Lazy Labor Day weekend.....

Just a few random thoughts/musings/happenings....

-My back is still bothering me. It's much better today though. I don't know if that means that it's actually feeling better OR that I'm dealing better with the pain. I don't know what I pulled, but it has to be something pretty deep for it to hurt this long. I plan to do a "light" Body Flow workout this afternoon and see if that loosens me up a little. It just feels like something is tight through my low/mid back. Abs are somewhat sore too. I wish I felt better. This sucks.

-I rearranged the furniture in Maeve's room and was declared "awesome" by both of the girls. It's the little things....

-This damn hurricane is fascinating to me. Weather is fascinating to me. I'm obsessed. I can't turn off the TV. I keep flipping back and forth between the Weather Channel and CNN. Pull up a seat gang because things look like they will get very interesting within the next 48 hours or so. I sincerely hope that these damn forecasters are somewhat correct with where they think this thing is going to go. I'd hate for people to be caught off guard. I just saw the 5 day models of Katrina and Rita and they were waaaaaaaay off. They expected Rita to go into Rockport! Lord!

-Kyra was up at 6am this morning. Um, newsflash kid: IT'S.A.SATURDAY. And then I can't get her up on the days that she has school. WTF? Luckily, she kept quiet in her room and let Maeve and I (she slept with me last night) sleep in till 8:30.

-It's almost September, so you know what that means. The baby waiting officially begins! I can't wait to meet my nephew! He'll be here soon!

-Dogs are driving me batty. They bicker and can't decide whether they want to play/fight, go outside, or sleep. They confuse me. Shoot, I think they confuse themselves. All I know is that by 8pm, they are OUT.

-I really feel for New Orleans. It looks like they'll be on the dirty side of the storm. And if that storm veers a little farther to the east, they are really screwed. Thank God things seem a little bit better organized around there this time around. I've heard that their levees are only a third built right now. That's not good news.

-My dad is so funny. He was talking about Hurricane Claudette that came into Victoria in 2003. He was without power for 9 days. He's freaking out about Gustav right now. Um, dad I don't think you have anything to worry about. He was telling me last night how "our house" has survived the worst of hurricanes....namely Carla and Beulah. He'll always worry though. That's just how he is.

-The first week of school was a total success. Kyra did great. She adores her teacher. Maeve had Open House on Thursday and will start on Tuesday. Her teacher is a sweetheart and I expect her to have a great year as well. Her class and another class are the "big kids" in the building, so they will be eating lunch in the little cafeteria. She's so excited about that.

-I'm ready to get a pedicure. It's been too long. I think I'll go on Tuesday when I finally have some peace and quiet. ;)

My dancing/cheering girls....

And she's off to 2nd grade.....

*sad sigh* She's getting so big. Seems like just yesterday that we were dropping her off for Kindergarten. I always get bluesy around this time....thinking that she's already completed another year of school and has the next to look forward to.

I'm off to snuggle with my little angel who is still mine at home for 2 more years.

I promise that I don't make this stuff up.....

Maeve: "Mommy, can I drive a car?"

*I'm thinking WTF?*

Me: "No Maeve, you have to be MUCH older to drive a car. Even Sissy (Kyra) can't drive a car yet." (Thank God)

Maeve: "But I want to drive a car now! I want to go this way (making arm motions from side to side) and that way."

*By this time I'm shaking head and thinking that I'm totally screwed. I think I'll let her be her daddy's little problem! LOL!*

Movie mania....

I confess that I do not go to the movie theater very often to see a movie. I have enough patience to wait a few months till it comes out on dvd. However, now I have two little girls that see previews on TV and KNOW that a movie is coming out soon.

Kyra is sitting on pins and needles just waiting for this one to come out. We will have to see it within the first week that it's out or else! LOL! Disney got smart and decided to put it out as a movie in theaters after its debut success on TV last summer. I assume that the same thing will happen with this movie. The Jonas Brothers are wildly popular and I just can't see them doing another movie for the small screen only.

My cousin Bri texted me from the movie theater a while back and told me that I *have* to take the kids to see this movie. The previews have been showing on TV too. It comes out on October 3rd. Yeah, I'll be broke from seeing movies in October for sure.

Then there's the movies that *I* want to see. This one is coming out a few weeks earlier than expected. Since I've read the book (actually all 4 books in the series), curiosity will get the best of me and I'll have to go and see it. I'm highly disappointed with the choices of the main characters and have to see if they are any good on the big screen.

The highlight of next year will definitely be this movie. Bring.it.on. My beloved TK plays Gambit in the movie. I've seen the leaked trailer. Awesomeness. Too bad it has been taken down on most sites. But I will definitely keep you posted. ;)

Thoughts on "Back To School".....

So Thursday night, we went up to school to drop off school supplies and meet Kyra's teacher. I already knew her somewhat from working in the library last year on Fridays. Her class was one of 6 that came on Fridays. And guess what? They are going on Fridays this year too and I will help out again! Kyra is so excited!

Kyra will be in 2nd grade, so this is her last year "downhill" with the smaller kiddos. Next year, she'll be "uphill" where the 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders are. I can't believe it. On "Back To School" night, we visited her 1st grade classroom (her 1st grade teacher was out having a baby!) and her Kindergarten classroom too. I just adore the teachers that she had. It seems like yesterday that we were just starting out there. Time flies.

Kyra will ride the bus home again this year. It makes it so much easier on me because I don't have to get out in the afternoons. However, I will pick her up on the first day of school and take her out for ice cream. It's a tradition!

Maeve has her orientation this Thursday and starts the Tuesday after Labor Day. She's so excited too. But I think she's more excited to start dancing. We went to buy shoes and tights today. She could live at the dance studio. She asked when recital is and I said, "Oh it's not till next year. You have to learn your dances first." She started dancing around and told me that she wanted to go on that stage. Oy. She's more passionate about it than Kyra ever was. Kyra is taking cheerleading, but I told her that if she doesn't like it, then we can stop. I don't want to make her do something that she doesn't want to do and I don't want to just be wasting money anyway. So we shall see how that goes.

Kyra is my more artistic child. There is talk about an Art Club at school. I'm just waiting to hear when and where.

Maeve will be in Kindergarten in 2 years. I haven't quite decided what I will do when she's in school, but I think I'll sign up to be a teacher sub and a library sub. That way I can have their schedule and it won't be full-time and I'll still make a little extra money.

I am looking forward to having a schedule again. It'll be crazy for a while, but I'll get used to it. I always do.

How I spent my summer vacation.....

Well, the time has arrived. Summer '08 is no more as of Monday. School starts again. A month ago, I was not.ready.at.all. Now? I think I'm more excited than the kids are. Why? Because they are driving me insane. It's like they decide in advance to completely misbehave during this last week. I don't get it.

So what did we do all summer? Well, one thing we didn't do was take a REAL vacation. It's coming though, people. One day. I'm thinking of renting a condo next summer in Port A. Yeah, if this is gonna happen, then I'd better start making plans NOW.

Things that DID happen this summer:

-Kyra had her 2nd dance recital. While I was completely disappointed with her teacher, the class did ok. I put her with the same teacher this fall, only she's taking cheerleading with her. We'll see how that goes. She's not nearly as excited as Maeve is. Maeve will be in tap, ballet, and gymnastics. And our pocketbook will suffer yet again. *sigh*

-We all went down to Coleto and had a fabulous time on Richard's boat and the jet ski. The kids tubed behind the boat. Shoot, I did too. LOL! Most spent the night by camping out either outside or in the camper. Maeve and I opted to go back to my dad's. I'm glad that we did. That was a tiring weekend, but it was fun.

-Kyra went to Heroes Camp at Hays Hills. She loved it. Next year, I'm definitely putting Maeve in too.

-We attended the St. John Picnic again. Fun, but wet. And my sister STILL owes me for driving my insanely intoxicated BIL home. Kyra and I will NEVER forget some of the hilarious things that we heard that night. Lord.

-We attended my sister and BIL's couples' baby shower in Victoria. That same weekend, I got to hold the new baby of a friend of mine. Babies everywhere!

-We had a family photo session with Marcy in San Marcos on the campus of Texas State. Pics are wonderful. We bought the disk and ordered bigger prints. They are already hanging in our living room. Add in an indoor session at our church for its directory, and we are broke. No more pictures for a while! ;)

-The girls went to the dentist. It was Maeve's first time. She didn't even want me back there with her. I was floored. She LOVED the dentist. Again, I have weird children. They LOVE the doctor and the dentist.

-The girls and I attended LaLa's baby shower in St. John. What a success that was! Had a great time!

-Took the girls swimming several times. We went to the pool in Kyle and Richard and I were SHOCKED when Kyra passed the swim test there. She can swim 1/2 the length of the pool and tread water. WTF? We also went to Hil and Josh's apartment pool. We also got a hot tub. Again, my husband has a spending problem. ;)

-We spent a lot of time checking out books at the library. Kyra read a lot. She has a list of over 30 books. And most of them are chapter books. YAY!

-Speaking of books, I got through all of the Stephenie Meyer books. Yes, the popular Twilight series. I just finished the 4th one, "Breaking Dawn". It was the longest of them all at 756 pages!

-IT RAINED! FINALLY!

-And FNL came back to Austin! Eye candy is here again! Wooooohooooo!

Hope this brings you up to speed. Now we will ease into school schedules again and await baby boy Redman who is due to arrive within the next month!

Somebody remind me why I decided to have a 2nd child...

Right now, I'm really starting to rethink that decision.

It's been a hard week. What shall I call her? A mean child? A strong-willed child? A spirited child?

Call her what you want. But I will say that she's NOT my little angel this week. NOT.AT.ALL.

I really hope that she doesn't act like this at school in a week and a half. *sigh*

I get a kick out of the littlest things....

My 11 year old nephew Jerry just walked in with a t-shirt on that says:

"Homework KILLS trees. Play more video games."

Oy.

I have strange kids....

So I'm sitting here at the computer and they are in my bathroom for a.long.time. I thought that they might be doing each other's hair or something (which isn't unusual on a "good day" when they are nice to each other). Nope. They were doing the hair of their little dollhouse mommy and baby. All I could smell was Febreze. Yep, they sprayed Frebreze in their hair to "wetten" it. Oy. Water would have done the job too. After all, there was a sink RIGHT THERE.

This takes me back to the days when my sister and I used to do our Barbie's hair and dress a TON of them up and play "wedding". We'd even BEG my mom to take pictures of the wedding party and the bride and groom (Barbie and Ken). She did!

We spent hours upon hours playing with Barbies. We had the Barbie Dreamhouse, a car, a jeep, a swimming pool, and two or three little suitcases full of clothes.

It's a shame that Barbie's popularity is now a bit different. My kids watch movies like "Barbie Fairytopia" and "Barbie Mariposa". There are now video games and computer games with Barbie in them. Only I don't think she looks like Barbie at all anymore. She's some computer generated doll that I don't recognize.

I'm really thinking of buying my girls more "true" Barbie stuff so that they can understand the phenomenon a little bit better.

But I have to tackle Maeve's closet first. And that's going to be a big task.

Ugh.

Let's talk Olympics....

Usually I am never really phased by an Olympics, but after watching last night's opening ceremonies, I decided to get hooked. Did you see that? The man was lifted into the air and traced the outside of the stadium above EVERYONE (he made it seem like he was running) and then lit the Olympic cauldron. Awesome. I think it rivals Barcelona as one of the best. Remember in '92 when the archer shot the arrow across the sky and lit it? Very cool.

I just watched the opening round of women's volleyball. Those US girls nearly gave me a heart attack. But they pulled through and won the first two games. So they move on.

I really need to start watching more men's tennis. This guy as well as this guy are HOT! Why didn't someone tell me?

Michael Phelps is a MACHINE. That is all.

Also watched the medal ceremony for ladies' saber fencing earlier. A USA sweep. So awesome seeing three US flags raised!

Kyra and Maeve are really into it too. This is they first Olympics that Kyra might remember. I remember seeing Mary Lou Retton win gold in gymnastics in '84.

Speaking of past Olympics, I sat on Kyra's bed last night and actually remember where all of the games were held dating back to '76. I couldn't believe that I remembered!

I'm actually more crazy over the Winter Olympics. There's just something magical about it. Vancouver 2010! WOOT!

But for right now, I'm enjoying these games. I usually get a little sad when they are all over with.

Wait, there's more.....

What kind of language is this kid speaking?

This morning instead of saying, "I'm thirsty", Maeve said, "My breath needs some juice."

WTF?

Such a clever little kid.....

Because this is sooooo funny!

The other day Maeve burped. I didn't hear it, but noticed a funny look on her face. Then she proudly said, "Mommy, I farted in my mouth!"

OMG. I was pissing in my pants!

I laugh daily. I'm thankful for my kids. Every day is an adventure. Especially with that child.

Oy.