Update time!

I know. I know. Once again it's long overdue. I feel like I have less time now than when the kids were little. How is that even possible? It's crazy!

We celebrated Easter, but I seriously can't believe the Easter Bunny is still stopping at our house. But, hey, it's always good to have our family together.

 

Addison changed jobs and is now working at a preschool. She spent the first month or so being sick from all of the germs the kids bring with them. I'm thinking she likes the old people better.

We welcomed a new nephew, Zane.  It took a couple of months for us to finally be able to go see him. Like I said, Addison was for a long time. I finally made her go to the doctor and it looks like she got there just shy of pneumonia. Well, Dax caught what she had and spent some time being sick himself. Then I had shingles so couldn't be around the baby either. But, finally, we got well and got to meet Zane. It was wonderful!

 

After tax season (grateful that we survived) Dax and I took a few days off and spent a long weekend in San Antonio. This time we stayed right on the Riverwalk and had a wonderful and relaxing time. Every day should be like that.

Abigail has been off at school, training to be a flight attendant. She was sick when we dropped her at the airport and for her first week or two of training (see Addison was sick and sharing above). But, she managed to make it through and has done really well. She will be graduating as Valedictorian of her class. We are so proud of her. 

She will be based out of Houston so will be crashing at her grandparents' houses. I think she'll bounce back and forth between the two sets of grandparents so that she doesn't wear out her welcome.

Wyatt finished his first year of college. Since he's thinking law school, he'll be spending some time this summer interning for an attorney here in town. He's pretty excited about that.

Kirsten is still working with graphic designs. She has a number of items for sale in her online shop at The Messy Bun. Go check out her stuff. I have a couple of clothing items and get lots of compliments on them.

We can't figure out why none of them want to go into accounting. I'm sure it has nothing to do with their Dad sleeping at the office during tax season.....

So, I think that gets us caught up on the big things. I'm sure I've left out a whole host of little things, but they always come to me later.

A long overdue update

It has gotten to be the new routine around here that I post, apologize for having been so long in between posts, think I'm going to be better, and then don't post in forever.

So here goes................

Sorry it's been so long.

I'll try to do better.

Wyatt has finished his first semester in college. He did quite well, As and Bs. And because of that he received a substantial amount of funds from the Texas State Guard. That makes all of us quite happy. being a part of the State Guard has been a really great thing all the way around. It's been a terrific confidence builder as he learns leadership, a time for Dax and Wyatt to do things together, and has now helped fund his education.

At the end of his first semester, he decided that sports medicine was not going to be the right choice for him. He's now switched his major to History with thoughts of law school later. Truthfully, I think after growing up with three sisters and finding himself outnumbered in most disagreements, he's looking to use all those pent up arguments. What better way to do that than as an attorney? At least that's my theory.

Abigail got her braces removed at the end of November. She's the last one so we are DONE! Now that's cause for celebrating!

At the beginning of December she headed off to spend the holidays in Canada. At the same time Dax and I headed off for our annual continuing education classes in Las Vegas.

And then back to school.....

We had a great time at Disney and with the other things we did. But, as usual, it's always good to get back home.

The kids headed off for their first day of school. This is what I got when I asked them to let me take a picture.

 

Always the comedians. I can't believe it's their senior year!!! Where did the time go?

 

Homecoming came around quickly, it seemed. Kirsten and Wyatt were the only ones that chose to go.

They had a good time.

Meanwhile, this is what our house is looking more and more like.

 

Who could have imagined that a piece of ice could be so interesting?

It's been so long

Oh my!! I can't believe how long it's been since I last posted. It's been busy around here, that's for sure. We survived tax season, and it wasn't nearly as rough as last year. I hope there is never another one like that.

We caught these two stray cats that have been hanging out at the office.

The larger one (on the left) repaid our kindness by having three kittens. Nice, huh?

There was recognition for the soccer team and their parents at the last regular season game. Since Wyatt is a trainer I got to be escorted onto the field by him.

 

 

He also received a certificate at the year end banquet for being the Trainer of the Year.

This guy came to visit and was curled up near our back door. Don't like seeing them at all, and like it even less up close to the house.

Prom happened. They all looked great and had a good time.

One of those cats that we captured bit me. But, with a tetanus shot and a long round of antibiotics everything is all good now.

Addison got her driver's license. That whole ordeal was a nightmare. Maybe I'll post about that later. There is more that has happened and I'll be back a little more quickly to get all caught up.

Out with a fizzle

The school year didn't really go out with a bang this year. It was more like a fizzle. It was actually kind of a surprise because at the end of the day that day at school, they just announced that the year was over. So there you go.

Anyway, overall it was a good year.

Kirsten and Abigail were both inducted into the National Honor Society. And, Kirsten received an award for Outstanding Achievement in Spanish. 

Much to her delight, Addison received her letter jacket. 

Unfortunately, by the time she got hers (which was not until soccer season was over) it was far too warm to wear it. 

I still can't believe how quickly the year went by and that my babies are now juniors in high school!

Keeping Busy

We are certainly staying busy. The end of the school year seems to bring it's own kind of chaos. It's like everything that wasn't scheduled before then gets crammed into the last two weeks of school.


We attended my niece Kate's graduation from the University of Texas.

I still can't believe she's old enough to have graduated from college!!

Addison had a soccer tournament in San Antonio (or more accurately, the far southwest side of San Antonio which made it about a two hour trek from our house.) She's always played in a defensive position, but this year she's been playing more midfield. Well, we look out at the field when the second game is getting ready to start and see this....

Addison was playing goalie! What?! She's only played once before and she was about 7 at the time. She played hard but they got two past her so she was pretty upset.

Regardless, they were pretty wiped out by the end of the two days.

Kirsten had her end of the year  Show Choir Banquet. This was the first year for the Show Choir program and she's glad that she participated. Here she is stealing my date for photo ops. (But aren't they cute?)

Even though it gets busy, it's nice to see them participate and enjoy some of the different things that are available to them.

Back to the Real World

We've been pretty busy since we got back from vacation. I guess that's sort of obvious since it took me over a month to get the vacation posted about.


Since we've gotten home, the kids did go and spend a couple of weeks in Houston with their grandparents, which is always a lot of fun for them.

We've done some geocache searches, there has been some golf and tennis played, and we've had a few trips for ice cream or sno-cones.

(Wyatt is looking more and more like his dad.)

Addison was in another pageant and won her age division. For this one she will compete in a State Pageant next year in May or June.

Dax and I got invited to attend an event for retired Texas Rangers law officers. We had a nice time. It was on a beautiful ranch along the river, with good food and good company.

 This was my date for the evening. Isn't he handsome?

 

 Then, the very next week, we attended an awards luncheon where Dax received an award for all the volunteer work that he does in connection with the Hays County Sheriff's Department. He had received a regional award earlier, but this one was a state level award. We are all so proud of him and all that he does.

I took the girls to do some back to school shopping. Even though their grandparents had taken them already.

 

A little touch of glamour on her eyes.....

But, I guess the biggest (and most traumatic for me) thing that has happened is that school started. And I have high schoolers!!!

(Addison, Abigail, Wyatt, & Kirsten)

 

I am just not ready for them to be this grown up. I had to fight back the tears when they got out of the car on the first day of school. They all have pretty tough schedules this year because their mean parents made them take the harder classes, but they're off to a good start.

End of the school year

So the kids are done with school for the summer. They actually got out last Friday.


Packed into the end of the year, in addition to finals, are various awards.


At the most recent school board meeting Kirsten and Abigail (along with other student volunteers) were presented with awards in recognition of the volunteer work they did with the reading program at the elementary school.

There was also an awards presentation on the last day of school where they received a variety of academic awards. It's always nice for their work to be recognized.


There was also a dance at the end of the year. The girls always get dressed over at their friends' houses so I don't get to see them and I'm usually lucky if I get a picture. This time around I got a little lucky and got a picture of Abigail and Kirsten.

I just want to know how they managed to look so grown up!!!


There are lots of things planned for the summer. Wyatt is still in physical therapy, there is soccer camp, tennis practices, and vacations still to come. Hopefully I can recover from the fact that they are now officially Freshmen in time to enjoy the summer. I'm still feeling a little faint.....

Oh, the madness!!!

OH. MY. GOSH. I started this post a week ago and haven't had the chance to get back to it in order to finish. So, I guess here goes.....a week or so crammed into one post.


We've been going over everything and filling out schedules for next year.


Next year. When they'll be in HIGH SCHOOL!!!!


I can't believe it's already time for this.


I also can't believe how complicated it is. There are options for following on a career path through high school which involves certain classes. There are three different options for curriculum, basic, recommended, and distinguished. There are regular classes, classes that can count as college credit if the test is passed, classes taught on campus by a college professor, and options for correspondence courses that count as both high school and college credit. It's more than a little overwhelming.

On Tuesday night (this was two weeks ago) Rocky (Abigail's dog) jumped the fence as usual, but this time he managed to gash his leg wide open. Of course he did this after office hours so I had to take him to the emergency vet. After several hours they got him all stitched up and awake enough that he could walk to the car and Abigail and I could get him in.

While I was gone doing that, Dax was at a meeting at the Sheriff's Office so had his phone silenced and didn't get my message until some time later. Then, Addison texted me because she wasn't feeling well. She was running a fever and had a sore throat. Of course! These kids are seldom home in the evening by themselves, so of course I wished one of us was home this time.

We did get everything taken care of for Addison and for the dog and both are doing fine.

Then on Wednesday night they had orientation for high school. We went to it, but did leave early so that we could get home and finish dinner and because it had been kind of a long night the night before. Besides, we had already been at orientation for 3 hours when we finally left. I really felt like I had put in my time. lol

Thursdays are always long days with Kirsten and Abigail doing their tutoring in the mornings before school and Addison's Kumon after school.

On Saturday, Addison and I set off on a quest to find white go-go boots for her pageant on Sunday. We didn't find the boots, but I did manage to get lost. But, in the process discovered a whole little area by the lake that I didn't even know was there.

We made do without the boots, and Addison competed in a pageant on Sunday. She won grand supreme. She won a huge crown, a sash, a trophy, and some cash. She was thrilled to say the least.

Okay, I think that gets things caught up.....at least a little.

How does that happen?

Seriously! How does so much time go by that I'm too busy to be able to post to my blog but I still look back and wonder what we were so busy doing? Is that one of the great wonders of the world?  Well, it should be!


Anyway, what we've been up to......


I took Abigail to do this:

That's a second piercing. She's been asking for some time now and since she hadn't changed  her mind I decided to go ahead and let her do it. I guess if she changes her mind later she can always let them grow closed. But for now she still comes and shows them to me everyday and tells me how cute her ears are.

Dax took Kirsten to play tennis on Saturday and Sunday last week. They were both pretty sore by Monday, but they really enjoyed the time spent together.

All of the kids are at a dance tonight. It still feels a little weird when they're all out of the house and not gone to visit their grandparents. They keep growing up and I'm just not liking it at all!!

Kirsten and Abigail are still enjoying tutoring their 'buddies' at the kindergarten. It's great to see how excited they get about it. Of course the other two hate it because they have to be at school so early on those mornings. I'm telling them that it builds character. LOL

This week the kids got the information that they need for filling out their schedules for next year. OMG!!! Who knew something so simple could be so hard. I mean, it's not like we live in some giant school district but these schedules are like choosing classes in college. In addition to four (yes four!) different curriculums to choose between, they also want the kids to fill in their schedules for all four years of high school!! Now, they aren't tied into those other three years, the school just wants them to try to see where they'd like to go with their education and start to develop a plan. But when you take kids that last year got to pick two electives from a grand total of four available, jumping into planning four years worth of school with a whole host of available electives is more than a little overwhelming. And not just for the kids. Dax and I are getting headaches trying to help them through the process. They have orientation next week so maybe that will help a little. *fingers crossed*

Catching Up.....

It's been so busy lately that it seems hard to find the time to keep things updated. Lots to do at the office to get clients taken care of for their year end and to get organized for our busy season to start. Add to that that I've been sick for the last week and it makes it even more difficult to be inspired to post. lol

So, here goes.

Addison was in another pageant. She got princess again.

She's at a tough age for these because fewer girls participate as they get older. She never knows if she's going to be with younger girls or older girls and it makes a difference on what the judges are looking for. But, she still likes doing it so I guess she'll continue for now.


Kirsten and Abigail have started working in a new program at school and on Tuesday and Thursday mornings they go to the elementary campus and tutor kindergarten students on reading. They both seem to be loving it and both like the kids that they're working with. It sounds like a great opportunity for all of the kids in involved.


Wyatt and Dax have been working on Buster. I'm not sure if it's going well or not and, frankly, I'm afraid to ask. Last Saturday alone I think they broke two tools and four lug nuts. But, hey, maybe that's progress. What do I know?

Getting back into the swing....

Well, I guess we're back into the swing of things around here. Seems like they've already been in school forever. ha!

We spend time every week watching the Addison and Abigail cheer.

They put a lot of work into it and Thursdays make for very long days. Have to be at the school by 7am to get ready for the pep rally and then two games that evening to cheer at. There first time to cheer this season, there were FOUR games that night. Fortunately it started to storm so the games got called. And I say fortunately because it was on many fronts. We desperately need the rain around here, nobody wanted to stay through four games and the girls certainly didn't want to cheer that long (Addison was already losing her voice after just the game and a quarter that they did cheer), and lastly, our team was getting their butts kicked. Calling the games stopped the pain.

I still can't get over how much they've grown up. Wyatt has started shaving already. Granted, he only has to do it about once a month right now, but still, I'm just not ready. He asked a girl to the homecoming dance. That took a lot of guts and we're proud of him for doing it. She said no, but it's completely understandable. Her parents are getting a divorce and she's having a really hard time coping with it. There are too often parents that are so wrapped up in what's going on with them and they forget how divorce affects the kids. Their whole world gets turned upside down and the kids have no part in it except to figure out how to cope.

Progress reports came out last week and everyone is doing a good job. So far this school year has started off with much less stress than the last one. We're hoping to continue down that path.

And so it begins

The kids have only been back in school for three weeks and it feels like the crazy has already started.


It's like there is always so much going on and we don't even let the kids participate in all the things they want to. I know parents who's kids participate in (what seems like) every possible activity. I just don't know how they do it.....or how the kids do it either.


This week there was Kumon on Monday. Cheer practice on Tuesday and Wednesday. Thursday they have to be at the school by 7:10 am to get set up for the pep rally and then there are FOUR football games Thursday evening. Open house was last night. Tax deadlines at the office, etc., etc.


In addition to all of that, there's the usual chaos at home. Over the weekend Abigail was spending the night with a friend. The cheerleaders are selling chocolate candy right now, and she left hers at home in her room. While she was gone, her dog got into it. After she got home and counted up her money and the candy that was left, it appears that he ate six chocolate bars!!! They say that chocolate can kill dogs, but this dose doesn't seem to have bothered him much at all.


Then Daisy came in the other night limping and coughing and throwing up. I looked and poked all over her leg and paw but really couldn't find a reason for the limping. We had no idea what to do about the coughing and kept her away from food and water for the night so that she wouldn't keep throwing up. I looked down her throat, much to her dislike, and couldn't find that she had been chewing on anything that got caught. The next day Wyatt and Addison did some research online and suspected that she had gotten stung by a wasp because her symptoms seemed to fit.

I think they're correct. I had just sprayed an absolutely huge wasp nest at the corner of the house close to the gate. Many of the wasps had dropped to the ground to die. I told the kids not to go out there without shoes on, but honestly, it never occurred to me that the dogs might step on them and get stung. And I think that's just what happened.

We started giving her Benadryl and that appears to be helping her a lot.

Who would have thought?

It's finally over.....

Well, the school year is finally over. I can honestly say that I've never been so happy for a school year to end. Not even when I was in school.

It was a really rough year. Not only with Wyatt's problems with his knees, but there were teacher issues (and with more than one teacher) that we had to deal with that I didn't go into here. I'm afraid it might have earned us a reputation as 'those' parents. You know, the ones that are hard to deal with.

I'm hoping that next year will be better, but the kids will still be on the same campus and, like I said, I think we've earned a reputation.

Anyway, Kirsten received an award in Science which was a nice to surprise for her.

She also received an award for her participation in the Duke University TIP program.

They did a great job this year, even with all the other stuff going on and we're so very proud of them. They really are great kids!

It amazes me how much they grow up in just one school year too.

Here's the first day of school.

And the last.

Where, oh where, have our babies gone?!


Now, on to summer.....

Awards and Finals

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!

Sixth Grade - Day 2

I left the camera and a note asking Dax to take a 'Day 2' picture for comparrison.




And he actually did it!!!!

I hear they weren't thrilled about having this picture taken either.

They don't look so different from yesterday, which raises the question of why I spent 30 minutes getting hair done.

That's going to require some thought now isn't it?

Westward Ho!

Today is Trails West for the kids. They dress in (sort of) period clothing and act out the trail rides west. They have been just about bouncing off the walls for the last week because they get so excited about this. All four of them just love doing this and everything about it.




Abigail didn't bring her costume home.


They have to earn points with good behavior in order to go. Then after they get their points, the classes draw to see who gets to be an Indian. As you can see, my blonde daughter is the only one that got to be an Indian. Since she looks nothing like the part she's devised a story to go with it. She told me this morning that her name is Mary and she was taken by the Indians when she was small. :0)