Merry Christmas Eve!

Cass is working and the kids and I are hanging out at home. I've made gingerbread cookies for Santa, and now we're just waiting for bedtime!




My Dad used to have this train under his tree, but he gave it to me for Luke a couple of years ago. Luke has been asking for days about it, but finally he insisted and I got it out for him. If we can keep it on the track, I'm sure it will run until its batteries run out.

Beer

Yesterday, we decided to go try Kyoto, the new Japanese restaurant in Rockwall. Even at 2:30pm on Sunday, there was a wait - but it was only 15 min. While we were waiting, we got some seats at the bar.

Luke looks up, observes the taps at the bar, and says to me, "Mom, look. They have Buzz Light."

Recitals

I was going to post the videos from the girls' piano recital, but they were too big and would take forever. So here's the photo from last night. You can tell Logan was thrilled.



Logan played "Deck the Halls" and Cameron played "Away in a Manger." It was short and sweet, because a lot of the kids didn't show because of the icy weather.

Tonight was Cameron's voice class recital. It was packed, because they also had piano recitals for 3 other teachers. Cameron's class sang "Silent Night" and "Frosty the Snowman." They were great - the best class that performed. I posted a clip of Cameron's part in one of the songs, but I don't know which song it is. It may be a little hard to hear her, because she was singing a little bit softly - plus, she's got all that ortho gear in her mouth that makes it a little hard to enunciate. She did great!

Tomorrow night is the school Drama Club production of Twas the Night Before Christmas. Cameron is playing Orange Playdough (not purple like I said before).

Medical update

I called yesterday morning to let the doctor know that I wasn't tolerating the medicine well, and I waited all day for a return call. Finally, Cass got impatient and called to rake them over the coals a little bit. I had a return call within an hour. :)

He switched me to Benicar. I hope I can tolerate this one. Let's just say that I'm finally back up to 109 lbs. tonight. And I was actually able to stand up long enough to fold a load of laundry. Yay! My first BP reading after taking it was 115/84 (the other one started out like this, then got worse a few days later).

I also got sent for a kidney ultrasound this morning. It took an hour and a half! Who knew the kidneys were so involved? I had to do a lot of "take a deep breath and hold it"(indefinitely) - which wasn't a good combination with my light-headedness. But I survived. She also did doppler readings of my renal arteries. I hope they'll send the results to my doc tomorrow.

The kids got a day off of school today. We had gotten up and were ready to walk out the door, and I turned on the TV to find that our school district was closed. We had freezing rain all day, and the temp never got over 30 degrees. I was still able to make it to my ultrasound appt and a dentist appt (where my BP was 135/102 - I hadn't taken the new med yet), though. They probably could have had school, but better safe than sorry I guess.

Tomorrow, I'll post pictures and video from the girls' Christmas piano recital that was tonight.

BP Meds

OK, so if I had known the side effects from taking BP meds in the beginning, I might not have ever started taking them. Seriously. Since Wednesday, I have been nauseated, dizzy, light-headed, fatigued, and just generally felt pretty crappy. I've spent most of each day in the bed. I can't eat, and I've lost a lot of weight (for me).

So far, the meds have gotten my BP down to about 120/90, but my pulse rate is up - in the 90s and 100s. Which I can feel, all the time.

I still haven't heard back from the doctor's office re: scheduling the ultrasound of my kidneys. I left a message on both Thursday and Friday, but they haven't called back. Maybe on Monday.

We went to the id Software Christmas party last night. It was a sit-down dinner, but I couldn't eat. I'd had a few bites of some pizza with the kids before we left, but when they served dinner I didn't think I could eat. Didn't want to "vomick" at the first company Christmas party we attended. :) Somehow I made it until 11pm. But I woke up with a headache this morning.

A little while ago, I was craving a Wendy's hamburger so I went and got one. I was able to eat almost half of it and a few french fries. Woo hoo!

Dr visit

I went back to the doctor today and my BP was 151/104 (or something like that - the numbers are starting to run together for me!). He had gotten back all my labs, and they were perfect. My cholesterol is 141 and everything else (liver, kidney, CBC w/diff) was within normal limits.

He looked over my BP readings, and agreed that it's hypertension and not a fluke. He prescribed Lisinopril for me to take daily. If it's essential hypertension (high blood pressure for life, probably genetic), the BP med will start to help within 24 hrs. If it doesn't have any effect, it's likely renal artery stenosis (unknown cause). He ordered an ultrasound of my kidneys to help determine which it is.

So now I'm waiting to hear from the doctor's office about the scheduling of my kidney ultrasound. I kind of hope it's the kidney thing, even though it will probably require an angioplasty, because I don't want to start BP meds for life at the age of 36.

153/106

That was my blood pressure reading this morning.

I had a doctor's appointment yesterday. I went in for something mundane, because I wanted to establish with a doctor here without waiting until I was deathly ill. The nurse came in to take my vitals, and my BP was 141/108. She thought it was wrong because she had to do it over my sleeve - so I took my arm out of the sleeve. It was the same. She tried the other arm. Same.

Doc comes in and takes it. Same. I'm 36 years old, healthy, active, most definitely not overweight - so what gives? For about the past 2 months, I've had unusual migraines, dizzy spells, and the sensation of my heart racing. I chalked it all up to the usual stress of the season. Apparently, it's not. The doc mentioned a few things that could be the cause, but he wanted me to monitor it for a few days to make sure it's not a fluke. If it stays up, we'll start investigating what might be causing it. Basically, he says either it's inherited/genetic or it's renal artery stenosis. Um, I'll take neither category, Alex.

I've been monitoring my BP since yesterday morning, and the diastolic number hasn't gone below 100. This morning when I went in to let them draw my blood, it was 153/106. I wanted to cry. He told me that if it got over 150/95 to make an appointment to come in ASAP. I've got one for 8:45am tomorrow. Ho ho ho!

December already

I'm not doing much blogging these days. I guess I don't really have anything to write about. We're just doing the usual - trying to get the Christmas decorations up, putting off the Christmas shopping as long as we can, working, schooling.

Logan's Jump Rope Club marched in the Rockwall Christmas Parade on Saturday. I had hoped to have some pictures from that, but we didn't get to go. Luke has been sick all weekend, so Logan went to the parade with her friend Kaitlyn.

Cameron's Drama Club is doing a production of Twas the Night Before Christmas sometime before school is out. Cameron is going to be Purple Playdoh. I think she has a couple of lines, but I can't imagine what Purple Playdoh has to say. :)

Both girls have music recitals next week. Their piano recital is Tuesday night. Logan is playing Deck the Halls (which I never want to hear again!), and Cameron is playing Away in a Manger. Cameron has a voice recital on Wednesday night, and I don't have any idea what she's singing. It's a voice class, so there will be a few other girls singing with her.

Luke's class is doing a Polar Express party in the classroom on Friday. I'm not sure if he'll be there, though. He started coughing last Wed/Thurs, started running fever on Saturday. If I had to guess, I'd say it seems a lot like the flu. I didn't race him off to the doctor, because 1) it was the weekend before he started running temp (of course!), and 2) he had an allergic reaction to Tamiflu last time he took it. I'll get him an appointment today just to make sure his cough isn't anything more serious.

I didn't realize this, but we get out on the 19th. For some reason, I had the 22nd in my head. But we've got the whole week of Christmas off.

Luke made this one day last week and taped it up on our fireplace mantle.

Oh Santa,
Wold U look at this picture.
I hope you bring toys for us.

Christmas wreath

I'm in the midst of trying to tackle a mountain of laundry, so I don't have much blogging time. However, we had a great visit from Doug, Wilda, and Ben for Thanksgiving. Wilda came bearing gifts, but the most beautiful of all is this wreath that she made for my front door.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Ms. Beasley

Remember our encounters with law enforcement looking for the elusive Ms. Charmaine Beasley? After a guy stopped by last month looking for her (with a tow truck), I learned that her name is acutally Sharmingra Beasley. I Googled a little bit, and found out that she's listed as an unlicensed mortgage broker in the state of TX - and she had a business address (small mortgage company called Real Women Mortgage, or something ridiculous like that) listed in Dallas.

So, back in late October when we were leaving to spend the weekend in Mississippi, we were literally getting ready to get in the car and leave town, when I looked out the front door window and saw two gentlemen approaching - wearing big guns strapped to their belts. I told Cass that he needed to answer that one. They identified themselves as sheriffs from the Dallas Fort Worth airport. They wanted to know if Sharmingra Beasley was available.

Apparently, Ms. Beasley rented a car from the Alamo desk at DFW back in September, and she never returned it to them. They were looking for a white Toyota Yaris. They even showed us a photo of dear Sharmingra, lovely woman. We explained to them everything we knew about her, including the info I got from Google recently. I think it was news to them that she was in the mortgage business, so hopefully that will get them a little bit closer to catching her.

I think that from her mortgage business exposure, she somehow knew that this address was a foreclosure and was therefore empty for a period of time. She's probably been using the address for her criminal activities, even though she never lived here (her name is nowhere on the deed history for the house), to throw people off track.

I'd love to know if/when they catch up to her. But I probably won't.

Opera

I've tried several times since Sunday night to make this post, but our internet service is of the dial-up quality these days. My first 100 attempts at uploading this photo resulted in "timeout", so I had to resort to uploading a smaller resized version. Remember the days of clicking on a link and patiently waiting for minutes or more to have an entire page of images load? That is what I've been dealing with for about a week now.



We took the kids to the Dallas Opera on Sunday. Cass heard on the radio that they were doing The Marriage of Figaro, and he thought we should take the kids for their first opera experience.

Surprisingly, they made it through the whole thing! It was 4 acts, with 3 intermissions - it lasted a total of 4 hours. Luke fell asleep during the 3rd act but woke up in time to see the last act. Logan didn't have her glasses, so she couldn't read any of the subtitles. Cameron seemed to enjoy it. The most important thing (to me) was that they got a healthy dose of Performance Etiqutte - where you're seated, theater doors close, the performance begins, and everyone stays quietly in their seat while the performers are singing. No getting up and down, no talking, no cell phone calls. The theater-goers respectfully focus on the performers and their work WITHOUT creating distractions. I've been to too many school performances and piano recitals where people are completely disrespectful.

Next time, we might find a good Broadway show to take them to see.

Here's a new one

Luke did not get a PPP today.

"Stomping on grapes in the lunch room."

Edited to add: When I was putting him to bed, he told me "There's a girl in my class, Samantha, and she gets a Purple Paw Print EVERY day!"

Methinks Luke likes Samantha a little bit. :)

Conversations with Luke

When I grow up, I want to be: a whale trainer

Luke: I like being a whale trainer.
Me: Really? What does a whale trainer do?
Luke: You teach a whale how to do a flip out of the water.
Me: Oh. How do you do that?
Luke: You have to do a flip out of the water to show them how.

(pauses)

Luke: Fry is a whale trainer. (Futurama reference)
---------------------------------

I like Samantha because she wears the prettiest clothes in the class.
One time I found a feather on the playground and I gave it to her.
She has it at her house.

MSMS/MSU weekend

Too much to write about, so I'll just post the pictures. :)

In front of the new Colvard Student Union

I'm disappointed that this turned out blurry - but Clay, Paul, and Cass at the tailgate

Best hosts ever - Derek and Jean

Parachutists jumped out of a helicopter and delivered the game ball
(we were glad none of them broke any limbs, like last time!)

The new HD video scoreboard - it is BAD ASS (there's no other way to describe!)

Great seats - Thanks Jean, Joel, Derek!

This was supposed to be a Maroon Out - but I wore black funeral attire myself

Bully!

Band!

Another shot of the massive scoreboard

A small band group came around and played the Fight Song in front of the crowd at different spots

I also have some cute pictures of Luke playing with Clay and Ashley's kids - but I'm not sure if they'd be OK with them on a public blog. So if you'd like a link, I'll be glad to send it.

Veterans' Day poem

The 4th and 5th graders were put into groups and asked to write a poem about Veterans' Day. They chose the top 3, which will be read at the Veterans' Day program on November 11. Cameron's group - Sage, Caitlin, Logan, and Cameron - won 1st place in the poetry contest!

Do you ever wonder why our flag is there,
Waving proudly in the air?
Red is for blood, blue is for pride,
White is how we stand side by side.

The veterans are the ones who saved
All the ones that are here today.
The eleventh hour, the eleventh month,
The eleventh day, hurray, hurray!

This is why we're here
To show you we do not fear.
The veterans we have were not afraid,
That is more than we can ever say.

Veterans, though you may not have seen
How much you really mean,
Know that we will always care,
And appreciate that you've been there.

Cold front

47 degrees this morning:

Luke: (yells) Mom!! I can't find any long sleeve pants!

Orthodontist report

A couple of weeks ago, Cameron had her "records" appointment with the orthodontist. Basically, they did impressions of her teeth, took photos and measurements of her face, and took a bunch of different x-rays. The ortho evaluated everything and sent us a detailed report of what he found and which treatment plans he recommends.

He gave us 2 options. (1)We can keep doing what we had been doing - she had a lingual arch on bottom to hold some space. That can be left in, perhaps a space maintainer on top too - and it will be quite a tight fit for when her permanent teeth come in. Extractions to make room are a likelihood.

Or (2) We can do phase I/early treatment and try to help her jaws expand enough to accommodate her permanent teeth when they're all in. That involves a palate expander in the roof of her mouth, a lip bumper on the outside of the bottom teeth, AND a limited set of brackets/braces on the permanent teeth that she does have now.

All of this is supposed to take about a year. And then after that, phase II is the full set of braces to correct all problems for the permanent set of teeth, which will take about 2 years.

I was prepared for all of this info. We had a consultation with this ortho back in the summer, and he told us about the options. We took some time to think about it and do some research. We decided to go ahead with early treatment for her, so that we don't have to remove teeth. It was my understanding that they place the expanders first, then later add the braces. But for some reason, he's going to put the braces on Cameron right away. Like 2 weeks from yesterday.

So she's got separators between her back molars right now, they're doing another set of impressions at the next appointment to make the expanders, and she's getting braces in 2 weeks.

Good news - Logan doesn't have this space issue and won't need the whole phase I/early treatment. We just have to wait until she gets all her permanent teeth in, and she'll go straight to phase II. He says she'll only need braces for about 18 months.

Last soccer game!

The Blaze won, something-0. Undefeated, 8-0 for the season!!

We're at the party now. Go Blaze!!

End of Cheetahs season

Last game yesterday. They lost 3-2. So, they're 5-1-2 for the season. Not bad! Cameron's team last fall was 0-11. :)

After the game, they had a team party at a park in Rockwall. It was really nice weather, the park was great, and the kids had fun.

Upside down Cameron

Logan and Lindsay (her sister is on the Cheetahs too)

Tara, Cameron, Brooke, Alexis (who I think looks like DD White), Lochlen

Cameron

Crazy Luke

Donut holes

I give Rockwall/Heath a hard time, because it's not the place I expected it to be. I haven't been struck by the love of the place that others around here seem to have. I mean, it's not a terrible place, but I hold it up to Round Rock/Austin. And I don't think anything will compare for a long time.

Anyway, I thought I'd share a nice story about where I live.

Cameron and Logan had friends, Maddie and Lauren (also sisters), over to spend the night last night. We went out to try a new Chinese place and rented movies for the kids to watch. This morning, I decided to go pick up muffins, fruit, and donuts for breakfast. I went to the donut place by Kroger that we frequented in the summer. I love the donut holes, the kids love any and all of their donuts.

I asked for a dozen glazed, and that was all I was planning to get. Pretty unusual, because I almost always get a few dozen donut holes. After the lady got my order ready and rang it up, her husband walked over and put down a bag of a dozen donut holes for me on top of my box of donuts. Free donut holes! For me!

Cheetahs

Cheetahs have won 2 games so far this week. 3-0 on Tuesday night and 3-1 tonight. They're 5-0-2. One more game left - on Saturday!

Read-a-Thon

The kids' school did a Read-a-Thon back in September to raise money. Basically, they had 2 weeks to record their minutes of reading and get pledges based on how many minutes the read. This week in library, they are giving out awards for most minutes read, most money raised, etc.

Cameron brought home a certificate on Monday. She raised the most money in her class. Today, Luke brought home a medal - he says he had the most minutes read in his class, but I suspect that he actually raised the most money instead. Logan hasn't been to library this week yet.

They get to go to a pizza party on a Sunday afternoon in November. I think it's at Jump 'n Jive.

Luke's field trip

The kindergarten classes went to Green Meadows Petting Farm in Grand Prairie today.

Luke's observations:

He got to milk a cow!!!
There was a llama named Speckle.
There was a horse named Rose and she was really furry down by her hoof.
He got to pet horses, pigs, goats, baby chicks, sheep.
He saw some turkeys.
They had a picnic.
They went on a hayride!
His class rode on bus no. 46
Bus no. 46 is 5 away from Bus no. 41 (that he rides to/from school)
He sat on a seat by himself on the bus.
He fell asleep on the way back to school
Mrs. Mc took a picture of him asleep. :)

What's going on?

Most of my recent blogging has been about soccer. So, other than that, what's going on here?

Cameron - just got her most recent progress report. She's got all As in her subjects and Es (for excellent) in Art/P.E./Music and conduct. She's taking piano and voice lessons, as well as playing soccer. She is in the Drama Club at school, and they've begun working on their production of Twas the Night Before Christmas. In addition, she talked me into letting her take a 10 week workshop at the local community theater, so she's learning about musical theater. She's found 2 really close friends, Logan (which makes life confusing!) and Maddie.

Logan - much the same as Cameron. She got all As in her subjects on her progress report - and all Es for Art/P.E./Music and conduct. She's taking only piano (no voice) and playing soccer. I personally think her soccer team is good enough to go pro. :) She is in the Jump Rope Club at school, and sometime they'll be doing some of their routines at halftime of a H.S. football game. At the last minute, Logan decided to do the 10 week musical theater workshop as well. Logan's got lots of friends, and I'm sure the name of her BFF would change based on which day I asked her.

Luke - ~sigh~. We're starting the 8th week of school, and he still hasn't gotten in line. Just last week, he got Lunch Detention for throwing a rock at a friend. We don't know what else to try with him, because he just doesn't care about losing rewards or losing privileges or getting punished. Cass and I are meeting with his teacher on Tuesday, so hopefully we can try to figure it out together. Tomorrow, his class is going on a field trip to a Petting Farm. We almost decided to keep him home, but I couldn't do it - they need the fun learning experiences to help them love school. As far as academic progress, he's doing great. He's finally decided he wants to learn to read, and he's picking it up quickly.

Cass - I don't really know what Cass is doing at work. He has been spending all his free time lately working on writing an application for the iPhone.

Me - just trying to keep up with the kids' schedules and make sure they get where they need to when they need to be there. On Saturdays, I spend most of the day watching college football. I rarely get as far out as the interstate - which is a huge change for me. We really live on the wrong side and too far out of Dallas to take advantage of anything cool out there. I'm stuck out here in Mayberry. :) (The current mayor lives across the street from us!)

Daily soccer update

Blaze won 5-2 tonight. 7-0-0 for the season. 1 game left.

Logan sat out because of her foot. I was thinking that the last game was this Saturday, but it's actually a week from Saturday. So she might be able to play by then.

Pictures

Blaze team photo

Soccer injury

Just got a phone call from the pediatrician. X-ray report shows no fracture. Whew! Still, no P.E. or sports for a week.

Blaze

Blaze won 4-2 tonight. They're 6-0-0, with 2 games left.

Logan came away from the game with an injury. Sometime during the first half, a girl on the other team stomped on her foot while trying to get the ball. Logan's big toe is swollen and bruised, so we're probably going to take her to get it x-rayed tomorrow.

Tournament

We rolled out of the house at 7:05am today to go to the soccer tournament. Cameron played on the hour, Logan played on the half hour. From 8am until 2pm. Logan played in 5 games, Cameron played in 7 games. Oy.

Logan ended up playing on the Blaze 2000 White team. They played in the boys' division, and they lost all of their games. Cameron's team, Cheesy Cheetahs, won all their games and made it into the finals. They lost the final game, and all I'll say about that is that the little ref allowed the other team's coaches to ref the game. It was ridiculous. But they won silver medals, and they were really happy about that.

Soccer

Both girls had a game last night. The Cheetahs won theirs 2-0, so they are 3-0-2. The Blaze won 2-1, so they are 5-0-0. Only 3 regular season games left! Whew!

This Saturday is the Amy Mussetter 4v4 Tournament. Both of them wanted to play, so we signed them up. Cameron is on the Cheesy Cheetahs, and Logan is on the Blaze 1999 team. Cameron's team is playing in their regular U12 girls bracket. Logan's coach likes to challenge his players, so the 2000 kids are playing in the U9&U10 boys bracket. The 1999 kids are playing up in the U12 girls bracket. So - YES, there is a possibility that the Cheesy Cheetahs (Cameron) and the Blaze 1999 (Logan) will meet on the field.

Logan's team is a mix of 1999 and 2000 kids - they have 3rd and 4th graders (and 1 5th grader, because Kylie skipped a grade). Logan is unique, because she is a 1999er, but she is in 3rd grade (she made the cutoff, but we kept her back a year). Anyway, I just assumed she'd play with the 1999ers because it's never been an issue before, but one of the other Moms (busy body) was trying to tell me that he'll divide it up by grade. If he does that, she'll be with the 2000s - so why did he specify teams by year?

Regardless, we have to be there at 7:30am tomorrow. They play every half hour through noon. Then at 1pm and 2pm, they'll have the semifinals and finals. Top 3 teams in each division get medals. Everybody gets a t-shirt.

Visitors

Last night, we had some overnight company. Cass's cousin Stewart got a new job in Dallas, and he came out to search for an apartment since he starts the job on Monday. Aunt Eve came with him, as well as his girlfriend Kate.

They brought 3 cars. Stewart's and Kate's are packed with all their stuff - and they left them in our garage for safe keeping.

We took them to Blue Canyon last night when they got here. We had a nice dinner and nice conversation. Eve and Cass love to debate the tough stuff like religion and politics, and they're able to do so without getting all personal about it. :)

It was nice to see them and to finally meet Kate. Now Eve will have good reason to visit often!

The Blaze strikes again

They won 3-0 tonight. Logan played keeper for the first half, and thankfully the other team only got in front of the goal once.

They're 4-0-0 on the season. Next game on Thursday.

Random stuff

Just got back from the orthodontist with Cameron. This was the "records" appointment where they take pictures, make x-rays, and do impressions. We got him to remove her lingual arch so that the dentist can x-ray those teeth. It's been on there for about 2 years now, and she says it feels weird now that it's out.

The school sent home with each child a ticket to the Texas State Fair. They got them last week, tomorrow is their school Fair Day holiday. I remembered that the girls told me that Luke's ticket was in the front pocket of his backpack, so I got it out this morning. It's one of those perforated event tickets, which are not valid if they've been torn along the perforation. Yep. Luke tore his up when he got it.

After having a substitute teacher last week (which was a total disaster for Luke), he has gotten 2 PPPs in a row. Last week was Very Bad.

Makeover

I was looking through Simply Chic blog backgrounds today with the intent of using one of their templates. But then I decided that I don't like how they load in so slowly. So I found a new one in Blogger that I like and decided to try it out.

I wish it was that easy to change the decor in my house.

Saturday soccer

Cheetahs won 5-0 today (against a team they tied earlier). They are 2-0-2

Blaze

The Blaze won 6-0 tonight. They are 3-0 on the season. I'm quite sure at this point, they'd beat the crap out of Mississippi State's football team.

The photo Dad was there tonight, as well as a professional photographer that another parent hired. I'll put up the photos after they put them on the website. Yes, the Blaze have their own dedicated website.

A small glimpse

Yesterday, Cass and I were sitting at our desks in the office. Luke comes up behind Cass, taps him on the shoulder, and explains that he made some snow. He was very proud, but we turned around and realized that he'd shredded up lots of paper and put it all over the ground.

We made him clean it up, which involved Cass's BFD . I thought it was funny that the BFD is about as big as Luke, and I'm pretty sure it outweighs him. So I pulled out the camera and got a video clip of him in action.


Every once in a while, I get a small glimpse of Cass must have been like at that age.

Cheetahs win!

They are now 1-0-2.

Sent from my iPhone

1 year

1 year ago today, I started my blog. It started from an online journaling course that I took through the kids' school, and here I am 1 year and 238 posts later.

A lot has changed in a year. The biggest change is that we moved. The kids are now 10, 9, and 6. They're all in full-day school (HALLELUJAH!). Cass is now a professional computer game programmer and amateur iPhone app writer. I'm now enjoying some quiet, calm hours in my life and I'm addicted to Facebook. We haven't been on any interesting trips lately - mental note: we've got to renew Luke's passport.

I'm still irritated by the dumb things people do (especially bad driving). I still love shoes and ZAPPOS. I still adore my iPhone (it rings like a cowbell now).

So after a year, I guess I'd say that this blog exists primarily to record day-to-day life, mostly the things that make us chuckle. The stuff we want to remember. So that we can always look back and remember how it was. So with that, I'll leave you with this lovely story....

Yesterday morning, I was helping Luke get ready for school. We were in my bathroom and I was helping brush his teeth and comb his hair. He was sitting up on my bathroom counter, and he let out a very LOUD fart (for lack of a better descriptive word). He giggled hysterically (of course - because bathroom humor is the funniest kind of humor), and he looked at me and said,

"Wow! That sounded like a trumpet!"

Now I can't think or hear about a trumpet without laughing out loud.

Soccer

I watched Cameron's team, even though Cam is gone, and they tied
again. They're 0-0-2.

Will update after Logan's game.

The Blaze won 12-0, and Logan scored a goal!!! They're 2-0 on the season now.

Luke's Family Tree

He did it!

Luke made off the bus at the right stop all by himself! Yay!

Sent from my iPhone

Will he make it?

Cameron's class left for their field trip this morning. Logan is staying after school to go to Jump Rope Club. Luke will be on his own to get on the bus and ride it home. AND get off at the right stop by our house.

Stay tuned.....

Go Blaze!

I had to come back and add more. The Blaze won tonight, so they're 1-0-0 on the season.

I got an email from one of the Dads on the team. He was there with his fancy camera tonight, and he set up a shutterfly site to share his pictures with us. He took 113 pictures. The match only lasted 60 minutes! Oy vey. They were really good pictures, though. Logan is #8.

Two teeth

Last night (while she was in bed) Cameron pulled the loose tooth in front of the one she had pulled yesterday. The Tooth Fairy brought $10!

Teeth

Cameron was finally able to go for a dental checkup today. Her original appointment got postponed, because she had mono. She's had this bump-looking thing on her upper left gums since sometime in August, so I was glad we could finally have someone look at it. Come to think of it, it was there when we saw the orthodontist back in July, and he didn't even mention it. Makes me wonder...

Anyway, she got her cleaning, and she's got 1 cavity that we have to get filled tomorrow. They also have to replace the sealants on some of her molars, because they have gotten kind of flaky. Logan had the same thing done at her checkup in August.

So, on to the bump-looking thingy. She pointed it out to me after it showed up 6-8 weeks ago. I questioned her about it, but it didn't seem to bother her at all. Other than just being weird. So I just made a mental note to ask about it the next time we were at the dentist. Today after her cleaning, they brought me back and the hygienist tells me that she's got an abscessed tooth. SHEESH!

This isn't the first time she's had one. In the 3rd grade, she kept complaining about a tooth (on the opposite side) and I finally took her in to have it looked at, and it was abscessed. She had it pulled, and it was quite a mess. Everything was fine, but it was quite infected. Pulling it solved all that.

The dentist asks me if it's OK to go ahead and pull it today. He didn't want to leave it in any longer, so she wouldn't be at risk for pain or worse. So I said OK, and they numbed her up. Before I knew it, it was out. This one wasn't as obviously infected as the first. But really - HOW many infected teeth is she going to have to endure?

She's got very little room for her big teeth (from me) to come in, and I think it's causing problems. I've called and we're off to the orthodontist again - this time to get impressions and start with the palate expander. Oy.

Teeth are so much fun.

Sky Ranch

So this week, Cameron's 5th grade class is going on a field trip. They are spending 3 days/2 nights at Sky Ranch for their Outdoor Education Program. Seriously - I have to pack her up like she's going off to camp this week.

They will stay in cabins there (which Cameron points out, are air-conditioned) and during the day they will go to outdoor classes. Limnology, Forces in Nature, Ranch, Life, and Terrestrial Ecology. The evening activities will consist of Campfire and Star Program. They will also have recreation time, where they can do water slides, soccer, volleyball, hiking, soda shop, souvenirs, etc. All of this will fulfill the teaching of Science TEKS for the Science TAKS test they'll be taking in April.

Where in the world was this kind of stuff when I was in school? Seriously.

Ike

TS Ike is here.

RNFs

I could be depressed about all the rain we've been having, but it's gotten me out of a few soccer practices and one game! Score!

Luke got 4 PPPs in a row, then came home with a frowny face today (for pushing while in line). So close to earning that Xbox game, but no dice.

It's taking me a long time to warm up to new Facebook - then today Photos and Status Updates have not worked all. day. long. Not how to woo me.

We have no vacations on the horizon. What is up with that? I'm starting to need to go to London.

I bought a pair of skinny jeans today. I'm unsure if I feel the love for that whole look, but I'll give it a try.

Go Cheetahs!

Cheetahs start the season 0-0-1.

The Phone Call

So yesterday, Cass and I got The Phone Call. From Luke's teacher. For the record, this was our first such phone call with any child.

On the first day, he explained to me how he *almost* got a purple paw print. Well, since then I've become quite acquainted with the behavioral/discipline system that they've got set up for kindergarten.

Each day, the kids all start out with a Purple Paw Print. If they're misbehaving, they get a Warning. If they continue, they have to move their color to Yellow. Next infraction is Green (5 min timeout). Then comes Blue (10 min timeout, call to parents). Finally, the big one is Red (meeting with The Principal).

Luke has been up and down. He started out with Yellow, then Purple Paw Print, PPP again, back to Yellow. At this point it's Thursday of Week 1. Cass and I decided to give him some major incentive to get PPPs. We promised him that if he gets 5 PPPs in a row, we will get him the new Viva Pinata game for XBox. This is HUGE to him, because he loves that game. I figured we had totally outsmarted him.

Friday was PPP. Monday was a holiday for Labor Day. Tuesday was PPP. Woo hoo! We won! Then came Wednesday (yesterday). I checked the voicemail on my cellphone before I walked down to meet the kids at the bus. There was a Phone Call From the Teacher. Yikes. I didn't have time to call her back right then so it would have to wait until after I had gotten the kids.

Luke got off the bus dragging his feet. I could see on his face that he had not had a good day. Of course, he doesn't ever want to talk about it when he's gotten in trouble - but I was able to get out of him that he just wanted to talk to his friends even though the teacher had asked him to be quiet. And BTW, I know that I never get the full story from him when he has to tell me about stuff like this. :) I opened his daily folder, and there it was - BLUE. With a frowny face.

Left voicemail for the teacher, but she didn't call back for a while. Cass was getting antsy to hear what had happened, so he called her again. He got her, so he conferenced me in. From what I can tell, she's a really good teacher and she's just trying to get a handle on the class in the first couple of weeks, so that they don't get out of hand later. She's got 23 kids in there, for which they had to have a waiver from the state, so she's got a big task. I don't think she had any real concern about his behavior, but she wanted him to know that she *would* follow through with what she told him. I think he will fall in line sooner or later - but given the choice, he'll do it later. I hope we have the patience to make it through.

I guess there's a first time for everything. I think we're going to experience a lot of firsts with our last.

Activities, anyone?

We've nearly got a week of school behind us, and already the activities are heating up. Soccer started 2 weeks ago (both girls), and now we're adding piano/voice (both girls in piano, Cameron in voice), drama club (Cameron), and jump rope club (Logan). I just realized that Luke is in *nothing*, since he decided he didn't want to play soccer. I think I agree with Luke. Nothing is good.

This is in stark contrast to BPE, our old school, which had absolutely NO after school clubs/activities. DSPE has running club, jump rope club, drama club, honor choir, safety patrol, and color guard.

Apparently, here they play their soccer games on random nights, not just on Saturdays like Round Rock did. So we'll be scheduling soccer games in there, too.

Can't wait for homework to start!

Fun times!

Worn out

Kindergarten is pretty tough.

Marcus, are you watching Gustav?

Looks like this one might be trouble for us.

First day

Luke tells me "of you get 10 purple paws, then you get to pick something out of the treasure box!" (purple paw = good behavior)

I asked if he got a purple paw today.

"Well, I got a #1, which is almost like a purple paw." (Translation, he got yellow warning for #1 rule not following directions)

He also told me that he made a friend named T.J., who was sitting at his table - but he got switched to another table because they were talking too much. Now Luke is sitting at a "table with ALL girls and ONLY ONE BOY!" Yuck. :)

The girls had a good day. Cameron really likes her teacher, who she had for math last year. They will start switching classes on Wednesday, so she hasn't seen her other teachers. She and her friends want to sign up for Drama Club. Logan has lots and LOTS of friends in her class. She says her teacher told her all about 3rd grade, and she's sure she's not going to like it.

Back to School

School supply drop-off

Luke takes the whole Panther mascot thing a little too seriously. :)

Luke's class seems to have a lot of boys in it. I'm afraid that may not be a good thing.

Logan has her friend Claire in her class, and she gets a locker this year.

Cameron has her friend Logan in her homeroom class. She's got 4 different teachers - her math teacher is the same math teacher she had last year. They are also going on an overnight field trip to Sky Ranch this year.

Random stuff

The US dollar is actually up. Quick! Everybody to Europe! It's cheap right now. LOL!

Who is going to be Obama's running mate?

Tonight is meet the teacher and school supply dropoff. School starts Monday. YAY!

Cass got his first review at his new job. It was good. I think they like him. Do you think we can convince them to move their offices to Austin?

ESPN Game Plan. To purchase, or not to purchase?

The drag queens on Project Runway this week were fabulous!

Illness for everyone

Logan has strep.

That is all.

Happy Birthday.......

... Logan!! 9 years old today!

Happy Birthday........

Luke!! 6 years old today!

(I edited to put in a more appropriate photo - shopping in Party City today)

MSMS 20 year celebration, Part 3

Friday, continued (Friday was a really long day!)
At the Alumni Meet and Greet/Open Forum, Mr. Brown and all the other members of the administration got up and gave brief (and some not so brief!) updates on the state of the school. A lot of the current administration is new, but they really impressed me with their enthusiasm for the students and, dare I say it, the alumni. After the admins were done, Aubrey gave sort of a then and now speech, since he's been around to see all the changes. Then Orlando Hill, class of 1999, showed up and gave an update on the newly elected Board from the Alumni Association. The only other board member in attendance was Jeremy Crawford, class of 2004. When they opened the floor for alumni to air their concerns, Jennie immediately got up and hung all the laundry out to dry. I mean, as well as she did on her first speech, this one was equally as impressive. I think you all know what she got up and said, so I won't rehash it here. But girlfriend threw down.

And, quite unexpectedly, Mr. Brown addressed our concerns, even agreeing with most if not all of them. I really believe that they are working to get things straightened out, so that the school can reap the benefits. It's my impression that there was a lot of inaction and apathy for the last few years, so they already were in a pretty undesirable position to begin with. Throw in what the legislature did to them, and it was a disaster. They WANT alumni input/feedback - I think Mr. Brown would have talked to Jennie and me nonstop for the entire weekend if we had allowed it. We ended up going to his office after the meeting and writing a few checks. It felt good to actually do something to help, outside of the Foundation.

I feel significantly better about my hopes for MSMS administration that wants to involve alumni. He wanted to know what they could do for us, as far as reunions and whatnot go - I told him that we are pretty comfortable with doing reunions on our own, but that I felt that the school should host a Homecoming type event every single year at the same time of the year. Something that people can count on and plan for when they're able to. If they can get the alumni on campus and give them a weekend like they just did (or even better - with actual food at the picnic!), the alumni will start to respond. Jennie kept reiterating that they needed to be patient, because there have been many years of neglect, but that eventually people will most likely come around.

So after that, we ran into a group of class of 2005, including the MSU blog guy, so we stopped and chatted for a good while. I enjoyed hearing their stories. So similar, yet so different. They kept us out way too late (um, 11:30pm or so? LOL!). I don't think MSMS had even had curfew yet by the time we were heading back to the hotels.

Saturday
We planned to meet at Hooper for the Emissary tour that started at 10:30am. Of course, they had the Emissary tours departing from the tent out on the lawn that used to be Simmons, so we had to track them down and join a few minutes late. We toured most of the places we had already seen - Hogarth Dining Center, Hogarth Student Union, Shackleford, Performing Arts Studio - but we got to go into the 2 dorms that they use now, Goen and Frazer. After that, we went in the new MUW Stark Recreation Center, which was built to replace Pohl Gym that was destroyed in the tornado a few years ago. Side note: Peyton Hall was significantly damaged in that tornado resulting in a pretty quick move-out, and Fant sustained some damage that eventually resulted in MSMS leaving it behind after a couple of years had passed. The new rec center is fantastic, and MSMS has free use of it. Apparently, the activities center right in front of Fant that we used isn't habitable anymore either. Props to the W for having so many spare buildings around for us. LOL!

After the tour, we went to the tent for the picnic events. The Alumni Association provided soft drinks and ice cream, so they are actually collecting some dues now. We got to meet and chat with Patti Vizzini, the President of the PLUS organization. She was also quite impressive. She really wants to reach out to alumni for help. She helped start up a Needs/Wants/Wishes list from the faculty and students that she hopes she can get into the hands of alumni to get fulfilled. Her daughter is class of 2006 (we met her on Friday night), and her son is class of 2009 I think. We also got to meet another person on the Board of the AA - Ginger Tedder, class of 1992.

Then we went over to Hooper again - Mississippi Public Broadcasting is putting together a documentary on MSMS, with the help of Mr. (I mean Dr.) McCaleb. They had cameras set up in Mr. Carter's room to film individual people telling their stories. Mr. Brown has the intent to buy a similar camera, so that they can do some of their own filming for the documentary. Jennie and I gave our testimony, and I'm convinced that mine sounded not-so-interesting. Then we were both headed out of town.

Overall, it was a very busy, very successful weekend. I have hope, yet again, that things might get on the right track. All I can do is keep my ear to the ground and wait and see what develops. I really hope that I am pleasantly surprised, like I was this weekend.


P.S. - Cameron is doing fine. Still has mono. Bloodwork was normal. They told us that the headaches and nosebleeds are normal and gave us some things to do to help prevent them. 2 more weeks until she can resume physical activity (like soccer practice, which starts this week!).

MSMS 20 year celebration, Part 2

Continued from below:

Friday, continued
At 4pm, there was a mixer for alumni and current students in the upstairs of Hogarth. We got there after it had started, and it was pretty crowded. I think the current students turned out en masse, because there were cookies and drinks. They had set up some tables with displays - one was of past prom paraphernalia, one was the Southern Voices magazines through the years, and there was a slide projector with pictures, but none of us because we pre-date the digital age.

Jennie and I were looking at the Southern Voices editions that contain some wonderful poetry by Mr. Marcus M., when a current student came over and introduced himself to Jennie. He complimented her on the Opening Convocation speech and told her that he was interested in medical school. I think he actually wanted to talk and get some advice from her, but suddenly we were accosted by Rick Smith (new Director of Admissions and Outreach and Hyperactivity) with a photographer from the Commercial Disgrace (um, I mean Dispatch - ode to Ms. Morris). He wanted us to "be natural" and continue the discussion, but could you scoot in? and turn this way a little? It was pretty distracting. I don't think Manoj got too much from the conversation, but then again he's got a 36 on the ACT - so I think he'll make it fine.

Right after that, Rick Smith showed up again, this time with a reporter from the Commercial Dispatch. He wanted to ask us some questions. It took a little while, but he finally got us to unzip our lips and talk a little bit about how we feel about the room and board fee that the State Legislature sneaked into their Education Appropriations bill at the very. last. minute. back in April or May. Effers. Anyway, the reporter was actually a 21 year old intern from University of Missouri (Mizzou!). Props to him, because his article made the front page of the Dispatch, from what I understand.

After the mixer, we were supposed to go to the MSMS Cafeteria for dinner. We walked in, and Holy Mother of SomethingorOther!!! Their cafeteria is absolutely breathtaking (compared to the dungeon that we had). It's open, light, clean, full of choices and choices and CHOICES of delicious, hot, real food. Seriously, we had slop, and they have food of the gods. We didn't really want to eat, and good thing because they had to run us out of there to close at 6pm. Also, there is no longer the dividing wall that separates MSMS from MUW. They're allowed to sit where they want. And the W likes it (well, I don't really know that, but that's lightyears from when they wanted us run out of town!).

The last event of the day was the Alumni Meet and Greet - but let's just call it the Open Forum, because that's where we put it ALL out there.

OK, hate to leave you hanging, but I've really got to leave NOW to get Cameron to the doctor! More to come.......

MSMS 20 year celebration

Warning. This post is probably going to be long. If it gets too long, I may split it into a few posts.

Thursday
I arrived in Columbus right after 10am. When I would make that drive in 1998-1990, it would take right at 3 hours - on Thursday it took me 2 hrs 15 min. I met Jennie at her hotel, then we went to Peppers Deli for lunch. After lunch, we headed to the MSMS campus because she had to be at the Mary Wilson House by 1pm. The Mary Wilson House used to be the Director's home, but now they use it for administration offices.

I assumed that I'd just let Jennie go do her "important speaker" duties while I headed off to sit in the auditorium, but Mr. Brown (the new Executive Director, who used to be in the admin right after we graduated) invited me in with Jennie. We sat in his office and chatted for a little while, then headed over to the Nissan Auditorium which is in Parkinson Hall. During the Opening Convocation, I sat with the faculty and alumni (which consisted of myself and Aubrey) right behind Mr. Carter, who was filming it. Jennie's speech was absolutely fantastic. I cannot wait until she posts the text of it on her blog, because it really was wonderful. She represented our class so well.

At the end of the ceremony, Mr. Brown called Aubrey and me up onto the stage for a "special presentation." He had 20 year service pins for the remaining original faculty members, and he wanted us to present their pins to them. Mr. and Mrs. Carter, Mrs. Richardson, Dr. MacNeill, Dr. Davidson (I hope I didn't miss someone). Of course, Mr. Carter was wearing his collection of service pins on his lapel. :)

Afterwards, we stayed around campus for a while, walked around Hooper, went over to see Aubrey's classroom in Shackleford, etc. We were going to go out for dinner, but ended up just watching some TV and going to bed. We are old, you know.

Friday
For some reason, I had it in my mind that the Emissary tours were on Friday, so we got to campus at about 10:30am expecting our tour. However, the day's events didn't start until the dedication of the MSMS Performing Arts Center at 3pm. Since we had some "free time" we decided we would drive over to Friendship Cemetery and visit our dearly departed faculty members. We found Ms. Morris right away, but it took a few minutes before Jennie finally spotted Mr. Butler. After we checked on them, I wanted to find Blake's great Aunt Mary Ellen, who used to take Blake and Cass to church with her. (stop laughing! I'm sure Cass was perfectly polite about it:) After that, we went back to campus.

We had a little more time to kill before 3pm, so we bought some soft drinks and sat out in the courtyard behind Hogarth for a little bit. Pretty soon it was time, so we went over to the MSMS Performing Arts Center. This is the old MUW Laundry facility, and it's located right behind Shackleford, which is where MSMS has its History and Computer classes now. It didn't look like much from the outside, but on the inside they have a really nice space for band and choir and whatever else they have now. We nearly missed the dedication, because all they did was sing the Alma Mater. LOL! After the crowd thinned out, we saw that Mr. Franklin had been in attendance for the dedication. We were quickly spotted, so there was no making a run for it. Lynn House was also with him, and it was good to see her. She wouldn't get in a photo with us, so Jennie and I were stuck taking a photo with just Johnny. Ms. House indicated that they needed to "head south" so we were relieved that he wouldn't be around for the rest of the weekend's activities.

OK, this is getting long, so I'm going to continue in the next post...... after I take Cameron to the pediatrician.

Pictures coming

I'm working on getting my pictures uploaded, but it's proving to be a slow process for some strange reason.

Until then, you can enjoy this newspaper article from the MSMS 20 Year Celebration.

MSMS alums displeased with student fees legislation

By Jordan Novet
jnovet@cdispatch.com
Saturday, August 9, 2008 9:14 PM CDT

Alumni of Mississippi School for Mathematics and Science converged on the school for a reunion Friday, celebrating 20 years of MSMS.

And the chorus of alums — recent and old - sang the same song: A new $500 room-and-board fee could be detrimental to the school.

“If you’re kinda on the fence, that might keep somebody from coming,” said Matthew Bell, a 2003 MSMS graduate from Tupelo who is now working on a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from Mississippi State University, during a reception for MSMS alumni and current students held in the school’s Hogarth Rec Room.

His friend Barry Youngblood agreed.

“While most students can pay (the fee), it prevents certain socioeconomic classes from attending, or even trying to attend,” said Youngblood, a 2003 MSMS graduate from Gulfport who is finishing his bachelor’s degree in physics at MSU.

In April, the Legislature attached a provision to House Bill 513 requiring each MSMS student, except those enrolled in the state’s Children’s Health Insurance Program, to pay a $500 room-and-board fee per semester.

CHIP is a state-funded health plan for families who cannot afford health insurance but earn too much to be eligible for Medicaid.

The fee might change the demographics of the school’s students, said Brandi Williams, a 2004 MSMS graduate from Collins, who is now a second-year master’s student in English at MSU.

“You’re not getting the best; you’re getting the people who can pay,” Williams said.

Current faculty members told her the number of applicants has dropped, she added.

Timing

Some alumni disapproved of the timing of the provision, which came at the end of the regular 2008 session.

“I didn’t like the manner in which it was thrust upon MSMS, because they weren’t able to put into place a system for helping the students,” said Cindy Everitt, a stay-at-home mom living in Dallas, who grew up in Indianola. Everitt, in 1990, was in the first class of MSMS graduates.

“MSMS was pretty much blindsided with this,” Everitt continued. “They had just a few months to make sure that all of the current students were able to return this year, to make sure it wasn’t an issue, which I understand it really was for a few.”

Everitt said one current student she spoke with said she had to work all summer in order to keep going to the school.

Missed opportunity

She and other alumni didn’t think they would have attended if they had been required to pay the fees.

“I’m not sure that my parents would have been able to afford the tuition if it had been in place,” Everitt said.

“I think over $1,000 would have been difficult for my family,” echoed Jennie Vernon, a friend of Everitt’s, who also graduated from MSMS in 1990.

“I can’t say with certainty that they would have been able to do that. And I think it definitely would have caused them a lot of pause to send me here,” continued Vernon, who grew up in Oxford and is now a pediatrician in Denver. She said the education would have been worth the money, though.

“While my family would have been able to pay, there’s some people who could really benefit from this type of education, and I really hate that they would miss out on an opportunity like this,” said Laura Williams, a 2004 MSMS graduate from Gulfport who is working on a master’s degree in accounting at MSU.

A few alumni in attendance said it was Mississippi’s duty to offer free education catered to high achievers.

“We’re special education,” said Sarah Prather, a 2007 MSMS alum, who grew up in West Point and is now a junior animal science major at MSU. “You can’t ignore the upper end of the spectrum any more than the lower.”

“I think it should be provided,” agreed Jed Leggett, who grew up in Purvis, graduated from MSMS in 2003 and is now a senior studying math, physics and philosophy at MSU. “I feel like it’s a responsibility of the state to at least offer the possibility for each of its citizens to obtain the highest degree of education that they are capable of for free.”

Alumni assistance

Some alumni at the reception said they would like to try to help offset the fee future students will have to pay to attend the school.

“We are concerned and hope that we can eventually help with some of the students that need it but are excluded by state guidelines (from) assistance,” Vernon said.

“Definitely when I start my job I want to give money for somebody,” Laura Williams agreed.

About 80 people, most of whom were current students, attended the Friday reception. Some former and current faculty members also were on hand.

The reception was one of several events held on campus this week in honor of the start of the school’s 20th year.