News

Mark and I have been engrossed in research these past few weeks, and it looks like if all things go as planned, we'll be sporting one of these before too long.

Happy 4th!

This was by far the most laid back 4th we've had. It was a little strange not having Miss Ash with us...she's off on a trip with her good friend Maddi and won't be home until Monday. Despite missing our girl, we had a fun time.

Nana showed up in the early afternoon, and by about 5:00 we were on the road to meet Carol (Nana's bestest friend) and the John's. We parked in Nana's building, which is right across the street from the Town Lake festivities...excuse me, the Lady Bird Lake festivities (I'll never get use to that change). We met up with the others at Spagetti Warehouse and had a remarkably pleasant dinner. How 5 small children were able to stay calm, QUIET and well behaved is beyond me, but I'm sure it has something to do with some awesome parenting, and smidge of luck. Renae's four kiddos range in age from 1 to 6, and are by far some of the most well behaved kiddos imaginable. My dinner was nothing to brag about, but the Sangria was muy delicioso.

After dinner we headed back over to the building and set up camp atop the roof of the parking garage. I was concerned about the amount of time we were going to have to wait with NO TOYS, but the kids managed to do an excellent job of entertaining themselves running around and scoping out the view. Another smidge of luck? I dunno, but two plus hours is quite a long time for kiddos this age to entertain themselves with no altercations or whine-fests. By the time dark set in, we'd passed out the glow sticks, Renae had passed out her special snack and the kids were anxiously awaiting the show. And the show, it was A-MAZING! We were close enough to hear the live band playing in unison to the fireworks, which was a MAJOR bonus that we hadn't counted on. And the grand finale, good greif, it was remarkable. The best and longest I've ever had the opportunity to see. By the time it was over, I realized that my cheeks were aching from the smile I hadn't noticed that had been plastered to my face for 23 straight minutes. Listening to the kids dialogue along with the itty bitty ooh's and ahhh's brings a sort of happiness that I can't quite put in to words. They loved it. WE loved it. I'm certain that had we been in a crowd of hundreds, as opposed to the maybe 30 that were up there with us, our enjoyment would not have been half of what it was.

Even with the political unrest, and trying times we're going through in this country, we are so fortunate to be able to call this place Home. Happy Independence Day!

Fun Stuff

Starting Over

Yesterday was Mark's first day at Apple. He left at 7:45, and was home a little after 6. As much as I missed him, I have to say, it was such a relief for me to get my routines back. Since he's been home, we've all been a little out of whack, with no real routine to speak of. No real defined roles...we just sort of flew by the seat of our pants. That was fun. For a while.
While he was home, we both did an incredible amount of nothing. With two of us responsible for keeping the household running, there was much more down time than either of us have ever had in our own home. If you know me, you know that when I'm at home, I'm typically on my feet. I don't sit back and relax, and really, I wanted to, I just didn't know how to let it all go and allow myself that luxury. Nothing a crash course in relaxation couldn't fix.

So, here we are, back to normal, and ever so thankful for the opportunity to have it all back. I broke out the Fly Lady checklist on Sunday. God I love checklists. This is my list of chores broke down in to daily, weekly, and monthly tasks. It's fail proof. I've had these checklists for about 3 years now and I've learned that with the checklists momma's happy. Anyway, breaking out the lists was like seeing an old friend again. That checklist and I have a lot of catching up to do, and strange as it may sound, I'm anxious to rekindle that relationship we use to have. Like a slice of normal pie.


Something I thought was pretty cute: Any guesses as to what Mark can get for free all day long everyday from the cafeteria at work?

Nationals...and other juice

Ashley and I made our way to Navasota, TX last Tuesday, along with 11 other teammates and numerous parents to watch our 6th graders play in the Dribblers National Tournament. We fully expected it to be a two day trip considering the talent pool that the tournament brings in, however, two days turned in to four, and four days in to a second place finish.

It was an excited four days that I'm sure the girls will talk about for most of their lives. The opportunity to play the in the Championship game is a rare one, and for Georgetown, it was a first. It was so, so exciting to be a part of.

I took about a thousand pictures that I will post as soon as I can. I'm still working on the photos from Tiesa's wedding that Mollie and I shot last weekend. I have SO much to do. This was my first time to use my new camera and lens for Basketball, and I'm anxious to see the improvements!

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In other news...you know what they say about an Apple a day...well, for us, it will be keeping more than the doctor away, it will be keeping the bill collectors, psychiatrists and marriage counselors away. After 4 1/2 months of unemployment, Mark is on his way to becoming an Apple employee. We are all so relieved, excited, anxious and thankful that the wait is over.
They're running background checks and going through all the standard procedures right now, but barring any unforseen circumstances, he's in! I feel like I took a deep breath months ago and forgot to let it go. Finally, we can all exhale knowing that everything is going to be just fine.

Sweet little nothings

Yesterday, Alex comes inside with a big grin on his face:

"Momma, I bet you don't know where I just was...
I was in the front yard pulling weeds." *Grin*

"You know, our Susans are falling over?" (Our flowers, the Black Eyed Susans, he calls them our Susans) "I think we need to figure out how to make them stand back up again."

With a proud momma grin, "Ok sweetie, lets go find a stake and see if we can do that."




And this morning he wakes up, makes his usual dash for the bathroom closest to me. (because this is just what he does, I suppose he likes to find me first, then run for the porcelin) Even first thing in the morning he's full of spunk and without fail he tells me something silly in his rough little morning boy voice. His wit never rests.
From the bathroom in the same sleepy voice:

Boy, men sure can pee a lot.
You know, the other morning I peed for like 2 minutes.
I'm sure it was at least a gallon or so.

And then he runs off in his Cars themed underwear to watch some morning cartoons.

Pretty lil bama

More pics from Alabama. It's hard to take a bad photo with such georgeous landscape and colors. Make sure to click on the slideshow to get the full size, these colors are just gorgeous full size.

Finally, PICTURES!

It took me a while, but here they are; pictures from our Spring Break trip to Alabama.

Birthday, Summer and other schtuff

I'm officially in the 30 club...Now that I'm 31, I'm no longer just a newbie, I'm officially making my way to 35 err 40. I'm not sure how this happened so fast, one day you're in your 20's just getting along with all the new changes, marraige, babies, dreams coming to fruition and then BAM! Suddenly, you're the age your mom was when you remember thinking how OLD she was and how that was eons away and truly, you're invensible and that probably won't every happen to you anyway. So here I am, 31, with a soon to be first grader and a soon to be SEVENTH GRADER, going on 9 years of marraige. Wow. I remember being a kid wondering why it had to take sooo looong for that next birthday to arrive...now they just sneak up on me and before I know I'm ANOTHER year older. Time flies when you're having fun I suppose.

Well, the kids are on their first official day of summer break. Yesterday was an interesting experience. I drove Alex to his last day of Kindergarten, his last day with the most precious teacher on the face of the earth, and the last day for me to ever have a kindergartener. I was reflecting back to the first day of Kinder and remembering how uncertain I was that this was the right thing to do. It was probably the hardest day of school I had all year. I did so well, dropped him off virtually tear free...and then I hit the doors leading out of the school and BAM, the emotions took over like a storm and that was all she wrote. The floodgates opened and I felt like I'd just left my soul in that Kinder room with a bunch of complete strangers.

Ironically, the ride to school yesterday was quite similar. Emotions were in full swing, but this time it wasn't momma, it was my little pumpkin. He fought back tears the whole way to school and eventually he lost the battle and wept for his Kindergarten year coming to an end. It touched me to see how special this year has been to him, and to know that I did make the right choice by sending him to public school. He had an incredible kindergarten experience that I know has set the foundation for so much that is yet to come.

Miss Ash, well, as thankful as she is that she can temporarily shut off her alarm clock, she's as equally forlorn that she'll be missing her buddies...girls AND boys. She's changed so much this year, so much that sometimes it's hard to tell if this really is the same little girl I sent off to sixth grade some 9 months ago. I'm so proud of all she has accomplished, despite how hard it is to let go of this little girl. I went to her awards ceremony, where she received awards for all A honor roll, UIL Spelling, and UIL Math. She's an amazing growing girl and I'm still trying to figure out how to hold on to what I know I must begin to let go of. I would like to hold on to this time and refuse to let go, because I can clearly see what's on the horizon, and quite frankly, it scares me to think of what comes next. It feels like our grip is slowly releasing, and as normal as I know this is, it's much harder than I ever imagined it would be.

Since I started this post a day has passed, the kids are now in Florida with Nana ready for their Disney trip at the Animal Kingdom Resort. Mark and I have a week to ourselves. I think we've spent more time asking each other what we should do with ourselves than we have actually DOING something with ourselves. We went to Burger Tex, off Airport for lunch, the burgers were certainly not what I had anticipated, dehidrated beef is really what we ate, next time we'll go with what we know is good and just make the trip to Top Notch...but we were alone and that's what matters, right? We made a trip to Target to pick out a book, since the one I just started just wasn't working for me. I found a book on my "To Read" list, The Bell Jar, by Slyvia Plath. I've spent the last hour or so sipping a rita and reading my book out on the back porch in a lounge chair with the soothing sound of my dripping water fountain settting the mood. Mark's in the livingroom listening to Lyle Lovett and Bonnie Rait live. It's only 8:30 on our first of 7 nights alone.


That's all for now, I'll update with more of our kidless week soon.

...The Brave.

This morning Alex woke up with a mission. He came to me and said that he wanted to learn the National Anthem. I'm not sure where this came from, despite all of my inqiries, and I suppose it doesn't really matter. He asked if I would print out the lyrics so he could practice. I did; he did; and therefore, we were a little late to school, but that's ok, because now my son has a new dream. He took the lyrics to school and is going to ask his Kindergarten teacher if he can sing it to the class, and then his plan is to convince the principal to let him sing it during the morning announcements. From there he plans to practice enough to be invited to sing at a baseball game.

Where did this child COME from? His genetic path has wandered off course a bit. For that, I am thankful.

Pitter Patter

After playing X-box, darts and pool alone with his daddy this afternoon, Alex was on cloud nine. Seriously. Later, I took him outside so he could ride his bike, and that happy twinkle in his eye was still present. While riding his bike he tells me "Wow, daddy and I haven't had this much boy time in a looong time!"

Nothing makes me more happy. Absolutely, nothing.

Therapy at my fingertips

To complete my incredibly exciting (sarcasm) semester of college Algebra I will now *DELETE* my most unfavorite favorites folder entitled "Jamie Algebra"...not to be confused with "Ashley Pre-Algebra".

For future reference, because really, I will probably need these links once again when Ashley develops a matching mommy bald spot from pulling her hair out with Algebra, here are the links that I'm tired of looking at in the left hand column of my screen:

Quadradic Solver...awesome site

I don't remember what was so good about this one, but it must be helpful since I did save it

Why Purple?

Lots of good stuff that I hope to never see again

Speechless once again

Last night we sat down to read, as we do most everynight. This night, Alex picked an Aurthur book to read to me. Aurthur and his buddy take a bus to swim lessons and end up getting lost after falling asleep and missing their stop.
After realizing that they're lost, and don't have a clue where they are, the following dialogue went on between the 6 year old and I:

Mom: "Awww, Aurthur's poor momma...she must be so worried about her little boy! I would be so worried if that were you!"

Alex: "OH-COME-ON momma, it's obviously JUST a book...I mean they're talking dogs and rabbits dressed up in CLOTHES!"

Ticky tacky

Recently, I had a conversation with an older child of mine about my choice to "thrift". You see, said older child of mine is growing up, and while she's enjoying the added bonuses of freedom, she's had a bit of a struggle lately. Confession: I BUY USED CLOTHES. Yeah, so it's out there whooptey doo. I don't see the hang up, and why it's so important that I buy a neatly hung, chemical filled garment, that will look just like the one down the street at the xxxx thrift shop in two washes. So, back to the struggle. It seems we have kiddos that are extremely fixated on "where" Ashley gets her clothes. Keep in mind, she goes to school each day looking just like everyone else, the name brands, the stylish outfits, the accessories, you name it. She's happy with her selection of some 60 shirts and countless pants, capris and shorts. The problem: she hates lying. When someone asks her where she gets a particular outfit, she gets uncomfortable. She doesn't want to lie, but she also doesn't want to confess. Sure there are ways around the questions, "my mom bought it", "it CAME from xxxx", whatever. But why oh why is it so imporant to these kids that she bought something at a particular overpriced store? What I would love is for her to respond truthfully and tell them to suck it if they don't like it, but that's not reality. Reality is that she's growing up in a time when stupid crap like this matters.

So how do you teach a child not care what everyone else thinks, and to do their own thing, without other little bratty children shafting their self esteem? I don't know. All I could do was tell her that what she's feeling is normal and that while she doesn't need to care what people might think, it's ok to feel the way she's feeling. And mind you, this is not a little girl that is struggling to make friends, in fact, I believe most of her friends look up to her. I also gently reminded her that I'd be happy to forego the used clothes if it mattered that much to her, but I did tell her to kiss the name brands goodbye. Get use to Wal Mart and Target, because this momma is not going to get sucked in paying top dollar for clothes, just so you can look like everyone else. She stopped me and said no, no, no, she doesn't want me to stop, she loves the things I buy, she's just torn between wanting to be that little girl with no worries, yet at the same time wanting to grow up...which brings on a whole new set of worries. She hates caring what everyone else thinks. And for that I am GLAD. I'm glad she's going through the process of sorting out what's really important to her and what's not. It sucks that she has to struggle, but really, if she wasn't uncomfortable caring what people think, I think we'd have a bigger problem.

My poor sweetie, how do you tell her that this is just the beginning, but that someday, all of this will seem so, so trivial. I hope it will, because that will mean she's grown in to a confident young woman whose comfortable in her own skin and take on anything that comes her way.

If anyone has any pre-teen words of wisdom on the subject, I'd love to hear it.

Adolescence is when girls experience social pressure to put aside their authentic selves and to display only a small portion of their gifts. -Mary Pipher

Happy Mother's Day to meee

And my gift to myself, this handy dandy wall fountain, that I just couldn't live without. $189.95 here....but for me, $35 on Craigslist. *brand new* teehee!

Back in Black

So, now that school is over, and I have time on my hands, I decided to tackle the master bath cabinets. It's funny, our bathroom remodel has been complete for quite some time now, but in our minds it hasn't been 'complete'. It's incredible what a little bit of paint can do. Our cabinets were all 80's and the rest of the bathroom up to date. Something had to be done. Sooo, after half a quart of Sherwin Williams Black, a nice little sanding block to antique a few edges here and there, and some bronzy spray paint to cover the ugly 1984 brassy handles, we have a kick ass bathroom. Next is the powder room cabinets and then I'm on to the kitchen. Somebody stop me!!!

Happy Mother's Day

I hope everyone had a fantastical-icious Mother's Day!

I wanted to share my special gifts from the kiddos.

Alex made me several masterpieces at school, one of which is a tie dyed butterfly magnet that reads:

Butterfly hover
near my mother.
Tell her that
I really LOVE her.

This already has a special place on the fridge and has done it's job of warming my heart time and time again.

Another handmade gift from my sweetness is hand print lilys with a sweet poem and a picture of the handsome little man himself.

And the most precious of all his hand made gifts, a card, written by Alex:

My mom does not have a job
but she still works hard.

Moms are special. I love you.
Moms are sweet because they give hugs.

I love my mom because you sometimes
let me sleep with you.

Love,
Alex

And sweet Ashley wrote me a letter that I have to share. This one had me completely choked up.

Mothers are a special gift.
When you're sad, moms let you cry
but make you feel better,

Moms will always laugh at your jokes even when they're bad.

Even though at times they don't like it,
moms watch you grow up.

Moms cook you wonderful meals.
Moms are there when you get home.

Sometimes moms hit a bump in the road
but moms NEVER give up.

Moms are your worst enemy,
and your best friend.

Moms have big jobs
and even bigger hearts.

But most importantly they'll always love you.

Love,

Sissy

These are the best mother's day gifts a mom could EVER ask for, and I feel so, so fortunate to have two of the best kids around to share my life with.

How it's hangin

So, it's been a while. Not a lot has changed around here since my last "real" update. It's hard to update when, honestly, not a lot has changed. Mark is still job hunting, I'm still searching for that perfect part time, work from home job, and the kids are still rapidly growing and changing.

I've tried and tried to post a semi-interesting update, but really, I just don't have it in me. I'm feeling a little disconnected lately, not only from the world around me, but also from myself. I'm really counting on some positive changes over the summer with the kids and I being out of school and spending some quality time together. Things will turn around, I'm convinced....and when they do I know I'll get back in to the swing of things.

B is for DAMN IT

Just checked my grades...got a B on the final and a B for the class. Wah. I was really, really hoping to pull off an A, but hey, I did it, I didn't give up, and it's OVER!

Alive and well...alive

Despite the fact that I haven't blogged in ages, we are all still alive and well.

Tonight is my LAST Algebra class, thank jebus. Today I'm cramming for my final in disjoint intervals. Ha ha. Waaayyy to much algebra on the mind.
My days of sitting in PJ's at the table diciphering algebra equations is AL..MOST OVER. At some point I'll actually be able to take the time to process pictures from the past 4 months and post them for the diminishing lurkers that check my blog. This school stuff really gets in the way of life, I gotta tell ya. My social life is suffering...severely!
Anywho, just wanted to check in with the ol' boggysphere and let everyone know that I haven't forgoten my blog, and will get back to my old ways soon.

Ciao