It Seems Like Forever...

...since I have posted! And so many things have happened, which is undoubtedly why I have left it so long.

So...

First, Carter caught Shigellosis. This is VERY unpleasant, and VERY easily passed from person to person. Check it out online, and then wash your hands. Friends, WASH YOUR HANDS!!! I cannot stress it enough. Even if you are a diligent hand washer, other people are not. If someone hands you a piece of paper (who has not washed their hands) and then you unwrap a piece of gum and put it in your mouth, you just put their germs in your mouth. And if they have shigella or are a carrier, you just caught it. And 3 days of diarrhea every 30 minutes can be wearing on you.

And that is all I have to say about that!

Then, Eric had Hernia surgery.

The same weekend as Dance Recital.

Need I go on?

Then we had Tour with the Dance Company.

Then I directed a music camp at my Mom's church in Kerrville.

Whew!

You can imagine all the drama, tears, etc that we have been through the last month or so!

Oh yes, and this week is VBS at my church!

Vacation next week....

As I Sit on the Front Porch...

I am noticing a lot of things. First of all, those crazy people across the street are sitting in their garage again, watching me. I am trying to pretend like I don't notice, but I do. What is with those people? Their kids aren't even outside! They have a great backyard (we saw it before they moved in), but they are always sitting in their garage, watching the neighbors. It is creepy. At least I am sitting out here watching Carter...

Our street is fairly quiet, but I am seeing that there are a lot of people that walk around here. It has been a veritable parade...

Okay, Carter has ceased playing and commenced whining. Time to go.

Whew!

Well, I can hardly believe it has been so long since I have posted anything! We have just had a whirlwind of activity around here....

The biggest thing, though, is Carter. He has been VERY sick! He picked up a nasty bacteria called Shigella, resulting an an even nastier bout of Shigellosis. All I have to say about it is that if you don't constantly wash your hands, YOU SHOULD! THis is one disease you DO NOT WANT! TRUST ME! I will refrain from posting the gory details, but you can find them yourself on the CDC website. It will give you more information than you wanted to know!

Fortunately, Carter is feeling MUCH better today. It is his 5th day of being sick...but, last night he made it all the way through the night. Much rejoicing was had this morning by Carter AND by me! It was my first full night of sleep since Thursday as well!

New pictures soon...Alex has Track and Field Day AND Kindergarten graduation coming up this week!

Big Fun in Cow Town

Eric and Matt headed off to Guitar Center in Ft Worth to look at a fancy schamncy speaker, so the kids and I headed off to the zoo. We had a great time, but boy - were we glad they have a train! By the time we arrived at the far end of the zoo, Alex had a huge blister on her foot and could hardly walk. Rather than carry her all the way back to the entrance, we rode the train back to the entrance. Much easier on my back!

Then, we headed over to Chili's to have dinner with one of my very best friends from college. It was great to get caught up and spend some time renewing our friendship! Our kids had a pretty good time, too, as is evidenced here:

(Notice that Alex is not in this picture...she was crying...as usual these days! But don't Raylen and Carter look adorable?)

And the Saga Continues..

Okay - who knew that having the trees trimmed would cause so much DRAMA in our lives?

First, the cost.

Second, Alex's favorite tree EVER being cut down.

And now...

One of our neighbors called the police because we cut a limb off of her tree that was hanging down IN OUR YARD...almost touching the ground.

Did I mention that it was hanging in our yard?

Oh - and did she come TALK to us about it? NO! She yelled at the poor man trimming the tree and called the City. He invited her to come over to the house and talk with us, but she didn't want to do that. She would 'catch us outside sometime.'

Then I found out that last week when the trimmers were here, she yelled at them because they cut a limb from one of our trees that was shading her yard. Again, it was hanging down so far that it was cracked.

I don't know when the last time someone trimmed the trees at our house, but it looks SO much better now!

We are going to have to watch our backs, though!

What is up with people?

When did we stop looking out for each other? When did we stop caring about how our actions affect other people?

I am sick of it, and I am pretty much sick of people.

So there.

Hooray!

Today we bought a new light fixture for the dining room...NO MORE FLUORESCENT LIGHT FOR ME!!! I am very happy, in case you couldn't tell. And, it was on sale 1/2 off. Oh, yeah (doing the cabbage patch)

Busy, but Good!

We had a fun time this weekend! Friday night we had dinner with a couple from our church (and their granddaughters.) Eric and I had a great time getting to know them better, and the kids really hit it off! I wish we made it more of a priority to 'socialize' and get out of our routine. We always have so much fun!

Saturday started off a little rocky. The tree-trimmers came (NOT the $100/tree people, thank goodness) and went to work on our little forest. All of the sudden, here comes Alex, crying hysterically. I mean, I thought she was seriously hurt. She was crying so hard, she could not make words. Once I ascertained that she was NOT hurt, my patience, of course, became - well, limited. Finally, she told us that THEY had cut down her sitting tree. HER FAVORITE TREE IN THE WHOLE WORLD!!!! Please understand, this tree was growing sideways and sticking out over our driveway. And I don't mean just the top was leaning over. The tree was growing horizontally - literally. Which is why it was good for sitting. It took quite some time to calm her down. In fact, when we left for town an hour later, she was still sobbing. Those poor people that trimmed the trees felt AWFUL! They said they had never experienced anything like that before. In fact, they felt so bad, they went and found a couple of swings to put in a couple of the other trees. I now have a happy girl. Except, she will undoubtedly hold it against us forever. The traumatized little tree hugger (bless her little heart).

Things went smoothly the rest of the day - I was off to rehearsal and the Premiere of this season's ballet, the kids were off to Grandma's and Eric was off to his gig at the Leaf. What? You didn't know about his gig? Check out his website so you won't miss the next one! http://www.akaduo.com (That was a completely shameless plug!) Hey - while you're there, check out the dates for the cruise to Cozumel. It is not too late to join us, you know!

Today, Matt joined us in Worship and he and Eric rocked the casbah. I mean sanctuary. No, really - it was awesome. You should have been there. Really. You have GOT to keep up with the website. Anyway, I took the kids to Brady for a switcheroo with Grandmommy and then we all headed home. We had our own little rockin' party with Choo Choo Soul and They Might be Giants. If you are a parent and you do not have the Choo Choo Soul CD or They Might be Giants 'Here Come the 123's' GET THEM! You will love them as much as your kids. Seriously. Sometimes I drop Carter off at school and forget to switch my iPod to 'grownup' music because I am jammin' to the kid tunes.

Wow. I just admitted that to the entire world wide web.

I should sign off now.

Another Great Weekend!

Why is it that we feel compelled to fill up our free time with activity after activity? We kept the kids home this weekend, and Eric and I had no obligations, so we just focused on our FAMILY! It was GREAT! We played board games, cleaned the house together, cooked together, ATE TOGETHER AT THE TABLE (we are so busy, we almost never have all four of us sitting and eating together!) I am resolving to have MANY more weekends like this. Now, I know Eric is getting into his busy season, but that does not mean that when we ARE all home we can't focus on each other. I have no idea why this is such a revelation to me, but I certainly feel enlightened!

I think the highlight of the weekend was when we taught the kids to play Hearts. I am a huge fan of Hearts, but I was afraid it would be too complicated for them to grasp. We need to work with Carteron his strategy, but Alex ROCKED IT! She was all over it, although she did apologize every time she passed on points. It was hilarious!

We also taught the kids how to play Mancala, which is an African game that my Nonnie taught me when I was little. I spent so many hours playing Mancala with her...we had so much fun! (She also taught me Gin...just try to take me on!) Anyway, you can imagine my joy when Alex and Carter declared Mancala to be their new favorite game (THE BAST GAME EVER! in Carter's words.) It just makes you feel so good to relive your fondest memories and make new ones with your children at the same time.

WE DON'T NEED NO STINKIN' TV!!!!!

The laundry is done, the house is clean...I need to round up foursome!

One More Day...

Well, Alex was back to school this morning, but I get one more day with Carter since Abilene is out today. WHY can't the local school districts get on the same schedule?!?!? Alex is off Friday, but not Carter...

Okay, I had a pretty good day yesterday...once I FINALLY made it home! Why is it that one or two people's thoughtlesness can ruin an entire morning that otherwise would have been great? Why do people not consider how their actions affect others?

On a happier note, we had a great dinner yesterday with Eric's and Dwight's families! And, the kids, Eric and I had a relaxing evening at home alone with no commitments, dinosaurs on TV and our own little Allosaurs and Diplodocuses sneaking around and attacking! I wish every evening was like that!

Overall, a great day and a Happy Easter!

Check out my Slide Show!

Missin' Those Babies...

Well, the kids are in Kerrville for Spring Break with my Mom. I couldn't wait for a little vacation, but now I am just missing them! I am a little down, too, today. No special reason, just a case of the blahs, I think. Of course, I didn't get nearly enough done during the break, and I am just dreading Monday...

Fulfillment

Passing Orange Belt Test
+
Painting the the nauseating yellow and brown gingham dining room wallpaper
______________________________________________________

Happy Mommy

Cowboys and Ninjas

Last night Alex went to spend the night with my sister, Jennie, so Carter, Eric and I had some time alone. Carter decided to take his 'Spend' money and buy a new toy gun. He ended up with a cap rifle, a pistol and a cowboy hat. I forgot how good those caps smell when you shoot them...

Needless to say, a good time was had by Eric and Carter as they played sherriff and bad guy...I wish I had a picture of Eric being the bad guy, wearing Carter's too-small cowboy hat! It was hilarious! Of course, Eric accidently set one of his rolls of caps on fire....

So, this morning is the big day for Carter - Orange Belt Test Day! I think he is ready, so we will see how it goes. He is certainly excited! He woke up before Eric and I did and got himself dressed in his Camo shorts and his Martial Arts Studio shirt! (That NEVER happens around here!)

A gun-totin' ninja....hhhhhmmmmm

I Knew I Would Get a Taste of My Own Medicine!

Fearing my daughter's adolescent years and hormones, I haven't pondered the depths of emotion that can apparently be reached by a six-year old. Yesterday, Alex cried HYSTERICALLY all the way to school, from the car and to her classroom. Why? I told her to wear her coat. (It was only 48 degrees. Is this an unreasonable request?)

This morning, the histrionics began again when:

- she had to get up and get out of bed

- the outfit she wanted to wear was not clean

- she had to brush her teeth

- she had to put her homework folder in her backpack

My question is this:

If these roller-coaster emotions are surfacing now, will she skip all that when she is, say 11?
* OR *
Is this just a foreshadowing of things to come?

Maybe I should wait until AFTER she gets home from my Mom's house for Spring Break to post this....

Highway Robbery...

Did you know that some companies charge $100 per tree for trimming? We have 77 trees in our yard! Volume discount, anyone?

AAAAAARRRRRGGGHHH!!!!

Last week Alex had the flu, so Carter missed an entire week of karate (3 sessions). Of course, when he went to karate last night, we discovered that he is testing for a belt on Saturday! How is it that we are JUST NOW finding out about this?!?!?! Now every waking moment between today and Saturday will be spent on drills. Eric better get his cup out....

Alex's Day at School

"Alex, how was school today?"

"Fine, except for all those boys!"

"What happened?"

"A bunch of boys wanted to hug me when I got to school today, because they missed me."

"What did you do?"

(dramatically rolling eyes) "Nothing. I just walked away."

What the Heck Is That?

Alex and Carter have been relegated to the closed in Patio for their art projects. Anyone who has ever been around any child equipped with scissors, glue, glitter and markers can appreciate the wisdom of our 'policy' (mentally patting myself on the back). ANYWAY, I went out there the other day and saw that Alex had hung up a series of drawings on the wall.
Picture in your mind:
page 1 - a small triangle
page 2 - a larger triangle
page 3 - a big triangle with what looked like feet

(here is a aside - one of our friends was disturbed by what seemed to be a walking triangle and asked me to get Alex to clarify her illustration)

So, the next morning, I asked Alex to tell me about her pictures. She looked at me (as usual) as if it were a pity that good did not give me the gift of discernment and informed me that it was a baby triangle that grew bigger and bigger until it became a bell.

Wow

This child is so creative it is scary!

This is why we want her in a special program!

HMMM? Do I Really Have Anything To Say?

I have noticed lately that I can talk and talk and not have a darn thing to say. So, what should I post here on my blog? What do I want people to know about me? First, I want everyone to know that I am married to the best husband EVER! (Sorry ladies, your husbands just cannot measure up!) Eric supports me in every way...emotionally. financially and physically. His patience with me endless, and he makes me feel as if I am the most beautiful and important person in his life. Who could ask for more? Oh, but wait - he also gave me two beautiful children - a girl AND a boy. Our life is so complete! If you want to see a little bit of the fabulousness of Eric, check out his acoustic music website http://www.akaduo.com/