Thursday, December 24, 2009
Monday, December 7, 2009
Guess who??
Them there's some strong genes!!
Sunday, December 6, 2009
Happy Halloween 2009!!
And the bestest friends on the face of the earth!!
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Future NFL star. . . . probably not!!
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
What makes you Gouchy??
Translation -
I was gouchy because I did not get enuf sleep.
He definitely comes by that naturally!!
Monday, November 30, 2009
Projects, projects
I haven't been posting much because I couldn't find the cord that connects my camera to the computer; thus I haven't been able to upload anything!! The funny thing is that the cord was right here in the office all the time! Awesome organizational skills I have!!
Anyway, Alex and Parker did a couple of cool projects a few weeks ago and I wanted to document them here.
First up, Alex had to do a model of how blood flows through the heart, showing the oxygenated and deoxygenated blood. I was really proud of Alex as he did this project pretty much without any help. I really like things like this because I think the kids get a much better idea of how it actually works than just doing in on paper. After he did this project, he had a great understanding of how the heart works.
Parker has been studying Mesopotamia for a good part of the year and he was presented with a list of projects to create and he chose to build a Mesopotamian Ziggurat. The funnest part of this project was to see people's reactions when he told them he was building a ziggurat....definitely not something you come across every day.
Being the insightfully creative person I am, I sent Parker to spend a couple of days with his Poppy so that they could, together, create the ziggurat of their dreams!! And boy, did they not disappoint!!
This was really, super cool when they finished it and I was surprised at how Parker just jumped right in and wanted to learn about this ancient structure. He has a great time learning/building this little project.
One of my favorite parts of this project was the very end when Parker got out the Sharpie to draw on the lines and write a cool title. His first attempt was crazy . . . all over the place and not neat AT ALL!! So, we covered that up with his picture of the model they used and started again! The next time was a little better until he starts writing in big bubble letters right in the middle!! Then he finished it off by writing his little-known nickname - PK - under his real name!! PK?? Seriously?? It almost sent me over the edge, but I kept myself in check and let him express his creativity!!??! His teacher's reaction?? FANTABULOUS!!
Good work guys!!
Happy Birthday!!!!
(This isn't actually at their party, but it's such a great picture!!)
Their birthdays were actually on October 2nd and October 11th and my mom and Debra gave them a surprise 79th and 80th birthday party on Sunday, the 11th! It was so fun to watch as especially BigPa was completely surprised!! Several people spoke about good memories and special times with them. I had the privilege to speak about what amazing grandparents they are to me. . . . . I once again retold the story of BigPa's cat-like reflexes as he squashed a mouse (or rat, depending on who's telling the story!!) in my garage a few years back! That story never gets old!!!
I gave a little insight into their generous hearts as I told them about how just a couple of weeks prior to that, Parker had been sick and when they heard, they immediately wanted to bring some chicken noodle soup by. In true BigPa and Grandma fashion, they brought soup, made with Luke's special noodles and extras in case we needed them, two different kinds of cornbread, two cartons of ice cream, and hot fudge to boot!! They are and always have been so over-the-top with their giving!
Many times when I offer my appreciation to them for whatever they've gone out of their way to do for me, the response I usually get is. . . . "Glad to!" I know that they mean that when they say it, for they are always happy to help. It's never a burden, never an imposition; they truly are glad to!!
BigPa and Grandma - - - I cannot tell you how many ways you have blessed my life and the lives of those I love!! You are truly the best and I love you!!
(sorry so belated!!)
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Pastor talk
When Landry got up and going this morning and realized it was Sunday, he immediately said, "Is today the day that the new pastor comes??" I answered yes and he said in a little voice, with his hands raised, "yay!!" Evidently, he has big plans and high expectations for Bro. Donnie!!
And on the way to church, we were reviewing Luke and Landry's verses when Landry pipes up, "I know a verse!!" So, I said, "Tell us...what is it??" To which he responded, "No man can serve two PASTORS!!" After I cracked up laughing and someone corrected him, I thought to myself....there might be some truth to that!!
Good times ahead!!
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Princesses...according to boys
But this was a bit of insight I gleaned tonight from Parker, Luke, and Landry.
They were being silly, calling each other Scary Potter, Princess, and other equally charming names. The whole "princess" term made me wonder how many of the Disney princesses these crazy boys could name.
So, I asked . . . tell me the names of the princesses.
And here they are . . . all they could come up with!
1. Snow White
2. Cinderella
3. Girl with the long hair
4. Fiona
5. Queen of England
I wonder if Disney has thought about marketing the Queen Mother? She'd make a great princess!!
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
All in a day's work
So, this is the problem for the day. This comes from some Algebra 3 work that a student and I worked through today. Read slowly and this is totally doable!!
Find 2 consecutive natural numbers such that the difference of their reciprocals is 1/4 the reciprocal of the smaller number!!!
Let me know what you get!!
Saturday, October 10, 2009
A wonderfully boring Saturday
Here's a peek into what's happened around here today.
Saturdays are great for playing. Football usually reigns for Alex and Luke, but Landry has his own ideas of fun.
Take this guy. . . Perry Medic, I believe.
Get it.....PerryMedic.....paramedic!!
He's been around for a long time but now it is Landry's turn to grow his imagination with this guy. (Landry took this pic)
According to Landry, today has found Perry flying in his rocket ship for a long, long time and he was really, REALLY tired. He needed a nap and the best place for that was in Luke's bed. So, Landry carefully bedded Perry down, took apart his rocket ship, and surrounded him with it. My favorite part of this was that Landry had found Parker's glasses cleaning cloth and deemed it a perfect blanket for Perry!!
Since Landry seemed interested in helping all the tired toys get their naps, I suggested to him that "Baby" might need a nap too. He happily agreed and went and found Baby and promptly wrapped him up in a blanket and put him to bed with Perry!! Here's Baby sleeping (Landry also took this pic!)
Baby, who has never been named anything other than Baby, has been a part of the family since Alex's first (I think!) birthday!! So, he's almost 12 and is really aging well!! It's so funny to see how the boys have played with Baby through the years. It definitely brings out their nurturing side!!
At least, until Baby wakes up from his nap and everyone has moved on to football. They are having trouble finding the right football to play with so Landry offers up Baby!!
"Hey guys....we could use Baby as the football!!"
That is so wrong!!
As for other exciting-ness. . . we pretended we were at the Barber Shop!
YUCK!! I hate this job!! It is so almost worth paying the $50 bucks every month to get it done!!
And, on another exciting note, I had a little run-in with the Bleach today!!
Those used to be Luke's long sleeved shirt on the left (that I had dug out now that the weather is cooler!!), Luke's boxers, and Scott's black sweater vest. He's going to croak when he sees that!! There were other casualties, but I just grabbed these first!!
I hate bleach!! It is a useful and necessary part of my life, but it is so dangerous!!
So, that's another exciting Saturday in the books!! The best thing about this weekend?? It goes on for an extra day!! Yay for Columbus!!
Monday, October 5, 2009
Kids Speak
Landry, while sitting at the bar . . . "I always lick the bar first before I eat!" (WHAT??!!)
Parker, while waiting for our good friend/chiropractor Dr. Todd to adjust him . . . "All of a sudden, I'm feeling the need to go green!" To which I reply, "meaning??" And he says, "you know recycle more, turn off the TV, take a shower instead of a bath, unplug your phone charger when you're not using it, MOM!"
Monday, September 28, 2009
Darn flu!
Parker was the first to go down...started Saturday with fever and cough. When he never got out of my bed all day, I used my deductive reasoning to figure out something might not be quite right!! He ran fever most of Saturday, all of Sunday, and slept about 40 out of 48 hours from Saturday to Monday morning.
So, today started with a trip to the doctor and a flu test. I was really surprised to see that he tested positive for Influenza A. His doctor explained that 95% of people that have Type A have the Swine Flu!! Yikes!!
So, he has Tamiflu, Scott's and my doctor called us out a prescription for it, but the kids can only get the drugs once they show symptoms. So, hopefully, everyone won't get it, but realistically?? We'll see!!
As for other news, there's not much!!
Alex's team won his first game last week 34-0 over Granbury!! Very exciting, indeed!!
We might have some future Baylor Bears on our hands, thanks to my good friend, Emily. Go here and here to read about their fun! Alex found himself at the Texas A&M game on Saturday so 3 out of 4 of the boys got to watch a little college football live and in person! Poor Parker was at home with the flu!! :(
And that's about all the craziness and excitement I can come up with! Unless you count the unbelievable amount of laundry I did over the weekend. Note to self -- it never pays to NOT do laundry during the week!! And I got an amazing new IRON!! Now, that's exciting!! A good iron is an incredible thing for sure!!
That's it!! Happy Monday!!
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
The author
He brought home a book last week that he had finished and I wanted to document it here in case it got lost at some point in the future!
Here's the cover -- Luke's Family
He did manage to put me in my fave color - blue - but somehow we are footless and I'm the only lucky one with hair!! Yay me!!
Translated - My whole family went to New York to see my grandparents. And just in case you thought that might be God looking down from the sky, you're wrong!! It's the Statue of Liberty surrounded by water!!
It rained everyday that we were there. Well, not exactly, but it kinda seemed like it at the time!!
My whole entire family that lives in New York went to Cooperstown. We went to the Hall of Fame. That is Uncle David in blue, the three older boys, and Scott in pink!!
Not a great picture...but he made a 100!! I think he might be an author someday!! And maybe an illustrator too!!
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Are you ready for some FOOTBALL??!?!!?
He has his first "real" game tomorrow and he's already informed me that he's not afraid of getting tackled or tackling someone else. My deductive reasoning tells me that perhaps he was afraid last week, but now, he's ready to play!! :)
Here's his good buddy, Reagan ...
Alex had to bring home all of his pads this weekend to get cleaned up and so Luke and Landry took full advantage of the opportunity to put on all of his gear! How cute are they in his stinky stuff??
And here's Luke wearing the nastiest pants and jersey EVER!!
Monday, September 7, 2009
It came and went so quickly!
Here it is in a nutshell (and in no particular order) --
. . . laundry (duh!!)
. . . Brewer Bear football . . . and a win, too!!
. . . Saturday morning trip to doctor resulting in one "hearing infection" for Mr. Luke
. . . Watching the very first Harry Potter movie (and beginning to read the fourth!)
. . . Washing the car
. . . Ironing at least 72 pieces of clothing (yes, I keep count. . . it's more rewarding that way!!)
. . . Church (another duh!)
. . . Swimming, for possibly the last time, this summer
. . . Spending some good time with the fam down in Granbury
. . . Shopping for my 7th grader who will play in his first-ever football game tomorrow. He must wear pants, a dress shirt, and a tie to school tomorrow!! Can't WAIT to see that!! He's gonna be so handsome!!
And while the weekend was great, we're ready for another great week! Bring it on!!
Saturday, August 29, 2009
We are BREWER BEARS!!
If you remember last Spring, two of my finest friends, Emily and Jenny, were awarded Teacher of the Year at the respective schools. One of the perks of that award is that they and a guest get to sit in the VIP seats at the first home game!! So...that's how we scored these great seats!!
Even Reagan and Alex managed to get up there with us for a few minutes!
All in all, it was a great game and loads of fun! There is so much spirit among the students and the community this year...makes for some good times, indeed!Alex is playing some football!!
And while I'm not sure it has lived up to every possible expectation he had of it, he's doing great and having a good time!
The hardest part is getting up at 5:45 to be at practice by 6:30! But they got their pads yesterday, so now they are bigtime!!
I remember Ryan doing this when we were in high school. I thought maybe they would've come up with a more high-tech way of doing this in the last 20 years! Guess not!
We also had the privilege of having practice today, the first Saturday after the first week of school!! It was a short practice where parents were invited to stay and watch and then attend a meeting after practice. It was pretty cool to see the whole team dressed out and acting like a team already! Here he is running in a couple of drills. He's #55.
It's gonna be a great season!!
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Back to the School House 2009
Alex starts his day first with football practice. What we thought was a 7:00 start time has morphed into a be-on-the-field-at-6:50-stretching-and-in-all-your-pads!! He's been leaving at 6:15 but we may have to bump it up a bit!! Ouch!! The great thing is that he's having a great time! He likes football...every day has brought something new to look forward to. He also likes lunch where he has so many food choices and can sit where ever he wants!! It's the little things!! Here are he and Landry on the first day!! Notice the slight sunrise in the background!!
Luke is in first grade and his teacher is Mrs. Ball!! How cool is that?? (Landry called her Mrs. Bald for the first couple of days!!) He's having a good week and is really excited that he gets to buy his lunch tomorrow!!
Landry actually went to school one day last week since they have to open when the teachers go back. We went ahead and took a first day picture then because he really felt like that was his first day!! He was so excited to take his new backpack that lights up and wear his new shoes!!He has had a good week...seeing old friends, playing in centers, reading and coloring. I'm so glad he's so happy there. I thought it would be fun to revisit last year....remember this??
Not such a happy boy here!! But now?? All smiles!!
Here's to a great school year!!
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Good-bye Summer '09
You were a good one!! I don't think I'd ever looked forward to a summer like I did this one. Maybe it has something to do with working full-time???
Though it went by so fast, we had so much fun!! We swam, slid, tubed and got soaked at NRH2O. Our season passes proved to be more than a great value as we were there just about every week!!
We traveled across state lines to visit with family and that provided many new adventures. New York City was awesome, as were the subway and Yankee stadium.
We stayed up late and slept in late...more days than I care to admit!!
We shuttled Alex back and forth to Conditioning Camp and watched his BB guns turn into BIG guns!! Haha!! Not really, but he thinks so!!
Alex and Parker spent a week at Kids Camp and spent some time with Nana, Poppy, and Meagan on the Guadalupe River.
Luke spent some time with Nana, Poppy, and Lexie in Dallas.
Landry got a big boy haircut!
We went to visit the Great Wolf Lodge and had mucho fun there!!
We watched a lot of movies.
We spent a LOT of time together!!
And while I sometimes wish it would go on forever, sometimes I'm glad it doesn't!!
For right now, at 8:04 pm, everyone under the age of 13 is in bed and THAT is a great thing, indeed!
Good-bye Summer '09!
Welcome 09-10 School Year!!
Saturday, August 15, 2009
A new, old friend
We've enjoyed a lot of time with the Rothenbergers this summer and it was worth it all when Landry declared the night this pic was taken....
Readan...you're my best tousin!!
Though there's no blood relation between them, you couldn't convince Landry that Reagan's not just another member of the family!!
Friday, August 7, 2009
Alex made a funny!
Alex and I were doing something on the internet today when he saw a picture of Barack Obama with a cigarette in his mouth.
Alex, shocked that the leader of the free world would do such a thing, says, "Mom, does the president SMOKE??"
To which I replied, "Yes, I think he does."
He lets out a big, disgusted "Aaaahhh....he is an OBAMA-nation to our country! Haha....get it, Mom?? An abomination...OBAMAnation!!!"
He thinks he came up with this, but I'm thinking maybe not. Anybody heard this before??
Either way, we got a good laugh out of it!!
Classic Parker
The conversation went something like this:
P - Mom, you're the best mom in the world. I'm so glad I got you!
M - Parker, you're a really great boy and I'm so glad God chose you to be in our family.
P - SO, which boy do you love the most?
M - Well, I love all of you. You all have things you're really good at and all so different.
P - But, who's your favorite?
M - I don't have a favorite...I love you all the same! (classic parent line!)
P - Well, who do you think is the most handsome?
M - All of you!
P - Well, then.....why do you have more pictures of ME on the fridge than anyone else??!!!
And to think...I thought he needed some confidence building!!!
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Exciting Breaking News!!
Betty Crocker has come out with a GF cake mix, GF brownie mix, and GF chocolate chip cookie mix!! We finally found them at a Kroger today and we all did a little dance in the aisle when we found them!!
Here's the finished product, and I must say, it was good!! Of course, most cake still warm from the oven with chocolate all over it is good!!
Luke said it was the best cookie, brownie, or cake he had ever had IN HIS LIFE!! When I smiled in response, he said emphatically, "I'm SERIOUS!!"
Totally worth the wait!!
Pretty Scenes
Here's the view from our trailer --