Mindnumbing Ramblings

Christmas pictures

2008-12-10T08:42:00.003-06:00

Lindsay & Shelby decorate the tree...

the mantle with all our stockings...

We even put lights on the outside of our house! There's a first for everything, you know...

Thanksgiving mayhem... and such...

2008-12-03T13:55:00.002-06:00

Wow. Time is still flying. Passing me right by. Almost a week has gone by & I'm just now posting my Thanksgiving blog.

Well, it was... interesting. We stayed in the area since Cory was on call & we were planning on having dinner at his parents' house. It was 7:30am when Lindsay came into my room (which was okay, I was awake & reading).

"Good morning, Mommy!"

"Good morning, Daughter!"

"Is it Thanksgiving yet?"

"Yes, it is."

"Why aren't we at Grandma & Grandpa's yet?"

While we did make it in that general direction later in the morning (much later), unfortunately, though, both his parents were hit with the latest stomach bug. Instead of the usual fare we had chicken and dumplins made by Cory.

While he was slaving away in the kitchen I noticed Lindsay coming back from that area with a heavy bottom lip, a hurt look in her eyes.

"What's the matter?" I asked.

"I wanted to have turkey for Thanksgiving!"

At this, Grandpa, in his Grandpa-ish way pulled Lindsay into his lap and whispered into her ear, "How about turkey hotdogs?"

Her eyes lit up & all was well again!

And it was Halloween....

2008-11-01T20:41:00.003-05:00

So, we like Halloween at our house. The day started with Daddy taking off work to go to Lindsay's class' "Pumpkin Party". Then after I got off work we got the girls all dolled up & went to see Grampa at his house & Grandma at work. Here Shelby is learning the art of 'working the bowl'...Shelby really got into the act. She never did say trick-or-treat or thank you, but everyone really loved her! (of course) She loved all the decorations, said hi to a cat, a spider & several scarecrows... And dogs!!! Everyone was so worried that their dogs would scare her, but all she wanted was to pet them! She'd squat down on their levels and say, "hi!" So sweet!

We hooked up with some of our friends and went out to Wylie. She ended up going out with the "big" girls, Kylie's in 5th grade & Kaitlyn's in 2nd... I think. So Lindsay was super excited about that. And hyper!!! She had a blast, though...

We did that for about 2 hours when we decided we'd had enough of that. We regrouped at Shannon & Billy's house where her two oldest were out of the house & her youngest was asleep. My two fell asleep in the car so we watched a couple scary movies...

All in all a pretty fun evening!

Boo!

2008-10-30T10:31:00.003-05:00

I've been booed! Sunny Jo
has booed me. Normally I would take offense to being booed, but with the great English language this is a different kind of boo (could we really not think of a new word for things? we just recycle words and give them various meanings? don't get me started on words that are spelled differently but pronounced the same...they're, there, their...or words that look the same but pronounced differently...read, read. ok, I'm done.).

Halloween and all.

So, what's a boo?

I'll quote Sunny Jo who quoted Jenni who quoted...who knows!

Now, this is how the Blogging Boo will work. Go to as many friends as you want and tell them they've been "Boo-ed". Have them link back to your blog to pick up their Halloween Treat (picture) and tell them to "Boo" their friends. Then, put the picture in your side bar so everyone knows that you've already been "Boo-ed" and to send the pic to someone else.

So, are you scared yet!!?? BOO!!

Okay? one more time......

1. Take picture, put on sidebar
2. Tell people they have been booed
3. Link back to who booed you

Okay- Get to BOOING!

So there you have it! Enjoy!

Random things I've noticed...

2008-10-28T16:35:00.003-05:00

It's been awhile, I need to post something.

Over the past week, things have come to my attention & I keep thinking to myself that I need to post that! So here are just a few....

First is a website. Not sure how I came across it, but be looking for some pretty great gifts coming your way in the next few months!!!

Second is a website as well. I do remember how I found this one, I was looking up patterns for quiet books to make for my baby girl.... I've heard about people using cloth diapers again, but I have to admit this one didn't come to me!!! I guess I could whip up a few of these for gifts as well!!

Then, this morning as I was working, I found myself flipping through my new, shiny coding book looking for a diagnosis code. Did you know there is a code for "Fussy infant (baby)"? it's 780.91. I think the next time I take Shelby to the pedi I'm gonna mention that one... "yeah, just tack that on there!"

Also, there's something called a 'Smith's fracture'. Yeah, sounds painful...

Halloween

2008-10-21T13:54:00.004-05:00

We went to Boo at the Zoo this last Saturday... I didn't get any good shots of the boys, but Karen got one of us all before we left, i'll have to post that when I get it!

Here are the girls in their costume....

Lindsay opted for the Kitty skirt instead of a poodle...

Of course I couldn't have the usual 'ole poodle....

Dad even got into the fun & shaved!! it's sooooo different for me, I'm used to harry man! But he couldn't find any "greasers" who had beards so he shaved it all off!!!

Baby Steps?

2008-10-14T21:02:00.003-05:00

Ok. I'm in our bedroom. Cory's in the kitchen. Just a minute ago both girls were in here with me. Now they're not. Now Shelby is crying, very upset. So I look. I go to her room, no Shelby, still crying. Glance back to the living room, no Shelby. Head to the bathroom/brothers' room. And there she is. Standing in the toilet. Of course, no camera handy. (ok, we try to keep the bathroom door shut, but Lindsay was the last one in & she forgot.)

Does this mean Shelby is ready for potty training? Or is she ready to take a bath? Ah, the toddler mind....

tough love

2008-10-13T19:56:00.003-05:00

Lindsay had another horrible day last Thursday. So bad that the teacher & principal decided she wouldn't be allowed to go on the field trip Friday. The teacher kinda told Cory was was going on while he was at work, then we called her Thurs evening. She asked us what we wanted to do with Lindsay on Friday. We both said Huh? and she said she needed to know if we were going to pick her up when they left for the farm or if we were just gonna keep her home all day! I couldn't believe that! So Cory took Lindsay to school on Friday & talked to the principal. Mrs. B saw them and he said she looked absolutely furious! And the principal said too, that we needed to pick her up! He told her if we had to, we'd pick her up at 10, but that it kinda defeats the purpose to try to teach her to be good at school when they're not even allowing her to stay at school!

So when I got to work I was telling the story to one of my coworkers. She said she'd call the school board if it were her, then she did! She got to talk to someone to leave a message. In a few minutes he called me back & talked w/ me about it, asked if she'd been suspended. I told him no, and he said that's really the only way that the school could demand we not bring her. So he called the principal to get her side of the story & called me back and said they'd find somewhere to keep her and get her things to do to keep her busy! I went anyway to talk to the principal and we talked for a few minutes. She had the nerve to tell me that it would help if we were consistant at home. I was so mad! Anyway, after the call on thursday cory called her therapist and she said we might need to try her on some medications... but i'm really ticked at the school. But at church yesterday they were all asking who her teacher was and said that Mrs. B is one of the best teachers!!! I just don't know. We're going to see the therapist here in a little bit so i'll probably know more after 5pm!!

----------------------
Ok, so it's now 8pm. We had our appt with the therapist. She said everything Mrs. B does in the classroom is right (which we thought so) except where they wanted us to keep her home on Friday. She was proud of us for stepping up and stopping them from doing that. (I just hope it doesn't backfire and the next smallest thing Lindsay gets suspended!)

We have to take "tough love" a step further. Because of how she behaives in class, she has to make up her learning at home. In fact, we have to have boot camp at home. If she has a temper tantrum at school she has to give up her play time at home. Tomorrow we are cleaning out all of the toys from her room. We have a small box with a few of the things she picked out. If she has a good day, she can play with her toys. If she has a bad day, bad behaviour, the box goes into my closet and she sits at the table doing homework. She 30 minutes to eat, if she chooses to eat then fine, if not she can eat at breakfast. Then she goes back to work & then ready for bed. Really, the only problem I can see with this is Shelby's toys will still be out. Not in their room, but in the living room we keep some things for her to play with. Anyway, we'll figure that out as we get to it.

So. That's where we are at this point. We didn't get to the medication aspect of the conversation, but she did give us a pretty big scare about what will happen if we ignore this.

kindergarten blues

2008-09-30T22:22:00.011-05:00

This summer I was told that it would get better, kindergarten would straighten her out. She'll do well there and will grow out of this phase. So far, with next week being the end of the first six weeks, she's had more bad days than good.

I'm at a loss. I was hoping that by picking an experienced teacher Lindsay would snap-to, fall into line. Get on board with all the other kindergarteners. Now I feel like I've really screwed up my daughter's chances at enjoying school. She promises every day that she'll be good. Today I get yet another call from her teacher, I can hardly hear her because of Lindsay screaming in the background. She's saying, or screaming over and over, "I promised to be good"... And then the moaning cry. I don't ask her for promises, I just try to remind her to make good choices & good decisions.

Today she had to be carried away from the lunch table for being so disruptive (she had to be carried because she threw herself down on the ground when she was asked to move to a different table), she had a hard time at game time, when the teacher uses a game to reinforce the lessons, she played in line and again during naptime so she missed out on recess.... which is when I got the call with the howling. Last Friday she got her library book taken away because she hit another girl or got in a fight over it or something. It's just a constant, one thing after another with her.

She's in therapy. So far we've come up with oppositional defiance disorder. No magic pill, just "tough love". I don't know how much more tough we can be! I've told the school to paddle her, they haven't. (I know they don't want to, but if it's an end to this behavior?) We spank her when we get home, but really, what good does it do to spank her at 6pm for something that happened at 11am? Just makes us feel like monsters. Not to mention that even with the door shut it hurts Shelby's feelings to hear her sister scream & cry.

Everytime that I've talked to her teacher, it's that she can't give her all the attention because there are 18 other kids in the classroom who deserve to be taught. I just don't know what to do. And I'm tired of feeling out of control with an out of control child!

Balloon Fest

2008-09-26T22:21:00.003-05:00

Birthday Party

2008-09-26T22:05:00.003-05:00

Birthday cake for the birthday girls Sweetie swinging
Hannah Montana even showed up!
Big brother watching on...

What a fun party!!!

Birthday, er, Balloon Fest

2008-09-26T16:10:00.003-05:00

Every year, usually the weekend closest to my birthday they have Balloon Fest. I forgot it was this weekend until Cory & I were on our way to work (he takes me to work, we carpool... saves money) and I saw in the sky several balloons. I love them, they make me happy. I get balloons every year for my birthday.

I work on the 4th floor, so these are the shots I got on my cell phone.....

Yup! Most of them went around but this one went right over the building! I can't wait, tomorrow we're going to go out, maybe see them at dusk. They are all on the ground, blowing & glowing... Neato!

Such smart kids!!

2008-09-19T14:31:00.004-05:00

This morning I dropped Shelby off at daycare. She's in the 1 year old class, and has been for at least 2 months, even though she just turned 1 this past Wednesday. So she's like the youngest kid in her class.Still with me?

Well, this morning, like I said, I was dropping her off. Her teacher told me that she's a very smart child, which I knew, but I love hearing it from other people!

She said the other day they were sponge painting and while all the other kids were trying to eat the sponges, Shelby was the only one who figured out the dipping in paint and stamping on paper!! The. Only. One. And she's the youngest in the class!! She's so smart!!

Then, later I was taking Lindsay to an appointment. She talks. A lot. Probably as much as I did at 6! Yeah, that much! Anyway, I'm driving along & she's chatting along.

Lindsay: Do you know where you're going?
Me: Yes I do.
L: Then why does that arrow tell you which way to go?

Yes. I've been a good girl & using my blinker in my new car!

Anyway.... here's some pictures while you are shocked and in awe at how smart & perceptive my darlings are.....

This sticker was in the Tattoo guy's shop. I have a monkey, she's my grandma. Don't make her sad.

Lindsay at the Picture Park. It's the one with all the weird art.Shelby at the Picture Park. Do you have any idea how hard it is to photograph this child with her smiling at you?! Do you?
OK. I love to go garage saling. This sign made me laugh. No, I didn't bother going to their "sall".
My sweet hubby! He makes me smile!
The look says it all... "Touch my donughts & I will smack you with my sippy cup".

Pooped...

2008-09-15T08:46:00.000-05:00

So, Thursday we went to the fair. I blew $20 and Lindsay & I rode three, yes, I said three rides. She loved it! I loved it. So I'm okay with the spendage. However, next year I'm going to have to find out which night is cheap armband night so we can ride more things.... And of course, we did the carnie food (love me some corndogs!) and played a couple games (hate the one-note playing trumpet!)... Not so sure that Shelby was all that impressed, but we did manage to keep her contained to her stroller, so good times there.

Friday we went to dinner with Grandma & Grandpa. Newish place in town, Brick Oven Pizza. Totally yummy, usually. Not so much on Friday, but, well. Ya know.

Saturday was spent cleaning. I hate cleaning. Which is usually why I have to do so much when it's my turn to host for our bunco group. But I did thing, like vaccuum the curtains (stupid cat) and cleaned off the vent-a-hood thingy. Yeah, that does sometimes happen more than once a year, but still. It's drama. Speaking of drama, it was also Lindsay's birthday! She turned 6 years old. We went to DQ for some birthday ice cream... We're having her party next weekend when her brothers will be here.

Sunday we cleaned, as well. That's the day of bunco, so there's always a mad dash of "stash the junk". Which we're really good at. But we got a new shower curtain (since Lindsay tested the scissors a couple months ag... "See Mommy? They do work! Why did you throw them away?") and a new mat. For bunco dinner I made psuedo-lasagna, which everyone loved. Yea. And all that went well, too.

Which leads me to today. I'm SOOOOOO tired. My arms are sore, my fingers hurt & my neck has a crick. And for some weird reason I'm itchy all over. Early last week I started getting bumps on one leg. They look like fire ant bites, but I haven't been around any! They've spread to the other leg and both arms. It's weird! But they ITCH!!! Oh, bother.

Anyway. So now I've got to get the word out about the party next weekend. If you'd like to come, it's going to be at Gill Park (hoping it won't rain) about 2pm. That's the little park on Willis between S 11th & S 14th. It's for both girls, Shelby's birthday is on Wednesday.

Okay. Enough rambling. Bye!

Cory's new Tatoo

2008-09-10T08:45:00.001-05:00

Well, here it is!! Hope he likes it since it's stuck there from now on!!!

Picture update

2008-09-09T16:35:00.000-05:00

Ok. Here's Shelby. She likes to crawl into and out of things... Here she's mastered the stroller...

Here is Lindsay's first day of school. It was a great start... Hopefully to a great year!

Cool pic of Seth... he's getting so much older.

My working man... Here he's pondering the plumbing... hmmm.... Where to dig next?!

Not my favorite pic of Zane, but he's not really a picture-taking kind of guy... go figure!!!

Here's a pic of Austin with one of his friends.... Like I said, he loves football but he's into all things sports!!! Don't ya love his sunglasses? His mom said he reminds her of CHiPs in them!!!

Fortune Cookie

2008-09-09T16:33:00.000-05:00

So lunch today was with the girls at work. Hey, my boss paid for it, so I couldn't very well turn her down!! Here's my fortune:

You will find your horizons suddenly broadened.

Things going on...

2008-09-09T15:42:00.000-05:00

Ok. I was informed by my mother that it's been awhile since I've updated... um. Yeah. I was still pregnant with my almost 1-year-old.

So. Updates.

Shelby. She's easy. She'll be 1 on the 17th. She's walking, saying a few words. She's a beautiful baby. She does have a temper & isn't very patient when she wants something. And she's a climber.She loves to get on top of things. Unfortunately, I'm very nervous when she does. But she's still got lots of bruises...

Lindsay. Fun. She'll be 6 this Saturday. She started school 2 weeks ago yesterday and it's been interesting, to say the least. She's, shall we say, an emotional child. Cory & I had a meeting with her teacher this morning and she did have some positive things to say... She's very smart & eager to learn. She listens during teaching time, and she calls on her a lot. I think to give her some positives because there are some negatives. Lindsay doesn't like to share much as far as turns and stuff like that. She doesn't like to lose in games and that tends to be the time when Lindsay looses it. Literally, there's no other real way to describe what she does. Tantrum I guess works, too. But we're working on that, all of us together and, well, at least today was a good day!

Zane. Zane is in 2nd grade this year, with something new, a Mr. for a teacher! He at least doesn't have anything negative to say about it. He seems to me to still be struggling with his reading. He won't voluntarily read anything, I really had to encourage him to even read a menu or the game he got with his lunch on Saturday. Once he tried he figured it out, but he didn't even want to try, he was waiting for me to read it to him! He certainly won't be starting any novels anytime soon.

Seth. Here's a new story every time I turn around! Let's see, last I heard he's going to France with his French class, a $2,000 opportunity that his mom won't let him miss! But that's good for him... I'm sure he will enjoy it. He's always thinking about what car he's going to be driving. Oh, yeah, he's not quite 13, in the 7th grade. Cory said he spent the trip back on Sunday pointing out cars, saying whether or not they fit in his "drivable" category. He's got high expectations, to say the least!

Austin. Austin is Cory's other son, he's 13 in the 8th grade. We only recently started having visitation with Austin, Cory only met him for the first time last May. But he's a neat kid. Loves football, plays it in school & loves UT & the Cowboys. Makes shopping easy, I tell ya! We were supposed to see him this last weekend but Cory was sick, kept getting a fever so we decided it might not be a good idea for him to come. He has an immune defficiency so it's not a good idea for him to get exposed...

Cory. Cory's going to get a tatoo this afternoon, kinda a delayed birthday present... I think he's anxious, but now I can post a picture of it! Maybe even a video of the torture! Woo-hoo! Pain! Like I said, he was kinda fever-y on Thurs/Fri, but he's better now, no telling what that was.

Me. Well, I'm the same, taking care of the kiddos & hubby! That's why there's not been much blogging going on.... But I promise to be better! (didn't say how much better, just better!)

Almost There

2007-03-21T10:26:00.000-05:00

This weekend my great-grandmother celebrates her 95th birthday. Go Granny, go!!

She is such a neat woman, and yet, there's still so much I don't know about her.

She is the 13th of 14 children. Her family is from Louisiana and either when she was young or right before she was born her family moved to Texas. She married my great-grandad had six children and then divorced him. Of her six children, 3 girls & 3 boys she's lost one, Uncle William, to a car accident. Her oldest child is my grandmother, Cloma. Her youngest child, Uncle Dwayne, was born 10 years after my grandmother. She raised her children with a firm hand, but with much love. They are all caring and giving people, to whom family is very important. Which is very obvious to me, seeing them take care of her now!

In the last few years she was found to have a mass around her esophagus. She has had several procedures as well as some chemo and it's gone, she's a cancer survivor!

For years she lived in a small town with little or no relatives nearby. The same town where my mother and uncle were born. She'd lived in the same town for so many years, longer than I know.

She's since moved closer to her family, but she still lives by herself. My uncle Keith, her grandson, lives close by and she sees my grandmother every day.

She loves to sing, I believe it's where all of us got that. She still sings old songs to us 'kids' and our kids. Songs about John Brown's body and playmates, and many other old songs that amaze people when I recogize them and know the words!

She tells stories of when she and my great-grandad were young, good stories about the fun they had, with no money (depression era, you know) and how they managed to get by. She never talks bad about him, or else I've never heard it, and I know he wasn't a nice man. (Well, I guess you could say he was a 'friendly' guy... friendly to other women, if you know what I mean.) But still, never a bad word from her.

My grandmother told me stories of her youth. How, when they had no money for clothes, Granny would make their clothes from the feed sacks. This was back when feed sacks weren't just burlap bags, they came in different patterns, flowers and such. Granny would use the flowery material to make them dresses (remember, 3 girls, and they were close together!) and the white flour sacks she would bleach to make thier panties.

You should see the walls in her home. They are covered with pictures! From her 6 children, she has 19 grandchildren, 22 (almost 23) great-grandchildren, and 32 (almost 33) great-great grandchildren!

So, this weekend many of us will gather together to honor this woman, who, if it weren't for her (and the grace of God!) we wouldn't be here!

Missing Boy Scout found alive

2007-03-20T15:58:00.000-05:00

12-year-old boy was lost in rugged N. Carolina mountains for three nights. (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17701966/?GT1=9145)

This 12-year-old spent 4 days in the North Carolina mountains, separated from his boy scout troop.

I was really glad to read that he was found, but something in the story really bothered me:

“This shows that when everybody works together, good things happen,” said associate minister Susan Norman Vickers of Christ United Methodist Church. “We just believed that he was going to be found.”

So, if this poor kid had died in the mountains, would it have been interpereted that they didn't pray or believe enough? That they didn't do all it took for him to be safe? I just feel that this kind of statement puts too much emphasis on what we as human beings can do and not enough on God!

I don't know. I'm not sure this is exactly where I wanted to go with this blog, but I wanted to share how that one sentance made me feel.....

Bummed...

2007-02-21T21:01:00.000-06:00

Cory said no to the baby bed. It was too messed up. And I was hoping too! Oh well.

Fancy Hands

2007-02-20T18:20:00.000-06:00

Well, I knew it was always true, but now it's official. (unless he's making it up, of which I'm suspicious!)

Night before last I woke my husband up from what he claims was a dead sleep to tell him that "I have fancy hands! One up, one down!" He could have sworn that was wide awake, that I didn't sound like I was talking in my sleep! And then he accused me of remembering what I'd said when I cracked up the next morning! But honestly, I can't imagine where it could have come from! I mean, it sounds an awful lot like something Lindsay would say!

Oh well. I wonder if it's due to the pregnancy or just because I'm nuts.

Well, just as soon as daddy-o gets off work (working the late shift this week) we're going to go dumpster diving! I'm so excited! At a house across from Lindsay's daycare for the past month or so I've noticed this baby bed just lying outside. It looks like the JennyLind bed that we had when Lindsay was a baby, but I gave that to my cousin and I'm afraid she's given it away. (I've got an email in to her just to see.) And every day we drive by it I beg Cory (half-heartedly, of course, I'm not big on stealing) if we can go get it out of their yard because, obviously they don't want it! But today as I was driving by I saw it in the dumpster across the street from that house. I would have gotten it myself, but there were men working in the yard of he former house of the bed so I called Cory instead and we're going to get it later tonight! I hope it's still there and in good enough shape to be fixed (if being broken is the reason it was tossed!) Of course I'll buy a new mattress. But, woo-hoo!!!

New blog!

2007-02-15T12:18:00.000-06:00

http://babysmithtobe.blogspot.com/

so much for our day in court!

2007-02-13T16:44:00.000-06:00

Yeah, we got an email from our attorney last night that they've postponed our court date to sometime in May. We're a little upset, but I guess this gives us more time to get all our details in line. And take a whipping stick to their crappy principal!!!!

long time no post

2007-02-06T11:20:00.000-06:00

Wow. I've missed an entire month!

Don't worry, you haven't missed much. We're stil waiting on the trial for custody (2 weeks from yesterday!). Other than that, things have just been going on.

Lindsay is still four. She's really funny sometimes, when she's not whining. Yesterday she was talking about Wal*Mart. She said, very emphatically, "It's Wal*MarK". I said, "No, it's Wal*MarT-T". "No, mommy, it's Wal*MarK". "No, it's Wal*MarT, with a T". She said, "No, it's Wal*MarK, with a F!" *sigh*

Zane is so cool. He's learning how to read, and I can tell! He helped me on Sunday figure out the movies...we have several movie cases with no movies inside them (VHF, of course) and so I had him match the cases w/ the movies... I don't think he's as far as his brother was at this age, but that's ok, he'll get it!

Seth is so stinking smart. Sometimes he's a smart aleck! We don't seem to butt heads nearly so often as when he was younger, not sure why, but I'm not complaining!

All in all, we're doing just fine! Sorry, this is so boring, but you can't have everything, you know!

Christmas Present

2006-12-24T14:57:00.001-06:00

So you think you know Carols?

2006-12-23T12:07:00.001-06:00

http://www.chicagotribune.com/carolquiz,0,4932856.triviaquiz

Your TOTAL SCORE is: 92%. You know your seasonal songs! Treat yourself to an extra slice of fruitcake.

Christmas pictures from the past

2006-12-23T11:46:00.001-06:00

Deer Stories

2006-12-18T15:26:00.001-06:00

We spent this last weekend with my parents so we could have our Christmas together. My brother wanted to go hunting Saturday morning so Dad invited Cory to go with them. On the way out Dad told Cory the story about the last time Lindsay stayed with them. He'd just gotten his deer blind out to his lease and my parents were going to go check on it so they told Lindsay "We're going to the deer lease". Now, I have no idea how she figured any of this out, but she looked up at my parents, frowning, and said "Don't hurt the deer, they never hurt anybody!" How does she know this stuff?!?!

So while they were out my brother shot a buck, 8 point. They dressed it out in the field (dumped the guts and innards and stuff) and brought it back to the house where it was hung by his back legs in Dad's shop.

Being such a nice day, the kids begged to go outside and play. So eventually they ventured to the shop where the deer was seen. Cory took Lindsay out there where she didn't seem too bothered by the whole event. She checked it out pretty throughly and then looked up at Cory. "Where's the deer's poop?" That was her only question!

She's such a smart kid. Too smart for our own good!

noise free

2006-12-15T14:48:00.000-06:00

Finally, finally, finally we have relief. A couple of the lights in our office have been buzzing SOOOOO loudly that some of us up here have nearly been driven to MURDER!!! I've contemplated throwing things at the lights to try to get it to stop. However, the two men have just left. They've made the quiet come back and now we'll be much happier people!

the difference between my life and scrubs...

2006-12-14T16:23:00.000-06:00

Yeah, I was sitting here working and just pondering... well, ok, I was having a day dream. The only problem is that unlike the TV show Scrubs, my day dreams do not take up much time. Therefore, I have to have more of them to get through my day. Sad.

Love to hear the music of the season!

2006-12-13T16:21:00.001-06:00

Lindsay came home singing the Twelve Days of Christmas yesterday. Not all of it, of course, but different parts!

She starts out with 'On the first day of Christmas my Mother gave to me' which I think is just too cute.

Then it's 'FIIIIIIIIVE GOOOLDEEEEEEEEN RIIIIIINGS!!!' not at all in rythym (which, I know isn't that big a deal, she's 4. But I've gotta use that music degree somewhere!!!)

Then, in no particular order, she sings about:
4 turtle dogs
3 fringe ends
2 humming birds
And a part in a bear tree!!!!!!

I just love it. It makes me so happy to hear her singing!! I wonder if she's learned more at school today!!!

Traditions

2006-11-30T21:33:00.000-06:00

I didn't realize it until just now. I'm making Seth's birthday cake (11 tomorrow!!) and I jumped online to get the recipe for the frosting... it's made with marshmallow cream and i use peppermint oil instead of vanilla. Everyone loves it... but me.

Anyway, As I was Googling for the recipe I was reminded of my darling mother. We eat Thanksgiving at her house most years and for as long as I remember, even before she had internet, she always had to run to the computer to find the recipe for the jiblet gravy. Well, our's is jiblet-less gravy because none of us can stomach the thought of eating entrails nicknamed "jiblets", so we just use turkey bits. She used to have a recipe program on her computer, but now she just googles it.

Didn't realize it was a tradition until just now!

Well, better get that recipe!

Thoughts of a Four Year-Old

2006-11-30T21:28:00.000-06:00

Ok, we're a little morbid. My daughter loves watching CSI, well, we all do. Yeah, we're probably messing up her mind, but she enjoys it. Tonight was an interesting one, but the part that caught her attention was a scene where two men lie on the ground, one has his arm detached and both are COVERED in blood. The camera pans the scene and shows the chainsaw lying on the ground and goes to commercial.

Lindsay sits up, looks at her Grandma and says, "It's for cutting WOOD!" Like they were the stupidest people in the world for cutting themselves up!! Which, interestingly enough, they were.

Snow Day?

2006-11-30T08:46:00.000-06:00

Yeah, I'm at work. All the schools in the community are closed. We just called our patients scheduled for today to move them to next week. If the heat comes back on I think I might pull out the Christmas stuff decorate....

How can we help when they're so far away?

2006-11-29T22:31:00.000-06:00

We emailed the boy's teachers today. We still haven't gotten a copy of their report card from the 2nd six weeks. The First grader's teacher said that she'd sent a copy of his report card home a long time ago and she sent his progress report home yesterday, but that she can send another copy if we need it. It amazes me. Now, I know teachers are very busy & at that age group it can be difficult to keep up with everybody. We just let her know that they aren't together and that BM doesn't share any information regarding the boys' education.

On the 5th grader, the teacher knows the situation, but was not aware that we'd sent envelopes to the school so they could send us their information. Personally, I think the principal is a jerk. He kept putting off Cory when he'd ask about information. I know, I've said it before. Teachers are busy people. He was just wanting to touch base with their teachers and let them know what was going on. But the principal would say "let's just wait.... I've talked to them personally and I think they're adjusting just fine" junk like that. DH had to practically threaten him with legal action becuase he just would not give us any information, which DH is legally justified in requesting and having! And come to find out, neither one of them is doing OK. The 5th grader failed 3 out of 5 subjects. The 1st grader (they have the 1-5 grading system) and had three 1's and two 2's. Not good.

And we have suspicions that they're still not doing well. Which was confirmed today by the 5th grader's teacher. She said he "is continuing to have the same problems we discussed before. He is not turning in his assignments, goofing off in class and arguing with adults about consequences." He's a talker. He won't stop, even if it gets him in trouble. He has to finish his thought, make his point even if he's wrong. We've talked to him about it until we're blue in the faces and he still argues. Not so much with us but everyone else it seems. (Personally, I just ignore him, turn my back on him. I can see that would be hard to do in a class w/ 27 kids!)

Here's Cory's response to that teacher:
He did mention last week about a report for social studies that he needed to do. We did some research on the internet together and he said he had all he needed to finish up. This last weekend I asked him how he did on it and he said "not so great, there was more to it than I thought". So we talked about it. I could tell that he's having some big problems paying attention. He said he only found out about the report 3 days before it was due and only because a classmate had given him a copy of the assignment. I asked why he woudn't have been given the assignment at the same time as everybody else and he said it was because he was doing make-up work.

And her's back:
We actually worked on that Social Studies report for 3 1/2 Weeks for 45 minutes each day. It was actually part of his Reading Intervention Group, which meets every day for 45 minutes. Mrs. W and myself oversee that class. We actually spent 1 week in the computer lab just doing internet research. Then the rest of the time was spent compiling the information and putting together the book. Seth chooses to do other things instead of his assigned work. Just yesterday I had to take away a magazine he was reading instead of doing his math work. He is an extremely intelligent boy, but his grades are not reflective of that because he does not do his work in class or at home. Please let me know if I can help you out in any other way. I want him to be successful in the 5th grade.

And this is the delimma.... What can we do? We live almost 200 miles away. If it were an option to go to the school to meet their teachers, we'd have done it at the first opportunity! This is one of the reasons (of many, I promise) that we're fighting for custody of them. We've seen it before, the teachers try and try to contact BM about the problems their kids are having and BM ignores it! For whatever reason, and believe me, we've got no clue why she woudln't do everything in her power to help them. We've seen (just recently) that one of the reasons she moved them from where she was living & working to her mother's is beacuse the teachers were trying to get the (now) 1st grader into tutoring. They wanted him to do councelling to help understand him and his problems. She made it very hard on THEM for him to do tutoring (which was mandentory, by the way) and she completely ignored them on the councelling. She kept responding to their emails with "he wasn't doing this before he moved here, he didn't have any of these problems, maybe you should contact his old school!". When the teacher and the principal asked and asked her for a parent/teacher conference she told them she was withdrawing them from school. And she told DH that she didn't like the way the admin was treating him. No, they were trying to HELP him and all she saw was they were accusing her of being a bad mom.

I know one of the reasons she w/drew them from school was so that the (now) 1st grader would pass. It was his first attempt at Kindergarten. And it had worked before... when the (now) 5th grader was in 1st grade he had so many absences and tardies that he was going to fail! So (of course there were other reasons, but) she w/drew him from that school and moved him back to her mother's. It makes me crazy. The 5th grader has been moved 8 times, he's been in 5 different school districts. His younger brother has been moved 4 times and has been in 3 different school districts. That can't be good for a child! Not to mention the 5th grader has a really hard time making friends. And the tardies and absences are still a problem now.

Help!! I need ideas, something to try. We've tried talking to him (the 5th grader) about his attitude, both towards the teachers and towards doing his work. I just don't know what else to try.

Dreams

2006-11-29T15:48:00.000-06:00

Does anybody have one of those books that explain what our dreams mean? Last night is the 3rd time I've dreamt about playing the flute in the past couple of months. Now, I know this isn't totally bizare, becuase I did play the flute, for 15 years! BUT it's been a long time since I've played with it, other than to try to amuse Lindsay, who totally did not appreciate my attempts.

Anyway, the first time I dreamt that this guy that I went to HS with stole my flute from me when I let him borrow mine.... He pawned it. I don't remember the details from the 2nd dream, but I remember thinking how odd it was to have 2 dreams so close together about playing the flute. Then last night I was showing my (almost)11 year old how to play it. He had a crummy flute that had a bad sound to it (?) so I played mine for him to show him what it sounded like.

And I do not want any comments about "Band Camp"... I never went!

I've tried Google-ing dreams and dreams about flutes, but I can't find anything that makes sense!

Does anybody else...

2006-11-28T10:37:00.000-06:00

Does anybody else thing of the song "Paradise By the Dashboard Lights" when you head for the Dashboard?

I've been tagged!!!

2006-11-28T10:00:00.000-06:00

I'm kinda a survey junkie! Good luck...

1. Explain what ended your last relationship? Short story: My current relationship.

2. When was the last time you shaved? um, Sunday morning...

3. What were you doing this morning at 8 a.m.? Opening up the office...

4.What were you doing 15 minutes ago? reading JennyHaHa.. I'm addicted to her mind in that totally not weird sort of way... "it puts the lotion on it's legs"...

5. Are you any good at math? I love math... the hard stuff... give me algebra, trig..

6. Your prom night? spent it at Cristi's with all the other seniors...

7. Are you related to anyone famous? kinda... remember that "bull in the china shop"comercial like 100 years ago? my great aunt or something like that trained the bull... they were "weird".

8. Did you have to take a loan out for school? I went to ACU and my parents had done absolutely NO planning... yes, I'll still have that "pet" when I'm 60.

9. Do you know the words to the song on your myspace profile? yes, I do.

10. Last thing received in the mail? bills

11. How many different beverages have you had today? water, coke-coctail (3/4 diet, 1/4 regular)

12. Do you ever leave messages on peoples answering machine? only if the patient has their name in the message, I'm not allowed to, otherwise

13. Who did you lose your CONCERT virginity to? 1993 Firehouse... Six Flags senior trip

14. Do you draw your name in the sand when you go to the beach? yes, I am that geeky

15. What was the most painful dental procedure you have had? Braces. but specifically, the spacers before I even got braces. the rest was a breeze after that!

16. What is out your back door? A LOT of JUNK. and the dog

17. Any plans for Friday night? Driving halfway to Timbucktoo... luckally it's not the whole way, though!!!

18. Do you like what the ocean does to your hair? I absolutely adore it, not becuase of how it look, but that means I'm actually there, at the ocean!

19. Have you ever received one of those big tins of 3 different popcorn? I believe as a child my family received on.

20. Have you ever been to a planetarium? yes, sometime in elemetery.

21. Do you re-use towels after you shower? YES! And I don't care which part of the towel touches which part of my body. it's all clean at that point!

22. Some things you are excited about? warm breezes on a lovely Fall afternoon... hearing "mommy!!!" after a long, maybe not so hard day at work!

23. Favorite flavor of Jello? hmmm... not my favorite dessert after that one night of jello shots... I'll stick w/ Lemon, though... (did you ever hear that joke about Lemonjello & Orangello?)

24. Describe your keychain(s)? I have pix of the boys, a Colorado license plate with SHELLY on it, and my doot-doot (for those of you who don't know me, I have a hard time with technical terms. the doot-doot unlocks my doors)

25.

26. Where do you keep your change? in my pocket (if I have one) and at the end of the evening it's placed in a Mickey x-tra large coffee mug so my darling husband can raid it in the morning!

27. What kind of winter coat do you own? I have a big, fluffy one, even though it's usually not cold enough to wear it... I've gone 3 years before not wearing anything thicker than a fleece jacket!

28. What was the weather like on your graduation day? HS? don't remember, it was evening, so not too bad. College? it was May 6, 2000. 106 degrees. Hottest place in the COUNTRY!!!29. Do you sleep with the door to your room open or closed? depends on if there's someone else in the house for the cat to bug....

30. Did U read this far? Consider yourself tagged (you know, if you wanna do it)!! Well, since I got it from Jennifer, that only leaves Joana, busy or not!! (hey, it will give you something to take your mind off the "why do people keep telling me to get the epidural?" delimma in your mind. I know, I know. I'm not even going to attempt to tell you you should becase the more people tell you to do one thing, the more you want to do the other thing! *love ya!*) AND YOU TOO!