Little Miss Mia (and a Purple Viking)

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



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

Questions to Ponder...

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


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

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

What disease did cured ham actually have?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Just my kids

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

Gulling anyone??

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



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



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

***UPDATE***

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

Grey Wolves Shout Out Time

I had to take the time to give a shout out to Marc's team. As of today, they are ranked #13 in the state in class 5A! He's enjoying it today, because who knows what tomorrow's game could do to that ranking. Way to go guys!

Our Family's Fantastic Friday

What a good day for the Minatrea family! Each of us had a shining moment today, so I wanted to share!

Mia - She is 10 months old today! She had a doctor appointment to check if her ear infection is finally gone, and her ears are good.

Luke - I picked him up from school today and Ms. Kuehl told me to check his report card. He had great improvements since his last one 9 weeks ago. He was tested earlier this week and he spoke loudly and answered all of his questions. Now, that may not seem like a big deal if you aren't aware that my child is very shy and shuts down when it comes to talking to other people. Then Ms. Kuehl said that his BIG test came today. He was the lunch helper, and the class was short one sandwich, so she sent Luke to ask the cook for another one, and he actually delivered the message! What a huge step for him. I'm a very proud mom right now.

Me - We had a short staff meeting today and my principal said she wanted to recognize a few people for their good works. She gave out 5 certificates, and I was the fifth one. She told everyone that I've taken on 2 new teachers to mentor, am helping out the other new teacher on my grade level, and I still ask her what else I can do with a smile on my face. I was pretty touched to be singled out like that in from of the whole staff, and it really made my day!

Marc -Marc played Ellison, another Killeen school, tonight. That is the school he was the assistant at a few years ago. Ellison was undefeated in district games, and is always a hard team to beat. It was a low scoring game, and Shoemaker was down 10 points at the half, and it wasn't looking good. Then one of his players got fouled shooting a 3 pointer, and immediately after that call, the other team got a technical. The player made 4 of the 5 points, and that turned the game around, and Shoemaker had a huge win in the end! My throat is actually hurting from yelling so much, and Marc's dad commented that I scared Mia at one point. But it's all worth it to finally get a win against such a good team. I feel like it's Marc's best win ever.

What a good day. Now it's not even 9:00, and we are all home and exhausted, but feeling very content. I hope everyone else had a wonderful day too.

P.S. Luke starts soccer very soon, and as of a few hours ago, guess who will be his coach??

I love my puffs!

Mia is finally successful in eating her little puffs. After the first tries at home where she gagged and threw up, I turned the task over to her teachers! After all, they feed babies for a living. With just three days at school last week, she now eats them by the handful. I couldn't resist taking some photos last night of her eating. And by the way, the jar says the serving size is 80 puffs! Does any baby need to eat 80 of anything at one sitting???







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(Fake) Ice Skating

While the cousins visited over break, we had made plans to check out Killeen's new synthetic ice rink. We were all looking forward to it, but it wasn't quite what we expected. First of all, we were so hot, and had to work really hard to just stand and not fall. Some people gave up quickly. Marcus showed us all his graceful side with some great one legged skating tricks. I was very impressed that Luke took off on his own and was able to stay up - more than I can say for me. I never actually fell, but also never ventured far from the edge either!! I don't know if I captured it on film, but Amy had a great fall. I'm not sure that we'll be going back there any time soon, but Brenda and I did talk about checking out the REAL ice rink in Austin sometime.

Luke and Mommy getting used to the "ice"


Luke on his own


Grandpa, Carsyn, and Jenna... Um, taking a break? (sounds nicer than saying they all fell!)


Carsyn "helping" Luke skate

How to be as cool as me...

Ok fellow bloggers, I've already had one request for info on the new look of my blog. I can't take the credit for being tech savvy enough to find it on my own. I was viewing my friend Jill's blog and was very envious of her cute purple swirly blog, then I noticed a link on top of hers, so I clicked, and found probably thousands of options for a blog design! So, if you want to try something new, click on the orange link on the top of my blog, and it'll take you to a site where you can find them, and gives you very easy to follow directions. Check it out!