The Three Cousins

This little girl just loves Janae. It's so cute and just warms my heart to see them together. I only pray that in a few years when Kylie really looks up to Janae, Janae will still enjoy her as much as she does now. Kylie gets upset and cries when she gets taken away from Janae. So cute. I don't know how cute her parents think it is, but I just love it! She is an absolute doll!

Gamblin'!

So, I'm sitting on the couch mindlessly playing Skip-bo on Janae's DS.........


Janae: Mom! What's the best way for us to do it? Should we get dice or cards or what??
Me: Do what, Janae?
Janae: Gamblin'!

They decided on dice. I really couldn't give a rational answer.

I'm still alive and kickin'!

I haven't put anything on this blog in so long, sometimes I wonder why I still have it! This semester has been incredibly busy, I'm taking 12 hours and one of my classes is Legal Research and that has been sooo time consuming. Several papers for homework a week, and they have to be researched. That means the county law library (downtown) and the Texas Tech Law Library. The Tech law library is 4 stories. The place is huge. Does that scare anyone else but me?? But, I've gotten it all done, and am finished with two of my four classes. Two more finals this week, then a month off until next semester. Also still spending alot of time helping out at the kids school, and enjoying that. This is Janae's last year there. I don't even know where she will be going to school next year, Frenship is building a new middle school which will open next fall, and they haven't drawn the boundry lines yet. No biggie, but just a little wierd not knowing where she is even going to school in August.
Janae is lovin on our doggie. She is doing a poster for school about dogs, and needed a good picture of Duchess. Thought this turned out cute. This dog looks like a giant in this pic!

We are doing the easy Christmas pic this year. Put the timer on the camera, and run to get in position. Turned out fairly well. First time we've ever had a dog in the family Christmas picture! We never could have taken her anywhere and had pictures done, she wouldn't have cooperated at all.

My darling children and doggie!

Janae was in a Thanksgiving program this year at school. In case you couldn't tell, she was an indian. It was quite cute and enjoyable.

And last, but not least, we went to Ruidoso last month. I love going up there, went with my parents, brother, sis-in-law, and cute little 15 month old niece. That girl just adores Janae, she cries when momma takes her away, and follows Janae around everywhere. She is as cute as she can be. I need to put a pic of her on here, I haven't in a long time. Well, that's all for now, but maybe since I have a month with no homework taking every single spare minute, I can come back soon! (and often, until January 17, when school starts again!)

Stop the Comments!

Can somebody please tell me how I'm getting comments from wierdos when I do have the spam blocker on???? Very irritating, and I've had to delete two from my last post already!

Before the Morning by Josh Wilson

We recently started attending church at Experience Life. The 2nd week we were there, this video was played. Tim is one of the pastors there.

As we sat there and watched it, it dawned on me that Paula Beal was Hunter's substitute teacher last year whenever his teacher was out. I KNEW her! I had no idea any of this, and after church asked Hunter if he knew Jayken. Hunter said yes, and started telling me all about Jayken's heart.

I was amazed, and let me tell you, it's hard not to get teary during this. I think God showed it to us at the right time, of course, we've had a difficult summer in just not knowing what was going to happen to us financially due to Emily moving to Midland. To quote Paula, "if you can trust God with your eternity, can't you trust him with your now?" That just screamed at John and me! Okay, Lord, we hear you! It's ten minutes long, but well worth your time. If you haven't heard the whole song, listen to it, it's on U-tube as well!

Janae and her story

Today in English, Janae's teacher drew a mark on a paper (the black marker), and she was told to make a picture and then write a story about the picture. It's quite cute, and I'm impressed at her creativity. There is no way in the world I could have come up with a picture like that. Mine probably would have been a triangle. I don't know where her creativity comes from, but certainly not from me! :)

You can hardly read it, so here it goes, I'm typing it for you, you just have to read it......

"Smashed Person"

One day I was storming to the park, then I saw a tiny elf. I said "hello", and so did he. We played in the park all day long. We slid down slides, walked up steps. Then I wondered what his name was. I asked what his name is, he said "Tiny Tim". I told him my name which is Janae. Tiny Tim called me giant and I called him Tiny. We were best friends! Then one day Tiny and I were going to meet in the park. But Tiny didn't show up. I got mad at him and when he showed up we had a fight! Tiny and I stood there and fought for one hour!

After awhile I smashed him into a piece of paper. Then I went home and felt lonely and sad. I didn't have any more friends, I had smashed all of my other friends. Tiny and I were best friends but not any more. Tiny's mom and I met that afternoon. She said it's not Tiny's fault he takes so long to walk, his legs are two centimeters long!

It took him two hours to get here. I told his mom Tina that I was sorry and that she could have everything I owned. She said "okay" and then kicked me out of the house.

Summertime Swimming!

Last night we finished another year of swimming lessons. We went to Seahorse this year, and although I loved the price, I didn't think we were ever going to finish the 9 lessons! Didn't help that it rained for half the summer! My little diver!

And a cotton candy reward. Can I just say that they were sure wired by the time this was gone??!!

Where did summer go?

Star Wars GPS Voices!

Star Wars GPS Voices!


Check this out....heard it on K-LOVE. My kids were laughing so hard, they were literally rolling in the floor.

More teeth!

What is it with teeth this week?? Janae went to Cassidy's house last night and came home missing a tooth! Laurie, did you whack her? ha,ha No, she had been pulling on it, but couldn't get it out until she ate some hard stuff, and it came out. Hopefully that won't happen again for a few weeks! Drama, drama, drama.

Poetry Publication

Janae got a letter today from The America Library of Poetry requesting they be allowed to publish one of her poems that her teacher sent in. I don't know if every entry sent in is going to be published in this book, or if they are just selecting some. We are way excited though! So, of course we are going to allow them to publish it, and I'll be writing a check for $38.95 to get the book! They will start selecting winners of the contest over the summer, and will send out letters to the winners after Sept 30th. Way cool!! I guess I shouldn't complain that she doesn't play sports, or do other "stuff" like that, when she's had 2 art pieces put on display at the Civic Center, and now she's going to be a published author, and she's only 10! That's my girl!! :)

Tooth time

Today, Hunter heard something on TV about wiggling a tooth, so he decided to wiggle his top left tooth, because it was loose. The next thing we knew, he came running out of the bathroom saying his tooth was gone. We/he doesn't know when, where, or how. I'm thinking that he swallowed it. (So, Kristen, if you find a random tooth in your house, it belongs to us!)

Guess it was time to come out!

Speech Class

Who would have ever thought I would get to do this while studying to be a paralegal? In speech class, we were assigned to do a group service project, then do a group speech on it. We picked the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center on 93rd and Indiana.

Some of their animals will never be able to be released back into the wild, they wouldn't be able to survive, mainly due to physical problems. Some wouldn't be able to hunt, and some wouldn't be able to defend themselves. So, they've been at the center awhile, some for years.

This is a bobcat....
a possum....

I'm feeding baby birds....that was fun. Although I had to squish a live worm to give the bird...yuck!

A brand new baby bird....

And, I bet nobody can guess what this is!!! tee, hee

Barn owls....we cleaned this cage out, it was pretty gross. It hadn't been cleaned in about a month because these two owls had babies in there, and you can't clean it with babies in there. The parents are so protective, they will attack anybody coming in. I will just say that the birds manage to drop part of their meals all over the floor, and what do barn owls eat?? Certain little rodents, whose body parts were all over the floor. I'll say it for you.....ewwww!!!!!!!!!!!

Now these barn owls had babies. The lady showing us around opened up the door so we could see, and my goodness, those things hiss like snakes. It is amazingly loud, and let me tell you, if I walked into somebody's barn and heard that, I would certainly run the other way. Literally. She said that barn owls are federally protected, and there is a waiting list of farmers wanting the birds. She said they are a farmer's best friend. Brooke, maybe you should look into this for your snake problem. Seriously.

And a fawn. The paper actually had an article about this fawn the day we were there. It had been kidnapped from the "wild", somewhat accidentally, and brought to the center. Apparently, mama deer leave their fawns, and only check on them a couple times of day, and someone found it by itself, and thought it had been deserted. So, anyway, the "center lady" said that if it's in good health, and well fed, then it probably was fine and should have been left. I can't tell you how sorry I feel for mama deer. Came to check on baby, and it was gone. Anyway, this baby will be released back out when it gets big enough to live on it's own.

It was a great way to spend a morning, I would encourage anyone looking for volunteer oppportunities to check it out.

Go Astros!

Hunter had his very first coach pitch baseball game tonight! Here he is in the outfield, getting ready for any ball to come his way. (Not really, but that was the plan!)

Ready to bat!
Yay! He got a hit, and made it to 1st, then 2nd....

3rd....

and HOME!!! Way to go Hunt!

We won 8-2. Not bad for the first game!

"Going Public"

I am going to try to go public again. I may end up having to go private again, we'll just wait and see. I think I may change my blog address, so comment if you want me to let you know what it changes to! That way I won't have to worry about the person finding it that I didn't want to find it!

It drives me absolutely nuts that it doesn't update on everyone else's blog when I'm private. So bring on the comments, I'm back!

Make sense?? I didn't think so! ha, ha

Texas Rangers, Six Flags, and the Ft. Worth Zoo!

Janae got new glasses last week. Aren't they cute? I love that her face seems opened up, the rim-less frames are great for her. We headed to Arlington last week for our summer trip. First stop, Texas Rangers ballpark. It was loads of fun! It was quite an interesting drive. Hunter was car sick twice by the time we got to Abilene. The car had quite an aroma, we went through two of his changes of clothes, and two blankets we always carry in the car, because I'm a tad bit cold natured. (I always travel with blankets!) Poor baby, we had to make a pit stop at good old Wal-Mart in Abilene for Dramamine, a spare towel, and another change of clothes. I'm happy to say the Dramamine is a miracle drug, we didn't need the towel or the extra clothes after the meds went down!! And my 7 year old can swallow a pill!! Wow! Didn't know until it was an "emergency" and he had to!! THANK GOODNESS the hotel had a washer and dryer. Cost me $4 to do a load of laundry, but it would have all gone in the trash otherwise! Whew.......it was quite stinky after sitting in the car for 3 hours!

They had $1 hot dogs, cotton candy, and lots of other un-healthy things that just make up the fun of going to a professional baseball game. I'm surprised we didn't all end up sick at our stomachs because of all the junk we ate!!

Aren't these two kids just as cute as they can be?? I know I'm just a little bit prejudice, but I think they are going to be as handsome and beautiful as they can be as adults!

We left in the 5th inning, the kids were getting bored, and the score was 11-2, with the Rangers winning. I hated to leave, it was absolutely a perfect evening to go to a ball game. No wind, no bugs, and it was great temperature wise out there.

Next stop was Six Flags. This is John, Janae, and Hunter coming down off of a log ride. I went with them the first time, then skipped the second. I am a huge chicken, and really have to desire to "ride rides"! The kiddie roller coaster makes my stomach drop. Janae laughed and laughed at me after I went on the kiddie roller coaster with her. She loved it, and I was shaking getting off.

The alien and Daffy....

Tweety and Bugs...

The "Six Flags" man and Wiley Coyote. The Six Flags man wouldn't get out of the picture. I really had no desire to have a pic of him, but he physically insisted!! Hunter laughed and laughed that Wiley Coyote kept covering his face. It really was funny!! He just kept going back and forth, and I had to snap fast to get a picture both ways!

Not this time!!! tee, hee (bye, bye Six Flags guy!) The "zoom" feature on the camera is great!

I have to say that Thursday was the perfect day to go. We didn't wait for any ride more than about 5 minutes. What a change from 3 years ago when we went to Disneyland, and would wait for over an hour for every single ride. Starting to re-think Disney World!!

Friday we went to the Ft. Worth Zoo. We hadn't been there since Hunter was a baby. It was really enjoyable. Took tons of pictures, love the beautiful, colorful birds. Isn't it amazing what colors God came up with?? During creation, all these colors and animals were made. A simple thing like going to the zoo, and seeing all the colorful macaws just really brings me back to the amazing creation of God Almighty. These birds definately like each other!! wink,wink Just beautiful.

Okay, now for the crazy thing we did. An elephant painted this picture. It was a crazy purchase, but we just couldn't say no. All the proceeds go back into the zoo, and really, it is pretty neat that the artist is an elephant. Now, all I have to do is go get it framed. I'm a little scared of what that's going to cost!!

I got the kids picture on this alligator the last time we were there. Janae was holding Hunter up on it then. I can't remember for sure, but I think he was less than a year old the last time. Fun to get another picture now.

Glad we didn't have to use this as our transportation coming home! Thankfully, no car sickness on the way home....bought a bottle with 100 pills in it for poor Hunt! Gonna keep it close when it's time to travel. I'm wondering if it might have something to do with his history of ear trouble. Inner ear and all....??? In my mind it makes perfect sense.

Ta, ta for now!!

Cutie Pie

We got to babysit a little 9 month old cutie pie on Saturday.....

What fun! It's great to have a niece.....I enjoy her tons, but get to sleep all night!

Hello

I have noticed that most of the blogging crowd seems to have moved over to Facebook, myself included. I do miss all the posts, it seems more personal than a one-liner on Facebook. I soooo need some girl time, this has been a really rough week. Friday night, here we come. Lori and Kristen, you need to come too!!

An evening at the school

Tonight at the school, we had a program night, where you went to all the "special" classes to see what your kids do in there, since nothing is ever brought home. Great idea, it was fun. We learned about what they are doing in P. E., art, and music. This is the music part, it's a dance called the cupid shuffle. Janae is a 4th grader, so she got to be a helper. I was in here with Hunter since he is in first grade. Obviously they are loving it!

I'm really surprised at how excited Janae got about it. She had alot of fun!! Then, the parents "got" to do it. I had 2 children drag me out there, but thank goodness, I kept the camera, so pictures of that are spared for you! :)

(My pics got out of order when I up-loaded.....this is a pic Janae drew, it's going to be judged by judges from TTU, then hopefully go on to be displayed at the Civic center in a couple of weeks. She got one in last year, we're hoping for 2 in a row. How in the world does my child do this, when I can't even draw a straight line????)

Look at her cute little signature on the bottom!

Okay, this is what I got for getting out there with the kids. Alot of parents did, but I was awarded the cupid shuffle queen of the first grade parents. (I think it might have helped just a little bit that Janae's friends were the judges!) tee, hee

On a more serious note, I found out yesterday that our PTA board, of which I am a member, nominated me as Outstanding Volunteer of the Year in the Frenship district. All the campuses enter someone, then a winner will be picked next Friday at a luncheon. I was shocked, but quite honored. Seems like there are alot of people who do as much or more than I do, and I really expected one of them to be nominated. Hunter's teacher is up for teacher of the year, really hope she gets it.

Pray for my math grade, Kristen and I have one more "date", tomorrow night for 3 quizzes, and one test, and I'll be finished. Right now I have an 89.8%. Gotta get that "A"!!! Then on to the 2nd of 3 math classes!! She's been great, and deserves a huge "high five"!!!

Busy Day

During Spring Break, we went to Lowe's to go look around. Dangerous for us, because we always find something there we "need". Anybody with me on that? We have written several checks to them lately. Spent quite a bit with all the painting and re-doing we've had going on. And if you don't know what I mean, you haven't talked to me recently! tee, hee So....back to my original story. We were at Lowe's looking around a few days ago, out in the garden center and looked at the trees. I have been wanting a peach tree for quite awhile, so we were just looking around. We found a huge magnolia tree that was a in a 27 gallon bucket and was only $179! Well, it wasn't going to fit in the trunk of my car, and since we are impulse buyers, thought we'd better just wait. And the more I thought about it, the more I thought that is just such a cheap price, and I wanted to get it. So, after church this morning, John was out in the backyard digging a hole.

As was I.

No help here, but lots of moral support.

More moral support. They were quite concerned that the hole was for them at first, because we didn't actually have the tree while we were digging. However, I have a wonderful brother who does have a pick-up and let me borrow it to go get the tree this afternoon.

Here we go.....told you it was big!!! I bet it's at least 15 feet tall. And boy, was it heavy! But I LOVE it! Thanks hubs for digging a big hole!