Princesses...according to boys

I have so much fun stuff to blog about . . . BigPa and Grandma's birthdays, Alex and his school projects/football adventures, and other important stuff I'm forgetting.

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!!

All in a day's work

I thought it might be interesting to occasionally share something that I've learned as I work with my students. Because I teach (and I use that term loosely) several different subjects, I am always being reminded of things that I remember learning when I was in school, or I am constantly learning new concepts or new ways to teach concepts.

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!!

A wonderfully boring Saturday

Aaahhh...another Saturday! I love Saturdays!!

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!!

Kids Speak

Here are a couple of funnies from the last week or so . . .

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!"

Darn flu!

For the first time in the history of this little family, we have the 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!!

The author

Luke is starting his fourth week of First Grade, and other than getting up little earlier than he'd like to, he's enjoying it. He really enjoys getting "real" grades and proudly shows us his good grades as soon as he gets in the car!

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!!

Are you ready for some FOOTBALL??!?!!?

Alex is playing some football!!

Last Tuesday was his first time on the field...for a scrimmage. He did well, though he slyly admitted afterwards that the only time his hands touched the ball was during warm-ups!! I think his main goal was to just make it through the game alive and intact, and that, he did!!

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!!

It came and went so quickly!

What a great weekend it was ... Labor Day Weekend '09!

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!!

We are BREWER BEARS!!

Last night I had the awesome privilege to go to the first game of the Brewer Bears football team! While normally, I would be happy to go and cheer on the team, last night was special because I got to sit in the super-nice VIP seats. These were up on the fourth floor with all of the important people. There was lots of food and drinks, and perhaps best of all, it was air-conditioned!! These seats were available to me because of the company that I keep!!

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!!

The game was a great one! Even though we didn't win, the score was 50-something to 40-something so that meant a lot of touchdowns!! It was so fun to be up high screaming and rooting for the team!! Here's our view --

The quality of these pictures isn't great, but it was kind of difficult getting good pictures with glass there!!

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!!

Alex is one week into his life dream of playing 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!!

Before the first practice with pads, we had a little homework....the mouthpiece!!

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.

Check out the knees of his pants!!

It's gonna be a great season!!

Back to the School House 2009

Monday morning came bright and early as our laid-back, sleeping-in, be-lazy summer came to a screeching halt!!

The 2009-2010 school year brings with it this unique opportunity -- all 4 boys are at 4 different schools!! How fun is that??!!? If my calculations are correct, that won't happen again!

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!!

Parker started at the Intermediate school and is really loving it! He likes his teachers a lot and seems very pleased. He has a team of teachers that his cousin, Meagan, had when she was in 5th grade. That connection has already been made and he's loving life at the big school!! He didn't even want me to walk him in so this is the best I could do with the pic!!

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!!

Good-bye Summer '09

To the Summer of 2009 --

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!!

A new, old friend

Reagan is certainly no stranger to our family. He and Alex have grown up together and were great friends before they drew their first breaths!! But now Landry has taken Reagan as his new friend, and fast friends, they are!!

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!!

Alex made a funny!

This is not a political statement - - -

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

Last night found Parker and I in bed and he was unusually talkative and sweet.

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!!!

Exciting Breaking News!!

We've been waiting all summer and they've finally arrived!!!

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!!

We ran home and Luke decided to go for the cake first! So, here he is ...

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

New York is such a beautiful place. It's really hard to capture with pictures.

Here's the view from our trailer --

A very common site as we drove through the mountains --

The boys' thought this baseball field, was one of the more beautiful sites in the state!!!

Cool Days

What are kids to do when it's too cool to go swimming??

This was a new dilemma for us Texans!!

Thanks to Uncle Nathan, the kids still had some good clean, albeit cold, fun!

This is what Landry looked like when I begged him to go one more time so I could get a picture of him ... ain't no way!!

Binghamton Mets

I'm feeling some great guilt about not finishing the New York trip. It really was a fun trip and I'd like to remember it by this time next year, so here goes . . .

On Sunday, July 5th, everyone had left except our little family. So, we decided to go to a minor league baseball game. This was a fun little outing for a lot of reasons, but especially because when Luke played baseball last year, this was the team he was on. Needless to say, he really felt like he was a part of the team, wearing his old jersey!!

It had been a big July 4th weekend for the team and so by Sunday, there wasn't much of a crowd! In fact, we spent most of our game here - -
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This was a great day!!

The Farmers' Museum

One morning while in Cooperstown, we had the opportunity to go to the Farmers' Museum. Scott and I had been once before, a very long time ago, and I was excited to get to take the boys to see this neat place.

It is basically a series of buildings, farmhouses, shops, fields, and activities that depict life in the 1840's. The people who work there are dressed in that era's clothing and all do their jobs in a way that people of that time would work. It is really fascinating to see how creative people were but also interesting to see how much harder they had to work than we do now.

Our first stop was the Baby Animal Barn because we got there right about feeding time.

We then went on to see some scenes from normal life, stopping by the blacksmith's shop (making nails)

and visiting the printing press. This was a really neat stop because the lady explained that each case of letters was organized in exactly the same way so that no matter what font you were using, the letters were always pulled in the same way. The case on the top held capital letters and the bottom case held lower case letters and that's why we call them "upper" case and "lower" case letter. Cool!!

Next stop was the apothecary and we watched as the man made pills from ginger. It was very interesting to see the tools that were used to make medicine before machines came along.

Here are the kids enjoying chasing some chickens around the grounds. We found out later that the chickens really don't like being chased!! Oops!!

Later in the afternoon, we had the opportunity to meet Daisy Mae.

This would prove to be an experience like no other!! Little did we know that there are not many cows left on the planet who are hand milked. Did you know that cows don't like to go back and forth between being hand-milked and machine-milked?? Well, they don't!!

Here are all the kids waiting for their once-in-a-lifetime experience!! (That's how Farmer Wayne described it!!)

And here's Luke giving the milking a try --

Here's Parker --

Alex --

Even Landry did this - Amazing!!

Scott seemed to enjoy it!!

Me?? Not so much!! Two words that kinda freaked me out a bit -- HAIRY UDDERS!! Just something not right about that!! But I did it and lived to tell about it!!

All in all, this was an awesome experience...fun and very educational too!!

One last pictures shows Ella (3) having a great time with the goats. They obviously loved her!!