Dear Mom,

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If you don't post on your blog, who is going to ever see your new design?

The new design that I designed for you????

Huh??

Oh, and because everyone loves wedding pictures,

and because you're all creepers,

When the family gets together its always an amazing time! We laugh, we joke, we just enjoy one anothers company.  I love my family!

My Mood Today!

Source: flickr.com via Rhonna on Pinterest

Dearest Katie,

Here is what is happening in our lives recently.  We spend every weekend at dance competitions or watching Megan dance somewhere. Here she is giving me a 'go away mom' smile.

She is totally annoyed because I took pics of everyone in the dressing room. Everyone loved it except her, of course! I got tons of CUTE pictures and they will be awesome for the end of year slide show we will be showing at the banquet. Yes your mom is in charge of that. Thus all the pics at every  competition and practice and any moment I can get a candid shot. (I have some great ones!)

Just before they went out to compete. Aren't they cute?

This was at Chick-Fil-A during lunch.  We laughed and laughed. We were voted the funniest family on the dance team. Guess in pageant terms that means we took home Miss Congeniality award!  :)

More fun at the competition.  Megan just finished the officer routine and was on her way to change costume for the next routine. The officers took home best choreography, costume, and won top honors.
Way to go Megan!

So, I hope you like our pictures. I would have included some of you, but you forgot to send me any recently. I will be looking for those in my email!!  :) 

All my love,

Mom

Mom's a Slacker....

Yep.


It's true.


So I thought I'd help her out with a blog post. :)


Except I have nothing important to say except this: HAPPY APRIL FOOL'S DAY!



Love,
Her favorite daughter,
Who is super awesome,
Katie

Love Old Photos

I love cute little boys with cute little cars. My hubby is trying to escape from his brute of a brother.



"Your breaking my arm!"



I'm so Mean...

I went back to work today after Spring Break (which was so much fun) and one little guy after an hour informed me that:

"My head hurts.  It hasn't hurt all week last week.  It only hurts when I  come to your class because you make me think too much.  Can I go now?"

I'm such a mean teacher.  : )

Happy Birthday Dr. Suess

I have always been a fan of Dr. Suess and love his work.  I have read his books since I was a little girl (and proudly own every book he has ever written-thanks Mom!) and have been enamored with the rythm and creativity he brought into my world.  I often quote lines from his books and many times they are the less famous lines and I am sure people wonder where in the world I came up with that line.

Now that I am working with the first and second graders on a daily basis, this has become my new favorite quote from Dr. Suess:

"Don't  cry because it's over.  Smile because it happened."

If Dr. Suess were alive today, he would be 97 yrs old. 

Happy Birthday Dr. Suess!

Frantic...

Phone calls in the middle of the night are usually bad news.  In fact, the last five phone calls I have received in the middle of the night have happened over the last two years. 

All have been devastating news of a loved one or close friend who has died. 

We just attended a funeral on Thursday.

So as you can imagine I was frantic when my phone rang at midnight.  I could only imagine what the news was and it couldn't be good!

I was afraid to answer the phone. 

I didn't want anyone else to die. 

I like my family and friends.

As I answered the phone the only thing I could hear was crying, panic, and talking a hundred miles a minute. 

It was my oldest daughter who was in a panic!  She was on her way home when this happened...

It may not seem much to you, but in the big scheme of things...

It is a small miracle in our lives...

I am thankful it was the passenger side of the car and not the driver side.  She could have been hurt.  She was only going about 30 mph.  It could have been deadly had she been traveling faster.  The car next to her would have been hit first, but swerved, slammed on their brakes, and then she was hit.

What did this damage to her car you ask?

I asked the exact same question.

The answer I got from my sweet daughter was...

"STUPID DEER!!!"

"It ran away after hitting its skull on my windshield!"

(Note: this is not her car, but another car who hit a deer traveling at a low speed)

I am happy it was not this bad!

She said the deer hit pretty hard and may have a serious head injury.  Funny!

It also left some fur in the headlight.  She won't remove it because she said it is disgusting! 

Guess we will have to have her Uncle come and get it out. 

If you look close you can see it hanging out of the top right of the light. 

I count my blessings again and I do not want any more frantic middle of the night phone calls.  My heart just cannot take them.

Happy Valentine's Day

Roses are red

Violets are blue

We are throwing up

sadly it's true!

Hope you are all having a less dramatic day.

For fun, we are watching it snow outside.

Happy Valentine's Day

Vintage Halloween

 

My girls found this picture of my sister and I at Halloween the other day.  (I am on the right)

They laughed and laughed. 

I think we are cute.

I cannot remember the outfit, but by the looks on our faces, we had the best time!

School’s Cancelled

We just can’t get away from the bad weather.  Another storm has hit North Texas in the form of ice.  We get to stay home today and sip hot cocoa and sit by the fire.  Cities to our north have no power, so as the storm moves south, I hope we do not lose power.  I have become accustomed to heat!  I kinda like it!  It is 15 degrees outside and that translates to cold!

On the bright side we get to stay home and do all those things we have not had time to do lately.

Michala and I have been designing Valentine cards and will spend the afternoon finishing those.  Megan hates design and will spend her afternoon writing her novel. 

As for Tiger….

He will spend his afternoon camped out at the front window growling at the Bunny that has taken refuge in the bushes outside the window.  They have started a ‘stare’ showdown.  So far the Bunny is winning…

Queen for a Day

Yesterday I was queen for the day.   The staff treated me first class all the way. They were courteous, friendly, caring, gentle, and humorous.

You may wonder where I would get such royal treatment?  Well....

 I went to the dentist office.  I broke my tooth (no, it didn't hurt) and had to have it fixed.  The staff was fantastic.  They hooked me up with a new tooth (minus the nitrus oxide) because I am brave.  This fact was told to me by the six year old in the chair next to me who was begging for the nitrus oxide.  He said it 'relaxed' him when he was in the 'mean' dentists chair. 

After my new tooth was in place they whisked me away into the other room into a massage chair.  They left me there to relax and watch a little TV, or read magazines for a few minutes.  Then they came in and cleaned my teeth for me.  They gave me VIP treatment.  No extra charge!  And the bonus....My tooth was under warranty and there was no charge!  Imagine my surprise. 

 I think all dentist offices should have massage chairs (better than nitrus oxide)  and teeth under warranty.  Although if I had the opportunity to be queen for the day again I would probably choose Spa Bella.  They don't numb your face.

Winter Wonderland

It is snowing again at our home.  They are predicting about three inches of snow today.  It is beautiful as it falls from the sky.  We are enjoying it from the comfort of our home.  I know it will shut down the city again, and we will have to shovel the walks and driveway again tomorrow, but for now it is so beautiful to watch.

Our very own Texas winter wonderland.

Home Bound

It still amazes me how a little, or in this case ALOT, of snow can shut down an entire city.  Church was cancelled due to hazardous road conditions. We are enjoying another day at home reading, playing, watching movies, and enjoying one another's company!

Home bound is the place to be this week.  Good food, good times, good company.  Can't ask for more than that this Christmas!

Shovels anyone?

This morning we cannot get out of our home.  We had 8 inches of snow yesterday along with 40 mph winds and a full on blizzard.  The snow drifts are about 4-6 ft depending on where you look outside our home, and when we opened our garage the snow was up to our waists.  We cannot get our back door open at all.  Now that may not sound like alot of snow to some but...

we are not used to the white stuff around here.  We have no warm clothes or snow plows to get rid of the stuff.  Our shovel is rounded at the end and we are laughing.  The news announced they have four snow plows for the entire surrounding area which includes Oklahoma.  Yeah...we are not getting out unless the sun comes out and melts the stuff. 

It's a bit weird to look out of the windows and see so much snow.  It feels like we are in the mountains in Park City or Colorado Springs.  We are glad we have nowhere to go and are enjoying our white Christmas.

Today has been a fun day and we are thankful to be here as a family!  Now if we can just figure out how to get the dog outside....

Snow, birthday, teenager, Christmas

I woke up this morning to this…

The weather man was calling for 4-8 inches of snow.  What a nice surprise.  This is unheard of in Texas!  We woke up the birthday girl and fed her French toast and told her we ordered the snow just for her today! 

She loved it!  This was taken earlier when we only had about two inches of snow.  We now have about six inches and cannot get out of our back door. We Texans have no need for show shovels or snow plows in our neck of the woods, so we will wait for the sun to come out tomorrow and melt all the snow.

Tiger thought he had died and gone to heaven.  He loved it…for about five minutes and then decided he needed to be inside curled up by the fire!

We spent the afternoon watching Christmas movies and playing with the fun birthday gifts.  What a great family day. Good thing I keep fire wood handy for those cold, snowy, Texas days!  : )

  It was fun to induct you into the house of teens today!  Happy Birthday!  We love you!

On my mind...

I am grateful that there were no fatalities and everyone is safe.  I hope the passengers make it to their final destinations.  The crew will probably not make it home for Christmas, but my prayers and thoughts are with their families at this time. 

Fancy Nancy

This is my new favorite book this month. 

I have been giving it as birthday presents to the kids in first grade.  They love it!  (Yes, even the boys)  We all love it!  I have loved Fancy Nancy for years and Jane O’Connor writes them so well. 

Each version is illustrated so lovely and I love the vocabulary.  It reminds me of when Katie was young and would use all those ‘big’ words. 

Even though I have been sick, I have still had to go to work everyday.  Having books as fun as this to read sure makes my job more fun!

Happy Reading!!

PS- Jane O’Connor does not know who I am.  I could kick the bucket tomorrow and she would not care.  (ok, sorry for the drama) but the book is fantastic and I am promoting it even if Jane O’Connor will never know my name. :)

Sick

Been out with  pneumonia all month.  Be back soon.