back to school

school started up one month ago today! a lot has happened in this month (which explains why i haven't written much)!


my little one started preschool and she LOVES it! she only goes 2 days a week and she's sad that she can't go on the other days! she loves getting to take her lunchbox and she has made friends in her class (although she can't remember anybody's names yet)! she even takes naps during naptime!! this is the same child who hasn't taken a nap for me in two years! i guess she's just so worn out from all of the fun she's having!



then there's the drama queen! she has started a new school this year. she was going to a small christian school for kindergarten and first grade but they are no longer going to have any higher grade levels so we had to find a new school for her. our housing development got rezoned for a brand new elementary school that was just built so we figured this would be the perfect time to try out the public school system. everyone coming into this new school would be new - the teachers, the students, everyone! she could transition to a different school and not have to be "the new kid".

the first week she started crying and saying that she didn't want to go to school (which is completely out of character for her). she has always loved school! it is so disheartening for me to hear her say everyday "i hate school"! this school is very strict - which i guess you have to be when you have this many students and some of them have never been disciplined!

here are some examples of the other things that have been a "buzz-kill" to her: on the first morning of school, my "precocious one" was asked to make something out of clay. she just made it into a ball because she was nervous and didn't know what else to make. her teacher asked her what it was and she said "it's a circle". to which her teacher replied, "wrong! it's not a circle, it's a sphere!" keep in mind, this is the first hour of school! one of the other second grade teachers has a couple class pets (turtle, gerbil, fish) and when drama queen's class asked when they would get a class pet her teacher answered "there is no pet in this classroom and there never will be". she keeps complaining that they won't let them have fun and told her that you don't go to school just to have fun, you are supposed to be learning but she doesn't get to visit with her friends in other classes before school, at lunch, or after school. the boy that has been sitting next to her has been taking her things, pinching her and scratching her. other kids have said "shut up", "you're stupid", "i don't like black people", "i don't like white people" and even "i'm gonna kick your ass"! i went to the principal this week to talk about all of this and it seems to have helped. she has been moved away from that boy and she has actually come home a couple of times now and said she had a good day!

i really hope that things will keep getting better because i want her to like school! especially since she's only in second grade -- she's got plenty of time to hate school when she's in middle school and high school!

just what i needed...

...a new puppy! i have officially lost my mind! not only do I have more than enough to do taking care of everything to do with this house, tending to my husband and two children and trying to clean up after a gigantic, hairy dog who seems to want to destroy my house but last week I brought home an 8 week old puppy! she is adorable and really sweet and cuddly but she is a puppy which means chewing on anything and everything and peeing in the house! she has narrowed it down to peeing on (mostly) just the tile floor! my girls LOVE her to pieces and even sadie (my huge german shepherd) seems to be enjoying having her around! (which giving sadie a companion was one of the main reasons that we got her.) i guess my kids happiness is more important to me than my sanity!

♥ R.I.P. Uncle Robert ♥

my uncle was diagnosed with anaplastic thyroid cancer two and a half years ago. anaplastic thyroid cancer usually takes its victims within two years and has a less than 10% survival rate. since being diagnosed with this type of cancer he has also been battling cancer in the bones of his legs, cancer in his brain and cancer in his lungs! he has fought all of this harder than i could EVER imagine!

his diagnosis worsened - in fact, he was unable to attend our family reunion in Galveston a few weeks ago because he was in the hospital. the doctors at m.d. anderson in houston told him that they could not do anything more for him so they placed him in hospice care at his home. we were still hoping and praying for a miracle of some kind or at least to have him around for a little longer! unfortunately, he sub came to the cancer yesterday...fortunately he is no longer in pain like he was!

please allow me to reminisce about him for a moment - he was always the "fun uncle" that every kid wants to have (really, he was just a big kid himself)! he was my uncle (and my god father) and every year i went to visit him and my aunt during the summer. he took us to see movies like ghostbusters and howard the duck (which as an adult now i know must have been torture)! actually, i think it just gave him an excuse to see the movies since he didn't have any kids of his own yet! every summer he would teach me how to dive in his pool and by the next summer i would forget and he would teach me again! always patient and always kind!

due to his positive attitude, many prayers and all of the love (that he said he didn't know what he did to deserve) he was able to pull through and "fight the good fight" longer than anyone thought!

AND HE WILL BE GREATLY MISSED!

the return of the flies

i love summer but i cannot stand all of the flies!! i have been killing at least 5 a day - oops, better not tell peta that! president obama killed a fly during an interview last year and peta raised all kinds of hell for "killing a life". give me a freaking break! peta stands for "people for the ethical treatment of animals" and last time i checked flies are insects and not animals! god help us if no one killed flies because we would have even more that we already do and i'm about to go insane with just the ones that we have now!! i would like to know how many people die of insanity in third-world countries - you see all of these poor children in ethiopia with 100 flies buzzing around their face and they just sit there! i would lose my mind!!

boot camp

i just recently finished a fitness boot camp - three days a week for five weeks! it was HARD but i did enjoy it! i love to work out but my biggest problem is that i get into a rut and forget about most of the exercises so i learned a lot of "new moves"! i wasn't trying to lose any weight - i just wanted to tone up a little for bathing suit season! we did measurements before we started and after we finished. i lost 1 pound (which isn't really a big deal because i gain at least that each day from when i wake up until when i go to bed)! but i was shocked that i lost 4% of my body fat...i am now at 15.5% body fat! like i said, i love to workout but i am not one of these people that counts calories or weighs my food - in fact to tell the truth, i pretty much eat crap! if i can't have french fries or my glass of wine then there is no point in living!

well, i am now "conducting" a boot camp in the neighborhood for all of my friends. it is good for me to still be able to workout and they are all "into" it too! one of the girls has already lost 7 pounds and 6.5 inches and another one said that she always hated to workout but now she likes the feeling when her muscles are sore and if she misses the bootcamp she works out on her own! it's nice that i'm able to help them and it is great experience for me since i (one day) would like to get certified to be a personal trainer.

why do you have to get a license to drive a car or go fishing but not to have a kid?

a few weeks ago i was running errands all day. during one of the many stops, i tried to pull into a parking spot but the car next to me was too close to the line so i drove around to find another spot. each time that i tried to pull into a spot the other cars were parked so bad that i couldn't fit (that will be a topic for another blog) so i drove back to that original spot and squeezed my car in. as i was getting out of my car i noticed a child alone in the car next to me (the car that was parked so badly)! i am not the most observant person and i was busy gathering my stuff ...and i almost didn't even notice her, but i thank the Lord that He put me there at that time!

it was over 90 degrees outside and her father had left this 4 year old little girl in the car with the windows up! i went in to the store and immediately told the store clerk and then we went back outside and called 911 and i got the little girl to unlock the door so i could get her out. she also wasn't in a car seat but i guess in this case that was a good thing because she wouldn't have been able to unlock the door if she had been strapped in. she was so hot and was about to throw up! we took her in the store and got her some water while we waited for the police officer.

apparently, the dad of the little girl was going to the DMV and when he parked he realized that his daughter was asleep so he left her in the car with the window (barely) cracked! he had been in there for at least 30 minutes when i saw the little girl. i don't understand how people can be so stupid, ignorant, careless!

my sweet 4 year old baby

everyone talks about the terrible twos but i don't agree! i love it all the way up to four and then they seem to get a mind of their own (and it doesn't agree with my mind)! my sweet little one is not nearly as sweet as she was 2 months ago when she was still three years old! how did this happen?!

she doesn't want to learn to spell or to practce her counting. she gets awfully cranky because she hasn't taken naps in about 2 years (although she could probably still use one). she has absolutely no patience (i don't know where she could have gotten that trait?!). she only wants to learn something if it is HER idea! but yet she can be so sweet! she's considerate (always letting her sister have something of hers) and will sit quietly and color or play with her ella (her favorite stuffed animal) while i am in a meeting.

all in all, she may have gotten more difficult but she is still my sweet baby girl and i love her to pieces!!