal into a bowl, heating up something frozen, or slapping some peanut butter and jelly between 2 pieces of bread, and I miss it. I despise laundry with every fiber of my being and might give thought to a nudist colony if my post-3-kids, 30-year-old body didn't look so post-3-kids and 30 years old. My house is NEVER clean for a solid 24 hours unless I clean it and we leave immediately for an overnight trip. I have every desire to be mom of the year, teacher of the year, housekeeper of the year, and cook of the year all at the same time, but no one is cooperating with me, and God just won't add hours to the day or remove the fact that humans need rest - I've asked. I've decided, though, that anyone who does one thing well must be lacking in some other area. For example, women whose houses are completely spotless at all times when they have one or more children in the house are either on some sort of drug so that they never sleep, or they are lacking in their motherhood. I have met these women. I can back this up. Women who are awesome teachers have no homelife. I have met these women and can back this up. Women who are outstanding cooks could very well be awesome mom's. I actually have never met a good cook that I've looked at and thought, "Something's not right." Cooking is like gardening, but instead of a green thumb you have a chocolate thumb, or maybe a tomatoe sauce flavored thumb. Surely it's not a color - it has to be flavored. Maybe garlic. I always feel like a true cook when my hands smell like garlic from chopping. But, still, I wouldn't classify an amazing cook as an automatic good mom. I've met bad cooks that were good moms and good cooks that were queens of dysfunction. I'm told that when my sisters and I were little, our house was always a mess, too, although I really don't remember it that way. I do, however, remember my mom quite frequently asking us to clean up when I didn't see what the problem was. So, here's what I think. Someone should do a research study on what really matters to kids, which has probably been done. Do kids care if their house is clean? Mine sure don't hesitate to bring the neighbor kids around when their bedrooms look like they should be condemned, so obviously there's no embarrassment there. Do kids care if their clothes are clean? I can answer that with a hearty, "HECK NO!", although I would feel a sense of shame if my kids had to wear dirty clothes every day. Now wrinkled...well, that's just different, and, again, the kids sure don't care. So, why do so many people put so much pressure on women to do it all, including women?! I mean, we all know better than anyone how hard it is to keep up with everything, especially when you work all day and have kids who are in activities. And don't even get me started on the hormones that fight against us 2 weeks out of every month. I say, if you have the nerve to criticize someone for not having a clean house or for not cooking every night, somebody needs to feed you a sharp dose of reality. Let's just get real - either you get it and you've got some sort of personal issue, like self-esteem problems or being a pathological liar or not being in touch with reality or you're just a jerk; or you just don't get it, in which case you need to just admit that you are not capable of understanding and have no room to talk. I've decided that I have no patience for people who do not have a sense of realistic compassion - not just being realistic, or just being compassionate - but a combination of both. Being realistic is essential to not being an idiot (again, I've met these people, I can back this up), and being compassionate is essential to not being a jerk, and, for goodness sake, every kid knows there's nothing worse than a stupid jerk, right?

Halloween 2009

Last night we went Trick-or-Treating in the rain, which was actually not as bad as I had worried it might be. I guess I wouldn't say it was full-on rain. It was more of a steady mist. But, it didn't matter anyways because the kids had a great time. We walked around the neighborhood amid the line of cars who were either from other neighborhoods or didn't want to walk in the rain. Here are pictures of the kids:

Evan was Captain Jack Sparrow.

Alli was also a pirate, or a Buccanneer, to be specific. I, personally, don't know the difference.

And, Drew was a Skeleton Bride, which ended up looking more like Lily Munster to me.

This is the only picture I got of all 3 kids together, with our next-door-neighbor, who walked with us.

Hiding my Fury with More of Andy's Handy Work

Ok, first, and most importantly, I just want to say that Andy went and delivered the bills to the neighbor. The wife answered the door with the video camera in her hand and said that they're not paying anything because Daisy was visciously barking and trying to bite her husband and they thought she had rabies! Then she proceded to call the police on Andy for trespassing!!! The policeman totally took our side, talked to the neighbor that rescued her, and said that those people are really bad liars and that he's taking it before a judge to get a warrant to arrest the man! Can you believe it?!?!?! I'm trying to calm my fury by blogging about other things, so here are the other things:


We've done TONS of work to fix up this house, and one of the things includes updating the fireplace. Before it was pretty basic with no hearth to speak of - just black slate flat on the floor. When Andy layed (laid? - I get confused on that one - where's grammar.com when I need it!) the hardwood floors, he broke up the slate and trashed it, and then built up the hearth and covered the whole thing with stone. This is the best picture of the old fireplace that I could find. (Alli's first day of preschool - the other two's pictures didn't show as much of the fireplace - she was 3 - isn't she precious?!)

And here is what the fireplace looks like now:

Much better, huh?

Daisy Update

Daisy had her surgery on Wednesday, and it went well. They pinned 2 of the 3 bones that were broken and said that the other two would support the 3rd one. She's in a new, little green cast now, and they pinned it so that if she put any weight on it she would feel pain. So, now she's hopping around like a 3-legged dog, but it hasn't slowed her down any. Andy's mom came by the other day and was surprised at how active she was despite the fact she had just had surgery. We're now learning to cope with the joys of an indoor pet - she's short-haired so she sheds like crazy, and she's not house broken since she's always been an outside dog. But, like I said, she's very obedient and smart, so we're staying optimistic about the potty training. As far as the hair, we bought a "professional" grooming tool (that's what it said on the package), but I sat and brushed her for what felt like an eternity yesterday and the hair on the brush never seemed to lessen. They also had to shave her leg and a spot on her back for something during the surgery, so she has even more loose hair in her coat right now. She's precious, though. She's just laying sweetly on the rug right now. Our new challenge is to send the bills to the neighbor. I have the voicemail where the lady called and apologized (and left her first and last name, her husband's name, and admitted to throwing the brick), so I haven't deleted that, and we're going to make copies of all the bills before we deliver them. Hopefully we don't have any major battles ahead of us. I have this dream of handing the bill over and the guy writing us a check write then, but I have a feeling it won't be so easy.

More About Daisy

For those of you who aren't big dog lovers, this may be getting old, but Daisy is doing better. She's doing really well not trying to chew off her cast, so when we're around we take off the "cone of shame" as the orthopaedist calls it. She's getting tired of not being able to run and jump like she usually does, and I think the saddest thing is that she goes and lays on the step and watches out the window on the door longingly. She's not used to having to stay in a crate while we're gone, but she's not supposed to walk around much, which has been difficult for us all. It's almost like someone has to sit and pet her constantly, or she has to go in the crate to keep her from trying to run around. We're getting a little meaner and tougher on her about it. I took a little video of her hobbling around with her cast on, which might make the true animal lovers out there cry a little. Daisy has her orthopaedic surgery scheduled for Wednesday, so I'll be glad to have that over with, and then we can start the real healing process. Andy stopped in to let the neighbor know what to expect as far as bills (which you can imagine - orthopaedic surgery on a dog costs as much as it does on a human, minus the help of insurance), and the guy got red faced and abruptly said, "Fine," and shut the door in Andy's face. We really don't want to have our neighbor arrested for cruelty to animals!

Bad Neighbors, Good Neighbors, and a Victimized Puppy

Last night after Andy got home from work, we loaded the kids up in the car and all went to the grocery store together. It was Thursday night, almost the weekend, and we were in no rush, so we sort of drug around with no list and took our good old time. When we pulled in the driveway, our next-door neighbor, the one that falls in the "Good Neighbors" category met us before we even pulled in the garage. We got out of the car, said hi, and all that neighborly stuff, and, since it was dark and cold outside, we asked him what was up. His reply was, "Your dog's got trouble." We asked what happened, and he said the guy across the street hit her with a brick! We were shocked. I was almost standing there waiting for him to say he was kidding. Daisy is the kindest, gentlest, most obedient dog I've ever had. Why would somebody hit her with a brick?! Andy asked where she was and the neighbor said she was in his garage, so Andy went over and got her. The neighbors had tied a bandage around her leg, but you could still see blood through the bandage. Andy tried to take it off because we were thinking it looked kind of tight, but she would just scream. So, furious, he walked over to the bad neighbor's house. He was so mad. You know how there are times when you worry that someone is just too angry to deal with a situation appropriately, and then there are times when anger is needed? Well, I knew Andy could potentially kill this guy, but I didn't care. Andy nearly beat down the door and the guy cowered as he opened it. After several choice words, the guy admitted that he did it and said he would cover any bills. So, I headed off to the animal emergency room with Daisy, which was surprisingly busy. They looked at Daisy's leg and said that the cut was so deep that it severed a tendon and an artery (ya know, the one in our wrist that, when cut, kills people), so it's a good thing the neighbor even saw her or she would have bled to death, and it's no wonder they tied the bandage so tight. They also took x-rays and said that her foot is crushed. She needs to see an orthopaedic surgeon to have pins put in or she'll be in constant pain for the rest of her life when she walks. The idiot who threw the brick at her's wife called and apologized and said he never meant to hit her but just wanted to scare her because she got in their garage. Still, that was a pretty expensive mistake on his part! I'm sure he's not expecting this huge bill he's about to be handed! Daisy's just pitiful. She can't scratch at all, she's having to stay in a crate, which she's not used to because she's an outside dog, and she's half Jack Russell, so there's no jumping, which you can tell is killing her. But, she's getting tons more attention and having her tummy rubbed way more than usual, so maybe she'll survive it!

Andy's Mii

For those of you who don't know, when you have a Wii, you create a Mii for yourself, which is your character that you play as, and which probably does other things that I don't know of because I don't play it much. Of course, when we first got the Wii, we all went in and created a Mii for ourselves. We haven't played the Wii in a while, but the kids have revived it, which reminded me just how amazingly similar Andy's Mii is to what he really looks like. Andy hates pictures of himself, so he'll be really resistant to this post, but it's just too funny not to publish!

Tattle Tale, Tattle Tale...

So, now that I've gone from teaching 4th grade to 2nd grade, a few things have changed for me. One thing is the unbelievable amount of goofy junk that the kids choose to come and tattle about. I thought it was bad in 4th grade, but I guess the younger you go, the lower the ability to just get over it. I have to admit, I'm not the most patient or sympathetic person when it comes to this kind of stuff, so rather than bark out the response that I would like to give them -- a nice, hearty, "I DON'T CARE!"-- I went with the old teacher method of a tattle box. This way, they write down their tattle and stick it in the box, which turns a completely annoying issue into a hilarious one for me. Before I go on, I have to tell you that when you're dealing with kids this young, very few of them are good at being sneaky, so serious issues are out there. Everything that ends up in the tattle box is just ridiculous complaints, which, you'll see, is why I'd like to say, "So what?" or "I don't care!" at times. Here are some juicy little tidbits that were in the box today:

• Fernando was telling me no no no no no no no and he was talking over and over again, and Joseph.
• Joseph was bothering me and telling me can I borrow the re re re re re re re re re RED.
• Kristina was telling me to dig in my nose.
• Ishmael is putting names in the tattle box and the people didn't do anything (side note -- yes, there were a TON of just names in there with nothing else - the tattle box also serves as a torture device).
• Rebecca made a mad face and copied Keylin.
• Joseph was trying to take the diamonds off my shoes.
• Joseph was bothering me.
• Joel was beating on his desk with a pencil.
• Alex is bothering me.
• Bailey will not be quiet.
• Joel won't leave me alone.
• Elizabeth is bothering me.
• Joel had the books on his head.
• Ishmael has a Pokemon card in his pocket.
• Joseph was pushing me from the line.
• Joseph was being mean.
• Joel keeps coming to our table and I'm trying to finish my work and he will never leave us alone.
• Joseph is out of his seat.
• Joseph was in the "cunputer". (the computers are right by the door, so touching them when we line up is a constant problem for some)
• Joel was telling me bad words.
• Alexander tripped me.
• When I work in my math book Joseph sees at my book.

So, this is why I refuse to let them tell me anymore, and now it makes me laugh every day. It sounds like I'm running a zoo, but any other teachers out there will understand.

Busy, Busy, Busy...Or Am I?

Keep in mind as you read this that I have nothing but the career of teaching to go by. I don't know what anyone else's job is like, so I am, by no means, trying to out-do, or one-up. However, when you teach, you take about 2 months to have little responsibility (in theory), and then school starts and it's like an all out sprint until May. Well, I wouldn't say an all out sprint. It's more like, you walk in and take 3-5 days depending on how kind the higher-ups decide to be in giving you payed time to get ready (you can take as much time as you want for free), and you decorate and copy and laminate and hot-glue and organize and make everything nice and neat for your little angels to arrive, and then the sprint begins. My problem this year was that I literally had 2 hours to do what is usually done in 3-5 days, which means that most of that didn't happen for me this year. Not only that, but I was in a totally new place with all new people in a new grade level, so I didn't get to do the fun, cutesy stuff, and I was somewhat disoriented. I've been doing the sprint while doing all the other cutesy, organizational stuff. Imagine a trackmeet where the sprinter jogs around the curve, jumps 10 hurdles, throws herself over the high-jump, tosses a discus, barrels through the triple jump, and pole vaults, all while carrying those long sticks with spinning plates on top, and then heads off to a steady cross-country jog. Fastforward a month and a half and here I am at the cross-country jog. Actually, I'm sitting on my couch with papers graded, lessons planned, laundry folded and put away, no intention of cooking tonight, and the kids' homework is done, bookbags are packed, and Andy has a softball game to go to. This means starting at 8:00 I will have a perfectly quiet, football free evening to do and watch whatever I want. I could even go to sleep if I wanted to. The possibilities are endless!

The Hardest Easiest Project Ever

This really wasn't a difficult project, but it just took me FOREVER to complete. I bought these letters over a month ago thinking this would be a cute, quick, cheap, and easy decoration to add to the kids' rooms. It is cute, and it was fairly easy, and reasonably cheap, but it wasn't so quick. Just because of multiple coats of paint and a little bit (very little bit) of precision needed with the painting, I would paint a little, and then head off to something else while the paint dried, then a week later I would paint a little more, and it became one of those nagging things that I'm glad is finally over. Here's Evan's name strategically placed between Iron Man and Optimus Prime, his 2 favoritest characters. And here are the girls' names with a cute little plaque in between that says all these sweet things about sisters. My sisters actually got it for me, and I thought it would be perfect in their room.
Speaking of precious sisterly things, the girls have bunk beds, but I still walk in to wake them up in the mornings and find them sleeping together in the same bed. I love it because it's just like me and my sisters. I quit sleeping in the same bed with them when I went off to college even though I had my own bedroom for years. I love it!

Last Weekend

Last weekend IBM had another family day thing that they paid for, so Dad took us to see the Gwinnett Braves, a minor-league team, play baseball. It was a pretty neat set-up. This first picture is of where we sat from the opposite side. We laid out blankets on the little hill over there in front of the score board and watched the game from the back. IBM provided bracelets for the kids that let them get into all the jumpy things and little activity things. Here's a picture of them walking around up there. They're kind of hard to spot. They also provided vouchers for free meals. It was so nice to go get everyone a hotdog, fries, and a drink, and have the lady tell us it would cost over $50 and hand her the vouchers. It's crazy how much things cost at a ball game. We had a lot of fun, and the Braves won, which was nice. Andy and my dad go to the games a lot and sit in the regular stadium and love it. It's such a better experience than going to see the Atlanta Braves and dealing with traffic and all the joys that come with Atlanta. Of course, we wouldn't turn down free tickets to one of those, either!And, I'm ashamed to say that we spent the entire day with Dad and I didn't get one picture with him in it! Sorry, Dad!!!

Our Newest Family Member

Andy was driving down the road today and miraculously saw a tiny baby box turtle in the road, so we've adopted it. We have no idea about determining sex, so we've decided it's a girl, and the kids are debating names right now. She's living in a cardboard box with her little swimming pool and rocks and a nice stick to walk on. Apparently, from what Andy read, box turtles can't be in a clear container or they'll obsess about getting out, and she's proven that to be true since the first container we had her in was clear. She bashed her head on the side for an hour! So, that's our excitement for the weekend!

The First Day of School

First, I just want to flash back to Drew's eye. I finally put pictures on my computer and there's one of her the morning after she got hit in the face with the softball when we went to Suches.

Kinda pitiful, huh? That's the fakest smile ever. She was doing her best. Anyways, back to the first day of school. We all survived. The kids did really well and were really excited. They started this past Monday, and my students didn't start until Tuesday, so I got to walk them to their classes this year. Drew is so old - I only walked her about 3 or 4 feet away from her classroom, gave her a kiss, and sent her on. Alli couldn't wait to get to her class. She was pulling me down the hall. Evan, who is a lot like me when it comes to these kinds of things, was pretty nervous. Once he got in his room, though, he was fine. They all really like their teachers and have had a pretty good first week. I, on the other hand, have had a crazy week. I mean, I love my students - they're mostly Hispanic and they're sooooo sweet and cute. But, walking in literally 2 hours before open house and trying to throw everything together was a bit stressful. I've spent the week organizing and doing placement tests for reading, which has meant a lot of worksheets (don't tell - worksheets are frowned upon these days), but I'm finally feeling sort of together now. The school I'm working at is great so far, and the principal is awesome. I think the best part about the administration is that they're realistic, which is a HUGE deal. So, life is back to normal around here for the most part and we're starting to breathe again and sleep better. Here's a picture of the kids before we left the house on the first day with their new book bags.

I Got a Job!

I just found out that I got a job teaching 2nd grade! Yeah!!!!! It's in a different school system (city instead of county), which I'm excited about (my kids will still stay in Lula where they've been). It's funny how things work - the lady that told me about the job has a sister who is friends with the principal. She said she hasn't seen her in a while, but saw her Friday night and mentioned that one of her teachers up and left the country suddenly that day. She called me Monday and told me about it, and I called her immediately. I was in her office by 3:00 that day for an interview, and she called me today to tell me she's recommending me to the board on Friday morning, which is when I'll be official. Open House is starts Friday at 12:00 and school starts on Tuesday, the 11th, so I'll have to prioritize what's important and what can wait as far as decorating, but I'm just so excited about it. When I was in school, I always felt like 2nd grade would be ideal for me - they're still little and cute and seek approval, but they're becoming independent, too. So, life is looking up around here. Hallalujah!

My Issues With Grammar

I don't know if it's my training that I had writing papers, or what, but I have serious issues when I hear people use extremely incorrect grammar. I mostly keep it to myself, because I know I don't use perfect grammar all the time, and I tend to type my blog the way I speak. But, I just need to tell everyone about one of my absolute biggest pet peeves when it comes to grammar. It's not anything obvious, but it's something I hear ALL the time. It's the phrase "but yet." "But" and "yet" are redundant! I have the official word from languageandgrammar.com.

When using both but and yet as coordinating conjunctions, you can only use one (otherwise, you’re creating a redundancy).

Use either but or yet when conveying two ideas that are in contrast, thus separating them. Tony Dungy’s family lives in Tampa, but he’s part of a family in Indianapolis or Tony Dungy’s family lives in Tampa, yet he’s part of a family in Indianapolis.

So, there you have it. The phrase "but yet" is wrong, and now you can all feel self conscious whenever you say it in front of me because, yes, I notice every time!

Weekend Getaway

A couple of weeks ago, we went with my family to a little (or not so little) house up in the metropolis known as Suches, GA (I'm kidding - it is the furthest thing from a metropolis, which made it the perfect getaway spot). It was up in the mountains, so there was a little bit of nausea on the way up and on the way down, but no puking, thank goodness. It was a little touch and go for me on the way home, though. We had a great weekend. The house is right on a little river, so the men did an awful lot of fishing while me and my sisters took the kids tubing. In the information book, it said we all needed to wear life jackets, but we quickly got over that and decided we'd be ok without the bulk. It started off really nice and relaxing, and the information book said the trip would take about an hour. But, the river was a little lower than usual, I guess, so it took us more like 2 hours. We still had fun, but were so relieved when Andy and Jose met us rowing up stream in a canoe. We had all started to wonder if we were ever going to find the house, or if by some chance we started off in the wrong river. So, once they met us, as is the norm when you toss a man into the equation, it all went crazy. The craziness added to the fun, but the kids started moving around and wanting to get in the canoe, and then Andy got out of the canoe and Steph got in it, which displaced Alli, who had been sharing a tube with Steph, and Andy got in a tube to let Steph have his seat in the canoe, and I got out of my tube to hand Evan to Andy, and Drew saw the empty tube, so she jumped in it, and then all of a sudden everyone was carried away by the current and me and Alli were standing there in the river with nothing - no tube, no canoe, no life jackets. Andy kept yelling, "I'm coming back for you honey," but the current actually picked up at that point, and there wasn't much he could do on his belly in a tube. So, we walked back, which proved interesting because the river bed is extremely rocky and in some places it was up to my knees and 2 feet later it was up to my chest. I ended up laughing through most of it, but Alli was not pleased.

That night, Steph and Jose brought out some fireworks that they had leftover from 4th of July or New Year's or something, so we started a nice fire and played with the fireworks, and of course, where there's Jose there are neat pictures. Here's one I thought was especially precious.

So, here comes the typical Clark family disaster that seems to accompany everything we do. Drew, being the active child she has always been, incurred another black eye. The first really severe one she ever got was when she was around 2 years old. She fell and hit her eyebrow on the base of the rocking chair, which cause a massive knot on her head, and a pretty good black eye, which peaked right on Easter Sunday, and to this day, she has a little place where her eyebrow doesn't grow. One the Friday night that we arrived in Suches, me and her and Andy were out in the yard throwing the softball, and Andy decided to toss one way up in the air for me to try to catch. Well, in my adulthood, I have been hit with a softball enough in my life to know that if I'm not going to catch it, I better get out of the way. It doesn't make for the greatest softball player, but it helps me avoid injuries, which is more important to me now than catching the ball. Well, Drew is just a better softball player than I am at this point, and she knows how to get right under the ball to catch it. So, when I missed and Andy laughed at me, she asked him to throw one in the air for her to try to catch. So, he did. She did an excellent job of getting right under it. Unfortunately, she didn't quite get her glove in the right spot and the ball hit her square on the cheek bone right under her eye. It was pretty traumatizing for us all. She SCREAMED, and Andy got to her before I did and saw that it immediately swelled up and buried her face in his shoulder to hide it from me so he could prepare me for how bad it was, which really just freaked me out more. I am SO not an overreactor. My kids get cut, and my response is usually, "It'll make a scab, you'll be fine." But, when I saw her face, I almost cried. To avoid traumatizing her any worse, I turned and ran in the house to get an ice pack and get myself under control a little. It was definitely the worst black eye I have ever seen not in a movie. It busted the blood vessels in her eye on the left side of the iris, which made her look really freaky. It was so swollen on that side that if you didn't look at the right side of her face you wouldn't recognize her. But, it's mostly healed now, except for a just a little bruising and some broken blood vessels. Other than that, the weekend was really nice! :)

Fun With June Bugs

When Andy was a kid, he used to tie a string to the feet of a june bug and fly them around like a kite, so he's now passed that tradition on to Evan. Here's a little video of them.

4th of July 2009

Last night we went with my side of the family to see fireworks at this neighborhood called Sterling on the Lake. It's one of those huge subdivisions that they're trying to turn into its own little community, so they have all kinds of events, like free concerts and stuff. It's just down the road from my parents' subdivision, so we went down there and took a picnic dinner and watched the fireworks. Fortunately for us, Jose was there to take all kinds of awesome pictures. In all of these, he used the flash to take the picture in the dark, and then left the shutter open to capture light afterwards, and he has all these different colored flashlights, so we did some neat stuff with them. Just to further explain, because I can be a little slow on these things, the flash captures the image, and then leaving the shutter open only captures light after that, so you can dance around in the background with the flashlight, and all the camera captures is what the light did. Here are a few of what we did with the kids: And, of course, what would a 4th of July post be without pictures of fireworks? Again, Jose took the picture with the flash and left the shutter open to capture the fireworks, which made for great pictures!

Garbage Pail Kids

Does anyone else feel like you're responsible for the majority of the problems with today's landfills, or is it just me? I just loaded all of our garbage in the back of Andy's truck and all I have to say is, wow.

Meanwhile, Back in Lula...

We've been doing a lot of renovations on the house in Lula. One of the things that we knew needed to be done for a while was the front door frame needing to be replaced. Also, the front porch was what I like to classify as junk, so we decided to have a new one built as well. The house is in one of those subdivisions that some idiot contractor (Tipton Home Builders - Jerry Tipton is the owner - any letters you'd like to send him involving what a sorry person he is for not caring more about putting his name on quality products, or even prayers in hopes that, yes, he will answer to God one day for his actions would be lovely) built as quickly and cheaply as possible. Yes, we do like the house, and the neighborhood is great, but there have been SEVERAL things that we've discovered were done half way that we've had to repair. So, we needed to replace the door frame, and the front porch, and when we tore the cheapo carpet up to lay down hardwood by the front door, we discovered that the problem was more extensive than we realized. So, as is our luck (and a lot of people's luck, I'm realizing) there was a lot more water damage and mold - yes, mold - than we realized. Andy tore down the porch, and then he has some friends who he layed tile for who returned the favor by doing all the work (more advantages of having a husband who can do so many odd jobs - I love that!). They pulled out the door, and pulled down the siding to see how far the damage went, then replaced everything, sealed up the window above the door because it was just another escape for leaking water, and put a new door on with a PVC frame instead of wood. The next day, they replaced the all-wood junky excuse for a front porch with a very nice wood and metal porch. (Money saving tip that I was not aware of: metal electrical conduit looks very similar to wrought iron when painted black and costs much, much less.) We still have a few things to do. The posts on the porch will get some kind of caps, and the door will be painted black to match the shutters, and then, of course, there's the huge mess that we have to clean up. We're also looking around at awnings to put over the door since there's that huge void where the window was, and to prevent future water damage. Here are some pictures I took with my phone during those 2 days.

For all you Twitter Fans

For everybody that keeps asking me why I don't do Facebook or Twitter, here's a great example (video stolen from my sister's blog, by the way)! And, don't even try to say blogging is the same thing. (I hear your wounded pride speaking now!)

Divine Retribution

Anyone who's a parent has been told at least a million times that your kids will pay you back for the things you did to your parents. I guess it's the curse that keeps on cursing, and whether it's a true curse or just a simple combination of normal kid things and genetic tendencies, so far it's been pretty steady around here. Evan acts so much like Andy, Alli is very much like me, and Drew seems to be a good combination of both of us. When I was a kid, my sisters and I were bestest friends, slept together every night, and fought like cats and dogs, and my kids all do the very same things. One thing I've noticed that I've found funny is that when we were really little, we loved to sit in mom's laundry baskets. I don't know what the excitement is -- it's probably similar to the excitement of a big box. But, she was always yelling at us to get out of her laundry baskets, and her laundry baskets never lasted long because we were always sitting in them and breaking them. As a parent, I am super protective of my laundry basket for that reason. I only have one, and when it's not full of laundry (which is most of the time) it sits on a super high shelf that the kids can't reach. Unfortunately, because of that curse, the kids have found that our little tiny storage ottoman works just as well. I am forever telling them to get out of the ottoman. So far it seems to be a bit more sturdy than a laundry basket, but it's one of the favorite places to sit and watch TV for some strange reason!

Evan Strikes Again

First, I feel like I need to point out that he did this to himself, all by himself, and he's actually happy in this picture, although he looks a little upset. Those of you who are very familiar with Evan will find this funny and typical, and those of you who aren't are just getting another glimpse into his strange little psyche. He is his father's child, that's for sure! Aside from the good laugh he got from all of us, he also learned a good lesson about the combination of hair and tape.

Drew, the Softball Star

Ok, I know I said before that Drew was done with softball for the year, but that's ended up being untrue. She plays first base and is one of the best players on her team, so after she sat out of one game, Andy bought a very, very light-weight bat, took her out in the backyard, and decided that she would be fine, and she has been. She had to wrap the cast everytime to protect the other girls from getting hit with it, which made no sense to me since there are flying balls throughout each game, but we complied and she's has done great. She's an amazing ball player, I must say. The team ended up taking 2nd place in the whole county, which was a pretty great accomplishment since last year this very same group of girls didn't win a game! After the last game the parks and leisure people handed out trophies for the first place and runner-up teams, so that was very exciting for everyone. Here are a few pictures of her playing in one of the last games (after she got her cast off and decided the brace was too binding to play ball in!) and one of the whole team with their trophies. Drew is in there in the middle sort of under the trophy. You can see her eyes, and she's not really smiling in that one.

At the very beginning of the game -- you can still see the marks on the field where the dirt has been smoothed.

Getting a player out!

Getting another player out!

Getting ready to hit!

Ready to run to third base!

Crossing home plate!

The whole team!