Saturday, August 22, 2009

Pictures!

the sky was beautiful tonight. this is the view over my neighbor's house

i said to savannah "isn't that beautiful? what does it look like to you?" and she said matter of factly "it's God's light mom"

the clouds hanging over the superstition mountains and the cotton field next to the house


closer view of clouds

a wee bit of the cotton border

the sidewalk entrance to our house


the front..i can't believe how much the trees have grown!



front and center from the walking path

front at the garage end


towards the cotton field

Friday, August 21, 2009

hurry up and wait

so here i sit at the computer on a rainy friday night wondering what else should i be doing? probably nothing since it's already 10:00 :)

we had a good week! the kids did well with their tests, homework, reading for AR testing, etc. wednesday was our first 1/2 day and we didn't let it go to waste. griffin got a haircut. a very needed haircut! he was my lil chia pet! he's looking very suave now. cassandra was running for student council historian but she didn't win. she was pretty disappointed. she felt like she could do a great job because she says loves her school and that would drive her to do good things for them. i know life is full of little disappointments and she wasn't falling apart but she was down. i tried to tell her the right things and give her a pep talk but ultimately i felt awful that hugging her couldn't just instantly make it better. i reminded her there will be other opportunities later on.

as for the weekend, shane is doing more work in the backyard. i am teaching sunday school with my two awesome assistants. my one assistant is pregnant with her first baby. i am very happy for her but partly sad too. i guess some things don't change, huh? they are not finding out the baby's sex so now she's going to keep me in suspense until january.

it's dang near the end of august and i'm done with the heat. i know i say that this time every year but geez. i really am tired of it by now. it's hot all day and hot all night. no real break. i feel sorry for the kids because they want to go outside but it's just too miserable. they get short short recesses at school but it's more outside time than they'd get at home. i'm anxious for it to be over or at least on the decline. last year for griffin's birthday (sept 24th) it was 106 degrees. i hope that's not the case this year!

we have so much coming up, i am looking forward to it! i wish it would hurry up already and get here but at the same time, i'm trying to savor it as well. i know, i am my own worst enemy for some of this! we were originally flying to san antonio in november then tickets were outrageous so we were driving and now they are decent again so they are bought and we are flying. the kids are so excited! and nervous. me too :) this is where we are staying in san antonio http://www.historicsanantonio.com/lodging/HiltonPalaciodelRio2.cfm and it looks nice! i hope the kids enjoy all the stuff we have planned.

i can't even begin to tell you how excited we are about disneyland. alyssa gets in the car with me today to go to weight watchers and she says "we go to disneyland now!" and i thought "don't i wish!" she's soooooooo our kid ;)

so that's about it for us. just the usual stuff going on.

Thursday, August 13, 2009

Alyssa the Entertainer

Alyssa the entertainer giving us a song
Deep in creative thought :)

Guitar solo

Big sister offers to show her how it's done

harmony

Update

Hi everyone!

we've survived 2 and a half weeks of school! the kids are doing great so far. everyone seems very settled and very much "at home" in their classes. getting people up in the morning isn't all fun and games but so far i have not threatened anyone with bodily harm so we're still ok!

it is very strange having just alyssa home with me during the day but we are keeping busy. i am doing weight watchers and exercising at least 3 mornings a week. my mom has graciously let me come over to ride her exercise bike even when she is working. alyssa and i drop off the kids and then go straight to my mom's house so i can get my exercising in. tomorrow is my weigh in so i hope it's good news for all the peddle pushing i've been doing!

shane is doing well, work is very busy but he's keeping his head together. he's got a lot of work done in the backyard and he's about ready for the next phase. i'm so excited for it to be moving along. i can't really say "done" because it is a work in progress to landscape such a big yard. he's got more rock to bring in, rip up the existing icky grass, reseed and build the playset. he tells me it will be done by savannah's bday (end of october) so i am hopeful and holding him to it!!

griffin has decided on a pirates of the caribbean bday party this year! i am so excited, i have found so much good stuff online to use for games and decorations. i hope he enjoys it :) and now he'll have his school friends to invite too!

i guess that's about it for us. i am going to get to bed soon. i hope everyone is doing fantastic!

Saturday, August 1, 2009

So we survived the first 3 days of school!

Here we are! Survivors of the first week of school. (Technically 3 days but whatever)

The girls both had a great week. Light on the homework (yay!) and big on fun and doing fun activities. Mr. K dressing up like Capt. Barbossa. Savannah's class made "friendship salad" which was a fruit salad, each type of fruit being significant in some way. Griffin came home daily telling me how much he loved school and how bored he was in the afternoon at home. After 2 days of that I wondered if I had made the wrong decision to put him in 1/2 day. I mean, it seemed that he was ready for more intensive activities at school. Us playing at home wasn't really appeasing him or his need for busy-ness I guess. So after thinking it over, talking it over with Shane we moved him to an all day K class with a wonderful teacher. Ms. C. I thought Griffin would be thrilled...he was when we told him about it but actually going there on Friday was a different story. My oh my we had some major meltdowns which put me into a complete downward spiral on what to do. I thought I had done him wrong by putting him in 1/2 day and now he's in full day falling apart so had I wronged him again. What to do, what to do.

I went to have lunch with him because I promised I would. I had lots of supportive teachers and staff talking to me about it. Cassandra's teacher came up, put his hand on my shoulder and said with a smile "Cassandra says you're having trouble letting go today..." and I had to laugh. To save you all the horrifying details he did fine as long as I wasn't in eyeshot. He loved the bus ride home with his sisters and he loved the afternoon activities. So I guess we can say he's a happy, official all day kindgergartener! Now I just have to get used to it LOL ;-)

Cassandra went to see a movie with her BFF Brooke on Friday night. Brooke's dad and I went to HS together and his wife is just a hoot! Cassandra and Brooke are in Mr. K's class together. I think Brooke has convinced Cassandra to run for student council too. I feel things getting busier all of a sudden!

PTO starts the 17th. Sunday school teacher training is the 9th, Sunday school starts up the 16th as does the Youth Group nighttime monthly meetings AND the parents support group. Hmmm. We'll see if I can keep up with it all. Shane usually took Cassandra to youth group but I think I'd like to go to the parent group that goes on at the same time as Youth Group. I'm ready for Sunday School to start....I missed some of my kiddos there and the 2 ladies I teach with.

Other than that it is hot as hell still. Not much else to report!

Take care!
XO