Pass the Torch Tuesday

For this weeks PTTT, I'm taking an entry from November 9, 2005:

Wednesday, November 09, 2005
Our little Free Thinker

I will never forget the words of Ramona Cain...the wife of the Preacher that married Mark and I, and one of the most selfless women I've ever met..."Ashley is an old soul." At the time, I was only 21 years old and only had half a clue what she was talking about, and quite honestly I thought she was a bit KooKoo for saying that, but over the years that label has come to mind quite often, and I now see so much of the "old soul" within her. I don't know what I believe when it comes to statements like that, and I'm quite comfortable with not knowing what's real and what's not, it's an ok place to be actually, but when I see some of the things Ashley says and does, I wonder how on earth she could possibly have learned to be so empathetic and so in tune with human kindness in the short 9 years that she's been alive. Whatever it is, I sooo hope that she keeps it for life, and that she is able to share her "old soul" with people who can appreciate it as much as her mom and dad do.
Ok, so I'm rambling....the whole point of this entry to was to document another one of those genuinely sweet moments where Ashley made my heart pitter patter.
Yesterday, Mark and I went to vote and when we returned Ashley was curious about what we were voting for. I told her that most of it was boring stuff, but that the big issue on the ballot was Proposition 2. For the first time in our household I explained to her what the Proposition was, and I kept a 100% neutral explanation. After my explanation I sat there for a minute continuing what I was doing, waiting for her to respond, but acting as if the conversation was over... I was curious to hear how an unbiased 9 year old would respond. Slowly, her forehead wrinkled, her head cocked to the side and she said something that I will never forget, "But Momma, aren't gay people humans too?"

Photo Hunters #6 "Soft"

This one was taken in the whirlpool tub on our trip to Devils Den this summer. Alex is buried in there somewhere.

Poor Dud. The little people just don't seem to go away, do they.

It's hard to tell, but he's completely covered in down fluff.

Shine on Sunshine

It was just absolutely gorgeous today! I couldn't help myself, I had to play while Alex napped. Here are a couple of pictures of the roses Mark gave me for Valentines Day. And then a few of my hammock view. Just IMAGINE what these would look like if I had my Cannon Rebel. I NEED A NEW CAMERA!!!!

Read To Me Challenge Update

So far so good. I'm pleased to say that the challenge is proving to be a positive experience for our family, Daddy included! At dinner the other night, I announced my goals to everyone and told them about my plan for us to read aloud together. Mark is going to take over my goal of teaching Ashley about the newspaper. Although, I may need to listen in... he told her the most important part of the paper was the Best Buy ad. Uh oh. We can't forget the obits! I'm kidding, we'll just check those sections out FIRST. Back to our update...Each evening before bed we all grab a spot in the living room and take turns reading aloud. Right now we're reading Socks, by Beverly Cleary. This is a great book that the whole family is enjoying. Alex is really doing a good job paying attention, although I know it's tough at times with no pictures. I was concerned that he would become uninterested and wander off, but so far, he's hanging in there. I do try to summarize and ask him questions when we're done, just so I know he's paying attention, and if he's not, I try to get him interested by doing a brief recap. It's working. I'm so glad to have found this challenge and look forward to continuing this family time indefinitely. Now I need to begin the hunt for our next family book!

Happy Birthday Mollie!

Wordless Wednesday #6

Sunshine on a Cloudy Day

Read To Me Challenge Goals

A new challenge!! At Snapshot Jennifer has started a wonderful challenge called Read To Me. Books are very important to our family, so this challenge is right up our alley. Although we read regulary, there's ALWAYS room for improvement. This challenge will give us that little UMPH to take us to the next level. As with every challenge, one must set goals so here goes! I'm hoping that this challenge will stay with us, and we'll continue to grow, and set new goals after these are acheived. My goals for reading with the family:

Alex:

1. Read a minimum of 90 minutes per week either with, or to Alex.
2. Continue making weekly trips to the library and allowing him to choose books of his choice.
3. Introduce Alex to the online catalog for the library.

Ashley:

1. Read a minimum of 90 minutes per week either with or to Ashley. It's so easy to just let her go off on her own and read, and that's fine, but I would like to make it a shared time for us.
2. I'd like to introduce Ashley to some classics such as To Kill a Mockingbird , The Swiss Family Robinson, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Tom Sawyer etc.
3. I'd like to read more poetry with her, and research some good poetry books that she might find interest in. She's an excellent writer and I would like to encourage that as much as I can.
4. Take her to the Public Library more often. I take for granted the fact that they do this at school regularly. Going to the library and letting her explore is a completely different experience than going with her class.
5. Introduce her to reading the News Paper.

Pass The Torch Tuesday

I've decided to take part in a new writing opportunity called Pass the Torch Tuesday. I ran across this amazing idea on a Blog recently and decided it would be a wonderful addition to my Blogging experience. Each Tuesday I will write about catching a child doing something good. By clicking on the picture above you can find more participants and their stories.

It's been a few weeks now, but this caught me so off guard that I have to share.
Ashley came home with an invitation to a sleepover a few weeks back. This party was highly anticipated and talked about regularly. The closer we got to the date, the more details her new friend "A", would share about the party plans. The sleepover now included a scavenger hunt at the mall, cash to spend at a store of their choice and a dinner out on the town. Way more fun than any 10 year old would expect to have at a Birthday party. The day of the party rolls around and my darling daughter walks in from school, and the first thing she says is, "Momma, can I invite two friends over to spend the night tonight?" WHAT?? What about "A"'s party? Is it cancelled? What's going on? She replies, "well, there are two girls in my class that are really shy and weren't invited to the party, and every other girl in the class was. So I was thinking that I could have them over here tonight instead." After I pick my jaw up off the floor, I say yes, give her a great big hug and tell her how proud I am of her for been so incredibly thoughtful of these two girls. Both girls show up, one after another, each loaded down with their Build-A-Bear dolls and all their accessories. After poking around, and asking more questions than I'm sure Ashley cared to answer, I later find out that Ashley told the girls that she was having a Build-A-Bear party, and they were invited.

Words can't even begin to describe how proud that made us. I've always known that I have a sweet girl, but never did I imagine that at 10 years old, she could have such a deep understand of what it means to have empathy for another human being.

Thinking ahead

I've really been thinking a lot about when Alex starts Kindergarten, and what I'm going to do. I will have an opportunity to go back to my old job, I'm sure, but to be honest, my heart is not there. I would do it, I do enjoy the job for the most part, but when I really break it down and start thinking about where my heart REALLY is, I realize it's with children. It is starting to sink in that in about 6 months, my life is going to get flipped upside down, COMPLETELY upside down. Although sending him to Kindergarten will be hard on the both of us, (me more than him, I'm sure) I'm excited about the new chapter of Alex's life, I really am. There is a part of me that has begun to realize that it's not just being home with him that I enjoy so much. I enjoy teaching him, learning from him, and watching his little brain grow everyday. That, to me, is so incredibly rewarding. I will always have that, I know, but never on the level that I have these past 5 years. In a nutshell, I have really started entertaining the idea of keeping a few preschoolers once he goes to school. It's been a few weeks since it first popped in to my head, and I haven't been able to let it go ever since. I LOVE the preschool age, and wonder if this is something that would continue to fulfill me even after Alex is at school. I know there's not much money to be made keeping children, but I think it might be what makes me happy. I can't see myself going to work at a daycare, that's not my cup of tea. I would like to develop my own sort of cirriculum based on the desires of the children. A sort of anti-cirriculum. This is what I have always done with Alex, mainly because of his personality. And it has proven to be a wonderful choice for us. I just think it would be amazing if I could give other children what Alex has had. Even if I could help just one child have a stimulating environment, that otherwise he/she might not have had, that would make me so incredibly happy.

I'm still absorbing all of these thoughts and wondering if this will pass, or if this is something that's going to stick. Who knows, this could lead me to getting a job at a Public School. Maybe there's a position out there for me. I just know this is something I love, and maybe it's what I'm supposed to do in life.

Photo Hunters #5 "Antique"

This morning when I popped in to see what the theme for the week was, I thought this one was going to take me a while. Within a few minutes I remembered my recent trip to Jason's house and the photos I took. He's moving and I was there to help him pack and take pictures of furniture for him to sell on Craigslist. For the memory bank, I decided to take a photo of an old chair that we grew up with. Even though I was certain this one was going straight to the trash, I KNEW there had to be a reason I was taking that picture! I despised this chair, even back then it was old and ugly. This theme has made me realize that I need to call up mom and find out where this chair came from, I have to know its history. I'm not sure I'm ready for Jason to trash it. (I cannot believe I just typed that) Here's the green chair that I hated through out my childhood, but now have decided I kind of like in some sort of sentimental grotesque way:

New one for the Link-a-roonies

A friend of mine posted this link on one of my message boards today. This site is full of pictures with English mistakes that appear in Japanese advertising and product design. This is definitely one for the Link-a-Roonies. Engrish

Happy Valentines Day!

Some pictures from our Valentines Day:

This is Alex's Valentine holder that we made together. Alex learned how to fold "accordian style"!

Alex squared checkin out Valentines together at our playgroups party.

Meatloaf and mashed taters. Grams and Pops came over to eat some Valentine grub with us.

Yes, those are pink taters.

This lady ROCKS!

On my way home from our playgroups Valentine Party today, I noticed this van speed past me with something written across the side window. After reading only the first line, (she was SO FAST!) I knew I had to catch this van and read the rest of the message. I put the pedal to the metal, my spedometer reaching almost 90 mph, with Alex in the back seat chanting "FASTER MOMMA, FASTER!" So FINALLY, I catch this speed demon so I can finally finish reading what I started....Thankfully, we were on our way from the party so I happend to have my camera in the seat next to me.












Holy Guacamole, is it just me, or is that lady holding up a gas station bottle of wine!!????

Frabinaster!

I was supposed to have my Mark back after midnight sometime tonight. Looks like no hubby for me until at least Friday. :(

Mister JetBlue says:

**Due to a winter weather system in the Northeast, some JetBlue flights to and from New York City (JFK, LaGuardia, Stewart and Newark, NJ), Boston, Washington D.C. and Upstate New York (Rochester and Buffalo) may be delayed or cancelled. Please check the status of your flight online.**

Jamie says: FRABINASTER!

Wordless Wednesday # 5

See Valentine post below.

Happy Valentines Day My Love!

His other siblings...

Feeding the dog is Alex's job. I didn't realize that we were almost out of dog food this evening, so as I'm cooking dinner I hear little guy yell "There's not enough dog food!" I yell back "Ok, ok, don't worry about it, I'll divy it up in a minute!" I hear a faint 5 year old mumble in the distance, some kibbles fall and turn my attention back to the little guy talking to the 105 pound Dudley, "Ok, Dudley, now don't forget to share."

February 13, 2007

A few things for the memory bank that I saw today:

Alex icing heart shaped cookies, and then pouring (not to be confused with sprinkling) sprinkles on top.
Ashley's heartshaped tin full of colorful cupcakes to be delivered to her class...and then the afterthought that items with no nutritional value are not allowed at school. OOPS. I secretly hope they make it back home. At least a few. ;)
Alex filling his Valentine goodie bags for all of his friends.
Alex's filling out his very first Valentine cards.
Two sweet kiddos playing together like best friends. The excitement of Valentines Day can do wonders!
My pajamas...that I stayed in ALLLL day long. I knew there had to be SOMETHING positive about Mark being in New York.
Mark's Valentine. I've probably watched it 20 times by now. It just makes me so warm inside when I see my strong, sturdy husband in such vulnerable, precious ways. He IS so amazing, and I finally found a way to convey that to him. Finally. I love him so.


Posted by Jamie Says at 11:11 PM

Taking The Long Way - WoooHooo!

Dixie Chicks went five for five lastnight at the Grammy Awards winning Album of the Year, Record of the Year and Song of the Year, as well as Best Country Album and Best Country Performance By a Duo or Group.

Yahooo!!! They did it!!

February 20th Shut Up and Sing comes out on DVD.

Here's the trailer:

WeekEND

It's only Sunday morning, but my weekend just officially ended. Markypoo just left for New York. I'm sad. I miss him already. Three days was just not enough.

Lastnight we went on our Valentines Date to see Making Love in Public at the Dougherty Arts Center I have mixed reviews on the performance. If you can get past the stinch of body odor from half of the two man show, it was mildly entertaining. This romantic comedy portrays 5 couples thoughts and experiences at a relationship retreat. It was sweet, it was funny, it was a reminder of how normal our reltionships really are. The two cast members did an incredible job playing all 10 roles, but the message was not profound. Good, but not profound. Ultimately, we didn't go to watch some smashing performance, we went to be together, to sit in the same room, interlock arms and just enjoy a little adult entertainment. That alone was worth far more than the twenty bucks we spent on tickets.

I miss you Mark.

Photo Hunters #4 "Broken"

These were taken this summer on the side of I-35 somewhere between here and Plano. Mark was laying under the truck about 3 feet away from the passing cars in the DARK.

Wordless Wednesday #4

Yay Ashley!

Go here:
Pickett PTA and then click in the upper left where it says "What's happening now". Notice any familiar names?

Old Friends

Saturday night, all the forces of the universe aligned and Skye, Dana and I were once again in the same room. As kids, this was no rare occurrence, and in fact, for us to NOT be in the same room was more of a rarity than anything. We were, as my parents always said "attached at the hip". I still have some first memories of meeting the both of them... 2ND grade lunch.... Skye and her incredible talent for making kids laugh so hard their milk came out of their nose (true story). Those days when the net heads served mashed potatoes were highly anticipated by most. I still can't eat mashed potatoes and not picture 8 year old Skye with an open mouth full of squishy mashed taters and a table full of giggling girls. It's memories like these that make me see how much I miss being a kid. When I'm going through my memory file, the first thing I see is our table laughing hysterically, and then I see the reason for our laughter and realize how happy we must have been to laugh that hard, for that long, at something as simple and ridiculous as a mouth full of mashed potatoes. What I would do to find something so simple, so hysterical again. And on those very special days, there was Dana, laughing so hard she pee her pants (more than once, that was a true story). The three of us have somehow managed to always come back to each other. Growing up, we made new friends, sharing most, keeping some for our own, but all the while keeping our friendship on a very short leash. To this day, if someone from school sees me, their pleasantries are almost always followed by asking how Skye and Dana are. And for 21 years now, I have ALWAYS been able to answer.

Saturday, we celebrated Skye's 30Th birthday. The party was also for David and Mazi, who were also celebrating their 30Th, so it was a pretty big party. At some point, the three of us ended up escaping to a back room, alone, where we entered a time machine that took us back some 21 years. Suddenly, we were once again finishing each others sentences, and I was discovering that after all these years, those memories that I (and I'm sure each of them) thought that only I held on to, belonged to two other people as well. Without hesitation, we reverted back to those 10 year olds giggling and snorting and half peeing in our pants as the world around us somehow just disappeared. Along with the manners and niceties, the stress and worry of the "real stuff" was left at the door of our rusty time machine. For a moment in time Dana's worries about filing for divorce disappeared. Skye's heartache over loosing her dad, and her grandma, and her fear of being single and kidless at 30 disappeared too. What we were left with was the core of who we are, or maybe it was just a piece of who we are without the fog of all the years getting in the way of what we once were. Whatever it was, it was perfect. It was our moment.

As much as we wanted to stay back in that time machine and just go on forever reminiscing and catching up, we knew we had people to mingle with, obligations to fulfill, and new friends to think about, but before we parted we made a pact. With tears in our eyes, we vowed to pick up the phone more often, and never let go of what we have. I know that our lives will go on just as they always have, each on our separate paths, with our separate friends and the occasional phone call. We won't do Sunday lunch, and we won't call each other when someone cuts us off, or when one of our kids is driving us nuts, or at any other time when normal life happens. We'll probably call one of our new friends, maybe our new best friend. But what's so amazing about a friendship like ours is that's ok. That's us, and like always, that leash will always be short, and I will ALWAYS know how they're doing. And I will always see mashed potatoes in a way that only the three of us will ever understand.

Happy Birthday my friend.

Photo Hunters #3 "Gross"

My lil puddin' pie

One for the Money

Last night I finished my first Janet Evanovich novel, One for the Money. This is the first book of many in her Stephanie Plum series. A friend of mine recommended the series, I was very skeptical due to the fact that I've never even picked up a crime fiction novel. This just further proves to me that I need to step outside of myself and try new things. I would have never imagined that I'd be hooked on a crime fiction novel! I can't WAIT to go get my hands on the next book in the series "Two for the Dough".

I've worked over 9 hours today (can you say child neglect) and I have a 5 year old litterally pulling me out of my chair screaming "PLAY-WITH-MEEEEE!" Gotta run.

It's their day!

Today is the 2nd anniversary of Mark and Ashley's special day. The day Ashley was officially adopted by Mark and she became an "official" Urben. Ashley has been talking about today for weeks and anticipating their special time together. Last year she got to stay home from school and the two of them spent the day together. This year, Mark didn't say a word to her about it, he had plans up his sleeve. Last night before bed when Mark was tucking her in she said "Daddy, you know tomorrow is February 1st?" Mark had his plan and didn't want to spoil it, so he says "Yeah, January sure did go by fast!" Poor girl, she must have been so sad. She told us weeks ago that we should maybe celebrate on the weekend since she's missed so much school this year. This morning she went off to school without a spoken word. I later found out that the plan worked, she thought we all forgot. Mark showed up to pick her up from school around 10 this morning. She had no idea. Mark took her for donuts and then they met us at the library, checked out some books, then they went ice skating, had lunch and went to Build-A-Bear to make a special bear. They made him together, he has two hearts, one from Mark and one from Ash. They made him together and picked out his little skater clothes together too. They went to a few other places and just had some wonderful time together. It's so hard to believe that it's only been 2 years. He's been daddy since before she could even remember, so 2 years is nothing but a formality, but still a very special day to celebrate two of my most favorite people in this whole world.

This evening Alex informed me that he really, really, really wanted to be adopted too. <> What ever are we going to do with this boy.

Wordless Wednesday #3

January 30, 2007

Daddy, Alex, Grams, Pops and I sat in the Performing Arts Center at the High School and watched Miss Ashley receive her award for advancing to Area in the Visual Arts category for the Reflections contest. She got the biggest ribbon she's ever received, and I'm sure there's a special place on her wall reserved for it. This years theme was "My favorite place". Ashley drew a picture of her view from horseback.

Ash and I went to our first girls High School Basketball game together tonight. Just the two of us. We watched Varsity go in to overtime and win by 1 whopping point. We were on the edge of our seats and that last few minutes we could't even sit, it was an incredibly exciting game. I thought it was pretty special that Ash opted to sit with me instead of all of her friends. I didn't mind if she had decided to sit with them, in fact, I fully expected it, but I thought it was pretty special when she came back over, sat in front of me and leaned back, wrapped her arms around my legs and watched the game with me. I wonder how much longer I have to enjoy this. :)

That I Would Be Good

This song has always been such a positive force for me. When I'm down, listening to this really helps me dig my way out.

Alanis morissette - that i would be good (unplugged)





that I would be good even if I did nothing
that I would be good even if I got the thumbs down
that I would be good if I got and stayed sick
that I would be good even if I gained ten pounds

that I would be fine even if I went bankrupt
that I would be good if I lost my hair and my youth
that I would be great if I was no longer queen
that I would be grand if I was not all knowing

that I would be loved even when I numb myself
that I would be good even when I am overwhelmed
that I would be loved even when I was fuming
that I would be good even if I was clingy

that I would be good even if I lost sanity
that I would be good
whether with or without you

She's back!!

Our favorite Golden is back for a visit this week!!! Joe is having some work done on the house and will have workers in and out all week. We are so happy to have our step-dog Ally back...even if it just for a short time.

I wonder if we should get our joint custody documented? ;)

CHM Carnival Topic: What parts of yourself do you hope that your child gets?

Another good topic to ponder.

There are so many things I want for my children, but in reality I haven't ever really imagined these things as pieces of myself...but I suppose they are.

Here goes...

• I hope that they both have a very strong sense of family.

• I hope they will have self confidence...it has taken me a looong time to learn this, but hopefully I can show them what I have learned and they can pass me up with an even stronger sense of self confidence.

• I so, so, hope they both continue to have a sense of humor, because no matter what happens in life, a sense of humor will ALWAYS help you get through those bumps in the road.

• I hope Ashley learns how a husband should treat his wife. I hope that I set a good example of balance in a relationship.

• I hope they both learn that kindness and empathy are essential in all relationsips and that both of these will make their lives fruitful.

• I hope they both turn out to be free thinking individuals that don't follow the paths of others without reason.

• And lastly, I hope they learn from their mistakes, and mistakes, there will be a-plenty.

Cranium Family Fun

A few days ago I mentioned my Latest treasure, a game by Cranium called Family Fun. We played it for the first time tonight, and I have to say, this is our new favorite game. The box says ages 8 and up, but Alex is 5 and did fine with me as a partner. Some of it was a little advanced, but nothing we couldn't work around. Basically, there are four different categories and within each category are several different challenges to be completed as a team. You're either drawing, writing, molding, thinking or acting....possibly more. This game is fun for the whole family. We love Cranium games, but this was the best yet.

Crazy old lady from Austin on Ellen...too funny!

This was just too funny not to share.

Photo Hunters #2 "Silver"

Another treasure!

Ok, so my second favorite thrift store EVER, is The Caring Place. Love, love, love to rumage through this store.

Yesterday I found another treasure:

Cranium Family Fun Game
Brand Spankin New, still wrapped in original plastic
Amazon - $19.99
TCP - $3.50

Wordless Wednesday #2

Who's your favorite Role Model and Why?

Yes, I'm posting this early...free time, I take it whenever I can get it.
Crazy Hip Blog Mama's Carnival Topic of the week:
Who's your favorite Role Model and Why

Ok, I'm starting this off, without even knowing who this is. I have ALWAYS struggled with this, so when I read that this would be my first Carnival topic EVER, I rolled my eyes and thought AS IF!? This is all about growth though right? Practice writing, practice connection, it's all part of the "plan". So here goes.

Role Model - a person whose behavior in a particular role is imitated by others.
**Cringe*** Ok, my favorite role model in life, not as a mom, not as wife, but as a whole person would have to be my stepmom. My stepmom has played a very active loving role in my life since I was 4 years old. I was your typical kid, and found every opportunity to criticize that role as stepmother and taunted her with the typical mouthy remarks like "you're not my mother!", "but my mom lets me!" etc. The list of lines I wish I could take back is long. I guess it was around the time I had a daughter of my own that I realized how invested this woman was in me, not as the daughter of my father, but as a person. She treated me as her own, and despite my awful behavior at times, stood her ground, and vowed to be a positive role model in my life, even if meant loosing out on a mother-ish daughter relationship. She didn't kiss my ass to make right by my father. She loved me to make right by my father, and with that came rules (plenty of them) and expectations. I look back now and realize that there was never a time in my life when her best interests came before mine. She taught me that honesty is always the answer, and that everyone has their own story. She has always played devils advocate, or so it seemed to the inexperienced kid that I was. If someone screwed up, she always talked me through what they might be going through, or the reason why they might have treated me they way they did (much to my dismay at times). She taught me to give people the benefit of the doubt, and that sometimes you have just have to walk a mile in someones shoes, and sometimes that's just not possible, and you just have to accept it and move on. She's taught me how to give unconditionally, accept gracefully, and how doing both as often as possible will make your life so much richer.

Gosh, I could really go on and on about all that I have learned from her, and why she's such a positive role model in my life, there's just so much she's done to help mold me in to the person I have and will become. She's taught me so much, and continues to do so. I figure if I'm going to be half the person she is, I have a LONG way to go, and she has a LOT more teaching to do.
:)

South Padre...red faced Nana with her margarita! Nana always gets a little silly after just a few sips. The best entertainment around.



Nana and sweet baby Keller


Nana with Kel at Ashley's 10 Birthday party

Caution: bragging mom ahead, PROCEED WITH CAUTION

Ok, so Alex and I do a lot of fun learning activities together, and with that has come math. I've always noticed that he's had a knack for math, he's always just "got it". The concept seems to come very natural. So yesterday during our busy errands, we're driving down the road, he's in his carseat and out of the blue he says "momma, I know what 20 minus 10 is."
me: "Oh really!"
A: "yeah, it's 10!"
me: "Wow, Alex, that's excellent. So who taught you that?" (cause it wasn't me)
A: "Oh no one."
me: "Wow, you are just sooo smart!" I say, while in my head I just KNOW there's no way he's figured this out on his own... we do math, but haven't even touched on subtraction. Sure it has come up, but only in a very practical sense.
A: "I know 10 plus 10 is twenty, so that means 20 minus 10 is 10."
me: <<>> "WHAT!?"
A: "Yeah, and 10 minus 5 is 5 because 5 plus 5 is 10."
me: <<>>
A: "And 2 minus 1 is 1 because 1 plus 1 is 2."
me: "Holy cow Alex, that is excellent!"
A: "Am I right?"

The kid goes on and on to tell me more and more subtraction and with every answer, explaining how he came up with the answer.

Looks like we're going to have to start searching for his real parents too.

January 22, 2007

Watched as my sons momma-botched haircut was finally laid to rest. I took Alex to Mark's new favorite barber shop. Yes, it's a BARBER SHOP. So Quaint. I went on a weekday in the morning, because everyone knows that most hair places are dead at that time. I walked in at about 10:30 in the morning and every single seat was taken, but one, including the waiting area. Every elderly man within a 5 mile radius was sitting in that room waiting for a hair cut, and every one of those heads turned and watched as this young woman and her 5 year old walked in. This was quite an experience. Just imagine a large hallway, with 4 barber chairs making up the entire length of the shop, and across from these chairs, just an arms reach away are about 10 "waiting chairs". This little place was just adorable! I felt like I walked in to a time machine. I saw old bottles of talc, straight razors and the neatest little old fashioned shaving cream dispensers ever. At one point it occoured to me that there was no chance this place had a credit card machine...thankfully I brought my check book. I went ahead and asked to be sure they accepted checks. The man says "yeah, we had a fancy dressed lady walk in one day and asked if we took Visa, I laughed and said, lady, have you looked around? We just discovered cash, up until now we used the barter system." This was pure entertainment. I listened to good ol boys talk about the weather, one man talking about what I can only guess must have been some sort of tractor award. I'm still confused about that one. Even Alex was entertained. I had to hush him once when an old man a few chairs down began to snore. What a trip. I was a little sad to leave only to discover I really did drive a minivan there, and the streets were, in fact, paved. I guess this wasn't a time machine afterall. Bummer.

Taekwando hurt today. Ashley is sure enjoyin this stuff though. She's very serious about it and most times, she's the only little voice you hear yell out "YES SIR!" She's got her Taekwando grunt/noise down too. Yaaaa!

The New 9+ million dollar Georgetown library is complete. It's gorgeous. The childrens area is about 4 times bigger than Leander's old library.

A must read

I was up way too late lastnight finishing
Conversations with the Fat Girl Full on chic-lit, but well worth the read. It's very rare that I can come up with enough time to actually finish a book these days, sleep is precious you know, but with this one I had no choice. It called out to me. I couldn't wait to lay in bed and soak up Liza's painfully witty account of life as the "Fat Girl". Of course, we never even find out how fat she really is...for all we know she could have an awful self image and be a size 8. That makes it all the more interesting.

January 21, 2007

It's Sunday, family dinner night. We had lettuce wraps with rice, spring rolls, egg rolls and of course fried rice noodles. One of the kids favorites. We always look forward to Sunday dinners with Grams and Pops...and it's extra special now that Jason is here too.

The smell of pine needles is now gone. Just shy of one month later and our tree is finally out the door!

We're really enjoying the new lighting in the kitchen. It's amazing what $30 can do to a kitchen. Lighting can really make such a huge difference in the feel of a room. We did rope lighting on top and some under the counter lights. It's an amazing difference, a much more peaceful feel.

Photo Hunters #1 "Wild"

Photo Hunters theme this week is "Wild".

Hiiii Yaaahhh!

As in chop suey, white cotton scrubby outfits, and rainbow belts.

Ash and I started Taekwando together today. Well actually the first 8 weeks are more of a self defense class, but after that if she's still interested I'll keep her in it and I'll take the kickboxing class they offer at the same time. It was a really fun class, even though I managed to screw up once again and got us there 15 minutes late. Who starts a class at 6:15 anyway??? 6:30 was much more logical in my mind, so my mind chose to remember the wrong time. Yes, I have a planner. No, I didn't right it down. Shame on me! Maybe if I put the start time in my BLOG I'll actually remember it, since I do look at my blog a heck of a lot more than my planner. I'm hopeless.

So our instructor gave us an assignment due next week.
Our assignment: Make a list of all we hope to accomplish in this lifetime. Wow! That's big. Maybe I'll blog it. Maybe if I'm allowed, I'll blog Ashley's too.

January 18, 2007

It was a Carnation Canned breakfast and lunch kinda day.

Things I saw today:

Those beautiful sparkly icecycles hanging from all things horizontal began to fall today. Good bye Texas Blizzard. :(

Taekwando instructor, very nice sight, very young man. Very sick me. ;)

My little girl breaking a board in Taekwando. ME breaking a board in Taekwando.

And a whoooole lot of nothing else considering my part time work from home job turned in to a full time, neglect the sweet little person you decided to stay home for job. Tomorrow son, tomorrow we will play. (Cats in the Cradle theme music? ...nah, just a bad day for sweet little person)

January 17, 2007

I fixed my darling daughters hair today. She has her very first "salon do" with highlights taboot. I tried to teach her how to fix it herself, but secretly I want to be her stylist forever. I know this won't last long, adolesence is creeping up on us and the day will come when touching her hair is forbidden. Adolesence: I can see it in the shadows, but I refuse to awknoledge it's presence.

Alex and I did some science experiements today. We got to handle our poly-something-or-another crystals, which are no longer crystals, but instead squishy substances. Very interesting. Alex is very passionate about science these days, so passionate that we were up until 10:30 lastnight doing experiments. Fun stuff.

I took some shots of our "blizzard" and the remnants of the ice storm. Surprisingly, we didn't loose any large limbs. I'm very thankful for that.

I was somehow talked in to watching American Idol this evening. What a complete waste of an evening. It amazes me what passes for entertainment...and even more so what entertains my daughter.

Every day when Mark comes home from work, it is routine for me to greet him and snuggle him for a minute or two. It always amazes me how he can spend an entire day at work and come home with that knock your socks off scent, still smelling as fresh as he did that morning. I always hug him just long enough to close my eyes and while forgetting the day, take a deep breath, and inhale what I missed while he was away.

Wordless Wenesday #1

REAL white stuff!

It snowed! It really, really snowed! Big white fluffy flakes fell for hours today and I have proof.

SNOW! January 16, 2007