First Day of School

Last Monday was the first day of school. It was 95 degrees with a heat index of 105. I'm pretty sure it was about 98% humidity, but 'summer' is officially over!

This is Catelin's last year in elementary school and Alex's first year in Pre-K. This is the first and only year they will be in the same school.
I am so glad she is there to take care of Alex and make sure he gets to his classroom every morning!


The very important Spiderman backpack.

Showing off his Spiderman moves.

Such a good big sister. In case you can't tell from the pictures, Catelin has gotten very tall this summer!
Catelin's picture was supposed to be at the top, but it's been so long since I posted I forgot how to do this.....

A Sunny Winter Day

I will take a break from talking about houses to post some pictures! I knew you'd be happy about that!

This is what a 2 year old can get up to when you are not looking.

It was a beautiful day today. Sunny and about 69 degrees. Not to rub it in or anything, but, the daffodils are blooming here.

We spent most of the afternoon playing in the backyard. Alexander was as happy as a clam!

If he's a good boy, for fun, we let him move the wood pile.

It's a special treat.

Load the wood, move the wood to another area of the yard. Unload the wood.

Reload the wood into your wagon. Move to another part of the yard. Unload the wood.

Repeat endlessly.

Remember how Alex used to like to 'line things up', trains, cars, etc.? I think I may have a whole post I could write about this little eccentricity of his...

I swear, I had him tested, he is NOT special!

He just likes things order-ly.

Of course, Alex playing in the yard would not be complete without his trusty sidekick. Whenever Alex goes out, he calls Lucy to come out with him. Very cute, especially since he calls her "My BeeBee". He stand at the back door and calls, "BeeBee, BeeBee gout" (yes, he says 'gout' not 'go out', it's not a typo). And that cat comes running for him.

We can't figure it out... but she had a lovely time rolling in the dirt.

She's finally grown and put on some weight. We were starting to think she was going to be a runt forever.

Eventually, he will take off his shoes and socks. If you're lucky you'll catch them before he pitches them over the fence.

Now, I did not deliberately leave out Catelin. She allowed me to take one picture so everyone could see her hair cut. Then she was off to do more important things than play with us in the backyard.

Although she did leave instructions for me to be sure and take some pictures of Lucy. See how good I follow instructions!

THE END!

Saving For Therapy

As we pull into the driveway this evening, we see that the neighbor's cat has left us a lovely gift. A tasty, dead squirrel. Headless.

She loves us very much...

As we get out of the car, Mark decides to "show" Catelin the squirrel.

So, you already know what kind of father my children have.......

He proceeds to chase Catelin around the driveway slinging a dead, headless squirrel by the tail.

She is shrieking bloody murder: "Mom, Mom, help, make him stooooopppp, why'd you marry him anyway???!!!!" AAAAAHHHHHH, Help!!

She shoves poor bewildered Alex down on the concrete. He is already confused & frightened, not sure what is going on. Usually if Catelin cries, he cries too (just in case).

She is screaming like a maniac, Alex is bawling HIS head off and Mark is running after Catelin yelling "EEEEWWWWW!".

The peace and quiet of our little neighborhood is shattered.

Don't you think the neighbors just love us?

Such is my life, dead squirrels and all.

Happy Holidays!

The kids and I spent yesterday afternoon making Christmas cookies! Lots of chocolate chips were snatched and eaten.

We made Chocolate Chip, Cream Cheese cookies, Fudge and No-Bake Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies. Today, after we go to the store, I will make some Buckeyes and maybe one other kind of treat. This time I intend to make the cookies when the kids aren't around...

I tried to be one of those "good Moms" and let the kids "help" and "make memories" and all that on Sunday. But, geeesh, all the messes and burnt cookies, and flour spilled all over Alex, and nuts all over the floor, and Alex trying to lick a Ginsu knife. It was enough to give me a twitch.

We did use our fresh picked pecans from Thanksgiving. After Thanksgiving dinner Rita, Catelin, Alex and I went for a walk in C-Hill and picked up pecans. We ended up with two BIG plastic bags of fresh pecans. We cracked/shelled these pecans to use in one of our cookie recipes. That was pretty neat! I hope to get a bunch shelled so we can make a Pecan Pie for X-Mas. The fresh nuts were really good, better than store bought.

We put our tree up last week. Between Alex and the kitten, Lucy, the bottom 1/3 of the tree is bare and about four ornaments have been broken. Catelin has put herself in charge of guarding the tree. Two gifts have "accidently" been opened. One by Alex, of course, and one by Lucy. Who knew kittens were kinda like puppies? She chewed and ripped at the paper until it was shreds, ummm, thanks Mom, I like the Arbonne Travel Kit!

Today, we are going to clean house and get the last of the gifts wrapped. I can't believe it is December 22nd already. Even though we have seen every old Rudolph Christmas movie made (about 5 times), decorated a tree and made cookies, listened to endless Christmas music on the radio and paid insane amounts of money to ship gifts, it still does not feel like it should be Christmas time!

Well, better go this house isn't cleaning itself and Alex is getting his own breakfast, Ha, Ha!!
Merry Christmas, ya'll!

Beware of Greeks...

Friday was Greek Day at school.
For the last 2 weeks the third grade has been studying Greece, ancient Greek customs and Greek mythology.

On Friday, they dressed in Greek costumes, sampled Greek food and competed in the "Olympic Games"!

She really would have preferred to go as Medusa. That's my girl.....

Catelin's Birthday Cake

How. Cute. Is. This?


I didn't have this picture downloaded to the computer when I posted Catelin's birthday pics, but I wanted to show it off.
Our next door neighbor, Sarah, is almost 16 years old. Catie thinks that Sarah is GREAT, and the whole time we've lived here Sarah has been very friendly and kind to her. She has gone out of her way to introduce Catelin to kids her age in the neighborhood. She lets Catelin hang out in the yard with her and play with her dog, showed her the pathways in the woods, etc. Just a really sweet kid/young lady.
Well, Sarah told Catelin she would make her a birthday cake. "What kind did she want?"

A kitty-cat cake.

And THIS is what Sarah made for Catelin for her birthday!!!

White and pink icing, licorice whiskers and Life Saver eyes!

Boosterthon Fun Run

Today was the Boosterthon Fun Run at Catelin's school. They had a big pep rally, and lots of loud 'game-time' music. Catelin ran/walked 29 laps in the alloted 30 minutes. Now, aren't you glad you didn't pledge $5.00 per lap, like some of the participants did?? The fund raiser was to help earn money to buy new playground equipment for the school. It was lots of fun, but it sure was hot. Several of the kids were feeling sick after the run, one little girl fainted before the running even started. I hope, if they do this again, it's later in the fall. It was about 85 degrees when we left the school at 10:30 am.
Thank you for all your help donating money and "finding" states. We will find out tomorrow which classroom won the ice cream party for 'most states'. But Catelin definitely had the most countries. Thanks Aunt Lori!
Catelin's teacher, Ms. Blackburn and part of her class. Catelin is on the right with hands up.

Hot and sweaty. Alyssa and Catelin.

This picture is in here because I couldn't figure out how to delete it without deleting the whole posting, which I've already done, twice dammit.

Remember this blonde cutie from our neighborhood? I have a feeling we are going to be seeing alot of him during the teenage years.

Go Catie, G...... ooooo ants....