Back to School; Finally!

Whoo-hoo! Katie and Nathan went back to school today! Katie entered the 3rd grade, and Nathan entered Pre-K! This is Nathan's first year attending what he calls, "Katie's school"... HA!
Katie picked out her '1st-day-outfit', and Nathan just put on what I set out for him... I'm sure that will change in a couple years. I have signed up to be "Room-Mom" for Katie's class; I figured this would give me a little practice for my next career of trying to be a children's program/event coordinator some day! Hehehe!

This was taken just this morning! Almost all of his friends from daycare are all in the same Pre-K class this year, so making friends has already been established! Did I mention that Nathan woke up at 4:45 a.m. ready to go to school!! Yikes! I hope he doesn't make a habit of THAT! Hehehe!

Ironies of Motherhood

Top 10 "Ironies of Motherhood"

1.) That you could miss your little one SO much all day at work, but be unbelievably relieved when he falls asleep an hour after you get home.

2.) You ask your child to share toys and she won't, but if Dora the Explorer asked her to remove someone's pancreas, she'd grab a scalpel.

3.) How your son is his basketball team's MVP, but heaven forbid he could get a pair of socks in the hamper.

4.) It was inconceivable that you'd pay for sex. Now you shell out $15 an hour for a sitter so you can go to a motel with your husband.

5.) That you looked forward to girl's night out for weeks, then spent it debating if Hannah Montana is a good role model.

6.) You always dreamed of having a convertible. You never dreamed it would mean a co-sleeper that turns into a bassinet.

7.) Until he was 11, your son thought girls were yucky and nothing you said convinced him otherwise. Now you just wish he would find Alexa next door (and her belly shirts) less appealing.

8.) You spent years begging your child to eat veggies, then last night she called you a murderer for serving steak.

9.) How quickly giving your child an allowance for chores turned into her refusing to do anything unless she's paid.

10.) Tough as it was when your child clung to you at the entrance to her pre-K, it's worse when she hisses, "Don't kiss me!" as you drop her off in fourth grade.

(Source: July issue of Parenting magazine)

To space and back!

Sunday, July 26th, 2009, our family decided to enjoy some time together and went took a trip to the Johnson Space Center. For the most part, the kids really enjoyed themselves! (They only got bored when we 'thought' we were going to see a movie about the Johnson Space Center and it turned out to be a 'lecture' given by an individual; and on a couple parts of the tram-tour.)

It had been many years since I last visited the Johnson Space Center, and discovered MUCH has changed! There are so many interactive things for the kids to do; it was almost like the Children's Museum, but with space-stuff...

The kids played on a huge play land, got to feel like they were 'flying' by playing a virtual game, they got to race through an inflatable obstacle course, we got to shoot foam balls at multiple targets, we played around with many control, knobs, and gadgets in a mock-space shuttle, we attempted to maneuver through laser lights like in Mission Impossible, we sat through a lecture and learned interesting information about the Space Station, and took a tram tour to the training facility where the astronauts train for flights and to Rocket Park where all the rocket crafts are displayed.

We had a BLAST!!!

God bless Naw-Naw's

This little blog is to thank my mom, otherwise known as "Naw-Naw" to my children.

This past week I have been spending every last moment to complete a school paper, learn 19 different statistical math concepts, and take my final exam. My mom has always been there when I need help with the kiddos, and I want her to know how much I appreciate her efforts to help me in any way she can so I can finish the best I can. She took both Katie and Nathan last night and kept them ALL day today so I could sleep-in and take my final with plenty of rest and minimal distractions. Thank you Mom!

I took my final, and I completed my portion of the team paper. I could not have gotten this far without her help.

I love you mom!

Priceless...

This was Katie's expression when she first walked into her 'new' bedroom!

Katie had been begging me to re-arrange her bedroom for a month! I had lots of things going on and knew I wasn't going to have the time for quite sometime. Many of you know I went through surgery last week and I took a week off to recover. Coincidently, Katie went camping with a friend from Thursday to Sunday. Luckily, I felt good enough by Thursday to begin a 3-day task of re-arranging and re-organizing her bedroom!! We finished it Saturday night!

The look on her face was heart-warming and priceless; she LOVES it!!

Like father, like son...

This is a picture of the motorcycle Chris was hoping to win from a raffle at the Honda of Houston. Unfortunately, he didn't win, but our son Nathan has a blast! Chris took pictures of him on many different motorcycles and ATVs. Nathan really loves motorcycles; or anything that has a loud engine for that matter...

Maybe someday Chris will be able to get the bike of his dreams and take Nathan for a ride! Until then... pictures and dreams are what the men in my life cling to.