For Dr. G. "Frenchies"

Dr. G. and I fell in LOVE with this little French Bulldog that came in to work the other day. She's working on convincing Doc to get us one. Meaning- it would be Doc's dog BUT... since he brings them to work everyday we could get our "fix" too. French bulldogs (Frenchies) are adorable but definitely not for the novice pet owner, they are a handful- as you can see, check out the expression on her face! (the dog's face not Dr. G.'s) :)

Back to School

The kids went back to school week before last. Everything is going well, our catastrophes have been few and far between. I'll summarize them for you- Emma-Rae & I had a stomach virus, John-Rob had a nosebleed at nap time, Isabella barfed on John-Rob in class yesterday, John-Rob lost his money for his Ident-A-Kid cards, Emma-Rae almost got a conduct mark for burping (repeatedly) in class yesterday, Emma-Rae wore shorts (with writing on them) underneath her uniform for P.E.- no writing allowed (now we know), Emma-Rae's had one tardy slip (John-Rob was in the car in his PJ's that day), Emma-Rae's water bottle got left in the floorboard of my car (no water @ snack time), and the BIGGEST catastrophe of all... I still can't find 6 book covers for Emma-Rae @ any store!!! Not so bad for the first couple of weeks, the silver lining- both of the kids are really enjoying their teachers this year.

Treasure...

"Not all treasure is silver and gold, mate. " Captain Jack Sparrow- Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl

John-Robert and I had a conversation a few weeks ago regarding treasure. John-Robert's treasure is a little bear carved out of quartz that I brought him home from an Arizona trip. Most everyone has something they regard as treasure and more often than not- it's something you wouldn't expect.

My treasure kind of snuck up on me last week. I have both of my grandmother's candy dishes. The candy dish on the top belonged to my Grandma Althea & the dish on the bottom was my Grandma Nana's. I don't know much of anything about either one of these dishes as far as where and when they acquired them. I do however remember where they sat in their homes, what they kept in them, and what they sound like when you're trying to put the top back on VERY quietly. They are my treasure. Apart from the obvious treasures we all have- our family & friends, what's your treasure? Share it with me, I'd love to know.

P.S. Excuse the dust on the top shelf & lack of candy in the dishes. I don't know how the dust got there, there is NO dust in my house, ha!ha! and as for the lack of candy- one of my kids is still not ready to put the tops of these dishes back on carefully OR quietly.

News Flash... I cooked dinner tonight!

I cooked dinner tonight! For those of you who know my "daily" life you realize that me cooking dinner is indeed a rarity. I am fully aware that the previous statement is completely pathetic and puts me in the bad Mama category, but it is what it is. Tonight was however- the exception. I left work with a million things unfinished at the respectable hour of 4 p.m. That is in itself an accomplishment. I made baked ziti and some garlic bread. No salad because I forgot to pick any up at High Point Grocery. Anyone ever go to High Point? Little grocery, super nice people, not a huge selection but you can get in and out quick. One of my favorite gift shops- Gild the Lily is right next door & this evening I was able to stop in & check things out. I NEVER get to go to this store because it closes at 5 p.m. but I'm glad I did because I was able to find the cutest b-day presents for my cousin's kiddos Mia & Alex. I'm only MONTHS late getting Alex his b-day present but he's too young to notice, thank goodness. Dinner was good, everyone has had a bath and are in the bed. John-Rob starts school in the a.m. and he's still not asleep- he's calling me AGAIN! Wish us luck- he'll probably get a tardy slip on his first day!

Spending Our Lives at "Practice"...

Seems like these days if we aren't at softball practice we're at soccer practice. We're running full tilt around these parts and the kids are lovin' it! We're heading to Henderson, TN Saturday morning for Rae's first softball tournament. We're looking forward to seeing Paw-Paw & MawMaw Frank there, join us if you can.

Here's a few of my favorite quotes regarding practice...

"It's a funny thing, the more I practice the luckier I get." Arnold Palmer

"One day of practice is like one day of clean living. It doesn't do you any good." Abe Lemmons

"In theory there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice there is." Yogi Berra

"Don't do anything in practice that you wouldn't do in the game." George Halas

"Everything is practice." Pele

and a few of my VERY favorites...

"When I was little my grandfather used to make me stand in a closet for five minutes without moving. He said it was elevator practice. " Stephen Wright

"Here's a rule I recommend: Never practice two vices at once." Tallulah Bankhead

Oregon Memories July 28, 2004

It has been 4 years since we took these pictures, July 28, 2004. We were in Oregon staying on the coast with my Aunt & Uncle. Rae was 4 and John-Rob was 1, it's amazing to me how much they have grown. What a great vacation with great

memories!

When I Go to Heaven...

When I go to heaven John-Robert is going to hold on to my foot. That's what he just told me, out of the blue, for no apparent reason. I asked him why he was going to hold on to my foot- "so I can go with you" was his answer. Can you even get any sweeter than that? I've just discovered, AGAIN why we have kids.

Man Cows

Per Emma-Rae, this is one of those- you know... "man cows." Not a bull mind you but a MAN COW. My kids seem to take after John's grandmother & his sister Stacy sometimes, they have their own little language/terminology.

Crazy Boy

Just a little video of John-Robert being his normal, crazy self.

I'm a BAD Mama... what a weekend!!

Kaygen recovered well from his surgery on Friday, thanks to everyone who wished him well. Doc did end up having to take off approx. 5 inches of Kaygen's tail because it wasn't healing. We've sent his pee bags & their contents off to the lab to be biopsied. Emma-Rae was VERY concerned when we got home Friday night. Rae has decided that from now on, whenever Kaygen needs to go outside- he has to be let out right then, no waiting around, because without those pee bags he is SURE to have an accident.

Speaking of accidents.... Emma-Rae & John were playing catch Friday, around dusk, and Emma-Rae wasn't expecting the ball and she got popped in the eye. Oh, the drama! That eye was swollen in two seconds flat. The swelling has gone down a lot but now the eye is magenta colored. She is VERY self conscious of it so I've just got a picture from Saturday morning that she has said is okay to post.

I went to bed Friday night around 3 a.m. John and I stayed up late to watch the free online Motley Crue concert in Vegas. It was good but nothing compares to being there live. One of my favorite pics from the St. Louis Cruefest. (Nikki Sixx, Vince Neil, Mick Mars)

I had all sorts of ideas about what we were going to do Saturday a.m. We were going to get up early, go to the used uniform sale at school and go to soccer practice. Instead we got up, went to the church of Howard, (aka our neighborhood doughnut store- Howard's Doughnuts) and drove to mid-town in search of yard sales. We struck out on the yard sales, it was just too hot, not to mention it was tax free weeekend on clothes & school supplies. Our sales tax is 9.25% so this represents a significant savings for us. We did end up cleaning the house and going out to Pancho's for lunch. As you can see, the kids LOVED their meal. :)

After Pancho's we stopped by the store to pick up a few necessities- you know... like- Diet Pepsi, Mountain Dew, brownies, & $2.00 archery sets for Rae, Rob, Kaitlyn, & Zachary. Emma-Rae and Kaitlyn went to 5 o'clock mass with my Mom and then we all met up at Sam & Ali's new apartment afterwards. They have a super cute new place with a great screened in porch.

After leaving their place around 9 p.m. we stopped by Wendy's to pick up some eats. Of course the folks at Wendy's got our order wrong, at least this time they gave us extra. I can't tell you how many times I've left the Wendy's on Summer Ave. & High Point Terrace missing stuff. We fed the kids, got them settled in the bed, and attempted to watch the season finale of The Tudors Season 1, we fell asleep. John and I are LOVING this show. We've gotten the entire first season on Netflix.

Here comes the BAD Mama part....

Did you know that if an item is thrown into a ceiling fan it can break the ceiling fan? I did NOT. John-Robert routinely throws items into our ceiling fans just for the pure joy of watching then slingshot across the room. Saturday afternoon he started throwing his newest "friend" aka Webkin into the ceiling fan in our front room. This is the first time he's done this since John got his new TV soooo being the smart Mama I am I told him to go into his bedroom and throw his friend into his ceiling fan because I didn't want Daddy's TV getting broken. I realize as I'm typing how bad this directive was. Last night as I'm getting him ready for bed I notice that when I flip the switch to his fan neither the fan NOR the light is coming on. Uh, oh.... I ask John-Robert if he knows what happened to his light. Apparently the light went out when he threw his friend into the fan. Great... John's going to LOVE this. The ceiling fan is the only light source in John-Robert's room, this repair has to be fast tracked. Fast forward to Sunday a.m. when I'm explaining to John what happened and the "logic" behind it. John says- you might be a redneck if.... actually I think it is, you might be the Mama of a 5yr. old wild thing if... So here we go, first... we replaced the light bulb, no luck... then John installed a new switch, no luck... then I went to Lowe's and bought John-Robert a new ceiling fan. I also picked up some pretty green glass pulls for the fan chains. The fan was a complete pain to get balanced, but now John-Robert has a fully operating and aesthetically pleasing ceiling fan. I've explained to him that throwing things into fans was a bad idea, my bad idea. :)