It seems like it has been forever since I posted on here. I have been so busy, that I haven't even gotten on here at all for about 3 weeks.
If you have followed my sister's blog, you know that my Dad had surgery 2 weeks ago. He fell about 6 weeks ago at a golf course and thought he strained his MCL. He was playing golf that day with a friend of his, who happens to be a doctor, and that was his diagnosis. He told Dad to stay off of it and give it 4 to 6 weeks to heal. When we were in Nashville for Fall Break, Dad fell again, outside of a restaurant. I think he finally decided to go see his ortho doc because it wasn't getting any better. Final diagnosis was that he had completely torn the tendon that connects the quadriceps to the knee cap. OUCH!!! He had surgery and is now on the very LONG road to recovery. He is using a walker to get around and will be going to the doctor tomorrow for his post op visit and will hopefully begin PT soon. Please keep him in your prayers.
We are all doing well here in Louisville. The girls are loving school, and are staying very busy with Brownies. We are doing some fun service projects and field trips with Brownies this year. Sidney and Sara are really getting to be an enjoyable age. I hope it will last for a long while, but I am afraid that adolescence and puberty are coming much sooner than I would like. It really makes me sad to think about them growning up so quickly.
We finally got all the bedrooms moved around! My aunt and uncle gave us a bedroom set that we decided to use for Sidney, since she is the oldest. It is a full size bed, dresser with mirror, and chest. My father-in-law is giving her a student desk for her room, which we very much appreciate. Sidney is the one who had been hounding us to switch rooms, since Sara is always in her stuff. Sara has a little destructive streak, so I really sympathized with Sidney. On Saturday night (her first in her new room), Sidney started crying at bedtime. She didn't want to sleep in that room by herself. She begged Sara to sleep in there with her. Sara, of course, flatly refused. I never dreamed it would turn out that way. I thought Sara would be the one not wanting to stay in the room by herself. Sidney is usually so independent, and Sara is really a baby in a lot of ways. Sidney boo-hooed for 30 minutes. When I finally got her settled down, she said her prayers, which included the following: "...and please dear God, let me sleep walk back into my old room and sleep in my old bed tonight. In Jesus name, Amen." I thought I would bust a gut, trying not to laugh at her. Kids are too funny. Sid is making progress and I think she is finally settled into her room. There were no tears last night!
We are running headlong into the craziest time of year. I love the holidays, but they are so busy. We have December bdays in our family on top of the holidays. Patrick's parents are divorced, so we have to do all 3 sets of our parents. I feel like we don't quit running from Halloween until the day after New Year. I guess it is time to take a deep breath and dive in! It starts tonight. We are going to a Halloween function for school this evening!
Hope you are all having a good week!
Glad to hear your dad is doing well. What a gross thing to happen! Tell him I'm thinking about him. =-)
Funny about Sidney and the rooms... I wonder what will happen when we split Douglas and Todd someday. Douglas, like Sidney, is very independent, so I can understand your surprise when she didn't adjust that quickly. Enjoy the holidays! I'm with you... it's fun, but crazy!!!
Change, even though we want it sometimes can still be scary!! Sidney will adapt very quickly, I am sure. I am a big sister and I remember all too well the irritation of a little sister (and brother at times) getting into my "treasures".
I try to be very attentive to Tessa in that regard. :)
I hope your Dad gets better soon. OUCH is right.
And, despite the craziness of having a new baby in the house (soon, please let it be soon!) I am looking forward to a quieter, more peaceful holiday season this year. I usually host all of my siblings and their families for Christmas but decided I just couldn't do it this year. So....for the first time since I've been married, we are going to have Christmas with just our little family this year. I am really looking forward to the change of pace. I went and got everyone gift cards this year except for my niece and nephews but already have their stuff wrapped.
Fall break starts today for the kids, so we're headed to mom's house until Tuesday. It doesn't seem much like fall since it will be close to 90 for the next several days. This is the year of the summer that won't end! Will let you know how the trip goes. We'll get to see my sister and brother-in-law this weekend. Since they moved to Memphis, seeing them should be much easier than when they lived in LA!
There isn't much exciting going on here. Just the ususal school, Girl Scout and church related activities. I guess there is something to be said for the normalcy of everyday life!
Hope you are all having a wonderful week!
I'm decorating for fall anyway! I am hoping the temperatures take a hint and start a decline. The kids are in school, Labor Day has passed college football has started (GO CARDS!) so I'm ready for fall. My fall stuff (not Halloween) is going up. I'm tired of looking at all the summer stuff. I do think I'll probably have to wait a couple of weeks to buy and plant Mums, though. I still have summer flowers blooming nicely. Now that that little rant is over...
Since I last posted an entry, Patrick and I celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary. It's hard to believe how quickly 10 years have gone by.
School is in full swing and Girl Scouts start up next week. Sara decided, after riding the fence for months, that she is going to stick with Brownies, so I am still her troop leader. It really is a lot of fun, but it is also a lot of work. We have 18 second grade Brownies this year. Sidney is also staying in Brownies and is pretty excited about getting to see all her friends who aren't in her classes.
When did you all start solving for variables in Math class? This year in 3rd grade, Sidney's math class has started learning this. I was floored. They are starting pretty basic. X+8=15 and 2X=10 for example, but they are learning the algebraic method of isolating the variable on one side of the equation and solving from there. YIKES. I won't be able to help her with math past the 4th or 5th grade at this rate.
It is Wednesday, so I need to go finish reading my lesson for tonight. We're studying "Having A Mary Heart in a Martha World" in our Wed p.m. ladies class. It is an excellent study! If you ever get the opportunity, it is worth a read.
I hope you all are having a wonderful day!
Yeah, I didn't start learning that stuff until 7th grade. And once you put more than one variable in, I get lost. But I remember when i was subbing, I had to teach third graders the "Guess and Check" method. Ugh.
Tonight, my crock-pot contains blackbean soup. A little inspired by some recipes I looked at, but mainly my own creation. It has shredded chicken in it. The only thing more I could wish for is some corn bread and some sour cream. Sigh. I don't have either. But I do have a can of layer biscuits that I'm going to make. Let me just say that it smells yummy. Even if I do say so myself!
You've got me scared now with the math thing. We have a friend that teaches math at the college, I guess I'll have to have her do the math homework with my girls.
Hey! I need the dates you all are going to be in TN for fall break, to make sure they coincide with Kevin's. Also, what's the possibility of coming up and taking a Saturday to go to Huber's with you and the girls?
and the kids are back in school.
It has really been a long time since I have posted on here. The last month of summer break really went FAST. We were so busy. I can't believe how fast the time went. The girls went to day camp 3 days a week for five weeks this summer. Then two weeks before school started they spent a week at Girl Scout day camp. When I say day camp, I literally mean ALL day. I dropped them off at school at 8 a.m. and a bus took them to camp and they returned at 5 p.m. They were worn out every day, but they had a ball swimming, hiking, etc. Sidney learned how to fish, and even caught one. She also learned how to build a fire. She thinks that she should be allowed to use matches now! I don't think so!!! Sara earned several patches, but the week made her realize that she wants to stay with Girl Scouts. She had been on the fence about it for a long time. I worked for the first two days in the kitchen at camp. We cooked for 280 people each day - lunch and snacks. That is a lot of work.
Then after camp, thoughts turned to getting ready for school. And the money flowed forth like a big river! It never ceases to amaze me how much money it takes to supply and outfit 2 children for school. We got everything done and all the last minute doctor's appointments taken care of and they are now back to school. Sara, for the first time EVER got a good report from her ENT. He said her ears look GREAT (never heard that before!) Hopefully they will stay healthy and she'll be able to make enough progress this year to be able to graduate from speech therapy. Sidney and Sara both seem to be enjoying school. Hopefully that will continue. I enjoyed having them home this summer, but I do enjoy having them in school as well. I ran out of entertaining things to do with them somewhere along the line!
We are going to Tennessee this weekend. My Mom is turning 60 and Dad is throwing a party for her. I can't believe that both of my parents turned 60 this year! I'm looking forward to seeing Mom and Dad. Even though I only live 150 miles from them, I do miss them when we go several weeks without seeing them.
Good news is that my sister is just a couple of weeks from moving back to this side of the country. She'll be in Memphis by the end of the month!! I am so glad that she and her husband will be within driving distance now.
I am still trying to put up pics of the kids. Every time I try, I get an error message. Don't know what I'm doing wrong. I'll keep trying, though.
Hope all is well with all of you. I'll try to be more regular about posting, now that I have some free time in the afternoon before I have to head to the bus stop to get the kids!
I am enjoying the kids being in school, too. Much more than I thought I would. Especially so I can rest whenever I need it. That has been soooooooo nice.
Wow you have been busy! Glad you had a great summer with your girls. I hope you can get pictures on here. Try www.photobucket.com. You download the pics to photobucket and copy the url. Place the url in the pleonast photo formula and voila! :) I'd like to see pictures of you all! :)
Well, I'm feeling semi-productive today... Dinner's in the crock-pot and I have started looking through some more boxes. I found my spices! Now I just need to find a deep enough plastic container to store them in, preferably one with an air-tight seal. How's your day going?
I haven't had a chance to sit down and write until now, but I want you all to know that the Lion King was wonderful!!! We had a great time on our girls night out. If you have kids and Lion King comes to your area, take them. My girls loved it. The costumes and scenery are beautiful and so fascinating. People are dressed up as all the animals and even grass and plants. You can see most of the people, plain as day, but they are so well costumed, that you forget you are looking at human beings, instead of plants and animals. It was really neat. It stays very true to the movie, with very few exceptions. There are a couple of extra songs added in.
When Sidney was a toddler, Lion King ("Roar King" in 2yr old Sidney speak) was her very favorite thing to watch. We watched it at least once a day for months on end. Our tape of it wore out. Thank goodness for DVDs! Anyway, I had gotten to the point that I HATED that movie and was very glad when she moved on to Toy Story. When she would watch Lion King I would tune it out. Until last weekend, it had been several years since I watched it and actually paid attention to it. That movie/play really has some good messages in it. I know most of you who have seen the movie have probably picked up these things on your own and I am probably a little slow picking them up myself. But here are a couple of the messages that I liked.
Mufasa tells Simba to "remember who you are". When I was a teenager my mom would always say that to me before I would leave the house to go out with friends or on dates. It garnered the typical teenage response and I never really gave a lot of thought to its meaning. What important words, though. "Who we are" is Christians. We should act like God's children all the time, and not like children of the world. Our influence will go much farther when we "remember who we are".
Mufasa also tells Simba that "you are more than what you have become". As Christians, we should become all that we are capable of being. We should maximize our talents in His service. We shouldn't be like the two talent man! There are many other good thoughts in the movie, but these were just a couple that stood out to me.
I hope you all are having a good week. Happy Independence Day to you all!
That quote of "Remember who you are" stuck with me, too. I used to tell my kids that when they'd go out, and wouldn't you know it, when I was dating Gene, Katie would say, "Remember who you are!"
Oh, I forgot about the marbles! Glad it worked for you and the girls. I remember telling you that it was good for ME because it made me THINK to praise and say thank you to the kids for proper behavior and not take them for granted.
Well, Tim did have his parents here to help! He could have done it alone, but he wouldn't have been able to work.
We are about five hours from Memphis. It's not a bad drive (considering most of our travels involve 7 to 18 hour trips!) Want to meet there sometime? I am headed to Bowling Green on the 3rd of August and will be back thru on the 11th. Interested?
Just occured to me... since Allison isn't in Memphis yet and that would be a drive for you, I could meet you somewhere in Bowling Green that week. I *might* be going to a Sister Hazel concert in Louisville on the 10th. (Still need a babysitter and haven't worked out all the details, so I'm not sure if I'm going or not.) If I do, I could certainly meet you there. Let me know what you think. If you want to email me, feel free. stacyjobutler@yahoo.com
