Adios, 2010...

...and welcome 2011!

And she gave birth to her first born son and she wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger because there was no room for them in the inn. And in that same region there were shepherds abiding in the fields, keeping watch over their flocks by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came before them and the glory of the Lord shone round about them, and they were sore afraid. But the angel said to them, "Fear not! For, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David, a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you: Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger." And suddenly there were with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth, Peace, good will to men." -Luke 2:6-14

Peace to you and your families during this blessed Christmas season!

THE RECAP...

... of our lives the past few weeks will be brief, my friends.

It has been CRAZY.

Luke surprised me with a wonderful surprise vacation to Isla de Mujeres, Mexico, the weekend before Thanksgiving. It was crazy beautiful, fantastic, relaxing, and about the most beautiful place I've ever seen. We stayed at a resort that DID. NOT. ALLOW. CHILDREN. Let me say that again, in case you missed it: NO CHILDREN ALLOWED AT THE RESORT. Now, friends, I love my children, but sometimes it is NECESSARY to get away from them. We had a wonderful time.

When we got home, it was back to school for a couple of days, and then the craziness of Thanksgiving began. Luke's entire family was able to come, and it was REALLY special. We had the big Thanksgiving feast here at our house, and (I hope you are sitting down!), I COOKED, and it was all fantastic! Of course, all the sisters and sisters-in-law also helped and made their special dishes. But, it was really memorable and special. I hope it becomes a tradition!! My children were overjoyed, because ALL 9 of the grandkids on Luke's side were under one roof, like a giant sleep-over, for several days. It was kid-heaven! :-)

I DO have pictures of Mexico and of Thanksgiving, but am not taking the time to upload them right now... Maybe later. Maybe not at all. Time is valuable, and my internet is SLOW.

Happy Thanksgiving. I hope yours was as special as ours!

Country Livin'

There are SOOOO many things I love about living in the country...

Great views, beautiful sunsets, wide-open spaces, no neighbors, happy kids, happy animals... the list goes on and on!

But, today, I discovered something that I am NOT so fond of.

A snake.

On my front porch.

Crawled INTO MY HOUSE, internet friends!!!!

I had to somehow get it out of my house, and kill it, all without letting it attack my children.

It might have been only 6 inches long, but it was ready to attack, people. I could see it in those beady little snake eyes!!!

OH, how I hate snakes!!!!

My eldest child ran (or walked, if the truth be known), to get the hoe. I chopped it up, screaming the whole time.

But I killed it.

I'm moving to town, people. ;-)

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween from the Go-Go Girl, the Statue of Liberty, and the Genie!!! :-)

Baylor Wins!!

We watched a pretty exciting football game last night. BAYLOR beat University of Texas!!

This hasn't happened in a while, friends.

Baylor fans of the world have SUFFERED down in the cellar of the Big 12 conference FOR YEARS. We've been the butt of football jokes for a long time. And, we have taken in stride with a good attitude, because, let's be real here, we KNEW we were bad.

But, maybe, finally, all that is behind us, because not only did we have a great win last night (in Austin, mind you!!), but we are also RANKED #25 in the NATION!

As a die hard Bear, life is sweet this morning! :-)

...sickly...

I'm a little "under the weather" today. I've lost my voice COMPLETELY, and, ya' know, when you are a teacher, you pretty much talk ALL.DAY.LONG. So, I had to stay at home today. I'm not sure what to do about tomorrow... I don't feel exactly 100%, but this isn't the sickest I've ever been, either... But, I seriously can only make a small squeaky noise out of my mouth. I don't know HOW I can control a classroom full of active 3rd graders without a voice!

Suggestions?

IRON MAN 2010

First of all, yes, I know that it has been 10 forevers since I have posted, but hey, I am ridiculously busy. In fact, I should already be in bed. But, at one point in my life, this blog was a little bit like a "diary" of what was going on in our lives. If I want it to STILL be a reflection of our lives, I really do need to post more regularly...

But, in reality, that likely won't happen, so OH, WELL!

This past weekend, we took a little camping trip down to the Austin area and got ready for a little triathlon.

Actually, it was a BIG triathlon. Luke and his friend, Will, competed in a half Iron Man triathlon. Here they are: (Thank goodness for my friend, Shelley, who always has her camera... I totally stole this pic from her blog. You can go look at the rest of her pics right HERE.)
If you're not familiar with triathlon lingo, a half Iron Man means that they swam 1.2 miles, they biked 56 miles, and then ran 13.1 miles.

Yep, it's a little bit crazy, but they did GREAT!

Despite the fact that we had not one but TWO flat tires on our camper on the trip down, nearly missed the check in time for Luke, Luke had a flat tire during the bike portion of the race, Will had some stomach sickness during the run portion of the race, we had some "technical difficulties" with the slide-out part of our camper as we were getting ready to leave the camp site, AND... we had a problem with the emergency brake on the ride home... the trip was still a success! ha ha!

My newest most favorite quotation...

"Be who you are and say what you need to say because those who mind don’t matter, and those who matter don’t mind." — Dr. Seuss

Have you ever heard anything more true than that???

Dr. Seuss was a lot smarter than we sometimes give him credit for...

Just a little "Gracie Humor"...

... because everyone needs a laugh now and then!

Today her Kindergarten teacher comes and finds me (which in itself should have been a sign), and says she just HAS to tell me what Grace said earlier in the day...

Oh, NO!

Oh, Yes.

I guess it was a little warmer than usual today and the class had been at P.E. and they had been running. Miss Grace comes back into the classroom after P.E., and she is fanning herself. She announces (loudly, and unsolicited), "WHEW! It is HOT out there! I am sweating like a sinner in church!"

Oh. My. Goodness.

Where did she hear THAT?!?!?!?!

I could have DIED.

At least her teacher got a good laugh today...

I'm not dead...

... although you might think so, since it has been so long since my last post! We have just been so busy.

Work is... well, work. It keeps me insanely busy, but (at least for now!) I am still enjoying it.

All three girls have begun soccer. All three girls are on different teams. All three girls are in different age divisions. All three girls play and practice at different times. It is insanely busy. I am seriously thankful that soccer only lasts for 6 weeks...

On a bright note, today is my BIRTHDAY!! Happy day to me! I have worked hard to earn these 39 years, and I embrace every wrinkle. Hope I have another 39+ years to go!!

Just catching up...

Since it's Labor Day and I don't have to work, (YAY!!) I am taking the time to upload some old pictures today from the past few weeks. I just had a few of them on my phone, but if I have time later, I may try to get some more of the "real" camera.

Here are my girls on Homecoming this past Friday.
Here is Grace with her teacher on the first day of Kindergarten.
And here is Abby with her teacher on the first day of 3rd grade!!
Hope YOUR Labor Day is as FANTASTIC as ours!! We are loving having the day off. Happy Labor Day!

Answered Prayers

God has heard me and answered my prayers.

Abby went in and had some tests done this week. Today Luke got the report back and SHE IS JUST FINE. She does have a murmur, but it is nothing that we should be concerned about.

Thank you, Lord, for answering prayers!

TARDY

As I'm a teacher and all, I was thinking I should use some "jargon" from my profession in this post, and the only word that came to mind was "Tardy".

Because I am so late in getting any posts up on my blog. I'm TARDY.

It's not that I don't have anything to post... I have TONS to post. It's actually astounding how much I have to say, but no time in which to say it. I am perpetually late these days. I think it's something I'm just going to have to get used to.

I DO have a prayer request... For the two people who still read my blog...

Last week my little Abby was complaining of some chest pain and dizziness after running during P.E. Because I am a great mom, I told her not to worry about it. She was just hot, and that pain was probably just a stitch in her side. I'm real accurate like that (sarcasm!!) I should have known better, as Abby's not really much of a whiner. That evening, as she was still complaining, Luke got out his stethoscope and listened to her chest. She has a whopper of a heart murmur. We now have an appointment with a pediatric cardiologist. Luke says not to worry yet, so I am choosing not to worry. (I am also watching her like a hawk, and not letting her run or get hot AT ALL until after this appointment, just to be on the safe side!!)

Pray it's not a big deal, and pray she outgrows it.

Soon.

And I'll try not to be so TARDY with my next posts.

I did not cry...

...but it was still tougher than I thought dropping off my baby for Kindergarten today. She did great. I was oh, so proud of her. She was big and brave and wonderful, and I felt a chapter of our "book of life" slamming shut. We have no more pre schoolers. No more babies. We even have a *GASP* Jr. High Student living in our house now! I won't lie... it was tough.

But I am so very happy and reaffirmed that the decision I made last year to go back to work was THE RIGHT DECISION. Even though Kate is in Jr. High, she's just down the hall. Even though Grace is in Kindergarten, she's really just down the hall in the opposite direction. Abby is literally next door to me. I see them all day, every day. I love that. I am SOOOOOO much a part of their lives. Maybe more than ever!

I did take pictures this morning, but I'll be really honest... I'm too tired to load them right now. Soon, I promise!

Day #1 was a huge, wonderful, awesome, great SUCCESS.

Bring on day #2!!

Well, Hi there.

Well, Hi there! Haven't heard from me in quite some time, huh?

Let's just say it's been a LITTLE busy this week.

I've been in "teacher training" since last Friday, while at the same time trying to get my classroom ready for "Meet the Teacher" Night, which was last night.

I DID IT!

My room looked great, and I had 11 little darlings come out to meet me. I am going to call it a success.

On an even brighter note, dear hubby was in charge of taking OUR three darlings to meet the teacher night. Alone. As in without me. And, did I mention he also had to manage to drop off their school supplies with their teachers and additionally find all 8 classrooms in the Jr. High, get her schedule, find her locker, AND attend 6th grade orientation? (I know... I know... Your head is spinning. Mine was, too. I thought this had "DISASTER" written all over it!)

But, clearly I don't give the man enough credit. He did fine. Better than fine, actually. He did GREAT. Everyone was happy, and they got everything accomplished. I think hubby feels very proud of his accomplishment!

Now, today, one last day of teacher inservice and planning. Then comes what I am referring to as the "Last Free Weekend For A Very, Very, Very Long Time". I am hoping to enjoy it and *GASP* not go to my classroom over the weekend.

Because, on MONDAY, "it" begins!!!!!

I think I am ready. And, in the words of Rhino the Hamster from the movie "Bolt"...

LET IT BEGIN!!!

Beautiful Summertime

Tomorrow is my very last day of summer vacation, and I might be just a little bit sad about it. This has been the BEST summer yet... The kids are big enough to actually DO stuff. Nobody needs a nap (except maybe for Dad...)So... in honor of the Summer of '10, here are just a few of the things we did this summer!

Went to a Ranger Baseball Game. (Kate did NOT catch a ball, much to her chagrin.)
Rode the train at the zoo. (Abby really like it.)
Graduated my final little pre-schooler. (Grace begins kindergarten in a few short days.)
Went to Six Flags. Twice!
Celebrated 16 years of wedded bliss with the best man I know. Went away WITHOUT CHILDREN to celebrate. It was WAY relaxing!
Went to Medieval Times. The kids REALLY like it!
Saw some awesome fireworks.
Babysat a VERY sweet 10-day old baby, Miss Berkley. It was so special to have a baby in the house again!
Went to the movies a few times...
Celebrated Lainey's birthday at American Girl in Dallas... (Lainey is Abby's BFF).
The girls attended cheer camp and had a blast. Go Bulldogs!
Rode to the Horny Toad with some friends.
Kate and Abby completed the 2nd annual Hamilton Kid's Triathlon.
Did a lot of swimming with my girls...
Attended family reunions. Here's me with my Daddy...
Went to the zoo. Grace LOVED the birds!
Went to the beach. Everyone except me got stung by the jellyfish on our last day! And, it IS true that if you urinate on the sting, it does not hurt any more. FYI. :-)
Sent away our oldest child to a sleep-away camp for the first time. It was a success!! She had a ball!
Picked some berries...
Celebrated Luke's birthday. He's 39 and holding!!! :-)
Believe it or not, there WAS more, but country-fried internet can only handle so many uploads at a time.

Farewell summer. I sincerely love you, and cannot WAIT until you come to see us again.

The last "Mini-Vacay" of summer

This is my last week before I have to go back to work. Actually, much less than a week, as I have to report back on Friday. :-(

I love summer, and am SOOOOO not ready for it to be over! I know it will be fine once school starts and we get back into our groove, but this summer has been WONDERFUL. The kids are old enough to really DO some things, and they have been so fun - I want summer to last forever! BUT... I know it can't... SO, Luke and I decided to take one more last "mini-vacation" before summer's over and gone!

We went to the beach at Galveston and had a great time. It was a quick weekend trip, and we all wished it could have been longer.

We took a side trip on the way home to NASA, and it was GREAT. If you've never been, you should go. It was really, really something to see. We WILL go back again when we can stay longer.

Here are the girls in front of the Saturn V rocket. It was huge!
Here are the girls on the beach at Galveston.
Here they are with their awesome balloon animals outside of Rainforest Cafe.
And here they are out on the beach.
We had a ball!! We love summer!!!

Cheerleader Camp!

In July, my girls attended cheer camp here in H-town. Here they are, ready for day #1!Let the "catch-up" blogging continue! :-)

Playing "Catch Up"

I am so far behind on blogging... But I am going to try and play "catch up" this week and at the very least upload some of my favorite images from the Summer of 2010.

Here's my favorite pic...
My Daddy and Me at the family reunion. Love my Daddy! :-)

This one's for you, Mom...

...because I KNOW you want me to blog often.

And because I KNOW you will find this one amusing!!

Today we went school shopping, and we were buying shoes and clothes and supplies and backpacks and all sorts of stuff. It took us ALL DAY LONG. It wasn't exactly a fun experience.

But I digress.

We were looking at backpacks, and Kate was trying to explain to Abby that she could get a certain backpack and have it monogrammed.

But instead, she said, "You could get this backpack and have it MAMOGRAMMED."

I couldn't explain why it was wrong, because I could not stop laughing.

Just a quick update to let you know I'm still alive.

Sorta...

We've been so busy that I have scarcely had time to breathe.

After picking up the kids from "Camp Grandma", we came home and immediately began installation of our sprinkler system.

That's right, you heard me... WE are installing our sprinkler system.

As in, "Dig a lot of holes, place pipes in them, and then fill in the holes" ...

We have NOT A CLUE what we're really doing, but we ARE doing it. Luckily, we have a friend who DOES have a clue, and is helping us quite a bit. (Thanks, Ryan!)

Luke took off of work last week to work on this little project. We worked all week last week...

... and we're still working.

*SIGH*

I'm tired, but we're almost finished. Ryan said today maybe 2-3 more evenings of work and we'll be finished.

I hope he's right.

In the middle of all of this work, we ran off last weekend to Luke's family reunion on the river (which was fantastically fun, as always.)

Then when we got back, our church's Summer Music Camp began. It is currently in full swing. All of my kids are attending, and all are enjoying it so much. I am working in the "crafty" area.

SO... I'm crazy busy, and have no time to blog. But I have been taking pictures, and SOMEDAY I will post them.

Someday... :-)

Shhhh....

Listen!

What's that you hear??

It's the sound of *SILENCE*.

All my children have gone off to "Camp Grandma" for the week.

That's right.

All my children.

All week.

At my Mom and Dad's house.

Without me.

As in, I am here, all day long, ALONE.

What ever will I do???

Hmmm....

I'll think of something!! ;-)

Sweet Summer Time!

We've been doing a whole lot of hanging out at the pool......with family and good friends.
And, MAN! Do we have style, or what?!?!?!?
Good times. Really good times. (And special thanks to my friend AND photographer, Shelley, for these photos. She NEVER forgets her camera!! :-)

Lefty Cat

We've had kitty drama at our house this week... Monday night when we got home, we found Lefty the cat outside and he was in BAD SHAPE. We thought he had probably been caught by a coyote, as his chest seemed to be punctured badly in about 4 places. He was bleeding slightly, and not breathing normally. He couldn't move and would just cry out when you touched him. I just knew he was dying. The girls came out and told him good bye, and many, MANY tears were shed. (Here's an old picture of Lefty when he was a kitten with his brother, Poncho. Is that not just pure sweetness?? Love it.)After the kids went to bed, I went out into the back yard and sat with Lefty so he wouldn't be alone when he died. I know, I know... I'm a sap. Luke came out and checked on him, too, but neither one of us could "put him out of his misery". We covered him with a towel and gave him some water, which he lapped up. We would pet him, and he would lean into our hands and try to purr. It was very sad. Finally, we decided we needed to go to bed, but Lefty was still hanging in there. We couldn't leave him alone and defenseless in the yard, so we finally decided to move him to the laundry room. We thought that way he could pass away quietly. It was sad, but we thought it was best. Luke had some liquid antibiotics, which he gave to Lefty. He drank a bit more water, and we left him for the night.

When we woke up in the morning, we went to check on Lefty, who was still alive. He had used the little litter box, and, even though he still looked really bad, Luke felt like maybe he had a chance. Luke loaded him up in the car and took him to the vet.

After the vet looked at him and shaved down his chest, he discovered that Lefty had in fact been bit by a SNAKE. Scary, since those fang puncture marks were HUGE. Anyway, the vet called and said Lefty was still alive, but he only gave him a 50/50 shot at survival. He put Lefty on IV antibiotics, IV fluids, and IV steroids.

Lefty held on for another day, but today, he died. The girls were sad all over again, but Luke promised them he would bring the body back home, and we would have a feline funeral. (In case you didn't know, Luke is an EXCELLENT pet preacher... I am so thankful, as I LITERALLY can't get through these pet funerals without bursting into inappropriate giggling fits.)

SO tomorrow, we'll be burying and saying good bye to a very good cat. RIP, Lefty. We will miss you!

Softball

Kate's softball team has had a ROUGH year this year. They've been playing since April, and they're still playing. They have gotten beat EVERY SINGLE GAME, and often, they have been beaten BADLY.

When the season started, none of the girls knew how to pitch, and this is a "kid-pitch" league. Like I said, it has been rough.
UNTIL TONIGHT!!!

Tonight, they WON, and WON BIG!! I was so proud of them. They all played extremely well, and never acted or played like they were anything other than champions. Kate even pitched a couple of innings, and she did well. I was so very, very proud of her! What I was MOST proud of, however, is that at the end of the game, they ran over to the opposing team's dug out and cheered and clapped for the other team, and told them they were proud of them. It was a fabulous display of good sportsmanship.

Our season ends Friday night. I hope these girls can pull out another great game to end their season on a high note!

All about Hubby

This weekend should have been all about THIS guy......because his 39th birthday was on Saturday...
... and today was Father's Day. (And he is a FANTASTIC father...).
But, instead, he had to work ALL weekend. It really STINKS being a grown up sometimes!
But, sometimes you HAVE to be a grown up and just suck it up and do what you have to do. There are sick people who still have to be cared for, whether it's your birthday or not.
SO... being the fantastic man that he is, he did what he had to do this weekend. He worked.

Happy Birthday, honey. And, Happy Father's Day, too. We love you VERY much, and are so thankful for you EACH AND EVERY DAY OF THE YEAR!!

Oh, Gracie...

I'm so proud, because Miss Gracie showed me yesterday that she is REALLY GOOD at writing her name! She even spelled her last name correctly, and had most of the capital letters in the correct places. So smart!

However, I was a little sad because she chose to show me by WRITING IT ON THE WALL.
*SIGH*

I got out the Magic Eraser, and, while it removed most of the ink, it also removed a fair amount of paint.

I'll be finding that old touch up paint very soon.

I KNOW that I should be distraught and VERY upset with her. I KNOW that I would have absolutely killed Kate or Abby for doing this very same thing. I KNOW that she is old enough to know better. Oh, how far I have fallen...

I did speak to her very sternly about it. And I didn't even laugh once (in front of her.) She said she just wanted to show me how pretty she could write. (And, if you look at the picture, it is very nice penmanship for a 5 year old...) She has promised to never do it again. If she does, THEN I will kill her... But for now, I'm just going to repaint it.

Just as soon as I find that paint...

My Make-Over

My good friend, Shelley, has given me a new bloggy-look!

Isn't it cute?!?!?!

She's thinking it might inspire me to be better about updating my blog.

I'm doubting it, but maybe... stranger things have happened...

Thanks, Shelley! Love it!! :-)

Triathlon 2010

Today Kate and Abby participated in the 2nd annual Hamilton Kid's Triathlon. Grace was a spectator, and spent the most of her morning holding this cute little kitten...The bigger girls did a GREAT job. Abby thought it was HARD, but still finished strong. We were so proud of her for completing her very first tri. This is Kate's 3rd triathlon, and she did well, finishing 2nd in her age group.


Happy sisters after the race.
Kate on the bike...
Abby on the bike.
Abby warming up before the swim...
Kate before the swim.
A good time was had by all. I'm so proud of my little triathletes!