Evan's Hair

We've decided to let Evan's hair grow out this summer since long hair is stylish now and he's getting a little older. He has such pretty golden, blond hair, and when we fix it it looks nice and smooth and shiny. This is what he looks like on a normal day. He's showing off his lost tooth here, and it was very hot that day, so he's a little sweaty, but, overall, the hair is decent.Now, this is what he looks like after a normal night's sleep. Nothing strange was done the night before. He didn't go to bed with wet hair or anything. This is what it looks like every morning, without fail. All he did was sleep.And -- prepare yourself -- this is the back:

It's enough to make you scream. He said this morning that he thinks he should just shave his head. Thank goodness this is not an issue we have with the girls!

Drew's 10th Birthday

We celebrated Drew's birthday this year on the Friday night before her actual birthday. I can't believe she's really 10 years old! By the way, she commented that she was in the worst clothes ever when I took these pictures - her and her friend had just come in out of the rain and were looking a little ratty. Drew's actual, pre-middle school comment was, "I look poor." Ugh. She had a friend over to spend the night, and then we all went to see The Sorcerer's Apprentice, which was pretty good. But, enough about the party. We were all just super excited because, for her birthday...are you ready...we gave her tickets to see Justin Bieber in concert (if you click his name you can see his performance on American Idol just in case you aren't familiar with him). We're all so excited, even though Andy tries to act all manly like he's just tagging along for the sake of his daughter (by the way, he and I sang a Karaoke version of Miley Cyrus's "Party in the USA" at a party last weekend and brought the house down - oh yes, we BOTH know every word). Here's Drew with her cake - a cookies and cream ice cream cake - yum! And here's a little video clip of her opening her tickets. She admitted later that she wanted to cry because she was so excited, but held back because of her friend and the video camera.

My New Love

Since neither of my sisters will fulfill my baby needs, I've had to look elsewhere. This is Sebastian. He belongs to Andy's brother and sister-in-law, and I love him. We went to the pool with them today (which explains my lovely attire in the picture) and I spent more time smooching his little cheeks than swimming, which I do whenever I'm around him. He's just the sweetest little poopsy ever!

Ahhh, Milestones

Did anyone else hit their thirties and realize that sleeping in the floor with the kids is just no longer an option. As a kid, I was booted out of my bed many times for out-of-town company, and, honestly, I'd usually just cram myself in a bed with my sisters, but sometimes I got sent to the floor. I thought it was just out of consideration and hospitality for our guests, but I now realize that those guests wouldn't have been able to walk the next day had they been the ones sent to the floor. I tried to "camp out" with the kids in the living room the other night, but after they all fell asleep, I had to sneak back to my bed. I know good and well that I am NOT bonier than I used to be (if anything, the bones are now more cushioned by a nice layer of fat), but I never realized how every bone in your body can dig into the floor at one time. So, not only is the floor just not an option any more, but my bed isn't cutting it as well, either. I don't think it's any less comfortable than it was a couple of years ago, but for some reason I'm waking up several times a night with my arm or leg asleep or my neck in a terrible position, and then it's almost like I creak out of bed in the morning. What's up with that?! Am I prematurely aging, or is this normal? And, please don't give me the speech about vitamins and exercise and junk like that. I've heard it from all those related to me who are now in their fifties - another milestone I have to look forward to, I suppose. If that's my only option, I'll just have to wait until my 50's when the kids are gone like you all did!!!

A Day in the Life...

Yes, this is a normal occurrence in our home. As a kid 8 years older than his brother, Andy had to adjust to this, asking me what was wrong with our kids. I explained that I feel like this is normal. My sisters and I did this kind of stuff all the time! This was after rolling down the stairs and landing at the front door. And, just so you know, they're both laughing.

Wild Blackberries & a Future Farmer

Andy's Papa Gene, Evan's great-grandfather, is one of Evan's favorite people. He's told his papa that he wants to be a farmer like him. So, Papa Gene sectioned off a pretty good-size chunk of his garden to be Evan's garden, and Evan helped him plant lots of vegetables out there, and goes over there periodically when things are ready to be picked. His MeMaw and Papa even humor him by buying things from him, like squash for $1.00 and beans and things like that. Evan feels like a serious farmer selling produce over there. Well, at our house the back yard drops off in a pretty steep cliff. Technically, the cliff is on a Georgia Power easement, which means that our property line goes half way through the easement, and Georgia Power has the right to do whatever they need to do to get to their power lines, including tearing down a fence if we happened to put one out there. So, we've never fenced off the cliff, but just let the edge of it grow up really high so if anyone were to get too close and fall off, they would be caught by tons of thick, wild shrubbery. This year, we happened to have tons of wild blackberries show up in all that shrubbery, which Andy's grandparents just love, so I went out and picked about a half gallon of blackberries to give to them since they've done so much with Evan in the garden and we're reaping the benefits of lots of fresh, home grown vegetables. I went as far as I could stand in the thorns without falling off the cliff and cutting myself up too bad on all the thorns that come with blackberry bushes, although I did spend a little time picking thorns out of my hands, and even the back of my neck from leaning in a little too far at one point. Andy's grandparents were thrilled at the blackberries, but when Papa Gene heard that there were a TON more that I couldn't get to, he asked if he could come over and give it a try. So, this morning he showed up bright and early, and he and Evan went out in the mess to get as many blackberries as they could. I love seeing them together. Here they are heading out to the edge of the yard. (Of course Daisy has to tag along and be right in the middle of everything!) Here they are heavy into berry picking! And, here they are interrupting their berry picking to pose for me!

A Much Needed Update

Sorry I've been away for so long. I've rebelled against all my normal routine things and have spent time cleaning, keeping laundry caught up, and just generally laying around. It's been really nice, except that I think my body is punishing me for not doing this sooner. I have started clenching my jaw all night long, which has resulted in waking up to an incredibly sore jaw and a headache every morning! Ugh! I don't know what to do about it, besides go to the dentist and get a night guard. I'm sort of hoping it's temporary and will stop soon.

Anyways, on to more exciting things... Drew's softball team was undefeated this year and took first place in the county tournament. They had amazing pitchers, which was probably their biggest strength. At the end of their last game they had a little trophy ceremony on the field.Here is the whole team lined up waiting to get their trophies. Drew is in the middle (to the right of the girl with the little boy) and Andy is the coach on the right. Here is Drew getting her trophy from the head coach. And here is Drew holding up her trophy. What a cutie. And, finally, here's the whole team with all their little trophies and the big first place trophy. Drew is to the left of the big trophy, and Andy is the coach standing on the right who's all sweaty (it was unbelievably hot and muggy that day!).

So, ball season is over and now we're just enjoying a relaxing summer...sort of. As relaxing as life gets with 3 kids! :)

Railroad Days Parade

Every year the town of Lula has a little festival thing called Railroad Days because the railroad runs right through the center of town. The train tracks actually run right across the street from the school and when I worked there the ceiling tiles would shake every time the train went by. So, along with the festival, of course there's a little parade that goes along with it in the morning to kick things off. All 3 of the kids' ball teams were in the parade (yes, we have 3 kids on 3 different teams this year, which has been interesting).

Here's Alli with her T-ball team. Her best friend was doing t-ball again this year, and Alli is in it more for the social side at this point (although she's turning into quite the little ball player), so we put her in t-ball for one more year. Their team is called the Bad News Bulldogs after the Bad News Bears, but since the school mascot is the Bulldogs they changed it up a little.

Here is Evan with his team. He's playing coach pitched baseball this year and does pretty well if say so myself. He's a good hitter and always goes after the ball. He mostly plays first base during the games, but I think the whole team's favorite part is sitting in the dugout and playing around. They're pretty cute to watch.

And here is Drew. She's playing fast pitch softball this year, which can get intense at times. She actually hit her first homerun this year and does really well. Andy is coaching her team with another lady, who is actually the head coach (Andy likes the job without ALL the responsibility), and so far they're undefeated. By this age they're really weeding out the girls that only play for their parents, so they have a good little team this year with several hard workers and serious players. Of course, with girls comes the drama and tears, but Andy and Judy (the other coach) handle it well.

This Just In...

Andy FINALLY had a mediation hearing this morning with the guy who threw the brick at Daisy. The last time Andy talked to these people, the wife came to the door with a video camera telling Andy that Daisy was barking viciously and trying to attack, and they thought she was rabid, so they were defending themselves. She wouldn't even let her husband come to the door, and then called the police on Andy for trespassing (which is funny because the cop totally agreed with us). Today when they met, they wouldn't let the wife stay in the room, and it was no contest. We gathered several statements from people who know Daisy and know that she is about as far from vicious as they come, and we also had the statement from the neighbor that witnessed the whole thing, but without the wife in the room, Andy said the guy was all shakey and kept starting to cry, and just agreed to pay the whole thing. Since it was a mediation and we started this whole ordeal trying to be somewhat nice about it (we even chose the cheaper surgeon and didn't charge for the gas we used to make the 1 hour round trip drive every week for 3 months for bandage changes) they agreed that he would pay for it over 6 months. Andy said when they walked out of the room and the guy walked over to his wife, he finally did start crying. What a goober!

Birthdays and Spring

Evan and Alli celebrated their 7th birthday this weekend! I can't believe they're so old. When Drew turned 7, I felt like she was so grown up, but Evan and Alli are still my babies. On Friday night they each had a friend over to go to the movies with them and spend the night. Four 1st graders in a house at one time is an adventure in itself. On Saturday, Andy and I actually got a night away from the kids and went to see Hall & Oates at Chastain Amphitheater, outdoors in the pouring rain. We went and bought rain suits and were really prepared and ended up having an awesome time! The concert was GREAT. We went with my mom and dad, and during one of their best songs (She's Gone), mom and I actually sneaked our way up to the front about 5 feet from the stage. It was great! After a fun, but long and exhausting night, we decided the best way to top it off would be to have a bunch of family to the house to grill out and celebrate Alli & Evan's birthday some more. We had grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and neighbors over, and since Evan and Alli are their own unique people, we had a cookie cake for Alli and an ice cream cake for Evan. It's so nice to get to have a birthday party where you actually have a legitimate reason to buy 2 different kinds of cake!

Here are all the kids right before they did candles.

Here they are blowing out the candles.

And, here they are with some of their gifts.

Also, just because I'm proud of my flowers, this year our neighbors gave us some strawberry planters, and Andy bought some bright colored spray paint to paint them with. I went and got some flowers, and I'm so excited about how pretty they turned out! I wanted to take a picture of them, so Evan hopped in the picture and posed. I'm not sure why he's only wearing one shoe - this is a problem we've had with him. He wants to go outside so badly to play that he either makes it with no shoes, only socks, or socks and one shoe. Thank goodness for the steam setting on the washing machine!

Elementary School Prom???

At the school I work at now, our big fund raiser is called the CRCT Prom. The CRCT is our huge standardized test that requires you to give all but your first born child to ensure that your students will pass, and then if they don't you still might have to sacrifice your child to the state or whatever idiot it was that decided that this was the best way to measure learning (yes, I am SICK of the pressure!!!) and is coming up in April. I have no idea why the prom is named after this, but it is. Anyway, the way it raises money is that each class has a prince and princess to represent them, and then the students and parents raise money in whatever way they want, and whichever class raises the most money is the winner of prom king and queen. The parents at this school are completely uninterested in buying junk like cheap-o wrapping paper and over-priced candles, but, by golly, they'll go to all sorts of lengths to get their baby to win king or queen. We raised enough to buy a good bit of playground equipment, which is pretty expensive if you've never looked into it. Andy had to go out of town that night, so I took my kids with me and they had an absolute blast. It was a pretty fun night for everyone. Here are the few pictures I managed to snag with my phone, although they're not that great because it was hard to keep anyone still and I don't have a flash on my phone.

In this picture, the big girl in the middle (who is actually a year younger than Drew!) is the sister of boy in my class, and then there are 2 little girls in my class along with Drew and Alli. Alli made best-buds with a little girl in my class who is about the same size as she is. They were cute together.

And then here I am with the same 2 little girls in my class and Alli there in the back!

Our Frugal Answer to Technology!

So, we lived for a month or so with no internet, T.V. or land-line telephone. After realizing the withdrawals wouldn't subside, we added DSL internet, just knowing that we could plug the computer into the T.V., and it would be almost as good. But, it just wasn't. I mean, for the sake of frugality, it was ok, and Andy was fine with it, but I was missing it. In fact, I was doing pretty poorly. I realized just how much I use T.V. to unwind and get my mind off of things. I mean, I'm not a bottler or anything, but I'm definitely a dweller - even after I talk about it, I have to talk about it 47 more times to as many people as I can find that will listen, and without distractions, I'll just dwell. So, being the good man that he is, Andy discovered that we can get all our local channels, including a channel similar to TBS and Style Network (entertainment stuff and decorating in one channel - how fabulous!) for a mere $10.00 a month through Dish Network (we already had the dish and receiver). No, there's no DVR or HDTV, but it's all I need. And, on top of that, to cut down on our cell phone minutes, we invested in a Magic Jack, which is a pretty great invention. For $40.00 we bought the jack, which plugs into the computer if you haven't heard of it and gives you a phone line through your internet connection. The first year of service is free (unless you consider the $40.00 for the item itself), and then after that it's only $20.00 a year for phone service, which includes voice mail, caller id, free long distance, and registers you for 911. So, we're back in the world of the technologically connected, and things feel normal again. (...don't judge my addictions - I haven't even brought up the Reese's Cup/Redi-Whip concoction I'm hooked on right now - if only you knew the whole truth...)

Another Ridiculous Take-Home Project

Evan and Alli were assigned yet another ridiculous project by their teachers. This one was a robot that was supposed to have to do with geometric solid figures, and I think their story in their reader for next week is supposed to be about robots and things they can do. So, we had to make robots. Now, seriously, how many first graders do you know that are able to create a robot on their own. I mean, I know they're out there, but they're classified more as prodigies, or kids with parents with a lot of free time, which are few and far between these days. So, as we were wrapping our Girl Scout cookie boxes and toilet paper tubes in foil, Evan mentions that a little girl in his class brought in a robot that was as tall as her. I don't mean to be ugly, but I happened to teach this little girl's older brother, and had more than one conference with the parents, and I'm very comfortable with the ability levels of this family. There's no way that girl made that robot herself. I'm also just not in the mood to be that competitive parent -- I just don't have the energy right now. The robots turned out cute enough, and I had them write up their little description about rectangular prisms and cylinders, and Evan and Alli were definitely pumped about their little teeny robots. But, I'm still searching for a way to tactfully tell their teachers that whoever it is on the 1st-grade team that is coming up with these bright ideas for take-home projects needs a reality check!

It's About Time!

I'm finally getting around to blogging again. We've gone through a trial period of doing without most things technological to see how it would go. After about a month of no T.V. or internet, we're ready to go back. I still have internet access on my cell phone, and then of course I have it at work, and, honestly, we're so busy that we really don't spend that much time watching T.V. or messing around on the computer in the evenings. We thought we could live without it because of that, and it's not that we're just dying or anything, but we miss it. I've enjoyed my time away from technological obligations, like checking email and blogging, but those obligations are now more like entertainment since I haven't been able to do it as much. So, I'm coming back to my sporatic blog updating. Tell your friends! :)

As you can see from the picture in the title box up there, we've had quite a bit of snow around here, which is really unusual for this area. Usually we might get one snow in a winter, and that's a pretty big deal, but it has now snowed twice, a couple of inches each time, and we're expecting more tonight! The kids have absolutely loved it, and I sure did the first day. The second I was feeling a little colder than the first, and being hit with a snowball had somehow lost it's joy. Still, I did the fun mom thing and played. I'm thinking if we do get snow tonight I'll join the rest of the parents on my street and be a dud. We spent much of the first snow sledding down the neighbor's driveway, which is incredibly steep and made for great sledding. Then we went back behind our subdivision and took the neighbor's kids and Andy's dad with us and sledded down some pretty big hills.

Even Daisy had a great time playing!

After the snow, the kids came in and warmed their feet by the fire. It's so nice to get warm and dry after a soggy snow day!

The 4th grade also did this year's President's Day program at school. Drew's still one of the smallest kids in her class, but isn't she cute?

Here's a typical "Drew" face:

Blogging From School

So, my laptop at home keeps telling me Windows is encountering errors and won't open, and every time I reload it, it happens again and again, so there's some problem beyond my knowledge that I need to get fixed. I haven't had time to take it to Best Buy or one of those places to get a free diagnosis, and now we've decided to cancel our cable service, leaving us without internet at the moment. I'm now using the school to do this post, but blogging from school isn't the most convenient thing to do...not to mention the unprofessionalness of the whole thing should someone walk in on me blogging, rather than teaching (the students have left for the day by the way). So, don't give up on me!!! I'll work out the kinks one way or another, and we're already having TV/internet withdrawals at our house, so I'm sure something will be hooked up in the near future!

My computer crashed and my phone will only let me do titles! Stay tuned for more posts soon! :)

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.