Seven Things Sunday

1.  On Friday we gave out uniforms for 325 girls and 60+ coaches.  We also sorted and bagged 200+ shirts for a give away that we did.  Needless to say, it was crazy.  This was all done in my living room.  At 10:00 P.M. because the uniform company got behind and weren't able to have the uniforms ready in the afternoon like they planned. 

2.  On Friday the kids and I crash cleaned the living room and kitchen.  (See #1) I wonder how long it will stay clean.  Related: do not look in my room or the laundry room because they are a mess.

3.  Opening Ceremonies was yesterday.  Most of our girls showed up and we are excited to get the season started tomorrow.

4.  I have no idea what we are going to do for Easter.  It is the last holiday that I have left in my year of firsts without my mom.  It is also hard because I have fond Easter memories from when I was a kid.  The Easter bunny always hid my eggs while I was asleep and then my dad would BBQ and we would spend the day outside. 

5.  I took two Benadryl last night for allergies and now I feel like I am in a fog.  Ugg.

6.  Meagan has the next competition in her Bible Drill today.  This drill, called the Association Drill, will determine if she goes on to the next level.  She did great two weeks ago so I have no doubt that she will do well today.

7.  We went to a housewarming party last night where they served the most wonderful brisket.  I need to get their recipe.  Yum!

Bonus! 8.  We are planning our next vacation and have lots of various ideas but I am so unsure of myself when planning.  What to do, what to do.  I hate the thought of spending so much money and then it flops.  I also need to realize that it needs to be fun for all of us, not just for one or two people.  Double ugg.

Random photo time: 

This is a bulletin board that I created at work this week.  It outlines the TLI grant that our district received.

Sunrise in Pensacola, FL in November

Mmm. . . no explanation needed right??

Seven Things Sunday

**Yay!! I'm actually posting for the second week in a row!  Let's see how long I can keep this up. 

1.  Today is the last day of Spring Break.  I accomplished nothing on my mental to-do list.  Ugh.

2.  I can't believe I'm actually saying this but while it was nice to sleep
late(r) every day, I'm ready for a routine again.

3.  I hate the last day of a break.  Ask any teacher and they will tell you about the Sunday blues.

4.  I know it is irrational but this day last year I got food poisoning.  I am afraid that I am going to get it again.  Needless to say, I am going NO WHERE near the place I ate at last year.

5.  I have all of the ideas for blog posts tumbling around in my brain.  Yay!

6.  I can't believe Easter is two weeks away.

7. Meagan competed in her Bible Drill competition last Sunday at the Church Level Drill and received a Superior Rating. She will compete at the next level in a couple of weeks. We are so proud of her.

And now, random pictures:

 Texas Public Schools Week was last week and one day was dress up as your future career.  I'm here with my future police officer/CSI.

This was taken on the beach in Pensacola, FL right after sunrise.  We were only there briefly and it was really cold but it was BEAUTIFUL.  I want to go back there someday and spend some time there.

Meagan at Garrett's 10th birthday party.  This is a local party place that you rent.  It is full of those huge inflatables that the kids jump on/run through obstacle courses, etc. 

Seven Things Sunday

**Disclaimer - I just made that title up.  I'm sorry if someone already uses it and I didn't link to you. : )

I've been trying to get back into regular posting on this blog and just keep forgetting.  I think I'm going to try this Seven Things Sunday and see if that helps!

So here goes:
1.  We are coaching 3!! kickball teams this year.  Why? Because we are insane.  Once games start we will have a game every Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday evening for one team or another from March 25 - June 7.  Insane I said.

2.  It is SPRING BREAK!!! Woo hoo!!  We might take a little trip to do some touristy stuff but I am just looking forward to sleeping late and getting my house cleaned up.  (After typing out #1 I realized that this may be the last time the house is cleaned until June.)

3.  I went to a work conference a few weeks ago and I came back SO MOTIVATED!  (This doesn't always happen so it is really exciting when it does!) I have really changed my outlook and schedule and I am so much happier for it. 

4.  My daughter had to get glasses recently.  Actually, she begged me to call and make an appointment for her to get her eyes checked.  Needless to say, she needs glasses and is wearing them nonstop.  This makes me feel like a terrible mother.  I should have had her eyes checked much sooner. 

5.  My mom's birthday was a couple of weeks ago and I didn't fall apart.  It helped that we had kickball stuff to do all day.  I was sad but it was nothing like how horrible my birthday was.

6.  Laundry sucks.  (Maybe it would suck less if I would actually try to keep up with it but that never happens in my house.)

7.  After trying to clean this weekend I have a question:  Where in the heck does all of the paper come from????  I swear that there are several trees worth of paper in my house right now.  Ugh!

And now some random pictures of us:

Jimmy and I at the kickball fields early one Saturday morning for registration.

Meagan, who is 14 and growing up more and more every day.

Garrett, with a stick on moustache courtesy of his sister who weirdly has a thing for moustches. (Terrible puntuation I know, and I don't even think moustaches is a word!)

Corpus Christi Science and History Museum

Yesterday I had to drop some work off at the college and buy my book for Summer Session II so the kids went with me.  I think it is important for them to see where I spend so much extra time right now.  They know I am going to college but I don't think either one of them realized what the college looked like or exactly how big it was. 

After we ran my errands I took the kids to the museum.  I think they really enjoyed it.  They especially liked looking at all of the rocks from around Texas.  They were creeped out by the boa constrictor skin and unimpressed by the replica ships of Christopher Columbus.  (So was I for the record.)

I hope that we can do a few more day trips to Corpus this summer to explore some more of what it has to offer!

Run for your lives!!

A couple of weekends ago we took the kids to Corpus to do some shopping and spend some time together as a family.  We went to GattiTown and these vampire teeth were some of the prizes Garrett bought.

Be afraid, be very afraid!

All ready for church

I look at pictures like these and I wonder where did the time go?

I'm already off to a better start

 Garrett got a motorized crane from Santa, along with a stocking full of goodies.

 Meagan got an iPod Touch from Santa, along with a stocking full of goodies.

This is Jules, our new family member.  She, too, received a stocking full of goodies from Santa.

How was your Christmas?  What did Santa bring you or put into your stocking?

Absolutely Adorable

I walked down the hall the other night and peeked into Meagan's room to see why it was so quiet in there.

This is why:

This makes me so happy.

Do you think she gets it from me?

There's just no denying that she's mine. You want proof?

This exchange proves it:

Me: Meagan, will you please come here?

Meagan: sighing . . . Yes, mom?

Me: Will you please go check the mail for me?

Meagan: sighing . . . I guess (slipping on my shoes) I just wish that was really a question that I could answer.

She then heads out the door.

Total smarta**.

She's mine all right.

Meagan's New Haircut

I finally had a chance to take Meagan to get her hair cut. Mari didn't cut too much off length wise but she added long layers to help the curl look better. (Wearing it pulled up into a pony tail all during the school year is hard on the curl.)

She then blow dried it with a diffuser. I love how it looks and so does Meagan.

I think it makes her look so grown up!

Eleven years ago . . .

Here are some pictures from the family party we had for Meagan. Grandma Blair cooked fried chicken for everyone and then made homemade ice cream for Meagan.

Here's Meagan opening a gift from Nana Mary, Carlos, Crystal, and Bee and Larry. Lots of goodies inside!

Still pulling more stuff out . . .

Webkinz from Jimmy and I.

Meagan with Grandpa (my dad)

Happy Birthday Baby!

DARE to be a beautiful, smart kid

Meagan's school had an awards assembly at the end of the year. Here she is receiving an award. She was the third top reader in A.R. in the fifth grade, was the Top Lanugage Arts student, she made all A's all year, and she was recognized again for being in the Lone Star Challenge.
Fifth grade students also participate in the DARE program all year though their social studies class so they wear their graduation t-shirts to awards. DARE stands for Drug Awareness and Resistance Education. A local police officer comes into the schools and does lessons on drug awareness and resistance.

Meagan we are so proud of you!

Taking a deep breath . . . .

Here's why I haven't been blogging:

• Friday was the last day of school for kids and Saturday was the last workday for teachers for the 2008-2009 school year
• Reading Specialists are in charge of organizing summer school for all of the elementary schools in town
• Meagan finished her first year of middle school
• Meagan's birthday is coming up in just a couple of weeks
• Garrett finished kinder - sob, sob
• I helped to make a scrapbook for a staff member who left our school after 8 years
• I finally moved all of my stuff out of my old classroom
• I spent about $2500 (not my money!) on books/supplies for next year
• our kickball team had 5 or 6 games in last three weeks
• our kickball team won the last 10 games they played
• our kickball team won their 10th straight game in the bottom of the sixth inning to become the JUNIOR CHAMPIONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So, I've been a little busy. I have kept up (well, a little anyway) with my Twitter posts so I will have to reread them to work on blogging all of the things that have been going on around here the last couple of weeks.

All I've done the last couple of weeks in my house is the bare minimum. You know, washing spoons as we need them, making sure we have a clean uniform for both kids for the next day, making sure people have socks and underwear, and washing our kickball uniforms repeatedly.

Today I am cleaning house and then going to a meeting with Jimmy to pick the ALL STAR JUNIOR TEAM! Because, as the coaches of the team who won FIRST PLACE! we get to coach the All Star team and take them to the state tournament in Austin, Texas over the Fourth of July weekend. But, I promise, I will try to start blogging with some sort of regularity (is that even a word?) soon.

(I'm a little excited about winning first place in kickball - just in case you can't tell.)

Bronze, Silver, Silver

Please excuse the cookie - competing makes a kid hungry!
For most of the school year Meagan has been studying for the Lone Star Challenge. If you are familiar with Academic Decathlon or Pentathlon, it is very similar. It is the comperable activity for fourth, fifth, and sixth grade students.

If you are new to all of this - think athletic decathlon but with academics instead. Students study information on a given theme and then compete by testing in several subjects: math, science, social studies, reading, and essay. To complete the whole contest there is the Super Quiz event. This is a relay race of sorts but instead of running laps, students are answering questions.

The theme this year was Pop Culture of the 60's and 70's. Cool - in my opinion anyway.

Meagan won three medals: Bronze in essay, Silver in Individual Super Quiz (she got four out of her five questions correct), and Silver in Team Super Quiz.

We are so proud of you Meagan! Keep up the great work!

Surfin' U.S.A.

On Tuesday night Meagan performed at her school's P.T.A. program. They sang four songs: Let It Be, Surfin' U.S.A., a song in spanish, and another song that I can't remember right now.

I took this picture before we left the house.

This one was taken in between songs.

And here's one of Garrett. He did well during the meeting. I let him look through the pictures I have saved on my camera. That kept him quiet for, oh, two minutes or so. He watched the kids sing and stayed near his seat the rest of the time so I was happy.

I just wish he would lose this fake smile thing he has going on lately.

Hoppy Easter!

On Saturday night we colored eggs as a family. Thanks Grandma Silly for boiling the eggs and buying the coloring kit! (I was really lazy so there are no pictures of us coloring eggs.)

The kids went to bed anxiously awaiting the arrival of the Easter Bunny.

Meagan woke me up at 7:55 on Sunday morning. "Mom! Can we see what the Easter Bunny left us?"

The bunny left Meagan a horse Webkinz and the High School Musical 3 DVD. He left Garrett a horse Webkinz and a play set with an airplane and a boat.

After all of the Easter basket excitement, we went to church. We were joined by Grandma Silly, Grandma Blair, Darla, Ashley, and Joey.

After church, Grandma Silly came back to our house.


These are the baskets that she made for the kids. Aren't they cute?? Each one had a Webkin in it along with some eggs, some candy, and some other goodies. The kids were really excited about the chalk. It came with 3D glasses and other tools to help you draw. (Garrett's "smile" is driving me crazy.)

Grandma Silly and the kids
After that we went to Grandma Blair's and had an Easter egg hunt.

I love the look on his face in this picture. He had just found a prize egg with money in it.

While the kids were hunting eggs, Grandma Blair was making lunch. We had homemade fried chicken and all of the trimmings. Yum!

Meagan Competes and Succeeds!

On Sunday afternoon Meagan competed in her first Bible Drill competition. She earned a rating of Superior. We are so proud of her. She has worked very hard all year to learn all of the books of the bible, lots of scripture references, and being able to find any part of her bible in less than 10 seconds. Her skills amaze me. I am proud of the hard work she has put into learning all of this new material. I also want to thank the wonderful people who organize all of the Bible Drill activities at our church. Miss M, Miss S, and Miss W your hard work is appreciated!

Meagan will continue on to the Association Drill in a few weeks and hopefully on to the State Drill next month. We know she is going to do a great job!

Happy Birthday to Me

On Wednesday there was much whispering and giggling between Meagan and Garrett and much shushing by Jimmy. At 7:00, after asking the location of any glue sticks in our house, Jimmy and the kids disappeared into Meagan's room. Not one but two doors were closed in an effort to prevent me from seeing or hearing any goings on.

When I awoke Thursday morning and stumbled into the living room this is what I found:

My husband is truly wonderful. The gift means more to me than he will ever know. The fact that he took the time (over an hour) to make all of these letters with our kids and then stay up late to put them all in place means more to me than any gift he could have bought.

Jimmy, I love you and thank you so much for the banner. He also gave me a beautiful Willow Tree angel. My picture of it was too bright so it looks like a big blur. Digital photography hints anyone??

Here is Jimmy and I at my mom and dad's house on Thursday evening.

Here is me with my mom and Meagan and Garrett. Garrett was obviously not happy about having to stop playing with his friend and pose for the picture. Meagan, on the other hand, is a total ham.

Here is me with Nana Mary. If you read this blog regularly you know that Nana is the mom of my best friend from when I was a kid. She is a big part of our lives. Love you Mary!

Here is my with my friend Elice. We have known each 0ther since we were kids but in the last few years have become close friends. We scrapbook together and our kids are about the same age.

Here I am with the German Chocolate cake my mom made for me.

Despite feeling ill, my mom also made me a wonderful dinner. She made homemade roast with carrots and potatoes and gravy. YUM! Thank you so much Mom! One of these days I am actually going to learn how to make it myself. Garrett even asked me the next day if I knew how to make chicken like grandma did. I was puzzled by his question. He said, "You know, what we ate for dinner last night at Grandma's." I told him no, I don't know how to make chicken like that yet. (Especially since it was roast!)