Holy Hot Dogs, Batman!

While we waited for Pizza Hut to cook supper and drive it over, PDaddy helped the kids carve a pumpkin. The sights and smells of it eventually drove all three kids from the kitchen. Two-thirds of them were gagging as they fled. Pumpkin carving is NOT for the faint of heart! Or stomach! We were so happy PDaddy had the evening off!!! Hooray!
The Jack-o, which we named Ichabod in honor of the season, turned out to be a nice looking fellow. PDaddy got skillz.
In years past, we have made the rounds in our neighborhood hayride. This year, my nieces arrived to travel the neighborhood in our mule. You can't imagine the shouts and incoherent screams when the boys saw Batman pass us on our street in his Bat Mobile. Our neighborhood is a veritable trick-or-treaters dream, so we really get quite a show on Halloween.

One of our neighborhood stops was manned by a ketchup and mustard bottle duo and their adorable little hot DOG! Oh, too cute.

My Soph and 2 of my nieces, Katy and Michaela.

I was hoping to get a nice, posed picture of the kids dressed in their garb, but instead, I snapped a shot of 2 of my children shrinking back in fear of The Ax Wielding Fireman. If this guy ever comes to your emergency to render aid, RUN FOR YOUR LIFE! And whaddya think of that peacock costume that I made?

I've got lots to accomplish before tomorrow, so I better skeedaddle. My hair appointment was rescheduled, so I'm going to take this opportunity to get Sophy's room dismantled and painted before her bunk bed is delivered on her birthday. We're off to pick out paint early-early, and then PDaddy will head out for pics...and I'll be painting.

~Happy Halloween~

Sophy

Egypt. Egypt. Egypt.
What else can we learn about Egypt?
We have every book imaginable for a child (and some that are not) about pharoahs, mummies, hieroglyphs, King Tut, Nephritidi (did I spell that right?), and on more than one occassion she has complained about the fact that no one drives camels anymore, and she has ALWAYS wanted to drive a camel. You name it, she is an expert. The history channel recently had a series about Egypt which we recorded, and she watched it like most girls her age would watch Hannah Montana. As we planned her birthday party (which is coming up in three weeks), she asked me if her birthday cake could be decorated with a "chariot race and brown men wearing white rag underwear" while her napkins and plates could all be "decorated with golden cobras" and maybe, just maybe, could we please find balloons that were "shaped like obelisks and The Great Pyramid." Gee, of course! Because every local party store will be stocked to the gills with those goodies! She recently found that there is a program out that is called the Naked Archeologist. I haven't witnessed this show, but she swears that the "scientist who runs the show" is fully clothed and only travels to these places and discovers new things. We have the Tivo set to record it, but I think I'll check it out before she watches it. You know, just to be sure that everyone has clothes on. I'd possibly be remiss otherwise.
Gymnastics is going good. She has a new coach, and I think she is working good with him. He is a college student at the local U. He really worked her tail off yesterday, and she didn't seem to mind. That is always a good sign! Sophy wants to learn to drive his motorcycle, or so she told him last night at practice. I have not informed her daddy of this.
(Trumpet fanfare)After losing her two front teeth in, what was it....March? April?), we finally see the speck of a front tooth reappearing! We were beginning to suspect that the Tooth Fairy was paying us back for forgetting her payment on one of the nights in question. Whew!

Sam

The Red Monster turned eight years old this week. I am surprised you didn't hear him crow the morning he woke up and realized he was finally, FINALLY a year older. Almost as soon as he turned 8, he wanted to know if I knew of a place where he could get "a good tattoo." Yes, that question was delivered with the utmost of sincerity and seriousness. Er. Uh. Hhmm. Er. Wow, as a matter of fact, No I Do Not, was the answer he was given. He was pretty dejected after that.
I let him play hooky on his birthday, and he spent the day with his Pop. Apparently they spent the entire day on a tractor pulling a tree out of the ground. I am not sure what offense the tree had committed, but if you know Pop, well...we aren't surprised. Sam was beside himself with joy, and we heard the play-by-play of the root removal at least 14 times before bedtime. The only thing is that now he just can't understand why it's ok to drive a tractor, but no one will go ahead and give him his driver's license. I can't believe that, can you? The nerve of this world.
School is going...well.....it's going. Sam is really doing awesome in math, and he loves all of his teachers. Reading and spelling aren't his best subjects, but he still allows them to teach him these things. For now.
He has a B average, I think, in both of those subjects for now, but we are up and down the grade scale in those subjects, so we really have to keep a thumb on him. I'm very happy with how much his reading has improved since school started. I wouldn't dare say reading is his favorite subject. Not by a mile. No, that would be recess where the dirt is.
His homeroom class carved a pumpkin and wrote a How-To paper about the process, and he was so stinking excited that they had used a knife at school. It's the little things, I tell ya. The best school news of all is that he hasn't ripped the sleeves out of any shirts on the playground in WEEKS!
Sam's future plans change by the week, but mostly he just rattles from one day to the next about the different things he is going to invent and how the masses will benefit from these creations. His latest invention is a tube that stretches from a restaurant or store to your house, much like the bank drive-thru tube, that will send you what you want for supper. This idea was born from an incident that involved Sam having to eat something for supper that he didn't exactly want, which is odd because I have yet to find something the kid won't eat. He loves hot sauce, shrimp, BBQ, sloppy joes, baked beans, any vegetable, baked potatoes, mashed potatoes, oh--wait, I know what he won't eat. Rice. He swears he is "allergic" to rice.
If only he was allergic to dirt.

Jack

Things are going well in Jack world. At least for the time being, his grades are up. This has been a sore spot at the Pinkie house due to Jack's apparent inability to give a rat's toody whether he passes or fails. Since his mom gives a Big 'Ol Rats Toody, you can see where the conflict could occur. Yay merrily, the 3 week progress report showed the grades in question to be up. Here's to hoping they are still up at report card time; however, I am learning that A LOT can happen to Jack's grades overnight. Minute by minute, actually.
In other school news, his GT group is wrapping up their presidential projects this week. Jack chose US Grant, and they have to dress up as the prez they chose and present the project to the 4th grade. Sadly, he will be in DC with DaddyP and Pop when the presentation occurs. He will still get to display his work, and we're planning on him bringing back some goods from DC to share with the other 4th grade GT kids. He'll also miss the field trip that is to follow this project. They're going to the art gallery to view the presidential portrait exhibit and to play at the park. Guess which part Jack is upset about missing?
PDaddy and Jack are still swimming about 3-4 times a week at the Life Center. Jack is up to 46 laps and has quite the following of old folks who gather at that time to do senior citizen water aerobics. He's like a celebrity amongst the elder set. PDaddy said a little old lady asked him for his autograph a few weeks back because one day she thinks Jack will be famous. Of course, that made his day!
He is still sprouting, and after hitting a semi-growth lull this summer, he has just started (and we are frightened by) what appears to be a mammoth growth spurt. He weighs 81 pounds and is 4 ft. 11 and a half inches tall the last time we checked, but every day it seems like he is a bit taller. All of the swimming is really starting to be evident in his body shape as well. The boy is getting a rather broad set of shoulders on him.
Lately he is really into NASCAR, and he follows the races both on television and in the paper, watches every swimming DVD we can find, and is as obsessed with trains as he was when he was three...only now he knows the name, classification, and location of every engine ever built. He is a walking encyclopedia.

And in closing, I'll leave you with one final, jaw dropping tidbit of info. Since 5th grade is a part of middle school in our district, I will officially be the parent of a middle school student when this school year is over. EEK! That means that Jack will be eligible to attend school dances (HEAVENS!), pep rallies (ARGH!), and walk the halls of the campus where I teach. This information may make sense to you guys, but I promise you that it doesn't compute in mommy world. I refuse to believe!

Conversations with Sophy

Mom, I think I need some Motrin. I have a horrible Mibrain.

There is only one problem with my birthday. It's in the wrong month, so I want to move it to a closer month.

When I grow up I'm going to have three jobs: a person who trains cobras to pop out of baskets, a tiger shark trainer, and an ocean diver.

I didn't get in trouble at school toay. Well, only a little.

(To our preacher as she fanned herself with the church bulletin) OH MAN. YOU ARE SUCH A HUNK!

I cried a little bit at school today because someone told me Barack Obama beat John McCain in their race. He must be so fast, and that just isn't even really fair. Maybe John McCain will get to be president anyway and can fire him from the next race.

Fleas really do make cute pets.

Please tell dad to stop waking me up for school. He keeps getting on my nerbs.

(Pinching an inch on her tummy) LOOK AT THESE BROWNIES!

Peacocks are for the birds.

As I sat in the middle of my driveway this afternoon with a can of aerosol spray adhesive and 3 shades of lake blue Martha Stewart super-duper-powder glitter making what I hope resembles peacock feathers for Sophy's Halloween costume (why couldn't she be something marketed at a major chain store?), I heard a gaggle of honkers that made me think we were under attack like the Alfred Hitchcock movie (ok, they were more CAW'ers, but stay with me.) I left my sparkley job in mid-spray to wander around the yard with my hands shielding the sun from my dainty skin. Sam starts jumping up and down and pointing to a V formation, er...gaggle...of Canadian geese heading south. It was a rather impressive sight. I'm very thankful Sophy didn't see them, or she would surely be requesting a last minute costume change o' plans. This mama can't make a Canadian goose costume. That much I know. I'll attempt to post pics of the costume when I finish it. It's actually a simple process, so I shouldn't complain.
While I sprayed and glittered, Sophy was in the garden chasing a very prolific crop of newly hatched butterflies that are in a frenzy of gorging on my late zinnia crop. You would think me a fibber if I told you how many butterflies we counted, and I might even wonder myself because there were so many flitting around that we couldn't be sure we didn't count the same one twice. At one point, I saw a spunky little butterfly chase a fat bumblebee off of a flower and come back to that flower to take a seat. It was pretty neat. There were so many of them that we were swatting at them. It was like a bizarre butterfly swarm, very cool. Still, I would hazard to guess that there at least 25+ (that's a very safe guess) painted ladies in our garden. Sleepy Orange, Southern Dogface, and Painted Ladies are a few of the ones we saw. Sophy thinks she saw a Gulf Fritallary, but I'm thinking not. In our old garden, we often saw Tiger Swallowtails, but we haven't seen any in this yard. I'm not sure what the reason for that is yet. Sophy and I are planning to borrow my daddy's tractor this fall and plow up a large section of our backyard to get the soil ready for a GIANT crop of zinnias (and by GIANT, I mean I think I'm going to sell them along with sunflowers and such), and then we'll see just what types of butters we can attract. Of course, how will I sell what I have to allow caterpillars to eat? Good question, and I'm gonna work that out between now and the time to plant!
Piano Girl just left, and Sam is playing with his new race car set that his Uncle gave him. Jack is watching his Michael Phelps DVD, and Sophy is still in the garden sitting on the bench staring at the flutterbies. I think I'll go attempt to cook supper, and then it's back to the peacock.

Party Hard

We celebrated the upcoming birthday of one red headed little monster last night. The kids were keyed up, Party Central was wild, the cake was sugar-filled, and the go carts were a hit. Does it ever stop sounding trite to say that you can't believe how fast time flies? It was just yesterday that the boy came out of the womb flourescent orange and as mad as hornet. Well, some things haven't changed! I've had to remind him several times that he isn't officially eight until Tuesday morning, but it hasn't convinced him.

Free Tacos

Wouldn't you like to eat some Taco Bell tacos right about now? I would. Tristin, I am still looking for the illustrious photos you requested! Stay tuned!

Typical Tuesday

5:30 a.m. PDaddy & Jack head to the Life Center to swim. This a.m. they both did 32 laps.

6:30 a.m. We're in various stages of showers, baths, waffles, and underwear.

6:55 a.m. I've left the house, or I'm late. Usually the latter.

7:25 a.m. Me and the three arrive at school (on Mondays I have to be there before 7:25. That is just another reason to hate Monday.)

7:45 a.m. I walk (okay, RUN) Sophy to class. Sam trails close behind pretending not to know us. Jack has gone several minutes before with another 4th grader whose mom teaches with me.

7:55 a.m. First bell rings. Stand at my door and greet my first class. 18 sixth grade boys. Not one girl in the bunch. They are awesome! Best class of the day, and that is not sarcasm. I love them!

8:45 a.m. Another bell. 35 minutes of conference period. Notice I didn't pretend like this time off involves me actually being 'free.' Busiest time of the day.

9:34 a.m. Third bell of the day and here come 20 kids that just left PE. The aromas are out of this world.

10:33 a.m. Fourth bell. This time it's 20 slightly less aromatic sixth graders.

11:24 a.m. Fifth bell and 19 seventh graders that make me long for the seventh level of Hell arrive with one purpose in mind. Guess what it is, and I'll give you a hint. It ain't learning. And yes, ain't IS a word in Texas.

1:04 p.m. Sixth bell and oh joy of joys!! it's lunch time. Today's menu: corn dogs. Slurp.

1:31 p.m. The lunch fest is over. Here come 15 seventh graders of which 13 are boys.

2:24 p.m. 20 more. They just keep coming.

3:10 p.m. My children arrive in my classroom. With my other 20 children. Good times. Good times.

3:15 p.m. All but 3 of those children go home.

3:16 p.m. Sprint to the copy room to get in line first for the copy machine, get lesson on board for the next day, clean desk tops, empty trash cans, sweep floor, spray Lysol, grade papers, call parents, make sure my children stay in my classroom and off of the intercom.

3:45 p.m. RUN to the car. We're FREE! We're FREE!!

4:20 p.m. Arrive at home. Start homework X's three. Snacks X's three.

5:00 p.m. Supper

5:30 p.m. Change clothes. Head to gym class.

6:00 p.m. Gym Class

7:15 p.m. Back home. Finish any homework left floating before supper, bath time, snacks.

8:00 p.m. Brush teeth, read, say prayers, get up and down 4 times for peeing and other nonsense. This can last for 10 minutes or 45, depending on Sam.

8:30 p.m. Finally sit down for the first time all day. Tivo! A good book! A Chips Ahoy chocolate chip, coconut cookie. Ahhh.

8:35 p.m. Remember the blue jeans are in the dryer that the boys want to wear. Off to fold laundry.

9:20 p.m. Where was I? Oh yes, the cookie..

10:00 p.m. Soak in boiling hot water for 20 minutes.

10:30 p.m.-midnight: Reading in my bed.

Wake up tomorrow, do it all over!
9:30 p.m.

My child, my dogs, my tea.

I do not believe that my child is going to sleep as was previously agreed upon. Instead, I hear her belting out Disney princess love songs from her bedroom while the 2 dogs are fighting like pit bulls over a rope chew toy at my feet, and the cat is sitting beside me trying to drink my tea. These are the things we do when we're not swallowing dimes at the Pinkie house.
The kids finished their homework in my classroom after school, since we have about 40 minutes of waiting in my classroom for no apparent reason time that we have to kill. It was really cool to have that out of the way.
Once we made it home, I threw some chicken legs and wings wrapped in bacon slices into a baking dish with some pats of butter (yes, I am asking for blocked arteries), sprinkled some spices on, sliced some potatoes, onion and carrots, tossed it all in the baking dish, and wham-o. Some seriously delish supper was served. We had biscuits, a green salad, and fried squash with it. Tasty, I tell you. PDaddy took the boys to scouts tonight, so Sophy and I played Kitty School for about a half hour while we waited for Dancing with the Stars to come on. Oh, I love Warren and Kim, but I don't dare breath such to Sophy as she is totally rooting for Derek and Brooke. Not that she watches the show. She spends each dance number doing the equivalent of the "Walk Like an Egyptian' move across the living room.
Once the guys made it home, we threw them in the shower, read a library book, and heard tale upon tale of the bike races that they had at scouts tonight with a random bout of boomerang throwing which made Jack's life. We then had a tiny snack before hustling the kiddos off to bed.
Sorry to cut this short. It would seem that my tapeworm is malnourished, so I'm off to feed him a bowl of Cookie Crisp. Poor guy.

Now Hear This: Thoughts on the Presidency and Other Things

RECENT PINKIE QUOTES:

Sam, will you vote for me? I'm running for kid president. That will make me be boss of every kid in America, and that means you too. (Sophy)

Hey, what does "kssssshhht, roger." mean? (Sam--referring to CB Lingo..the kissshht is static...I nearly died.)

I wish Michael Phelps could be president. (Jack)

When you fart, does it make you weigh less? (Sam)

Some kid told me to shut up in the cafeteria, and I told him that I was gonna punch him in his chin and make his looes tooth fall out. (Sam)

Mom, I wish you were young. Like really for real young. (Jack)

Egyptians use a special instrument to pull your brain out of your nose to make you a mummy. I really don't like Egyptians. (Sophy)

I wish you would've named me Luminous. (Sophy)

What does, "Grounded 'til you die" mean, Mom? I don't want that to happen to me. (Sam)

(With the last bite of supper in his mouth...) Can I have a snack, Mom? (Jack)

More Hay Ride Photos

Is hayride one word? Or is hay ride two words? These are the questions that keep me up at night.

Sam was showing us how to square dance. Notice the giant chili stain on his shirt? The chili was really good.

Weiner roasting. The snake she is holding goes everywhere with her these days. It's a cobra, and we've frightened our share of little, old ladies at various locales around town.
Sam may not be the Horse Whisperer, but Jack really is.

"The Best Day of My Life!" or The Hayride

Here you have Sophy lovin' her some s'mores while a little fella in the background showers her with hay. Actually, that little fella's name is Hayden. I'm not kidding.

We Ping'd. We Pong'd. But we never really got the rhythm of Ping Pong. That is, all of except Jack. The next Forest Gump. Right there.

In case you were wondering, Sam is NOT the Horse Whisperer. Actually, the horses seemed very spooked by his presence. We can't imagine why.






Sophy told all who would listen tonight that this was the "Best Day of Her Life!" I had to explain to many that we lived a very meager, sheltered existence. In her defense, it was a rather fun night. The weather was perfectly in the low 50's-cool enough for both a bonfire and jackets, and in Sophy's case, a fuzzy scarf. The kids played ping pong and horse shoes, roasted weiners and s'mores, played in the hay, fed the horses, and generally acted like wild hooligans. The home we partied at this evening is quite a jaunt out into the country, and it was nice change of pace and scenery. The kids were exhausted!

PS

And a big, fat, honkin' PS:
I'm getting a new camera tonight!
A big girl camera!
Prepare to be in awe of my photographical abilities!
Or at least pretend!

Slap my mama and call me happy.

How thankful I am for the weekend. The work week went by quickly and was strangely and profusely productive for me, but I will never look the Friday gift horse in the mouth. Oh, yay it's Friday! When you wrangle 120 kids EVERY day. Uh yeah. It's nice to, ya know, not see them sometimes.

I really enjoyed this week at school. My 6th graders finished our bio novel on Helen Keller and all the activities that go with it (like our sign language lessons that are so hilarious to watch), and we wrapped up with the Anne Bancroft-Patty Duke version of the Miracle Worker. I like the newer version as well; however, I absolutely love being able to watch the kids go from the horrified expressions of learning that I expect them to watch a BLACK AND WHITE (GASP!!) movie to seeing them totally enthralled and begging to let them watch it all over again (which can't happen because we have to start our new novel next week!) So we finished our movie today, and oh, there were more than a few weepy sixth graders when it was all said and done.

Interesting Helen Keller factoid. Did you know she introduced the Akita breed of dogs to the United States? The dog was given to her as an official gift of the Japanese government.

I wish we could read Helen's autobiography, Light in My Darkness, but it's a wee bit over the heads of this age group. I made a very strong plea for any and all who would remember to read it as they made their way through the halls of 8th grade or high school, and I have a feeling a few of my girls snatched our library's copies off of the shelf before the day was over. Maybe I say this every year in this blog, but please read it. You'll be glad you did. Of all I've learned about Helen Keller over the years, I think I'm still most impressed with what I've learned about Anne Sullivan. What an amazing life. I don't think I know of anyone else in history who overcame such hardships to touch the world in such a way. Between her gender, her social class, and her handicaps (not many people know that she spent her life almost legally blind and did eventually lose all of her sight), I can't imagine the determination that it took to be who she wanted to be. Amazing. So there you have it class, your mini-lesson for the week!
Well, not only did I wrap up Helen Keller (hahahaa), but I managed to entirely catch myself up on my grading for 6th and 7th grade. Oh my goodness, does that make me feel good! Not to mention I ended today with my lessons ready for next week and the week after! Go me.

The kids are spending the night at my parent's house tonight, so PDaddy and I are going to dinner in Shreveport later when he finishes shooting a Homecoming ceremony. It will be a late meal, but I am starving and will be glad to wait, seeing as how I declined the soybean burger from the cafeteria today. My innards are attempting to eat me for dinner.
Tomorrow we'll be hayriding, and Sunday Sophy has a birthday party to go to.
I better scoot.
Happy Weekend~

It's a Sign of the Dimes (sorry, I couldn't help myself.)

We've actually had no 'sign of the dime,' so we wait. I can only imagine tales (or heads...sorry, again) that Jack has told at school this week about his impending pay day. Oh, it makes my head hurt to imagine.
Moving on.
I made soft tacos for supper with the Mexican trimmings. Pretty tasty, but now I feel like I could drink the Rio Grande dry. Actually, no. Have you ever seen the Rio G? It's nothing you'd want to pass over your lips.

The last 2 weeks have been seriously insane around here. PDaddy has had soccer pics every night for the last 2 weeks, except Saturday/Sundays, and those days have been booked with weddings. This Saturday he has little league football/cheer pics in the a.m., so I guess we'll just chill at the house. I don't really have any plans other than to take the boys to get their hair cut. Saturday night we have a hayride/weiner roast to attend, and Sam is mightily excited about that. I'll be sure and tote the camera along to snap some pics.

We are having quite a rain storm tonight, and I am so thankful. We haven't had any real rain since Ike...and we just had pinecones falling like rain then.

I guess I should be watching the debate tonight, but I just can't stand the smug arrogance. Besides, Samantha Who is Tivo'd and waiting, so I'll be exercising my freedom to use the remote. Yipppeee! Ain't America Great?!

Stop on a dime.

Wait. That title should read, "STOP! DON'T SWALLOW THAT DIME!"
You see, my 10 year old son informed us last night after he had been in bed for some 15 minutes that he had, in fact, swallowed a dime. A quick call to Dr. Uncle revealed that as long as he "wasn't drooling" (Is this what they teach in medical school? Haha! Sign me up!) then he was probably okay. We're just checking his toilet affairs now to be sure that he does make a dime deposit into the toilet. But wouldn't it be cool if we got 2 nickels? We could take that show to Vegas and make LOADS of dimes.

My Noggin Hurts Part Deux

Along with Ter, I also have burning questions.
Oswald - Why is Mrs. Butterfly and Katrina the same size as the Peguin? Quick, somebody call National Geographic.
Wow! Wow! Wubzy - Am I correct that the opening songs indicates that Wubzy is a "HE?" Wow.
Upside Down Show - The girl. Does she look like Miss Jane from the Beverly Hillbillies to you?
The Wonder Pets - Are ducks typically kept in cages? Sure, most classroom pets do not wear capes and travel by Fly Boat. Still. I've wondered. And do ducks eat celery? The turtle walks on his hind legs. He must be learning a lot in that class. Even when my kids are grown, I will still watch the Wonder Pets.
Little Bill - Why is his dad's voice so darned deep? The man sounds like MegaTron. Nevermind the fact that the show went off the air for NO LESS THAN a decade (give or take 4 or 5 years), and when the show returns, Little B. is the same age! I shouldn't complain too much about Little Bill, he has TWO parents after all. And I think we concur that this is a rare occurence in children's television. Don't agree? Name 5.
Jimmy Neutron - Has anyone else noticed that the floor plan of their Neutron home so closely resembles the home of Kevin Arnold in the Wonder Years? In particular, the kitchen.
Lazy Town- Robbie Rotten. He's an adult right? Sophy once commented that he "wasn't really smart, right mom?" And does Stephanie realize that there are 3 humans in Stuffed Puppet World?
Little Bear - He has an Uncle Rusty. Isn't that a strange cartoon name for your uncle who is a bear? Especially when everyone else is called...Mama. Papa. And the snake, No Feet.
Pinky Dinky Doo - Fluffy Buns. I'm sorry. That's just highly inappropriate.
Backyardigans - Have you all noticed how close together the homes in their subdivision are? My goodness. Pablo's parents surely must get tired of stepping into the backyard only to stare straight into Austin's dining room. And I wonder if they have pets....since they're...animals.
Franklin - Why is this turtle so hard-headed? He is forever lying to his parents, sneaking around, not learning his lessons, dodging punishments. He is headed, surely, for some turbulent teenage years.
Yo Gabba Gabba - Parents of the world will surely unite to have this mind numbing, drool inducing, monotony banned from our children's lives. DJ Lance? Yeah. The orange jumpsuit and space helmet says it all. THINK HAPPY THOUGHTS. HAPPY THOUHTS. THINK HAPPY THOUGHTS. HAPPY THOUGHTS. THINK HAPPY THOUGHTS. HAPPY THOUGHTS. THINK HAPPY THOUGHTS. HAPPY THOUGHTS. Oh sorry, but it's sort of hard to forget that song as it is DRILLED into your mind.
Moose A. Moose - I can't get enough of this moose. Who cares if he "Don't Like Candy Corn." I say Moose A. is my kind of guy. I wonder if Zee is his girlfriend?
Jack's Big Music Show - What type of day job must Jack's mom have to constantly be carting him off to Scuba Lessons, Square Dancing Lessons, etc. The poor kid needs a little less structure, I think.
Laurie Berkner - Is it just me, or did she get a boob job? I'm going with yes.

Where is the camera when you need it?

An armadillo just tried to break in to our house.
He was not giving up either.
And he didn't seem to be nearly as afraid as I would've liked.
When he left, he shouted over his shoulder, "I'll be back. And next time, I'm bringing friends. Sucka."
This may be my last post ever.

Oh for Pete's Sake.

Who the heck is Pete anyway? If I knew, I'd punch his lights out. Deep breath. In. Out. Try to remain calm. That's it, old girl. Steady.

((Inhaling)) So, you know my eldest child, Jack? Cute kid. Glasses? Seriously smart? Yeah, that's the one? No, not the red hair. Right. Right. The dark headed one. Got an email from his math teacher today. Mrs. C wanted to let me know that Jack's very first grade for the new six weeks was going to be a ZERO...((dramatic pause for effect inserted here))....because he and his table neighbor had been cheating from one another's test......apparently, without much finesse, I might add. Couple that knowledge with the fact that I find out he is going to have his First Ever C (third letter of the alphabet...yeah, we prefer the first or second and no less around these parts) on his report card for the first six weeks which ended yesterday. Earlier in the week, she notified me that he would have lunch detention and lose his recess for a week for giggling at another student who was having difficulties learning a hard math concept during the class lesson.
What has come over my child?
Is this what happens when a child is golden and lovely for too long?
Fourth grade does not look good on us.
We are not wearing it well.
It's not, thus far, turning out to be my favorite grade.
By a long shot.
I thought these moments came much later....like 8th grade? I teach middle school. I have long-prepared myself for when these moments rear their ugly, pre-adolescent head. Not now, though. Not now! It might help to know that Jack was recently put into the GT program at his school, and he is loving it. He gets pulled out each Friday along with a handful of other kiddos to go work with the GT teacher on different paced lessons that the kids can really sink their teeth into. The GT kids also write the campus newspaper, and he's insanely excited about this. He recently learned that the GT class would be researching the US Presidents, and the president that he selected to research was Ulysses S. Grant. (Side note: I have always loved Ulysses because he looks like my Uncle Gaylon. I bet, if our trees were traced, I'd find that I am a direct descendant of US Grant. Ok, maybe I'm being overly dramatic, but it's working. )Anyway, he is loving GT. He can't wait from Friday to the next to go do his research or whatever it is that they are working on. Wanna know the kicker? You can't stay in GT if you make a grade lower an 80-the second letter of the alphabet. I talked with the school counselor today, and he thinks that maybe it's just an incentive and not something that is a hard core rule. I sure hope so.
This raising big kids is not for the faint of heart, I tell you.

Out of pocket

My aunt has been fighting a horrific battle with pancreatic cancer, and she has reached her limit. Pancreatic cancer takes no prisoners. Oh, how she has suffered. Death will be an end to her suffering, but I feel so sad for her children and grandchildren. She has four children, and her daughter, who is my age and is an RN, is exhausted from the drain of watching her mother die this excruciating death and being her nurse since she was sent home to die a few weeks ago. I can't imagine. My parents are there, and my mom called a few minutes ago. She said that my aunt is losing body temperature, and they feel like the end is very close. I will drive to West Texas for the funeral and come back in one day if possible-whenever the time comes. PDaddy has a slammed calendar this week, so I'll need to be back as soon as possible. Anyway, say a prayer for my Aunt Mary Lou. For her family.

Ghost of Holidays Past

Oh, this time of year totally makes my mind whirl. We're decorating the house for fall. The kids are dreaming of Halloween costumes, neighborhood trick or treating, and our fall festival. All of this has to mean that Christmas isn't so very far away, which means that I need to start getting on my Christmas shopping....although I notoriously wait until the first of December. Because craziness makes me feel alive. Ha.
Since I am trying to come up with Halloween costumes for all 3 of my little goblins, I thought it was only appropriate to have a visit from a Halloween Past photo. The thing that I love about our neighborhood is that it is the perfect trick or treat neighborhood. A family in our neighborhood always hosts a hotdog and hot chocolate gathering in their yard, and then the kids all pile up on a hayride and make the neighborhood rounds that way. Last year I think we skipped the hayride and did our trick or treating in the mule. We typically make costumes out of things we have around. The year prior to this photo, I cut eye holes in a white sheet and away we went to terrorize the neighborhood. In this photo, you see Sam as Mike Rowe of Dirty Jobs fame. Sam's idea, imagine that. Jack is wearing a flight suit that PDaddy's cousin sent him for Christmas the year before, and Sophy is wearing her dress up kitty ears and tail. Like I said, totally thrown together. This year, Sam wants to be a policeman, Jack wants to be Jack Sparrow, and Sophy wants to be a peacock. I think we have enough items around to do the boys up right, and I am going to buy a long sleeved blue leotard on ebay for cheap and hopefully use my mad skillz to make some type of peacock tail, skirt, headgear, etc. Shouldn't be too hard. HAHAHA. Yeah, right. Hehe.

Halloween 2007

Gettin' Their Ghoul On

Remember Fred, our Elf? The kids have been asking when he will be back this year. I'm telling you, this little guy made for a very peaceful December at our house. According to the storybook, Fred is in a different location every morning because he leaves every night to report to Santa on your behavior! Here is the scoop. I think Fred is going to make a cameo in the days ahead. You know, just to shake things up a bit. I need to check the storybook that came with him from the North Pole, but I believe he arrives to stay on the day after Thanksgiving. Cute little guy, ain't he?

Where Sophy explains matters of the universe, oh and Disney Land

While watching the favorite show of the Pinkie3, Funniest Home Videos, a Disney Land commercial came on and tried to convince us that we really did (even though the kids have never expressed an interest-EVER-but the adults would love to go because, well...heck, It's a Small World After All, right?) So anyway, we're eating breakfast for supper, and Sophy gets this entirely too skeptical for a 6 year old expression on her face and says with a roll of her eyes and a shake of her fist into the air, "What a fib! That place IS A FIB!" To which Sam says, "Whaddya talkin' about crazy head?" To which Sophy replies, "Sam. Duh, they're all just people in costumes. Using fake voices. I already told you. The entire place is completely lying!" Oh, I had to laugh. Especially when Sam pauses, searches his brain for a retort and only comes up with, "Oh."
Then later, while I'm tucking her in, she says, "There is life on Mars, mom. Alien kind." Aah, I said. Then she says, "I'm pretty sure there is life in the Twilight Zone too."
True dat. True dat.
I've been there.
I've seen it.

Growth Spurt

While Piano Girl was here & PDaddy and Jack were swimming at the Life Center this afternoon, I decided to do a partial closet cleaning event getting out jeans and sorting through the long-sleeved shirts to see what is on hold for cold weather and what is just too small. Oh how I dread this time of year. I really try to stay on top of the closet situation, and it's a full-time job let me tell you. From weekly laundry to having to weed out things that we have grown out of, to sorting through things that are out of season (and around here we just have one big season,) it's something that I have to stay on top of constantly. I have been putting off The Great Fall Closet Swap where I put up the shorts and short-sleeved shirts away because I know we have at least of month of semi-warm weather; however, for the last week and a half, we have had morning temps in the low 50's which means that my cold-blooded children are already asking for jeans each day to wear with their short-sleeved shirts. I went through my GINORMOUS, plastic clothes bin that holds the boys clothes that are out of season, and Jack did not have one stitch of clothing inside of it that he can wear. Usually there is something, at least, that he can wear for the first few weeks of the new season that is left over from last season. Nope. Not one thing. We tried on and bought a few 12's this weekend, and I think that he will be in 14's (yes, size FOURTEEN) jeans by Christmas. He comes up to my shoulders now. Not only do the jeans not work, all of his size 10 long-sleeved shirts from last season hit him between the elbow and wrist....and not one jacket, sweatshirt, coat, etc. Nice.
Along the same lines, I had to get Sophy several fall, church dresses because her dresses from last year were actually purchased the year before that (I try to buy dresses with a 2 year life to them, since we only wear them to church and a dress a little long is okay) and were looking a little like baby girl dresses. Not that they were too small, mind you. The girl hasn't grown in over a year. She is still in the same size shoe that she started kindergarten in, and I do not think she has grown in height in many, many, many months. Still, her church clothes sort of had a baby look to them, even though they still fit. So we bought some dresses for church that were a bit more fitting in age, and we stocked up on panty hose. The pair that she wore last Sunday were thread bare and had a toe hole. Ha.
Not to be forgotten, Sam is in dire need of shirts. Remember one of the points made during his parent/teacher conference last week about the illegal swing jumping? Feel free to scroll down if you need memory refreshing. While we were at the park yesterday, he asked me if he could show me how awesome he looks while jumping out of his swings. (I would like to note that the outfit in the pic is a Sam Original. The high water jeans. The too tight tucked in shirt. The belt AND buckle. He was in wardrobe heaven.) Because I am on the low end of the learning curve, I agreed to let him demonstrate his awesomeness. In my defense, I truly thought that the chains on the swing at his school were to blame. Maybe they were some evil style designed specifically to yank sleeves out of shirts (seriously, 2 of the 4 ruined over the last 2 weeks had the sleeves REMOVED by the illegal jump.) Anyway, look what I caught on camera. PDaddy was not happy with me, to say the very least! He was like, "You encouraged him to do what we told him specifically not to do?" Well, yeah. When you put it that way, it sounds so much worse than it actually was. Er. Ahem.

Here or not.

Sam's first produce purchase.

What a man.

Fall has made it's way to my dining room.

The kids are playing hide and seek, and I just heard Sophy shout, "Here or not, here I come." Hahaa, close enough.


The Pinkies woke up early this a.m. and headed to breakfast at an old hotel on the square in this here quaint town. It was fairly well a no frills meal, but it was reasonable, and ya know..sometimes you just want eggs and pancakes, ya know? Granny was cooking in the kitchen, and there was no fear of Hepatitis like I get when I eat at IHOP down by the interstate. PDaddy left after that to go take senior portraits, and the kids and I went to Shreveport to Marvin's Gardens for pumpkins. I had hoped to take them to a church in town that has a pumpkin patch each year at this time, but either I missed it or perhaps it's next weekend. I dunno. Either way, we went to Marvins. I love that market. It reminds me of stepping back into a different time. Or place. Or something. My kids, for example, felt the same way because they ran around and acted like absolute monkeys at the zoo. At one point, I felt like Jack Tripper trying to stop an artistically arranged stack of squash from tumbling like Jenga blocks. Sam.


I took the kids to the park at the duck pond, and we made a pit stop at Hobby Lobby. Huge mistake. HUGE! That store is a $trap$. I bought some fall items, and the kids picked up stuff to decorate their pumpkins with. I bought Sophy a silver Christmas tree for her room that was on sale, plus the cashier gave me the sale coupon from the paper. I knew if I waited it would be gone, so I went ahead and got it. We're going to put strands of pink lights on it and pink decorations. Cute, cute. Anywho, where was I? Hobby Lobby. Oh yes, we left HL and headed to Jason's for lunch. When we got home, PDaddy was home, so I left the kids with him and went to the Pottery Tent to look for some other fall stuff for the dining room. PDaddy is gone again to take evening pics somewhere, and the kids are eating grilled cheese and bologna sandwiches. I hear the vacuum calling my name, so I better be off.
((OH!! Guess what! We have a skunk infestation! Honestly, it's like the plagues of Egypt around here. If it's not the gas, it's the electricity, or the internet (drunk driver crashed into the pole down the street from us), or it's the plumbing. Now the animals are turning against us. There is a foxhole, er...a skunkhole in our azelea hedge just outside of our front door that smells amazingly skunky. Not sure what our plan of attack will be, but rest assured, I will document it for posterity.

Fast Forward, Pause, Repeat.

I think the remote of our lives is hung in fast forward mode. I simply do not know what happened this week. For some reason unbeknownst to me, all 3 of my children decided that this was the week that they each would jump off of the deep end at school, so I was then summoned to 3 separate parent conferences in a matter of 3 days. Oh yes, living large in Pinkieville. If I had taken notes from the meetings, it would read this way:
JACK (4 teachers present):
*Needs to be frisked each morning to check pockets for Matchbox cars, airplanes, train magazines, swim medals, scrapbooks, newspapers and DVD's.
*Doesn't listen during the lesson and then doesn't know what to do once the assignment is given.
*Talks, draws, writes, and dreams about swimming instead of working.
*Grades are A's and B's but should be all A's if he applied himself.
*Remind Coach Wilson (who did not attend) that Jack wants to hypnotize him with a 3D HypnoRing in order to have Coach obey his commands/lessen exercising requirements.
SAM (3 teachers present):
*Needs to keep up with his yellow homework folder. Has misplaced it three times in one week.
*Homework isn't always making it back to school the next day. Again, the yellow folder is important.
*Library books must be read and tested on within a couple of days of being checked out. No more keeping the library book for 2 weeks.
*Spelling, sight word, and vocabulary lists need to be studied nightly.
*No more building cities out of items found within his desks.
*Sleeves ripped out of 4 shirts last week due to illegal swing jumping. Please stop or else.
SOPHY (1 teacher)
*Must complete an entire lesson within the alloted time frame, even if it "cracks her spine."
*Can not free lance on art assignments (art teacher was not present, but word was sent). Must complete art assignment as directed with materials supplied by teacher. No more tears.
*Raise your hand if you have a question instead of completing an assignment in whichever manner that suits her.
Well, it was an interesting week to say the least. Sam only forgot his yellow folder twice this week, and Jack only forgot his planner once. Sam's planner (these are mandatory) has yet to be lost. Small favors. Anyway, my evenings are consumed with supper, baths, laundry, gym, piano and oodles of homework and homework checking. After this week, my frain is bried. I would love to pretend like homework doesn't exist.

In the meantime, we are searching for Halloween costumes. I am not sure why I have waited until the last minute to accomplish this, but I think I may get that done tomorrow. PDaddy has tons of work to do from home tomorrow (the last 2 weeks have been school portrait weeks at two schools for him), so we're taking him to breakfast tomorrow in town then he is returning home to his office to work, and the kids and I are going pumpkin hunting, blue jeans and jacket shopping, and possibly to the book store. The kids want to go see Beverly Hills Chihuahua. Maybe so.

As I sit sprawled on the couch with my laptop, PDaddy is at a homecoming game taking photos. Sam and Sophy have built a Lincoln Log city and are now playing engulfed in some pretend world clad only in their undies. It must be nice living in 6 year old land.

Oh, yes. Great news! We got to visit with a plumber again today. Long story and $800 later, we can now flush the master toilet without sewage coming out of the tub drain. I know. We're happy too.

Oh, and unsarcastically good news, all 3 kiddos had teeth cleaning at the dentist today (oh yes, that is a fun trip), and no one had a cavity! THAT is MIRACULOUS! Of course, all 3 currently are as snaggle-toothed as can be. Statistically, I think our tooth to cavity ratio is affected by the gaping holes.

Gee, what else? Hhm. Can't think of anything at this time, but maybe that is because it's 7:45 p.m. and I have yet to eat food today. It sounds like a great idea. I just don't have the energy to do it. Maybe I'll wait until we take PDaddy out for pancakes in the morning...only I don't eat pancakes. Oh, but a greasy sausage and cheese sandwich sounds thoroughly yummy.

Tomorrow my friends. Tomorrow I will make sense. For now, I want to watch the Wonder Pets. It's the Oil From the Oil Can episode.

Conversations with Sophy

• Mommy, did you know that if you throw a potato at someone who is being really mean to you, that is called reciprocating.
• When I grow up, I want to be a Russian astronaut.
• Saturn's rings are actually small pieces of rock that are made of water and ice. They are NOT made of gold.
• I wish I had a pet tarantula. You would like that, wouldn't ya Mom? C'mon, tarantulas can be so very quiet!
• My teacher just completely confuses me so much every day.
• Guess what? Robbie's mom is the PRESIDENT! (Whaddya mean the president? That is George Bush.) No, mom. I mean she is the PRESIDENT of the (in a hushed voice of awe) P.T.O. I wish my mom was the president of the PTO. Then you could be like somebody's boss.
• Cindy is such a cry baby. No, I didn't do anything to her. She cries real good, and we like to hear it....so she cries for us every day at recess.
• My teacher said that I HAVE to wear eyeshadow to school. It's the rules.
• I don't have a boyfriend. I just have a daddy.

My Heroes Have Always Been Those In Underpants.

With regrets to Willie *Pothead*Nelson, but I couldn't resist the title. My heroes, like Willie's, have always been cowboys. Especially ones who look like they aren't trying to be cowboys. Oh, I dunno...maybe my hero looks something like this. Oh wait, he is PW's BIL. Oopps. Hehe. Just kidding. Of course, PDaddy is the only hero in my life. God Bless his sweet, patient, putting-up-with-me-heart.
So, speaking of heroes, I get this call from one of Jack's teachers today.
She says, "Have you seen Jack's GT project hanging in our hall?"
She is giggling.
My heart stops because...well...because I know Jack.
Jack who will surely get beat up one day because he doesn't know that you aren't supposed to tell people that you still sleep with your cuddly, stuffed crocodile at the age of 10.
Jack who hasn't figured out yet that you are supposed to be cool.
She goes on to tell me that the GT kids had to make projects that resembled newspaper articles about themselves. They also had to list who their #1 hero was.
"Do you know who he picked?" she asked.
Wait, lemme take a guess.
His mom?
No.
His daddy?
Good try, but no.
Michael Phelps? (You would think, right?)
No.
Who could it be?
His hero?
Who is Jack's hero?
Whose name is on display in the hallowed halls of 4th grade education?
Yeah, it's Captain Underpants.
Uh-huh.
Captain. Underpants.
Every other kid in the gifted/talented program of fourth grade had listed either mom or dad. How sweet for them.
Can I help it if my son is a Purple Potty People activist? Is it wrong to be concerned with their plight? Oh, maybe he won't win any awards for sentamentality.
No, definitely not that.

I met with Soph's teacher (& Soph) yesterday after school after which we rushed home to get changed for gym class. PDaddy took the kids to gym, and I stayed home and checked Jack's math and language homework, Sam's math, spelling, and reading homework, and Sophy's spelling homework. I had supper ready when the group made it home from gym, and we did a flurry of bath and homework/library book reading and threw everyone in bed. ((After meeting with Sophy's teacher yesterday after school, and Sam's teachers today after school, I can honestly say that I hope my children can get on the straight and narrow when it comes to their classroom issues. Ha. Sophy is doing well, but we're having to fine tune some issues of picking and choosing what she wants to do. Sam, on the other hand, is too busy building cities at his desk with his collection of pencils and block erasers to put his name on his paper, finish his assignments, or even to bring home the appropriate homework assignment and/or library book. )) We came home today and did practice spelling tests times 3, read 3 different library books, checked 3 math worksheets, and studied for 1 science test and 1 social studies test, and practiced capitalizing and punctuating sentences for a language quiz tomorrow. I swear to you I leave school only to come home and have.....well, school. Ha! 3 kiddos in grades 1-4 is quite an adventure in homework alone, but let's not forget the various discipline plans for each grade. I can't tell a warm fuzzy (Sam's homeroom teacher's behavior reward system) from a colored popsicle stick moving to a different pocket (Sophy's teacher's preferred method of class discipline.) At the moment, I'm trying to remember what 4th grade's conduct gimmick is, but I can't remember it for the life of me. See? I sat in a parent conference yesterday and referenced an incident from a totally different child's class, grade, assignment, etc. Oy! What can I say? My brain isn't big enough to keep up with 9 different teachers. NINE!!! Maybe that is why Jack's hero of choice is not his mom. Poor guy had to resort to the defeater of Great Granny Girdle and Boxer Boy. Who can compete with Tippy Tinkletrousers?
Not this mama.