HC the Ballerina

HC has been building in excitement for this big day! Her first ballet class. She was upset to not have her ballet shoes for her first class but we managed through.
We managed to find her shoes and HC has been having fun dancing her way around the house.
She was showing me a few of her moves - I love that she has the chance to try ballet. I hope she enjoys it for the rest of the semester! She seems to love it so much that she is ready for class as soon as class ends. This has been a fun addition to our routine.

Dance away HC!

Enjoying the Weather

Lately the weather has been pleasant for being outdoors. The last few days have been cloudy and felt a bit gloomy but for weeks it has been nice. Here is HC enjoying her scooter at the park. JB was finally able to try the trike. HC dominated it until her scooter entered the picture.
Havin' fun....
here I come........

They would both go to the peak of this incline and ride down with the wind in their hair. The incline was slight but just enough to be considered fun!

The vultures are circling!

I do not like confrontation and I do not enjoy disagreeing with others. I usually keep my blog on the light side but today I am so frustrated. It appears the vultures are circling one single lady and I am tired of watching the sick display.

Governor Sarah Palin is running for Vice President not her daughter. Governor Palin is being pulled apart so violently and so angrily that it is beyond disturbing. As far as I can tell the only issues that matter is how did she run the governments she was responsible for! I am so frustrated with all the media displays. They are showing themselves to NOT be reporters but vultures circling hoping the solo female will crumble soon so that they can finish her off.

I hope all of you out there - whether you are Democrat, Independent or Republican will take off your political hat for a moment and look at the obscene display of the media. They stole her social security number. How invasive!!!!!!!!!!! Pray for Governor Palin and for her family. That is the least we can do with all the attacks that she and her family are currently under.

I welcome your thoughts but will not give room for arguing. I will not give way to my blog becoming a place of division. I only see a fellow American being pounced unfairly and cannot stand to watch silently anymore.

It's that time of year again.... LSU Football!!!!!

It's our first game of the season. LSU vs. Appalachain State~~ "Let's GEAUX TIGERS!!!!!!" JB and HC are getting into the Tiger Spirit! "Here we geaux Tigers Here we geaux!!"
JB - waiting for kick-off. Every play JB sets the ball like this and either kicks the ball or picks up the ball to run with it. He waits for the team to make a play and then he makes his play. This is how JB enjoys LSU Football - it is a physical experience. I love that he still does this!
After kicking or throwing or running the ball - JB then tackles.
We are thrilled to welcome in the 2008 Football season! Let's GEAUX TIGERS!!!!!

A Week in the Life of a Busy Mommy

Tonight I sit here with droopy eyes and a slightly alert mind. There are times I look at the things that I've allowed to back up on myself and I get so mad at me. Why do I do that to me? Why don't I just get to work on those things when I have the time? How do I allow my time to be so poorly managed?

Then I thankfully have a week like this one to remind me that it isn't always due to my error that things are still left undone. Life has little surprises that set us back when we least expect it.

Saturday I finally got myself motivated to get sewing. I have 3 'jobs' promised to 3 different people. I have 2 almost complete smocked dresses I've made for HC. I have several items I can no longer wear until I mend them. I have piles of books here and there that I need to put in a safe place. I have paperwork and no place to properly sort it and the undone piles grow and grow.

So back to this week.. Saturday was a rainy day and I was finally able to devote my first free Saturday to sewing. I wanted to lie around and relax with everyone but I KNEW I had to get going on job 1 because I find myself wanting to finish the smocked dresses for HC but all the other jobs weigh me down. My energy for the things I want to do is overshadowed by what was promised. I finally completed one piece (out of the 7 pieces in job 1) and cut the 2nd piece and had plans for Sunday to try and make 2 more pieces and cut one more out. My goal is to be done before next weekend. My personal goal.

Sunday at 1AM the electricity went out and so the night was not a restful one. The electricity was out until 9:30 AM Sunday and we missed church. We were all tired and had a few errands to run and we came home to collapse for our mega nap! Wake up from our naps and decide (last minute) to invite friends over for dinner. This was quite refreshing but - no sewing progress made. Go to bed with the hopes that tomorrow will be a good day.

Monday - Steve left for a business trip and I awoke in a fog. Not a headache, just a fog. As though I was dragging through my day and HC began complaining of a tummy ache. Sometimes a tummy ache is not a true tummy ache so we tried to really understand what "my tummy hurts" meant this time. No clarity - night one over!

Tuesday - fog lifted and we played catch up on some of our school work. Great day but it ended with HC once again complaining of a tummy ache. I realized she hadn't had a b. movement in a few days so I began to ask more questions and found it wasn't a nausea but a cramping ache so I think .... constipation. B. movement done - HC still cramping. I hope she'll feel better tomorrow.

Wednesday - decent day.. errands to run... HC more grumpy and more visibly lethargic. The ants came marching in. All night Wednesday HC was up and down complaining of pain and crying and doubled over. So Mommy had little rest again.

Thursday - impromptu doctor's appointment to check out the belly ache. Doctor says she thinks HC may have caught a small version of the latest virus and she should be fine soon. Come home - rest a little and off to ballet. (HC is fine per the doctor and wanted to go so... we went) JB wanted to go inside HC's class and watch her dance. He was unhappyb but finally settled down while I read books to him. HC finished her ballet happily and we went home. The kids are now in bed as I wait for Steve to walk through the door.

Friday - I hope to recover and sew at least 2 pieces so that I can regain my momentum and hopefully have my first job complete before next weekend - as originally hoped. Meanwhile we've had school days and will finish up week 7 of school next week and have our first school break of the year! Quite a busy little week with many things thrown in there that were unexpected and the surprises really wore me out. It's a shame that we have finished 6 weeks of school this year and I am not celebrating such an accomplishment. I am beating myself up for one neglected thing.

Now I will remember that I should give myself a little grace when I think about the jobs that are still incomplete. They are not incomplete due to my procrastination. They are still incomplete due to the busyness of life. I was asked to do the jobs at the end of the summer. I then had a summer full of traveling. I did not have the specifics for job 1 (like the pattern/fabric) until a month ago. Finally when I had time to sit down and do the job - I had to adjust to the grind of each day.

Why do I bother to blog about this?? Maybe someone out there can give themselves a break too when they realize they are not super-Mom. I know I will have another blip of life like this past summer again one day and maybe I will encourage myself. Jobs 2 and 3 still need to be begun but the fabric/patterns have not yet been selected. The perfectionist in me wants the job request, the tools, time to sew, to be done and to sit back with a sigh of relief. All this back up makes me feel like a load is on my shoulders. I feel like I am not keeping my word. A week like this one reminds me - we cannot control every millisecond of life. I now choose to go with the flow again, without beating myself up when things seem to drag behind. Sorry if this is incoherent. I feel incoherent right now.

The ants come marching in.... again.

Yesterday we had an army of ants come marching in. They were in full force and seriously - they were not there and then they were there in abundance! JB dropped some ice and I bent down to pick it up from under the table - no ants. I sat down with HC to do schoolwork and felt an itch. I bent down to scratch and saw a line of ants.

Last year the ants marched in and we were under a serious drought so I bought the story of the locals. They told us, from the first year we moved in, that the local ants do invade to find water. Nope! Not true! These ants could not POSSIBLY be looking for water since it has rained for 3 days or more - and I do mean RAINed!

When I thought about it, the ants came indoors this time last year too. It made me wonder if it were just a seasonal thing. Maybe they sense winter is near and they, like the squirrels, are storing up goods for the winter. Well, we will be studying ants later this year and I will let you know what discoveries we make then. For now - our handy dandy leftover ant poison did the trick again! It literally had them all gone within 8 or more hours. The kids had fun watching the ants march in and then march out. We even saw a few piggy back ants. It is clear to me that our Ants lesson in several months will be a huge hit!

Adios Baseball

Last week we attended our last baseball game for the year. It was a last minute decision and a fun one! One thing is for sure - this year we've learned that JB loves some baseball!!! He has always loved all sports but would float between practicing them all while he played. Maybe since he went to an actual game and maybe since he finally saw real players and maybe because a real player gave him his first official 'dirty' baseball maybe that has magnified baseball above the rest for now. He calls the baseball the player gave him his 'dirty' baseball. I tried to save his first baseball from his first game and I tried to swap baseballs with him but the one I used was too clean. He rejected the clean phony quickly and decided he lost the original... until I gave it back. Anyway, so we attended our last game and had a blast! Pre-game means HOT DOGS!!! All you can eat is the name of the game for 25 cents a piece. Our entry fee was zero due to our handy dandy Zoo membership~!! Gotta love benefits like that!
A little baseball...
A little Dora

and a lotta late night of fun! We drove home with two tired out kiddo's who had a fun filled day! Till we see you again next year baseball guys... 'Adios'!

School House Rock - Electricity

When we arrived home from lunch today this song came to mind! I am so thankful for Electricity E lec tricity!!

I LOVE School House Rock! I want a DVD of the episodes!!! This brings me back! Enjoy....

A restless night!

Last night was exhausting! I finished one item I was working on (something I am sewing for someone) and cut another one out. I felt like I had my momentum.... FINALLY!

The kids were asleep... Steve was asleep... and my night owl tendencies were in full bloom. I could hear the wind howl from time to time, along with occasional rain drops in sudden fast pace. The cable flickered once.. the cable flickered twice.. all was well.

Then 1 AM I was beginning to drift off and the power flickered. The lights came back on and then it was out for good. HC screamed in terror for 'DADDY'. A sound that breaks my heart when I think about it. He scurried to grab his flashlight and rescued her. Then JB called out and Steve rescued him too. We told them all was well but that the electricity was off. They soon relaxed and began talking away. Now we were all on an adventure together.

HC shared how scared she was and JB agreed that he too was scared at first. Then JB said "I'm not scared. I'm gonna let my wight shine. That's a song in my cwass." HC said "Heyyy.. that song is in my class at church TOO!!" We began singing that song (on the Hillsong kids CD) and they soon were wide awake!

Next it was "I'm hungry!" "Me too! I'm hungry too!" So we opened up the peanut butter crackers and HC was beginning to be scared again since it was so dark and the candles were on... it just looked different. She said "I'm scared". JB said "Sit wif me stister. I will share my wight with you so you won't be scared." The 'wight' he was talking about wasn't a flashlight or any visible light. He was talking about the light of Jesus. It was so precious! I know the understanding level wasn't fully there for either of them but the innocence of the conversation really made my heart smile!

Eventually we all found a fairly cool place to lay down and we slept as well as we could manage without our fans. I woke around 4 AM and began to worry about our packed freezer and fridge. I prayed for another layer of insulation to keep all of our perishables cold. We tossed and turned and HC woke us every half hour ready to get up. We all began really moving around at 9 AM and still no power. Finally at 9:30 the power came back on but our adventure is forever sealed in my heart. Even in the midst of chaos our kids managed to find fun - they remind me to stop and enjoy the simple pleasures of life.

(This was JB's first night like this - without power. Thanks to Hurricane Katrina... HC had several nights like this when she was about 2. I have fond memories from when I was young of nights when the electricity was out. Thankfully this one wasn't unbearably hot!!)