Jesus is like an iPod . . . and other children's sayings

Tehehe, I had quite the giggle when I talked to Allison's Sunday night teacher after class tonight. Apparently they were discussing Jesus raising from the dead. Allison said that Jesus was like an iPod. The batteries run out and you may think it's dead, but plug that thing in, the battery recharges and it's alive again. It's so funny some of the things kids say. While the comparison is not quite accurate, it does help those 9 year old brains wrap themselves around a concept like resurrection, doesn't it?

I keep saying I'm going to make a list of things the kids have said through the year -- either quotes or the ways they said things, etc. I'm afraid I've waited so long now that I've lost some of those great things to time. So, might as well commit some of them to virtual memory for now. Those of you reading who can think of others, please add them in the comments section!

Ian -- that kid was just so funny when he was little (still is now, but he just said such unusual things)

On my dad's lack of hair -- first he commented Dad-dad was surely a mammal -- "Once a mammal, always a mammal." So even though he didn't have as much hair as he probably used to, still a mammal. He must've questioned how much hair Dad ever had, as at one point he also stated that "God ran out of glue before he got to Dad-dad." Because you know God's sitting up there with a big old bottle of Elmer's giving everyone hair.

After his kindergarten year, he decided he wanted to be the president of a third world country. tehehe . . . .other possible jobs for Ian -- a "computer worker" (like his dad), a donut maker, an educator. He's said that last one for several years. . . seems like he's wavering a bit now. The reason he decided he wasn't going to be a "donut maker" is because I told him I wasn't sending him to college for that. He's obviously interested in going!

Allison -- she seems to be a little harder to remember things she's said. I'm not sure if that's because I was so darned sleep deprived from the time she was 2.5 until she was 4 or what! Of course, there's the "Meet Six!" comment the day she turned 6.

Mom had the kids (at least some of them) in the car one day and Allison asked her if I was alive during the Civil War. I know Mom could tell this so much better than I could -- so Mom, if you're reading. . . post it please!

Alaina -- well, there's the fact that she called Andy "Bad Daddy" for about a 6-9 month period. Every time I'd leave to go out with friends, shop, whatever, she'd scream "Don't leave me with Bad Daddy!" . . . of course she was perfectly fine and no longer crying within just a couple minutes of when I left.

One of the more recent ones about Alaina -- this past fall, her teacher was having her evaluation (the principal was in the room) and they were talking about the number line. Mrs. H. asked for a number before 30. . . expecting any number between 1 and 29. Alaina raised her hand and confidently told her "-2". Tehehe . . .Mrs. H. didn't know what to do with that. So not a typical kindergartner answer! The principal ended up pulling her aside and asked her other questions trying to figure out just what exactly she knew.

Then there's the fact that all of the kids called the pacifier a "bobby" (We're not sure how that came about.. . . with the older 2, we called it a pacifier and that's the name they both came up with. With Alaina -- well, I think the kids pretty much trained her that's what it was called). Allison called milk "nilk". and I think all three of them would ask "Carry you?" when they wanted us to carry them. We called my dad Granddad, which Ian turned into Dad-dad. . .. which is what they still call him. My mom wavered between wanting to be Mimi and Grammie. After assuring her we wouldn't tease her and train the kids to call her "Granny", she decided on Grammie. That lasted until Ian could talk and he dubbed her "Mimi". Then there was my brother, Uncle Chris. Ian couldn't say Uncle, but could somehow say Cuckoo, so for several years, he was "Cuckoo Chris". My sister was first called "Puppy" and then after several other names (or at least one that she doesn't like me to remind her of {grin}) she became "Boopie" for several years. And after spending his second Halloween as Eeyore, we'd ask Ian "Who are you?" and for quite awhile, he'd call himself "Orey" (his way of saying Eeyore). My brother is the only one who can still call Ian this and not get himself into trouble!

Going to have to put on my thinking cap and see what else I can remember and get it written down now!

June 19

We went to see Stomp last night with some of Allison's girl scout troop. Andy and I had decided back in May that we were going to go ahead and get tickets for the 5 of us. A lot of times, I'll just take the girls with me and Andy and Ian have a night to themselves. But Andy had been wanting to see Stomp, so we decided Ian would go as well. I sat down with him on Tuesday to show him some clips . . .thinking it interest him. Should've known . . . pre-teen boy strikes again. He deemed it "Okay" said he was sure he'd like it IF he was actually a percussionist. I passed on his lack of interest to Andy, thinking if Ian wasn't going to enjoy it, I had a certain sister who might want his ticket (see, Brooke. . . .I really did try!). Andy basically said Ian would just have to tough it out.

I think we were 5 minutes into the show before Ian was totally mesmorized. tehehe. He then blamed it on my lack of finding "good" video -- if he'd known it would be like that. . .

When we got back in the car, I informed him that happened for a reason. Just wanted to be able to prove to the pre-teen kid that Mom and Dad were, in fact, smart! {giggle}

After talking last night, I think Andy and I decided that we'd head back to the dallas summer musicals for our anniversary this year. We used to do that all the time, but haven't been in years. I'm not sure that we've seen a musical since the summer Allison was born 9 years ago!

61 Pages Later

Wow . . . 2 posts in a row with an actual title instead of just the date. I'm on a roll!

I've vaguely mentioned my PTA involvement this year. I ended up on 2 PTA boards -- the historian for the elementary school, VP, Programs for the middle school. I think that one year did me in! I've been saying since the beginning of the school year that serving on 2 boards in 1 year should make me exempt from ever serving on a board again -- and I think I'm sticking to that story! I don't think the whole involved PTA thing is for me. I'll stick to helping individual teachers, in the library, etc from now on.

So, today was the deadline for turning in the scrapbook. Those of you who know me well know this means that I've taken a million pictures up to this point, gotten them printed, gathered supplies . . . .then waited until last night to put the darned thing together. It's just the way I've always been. I'd have a research paper for 2 months time. . . I'd spend 59 days researching, then spend the last day writing it all. Why change now, huh?

So, here's the work table mid project:



As you scrapbookers can tell, I didn't use a Creative Memories album. I was instructed by a previous board member that I HAD to as "all the other books are black CM books". When I actually took a look at the books, I noticed that was nowhere near an accurate statement (in fact, SHE didn't use a black CM album the year she was historian. CM, yes. Black, no). So I went with what was most comfortable for me. . . .an AC 3 ring binder.

I was up until 4:30 this am working on it, then got back up at 8:30 to finish it off. I had 61 pages by the time I finished . . . .and finished at about 10:45. Time to spare. {grin} So I got it dropped off and have now completed my last task for the whole PTA thing (well, except to fill out my reimbursement forms for the $$ spent on the scrapbooking stuff).

Big sigh of relief! Here's a peek at the outside of the scrapbook:

Sweet and Sassy

I set up a "Fun with Friends" Sweet and Sassy time for Alaina's (now) Brownie troop. They bridged from Daisies to Brownies back in May. I was so pleased that all the girls could come and have a good time together. They got their hair, makeup, and nails done. Alaina picked out some simple little bun thing on the top of her head. . . .took the teen who did her hair about 2 minutes to do the whole thing! She was certainly showing a bit of her Sassy attitude during their "runway show". Typical Alaina.



Allison and my neice Isabel were also with us. We let them get pedicures while the Brownies were doing their thing. Allison looks mad in most of the pictures. She sat with her arms crossed most of the time. She did tell me she liked the pedicure, so I guess now she'll be wanting another. I don't think she knew to expect the foot bath or the leg massage!

Fun was definitely had by all!

June 16

I've decided that it is so much easier to just title posts with the date of entry, rather than try and come up with a catchy title. So, a majority of my posts from now on will be titled this way.

Yesterday marked what Allison decided to call her first day of summer vacation. She still danced last week -- Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday. EEK! But the last 2 recitals are over and we can now move on to other things. After the recitals on Saturday, we went over to my sister's house for a family get together. She'd been telling me for several weeks she was itching to do a cook out at her house. Fine by me, although I couldn't understand why she had such a bee in her bonnet about a cookout. Turns out, she (as I told Andy when I called him from her house on Saturday) had "procurred herself a pool since the last time we'd visited". She decided to put in a pool and not tell anyone. The kids had a blast swimming on Saturday and now I think there might be daily buggings by them on when they can go back.

Turns out to be a good thing that we were gone all day. Andy's parents came in on Saturday morning to help Andy lay the wood floors. We gave them a good chunk of time without having to worry with kids running through! What they didn't finish up on Saturday, they did on Sunday. Happy father's day to Andy, huh? But the wood floors are now done and the transitions put in. Here are a couple pictures of the floor, pre-cleaning.




That's my task today. . . to get it to actually LOOK like new floor so that we can get furniture back into this room ASAP! I'm so ready to have my living room and family room back. I'm done with the "furniture warehouse" look we've got going on in the living room. Another picture (not sure if you can tell, but we have 2 sofas, 1 loveseat, 2 coffee tables, 2 end tables, 3 entertainment cabinets, a piano, and I don't know how many boxes crammed into this room! But hey, I do have art on the walls. tehehe)



We're left with needing to put in the baseboards and then Andy needs to do the granite surround for the fireplace. I think as soon as we get the baseboards on the wall where the entertainment cabinets go, we'll be getting that furniture moved back in there.

Birthday Letter to Ian

Ian,

Today, you turned twelve. It's so amazing to me that we're entering your last year of non-teenagehood. Wow. You've grown so much this past year -- emotionally, educationally, physically. It won't be long now before you're taller than I am. EEK! I think there will always be a part of me that longs for just a few more moments with the Ian I used to know . . . the first days with newborn Ian, toddler Ian, pre-K Ian. Oh the list goes on. I can honestly say there hasn't been an age you've been that I haven't enjoyed. I know that you'll be starting in on those teenage attitudes soon -- we see glimpses of them occasionally already. You promise me you're going to try and not be a "typical teenager", but I know it's coming! I just hope and pray for you that you make it through the next 6 years safely and growing into the man God wants so completely for you to be.

Last year on this date, I expressed concern over the beginning of your middle school years (see this post). Those people who've gone before you have often said that they'd love to go back to just about any age other than those 3 middle school years! You seemed to handle this new adventure so well. I heard stories from other moms about how their sons cried daily for the first couple weeks at school. None of that from you -- you seemed to have no problem with the lockers, finding classes, the daily homework. The biggest concern you expressed was the fear of not getting to PE on time because you had 4 minutes to cross the school twice (once to take books to your locker, and then back across the school to get to the dressing room -- apparently middle school PE lockers are no longer like they used to be when I was in school -- no room for books in the locker!). This year's been a learning experience for the both of us -- I'm having to learn to scale back on the "being in your business" educationally and you're learning all that new stuff! You were NOT happy with me when I suggested studying -- for tests, exams, etc. We came to the agreement that as long as you came out of the test with an A, I wouldn't question how much you studied. Seemed to work for you -- one of only about 18 kids in the whole 6th grade class to make all A's in every class for the entire year! However, we did earn the right to have some say over projects when you made less than an A on one of those (and had refused our suggestions). We are definitely SO PROUD of your academic accomplishments this year. You were recently invited to be part of Junior National Young Leaders Conference by one of your teachers. Quite the honor! We're still trying to figure out how we can financially make that happen for you. You've expressed the interest in visiting DC for several years now. This isn't the way we planned for it to happen, but you'd certainly have opportunities to do things, meet people, and go places that we would not be able to do on a family vacation there.

I was worried about you making new friends. Once again -- shouldn't have been. You came home talking about kids we've never heard of before. You won tickets to the Texas Tornado game and took 2 boys with you we'd never met. You're definitely doing better on the making new friends thing than I thought you would.

You took up 2 new hobbies -- the baritone in the band and golf. You've enjoyed learning both these things and are doing well. We found out in the last couple of weeks that you will be playing in the symphonic band next year -- quite the feat for a kid with 1 year's experience. And the golf is coming right along. . . it is interesting to watch you analyze where you should hit the ball, etc.

You made the decision to be baptized back in February. We are so proud of your decision and how much you yearn to know God better. We feel so blessed to have a son who cares so much about learning more and cultivating his relationship with Jesus.

I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop, so to speak. For you to suddenly turn all teenagerish on us. I hope that we're doing enough in these last few months to once again reinforce how much we love you and that we'll be here for you no matter what. I pray for you to find your way through these next few years with dignity and feeling proud of yourself. . . knowing that the mistakes you've made were just that -- mistakes. Not something that you need to beat yourself up about or continue to dwell on, but something that because it's happened, you've learned something. Something about life, about yourself, about respecting others, about depending on God. That's my desire, my wish for you. . . to be good to yourself in these next few years, and to learn to live life.

Ian, daily you give me reasons that remind me why I'm so proud of you. You show a tenderness for your sisters that is so special to me, you enjoy being around little kids and entertaining them, you are becoming so responsible, and well . . . you're just you. Which will always make me proud of you. I love you. And while I so miss the Ian you once were, I'm enjoying the Ian you now are, and I can't wait to meet the Ian you will one day become. Know that I wish for you so many wonderful things in life. And that I love you. Forever.

Love, Mom

Recitals -- photos of Allison

Once again, Allison is in the city ballet corp and in the studio's show company, so she is in all EIGHT recitals! We don't really start summer until the recitals are over this Saturday! However, she did do her 4 class routines and did 6 recitals this past weekend. Once again, pictures have not been retouched at all and are kinda dark. I'll repost lighter pictures as soon as I have the chance to retouch. Just have to get through the assembly of the PTA scrapbook and then I'll have photo/scrapbook time to call my own!

She's really improved over this past year. I don't know if the Disney trip shortly before recitals last year threw her off, or if truly there's been that much of a difference in her dancing over the past year. It will be interesting to see how she does this time next year.

She has been at the studio for 5 years, and received a 5 year trophy this year. She was so thrilled to get that trophy.

The Ballet number was danced to a song called Drumline. I really enjoyed the advanced ballet numbers this year. Many of them were done to songs that you wouldn't normally think of as ballet songs. This was one of them. Some very strong rhythms were in this song and it was faster paced than what you think of as ballet songs.


She's made a lot of improvements on her tapping. She actually looks like she knows what she's doing nowadays! Their song was Hoop-De-Do. And she did quite well. Overall, she looked to the wings very little this recital. I think the ballet and the show co. routines have helped her a lot with that one. She can't be depending on teachers in the wings with those routines.


She danced lyrical this year for the first time. I think that is, by far, her favorite class. That dance was choreographed to the song Don't Look Down. I thought she did fairly well for something that was new to her.


Allison also made great strides in her jazz class. She was a lot of fun to watch this year. They danced to "Sisters" . . . .when she first told me this, I kept saying "Do you mean . ...sisters, sisters, there were never 2 more devoted sisters. . ." from whatever that old musical is (White Christmas possibly?). She kept looking at me like I'd grown a 3rd eye (okay, so it sounds nothing like a jazz routine song, but at the time, I had no clue what class it was for and it was the only sisters song I could thing of.) It was that "sisters are doing it for themselves" song.


Her ballet class danced to Pizzacata Polka. It was some story about solders and fairies (?) fighting. You could see the differences in the way the girls carried themselves, but I had trouble remembering this story as the "soldiers" were dressed in these beautiful costumes as well as the fairies. Allison did have one point in this routine that she did a series of 5 or 6 turns and I thought she did a terrific job at it. I'm going to have to work on getting video youtubed.


Her last routine was the show co. one. They perform the finale at each show and it's usually 5 or so minutes long. This year, they did it to a Dreamgirls medley. Don't the costumes look so dreamgirlish? It's so fun seeing her interact with the older girls. . . and I love it when I hear one of them say hello to Allison. You can see her standing up straighter (with pride) every time one of the girls acknowledge her.

Recitals -- pictures of Alaina

As mentioned in the post below, I've finally gotten some photos transferred over to the laptop. These (and the ones in the next post) are this year's recital pics. They are untouched and ones from the rehearsal. So please excuse the quality! Hopefully, I'll eventually get the retouched ones up and they'll look a little better. I've not yet done the yearly posed pictures yet. Maybe tomorrow.

Alaina was in 4 dance classes this year, and therefore was in 4 routines. I think her favorite class is Hip Hop. Doesn't surprise me . . . totally fits her personality! They did their hip hop routine to Cheetah Girl's Off the Wall. She was so excited when she found out that she had a cheetah print costume!


Her ballet was done to some song called Friendship Light. She's doing really well in it and at the actual recital, she didn't look much at the teacher on the side who was dancing it in the wings. She's obviously been telling her teachers she can almost completely do the center splits -- as that was her final pose in 2 of the dances!




Her tap was to a song called "Steppin' Out". Very similar to the Fred Astaire version -- except words and some of the tune had been changed. . . "Fred Astaire" actually showed up in the lyrics! As were the lyrics "I feel pretty, I feel great."



Her final routine was for her jazz class. They danced to a song called "Hip Hop Princess". tehehe . . .we found it funny as that is (I think) now her new nickname. She did really well on this dance, and the dance had obviously been choreographed to what the girls could do. A cartwheel and the center splits (for Alaina) made an appearance in this number. The first picture is her doing that "flick the pretend dust off your shoulder like it doesn't bother you" move that I've seen I don't know how many times recently. I'm sure it has a real name . . . I have no clue what it is!

June 12, 2008

Finally have some photos to share. Was burning a disk of some to get printed and put some on there of various events.

First photos to share are of the living room/hallway progress. . . and the "little" side project I started on a whim. Tehehe . . .I serously need to get to work on finishing that project!

This one is as close to a "before" picture that I have of the living room. I forgot to take it before we moved out the big pieces of furniture. Tehehe. . . however, that does mean you can see the "clean" rectangle of carpet that was under the sofa (you can see it by the ladder). Shows how gross and dirty the carpet had gotten.


The first step in our renovating process was to scrape the popcorn ceilings. UGH, I hate those things! If you'll spray the ceiling with water before scraping, it keeps the dust to a minimum, and the ceilings are really easy to scrape. I did most of the family room ceiling in about a 3-4 hour period. Me, the non-worker! This picture shows that carpet can go from bad to worse -- just add a little popcorn!


This photo shows the scraped and unscraped area of the kitchen.


After the ceilings were scraped, Andy put a light texture on them and painted them (I'll have to get a photo of the ceiling paint). We used Behr Malted Milk for the ceilings. Then Andy got to painting the walls. For those we used Behr Pecan Sandie. Could make you hungry, all this painting! Here's a picture that shows the original wall color on the left and the new wall color on the right.


Sometime during the painting process, Andy pulled up the hallway and family room carpet. We've been living with concrete floors for a few weeks. Hoping to have that remedied this weekend!


Of course, while painting, I wanted to get all of the trim repainted. It definitely needed a fresh coat. This is the mantel area prepped. Andy planned on spraying it, but had a problem with the sprayer and ended up brush painting it instead.


Here's my "little" spur of the moment kitchen project. I wanted to paint the cabinets white and wanted to check out and see how priming and painting them would work. So I did the little fridge nook while he had it pulled out to paint behind it. Works well -- used Behr Decorator White for it and all the trim. We realized later that I probably should've waited until we got the new granite countertops I'm hoping for in the future before painting. I have all the top doors off the hinges and sanded, so I guess we'll go ahead and paint and hope we don't have to wait TOO long for the granite countertop!


This is the fireplace area after the mantel was painted. Since then, Andy has pulled out that faux marble surround and has put up new drywall. We've picked out some granite tile that will be going up -- hopefully tomorrow


In the middle of all of this, Andy's also tackled the lighting. We now have gotten rid of the florescent lightbox in the kitchen for a flush mounted light (not what I wanted, but the ceilings are not high!) and a new ceiling fan in the family room. He still has 2 more kitchen lights to replace (one over the table, one over the sink).

June 11, 2008

So, haven't had time to go back at post date some entries. Here's hoping that happens soon. Trying to take this week one day at a time. . . .and hoping to get through it! Our house is still in great disarray. Our a/c went out and we lost a week of flooring work due to that + the time consuming dance recitals! We rehearsed Thursday from 4:30ish until 11! EEK . . . then spent Friday and Saturday at SIX different recitals. Allison was awarded a 5 year trophy for 5 consecutive years at the studio. WOW . . . I'm hoping to download pics soon -- still not an easy task with the computer set up as it is.

Ian has spent this week at an Academy the school district is hosting that has been sponsored by Raytheon, Cisco, and several other companies. So far, they've built and raced cars, built and "fought" robots, and built a hovercraft. He's so loving this week. He's decided that he'd like a Lego Mindstorm Robot for his birthday, so looks like most of the family will be contributing to that.

My sister-in-law had scans last week and is going to the doctor for results this upcoming Tuesday. Please keep her in your prayers.