:)

Well, Elizabeth went to creative arts camp at Northbrook last week. She had a great time. Here’s a video of her interpretive movement and boomwhackers classes. I made it with my digital camera, and the quality is not the best, but you get the picture.





We got some AMAZING news today. Jason got his old job back at Terminex!!!!!!! I am SO excited, and so is he. Today will be his last day delivering bread. He’s going to take a few days before starting back killing bugs on Monday. This will be the first weekend we have been able to spend together as a family since October. We have been praying, praying, praying, and those prayers have been answered. God even gave him his good route back, so the finances won’t be as difficult. We had decided that we didn’t care if we had to eat Ramen noodles; we were going to do whatever it took to get him off that bread route. Whenever I think about it, I can’ decide if I want to dance or cry. I think I may just do both when Jason gets home tonight. We’ll be the crazy family hooting and hollering in the back yard on 22nd Avenue. Come and join us.

It’s HOT!!!!

~written 6/20/09~
Man, is it hot outside! The heat indexes have reached 100 plus for the past 3 or 4 days. I think someone forgot to tell the weatherman that it’s JUNE, not August! How hot is it going to be then? June is supposed to still be cool enough to wear jeans and be comfortable. Not this year!!! The kids are playing in the pool, and I brought the camera out to make some pics. I had to wait before I could take the pics b/c the camera fogged up so bad I couldn’t see through the lens. I was actually a little concerned about turning on the laptop in this heat, but I figured Toshiba had already thought of that. HAHAHAH!
Elizabeth went to another VBS this week, this time with Jason’s grandmother. She really did enjoy herself. I had some reservations for a lot of reasons, but thankfully they were unfounded. This coming week, she will go to Creative Arts camp at our church. She is excited about that. I won’t have to buy Elizabeth any more shirts this summer…she’s getting them from every VBS she goes to!
We were finally able to coordinate with Aunt Nancy and get her extra twin bed brought to our house for Amy. It’s odd to look in that room and see a real bed! It was sad taking the crib down completely, but she was SO ready for this. She was a little apprehensive the first night, but it was the first time she had ever slept alone in a bed without rails on three sides. She looks so TINY in it.
Oh, funny story… the other day we were out and E was playing on the redneck water slide. (See previous blog for video footage). Anyhow, she was going down on her belly. She starts yelling about being stuck. We honestly just blew her off…Elizabeth can be a bit dramatic, in case you didn’t know. Anyhow, she finally went down the slide and her one piece swimsuit had suddenly become a two piece. I wasn’t mad at her, of course, she couldn’t help it, but I was a bit perturbed to have to throw that brand new swimsuit in the trashcan! This morning, we decided to try one on from last year. I can’t find her one at WalMart that fits. The little girls are too little and the jr’s are too big…and too hoochy! So we decided to see what we could do…maybe use a top we had from an old tankini and get some new shorts or something. Well, low and behold, Elizabeth has shape-shifted again. The suit that was too tight last year fits great now. Guess those six inches she grew in the last six months made a difference!
So, today is Jason’s birthday. He’s 31. Of course, he’s at work. He was pretty bummed about that. Hopefully, he won’t have to work ALL DAY. I still maintain that my husband is the only part time/temp employee in the free world that works 75 hours a week. We are going to grill out some steaks tonight for birthday/father’s day. He also requested a chocolate cake, so I’m going to make one for him later. Occasionally, I do nice things for people, but I try not to make it a habit, you know.
Elizabeth and I worked an open house last weekend. She had a large time. It was a nice house, and she was fascinated. She kept saying, “Take my picture, Mama, so they’ll think we live here.” She wanted to know why we couldn’t have the house. I told her next time I had an extra 300K I’d buy it. And yes, the tub was clean...it was an empty house. ;)

Quick Quip from Amy Hope

Last night, we went to a church function featuring a water slide. Amy would not go down the slide (which Elizabeth LOVED, btw), but she did get to get in the pool a little bit.
As we were driving home, I asked the girls if they had a good time. Elizabeth said she did, and Amy responded, “Well, the ‘wimming’ pool was nice.” SO FUNNY!!!!! I think it was even funnier b/c that was such an Elizabeth comment, not an Amy one. :)

SCHOOOOOL’S OUT.FOR.SUMMA’!!!!

Well, we officially have a second grader! I took Elizabeth to school yesterday and the principal said she didn’t have to stay if she didn’t want to. So, she went in with her teacher for a minute to get her report card, and then she was DONE!! I cried a little bit. It’s just so hard to believe that she’s in second grade! I still look at them sometimes and think, “Who ARE you little people???”
I am so thankful that Elizabeth had a great year. What a difference from last year!!! Awards day was Wednesday, and Elizabeth got 5 of the 7 awards for her class. She missed one day, so no perfect attendance award, and she wasn’t qualified for the honor roll award (A’s and B’s) b/c she got the Principal’s Award (all A’s). You know, I always said I just wanted my kids to be NORMAL, AVERAGE kids. I was the smart kid, and it’s NOT as easy as everyone thinks it is. But, then…she got those awards…and I saw a pic of HHS Gradation…and the Valedictorian… and..well, you see where this is going. :) I get excited thinking about it. When she graduates from law school in 15 years (I didn’t get to go, so one of my kids has to), we’ll laugh about how I just wanted average. When have I EVER settled for that where intelligence was concerned. HAHAHAH! I got so tickled. Jason brought her to work after the awards program so I could show her off. My boss asked her how she got so many awards, and she innocently said, “I just tried my best.” That’s right baby, you just do your best, and you’ll go far.

We had some good old redneck fun the other night. Check out these videos. Believe it or not, Amy wouldn’t do it. Terrified her! She’s funny about slides, though. Sometimes she loves them and sometimes she won’t have anything to do with them. On another thought, why does my voice sound so different when I hear it on tape?

This week is VBS at our old church. We are all enjoying being with our old friends and Elizabeth has almost learned the Lord’s Prayer. I asked her about it and she said, “Mama, it’s in the song. How could I NOT learn it?” Goober head. Heheh! Amy is having a good time, too. She even went to story time last night and seemed to enjoy herself. She said , “I sit wif Mista Jas-n”. Last night they played a game where they had to throw a ball into a pool. Elizabeth made almost every shot she took, and even made the tie breaker shot to win the game for her team! I joked that that may be the closets anyone in our family ever gets to winning an athletic event…

Amy’s 6 month late 2 year checkup

So, I took Amers in today for her checkup. She was complaining about her knee a lot, so I thought I’d go ahead and do it. Also, we are starting her in day care two days a week in the fall and I wanted to be sure she was up to date on her shots.
She weighs 28 lbs and is 36 inches tall. She is right at the 50th percent tile for weight and the 75th for height. Everything looks good, she is right on target for all her milestones. My babies have always had LARGE heads, but since Amy’s has slowed growing enough to no longer be off the charts, they won’t measure that any more. She did GREAT during the exam. They pricked her finger and she just watched them get the blood, and then she offered them her other hand when they were done. She did get upset when they gave her a shot, but who can blame her!!! She stopped crying when I told her she could have a sucker. She got one for E, too. So cute, “Dis for me and dis for Izzy.”
I asked Dr. Amy to check on her left knee, as she has been complaining about it a LOT. She said that she thought she might have twisted it, or that it might be falling asleep. We are to give her Motrin twice a day for a week or so in case she did twist it—that will take down any swelling. If it turns red, she starts limping, or we see a knot or anything, we have to bring her back ASAP, but she didn’t think that would happen.
She also gave up some sleep advice. She thinks that Amy is in a sleep pattern that makes her wake up every night, so we will try to break that.
After we were done, we went to Sonic so that Amy could have a grilled cheese. She didn’t even want to eat it when she got back to Memaw’s, just wanted to go to sleep.
In other news, Elizabeth finished her math tests!!! Perfect score on all five of them on the first try!!! The majority of the class is still on test 1. I really do feel sorry for them. I mean, there is only so much the teacher can do. How hard would it be for their mom or dad to spend FIVE MINUTES a day to help them study for these tests? I guess this is just hard for me to comprehend. Growing up, education/school was the absolute #1 priority at our house, so I just can’t fathom not do everything you can to help your kids succeed.
Elizabeth went to the park today with her class. She was SO excited this morning. She was in my room at 6am asking if it was time to leave yet. When we finally got to school, I hardly had the car stopped before she was jumping out. I hope that they had a GREAT time. She has two more weeks of school. I am SO READY for summer!!!!

Various Stuff....

So, the Strawberry Festival was last week. We had a good time. Monday, we went to see fireworks. Amy kept saying “BOOM!!! You see dat, Mama? There be more, Mama! See?” Quite cute. She woke up the next morning saying “Mama, we saw the BOOMS! “ Tuesday night, Jason and I went to a fish fry at HRG in Humboldt. Wednesday we were going to go to the Carnival, but it had rained about 6 feet over the past 3 days, so we decided to skip it. Instead, we went for a walk down Main Street and had dinner from the street vendors. Corn dogs, baby!!!! On Thursday, Elizabeth went to work with me so we could watch the Jr. Floats Parade. We had a good time. I’d never seen it before. Basically, it’s a shorter version of the big parade, but all the floats are pulled by hand instead of by car/truck. On Friday, Memaw, the girls, and I went to the Grand Floats parade. It was good, but we sorely missed Jason being there with us. He was at work. Saturday, we had our own fish fry, and then scouted out some funnel cakes for dessert. ;) We were supposed to go to the car show, but it would have had to be a boat show instead. Jason, Elizabeth, and Memaw were going to go to the horse show on Friday night, but it’s been rescheduled for this weekend.
We have had some RAINY weather over the past week or so!!! Early Saturday morning, it was storming so bad that the motion sensitive car alarms in the neighborhood were going off, and I thought the windows were going to shatter from shaking so hard. Thankfully, we had no damage.
Thankfully, the rain has held off for the past day or so and the kids have been able to play outside. They are much happier when they can be outside…and so am I!
Elizabeth has a series of math tests she has to take at school. There are 5 tests, and you have to have a perfect score on each on before you can move on to the next one. So far, Elizabeth is the only child in her class that has made a perfect score on all of them. As of today, she was taking test 3, one other child was on test 2, and the rest of the class is still on test one. I’m not the least bit proud. HAHAHAH!
I am so ready for school to be over!!! E’s teacher this year has been WONDERFUL, but I am ready for a break. It’ll be nice to be able to drop both the kids off at the same place, not have to worry about getting to bed by 8, and not having to make sure teeth and hair are brushed and clothes match(on the kids)…they can do it at Memaw’s house!!!!

On another note, I have tried something new, and I like it. I’ve made my own laundry detergent!!! It is SO much cheaper, and works great! I would estimate a batch saves me at least $50 over the course of 3-4 months. Plus, it’s just cool to say I make my own detergent. HAHAHAH Now, I want to find a “recipe” for fabric softener.

We are very excited about our vacation this summer. We will be headed to Gatlinburg to meet up with some college buddies. I’m looking forward to being with old friends, and to the girls being able to play with all the kids! We are planning on going to the aquarium, which is always a favorite destination for me.

Here are a few pics...and you thought Easter Eggs were just for hiding....

:)

So, I don't know anything, but it's been a while, so I thought I'd update. We've been enjoying spring! Lots of time outside, lots of skinned knees, lots of dirty clothes. And, the kids have had some tumbles, too. HAHAHAHAH
We were able to head to Clarksville week before last for a few days. My aunt, uncle, and cousin came in from Maryland. It was great to see them, and nice to be home for a few days. We all had a good time.
I must admit that I am feeling a bit old this week. My baby sister turned 28 the day before yesterday. Man...That means that in one month, I will be 29 for the 4th time.
School should be winding down, but it seems as though they have even more to do now! Elizabeth has a good bit of homework every night. I guess they are preparing for the big second grade. I should not have a second grader!
Amy is truly all kid now, there is no more baby. While that is sad, she is so much FUN!!! She definitely has her own ideas about things, and does not hesitate to share them.
We are all looking forward to the Strawberry Festival next week. Unfortunately, Jason will not be able to go to the parade with us, but the girls and I will go with Memaw. Elizabeth and I will also go to the Jr. floats parade on Thursday. I have never been to that before! I divide my work days between the Jackson and Humboldt offices, and it was decided in the Humboldt office that I NEEDED to work here on Thursday, which just happens to be Jr. float day.
I have been working hard toward becoming a coupon diva. I have really been putting a concerted effort toward it, and I have managed to snag some GREAT deals lately! Every little bit adds up!
I'm off for now. Look for an update about the festival next week!
Have a great day!