Brian had to get in on the fun too

Brian dressed up as a wizard and read to the pre-k class. It seemed to be a hit. I came up with the two little ones just to get a few pics. I wish I could have got a picture of Emi's reaction to her dad. She wouldn't come near him and if he tried to come near her or she had to go somewhere, she'd move in a big cirlce away from him. Hilarious!

Trick or Treat

Tony the dashing young pirate
Originally a dinosaur, Zach says he's a wingless dragon
Ladybug
This year I decided not to spend alot of money on costumes, so I borrowed some from a friend. Her kids are grown now, but she sewed these for them when they were little. I made the antennae for Angie's. I love these outfits. Oh, and the kids got to wear them to school as part of say no to drugs week.

More pics of the falls

McKinney Falls

Friday I stayed home and finished up my final paper for my English class. Mom and dad picked the oldest three up and took them to McKinney Falls State Park in Austin. This was our first time there. I came up Saturday with Aiden and Emi. I was pretty surprised to see a wooded state park so close to the city and I probably would have never found it without the GPS. From our way, you pass through downtown Austin and head toward the airport. I have to admit that I haven't been in or through Austin in a long time. This park would be a perfect place for us to bring the 5th wheel if we wanted to take in the sites, museums etc.

Mom and dad took the oldest on a guided tour before I got there. Mom said that is was supposed to take an hour to an hour and a half. With them being the only people on the tour, it took two and a half hours. She said the ends wanted to know every plant, butterfly etc. My kids can now identify every plant and tree there and at least three different monarch butterflies by pattern. The lady giving the tour thought she'd give the kids the scientific names of the plants. She ended up getting a history lesson out of that. We recently read a book on Texas naturalists and many plants are named after who discovered them. So, when she told the kids that a certain plant was cassiva lindheimerii, she got a full lesson on Ferdinand Lindheimer, the father of Texas botany. Tony also have her a full report on the box turtles. My mom said the volunteer was very knowledgable and kind of surprised that she learned a few things. Too funny.

We had hamburgers when I got there and then went for a long hike. Emi did awesome. Angie was a nervous wreck being so close to the ledge with the little ones and she didn't seem to believe me when I told her that I'd take care of them. I was shocked that we walked across the creek with five kids in tow. It flowed over solid rock was only a few inches deep, but it was slippery.

That night, the kids and I read the magic treehouse book, A Good Night for Ghosts. I think I love these books as much as the kids. This particular one was about a few New Orleans Ghost legands and mainly Louis Armstrong. This trip we slept in the camper. It wasn't all that comfortable, but it was still nice. It is so good for the kdis to be away from technology, TV etc and be bored. I brought a football, and a few dumptrunks and books. Brian would have been so proud to see Tony and I toss a football. At home, he shows very little interest in being outside or any kind of sport. He's actually getting to where he can catch, and he had fun. Too bad someone didn't get a pic of it.

McKinney Falls Camping Trip

I made it a goal for this school year to do something with the kids at least one weekend a month. So, last weekend we took the kids to Sea World. Might as well make us of those season passes. If I've taken Emi before, she wasn't walking. Aiden hasn't been at least a year, and he was in aww. It was perfect weather for it. We didn't get to see Shamu this time, but saw the sea lion show and the seasame street show. See my slide show for pics. We stayed until dark. After dark they have scary stuff and the kids aren't ready for that. Frankly, neither am I. They were exhausted. Thanks to mom and Pam I had plenty of help that day and Pam and I managed to play nice.

My class is done. I'm just waiting for grades so I an update and more pics post after I get home from work on Tuesday. I took a PTO day this week, so I get to pretend to be a part timer.

Sea World October 2009

Random update..my usual

I'm on week four of my five week class, so I hope to be posting more pictures soon. Its going ok. Some of it I have enjoyed some of it not so much. Hopefully I can hold onto my "A" but I can live with myself if I make a "B". Brian's been making fun of me, because I've been hard on myself, but I feel like I could do better if I just had more time. I've had papers that I could revise for better grades, if I just had time. Oh, well. I'm taking the next session off. It covers thanksgiving and Christmas, and I want to be able to enjoy the holidays. Plus my work denied my tuition reimbursement, so I can't bring myself to fork out the money for tuition right before the holidays. We'll see if I continue. Its hard to balance everything.

Still volunteering at the school. Loving it. Signed up to be on the Health Advisory Council as well. It only meets 4 times a year. But I'm excited about this. Will post more as it develops.

We are enjoying church. The people there seem to be impressed by the kids. They are getting it. Remembering scripture, remembering stories. Its great. I was going start reading from the bible more to them, I just have to figure out what they did with it. If I don't find it by Friday I will buy another one. Love my bible study. The nursery is going a bit smoother. Emi still cries alot. But she's fine once we leave and then cries again once she sees us. The last two weeks, Aiden has marched right in there. This week he gave the lady a hug and a kiss on the mouth and asked if he could come back next week.

School is a struggle right now. Mostly for me. Not impressed with the teachers or their grading. I think they are nit picky and not giving the kids much feedback. Angie made a 76 on a math paper and it was all stuff like not boxing the answer, making her f's wrong etc. Tony made a 76 on his 6 weeks spelling review because he capitalized 24 of the 36 words. So, I had a visit with Angie's teacher, and once I finish my class I plan to start sitting in on both angie and tony's classes. The teacher said she would work on giving Angie more positive praise and this week she seems less stressed. She is so hard on herself. The kids are fine, but its gonna be a long year for me. Trying to figure out what we need to work on at home.

Trying to be more organized instead of jumping around so much. Right now Tony is working on getting his conservation badge for cub scouts so we are reading about historical Texas naturalists. He is in heaven. They've been begging me to do a chicken mummy for a while. I bought everything yesterday. I've been putting it off until the weather got a bit cooler. I'm dreading the stink. My friend mummified a fish, and she said it didn't stink too bad, but we don't have a garage, so we'll see.

Thursday they had a going away party for Zach's teacher. She was the sub for the regular teacher who had a baby a week or two before school started. She was a cute little short older lady and I liked her bunches and Zach did too. THen Friday was homecoming and each grade had a float. Guess who forgot her camera and her phone?

Been trying to work with Zach since school started on his letters and sounds. I was hoping to start some beginner reading. But he has been completely resistant. Well, we are finally starting to get somewhere. Today when we did our flashcards, he only missed 3 or 4 letters. So proud. We started sound alike words a little because he's really into this rhyming thing right now, but I think we will move to sight words soon.

Inks lake camping 2009.

I got more pics but unfortunately they were on Pam's camera so they ended up on HER facebook page. You can see the tents etc in the background, but the water pics are on hers.

Redneck Girl Likes to Cruise in Bubby's pick up truck

Hopefully the Bellamy Brothers song is going through your mind right now.

Update of last two weeks

Man, I can't believe that its been two weeks since I've been on here. The kids are approaching the end of the first six weeks of school. They all seem to be doing well. I've been trying to work with Zach on reading. I have lots of reference materials and we just aren't getting very far at all. Six weeks and we have 3 letter sounds. He's learning at school and was so excited to get "homework" of practicing writing his name. I offered to print him some papers where he could trace words and letters and I was informed that mine wouldn't be as good as the ones from school. Brian says that he may just be an average student and that I am going to have to learn to live with it. Well, I think, not. He's very obstinate, but I refuse to accept that he's average.

I mentioned before, but I love our produce coop. They are trying to expand to provide chicken beef etc and they have different kinds of classes and get togethers like nutrition classes, bread baking classes and in october they are having a family day with different organic and free range vendors with sausages, raw milk ice cream, cheeses, apples and a pumpkin patch. THis sounds like fun, and I'm kind of sad we can't go because its my parent's 35th wedding anniversary. Not that I'm into any of that stuff yet, but a chance to sample it all sounds fun.

In November, Brian arranged for my mom to watch the kids for a couple of days and we are going to a cabin in Wimberly. We stayed there for our 10th wedding anniversary, and I'm excited about it. Each cabin has its own above ground pool and hot tub. Brian loves the hills. I hope the coffee shop is still open. They had amazing homemade granola bars. Frankly, I need a couple of days away.

Into my second week of class and its going better than expected. I admit it is hard to budget the time away from family etc to work on it, but I could have really benefited from a class like this my first go round in college, although I doubt English 1302 was taught this way then. So far, I have 100's on my first three quizzes and a 100 on my first assignment. Not too shabby for a mom of five trying to juggle family and a full time job. But I'm not ready to get cocky yet. My paper at the end is a big chunk of my grade.

Last weekend we went to Inks Lake and camped. It had its good and bad moments. The first two days were good. Brian was there to help me with the kids. After that was difficult, and I ended up coming home. Its hard. Sometimes its like having two families. The oldest three can and want to do things the youngest two can't, and when I'm by myself neither group gets to do what they want. I've vowed to start finding ways to improve this. I want my kids to have fond memories of growing up in a ginormous family, not memories of never being able to do things because of the babies etc. Will try to get some pics up later.

Still working the dave ramsey plan. Will have to post as we make real progress. Paid off a credit card in September. Two to go. Not sure how far we get this month. WE are replacing our 15 yr old dryer and having the house leveled.

Missed our bible study this week because I was at work. Its Anointed Transformed Redeemed: the story of david. It is so good. I'm telling you they are talking right to me. I can't wait to go next week.