TexasCalfas

2012-01-25T07:27:00.000-08:00

Oh, blog, I know I'm neglecting you. Truthfully, we are having technical difficulties at the Calfa abode. We are at a crossroads, needing a new computer. Funny, I guess its not technically a NEED, but I feel like it is. We have a little netbook, slow, but we can stream, check our bank, pay bills etc. We also have a borrowed laptop, and the phones. So, we are by no means cut off from the world, but I am impatient with the time it takes to load this blog up on any of these devices, especially when a quick FB update can be done in a matter of seconds. But, truthfully, I can't always say what I want to say on FB. I can say whatever I want here, I don't think anyone is reading anyway:)

So, today, I am going to skip the health updates (Brian is really sick and taking IV antibiotics right now) write about something Brian and i talk about at home often: Our kids are smart. Not just one or two of them, ALL five of them are very smart. As we had one, then two, then three, then four enter school, this is how we started to acknowledge it as well.

Our kids are receiving a public school education. It's just how the dice rolled, and I am getting comfortable with it. Do we supplement? You bet your bottom dollar! Truthfully, sometimes more than others, and its been a learning process for sure. And, when I find something that works great for one kid, it doesn't work for the next one. So, for now, our focus is BALANCE. First and foremost, our kids are going to be kids. Yeah they will probably grow up with things they hate about us, but hopefully, there are a few things that they love as well.

I read a blog recently about a mom frustrated because her 13 yr old won't take their last 3 classes to graduate from college. Think about this.....what a proud moment....your 13 year old accomplishes what all those other 20 somethings did, and probably made better grades....what comes to mind? Pride? But, this isn't your accomplishment, its theirs. And what did they sacrifice to get there? This particular kid, never saw a Disney movie because it had no educational benefit. And, what do you do with your life when you finish college at 13? Are you free labor to the university in the form of "research"? Do you get an advanced degree? Another degree? You fastworwarded your life to live in limbo? Now,I'm not saying that this is wrong. It may be just fine for some people. It's just not a perfect fit for us.

Yes,we will do some advanced testing. We may do some college work early. But, we aren't going to go overboard.

This week I told the kids that I expect them to read one piece of nonfiction a week. Crazy, because that's all my daughter read last year, and we encouraged her to read fiction once in a while. Now she is only reading fiction. Again: balance. This backfired, but in a way even better than I ever imagined. She read her nonfiction: to Zac and Aiden! I walk into the living room and she is reading them a book on mummies! But she is really getting into this and explaining the mummification process to them in much greater detail than the book and they were loving it! So, I didn't need to worry.

Tony and Zac are reading to each other at night. I love it. And it frees me up to read stuff I want to read!

2011-12-17T15:41:00.000-08:00

I havent been on the blog much lately. I've been creeping around adding more and more GT blogs to the list of blogs I am following. I have been thinking that I probably need to come up with a theme since I don't think random counts. LIfe is pretty good right now. Brian had a clean scan so we get to pretend to be normal until his next treatment in March/scan in April. Can't beat that. It gives us a few months to get some medical bills paid off before we aquire some more. I really should go back to work full time or pick up some more work to get us out of debt, but so far I haven't found the time nor the energy.

The kids are doing well. Let's devote a paragraph to each one. lol.

Angie is growing up and such a good kid. I'd like to brag that its because I'm such a great mom, but really its just her. She is very in tune to other's emotions and feelings. When I was in Vegas she competed in the 4H food challenge competition and her team got second. This semester she completed a whole year of theory work in voice, so when she goes back in January, she will be at grade level. She did awesome at her UIL meet this year. 1st in ready writing, 1st in music memory, 1st in artsmart, and 2nd in listening.

My sweet Tony is an avid reader. So far he is the top reader for his grade. It took some trickery on my part. He's always read a lot, but he wasn't testing on his books. Last year their school went to a web-based instead of a school based testing program. So, every book we have in our house so far has had a test, but he wouldn't take them unless the book was also in their library, which was true under the old system. So, i broke the ice by buying the library a copy of the book he was reading at the time. Lol. I just want him to read what he's interested in, and continue to love it. He did UIL music memory and got 1st place. T doesn't do pressure too well.Can't remember if I've blogged about the fact theat he's developed a tic. The ped says that its stress related and that he should grow out of it. So, house rules are one event. I'm hoping that healthy pressure in small quantities will help him in the long run. Same with piano. He has a wonderful teacher. I'm thankful that she understands him and is focused on making it fun with just small amts. of pressure. She says that I don't have to enter him in the competitions in the Spring, so we will see.

Zac has made huge strides in school this year. I'm so proud of him. Parenting him is always a challenge, but I love that kid. Hopefully I do right by him. He is really really bright. He may actually end up passing up his siblings, but he doesn't want anyone to know he's bright. And I have to leave him the heck alone. He's made a great deal of progress with his reading mainly because he loves to read to his brother and sister. ANother thing he doesn't want anyone to know, he is very caring and tender hearted. Today we drove by the old Santa Anna hospital. Zac says there's that creepy ass old hospital. Funny. I should be more upset by this. But, he's not calling anyone names and he knows knows not to talk this way around others.

Aiden is enjoying pre-K and often asks to 'do school' at home. I could teach him to read and he would have no trouble learning, but I have debated the semester away. He knows all the letters and sounds and Zac has taught him some words. He often asks to spell 3 letter words. I just don't know if it's better to teach them to read early or to fill them up with facts. What I'm saying is, I just want it to be fun. If there's a mistake, I've made it. Aiden still loves me lots which is nice.

Emi is growing like crazy. She is a smart one too. Super girly and she knows how to manipulate us. Right now we are trying to teach her that crying won't get her way. I think that's just part of being Three. Sadly, she has all her siblings wrapped around her finger too. This week we've had several conversations about them staying out of it when we are parenting her and she is crying. LOL. Funny when you have more kids, you worry that they aren't getting what your older kids got. When Angie and Tony, and even Zac to some extent, were younger, we holed up at home, played with them, read to them etc. So, this fall I've made a big effort to try not to drag the younger kids to every football game etc, but funny thing is, Emi WANTS to be at the older kids events. She wants to do things with them.

2011-10-25T09:03:00.000-07:00

Brian finished up his last radiation treatment today. Tomorrow will be his last rituxan. He has done awesome with it this time. His counts have held, and he hasn't had as many side affects as he usually does. I am finally getting over the worst cold I've had in a long time. I've been super stressed and kind of in a funk. Let's talk about the kids instead.

Zac finished up his football season. Overall, it was a good experience. I definately recommend flag football. It has been great for Zac. I have to tell you, people are serious about their pee-wee football though. The first game we went to they had a tent set up with tables. I told the kids "I don't know what they are selling but do not make eye contact". Lol. I learned the next game that they were selling tickets to get in. Haha.

School is zipping along. The first semester will be done before you know it. The kids are enjoying the papa and nita book club. Once a month they sent an email with their book requests. Then they send them in the mail. The kids are loving this!! They are so excited when that package arrives. This has been especially great for my reluctant reader.

2011-09-27T10:57:00.000-07:00

MOndys I get two whole hours to myself. So, today I am spending the first part blogging. Then I'm going to read a little. Yeah, yeah. I know there are dishes to be done, laundry to wash, etc, but that stuff is always there. It NEVER goes away.

Things are still not finalized with Brian's treatments. As you know, his biopsy was positive for lymphoma. We can look at this lots of ways. We can say the transplant cured everywhere but that spot, or we can say the transplant now has this cancer behaving in a usual way. Brian has an indolent for of non hodgkins lymphoma. B-cell follicular to be exact. These cancers are supposed to be slow growing, you wait and watch and treat when necessary. But they are persistant little weeds and are hard to cure. Boo, but the good news is there are lots of treatment options.

In the past, Brian's cancer has not behaved this way. It has been very aggressive. The first time he was diagnosed, it was in his neck, chest, abdomen and pelvis and very large. He had fluid in his lungs and a blocked off kidney. The second time, 18 monts later, it was very large in his chest and wrapped around his spine.

This time, 18 months after transplant, it was about quarter sized and in his groin. He had surgery to remove it, and he will continue his Rituxan and do radiation as well. He needs at least another week for the incision to heal, and the radiation oncologist is waiting on the cd of the PET scan to arrive by courier before she can make treatment recommendations. I would really like to know, but that is just because of my constant compulsion to plan. I need to plan my work schedule, someone watching the kids etc.

2011-09-19T06:45:00.000-07:00

The kids have finished up their 4th week of school, and I still don't have a routine down yet. That's the goal for this week. Missing a whole week and then having a whole week of make-up work threw me off. Ok, to be fair it threw us all off. We started out last week pretty well, and then Brian and I spent the end of the week in Dallas. Not sure if we will get results this week or next, so maybe my plans for getting a routine down will be shot this week too.

Brian did pretty well with his biopsy. He was really sore Saturday so we went ahead and took Sunday off from work, but he went this morning. He incision is neat and clean so I don't anticipate any problems there. Not sure if I will have to miss work this week to go with him. That part isnt too big an issue for me, but I will have to coordinate someone watching the kids.

Bragging a little, the kids havent had a tardy yet. I don't know why I didn't think of it sooner, but I'm not waking Aiden and Emi up in the mornings. They are sleeping in and then i just carry them sleeping to the car, pjs, blankies and all. I can focus on the older kids, and not have to fight with the little ones who aren't ready to eat, get dressed etc. Angie has to be there in time to turn in her homework to ALL her teachers before the bell rings. Interesting. Is this so they can't cheat or work on it in earlier classes? Hmmm. Tonight is open house. I have no idea how I'm going to see all their teachers. Brian is going to meet me there, and we will divide and conquer.

Meal planning and budgeting again. I signed up for some extra shifts next week and the week after. Ok, maybe its pointless to even be thinking about a routine, but it will help us get back on track after our trip and Brian's treatments.

Looks like it will be into the second six weeks before I start working with Aiden on reading. I have mixed feeling about it anyway. He seems ready, but I'm not sure that being an early reader does a kid any favors. I've focused on reading alot with Zac, I think because he doesn't really like it, and I want him to. Maybe I should have been focusing on filling him with facts, math skills etc? So, that's what I'm doing this year. We are doing required reading and spelling etc, but then its just fun learning after that. Overall, I think he is doing well with that.

Cooler weather

2011-09-14T19:43:00.000-07:00

We are getting into the swing of things after missing a full week of school. The kids had tons of make-up work otherwise I would have blogged about our trip sooner. Really content with the direction of my kids education right now. They are happy, healthy, and well adjusted. Aiden is doing well with pre-k, and Emi seems to love Tuesday school. Going full force with activities as usual. Zac is playing flag football and they won their first game 20-12. All the kids are in gymnastics on Wednesdays, and Angie and Tony are taking music lessons at Howard Payne. Angie is continuing with voice, and Tony is taking piano. Tony's teacher says that he has good natural rhythm. Lol. His whole world is a musical. Angie is in 4H this year, and she is doing the food and nutrition because they have a team event similar to Chopped or Iron Chef.

We left on Tuesday the 30th and spent the night in a hotel close to the airport. Our flight left at 7:50 in the morning. Mom and Pam had to hightail it home because Pam forgot her passport. They got back to the hotel in time to shower and head to the airport. It was funny because Pam kept telling everyone not to forget theirs, and she brought her fancy passport book, but not her passport. The kids did great on the plane. Aiden and Zac sat next to each other and played and giggled. Pam was super grumpy, but they weren't bad. We did separate them on the way home, and they both slept. Tony was terrified to fly, and I was seriously wondering if I was going to have to sedate him. He kept saying things like "I'd rather crash and burn up after I graduate from High school," and "if we make it to seattle" As we took off, he said "remember that time you tricked me into going on the roadrunner at fiesta texas? well, its like that only not as scary. I bet I've matured enough to try that ride again".

We got to Seattle about 10:30 in the morning, so we headed over to the Experience Music Project, EMP. This place is just cool. Brian was super excited because they had a battlestar gallactica exhibit. Brian and my mom used to have a date every Friday for sci fi Friday to watch it. The exhibit talked about how playing different music with the same scene invokes a different emotion. Since we had already paid for parking, and the Space needle was next door, we went up. Really, its not a big deal, and doesn't take very long, but my kids were super excited about it. After that we drove to Bellingham, Wa and stayed the night. The kids swam in the pool, then we bought a few groceries to take across the border, and went out to eat with John and Kristi. We went to some restaurant called Billy Mchales. The food was delicious. Angie wanted the seafood chowder. I normally am not a fan, but it was super tasty. It had salmon, scallops, shrimp, potatoes, and the ingredient that makes anything taste good....bacon.
The next morning we ate breakfast outside on the patio. Seriously, I could have sat there forever. It was in the 60's, there were birds, flowers and these big huge trees.

But, we had a border to cross. It wasn't far to the border at all. Less than half an hour. The peace arch is no longer there, but that border crossing is beautiful. We drove to tswassen and boarded the ferry. It was about an hour and a half to the island. John and Kristi were 2 cars behind us. We had reservations for the ferry, but they put us in an overflow line, and said that we might get on an earlier one. Well, we were the last car on. The ferry was literally pulling out before we even got out of the rented 12 passenger van, leaving our friends to catch the next one. The ferry really is a neat experience. its very comfortable and you can sit inside or outside. There are cafes, arcades, a play area for small kids etc.

We got the the island and the drive to Tofino was longer than we expected. The island is wild. Dense trees, mountains, lakes, streams...amazing. You really get the feel that maybe there are things yet to discover and explore. We stopped and walked around this place called cathedral grove. It was breathtaking walking around 800 year old Douglas fir trees. We drove onto our house we rented. It is definately the way to go. We had a hot tub, three bedrooms and 2 baths plus a full kitchen. Tofino is a tourist place, but they weren't overly friendly. Most places were cash only, but took American money.

Friday we went to our friends wedding on Chesterman beach. Brian and John went over early to hang out with Jack and Kristi and I walked around town and went to lunch. Everyone wore thin strapped dresses to the wedding. It was 60 degrees that day on the beach, I wore pants:) Kristi and I arrived to see John and Brian sweeping the beach and arranging chairs. It was nice even if I thought it was comical. There reception was at their rented house and it was nice. They had a brunch the next day and said we could bring the kids. We stayed maybe and hour and a half and then walked down to the tide pools and looked at starfish, anemones and hermit crabs etc. Then we went to some ladies house and bought fresh live dungeoness crabs. She killed them for us and removed the lungs. My kids were super curious about that and wanted to watch. I went outside at the first crunch. But we took them home and had a huge crab boil.

Sunday we went out on a boat and went whale watching. We saw an eagle, puffins, Stellar sea lions, which are the largest in the world. I'm talking massive. Then we saw a humpback and grey whales as well as a few harbor dolphins. The boat took us to the hot springs and we hiked through the forest maybe a mile and a half of boardwalk, lots of stairs. The hot springs were beautiful. THe hot water bubbled out of the rocks and mixed with the cold ocean water, plus the view! Well, may legs were jello walking back, and Emi was super tired but it was so worth it. On the way back we saw Orcas! Mommas and babies. One even breached for us! Not something they normally do in the wild, and they are transient, so they are only there every few weeks. Such a lucky day.

Monday we drove back to Seattle. As we were leaving we saw a bear and some otters swimming on the lake. It took us the whole day to get there. We stayed at the Comfort Suites in Tukwila and it was lovely. We had two queens, a king and a sleeper sofa. Plenty of room, and mom, dad and pam had their own room. They had a really nice indoor pool, good breakfast, and they had an afternoon snack from 5-7, salad, fruit, wings, and muffins. There is so much to do in Seattle, but we got to see the aquarium. Highlight for me, the kids got to ask a diver questions and Aiden asked her how an anemone eats. She said "here I'll show you," and she fed it a fish! It slurped it right in. They had several touch tanks which was cool. We had a delicious lunch at the waterfront and walked around some. There are lots of people there and my anxiety was building, so we didn't get to see Pikes market. Another time we will have to see them throw the fish. But, we went to the museum of flight. Man, this is a must. We didn't get to see nearly half of it. I should have alloted more time. They have Johnson's Airforce one, a concorde, and countless other planes. They have a space exhibit, a full WW1, WW2 exhibit, and a control tower.

Our week zipped by. This was a huge vacation for us that required alot of thought and planning. We now know that we can do it. Next big vacation will have to be someplace tropical, but I can't tell you what a blessing it was to escape the heat for a little while.

Scan update.

2011-09-13T07:08:00.000-07:00

Well, I have so much to blog about, lets start with the not so cheery stuff first...

Brian had his routine PET scan and check up this past Friday. We were both super excited that he was able to fight off a cold for the first time since he started treatments on his own without meds. You may recall that he wasn't producing blood back in March and April and had to have a bone marrow biopsy. Well, his lab work is beautiful, right where it needs to be. He also had some esophageal inflammation on his last PET that is no longer there. Praise God. But....there's always a but. They've been watching a lymph node in his groin for a while. The lymph system empties into the groin, so they didn't want to unnecessarily poke around there for remove this node if they didn't have to. There are risks, mainly, lymphedema. But, this node is larger and its glowing more intensely on the PET. So, Thursday and Friday we will be in Dallas meeting with a surgeon. Thankful that my husband has such a kind hearted, pro-active oncologist. He made it very clear to the surgeon that he doens't want to wait, that we need these results because it will determine the next course of treatment. Praying its nothing, but as always, its not in our hands.

Thankful for my family, specifically my mom, who has taken off work to be with our children. Thankful for my job, and the people there who are so understanding. My boss is having a particularly hard time. Continued prayers for her. A few years ago, her brother was murdered at a bank while he was making a delivery. The trial has been going on and the sentencing is next week. Her baby sister has been battling breast cancer. Her sister slipped into a coma this weekend and its a matter of time until she passes into the next life. Her family will more than likely be planning a funeral next week. So much for one family to deal with.

I'm sure this biopsy result will take a week or so, but that works out perfectly with my blogging schedule.

Beginning of school and Canada trip to follow.

2011-08-16T18:45:00.000-07:00

Brian and Zac are out tossing the pigskin. Zac is a natural. He starts practicing with his flag football team this Thursday. When we signed Zac up he wasn't too happy about it. He says that he is more of a sitting on the couch eating chips watching footbal kind of guy. I hope that he enjoys it. He seriously needs a physical outlet. I've seen a huge change in him this summer and I can't wait to see what this school year brings. I ran into his teacher for the upcoming year at the technology institute last week. Soo excited that he has Mrs. Lee. Actually I would have been happy with either first grade teacher, but I think she will be good. She actually taught kindergarten and GT at our school and then left for 2 years and is back now. Her daughter will be in Aiden's pre-k class.

Aiden will be going to school from 12:30-3:30. Not too bad. That means that we can do the toddler class at the zoo for one more year. I plan on working with him with the book Teach your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons. Emi will be spending Tuesdays at Joy Station Tuesday school. And both the little ones will be continuing gymnastics.

Tony will be entering the 4th grade. He will have the same teacher that he had for second grade. She gives alot of homework, but I do like her as a person. She scores points for her husband. She's married to my friend Phillip's brother, Michael. I know that Tony will do fine, I'm hoping that he and I can work on some personal goals. He's never had a friend.

Angie will be starting a new adventure. The 5th grade changes classes, so he will have different teachers for different subjects. And for the first time, her grade will be divided. She has some bright kids in her class, so I'm expecting it to be a good year.

well, someone forwarded me an interesting link. I'll write more later.

2011-08-11T19:30:00.000-07:00

Back on the budget, meal planning in summer months is a challenge when nothing sounds good. Last night I made quiche for the kids for the first time. General consensus was positive. Zac made me laugh because he said "just pretend its pizza, just pretend its pizza." He closed his eyes and took a bite going pizza, pizza, pizza. Hahahaha.

Brian and I spent the last two days up at the school at the summer technology institute. This is actually a continuing education event for teachers, but its open to the public, so Brian and I spent the last to days building rockets. It was awesome. Ok, so we know nothing about physics, but we learned. Can't wait to build them with the kids.

Pam was so good to watch the kids for us. I just have to pay her in Pioneer woman cinnamon rolls that she can take to her sunday school class. Well worth it!

Summer scorcher.

2011-08-06T12:51:00.001-07:00

Well, its hot here. Duh, you say? I'm longing for the days of the train when a drought would send me and the kids packing to the relatives back east and Brian would be stuck here tending the ranch until the rains came again. But, its not to be. Sigh.

We are rationing water here. One minute showers. Wet, turn off water. Lather, rinse. Paper plates, paper cups. And, saddest of all, the pool is now turned off. I know its materialistic, but I can't help it. I am a daughter of Poseidon. Water is comforting to me, lack of it is heartbreaking.

Our trip to Seattle and Canada is next week. I suspect we will freeze in the 70 degree weather. So nice to have something to look forward to. I told Brian that we may have to plan all of our summer vacations for August so that we can escape the heat.

Angie and I are working through the Love Comes Softly dvds. I'm sure that the books are fabulous, but we are really enjoying the movies. She is watching on me so that we can watch #5. More on that later.

Summer camps

2011-07-30T15:21:00.000-07:00

This week will be the last of the summer camps. Yeah. You should know that I'm a little neurotic when it comes to this venture in parenting. I start in March planning our summer including reading lists, workbooks and other educational items, and yes, summer camps. Every summer, I come away with a few more things to add to the list of things that just don't work for us. Hopefully, along the way I have given the kids a good memory or two.

I posted pictures of Threshold, the GT camp at Hardin Simmons. THis mom gives it two thumbs up! What a great experience for the kids. They get to spend the whole week with other kids who love to learn.

Last week, Angie, Bella, and Angie's friend Marin spent the week at The Grace Museum Culinary camp. Wow, it was amazing. I was more than a bit jealous. TSTC provided the instructors and they spent the week cooking healthy versions of kids favorites. For example, they made pizza with honey instead of sugar in the dough, and ranch dressing with yogart instead of mayo. Each day there was a drink of the day, watermelon lemonade, coconut smoothies, old fashioned low fat chocolate malts. Yum. They got a cookbook and a t-shirt as well that they decorated during camp. Angie was really excited to learn that their instructor won the very first episode of chopped. We even pulled it up and watched it on youtube.

Tony and my nephew Landen spent the week at a drama camp at the Methodist church. They did a musical version of the jungle book. It was so good. My son was definately in his element this his microphone and killer dance moves! Gosh I love that kid.

Tony spent this week at zoo camp. This is his third year, and probably last, at least at the Abilene zoo anyway. The boy knows alot about animals! Thankfully, midweek I decided to pay for the after care program. T stayed at the zoo and Katie picked him up when she got off work. It was his favorite part!! He helped feed animals and then played zoo tycoon. And, I saved a ton of money on gas!!

I picked up a book called Parenting Gifted Kids, by james Delisle. In between other "fun" mindless escape reading, I've been reading this book here and there. I have to say, its a great read, and not just for parents of kids who are "gifted". Over the last year I have read several snoozers in this area, and this book has really been speaking to me. Maybe, its because I believe in his messages. It talks about teaching your children that "better at" does not mean "better than". Amen preach it to the choir!! Seriously though. Everyone wants their kids to be smart and successful, but its kind of a waste if we don't teach them to be good people.

In a few weeks it will be back to school time. Not a major transition in our house. I bought the Target boxes from the school, so I just have to go pick them up. We reuse backpacks and I have a few in the closet I bought on clearance should anyone need a "new" one. I will make sure everyone has tennies that fit, and that's about it. They can usually wear shorts into October, so I will usually buy jeans later after the back to school hoopla wears down. A friend at work gave me a list of a couple of consignment type places to try. We'll see.

Big trip to Canada the last week of August/first week of September, and then its back to the Dave Ramsey attacking the debt plan.

More Bubbleology

2011-07-14T08:46:00.001-07:00

Because I liked these pictures so much, I had to post more.

For more pics or info about their projects, See:
http://bubbleology.wikispaces.com/

Bubbleology

2011-07-12T12:44:00.000-07:00

Bubbleology

I borrowed these photos From the Threshold wikispace site. This week the oldest three kids are at Hardin Simmons attending Threshold, a GT summer camp. Hopefully by the end of the week, I can get some pictures on here of Zachary. The theme is different every year, and as you can see, this year its all about Bubbles. What a wonderful fun opportunity to explore chemistry and physics.

Love this one, guess Ang isn't a fan of his bubble art.

Tony and unknown girl blowing bubbles.

Angie said they were trying to build the longest bubble chain aka the bubble caterpillar.

Artist at work.

look what we can do!

I cannot say enough good things about this camp. A whole week of embracing your inner nerd, what could be better?

Summertime!!

2011-05-31T13:59:00.000-07:00

I really need to start blogging more. I guess I just haven't been feeling it lately as you can probably tell from the last few posts. Truth is I'm not feeling it now. My kids are growing like crazy and super cute so I should have lots to write about. Guess I have bloggers block :)

Summer is in full swing here. Every year I overplan, worrying that the kids are going to be bored and not have anything to do. Well, summer is flying by.

We picked up Landen and Bella on Tuesday and they will be here until the end of July. Bella and Angie are thick as theives and having a blast. She went to VBS with the kids this week, the library program and gymnastics. When I took the kids to open gym, Robert, the owner, let her do gymnastics too. She was over the moon. Landen is doing good, I just need to work on finding an older kid for him to hang out with. He's pretty content to hang out with Brian. We've been swimming the last 3 days, and today Brian let him drive the car down the road to take out the trash. Next week is swimming lessons.

I'm working on me. It sounds awful, but I've been having a tough time recently. I'm a wife, a mom, a daughter, but its so hard to be defined by what you mean to others, especially when you rarely feel appreciated. Now, I'm not trying to diminish the value of motherhood, its a job I take seriously. But, I need to start doing a few things for me. The kids are getting big enough that I don't have to hold then constantly so I get to actually swim some in the pool. My arms are sore, and I love it!! I joke that I am a daughter of poseidon. I've been trying to wean myself off of sugar, and am upping my fruit and veggie intake.

Brian bought me a NOOK and I am loving it. I have been checking out e-books from the library. I can't even begin to tell you how awesome it is to be able to download a book from home, read it, and then it just drops off after 21 days if you forget to return it. I throw my NOOK in my purse, or I can use the NOOK app on my phone and I can read anytime I want.

gearing up for summer

2011-05-25T09:03:00.000-07:00

Summer will be here before we know it. Friday is the official last day of school, and then I will have a 5th grader, a 4th grader, a 1st grader and a pre-k'er. Emi will be going to Tuesday school this fall.

My niece and nephew are coming mid-June, and will stay 5 weeks with us. All the kids are excited. I am trying to plan for summer and will gladly take suggestions. Today, my goals are to meal plan and to shop for a dress shirt and slacks for Zach. He will graduate from kindergarten tomorrow evening.

Despite our recent scare, Brian is doing well. It was rough waiting, but really gave us an opportunity to evaluate what we want out of this life.

2011-04-14T11:23:00.000-07:00

I can't believe that it has really been five weeks since I've posted anything. That is unheard of! My last post says that we were getting ready for Colorado, so lets start there. Colorado was awesome!! We got to spend lots of time with family and do some touristy things and it was not super crowded because their Spring Breaks are later. We went to Seven Falls, Garden of the Gods, and the Rocky Mountain Dinosaur Center. I could have stayed all day at Garden of the Gods, but we had to leave to have lunch with Brian's mom. So, we promised ourselves another trip there. The Rocky Mountain Dinosaur Center has to be one of the best kept secrets of Colorado. It was amazing! Juanita had an interesting conversation about the fact that there was no mention of other theories such as the creationist theory and she wondered if I was offended. Truthfully, regardless of what you believe, being there really makes you think about the fact that we are just here for a blink. A theory is just an idea that someone twists concrete evidence to support. I find the concrete evidence, such as fossils fascinating by themselves. I have a mental list of the places I want to go next visit :)

The kids are busy with activities. Angie is playing softball and Zach and Aiden are in tball. At practice on Tuesday, Angie's coaches talked to the girls about their attitude. Their name is extreme attitude and it fits. In the huddle up they are only allowed to say extreme because we don't want the attitude. LOL. I was so proud of Angie for not getting caught up in it. First game, even though they lost, she was the last batter and she went out and scored a run! It really broke the ice. And she wasn't even feeling well. She missed 4 days of school with some mystery illness that ended with a rash. But as soon as it showed up she finally felt better. The boys coach seems nice, and the boys are having fun. They won't have a game for a couple of weeks, so I will have more to say about them later.

Angie turned double digits. She had her first sleepover, five girls. I think it went pretty well. Crazy girls got in the pool. Angie got a ping pong table and a kayak for her birthday. They practiced kayaking in the pool which was so funny. We had homemade pizza, and I made chocolate fondue. Her birthday cake was brownies with vanilla icecream and marichino cherries. They always come up with something! We karaoked outside, and the next day I took them to home depot and we built a planter box. Who knew that they did free building projects with the kids the first saturday of each month? You get an apron and each month that you come you get a project pin. Cool!

Ok, Baby Evan, my nephew is stirring, I have lots more to post later.

2011-03-09T08:32:00.001-08:00

Well, I finally got my camera back from my mom's house, so hopefully I will get some pictures on soon. The kids are growing like crazy. Tomorrow we are leaving for Colorado. We haven't been for over 3 years. The kids are excited, but am I too. Colorado Springs is beautiful and there is so much to do. Juanita and I have been emailing back and forth about ideas and activities. I think its going to be a nice visit. We have to be back for Brian's treatment on Wednesday and his PET scan on Friday.

Can you believe that March 17th will be one year? It hasn't been easy, but I can look back at the last year and see how blessed we have been. I'm looking forward to what the next year has to offer.

2011-02-23T11:05:00.000-08:00

This week Brian started P90X. Funny, he's not just out of shape, he's deconditioned. He takes naps, has to rest, is the first one to go to bed last one up. Decides that he wants to get in shape, so Im thinking maybe start walking or riding a bike, and he comes home with P90X. Last night he was doing these pushups where you stick your butt up in the air and when you go down your head touches the ground. Emi was doing them with him and mimicking his every grunt and fall. Angie and Tony LOVED doing the pylometrics and tonight they asked to do the yoga with him. Me, I'm so overweight and out of shape, I'm sticking with the Jane Fonda workout for the more "mature set" that I'm doing with my mom. Brian was really impressed by how stong Angie and Tony are.

I was supposed to iron Kindergarten graduation gowns today, but they moved the picture day to next month. Darn, I was really looking forward to that.

Well, two stress ulcers later, we booked our trip to Tofino, British Columbia. I can't believe we are actually going to be there for Jack's wedding in September. Airline tickets for 9 are bought (including mom and dad). We wented a house and have secured a rental 12 passenger van. We had many discussions about skipping the trip and using the money to pay off debt. That's what Dave Ramsey would have us do. I justified going anyway by reminding Brian that if we weren't planning this trip, we wouldn't have the money to pay off debt because I would not be working extra. Over Spring Break we plan on getting passports. I still can't believe that we are actually going.

2011-02-15T14:11:00.000-08:00

Well, I have no idea where this post will lead but onward I go. We went to do our taxes a couple of weeks ago, and our disc drive woudn't read the disc. SO, I say "time for a new one" and Brian says "I think I can fix it". So, he restores our computer. Strangely, the computer read the restore disc, but still wouldn't read discs, so we bought an external one and were able to do our taxes. So, since then its been one inconvenience after another. First, all my pictures are gone. I was very sad for a day, until I realized that most are still on the camera, phone etc. I did lose some from my fist iphone that crashed, but lets not think about that. Second, our itunes recognized that we have a "new computer", so all of our music that we downloaded and stored on there....you guessed it....gone. Then I learned that you can only have 5 computers before you have to get a new account....irritating since its not a new computer. So, eventually, I will get all the updates on here and I can start posting pictures again. In the meantime, they are on fb.

The kids and I met mom and dad at Port Aransas this weekend. This place is really special to us for some reason. Maybe because its one of the few times that we do nothing. We don't plan anything we just do whatever we feel like doing when we get up that day. The beach is alot different in the winter. Still nice, but alot different. I could sit and watch the dolphins jump all day. We rode the jetty boat out to St. Jo island and went shell hunting. I found some really nice ones. This island is really just a sandbar about a 10 minute boat ride from Port A. I don't recommend it in the summer, there is nothing there. And by nothing, I mean not even a port a potty. There was tons of trash there as well, and the kids looked at me like I was crazy when they had to pick theirs up after we had a snack. The kids didn't have school on Monday, so we stopped in San Antonio at the witte museum to stretch our legs. I liked this place. I just wish that we had more time there, but we left in time to beat rush hour traffic. I hope to take the kids back there. The HEB Tree house is really cool.

I've been working alot of extra, so my house is in shambles. Its very overwhelming, and I called in sick today because I don't feel well, and have had a headache all day. So, I didn't do anything today either. Emi and I napped. I work tomorrow, and then I will tackle it Thursday.

I have to go get the kids from detention. They have 5 tardies. Uggh. Another reminder as to why I went part time.

Kids and their Blue Chickens

2011-01-21T08:32:00.000-08:00

I try to clean my pockets out before I come home from work,but sometimes I accidently bring home things like tape, alcohol swabs, and occasionally a stray glove or two. Zachary got a hold of these gloves blew them up and drew faces on them. Then he named his babies Chicky poo, fluff fluff, handy and little joey. Little Joey isn't pictured because Emi laid claim to him and colored him with markers. She slept with little joey every night for a week. Zachy then started hiding his other babies before he went to school so that they wouldn't suffer the same fate. I really found this whole thing hilarious, especially when they started taking them for walks in the baby doll stroller. So funny the things kids find to play with and I am wondering if I should rethink spending money on them at Christmas time.

Growing up too.

2011-01-15T13:54:00.001-08:00

Here's a picture of baby girl on right before her first haircut. Her hair's always kind of crazy, just look at the pictures on the side of my blog. She's wearing a Rapunzel dress and sitting on her new bike that she got for Christmas. Just what every girl wears biking right? Such a mess.

The last three days she has been in underwear and using the potty. This is one part of growing up that I have to say I'm not sad about. She's the first kid that we've tried to train in the winter, so she's training a little later than the other kids, but she's still 4 months from her third birthday.

A while back, we were at Sam's, and Angie was shocked at the cost of pull ups. I promised the kids that I would put the pullup money in our vacation envelope. Since April 2001 I have had at least one kid, if not two, in diapers. Wow. that's almost 10 years straight. If we added up that cost would be astronomical. Maybe I'm better off not knowing. :)

Growing up:(

2011-01-12T11:34:00.001-08:00

Angie got new bedding for Christmas. In the last year she has gone from sleeping in the bunks with her brothers to finally sleeping in her own bed. In the last couple of months she has started moving away from pink. For some reason I am noticing that the natural next step for girls is turquoise or aqua. In this case, aqua, brown and white. I chose this set because its polka dots, another obsession of hers, and because its a quilt and therefore washable. We haven't taken the flowers off the walls yet, but I'm sure its coming. Her sheets are magnenta! That's the set Pam got her for Christmas, and while it doesn't technically match, it still looks cool. While she will always be my little girl, my first baby, she's growing up on me, no matter how often I tell her to quit it. Thankfully she still loves her Panda pillow pet.

Proud mama 2011

2011-01-11T08:18:00.000-08:00

Friday was the assembly for the first semester. Angie and Tony made all "A's" for the semester. Angie had an E+ folder for the semester. This means that she had no marks at all. Tony missed it by one mark. There are usually only a handful of kids had get this so the school will take them somewhere fun, skating, bowling, a movie, something. When you get either E+ folder or Top reader for the six weeks they get to go to DQ for lunch.

This first picture is of all the kids in their school who won either a medal or a ribbon. Looks like overall as a school they did pretty well. I was especially proud of Angie's 4th grade class. Someone from her class medaled in every single event.

The kids also got their UIL medals. I've blogged about this before, but heres the pictures to back it up. Angie's are: first in Art, first place team, 3rd in music, 1st place team.

Tony's are: 1st place Music memory, team 3rd. He was so proud, I especially like how his chest is all stuck out in this picture of him.

This is just a fun one of the two of them together. I'm sticking my tongue out making Angie laugh. She has a beautiful smile when she laughs. Brian and I were both very proud. They worked hard.

Future Mad Scientists

2010-12-31T19:51:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we finally made our trip to the FW science museum. Tony has been asking for forever to see a mummy and the exhibit leaves Jan 3. I had no idea how packed it would be. This was our first trip since the museum was remodeled. Brian and I were a little disappointed. Don't get me wrong, it is super nice, but we kind of liked the old smaller museum. This one is beautiful, more spread out, but has a mall feeling rather than a museum feeling. The Egypt exhibit was awesome. I was a bit bummed that my kids weren't more excited, and the mummy kind of freaked Angie out. She refused to look at it. But the whole exhibit was very interesting and she did say that she liked the hieroglyph exhibit.

I have two other science musuems that I hope to check out in the coming year, The Mayborn at Baylor, and the San Antonio HEB tree house. I have to tell you that the Planetarium was AMAZING! I know very little about stars/space/astronomy, but after that visit we will be visiting other planetariums for sure. They gave us a link for a star chart to print out and put together, and if you haven't tried Star Walk on the iphone, I think it is my favorite app ever. I was so surprised at how much the kids enjoyed the planetarium, even Aiden and Emi. When I asked the kids to tell me their one favorite thing of the day Aiden said that he thought the "trip through the milky wave was the best". I probably should have corrected him, but I thought it was super cute. They had a couple meteorites on exhibit, and Zachary showed me a rock today that I am pretty sure is one. Its the same color and texture as the one they had and it is very heavy. Who knows? He's had it on his shelf at least a year, I would be curious to find out though. That reminds me, I hope to also get to the meteroite exhibit at TCU.

When I asked Zachary his favorite thing, he refused to tell me, and when Amie was cutting his hair today, he told her to go to Sea world instead! My inlaws call him a ball buster. He's a mess for sure. Later he will subtly bring up the thing he liked.
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I packed a cooler and they no longer allow outside food and drink, so we ate our lunch in the car. The kids didn't mind because they got to watch tv while they ate and Brian and I sat on the tailgate. Dave Ramsey would be proud, but its not just about the money, but about health and waste. It is ridiculous for us to buy hot dogs, nachos etc and watch the kids not eat. But, make them a sandwich and give them some fruit and they tear it up. Now I did let them have cheetos but still what a treat. I hope that they have good memories of lunches like this.

These are just a few pictures. Overall, it was a good day.

On to the New Year

2010-12-24T17:39:00.000-08:00

Well, Our Christmas has come and gone. The kids slept in this morning, highly unusual, and definately a sign they are ill. The oldest four were on antibiotics. The boys were doing pretty well this morning, but Angie did not feel well at all. She made it through present opening and then I took her back to the Dr. He said that he wanted to see her again if she wasn't feeling better today. So, I went and picked up a different medication for her, and came home to find Emi running fever. Well, the local pharmacy closed at 1pm, so back to Brownwood I went for the medicine that Dr Woodward called in for Emi.

I came home and made chicken ala Stella like we planned. I should have made Campbell's chicken noodle soup no more than everyone ate. I'm a little disappointed that we missed the candlelight service at church, but the kids all felt bad, and it just seemed wrong to go to a Christmas service without my family. Praying next week is better.

Funny thing when you have five kids, you have an entire minivan full of gifts, and when you get it in the house, each kid has a relatively small pile. The big ticket gifts this year were: Angie got a new bedset that I guess you would describe as more "tween". Its aqua and white and brown, and of course it had to have polka dots. Thank you JC Penney's for selling each piece individually and for being the only place that I ordered from that didn't offer free shipping, but once I saw this set, I didn't like anything else. The other big ticket item was an Ipod Touch. We bought one for all the kids to share. I have to say that I was extremely proud that they weren't super excited about it. Don't get me wrong, they were fighting over it this evening, but around the tree, they were more interested in other things.

I work tomorrow. Blah. Its so tough to leave the kids when they aren't feeling well, so, I have to say if I get cancelled tomorrow, I'm not going to be super disappointed. Census drops during the holidays, and mom said that they were cleaning house yesterday, but I don't mind earning time and a half for tomorrow. I've got our debt snowball planned out for 2011.

Merry Christmas

2010-12-23T21:19:00.000-08:00

Well, the kids all got a sinus infection for Christmas, so we didn't get to go the museum or to see the lights. I hope they are feeling better in the morning, since we are doing Christmas tomorrow. I made homemade cinnamon rolls for the first time, and they are entirely too tasty. I will have to make them again before next Christmas, because I didn't let Angie help me and made her keep her germs as far away as possible. Brian and I will both take some to work Christmas day.

I still plan on making the Chicken dish even if Brian and I are the only ones up to eating it. Its been a couple of years since I made it, so we are both pretty excited. Right now we are anxiously waiting for the kids to settle down so that we can set our living room up.

You would think that I'd be bummed about working Christmas, and I am a little. But tomorrow will be just as special, and the time and a half going into the New year won't hurt either. This is our first Christmas that the kids haven't gone down to my mom and dad's so that Brian and I could do gifts. I have to say, it really threw Tony off. He says "what do you mean we aren't going to nana's?" How's Santa going to come if we aren't there? Since we have to stay there tomorrow night? Are you sure Santa will come tonight?" It was cracking me up. This is one kid that totally doesn't believe in Santa, hasn't for at least 3 years, but he's the one that plays it up the most.

Tony was so upset tonight trying to figure out if his Sunday school party was last SUnday or this SUnday. He said that they were having a party for baby Jesus. He said he volunteered to bring the party game, and was planning to do "Pin the baby Jesus in the manger." He did not appreciate that I found this hysterical. :)

Early Christmas Present. and other random stuff

2010-12-18T17:19:00.000-08:00

Brian's petscan was negative!! Whoop whoop!! Praise God. This week I haven't felt too spiffy. I went to our last FPU class and Brian stayed home with Tony who has been very ill. While I was sitting in the class, a peace washed over me, and I knew that Brian's scan was going to be fine. For the first time in three years, I felt like we could plan for the future, like we would see the goals he talks about in the class. I'm not always the most spiritual person, and it wasn't anything that was said, but rather it was something that I FELT. I text Brian that his PET scan was fine right before he called me to let me know. I already knew.

The kids are on Christmas break from school. Yes, their school still calls it Christmas break, not winter break. Next week we are going to the Fort worth science museum to see the mummy exhibit before it leaves, and then Thursday we are making cinnamon rolls, and going to see the lights in san angelo. We are having our Christmas on Friday because Brian and I both have to work Saturday. It will still be fun though. We will have cinnamon rolls, read the Christmas story, and have a nice dinner. We usually have Italian food, and this year will be no exception. Chicken Estella. The older kids only have one assignment over the break. We read the Invention of Hugo Cabret, and the kids went to the NCCIL to see his art on display. Their GT teacher wants them to try to do a pencil scetch in his style from the book. She have them paper and said they can draw anything they want. Since they are getting drawing books for Christmas, we will work on this project after. Such a change from last year when Brian was getting chemo during the holidays.

Last weekend my mom took Angie shopping for clothes and dresses for Christmas. I had to laugh. I think my mom was a little disappointed because she said the only thing that Angie got excited about all day was the material and the pattern they got at the fabric store. When I talked to Angie on the phone, she was super excited that nana was going to teach her to sew her own pajamas. I'm pretty excited because the material patches the new bedset that Brian and I got her for Christmas. :)

Two funny kid sayings today: First, Emi was in the kitchen dancing with her dad and singing "Shake shake shake, shake your booty." She pokes Brian in the saggy pajama pants and says, daddy you don't have a booty, its missing". Then, before dinner, Angie and Zachary were supposed to clean the table. Brian and I are often amazed at the lengths that Zach will go to avoid work. So, Zachary goes to put a toy up and doesn't come back until Angie is almost done. Brian gets onto him and Zachary says "I'm really sorry, I'm just going to take my marbles and hide in shame in the laundry room until dinner is ready." Haha. I couldn't help but laugh.

Blogging and Resolutions

2010-12-15T10:54:00.000-08:00

Well, today I read my friend Christi's blog and it really inspired me. I NEED to blog more. Most of my blogs are about Brian and the kids. Everyday, uneventful stuff. But, I am not a scrapbooker, so I need to do better. So, even though it is December, I decided that this will be my New Year's resolution.

Let me catch you up on the goings on here since before Thanksgiving. Tuesday they had a family feast at Tuesday school, and Aiden's class sang a couple songs. Well, Thanksgiving, mom and I worked, so we had our get together on Friday. I was under the weather that day, so I slept in a bit, but we went down to mom's and had a wonderful meal and hung around and played cards. Angie really likes to play the game Golf and you can add many players, so that is what we did. We had one seath that people kind of rotated out of as they had to do things.

The kids had a big GT project due at the beginning of December. They had to pick an endangered animal, research it and write a report. There was a list of things that had to be mentioned, like, habitat, diet, etc, and they had to include photos. Then they had to complute an art project that related to the subject. Angie chose Pandas. For the first time, she typed out her report, and that was a little slow going, but she did all the typing herself. I helped her edit it, and showed her how to insert pictures. Brian suggested that we get a keyboarding program for them to start working on. For, her art project, she chose to make a panda out of beans. Brian was going to trace it with our projector, but I felt i could help her free hand one. It turned out pretty well. Tony wanted to do a poster, so we dod a trifold poster on alligator gar. He was going to do a painting on canvas, but he decided to do his painting on the outside of the trifold which I though was a pretty good idea. He wrote his report on paper, but I did help him type and print it some, then we glued it to the poster. It seems each year they are able to be a little more independent.

It was really hard for both Brian and I not to take over, and it would have been so easy for us to take over, but I really want these kids to grow up to be self motivated. I've also been helping the kids with UIL. At dinner the other night, Tony said "mom I am so glad that you tricked me into doing UIL. Ahhh, words every mom wants to hear, lol. But I told him that he WILL do one event a year, and that if he doesn't pick it I will. He thought he was being sly by telling me that his grade hadn't had any sign ups, and then come do find out they did and he "forgot" to sign up. So, I emailed the teacher and told him that he forgot and she gave him the study materials. Sir Tony got 1st place in Music memory. He will also get a team medal for 2nd place team. While I may have to make Tony participate, I have to reel Angie in a little. I told her three events MAX. So she picked her three, but then she had to resign from oral reading because the changed the event schedule and it conflicted with art. So, she got third in music memory, along with a team 1st, and first in art, along with a team 1st.

Aiden had a program at Tuesday school yesterday. It was interesting to see him with the other kids. He is alot smaller than everyone else in his class, and he may be the youngest. They separated him and Audrey and there was already another Aiden in her class. His teachers are very complimentary of him every week. I've heard that he's very smart and sweet, but his size isn't the only thing that reminds me of Tony. Aiden doesn't really like the other kids that much.

One of Aiden's Tuesday school teachers has been volunteering at the school and reading with Zachary. Man he has really turned a corner the last couple of weeks. I have been pulling teeth with him for over a year getting him to learn sounds and sight words. But, all of a sudden, he's READING!!! Not only that, he is starting to like it. He's also writing more and he will ask me how to spell words. And, without even realizing it, he's teaching Aiden.

Angies voice lessons are going well. She is learning to read music and seems to be really enjoying it. We went to our first Opera as a family. It was titled "the Emperor's New Clothes". It was kid friendly, and her voice teacher had the lead. Angie really liked it, but I was really surprised at how much Emi liked it. I also felt alot better about her choice to stop taking dance when her dance teacher didn't even recognize her, but the dean of the pre college music department came up and hugged her and told her that she was glad she came. Then last weekend, Angie sang at the mall in a Christmas concert. She sang mele kalikimaka. Lol. But she did very well and was very brave to stand up there alone and sing. We were really proud.

Contemplations

2010-11-11T09:01:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was an interesting day. Wednesdays are busy days for us with school, my volunteering, gymnastics and church. But that isn't really the interesting part. Yesterday after gymnastics we went to the hospital to see a little girl who was in Zachary's class. She had her appendix removed and his class made her a card. I stopped and got her a super cute balloon. Well, we get there and Zachy tells her he hopes she feels better soon, and Tony starts nudging me that he wants to sing her a song. Well, there were several people in the room so I tell him no. We stayed a few minutes and when we got into the hall he proceeds to tell me how disappointed he is that he didn't get to sing. We talked about it and I agreed to let him go back in there. I knock and tell them that he says he's not going to be happy unless he gets to sing. So, off he goes totally making the song up. It was great. He does this all the time, so I forget what a gift and a blessing it is. I thought the girls dad was going to cry. Her mom posted on FB that Tony made there day. I've been kind of stressed lately and it was good to be reminded that children are a blessing.

We were at a low point with our FPU. Yesterday I was wondering if it was even worth it. I was also wondering if I should just go back to working full time. So, at gymnastics, I read in my devotional that I'm doing right now titled "Raising Godly Kids, and I got my answers. Yesterdays lesson was about the most important thing you can give your kids is your time. Then we went to our FPU class and the lesson was on mutual funds, but it was also very inspirational about making the climb. Sometimes when you are climbing a hill, you have to go down in order to get some speed to get up.

Angie has to be a school at 0730 to practice for UIL Art. Zachary hates it, but I think it is going to be a great thing for me. I dropped them off, went for a walk and did my devotional on the front porch. I had a whole hour to myself before Aiden and Emi got up. Aiden is a momma's boy. Such a double edged sword. I love it, but sometimes I feel like I'm being smothered and can't breathe. Today I feel more prepared to meet his emotional needs. And not surprisingly, he is not nearly as clingy!

Happy Halloween

2010-11-06T11:02:00.001-07:00

Well, I haven't put any pictures on here in a while so here are a few. Hope everyone had a great holiday.

Fall

2010-10-24T21:05:00.000-07:00

This fall has been a busy one. We have been to the beach, took the kids apple picking, and are still trying to settle into a routine. Brian finished his treatments up and I am so glad to have that stress behind us for a little while. We are taking the financial peace university class at the church. We have been working the baby steps for a while, but are hoping to get a break from medical expenses long enough to get somewhere on baby step two. I've worked some extra shifts this month, and signed up to work Thanksgiving and Christmas. Not popular decisions, but "live like no one else and later you can LIVE like noone else". Right? We've been talking to our kids about money alot and have even busted out the financial peace jr. Before Brian got sick, we were working the commission system pretty well, so now we just need to get back on it. I also have turned control of the checkbook over to Brian. He is very accountable to me about his spending, but I need to be more accountable to him. Plus, he has no idea what's in there. He's also done some grocery shopping lately with our food envelope. He really had no idea about the cost of things.

I'm re-reading "A Well Trained Child." No, I am not a homeschool mom, but this book has such wonderful information in it. Truthfully, every parent who is involved in their childs education is a homeschool parent to some extent. I really need to sit down and reprioritize what I want the kids to be learning. We start alot of things and don't finish them. Now, sometimes we come back to them sometimes not. Its been a rough year for Tony in particular. I won't dredge through the details, but school was not going well, and we were seriously considering pulling him out. We were just working through the details and trying to make him understand that it wasn't his fault. Well, his teacher is no longer there, and as of Thursday he has a new one. I've heard several versions of why his teacher left, but I don't know which one is the truth. But, I do know, that for the first time this year, he came home from school excited about it. He couldn't stop talking about his teacher and all the things he learned that day. He said that he was amazed that she even made math fun! Brian met her on the class field trip on Friday, I will probably meet her this week, but she has already scored major points with me. My kids love to learn, and I don't want that to ever be taken away from them.

I started volunteering at the school again. I really debated and prayed about this, because I felt like I let them down last year. Yes, they were understanding, and yes I had a good excuse with Brian's stem cell transplant, but I still don't like committing to things and then not following through. Plus, it takes time away from my own children still at home, Aiden and Emi. Well, I ended up signing up anyway. There seems to be ALOT more volunteers this year. Last year there were 4 of us, and I think there are at least triple that. So, instead of volunteering a whole morning, I'm volunteering an hour and a half in the afternoon. Most moms are volunteering in their kids class. Makes sense right? Well, I'm in the second grade class. Its a small class, 14 kids, and I listen to them read. I really feel that I'm supposed to be there. I listen to kids read and then I help them log onto their new AR system to test on the books. The books that they read to me, they passed. The books they read to themselves or at home, not so much. You can tell the kids that don't have someone at home helping them with reading.

Speaking of reading, and a well trained child, I have their homeschool reading curriculum as well. I loved their history books, the story of the world, and thought I'd give it a try. Well, I don't like it at all. I thought that I would because its phonics based, but I do not. So its back to the drawing board. I've really been trying to devote more time to teaching Zachy how to read. He's sounding things out, and learning site words. He reads simple books to me and then I read a library book to him.

Angie had her first voice recital this Saturday. It was really nice. The kids each performed a song, and then they had refreshments and then they had a class. Angie seemed to really enjoy her class. They studied the orchestra and even got to get their hands on some instruments. She did pretty well for her first performance, but she was so nervous, that I had butterflies in my stomach. Afterward, Zachary tells me "mom do you know how old that boy was playing the piano?" I say no, he says well I heard his mom say that he's 5. That means I'm old enough to take lessons and I think I should start next week. Haha. He wants to take voice. Tony says he wants to learn how to play the violin. Sometime I really need to write about his interest in Celtic music, but, if I have three kids in music lessons, as Dave would say, I need to stay gazelle intense.

Nerd alert....My next post will probably be about UIL :)

2010-09-28T09:27:00.001-07:00

Ok, I don't know where this blog will take us, my mind is kind of a jumble at the moment. I read some of my back blogs and decided that I need to quit promising pictures that I never produce. Sorry about that. This cool weather has me drinking coffee again, and it probably isn't helping matters that I am on my third cup. Thanks again to my father in law, Sal, for your wonderful gift. My coffee still isnt as good as yours though. :)

First, I know you are concerned about Brian. His first treatment went pretty well. I think one of the worst part for him is the hung over feeling for the pre-meds. They make him so tired, but then he can't sleep, partially from all the weird jerky movements I think. Then the next day, he's just kind of moving through a fog. He had to take a day of PTO Saturday so that he could be near the bathroom. He hasn't exactly built up much since he's been back to work, but I am taking a class in October so I will have 16 extra hours of pay that month, so he won't have to feel guilty about being off work.

I am enjoying being part time. I'm not going to lie, its a HUGE cut in pay and we really have to stick to our budget, but it is so worth it. I had hoped to pick up some extra days here and there to start building our savings up, but that hasn't panned out and in fact I was even cancelled one day. First time in the 4 years I've been there. Census has been really crazy at work. One day we are busting at the seams and the next day our floor is half empty. This is probably the first time I can say that I am seeing the economy affect my job.

Each week when I go to work, the kids and I have this song and dance we do where they pretend that they are going to miss me. I always come up with something. You like having electricity? Groceries etc, well then I have to go to work. Last week, I said, "you like having gymnastics and voice lessons, Angie?" well then, I have to go to work. My sweet sweet daughter tells me, "mom, I'd gladly give those things up to have you here with me". Awww. She must have gotten her sweetness from Brian, because she sure didn't get it from me.

I went with my parents this weekend to Matagorda. It was really kind of comical and I could really make the national lampoons version of this trip. Dad had to clean mud dobber nests off the trailers ac blades. We spent the night before alternating between roasting and being cool, but having the thing sound like a jack hammer. We got attacked by a swarm of mosquitoes, my parents lost their truck keys, they had a blowout on the way home. The baby kittens almost drown in the bathtub after we've been dropper feeding them for weeks. I really could go on and on. But, really and truly in spite of all that, we managed to have fun. I guess its about finding the good in the bad. The park had a nice playground, a little nature center, and a neat pier. The kids loved the beach and said that they hit the shell jackpot, and I think mom was in heaven too. We got away from technology for a while. We read books and played cards. My phone didn't work there too well, and amazingly I didn't go into withdrawal. I am dreading that make up work from Monday, so next time we may have to venture a little closer to home.

Angie and I started listening to The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate on playaway. We are 4 chapters in and it is such a good story. I know some of you won't want your children reading it because it mentions Mr Darwins book. But, it is a fabulous story set in 1899 Texas, rich with historical Texas and civil war references, as well as references to science. It also focuses on the relationship of a 12 yr old girl and her cantankerous grandfather. So sad that I have to leave for work tonight and have to wait to hear chapter 5.

Pam is taking Brian to his treatment tomorrow and Katie will drive him home. If this week goes like last, I should be able to work Thursday as well. I think my dad will be there Thursday as well since they eliminated his overtime.

Hiccup

2010-09-18T16:32:00.000-07:00

Hiccups are a real nuisance, the literal kind and the figurative kind. Well, we've had more than our fair share in this cancer journey. Brian's scan on Friday didn't go as well as expected. He had a small pea sized area show up on the PET scan. His Dr at Baylor was unable to palpate it in the office. He says that it could just be an inflamed lymph node due to a recent virus or because of ant bites etc, but given Brian's history, we have to assume the worst and treat it, unless Brian wants to have a surgeon go in, take it out and have it biopsied which could cause a whole slew of potential problems. So, Brian will be seeing his oncologist in Abilene and this week and setting up maintenance treatments to start soon. Some doctors do maintenance Rituxan once a month. Because of this spot, Brian has to do a more treatment-like maintenance treatment, so he will do Rituxan once a week for 4 weeks and have another scan in December.

Rituxan is a newer medicine known as a monoclonal antibody. The science is fasinating, but it basically only targets the cancer cells. So, it doesnt affect blood counts, you keep your hair, etc. Side affects are similar to a case of the flu....GI stuff, and nasal/sinus stuff. He told Brian that he can still work while he's getting treatments. Funny after seeing everything he's been through to discuss the flu as being no big deal.

December will be 3 years. So much for our kids to go through. Angie was 6 when this started, Tony 5, Zachary 3, Aiden 1 and I was pregnant with Emi. As we unloaded groceries from the car yesterday, Angie says to me, "I know dads cancer is back. You don't have to tell me. If that scan was good, you would have said so already." She shed lots of tears. How hard to be nine, and understand, but not understand.

So, we are trucking along, living everyday to the fullest, and remembering each day to be sure that the people we love know it. I think it finally sank in that we are going to have to deal with this for the rest of our lives. Keep your positive thoughts and wonderful prayers coming our way. We love all of you.

Happy 6th Birthday Zachary!!

2010-09-10T08:59:00.000-07:00

Zachary turned 6 last week. He has been talking about his birthday for months. His present wish list was longer than any Christmas list I've seen. While he didnt get anything that was on that list, he recieved a few very nice presents and had shrimp for dinner and chocolate cake per his request. I cannot believe how much he's grown. He loved his legos, his air hog, and his mp3 player. Now if his dad would only get la la lasagna put on there he'd be in heaven. Love you Zachary!!

New school year

2010-08-26T20:31:00.000-07:00

Well, for the first year, I don't have any pics of the first day of school. I think I am going to try to get some tomorrow and call them first week of school pics ;) Monday, Brian was at work and I got 5 kids up, dressed, fed and ready by myself. The older kids were up until well after 11 despite having gone to bed by 8:45. Excited about the new school year I guess. This means the little ones were up too. So, they were not the least bit happy about getting up. In fact, the older kids were completely ready, and they were still not up. Emi refused to get out of her pajams, so she followed along behind me while I helped with all the school supplies in pjs, eating her pancake on a stick.

Zachary started kindergarten this year. He asked me to walk him to his class, which I loved. When we got there, the teacher met us at the door and told us that they decided to have two kindergarten classes instead of one and he was in the class next door. He was thrown off for a minute when we arrived at his pre-k class and his pre-k teacher was there. His eyes were big and round. SO, I say, wow Zach, isn't it cool that you get Mrs. Chambers again for KINDERGARTEN, huge emphasis on the word kindergarten. After that, Zachy let out a sigh, like shew I was worried for a minute there, and set down to work.

Tony has a young teacher, and he has an experienced teacher helping out until October. Not sure what that's about, but so far he seems happy. I'll have to get the skinny from Katie I guess since this teacher went to school with her. I know that her husband is in the military but not much else. His homework this week is to read for 30 minutes each night. Well, the book he checked out from school took all of 10 minutes to read, so he read one from the public library as well. I suggested two books next time.

Angie has Tony's teacher from last year. Confused? Well, she changed from 2nd to 4th grade. I like her alot. She hasn't been teaching very long, but she seems to care. I have known Barbara, I mean Mrs. Stewart, for well over 10 years now. We met in LVN school, but she quit when she was expecting baby #3. Angie said that she was excited when her son joined the class today. Her niece attends Sunday school with Angie and they have become close friends. Angie keeps hoping that she will come too. I do know though, if she runs her 4th grade anything like her 2nd, then Angie is going to have lots of homework.

We look the oldest two kids for their first eye exams. Angie did fine. Tony has an astygmatism. So, we ordered his first pair of glasses. We've known for a while that he probably needed them, he sits close to the TV, holds his books close, and has trouble when going from one line to the next. Ive actually made a couple appointments that I later had to cancel because they conflicted with other things. We finally tried to get one this summer but the first week of school was the earliest we could get.

That's water under the bridge though. He's supposed to wear them pretty much all the time, so we shall see how this goes. He looks pretty darn handsome in them though. We have pretty good vision insurance. It covered all of the exam and all the cost of the lenses. So, Brian, Zachy and I have an appt for 2 weeks from now. The other two will get theirs when they become school age.

2010-07-30T19:05:00.000-07:00

The oldest two spent last week at Threshold, a GT camp held at Hardin Simmons in Abilene. They really seemed to love it, and I loved that another girl went from their school and her mom and I could share the driving. The last day Brian and I got to come and see what they worked on all week. Angie's age group studies major events of by decades starting at the 1950's and learned what is involved in making a city. Then they divided into groups and had to design their own. Angie was the "artist" of her group. Her friend was the "politician" in another group. Angie designed a museum for her city that also included a billboard for the Audobon exhibit. She also made a game where she bees in her city and you had to try to find them all.

Tony's grade studied the ocean including animals and ecology and they had to build an underwater city out of recycled materials. He was in heaven. Brian and I divided and conquered so I didn't get to see more of his presentation. Brian did say that Tony's teachers really seemed to enjoy him and that he gave one of them one of his famous running tackle hugs as they were leaving. They really seemed to get alot out of their camp and hope to go again next year. The themes are different every year, and when they get to middle school, they get to pick their classes.

Im so thankful to my friend for discovering it and suggesting it for Angie and Tony.

Tolerance

2010-07-16T12:25:00.000-07:00

Yep, two posts in one day, it is a record. :)

This week, I took Angie and Tony to gymnastics Thursday evening. They usually go on Thursday mornings, but we went in the evening because Angie was at softball camp that morning. Zachary didn't go, seems he caught the virus I had earlier in the week. I'll spare you those details, but I will tell you that it is rare for either of us to be sick. Well, I ran into about 4 people that I knew, including one of the parents from Angie's dance class. This little girl was in gymnastics. I will tell you, she kind of bugs me. In dance she was always like "Miss Amy, Angie did this wrong, or miss Amy, Angie did that wrong." GRRR. So, after gymnastics, we are walking to the car, and she tells Angie "Don't forget what you need to work on and be sure to practice before next week." Kind of annoying, if you ask me.

So, when we get in our van, I ask Angie if it bothers her when this girl says stuff like that. Angie tells me, "no mom, she's my friend and she that's just the way she is". It doesn't bother me because she's right, I did mess up on that part and I do need to practice." Ahh, sweet girl. I could take a few pointers from her for sure. I need to work on letting more things so, letting less bother me and taking fewer things personally. These kids are teaching me so much!!

Change

2010-07-16T11:43:00.000-07:00

Yeah yeah, I know I haven't gotten pictures on here yet. Here's a few random ones for kicks. The kids are all smiles about their lunchables. Seriously, they are super excited. When you are a family of 7 this is not something that is on your grocery list as a norm. This particular day, we were very busy at home cleaning, so this was an easy lunch (no dishes). That, and the fact that they wore me down at the grocery store.
The last picture is one of Zach and Aiden rocking out. It cracks me up, you put on a song they love and they immediately go for the Wii instruments. This particular day they are jamming to Weird Al's Lala la lasagna. Don't ask me, They LOVE this song and Zachary knows every word.

The next time I post pics you will get to see all their new haircuts. Amie did a fantastic job with the oldest 4. I don't need to tell you how hard it is to find someone that is good with kids cuts.

But that wasn't the only change I was referring to with the title. I am officially a part time employee. Yep, I'm nervous, I'm scared, but I am also excited and I know that things will work out and that I will be rewarded for putting my husband and my kids first. I don't know yet how I will do my schedule, and am trying out a couple different things, but I do know that I will be working 2 days a week. This is huge for us. I'm cutting my income by 1/3. Who does that in this economy? We do.

I found an online public school. Now, I'm perfectly content with the school the kids go to. They are happy and thriving. But I was still curious. So, I requested info, but my children have informed me that they love their school. So, we continue as we were. We may revisit this again in middle school but for now, I'll just continue to supplement their education at home. So, we aren't making that change this year.

Catching up.

2010-07-09T21:26:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow, I promise to try to get pictures on here, but right now everyone is in bed and I don't want to turn more lights on to scrunge around to find my camera. Last week, I had the kids go to bed early the night before gymnastics. Well, they were up and dressed before I even got up, and they made their own bowls of cereal. It was so nice that I kept looking for alien antennaes on these perfect children. Gymnastics went much much better after a good night sleep. So, I have vowed to make my kids have a bedtime for the rest of the summer.

I worked Sunday the 4th, and my parents set off fireworks here. There was a show closeby Friday night and Saturday night, but I just wasn't into it this year. Maybe it was the idea of sitting out in the rain and the mud. Brian is not a fan of sparklers and he is super parental about it. I always tease him about it, and he was the one that burned his thumb on one. We were both off on Monday. Brian was off because the 4th wasn't his holiday to work and his hospital recognized it on the 5th.

It was an amazing day. Brian and I had a huge argument last week, which is not like us. I said I just wanted one good day and couldn't remember the last time I DID have one. Well, monday everything was aligned perfectly, and God definately smiled on us. We all got up and took Tony to zoo camp. Yes, its kind of ridiculous to make an hour trip to Abilene to drop him off and to make that trip everyday for 5 days, but to see him in his element was 100% worth it. Well, we took the other kids to the zoo at 9:00 right when it opened. It was cool that day so the animals were active. We left about 11:30 to get lunch and the crowds were just starting to come. So, then we went to lunch at Rosas. Don't ask me why I like that place so much, I just do. Well we ate, and left just as the crowds were starting to come.

Notice a pattern here? We got to spend a nice day enjoying our kids without fighting crowds!!! We stopped in at Sam's to pick up my membership card and picked up some yummy fruit, nectarines, blueberries, and organic raspberries. We took the other four kids to the park by the zoo until it was time to get Tony, and once again no crowds. My kiddos had the slides to themselves!! Mom called and asked if we'd meet her in cross plains to pick blackberries.

So we picked Tony up at 2:30 and headed over to the berry patch. We picked 35 pounds of blackberries. Of course the biggest juiciest berries had to be on the bushes with thorns and bugs :( Pam plans on making jelly, I just froze three bags worth to break out in winter. I didn't want them to go to waste and I had picked up all that fruit at Sam's earlier. Oh, and the raspberries were demolished on the way to the blackberry patch. Peaches will be ready this week. I was scorching by then, so We headed home and I took all the kids swimming. One of my favorite things to do. Really. Put a hot grumpy kid in a pool, and presto chango, new kid. Promise it works every time. Now that Emi is big enough for water wings, I actually get to move around in the water some. In the words of Tony, "hollah" "Whoop whoop"

Tony had a blast a zoo camp. If you see him, you will have to get him to tell you all about it. He did a "research project" on the red spitting cobra, and he did his first power point presentation, which they gave us a copy of, along with a picture of the kids in his camp.

The gymnastics teacher was very complimentary of the kids this week, especially Angie. Miss Charity said that she loves her attitude. She keeps practicing when the other kids are moping that they are hot and tired and she tries to help the other kids, especially her brothers. Ahhh, proud mom moment.

Tuesday when we came home from berry picking there was a message on our machine from one of the ladies at our old church. We don't go there anymore because we both work Sundays and they don't have a Wednesday service. Pam has been kind enough to take my kids to her church, so when we started looking for a Wednesday night church, we ended up there because the kids are used to going there. Anyway, the message was so sweet about how they missed the kids this year at vacation bible school. Honestly, i would have sent them had I known about it. So, they went starting Wednesday evening. We went tonight to here the songs they learned this week. What a wonderful blessing.

Anyhoo, It my be a boring life, but its my life. Hope everyone is doing well.

Summer

2010-06-26T11:53:00.000-07:00

If you asked Angie and Tony what they did this summer, they'd say: "we learned latin, studied poetry, read classic literature, studied history, etc". If you asked Zachary what he did, he'd say "I rode my bike, swam and played in the mud every chance I got, and it was AWESOME." Too funny. These are a couple of pics of our trip to the Llano river. On the left Zach is telling me to "take the picture so we can swim".

Brian and I just got to go for the day because we both had to work Sunday, but mom and dad stayed through Monday. The kids had a blast camping on the river. It was a private rv park in Junction, and it was exactly what we all needed. The pecan trees where massive. Mom said that Sunday once people started clearing out, the kids found several rope swings tied up in those trees. We swam and kayaked the river and Tony caught two fish.

I had a bit of a frustrating week with the kids. I vowed that I was taking them out of all activities. Zachary had some sort of emotional breakdown on Thursday and refused to do gymnastics. He kept crying that he needed his dad. Very unlike him. Today he's made lots of comments about being glad that his dad isnt sick anymore, so I don't know if the two were related. But, as Brian says, I always say that and then I sign them up for stuff. Like today when I went down and signed them up for swimming lessons the last two weeks of July, sigh. If only I didn't feel that it was important for them to be safe in the water.

Angie

2010-06-06T10:50:00.000-07:00

Ballet

Broadway

Softball
Here are a few pictures of what sweet girl has been up to. I really need to be reminded sometimes what a good kid she truly is. She is a good big sister and a big help to me. Angie has very high expectations for herself. I feel like my job as her mom isnt to motivate her but rather to remind her that its ok to just have fun sometimes and that she will be loved no matter what. Ladybug made a perfect score on both sections of her TAKS test. Brian and I were so proud. She was very humble about it and only stated that she knew that she had passed.

She has always wanted to take ballet and she fell in love with childrens broadway all over again during her recital this week. It was a wonderful thing for me to witness. I am so thankful that it was such a positive experience for her. The scab on her nose is from running into the side of the pool while swimming at her girl scout camp out. Im a bit sad that I didn't get any pictures of it but the girls had a blast. Mom and Pam put up tents in the yard. The girls swam, karaoked and watched the tooth fairy on our outdoor projector.

What we are up to....

2010-05-29T10:18:00.000-07:00

Well, I guess I would say that we are up to a whole lot of nothing. At least it is our nothing, right? The kids finished school on Thursday. I now have a 4th grader, a 3rd grader, and a kindergartener. Mr. Aiden will go to Tuesday school in the fall, so Tuesdays it will be just me and Emi. The kids had a very good school year overall. I think many were surprised that they did as well as they did considering the stress our family has been under since in December. Both of the older kids made all "A"s. Angie's year average was a 95 in math. To hear her tell it, its because she isn't good at math. She received several awards including student of the year for third grade. Tony recieved some awards as well, but his are wadded up in the bottom of his backpack :)

I promised the kids two camps this summer if they made all "a"s so later I'm sure I will be writing about GT camp, softball camp, and zoo camp. The kids are also doing gymnastics one day a week, vacation bible school and a soccer camp. Tony has been telling me for a couple of years that he wants to paly soccer, but when I told him that it was played outside and that he'd have to run after a ball, he wasn't so sure. So we are trying an inexpensive 4 day camp.

Angie has a dance recital next week. She has a practice Wednesday, a dress rehearsal Thursday and a full recital Friday and Saturday. Ugggh. She loves her ballet class, but not so much the childrens broadway class afterward. There are only four girls in that class so the teacher really points out every little thing they do wrong. I told Angie that its not personal and that she just wants to help her improve, but its like watching the air being let out of a balloon--watching her face in that class. On the way home Thursday, we talked about maybe only doing one dance class or maybe going back to gymnastics. We will see what the summer brings.

One of the mom's Thursday was talking about her daughter's voice lessons. So I ask where they do voice. She tells me Howard Payne, "but its really expensive". At first I was pissed. These snooty dance mom attitudes get under my skin, but then I thought "she's right, it probably is more than I'm willing to pay." We are on a budget, but I was thinking more about other prices we pay. And Brian and I are trying very hard to put our kids in things that are going to build them up. They have wonderful spirits and I don't want that changed.

I talked to my boss about going to part time, so I will be taking the leap in July. I am nervous, but I'm also excited. I think two days a week will be a huge help to our family. We're doing some things to prepare and budget, and there are going to be some things that we have to say no to, but I think it will be good. We cancelled our directv and our movie store membership. Next month we hope to pay off the last of our credit card debt. Brian changed his shift to 4, 10 hour shifts, so he will be home every evening. This will be better for the kids, but I worry about the extra driving on Brian.

yep that's right, he's back at work. He's working 8 hour shifts to start with. He's doing pretty well, and has a PET scan June 18th. Please keep praying that this scan is clean and that he continues to heal.

Happy 2nd Birthday.

2010-05-21T20:17:00.000-07:00

Little Bit is officially Two. Man its gone by fast. She is too cute. But don't let her cuteness fool you. She is a little scrapper. We have truly been blessed. Happy birthday Emi.

Field Day

2010-05-21T19:56:00.000-07:00

This was actually last week, but I am just now getting pictures up. The kids was blessed with some money this year when someone left money in their will. The gentlman wanted part of the money to go toward track renovations. The track was asphalt and who knows how old. The new track is that spongy stuff. The football field was also seeded so field day took place on the smaller practice field. So, there weren't as many events this year as in years past, but the kids still had lots of fun. It opens with a parade of classes.

These final two pictures are of the 4th grade class. One of the girls Leann, had a brain tumor the size of a softball removed a few weeks ago. They had "team Leann" signs on their tshirts.

Growing up.

2010-05-12T14:30:00.000-07:00

As some of you know from face book, Little Bit has decided to start flipping herself out of her crib. I have the picture of her black eye on my phone to prove it. So, last week Brian ordered her a toddler bed complete with a Dora bedset. Every female cartoon character is "Dora" in our house according to Emi. So,Brian took the crib down and Little E has been falling asleep in our bed and getting moved to the bottom bunk. This is the first toddler bed in our home, but We'd like to put loft beds in the girl's room later when we feel Emilia will be safe sleeping on one.

The boys had to help build the bed.

Then Emi laid down for a nap.

If only she'd do this every day from now on.

Take me out to the Ball Game

2010-05-12T13:02:00.001-07:00

Not sure why they picked this pose but it cracks me up!

A Fire Ant, An Astro, And A Diamond Doll

For some reason Zachy was more concerned about his sucker being in the picture.

Love this time of year.

Kidisms

2010-05-01T20:04:00.000-07:00

Well, I have a few pics to post, hopefully I will get to that next week. Since my last blog, I made yet another field trip to the Abilene zoo. This time with Tony. They were studying habitats in school. I was impressed by the kids use of "science" words. Their favorite being ecothermic. I also got a big kick out of watching the other kids around my budding zoologist. "hey Tony, over here, what's this?" Tony, Tony come look, and on and on. My, self-proclaimed "NERD". As, we were leaving ball practice Thursday, he turns to me and says "can I do homework now?" I say sure when we get home. His response "Yippee I'm a nerd again".

My sweet Emilia is turning two this month, while I turn 35. Since we've been home, her vocabulary is growing by leaps and bounds everyday. We've been working on colors and shapes, and it cracks me up when she grabs a book and goes, Zachy's color (pointing at blue), Angies's color (pointing at pink), Aiden's color (green), Coney's color (red), and Me(her saying Emi) color (pointing at purple). So funny. And yes she calls Tony, Coney. LOL.

Angie took TAKS for the first time this year. I'm crazy curious to see how she did. She was so nervous. Yes, you can add the TAKS test to the list of reasons to homeschool. The pressure these kids feel is just ridiculous. Now the rest of the year will be fun goofing off stuff. I cannot believe that she will be a 4th grader next year. Crazy.

Zachary is learning to read. We actually started before Brian and I left for Baylor, and are starting back up. I am so proud of him. Yeah, he'll learn in kindergarten next year, but he's ready, and he's picking it up fast. He's our outdoor kid. He's a bit sassy, but overall a good kid. He's getting really good at figuring out how things work, and at trying to fix things.

Aiden is still my baby. I mean big boy. His middle name is Thomas (means twin), and I am amazed daily at his likeness to Zachary. They are hanging out more and more. Yesterday I looked out and they were both sitting on the hood of the truck arm and arm sharing a big secret.

We are playing softball, baseball and teeball until the end of the May. Angie is doing well. Zach is doing well, and Tony is Tony. He has a nice arm, when he tries. His first game was rough, and the parents are just ridiculous. The things that they say to their own kids is just terrible. It's a bit trying to me, as a mom, but I keep telling myself that he's learning life lessons. I admit to not sleeping well after his game. He has one coach who has no helpers, so he can't watch everyone.
Last practice, one of the other boys was throwing rocks at him, and Tony was standing there crying. I told him he didn't have to take that. His response "Really, mom?" I say yes, and he proceeds to get in this kids face and says "hit me one more time and you are not going to like what happens to you." And he stopped. Also, his coach forgot to play him last game. I was not a happy lioness. Brian says to me "that's the way it is in sports, if you aren't good, you don't play". Like the two boys sitting in the grass are good? I was just about to say something, and Tony goes up to the coach and says "hey are you going to let me play or what?" The coach says to Tony, oh, Tony, I'm so sorry, I forgot. So, Tony went in, and had a good play before they had to call the game because we were getting beat so bad. I was so so proud of him for sticking up for himself.

Well, I'm exhausted. Home depot with 5 kids and Brian and I got the front flower beds weeded and mulched and a few things planted and started on the roses on the side of the house. I have 3 red climbers and today I decided I needed two more and to mulch that too. Well, that side is solid rock, so I think it took over an hour to dig two stupid holes. Hopefully we'll finish with the mulch tomorrow. We have one more large flower bed to finish, and i have a few planters to fill. I put out ant killer today so hopefully I can dig in them this week. I bought weed killer for all the stickers that have shown up in my yard, but it was cloudy all day like it was going to storm. We have way to many home improvement projects, but it felt good to accomplish something today. The kids were a big help carrying plants and the blocks for the edging.

I guess I should mention that Brian is doing well. He's still pretty tired, and had to get blood on Friday. His white blood cells and platelets are good. I'm hoping that his red blood cells stay up. His meds that he has to take to prevent bacterial and viral infections can be hemolytic. So, he's taking a multivitamin and folic acid.

Spring time

2010-04-17T11:52:00.001-07:00

Lots of good things to be said for Spring. School is nearing the end. Its baseball and soft ball season. There are school field trips The weather is perfect for playing outside. This time of the year is so fun, and frankly, work just doesn't work for my schedule :) We are getting back into our routine which is such a blessing. I'm starting to plan our summer. Calfa University will be in full swing along with camps. We have to avoid crowds this summer, but hopefully we'll get to Port Aransas in August. But today its...Popsicles!!

Zoo field Trip

2010-04-17T11:40:00.000-07:00

Wednesday I went with Zachary to the Abilene zoo. I was amazed at how well behaved and respectful he was. Not exactily how he is at home ;) They had some classroom time and were able to pet a Madagascar Hissing Cockroach, a pancake tortoise, a corn snake and a guinea pig named Dr Pepper. Their new classrooms are pretty nice and there are a couple areas of construction. The weather was perfect and we had a nice picnic lunch. I got a big kick out of listening to Zachary and counting how many sentences he started with "Tony says...." Trust me, if there's something to know about animals, Tony knows. When we go to that zoo Tony is our personal tour guide. He knows the animals names, where they came from, how long they've been at the zoo, what they eat....on and on. When I asked Zachary if he wanted to go to zoo camp with Tony he said "Nah, I'll just learn whatever I need to know from Tony." Too funny.

Easter

2010-04-17T11:31:00.000-07:00

These pics are a bit late, but I am excited to say that Brian is doing well and that his scan was clean on Friday and he no longer has to wear that stupid mask. Our family definately has lots to be thankful for. I was at work Easter day so I missed pis of church and egg hunting, but here's a couple of the school parties.

Day +14

2010-04-01T12:18:00.000-07:00

Well, Brian was discharged from the hospital Tuesday. His dad met us at the hospital and we went over to the apartment and got settled in. I came home Wednesday after stopping at the store and picking up essentials like milk, bread, etc. We havent been home in over a month. Brian looked pretty rough Tuesday and Wednesday when I left, but his labs continue to rise. They will check them again tomorrow. He will be on antiviral meds for at least a year and he will do Rituxan again in 3 to 6 months. But compared to what he just did this is nothing. Rituxan is given once a week for 4 weeks and then repeat every 6 months. Its a newer cancer med so it doesnt have all the side effects, it just makes him feel flu-like for a day or two.

So Brian's dad is staying in the apartment with Brian and I'm home with the kids. I work Friday but will be back home Saturday for Angie's 9th birthday. I can't believe she is nine. I keep telling her to quit growing, but she keeps doing it anyway. she said she wanted to do her party when Brian got home, so I picked her up a little gift anyway and will get cupcakes or something one the way home tomorrow night.

I'll try to get photos up later of the easther parties.

Day +9

2010-03-27T19:56:00.000-07:00

Today was a bit disappointing to start out with. The lab computer system was down, so it was well after 9A before the results were back. Brians counts havent budged at all yet and he had to have more platelets today. Ugghhh. We were both not too pleased, and we are itching to get out of here. He is set up to be discharged to the Twice Blessed apartments on Tuesday, if his counts come up. IF being the key word here.

The highlight of our day was getting a visit from John and Sue and Jeff. They hung out with us and we can always count on John to have fun board games. I could tell that Brian was tired, but he really enjoyed their company. He took a short nap while John, Sue and I went to get food. Sue treated me to Freebirds. Bless you Sue for sparing me from hospital food. Brian still can't eat much, but he did truck on down to the family room afer his nap and we played another round of Torchstone. Sue left us a game called San Juan. Brian and I have it at home. Its one of the few games that's actually fun with two people.

I'm a little nervous about Tuesday. Brian's dad is coming, which I really appreciate, but I hate the idea of being at work and leaving him to figure out his way around. The streets around the hospital are typical downtown one way streets. I've been debating about calling in, but I can't really justify calling in for a "possible" discharge. Brian says he doesn't think he'll get out of here by Tuesday. Truthfully, Wednesday works better for me. We'll see. Its not my plan or my schedule. I will try really hard to do things according to God's perfect timing.

The kids seem to be doing well. Mom said that Emi started calling her mama and she keeps correcting her. Talk about breaking my heart. She knew me when I went home but that was over two weeks ago. Tony got his woulf badge tonight in cub scouts and Denise was gracious enough to take him for me. They called afterward and Tony and Angie sang us a song they made up about us coming home.

I can not wait for that.

Day +6

2010-03-23T20:01:00.000-07:00

Well, today like most days was a mixture of good and bad. Brian has been pretty "lucky" in that he only has a few side affects according to his Dr. The bummer is that he is going to have to deal with them until his counts start to go up. His Doctor said that he thought he'd get out of here next week. Praying that happens. We are ready to be home with our kids. We've both said that we are never eating hospital food again. I get it here and then again at work. Ugh. I did pick up a few snacks and theres always pb&j.

Brian's counts were really low today. WBC <100, HCT 24.5, Platelets 6K, TP 0, ANC 0. For the nonmedical readers, Yikes. Well, he got blood and platelets today and was kind of nauseated all day. We didnt care for his nurse today. She was a no it all that spent all day talking down to him. Funny, Brian says "I don't care for her". Brian likes EVERYONE. But, thankfully, we like our nurse tonight. He's running a bit of temp tonight.

Angie and Tony are going on a GT field trip. They get to do a tour of the TV station as part of their study of broadcasting. Over spring break, mom came to Fort worth to get a play set from a friend at work. It took up my dad's truck and stock trailer. Mom said that Aiden kept asking to put it together every five minutes. So, Mom, Aiden, and Zachary pulled the twisty tube slide out and she said that the two boys and Emi played in the tubes forever.

The Doctor says that we are getting out of here next week. Praying this happens. That would be one step closer to home.

Day+3

2010-03-20T19:35:00.000-07:00

For those of you worrying, I don't have much to post. From my nursing standpoint Brian is doing pretty well, considering. His spirits are good and he's been walking at least four times a day. They put these stars up for every transplant they do and we are anxiously waiting for his to go up. He's had a couple of gi issues apparently this is common because the chemo kills the mucosal lining. He feels like food sticks sometimes and can't taste very well but he makes himself eat. We've gotten close to another family here. The husband/father, Ed has been on a vent for 21 days now. His transplant went well, but then he got an rsv infection. I continue to pray for them every day. You can tell they are a loving family. I mention this because their son who has to be in his twenties, offered us a tube of diaper rash cream. How funny is that. He said he doesn't have a Colon so he's tried every brand and he orders one by the case. He says he offers it to everyone he knows. Too funny. They are a God loving catholic family. The wife said that they went to Hawaii for 5days before the came here and she is thankful for that time. She also says she knows that Ed is in gods hands and that she's just along for the ride and that he just wanted more time with their children. Not so different from us huh?

The nursing staff are nice but they don't do much for Brian. This should irritate me,but frankly I'd like to keep it that way. We don't see too many other pts on our walks so I'm assuming that Brian is doing well. A famous football players son is here. In the interest of HIPPA I won't say who, but I will say that he didn't seem be MEAN at all, and had some encouraging words for Brian when we were out walking last night. The men can all tell you his stats, but to me he was just a nice man battling the fact that a son he loves has leukemia.

Talking to the kids tonight was good. I talked to Angie for a long time and I hope we always have that. I love hearing all the tiny details of her day, and I can always count on Tony to crack me up. Zach, oh my zachadoodle, what can I say? I even enjoy his difficultness. Brian is known as the guy that has five kids. Even here, we endure peoples shocked comments. Maybe it makes some feel even more pity, but I wouldn't change a single thing. Brian's second birthday card says "my children are my greatest gift". When the secretary asked him to tell her about himself that was the very first thing he said. They are the reason that he gets up and endures this every morning and as our new friend says, "I'm just along for the ride"

2010-03-17T13:27:00.000-07:00

IMG_0287.JPG
well Brian got his stem cells. We will see if the picture comes out in the blog. He got two little bags and they looked like dark blood. They came to the room in a styrofoam cooler and one nurse thawed them out while another nurse pushed them. Kathy the occupational therapist came in and got the room ready. She rubbed his feet and she also used an oil called harmony. It was lavendar, sage, vanilla, and I forgot the fourth thing but it had a nice smell. She said the plants are grown by a lady who then extracts their oils and supplies just Baylor. The chaplain came in and blessed the cells which was nice. He had it on green paper with Celtic symbols in honor of st. Patricks day. The verse I liked was:
proverbs 3:8 may divine love and wisdom be healing to your flesh and marrow to your bones.

The dr gave Brian a "birthday" present and card and the unit secretary made Brian a card. I emailed her a few pics and Brian told her a few things he liked. There's the kids, me, John elway and the broncos, a campfire, and a freebirds burrito. So funny. We met a girl here whose dad is a patient here. She's a fellow aggie and her and Brian chitchat alot. He was telling her that's what he was having when he got out of here and that there's a freebirds 6 miles from here. Today she told us she was going and she already had her burrito made in her head. Lol.

Brian's sleeping off his meds. He got flush and a little queasy when the cells went in, but he really did great. Now we just wait for them to work. I'm so proud of him. I can smell the cream corn though. It's pretty strong. Another pt said he never smelled it, Brian tasted it a bit.

2010-03-13T20:13:00.000-08:00

Today was a calm boring day. No fires to put out. Boring is good. A volunteer came to pray with Brian. He said he had a allogenic transplant in 2004. He was this soft spoken indian man. He said his children were 4 and 7 at the time and he and his wife had no family here because he had come from India to work as a nurse. His soft voice changed as he prayed with Brian and if anyone could actually drive cancer from someone I felt he could. It was a strange and amazing experience.
Bag 8 is going now. One more tonight. Nine more to go.

Day -4

2010-03-13T05:21:00.000-08:00

Let's see, I feel like I should write, but it's more of the same. This thing I'm sleeping on is not too comfortable after an exhausting hectic 12 hours of work and a one hour car ride---but keeping perspective, after alot of walking and yoga stretches I'll feel better this afternoon while Brian will still feel blah. He's getting a total of 18 bags of chemo, so far five down. This is the first time I've been with him when he was getting infusions well I mean this relapse is. The first time around, I was 5 months pregnant when he was diagnosed so my dad and Katie took Brian to his chemo appointments. My mom was insistant that I not be in the room and since she is a nationally certified oncology nurse I listened. When it's running, I can smell it and my mouth tingled. Then I start having joint pain. Weird. So I make excuses to get out for a few.
Brian was really nauseated last night. He had already had 12.5 of phenergan so the nurse gave him the other half. That is when he learned he couldn't have the whole 25. He was so tired but the medicine gave him uncontrollable twitches and muscle jerks. So he'd nod off and his leg or arm would fling up in the air and wake him up. After that wore off he Slept ok except for getting up to pee. His iv fluids are at 275 which is pretty fast.

The kids seem to be hanging in there. Having to raise them while we are gone has raised some challenges for my parents. I know my kids are in good hands, but I still continue to pray for everyone at home anyway. My Zachary is a button pusher and the stories my mom tells me crack me up. My mom gets so frustrated. Brian says that he can't figure out why I'm the one person who's authority he respects. Maybe it's my scary mean voice I use haha. It's going to be a rough little bit when we get home I'm sure, but I'm ready for it. Hoping Brian continues to do well. If he does then I'm going home to see the kids Monday. Then, be back for the stem cell infusion Wednesday.

Mom signed all the kids up for softball/baseball. I think Tony moves up from tball this year. Have no idea how we're going to get them to 3 different games but the season isn't too long. Last year angie's started and ended before the boys so that helped alot. Her and Brian were our tossing the ball around some before we had to come here, and she got her aunt pammie to take her to get a haircut. It is short but she says she loves it. Last year they rotated the girls through alot of different positions and Angie finally ended up as catcher. She did pretty good, but roasted in the get up.

Well I'm rambling about nothin. Post more later.

2010-03-10T17:45:00.000-08:00

Well today Brian checked into the hospital, so far not much to add. He got a picc line which he was dreading, but it's done. We got a little tour of the unit did some paperwork, but not much else. Brian's radiation reading was 2.4. They have precautions to follow until his numbers get below 2.0. Not anything major though. He's supposed to start his hydration tonight and chemo in the morning. Hating that I'm not going to be here. They said that this chemo is alcohol based so he's probably going to be tipsy tomorrow.

The room is how do I put this nicely??? Well, it's ugly. Looks like a yucky old icu and it's pink:( good news is the garage is directly under so it's easy to get in and out of here. I know I nurse here. She used to be a tech on my floor at Harris so that's nice.

Brian was a little irritated with me cause I made a big deal about his sski drops. They were going to make him get a new bottle from "Baylor" because it was policy. He only has to take them for 9 more days. The pharmacist made a huge deal about not being able to trust their purity blah blah blah even though they came from their outpt pharmacy on the first floor. So rather than fight about it I let it go, and guess what "Baylor" pharmacy doesn't have them in stock so he HAS to take the ones he has.

We met someone in admitting that's having a unrelated donor transplant for leukemia. She said leukemia patients can't use their own. Her donor is in Germany so there's been alot of beurocracy involved in getting her cells here. I could tell she's scared. Praying she does well.

2010-03-09T21:05:00.000-08:00

Tonight is our last night in our little apt here at twice blessed. Tomorrow we check into the bone marrow unit and Brian gets a picc and they'll hydrate him then start chemo Thursday. I'm going to work and I'm not liking it, but I plan on coming back here when I get off. Traffic was horrible tonight when we drove the perishables over to the rv in fort worth and the gps no likey the mixmaster. So, I'm dreading the drive:(
It's interesting trying to parent by phone. We've made the comment many times that we have no idea how military families do it. We get teary every time my sister posts a new picture of the kids on facebook. This week I helped my daughter with homework by phone. Thank goodness for camera phones. I have a smart mom, but she isn't as helpful with language arts:)
anyway try to post when I can. I'm very thankful for emails right now

Brief update

2010-03-05T18:47:00.000-08:00

Well I have downloaded two different blog apps and sadly neither worked. So this blog will be brief. Brian is going great. He had his therapeutic dose of bexxar today . They measured how much he radiating and it's 11. A 22 requires a hospital stay so we get to hang out here in the twice blessed apt. at Baylor. He checks in to the hospital Wednesday. He has precautions he has to follow to protect me. There's a six foot rule, including separate beds, he has to has his hands every hour and triple flush. Starting tomorrow he has to suck on a lemon or sour candy every hour to help squeeze the radiation out of his salivary glands. I should mention that Brian hates sour stuff!! But oh well, beats and inflamed gland.

Tonight I read two chapters of the 2nd 39clues books to Angie and Tony. It was rough getting started but we got the hang of it. I was so thankful to get to do at least some of our routine with them. Talking to the kids was great tonight. I had them on speaker and zachy told his dad that as soon as he got home he was going to give him the biggest hug ever. We both were teary. Then I asked, what about me, and in true zachy form, he says, oh fine, I'll give you one too. We cracked up. I love them and miss them so much.

It's nice to know that so many are praying. If you're one of them, please keep it up.

We have a plan....we sort of.

2010-02-19T09:36:00.000-08:00

Brian got his calendar yesterday. In truth, I haven't studied it that much. His dad called with questions so i had to pull it up and look at it some, but mostly I was just concerned about the first two weeks. Brian checks into the apartment Tuesday, has labs Wednesday, sees the Dr Thursday, and starts Friday. We have to spend two weeks in their apartment while he is radioactive then he checks into the hospital on March 10. I decided to take two weeks off and stay with him. I don't have the PTO time, and i have no idea how I'm going to pay my bills, but surprisingly, I have more peace with this decision, than trying to figure out a work schedule and trying to find someone else to stay with him on the days I can work, etc. I'm hoping that I can work while he's in the hospital, and his dad is coming the two weeks after.

Mom and dad are going to take care of the kids. I am hoping that Brian does well, and that I can get home some to see them. I can't imagine going 6-8 weeks without seeing them. Think how much they are going to change, especially the two little ones.

Pray for us. Pray that we keep perspective and that Brian has a speedy recovery.

Another Field Trip

2010-02-10T19:18:00.001-08:00

Today Zachy went on a field trip to the fire station in Brownwood and the kids ate lunch at Cicis. Brian went with him and these pics are from his phone. They turned out pretty good, I just with he didnt forget our regular camera or that there was a pic of Zachy by himself. Oh, well. Brian sounded like he had a good time. He said that he met the female version of Zach. Kind of scary.

Hard to believe its already February. I'm amazed at how much he's learning and growing. I think by next year he is going to overtake Tony.

Family Update

2010-02-05T11:11:00.000-08:00

Well, Brian has a few weeks break from chemo. He started the work up for the stem cell transplant. Today he went for a whole slew of tests. I have turned this over to God. Its scary and I'm not sure how we are going to manage him being away for at least six weeks. He's going to miss home and I'm going to miss him. The kids will too. I just have to believe that God will lead us the right way and that if its not meant to be, one of these tests will say so. He found out today he got a 1.00$ cost of living raise. That would great if he was actually working. Oh, well. Soon enough.

I'm trying harder to make things go on as normal for the kids this time. Last time, we focused on Brian, and I worked and extra shift every week. I think that this is harder for Brian in some ways but in some ways its better. So far, I've opted not to work any extra. Money is going to start getting tight soon, I'm sure, but for now I just don't care.

The kids are doing pretty well. Angie is, of course, taking things hard. Its her personality. Kids dont know how to voice what they are feeling, so we've had a few tears etc over things, that when it boiled down to it werent the problem at all.

Angie and Tony are both doing well in school. I think both of their teachers are tough, which is a blessing and a curse, I guess. Tony is reading on a 4.3 level (which is grade 4 3rd month), and Angie is reading at a 4.5. This month in GT they are doing science projects. We have to pick a project, and since I work on Tuesdays, I have to find a family member willing to go with them.

I started in the fall trying to teach Zach to read, and it was met with many tears. So, we put it up for a little while. I started reading to him after school, which he isn't crazy about but its getting better. I picked up a very good reading program, and he has fought it every step of the way, so I am reading him books he likes and picking a sight word and making him read that one word. I can say that he is now up to 4 words. Aiden and Emi love for me to read to them and we read several books multiple times every day. I was starting to think that they'd know how to read before Zach.

Happy Birthday Aiden Thomas.

2010-02-04T10:00:00.001-08:00

Aiden says that when you turn Three God takes the two out (moves hand away from chest) and puts the Three in (moves hand from sky to chest.) I really liked this idea. To him aging isnt something that happens over the year, but a gift that happens in an instant.

There was definately a Thomas theme going on. Aiden currently loves trains. That is one of the reasons he insists we call him Aiden Thomas. This is the first year in about 4 that we had a store bought cake. Brian and I both thought "yuck". Even the cheapy boxes at the store TASTE so much better. It was really cute though. And Brian and I loved the fact that Tony and Aiden both picked a Thomas cake for their third birthday. We were cracking up thinking about Zachy picking a shark cake for his 3rd.

Aiden was very gracious and kept trying to share his presents with his brothers and sisters.

Even though the table is messy, I really wanted a pic of all the kids interacting. I am happy I got nana and papaw in there too.

In the pic at the top you can see him standing on the table to open it. Then he's sitting in front of his gift on the table. Normally we dont let the kids up on the table, I guess birthdays are exceptions. You can barely see Angie in the top one holding on to him afraid he's going to fall.

Field Trips

2010-01-28T14:37:00.000-08:00

Well, in between Dr's appointments, I've been spending my time on field trips. Last Thursday I went to Safety City with Angie and the rest of the third grade. They put me to work helping the kids coast their cars into the parking spaces, so I took the opportunity to take a picture of each kid in their car and gave them to their teacher. The third grade consists of 21 kids, so it wasn't a huge deal. I can say that I was impressed. They did the pedestrian, bike and car safety. They also have built a fire house, and the fire safety education was really well put together. They have a "bedroom" that fills with smoke. They teach the kids how to crawl out etc.

Then Saturday we took the Girl Scouts to the Grace Museum. They were supposed to have artists come in and teach the girls how to paint. Well, they canceled on us, so we took the girls anyway and then we went next door to the National Center of Childrens Illustrated Literature. They do art projects with the kids on Saturdays. I have to say that I LOVE this place. They have different artists work on display. A new artist is coming in April and he will come and do projects with the kids. Its free to go there as well. Currently the artist on display is Chris Raschka. His work is very cool. He's into jazz and other music. My favorite is Mysterious Thelonius. But there's a book on Charlie Parker, Coltrane, and he did a hip hop book as well.

Then today, we made another trip to the Grace with the GT students. They had a volunteer give us a tour and she talked about different styles of painting, impressionism, neoimpressionism, realism etc. I really appreciated it because I know nothing about art. There next exhibit will be Audobon's paintings, so I'm sure we will be back for that. The kids were excited about that since he was in that Texas naturalist book that I talked about in a previous blog. But the coolest thing by far at the grace, other than the giant operation game is the sound wall.

Each block makes a different sound. After the Grace we went to Gattis, ate pizza and played in the game room. I enjoyed beating my daughter in Air hockey and making a fool of myself playing dance dance revolution. I didnt get a chance to play bumper cars, but I did enjoy watching the kids. The song playing was I cant drive 55. They have a deal or no deal but instead of money its tickets in the cases. That cracked me up. My kids made me so proud with their toy choice as you can see in the picture below.

I brought a book on cd to listen to. They let the kids bring electronic, but I'm not to keen on trying to keep up with my kids stuff. I chose the Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate Di Camillo. You may know her from Because of Winn Dixie and the Tale of Despereaux. Its a wonderful story of having love and not knowing it, losing it and finding your way back home.

First Semester Done

2010-01-08T10:25:00.000-08:00

I went to the kids award ceremony this morning. Zachary is in pre-k, so he gets a different kind of report card that doesn't have grades on it. I was quite proud. Angie and Tony both made the all "A" honor roll for the six weeks and the semester. They also did the UIL awards. THe school got second place this year. Angie got a total of FIVE medals. First place in Oral Reading (poetry), Second Place in spelling along with a second place team medal, and First place in music memory along with a first place team medal. She also received recognition for a perfect paper in Music memory. My camera takes lowsy distance pictures, so heres one of the two kiddos together.

Brian resting after Chemo Round too.

2010-01-08T10:23:00.001-08:00

So this is "rest" when you have FIVE kids. The oldest two are still at school.

The Holiday

2009-12-27T07:41:00.000-08:00

Well, in spite of everything, I'd say we had a great holiday. We had a freak storm here Christmas eve. Mom and Pam left work at 6pm (an hour early) to try to get home. At 10pm they finally made it to Weatherford from Fort worth(30 miles) and Brian and I called and got them a hotel. They finally made it home around 3ish Christmas day. Brian was supposed to go get labs and a neupogen shot Christmas eve, but we didnt get out on the icy roads. I had been giving the shots at home, but we were out. Christmas eve was a simple stew made with whatever I had on hand. I threw lots of veggies in it, including zucchini and cauliflower and I made mashed potatoes instead and homemade bread. It was a nice simple meal.

As tradition, the kids go to mom and dads Christmas eve. Zachy was vomiting but he went anyway and dad said Tony started during the night. Angie and Emi got sick Christmas day. Brian, Aiden and I have been so far spared. So, we didn't have the usual big meal but we still got together and had a nice meal with mom, dad, my sisters, brother in law and my sweet niece.

My kids had a strange mix of presents, but then again they are all different. Highlights were the puppet theatre, Aiden fave was a powerwheels 4 wheeler, Zachy loved his remote control monster truck and a DS, Tony loved his Barack Obama biography and legos, which was hilarious. Brian couldnt believe I bought that book, but to see how excited Tony was about it was priceless. I love that little democrat. Angie got a Barbie nail printer which we can't wait to try out and Emi just loved the candy in the stocking. I think Angie loved her robe from Pam the best. Lots and lots of books this year. And lots of pajamas. We didnt make it to Christmas eve candle light service because of the weather which was a bit disappointing, but couldnt really be helped.

Saturday we played games with the oldest two. Good ole yahtzee, a game called totally gross, and an almanac game. Brian felt pretty good, which I was thankful for. Some pain still, but not like earlier in the week.

January 4th is chemo again. I'm hoping to do something fun with the kids beofre then,I just havent decided what yet. We'll see how the weather is on my days off and how Brian feels.

Before and After

2009-12-24T09:02:00.000-08:00

Last time Zachy was really upset by Brian loosing his hair, so this time Brian included him. This kid was super excited to shave his dads head. I just had to get pics. Tuesday Brian had to go in for a blood transfusion. I went in with him with all five kids. Every other patient there was elderly and seemed entertained rather than bothered by the kids like the nurses were. But, Zachy really wanted to see the process. I read the kids the biography of Charles Drew, the African American physican credited with starting the first blood bank for the American Red Cross and explained how it would happen. Tony, my puking child, stayed far away on the steps, but Zach pulled himself up a stool and I had to explain each step. HE was super excited and kept saying awesome. Brian has had various issues related to the treatment and this week he was in severe pain.
After the transfusion on Tuesday I picked up chinese food from the grocery store along with bowls and silverware. Its tradition that we go out for Chinese and then go look at the lights in San Angelo. Well, we weren't up for going out to eat and I don't think Brian could have handled the long drive and since we were in Abilene, we drove through the State School and viewed the lights there. It was a pretty impressive exhibit, and they had a theatre set up along with Santa and a concession stand, but we just did the drive through. Brian was in so much pain he was not exactly nice to me, and he was in near tears. Later when we got home, he told me he was very thankful that I kept our tradition.
We're trying very hard to keep things as normal as possible for the kids. We're having a great holiday. Since the weather is bad today, we are staying in. I was supposed to go out to the store to pick up stuff to make Aunt Estella's chicken. Well, we are having stew instead since I have all the ingredients for that. There's a fire going and we are listening to "A Cricket in Times Square". Tonight the kids will go to mom and dads and then we will be up most of the night wrapping and assembling.

Snow for Christmas

2009-12-24T08:48:00.000-08:00

Those of you who aren't in Texas don't laugh. It was 75 degrees yesterday and today, SNOW! The kids were so excited.

Here we go again

2009-12-09T20:44:00.000-08:00

Well, I am sitting down for a minute before I begin tackling the laundry. I came home yesterday to find the dog asleep on the laundry. The dirty muddy stinky dog. I didn't even ask which kid let her in I just threw her out and threw the clothes back in the dirty clothes. I didn't have the strength or desire to be upset about it.

Brian found out Monday that his cancer is back. There was one mass they were really concerned about so he started chemo tonight. His new port was placed about 7pm. He called me about 8:30 high as a kite and still in recovery, then he called me again when they started the chemo and he had to go after he started slurring his words. He has to do three days of chemo in the hospital. I'm trying really hard to have a good attitude and to keep praying. It comes naturally for Brian but its hard work for me.

I got home about 8:45, then I had to get the kids home, Angie and Emi needed a shower, Zach was super emotional, and we buried Finneas, the fish. Tony finally quit crying over that about 10 minutes ago. We'll see if we go to school tomorrow. I usually have them in bed by 8:30 on school nights.

Tony was supposed to have his eye exam today and I completely forgot. I felt terrible about it when I remembered on the way home from the hospital. Hopefully, I remember to call tomorrow and reschedule. Won't be making my volunteer day tomorrow, doubt I will take Tony to boyscouts, but I should take Angie to dance since she has missed two weeks already and her recital money is due. 127$ for two costumes--ridiculous. Lets just pray that they either fit or are too big. Last time I had to get both costumes alerted.

Katie is coming tomorrow to help watch the kids. Something that I am completely grateful for. She's such a sweety. I didn't have to ask, and she didn't make me feel guilty, so I guess I'm doubly grateful. We're taking it one day at a time, trying to continue to make the kids our first priority, and downplaying this as much a possible. Brian and I refuse to let it this consume or define us.

I'll blog when I can, but it probably wont be as frequent for a while. I guess that laundry isn't getting done tonight. I still need to get Aiden to go to sleep.

Finishing my update.

2009-12-03T20:47:00.001-08:00

Where to start? Well, I picked Angie up from school after her UIL meet. I know that she made it to the finals in oral reading, so that means she was somewhere between first and sixth place. They make us wait until 6 week assembly time to find out about ribbons or medals etc. Remember the ole school meets and the 5$ for lunch. Well, my daughter "forgot" about it and used the couple of dollars extra I gave her. They told me they weren't sure yet if she would be on the early or the late bus, but they'd call me and let me know, so I sent some cash for an afternoon snack. Well my child informed me that she ate a pickle and a candy bar for lunch and bought a water. She came home with half the water still in the bottle. Upon further interrogation, I learned that she was actually too nervous to eat. So, we had a chat about the brain working better when you "feed" it and I learned that it might be nice to send a blanket with a girl who's in a dress because buses are cold. I also learned that it might be nice to slip some peanut butter crackers or a granola bar in her pocket now and again.

While I was waiting for Ang, Tony and I hung out in the car(it was less than thirty minutes and our roads are really muddy right now). Yesterday, we read the Lewis Carroll biography. I was asking him what other biographies the school had, and he came home today with the Martin Luther King, jr bio and the Mark Twain bio. As he's telling me this, he looks in his backpack and golly gee, he had left one in his desk. So, in we go. We stop at the tree for him to show me his ornament he proceeds to entertain several teachers. He's quite funny and naturally I hear, it must be a riot at your house. I don't say much because no one believes me when I tell them that he is my quietest kid. He mostly entertains others and at home he goes with the flow and is pretty content not to be in the spotlight.

Oh, I forgot to mention that he got an expander on his teeth yesterday, so he drools alot and talks with a lisp, which only makes him that much funnier. He says his official language is gibberish, and that I am his personal translator. It comes off in 14 weeks and I am counting the days. Next week he gets to go for his eye exam. Brian asked me when I was going to be done "nerding our son up."

Tonight we read the Gift of the Magi by the fire. Tomorrow I will read something more their level, just to keep them guessing. Did they get it? well, not really. The language is a bit difficult, but Brian and I explained it as best we could.

They had a seminar at the school on kids and the internet and cell phones etc. I thought it was pretty good info. We also had our Health advisory council meeting. I'm pretty excited about this even though I have no idea what to do with it. They gave us some info and suggested we search and see what the "big" schools are doing. Its a pretty neat concept. It is required that every school have one, and that it be parent run and a majority of members be parents. We are supposed to evaluate the health programs at the school--from employee health, to health ed, phys ed, nutrition etc and suggest programs to offer parents, suggest curriculum changes etc. Our council is made up of the counselor, the nurse and surprise surprise, the three moms that also signed up to be volunteers in the elementary school. We wrangled one of the jr high moms into it that was at the seminar. But the three of us arent dealing with certain issues yet. Of the three of us, I have the oldest kid and she's 8. So, any suggestions please email them to me.

Thursday update

2009-12-03T08:35:00.000-08:00

Well, I stayed home from my volunteer gig today since several of the teachers/kids are gone for UIL today. I said my silent prayer for Angie that she stays calm. I am so proud of her. She had 600 spelling words to learn (she took that test Monday) and I know that she could spell all but 36 of them without any problem. I bought her a pocket dictionary so that she also knows the definitions of all 600 and the part of speech. Brian and Pam will both admit that they are terrible spellers so Angie and I had lots of mommy/daughter time working on this. We tried lots of learning styles, but the method that worked the best was letting her quiz me first and then I'd quiz her 10 words at a time. She would closely study the words trying to catch me getting one wrong. SO, now and then I'd misspell one on purpose, especially if it was a tricky one. But, I will admit that I did misspell emperor wrong the first time. Today is music memory and oral reading. She says she's struggling with the oral reading because she has to remember to read and not recite, AKA she has the thing memorized. I'm pretty proud of the music memory as well. She can now site 16 classical pieces my name and composer.

It got my wheels turning on what to memorize next. The month of December is going to be christmas story classics. We already listened to and audioversion of the Dickens classic, and I bought a book bundle which I plan to start after we read through the original Christmas story from the bible. In January the kids have asked that we study instruments so we are going to work through a study of the orchestra which will hopefully be followed by a trip to the symphony, and in GT the oldest two are to pick and artist to study. Tony has picked da Vinci and he told me he plans to paint the Angie Lisa. Angie is still thinking about it. She has to think and analyze. Everything is a major decision. So, we'll see. If the weather permits, maybe we can squeeze in an art museum trip. That's something I've never done either.

Pam is getting in to the swing of things with her girl scout troop. She will admit she has no organizational skills, but she is really creative. We talked yesterday about not focusing on what she or I might like or even what the girls might like, but rather what they need. So, we are planning for January, a first aid class (Mom, Pam and I are all basic life support instructors) and then we are going to do a safety day, which will include an intro to self defense. We decided that when we look at workshops etc that are offered, we shouldn't look at wow Austin sure does alot, but rather we should try to figure out how to give our girls here the same opportunities. Next year is going to rock. This year is the testing the waters year.

I signed up to be a member of the schools health advisory council. So, tonight as part of our first meeting, I will be attending a seminar offered at the school to parents. This one is on kids and technology and includes keeping kids safe in areas such as the internet. Should be interesting. I think this committee could do great things, so I am curious to see how this goes.

I'll post more about the kids later. I need to go get Zach from school and then we are off to buy some bookshelves. I'm getting all the books out of the closet and putting the toys in!

Christmas Pics

2009-12-02T21:27:00.002-08:00

Kid Update Part two

2009-11-20T07:06:00.001-08:00

I know, I know, I already did a kid update this week, but there are a couple things I need to write down before I forget.
This week I took Tony to the orthodontist. I really don't get alot of alone time with him. The other kids I seem to manage it more, but they come to me, him I have to seek out. At home he's often quiet, reading a book etc, but you get him by himself and he is hilarious...but first, the reason we went.
The oldest three kids recently had their dental checkups and Angie and Zach were in the no cavity club. Tony, well, he had 12 cavities. The dentist adviced us to take him to the orthodontist because maybe his bite was a factor. So, I made the appointment. I have alot of respect for Dr. Oliver, and he seemed to remember me, granted I've only had my braces off for 3 years. So, he wasn't too concerned about the cavities, they are in baby teeth and he said that they are extremely small, but he does have a cross bite, which means some of the back teeth are over the top and some are over. He also said that his jaw is small, but the only way to fix that is surgery but not until he's an adult. He may need braces later to close the gaps, but Dr Oliver says that's easy to fix. Tony is getting a thing called an expander though to straighten out that bite. I'll post more on that when it happens. Apparently it looks kind of like a retainer, and it has a key you have to turn twice a day.
So, Tony hears the word surgery, and he immediately starts crying uncontrollably. I start to pick him up and Dr Oliver stops me, and just holds him in the chair and talks to him. He's a father of four, but it still struck me as really sweet.
So, he's asking Tony what he wants to be when he grows up, and Tony tells him, a 'grossologist'. So of course, the orthodontist says "what's a grossologist?" and Tony says you know they study gross things, and if I find some moldy teeth I'll save them for you because I know you love teeth" At this point, I am about to fall out of my chair, because of all my kids, this is the one that definately WILL NOT be a "grossologist". He vomits at the site of his own blood or the smell of dead crickets and pretty much anything else 'gross'.

So, this school year has been really tough for me. Angie and Tony are both "labeled" as gifted and talented. I say labeled because they are in a small school so Tony is the only GT kid in his grade and there are two in Angie's grade. The other girl is Tony's age but she skipped second grade. So, their teachers grade them very tough. Tony had one "B" which was an 89, and Angie had all "A"s but two were barely "A"s. So, I alternate between being mad and being grateful. I've had a couple of teacher conferences. Sometimes, I debate whether to pull them out of school altogether and home school them. But, we've been studying at church learning how to stop and hear the word of God in our lives from the big things to the small, and I think I got my answer.

Last night was family night for the school book fair. I kept Angie out of dance last night, because my cousin is here visiting and she also had way too much homework to do, mostly UIL stuff. So, Brian and Tony went to cubscouts, and I took the rest of the kids to the book fair. I told them to be good and no running or screaming and they could each get a book (yes even the babies). So, they shopped for their books and while I waited in line, they sat at a table and had a cookie and punch. I might add that I bought 84$ worth of books, but that's what happens when you are a mom of five.

So, getting to my point: all week Angie has been talking about this cookbook she wanted. For those that don't know, she is quite a foodie, she loves food network, helping in the kitchen, trying new foods that other kids wont touch, and she drives me crazy with her constant critiquing of my meals. So, anyway, first there were 3, then 2, then only 1. So, last night we go to the bookfair, and she goes straight to that table and....no book. I can see on her face she is disappointed, but she quickly clears it and helps the other kids find a book. Then, her teacher comes over and hands it to me. She said she put the last one back and she was going to buy it for her if we hadn't.

And right there, I thanked God for showing me that even though I don't always like it, for whatever reason, my kids are right where they are supposed to be.

Kid update

2009-11-18T06:32:00.000-08:00

So Brian and I are back from our two night stay in Wimberly. It was great. I was planning our next trip, probably for our fifteenth in a year and a half. It was much needed, we don't get too many date nights and its been three years since we went anywhere just the two of us, but most of the time thats ok. yesterday we came back to the chaos that is our life, and sadly, no laundry fairy came to fold the giant pile of clean clothes while I was gone. I'd post a picture of Zach sleeping in it, but its on Brian's phone. I've already designed my laundry room for when we finally build our house.

Angie is working hard on UIL. We've learned 300 words, but she has 300 to learn in about 10 days. THe list came out in September, and I wish they would have given it to us then instead of mid October. I'm sure other kids have been looking at it six weeks longer. I've been pushing her a bit, and last I pretty much washed my hands of it when she wasn't even trying. She's loving the music memory and oral reading. She has a field trip Friday to see the nutcracker and she wanted me to go, but parents aren't allowed. I think they could only get a certain number of tickets, but I was told that I could go to Gattiland with them. Uhhh, no thanks.

Tony didn't make the teams for UIL. His feelings were kind of hurt. He said he kept waiting for them to call his name, and they didn't. I felt bad for him. His poem was awesome. I kept telling him read it again, it was so entertaining, but I really don't think they were looking for someone who did voices and had the whole thing memorized so they could act out the parts. Maybe I should have made him do it "right", but I couldn't bring myself. I really need to work on helping him find his niche. He is so bright, but I don't think people see it, because unlike his sister, he's not a people pleaser, and he's always testing the boundaries. Next year will be better, they add a couple more events in 3rd grade.

Zach is well, Zach. No other words describe. We were working on reading, but I've taken a break. I'll probably start back up after the holidays. Its really stressful because he's a toot, but if I get the least bit frustrated with him, its uncontrollable waterworks. Angie and Tony didn't learn to read until kindergarten, because I didn't know any better, and maybe I'll have to do the same with him. Once the older kids learned, they just took off, so we'll see. He's such a good big brother. I love watching him play with the little ones outside. He's always so sweet and helpful. But he's a regular pest to Tony and Angie. Just this morning he was copying them and driving them crazy.

Aiden finally started pooping on the potty. We were starting to worry, but last week he just started doing it on his own. Yeah, only one kid in diapers. He's really a climber and a daredevil. He's finally beginning to get out of his fit throwing phase which is awesome. He may be ready for Tuesday school next year.

Sweet Emi. She's the baby, but she is growing up. Watch out daddy, this girl has a thing for shoes. I couldn't keep shoes on all my other kids at this age, but she wants to wear them 24/7. And to see her face light up and hear he ooohh and aaahh when she gets a new pair, priceless.

Well, I will update more later. That giant pile of laundry is calling my name, and we are shampooing carpets today.

Food Drive 2009

2009-11-18T06:22:00.000-08:00

My boyscout
My boys

This year my mom helped out with the food drive. She set up a booth at the local grocery store to collect cans and then she went with Tony door to door to collect. It was a huge success. I just hope that the boys learned a positive lesson from it. Mom was kind enough to take a pic for me, but wasn't quite sure how to use the camera. You can tell its Tony though, so thats all that matters.

Den Leader

2009-11-13T08:53:00.000-08:00

Ok so I get confused as to whether he is a den leader or a pack leader, but for the next big montly meeting his den is doing a skit. The boys wrote it, so it involves Native americans and a bear, so this week they made customes. Brian cut out the brown paper bag vests at home and let the boys decorate them at the meeting. Next week they are working on sound effects.

This year has been kind of hard on him because of the lack of parent involvement and he has 10 7 year olds, but I hope that at the end of the year he can look back and be proud of what he's done.

Pam finally got her girl scout troop up and going. pray for her. Right now my moms house is really full on Tuesdays. They had a rally and signed up 16 girls from first to fifth grade, but didn't get them any leaders. So, Pam said they could meet with her troop until they found someone. Last week they worked on Operation Christmas child boxes, and this week they are making placemats for Thanksgiving dinner at the soup kitchen. She's a bit overwhelmed.

The new addition

2009-11-06T10:02:00.000-08:00

Well, Emi is ready to transition out of her high chair and into a booster, unfortunately, our table only has 6 chairs and we are a family of 7. So, Brian decided to hire someone at a woodworking shop in town to build us a bench. Its not varnished yet, but Brian told him to make it big enough for four adults. Its massive at seven foot long. Brian said we had room for another kid. I told him that if he wanted to have another I wouldn't hesitate to. Then he says "so you want to?" and I say, "I'm gonna have to think about it, I'm not sure." Too funny.

Kid Update

2009-11-05T10:15:00.000-08:00

Well, looking back at a few posts, I see that I haven't done an update in a while, if ever. So here goes, keep in mind this may be a long post, after all, I have five.
Angie is doing well. We had a couple of rough weeks with school, but after a parent teacher conference things seem to be going much better. Right now she is preparing for UIL. Third grade has 5 competitions, and she is in three. I think she would have done them all, but her teacher made her choose three, and frankly I am thankful for that. I'd much rather her concentrate on doing well in a few, than have her spread herself too thin. So she is doing Spelling, Oral Reading, and Music Memory. Spelling consists of 600 words to memorize, so I've been quizzing her on about 25 a night. For oral reading, she is reading, Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout would not take the garbage out by Shel Silverstein. Music memory, which she is the most excited about, consists of memorizing 16 classic pieces. THey play a short portion of it, and the kids have to name the composer and the piece. I'm thinking about downloading her cd to my mp3 because there are a couple of songs that I don't care for.

For UIL Tony's grade just started practicing this week, so they haven't named teams yet. Tony is also reading a Shel Silverstein, the one about a the crocodile that goes to the dentist. He reads it very well, but we have to remind him not to dance or add stuff. There are only 3 events for 2nd grade, so we'll see if he does any. right now he is in bad need of a haircut so he has a mad scientist look to him. His hair is like his dads, it just grows bigger not longer. Reminds me of when we were in college and Erick and Brian decided they were going to grow long rocker hair, and they just grew big 'fros.

Zachary is going through a big growth phase right now. He is pretty emotional sometimes. He keeps bringing things home, such as grasshoppers, to have as pets. We were working on reading skills for a while, but I'm taking a break while he gets through this emotional thing. He misses a sound and its these huge tears. I want him to love to read and learn, so I am just reading to him for now. He's such a good big brother.

Aiden is somewhat potty trained. I think Brian is going to lose his mind if he doesn't get it soon. He's pee trained, but not poop and it doesn't seem to bother him one bit to walk around with it in his pants. He has definately been the most challenging in this area. He'll be 3 in Jan. and our first three were all trained by now. He loves following Zachary around, doing flips, and his speech is improving every day.

Miss Emi is growing up. She's her brothers' shadow. She has no problem making her needs known, so at 17 months, she is just now really starting to talk. I guess it beats Tony, who didn't say one single word until 2 1/2. She says please and thank you, and since she is going through a biting phase, she has mastered the word sorry. One of her favorite words is "crab", for the hermit crabs that Pam keeps as pets. The kids have to "walk" the crabs, which is basically an excuse to let them out of the container, and Emi goes crazy. She loves it.

We finished our Texas Naturalist book, and since we are focusing on UIL right now, I am just reading stories at night. Right now we are reading My Father's Dragon, a Newberry winner written in 1944. I just ordered the second and third book of this series. I missed out on reading so many good books as a kid, its nice to get a do-over.

We missed two weeks of bible study, but were back this week. It went pretty well, until Aiden had to go to the bathroom, and Emi's scream could be heard throughout the entire church, so I missed about half of the bible study, but Brian really enjoyed this one. We were kind of at each other before, but its amazing how it lifts you. I love hearing about what the kids learned. Zach is in a class with his age group and Angie and Tony are in a class together. They actually moved Tony up because they thought he'd get more out of it, and one of the gentlemen bragged about how he aways knows the answers. Tony says he feels kind of like he cheated because he really learned them from watching the kids bible video we have.

Brian had to get in on the fun too

2009-10-30T09:50:00.000-07:00

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

2009-10-30T09:41:00.001-07:00

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

2009-10-28T11:39:00.001-07:00

McKinney Falls

2009-10-28T11:18:00.002-07:00

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

2009-10-28T11:18:00.001-07:00

2009-10-25T17:02:00.000-07:00

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

2009-10-25T17:00:00.000-07:00

Random update..my usual

2009-10-14T20:08:00.000-07:00

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.

2009-10-01T21:22:00.000-07:00

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

2009-10-01T20:50:00.000-07:00

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

Update of last two weeks

2009-10-01T20:22:00.000-07:00

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.

2009-09-17T08:56:00.000-07:00

Well,this blog is mostly focused on the kids, well because they are my focus, but I do have a couple things to put in here.

First we are loving our organic produce coop. I'm thankful for a supportive husband that doesnt mind going to pick it up every two weeks, and we have been very pleased with the amount and quality of stuff. The coop has message boards so people are kind enough to post recipes for things that I have no idea what to do with. I just want us eating more fruits and veggies and if its here I'm so cheap its not going to go to waste. Plus there are things that I just don't normally buy, like raspberries, but the three youngest kids sat down and ate the whole carton.

We started taking the kids to Pam's church on Wednesdays for TEAM kids. Its been a bit rocky, but I think we are going to stick with it. Its at a baptist church, one place Brian and I never saw ourselves. Last week they had the kickoff at the park. The kids played for about ten minutes and they said lets gather around and say the blessing and then we'll walk up and have hotdogs. well we gathered around and the skies opened up on us. It was kind of funny. SO, they broght the food to us and the rain whipped into the covered pavillion.

My kids huddled up together shivering and eating their dogs. SO, this week, we dropped them off at the church gym and went to take Aiden and Emi to the nursery. Brian was upset that we just left Zach so he went to check on him and he was just fine. So, the nursery was pretty rocky. Keep in mind Aiden and Emi have been with no one except us, my sisters and my parents. So, Pam snuck out, I snuck out and Brian snuck out last. They said Aiden adjusted pretty quick and the lady actually does a "class" for their age. You know bible songs and such. They said Emi never got used to them, she was holding a baby a blanket an elmo and something else and she kept trying to get Aiden to hold her. We all went to I think it was a "women's" bible study since there were two men, but Brian didn't seem to mind.

The lesson they are doing now is awesome. I'll have to post more about that later. But they were talking straight to me. Let me tell you all the inadequacies I feel we laid before me.

Today I volunteered for a couple of hours at the kids school. Yesterday they gave me orientation of the copy machine. Don't laugh, but that thing is complicated. So, today I made copies then I went to the first grade class and worked one on one with a little boy on reading. Then they went to recess and I went to a second grade class (not Tony's) and helped read AR questions and helped a little girl with reading. I'm loving it. Hopefully I make a difference, plus I get to see my kids and the teachers etc.

Well, time to go get Zach and then off to the library to return some late books.

Grandparents day at school

2009-09-11T12:39:00.000-07:00

So, today was grandparents day at school. Grandparents were invited to come up and have lunch with the kids and they had a huge cake for them. Angie called and asked my dad to come and originally he said he couldn't but between her and my mom he was kind of guilted into it. So, he had lunch with Zach and then stayed and had lunch with Angie and Tony. I signed up to be a parent volunteer, so I was at the school filling out the paper work to get my criminal background check (not that I'm worried, I am a nurse so its part of the job) and decided to stop in for a picture.
They went with class shirts this year. Each class is a different color and they wear them Fridays and field trip days.

Man, I love my dad!

Dance

2009-09-04T06:20:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Angie started dance. We took last year off for a couple of reasons. Her old dance teacher retired to take care of her husband who was diagnosed with MS and sold her studio. The girl who bought it is very young so I wanted to give her a year to figure things out, plus we weren't sure how Brian's health was going to do. She didn't seem to miss it at first, but this year she asked if she could do it again. She said she wanted to take a year away from gymnastics to see if she missed it or not. She said that since its something she's always done (since age three)she didn't know if she really liked it or was just doing it because she always had. She really wanted to take ballet, so she's taking ballet I on thursdays, and the children's broadway class after. We have to drive all the way to brownwood so I figure we should make it worth our while. Most of the girls are a year younger than her and seem to go to the same school. You can tell all the moms know each other and have that competitive thing going on with each other.

Angie's teacher is young and kind of strict, but I think I'm going to really like her. She wants to teach them from the beginning correct posture and she has to tell them frequently backs straight, butts in. It's so funny to watch these girls, some of them get really caught up with checking themselves out in the mirrors. Miss Amy said that Angie was a good student, and she is. She listens well and picks up on the steps quickly. After she said that her feet hurt, but she really liked it.

Here's some old recital pics as well. She took tap (that's the sailor outfit). That recital dance was super cute. They had this sailor music, and started out swabbing the deck with mops. The red outfit was a jazz routine to rockin robin. Not as cute, but it was so funny watching angie at the recital. She kept trying to get the girls next to her to do the steps right.

Happy 5th King Zach

2009-09-02T20:37:00.000-07:00

2009-09-02T20:27:00.000-07:00

Zachary Has been talking about his birthday for at least two weeks now, and today you would have thought he was a king. Brian let him pick what he wanted for dinner and he said "cake". Well, Brian told him no and his response was "well you did say "anything". So Brian asked him what he wanted with his cake and he chose homemade pizza. This really is one of Brian's specialties. Then we sang happy birthday, opened presents, and THEN had cake all in the order Zach chose.

When we had one kid she would get about 25 presents for her birthday, now that we have five, they get about 5 per birthday. But it really doesn't matter, I am always so proud of how appreciative my kids are. I think he showed the most interest in the five dollar slinky.

Brian picked up a powerwheels truck for 20$. Its a little banged up and dirty, but I really need to get a picture on here of him driving it. Aiden wont ride with him because he goes too fast and drives all crazy, but Emi gets in and he wraps his arm around her and takes off and she has about a 1000 watt smile.

Just for kicks I thought I'd post a couple of his first birthday photos too.

Happy 5th Birthday Zachary

2009-09-02T20:17:00.000-07:00

First Week Down....

2009-08-29T09:07:00.000-07:00

Well, the first week of school is over. It went better than I expected, but we all know that I am a worrier. Zach loves pre-k. He's absolutely glowing when I pick him up at 11:15. He wishes that he could stay all day like Angie and Tony. He has three friends, two of which we knew from t-ball. One of the mom's said that her son comes home really excited about the games he and Zach play at recess...rockets seems to be the current favorite. Zach told me that his teacher let them dress up and act out a book she read. She's sends home a newsletter about what they are studying and I like that.

I had made a list of all the things we were going to read about at home this month, but quickly scrapped it when the kids came home with homework the second day of school. Spelling, reading, and math for both. For example I had put on my list for the kids to read two magic tree house books this month. Well, we finished the one we checked out from the library, and they brought home two this week.

Next week is busy for us. We pick up from our produce coop, Angie starts dance (and i still need to buy shoes), the boys (I mean brian and tony) start scouts and I think we are signing Zach up for soccer. That boy needs an outlet. We also have open house at school.

Aiden and Emi are enjoying having some time with us. They get to hear little kid books and watch little kid shows. They are getting really close and its so cute. Little E is developing her own personality, says something new every day and continues to crack us up.

Too Funny!!

2009-08-24T08:33:00.000-07:00

So, now and then I hear people say things like "I can't believe you let your kid eat...." Don't you know that they aren't supposed to eat_____ until after age two?" But after you have two kids, frankly, you just have to pick your priorities and let certain things go. The older kids are so sweet and always eager to share with the little ones, especially when they come at them like a velociraptor.

But sometimes, little ones find their own way to get things you'd never let them have, but that they want. Take exhibit "A" for example. Emi hiding behind the couch drinking a rootbeer.

First Day of school

2009-08-24T08:04:00.000-07:00

So, these aren't the best pictures, but I was informed that it was impossible to smile a real smile with a giant pack on the back. I think I had more trouble getting up than the kids and Zach was understandably tired since he was up until almost 11:00I had the kids in bed by 8:30, Angie and Tony were finally asleep at 9:00 and Mr Zach was still up at 10:30 talking to either himself or his imaginary friend. That boy talks alot.

So we had some drama this morning. NOTE Zach's old, almost too small motorcycle shirt. I had laid out a perfectly acceptable new blue polo shirt that was ok when I asked him on Saturday, but this morning oh no, not good enough. Yes, I realize that this was just a stall tactic, but yes I did cave and let him wear one of his favorite OLD shirts to school.

Angie and Tony settled right in and we took Zach to his class. He settled right in as well, asked politely for a puzzle and went to work. As we left, someone turned on the waterworks, and I'll just say it wasn't me.