Happy Birthday 'Nae

Today we celebrate Easter, Christ is risen! And in our house, we are also celebrating the birth of Janae. Eleven years ago today she was born.

She's grown up just a bit, don't you think? She's a huge blessing, and I love her with all my heart!

A Quarterly Update.....

Although I have good intentions when I actually do blog something, and think I will continue to regularly blog, it just doesn't happen anymore. I actually had a few minutes, and thought I'd put something on here. Wonder if anybody ever checks it anymore......... I love reading everyone else's blogs, but I do a really bad job of keeping mine up to date. So, since it was during Christmas break when I last posted, I thought maybe my goal could be a quarterly posting instead of weekly or daily. Only problem with that, I probably will only mange to do it a couple times of year! Ha. Over spring break we decided it was time for contacts for Janae. Bless her heart, I only took her to the eye doctor to get the contacts, and it ended up her prescription had really changed. And no, it hadn't been 6 years since she had been seen last. It was exactly a year ago, and my plan was to keep her same glasses and only have to buy contacts. Uh, wrong. New glasses too! She's loving the contacts, and is able to pop them in and out easily after just a couple of weeks. The only think I don't like about them is, I think she looks so much older. She will be 11 on Sunday. This year her birthday falls on Easter. She's pretty excited about that. Brings back memories. The last time Easter fell this late in the year was the year she was born. She was born the day after Easter. And now to brag a bit. She had a picture in the Lubbock Arts Festival. She has the greatest art teacher in the world this year. That lady enters these kids in everything she can find. These pictures were picked by judges from the Art Festival. About 15 kids from her school had pictures in it, out of 525 kids in the school. Janae does a great job, and she has a teacher who wants the kids rewarded for their hard work. Janae also had a picture entered into the Reflections program, which schools from all over the country enter, that is judged as well by people who don't know the kids, and she made it all the way to state with that picture!! We are going to a luncheon in a couple of weeks and she and the other 6 kids from Oak Ridge (and all the other Frenship schools) will be honored by the superintendent. You go girl!

Hunter is playing machine pitch baseball this spring. It's been alot of fun, he's doing a great job and thoroughly enjoying himself. He hit his very first home run ever in the first game! My memory card on the camera didn't work so I didn't get a picture of it, but he was so thrilled. Mama was so excited I got teary eyed. (I'm way too emotional!)

Here he is watching the ball roll right past him! See how good he's doing?? ha, ha

I think he's just as cute as he can be.

Well, I have 2 more full weeks of class this semester, than a week of finals. About 3 weeks off, then summer school. It's looking like I will be able to finish all my classes by December, then I have to do a work study. I'm hoping to get a paid position somewhere and be able to do the work study in the fall semester, then I GRADUATE!! Whoo-hoo!!! If I can do that, I'll have done it in 2 years. When I started I thought it would take me at least 3! I'm getting excited, and in just the last couple of weeks have starting being confident I will be able to actually get a job and know what I'm doing! So if anyone knows an attorney who pays big bucks and is hiring: let me know!!

Taking Legal Writing this semester has been quite trying, in the beginning of the semester I was making 70's on everything I was turning in, and getting very irritated, (those of you who know my anal and perfectionist tendencies will not be shocked at hearing this), but I've actually "gotten it" and am doing well in all my 5 classes. Whew! It's been quite a semester, can't believe it's almost over!

I should have actually posted in March to be quarterly, I just realized this, so I guess I'll be back in June to stay on a quarterly schedule! tee, hee

Memories

On Saturday, we went to go see John's grandparents in San Angelo. While we were driving the 3 hours there, and the 3 hours back, we were telling the kids stories about when we were kids. (Have to keep them entertained somehow you know).



Anyhoo, I was telling them about when we were living in South Korea, we lived up on a hill and my brother and I would "sled" down it during the winter using cardboard or boards. We had somewhat of a forest behind us and we would go explore and find bunkers from the war. Good times.



There would be soldiers up there in the woods sometimes (since Korea isn't really at peace, because of North Korea), they would be patrolling. I don't specifically remember American soldiers being up there behind the house, even though we saw them all over anytime we went out. Anyway, as 6 and 8 year old kids, we didn't really understand the magnitude of all that. We were just out having fun exploring and playing in the bunkers. (Where were my parents you ask? Different world back then.)



I remembered that one time we found a Korean soldier up there and "dragged" him back down to our backyard and were playing and wrestling with him. My mom must have seen us and taken a picture of it, we were trying to get his huge military boots off. He was just having a blast playing with these little American kids, but now, uh-hum, 25 years later, I can only imagine the trouble he would have been in if he would have been caught rolling around on the ground with kids pulling off his boots when he was supposed to be patrolling.





So, in saying all of that, the kids went to my parent's house on Sunday and wanted to see the pictures of it. My mom couldn't find them, so I was looking, and didn't find those, but I did find pics of us sledding down the hill, (that was another lifetime ago, can anyone imagine ME voluntarily out playing in the snow when it's below zero outside? I think not.) And.....I found some other cute pics I wanted to share.



Look at the blonde hair I had! Janae saw it and said, "Mom!, Your hair was white!!" I know. One of my pride and joys, even now. Pride goeth before a fall, I really try, I do!

I was around 3 in both of these picture. Cute, huh? Attitude already, just see below.....

Obviously, this is a picture of my brother's wedding. They got married on Janae's 4th birthday. The photographer was trying to take pictures at the reception, and Janae just ran up there and lept into her new Aunt Megan's arms. Love this picture, mainly because of the memory behind it. So glad they love Auntie Megan.

And last but not least, my boy. He holds a special place in my heart, Janae does too, and I love her every bit as much, but it's different between my boy and girl. I just think he was the cutest boy ever!! He's still cute, but those baby picture, man, they make me miss my baby boy. However........

that does not mean I'm thinking of having another one. So there is a bit of memories for you. Shall I post sledding pictures?

"The Talk"

Yesterday in her folder, Janae brought home a note about "The Video". How in the world is it time for that already???? So, I thought I'd better go up and talk to the nurse to see what all this education was going to entail. Mostly general type stuff that Janae knows already. Take a bath and wash your hair, wear deodorant, stay in school, etc.

However, they will be watching a video about what girls will go through and the proper names of all the body parts. Most of it, I've already visited with her about, but this gave me a kick in the pants to just clarify and make sure she'll know what will be discussed at school.

Sigh......We sat here and watched the video ahead of time, it's on Proctor and Gamble's website, they created it. Wasn't bad, but I'm already getting the pre-teen "Do I have to watch this??" I have to say I was somewhat amused at her. I think she was more uncomfortable about talking about it than I was, and somehow I thought it'd be the other way around! Just the facts, ma'am, just the facts.

Thankfully I know the school nurse pretty well and was confident that nothing would be going on I didn't want to be, but just had to make sure. I was pretty impressed, she said they have the curriculum, but they can present it any way they want to. She said she wouldn't be telling the kids anything she didn't want someone else telling her kids.

So, I guess my almost middle schooler is really almost a middle schooler. ****Tears**** Where has the time gone?

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!!