July 4, 2008

I finally convinced my computer to recognize that my camera wanted to send it some pictures. I've got a lot of pictures to put up here, but I think I'll go one event at a time!

First up, July 4th!!

For this great day, we had a few friends over to celebrate - Wes & Shellee, Emily, Gary & Alicia, Harry & Barbie, and some school/baseball friends, Trace & Selena. With these adults (and Scott & I), also came 15 kids!! That's a lot of kid power!! Though now that I think about it, most of it came from us and the Powells!!

Anyway, this little party was lots of fun. The Earle's brought a "redneck waterslide" which was just a long piece of painter's plastic that had baby shampoo and laundry soap poured on it and then watered down with the hose!! The kids said it was so slick you couldn't even stand up on it!!

Next up was a water balloon fight -

Then came the go-carts! Kids and driving is a crazy combination!! They loved scaring us as much as possible!! And no, we didn't let the kids ride on the back of the go-carts like a couple of pictures suggest!! (at least not on purpose!!)

Alex, Joseph, Parker, Kendall, and Jordan (driving)

Anthony, Joseph, Me and Alicia (driving)

Shellee and Me (driving)

John Wesley and Shellee

Emily and Parker (not sure why it's blurry)

But, of course, the main attraction was the fireworks!! Most of the kids were right in the middle of all the action which made the mommas a little nervous!! But thankfully, there were no life-threatening injuries!! Not even any little injuries either!! The fireworks watchers had to always be alert for a stray spark or some other random something flying or falling our way. I managed to snap a couple of pics before it got too dark or I was too worried to think about taking pictures!!

The best part of the fireworks show was, of course, the Grand Finale!! Though this one was like none other that I've seen!! There was much drama made about the fact that this was, indeed, the Grand Finale. The guys started shooting off some big ones and we were all amazed, yet again! Then, evidently one of them fell over and instead of going up, went into the yard. There was a loud bang and a big flash of color to the left. It scared us a little because it obviously wasn't supposed to be on the ground. Then another bang and flash of color to our right a lot closer to where we were sitting really gave us a scare! All the women screamed RUN!! and we jumped up and started running to the porch! Just as we left our chairs, I looked back and another bang/flash almost right where we had just been sitting! I'm running and carrying Landry and Emily's running and carrying Luke who happens to be dressed as Batman!! Luke, who scares pretty easily, screams to Emily - This is the WORST Grand Finale EVER!!! By this point, we are all laughing so hard at the crazy show our amateurs put on for us! It was definitely an experience to remember!!

It's always fun to party with good friends! God has totally blessed us with some good ones who make our lives a lot better and certainly more interesting!!

Like I was saying . . .

I totally LOVE Apple products!!

My powerful friend, Emily, who was not satisfied with the service we received at the Apple store (see post below), and who made it her personal mission to make it right, has come through once again.

After receiving a call from the office of the CEO of Apple, she received another call from the Southlake store asking her to make the trek one more time so they could make it right.

It seems that the "genius" that helped us that day was a relatively new genius and didn't really handle things in the best way. After proving to the manager that the ipod was, in fact, dead, she handed her a brand new 4 GB ipod nano!! How crazy is that??

So, like I said, I totally love a company that stands by their products and I am back in action with my tunes!!

A HUGE thanks to Emily and her persistence!! You rock!!!

(I would post a picture of it but my camera and my computer aren't talking right now! I've got some great pics to post, but can't seem to make it happen!! Hopefully, I'll figure it out soon!)

Apple ... you are dead to me

Had an interesting day today.

But let me back up a bit.

One year ago in February, I decided to part with a large sum of my birthday money and dive into the world of the iPod. This was no small decision. I do not part with large sums of money easily.

After much thought, discussion, and pondering over whether or not this was a good choice, a necessary choice, I decided to go for it. I dropped 160 of my dollars and 8 of my cents on a little silver piece of (possibly) metal that looked very fragile when I thought of my four boys!!

I wasn't necessarily a quick learner, but I became very fond of my little ipod and all the amazing things it could do. It was a far cry from the Sony Walkman tape player people used to wear around when I was a kid. This thing rocked!!

I loaded my favorite tunes, loaded the boys' favorite tunes, loaded addition and multiplication raps so the boys could practice their math facts. It was even educational!!

We all came to love and appreciate the ipod.

Fast forward to the present.

Scott and I went to New York in May for his dad's retirement and I was so looking forward to uninterrupted time with my ipod. Flights, long trips in the car, running...my ipod was going to be there for me.

But, would you believe that the day before we were to leave, my ipod started struggling?? It sputtered and then it died!! And would not revive!!

All my hopes and dreams of enjoying my ipod on my trip - GONE - just like that!!

My good friend, Emily, was possibly more appalled than I was and offered to take it to the Apple store while I was gone. She did and they said it was so tired, it just needed to be charged for a long while. (Just for the record, we listened to it a lot in the car and the car charger was always charging it when we weren't listening to it. So, I should have known it wouldn't be that simple.)

She brought it home, charged it, and it lasted for about an hour! Then, the battery was dead!!

I fiddled with it and it would work for a little while before it died. We could listen to a few tunes in the car, but usually by the time we got back in the car, it was dead!!

Now, today, Emily and I made the trek once again to Southlake to the Apple store. With these gas prices, that's nothing to sneeze at. We had an appointment and "Don" drew our card and got to help us!

Don plugged it in and immediately said it was "corrupted." Interesting word choice, I thought. However, Don felt optimistic that he could just restore it and all would be well with the ipod again. He would have to erase everything on it though.

The thought of erasing everything and starting all over again made me a little nervous, but what choice did I have? In theory, the songs are in my iTunes, right??

So, he erased and tried to restore.

After a couple of minutes, he calmly hands me my ipod and says something along the lines of - Sorry, it won't restore. I can fix it for about 80 more of your hard earned dollars, or I can give you 10% off of a new ipod!!

We're like - So, that's it??

He's like - Yep!! Pretty much! You shoulda gotten the warranty!!

Just for the record, Don has an ipod out in his truck that's like 10 years old (have ipods been around that long??) and it's never given him a day of trouble!! He wasn't really interested in giving it to me though!

So, long story even longer, I'm done with my ipod!! A couple hundred dollars for a year's worth of musical enjoyment just isn't a price I can pay at this point in my life!!

However, for Emily, the Queen of all things Apple, the fight is not over!! She has already emailed several people in the Apple family, all the way up to the CEO!! I'll keep you posted!!

Mini-vacay '08

We are in the middle of a little mini-vacation down at my parents' house this week.


Parker went to kids' camp and is doing really well from all reports.

Alex is playing in the USSSA World Series (or World Serious as Luke calls it) down here in Granbury and we decided to just stay down here instead of driving back and forth every day. He is playing on a different team than his regular season team and even though they are a great little team, they are stinkin' it up at this tourney!! They've posted 2 losses so far but still have at least 2 more games to play. Hopefully, they'll find their groove and play ball like we know they can. It's still fun, but it always more fun when you're winning!!

I would post some pictures, but I didn't bring my cord to upload the pics!! Maybe next week!


Aside from baseball, we've spent a lot of time at the pool, which is right where we like to be in the summer!! Luke has finally abandoned his life jacket and floaties and has progressed to where he'll jump off the diving board and swim to the side unassisted!! Yay for Luke!!

So, we're just enjoying a slower paced life this week!! It's definitely something I could get used to!! It will be over soon enough, so I'll just enjoy it while it lasts!!

Happy Birthday, Good Friend

It's a little late in the day to be wishing a happy birthday, but my great friend, Shellee, has about one and half more hours left in her big day!!


I spent a good part of my afternoon looking though old pictures on the computer, looking for a nice one of Shellee. I couldn't seem to find one except this:

That's her - second from left. (what is that pink thing you're holding??)

Anyway, to the point. . .

Shellee is a really great friend and one of the best things about her is her awesome sense of humor. I am rarely with Shellee that I am not belly laughing about something she's said. Her blogs crack me up - most of the time - her comments on other people's blogs crack me up - her expressions, mannerisms, dances, and on and on.

Sometimes, life isn't that fun, but with a friend like Shellee, I can always keep things in perspective.

Thanks for doing life with me, Shellee. You make the road a little easier to bear!!

Exciting Nothingness

I feel like I'm not really blogging so much . . . it's probably because there's really not that much going on!!

We've had 2 days of pretty much not leaving the house, and you know how the kids love that!!

In fact, about 5:00 on Monday, the kids all had that grumpy/end of the day/it's dinnertime kind of feeling going on and I happened to be talking to a friend of mine whose church was starting VBS that night. She told me I should bring the boys - they'd have a great time, of course! I asked her what time it was and she told me it was a magical 3 hours - from 6:00 to 9:00!! I hung up the phone and thought about it for about 1.5 seconds, threw supper on the stove, and made everyone put on decent clothes!! I reminded them that they'd been whining all day long about not going anywhere, so now was their big break!! They were going to VBS!! Woo-hoo!!

I took them all in, they found their friends, I talked with the snack ladies about Luke's issues, and Landry and I headed to the mall!! When I picked them up, they had all had a great time. Parker said it "was the best VBS I've ever been to in my whole entire life" and they were all pumped about going back . . . until today!! Luke decided it was a little too long (can't wait till he stays all day at Kindergarten) and that he would go one day and skip one day. He's very into patterns right now!! Parker didn't really see the need to go back to the best VBS he'd ever been to in his entire life. He was, after all, "totally kidding" when he said that!! Alex had ball practice tonight but insisted he go after it was over at 7:15. All these details to say that Alex and Parker went to VBS and had another great time!! VBS is so cool when you drop your kids off there!!

Meagan and Lexie are coming tomorrow and we are headed to The Rave to see their free movie. Should be exciting!!

Here's a cool link to a blog that tells about a group of people from our church who are in Mexico on a missions trip this week. If you haven't already seen this, go check it out and pray for these guys! We have some great friends on this trip!

A day for Dads

We have had a very low-key Father's Day around here!

Church...lunch...nap...golf tourney...Putt-Putt !!

That about sums it up!!

Scott is a great dad to our boys. He is a lot more fun than I am, a lot more adventurous, says yes a lot more, is a lot more free spirited!! While I don't always enjoy those aspects of him, they are probably a good balance for me and especially, for the boys!

I have been blessed in my own life to have an amazing Dad. My Dad and I could argue till the cows came home when I was younger, but I also knew that he would do absolutely anything for me if I asked. That is still true today. He goes out of his way on a regular basis to help me do/fix/create/finish any number of projects. His wisdom is always right on and is usually given whether or not it was asked for!! :)

Ryan reminded me today of the fact that Dad always encouraged us to choose a career path that would allow us to serve others. Now that I'm an adult, I can see that that was a great idea. I didn't really have any qualms about it at the time, but I do remember thinking I might not make as much money as I could have otherwise. (I guess I knew I would be a teacher!!)

So, thanks Dad, for all the wisdom and for pouring your life into mine! As the boys would say, "YOU ROCK!!"

Summer fun!

Summer is in full swing around here - heat and all!!

We've had a pretty fun week so far, swimming every day until today. We went to the free movie at The Rave yesterday - Alvin and the Chipmunks - cute and totally unrealistic!!

We went to the library on Tuesday and we are going to work very hard and becoming book lovers this summer!! Parker is totally on board and has hardly put his first book down since he got it!! Yay!! Alex is getting there. They've been baited with a trip to Hurricane Harbor at the end of the summer if they meet their goals so, hopefully, they'll learn to love the adventure a book can bring!!

I learned from Deneise (and the CiCi's website) about a little reading club that CiCi's and Half Price books are doing this summer. If your child reads 15 minutes a day for 5 days, they can take their little log back to Half Price Books and either get a $3 gift card for a new book, or a free kid's buffet at CiCi's. Since we don't eat at CiCi's much anymore, the boys can get a new book every week!! How cool is that??


On the Celiac front, my Grandma brought us a big box of Rice Krispie Treats yesterday and later on in the day, Luke came to me with about a bite left of his snack. He said, "Mom, can I have the peanut butter kind?" I told him I really didn't know but I didn't think so. So, I checked the box and broad as day on the nutritional info for that kind, it said CONTAINS WHEAT INGREDIENTS. Excellent!! Interestingly enough, Luke woke up in the night complaining about his legs (knees) hurting. Coincidence?? Possibly. Hard to say at this point!

I'm going to post some pics from all the fun, but maybe later!!

Questions

Here are a few interesting questions that have been asked here in the last 24 hours or so:

-- What is a word that rhymes with ORANGE??

-- Why can't everyone be off of work for the summer like you are??

And one that brings both laughter and a touch of sadness -

You know that surgery you had so you can't have anymore babies??
Well, why didn't you have it done after me?? (asked by son #2!!)

Since that was asked on Day #2 of summer break, I'm afraid we might have a long summer ahead!!

Any ideas for some brotherly team building??

It's done!!

The 2007-2008 school year is officially OVER!!

Let's have a moment of silence and thanksgiving!!

It ended well and everyone here is happy that summer has officially arrived!!

Here's Parker and Mrs. Deaton on the second to last day of school -

If you want to see what an amazing teacher she is, go here and read her thoughts about the end of the year. Parker finished strong and found out on the last day of school that he would have the privilege of being on the Character Crew next year. This is a group of fourth graders that are nominated by their teachers to help in various ways next year and serve in kid kinds of leadership roles at the school. He was totally pumped and it reminded me of how far Parker has really come at school.

Now we are free to sit around with birds on our shoulders . . .

. . . and watch our garden grow!!

Those are pumpkins!!

That's corn!!

And those are sunflowers!!

One more pic just for fun!! Amazing progress on Landry's part!!

Happy Summer!!

Changing the world. . . one kiddo at a time!

Tonight I had the privilege of attending the graduation of the high school where I spend my working hours. Throughout the course of this year, I worked with three seniors. One will graduate next December, one graduated at the alternative campus, and the last one, I got to see walk across the stage tonight.

This young man whom I'll call K (since he might not want me blaring his name and story across the web), has climbed the steps up my list of all-time favorite students.

K was in a horrible car accident on October 5, 2007. Though the details make the story more interesting, they aren't necessary here. Suffice it to say that after all the dust had settled, K had had his left leg amputated first below the knee, then above the knee. He had multiple facial fractures and other internal injuries including swelling of his brain, and had lost vision in one eye. He remained in the hospital for a couple of weeks and then in rehab for a few more weeks.

I didn't get to meet K until the week before Thanksgiving when he was finally strong enough to get started on his schoolwork again. I was a little worried going into his house that first day. I never know what to expect when I meet a new student, but there were a lot of stories floating around about K and I wasn't really sure what to believe.

I instantly liked K - he has a quick wit and a great sense of humor. I was amazed by the fact that he almost acted like there was nothing unusual about him - as though he wasn't sitting in a wheelchair, missing a very important part of his body. We talked through his schedule and he promised to do his best and work hard. Somehow, I knew he would, even with a grueling rehab schedule.

One of his assignments was to write a paper on any topic that interested him. He immediately chose to write about a prosthetic leg that he hoped to get one day. As we researched together, I was introduced to a whole new world that I had never really thought about before. This new world was now K's world.

As we spent more days together, he shared with me what he remembered about the accident and how he has processed it. He told me that he had not shed one tear through the whole process - no tears of pain or sadness. His attitude had been only looking forward -never back. He knew he couldn't change one thing about that day because he didn't have the luxury of turning back time. He knew it would do no good to dwell on the what if's of that day. He never harbored any anger or resentment toward anyone, including the driver that fell asleep at the wheel that night.

It took me a while to realize that K was the real deal. At first, I thought he might be putting on a good front for me - kind of keeping a good attitude when it counted. But then I realized that this was real. He was dealing with this life change in such a positive way, such a mature way for such a young boy. I wondered if I found myself in his situation, if I would have handled things as beautifully as he did? He definitely inspired me to think about things a little more - through his perspective.

I got to watch as he worked through his rehab, got fitted for his prosthetic leg, and learned how to get up on his feet again. It was truly an amazing process! Toward the end of the school year, his therapy slowed down and his therapist felt strongly that he should return to school, if only for a little while. Neither of us was really ready for this change - we had both assumed he would stay on Homebound until the end of the year. But as the days went on, all his doctors signed off on his return and he went back about 3 weeks before the end of school.

I was worried about how he'd last all day at school. Of course, he wouldn't even think of returning in his wheelchair. He would return walking and would walk all day every day.

I shouldn't have worried - he did beautifully!! All the worries and concerns melted away as he handled his classes well. Now I can see what a huge boost of confidence returning to school was for him. He had proven once again, that he could do anything he set his mind to. And as he walked across the stage tonight, I know his sweet parents and family could not have been any prouder.

Wednesday finishes my eighth year of teaching Homebound kids. I've had some doozies in those years. I've sat on some of the nastiest couches in the city, smelled like the cheapest cigarettes more times than I can count, seen some of the most deplorable conditions for kids to live in, but I've also had the opportunity to meet some amazing kids. Kids that get beyond the messiness of their lives to make something of themselves.

This young man, K, has inspired me to look beyond the small stuff of my days. When I get down on my life and my issues, I think about doing what I do - minus my left leg!

My good friend, Deneise, and I have always joked when I'm going to see a kiddo. One of us will always say something about me changing the world - one kid at a time. Usually it's done in sarcasm. But with K, I can definitely say that the kiddo changed the teacher!

Congrats to K - he deserves it!!

Luke is a graduate!!

It's almost official - Luke is almost in KINDERGARTEN!!

He had his fourth and final graduation from The Grace Place tonight and is ready for the big school!! Landry also "graduated," but isn't quite ready for real school yet!!

They both had great years this year. Luke had the amazing Mrs. Leigh as his teacher and she did such a great job!! He also had the amazing Mrs. Kelly until baby Jackson came along around Christmas time.

(Kelly - I'm SO sorry I forgot you were Luke's teacher!! I have slept so much since then and honestly, there have been quite a few teacher changes, so forgive my poor memory!! Those pictures in the slide show brought it all back to me!! You and Leigh were great together!!)

Here's Luke with Mrs. Leigh --

And here's Luke getting his diploma --

Here's Landry with Mrs. Marlana --

Here's Landry getting his diploma --

Still celebrating!

Parker's big day just about did me in, but Monday morning found everyone happy and pretty well rested. Good thing, since it was a holiday!!

We headed down to Granbury for a little pool fun and for Parker to have a little family birthday love!! I wasn't feeling totally up to par so the pics are a little limited!

Meagan and Luke

Lexie, Luke, Ryan, and Landry

From the fam, Parker got a little cash, a gift card to Petsmart to buy some stuff for Rocky, and these two really cool presents from Nana and Poppy:

This is a Hot Wheels track that does all kinds of crazy things!! Parker put this together by himself and was very excited about what it could do!! Lots o' fun!!

Then came the triple Slip n' Slide!! This will hopefully, provide hours of summer fun for the boys!! They love it! Check out the looks on their faces!!

All in all, a great holiday and a very busy weekend!!

Happy #9 to Parker!!

As much as I like to wish my kids a happy birthday on their actual day, I have failed this time!!

We had such a big day on Sunday, Parker's 9th birthday, that I ended up in bed at 9:00 with horrible stomach pain, while we had company at our house!! Nothing says "welcome to our house; we're so glad you came; let's have a great time together" like "I think I'm sick - excuse me while I go to bed!!"

Anyway, the day started out at church, followed by a Memorial Day picnic outside. From there we went to Parker's place to party - Tornado Terry's!! Yes, it sounds corny but it was actually a lot of fun!! We paid a flat fee and the boys played video games until their hearts' content. It was pretty cool to just go up to a video game and push "play" and it just start playing!! There were plenty of games to choose from, but I found myself returning over and over to Pacman and Galaga!! Blast from the past, for sure!! Sadly, I couldn't figure out Donkey Kong to save my life!! Parker had a great time gaming with his friends!!

Parker and his friends - Corey, Cameron, and Adrian

Parker got lots of great gifts -

And maybe the best gift of all, according to Parker, a new addition to our family:

Meet Parker's new parakeet - Rocky!!

Parker brings so much life and laughter to our family. He sees the world in a way that is unique and gives the phrase "never a dull moment" new layers of meaning!! Parker is thoughtful, caring, kind, and loving most of the time!! He is super smart and is always amazing me with new facts that he's learned. Parker's got a bright future ahead and I can't wait to see the paths that God leads him down!! Love you, Parker!!

The beginning of a busy weekend!!

Today was the longest day of baseball ever!!

All three played - all three lost!! I realized I haven't posted any baseball pics all season, so here are some from today.

Alex pitching (warming up - which is why the left fielder is sitting down!!)

Parker had a great game today!

Luke always has a good time!!

We spent a little time in between games at the duck pond -

Finally, we planted a little garden tonight. Not really sure how it's going to turn out, but it might be a fun little summer project. We planted corn and pumpkins and threw in some sunflowers just for fun! After it was all planted nice and neatly, I came inside and found the cucumber seeds I had forgotten about!!

If there's any growth, I'll try to document it here. If you never see the garden again, you'll know what happened!!

The coolest pool in the neighborhood

All that talk about going swimming and we got to go today!!

Our good friends and neighbors, Kris and Casey, just finished putting in an amazing pool in their backyard!! Luke is good buddies with their son, Kaleb, so he's been going over a little bit to get some swimming in. This has been a great source of jealousy for the older boys who are still in school every day while these little boys aren't!!

Today, everything lined up perfectly and everyone enjoyed the great pool. Wyatt came home with Alex today so he got to enjoy it too!

I'm not sure how Kaleb and Alex really didn't get into the action shots, but I'm sure I'll get them at some point this summer! I'm hoping Casey and I will still be friends after this summer! The boys are going to be driving me crazy to go swimming a lot! But it is a great pool and I'm sure we'll have loads of fun there! Thanks Casey for letting us hang out!!

Onto other things . . . Parker had a fun day at school today called Crazy O (Crazy Olympics). The kids did all kind of crazy outdoor activities and we went up and kind of helped with it. I snapped this picture of two of the coolest cats I saw today - Parker and his good buddy, Abbee.