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.