"Vacation" Day 2 - Friday

Day 2: We ate breakfast at the hotel, and headed on out to the best place in the world for kids in San Antonio - the Children's Museum, but first, here's the view from our hotel room. Not pretty.

The children's museum was awesome! The kids LOVED it and did not want to leave! We stayed for 2 hours and left at lunch time when they were getting tired and hungry.



There were 3 floors to the museum, so I abandoned the stroller and followed Eddie around, and up and down!

Anna and Tommy both agreed that the kids' market was the best part of the museum!

You could scan all of the items and the price and name of the item showed up on the computer screen, just like at a real grocery store. Anna loved playing cashier.

Eddie found a computer and went right to work instant messaging gibberish to the person on the other side.

The kids also loved the virtual reality drum game!

No, that's not real milk that Anna's getting out of that cow. It was just water, but it was fun!

We went back to the convention and hung around for a couple of hours on the convention floor checking out some more vendors. The kids got kazoos from one vendor and when we got back to the hotel room, the kids formed a kazoo band.

Eddie thought the kazoo was hilarious and each time he made a sound with it, he would laugh hysterically!

We spent the afternoon in the hotel room resting, playing, and watching cartoons. Around 6pm, though, things went bad. Really bad. Eddie was playing on the bed with Tommy, when he just threw up. All over Anna's blanket. Eddie was not feeling well at all, and it just came on so quickly! I washed Anna's and Eddie's blankets in the sink, and luckily, there was a laundry facility at the hotel, so I put them in the dryer. Around that time Anna realized that she didn't pack any underwear! She had a complete melt-down, and I had to wash the ones that she was wearing. It was a hard evening. Danny got back and we ordered pizza and relaxed. The kids crashed fast and hard, and we all got to sleep early!

"Vacation" Day 1 - Thursday

This is Danny's year for the school to pay for him to go to the TMEA (Texas Music Educators Association) Convention in San Antonio. I thought it would be a great idea to take the kids with us and make a little vacation out of it. I honestly don't know what I was thinking.

This is day one:

We woke up at 5am, got showered and ready and hit the road by 6am. We got to my mom's at 7:30 to pick up some snacks and a pack-n-play and left at 8. The kids were fine in the car for a while until about 2 hours in our drive when Eddie was complaining about the sun in his face. We didn't have any window shades so we decided to stop at Wal-Mart in Waco and get some. The people in Waco were SO nice! There was a sweet old lady who parked next to us and she just loved the kids! She told us that they reminded her of her grandkids who moved to Germany. Some people were a bit TOO nice. Me, Anna, and Eddie got stopped by this crazy man at the door who insisted on giving Eddie a 5 dollar bill to put in the collection bin for some church that was pan-handling at the door. He wouldn't leave us alone until Eddie grabbed the money and put it in the bucket. It was so wierd. We left and once again things were fine until we got to Rockwall. Eddie started complaining again, so we figured he needed a diaper change. We saw Ikea and we decided it would be a great place to stop. As we were driving into the parking lot, we saw this cool little park! We let the kids out to play, and they had a lot of fun!

Eddie was just finishing up his business in his diaper here, we think. We changed him, and hit the road once again. We finally got to San Antonio at around 2pm and headed out to the convention center. Our hotel was about a mile from the convention center, so we walked A LOT!

We passed this cool park on the way and stopped to let the kids climb on the cannons.

We registered at the convention and I hit the convention floor with the kids and Danny went off to his first clinic. There were hundreds of vendors so there was tons of stuff to see! At every booth, they had something free. Mostly it was pens, pencils, or candy, but we ran across some fundraiser places that had slices of cake, cheesecake, fresh cookies, chips, candy, pizza, and garlic bread! You could walk around and have a full meal of junk food! Soon, it was time for me to head to my clinic. I gathered up all three kids and prayed that they would behave!

We came across this cool hallway filled with bronze statues! The kids loved climbing on them, but we couldn't stay long. I got to my clinic about 30 minutes late, but it was a good thing, because the kids were not quiet and still for the 20 minutes that I was there. I still got a lot out of it, though. Mr. Murrow scares me a little, but he knows a lot about Tuba playing and I learned a lot from his clinic!

Soon, it was time for dinner and we headed out to Fudruckers, of course! That's kechup on Eddie's face, by the way.

Yes, that's Tommy making silly faces for the camera! We finished up dinner and headed to our hotel room. The kids were SO tired, but they had the hardest time getting to sleep! Our room was on the top floor at the very end of the hotel next to a VERY busy street! The street sounds were loud, and Tommy and Anna didn't like sharing a bed. But, everyone, including myself ,was asleep by 10pm.

Migraines and Mattresses

I woke up with a headache yesterday, but it wasn't bad. It was just a dull ache all day long, but when I couldn't shake it, I knew it would get worse. It's been a while since I've had a migraine, so I was due to get one. Eddie woke up just as I was about to go to bed last night (he had gas, poor kid), so I didn't get to sleep until around midnight. At 4am, I woke up with a pounding headache and nausea that didn't ease until sometime around 6:30, so I got around 4 hours of sleep last night. My head still hurts a little, so I'm taking it easy today.

BUT, on the bright side, our new mattress arrives today! I'm SO excited! Our last mattress was a no-name cheap pillowtop from an outlet store that we bought almost 9 years ago. It should have been replaced 4 years ago, but we never wanted to plunk down the cash for a good mattress. Well, we decided it was time to bite the bullet, and we got a great deal. We walked into Mattress Giant (the new one off of Stacy Rd that gets very little business because of on-going construction) and were greeted by a salesperson who had not had a customer all day! We were just looking, and not intending on buying anything. He desperately wanted to get SOME kind of commission that day, so he gave us his employee discount and all sorts of free stuff (delivery and pick-up) just to get our business. Well, he won us over. It's a great mattress, and I can't wait to sleep on it tonight!

Half Full?

I just read a great post on THIS blog about attitude. So, I will NOT take up time complaining about how extremely tired I am, how my head feels like it's going to explode, how I SHOULD be getting the oil changed in my car right now, but I'm sitting at my computer instead, how I ate a brownie for breakfast instead of my usual healthy stuff, how my kitchen is a complete and total disaster, how I have a ton of laundry that needs to be done today, or how Manuel (Danny's dad) has his surgery today at 12:30 and we're not sure how well he'll do (please say a prayer for him!).

Instead, I will only focus on the good stuff today. Like the fact that Eddie slept through the night without a teething episode or gas, or that the sun is shining and it should be a great day for the kids to play outside, or my husband has an extra-curricular activity that he enjoys that takes up ONLY two nights a month, or Anna didn't whine or complain AT ALL this morning, or my meds should kick in ANY minute and I should be feelin' good, or I get to do my taxes today and hopefully have a big fat refund in a couple of weeks (I actually really enjoy doing my taxes. I know, I'm a nerd.)!

Today will be a half full day. I will NOT be a "negative nellie". I will try to change my attitude and make it a great day. Will you?

Backseat driver

This is what I heard from the backseat today on my way to Ikea.

"Mommy! Mommy! Turn! Turn NOW! We're going to CRASH!"

"Oh, good! You turned, we didn't crash!"

"WOW! Look at that cool car! Mommy! Go faster! The cool car is going away!"

"Mommy! Go faster! You're going too slow!"

"Faster! Go faster!"

"Ooh...look at that mommy! Do you see that thing over there? Mommy! Look! Why aren't you looking?!"

"Darn it. A red light."

"Green! Green! It's green mommy! Go! Go! GO!"

"Which way mommy? That way? That way? That way? That way, or that way?"

"Why are we going that way mommy?"

"Are we going to the old Kee-ah, or the new Kee-ah?"

"Wow, this is a new path, mommy!"

"Look! Look! There's Kee-ah! I see Kee-ah! Look mommy! We made it!"

And I was concerned that this kid wasn't going to talk.

ECI

Okay, so I've been through this before with Tommy, and now I'm doing it again with Eddie. I was really hoping that Eddie wouldn't have to go through all of this, but sadly, he is. He had his evaluation done this morning and this is how he scored. Just so you know, he's 16 months old (almost 17 months).

Cognitive - 16 months -right on track
Communication - 10 months - delayed
Social Emotional - 29 months - advanced
Physical - 16 months - right on track
Adaptive - 15 months - not considered delayed because he's only one month behind

Because he scored 6 months or lower on his commication skills, he qualifies for services. He will begin when he's 18 months, in March, and most likely have speech therapy. Tommy scored about the same on his communication, and scored much higher on his physical than Eddie did, but lower on his social emotional. It's interesting to see their differences.

Before and After

The picture above is what we had for our entertainment center. It was cute, but it's all Target furniture and not very sturdy. It was time for some grown-up furniture. This is our new fabulous entertainment center. Please excue the horrible mess and the lack of organization. Oh, and the red at the bottom is Eddie's feet and legs! We LOVE our new entertainment center and we can't wait to buy a bigger TV to fill it up! We got this off of Craigslist by the way. It was a really good deal, but the seller lived in Keller! Danny borrowed the Law's truck (my visiting teacher, who is SO wonderful!) and drove down on Thursday night. This thing is huge, and it barely fit in the truck! It took Danny forever getting home, and we finally got it all unloaded after 11:30pm! It's so worth it, though!

Free Books!

Hi guys! I just cleaned out one of my bookshelves, and I have a small stack of books to give away. If you're interested, just let me know, and it's yours. Nothing too exciting, but here they are:

Grimm's Fairy Tales
A student sized Webster's Thesaurus and Dictionary
Sphere - Michael Crichton
Chicken Soup for the Expectant Mother's Soul
How to Clean Practically Anthing (this book's publishing date is 1992, so it's more than 15 years old)
365 TV-Free Activities you can do with your child
What We Wish We'd Known When We Were Newlyweds - John and Kimberly Bytheway
Back to the Future Part III - a book based on the movie

True Confessions

1. So, this morning, I turned on Diego for Eddie, and Diego said, "Can you talk like a llama?" and I thought he said, "Can you talk like Obama?" and I nearly had a heart attack! I was thinking, "Not you too, Diego!"

2. Speaking of Obama, the crowds at every event and ball that he attended yesterday creeped me out when they started chanting "O-Bam-A! O-Bam-A!" Blind hero worship is what makes dictators, not American Presidents. Scary.

3. I didn't like Kelly Clarkson from the very beginning simply because she was from Burleson, Texas. Yeah, I know, it was petty, but now I really enjoy her music. Have you heard her new single, "My Life Would Suck Without You"? It's pretty good.

4. I HATE litterless lunch day! I BEGGED Anna to buy her lunch today, but she refused. For those of you who don't know, litterless lunch is where the kids bring their lunch in reusable containers, so there is no trash to throw away. It's hard to pack a lunch for a kid who doesn't like sandwiches a lunch with containers. She always has a bag of pretzels, or chips, some peaches, applesauce, fruit snacks, juice box, and a granola bar. All of which I had to take out of the original packaging and put in a container that will have to be washed later! Her lunchbox was bulging because of those stupid containers!

5. Eddie slept in my bed last night. He's been waking up around 4am, and has trouble going back to sleep, so I stuck him in bed with me with his sippy cup full of milk. This is something I should NOT be doing, but I was SO tired, and Danny wouldn't get up with him because he has a concert tonight. (Oh, and by the way, Danny's getting a new permanent sub tomorrow. We'll see how this new one works out. This is the one that Danny wanted to hire from the very beginning, but they wanted the other guy! Cross your fingers that she's a hard worker!)

FINALLY!

Anna finally got a 4 (the highest grade, I know, I'm not a fan of this scale either) in music AND art class! I don't know why she always got 3's in the past, but I'm glad they finally gave her a 4! She totally deserves it!

I'm Addicted

Dr. Mario has always been one of my faves, but now that I can play it on the Wii against people all over the world, I'm hooked. I didn't get the kids to bed on time the other night because I was busy playing a girl from Japan.

I'm addicted, and I don't care.

Eddie's new girlfriend

Aren't they so cute? This is Eddie and Tegan playing in the hallway at church. They're both too young to go in the nursery, so they hang out outside and play with some of the toys. Tegan was on the snail first when Eddie just came and nearly squashed her trying to get on it! Tegan's mom was so great to get a picture of them together! She joked that we would be showing this picture at their wedding reception!

My Favorite Songs of 2008

I'm totally copying Mandie, but I saw her list and it got me thinking. I have a ton of favorites, and some may not be from '08, but here are some:

Gotta Be Somebody - Nickelback

Rockstar - Nickelback

Leave Out All the Rest - Linkin Park

What I've Done - Linkin Park

Shake It - Metro Station

Fall For You - Second Hand Serenade

Viva la Vida - Coldplay

That's What you Get - Paramore

The Pretender - Foo Fighters

I Don't Wanna Be in Love - Good Charlotte

Check Yes Juliet - We The Kings

Let it Rock - Kevin Rudolf

Nine in the Afternoon - Panic at the Disco

Love Remains the Same - Gavin Rossdale

Addicted - Saving Abel

The Diary of Jane - Breaking Benjamin

How Far We've Come - Matchbox Twenty

A Little Freaky....

I was flipping through the channels last night, and I found one of my favorite shows, Clean House, so, I checked the info on it to see if I'd already seen it. This is what it said:

"The Najera Family" - Niecy Nash brings her team to growing family that is struggling to live in a small home with little storage space.

That is SO my house, except mine isn't near as messy and cluttered as their's was! What are the odds?

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I hope everyone has a great year! Last night, Danny and I were too tired, so we rang in the new year while we were sleeping. I know, lame, but we did have some friends over last night. My friend, Beverly, and her family, were in town, so they came over for dinner and games. Anna and Miranda spent the night playing in Anna's room, but William and Tommy didn't get along that well. William was scared of Tommy, and opted to play with Eddie instead. Smart kid. We were really sad to see them go, but hopefully we'll get to see them again during the summer!

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!

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.

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!

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!

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!

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!

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!

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.

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!

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!

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!

'Tis the Season!

Yep, in my family it's birthday season! My wonderful mother's birthday was on Friday, and today is my sister Mandie's birthday! Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday Missy and Gabby!!!

Happy Birthday! For those of you who don't know, Missy is my sister, and Gabby is my sister-in-law, and they just happen to share a birthday! Missy and I will be the same age for the next two weeks! Crazy, huh?

The End

Well, the Dragon's season came to an end on November 1st. It was sad for it to end, because we know that some of the boys won't be returning next year. Tommy had a great time, even if his team ended up 0-8 for the season!
He loved his participation trophy and carried it around with him all day!


Tommy got the team award for footwork. He has the best feet on the team, unfortunately, he spent too much time with his footwork, and not enough time running! If you can read the certificate, you can see where Coach John misspelled the team's name! We still love you Coach John!

This is the only picture I had of Anna and Jake. Jake lives two doors down, and his brother Jared was on Tommy's team. Anna and Jake spent A LOT of time together this season! They really enjoyed playing together, and would spend a lot of time together at the park during soccer practice. Tommy and Anna are both sad that Jake and Jared are moving! (me too!)

Anna thought that the team needed some extra support, so she made this big sign and a few smaller ones. She did it all on her own and had a fun time doing it! Hopefully, we'll be making signs for Anna's soccer team next season!

Wii have a problem...

Eddie has an obsession with the wii-mote. He won't let go of it! I've tried, but he throws a fit! We've even tried hiding them, and he's okay, until Tommy wants to play the Wii. Sigh...I guess for Christmas Eddie will be getting his OWN wii-mote! Why can't he have a thing for big, white spoons, like Tommy did at that age? They're MUCH cheaper!

Finally!

Danny and I finally got our new computer! We've actually had it for about a week or so, but it's taken us time to transfer everything. We got a great deal on it at Dell.com and we actually spent $100+ LESS than we did on our old piece of crap Fry's off-brand computer! I'll be posting some pictures soon! Not of the computer, but in general. Yeah! Pictures!

Airing my dirty laundry

Yes, I must admit, I am not perfect, but I can usually keep my house (and even my van) clean and well-organized. I have forgotten how much more difficult it is to do my everyday chores with a toddler, especially one with a cold! So, my house is much less than perfect these days. Here's how bad it has become:

• My backyard is a white-trash paradise. Toys and patio furniture litter the lawn along with the kids' snack-wrappers, dirty socks, and soaking wet sneakers.
• My van looks like I mowed the lawn and dumped all of the grass clippings in it! (I'm really not exaggerating!) The grass came from the 8am soccer games on wet grass, and I just haven't had time to clean it out.
• I still have my Halloween decorations up and Halloween was almost a week ago!
• My toilets are disgusting! Need I say more?
• My living room carpet has lovely shades of blue, purple, pink and brown from various Halloween candies.

As you can see, I have a lot of work ahead of me today and for the rest of the week! What does your house look like, and do you have any dirty little secrets?

I did it!!

I have officially met my first weight-loss goal of 25 pounds! I still have a ways to go, but this is a great start! My incentive was a haircut. I've been needing a haircut FOREVER, but I had to lose the weight to get it. So, on Saturday, I went to my fabulous sister Ginny's house and she chopped off about 5 inches! My hair is the shortest that it's ever been, and I sort of freaked out at the beginning, but now I love it! I won't have a picture until we get a new computer. I'm using horrible dial-up right now because the computer doesn't recognize our USBs! Hopefully, by next week, we'll have a new computer. Yeah!

I WON!!

As a subscriber to the Dallas Morning News, I am able to join their Exclusives for free, which is basically subscriber benefits. They have sweepstakes every couple of weeks or so, and I won! I won 2 tickets to the Nasher Sculpture Center. I am so excited! I have been wanting to go there ever since it opened!

BUT, that's not all! I also won $50 to spend at Anna's school's book fair! On Wednesday, I went and bought Anna the book that she wanted, and a book for Tommy, and registered to win. On Thursday, Tommy totally destroyed his book (man, I was SO mad!) and then I got a call that I won! We bought two books on Anna's teacher's wish list (we would have bought them all, but the rest were sold out!), and a lot of chapter books for Anna. Yeah, Tommy didn't get a book.

Winning 2 things in one month is pretty sweet!

Photo Session Update

MCKINNEY SESSION:

Date

Saturday, November 15, 2008

Location

Towne Lake Park1405 Wilson Creek Pkwy, McKinney Texas

Times Available

4:00pm - 4:30pm

4:30pm - 5:00pm

5:00pm - 5:30pm

5:30pm - 6:00pm

These times will fill up quickly, so contact Missy as soon as possible! Or, you can leave a comment on my blog! For more information, click here.

A good laugh

I found this on Tiburon's blog today and just laughed until I cried. I am so tired and I still have so much left to do in this day, and I'm a little stressed, but for some reason this just gave me the giggles! Ahh...it feels good to laugh!

All about Tommy

So, remember how I said in my last post that Tommy had a stomachache? Well, he was fine after going to the bathroom, so I didn't think anything of it. On Saturday, we woke up late for Tommy's soccer game, and were surprised that Tommy wasn't already up! He's usually up around 6am, but I had to drag him out of bed! He got ready quickly, refused to eat breakfast and we hurried to his game. Man, those Mighty Munchkins really did live up to their name! They were awesome! This one kid was able to kick a couple of goals from midfield! Wow. Our dragons were draggin'. Sorry for the pun, but they just don't like these 8 am games! Tommy was on fire during the second quarter, (they rotate playing each quarter, so he sat out the first), and he scored 2 goals! The first 2 goals of the game! During the 3rd quarter the Dragons only scored 1 goal, so we were all excited for Tommy to come out during the last quarter and see if he could get himself a hat-trick. But, something just wasn't right. Tommy was tired, and very distracted. He kept rubbing his tummy, and spinning around in circles. At times, he would just stand there and do nothing! Our Dragons lost 3-11. Not a good game! Well, we headed to Ella Mae's house to help unpack some more but Tommy was not happy. His tummy hurt and he refused to eat. We stayed for only a couple of hours. When we got home, he just started crying and complaining that his mouth hurt. We took the flashlight and inspected and found awful white and red bumps on his throat. Strep. A trip to Minute Clinic verified our suspicions and by 5pm, he had his first round of antibiotics. Poor kid. He was miserable all night. He would just start crying every time he had to swallow. He was better this morning, but still has a really sore throat. His appetite has yet to return, but we're not concerned about that. That's actually a good thing!

Oh, and for those of you who want to come to a game, he only has 2 more left. Next week's game is an 8am start, again, and the last game, on Nov. 1 will be at 3:30pm. Yeah! Feel free to come, we would love to have a larger cheering section!

Randomness

1. Eddie is mad at me because his blanket is in the wash. It smelled so bad I kept checking his diaper to see if he had poop! He carries this blanket EVERYWHERE. It even went with us to Market Street yesterday.

2. Tommy came home with a tummyache. He's lying on the couch with his blanket resting right now. We'll see how it goes.

3. Say a prayer for Danny. He REALLY needs some extra help these next couple of weeks. I'm not allowed to talk about what's going on, yet, if that gives you a clue about his stress.

4. I found some beautiful rose bushes at Wal-mart yesterday for only $5.50! They're full and beautiful, and Tommy helped dig the holes for me!

5. Anna has been making 100% on her AR tests!

6. Tommy has a game against the Mighty Munchkins on Saturday, at 8am. What a terrible name! We have to beat them!!

7. My office re-do is almost done. I just need to find new curtains for the window and touch up the paint. I can't wait to have it finished! I've been working on the kid's bathroom, the office, and the living room, all at the same time. So, of course, I have half of each room done. I'm hoping to have it all done before the holidays.

8. Ugh. Eddie has poopy diaper #5! It's not even noon! He's started saying "uh-oh" after he poops, which is pretty cool!

A Conversation with Tommy

Tommy: I need my badgoad, mommy!
Me: Your what?
Tommy: My badgoad! Where is it?
Me: I have no idea what a badgoad is. What does it look like?
Tommy: It has little circle things, oh! Here it is!
Me: Oh! Your Bi-no-cu-lars?
Tommy: Yeah, my bonocules. I need my bonogude outside. Eddie! Look! My badgoad! Let's go!

NOT good

So, yesterday was a very busy day. It started with Tommy's soccer game at 8am! Yuck. Not my favorite time, and Tommy was so fixated on the donuts on the sideline that he didn't play well. Not a single goal. His team lost 4-9. Then, we headed to Ikea for their big sale and free breakfast. It was a mess! There was a line halfway accross the building! We had time, so we waited. It wasn't too bad, just a little stressful. Then, we went to help Danny's mom and dad move into their new house. It's a cute little house just a couple of blocks away from Lewisville HS. It has beautiful crown moulding and great Pergo floors throughout! Most everything was moved by the time we got there, but our job was to help unpack and organize. I like organizing, so it was fun, but it was hard work, and would have been much easier if I knew where to put things. There were still some clothes and cleaning supplies, and a cat, to get from Danny's mom's apartment, so when Becky (my sister-in-law) got there we headed on over. Anna, Tommy and their cousin Ben had a great time playing chase and hide and seek in the almost empty apartment, but it was getting late, so we headed back to the house. My van was full of boxes in the back, so I couldn't see out. By that time, I had a massive headache that was headed toward a migrane. I was tired and a little distracted by my 2 cranky kids in the back and a very angry cat in a cat carrier, and I hit some lady that was driving by. I just didn't see her. My bumper was destroyed but it didn't do anything to her car. My bumper is plastic, so it's pretty easy to mess up. Hers was a ghetto Honda that already had some cracks in it. Her husband tried to tell me that I put those cracks there, but there is NO WAY that I did that! She herself said that they were already there!! GRRRR! I hate people like that! We exchanged insurance, and their insurance expires on the 15th. The kid kept on saying that they didn't have insurance, which will be true next week. I REALLY hope they don't file a claim! If they do, I will fight it like nothing else! It will be pointless to file a claim on my car because the cost of repair is less than our deductible. I just don't know what to do at this point. I hate having a ghetto, messed-up car, but I don't want to spend the money to get it fixed right now. Sigh....Not a good day.

GREAT offer!

It's that time of year for family pictures! For those of you who live in McKinney, this is a GREAT offer! This is my sister, Missy, who is a wonderful photographer, and she needs at least 4 sessions here in McKinney to make it worth her while to drive all the way up here! If you'd like to see her work, visit her photoblog here, and PLEASE book a session!

Tagged

I've been tagged by Chauntel. This is the fourth picture in my fourth file in my picture file and I had no clue what it would be because I didn't name it! This is Eddie in his reindeer pj's that were so cute! I think he was about 5 months old when it was taken, and he was laying in my bed playing with his feet. He's got such a weird expression on his face! Hmm...I tag Missy, Lori, Mandie, and Gabby. No Cheating. Fourth file, fourth picture, in your picture file.

SO Busy!

I've been SO stinking busy the past week! We have our community yard sale tomorrow, and frankly, I can't wait until it's over! My bedroom looks like an episode of Clean House! It's driving me nuts! I was so smart and volunteered to head up this sale. When I said I would do it, I thought there would be no more than 25 home participating. Boy was I wrong! We have more than 70 homes participating. Can you believe it? More than 10% of my neighborhood! Yikes! I had HUNDREDS of e-mails to read in the past 2 weeks trying to gather all of the information neccessary to put this thing on. I will most certainly think twice about volunteering for something again!

National Night Out just happens to be next Tuesday, and since I'm a Crime Watch zone captain, I had to help put this together as well! 2 major events within 3 days of each other. I'm not good with stress, so I've been a mess! Tommy's make-up soccer game just happens to be on Tuesday as well! Could they make it any harder for me!? He has pictures at 6:30 and his game starts at 7:15. NNO is from 6-9 so I have no hope of seeing Tommy play next week. I'm so sad about that! I love his games! Oh, on top of it all is my 10 year class reunion this weekend! I'm heading out to the game tonight, so wish me luck that I actually stay awake for it! Sigh...in 5 days it will all be over and I'll have a clean home, with hopefully a little extra cash in my pocket, and nothing major to do until Red Ribbon Week at Anna's school, where, I was so smart again and signed up to be in charge for Anna's class!

Tommy's first piano lesson

Tommy had his first piano lesson with abuela yesterday. She is such a great mother-in-law! She watches my kids for me every Tuesday when I teach, and on top of it all, she has decided to teach Tommy piano! Tommy was so excited to show me what he had learned. He ran to the piano this morning and promptly pointed out middle C, told me what it was, and played it for me! Way to go Tommy! I can't wait to see what he learns next week!

Dragons-7, Gators-23

Yeah. Our poor Dragons lost again. It was a GREAT game though. Our team only scored 3 own goals and they actually stole the ball on many occasions and didn't allow the other team to score! That's a huge improvement since the last game! And I swear, we have the BEST fans! We were 10 times louder than the other team! We even have chants! Tommy scored 3 goals (although one was an own-goal), and he had the cutest victory dance! He celebrated for about 2 minutes on the field, and had the sidelines rolling, he was so funny! One parent said "oh my gosh, Tommy is so cute I'm going to cry!" I'll have to see if any parents got video of his dance. I forgot my camera today. Tommy and Jared were the two highest goal-scorers today with 2 each! Way to go! Next week should be even better!

I'm a Ford Mustang!

You're an American classic -- fast, strong, and bold. You're not snobby or pretentious, but you have what it takes to give anyone a run for their money.

"Take the Which Sports Car Are You? quiz.

Tommy's first soccer game and practices

Look at my boy go! This picture was taken after the game, and Tommy was SO tired! Don't you love the grumpy face?

Here are some pictures from some of Tommy's soccer practices and his first game. Tommy, Jared, and Christopher all live within 3 houses of each other! It's a lot of fun for Tommy to have his friends be on his team! His team is the Dragons, and his jersey number is 1. They don't keep score at the games, but the parents always do. Our team lost big time! There were more than 5 own goals from our team! Yes, I must admit, Tommy was responsible for one of those. Tommy loves soccer practice and games and keeps asking when the next one is!

I feel like the worst mom in the whole world.

Today was Anna's first day to be a "walker" at school. I changed her from being a"car-rider." I will be working late on Tuesdays and a neighbor and her boys will be walking home with Anna. It is easier at the school to make her a walker everyday as opposed to her being a car rider everyday except Tuesday. It gets confusing for Anna and her teacher to keep up with. So, on the days that Erin won't be walking home with her, she's supposed to meet me at the spot and I'll either be in the car, or I'll walk with the boys. Well, today I was late. 7 minutes late. I got held up at the store because of Tommy, and when I got to our spot, Anna was there crying with a coach. I felt SO bad! She was so scared! The coach told me that when Anna got to the spot and I wasn't there, she went back to the school crying! The coach walked her back to our spot and waited with her until I came. Oh, man! I really hope Erin is at the spot in time tomorrow! I'm really nervous about this, but it's the only way I can get all my students done in one day. Man, I hate stuff like this!

My Big Boy!

I thought I would take advantage of having high speed internet right now because I don't know how long my computer will last! I took these more than 2 weeks ago, but look how big he is! He's been a little tired lately, but that's attributed to the low iron. We're trying to get him as fortified as possible. We're hoping he's as good as new soon! Can you believe he's already one year old?

Stupid Computer!

Our computer is 5+ years old and it's an off-brand cheap one we got at Fry's. Well, it is finally dying and it's driving me nuts! The USB ports work one day, and the next they don't! Which means we don't have high speed internet when they don't work and we have to revert to dial-up (oh, the horror!!!). It's frustrating! Even more so because I can't take ANY pictures off of my camera! Our card reader refuses to work, and when the camera is connected to the computer, it doesn't recognize it anymore. I have tons of pictures from Eddie's 1st birthday to Tommy's first soccer game! Sigh... I wish I didn't have to buy a new computer, but it's time.