Shameless bragging

Ok...It's my blog and I want to, so here it is...my shameless bragging on my little ones. I emailed M's teacher yesterday to tell her that M was being pulled out of school early. B & M went to the health department to get flu shots. They were giving them to state employees and county employees free of charge yesterday. So B got the shot and M got the nasal mist. Harumph! No shot for M...lucky dog! So I get an email back from M's teacher telling me that he will be ready and that he has mastered all his list A words. There are two lists for 1st grade of which they must master the words on that list by sight. Both lists contain 100 words. He mastered list A; now they will start to work on list B. After he masters those words, he will go on to the second grade word list. Way to go, M!

As I was getting ready this morning, I stumbled upon this very rare sight in M's room this morning. I grabbed the first camera available (my cell-which takes horrible pictures) and captured this sight. It just made my heart melt.



M is reading The Lion King to G & W.

W had his 3 yo checkup today. He is now 39" tall and 30.2 lbs--tall and lean as his doctor put it (which he likes). He is above the curve on his skills. I'm not sure if I need to work with him on his colors or not. There were four blocks across the page in this order-yellow, green, blue, red. I pointed to the yellow block and asked him what color it was? Green! was his answer. I pointed to the green block and he responded blue. I pointed to blue...red. I pointed to red...yellow. I think the little turkey knows his colors and is just pulling my leg. We didn't think he knew his ABCs for the longest time and he just wouldn't say them for us. Then one night I heard him singing oh so softly from the backseat "A, B, C." The little turkey knew his ABCs. ARGH!!!! He received two vaccinations-his DTaP and his influenza and he didn't flinch on the DTaP and flinched slightly on the influenza. He didn't cry at all. If it had been M, there would have been hysterics. Just think back to the old black and white no sound movies where you can see the girl wailing and fainting (overly dramatic). That would be my M.

Miss G is now finally walking around between objects. She is still using the couches and such to walk along, but she is full blown toddling now. She was walking through Meme's house on Sunday with her bottle in her mouth drinking her milk. Now, I just need to work to get her off the bottle. Luckily, not one of my children took pacifiers.

So there's my shameless bragging...I must return to reality and work on getting stuff ready for my 1:30 meeting.

My newest find

I know some moms might not like the concept behind this planner, but I ordered it just to give it a try and I LOVE it. Now, I am having to use pencil due to our ever changing crazy schedule but it's meeting my needs. It's the BusyBodyBook.

I ordered it online and it took just a little over a week for it to arrive, but it was well worth it. I must admit, I was a little concerned about the durability, but I was very surprised when I received it. There is a thicker plastic cover that covers the planner itself. I have myself, B, M, W, & G across the top and it makes it easy to see our week all at once. I also love the page that allows me to put my to do check list for the week. I am using the white space to keep track of my week at work so I can refer back to that information for my summary that is sent to management. This planner is my new best friend and like the contact page says, if it were lost, I would be lost without it!

Catching up...OSU...random thoughts...more football...

I'm sorry I haven't had much time to post lately. The work situation is really kicking my hiney right now. Catch up: I do accounting for an oil & gas company. The facility I support is outside of Houston. We sustained damage during Hurricane Ike. We are now on turnaround (scheduled maintenance). My coworker was let go. I'm having to split my numbers between hurricane/turnaround events and normal production. This equals double work. Add a missing coworker's work (which my boss has been really helping with or I would really be dying) and I'm going bonkers.

I have W's pictures up finally! (golf clap) The boy had a blast opening his Country Life toys! He LOVED them. G was very interested in them too! W had a great birthday weekend. He got chocolate chip pancakes from Memaw (mom made me pancakes too...awww!). The kids then got to go to the zoo; Memaw swears she is NEVER doing that by herself again.



and Anywho...how bout them 'Pokes!!! My 'Pokes gave those Burnt Orange Egyptian goobers south of the Red River a run for their money. Even though we didn't come home with the "W", I am extremely proud of those 'Boys!

Here's someone else that is proud of them too.




Saturday, M had another football game. We lost to BA 25-0. Here is a video of the boys warming up last week at home in our game against Skiatook.



We have playoffs this weekend, and the tournament is a one and done. Our boys do great on defense. We just can't seem to get the offense going, so I think we will only be playing on game. Oh, well!

Here are a few pictures we took of the kiddles this weekend. The "Dewey" boys are my nephews.


Ok, back to work...I have reconciliations that I must get finished.

Oh, before I forget, G is really walking between objects now. She's walked as many as 8-10 steps at a time before going back into crawling mode. Go G!

Where are my sunglasses?

I am dying today. I have yet another migraine and I am at work trudging through it...I usually do. I can't see taking off for a headache, but I do realize that I have a substantial reduction in productivity when I am suffering with one of these. However, I have no more vacation days left until my time starts back over in December because I was out with my arm...but that's another story.

So here I am...my headache is now down to a dull ache, but the damage is already done; I'm exhausted; I'm having trouble focusing on numbers (not good when you are an accountant; I'm able to type this as I can type without looking at the keyboard (thanks for making me take keyboarding Mom!) and I only really have to look at the words on the screen minimally.). I'm nauseated...did I mention I was exhausted from the headache? ;)

People that have never really had a migraine just truly do not understand the true meaning of a headache. It's quite debilitating. The one bright spot in my day is that I am leaving work early (even if it is to attend parent-teacher conferences).

Now where are my sunglasses? (and yes, I'm whining, but it's my blog and I'll whine if I want to!)

(I promise to get football pics from last weekend and birthday pics from W's party up soon!)

Happy Birthday W!

Happy Birthday to my little man, W! W is bringing his birthday in with style. Memaw made him chocolate chip pancakes this morning for breakfast, and then M, W, & G all got to go to the zoo today with Memaw. And then to top it off...






He said his first dirty word today. What a way to bring in the new year, eh? The word, of course, used in its proper context was the word for hiney. Oy vey! Well he at least waited until 3 to say it. M's was at 18 months and was the other word for feces. While M's word can be directly attributed to his father and I, W's CAN NOT. I've got my hunches as to who it is....

GRR!

Baby steps and late nights

So, G took her first steps on Saturday. While these weren't the first set of steps, they were the second. She's 11 months today! EEK!



Last night was also a late night. M is home sick from school today. Basil got up with him both times he got sick last night. He's a Memaw's house today; I feel bad because I couldn't take off work with him as I have no more days left to take off since I had to take all my days after my accident, and B couldn't take off either. Oh, well, Memaw's a good stand-in. I'm sure B will be very tired tonight after getting up with him last night and the late football practice. Poor guy! When I called into school for him today, the secretary asked, "Stomach?" to which I replied, "Yes." Guess it's going around.

I called during lunch to check up on him and Memaw said he hadn't gotten sick anymore so that's good news.

Another Pigskin weekend

So we played football again today. Our game was at 9AM, which meant we had to be there at 8 which means we had to get up at 5 to be out the door at 6:30-ick! The good news is that we won - 7 to 0. YES!

Here is a picture of my football boy!



M is now staying over at Memaw's, and we came out to Meme's, where I worked on her computer. She got some virus/spyware on her computer. While we were out there, see what W picked for me (with Meme's help of course).



Now that boy can be a terror, but you just gotta love him.

I think this pretty much sums up my feelings for this week...

Anyone got any Calgon?

Runny yolks

So I work in the oil & gas biz and I support a facility on the gulf coast. We sustained damage during Hurricane Ike and were done for about two weeks, so I only was producing product for about two weeks. I'm having to split numbers between the production period and when we were down which involves a lot of number crunching. It's fun (note sarcasm here). Add to this issue here that my counterpart is no longer with the company, and I've got my workload cut out for me this month and even the next few months.

So I arrived at my mother's house yesterday to pick up W and G. My brother and sister-in-law were there as well to pick up my nephew, J, and my niece, A was there too. My mom comes up to me...
"I was going to ask how it went today, but I can see it in your face."
"Yeah...."
"You look fried!"
"Oh, I'm beyond fried. I'm telling you, the yolks are broken and the yolk is running out."
"That good?"
"Yep."
"So when are they going to start looking for someone?"
"Supposedly pretty quickly, but you know how these things go. It takes forever, and then I'll know about it as the bring the new person onto the floor."

Don't get me wrong. I love my job. I really do. It just seems like when I encounter a challenge, I really get challenged. So bake me a cake of Hurricane Ike and make it a two layer with an upcoming turnaround (down for scheduled maintenance) and then ice it with co-worker has been axed, and it's not as tasty, know what I mean? Oh, well! I do feel bad for co-worker though. Co-worker just bought a new house and this is a really bad time to lose your job. Co-worker will end up on co-worker's feet though...I just know it and will be happier, too, I think.

On a lighter note, my new bed arrives tomorrow, so I am leaving at 3 to meet the delivery guy because B is in T town for training tomorrow. You can't beat cutting out at 3 on a Friday and something new to boot. :)

Finally...pics of the kittens

So we had to acquire a couple of cats since we moved out onto the 30 acres. We figured it would be better to get kittens so we wouldn't have a cat and dog tangle. Hermione seems to taken to the kittens, and for the most part, leaves them alone. So here are a few pics...

Hermione...the loving lab


Jenny...Jenny has a caramel colored nose


Luna...Luna has a white nose


I know these aren't the best quality as they were taken with my camera phone, but hey, it's all I had handy at the time.

Mommy guilt

So here I am closing the books (thankfully I won't be here late tonight...but that's going to make for a LONG Monday) and Miss G is having a rough day at Memaw's. She's cutting her sixth tooth, and she's just not a happy camper. Memaw called at 2:30 today to see how late I was going to be running. I could hear her whimpering in the background. I talked to her over the phone and she called down, but as soon as the phone was taken away, she started getting fussy again. :( Talk about making you feel guilty.

I thought I was done with school??!?!

So, as parents, we spend the first 18 years of our life scrambling to get out of school so that we can either (1) enter the workforce or (2) go to college. If you chose option 2, you then spent those undergraduate years waiting somewhat impatiently for that light at the end of the tunnel where you get that piece of paper called a degree. You either decide you are done with school or, like me, decide to get that Masters degree, which may or may not be of future benefit to you. Finally you are finished and you can actually say, "Yes! No more homework! No more tests!" Then you have children.

M is in the first grade. The child started bringing home homework when he was in Pre-K. The amount has progressed to where he now has reading, math, and spelling Monday - Thursday. And since he is young, that means that B & I now have homework as well. Yes, that's right...as a parent you now have homework AGAIN. It seeps back into your life. You can't escape it. UGH!!!

M must read to us every night, and we have to log his performance into a log sheet that goes back to his teacher the next day. We must guide him through his math homework (notice I said guide as he must answer the questions and we provide assistance and guidance to help him arrive at the correct answer). We then quiz him on his spelling words by having him use them in a sentence, spell them out loud, and have him write them for us on command. By the time we finish homework, eat dinner, take baths, etc., it's now time for bed.

You know, I don't remember having this much homework when I was his age. If I did, I feel for my parents. It's exhausting. Don't get me wrong, I love it that M is reading well above grade level and that he is so smart and intelligent but I am longing for the days where he can do his homework on his own and I can be there to answer questions. However, I'm beginning to believe that day may never truly come until he has went off to college.

On other fronts, my sister-in-law got back to me about the time of my nephews' games. It was just as I feared. We do have a conflict so I have now pushed his party back to a Sunday. So, I fixed the invitations to reflect the new time and sent out the ones that could be sent out via email. I just need to print the ones that I will need to mail and get those ready to go out tomorrow. I can cross that task off my to do list for this month. Now I need to go around and look at John Deere cakes to see where we will buy the cake, because this mom is NOT domestic and doesn't do homemade cakes (although I did bake coookies the other night, but it was with cookie dough I bought through a fundraiser at work). The hardest part will be getting the house clean before the party. UGH! I'm getting tired just thinking about it....

I'm looking for volunteers???

They say it's your birthday...and other random thoughts

Well, it's October 1st which means that the countdown to W's 3rd birthday has begun. We finally settled on a theme!!! Since moving out on to the 30 acres, W has really become fascinated with tractors, trailers, and trains. Ok, the trains probably threw some of you for a loop. W has always been fascinated with construction equipment, so it is no surprise extension that construction equipment also extends to tractors. He is also fascinated with trailers because of the towing of the tractors, ATVs, etc....and this also includes livestock trailers now. His like of trains has really come about because we pass by the power plant on the way in and there is a constant barrage of trains entering the power plant with coal and leaving with...you know, I don't know what they are shipping out. Anyway, this birthday party will not be Superman or Spider-man or Star Wars or Iron-man or whatever is the rage of the moment. We are going with a John Deere theme!

I bought W this toy at Walmart that had a Ford truck like dad's, a trailer like Pepaw's, and a tractor on it since he has been doing so well at potty training. He has to make sure he takes them every morning to Memaw's now. After commenting to B about his excitement over the tractor and such and the shrieking and wailing that occurs if they fall in the floorboard on the way home, we decided we definitely needed to go with farm life or tractors or something similar for his birthday. We landed on John Deere. So...for the relatives...if you are looking for something to get W that he'll love just hit Atwood's and hit the toy aisle there and you won't go wrong.

So I have the invitation ready to go out because I like to get those out on the first, but I'm waiting on my sister-in-law to get back to me on when her two boy's football games are those two days. I may just have to send the invites out and hope they can come. That will completely suck as W just loves those two boys.

Off the birthday subject....

We have the batch of new college recruits starting here at work. My company brings these kids in at the beginning of June and moves them through the company where they go to classes about the different divisions within the company and then they place them into their new positions at the end of September. Well, while my immediate group didn't get one this year directly, we did get a new one into the overall group. I tend to be a step-in-and-help kind of girl, and they were trying to set him up on instant messenger yesterday and it wasn't working. I got him set up, but I had to ask him his birth date for the Yahoo form. He disclosed he was born in 1985. OUCH! Geez, that made me feel OLD! I AM NOT OLD! I'm just inside the dirty thirties, but 1985 hit me hard yesterday. I thought, sheesh, in three more years, these kids are going to be born at the same time I was entering middle school. They won't know the true 80s. I've already ran into this with my younger counterpart here who hasn't seen some of the 80s movies, but good gravy!!! Let me reiterate...I AM NOT OLD!!!!

Well, I am off to the library to see if I can procure a CD for the boys to listen to tonight. (We let the boys' listen to books on CD after lights off...) They've went through all the books on CD in our house at least 3 times and I know they are growing bored with them. I might even pick one up for myself. It's sad when that's the only kind of reading you can fit in.

Friendly reminder

It's October 1st and it's now Breast Cancer Awareness month. Be sure to do your part and fund mammograms by clicking on http://www.thebreastcancersite.com and while you are at it click on the other sites as well-Literacy Site, Hunger Site, Animal Rescue, Hunger, Rainforest, and Child Health. Thanks in advance!