packin' up & headin' out

I sound like we are the Clampetts, we look like them. You should see our cars and the stuff packed in the garage. Hopefully, Gustav will stay to the east of us (or just disappear) but b/c we do not know, they are calling for voluntary evacuations. So, see ya. :)

trying not to over react

but this isn't looking so swell. the westernly turn is not pleasing to the eye, mine anyway. i wish it would just dissapate. fyi: if we make a trip as far as mtn home, home base is adrienne & nate's house b/c they have more tv, i need all the weather drama to connect me to home. however, we can eat meals anywhere. :)

First

Today was Will's 1st official haircut. (Official means not trimmed by a grandma.)

I wish I could tell you this was his first sucker, but it may be his 31st?

Why is Claire so happy? She is headed to the beach for the day with Ma, Pa, Luke & Lila.

New haircut boy was unaware of beach trip or he would not be so happy!
This is not Craig's first shot at golf but it is his newest hobby, like he needs another. However, this is the first time I have caught him practicing in the backyard.
On a sidenote, this is not the first hurricane & most likely will not be the last.

Excitement ensued the first day

Faith woke up at 5:00 am to tell me she could not sleep! After much consideration, I convinced her to go back to sleep and I would wake her in time for school. I woke her at 7:15 with the smell of pancakes. She woke up talking in exhilaration about school. It thrills me that she is so happy.
We had our usual prayer time in the car before we left and she thanked God for giving her the best teacher for her. It warmed my heart b/c I was thinking, praise Jesus b/c I am so glad too. (I did not want her to think I thought she could have been in the wrong place so I just agreed instead of acting like a nut.) She also asked that school not be too hard, we will see how much of that prayer is answered.
As we walked into the building, I kinda got teary-eyed. The smell of new pencils, giggling children and busyness overpowers the real truth in teaching on the first day. It is a hard job but someone has to do it, thankfully, it is not me. . . this year!
And my first grader is so thrilled to learn more, it makes it all worthwhile. While looking at the word wall, she said, "I only know 1/2 those words, I have a lot of work to do!"

Not to mention, isn't her outfit adorable? Kudos to Auntie A & Auntie M for the precious dress & shoes. I bet it gets passed down a couple of times!

if the shoe fits, wear it

even to bed. claire loves her new shoes. after much drama, we found a narrow, slim fitting shoe that does not look like a clown should be wearing it. much to her dismay, it does not light up; however, it is leopard print pink, stride rite brand and cost $10.81. who can argue with that? not even claire!

a new look for hilary's blog...

i think my husband wonders why i don't ever get paid for stuff like this. personally, i am hoping to get paid in baby clothes. and oh how i wish maternity clothes too! maybe now at almost 13 weeks, i could wear the ones you skinny ones wore at 36?!

so my 2 sisters, donations are being accepted... gender specific ones after the 20 week ultrasound. :)

it just continues . . .

the rain is not stopping, it pours all day long. it feels like the tropics minus the sun, lush hotel surroundings and pina coladas.

Due to lack of outside play, the kids made a mall. Maybe they are hinting that I take them there?

oh the fascination of the tele

television, that is. yes, my 6 (almost 7) year old is fascinated by channel 51, TLC. On the family vacay, faith received a newfound love for A Baby Story. (i think this comes from the news about Auntie's A's little one to arrive next spring. sorry to disappoint you paula, it is not J & K +8)
on monday morning, the younger 2 and i slept late due to day-after-vacay-rest but faith was up by 7:00 a.m.

when i checked the computer later, the google page was up with these words: caniwatchababystory.

walking to the coffee pot, i tried to figure out exactly what had happened, faith asked me if my water broke when i had her. as i spit out my coffee at her knowledge of words, i replied yes and then she wondered if i had "contraptions." i thought boy, do i have some contraptions! i explained i had a baby a different way, i had a c-section. she was under stress and not moving so, the doctor just cut her out. she replied she knew what that was. maybe we have a doc in the fam?

needless to say, google did not lead her to TLC. thank God, the page was blank. i guess i must put a safety block up. speaking of safety block, i have to look up baby story before i allow faith to watch any of them b/c a friend told me they watched one day and it was a "partner" story, oh great. we have skipped from little bear & charlie & lola to little house to a baby story. i guess i need to be thankful we missed hannah montana.

in other fascinating news, hot springs was fun. serious lack of pics taken b/c i just left the camera in the car, pure laziness. jason & adrienne filmed and took pics so maybe some to come soon. honestly, we were lazy, just enjoyed good food and one another.

maybe the girls were lazy, the guys did fish. oh, and my middle sis walked a few times and was official kitchen manager, which means she sits about 2.4 seconds a day. the youngest sis, well, she milked the prego thing, but she is supposed to. and me? i just waited for someone to offer to deal with my 3, who by the way were really great! except of course, the whole sleeping issue, will did not decide to love the pack-n-play.

also, i may be fired as OTA (official travel agent) for the fam, this house was plenty big but kinda odd, random floor plan? and maybe the $75 cleaning fee we paid is not paid by everyone or that maid makes a killing doing nothing!

one plus, i found these invites at TJ MAXX for faith's b-day party invites for 5.99 a pack! adrienne is printing them, probably as we speak.

we kinda have a busy week. i had a PTA meeting yesterday, oh the joys of returning to school, planning a calendar for a school that will be ripped to shreds in a year, which is a good thing. i cannot believe faith will be in the 1st grade, makes my stomach knot up. we meet the teacher, whoever she is, on friday. (no, the PTA does not get to choose teachers or have special privileges, i would not be a part of it if they did...or maybe i would).

currently, there is a monsoon outside. i think it has rained 37 inches in 2 days, my new landscape looks like it is April 1st. can't complain about the heat today, it is only 75 degrees, i am sure that made a record.

Cookie friends

It seem as though every time Claire & Hannah have a play date, baking is a key ingredient for the day. Today's choice was chocolate chip, brownies are usually the hit at Hannah's house.

Sweet girls . . .
I wonder what this convo is about. . .
Maybe it is a lot like this one. This is the card Crystal gave me for my b-day. It plays The Archie's smash hit, Oh sugar, honey, honey, & reminds me to indulge on my b-day b/c "what happens at the dessert cart, stays at the dessert cart." This card represents our dessert & coffee nights that fell apart about . . I cannot remember how long ago! We need to do that again. Susan ,(who Claire favors in this picture card), is usually in charge of setting up our girl-time, I must get her back on track.

I hope all of our children stay friends forever, may they always share secrets & dessert!

Guess what?

We are thrilled beyond words to announce this news! We have kept it secret for some time! This precious bundle arrives (around March 1st). Hopefully, I will be ready for the big day, I have much to do because I must have my other 3 ducks in a row. (school schedules, the books, PTA, BSF, church, a little busy if you can tell.)

The kids are so excited, they cannot wait to meet their new niece or nephew! You did not think it was me? Oh no, my littlest sis is having a baby - yeah!!! My uterus tugs a little but not much, as long as I do not think about Faith's 7th b-day or Will turning 2 in 2 months, that makes me a bit weepy. And don't even get me started on Claire turning 5, cannot.take.it. I think I have a few more nieces or nephews on the horizon in the near future of our family.

Back to Adrienne (sorry if you read her blog or if you were "in the know" and I am boring you with the announcement for the 3rd time.)

My synopsis of the situation at hand: Oh.what.fun. The baby is having a baby! Good thing Mom & Abby Mere live so close, they will be tons of help! Abby thinks the baby is a sibling, not a cousin. :)

Responsibility

responsibility

Main Entry:
re·spon·si·bil·i·ty

Pronunciation: Function: noun
\ri-ˌspän(t)-sə-ˈbi-lə-tē\
Inflected Form(s):
plural re·spon·si·bil·i·ties
Date: 1737

1: the quality or state of being responsible: as a: moral, legal, or mental accountability b: reliability, trustworthiness

2: something for which one is responsible : burden

We are working on this trait at our house. Each of my girls received this fun chart today. They differ according to strengths, weaknesses & age. We are looking forward to using it, at least I am! No, really, they are too, sorta.

we frolic in a storm

we went outside to play after the storm was about 1/2 over, no lightning or thunder in the sky. craig was leaving for work after watching the radar and he said the eye of the storm was just passing over. that explained the calmness we were experiencing. for the record, i would not take my children out in just any storm.


as i listened to laughter and giggles , i was shocked at the serene feeling around me. it was almost eerie but then again, it was peaceful. i thought about how rattled we get over weather, stocks, money, disease, people, just life in general.
my children were not anxious about a thing (except maybe what we are having for lunch), just splashing away, not a care in the world.
i think it is supposed to be that way. we are human, so we will worry. God knows we will but He also asks His children to let Him calm the storm, in His way and plan, not mine! a storm can be just a clear reminder that He is the one "who stilled the sea to a whisper; the waves of the sea were hushed." (Psalm 107:29) it reminded me of the kid's SS lesson this week about Jesus calming the storm in Matthew 8, we must always submit to His authority in our lives.

however, i definitely do not frolic in the storm and i know God does not expect me to be perfect. but, i think he wants me to look to Him , to trust Him and to strive for peace in my heart and relish His will. as i teach my children these little lessons, they are not so little, they are big . . day in and day out.

let the hype begin

while the kids went to the park with craig, i left the house around 7:00 to complete the set of my new pier 1 dishes. just overnight, it has become my fave place to browse (paula says i dig, i just browse, maybe scour, that is a better word). i have not shopped in there in about 10 years, no real reason why.

anyway, i noticed as i drove down dowlen road, thing were buzzing. long lines at the gas station, full parking lots, traffic, kinda crazy. . . . all the hype? T.S. Ed. hurricanes make se texas people nuts, Rita ruined us. we used to be tough, we know rain. however, now we give into the media frenzy. not that we should not be prepared, in my neighborhood, we lose power when the wind blows. don't worry, i will not be here when it is a big one = evacuation time. no sir-ee, i will not stick around.

craig has a gigantic kid's rally planned for saturday, all weather should be fine by then but he has tons of work to do. it is well planned and very organized but we have several last minute details to work out with the civic center.

i saved some housework today to do tomorrow, i can still see to mop . . .in the dark.

i am looking at this curriculum for our preschool age children (2-5) at church. paula's church uses it. i am enjoying browsing but if i have no electricity, it will not get ordered tomorrow.

btw, when i was in franklin, this (July 27th) was the sermon preached that day. it was an excellent lesson on the balance of God's Truth & Spirit in our lives. i plan to listen to the entire series.

will went to sleep tonight in 2 shirts, it is only 97 degrees outside. he was absolutely insistent. he had to wear t-rex and mickey mouse. i am afraid he could love characters as clothing. i must stop that fad quick.

the girls went to gymnastics camp today. flipping, flopping, snacks and art was the recipe for this morning. will & i worked out (really, just me but i bet he flipped on the mats), worked at church and made a cvs run. gymnastics would be cool for him if they let him play but he is still a little young. they have rules, i tried to remember them as he screamed to "pay, pay!" (play)

later, we went to the library and got an array of books. airplanes, inventions, clifford the big red dog (we never miss that one for claire), american girl, laura ingalls and trains were on the list today.

i also checked out the movie annie but i thought it was the one i watched as a child. they loved this one but mrs. hannigan (kathy bates) was so mean, sometimes she reminded me of myself - eewh. convicting. i plan to look for the other annie, mere has it but she said they are a few cuss words in it. they may need to be a little older. ironically, my middle sister looked so much like "annie" as a child, all that red curly hair and she & adrienne were in a musical as kids. (what parts did you 2 have?) we loved singing and dancing to the record. good times.

well, i need to back-up the books just in case T.S. Ed turns into a cat 10 before daybreak and i lose the accounts forever! oops, that can't happen now, i got carbonite, thanks to my radio-shack brother-in-law. :)

2 kinds of treasure

i have been on a hunt again. after dinner, craig and i went shopping so i could spend my b-day $. I got these plates and bowls at pier1 . aren't they swell? great cereal and snack carriers for the kids, they are heavy plastic and were on sale for 1/2 price!


i got this utensil and holder and several new utensils at Ross for the small sum of $12. i also bought an over-the-sink-cutting-board-with-a-built-in-collapsible-strainer at Target. (i am so tired after writing that sentence.)

To top off the shopping experience, we bought a jelly roll pan, since i am copying Pioneer woman's recipes (and gaining 50 lbs.) and a pillow. i guess craig was so sweet to shop with me, he received a prize too. the tale of the pillows is that we have about 6 on our bed but he liked the 2 that we left in selena, kansas at our hotel. we never made it back there to pick them up, we went home a different way. i am still a little ticked about it, i loved the pillowcases on them. that story can ruin my "good deal finds." a ll of the above came from bed, bath & beyond which i usually detest, but we have now have a love/hate relationship.

i still have $25 left, i bet it goes to groceries. :) i am thankful to my in-laws for the shopping treasures and for keeping my 3 best treasures!

speaking of treasure # 3, he was so funny when i put him to bed.

me: come on will, let's go night-night.
w: night-night
me: telling bible story and love you, here's your nuk, night-night.
w: night-night mommy!
me: night-night little man
w: night-night mommy!
me: love you . .. . shutting door
w: NIGHT NIGHT MOMMY! crying and wailing NIGHT-NIGHT MOMMY! MOMMY???!!!
me: opening door, night-night, i love you, go to sleep!
w: night, night, smiling and waving.
when i shut the door, he screamed again, i know he wanted me to open the door. as i listened , he said crying a little, night night mommy! mommy? mommy? . .. . . . . . . DADDY! DADDY? NIGHT-NIGHT !

he is no dummy. :)

someone is 36 today

who could it be?