Meet the Teacher Night- Aaaaahhhhh!

Tonight was very special. I-Dude is going to a new school, will have a whole new classroom and teacher and friends. We had to go.

So with his school supplies in tow, we quickly found his teacher's room and he introduced himself while Mr. Man and I filled out paperwork and picked "apples" from the "gift" tree of additional supplies their class will need.

We all came home excited for this whole new adventure. It is completely new for all of us. New PTA, new moms to schmooze, new administration to watch (maybe go up against) and new neighborhood. J-Pony will be across the street in her middle school, but with the time change, they won't see each other until they both wake up and get home. L-Infinity will be home until the first week of September when we take her to Hawaii to start, also, a whole new life, as a college student on the island of Oahu, in Laie, HI to go to Brigham Young University Hawaii campus... Aaaaahhhhh!!!!

My children are all growing up and it is slowly hitting me. Combine that with house improvement project list as long as our house is tall, I'm barely holding on to any shred of sanity!

At least we have our list to keep us from feeling old... How are you faring with your growing children?

Quiz Interrupted

Sounds like a movie title, huh? LOL

No really! I had an essay and quiz due today but for some odd reason, I kept getting interrupted. Valid ones, too. No sleep, neighbors, kids, teenage social life, three meals, other people's problems, etc., etc.

I feel so relieved that my essay was mainly done last night and I just had to polish it off but my quiz alone, which my instructor thought an hour would be enough, certainly didn't account for my scenario tonight. While doing my quiz, I was and had to be pulled away not three, not four, not even five, but seven different times!

Between multiple phonecalls, texting necessities, neighbor interaction/mediation, a possibly lost teenager, plus a needed-to-be-solved flight dilemmas, I managed to finish it with only one missed question. Whew! And turn in my essay with at least two hours to spare. *woot woot*

Oh yeah, and I now need to go to Reno tomorrow to solve the flight dilemma. Wow, one crazy day and "poof!" You're booking a flight to Reno. ;-)

More on this dilemma later, I've got to sleep. Church tomorrow.

Homeworks Galore...

From my own Advanced Excel assessment to Sociology in three areas to signing off Permission forms for the kids to help out afterschool, I have homeworks! And while still a zombie, I don't want to do them! *wahhhh!*

Still getting ready!

From Annie's Eats blog
We cleaned some more, got school supplies together and planned more meals. And I finally baked some focaccia bread! It was so fun having to bake with olive oil!

I know some of the friends I know from AZ are already back in school, but for us, we still have a few days to get ready... First it's the "Meet the Teacher Night".

The kids enjoyed visiting their new teachers and classrooms last night as well as popcorn. For J-Pony and I-Dude, I had to meet a total of three teachers, their respective grade teachers and the LEAP instructor who teaches every grade.

The funny thing is, they go to school, I get their first homework! What's up with that?! I needed to bring home the Emergency and the Lunch Program forms.

Oh well... I guess I better start on it!

Last Day of School & Patio Clean-up

You read right, today, we officially welcome Summer Vacation! While most families are practically done with their packing for their big vacations, we are going to stay put this summer. Texas is so big that we thought, it would be fun to explore the nearby areas to give our bank account a much needed rest (as if they really worked hard, lol)

Anyway, here are the kiddos on the LAST DAY OF SCHOOL! That's right outside the front door, in front of the living room window tree that I love to see during the day. Just before they took off for the bus, I grabbed the ol' Canon Power Shot and asked if they would be so kind as to grace me with their pearly whites on three. I think they heard me. ;-)


They had a half day, so they got home at 1:45PM, but before that, I was babysitting my neighbor's two kiddos until about 3PM. I made Pasta Roni, scrambled eggs, curly fries and of course, the chocolate cookies from last night and beverage.

L-Infinity got home first, then J-Pony and I-Dude with the neighbor's kiddos. And they boxed, played baseball, jumped, bowled, and made rollercoasters on the Wii. Then there was the Lego construction and the Hot Wheels tracks. Oh, and the noise was WOW! I had to ask them to turn down the volume (of their voices) a couple of times.

Here are their First Day of School shots. Can you see how much they've grown? Maybe not so much in height, but their faces...













Then, after we're all by ourselves again, we tackled the patio which is a lot harder than I thought since most of the mud, leaves and gunk got caked on at the corners. We had to take practically everything out and hose down the concrete!

This is I-Dude resting with his Capri Sun after about an hour of cleaning. He lifted, threw away and moved stuff for me. Didn't complain once!


And here are the girls, L & J resting after we were able to uncover (literally) and hose down the chairs. Two got a bit pink since the cover ripped at the top and the sun baked the top two chairs.


See the wet spots? That's the newly cleaned concrete ground. It's funny, when it was all dirty from the weather, it looked dim and sad. Now, with a cleaner area and things slowly being "styled", then it's quite bright out there but we have had the same light bulb since last year!

Obviously, it's not all done yet, we are still configuring where things are gonna be after Mr. Man takes out certain items to the storage. My fingers are crossed; I want more space out there! I also can't wait to do tablescaping out there!

Have a great weekend!

Hawk Awards Night!

We spent the day, paying bills and having Mr. Man's tools refilled with his missing tools for work. I got to meet some of the other SWA employees he used to work with. I can honestly tell you that the friendly facade is not a facade. I have yet to meet a SWA employee not ready to greet you.

In the vein of having a full day, L-Infinity had her Hawk Awards Night tonight. She was recognized for her achievements in Academic Decathlon.

Gold: Top AC DEC Scholastic Team Scorer

Bronze: Super Quiz Team, 3rd Place Regional

The little one for Choir-Belle Chanson, Class 2 Superior Rating / 1 (Best) for Ensemble

At the start of the ceremonies...

Here's L-Infinity after she received her medals.

Next year, she'll move up to Honors AC DEC Team and as a Co-Captain.

Great job, L! Keep on flying higher towards your dreams!

Happy Tuesday everyone!

PTA, Choir Concert & Metallophone

Tonight was what you would call, "a full house". You know the kind I'm talking about. The one where the moment you wake up, you're busy! Yeah, one of those days...

Ok, let's see, we...

~ Had to pick up a "Wedding for Dummies" book from a Freecycler. It's for reference for my two girls in the future. They want me to "cater" their weddings. So just in case they still want to, I'll have this book.

~ Had to go all the way to South Dallas to pick up my new dinnerware for my collection that I won from Ebay. It's my family's Mother's Day present for me. Yay!

(Seller's Ebay photo)

~ Had to deliver a Math homework packet to L-Infinity's highschool since she was still feeling sick today, along with J-Pony and I-Dude.

~ Had a hard conversation with a great SIL.

~ Made two dishes out of Pillsbury Grands: one lunch, one dessert. Both were delish!

(top) sausage and cheese biscuit cups

(below) sweetly kissed biscuits

(cinnamon & honey cream cheese)

~ Nursed all three kiddos because I-Dude and J-Pony had a Choir concert following an important PTA nomination meeting.

~ Had to rescue J-Pony from unnecessary meltdown to locate her choir shirt (mandatory) that she couldn't find though it was right inside the door on a pile of newly washed clothes. (Ooopps!)

~ Got to see what Orff instruments look like and I & J did well on them. The highlight was hearing their names mentioned up on the stage with the instrument they'd be playing on. Both used a metallophone.


~ Had to detour to Wendy's for an 8pm dinner. Concert was at 7 and Mr. Man had to take a long nap cause he's working tonight.

~ Had to make sure all got ready for bed and prayed just in time so they wouldn't be moaning monsters in the morning.

~ Had to answer some important emails and catch up on blog visitors.

~ Had to do three posts as I am co-hosting for a meme for Thursday but have no time tomorrow!

How was your Tuesday?

Saturday Social

Today was spent gardening, essay writing, attending birthday parties, essay writing, eating, essay writing, showers, essay writing, seeing Monsters vs. Aliens (LOVED IT! YOU NEED TO SEE IT!), going to Jo-Ann's for some Easter clearance hunting (found a great egg dish- 70% off; yes I only grabbed one item, I've got a "wish list" of dinnerware I'm saving up for), quick soup sipping, essay writing, bedtime praying, hugging, kissing, essay writing, essay writing, essay writing, essay writing... (can you guess who did what? LOL)

So tired...

How did you spend your Saturday?

Brain Booster: Lowe's?

Well, I finished my second essay! Yay me! I need to finish the third one by at least 2 AM tomorrow so I can turn it in, get some sleep then work on the last one all day tomorrow!

We had some thunderous rainstorm today for several hours. It even knocked out the power (of course while I was typing meaning nothing saved yet) for 3 whole seconds!

I felt restless by the afternoon and decided that maybe some gardening will do! Well, the vision bubble was quickly burst when there are no rectangular terra cotta clay planters in either Lowe's or Walmart for my window sill! But... I did find these!



Some deep purple petunias, more potting soil ($2 less than the tag) and an awesome but dying deep pink Asiatic Lily plant! The sweet part is that the plant is very healthy, just had too many dead leaves and blossoms so Lowe's cut the price in half! I don't mind that one bit... We got back pretty late, but since the storm has passed, another beautiful day will be upon us tomorrow and I get to garden with my children and have a new plant to experiment with! I can't wait!

Oh yeah, I also found a couple of Easter goodies at Walmart I've been watching since mid February for 75% off! YES! I can't wait for next Easter!

Easy Essays?

It would seem that when you focus on something, that's when LIFE says, "Yeah, right!"

Wednesday night, I got started with my first final essay out of the 4 mini ones I had to do for my last two Public Admin classes. I actually finished one, but getting started on the others seem to be more complicated. I got maybe halfway with the second one... Did I mention I needed to do 4? By Saturday night? For points of 25, 25, 50 and 100? Yeah, I can feel my boots sh- shake a b-b-bit, j-just a bit... ;-)

In the morning, my brain stopped and asked for chocolate, lots of it! But then, my brain decided to take a rest and watch Food Network. Then Disney! After school, I had to watch a little girl. She's fun and got along great with my kids. Then nature seemed to call me. No, not the water closet kind of call! Nature! You know, trees, birds, flowers?

We walked around, picked up the mail, looked for beavers at their dam at one end of the creek. I found this bird that flew, walked and hopped! I think it was a Northern Mockingbird because it looked like this!


From Pbase.com
We even found some white bearded iris just growing wildly at the side of the wooded area near our apartment complex. Maybe some frustrated gardener thought that her rhizomes were bad and threw it out. You know, as they mentioned in Jurassic Park, "Life will find a way..." Those rhizomes found just the right combination of moisture and nutrients in that spot and boom! Up they grew! The blooms are simply beautiful... I took a picture with my phone, but it didn't turn out quite as clear as I wanted it to so here's a comparable photo I borrowed online.

From Sunset.com
We also realized that we've never been to and that it's time we used some of our hard earned dollars to help out Papa Murphy's so we had their Chicago Style Pizza and Cinnamon Wheel. It was so good that I got an extra big hug from Charlie. Love that! Maybe take out again tonight? ;-) Lovely combo... (Ok, getting hungry again) If you've been there, you know what I'm talking about. If not, maybe it's time...

Ok, back to the scent of highlighters as it glides onto the paper illuminating the information I need for my essays...

A Tummy Ache... And Back to Work...

L-Infinity woke up with a tummy ache, but no real other symptoms. Two doses of Pepto seemed to have done the trick. She learned that her school friend who ate the same cafeteria cookie yesterday also stayed home from a funny tummy. J-Pony and I-Dude enjoyed school while Mr. Man spent time looking for some much needed car brake pads that are screaming for replacement. As for me, I spent time trying to look for some coupons that mysteriously disappeared from my purse! Also, now that we know we are staying put for a while, we've decided to put up drapes. And guess what, because we've moved so many times, I didn't realize that my drapes do not match or that the hardware of our drapery rods are missing! So this time, we invested in matching rods and drapes. Will show those later after my gorgeous Mr. Man puts them up of course!

All in all, just another day. Mr. Man's off to work again and L-Infinity's going back to school. Remind you of your own schedule? Scary huh?

(Photo from Scraps In Bloom.com)

J-Pony and Swimming!

So, while L-Infinity enjoyed being YW's "Miss Knowledge" and I-Dude had a 3-day birthday celebration, J-Pony, too, has something to be happy about. She just finished her school mandated 4th grade swim lessons held at the district's Rec Center.

In five days, she managed to learn how to do:

the breast stroke
the dog paddle
floating on her back
maneuver while floating on her back
cruise to the deep end with a boogie board
dive and surface on her back
dive, surface and do breast stroke to the sidelines
and dive into 12 feet, 10 inches of water!

Wow! I am amazed since we couldn't come with her, these reports came directly from her very happy and accomplished self! They will be handed their certificates of completion soon and I can't wait to see her in action! She is a natural like Mr. Man (who was personally recruited by the swim coach of his high school, but since Speedo was the unifom, he turned it down...) and we are just so pleased with her about it. She loves swimming and knowing that she's able to do all of this on her own in front of her peers who initially mocked her was nothing short of "sweet revenge"!!!

I love how our three darlings can be doing different things at the same time; it's almost overwhelming at times, but the looks of accomplishment in their faces are always worth the effort and frustration. I am just crazy about my children!

Hooray J-Pony!!!

Still tired... but, we made STATE!!!

This post would be for today, yesterday, alright this whole week! I was so tired from yesterday that I actually fell asleep before midnight. (Did you hear me, before midnight!) I couldn't believe it either! (**imagine "in total shock" face**) Ok, still too tired to even write anything else, so here are the pictures instead... See all of them (wake up!- If I had to stay up, you can, too!)

The day after Michelle arrived: fo-ggy!

The Hawaiian Haystack dinner (yummy!!!)

Michelle getting her pedicure (do you think she's having fun?)

Look at the ten pretty little piggies... awww...

This is last Sunday's lunch: Dutch babies or Blown-up pancakes

And here are Lisa's Ac Dec medals
(now that's the bling I can get into!)

This is an outright shameless bragging ladies...
Her team competed out of 31 schools!

Gold- Hebron's Top Scholastic Decathlete

Silver- Essay Competition

Bronze- 3rd Super Quiz Relay

Bronze- (with red ribbon) 5th place Overall Team

and... THEY MADE STATE!!! Yeah!

Also, been too busy reading others' blogs so I definitely will have some better ideas to post soon (hopefully...)

Awards Anyone?

Charlie and I went to Jas and Ian's school for their semi annual awards ceremony for last semester. I really didn't understand what it meant since we didn't get a formal invitation like last year.

Not until after a few cheek kisses and warm greetings with the other moms while waving to many of the kids, that I got an explanation: each child was to receive a Character Counts award to get them motivated for this semester.

Brilliant idea? Partly, because after school, Jasmine comes in with a story of how their principal almost marched everyone in her bus back in the school to have their parents get a phone call of their behavior in the bus. You should have heard her; she was shocked at the possible injustice of having her principal call us to tell on something she didn't do and is merely being punished by sheer association of riding in the same bus! I felt for her that I listened with my hand on my chest and part of my brain already concocting a battle cry to lash out to the administration!

Of course, Ian also came in with his own bad news- no stamp today... It really was ok, he had a good and exciting day- He was in the A/B Honor Roll and earned a Citizenship award. Jasmine also earned A/B Honor Roll and Caring award, so yes, I do think both of them can relax today. Don't you? Ian knows he'll have a hard time with Perfect Attendance because of his asthmatic tendencies during the cool months and as far the A/B Honor Roll, both he and Jasmine earned it because they misplaced three homeworks. They would have both earned the A Honor Roll awards instead. No sweat; it's their own learning curve...

I think a lot of the kids know they didn't deserve their Character Counts award. Their own peers were shocked! That was sad indeed, plus these were the same kids that got the whole bus in trouble.

Of course, many of them deserved all three; actually I was one of the loud clappers when my UIL Ready Writing pupils, Megan Smith and Ally Thomas got the A Honor Roll, Perfect Attendance and Responsibility awards. Go, Megan and Ally!

MM #5: Bad Note Free

Lately, between the long winter break and their recent 4-day weekend, Ian has been having a little trouble keeping still at school and has been bringing home reminder notes from his teacher for us to sign. He's been quite upset at his own behavior because no good day means no access to his Hot Wheels or Legos.

Yesterday afternoon; Ian after getting off the bus and meeting up with me at the mailbox:

"Mommy, bad note free. Mommy, bad note free."

Me: What?

Ian: "Bad note free."

Me: What do you mean?

Ian: "I got a stamp! No bad note! So, "bad note free!"

His teacher gives out stamps for every day that they behave well enough in the classroom. He wanted to emphasize that he didn't get a note, he got a stamp!

December 19 (6 Days to go...)

If I would have posted this last night, it would have born the title, "A Day in the Life of a 1st grader."

I went to Ian's classroom Breakfast Winter Party in the morning and helped them with musical book exchange & winter bingo games plus their "breakfast snack" of muffins, grapes, cheese and fruit punch. I had a great time taking pictures. Though today was an "early release" day, it was still packed with worksheets, reading and conditional learning. On a typical day, this is how they normally get things done:

1. Attendance, Pledge of Allegiance (both federal and state) and lunch count
2. Calendar and Superstar (aka Line Leader)
3. Homework check and instruction
4. More instruction and in class work
5. Recess, lunch and bathroom break
6. Downtime
7. More instruction
8. Class work
9. Homework pickup
10. Clean-up and more staying put
11. Lining up and...
12. Remembering if you are a "bus or car rider".

It's fun, but very exhausting at the same time. Often, Ian comes home so tired that when he hits the couch, he's out like a light!

We also had a late lunch, a gift exchange with one of Lisa's school friends, Daniel, a quick trip to Target, three rounds of Rummikub, a great dinner, video games and we all watched "Bridge to Terabithia" for the first time. Of course, since we were all home, we read a Christmas story.

Story: History of Silent Night (Stille Nacht)

Song: Silent Night

We had an awesome day! What a great kickoff for our Winter break. :P

Stressful Day! (8 days to go...)

(All 18 children participating; Jas' 3rd from the left front)
So I went to Jasmine's 1st ever Spelling Bee today at school. Afterwards, I decided to stick around and make copies for all the 4th grade teachers, and eat lunch with Ian. Well, it didn't start out in a good way at all.

First, Jasmine reveals that she never studied for the Bee. She claims she doesn't know where the list is.

Then, I couldn't find my keys (that Lisa borrowed and she couldn't remember where). I had to ask my neighbor to watch our apartment since Jasmine begged that I come to the Spelling Bee.
(2nd round)

(Taking a little break)

(Third round; she misspelled "chronicles"; I wasn't the only one that thought it was a hard word to hear and spell.)

After that, I get to the school, and proceed to watch the Bee, make copies and eat lunch with Ian. Everything went great, the copier worked perfectly and I did all that I was supposed to do. I ended at exactly 3:00PM

I proceed to look for my two children. Where are they? Nowhere to be found! Ian's teacher and I looked for him everywhere, including Jasmine's room. Well, she took the bus, so I knew Ian was with her. (We have a standing order that if I'm in the school, I take them home) Yup, they forgot!

I call my neighbor to watch out for them. They got home a few minutes after I hung up the school phone. I call to make sure they're inside and told them to stay on the couch and not to touch anything. I was both worried and fuming...

Charlie eventually shows up at 3:40 to pick me up and we get home. I found them on the couch, surprisingly enough, with nothing on either hand.

I asked them and they tried to make the excuse that "I didn't tell them", so I asked them, "What does it mean when Mommy's at school?" Of course, the answer was, "Go home with you..."

Then I saw that one more piece of my new utensil started to rust which made me remember that I need to contact Gibson again to see if they received my e-mail yet. The answer, NO! They never received it and the person I left the message with never even researched it! According to the new rep I talked to, they don't just replace their defective products, which meant weeks of waiting for me! And this is my only set of utensils right now and it's almost Christmas! Aaaarrrrggghhh!!!

We were also feeding the missionaries tonight, but they forgot, so my hubby picked them up and the food was already cold by the time we got started. I felt so bad feeding them cold food. I think I made up for it with three different kinds of chocolatey treat though... :D

Even with a great evening with the missionaries, I am still looking for my keys, stressing over tomorrow's schedule and still waiting to have our Christmas newsletters out.

(sigh...)

Such is life during the holidays...

But of course, it is also a good day because... it's Aunt Kate's birthday!!!

How was your day?

Meet the Teacher Night

Man, where did the time go? One day, I was almost pulling my hair out trying to figure out things for the family to do, then I blinked and "poof!", school is here again!

Today was an adventure; L-Infinity had a dentist appt at 9am, we had to go to Dallas to apply for something for me, only to find out I can do it online, then lunch and more school shopping to do! J-Pony and L needed backpacks and then back on the hunt for the elusive "18x24" construction paper... Only it was a typo, yep a mere typo that ended up wasting our precious gasoline on several occasions thinking it's really something Jasmine would need in 4th grade. I-Dude's list wasn't any easier; apparently, after the teachers have found their "chosen" primary composition notebooks, they forgot to have the list updated. We had to go to Office Depot to find this specialty notebook just to be told that they wanted a spiral bound one as opposed to the regular black marble. Aaaarrrgggghh!!!!!!

Whoever put this list together ought to attend an editing class, because it was nothing short of a "stupid, stupid mistake" on their part to have such a confusing list. And the EPI crew who put together the school packets this year, they're somewhat spaced out too, not to notice that they labeled a "12x18" white construction paper, "18x24" on their own boxes! I guess idiocy spreads during summer time when most people elect not to use their brains!

Then off to Wal-Mart for more food to store while waiting for the "First Day of School" to come around as this is when the kids choose three meals they want to start the year off with. As usual, it's "pork adobo, steamed veggies, steamed rice and V-8 Fusion juice for dinner. I'm back to making extra waffles for the freezer and even try to make orange jell-o with mandarin oranges in it so we can save money on lunches.

So... how was your day, dears?

4th "Back to School" Fashion Show

Well August is here again and that means, new clothes, new shoes, new school supplies! L-Infinity, J-Pony and I-Dude, can never wait long enough for school to start before trying on their clothes, so we decided to do annual fashion shows, back in 2005 to celebrate a new school year.

Here's some cute outfits and poses for you to enjoy. I sure did, while managing the camera. I kept wanting to stop and just hug them, they were so cute!

I can't wait until they actually start their first day of school. More photo-ops!