Quickies

I know it's been a while, but "times are tough" and I haven't gotten a chance to blog with this JOB thing! Anyway, just thought I'd send out a few little "quickies" from the past month...enjoy!

I had to go to Michael's this past weekend and I told Requay that we were going to Michael's (the craft store) and she said, "Michael Phelp's?" Yes, we did watch the Olympics this year! :o)

I dropped Jonah off at school one day and noticed that all the lights were out on the whole blocks around school as well as the school! So as I dropped Jonah off, I gave him, what I believed to be good, motherly, advice for the day......I told him bye and to sit by a window! I figured he'd get a little light to do his school work in!

Requay brought in a few snails and we had to relocate them to the sink, they usually stay in the bathtub, but we needed the tub for baths and moved the Mr. Snails to the bathroom sink. Well, the next morning, we all apparently forgot about the snails and I asked Jason if he had taken them out for the night and he said he hadn't! I found like 3 of them around the bathroom sink area, but we were pretty sure we had like 5 or 6 and had no clue as to where they were. A few days later, yeah, I said a few days, I found one on the shower curtain hanging out and so we put that one out and kept hoping the others, which we had no clue as to how many "others" there may be, would show up. About a week later, I found another one on the door frame into the computer room so I took that one out too! Poor things, apparently they can survive on whatever snails eat in our house! And so just as we're thinking we have all the snails back in their natural environment in our back yard, Jonah finds yet another one in their room! THESE THINGS ARE SURVIVORS!!! Good luck to all the Mr. Snails that enter our yard and home!

Jonah asked for a Transformers figure, I'm not sure which one, but I told him he could get it for helping me earlier that week so he picked out the perfect one and immediately opened it as soon as we were in the truck....the problem was, he couldn't transform his transformer! He tried and tried and then got frustrated with it and I told him I would help him when we got home. So when we got home, I read the directions and tried and tried myself but couldn't get that darn transformer to freakin' transform either!!!! HOW FRUSTRATING!! So we did the next best thing we could, and took it back with the torn package and all and told Wal-mart that the Transformer would not transform and got our money back! Geez.......toys these days!

Requay has gotten into a "cannot" phase. When she can't do something, she'll say, "I cannot" do this or that. Who knows why she can't say "can't" but she cannot! :o)

A while back Jonah had gotten into trouble on the way back home after school one day, probably for arguing with his sister or agitating her in some way, but anyway, I told him to stop whatever he was doing or he was going to be grounded from all movies and TV. He of course continued and I grounded him for a week--devastating for a 5 year old--but in his hard-headedness, he continued and I grounded him for yet another week! 2 weeks of no movies/TV--AHHHH!! So when we got home, I pulled Requay out of the truck and Jonah was waiting for me at the front door to unlock it and I told him, while standing at the front door, that he had better change his attitude or he was going to be looking at a longer grounding period. He stood at the door with his backpack on and his head down with a little pouty face and said, "WHATEVER." Well, I couldn't help but laugh or at most snicker because he was surely upset and all he could say was whatever. I guess he'd had enough and didn't really care to have anything else to do with the TV or movies anymore. (Don't worry though because the 2 weeks flew by for all you "Jonah supporters!")

Enjoy!

On the Go.....

Welcome October! So, I'm gonna try to make this month better than last, but I don't want to speak too soon, so stay tuned!

Requay started "gyn-natics" or as most people say, gymnastics, this week! We had our first practice and I had gotten Requay this little pink leotard (she picked the color-she had a choice of pink or black) and apparently leotards aren't really that "fitting" on the little ones, so all throughout practice, Requay kept pulling the leotard out of her bum and say, "I pull letard out my bum and gina!" How the things kids say! She had a BLAST though! And she was much stronger than I thought! It was a Mom and Tot class so as I would have liked to have gotten Baby Girl into gymnastics, I apparently signed myself up as well! We did some light stretches and then did little circuit/obstacle course things hanging from bars, doing little flips, hanging from rings, walking on our tippee toes, holding ourselves up and walking on beams! Requay did really well and the parents are there to help them reach the bars/rings or hold them while they walk on the beams. We also got to jump on the indoor trampolines that they had,which looked like lots of fun! Requay did great, jumping up and down with her legs straddles, or her knees up....the instructor made smiley faces on the trampolines with chalk to help the kids jump in the middle of the face! She got a little gymnastics t-shirt and a stamp when the class was over--she said we could go back again next week!

And as for Jonah, well, we started basketball yesterday! Yes, my baby is attempting to play basketball. I know what you might be saying, Jason has never played a day in his life other than just dribbling the ball and I spent my junior high basketball time on the bench gossiping with Joanne! BUT, he wanted to try it out and who was I to say, "white boys can't jump?" So we're giving basketball a try. He did have difficulty dribbling and making the ball go into the net and a few times kicked the ball to where he wanted it to go, but I mean, really, nobody ever said that kicking wasn't allowed in basketball! He had a good time at practice and said he wanted to go back, so that's a plus!

So, now that we've hit football season, we have gymnastics practice on Tuesdays, basketball practice on Thursdays, and basketball games on Saturdays! Whew......I LOVE IT! A real, as Sarah Palin would say, "hockey mom." It's so much fun, running around from one practice to another with one kid and the other trying to work a full-time job, keep our home somewhat in one piece, read books every night, get the kids to bed early and try to get into bed at a decent hour.....awwww, this is life! Right?? Well, it's my life anyway!

I've been cleaning out closets at our house, not really for anything in particular, but because I'm feeling claustrophobic in our duplex! So I somehow convinced Jason to get a storage unit to put stuff that we're not using in there to give us a little more room! So not only have I made a bigger mess of our house, but I'm attempting to label things and such so as to not have to go through a mess when I'm looking for one particular thing! Wish me luck, cause I've made quite the mess!

As for weekend plans, we have a teacher/parent conference tomorrow morning--no Jonah's not in trouble, Mr. Wayne just wants to speak to all the parents to let us know how the kids are doing in school and what we may need to work on more at home, etc. So we have that at 9 am and then basketball practice at 10am and we're planning a camping trip next weekend because Jonah's out of school on Friday and Monday, so we need to get stuff ready for that as well as continue moving stuff into storage! And then Sunday, Jonah has Sunday school, which I participate as an aide in, so we'll be doing that Sunday morning and manage to make it to church sometime in there, preferable on Saturday, but we'll see how things work out! And then we also have the normal, washing clothes, dishes, grocery shopping to do that normally happens on the weekends! So it looks like it will be a jammed packed weekend for us!

I'm hoping that my parents are still planning their trip to visit baby Cameron in Minnesota or some "M" state up north so I'm hoping we're on their northern way so that they can stop in and say hello even if it's just for a little bit (hint, hint, I hope Lito/Lita read this!)

Well, I better go for now, keep me in your prayers that I'll find time to continue blogging on what's going on in our world this month! Until next time, happy reading!! :o)

That's What Friends Are For!

Greetings all! I hadn't realized that I hadn't blogged all month until my great friend Meg brought it to my attention, wanting to know if Jonah ever got better or if Baby Girl still loves me lot lot! Sorry guys!

So let's see....where to start? Well first of all, HAPPY BIRTHDAY LITO!! It was my Dad's birthday at the beginning of the month and the kids called to sing him happy birthday...all in unison and in tune of course! You know though, when I tell the kids that it's somebody's birthday they ask if they can go to their "happy birthday" which means they want to go to the party. I don't think they realize that not everyone has birthday parties since they have one every year! :o)

That following weekend, my friend Angela and I competed in the Women's Adventure Race that they have every year. It was tons of fun....we got to run, swim, run some more and then go thru an obstacle course! And then during the running parts, there were little games we'd stop for like throwing our rubber chicken thru wooden holes, being handcuffed, three-legged racing and popping balloons without using our hands!! After the race, Angela needed to visit IKEA and since I had never been there, she introduced me to it--OMG! THAT PLACE IS AWESOME....I'm totally going back!!! We had a great time and I got to spend some more time with another one of my great friends!

And then let's see, we got to enjoy Baby Girl's Madrina, Ledezma and her kids during Hurricane Ike...that was a blast! (Not to worry though, they were here prior to Ike moving towards Houston and didn't even get some rain--blah!) We had a blast also playing at the Chick-fil-A play land and then since Ledezma had not been to IKEA and since I was such an expert, I figured I needed to introduce Ledezma to the wonderful world of IKEA! So off we went and dropped the kids at their "Smaland" to play in a huge ball pit! They had a blast...and we didn't spend TOO much money! (wink wink)

So Jason and I celebrated our 8 year wedding anniversary on the 16th. We normally take off on the day and spend it together (with the kids in school). So, we dropped off the kids, I went for a run--it felt awesome--went to Carraba's for lunch and then hit the big store of Wal-mart to "shop for our anniversary gifts." We exchanged anniversary cards and then put them back so we didn't have to waste the money! I guess Jason's "cheapness" is rubbing off on me....we had a great anniversary with no interruptions from people needing to go "peep" (Requay's word for potty) or needing to clean their hands or want their food cut up! I love it, but sometimes it's nice to have a break!

And we also purchased a set of bunk beds for the kids and the baby crib, changing table and toddler bed have officially been disassembled and placed in storage. It was kinda sad putting the crib away to make room for bunk beds. And I let the kids pick out their own bed spreads and all so Jonah chose "Transformers" and Baby Girl chose "Princess" that has Cinderella, Belle and Sleeping Beauty. And Princess is SO Requay!

Well, I need to go for now not because I want to stop blogging, but because my day is coming to an end! So until Meg emails again to tell me to blog some more(hint, hint).....happy reading!

Kindergarten Blues

Well today is day 3 for Kindergarten and we had to "call in sick" from school and work! Jonah came home yesterday saying that his "tummy hurt" and that he was tired....I figured the being tired was contributing to the "tummy ache" since he'd been SO excited about school that he hadn't been sleeping well lately and that he may be already trying to get out of having to go to school. So I gave Jonah a bath immediately after getting the kiddos home in case he did fall asleep, he would at least already be bathed! Then he started having to run to the bathroom having to poop--it was all water and he couldn't even make it to the bathroom "on time" if you know what I mean. Well, then I just felt bad that I had even begun to think that Jonah just didn't want to go to school.

Needless to say, I didn't send Jonah to school today because of his little tummy issues that he is still suffering from. He's been eating all the good constipating foods that they [and by "they" I mean the people who I guess study what foods will help with diarrhea--what kind of job do they have?] Anyway, he's eaten very little but I'm making sure he drinks milk and is staying hydrated. I'm sure he probably just picked up a little bug at school, but say a little prayer for him and his little bum. (He did ask me to go to the store for some Charmin!)

As for Jonah's second day of school, he says it went well. Daycare picked him up and I had been so concerned that they would forget him or lose him or something and planned on calling to begin harassing the daycare driver beginning around 2:30, but as God works in his mysterious ways, I had lost track of time at work dealing with clients that by the time I realized it (and Delana came to see how daycare pick-up had gone) it was already 3:15!!! I had missed the opportunity of harassment!! I called daycare and they had just gotten to school and Jonah was safe and sound--and yall were all worried and losing sleep over Jonah riding in the daycare vans!

So here we are, at home Jonah and I dealing with little tummy/bum issues on his 3rd day of Kindergarten. I'm hoping he'll be better to go to school tomorrow, but if he's still running to the bathroom like he was all day today, we may be here again tomorrow too! But we did practice his letters and writing his name and stuff, so I'm making sure that just because he's at home sick, he's not missing out on school stuff too!

Well, that's about it for now....I haven't sent out the website for Mr. Wayne's class because there have been no updates yet, but I will send it and if I don't, shoot me an email to remind me! Happy reading and until later...... :o)

Lu you lot lot!

Just a little quickie--I can't forget about my baby! So like I said, Baby Girl was totally fine at school and appears to handle change better than her Mommy! So our nighttime routine is to eat dinner, take a bath, get p.j.'s on, brush teeth and maybe read some books if we have time before going to bed! Requay likes for me to put her to sleep because I still rock her to sleep....what? She's my baby baby! Anyway, while I'm rocking her back and forth and back and forth, she'll say, "I lu you lot lot" and then I'll tell her the same thing and then she says, "I lu you foever, ever" and I'll repeat it back--I LOVE IT and take it all in every night! (I figure I have to since my babies are growing up so fast!) So anyway, just wanted to share a little bit about Baby Girl since not much else has changed with her right now. Now, really good-night and happy reading!

Standing on Eggs!

WOW! How lucky are you, my fellow blog readers??!! More blogging on the same day! I think it may be a world record, you know like Michael Phelps! Anyway, I figured I'd better do a little tonight since I'll probably be "working" tomorrow!

So, Jonah's first day of Kindergarten went fabulous--he made new friends, caught up with old ones, aka: Jonathan, and according to him had a good day! I was promptly there at the front of his school at 2:30pm, since school ended at 2:45pm and all and no I did not take the binoculars....today. (Tomorrow's another day!) So I anxiously stood around waiting for my baby to be released from Mr. Wayne's class--they won't let us go inside the building to wait in front of the door....aw, man! Jonah's class was the first class to leave and I think all the Kindergartners were a bit overwhelmed when they came out and saw a swarm of parents standing there waiting like a fat lady waiting for more food to come on the buffet! I immediately saw Jonah because I'm a good Mom and unlike when he first started daycare and I believed that I might forget what he looked like by the end of the day, I could have spotted him from a mile away! (Good thinking on my part to dress him in the brightest yellow t-shirt I could fine!) There were lines of cars parked all along the side streets and I was so happy to see my little boy!! I asked him how his first day of school went and he said good and then I asked what the best part about his day was and at first he couldn't think of anything, I guess it was brain over load! But then he said that he figured that the best part was when they "stood on 5 eggs and they didn't break!" At first, I thought I had misheard him, but no, he said they were actually standing of raw eggs! (I'm anxious to see any pictures that Mr. Wayne puts on his website now!) So when we left school, Jonah and I went to a secret location and had a secret scoop of ice cream at Baskin Robbins--shhh, don't tell anyone I told you and if you ask Jonah like Jason did, he will deny everything! (Jason saw the Baskin Robbins napkins all over the table--we're obviously not very good at being discreet.) When we got home, I started going through all the paperwork they send home asking to sign this and make sure you read the student handbook and Jonah came home with his first book from school! We read it, it was short and very easy for me to read, but I am excelling in my reading abilities not to toot my own horn. I was COMPLETELY exhausted--what with all the restlessness sleep and worrisome thoughts, I was really just relieved to have my baby with me again! **deep breath of relief

So Jonah said that he wanted to go back tomorrow! So I guess we'll be doing this whole Kindergarten thing for a while now! BUT, tomorrow, his daycare van will be picking him up from school, but not to worry, I have the teacher's name who will be picking Jonah up as well as her cell phone number to harass, I mean communicate with her throughout the afternoon until he gets to school!

First day down, second day on it's way--thanks to all of you who said a little prayer for Jonah and I on our, I mean his first day of school! Until tomorrow's exciting adventure, good-night and whew!

Kindergarten

So after reading about MY first day of school, you may be wanting to know how things went for Jonah! Well, he's been asking daily about when the first day of school is and last night asked if "in the morning" it would be "tomorrow" in which, Jason and I replied that yes, in the morning, it will be tomorrow and "tomorrow is the first day of school."

I made Jonah's lunch last night, carefully cutting out his peanut butter and jelly dinosaur sandwiches and packing his pudding cup, not forgetting the spoon! (All kids want pudding in their lunches!) The whole lunch box went into the fridge to keep everything cool for the first day! Jonah had laid out his Batman Dark Knight t-shirt, blue jean shorts, BRAND NEW socks (or as Jason likes to make fun of me about, "sockies"..Jason says that everything I talk about in reference to the kids, I add "ies" to the end, such as sockies, undies, shoesies, etc. I'm a Mom and that's my job!), anyway, new undies, and of course new SKETCHERS shoes! I did make sure to take pictures of his little clothes lay out--which he did all by himself!

And then this morning, he woke up without me even having to try and try and try to get him up for school! He was dressed faster than I've ever seen him do anything and had his backpack on and lunchbox in hand ready to go within 15 minutes! Well, then I informed him that we still had about 30 minutes before it was even time to leave for school and that I still needed to get Baby Girl up and ready for school. I made sure to measure Jonah this morning to see how tall he was on his first day of Kindergarten--OMG--he's getting SO tall!! So he agreed that he had time to watch a little bit of Sandlot 2, which in my opinion is not 1/2 as good as the Sandlot #1! Anyway, we left the house about the same time as we normally do, but when we got to daycare this morning.....only Baby Girl was dropped off. **sad sigh**

Well apparently, I was the only one with any bit of anxiety and nervousness because Baby Girl jumped out of the truck--and by jump I mean jump! She stands on the running board of the truck and asks me to count while I hold her little hand and then she Jumps down--it's become part of our morning routine! Jonah asked to walk Baby Girl into school and I really didn't know what to say. I mean, do I leave him in the truck and let the truck do the "babysitting" or do I attempt to take them both in and risk having Baby Girl cry that her Bubba wasn't staying? So, in my wise parental wisdom, I told Jonah to ask Baby Girl if she wanted him to go in too and she calmly and happily replied yes! So we all 3 walked Baby Girl in and she was her normal self! I had to remind her to give me kisses and hugs and she told her Bubba to "have good furs day cool Bubba!"

So Jonah and I headed out to Kindergarten. I asked Jonah several times, if he REALLY wanted to start school today because his Mommy was perfectly fine with him staying at daycare, but NO, he insisted that "big kid school" was where he needed to be now. So we got to school early and the doors hadn't even opened for school to start yet, and I was hoping to have Jonah there in time for breakfast so he'd get a good start to Kindergarten! The front doors of the school were promptly opened at 7:15 and herds of kids and parents headed in to school. We, Pre-K and Kindergartners were instructed to go to the cafeteria and we saw Mr. Potato Head sitting at the head of one of the little tables along with Mr. Wayne welcoming us all on the first day of school! He, Mr. Wayne, did reassure that things would be fine like I mentioned in my last blog, and he WAS reassuring me and not Jonah, so that made me feel a bit better! I informed Mr. Wayne that I would be picking Jonah up after school today and then Jonah's daycare would be picking him up after that....he appeared very "on top of his game" with all these kids! I was impressed!

[Side note: That cafeteria was crowded with parents and kids, older kids and younger kids, cameras flashing, video cameras rolling, school supplies being carried in, noisy and chaotic! Just the way I remember school being!]

AND--last night Jonah was talking about his friend Jonathon and Anthony and how he missed them at daycare and wondered where they had gone or where they would be going to school. I told Jonah, I'm sure the same thing my Dad would tell me, "you never know, have faith, and maybe you'll see Jonathon and Anthony at your school sometime!" Well, wouldn't you know it? When we walked into school this morning, Jonah saw Jonathon and Anthony in the office (not in a bad way, but getting paperwork and stuff.) Jonah told them hi and we proceeded to the cafeteria. (I have no idea how old Jonathon and Anthony are so I don't know what grades they are in.) Well, after we sat down, I saw Jonathon and Anthony walking over to where we were sitting and then sitting down at the same table as Jonah! They were in his class with Mr. Wayne too! And this is FAITH in a kid's eyes!

Well, I stayed with Jonah until the first bell rang at 7:40am and by then, the cafeteria was mostly cleared out with all the teachers leading their kids to class. I apologized to Jonah because I hadn't given him anything for breakfast on his first day of school, but then I saw Mr. Wayne walk over to the "serving line" of the cafeteria and pick up 2 insulated bags with juice and breakfast food in it, I'm assuming. So I told Jonah that he would probably be eating in his classroom. Mr. Wayne asked that all the kids, and kids ONLY follow him to their classroom and informed all the parentals that it was time to say our good-byes and NOT to follow them to their classroom! Well, I asked Jonah one last time if he wanted me to stay ALL day with him because I was willing and ready to call in sick today to stay with him all day! But, much to my disappointment, he reassured me, that he did NOT want me there at school with him all day and that he was going to school by himself! Well, if that didn't completely break my little first time Kindergartner Mom's heart!!! So I took more pictures and watched as the little line of kids walked slowly down the long hall and turn the corner to their class......my baby was gone and on his own!

I did struggle to hold back my tears as I was walking out of the school, all the while, watching to make sure other parents were crying too to make myself feel better--but there were NONE, NADA, NO OTHER PARENTS CRYING--there I mean, so I contained myself until I left the building where I couldn't hold back my tears any more and began crying......tear, tear. (It was a little after 8am by this time and yes, I start work at 7:30, but luckily I have the best boss in the world!!) I returned Jason's call when I got to the truck--he left me a message not necessarily asking how Jonah had done being dropped off but more how I was holding up calling me a big "softy!" So I called him back sobbing and he made feel a little better, but then HAD to call my Mom and Dad. I called my Mom knowing that she was probably in class already (she teaches school) and I left her a half crying message about how our first day had gone. And then I called my Dad who, as always, made me laugh and reminded me how much of a big boy Jonah was and I felt tons better!

So what are my plans now you might be asking? Well, Jonah gets out of school at 2:45 this afternoon and I'm taking the afternoon off to go pick him up and leaving at 1:30! So I figure that will give me plenty of time to go home, get my binoculars and go sit at Jonah's school to stalk him! I'm sure every good mother would do the same thing so don't think I'm over protective or anything! gosh.....Well, I better go for now because I have spent my whole work day, well the majority of it anyway, blogging and informing you all of our, I mean Jonah's first morning of Kindergarten! So until later when I find out about Jonah's day....happy reading and keep Jonah, I mean me in your prayers this week!

My First Day of School!

I was so anxious last night about going to school for the first time--I couldn't hardly sleep and it felt like I had butterflies in my stomach because I was so excited! I laid my clothes out last night and had my lunch packed and ready to go in the fridge! I had my clothes, socks and underclothes sitting there waiting for me to start school. I woke up promptly on my own this morning eager and ready to go to school, but still feeling a bit nervous! I got dressed, brushed my teeth, washed my face and zipped anxiously to school!

We got to school a bit early because the doors weren't even open yet, but then I saw kids going into school with their parents too and it made me feel a little better. Although, I still couldn't believe that after so long, my first day of school was finally here!

We walked into the cafeteria where we found "Mr. Potato Head" waiting for me as well as Mr. Wayne. I sat down at the end of the table with others who looked just as anxious as I was. Mr. Wayne even reassured me that everything was going to be fine and it was normal to feel this uneasiness today! Everything was set and when the bell rang, Mr. Wayne walked us in a single line down the hall to the classroom asking all the parents to say their good-byes at that time. Cameras were flashing, videos were recording and kisses were readily available--I was starting school!!

I was strong and made it through the first 45 minutes of Kindergarten! In fact, I didn't start crying until I was a good way out the front door--I was actually leaving my baby at school!!!

Wait, you didn't actually think I was talking about Jonah did you? Heck no! I've been a mess since I realized my baby was growing up and going to Kindergarten! I called Jason and talked to him as well as my Mom and my Dad for encouragement and cried all the way to work this morning.....I'm pretty sure, in fact, that I was the ONLY one with tears on my first day of school! Well, wish me luck for tomorrow!

:o)

Batman, Aka: Mr. Wayne

Well, today is the day before school starts for Jonah and I'm supposed to be working, I mean AM working if my boss is asking! So as I sit in front of my computer, I'm thinking about how anxious and nervous I am about Kindergarten.....I mean, how Jonah must be feeling. So, let me back up to Kindergarten orientation that we went to last week!

Last Tuesday, the kids and I went to pick up baseball tickets cause we're going to a minor league baseball game and had a gift certificate for 4 free tickets--woo-hoo as per Jason! So, while we were getting baseball tickets, Jason called and said that Jonah's teacher called, Mr. Wayne, to remind us of orientation and to have Jonah bring all his school supplies to orientation so he doesn't have so much to carry on the first day of school! Well, I informed Jonah that his teacher had called and that his teacher's name was "Mr. Wayne." And what did Jonah ask? "Like Batman?" I hadn't really been thinking super hero, but if that's what Jonah wanted to think about his first teacher--who was I to change his thinking!

When Friday finally came last week, I think Jonah thought Friday would never come last week, we went to Kindergarten orientation at Berkman Elementary. (They are the Berkman Bees--how cute is that!?) Jonah had all of his school supplies as well as paper plates, brown lunch bags and Kleenex boxes! His Spiderman backpack looks humongous on his little back, but that's the one he wanted and from what I understand, all Kindergartners should appear 5 sizes too small in their backpacks. And of course, Baby Girl had her Abby Cadabby backpack on as well because "she go cool too with Bubba!" (EEEKK--haven't mentioned that she wasn't starting school right now, but she does believe she can do pretty much anything Jonah can do! We'll tackle that road tomorrow.)

So back to orientation, the principle introduced herself along with the assistant principle, the teachers, school nurse and librarian--all in English as well as Spanish--and all I kept thinking was maybe Jonah will pick up on some Spanish at school! I made sure to remind Jonah not to be too disappointed if Mr. Wayne wasn't in his Batman outfit....I mean, he is after all in "disguise!" So after a few announcements, we all herded to the classrooms where we got to meet Mr. Wayne in person! Mr. Wayne has been teaching for 32 years and appears to be pretty well suited to Kindergartners so I'm anticipating Jonah learning lots! Mr. Wayne informed us, all the parents, that Kindergarten has changed since we were first starting school because now, they are required to take tests and will know how to read small words and write sentences in phonetics! It sounded like Jonah's class is very "hand-on" so Jonah will be making an Indian village, hatching and raising baby chickies and learning about the Earth! Sounds like fun to me! :o) Mr. Wayne also has a website so that we, parents, family, friends can log on and see our kiddos in action! [Let me know if you want the website and I will give it to you--don't want to put it on the blog for security reasons.] Anyway, now that the probation officer in me has passed....I'm excited to be in Mr. Wayne's class--I mean that Jonah is in Mr. Wayne's class!

We had to go do some clothes and shoes shopping this past weekend and Jonah had to have Sketchers Airaters--I dunno, some kind of shoe that blows air into your toes when you step on the heel, I think I saw a commercial for it but I'm not sure! And since Jonah was getting new shoes, Baby Girl believed that she too, needed new "cool shoes" (school shoes) and sandals so she got Princess ones that light up so I can find her in the dark if she has her shoes on! In fact, we found Jonah's shoes and then went in search of Requay's shoes and she felt the need to try on just about every shoe that was within her little reach! So she was trying on, sandals, rain boots, tennis shoes, jelly shoes, any and all, even the ones that DIDN'T fit her! I guess she figured that as long as her little toes fit, they were her size! Jonah got some new undies and socks for school and we found some nice shirts and pants for him too--not at the same store as the shoes though.

So tomorrow (or tonight rather), I will be packing a lunch for Jonah which will include dinosaur shaped peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, white Cheetos, cheese stick, apples, chocolate chip cookies and juice and pack all of that in his new Dark Knight Batman lunchbox. Oh and I forgot....we already have homework for this week! HOMEWORK! In Kindergarten....can you believe? So we'll be practicing writing Jonah's name and tying shoes tonight...wish us luck!

I better go for now, so happy reading. I'll try to post some more tomorrow, after the 1st day of school so you can check to see how I'm, I mean Jonah, did! Say a little prayer for all of us!

G.W.G.

What is G.W.G. you may ask? Well, it stands for "Girlfriends Weekend Getaway!" And that's just what it is.....a weekend getaway with the my 2 bestest and longest friends! (Well, not that my friends are "long", but I've had Meg since the 7th grade and Angela since college and they're the best friends anyone could ask for!)

So anyway, I got the opportunity to get away with my two best friends, Meg and Angela for a whole weekend! Alone, by ourselves, no kids and no hubbys! Where did we go you might ask? Well, we went to Columbus. And what is there you might also be asking? Well, absolutely nothing! And that was the reason we went....because we did not want to be bothered with "activities" or fun shopping places or things to do....we wanted to merely focus on having GIRL TIME! And that is just what we did!! We had been trying to do something like this for a while (years) but it just hadn't ever worked out so when Meg mentioned that her and her sisters were doing something like that, I started planing a weekend getaway for us three, first just to see how everything would work out and second to make sure that our "men" could handle kids alone for a whole weekend! (And I figured if it was going to work, we three could make it work even at an obscure location.) It was SO nice to see my friends and to catch up and compare kid and hubby stories....it was just relaxing, there were no timetables or deadlines or bums to wipe or sippies to fill! Meg provided the picture taking and Angela provided massages....well, and as for me, I brought some trashy magazines and some chick flicks for us to watch--that's all I had to offer because neither of my friends are on probation at the moment. :o) It was nice to see and talk to my best friends again--it had been TOO long!


It was an absolute blast and something that we're planning on doing again next year--2nd annual GWG--bigger and better, but still in Columbus! We'll see how things go or how many more "girls come to take over Columbus!"

WATCH OUT COLUMBUS--HERE WE COME!!


And what exactly did the kids do, you may be asking? Well, they went to see their Grandma and worked on the boat, road Pretty Girl, and played in the dirt! Jason said that when they left, the kids were covered from head to toe in dirt and they looked like Pigpen off of Charlie Brown! They had a blast too!!

Well, I know this blog is supposed to be about my babies, but they are growing up and sometimes driving me insane, hence the girls weekend getaway, so I guess since I am the editor-in-chief of this blog, I decide what gets "published" and what doesn't.....oh but don't worry, I put in all the good stuff that the kids do aaaand sometimes the bad too! So enjoy, happy reading and to my fellow readers, I leave you with a picture of my best friends!



Thank goodness for Angela's long arms!

(I'm the brown one in the middle.)

Batman and Princess

OMG.....Can you believe that my baby boy, my little man, my baby will be starting school on the 26th!!!??? I took him to get registered last week, but we couldn't walk around the school because they were "waxing the floors"....whatever! The registrar told me that we would be able to walk around on the 22nd for Kindergarten Orientation as well as meet his teacher!

So last night, we went to Wal-mart for school supplies! I think I was just as excited as Jonah was to get school supplies!!! We, I mean Jonah, got a new Spider-man backpack, colors, erasers, spirals, folders, watercolors, markers...the whole sha-bang! We looked for a lunch box but the kind Jonah wanted (metal) all they had were "for girls." I told him we'd keep looking and that we still had some time!

We also got Baby Girl some big girl, real girl panties!! She chose Princess panties of course....they have Belle, Cinderella, Ariel and Snow White on them. She is doing SO well potty training and she made me, well she didn't make me cause "IIII'm the leader" (from Aristocats) but she wanted to wear them immediately. So, just as my mother would have done, I was washing a load of whites last night so that Baby Girl could have her panties for school today! Like I said, she is doing so well and then last night, she of course migrated into my bed and I felt the sheets and they were wet! Well, I immediately thought it was me, and then I realized it was not me, but the migratory one that lives with us! She had an "accident" last night....first one in the past 2 weeks, not bad! So I had to give her a quick little bath this morning before school so she wouldn't be the "peepee kid." And then she got to enjoy her Princess panties....she was ALL excited about her new undies....she's so cute and looks so tiny sitting on that big potty!

MY BABIES ARE GROWING UP TOO FAST FOR THEIR MOMMY!!!

Well, happy readers, it's almost time for me to start my weekend.....SO until next week, I hope you all have a safe and great weekend! Blog at'cha later.....

Keep'em Seperated

Good Morning to All! I hope you all had a great weekend....we did! We actually had separate weekends, the "boys" went one way and the "girls" went the other.


"The Boys"

So the guys left Friday night to visit Howard. Jason was going to work on Howard's baler or some kind of tractor thing. They didn't get in until late that Friday night and stayed up talking and catching up, so of course they slept in that Saturday morning....until like 9am! They decided to find a nice fishing hole to try catching some fish on Saturday, but they didn't get any bites. Jason said that Jonah was on his best behavior and that Howard really enjoyed having Jonah around. The last time Jason went out to Howard's to work on a tractor or something, Howard had asked him to bring Jonah so he would have someone to "hang out with." And then on Sunday, Jason finally got to work on the tractor or whatever, but didn't get it going. I told Jason that I didn't really believe that Howard wanted him to actually fix that tractor thing, but just wanted to keep having him come back to have an excuse to work on something! :o) They had a great time and apparently Howard gave Jonah just about anything he asked for....sounds like Jonah's Lito/Lita....hmm....and Jonah has decided that he would like to go visit again!



[Sorry, for those of you who don't know Howard--he is an older gentleman that Jason grew up with. Jason worked for Howard helping him with his horses and whatever else needed to be done when Jason was in high school. They didn't live far from each other and Howard had a son, Dwayne, close to Jason's age and thay used to hang out together. (Dwayne was in our wedding.) So anyway, I think Jason sees Howard as a "father-figure" and since Howard has had health problems, Jason goes down every now and again to help Howard do whatever he needs help with on his land, whether it's building fences, fixing tractors, caring for the horses, or just to talk and fish!]



"The Girls"

So once the boys were gone, it was just Baby Girl and I....we didn't do much on Friday night. Pretty much just hung out, but on Saturday, we went to do what girls do best--SHOP! So we hit Michael's where Baby Girl had asked for some m&m's and had she not thrown her little temper tantrum and running like a wild woman all over the store, she would have gotten those m&m's! But she decided that it would be 10 times more fun to "run from Mom." As soon as I caught her, we headed home...with NO M&M'S!! I knew she was tired and she feel asleep pretty quickly after being in the truck for just a few minutes. She slept the afternoon away and when she got up, we went to church so we could "sleep in on Sunday!" She wasn't too horrible at church...didn't have her Bubba there helping her get into trouble! After church we decided to head to Wal-mart to get some "chick flicks" and dinner. We watched "The Notebook" and "Dirty Dancing".......OMG...if you have not seen "The Notebook" make sure you take a box of Kleenex with you!! It's such a great romantic movie.....*sigh. Baby Girl and I actually stayed up until like 1 o'clock in the morning watching "Finding Nemo" and when I first asked Baby Girl what "chick flick" she wanted to watch she thinks for a minute and then says....."Spiderman!" My poor baby, she's been watching so many "boy" movies and she never gets to pick! I had movies like "Cinderella" and "Dumbo" in mind, but whatever. We had a great girls weekend together but she was missing her Bubba! One night, I woke up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom and when I came back to bed, I realized that Baby Girl wasn't there! I went to check her bed, thinking that she may have migrated back there in the middle of the night, but she wasn't there! So I checked the living room-nothing, the computer room-nada, the kids bathroom-no again! I was starting to get a bit concerned because all I had to do was take care of one child and I had lost her! I turned on the light and noticed that she was on the other side of the bed (on Jason's side) laying on the floor with a pillow.....whew! The next morning, I asked her what she was doing on the floor and she said that she was "sleeping with her Bubba." Poor baby missed her big brother! Love it!!

Well, the boys eventually made it home, and the kids went back to their normal wrestling, jumping, fighting selves.....everything was back to normal! Happy reading.....

2 + 4 = 6

Well let's see, what's been going on this week in the life of the Pace's? The first part of the week started out pretty normal, the usual, hustle and bustle of working parents trying to compensate their guilt of leaving the children in childcare all day. And then on Wednesday, it all started to fall apart!

I drove home Wednesday afternoon with my gas tank on "EEEEE" and I was just hoping and praying that if I did in fact run out of gas, that I was near a gas station! Well, as I'm fixing to get to the flyover onto to the 35, my a/c in the truck started blowing out hot/warm air....well, me, the non-mechanical-type is thinking that the a/c blowing warm air is the first sign of running out of gas so I immediately exited at the first possible exit and pulled into the closest gas station. Whew....I made it!! So, I go to roll my window down because the door handle is broken and can only be opened from the outside and I smell this horrible burning smell....COMING FROM MY TRUCK!! I fortunately had my mechanic on speed dial and informed him of the burning smells coming from under the lid of my truck. He said he was on his way--great mechanic! So, Jason met me and determined that it wasn't my engine over heating as he had suspected, but instead, just my a/c burning up! Yes, whew was the first response, at least it wasn't the engine, but it's a flippin 100 degrees here and an air conditioner is a "must-have!" Well, my faithful husband stayed up charging the a/c in his truck so I could drive it to work on Thursday and stayed up until like midnight on Thursday night working on fixing the a/c in my truck! It was, I'm glad to say, fixed by about 9am Friday!

So, as my mechanic was repairing vehicles after working all day in the heat, Jonah and I started practicing our letters and numbers! I had bought these flash cards for him a while back that had addition on some of them with pictures. So there was like "2 baseballs and 4 hats which equals 6" and Jonah was able to "add" them up! I was so proud of him and he was pretty excited too to be able to add! With school starting at the end of August, I guess this is just one of the many things we'll be learning this year! Wish us luck!!

And as for Baby Girl, I can't leave her out of this blog! Well, she asks if she's going to go to school with her "Bubba" and I sadly inform her that "Bubba" will be going to big kid school. Baby Girl then informs/reminds me that she too is a "big kid." She's going to absolutely miss her Bubba at daycare once school starts! School starts August 26, so say a little prayer for us all cause it will be an emotional day for us all....ok well maybe just for Baby Girl and I.

My babies are growing up too fast for their Mommy!

Well, until next blog, I hope you all have a great weekend and happy reading!

"Probation"

Hello, Good Morning, Good Afternoon and Howdy to my loyal blog readers! Yall will be happy to know that work is slow so I have some time to blog...(but if my manager asks, I'm working!)


So let's see, I went to pick up Jonah's school registration packet last week. I still can't believe my baby's gonna be going to school!! EEEKKK!!! Not sure who will be crying more....we'll see. I have to turn in the paperwork sometime this week, Kindergarten orientation is on August 22 and then Jonah will be starting KINDERGARTEN on August 26!! I'm freaking out that my baby's going to school and don't be surprised if you don't catch me "spying" on him with the binoculars for the first week at least! He says he's a big boy, but there are gonna be other kids there at school and what if the teacher loses him! I will be highly upset!! Anyway, his school supply list came out so we'll be going school clothes shopping and school supply shopping and trying to "compose" ourselves for the first day of school....ok, by "compose ourselves" I mean me. And I know what you're thinking, he'll be fine....and I know he will, but that's MY baby we're talking about....breath, breath, deep breath, little prayer, more deep breaths...he'll, I mean I'll, be fine. :o)


We had some friends from Ft. Worth visit this past weekend....they stopped by on their way to Sea World and they have a little girl who's 4 years old named Jordyn. The kids played and played...they all get along pretty well!


However, unfortunately, on Sunday, when the kids and I went to church....Jonah ended up getting grounded. I know he was probably just tired (that's the Mom coming out in me, making excuses for my baby's behavior) but before church, I talked to both kids and told them that they needed to be good kids in "Jesus' House!" Well, Baby Girl started first, she was lying on the floor under the pews, running to the other side of our pew, not listening and NOT "being have!" I actually had to take her out of church to give her a spanking! Can you believe...spankings in church? She was horrible!! So I finally calmed her down and she fell right to sleep! She was tired....so once she was down, Jonah started. He was told that he needed to "pay attention" in church and by that all I meant was to stand up when we stood up, sit when we sat, no lying down in the pew, and no thumb sucking! (We're working on quitting....say a prayer and wish us luck!) So after church, I reminded the kids how bad they were in church and informed them that they would need to sit in time out until Jordyn came over....well, that's when it (and by "it" I really mean shit but I don't believe I can curse on a blog about my children) Jonah didn't want to sit on his mat for time out and ended up telling his Daddy that he "hated him".....well, when I heard that, I went to speak to him about his little attitude and mouth and he told me that he hated me as well.....so he got grounded for 2 weeks for being ugly to his Mommy and Daddy. I felt so bad, but I don't like the word "hate" and I especially don't like Jonah saying it about us! So, he finally fell asleep and woke up the Jonah we all know and love.....it was just too bad that he had to get grounded before he took his much needed nap!


Later that same night, Sunday, my Dad called to talk to Jonah, but it's funny because Jonah didn't mention anything about being grounded to his Lito! Hmmmm....wonder why? :o) So when it got to be my turn to talk to Lito I informed him of the punishment that Jonah received and of course, being the abuelito he is, he believed that 2 weeks was WAY too long for his grandson to be in trouble. But after I told Lito what Jonah had said, Lito was in agreement to the "probationary status" that Jonah was sentenced and stated that he still loved Jonah!


And then yesterday, I received an "anonymous" message at work informing me that there would be a "package" mailed to my address and to deliver it to the "probationer" that was recently sentenced. The "anonymous caller" stated that I should not try to trace the call as it was not traceable (little did this caller know that I have caller ID on my phone and recognized the number to be that of one, Lito, aka: Dad) This caller also informed me that I should not try calling back as the number will be destroyed and will not be able to be returned.....Suspicious!


Well, not much else to blog about right now....so until later, so-long, good-bye, good-night and adios! Happy reading!

Growing Like Weeds!

So I'm just getting these pics from Mother's Day out on the blog....these are a couple of months old, but they're so cute that I had to share!

The kids are just getting too big...so big in fact that they're fixing to eat us out of "house and home!" Example: Last night I made spaghetti for the four of us with enough for Jason and I to have leftovers for lunch the next day. Well, Jonah ate 4 plates of spaghetti and Requay ate 3 plates!!! That's 7 plates of spaghetti consumed by my hungry babies! Needless to say, Jason and I had to go out for lunch today.....I guess this is just the beginning of things to come!

Well, I better say so long for now....if you got any food your not eating....you might send it our way! :o)

Quick Funny

So last night as Jonah was taking a bath by himself....they grow up way to fast for their Mommy....Jason asked him if was clean and to make sure he had all the soap out of the "important areas" of his body and then asked Jonah if he was stinky. Jonah smugly replied with "yeah, like a pig covered in mud!"

Where does he come up with this stuff???

Honeymoon!

OMGosh....I totally forgot to mention that I finally finished our honeymoon album that I started almost 8 years ago when Jason and I went on our cruise to Alaska!! I know, I know, it took me a little less than 8 years, but it was so nice to "get back to Alaska" sometimes and as I got closer to the end....I became very sad to think that our "honeymoon was finally coming to an end!"

Now to babies! I started Jonah's baby album and I couldn't believe that in the past 8 years, we've had a BABY!! Boy does time fly by when you're having fun!

Well, if you're in the area and would like to view this honeymoon album that took almost 8 years to complete...feel free to drop by and ask how our honeymoon was! :o)

Summer Time Fun!

I know, I know, bad Mom...but if you think about it, I'm not really bad for not blogging, I'm just lazy! :o)

So anyway, let me see what I can say to catch things up from MEMORIAL DAY...gosh where has my head been?

Well beginning of summer was not too exciting, but the end of June, Jason and I went on vacation and the kids went on vacation with their Lito/Lita! I was a bit apprehensive about sending Baby Girl because she's never been away from her Mommy for a whole week before! I mean what's a girl to do without her Mommy?! Well, I guess it was all just me cause she didn't look back as she was waving us good-bye after dropping the kids off.....I knew Jonah would be perfectly fine cause he'd spent weeks at his Abuelitos before and he was ready to go! But my Baby Girl? My Baby? My "mini-me"? How would she do being away from her Mommy for a whole week with no hugs or kisses from me? So what...call me a paranoid Mom if you want to, but they're MY babies and I missed them!!! The kids didn't seem to miss a beat or us for that matter! Lito/Lita got them a new little pool to swim in (Lita couldn't find the one she got them last year) and they went to the State Aquarium and enjoyed all the fish there and they played and watched movies (they went to see Kung Fu Panda with their Aunt Kimby--I think it was to give my parents a much needed break but I doubt they'd ever admit that) Let's see what else did they do? They ate and pretty much got whatever they wanted at their Lito/Lita's.....if Jonah asked for a corn dog, they asked "from where" or if Baby Girl asked for a cookie, they asked "what kind and let's go get one!" Can you say S-P-O-I-L-E-D? Oh well, what are Abuelos for if they can't spoil their nietitos!

And where were Jason and I you might ask? Well, we were enjoying some much needed alone time! We went out to the lake and fished and swam and boated and ate and drank and bought a boat and swam some more and caught fish....it was great! The kids met up with us at the end of the week and we got to introduce them to Mommy's boat....yes, we bought a boat while vacationing! We had a blast swimming and fishing off the boat and checking out all the scenery!

And I guess the only other exciting news was the kids and their swim lessons. They were lessons for 2 weeks and did GREAT!! Jonah was in a bigger class this year that started out in the "big pool" and I was a bit concerned because on the first day, they called his name to go to the "level 1" class and all these kids that looked much bigger and older than Jonah walked up....I was for sure that I had signed him up for the wrong class! In fact, as I left the pool area, because they [the swim instructors] make all parents wait outside the fence to not distract the kids, I informed one of Jonah's swim teachers that Jonah may be in the wrong class since he had no idea how to swim! And the teacher told me, the paranoid-over-dramatic-mom that I am, that all the kids in Jonah's class were new to swimming and he'd be ok and that he was in the right class. I left the pool area thinking, "what does this little teenage girl that needs to hit puberty" know about my non-swimming little boy!!?? Much to my surprise though, Jonah turned into a little fish and learned how to kick, float, swim and he even got to go down the slide! He loved it!! We were so proud of how well he did!

And Baby Girl? Well, apparently she turns into a little mermaid when she hits the water! She is fearless, was the first in her class to go under water and jump from the edge of the pool, float and swim without holding on to anyone! She was in a parent/toddler class so her and I played together in the water....sometimes she would tell me to "let her down" which we were in like 4 foot of water and I'd let go, she'd sink, I'd pull her back up, and she'd say "again!" She was just amazing!! The other parents and her swim teachers couldn't believe she was only 2 years old! (She's very independent and adventurous...like her Daddy!)

And completely off the subject and on a sad note, my Dad's sister passed away at the beginning of July....so keep her family in your prayers!

Well, that's about it for summer so far.....I'm gonna try to blog more later and I may even post some pics too....now that should keep you coming back for more! So to all my loyal blog readers, Lita/Lito and scrapbook....thanks for tuning in and happy reading!

Blast of a Memorial!

Well I hope you all had a great Memorial Day weekend....we had a BLAST! And I figured I'd better blog about it before I forgot some details of our trip.

So we decided to go camping with Jason's friend, Jake and his girlfriend Alyssa out on Jake's grandmother's property. There is a creek that runs through the property and we were just hoping the creek would be running! So we packed just about anything and everything we thought we might need for our first camping trip with the kids! We had clothes, water noodles, swimsuits, creek shoes, toys, food, camping gear, a tent, chairs, coolers, fishing poles....let's just say we ran out of room in the back of the suburban with the 3rd seat taken out! We were going to take the kitchen sink, but we ran out of room! :o)

Saturday:
We took off to Jake's grandmother's property stopping in Liberty Hill for minnows and Lampasas to eat at Storm's (mmm-good!) We finally made out to Jake's grandmother's property where him and Alyssa were waiting for us! We drove down the road and onto a county road where we stopped at a creek and Jake and Alyssa had everything they needed in their Argo (definition of argo: half car, half boat; will drive on dry land as well as float in water!) So they took off down the creek and we waded in the creek playing in the water and throwing sticks down the running stream. Jake came back and him and Jason took a load of our stuff down to the campsite while the kids and I continued playing in the water attempting to catch minnows and some sun! Jake came back for us and for the final trip and loaded up the rest of our million and one things to take camping as well as the kids and I and we headed up stream to our "campsite."

When we got there we unloaded the boat/car and the kids immediately headed for the creek and I began attempting to set up our tent. Jason and Jake went back in the Argo to move the jeep closer to the creek in case we needed something we wouldn't have to rely on the Argo to slowly get us back to shore! The creek was nice because right in front of where I started setting the tent up, the creek was very very shallow, pretty much just water running over the bottom of the creek so I felt comfortable with the kids wading in the creek there. I finally got the tent set up (it looked like a tent anyway) and I headed to the creek myself to cool down! Whew.....

That night, Jake made dinner in Jason's Dutch oven that we've had since our wedding but had not used. We attempted to lay Baby Girl down in the tent but she didn't want to stay and was SUPER tired! So we ended up laying a sleeping bag down near our campfire and she fell asleep there without hesitation. Jonah ate dinner and went to "just lay down with Baby Girl" and was soon fast asleep as well. So the rest of us stayed up drinking, talking and fishing! I caught like 3 catfish and Jason had to keep getting up to empty my fishing pole line string. (I am not an avid fisherwoman and am not fisher savvy as to the wording of fishing stuff.) So Jason would unhook the fish and put it on a string to keep alive and put back into the water. It was so cool and nice and refreshing, having a glass of wine in one hand with the stars brightly shining above and a fishing pole in the other hand.....ahhhh....this is the life!

Sunday:
We attempted to "sleep in" but it started to heat the tent up early and we figured since the kids were already up and looking for their bathing suits, we should probably get up and get breakfast going! We ended up having "leftovers" from the night before so we wouldn't have to cook something else. Yummy! After cleaning up our dishes, and by cleaning up I mean putting them in the fire, we all got back into the water! Jake and Alyssa had things to do while they were there on the property like cutting wood and other stuff....I'm not really sure, but Jason, the kids and I stayed back, playing in the water. We (the fam) headed up stream because the sun was striking straight down on our campsite and was shadier up stream. We took some snackies, fishing poles, water noodles and the camera and went to this little sand bar about 3/4 of a mile up and sat there fishing and catching minnows. Jonah was fishing with his Scooby Doo fishing pole and kept catching some little bass fish....he loved catching them! They were pretty small and not worth keeping so they just got thrown back so that Jonah could catch them again! Jason was holding Baby Girl while sitting in the water at the "shore" and she fell asleep so we laid a towel and a water noodle down and she napped under a big oak tree using a water noodle as a pillow and a towel as a blanket. Jason, Jonah and I continued fishing and catching minnows! What a BLAST!!

When Baby Girl woke up, we went back to camp and cooked some hot dogs and ate lunch and of course re-applied more sun block! Jonah and Requay played in the dirt/sand there making "sand castles"....well they put sand in the cups and used spoons to dig up holes and then turned the sand cups over to make a pile of sand and called them sand castles. They were the best sand castles I'd ever seen! Jonah even buried his legs and feet in the sand! After cleaning up lunch, we decided to head down stream this time so Jonah, Requay and I took a water noodle and swam on our bellies up stream with Jason swimming on his belly ahead of us! We probably went a good mile down stream and found this really shallow part where we all laid down on the creek bottom and probably could have fallen asleep but didn't. We found designs in the clouds and saw some little frogs hopping around. The kids threw rocks into the creek, like there weren't enough there to begin with and we just relaxed, laying in the creek and enjoying the day! The kids started getting bored of throwing rocks after a while (By the way, neither Jason nor I had a watch on the whole weekend so we never really knew what time it was....when we got hungry, we ate and when we got tired, we slept and when we had to go, well we went.) So with being oblivious to us, we finally headed back to camp swimming with Baby Girl on Jason's back and Jonah and I on a water noodle! When we got back to camp, we sat and talked for a while and the kids and I caught some baby frogs and kept them in a plastic bottle! (yes, the bottle had holes for the frogs to get some air and some water so they could stay hydrated) So after catching about 7 or 8 of those, we went back to catching minnows. We had taken Jonah's little "bug catcher net" and caught minnows with that! Jonah would put them in a cup and then Requay needed a cup too to put little fishies in her cup!

Oh I forgot to tell you that when we were on our way back up stream from laying in the creek, we saw something in the water that we weren't quite sure what it was. We approached the object slowly and Jason realized it was an alligator, so he sneaked up on it and wrestled it under the water and out, spinning madly in circles in the water and when he finally had that alligator under control, he threw the stick up onto the shore! (It was just a stick but the kids thought it was a real alligator and that their Daddy wrestled with him.)

We swam and caught minnows and fished pretty much the whole day and at dinner time, we cooked some sausage and had sausage wraps and the kids again fell asleep on the sleeping bag near the campfire. This night though was a little different because this night, the kids were a bit sun burned and having problems sleeping on their little backs. We ended up giving them both some motrin and putting some aloe vera on their back to help with the stingingness. They were pretty wiped out after swimming up and down stream, catching all those big fishies, jumping to catch frogs, wrestling with alligators, finding turtles and bears in the clouds, making sand castles that could reach the sky and just completely loving the outdoors where you can wash your hands in the creek, throw your left over food to the fishies, pee-pee on any little rock or stick you could find and spend the day in your swimsuit with no worries about spilling or making messes! It was the best!!

Monday:
Our last day of camping and Jonah kept saying that it was "a sad day" because we had to go home that day. It was really sad because we had to pack everything up, take the tent down and take off our swimsuits! Jason cooked breakfast tacos and I spilled all of our breakfast potatoes in the sand and those got fed to the fishies! oops....Anyway, the kids continued playing in the same way they had the rest of the weekend while Jason and I attempted to gather up stuff that had been strung out from one side of the sand bar to the other. Jake and Alyssa took their one little argo load out and Jason, kids and I finished gathering stuff up and packing it away. Jake came back for a load of our stuff and took Jason back with him so they could bring the burban closer to load everything up. While Jake and Jason were gone, the kids and I finished the last of the packing and went on trash patrol picking up any and all of the trash we found left on the sand bar....we don't want to pollute our Texas creeks and land! gosh....Jake came to pick up the kids and I and Baby Girl fell fast asleep on the bumpy, noisy ride back to our truck. We all changed into dry clothes and headed back home. :o(

Not too long after being on the road back home, the kids were out and Jason and I were trying to talk to each other to keep the other one up too! We were just completely "desausted" but had an awesome time camping! Jonah asked when we might be able to go camping again!

It was a GREAT Memorial Day Weekend! Hope you all had a good one too!

Playdough

I meant to blog this a while back, but forgot about it until I was on my way home today.....

Jason and I went to get the kids from school one day last week, or maybe it was the week before I can't remember, but anyway, we were putting the kids in their carseats and Jonah said that he couldn't get buckled up because he had something in his pocket. I asked him what he had and he said that they had made playdough at school that day. So before he pulls this "homemade playdough" out of his pocket, I'm thinking "at least it's not a lizard" (that's my worst fear!) and then I think, why does he have playdough in his pants pockets anyway??!! When I asked him why he had this playdough in his pocket, he said that his teacher told them to put it in their pockets....I gave him the benefit of the doubt thinking that when playdough drys, it hardens and I'm sure that once their little balls of playdough dried, they would be fine in a pocket! So Jonah digs into his little Wrangler pocket and starts pulling out this playdough! No, not a small little ball like I was imagining, but a big huge wad of playdough the size of a softball....maybe bigger!

All I could do was laugh about it and think, well I knew this whole "boys bringing things home in their pocket" thing would happen eventually and I was just glad it was playdough and not a lizard! Whew......

Happy Mother's Day!

Oh me oh my...where to start! I really wish I had like a laptop or something that would just let me blog throughout the day wherever I am....maybe then I'd blog more! Anyhow, here we go....

Last Friday, the day before Mother's Day weekend, I went to pick up the kids at school and Jonah hands me this card.....I have to describe the card first so that you will understand. The card was made out of red construction paper and had glued glitter on the front that said "Happy Mother's Day" and then you open it up and there is a big heart glued on the inside and Jonah wrote, "I love you, Jonah." (Very cute and the perfect card for any mother.) So when he hands me the card, that he almost forgot, he handed it to me and said, "Happy Valentine's Day Mommy!" I guess the red card with the heart inside does kinda resemble a valentine's day card. I loved it and it was the best card he'd made me all year!! :o)

We headed down South to visit Lito/Lita for the weekend, just the kids and I because Jason had already headed down to work with Howard on some sort of farming equipment. So it was just me, the kids, and of course the little DVD player (what a life saver on road trips!) We were all doing fine until right before we hit Luling and Requay started getting fussy for no apparent reason, so I thought I'd stop and get us all milk shakes to enjoy while driving and watching movies. Good idea until Baby Girl decided to open hers and spill it all over herself! Ahhhhh!!!
So here I go cleaning up spilled milk shake, de-clothing Baby Girl, and attempting to stay as "sticky-free" as possible! What a mess!! Next time, I'll make sure Baby Girl's asleep before stopping for milk shakes!

We had a great time with Lito/Lita! We woke up early and headed to Corpus because Lito had his last deaconate class--forever!!! Yeah, Yippee, God lent us our Dad back! So while Lito was in class, the kids, Lita and I headed to Lita's school where they were having a little carnival thing...the kids played golf, volleyball and cowboy golf and we ate hot dogs! Then we met Aunt Kimby and her boyfriend for some shopping! I found the kids summer clothes cause they had still been wearing pants and long sleeve shirts to school! We all dosed some on the way home and then watched the movie "The Water Horse." The next day, we went to church and then went to eat and visit with my Mamo in the nursing home! (She was so pretty in her pink sweater and bonnet.....looked alike like what Baby Girl wears!) Jason met us there and when we left, we went home and the guys started BBQing and the girls (minus the little one) went shopping! Mom bought me some new clothes and shoes....it was so nice, like I still lived at home! (Boy, I sure do miss those days--and I thought my life was complicated then--whew!!!)

We didn't end up leaving until late that night just because I bathed the kids and got them into their pajamas for the ride home (I figured they'd sleep--and I was right.) We were pretty wiped out when we finally made it home, luckily though, Jason and I were able to follow each other home to keep each other awake!

The kids got me a heart rate monitor for mothers day!

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY TO ALL MY LOYAL MOTHER READERS!!!

More Funnies.....

I don't really know where Jonah comes up with things, but he must hear them from somewhere like school I'm sure! Enjoy.....

The other day I was taking the kids to school and when we got to school, Jonah made this statement: "Old people run over birds." We were not talking about birds, had not seen birds, did not see old people or anything, but out of the blue, that is what he said. Who knows? :o)

And then last night, we were attempting to get Jonah in to bed because we are going to Lito/Lita's this weekend and we told him he needed his rest (and Mommy and Daddy had a million and one things to do before leaving.) I don't know if Jonah was just excited about going to see his Lito/Lita or what but at about 10:30 last night, when he was still "working on his crossword puzzle" [side story: he started working on crossword puzzles....he can't read but puts letters in the square boxes. It helps him with his letters!] So after telling Jonah probably like 42 times to go to sleep, he sits up and says, "How am I supposed to sleep when my tummy is empty and my mind if full?" First, I reminded him of the 2, yes 2, dos, one-two, dinners he ate last night....Requay and him shared a whole pizza which the majority of it was consumed by Jonah and then Jason and I had beans and cornbread and he needed a big bowl of that too with cornbread! I can already see our grocery bills growing! So after I reminded him of the mealS he ate for dinner I asked him what his "mind was full off?" And he told me, "it's full of candy and stuff" I'm not too sure he understands what the statement that he made actually means!

Like I said, I don't know where he comes up with some of this stuff, but it sure is nice blogging material!

Well, hope all you mothers out there have a great Mother's Day weekend!

Here Fishy Fishy

Hello, Hello and Howdy to all my fellow Ags! Today is Muster where we remember all of the fallen Ags that have passed away in the past year! Softly call the Muster.

So, I bet you were wondering if I would make another appearance on the old blog or not huh? Well, I could really use a nap, but as I sit here at work, it would probably sound better to hear typing rather than snoring if my boss were to come in....so here goes!

Let's see what's going on? Well, not much....we cleaned house and ran errands on Saturday and then on Sunday, we all ended up going fishing! Yeah, we "attempted" to catch fish. I got Requay her own little Barbie pink fishing pole (she totally picked that out herself! I gave her the option of Dora, Princess or Barbie and she picked Barbie--yes, she is my daughter!) So along with this Barbie fishing pole, came a purple butterfly that Jason hooked up to her pole so that she could "catch something." And of course, she had the tackle box, which in her defense, did resemble a purse--A LOT! So here they were, the boys with their "camo" wear on, Baby Girl in her cute pink Capri's, sandals, and her tackle box/purse. Where was I you ask? Well, I too enjoy fishing, but my favorite part of the whole experience, is sitting under the trees....eating! :o) Oh what a nice day, with a nice breeze, the water flowing gently by and all the pretzels I could eat....ahhhh!

I guess the whole fishing trip wore the kids out cause about 8 o'clock, they were ready for bed and they were both fast asleep by 9 o'clock!

Oh and by the way, yes there were pictures taken of the our fishing trip, but of course, they are on the "old fashioned" camera....you know, the ones that take film! I'll try to get them exposed and put on a disc so I can load them onto the blog! Technology!

I better go for now, not because I'm out of stuff to say, but because it is almost time for me to go home! I mean, I do after all have to log out of my computer, turn my radio off, AND my lights! Whew....lots to do so I better go so I can try to sneak out a bit early (shhhh) Blog more later!

A Quick Funny

So this morning we're saying good morning to Mr. Snail who had a "sleep over" in our bathtub last night. (Requay feels the need to bring a Mr. Snail inside at times and then "checks in" on them periodically throughout the night.) So anyway, Mr. Snail was in our bathtub and I was telling Jonah how Mr. Snail was there and then there was another snail shell but it was empty and I figured that the snail that lived in that one must have moved out or something! And Jonah says, "yeah, I thought I saw the "for sale" sign!" :o)

Maybe we've been looking at too many houses lately...who knows?!

Well, just thought I'd share this little "funny" with you...blog ya later!

Time for Falling

Well, I'm not sure when the last time I blogged, but I know it's probably been a while and as usual....stuff has happened.....

So let's see--Baby Girl had a pretty good "run-in" with a block at school last week. I was called before 8am last Tuesday morning from the daycare telling me that a little boy, "Jonathan did it" as per Jonah, was throwing a "daddy block" to knock down a tower of blocks when the daddy block hit Requay in the forehead causing a huge gash in her upper right side of her forehead! IT WAS BEFORE 8AM AND I HAD JUST DROPPED MY BABIES OFF!!! So anyway, in my frantic, worried mother state, leave work just after finishing breakfast (I was working hard!) thinking in my head that my little baby girl is gonna have this huge scar with stitches in her head and of course thinking the worst! I got to school in record speed to find Baby girl playing and a butterfly band aid on her forehead. I took her home because luckily my Baby Sister was in town (she's not a baby anymore) and I picked her up and took her to the doctor to see if in fact she would need any kind of medical procedures. The doctor cleaned it out, checked her eyes and her balance and to my relief.....she needed neosporin and a band aid. whew.....I had picked up Jonah too cause I didn't want him to get hurt at school either so we went home and rested while I attempted to keep an ice pack on her forehead as per the doctor's instructions. (Yeah right, keep an ice pack on a 2-year old forehead for 2 minutes at a time every 5 minutes...what? did the doctor think that would actually work?) We did our best, but she had a pretty good goose egg bump on her head and it was really a nice shade of purplish-red!

Oh, she's fine now, but she did have her equilibrium a bit off and she probably fell about another 20 times just that day! And then on Friday, we went to pick the kids up and Baby Girl had just fallen off the slide on to, what else, her forehead! So she now has a plethora of little scratches on her forehead from all of her falls! Poor baby--I think she may have inherited some of her Mommy's accident proneness.

And as my best friend in 7th grade reminds me each year, we turned another year older! She claims that we're 34 now, but I keep telling her to do the math cause we were born in 1974 which would make us exactly 27 years young!! :o) I had a pretty good birthday day though....Nita bought me breakfast that morning and Belinda made me some Happy Birthday cupcakes and I had eaten about 4 times before lunch! And then when I got home, my wonderful husband had a dozen roses waiting for me with a chocolate cake and ice cream! Yummy!! I love my birthday and it's only 351 shopping days until my next birthday!! :o)

What else, oh you wanna know what Jonah is up to these days? Well, he is still just as good of a boy as he always has been but now he's starting to have a few moments where his attitude becomes a bit too much for his Mommy and Daddy to handle! And he HATES to sit in time out but from what my parents used to tell me....Life's not fair! He did mention yesterday that he can tell the poisonous snakes from the non-poisonous by the "Mr. Yuk" stickers on the bad ones! He's such a good kid!

We went house looking yesterday and Jonah kept saying "ok, if this house has a barn, we're gonna get it!" I don't believe he understands that we need to pay for it first. After we had looked at about 4 houses, we went to visit Pretty Girl, Jonah's horse who lives with his grandmother, Jason's Mom. Him and Requay got to ride Pretty Girl bareback and Requay did NOT want to get off after walking around a little. But Jonah was ready for her to get off because he kept saying, "Baby Girl, stop squeezing me so tight!" (She was riding behind Jonah and holding on to dear life while Daddy lead the horse and Mommy walked right beside them to avoid any more unnecessary falls!) I took pics but on my old time camera...you know the ones that use film. I'll try to get them on disc to put them on the blog.

Well, that's about it for now.....keep my Mamo, my grandmother on my Mom's side, in your prayers....she is ready to go home to live with God and it's gonna be a rough road for the rest of us!

"Hoppy" Easter!

Well, yes as a matter of fact I am aware of the time lapse since my last blog entry....and sorry for that! I get busy doing other stuff and forget to write in here....Anyway, we had a good Easter! Lito and Lita were able to come for a visit and since they were gonna be at the house all day Friday, I asked the kids if they may want to stay home on Good Friday to spend time with their grandparents...and of course they chose Lito/Lita over school any day! And yes, they were able to see the "terrible little two's" coming out of Baby Girl! (I kept telling them but they didn't believe me!)

We didn't do too much yesterday on Easter Sunday....we had church at 11am and that lasted a good hour and a half (with kids...whew) and then the church had an Easter egg hunt that the kids enjoyed picking eggs from! It really wasn't a "hunt" cause all the eggs were in plain sight and if you weren't careful were stepped on! They were sectioned off by age group and age appropriate candies! So all the bigger kids (Jonah's age group) were pretty much done gathering up all of their eggs, while the little guys (Requay's age group) slowly grabbed one egg while attempting to open it, carry their basket and check out what everyone else was doing! We finally just told the kids that we had more than enough eggs to last us! So we left to go eat lunch and didn't make it back to the house until around 2:30 or so! Since we had missed Baby Girl's nap time, we all snoozed a bit before it was time to go to bed! It was a bit chilly for the kids to dress up in their Easter clothes so we had to change their wardrobe before heading out! The kids had fun and got to enjoy their Easter baskets from us, from their Lito/Lita and then tonight, their Aunt Kimby will be coming up for a short visit and she usually has at least 5 things minimum for each kid......so more Easter......(if she's not careful, she may spoil them by bringing gifts every time she sees them!) :o)

So let's see what else.....Baby Girl has been talking SO much that last night she was jumping on the bed and I asked her if she remembered "what the doctor said?" and then she would complete it with "No more monkeys jumping on the bed!" Then she would jump some more and sing some more.....she knows that whole song and your actually able to understand her!

My kids are getting too big and smart.....we haven't started the potty training for Baby Girl yet (I think we're getting lazy with the 2nd one--so what if she's still in diapers when she's in high school!) "I totally gotcha!" That is one of Jonah's favorite little sayings right now.....he'll say something off the wall like "there's a zebra over there" and when you turn to look for the zebra, he says, "I totally gotcha!" And we play along with it......fun times!

So our next task, now that the taxes are done, is to get Baby Girl to stay sleeping in her bed all night! She's gotten into the habit of coming to our bed and wiggling her little way between Jason and I and we get little to uncomfortable sleep! And you already knew that she could climb out of her crib like a little monkey already! So we need to work on potty training and sleeping in your own beds! Wish us luck!!

Well, I guess I should go since I am at work and all (shhhh, don't tell my manager.) So until I remember to blog something special....keep up the good reading!

My "Blogcation" Update

Hello? Anyone still there? Anyone still interested in what my children are doing? I know you're out there and I'm sorry that I've been on "blogcation" as my best friend Meg would put it! So much to tell and I have no idea where to start! I guess I'll just update a bit since the last blog I wrote and this will be a quick overview so get ready!

December:
We had a great Christmas and Santa came to see the kids.....again! Cause they were good! Requay got an Abby Cadabby doll that sings and Jonah enjoyed Optimus Prime (the leader of the Autobots from Transformers.) They got too too many gifts to list and then when we went home to see their Lito and Lita, it was Christmas all over again because they had gifts and then their Aunt Kimby had her own set of gifts....so it was almost like we celebrated Christmas 3 times!

January:
Requay turned 2....and we're pretty sure she has hit the "terrible" part of the 2's! We decided to not have any parties for either kid this year but instead to take them on a "kid trip." So we're going to take a trip once the weather gets better. Requay did have a little party at school for her "classmates" and had Care Bears cupcakes to share with all her friends! She's really into the Care Bears right now....books, videos, stuffed animals....she likes it all! And as far as the "terrible" part of her little 2-year old attitude goes, let me just say that she takes after her Daddy! She asked for fruit snacks the other day and I told her that we didn't have any more and she responds with "I WANT FUT NAKS!" 2 and already demanding! Whew.....

(January wasn't really a good month for us because at the beginning of the month, our 6-year nephew, Gabriel, was involved in a horrible car accident and is now in the hospital with brain damage and in a coma...so please keep him and his parents in your prayers! His Dad is Jason's brother. And then that following week, my good friend from Johnson City, Teresa, passed away after being in the hospital for 3 or 4 months sick.....I'm still sad because of that so keep Teresa's family in your prayers too! The whole family got sick and as Nita, my neighbor from work, would say, I was on sabbatical for the month of January. Not a good month, but we made it through!)

February:
Jonah turned 5....5! Can you believe my baby is 5 now and will be starting school in the fall???!!! Oh my gosh, my baby is growing up and he's completely ok with it! It makes me sad......We had a better month this month, we've only been out sick one time and that was this past week with Requay. She had diarrhea and a BAD rash on her little bum. So I kept her home to take care of her little bum (I did a lot of washing of training pants and towels that day because I let her for the most part go "commando" for the day!) Oh well, what's another load of clothes!

And completely off the subject, a couple of funny times.....
We were leaving to go to school one day and there was a truck coming from the other way. Jonah said, "hey that looks like Mater" (from the movie "Cars") Puzzled, I asked him what he meant, and he told me that the truck only had one head light just like Mater does! :o)

And then one day we were leaving school and I had the windows rolled down in the truck and as we stopped at the light to turn, this car pulls up with an older woman in it and Jonah says and points, "That lady's old!" Thank God her windows were rolled up!!

Well, to all my dedicated readers that have been needing a laugh or to just find out if we may have fallen off the side of the world....we haven't, we've just been busy? I can't even think of a good excuse, but I can tell you that I'm on Day 5, Skagway, in my scrapbook.....I know it's honeymoon, but it still needs to be done! Gimme a break gosh......

:o)