Girl Scout Summer Camp

Last Week Lauren and I went to camp Get A Clue. It was what they called a twilight camp from 4:30 -8:30 . We had a lot of fun. Lauren said she was tortured by her unit leader because she had to do things like make SWAPs and play games and stuff like that. I was with the Junior group and Alex got to come one day and see Miss Bridget, his favorite. We actually earned the Sizzler patch which is not really fun to earn. It means we were camping when it was over 100 degrees!

This week, Lauren is at Treasure Island from 9-3. I did not go to this one because I thought that it would be too long away from Alex and Aaron and I wanted both of them to be alive when I got home. We are carpooling with a little girl who is such a morning person. She is very perky and talkative and, as we all know, Lauren is soo not! Lauren is showing great restraint and not getting too upset. She has asked for music to be on so that our friend is quiet on the ride. It helps some. The pictures above are from camp last week.

I'll get back to you with more from this week. Stay cool!!

My crazy sister

My sister was without a computer for a very, very, very long time. Now she has one and is back with a vengeance!! So, let's make her happy.....

School is out and everyone did well. Aaron ended with straight "A's" for the year. We also got his TEKS scores in the mail. He was perfect on his math (for the third year in a row), commended for science and just shy of commended for writing. We are very proud of him!! He got into all four pre-ap classes for next year as well as the electives he wanted, so he is excited about school for next year.
His Little League team ended their season undefeated and won the tournament as well. Eight of the kids on the team were nominated for the All Star team and seven were chosen. We had the last team meeting at the Airhogs game and the boys were treated like kings. To let you know, the Airhogs are an independent minor league baseball team in Grand Prairie. It was a lot of fun! The boys each received a baseball and marker from the team for autographs in a bag provided by Clark. Clark also had baseball cards of each boy made up and each boy received a set. They each received a team award in a plaque. At the beginning of the game, the boys were to run onto the field with the corresponding Airhog player for the National Anthem. It almost made me cry! The middle of the seventh inning, the boys were on the field again while an announcement was read over the loudspeaker. Their accomplishments were listed and as the announcer kept going, more and more of the crowd was on its feet giving a standing ovation!! I cried again! The Airhogs players came out and applauded as well. I don't think these boys will ever forget it.

Lauren did well in school and ended her year well, also. We have decided to keep her in Parkview and see what second grade will bring. We plan to get her evaluated at UNT like we did Aaron when he was in second grade to see what we can do to make school easier for her. She has a very full summer schedule with two girl scout camps, horseback riding, Brownies To Go, as well as kids in the neighborhood. It is just a matter of pacing. She has already become my "little nut brown hare".

Alex is going on to Kindergarten despite him not showing Mrs. Robertson that he has learned anything. He has been as adventure. He has nothing planned this summer other than going.... just going. He somehow got a 24hr stomach critter and so we started out summer on the couch. He has rebounded fine and is currently running through the house with his sister.

Clark is still looking for a job and has been on several interviews. so we are praying and trying to let God guide us. It is hard to do that with the end of the month looming large and nothing coming in. But, things happen for a reason and we try to keep that in mind.

Me, well, I have had an adventure so far!! I was bit by something, we think it was a spider, and have been on antibiotics that have laid me on the couch. Clark and Aaron have been doing an excellent job around here with laundry and dishes. A couple of days ago, I had a fever that then broke an went away, or so I thought. I am now on my second day a full body rash that is making my skin CRAWL!!! Try not to be testy with that going on. I am now back on my computer and looking at the state of the rest of my house. I am really trying hard not to cry and hope that no one comes over to see me. My friend, Satia, came over one night and made me stew when Clark had the kids out and now I am really sad that she saw my house like this. Mom took the kids to see a movie and she was in my house as well. ARGH! Oh well, I guess this will just give me something to do.

I think that this should make my crazy sister happy, don't you?

In the meantime, Happy Father's Day to all the Dads out there!!

Thank You, Lord for my problems

While surfing the net the last several days, I have been very affected by what I have seen. The news out of China has been bleak and while I sit here trying to get organized for all that we have going on, I have to thank God that I have these issues. I could be sitting on a broken ground waiting to see if my only child will be found dead or alive and if alive, maimed for life. Instead of griping about how hectic I am with ball practice, shopping, carpool, etc, I could be frantically digging at a pile of debris that used to be a school, tired of waiting for rescue workers that can't get to me to help find my child. I could be afraid to go into my home because of the aftershocks even though there is no shelter outside. I could be preparing for a burial, or several. While I complain about my children and how frustrated they can make me, I have to thank God for being able to be frustrated and offer my prayers for those parents whose children have died or children whose parents have died. Please take a moment to think of others around the world and remember how similar we are instead of how different. Let's focus on how we can help and not how we are better than "they" are.

Thank You, Lord for all my problems and help me to see what a blessing they are instead.

Prayers

You know how you start to look for something and then you find something else? Well, I was hunting under the bed and found a bag with about eight packages of film in it. I had gotten the CDs with each one and I have spent all day uploading certain prints. These pictures are from 2006. This has also made me realize that I have not done any scrapbooking in a while. I was pretty caught up at one point and now I think I am starting on Alex. That's 2003, January. I think its time to get busy, again. I have put a few above to show how my guys have changed through the years.

I can't figure out how to put the pictures within my blog, so if you have any suggestion, I am open!

My sister-in-law has MSRA on her lip, chin and throat. This is on top of the bout of Bell's Palsy she is fighting. She has been through so much so please keep her in your prayers. She is trying to maintain a good attitude, but come on!!

My husband was fired today from his job. I would be more upset , but the Director of Operations was also fired today. I am not sure what we are going to do, but we will make it work. Or, rather, I will take a deep breath and put it into God's hands. We have been saving money to go to Disney, so we have something set aside. So, keep us in your prayers as well, please.

I was reading another blog the other day and she had asked several thought provoking questions about God's hand in our lives. I believe that God is in our life every day and every way. I posted a reply to her blog supporting her and someone critiqued my post! I was very upset at first, but then got to thinking that it wasn't worth it. Why argue with someone. As long as my point was understood, everything was fine. Has anyone else had this happen to them? What did you do, if anything?

Oh, well enough soapbox!!

I am currently listening to three little guys playing with those Fisher Price toys that I was going to give away. Boy, am I glad I didn't!

Summer Fun

I know it has been a while, so please excuse me if I ramble..

Heather's last day of school is tomorrow and she plans to spend a lot of time " on the couch watching t.v. this summer." I had to hold back the laugh, didn't do such a good job because she said that she wouldn't mind watching cartoons. O.K., moms, you know that is not why I was laughing. I am not sure where she thinks she will be living if that is her plan. I have plans for the summer and they really do not include a lot of t.v. time. I have been asked if I will watch a couple of the carpool kids for the summer so those two plus my three does not equal a lot of TV. Life is a learning lesson, though, isn't it.

Aaron's Little League team is undefeated and they have only three games left in the season. Clark is working on baseball cards for the kids. They look just like real ones with stats and everything. I think they will really like them. Each boy will get a set of the entire team. Aaron is really working on getting straight "A"s this semester. He is close!!

Lauren is having problems at school with listening and keeping her hands to herself. She has been grabbing classmates and giving them hugs. Clark said it is because she was actually finished with her classwork in January. Its quite possible. We are working on it with her. Her brain is just going so fast that it is hard to remember everything she has to. She is really into Robert Frost right now and I am feeding that by reading with her. She is on level two book from the library and I think they are too easy for her. Next time I think I will get some level three ones to challenge her.

Alex is just plugging along. We are still working on his alphabet cards. I took a set of index cards and wrote each letter with its upper case and lower case. We go through junk mail and he cuts out pictures to glue on the back of each card. I have been letting him pick the pictures. He has come with a few interesting ones. For "H", he picked a picture of two children and when I asked him about it, he said it was because they were humans. For "E", he found a picture of Cleopatra's head and said it was for Egypt. The other day, he lay on the ground watching ants. I was about to talk about them and how hard they were working when I saw that, as they got close to him, he was blowing them away off the sidewalk. So much for that lesson!

We are getting close to our Disney trip. Did you know that Disney will let you customize maps of the theme parks with the stops you want and mail them to you with your family's name? All for FREE! We are very excited. We were watching Modern Marvels the other day and it was talking about behind the scenes at Disney and now my guys want to go underground to see that part. What happened to all the other stuff?!

Well, it is late and tomorrow will be here soon. In case I don't get on until after Mother's Day...

A mother is the truest friend we have, when trials, heavy and sudden, fall upon us; when adversity takes the place of prosperity; when friends who rejoice with us in our sunshine, desert us when troubles thicken around us, still will she cling to us, and endeavour by her kind precepts and counsels to dissipate the clouds of darkness, and cause peace to return to our hearts. - Inspirational sayings by Washington Irving

To all the mothers I know.. God Bless and Happy Mother's Day!

My Mother taught me LOGIC

"If you fall off that swing and break your neck, you can't go to the store with me."

My Mother taught me MEDICINE

"If you don't stop crossing your eyes, they're going to freeze that way."

My Mother taught me ESP

"Put your sweater on; don't you think that I know when you're cold?"

My Mother taught me TO MEET A CHALLENGE

What were you thinking? Answer me when I talk to you... Don't talk back to me!"

My Mother taught me HUMOR

"When that lawn mower cuts off your toes, don't come running to me."

MY Mother taught me PATIENCE

"Sure, you can do that. As soon as you're 21 and leave the house!"

My Mother taught me DIPLOMACY

"I don't want to hear who started it, It takes two to fight."

My Mother taught me SHARING

"Play nicely with that or I'll just take it away from both of you."

My Mother taught me ETIQUETTE

"Use your fork! If I see that hand on the table again I'll Slap it!"

But most of all, My Mother taught me LOVE

" You know that whatever you do or whatever happens, I'll stand behind you because I Love you."

Aaron

We went to the doctor today since Aaron had said that his rash was beginning to itch. The doctor looked at it and said....Fifth's Disease. Great!! I asked if he should stay home and if it was contagious and the doctor said it was contagious but two weeks ago!! Lovely. By the way, there is nothing that can be done about it! Cause you know I have money just laying around just trying to figure what to do with it!

More From the Gardens

The infamous lizard! This is as close as we could get for Jarred. Maybe his mom can blow it up for him. The kids had a journal that they filled out as we went. We rubbed tree bark and traced leaves. We also rubbed footprints that were in the Texas walk. We rolled down hills and walked and walked and walked...... We also fed koi and snapping turtles. It seems that we paid more attention to the wildlife than the flowers and plants. We did go into the rose gardens. The kids seemed to like how strong the roses smelled. We passed one lady who was there who had stronger perfume than the roses and I really had to hustle to keep the kids from saying anything. They did wonder why you would wear perfume like that. I couldn't help them with that one. The cardinal in the other picture was really posing for us. He must have sat there puffed up for several minutes. The kids thought he was cool especially since we had seen a female one and talked about camouflage and why it was important.

As we walked, I wanted to give them a little freedom so they could experience things so as we left an area I would quack. Yes, I said quack. They had to quack back to let me know that they were paying attention. I just figured that since they had to follow me like duckings, that we might as well act like ducks. Jarred did ask why we had to quack and I told him that we could tweet instead if he wanted. He opted for quacking. As my mom would say..You always have a choice. Sometimes its between peas and carrots, but its still a choice.

I am about to leave for afternoon carpool, but have to fold a load of laundry first. Man you leave it for even one day and I think that it reproduces!