For the sake of comparison

This is Savannah now, age 12, 7th grade.

This is ME when I was little. (I think I was in Kindergarten in this pic.)
This is Larry when he was a little boy. (on the right with the shadow behind his head that makes him look like he has more of a melon head than he really does...sorry hon, you know it's true)

Who does she look most like? I think Larry & I look like we could be siblings (at least in our kid pics)....so Savannah's a good blend of the 2 of us. Then again, we hear people say ALLLLLL THE TIME that Savannah looks just like one or the other of us. (mostly me) What do you think?

More hair pictures!

Ok, so you remember last night's post about Savannah's new 'do....check out what it looks like after I curled her bangs & did a little curling on the ends. Let's see the before picture again, and then the "new" one.

How cute is that??!!

Thursday Oct 30th

Today was Day 1 (of 2) of my class parties. Instead of calling it a Halloween party or a Fall Fest party or whatever, we have Pizza & Pajama parties. The kids and all of the teachers wear their PJs to school and we have a pizza party at lunchtime. It's great fun. I put my hair in pigtails & probably looked like a dork, but "my" kids loved it. I don't have a pic of my pajamas (but seriously, it wasn't that exciting...red sweatpants & a gray Wrangler T-shirt...which really IS what I sleep in most of the time), but I did get a shot of my hair for the day.

I started out like this.

I quickly realized that getting slapped in the face by braided pigtails all day would NOT be fun, so I changed it...to THIS. (I just unbraided them....ahhh, much better!)

Of course, I had a headache by the end of the day from having my hair pulled up like that all day. But it was worth it. Nothing that a little Tylenol won't cure. :)

After I got the kids picked up from school & Larry came home, it was time for us to all go get our hairs cut. (ha ha...did you get my joke there? Yes, I am a preschool teacher. I laugh at stupid stuff sometimes.) I just needed a trim. Samuel & Sarah, too. But Savannah.....well, I wanted them to do SOMETHING with her hair. I just couldn't get excited about continuing to see my sweet baby girl with such flat, lifeless hair. She's got super thin, fine hair & it just lays flat on her head all the time. I love her just like she is, but I was hoping that the salon lady could give us some ideas on something else to do...a new cut or style? She reminded me that thin, straight hair will always look flat & lifeless when it's longer. It needs to be shorter & layered to have a little body. And so, without further adieu.....

Before (this is her school pic that we just got back yesterday--isn't it great??! It would be the ONE day that her hair was fluffed up a little bit & not laying totally flat on her head.):

And AFTER:

Of course, in this pic, it hadn't been styled or curled or really done anything with....but we'll get there. She wasn't truly this GIDDY about the pic, but she had just made a series of silly faces & this was the first one I snapped after she'd made a semi normal face for me. Silly goose!

And hey...I keep forgetting to show you. Instead of carving the pumpkin this year, we bought a $3 kit from Walmart that works like a Mr. Potatohead. It has a bunch of pieces that you poke into the pumpkin to change out the face & features. Right now, we have a puppy. We had a pig last week. How cute is this??

Tomorrow evening we will go to the church's Halloween carnival (err...Family Fun Fest). I'll be sure to post pictures of my little policeman & slumber party girls!

Pediatric allergist/immunology specialist

In 1997 when Larry & I moved back to the area & began visiting churches, we met a sweet couple, Paul & Elizabeth S. at our new church. They were in our Sunday School class & became friends of ours. Over the course of the 7 years that we were at Bethel Bible Church, we stayed in touch with Paul & Elizabeth, even though we were not always in the same classes. It was just a few years before we left the church (when Larry went into full time ministry at another local church) that we began to need Paul's expertise. You see, Paul is a pediatric allergist & immunologist.

When Sarah was a year old, she had pneumonia. Her respiratory & allergy-related health went downhill from there. By the time she was 2, we knew she had asthma and some mild allergies. And so, we made a call to Paul & got into his office to do allergy testing. Sarah's allergies & asthma are both very mild. She's like her mama & grandmother... changes in the weather are the biggest source of grief for her where allergies are concerned. And even now, with her being 4 months shy of turning 8, we still don't really know what triggers her asthma. In all the years of asthma attacks, she's never had one during the light of day. They ALWAYS begin in the middle of the night. They may roll over into the next day, but whatever triggered her always starts during the night. {It isn't her bedding, stuffed animals, etc because she's swapped beds a few times, has had multiple sets of bedding and she swaps out stuffed animals every few months...so who knows!}

Today was our annual check up w/ Dr. Paul. {Note: We don't call him Dr. Paul in the office...I'm just using his first name here for his privacy's sake.} He came in & talked to all of us for a while, joked about Halloween costumes with his nurse and generally shot the breeze. It's always nice to visit w/ him because we don't feel like we're in a DOCTOR's office. It just so happens that a good friend of ours is a doctor. Ya know? Anyway, we visited for a while, then moved onto the real reason we were there. He did an exam of Sarah, asked us lots of questions about her asthma & allergies and gave her a thumbs-up for the year. After a quick flu shot (which I'm praying wasn't a mistake....we've NEVER given her one before), we were out of there with an appointment to come back in a year.

Here's hoping that this coming years is as good as the past year. She had croup in March and has had only 1 or (maybe?) 2 asthma attacks all year. Yahoo! Way to go immune system & good drugs! :)

Another "interesting" Samuel story

Last night, we had another interesting/funny thing happen with Samuel. I'll just copy the email I sent to his best buddy's mom.

Just wanted to give you a heads up so you & your hubby won't have a
heart attack like we did tonight. (I'm copying this to Mrs. T--- because I
figured she'd get a kick out of it too...after the shock wears
off.)

The girls & I were eating supper and Larry was in our
bathroom. Samuel went to the bathroom door & asked Larry "Is smoking
weed bad?" Larry said yes. Samuel said "well...I was smoking weed at
school today. I didn't know it was bad." Larry said he very quickly
finished what he was doing in the bathroom & came running out to ask Samuel
who he was smoking weed with. Samuel told him several boys had done
it, so he joined them. As the panic set in, Larry realized it would be
best to ask a few questions.

Larry asked where he got the "weed"
& what he did with it. Samuel said "you know those things that we have
in the yard when you haven't mowed...they come up & then look like this on
the end (he made a #2 with his fingers)? Well, we pulled them up & put
them in our mouths."

(at this point, Larry said he realized that
Samuel was talking about a weed, not "weed"....but he continued & asked
some more questions)

Larry asked "did you light the weed on
fire?"

Samuel acted completely dumbfounded & said
NO!

He asked him "so what did you do with the weed when you were
done?"

Samuel said "I spit it out because it tasted
bad!".

Larry used this as a teachable moment & explained that
Samuel had not "smoked weed" but "sucked on a piece of grass". I guess
someone must have a big brother/sister who's used the term "smoking weed" &
they repeated it on the playground. :::sigh::: Thank goodness this
was not a case of REAL "weed" being introduced to 3rd graders. And during
RED RIBBON WEEK, no less!!!! ha ha!

His teacher wrote back & said she felt sure that this came out of his mouth because they watched a video about drugs in school yesterday. She & the school counselor got a kick out of this. Don't ya just love the innocence of it all?!

Samuel's silly

Of course, I already knew that, but I am reminded frequently.

Just now, he was standing beside me bouncing up & down, fidgetting & generally being hyper. I asked him to stand still.

He said "I can't. I'm naturally move-y."

ha ha! He's a nut.

myspace vs. facebook

Shortly after Larry went into full time ministry at our church, a couple of the staff & their wives created myspace accounts primarily to check on some of the youth kids' sites. We were concerned about the content of their websites. I wasn't sure who these kids were since I was still new to the church, but I was trying to be a helpful pastor's wife, so I did my duty--checked out their pages & then forgot all about the account I had created. Fast forward about a year. One of the ladies in the singles group (Larry was the singles pastor at the time) emailed me & encouraged me to add to my myspace profile. She was getting into myspace & thought it would be fun for me. I went back & added a picture, changed the background color and that was about it. I was on dial up at the time & it was soooo slow that I didn't want to mess with doing much else. But I did enjoy playing around with myspace. I located & reconnected with some old friends from high school and from places we've lived over the years. Over the next 2 years, I became quite fond of myspace, posting pictures & cross-posting some of my blog entries there.

Earlier this year, we had some computer trouble that all seemed to stem from myspace. I brushed it off & prayed that wasn't the case because I was really enjoying myspace. But by late summer when the computer crashed, I was pretty sure I knew what had happened. Eleven viruses were removed from the computer. Yuck. Thankfully the computer guy we had fix it was able to restore everything & we didn't lose anything. After getting the computer back, I tried to access myspace & immediately, I started having the SAME issues we'd had before. Ugh. And so....I very sadly gave up myspace. And wouldn't ya know it? The problems we had w/ the computer IMMEDIATELY stopped when I quit visiting myspace. Everything has run perfectly ever since! I don't know if it was virus stuff or spyware or what, but whatever the case, our computer & myspace aren't compatible.

When I left myspace, I knew that I'd switch over to facebook. From what I can see, it's the "grown up" version of myspace. You can still post pictures & do many of the same things you can do on myspace, but in a more streamlined way without so much glitter & neon pink flashing lights. ha!

Social networking sites aren't for everyone, but I really enjoy it. If you have a facebook page & we haven't connected there yet, look me up!

Fri & Sat Oct 24-25

Sarah has had 2 incredible nights this weekend. Indulge me the oppurtunity to share...

In August of 2007, a little girl named Alyssa joined my class at school. She was born with severe clubfeet. She had already had 2 surgeries when she came to me & was scheduled for a 3rd (& final) one in Jan. 08. We talked about it leading up to the surgery and how Alyssa would be in casts when she came back to school after surgery. Her surgery was mid-January and she was out of school for almost a month recovering & trying to figure out how to function in casts that went up to the tops of her thighs. They were bent at the knees, so she couldn't walk at all, so she came back to school in a wheelchair. I had to carry her to the potty and let me tell ya, 2 casts are heavy when they're connected to a squirmy, giggly 30 lb preschooler! ha ha! Before she came back to school, I went over & hung out at her house one evening and took her presents from the kids in our class and just played & reminded her that we missed her at school. She came back for the Valentine's Day party & then slowly eased back into school after that. Basically from mid January til late April, she was in a cast or brace of some sort til she was finally out of them altogether. She is the spunkiest, most fun little lady who is super brave & full of life & sillyness 24/7! :) Sarah & Samuel went to school w/ me on the day that my class had our Easter party. Their school was out for some reason that day, so they just came w/ me. Sarah really got attached to Alyssa. At that point, she was still very slow to walk because she was in braces, so when we went out to hunt eggs, Sarah held her hand & walked around with her helping her find the eggs. (Soooooooooo sweet!)

So last night was Alyssa's 4th birthday party & we got invited! She still comes by my room every Tues/Thurs when she's in school to hug me & say Hello, so I was thrilled to get her party invitation. Her parents went NUTS with this party and everyone had so much fun! It was a cowboy/cowgirl theme.

This is Sarah with Alyssa. Check out those super-straight legs!!!!


A few days ago, Sarah lamented the fact that she'd never ridden a horse or pony. We tried to convince her that she had ridden one (she really has!!), but she couldn't remember any rides, so we finally gave into her pleas that she's a poor Texan child who's never been on a horse or pony. When we got to Alyssa's party last night, she was thrilled to see PONIES in their front yard!!! She rode one almost immediately. And then did it again. And again. There were 2 ponies and I know she had to have ridden each one at least 3 times. She loved it!

After the pony rides & a hot dog cooked over the "campfire", it started getting dark, so it was time for a hayride! They took several trips around the block. The first time, Sarah went alone and seemed perfectly content to ride with a bunch of strangers. The second time around, some of the adults got off & I joined them. Look at the grin on her face. This was taken before the first trip around the block in the hay trailer. She was having a blast!

All in all, we had a great time celebrating Alyssa's 4th birthday with her. It was such a treat to be invited & involved with one of my student's birthdays. And it doesn't hurt that her mom & I could totally hang out and have fun together. We're cut from the same cloth....even if hers is a little more silk & mine is cotton knit. ha ha!

Tonight brought another exciting thing for Sarah. A few weeks ago, she brought home a flyer about a volleyball clinic for elementary girls from school. It is taught by the high school volleyball girls & their coaches. The flyer promised that the little girls would make a Tshirt, have snacks, learn some volleyball basics and they would be given a ticket to this coming week's volleyball game. She wanted to go. And so, we called & registered her. Tonight was the clinic.

She was excited about going, but a little nervous when it came time to go. She got dressed, ate a quick supper and was ready to go when I saw the first tears. She was anxious about it & her nerves got the best of her. We talked, we hugged, we giggled...and she was ready to go for it.

We got in the car, drove 1/2 a mile to the high school and as she stepped out of the van, she spotted another little girl wearing sweatpants. Round two of the tears emerged.

Sarah: (tearfully) She's wearing pants. I'm wearing shorts. I'm going to be the only one wearing shorts.

Me: Honey, I'm sure there will be other people wearing shorts. In fact, that girl will probably be really hot before the night's over. She might be the only one in pants. Don't worry about it. Come on...

Sarah: (still wiping her eyes) But what if I'm the only one wearing shorts? Everyone's going to think I look stupid.

Me: No...no one is going to think that. They're all going to be wearing shorts. It's that girl in pants who is going to look funny. Do you still want to go? If you want to go home, we can.

Sarah: No, I want to go. But wait...let me stop crying first.

Me: Ok. (hug) {pause} Alright...ready to go?

We walked about halfway up the sidewalk & the tears started again.

Sarah: wait....I'm still crying.

Me: Ok. What's wrong?

Sarah: I don't know. Just give me a minute. I'll go in when I stop crying.

Me: Ok. (hug again...said a quick prayer over her in a whispered voice so she could hear me but no one else walking by could) Ready?

Sarah: I think so.

We got to the doorway & as she looked in, the tears flowed again.

Sarah: I don't know any of those girls.

Me: I'm sure there are other 2nd graders who already checked in. Let's go see.

Sarah: Wait. I don't want them to see me crying.

Me: Ok. (I turned where I'd sort of 'block' her from everyone's view & hugged her til she got done.) Ready now?

Sarah: Yes.

We approached a table to register & while handing them her release form, I asked if they could tell us what other 2nd graders had already checked in. They named 1 but Sarah didn't know her. They waved toward the gym & said "oh well, there are a LOT of 2nd graders in there already. I'm sure you'll know someone." At this point, a freshman volleyball girl approached us to take Sarah to the gym. Sarah was a ball of nerves & wasn't sure she wanted to do that alone, so I walked with her. Halfway down the hall, she was so anxious that she started crying again. I stopped & got down on her level and asked if she was sure she wanted to stay. Everytime I asked that, she'd declare that YES, she wanted to stay...but she was having such a hard time just walking in that I was really worried she'd freak out when I left. Poor baby. We had to stop twice going down the hall to the gym for extra hugs & to wipe tears.

We finally made it into the gym. The girl who had escorted us to the gym pointed out the area where "all" the 2nd graders were sitting. Umm, there were 5 of them. I don't really classify five as "a lot". When Sarah realized that she didn't know ANY of them, she began to cry again. I asked again if she wanted to go home & forget all of this, but again she insisted that she wanted to stay....she just needed a few minutes to get comfortable. So rather than walking up into the bleachers w/ the other 2nd grade girls, we sat on the front row at the bottom of the bleachers for a little while. The varsity girls' team was doing a little demonstration of skills on the gym floor, so we watched them for a while. Sarah enjoyed watching & was excited about learning how to do the things the 'big girls' were doing. Every time she'd be calm & seem comfortable I would ask if she was ready to go join the other 2nd grade girls. Each time, I was met with more tears. She understood that all the tears were unnecessary, but she was having such a hard time shutting them off & she was embarassed and didn't want anyone to see her crying, so she kept hanging onto me to "cover" her til she felt better. A couple of times she even looked at me & said "Ok, tickle me til I smile." ha ha! I'd tickle her & make her giggle, but the tears kept flowing when she'd stop laughing.

Several times, one of the volleyball players or a coach came over & talked to her, trying to convince her that everything would be OK, but it almost made the situation worse because then someone would SEE HER crying & that embarassed her, so when they'd walk away, she'd start crying again. ugh...vicious cycle. Everyone was really sweet, encouraging her about how much fun she was going to have.

Finally, one of the high school girls named Sylvia appealed to Sarah and she was able to convince her to hold her hand & go with her up into the bleachers with the other 2nd grade girls. She promised to sit with her and be her buddy for the night. Sarah turned to give me one last hug & walked up the bleachers w/ Sylvia. As we hugged, I whispered Phillipians 4:13 into her ear "You can do all things through Christ who gives you strength." I told her that if she got scared or something, to tell the girls and they could call us to come get her. I wanted her to know that there was a way out of this if she got scared & didn't want to stay. :::sniff, sniff::: I almost cried myself as I walked away. When I got to the door, across the gym from her, I turned to make sure she was OK one last time. Sylvia was sitting next to her with her arm around her shoulders talking to her & Sarah was smiling. :::sigh...relief:::

The clinic wasn't over til 9:30pm!! Sarah's usually in bed by 8-8:30, so she was really living large tonight! I went back to the gym at about 9:15 to watch her during the final few minutes of the clinic. She was standing in a circle with the other 2nd graders & the volleyball team members who'd been assigned to their group, bumping the ball back & forth around the circle. She was smiling & having fun. I knew she would. (She's on the far right in purple shorts.)

She just had to get into the event before she relaxed enough to enjoy it. She spotted me & smiled and even gave me that look that says "oh man...I didn't know it was already time to go!" ha ha! To close the evening, the girls formed a spirit line & let all the elementary girls run through it. She looked so cute running through the line of the "big girls" & coming out the end grinning!

Part of their treat for tonight was getting a pass to the Tuesday night game. Larry will take her and the other 2 kids that night while I go to a work staff meeting. I hate to miss it, but she will only wear her Tshirt & run through that same spirit line, so I've seen what she's going to do already.

It took some work to get her through the night, and she did tell me that she cried again partway through the night when she missed the ball one time. Her buddy, Sylvia, reassured her that people miss the ball all the time & it was no big deal. (Whew! Thanks, Sylvia!!!) When all was said & done, she had a ball and even asked if she could play volleyball in junior high & high school! Of course you can, baby girl!! I'm so proud of you for making it through tonight!!

Dolores update

I got this email this morning.

So sorrry, but you aren't the Liz Reeves I know. I
guess she changed her email address, or I missed a letter or something.
Its amazing that you actually live in Texas as vast as the internet is. I
live in Beaumont, Texas.
Sorry to bother you.
Dolores --------

I find it hard to believe that another Liz Reeves (who is also from Texas, no less) has an email address similar enough to mine that someone could miss 1 letter and think they were sending it to the right person. I mean really...what are the odds in a state as huge as Texas!? And why was my email in her address book anyway? I've had this email address for about 10 years now, so the whole thing is weird weird weird.

Oh well. The world is weird, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised.

I've got the sweetest baby ever!

A couple of weeks ago, Sarah got in the van after school telling me about something she'd made that day. Apparently her teacher pointed out how sweet it was & told her to tell me about it. Today she got to bring home the sweet artwork & I was reminded again of how precious & tender my sweet daughter's little heart is!

The project was to draw a picture & write a sentence about "if I could travel anywhere...". I think you can click each of these pictures to get a bigger one, but just in case it doesn't work, I'm including a caption under each picture that says what she wrote.

"If I could travel anywhere" (with her name written in the middle so that it looks like it says 'if I could Sarah travel anywhere'...tee hee)

"If I could travel to a new place, I would travel to all of the hospitals and pray with the people in the hospitals. 10-13-08 Sarah"

How sweet is it that my 2nd grader would come up with this all by herself?

God has got big plans for this little lady, I guarantee it!

Who is Dolores?

Yesterday I got a forwarded email from someone about looking for a piano for their school. I didn't recognize the person's name or email address, but the headers were intact, so I scrolled through trying to see if I recognized any of the other people who'd gotten the email. I started to delete the whole thing & just forget it. After all, that would make sense, right? Instead, I decided to ask the sender how we know each other. I explained that I didn't recognize their name/address. This morning, I got this email in reply. (I've deleted the person's last name to protect them.)

I'm hoping this will help, we worked together for years. I taught 4 year
old children at Wheatley, but now I work at Dowling. Have you guessed it
yet?

It's Dolores ---------. I miss you guys, I forwarded the
piano email to everyone in my address book, and you were one of the lucky
ones. Let me know if you hear anything.
Hugs,
dolores

Of course, now I want to know who in the world this person is!!! I have no idea what Wheatley or Dowling are. I wrote back & said as much and even included a picture of myself & said "do you know this person?". ha ha!

So, umm.....if any of you have a nickname (like Dolores, maybe?), please fill me in!

P.S. How do you like the new colors? I went & Halloweened-up the blog with colors & music. Yep...I'm festive like that.

Early Voting

Monday night, a friend of mine posted on Facebook that she'd early voted. I had forgotten that it was even an option, so I asked her for the location & looked it up to make sure I could vote there as well. Sure enough, it was the location for me, too. And it's on the way home from work for me, so I could stop by & place my vote. Sure enough, I did it on Tuesday afternoon. I got in & out within 20 minutes. Boy am I glad to be done with that now. I was trying to avoid the huge crowds on election day!

Now, I'm not one to express my political views loudly & I don't want anyone to feel like they must agree with me in voting. And so, I won't mention who I voted for.

You know, voting is a right that we have in our country that everyone should practice! Far be it from me to suggest a candidate or try to sway your opinion in any way.

Have a great day & don't forget, election day is only a couple of weeks away!

It's almost my birthday....

Last year for my birthday, I posted 32 facts about me, so I've begun working on my list for this year! I'll be turning 33 on Nov. 9th, so watch for 33 new facts about me then!

Until that time, feel free to mail your gifts & cash to ..... ha ha! Just kidding!

Seriously, earlier this year, a friend of mine (Hi Kathy J!) emailed me about joining a 'birthday club'. I was intrigued by the idea. She explained how it worked and I couldn't resist joining. There are about 8 or 9 ladies who are members. Their birthdays are spread out over the calendar year. Each of them has filled out a little "about me" survey type of thing including facts about their favorite things. Each month, the group's moderator sends out a message reminding us that there is a birthday coming up. She posts the birthday girl's survey & address and gives everyone enough notice to ship a gift in time for their special day. It can be as simple as a card, a pack of their favorite gum, a kitchen towel, a $5 walmart gift card or whatever. It's been so much fun! And now it's just about time for the birthday gifts to start arriving on my doorstep! I can't wait to see what sort of goodies I get! When they arrive, I'll make sure & share about them!

I talked to some of my friends a few months ago about forming our own birthday club this coming year. I've had a few who were interested, so I think I may host a birthday club in 2009. If you want to join in, email me for details!

Sunday morning, Oct. 19

This morning our church held its annual Missions Sunday. This is the day when we get to see a presentation of who all our church supports around the world...missionaries, ministries, church plants, etc. It was a really awesome time. In the years that Larry & I have been at Rose Heights (www.roseheights.org) I've always enjoyed the Missions service.

It began with a song (sorry, David...I can't remember the title) about mission work...going into all the world to tell the gospel....you get the idea. It was a moving song with swelling music & poignant lyrics. As the soloist was joined by the choir, Savannah and I along with about 50 others, filed into the church carrying flags to represent each of the countries where there is a missionary/mission group our denomination supports. This is the first time I've carried a flag in the service but watching all those flags being marched in has always been something that gives me goosebumps & makes me tear up. I'm a very visual learner, so seeing all the flags, knowing that behind each one there is a story, a ministry, a person who is living their life only to serve Jesus and reach the lost....well, WOW.

After the flag service, we filed out & put our flags up & re-joined the service as regular folks. Nathan (see my blogroll--Nateland) gave a report on the trip to Romania that he & Larry (and 14 others) went on a few weeks ago. Representatives from a couple of other ministries joined the list of speakers, sharing what they do & how our church has helped them. There were video presentations, a drama (similar to this one http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvDDc5RB6FQ), a song by the kids' choir and more. At the end, they collected pledge cards from the church body for the coming year.

(By the way, if you've never watched the video I linked to above, watch it now...it's a beautiful presentation of the testimonies of those in a church where the video was produced, all showing the beauty of God's grace & mercy on their lives....and don't stop it before the end of the video. The ending is so very powerful.)

The rest of our day was spent resting & gearing up for the coming week.

Monday, here I come!

Poll

A friend of ours added a poll like this to his blog & I have been intrigued with watching the results. I will not be able to see who you vote for, but I am curious about the results. So make a quick click over on the right hand side of the page & let me see who the majority of my readers are voting for. I have a feeling that I've got a pretty good idea already, but I'd love to see.

Thanks!

What a Saturday!

Most of our Saturdays begin with sleeping later than we get to sleep the rest of the week.

Not today!

Savannah had to be at the school by 8:00 to participate in the annual Rose Parade. (not the one in Pasadena, CA, mind you...right Pam? ha ha) Our little small town festival was last week (remember the other parade she was in?) and this week, it was the festival for the town we are next door to. Since it's a major event, our band group got to be in this one, too. We dropped her off at 8am and then made our way across town to sit & watch the parade. The newspaper reporter who photographed my mom & I last Saturday was there for this parade, too. She got a picture of Larry & I and the kids watching from the sidewalk where we sat. This was before the parade got started. The photographer handed Sarah a card that explained how to get to the pictures online. It was business card sized. The rest of the day Sarah pulled it out & handed it to me every hour or so to remind me that we'd have to get online tonight to see her picture! ha ha! Yes, honey...I remember.


The reporter shot tons of pictures of our band group, but this is the only one where I could find Savannah. See the ponytailed girlie on the left side in front of the big drum? Yep...that's my girl.

As soon as the parade was over, it was time to make our way to the little town 1.5 hours from here where my nephew would get married today. We arrived plenty early, which was a relief. I was afraid we'd be rushing to get there in time. I was able to help my sister out with some of the last minute details of being the groom's mom and got to meet my new niece-in-law before the wedding began. During the wedding, I snapped a few pictures. Here is the bride coming down the aisle.

And my handsome nephew, standing on the stage eyeballing his bride. This was during the time that Larry was asking "who gives this woman in marriage?".

Here's the sweet couple during the ceremony. That's my cutie-pie hubby behind them, performing the ceremony.

All in all, it was a very FULL day. We left the house at 7:45am and didn't get back home til 9:00 tonight! It was long & very busy, but it was a great day!

Tomorrow morning, our church celebrates its annual Mission Sunday. We have presentations by all the groups & missionaries that our church supports. Part of the service is a presentation of all the flags of countries where our denomination has a missionary. Savannah & I get to participate this year and carry a flag. Should be a great service!

Cory

In April of 1987, when I was 11 1/2 years old (cuz remember, those 1/2's make a world of difference at 11!), my older sister had a baby boy that she named Cory. While he was indeed her son, Cory rapidly became "my" baby. The family jokes that Cory was my first baby (before I had my own kids later on).

I spent weeks here & there with my sister during school holidays & summertime. I loved my sister, but really I went to get to see & play with my sweet little nephew. Of course, being a mom myself now, I'm sure Cindy invited me so that she could have a break & get a little rest from the busy-ness of motherhood! I carried him around, fed him, changed him. When he was about 18 months old, we even had professional portraits taken together. I was so proud to be his aunt.

Tomorrow, I get to become an aunt-in-law (I guess that's what you call it)! Cory is getting married to Leslie. Larry is doing the ceremony. Sniff, sniff...they grow up so fast. My first baby is all grown up.

I love you, Cory. Congratulations, hon...and welcome to the family, Leslie! Can I be your "favorite aunt", too? :)

The happy couple---aren't they sweet?!

wow..yum

Tonight after church, I picked up Sarah from her class. She was carrying a paper plate with some sort of wrap thing on it. As she got closer, I realized that it was a tortilla filled with peanut butter, shredded carrots, peanuts, marshmallows and something else (can't remember what). I made a gross face at her & asked why on earth she'd put all that stuff together. Seemed like a pretty odd combination of ingredients.

And then she got teary-eyed and said "I made it for you!".

I felt about 1" tall as I apologized & told her how much I appreciated it. She'd actually made 2 (one for herself & one for me). She had already eaten hers & had left a bite or two on the plate. I picked up one of those little bites and ate it....and then found Larry & offered him a bite as well. :::snicker, snicker::: He quickly picked it up & choked it down (err....enjoyed his yummy delicious bite).

I assured Sarah that I'd take the other wrap to school in my lunchbox tomorrow, but on the way home, Samuel ate about 2/3 of it. He loved it! (oh my....he's such a BOY!)

I think the pictures will speak for themselves.

I swear... this was NOT the way I wanted to spend this quiet, beautiful day. The weather was awesome & none of us had anything to do tonight. No meetings, no school events....and then BAM! We had a GINORMOUS job to do. I found eggs in the hair of my child this morning. We luckily (or unluckily?) had a bottle of lice shampoo in the cabinet, so she went to school late after we treated her head IMMEDIATELY. We did this several times when the kids were younger and I really hoped that we were DONE with that stage of life now. I suppose there is always a risk if the kids are around other children....but yuck. Ick. Grossssssss!!! Aside from the gross factor, it's such a mass of work that must be completed immediately to kill off everything. Not to mention the way my heart soars to realize I'll get to do it all again in a week. Crud...better go mark that day off the calendar now. grrrrrr

I think she likes them....

Tonight, while the boys were gone to Cub Scouts, I took the girls tennis shoe shopping. They both needed new ones, so it seemed like the perfect time. Sarah, my shoe diva, took the longest time picking out her shoes. She loves to shop for clothes & shoes...and tonight was no different. She wore them home, tried to wear them into the shower, but I reminded her that she could not. She put them back on as soon as she got out, though! And while she was brushing her teeth, she was grinning while marching in place--to show me that she was still wearing her new shoes. I just went in to tuck the kids in before I head to bed & look what I found. (Mind you, I took this picture in her pitch-black bedroom, so disregard the funky lighting.) Do you see what I see?


Yes...in the still of the night, under the cover of darkness, the goofy girl put the tennis shoes back on and is SLEEPING IN THEM!!!!!!!!!!!
By George, I think she likes them!

PTO

At the end of last (school) year, a PTO planning meeting was called for my kids' elementary school. I have always joined PTO but I have never gotten involved (i.e. going to the PTO meetings, joining the board, etc). I wanted to help my kids' classes get a pizza party or whatever the prize is for having the most parents join PTA/PTO, but that's as far as I've ever gone. In the past few years, I've been a room mom for the kids' classes & have enjoyed that, but it's mostly just a matter of organizing who will bring what to a party & sending home a note to remind them.

So back to that planning meeting. It fell on a day I was off work. I don't remember what the occasion or holiday was, but my school was out. So I went. There were 6 of us there. They were filling positions that day. Yes, you guessed it....I left there with a job that day. Actually, it was the only one that I felt competant to do, so I pounced on it before someone else took it & left me with being vice president or something!

What did I sign up for you ask? Room Representative Chairman.
What did I sign up for you ask? ha ha! It's the room mom coordinator for our campus.

The first week of school, I emailed all the teachers & introduced myself & asked them to let me know who they would be having for their room mom this year. I heard back from about 5 of the 36 teachers. :::sigh:::

The second week of school, I put a note in the boxes of all the teachers I had not heard from, against asking for a room mom name & contact info. I gave them a deadline of a couple weeks. At the end of that timeframe, I still had about 10-11 teachers who had not responded. :::beats head against wall:::

I sent a 2nd email to all those remaining teachers. No reply.

I gave up on some of the teachers & just hoped that they'd send SOMEONE to the meeting I called today.

I stood up in front of all these moms & went through a little folder of paperwork & info I had made for them. It had all the forms and letters they'd need for the year. I read them all, explained everything, answered questions and oh yeah....I wiped sweat from my face & fanned myself throughout. Good grief........clearly, I am made to work with children & not adults.

I walked the hallways & handed out folders to all the teachers whose room mom didn't show up today. Some gave me some funny looks when I walked in & said "could you send this home with the child of your room mom?". Clearly they were still ticked about the emails & notes in their box. :)

As I drove home, I realized two or three things that I don't believe I covered. Oh well. I guess I did my best & my job is done. Now I can relax & just be a room mom and a regular parent again. I'm still part of the PTO board, but my "job" for the year is finished. Whew!

Movie Quotes

I saw this on a friend's blog & thought "how fun!"....so I'm playing along. (which really interprets to 'i have the day off & before i go eat lunch with all three kids, i'm goofing off.')

Here are the rules:

1. Pick 10 of your favorite movies.

2. Go to IMDb and find a quote from each movie.

3. Post them here for everyone to guess.

4. Strike it out when someone guesses correctly, and put who guessed it and the movie.

5. No Googling or IMDb-ing. That’s cheating and that’s no fun.

Ready? In random order, my quotes:

1. I'm going back to Australia; I might never see you again.

2. Jamie has faith in me. She makes me want to be different, better (John & she who must be obeyed got this one -- A Walk to Remember)
3. Dear new tenant, welcome to your new home. I'm sure you'll love living here as much as I did. (Lisa got this one-- The Lake House)

4. I'll take that as a yes. Listen to me. You have fantasised, quite convincingly that you have rented an apartment that in fact belongs to somebody else.

5. If is wasn't for me, you would probably still be singing in some run-down rat hole for a bunch of fat cowgirls from Iowa.

6. No, don't get me wrong it's a fine neck, it's just that i haven't had a patient over the age of 6 in the past 5 years. (John & she who must be obeyed got this one-- The Wedding Planner)

7. I'd make a good husband, Jenny (Nathan got this one---Forrest Gump)

8. It's such a nice sounding word for what it means: a fortunate accident. (John got this one--Serendipity)

9. Well, I don't think you're leaving. I think you're running. And what I can't figure out is, are you running towards something you want? Or are you running away from something you're afraid to want?

10. Can I just spray a little PAM down there right before the baby comes out? (Nathan got this one too-- Baby Mama)

Sorry about the weird spacing all the way through...I can't get all of blogger's quirks figured out.

Great Saturday!

This morning was great. We went to the Yesteryear/Homecoming parade & really had fun! Larry & Samuel both marched with the Cub Scouts. Savannah is in the jr. high band. I have not entirely mastered blogger's picture posting stuff yet, so until I figure out how to get them in order & such, peruse the mish-mash of photos below.

This first one is Larry walking in the parade. He was at the back of the scouts, sort of watching to make sure no one got separated from the group. He really is NOT walking by himself like it appears. ha ha!

And because I was not able to get a picture of Samuel while he was actually IN the parade (people kept walking in front of him as I was trying to take a picture!), he asked me to take his picture in the van on the way home! ha ha!


This picture was on the newspaper's website. They have photographer's out & about at parades & other community events. This is the band all lined up before the parade. Can you spot my sweet little shorty?

The newspaper folks also took this one. Samuel's the one in the red vest, standing over on the right.

When the band reached the place where my mom & I were standing to watch the parade, they had to stop & mark time for a minute while the bottlenecked groups up ahead of them moved. Perfect photo op!!! Savannah's on the left. My niece is on the right. (They play the same instrument & stand beside each other!)

The newspaper photographer took one of mom & I watching the parade, too!

Sarah went to a sleepover last night for her little girlfriend's birthday. I knew on the drive home that she was cranky & obviously tired, so I made her lay down this afternoon. Sure enough, she zonked out in about 10 minutes and slept for 2 hours! She was a sleepy baby!

All in all, it was a sweet Saturday! Now I'm all geared up for next week's Rose Parade and the upcoming Christmas parade. It'll be here for we know it!!!

ahhh...it's Friday

Friday.
For so many people, that's the only word I need to say for them to "get" it. But for anyone else reading, let me explain. :)

Today was the end of 2 weeks of Community Helpers. This was the theme/unit in my classroom for the past two weeks. And let me tell ya, after growing up with a fireman (dad) & 2 firemen (brothers-in-law) and a fireman/paramedic/cop husband, I do love me some community helpers. But after teaching it for two weeks, to 3 year olds, well, I was done. I was happy to take down all the stuff from my walls, classroom window, door & bulletin board today. Onward....next week is "Spiders".

Today meant the beginning of the weekend. Tomorrow (Saturday) is the small town festival parade here in my hometown. I wouldn't get all wound up about a parade, but 2 of my 3 kids are in it. (yes, you can plan to check back tomorrow for pictures!) It also means that Sunday is coming. Sunday's my favorite day of the week--the refueling, refreshing day that gets me through the rest of the week!

Today also meant the beginning of a 3 day weekend. I'm off on Monday! Hooray!

Friday is a precious word around the school where I work. Don't get me wrong. We wouldn't work there if we didn't LOVEEEEEEE our job & want to be there, but even the most loving, dedicated teacher of preschoolers is ready for a break by the week's end. So "Friday" is spoken with the utmost reverance, honor & celebration!!! Yahoo! It's FRIDAY!

Ok, so I gave in to peer pressure.

I've made the blogging switch to blogger/blogspot. Anybody know why it's called blogger but the URL says "blogspot"? Which one is it?

So anyway, here's the story. AOL journals is closing. They announced that late on the evening of Oct. 1st. I quickly searched various blog sites & settled on wordpress. Less than a week later, they made a new option available to us ex-AOL bloggers. With 1 click, you could transfer all old posts including pictures & comments over to blogger.com. Well, duh.... of course I'm going to do that rather than manually moving them all over one at a time. I was really dreading that anyway! And so, I ditched the 1 week worth of posts on wordpress & have made the move here.

So far, so good.

Let me know you're here if you're one of my "regulars readers". Ya know...all 4 of you. :)

I'll be back to post more later. For now, I need to go iron Samuel's shirt (it's picture day at school tomorrow), cut out 8 doctor bags (we're learning about Community Helpers in my class), email the school secretary (to reserve the meeting room) and make a grocery list for tomorrow night. Oh, and I need to bathe & go to bed too.

Hmm....I better get going, huh?

Wed Oct 1

Whew...what a day.  It's been a full one.

At 8:00 this morning, I went to a PTO executive board meeting.  Let me just tell ya....while the job I'm doing is NOT a particularly difficult one, I don't see myself signing up to help again next year.  Maybe I'm just lazy or maybe I want to let someone else handle it, but seriously, I'm pulling my hair out doing my one simple little job.  I don't know how the ladies who are doing the more involved jobs are doing it!  It's only October (yikes...it's already October!) and I'm ready to turn in my PTO nametag.  Good heavens.

After the meeting, I went onto work.  It was a good day.  After all, I had music class today, which always makes for a great day!  After all, on music class days, I get a 20 minute break!  Yahoo!

After work, as I've done every other day this week, I rushed home to check my emails (to hear from Larry!).  I've gotten so excited each day to come in & see how his day was, hear about what he did & just to have that little connection with him.  I am sure ready to get him home, but it's exciting to hear/see what he's doing each day and to know that he's safe & sound.  Here's the email from today:

we just got back from working ina town about thirty minutes away.  i think we saw 200 people, it was crazy.

high blood pressure is so common.

many abortions. 

saw one guy whose feet have no circulation in them, he was wanting to know if we could fix them.  they will have to be cut off.  he is only 42.  very sad, we dont know why he has this.

saw a young couple, the man has hepatitis.  he was 25.

we set up today in a comunity center that is rented out for parties and weddings.

i got to drive a van in romanian traffic.  it was a vw microbus.  we got to see pastor peter's church.  it was small, but very beautiful.  very simple.  it had this long row of bushes and flowers on the side walk.

we passed many fields today that were being burned off,

we saw some people today whos id card were those issued by the communists thirty years ago.

some people got upset because some gypsies got ahead of them in line. 

one lady told me that she wanted to see the dr because her husband makes her mad.  i told her that husbands do this, she should take her shoe and hit him.  {NOTE:  This soooooo sounds like something my silly husband would say!!}

one lady said that when she gets mad her throat swells, i told her not to get mad anymore.

i saw the largest goiter on somones neck that i have ever seen.

we saw many people with absessed teeth. 

there was this one beautiful little gypsy girl with the prettiest dress i have ever seen.  i had somone get a pic with my camera, we will see if it comes out.

i am tired.  i am going to eat and shower and pass out.

i love you very much.  i miss by babies.

thank you for being a good wife.

Larry 

It's not a lot of info, but it's what I'm clinging to each day.  I can see his goofy sense of humor in his words & I can hear his heart, so it's what I've got for now.  I'm anxious to see all the pictures when he gets home and to hear the stories firsthand with more detail.  Tomorrow is their last full day of ministry.  They will have to pack up & get ready to leave the following day.  They are several hours ahead of us, so please pray for them late tonight & into the early hours tomorrow.

This afternoon after work, I was able to spend a few minutes reading the first chapter & 1/2 of my new book---

Larry bought it for me before he left & today was the first chance I had to start reading it.  So far, so good!!!!

It's late.  I'm going to go pack lunches & get into bed (probably to read a little more!).  Goodnight.