Remembering Memorial Day

Not just a day off...but a day to be thankful.

STUDY

Finals are next week and the girls are going at it. They just got their state mandated TAKS test back and of course Ruth missed only 1 in math and 4 in reading, and perfect score in writing. She says she does not even remember what she wrote about. On the scale, she is and always has been way above the average. This is why Duke University brought her into their TIPS program at the University in 3rd grade....and yes, she has been in the gifted program since kindergarten. If only she would study without me reminding her constantly, but maybe she already knows it.

Then there is Sara. Considering all, she did very well. She still has a hard time on the math word problems since there are many words she still does not get. That child is driven to perfection! One of her teachers called her an over-achiever when Sara had only a 95 in the class and she asked for extra credit to bring it up.....that's Sara

Happy birthday son

Today is my son Bryan Christian's 27th birthday. Bryan died when he was 1 day old. Hard to believe it has been so long ago and sometimes it still seems like yesterday. The sadness is always there, just under the happiness, but it is there.

Though it was only for a day that I had him, I also had him for 8 months before and he always be my first born.

and the big wind blew . .

It is Tuesday night, a few days after Joplin, MO. and we hear that once again, we are heading into the weather fight. I prepare the storm room, under the stairs, and as I do, I think of all those who have had to go through this lately, and those who did not make it. I know that if one of "those" tornadoes makes it here, we are a goner since we have no basement. This is mostly for security and I will look into ways to secure the room better, but not tonight.

It was a scarry night and there were at least 9 tornadoes, luckily small, that hit north and south of us. Thank God we made it again. I have been in a direct hit by a tornado so I have great respect. As a child growing up in Mo in tornado alley, I have seen this destruction in person and it is something you never forget.

Take time and think what is your safest room and make a plan and make sure the kids are up on it.....what will you take, make sure you have shoes on, and something I heard new which was put the bicycle helmets on the kids. Have blankets and pillows to crawl under, flash lights, cell phones, meds......you get the point. Oh yea, remember that you animals are also looking for help...take them with you too.

POCKET PETS?

Sara has taken to carrying around the dog Jessie and cat Puff around in her soccer backpack until I notice. As you can see, the cat was having nothing to do with it. Jessie is laid back so he is OK. Note~she did not even try this with Cooper.....good choice.

Puppy Love

...do I really need to say anything?

Angie gets married

My niece Angie married Logan today. It was a beautiful wedding and reception that was held on the local Air force base. Logan is stationed in Ark and came in for the wedding. The day after the wedding they packed up everything they can and headed off to their new home in Ark.

As you can see Angie wears about a size -0 and my girls love to get hand me downs from her since she has better taste that I do. Logan is a great guy and fits into the extended family great....aka we broke him in already.

Mom and I

My parents are about to leave for a 2 week cruise through the Panama Canal and I was helping her pick out clothes. Here-just having fun. I look a lot like my mother, same eye color and same nose, and maybe same smile. My mom is fun to be around.

Easter

Once again we had a gathering of the clan at my parent's house

the kids (young adults/adults) were very sucessful in their egg hunt. The older they get, the more they want money.

On the hunt together

SMART KIDS

I am proud to announce that BOTH of my girls made Jr. National Honor Society and will be inducted on the 19th. 7th grade is the first time they are eligible, so this is Ruth's first time, and Sara's second since she is in 8th. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Super cool too is the fact that all 5 of the girls I carpool,one since Ruth was in kindergarten with her, also made Jr. National Honor Society....I like to think that my smartness is rubbing off on them, or they are all sucking my brains out and that is why I can not seem to remember anything~~~~~ya think?

16 years !

Today is our 16th year anniversary. My, that went by fast.

catching up

This past week was Spring break and the girls and Jeff had the day off and instead of some fun, exotic vacation someplace far away, MOM cracked the whip and we got very many huge honey due's done....aka....I do not have to do them myself anymore.

First came the replacement of the rotten part of the back yard fence. Since looking at two rediculous bids, we took off to do it ourselves.

As you can see by Jeff's facial expression, he would have rather gone with the bid.

Both girls were a great help and learned some building tools.

All week Ruth also had homework. Her is our cat Puff assisting hehehe

Another large project was redoing the front flower beds and we have a LOT of area to cover. First it was the pulling of all the grass that had crept into the beds, adding 16 3-cubic bags of mulch, 25 # of soil, adding some steel bender board edging.

I decided to look for some new recipies and once again, our cat Puff decided to assist me in this....she is looking for anything that is chicken or tuna.

Sara and Jessie enjoy a warm day just a week after 20 degree w/ snow....what freaky weather

When it was so cold, all the animals made for a live, moving very warm blanket for me. Now that it is getting warmer, I am hoping that this blanket moves on somewhere else.....

Another project once the snow ended was to get both vehicles cleaned. Here Jeff is taking care of his baby.

With my van, Sara jumped on top to take care of the part that no one ever sees......see why this girl makes me nervous~~~up top on a smooth soapy surfice. Thank god for insurance.

Ruth becomes a teen

Happy birthday to our spring girl. While we were waiting for her birth, we got a call that our new child would be a son and was due in about 2 weeks. Imagine our suprise when our son was a daughter! When Ruth was 10 day old, we held her for the first time. She was so little. The first night we stayed up and watched her since we were told that babies were up all night and we never heard a peep out of her. That changed after a week, until she was about 3 months old I believe she did not sleep at all......




Today my baby girl Ruth becomes a teen~~she is turning 13!!! She is still as cuddly as she was when she was really young, but is showing signs of the teen coming through a little. She got her birthday haircut which was a very small trim and some layering. Her hair is so very think I hope that the layering will help with the heat in the summer.









Ruth is still unsure about a party or if she will be getting her ears pierced.

still here

I am not sure where the time has gone.....

We got word this afternoon that our little dog Cooper's liver enzyme count was back to normal...YEA! We have been totally spoiling him and based on liver enzyme levels in dogs, he has been receiving a scrambled egg with both meals a day and I have been letting him sleep with me. He sleeps quieter than the girls when we have sleep overs.....and he does NOT steal the covers.

Weather-still crazy. We keep going from 75+ to freezing, which is where we will be tomorrow night. My only ray of sunshine in this is that it gets the dandy lions growing really well and hopefully than the freeze will zap them.....I hope but if not, I am fully prepared for chemical warfare.

The head is still a little sore and the lump is almost gone~one month later. When I opened the hospital bill, I almost fainted until I saw that the Ins covered all of it. Good thing I did not land on my head again.

Today we got an estimate on replacing our privacy fence~once again a cause to faint. I think this will need to wait for a while longer unless I can teach the girls to dig post holes and do cement work . . . yea . . . we are talking about teen girls......hahaha

Thursday was the girl's first track meet. Of course Sara is doing the distance running and the 1 1/2 mile is first, and the mile is last. In between, I get to visit with other parents, Sara does her homework, and Ruth socializes. She did not make the meet this week, and every week they have to try out and only the top 3 in each event qualifies.

Soccer begins on Tuesday.....glad I have nothing to do!

Ice & Snow AGAIN!!!

Yes, Today it was a beautiful day, though there is still a little ice in the shaded areas and suprise~~~here it comes again. Soon to find out how long school is out this time!

So, if those of you living in the frigid north and envy those of us in the south,,,,,,,please think twice. Remember, when summer comes, you do love your temps while we have 105+, but it is always a suprise how rapidly it can change.

Bundle up====here comes 8 degrees

YUCK-when is Spring?

WELL, it is now Friday evening and we are still house bound. The kids are mixed about missing 4 days of school~~it will have to be made up at the end of the school year. There was not enough heat to do much of anything with the 1 1/2 " of ice, and our street is a hill, facing away from the sun, so it is really bad. Just because we were not having enough fun, last night we also had 5" of snow~~~on top of the ice. Sara is enjoying it, Cooper likes digging in it, the cat is put out, Jessie is tolerating it, Ruth is ignoring it, and I am trying to keep a walkways clear for everyone. Now everyone will know why we say "if you don't like the weather, just wait, it will change"


I found out how dangerous this was as I stepped on ice and went down, landing on the back of my head. Luckily my neighbor took me to the hospital and it was a concussion, but it really hurts, along with my neck. With the good drugs and a few days rest, I should be back up and going in time for Wed's snow.......

Jeff is making it barely to work each day, but they are putting some their employees up in local hotels since the drive is too dangerous and taking hours to make. Hoping Jeff makes it home this weekend.

what power?

Quickly while we have power, it is said to be mostly off for the rest of the week. Today high should be 5, then colder tomorrow....and that is not the strong wind chill. Snow coming again on Friday from S. Texas all the way up! They ask everyone to pull their thermostats down to help, but we keep ours at 60 and any lower is not really possible. Yes, I come from the north and know some about all of this. We do wear may layers even inside and have MANY blankets, and the dogs have coats too! Notice Cooper has joined the girls to stay warm. Jessie is in Sara's bed under the blankets--smart dog. Main problem~~~~ICE

On a sad note, I took our Schnauzer Cooper to the vet on Mon for his shots and his blood work came back not too good. Next Thurs Back for fasting blood work to see if it is his kidney or liver causing the problem..both levels were elevated. Cooper is only 3!

Weather

This weekend was totally beautiful. We set up the hammock and enjoyed the warm and sun shine.

BUT then came the week. Monday was fine and I did the preparations for the coming change. Last night was thunder storms producing sleet and snow. We now have a large amount of ice, topped with a little snow, winds up to 50 mph! I TOLD YOU THE WEATHER IN TX CAN CHANGE FAST!

So now with -36 "feels like" temp. and not getting above freeezing until friday afternoon, we may be all in for a while. No school~~poor mom since the kids really like school and are already complaining how much longer the school year will be because of the school days being used.

Sara's award

This morning at before school Sara received an award for outstanding student. There was one from each team given. Two grades, 5 teams each. Her friend Eunice received an award too. The both received awards together.....both great girls.

Sister love?

When necessary, Jeff takes the girls to the jerkey store....Sara especially loves the SUPER HOT jerkey, but has not been eatting it because of her braces. So, she promises to tear it into tiny pieces, so I agree and Jeff takes Sara to buy a small amount. Since Ruth did not go along this time, Sara decided to buy something special for her sissy......just see.


Is it just in Texas? I hope so. Ruth has not gotten to the scorpion yet, but says it is really sweet-apple flavor.....YUCK!



Notice the earbuds....always connected to her Ipod.....such a pre-teen I guess

More teeth gone

Well, after a week delay due to mid-terms, today Sara's last two teeth came out for her braces. This time they did not give her so much silly gas and she did great. Instead of a Wendy's frosty, she opted for Chick-fil-a waffle fries....go figure.

Don't worry, the tooth fairy is still generous and finally done at this house, I guess until Jeff and I begin to lose our teeth in our old age hehehe

2011~~Out come teeth

Welcome to a new year. We did all stay up to see the new year, followed by sleep! We have done our share of partying in the "younger " years, and now choose a quite, safe celebration. I still have some Christmas cards to physically mail out, and I will now title them NEW YEAR'S UPDATES. The heck with being like everyone else, along with the stress of the season.

We begin the new year with the joyful return to school of the girls. I am not sure who is happier, them or ME. Of course, Ruth misses the first day back with a migraine.

Day 2- Both back to school, but I pull Sara out one hour later for the first two of 4 teeth extractions-part of the braces fix. Unfortunately, the Dr. gave her too much happy gas and she comes home and sleeps for 3+ hours. Boy, those are huge roots too. It was fast and fairly painless.....and a Wendy's frosty always helps.

Day 3- FINALLY-ALL back to school and mom gets a break, for at least an hour, then it is the taking down of the Christmas things, part 1. It will be slowly finished within the week, and the tree is always last because it is so pretty, but the outside is now cleaned up just in time for the freezing weather coming in a few days. This year we once again have a light bulb theif that takes a few bulbs out of our, and our neighbors's lights about once a season. Now you tell me, who would want light bulbs that don't match~~~I guess I need to drive around and see who has some really funky bulbs in their yard! I hope to get most of it into the attic so I can fit the car in, or at least be able to open the doors to the car when it is in the garage hehehe.