Livin' like a refugee

I didn't think to put my camera cord in my bag when I fled from Crosby, but if I did you'd see we are not exactly having a bad time as refugees. Dad heated the pool two days in a row. It's been a blast to lounge and swim. Yesterday Alex Pena and her boys Daniel and Jacob came by to swim and play. They are fellow Crosby Refugees, Cub Scout pals and best friends. They are staying with their Aunts in Bastrop. Tonight we go see Luci and her clan and play in their parklike Backyard. Grandma is in hog heaven with all the little people around.
I checked out centerpoint energy's restoration website, and it doesn't bode well for Crosby. They have assesed the damage and it's on the list of to look at after the 22nd. Most of Houston should be with power by Monday, the places hit harder will have to wait. Robert's plant brought in a generator so he and his people can get back to work. They hope to have full power by Monday also.
We miss Robert and Sammi Jo.

Maybe Rick Perry Read my Blog

Hmm I received an automated phone call this morning from the superintendent of Crosby ISD. The National Guard was set up in the High School giving out MRE's, Ice and Water. IN my very egocentric mind, I have to beleive that Rick Perry,(click here for a photo of him-he's in the hat) does not want me angry with him! LOL-
My friend Mellissa called and her grandma has power. She lives over by the Kindergarten, so that's good news. She also spoke with some linemen on her street and they were there accessing damages and would be coming back. So I guess Recovery is finally making it to Crosby.

If the Hurricane doesn't getcha, the "recovery" will

Day FIVE-
We are still without electricity. I finally gave up and became and evacuee. The kids and I are in Austin. Robert and Sammi stayed behind. Robert is hoping his plant will be up and running tomorrow or Thursday, if not he'll come spend the weekend with us in Austin.
It is very frusterating living in Crosby. Technically we are covered by Harris County Precinct three. I feel totally left out without any kind of city government. The Fema "PODS" are not anywhere near Crosby. Well as I type this they did add one in Highlands, which is close, but before this afternoon they had several in areas that had electricity. Now we as a family did ok, we ate out of the freezer, a ton of pork products and only had to get into the actual 72 hour kit for breakfast this morning. The cold ice ran out yesterday. The most insane part of this mess, is the lack of gas. It's crazy, I was in line for hours to get gas. People in Crosby are getting crazy from the frusteration and are ready to blow. I nearly witnessed me a killin' while in line when somebody cut in line, (allegedly just trying to get into walmart for formula, it was apparently a baby daddy) Things will get worse before they get better.
I am totally greatful that things were not worse for us and that we have a nice place to stay (with a pool) but I'm still sad and frusterated about my wee town. Pray power gets restored to all areas, not just the west side of Houston.
I'm also very sick of hearing the anti-Christ Rick Perry talking about patience and the Texas Spirit. Get some gas in the station butt munch and some ice in people's coolers, then we can be patient. So while He and George Bush are jetting around galveston, we can't get fuel for our vehicles.
We were told "don't evacuate" so we listened and now they won't even get us gas- that should be the first thing that goes out and it shouldn't be too hard logistically. Literally, I could see the Exxon refinery as I waited for gas in Baytown on Monday.
Do I sound bitter? I am!!!!

Weathering the Stomr

My friend Alex came by with her laptop and wi fi connection,so I'm doing a quick post. We are without power for a long time. I can't imagine that it will be up this week. She drove me around the neighborhood and their are trees uprooted, houses ruined and it's just one smalll comunity. Gas lines are insane. I thought it wasn't too bad, we were indeed blessed. We lost a lot of trees, but no house damage. A special thanks goes out to BRother Matt Clinger he came over with his chainsaw to cut the trees for Robert. We were able to get all the debris picked up real quick after that. We are forever greatful to him.
We lost power at 7:00 pm on Friday night, long before the storm even hit, and hte kids began to be apprehensive. So David said a very sweet prayer and asked that we all have courage and that our house would be safe and the inside would be safe. I believe it was the prayer of a faithful little boy that kept our house safe. Especailly now after seeing the destruction. My inlaws are ok and although they live in Baytown they did not flood. We just pray for the Centerpoint Energy workers to get us in power quickly.
I probably won't be able to post for awhile. We'll also probably leave and go into austin tomorrow or the next day. Look for us mom- our cell signals are sporadic at best. We still have plenty fo food and water, just really bored right now--(The DS's are no longer working and the kids are plowing through the books we checked out.)
I'm just glad it wasn't worse.
Love
Kareena

One Last Painting...

Robert finished grilling our burgers and then we boarded up the back door. The Rain had started to sprinkle, but Alice still wanted to paint. I thought it would be funny to put the Oz reference. Alice painted some flowers and had me paint "Alice's Garden" and she's covering up her words, but they say "I love Ike"

She's adorable.

Ok so now we are officially HUNKERED down!

Hopefully it will be awhile before the power goes out and I'll post again-

We did meet some neighbors across the street, they needed some clips for their brick windows, so we helped them out. Nobody else (that I can see from my Gladys Kravits viewpoint) has boarded up.

David and Quentin join the fun

This was designed by Quentin and sums up his feelings towards the hurricane- No School, and also that Halo Rocks. I like that He spelled Ike Iike, this coming from the boy who scored over 100 on every spelling test last year.

David designed the Do not Disturb. He for some reason is not pictured, probably because he beat feet back into the house to finish up his mission on the computer or on Halo 3. He's sooo happy to be off school, we don't have the heart to explain, he'll make it up later.

Robert added a little to Quentin's board and put a picture, or his rendition of Paw Paw. A little tribute to the man that made it all possible.

My friend Heather Moulton called today and apparently Anderson Cooper (the tool) anounced

"Evacuate or Die"

Well I just want to calm any fears, there is no need to evacuate from this area, we are not in the realm of a storm surge. We don't live near the Bay. We live by the San Jacinto River and Lake Houston, but far enough away that no damage can brought on by a storm surge.
Galveston and my beloved Surfside however aer another story. They havn't even received rain yet and the storm surge has completly flooded Surfside Island and has made it impossible to leave Galvestion (allegedly, I'm using the new as my guide, and we all know they are biased)

Keep praying to the "God of your choice" that the winds are not to rough and that the pressure rises so the storm's intensity falls.

I'll post again before the power goes.

The calm before the storm....

Here are some fun photos of Robert, Alice and I having fun at Ike's expense, we are sooo hoping he has a good sense of humor. Below are pictures I took to prepare for my law suit against the builder next door and Harris County/TXDot

Ok so they tore down the forest next door and began building this house in June. It should be done by now, right? Well it's not and not only is it not done, they went ahead and left a ton of debris out front, debris that the news says could turn into a missile. "If you can pick it up, the wind can throw it"

So I'm sure the "extra strong" orange plastic will keep the debris from flying at my house-- So if there is anyone in Crosby who thinks I overeacted to boarding my windows, this is why. I live next door to a dumpsite!

To be honest, I'm a little greatful they left the Port O can, just in case the sewer backs up, we'll have a safe place to "take care of business"

Ok, so Harris County, working in Concert with TX DOT (texas department of transportation) approved like a gazillion dollars to "improve" the drainage on our street. This "improvement" means they spent a couple of months tearing up curbs and yards to put in basically the same dang curb, only in white instead of standard issue gray. They didn't repair the roads when they were "done." Well on Tuesday, they had the bright idea to come and destroy the curbs next door and across the street, and just leave it there with wood and the highway cones. I'm sure this won't cause a problem with drainage or wind damage.

This is my driveway and my post box to give you an idea of how close this is-- Pretty lame, especially given the fact they didn't work the whole month of August. Robert and I assumed that they stopped getting paid. Clearly they get paid by the hour and not by the job.

I'm sure I'll post more and more until Ike turns off our power. We are ready, the laundry is done and put up, the dishes are clean, the freezer has ice and we'll be filling our drinking coolers soon. I just need to vacuum. Robert wants to set up a little camping area so we'll do that soon too. They are expecting landfall sooner than they said before and the bad weather (before the storm) will probably be here by lunchtime.

Let the Games begin!

Huff and Puff IKE, Huff and Puff

So here is Robert, Following the orders of the Honorable Mayor Bill White of Houston to "Hunker Down and Shelter in Place."

So began the process of keeping Ike at Bay. While Robert and I were dilligently nailing the plywood to the windows, we couldn't help but notice our neighbors, preparing a different way, preparing by stocking up on liquid refreshment and playing horseshoes, ordering pizza and getting louder and louder....

I say we were nailing the plywood to the windows, Ideally we would have been screwing them in. After all, Robert has a power drill and a cordless drill, in fact I think he has two cordless drills. Turns out, according to "rob" I didn't get wood screws. HMMM.... Ibeleive it's a bad athlete that blames the equipment.. so I pose the question are there screws specifically for wood and then specifically for not wood?

Again I digress...

So we got boarded up with the minimal collateral damage, a black and blue thumb on Robert and about 10,000 mosquito bites on my legs and feet.

After we finished, I tackled the garage, you may remember(or maybe not) how I cleaned the garage for Eduardo, so that made todays task very easy, I merely had to put the bikes up again,( I'm thinking we should get those hooks,) and then con Quentin into moving the water into the house. He insisted on sweeping the floor. So the cars are secure, we have our non perishables, about 40 library books, batteries and fully charged Nintendo DS's.

Like I said Ike, "huff and puff" we are ready for you.

As it turns out, he's probably going to keep heading east and then this will all be for nothing, but as I kept telling Robert while he was nailing away, "an ounce of prevention baby, an ounce of prevention." You can imagine the love in his eyes everytime I said a cute little colloquialism.

Here are the kids not helping us put up the plywood.

Paw paw had suggested that the boys help by holding the plywood. I understand the value of work and how it helps children appreciate what we give them, but seriously-- anyone out there agree that sometimes the best help 4 children can give, is to stay in the house and play their electronic games?

As it turns out while we were sweating and practically dying, Alice had helped herself to some makeup,not just my regular makeup that I never wear, but she was busy using the glitter makeup to create some fabulous craft. The evidence was found just a few moments ago when I was clearing off the craft desk anticipating a full night of scrapping. I decided to blog instead. However Alice does look adorable in this picture as she is clearly not helping with the hurricane preparations.

Now this is adorable!!! The whole time we are boarding up, she's going from room to room inside and knocking on the windows, asking for her Mommy. She is just too too cute!!! She would have loved to have been outside helping us, but we felt in the interest of her survival, she not be around dad flinging a hammer and nails and mom potentially dropping the plywood on her cute feet. She was very happy when I finished in the garage, because I brought in the container of little people. It's a blast to find an old toy and make it new. She stayed busy for hours.

Paw Paw is a ROCKSTAR!!!!

So this morning after the kids were on the bus, Joely and I were snuggling, just ready to have a little cat nap, when I hear the doorbell. When I got closer I saw a man messing with my windows, I was ascared, but then I realized the man was PAW PAW.

Paw Paw? You ask?? Well Paw Paw is what southerners call their grandpa. So in reality it was Robert's dad, also named Robert but referred to by family as Bobby.
He had come to make the plywood I purchased actually useful. You see when a hurricane is coming, you dont' just buy plywood and put it in the garage or shed, you need to cut it to fit the windows. So that's what he did this morning for two hours. His only paycheck was two "gimmee shirts" and a warm feeling in his heart. At the end he was talking about Hurricane Alisha. He said that was the only time they boarded up windows etc. I said, "well you are set then, you won't have to do any work, just clip them in."

Well actually he had used the plywood to build something for his Father in Law, so he's going to buy some plywood and cut it up for himself. He took care of us first though! He's a good man!

He brings his own tools and saw horses, you'd think he was an eagle scout since he's always prepared!

He Even showed me how to install them. IT shouldn't be too hard even with Robert's help.

Bobby thinks we should leave the windows boarded up, just to make it easier, if Ike hits this weekend. What do you think?

Warning- Prepare for Schmaltz, if you are diabetic, take a shot of insulin, it's 'fixin' to get really really cheesy!

I'm so glad we live by family. I can't tell you how many times Paw Paw has come to the rescue, once when my battery died, he took the kids to school, changed the battery, bought me a new one and installed it. He's watched the girls countless times to make things easy for me. Sue (aka Maw Maw) is helpful too, but since she's not retired yet, she helps out by spoiling kids on weekends/holidays and giving them new shoes, clothes, DS and Wii Games!

Robert's Maw Maw (Bobby's mom) and Paw Paw Walter and Dorothy (Sue's parents) are fun to visit and I enjoy my time with them too. They are good for spoiling the kiddos. They live close by Robert's parents.

Mom and Dad live about 200 miles away, but still its close enough that they don't miss out on games, performances, birthdays or Performances. Right now Mom (we call her grandma, I aint from here) is sewing some skirts for Miss Priss who hates pants and doesn't like the current selection of hoochie mama looking skirts. Also they come and watch the kids for me too, I know if Paw Paw wasn't here, Dad (grandpa) would bring his saw and help us cut the wood. It's nice to know we are not alone in this little joyride through life.

I also love that my kids have sooo many aunts and uncles that adore them as well. They are very loved and cared for!

In fact if this Hurricane Ike has it's way, my parents will miss out on their first Grandparents Day Luncheon, and that will be both Bogus and Sad. OF course they can come any day and make it Grandparents day and the boys will understand, I just wonder about Alice....

A few things I've worked on lately...

I belong to an online group of likeminded scrapbooking ladies. We've been "virtual" friends for almost 4 years-- well part of our friendship involves sharing our creative outlet. Last year I started a circle journal as a sub group within the group... (if you are interested in what a circle journal is click here) So these are some pages that I have completed recently.
DISCLOSURE--- this is only interesting if you like scrapbooking, and really only marginal at that. Specifically it's interesting to Arcalee, Lori, Brenda and Amanda Hugnkiss--

The picture at the top of the blog, is what I made for Lori's CJ last year, of course being late and never on time (same thing, redundant, discursive) Lori is just now getting it- It's a good thing Lori is loving and kind, and has 4 kids, one husband a home business and teaches school. I think she also recently got a new puppy from Nigeria.

This is for Lori's Circle Journal (CJ) her journal is about our dream vacations. Since meeting Robert we've talked about going to Costa Rica. I've done different research and learned about it, after visiting Brazil again, I'd like to go to Cosat Rica. This is a two page layout.

This is for Brenda's CJ- her Journal theme is "what Disney Character do you most identify with?"-- Realistically I relate to one of the princesses, I'd like to have servants etc. But Disney princesses are usually mired in tragedy and have step-mothers. That's sooo not the case with me. And well I like to BELEIVE that I'm like Cinderella (pre-prince charming) and go around singing "Day and night it's Cinderella, do the dishes do the laundry...etc." we all know that's not realistic... I would have chosen Tinkerbell, she's awesome, but I know Nichole (another circle journaler and all around cool cool person- my sister from another mister) already chose her, so I went with Kim Possible. She rocks she can Do ANYTHING!!! I would have liked to have been as cool as her in high school or now- I love the show.

This is for Amanda's CJ- Her theme is Friendship quotes. She was also very specific on the color scheme, of course I did not have enough of the colors that were pretty, so I went with this combo, which was allowed in her instructions. She has the "virtual" friends from Missouri to her house each month, so she has a ton of Friendshp pictures to scrapbook.

And Last but not least, this is an "altered" journal I made for Amanda. These are fun to make and I get to use my favorite retro item, Modge Podge.

I'm drinking the Kool-Aid

I'm sold! Originally I thought that my suspicions that John McCain was in the throws of dementia had been confirmed. I couldn't grasp why he chose a virtually unknown candidate, from Alaska. (Alaska? really??) But after her speech, and a lot of the credit does go to her speechwriter, I am now a fan of McCain/Palin 2008. I'm not sure if her pageant experience gave her the poise and taught her to be articulate or if she was born with a natural talent, but she won me over! Her family was adorable too, especially the youngest little girl. She was a cherub!!! Did you see her holding the baby? She licked her hand and then tried to fix his hair, soo cute--

Why are the pictures so tiny?

I was watching it on PBS and one of the "commentators" said all the Bloggers will be behind her now. He said Bloggers like we are some kind of curse and byword. Of course I doubt he considers sweetmamak to be a force behind political machines, he's probably referring to those who actually get paid to Blog.

So Sarah is why an official Independent who not only voted for but campaigned for a real maverick in Kinky Friedman is getting behind a very conservative ticket of McCain and Palin. Good choice McCain, you've got another white suburban mother voting for you.

I just have to remember, she's not actually running for president, she's running for the office that John Nance Garner described as "spitting into a bucket."

But maybe in 4 or 8 years we'll be wondering who she's picking for her VP

Meteorologists=Fearmongers- a rant of biblical proportions

Even if you don't live on the Gulf Coast you probably have heard of the storm of the century that was SUPPOSED to utterly destroy New Orleans. I'm sure you heard the Ray Nagin soundbite "to get your butts out of nawlins." By now you realize it was a lot of hype. Gustav touched down at a category 2, despite all the dire predictions of our "board certified meteorologists." I can't help but wonder what the 2 million people who left Louisianna are thinking right now. And what about the tens of thousands who took public transportaion out? When a real storm hits, who is going to really leave? Who is going to believe that something bad is going to happen. I was real angry this morning while watching the weather channel and seeing that instead of reporting on the relative calm of the area they were showing file footage, of what happened during Katrina. FEARMONGERS!!!!!
Also and what's the deal with the army corp of engineers who still havn't finished the Harvey Street Canal and Levee? It's been three years THREE YEARS!!! All the time that went into memorial services could have been used to complete the jobs that started three years ago.
I went ahead and bought plywood for our windows, I doubt we'll ever need to use it, but its a relief to know we have it if it comes to it. I also have enough water for my family for a week, regardless of any future storm predictions, I'm pretty sure our family will not evacuate.

And this is MY CROSBY

Look Close in this sea of red..

You'll see a little non-conformist in pink- that would be Alice

In Texas, Football rules!!!

In the interest of full disclosure I want to preface this by saying, although we've lived in two small towns in texas, I've only been to two football games, one last year and one while pregnant with Joely. Before Robert (I like to refer to that time as BR) I went to a high school football game to watch my friend Darrah (who got married yesterday and I had to miss the reception in Dallas due to Joely bear having strep-) do her dance at a homecoming game. Her parents were in Europe and so I sat in as a youthful aunt. But I digress.

Last year we went to a game in Crosby, it was awesome, it was surreal, it was a flash forward into a world that I'm sure to join in a few years when the boys bulk up enough to be deemed worthy to wear the Cougar Helmet. A world where mom's wear their boys jersey to games, or bejewel "Cheerleader Mom" on their fancy shirts. The town is very into the sport. The team did real well, they went took district and headed to state playoffs. I may be wrong, and I'm sure it's on the website, but I think they lost in playoffs to Dayton High School, our neighbor to the north. That's the other football game we went to , Before Joely--We went to watch Little Kacie Petty and her flag team. Kacie is Robert's cousin and she's adorable. That game we sat on the Dayton side and cheered against Crosby, well not so much against Crosby as we cheered for Kacie, because the next weekend their band would be performing at the Macy's thanksgiving day parade.

So back to this week-

This year to kick off the season the Crosby High School hosted a community wide pep rally. All of the schools performed, there were free luke-warm hotdogs, cold water and plenty of Cheer. I went because Alice's school was performing the "cougar shuffle." The boys school also had something there, but they chose to stay home and relax. You are going to be hard pressed to find a pep rally of this magnitude outside of the deep south. It was fun and I'm pumped up, I mean I know this is their year to take state!

HERE COME THE KINDERGARTENERS!!!!

At this point Alice spotted the Camera and began her

cheese and ham fest!

We Say Totally, You say Awesome!

Totally Awesome!

Totally Awesome!And this one time, at Band Camp

The Drum Line!
Your Cougar Drill Team--In Casual Gear, not their

usual Cowboy hat and boots, like the Kilgore Rangerettes

The varsity Cheerleaders

The best t-shirt I've seen (and don't I wish I had a camera phone) said

"Athletes lift Weights

Cheerleaders Lift Athletes"

Oh and thanks to title nine, they did also cheer for the Volleyball team-- but by then I was so full from my hot dogs that we were headed home- thus there are no pictures from my camera, but here is one I snagged of their website.... hmm no pictures of the volleyball team, maybe someone should check on their title nine status!

Why I like the blogging world!

How my mess helps to create the genius that is my children!

So I found this cartoon on an old friend's blog. When I say old, I mean I knew her about 20 years- not that she's old. And this is why I love the blogging world. Thanks to it, I've coneccted (what is the spelling of that word, in the time it has taken me to write this I could have looked it up) with some old friends. It's neat to take a peek into their lives and see what they've been up to for the last twenty years or so. This week in particular I heard from Aryn Fitzwater, who was a friend of mine in Colorado Springs, her and her posse were/are 4 years younger than me, but I was their "leader" at girls camp and I adored them and named them my "precious little cherubs." Thanks to hearing from Aryn, I peeked in on blogs of her sisters, her dad- who I loved- another cherub Renee and Jan Mason (the person from whom I stole this cartoon)-- Jan was one of my young women leaders- and she was awesome and I'm sure she still is.

Another reason I love the blogging world is because I like to write down my thoughts. Now especially with only Joely at home, who is here to listen to me. Sure Joely is a great listener and she's smart too, but she doesn't exactly validate me! This way I can write down what I'm thinking and then look back later and see who validates me, my goal is to be cool like Brianne and have like 16 replies. I know it's kind of superficial, but that's me.

Before closing I'd like to end with a lovely mental image. Sadly the only person with me was Joely and she's not good with the camera, yet. I was out this morning putting up "Join Cub Scouts Now" signs all over Crosby. At several points as I'm bent over with my largesse butt in the air, someone would honk. I told my friends Alex and Robert Pena (husband and wife, alex is a shortened version of alejandra) about it, they said, "YOu still got it!" hee hee-

I used to make fun of the adult scout leader in the uniform with the patches, and now that's me and my life, so much so I'm actually RECRUITING people to join our Pack.

Enjoy the laugh on my behalf, beleive me I find myself laughing too!

Update on the Bus driver situation---

Hey, Alice did in fact get a lunch, they must have let her "charge" it- she didn't know what it was (something with holes) but she did like the banana-- "it was cut in half"-- Anyhoo I called my friend Mrs. Connie (the former busdriver) and she said she would have made sure the lunch kit got to Kindergarten, but sadly they don't pay people to care, so it's basically a crapshoot if you get a decent driver or not- -she said she'd find out who the bus driver is ---

The rule of the day, don't mess with the Cub Scout mothers Mafia!!!

Thanks for the concerned e-mails! I should have put in that tidbit about Alice getting to eat!

A rant about lame bus drivers--

So yesterday Alice got off the bus and she didn't look real happy, Quentin was quick to report that she was crying when he got on the bus. So I asked her what happened and she said, "I didn't get to eat my lunch!" This left me horrified, I had made her pasta salad, hard boiled egg, carrots (with ranch)-- well I didn't so much make the carrots as put them in a baggie, and for a snack her favorite, Grapes. Don't forget the Princess drink cup!!!!
So what happened was in the morning, she left her lunch kit on the bus. So instead of being a human being and realizing it was the little girls (clearly a girl it's pink) day would be bad if she dind't have her lunch, the bus driver just left it on the bus. Now I anticipated, somthing might happen, so I put her name, her school (for those interested, our school district has Kindergarten at their own campus, first and second at their own campus and so on) her teachers name and MY PHONE NUMBER -- in a sharpie on the OUTSIDE of the lunch kit. I wouldn't expect them to do this all the time, but come on the first day of a KINDERGARTENER.

When the (I'll call her evil) Evil busdriver dropped off the kids at Kindergarten (her last stop) do you think she could have done a quick sweep of the bus then and then handed any CLEARLY MARKED lunch kits to the people at the school???? Seriously they are just standing there.
Ok so that might have been too hard, I'm sure at the "bus barn" they have to walk through their bus, all she would have had to have done at that point is call the number on the lunch kit, I would have come down and got it from the bus barn. BUT NO, she hands it back to the precious little angel at the end of the day- and then yells at her when she goes to eat it. Of course it was all icky by then and she shouldn't be eating anything in the bus, let alone ranch that's gone bad.

And to add insult to injury, she was a full 20 minutes late getting home. Quentin was super mad because he thought he should be able to sit with his sister and the bus driver won't let the 3rd and 4th graders sit with Kindergartners, which I understand, but when there is a FULL-BLOODED relationship, why can't the big older brothers protect their cute adorable sister????

A pox on the bus driver.

I know two bus drivers, One Mrs. Walsh, a wonderful lady, I'm certain that on the first day of school she would have made sure the "baby" had her lunch, the other is Mrs. Connie, who is a former driver, but I'm POSITIVE, in her heyday, she would have made sure Alice had her lunch.

I'm done with the rant.



Other than that, Alice reported her first day to be totally awesome. Her teacher doesn't use a "color"system, where you stay on green, go to yellow all the way down to red for your behavior- she uses "Super" then "oops" then "time to think" then "bad bad bad" so Alice declared that she was "super" and would always be "super"-

David liked having his buddy JT in his class and enjoyed lunch, he hated everything else. Quentin said the same thing but complained that I didn't put a sandwich in his lunch. I said, "Q-bone you are nuts, I made you a sandwich" we were in the kitchen and he looks at the toaster, "did you toast my bread?" I said yes, " the toast is still in their mom"--- so he did not have a sandwich -OOPS!!! My bad- but he did have plenty of other treats and a granola bar for good measure- a chocolate chip granola bar, but a granola bar none the less.

OH an this morning I wake up Alice at about6:15, which would give her plenty of time to take a bath and eat her breakfast before primping her hair and clothing. The boys get up at about 6:30 and 6:40--- they are much quicker--- Anyhow, she began ranting on (I don't know where she gets that--definatly a Mullens trait) about how I never let her sleep, blah blah blah-- Well here's the deal. I want to make sure they have time to be clean and well dressed before school and eat a decent breakfast. I also want to make sure we have time to pray together and IDEALLY read the scriptures together. Inevitably (last year) it was rush rush rush at the last five minuts, the prayer was no longer an oral beckoning to the heavens for my child's welfare, but mostly a silent prayer that the bus would be late. And the "reading of the scriptures" was usually me quoting Saint John, "and jesus wept"- all the while pushing the kids out the door. I vow that this year will be better- so far - so mediocre. The prayer time is more meaningful, the scripture has changed to "love one another" but still no 15 minutes of devotion along with a hymn, beautifully plinked out on my piano...... One day my fantasy world and my real world will meet, of course by then, I'll either be on the other side, or in a padded room.

Below are some adorable pictures- enjoy!

Little Joely eating at Cafe Express, without Big Sister!

(not pictured Mrs. Arcalee and Mrs. Holli)

You can't hear her, but she's YELLING "DAVID"

RObert trying to kill two birds with one stone while trying not to kill "the precious"

Alice hates to "sleep alone" so Robert was reading the paper in there, hoping she'd fall asleep- note the beautiful, fairy realm netting, it's supposed to protect her--- needless to say, but I'll say it anyway she slept with Robert and I.

Good times, good Times

It wasn't too bad...

PEACE
So thankfully the bus was a full fifteen minutes late, so by the time it got there I forgot I was supposed to be emotional, I was dripping in sweat and couldn't wait to get back home, plus it was on the other side of the street, so I had to use my old 4th grade crossing guard skills to get them across-- and David and Quentin left their lunch kits on the other side of the road-- so I had to go back and get the lunch kits, run them to the bus all the while about 20 cars were waiting- LOVELY!!!!! Alice is so excited, I can't even cry about it! Here are a few pictures of them waiting! I forgot to take the picture of Bus 10 driving away with her, I'll have to take it after school

When will the bus arrive???? Alice's hair is going flat! HORROR

And so it begins.....

Kindergarten starts today!!!!

Third and Fourth grade start today too, and the boys are not very excited. Apparently they are aware of what happens next. They LONG for the days of Kindergarten with snacks, dancing and coloring.... David begged me for five more minutes, so he's still asleep while Quentin takes his shower.

They will all get on Bus 10 in about an hour.

I will be in the fetal position-

Thankfully Joely and I will be eating lunch with Arcalee and Holli today to brighten the day!

T