Life With Quads

And the winner is.....

2012-02-14T08:00:00.000-06:00

Many of the UIL competitions were held a couple of weekends ago. Kirsten's art teacher had really liked one of Kirsten's projects and entered it into one of the many divisions in the art category.

The good news is that she won 2nd place!!! Woohoo!

Here she is with her medal...

We are so proud of her!

The not so good news.....

The schoold did an awards ceremony that was BEFORE school started in the morning. We got there about 5-10 minutes late and they had ALREADY called her name! I felt sooooooo bad that she missed having her name called. At least she gets some glory by having me post about the good job she did.

In other news, someone found our dog and she is back home with us. She was gone for about four days. The man that found her lives even more secluded than we do and he thought someone had just dumped her until he saw our sign. At least she was being taken good care of while she was gone.

Missing

2012-02-08T17:35:00.001-06:00

One of our dogs got out a couple of days ago and we haven't been able to find her.

It's Daisy and she's Wyatt's dog.

Poor kid is having a pretty sucky start to this year.

The drums are an even bigger blessing to give him something to be excited about in the midst of the not-so-fun stuff.

Surprise gifts

2012-01-30T17:48:00.001-06:00

My parents came to visit this weekend.

They had a surprise for Wyatt.

I don't know what I did to make my parents mad at me!!!

Just kidding.

Wyatt was saving his money for drums and my parents found this set at a great price.

Lucky me, right?

He loves them and was so excited.

See!

The noise is freaking the dogs out a little, but they'll get over it.

Not sure if Dax and I will or not. :0)

Nothing good

2012-01-24T17:30:00.001-06:00

I took Wyatt to the doctor today.

He didn't have anything good to say.

When I told him that Wyatt was just running and his knee cap just slipped out of place, instead of looking at the hurt knee he went straight to the one that has already healed.

When he moved Wyatt's leg around and making him bend it, he showed me how Wyatt's knee cap is still moving out of place every time it's bent.

Apparently the tendons on the outsides of his knees are too tight and pulling on the knee cap every time he bends his knees. If nothing is done about it his knees will continue to dislocate and the constant movement will wear down the under side of the knee cap.

On February 23 they're going to operate on his right knee (since it's already sore and swollen). Then after that is all healed up the doctor will be doing the same thing to his left knee.

Needless to say, none of us are too thrilled with today's appointment.

Same Dance, Different Song

2012-01-23T08:00:00.008-06:00

Wyatt and I made a trip to the emergency room on Saturday.

He and Kirsten were outside playing and his knee cap slipped out of place.

As if that doesn't suck enough, this time it's his right leg!! (He dislocated the knee cap on his left leg in September.)

Once again he handled it like a trooper.

They put the knee cap back in place, we put it in the brace, and he sees the Orthopedic doctor tomorrow morning.

Once again Dax was gone to State Guard drill and something happened. What the heck? He's going to be afraid to leave the house soon.

Not much

2012-01-19T16:56:00.000-06:00

Did you think I had forgotten about you?

Well, I haven't. There just hasn't been much going on except for school and work.

And it's quite alright. I'll take the routine stuff over turmoil any day!!

School Projects

2012-01-13T08:00:00.000-06:00

Much time this week has been spent on projects for Texas History classes.

Wyatt made the Alamo......

Kirsten made the Angel of Goliad......

Addison made Davey Crockett's fiddle.......

And Abigail made a quill, letter, and ink well but I don't remember who her person was.....

They worked really hard on these and I can't wait to see what their grades are.

New Year's Eve

2012-01-06T08:00:00.000-06:00

We had a pretty laid back New Year's Eve around here.

Early in the day we went and got flu shots.

Fun, right?

We got invited to a party but none of us felt up to going after getting the flu shots so we decided to build a fire in the pit (we haven't been able to burn for the better part of a year now because of the draught) and roast hot dogs and marshmallows.

That was originally our plan for Christmas Eve, but it was raining then so we had to postpone it.

It was fun.

Here's Dax shoving food in Abigail's mouth.

He's always trying to get her to eat because she's so skinny. (hmmm.....kinda' reminds me of how you were Dad)

Kirsten catching her marshmallow on fire.....

Abigail and Addison......

Kirsten in the glow of the fire......

Kirsten and Wyatt.......

It really was fun and relaxing. The only problem with it at all is that all that time spent outside has now caused 'cedar fever' to rear its ugly head.

Oh well, this too shall pass.

And, for something completely different, go watch this video from an old post. We were talking about it just the other day so I looked it up for a laugh. Christmas past

Our Christmas

2012-01-04T08:00:00.000-06:00

We have a tradition of letting the kids open one present on Christmas Eve.

It's always pajamas, but I always pretend like it could be anything.

This year was no exception.

Dax NEVER wears the pajamas I get for him. For last couple of years I've just re-wrapped unworn pajamas from the past.

But I still got tired of him not wearing them, so this year I decided to do something that I was sure would get him to wear the pajamas he opened on Christmas Eve.

I wrapped his pajamas from that morning!!

The kids had wanted to open their pajamas that morning instead of having to wait.

Side note: My kids absolutely love their pajamas and would wear them non-stop if it was allowed.

But, since Dax still had his pajamas on, I had to wait for him to get dressed and get preoccupied so that I could wrap his pajamas.

I know! Brilliant, right?

Okay. On to Christmas.....

My parents and Dax's parents came Christmas Eve so that they could be there for all of the excitement on Christmas morning.

Santa was good to the kids since they're such good kids.

Here's the aftermath of all those gifts:

After opening gifts, we spent the remainder of the day eating too much and complaining about how full we were while we looked for something else to eat. lol

I hope y'all had a great Christmas too!!

I know, I know......

2012-01-03T14:14:00.000-06:00

I know it's been forever since I posted but it just seems like we've been so busy. (Excuses! Excuses! - but it's true.)

So here goes the start of catching up.....

The weekend before Christmas my family got together to celebrate. That includes us, my parents, and brother and his family.

My middle niece turned 18 this year so she finally got to be on the receiving end of our family's most coveted gift/tradition.

It's a candle that was in a box in the attic at my Mom's house and melted. It's so messed up that it had to be nailed to a board to even be able to stand up. We've been passing it around for years (it's been lost a couple of times in there) and everyone signs their name and the date on the bottom of the piece of wood. Can't you see how happy she is to have been added to the rotation?

We had a good time.

Addison

Abigail

Wyatt

I had a picture of Kirsten but it didn't turn out very good. She would get mad if I posted it.

Okay, I'll post Christmas pictures later.

But not a whole lot later.

Meet Otis

2011-12-12T15:04:00.000-06:00

Abigail picked out her new addition to our family this weekend.

Introducing Otis

He's a long haired hamster. He's pretty cute, and so far has been much more friendly than the previous hamsters (but that's not really saying much since they were mean!!)

Anyway, she used her own birthday money to buy everything for him. And when she decided to ask for him, she presented Dax & I with a power point presentation showing us all the research she had done on hamsters.

Note to self: I've got to stop letting those kids watch t.v. and commercials!

Anyway, she's really excited.........and so are the cats. They can't wait to meet him!!

Getting back into the routine

2011-12-08T10:33:00.000-06:00

On the Saturday after Thanksgiving Dax & I left for our continuing education week in Las Vegas.

It's always nice to get away, just the two of us, but 9 days is a long time to be in Las Vegas.

This year we did rent a car and drive out to Red Rock Canyon. That was beautiful and we really enjoyed it.

As you can see, it was a beautiful day when we were there.

Dax even did a little rock climbing...

While we were in Vegas we also went to our favorite, tacky, little karaoke bar and were not disappointed. Barbara Ann was there in all her glory. She and another man both make several costume changes during the course of the night to fit in with their songs. They are hard-core, people!! Yet, they can't sing at all. LOL

Here's Barbara Ann as Elvis/Santa singing Christmas tunes.

I could go on and on about what we learned in class, but you probably don't want to read all about accounting. lol

We also went to one of the nights of the National Finals Rodeo while we were there. It was fun, and we've been watching every night on t.v. since we got home. We didn't go see any shows this time since we've already seen the ones that we're interested in seeing.

Here's one last picture of Dax with one of our favorite things while we're out there (aside from the endless buffets.)

We had a good time but it's always nice to get home. Now, to try and get back into the swing of things and get ready for Christmas all at the same time.

Wish me luck!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-25T10:18:00.000-06:00

I hope everyone enjoyed their Thanksgiving (those that celebrate, anyway.)

We had a wonderful day. The Grandparents came and there was enough food to feed a small village I think. We ate from the time we got up until about 5:30 in the afternoon. But it was all so good!!

Aunt 'Manda also came and the girls all got their hair done....

Here's Kirsten's new haircut:

and then we all got our eyebrows waxed. She's so nice to try to keep us all beautiful!!

It was a really great day and a good time was had by all. I just love Thanksgiving and having the family together. It's may favorite holiday.

Oh, and as always, I'm thankful to be married to a stud like Dax! LOL

Hope you all had a pleasant day with those that you love.

THIRTEEN

2011-11-22T10:41:00.000-06:00

I can't believe that my babies have turned 13!!

Where have the years gone?

And how can we suddenly have a house full of teenagers?

They got money for their birthday so we spent the day out shopping yesterday.

Well, the girls and I shopped. Dax and Wyatt mostly waited around on us.

The girls hit all kinds of stores and 'You're Welcome' to Bath & Body Works.......yesterday's sales numbers should be way up after Addison's visit.

After all of the shopping we went out to eat, then hit one last store, and headed home.

I think they all had a great day. After we got home, the girls tried on their new clothes and then painted their nails with the new stuff they bought. Once the adrenalin wore off, they crashed and were in bed before 9:30.

Wyatt used his money to buy and Xbox so I don't know how late he stayed up playing, but he was all smiles.

Me. I just can't believe that they are already thirteen and how fast these years have gone. Wow!

And then there was one....

2011-11-15T10:31:00.000-06:00

Last week Addison got braces.

That only leaves Abigail without them.

Baseball fever

2011-11-03T08:00:00.003-05:00

Dax and Wyatt watched the World Series together.

Now, I think Wyatt's got baseball fever.

He's been talking about trying out for the team at school.

And since the weather has been so beautiful here, he's been talking his Dad (and his sisters too) into doing this every chance he gets.

Here's an action shot.....

The pictures would probably be better if I didn't have to hide to take them. Every time I pick up my camera, they all stop what they're doing.

Wonder why?

Wordless Wednesday (Bed Hog)

2011-11-02T08:00:00.001-05:00

Coffee anyone?

2011-11-01T15:07:00.001-05:00

My children seem to have found a new obsession. I hope they move through this one quickly.

It all started because my coffee pot died. Well, it wasn't officially dead, but taking at least an hour and a half to make a pot of coffee gets it close enough to death for me to pronounce it dead.

So, when my Mom asked what 'we' would like for our anniversary I told her that I would love a Keurig coffee maker but that I didn't know what the other half of 'we' wanted. And, since he didn't contribute to the conversation (although he wasn't even a part of it) then I won by default. Hahaha!

Anyway, my parents gave us the Keurig along with about 100 coffee packs for it. When I finally got around to setting the whole thing up this past weekend, the kids went nuts over it.

That's Abigail and Wyatt sitting on the porch on Sunday morning. Apparently they are avid coffee fans.

Who knew?

I can't believe they were even able to sleep at all this weekend. I think that on Sunday alone they each had about four cups of coffee and maybe a couple of hot chocolates thrown in for good measure.

I have to get up before they do so I can even have a cup of coffee myself. And I think every coffee cup in my house is dirty at the moment, because apparently you can't drink two cups of coffee from the same cup.

And on it goes.....

2011-10-26T11:00:00.001-05:00

Staying very busy as usual around here. I really need a long nap. lol

On Friday they wouldn't let Addison and Abigail enter the 'twins' contest at school. Go figure. Addison was put-out about it because, after all, they aren't twins. Hahaha!

Wyatt started physical therapy on Friday which left him a little sore for the weekend. He went back for his second appointment yesterday. Unfortunately, they found that one of the ligaments is still a little loose and is letting his kneecap still move around when there is pressure on it (like while he is lifting weights.) They put tape on his leg that is placed to hold the kneecap in place at all times and want it to stay there for at least 5 days to see if the ligament tightens up then. We're all keeping our fingers crossed that things get healed up on their own without any medical intervention.

Saturday was a soccer game. It was a really rough game on poor Addison. She's got a big bruise on her calf from getting kicked by a girl from the other team that was wearing a leg brace similar to Wyatt's. With all of that metal on it, I don't think there's any option other than leaving a mark if you accidentally kick someone. She also got kicked in the thigh, but I don't think that left a mark. Worst of all, though, she took a soccer ball to the face. It definitely left a mark.....

It hit her on the corner of her glasses and knocked them into her eye. It cut her right below her eyebrow and by Monday morning her whole eyelid was puffy and a light purple. I'll give her this, though, she got back up and kept playing. She's a tough little girl when she's out on the soccer field.

Sunday we drove to Houston to celebrate my brother and sister-in-law's 25th wedding anniversary. Congratulations to them.

Of course, since my Mom wanted to take pictures for her Christmas cards with the whole family being together, two of my kids have noticeable injuries. I asked her to include a note with the pictures letting people know that I had not taken up beating my children....

In addition to all of the usual happenings during the week, we've had to include welcoming one of our daughters to 'woman-hood' which I am totally not ready for. Why do they have to keep growing up faster than I'm ready for? Thankfully we run around like crazy people and it's always so busy, because if I had time to think about it, I know it would really bother me. At this point, I just have to accept it (what else can I do, really?), suck up my feelings about losing my baby, and continue on. But it does make me a little sad.....is that weird or normal? I don't know.

We also had a conference yesterday with one of the teachers, the principal, and the counselor. It wasn't very pretty, took over an hour, and was very stressful. I won't even go into the whole story because I could go on and on. Don't get me started!! But, on the bright side, we've already seen some changes today. I hope that it stays this way for the rest of the year. Even if it's small, I'll take what I can get.

I would like to say that I can't wait for he weekend because we'll get a chance to relax, but it's still soccer season. I think they only have two more games to go for the season, but they're currently in second place in their district. That means moving on to play-offs. Sometimes it's really hard to know whether to continue cheering for their success or not. Sometimes we're just ready for it to be over. You know?

Homecoming Week

2011-10-21T11:38:00.000-05:00

One of the theme days this week was 'Crazy Hat Day'. Wyatt just wore one of his Dad's University of Michigan hats because he thought that was about as silly as he could get. Anything to give his Dad a hard time.

Here's what Abigail wore...

Don't you just love it?

I also made mums for all three of the girls to wear. Here's Kirsten proudly sporting hers.

We were teasing her because hers has a peace sign hanging from it, some ribbon with hearts, and a silver football hanging. Does that mean that her mum has a theme of peace, love, and football?

She doesn't think we're funny.

Go figure!

Today was twin day. Addison and Abigail did dress alike today. I wish I had the time to get their picture this morning because it was pretty funny. I found a pair of Kirsten's old glasses and took the lenses out of them last night so that Abigail had glasses on today too. They even did their hair alike. Maybe they'll still be dressed up when I pick them up this afternoon and I can get a picture.

Wyatt starts physical therapy today and he's pretty nervous about it. I hope it all goes well and he can relax a little. He's really handled this whole thing like a champ. He said the other day that when he gets his brace off he's going to start living his life to the fullest again. Silly kid!

Time Flies

2011-10-18T09:43:00.000-05:00

Wow! I can't believe has fast the days go by. All of a sudden a week has gone by and I haven't posted a thing.

We have something going on almost every day and yet none of it seems like the kinds of things that might be of interest to anyone. lol

I took Wyatt back to the doctor yesterday. His knee is still really swollen and still sore to the touch, but the doctor said that's because it has not completely healed yet. However, the knee cap is firmly back in place and not still sliding around. Woohoo! He unlocked the brace and he starts physical therapy three days a week for the next four weeks. We go back to the doctor in three weeks and he hopes to switch to a smaller, lighter brace.

I was glad for the outcome at the doctor's office because I was really worried that his knee was still so swollen. I'm glad that things are healing and on schedule.

Addison's soccer team is on fire one game and just there to watch (or so it seems) at the next. Consistency is certainly not their strong point. They've played some pretty aaggressive teams already and these are all girls 13 and under. I hope they calm down by the time they get more advanced since they'll also get bigger. At Saturday's game on of the girls from the other team managed to hurt at least 4 girls in the course of the game and 2 of them were on her own team. It's just crazy sometimes. I think the boys play with less aggression than that and they play a much more physical game than the girls. It's just crazy!

This week is homecoming week and all the silliness that goes a long with it. Yesterday was crazy sock day. Abigail wore fuzzy toe socks with monkeys. Today is camo day but we didn't have any. (Oops! But don't tell anyone or we may not be allowed to continue to live out in the country.) I don't know what all of the other days are but Friday is twin day. Abigail was complaining this morning that she didn't have anyone to be twins with and then Addison said she didn't either. I just said, 'Really? You're standing about 3 feet apart and you can't figure this one out?' lol I think they might be 'twins' for Friday. But luckily I won't have to go to any great lengths to pull that one off. lol

An honor for Kirsten

2011-10-10T14:13:00.000-05:00

I don't think that I have posted on Kirsten. A couple of weeks ago we got a letter in the mail from the school counselor. Of course panic that something is wrong is the first reaction, but, thankfully, this was a good letter.

Kirsten has been invited to participate in a Duke University program. They call it a talent search, but it's geared toward the 'gifted and talented' students. They look at scores for the standardized tests. We're very proud that she was chosen.

As part of the program, she'll be taking the ACT test in December. She will also receive help and guidance from Duke University on class selection in high school, there are opportunities for distance learning and summer programs, and when it's time for her to start applying to college they'll give her guidance on that process too.

It sounds like a really great thing to be involved in and she's pretty excited about being selected.....as she should be!!

In other news, not much else has changed. Still juggling activities and school work. Wyatt goes back to the doctor next week and we'll see what the next step is then. I'm a little concerned because his knee is still awfully swollen, but he's not in pain so I guess that's good. We're keeping our fingers crossed that everything is on track and healing up like it should be. He's been great about doing what the doctor told him too and not whining about it. Although, he did say over the weekend that when he gets the brace off he's going to 'live his life to the fullest', whatever that means. lol

Quick Update

2011-09-28T09:05:00.000-05:00

Now that school is back in session (and all the activities that go along with it) we're busy, busy.

Addison played soccer this weekend. Saturday they lost 0-1. Sunday's game was much better with a 7-1 victory. On Sunday they finally played hard again, which the team really hadn't done since the tournament in San Antonio in August. It was good to see them back out there playing the way we know they can.

On Monday, Addison started taking math lessons at Kumon. She's struggling in math a little this year so I'm hoping that this will help give her a solid foundation to move forward with. I think somewhere along the line some of the basics didn't sink in like they should have. It looks like a really good program from the research we've done so I hope she likes it and makes it work for her.

Yesterday the girls were supposed to cheer at the 8th grade football games. Shortly after they started the 2nd quarter, the fields had to be cleared because of lightening in the area. We had to wait 30 minutes for them to make a final decision about the game. As the time passed the storm just blew closer in so they called the game. I don't know if we'll have to make it up or not since there was no score yet, and the second game didn't even get started. Unfortunately the storm produced a lot of lightening and noise but only a little rain. We could certainly use the rain.

Wyatt is doing better. His knee has been pain free, for the most part. He's hobbling around the house a little without the crutches, but I'm not ready for him to go to school without them. The brace is still on and I'm afraid that it would be too easy for him to lose his balance if someone bumped into him and he didn't have the crutches with him. His knee is still swollen to about twice (or more) it's normal size. Abigail looked it up online and found that it might stay swollen as long as a week after the injury. Well, that's tomorrow so if it doesn't look any better in the morning I'm going to call the doctor and see if I need to be panicking about it.

There's a school dance on Friday so Kirsten's most pressing issue at the moment is deciding on the perfect thing to wear. :0)

P.E. is hazardous to your health.....

2011-09-23T11:52:00.001-05:00

Well, it's hazardous for Wyatt anyway.

He got knocked down in PE yesterday and fell just right and dislocated his knee (read: his knee cap slid over to the side of his leg.)

The school called a little before 1:00 to tell me what had happened and that I needed to pick him up and take him to the doctor. I grabbed my purse and hit the road.

Side rant: Why is it that when you're worried sick and in a hurry that you get stuck behind the SLOWEST driver on the road that day? It drives me nuts!!

After the coach called me she was able to get a hold of the trainer at the high school and he went and put Wyatt's knee cap back in place. They had just finished when I got there and Wyatt was still looking a little green from the whole thing.

We were lucky in that the trainer called an orthopedist and was able to get us an appointment right away. If not, we would have surely had to wait an extra day to see someone.

After several x-rays they determined that it's not broken. He will have to be in this brace keeping his leg straight for three weeks and then we go back to the doctor. If things have healed by then, they will unlock the brace so that it can bend and he'll start physical therapy.

He's in a lot of pain still, but he's handled the whole thing like a real trooper. The coaches couldn't believe that he didn't cry at all and kept commenting on how tough he is. Although, he was very unhappy with the doctor for pushing on it and just making it hurt worse.

Two bits, four bits......

2011-09-19T12:59:00.000-05:00

The girls got to cheer at their first football game on Thursday. Actually, they cheered at two games (8th grade A & B teams.)

They really had fun doing it.

Addison at the top of the pyramid.

Abigail

They did say that their legs and feet were sore after it was all over.

Unfortunately, the cheers didn't help the football teams at all. They both lost.

On Friday night Dax had to head out for his State Guard weekend.

As usual, something out of the ordinary happened while he was gone.

This time our outside cat (Ms. Kitty) wandered into the back yard and the dogs attacked her.

Luckily we heard all the commotion out there and got outside in time to stop it before she got hurt. I was worried about her because she's getting pretty old and she seamed to be really confused.

But, she's back to her same old grouchy self now so I guess she's feeling fine.

Dax may not be able to leave anymore if this kind of craziness keeps up.

Another tragic loss.....

2011-09-14T08:00:00.000-05:00

Over the weekend we suffered another tragic loss in the kitchen.

--On the bright side, this one wasn't my fault!--

Abigail was making some lunch for herself and didn't realize that the plastic cover for things cooked in the microwave was actually touching the burner.

As you can see from the photo, it took quite a bit of time (and melting) before she noticed it.

That plastic on the burner stunk up the whole house!!

I had to wait for it to cook and re-harden so that I could chip it off of the stove.

We're really having a hard time in the kitchen lately. I guess we're just going to have to start eating out all the time.

I know, I know. It's just wishful thinking.

What do cheerleaders have?

2011-09-12T08:00:00.001-05:00

Pep!!

Or at least pep rallies.

Thursday was the first pep rally.

Abigail is on the far left. (Don't be fooled, Abigail is not that 'tiny'. The girl on the right is really tall for a 12 year old. I thinks she's taller than me and I haven't seen 12 in a long, long time.)

The girls were so excited about the pep rally. (I couldn't get any pictures of Addison because she's in the back row on the other side of the gym.)

Wyatt was pretty excited too because it was his first time to perform in the band at a pep rally. Poor Abigail had to run back and forth from cheer leading to play in the band. (I couldn't get any pictures of Wyatt because he was hidden behind a music stand.)

It was really kind of sad though, because they were supposed to play against Smithville. However, Smithville is one of the areas that is on fire here in central Texas so the games were cancelled. I heard this morning that the fires are about 60% contained and well over 1500 homes have been destroyed. It's just heart breaking! The High School had a scrimmage game. They collected items needed by both families and fire fighters and all proceeds went to help those affected.....especially in Smithville. It was very touching indeed.

But they thoroughly enjoyed the pep rally. I obviously attended since I took pictures, but they spent the whole week practicing it in the kitchen while I cooked dinner. I swear I fell asleep every night with those cheers going through my head. I felt like I already new the pep rally without having to actually be there.

It was a bust....

2011-09-06T15:07:00.000-05:00

Addison's soccer tournament was a bust. The girls had to play three other teams (same as last weekend.) But, this time I guess they didn't have enough teams sign up so two of the teams they played against were Super 2 -- Addison's team is Division 2. Super 2 is the next level of play better. (It would be kind of like making high school football players play against college teams in order to get to the championship.)

Well, of course they didn't do too good.

The really terrible part of it is that if the tournament hosts had told us that they would be doing this, we wouldn't have signed up for it. I mean, even though the girls know that the teams were way above their level of play, they still feel awful for the beating they took out on the field.

As a parent it was painful to watch. I didn't even take pictures!

There was also another bust.

Last night.

I had baked bread and after it had cooled I had stacked the pans and pushed them to the back of the stove.

I turned on a burner to dry my cast iron skillet. I noticed that it wasn't doing anything and realized I had turned on the back burner.

The one under the loaf pans.

I turned it off and pushed the pans to the side so they wouldn't be on the burner. When I did that the bottom pan shattered and glass went everywhere!! I was lucky and didn't get cut but it certainly scared me.

Dax seems to think that the common problem is me and the glass baking dishes. I know that's not true though.

We were having fish again last night. It's the fish y'all!!

Other than that we had a nice weekend.

What's for dinner?

2011-08-31T08:00:00.000-05:00

Not fish! That's for sure.

I can't believe that my dish (I think it might actually be yours Mom--sorry) did this last night while I was baking fish.

I went to check on it and found it like this.

Talk about scrambling to make something else.

Has that ever happened to anyone else?

What rest?

2011-08-30T08:00:00.001-05:00

The weekend came and went with no rest. What's up with that?

As if making it through the first week back at school and on that schedule wasn't exhausting enough, Addison had a soccer tournament! It was quite a trek from home so Addison and I stayed in Helotes.

As luck would have it, it was also the hottest weekend of the year. Yippee!

They played two games on Saturday and two on Sunday. It was at least 110 for the afternoon games on both days. I don't know how the girls even did it.

I'm really proud of how our team played. A couple of the other teams were pretty aggressive. I know Addison took a couple of really hard hits but got back up and kept playing. Well, she did for the most part. One of the hits knocked her breath out so that took a little more time. She's a little banged up and quite sore.

The last game of the tournament was a nail biter. They were playing for the title and it was tied. It went into a shoot out at the end. Both teams get 5 shots alternating teams with each shot. Well, each time one team scored, the other did too. So then they had to just start going down the line until there was a winner. It was nerve wracking!!! It ended with the other team winning, so our team came in second. It was really too bad because they had been undefeated -- they had already beat this team once. The way this tournament worked, once they got to this game none of the other stats counted. Whoever won this one game got first place. The girls were dissapointed, but I think they were even more tired. lol

Here's the best picture I got of Addison getting her medal.

Then, on our way home, I got a text from Abigail that Addison's bunny had died. She was, of course, pretty upset about it. But sweet Abigail, bless her heart, had brought the bunny into the house to try to help her. The bunny was very old (she outlived the others by several years) and I think between her age and the heat it was just too much for her.

And goodness knows we need some rain here desperately. I mean, should Dax have needed to use this in order to dig a grave for the bunny?

Cheer practice starts up again this week, with the football games kicking in next week. And Addison has another soccer tournament this weekend. So, there's no rest in the forcast. BUT, the temp is supposed to be ONLY 91 or so this weekend!! Who thought we'd get excited for it to cool down to the 90's?

Back to school!

2011-08-22T09:56:00.000-05:00

We went to the school last week to pick up schedules. I think everyone is happy with their classes and how they're laid out.

All four kids were put in all honors classes this year. (Pardon the bragging.) They knew they were in honors English because they were given copies of Alice in Wonder Land that they had to read over the summer. Kirsten is the most thrilled with her classes because her best friend Grace is in every class but one. Life is good!!

Wyatt has recovered from his fall and the knot on his head had cleared up in time for school to start. I was a little concerned because as of Friday it was in that ugly yellow-green phase. Bleck!!!

Anyway, of course going back to school for them means a lot of paperwork for me.

I felt like I was applying for a mortgage with all that paperwork.

Oh, wait.....I don't think our last mortgage even required this much paperwork.

So everybody got their backpacks ready last night and woke up easily this morning (we'll see if that happens tomorrow too) and was ready to go before it was even time to leave. As a matter of fact, they went and sat in the car before I even had all my stuff together.

They tried to get out of the house without a first day of school picture, but you know that didn't fly.

I still can't believe they're in 7th grade!

A Catch Up Post

2011-08-16T12:15:00.002-05:00

Let's see......where did I leave off?

I think we've gotten the scorpion problem under control. At least for now. It would certainly help if we could get some rain.

My birthday was weekend before last. We didn't do anything special. Just went out to eat and did a little shopping at the mall. It was wonderful not to feel like anything needed to be taken care of!

Kirsten drew a card for me. She knows how much I like Snoopy so she decided on this:

How cute is that?! She does love to color and kudos for attempting something so challenging. I think she did a great job on it.

Abigail made this for me:

Isn't that cute? In case you can't see the antena, it's a t.v. to go with my initials. And there's that cute little girl again! Now she's wearing make-up. It's just not right.

The kids had to get shots in order to attend the 7th grade. It turns our that each one of them needed four shots!! That's a lot for one visit.

Addison is the only one that wanted to play in the children's area at the clinic. I told her that this looked like she was on some kids' show.

Our trip to the clinic started off fine. Addison and Abigail both got their shots with no problem. Then Wyatt went back to get his shots. He did fine, was talking to the nurses, and then passed out cold. He was sitting in a chair and fell forward. He stopped the fall with his forhead on the hard tile floor. That hit caused him to have a seizure. I was beside myself!! It took everything I had in me not to shove the nurses out of the way to get to my baby. It was such a helpless feeling knowing I couldn't do anything to make it stop.

He almost passed out again a few minutes later, but they were finally able to give Kirsten her shots and helped me get Wyatt to the car. I kept a close eye on him for the rest of the day. It took about an hour for him to really get his wits about him again. Later he told me that when he passed out he dreamed he was having a seizure. I guess that means that he was somewhat aware of what was happening? I'm pretty sure that by the end of the day he was tired of me asking him if he was feeling alright, had double vision, etc. He's just lucky that I didn't sit and watch him sleep! lol

Addison took this picture with my phone on our way home. It was so that I could check on his color without having to turn around while I was driving. You can only see the knot on his head a little bit in this picture.

School starts next week and I'm hoping that we can get there without any further excitement. At least not that kind, anyway.

Why do they do that?

2011-08-08T12:01:00.000-05:00

Keep growing, I mean.

This weekend I took the girls shopping.

For this:

Where did my babies go?

We picked out foundation, blush, eyeshadow, and mascara. They each got their own makeup totes too.

They'll spend a little time between now and when school starts practing putting it all on. *sigh* I'm really not on board with this growing up stuff. How come nobody asked me if it was alright with me?

The eyeshadow and blush tones that I picked out are all soft and muted. Abigail put on her makeup when we got home, complete with eyeshadow and mascara. I sent Dax a message (he's out of town) telling him that we're going to be in trouble. The eye makeup really shows off her pretty brown eyes. She'll drive the boys crazy......how do you think I hooked her Dad? lol

Oh, and if you have a minute, please pray for us to get some rain here. It's beyond dry around here and the insects are invading our house in a big way. We always have problems with spiders since we're in the country, but the ants and scorpions are fighting for room in the house now too.

Yesterday Kirsten put on a shirt and got stung by a scorpion. It fell out of the shirt after it stung her and she killed it. Then this morning Abigail put on a shirt that she had borrowed from Kirsten and got stung by a scorpion. But she couldn't get it out of the shirt. By the time she did it had stung her FIVE times!!! Poor baby! While all of that was going on, Addison was busy trying to kill one by their dresser. If these keeps up, they're going to be afraid to get dressed at all. We're all in the habit of checking our shoes, but I guess now we need to be checking everything! We need some rain big time to help keep them from coming into the house in search of water.

Taking it easy is over....

2011-08-03T08:00:00.008-05:00

The kids are back from their grandparents' house and the end of summer is already here for us. I mean the fewer activities part of summer. The heat will be around for months still!

Cheerleading practice started for Addison and Abigail bright and early Monday morning. Soccer practice is already under way three nights a week and we have two tournaments coming up soon. I don't feel like we've even gotten to ease our way back into the routines. Just BOOM! August first and it's time to go.

If all of that isn't enough of a shock to the system, we had to call the a/c repairman to our house. It appears that our drip pan for the air handler in the attic is cracked and needs to be replaced. The good news is that they can fix it for the low, low price of only $1200. He told me it's a $50 part but they have to take the whole unit apart to get to it.

I almost fainted!!

Oh, and for ONLY $1500 more we could just get a whole new unit in the attic!! Isn't that swell?

I'm afraid he must have seen our money trees in full bloom on his way up the drive.

I honestly think that they cracked the pan the last time they were here when they did our spring check-up because not long after that is when the problem with the overflow pan filling with water started. But, like anyone that doesn't have that kind of money for a/c repairs would do, we headed to the hardware store to find another way to fix it. We looked around and decided to try some of that super putty that can seal anything even if it's under water. So far it seams to be working! Woohoo!!

We had to get the shop vac out and get all the water out of the overflow pan because it was tripping the breaker.

And this cat can't stay out of anything.....she's in the shop vac!

She certainly makes it hard to get things done sometimes.

Cross your fingers that our fix will hold.

Out in Luckenbach Texas

2011-07-28T08:00:00.000-05:00

But we didn't see Willie or Waylon and The Boys.

The kids decided that they weren't through having fun with the grandparents so they still haven't come home. And, since that meant that Dax and I had the weekend to ourselves, we decided to do something different.

We headed out to Luckenbach to see what was going on.

There was a band playing (Shurman) so we decided to stick around for a bit.

They had the crowd tapping their feet to the rhythm, but this took me by surprise.

I guess now we've seen the real chicken dance, not just the wedding reception version.

You just never know what you'll see when you go to a town like Luckenbach.

We had fun, but it was H.O.T. hot since everything was outside.

We went out there and came home on different routes. Apparently, we took the long way around to get there because the route home was about half the distance.

Live and learn, I guess.

I think my kiddos are coming home this weekend. But, then again, that's what I thought last weekend too.

At least they're having fun.

Save the drama

2011-07-25T11:51:00.001-05:00

I know several people that thrive on drama in their lives. If there isn't any at the moment, then they create it themselves.

That is definitely not us!! We like for things to go along as drama free as possible and do our best to avoid it. Sometimes that means avoiding certain people or situations that bring it into our lives.

But then sometimes, we just find ourselves kind of stuck in it.

Like right now!

Last year, the coach for Addison's soccer team got in trouble for something that he had done on one of the boys' teams that he also coached. And he got suspended for a year. There were two fathers that stepped up and coached the girls. And, since they won second place in their division in the Spring, I'd say they did a bang up job.

Well, this weekend we found out that their old coach has been released from his suspension for the girls' team and can coach them again now. He sent out an email letting us know that he's back. That was immediately followed by an email from the acting head coach saying that he's not willing to just step down and that there may need to be a vote by the parents on who the coach should be.

I don't see this whole thing ending well. There doesn't seem to be a way out of this mess without someone getting their feelings hurt, and likely splitting the team up. I hate to see that happen because all of the girls get along. I think that says a lot when you're talking about a dozen or so pre-teen girls not bickering! The parents all get along well, too. If the team splits up, I don't think that either will be able to come up with enough girls to form other teams.

I was going to go turn in Addison's registration forms today. Since they're not due until the end of the month, though, I've decided to hold off until I have a better idea of how this is all gonna play out. *sigh* I can't stop worrying and fretting about it. I couldn't sleep last night because of this. I hate drama!!

Update: The coaches met alone and hashed things out. They've all three agreed to work together for the good of the girls. What a relief!!

Birthday Celebration

2011-07-18T14:37:00.009-05:00

Fortunately the powers-that-be for Dax's state guard regimen didn't have things well planned out so he got to come home on Saturday afternoon in plenty of time to celebrate his birthday. Woohoo for lack of planning on their part. lol

We celebrated with pineapple upside down cupcakes. (Trying to limit the portion sizes for Dax and I.) They turned out really well. Especially since I wasn't following any recipe. Just making it up as I went.

Wyatt, as usual, wrapped his gift in paper that didn't fit the occassion.

He's so goofy!! (Wyatt, that is.)

OK! Yes. Dax too.

Nice picture,huh?

Addison used popsicle sticks to create this.

She also got him this cute stapler for his desk. It's a little, fat, round dog.

Abigail out-did herself with making gifts for his birthday.

She made this pop-up card.

This cute little camera made with construction paper. I suspect that the lens is a pan from the easy bake oven. But it's pretty cute with that picture of her and Dax from when the kids were probably about 3.

*sigh* I do miss those babies. But these kiddos are pretty great too, so I guess we'll keep them.

And then she made this 'beer' for him.

The mug is filled with Lindt white chocolate truffles (his favorite) and the head on the beer is large marshmallows. She did a great job on all of them.

Kirsten created her own work of art. She drew this picture for her Dad. She was looking at a picture on her Ipod and drew this one and colored it in. She did a fantastic job!

My Dad is a great artist, and it evidentally has skipped a generation here because I certainly didn't get any of that talent.

It was fun to see what the kids came up with and I hope Dax enjoyed his birthday.

On Sunday we packed the kids up and shipped them off for the week. Their grandparents met us at Wyatt's hockey game (they tied). After the game the grandparents left with the kids and Dax and I headed home to get ready for the work week ahead.

Finally the weekend

2011-07-16T07:43:00.001-05:00

I'm so glad the weekend is finally here!!

First off, Happy Birthday Dax!! You're a wonderful husband and father and we're lucky to share our lives with you. I couldn't ask for a better husband and the kids couldn't ask for a better father.

Unfortunately, he's gone this weekend. He's off doing his monthly weekend with the guard.

Bertie tried to go with him but he wouldn't take her along.

I swear that cat got on the bag the second he set it down. Even after he pushed her off of it she was still trying to climb back on as he was picking it up to leave. She's so silly.

The kids are heading out tomorrow after Wyatt's hockey game. They're going to spend the week with their grandparents. I swear that this is the only week they had all summer when at least one of them wasn't involved in something.

Anyway, it's a good thing because even with their activities, I think they're getting bored at home. If building the dirt-castle-forts wasn't enough, now they've actually reverted to playing with cars in their pajamas.

I don't think they've done this since they were 5!! It must be getting really tough coming up with something fun to do.

Although, it's not quite the same game as it was back then. TV has had it's influence because now there's a wrecker and cars are being repo-ed and sometimes (as I hear it) the cops even have to be called to difuse the situation. LOL

Castles in the drive

2011-07-11T08:00:00.000-05:00

Now that all of the dogs have painted nails, the kids did find something else to do.

They've started building dirt (we have no sand) castles in the drive-way.

I guess if times get too tough they can always build us a new place to live, right?

These are all over the place and Dax had to dodge them to even be able to park the car. Of course, Wyatt's 'fort' has little plastic soldiers all around it.

Oh, and yes, they're 12.

Seriously, they are.

Just Wrong!!

2011-07-08T10:39:00.000-05:00

It's just wrong to do this to a male dog......

Especially one that's a pit bull!

Even he can't look at it.

Actually, the kids have done this to all of their dogs.

May need to find something else to help them occupy their spare time.

Another Happy 4th of July

2011-07-05T14:14:00.000-05:00

This year we were busier than usual for the 4th of July. With Addison and Abigail being cheerleaders now, they were participating in the parade in town.

Here are some shots of the float decorating that went on Sunday evening....

Oh! Wait. Those are all adults doing the work.

Where are my kids?

I found them.

They actually helped far more than the older girls. The 8th grade cheerleaders were inside eating the candy that was supposed to be thrown at the parade.

On Monday, we had to be at the parade early, early for the girls to be at their float. So we dropped them off and the rest of us went to the cafe to have breakfast and then wait for the parade. And, honey was it hot!

But we enjoyed the parade anyway.

See the joy?

Okay, at least my Mom looks happy.

It appears that Habitat for Humanity didn't have time to finish their float.

I'm kidding!

I always like these guys.

Here come the cheerleaders!

Addison is on the far left at the end of the float. She's busy yelling something....apparently. Abigail was on the other side and you can't see her in this picture.

All in all, it was a good time. We had an enjoyable evening at home. We didn't have any fireworks this year because of the drought. They've all been banned. The stands weren't even allowed to open because it's too dry for any kind fireworks. That was a bummer!

Don't see that every day!

2011-07-01T08:00:00.000-05:00

I've kept a list of some of the weird things Dax & I have seen this week.

* We were sitting at a red light and saw a truck driver out beside his truck. He had on shorts and was walking around (I know.....that's not the weird part.) When he turned with his back to us, he had his shorts all rolled up in the back so that his butt cheeks were showing!!!

* We saw the guy at the cafe' in the rabbit suit.

* There was a heavy set man walking his bicycle down the side of the road. Just about the time we approached, he stopped and lifted his shirt AND his stomach to scratch an itchy spot. You should have seen the happy grin he had on his face while he was doing it. lol

* Got to see a guy pulled off the the side of the highway puking his guts out.

* We went to lunch with the intention of stopping to get some paper afterwards at Office Depot. While we were at lunch the power went out in the building. (Of course it was right after we paid so no free lunch for us.) The power was out in the whole area so we couldn't stop at Office Depot. We drove by just to make sure that their power was out too. While we were there these two young boys came speeding into the parking lot, parked, and were headed into the store. It was totally black inside the store and you could tell from the glass doors that the power was out. We decided to wait and watch them and sure enough, they walked up to the doors and almost into them when they didn't open. Then they were both holding their hands up to their faces trying to see inside and figure out what was going on. It was pretty funny.

I still feel like I'm leaving something out, but I don't know what it could be. And, I'm sorry that there aren't any accompanying pictures, but Dax just wouldn't turn back and let me take pictures of any of them. LOL

Wonder if the weekend will bring anything more.

Not so boring after all......

2011-06-28T10:32:00.000-05:00

Well, maybe it's not so boring after all with the kids gone.

Dax and I decided to head out to the flea market and just walk around so that we could get out for a little bit.

We did that, but not for long because it was so hot. Instead we drove back up to Gruene (pronounced 'green') and had lunch at the Grist Mill. We had sandwiches and onion rings. This is what was left of the onion rings.

They were gooooood!!

I had so much fun taking all those pictures of Dax last time that I did it again.

This is a picture of Dax telling me not to take his picture......

He's trying to look really mean in this one....

After lunch we went next door to Gruene Hall where they have live bands performing.

It wasn't too bad when we first got there. There weren't many people listening to the band that was playing and a breeze could blow through.

I found it interesting that this guy was up front painting, but we didn't see a finished product.

The second band that performed while we there was pretty impressive. While they were setting up, Dax commented that the drummer looked like he was about 12. He was wrong........the kid was 13. And the lead guitar player was 14. So now we're wondering if our kids are really underachievers. (I'm just kidding!!.....sorta.......lol)

When these kids were playing, the hall filled up and it got REALLY hot in there so we left at the end of their set and headed back home because I had a birthday cake to make for a friends birthday.

We had breakfast at the cafe' on Monday morning to celebrate her birthday (we eat there every Friday morning). Imagine our surprise when this came through the door!

He was getting ready to perform a rain dance. Why he's wearing a rabbit costume, nobody knows.

But it made for an interesting breakfast.

Then this morning, the dogs were chasing a skunk out front. Oh, joy!!!

Can't wait to see what the rest of the week brings.

The sound of quiet

2011-06-26T11:01:00.001-05:00

Dax & I are enjoying the quiet at our house.

Yesterday the kids went to spend the week with their grandparents.

I know they will have fun. Dax & I tried to think of something to go do last night. I don't know if it's because we're too old or too cheap, but we could't even come up with anything fun to do. We even tried to go rent a movie but didn't find anything we were interested in. How sad is that?!

I guess it's alright though, because Dax and Wyatt went golfing on Friday and nearly died in the heat. It was too hot to even get through the first nine. With this kind of heat it makes it hard to get very interested in doing anything.

TV or not tv

2011-06-22T11:29:00.005-05:00

......that is the question.

I'm thinking I may need to get rid of the televisions in our house. Or at least the satellite service.

The things that Addison is watching on tv are causing too much trouble around our house.

And it's not like she's watching 'bad' channels. Who would have thought that TLC, the Food Network, or the Discovery Channel could cause such problems?

Seriously, the kids have been out of school for a little over three weeks. In that short amount of time Addison has sent an application to be on the next season of 'Chopped', she's decided to be an extreme couponer (that lasted about a weekend), and now she's decided to be a beauty pageant contestant!

She's obsessed with it!

Yes, THIS girl decided that she wants to compete in beauty pageants.

Maybe this will be her sports wear outfit?

Father's Day Fun

2011-06-20T10:07:00.000-05:00

I hope everyone had a great Father's Day.

We had a good time here. I served Dax breakfast in bed (cinnamon apple crepes) because the kids were all still asleep.

Then he took Wyatt to his hockey game. They won!!! Woohoo!

Kirsten and Abigail tagged along. Addison and I stayed at the house so that she could get her present ready.

She made this:

It was her own creation. A cookie jar cake.

Actually, her vision was much more grand but I made her scale it back some. Okay, a lot. But her Daddy still appreciated it just the same.

Last year Dax's gift fromWyatt was in a birthday bag so he didn't want to make that mistake again.

He gave Dax a golf club cover that's like the gopher from Caddy Shack. Too funny!

Kirsten and Abigail both made their gifts for Dax.

From Kirsten he got this cute little dog made with golf balls.

And from Abigail he got a variety of things. One of which was a new smart phone.

Under each of those flaps (the apps) is something sweet to say to her Daddy.

Later we went out for ice cream. It was a good day and I hope the other fathers out there had equally good days.

Hockey Mom

2011-06-15T08:00:00.000-05:00

I guess it's official.

I'm a hockey mom now.

Do you think that means I look like a pit bull with lipstick?

Anyway, Wyatt played in his first actual hockey game on Sunday.

It's just a house summer league meant for fun and learning. His team lost 16 - 11.

He's number 5 in the picture.

A lot of those boys are much better than him but he's working hard at getting better.

It was fun watching him play and Addison was yelling and cheering for him up in the stands (even if there were only about 15 people up there--and we accounted for 5 of them.)

Two down, two to go

2011-06-11T08:00:00.001-05:00

Wyatt got braces on Thursday.........

I know it's probably hard to tell from his expression in the picture but he's not particularly thrilled about it.

Cheer camp day 3

2011-06-10T12:13:00.001-05:00

Final day....

The shorts with these camp close have their names on the butt......I hate that.....well, with names like Addison and Abigail all those letters won't fit onto those skinny little butts so their's have nicknames, but still.....

Anyway, at the end of day three the cheerleaders had a performance to show the parents what they learned.

I took lots of pictures but none really turned out good. Here's one of Abigail that wasn't too bad.

This is the whole group of cheerleaders with the two girls that ran the camp. They're college girls that work for the UCA (United Cheer Association -- I think) doing these camps during the summer.

The girls had a really good time, but I'm not sure what they really learned.

I mean look at this outfit Addison was sporting later that night...

And what's even worse than that?

She actually let me take a picture! And posed for it!!!

They're glad to get to sleep in now, though.

Cheer camp day 2

2011-06-08T08:00:00.000-05:00

Do they look like their muscles are sore?

Because they sure complained about when I woke them up.

Even early in the morning it's hard to get them to be serious.....

Down by the river.....

2011-06-06T08:00:00.000-05:00

Dax and I are so grateful to my parents. Thanks to them we were able to get away for the weekend for some much needed time together and time to just kick back and relax a little.

They came on Thursday night to stay with the kids so we headed down to the River Walk in San Antonio on Friday morning after breakfast.

The hotel was nice and our room had a balcony which was nice, even if the view wasn't so great....

This trip wasn't about the view, so it didn't matter.

It was about this....

We hung out in the room (even took a nap! *gasp*) and hung out down at the River Walk.

That's pretty much it.

On Saturday night we stopped at a sport's bar to watch the hockey game. I managed to get some action shots while we were there.

Chips and queso...

Uh oh....this is the look that means he's about to get me if I don't quit taking his picture.

Wiping his hands, he's getting serious about it now....guess I'd better stop snapping pictures.

It was a great weekend and it sure makes it hard to head back to work and the regular grind.

In other news, Addison and Abigail have cheer camp this week.

Day One:

Let the summer fun begin.....

2011-06-03T08:00:00.005-05:00

It's summer and the activities are already in full swing.

Monday night was the season end soccer party for Addison's team. I'm not really sure why they call it the end of the season though, because we're still practicing twice a week.

They had a pool party and we ordered pizza. I think she had a lot of fun. She went to bed early if that's any indication of her activity level at the party.

Kirsten started tennis camp on Tuesday morning. It was only for four days to let them get a feel for it and decide if it's something they want to pursue. I'm pretty sure she does, unless she decides that she just can't sweat that much. And like my mom said, we need for our children to get out there and get involved in more activities.

Here's a shot of the budding tennis pro.

She told me that she felt stupid taking this picture. She should be happy that it's in the driveway and not at the tennis courts. LOL

Wyatt went Tuesday night to skate and perform for the coaches so they could assign teams for the summer house league for hockey. Then on Wednesday night he had a checking class. He really didn't want to go because he was so sore from Tuesday night's activities, but we're mean and made him go suffer through it. It's for his own good. It builds character, right? It's all good though because he enjoyed it.

It's rodeo time........

2011-06-01T08:00:00.000-05:00

On Sunday evening we went to the annual Memorial Weekend Rodeo just down the road from us.

We all really enjoy it.

See here's a picture of Dax and I enjoying it.

We were lucky and even though it was very warm during the day, it was very windy so that kept it from being miserable out.

Here are a couple of pictures from the evening. I'm sorry they're so bad. It was dark and I had to use my zoom at max so they're pretty grainy.

Bronc riding.....

Calf roping......

When they were getting the arena ready before everything got started, we decided this is the rodeo equivalent of the zamboni.

We tried to get the kids to go out and do the calf scramble or the mutton bustin' but they wouldn't even budge. They actually had an adult calf scramble but there certainly wasn't enough booze there to get either one of us into the arena for that!

It was a lot of fun and the kids look forward to it every year.

One of the bull riders got hurt and we all hope he's okay.

Awards and Finals

2011-05-25T11:45:00.000-05:00

Yesterday the 6th grade had their awards ceremony. I had gotten a heads up from one of the teachers that Kirsten would be receiving an award so that we would know to be there if possible. That's the beauty of owning our own business because we can make that happen and the kids - well, the girls anyway - were excited to see us there.

Kirsten's award was for Academic Achievement in world cultures.

We were also pleasantly surprised for Addison to get an award in language arts for going 'above and beyond.' (That might be code for trying to help the teacher run the class.) Here's the picture I was able to get of her since she didn't stay still long enough.

Nice, huh?

The kids also have finals this week. For their world cultures class they had to pick a person in history and right a report about them in first person. They also had to make a mask and today they are having a masquerade ball.

I never saw Wyatt's mask because he did his completely at school. At least that's the story that I'm told. I guess we'll know for sure when report cards come home.

Abigail chose Betsy Ross.....

Addison chose Queen Elizabeth (I think that's the right queen)......

And Kirsten chose Edgar Allen Poe.....

I'm anxious to see what kind of grades they get on these because they did put a lot of work into them.

I also sorta hope they don't want to keep them because they kinda' creep me out laying around the house.

Their last day of school is tomorrow and they're pretty excited about that. I think we'll still be pretty busy this summer though because they've got lots of things lined up already and some of it starts as soon as next week.

But I'm not complaining.......I'll at least get to sleep in a little......even if it is only an extra hour or so, I'll take it!

End of the year......

2011-05-23T09:50:00.000-05:00

It's almost the end of the school year. The kids are done at noon on Thursday.

That means that things get even crazier around here!

On Friday the kids had a field trip to Fiesta Texas for their part in helping to raise money for St. Jude's Chirldren's Hospital. They had fun, and since they didn't get back until early evening, Dax & I got to take a nap. Woohoo!!! It was supposed to be bad weather all day on Friday, but fortunately that storms held off until after they got home safe and sound.

On Saturday Abigail and Addison had their Spring Show for cheerleading.

They were nervous but they did an excellent job.....especially for their first time performing.

Poor Addison tripped and fell down on their way out to the floor, but she was able to shake it off when they started perfoming.

There is a set of identical twins on the outgoing 8th grade squad and I could hear the man behind me telling his wife about the twins on that squad and ANOTHER set of twins on the incoming 7th grade squad. He was telling her how it was hart to tell that they were twins out on the floor because they were spread so far apart.

Aaaahhhh, if only he knew the real story. LOL

While I was at the grocery store on Saturday morning, Dax decided it was time to clean out our closet. OMG!!!! Who knew you could get so much crap crammed into one space?! When I got home he had everything pulled out and all over the bedroom. I almost passed out when I saw it! But, hey, the closet is looking much better now and we have a whole lot of stuff to pass on to charity to boot.

That's a good thing, right?

Back to normal.......I guess

2011-05-18T10:08:00.000-05:00

Well, Dax made it home safe and sound.

However, my time without him didn't really get any better.

On Thursday we had some pretty nasty thunder storms come through here. I don't know if they had anything to do with it, but when I got to the office on Friday morning our computers were no longer speaking to our server. Now, even knowing what the server is uses about all of my computer smarts so other than turning it off and turning it back on, I was at a loss. (The computer guy didn't actually get everything running again util yesterday.)

Kirsten was all set to spend the night with a friend on Friday. She went home from school with her, but then her friend's mom had to call me that evening to get her because she wasn't feeling well and her fever was 102.9. I'm sure she had whatever Abigail had the weekend before. (By the way, am I the only one that has kids that never get sick unless the doctor's office is closed?)

She was feeling better on Saturday so we went to the outdoor theatre to see Rio. This theatre is not only outside, it's also 'old school' and uses the old reels. When they were changing the reels during the middle of the movie, the kids decided it was too cold and wanted to go home so we've only seen part of the movie. But seriously, who knew it would drop down into the 50's?

The kids missed Dax a lot too. Kirsten and Abigail left a trail of flower petals up the sidewalk and on the steps to welcome Dax home.

They said they had to use over 100 flowers to do it.

Dax came home in his uniform so I decided to take a picture.

He was trying to give me a tough look so I decided to leave the cute little bunnies in the picture too. lol

It's time to come home!

2011-05-12T10:27:00.000-05:00

Dax left yesterday morning to do his anual training for the State Guard.

I'm ready for him to come home already!!!

This was waiting for us when we got home yesterday. And I mean waiting. He didn't move at all when we stopped there.

I tried to run over it, but I think it got away. Addison and I couldn't find any trace of it. (I know that's not very politically correct. In my defense, though, I don't go out on our land looking for snakes. But, if they bring themselves to my attention then I treat them all like they're poisonous and send them to meet-their-maker, so to speak.)

Anyway, we also got rain last night for the first time this year. Of course it came in the form of big storms with lots of thunder, lightning, and hail. And not until about 10:00 at night. So, Bodie was freaking out and kept me awake until almost 1:00 this morning.

It's storming now and he's beside himself everytime he hears the thunder.

It's probably also putting the brakes on the Diabetes Walk at the school today. I'm just guessing, here.

I know it's only been over night, but I'm ready for Dax to come home now......

Another whirlwind weekend.....

2011-05-10T11:20:00.000-05:00

This weekend was the state tournament for Addison's soccer team.

This time the games were in Houston so we had to pack up and head out of town.

Of course, that means boarding the dogs.

So, all of our trips out of town start off looking something like this......

Jealous aren't you?

It gets a little cramped with 4 kids and 5 dogs, don't you think?

We got the dogs dropped off and headed to Houston. About 1-1/2 hours into the trip we stopped at McDonald's to grab a bite to eat. Abigail had been feeling bad when she got back to school from her field trip earlier in the day. She had been sleeping most of the time we were in the car. While we were standing in line waiting to order she told me that she felt dizzy so she was leaning against me and I had my arms around her. It was a good thing too, because she passed out!!! Dax came and got her out of my arms and carried her to a chair and sat with her. She was running a fever but we had no way of knowing how high. I made her take some motrin and made her eat something. I don't think she had eaten much all day and I really think that's what made her pass out.

Once we left there, we were able to make it the rest of the way to Houston without incident.

Addison had two games on Saturday, with the first one starting at 7:30 am. I'm certain that the people doing the scheduling must have lost their minds!!! We had to be at the fields at 6:30....... on. a. Saturday!

They lost the first game and won the second game.

The Grandparents all came to the 2nd game and got to see their victory and we all went out to eat after the game. Then, we headed back to the hotel and most of the team hit the pool.

Abigail started running a high fever again on Saturday night (after she had been fine all day) and I had some trouble finally getting it to break. Bless her heart, she certainly didn't get to have much fun on this trip.

Sunday, Addison played again at 7:30 in the morning. (Happy Mother's Day, right?) They tied that game, but it was enough to move them into 2nd place for State.

The girls are all very excited and we're very proud of them!!!

Here's Addison getting her medal.

And here's a great team photo....

Do I have a talent for catching people at their best, or what?

We made it home safely with no fainting spells from Abigail. So far, every night at just about 6:00 she starts running a fever again. It's the only time of the day that she does. It's just weird! So yesterday I called the doctor and she has her on a different antibiotic this time to see if we can get rid of whatever is bothering her once and for all.

Hounded by the Paparazzi

2011-05-04T12:00:00.001-05:00

Evidently the paparazzi followed Wyatt to his hockey practice.

It's been reported that someone heard him say "Mom!!! Quit!" (Whatever that means.)

He really enjoys doing this. (The hockey, I mean. Not the pictures.)

In case you wonder too.....

2011-05-02T16:00:00.002-05:00

People often ask us if (or have the assumption that) it gets easier having multiples as they get older.

Uhmmmmm, NO!!!

When they were babies we certainly got less sleep, BUT when we put them down some place (like in their beds), they would still be in that place when we got back. Once they get mobile, everything changes.

Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that it's more difficult now. It's just not easier.

And, it doesn't get easier, it just changes.

Take this past week for example.

Monday: Abigail home sick so off to the clinic. Soccer practice.

Tuesday: Cheer practice.

Thursday: Dentist appointments for all four kids. Soccer practice.

Saturday: Wyatt and Abigail at school by 3 AM to leave for band competition.
Addison to soccer fields by 8 AM for all day soccer tournament.
Took Addison and Kirsten to dinner and a little shopping.
Pick Wyatt and Abigail up at school when the band returns from tournament. They were running late so didn't arrive until around midnight.

Sunday: Addison back at soccer fields by 8:00 for more tournament play.
Wyatt to hockey practice.

See, still plenty of activity and what is certainly feeling like not enough sleep.

Addison's team did a fantastic job at the tournament. After day one of play we were a little nervous. They had gone into the tournament ranked 4th place for our division. On Saturday they lost the first game and tied the other two.

Incredibly that left them still in 4th place for Sunday's games. They won both of those games and finished the tournament in 2nd place!!!

I tried over and over to get an action shot of Addison, but it just didn't happen. :0)

This was from the final game on Sunday. It was so wonderful for the girls to beat this team because they played dirty. (It's the same team with the girl that bit Addison during a game.) Their coach was a terrible sport, the girls were, and they were fighting with each other. After the game he was arguing with the ref about some of the calls and I think the ref told him basically that if his girls were the better team they would have won.

I know the girls were happy to beat this team too.

The girls were waiting to get their medals and this is when Addison realized that her Dad was drinking her smoothie.

Addison getting her medal from her coach.

She is VERY proud of that medal......as she should be. Those girls worked hard to earn them.

She put it back on when she got out of the shower last night and I had to make her take it off when she went to bed.

She wore it to school this morning, too. :0)

Next weekend we're off for them to compete for the STATE title!!

So, even though it's not any easier, it is so very worth every minute of it!! We are so proud of all four of our children, and I certainly wouldn't change a thing!

Weekend Update

2011-04-25T13:11:00.000-05:00

Addison had her last soccer game of the season on Saturday morning.

And I finally remembered to take some pictures. :0)

They won 5-0 and that bumped them to 2nd place so they will be going to the play-offs.

They were pretty excited!!!

Sunday, we celebrated Easter at our house. We had lots of people (family and friends) and way too much food.

But it was a good time.

Every year Addison tries to catch the Easter Bunny. This year her traps were pretty elaborate and none of us were allowed to go outside after 9:30 on Saturday night.

The Easter Bunny still managed to get in and took all of her traps and placed them at her bedroom door.

It took me forever to find my camera because the Easter Bunny took it to take this picture and didn't put it back where he found it!

They got baskets full of goodies and too much candy.

Abigail:

Addison:

Kirsten:

Wyatt:

The hunt:

Addison has been asking for a 7-foot bunny for years now.

Well, this year the Easter Bunny finally came through and granted her request.

From that look, I'm guessing that maybe a bunny with 7 feet isn't what she meant.

Who knew?

We all had a lot of fun. Someone had maybe too much fun since Abigail is home sick today. We visited the clinic this morning and I'll be getting her antibiotics on the way home so she should be feeling better soon.

I hope that everyone had a good weekend and were blessed with the love and company of family and friends like we were.

It's over!!!

2011-04-21T09:29:00.000-05:00

Tax season is over!! WooHoo!

It was a very busy tax season this year.Dax did more returns than he's ever done!

When you add keeping up with what the kids have going on, it gets a little hectic.

That's what I'm using for my excuse to explain wearing this to the office.

In my defense, I put them on in the dark because I didn't want to wake Dax up.

I can't believe I didn't even notice it until lunch time!!!! The shoes don't feel the same on my feet!

I lectured the kids too for even letting me leave the house looking like that.

They just laughed at me.

But, Addison said that she checks my shoes every morning now to make sure they match......even if she doesn't let me see her doing it. Now that's love.

High fashion....

2011-04-12T08:00:00.001-05:00

Abigail went to a birthday party on Friday night.

Party clothes have changed a lot from what I thought they were!!

Really, the theme was to dress crazy. Things you would never normally wear together.

Thank goodness she wouldn't normally wear these things together. Blech!!!

Spring has sprung

2011-04-07T10:08:00.000-05:00

It is definitely spring around here.

I can tell because:

* The bluebonnets are blooming.

* My vehicles are all yellow with the pollen.

* The fight has begun for control of my house against spiders, ants, fleas, and ticks. (I almost killed the cats with this one, but that's another story.)

* One of our clients has already killed two rattle snakes at his place (last year he killed over 30!!)

* There are lots of little calves around us.

* It's tax time.

With any luck, we'll get some spring rain soon. We need it!!

What the heck??

2011-04-05T09:10:00.000-05:00

Addison had soccer games on both Saturday and Sunday over the weekend.

They won Saturday's game 3-0. These girls have just really come together and have learned to play as a team. It's just amazing to see how far they've come from their first season together. It wasn't pretty that first season, trust me.

On Sunday the game was a 0-0 tie. Addison was terribly disappointed in the tie because she really wanted to beat the team they were playing. I really wanted them to beat that team too.

The team just flat out played ugly. They pushed a lot. Now I don't mean the regular pushing on each other to get to the ball where the girls lean in. I mean putting their hands on our girls and pushing them to the ground. The only time the ref actually called a penalty was when one of the opposing players practically tackled one of our girls.

And all of that was bad enough. What really pushed me over the edge with it all (and I didn't know it happened until after the game) was that one of the girls from the other team BIT Addison. Seriously?! There's no biting in soccer!!!

Addison tried to tell the ref but he wasn't paying attention. She told her coach, but I don't think he likes to make any waves. So, now it's down to me. At the very least, I'm thinking this calls for a 'strongly worded' letter to the board for our league. I let it go a couple of weeks ago when a player from another team called on of our girls a 'f-cking b-tch' thinking that the coach would say something. But he didn't. I think this time something really needs to be said.

I still can't believe the other girl bit her!

Big fun....

2011-03-31T08:00:00.000-05:00

Someone was having a whole lot of fun (and making quite a mess) at our house this morning.

That's Bertie and I don't know why she decided to get into the package of toilet paper in the pantry. She got one of the rolls out and came running by with it in her mouth.

I'm certain she's lost her mind!!

Busy Week

2011-03-26T22:32:00.000-05:00

What a busy week we had.....

Sunday: Addsion - soccer game (they won) Wyatt - hockey practice

Monday: Addison - soccer practice

Tuesday: All four to the orthodontist, Addison & Abigail - cheer practice

Wednesday: Day off from activities.....woohoo

Thursday: Addison - soccer practice

Friday: Day off from activities....woohoo again!

Saturday: Addison - soccer game (they won again) This game was about 1-1/2 hours from the house. It was so far out there that my gps gave up a couple of miles before we actually got to the fields and told us we were already there. I think it was just tired of us driving.

You may notice that Kirsten didn't have any activities at all during the week. Well, other than the orthodontist and that's not her idea at all. I told her that she was my favorite. However, she let me know that her status as favorite will be revoked soon enough. She wants to play tennis at school next year.

It will be good while it lasts.

Anyway, this week looks to be just as busy. The only thing not on the schedule from last week is the orthodontist appointment. They don't have to go back until April. And, unfortunately that visit will bring with it head gear and perhaps another set of braces.

** Note: Please don't be offended that I told Kirsten that she was my favorite. We tell all our kids that all the time. It's been a running joke since the very beginning. We started off telling them "You're my favorite. Don't tell the others." But, it's been going on so long that when they do something nice or something different than the others they'll say "Am I your favorite because I (.........fill in the blank........)?

She's just too funny.....

2011-03-22T15:00:00.001-05:00

On the way home from Addison's soccer game on Sunday, the conversation was too funny.

Abigail was talking about one the Beethoven movies. We were trying to figure out which one it actually was.

Addison: How many of those movies did they make?

Me: I don't know. I think they made five or something like that.

Addison: Are you serious? I've only seen one of them.

Me: No. You've seen all of them. We all have.

Addison: Which one was the one where the spider dies?

Me: What? There isn't one where a spider dies.

Addison: Yes! It lays it's eggs then dies.

Me: What are you talking about? I don't remember ever seeing one like that.

Addison: Yes! They go to the fair and then the spider lays it's egg sack and dies.

Me: You mean Charlotte's Web?

Addison: Oh, yeah. I was confusing the pig in it with Beethoven because the pig is named Babe/

Abigail: What?! The pig named Babe is in it's own movie. There's no Babe in Charlotte's Web.

Addison: Yes! It's name is Babe.

Me: I don't think so.

Addison: Yes! I remember reading it.

Me: I think the pig's name in Charlotte's Web is Wilber.

Addison: That's what I said. Wilber.

That kid cracks me up. I swear!!

Weekend Recap

2011-03-21T21:59:00.000-05:00

Someone stole my debit card number and made a large purchase at walmart.com. The bank said they have the most trouble with walmart and walmart.com.

Addison's team won their soccer game on Saturday. I had in my head that her game was in a small town that's about 40 +/- miles from us. I left early because it's a lot of country back roads driving so it takes a bit longer to get there. As we're cruising down the road I noticed a sign for a sports complex and the name of it struck a cord with me. So I pulled over to get ahold of the team mom to find out where we were actually playing. Thank goodness I called because we were playing at that field. And thank goodness it sparked something in my head because it was only about half way to where I was actually headed. Addison got hurt in the game. There was a collision by two other girls, but they both fell on top of Addison. One of the girls his Addison in the stomach with her elbow and knocked the breath out of her. I think mostly it scared her when that happened. If you're not familiar with soccer, they don't stop the play just because someone is hurt. You have to just lay down on the field and hope you don't get trampled until the ball is out of bounds or some other thing happens to stop the play. Nice, huh? She sat out for a little bit, but she was fine and headed back in to play.

Addison's team also won their soccer game on Sunday. They've really come together as a team and are communicating out on the field. They've started the season off strong with three wins and no losses. Oh, and Addison managed to avoid any dog-piles during this game.

We almost didn't make it to the game because our air conditioner went out. (I'm so glad it didn't wait until August to do this.) The a/c company sent a technician that was actually about 2 hours away. I don't know if it's good or bad that he didn't have the right part and had to order it. If he had been able to repair the system then, we never would have made it to her game. As it was, we got there just minutes before the game started so she got no warm up time or anything.

Wyatt had a great time at hockey practice. He's still taking the learn to play classes. He'll continue those through the summer until the season starts up again in September. Hopefully by then he should be more than ready for the league.

This week looks to be just as hectic as the weekend. Soccer practice, orthodontist appointment, cheer practice, etc. Who ever said it got easier when they weren't babies anymore? I used to be able to put my babies in their swings with their bottles and get a few minutes to myself. LOL

Sometimes it scares me.........

2011-03-15T21:39:00.001-05:00

Our kids work for us. I mean for real, for our business. When we are done with paperwork we can't just throw it away, it has to be shredded. That's what they do.

I know you wonder why that would scare me.

Because today, I was asking if there were any boxes that they had emptied because I needed one.

Addison looked in the box on the top of the stack and there were some papers that were all stuck together. They had been shredded about half way down the page and then had obviously gotten stuck in the shredder.

I guessed (using my super hero powers of observation) that there were too many pages being fed through at once.

So (in my inifinite wisdom), I told her to only feed through half at a time.

Here's the scary part:

She ripped the pages in half......right down the middle..........and then tried to feed the too thick stack of papers through again.

Really?

I may never understand how her mind works.

But, I can say that Wyatt got a good laugh out of the whole scene!!

They made it!!

2011-03-12T20:09:00.000-06:00

We have been busy around here for the past week getting ready for cheerleader try-outs. Addison and Abigail had decided to try out.

They had practice every evening with the try outs yesterday after school.

It seemed like it took them forever to get the names of the new cheerleaders posted!!!

And I'm pretty sure I was more nervous than the girls were. I mean, think about, what if they didn't make it after they had worked so hard? (Seriously, I am so sick of watching cartwheels and I fell asleep every night with the cheer running through my head.) But even more nerve wracking, what if only one of them made the squad? Gaaahhhhh!

See what I mean?

Anyway, we finally go tired of waiting and left to go to dinner. I called Dax to let him know we were on our way because he was going to meet us there. He checked the school district's website while we were on the phone, so he got to be the one to let the girls know that they both made it! They're soooooooo excited!!!

While we were at try-outs yesterday Abigail and I had an interesting conversation.

Abigail: Mom, this girl that gets in trouble all the time said a word today and I think it's a bad word but I'm not sure.

Me: What did she say?

Abigail: -rick

Me: Brick? That's not a bad word.

Abigail: No. PRICK!

Me: What?!! Yes that's a bad word. Dear God, don't say that! I thought you said brick. You know, the things you build houses with.

Then they called the girls into the other room. Thank goodness so I didn't have to explain what it meant. Sheesh!!

And, Addison's team won their first soccer game of the season. They played really well as a team today.

And now for today's lesson...

2011-03-10T10:51:00.001-06:00

My kids have been doing their own laundry for a little over a year, now. It's been pretty smooth sailing, but recently there has been a lesson learned.....the hard way, of course.

Inside the dryer.

Dryer door.

The lesson: Check all pockets to make sure there are no pens in them. They just may break during the drying cycle and get ink everywhere!!

This lesson brought to you by Wyatt.

Note: I used alcohol to remove the red ink, but the pink stains remain.

Gone today

2011-03-03T09:21:00.000-06:00

But you can find me here again today.

Hope you pop over to visit, then feel free to look around at the other articles. You can see a variety of subjects on the side bar on the left. Enjoy.

You've been warned

2011-03-02T08:55:00.000-06:00

Kirsten left this on top of her science project.

(ISS is International Space Station.)

What's really scary is that she put this note on there when she was going to bed. They all go to bed at the same time, so i guess the warning is to Dax and I. But really, we're not in the habit of destroying their school projects at night after they've gone to bed. I can't even think of a single time that we've done that.

Stars in the making

2011-02-28T08:43:00.000-06:00

These are the two that are going to try out for cheerleader.

Should I offer the judges this video as proof of their talent?

Is it just me?

2011-02-24T08:00:00.001-06:00

Addison has soccer practice three days a week right now. One of those days is during the weekend so practice starts earlier in the day. The other two days are during the week and practice doesn't start until 5:30. That means that realistically there isn't a lot of time for practice, but it actually runs until it looks like this:

So, is it just me, or does it seem like maybe practice under these conditions may not be productive?

A tisket, a tasket.....

2011-02-23T08:36:00.000-06:00

........Kirsten got some brackets.

We visited the orthodontist yesterday. It's not a full set of braces yet, just a few across the front to make room for the other teeth to move down. I guess the rest of the metal will come later.

She said her teeth still hurt this morning but it's not as bad as last night.

She's really handled it all pretty well. Even with the others making fun of her for the faces she keeps making while she's trying to get used to having this extra stuff in her mouth. I did remind them to be nice because their turns will be coming soon enough.

Ready......Okay......

2011-02-21T08:54:00.000-06:00

Addison and Abigail both came home with one of these.

I'm not sure I'm ready.

Welcome Bodie

2011-02-16T13:37:00.000-06:00

Dax has lost his mind, and now we welcome Bodie to our family as well.

He's proven to be just as easy to photograph as the other dogs.....

Well, here's an almost decent picture.....

Question of the week

2011-02-14T09:40:00.000-06:00

This week's question of the week from Multiples and More is 'How did you and your Valentine meet?'

My roommate and I decided to go dancing as we often did on the weekend. On our way to the club I told her that the last thing I needed in my life was another man (famous last words.)

We got there and were mingling around talking to the people we knew and dancing between conversations.

Then I saw this cute guy in jeans, boots, and a cowboy hat. All things that I love. Oh, and he had a really cute butt, too. So, I flirted and batted my eyes at him for most of the night and he smiled back but that was it.

Finally, I worked up my nerve enough and went and asked him to dance. He said yes.

By the time that one song was over and we were walking off the dance floor, I knew. I even said to myself 'I'm in trouble.'

I've been happily in trouble with him for 18 years now and we've been married for 15. I don't reccommend looking for the love of your life in a bar, but it worked for me (even when I wan't looking.)

Valentine's Dance

2011-02-12T16:02:00.000-06:00

Last night was the Valentine's Dance at the Jr. High.

The theme was Romance in the Orient.

I'm not really sure how much romance there is in the Jr. High cafeteria with the lights on. But, hey, I'm good with lack of romance at school dances.

Only Addison and Abigail decided to go.

(Abigail isn't really taller than Addison,

she just wouldn't quit standing on her toes.)

I must say that when I went to pick them up and got a glimpse of what other girls were wearing, mine looked like Quakers. Wow!! That's really all I can say.

By the way, I'm holding onto all the other attempts at getting a decent picture just in case I need to black mail either of these two children at a later date.

It's always good to have a back up plan, you know.

It's all in the name

2011-02-08T20:24:00.002-06:00

Addison: Is Michael Angelo the guy in Titanic?

Me: I'm pretty sure he wasn't in Titanic.

Addison: Are you sure? I saw a commercial and it said he was on it.

Me: It wasn't him. He wasn't even alive then.

Addison: Then who was in the movie?

Me: Do you mean Leonardo Di Caprio?

Addison: Yeeeessssss!! That's it!

Gear Up

2011-02-07T08:00:00.000-06:00

Someone has been shopping and getting all geared up.

He had his first learn to play practice yesterday and absolutely LOVED it.

I'm not sure that once a week is going to be enough for him though.

Snow day....in pictures

2011-02-05T14:55:00.000-06:00

Hey, who's the goofball outside in his pajamas?

Simple math

2011-02-04T10:59:00.000-06:00

No school + blanket of snow = happy kids

It was a Monday!

2011-02-01T08:00:00.000-06:00

Yesterday was definitely a Monday.

Non-paying client called requesting more work from us.

School called. Abigail was sick.

Dax left early to pick her up.

Got her home but didn't have the house keys.

'nuff said!

The fun(ny) continues.........

2011-01-31T09:28:00.000-06:00

Here's a quick break down of some of the things that have been going on.

******************************

Sometime during the past week, the kids were out front with their dogs. Kuddles came running out of the wooded part of our property (The Black Forest of Doom) carrying a stick. Addison went to get the stick from her to keep playing with it only to realize that it was actually a deer leg bone (with some fur still on it.)

She went running and screaming in the opposite direction.

Abigail tried to intervene and get the bone away from her, but Rocky got it first and took off running.

They did finally get it from the dogs and dispose of it. I just hope the dogs don't come up with any other parts of the deer. Blech!!

**********************

On Wednesday (I think it was) Kirsten brushed her teeth with athlete's foot cream.

She says it tastes awful--just in case you're thinking of trying it yourself.

**********************

On Saturday morning Abigail had a UIL competition. She was competing in Music Memory. For this they play a clip from a song and the contestant must know the composer, piece, and score.

She had to be at the school before the sun came up so they could make the two hour drive to the school hosting the competition. (I was caught off guard at how hard it was to drop her off in the dark to get on a bus and head to this competition. Just more proof that my babies are growing up.)

She sent me a text message (well, she sent me a lot but the others weren't pertinent) after she got out of the test saying that she just went blank when she got in there and the competition started.

She was really worried about how she did. She didn't want to be last.

So, she was thrilled to find out that she got 4th place!! Woohoo!!! Our district got 1st overall. She's so excited about placing in the competition and we're proud as can be.

****************************

Wyatt has graduated from the skating classes and will be moving up to the "How to Play Hockey" classes. This is the big time. This is where we have to go get him fitted for the equipment and really make the investment.

He couldn't be more excited!!

Abigail still wants to know when she can start. I guess she's not going to change her mind so easily.

Stupid not working mind control!!

I'm not here today.....

2011-01-24T09:12:00.000-06:00

.....but you can find me over here A to Z for Moms Like Me. I'm writing a monthly article for them. Go check it out and then look around at some of the other articles over there. You'll find a list of topics in the left side bar.

There's an app for that

2011-01-22T12:05:00.000-06:00

The kids are loving their new Ipod Touches.

The other night at dinner, I said something that made Dax laugh. The next thing we know, Abigail pushes a button on her Ipod (which is sitting on the table) and the something funny has been followed by the comedic drums ba-dum-bum.

Then when Dax said something else, she responds with a sound effect of wa-wa-waaaaa.

I guess his wasn't as funny?

A few minutes later Addison told a knock knock joke (which I'm pretty sure she just made up) and it was followed by the sound of crickets chirping.

Who knew how much dinner conversation was missing without the sound effects?

They've also been recording us in an app that makes us sound like Alvin & The Chipmunks when it's played back.

It's kind of scary what kind of apps are out there, and how many of them they've discovered already.

Berty's Bad Day

2011-01-20T09:16:00.000-06:00

Poor little Berty had a bad day yesterday.

It was time for her to get spayed.

I dropped her off early in the morning and Dax picked her up after all the kids' orthodontist appointments.

It's safe to say that she wasn't happy. As the anesthesia wore off she just got mean. She was growling at us and trying to bite us. Poor baby.

We had her locked in our bathroom while the medication wore off. At one point Abigail and Kirsten had gone in there to check on her. Because she was alert enough at this point to start messing with the stitches, they decided to put the cone collar thingy on her (the nurse convinced Dax that it was a really good idea when he picked her up.)

Anyway, based on the meowing, growling, and banging around that I could hear coming from the bathroom, you would have thought they were trying to tame a lion! I told them more than once to just leave her alone but they didn't give up until Abigail had gotten some nice big scratches.

Later, I went in and put the collar on her.

It was a bad idea.

She was flipping all over the place and clawing at it trying to get it off. I finally decided that she was going to do more damage trying to get it off of her head.

I told Dax that when she's all healed we'll have to put it back on her and video tape it. LOL

She was feeling much better this morning, I guess, because she wasn't so mean.

It's all in the touch

2011-01-18T13:51:00.000-06:00

Well, all four kids have gathered together all the money they could find (birthday, Christmas, selling gift cards to Mom) and they've each purchased and Ipod Touch.

And just like that, every other electronic gadget in the house has become obsolete.

Abigail has spent at least three years bugging us to get her a cell phone. She finally got one for her birthday and the Ipod Touch has her wondering if she even needs the phone anymore (which is why we got pay as you go and didn't sign a contract.)

Yeah, for smart thinking on our part!!

Still, I don't know what it is about it, but 'the touch' is all that matters now.

New tactic....

2011-01-14T11:18:00.001-06:00

I have a new tactic for getting Addison to do what I want.

It's brilliant really.

I told her that if she's not careful, I will make this her facebook profile picture:

So far, she's under my complet control! Wonder how long it will last?

Saturday silly-ness

2011-01-09T12:18:00.000-06:00

We went to another hockey game last night.

But this time Dax's parents and little sister came to the game too.

Poppey has been complaining about being out in the cold so for Christmas we gave him a scarf and some gloves. He later said something about his ears being cold when he rides his bike.

It didn't go unnoticed..........

Since we all LOVE 'Christmas Vacation' and usually watch it together as a family I ran into my sewing room before we were to meet up and made him his very own Cousin Eddie Cap!

Dax's mother was horrified when he snuck it on once we were inside. (She's leaning away from him in the picture.)

See, ear flaps and all.

We had a really good time. Even if our team lost.

The only really scary thing is that now Abigail is wanting to play hockey.

I'm really not sure how intimidating all 56 pounds of her will be out on the ice.

We're still trying to talk her into something else, but the whole mind control thing isn't really working.

You never know what you'll find........

2011-01-06T09:06:00.000-06:00

I hope everyone had a great New Year's. We went to a party and had a great time. That's the first time we've done that on New Year's Eve in absolutely forever.

The kids are back in school and we're back to our same old routines. It's kind of nice. lol

Yesterday morning the cat woke me up really early so I had time to do other things before I got the kids up. One of the things I did was fold the load of towels that were in the dryer.

Now, the kids have been doing their own laundry for about a year now so I don't have much reason to go into their bathrooms other than to make sure they've cleaned them when I tell them too. Even then, I just look into the room, not into the cabinets and all.

Well, yesterday morning when I went to put towels in the cabinet in Wyatt's bathroom imagine my surprise to find a giant blue stuffed bunny. Then, imagine my even greater surprise to move the bunny aside and find this:

That's five - yes 5! - bowls that were in his bathroom cabinet!! There's no telling what else I might find if I go dig around under his bed and in his closet........or on his top bunk. *cringe*

I know he must have at least 10 glasses ~~hidden~~ scattered in there.

I could understand not wanting to get up to take them back to the kitchen, but he's already getting up to hide them in the bathroom. Gaah!!!

Honestly, though, this isn't anything new for him. Since he's been old enough to walk I've been finding food hidden in his dresser drawers, closet shelves, etc.

I thought he'd outgrow it.

I guess maybe not.

A Very Merry Christmas

2010-12-28T14:31:00.000-06:00

I hope that everyone had a wonderful Christmas. Our's was great.

On Thursday we went to my brother's to celebrate with our parents and his family.

Wyatt with his new horse Fil.....

We also had a full house with friends and family there which makes for a happy day.

We were obviously feeling very French this year.

Wyatt got hockey skates so he's in Heaven.

Dax got a pole-dancing-stripper alarm clock from his mom.

I think Dax's favorite gift, though, was getting this flag from his Mom. It was the flag that was from his grandfather's service after his death. It really meant a lot to him.

But, it was a lot of work and required a lot of energy, so when the festivities were over, I fell asleep and slept for about 12 hours.

It was glorious!!

I hope that you all had good times with your family and friends!

That silly mouse.....

2010-12-22T18:44:00.000-06:00

Ralf got out again.

Fortunately the girls were in the room at the time and saw him make his daring escape.

He really chose to go the unconventional route this time. He made his get away in Berty's mouth.

I just wonder what even gave him the idea.

It's a good thing that the girls were in there and chased the cat to get Ralf back.

Now I'm just wondering if that's the same way he 'escaped' the last time.

Hopefully Dax got the get-away hatch closed so that the cat can't get it open any more.

Hopefully.

Stranger in the night.

2010-12-16T10:25:00.001-06:00

Last night the cat was driving me crazy. She had found something to play with and it kept squeaking and it was impossible to sleep.

After trying to get her to stop playing several times I finally just locked her in the laundry room.

Of course she started trying to get out of there and kept clawing under the door which finally woke Dax up at about 2:00 this morning.

He sat up in bed trying to figure out what the noise was and I told him it was just the cat wanting out of the laundry room.

Then.........

Me: But if the cat's in the laundry room why do I hear something crawling around over here.

Dax: What are you talking about?

Me: I hear something crawling around over here.

I got up and turned on the bathroom light, so as not to blind us, and went back to investigate.

Me: Oh my God!!! There's a mouse in here!!!

I run in a panic to the other side of the room.

Dax: (Still laying in bed.) Well, get it.

Me: I'm not touching it. Oh my God!!! It just crawled into my purse!!!!

Dax: Turn on the light so you can see it.

Me: I don't want to see it! You get up and get it!

I turn on the light (I have to walk back over to where the beast is to do that.)

Dax: Is it Ralf?

Me: I don't know! You come pick it up and see if it bites you. If not then it's probably Ralf.

Dax: It is Ralf. Go put him back in his cage.

So I search for something to pick him up with because I don't want to touch him (just in case it's not Ralf, you know.)

Anyway, I caught him, put him back in his cage, and gave him some food.

It's a wonder he survived. I feel terrible now that we kept hearing something squeak and had no idea it was him. He appears to be alright and was fast asleep when I checked on him again this morning.

I guess he's as tired as I am after last night's big adventure.

Crazy Busy

2010-12-15T10:00:00.001-06:00

We've been so busy. I only wish I could say that when this week is over and the kids are out of school that it will get better, but it really won't.

Oh well, as the saying goes......keep calm and carry on.

On Sunday Addison's soccer team had their end-of-season party. (There's much drama on that front, but I'm trying to just stay out of it.) The girls had decided that they wanted to go ice skating. I'm glad they had the party when they did, because it happened to be at the same rink and right before Wyatt's skating class. Woohoo! I'm all for things coming together like that.

Addison had a great time even though she wound up with a big bruise on her knee from someone else knocking her down. Wyatt.....not so much.

It's hard to see in this picture (he wouldn't let me get a good one) but he fell and banged the side of his face up pretty good. There was some missing skin (I'm assuming it stuck to the ice) and some bruising. He was working on sliding to a side-ways stop and lost his balance. And this was before his class even started, he was skating earlier to practice.

On Monday night Addison, Abigail, and Wyatt had their first band concert. The band did a really good job. I know they were nervous, but it all worked out. The band is pretty big and none of my kids were in a spot where we could see them so I didn't get any pictures. Oh, well.

Today they start taking their mid-term exams. This is a first for them so I guess we'll see how it goes. Just this morning they were complaining that there aren't Christmas parties anymore, just finals. Welcome to growing up!

The big stage show......

2010-12-08T08:00:00.000-06:00

Dax was running a little late yesterday when it was time to pick the kids up from school. In his haste to get out of the office he left his house keys on his desk.

Of course he realised this as soon as he got home and started looking for his keys to unlock the front door.

He called me at the office and I left early to go unlock the house for them. It was no big deal because I was going to have to leave early anyway because Kirsten had a choir performance.

When I got home the kids were scattered, still looking for ways to get into the house. Except for Abigail. She said it was too cold in the car so she was trying to stay warm with the cat's bed.

That looks much warmer, right?

Then we got bundled up to go to Kirsten's choir performance at the Trail of Lights.

She had to be there early, so the rest of us had a chance to wander around and look at some of the displays.

The three amigos.....

Santa's helpers.......

Then we made it back to the stage for the choir performance......

After her performance we looked around a little longer.

I thought this tree was really neat!

Here's an up-close picture so you can see what it was made of.

All in all it was a good night. It was cold but fortunately it wasn't windy. Being on the top of the hill in the cold and wind is just miserable, but last night was good.

Watch 'em fall

2010-12-06T08:00:00.001-06:00

My parents came for Thanksgiving but didn't get to leave until December 2.

No, we didn't hold them hostage.

Dax and I were going to be out of town and they were kind enough to stay with our kids while we were gone. I really don't know what we would do without them.

Anyway, my Mom brought some dominoes with her to play games with the kids. They played their games just fine until my Dad showed them a video online of falling dominoes. That started a whole new obsession.

Here's Abigail's creation.

And some video....