Tuesday Thirteen

1.  My kids have been in school 5 of the past 39 days.  Granted some of those days are weekends, but with Christmas break beginning at 11:30am on December 17th, we were out of town the week of Jan 10th when they were to go back to school, Jan 17th was MLK day so no school and the 21st a snow day!  Wow.  I would have loved to have had this amount of time off when I was a kid.

2.  During all that time (including when we were out of town for over a week) they only missed 2 days of school due to snow days the week we were gone.  This makes Mykenzie VERY happy because she didn't have a ton of make up homework to do.

3.  If you haven't gathered from the above posts, we have had a lot of snow here!  After the snow we have here already this year and the snow from our Ohio trip, my kids have seen more snow in the past couple of weeks than they have in their entire lives!

4.  Our water heater broke... joy.  Good news, we went and bought a new one and Travis put it in himself. Saved us a bundle!

5.  Finally bought something I have been wanting... This means it is project time!  Stay tuned ;)

6.  Mykenzie's last basketball game was this weekend.  She played great!  She hustled for the ball.  Was on top of her girls while on defense, grabbed a rebound, stole a ball to run it down the court, and took 3 shots.  So happy that she finally seemed to be in the game!  After that game I am sad to see it end, if it kept going she could continue to get better.  I am going to find her a basketball camp for this summer

7.  Kaylee has decided to play soccer.  Haven't signed her up yet, it will be interesting.

8.  Both of the girls have new friends.  They are there own little look alike American Girl dolls.  They carry them around and brush their hair and love them to pieces.  Hope it continues and they don't just end up as one of the toys they beg for, play with for a week and then forget about.

9.  I am currently doing a secret sister with some friends of mine.  This is something like the 4th year I have done it.  I seriously love it!  I love the thrill of running up to my sister's house, hoping that I don't get caught to leave her something that I know will make her smile.  I love opening my mailbox and finding a little something other than bills waiting for me.  Knowing someone is thinking about you can turn your whole day around.

10.  I haven't read a book since October.  I need to make that happen. Problem is I need to find one that I am really excited about reading.  Once that happens I will get back in the groove.  I guess that means I am looking for some suggestions.

11.  I have BIG plans for this week.  I have that project I mentioned in #5 that will take a lot of time but I also have several other things on my list as well.  Lets just say my new saw will get a workout this week!  yay!  I'm so excited.  Everything works so much better in my head so hopefully it all turns out in real life!  One thing that I wanted to do was repaint my pantry shelves and poly them, got that done.  So nice to have one thing checked off my mile long list of home projects.

12.  My fantastic friend Chandra got my sewing machine to work!  Hopefully I can use it a couple of times before I manage to break it again ;)  I have some plans to give that thing a workout too

13.  Kaylee was Good Citizen for this past 9 weeks!!  She is so excited.  She is still so innocent and filled with wonder and joy over everything.  I will be so sad when that goes away.   Mykenzie was also acknowledged for not getting any checks again this 9 weeks and is once again in the no check club.  Both girls did great on their report cards too.  We are so lucky to have these girls, and we are so proud of them both!

Tuesday Thirteen~ Christmas edition *with photos*

  1.   Traditions:  Travis took Christmas Eve off this year which was great cause we got to do some of our traditions earlier in the day.  We continued our Gingerbread house tradition again this year but made it a gingerbread tree instead.  A tradition I have had since I was little is to make a gingerbread shaped sugar cookie.  Each one in our family had one, which we decorated and then ate on Christmas morning for breakfast.  We have cut out the eating it for breakfast part but the decorating of our own gingerbread man continues.

Mykenzie's gingerbread man

Kaylee's gingerbread man

Travis' gingerbread man

My gingerbread woman~ oh yeah, she is wearing heels

2.  Another tradition we have is to open gifts from family that have been mailed to us on Christmas eve.  It is a way to have the family get together even when we are 500 miles away.  

 These 2 pictures are of them opening the gift from their Grandpa Bolin.  It is a joint gift, babysitting Mama for the Wii.  They were pretty excited :)

3.  Right before bed we set out milk and cookies for Santa and read Twas the Night Before Christmas.  Before we know it Santa comes!

4.  Kaylee woke me up at 2:30 AM to let me know that Santa had come.  Sneaky Santa always leaves a Candy Cane on their bedroom door knobs to let them know he has been there.  After sending her back to bed I woke up again at 4:30 to giggling.  I go into Kaylee's room to find Travis and her chatting.  What!  I sent them both back to bed.  We finally got up about 7 to see what surprises Santa left.

5.  Both girls decided that they wanted American Girl dolls this year.  They decided to use the money their Uncle Mike and Grandma sent this year to buy them.  We ordered them on Tuesday night and Mykenzie's arrived in the mail on Friday (Christmas Eve)  Sadly Kaylee's is on backorder so she will get it mid January.  Gives her something to look forward too.

6.  They both wanted Monster High dolls this year too.  Between the 2 of them I think they have them all.  They have been asking for them since August!!

7.  Buying for Mykenzie this year was easy and hard at the same time.  Easy cause I knew what she wanted.  Hard cause everything she wanted cost a pretty penny.  It isn't the 3D tv she asked for but I think it will do ;)

8.  Kaylee's "big" gift that she wanted this year was a camera.  I'm not sure why exactly.  She does like to take pictures and does so all the time with her DSi or my camera ect.  I guess there has been too many other things to play with that the camera has been lost in the shuffle.  Look at that smile though, I think she will come around and be snapping pics again in no time.

9.  I am a hypocrite.  I know.  It is terrible.  But here we are, my 10 year old child now has her very own cell phone.  Yep.  I told you I was a hypocrite!  I swore she would not have one till she was 12.  In my defense...  It is really more for my benefit.  She goes off with her friends and I have no idea where she is and have no way to get ahold of her.  That is not cool.  The straw that broke the camel's back was when she went off with Grayson (her BFF) and was gone from 3:30 Saturday afternoon and I still hadn't heard from her on Sunday at 5.  Then I found out she was dropped off at the skating rink.  I am very much so not ok with that.  Hence the cell phone.  It is pay as you go and there are limitations on it.  She has not tried to use it yet other than to "test" it out and call me :)  She feels so grown up though!

10.  The girls are not the only ones that got cool new gadgets and toys this year.  The Man got  a Blue Ray player with a few movies (I can't work the damn thing to save my life).  He also got an iPad.  A pretty good day for him I'd say, especially since this year his stuff was actually a surprise, which is a small gift to me as well cause I never get to surprise him cause he can alway seem to figure his gifts out. 

11.  With our Christmas money we got a surround sound thingy for the living room.  (yeah, I can't work that either)  The Man is enjoying it though and for the past 2 nights we have watched movies using it and it makes him happy.

12.  What you want to know what I got for Christmas too?  Well I'm not going to lie, I feel kinda spoiled.  I totally LOVE my gifts though.  

 This my friends is my new camera.  I L. O. V. E.  love it!  I have a LOT to learn but right now I am happy and in love in auto focus!  It is so pretty!!  

This was my surprise.  I picked out my camera but didn't know I was getting this...

 Oh yeah!  It is a saw.  It is a saw that seems to be able to do anything.  January 10th it will be getting a workout as I have a project I have been putting off.  This is the perfect thing to get me motivated!  It's called a Blade Runner, google it :)

13.  I just went though a lot of stress and a call to customer support to get the photos taken with my new camera onto this computer...  what I should have been doing... cleaning my house, doing laundry, showering, making dinner, ect.  Instead all I did today was a project (see tomorrow's post), play with my camera, and this blog post.  Travis will be thrilled when he gets home tonight.  Ok, it doesn't look this bad anymore... but it isn't good either ;) 

Makin' It Monday

Christmas post will be coming soon.  Hope everyone had a fantastic Christmas weekend!  Our family had a wonderful Christmas!  Have pics to share tomorrow.  Today is Monday though so I want to throw up a makin' it post.  Back in June I redecorated Mykenzie's bedroom.  A big part of the room for me was a new desk.  I had a really hard time finding one I wanted since I had something specific in mind.  Since I wasn't driving to Virginia this year I couldn't steal the one my mom has in her house.  I had to make due.  A guy Travis works with had this one

 Naturally I hated it.  It is awful!  Beggars can't be choosers though right?  I mean it was free after all and I couldn't find what I what I wanted so I chopped.  I wacked off the hutch to start.  Took off the door.  Sanded,puttied, primed and painted.  I built 2 drawers using my table saw and nail gun/air compressor.  Replaced the hardware... and presto chango...

Mykenzie has a new desk for her room.  It is not perfect but not too bad for my first go at "building" something.  I'm happy with it and feelin' mighty proud still 6 months later :)
More to come from Mykenzie's room makeover in another post!  Stay tuned

1st Dance

I just dropped Mykenzie off at her first school dance.  She is so excited.  I watched through the window for a minute.  I am not sure how much dancing they will actually be doing.  Looks like more of a stand around and talk to your friends ;)

Dusting off the old blog

Wow!  I can't believe I went from blogging daily to never blogging!

So much has happened.  I am not going to be a nurse... no idea what I am going to do with my life, and quite frankly it makes me sick to think about it so, yeah, moving on..

Mykenzie, despite having a rocky start to 5th grade has come back strong.  She got all A's except one on her report card.  She was the ONLY kid in her class that did not have a single check in her whole class for the first 9 weeks of school and got to attend a party for it.  She got good citizen for the first 9 weeks, and this is the first year it wasn't given by the luck of the draw.  Her teacher picks the students she wants to have it, not draw a name out of a hat, like her teachers of the past.  She gets to have pizza with her teacher at Cici's for her good behavior.  Her class voted for her to represent them in the student council (and she did not ask for it, they just picked her).  At the conference with her teacher, she told me that Mykenzie is liked a lot by everyone in the class.  That she is really smart but doesn't act like she is better than everyone else "like most kids like her seem to do"   Can we say proud mommy?

In other Mykenzie news, she is starting to play basketball.  She tried out for the school team.  We thought in the 5th grade they would teach them fundamentals... um no.  These girls already know how to play the game well.  Soooo, she didn't make the team, but we put her in a private league so she can learn the game.  Her first practice is this Thursday.  She seems to be excited.  I really hope she enjoys it.

Kaylee is doing really well in school too.   She just read Olivia Starts A Band pretty much all by herself. I had to help with maybe 5 words.  I am so excited!  She is reading much better than Mykenzie was at this age.  She is little miss popularity, and can't seem to walk down the hall without stopping to give several hugs along the way.  If we could get the whining under control I would be even more happy :)

While our kids seem to rule our (well my) schedule these days, Travis and I are making time to enjoy ourselves too.  We have been going out with friends often, both separately and together.  I think we are both enjoying some new freedoms. 

We got to take a walk through our past last month.  We took a vacation to Charleston, SC.  I love, love, love it there.  I forgot how much I loved it.  We started with a quick trip through our old neighborhood in Columbia to show Kaylee her first house.  While in Charleston we detoured to Summerville and showed Mykenzie her first home, my oh my we have come a long way in 10 years :)  We enjoyed the beach, the cobblestone streets, and good times with old friends while we were there.  We wont be waiting so long before visiting again.  

In my absence from blogging we have had some really hard times to get through, but we did.  We have had some wonderful things happen.  We have made some fantastic memories.  We have laughed and had fun with our fabulous friends.  We have tried new things, and pushed ourselves out of our comfort zones.  We have lived our lives and are thriving.  We are healthy.  We are happy.  Life. Is. Good.

Mykenzie is in 4th Grade!!!

Mykenzie started school Tuesday morning. She just had a half day but she came home happy and said that her teacher was really nice, but made sure to add that "teachers are always nice the first day of school" She has already had a bunch of homework this week. Ey yi yi That is a freaking nightmare. She is so slow! It has taken her hours every night to complete it because she doesn't just sit and concentrate and get it done. It is going to be a long year if she is this scatter brained with this amount of homework. I hope she learns to focus, and fast! She did say after spending the week in her class that her teacher "is awesome" Her best friend from school is in her class again this year too so that is great news. She is really happy to have Grayson with her again.

Kid Speak

My kids have been cracking me up lately with the things that come out of their mouths. They don't mean them to be funny but they are. Here are a few....

Kaylee~ While we were getting ready for Mykenzie's birthday party yesterday.
K~"Mom, I need to get a license"

Me~why?

K~"I don't have a license for skating and I want to roller skate."
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Mykenzie~ Travis and I come downstairs in the morning and she is playing on Poptropica on the computer and is super excited.

M~"I found a cheat on youtube!"

Both~what?

M~"It was a Hallelujah moment!!"

(we went on to tell her she was not allowed on you tube without parental supervision)
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Kaylee~ this morning after using the bathroom.

K~"Why do we have to wash our hands after we go potty?"

Me~Cause you get germs on your hand from wiping your bottom.

K~"But we don't touch our bottom, the toilet paper does."

Me~You still get germs on your hands, you have to wash them.

K~"What will happen if we don't wash them? Will God kill us right now?"

Me~(After attempting not to spit my drink all over the kitchen floor) No babe, God will not kill you now, but you still have to wash your hands.

Happy Birthday Mykenzie!

Well my baby girl is NINE today! I can hardly believe it was nine years ago I was laying in the hospital anxiously awaiting my first child. I couldn't wait to see her and after 36 hours of labor, followed by 2 hours of pushing and finally ending up in the OR for a C-section I got my wish. She was beautiful from the beginning and we were instantly in love. She is a great kid and we are very lucky to have her. She is turning into a little lady now and no longer a little girl. She is at such a strange age caught in between everything and is truly a tween now. I always thought that word was stupid but now that I have a daughter in that age range it actually makes alot of sense. She had a great day today, we started at the pool around 9am and swam with no one else there for a couple of hours. We came home and showered and ate and headed out to Toys R Us so she could spend some of her birthday money. After we picked up Ryan and we all went to see Imagine That at the theater. The kids all seemed to really like it alot, and I thought it was cute too. We took Ryan home, came home and ordered pizza, she opened presents and then we went to Maggie Moo's for ice cream. Yummy!! On Saturday she is having a skating party with some of her friends from school, girl scouts ect. Can she roller skate, nope! lol But this is what she wanted so what are you going do? They will all have a great time. She was worried for a minute that no one was going to come cause people weren't RSVPing but we have spoken to a few and the people that she wanted there the most are all coming for sure and who knows, the rest may show up too. I am going to prepare for all of them if they come they come, if not no biggie. Happy Birthday Mykenzie! I can't wait to see what the next 9 years bring you.

Mykenzie's fun night

Mykenzie's class Pool Party!

Mykenzie and her Arch-enemy Seth

All the kids trying to drown Mrs. Calvin? Nope just showing her love, she isn't crying promise.
Mrs. Calvin is the best teacher ever! How many of your teachers would throw a pool party for the whole class, let alone do this?

Mykenzie chatting it up with Mrs. Calvin, cause apparently all day at school wasn't enough. It is so great to have a teacher that all the kids love!

Mykenzie's teacher invited her entire class over to her house last night for a pool party. They had sooo much fun and it became very clear very quickly how much all the kids adore their teacher this year! After last years nightmare of a teacher it has been such a blessing to have this one this year and if we are still in this district when Kaylee is in 3rd grade we will be requesting her again. The temps hit the upper 80's, low 90's when we were there and the water temp was 82 degrees though they are all hollering when they first got in about how cold it was.

Mykenzie has a boy in her class that she refers to as her arch enemy, in reality his name is Seth. They apparently both don't like each other. I told her it sounded like he had a crush on her but she says no way they can't stand each other. Well from what I saw, it is certainly a crush on both of their parts and neither of them recognize it quite yet, which is fine by me. They spent the time in the pool splashing, pushing and throwing balls at each other all night. I have to say though he is the cutest little boy in her class ;) I was telling her in the car last night on the way to pick up Kaylee that I thought so and that I thought one other little boy was cute and she said "Mom, can we not talk about cute boys." LMBO

She and I have gone from not being able to hardly stand each other (I always said if she had to chose between parents she would pick Travis in a heartbeat,lol) to actually having a decent relationship. I enjoy spending time with her and I hope it continues. It is more difficult when I have both of them together cause all they do is pick and fight with each other but it is nice to know that we are going to have a better relationship than I predicted a few years ago.

Here are some photos from her fun pool party, you have to check out her teachers swan dive (she is a grandma) and all the kids all over her. In the one picture she looks like she is crying and the kids are comforting her but they are really just hanging on her and she is wiping water from her eyes. lol

Not sure what blogger malfunction is but it wont let me move the pictures so they are at the beginning of the post now...ugh

My Girl Scouts

We had our long planned for, highly anticipated Girl Scout Bridging/ Awards Ceremony last night. We had 6 of my Brownies (including Mykenzie) and 2 Juniors bridging to the next level. It went so good and we have gotten several compliments on how good it was! yay!! My brownie girls have worked really hard this year and no matter how much I complain I really enjoyed having them (most of them) Next year I will only have 3 brownies down from 12!!! We had six bridge and 3 haven't been coming to meetings for some reason. One had to quit, one always drops out mid year for some reason and the other I am not sure where she went which only leaves me 3 girls unless we have new girls join. It is crazy. I don't know what I am going to do with only 3 girls! It will be like a walk in the park. They all did a really good job during the ceremony though so I am pretty happy with the whole thing. It is nice to see all of your hard work pay off. Kaylee got a few patches too and a future girl scout certificate :) She was thrilled to be involved in the ceremony, this was the first one she was allowed to participate in since she is only 4 and you can't be a registered scout till they are in kindergarten. Picture time.....