BACK HOME

We had a great time with my parents. We saw my sister Chris and her dh and worked on furthering plans for the big family reunion later this year. She has a wonderful garden in her back yard too.

We spent the day with my sister Kathy and two of her daughters Ashley and Jennifer. First we went to a bridal shop and decided on a dress for the girls that complenent the other girls. They are quite grown up looking. After they we went to a pottery place and the girls all painted a piece. They will be fired and ready next week. Jennifer will bring ours up in a few weeks when they come to town to take the girls to Six Flags....mom doesn't do hot and long days well at all ;)

WE played LOTS of games of Phase 10-our new favorite. It is a long game and after about 5 times, I am done for a while.

We went to see my long time friend Ruth and her family. They are on year 2 of ? of a home renovation. They have an acre lot with many large oak trees...it is like being on a vacation, with the pool and all. Richard and Ruth cooked a wonderful dinner for all. Her boys taught Ruth how to play some zombie killing game, and Sara found something less violent on the other computer.

We did some shopping with my mom, but came home almost empty handed....making the men in our lives happy :)

Grandpa had the girls helping in the garden--check out this huge beet! It is getting almost too hot for tomatoes.


My mom showed Sara how she makes spaghetti. At first she thought it best not to, but then found that Sara is a good help in the kitchen.

vacation #1

The girls and I are heading out of town to visit my parents for a week. I will be back with many photos. Everyone have a good week....C & the monsters ;)

Thanks Nana & Papa

Today we received a package from Jeff's parents-a life saver for "school's out" blues. They sent two movies. We already watched the Velveteen Rabbit, and I think the kids have almost finished the activity book that went with it. Tonight we will watch The Secret. They has been great and they are wonderful for doing this.....

This is how the girls were laying ontop of each other as they watched the movie-Ruth is pretending that she is sleeping :)

DRESSES

Today we went to David's Bridals to look at Jr Bridesmaid's dresses. We will send these photos to my niece Jennifer to see....the girls are getting so excited for the wedding.....the just LOVE Marc and can not wait to have a brother cousin :)

CAMPING

We decided to break in the tent in the back yard on Friday and Saturday nights....starting slowly. It was a little hard setting it up because it was so windy and it was our first time....but we won that battle. We added 3 air mattresses, a fan and a DVD player. Cooper the dog slept with us, the cat was inside the house. We did find out that the dog ANNIE that lives behind us goes out for a potty every night and she heard us and began to bark then Cooper barked...

The first night we went inside at 5 am because it was getting so cold. The second night we went in at 5:30 am because that is what time the BIRDS get up! Both times we went to our beds and went back to sleep :)

6th grade ceremony-LAST DAY OF SCHOOL

Today is the last day of school, so I took a picture to compare from the first day:

And the last day

Today it was Sara's turn. In the morining they got to have one last market day, this time they used they "good behavior" money to bid on really cool things donated by the parents and establishements in the town. Sara had the most, of course, with over 20,000.000. She made her first bid for a $25.oo gift card to starbucks. They do not get to make a second bid until EVERYONE gets something. Her next bid was for a set of large loop earrings and eye shadow-too early for these!- and then a silver makeup case that I had donated. She was a happy camper.

Then the ceremony. They had to hold it in the Cafateria because the "team" sized in 6th are larger and made up of 6 classes.

Of course, she got many awards.

5th grade award ceremony

Today was the 5-C awards ceremony. Ruth got 10 awards, many 0f them with her same friends that she has know for years. Being shy, Ruth was not thrilled with being in front of all the parents, but she did give me a few smiles. If you do not know, Ruth is in the green/white shirt.

At the end the teachers all began to cry, the parents all began to cry....almost like being on OPRAH---pass the tissues.

Next year the kids will be split between this school and a new school, so they are saying goodby to a great school and to many of their good friends.

6th grade bottle rockets

Today was the day for launching the bottle rockets the kids made a few weeks ago. The flew two-one with an egg inside to see if they can keep it from cracking. Sara' s team's parachute tore so the egg was cracked.

The second rocket was just for fun-whatever you want and as big as you want. Sara's team put the rudders on at an angle to see if it would spin, but who could tell because it went up so fast.

We never had so much fun when I went to school....

Sara update

Sara is trying to stay in school all day and she has made it twice. Yesterday was a really bad day and she came home at 10:30. Her 3rd block teacher thinks that she had a small seizure-she herself had them when she was younger and is familiar with them.

She came home and took a 3 hour nap, then was recharged for a while, still to bed by 8:30.

The Dr said to make sure she is hydrated very well, does not play video games and that the florescent lights, such as those at school, actually hurt brain injuries because the subtle flickering, which we do not even know we see, the brain picks up and can cause problems. I am not going to suggest that the teachers turn off their lights, but it was interesting.

She is determined to get her all year perfect attendance-she must be at school until 10. She is also going for the all A all year and making sure she stays up on all tests, homework...of course there is only a week left and TAKS tests are over, so there is more putting up for the summer than there is learning.

Today they launch their bottle rockets they designed. I will be here to see this. There is an egg inside, and they are using soda bottles....I will post pics afterwards.

Happy Birthday Bryan

Today is my son Bryan Christian's birthday. The girls were excited to remember their big brother. He would have been 25....and it still feels like it was yesterday that he was here with us....

This is one of the few photos we have of him....with love

Sara in hospital

We just got back from Cook's Children's hospital. Yesterday evening, the girls were next door talking to the neighbor boy. Suddenly he decided to swing his "real" golf club...too bad it wasn't a toy...and cracked Sara smack in the head. Ruth came in saying that I might want to come see because Sara was hurt...she was not panicked so I wasn't, until I saw her. I asked if she was OK, and she said yes, but she was doubled over in pain and crying hysterically.

I brought her home, then had to run a 2 minute errand. She was in our bed, dizzy and wanting to sleep with a huge knot on her left temple.....so off to our hospital we went.

We did not wait too long before we got a CT scan and was told that she had a brain bleed and a cracked skull and we were then very quickly in the ambulance for the children's hospital in Ft. Worth. Sara thought the ride was cool. Once there she was checked again and we waited in emergency for a room. The streak across her cheek is from the shaft of the club.

We finally got a room around 12 #313. Once settled the nurse took us to hunt for some food since Sara did not have much dinner. Then the medicine and since it is a children's hospital, it came in liquid form....two syringes full. WELL, one went in, but they forgot to tell her to put her lips around the syringe as she pushed the plunger, so she pushed fast and she got some, and some flew back on the nurse, on me and around the room. Then she was desperate for water and was laughing so hard, she spit it all over me, which just made us all laugh harder, then came the vomiting :( Needless to say, the second syringe went into the trash....not even worth trying.

Then Sara was hooked to a heart monitor and we tried to sleep. She slept fairly well, but being a mom, I did not and her monitor kept going off. Finally they turned the beeping off around 4:30 so I finally got some sleep.

This morning she finally got breakfast to find that her jaw hurt so much, she can not chew...back to cutting food into really small pieces. Then another cat scan and it showed that the bleed was not getting larger...good news.

bad news-no physical activity for one month-of any kind. This includes the last soccer game, soccer camp, volleyball camp, recess, gymnastics, swimming.....nothing. As you all know, this will be hard for Sara, and harder for me to listen to her complain about it for a month.

We will go back to the children's hospital in one month to meet with the neurologist for another cat scan and if it all goes well, she will be free from eternal boredom.

Later this evening when I went to let the family know that Sara was home and how she was doing, I had to leave a message with the little girl because mom was taking a nap, not knowing that the dad was in the room watching TV.

About 20 minutes later, there is a knock at the door and it is the dad. He said that after I left, his son got a funny look on his face and said dad, there was a little accident yesterday with the golf club. I filled him in on the details and I felt so bad when the dad began to cry. I know he honestly felt horrible and even worse that his son did not tell him...

About 30 minutes later, both parents and a very upset 13 year old came to the door to apologize. I know that it was an accident and there are times when we do things without thinking...part of growing up and learning. I just wanted to make sure that he be more careful when he swings and makes sure that no one is around.....my heart broke for him because I know he was sorry......He wanted to apologize to Sara, but she would not come down because her face is so swollen and you can see where the pole smacked across her fact, the putting part is what took out her skull.

So, now it is late, we are very tired, Sara is hurting, especially if she eats or laughs.....to bed soon. Ruth is spending a night with a friend.....a break for her from this emotional time....

5th grade field day

Once again, we are at field day. This time for Ruth and her 5th grade classes. Luckily we also began with the track section and Ruth got First and Second in her races...she is a very fast runner. Then off to the bounce house section and I also went home, well what do you expect, for a short NAP!

She was also exhausted at the end but had fun. This the first year in intermediate school for a field day and I think she enjoyed it.

6th grade field day

Today was Sara's field day....basically all day outside in the TX heat running and bouncing on bounce houses, the sending the very sweaty, stinky kids home to their parents, who hope that they take a shower and go to bed early. Luckily we had the track portion first before it got too hot. Sara won three ribbons. She made the mistake of running against her best friend who will always win, but Sara likes running with her. The second half I left for a break. When I returned to collect our canopy-donated for the field days, Sara was, well, TIRED!

Band Competition

VERY early this morning we left school with Sara's all day band for competition. It was good we went first because we got to do the carnival rides next door all by ourselves before the other hundreds of kids came. This is a makeup time for the bands due to the Swine Flu so it is both band and choir. Luckily we went on charter buses on the hour drive. I did the paddle boat with Sara at the end and enjoyed being with her. The rest of the time she sucked me dry on buying tickets for the rides and food....

They took top band! This is not Sara's trophy, but we got one big one for the school.

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY

The girls made me cards and , along with Daddy, got me some beautiful flowers.

CHURCH CONFIRMATION

Sara, along with 80 others, got confirmed with our church this evening. About 20 of the kids also got baptised. Sara wants to do this by herself in the very near future.

Ruth took the photo as Jeff and I, along with Pastor Mike and two of Sara's mentors, did the laying on of hands as she was confirmed to the church.

Afterwards, there was a reception and Sara liked the cookies the best.

Unexpected visitor

This weekend we has torrential rains and thunder, etc. We noticed that the little white schnauzer that lives behind us was still outside, so we called our neighbors and they were not only not home, but out of state for the weekend and had left Annie outside by herself. I asked and they said OK and so Annie spent the rest of the weekend with us. After the initial fear, Annie calmed down. Annie is always poking her nose under the fence for a chin scratch, so she knows us. I did keep the cat away from Annie though.

Cooper and Annie played well together and I fixed up Cooper's second kennel so Annie could sleep inside overnight, and good thing because we had another HUGE storm over night.

This second picture is the water pouring into our yard from the neighbor's, flooding the yard because there was much more rain than the french drains could take away

SARA'S CONFIRMATION TO THE CHURCH

This evening Sara left for her confirmation weekend. Luckily it did not get cancelled due to the swine flu. They will return Sat night and the confirmation ceremony will be Sunday evening. At this time, Sara will officially join the church, and Jeff and I will finally get around to it to. We have been attending this church for about 3 years....

One of Sara's mentors wrote her the sweetest letter of complement. I guess sometimes it takes a comment from someone else to make you recognize your child in a whole new light---very proud.

In the meantime, Ruth and I are enjoying time together. Jeff is on an emergency overnight job and will be home sometime, probably tomorrow morning.

soccer team

This is the girl's soccer team, the Cyclones. They are not great, but do have fun. We have two sets of twins on the team. This is the second season with this team, and probably the last. The girls are being scouted for an advanced team with one of their old coaches.

TOO SOON FOR BOYFRIENDS!

Sara came home and told me that, remember the boy who asked me out to the movies, now he asked if he could hug me! How are these kids growing up at such a young age?

I do believe that Sara has a boy who likes her, and I tell her it is OK to have a boy as a friend, but as a boyfriend, not now. She still says yuck to boys, so I am feeling good for now. Of course, Ruth had to tease her relentlessly, just like a sister should.

MISC

Well, I once again lost the battle in my gardening endeavors, this time with a tree/bush trimmer....so, when there is a little branch stuck on the cutting blade, do NOT run your fingers along them to take it off.....one finger typing takes much longer. Thank goodness this time I did not have to go to the hosp for stitches.

Ruth and I got our first pairs of real glasses. We figured that Ruth had a problem when she could not see the clock across the room. I decided I needed something besides reading glasses when those huge signs on the fwy were getting hard to see. Mine are a copper color and Ruth's are black with green inside.....very cute.

Sara had her first Chinese class and loved it. Three boys in her class she knows from school. Sara is the most advanced, follow by our friend's daughter who came home from China a month ago. Though she is more recent, she was in 2nd grade and Sara was in 6th when she came. When the question was doing flash cards for the class, Sara and Y kept shouting the answers, so I asked them to give the rest of the class a chance since they were becoming frustrated.....it worked out well, and the teacher teaches from her home 1/2 miles from us :)


Lots of rain and we are NOT complaining, but this had cancelled our Friday night soccer 2 hr practice and the games on Sat. Makeups will begin next Sunday since 3 games have already been rained out and we must do makeups.

EASTER

We are now well stocked with chocolate. The family get together was wonderful as usual. My mom cooked an A+ meal with the help of some of my sisters and nieces. Being not such a great cook, I get clean up duty afterwards....wash wash wash.



We went to the school where my sister teaches and saw the garden they they now have. My sister Chris applied for a grant, the largest the school district ever gave out, and won it. Each grade level, K-5 & Special Ed, have a garden bed and they kid plant, water, weed, and eat what comes out of the garden. They have magnifying glasses to see the bugs, or butterfly cocoons. Now the kids actually see and work on the cycle of seed to either flower or food.





We played croquet in the back yard.....I lost. This is my niece Megan, she came in second.













We did the Easter egg hunt, now with more money than chocolate. This time we did NOT let my girls have a head start because last year they were toooooo good and got tooooo much more than everyone else. You may notice that the window behind the kids is still covered with plywood...courtesy of Hurricane Ike last summer.




The girls also helped my dad in his vegetable garden. He always has one and we help him eat the wonderful vegetables he grown.





Our dog Cooper came along and enjoyed sleeping on Jeff's pillow in the car---spoiled dog!





Sara has a huge bunny pillow and Easter is her birthday, so Sara had a birthday party for Hannah, even having an ice cream sandwich birthday cake for her.

getting ready for Easter

We have the Easter baskets down and ready....and little furry bunnies all over the house. AT THE SAME TIME, we tell the girls about the real meaning of Easter, which does not involve the bunnies, baskets, or egge, though we are not sure what bunnies and eggs have to do with each other. We will be leaving for my parents house for the big family get together and egg hunt, yes, though all but ours is out of college, we still love this tradition.