Life Is Sweet . . .

Sometimes a little too sweet!

I'm not sure who the guilty party is who took the pictures. But they are out there, so I might as well share . . .


We had our Fall Festival at school last weekend and (for some reason) I thought that the pie in the face booth would be a better choice than the dunk tank. Looking back it may have not been the wisest decision that I ever made. When all was said and done I had whipped cream in every nook and cranny imaginable. In my ears . . . down my shirt . . . so far up my nose that the rest of the day all I could smell was that nasty sweet smell. I don't know if I will ever eat whipped cream again.

The carnival turned out great, though. We had a big turnout and the kids seemed to have a blast. And I must say that we have some teachers who are real troopers. They volunteered to have pies thrown in their faces and to sit in the dunk tank. Overall, I think it was a real success.

Brad's family also came into town for the weekend. The girls had a great time playing with Nathan and Daniel. And it was nice to get to spend time with Brad's dad, sister, and brother-in-law.

My mom was able to have her chemo treatment today. Her blood count is finally up and, hopefully, we will be able to see her sometime this week. It has been a long two weeks of seclusion and the kids and I are ready for a Mimi visit!

Much Ado About Nothing

Not much has been going on . . . actually, that's not entirely true . . . I guess that a whole lot has been going on, just not much to blog about. I feel like I have been running a race lately, yet somehow, no matter how hard I run, I can't seem to get anywhere. Work has been very busy. It seems like there is no catching up. Which is actually part of the reason that I love my job so much - there is never a dull moment. I actually spent a couple of days this week in Austin serving on a TAKS standards review committee. (For those of you who are non-educators, I'll just say that it was two very LONG and intense days looking at numbers and data to help make a recommendation to the Texas Education Agency as to some changes that need to be made.) It was both frustrating and informative at the same time. I didn't get home until Tuesday night in time to kiss the girls goodnight, unpack, and crash for the night.

Brad is still working crazy shifts. Honestly, I'm not sure when he is coming and going. It seems that as soon as I have it figured out, they change it for the next week. Needless to say, it hasn't helped the craziness of work and me being out of town. It is funny that I had to catch up on a little of what Brad has been up to by reading Matt and Keely's blog. If you are not a regular reader, it is worth checking out. The link is in my list of favorite blogs, and the post is titled "haircuts". It was quite entertaining!

Our school is having a fall festival this Saturday with hayrides, face painting, and even a dunking booth. Somehow I managed to avoid the dunking booth, but was convinced to participate in the pie in the face booth - can't wait! Hopefully there will NOT be pictures for me to post next week. Brad's family is also planning on coming down for a visit this weekend, so it will be crazy around here with all of our house guests and the carnival.

My mom is doing well. She has not been able to have her chemo treatments for the past two weeks, though, because her blood count was too low. Good news - no nausea, bad news - no exposure to germs, which means the rugrats and I are off limits (after all, I am around LOTS of germ carriers all day long). She and my dad were getting a bit of cabin fever this week, though, so they have actually packed up the trailer and gone camping for a few days.

Other than that, I have no real news. Life is good. God continues to amaze us daily as He works in our lives and through the people that he puts us in contact with. I feel blessed. Blessed to be a part of two precious little girls' lives. Blessed to have such an amazing husband who is a super dad and an amazing spiritual leader in our house. Blessed to have friends who have touched my life in so many unexpected ways. Blessed to have a great job that I love where I am able to impact the lives of children and adults in ways that I never expected. Blessed.

The Incredible Edible Car Derby

An exciting thing happens when you are a second grader at our school - The Incredible Edible Car Derby.

Apparently, along with a unit of study over force and motion, second graders are all asked to create a car entirely out of edible items. They are allowed to use any kind of food, toothpicks, skewers, and glue. Everyone brings their cars on the same day and there is a competition to see whose car will travel the furthest when released on a ramp.

When we received the directions a few days ago, I was instantly struck with a brilliant idea. This was the perfect project for Gracie to create with her Paw Paw. It seemed like a perfect bonding experience. Plus, this is right up my dad's alley. After all, he loves to build things and figure out how to make them work(perfectly). So, I dropped her off Wednesday night so that they could work their magic together. Two hours later, when I picked her up, I asked my dad if they had finished. He looked at me like I was crazy and said, "Well no, we have been working on our prototype. She'll have to come back tomorrow so that we can make the final product. I still need to work on the axles to make sure that it drives straight."

The next night, when I picked her up, not only had they perfected the "prototype", they had also decorated it with headlights, taillights, and a driver all made out of candy. My dad explained that he had created his own hub caps by filling a small tube with hot glue, pulling it out, and poking a hole in the center. Then as we were leaving he told me to make sure that I didn't let Gracie eat the lifesaver wheels when she was finished with her race. When I asked why he explained, "Well, because I sprayed them with silicone spray so that they would roll better, of course."

So, the incredible edible derby was today. Gracie's car made it all the way down the ramp and across part of the floor without falling apart, which is better than a lot of the other cars. It was hilarious, though, to see all of the different creations - a gourd with onion halves as wheels (that one smelled up the entire hallway), a chili pepper with limes as wheels, soggy bananas with who knows what as wheels . . .

Gracie didn't win a ribbon, but I think that the experience was a huge success. She had a great time working on a special project with Paw Paw, and she had many compliments on how cute her car turned out.

Thanks, Paw Paw!

A Day at the Lake

Brad, the girls, and I spent the day yesterday at the lake with all of my family. We took the pontoon boat, and at one point the kids were able to get some serious tubing in. Well, serious tubing for my girls . . . probably not too thrilling for some of the seasoned water enthusiasts . . . the pontoon boat is great to fish off of and to casually cruise around the lake in. However, it lacks the "oomph" to really sling anyone around behind it. But, the kids seemed to have fun anyway. Surprisingly, we were actually able to convince Lily to get on for a few minutes. She screamed the entire time, though, and the other kids eventually voted her out.

It was nice to get away for the day. My mom has been pretty sick (nauseous) all week, but she finally felt "normal" again Friday. So, it was great for all of us to get out of town and spend time together relaxing and having fun. Chemo #2 is scheduled for tomorrow. So, we start another round of yucky days . . . pray for my mom.

A Quick Update From a "Single" Mom

I did not sign up to be a single mom. Although I'm sure that a lot of women out there who are single moms didn't expect to be where they are either. Really, I can't complain too badly. My status is only temporary (thank goodness!). But still, this stinks!

Brad is on the sick and annual leave shift for the next three months, which means who knows what days and times they will have him working. This week he is working from 4 to midnight. So, when we leave for school in the morning he's asleep, when we get home from school he's at work, and when he finally gets home from work we are asleep. I think that he is good . . . at least as far as I can tell from the few brief phone conversations that we have had. But here I am . . . a single mom . . . outnumbered . . . and they know it . . .

I had strep throat last week. (Probably from all of the germy little darlings that I get to "bond" with each day.) So I felt pretty rotten for most of the week. But the antibiotics have kicked in and I am good to go now! Which is good since I am a single mom and seem to have some sort of meeting or somewhere to be every day after school. The good news is that as a single mom I don't have to cook a big dinner at night and can go to bed as soon as I get the kids tucked in and asleep. (Which is my plan for tonight.)

My mom started her chemo yesterday. It took most of the day mainly because she had to meet with the doctor and take care of blood work beforehand. So far, so good. She said that she was nauseous most of the night last night, but has been able to sleep today a bit. She will continue to receive treatments once a week for sixteen weeks. One down, fifteen to go!

This Could Be Dangerous!

I have always avoided scrapbooking (kinda like I used to avoid blogging). I figured that it was one of those things that the anal, obsessive side of me would get completely wrapped up in. I knew that it could easily become an expensive and overwhelming hobby, so I remained strong and steered clear of anything "scrapbooky". My family photos (sadly) are stuffed in photo albums, piled in boxes, downloaded onto the computer, or still stuck inside the digital camera. There are no fancy backgrounds or decorative cropped pictures. I have played it safe.

Until tonight.

The girls and Brad are sound asleep and I got bored. In order to avoid housework and laundry, I decided to check out digital scrapbooking. My sister-in-law is actually an avid scrapbooker and she and I have talked a few times about the many on-line options available. So, I thought that I would check it out. I went to scrapblog.com. I didn't spend too much time . . . I just wanted to give it a quick try to see what it could do. The results are below. It's pretty cool considering I only spent about 10 minutes putting it together. It could be dangerous, though . . . I already feel the need to gather up all of our family photos and start organizing them into some creatively designed scrapblog book . . . HELP!

Wii Will, Wii Will Rock You!

Wii (I mean We) may have a new addiction . . . Last night we went to some friends' house to play Rock Band. This was actually our third time to "rock out" - we did it once with a large group of friends and once with the teenage son of some friends, but both times were short jam sessions. Last night we rocked hard . . . for hours . . . and I think that we may be hooked! The poor kids kept coming in asking if it was their turn to play, and we kept sending them away telling them maybe in a few minutes. (Nothing like the adults hogging the video game.)

If you have never played Rock Band, you must. It is ultimate karaoke with a drummer and a guitar player. It is tons of fun! I wish that I had taken a camera to catch the live action to share with you. Oh well, maybe next time!