Calm and Chaos

Fourth Grade Journal Prompts

2011-11-02T18:23:00.000-07:00

I downloaded this journal prompt packet to better help Jacob in his writing and I thought I would give one of the prompts a try...

Here goes...

"What is your favorite month?"

This one is EASY!

I love November. I love it for MANY reasons. I'll use a list to make my case..

1. November is the official beginning of fall for me. I know it's not the official start of fall on the calendar, but somehow, it just doesn't feel like fall to me until November.
2. NOVEMBER IS MY BIRTHDAY MONTH! I just love my birthday and I LOVE celebrating it for longer than a day!
3. November is Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is the first of the Holidays and it's the best time of year...until Spring comes along and then I feel like THAT is the best time of year...until Summer comes along and then I feel like THAT is the best time of year....until Fall comes around.....
4. Starbucks red holiday cups come out!
5. This year the boys did not play football and so I am LOVING the fact that we are getting to spend some quality family time more often than not.
6. FALL WEATHER! After a blistering South Texas Summer, I am really enjoying the cooler temperatures that make it much easier to be outside with the kids. (see number 5)
7. Scarves. November means cooler temps (see number 6) so I don't look like such a dork with my scarves around my neck!
8. Christmas movies! As soon as November rolls around, I feel much more validated in the watching of various Christmas that I love including such classics as: National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, Irving Berlin's White Christmas and The Santa Clause trilogy as well as some newer "classics" such as: Elf, Christmas With The Kranks, and The Polar Express.

Well, that's it. The reasons I love November!

I'm feeling...

2011-10-02T18:33:00.000-07:00

well.

I was really sick a couple of weeks ago and I'm feeling so much better. I'm STILL taking my antibiotics like a good little patient. Finishing all of it is apparently important. I'm just glad I'm better. I have NO TIME to be sick...and on top of that.... there is nothing more annoying and frustrating to me than being sick. Thank you God for making me well.

bummed.

On that note. Abby is sick. She is pitiful and sweet and asleep, finally. She is about as good a sick person as I am. Meaning she will go and go and go until she hits a wall and then she melts into a pile of helpless whiny-ness that is basically unbearable. We've been to the doctor. She has her pills...after all, she is a big girl and liquid is for babies. Not my words, hers - to the doctor!

tired.

Because it's Sunday. Sunday's make me tired. We are up early, and trying to recover from the rest of the weekend in the afternoon and if the work week could be Tuesday-Friday I'd be the happiest person alive.

anxious.

Jacob is working really hard in 4th grade, but is struggling a little in reading/writing. He is, as I said, working REALLY hard and we are praying that things start clicking for him. The same goes for both Caleb and Abby. They are both in Spanish Immersion and, on top of regular school work, learning a new language. Our prayer for them is the same, that sooner rather than later, it would just click.

proud.

Of my husband. He's pretty much awesome. He's G.R.E.A.T. at what he does and has such an AMAZING connection with students.

ready.

For this fall season. We have had a little hint of cooler weather and I have put up some fall decor as well as lit some fall candles. I am ready for fall. I'm ready for Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas. This promises to be a fun time in our household and I am ready.

short on time.

I keep feeling like I'm running out of time to get things accomplished....and then I tally up my time spent on Pinterest.....
maybe I should reevaluate and prioritize.

done.

with this post ;)

Stream of Consciousness

2011-08-21T18:07:00.000-07:00

I'm about to write a blog that is completely stream of consciousness. Something many of my English teachers over the years would highly disapprove of, but they aren't here. I'm in charge of this blog and so I'll do what I want.

Anyway. Tomorrow starts a new journey in our lives. I will begin my first year teaching Kindergarten. I'm excited and nervous and then excited again. Hopefully all goes well. I have 21 students in my class and my principal asked me the other day if I was, "ok with that." First of all, do I have a choice? I didn't say that...I said, "sure, I've got God on my side." Not really sure why that was my answer, but it was and she was really excited/impressed by that. Ok. My kids start school tomorrow too. I now have a 4th grader, a 2nd grader and a 3rd grader. 2/5 of my family will be spending the majority of their day speaking Spanish...that's a little strange. Paul is REALLY excited about all of us going back to school. He will get his days back and and be able to get "a bunch of stuff done."

I'm watching the Cowboys right now and eating popcorn and chomping ice while I write this and I've told my kids to go get back in bed at least a bajillion times since 8:00. Apparently it's too hard to go to sleep "while it's still light outside"! When is Daylight savings time, again?

On a completely other hand. Church in our new building has been really good. No major glitches. Next week is our dedication service and our pastor announced that there will only be one service and sunday school next week which is going to make for, what I'm going to call, a "nursery nightmare" if you will. Oh well, we will get through it!

In other news, some of our best friends are moving in two weeks. I'm happy and sad all at the same time. Happy because it's going to be a better opportunity for him and his job as well as their family. Sad because, seriously? Does it have to be so soon and so far away? Ugh. I keep reminding myself to go back to the part of the story where God is in control. I reluctantly go back to that part of the story and God continually reminds me that His will is best, no matter how I feel about it.

It's now 8:24, the announcers on the game are showing pictures of New York City where it's pouring down rain. We haven't had rain in I don't know how long. It's getting pretty bad around here. It just doesn't matter if we water or not anymore. Everything is dying...even the cactus. Yep. Cactus'?...um....Cacti?....um....Cactuses? oh whatever....anyway....the plants that live in the DESERT are dying!

I just had a wave of nervousness about tomorrow. I really need to get a hold of that. They can smell fear, right? Kindergarteners? oh wait...is that dogs? I'm truly looking forward to this year and one of the things I've done is commit every Monday morning to pray with and for my colleagues and I'm also praying for my class. I hope that more of my colleagues show up as a result of me inviting them over and over. I would love for God to use this opportunity as a way to bring light into a dark place.

Speaking of dark place, I just switched over to CNN during half time. Need I say more...

Ok. I'm done. I'm going to finish up this evening watching mindless tv with my husband and I hope I sleep well tonight.

doubt it.

BraveRespectfulAvailableNeighborDevoted

2011-06-13T12:29:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks ago our family took a short weekend trip to a nearby lake and stayed in a lake house owned by some dear church members. Paul and I desperately needed some "vacation time" after school let out and this was the perfect opportunity for us to get away and spend some good quality family time.

We got to the house and the first thing the kids noticed was the chess board....so....I taught them to play chess.

I bet they played chess more than 50 times over the weekend. They played with each other, they played with Paul and I. Sometimes they won, sometimes they lost. It was wonderful to watch them play such a thoughtful game and enjoy the company of each other while doing it!.

We watched a lot of Animal Planet and Softball in the evenings. We fished. We did NOT catch....

Paul also had an idea to spend some concentrated Bible Study time as a family. So he used our last name as an acrostic and drew the concepts out of some familiar stories in the Bible. The kids were really excited about this (actually)! So the first night we went through the first two letters of our last name.

B
R

Brave
and
Respectful

Paul taught us the story about David and his friends being taken into Nebedchadnezzar's kingdom. ...you know the one....

David had to be BRAVE to ask the guard to serve him and his friends different food. He also had to be RESPECTFUL when he asked the guard because if he were rude or disrespectful his request might not have been granted.

The kids really grabbed ahold of the concepts...maybe a little TOO well! They started correcting each other throughout the day saying, "that's not respectful" and "just be brave and go get me a drink".

The next day was the story of the good Samaritan and the letters

A
N

Available
and
Neighbor

He told us the story and then we watched a You Tube video depicting the story through Legos! Yep, that got their attention! It also got the point across. We talked about how being available doesn't mean just "being around" but it means to also be WILLING to help someone in need and being a neighbor is not just the "next door" kind but making yourself available to others in love and compassion and kindness.

Again, the kids really "got it"!

They started calling each other out about being available and neighborly! Paul and I were glad they were getting the points of our Bible stories and concepts, but we had to keep reminding them to actually BE respectful to each other while they were reminding each other of the other things we talked about.

And finally...

D

Devoted

This one brought everything full circle. The reason why David needed to be brave and respectful was because he was devoted to God. God was more important than the King's diet and so he devoted himself to God and bravely and respectfully asked for new food. The reason the Samaritan stopped to help the robbed man was because his devotion to God caused him to have love and compassion for the hurt man.

I got another idea to extend these lessons even further....I'm pretty sure it was a God thing. Since there are 5 of us and 5 letters in our last name, I had the idea to do a family art project. Each of us took a letter and a concept and painted a picture. After praying about our pictures....this is what resulted....

Caleb had "B" for "brave". His painting is of the letter B with big muscles showing that he's brave.

Love.

Paul had "R" for "respectful". His painting is of two people (stick people ;) of course) being respectful to each other.

Love.

Abby had "A" for "available". Her painting (clearly) is of Daddy helping to change someone else's tire on the side of the road. Can you see it?

Love.

Jacob had "N" for "neighbor". His painting is of a "spiky haired guy" working on his friends 4X4. It's not his next door neighbor...he's being a neighbor because loves his friend enough to help him... in case you didn't know. ;)

Love.

I had "D" for "devoted". I was wondering how I was going to paint "devoted" but when I asked the kids what it meant I got my answer. Caleb answered, "Devoted is like 'sticking to' something!" Yes! So I painted "sticky notes" with notes about the things that our family is devoted to.

Love.

This art will be displayed proudly in my kitchen very soon and

I.
LOVE.
IT.

A Mother's Day Overview

2011-05-08T19:06:00.000-07:00

It all started last night at dinner. Paul and the kids made me dinner and each had a WONDERFUL thing to say about me and my "mom skills". Then we played a very "serious" game of Ninja and hung out as a family.

I was woken up this morning by my three beautiful children, each bearing a hand-drawn card they had made for me. My husband got them all ready for church and then took them to Starbucks to get my favorite cup of coffee. We worshipped together as a family and then went to lunch with some friends.

After lunch we headed out to a Missions game, where much more fun was in store for us!

When we got there we found out that moms and their kids got to go onto the field for the National anthem. While we were on the field Caleb and Jacob got to take a ground ball from a Missions player and keep the ball!

Our seats were directly behind the dugout...which was handy for the kids to put their drinks on! So every time the Missions came in from the field the kids called for a ball from a player. Finally in the 9th inning, Abby got a ball from a player. At the end of the 7th inning, I got to go up on top of the dugout and play a game...and I WON a $25 gift certificate!

At the end of the game we hung around the entrance to the locker room and got some autographs.

I was such a FUN day! Happy Mother's Day to me!

Gun Strategy

2011-04-05T18:52:00.000-07:00

So I've been sitting here with my computer open for almost the entire episode of The Biggest Loser trying to figure out what to write about. There are many things. Do I want to talk about all the good things that God is doing in my life? Do I want to be profound and talk about what I'm learning? Do I want to toot my own horn and talk about how well my classes are doing? Do I want to be a proud mama and talk about how well my kids are doing in school? Do I want to talk about how busy the schedule is right now? ...so busy that my husband and I have literally put family time and date time on the calendar.... Do I want to talk about all the baseball successes in our family right now?

no....

I want to talk about Jacob's TAKS strategy.

A little background. Over the past few weeks, Jacob's teacher and I have been talking about Jacob's reading strategy... specifically for TAKS. His reading grades have not been super over the last few weeks. He just has a hard time focusing on passages that are pages long! For goodness sake! He's NINE! Anyway.... He's been bring home 70's and 50's to correct over the last few weeks. Not great. So yesterday Paul took him out of school early and had a guys day. They went to the shooting range to shoot Paul's handgun and then to see Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodderick Rules. They both had a great time and this morning on the way to school Jacob and I came up with a new reading strategy.

It's called the Gun Strategy. It goes like this....

1. loading the clip = reading the passage the first time
2. putting the gun on safety = reading the passage again to gain understanding
3. taking aim at the target = reading the question and marking the paragraph for important information
4. Firing = answering the question correctly

So I let his teacher (WHO IS F.A.N.T.A.S.T.I.C.) in on the strategy and she thought it was a great idea because it speaks to Jacob and his interests. She also told me that he would have a couple of times to practice today. So this afternoon I get a text from Jacob/Paul with a picture and the caption "The Gun Strategy WORKS!"

Well....see for yourself!

70 years of marriage

2011-02-26T16:04:00.001-08:00

My Grandparents are celebrating their 70th wedding anniversary next week. SEVENTY YEARS! Is that unimaginable to anyone else? I mean, Paul and I have been married for 11 years and it feels like a long time...not in a bad way, just the passage of a lot of time. I cannot even imagine 70 years. A few facts about the year they were married, 1941

* Lenn T. Seaborg isolates and discovers plutonium
* First issue of "Captain America" comes out
* Cheerios was introduced
* The New York Yankees win the world series
* Walt Disney releases "Dumbo"
* "Chattanooga Choo Choo" by Glenn Miller gets the first gold record
* The first solid-body electric guitar is made by Les Paul
* Gas was $.19, bread was $.08, a house was $6954.00, a car was $925, and minium wage was $.30 an hour

Things sure have changed. One thing that has stayed the same, through 70 years, is the love that my grandparents share. I pray I get to love my husband for 70 years.

THIS is what I've been wanting to say....

2011-01-30T07:14:00.000-08:00

This is what I have been wanting to say for some time now. I'm glad to know I'm not the only one dealing with this spirit of infirmity in our household.

I'm also pleased to report that God is answering prayers and moving mightily in other ways!

Check it out!

I have no idea how to link to the actual page...so I just copied and pasted it.

Sunday, January 23, 2011
All Dressed Up and Nowhere to Go

The Jones family has been under the weather for the last week. I came down with some kind of weird stomach bug last Sunday night. I tossed and turned all night with a horrible stomach ache that stuck around for several days. I finally consulted Dr. Google, who diagnosed me with a stomach ulcer. That would make sense since I tend to be an overly anxious person. Remember my resolution not to freak out about things?

When Jackson started complaining of a stomach ache on Wednesday, I knew my problem had been a virus and not an ulcer. That's good news. The bad news is that Jackson had to go through it and now a week later, this virus is still in our house! Jackson refused his breakfast this morning and said his stomach hurt. It sort of appeared as though he'd learned to wield the power of the bowel complaint and was using it dishonestly. Surely the virus was not still in his body five days later. I busied myself getting ready and we finally got in the car to leave. A minute down the road Jackson's complaints got louder and his face was as white as a sheet. Curtis turned the car around to drop us back off at home and I started crying. I just wanted to have a normal Sunday! My attitude was pitiful. The kids and I had missed Wednesday night church because of this, too. I was and am so ready for everyone to be healthy and for us to get our lives back to normal.

I had Jackson lay down in his bed and he didn't fight me. That's a pretty good sign that he wasn't bluffing. A few minutes later he was in the bathroom puking. Bless his heart. My pouty attitude quickly changed to compassion and thankfulness that God did not let Jackson get sick in the car or at church. This was the first time we've seen puke all week and I'm definitely grateful for that. Hopefully this is an extension of the first bug and not a new one. Ugh!

So many weird health issues have come up lately that I'm wondering if there is a spiritual component to all of it. If the Lord brings us to mind, will you pray for my family that this infirmity would leave our house? I know without a doubt that there is a spiritual battle going on around our family - and yours too - and I would be grateful for any of my friends' prayers for our marriage and children.

As weird as this sounds, when we turned off our TV we became much more aware of the battle. For example, one day I started feeling unreasonably afraid for my kids' safety. It had been quite a while since I'd fretted about it and this paralyzing fear came out of nowhere. I might have blamed it on something scary I'd seen on TV, but that was no longer an issue. Because I was able to discern the source of this fear as darkness and not truth, it was easier to reject it and not let it set up shop in my mind. (I'm sorry I keep talking about the TV thing, but it has brought so much fruit into our lives.)

God is building our faith and giving us vision, which is incredibly exciting. He is answering prayers that we've been praying for years, but it has definitely turned up the heat. Pray that we will not shrink back from the enemy's intimidation, but that we will fight the good fight and believe our powerful, almighty God. Thank you, friends.

Ephesians 6:10-20

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people. Pray also for me, that whenever I speak, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should.

The web address is...

http://babybangs.blogspot.com/

The sickness/bacteria/germs in this post are just staggering, I tell you.

2011-01-15T19:20:00.000-08:00

So I walk into the waiting room and the receptionist says, "Have you been here before?" And I look at her and in my funny and yet sarcastic, drop.dead.serious. voice I say, "Oh yes. This is my third time here in a week...but I'm out of children now so I don't anticipate coming back any time soon." She looked at me with an, "I'm really sorry I asked/I'm really sorry" look and handed me the SAME EXACT piece of paper that I have already initialed TWICE in a week so that I can initial it yet again...this time...barely legible. halfway on purpose. not really. ok kind of.

But let me start at the beginning.

A long, long time ago.....scratch that.

Ten days ago, Caleb started feeling pretty yucky because of the huge-gantic, ginormical pollen count that we have been experiencing here in the hill country. Paul took him to the Urgent Care on Friday and they determined that he had tonsilitis. So they gave him some meds and we began the process to healing...so we thought.

On Sunday he was still feeling really crappy and so I took him back to the Urgent Care and after long minutes and waiting and consoling my child who looked and felt h.o.r.r.i.b.l.e. they determined that on top of his tonsilitis he also had the flu. Good times. So we started more meds and NOW we are on the road to recovery...for real this time.

Skip to Tuesday. Caleb is back at school. Jacob is home from school. That's right. Jacob woke me up at 4:00 am with a significant fever. I took Caleb and Abby to school and then took Jacob back to the Urgent Care. I told them about Caleb, so they started with the flu test. Which by the way, takes 15 minutes to process. Do you know what there is to do in an exam room that is 1.way to warm and 2.way to small and 3.way to beige. Nothing...except for maybe look at my options for kicking my husbands tail at Words with Friends. ...anyway, back to the flu test. Negative. What? Are you sure? (that's what I said!) So on to the strep test. Positive. So they gave him some meds and we began the process to healing...so we thought.

Jacob did not bounce back from the strep like I felt he should and so for 5 days he laid on the couch and bed, eating nothing, drinking little and spiking high fevers every 4-6 hours. Today, Saturday if your counting, was the first day that he was upright and he ate 3 meals today...a record for the week.

But wait! I'm not done!

Abby has been complaining about her head hurting for the last couple of days. On Friday I really thought she was playing the "how come the boys get to miss school and I don't" card, so we let her stay home. She was spiking fevers every 4-6 hours all day on Saturday and we had decided to just let the sickness run its course. Until...

She was crying and her fever was on fire! I gave her some Tylenol and took her to the "Agent Care" (aka Urgent Care). That's when I had the little banter with the reception that I opened with. Fast forward.

And we waited and waited for Abby's flu test to be done. Side note: She was wearing her "What happens in Kindergarten, stays in Kindergarten" shirt and she said, "Mommy What GERMS happen in Kindergarten do NOT STAY in Kindergarten, they come home with me and get me sick!" We had a good little chuckle over that! Anyway...Abby tested negative for the flu and negative for strep. The doctor remembered me and Jacob and asked how he was. When I told her about his week long affair, she apologized and told me she should have gone with her gut. Which was to treat him for both flu and strep. That's just what she did for Abby. So they gave her some meds and we begin the process to healing...I hope, I pray.

I do not want to go back to the "Agent Care" no matter how nice they are.

Urgent Care Co-pay1 - $30
Meds round 1 - $48
Urgent Care Co-pay2 - $30
Meds round 2 - $132
Urgent Care Co-pay3 - $30
Meds round 3 - $8
Urgent Care Co-pay4 - $30
Meds round 4 - $132
...not to mention the countless bottles of Tylenol and Motrin...I've lost count

Being able to say, "My children are well." - I'll pay anything.

Warning...this post is raw feelings and emotion. Reader beware.

2011-01-06T17:21:00.000-08:00

Well I hope you took heed to the warning in the title!

This is a post that is coming from a pretty raw place in my life right now. It all started almost a year ago when Paul and I really felt like God was calling me into a new place in my life. I went back to "school" and got my teaching certificate. (and by "school", I mean, 6 weeks of intense classes, reading, projects and a significant amount of money)

I finished and all I needed was a teaching job to complete the process. We felt so confident in the way that God was leading us. I had my first interview in May 2010 and waited and waited and waited to hear about the coveted job that I was seeking.

Well fast forward 8 months to January 2011. I have now been through the interview process 4...FOUR times and still have very little to show for it.

Don't get me wrong, I have a job, with the district, that I like. Which is MUCH more than many people have and for that, I am grateful. However I am so far away from where I thought I would be! I thought I would be in a Kindergarten classroom by now, teaching, using my gifts and knowledge.

Instead I have an aid position teaching preschoolers. Not a bad gig at all....just not the direction that I thought God was moving me.

I now have been passed over again. I will get to move to my kids' school (for those that know the full story) but it is a lateral move to another aid position. Please hear my heart when I say, I am THANKFUL that I get to move to my kids' school...again...just not at all where I thought I would be at this point.

Maybe my expectations were too high. But is that really possible with God? Is it possible for my expectations to be higher that His? I of course don't think so. Somewhere I went wrong, though. Or I'm not understanding His ways that are clearly higher than mine. Is He protecting me from something? Is He holding out on me? Is He saving something better for me?

For whatever reason, I know with my head that His best is always BEST. I struggle with believing that with the rest of my heart though. Because I cannot fathom what is better. I thought I knew what I wanted. I thought I knew what would best suit me. Apparently, I don't.

I'm so frustrated. Have I don't something so wrong that God is punishing me for my disobedience? Am I so far out of God's will that I can't even hear or trust Him with my decision? Honestly, I don't know.

I KNOW with all of my being that God has control and knows what is best for me. I also know that just because things are hard doesn't mean I'm out of God's will. But I. am. struggling. deeply.

This is arguably one of the hardest journey's I have been on with the Lord. I find it very difficult to decipher His voice from my wants and desires. My husband helps. a lot. but I must struggle through this. Honestly my desires and wishes continue to push to the front and it's a constant battle to hold them back long enough for me to hear what the Lord is saying to me. It's a constant battle with my flesh to hold back what I want in order to do what God wants.

...and I'm terrible at it...

God is still answering prayers for me though. For the longest time...and by longest time, I mean, this semester... I have wanted to be at the same school as my kids. That prayer has been answered...although...I'm so jilted about this whole process that I'm sort of at a "I'll believe it when I see it" attitude. I confess that attitude as sin though. I'm also to the point that I'm expressing my frustration to God. I believe He delights in my honesty and yet seems to be holding back on me in the answer department.

Of course I don't believe that God is really holding out on me. He can do as He wishes and is in control...as much as I'll let Him be. Which is another area that I am struggling in. big.time.

What I really want is to hear Him more clearly in this situation. AND for His will to be my will. The problem is what I struggle with is I want my desires to be His will and at the same time MUST remain in His will because I KNOW it's the best place to be.

However, I can't see the forest for the trees. I can't hear God's direction because I'm so focused on what I thought He wanted for me. UGH!

I'm ready for this entire saga to be over, but I'm afraid it won't be over until I've learned what I'm supposed to learn from it. So I'm praying that God will be the Revealer to me over the next hours, days, weeks.

Above all, with tears streaming down my face, ABOVE ALL, I want more than anything to be in God's will for my life and for my family. I want what He wants, no matter how hard it is. I'm willing to do whatever. I may go kicking and screaming at times, but I'm going. I will serve Him. I will praise Him. I will trust Him.

Because I know He cares for me.

On Thanksgiving Day

2010-11-27T17:59:00.001-08:00

This is the turkey that sat on a plate
On the table just before everyone ate
On Thanksgiving Day

This is a turkey the little ones made
Telling of the thanks that we gave
On Thanksgiving Day

These are the rolls that across the table were thrown
By children of all ages including those grown
On Thanksgiving Day

This is end of the table number one
Where the kids sat and had great fun
On Thanksgiving Day

This is Mattie Lynn as cute as can be
Sitting directly in front of the cooked turkey
On Thanksgiving Day

This is cutie pie Caleb Paul
Who sat by the stuffing that stuffed us all
On Thanksgiving Day

This is Abby Sue
Posing at the table just for you
On Thanksgiving Day

This is Brayden who is saying hurry
I'm ready to dive into some yummy turkey
On Thanksgiving Day

This is Jacob showing his name card
Knowing that eating the turkey would not be hard
On Thanksgiving Day

There were so many memories
To many to really share
Like my grandpa telling old war stories
Of his bravery there
And all of my family together again

On Thanksgiving Day 2010

Phone Photo Phun

2010-11-15T19:11:00.000-08:00

Well it's been a month since my last post and I just don't think I'm going to win the "blogger of the year" award this year! Oh well, there's always next year...

Anyway, here are a few of the latest pics from my phone...hence the name Phone Photo Phun!

Now, before proceeding, you have to promise not to judge. We put up Christmas decorations before Thanksgiving. I used to have a fairly strict rule about this, but a couple of years ago I decided that this was supposed to be FUN. It was supposed to be about my family being together and celebrating CHRISTmas. So from then on we have just been having some family fun nights when the schedule allows and put things up gradually and it's no stress. Tonight was one of those nights...and here are the results!

Here is the boys tree. Sports of course.

Here is the top of Abby's tree...just thought I'd tell you in case you couldn't tell...

Here is Abby's tree...it basically throws up purple...and that's just the way she likes it!

Here is the top of the boys tree...

Here is Abby's favorite ornament on her tree. It is a ballerina from the Night Before Christmas Ballet.

The boys tree is not a fair-weather tree. We are fans, for real.

The Schedule and all the Craziness That Surrounds Us Right Now.

2010-10-14T19:25:00.000-07:00

So let's start with last weekend.

The inlaws...mine, not Paul's...came into town to spend the weekend with us and watch the kiddos play football/cheer. Both of the boys played hard, but ended up losing and Abby danced/cheered really well. We ate out alot, specifically at Rudy's, and went shopping. In fact I'm pretty sure I graced the Target entrance THREE times in the weekend! Hey, people...things had to be purchased...and *shocker alert* I wasn't super organized about the list of things we needed so that warranted the three trips. Oh well, I can always blow some time and money in Target!

Sunday was church and all the things that go with it, for us. During the second service on Sunday, our children's minister had a "meeting" (for lack of a better term)for anyone who wanted to hear more about accepting Jesus as their Savior. Jacob decided to take his best friend up to the meeting. After hearing the presentation, Jacob and I talked with his friend and he decided to accept Jesus as his Savior! I was so excited for him AND for Jacob! He is 8 years old! He told his best friend about Jesus because he cared for him. It was such an exciting time!

Monday....hmmmm....Monday was school and Bible study and football practice. Pretty standard these days!

Tuesday....again pretty standard. Paul had band practice for Fields of Faith and I took the kids to eat and shop for the THREE birthday presents we had to get! That's right...all three of my kids are giving out birthday presents this weekend. Apparently, 9 months prior to this weekend was a poplular time - 9 years ago, 6 years ago and 1 year ago. So we went to IHOP for dinner, because pancakes for dinner is always a winner. I was really excited to spend some fun time with the kiddos. We were sitting in the booth at IHOP and Caleb looked at me and said "Mi gusta IHOP, mommy!" I just gave him a BIG smile and thanked God that Spanish Immersion is working!

Wednesday was CRAZY. We got pulled over by two Comal Co. Sherriff's IN OUR DRIVEWAY! That's a funny story I'll tell you one day. I went to work. Paul went to work. Paul got the kids from school and took them to the football field while he set up for Fields of Faith. Then I got the kids from the field and took them to another football field for Jacob's practice.

That brings us to today. School, out to eat...AGAIN! (This has got to stop soon!) and then to praise team practice. While Paul set up his drums, me and the kids played four square in the gym. We sang for an hour and then home. All are in bed. All is well.

Paul and I have a day date planned for Saturday after the football games! We are going shopping with my first paycheck! Yahoo! I'll try not to spend it all...but my son, God love him, (which is code for "I'm glad it's not me!") has very few items of clothing to wear for the upcoming winter months. We have had a few chilly mornings here and his sweatshirts are all 3/4 length sleeves! He put on a pair of wind pants today and he needed to wear long socks...
Of course I'll be shopping for me too! I can only wear jeans on Fridays so that means I need some more pants! ...and maybe shoes, shirts, jackets...etc!

And on a completely random note. It is 9:58pm and there are construction workers next door at the church with all of their beep beep beeping and lights and tractor/big machine thing-y noises. That could be annoying.

That is all. Thank you.

A few things about this and that and such and such

2010-10-07T19:25:00.000-07:00

I started a new job! I teach 3-4 year olds at Rebecca Creek Elem. School. These kids are all faculty and staff's kids and they are the age appropriate models for some special education kids that are in the program. I like my job. There are a few things that I am getting used to and the hubs and the kiddos are adjusting well.

I am tired of hearing about bullying. I know that it is a major problem. I just think that every once in a while the bully needs a quick kick in the pants, a punch in the gut, a black eye, or even a good whipping. There are so many people talking and talking and talking. I really hope someone is teaching these kids to stand up for themselves. I know that they are teaching everyone about not being a bully...but how about teaching the ones who are on the receiving end to stand up for themselves.

ok...I'm done with that.

Caleb wants to go to Africa. He wants me to go with him. I told him we would go someday. I pray I can make that happen for him. Why does he want to go? Because he's never been there, of course. Someone should probably let him in on the fact that they don't speak Spanish in Africa...therefore all his hardwork and accomplishment in Spanish Immersion will not help him one little bit!

I'm excited for the fall season. I like the cooler weather, the football, the holiday seasons, all of it. Paul and I are going to a costume party this year and are super excited! We are going as Mario and Princess Peach (from Nintendo's Mario Bros.) Of course I'll post pics after the party...thanks for asking.

We started doing P90X at bootcamp. It's not exactly what I thought it was. That's all I have to say about that.

I am loving the Bible Study I am doing right now. It's Beth Moore's study on the fruit of the Spirit and it.is.goooooood.

I love my husband. He surprised me today with a massage and I got to get my nails and toes done.

He.is.amazing.period.the end.

Ok...well that's about all I have for tonight. I'm tired. Goodnight.

My day according to Facebook

2010-09-07T19:41:00.001-07:00

So this is what my day would look like if I posted everything on Facebook.

Tanya Brand woke up this morning and then went back to sleep while her husband got the kids ready for school.

Tanya Brand woke up long enough to fix Abby's hair for school.

Tanya Brand went back to sleep.

Tanya Brand woke up again and thank the hubs for being so awesome and letting me sleep.

Tanya Brand got dressed and sat down with a cup of coffee and watched some CNN.

Tanya Brand watched the radar on the weather website and decided it was going to be a long day of introducing myself to Tropical Storm Hermine.

Tanya Brand decided to go over to the church and see how the first day of preschool was going.

Tanya Brand got SOAKED going approximately 10 yards from the car to the building...it's a good thing I wore comfy clothes and flip flops that dry quickly!

Tanya Brand helped the Babies teacher get her little ones settled in to the first day of preschool! They all have big "voices" and they know how to use them!

Tanya Brand decorated a bulletin board...and it. is. cute!

Tanya Brand went to lunch with the hubs at Bracken Christian School to see some of the BBC youth.

Tanya Brand's husband was kind enough to run into the torrential rains to get the car and bring it closer so that I would not get soaked in the torrential rains.

Tanya Brand went home to watch 2 hours of mindless tv while waiting for the kids to get out of school.

Tanya Brand got VERY acquainted with Tropical Storm Hermine as she came ripping through Bulverde dumping inches and inches of rain in my yard.

Tanya Brand watched as her driveway was slowly being washed into the street.

Tanya Brand's electricity went out. is back on. went off again. is back on again.
(This is not good for the mindless tv watching that I wanted to do.

Tanya Brand hears a strange noise and looks out the window to see tree #1 on the ground instead of standing...not by the roots...but there are no branches left on the upright part of the tree.

Tanya Brand hears another noise...kind of like a dripping faucet...hmmm....

Tanya Brand totally dismisses the dripping noise as her imagination.

Tanya Brand walks to her bedroom and on the way back she steps in a puddle of water and decides she can no longer dismiss the dripping noise!

Tanya Brand calls the hubs and he comes home to survey the leak in the living room ceiling.

Tanya Brand's husband asks her to look out the window when he gets home and we look at tree #2 in the middle of the driveway.

Tanya Brand realizes that Tropical Storm Hermine is kind of serious about her job.

Tanya Brand decides to scrapbook in the dark-ish house...because the power is out again.

Tanya Brand watches out the window as Hermine raises her ugly head and watches tree #3 lose all its branches.

Tanya Brand's husband goes to get the kids from school.

Tanya Brand does homework including Spanish spelling words and third grade math flash cards.

Tanya Brand eat an early dinner so we can go to football/cheer practice at the church.

Tanya Brand brought two of the three kids home early to get into bed.

Tanya Brand realizes that Hermine has settled down a bit.

Tanya Brand sits down and continues the CNN watching she started this morning.

Tanya Brand is blogging her life according to Facebook.

I think I'm getting it, Lord. Thank you.

2010-08-25T06:23:00.000-07:00

Many of you may know the journey I have been on for the last 8 months or so.

About December of last year Paul and I felt like the Lord was leading me to go back to school and get my teaching certificate to add to my bachelor's degree. There was no "real" reason to do it...it was something I have wanted to do for a long time and the time was right. God's timing was right.

As I look back on the whole thing, God's timing was not only right, but PERFECT.

I signed up for the alternative certification classes and because God's timing is PERFECT, I had all the money I needed to pay for the classes.

The classes lasted for 4 weeks and I went to class 4 nights a week from 6-9pm and on Saturdays from 8-3 and because God's timing is PERFECT I did not miss ONE thing my children were involved in. We were between football and baseball season so I missed nothing. My husband was available (and awesome) to be home with my kids every class night to get them in bed so they didn't suffer in school. PERFECT.

And now I am waiting on God's PERFECT timing. I had an interview in May and have been waiting all summer long to hear if I would have a job at my kid's school. There is a position available. The enrollment numbers are above the state standard. So what are we waiting for? The district? Well I have been saying all along, "We're just waiting for the district to make the decision. We are just waiting for the district to call the principal. We're just waiting on the district."

Well. I believe the Lord is impressing on my that I am waiting on the WRONG thing! Seriously. Why has this not occured to me before now!??! God's timing has been PERFECT throughout this entire process. Why am I wasting my time "waiting on the district" when I could be BLESSED to wait on the Lord.

God revealed a very familiar passage to me the other day while I was praying and seeking Him about this whole ordeal. This verse was so impressed into my heart that I PROMPTLY (and I mean immediately) found a background, typed it up, printed it out and LAMINATED IT! Yes I did...see?

The verse is from Isaiah 30:18 and reads:

Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you, He rises to show you compassion for the Lord is a God of justice and blessed are all who wait for Him.

Our pastor covered this passage not too long ago and said something about it that really stuck with me. "without the longing for something, wait is just the passage of time." The fact the the Lord LONGS to be GRACIOUS to me is very comforting.

I am no longer waiting on the district to make a decision. I am waiting for the Lord to be gracious to me, as He longs to do. And the end of the verse says that I am BLESSED to be waiting on Him.

Back to School Dates

2010-08-19T18:38:00.000-07:00

'm not sure why...but my pictures uploaded in reverse order...

Every year, just before school starts, I take each one of the kids out for a special date. Just me and one of them. They get to pick the place to eat (Chuck E. Cheese is not an option...Thank the Lord!) and we go and finish getting all their school supplies and, of course, they get to pick a special gift. I also take this time to talk to each of them about how Paul and I expect them to behave at school. We talk about things they are nervous and/or excited about and we pray for their teacher. I look forward to this time each year...not sure if they do...hopefully they do!

This year, since I will most likely have a teaching job (but not until the second week of school...I know...) I got to have a back to school date too! Paul took me out to P.F. Changs (yum!) and we enjoyed WAY to much food! Then we went to do a little shopping for me and my future classroom. We had a good time and it was really good for us to have some time together before school starts. This is a new era for us. All of our kids will be in school (Can I get an AMEN and a HALLELUJAH!) We are so VERY excited for this new time in our lives. Our kids are growing so quickly and we intend to enjoy EVERY minute of it! We are gonna do Kindergarten, First Grade and Second Grade to fullest and enjoy every blessing that God has for us this year!

Here is Caleb and I. His dinner was very special because my brother was in town and so Caleb shared his special dinner with the family and Uncle Justin. Caleb chose Chili's and we had a great time chatting with Uncle Justin! Then Caleb and I went on a hunt for the rest of his school supplies and special gift. We drove to Target, got the supplies and then went in search of a certain DS game. Well, not a "certain" one because Caleb didn't know which "certain one" he wanted. He just kept looking for a "certain one". Since Target didn't have the "certain one" we moved on to GameStop...which closes at SIX pm on Sundays! Ahhhhh! Thankfully Toys R Us was open and after s.e.v.e.r.a.l. minutes of looking for the "certain one" he finally found it! Exccept it was a Wii game instead of a DS game...anyway...he was happy. I am praying very specifically for Caleb this year because he is starting a new journey in the Spanish Immersion program that is new to our school. By the end of fifth grade Caleb will be fluent in Spanish and it begins in First Grade. In classic Caleb style though, learning a new language is NOT what he is most nervous about. He's most nervous about not knowing everyone in his class. I assured him that he was an awesome "friend maker" and he would know everyone after the first day. And he isn't nervous anymore...Thank you Jesus.

Abby and I, dressed in EXACTLY the same outfit, went to Arbys. We were taking our friend Magan to the airport on our way on our date. We ate curly fries and then took Magan to the airport. On the way back to Target we talked about Kindergarten and how much fun it was going to be. We talked about being kind to one of the boys in her class who we know is in a wheelchair. She is determined to say "hi" to him each day and make him feel good. We got to Target found all the supplies she needed and then it was off to the clothes department to find "things on sale". She is my daughter through and through! We (and when I say 'we' I mean BOTH of us) looked and looked through the clearance racks for the best deals. Abby won't buy anything at full price! We found a pair of shorts and a cute polka dot tank top for $3.00...TOTAL! The best part of the night was watching her face when I told her the whole outfit was only $3.00...she was SO excited!

Jacob got to go first this year...basically because that's the way the schedule worked out and we went to Olive Garden. We have been to Olive Garden every year. It's our special place. He held my hand, opened the door for me and even ordered our dessert. He is such a little MAN! It's crazy to think that he will be in 3rd grade in just a few short days. I love the person he is becoming. He has the special privilege of having the same teacher for 3rd grade that he had in second grade. She is f.a.n.t.a.s.t.i.c. and Jacob learned SO much from her last year. I'm excited to see how far he will go. He is excited about having the same teacher and is only worried about one thing...the TAKS test. Who knew the nervousness would start so early. I wasn't even sure Jacob new what the TAKS test was. But he does. And it makes him nervous. So we will pray.

So if you made it to the end of this, then you probably really like/love me and my family! Til next time...The Calm and Chaos continues.

Football and School Supplies...both cost me a fortune.

2010-08-03T19:35:00.000-07:00

So Football has begun.

We have all three of our kiddos involved in football this year. No...Abby is not playing, contrary to what you might think! She is cheering for Jacob's team this year. Paul and I are already feeling the pull...in a good way. It's nice to be a little busy these days...after the lazy days of summer. I know, I know...ask me that in three weeks...see if I feel the same way.

Since all three are "playing" football, we had to PAY for all three of them to play. Seems innocent enough, right? I just walked right out my back door and pulled some money off that money tree we have! What? You don't have one? You really should get one.

I'm not going to divulge how much we had to pay...Let's just say it's pretty much in the same range as the price of our new-esque car we just bought! Oh, I jest...kind of. But love is spelled M-O-N-E-Y, right? How could I possibly look into my children's (green, brown, and blue/green)eyes and tell them no! Remember, I am Mother of the Year. So we payed. And they are playing. And they are so HAPPY! And so are we.

.....Then I reminded my husband about school supplies......

After he came to, I also reminded him that we have three, (3), THREEEEEE!!!!! children in public school this year needing a various array of crayons, markers, glue, glue sticks, folders (with and without brads, mind you) three ring binders, kleenex, and hand sanitizer. Oh yeah...don't forget about assorted packages of construction paper and manilla paper...in two sizes, of course.

ANYWAY...

In the next couple of weeks (because I'll have to space the shopping out between pay periods) I'll brave the crowds and take each of my children shopping for their specific school supplies and explain to each of them 1,000 times why I'm not buying the Avatar the Airbender Trapper Keeper(shout out to all my 80's peeps!)because the list says "3 ring binder" or the Star Wars folder because the list says "red folder" or the Spiderman pencils because the list says "#2 pencils".

We will try to have a pleasant experience and we'll pay for all of the necessary supplies so that they can have the best school year ever. On the first day of school they will proudly walk in to their classroom with all of their supplies and sit down next to the kid whose mom bought them the Star Wars folder...

Apparently it's time for a new blog design...

2010-07-24T20:38:00.000-07:00

Well I clicked over to my blog today to find no background. Just a white screen with a little note on it that read:

"We're sorry. This image or video has been deleted from the source."

Well ok! I guess it's time for a new design then. I wasn't exactly planning on changing. I didn't really want to change. However, Blogger thought it was time for a change.

So...what do you think of the new duds? Kind of cute, huh?

Abby's Frogs

2010-07-21T19:20:00.000-07:00

Please allow me to introduce the newest members of our family. Please meet Daddy, Mommy and Baby Frog. In case you can't make out who's who...The large circle is Daddy. The teeny tiny circle is Baby....I promise there is a frog in that circle! And the circle close to the "log" is Mommy.

About 2 weeks ago, Abby caught these frogs in our yard. She LOVES them. They are HER pets. She feeds them mealworms...ewww...that have to stay in my fridge...double ewww... She gives them water. She picks them up and holds them so they can "get warm". Don't worry, it's not like an "Of Mice and Men" situation or anything. She just likes to hold them!

The previous frogs we have owned have always found a home in the boys' room, but since she caught these all by herself, they get to live with her. I am really proud of the way that Abby has taken responsibility for her pets!

After all, doesn't everyone give their frogs water from a plastic teapot?

Phone Photo Phun

2010-07-18T18:37:00.001-07:00

Here are some of the "Phun Photos from my Phone" of things going on this summer!

Our garden yielded ONE tomato.

I saw a GIGANTIC stick bug.

Paul and I went to Cozumel for our 10 year anniversary.

The construction on the new church begins.

Abby took a picture of the new fan in my bedroom.

I got a NEW CAR!!!

Our AWESOME pastor and his wife took us tubing!

And we...

learned to...

ski!

I know...I'm fired from blogging.

2010-07-07T19:28:00.000-07:00

Well it has been WELL over a month since I have blogged. I have good reason though, really, I do!

My computer has had issues and I was not typing an entire blog on my iphone.

My computer issues are simple.
1. My battery does not charge.
2. My power cord is so over-used that the wires are exposed and everytime I BREATHE the cord moves and my computer shuts off because...as I mentioned in point number one...my battery does not charge.

So these two points of concern have been the bain of my existence regarding my computer. I have really been frustrated with it.

My wonderful husband purchased me a new cord today.
All better now.

So this summer has been pretty crazy so far. It all started with the end of school...which is always crazy. I applied for a Kindergarten postition at the kids school and I am still waiting to hear if the new class is going to make. The school needs about 9 more children to enroll for me to have a job. So...I'm waiting.

I'm not very good at waiting. I'm trying, but while waiting, I often carry the stress of waiting in my back and shoulders and that makes me uncomfortable and then I don't sleep well and then I am cranky and then my family is cranky and on and on and on....

So I am trying to rest in the Lord and wait.

Anyway.

After school was out, VBS decorating went on for a week. Then VBS for a week. Then Paul and I went to Cozumel. Then we came back and now it's today...

It's just flying by like always! We have had a couple of weeks at home now and it's been nice. It's been nice to get some things done around the house. And, even though I don't have a job yet, I'm still planning and preparing that God WILL bless me with one.

Paul and I feel confident that God is moving our family in this direction so I am making my rest as productive as possible.

Meanwhile...now that my computer cord is fixed...I hope to be visiting with you more often!

Happy Birthday to Abby

2010-05-17T06:24:00.000-07:00

Well there she is...

My Baby Girl.

Five years ago today I went into the hospital, a mere 15 months after Caleb was born, to give birth to our baby girl. I knew she was going to change our lives. My boys changed our lives too, don't get me wrong. Abby, however, would make things so much.... more...just more. Not only were there more diapers, more feedings, more crying, more sleepless nights, because, after all, I had a 15 month old and a three year old too.

Eventually those things turned into more passion, more laughing, and still more crying...(which came from the passion), more talking, (oh the talking!) and more love.

There is so much love...which also comes from the passion part.

She has changed our lives forever...and I wouldn't have it any other way.

It's been exactly a month...

2010-05-13T19:50:00.000-07:00

...since I last blogged!

I can only say that it has been crazy around here. For example...

Sunday: Mother's Day

Monday: PTA Training all morning, then a bunch of errands for everyone else but me, baseball practice

Tuesday: Splash Day at PreSchool, Kindergarten program/PTA mtg where I was elected president...yep.

Wednesday: Kindergarten field trip, baseball game

Thursday: Last day of PreSchool, PreSchool program, shopping for stuff, baseball practice, photo shoot, praise team practice

Friday: Field Day, VBS shopping

Saturday: VBS Work all day

So that's just a small snapshot of the way our life is going right now. We are having a good time, just busy. School is over for Abby and just a couple of weeks left for Caleb and Jacob. Then it's summer time!

I am really looking forward to having no schedule for awhile! I am a creature of structure but I enjoy short bursts of NON-structure...and summer serves exactly that purpose.

God is really blessing my family right now and I am ready to bask in the blessing of God...and the sun...for that matter.

For now, this moment...no really this exact minute...I'm resting.

Waiting and waiting and more waiting.

2010-04-13T13:59:00.000-07:00

I'm sure by now all both of my readers have fired me from blogging! It's been like a month, or something.

I have no good excuses. Just busy with many, many things and blogging is just not very high on the priority list.

Right now, though, things are slightly slower. Actually slower than I want things to be. I am waiting to see what God does next in my life. There's something kind of big just hanging out there in the wings and it's just not time yet. I know it's there. I know it's something God has led me to. I am just waiting and waiting and waiting for God to bring it to center stage.

There are many pieces to the puzzle that can't fit into the whole until THIS ONE PIECE is in place. So I am just waiting and waiting and waiting. Consequently other things/people are waiting and waiting and waiting.

There are some decisions that need to be made in a timely fashion and I just pray that I am making the right decisions in order for the puzzle to be pieced together nicely and not forced together just because it looks "close enough" to fitting.

The one thing I am struggling with most, is, ironically, not the "not knowing" it's the "waiting to know". I feel confident in God no matter which direction He nudges me...I just wish He would go ahead and nudge! I am also mostly confident in the direction that He ultimately WILL nudge me...I just wish He would go ahead and do it.

So to that end, I am waiting and waiting and waiting. God alone will let me know when it's time. In the meantime, I'll work on being ok with waiting.

Phone Photo Phun

2010-03-09T19:00:00.000-08:00

These are some pics from my phone...hence the title..."Phone Photo Phun" Yes I know, I know, that's not how you spell "fun" but I was going for some alliteration...humor me ok people. Anyway. Here are some fun pics from my phone that I thought I would share with all both of my readers.

Caleb's "loose" tooth turned into a "lost" tooth.

Jacob "working" at an old western barn cleaning a branch to make into a table leg. He learned real quick like that he enjoyed his modern day pre-made furniture.

Jacob and his dinosaur diorama he made for a project and for his Dinosaur Rock music program. He did "most" of the work himself. I of course used the glue gun but he did the rest...except for the flying pteradactl...daddy flew him.

Caleb holding a baby mouse that the Kindergarten teachers had...don't worry...they are pets. In case you were thinking the brand new school they just opened was infested...rest assured...they are pet mice that the Kindergarten teacher raises to feed to the snake...you read it correctly...

Me and my Snuggie...yep...I am the proud owner of a leopard print Snuggie. I even took it to my class the day I was sick. ummmm...yesIdid...I said I was a PROUD owner.

Abby and her bestie friend Ginger and their make-up action. And yes...they look eerily like sisters.

Abby and her bestie friend Ginger. They were dressing up...but not as street walkers as you might first think...oh no...they are clearly Disney princesses!

The Story of My Life

2010-02-23T17:18:00.000-08:00

Sorry about the quality of the pics...I took them with my phone...

My mom gave this to me some time ago. She said when she saw it she thought of me...

I don't really know why...

Except that I DO have sticky floors 100% of the time.
My oven is ALWAYS filthy, which is to say NEVER clean.

So if that makes me a good mother, bring it on! In fact if those two items are the measure by which all mothers are measured...then I FOR SURE have pretty much secured Mother of the Year for...like...the next...100 years! Sorry about your luck other moms, but I have clenched the title.

If it also means that I have happy children, then I will gladly pour maple syrup on my floor and in my carpet and I will rub grease on the inside of my oven and light it on fire.

Anything to have happy children. (My mother is FREAKING out at the thought of having to clean that up this weekend when she comes to visit.)

Don't worry Mom...It's just Abby's room that I need help with.

See?

MOTHER OF THE Y.E.A.R.

The Near Future-Cast

2010-02-22T06:13:00.000-08:00

This time of year is chronically busy around our house. Each year the late Winter/early Spring time is C.R.A.Z.Y.

It's baseball time.
It's D-Now time.
It's Easter time.

This year is particularly crazy because I am in school and we are travelling a bit to teach at other D-Nows.

So the Future-cast for the next few weeks looks like this:

*This week Mon-Thurs and Sat - I have class

*Saturday I am supposed to have a team mom mtg so I somehow must split myself in half and be in two places at one time...any ideas?

*Paul has a crazy schedule this week with D-Now prep that consists of meetings on Wed and Fri nights, plus shopping for food and making plenty of copies...etc.

*This week also kicks off Baseball practice two nights a week...THANKFULLY...the boys are on the same team this year!

*This weekend is D-Now and that will be....yep...you guessed it! C.R.A.Z.Y....THANKFULLY...my parents are coming on Friday to watch the kids for D-Now so Paul and I can concentrate on D-Now and class.

*Next week is MARCH people! Is that a shocker to anyone else? We have to have some sort of birthday party for Caleb and I have class on Mon, Tues, and Wed.

*NEXT WEEK I FINISH MY CLASS ON WEDNESDAY!!!

*Then Paul teaches another D-now for the weekend.(not our church)

*After that I suppose we will take a break. Oh yeah! Spring Break!

*I take some wedding photos to start the break and then we get to go to visit my parents while Paul and I teach a D-Now over the weekend ending spring break and THEN we will rush back on Sunday for our Easter Celebration and concert.

*And THEN the NEXT week is EASTER! Which of course means that the youth will be going to the Pre-Easter retreat.

Now I am going to take a nap.
Thank you.
Amen.

I know...I know...It's been too long...

2010-02-18T18:50:00.001-08:00

What can I say. I have failed as a blogger lately. But I have some really good reasons....I think.

I have been taking classes to get my teacher's certification and I take the test tomorrow. Ironically the test has very little to do with the practical application in the classroom, but the "powers that be" say I have to know all kinds of "educational gobble-de-gook" (and yes, that is a technical term)to pass the test.

So.

I.
Have.
Been.
Studying.

It has been quite brutal. I have been going to class 4 nights a week and my family is really taking it well. We have been eating dinner at 4:00 in the afternoon/evening just to be able to eat together. I spend time with my kiddos after they get out of school and then after I get out of school (at 9pm) I do my homework leaving me awake until the wee hours of the night/morning. I get up and do it all over again!

It has all been leading up to this point. Tomorrow morning. Nine.A.M.

It has been quite some time since I have taken a test like this...let's just say...about ten years. YIKES! I also have not studied quite like this in a few...ahem...10 years. So all of this is adding up to a couple of nerves.

To top it all off, I am having a wee bit of guilt. Caleb's birthday is today and I have been so concentrated on this test, balancing family time and church...and D all of the above, that I did not plan a birthday party for him. For some reason this always happens to Caleb. He is SO good about it too. He is laid back and so comfortable in himself that he just looks at me with those enormous brown eyes and says, "Don't worry Mommy, we can have my party in two weeks."

OMGoodness...Do you love him?

Paul says I am doing a good job of studying and balancing...I hope so. I don't want to regret any part of this. I don't want my kids to suffer in any way. I don't want to fail my test...(and waste my $120!)

Good News? The test is tomorrow.
Bad News? The test is tomorrow.

So after tomorrow things will be better. I hope. Either way the test will be over. I will either pass or fail. I have studied all I am going to study. I either know it or I don't.

He knows my every moment.
He knows the outcome of my test tomorrow.
He knows if I pass or fail.

He knows.

He. knows.

Just What the Doctor ordered...

2010-02-01T16:17:00.000-08:00

What, you ask, did the Dr. order? REST. Well the DOCTOR didn't actually order it, because I would have had to go to the Dr. to get such an order...and I didn't go to the Doctor.

Anyway...

I literally did a whole lot of NOTHING today. Nada. Zip. Zilch. Nuttin'.

It has been quite some time since I have had a day with nothing to do. And, needless to say, the last couple of weeks have been a wee bit crazy for me and my family. The very near future is ALSO a wee bit crazy...so I am very thankful that God planned this day of nothing for me today.

One of the crazy things that happened over the weekend was Jacob turned 8! I was freaking out a little bit! I am certainly NOT old enough to have an 8 year old! (just in case you were wondering)

We had a sleep over with 6 of Jacob's closest friends. They were loud. There was burping...a lot of burping. There were video games. There was hide and seek in the dark/mud. There was cake. There were presents. In the morning there were donuts and Sunny D.

There was NOT sleeping. For. A.N.Y.O.N.E.

It was a great party and we had a great time celebrating Jacob's 8th birthday. Here are the pics to prove it!

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

The hats I wear.

2010-01-19T14:10:00.000-08:00

These are the hats I wear.
Some I wear everyday.
Some I wear a lot.
Some not so much, yet occasionally the hat graces my head.
Many hats I am totally qualified to wear.
Others I am NOT AT ALL qualified to wear.
Some are real.
Some are imagined.
Some I chose.
Some were thrust on my head.
These are the hats I wear. (in no particular order)

mom
mom
mom
taxi driver
doctor
teacher
doctor
director
nursery coordinator
reality tv conisseur
bootcamp trainer
praise team singer
pharmacist
wife
warden
student
PTA vice pres.
chef (this one is up for debate)
follower of Jesus (this one is NOT up for debate)
referee
worker-outer
human timer (this usually comes with the refereeing hat!)
homework helper
team mom
blogger wannabe
Bible study facilitator
CNN watcher
scrapbooker
friend

I am sure there are more.
These are the hats I wear.

My day according to Facebook

2010-01-12T18:36:00.000-08:00

I did this a few weeks ago and I'm doing it again tonight...so there you have it.

Tanya Brand "slept in" today. (until 7:00am)

Tanya Brand waited quite impatiently for the coffee pot to finish making the coffee at the preschool..because no teaching/learning was going to take place until I had a cup of coffee. I wasn't standing there alone either.

Tanya Brand had a "conversation" with a three year old today about his attitude.

Tanya Brand cleaned white paint off the table after her class made a really cute project.

Tanya Brand facebooked while she was in line waiting to pick up the boys from school.

Tanya Brand made arrangements to help her sons kindergarten class tomorrow.

Tanya Brand came home after school and watched her kiddos play outside because today was the epitome of San Antonio's perfect weather. Sunny and 65 degrees.

Tanya Brand filled out some paperwork for a new thing she is doing and then when she looked up and out the window toward the backyard all she saw was a HUGE fire...and then I noticed that it was the burn pile.

Tanya Brand went outside to talk to her husband about the burn pile being on fire and to express out loud, in words, my concern for the children and the burning pile of stuff in the back yard.

Tanya Brand was told by her husband that he is in complete control of the burn pile.

Tanya Brand left for her something new that she is starting.

Tanya Brand ate dinner at Chick fil A and when I ordered my food the cashier completed my sentence...apparently I go there alot.

Tanya Brand started something new.

Tanya Brand came home to 3 naked little people in my house. Don't worry, they belong to me and they promptly put on PJ's and hopped into bed.

Tanya Brand prayed with 3 little people and one of those 3 little people thanked God that I was the best mommy ever....be still my beating heart! (I'm pretty sure the other 2 little people were thinking it!)

Tanya Brand is sitting on the couch, blogging and watching all manner of reality tv that is DVR'ed right now, skipping through all the commercials and watching people lose weight in record time and sing terribly...some sing well though, very well.

Tanya Brand is done typing this blog.

New Year's Resolutions

2010-01-08T13:32:00.000-08:00

I am not/WILL NOT make New Year's Resolutions.

I don't like them. I feel like I am either setting myself up for failure OR I choose things that are so easy it takes me one second to achieve them. Doesn't that sort of defeat the purpose of the resolutions? Aren't resolutions supposed to strive you forward to a goal? Yeah that's what I thought.

So I am not/will not make New Year's Resolutions.

I will however strive to do things better. I will continue to pray about the direction of my life and my peoples lives. I will try, try, try to be better at every thing I do.

Here, more specifically, are some things that are NOT New Year's Resolutions for me: (in no particular order of importance...that's just taking things to far...)

*workout/eat right
(plus cake)
*read through the chronological Bible
(this is so intriguing!!)
*serve my church and my kids school
(this is keeping my pretty busy...I wouldn't have it any other way!)
*clean my house/do laundry
(my husband and mother are ROFL right now...I have no idea why...)
*play with my kids
(in the new tree house of course and on the Wii)
*strive toward being a better teacher/parent/friend/wife
(this one is serious)
*become more efficient at the Wii
(Lego Star Wars to be exact)
*keep my scrapbook up to date
(this one is also serious)
*plan a 10 year anniversary trip...to somewhere...anywhere
(this one is VERY serious!)
*save money
(probably not...how about be an AWESOME sale finder!! Yessss!)
*take better pictures
(I am getting better every day!)

Now these may sound eerily like New Year's Resolutions, but I assure you they are not! I was doing these things on December 31, 2009 and I was doing them on January 1,2010 and I am continuing these things today.

So since I am NOT making any New Year's Resolutions I have nothing to worry about. Nothing to fail at...and if there is nothing to fail at then there are plenty of things to succeed at! I plan on succeeding at everything listed above.

Go ahead. Try to make me make New Year's Resolutions...you can't do it. But you go ahead and make your own New Year's Resolutions and then let me know how that works for you!

Happy New Year!

Let's do it again...in 2010!

2009-12-30T12:30:00.001-08:00

Make a Smilebox greeting

Christmas Tour of Home...mine to be exact!

2009-12-14T17:41:00.000-08:00

I just wanted to share the fruits of our Christmas decorating labor...and, of course, some commentary! (Click on the pics to see them larger...or not...whatever.)

This cute little tree is a new addition this year...kind of. We had the tree last year but the ornaments are new...um...old...err...old as I am, new to me.

whatever...

My grandmother made all of these ornaments for me when I was born and my mom doesn't use them on any of her trees anymore, so she gave them to me! Yahoo! I LOVE this tree!

This tree is full of ornaments made by three of the most precious people in my life...my kiddos. I picked a few of my faves.

Here is our "big" tree with all the ornaments from the last 9 1/2 years of our marriage. On the left are two ornaments that I made for mine and Paul's very first Christmas tree...in fact the first year...I made every.single.ornament. on the tree and I still have them ALL. On the right are two ornaments that I bought this year...and on this tree are the other 9 years in between.

*Here are just a few random items I love around my house right now. I have a cool jar thingy with some Christmas ornaments all around it...and that's all I have to say about that.
*I love my mantle and I made that wreath...and that's all I have to say about that.
*The Nativity scene was the first one my mom got when she and my dad got married. It is one of the few sacred items in my home.
*The "plastic-looking" box...is one of our most favorite items at Christmas time. It's a type of advent calendar that takes you through the Christmas story and straight to Salvation story. So far one of our children has been saved through the use of this "plastic box" and we are praying that it will continue for years to come.

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And finally...here are the trees that are in our rooms...and don't ask me why Abby's lights aren't on...we have no idea!

Well that's it. A Christmas tour through my house! Hope you enjoyed it...

A Special Thing

2009-12-08T14:10:00.000-08:00

Just before the Thanksgiving holidays, I took Abby shopping and we found this super cute outfit with a "coffee" cup on it. Well, Abby HAD TO HAVE IT!!! I didn't even try to explain to her that the cup on the shirt was really hot chocolate...I just resolved that it was, indeed, a coffee cup.

Abby then told me right away that since she had a coffee shirt, Dado (my dad) could take her to get coffee at Starbucks. So when we got to Dado's house for the Thanksgiving holidays...Dado took Abby (in her "coffee" shirt) to Starbucks for breakfast on Thanksgiving morning. I got to go along...but I did NOT have a coffee shirt...

Here's the way we started our Thanksgiving Day...awesome.

Twas the Two Weeks before Christmas...

2009-12-06T14:15:00.000-08:00

Twas the two weeks before Christmas and all through the house
Every creature was stirring...including the mouse!

My husband and I sat down at lunch today and we were talking across the table, over the voices of our 3 little people, and I had my calendar out and we began to lose time quickly.

I was spouting off dates of Christmas parties and class projects and he was spouting off more dates of parties and youth activities. Abby and I are traveling next weekend and then the following weekend Paul is traveling and so on and so on!

We finally just closed the calendar and ate our lunch...it was getting all to crazy...

I was so spoiled this last week! We had nothing to do...
On Saturday we L.I.T.E.R.A.L.L.Y. had nothing to do...what??? That is simply un-heard of! Our family always has something...so I was a little overwhelmed when I saw the madness was stirring in the VERY near future...like...starting tomorrow!

Don't get me wrong...I'm excited about a little hustle and bustle...and MANY of the things we have planned I am VERY excited about.

Specifically???

1.Our staff Christmas Party tomorrow night...this is ALWAYS a super fun time.

AND

2.This weekend, Abby and I are flying to Dallas to see The Night Before Christmas Ballet with my mom, aunt and nieces...very fun!

Right now, I am trying to get my people ready to go to AWANA's and it would probably be easier if I wasn't typing...so

Merry Christmas!

Holiday decor, travels and such...

2009-11-23T08:33:00.000-08:00

This week is Thanksgiving....um...yes, I know that is a blinding glimpse of the obvious...anyway.

This week is Thanksgiving and we always have lots of things to do. Our schools are not out yet so we will hang out here until Wednesday morning. We have all kinds of Thanksgiving festivities with the kids classes that happen to ALL be TOMORROW! So I will figure that out with my cloning machine later tonight. My house also needs to be cleaned before we leave because...well just because. So I am hoping to make an appointment with the Free House Cleaning Fairy. Hopefully she will be able to work us in!

I have already decorated my house for Christmas. Ok, Ok! For all of you who are cussing me right now because I jumped the gun on the decorating, please stop and hear me out! Because we travel, this is a necessary step in making the holidays "Merry and Bright". Waiting until we get home is NOT merry and bright! It makes for ugly and dull around my house. This weeked I spent a wonderful time with my family decorating. It was stress-free and happy. I was not trying to get 3 kids to come down from the Nana-izing that will occur this coming weekend. I was not sick of being in the car for-e.v.e.r. because all 5 million college students are on the road with us. We drank hot chocolate, we decorated and it was pleasant. And here are the pics to prove it.

So when we leave on Wednesday, we will be headed North along with, as I said earlier, 5 million college students! This is a phenomenon that we were not aware of when we moved here! Then the first time we went back north for the holidays it took us 9 (NINE!) hours to get back! For those of you who don't know, that is about 4 (FOUR!) hours TOO LONG! We then started thinking it through and figured out that many, MANY colleges are between here and there and everyone travels on the same days! Not so much fun. So, here's hoping that we miss the college rush! Maybe they will sleep in on Wednesday while we get up early and go!

The Time...it has escaped me!

2009-11-14T06:06:00.001-08:00

Oh my stars! It has been three (3, I tell you!) weeks since I have blogged. I am sure all BOTH of my readers have been wondering where, oh where, have I been.

Well I'm a-gonna tell ya!

Three weeks ago, my bestie had a baby! Ms. Hailey Rae joined us in this crazy world and I have been loving on her.

Then there was Halloween. I had three super heroes for Halloween and we had a great time at our church Fall Festival...but that took up some of the blogging time.

Then there was my birth-week...because people, I do not have a birthDAY, that's just to short. I much prefer a birth-week...and it was a GREAT one. 31 is not, ahem, too bad. I'm not dead yet! Actually with me participating in the Boot Camp that I go to, it has made 31 pretty great. I'm stronger and faster than I have been since high school and it makes me feel good.

Then there was last week.
*Saturday, started the madness. Jacob played his last football game, we went across San Antonio to watch my brother-in-law coach his college team and that took ALL day. I know you are probably reading this and thinking..."really, Tanya, ALL day? How could that possibly been the least bit crazy of a day?" Well, it was, trust me.

*Sunday, was, well Sunday...and Sundays are always crazy.

*Monday, was fun, I did a photo shoot with a good friend of mine and, the afore mentioned besties baby. We had great fun taking P.R.E.C.I.O.U.S. pictures of this blessed miracle that God gave to my dear friends!

*Tuesday, was so long ago I have no idea what I did...oh yeah, I did play Bunco on Tues. night...but that's pretty much all I can recall.

*Wednesday, I STAYED HOME! Woohoo! I have'nt said that in a sweet forever! When the kids got out of school though it was back to business as usual though...gymnastics and Wednesday night church festivities.

*Thursday I hosted a baby shower.

*Friday I helped at the boys school, helped run the Shopping Extravaganza PTA event, went to Jacob's end of the season football party, cried when the coach gave Jacob his trophy and said some great things about my kid, got a call from another pregnant friend who said she was in labor, met such friend at my house to watch her two kids, had a "sleepover" with the extra kids and then went to bed.

*Saturday (today) Paul went hunting, shot a buck, started this blog post, Paul cleaned the buck, I took Abby shopping with two other friends (mine, not hers...remember, I'm crazy - not stupid!), saw friend with new baby, stayed at the hospital for 2 hours!

AND THEN

Came home to 25ish teenage boys watching UFC fight night in my house and a bonfire in the backyard and I am now finishing this post. now. all done.

now.

Character Day at RBES

2009-10-27T18:16:00.000-07:00

Make a Smilebox postcard

Well, now that you have looked at my precious boys in their fantastic costumes, let me tell you a little story.

It all started a couple of weeks ago when I got the paper home in the boys backpacks explaining the Red Ribbon Week spirit days. Friday was book character day. So I started talking to my boys about what book character they wanted to be. They both immediately said they wanted to be Clone Troopers. I then had to go into this enormous monologue explaining to them why they could NOT go to school as Clone Troopers or Spiderman or Anakin Skywalker...I know you want to wear that, but you cannot carry a light saber into the school, they'll turn momma in.

So Caleb finally decided on being a dinosaur. I don't know what book it was from, but I'm sure there is a dinosaur in some book, somewhere in the world...so I told Caleb he could be a dinosaur.

Yessss! One down.

Jacob was still struggling with his decision and we were still struggling with the understanding that superheroes, no matter how good, were not acceptable "book characters"!

He finally shows me a website that they use at school with some audio books on it and he tells me he LOVES the Ace Lacewing Bug Dectective books. Awesome. Soooo, what exactly does Ace Lacewing look like? Well basically...he's a bug...detective...
I know...I know...

So I make some wings with some pantyhose and hangers...a wonderful trick my grandmother taught me...I get a hat from the dress-up clothes and attach some pipe cleaner antenae...and ta! da! Ace Lacewing Bug Dectective.

Meanwhile, Caleb is searching and searching for the Dinosaur costume that I KNOW we have SOMEWHERE! and he can't find it. So we go into a major meltdown because it's Thursday night and we can't find the dinosaur.

Ugh.

So I start going through all the books we have on the shelf that I have corresponding costumes for in the playroom...of course I'm thinking to myself, "Dang it! Why can't he just be Spiderman or Anakin Skywalker, or a Clone Trooper!" I did NOT, however, voice that opinion out loud. I am beginning to get really frustrated because Caleb cannot make up his mind and he keeps whining about wanting to be a dinosaur..."SON...I don't know where it is!!!" ...then...more calmly..."you have to pick something else."

I finally narrowed his choices for him to 3 books that I knew I could make costumes for in record time...it was afterall almost 8pm the NIGHT BEFORE IT WAS DUE! Nothing like waiting til the last minute....don't worry, my Mom already spoke to me about this...so keep your comments to yourself. Thank you.

FINALLY...he picked the mouse and I was secretly, EXTREMELY happy, because I knew I could whip out some mouse ears and a tail.

And I did.

The next morning the kids put their costumes on, I took the pics up above, Paul took them to school, I went to get coffee, I got to the school, saw the boys...NO COSTUMES. Yep they basically wore them to school and took them off as soon as they got to their classrooms.

Not. Awesome.

None the less...they WERE cute.

My Day According to Facebook

2009-10-15T18:42:00.000-07:00

So I had this idea for a blog this morning. I thought I would blog my day today the same way I would update my Facebook if I updated all day long. So here goes.

Tanya Brand got to sleep in today because my husband woke up and got the kids dressed and then took them to school...AND brought me my favorite kolache Honey Creek Bakery.

Tanya Brand got up and got dressed and got to school a little early because I had lots to do before the kiddos came.

Tanya Brand stapled fire hats together for my preschoolers to wear.

Tanya Brand dressed up like a fireman...in complete gear...to prove to the preschoolers that it was not a scary alien in the suit, it's a regular person who wants to help you...and by the way, that gear is HEAVY...good thing I work out.

Tanya Brand sweat ALOT in the firefighter gear...like "gross" alot.

Tanya Brand was excited when my husband took all three kids to Wal-Mart so I could be alone for a few short minutes...and instead I filed paperwork at school...boo.

Tanya Brand came home and sat on my boo-tay for one hour and 13 minutes before my hair appointment.

Tanya Brand went to Sonic to get a burger before my hair appt. and got a coupon for a free Rt.44 drink for tomorrow! Yay!

Tanya Brand got my hair did! It's been way to long...I was starting to look skunk-esque...and that's not hot.

Tanya Brand is going home with wet hair because it's cheaper than going home with dry hair.

Tanya Brand came home to my daughter playing outside and when I got out of the car I hear this..."Oh no I pooped in my pants!"

Tanya Brand found out from my husband that Abby was having a little poop situation this afternoon...good to know.

Tanya Brand cleaned up Abby's poop situation.

Tanya Brand told the boys to clean their room.

Tanya Brand is getting angry at the amount of crap-ola that can be stored underneath a 5 year old boy's bed.

Tanya Brand is cleaning up old, moldy cat throw up that has just been discovered because it was under the afore mentioned 5 year old boy's bed.

Tanya Brand has also discovered that the boys carpet is wet and is looking for the hubs to diagnose the problem...quickly.

Tanya Brand's hubs discovers that the water situation is from the AC condensation thingy that was clogged...but is now unclogged...because I have a regular "Handy Manny."

Tanya Brand is ready to sit down but I am vaccuming up roly poly's from the boys room.

Tanya Brand is now sitting down watching Survivor and eating popcorn and drinking a tasty blended smoothie that the hubs has made.

Tanya Brand is blogging about her day according to facebook.

The End.

Things that only happen when Paul is gone...

2009-09-28T19:12:00.000-07:00

Every time Paul goes out of town, the world spins in a different direction, all you-know-what breaks loose and I have never understood it, but have slowly come to accept it. "Whatever do you mean, Tanya?"

I'm glad you asked.

*On a NUMBER of occasions Paul has left to go to youth camp and I was VERY sick. I'm not just talking about a little head cold or a sore throat. I'm talking about full on throwing up, bed ridden...sick. On one particular occasion I vaguely remember telling Jacob, who was 4 yrs old at the time, to just bring me the milk and a cup and I would pour it for him...from the couch! I also remember on that particular occasion telling Jacob to watch his brother(2 1/2yrs) and his sister (18mos)and just make sure they didn't hurt themselves. That was also the time they ate four bags of fruit snacks for dinner, because that's what Jacob could reach.

*The behavior of my children also changes when Paul is gone...and NOT for the better. Apparently when Paul leaves out of town...my children lose all ability to hear me. I have to continually raise my voice until I break through the "daddy's not here so I don't have to listen to mommy" barrier. It drives me insane.

*I also lose my God-given ability to fall asleep instantly. That's right, you can ask anyone who has ever seen me go to sleep. I have an uncanny ability to literally fall asleep as soon as my head hits the pillow....except...when Paul's gone. I am also a rock-solid sleeper...not even throwing up children wakes me up! When he's not home...I cannot sleep! It takes hours for me to fall asleep and the slightest thing wakes me up. This also drives me insane.

*When Paul is gone things like this happen: the cat pooped in the bathtub and I scared it when I walked in to the bathroom and it jumped straight up into the air and then landed right back into the poop that just came out of it's butt and then ran all over my house. Yep. That only happens when Paul is not home.

*When Paul is not home the trash is always full...even if he took it out just before he left...the next thing I know...it's full. And I HATE taking out the trash. Same thing goes for the litter box.

*When Paul is not home, I clean. That's right people. I can do it. I just choose not to when Paul is home and does it so much better. However, I don't clean exactly like Paul does. I skip the normal sweeping, vaccuuming, dishes business and go straight to cleaning the tile grout with a toothbrush and some vinegar and water. No, I'm not kidding. The dishes are in the sink...he's coming home tomorrow!

I am sure there are hundreds of other things that happen when Paul is not here. If I come up with a good one I'll update, but for now. I'll NOT be going to sleep, no matter how hard I try...

Monkey See. Monkey Do.

2009-09-11T16:56:00.000-07:00

Apparently....

she watches....

what we do.

The first of "hundreds" of REAL grades

2009-09-10T17:31:00.001-07:00

Jacob, as you well know, is in second grade. There are many new things about second grade and one of the most interesting things is REAL grades. Our school district only gives E's,S's and U's through first grade so you can imagine my surprise when I opened Jacob's folder the other day and pulled out all of the graded papers you see above.

Some are awesome, some are fine, and then there is one 70. Not really something I was expecting! Of course the 100 was in math. Praise the Lord he loves math and he "gets it!"

The 70 was on a Language Arts paper...because it was incomplete! Not something that set well with me. When I asked him why he didn't finish it...He said, "I just didn't want to."

Great.

That's what I need.

A SECOND grader that is bored of work already.

Well, here's to "hundreds" of more REAL grades and hopefully hundreds more "100's!"

The Special Talking Spot

2009-09-06T17:10:00.000-07:00

School started this year, somewhat uneventfully. Everyone went into their classroom on their respective first days of school excited about the future school year.

...Until the second day...

We have now been in school for two weeks and I am just now getting to blog about this for various sundry reasons that would take the entire blog-o-sphere to explain, so I will save your eyes the trouble.

Jacob and Abby are having no problems going to school each day. They are excited and have no separation anxiety what-so-ever. And then there's Caleb.

Caleb is my tender hearted child. The one who is always concerned with other people's feelings. He is also the eternal peacemaker.

He cried going to school on the second day, and the third day, and the fourth day, and so on and so on. So on the second day of school I took him over to a corner of the hallway just down from his classroom and there was started the "special talk spot." This particular part of the hallway has a clock in it and every day we talk about how long it will be until I come to pick him up. He asks me if I am going to be ok without him. I tell him how excited I am that he gets to go to Kindergarten. etc...etc...

The whole time we talk his little lips quiver and his eyes water and he tries to hold it all back, but the tears slowly creep down his cheeks. It has gotten a little better with each passing day and he does eventually...and reluctantly go into his classroom for the day and I walk away praying that God will comfort him and that he will have the best day.

We have done this every day since the beginning of school...You see, Caleb is also a creature of routine. Paul even offered to take the boys to school one day and Caleb overheard him. Immediately Caleb ran to me crying saying, "Please Mommy, don't let Daddy take us to school, he doesn't even know where our special talk spot is!" (I, of course, took them to school.)

I also know that he has awesome days at school. I hear from his teacher, he is happy when he gets in the car at the end of the day...etc. It's just the initial separation in the morning. He told me one day after school that he had a "legendary" day at school. The next day he told me his day was "heroic, and that was one step down from legendary, but it was still good." Another day his teacher told me that Caleb was smiling at the end of the day and she asked Caleb if she could see him smile in the morning. He replied with, "Nope. I can't smile in the mornings because my mommy needs to see me cry."

On Friday I got to be in Caleb's class with him and help with a project and he is super happy and extremely polite and helpful to the teacher. I guess if I have to keep going to the special talk spot for the rest of the year, I will. The truth is, I secretly cherish this extremely special one-on-one time with my middle child...and at the same time I would love for him to learn to jump out of the car say "bye mom" and be off in a flash. Basically I want my cake and to eat it too.

The First Days of School

2009-09-01T18:36:00.001-07:00

Make a Smilebox postcard

Great People...Great Music

2009-08-26T18:49:00.000-07:00

I wanted to share these two people with all ten of my followers! These people are personal friends of Paul and I and we are so glad to know them!

He's the real deal.

http://nathanwoodard.wordpress.com/2009/08/22/consume-me/

...and so is She!

www.jordanself.com

School Starts Tomorrow...

2009-08-23T18:55:00.000-07:00

That's right. Starting tomorrow I will have a Kindergartener and a 2nd Grader. I am so excited about school starting...not for the ususal "I'm so tired of my kids" reason, but because I love to watch my kids learn and grow...and there is no better place to start than Kindergarten.

Caleb is a little bit nervous and a LOT excited about school. Tonight before we prayed I asked him what he was nervous about. And in classic Caleb style, he said he was nervous about how to buy chocolate milk. (I told him earlier that he would learn a number to push in to buy milk from his account.) He won't know is number until the first day of school and he is very concerned that he won't learn it in time to buy chocolate milk. It is a very serious matter, I assure you. So nevertheless I prayed that he would get his number in time to buy chocolate milk. (I, of course, know that he will.)

Jacob on the other hand is the "big man on campus". You know...2nd grade. He is very excited that he gets to move to the front playground. He has been on the back playground the last two years and now he gets to move to the front playground. This will exponentially increase his fun-having abilities at recess. This, of course, is a very important matter. He also is ready to show Caleb how to use the pencil machine. It gives out "cool" pencils for a mere quarter...and from now 'til the end of time my son will ask me for quarters to buy pencils out of the pencil machine.

All in all I am ready for the year. We are going to do Kindergarten with all our might and we are also going to grab 2nd grade by the horns and hold on for the ride.

I think Abby and I will celebrate our first day together with a manicure...sounds good huh?

Some pics from our Beach Vacation!

2009-08-17T21:53:00.000-07:00

I know...It's time for me to blog again...but these pics are going to have to do for now!

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Mission Trip San Antonio

2009-07-28T18:40:00.000-07:00

This week we are finally getting to take the mission trip that was scheduled for Spring Break. Originally we were supposed to go to Mexico and build some houses for people who didn't have one...and by "house"...I mean 4 walls and a roof...no floor. So yes, we are qualified...

Anyway...

This week we are on the South side of San Antonio in partnership with Christian Hope Resource Center...hereafter CHRC. This place is a well oiled machine of food and clothes distribution as well as Bible classes and counseling for anyone who needs it. It's a neat place to serve locally and we enjoy working there.

This week is their Vacation Bible School. We, of course, are staffing a large portion of their VBS staff. So far so good. The administraion there is impressed with our group and we, of course, are impressed with God and the things He is accomplishing this week.

After the VBS time...of course we could not just be done for the day...that would be too easy! So we also partnered with a local church who has a skateboarding ministry. It is appropriately called Skate Church. Anyway, they wanted the outside of their building to be painted Army Green...so we are painting.

This mission trip is also different for Paul and I because we have all three of our kids with us. This is a first for us. Paul and I have a huge spot in our heart for missions and we try to make it a large part of our lives. We want that for our kids to. We understand that we live in a modern day Babylon and the quickest way to be sucked into the Babylonian Empire is to lose sight of the NEED around us. It's in our backyard and we are almost numb to it. So this week, as a family, we are ripping the blinders off our eyes and staring the NEED in the face. We are dealing with it as a family. The kids are not participating in VBS this week they are working...hard. Today was the first day of VBS and they all did a great job. Yesterday as we were setting up they moved chairs, stacked boxes, swept floors and prepared food boxes. They. worked. hard.

We also painted today. I don't have any pics of that...well...because...I was too busy telling my kids to stop STEPPING in the paint. Stop putting your HANDS IN THE BUCKET! Stop painting OTHER PEOPLE! Wipe up all your DRIPS! Yes...I was to busy for the picture taking, you see...

I did get these yesterday though...when they were the hard-working people!

I vacuumed up crayons and Lego's today.

2009-07-14T07:35:00.000-07:00

That's right people. I did it. It all started yesterday when I looked at the playroom and my blood IMMEDIATELY began to boil. I got cold sweats. My hair started to stand on edge. I started saying things my mother used to say. It was a bad feeling.

So I walked away from the playroom and decided I needed to do some serious prayer and meditation before I was going to clean the playroom. I was going to need the Holy Spirit to physically guide me in wading through the mounds and MOUNDS of toys, broken crayons, play clothes and baby dolls. Not to mention the other foot-penetrating items such as GI Joes, Army guys...and their minuscule guns, LEGOS (are the worst, by the way...they have SHARP corners!) matchbox cars, play rings and other jewelry and...the...list...could...go...on...f.o.r.e.v.e.r.

So I closed the door...Out of sight...out of mind right?

Then this morning I walked past the playroom and again all the emotions and feelings previously mentioned came barrelling back in a blaze of glory. Something must be done. So...I went to Curves. I decided a good workout would gear me up for some playroom de-cluttering/throwing away...um...errr....I mean "CLEANING".

As I pull into the driveway...I know it's coming. Oh the dread...Oh the horror. I walk in the door and Paul greets me to tell me that Jacob (my 7 year old) has cleaned the playroom.

***enter Champagne falling from the Heavens, confetti streaming through the air and a chorus of angels singing HALLELUJAH! HALLELUJAH!***

My son, my blessed son has cleaned the playroom! Oh how the love is springing forth from my heart!

I go check it out and he has done a FANTASTIC job...Like a mom-type clean, not a kid-type clean...and if you have kids...you totally get this right now.

The only thing left is to vacuum. He really is to small to maneuver it so I tell him, as the BEST MOM E.V.E.R. that I would vacuum for him. (He actually jumped in my arms and squeezed my neck saying thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou....iloveyouiloveyouiloveyouiloveyou. It was precious.

Of course I notice a few straggling crayons, legos, teeny tiny guns...and such. Jacob asked me if I wanted him to finish picking those up and I looked at him with a smile and said, "No son, I'll take it from here."

So Paul brought me the vacuum and I commenced with the vacuuming. And up goes the remaining crayons, legos, super small guns and an undisclosed amount of roly poly's. We sort of have an epidemic around here of dead roly poly's. Any way.

After all is done Jacob comes to me and says, "Mom, where's my money?"
"What son?"
"My money? Daddy said I could have $6.00 to clean the playroom, but since you vacuumed I'll just take $5.00"

I GLADLY GAVE HIM FIVE DOLLARS IN QUARTERS...G.L.A.D.L.Y!

Again, the Mom-Of-The-Year Award goes to......................

Me.

"Mommy, My favorite part was when the clown dropped the phone in his pants!"

2009-07-02T19:04:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago we started the summer reading program at our public library. The kids read so many books...they get prizes. So this week their prize was a free circus ticket....the Ringling Bros. Barnum and Bailey Circus! So we figured out we could go on opening night...(last night, Wednesday, July 1). After all, every kid should go to the circus, right?

Well since the kids' tickets were "free" there was a catch. We had to physically exchange them at the box office. So early Wednesday morning Paul and Jacob took our "free" tickets down to the Alamodome to exchange them for real tickets. He also, of course, had to purchase him and I tickets. Paul got there just before the box office opened and was second in line...so no problem getting tickets. Promptly at 10:00am one box office window opened and the person in front of Paul stepped up to the window. Just as the person in front of Paul was finishing, the box office opened up 5 more windows simultaneously. Paul was stepping up to the first window and from behind him was a horrible noise. He turned around to see "middle-aged" and "older" women hurdling the barricades to get to the windows. He said that he had to grab Jacob and jerk him out of the way of the stampede of women before he was trampled. He stepped up to the window just before a "lady" cut him off and exchanged our tickets. Good news! On the opening day of the circus the tickets are discounted! Yay! So mine and Paul's tickets cost us $22.00. Not to bad.

***Circus Expense Count - $22.00 + Gas to and from the Alamodome part 1.***

So later that evening we go to Chik-fil-A for a pre-circus meal and we have a conversation with the kiddos about the expense and "quality" of the items sold at the circus. We explained that we were going just to watch the circus and we were not going to buy any of the "crap"...ahem..."junk"...ahem...TOYS from the circus. We then enjoy our pre-circus meal.

***Circus Expense Count - $22.00 + Gas to and from the Alamodome part 1 + $25.00 at Chik-fil-A***

On to the circus. We have to pay $10.00 to park.

***Circus Expense Count - $22.00 + Gas to and from the Alamodome part 1 + $25.00 at Chik-fil-A + $10.00 for parking***

We get there a little early and wander through all of the circus...um...TOYS to get to our seats and sit down. Just before the circus started the kids said they were thirsty, so Paul went to get a drink. He came back with a couple bags of peanuts a coke and a bottle of water. We had already said no to the $12.00 cotton candy and the $9.00 sno-cone or lemonade in the souvenir cup

***Circus Expense Count - $22.00 + Gas to and from the Alamodome part 1 + $25.00 at Chik-fil-A +$10.00 for parking + Gas to and from the Alamodome part 2 + $15.00 in Circus snacks***

After a trip to the bathroom the circus starts. It's mostly your run-of-the-mill circus but there were a few new things that were really cool. The tigers and elephants were all the same...the same since I saw them as a little girl. The clowns were funny, the Ringmaster was over the top, the acrobats twisted their bodies in wierd ways, and seven motorcycles rode around a cage.

At the end of the circus I asked my kids what their favorite part of the circus was. Surely it was the amazing tigers or the motorcycles in the cage or the trapeze artists or the enormous elephants or the music or the lights...

Nope. Their favorite part was when the clown put a ladies cell phone down his pants. Hilarious.

All in all we had a great time. So glad we got "free" tickets to go.

***Circus Expense Count - $22.00 + Gas to and from the Alamodome part 1 + $25.00 at Chik-fil-A +$10.00 for parking + Gas to and from the Alamodome part 2 + $15.00 in Circus snacks + 3 super happy kids = awesome.

Crocodile Dock Pictures

2009-06-29T19:15:00.001-07:00

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Crocodile Dock = Success.

2009-06-29T18:08:00.000-07:00

Last week was VBS! We had an awesome time and God really showed up!

Here are a few of the highlights...

Two weeks prior to the start of VBS my friend Magan and I worked tirelessly on decorating the church, transforming it into a realistic yet "friendly" swamp. (We didn't want any of the kiddos to be afraid of the eerie swampiness and what not) So in the midst of the swamp transformation both Magan and I were out of town at different times. That put a whole new spin on getting things done. Needless to say we had several, SEVERAL nights in a row with minimal sleeping. Just chalk it up to VBS. We put the finishing touches on everything at about 4:00pm on Father's Day and were even able to make it to Joe's Crab Shack and enjoy some Father's day dinner.

On Monday morning we hit the ground running and 200 kiddos descended on our swamp. (Give or take a few kiddos, after like, 50, who's counting anyway?) We had a great time and our volunteer group was large and in charge! There were 90 total volunteers and they were fantastic! Our high day was on Wednesday when we topped the 300 mark. It was AWESOME!

On Thursday we had 15 children give their lives to Jesus as their personal Savior...again can I say A.W.E.S.O.M.E.! We finished off Friday and chalked VBS 2009 up as a victory.

Needless to say...I don't really want to spend my first night off in, like, for-e.v.e.r. on the computer! I have some scrapbooking to catch up on!

Murphy's Law Strikes Again!

2009-06-19T20:37:00.000-07:00

***UPDATE***
As of 6:00pm on Saturday...WE STILL HAVE BROWN WATER! It is a teeny tiny bit better, but still not good enough to wash dishes or clothes. This is NOT a good way to begin the week of VBS. We need CLEAN water!

*original post follows*

VBS starts on Monday. So today (Friday) is a great day for Murphy's Law to strike. Actually it struck last night just after dinner. For the entire day yesterday we washed clothes, flushed potty's and I cooked dinner...water..ahhhh...running water. Then it happened. Just as we got up from dinner, Paul went to turn on the water to wash the dishes and...nothing.

Not even a trickle. Nothing.

So he and his friend go outside and start looking in the yard for water. For those of you who don't have experience living on a well, if your water isn't coming out of your faucet in your house....you can bet it's coming out somewhere in your yard. How do I know this? It's happened 2, count them TWO other times to us. So they look all around and Nothing.

Not even a trickle. Nothing.

So Paul called a plumber and of course they can't come until tomorrow (Friday...now today...get it?) Anyway. This morning the plumber finally shows up around 9:30 (he was supposed to be there at 9:00) He takes a look at everything and lets us know that our well pump has gone out AND we have a hole in the pipe leading to the well pump. He says it can be fixed in two hours...I know better than that people!

The plumber gets a phone call and leaves in the middle of fixing our well! He said he had an emergency.

HELLO? Perhaps I need to restate...WE HAVE NO WATER! Is that not emergency enough? Apparently not. So he left and promised to return. Apparently some ladies house was flooding...that was the big emergency. Ok Ok Ok it WAS an emergency. Finally he comes back and fixed our well pump and pipe.

But wait.

We still have brown water. Again. If you don't have "well experience", this is what happens when you fix the pipes...dirt gets in your water. So we are going to have some toilet/sink cleaning ahead of us. yay.

I hope that things only get better throughout this week. And I hope our brown water goes away soon.

So I'm a great-grandmother...

2009-06-12T13:50:00.000-07:00

Make a Smilebox postcard

Here are the newest additions to our home! Our Caroline gave birth to 6 kittens early Thursday morning...the 11th of June. Here's how it all played out.

A few months ago when Caroline (the cat...just for clarification) was in heat, we found her in the garage. The garage door was closed so we were pretty confident that she wasn't outside with a special friend. That perspective changed in just a few short weeks as she became larger and larger, she was more lethargic and she wouldn't let Abby carry her around. So we talked to the resident vet in our church and without even looking at her said, "Yep, I'd put money on it that she's pregnant."

Great. So then Paul and I are trying to figure out when she got outside and we decided that the morning we found her in the garage must have been the "morning after." She must have been outside before we closed the garage for the night and she narrowly escaped being stuck outside of the garage for the whole night...and we found her the next morning. We completely made up this story in an effort to make sense of the whole situation. However, we have no factual basis for these claims what so ever and so we say, "We have no idea how she got into her `delicate` situation."

Skip forward to June 11, 2009, 4:18am.

Paul and I awake to an interesting sound in our room. I immediately know what it is and Paul is kind of in a daze repeating over and over, "What's that sound, what's that sound." I calmly reply in a half-sleep voice...Caroline just had her kittens under our bed...

About 3.7 seconds later we both realize what I have just said and we fly out of the bed. We have to move the end table that is at the end of the bed and...there she is.
She is licking to death 3 little kittens. So Paul and I watch for a few minutes and we kind of smile at each other and say, "oh, how cute..." etc. As we are climbing back into bed I say, "Well at least there are only 3." We got back into bed because I was certainly not taking care of this situation at freaking 4:23am.

Skip to 7:30am.

We wake the kids up to show them the `three` new kittens. The kids come into the room and got down on their bellies to look under the bed and Jacob started counting.
One. Two. Three. FOUR! What??? Ok so four. Now we have four. Whoa. We get on with our day and a few hours later we go back to check on the kittens and Caroline. Abby counts this time.

One. Two. Three. Four. FIVE! SIX! Holy smokes. Six. What are we going to do with six kittens. We'll figure that out later. We got a box and got the kittens and Caroline in a box and slid it under the bed because that is where Caroline was "comfty" (as my kids would say).

The boys have picked out which ones they are going to keep. Caleb is picking one of the "cow kitties"... (translation...white with black spots) He named it Soccer...of course he did. And Jacob picked one of the darker ones with the stripes. He named it Recon. So that rounds out our family. Mommy, Daddy, Jacob, Caleb, Abby Sue, Caroline, Recon and Soccer.

As the day goes on Abby begins to figure out that Caroline is the kitties' mommy, She is Caroline's mommmy so she is the kitties' "Nana" and I am her mommmy so I am Caroline's "Nana" and I am the kitties'....

That's right people I am a great-grandmother...to cats.

2009-05-28T17:43:00.000-07:00

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

That's right people. I got in the dunk tank.

My day started very early...well for me anyway...not for people like my parents or my brother...but anyway...

I woke up at 6:15 and quickly got dressed and threw on a hat because I had to be at the school by 10 til 7:00am to start setting up for the Spring Party. I don't know why we call it a Spring Party, it's totally close enough to and hot enough for...Summer...anyway...

So I had to be at the school at 10 til 7 and I was most definately going by Starbucks for a Venti before going to the school. When I get there the PTA president and I start setting up for the school wide party and our helpers begin trickling in to help also. After all we had about 12 carnival games, 6 inflatables, cotton candy, snow cones and, of course, a dunk tank! The inflatable people were totally late...I wasn't happy because I could have slept for 15 more minutes if I had known they were going to be late. So we get everything set up and the party begins with Kinder, Pre-1st and 1st grade. They have a fantastic time, everything goes well, there were NO injuries! Yeah for us! There were also no shoes or socks left on the field after the young ones...which I'm considering a small miracle since there were 6 inflatables were they couldn't wear their shoes! Then comes 4th and
5th. Again no injuries, everyone had a fantastic time...however...FIVE pairs of shoes and one pair of socks were left in the field! WHAT?!?!? Fourth and fifth graders surely know that they don't have any shoes on when they walk from the party into the cafeteria for LUNCH! What was the first clue? The hot pavement of the sidewalk on the way in or the cold linoleum in the cafeteria! I had to take the bullhorn, go into the cafeteria and get their attention and then I said this, "Attention 4th and 5th graders. Everyone please stop where you are and look at your feet. Are any of you missing your shoes and/or socks?" No kidding, I said that. I had 3 takers...remember...5 pairs were left. One pair belonged to a kid who had a bloody nose and was in the nurse, so I gave him a free pass...but still we had one pair left. Finally I find the owner. One of the children of the ladies running the party!

Now we come to the "best" part...and I use that word loosely! My turn for the dunk tank was sort of a surprise...meaning I didn't know I was getting in until about 30 mins before...I was totally unprepared. No extra clothes. No floaties. Nothing. But alas, there was no one else willing or stupid. So I get in there and the first 4 people to throw are my husband and my 3 children. yep. Paul throws all three balls and misses completely! I was really glad! Then Abby steps up and hits throws the first ball and misses. She throws the second one and it hits the target but not hard enough so I don't fall. On the third one, Mommy is wet! She was so excited. Then comes Caleb. One ball. One throw. One wet Mommy. On Jacob's turn he was a little over anxious so he missed all three and promptly gets back in line. I continue to be dunked for the next 45 minutes including 2 times by Jacob and one more time by Abby...Paul never tried again...I'm sure he would have connected eventually.

All in all we had a great day. And by this time tomorrow I will have a Second Grader (Jacob), a Kindergartner (Caleb) and Abby Sue will be in PreK at our church! My how the precious time does fly!

Something to read....

2009-05-23T06:02:00.000-07:00

Hello all seven of my blog readers! I am looking for something AMAZING to read this summer. We are going to be home quite a bit, which is new for us! So I'm calling on you to let me know what to read. I'm looking for something thought provoking, challenging, a learning experience. So let me know what you think! I'm excited to see who's reading what! Let me know!

Abby's 4th Birthday Party

2009-05-16T15:39:00.000-07:00

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Field Day 2009

2009-05-16T15:01:00.001-07:00

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Superfast Rundown of My Life.....

2009-05-07T20:21:00.000-07:00

Last Week...kids get out for Swine Flu...not because they personally have it, but because up to 148 students in our district were SUSPECTED of having it...Whatever. We had a great time on our FLU-cation.

I paid all my Sunday School teachers to clean their toys and rooms and disinfect them. It is a lot of work taking the toys home, getting them in the diswasher and bathtub, washing them AND drying them...ugh...I hope I don't have to do that again in the near future.

We stayed around the house for the first couple of days and then we got tired of that so we went to Fiesta Texas and a birthday party at Incredible Pizza.

We had church...not too many people came. God did though...just so you know. He's not fearful of contracting the swine flu.

Had to go to a funeral for a charter member of our church.

After hearing for a solid week that we would not return to school early...we returned to school early...today (thursday) in fact. Paul drove by the school running various errands today and every time he went by there were 3-5 classes on the playground. Really. Did I have to get up at 7:00am for the kids to go play on the playground?

AND

Tomorrow is Field Day. So tomorrow I will get up at 7:00am to go run games for 3 hours at Field Day. Why? Because i love my son.

My parents are coming tomorrow too...so I'll pull Jacob out of school early tomorrow and we are going back to Fiesta Texas with my parents.

The boys do get to play their ball games on Friday...so that's good. That was one of the reasons my parents were coming anyway. Also to celebrate Abby's birthday. She thinks she rules the world right now because she is about to be four.and then five.and then 20.

Then on Saturday mom and I are getting a massage for Mother's Day! Yahoo!

On Sunday mom and dad are going home, we are going to church and then we are going home to have a sandwich. All the other people in the entire western hemisphere will be at the restaurants so we will go home for lunch and we are going out to eat with our great friends for mother's day around 4:00...maybe we'll only have to wait an hour at that point.

Ok. So that's it for a while...hope to blog more often soon! Don't leave me! Hang in there. Keep caring about what kind of junk my family is doing!

"I am not peace."...UPDATE

2009-04-24T15:53:00.000-07:00

*****UPDATE*****

Well, we have moved on from peace to self-control. Abby even told me very empatically this morning, "Mommy! I am being peace today!" We made a very big deal about this! The self-control post-it has a few marks of disobedience...even from mommy and daddy. Mommy ate 2...count them...2 cinnamon rolls the other day. While I was cutting the second one to eat I literally said to myself, "Self. You should have self-control and NOT eat the second cinnamon roll." About the time I got to the end of that sentence...I put the first bite into my mouth... no self-control. So I got a mark and Daddy got a mark for losing his temper while the kids were supposed to be cleaning the playroom...That in and of itself should not be reason for a mark. I'm pretty sure God himself would lose self-control while trying to get my children to clean the playroom. Seriously.

***ORIGINAL POST FOLLOWS***
So last sunday night I was teaching my preschool AWANA group. We only had 2 weeks left so I decided to teach 2 weeks on the Fruits of the Spirit. We had a coloring page and some fun activities that were brilliant, I might add. So we started going through the Fruits of the Spirit. I started with Love, then joy, then peace....and I get all the way to self-control.

This is when the story gets...well...interesting.

I am teaching on self-control and all of the kids (except mine) are "practicing" self-control. We were wiggling our feet and then we would stop and "get control" of our feet. Then we would wiggle our hands and "get control" of our hands...and on and on. It was just a good physical excersize to try and teach self-control. Well while all of the other children were practicing self-control my children were...

doing hand stands.

yes. people. hand. stands.

Not exactly self-control.

So while this is going on, I look at my other teacher and say quietly through super-clenched teeth..."If someone doesn't remove my children from this room right now..."

I didn't even have to finish my sentence before the other teacher had scooped my two kids out of the room on the way to daddy...for, you know, encouragement.

Paul and I were so defeated that night after I had told him the story about self-control. So we came up with a plan. We would write on sticky notes each persons name and a couple of the Fruits of the Spirit. We stuck them to the oven (don't ask why...) as a reminder of the Fruits of the Spirit that we are supposed to be practicing.

For some reason...

I got patience. and Abby got peace.

Seriously, God and my husband have an amazing sense of humor.

So all day on Monday Abby and I are practicing patience and peace. We both did pretty good for the morning except one little time.

Abby and Caleb got into a little skirmish and Abby hauled off and hit Caleb. I calmly (really...I promise) walked over to Abby and said, " Ab's you are supposed to be practicing peace today and hitting Caleb is not a good way to practicce peace."

She looked at me with eyes only a mother could love and she started to stomp her way to her room for a good pout session and about half way across the living room she stopped, turned and looked at me and said, in a not so pleasant voice...

"I am not peace!"

And so we begin again, maybe we will have better luck tomorrow.

The "Big Girl Section"

2009-04-10T12:43:00.000-07:00

Not to far in the distant past I remember buying Jacob some clothes and when I got them home they fit and then two seconds later I found myself crossing the isle in Target from the "Toddler" clothes to the "Big Kid" clothes.

Several things struck me when I crossed over.
1. The clothes are at least $4-$6 more expensive over there.
2. This means my little boy is growing up...(insert all appropriate emotions here.)
3. Now he is officially a Big Boy.

After that incident I gradually became accustomed to purchasing clothes from all different departments at each store that I went to. Caleb's transfer to the Big Boy section went without real incident because, well he is the second boy. I love him no less and I did have a twinge of sadness when I realized he, too, had crossed over. The sadness did not linger as long as it did with Jacob.

And then...

The other day I was shopping for Easter clothes. I, of course, picked out matching shirts and shorts for the boys from the big boy section at a considerable price increase and as I was looking for something for Abby, I remembered. The clothes I had bought a few weeks ago were a tiny bit snug on Abby. Her midsection is...thicker...now than it was not so long ago. Her legs are longer and her torso is growing longer too.

It took me a minute to come to the realization that all of you probably already have.
I should cross over to the Big Girl Section. After all...the smallest size in the "Big" section is not all that different from the biggest size in the "Toddler" section. The clothes, however, are cut differently and therefore fit the "big girls" better.

So I reluctantly walked over to the Big Girl Section. I was walking really slowly, not really wanting to find anything so I could go back over to where "I should be." After all I don't have a big girl...do I? Again I began to realize that in fact, I do, have a big girl. She has stopped wearing pull-ups at night, she talks like she's 25 and she has the attitude of a 15 year old.

The Big Girl Section was a different animal than the Big Boy Section. So many choices, so many options, SO MANY accessories! I slowly and somberly warmed to the idea of shopping in the Big Girl Section and found a cute dress that has the same colors as the boys shirts AND THEN...I went to the Big Big Girl Section and bought me a dress to match! I guess that is one perk.

Here's to me having three "Big" kids.

Not only do I have to deal with my own poop, but everyone else's too...

2009-04-06T18:45:00.000-07:00

Ahhhh, the joys of motherhood.

I was watching Oprah today, not something extremely normal at my home, but on the occasion I watch Oprah. There my confession has been made...not the point of my story...

Anyway. I was watching and it was about motherhood today. Several women were confessing some h-i-l-a-r-i-o-u-s stuff that they had done as a result of being a mother. i.e. - not bathing in several days, using a diaper to pee on in the car because her kids were sleeping on a road trip and she didn't want to stop, creating an entire lunch from snacks inside the car on the way to school. You know REAL mom stuff...not TV mom stuff.

So I was thinking about some of the things that have occured around me and my family. Don't worry nothing as extreme as above. However I have, on the occasion, created toilets out of cups, bushes and cinder blocks. I have also made entire meals out of granola bars fruit snacks and gatorade at the ball park.

One other thing that my friend and I were talking about after seeing this episode, was poop. I know, I know, it's not the prettiest of subjects but seriously. All my children, for the most part, take care of their own poop. My husband takes care of his own poop...ALL the time...and I of course take care of mine...AND, on the occasion, my children's AND on the occasion the cat's, AND any other children that come over to play with my children...AND...the deer poop that comes in off my children's shoes...AND the bird poop on my car!

I mean seriously! Everyone else only has to deal with their own...but a mom, she deals with it all.

Opening Day Bulverde Little League

2009-04-04T22:07:00.001-07:00

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Worth every minute...

2009-04-01T10:54:00.000-07:00

If you have a few minutes or nine, I think you should spend it watching this. That's all I'm going to say about it. I don't want to give you any expectation. Just watch. I dpn't know how to link it to make it clickable so you'll have to exert a tiny bit of extra effort to copy and paste into your search bar.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_e4zgJXPpI4

Totally worth it.

For the love of my children...I went camping.

2009-03-26T20:27:00.000-07:00

That's right people. I went camping. Can I just say there is a REASON my husband calls me "City". I'm not what you would call the outdoors-y type. Don't get me wrong. I like to be outside, play sports, swim, picnic and such...but sleeping outside, cooking outside etc...not exactly my idea of a good time. But my children were excited beyond belief. They had never been camping and that fact just increased the excitement level among them. They were ready. So I said ok and we made the plans and then we packed up and headed to Blanco State Park to enjoy the great out-of-doors.

We got there and Paul set up the tent, we fished (**notice** I did NOT say "catched"), we cooked hotdogs on the fire and of course marshmallows...half a bag, mind you! We didn't do smores...because after all...my kids only cared about the "smarshmallows." Why waste valuable packing space with crazy things like chocolate or graham crackers. Then came the sleeping part.

Sleeping for the kids...easy. They actually elected on their own...all three of them...to go to bed. You know...because sleeping in a tent is loads of fun. Paul and I on the other hand...

No real sleeping occurred. I was concerned about keeping the kids warm because it was cooler than we expected, we forgot our pillows so we had to use towels rolled up. Not the softest of the things to sleep on. Then there was the fact that we were sleeping straight on the ground. Of course Paul would tell you that there was a tarp and the bottom of the tent between us and the ground. I say we slept on the ground.

All in all we had a great time and I ***gulp***would do it again...but only for the love of my children.

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

The Things Moms Do For Their Children...

2009-03-24T18:26:00.000-07:00

More to come in a couple of days.

Let's just say this includes but is not limited to:

the out-of-doors...

Stay tuned!

My (surprise) trip to Nashville!

2009-03-19T19:05:00.000-07:00

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

So I know I haven't blogged in a while. If you only knew my schedule over the last two weeks...OMGoodness.

So I'll back up a little bit. A few weeks ago I was reading a blog I follow and they pointed me to another blog that was giving away tickets to a Beth Moore conference in Nashville, TN for minister wives only. When I put my name in the hat I secretly prayed that if I won the ticket God would allow me to go...somehow...someway.

Fast forward...I won the ticket! I found out that I won the Wednesday before the conference so I had to act fast. Long story short...Paul bought me a ticket! I called my mom and she bought a ticket! and we went to Nashville! We had a blast.

God really worked a lot of things out for me to go. 1. It was supposed to be opening weekend for my boys baseball...(it hasn't rained in over 18 months previous...)and opening day was cancelled because it rained for 4 days! I didn't miss any of the boys games! 2. My college roommate was going to come visit and for various reasons we rescheduled to another weekend in April! 3.We had money for me to go...can I just say that again a little louder...WE HAD MONEY FOR ME TO GO! Seriously people this is a miracle of God Himself. 4. My mom and I both got reasonable plane tickets. 5. When I was on my way home, they overbooked the plane and I volunteered to stay and the airline gave me HALF of my plane ticket back in a voucher!

All in all we had a most fantastic weekend!

When we got there we went straight to the hotel and then we immediately jumped on a tour bus and took a tour around Nashville. We went to Music Row where all the recording studios are, to Ryman Auditorium...most of you may know it as the Grand Ole Opry. We went to the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Legends Corner Bar. After all that we made it to the Beth Moore conference and it was awesome. One of the best I've been to.

It was such a whirlwind of a trip, but, at the same time, restful for me. Refreshing. I am so blessed to have a husband who would basically drop everything and buy me a plane ticket to go to an amazing conference and have a little vacay on the side!

I just want more.

2009-03-06T19:41:00.000-08:00

I want more...

of Jesus
compliant children
sleep
time to scrapbook
time to do my bible study
time to listen to my ipod
focus
sleep
motivation to lose weight
creativity
motivation to be organized
of a restful spirit
of a quiet response to my kids
sleep
of a deep relationship with God
time with my husband
of a quiet response to my husband
love
realization of the love God has for me
peace
awareness of the pain my sin causes God
of Jesus

I just want more.

Surprises, Sinuses, Smashes

2009-02-25T19:30:00.000-08:00

So yesterday I was at school, teaching my 10 three year olds, and in walks the secretary of our church with a vase full of flowers. And, totally naively, I say, "WOW! who are those for?!?!" And she says...YOU!

Now flowers are not a new thing for me. Paul gives me flowers at least twice a month. So the idea of flowers was not new, but getting them at work...that was new! Then I opened the card and this was what was on it...

"Be dressed up and ready to go at 5:30. The car will pick you up.
P.S. The kids are totally taken care of."

I was like, awesome. What car? So then Paul comes in and tells me that the kids are taken care of from the time school was out until we got home. So I got to go home after school and TAKE A NAP. Can I just say that again...TAKE A NAP! Yes people. That was PART OF THE DATE! He worked in a nap for our date. Can I just say...probably the most brilliant move he made! On top of that he picked me up in our car, he rang the doorbell and everything...I almost didn't know what to do with that. It's been a long time since I've been on that kind of a date. So anyway...we went to Landry's on the river and then walked around for a while and then had some Ben and Jerry's and...it.was.awesome.

So on to the sinuses...I cannot stand cedar. That's right. cedar. It comes in like a roaring lion, stops up your head and then you can't breathe or talk. All you do is cough and sneeze, but nothing comes out because it's all stopped up and it's just terrible.

NOW...the smashes part of my tale.

Tonight we came home from church and as we were getting out of the car and I looked through my driver's side window through the car out the passenger side window and I see a look of sheer pain on Jacob's face and he starts screaming...his pinky finger has just been slammed in the door. yep. So he gets the door open and his finger out and we get into the house and get an ice pack. Paul and I are looking at his finger and he is sobbing and sobbing. As we are trying to get a handle on the situation, Jacob looks up from his crying and in great anguish he yells at the top of his lungs...PRAY! I knew what he said, I mean I knew the word that came out of his mouth, but I wasn't exactly sure what he meant by it, so I asked him, "What did you say?" And again he yelled, "PRAY!" So immediately me, Paul, Caleb and Abby started praying for his finger. By this point I am now crying. This was big to him and he knew exactly where to turn. Each one of us prayed, but that was not enough for him. He then asked me to call Mrs. Phyllis (a lady from our church), Mrs. Magan (my best friend) and Nana (my mom). So I called/texted them and they are all praying for him. It was so refreshing for Paul and I.

God is not bothered or annoyed with smashed fingers because He has more "important things to do." He totally delights in His children calling on Him for ANYTHING.

Praise be to God for being totally approachable with the little things.

UPDATE....

2009-02-15T18:09:00.000-08:00

And to add to the below post...

We found out tonight that our beloved cat Caroline has an abcess and now has to have some surgery tomorrow. Please pray for Abby. She is sad that Caroline is "sick" and she doesn't quite know what it all means. Caroline should be just fine. She just needs to have her abcess drained and then be on some antibiotics. Hopefully everything else will be fine. A vet at our church has set everything up for us so that is a blessing.

Rolling with the Punches this week...

2009-02-14T07:18:00.000-08:00

This week my punches include but are not limited too...

Last Thursday - My grandmother who lives with my parents falls and goes to the hospital for three days

Last Friday - My mom changes plans and does not come to help with the kids for Paul's surgery

Monday - Don't get to work out...Paul's surgery at 8 AM! Five hours in a waiting room. Yippee. Don't sleep because Paul doesn't sleep.

Tuesday - Don't get to work out...Teach school and deal with kiddos and Paul. Don't sleep because Paul doesn't sleep.

Wednesday - Don't get to work out...Go to Bible study and Paul calls me to come home right away and take him to the Urgent Care Center for severe side pain...spend 4 hours in the Urgent Care Center running tests...finally come up with kidney stones...get sent to Imaging center for a CT scan...confirms kidney stones...Sleep well...go figure.

Thursday - Don't get to work out...teach school that I am totally unprepared for because of said above items. Have a Valentine's party at school, Caleb has a fever and goes home to Paul who still has kidney stones. Abby goes to gymnastics, Caleb supposed to go to gymnastics but went home with a fever...that he doesn't have any more and is now bouncing off the walls...Jacob to basketball practice. Sleep good, not great...afraid I'm going to be awakened by screams of agonizing pain from Paul...nope.

Friday - Get Starbucks, go to Jacob's school to work in work room and host Valentine's party. Forget to finish First Grade project while I'm there, have to go back next week...dang it. Come home exhausted. Paul still has kidney stone. Surprises me and my friend with a crop night at new scrapbook store! Leave at 3:30 and get back home at midnight:30. Little sleep.

Saturday - Show Paul my pages, look at the clock for the last time at 1:11 am. Wake up at 7:40...Paul late for working concession stand at Upwards Basketball. Me typing right now. 9:41... Day 3 of Kidney Stone Watch '09...still nothing. 5pm today to midnight...Parent's Night Out Fundraiser. Little sleep again (I'm predicting the future).

Sunday - Going to be super tired...again I'm predicting the future. church...and all that comes with it. Awana's and all that comes with it.

Monday - PRESIDENT'S DAY! NO SCHOOL! HOPE TO WORK OUT! Paul's stitches out at 9am and then a day of family fun. Sleep. I'll let you know about Kidney Stone Watch '09!

But mommy, I can still whistle.

2009-02-08T18:37:00.000-08:00

So Saturday was kind of a relaxing day. Jacob had a basketball game early and then we were home for the rest of the day...a total rarity around here as you may know. Anyway.

I did some scrapbooking and quickly learned that I needed to go spend an hour or four at Hobby Lobby selecting the paper I needed. So I decided that I would just totally relax and watch some tv.

Paul ran over to the church to check on some things and Abby tagged along. The boys were very nicely playing a game of T-ball. This is a new thing that they are into. They have worked out the perfect balance of hitting, catching and scoring for two people playing.

I had just gotten really comfortable and then I heard it...

The scream...

The kind that says to a mom, "I need to hurry! This is for real!"

So I start walked, rather fast, to the back door and I was mentally preparing myself for any number of injuries. I knew the boys were playing t-ball so I was thinking, something involving the bat...hmmm. I knew the scream was from Caleb and I haven't heard him take a breath yet, so this is going to be bad. I was prepared for large amounts of blood, unusually large knots, and, of course...missing teeth.

I get outside and I see Jacob hugging Caleb and Jacob is crying too. He said, "Mommy I am so sorry, it was an accident, he just walked in my way!" I told Jacob he was not in trouble and that everything would be ok.

This is the point that I get my first glimpse of Caleb. He is bleeding from the mouth and has the BIGGEST, FATTEST lip I have ever seen! His top lip was busted and it was so swollen that it drooped down below his bottom lip. I couldn't even look at his teeth because his lip was so swollen. So we got an ice pack and held that on his lip for a while. After about 20 or 30 minutes the swelling was finally down enough for me to see his teeth and praise the Lord all his teeth were in the right place and not loose. How exactly...I'm not sure...literally a miracle.

So I loved on Caleb for a long time and I tried to make a fat lip as cool as possible. He was very concerned that people would laugh at him. So I made the fat lip cool and finally after a couple of hours of feeling sorry for himself he comes running into the living room and jumps in my lap and says,

"Mommy, listen, at least I can still whistle!"

His fat lip makes a perfect little aperture to whistle through! I said, " Well Hallelujah!"

And that was the end of feeling sorry for himself, because, after all, he can still whistle.

Anatomy of a 7 Year Old Birthday Party

2009-01-31T13:41:00.000-08:00

Last night was Jacob's 7th Birthday Party. It was really fun! He had a sleepover...for those of you who don't know...

Girls have "slumber parties"
Boys have "sleepovers"

...so we had a sleepover!

Jacob invited 3 friends to his party and they had a great time.

***They played "Nerf Wars" - basically running around the yard shooting each other with Nerf darts. (or...shooting darts into oblivion and then taking a time out to pick them all up and reload their guns.)
***They played basketball. (for...like...5 minutes)
***Paul took them to Blockbuster to pick a movie for later. (ever tried to get 4 boys to decide together on a single movie...yeah, not happening...we had to get two)
***They built a fire in our fire pit. (with teeny tiny sticks...Paul had to keep sending them out for more sticks just to get the flame big enough to roast the hot dogs!)
***They roasted their own hot dogs. (Actually they did pretty good...and they ate them!)
***They roasted their own marshmallows. (burnt them mostly and then threw them in the fire)
***They had a burping contest. (Some of them were too good...)
***They played Star Wars Legos on the XBOX 360. (4 boys + 2 controllers = not as much fun as they thought...and yet they played for hours anyway... left me referee-ing the rest of the night.)
***They sang Happy Birthday (Cha Cha Cha)
***They ate cake. (and made a huge mess)
***Jacob opened his presents (each one was the "awesome-est" and if I hear "open mine, now!" one more time...I might cry...and there were only 3 boys here...go figure.)
***They watched one movie. (Jacob got to pick because he's the birthday boy...of course)
***Then...they...slept. (After 11:30 and several stern warnings from Paul...they all finally slept.

***Then Paul and I slept..until...6:00am

That's right people, the four boys who I just KNEW would sleep until AT LEAST 7:00am were up playing games at SIX A-M! I was just lying in my bed...I wanted to sleep, but sleeping is just not possible when you have 4 boys playing a video game and you know 3 of them are not yours and you really should be up so that nothing happens. You know you should also be up because what if one of the boys goes home and his mom asks what they did and the boy tells her and then she says, "Well where was Miss Tanya?" and he has to say, "She was sleeping." That just wouldn't be good. So like any other Super Mom I got up and made pancakes. Got all 4 boys dressed, 3 for basketball games and one to go grocery shopping with his mom. Then gathered all their stuff, blankies, lovies (yes seven year olds have lovies...actually all of them did...including Jacob) underwear, shoes, jammies, party favors, balloons that they just had to have...the list goes on. It's ridiculous how much stuff four boys can accumulate in 2 seconds.

All in all we had a great time and I am now sitting in my sweats thinking I really should be napping...

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

There is a reason "children" should not have children

2009-01-21T18:38:00.000-08:00

Tonight I took my kids to Chik-fil-a. Not a monumental, blogworthy piece of info, I know. Anyway. I had to go to Wal-Mart to get some items for the church nursery so I went during Paul's small group (which is at my house) and then took the kids to eat. I also got to work on my Beth Moore Bible Study homework while they played...an extra bonus for me!

When I got there I spied a table in prime "kid watching" real estate. So we snagged it and chowed down. Behind me was a little girl and what, I later found out, was her "mother" and "Aunt Sarah". I really thought this odd because when we first sat down the little girl was leaning over into our booth flinging her book and blanket around and the way the mother reacted was totally inappropriate. Not like "abuse" inappropriate, more like "little sister" inappropriate. I kept looking around for the girls mother. Then I finally heard enough of the conversation to figure out that the teenage "child" in the booth was the mother and her "BFF" was Aunt Sarah. I was so disturbed through most of the time we were eating, just listening to the dis-service those "children" were doing to that little girl. The immaturity with which they talked to her and "disciplined" her. They were loud and obnoxious and pre-occupied with their "BFF" conversation. They acted like teenagers...because they were. Every action they took and every word they said was loud for all to hear that "THEY WERE TAKING CARE OF HER CHILD". They made sure they were heard. They made sure it was obvious they were "in charge."

I was not the only one who was noticing these goings on. There was a couple across from me, probably in their 60's, noticing and listening and shaking their heads, not in disgust but in sadness. They too could tell this was a sad situation. To make matters worse when they went out the doors the little girl took off running out the door and straight into the parking lot. Praise the Lord there were no cars coming. Then, perhaps THE most appaling thing of the whole ordeal was that the mother just stood there, yelled for the girl to come back and waited with the car door open, just pointing into the seat that the girl was supposed to be sitting in. The girl literally just stood in the middle of the parking lot. Me and the other couple just sat with our mouths open...literally...watching to see if this child was going to be safe. Finally the girl got into the car and they drove away. The couple and I...literally...breathed a sigh of relief when they drove away.

The couple said a few things to each other and then.....

Abby came bursting through the playroom door wailing and yelled at the top of her lungs, "THE BOYS ARE FIGHTING ME!"

And the couple died laughing. So did I. Leave it to Abby to provide a little comic relief!

Anyway, I just could not help but think how there is such purpose to God's timing and plan. I am, appropriately, studying Beth Moore's Jesus the One and Only, and the lesson tonight (that I was working on at Chik-fil-a...enter God's timing...) was about the impecable timing of God surrounding Jesus' birth. And although Mary was only about 13 or 14 when she had Jesus, it was so divine, so perfect, so timely that people were staring for other reasons and not the fact that she was a teenage mother.

For once, tonight I was actually happy to be...ahem...30...years...old...ahem. I was thankful that I was a more mature mother, that I followed God's plan for my life and my family. Thank you God for timing, thank you God for Your perfect plan.

Today I witnessed the hilarity of first grade sports...

2009-01-17T16:56:00.000-08:00

That's right folks. H-I-L-A-R-I-O-U-S! Today was Jacob's first Upward Basketball game and it was so fun to watch. If you are not familiar Upward basketball, here is a little, very little, insight.

Several hundred children of varying ability playing the game of basketball.

This is Jacob's first year to play. Paul and Jacob's friends dad, Jeff are the coaches and so far they are having a great time. What I like about Upward is the effort to keep things fair. Every child plays the same amount of time. They wear colored wrist bands to match players for man to man defense. They quietly and discreetly have a system to match players on an ability basis too.

So anyway...

Jacob's team, the Puma's, had their first game today after only two practices. It started off pretty good and once the boys got the hang of the "real game" it started to get real funny. The boys ran half the court with the ball, not dribbling of course. As soon as they would come to an open area they would shoot the ball! It did not matter how far away or close they were to the basket. One time Jacob had a "fast break"...as much as you can have in a first grade game...and he dribbled about three steps past half court and pulled up for a jump shot...took the shot...and of course he fell WAY short! I could not help but die laughing! It was so funny because the look on his face was one of, "I can't believe I missed that!" He snapped is finger while swinging is arm in front of his body and saying "darn". Then took off down the court to see what he could do about defense.

All in all, we did pretty good, we only scored one goal for the other team. Not bad for a group of boys who have never played before. So I'll keep you posted on the evolution of the Puma's Upward Basketball team.

Oh and by the way...we don't keep score...officially anyway.

Jaguars 8 - Pumas 7...unofficially..

Today I was a mom.....

2009-01-14T19:20:00.000-08:00

Ok I totally stole this idea from another blog, but this really is my day....

Today I was a mom

*I woke up at 7:00am, 15 minutes late, and somehow managed to get Jacob out the door on time to school with breakfast, a lunch and a backpack...victory.

*I worked out a Curves

*I came home, took a shower and got ready for the Bible Study at my house

*I facilitated a Bible Study in my house, while chasing my three and four year old to and from the playroom shhsh-ing them so the other ladies could hear the video

*I took my little ones to Chik-fil-a before trekking to Costco with Paul to buy concession stand stuff for the youth group

*I ran my daughter to the bathroom all the way across Costco, because "she had to go right now...."

*I come home to work a little on my preschool stuff while Paul takes the little ones to pick up Jacob from school

*I greet Jacob when he gets home only to find out that the backpack I gave him this morning as we ran out the door...WAS HIS BROTHERS, NOT HIS! Which in turn meant he did not have his agenda...which meant he couldn't turn in his homework...great.

*I chat with a friend who stops by after school for a bit

*I sit on the couch for a minute...

*Paul fixes PB&J's for dinner because we have youth small group at our house tonight

*I swallow my Lean Cuisine whole

*Then I grab the kids and head to Target to kill some time while small group is at my house

*I referee in the toy aisle's and "guide" my children in making a smart choice in another toy that we don't need, but I have no good excuse to say no...because...I actually have "dollars" in my purse.

*I take my kids to McDonald's for a sundae because by this time I seriously need a Diet Coke

*And now it's time to head home because bed time is approaching super fast

*As soon as we get home I start saying, "no more candy" "no more candy" "that is your last piece of candy"

*I brush 3 kids' teeth, wash 3 faces, clip some nasty fingernails, wipe a bottom, put lotion on a rash, find pj's, kiss 3 sets of lips, listen to 3 sweet little prayers, pray for 3 sweet little kids....

*and sit and type...

*I am a mom.

Can I just say...

2009-01-09T20:16:00.000-08:00

Oh what a day...

Does it ever happen to anyone else?

I ask myself this question each time Paul goes out of town.

Paul left for a hunting trip last night and of course...this is when things start going badly. The kids "have trouble" falling asleep and so do I. The last time I look at the clock is 12:06 am...and then Abby and Caleb wake up at 5:00 am...this starts my day. I get everyone up, dressed and out the door in time to get Jacob to school and then I go to Starbucks and grab coffee and chocolate milk...twelve dollars later...anyway...and then I head back to school to complete my "Friday duties". The kids were mostly good for the day in the Rahe Bulverde Elementary School Workroom!

The whole day I was communicating with my friend Magan. Her son, Caleb's "best dude", has been sick all week and the doctors were sending him for chest x-rays and blood work. It's been a long week for her. His tests for pneumonia and bronchitis came back negative. Later in the day she had an appointment and I kept her son because her husband is with mine...

So I am now praying for God's mercy on me and my kids for helping my friend...is that super selfish or what? I just don't want my kiddos to be sick...but alas...I am a true friend and I kept the "best dude" who has some sort of serious upper respitory infection...she would do it for me!

THEN...

I feed all 4 kiddos and head to church where I have about 24 birth to 3rd graders to take care of for a sunday school party. Needless to say, we had a major discipline issue that ended with me being kicked and head-butted. sweet.

I am now home, tired, remember I started way earlier than I usually do. My kids hae been good, not great...daddy's gone and they know it.

And on top of everything else, now my throat hurts and my nose is running and my head is stopped up and I am seriously praying I am not sick. For tomorrow I have another day and daddy is coming home...hallelujah and amen.

I have a great husband

2009-01-06T19:11:00.000-08:00

So I'm sitting here trying to decide what to blog about. Paul says, "blog about me".
So here goes...

Paul Michael Brand
Born in a Hospital...
As a baby...

No seriously...

Quite possibly the most amazing man to walk the face of the earth...after Jesus ascended into heaven of course.

We have had almost 9 years of marriage and although I have been the cause of some of the not-so-fun times, all in all...9 years of bliss...whatever bliss is.

He...
*cleans
*folds and puts away laundry
*does dishes
*picks up the house
*runs a super successful ministry
*coaches t-ball and Upward Basketball
*encourages
*loves
*buys me flowers every other week (no kidding)
*is super funny
*disciplines
*snores
*hunts
*can run fast
*loves our children...big time
*takes care of me...big time
*let's me go shopping...when I want/need to
*looks at my scrapbooking when I come home at 1am
*tends to the kids in the middle of the night
*does anything I ask and some things I don't
*is an amazing drummer
*plays the guitar
*loves to worship
*is almost 30 years old...just had to throw that in
*is right almost all the time
*thinks before he speaks
*laughs alot
*wants the very best for me and the kids
*is a really good preacher
*has a big heart for missions
*wants to change the world one student at a time
*loves buck sticks/beef jerky
*sits with me
*rubs my feet
*washes my hair when I'm sick
*lets me control the remote
*covers me with a blanket so he can crank the AC at night
*takes me out to eat when I don't want to eat
*loves dodgeball
*loves hanging out with students
*would choose me over anything

...well I could go on and on, but I'm sure if you have read this far you could care less about reading more! So I'll end now. Ok...now.

Seriously...now.

Some Winter Fun...

2009-01-01T15:40:00.001-08:00

This is one of the highlights of our Christmas Vacation...ENJOY!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Two Words...

2008-12-24T19:42:00.000-08:00

Merry CHRISTmas!

Christmas Crazy Chaos...

2008-12-15T13:37:00.000-08:00

My blog is suffering! I was looking at my calendar just a little bit ago...and Oh My Soul...It is slat full of things to do. Thankfully Paul and I have all of our shopping done and now we are just going day to day, event to event. There is something for everyone on every day for the next 7 days! CRAZY. I'm sure most of you can relate. For some reason EVERY single Christmas party seems to fall this week. Noone wanted to spread things out, or start early...oh well. My Christmas cards are not even done...well, they are done on my computer...does that count? Probably not. I guess it would be better if I actually printed the cards out and pu them in the mail. We'll see.
I am excited about one thing for sure. This Saturday we are taking the students from our church to the Christian Hope Resource Center. We are also taking our own personal children. The CHRC is a place where the less fortunate people of San Antonio can come and receive food, toys and clothes. I am so looking forward to showing my children what it means to serve others. We are actually going to start the process on Tuesday night by cleaning out their playroom. They will each fill a paper sack of toys that they don't want anymore, or are too old for. Then we will take the toys with us to CHRC. The kids will help the students and us hand out toys and clothes and food. I am really praying that this is an awesome learning experience for them. I want them to see the whole process of giving. That's why we are starting with them cleaning out their playroom, I hope it will give them a "full circle" view to serving other. I will let you know how it turns out!

We hope your Christmas is Merry and your New Year is Happy!

Superheroes and a Royal Ball

2008-12-05T21:18:00.000-08:00

In our Preschool AWANA time...only called that because the bigger kiddos actually do AWANA's...we started working our way through the Bible learning different stories that correlated with each other. Our first unit was Superheroes. We talked about Joshua, Daniel, David, Nehemiah, Gideon and Elijah. All people in the Bible who had supernatural experiences as God used them to do extraordinary things. We ended the unit with a superhero party! Here are my two little superheroes! We had a great time...and the kids had a great time pretending to be superheroes, all the while celebrating the true Superhero!

The unit that we just finished was on Kings and Queens/Important Women of the Bible. We talked about Kings Solomon, Manasseh and Josiah and we also talked about Judge Deborah, Queen Esther and Ruth and Naomi. So to follow suit with our plan, we had a Royal Ball at the end of that unit! This was more fun than the Superhero party. The kids were so excited to pretend to be Kings and Queens. They were so well behaved...it was as if they were REAL Kings and Queens! The kids were so cute when they set the head of the table for Jesus. There was a "fancy" crown in His chair so they would know that it was His chair! So fun! We had a great time...enjoy the pics!

I don't ever get tired of this...

2008-11-22T20:28:00.001-08:00

This is Jacob teaching the "little ones" how to set the Nativities up properly. Of course you can see that all of the "characters" are gathered around Jesus. They are not spread out evenly across the area with the shepherds on one side and the wisemen on the other. The animals are not evenly dispersed between their respective riders. Everyone is gathered around Jesus...after all "that's who they came to see, mommy, they can't see Jesus if they are way out "here"!"

For a couple of years now, Jacob has had the job of setting the Nativities up and he always sets them up this way. This year, however, he took on the job of showing Caleb and Abby the "right" way to set them up. It was really fun to watch. Thank you God for my kids.

On another note...yes Jacob has a Halloween costume on...hence the black and white pic...it's not even this year's! It was last year's costume. And yes Abby is topless...Paul and I have been praying about an effective resolve to that problem...I'll let you know. And even though it didn't get above 55 degrees today, that is my son Caleb in a sleeveless shirt...What are ya' gonna do? I OFFICIALLY give up!

Christmas Decorating...

2008-11-19T13:34:00.000-08:00

So I'm putting up Christmas Decorations this week....

Ok, ok, ok, For all you nay-sayers out there...at least read to the end of the blog before casting your judgement.

For the last two years, we have traveled to Dallas for Thanksgiving...and I have always been a huge proponent of holding off Christmas until after Thanksgiving....I always want to give Thanksgiving it's due justice before the "hustle and bustle" starts....HOWEVER...

Like I said earlier we have traveled to Dallas for the last two years and of course I wanted to put the Christmas decorations up as soon as Thanksgiving was over. So we would travel the 5 1/2 hours back to San Antonio and come in the house exhausted from a trip with 3 kids and time spent with family...and I would want the tree and lights up...like...now. Since everyone was so exhausted from the trip no one would want to help me and I would end up doing it all and then the laundry from our trip sat in the laundry room for days, and the empty boxes with evidence of Christmas decorations would just keep getting scooted around the living room until we finally got them back out to the garage...and...it was not fun.

So Paul and I decided this year was going to be different. Each night this week we have been putting up a few decorations with the kids. We are keeping the lights off so we have something to do come December. I have eaten WAY to many cookies that we made the other night...when we were having FUN!

So now this year we will come home from our wonderful family Thanksgiving to a house that is all ready for us to jump feet first into the Christmas season. So I figure we are doing exactly what this season is all about. We are spending time as a family remembering the things God has done for us...and eating some triple chocolate chip cookies...

I took Caleb shopping today...

2008-11-14T18:56:00.000-08:00

Here are some parts of conversations that Caleb and I had today. I took him shopping because we needed some special time together and we had a great time...

***Mom, don't you know, that God "crated" the "earf"? (translation...God CREATED the EARTH...in case you didn't catch that.)
~Yes son, God did create the earth.
***Yeah He made it oval.
~Why did He make it oval?
***So that when we drive, we won't go upside down.

Sometimes I don't try to understand, I just smile at his logic...or lack thereof.

***Mom, let's listen to the King of Kings song.
***Mom, don't you know my verse?
~What is your verse, son?
***God, the blessed the only ruler, not like a ruler but like a Ruler, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. 1 Timothy 6:15b
~Good job son! I am very proud of you learning that verse.
***yep.

***Hey mom, don't you know that big thing over there?
~The water tower?
***Yeah, don't you know what it does?
~What does it do son?
***It gaders (gathers) all the icky yucky air from the Earf (earth) and burns it up. I like to say icky yucky air. I love you, mom.
~I love you, too, son...very much
***I love you more than the leabs (leaves) on the trees.

There are so many more ramblings of Caleb, I just can't come up with them right now! Hopefully I can remember...I need to write these things down, don't you know!

"Daddy, there are TWO ways to go to Heaven."

2008-11-07T19:22:00.000-08:00

Now, now, now, before you start ranting about my Theology, please keep reading...

The other day I was driving...somewhere (not important to the story)...and we were listening to the Christmas Musical that our church choir is working on. Part of the song lyrics are, "Jesus is coming, hope is in sight..."

Caleb, of course, wanted to know if Jesus was coming to our house...and I told him no, that He came once as a baby, died on the cross and He is going to come back again and take us to Heaven.

To which he replied, "Without even dying?" And I said, "Yes, son, without even dying!" He replied with his super cute..."cool."

Not to long after we got home, Paul came home and Caleb ran up to him and said, "Daddy, daddy...did you know there are TWO ways to go to Heaven?!?!"

And Paul had the same reaction that you may have had to the title of my blog.

?!?!?!?!?!What?!?!?!?!??!

I gave Paul that, hold on a minute, look...and he listened to the rest of Caleb's story which went like this...

"Yes, Daddy, there are TWO ways to go to Heaven! The first way is to die. You can die and go to Heaven, but that's not fun. And the other way is that if Jesus comes before you die then you get to go back to Heaven with Him! Without even dying!!! And Jesus is going to take us back to Heaven with a trailer!"

That's right folks...just in case you were wondering how, exactly, Jesus was going to get us all back to Heaven...according to Caleb...Jesus is using a trailer...probably pulled behind His white horse...I'm just guessing, people...it could happen...

Well that didn't last long...

2008-10-27T10:37:00.000-07:00

That's right ladies and gentleman...that is our used-to-be beautiful pumpkin. As you can see mold has formed all on the inside...I have no idea how it happened so fast. This is a first for us. Usually we at least get a week out of them. This one only lasted a few days. You can also see that the middle of the "B" has been punched out. You can thank Caleb for that addition to our artistry. He was trying to put a car inside...of course! So the middle of the "B" is gone, the inside is moldy...I think that's about it for this year's pumpkin! Until next year!

Our Pumpkin

2008-10-21T19:30:00.000-07:00

Every year Paul and I carve a pumpkin. We have had some pretty good ones in the past, but we think this one is so far our best. In case you don't get it...which I'm sure you do...It's the initials of everyone in our family. This is by far the biggest pumpkin we have ever carved. We have a good time and I hope we will continue this for...well...ever.

Our kids are not quite old enough to carve so we are painting their pumpkins tomorrow...of course I will post pics of their pumpkins too. We are having great fall fun. We made homemade applesauce the other day...super tasty! We also made some fall sugar cookies in the shapes of leaves, pumpkins and scaredy cats. We are getting geared up for our Fall Festival. Everyone has a costume...except daddy...we'll see if we can get him all dressed up too...I'll let you know how that turns out. Jacob is going to be a Storm Trooper from Star Wars the Clone Wars...by far his favorite cartoon right now. Caleb is going to be Optimus Prime from the animated Transformer's series and Abby is going to be a Purple Princess. Why "Purple" you ask? Because I have never in my entire life met a child with such dedication to one singular color for so long. That's right people. She more than adores the color purple...and I'm not talking about Oprah's movie. her birthday was purple, her room is purple, at school I am her teacher and I am not...I repeat...NOT allowed to write her name on her paper in ANY other color...but.....purple. So anyway...I'm going to be a clown.yep.a clown. We'll see if we can get Paul to dress up...I doubt it.

Ok...so you have all been waiting to see our pumpkin...well...here it is.

Tag...I'M it!

2008-10-15T20:12:00.000-07:00

. If you could go back in time and relive one particular time in your life, when would it be? Part of my sofomore year of high school and part of my freshman year of college
2. If you could drive any car out there, what car would you drive? One that would cost me exactly $1.00 to fill up
3. If you could drive an SUV, what kind would you drive? Refer to answer #2!
4. What is your greatest pet peeve of all time? Injustice...on any level
5. What room in your house stays clean most of the time? There is not one single part of my house that is clean most of the time...not one...my mom is agreeing with me on this point right now...
6. What room stays messed up most of the time? all of them...
7. Can you get both cars in your garage? Sure if I take all the other crap out of the garage.
8. Do you make your bed every day? Are you kidding? I'm going to return to it in aprox. 12 hours anyway...why make it?
9. When you come home from a long day or you have to change clothes, do you hang things up or do you make a pile that last for days and days? piles..absolutely..nothing better...except maybe clean laundry..hmmm
10. How many days of the week do you cook an evening meal? 4 or 5
11. What's your favorite meal? One I don't fix.
12. If you could go anywhere on vacation and spend a week, where would you go? I would love to go on an Alaskan cruise.
13. What's your favorite television show of all time? Friends.
14. What was your favorite children's show growing up? Sesame Street
15. What was your favorite toy as a child? Barbie's
16. What was your favorite book as a child? There's a Monster at the End of This Book
17. What was the first car that you drove? 1970 Volkswagen Beetle with manual steering AND manual brakes...fun times!
18. What color was your first bike? I'm pretty sure it was pink...I know it had a white basket with flowers on it.
19. Did you ever do anything really bad growing up? sure, but let's not re-live it.
20. Did you ever steal anything growing up? Yep. Chalk from my neighbors house...Why you ask? Because I didn't have any. My mom found it when she did the laundry and made me go over and give it back and apologize.

So there you have it...all you ever wanted to know about me and less...

I'm back and We're on the Move!

2008-10-11T12:54:00.000-07:00

Hey Everyone!

I'm back online. We had a great time with our media fast and we are now back online. I feel like I have missed so much...but from what everyone is telling me...it's a good thing I missed it!

I have much to blog about, but I'm going to start slow. Here are some pics from the Alzheimer's Memory Walk we did this morning...We were On the Move to cure Alzheimer's. There is still time to donate if you would like to! Just copy the link to our team page, scroll down and click on my name to go to my personal page and donate!...and don't forget to check out the pictures!

https://www.kintera.org/faf/search/searchTeamPart.asp?ievent=268992&lis=1&kntae268992=546690092DFB43B5B863117D08D4B3E7&supId=0&team=2850335&cj=Y

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

So for my 100th post...

2008-09-22T06:07:00.000-07:00

I am going on a media fast. That's right. A media fast. It's part of a Bible Study that Paul is taking the youth through. This is our 4th time to go through it as a family. So for the next 21 days there will be no computer (except for work), no tv, no XBOX, no blogging, no facebook. Occasionally if the sky looks dark we'll check to make sure there is no danger...other than that...no media.

This will be an interesting time in our family. The last time we did this the kids were hardly watching cartoons so it wasn't that hard. This time they love cartoons (all three of them) and they love to play XBOX. So it will definitely be a bigger challenge this time. We have lots of things planned. We are going to clean out our play room and give the toys to Hurricane Ike victims. We are hoping to go, as a family, to Port San Antonio and serve food to Hurricane Ike victims. There are still several thousand people displaced to Port San Antonio. We will play games, we will play outside, just spending time together. We are going to read Bible stories do crafts, all kinds of things...just to be together with little distraction.

So don't lose heart...I'll be back in 21 days! Maybe my 101st post will be about the amazing things that God has done over the last 21 days!

God uses pagans....

2008-09-11T20:19:00.000-07:00

Ok, so my friends aren't necessarily "pagans" per se...however, they are certainly are not believers in Jesus. I went to a jewelry party tonight...totally out of obligation. A friend of mine donated to the Alzheimer's Walk that we are participating in and then invited me to her party...so I went.

(by the way if you would like to donate to our walk, please copy this link and go to my webpage!

https://www.kintera.org/faf/donorReg/donorPledge.asp?ievent=268992&supId=230780424

And I thank you;)

Anyway, so I go to this party where there is plenty of beer, wine and other beverages that I don't drink and plenty of words flying around....that I don't say. We are looking at jewelry and talking and about two hours after the party starts a lady walked in really upset and begins to tell a story to the host (my friend) about her daughter. She is 5 years old and can do EVERYTHING a 5 year old can do...with one exception. She has a communication delay. In other words she understands everything you say, she comprehends everything, she can do and act in accordance with everything you say, but she cannot verbally or expressively communicate back to you. She has struggled with speech but she has made some incredible strides and her pediatrician said that after two years in a school program (not public school) you would never know that she had a problem.

The reason the mom was so upset is because the pre-school her daughter was in called her today and told her to come get her child because they "could do nothing with her." She was told not to bring her back, also.

WHAT?!?!?!?!?!?

I was floored. Another church in our area turned down an opportunity to minister to this family, for no good reason. I realize she is developmentally delayed...but according to her mother (who is a nurse by the way) she is NOT retarded, she is NOT special needs, she is NOT autistic...She just has trouble communicating. She knows what she wants to say, but cannot turn the thoughts into words and get the words out of her mouth.

I was so devastated at the notion that this church would not help her. She is sitting at this jewelry party bawling her eyes out because she just wants someone to love on her daughter. Her daughter needs stimulation and a classroom and a teacher to challenge her and teach her new words....because her issue is not learning. She can learn and is learning new words all the time and working toward communicating.

Since we have just opened our Mother's Day Out I began talking to her about our program and as soon as I did, I realized my entire purpose for coming to the party. I spoke with her and her daughter will begin our program on Tuesday! God used a seriously ungodly people and place to accomplish his purpose. I had a Divinely appointed meeting with that lady tonight and I thank God that He prompted me to go.

I hope I never underestimate the power of God to use ungodly people and circumstances to accomplish His will. His will pevails over all.

Caleb and Abby's First Day of School

2008-09-03T12:02:00.000-07:00

Make a Smilebox postcard

So Caleb and Abby had their first day of "Mom's Day Off". We just started the program at our church and it is starting off slow but sure. We hope to have more childred over the next few days and weeks, but we had a good start. Caleb and Abby were really excited about "school". Caleb did really well. He came home and told me that Ms. Jodi (his teacher) had taught him to read and he is now ready for Kindergarten. I thought...how amazing! One day and he can already read! Give Ms. Jodi a raise!

Abby is in my class and I wasn't sure how that was going to go over. We have been talking about it for a while...reminding her how good she was going to be in mommy's class. So all was well for the first part of the day and then....

I told her three times to do something and she refused all three times. So I calmly walked over to the stoplight and changed her clip from green to yellow and then...

She FREAKED out. I mean the whole bit. Screaming, kicking, crying...all of it. So I basically manhandle her out to another teacher for Abby to be in time out. She kept up with her CRAZY fit and then all of the sudden out of the corner of my eye I see her feet flying through the air and Paul walking out of the room. I guess this is what you would call a perk. Her daddy working just feet away down the hall! In a few minutes she came back red faced to class and apologized to me and then promptly asked me to change her color back to green because she said she was sorry. I told her we would see about that and she rejoined the class.

That was it. The whole thing. The rest of the day went flawlessly and I have a really great class...including my precious daughter. I don't think, however, that she will be throwing anymore fits...you know...with daddy in such close range!

Welcome to my world...

2008-08-28T19:13:00.000-07:00

So Yesterday (Wednesday) was a normal day until this one thing happened.

The kids and I were waiting for Paul to come home from work. He was due in about 3:30 so we were just hanging around...waiting. We hear the door open and then close and so we go to the kitchen to greet daddy. As I go into the kitchen I see Paul grabbing a metal spatula and another kitchen utensil that I can't exactly make out. He is also grabbing a ziploc bag...and SMILING like he has just been caught.

So of course I ask Him, "What are you doing"
He said, "This is an answer to prayer."
And I said, "What? My spatula?"

And He said.........

"No, Caroline (the cat) threw up! and I need some throw up for my bible study illustration tonight for small group."

So he proceeds to "scoop" the cat throw up into the bag with my spatula and what I now know is a rubber spatula and put it on the top of the refridgerator until small group that night.

Welcome to my world, people, welcome to my world.

Jacob's First Day of First Grade

2008-08-25T18:29:00.000-07:00

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Well the first day was wonderful. As you can see from the pics. First Grade is an entirely different animal than Kindergarten. Now you might be saying, "Duh, Tanya", but as someone experiencing this for the first time I was not quite ready for what I'm calling the "First Grade Attitude". Lately he knows everything. I was unaware that he came in to such a plethera of knowledge and so I find myself continually telling him things that, "(he) knows...mooooommmmmmmm." So we have been dealing with that. yeah...and save the "it only gets worse" comments, please...we do work with teenagers...we know. Thank you.

Anyway...hhe came home with homework today. Yep. Homework. On the first day.

Of course he was exhausted because he is used to having a FOB time. (That's Flat On Back time for those of you who did not know.) He hasn't been taking naps all summer, just resting. Well no rest for the first graders makes for super cranky first graders when they get home. Not only was he super cranky but he was one of the last ones to be picked up today....NOW WAIT. Before you start yelling at me about how I should have been on time...just read on.

Short story...Jacob's school used to be split into two buildings. PK-1st in one and 2nd-4th in another, 5th on a campus of their own. This year all the children are in ONE building...PK-5th under one roof. Why you ask, because they are tearing down the other building and building a new beautiful one for next school year. So that's added people and children in the building plus all of the extras that come on the first day to pick up their kiddos. School ends at 2:45 so at 2:45 I pack the other kids up and drive over to the church (right next door to our house) to pick up Paul. We drive out of the church drive way and...get in the line...literally backed up all the way to the church. Big deal you say? The church is about 1/2 mile from the school. Yep. The line to pick up the children from school is 1/2 a mile long. We need to get gas, because waiting for that long we were going to run out of gas. So we go past the school and get some gas and come back to get in line. Clearly this is not going to be an easy pick up. We wait and wait and wait and we finally get to school and we FINALLY get Jacob and go home. We walked in the house at 3:47. That's right folks...1 hour and 2 minutes after leaving to travel 1/2 mile to pick up my son from school. Lovely. Maybe tomorrow will be better...please God, please.

God is totally into details!

2008-08-22T05:53:00.000-07:00

So each summer I begin praying for my children's school teachers for the upcoming year. This summer was no different. I began a few weeks ago praying for Jacob's teacher (even though I had no idea who she was). I began to pray that she would be exactly what Jacob needs for 1st grade. After all, God knows them both so I figure He would be the best at putting the two together! I also prayed for someone who loved boys and the energy and patience they require. I prayed that she would be structured and fun because Jacob needs both of those things equally. Most of all I prayed for a good relationship between Jacob and his teacher and me for the maximum amount of fun and learning this year.

So......

Meet the Teacher was last night...well let me back it up a bit.

Yesterday morning I went to the school at 7:30 to help host a Welcome Back Breakfast with the PTA. I walked up to the school and the list was already out so I checked to see who Jacob had for a teacher and...his name was NOT on ANY list! I calmly checked again, thinking surely I have missed his name...NOPE. At this point I begin to semi-panic. I did not want to freak out for no reason...I mean if I am going to freak out...I need a valid reason and my son not being enrolled in school a mere 5 days before it is to begin IS A VALID REASON ladies and gentlemen! So I say forget the breakfast I am going to go find out why my kid is not enrolled in school! I walk into the office and they are working on this very problem. Apparently they were working with an older version of the software and the new version rolled over onto their system and several children were dropped off the teachers rosters and some other children who were already dropped mysteriously appeared back onto the list. So they were working on it and they new that Jacob needed a class...so I decided not worry and to go serve breakfast.

After the breakfast, I found out that Mrs. Hare is going to be Jacob's teacher. I asked around a little bit and found out who Mrs. Hare was and went to meet her. She is SUPER! She is a more seasoned teacher than we had last year. Much more established and very structured.(yeah!) I told her I would bring Jacob to meet her later that night.

Back to my story...

We all go to Meet the Teacher and we are the first ones in to Mrs. Hare's classroom. Her room is so fun! Jacob immediately began checking things out after meeting Mrs. Hare, of course. I filled out all the paperwork I have to do and then began talking a little more to Mrs. Hare. I asked her how many boys were in her class and she said there were 8 or 9. Then she said this, "I love boys. I have 3 boys of my own and I just love them!"

I said a short little, "THANK YOU GOD FOR BEING ABOUT THE DETAILS!" prayer and told Jacob it was time to go. He walked over and gave Mrs. Hare a hug and she said, "Come back on Monday, we are going to have so much fun!"

Thank you God for being about the details.

Success!

2008-08-19T18:46:00.000-07:00

Well ladies and gentlemen...Thank you so much for your prayers and supplications for my school supply dilema. HEB came through for me and I am now the proud owner of over $45.00 in school supply product! Yeah. My son can now begin school and succesfully complete his first grade year! We also went to the Disney store where they had backpacks on sale and with the purchase of a backpack you got a lunch box for absolutely free!(maybe not absolutely...we drove there, bought the backpack, ate out...etc.) Anyway...free. So we are now the proud owners of not one, not two, but three...yes three (3) backpack/(free)lunch box combos. we are OFFICIALLY ready for school.

I have not fallen off the bloggy planet!

2008-08-14T12:18:00.000-07:00

In the words of the Who's from Whoville..."We are Here, we are here, we are here!" We made it back from Ecuador. God did some amazing things there. To see some video blogs and some pictures from our trip go to www.bbcstudents.com.

We are now in the "Oh my goodness, school starts in two weeks" freak out mode! I went to buy school supplies the other day...can I just say...

The "school people" need to get together with the "school supplies people" who need to get together with the "Target/Office Depot/Walmart people" and they need to have a little meeting and then maybe lunch...coffee at Starbucks...whatever....

AND DISCUSS THE SCHOOL SUPPLY LISTS AND ALSO DISCUSS IF THE TEACHERS NEED IT THE MANUFACTURER'S SHOULD MAKE IT AND THE STORES SHOULD SELL IT!

So...needless to say...I went to two stores and I still don't have everything that Jacob needs to start school. Don't get me wrong. If they need it for school, I have no problem buying it! I want to make school the best experience for both Jacob and the teacher. So I will buy the plastic blue folder with brads and pockets...if only someone would make it and someone else would sell it!

There I am done with my venting...thank you and have a nice day.