The Weekend Review

Hey everyone how was your weekend?????? Ours was spent with basketball, anniversary parties, and trying to stay away from all the illness going around. The flu has finally made it to our town and it's hitting with a vengeance. Wayne got it last Thursday, one of our teachers at work was out with her whole family having it, and now a friend from church has it. All I have to say to the flu is stay away from us!!!!! The last time we had it was when Caleb was about 6 and Jared was two. I remember laying in bed with Jared and thinking I need to write out my will! I also remember watching the same Scooby Doo video for 24 hours straight since it's all Jared wanted to watch and it was the only way to keep him in bed. Well for the weekend, we watched the boys play basketball Saturday. Jared did very well but played a harder team for the first time. He had to guard a little boy who could shoot over Jared and it's tough to learn to keep your hands up. He got scored at a couple of times. We didn't have enough time to leave and make it back to Caleb's game so we had to hang around the gym again this week. I don't really like this part. The boys play an hour a part and we just sit around and wait. That's a good three hours out of every Saturday. Caleb did well in his game also. He twisted is ankle at practice on Friday night so he was a little slow during the game. He never gave up or complained though and even stole the ball several times. After the game we went to Brian's aunt and uncles 40th wedding anniversary party. It was a surprise party and they actually pulled the surprise part off! When we drove up we didn't see a single car and thought we had got the day wrong or something. They had all parked behind the church and you couldn't tell anything was up at all. Sid and Betty were really surprised I think. We got to visit with all the cousins and friends and had a great time. Saturday night we rented Underdog and stayed home. Sunday was church and a baby shower for one of the girls at our church. It was a pretty lazy day. The boys played and Caleb did his homework. Our dyslexia tutor at the school has got it approved for Caleb to be able to type his homework. He types 5 times faster than he writes. It helps things got smoother and quicker. I wish we had figured this out a long time ago! Well, it's time to get the kids on homework! Have a blessed week!

This week

I can't believe this week has gone by so fast. I was able to get some pictures put on this week but didn't even have enough time to sit down and write a blog. Monday was great getting to stay home with the kids all day. Tuesday they went off to school and I went to Bible study. It was great as always. Wednesday, I had a rough day at school with one of my newest little ones. I came home exhausted and brain dead. We then went to church for our AWANA's Souper bowl night. That's where the kids bring cans of soup for our food pantry and dress up in their favorite sports outfit. Aaron won for best outfit in his class. We had a lot of fun. Thursday I took my Aunt Irma to do some errands and just tried to keep warm. It was a cold, cold day. I went to Weight Watchers and found out I lost 2.6 lbs this week! That's 7.8 total! This week was hard because I wanted to eat ALL THE TIME! I don't know why but it was hard! Maybe next week will be easier as my body figures out I am on a diet and quits wanting to be fed all the time. Amy, my BFF, is stomping me all over the place in weight loss. She is at 10 lbs and even went to Red Lobster for her anniversary this week! I told Tom (Amy's husband) today that he needed to take me out too so I could loose weight! He laughed! Today, we had Dad's and Doughnuts at St. Luke. I got to see a lot of my kids Dads there. Some of them I hardly ever get to see. It's a pretty great group of guys at our school. We have lawyers, doctors, orthodontists (yes Caleb's doctor who is doing his braces), football coaches, and a bunch I have never seen. I saw Caleb basketball coach from Upward there today and figured out his girls go to school there. I talk to them on the playground all the time but never knew he was their daddy! It's a small world. We were hoping school would be delayed today because of the cold weather and ice but it wasn't. Jared got up and informed us to turn on the TV so he could figure out if he had to go to school. He was disappointed that he did. Oh yeah, we went for Aaron's Kindergarten conference yesterday and he is doing great! He got all the answers correct on the test she gave him and she was impressed. He is writing so much now! He loves to write stories. There are not many vowels in his stories but you can read them! I'll get him to write something for the blog soon! Well that about it for now. Stay warm!!!!!!!

AWANA's Souper Bowl Pictures

Aaron at our "Souper Bowl Sport Night" at AWANA's. Aaron wore his baseball uniform from last year.

Caleb wore my old Troy Aikmen jersey. He is sitting on a couch in his T&T room.

Jared wore his Upward Baskeball jersey. He was so cute. His vest is so small on him now he got it when he was in Kindergarten. It has all the awards he has won on it!

The weekend

Every time I sit down to write about the weekend, I'm always struck with the same thought. Wow, where did the time go? They never seem to last very long around my house. Friday was packed with school and basketball practice. Saturday Brian and Jared went to a men's prayer breakfast at church while the rest of us slept in. Jared is the early riser around here and always is up by at least 7:30 or earlier. When they got back we all got ready for the basketball games. Jared's Tiger team won and Jared scored 6 points! He did really great and his aim improved from last week. Caleb's game was so close to Jared we just stayed at the court and watched the 3rd and 4th graders. Caleb's Spurs team won again this week and Caleb scored 6 points also! This is the most he has ever scored in a game before! He rebounded, stole the ball, drove down for layup's, and did a great job. After the game we did a quick change and headed to the church for our Veggie Tales Pirate Party! We met at church with 40 kids and 11 sponsors and had pizza and played until we loaded the "pirate ship" bus to go see the movie. The kids did so good! We sat watched the movie and only had to get up 3 times to take kids to the bathroom! After the movie, we came back to church and got the kids all shipped off. We then came home and got the kids ready for bed and bath and watched the rerun of Sky High on TV. Sunday was church day. We had a good time and went out to eat with Pam and Greg for lunch. I came home and sat in front of the playoff games. I knew the Pats would win the first game but they struggled more than I thought. I was rooting for the Giants in the second game and they WON. I like Eli Manning and wanted to see him go to his first Superbowl. Now I just want them to win because really does Brady need a 4th Superbowl ring and who deserves a perfect season!!!!!! GO GIANTS! Caleb went to spend the night with Me-maw last night. He is getting some much needed one on one time and relaxation. He found out he bombed a spelling test that he knew backwards and forwards and could have passed in his sleep. He made a mistake on the second word and wanted to erase it but she kept going so fast he just started to make mistake after mistake trying to go fast and correct the 2nd word. It just snowballed on him! Bless his heart. We still praying about what God wants us to do to help him. Brian would like to check out smaller schools but, I feel that it would be the same old problems with smaller classes. I know that smaller classes would help but if you don't have the teachers who are willing to put in the extra time with him and cut him a break then you are still in the same old boat! We just don't know what to do! Please help us to keep praying and see where the Lord leads. Today, is a lazy day. We are going to do nothing and enjoy it fully!!!!!!!! God bless have a great day!

Weight Watchers Results

Oh Yeah! It's my birthday.......Oh yeah! It's my birthday!!!!!! Ok it's not my birthday but this is the song Aaron and Jared sing when they have done something good! Check out the scale it's moved 5.2 pounds!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yes! I weighed in last night and I lost 5.2 pound in a WEEK! Nooooooooooooowwwwwwwwwwwwwww who wants to come with me????Huh!!!! I had to make a believer out of you guys right! I wasn't easy but I did it and I can ALREADY tell in my jeans! Now I just have to stay on track and the skinny jeans will be dusted off and brought out of the closet!!!!! I want to take off at least 10 pounds before Rodeo! That's my goal for now! I'll keep you updated!

BRRRRRRRR It's Cold Outside!

Good Morning! I'm sitting in my house with the heater cranked up, a cup of coffee, a blanket on and enjoying a quiet morning. I can't believe I don't have much to do today. Well, unless you count dirty dished, laundry, and the layer of dust that is covering the furniture. Tonight is the big first weigh in at Weight Watchers. I have been on the plan for a week now and we will see how good the first week is. It's been OK for the first week but, I swear that I have less points to eat this time around! It's hard to get full on them! But of course, I have been used to eating about a zillon points a day so the first week of cutting back is going to kill me. You know I'm hungry when I start reaching for carrots! I don't really care for them but they are the only thing I have in the house that is "free" at the moment.
Yesterday is a blur. I went to work and had all of my 7 kids there. They were all good, even in chapel. We started going to chapel right after Christmas. The kids sing songs and listen to a bible story in the "big" church. The other teachers wonder how I get all my kids to sit, listen and behave. I told them they all get a dose of Benedryl when the come through my door every morning! No really I just have a pretty good class. I don't think I do anything special with them at all. After work we did homework and then hurried off to AWANA's. There were everywhere! We have about 70 kids who are coming now. I have about 17 in my class of 3rd and 4th graders. They are a good group of kids. After AWANA's we came home and crammed more of Caleb's homework down his throat! He has 1 major "project" and 4 tests on Friday, plus another Chair test in band. Apparently, one of the kids didn't get to take the chair test last week so they are doing another one! Caleb is nervous all over again! It's a new piece of music so he is worried. His dyselxia tutor started this week working with him. It's going OK for Caleb but she is getting the run around with some of the teachers. It's so frustrating! Brian has really started thinking about homeschooling. I am going to start doing research on it to see what it's all about. Caleb is just struggling and getting "beat down"! I'm almost of the opionion that if we have to do homework for 3 1/2 hours a night then why not just homeschool him! That's what it amounts to anyway! Do we spend 3 1/2 hours teaching him at home and eliminating the hassle and stress of school or do we keep the 3 1/2 hours at home and add the 7 1/2 hours of school work also?????? I don't know???? It's such a HARD decision!!!!!!!!!! I don't have a clue how to do it, when to do it, or what to do! Anyway, pray for us as we continue to struggle with things! What do you think????? Add a comment and let me know!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My Day

Well it's Tuesday...my day off! Where does the day go again? I am constantly amazed at the fact that a whole day can go by and I can't tell you what went on that day. Nothing much really. I don't know what I am expecting to happen but, whatever it was didn't. Yesterday, Monday, I went to work at St. Luke. I am officially up to 7 kids now. They are all 2-2 1/2. I have 4 girls and 3 boys now. I have a new little boy who started on yesterday. I am always very nervous when a new kid starts. I never know what I am going to get really. Are they a screamer, biter, hitter, stealer or a cryer????? You never know. I just pray over them and ask God to put the kids in my class that I can handle. God is good! He has always taken care of it for me. My new little boy looked at mom said bye and never looked back. He didn't want to leave when she came to pick him up and I always count that as "1" for the Teacher! Yes! After work, I had a staff meeting and planned the rest of the year. A lot going on at St. Luke's for sure! The only thing that caught me off guard is the fact that during Rodeo in February we will have a St. Luke rodeo. No biggie I think to myself. Each class has a "rodeo" event that we participate in. No biggie.....stilll.....what is the 2 year old event???????? Are you ready......CALF WRESTLING......"OK how do they do this", I ask clueless? Well the teacher puts a bandanna in her back pocket and takes off running. When the get the bandanna they win! So in February.....I will be playing a COW! OH great like the whole trying to loose weight thing isn't hard enough without the added pressure of not wanting to LOOK like a cow while playing a COW. Mindy, my boss, keeps saying your a CALF not a COW.....like the kids are going to figure that one out!!!!!!! LOL

Tuesday was filled with taking the car in to Goodyear and having Greg and the guys fix the oil gasket(?) or something and put an O2 sensor on the car. Then we had bible study at church with Mrs. Gentry. She is such a hoot! She is in her 80's and has never let up studying her Bible and teaching! She is awesome! After bible study, I came home and crashed/zoned out/played on the computer. The doorbell rang at about 2:00 and the Fed Ex guy handed me a package. Now I don't know about you but Christmas is over and so is the money! I knew I hadn't ordered anything but, took the two packages because they had my name on them. Briefly....I thought maybe a bomber had sent me something in the mail and wondered if I should call the FBI...but, I threw caution to the wind and opened them anyway! Get this....I got an e-mail in October saying I was the 3rd place winner in a contest from Snapfish. They are the on-line company I use to develop my pictures. I remember filling out a survey for them but, never thought anything about it. Then the Fed Ex man shows up and BINGO he gives me a HP Photosmart Compact Photo Printer and Carrying case. It's a small printer that you can put your memory card in and print pictures on it. It's totally portable and you can take it anywhere! Now.....I've never won anything in my life (unless you count the nail dryer I won at a raffle my senior year) but, now I have a printer! OK I'm still not sure. I'm going to make sure the credit card doesn't have any weird charges on it this month and I'll let you know if I get a bill for the printer later on!!! Who knows! It might be real! It had official rules and everything for the contest so......I might just be the winner! Well, other than that....the rest of the day was boring! If you don't count the 4 hours of homework with Caleb! By the way...................................I'm not kidding about the homework!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I would gladly go do ALLLLLLLLLLLLL of Amy's laundry if she would do the HOMEWORK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Want to trade??????????????????? Well, now that I look back on things I guess my day wasn't so boring after all!!!!!

Upward Basketball

Caleb waiting for a rebound after a foul shot. He wasn't the one who fouled this time!

Caleb gets set up on defense or maybe offense.....who knows. At least he knows where he is going.

Caleb shadows his guy on defense. He stole the ball 5 or 6 times during the game!

Jared sitting on the bench watching his team win! He loves basketball.

Jared waiting on the inbound of the ball. You can tell he is not the tallest on the team.

This is Jared lining up to play defense. He is in the gold number 12.

Well, Jared and Caleb's basketball season has begun! Jared played his first game ever yesterday. He did great! He knew where he was suppose to be and followed the game great. He shot a couple of times but nothing ever went in. He really enjoyed playing and I think he will be a great basketball player one of these days. They won their game and did a great job. Caleb had a great game too. He stole the ball 5 or 6 times and made one basket. He shot a few more times but couldn't get anything else to fall. He is great on defense and either would steal the ball or never let his player get close to the ball. He has really stepped it up a notch this year! He is playing with some 7th and 8th graders but really held his own. They won their game 30 to 19. He really did great.
The rest of the weekend was filled with me trying to get over my cold, the boys playing and going to church and not much else. I hope I start feeling better soon! I'm totally useless when I take cold medicine! I feel like I'm in a fog and sound like a frog! Aaron thinks I sound soooo funny!

We have a 2nd Chair in the Family!

Caleb took his chair test today and he made 2nd chair alto sax! He was so excited! I was really excited too! He worked hard and seems to have a natural ability to play the sax so that is great. It helped with the fact that he had 4 hours worth of homework the night before. We don't really know what this means for the future of the band. I can't really think it means too much at the 6th grade level but, we will see.
I have been fighting a cold this week so that is the reason I haven't posted too many things. Also, I got a new book on Monday and I tend to tune out the world until I have finished reading. So I have been curled up on the couch with cold medicine and a good book for the last week. Amy, Judy and I have started Weight Watchers last night. I know we had kicked around doing our own meeting ourselves but, with my crazy life right now (basketball with Jared and Caleb, Caleb's homework load, and working for the first time doing lesson plans and calendars and stuff) I just don't think I could get it together. So we went back last night. It's at 5:45 and the leader wasn't bad. She is really funny at least. I am happy to report that my scale at home was 10 lbs. heavier! So just by showing up last night I dropped 10 lbs! OK maybe I didn't drop them but at least I feel better. I need to loose about 30 in all. Today has been hard so far. I'm going from eating anything and EVERYTHING to eating like a normal human again. It's rough!!!!!!! OH well, I just keep thinking about all the stuff coming up like rodeo, spring break, and summer! It's great motivation! I'll keep you posted on the results! Come join us it you would like!

Ho Hum

Yesterday was a HO Hum kind of day. We got back into the routine of going to school and going to work. My kids at St. Luke were happy to see me and so were the parents! All the teachers laughed because most of the kids were there and waiting on us to come to our classrooms and let them in! You got the feeling of "hi how are you? Good holiday? Take my kids NOW! BYE!" They all but ran down the sidewalk. They kids were great! They played had a good time and were worn out by the time I sent them home!
Caleb is getting ready for his first ever "chair test" in band on Friday. I don't have a clue what to expect and neither does he really. He is excited and working on the music he is suppose to play. I think he plays really well but, I don't have anything to compare it to though so who knows. He make a good solid sounds, can hold it out without changing the tone and can keep count. I don't know if this is what they are looking for or not. I'll let you know how it goes.
Aaron's Kinder teacher told me yesterday that Aaron was having trouble minding. I thought oh great! What a way to start off 2008. Then she grinned and said, " yes, I tell him to stop reading and he just won't do it! He just keeps reading!" She is so funny! He was giggling and was so proud and loves her inside jokes. I hate to think she is going to retire!
Well, I'm off to bible study now! Come join me if you don't have anything to do on Tuesday mornings at 9:30. They are a blast!

The Perfect Moonsand Castle!

Jared and Emily are so proud of what they did! And, yes Emily posed this way!

What happened to the weekend?????

Wow can Saturday and Sunday go by fast or what? Saturday morning I got up and went to our Secret Sister Brunch for our church. Secret Sisters is a ministry where you draw a name of a lady in your church and pray for them and bless them with small gifts/cards/ and letters for 6 months. We get a sheet telling you what your Sister likes/dislikes/favorite food/favorite books/music and of course favorite candy! I had the lady in our church who runs our church nursery this last time. She raised all of my boys until they were 4 years old! They love her and still go in to talk to her every Sunday. If I come up missing Aaron at church I know to look for him in the nursery. Anyway, it was a lot of fun and some great food! These women know how to cook! After the brunch, Caleb and I went to watch a friend (Emily) play basketball. We ended up staying to watch two of her games since they were so close together. We came home and had a family night and ate supper and watched a movie. Jared was exhausted from his sleepover with his best buddy Drew. They reported that they stayed awake until they saw the sun come up! Tracy (Drew's Mom) reported they were passed out by 1:00. Sunday was church service. Our new preacher Bro. Rody is awesome! He is 34 years old and every time the man opens his mouth I am in awe at what God has taught him! To a certain extent I'm thinking....OK....I'm 38 shouldn't I know this much about he Bible too! I can't get over the knowledge and wisdom his has! Anyway, after church we went to eat and Emily came over to play/check out Caleb's new room! They had fun playing basketball, watching TV and playing with the Moonsand Santa brought. (Yes, this is the first time they have even opened it!) You know you get tooooooooo much for Christmas when it takes you 14 DAYS before you open and play with a present!!!!!!! But, in their defense I have made MOONSAND an outside toy and this weekend might have been the only time they wanted to go outside! It was beautiful here! We had a high of 77 today I think! Well, that wraps up the exciting weekend! PS my counter is going up! I'm so excited! Of course it goes up every time I log on to see if it's gone up yet sooooooooo I'm really tampering with the results a little! OH well! I need the ego boost! LOL

It's still Friday!

OK according to my BFF (Best Friend Forever, for those of you who are not constantly around kids) Amy....I'm suppose to post new blogs....like everyday or something. I told her that I'm not too sure anyone is out there in blog land reading this. She told me to go and get a free counter at the bottom of my page to see how many people are hitting my blog everyday. So I did. Now the waiting game has started. What happens if I sign on tomorrow..all happy and stuff....and suddenly find out that my counter is still at 2! That's for the 2 times I signed on wanting to check to see if I have it working or not. Talk about a complex! I'm sitting here writing...pouring my heart out...Hee Hee and NO ONE is listening! I also told her that maybe no one liked my hair and so they are pretending not to have looked at the blog! But, ha! I have a counter now so you are busted and now MUST comment on my hair. No really, I'm just goofing around because all I did today was sit in my PJ's until 10:30...OK maybe 11:00, get my middle one shipped off to a friends house for a sleepover (hey, I supervised him packing his bag) and then went and spent $250.00 in Wal-Mart for groceries for two weeks. I did make up my menus so I know what I will be fixing every night for the next two weeks but, I also took my first and third born boys with me so A LOT of extra things were added. With the age differences in my house I have everything from pop tarts to stridex in the cart now! Well anyway, I just thought I would go ahead and post SOMETHING so that I can tell BFF that I did and it's still Friday so it counts! Ha!

4 More Days of Freedom!

I can't believe we have to go back to school in 4 more days! I have loved this time off! The boys are not stressed, we haven't had to do a single project, we haven't even thought of math homework, and life has been peaceful! Homework is a killer around our house. 3 boys=3 set of homework. I'm still passing Kindergarten and 2nd grade but, I have flunked 6th grade Math and have "B's" in Reading. You think I'm kidding don't you! NOT! Caleb no longer asked me for help with his math because he knows that it is over my head. Now in my defense, if I had a book and could look up and remember how to do some of it I could help, but no one uses books anymore! Anyway, I'm not looking forward to the headaches of school! I really think I would give homeschooling a whirl if I could do Math! For those who do not know, Caleb was diagnosed in November with dyslexia. We have always thought he was but we now have confirmation. Through a variety of mistakes, miscommunication, and denial by us and the school we finally had him tested through the JP Williams Memorial Foundation. We are not arm wrestling with the school to see if they are going to help him or not. It's going to be a long hard battle I feel. Anyway, I am taking volunteers to come and help with homework every afternoon from 3:30 until the sun don't shine! Yep, that would be how long Caleb has to work on his!

I'm a blonde! Sort of!

Hey Guys! What do you think of my new hair! Brian gave me a gift certificate to have my hair highlighted! I'm a blonde now! Hee-Hee! I've always had the brain of a blonde now I have the hair color to match! Like the other day...we were meeting friends some friends to eat at Ci Ci's Pizza. Brian was in the pick up and took kids and I was in the van and took kids too. (He had joined us at the mall for Neon golf so we had two cars out) Anway, when I pull up to the pizza place there is a van outside of it letting kids get out that looks EXACTLY like our van. I told Aaron, "hey how did Daddy beat us here, isn't that our van?" He didn't answer. So I ask again, "Isn't that our car?" Still no answer only confusion from him... then it dawned on me..."I'm driving our van!" That can't be our van because I'm in the van! Boy, talk about your blonde moments! Let me know what you think of the new blonder ME!!!!!