Back to school!

The kids went back to school Monday. Alissa started pre-school. She goes from 8-noon Mon-Fri. The first day she did ok when we left her. The last 2 days she has told me as soon as she akes up that she's not going to school because it's scary. Of course once the teacher prys her off me and they go outside to play she's good. Today she even got a gummy bear for being a good listener. She also told me that she got to play with her "hot spikey haired boyfriend" the second time they went outside today. She has definantly been listening to Chey too much. We also learned that Alissa can read minds. She said her teacher said that her first day of school outfit wasn't cute. I said no they didn't. Her reply? "Yes they did, in there head!" Ummm, ok!

As for the other kids, Chey is in 5th. Her last year in elementry school! :( She has a male teacher for the first time in her life. He's funny though so she likes him. Dyl is in 3rd and Cass 2nd. They both like there teacher.

As for me, I'm liking the 4 hours a day of peace and quiet. I never get that so it's been a shock to my system. I don't have to listen to Dora and Deigo in the mornings now. I have actually even considered turning on The Today Show or something like other adults do. I'm not a big morning show person though so I have opted for reruns of Cold Case and dvr Days of Our Life. I haven't had to pause a show in 3 days though. It's crazy!!! And for next week

I'm actually gonna clean the house and not have a child behind me messing it up! Ho cool is that?!

I'm back!

My trip to Seattle was great. The flight was nice and uneventful. Jeremy was actually at the airport when got off the plane. We found our way around the state fairly easily. I didn't get to meet Tara due to a delay at the Canadian Border but I did get to talk to her on the phone. Maybe next time! We did some shopping in Seattle. Jeremy bought me a really nice handmade vase that I forgot to take pictures of. We saw the Space Needle. Of course, the only picture I took was through the dirty windshield.




We went to Mt St Helens. It was beautiful. The tree behind us was a tree that had been there the last time she irrupted in 1980 something. I also can figure out how to remove the second picture so you get 2 for 1 today. :)



Then we went to the forest to see the waterfalls. They were even more beautiful then Mt St Helens. I have learned that I have an uncontrollable fear of falling off the side of a mountain. Lucky for me there we're no guard rails most of the way through the forest. Makes it hard to enjoy the beauty around you when you have your eyes closed and are praying your husband doesn't drive you off the side onto the river below. Also lucky for me we got to pull into a little camping area and walk to the falls.




This was by the Space Needle. They have these pigs everywhere in Seattle.

I can't remember if this is Mt. Rainier or Mt. Adams. We saw both.

This was the side of another mountain I was afraid I was going to go careening over

Mt. St Helens

And Jeremy and I again at Mt. St Helens. There were tourist all over the place offering to take our picture for us.


We also went to the beach but I have no pictures because it was midnight before we found it. It was still very beautiful and I loved laying on the beach looking at the starts in the arms of the man that I love.

Jeremy took his vacation last week. We ended up taking the kids to Six Flags. We had such a good time there too. Our friend that went with us took pictures that I will post when I get them. :)

Always to much to do....

So I came home from my Mom's Sunday without any kids. My plan, clean the house. I'm still working on that. The living room does look really nice but that's about it. I had new plans added to the mix Monday and I've been a bit obsessed with them. I'm flying to Seattle Friday morning! I'll get there about 3pm and Jeremy will be picking me up from the airport. We're gonna spend time in Seattle checking things out since neither of us have ever been. Then, very exciting, on Saturday we are going to a smaller town between Seattle and Canada to meet one of my internet friends for lunch! I can't wait to meet Tara, Ken and there boys. We meet in a pregnancy group when I was pregnant with Alissa and she was pregnant with her first baby Kevin. We have been friends now for 5 years and finally get to meet in person. Very cool, hu?!
I will fly back home on Monday and then go back to my Mom's on Tuesday so I will be there with the kids for the 4th. Then we're coming home and hopefully we can have a little down time before sports start back up.

On a totally unrelated topic Alissa had a staph infection in her leg a couple of weeks ago. I kept forgetting to mention it. I'm guessing it started as a mosquito bite and when she scratched it became infected. I put neosporian on it for several days thinking maybe it was a sticker or that she was allergic to mosquito's. It would always look better in the morning but was swollen and red by bedtime so on the third day I made her a Dr. appt. for the next day. When she woke up the next morning it was so swollen it hurt her to walk on that leg and it had a huge puss filled head. I decided not to mess with it myself and let the Dr be the mean one. Of course, the thing popped about 2 hours before we went to the Dr so I kept it covered as it oozed gross stuff. So anyway the Dr squeezed all sorts of gross stuff out of my poor babies leg. Alissa was such a big girl though and tried really hard not to cry. Now 2 weeks. $70 worth of antibiotics, cream and liquid, and lots of begging to get Alissa to take the gross medi she is all healed up. I chose to mention it because it is actually a first in my mothering life. I've never dealt with this before. I actually had never considered the fact that one of my kids could get such a horrible infection from scratching a mosquito bite. I'm so glad we're past that. I'll defiantly be more vigilant about my kids washing there hands now too.

It's been forever

About a million things have happened since I last posted. School is finally over. Has been for awhile actually. We got through the 3 awards shows with Jeremy in tow. The kids all got great grades and were promoted to the next grade. Dylan was tested for Gifted and Talented and missed making in by 1 stinking point! He was also recognized for being the top AR reader in the whole 2nd grade and for missing only 1 day of school the whole year. Cassidy's birthday went off without a hitch. We had a birthday dinner at Texas Roadhouse that was excellent. We have taken a trip to Borger to see Jeremy's family, Amarillo to see mine and pick up my 7 year old cousin and Oklahoma to pick up my 16 year old sister. Jeremy left for Washington May 29th. :( My cousin stayed 2 weeks and we had a great time. My sister stayed till Sunday when I brough her home to Oklahoma. We are still in Oklahoma spending time with my Mommy. I am going home on Thursday and leaving the kids with my Mom. She's giving me a much needed break from single mommying.

I also got one piece of amazingly wonderful news from one of my forever friends. If you don't have a forever friend I suggest you get one. I actually have more then one. The one with the good news is more like a sister to me. We grew up together. We know each others secrets and fears. We can go a million years without hearing from each other but we always know that the other is there for us when we need then. So now on to the great news. Lori is going to be a Mommy!!! I am so happy for her. She's gonna be an awesome Mom. Love ya, Lori!!!

Only 3 weeks left!

The kids only have 3 weeks of school left! I keep wondering where in the world this yeaqr went to. It has really flown by. I had someone tell me the other day that the older your kids get the faster time seems to fly by. I don't like that theory. We will be keeping ourselves busy the next few weeks with field days this wednesday and friday, the zoo with Dyl's class next monday and then 3 awards ceremonies the 22nd, 23rd and 24th. Then you throw 8 more baseball games in there, yes 8 games in 3 weeks! Jeremy will be home sometime around the 17th or 18th for a little over I week I think. YAY! Oh, and we have Cass' birthday party on the 20th and her birthday on the 23rd. She'll be 7! I'm also suspose to fit a stress test in on the 16th but I think I'm gonna call and reschedule for after school is out.

This summer I have plan for the kids to go stay with my Mom. I think I will try to schedule my dentist appointments and stress test for then. I am also debating going with my aunt and her family to Colorado on there annual camping trip. I think the kids and I will go. Jeremy will be in Washington so we migh as well, right?

Nothing like a fieldtrip to keep you on your toes!

Cass, Alissa and I, and every other first grader at her school, went to the zoo today. They had the whole day planned with fun activities. First the zoo, then eating lunch at the gardens and playing on the playground. These activities were suspose to fill most of their school day. Instead, at about 11am a slight panic started working it's way through the teachers. There was a bomb threat at the airport not to far from the zoo. Because of this the school district decided to air on the side of caution and get the students back to school. I didn't mention that our school was not the only one's who were at the zoo at this time. It's a very crazy thing to round up 6 classes of first graders, 3 buses and a couple dozen parents and get them out of the zoo as quickly and calmly as possible. I must hand it to the kids though, they all did an awesome job even though they had no idea why their fun filled day was being cut 2.5 hours short.

They have concluded that the threat was a hoax. A very expensive hoax. The good thing, for the kids anyway, is that they have rescheduled their filedtrip for May 7th. Dylan's class will be going to the zoo on May 15th. Of course, I will once again be accompanying my kiddo's. Alissa will love it. Me, I'm not so sure. I think this last month of school is gonna make me a very worn out Momma!

A lot going on

There has been a lot going on here that I have failed to mention. First, Alissa got her ears pierced a couple of weeks ago. She has done really well with her pretty pink flower earrings. She didn't cry one bit when they pierced them either. I'll take pictures later. :)

Report cards came home yesterday. Of course, this has been Dylan's week. He was told Monday when he got his 220th AR point that he has the second highest amount of points in the whole school. The only kid ahead of him is a 5th grade boy! Remember Dylan is only a 2nd grader. Then he got to eat lunch in his classroom 2 days in a row. Once for perfect attendence and once for (drum roll, please) straight A's!! The girls didn't fair quite as well. Chey had all A's except spelling which was a C. She has such a hard time with spelling. Anyone have any suggestions on ways I could help her? Cass had a mix of A's and B's and (a record for my kids) one C. Chey didn't get her first C till 3rd grade and Dyl has never had a C. Knowing Dylan he'll probably have a stroke if he ever does gets a C...lol Of course, Cass is cut from the same cloth as her Daddy and could care less about that C. She's so much more laid back where school is concerned. She's popular and that's all that matters to her. :)

Scooter the wonder poodle has been back to the vet for her second set of puppy shots. It's crazy how much puppy care costs these days. In 2 visits she has cost us $200. We have one more set in about 2 weeks and we're all done with the puppy series. The housebreaking is actually going pretty well. She refuses to use the puppy pads but as long as we're good humans and take her out when we are suspose to she has no problem going outside. I took her to Petsmart to have her groomed too. The only problem is that is they did the puppy package which only consisted of a bath, brush and face trim. She's still got crazy, fuzzy fur. In two days she looked like a mess again. I'm thinking I'm gonna have to find somewhere else to take her to.

She blends into the couch. Which brings me to another thing I have forgotten to mention. I ordered new funriture in Febuary. Our couch was too small and our recliner was on it's last leg so we got a couch/loveseat set. They look like leather but they are actually microfiber. Both seats in the loveseat recline as well as both end seats on the couch. It's sooooo comfy! The only problem was that Ashley furniture hires a bunch of idiots. It took them 2 month and many calls with them telling us it would be here "next week" and Jeremy actually going in the store the Saturday before Easter to actually find out it was in Abilene. Then Jeremy had to go pick the furniture up himself. The furniture is great but the service sucks!

And I finally have those pics from last weekend (Thanks, Kelly!) and some from the little party we had for Jeremy's birthday Easter weekend. He's 31 now!

The drama queens!

My lil sis Lacie

Fake hair at Target

Lacie likes to play with my hair

Waiting for some awesome burgers

I like hats!!

Commin' and Goin's

Remember I'm a Texas. :) So in the last few weeks Easter and Jeremy have come and gone. Soccer season has just gone finally! My Mom, Step-Dad and Sister have come and gone. Twice! The second time Aunt Kelly (my 33 yr old Uncle's wife), Canton and Eriqua (there kids) came too. We have had more company in the last 2 weeks then we've had the whole 2 years we've lived here. I have had a really nice time with them too. Hopefully Kelly will send me some pictures that I can put up here. (Hint, hint!)

We still have way more baseball and gymnastics commin'. Only a month and a half of school still to come. Cass' birthday at the end of May at the skating rink is still to come. Then there's all the end of school stuff still to come like awards, field day, midnight madness for the kids with 100 AR points, ect. Dylan is already going to midnight madness. Cass has about 20 points to go to make midnight madness and we're working hard. Chey is a little over half way there and since she only has about 3 weeks to go she probably won't make it. I did promise to do something special for her at home though is she doesn't get to go. Chey started out the school year very anti-reading. It took alot to get her to come around. She now loves reading. She has come a long way, my baby. I am so proud of her, and Dyl and Cass, for what they have all done. I have such smart little cookies!

Now I feel like I'm just rambling. I'll chalk it up to the sinus illness I have been fighting all week. You never think well when your face hurts and you can't breath.

I was Tagged

By Amy, who's blog link you will not find to the right of the page because I have yet to figure out how to add links. And even though the only people I know who blog have already been tagged so I will not myself be tagging anyone I will awnser the question anyway.

Six weird things about myself

1) I'm a paranoid freak. Before I can fall asleep at night I have to check the stove/oven (even if I know I didn't use it that day) and all the door locks about 6 times. I honestly can't sleep other wise. Can we say obsessive compulsive?

2) I hate talking to strangers on the phone. Not even the pizza people. It truly freaks me out. Really I'm a therapists dream...lol

3) I can't stand to go barefoot or wear sandals. I will keep my tennis shoes and socks on until I get in my night clothes and then I have to wear my fuzzy house shoes.

4) I hate when the food on my plate touches. If it does I won't eat the part that did touch something else.

5) I eat candy bars in layers. My favorites have aways been twix and reeses. I eat the chocolate off first, then the caremel ,or pb, and the cookie last.

6) I collect stuffed Eeyore's. It was a much easier thing to do in Amarillo because we had a Disney Store. There isn't one here so Jeremy tends to bring me some home from his vast travels.

A Little Too Busy

When I said that I like things better when I'm busy I didn't mean so busy that I do't even have time to catch my breath. For the next two weeks our schedule is this: Monday-soccer pratice 5:30-6:30; Tuesday-baseball pratice 5:30-7; Wednesday-gymnastics 4-5, soccer pratice 5:30-6:30, Thursday & Friday-baseball pratice 5:30-7; Saturday- soccer game. Then you have the make-up gymnastics this Friday that just happens to overlap Dylan's pratice (thank God for friends who don't mind picking your kids up), Opening Cermonies for baseball this Saturday from 10-1 and baseball games starting this Friday. I'm not sure if Dylan's first game is Friday evening or Saturday since we have yet to recieve schedules. We may well have a game instead of pratice. The light at the end of the tunnell? Chey only has 2 more weeks of soccer. Her last game is April 7th. Yes, they are making them play on Easter weekend. Jeremy will even be home that weekend to celebrate Easter with us. Dylan has 16 games this season. If you don't hear from me till May you'll know we got submerged in Little Leauge.

On a totally unrelated note the car dealer is installing the dvd player in my new Durango today! YAY! Now I can be an even worse mother and set the girls in the car with a movie when they start driving me crazy at baseball pratice....lol

It's good to be spoiled every now and then

Jeremy came home on the 9th. We has here until yesterday. Lucky for us last week was also Spring Break. We decided to take a spur of the moment trip t San Antonio. We took the kids to the zoo, which is huge! We walked the River Walk (soooo cool), went to see the Alamo, ate at the Hard Rock Cafe, took the River Walk boat tour and went to the River Walk Mall. We had a really good time and wished we could have stayed longer.

When we got home the kids and I all got spoiled rotten. I got a haircut, my new red microwave, coffee maker (also red), vacuum (all of which I needed). I also got that new car I have been wanted for a while now. It's so nice!

Now if we can just get the old one sold. I also got a new cell phone but only because my old one had been dropped and was in two pieces.

The kids got to play mini-golf twice, Dyl got a new baseball glove, Chey got heelys, Cass got a pretty pink leotard for when she starts gymnastics this wednesday an Alissa got a new puppy. Scooter is a miniature poodle. Alissa told her Daddy she wanted a dog that would stay small because Hawk knocks her down. Of course, we had to run right out and get Scooter a pretty collar and matching leash, lots of toys and puppy treats and a soft bed. Like the kids she is also spoiled rotten. She sleeps in my bed!

Isn't she cute!

Of course these are only a few examples of the many treats the kids and I got while Jeremy was home. Think someone feels bad for being gone?! If I can ever figure out how to get the pics off my phone I'll post those.

75

My Grandpa would have turned 75 today. Two years ago today I sat with my family in the waiting room on the CCU floor listening to my family debate whether or not he was going to wake up and why we shouldn't let him go. I had my own set of opinions but I'm only a grandchild so they didn't really count. Personally I didn't think there could be much better birthday present then going home to be with you son, my Uncle Travis, and you Savior on you birthday. I can honestly say that week of my life was one of the very toughest I have ever had to go through. One of the worst things anyone could ever have to do is set around and watch someone you love lay unconscious, in pain, hovering near death for days. The other worst thing, having to be a part, even a small part, of the decision to let that person go. Thursday will be two years to the day that my Grandpa was moved to hospice and my family and I sat and watched him slip away. I want to tell him that I'm sorry if he had to suffer all those days that he laid there with all those machines hooked up to him. I want to tell him that I miss him. Most of all I want to tell him that I love him. Happy birthday, Grandpa.

And off we go

Soccer season has officially started. Chey had her first game today on 40 degree weather. Of course, we all froze our hineys off. The girls played really well even though they lost by one goal. It's not at all a reflection of how good they played as a team. Chey took a ball to face and we will have to go see about having her glasses straightened but she got right back out on the field and played like a champ. Dylan will start baseball pratice the week after spring break. So from now until the end of the school year we will be running from pratice to pratice and game to game like crazy people. Funny thing is I think I like it. It's good to be busy. Hopefully I will remember the camera for Chey's game tomorrow. They really did all do a great job.

Even better then that is that Chey has made some really good friends through her team. There are twins Madison and Mackinzie who also go to shcool with here. Every weekend for a month they have been together either at our house, the twins Mother's or the twins Father's. They really are becomming inseperable. It's good to have friends like that. I know, I had a best friend like that growing up. It makes me so glad we moved here.

Lazy

Boy, oh boy, have I been lazy since Jeremy has been gone. If no one keeps track of that it's about 6 months now he been working everywhere but here. My weight as gotten totally out of hand. That definitely doesn't help my blood pressure. I'm hate taking medication for it too. My only other option is to lose weight. I have started exercising again which in turn makes me feel so much better, go figure. :) I got me an American Heart Association cookbook so that I can get back on track in the food department too. Apparently I should be eating fish twice a week for a healthier heart. I am one of those people who form opinions about things, such as fish, by look, smell or sometimes the sheer sliminess of the thing while it's alive. Once I form these opinions I'm pretty well dead set on them whether I have ever tasted any form of the thing or not. Which would explain why I have never so much as tasted a fish that hasn't come from Long John Silver's. So if anyone has any fish wisdom they would be willing to share with me I would greatly appreciate it. :) Now I have to go find some way to make my thighs and bum quit hurting from the afore mentioned exercising.

200 day

Dylan has told numerous people this morning that today is 200 day. It's a very exciting day. My son will today get his 200th Accelerated Reader point. Being the reading love that I am I'm horribly proud of his accomplishment. That's A LOT of books. Most at only 1 point a piece. His teacher has promised to take him out to lunch and I have decided that we will have a celebratory dinner at Abuelo's Mexican Restraunt tonight. He is still has the most points of all 2nd graders. And to brag on the girls, both Chey and Cass are the top girl readers in their class. My kids are such smart cookies. :)

Surprises

The bright side of Jeremy not being here on Valentine's Day? I get people on my doorstep at 5pm bearing beautiful white roses. Good thing there my favorite!

Life is good

Or at least it was this weekend. Jeremy got to come home for a few days and the world was at peace again. Well, ok maybe not the world but our house was. We had fun, I slept well and we spent way too much money. I think Jeremy feels like that makes up some for him being gone. If I ever remember to get stinking batteries I will add some pictures of McSquizy and Alissa's new cowgirl boots. Truely money well spent, for the boots I mean. She wears them everywhere. Her tennis shoes she wanted to kick off as soon as she could and we hardly ever knew where both of them where. Boots are much easier to spot! :)

SO Wishywashy

When I left the house this morning I had every intention of returning with a new microwave. Ours now does some freaky, potentially fire inducing stuff when we use it. :) They had one I wanted on sale at Target. Of course, they didn't have any in stock. So I didn't come home with a new microwave.



I did however come home with this......


Alissa and I decided we would go to the pet store, not PetSmart, and see what they had. We fell in love with this little super-mini sheepdog/taupe cross. We named her Quepi. She's really good with all the kids and might actually end up liking us at some point. We're headed back tomorrow to pick up her(we don't actually know if she's a her but we're calling her that anyway) buddy McSguizy. I didn't want to get more then one until I had everything set up and functioning. The kids all pulled together though, Dylan found $20 laying in the street today and Chey and Cass pitched in, so that they could pay for him themselves. McSquizy is already picked out. He came to the edge of the cage to make friends with Alissa to day. He's so cute and his hair sticks up all over the place just like Alissa's....lol When we get him home and I find the new batteries for my camera I'll add some pictures of him. :)

Rough Week

Last week was one of those weeks I didn't want to get out of bed. I was sick and tired and depressed. It's never fun being sick but was the kind of sick where you don't even want to get out of bed because it would require you to move. I finally started feel better yesterday and all the kids are well so hopefully we got the sickies out of our systems.

There are many things that contributed to my depression. First, missing Jeremy and the daily trials of being alone with 4 kids. Then on the 21st there was a drive by shooting on the other side of town. The first thing of it's sort to happen since we moved here. Some young punks put over 20 bullet holes into a familys home. There were 9 people asleep in that home. Tragically the only person hit by a bullett was a 4 year old girl asleep in her bed in her room in the front of the house. She was killed instantly. She was Alissa's age. This poor baby girl had her life stolen from her by some idiots who "were just tring to scare them". How a tragidy like that could not effect any parent I don't know but it makes me want to cry ever time I think about it. I definanlty hug my babies a little bit tighter now days.

Then Friday I got a call telling me that a very close friend of the family, Jeremy's Grandma's best-friend, had passed away from complications of cancer. Cancer seems to be doing a lot of taking lately. My heart and prayers go out to everyone who has been effected by cancer in any way.

Proud Momma

The kids got their report cards yesterday. Dylan had all A's and B's, he let his spelling grade slip this 6's weeks or it would have been all A's as usual. Cass had all A's and B's also except in PE where she got an L which means limited progress. I always knew she wasn't my jock. :) The best part though was Cheyenne's report card. She has struggled so much with her spelling since we moved here, it wasn't stressed at their school in Amarillo. Finally for the first time this year she got it above a C. An 86 to be exact. That's a high B! I am so proud of her! Then theirs the little pat on the back for me. I knew my kids had not missed very many days of school but had thought they had each missed between 2-3 due to illness. Not so, Dylan and Cass have only missed one day of school this year! Chey did miss 3 because she had some mystery illness back around her birthday that lingered forever. Anyway, the fact that I have been up and gotten my kids out of the house, none of them have missed the same day, every single day of this school year makes me feel pretty good about the job I'm doing going it alone. Add to that how good their grades are and that makes me one very proud Momma!