Monkeys Jumping On The Bed.... or no rules for Summer!

Okay, for the record, they aren't SUPPOSED to jump on the bed, but Jamie was in there doing it in the dark. I grabbed the camera (of course, gotta preserve the evidence). He then realized that when my flash goes off (it's a hot shoe and that thing lights up the entire world when it goes off) he could see himself in the mirror. So they start watching themselves and making faces - Cassie joined in when she heard Jamie giggling at making faces... of course. It's Summer - rules? We don't need no stinkin' rules!

Heard from.... The... errr... Living Room

Friend and her daughter are over here and Cassie asked if they could play a video game. She informed the mom that it is 'a very appropriate game.'
.
.

Meet Fuzzy Wuzzy

The kids kept up with their chores and made sure Julie was fed and stuff (for the most part) so now us parents had to keep up with our end of the deal (TOM!) and they got their own pets.

Cassie got a gerbil that she named Fuzzy Wuzzy. He's pretty docile, likes to chew - A LOT. And likes to run in his wheel at night (thankfully she seems to sleep through it).

Me? It's a freaking rat. In my house. If it gets out, I'm totally setting one of those snap traps for it. I don't care. You call it a pet. It's a RAT. Don't make me buy a cat. I don't care that the two males in the house are allergic. If that rat gets lose, it's hungry kitty food.

So here you go... this is Fuzzy Wuzzy and a shot of her house mansion





We will meet Jamie's new pet tomorrow...

*evil laugh*

Ticked off Cassie

She has been ranting and raving all day... Doesn't want to clean her room. So now she's not allowed out of her room until she has cleaned it. No idea how the red ski cap helps. But Tom and I both are hitting the Advil.

Soccer Team Party

The Spring soccer season is over. Tom coached this year and Cassie loved it. We had a team party at CiCi's Pizza and the kids had a great time.

Here's Cassie getting her medal from Coach Tom


The kids at pizza


And we did the cute photo cake thing again (kids loved it!)

First Summer Craft --- SAND ART!

Yeah, so for whatever reason, my kids went crazy about this stuff. They wanted to do sand art. So I bought sand art. I said we would do it the first week after school was out. We did it Wednesday.... and survey says...



I think they were a little disappointed. I think they were expecting this big huge deal with the sand and decorations and mixing it up, I showed them how to make it layered, but then Cassie's settled and she fell and it got all wiggly and she had a melt down and wouldn't let me take a picture because it wasn't any good anymore, so we added sand to them both and man... Jamie's expression says it all.

I think I'm gonna just let them play outside with dirt and sticks. That seems safer somehow. Maybe I'll get Jamie a beebee gun and a slingshot and Cassie can have some matches.

Or something.

Anything.

.

Hiding from my camera...

The kids have been basically hiding from me. They are annoyed with me taking their picture. Yeah whatever.

Jamie let me take this because I told him I'd take away his Gameboy if he didn't (what? Oh please, like you've never been evil to your child. As if!)



And Cassie, well, she just thinks if she can't see me, I can't see her. She thinks she's that weird kid from Mystery Men (please tell me someone will get this reference) - Please?

Slideshow of the kids cooking french toast...

Tom and I do this contest for charity each year on Recipe Zaar. It's called the Zaar World Tour. Basically, a group of 10 (well, 16 groups I think) cook dishes that are from various countries. It's a lot of fun and a chance to try different things. This year, there was a Kid-Friendly Challenge and we had the absolute BEST time tonight... here's a slide show and more of the story under it...


Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

The story here is that Tom is the best Daddy ever and decided to let 5 year old Cassie crack the eggs. She made a huge mess, but it was so worth it. After the first one we were quiet while Tom cleaned up the shells from the bowls and you saw her little head peer over the lip and say "oops!" - we all cracked up laughing. Her big brother, Jamie, helped her in the bathroom to wash up after all the egg cracking was done.

Jamie is 7 and he got to cook - this is the first time we've let him actually cook something. He did great, even flipped them half way through! He also read the recipe to us and helped mix the sugar/cinnamon. We had a great time with a lot of laughs and this was truly a great memory - we all had fun.

Jamie's Last Day of School...

I now have a 2nd grader, folks.

Let me say that again.

I now have a 2nd grader.

Okay, let's nevermind that I even have a KID (or two), but he's like in 2nd grade now. 2nd grade. Holy mackerel. Friday (5/30) was his last day of being a 1st grader.

Cassie spent the night with a friend on Thursday and as he was going to bed he got a little upset and started crying. It was really endearing because he had been doing nothing but talking about Summer and no more school and no more homework and water slides and pools and... did I mention no more homework? I think on Thursday night he finally realized that it meant he wouldn't see everyone everyday anymore. He was pretty broken up and when I told him we could call anyone he wanted to come play, he got more upset and crying harder and told me it wouldn't be the same. I tried to NOT feel like chopped liver cuz I'm sitting here with a whole list of ideas to keep them busy and entertained for the next THREE MONTHS. Anyway, so eventually he calmed down (through apparently no help of my own cuz I suck like that).

They had a party on the last day of school and Tom made these frog cupcakes for the class, which were apparently a hit.


Cute, huh?

In the meantime, Tom is enjoying not getting up in the morning because he can sleep through a missile detonating next to his ear. I'm still getting up early, which is good. I seem to do well if I can get my butt up and going earlier, but I so hate mornings. I'm a much better night owl. BUT the reality is that I own a business and need to keep some semblance of business hours.

I don't have to like it though.

Anyway, so I have a 2nd grader... and I have a almost-kinder one too. Wow. Both in school. I'm excited for Cassie, she's going to LOVE it, but a little sad too.

Posting this pic again just cuz I love it so much. It's so "Cassie"

Sunshine Photos of the Kids... (LOVE this one of Cassie)

I took these over the weekend at a birthday party. Cassie LOVES being out in the sunshine. Jamie? Not so much. Jamie spent most of the party grumping that he wanted go to inside in the air conditioning. I feel ya, son. It was 97 out there!

This is another of those rare pictures that I just LOVE... it's funny, one of my friends on Flickr said it reminded her of that song "I'm walking on sunshine" and it really does, doesn't it? She didn't know I was photographing her, I was pretty far away, so her face is just pure joy.

Cassie's Drawing - A little disturbing actually

So this is me and Julie (the dog).

Let's ignore the fact that I'm frowning. The round things she tells me (blushing) are shoulders. I am pretty sure she made it anatomically correct. LOL. And WHAT is up with my hair, dudes? And why are my arms (not attached to my shoulders) coming out of my ears? Hmmm... seriously, though, how cute is that?

Sleepover Time!

I grabbed some quick pictures of the kids last night. Their friend, J, came over for a sleepover (honestly, I think she's just gonna move in for the Summer - you should hear all the grand plans going on in this house!). We are very lucky to have good friends like J and her mom, D, in our lives. They make us laugh and don't mind watching a movie they've already seen :) Here they are hanging out watching Alvin & The Chipmunks and dozing off...


Cassie spent the night there the night before, so I think she was a bit tuckered out:


... and Tom's biggest secret is that he likes for J to come over because it means that they usually behave (or else we separate them and they don't like that!) so he gets some game time in...

Jamie Reading to Cassie

This is from this past week... Jamie is such an AMAZING reader. And I love it for the nights when I just cannot stand to read the alligator story AGAIN and Jamie will do it for me :) *laugh*

Soccer Photos from Last Weekend

No game this weekend, so here's some from last weekend. The team kicked butt! They rocked and did a great job. Goooo... Longhorns!

Just 2 more games before the season ends. A few friends have come out to watch Cassie's game now and then - it's very special for the kids to have people they love come watch. They love it!

Misc Pics of the Kids - LOVE the one of Jamie... Framing it!

I'm my own worst critic... so it is pretty rare that I take a picture I just love. I LOVE this one of Jamie... I love his eyes, I love the slight movement of his hand I caught, I love the odd little look on his face. I just LOVE it.

(yes photo nerds, I know it's a little overexposed - I actually did it on purpose because I like the effect for this photo. I'm weird. I know.)

I like this one of Cassie. She was hiding behind a box and I caught her peeking up. I love how you can tell she's smiling by looking at her eyes.


And another random one of Cassie:

Best Friends in Childhood...

I'm proud of the pic above. Not because it's some wonderful piece of photographic genius - it's good, not fabulous - but because of what it represents to my children. This is them hugging the little girl next door. We love her as much as if she were one of our own.

Tom and I both grew up "in the sticks". I had a neighbor next door, but they were a little weird - we played together a while, but they got weirder and weirder. Other than that, the nearest kids were several miles away. Tom's nearest kids were several miles away. We vowed when Jamie came along that we would make sure we didn't do that to our kids. When we first looked at this house, we saw a beautiful child of about 10 riding her bike outside of the house next to this one. I knew we were in the right place - there were kids here! That and the built-in bookshelves pretty much cinched the deal. When we moved in, we discovered that little girl on the bike had a sister that would be starting school with Jamie. And her parents are amazing people too. I so totally love my neighbors. Our lives are busy so we don't see each other as much I'd like, but our kids spend HOURS together some (most) days - and they have so few fights. It's pretty amazing actually. When they replaced the fence, they had a gate put in so the kids can go back and forth to each other's yards. They love it.

As soon as we had the chance, we bought the place from the landlord. We adore it here. My biggest fear is that my neighbors will decide to move one day. We know how very lucky we are. How many people can say that they love their neighbors and their neighborhood? I can only think of one person in our little few blocks that we don't really like - the party house - and really my biggest complaint is all the cars parked on the street are in my minivan's way. LOL!

Yeah, life is good.

:)

Nighty Night -- the spoiled dog...

Cassie LOVES Julie. Julie worships Cassie. Seriously, this little dog puts up with so much from these kids. I honestly have no idea where she gets the patience. Julie likes to play with Jamie - mainly lick his ears - yeah, we think it's weird too. But Cassie is her BFF. They are inseparable. I'll walk into the living room or Cassie's room and there they will be, Julie usually has finagled herself into getting a belly rub.

Sometimes we let Julie stay out for the night instead of putting her in the kennel. She almost always end up in bed with Cassie.

I'm not sure how she got covered up and snuggled in like this, but it was just too cute not to take a picture of:


Sigh... maybe I won't give her away because she STILL isn't 100% potty trained. Seriously, if it's raining or cold the dog will NOT go outside. We've tried locking her out there and she just sits on the stoop shivering looking pathetic. Then comes in and promptly craps on the rug.

Freaking dog.

Cassie Shows Off Her Secret Stuff

Did I tell you about the day Jamie guessed what was in Cassie's little purse? No... be glad. But, basically Cassie keeps certain items in this little cat purse she carries around. Everything in there is secret and Jamie and Daddy cannot know what it is. It's girl stuff. It's very important.

Fast forward to Tom and I in the van with our 2 kids and an extra. Jamie guesses that the bead necklace is in the purse. He's right. The amount of screaming that ensues shatters the windshield. So, I buy Cassie new secret stuff...

3 days later, she and Jamie make a deal to show each other their secret stuff. (And yeah, I followed Jamie to make sure what secrets he was showing LOL) So, all that screaming was for naught.

And now she wants me to post this so the little girl next door will see it.



Yes, I added the butterflies cuz I wanted to hear her giggle...

:)

Cassie Finally Slides Down...

Another one from Sunday... Cassie finally decides to slide down... and I got nothing but crappy shots because it was shaded by then, so you get a sepia "fix" ;)

Deep Sea Divers

Last week, the kids were playing in the little pool and asked for their masks and snorkels. They were deep sea divers and needed their equipment, ya know!

Field Day Lunch With Jamie

Some misc photos of the kiddos....

I was playing with my camera and these are my faves...

Cassie and her BFF...


A face only a mother could love...


Friend J gets the big hello from Julie...


Jamie looking super cute...

Playing in the backyard...

...on the bouncy castle! The kids had a great time this weekend on it... we hadn't taken it out in a while!

Cassie's Game Today

Cassie's Game This Weekend

They had a pretty good game... they other team was a little more aggressive than they probably should have been. It's Y, for crying out loud.

Jamie starts Mindstorms this coming week, but Cassie and I are going out of town. I have a business conference to attend and my mother and sisters are meeting me there. When I'm attending conference stuff, they will get to spend some time with her. Jamie and Dad have all kinds of mischief planned. I may have heard about a day of playing hooky from school... hmmm...

Here's Cassie kicking the ball in:


Even when your Dad is the coach, you still get benched...


Back on the field again...


I forgot my lawn chair, so I sat under one of the pavillions. When I was walking up, there were these two teenagers there with a baby. It was being really still and quiet so I just stood back... and then I noticed it was a doll. Which kind of freaked me out. But whatever... then it started crying... apparently the school gives you these babies (instead of the eggs we got) and you have to take care of it over a weekend. I was laughing because one of them was complaining that the baby was up 9 times over the previous night and she's babysat before and no baby gets up that often. I just looked towards my little girl and smiled...

Yeah, so here's the fake baby:

Overalls and Bubbles

I thought Cassie looked adorable in these overalls. Funny thing is she has been steadfastedly refusing to wear overalls for a while and now that she's decided they are cool, these are almost too small for her. Figures. WhaddaBrat.


The kids got these handheld bubble things. You push the handle and bubbles come streaming out. They have also discovered that they can make bubble mounds...

Freaking out the young'uns...

I work odd hours. I work a LOT of hours sometimes. So that my butt doesn't start becoming one with my desk chair, I move to the living room and work on my laptop if I need to work at night. I use this product that let's me "log in" to my desktop computer and work on it like I'm sitting right there. It's pretty cool. Of course, if anyone moves anything on either computer, both screens see it. So, I was watching a movie with the kids in the living room, cutting some checks. I needed to come into the office to grab them and decided to mess with them.

So, I opened Word and typed "I love my kids" and inserted smiley faces and hearts and stuff, made them different colors. The kids were laughing, I typed Jamie's name and he nearly freaked out that the computer knew HIS NAME. *laugh*



Eventually, they figured out it must be me... so Jamie got brave and decided to type back... yes, he wrote "poopy". Great. Just great. 'Course at least it's a word. Cassie just did gobbly-gook afterwards.



We had a good laugh AND it got Jamie interested in learning to "write" using the computer. He's not interested in learning to type (when do they learn that nowadays? I think I taught myself around 10 or so, but we "learned" it in high school maybe?). Anyway... so now he's allowed to type his spelling words once per week. Which he thinks is AWESOME. We let him use Wordpad and he changes the color and font and stuff. Such a smart kid!

So yeah, I scared my kids.

Oh, the avocado seed started getting white and pink mold spores on it. I ended up washing it off and the seed covering came off. It was all slippery. Uhh... duh. Tom and I are idiots and haven't been changing the water. Yes. Laugh. Go on. Feel better? Anyway, the seed is cracked all the way around... hopefully we'll see some roots start to form... the kids will go crazy if we do!

Cassie's First Game This Season

Did I mention Tom got himself volunteered to coach Cassie's soccer team? They are The Longhorns. He's doing pretty good... having fun with the rugrats and the kids all think he's crazy. Cassie's doing well. Jamie is playing too, but no pictures because we didn't go to the first game - he had other plans. He's still not loving it, this might be his last season unless he wants to continue.

Here she is wondering if she can not claim the coach *laugh* - okay, I made that up, but her expression was so funny!


Practicing before the game starts...


The ducks around there are so used to people and getting fed, they walk right up to you. I need to bring some bread and let Jamie feed them. He'd love that.

(I am assuming that's a duck - goose - something - whatever)

She's been holding out on us...

It's official. We registered our baby for kinder last week. We took Cassie in, and they gave her the assessment while we filled out paperwork. Tom, Mr. Room Dad PTA President, knows everyone up there so I felt a little out of place, but also glad that Cassie feels so comfortable up there as well. One of the 4th graders was giving the kinder-to-be kids tours of the school and she stalked off right after him without much of a glance in our direction.

I also hadn't realized she didn't know how to do some of the stuff Jamie did. I'm not all that worried, different kids and experiences. But... I thought maybe we could work on her name. I wrote it on one side and flipped it over... and...

So yeah, she pretty much already knows. LOL. I had to do the SS and she traced over it, but not too bad. She knows about 10-12 of her letters, so we are working on those too. But I'm trying to not push it. She'll get it. Goodness knows, if you had told me Jamie would be reading like he is now 2 years ago, I would have laughed.

Anyway, proof that she's been holding out:

Easter Day Photos

In a rush, so I just threw these up and cheated by doing a slideshow ;) The celery thing is a big mystery in our house. I am pretty sure the kids had a snack and left it on the table. We have a clean up after yourself rule. They say they didn't do it, and the bunny must have... hmmm... what do YOU think?


Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Long Day

Egg Dye is so 2007... this year, it's EGG Painting

Tom and I were trying to skip out of the whole egg dye thing. I hate it. They splash it everywhere, stick their fingers in there, get it on their clothes, me, Tom and no one eats the stupid eggs. Then I started to feel guilty and like the anti-mom, so I remembered we bought these kits a couple of years ago and never used them. So, we dyed some eggs... well, we painted them. This kit was AWESOME. I have no idea why I thought it was going to suck - well, plus we did it outside, much easier than inside crammed at a small table in an apartment with two little little kids that think the yellow one is lemonade - oh, those were the days!

This was cool though, they got to be artistic (and I don't mind doing like REAL craft stuff with them so this worked out great) and I didn't have to deal with the tablets that won't dissolve. Cool! We had 2 packs, but they decided to share the paint (which is basically dye with eyeshadow applicators) and use it next year too. The little holder thing I thought would suck, but we didn't break or lose a single egg.

Coolness!

So, the pics...

Jamie told me to take this... he is such a little ham sometimes.



So serious....





Cassie was much more freestyle artistic :)



See? Cool, eh?



Why, yes. Yes, I am easily entertained.

Edit: They are called Dudley's DecorEGGer (get it? LOL) and I think I've seen them at Target and WalMart for like $4

.

Cassie's Bubbles

She was being a snot about taking her picture so I took it through a dirty window (I obviously need a new maid *snicker*)... she had the best time with this thing.

Spring is officially here, folks! And I got really sick this past week. More info on my review blog. I cannot wait until after April when things calm down a bit. I'm exhausted. Too much work.



Gah, that child looks so much like I did at that age, it's FREAKY.

The Fort/Playscape is Completed!

We had a great day yesterday. I give Tom a hard time, but he did a great job with the playscape. He did it all himself, no plans, just used the old one as a base and went for it. Pretty impressive, I think :)

These pictures were taken before he added some extra bracing underneath. I'm sure it was fine, but it's my job to worry so he added some more. I tried to push it. It's not going anywhere. And hey, if something starts to fall apart, it's pretty easy to fix it since he did it himself with real wood and not the crap we had before. I think he probably spent about $200 in lumber, not too bad!

The kids wanted to have dinner up there (see, a table and 3 chairs fits up there with enough for room a dance floor *laugh*, so we made kabobs, invited the neighbors over and had a great relaxing night. We ate outside, it was wonderful. There's no mosquitoes out yet so the only thing that bugged us was the leaves falling - entirely doable. The kids had a blast and I did too. As an added bonus, the little girl next door got to sleep over (which is, apparently, the ultimate in fun times).

So, now the pictures... did I mention that we hit 90 here in Austin the past couple of days? It's cooled off now, but the kids were hot, so we broke out the little pool...

Whacha Doin'?

This is Cassie's latest catch-phrase... we think it's SO CUTE. I had to beg her to let me tape her saying it and she told me I cannot put it on the blog, but I'm a rebel, so here ya go...

Latest Art From Kiddos

Cassie has her 5 year check up today - Tom says he's gonna post about it later.

In the meantime...

Jamie drew the houses. With the really small doors and really big snail. Ummm... okay.

Cassie did the invitation to my birthday party (no, we didn't have one - we did have a little celebration with just us) with her MiMi.

Anniversary, Tooth, And Rapper

Today makes 15 years that I have been putting up with Tom. Yes, we got married 15 years ago today (see that little "family since" thing at the top? Bet you thought I was making that up!). Even if you are a pain in my tushie, I still love ya, Tom - and expect to have to put up with you for at least 50 more! Love ya, doody-head!

Six months ago, we took Jamie to the dentist for a regular check up. We noticed that his teeth were crowding a loose one, but weren't worried. The dentist wanted us to see about braces. Dude, he's SEVEN. So we waited. Went back to the dentist recently and noted that his teeth had moved around to not crowd that loose tooth that WAS STILL IN HIS HEAD. He came home today with a necklace - it was a plastic tooth that opened up... inside was THE TOOTH. About time that sucker came out!



Cassie is apparently gonna be a rapper when she grows up. Yo!

Last Day of Sports This Season...

Saturday they had their last games.

Cassie scored a GOAL! She was so proud of herself. Even though the picture I got was crappy, I did get a picture, so I'm sharing it.

Jamie was horrid. He was dancing and chasing and not paying any attention. He won't be playing sports again. We'll have to find something else for him to do. He sat out about half of the game. The coach was nice. I would have kicked his butt out of there WAY before he pulled him.

Anyway... the pics!

A family of entertainers...

It's a good thing I have a marketable skill or we'd all be in the poor house...

I think Julie's WTF look kind of says it all:


Cassie's "Rock Show"




Jamie's "Dog Show":




... and Tom thinks he is a Guitar Hero (ca-thunk is NOT a note):