School is going well

The kids are doing really well in school. They made it through the first week in school. They both met some new friends and still look forward to class every day so that is good.

Jayden is getting settled as a second grader. She is liking the independence that comes with being the only sibling in her school. That means the school is HER SCHOOL and not their school. She likes when it is all about her.

Mason is settling into middle school really well. He has several friends in his class that he knew going into school so that was nice. Mason has adjusted to middle school lifestyle and is enjoying his being on his own and learning to manage his lunch budget etc. He is also still in band and the teacher asked him to switch from Alto sax to bari sax. If you haven't seen a bari sax, it is about as long as Mas and plays deep notes- it is actually a beautiful instrument.

So, for now all is well on the homefront for the moment. Guess we will wait and see how week 2 pans out!

Miracle Grow?

Anyone with kids knows that it is crazy from one year to the other when you are trying to figure out what clothes still fit your kids. Now people tell me all of the time that they can't believe how much Mason and Jayden have grown. I don't pay that much attention since-let's face it- my kids are freakishly tall and have grown like weeds since they were born :)

Today, however I had a firm realization that my children have grown a LOT in the last year. We cleared out Jayden's closet and weeded out the clothing she wasn't going to wear or couldn't any longer. Then on to Mason. I had him try on the clothes that he wore to church etc at the end of winter. Needless to say they didn't fit. Here are a couple of photos of what used to be his favorite pants. Can boys wear capris??? :)

Cleaning Day

It's cleaning day! The kids LOVE this day about as much as root canals and vaccinations. Our house is in need of a deep clean. Plus we are going over next door to clean that out for the builder cuz I want to get that baby sold and then we can have some neighbors.

The kids are troopers. They usually acknowledge that they have to do their part since they need to earn their keep. They can run a broom and a vacuum so that helps :)

I will let you know how well it goes. Oscar isn't much help. Maybe if I hooked a swiffer to his tail he could finally help a bit- HA!

On a serious note- my sister Angie had back surgery on her birthday yesterday from an injury from work. Lucky her! She had a ruptured disk in her back and is recovering nicely but could definitely use some prayers to ease her pain and for a quick recovery. Lucky her gets to recoup at her lake house so there is definitely an up-side! Stay strong Ang!

A note from Oscar

Hey- Oscar here. Mom doesn't know that I am savvy enough to sneak onto the computer while she is gone doing who-knows-what. All I know is that these so called family members of mine wake up at an ungodly early time when it is still dark out and make me go out on wet grass to tinkle. Who can tinkle right away when getting up from a dead sleep and standing on cold water filled grass?? They actually have the nerve to tell me to hurry up once and a while. I only do it because I get a treat after......mmmmmm......treats.

Where was I? Oh right- my blog. So what is the deal with these people? They wake up in the morning and stumble around and switch their clothing around (why they don't stick to one or two simple sweaters like me is beyond me) and fumble through their morning. They consume some very good smelling food- do they share it??- NO. They give me my kibble. They pour red stuff or syrupy stuff on their food- do I get any- NO. What can a dog do to get some stuff poured on my food? I like Heinz. Dad says it tastes great on everything so why don't I get some? I think its because I have fur. They tend to discriminate against people with fur. Like we are "less" than them or something. I should call someone about that....

Anyhoo, I am bored. My kids were home with me all summer and I had all the kisses and attention I could want all day long and now they pack up in the morning and tell me to "be good" and kiss me and leave. How RUDE! Be good my butt. I will be good but not because they tell me to. I just don't want to have a timeout when they get home if I do something bad!! I am in charge here people- I run a tight patrol from the front door window to the back door while they are gone and will growl and bark at anything that passes. Just try to mess with my family. GRRR.

Anyway- still bored. My bones can only keep me entertained for so long. That is why I figured out how to use the computer. Well, guess I better get my nap in. The kids will be home in a little while and there is no resting then! I can't wait! Toodles for now!

Oscar- the wonder-circus dog

First Day of School

First day of school! First day of school! Wake up wake up wake up!!!

Anyone who has seen Finding Nemo knows that you are supposed to say this to your kids on the first day of school! The kids started their first day of school on Monday. They were SO excited- for real. Jayden is in 2nd grade and Mason is now in Middle school. WOA! Here are some photos of the kids. Yes Jayde is in Hannah Montana clothes- and Mason's shirt has a Wii remote on it. Pretty fitting huh???

Adventureland

Sorry- had a little lag there- we have been busy-Ha. So we had a lot of things happening over the weekend. Friday night Mason had an "end of summer" swim party that we all went to. The kids swam and the adults chatted. Gotta love those parties. Of course the night started off in a typical dramatic fashion. Mason jumped off the diving board with his goggles on. Now, there is a reason that divers NEVER wear goggles- you see, when you hit the water, the goggles smash into your nose therefore causing a lovely bloody nose. Yep- first jump in the water and my child has a bloody nose. Yippee. Thankfully he clots quick and was back in the water in a jiffy!

Jayde stayed in the shallow end away from the boys. There were several- probably about 30 11-12 year old boys in all. Of course the public pool is huge in Urbandale and when you have it all to yourselves, there is plenty of room to stretch out! Mason has been into the Olympics so spent his time doing laps (after the diving didn't work out so well) and focused on trying to do the butterfly and the breast stroke. He even had a couple of races going. Too cute. Maybe someday he will beat Michael Phelps' record. HA!

Saturday we went to adventureland with some friends of ours named Dennis and Shawnda and their two boys Spencer and Nate. Spencer is in Mason's class in Urbandale and Nate is 8 years old and goes to Jayde's new school. It was a blast! Denny brought his handy dandy backpack-too funny! He had EVERYTHING in there!

The crew accessing the "backpack" for snacks.

Jayde striking a pose in line for the Falling Star. Mason and Spencer are with her. I really don't know where she gets it- HA!

Mason actually rode this ride about 3 or 4 times and LOVED it. Yes-they are upside down!

Dad and Jayde in line for a ride.

Back to school!

So yesterday was a fun day. Not a "hey let's go to adventureland fun". Nope. A gee going to the doctor is so fun-fun. That is what I spent my day "off" doing. I had to take Mason to the pulmonolgist (Mom put the dictionary away- it is a lung doctor). He had to get tested to see if he had exersize induced asthma. The test wasn't that easy. He had to climb stairs for 7 minutes straight. He was pretty tired. His tests came back poor so they had to give him a breathing treatment. They gave us an inhalor to use when he plays basketball. Beyond that his lungs are great- chest xrays were fine etc. Praise the Lord.

Now on to Jayde. I made the mistake (ahem I mean an appointment) for her to have a well child visit before school. I think it is like taking your car in for an oil change- you think everything is hunky dory but then they say hey your engine is falling off. Jadye's doctor checked her over and found that her thyroid is rather large and she was pretty concerned about it. They sent us the next day to get an ultrasound on her throat. She thought that was pretty cool. What she didn't like is that she needed two booster shots and had to get blood drawn. She is pretty strong when she resists :)

FYI Jayde is now 55 1/2 inches tall. And yes- she is still seven years old :)

All of that got us ready for school at least. The kids are down to their final days of summer. SWEET :) They are so excited about school. Jayden had her open house at her new school today and met her teacher etc. That was great. Mason has a back to school swimming party tomorrow and has a friend sleeping over tomorrow night. Too fun. Saturday is off to Adventureland (thanks again Principal) I am excited about that one.

I will keep you posted on how the first day of school goes :) God Bless

Olympics

If anyone went to bed last night before the men's 4 x 100 relay- they missed out! That was one of the most amazing races I have ever watched. Eric and I were on the edge of our seats holding our breath as the Americans gained on the French. UNBELIEVABLE!!! What a way to win a gold medal!!!!!

For whatever reason, our family totally gets into the olympics. All four of us. If the olympics come on, everything comes to a stand-still at our house. We all sit zoned at the TV watching it. It sucks us in. Normally Eric and I don't even watch TV for the most part but we do this. We find ourselves staying up until all hours of the night watching sports we would normally never watch!

Mason finished his last summer basketball league game last weekend. He is really into basketball more and more. He used to split his love for sports evenly but I am seeing basketball as being his favorite. He still plays baseball and football-heaven forbid he actually have a season off! Jayde still could care less about basketball. With her height it is like a huge injustice! She says she plays softball and dances. Now I have tried to explain to her that if she played basketball, it would in NO WAY interfere with dance or softball but nope- nada- zip. She will be one of the few 6 ft woman who can't dribble a ball. JEESH!

Our Feet Hurt!!

We made it through a day at the fair. The weather was beautiful for the first half of the day but then got pretty warm due to lack of breeze in the afternoon.

Jayden did a terrific job on her dance performance. She wasn't even phased by the many many people that were there to watch.

Then we went on to gorge ourselves on food. As much as I love the corndogs- I think my favorite is the fresh watermelon that is in the shop next to the giant slide. I could eat about 10 of them!

Of course we went through most of the fair- varied industries building was packed, there were tons of animals. We even got to see the Budweiser Clydesdale team. That was great!

We ended up so worn out we couldn't even get to see the butter cow or anything. It was just too much to see. Let me tell you- there are a lot of people at the fair on the first Friday of the fair! UH! Special thanks to our employer- The Principal for the free food, rides and entrance. That was awesome! :)

School Shopping

I tend to get freaked out when thinking about going school shopping. Hyperventilate is more appropriate. Why they don't give parents paper bags at the end of the back to school isles is beyond me. You get sucked in halfway in the isle with swarming children all looking for the purple pencil pouch and the parents sit there and either get really crabby or they are zoned out finding their happy place. Then when you finally get what you need ** give up**, whichever comes first, you can't get out because you are trapped. I like Target's new approach of a U shaped spot for back to school. Hot dog- a MOM or DAD had to have designed that one!!!

Jayde parades around the isles sporting whatever backpack she has chosen at the time like she is on a runway. Too funny. On the flipside- Mason is usually pretty non-emotional. Where Jayde will squeal like Hannah Montana was ACTUALLY standing in front of her when she sees the backpack-it is PERFECT!! she says. She is such a diva- Mason's encounters usually go like this-

Me- Mason- do you like this bag??
Mas- Sure
Me- Do you like the red or the blue?
Mas- Blue
Me- Are you sure this is the one you want?
Mas- Sure

He is SOOO not my child :) The only time Mason was excited when school shopping is when we get to purchasing the shoes. THAT gets him excited. Not "squeal like Jayde" excited but we can usually get an "awesome" out of him. Woah.

Summer- Where has it gone?

IT is AUGUST???? WHEN did that happen?? It seems like the kids just got out of school a couple of weeks ago!

Maybe if I wasn't so tied up in my own school and work etc I would have noticed! We are getting our school supply lists together. The kids are WAY excited to be going to Urbandale this year. We have attended the tour and walked through the schools. It is an exciting time.

Mason and Jayden just got home from a week at the Walter grandparents house. They really had a good time. Eric and I got a lot of piddly things done around the house and that helped. Also had a couple of date nights (a date- what the heck is that??) :)

Mason finished baseball and is playing basketball now for the next couple of weeks. Jayde is dancing at the Iowa State Fair this Friday. That will be so cute! Then we get to hang out and look at the animals and eat corndogs. MMMMMMMM can't wait!

Well, I have procrastinated enough and really should be doing homework so ta ta for now. God Bless.

The Beginning

Hey there- thought I would catch on the new wave of blogging. After all everyone that knows me knows that I love to talk. Why not. Besides, having so many family members to update all at once and very little time to actually contact most of them, leaves them sitting and wondering what and the heck we are up to :)

So, here goes nothing!