You can not imagine the absolute pandemonium that ensued in our car tonight as we came upon this rig on the interstate. My boys immediately screamed, KYLE BUSH!! And then they adhered themselves physically to the windows of our vehicle while we stalked this rig down the road for a few miles. The poor, poor driver was a very patient fellow who waved and thumbs up'd us which caused even more of a raucous in the backseat . For the record, DaddyP was hanging out the passenger side window as well, it wasn't just the backseat involved. It was truly a

A Close Encounter of the NASCAR Kind!

Well, it's not a sunrise shot.

So there.

What is the saying about a bird in a bush? Well, whatever. It doesn't say anything about a bird in a shopping cart at Lowes.
My guy!

I won't do it. You can't make me go. Yes, Spring Break '10 is over.

~Back to school we go~

Posing with the new toy,

The Campaign Bus

Pop's Bluebonnets

We celebrated Pop's 67th birthday tonight (a day late.) The kids gave Pop a new Texas flag. No, this isn't Iwo Jima, or even the Alamo...even though Katy looks like she's taking enemy fire.
Can't take them anywhere....

This morning my heart is in ALB with our friends who are saying goodbye to their dad/husband. Makes me very sad we can't be there with you guys, Tris. We've got a lazy Saturday planned and birthday dinner for Pop later tonight, so pics to follow perhaps.

BIRDS, BIRDS, and MORE BIRDS!

Soph, kitty, and I are sitting at the window with our eyeballs feasting on the bird party happening in the sunshine at our fly-through feeder. Today we've spotted: nuthatches, juncoes, black-capped chickadees, titmouses (titmice?), 1 brown thrasher - tricky little guy was in my hedge while I watched the feeder, and 1 summer tanager that is a smart little fellow.

I recently put out a suet feeder with some sort of apple ingredient (purchased at Lowes) that has NOT been a hit. At all. I can't even get the squirrels to eat it. Actually, I hung the suet by the fly-through because it seemed to be quite a squirrel deterrant! I'll be chunking the suet today, since the crowd hasn't been pleased with it. Suet goes bad in warm weather in a matter of days, so in the trash it will be going today! Don't want sick tweeters! Speaking of the fly-through, we'll soon be adding a hopper feeder to our collection. When we first moved in, the previous owners had a hopper feeder that was an absolute hit, but it was smack-dab in the middle of a flower bed. BAD IDEA! WEEDS! So, we dismantled it, since it was fairly hoopty & intend to get another one as soon as we can locate one that we like.

If you do not currently have a bird party happening in your yard, let me encourage you to get one started! This site can offer any basic info you need based on the state in which you live. For beginning bird feeding info, this site has tons of useful tidbits, FAQS, Do's & Dont's, etc.

The birds are busy at the feeder on this cold morning while I watch The Merchant of Venice (Shylock. Tsk, tsk) and drink my hot tea. Sam and Sophy are playing a rowdy game of hangman, and I'm contemplating whether or not I intend to do anything at all the rest of this break. I had initially planned to head to Houston with the kids and Meem/Pop, but it sounds VERY nice to stay home and do nothing for the rest of our break. We've got some trips coming up before school is out, so that will just have to suffice. I don't feel as if I've recovered from my nasties of last weekend enough to brave a road trip alone with three kids. Maybe another time.
I'll be being a Bosom Buddy later this afternoon. After the bosoms, we're heading out for toes and dinner this evening. Better go attempt to make myself look presentable!

Trister and Cister

1980-something

Albuquerque, NM

In Memory of Dave Anderson

Albuquerque, NM

July 27, 1953~March 22, 2010

My SIL has updated her blog with some of her latest baking sensations! Check 'em out! Drrroooool!

Random Bird Photo:

DaddyP snapped this photo in d'town M'town last week during a bridal photo shoot. You've likely never seen a bird like this in East Texas, or didn't know what it was if you did see it. It's a Cedar Waxwing, and it's a beauty!

Global Warming Hard at Work

Walking in her father's footsteps

Our Spring Break turned into a very UnSpring Break this morning. We woke up to a fine powdering of snow on the ground and trees, sigh. Never fear, it's supposed to be back in the 60s tomorrow (although it's super cold & I'm very doubtful), so perhaps we'll get to have some springish fun before it's all over with. We're going to take advantage of the cold snap and hit the theaters this afternoon followed by some Mexican dining! Deeelightful!

(Edited to say: Sam's reading teacher, Miss F, met us at the theater to watch the movie, and the kids LOVED it! All 3 of my kiddos read the DofaWK series, and they had a good time with show! Thanks Miss F!)

We spent our only warm/sunny day for a while in Jefferson. Sadly, our warm/sunny day turned out to be just a warm/sunny morning that turned into cold/rainy/windy/blah. So, we ate lunch while it started to sprinkle. Here are sis and I at Kitt's Cornbread Kitchen and Pie Shop. The sandwiches are made on cornbread and are fairly tasty, I must say. Sis had a bowl of chicken and dumplings that I wanted to steal from her. They were sooo good. I was a good mommy; however, and refrained from stealing my daughter's lunch.
Before it got too cold, we stopped at the park to play. The kids love the park in Jefferson. Here Sam demonstrates his stellar monkey skills. As if we ever doubted them....

Bet you didn't know that Dr. Pepper was good for life! I sure didn't. Of course, I'm more of a Cherry Coke gal, myself.

This Sunrise Tradition is becoming rather obsessive, don't ya think? Still, I coudn't resist this morning. The kids were shouting, "Mom! TAKE A PICTURE OF THE SUN!" Well, shoot. Alright!

The Crazy Train recently blew into town from LBK, and she brought Sar and Ang with her. For some reason, Sar and Ang snapped this photo while CT restrained me on the sofa...hahhaa....or so it appears! I promise I was neither a danger to myself or anyone else, despite how the photo looks! Shortly after this photo was taken, we gathered under a Blue Corn Moon and shook the rain cup which brought about a serious snow storm in the LBK area shortly thereafter. I'm not kidding. Luv you BMuffin!

The kiddies spent this night with Meem and Pop tonight while PDaddy and I met a former student of mine for dinner. C is currently a Senior at Texas Tech and has been stationed with her parents in Alaska for all of the years in-between our visits. We had a great visit, and my camera remained in the car throughout our entire visit. SO SAD! PDaddy was with me for our visit, and so I blame him for my lack of camera remembering. So there!

Ooo-la-la!

I took the kids out for a special, pre-Spring Break supper at Pizza King which has an old, 50's diner theme going. It's the best pizza around, I gotta say. We had a giggle or two. The photo below depicts what I see more often than not these days.
The Simples.

The drive.

(Are you tired of sunrise photos yet?)

Spent the evening interviewing a potential principal candidate, taking Jack to swim, and getting dinner cooked/served, and the group ready to roll in the morning. Thursday includes a field trip with 128 middle schoolers, and Friday is an early release day gearing up for Spring Break!

Jack

Stats:

Age: 11 years (12 in a few months!)

Height: 5'2 (4 inches grown since November)

Weight: 86 pounds (5 pounds LOST since November, and the same weight as Sam!)

Shoe Size: Men's 1o

Favs:

The oldest kid in this family is quickly approaching his last year of non-teenhood. Soon he'll be 12, and I'll feel older than old. He's turned into quite the reader this year. Our campus has a reading competition between the 4 grade levels and the top 5 readers from each grade get to go on an awesome field trip. Jack is currently #1 in 5th grade, and he's working hard to stay in that position. Swimmng is still his first love, and he recently requested a "chlorine air freshener." You've got it bad when you LOVE the smell of chlorine. We're looking forward to another awesome swim season, and he's still faithfully swimming 2-3 days a week. He recently informed us he wanted to be a Texas Longhorn and swim for Longhorn Aquatics. I'm not sure that I can agree to this, but we try very hard to let them all choose their favorite teams, etc. After all, isn't the goal just to get him into college. If he wants to be a Longhorn...well...I've got several years to rectify that in my mind. Then again, maybe he'll choose....somewhere else? haha Next summer, we're planning on a 5 night swim camp at one of 3 major universities in Tx. We're leaning more towards the camp at Longhorn Aquatics. Still some time to decide, but the programs are offered starting Dec1 and are sold out by Jan.1 We'll have to have our game together. He's VERY excited about the idea!

School:

School is going good. 5th grade has been a super tough, academic year, and we'll be very relieved when it's over. Then again, when it's over, he'll be in my grade. I can't quite tell you that I'm prepared to teach my own kid. EEK! The ramifications of this weigh heavily on my mind. First things first, let's just get out of 5th grade first. Sigh.

Sam

Stats:
Age: 9
Height: 4'8
Weight: 86 pounds
Shoe Size: Men's 6
Favs:
My boy loves dirt. Dirt. And more dirt. He's looking VERY forward to the return of football season. Sam will eat anything you put in front of him, but his most favorite meal would consist of baked beans, refried beans, and beef jerky. And hot sauce. And ketchup. He's happiest when he is outside, but lately he's taken to operating his computer and playing computer games. We've had to limit his computer time, and we've had to make sure that all of his computer time is constructive and educational. He's such a sweetie, a monkey, and a bully. Lord help us all!
School:
Did I say Lord help us all? Because we're gonna need it. He's doing much better with his reading, but his grades continue to be a struggle. He's a hard worker, and he means to do well. However, his teachers say that he's frequently daydreaming about building bridges and forts, and he isn't always on task. In short, he's 110% boy, I'm afraid. Luckily, his struggles in school haven't turned him off from formal education altogether, but we're always encouraging and telling him that he can do it. He's a very good math student, and we try to encourage that route in particular. Well, there's always 4th grade, right? Sam wishes 4th grade didn't exist. Speaking of, 4th grade will be his last year of elementary and then off to middle school he goes. How is that POSSIBLE??

Sophy

Stats:
Age: 8
Weight: 55 pounds, still.
Height: 50", still.
Shoe Size: 1.5, yes...still.
Favs:
Since toddlerhood, her favorite meal has been PBJ and green beans, and nothing has changed. She is obsessed with brownies, drawing in her sketch book, gymnastics, cats, Egypt, and gardening. She loves reading ANYTHING she can get her hands on, but her most recent discovery has been Calvin and Hobbes. Every night, Soph and PDaddy assign characters from the Calvin comic strips and act out their specified part. All I can hear from her bedroom are hysteric giggles and guffawing. It's pretty amusing. Her class has been studying about Ireland this month, and she has taken an keen interest in Irish folk music. Apparently they've been listening to it in class, and she's now a walking Irish Encyclopedia. Her teacher taught the class an 'Irish jig.' I wish I had a nickel for everytime I've had to witness the Irish jig. Wow.
School:
2nd grade has been an awesome year for Soph. She has an amazing teacher this year that she adores, and we've been so thankful for her. I've been very appreciative of her teacher's interest in getting Sophy extra things to do to occupy her time and keep her busy when it comes to things she doesn't necessarily need to learn. Her class spent today (St. Patty's day) celebrating in style, and they worked on ratios/fractions with Lucky Charms which made Soph VERY happy. Her favorite school topics thus far have been the ones covered in geometry and multiplication. If I hear one more thing about vertices or what 6X4 equals, I'm liable to scream! On the side, she's taken it upon herself to learn about Arabic customs and beliefs. Yeah, very interesting. Hahha. Her grades have been awesome this year. She's yet to drop below a 95 in any subject and currently has a 101 in math. I really hope her love of math holds out!

Spring Anticipation

Jasmine on the patio

Wild violets under the grill
Plum tree

Japanese Magonolia

Things are starting to sprout and bud in the yard, and I'm loving it! The wysteria! The irises! They are all on the way! I'm dreaming of sun and dirt and air! With any luck, we'll get a dose of all three next week! Fingers and toes are crossed!

Warp Speed, Mr. Scotty!

She's had this under her belt for a while, but she's just now mustering the nerve to pull it off! By the end of her private lesson, she had it going. Very proud of that little girl!

Another On-The-Way-To-School snapshot. Honestly, why does it look like I drive to school at day break? Trick o' the camera, I say.
Sophy delivered The Plan a few evenings ago. The Plan actually ended with a land purchase and a spit sealed handshake. Afterwards, Sophy became the owner of a specified portion of land in our backyard that she has envisioned as her garden. She was intent on buying this land in order to make it her very own, so how could I refuse? Unless it rains, ground breaking will be this weekend.

Baby Feet

Baby Face
Jack and his BFF

Hooray for the return of the camera, right? Were it not for the eventual return of the digicam, you'd miss this totally cute photo of my Honey!
Here we have Thomas staring intently out the window. I'll give you one guess as to what she's staring at.......

Here you have the answer. Birdies. Lots and lots of birdies. I've been doing some reading on what types of feed/seed and feeders attract specific birds, and my new, fly-through feeder is amazing! We're going to have to get a second (or third) fly-through just to accomodate the crowd!

I think this little guy was peeping at me...or maybe peeping at kitty!

A pic of the fly-through (love how the bird is SITTING in the FLY-through) for your viewing pleasure.

THE RETURN OF THE RANDOM SNAPSHOT
or
I FOUND MY CAMERA, WOOHOO!!!

Austin Gr*nd Prix 2010: We saw names to remember..namely a very fast fellow from Brazil. Ceilo...remember that. I'm sure you'll be hearing it again in 2012. In short, we hit Austin-I35 before rush hour. We were in the same building with Olympians! We inhaled lots and lots of chlorine! The Au*tin Gr*nd Prix was righteous! We had a good trip, and the meet was amazing.

Pop. Need I say more? The dude in the tight skivvies is gold medalist, A*ron Piersol. Sorry, all I could get was a shot of his backside. Honest. Your welcome.

Young Mr. Daily posing near the dreaded Texas State Trooper vehicle.

TEXAS SKY

Longhorn Aquatics. Sorry, the facility is too large to take a wall-to-wall shot. Here you see the warm-up pool/diving pool in the background. The two pools in the front are divided by a removable divider that makes it into a 25m pool allowing prelims to be raced at a much faster pace/volume. For example, the free events had 52 heats and about 400 swimmers. During the finals, the barrier is removed, and it becomes, once again, a 50m race.

The Prodigal Camera

Found my camera late last night inside my rain boots (don't look at me like that...yes, inside my rain boots!) YAY!
Getting on the road early tomorrow to head to the Austin Gr*nd Prix with Jack.
And did I mention that I found my camera! Just in the knick of time!

Randomness

1. The Flip has been located...YAY! However, the camera is still missing...BOO!!
2. We're meeting G'ma & G'pa for dinner tomorrow night. If by chance the camera hasn't appeared, I might just have to purchase another. Yes, it will be a purchase of pain and desperation, but I can NOT go to Austin this weekend with Jack, potentially witness Mi*hael Ph*elps swim, and not be able to take his pic! That just can NOT happen!
3. This has been one EXCITING week. Lord have mercy, but where did it go? We started Round 1 of 1,254 rounds of state testing today. Goodness, is it just me, or was it fun? Wait....it wasn't me. AND it wasn't fun. Yeah, now I'm remembering.
4. Found out today that Sophy has 'officially' been recommended for GT testing. Honestly, what was the first clue...that she described a classmate's blue rhinestones as Cerulean Crystalline Formations? Or that she wants to be the president of a South American country, like Brazil so that she can marry a native? Or that she likes wearing a coat to preserve her inner thermal energy? No. It was probably because she makes (and has a collection of) foil gum wrapper cobras and scorpions. Hmmm, I'd really like to be a fly on the wall during the testing. Wonder if you can be too weird to qualify?
5. Looking forward to baby showering and wedding showering and hair cutting in the next couple of weeks. Oh, and The Crazy Train is coming in from Lubbock! Wheeee!! Can't wait to see ya SC2!!! Bwwuuahhahaa~

We, therefore, the delegates with plenary powers of the people of Texas, in solemn convention assembled, appealing to a candid world for the necessities of our condition, do hereby resolve and declare, that our political connection with the Mexican nation has forever ended, and that the people of Texas do now constitute a free, Sovereign, and independent republic, and are fully invested with all the rights and attributes which properly belong to independent nations; and, conscious of the rectitude of our intentions, we fearlessly and confidently commit the issue to the decision of the Supreme arbiter of the destinies of nations.
~Texas Declaration of Independence, March 2, 1836

On March 2, 1836, Texas declared its independence from Mexico and became the Republic of Texas. Life was never the same again, was it? The Texas Declaration of Independence was drafted overnight, in extreme haste, because while it was being written, the Alamo in San Antonio was under seige by Santa Anna's army of Mexico. 5 delegates prepared the document, Childress, Conrad, Gaines, Hardeman, and McKinney. (The Declaration was signed by a number of Texans, and for the record, three Mexicans. One of which, Jose Antonio Navarro, was quite a guy. So dedicated to America was he, that 4 of his sons served in the Confederate Army during the Civil War.) The nation of Texas included parts of New Mexico, Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado, and Wyoming, but was later whittled down to it's current miniscule size. Eventually, we would become the 28th state in this here fine Union, and now, dear people of the United States of America, aren't you glad? Because now. NOW, we offer this to you! You're welcome!

Today

Today I:

• was only 1 minute late to morning duty (doody.)
• spent an hour inhaling chlorine.
• killed another bird with my car.
• still didn't find my Flip or camera.
• watched it rain from sun up 'til sun down.
• ate yet another bowl of Lucky Charms.
• stood on a desk wearing high heels.
• used a copy machine for far longer than I would've liked.
• educated 140, 11 & 12 year olds.
• saw a photo of China's hairiest man.
• had a hankering for fondu.