Weekend Summary

Maybe with the TAKS test coming up I have "summarizing" on the brain? PFfft. I'd like to expound upon the TAKS test, but alas, this is a happy place for me, and I will not sully the purity of my blog with such a topic. So there.

Where was I? Oh yes, I intended to summarize, ahem, our weekend. Well, my mom volunteered to watch the kids on Friday night. PDaddy had to shoot Senior Night for a local high school baseball team, and we went out to dinner at our favorite B&B after that where our friends who run the joint treated us to a dinner on the house that we weren't expecting. The food, by the way, was delicious, but we'll get to that later.
I never know quite what to do with myself without the kids, but it was nice to have the week wrapped up and the house all to myself. That rarely, if ever, happens. While I waited for PDaddy to get home I watched Emma (Jane Austen) which I thoroughly enjoyed but not as much as the book, of course. I had already watched most of it earlier, so when that was over, I went out and worked in the gardens a bit and looked over the trees and crepe myrtles the guys had planted earlier that afternoon. PDaddy made it home on time, so we headed out to eat. We had grilled Tilapia topped with diced fresh tomatoes, onions and peppers, and it was seasoned to perfection. I can't explain to you how this was prepared. Just take my word for it that it was very good. There was a vegetable dish with squash, zuccini, potatoes, and green beans. Again, if I'm eating vegetables...willingly...and enjoying it...you should just believe me when I say it was tasty. There were the ever-wonderful tomato pies that are to-die-for, as well as creamed, fresh corn and a strawberry and tomato salad with a yummy vinegar/poppy dressing. For dessert, oh yeah-oh yeah, we had chocolate-praline layer cake with hot tea for me and coffee for Pman. Wait, I'm drooling on myself. Must find a tissue.

Ok, I'm back. On Saturday, PDaddy was finishing up his second Saturday of portraits at the dance studio. I took the kids to the Pottery Tent to pick up some things for the patio and pool bathroom. My bank account took a hit, but I got some good deals on several things and some not-so-good deals on some other things. Oh well, you win some, ya lose some.
We had lunch in town, and then we headed to Super Target to pick up some things. By Saturday evening, PDaddy was shooting a wedding, so the kids and I just chilled at home and made sugar cookies and finger painted. PDaddy brought home Mexican food when he came home, and we watched a movie we had Tivo'd when the kids went to bed.

This morning, we went to Sunday School and church in the rain, and my folks came over for lunch. I made spaghetti, salad and bread and served a scrumtious dessert of Blue Belle fudgesicles. Uh-huh, nothing but the best for my family. After lunch, my dad set up a computer and desk that he had for the boys. I had promised Jack he can have his own blog, YIKES, so we'll get that up and running in the coming days...(edited to say...NEVERMIND, we already have it up!) I'm positive that it will be an invitation only blog, so if you want to be invited readers of a 9 year old NASCAR loving, history fanatical, snack obsessed boy, just let me know! Hehe.

My sis-in-law had music practice for the musical she is performing with this afternoon, so my two nieces stayed with us after lunch. I put them to work helping me clean Sophy's room and sorting/throwing away old toys. How does one child accumulate so many junkie toys? Anyway, I promise it wasn't punishment. They had the best time sorting and digging through Sophy's belongings. My sis in law just picked them up, and now Sam and Soph are playing Kerplunk in her bedroom, and Jack is watching the end of the NASCAR race while Honey and Pongo sleep together on the couch. Where is my camera when I need it?

I promised the kids we'd make chocolate chip muffins this afternoon, so I better get on that. Not to mention there is that pile of clean clothes multiplying like rabbits in the guest bedroom. Then again, we'll just stick with the muffins, I think. Yeah. Good plan.

Jack

Jack is my rock. He's my firstborn. This kid is Mr. Reliable. Mr. Dependable. You can count on Jack to do what you tell him, when you tell him, the first time you tell him. I love that about him! I am happy to say that the older he gets, the more dependable he gets. It's so bizarre to watch him mature. His tastes are changing, his looks are changing....he's wearing cologne for corn's sake.
He'll be doing swim team in a few weeks, and he is mightily fired up about that. Last year, he was a bit intimidated at the onset of swim season. This year, he is ready for it. I can't wait for the season to start. The boy will still sit with a book and read and read and read some more. He gets carried away with expository text, factual books, historical books, etc. Little braniac.
His favorites:
Color: Blue-Green
Food: Cheese Pizza
Movie: Back to the Future Trilogy (and Speed Racer if it will ever hurry up and come to the theatre....May 9th! May 9th!)

Sam

Conflict and peace negotiations. Sam is learning a lot in first grade. Some days, he is the peace maker. Other days, he is like the Great Equalizer. Other days, the Great Instigator. He has the driest wit and the sharpest tongue of any first grader I've ever seen. He longs to be a man and is constantly planning his future occupations. The only catch is he plans according to which career choice requires a college education. Is this normal for a 7 year old? Seriously, a normal conversation may go like this, "Mom. Does a man have to go to college to be a farmer?" When I tell him yes, he replies, "WHAT? Are you serious? Shoot." After some soul searching, "What about a man that builds Wal-Marts?.......WHAT?!!! UG, I hate school!" All a parent can hope for is that his opinion of higher education changes in the coming years!
Color: Fire Orange
Food: Baked Potatoes
Movie: Alvin and the Chipmunks
Activity: Dirt

Sophy

Sophy has a collection of glass and ceramic elephants. She has a growing seashell collection, as well as a snow globe collection. This is her collection Josef Original birthday dolls along with several Josef Orig. girls from the Around the World collection. I think we'll have to invest in a china cabinet for these before too many more birthdays. The poor girl has had a fever all week and missed school. I think she is on the mend, since she will not sit still for anything this evening.
In a few weeks we'll have her big dance recital, so we've spent a lot of time getting ready for that. Last Saturday we had dance portraits made at the dance studio, and I can't wait to see how they come out! As much as she loves dance class, I think we'll get back in tumbling when the final recital is over in a few weeks. She used to be enrolled in both, but I was literally chasing my tail to keep up with all of the practices. Her dance teachers (mother and daughter team) are super sweet, but her first love seems to be gymnastics. After only a few months in her class, they bumped her up to the next level and we saw her learning so much so fast. She has quite a knack for flipping and jumping. She was within spitting distance of doing a back handspring when we let gymnastics drop in February, so I guess we'll start that back up in a few weeks.
Most days, Sophy can be found outside weeding the garden (seriously) or in her room "decorating." It's all I can do to keep her from getting the buds and flowers out of my garden to put in vases around her room. Not much has changed for the Sophster. She's still my flower child. We just found a child's field guide of flowers on ebay that is from the 50's, and she has been checking the mailbox everyday to see if it has arrived.
Favorites:
Color: Pink...duh.
Food: Green Beans
Sport: Roller skating
Show: Pocohontas

Top 10 Things Heard Around Our House This Week

10. Dustin says he is going to beat me up because I called him a liar. Is it okay if I beat him up first?

9. Mom, we need more milk (have I ever mentioned we buy 6 gallons a week?)

8. If you try REALLY hard, you can give me a baby sister!

7. Is it okay if I pee outside if I promise to hide behind a tree?

6. Who invented Beanie Weinies?

5. I REALLY, REALLY hate school.

4. Guess what? Today...I saw a lady...and she was smoking a cigarette...IN A CAR!

3. When I get older and have a kid and he wants a sno-cone, I'm gonna stop the car and buy him a sno-cone.

2. WOW! My poop almost looks like mud. Hey guys, come look!

1. These allergy boogers in my throat are making me PSYCHOTIC!!

A mini update

((throwing confetti and tooting a horn!))

Kids: We are in a frenzy of summer anticipation, and I do not know how we'll manage the next seven...yes, SEVEN weeks of school without causing bodily harm to each other. In a weak moment on Sunday, we allowed to kids to jump off of the diving board into the 70 degree pool for a fast, 5 minute splash. Now, 70 degrees is refreshing when it's 100 degrees outside. However, when it's just 75 degrees outside, a 70 degree pool can (and did) turn a child's lips (and extremeties) a very bright shade of blue. Still, it was a bittersweet event, and we're righteously ready for school to set us free from it's bondage and for summer to welcome us in. Amen.
American Idol: I am running away with Jason Castro. Sorry, PDaddy. (I am mostly kidding.)
Teeth: We've lost 6 this year. It's April. I predict we will absolutely obliterate our previous tooth record of '07.
Honey: She is awesome. Pongo and Thomas have accepted her warmly. It's like she has been here for years instead of a week or so. Having said that, it wouldn't hurt to end with a photo of the little furry gal.

Day #30

If I'm honest, I have to admit that I'm rather glad to be at Day #30 of this picture posting theme. I'm ready to write again and yammer on and on about nothingness. This isn't a recent photo, but it's one of the views of the outside of my house taken around the time we started looking at the house in the fall. The front has a circle drive which you can barely see in this pic, and there is a back drive behind the house with tons of driveway space where I frequently wear my roller skates with pink wheels to astound my children with my mad roller skating skillz.

Day #29

The pool bath is coming along. The curtains aren't up, but rest assured, they also have a lovely FLAMINGO toile print. As I finish, I'll be sure to post alternate angles, so you can feel the entire experience.

Day #28

Day #27

(Sam and Sophy taught Honey how to spell her name. She doesn't appear very interested, does she?)

Our Honey is here! We left Friday after Sophy's field trip to go to the GrandPinkie's in Louisiana for a sleepover. We had a lovely meal, made a nice fire in the chimenea to enjoy the latest cold snap, and PDaddy left bright and early the next morning for the hour or so drive to get Honey. Sam and Sophy and I stayed at the G-Pinkie's to play while he and Jack made the trip.

We've had a nice weekend getting to know her, and she is, is of course, the cutest thing I have ever seen, has THE softest fur on the planet, and is a hilarious mixture of puppy confidence and shakey-curiousity. We're pretty sure she was the alpha dog of her litter, since she wasted no time in putting Pongo on notice. She will not let Pongo near the kids, which is hysterical because Pongo just looks so confused. I wish the pictures would do her justice, but you'll have to see her with your own eyes. Once we had her bathed, dried, fluffed, we realized she is BRIGHT orange with black highlights and a white face and chest...not to mention she totally smells like an angel. I'm telling you., she's precious! Oh, I could just eat her with a spoon. The beauty of this situation is the kids totally want to be in charge of caring for her. SWEET! Sophy kept her locked away in her bedroom all day and watched movies with her, showed her the Barbie collection, read her stories and made her fluffy princess beds.

Oh, wait. Correction. The real beauty of the situation is that we opted to kennel train her like we did when Pongo was a pup, and it would seem that at 10 weeks of age, she is pro! We've had no accidents this weekend, and she made it through the night last night with a clean/dry kennel this morning. Hooray!

Sweet, sweet baby.

Day #26

Another angle of sweetness. The kids pondered and pondered and finally came up with a name for this little girl.

Allow me to introduce

HONEY!

Day #25

She doesn't have a name yet, but she will be coming to live with us on Saturday! I am in love with her!! I just want to fold her up and put her in my pocket! That face! That nose! Those feet! The fluff!

Sigh.

Day #24

I kid you not.Within a span of 5 minutes, all 3 lost a tooth today. It was a dental rivalry like we've never experiencd before! If I'm not mistaken, that makes #'s 5, 6, and 7 for our 2008 tooth count.

Day #23

Day #22

See the tooth dangling on the top? It refuses..REFUSES to budge. We're thinking it's removal is going to require dental assistance. I'm thinking the tooth fairy may have to fork out some change for this one in more ways than just under the pillow.