Quick picture post since this has been a very hectic week and next week doesn't look much better. (even though I am looking forward to leaving town on Friday!) I get to post pictures of my children with butterflies too. We had a great visit with mom and dad. Hopefully next time they can stay longer....how does two weeks sound??






The one of Andrew is from the Bubble Festival in Kindergarten. In case you can't tell, he is standing inside a giant bubble.





















Outdoor soccer season has started so we will be sitting out in the sun for the next few weeks cheering on a bunch of sweaty boys. My camera was too slow taking the picture of Andrew getting to throw the ball in bounds but I liked the color of the picture anyway.

Blah

Okay, which is worse.... to be sick and have to miss a day of work or to be sick and have to miss a holiday?!? I managed to pick up some sort of stomach bug yesterday and have spent all day lying on the couch. All my great plans for today went right down the tubes. No yearly "girls day" with Alyssa, no errands run, no house dusted, no dinner with Sharla. Blah. But at least I'm feeling better now. Just in time to go to work tomorrow. Something is definitely wrong with this picture. On a brighter note: it did rain ALL day (starting at about 6 this morning...and yes, I was up then).

Well, it's the third week of school and I'm just now beginning to feel ready to start the year. My work computer is still acting up but my "to do" pile is no longer touching the ceiling. I even feel like I have a handle on the accounting part of After School Care. (For those of you who don't know, accounting was the only course in school that drove me insane. To survive the two semesters of classes, all I had to do was take what I thought was the correct way to do the problems and do the exact opposite. Can you say right-brained??) Of course Friday I was told that due to other factors like outrageous electric bills, they are cutting my budget. Like I'm not stressed enough about this. I had it where the program was breaking even and even bringing in a couple hundred extra dollars a month so it should be fine but it was nice to have a big cushion if I needed it. I liked being under budget with a surplus.

On the home front: still no kitty. We finally put away his food dish. It was pretty sad just sitting there in the kitchen for three weeks, empty and unused. Now Blake has been talking about getting a dog. Just a small one. I'm not ready for that yet. Dogs require a lot more work than a cat. I'm still on the lookout for free kittens. I really want an orange one. Though it is nice not to have to take care of any animals right now. (Gerbils don't count. They just play in their cage all day and chew on stuff.)

All right, I'm having trouble making a coherent sentence. I think it's time for bed. I'll say a quick prayer of thanks for the rain today and say goodnight.

Hey, guess what....we survived the first three days of school! The two weeks before, we had to go up to the school everyday ALL DAY. And I still wasn't ready. Oh well. I figure for the first few days, as long as every child arrives and leaves safe, it is considered a good day. My computer at work is messing up so that is throwing everything behind.

I did have a hard time that first day since my baby is going to Kindergarten and my other baby is no way old enough to be in 4th grade. I can't image how hard it would have been if they had been at a different school. Both kids seem to like it so far. Ally has fit right in and the teachers are commenting that it's like she has been there since Kindergarten. Andrew was a bit quiet after the first day. Wouldn't tell me much of what they did but he made up for it yesterday. I now know EVERYTHING that his class said and did all day. It was great!

The new part of my job is going okay. I have After School Care totally staffed with very reliable people who I think will do a great job. I am just trying to keep them happy and not too overwhelmed. So....I have been staying at work until 6:00 to make sure they and the kids are comfortable with the routine. I did get to leave today at 5:00. Yeah! I figure by next week all will be set and we can get home at a decent hour. Not that my kids will want to. They like playing with their friends up there.

Sad news on the home front. Max has run away. He has been gone for almost a week now. I don't think he's coming back. Blake had gotten up to get ready for work and found the gerbil cage knocked over and the door open. No gerbils. We couldn't find them anywhere! And I looked everywhere I could think of. Threw the cat in the bathroom while we looked and I finally figured out they may have squeezed under the entertainment center. Sure enough, we found them. Andrew's black one was fine but Max got ahold of the other one (the fat slow one). He didn't look very good. His eye was bloody and closed, his back was bloody and he wasn't using one of his front paws. I was so upset with the cat that I threw him outside before I wrung his little neck. So now I feel bad that he hasn't come back. My kitty ran away because I was mad at him. I hope he's okay. Maybe he'll still come home. On a positive note, the gerbil seems to be almost back to his old self. After a few days of laying in the corner of the cage shivering and sleeping, he is back to running all over the cage....just not with the use of one front paw.

Needless to say, it has been a stressful couple weeks at out house. Hopefully now that school is back in session, we will settle nicely into a routine.

Our computer seems to be okay now but we are still a bit leary of it. Every once in a while it decides not to turn on but we think it has to do with the keyboard. It just likes a different one sometimes. So we have three keyboards that we can just change out. Dumb computer. Ooops, I didn't mean that. Please don't shut down on me and erase my pictures!

Glad to be back in blog land. Hopefully I won't be gone so long next time.

What if the Hokey Pokey IS what it's all about??

There was a great loss recently in the entertainment world. Larry LaPrise, the Detroit native who wrote the song "Hokey Pokey," died last week at 83. It was especially difficult for the family to keep him in the casket. They'd put his left leg in and... well, you know the rest.

I have been a little out of touch for the last few days. Our computer crashed and erased everything on it...including all my favorites (like every blog I read and now have no idea where they are), like all my photos for the last three months that I hadn't put on CD yet, like work stuff, like Blake's work stuff, like EVERYTHING! It has not been a fun last few days at the Brannon household. Neither one of us is a computer guru so it's been alot of "blind leading the blind" to figure out how to get the computer back up and running. So I'm back.....kinda. Maybe tomorrow I'll try to reload all of our programs. Any volunteers to help me?

Here are some exciting photos from today's match-up between the much feared Grasshoppers and our own Ninjas! Today was our third game and Andrew is MUCH better. The first game was spent running "willy-nilly" around the field and away from the ball. Today he actually scored!

Mama Takin' Us To The Zoo.....

Yesterday was family zoo day--great minds think alike (Jason & Leah). Weather was great...we only got a little hot as we were leaving. One of Andrew's friends had given him passes for his birthday so we spent almost 5 hours there (picnic lunch included) and it only cost us $2 for a coke that Blake bought (because I had been too smart and froze our water bottles to keep them cold for lunch and they hadn't fully defrosted yet.) They have a special dinosaur exhibit going on. They have robotic dinosaurs throughout the park that move and roar at you. Andrew liked them but "they were loud" which explains all the pictures of him covering his ears!

I decided that we were going to take a different way through the zoo this time so we went to the Texas Wild area first. For those of you unfamiliar with the Fort Worth Zoo, the Texas area is down a LONG trail with really nothing on it. We usually save that for last and by that time we are hot and tired and don't really want to make the trip. So yesterday, we actually had energy to see the whole thing. And it was like seeing a whole new zoo. I had always stopped at the petting zoo and then left the Texas area thinking that the only thing farther on were shops. WRONG. We ended up wandering through the entire state of Texas with interactive exhibits, animals (including all the big cats that Ally did her report on and we didn't think the zoo had), an underwater viewing tank, a "bug cave", and lots of air conditioned areas. Pretty cool. Sharla, next time you guys go, don't stop at the petting zoo, you miss the best part!

Guess where I am right now? Alone in my house....no kids. Yea! Blake took the week off from work (his real job) so today he and the kids went to the new water park by our house. Arlington has great parks and about 6 of them are water parks. The new one is about 5 minutes away and has two big slides, a swimming pool, diving board, splash pool and a water shooting area. It's a good daddy day thing. I figure I'll take them more this summer. We have to come up with lots of stuff to do, otherwise I'll never survive the summer. I'm having to work every Tuesday and Thursday mornings right now. Dr. Greene was suppose to work the office in June but right before school was out, his son unexpectedly died. I don't mind working for him. It just doesn't seem right to ask him to come into work right now. Hopefully I can get a week or so off in July when Jan comes back. I was suppose to have off until mid-July but we adapt. The kids will be coming with me and I can put them to work. There is lots of filing and shredding for them to do. And everyday this week there have been teachers and kids up there so they may even have someone to play with.

We got to go this week to the Rangers game when they played the Mariners. It was actually alot of fun. We had really good seats with lots of legroom. The weather was just prefect...not too hot! The only drawback was that a little boy was a bit too excited and started asking at about 10 a.m. if it was time to get his shoes on to go to the ballpark. Didn't catch any foul balls though but as you can see, Andrew was ready.

Nature is way overrated

In case you are wondering, this "circle of life/law of the jungle" thing really stinks. Let me explain..... We were all outside the other night enjoying the cooler evening before the mosquitoes came out, when suddenly the trees were filled with very loud screeching birds. Couldn't figure out why. A bird rumble? A feathered domestic disturbance? The bird rejects from American Idol? No. My sweet little kitty cat had caught one of the baby birds on what was apparently "learn to fly day". By the time we figured out what he was doing, he already had the poor thing in his mouth and was heading INTO MY HOUSE! Eeewwww. And no, it was not dead yet. So there was Blake trying to get the cat to pick up the bird so he could throw them both out, the kids are yelling to help the poor thing, and I was....okay... I was yelling to help the poor bird too. We finally got the whole mess back outside and Blake made us let the cat keep the bird. "That's just what cats do." Pooh. I know that but it doesn't mean I want to see it. Poor bird finally died and the cat spent the rest of the night tossing it in the air and stalking it. Dumb cat. Though it did remind me of growing up with cats doing the same thing to snakes in the backyard.

Oh, and now we have bees trying to build a house in the corner of the neighbors wall closest to our backyard. Kinda cuts down on outside time this week. Our neighbor has tried sprays of all sorts and right now he has some sort of vacuum thing hooked up to his house and is sucking the bees away. It may not work but it sure is entertaining. And we like nature why??

One more day of school for me. Two for Ally and then we are out for the summer!!! Yea!!

Andrew's 5th Birthday Party

Today I had to take off my official second sick day from work. Ally went on a field trip yesterday and came home exhausted. Of course it was "errand" day yesterday so we didn't get home until after 5 with her complaining the whole time how tired she was. After making her eat (pick at) her dinner she started complaining how cold she was (FYI--yesterday's high temp was almost 100). Yup, my daughter had a fever. Bad mommy, ignoring her complaints all afternoon. I just thought she was tired. We were going to see how she felt in the morning and be bad and send her to school if she was better (had prefect attendance for the year). So this morning we got up, started getting ready....no fever....when she suddenly lost ALL color in her face and had to lay down or throw up. By 11:00 she felt fine and was dancing around the house. Pretty sad. Made it until two weeks before school is out and get sick for the first time. I do know what happened though. I got an e-mail from Ally's Brownie leader and apparently both leaders are sick and so are 6 of the girls--well 7 now. See camping is BAD for your health. Give me a fancy hotel any day!! Gotta go fumigate.

Andrew managed to make it to 5 years old this week. And Blake and I made it to 15 years. (Am I the only one who thinks that sounds like a REALLY long time to be married? How can I be married for 15 years and yet be only 29???) The Rangers were in town this week so the kids and I celebrated by ourselves. Andrew got to pick where to go for dinner and then it was home for cake and presents. (Yes, my romantic anniversary dinner was at McDonalds with two hyper children and no husband.) It took exactly 11 minutes after we got home before the red Power Ranger (thank you Jason and Leah) was fighting the roaring dinosaur (thank you mom and dad). Blake managed to get off work early since they were slow so he got to spend a few minutes with the kids before bedtime.

Alyssa is off tonight camping with her Brownie troop. Of course it has rained every night for the past three days and it's very cloudy right now. They may get wet but I think they'll have fun. The girls were so excited to get to go. It's the very first overnight trip for our troop. I'm just glad it's them and not me. Notice I didn't volunteer to chaperone this trip. This summer the troop is taking a trip to Seaworld (you get to spend the night in the park and then tour Seaworld the next day.) I was going to try to go to that one but it was turning out to be a big ordeal trying to figure out what to do with Andrew so I passed. We are going to try to go this summer as a family. The Brownies are going at the end of July so other than those two days, I'm free to travel wherever I'm needed (as long as the air conditioner works). FYI -- May 25 is my last work day and I don't have to go back until mid-July.

Hey, guess what .... I think I broke my little toe. Not completely sure, I may have to ask the expert who lives in Euless about it. But last night as I was stumbling back to bed after letting the cat in out of the rain (about 2:30 am and drugged on a sleeping pill) I kicked the vacuum cleaner hard enough to wake Blake up. Teach me not to put things away. So the pain in my toe kept waking me up for the rest of the night and today I still can't walk on it. It's not really bruised but it just throbs all the time. So if it's not broken it just needs to stop hurting!! Okay, so how am I suppose to wear heels to church tomorrow? I can't wear sandals (hurts) and I don't think my tennis shoes match my dress.

Well, it's official. I said yes to the job offer this week. Ally went up to the school on Wednesday to spend the afternoon with the 3rd grade and meet all the kids and she absolutely loved it! So next year I won't have to run like a madwoman back and forth between the two schools. I am really getting excited about it. Okay, it's more work but as long as I can hire the right people, I think it will be great. It was just too much of a good offer to say no to. Now I just have to remind Ally that she has to wear a uniform to school. My little fashion diva is not going to like that. But it sure will save time in the morning (yesterday she changed 4 times before breakfast...needless to say we were a little late).

Well, the Rangers are back in town this week so I'm a single parent for a few days. One of the guys that Blake carpools with got a job at the ballpark so now maybe they can carpool to both jobs. Yeah!!! Save on gas!!!

One more quick thing. I realized this week that I seriously need to move out of Texas. I was in the bedroom the other night about 9 and heard water hitting the window. My first (and only) thought was "why is Blake watering the grass this late at night?". Guess what. He wasn't. It was actually raining. Pretty sad, huh.

I'm back! I just checked my e-mail and realized that I haven't even been on the computer since Wednesday. See what happens when I get a few days off of work. Yes, they gave me Thursday off. I dropped both kids off at school, and after an hour of "bad mommy guilt" and being lonely, I had a really great day just being by myself. I got to go shopping ALONE and even got my nails done. I decided that manicures are a fun indulgence for some women but I don't have the patience to sit there for an hour while I'm pampered and trying to get polish to dry. Of course Sharla and her girls came down and had lunch with me, so that was fun.

The kids made me my birthday cake this year. Didn't they do a great job. It looks even better in person. Wink wink. I did have to help a bit but they really did most of the work themselves. We had to wait until Saturday afternoon to do it though. LTC was this weekend. For those of you outside of Texas, that is "Leadership Training for Christ" for kids in grades 3-12. It is a huge bunch of events like Bible Bowl, scripture reading, daily devos, service projects, scrapbooking, choir, drama, puppet shows, art, power point presentations.....and the list goes on and on. We went to the competition in Dallas. Ally was in our church's choir (all girls this year, different but pretty neat). She also did a bulletin board at church and drew a picture for the art. We find out tonight at church if they got a gold, silver or bronze. It's alot of work and I'm glad it's over but I think it is really good for the kids.

I think I've talked to everyone about the offer from work. Still haven't really decided but I'll let you know when I do. I would just love to have both kids up there with me next year. I kinda talked to Ally about it this weekend but she REALLY doesn't want to change schools. We'll see.

So I hope everyone had a good Easter. We had beautiful weather for egg hunting (a little hot and windy right now but what do you expect in Texas). So now I guess we will be having candy and deviled eggs for dinner every night this week.

Yeah! It finally worked. This is Ally's project. In case you can't tell, that is the tiger hiding in the grass.

Okay, I tried to post this weekend but the computer kept messing up. So after the third try, I just gave up. Hopefully we'll have better luck today. I was just letting everyone know that Ally's project is finally finished! She even gave her speech today. Did a very good job too. I do have to admit that I am TIRED of hearing about big cats. Go ahead. Ask me anything. I could probably tell you everything there is to know about tigers, lynx, lions, and black leopards. Though I guess that was the idea of the project...for her to become an expert on some subject. I think her models turned out pretty good. I had bought the dough to sculpt the cats but I didn't buy Sculpty brand since it is so expensive (but really good). The one I bought was very easy to work with but took FOREVER to dry. She ended up painting it before all the pieces were completely dry. Of course, as it was drying, all the legs, ears, tails, and heads fell off so we had to do some major repairs before she could paint them. All-in-all, it turned out pretty good.

UUUGGHHH! It's doing it again! I can't upload my picture of her project. I'll try again later.

Let it rain, let it rain, let it rain!! 3.5 inches and counting! It has POURED all day and we are loving it. Didn't even mind having to run into church in a dress and heels. Kitty wasn't to thrilled. He kept going to the door and just watching. Hmmmm....so did the kids and I. I sure miss Seattle on days like this.

Zoo Madness

Okay. My turn to post zoo pictures. I know Sharla told you all how crowded it was but I really didn't feel that claustrophobic until about the last hour since the place is so big. (Not including the lines for the bathrooms....that's a whole different story.) The kids did have a really good time. Of course the main reason I had for going was to get pictures of the big cats. And the male lion was asleep with his back to us and the tigers were all hiding against the wall. Oh well.

We spent the entire day yesterday working on Ally's independent project. We modeled 4 big cats, rocks, leaves, trees, etc., until I wanted to scream. Now if they will just dry so she can paint them. I really want this project finished before she has to go back to school on Monday. Next week is just going to be too busy to plan on doing too much on it. I don't understand why everything has to fall on the same day. Do they just like to torture busy moms?

Well, we still haven't found a new church yet and I really hate looking. In fact it looks like we are going to have to keep going to ours until after LTC since they keep moving Ally's choir practice between Sunday mornings and Sunday nights without telling anyone. I guess it will be okay. I still really like everyone there (even if alot of the young families have moved away). It's just that the service is so boring. I hate to say that but it's the truth. And I'm tired of being told that if I'm bored in the service then I'm not putting anything into it. No. It's just that I like to sing songs written AFTER 1850.

Gripe gripe gripe. Okay, one more gripe and I'll go. I HATE CARS!

It's Spring Break!!! A whole week of sitting on my couch, reading and sleeping. Okay, not really, but it sounds good. The kids are making lists of what they want to do this week. I think they have the whole week just about filled. Alyssa has a big "independent project" due at school right after the break so that is what she will be doing. This is the yearly project where last year she did the fashion timeline. She has decided to do a comparison of big cats this year. She is researching four and then making a habitat model for each. We'll see how it turns out. She a little nervous about sculpting the cats but I think she'll do fine. Just for the record, I'm REALLY tired of hearing all about lions, tigers, lynx and panthers.

I'm a little worried about Andrew over the break. He may not make it. He has decided that he doesn't have to listen to mom the first or second time she says something. After all, she may not really mean it when she says to put your toys in your room. I'm not used to this battle of wills over everything. He must get this from his daddy. Sweet little boy but he is definitely opinionated on everything he does and if something is not his idea, good luck getting him to do it right away. Any parenting tips would be greatly appreciated before I wring his cute little neck.

Oh for those of you wondering about our "R" snack. We chose Ritz crackers shaped like dinosaurs. Not the best but it was the night before and I wasn't going to spend alot of time on it. (unlike with the "L" snack) I did like dad's idea of the Rice Crispy Treats but it was too late. That would have been a big hit.

I am posting some very strange pictures this time just for my sisters. I know they are not very good but I couldn't resist. Does the show look familiar? I found a cable channel that shows THE NEW ZOO REVIEW on Saturdays! And yes, I remember all the words to the theme song. "It's quite an unusual thing, the animals talk and sing, with Doug and Emmy Jo. Everyday's a different showwwwwwwwww." Everybody now.....!!!

Okay family, I need your help again. I'm in charge of snack again for Andrew's class and it is "R" week. None of the children like raisins so that's out. Any ideas?

I'm alive! After fighting this dumb stomach bug all weekend, I think I might just make it. It does make a great diet though seeing as I haven't eaten much more than chicken broth since Friday night.

Hope everyone had a great Valentine's Day. We got to deliver some pretty cute gifts to the kids today at school. You'd be surprised how much these kids get from parents and grandparents. HUGE balloon bouquets, flowers, stuffed animals of every shape and size. The teachers all said that the kids were more excited about today then they were during the Christmas parties.

Speaking of school...ready for an Andrew story? If not, stop reading. Friday was the annual "Pre-K Circus". Andrew was a clown....shocking, huh? Anyway, the kids did a parade thru the auditorium and ended up on stage with the circus music still playing. The clowns stayed on stage the whole show to help with the different "acts". So here are 6 little clowns sitting on stage with circus music playing. All of sudden, I hear the room starting to laugh. I, of course, was watching my son but apparently so was everyone else since he was doing a "clown dance" while the others just sat. That's my boy. Oh, and that was just the beginning. He danced, made silly faces, waved, jumped, twirled, during THE WHOLE CIRCUS! I had more people poke me and make comments about him...even from rows back. After it was over, people were stopping me in the hall to comment. After school in the parking lot, 2 people pulled their cars over to comment. I see many years of stage in our future. I just wish I had the tape of it. I had run out of video tape and didn't realize it in time so I didn't get to film it. I'm going to ask one of the other mom's if I can copy hers. It would make a great wedding video clip someday. Until then, you'll just have to make due with the still pictures.

Gotta go rest again. This is taking me way too long to type...I need food!

I was going to update you all on my life from the past few weeks but I can't see the computer screen throught my tears. Guess I'll go curl up on the floor and mourn my Seahawks.

What a week! Wednesday we had 5 teachers call in sick, Thursday we had 10 kids and 3 teachers call in sick (not including the kids who were sick and didn't call), and Friday I sent 7 more kids home (not including the ones who were already out). I think by the end of the day we had about half the kids at school. We had everything floating thru the halls....strep, pinkeye, lice, a stomach bug, fever. Oh and did I forget to mention that our director was out for the week so it all fell on me. I'm just hoping that everyone gets it all out of their system over the weekend. I have lysol-ed my office every five minutes this week. I WILL NOT get sick!

On to happier news. Last weekend was our church's ladies retreat. It was pretty fun. I stayed in a room with my friend from work and her daughter who is going to ACU. Big mistake. We ended up staying up until 3 in the morning. I haven't been up that late in years (without a sick kid or baby that is). But the best thing is this picture I took in the lobby's restroom. I don't know if you can really tell but try to look where the water hits the sink -- or more exactly, where it can't possibly hit the sink. I had to turn the water on the get the picture so it made a bit of a mess. Now who else would take a picture of a faucet in the womens bathroom? It's an aggie sink!

Rain? Someday?

So is everyone enjoying the new year? I have been back to work for 4 days and it sure is nice to get some rest. I spent most of the break CLEANING my house. I pulled out everything from both kid's rooms and packed up the old toys to put in a garage sale this summer. It was a huge job. Also cleaned closets, drawers, cabinets, under beds, etc, etc. So now my house is clean and organized (let's see how long that lasts). After all that, work seems pretty easy.

Today Alyssa cheered at her first basketball game. The girls had a great time. We didn't watch the cheerleaders very much...the kindergarten players were way too much fun to watch instead. They would "guard" each other (even if they didn't have the ball) by doing what looked like a funky dance thing. They would forget to dribble, and just run down the court, with the coaches yelling, "Dribble, dribble!" Some would look at the coach before doing anything and some would just take the ball and go....the wrong way down the court. My favorite was the little girl who wanted to pass the ball but her teammate wasn't paying attention so she tapped him on the shoulder, stepped back into place, and then handed him the ball. It was really cute. Ally is cheering next week for the same age group, I think, and then we start doing the older kids. Most of my pictures didn't come out very well this week but I wanted to post some anyway.

I have to get ready for Blake's birthday on Monday. So far he has nothing. No presents from us, no cake, nothing. And Ally has Brownies that night so we don't even get to do dinner. Poor thing. (speaking of Brownies...it's cookie time!) I told him I would get him exactly what he got me for my birthday last year......hey, I'm done shopping. Oh, tacky! We can't even celebrate next weekend. I'm going to our church's ladies retreat and leaving him with both kids! Of course we realized today that meant that he is going to have to do Ally's hair next week before the game. And get Andrew dressed. Please, if anyone sees my children next weekend, don't laugh.

Gotta go bathe the kids. Fun fun!!

Okay, here is a picture of the bags. For those of you not in Texas, I have found this great little outlet store that sells purses, bags, luggage and jewelry -- REALLY cheap. These "shopping bags" were $1.95 (one was $3.95--we splurged). We are using them as new church bags and the kids love them. Alyssa's is the blue whale one, Andrew's is the animal faces, the other two are mine (I'm going to use one as a bible class bag and one to bring to work--have to carry my action figures you know.) They have all different styles but when they are out, they're out. Anyone want to go shopping with me?? I take orders.

I do have one funny story to tell. If you didn't know, we have signed up Alyssa for cheerleading thru Sharla's church. They have a Christian-based basketball league and this year they added cheer for the girls. They have had two practices and she seems to like it a lot. We plan on getting some advise from Aunt Sharla this weekend. Anyway, last night the girls were learning a new cheer. Something about "Basket, Basket, We want two" or something to that effect. So the little girls are chanting and working on the arm and foot movements (funny all by itself) when one of the girls raises her hand and says, "I know the movements but I don't get it." Coach looks confused. Girl repeats statement. We finally figure out that she doesn't understand why they are saying "we want two". After the coach gives them a short "rules of basketball" lesson, about 4 of the little girls start nodding their heads and saying, "ohhhhhhh". Apparently basketball is not these girls forte. It was really cute.

Yea! It's almost Christmas! Since this is a busy time of year and I have lots to do (life if so hard with two weeks off of work), I think I'll just post pictures today from Andrew's Christmas party and our trip to see Santa with my children not wanting their picture taken. Can you find my little star? He's the fourth from the right -- looking glum because he couldn't find me in the audience.

Something Borrowed

If I decorate my house perfectly with plaid bows, strands of twinkling lights and shiny balls, but do not show love to my family, I'm just another decorator.

If I slave away in the kitchen, baking dozens of Christmas cookies, preparing gourmet meals and arranging a beautifully adorned table at mealtime, but do not show love to my family, I'm just another cook.

If I work at the soup kitchen, carol in the nursing home, and give all that I have to charity, but do not show love to my family, it profits me nothing.

If I trim the spruce with shimmering angels and crocheted snowflakes, attend a myriad of holiday parties and sing in the choir's cantata, but do not focus on Christ, I have missed the point.

Love stops the cooking to hug the child.
Love sets aside decorating to kiss the husband.
Love is kind, though harried and tired.
Love doesn't envy another's home that has coordinated Christmas china and table linens.
Love doesn't yell at the kids to get out of the way, but is thankful they are there to be in the way.
Love doesn't give only to those who are able to give in return, but rejoices in giving to those who can't.
Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never fails.
Video games will break, pearl necklaces will be lost, golf clubs will rust.
But giving the gift of love will endure.
---Author Unknown

I Corinthians 13:13 "And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love."

Welcome to my Monday

All right, in case there is any doubt in your mind that I live in a sit-com, let me give you the run down on my morning.

Blake managed to fix the garage door opener last weekend so now I don't have to raise the door by hand (yea!). I usually wait to open the door until Andrew is in the car so it won't scare him but today I was in a bit of a hurry and thought that he was past the garage door and about to get in the car so I pushed the button on my way into the garage. Oops. Andrew was NOT on his side of the car but instead was directly behind the car. Don't know how this happened but the garage door caught his backpack on the way up so there goes my son UP into the air dangling from his backpack. I drop everything, including my purse, my work bag, my lunch, my earrings, his coat, my coat...., and run to Andrew while screaming at Alyssa to stop the door. I grab Andrew by the legs to keep him from falling after I realize that he is not hurt and it's not his body that is caught. Alyssa is yelling that she doesn't know how to stop the door but finally manages to push the right button. Andrew is screaming bloody murder while dangling from his backpack that is dangling from the raised garage door. We finally managed to get the door down and my son detatched. I'm laughing hysterically, Andrew is crying, and Alyssa is shaking. Got everyone calmed down and loaded in the car. So now Andrew is telling everyone that he got to go for a ride on the garage door. You couldn't make this stuff up!!

Bethlehem

The town of Waxahachie puts on this neat thing called "Bethlehem Revisited" (or something like that). They have about a block that they turn into old Bethlehem where you have to enter the city gates, look at the different "stores", follow the wisemen past the inn and try to find baby Jesus in the manger. You can just wander around for a while and go where you want. We went last year and really liked it so we tried it again. Still really good but it was alot more crowded this year. But at least it wasn't too cold. The kids loved it! Everyone stays in character so even when you ask them a question, if it doesn't have to do with Bethlehem, they don't know what you're talking about. The soldiers were afraid it might rain since they kept seeing "lighting" flashes go off. It was really fun. I think we have an annual tradition.

Wow it's been a while since I posted. Time just slips by. So tell me, when did I get old enough to have a 9 year old? We celebrated her birthday over Thanksgiving since she wanted a sleep-over and no one was going out of town. Worked out pretty well except I forgot about her cake until the morning of her party. Poor thing.

As I'm sure you have heard by now, IT'S COLD HERE! Our school let out at noon on Wednesday and they cancelled school today. I had such great plans for the extra day off but ended up getting nothing really done. All I wanted to do was sit under a blanket and read. Was pretty enjoyable though. Blake didn't go in today either. He decided to work at home and not fight the ice. Roads were pretty clear down here by 10 a.m. Ally seemed upset when we mentioned that things were clearing up. She thought that if the weather got better than she would have to go to school for the day. That may not have been a bad idea. I think by noon everyone was bored silly but there was no way we were going out in 12 degree weather! So we just spent the day watching the dumb newspeople standing outside telling us how cold it was. Idiots.

So now you are all caught up with the Brannons. I know, I know. How do we live with all this excitement?!?

The Circus!

Well the Brannon family had a late night last night. We were livin' it up at the circus! The Shrine Circus was in town this week and since we haven't gone in about 5 years, we decided that it would be a good family night. It started at 7 so we left the house at 5:30 (ran a little late...suprise suprise) to give us time to eat and get to Fort Worth. Or rather get to Fort Worth and then eat.

Half way there my husband asks, "So do you know where we are going?". Ummmm, no. I thought you looked it up when you got the tickets. Nope. He was just going to try to remember how to get there from when we went the last time (note: THAT WAS 5 YEARS AGO!). Needless to say, we got lost. We found the right main street but apparently Fort Worth has an issue with actually posting directional signs on cross streets. We only passed it twice before we figured out where it was.

Since we were running late (and had not eaten yet) we dropped Blake off at Will Call and I went to go try to find a parking space along with half the population of the Metroplex. I was a little nervous about this (lots of cars and not really a great driver in the dark...can't see). So I turned down the main street and was going to circle the block but there were too many cars in the turn lane so I just turned down the street right across from the arena. Figured we could just walk a while. Anyway, about half a block down was a TEENY TINY parking space. Good thing: I don't have an SUV. Bad thing: it was a parallel parking space....the only part of the driving test I flunked and would probably still flunk today. (Memory flash of me and dad in the red station wagon practicing in Meeker's parking lot.) But guess what?!?! I did it. And I only had to go back and forth less than a dozen times! Of course the car parked behind me had no room to get out but since when is that my problem? Kidding....he had room to back up. I wouldn't be that mean. When we got to the arena (less than a two minute walk), with me still on a parking high, all Blake could say was that it took us a while. He just has no appreciation for the joy of the "Good Parking Space".

We got to our seats with time to spare (10 whole minutes). Blake went to go get us something to eat since we still hadn't had dinner. He came back 5 minutes later with a coke. Hmmmmm. Something seems wrong...perhaps the nachos and hot dogs are in his pockets. Try again...the coke was $3 and he "wasn't going to pay those prices". Luckily the kids were not starving. (Before you call CPS on me, I actually had food in my purse...eeeewwww. No really, Andrew likes to eat some breakfast and snacks at my office sometimes and I got tired of the granola bars and fruit snacks in my desk so that morning I had put them in my purse to take home and forgot about them. Good thing.) What a healthy meal for two growing children. I really don't think they minded. They both were too busy staring wide-eyed and slack-jawed at the performers. The tigers were first so that sucked them both right in. It was almost more fun to watch the kids then to watch the circus.

Andrew decided about half way thru that he wanted to go home and that he HATED the clowns. He laughed at what they did at first but during one of the skits there was a loud bang and from then on, he didn't like clowns. They were loud. For those of you who don't know, my little boy hates loud noises, from vacuum cleaners to fire drills, he just can't stand them. Oh, guess what the final act is? The Human Cannonball. That was fun. His head was buried in my chest with both his hands covering his ears and my hands on top of his. But if you ask him today, he will tell you that his favorite part was the clowns. Hmmmm.

Ally liked the "pretty girls" the best. She didn't really care what they did as long as they had the glittery outfits and long hair. Come to think of it, Blake liked them the best too. Wait a second.....

All in all, a pretty good night. Didn't get home til after 11:00 so, needless to say, both kids fell asleep on the drive home.

Snack Wrap-up

Just to let you know, snack when okay today. The only problem is that Thursdays snack mom already brought her snack and she choose apples. Now in what universe does apple begin with "L". Some moms are just no fun.

I'd like to thank my (insane) family for all the wonderful suggestions. I think you people had way too much fun with this. FYI--I'm bringing snack again in December--more fun! Okay, now that all the "L" madness is over, it's time to move on. Not that there is much to move on to. Pretty slow week at school so far. The phones were knocked out on Sunday and they were just turned back on this morning. Try running a school with no phone service. Not very easy to try to reach parents but it did make for a quiet day without the constant ringing.

See the neat table and chair? Let's just say that someone who works at a school that just had an auction saw this sitting in her office everyday after the person who bid on it decided they didn't want it. Not that this person has any need for a cute table and 4 chairs but some things are just too hard to pass up. I'm sure this fictitious person got a great deal on the cute table and chairs. Let's just say that this certain person is having to hide the cute table and chairs since a certain husband just won't understand the need for such a cute table and chairs. This certain person sure is sneaky! "Merry Christmas, honey. Have a cute table and chairs". Hmmm, may have to work on that. (Too cryptic or did everyone follow that?)

What would I do without my dear family's help?!? You all have come up with the best suggestions. Lima beans? Liver? Lobster? What, no lard? Smarty pants. Yesterday I wandered the grocery store isles, up and down, looking for anything "L"ish. I'm sure I scared some people off with my constant muttering, "Llllllll, hmmmm, lllllllll." Anyway, after deciding on lemon bars and not finding any, I managed to find some Lemon Creme Cookies. Boring, I know but it will work. I wonder if any of the other mothers put this much effort into a pre-school snack?

Help!

Okay, instead of just e-mailing my family, I'm going to post this question. This next Tuesday, I'm in charge of snack for Andrew's class. They like the snack to match the letter of the week. They can get pretty creative though. Last time I brought snack, the letter was N but I forgot so I brought fruit snacks. Luckily they were Nemo fruit snacks so it worked. Well this time the letter is L. So far Blake has thought of lettuce and I thought of lemons. Neither one sounds very appealing to 4 year olds, I'm sure. Any suggestions out there? If not the poor children may get Lemon Lettuce Wraps. Mmmmmmmm.

Our Exciting Evening

Today was one of those "try to cram as much stuff into a few hours as humanly possible" days. I almost got everything done off my list -- all but two. Not bad. I was suppose to run by Sharla's church to get Alyssa fitted for her cheer uniform but I found out they may not have all the sizes until tomorrow. So I don't think that counts as not an errand not done. Right?

Anyway, after the kids and I got home from the library, we were all sitting in the living room chatting (okay, Blake was watching poker on TV--blah) and we started to smell something burning. I hadn't started dinner yet so it wasn't the stove (first thought). Could it be the air-conditioner? (No comment about having to turn that thing on in November....so wrong!) Could it be from outside? Where, oh where is this awful smell coming from???? "Hmmmm", says Michelle, "Is it the cat?" Hey! Guess what?! My cat smells like......not smoke......not something burning.......oh, no.......yes, he smells like skunk! Remember our cute little visitors who were living under our driveway. Well apparently, they are still there. We hadn't seen them in a while so we assumed they had left. Nope! I don't think he got a direct hit because he doesn't make your eyes water but he does have a definite odor to him. Can you give a cat a tomato juice bath? And if you can, do I have any volunteers? Dumb cat. Needless to say, he is sleeping in the garage tonight and is NOT leaving the house for the next few days until he learns that skunks are foes, not friends.

So enjoy a good laugh at our expense again. I am signing off now since Max has decided that he likes me and is laying on my mouse cord. Gag....choke.....gag......uuggghhh. Dumb cat.

I'm A Thief!

I "borrowed" this from a blog I read everyday that is written by a wonderful girl I knew at ACU, Sarah Stirman. Enjoy.


I probably don't like you today. You're either too cheerful or too grouchy. I think you're either too self-centered or too nosy. You were driving too fast or too slow. You don't do your share or you make the rest of us look bad. You either refused to talk to me or you interrupted my solitude. You add to the mess or you criticize my housekeeping skills by helping me clean.Chances are, I don't like you today. Don't take it personally -- I don't like myself too much today, either. But today is almost over (GLORY!) Tomorrow morning I will thank God for the promise of a new day, the coolness of a new season, and the never-ending well of His grace and mercy.

"Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed, for his compassionsnever fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness."Lamentations 3:22,23

Happy Halloween (a little late)

Hmmmm. Which one is my Blue Power Ranger? Cute, huh?!

Why I have not been posting....

1. This working thing is getting really old and draining.

2. Blake has been sick since he got back from Chicago.

3. Andrew has been sick for two weeks.

4. After constant hand washing to try to avoid being sick, my husband (between sneezes) kissed me goodbye in the morning and now I've been sick for two weeks.

5. Halloween. Candy, carnivals, pumpkin carving, candy, trick or treating, trunk or treating, candy, costumes, candy, candy, candy!!!

6. Being the good mom that I am, I sent my child to school with PINKEYE!!! Aaauuuuugggghhh. Not a bad case and after one day home and on special eyedrops (now that's another fun-filled story) he'll be back at school tomorrow.

7. The newness of blogging seems to have worn off. And not just for me mind you....I've been reading all those blogs out there that wait two weeks between postings...you know who you are. Okay so I'm not reading that many, but I glance at them every once in a while.

8. Do you realize that it's November already? How many weeks til Thanksgiving? Til Alyssa's birthday? Til Christmas? Stop the world, I want to get off!!!

9. I'm getting really old and my bedtime keeps getting earlier and earlier. So on that note, goodnight!