Kids, kids everywhere there are kids!

After church today Rebeckah and her friends came home from the middle school retreat. The all seemed to have a lot of fun. Chris took the boys home and I took Rebeckah and her friends home. On the way home the girls and I stopped at Taco Bell for lunch. We went inside, ate and the girls told me all about the retreat. Here are the main points I picked up from the four of them talking to me at once. 1. They had a great time! 2. Alex and Lauren loved the band. The band was a group of kids from the high school youth group. They play every Sunday for the middle school worship time.

We got home and found the other three kids out in the pool along with their friends. Rebeckah and her friends also joined them. I went out there and snapped several pictures. Here is what our backyard looks like this afternoon.

Later this evening Austin has a baseball game too. I am going to sit this one out. My allergies could not handle that. Thankfully Austin understands. I will just stay at home and restore order around here and get things ready for school tomorrow.

Sean had a red ICEE Popsicle this afternoon and it stained his face! This is his face AFTER we cleaned it! I hope it wears off soon!! He has a dentist appointment on Tuesday.

I HATE RAGWEED!!

The ragweed this year is kicking my hind end up and down! I am so sick and miserable from that pollen. I feel like my head is going to explode and everyone around me is tired of saying "God Bless You!" I have slept off and on for most of the day despite all of the goings on around me.

This morning was Hannah's homecoming game. I was up all night sneezing and trying to breathe, so I missed the first half. I felt so bad for her. She wanted both of her parents to escort her when they introduced the cheerleaders and players. I did go out there at halftime to watch her perform. I stayed for the rest of the game, but I am now regretting sitting outside that long. The things we do for our children!

Here are some pictures of Hannah today:

Here is a video of their halftime performance. The dance part is only half of the dance. They didn't have time to learn the entire dance before today's game.

After the game we had lunch and then the kids' friends showed up. They all went swimming (except for Hannah....she had to leave shortly after they got here) while they still can. We are going to be running out of warms days soon.

Chris took Hannah to a classmate's birthday party and her friends stayed and kept swimming with Matthew and his friends. I took a nap after Chris got home. Apparently I missed a lot of stuff while I was napping. The phone rang several times, kids were in and out of the house and another friend even came over. I don't know when we became the "Kool-Aid Family", but there always seems to be kids over here lately.

A few hours after Hannah left, I took Austin to a classmate's birthday party. By that point we were down to only one friend over at the house. It was Hannah's friend, Josie, waiting for Hannah to come home, so we just took her with us to pick up Hannah.

Hannah is now over at Josie's and I think she is going to spend the night there, so we just have to boys tonight. I know, you are asking, where is Rebeckah? She is at our church's middle school retreat. She also took three of her friends from school with her. They will all be home tomorrow afternoon after church.

It just started raining! Maybe that will knock the ragweed levels down to a more tolerable level! I can only hope.

Bad day for cell phones!

Yesterday started out like any normal ordinary day for us. It was a bit chaotic as usual in the morning getting the kids off to school. Austin was supposed to carry the cell phone, but he forgot to grab it on the way out of the door. Rebeckah dashed in and grabbed the phone, dashed back out the door, got in the truck and Chris took the kids to school.

Sean and I went about our day.....grocery shopping, cleaning, doing laundry and of course playing. Then we got the call! Chris called and told me something I never thought I would hear. He told me he ran over his cell phone!! I was speechless. I didn't know what to say! I mean how does one run over their cell phone?!? Finally I got out the words "HOW did you do that!?!"

He was at a site (he works on cell phone towers) and as he was talking to someone he sat the phone on his bumper (he, obviously, has a wireless earpiece). He finished at the site and got in his truck and drove off, forgetting that his phone was on the bumper! His earpiece started beeping at him letting him know he was now out of range. That is when the light went on and he remembered he left the phone on the bumper! He turned around and went back to look for his phone. Sure enough there it was in the road smashed! Since that cell phone is his work phone he had to immediately go to the Sprint store to get a new phone.

When he got home he showed me his phone. I was surprised how well it looked considering it was run over! Chris said he pushed the silver speaker on the side back into place. Here is a picture of his phone:

The second picture doesn't show the damage very clearly, but all and all it held up pretty well!! Too bad it won't turn on anymore!

So now skip to the afternoon. Chris picked up Austin from school and when they got home I asked Austin for his cell phone. He said he didn't have it and he never had it! We thought Rebeckah must have it then since she was the one that grabbed it on the way out the door. So when she got home after volleyball we asked her for the phone. She said she didn't have it. She sat it down in the truck and that was the last she saw of it! We sent her out to get it from the truck. She was out there for a looong time. She came back in the house in tears because she couldn't find the phone. This did not sit well with Chris! We couldn't call it and search for the sound because the phone was turned off since they can't have it on at school. Rebeckah went back out there and searched again, Hannah went out and searched, Chris searched and then I searched. It never turned up. We were thinking maybe it fell out of the truck at school and we were hoping it would be in the school office waiting for them tomorrow. Chris went out to the truck to search one more time. This time Sean followed Chris and as Chris was searching Sean said "Daddy, here's the phone!" All that time the phone was under the passenger seat! We all looked and felt under the seat, but somehow missed it each time!!

This has nothing to do with cell phones but I thought I would throw in some pictures of Sean modeling his "Cars" towel.

Yesterday, today and a shameless brag

Yesterday was Rebeckah's second volleyball game. They won!! The first match was close 26-24, but the second match was not even close, 25-5! After the game the girls went out to watch the boys play flag football. They wanted to cheer for them and tried to come up with some cheers, but no one knew any. Rebeckah ran to get Hannah and Hannah taught them some cheers. She had a great time teaching the older girls.

This morning/afternoon Chris, Sean and I went and had lunch with Matthew and Hannah at school. I only thought our house was loud and chaotic at meal time. WOW! It was a mad house in there. Sean had a great time eating with Matthew (who goes to lunch 25 minutes before Hannah), but by the time it was Hannah's lunch time, he was getting a bit antsy and had eaten most of his lunch. I thought it was fun to finally get to put faces to names.

After school Hannah had an eye appointment. She has been complaining about having trouble seeing the board at school. It turns out she is nearsighted and needs glasses. She picked out a really cute pair of glasses and they should be ready next week. Of course I will post pictures of her wearing her new glasses.

After Hannah's eye appointment we took the kids to the Y for a program they have where, one Friday a month members can drop off their kids from 4:00-8:00 and enjoy an evening out. We were late due to Hannah's eye appointment, so we didn't drop them off until 5:30. Chris and I didn't do anything too exciting, but we enjoyed our (quiet) time together. We went and had Chinese food and ate nice and slow and were able to have a nice (uninterrupted) conversation.

Now, my shameless brag!! The younger two brought home a progress report with their grades in all of their classes and the older two brought home a progress report for social studies. Here are their grades so far:
Hannah: Language Arts 93, Math 95, Social Studies 98 and Science 98
Matthew: Language Arts 96, Math 100, Social Studies 95 and Science 95
Austin: Social Studies 95.25
Rebeckah: Social Studies 99.5

I promise I won't post their grades every time they come home with a progress report/report card! I just had to share how well they are doing. I am so glad they were able to adjust to school and be able to keep up with their classes. Especially Austin and Hannah since we put them in a grade ahead.

Weekend Pics and Today's News

Here are some pictures from our weekend. Saturday was Hannah's game. Sunday was Austin's game. Both kids did great and I am very proud of them! (The pictures of Hannah are dark because the game was in the evening.)

Today Rebeckah came home from school to announce she was elected to the student council!! She is now one of the two 7th grade representatives.

Volleyball and Sean's photography

Yesterday Rebeckah's school had their first volleyball match. They won the first game, but sadly, they lost the second and third games. I wish I had more to report about the game and better pictures to post, but it didn't work out that way. I was too busy watching Sean and praying he didn't fall off the stage.


In case you don't remember, the school Rebeckah and Austin go to is a VERY small school and so of course the gym/cafeteria/auditorium is small. There aren't any bleachers, so the parents sat on the stage to watch the game. Sean was so full of energy and kept getting close to the edge of the stage. I was a nervous wreck the entire game.


Here are a couple of pictures from the game....well one of the team and one of Sean...or part of him.



I know this isn't a very good picture, but it is the best one I got this game. I hope to get better ones next week. If you are squinting to see Rebeckah, she is on the coach's right side.

One of the few moments when Sean wasn't bouncing and spinning around he took off his shoes, put them back on.....of course on the wrong feet.....and then took a picture of his foot! I had no idea he took a picture of his foot. I found it as I was uploading the pictures and just had to share.

Tomorrow Hannah is cheering at her second game. Where are the pictures from the first game? Well......I forgot the camera, but Chris, being the great husband he is, went home and got the camera. I turned the camera on to take pictures and the battery died! Doesn't it just figure?

Sunday Austin has his first baseball game. Maybe I will have better luck with the camera. ;-)

Sean's Food Trial

Today was Sean's food challenge with eggs. We were there from 10:30 until 2:20!! The appointment started off great! They called us and Sean went in and went straight to the scale. That was a first! Then we went to the room and they took his blood pressure and explained what we were going to be doing. He sat real still for that. Then they brought a tiny bit of egg and put it by his lower lip for a few seconds. He did great with that part too. Then we went down hill fast!

They tried to get him to eat that tiny bit and he REFUSED! They offered ketchup. He yelled he didn't want ketchup. We asked them to bring it anyway and we will try that. They brought him a medicine cup full of ketchup. That child DRANK the ketchup! The nurse had to leave the room to laugh. She said she has never seen a child do that before. Leave it to us! After he drank a bit of ketchup he decided to dip his eggs in there. That whole ordeal took 30 minutes! It felt like hours. After that he ate the eggs with out any problem.

Let me tell you keeping a two year old entertained for that long in a doctor's office is not my idea of fun! He did provide us with some entertainment though. We were in a room that had two sliding glass doors. One of the doors has a mirror on the bottom half that the doctors on the other side can see in, but Sean can't see them. (I can't for the life of me remember what they are called....one way mirror?? two way mirror??) Anyway, he was amusing himself by kissing his reflection and lifting up his shirt. The best move he did that had everyone laughing was when he turned his back to the mirror and turned his head to watch himself shake his rear end!

I am so happy we made it through that with NO REACTIONS!! Life will be so much easier now that we can have eggs again! We are still avoiding wheat and apples. I hope someday we can eat those with no problems.

School Reports

It turns out that the kids are doing pretty well in school after all! I didn't really doubt they would, but I knew the transition was going to be rough and I wasn't sure how much their grades would reflect their struggle. My worries were put to rest today when Hannah and Matthew brought home their Thursday folders with their progress reports.


Matthew's notebook had his graded papers for me to review and sign a slip of paper. The scores on all of the papers, except for one, were 100! What was the other grade? It was a 99!! All because he wrote a 6 backwards. He also got an "E"(excellent of course) for his conduct.


Hannah's folder didn't have any graded work in it but a conduct paper for me to sign. Hannah also got an "E" for the week, but her teacher also wrote a note at the bottom of the page. It said: "Hannah is doing an outstanding job! She is keeping up with her assignments and is making fine grades!" I was so happy to read that. For those who don't know, we put Hannah in the 4th grade when she really should be (according to her birthday) in the 3rd grade. So there were times these 2 weeks I was second guessing our decision to do that. That has all been put to rest.


Rebeckah has brought home A's on her quizzes and of course that 100 on her poster project. She says she is having some problems with pre-algebra. We will have to sit down this weekend and go over the problems she has missed in her daily work. She really doesn't want to move down to "regular" math.


Austin seems to be doing better than I thought he would do, but at times he seems overwhelmed. Tonight was one of those nights. He had homework in every subject tonight. I think once we get him on the right medicine for his ADD things will go smoother. Right before school started his doctor changed his meds. He has complained he doesn't feel well when he takes the new meds. It looks like I will be calling his doctor and figuring out other options. I am leaning towards going back to his other meds and maybe upping the dosage. I don't know, but he does need some sort of adjustment. He has brought home some good grades so far, all A's and one B.

So, so far the my fears and concerns have been put to rest. Thank you Lord!

Birthday Boy!

Today Austin turned 11 years old. We had our traditional cake and ice cream for breakfast. Since they are in school this year, I made them eat some sausage too so their breakfast would last until lunch. Sean kept insisting it was his birthday this morning.

While the kids were at school Chris got Austin's birthday present. We got him a basketball goal. Chris had it almost all put together when Austin got home from school. Austin was so excited we had a hard time getting him to do his homework.

After he did his homework and shot a few hoops we went to Red Robin for supper. Chris told the waiter that it was Austin's birthday and he brought him a free sundae. He not only brought Austin a sundae, he brought one for all of the kids.....NO CHARGE!!

Here are a few pictures from today. I consider my self doing really well to have this many pictures of Austin. He always runs and hides when I bring out the camera.


Austin after finding out what he got for his birthday. (Poor kid always has crooked glasses thanks to Sean.)


Austin ready to shoot some hoops, but the goal isn't put completely together yet!


He finally got a chance to shoot some hoops! The goal still wasn't entirely finished. It didn't have anything in the base to weigh it down, so Chris just stuck it under the truck so Austin didn't have to wait any longer.


Rebeckah got in on the action too.


Of course Sean had to give it a try too. That kid loves to throw so any chance he gets he takes it!

Oh, and for Lisa, and anyone else interested.....Rebeckah said she got a 100 on her Texas poster. She did finish the final flag before turning in her poster.

First week of school and Labor Day weekend

Well we survived our first week of school! There were highs and lows this week for the kids. Hannah and Austin are struggling with the whole school routine. Hannah is the one that is struggling the most. She was in tears on Thursday evening about school. She told me that she loves school, but she is having problems completing her school work. Friday when Chris picked the younger two up from school he went and talked to Mrs. C and told her what Hannah had told us the day before. Mrs. C said that she understands that this is Hannah's first time in a classroom setting and she knows it is a big change for her. She also told Chris that Hannah isn't the only one that doesn't finish her work and she isn't worried about that. She said that Hannah is one of the first ones to answer her questions, so it is just a matter of Hannah settling into the routine. Mrs. C is confident that Hannah is going to do great this year. That made all of us feel much better.

Austin just needs to learn to budget his time wisely and become more organized. Based on what we are seeing, he is doing fine with the work, just a bit unorganized. I don't think he is alone though. I think a lot of 6th graders are struggling with the change from elementary school to middle school. I think in a week or so he will find his groove and do just fine.

Rebeckah had homework over the weekend. For her Texas History class she had to make a poster about Texas. We went to my parents house right after the kids got out of school, so we didn't have time to look anything up on the internet or print anything out. My parents of course don't have the internet or a printer. They don't even have a computer! So Rebeckah called Lisa and asked her to print out a few things. Lisa and her boys came over on Sunday to help with Rebeckah's project, have dinner with us and celebrate Austin's birthday (it is really on Wednesday).

Sunday Chris took Austin, his friend Todd and Matthew to The Main Event for Austin's birthday. They played video games and laser tag. Chris forgot to take the camera, so I don't have any pictures. But they all said they had a great time!

Here are a few pictures from our weekend:


The kids are looking at Lisa who was taking pictures at the same time I was. From l-r they are: Rebeckah, Sean, Ryan, Austin, Matthew, Justin and sitting on the floor is Hannah.


Here is a picture of Rebeckah working on her poster.


Rebeckah's almost finished poster. She is missing the American flag. That is a long story and we will see if she does in fact get that last flag on there before it is due!


Lisa and her boys Justin and Ryan.



I just thought I would throw in a picture of Sean wearing the shield he made at church last Sunday.