Carol's Ramblings - The Ramblings of a Homeschool Mom...

Busy again? Still? Always!

2011-01-29T19:26:00.004-06:00

It seems that we are about to start a busy time in our lives again. Madison and Cathryn are in the beginning days of soccer. We had Cathryn's parent meeting today and all the girls except 1 will be back from last season. Cathryn is thrilled about that. Madison has a practice tomorrow. We decided to pull her from Academy soccer since we are not going Select next year and put her in Rec. soccer. She is happy with the decision - so far. She says she just wants to play soccer and she doesn't care where it is. She has missed it so much. She is antsy to get back on the field.

In addition to soccer, Cathryn is continuing with gymnastics. Last week I found out that she is moving classes again. This time she is moving to the Red Team class. Its still two classes a week, but they are now an hour and a half long. She is so excited. She thinks she has hit the big time. The Red Team is the group waiting to be on the big team - The Gold Team. Some of the older girls (late 6yrs and 7yrs and up) are competing and Cathryn can not wait until she can.

In addition to being on the Red Team, she will also continue with her special tumbling class. She absolutely loves that class. Its a by invitation only (by the head coach) and when we started in the Fall, there were 8 girls. Last night I think I counted 12 in the class. They have all come a long way. The head coach said that he has noticed a big change in Cathryn's maturity (as a gymnast) since she has started in the tumbling class. I have noticed that her bum is getting round...so cute

After this coming week, when gymnastics is done with their annual testing, Cathryn will be moving to her new class. That is when the "fun" will begin. There will be something going on every evening until Saturday. M/W/F Cathryn gymnastics - T - Madison soccer - Th - Cathryn soccer. Then Saturdays will be fun - two games to divide my time in when I can.

Tony is coaching Cathryn's team again (which he loves) and I am the manager. I will need to be at as many games as possible because of that. I am hoping that there aren't too many conflicts between the girls' games so that we can be at both. Next weekend Tony is going to a Coaching clinic offered through our Soccer Association. Once he has finished the clinic he will be registered as a class "E" coach. I am so proud of him for doing this. His goal is to make an auxillary team for Cahtryn's team. One that will be fewer girls and more competitive. One that plays in 3v3 tournaments and such. We talked with a couple of the parents that we want on board with this today after the parent meeting and they are very interested in it as well.

In addition to this we are in the midst of Co-Op and trying to get school in. Cathyrn finished her Kindergarten math (she started last spring) and we are moving into 1st Grade math. She thinks that is pretty cool. Madison is pressing on with her work. She has hit a few walls, but we are working through them and she is progressing along nicely.

I'm Back...

2011-01-22T18:41:00.002-06:00

I was just starting to roll with all my organizing and blogging. Then my computer crashed - again - and all my plans for blogging had been set aside. I am still in the process of getting my home organized. The kitchen is looking much better. I hit a snag when I cleaned out my pantry though. I like to use plastic storage containers for various things in the pantry. It not only looks nice, but it also keeps things sealed away from the elements. Anyway, when I cleaned out the pantry, I ended up with a few of the containers that were not being used. I washed them, then realized I have no where to store them..hmmm...

I went to the grocery store the other day and was so bummed. I had planned on putting the grocery receipt here so I could begin tracking our spending somewhat. Well, with the crash, I just threw away the receipt. I have a dilemma with our grocery budget. In the grocery allotment of our budget it also includes household products. That makes it really tough. As an example. I spent a total of about $140. Of that amount over $50 was for non food items that were needed such as razors for my husband and laundry detergent along with other necessitites. All in all, my grocery portion was only about $85. I think that is awesome!!

Well, as you can see, my computer is back up and running - yeah!! So I will try to get back into the groove of blogging more.

Adult ADD

2011-01-11T20:44:00.005-06:00

I have so many ideas in my head right now, I wonder if I will ever see them go from thought to reality.

My plan for yesterday was to start working on organizing my kitchen, but I was side tracked all day. Every time I would get close to getting done enough with what I had to do in order to begin my organizing, something would pull me away. Either one or the other of the girls would need something, the laundry buzzer would go off, or I would have a thought - go act on it and get sidetracked.

I never thought I was a candidate for ADD, but when I think about it, I am so totally in that category. I blame my children because I am a focused multi-tasker....ok, in my head maybe. That is the way I USED to be - until I had children - see why I blame them? LOL

I do love my children dearly and love my life at home

with them. I would not trade it for the world. I have just pinpointed an area that I need to work on.

Yesterday, I made Roast Chicken in the crockpot. It was so good. I paired it with a bag of steamer veggies and couscous. Madison and I made chocolate chip cookies too.

I also put together a baked oatmeal recipe for this morning's breakfast. Last night, I was able to finish a goal and I am very proud of myself.

A few months ago (in an effort to spark Madison's interest) I began reading the C.S. Lewis series, The Chronicles of Narnia. I completed the final book last night/this morning. I was up until after 1am finishing the final book, The Last Battle. My favorite book is the 2nd book, The Lion, th Witch and the Wardrobe followed by either The Magicians Nephew or The Horse and His Boy. The other books in the series were ok, but those were my favorites. I am looking forward to seeing The Dawn Treader, but I can wait until its either at The Red Box or on Netflix.

I am now going to tackle the Little House Series. I am teaching The World of Little House at Co-Op so I want to read the books to refresh my memory on them.

I am also teaching another class at Co-Op. I'm teaching Creation Science to Pre-K/Kindergarteners. It ought to be interesting. The lesson plans I was given are for 1st-2nd grades...Ugh. There is no way I am going to be able to use those. I thought I would be able to when I originally signed on to teach Kindergarteners. However, with the 4yr olds, I am going have to do some more basic things. So, I am in the midst of doing up some lesson plans.

I was up to Week 7 of my plans when I called it quits last night. I just couldn't concentrate for very long. Later last night, Tony told me that the computer crashed - AGAIN! UGH!!! That is the 3rd time in a year that our computer has crashed. The worst part...I lost all the work I had done on the lesson plans. I am so bummed!!! Also, I had finally gotten all my bookmarks, etc. set from the last time the computer crashed (about 2 months ago). It is soooo frustrating!!

I am currently using the old laptop that we allow the girls to use...man is this thing in need of replacement!! It is old...the "v" key is missing, it will abritrarily start typing on a different line then where you are...and some of the other keys stick. I will persevere though!

Anyway, today I had hopes again of getting into the kitchen organization. However, since I was so tired this morning after my late night I was behind in getting anything done.

I did get up early enough to put the Baked Oatmeal in the oven for breakfast. It was good. Both girls liked it.

I dont know if it was me, or the girls themselves, but they argued and bickered all day. It took Cathryn over an hour this morning to do her math..ugh. It normally takes her about 20min. to get all of her work done. Madison worked rather diligently today, which was a good thing.

Anyway, tomorrow is another day and I am determined to start on the kitchen organization. Wish me luck!

Getting my life in order.

2011-01-09T22:39:00.004-06:00

In an earlier post I mentioned that I finally got around to cleaning out the closet in our bedroom. That made me think of all the other areas in our apartment that could use an organizational overhaul.

My next organizing project is my petite kitchen. I am trying to think differently about my kitchen. It is the one thing I don't like about our apartment. Since we moved in, I have called it the Hobbit kitchen..lol. I am trying to think of it as petite and not Hobbit-ish. It is the smallest kitchen I have ever had the "pleasure" of using. There is no counter space to do a

ny real elaborate cooking in and there really isn't enough storage. I loved the kitchen I had in our rental house. There was space galore and plenty of storage. I guess after having the luxury of that kitchen, everything else will have a hard time measuring up.

As you can see by the pictures that it really needs help. I am going to reorganize the pantry, cabinets, and counter tops to try and make it a little easier to work in. I am trying to find the positive and I am very thankful that I do have a stove that works well and a dishwasher!!

When I get my project complete I will post pictures. Hopefully there will be a noticeable difference in the before and after.

Today's grocery bill

2011-01-09T14:34:00.007-06:00

Ok, my goal for this week was to spend as little as possible at the grocery store. I was trying to hit between $35 and $40. My total was $46.97. I think I would have been in a better range of my goal if I had gone to Walmart to shop. Instead, because its snowing and my visibility was limited, I opted to go around the corner to our local Kroger. I did look for the deals on the things that I was needing which helped a little bit, but probably not as good of deals as I could have gotten at Walmart. I may go on a fact finding mission this week and compare my purchases - just to see which is better for us.

Anyway, my bill was as follows:

24pk Kroger water - $2.50

Box Barella Pasta - $1.00

Kroger Brand Frosted Flakes Cereal - $1.67

Kroger Brand Cocoa Crispies - $1.67

1 gal. 2% Milk - $2.49 (I thought it was $1.88...hmm...I guess I misread the sign - that must have been the milk that was in front of a lady that camped out in front of the milk case...ugh)

6 - Gala apples - $2.00 (they were 3/$1.00)

6 - Granny Smith apples - $2.00 (they were 3/$1.00)

Kroger Orange Juice - $1.99

1 bag - Clementine oranges - $3.99

Flour - $1.34

applesauce - $1.48

Craisins - $2.50

Pizza Sauce - $1.49

Spaghetti Sauce - $1.85

Old Fashioned Oats - $1.19

Whole Chicken - $4.73 (the cheap brand - $.88/lb)

White onions - $.93

Grapes - $3.74 (this was a big splurge...I saw them and thought that would be a nice change of fruit)

Bananas - $.95

According to my sales receipt, I saved $5.88. I guess thats a good savings.

The only thing I did not get because they didnt have any was ground turkey. That can usually be picked up at Kroger for $2.49 for between 1 and 1 1/2 lbs. I will go back later this week

Now that I am paying attention to the prices of what I bought, if I had not purchased the 2 "splurge" items - grapes and craisins (which totalled $6.24) I would have only been $.74 over my budget..hmmm...I need to rethink my "spur of the moment" spending.

New Year's Bandwagon

2011-01-08T14:20:00.006-06:00

There has been a lot of buzz since the new year about people getting organized, starting and/or trying to stay on a budget etc. and I have caught the wave..lol.

Last month (before Christmas shopping) Tony and I had a discussion about our finances and budgeting. My detailed husband made up a budget that accounted for everything in our lives and it looks pretty good - on paper. Reality, eh, not so much -so far!

One of our goals is to hopefully be able to take an actual family vacation this year. Our long term goal is to save for a house. That is a wonderful dream that I would really like to become a reality.

So - I have been reading a plethora of blogs these days about saving money on groceries and I am ready for the challenge of reducing our grocery budget in order to save more money. I love the idea of using coupons to the max and getting money back at the end of my trip..however, the reality is that I don't use coupons very often because the things we usually buy don't normally come with coupons.

I know people who "save big" because they use coupons. My question is - do they shop for things that they normally would and the coupons are a handy way of saving? Or - do they shop based on the coupons and their eating habits have been changed to accomodate the "savings" that they receive?

I think I'm going to do as some others have done and post my grocery buys so I can track how I am doing on our budget. I am also going to try to cut down on the little trips to the store because I forgot something or I think of something different than what I originally planned on. That will be hard for me but I'm going to try.

I'm also going to try and do a better job in other areas of my life to stay organized. There are some days when I feel like I am being pulling in a lot of different directions and by the end of the day, I am worn out and can't think anymore.

Busy Busy Busy

2010-11-02T11:44:00.004-06:00

I know it's been a while since I have posted, but things always get in the way. We had a busy summer doing I don't know what, but it seemed that we were constantly on the go. We are well underway in our school year and other fall activities. We are almost done with Co-Op for the semester which will be nice. For some reason, I am not enjoying it this semester as I have in previous semesters. Maybe I just need a break. The girls are loving it.

Soccer is winding down for the season. Madison is on the Dallas Texans and they have had a so-so season. Cathryn is also playing soccer on a rec. team. When I signed her up, the organization sent out an email asking for team volunteers. We signed up late, so I was excited to see that Cathryn had made it on a team. I signed up to volunteer as what I thought would be team mom. My thought was that meant I would send out emails regarding snacks...LOL. Boy was I wrong. I am the manager. The first task I had as manager was to secure a coach for the team...WHAT?? That was just nuts. I was telling Tony that and he is now the coach of Cathryn's team - The Tigerettes.

I don't know who is enjoying the team more, Tony or Cathryn. Tony has been amazing with the girls. They all listen to him and respond well to him. Its so cute. The team has only lost 2 games and both were due to the other teams not following the rules about allowing girls to stand in the goal. Cathryn is loving it too. She gets out on the field and dominates most of the time. We are contemplating putting her on an academy team with the Dallas Texans to see how she does with that, but we are still in the thinking stages of that. The main thing would be the monthly fee...and is it worth it at this age to spend that much to play soccer or would she have just as much fun on the rec team at a much lower financial output from us. Its a hard decision for sure.

Madison's soccer team is playing in 2 leagues this Fall. They are doing ok in each. It think its alittle much for them because sometimes they have 3 games a weekend. Friday/Saturday/Sunday some weekends. That is challenging for all involved. I am looking forward to the season to be over and we start indoor. I think it will be more relaxed and indoor - no weather issues.

In addition to all the soccer we do during the week, Cathryn is continuing with gymnastics. She absolutely loves it. She tumbles everywhere she can these days. The head coach pulled me aside last Spring and told me that he wanted to invite Cathryn into a special tumbling class he does in the Fall...well, she is taking the class and is LOVING it. The class is usually on Friday evenings but they had a make up class last night. They were doing some things differently than they do in their normal class because there was a class of older girls going on so they couldn't use some of the equipment that they normally use. Cathryn is learning to do back and front handsprings. At first, I was skeptical that she was understanding what they wanted her to do, but last night she was spot on. She is really catching on...its fun to watch her. I am very proud of her accomplishment with her gymnastics. She is one of the youngest in her regular group in regular class as well as the youngest in the tumbling class. This is another dilemma that we face..do we continue with her gymnastics and set soccer aside, or allow her to do both on limited basis, or what. So many things to think about.

I didn't have the opportunity to do many things when I was growing up and I vowed to let my children explore any and all their interests. I love that both of my girls are athletic. I only wish they would also allow themselves to be girls too..lol. They are both such tomboys-ugh!

Our life is busy, but I wouldn't trade it for the world. Do I get tired of all the driving around? Yes, do I get tired of sitting around waiting during practices? Yes Do I love seeing the looks on my girls' faces when they are doing what they love? YES! That is why I wouldnt trade it for the world.

Life must have been going too well...

2010-03-18T06:09:00.002-06:00

Just when things seem to be running smoothly and everything is status quo...God has a way of shaking up my life.

There have been a few changes in the Rosenberg household and so far things have been going somewhat smoothly.

After the first of the year, we began back to school after our Christmas break and got back into our routine of adding Co-Op to our weekly schedule as well. Madison was in the midst of indoor soccer and Cathryn was loving her new gymnastics class.

At the beginning of February, after Madison's coach had Madison play goalie a few times, I asked him if he was going to continue to utilize her in the goal because if so, we wanted to get her some training so she could be a more dynamic goal tender. I was told during this conversation with her coach that she was no longer a good fit for the team. That he was asking that she no longer be a part of the team. What?? She is one of the best players on the team. What do you mean she isn't a good fit. Well, I may be a bit slow, but I got it. When he first came on board as coach, he and Madison had butt heads. Madison is resistant to change and moving her from a team where she liked the coach to a new coach was a bit of a transition for her and they clashed a few times. So, instead of working with her, the coach had plunked her on defense (which she doesn't like, but is very good at) and kept her there for the remainder of the season. Tony and I had had long hard talks with her about her attitude and we had started to see great improvement in her. Unfortunately her coach had not. He was so enamored with 1 player and all her buddies that she was bringing along with her, that he just wrote Madison off.

So, with that we left the club and started a search for a new one. We had knocked around the idea of just stopping soccer, but she loves it so much it seemed a shame to make her quit. So, off we went to various practices looking for a team where she felt she would be a good fit. After visiting with about 3 teams Madison decided that she liked the Sting soccer club. She has loved every minute of being on the team and is doing very well. She is playing different positions at different times which I like...she isnt being stuck somewhere. This team is really looking forward with the girls. They are not only playing 9v9 but they are also playing up a year and playing 11v11. Playing up gives them the opportunity to learn to play on a bigger field and with more players, which they will begin doing in the fall anyway. This way they will be better prepared.

They have really held their own as well. They have won a couple of games and lost a couple, but all in all they are doing extremely well.

The schedule is hectic and we have had some challenges along the way, but I think we are finally getting handle on it all.

Another glitch to our schedule is Cathryn is playing soccer as well. One of the coaches for Madison's team also coaches an '04 team unofficially for Sting. They play games once a week and have 1 practice a week. Cathryn has found her goal in life. She is one of the top scorers on her team. At a game a couple of weeks ago, the parents were saying to watch out for #5 (Cathryn) she's really good. She is so cute out there. She gets the ball and goes.

So you can see how busy our schedule is. Add to that Cathryn's gymnastics 2x a week and my calendar is full. I went so far as to color code the activities on the calendar.

We are still in the midst of Co-Op as well. We will be finished mid April so we still have a few weeks to go.

On top of all this and as if this wasn't enough, we are in the midst of moving as well. It has been a decision that we have been bouncing around for awhile now. We are trying to save money. We found an apartment that was a great price and in a great location for most of the girls activities and an easier commute for Tony.

I am finding it a bit challenging to fit everything in. We are used to having a house with lots of storage and I need to remember to be creative with storage here. I think once we get everything in the new place, then I can begin really concentrating on where to put everything.

So, just when things were going smoothly and everything was trudging along (the first of the year) then God decides to change things up a bit...so here we are. I am typing this surrounded by boxes and chaos, but its a good thing. I think once we get over the stress of the move and everything is put away, I am sure I will be able to sit back, relax, and enjoy life again. I have declared that we are offiicially on spring break. We are on our spring break from Co-Op as well as soccer and gymnastics. This all happened at the same time which helps a lot. Im not sure if we will do school next week or not. We will see how the rest of this week goes. The girls are happy with no school. They are able to go out and enjoy the nice weather we have been having as well.

Happy New Year

2010-01-06T14:25:00.008-06:00

Wow, I didn't realize until the other day, that I haven't updated my blog since the end of August.

Co-Op started the beginning of September and it went by very quickly. No sooner did I find my stride; it was over. The girls really enjoyed their classes too. Madison took an Excellence In Writing class and really did well according to her teacher. I am glad because she doesn't like to write. I hope that after next semester I will be able to see some of the things she has been learning transcend into her work at home. We will see. Cathryn's class this year is going well. Mrs. Yarnell has set up different centers this year. There is a home center where they can play house and with dolls, there is a sand table where they play with different things like rice/corn meal/bird seed, etc. There is a center where they can practice writing their letters and numbers and there is a science center complete with a pet turtle. The kids love that.

Madison's fall soccer season began and the girls did really well. I was really impressed. They played in a league where they were challenged but not defeated. They won a few, lost a few and tied a few. A very good season all around. We are now in the midst of indoor and can not wait for it to be over - except for the fact that it will be outdoor and really really cold still.

Cathryn is continuing in gymnastics and loving every minute of it. She was in a homeschool class with 5-6 girls ranging in age from 4-8. Her coach pulled me aside after a class and told me that we need to move Cathryn to another class. That she was better than the other girls and it wasn't fair to hold her back. So, now Cathryn is going to a different class 2 times a week. There are about 10-12 girls in the whole class but they are broken down into smaller groups and she has found her niche. She is in a group with girls that are about her ability. We went one day to see how she would like it and before we could ask her how it went, she said, "Mom, I loved it - can I come back tomorrow?" She loves every minute of it. She really likes the fact that "Miss Emily" is there. She is a young woman that helped out in her other class for a little while last year and she really liked her. That was a big plus for the class as well.

Tony ran his first Half-Marathon this winter. He had a lot of fun and made it through the whole thing. I am very proud of him. The girls and I met him at the finish line. We took the DART train into Dallas to where the race was and the girls absolutely loved it. Now Tony is starting to train for a full marathon in April - in Oklahoma City. We are hoping to make a mini vacation out of it. That should be fun and I will be ready for a break about then too.

Christmas came and went. Tony's mom and Ashli came up to spend Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. They left on Saturday after watching Madison play soccer in a tournament. We got snow on Christmas Eve which was a nice surprise. According to the news, that was the first time (on record) that it has snowed in the Dallas area on Christmas Eve.

The New Year is here and we have started back to school this week. Its been a challenge for all of us to stay on track and get back into the routine. We are making it through though. Co-Op starts back up the last Monday of January. I am glad that my classes were picked up again and there is no real prep to be done. I have 4 Which Way USA books to put together, but that isn't hard.

That is the latest update. Hopefully I will take the time to update sooner than I did this time, but we will see...

We Made It!

2009-08-21T10:47:00.003-06:00

We made it through our first week of school!! Yeah!! It went relatively smoothly too. Madison started 4th grade work which this week was mostly review for her. She is doing a Bible Devotional, Handwriting, Spelling, Reading, English, and Math daily. On Tuesdays through Thursday we are also adding History and Science. One week we do History on Tuesdays and Thursdays and Science on Wednesdays. Then the next week we will do Science on Tuesdays and Thursdays and History on Wednesdays. I am hoping that will help us to get everything done in the end.

Madison's history is 3rd grade, but we started on the Bob Jones history late so we are catching up. We didn't start using the history curriculum until last year and we have read through the 1st grade book and the 2nd grade book. Its American History so I wanted to start at the beginning so we are still catching up. My thought is that if we go through the 3rd grade as we did the 2nd grade, we should be up to speed on 4th grade by Christmas. Then we will take our time with it and work through it as long as it takes..even if it goes into summer.

For science this year, we are determined to get through it. Science has been an easy subject to push aside for us and I don't want to do that this year. We purchased an Apologia Science book on Zoology which I think will engage both Madison and Cathryn. Its about land animals. My goal is to have Cathryn sit with us while we discuss the lessons and she can do the experiments with us.

Cathryn has been eager to start school too. She is doing really well with what she is willing to work on. I have the intentions to teach her to read (because she is ready) along with learning phonics and math. She is doing great with the phonics and math. She excitedly opens her books and diligently does the work. When it comes to the reading program, she says she doesn't want to do it. To help with her counting I made a chart with numbers up to 100 that we pull out each day and review. She read all the way through the chart the other day and announced that she had learned to read. She is content just knowing how to read numbers...lol...silly kid!

I will try again next week with the reading. I don't know what her issue is with the book that we have, but she closes it if I open it. Crazy...but I am not giving up!

So, all in all, it was a great first week back at school!!!

Words...

2009-07-16T08:04:00.004-06:00

From the beginning of Time we have used words and gestures to relay all kinds of things. I have a facebook account and have found some dear old friends on there. One of my dear friends (Sami Keenan) happened to post Proverbs 16:24 which I thought was perfect for today!

Proverbs 16:24 "Pleasant words are like honeycomb, Sweetness to the soul and health to the bones."

That is so true. Words are important and we need to remember that. They have such power. They can lift you up off the ground with words like "I Love You" or they can pound you into the ground with words like "I Hate You".

From this I began thinking about some things that were said in recent days that should never have been said. The words have been deleted, changed and justifiyed but it doesn't change the fact that they were said.

Matthew 12:34-35 talks about this. It says "You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him."

I strive to bring Honor to God. I fall short of this sometimes, but that doesnt mean that I dont still strive to Honor Him.

I am not the evil person that some preceive me to be. I am not the "bad guy" the "monster" or the awful person that some people HOPE I will be to justify their ill feelings in life. I have tried over the years to changes peoples preception of who I am to no avail. I have done nothing to warrent the ill feelings. I may not be the ideal person in every situation, but God has directed my life and He has put me into these situations and I don't question Him on too many things.

I do not go out of my way to bring conflict into my life. I rather like my little boring life. I don't enjoy drama in real life. It belongs on television or in the movies. I thought I was through with all that when I was younger, but people try to bring more and more drama into my life and I will not accept it anymore.

The moral of the story is; if you feel the need to be ugly, stop and pray first and ask God to direct your thoughts and actions..this way you don't need to write a retraction or apologize to someone.

There is another verse that I love from Ephesian 4. Ephesians 4:29 says, "Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouthes, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that may benefit those who listen."

I used to teach jr high girls in Sunday School years ago and I used the phrase "Build up or shut up" to paraphrase this verse. Good words to live by.

Getting Ready for Fall..

2009-07-09T14:58:00.002-06:00

I know, its 100 degrees and we should be enjoying all the things that Summer offers so why am I thinking about Fall?

Well, I am beginning to start thinking in earnest about our next school year. The girls are enjoying time off, but Cathryn is really ready to start school. I bought her a little workbook that I thought would keep her content and she has finished it. She has really been working on letter sounds which will be beneficial for what I want to accomplish with her next year.

I have purchased everything that we will need as far as curriculum is concerned. Madison is going to continue using Bob Jones Press which she had great success with. I have looked at other things to do with her, but I don't want to continually switch and then she miss something crucial.

Madison had a hard time last year with the writing portion of her English program, but I am hoping for a better year this year, since from what I have seen, the writing will be similar to what she has already done. She is also going to be starting a class at Co-Op called Excellence In Writing which from everything I have read and heard is a great program. Accordingly, once the students have completed all 4 semesters of this class, they will be able to write ANYTHING, which will help when Madison is in high school and college.

With Cathryn, I am planning on using a few different things. I will be starting her with Explode The Code which is a phonics curriculum. I am also going to start with the book Teach your Child to Read in 100 Easy lessons. I have heard some really good things about it so we will see how it works with "Miss Thing". To round out her schooling, I am going to use Horizon's Math level Kindergarten. I looked through several Preschool and Kindergarten math books and thought this would be a good place for us to start. This summer we have been working on her counting skills and number recognition. Other than that, I think I will fill in as time allows with different things in other areas of learning, but we will see.

Madison likes to have me right there while she does her school work and now that I need to be working with Cathryn, I won't be able to do that. We bought her a desk for in her room and the idea is that I instruct her in a couple of subjects and then she goes and does the independent work in her room. We will see how well this goes.

I am really excited about this year. Cathryn is excited even if Madison isn't really. I keep telling Madison that the older she gets the harder school gets - even though she hasn't found anything hard about school yet. She doesn't like to write so she says its hard. She doesn't like working out her math problems, so she says its hard. There is nothing that she is doing that is way over her head. She just doesn't want to work at it sometimes. Then other times, I can't keep up with her. Crazy!

So, in the next few weeks we will be school supply shopping and then we will be set for school. Cathryn is excited about starting back at Co-Op too. The teacher that she has had since we started C0-Op is moving up with that class which is nice. She is an awesome teacher!! I have heard other mom's say that she isn't allowed to move up any more so that their children can enjoy her as a teacher too. Cathryn told me the other day that we needed to go back to Co-Op so she could meet her new friends. There are a couple of new families that have children her age. I thought that was so sweet!

Good Recipes

2009-06-11T16:01:00.004-06:00

Since Tony had his heart attack our eating habits have changed quite a bit. We no longer eat red meat. I, occasionally, will have a hamburger, but other than that, we eat only turkey, chicken, fish and sometimes lean pork. He says that red meat tastes metallic to him and the few things he has tried to eat, he found he couldn't eat it all.

I have used ground turkey for everything I would use ground meat for. I haven't tried meatloaf yet, but my family never really liked meatloaf so its no big deal.

I thought since I have found some really good recipes, I would post them here..mainly so you can enjoy them as well and so I can keep better track of my recipes. I don't use my recipe books very often, but I print tons of recipes from the internet. I have a large binder that I put them in and lately I havent taken the time to put them in properly. By properly, I mean that I use sheet protectors and categorize the recipes. So, they are just in the binder loosely and I have a hard time finding what I want. So I thought this would be a good way for me to cross reference them. I am not going to go wild and add pictures or anything, but I will put the ingredients used which sometimes vary slightly from the original recipe, but I will indicate the original ingredient and the changes will be in ().

Tonight for dinner I am making a Chipotle Chicken Taco Salad. This recipe came from http://www.cookinglight.com/.

Dressing:
1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro
2/3 cup light sour cream
1 Tbsp minced chipotle chile, canned in adobo sauce (I put the rest in a little bowl and put in the refigerator for another time)
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp chili powder
4 tsp fresh lime juice
1/3 tsp salt

Salad:
4 cups shredded romaine lettuce (I bought the ready chopped bag of romaine)
2 cups chopped roasted skinless, boneless chicken breasts (about 2 breasts) ((I roasted the breasts in the oven with salt, pepper, and garlic powder)
1/2 cup diced peeled avocado
1/3 cup thinly vertically sliced red onion
1 (15oz) can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 (8 3/4oz) can no-salt added whole - keernel corn, rinsed and drained (I used frozen corn instead)

To prepare dressing: combine first 7 ingredients stir well. (I refrigerated this for about an hour before serving.)

To prepare salad: combine lettuce and remaining ingredients in a large bowl. Drizzle dressing over salad; toss gently to coat. Serve immediately.

I took this idea from another recipe: I took some heavy duty tin foil and made 3 - (about) 3in. balls. I took 3 low fat flour tortillas and sprayed them with some olive oil cooking spray and draped them over the foil balls. I placed them in a 425 degree oven for 6 minutes. They crisped up into taco salad bowls.

It was a good salad, but the dressing was a bit spicy due to the chipotle chiles. Also, I didnt mix the dressing in with the salad. I had it in a bowl on the side. I was concerned about Madison liking it because of the spiciness, but she liked it a lot.

Anyway, check back next week. I am planning on making a couple of more recipes that I found that sound really good.

Don't ever think it can't happen to you

2009-06-09T07:12:00.003-06:00

With the economy the way it is and the craziness of the banking industry, Tony decided that we should switch from a big bank to a credit union.

In the beginning of May we went over to a local credit union to open a new account. While we are filling out the paperwork and the account officer is inputting our information into their system, he asked me if I had opened and closed any accounts in the last two or three years. I told him we have been with the same bank for eons so, no I haven't opened or closed any other bank accounts. He looked alittle deeper and said that an "Eric ?" had opened and closed a couple of accounts in Salem, Oregon. I said I don't know any "Eric ?" and I don't know how he got my information. Well....................

I went home really creeped out by the whole thing. I pullled my credit report and there was nothing on there that wasn't ours. I did some research on the internet and decided to call our police department to see what I needed to do if anything. They told me to do exactly what I had already done and to see if the bank could give us any more information because if I wanted to file a report, there really isn't much to go on.

First thing Monday morning I went back to the bank to talk to the bank manager to see if she could help me further than the account person could. She called Check Systems and explained the situation and they said that they would launch an investigation and get back with me within 15-30 days. Well, time went by and I called CheckSystems a couple of times and got no where. I called back the other day (which was over the 30 day time line) and they told me that they have cleared my records with them to show only my name associated with my social security number.
That was just a small part of the issue. While I was talking with Check Systems they started spitting out phone numbers that I would need to call to look further into the matter. See, Check Systems doesnt so anything really except to verify ID...what a waste of 30 days in my opinion. Anyway, come to find out that the person who stole my ss# has used it with 3 different banks. I was informed of 2 when we were trying to establish an account.

So, on Monday I spent all morning on the phone. I called the banks in question to let them know the situation and the last one that I talked to was a Credit Union. While talking with them the fella I was talking with whispered that it would be a good idea to start a criminal investigation. Wow, that was a bit creepy. Apparently, from what the fella DIDNT say, the person in question still had an open account with them.

Hanging up with the Credit Union I called their local police department only be told that since I didnt live in their city or state for that matter, I needed to call my local police department and work through them...ugh...so, off I go calling the local police department who asked why was I calling them. After the public safety officer and Ifinished laughing, she said that she would be happy to turn my case over to the proper people in the police department and they would handle the investigation on my behalf.

I forgot to mention the really ironic part of this little story....the theft happened in Salem, Oregon. I used to live in Salem over 20 years ago. The first bank that came up was the bank that I used. That was what made this whole thing very creepy. I think the person is a transient or migrant worker type person since the issue is only with banking.

So, as of today, there is a criminal investigation for identity theft. If we hadn't decided to change banks, I probably would never have known this was going on.

Crazy, huh?

Never think it couldn't happen to you..because it just might.

New Endeavor

2009-06-08T12:41:00.007-06:00

Years ago (ok it was only 4, but it seems like YEARS AGO), while I was pregnant with Cathryn, a girl that was in my MOPS group made me a couple of recieving blankets and burp cloths. They were the most awesome things I have received. The blankets were actually big enough to swaddle a baby (ok, not Cathryn because she would have nothing to do with that) as well as cover them while sleeping. They are light weight enough to be used year round, even in Texas. As you can see, I fell in love with them. They measure about 36"x 44" so they are really a nice size. They can be used as I said, to actually swaddle a baby. The receiving blankets that you buy in the store can't even swaddle a baby doll very well. They have many other uses as well. They are big enough to drape over a baby carrier or stroller to block out the sun, but not be so stiffling for the baby. They are great floor blankets because they are big enough for the little ones just learning to roll over. The are great for crib blankets. In the summer, a single layer is all baby needs, and in the winter, fold it over (or add another one) and that is plenty for baby as well. They are thin enough as to not take up a lot of room in your diaper bag or whatever you decide to carry them in.

As you can probably tell, I really love them. I started making them for people who were having babies so that they could love them too. Anyway, I have had a few people (including my husband) who have asked me if I was going to start selling them. I have never really thought about selling them because I like to give them as gifts. Well, I have finally decided to try to sell them and see where it goes.

I am not going to go the Etsy route or anything like that at this time. I am relying on word of mouth orders at the moment. So, if you know someone who is having a baby and would like to get them a practical gift that they will use over and over, please email me at cuddlesandburps@gmail.com and I will take your order.

End of Spring Soccer

2009-05-17T19:35:00.003-06:00

We have come to the end of yet another soccer season. By the end of the season you could really see how the girls have improved, not only in their skills but in playing together as a team. We were involved in a tournament recently, but unfortunately it was rained out before our team could play more than 1 game. The game we played was against one of our other teams (there were 3 at the tournament all together). The girls had fun, but they didn't get the experience of playing any other teams. Oh well, there will be other tournments.

One of the highlights of the weekend was the pizza party we had at CiCi's to celebrate the end of Spring Season. The girls had a great time.

(Madison yucking it up with Coach Jon)

(The crowd of Andromeda people)

Parents Show at Gymnastics

2009-05-17T14:28:00.007-06:00

Here are some pictures of the girls' Parent Show at gymastics a couple of weeks ago. The girls did really well. There aren't many pictures of Madison because it seemed that when one of the girls was doing something the right after that the other would be doing something and I couldn't take pictures quick enough to catch them doing the routine. As you can see, the class is a mixed class. It has grown from 4 girls when we started to 11 girls now. They are all homeschool girls too, which is nice.

(All the girls at the end)

(Cathryn doing her walk over)

(Cathryn completing a jump on the beam)

(about to do a summersault on the beam)

(Cathryn braving the high bar - she said that scares her)

(Madison about to do her walkover)

AThey had fun. We will be done with gymnastics for the summer and will start again in the fall.

Spring is finally here...hopefully!

2009-04-09T18:21:00.002-06:00

We have had some crazy weather here in North Texas lately. One day it will be warm and sunny, the next it will be windy and cold. I love the warm weather so it has been alittle disappointing when you have to keep the winter stuff out this late in the season. Looking at Weather.com we should finally be in our spring season. Today it was windy and caused some wild fires to the West. The wind has been very strong for a couple of months now. Add to that cold weather and it has been a bit miserable - at least to me.

Anyway, I am glad that the weather is improving. It makes sitting at soccer practice more pleasant. I will continue to take a wind breaker because the wind is a bit brisk still at the fields, but I'm not shivering while sitting there.

Co-Op is over for the semester. It was a lot of fun this semester. I taught 2 classes and loved it. Apparently the Babysitting class was a hit because there were many people who put it on the survey for next semester. That is awesome. I have heard a lot of positive feedback from the not only the girls in my class, but also from their parents too. I was so excited about the class because my assistant is certified to certify people in First Aid and CPR. All the girls are now certified. I think that is awesome!

The crockpot class was fun too. The kids were fun to work with. In the beginning I had the kids bring all the vegetables that they would need for the dish to class whole and had them chop them up. Finally at week 5 I told them that they could chop their onions at home if they wanted to. It was so bad one day that we were all crying. They were real troupers though. I thought it would be a good lesson to have them brown meat for a dish in class...bad idea. We blew a fuse or two about 3 times. After that, they had to brown their meats at home.

I am hoping to see our home schedule slow down a bit now that Co-Op is over. So far, it hasn't, but I still have hope. Madison went to soccer practice 3 days this week which was good for her. There is no game this weekend because its Easter weekend, but she needed the extra practice time. She hasn't had her head in the game lately so I thought if she got out there and practiced it might help. There is a tournament coming up May 1-3. It sounds like a big one and a type that we haven't been involved before. I want her to be ready for that.

Cathryn is doing well. She is just Cathryn, always busy. She got the staples out and still talks about having them in. We will ride by the clinic that I took her too and she says, "there's my head doctor".

The other day we were out and about. We were driving over to Walmart and Cathryn asked if we were going to get ice cream. Tony said, "No, we are going to WalMart", and Cathryn said (a bit dejected) "Ok, but I'm not happy about it". She comes up with some funny stuff!!

She went to a friend's birthday party last weekend. It was a princess party and all the girls were asked to dress in their favorite costumes. We have a few princess dresses and she picked out her Cinderella dress. On the way to the party, she talked NON-STOP! At one point she said that when she got her cupcake she was just going to lick the icing. I asked her why and she said that she didn't want to get her dress dirty. Smart thinking, but she forgot when she got her cupcake. Even though she forgot, she didn't make a mess. All the little girls were so cute. Most dressed in Cinderella costumes. Too cute.

And so it begins....

2009-02-26T20:38:00.002-06:00

And so it begins...we had our first (and I'm sure many more) trip to emergency today. Cathryn was skating in the livingroom and lost her balance and hit the corner of the wall and split her scalp. Man do head wounds gush blood!!!

First off, yes we allow her to skate in the house. My mother would turn over in her grave if she saw that. I know, I know. Most people are probably shaking their heads thinking Im a horrible mother for allowing her to skate in the house. Believe me, its much safer in the house than outside. She barely rolls on the carpet. She is a good skater and does really well when we go to the skating rink.

Anyway, I moved the old computer to behind the TV which would be in the formal dining room. Madison was sitting back there playing on the computer. Cathryn went to see what her sister was doing. When Madison shooed her away, Cathryn decided she would stomp...er skate away. She lost her balance navigating the narrow walkway and slipped and bopped her head.

I knew that head wounds bled a lot, but I never saw it before. Man or man!!! Madison freaked out. Since Tony has had many more injuries than I have in his life, I called to ask if he thought she needed to be seen. I couldn't really tell how big the cut was because she has so much hair, seh was crying and screaming, and the blood had matted everything. We thought it would be best to take her to the doctor. When we got to the doctors, the nurse put on some cream that numbed the area so that they could clean the wound and then put in the staples. After it took affect, Cathryn was up and bouncing around like she always does happy as a little lark. Not much puts her down.

She is not supposed to do gymnastics this week and the girls were supposed to go skating at the roller rink tomorrow. She is going to be really upset when she finds out she can't do either thing.

We go in 10 days to have the staples removed. Ugh!!!

We have always talked about Cathryn being the one that would probably end up in the emergency room. She is so active and reckless at times its bound to happen at some point.

New post (for Ivy)

2009-02-11T10:38:00.002-06:00

I haven't really had much to post about lately. Nothing exciting has been happening. We have been trudging along with our busy routine. Tony was looking at our calendar the other day and commented that we had something going on 12 days in a row.

We started back to Co-Op and the girls are loving it. They really look forward to Monday's. I am teaching 2 classes this semester which is fun. I am teaching a Crockpot Cooking class along with a class on Babysitting.

The Crockpot class is moving along. When I was first asked to teach this class, I was wondering what the class did for an hour - since my experience with a crockpot is that you dump everything in, put the lid on and leave it. Well, I have found out that it takes an hour for the students to get their stuff together. I have them do all the vegetable chopping in class so that they have the experience of cutting vegetables. Some days its a cry fest when everyone is cutting up onions, but the kids are troopers and make it through. This week they are excited because I gave them homework. They are to make a dessert at home with the recipe provided and do a presentation next week in class. They heard chocolate was involved and we ready for the challenge.

My babysitting class is going better than I expected. A couple of weeks ago I "borrowed" a baby so that we could demonstrate diapering, holding, feeding a live baby so that the girls had some exposure to babies before taking on the task of watching one. That was a a big hit. The baby was a happy baby and easy going enough being changed 5 or 6 times.

I have an assistant that is certified to certify first aid and she can certify CPR training. I dont know if we will have enough time to certify the girls, but they will have lessons on first aid and CPR. Well, this week we had the opportunity to have another live demonstration. It was unplanned, but the timing was perfect. The classroom we are in is made small because there are actually 2 classes in there with a room divider in between. It was warm in the class as well. We were watching a video on different aspects on basic first aid and we got to a porton of the tape that talked about what to do if someone is unconcious. Well, at that very moment, on of the girls (who was standing up to get a better view of the video) passed out. Poor girl. She is fine, but it was a great way to talk to the rest of the class about how to handle the situation. I think the girl got warm, was standing (probably locked her knees) and was a bit dehydrated.

We are done with indoor soccer! It was ok. I am looking forward to being outside again. I get the feeling that most of the girls on Madison's team are too. We have over 30 girls on the team now. The team is currently made up of '01s (Madison's group) and '02s until Fall. The coach has split the team up into sub teams. There are 2 teams playing SDL and 1 team playing in the rec league in Plano. Madison is on one of the SDL teams. The girls that will be playing in the rec league are the younger girls and those with less experience. Madison has really liked being on this team. She likes her coach (who calls her MadDog) and she likes the practices. She comes home exhausted afterwards.

The girls are continuing in gymnastics as well. The coach has put Cathryn into the same class as Madison. Its good because I don't have to sit at the rec center for 2hrs, but I have my reservations about them being in the same class. So far it hasn't been any problem (between the girls) but we will see. There some younger girls in the class already so the coach split the groups along with her assistant so it seems to be working. Cathryn absolutely loves it. She is learning quite a bit and likes to practice. I caught her hanging from the mantle the other day and I asked her just what was she doing. She said she was practicing for when she was doing the bars. I don't expect either of the girls to be world class gymnasts or anything. Its just an activity that keeps them limber and its fun for them.

Tony is doing well. He had a check up a couple of weeks ago and was told that he has less than 1% scar tissue on his heart from the heart attack. His doctor told him to go enjoy a boring life until he goes for a check up in July. That is the greatest answer to prayer!!!!

Saying Good Riddence to 2008!!!

2008-12-30T09:43:00.003-06:00

This year will stand out in my memory for many years to come. The year started out ordinary enough, just busy. We were busy with all the things we do - school, co-op, soccer, tae kwondo. Then came Cathryn's 3rd birthday. Her first birthday party with her friends. She had so much fun that she still talks about how her friends came over for her party.

Madison switched from playing recreation league soccer to academy league, in which she found her passion. We had a busy summer full of activities such as swim lessons for Cathryn, going to the pool, and tae kwondo in the park.

Then came fall. It started off with Co-Op and Cathryn beginning to take gymnastics. Madison began her fall season with soccer and everything was status quo. THEN!!! Tony had his heart attack. I was devestated. It turned our world upside down. I am contiually praising God daily for Tony's recovery.

Again, on with our busy lives. In November - bam! Another major situation. I got a call from my aunt that my dad was in critical condition in the hospital in Georgia. We made arrangements for me to fly out so I could be there for him. The girls got to spend a week in Houston with family. They had a good time, but were glad to come home when it was all said and done.

When I got to Georgia, my dad was doing better - as well as could be expected. I was told that he was in the last stages of Ephesema (sp?) and he had the onset of dementia - he could not go home alone. While I was there I made arrangements for my dad to be moved when ready to a nursing home. When I got there, the first evening, I called my oldest uncle and let him know that I was there and he took the opportunity to let me know just how he felt about me and let me know that he wanted nothing to do with me ever. I don't know what I have done in my life to warrent that kind of behavior, but he has evidently been harboring those feelings for quite awhile. Whatever!!

After dealing with all the turmoil and business of making sure my dad was taken care of, I came home a week before Madison's 8th birthday. Since there wasn't time to plan a party, we gave her a dinner party with a few of her friends. We went to a restaurant called the Purple Cow and the girls had a great time.

The next week was Thanksgiving and although we had so much to be thankful for, I was really secretly thankful it was over and I could begin to breathe again.

We began to breathe again and I was actually looking forward to Christmas. Things were humming along nice and easy. I was having difficulty concentrating on anything and decided that we would take a break from school until after New Years. I figured if I needed a break then the girls did as well. We did things during the break like watch movies and make gingerbread houses as well as generally get ready for Christmas.

We did receive some really good news at the beginning of December. I took Cathryn to the allergist for her annual check up and long story short - she is no longer allergic to wheat or eggs. She is still very allergic to peanuts and we can handle that easier than the others.

Then on Monday before Christmas Cathryn started getting sick. She had had a sniffly nose and a cough, but it got to the point that when she went to bed she would wake up coughing so hard she would throw up. This lasted through Christmas Eve. Christmas day was a great day. Cathryn was feeling like herself again. The girls made out like bandits and loved everything they received and we had a nice visit with Tony's mom who came to spend Christmas with us. Saturday after Christmas I came down with a stomach bug that I am at this writing still battling. I hope it ends soon because I hate being sick.

I was still feeling pretty bad on Sunday when I received a call from my dad's nursing home to let me know that he had just passed away. He breathing had been very labored and I guess he was just too weak to go on any longer. He gave it a good fight. He battled asthma and breathing problems all of his 79 years and now he doesn't have to fight any longer. I am truly going to miss him. I just realized with sadness that I have no reason whatsoever to go back to Georgia. I have a few family members there, but no one I really care about anymore. All my friends have moved on and now that Dad's gone I won't be going back to the "little" town that I called home.

So that is my year in review. This has been a year that I would love to erase from the record books.

A friend and her family went away for a vacation at Christmas and they stayed in a cabin. There is a plaque in the cabin that they took a picture of. The plaque says, "God doesn't give us what we can handle, God helps us with what we have been given." I know that if it wasn't for my strong faith in my Lord Jesus Christ, then I would be sunk right now. He has been my solid rock through all this. I have lost my earthly father, but I will never lose my Heavenly Father and that gives me the strength I need to put my feet on the floor each day and continue on the path He set out for me well before I was born. I don't always like the path that was chosen either by me and my need to control my life of by God who is the Master of my life, but I continue on day to day because I trust in God to see me through.

So, all this to say - Good-bye and Good Riddence to 2008!!! May the year 2009 be a year of new beginnings and a year with less drama and heartache.

A Party from the Past

2008-12-15T08:26:00.009-06:00

Yesterday, the girls went to a birthday party for a friend of theirs. The party theme was Little House on the Praire and the guests were asked to dress up. So, since that isn't something that would be in our regular wardrobe I fashioned the outfits. Well, I didn't do much. I went to several thrift store and came away with $7.00 of things that I could re-fashion.

For Madison, I found a ladies dress that had a denim top and a checked skirt. I cut off the top and sewed elastic in the waist so it would fit. It was the perfect length for her. I made her apron from scratch. I bought a yard of muslim for $.99 and it was the right amount of fabric. I was proud of myself for having very little waste when I was done. We borrowed the blouse and bonnet from a friend to complete Madison's outfit.

For Cathryn's outfit, I originally planned to find her some overalls and be done with it, but I couldn't find any in her size. I did find this little dress for $1.00 and thought it would work. It is big on her so it hit the right legnth that I envisioned. So I did nothing but wash her dress.

Here the girls are together dressed in their finery. They had a blast at the party. They played marbles and dropped old fashioned clothespins in glass milk bottles. They even drank from tin cans..which I thought was cute. They really had fun being with all their good friends yesterday. Thanks Kristi!!

Ready for a Break...

2008-12-12T09:42:00.002-06:00

Madison is coming to a good stopping point with her school work this week so we are taking a well deserved break for Christmas. We have had so much going on that both Madison and I are alittle burned out.

I took Madison to the eye doctor the other day because she has been complaining lately of headaches and Tony saw her with a book to her nose reading. After a very thorough exam (I have never had an exam that thorough before) the doctor said that she is having a hard time getting things in focus. She has good vision, its just getting things to line up that she is having issues with so she will be using glasses when she reads and does her school work to help get it in focus. The doctor said that we should see a change in lots of areas of her life once she is able to get things in focus. Madison got to pick out her glasses and she picked out some really cute ones. She told me yesterday that she couldn't do her school work because she didn't have her glasses. Silly girl, she has been doing her school work all this time without them, one more week wont make a difference.

Recently, I took Cathryn for a check up on her allergies. I went to a different doctor this time since last year after the doctor did the tests he never gave me any direction to go in on how to feed her. I was told then that she was allergic to wheat, eggs, and peanuts. Great, how do I deal with that bit of news??? Well for a year we have made it through without any catastrophies, just substituting and denying things.

Anyway, we went to a new Allergist who specializes in pediatric allergies. She was very nice and very thorough. I took the paper work that I received last year with me and after she looked over the results of the last tests, she asked me why I thought Cathryn was allergic to wheat and eggs. I told her that is because that is what the doctor told me. She asked me several questions about how Cathryn had reacted when eating such foods in the past (before the test) and I told her that she didnt really have any reactions to them. She only had eczema and that is why we had the tests in the first place.

The doctor said that based on the low numbers that came up for wheat and eggs that she felt it was a false positive but she was going to add them to the scratch test just to be sure.

Well sure enough, the test for those two foods came up negative - no raised areas what so ever. Wow, really? We have struggled for a year trying to accomodate Cathryn's allergies. The latest test came up with peanuts being the most severe of the allergies that she has. The area where the peanut part was ended up being the size of a dime by the time it was over. The other things that she is truly allergic to are dogs and mold. The mold explains her runny nose since mold is present everywhere. I have to give her a nasal spray each day for that but otherwise we are good to go. We don't have our dog anymore so that takes care of that allergy and if she does get around dogs, its not catastropic if she does.

She has been so cute since she realized that she can have things with wheat and eggs. She has a running list of things that she says she can have. The first thing she asked for was French Toast and crackers. She has had both and has enjoyed every bit of it. We were in Sam's the other day and were walking by the bakery section and she saw the sheet cakes in the cooler. She came running up to me and said that she wanted one of those cakes for her birthday next year. So funny. The other really funny thing was that she asked for a sandwich "don't cook it mommy". The bread that I was getting for her was best if it were toasted so she would get toasted bread all the time. Well, she knows that the regular bread doesnt need to be toasted so she wanted a untoasted sandwich - with mayonaise. Oh the simple things we miss in life when we know we can't have them.

Otherwise, we are just trying to get things done so we can get ready for Christmas. We have tree up and all that, but Madison is starting to get concerned because there are no presents under the tree yet :)

Thanksgiving Weekend

2008-11-30T20:35:00.002-06:00

I hope all who are reading this post had a Great Thanksgiving full of family and/or friends and remembered to give thanks to God for the many blessings that He has given us this past year. I am so thankful to God for giving Tony back to us after his heart attack. He is doing awesome. He says that in many ways he feels better than he has in years. He goes back to his doctor in January, but in the meantime he continues with his cardiac-rehab three times a week.

This weekend, we gave him quite the workout as well. Friday instead of getting into the fray of the shopping madness, we went to the Dallas World Aquarium. It was a nice day. In the beginning it wasn't too crowded which was nice. About half way through we came across 3 Mayan Indians doing a dance demonstration. Madison thought it was so cool. She was sitting with her grandma and had her eyes glued to the indians dancing. Cathryn on the other hand...bless her heart..she was totally traumatized. She was fine sitting with me at first. I was talking to her about the feathers on the headdresses and then I told her that the rattles on their ankles were made out of either walnut shells or sea shells...I couldn't get a good enough look to tell. Well, she started crying and moving around me to get away. Tony was a couple of feet away from where we were and so she went to him. She started to hide behind him.

I forgot to mention that the dance was taking place right outside of the jaguar enclosure. Well, the jaguar had been pacing around it's enclusure for a bit and we watched but when the dancing began, we turned to watch the dancing. The jaguar had been pacing on the opposite side of the enclosure from where we were in the beginning. Well about the time that Cathryn decided to hide behind her daddy (crying) she happened to turn and there was the jaguar right at her eye level...boy did she start crying then. Poor baby...She had daddy take her up the stairs to the next level to get away, until we came to find them. Thankfully she didn't have any bad dreams from it.

Saturday, we decided to go to the Ft Worth Zoo. Our family loves the zoo and we haven't been there before. I really liked that zoo. It was nicely laid out and the animal enclosures were nice - and big which Im sure was nice for the animals. We got through most of it when they announced that the zoo was closing (at 4pm) and we didn't get to see the lions or tigers. I don't think Cathryn was too disappointed though. Madison and I were somewhat disappointed. I was hoping that their lion would roar as the one at the Dallas Zoo used to do. Oh well, its an excuse to go back again.

Today, we went to explore Downtown Dallas for a bit. Wow was it windy!! We went to Victory Park where our ABC station is. Madison enjoyed looking in the windows at the studio. It made it all alittle more real for her I think. We wound our way back home without getting on the freeway. It was a nice afternoon. We finished it off by stopping in a Mexican restaurant that Tony has been wanting to try for a while. We thought it was really good. Afterwards, we came home and put up and decorated the Christmas tree. We let the girls put the ornaments on which I will go back and spread out at some point.

So, I suppose the Christmas season has officially begun at the Rosenberg household.

Madison turns 8

2008-11-20T09:39:00.004-06:00

Yesterday was Madison's 8th Birthday so for a treat I took her over to a place called Libby Lu's and she had a makeover done. She wanted her hair done up like a rock star. The girl that did the makeover put in a ton of bobby pins, but when she was done Madison's hair was all done up like a rock star. After Madison's hair was put the sales girl sprayed it with Glitter Spray. After Madison's hair was done the sales girl did her "makeup" which consisted of a little color on her eye lids and some lip gloss. Madison was in heaven. She also had her nails done. Madison picked out light blue nail polish and once her nails were painted the sales girl put a liberal amount of glitter on her nails.

After her make over we were on our way to her Birthday Dinner party. We invited a couple of her friends to join us for dinner at The Purple Cow. Its a 50's style diner that is a fun place to go. They even serve purple ice cream. (The restaurant has a deal with Blue Bell Ice Cream who makes the purple ice cream especially for them.) The girls had a blast.

(Here is the beginnings of our Rock Star look)

(Here is the final Rock Star look - you gotta love the headset microphone)

(Madison and friends enjoying dinner at The Purple Cow)

(Cathryn enjoying her purple ice cream at The Purple Cow)

More Cathryn-isms and other things...

2008-10-27T14:58:00.002-06:00

I think I posted a while ago some of the funny things Cathryn has said. Well, she is definitely a "Mag-Pie". She starts her day talking and ends her day talking. I'm surprised that her jaw doesn't hurt by the end of the day.

She has become quite the backseat driver. She tells us which way she thinks we should go.
"no mommy, we need to go this way...not that way". She likes to tell us when its time to go at a traffic light. It's a good thing we don't listen to her, we would definitely have wrecks.

She has come up with a few more funny things that she says. We were driving home the other day from the store and we saw a blimp. She said, "look Daddy - a Airplane Balloon". In her world there are Hot Air Balloons - Air Balloons - and apparently Airplane Balloons.

It is fall and there are pumpkins being sold everywhere you look. When she sees a "Pumpkin Patch" she says, "look, there's a pumpkin pie patch". We were driving to Co-Op last week and there was a church that was selling pumpkins and she called it a Pumpkin Pie church. I have tried to correct her, but she still calls it "pumpkin pie ---".

Madison is doing great. She scored 1 of the 2 goals yesterday to win the game. Her team played against a so called good team and her team was the only team to score. She was so excited. We start karate back up tomorrow and she is looking forward to being back. Other than that, she is working hard in school and doing really well too.

Tony is back to work and is continuing his cardio rehab. I think he is getting bored with it all, but he is still doing well. He will go back to his Cardio Doctor in January for another checkup, but other than that he is plugging away day by day.

I am thankful to have everyone healthy and doing good. The girls keep me busy with school and all the activities. I feel like we are constantly on the go, but we are able to get things done as well. Co-Op is almost over for the semester and we will get a break until after the first of the year. I am hoping that some of the classes that I put on the survey are picked and I get to teach next semester. I have been doing lunches for a year and I am ready to move on to something else. I really looking forward to it too.

That is the latest update of my ramblings...

Madison's new team

2008-10-13T19:19:00.006-06:00

A few weeks ago, Madison started on a new soccer team. She got to play her first game yesterday. At first, she wasn't playing as she usually does, but then she found her stride and off she went. At first her coach put her in at defense and she doesn't do well at that position. Once she was moved to offense she did much better. She even scored one of the 3 goals. Here are a few pictures. In one of the pictures, the coach is sitting with his head in his hands as if he was exasperated. There is a picture with all the girls sitting together with the coach. I like that picture.

Where did September Go?

2008-10-04T20:56:00.005-06:00

Well, I have been told by my husband that I need to update my blog so here we are. Since my last entry there have been several things happen in our family.

As my last entry indicated we were on our way to total potty training. We have success!! Cathryn has not had an accident at all in 3 weeks. That is amazing to me considering all the mess we had before the success. I thank one of Cathryn's friends for the break through. We were at a soccer game and Cathryn had to go to the bathroom. I took her along with another little girl and they, being little girls, went in the stall together. The first little girl went, and when she was done, Cathryn yelled, "Wow, that poop is a big humongous one". Everyone in the bathroom was cracking up. Since then, total success which is a VERY GOOD THING!

That is the most exciting news we have. Other than that, Tony had a heart attack and Madison didn't get to belt test for her blue belt.

Yes, Tony had a heart attack. He is doing well now, but for a couple of days it was a bit scary. Apparently his heart attack has been building for a long time. We think it may have started about 3 months ago. He thought it was heartburn and treated it with otc medication, which worked. After talking with the cardiologist, it seems that the syptoms that Tony was experiencing was a step toward his heart attack. The whole ordeal has been a miracle. When he told me that he didn't feel good and I needed to get him to a doctor, we raced to the hospital. We did everything right according to the hospital. Before coming to tell me, Tony had the forsight to take aspirin. During the whole ordeal, it never occured to me to call 9-11. All I knew is that I had to get Tony to the hospital as quickly as I could. Come to find out, the ambulance wouldn't have done anything differently. I actually got him to the hospital quicker too. In the end, he has less than 2% damage. That is an example of the miracle of God. We think the heart attack was brought on by stress. All the tests and exams that Tony has had, shows that he is in relatively good health. Even his cholestrol is low - which if you know Tony, you know that is a miracle in itself.

During the whole ordeal with Tony my friends at Co-Op have been fantastic. I had a friend who is also the director of Co-Op came and takeover the girls for me. She organized their whole week for me. The girls had a great week of playing and getting to know new people. It was a big relief for me to have them taken care of so I could go and be with Tony while he was in the hospital.

With all that has gone on this month, Madison didn't get to test for her next belt in Taekwondo. She was alittle disappointed, but she rallied when she realized that she will be able to be the same belt as her friend. I am hoping that with the 2 girls working together, they will be able to help each other.

With Tony home, our schedule hasn't been the same. We have all be a bit out of kilter. As Tony recovers he has been getting restless. He has been given clearance to go back to work on Monday and he is so happy. He has done terrific with being home with us all day. During the ordeal, he gained a smidget of patience which I think has helped him to cope with being home with us.

Two weeks ago, I woke up and my left hip hurt really bad. I somehow locked it up. I decided to go to the chiropractor. The first day, the doctor did xrays found that I have old injuries in my back that have gone untreated. I have 2 places where I have whiplash. I am guessing that came from when I was a kid on the swim team. My friends were diving off the high dive and so I thought I could do it too. Well, I didn't lock my legs, they went over my head and I felt a pop. I guess that was the whiplash in my mid back. I have no idea where the whiplash came from in my neck. Years ago (2o+) I fell down a flight of stairs while working. Well, I went to the doctor and they told me that I compressed 3 virtebrae. Well, I still have 3 compressed virtebrae. All of those sound horrible don't they? Well, that is not my problem, apparently. My problem is - my hips were out of alignment - a lot...2 inches out. Apparently, it happened when around the time I was pregnant with Cathryn. That is when I noticed my tailbone problems. I have trouble sitting for long periods of time, that sort of thing. Anyway, I have been going to massage therapy. Wow!!! What a difference it has made. I have been "tortured" to get here, but I am feeling great. I am feeling great most of the time. I am loving massage therapy. I am going to be sorry that when I am "cured".

So that is where September went. I am still struggling with what day it is, but I know its October. That is saying something. Here's hoping we can get back to our normal routine again soon.

Woo-Hoo We are Done!!! (Hopefully)

2008-09-11T15:41:00.002-06:00

I think we are finally done with potty training!! YEAH!!!! Cathryn has finally decided that it's time to poop in the potty!!!! Hurrah!! It has been a long time coming. We conquered the first part somewhat painlessly, but pooping has been a tough hurtle to get over.

We have tried bribery, rewards and promises, but nothing worked...until she finally decided that it was time!!!!

I am so thrilled. I can quit buying panties for a while. I have thrown away countless numbers of panties because I just couldn't get the yuck out of them.

As happy as I am about Cathryn coming to the huge milestone in her little life, I'm alittle sad to think that "baby-dom" is finally over. The only thing left are the sippy cups - which are also becoming a thing of the past - much to daddy's chagrin.

No more babies in our house...sniff-sniff...its time to start adopting....Just kidding Honey!

The End of an Era

2008-09-04T19:04:00.002-06:00

Today is a sad day at our house...well, sort of. Today we said good-bye to Cathryn's pacifier or "pink" as she calls it. HALLELUJAH!!!! It has been a long time coming. I thought we would be done with it at her 3rd birthday (in May), but I didn't think she was ready and so I caved and let her have it. Then a few weeks ago, fed up with having it around, I poked a tiny hole in it. Well, that was nothing compared to how it ended up. Today, Cathryn chewed through it completely and unceremoniously told me that she was putting it in the trash. No tears, no ceremony, no tearful good-bye. Just, "mommy, I'm throwing pink away". Ok! We will see how long it takes her to really give it up.

We had made the rule that it is put up until bedtime or naptime. She was ok with that. We lost it for a few days (should have left it lost) and she did fine so I think she will do fine in the long run. We just got back from a trip to Houston and she is tired still so she we will see how quickly she goes to sleep. I don't think it will be a big deal, but we will see. She did mention on her way to bed, that we need to go to the store and get a new pink. I told her that we weren't going tonight and she needed to go to bed. She did, with no issues.

A few months ago, I saw an episode of Super Nanny where the child received a package from the Pacifier Fairy. I thought about trying that. I tried to talk her into sending her pacifier to her new baby cousin Dominic, and she told me that he didn't need "pink", but he could have her green blanket. She said "pink" is for girls.

So, in a way its alittle sad...she is growing up. Now if she would just learn to poop in the potty - we would be in good shape.

Madison's first Taekwondo Tournament

2008-08-25T13:15:00.006-06:00

This weekend, Madison participated in her first Taekwondo tournament. There were 4 areas of competition that she was part of. First, she competed in oral presentation. Her instructor asked everyone to participate. Some of the children who don't read yet were doing little demonstrations...it was too cute. The kids were split up by age for this competition. There were about 8 kiddos in the 7yr old group. Madison won the gold medal in her group for her presentation. When we were working on her project we came up with her answering 3 questions: 1)Why I like Taekwondo? 2) What I have learned in the last year at TaeKwondo? and 3) What does having a purple belt mean to me? I thought if she answered questions it would be easier for her to formulate her thoughts better. It worked because she came away with Gold. We were so proud of her. The second portion of the competition was forms. She did great and earned high marks from the judges; however, there were others that scored higher and she didn't get a medal. She was very disappointed, naturally, but she had a great attitude about it. Then she was in the point sparring competition.

Let me back track a bit. The competition was to begin at 2:15 - that was a late start. I didnt check my watch, but I would say it was about 30-45min. late in starting the day. So, that pushed everything. Then there was more waiting..then more waiting while the lower belts finished their form competition. After all that, there were 2 groups of kids ahead of Madison's to do sparring. Well, bless her heart...she got stomped. She was really upset by that too. She usually beats the boy she was sparring against. Mind you, we had been there since 2pm, it was now about 5:3opm...she had had snacks, but that was it..snacks. She was hungry and exhausted. Not to mention the boy that was sitting behind her (not a boy in her class) kept picking on her which got her frustrated as well. So, needless to say, we didn't stay for the continuous sparring portion of the competition.

She was upset when we first decided to leave. She said that she wanted to win a gold medal in that portion. I tried to be realistic with her and not make her feel bad, but there were a lot of kids waiting to spar (more down time), then who knows how long the rest of the waiting would be...then there was lots of competion in that portion for a gold. She's good, but in her present state; she would not have done her best.

Anyway, it was a good experience for her. I told her that we didn't care how many medals she came home with...as long as she did her best, we were very proud of her.

The Bittersweetness of Summer's End...

2008-08-23T19:36:00.002-06:00

Monday marks the end of summer for this year. Monday, the public school kiddos in Texas go back to school. There has been hustle and bustle all around as families go back to school shopping. I sometimes wish we were in the frenzy as well, until I happen to venture into it and am glad we don't have to scurry around to find just the right "stuff" for school.

We had a busy summer. We had soccer camps, swim lessons, and taekwondo. We went swimming at a local pool a few times, went to a splash park a couple of times and made some visits to the library.

Today, Madison had her last soccer game of summer season. It was nice because it was indoor. We will have a couple of weeks or so of a break then she will begin her regular season. Her Texas Spirit team won every game this summer. That was a big change for Madison. She has been on teams where there were a bunch of new players so there weren't many wins. She was thrilled that her team won so many games. I hope that spirit will continue as we head to our regular season playing against other academy teams.

Tomorrow, Madison will be in her first Taekwondo tournament and she is so excited. She will be competing with her kata or forms, point sparring and continual sparring. In addition to these areas of competition, her instructors (who are running the tournament) are having the advanced students give an oral presentation about why they enjoy taekwondo as well. Poor Madison. She is not a writer (yet). She has never had to put into words her feelings about something. I helped her with it, and I hope her feelings come through.

Since it seems that everyone around us is starting or has already started school, I decided that we would start as well. Madison was excited about starting until she saw the schedule. I don't think she realized (although we discussed each subject she would be doing) just how much work she was going to be doing until she saw it laid out on the schedule. We are going to do a full days worth of work. She is taking: Bible, English, Reading, Math, Spelling, Handwriting, History and Science. That is double what she has taken in the past. She is excited about doing times tables in math and we are going to be studying Astronomy in Science.

I am going to begin working with Cathryn, but I'm going to keep it loose for now. She knows her letters (capitols) and numbers, but I want to work on letter sounds and that sort of thing with her. We will see how she does. I have a feeling that we might get 10mins a day, which is ok...I will have other fun things available for her to work with as well.

Co-Op starts in a couple of weeks which the girls are getting excited about. Cathryn asks if we are going to Co-Op every day. She loves it. She loves being with her little friends and all the fun stuff that they get to do.

The Olympics

2008-08-14T11:42:00.002-06:00

We have been watching the Olympics just like everyone else. Madison is greatly interested in the soccer and gymnastics. We have gotten the Michael Phelps "fever" as well, watching every race we can that he is in.

Today, I turned the Olympics on and there was fencing. I don't know a thing about fencing and it isn't a sport that is usually discussed around our house. Well, Cathryn sat down and said, "that's pencing mommy". Well, of course it was. When the participants were waiting to start the match/round, whatever, Cathryn started saying, " ok ready...fence"....too funny.

I taped the women's gymastics from the other night so that Madison could see the tumbling portion of the team competition. Cathryn said, " I can do that..." to everything that the girls were doing. She even demonstrated some of her moves. One of her moves was to jump in the air and try to touch her feet to the back of her head....she got as far as her behind....but she tried.

Horton Hears A Who-the Movie

2008-08-05T15:15:00.006-06:00

The girls and I went to see Horton Hears a Who. I know it's been out for a while, but we haven't had a chance to go see it.

We have a movie theater close by that offers movies for $.75 on Tuesdays. We have been wanting to go, but with other activities on Tuesdays, we just haven't had a chance to go.

It was a really cute movie. Madison really enjoyed it. Cathryn enjoyed it for about the first 30mins or so then she got fidgety. She was paying attention to the movie, but was curious about the seats, then she wanted to stand up, then she wanted to sit with me, then she wanted to sit with her sister, then she had to go to the bathroom. Are you worn out yet?

There is one scene in the movie where the Kangaroo talks about if you can't see, hear, or feel something, it doesn't exist. Madison and I had a brief talk about that...and she understands that that isn't necessarily true. The we know that God exists even though we can't feel, see or hear (audibly) Him.

Madison immediately picked up on the kangaroo's reference to homeschooling when she mentioned that her little 'roo was "pouch schooled". She found that rather hilarious.

All in all it was enjoyed by all. The best part is that the 3 of us could go to see a movie for right at $10.00. That included the tickets, a small popcorn and a medium drink. I was a bit leary of giving Cathryn the theater popcorn with her allergies, so I put some that I got at the grocery store in a bag for her. I didn't feel bad about bringing it in (they say not to bring in outside food), because we bought something anyway.

"Mawridge....Mawridge is what brings us together today"

2008-08-01T11:52:00.002-06:00

If you have seen the movie The Princess Bride, then you will recognize the title of this post. It was spoken by the monsignor (sp?) when he was about to marry Buttercup(the main character) and the evil prince.

The Princess Bride is one of my all time favorite movies. When Tony and I decided to get married, I kept telling him that I was going to have our Pastor do that monologue at the beginning of our vows. He said "Absolutely Not!!"

I thought it fit so well..."Mawridge..Mawridge is what brings us together today"...see the prefect introduction...LOL...It still cracks me up all these years later.

We have facebook profiles and on facebook you can send people what amounts to buttons. They had one that had a picture of the monsignor with the caption noted above...I sent one to Tony. He can't run now - it's too late!!!!

There is another scene that ran through my head several times as we were preparing for the wedding. That is of the hag booing Princess Buttercup...I could just imagine people booing us at our wedding. Ok, it was in a dream and no one would dream of really doing that in real life, but you know when you are getting ready for one of the biggest moments of your life, you tend (ok, maybe its just me) to have irrational thoughts.

Anyway, just wanted to share.

10 Years!!!

2008-08-01T07:09:00.002-06:00

Today marks Tony's and my10th anniverary. Wow, that's a long time...not so long for some, but longer than others. Some days it feels like we have been married forever and some days it feels as though its been no time at all.

Who would have thought our marriage would have lasted this long? We did. We set out to have a long marriage - forever to be exact.

In the beginning I asked myself many times what I was doing there and wondered if I made the right decision.

As the years have gone by I know this is exactly where I am supposed to be. Our marriage is no where near perfect but we have a few things going for us...We love God, we love each other, and we respect each other. With those three elements in a marriage, anyone can succeed.

Happy Anniversary Honey!!! I Love You!!

Another Cathryn-ism (that makes me cry)

2008-07-30T10:05:00.002-06:00

Yesterday afternoon while we were getting ready to leave for soccer practice, Cathryn pipes up and says that she is getting a new mommy. I asked her when she was getting her new mommy. She said on Saturday. I asked her why she needed a new mom and she said because I'm old. That I need to go live with my mom now. I told her my mom was in heaven and so I couldn't live with her. She told me it didn't matter, she was still getting a new mom on Saturday. In the same conversation, she said she is also getting a new daddy. His name will be Michael. Funny because that is Tony's first name...So her new daddy and her old daddy have the same name...hmmmm. So with that, I asked her what her new mommy's name was - thinking she would say my name like she did daddy's. She said that her new mommy's name is going to be mommy of course. Madison interjected and added a name, so now Cathryn says that name now ...but it isn't what she came up with originally.

It makes me sad that she would think that...only for the reason that I'm the old mommy. Now there is an ego booster. I told her that any new mommy's couldn't possibly love her any better or more than I do. Crazy girl!!!!

Another Soccer weekend

2008-07-21T19:46:00.002-06:00

We had a busy weekend again. Friday night Madison participated in a soccer tournament. It was a 3v3. We will never be part of that type of tournament again. It was crazy. They would play for 5 minutes or a score, then another team would take over for the losing team. I love watching Madison play soccer, but I lost interest. I was watching our coach's daughter so it was easy to not watch the matches. I can't even tell you how her team did. There was a lot of grumbling among some parents (glancing at Tony) about the whole set up.

Saturday, as a perk from the tournament, we were given tickets to the FC Dallas game. That was a lot of fun. In the end the score was 2-2. We took Madison. I think that was the first time we went anywhere with just Madison since Cathryn was born. Another family from our team was at the game as well. Madison had fun sitting with her buddy. At one point a ball was kicked up to us and Tony caught it - it was on TV...how cool is that. Madison was goofing around with her friend and totally missed it although I tried to get her out of her little world to see the cool moment. Oh well....

We had a blast though. I am looking forward go to another game.

A Cathryn funny

2008-07-21T19:26:00.002-06:00

This evening while we were eating dinner, something was said about Madison being 7yrs old. Well, in between mouthful's of dinner, Cathryn pipes up and says, "I'm 3" and holds up 2 fingers. I showed her what 3 looks like so she tried again. Again, she says "I'm 3" and holds up 2 fingers. This time, Tony helped show her what 3 looks like on his fingers. Again, she tried....but this time, with a twist. The last time she holds up 5 fingers (obviously hoping it was 3) she pauses, looks at her hand, and announces "I'm 5"...I guess you are what your fingers say you are. It was hysterical.

The funniest moment in her life thus far is still 4th of July when she dove under the pillow when the fireworks started.

She is a kid that can make you laugh just being her. I hope that never changes.

Psalm 88

2008-07-16T04:43:00.003-06:00

I was sleeping until about 3:30am when I half woke up trying to decide if I really needed to go to the bathroom or could it wait so I could go back to sleep. About an hour later, I heard Cathryn get up so I got up to put her back to bed. I did the bathroom thing and went back to bed....I began having a God moment. You know....when the light comes on (at least for me) in my brain that says, God is wanting to talk to me. I just couldn't ignore it. There are times when I wake up like this and after putting Cathryn back to bed or whatever, I can roll over and go back to sleep, and put God on hold. Well, He was having none of that today.

I got up at 5am and felt that God wanted to speak to me. Well, I immediately reached for my Bible and opened it. I happened to open to Psalm 88. I knew that was what God was wanting to say. Well, in this particular Psalm, its about a man who is dying and feels that God isn't hearing his prayers. Wow, have I felt like that these days. I am not dying physically, but my spirit has dimmed quite a bit lately. I go through the motions of my life and pretend that everything is status quo...well its not and God just revealed to me the true issue at hand.

In verses 3-8 it says "For my soul is full of trouble and my life draws near the grave. I am counted among those who go down to the pit; I am like a man without strength. I am set apart with the dead, like the slain who lie in the grave, whom you remember no more, who are cut off from your care. You have put me in the lowest pit, in the darkest depths. Your wrath lies heavily upon me; you have overwhelmed me with all your waves. (Selah) You have taken from me my closest friends and have made me repulsive to them."(niv)

I can identify with so much of what the Psalmist is feeling. I do feel like I am in a deep pit. My spirit is dimmed. I have tried to climb out on my own but it hasn't been working. I keep slipping back down and I end up getting deeper and deeper with every try. I feel like God isn't listening to me. He knows I'm there, but He doesn't seem to be doing anything to get me out of the pit. Well duh! I haven't asked Him to. He is right there ready to give me the tools I need to pull myself out, but I haven't asked for any. I have been wallowing in the pit feeling sorry for myself and only thinking of how miserable I am in the pit instead of trying to find a way out - or at least looking up and seeing that God is there ready and willing to help me out. I get so tangled up in my own self pity that I can't see past it sometimes. I am there to say and do the right things when it comes to others, but when it comes to myself, those things never occur to me.

A big part of what has caused me to fall into the pit is our not finding a church. We have been in North Texas for 2 years and still haven't found a church. Well, I don't think we are ever going to find a church that meets all the criteria that we have set forth. I don't want to settle, but I want to find a compromise. We are looking for a church where the girls can grow and learn about God, and where Tony and I can grow together as a couple and individually. Where there is a dynamic men's ministry where there are spiritual needs met and its not just a hunting/fishing club, and a women's ministry that I can get involved with. Sounds easy in black and white, but in all actuality, it isn't that easy to find.

I have had many offers to visit different churches, but I haven't felt that God is leading us to any one of them. We found a church that I thought would meet our criteria, but Tony hasn't been interested in going back. I, myself, have found various excuses for not going and it bothers me. I guess I just want us to go together.

I am slowly but surely beginning to climb out of the pit. I am glad that God woke me up this morning and that I obeyed and had a talk with Him.

If you have made it this far into my blog, please pray that I will continue to listen to God and follow His path instead of my own so I can be alert and listening when He directs me to the church He wants us to find.

Duct Tape: A new use

2008-07-13T12:04:00.007-06:00

So, you have heard that duct tape is the best universal object in the world. I have even seen people make wallets, vests, and other garments from duct tape.

The other day, Tony was trimming a bush out in the back yard. When he began he noticed that there was a bird's nest in the bush. After checking to make sure it wasn't an active nest, he pulled it out of the tree. There was an opened shell in it that we thought the girls would get a kick out of seeing. When we examined it, there various things that made up the nest. Along with the usual twigs and grasses, there was some sort of plastic and you guessed it a ribbon of duct tape was woven in as well.

It amazes me the genius of birds. They use anything they can find in order to make their nests. Now that we have held the nest a few times, it is coming apart, but in the tree it was sturdy enough to use as a home.

Around on the side of the house (on the electrical box) is a dove's nest. They use the same nest year after year so we won't be disturbing that one.

Anyway, I thought I would show you some pictures of the nest.

Lazy Days

2008-07-09T09:54:00.002-06:00

Ok, just one day, but it is good to be lazy once in a while. We (the girls and I) have been really busy lately going hither and yon so we are taking a day off. It's mid week and hot outside. I should take them to the pool, but due to certain female issues, we will not be partaking of the cool refreshment of our local pool today.

Cathryn has completed 2 sessions of swim lessons. She has gone everyday for 4 weeks and doesn't want it to end. She has completed the novice beginner and if we choose to put her back in (which we probably will) she will move to intermediate beginner. She will then learn to swim on her own. Yeah! She has no fear of the water and doesn't mind going under - again and again and again. She isn't to the point where she can support herself to actually swim yet.

Madison has been involved in a soccer this summer as well as continuing with her Taekwondo. Her soccer team is involved in indoor soccer this summer which has been fun. There is only 1 arena available for the games, so the 8 games of the season are spread out throughout the summer. Madison really enjoys the indoor soccer. The rules are slightly different, but she has gotten the hang of it. Her team is gearing up for a tournament coming up soon. She really enjoys the tournaments. They are fast paced and she has plenty of opportunity to score.

We enjoyed having family come and visit us over the 4th of July weekend. Tony's aunt and uncle came up from Houston. Tony has season tickets for a local AA baseball team and he and Uncle Wes went to the game. Anna and I took the girls swimming then headed over near the ballpark to watch the fireworks. It wasn't as specatular a display as I have seen before, but it was nice. Unfortunately Cathyrn was scared out of her wits. Poor thing. We had built up the excitement of fireworks for days and she was so excited about going. Then when she heard the first boom - she tried to run and hide. It was a very comical scene. I made a pallet in the back of the car with blankets and pillows so the girls could lay down and watch the show. Well, when the first boom sounded for the first round, Cathryn dove in the back and put her head under her pillow. It was way too funny. She was crying and screaming "Im scared - I'm scared". I held her while she was shaking and crying. I never could get her to understand that it was just a noise and that she was missing the pretty lights. Oh well. I guess all kids go through that. Better luck next year.

I finished my latest project too. I stripped and painted 2 dressers that we have so that they look like they go together. They turned out really nice if I do say so myself.

My next project are curtains for the kitchen and playroom. I found some colorful striped fabric that I thought would be cute for both rooms - since they are connected.

Anyway, we are off to enjoy our lazy day. I think after Cathryn lays down for her nap, I will find a movie for Madison and I to watch.

One of my current projects

2008-06-23T20:01:00.006-06:00

My niece had a baby the not too long ago so I had the opportunity to do some sewing for her. I made her a few receiving blankets with matching burp cloths and the following quilt. It was a really cute pattern with various textures. It was alittle frustrating for me because a) I'm a perfectionist when it comes to sewing and b)some of the fabrics just didn't cooperate. I really love the soft plush fabric but I don't think I will ever sew with it again. It slipped more than the satiny fabric did - ugh.

Anyway, I finished it and will be sending her package soon!!!

Cathryn-isms...

2008-06-14T18:19:00.003-06:00

This evening Tony went to a baseball game so the girls and I took the opportunity to go shopping for a couple of birthday presents we need for next week. We were eating dinner at Taco Bueno and while we were eating a party of 3 came in. The gentleman with the group was round in stature and bald. Cathryn looks over and says, "Hey mom, there's Humpty Dumpty". That my friends, was hysterical.

The girls have a barbie doll that has a thing-y that attaches to the back that makes it look like a peacock. Well, Cathryn had me put the thing-y on and she said, "look mom, Barbie is a turkey". Now, she has the thing-y off the doll and is strutting around saying, "look, I'm a turkey..gobble, gobble, gobble."

Sometimes she cracks me up with the things she comes up with.

Getting Ready for Summer

2008-06-10T13:16:00.002-06:00

WooHoo Summer is here. Well, almost. Madison is finishing up her school work for this year and she is happy to have a break. We will be doing some short lessons to keep her mind fresh and she will be learning to write in cursive but other than that, no school until the first week of September!!

This week Madison is in soccer camp. Its just with her coach and her team, but she is having fun and learning some great skills. She is having fun playing with her friends for 2hrs a day.

While Madison at camp, Cathryn is taking swim lessons. I wish I could say how much fun she is having, but that isn't the case. She has been all fired up about it for weeks. Talking about swimming in the pool, practically non stop. We went over the weekend and bought a new (Dora) bathing suit just for the occasion and she was so excited.

We dropped Madison off yesterday and headed for the pool with Cathryn talking non stop about being a mermaid. We get to the Rec. Center and she freaks out. We entered the facility on the 2nd floor and when you get to the pool area, there are HUGE picture windows down to the pool. That really freaked her out. She cried (ok, it was really screaming) that she was scared and how she wanted to go home. I convinced her that we would put her bathing suit on and just go down and watch if that was what she wanted. She finally consented and we went downstairs...but she wouldn't take the stairs and reluctantly got on the elevator.

We get down to the area where she will be taking her class and she watched the other class with great interest. After a little orientation, we are on our way. She clung to me at first. The head instructor finally took charge and took her with him onto the first step of the pool...she finally warmed up enough to get in the water with another instructor. She clung to the girl for most of the lesson, but at the end seemed to really warm up to the idea.

After we left, all she could talk about was swim lessons.

Today, Madison didn't have camp because it rained last night (?) so we left for swim lessons from the house. I had to bribe, conjole, etc. to get Cathryn into her bathing suit. Then we get there and she was real reluctant to get in the pool. She didn't cry today and she actually started kicking and such. She was still clingy to the instructors, but she at least tried today. Tomorrow will be better, I just know it.

My hope is that she will have confidence in the water so when we go to the pool she won't cling so much.

Next week, we start karate again. Cathryn will be starting as well. She says she is excited. I'm sure she will do better with karate than swimming because she knows the instructor and will be in a class with her pals as well. She says she wants a purple belt like Madison. We keep reminding her that she has to work hard and earn her belts, just like Madison. It will be cute to watch her.

New layout

2008-06-06T07:11:00.003-06:00

I finally figured out how to change my layout. I have tried a couple of times and was not able to successfully make the change. I finally figured out why....I didn't click "confirm and save"...duh....

Anyway, let me know what you think of this new layout. I thought it was too cute and makes me think of summer!!!

FYI - if it means anything the girls love it. Cathryn was telling all the colors of the "bip-bops" and Madison said "cool".

TinkerBell the movie...

2008-06-05T10:26:00.001-06:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4GehyDs2p0Q

The girls are excited about this...A Tinkerbell Movie is coming out on DVD in the fall!!

Homeschool SoapBox...

2008-06-03T15:58:00.002-06:00

In this weekend's edition of the Parade magazine in the newspaper, was an article on Homeschooling entitled, "Should Home-Schooling be Illegal?". Here is the whole article.

http://www.parade.com/articles/editions/2008/edition_06-01-2008/Intelligence_Report

In the article is the following quote: “If upheld, the California ruling will send shock waves nationwide,” says Richard Kahlenberg, the author of a number of books on education. He says the case “pits those who believe parental rights are paramount against those who place a premium on well-educated citizens.”

Is this man sane? Why can't "they" expect that while we are practicing our parental rights by educating our children at home, that we are not putting a premium on well-educated citizens. That is one of the major reasons people choose to homeschool.

We as parents, are homeschooling our children from the time they emerge into this world. We are responsible for every aspect of their lives up until they are 4-5yrs old (on average). Then we are expected to turn them over to strangers to complete that education. We teach them to eat, drink, walk, talk, use the potty, share, etc. but we aren't able to teach them "the 3 R's"? Come on! We didn't need a college degree to become parents did we? Maybe there should be some requirements met before a person is allowed to become a parent. That would certainly open a can of worms now wouldn't it?

We are homeschooling because we want our children to be well-educated citizens. I'm not saying that children in a public school wouldn't be well-educated citizens, but there are some school systems that put so much emphasis on money that they forget that they are molding our future.

As you can tell, I am very much pro homeschooling. Some days, I think my life would be easier if my children were in school so I could have a break, but then there are days (more of these days) when I know that the girls are right where they are supposed to be and that they are getting a good education, inspite of my not having a teaching certificate.

Green turns to Purple

2008-05-22T15:45:00.005-06:00

Madison is officially a Purple belt in her Taekwondo class. They had their belt testing today and she made it. Barely, but she did it. She has the idea that she doesn't need to practice and she is advancing far enough that she really needs to start practicing. After 3 different tries on her last set of forms, she made it. I think there were a couple of others that we questionable as well and so the last time there was a little group together. She did it though. I am so proud of her. She didn't get defeated...just worked through it the best she could.

I'm pleased that her instructors are patient and really know the kids that are testing. They know that she knew it. I guess being under the pressure of the belt test she choked alittle, but she came through.

For about a week I have been trying to get her to practice her sit-ups which I was told would be a deal breaker for her getting her belt or not because up to this point she hasn't done 30 yet - which is the requirement for her belt level. It was kind of funny in a way...when the first group of green belts stepped forward, the instructor said - 30 push-up...Madison's countenance changed quite a bit. She was worried. I tried to tell her that I was told specifically that she needed to work on that...well she thought she new better. Anyway, she struggled alittle but she did it...yea for her..thats 29 more than I could do.

Here are a couple of pictures. After they kids receive their belts, they are instructed to take the old ones off, fold them up, and wipe the sweat off their brow with it. to symbolized all the hard work that they put into getting that belt. Then they receive their new belts and wipe the sweat to symbolize the work that they will have to put into getting to the next level.

Go Madi!!

2008-05-17T19:50:00.002-06:00

Today, while mom and Cathryn were preparing for the party, Madison and daddy were busy with Madison's first soccer tournament. She played a 4v4 game which is alittle different rules, field, etc. than a regular game and Madison really enjoyed it. The first game, apparently, the opposing team was a bit aggressive. Madison was already tense and a bit stressed so apparently the first game didn't go well for her. Her team lost. The second game, it seems she found her game. They won by 4 goals - all made by her. Way to Go Madi!!! Then the last game her team played the other team of 4v4 girls from her regular soccer team. Luckily, they tied that game.

So, all in all, they lost a game, won a game and tied a game. Not a bad first tournament. I only wish we could have been there to cheer her on...but next time Cathryn and I will get to go too.

Bittersweetness

2008-05-17T19:34:00.002-06:00

Today is the beginning of a new era in our house. Today, Cathryn turns 3 yrs old. It is bittersweet. On one hand, I am sad because we are moving away day by day from having a baby in the house, but I'm happy because she is getting so big and is learning so much.

Today we had a party for her and she had a great time playing with her little friends. They played 1 organized game (Pin the Tail on the Donkey) then just wanted to play together in the play room. Cathryn, who could not wait until "the appropriate time" to have her cupcake decided that she wanted to start eating. So we didn't sing or anything, but I don't think the other kiddos minded. They enjoyed the fare. I found a cake mix that she could actually eat with her allergies. She really enjoyed it and the other kids couldn't tell either. I couldn't get the mom's to try them though.

Cathryn got ALL the bubbles. Aunt Laura and Grandma both got her some bubble stuff. Which just thrilled her since she is all about the bubbles these days. Aunt Laura also sent her some puzzles which she thought were so cool. She really loves puzzles these days as well. Along with the bubbles and puzzles, Cathryn got a Dora little explorer set and a little people playset and a cute little Snow White "paper" doll set. She really couldn't decide what to play with.

She is pleasantly tired from all the activity. I am hoping she will sleep in in the morning...we will see.

I feel like a hamster on a wheel

2008-05-14T20:43:00.002-06:00

We have been so busy lately it's been hard to find the time or energy to blog.

Two weeks ago, the girls and I went with some friends (the same one's we went to the zoo with) over to San Antonio for an overnight trip. We had so much fun. On the way to S A we stopped in Georgetown (just north of Austin) and went to the InnerSpace Caverns. The girls really enjoyed it. Cathryn, because of the rocks. She is 2 she loves to pick up and "collect" rocks. Madison enjoyed seeing the different formations and the cute little tales the tour guide told about some of the different formations.

From there it was on to San Antonio. We got settled in and went to dinner on the River Walk. We ate Mexican food in an outside cafe that was right on the River. There were boats going by and the big girls were waving to the passengers on the boats. They had fun. I was really surprised with how well the girls did in the hotel. Usually when we go on overnight trips and stay in hotels Madison gets really hyper. She was a bit more subdued this time which was nice. The girls settled down around 9-ish and it was all good. I was not feeling well so it was good that I went to sleep early.

The next day we were going to go to the Alamo. We found out that there was an IMAX movie close by that was showing a movie about the Alamo. It really set the stage for our visit. Madison came away from the visit wanting to know more and more about Texas History. That to me was well worth the visit. One of the girls really broke my heart. She is Madison's age and during the movie she started crying because the people were being killed. It really broke my heart that she was so tender hearted for the people.

By the time we got home that night I was feeling pretty miserable. We were all exhausted (the ride between Dallas and San Antonio is pretty boring).

Other than that, we have gotten back into the swing of things.

Mother's day was pretty quiet. The Saturday of, however, turned out to be pretty exciting for us. We had a van that was a '99 and I was alittle nervous going off by myself with the girls out of town. I started thinking about looking at other options for a vehicle for us. We really don't need the huge van since we don't have Mitch anymore so we could downsize and probably find something that would be better on gas too. Well, I looked on CarMax a couple of times and pulled up some different scenarios that I wanted to look at - only. We decided that we would go and look on Saturday. On the way, as a fluke, Tony asked if I would mind checking at some lots along the way. Sure, since we were just window shopping, it would be ok....

Well, the first car we looked at on the first lot was a car that we both fell in love with. I had no qualms about it. It was just what I had in mind when I began thinking about a new(er) car. I am alittle shocked because we are not impulsive when it comes to big purchases. When we finally bought the Saturn it was after 6mos of looking and then we still couldn't make up our minds. Well, there was none of that with this one. We bought an '07 Chrysler Pacifica. It is just beautiful. It's perfect for us too. Its roomy enough for the 4 of us, but if we need to, there is a 3rd row of seats. We have been keeping the seats down and there is plenty of room in the back for the gear that we always end up toting around.

It has everything I ever wanted in a car except for a sun roof. Which is ok. I was even surprised that it is satellite radio ready. That was a big bonus that I didn't know we had until after the paperwork was signed. We have satellite in the van, but it was a portable unit with wires running here and there. I was debating in my head whether or not I wanted to put it back in the new car. I happened to look in the rear area and there was the box "thingy" that said satellite! It is even the same service we have been using. That is so cool.

So, the new car is my Mother's Day, Birthday, Christmas...etc...for the next -------- years...lol...

I will take safety for a present any day. Don't get me wrong. We haven't had any trouble with the van, but it is coming up on 10yrs old and it has over 100k miles on it...how much longer will it actually go? It's been my experience that once a car hits a certain age...it ends up being 1 thing after another building up to a major thing...been there done that and don't want to go through that again - especially with children in tow.

Madison is getting over an ear infection. Her first one ever. She was saying the other day that her ear hurt. She never complains when she is sick so I put a call into the doc. office. The nurse seemed amazed that she is 7yrs and hasn't had an ear infection before. I told her that we didn't know what symptoms to look for but she didnt have a fever. Well, we went in and sure enough she had an ear infection in one ear and a threat of one (lots of fluid) in the other. She has been a real trooper about taking the medication too. She is my well kid and for her to get sick it really breaks my heart. We went to the doc. on Friday afternoon - and the trooper that she is would not miss soccer practice because her team needed her there (her words). I thought that was awesome...even though I gave her the option to not go if she wasn't feeling well. She made it almost all the way through before she just felt so bad she couldn't finish. I was so proud of her for trying.

She is going to be in a soccer tournament on Saturday and is very excited about that. It's alittle different play than she is used to, but she liked the practice that they had for it the other day.

Cathryn is getting excited about her birthday this weekend. She is having a party and is busting for Saturday to get here. I found a cake mix that I can make for the party that she can have. It's tasty and I don't think anyone will notice that its "Special". I can't believe my last baby is turning 3yrs old. She has been saying for months that she is not a baby..and I keep telling her that no matter how old she is - she will always be my baby....she then says, "No, I'm a big girl". One day she will understand. It makes me sad and happy at the same time that she is officially leaving the baby stage and entering the preschool stage. She is so cute now that I don't want her to change, but then, I can't wait to see the changes that she goes through as she continues to grow in the woman God meant for her to be. I just keep hugging her wanting to hold on just alittle longer...and she tells me "aw mommy, stop it"....she is getting so big!

Unreal

2008-05-12T13:34:00.002-06:00

Wow, Tony forwarded the following link to me and it was just unreal. It talks about a staff member at a school being attacked by 2 13yr old boys. The most unreal part is that in the article it talks about there being 100 attacks on staff members THIS YEAR! Hello????

Anyway, here is the link:
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/bal-te.md.attack07may07,0,7479256.story

Our society is so out of whack these days. I like how the article places the blame back on the family. I agree that these kids may not have the family values that would teach them that these kinds of behaviors are unacceptable, but then again, there should be some responsibility of the schools as well. Where are they in all this....allowing 99 instances before this one to happen without some drastic changes being made within the school system. After 1 or 2 something should have been done. Someone needs to take control and get these kids back into control. Isn't the educational system there to TEACH the children? If they aren't learning these core values at home, why doesn't the school system step up and teach the children the norms of our society. Maybe "they" should bring back corporal punishment. I remember when I was in school there was corporal punishment and I think it helped to deter a lot of behavioral problems before they escalated to the magnitude that this articles brings forth.

Somewhere there has been a breakdown in our society. Kids are coming up thinking that they are entitled to whatever they want, just because they want it. They don't think they should have to work for it...where did the work ethic go? Call me old fashioned, but I believe that hard work pays off and rewards you in the end. I wish we could go back to the values we had in the 50's. Children understood about being respectful and they understood their place in our society. There is something to be said for the old adage "children should be seen and not heard".

I will quit now and get down off my soap-box. I could go on and on about this subject, but I won't in this post.

In closing, I will say that I am so thankful that even in all the chaos of our society, we live in a state where we are free to homeschool our children openly. It is my prayer that other states (like California) will loosen the restrictions in homeschooling so others can experience the freedom that we have here in Texas.

A Girls Day

2008-04-25T07:17:00.002-06:00

Yesterday we had a great girls day out. The girls and I met with some friends and we headed to the zoo. We met with 2 families and it was a total girly trip. We met at a local DART train station and rode the Transit train all the way to the zoo. My girls were just thrilled with the train ride. Going to the zoo we were sitting where we were facing backwards and Cathryn looked alittle pale. She was a bit nervous about the whole thing I think because she barely said a word the whole way. I don't think Madison really paid attention to what was going on, she was too busy with her girlfriends.

The train dropped us off right at the zoo which was really cool. When we got there, there were about 3 large groups of school kids there. We went the opposite direction of them so we wouldn't get caught in the large crowds. Dallas Zoo has a new exhibit which is a sting ray petting zoo. I was reluctant to do it, but I gave in to peer pressure and it was really cool. There is a large shallow pool that the sting rays swim in. The pretty much swim around the perimeter of the pool and you put your hand in and you can pet them as they swim by. The bigger girls loved it. The little ones (Cathryn's buddies) were just happy to put their hands in the water. At one point though, Violet was playing in the water and a sting ray swooped up and she got to pet it..it scared her a bit, but she recovered well.

We looked at the animals, ate lunch then we took the girls to the children's zoo area. After they looked at the exhibits there, we let them play in the play area there. That I think was the highlight of the day - at least for my girls. There is a little stream in the middle and the girls had a great time splashing in the water. They were soaked when it was all over. I happened to have dry clothes for Cathryn but the rest had to go home wet.

After we were done with the children's area, the girls got to ride the carousel that they have. Cathryn has only been on a carousel only one other time. She sat stone still with a death grip on the pole...I asked if she liked it and she said she did, but she didn't look as though she was enjoying it much.

On the ride home we were in a car that was front facing and Cathryn was a different from the trip going. She was busy pointing out all the things she saw and got excited about being in the tunnel. I don't know if she felt better going forward or in her overtired state she was more animated, either way she enjoyed the trip.

This was the first of many outings we will be enjoying this summer. I was so happy to see all the girls get along so well. Its nice to have friends that we can do things with who have the same values that we do.

A fresh new look

2008-04-22T08:53:00.005-06:00

A couple of weeks ago, Madison's friend, Sarah, cut her hair. Her hair was long and she donated what was cut to Locks of Love to make wigs for people who need them. Then a few days later, another friend, Dani, cut her hair into a cute cut as well.

Madison has been wanting her hair cut for a long long time. My thinking on it was, she needed it long enough to pull back away from her face for soccer, karate, and gymnastics. I was real reluctant to have much taken off ever because she is so pretty with her hair long. The problem is that she doesn't like to brush it and it gets big tangles in it, which ends up with her crying while I brush it to put it up.

Well, after seeing her friends with their new haircuts, she really put in to get hers cut. I finally said ok, and off we went. It turned out really cute. The down side is that people don't recognize her. She was playing soccer on Sunday and her former coach was wondering where Madison was, when she was on the field the whole time. Other people have said similar things.

Here is a look at her new do. It is really cute on her and she loves it. The downside is that it isn't long enough (which I was told it would be) to put back, but she has been wearing a headband when she is playing sports so it works out ok.

As one chapter ends....

2008-04-13T20:59:00.004-06:00

In a previous post, I mentioned all the happy endings that are happening in our family. Well, just as we end one soccer season, we leap into another one.

A couple of months ago, another soccer team within our league called our coach and asked if our team would be interested in doing scrimmage as a practice. He said yes, and we played a scrimmage game with them. After that game, that coach asked our coach if his daughter would be interested in joining their team on in a different league (SDL Super Developmental League). They did, and "J" has been playing with them for about 2 games.

Earlier last week, I got a phone call from Angela (our coach's wife), asking if Madison would be interested in joining the team which is in this different soccer league. It's a developmental league, which Tony and I have bounced around with switching to anyway. She also called another girl, "G", to join. That would be cool since "G" and Madison work well together on the field.

Well, we went to a practice on Friday and Madison came back loving it. The girls welcomed her and it seemed as though she had always been practicing with them. She fell right in step with them. Today, we went to her first game with them and she played a bit. They didn't win, but that's ok.

Toward the end of the game, Madison's PSA coach (J's dad) said that about half of the opposing team are from the team that beat us yesterday at our last game(we lost 6-0). Those girls were very aggressive and talked trash. At one point during the game today, the ref stopped the game and pulled Madison and #99 aside; spoke with them, then they had to shake hands. We found out from Madison that the girl was made to apologize to Madison. Yesterday at our regular game, the same girl was talking trash all over the field and would throw an elbow way too much and usually aimed at Madison. Apparently, she is intimidated by Madison and thought she could bully her. I am so glad that Madison shows good sportsmanship out on the field and didn't let it get to her. She did awesome.

Anyway, Madison is really excited about her new team. She will learn some new skills which we are happy about. The team will play under PSA league for the summer and Madison is in hog heaven over that one. She has really come along with her love of soccer. I hope she doesn't burn out too soon, but I have a feeling (since she is as competitive as her dad) that it may not be an issue for a while.

Happy Endings

2008-04-08T07:13:00.002-06:00

There are a lot of "endings" in recent days that I am happy about.

First, Co-Op has ended for the semester. Yeah! It has been a good semester for the girls and I, but it was also exhausting. Madison really enjoyed all her classes and she learn some things along the way. Cathryn loved being in her class as well. I found out yesterday that the teacher she had this year, will be moving up and with Cathryn's class next year. She was an awesome teacher and the kids love her. I had fun doing the lunches, but I am ready for a break.

Second, soccer is ending this week. We have our last game on Saturday. After last Saturday's game I would be glad not to have any more. It was the worst game the girls had played all year. With the exception of Madison and Gabby the rest of the girls just didn't seem interested in being there or doing what they were supposed to do. They didn't lose - they tied 0-0. We could have won by a lot if there was any follow through from our girls.

The last happy ending of recent days is that we found a home for Mitch the Wonder dog. With our busy lifestyle it was better to find a home where someone would have more time to give to Mitch than we could. I had debated for a while about what to do and I was cruising around Craig's List and found an ad that someone was looking for a dog just like Mitch. It was awesome. It was definitely a God thing. He is living on a farm where they have cows and a creek. I got an email from the person who took him in and he was having a great time already. I'm glad he went to a loving family.

So those are the happy endings that I am enjoying these days.

Play Ball

2008-03-29T15:35:00.007-06:00

Today was opening day for the Frisco RoughRiders minor league baseball game. Tony bought a season ticket package and today was opening day. The RoughRiders are a minor league team for the Texas Rangers and today was an exhibition game with the Rangers.

Tony took Madison with him and they had a great time. As you can see, Madison got a visor and her face painted. I think, though, that all that paled in light of her spending time with her daddy. They both came home happy and excited about the game. The RoughRiders won 7-2. It's always fun to come home with a win.

Go PowerGirls!!!

2008-03-29T13:17:00.002-06:00

Yeah!! We didn't lose today!! Madison had a soccer game today that was kind of important. Tony doesn't think so (outwardly anyway). We played against a team that is has 4 girls from our team in the Fall. They left to start their own team because they didn't like the way that our coach coached the team. Anyway, it was kind of a mess and I was never so glad to have the season over. They scored a goal early in the game and I just knew that was it. Well, our girls hung on and played a great defensive game. Madison did really well and used some of the skills she has been learning. She worked well with the other girls and they really tried hard. Well, in the last few minutes of the last quarter Gabby on our team made a goal. We tied them!!! That was almost as good as a win, and MUCH better than losing to them.

This season the power girls have worked hard and they have won 1 game and tied all the rest so far. Madison is really coming along as a player. We are wanting to put her in a soccer camp sponsored by the FC Dallas professional soccer team. That should be a fun time for her as well as a great learning opportunity.

Anyway, I wanted to brag on our soccer team a little bit. Go PowerGirls!!!

Are We Done Yet?

2008-03-19T21:14:00.002-06:00

God, please help me get through the next couple of months without a)having a heart attack or b)selling Cathryn on EBay. Amen.

Man, the terrible twos have hit hard at our house. If it wasn't so stressful, I'm sure I could find humor in it...ok, so I can, but it's still stressful!

Cathryn has decided that she doesn't need to take naps anymore. Well, being the good mom, I put her down as always, at the same time and hope that she will fall blissfully to sleep while listening to her "night night" music, and have a nice refreshing nap. You would think that after all the busy-ness that she is involved with up until nap time, she would be ready for a break and rest, but oh no. This turns in to unsupervised mayhem.

Monday, I put her down for a nap and heard her stirring around, which isn't that bad. Then I heard a noise that didn't sound right. I went to check on her and she had her games scattered all over her room. No big deal right? All kids strow their stuff around. Well, the big deal is that she CLIMBED up on her dresser to get to the shelf in the TOP OF HER CLOSET! McGyver, as I have begun to call her, used a storage bin to climb up to the dresser. I'm sure she then shimmied up the dresser to the top, then stood to reach the stuff on the shelf. She has been in training for this day for months. At gymastics she plays in the gym while Madison is in class and there is a place where she reaches up and pulls herself up to the risers where people sit. I thought it was good exercise at the time. I didn't realize she was in training for her big day.

I went in and scolded her and moved all the stuff off her bed so there would be no hinderances in the napping department and removed the instrument that McGyver used to reach the forbidden treasures. She played the part of a scolded childen well. Big crocodile tears and everything. Well, the waterworks must have shut off as soon as the door was closed because before I knew it I heard yet another strange sound. The sound of her pop-up books (Thanks to Uncle Chris) that I keep up on the shelf so she won't tear them up. She found yet another object to aid her in her quest for the forbidden treasures. I was livid. I have since removed the dresser from the closet (where it was put in the first place because I was afraid she would see it as a rock wall and climb it) and removed all hard storage containers from her room. Yesterday, I heard a loud crash coming from her room at nap time and went to see what the clatter was. She tried to stand on one of the mesh bins to reach the light switch and must have dumped the contents out first..then fell on them.

Ok, I got over that stress after 2 diet cokes, 1 tylenol pm and 2 extra strength Tylenols as a chaser.

Tonight, I went out for a while for some "me" time. Before leaving she was tucked into her bed and not a peep came from the room so I knew she was asleep. Tony said that he hadn't heard her at all while I was gone. I wasn't home 10min. when I heard her crying. I went in to check on her and went to pat her back to soothe her and low and behold she was butt naked in the purest sense. She woke up crying because she p'd in the bed! She cried the whole time I was changing the bed..thank goodness for the plastic protective covering on the mattress. I told her this should teach her to keep her diaper on. She has to learn to walk before she can fly.

I was talking to a friend today and she said that there is a light at the end of the tunnel. I don't see it yet, but there is always hope I guess. I do have one thing going for me though. Being blond, my gray hairs won't show as bad.

Funny conversations with a 2yr old

2008-03-12T07:23:00.003-06:00

Yesterday on the way to soccer practice, Cathryn came up with a very funny conversation.

I have to preface it with a little explanation. She is all about "new" things. If she gets a new pair of shoes, she will go on and on about her new shoes...She got a "new" bed a few months ago but she still goes on about her new bed. We went window shopping for cars not long ago and she was convinced that we were getting a new car and by the end of the day she was tired and waling about not having her new car.

Anyway, yesterday, as I said we were on the way to soccer practice. The practice field is attached to a school which is in a neighborhood. We were travelling along down the street and Cathryn pipes up that we need to get one of these "new" houses. The houses in the neighorhood are not new...its a nice established neighborhood.

Ok, so I told her that we didn't need a house, we had one. She kept saying, "but we need a new house". I asked her why did she think we need one and she said because ours was dirty. I was cracking up. I told her that if she and Madison didn't mess it up so much it wouldn't be dirty. She then said that it wasn't her that made it dirty, it was Madison.

The whole conversation was hysterical. She had a good argument as to why she wanted a new house. However, I have to say, that our house is messy most of the time. It's like a never ending cycle that sometimes I just have to step back and let it go.

So that is just an example of some of the funny conversations I have been having lately with Cathryn.

Contentment

2008-02-27T23:09:00.003-06:00

I went out for a little bit this evening by myself. I was listening to the Christian music station on my satellite radio. The DJ was talking about contentment. I don't know if she was quoting anyone or she came up with it herself, but she said, "contentment isn't buying what you want, but it is needing less."

I found that so profound. I have been struggling for a while in finding contentment within myself. On the whole I am very content with where life is going (generally speaking), but inside, I am experiencing a spiritual unrest; a discontentment. I know I haven't been going to church as I should. There is always an excuse for not going. Some are valid, but some are not and I know this. I don't have the spiritual connection that I felt I had when we were living in Houston. I pray throughout my day, but that is generally to calm the storm that has suddenly erupted in the house, or for patience in dealing with my children.

I tend to let my personal relationship with God sit on a shelf. I envision God sitting there, on the shelf getting dusty and swinging his feet back and forth; just waiting for me to go, "Oh, there you are". I am so glad that God is sitting there eagerly anticipating my return to Him. I know what I need to do, but for lack of spiritual energy I just can't get around to it.

For the last few weeks I have had a huge ball of stress bottled up inside of me. It has been overflowing in a bad attitude and cross-ness. Granted, sometimes it has been in the way of disipline, but at times I know I have been too harsh. I have been able to see when I have gone to far or have been too harsh and have asked forgiveness from the girls. I am so glad that my girls are so forgiving of my lack of patience and my cross-ness lately.

On the other hand, I did get to do God's work this week in a very real way. I know some people who are starting a business. They feel that God has lead them to a Christian ministry. God laid it on my heart one day that they would benefit from having a website. I mulled it over in my mind for about a week then I asked Tony if he would be willing to do one for them...as a gift. He said sure. He knows the people and likes them so it was easy for him to get on board. I asked them if they thought that their ministry would benefit from a website and I was told "thank you but we really don't think we will need it right now". Ok, I offered, and they weren't interested. That's ok. Well, the other day they asked me if the offer was still opened. I said yes. So that is in the works. I feel blessed that God would use me (although I'm feeling so unworthy)to continue His work. Years ago, I went through a study called Experiencing God. The one principle Henry Blackaby talks about, says to find where God is working and join Him in that work. Needless to say, God has found a way to show Himself to me even though I haven't been looking in His direction lately.

Well, I had the opportunity to find out the other day just how God has been working in the lives of the people I mentioned above. It was such a blessing to see what brought them to where they are and to see where God is using them to bless others through their work. Then this week, they changed their minds about the website. I knew at that precise time that I was able to put the principle that I had learned years ago into play in such a wonderful way. I was so blessed by that. I thanked God for showing me where He was working in such a vivid way.

Anyway, this post has lived up to the name of my blog. I'm sorry for RAMBLING on so. I hope you made it to the end.

Spring Soccer

2008-02-26T13:29:00.002-06:00

Well, we have started "Spring" soccer already. Madison had her first game Saturday. There was no score, but her team did really well. Only 4 girls returned from Madison's Fall team so there are several new girls on the team. And of those girls most have not played before. They did really well about working together.

It's hard to see, but our coaches' wife made the girls skorts to wear. They are really cute too. It's hard to tell with the "cold weather" gear. We opted for orange jerseys this time instead of pink because it seemed for a while all the girl teams had some sort of pink jersey and sometimes it was hard to tell the teams apart.

With the orange they will stand out. The coach is also getting them iron-on soccer ball patches to put on their jerseys for every win. I thought that was a cool idea.

Madison did personally well too. She worked hard to keep the ball down the field. I am very proud of her athletic abilities. When she was little we worried about her being able to walk straight (She was always tripping over something) and now look at how well she is doing. She really loves it too.

Karate update

2008-02-22T09:51:00.002-06:00

I wanted to post about Madison, but it would make the last post way too long. She is really doing well in Karate. They are sparring more which I am not crazy about, but she loves it. Yesterday, she got hit in the face for the first time. Her sparring partner got her right in the eye. She didn't cry although she said it hurt like crazy.

She was so excited last week. She was in a group of kids about her size and she got moved to a different group...of older and bigger kids. She was the only girl in that group and did very well. She kept saying "I'm one tough girl, huh mom?" She can't wait until the next tournament. She wants to point spar. I want her to work on her forms so she can compete in forms as well. What do I know; I'm just mom.

"I'm a big kid now..."

2008-02-22T09:20:00.002-06:00

Well, we are on the road to being diaper free around our house!! WooHoo!!!

Cathryn has been talking about going potty for a while, but never showed any interest in actually going. We bought the little potty and I would put her on it while the water was running for her bath. She would bounce up and down, scoot it around, that sort of thing. I tried using the trainer pants one day and made an effort to get her to the potty on a regular schedule to no avail. I would put her on her potty, she would bounce around so much I would get frustrated and take her out of the bathroom only to have her p on the floor. One time I put her on her potty, went to get a book, and came back and she had p'd on the floor right in front of her potty. UGH

She's been watching all the other kids at t Co-Op using the potty and has even talked her teacher into putting her on the potty.

I have been alittle reluctant to continue because of her allergies she has sudden bm's that I don't think she understands are coming. I wanted to get her better regulated before we started in earnest. She is doing much better with her tummy troubles because of allergies so I thought we would try again.

I got the idea the other day to use Pull-Ups. I don't like using them and only used them for Madison at night after she outgrew the largest diapers. (With Madi we only used about 2 packs and she was ready for panties at night as well.)

Anyway, I broke down and bought some Pull-Ups. I got to thinking that it would give her the freedom to start using the potty but if she has a nasty accident then she wouldn't make a huge mess. With us gone so much it makes sense too. I already have to carry so much stuff in my purse as it is, that adding extra clothes at this time isn't something I want to do.

Well, yesterday she used the potty for the first time!!!!! YEAH!!!! However, I think we have created a "monster". Now she is constantly on the potty. If you can't find her, look in a bathroom. She went so much yesterday I was afraid that she was going to get dehydrated...lol.

Today is no different. It is before 10am at the time of this writing and she has been at least 5 times already.

The good thing is that she does it on the big potty. She sits there and patiently waits. So, I am getting rid of the baby potty (as she calls it) and am just going to use the big potty. I remember Madison only using the big potty as well. If you are reading this and contemplating potty training...I would recommend going straight to the regular potty - don't waste your time with a baby potty. I wouldn't even get the special ring that you can get. The reason is, if you are out somewhere are you going to carry it with you? I had really struggled with the idea of getting a little potty, but conceded because "every kid is different". However, in this case, my kids are the same.

Anyway! just thought I'd share our newest milestone!!

I'm So Bummed!!!

2008-02-15T10:09:00.003-06:00

I have many television shows that I watch just because they happen to come on...then I have shows that I DVR each week so I can make sure I get to see them. Then there is a show that everything stops and I don't move from beginning to end and heaven forbid there is any noise to distract me. I also set the DVR so I can go back in case there is a distraction. Anyway, that show is '24'.

I started watching that show a few seasons back. I didn't watch it in the beginning because it didn't sound very interesting. Then I started hearing things about it and didn't think it would be a program to start in the middle of the season..you might miss something.

When we were living in Idaho I got hooked on it. As I said, life stops at 8pm on Monday nights for this show.

Well, with the writer's strike dragging on forever, "they" have postponed this whole season of '24'. It won't be back until January 2009. I am so bummed!!!!

Oh well, I guess I will get my intrigue fix from the Vince Flynn books Tony has gotten me into. They are very similar to 24 in the format of government and secret operatives, etc.

Mom's Nite Out...

2008-02-13T14:51:00.002-06:00

After a hectic day of running Madison around to her different activities, I was able to break away and go have dinner with some friends. We went to Olive Garden. Tony doesn't eat Italian food so that has never been a choice of places to go and eat. He has taken me there 1 time since we've been married.

Anyway, I met with a couple of friends from our Co-Op and another lady from Co-Op that I didn't know very well. We had a great time. I had a Tuscan Chicken dish which was loaded with garlic (I ended up paying for that all night). I think I picked out at least 10 whole garlic cloves from my plate...and I still missed a few. I love garlic, but that was alittle over the top. We actually "closed the restaurant". When we left, one lady went to open the door and an alarm went off - loudly. After we all got our hearts beating at the normal rate, we just laughed.

We decided that we are going to do something like that once a month. Either go to a restaurant or meet at one of the lady's houses and have a potluck type dinner.

It was nice sitting and talking about some of the issues that we have with homeschooling too. The one lady that I didn't know very well has a degree in education. I think I picked her brain a lot last night. The ladies did empower me to ditch the reading program that Madison has been doing...well at least for the time being anyway. She was really struggling to get through it and it was making life very stressful. When I told her about that today, she was ready to party down...lol...then I explained that we may not be doing the program, but she was still required to read. So we are currently reading one of her chapter books. We haven't read together in about a week and I asked her if she remembered what happened in the first chapter. She could tell me all the events that happened. Even one of the minor characters name ("Yard Ape"). Well, that is something.

I am still knocking around some ideas on how to change up our schooling. The ladies last night gave me some good advice and I'm trying to figure out how to incorporate a structured and non-structured learning approach. I also want to start including Cathryn in some things as well. I came up with an idea for a unit study too. Around here every year there is a Hot Air Balloon Festival and so from time to time we will see hot air balloons floating around the air and both the girls get excited about seeing them. I thought it might be cool to do a study on them to find out what their made of how they fly, etc. I found a site on how to make models out of papier mache. We would make them while Cathryn was napping (because of the flour) then have her help paint one...I just have to gather the materials and such then we can start working on that maybe next week.

So, "K", I did come away from dinner with a few ideas, not many, but a few...that's a start, right?

Of all the things....

2008-02-12T12:41:00.000-06:00

In this world where you have celebrities such as Britney Spears, Lindsey Lohan, and others out running around, drinking, and getting in trouble with the law, etc. and the public is now worried about Miley Cyrus being a bad role model. Why? Because apparently in her hit "movie" she is seen in the back of a vehicle not wearing her seatbelt!!! (as she would say) COME ON PEOPLE!!! Get over it.

I understand the importance of wearing a seatbelt, and we wear them in our vehicles, but of all the things that the girl could do wrong, and people are so worried about her being a bad role model for this? Get a grip.

Here is a link to the article I read... http://movies.msn.com/movies/article.aspx?news=300451&GT1=7701

Craziness...

2008-02-07T21:29:00.000-06:00

I have been kind of out of it this week. The girls have been in a funk this week. I don't know if it's cabin fever because of the winter weather or what, but they are both acting out and it's draining me.

I have been "trolling" blogs....ok that sounds bad, but its not. Let me explain. There is an area on the log-in page for this blog site where you can see where other blogs are being updated. I have been reading some of the interesting sounding ones. WOW! There are some really STRANGE people "out there". On the other side of the spectrum there are some really good blogs out there. Some people dedicate their blogs to the happenings of their family (as mine is), some are done in a way so its as if their little one is doing the blog, there are some that showcase their photographic abilities, and such. I have found some blogs that are really spiritual and have been lifted by what some have said.

I am always been fascinated by human behavior and there is a broad spectrum to choose from on the internet. It's not as fun as people watching in the mall or anything like that, but it's interesting to me anyway.

That's all thats happening around here. I am looking for a new curriculum to use next school session and I have narrowed it down to about 2 different programs. Hopefully I will have something before we start back up in the fall.

Random Ramblings...

2008-02-02T23:10:00.000-06:00

There is so much random-ness going on right now. We started Co-Op this past week. It was hectic and Madison had a major meltdown after lunch, but we made it through. I took the girls to the dentist Tuesday. The dentist told me that Madison's jaw is mis-aligned...go figure since she still sucks her thumb. We have tried for years to get her to stop, but I don't know of anything that will make her. She has even started sucking her thumb at Co-Op. I figured she would be embarrassed by that, but I guess not.

I went to the doctor a couple of weeks ago for a check-up. The doc. did some blood work and everything that she had checked came back normal. That means I' healthy...woo-hoo. She also had my cholesterol checked. That came back normal as well. I had wondered over the years what my numbers were, but never thought much about it. I was glad to read that the numbers were fine.

In a previous post I mentioned that I bought a Food Allergy Cookbook that said it has 150 "Kid Friendly" recipes. Whatever!!! I tried a recipe for pizza crust. It came out TERRIBLE!!!! I made it according to the recipe and as I mixed it it seemed dry, but I let it go...I placed in a warm place (the oven) for 1hr and it didn't rise. It was still the dry lump I put in. I was so disappointed. I didn't let that discourage me for very long. Today I tried a cake recipe. If I thought the pizza crust was bad, this was worse. I made the recipe even did the egg substitute according to the recipe and it was aweful. It said to "pour" the batter into the pans. Well, it didn't pour...I tried to spread it and it wouldn't even spread. I baked it thinking that it would loosen up and rise, but it didnt. It came out of the oven the same way it went in except that the edges were crispy. It was heavy and didn't taste good either. I was really disappointed with this outcome. Cathryn's birthday is in a few months and I wanted to find a cake for her that she could enjoy for her birthday. Well, its back to the drawing board. I am not giving up easily.

Cathryn's First Haircut

2008-01-23T18:57:00.000-06:00

I finally broke down and had Cathryn's hair cut today. Her hair is really curly and if you pulled a curl in the back of her hair it would reach the middle of her back. It was really cute, except for trying to brush it. It was nearly impossible to do. The top layer (the lighter layer) was getting fuzzy and it tangled really easily making it really hard to control.

I took her to a kids hair cut place and she did really well. She didn't cry or anything. She sat in the chair like a tin soldier. Stiff. I saved a little bit of her hair for her baby book. There was plenty on the floor too....

Here are the before and after pictures.

(Before - Squirrely girl)

(After - side view)

(After - front view)

Isn't she a cutie?

"Baby Its Cold Outside..."

2008-01-23T07:25:00.000-06:00

Yes, it's cold here in North Texas...and it can go away. I feel like we are in hybernating mode. Yesterday we did venture out and the temperature gauge in the van read 33 degrees. Burrr....

We used to live in North Idaho (aka the Tundra) and it would get down to the teens and single digits and I remember Madison and I walking a couple of blocks to the library. Well, I was pregnant back then so I had the internal insulator thing going, but still. Madison keeps wishing it will snow. She loved playing in it...all be it for about 5 minutes at a time, but she still loved it.

One of the things I miss about not living where it snows is the peaceful hush that comes over the land. The sounds are muffled by the blanket of snow and there is something so peaceful in that. That has always awed me in the times I have lived where it snowed. Now, that doesn't mean, I want to live where it snows. Oh no. I am from Florida and it doesn't snow there, is usually sunny and above all its usually warm. I remember when I was growing up in Miami, it would get down to the 50's a few times in the winter months and we would scramble to find the 1 sweater that we owned. Mine was brown and I must have worn that thing quite a few winters because I can't remember any other coats or jackets.

When we moved from Florida to California, I was 9 and it was during the winter months. I remember my sister and I didn't have coats so my mother gave us her "leather" jackets. Ok, Laura's may have been leather, but the one that I got was like naugahide (sp?) or something. It was horrible and confining. Maybe that's why I have such an aversion to coats/jackets today.

I remember our first trip to the snow. That was kind of fun. It was right after we moved to California. We went up into the mountains of So. California (I think Big Bear area) and there were patches of snow. We, my sister, step-sister, step-brother, and I had the best time playing in it. It was the first time any of us had seen snow - being from Florida and all. That is how I like it - you go to the snow, then you come away from it...you shouldn't live in it.

Our 18months in Idaho was enough snow to last a lifetime. The winter before we moved up there, Tony had gone up to the main office of the company he worked for. I remember him calling me early one morning to tell me that they had gotten FEET of snow over night...that was crazy.

After we moved up to the small town that we lived in, Tony would ride his bicycle to work (about 1 mile away). Well, it was getting to winter time and he decided to be "Mr Macho" and ride his bike...until he encountered "frozen fog" he said it was painful to ride through....lol..who ever heard of that - but it happens. After that, he didn't ride his bike anymore.

The year we were up there, it was a light winter and all my friends teasingly blamed me because of it...ok, I will take the blame. We had had some snow showers off and on during the season and as it got closer to Christmas it was dry and very little snow. Christmas Eve we got several calls from Houston with friends and family calling to tell us that they got snow..and we didn't have a flake. Well, that changed...about 5am Christmas Day, here came the snow..and it snowed all day. We had fun though. There was a park near the house with a nice size hill and Tony and Madison went sledding. I was 4mos pregnant at the time so I didn't, but it was fun watching them. Madison still talks about sledding.

So, now that we have been back in the south for a few years, I am happy to have the hot summers. Although, Idaho had idyllic summers when we were up there. Madison took swimming lessons in the lake that was in our town. It was cold even in the summer and her little lips would be blue, but nothing would deter her from learning to swim. The first summer we were up there, the temp. got up into the 90's a few days and Tony and I braved the lake...wow, it was cold...but refreshing to. The next summer the temps didn't hit that high, but people were still flocking into the lake - not me...it was way to cold....and I had Cathryn by then.

All this to say - Come on Summer....warm my bones...

Better week...

2008-01-16T08:59:00.001-06:00

Well, things are starting to feel normal again. I'm still alittle overwhelmed with all the things I need to be careful of with regards to Cathryn's allergies, but I think we will do just fine. I found a cookie recipe that didn't have any flour in it and on the package it gave a substitute for eggs. They are quite tasty too. I taste tested them with some friends and they said they were good. They were alittle on the sweet side, but I think it off-set the otherwise probably tasteless-ness of them.

I found a cookbook for food allergies online that states that it has recipes for all the kids favorites. I'm going to check it out when I go to the bookstore this week. I hope they are right. I like having clear instructions for things instead of trying to do it on my own in the beginning.

Yesterday, karate started back up and Madison earned her sparring gear back. She had been acting up lately and so I told her that for every 5 marks she got on the calendar that equaled 1 day of no sparring at karate. I emailed her instructor ahead of time and let him know that she may not have her sparring gear some days.

Anyway, she ended up with 4 marks...and got to spar. They were so cute. When we first got to class all the kids were talking to each other a mile a minute. It was way too cute. We have been on a break since right after Thanksgiving so they haven't seen each other for that time.

While she was waiting she was talking to her 2 buddies (Ethan 1 & 2) and one of the Ethan's said that he didn't have a mouthpiece. Madison, wanting everyone to be able to join in, offered 1 of hers. We got her a mouth guard when she was playing soccer because 1 of the teams we played got phsycial and Tony was worried that she would get elbowed in the mouth. Anyway, we got her one which didn't fit right after several tries. She should have thrown it away when we got her a new one. Anyway, she had both in her gear bag and offered the old one to her buddy. I was so thrilled with her generosity, but I had to explain to her that there are some things we just don't share in life. It upset her because she all she wanted was for Ethan to have what he needed I talked to his mom who said she didn't mind it if I didn't. So later, I talked to Madison about things that we can share with other and things we probably wouldn't.

When it was time to actually spar, Madison was sparring against a girl her age, but smaller. They were so cute trying to spar. They would stand really far apart and didn't make much contact. Madison was bouncing around so much she couldn't really do moves. It was really cute.

They are going to be getting more instruction on sparring, but yesterday we had an emergency so only 1 instructor was working with the kids. One of the mom's fell and hurt herself so one of the instructors, who is a nurse was busy helping with the situation. So, I'm sure when both instructors are working with them they will learn the proper way to spar.

Whine-Whine-Whine

2008-01-13T21:11:00.000-06:00

Its been a very depressing week for me. After finding out that Cathryn is allergic to wheat and eggs I have been just devastated. Think about what is in your pantry right now...have you read any labels lately? I have and it was sad. I have a counter full of items that will no longer be acceptable in our house.

I have done an exhaustive search for acceptable substitutes and the more I read, the more confused I get. I have been to the organic section of Krogers, to Sprouts and even Whole Foods and only come away with just a few things. Cathryn has liked some things, but other things not so much. I bought some "rice crisps" that looked like round cheesy crackers at Whole Foods. She put it to her mouth, threw it to the ground, and stomped on it. That sent a big message. She has hardly eaten anything this past week. The only thing she has eaten with any gusto has been grapes and bananas. I usually just give her 1 sippy cup of juice a day, I have been letting her have more just to get something in her.

I know it's selfish of me, but I pray that she will outgrow her wheat or egg allergy as people say she might. I can handle the peanut thing if that's all I have to worry about, but the other stuff makes it very difficult to live with.

We have pretty much become hermits. The girls and I usually go out to lunch once a week...just because. We haven't even done that because I don't think I can find some alternatives for Cathryn if we go out...and she loves chicken nuggets with ranch dressing so we didn't go anywhere. I had to run an errand on Saturday so I took Madison with me and we did lunch. I feel bad that she has to miss out on things because we can't take Cathryn with us. Madison is really bummed because for practically her whole life we have had "pancake Friday". I am diligently looking for substitute so we can continue with that tradition. The girls really look forward to Fridays because of that.

Well, you were warned. I needed to whine alittle bit. I have found some on line support groups for people with children that have food allergies. That has been nice...seeing that we are not alone helps me cope. This is the beginning of a new week and I am so thankful. We start back with karate this week so that will help Madison cope and forget about it for awhile.

It's Official...We Will Now Be Peanut Free

2008-01-07T17:16:00.000-06:00

I took Cathryn to the Allergist today. After looking at the results of the blood test that we had done last month, he decided that the numbers really didn't tell him a whole lot about the severity of her allergies. So, we had to have the scratch test done. She was such a trooper. She sat on my lap and played with my shirt while the nurse wrote on her back...then she laid her head on my shoulder when the scratch part started...she didn't say anything and I don't think she really breathed through it either. It was over before it really got started. Afterward, we had to wait 15min. before the nurses could record the results and she sat on my lap and played so nicely. I had her pacifier with us, but she didn't want it. That is a true trooper in my book.

The conclusion of the test is that she is indeed highly allergic to peanuts. The doctor said for her to stay away from all other nuts as well. She is also on the positive side of the scale for wheat and eggs. Ugh!! Those are probably the triggers for her eczema. As for the allergins that the blood test flagged, there aren't any to be concerned with. We discussed the cat allergy and the doctor said that it may be a case that when she first encounters a cat she will sniffle and sneeze, but he doesn't think it will be a terrible allergy. The scratch test shows that she is more allergic to dogs than cats and we have had a dog longer than we have had her...lol...

This is certainly going to be a life changing experience for all of us. After the doctors appointment, we went by the grocery store to find some wheat/egg snacks and such for Cathryn to have. She likes to have a cookie after her nap. She also loves crackers (especially goldfish) and bread. I hope she will like having a rice cake instead...lol...I wouldn't, but she is still young and impressionable.

Out Of The Mouth Of Babes...

2008-01-04T09:25:00.000-06:00

Madison is watching the second half of The Sound of Music...its to the part where Maria (Julie Andrews) has just returned from the Abbey. The children have just gone off somewhere, excited that she has returned. The father and Maria were talking and he mentioned that she didn't even say good-bye...he asked her how long she was going to be staying and she said until they got a new Governess. Madison, innocently said..."until Mary Poppins comes." (also Julie Andrews)

I thought that was just way too precious not to share.

New Year...New Beginnings

2008-01-03T07:33:00.000-06:00

Reflecting back on last year it seems like such a blur. It was a very busy year for our family. It went by so fast. This year we are starting off with some changes in our family. If you have read some of my previous posts, you read that we found out the Cathryn has been diagnosed with an allergy to peanuts. I got a call from the doctor's office yesterday with the results of the environmental test and she is also highly allergic to cats as well as sheep dander (?), pig weed, and Russian Thistle (tumbleweed). While talking to the nurse she also told me that the numbers showed that Cathryn is also allergic to milk, wheat, soy and eggs. Monday I hope to get some conclusive answers about all these allergies and what lifestyle changes we need to make. On the school front....Madison is having a hard time getting back into the swing of school. We have had so many breaks due to the holidays. We are half way done with her curriculum which is a good thing, but its getting harder and harder to keep her focused. I am hoping that next week she will get back into the swing of things and school will go smoother.

Now is the time to start looking at new curriculum for next year and I have no idea which way to go. There is so much out there that it is so overwhelming. I want to change to something that is alittle bit more challenging but I don't know which way to go. I also don't want to change and she either has to go back over stuff or skip things.

This is my biggest struggle with homeschooling. I feel like I'm treading water by myself out in the middle of the ocean. I have no idea which way to go and I don't want to leave anything out.

Quiet Time

2007-12-28T22:22:00.000-06:00

We've had a quiet time around our house of late. We had a nice relaxing Christmas. The girls got new bikes so they spent a great deal of time outdoors enjoying the nice weather. Cathryn got a new baby and will not let her out of her sight. She has a special place in her "new" bed for her and she kisses her goodnight and everything...too cute.

There was one thing that has disrupted (sort of) our pleasant time. Last Friday we got some of the results back from Cathryn's allergy tests. The food portion results came back and it's been determined that she is allergic to peanuts. Ugh! That is one of the worst (based on internet reading) allergies you can have. I have gone through everything in our house and determined what has and doesn't have peanuts in it. Goodness, you even have to be careful of items that were made on machines that made things with peanuts. At this point none of us are eating anything with peanuts. Its hard though. I love peanut butter. I always thought it curious that Cathryn wouldn't eat peanut butter. I have tried on a few occasions (yikes) to get her to eat things with peanut butter (every kid likes peanut butter-right?) and she would not even get near it. I guess on some level she knows its not good for her.

Anyway, we are trying to stay away from anything with peanuts until I have the opportunity to talk with the allergist. We have an appointment coming up in a week and I am already beginning to make a list of questions. I really breaks my heart that she has any allergies, but a food allergy is not an easy thing. After doing some reading (again on the internet) we think this may be the trigger for her excema. We are still waiting the results of the environmental that might give some clues to the excema too.

We are planning a quiet weekend again this weekend. Tony's birthday is on Monday, but we won't be going out into the throng of party goers. We may take him out to dinner, but nothing much. I always tell Tony that he needs to go join in the parties that everyone has in his honor every year...but he won't...lol.

Big Girl Bed

2007-12-22T22:55:00.000-06:00

We are now one step further away from having a baby in the house. We got Cathryn a new big girl bed. We bought a used Daybed for her. She was so happy about it. After Tony put it together and I made it up, she helped me put her bed buddies on. She likes having her friends close by when she sleeps. She had so many in her toddler bed with her that there was barely any room for her. Now, there is plenty of room for all.

Here she is on her new bed with all her little buddies.

Hey, a new bed buddy :)

Busy Days...

2007-12-20T17:09:00.000-06:00

We've been busy the last couple of days. Madison had a doctor's appointment on Tuesday for a check-up and to get caught up on some booster shots. She did really well. She is perfectly normal. She had an eye exam, a hearing test (as requested by Tony who says she can't hear), as well as the other parts of a normal exam. She weighs in at 60lbs and is 50" tall which is just right (height/weight ratio). She, like her sister, is an over achiever...she is in the 75th-90th percentile on her height and weight...

Yesterday, we went on an adventure....lol...in other words, I got us lost. We were going over to a different area of N. Texas to go have lunch with Tony. We got on the wrong freeway - then got stuck in traffic because of road construction. An hour after I was supposed to be there, we showed up. Oh well, I won't make that same mistake twice. We had a nice lunch at Buffalo Wild Wings.

The other day, the girls and I were shopping in W-Mart and Cathryn was pointing out all the things that "Madison needs". She does that a lot. She will see something and say "Madison needs that...Daddy needs that." I asked her what mommy needed...she looked at me with that devilish glint and shrugged her shoulders. I asked her what did Cathryn need (for Christmas) and she actually had an answer - a very specific answer...lol. She said, "Cathryn needs a Dora shirt and yellow pants". Well, ok. I don't know how the two correlate, but since she was so specific, I figured she really wanted them. So, last night I went to Target and found both - on racks right next to each other. Who would have thunk I could have found both. I had an expectation of the shirt, but I thought the pants would have been a long shot. Well, they seem to have their spring stuff out so they had some "convertable" pants. You know, the kind you roll up and button for capris (?) I bought a shirt that goes with them since they are really bright yellow...lol...too funny.

Today, Madison got done with her schoolwork at a reasonable time and the weather was nice so we went to the park and played...that was a nice respite for the long school days we've been having.

"Tag Your It..."

2007-12-17T10:53:00.000-06:00

I have been tagged to tell 5 random, little known facts about myself. So here goes....

1. I was a member of the National Sociological Honor Society :)

2. I LOVE shrimp. To the point that when we are some place and there is boiled shrimp, Tony makes a point to ask if I'm going to embarrass him. Its really sad.

3. I prefer classic movies to modern movies - for the most part.

4. I am not cultured...lol...meaning when I was in high school we didn't have any required reading to do. The only book I ever remember having to read was The Great Gatsby. I think I had to read that 3 years in a row. When I was a senior I moved and changed schools. I was in a literature class where this book was required and I was the only one to get 100% on the test. The teacher thought I cheated so she gave me another test...I got 100% on that one too...

5. I used to drive a '73 Dodge Charger when I was in high school...muscle cars were the "in" thing at my school.

Now, I'm supposed to tag other people...ok so I tag Kristi, Lori, and Dayna...go for it...

Our New Tradition

2007-12-16T19:25:00.000-06:00

We started a new tradition today. I have been reluctant to do a Gingerbread house because a) one child thinks she knows everything and is not good at taking directions sometimes, and b)one is a 2yr old.

We had fun though. We used a kit that had everything needed which was nice. I did the preliminary work of putting the house together and frosting the roof but the girls did most of the decorating. You can tell whose is whose, but in case you can't Madison's is very organized and Cathryn's is very yellow. Every time we looked, Cathryn was putting more and more yellow...we had to convince her to put some other colors in.

They were both so proud of their efforts. It was a lot of fun and the girls really enjoyed it. By next year, I will have better gadgets to work with so it will look "fancier" - maybe...lol

Anyway, it's a fun little do together project that would be good for all ages.

(Click on the images below to see bigger images)

A Day at the Doctors...

2007-12-13T09:48:00.000-06:00

Yesterday I took Cathryn to the doctor for a long overdue check-up. She went a few weeks ago because her eczema ran amuk and I needed some stronger medicine to take care of the infection. She did great that day. When the nurse called her name, she ran to the nurse and gave her a big hug...went back to the exam room and gladly waited with me. She was excited at the prospect of being "naked" as well. The doc looked her over and she was busy chatting away...an easy appointment to say the least.

Then there was yesterday. Her ill temper began when we dropped Madison off at a babysitter before we went. She cried and cried upset that Madison wasn't with us. I soothed her by putting in her favorite "Go Fish" CD. She then began singing and clapping and all was well. We got to the doctor's office and she was fine...checking out each chair in the waiting area to see which one she liked best. Then we are called...she moves into dawdle mode. She had to be coaxed and conjoled to get into the exam room. Then the nurse mentioned that we needed to take her shoes off and her clothes for the exam. Well....that's when the screams and constant crying began...and no one had even touched her. Well, after wrestling with her, she was finally weighed and measured.

I will say that my children have always been over achievers. It started at an early age and will continue throughout their lives....lol...Cathryn is 90% and above on her weight, height, and head measurement. I always new my children were above average..lol.

Finally by the time the doctor was done with his exam and the question, Cathryn had calmed down and was not clinging to me as hard. When the nurses came in (they use 2 nurses to give shots) she was fine. I put her on the table as they instructed and she laid there very quiet and still. She didn't even give a peep when she received 4 shots. Not a sniffle not a tear. Only when she felt them put the band-aids on did she cry. What can I say...weird child.

After the doctor's she was tired and took a 2 1/2 hour nap...then we had to go to a lab and get some blood work done. They took 3 vials of blood...I wanted to cry with her on that one.

We had blood work done so we can get an idea of what Cathryn is allergic to so we can see what triggers her eczema. If we know what the triggers are we can try to avoid them.

Next week it's Madison's turn for an exam. That ought to be interesting. Then we have to go back for more shots for Cathryn. Poor thing is so far behind, but we will get her caught up soon I hope.

Our Busy Weekend...

2007-12-10T11:04:00.000-06:00

It was another busy time for our family. We went down to Houston for Tony's family Christmas party. It was nice seeing everyone. A couple of Tony's uncles have gone through some medical issues this year so it was good to see them doing so well. The kids had a great time playing with their cousins. There was no fights or crying at all. That was great!!! Cathryn and her cousin, EK, (who is 7mos younger) had a fantastic time playing together. They were giggling and chasing each other all over the place until they were both ready to drop. It's nice that they have each other in the midst of the "big kids".

It was a busy weekend all around. After the family party Tony and I had dinner with some friends that we haven't seen in a while. It was nice to get caught up.

When we left Houston, the temperature gauge in the van read 80 degrees. When we got to Centerville (oddly enough half way between Dallas and Houston) the gauge was going nuts. One minute it would register 80 degrees the next it was down to like 75 then back up to 79..then finally as we moved further north, it started to steadily drop and kept dropping and dropping...until we reached Plano and the gauge read 39 degrees...needless to say, I was freezing last evening. That big of a temperature fluctuation really reeks havoc on my ole Florida bones...lol..

We are getting back in to the routine of things today. Madison is busy with her schoolwork, Cathryn is busy learning spanish with Dora and I'm in the midst of laundry and cleaning up the fall out of coming home.

Green Belt Testing

2007-12-01T22:20:00.000-06:00

Madison tested and received her green belt this past week. We are so proud of the hard work she has put into learning the moves and forms. When she and 2 other kids (both boys) were called to line up to do their forms, their instructor made a point to ask them what their ages were. Everyone seemed impressed that they were as far as they were at such young ages (2 were 7yrs and 1 is 6yrs old).

She has now moved from beginner to intermediate status. She is excited...she is wanting to begin sparring. We already purchased her gear...its pink. The class could choose from pink or silver. The boys naturally took the silver but the girls had a choice.

TaeKwonDo Tournament

2007-12-01T20:57:00.000-06:00

We went to our first Taekwondo tournament today. Wow!! When the competition was going on it was pretty exciting, but there was a lot of down time as well. We wanted Madison to go and observe a tournament before actually competing. She was bored half way through as was expected. Several of the kids from her class were there and we were there to cheer them on. We stayed until after the sparring competition. It was neat to see how our kiddos did against other classes. They all did fantastic. It was the first tournament for most of them and their training really showed.

One of the officials came over to where our group of kids were sitting before competing and he said that he was really impressed with the enthusiasm and discipline he saw in our group. I think that's a great testament to the instruction that the kids are getting.

All in all, we are tired, but it was worth it so that Madison knows what to expect when her time comes.

In Memory Of Reva

2007-11-24T21:26:00.001-06:00

We lost a dear dear friend this week. Her name was Reva Graham and she was a sweet lady. She was a great companion to my father and a "bonus Grandma" to my girls. She was frail looking, but she had such a strength to her. She was full of energy and full of life. She felt so privileged to be the one to see Cathryn take her first steps. She would get Cathryn to walk and then she just beamed with pride that she was instrumental in such a milestone. Reva and Madison held a special bond as well. Reva's eyes lit up just as much as Madison's did when they were together. It was so precious to see. Reva was the "Grandma" that my mother would never be to my girls. My father and Reva didn't have a romantic relationship, but they had a bond of a close friendship. They would fuss and argue like they were married, but then they would go to their respective homes and pick up their friendship the next day or so.

She was a great friend to me as well. I had to go back to my dad's earlier in the year to clear out some of my mother's things and he was being very irrational and just mean spirited. Reva was the only person whom I could talk to. My dad tried to put her in the middle of everything and she was such a gracious person about it all. She never failed to say that she loved me and how much she loved the girls.

I am very thankful to have known her for the few years that I did. I know that her family will miss her greatly and as her friends, we will miss her tremendously too.

Rest in Peace Reva, you will be missed...

Pictures of the girls

2007-11-19T20:06:00.000-06:00

Madison (7)

(Cathryn 2 1/2)

November 19, 2000 - 7yrs later..

2007-11-19T07:12:00.000-06:00

Today is the day that Madison turns 7 years old. Its hard to believe that 7 years have already gone by. Its true that time goes by fast when your children are young. Sometimes it doesn't go fast enough because of my impatience, but when I stop to take a breath, it seems like no time as gone by.

Madison is our miracle child. A true gift from God. And here's why:

In October of 1999, I found out I was pregnant. We were so thrilled. I was so excited to finally be having a baby, I was just beside myself. Then, one day I was at work and discovered that I was bleeding. I was so scared. I hadn't even had a chance to go to the doctor yet to officially confirm the pregnancy. I went home and called the doctor I was to have an appointment with. They were able to see me the next day. It was confirmed that I was having a miscarriage. When I asked the doctor what went wrong, he just gave me a bunch of statistics...that didn't help ME at all. I wanted to know why I was having a miscarriage...did I do something wrong?...lift too much?...pushed myself too much? (we were in the middle of moving at the time). He was of no use. I went home devastated. I had dreamed my whole life of having a baby. I pushed myself until I was exhausted. Tony's birthday was coming up and as a special treat I thought I'd make him a cheesecake. Well, right in the middle of the process the grief struck me so hard and so fast, I didn't see it coming. Needless to say, the cheesecake went ALL OVER the kitchen. (Months later I was still cleaning up cheesecake.)

My cousin really helped me through it. I remember we talked on the phone for a long time. She told me about her miscarriage and it really helped knowing I wasn't alone. She said that she named her baby and sent him/her on to heaven to wait for the rest of the family. I really prayed about that and when the miscarriage was over, I sent our baby, Adam, up to heaven to wait for the rest our the family. My cousin gave me a little name card with Adam on it and an angel with a baby that I keep in my hutch in honor of Adam. To this day, every Oct. 12th I say a prayer for that baby. I still cry sometimes when I think of him/her.

Anyway, all that to preface the rest of my post. The following February, we found that we were pregnant again. I was over the moon and cautious at the same time. I quickly made an appointment with a different doc. and got it pretty quickly. I told the doc. about my miscarriage and that I had no answers as to why it happened. They took blood, did an ultrasound, the whole nine yards. I remember waiting forever for the nurse practitioner to see me after the ultrasound. When it was finally my turn, she began with "Mrs. R, I regret to tell you that there was no heartbeat found...you have an empty sack. You will probably miscarry soon." My hormone levels were not as high as they wanted them to be. I was trying to be strong through this, but my heart was breaking. She said that they were going to put me on some hormones too see if there was any improvement and that they wanted to see me again the following Monday. I think they did that to appease me at that time. I went home that night and I cried, then I got mad. I was so mad at God. How could He do this to me again so soon. I prayed and I prayed. We couldn't go through that again. Then a peace came over me and I felt like God was telling me, that it was ok...He was in control.

I went back on Monday, and the nurse practitioner, Joanie, told me that she didn't know how it happened, but my pregnancy hormones were where they should be and she was going to continue monitoring me to see if they continued to rise. It was the beginning of the miracles that brought Madison to us.

Yes, the pregnancy went as it should. Madison grew and grew. I felt so blessed because I didn't suffer from the usual symptoms of pregnancy. I was hungry all the time and I was tired, but other than that, I felt great. It was a pretty uneventful pregnancy.

My due date was on a Wednesday and my doc said that if I didn't go by the following Wednesday (the day before Thanksgiving) that she would induce me then. I was scared and excited at the same time. The pregnancy was coming to a close and we would finally get to hold our baby. Well, that Saturday we were just waking up and trying to decide what to get for breakfast (remember I have been starving the whole time) and I felt a dampness. I went to the bathroom...came back and said that I thought my water broke. It was just a trickle. I took a shower. If you know me, a shower takes precedence over anything, labor, sickness, anything. Well, after the shower I still felt the trickle so I called the hospital and they said get right down there. Ok, here we go...now I'm extremely nervous and I completely forgot I was hungry. We get to the hospital and get settled....after a while there is no progress. I haven't dialated at all. Ugh...they started the pitocin. That started my nightmare. I'm am a baby when it comes to pain. When they started the pitocin I began having back labor. This labor went on all day with NO progress whatsoever. They backed off the pitocin so I could sleep. I didn't sleep very well, too excited about having the baby. Well, when they started the pitocin back up the next day, the pain was so bad I couldn't stand it and they didn't want me moving around much. I finally asked for something expecting to get an epidural. Well, they gave me something that knocked me out. I couldn't have been out long when someone was tugging on my toe and saying ok, its time lets go. I had no idea what was going on. When they lifted me to put in the epidural (finally) I was trying to focus and figure out what was going on. Well, apparently the cord wrapped itself around the baby's neck and was causing her heartbeat to go down. So, they were going to do an emergency c-section. Let me preface that I'm not the type to shy away from a c-section. I figure whatever is best to get the baby out. Anyway, as I was struggling to stay in this world, I was beginning to panic with all the rushing around and I couldn't grasp exactly what was going on.

I'm laying on the table and still trying to stay focused on what is happening when the panic really set in. There was no cry. Every baby cries when it comes out. Why wasn't she crying? I started crying then. I'm still trying not to pass out..trying to stay focused and I couldn't figure out why there was no cry. Tony says that my blood pressure shot up and really scared them. Well, of course it did...I didn't hear a cry. Anyway, finally (I'm sure it was just a few seconds) there was a tiny little cry. All was right in the world. They cleaned her up, wrapped her up and brought her to me...she was so beautiful I couldn't believe it. I remember asking over and over if she was ok...Yes, she was. Tony told me later (a year or two later) that they had to put a tube down her throat to get her breathing.

Whew, it was over. After being in recovery for what seemed like forever, I was finally in my room and they brought my little girl to me. She was so beautiful and perfect. The first thing I did was unwrap her from the blanket. I checked her fingers and toes..yep they were all there. However, I was not prepared for the hair. Oh my goodness that child was covered in hair. The tops of her ears had little tuffs of hair, her shoulders had really long hair, and her back was hairy. From that day, she was my "little monkey girl". All that didn't matter. She was beautiful and ours. I remember afraid at first to take the blankets off of her. Like I would get into trouble. I had to keep reminding myself that it was ok, she was my daughter. It took a few days to get that in my head. It seemed alittle surreal.

Anyway..fast forward now our little miracle is turning 7 today. There are times when I forget what a miracle she is, but God has a way of reminding me and I feel so blessed to have her in our lives. She is beautiful and smart and I wouldn't trade her for the world.

Huh?

2007-11-18T15:40:00.000-06:00

Tony was on a website for a cell phone service. He was looking at different phones and came across this feature on one of the phones. It has a voice recorder and it says, "you can record your voice or someone elses" - Huh?

Another head scratcher. I was looking in a catalog yesterday and I was looking at some sweat pants. They advertised that they had opened legged pants....as opposed to what?

Just thought it was funny.

Madi's Party

2007-11-18T11:03:00.000-06:00

Wow what a fun time Madison had at her birthday party. We had initially invited 10 girls to her party from co-op and soccer. With her birthday being so close to Thanksgiving, there were a few girls who couldn't come because their families were going out of town. All in all 3 girls were able to come. Another girl was supposed to come, but at this time we don't know why she wasn't here.

I had a couple games planned for the girls which didn't take long at all. I bought a Twister game(from Cathryn) which I allowed Madison to open so they could play. They had the best time playing that game. If ever your at a loss for a party game, thats a good one. I don't know if I would have broken it out if there were many more girls, but with 4 its was perfect.

I'm glad that we didn't plan on going someplace for Madison's birthday. For one reason, with so few girls it may not have gone as well, and the another reason is that she got to enjoy her friends without the distraction of stuff. Madison is all the time wanted someone to play with and I figured that having her birthday at home was as good a gift as she could get. The girls that came to her party were good friends so they all played together really well.

All in all, it was another good party.

A Good Day

2007-11-16T18:16:00.000-06:00

Today was a good day. Madison finished up her unit tests for the units she is working on in school, so we will be able to take a break next week and possibly the next.

Today Madison also had her Parent's Show at Gymnastics. Its a little program to show parents the progress that their children are making. She and the other girls did real well. She is even doing some beginning moves on the uneven bars.

I cracked up when they were doing their little vault jumps. I have come to realize that Madison as become quite aggressive in the sports she participates in. She attacked the vault like it was going to fly away. It was cute.

Today during the show Cathryn could care less about what her sister was doing. She was more interested in the mischief she could get herself into. However, at one point in the show the girls were waiting their turns to do their routines on the balance beam (there are only 5 girls in the class) and Cathryn decided to give Madison a shout out...it was funny. All of a sudden she stopped jumping around and hollered and waved at Madison. "Hi Mad-son - Hi Mad-son"...too funny.

After the show we went to TacoBell for lunch for a change. Then it was home to finish cleaning the house for Madison's birthday party tomorrow. That should be a fun day.

There are 5 of her little friends that are able to come plus some siblings of one of the girls so all in all there should be about 10 little squealing laughing girls around here tomorrow. Madison wanted a soccer party. I was able to find lots of soccer decorations but they looked pretty "boyish". I added some pink plates to help make it more girlish and her cake is going to be a pink/white soccer ball. I hope it turns out like I'm thinking of. It will be too cute.

Anyway, I need to go dress Cathryn before we head out for our Friday night dinner. She is in the naked mode today. As soon as she got up from her "nap" she wanted to be naked. So now I get to go chase her down...joyous occasion.

The day has finally come

2007-11-13T12:28:00.000-06:00

Yes, the day has finally come...the Terrible Twos have struck our house...in a big way!!!

When Madison was little we totally by-passed the terrible twos. I had friends that had little tots who were mischievous or little "hellions" and I was so thankful that Madison wasn't that way. I could put her somewhere and she would play and not plunder or get into things. Life was so easy in that area. I could put her at the table with crayons, markers, etc. and she would stay right there and color her little heart out. Boy do I miss those days!!!

Then comes Cathryn. I know that every child is different and they have their own personalities, BUT, couldn't some of the traits carry over from one to the other? I mean, give me a break...I have to watch her like a hawk when she has crayons or anything else you can write with. She will write on any surface she thinks of. Luckily I keep a supply of the Mr. Clean Magic Sponge on hand. They take out anything. I only keep washable crayons/markers, etc. around for just such occasions, otherwise I would be crazy.

I have one child who will not do her school work unless I am sitting at the table with her, however, while I'm doing that, invariably Cathryn has gone off someplace quiet to find mischief. Today was no exception. I was in the other room putting something away, when I suddenly realized I didn't hear my little darling. I came into the kitchen and there she was, holding her hands out for me to wash. What, you may wondering did the "angel" get into? Well, I'm in the process of baking some goodies for Parents Night and on the counter was a container of (no, not flour although the other day it was white sugar) brown sugar. It was all over her and the floor. Not such an easy mess to clean up. It was sticky on her because she had also tried to get her self a drink (probably to wash down the sugar she consumed). Luckily the container was nearly empty and I had more otherwise I would have really blown a gasket.

That is just a small sampling of what Cathryn has gotten herself into lately. As I mentioned, she got into the white sugar not too long ago and strowed it all over the kitchen. She thought she was helping to clear the table, but it was clear she enjoyed herself playing in it.

I took her to the doctor last week for her eczema and was given a prescription for a cream and an ointment. I had them up on the bar (on the kitchen side) behind the fruit bowl, so they would be easily accessible for me, but not visible from the playroom. Well, the little sweetheart climbed on top of their little play table and reached around the fruit bowl and got the two tubes. She thought she would help mommy by putting her own medicine on her legs...well the problem was she used the ointment and not the cream...so the ooey gooey stuff was everywhere...this after a few days early she had gotten into the tub of Aquaphor I had for her. That is like Vaseline (thick and greasy). That was fun cleaning off the end table in the living room.

Yes, we have hit the terrible, terrible twos. I was really hoping to avoid this stage altogether, but I guess its God's way of telling me not to be too smug when it comes to my kids and what they are capable of getting into. You would never know by looking at her little angelic face with her curly blond hair that she would be capable of such devish-ness, but if you catch her at the right moment, you will see the mischievous glint in her eye right before she reeks havoc on something.

I'm hoping that since we are going through this so early with Cathryn (Madison was about 3 1/2 before she hit the "terrible" stage) that she will outgrow it sooner and I can start to reclaim my sanity. I know its wishful thinking since I homeschool, but we all have to have something to strive for, huh?

Yummy...

2007-11-10T20:48:00.000-06:00

Today we went to Tony's favorite store - Frys Electronics, then we headed over to Frisco in search of a restaurant called Rudy's. We first experienced Rudy's when we "lived" in Austin. It's an awesome BBQ place. The brisket will just melt in your mouth its so good. We also had some potato salad and cole slaw. To my surprise, Cathryn really liked to cole slaw. Then when we were leaving we drove by the field where the FC Dallas Soccer team plays. All around it are soccer fields. Madison was very impressed. A short way away was the neatest soccer store we have found yet. It was big enough to have lots of stuff, but not so you couldn't walk through it. Cathryn was walking with me and kept telling me "Madison needs that"...so cute. We did get some good ideas for Christmas gifts. I bought a soccer ball decal for the van too.

Since we left Austin after our short stay, we have tried in vane to find good BBQ. When we found out they were building a Rudy's restaurant near us, we were so thrilled. The restaurant is alittle unique. It's made to be in a gas station....they have Fina pumps out front...and a convenience store atmosphere inside (but cleaner). Your given your order in what looks like a crate for 2ltr coke bottles. They lay the meat in the bottom of the tray (lined with butcher paper) and a handful of white bread to go with it. A little rustic, but that is all part of the atmosphere. Also, when you go to eat, your sitting at long banquet type tables with your typical metal folding chairs...its awesome.

While in Frisco we went exploring alittle bit. It has a quaint downtown area that has little shops etc. Frisco is a nice town. We have only really been as far as the mall so it was nice to see other areas as well.

Hugging is madatory

2007-11-07T12:00:00.001-06:00

I was reading a news article on MSNBC which was about a girl getting 2 days detention for hugging her friend at school. They have a policy of 0 tolerance of open display of affection. I can understand the detention since she violated the policy. I'm glad that there no such policy at The R-------g Academy of Higher Education. Hugging is a mandatory part of our schooling. It helps to refocus so our Valedictorian in training so she can continue working. Our Salutatorian gets hugs on a daily basis as well. Here at our "academy" we feel its an integral part of the learning process.

A tradition I would like to start...

2007-11-06T08:14:00.000-06:00

As the weather begins to cool and Thanksgiving is just around the corner, I've been thinking about Christmas. People have been talking about traditions and that got me thinking about this.

A few years back, when I was in MOPS (Moms Of Preschoolers) we had an evening meeting with a woman who talked about different ways to center our Christmas around Christ. Here is one of the ideas that she had. It all came in a pretty little velvet box all done for you, but at the time, we didn't have any money to spare so I (much to my regret) didn't get it. Here is the instructions and everything that came with it in order to make up a box yourself:

The Good and Perfect Gift Box
A Christmas Tradition to Help your family Savor our Savior

Inside:

Good & Perfect

Inside the box place 5-7 items from the list below to represent the Good & Perfect Gifts that God says are ours through His Son, Jesus Christ. Many of these items can be found around your home or even in the ornament section of a craft store.

A Crown - the crown of Life (James 1:12)
An eraser - God's forgiveness of our sins (1 John 1:9)
A small doll pillow - God's comfort (2 Corinthians 1:3-4)
A small house - our mansion in heaven (John 14:2)
Play telephone - the gift of prayer (Ephesians 2:18)
Shield - Protection (2 Thessalonians 3:3)
Bag of Plastic jewels or coins - treasures in heaven (Matthew 6:20)
A Joke book - joy (John 15:11)
Light Bulb - the mind of Christ (1 Cor 2:16)
A box of Matches - the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:13)
Heart - a new heart (Ezekiel 11:19)
Home made adoption certificate - adoption as God's sons (Ephesians 1:5)
A home made diploma - wisdom (James 1:5)
There are many other gifts that God has given us. Use these or be creative.

Place the Good & Perfect Gift Box under the tree with all the other packages. When all the presents have been opened point out that one gift has been left under the tree. (A note of caution; if you have young children and gift opening is already a long affair, choose a separate time for this tradition. If you open gifts on Christmas Eve, then open the Good & Perfect Gift Christmas Day. Or on Christmas Day, Open on Christmas Eve. Choose your time carefully so this will be a joy to your family.)

Allow someone to read the tag, "The Good & Perfect Gift Box." Tell them that all the things in this box are a reminder of our bet gifts, the ones God has given us. Let each child reach into the box and take out one item. Let them try to guess from looking at the "Gift" what good thing God has given.
One by one, take the articles out of the box and talk about these good gifts. Discuss how you have received some and imagine together what it will be like to receive others promised to us in the future. Read together James 1:17 that describes the source of the "best " gifts.
End with a prayer, thanking God for being a good and generous father. Acknowledge that all the wonderful gifts that you opened from one another, they could not compare to the gift of Jesus Christ.
From year to year, keep the tradition fresh by putting gin new items that represent different gifts.
Take this box with you when you travel to family or friends for Christmas. Put it under the their tree and let them enjoy the tradition with you. it will be a wonderful way to share the significance of Jesus' gift of salvation.
Enjoy this new tradition that helps your family Savor the Savior.

Isn't that a wonderful way to help children learn how special we are to God? We have something that is somewhat similar, but I have always loved this idea but have not implemented it as yet. Now that Cathryn is older and if I can find the time to gather all the things, maybe this year I will do this.

Anyway, just thought I'd share...

I got nothin'

2007-10-31T19:42:00.001-06:00

I got nothin'...I'm so burned out in so many areas of my life right now I'm just drained. I am so tired of the struggles that are my day to day life, I just want to lean back in God's arms and rest...if only I could do that completely. My flesh won't allow that though. Part of me needs to feel in control of me and that is to my detriment at times. I need to learn to "Let Go and Let God". If you are reading this and are a praying person, please pray that I will learn to fully surrender to God in all areas of my life...not just the one's I choose to turn over.

We have a satellite radio in the van and I was listening to the Christian station the other day and one of the announcers said something that I didn't even think about until right now as I was typing the previous paragraph. You know the old saying "God is my Co-Pilot"...that statement is totally backwards. God should be in the driver's (pilots) seat of our lives - and we should be in the passenger (co-pilots) seat. We should relinquish all the control to Him...not when we can't handle it or only give part of it as I do and I'm sure so many other people do. "Here God, you can have control over this..it isn't really out of control....but this over here, oh no, it really needs ME to control it..."

That isn't what God is there for. We need to submit WHOLLY to Him. He wants all of us..not just the parts we choose or don't need. Its like giving Him the cast offs of our lives...we have worried this or that to death..."now that there is no life left in it, here God you can have it"

Sometimes I think I take God for granted. Its like He is always there, waiting, and I know He's there-waiting...and I just keep Him waiting, until I really really need Him. I don't want a relationship like that. You know, its kind of like when you've thought of everything else,then you think about God. I don't want Him to be an afterthought in my life anymore. I used to tell people that I didn't want to be their after-thought friend. You know, when you've thought of everyone else then you think of me. I don't like that feeling so I can only imagine how God must feel...when so many of us treat Him as an afterthought.

"Dear Lord, please forgive me for my thought-less-ness when it comes to You. You sent your Son to the cross all those centuries ago for me. I was on your mind even then. I have never been an after-thought to you. You knew me before I was formed in my mother's womb. You know my every thought and action. Lord, please forgive me and please remind me when I begin to treat You as an after-thought. - In Your Name....Amen"

Fall is in the air...

2007-10-23T19:46:00.000-06:00

Wow, what a change. Sunday we had temperatures in the upper 80's today we had 68 for a high. It would have been a perfect day if the wind wasn't so fierce. Today was a busy day for us. Madison had Karate and soccer practice today. When we were at the park for karate, the kiddos enjoyed playing, but I got tired of having the wind blowing my hair around. Poor Cathryn's little eyes were running due to the wind.

This evening soccer practice couldn't get over soon in enough to suit me. Once the sun started getting lower in the sky, the wind picked up and made it downright chilly. I had Cathryn running around just to help pass the time and keep her somewhat warm. She is such a trooper to go as much as we do.

We are seriously considering not doing soccer this "Spring". We did last "Spring" and it was downright cold. The season starts in February and last year it was cold, rainy and windy. A combo that I don't necessarily like on a continual basis. We will probably continue with karate though. The instructor is looking for a facility for us to use. Hopefully we can find a generous church that will let us use their gym for free. Keep that in your prayers.

Madison is getting up into the time of karate where they are going to start sparring. I am not ready for that. The equipment isn't that expensive, but I don't know if I ready to watch my little girl get "sparred" against, nor am I ready to watch her spar against someone else. I understand the progression and know that its coming, but I would like to hold off as soon as possible. I don't think she is mature enough for it either. I don't think she fully comprehends what she is learning to do. All she knows is that she loves it and she's good at it. Its just fun motions to do with her hands and feet at this time. I'm hoping she will gain that understanding as she watches the other kids begin sparring. She isn't the only one in her belt class not to begin so I don't feel like I'm depriving her. She is one of the youngest in her belt class at this time, so I know have have time before it becomes mandatory for us. In the meantime, I need to pray about it so that when the time comes I'll be ready for it.

Another Article

2007-10-18T09:03:00.000-06:00

Link

Here is an article that talks about a middle school in Maine where the school board approved of giving birth control to 11-13 yr olds.

Not too long ago, here in Texas, the Governor signed a bill stating that it would be mandatory for all middle school age girls to have a vaccine that was said to help prevent an infection that lead to cervical cancer.

What is this world coming to? When I was that age (ok it's been many many years ago) I was still playing with dolls. I found out about sex when I was in 8th grade. There was a book that floated around school "Forever", by Judy Blume, that all the girls in 8th grade read. That was my first understanding...or not really understanding, about sex. We had the "class" in 5th and 6th grade, but that talked about our changing bodies..not sex, pregnancy, or anything of that nature. Used to, it was left to the parents to educate their children about sex. I am probably one of the reasons why schools took on that responsibility as time went on. My mother's philosophy was that we would learn about sex from the other kids in school. Hence, us reading the book in 8th grade...we all felt like we were in some secret club of enlightenment.

Anyway, I am so glad that we homeschool our children. We have been instilling in Madison (and will with Cathryn) that after she graduates from college, then she can find a husband, get married, and then have kids. I want to shelter our girls as long as possible from the ways of the world. I'm not so disillusioned that we can keep them sheltered their whole life, but I hope that when the questions start that God will give us the discernment we will need to give them the correct information at the correct time.

Well, I will get off my soap-box now. I just get so frustrated when "the world" talks about how are children are growing up way too fast, then give them the means to do that, then get upset because they are too worldly, out of control, etc.

A lazy day..

2007-10-17T13:01:00.000-06:00

Today is Wednesday, a lazy day around our house. Well, not really. We had a light day of school work today. Madison only did 4 subjects. Our schedule is so full during the week that we have started taking Wednesdays as a "down day"...light school day and Cathryn rest day.

Cathryn is such a trooper. We have Co-Op on Mondays and she gets a short nap there. She would probably sleep longer, but I think she has a hard time settling with some of the other kiddos having trouble settling. She lays down fine and rests, but I don't think she goes to sleep right away. Then on Tuesdays and Thursdays we have Karate during her nap time and then soon after that is soccer practice. So, needless to say, Wednesdays are a good time for her to just relax - as much as an active 2yr old will relax.

A few weeks ago, I pulled out some old wooden puzzles (that fit together without interlocking) and started to work with Cathryn on them. She mastered them in short order so this week I pulled out a couple of interlocking puzzles. She is doing really well with them. I showed her that the outline of the puzzle piece is marked in the frame, and that's all it took. The "stinker" went right to it. She is what Tony and I call "scary smart". She seems to grasp things quickly and masters them just a quickly.

I remember when Madison was little, she learned quickly as well. There are things that Cathryn is learning that I had no idea she would be ready for. I waited until Madison was 3 to start teaching her colors, letters, and numbers. Cathryn already knows them and she isn't even 2 1/2 yet. I'm sure Madison was capable of learning then before 3. It just never occurred to me that she would be ready before then. It amazes me what kids are capable of at such a young age.