Pages

Saturday, November 14, 2009

On Pins & Needles

Hey y'all.

Not a lot has been going on with us. Just the normal Boy Scouts meetings, soccer practices, soccer games, AWANA, Bible studies, community group meetings, mentor meetings, dollar movies, and the like. All in a normal week! No wonder I'm exhausted...

I got the itch to do another sewing project. So off to Joann's I went, searching for a good pattern and some cute fabric. Much to my excitement, I found both!


I'll be making the jumper dress on the left in the above image. It looks like a pretty simple pattern; the only possible challenge is in the appliqued flowers. I might have to omit that if I can't get the flowers to come out right. It should be a fun project no matter what! I'll post an update when I have the dress looking like a dress rather than a bunch of scraps of fabric.

Tuesday, November 03, 2009

More Jack & Soccer

Jack Jack had a soccer game last night, and YES! He played! When I saw that he played, I really mean that he ran around and ran from the ball. Coach Kelley encouraged him to actually kick the ball at times. And two or three times, Coach asked Jack where the ball was, because apparently, Jack had no clue where the ball was. He was just running around on the field.

But as the following picture shows, Jack feels joy when he runs around out there on the field!



Poor Jack was so tired by the time the game rolled around that he had little interest in "playing." So he sat on Cade's lap and cheered his team on.



Our Raptors got shellacked by the other team, 11-2. It was very ugly. But the boys had a good time. And Coach Kelley has so much patience with them.

Sunday, November 01, 2009

The Obligatory Halloween Post

Howdy folks! Sorry it's been a few weeks since I've posted. There ain't been much happening around these parts. The same ol' same ol', as the previous post points out.

In case you've been sequestered for jury duty, you know that yesterday was Halloween. And so we dressed our kids up in costumes and headed up to the church for our annual Fall Festival/Kids Karnival/whatever name it is this year. The carnival is a great time in the church parking lot. Lots of carnival booths, jump houses, a petting zoo, fire truck (with super-duper ladder extended up high!), police car (with flashing lights!), concessions, great music and some humorous banter over the PA system. A really fun time, if the kids can keep up with you.

Jack wanted to be a ghost. So I bought a cheap twin sheet set at Target and went to work, pinning, cutting and sewing the costume to custom-fit Jack's super squishy body. After the 5 whole minutes it took me to make the costume, Jack informs me that he doesn't want to wear it. Bummer. So Jack dressed up this year as a 4 year old boy.



Cade wanted to be a vampire for Halloween. But we told him no scary costumes (somehow, a plain ghost didn't qualify as scary. A vampire with blood around his mouth doesn't seem so cute on a 6 year old). So he just decided to wear his soccer uniform and be a soccer dude for Halloween. Fine with me! It's free! But after seeing Jack's ghost costume, Cade wanted one too. So I took the other sheet from the sheet set and custom-fit the costume to Cade's thin (aerodynamic!) body. Great! Unfortunately, Cade then informed me that he was going to stick with his soccer dude costume. Bummer. At least Cade was quasi-dressed for Halloween.



Now Claire Bear had to have a genuine cutesy costume. Since she's only 2 and doesn't have a vote, I deemed that she should be a ballerina. I found a pink leotard and ballet shoes at Target. We had pink tights. The only thing missing was the tutu. Thanks to the internet (if it's on the internet, then it's true!), I learned how to easily make a no-sew tutu. Claire didn't have a choice but to wear the costume I had put together for her. And she looked absolutely precious.


Here are some random photos taken from the evening:


A little putt putt. Grandad would be proud!




Jack playing a sifting for treats game.

Claire in the petting zoo. She kept trying to offer the chickens her Skittles.

Cade petting a ginormous BABY tortoise. This puppy will grow to be over 200 pounds by the time it's an adult!

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Same ol' Same ol'

Not too much has been happening around our little abode. I had a minor day surgery/procedure done (I'll spare you the details) which was fine. Scott's been pretty busy at work this week, working until at least midnight most of this week. I've come down with a viral infection (I feel fine except for the feeling that I'm swallowing sharp knives). The kids are... well, they're the same ol' kids we've had for a while now. No new news with them.

Did I forget to mention that my mom is now living with us? She moved in at the end of August and she has subsequently sold her property in the country. The idea is for us to all find a house in a town closer to our church that we can all live in. Much to my surprise, my mom has decided that she likes living with us, circus and all. So we'll find a big enough house with a 3rd bathroom just for her. But we won't do anything until the spring/summer of next year. We want Cade to finish out the year at his current school, Lord willing.

So that's it for now. No cute pictures. No fantastic news. Just a quick note to let you know that we're alive and kickin'!

Saturday, October 03, 2009

Success!

After weeks of trying to get Jack out on the field, we managed to get him to practice with his soccer team AND play in a game. All in the same week!

The joy on jacks face as he runs around is so pleasing. He is thrilled to be running around! And yes. He is agent 99.













-- Posted from my iPhone -- ain't technology grand?

Friday, September 25, 2009

Spirit day

Today is spirit day at Cades school. The high school football team (who won State last year - go Eagles!) comes to the school and greets students as they come in. And then they stay and help the students practice reading (it's called Reading with the Eagles). So cool! Even the mascot was there this morning. I snapped a quick pic of Cade and the Eagle



-- Posted from my iPhone -- ain't technology grand?

Monday, September 21, 2009

Starbucks

I have a few minutes to spare before I meet someone, so I ce to Starbucks to kill the 30 minutes. Such
an interesting place. I wonder what each person is doing here

I've been eevesdropping on conversations. So far here is the business going on:

Two moms are getting together to talk about tshirt design for an elementary school

A young guy seems to be pitching an idea pretty hard to a middle aged man.

The guy next to me is furiously typing on his laptop; can't see what he's doing

Two ladies in front of me are discussing some past conflict.

There are various other laptop users here; what do these people do for a living that affords them the opportunity to work from a dimly lit, intoxicatingly cozy place?





-- Posted from my iPhone -- ain't technology grand?

Wednesday, September 09, 2009

A round of school for everyone -- it's on me!

Yesterday, everyone... I repeat... everyone was at school. Cade was in 1st grade, and Jack & Claire were at Mother's Day Out. I was free! for 5 whole hours! It's been 6.5 years since I've had regular free time to myself... 6.5 years is a long, long, long time. To be continuously surround by toddlers. A long, long, long time.

But that's over! What a wonderful thing, this Mother's Day Out.

So what did I do with my new-found freedom? Painted. I painted the office in our house. Now for most people, that might be dreary drudgery. But I enjoy that sort of thing, so it was a fun use of my time. Plus we're getting our house ready for the sales market. What did she just say?

Yes, we're going to be putting our house on the market. Next spring. We want to move. But before anyone of you start throwing a fit like Claire Bear not getting her way, no worries. We're only wanting to move locally to be closer to our church. Right now we're driving 20+ minutes one way. And since we go up (or rather, down) there several times a week, it's quite a bit of time we're wasting in the car. And we're only going to be getting more involved as the kids get older (and into youth group). Thus we're looking to be within a 5 minute jaunt of Woodcreek.

We've got a big to-do list ahead of us. Thankfully, the landscaping is almost behind us. A little more painting, and then lots of sprucing up so we can get this house on the market. Despite all the gloom and doom you hear about the economy, houses around us have been selling like hotcakes (what are hotcakes? is that the same thing as pancakes?) A very small, un-upgraded house down the street had a contract within 2 weeks. A house around the corner sold in less than a week. There are a few houses that have lingered on the market, but I think it's because they are priced too high. So hopefully God will bless our plans and allow us to move closer to more friends and our beloved local body of Christ!

Monday, September 07, 2009

Landscapin'

We've spent this wonderful holiday weekend landscaping our front and back yard! I love doing hard labor (thankfully I don't do it for a living!) and so getting out with a shovel and working up a good sweat is right down my alley. I'm too tired to go take pictures of what we've done. So maybe you'll get a peek of those sometime this week.

Scott was great to keep me company while I worked, and the kids had a good time playing outside. They tend to not play outside if someone is not with them, so this was a good excuse to make them play outside.

And my mom cooked a slap-yo-mamma-delicious meal tonight; a perfect end to a great weekend (and a lot of work!).

Wednesday, September 02, 2009

Big girl

It's occurred to me lately how big Claire is getting. She has lost the baby look and is all little girl now. Here are some pics of Claire Bear while we were waiting for Jack to be done with speech.











-- Posted from my iPhone -- ain't technology grand?

Thursday, August 27, 2009

Potty Training or Cruel & Unusual Punishment?

Jack is 4. Over 4. He turned 4 in June. And he is still not potty trained. We haven't even tried to train him. He has been so resistant to underwear, the toilet, or anything related to potty training that we figured it was useless to try. And by resistant, I mean that he's cried, screamed, and trashed when we've tried to put underwear on him.

When you research potty training techniques, one requirement you see over and over again is that the child needs to have an interest in the potty and potty training. Does this look like enthusiastic interest to you?




So, despite the HUGE red flag that he's extremely against the idea of underwear, I put him in underwear this morning. I am tired of changing a 4-year old's pull up. It's just not right. There is a huge difference between the poop of a 2 year old and the poop of a 4 year old. Not so much a difference phyically, but mentally. For the person wiping the poop. And I just can't handle it anymore.

So far so good. I'm pretty sure this training will involve kidney infection, severe constipation, and urinary tract infections. And possibly some borderline child abuse. But gosh darn it, we're going to get him trained!

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Soccer

We're at cade's first soccer practice. Hysterical. And hot


-- Posted from my iPhone -- ain't technology grand?

Moving MawMaw

The big move is done. And we are pooped! Loading the trucks went fine. The dive didn't go so well; the 26' truck that Chad drove blew a front tire. Thankfully no one was hurt and it delayed one truck by an hour.

Unloading the trucks went well. But I was almost sick to my stomach when we unloaded the first truck. There was no way al the stuff in the second truck was going to fit into the storage units. Until Lisa, Drew, and Jon took charge. Those 3, thanks to Lisa's bold direction, made Mom's stuff Tetris pieces and managed to squeeze every inch of space out of the units by rotating stuff and deftly placing boxes and furniture.






-- Posted from my iPhone -- ain't technology grand?

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Two-a-days

Football teams, marching bands, cheerleaders, volleyball teams and Cade. What do they all have in common this time of year?

Two-a-days.

I caught Cade in the backyard running laps in the heat of the day. With sunglasses. Unfortunately no shirt. Apparently he needs to exercise more, according to him. Don't we all, buddy. Don't we all.








-- Posted from my iPhone -- ain't technology grand?

Friday, August 14, 2009

Donations, anyone?

A friend of a friend's son (Gavin) has just battled brain cancer (he's only 4 years old!) His scans for cancer are clear after his final rounds of chemo & radiation. Praise God for this!

A while back, through the wonderful group Make a Wish, Gavin and his family were treated to a first class trip to Disney World. I know the Smith family had a great time; just getting away from the hospitals and doctors was a treat! I'm going to work on a scrapbook for them to commemorate their trip, and I could use a little help.

If you have any Disney scrapbook materials (or any other scrapbook materials) that you're not using and would like to donate toward the project, please let me know!

Lots of Spare Time

Because I have lots of spare time (read that with heavy sarcasm), I've decided to try my hand, or rather my mom's super duper sewing machine, at making some clothes for claire. First I'm going to try a simple dress, then I'll try a top and capris. Here are some of the fabrics I chose, for better or worse:



I'll keep you posted on my progress. Look for an update in about 6 months.

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Sweet Moments

Cade is taking a mini-sports camp this week and is loving it! He's learning basketball, baseball (t-ball), and soccer. I never thought he'd actually enjoy the camp. I was just wanting him to be a little active and be introduced to sports. He hasn't shown much interest before in athletics, but since I love sports (both playing and watching), I want my kids to enjoy them as well!

A little bonus to the camp is that there is a ginormous hill outside the rec center. And it is perfect for rolling and running down. So that's what all 3 kids did yesterday after we picked up Cade.





Bonus #2 is a great climbing tree outside the Rec. Cade climbed up and it was a picture perfect moment.


Monday, August 10, 2009

Contact the CDC

Apparently this coniption thing is contagious.






-- Posted from my iPhone -- ain't technology grand?

Friday, August 07, 2009

Wow

I just watched my oldest son execute a perfect 3-point turn. Impressive.






-- Posted from my iPhone -- ain't technology grand?

RSS Feeds

This won't be an exceptionally sexy post. But it may be helpful for either of you (because I assume only two people read this blog).

Sometimes I can go a week or more without posting. And then sometimes I post every day. So how do you know when I've posted? Well, you can travel each day to Frantlings (and all the other blogs that you like to visit) to check out what may or may not be new.

Or you can download the feeds into your reader and see the updates that way!

Huh? Download what and look at them in my what?

From Wikipedia:
RSS (most commonly translated as "Really Simple Syndication" but sometimes "Rich Site Summary") is a family of web feed formats used to publish frequently updated works—such as blog entries, news headlines, audio, and video—in a standardized format.[2] An RSS document (which is called a "feed", "web feed",[3] or "channel") includes full or summarized text, plus metadata such as publishing dates and authorship. Web feeds benefit publishers by letting them syndicate content automatically. They benefit readers who want to subscribe to timely updates from favored websites or to aggregate feeds from many sites into one place. RSS feeds can be read using software called an "RSS reader", "feed reader", or "aggregator", which can be web-based, desktop-based, or mobile-device-based. A standardized XML file format allows the information to be published once and viewed by many different programs. The user subscribes to a feed by entering into the reader the feed's URI – often referred to informally as a "URL" (uniform resource locator), although technically the two terms are not exactly synonymous – or by clicking an RSS icon in a browser that initiates the subscription process. The RSS reader checks the user's subscribed feeds regularly for new work, downloads any updates that it finds, and provides a user interface to monitor and read the feeds.
Basically, when you subscribe to RSS feeds of your favorite websites, you can read all the updated information, as it gets updated, in one place. You don't have to go to each individual website you want to keep up with to read the new updates. You can read them all, for instance, in your email client (Thunderbird, Outlook, etc). Or in your browser (Firefox, IE, etc). Or in special RSS feed readers (Google Reader, etc). So much better than having to go to each website!

In order to do this, you first have to make sure that your favorite websites have RSS feed capapbility. Look for a link, either at the top of the page or at the very bottom, that says something like RSS feed or Atom.

Next, you have to figure out where you want to get your feeds. Do you want to get them through your email client (if your client can read RSS feeds)? Or your browser? Or through a dedicated reader? It doesn't matter where you view the feeds; it just needs to be somewhere easily accessible to you.

Now that you've chosen the avenue for reading the feeds, find out how to add "subscriptions" for feeds. Once you know how to do that, for each website that you want to follow, click on the "RSS Feed" or "Atom" link on the page. You will then be taken to a page where you can either add this feed directly to your reader (if it's listed there) or you can copy the url address from that page and enter it into your reader.

If you have any problems, just Google the name of your reader (whether it's your email client or browser or whatever) and RSS feeds, and you should be able to find plenty of instructions and help for getting set up.

What a better way to keep up with all your favorite websites!

And for a little something different....

Introducing the new and improved Elton John!


Thursday, August 06, 2009

Update from Bellville

I'm in Bellville with the kids, trying to help Mom pack up the garage. Whew. There is a lot of, er, junk in there. I spent all morning out there and most of the afternoon, and there's still a ton of lumber, large wooden structures (aka cabinets) that are well past their prime that I need to take apart, tons of yard tools, and other miscellaneous stuff that is hard to put into a box.

I did get a lot down, however, and that is huge. Mom moves in just 2 weeks up to where we are. And oh boy there's a lot to do. Thankfully we have amazing, amazing, amazing friends who are helping on both ends of the move. Chad & Lisa and their kids are actually coming HERE to Bellville to help load the trucks (yes, that was meant to be plural) and watch our kids. OH. MY. GOODNESS. Now that's friendship.

Wednesday, August 05, 2009

Need a giggle at someone else's expense?

Cade having a coniption in the car:


-- Posted from my iPhone -- ain't technology grand?

Tuesday, August 04, 2009

Jack Jack

Thanks for all the comments and emails! Jack had his first summertime speech appt yesterday, and it went well. I like his therapist; she talked about some techniques that she will introduce to him tomorrow that will hopefully let Jack feel like he's in control of his speech & stuttering rather than it sneaking up on him and controlling him.

Our whole family is supposed to speak slower (not incredibly, painfully slow. just not so fast). Even Cade is trying to encourage Jack to use his sloooow, streeeeeeetchy speeeeeeeech. And Jack's doing a little better. Not so close to tears anymore. But when he's straining to get some words out, he raises his voice and gets louder; it sounds like he's about to start wailing on somebody! From the other room, it's hard to tell if he's about to get in a rumble with his sister or if he's just trying to tell her something.

But I guess that is better, Becky, than your poor little Jack Jack who screams, "I not talking to you!", and then walks away. Poor little man! He's just so cute to be that frustrated!

Thursday, July 30, 2009

We have a pr pr pr problem

For most of last school year, Jack Jack was in speech therapy through our local school district. He started out elongating his words. But over time, he started stuttering. That's when we started taking him up to Cades school to "play" with the speech therapist there.

Jack made good progress. My mom even commented on how well he seemed to be doing. When summer neared, Jack was deemed not too bad as to need therapy during the summer (the speech therapists get the summers off too!). I got a list of speech therapists that I could call if we wanted to have Jack continue through the summer. At the time, he didn't need it

Over the last two weeks, Jack has regressed quite a bit. And just yesterday, for the first time, Jack got so frustrated trying to talk that he almost started crying. And it's been like that all day today he strains to eke a word out.

Tomorrow I'm going to call some of those therapists and see if they have an opening.

We can't wait 4 more weeks until school starts.




-- Posted from my iPhone -- ain't technology grand?

Traveling Cade

Cade is up visiting Scott's parents this week. Yes, that's right. For a whole week!

Courtesy of Lin and Rick:



-- Posted from my iPhone -- ain't technology grand?

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Full price

Well, it looks like my mom has sold her home and property for her full asking price. And without effort! Neighbors were talking, and it spread that mom was looking to sell. And one set of neighbors wanted it bad enough that they brought over a contract for full price! God clearly orchestrated this, and I am so pleased that His timing (for once!) was in line with our timing!

Now to find her a house...


-- Posted from my iPhone -- ain't technology grand?

Friday, July 24, 2009

Check

Drive 4+ hours with two pre-schoolers?

Check.

Hang swinging cafe doors?



Check.

Weed-eat and mow around MawMaw's house?

Check.

About to pass out?

Check.

-- Posted from my iPhone -- ain't technology grand?

Monday, July 20, 2009

The highs and lows

Just a day in our life...

We started off the day meeting a lady to buy a DVD/VHS converter through Craigslist. On the way to meet her, we passed by a thrift shop. I love thrift stores. You never know what treasures lay within!

On the way back from our meeting, we stopped at this thrift store. Lo and behold, many treasures were inside the store.

Besides the $3 Crocs I got for Cade, we also picked up another gem. It's a cash egister complete with price tags, scanner, and little money that goes everywhere. It even includes (MUCH to my chagrine)
credit cards. When you slide a credit card through the "swipe" thingy, a female voice chimes, "credit approved!". Great. The evils of plastic now in a toy near you.

The cash register has been a huge hit in our house, and it has already proved to be much more valuable than the 4 measley dollars I paid for it. It is also apparently going to be a thorn in my side as it will force me to teach Claire, over and over and over again, how to share. See pictures below for explanation











-- Posted from my iPhone -- ain't technology grand?

Sunday, July 19, 2009

We're Baaaaack

We're back from movin' MawMaw. All in all, it wasn't too bad. Of course we didn't even move half of her stuff. But it still went smoothly. And I inherited some pretty cool things. Like a movable router table. And a table saw. And a scroll saw. And... *sigh* I am my father's daughter. I have a hard time getting rid of things too!

So the search is on for a buyer for mom's property. Know anyone interested in 22 acres outside of Houston? Let me know!

Didn't get too many pictures from the weekend since I was busy moving stuff, driving, and packing. And besides. No one wants to see me on the Slip n Slide. Really.

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Movin' MawMaw

This weekend we will move up MawMaw's nonessential junk to our area so that we can stage her home for sale. It looks like the neighbors that were interested in buying her property aren't able to get close to her asking price, so Mom is going to go forward with "listing" the property & house by owner. And since there is still so much to sell to get the house cleaned out, we're just going to move it all up here so that I can better help sell things on Craigslist.

This weekend also marks the time when MawMaw will start living with us part-time. Part-time until she sells her place. Then she'll live with us full-time until she can find a house near us. We are still talking with our neighbors to see if it can work out for Mom to buy their house. But we're unsure that the home will work out, which is such a shame. How ideal for Mom to live next door to us! She needs a jar opened? She just walks over for help. I need to run out real quick to the grocery store because I forgot one thing at the store? Just send the kids over next door.

It will be great. Plus Mom can come with us to church, learn more about Jesus, and get plugged in with other ladies.

How does it come to this?

I just wanted to plant a few flowers I had bought at 50% off at Lowes (about this time of year, lowes has tons of iffy looking plants that aren't doing well at 50% off. If you spend a few days watering them and holding their hands, you can get great plants cheap!). I had bought them a week ago, and I was getting tired of watering them every day and worrying if they were going to die before I could ironically get them in the ground. And it just so happens that Scott is out of town at Eagles Canyon Raceway this weekend.

So we innocently go out in the backyard to plant the flowers (varieties of icoreopsis and sage). And of course I need to water the plants after they've been planted. So I get the hose out. And that's when chaos breaks out

Claire doing some kind of water/tribal dance.









To build a good immunity system..





A backwards bidet.

-- Posted from my iPhone -- ain't technology grand?