my son is an elf???

Laying in bed this morning, snuggled up with Sadie, she began to talk to me...
"You know, Mom, Andrew is working at the toy store now."
Yes,
"I am so happy that he got a job at the toy store..."
"Yes, dear, I am happy too."
"My big brother is a elf! I bet he gets to talk to Santa every day! I am so excited. But it's a secret!"

I am so amazed! My son went from being a student, to a sailor, to an elf!!! That's a pretty amazing transformation over a year.

School update...

Ben did all of his goals today on his own! He was finished before dinner, and had plenty of time to go out to swim with us and then play on the computer. I was sooo excited and proud of him. I can only hope that things continue to go so well!

Lucie told me that she doesn't miss me at all being gone all day. She said that she did think about me for a minute at lunch, but then she just forgot again! She says that she loves it. When we were in bed tonight, I told her that her cousin got on yellow at school yesterday, and she looked like she was going to cry. She said a prayer that it would never happen to her again. It was too cute.

I have finished all of the ridiculous paperwork that I have to do for Chris, and he is ready to get going. He realized that his English syllabus has a listing of all major papers for the year, and he was ready to get writing. He just wishes that they offered a Pre AP class for English. I told him that high school is just around the corner, and he will be able to do as much of that as he wants then.

Andrew goes to work tomorrow and I am so excited that I am about to explode!!! I hope that he enjoys his job. I think that Toys R Us would be a great place to work for a first job! I wouldn't mind working there myself.

Houston still has a job, and I guess I always will. Things are still good, knock on wood. I think that this is the best start to a school year that we have ever had. I wish that we could transition this easily each time!

SCHOOL'S IN!!!

I wanted to take a minute to just share how GREAT yesterday was with the two people that I haven't talked to yet...

Ben did a whole pak of work on his first day. He was committed to making a good start and worked on it last night and got up at 6 AM to finish it this morning. He earned $10 merit money from his new teacher yesterday, and was very excited!

Lucie loved her first day of school, until she realized that she won't have homework until next week. She is busily learning the pledge of allegiance, and the Texas pledge. She was very upset about some kids that can't speak English well, and actually used the word "brats", so I guess I have dug myself a hole about this whole national language thing...

Christopher also came home very excited. He liked all of his teachers but one. He is in all the advanced classes except the dreaded math. He got into the technology course, so he will be learning about rockets and robotics and all kinds of cool things. (Boy middle school has changed since my day...) And best of all, he is in the 8th grade orchestra!!! So he was VERY excited. (Yes, he is in 7th grade.)

To ice the cake, Andrew got called about an interview. A friend called to let him know that he had been contacted from a potential as a referance, and on the way home Toy's R Us called and offered him a position. He starts on Wed.

Sadie has been dry on her potty training all day today finally, and we have been having a blast at home without all of the noise! Next week her best buddy will be here while her mother is at school three days a week, so she won't be so alone.

It has been a great start to what I hope will be a great year!!!

A little hope for the rest of us in life....

Sometimes it is just encouraging to know that the best looking people have off days also. This picture is one of those that just makes you feel good about yourself, no matter how bad your day is going...




Thanks, Sadie! You've made my day again!!!

Dinner blessing from Sadie...

Thank you for the bunnies and don't let anyone else kill them. Thank you for the squirrels, and thank you for the food. Thank you for letting Joker be nice to us. And Jesus said, AMEN.

My scary moment...

I was in the kitchen this weekend, doing some dishes, and the "men" were sitting in the living room watching some various guy programing. I walked around the corner to go and sit down and rest... I was met by this....



I just said, "OH my," and went to grab my camera. The thing is that neither of them realized that the other was doing the same thing. Who watches TV with their arm over their head??? This has to be some genetic problem that occurs when cloning people, or something... CRAZY.

HAPPY 5TH BIRTHDAY LUCIE!!!

Lucie is 5 today, and we have been celebrating in style. We have some awesome makeovers...


A toast to a good five years, and five more to come...




And perhaps the pinnacle of livelyhood... Getting her very own library card!!!

Dinner time at the ranch...

Last night Ben fixed us Rancho Baked Beans for dinner. Quite delicious, and there were none leftover as usual. I made the girls a quesodilla to go with it, since I am aware that they are not the biggest bean fan. We all sat down at the table, ate dinner, and then started the nightly ritual of coaxing the girls to eat some.
I got up and started clearing the dishes while my hubby was sitting at the table. "Sadie, could you eat just a little bit more? I know that you are going to be hungry later." She just peers up at him with those big blue eyes and says " I can't, Daddy. My diarrhea is all gone." As we all continued for the next few minutes trying to figure out what is going on, she picked up her plate and said "See, I don't have anymore diarrhea." OH!!! Quesodilla, diarrhea... It's all the same!

Ben kicks it!

We had an incident right around Easter 08 when Ben rode his bike down the road and fell over. It was like something out of a cartoon. He just plopped over. No feet down, no catching himself, just one minute he is riding his bike, the next he is laying on the ground on his bike. It was awful. He told me that he would NEVER ride a bike again. It is too dangerous.

Then for Christmas last year, he asked for a razor scooter. His Grandad went everywhere under the moon to find the blue razor since blue is Ben's favorite color, and Ben seldom asks for something. You just kinda have to guess about what he wants. Ben has loved the scooter. As a matter of fact, I still go to check on him at least two times a week that the scooter is in bed with him. The scooter has never seen outside action, because it is also deemed too dangerous, but it is loved.

Fast forward to my frustration with all things electronic. I had to take Lucie for her diagnostic testing for Kindergarten yesterday. When we returned home I announced that we would eat a fine feast of Taco Bell and then go out to ride bikes. Ben says "I'm not going." I told him that we would just get his bike out and he could sit on it and push it around with his feet. He finally agreed about this, and took it in the grass to play with it. He quickly got frustrated when he kept trying to get it to go in the grass. (I saw him out of the corner of my eye trying to pedal.) The girls moved to the road, and I finally convinced Ben to bring his out.

After several times of me standing there holding the bike, and him walking away telling me that he couldn't ride there, he finally climbed on with me holding the bike VERY steady. I then had him put his feet up and showed him how it was just like tight rope walking on the wii board. That clicked. He agreed it was just like adjusting his character on the screen when he played the game.



My Ben took off down the road on a bike. Furthermore, he can't wait to go back out and ride more! I am so pleased. I have to say that this has made the wii fit worth more than I had to pay for it!