Super Sunday

Yesterday was one of those really busy, but really great days as I look back on it. It started with church. Luke attended VBS for the first time last week, and while so excited, it took me an hour with him before he'd stay and not follow me out, crying. In the end, he loved it and was so excited to go each day. (And I have to say, as far as VBS goes, I am super impressed! We paid $5, but ended up with a tshirt, tons of great crafts, and a CD of all the songs which he loves!!) Anyhow, the kids were to wear their shirts to church and sing yesterday. Simple enough, but not for my child. We talked a lot about going up there, and even if he didn't want to sing, just try it and go up. After a very brief hesitation, he sat with all the other kids, then went up when it was time to sing and sang all 3 songs with motions! I will admit, I got tears in my eyes. People probably thought I was nuts, but it was such a big deal for him to do that and I was just so proud!

After church, we went to feed the ducks at the nearby pond. Mia had a big day too, because she wore a bow for the first time! I bought some Saturday that stay in her hair, as long as she doesn't pull them out! She looked so cute in her yellow dress from grandma and grandpa and her yellow bow, standing by the duck pond!






I then took Luke to the new splash pad in Belton, Tx. I'd heard about it since they put in in last year but thought I'd check it out. It's free, and meant for littler kids. I was quite impressed, and Luke had a blast! So I think we can put that on our list of things to do again this summer.




After the splash pad, Luke was a trooper and drove by many new houses with me and checked out the model homes. We did find another good option - a house partially built in an area we love (White Rock) that will be ready in a few months. The great thing is that this builder said we can still choose everything for inside even though it's started already, and they'll even put in fans and blinds if we need them to. Plus, a big back yard, already sodded, fenced, and with sprinkler. So that's at the top of my list. Now, to just sell this house...

Luke grew sunflowers from seeds at school this year. One died quickly, but we were pretty excited to see the other one bloom this week!


This last photo was from Saturday night. In a nutshell, mom was gone, dad was in the attic, and Luke decided to give Mia his chocolate milkshake.
So that was our Sunday!

This is Heelarious!

Check these out... Jill and Doug, I think Alexandra needs a pair of these!



http://www.heelarious.com/index.php

F-I-V-E

Happy fifth birthday Luke!!





And a few outtakes of my silly boy pretending to be 1 and 10!

Photos, Photos, and More Photos!

Well, I got a new camera today, so I am able to post photos, and I have plenty to post, so here goes...



Outside the hotel in San Antonio



Cooling off in the fountain outside Mi Tierra in San Antonio



This photo is very special to me, as it's the last one I took right before my camera broke. So, technically, I could say Carsyn broke my camera. Luke was afraid of the penguins, so that's why she's alone in the photo!


While the kids were riding rides, Mia hung out with Nonno in the foam play area.


Feeding sea lions





Carsyn and Luke loved this roller coaster... if you look closely, you can see Luke in front of the large afro!


Sweaty kids, waiting for the Shamu show!




The next few photos are in the kids' play area at the end of the day. They were so good all day and so hot, so I let them go in the water area in their clothes right before going home. Then you can see that Marc joined in the fun at the end!




These last photos I took today, testing out the new Nikon Coolpix plum colored camera. This is my new toy - I got a giftcard for mother's day that I decided to spend on an ipod speaker system, and love it!

Luke spent his toys r us card from grandma and grandpa on a new leapster game and have been stuck to it ever since we got home!

And then there's Mia... she's been a mess this week. Constantly crying and whining and we're not really sure why. So this photo shows how she's been the past few days.




And finally, this is our newest addition to our front yard!!

Sea World

We are home from our mini vacation! We had a good time at Sea World, despite the really hot day! The worst part of our trip was that my camera broke as soon as we got inside Sea World. I did put my media card in Marc's mom's camera so I managed to still take some photos, but now i have no way to put them on the computer until I get a new camera. So they will be coming another day...

Today I took Mia for her 15 month appt and she's finally gained 2 pounds! After that I stopped by Ashley Furniture just to look around and ended up buying a table. It's a dark wood counter height table with bar stools. Can't wait till it gets here... but as of right now, it may not arrive until mid July! That's not a big deal, except we're having a garage sale next Saturday and may sell our table at it, so we may be table-less for most of the summer.

And the last bit of news is that I think we're meeting with a realtor tomorrow to decide if we put our house up for sale or not! I'll let you all know what we decide later. Sorry for no photos - they'll be put on here as soon as I find a way to do it!

It's Officially Summer!

What a week! The past 7 days have been very busy, eventful, and tiring. I'm still struggling to get enough rest and this week hasn't been restful at all! The best news is that school is finally over. Luke is pretty excited that the next time he goes to school, it'll be at Mommy's school! Lsat Sunday Mia took enough "first steps" for me to finally get a photo, and it was well worth the wait! She seems to love to walk with flip flops on her hand... maybe it helps with balance? Last Sunday afternoon was Luke's birthday party at Wazoo's, our inflatable jumping place. We had his party early so some school kids could make it. He had a Little Einsteins theme, and once again, everyone was quite impressed with the cake lady's talents. We are taking our first mini-vacation starting tomorrow. We are going to San Antonio, where Marc's family will meet us, and headed to Sea World Tuesday. I have to admit, I'm as excited as Luke to go! We decided to ask Carsyn to come along with us, so that'll add to the fun I'm sure. And a special shout out goes to uncle Sudsy - we will be eating at Mi Tierra Monday night. For those of you that have heard the story, that is the place where Luke threw a fork at Sudsy's head when we met them there a few years ago! We'll be thinking of you...

Mia's First Steps


Wazoo's Birthday Party






Luke with Carsyn and Josh, his "best buddy" from daycare


Mia slept late all week, so I didn't get to see her before leaving for work. This is how I found her sleeping one day earlier this week

Top moments from this week

This has been a crazy week, full of highs and lows, so I'll quickly recap for you:

7.Sunday night, a group of coworkers got together at my friend Mandy's ranch and had a potluck BBQ. We had a good time, and Luke loved playing with other kids and opened up to some adults and talked.

6. Luke started his new class Tuesday, which is considered kindergarten at his daycare. He feels so big and important now that he's in kindergarten already! The best part is that he no longer naps, so as soon as he got home Tuesday, he fell asleep in his chair.

5. My knee has been hurting off and on for over a month, so after waking up at 2:00 this morning in a great deal of pain, I finally went in today. I'm very happy to know it's not as bad as it feels - it's an inflamed bursa sack (didn't know I had one) and with a month of meds and rest, it should get better. If not, I just have to go in and get a shot in the knee, and that'll do the trick. As long as their is relief in sight, I'm happy!

4. I got my money for mentoring two teachers this past year on Thursday. Well, I got paid for one and a half, because I'm still mentoring one until January. So after taxes, I got over $900! Nice extra pay to start off the summer...

3. One word - CRICUT. If you're a scrapper, you may know what it is. I've been eyeing it for a while, and once my pay went in Thursday, I went to hobby lobby and bought it! It's pretty cool - just haven't had the time to check it out. And to go with that, I made my first ebay purchase this week - and it was for a cricut cartridge. I felt pretty powerful winning my ebay bidding war in the last few seconds.

2. Tonight we went to Pluckers, a new wing restaurant that is opening on Tuesday. Marc was selected to go eat for free on their training night tonight and up to 4 people could go. So we packed up the fam tonight, ate among tons of KISD employees, and had a great, way too filling and fattening free meal! Good stuff.

And the #1 highlight (or should I say lowlight??) from the week goes as follows:
I was in the hall with my friend Camill, who also teaches 3rd grade. A prek class, taught by my friend Ms. Cuevas, was walking by and a little boy (who happens to be the grandson of our custodian) looked at me and Camill and said to Camill, "Is she your granny?" in reference to me! So maybe I'm no spring chicken these days, but a granny??? I had to admit after feeling a bit depressed for a second, that I got a good laugh out of it... and as word spread, so did many other coworkers, especially the custodian!

Hope you had a good week too!

Like father, like son

Monday, Marc went out to mow the lawn and Luke usually goes out to play while he is mowing. I peeked out the front window to see what Luke was doing, and this is what I saw:

Class of 2008

Today Luke graduated. When he woke up today, he walked in the bathroom and asked me, "Do you know what special day today is??" I knew he was very excited about graduating!! The kids all looked so cute in their graduation caps! Luke didn't like his much, so towards the end it had to come off in photos. Marc missed the ceremony due to being out of town, so I focused more on the video than the photos, but did get some of Luke and his classmates. There were lots of tears from the teacher, kids, and parents. Ms. Kuehl was such an incredible teacher, truly being patient with Luke's shyness and she did wonders with him. Each child wrote a "speech" that they were to read at graduation. They could write about whatever they wanted, and draw a picture. Ms. Kuehl and I were both suprised and very proud when Luke's turn came, and in front of probably 30+ adults, he read his speech aloud! It was very simple... "Off and on." I'm sure there's a deep meaning to his words in there for you all to ponder, but he drew a road and sky and water. I'll let you analyze what Luke wanted you to learn from his speech! I was disappointed though when he read his speech - as I took the photo, a boy stood up and got in the way, and then he was done. Enjoy the other photos from his big day!

13 more days...

It's Sunday evening, and I'm just dreading Monday morning arriving, but am taking joy in the fact that after tomorrow, I only have one more Monday of this school year! And it'll be quite a Monday too... I get the math TAKS scores first thing in the morning.

We ended up spending most of the weekend in Bryan at Marc's parents' house. We went Friday, stopped there briefly, then all drove to Houston to go to the cemetery where Nonni was buried. We went back to Bryan after that and planned to leave Saturday morning, but I think we all just needed a little more time together. Friday night we all went to the park, even Molly, and I tried to capture some photos of the kids (and by kids, I mean Luke, Mia, and Nonno!) playing and just having fun! Saturday the girls went to the mall for a while, and then we left this morning.

And in other news, Mia took what I'm calling her first steps tonight! Ok, so maybe she was just on her way to falling down and it took a few extra steps to do so, but they looked like real steps to me!!






Mia loved the tunnels, but this one was very hilly, and she got stuck trying to get up the hill!


Luke loves checking out Nonno's garden - they picked some fresh zucchini for mom to take home and make bread!


Peek a boo! This is from a few days ago, just showing Mia's talent of carrying things around in her mouth!

Hey everyone!

Well, I know I've been missing for a while, so I wanted to take a few minutes to give an update on everything going on with us.
First of all, Marc's grandmother, also known to Luke as "Old Nonni", passed away this week. She was such a neat lady. I loved how her face lit up when she saw Luke and Mia. It was so easy to tell how much she loved her great grandkids. It's been a hard week for everyone, so keep us all in your thoughts and prayers.

In other news, I am pretty much back to 100% health. I still crash exhausted once in a while, but otherwise doing just fine.

We are anxiously awaiting the end of the school year. This year we get out so much later, but still, only 15 days left!! There is an end in sight... We don't have any real plans for the summer, but I'm sure we'll manage to plan a trip or two sometime in there.

As for the kids, here's what they are up to:
Luke - We are planning his 5th birthday party! Hard to believe he's almost 5. He "graduates" next Friday from pre-k. He is getting excited about coming to Mommy's school every day and being in Ms. Gonder's class. Next year, my friend Ginny will most likely be his teacher, and her daughter will be in my 3rd grade class! He is working hard on overcoming his shyness. He is earning stickers every time he speaks to someone that normally he wouldn't, and working towards some fabulous prize when he gets his sticker chart full. He is growing up so much. Instead of falling asleep to cartoons or a movie, the other night he asked to put on the Astros game. He is really enjoying watching sports with daddy, and learning a lot about the teams. I guess a love of sports was inevitable as long as Marc was around him!

Mia - Well, she's just our crazy little one. Still not walking on her own, but getting very close. Her favorites/tricks right now are singing the Itsy Bitsy Spider, sneaking in the bathroom and trying to play in toilets, putting blankets, toys, etc on her head as a hat, climbing onto the coffee table, playing with Luke's trains, carrying things in her mouth (toys, blankets) as she crawls or walks around the house, and telling us constantly that she wants to eat in sign language. And, she is finally getting hair!!

I won't take up any more of your time, but wanted to update the world on our family. I hope everyone had a great Mother's Day!!

O-R-E-O

Saturday night we were all in the mood for some cookies, so Marc bought us some double stuff oreos. Mia had never had one, but loved it! I guess I didn't think ahead about how messy a 13 month old with an oreo could be!

Sick again

This family can't seem to stay healthy this year. It seems like once one person gets well, someone else gets sick. Mia was sent home Friday with a fever, and she ended up with an outer ear infection and sore throat and cold, and $97 worth of meds! Saturday I woke up with a fever, and was either freezing or sweating all day. Yesterday I thought I'd be better, but no luck there. Today I planned to go to work no matter what, because next week is the math TAKS test and I need to be with my kids. But I woke up with another fever and an extremely sore throat, so I skipped work and went to the doctor. Glad I did, because I have strep and mono. I really hope the steroids and meds kick in quickly so I can get to work to help the kids cram for their math test. The good news is that Mia seems to have responded well to her meds and is doing much better.

House Hopes

I found it. The house I want. It doesn't look like other houses in Killeen. It has 4 bedrooms, 3 full baths, and a bonus room above the garage - perfect for ALL the kids' toys (and for Marc when I need a break!!)
So now we have to decide if we want to seriously pursue it or not. But I really love it. And it has a red front door. Marc claims that's not a reason to buy a new house, but I think it helps...kind of like the cherry on top of a sundae!

Look down...

Not sure why, but I finally published my Easter photos, and it appeared a few entries down, so scroll down for Easter pics of my kids!

Baby Jack

My friend and college roommate Darcy had her baby last night. They are both doing well. I wanted to put this on my blog to ask that you all keep her and baby Jack in your thoughts and prayers. Her husband was killed a few months ago, so she is going through this wonderful experience without her husband, and I can't imagine how hard that is for her. Thanks.

Color blind?

It's late, and I know I need to be asleep, but I am online researching color blind tests. Now, anyone who knows me well would know that I know my colors and am big on matching - things have to be just the right shades to go together, and I feel that I am quite good at my color matching skills! Anyhow, recently I had my eye exam for contacts, and I get a bit stressed every time I have to go. Since my first eye exam when I guess I was in 7th grade, I have failed the color blind tests. You know those circles of dots? Well, in many, I see nothing. And once again, I failed it. So I got online tonight to try to figure out why I fail those tests. I made Marc come over and look at the dots, and he saw things I didn't. It really frustrated me, to not understand why I see nothing, but seem to know and see all my colors well. It's a lot less common for women to be color blind than men. I know there are lots of variations of it, and I read that it can be inherited. So family members, anyone else out there ever fail it? And if you're not sure what I'm talking about, then you must have good vision. You can go to the following site to take a mini-test. Let me know if anyone else has issues... I'm just frustrated about it all right now!!


http://colorvisiontesting.com/online%20test.htm#demonstration%20card