Saturday, December 27, 2008

PICTURES!!



These are the ONLY 2 good pictures of Eddie! Poor baby! He was shivering and shaking so bad! I didn't think there would be any good ones!
Tommy had a lot of cute pics. This is the only one where he is smiling and looking directly at the camera.


Anna had a TON of great pictures. This is one of many.



The family pics didn't turn out 100% great, but they're good enough. It was a REALLY cold day, and Anna had a melt-down. You can see it in her face that she's about to break-down. All photos are courtesy of Photos by Missy.




Not so good....




Here are the not-so-good pictures. Enjoy!

Friday, December 26, 2008

A Christmas Wrap-Up

Well, Christmas wasn't exactly what I had planned, but it was fine. Tommy is STILL sick today, poor kid! He actually fell asleep at 5 last night, woke up at 8 to vomit, and went back to sleep. He threw up again this morning. He's been a little lethargic, but he's had fun playing with his and Eddie's toys. I had to wake him up yesterday to see his Santa presents, and he just looked at his fabulous new bike, went promptly to the matchbox sized Dirt Track Lightning, tore it open, and carried it around with him ALL DAY. He ignored his bike for the rest of the day! Eddie didn't, though. He loved it! We gave him rides on it around the house, and he cried when we put it in the garage! Anna was hilarious when she saw her Santa presents! She came into our room saying "oh my gosh! I think I'm going to faint! I am going to faint!" She got an American girl doll and bed. It was Samantha who is being retired this year. She loves that doll, but unfortunately, Tommy grabbed her leg and yanked, and now it's dangling. She will have to go to the doll hospital soon to get fixed. Anna won't part with her just yet, so it may be a while. Danny and I were both thinking alike when we bought one of our gifts for each other! I gave him an FC Dallas jersey, and he got me a Kenny Cooper t-shirt! I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas! Unfortunately, I am lame and didn't take any pictures yesterday.

Thursday, December 25, 2008

You're Un-Invited!

Okay, you know how I invited you all to my house today? Well, Tommy just threw up his breakfast, so y'all are now un-invited for the sake of your families! Have a Merry Christmas!

Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Anyone want some dessert?

Hello everyone! For all of those who read my blog, you are invited to my house on Christmas day for some dessert! We have nowhere to go, no families to see, and we'll be home all day, so we'd like to see you! Come by around 6:30-7pm, and share some yummy treats with us! If no one comes, then we'll just have to eat it all ourselves! Yum!

Monday, December 22, 2008

Hallelujah!

I had to speak in church yesterday,and I'm SO GLAD that it's over! I've been worrying about it for the past 10 days! I feel so free and relaxed, even though I have five loads of laundry to do, a house to clean, gifts to wrap AND buy, cookies to make, gingerbread houses to build, and grocery shopping to do! I don't mind all of that stuff. I DO mind standing in front of hundreds of people and speaking, especially at Christmas, even if it was for only 10 minutes! I was a nervous wreck, my voice trembled the entire time, and I spoke too fast, but I think I did okay. Sigh...it's over and I'm happy!

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

BRRRR!!




Yeah! Snow! Oh, wait..... is that ice? Yep. It's ice, and it caused MISD to be shut down today! Yuck! Plano wasn't shut down, or even delayed. What's up with that?! The kids loved staying home, but I was not prepared to have them home today! I was supposed to teach, but with the roads being so bad, there was no way that my baby-sitter would make it here in time, and no way I could get to school in time! It took Danny almost an hour to get to school, and 20 minutes was spent just trying to get to 121! (It usually takes less than 5 min.) So, we stayed inside all day with Tommy BEGGING to go out and play in the "snow". I finally took him out and made him realize that it was NOT fun stuff to play with! Our alley is still iced over, but our street isn't too bad. Oh, there's a smudge on my camera lens that I forgot to clean off before I took the pictures. Kind of annoying, but the batteries died, so this is the best you'll get!

Friday, December 12, 2008

It's not ALL bad....

So, besides me having an awful cough, AND pink eye, (yeesh! can't I get a break with the sicknesses?!) there has been some good news over here. Danny, as most of you know, has been having some drama at this school where he teaches. He has not been permanently promoted to the head band director position, but he will hold the position until the end of the school year. They will interview for it at the begininng of the summer, and if he does a great job this year, then he's basically guaranteed the job. Since he is the head band director right now he will get the extra stipend! Yeah! This was decided just a couple of days ago and Danny will be compensated from the day that Mr. Colodney retired, which was way back in October! It's not a ton of extra money, but anything extra is great!

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

A Teaching First

I had NO students make an All-Region Band! I'm a little frustrated, and disappointed, but I did all that I could with my kids. I can't remember the last time I didn't have any student make it!

I'm also very worried about one of my students. She is my only HS senior, and I've been teaching her for 5 years. She was on track to make State, but fell WAY short in her audition. She's been acting really weird lately, and missed our lesson yesterday with no phone call! I found out from her mom today that she skipped school yesterday, and without my phone call asking where she was, she would have NEVER known. Sigh... She's not my child, but I've known her for so long, and have taught her almost every week (even during the summer), I've grown attached, and I worry about her.

Also, my favorite student from Hendrick MS is moving to Arlington! I know, I shouldn't have favorites, but she's is just so happy all the time, and is such a joy to work with! I was so sad when she told me yesterday that it would be our last lesson! I will really miss her. She gave me a huge hug as she left, and I almost cried!

Man, it seems like I only have bad news today! Next semester will be better....I hope.

Monday, December 08, 2008

Sick, sick, sick.

Yep. That's my house lately. It all started last Wednesday with Eddie vomiting and other yuck, and continued for 3 very long days, one of which was my birthday!. On my birthday, I got thrown up on, then had to take the poor kid to the doctor because he's so little, 3 days of vomiting is not good, and ended up not feeling that great the next morning. Surprise, surprise. I judged All-Region band auditions for NINE HOURS that day (Saturday) all the while I was feeling cold, then hot, then cold, and my stomach was aching! It didn't hit until Sunday, and I'm still not 100% today (I'm so tired!), and I've got to judge AGAIN tonight! Now, I don't want to complain about judging because they do pay me, unlike all the band directors who have to do it for FREE! Tommy was sick, but he was over it so fast, Danny, too! Lucky. Anna, knock on wood, has not gotten sick, and I hope it stays that way! She's a great hand-washer and has stayed as far away from us sickies as possible. The only upside to all of this is that I've lost 5 pounds in the last 2 days!

Friday, December 05, 2008

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!

Even though today was not the greatest, I do have a wonderful husband who loves me and takes very good care of me!

Monday, December 01, 2008

My Review


So, during the last couple of weeks of November, I decided to read the Twilight series. At first, I had no interest in it, but everyone around me had read it, or was in the process, so I decided to give it a try. I borrowed some books from various friends, and read the entire series in about 5 days. I loved books 1-3! There was a lot of background and character development in the first 2/3 of the book, and the last 1/3 had a lot of action! It was great. I didn't like the repetition throughout the books, though. I swear, Stephanie Meyer said the same thing a billion different times, and it drove me nuts! Each book could have been at least 50 pages shorter had she have gotten to the point!


The last book....hmmm...where do I start? I liked it, but it could have been SO much better! I didn't like the whole Jacob section, and I think the book would have been better without it. She could have written a completely separate book, and elaborated more with that Jacob portion of the book! There was a lot of character development and storyline introduction that went on during that section, that was never really resolved! I felt like she had a lot of story left to write, but she tried to shove it into one last book. I think she should have made the last book into 2 much better written books, instead of one hastily written one. It was a great story, but so much went on that it would have been better if she developed the plot a little more.


Overall, the story was great. I loved the dynamics of the characters and the idea behind it was really good. I just wish it were a little better written. I guess I'm a snob when it comes to that. I can blame it on my newspaper journalist/editor mother, my college writing classes, and my publishing editor sister-in-law! Besides the writing flaws, I am looking forward to Midnight Sun when it comes out!