So sorry I have been so "absent" with my postings. I have gotten completely addicted to the "Twilight" series and have just begun to read book 4. This is the last in the series, so I hope to be back to normal soon.

Took the kids to see Santa on Saturday (yes...that is how we spent my birthday).

Later that evening, we picked up the new addition to our family.

Bowser is a Beagle Terrier mix puppy that is about 2 1/2 months old. Claire and Jake are having a great time with their new puppy.

As promised...

Sorry it has taken me so long to get this posted, but I have been crazy busy this past month.
Here is Claire's birthday party...
Enjoy :-)
I will hopefully get some Halloween stuff up soon and then it will be Thanksgiving....AAAAGGGGHHH where does the time go?

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Happy Halloween

We had a great time at the St. Ambrose Halloween Festival on Friday night. Claire was Cinderella and Jake was a pirate (but wouldn't keep his head decoration part on).

Both kids played lots of games, danced and danced, and got lots of candy and prizes.

Jake and I decorated a pumpkin on Thursday afternoon to enter into the pumkin contest on Friday.

OK...I know, it's been awhile...

Let's see,
Where to start...
Well, work has been very busy this past month for month for me. We have had our regular routine with the addition of picture days (yes...it takes 4 days to get all the pictures taken), 50 yea anniversary celebration (2 days and 1 evening of events), Claire's class fireld trip, adn now this week we are "selling" pictures and we have the annual Scarecrow fest on Wednesday.
With my kids, I had Claire's birthday last weekend and then we have all the Halloween festivities this Friday. I'm really ready for November to be here!
Claire is finally 3. She had her party this past Saturday with 13 other kids. It was lots of fun. Had it at Build A Bear, so of course she had to have a Cinderella bear to match HER. Then she had a Dora Cake to end the event. (I will add pictures soon).
Jake is doing very well in school. He has all A's and 2 B's for this report period. Not too
shabby :-)
Claire is going tobe Cinderella and Jake will be a Space Alien for Halloween. I will add pictures of that next week as well.
Hope all is with everyone.

In IKE's wake...

Well...Ike was sure fun, but now I'd really love to get back to something that resembles normal. I fled Houston on Saturday afternoon with both kids. Leaving Andy and the dog behind, we headed to my Aunt 's house in Austin.
My house is missing siding on one side of it and we lost several large tree limbs, but aside from that we did pretty well. However, the city is not in as good a shape. Still no power after two days and many don't have water (although Andy reports that ours is back on now, just can't drink it).
We are staying in Austin until the power retunrs to our house. The mayor has said that it could be days or weeks...we really have no clue....please pray for sooner rather than later.

Surviving "IKE"

OK...so the hatches are battened down, the water bottles are stocked, the freezer is full of tupperware with frozen water in it, and the flashlights have fresh batteries. Now all we need is the hurricane itself.

The TV has been preparing us all for DAYS and we have decided that we would "hunker down" as they say and enjoy the ride.

The news has done it's job well enough and has people freaked out enough to be scurrying around like wild mice in the stores and parking lots and they are driving like crazy people.

However...I am much more impressed with the way things are going this go 'round than I was this time 3 years ago during the "Rita" fiasco.

Winds are starting and they say we should be in full force after midnight tonight... so hang on tight...

Will let you know how we fared when things are all over with.

Second go 'round

Well...after finding a deal I couldn't pass up on a practically brand new day bed, Claire now has an official BIG GIRL bed in her room.

She is very excited about it, but not at bedtime. We set it all up and made it pretty with all the new bedding (that matches her decor). But, we left the crib in her room too. She now has a choice of which bed to sleep in. Last two nights she has slept int he crib, but yesterday, she actually took a nice long nap in her BIG bed.

Hopefully this will be a nice, smooth transition for her.

Jake got a new game for his Nintendo DS this weekend (he had some b-day money and this was what he wanted to buy). He got Super Mario Bros. and has not put it down except to sleep and then today to go to school Seriously.... he is literally GLUED to his game system. I am just hoping it is increasing his intelligence in some way :-)

6th Birthday and IT'S BACK TO SCHOOL TIME!!!!

We celebrated Jake's 6th birthday last weekend with a Super Hero/Gymnastics party. It was a really great time and I think he got just about everything he had on his wish list.

Jake is officially a "big kid" now. He started the first grade last Wednesday with today being his first full day. This is his third year at St. Ambrose Catholic School - http://www.sashornets.org/

and to him is was like "old hat". He is in class with many friends from the last two classes and a few that he had hoped would be in his class. He seems to like his teacher and is very happy about the kids he is with. So, here's looking forward to another great year :-)

And...just for fun...It's super silly Claire~

I'm still here

Eye yi yi....
It's been a crazy few weeks. First I had the whole "Jake being sick" issue to deal with and then I started back to work and then we had Jake's birthday party and now that that is all past us...My teachers came back to work yesterday and we are moving several classrooms into brand new rooms and Jake has his first day back to school tomorrow!!!--Huh...I'm exhausted just typing it all.
But, ...my little boy is officially 6 years old and will start the first grade tomorrow. I can hardly believe it. Where does the time go?
With all the back to school goings on, I took both kids to get new hair cuts this afternoon and then to look for new school shoes for Claire. Why...because the kid has umpteen pairs of shoes in her closet??? Well...She has one pair of crocs, one pair of hot pink (open toe)sandals, one pair of jellies, one pair of bright red Mary Jane's, one pair of leopard print fleece shoes (just for fun), a new pair of white mary jane keds (these are fine), and new pair of pink shoes (because she wanted them and they are cute) and then two pairs of closed toe WHITE sandals and her WHITE t-strap mary jane shoes from the spring. Sounds like a lot, right????
Well... she can't wear crocs, jellies, or open toe shoes to school. The red ones are VERY red and are only good with certain things, and I grew up and the south and much to my husband's irritation, little girl's DO NOT WEAR WHITE after LABOR DAY!!!
Please fell free to comment. I need the support here.
This whole issue started because I couldn't find any Navy and or brown shoes for her today at all and I came home frustrated. So I am looking online.....

Jake (and I) survived his first trip away from home. He seemed to have a really great time with Grandpa visiting Great-Grandma in Bremond, TX and then going to Dallas fora couple of days. Although...his tummy issues seemed to follow him. We thought he was all better until mid day Saturday when things seemed to start all over again. Took him to the doctor on Monday and they are running the tests over agin and checking for some more things.
Hopefully we will have some answers by tomorrow. I hate that it takes so long for these test to get the results!!!
But...on a good note, he seems to be doing much better now. We even made it out to Chuck E. Cheese yesterday for a big play date with a friend of his. That was lots of fun for all the kids. THe other mom had a 12 year old daughter with her and that made it great for Claire. I had no worries and was able to just sit and visit and have "mommy time". Hopefully we are over the hump with this tummy trouble and will start to see consistent improvement.
My poor little guy has lost nearly 5 pounds and he wsn't all that big to start with.

Life is busy...

Hi all...ok, so camp was over a little over a week ago. I am just now coming up for air :-)


this last week we went to the Blue Bell ice cream factory and then wen to the Blue Bell Aquatic Center afterwards for swimming and playing. We went and had the kid's pictures taken together, Jake spent a day at a friends house, and we went swimming at the YMCA with some different friends one day. Then...Jake spent the entire weekend SICK.- YUCK.


He is making a slow recovery and should be his normal self again in a few days. He has had some sort of gastrointestinal bacteria. The doctor said it would likely just have to run it's course, but we will have more info in a day or two. Turns out it had most of last week, just didn't really get back until Friday night. It's NOT contagious though- thank goodness- as we were around lots of kids last week.


Jake is taking his first away from home trip without me on Thursday. Andy's dad (Grandpa) is taking him to visit Great Grandma for a day or so and then they are going to Dallas for a couple of days. He is very excited and keeps wanting to start packing!!! I'm just hoping he is all better by then. It will be weird to have him gone for so long, but I know he will enjoy it alot.Well..that is all my news for now. I will try to update more next week.


Here is a new picture to enjoy:

Just an update

Well... I was all excited about this time last night with great plans to tell everyone that all is well with the crib/tent situation and then SHE STRUCK AGAIN. This time it was a HUGE MESS. Apparently Claire's little system is starting to gain a pattern. Her "business" needs seem to be after she has gone to bed and she just isn't calling us at all, or just not yelling loud enough. Although...she makes sure we can hear her when she wants a drink, more music, another blanket, etc....
She is trying hard to be a "big girl" and take care of things herself. Perhaps I should stock her crib with extra pull ups and a box of wipes.
YIKES!!! Needless to say, she had 2 baths last night.

Our Summer Camp program ends this week and we will have another three weeks of casual bliss before I must report back to work for the new school year. I am planning to enjoy as much hanging out in my pj's as we can and definately spend more time at the pool.
Jake is swimming so well, it's hard to believe that this time last year he still needed a floatie thingy.
Claire loves the pool and loves the water, but you won't catch her with her arm floaties and her "Little Mermaid" swim ring. She has to have the whole ensamble to feel safe in the water.
Well...ta ta for now.

Claire's REVENGE!

Alright now REALLY!!!!

Isn't it bad enough that I have to go with out sleep for that past few weeks (and don't even get me started on her first 2 years of life!), but now this...

Here I was, enjoying a nice peacful evening, eating dinner and watching Discovery Health on TV (Andy went out to run some errands).

Jake was in his room relaxing before "lights out" and Claire was...well...let's just say I thought Claire was asleep.

I go into tell Jake to get in bed, turn of TV, yada, yada, yada, when I hear Claire calling out for "Maaahhhmmmyyy"- ahhh here we go....

I go see what she needs, this is what I hear (in a tiny little voice )"I need to go poo poo". So, I'm thinking, no problem, I can deal with that. I unzip the tent and look down to find her with no diaper in a puddle of WETNESS!- I lift her up and send her on to the bathroom. I start to look for the pull-up and the source of the foul smell. Can't find it anywhere. So, I call to her "Claire, where's your pull up?"- "It's in my hand, mommy". Oh, OK... ( let's put it in the hamper...)

Now I have turned on the overhead light, the pillow case has little BROWN handprints on it and the sheet is completely soaked.

I get the pull-up from her and discover the source of the smell. "Here Mommy. I need a new one" she informs me. Thanks honey, I see that.

So, I get her cleaned up, change the sheet, put on a new pillow case, collect the other various soaked and or soiled items from her bed and then we start the goodnight routine over again.

It is now 10:19 PM and so far all is well...

Look and my sleeping ANGELS

Tales from the Crib

OK...we tried to be patient, we tried to do the "be strong...wait it out...she will get it" thing, but after virtually NO sleep on Thursday night due to Claire feeling the need to wake up at 3 and STAY up until 5 no matter how many times I put her back to bed, I caved.

Friday I put her crib back together and decided that a few more months of enjoying the happy go lucky, pleasant to be around, little toddler girl was far more appealing than the newer version that was trying to develop as the BIG Girl was pushing her way through.

But...silly me. I actually thought that because she wasn't climbing out before that this would keep her in the bed now. WRONG!!!! Now is when she has decided to risk life and limb to be free at all costs. After a final night of sleeping with my ears finely tuned and one eye open, I decided to bring out the BIG GUNS and go for this method:



It is called Cozy Crib Tent, but we like to call it "Claire's Princess Tent". It's only been one night, but it was a restful night!. I will keep you posted!

On a another note...I have found the COOLEST toy ever! It may look like something stupid you kid drug out of a cabinet in the kitchen, but is actually a very neat little creation (from Europe, of course) that is meant to spark our children's "imagination", you know... that thing we all used as kids when there wasn't 24 hour kid's TV shows and hand held video game systems in every kid's hands at all times.

Is it a hat, a chair, a stool, a drum...YES, it all of this and so much more. This is the first thing (since Dora anyway) that I have seen Claire get so excited over. We saw these in a little store last week and both of the kids were Cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs over it, so I had to have it. (I actually ordered on Amazon and got free shipping and paid a bit less than the store was charging).

Check out the site. It is called a BILIBO http://www.bilibo.com/

Well...I guess that's all for now. Wish me a another restful night's sleep :-)

Life with a 2 year old!

Ok...so two weeks down and two more to go and then I can resume my "summer vacation". Work has been crazy busy, but the time has really flown by.

Claire has developed separation anxiety to the max all of a sudden. She is crying for REAL when I take her to her class each morning. Meanwhile, Jake is so grown up he cant' understand why I have to walk him to his class and why he can't come and go as he pleases in my school.

Speaking of Claire and growing up...

We recently transitioned Claire to her "toddler" bed (her crib converted). We thought we were home free after only two weeks because she was doing so well with staying in the bed and going right to sleep. Well...GOTCHA!!!! The little princess has turned the tables on us and now we spend about 2 hours each night fighting the "GET BACK IN BED" battle with her.

I refuse to give up and put the crib back together, instead I am holding my ground and fighting the fight. I actually had to give her a spanking last night :-O I know , I know......call CPS and lock me up!.

Trust me it was much worse for me than it was for her. I felt so bad afterwards that when she was finally asleep, I went in and picked her up and loved her while just watching her sleep.- But di you notice I said she was ASLEEP!!!!- It actually WORKED. While I don not advicate beating you kids, every now and then going a little "old school" as a last resort can actually be effective.

Meanwhile...Jake is staying up later and later becoming more and more addicted to the night time cartoons and the various "kid friendly" shows that can be found on Nick and Cartoon Network. Did you know that Sponge Bob Squarepants is almost ALWAYS on!!??

You see...I can't start yelling at him to go to bed until I know for sure that she isn't going to hear me or hear him arguing with me. If she even THINKS she is missing some good "fuss at Jake" action, she is up and out of room in a flash. Thus creating a vicious cycle and causing me to run out of their rooms screaming I GIVE UP!!!!

Andy will usually intervene at this pint and help with the yelling and take a turn putting kids to bed. This is about the time that the true "momma's boy" comes out in Jake and all of sudden my self sufficient, all grown up, nearly 6 year old crumbles into the needy, whiny 3 year old little boy I once new who needs mommy to tuck him in and sing to him, and rub his back, and get him a drink of water (all the while, daddy is allowed to watch whatever he wants on T.V.).

Daddy is a very important part of the kid's day, but man...bedtime seems to all about MOMMY...gee...I feel so loved!

By the way...those of you reading this that remember ME when I was 2- SHUT UP!

Back to work...

Jake and Claire and I all went back to school (or at least to CAMP). I went to work and they are at camp at my school. It started yesterday and and today, after 3 weeks at home with Mommy, Claire announces that she "doesn't like school and she'd like to go home now". This was about 5 mins after I took her to her room. She did get over it and ended up having a fun day.
Jake is having a great time having kids to play with all day. he is so easy going when it comes to this sort of thing. He'd MUCH rather go than stay home.
My school is very large and serves a clientele that is made up of primarily upper middle class to extreme upper class families with mostly stay at home moms. WE do not live very from the school, so the areas that we live, work and play in all mingle together. I can't go ANYWHERE without running into someone from my school. Sometimes it's nice and others, I find myself ducking and going the other way to avoid the awkward conversation. Yesterday I was at the pool when a mother came up to me and started talking about the first day of camp and how she was sure all would settle down, but that she was a bit uneasy about her 2 year old's class....and BLAH BLAH BLAH!!!! Geez!!! I am trying to relax and enjoy a nice afternoon swimming with my kids. I am happy yo talk with you and all, but does it have to be about my work?!
This stuff happens to me ALL THE TIME! Don't get me wrong... I really love my job and my school, but sometimes I don't think people realize that I have my own life and kids to pay attention t just like they do and that just because I am the director at their child's school, that doesn't mean that that is all I am.
Thanks for letting me VENT...
On a happier note, I just found out that my sister is pregnant with a baby GIRL!! And that my cousin is TOO. They are due within a week or so of each other. I am so excited to be having a niece :-)

VBS

This week has been a new experience for us. Jake has been attending Vacation Bible School.
This is a concept that is completely LOST on Andy. As a Catholic, VBS was unheard of. It was something the "other"kids did (meaning the protestant kids). Since I grew up protestant, I attended many VBS programs as a child and knew exactly what Jake would be getting into.
This particular VBS is actually being offered by a Catholic Church that we attended for a couple of years and where I know lots of people. Several of my friends are sending their kids there as well.
Jake has been having so much fun and has come home each day babbling on and on about the cool things he has learned. On Monday he had tiny dot stickers all over him. I asked him what it was and said it was "leprosy". With a smile, I asked what it meant to have leporasy. He told me his version of a disgustin disease. He then went on to tell me that Jesus cured the people with leporasy. Ahhh...my heart felt good :-)
Yesterday he said "Mom!...did you know that Jesus could walk on WATER??!!?? That is so COOL!"
- Hey...I'm just thrilled that he's having a good time. If some bible stories are sticking with him...then all the better.

Kindergarten Graduation

I can hardly believe that my baby boy is actually old enough to be going into first grade this coming fall. Where has the time gone?

I know all mothers say this, but It really doesn't seem possible that he is this old....

The St. Ambrose Kindergarten Graduation was last Thursday evening. The kids recited (short) essays on what they enjoyed most about kindergarten and sang several songs. Then they received there "diplomas" and various award certificates. There was a nice little reception afterwards. This completed Jake's second year at St. Ambrose School.

Now we are full on into our summer break and are keeping busy with fun stuff every day. Monday we went to the Science Museum (the kids REALLY like to go there). Tuesday we went swimming, Wednesday we found a super cool indoor play place that was so fun I could hardly get the kids to leave. And today, we plan to go swimming again. "Kung Fu Panda" is on tomorrow's agenda. Next Week Jake will attend Vacation Bible School for the first time- that should be fun :-) Then the week after that... we all go to my school for summer camp for 4 weeks. Busy, busy, busy!

Oh yeah...T-Ball officially ended the season last Saturday. The Blue Jays came in 4th place (out of 6 teams- we were NOT the total underdogs-yeah!!!). Each member of the team received a very nice medal and a bobble head trophy-very cute!

Mother's Day at the Beach

One of the coolest parts about living inHouston is that the beach is only about an hour away. So,every year for Mother's day we load up the family and pack a picnic, all out sand toys, a couple of chairs and loads of sunscreen for a fun day of quality time.

This year seemed to be all about the sand!!!

Claire entered the water reluctantly a couple of times and when she felt how cold it was she went screaming back to her nice warm pile of sand. Jake played in the water quite a bit, but mostly he enjoyed trying to dig to China.

AHHH...the pleasures of being a KID!!!

It was QUITE hot this afternoon (mid 90's in early May)...so, to enjoy the afternoon, we got out the little pools and the hose and well...

Take a look: (below)

Claire is such a dare devil...nothing seems to really scare her. Good thing she's the 2nd child!

You may also note the treehouse progress as of today:

Claire the Hula girl

Claire was playing dress up last night and found herself transformed into a "Hula Dancing Butterfly Princess". She has her brother in the background playing the traditional hula dance drums via his bouncing hoppy thing...see the video :-)

New pet

We have a new member of the family... Jake has a new BETA fish named "Chester" (don't ask...).
He'd been asking for a fish for quite awhile and we decidied that it would make a good "finished Kindergarten" gift (but he got it a few weeks early).
Also, the BLUE JAYS won another game last night. Jake was so excited he couldn't even sleep last night. It was so cool for the team. They are really having a great time.
Claire and Jake had a play date today with their friends Max and Kate. We went to Monkey Bizness ( an indoor bounce house place). Claire and Kate are finally old enough tp really enjoy being with each other. They had so much fun running and climbing a sliding. and giggling. They are just such little girly girls...it was so cute to watch them :-)
That's all for today- till next time.....

A few more T-Ball shots

Here are few more shots of Jake in action...

Spring rolls on...

Sorry I have not been as faithful about updating this as I have intended to be.
Andy and I went on our first real trip away for JUST US since our honeymoon over 6 1/2 years ago. We went to San Fransisco last weekend for two full days and three nights. Stayed at this really cool hotel, http://www.tritonhotel.com/ with a view of the Chinatown gate. We walked EVERYWHERE the entire weekend. It was fabulous!. We ate some really great food and saw lots of interesting stuff. But mostly we just enjoyed our together time.
It was nice to be home and have a warm greeting from the kids. We did actually miss them :-)
Jake's T-ball team won their first game this past week. Jake had 2 hits and even made it all the home for run for the team. He has learned so much about how this game really works this season. I am excited to see where it leads in the future.
Andy is already talking about letting him play football in the fall- YIKES!!!!
He also seems to think that Claire will be begging to play T-ball next year too (yes...they do let 3 year olds play- it's VERY cute). However...I have vision of tu-tu's and tap shoes in her future. We'll see what wins out.
The tree house is really starting to become a major hangout for Jake and Claire. We actually added a slide to it today. It's a bit steep, but after Claire literally flew off and landed on her face once. She jumped up to go try it again and again...the kid loves a challenge. I will post video of this event when I get a chance.
That's all for now.

Little Slugger

T-Ball is bocoming a part of our everyday world. That seems to be all we are doing these days. Luckily for all of us, it is FUN (even Claire likes to "go T-Ball").

The only other big thing going at our house, besides the treehouse construction- which is plugging along nicely- is the metamorphosis of a tent moth caterpillar. We have a nicly formed cacoon going on in our bug catcher that we have to check on about 3 or 4 times a day to see if there are any changes. Needless to say, the progress is very slow when you only allow a few hours between observations.

I have, however, learned a great deal through my internet research about just what is happening and how long it should take.

It also really makes me wander just what our parents did without the internet to help answer all the millions of questions we threw at them.

I will keep you updated on the progress. I am showing a picture of what it looks like now so you can all have the pleasure just as I do of seeing just what a Tent Moth cacoon looks like - ENJOY!!!

My new blog

Hi everyone...

I have decided to start "blogging" in an effort to keep you all posted on what is going on in our crazy lives.

The biggest news I have for today is that Jake has officially started T-Ball. He is playing on a team of 4, 5, and 6 year olds. Their team is the Blue Jays. They had their first game this evening and even though they didn't win, they all seemed to have a great time. The best part was getting snow cones after the game!

Andy has been busy contructing a tree house where a large tree once stood in our back yard. It's a work in prgress, but promises to be a spectacular childhood retreat for both kids in time.

I am posting a few pictures for you to enjoy.

I will try to keep this updated often.

Please feel free to comment and share your blogs with me as well.