Hi Everyone

Sorry I haven't been around but I have been working way too much. We are almost ready for Christmas, but not quite. Katie is singing in Church on Sunday, so that should be interesting. LOL They aren't real organized so I can't wait to see how it goes. They have a practice at 9 AM on Saturday that I was told Katie doesn't "have" to be at. I'm going to try to get her there though because I'm sure she'll need it - and I get a sneak peak. LOL

We will be leaving December 26th for Hawaii and coming home January 6th, so I have a good excuse for not being online during that time period. Well I think it's a good excuse.

So if I don't get back here before Christmas have a great one!!!!! Aloha!!!!

Uh oh... Houston we have a problem

Do you see this horse? It's name is Butterscotch. It moves it's head around, eats a carrot and may even sing I'm not sure. My daughter wants this for Christmas (among the other 500+ things she's found that she wants). This horse is not cheap. In the one catalog she was looking at it was priced at a whopping $300. I mentioned that this pony was REALLY expensive. Katie replied, "That's why I'm asking Santa for it."


Would I be a bad mom if I told her there wasn't a Santa?

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

I hope everyone enjoys their Thanksgiving! JC is working and as it stands right now, it appears that Miss Katie may be sick so it may be a quiet day for us. Unfortunately I did not grocery shop so we may have a problem when it comes to dinner. Ooops. Not that she'll miss turkey, stuffing, etc. but I will! Guess we'll just have to have a Thanksgiving dinner later. When JC is home to cook the turkey.

Katie is gearing up for Christmas by telling me that she wants everything she sees on TV. Kinda reminds me of last year. I am not ready for Christmas at all. I'm not ready for it to be November... wait, uh oh.

Well, everyone have a great holiday. I'll try to post more between work and work. Ugh.

I understand why tigers eat their young

I'm sitting here waiting for my daughter to finish her spinach. I could be here for a while. She has turned complaining about eating vegetables into an art. JC and I have both had to leave the room for a period of time because the frustration was overwhelming. Between the looks of agony and the fake gagging it's a dinner show, although maybe not one you would want to watch during dinner. Did I forget about the tears?


And I channeled my father. That's right. The words "You are not leaving this table until that spinach is gone" came out of my mouth. I actually remember, correctly or not, liking spinach myself, so I'm not sure that he said that to me - but I'm sure you could replace the word spinach with something else that would fit. Like maybe liver? (And I still don't like liver! Blech.)


So I am sitting here venting about this instead of sitting on top of her and force feeding her spinach. And thinking about tigers and how they may, at some point, have the right idea....


If you're looking for Halloween pictures - see below.....

Okay, okay, okay.... lol

When Roddy comes out of the woodwork to admonish me for not posting, I guess I have to find time to post. And time is really lacking around here these days. So here are a few pictures and please take a good look at the last one (or better yet don't) because it may not last too long. LOL

Katie was my little princess again this Halloween. I've heard that my dad got a really good shot of her, so I'm hoping he emails it to me so I can post it.



Here is the princess in school concentrating on decorating her trick or treat bag while enjoying a sucker.



Here is the family. If you don't know the movie, JC and I are dressed up like Jack & Sally from a nightmare before Christmas. VERRRRY unflattering, but the kids at school liked that I was dressed up. JC dressed up for trick or treating after school. I had to lose the wig, it kept moving around. I didn't wear it to the school because it kept falling forward and I didn't think that would work while I was trying to help the kids with cupcakes, etc.


Okay, now I'm getting candy cravings.... time to hit Katie's candy. LOL

Okay, is it odd that I'm excited?

Wednesday I am taking the day off for Halloween. Yes, it is a National holiday in our house. I'm excited because I am going to be in Katie's classroom for their festivities. I'm helping with the pizza lunch, getting the kids in their costume after lunch and I'm at the end of the parade to pick up the children that trip over their costumes. LOL Then they are having a party in their room. I HAVE to remember to bring my camera. After school we're going to trick or treating, but I'm really looking forward to the school festivities.

I'll be posting after Wednesday!

Pumpkin Farm Trip

Okay, you won't see any pumpkins in these pictures, so you're going to have to trust me on this one.

The close ups of Katie are on one of those whirling rides that was making me nauseous as my daughter kept yelling "faster, faster!!". I'm surprised the pictures came out as well as they did. I just wish she looked like she was having a good time.... lol.

I haven't forgotten about you...

A new post will be coming soon. I may have to tell you about how Katie wanted to move out Friday night because I wouldn't let her keep a giant stuffed cat... Yes, she even brings stuffed strays home. Or maybe my conversation with her regarding how she can't stop thinking about one of the boys in her classroom (he was also in her K class).... I'm not going to have to dye my hair soon. There won't be any left.

I lived through the field trip

We went to a nature preserve yesterday for Katie's field trip. It was fun, although keeping track of the four children that I was responsible for (Katie being one of them) was somewhat like what I imagine herding cats may be like. We went on a the hay ride first. I didn't really need to worry about my allergy to hay. Between my allergy to the outdoors and my migraine, the hay was the least of my worries. Actually, the low tree branches were my first concern. If it wasn't for a well timed "DUCK!" from my daughter I would have gotten smacked pretty hard with one of them. I also did not have a problem with chiggers.

After the hay ride we went inside and did a round of stations with different activities. I had to laugh that my daughter was the only one that knew exactly how to use a measuring tape. She loves those things and grabs JC's whenever she sees it to start measuring things. I've actually just started teaching her the difference between the sides of the tape (feet & inches vs. total inches). Once we did all the stations it was on to our nature walk. I thought for sure one of my boys was going to be lost in a waterfall but I was able to sprout two more hands and managed to keep all the children safe and dry. Then it was on to lunch and back on the buses.

All in all it was a good day. Katie had fun and I didn't want to shoot myself at the end. In fact, it was such a good day, that I told the teacher if she needed me on Halloween I would be taking the day off so would be available. She was very excited and told me that she would talk to me and we could plan it. Excuse me? Plan it? What just happened? Oh well, at least Halloween is my favorite holiday. But now I feel like I need a costume.....

Fieldtrip on Wednesday

I am taking Wednesday off to go on a field trip with Katie and her class. It involves a hayride. Did I mention I'm allergic to hay? I believe this child might end up killing me before the first frost can hit and save me. Actually, I really wanted to go on the field trip because Katie complained last year when I wasn't being a room mom. Of course, this year I try to sign up to be a room mom and my child leaves the form in her desk and never turns it in. I just can't win.

Sidewalk Fair

Katie's school had a sidewalk fair over the weekend. They sell a square of the sidewalk around the school for six dollars and give you pastels to draw a picture on the square. It's pretty amazing how many good artists are out there. There were even a few political statements - and this is from an elementary school! There was a square that said "Justice" and "Jena 6". There was an Obama square and then, of course, the local sport teams. And Sponge Bob. Plenty of Sponge Bob.


They also had animals there, which made Katie's day. She got to hold a rooster, a rabbit, a duck and touch an alligator and snake.


She drew out what she wanted to put on the sidewalk the night before (that's the drawing that she's holding up in the picture) and we tried to duplicate it on the sidewalk. I think we did a pretty good job. The towers got redecorated once we were there and there were a few more additions. The guard at the drawbridge is JC's, the dragon in the middle tower is mine (although JC drew the flames). I hadn't drawn flames because he was supposed to be sleeping per the "boss". She was not happy that JC had woke him up. LOL We had a good time though. It was totally worth the allergy problems I've been having all day. Did I mention I'm allergic to sidewalk chalk?

Update on baby fish

Baby fish are popping up one at a time while we're not looking. We currently have three baby fish swimming safely around the breeder tank. I'm sure some have been gobbled up since we have no idea who is actually having the babies so we can't stick the Mom in the breeder tank too. And we're thinking that the babies have already been born and some are just coming out of hiding, so we probably won't figure out who the Mom is unless the babies end up with her eyes. LOL

I need to figure out how to use smileycentral with Firefox. I miss my smileys. Does anyone know?

Ack! Our fish are having fish!

Sunday morning Katie was looking at her tank and said, "Mama, there's a baby fish in the tank." I asked her if she was sure it wasn't a piece of food and she was pretty adamant about it being a baby fish. JC went over to look and told me to come over, there definitely was a baby fish in the tank.

One baby fish. Do you see it coming?

Now, not having known fish to have one offspring and call it a day, I looked at JC and said quietly, I'm guessing there were more. He agreed. After they had walked away from the tank, I witnessed what can only be described as a convergence of half our tank in the corner that the baby had been swimming in. There was a lot of darting, pushing, chasing and then... no baby. Eek.

Katie was very upset with the fish that ate the baby - and I mean MAD not sad - and is planning on figuring out which one it was and putting them on punishment. Why are you asking me that? I don't know what kind of punishment you put fish on or how she's going to determine who should be punished. She may interrogate them, I have no idea.

We will be on the lookout for pregnant bellies (do fish have those?) so we can try to avoid the feeding frenzy in the future. I wonder how many males/females are in that tank? You know we buy them in pairs.....

I love my daughter, I love my daughter, I love my daughter

Here is the birthday card that I received from my daughter. Can I just say that it's a good thing that she's just learning to read and bought the card because she liked the fish? Needless to say, JC was quite relieved when instead of killing everyone in sight, primarily him for letting her get the card, I laughed so hard I started crying. Katie, of course, had no idea why I thought the card was so funny. And had anybody else given it to me, I wouldn't have. Lucky girl. This one is getting put away so I can show her what a trouble maker she was. LOL

Two Momentous Events

But before we get to that, I promised you pictures. These are from the water park at the Zoo. The many faces of Katie. LOL



I love this picture.


Okay, maybe I am a bit chilly???

Okay, now to the stories. The first one has me finally victorious in war of wills with my child. Since school has started, I've been making Katie's lunch. Knowing that she likes peaches, I bought cups of diced peaches that she could take with her. I thought it would be easier, and cleaner, than her eating a whole peach. After I bought the peaches, Katie told me that she did not want them, would not try them and basically wanted nothing to do with them. We argued back and forth because she likes peaches, but was convinced she would not like these.


So I told her that she could not have dessert until she tried the peaches. That was Wednesday. So since then, she would ask for dessert and I would ask if she was going to try the peaches. She'd say no and I'd say, okay, no dessert. She said she was never going to try them and I said that she wouldn't be getting dessert until she did.


Tonight while we were eating dinner, Katie said that she was saving room for dessert. Thinking that she had forgotten, I asked her if she was going to try the peaches. She said YES!!!! Then she told JC that she thought she wasn't going to get dessert again until she moved out of the house unless she tried the peaches.


So I won. I won. I won, I won, I won. Finally.

The other news is that Katie lost her second tooth in her sleep last night. It just fell out. LOL She rolled over and onto it. So she woke up, picked it up and took it into the bathroom to see what it was. Once she figured it out, she realized that she was bleeding and blotted her mouth. And kept the tissue she used to show it to me this morning. I have no idea why she didn't wake me up, but she handled the whole thing herself.


Oh! And she has a theory. She thinks that the tooth fairy collects the baby teeth that kids lose and gives them to babies who haven't gotten their teeth yet.

We made it through a week

Okay, first week of school accomplished. She appears to like it, although she really appears to like JC and I taking her and picking her up too. And so did I. I may have to sneak a few more of those in during the year. She has not had any homework yet, although she did forget to bring her folder home on Friday, so I can't say that for sure. If she doesn't start getting homework soon, we're going to have to continue with the books we bought for her to work on over the summer. I think maybe they are just testing to see what everyone knows after their individual kindergarten experiences. I'm hoping that's it anyway. I do like her teacher though, she's very nice.


We are going to go to the zoo today, so hopefully I'll have some pictures to share.

1st Day of school - part 2

We walked to school today. I was testing her on spelling words while we walked. I'm sure that she couldn't wait to get to school - and away from me.


You can't see it, but her backpack - which she picked out - says "It's hard being this cute". I rolled my eyes so hard when I heard that I was afraid they were going to stick that way. To be fair, she liked the picture of the cat, and didn't know what it said.


And here she is before we started walking. She was ready to go back. And really enjoyed her first day - of course, homework starts tomorrow so who knows if that will last. LOL She did think that a full day meant she'd be coming home around the time I got home from work, so she was pleasantly surprised to be home as early as she was.

Is it possible

to go through post partem six years later? Katie starts 1st grade tomorrow and I don't want her to. I want her to stay home and play. She can learn later. Okay, I don't mind her learning, but does she have to go to school to do it? I know the answer to that question is yes, but I still don't like it. When she was trying to convince me that 1/2 days should continue until 2nd grade, I started thinking it was a pretty good idea.

She is looking forward to school. She just told me as I put her to bed that she had a big day ahead of her tomorrow. We both do. I might stay in bed under the covers though.