Snow Days...

We played outside yesterday and the kids had a blast!

Here are a few pictures to show you what all we did...

Tripp, Emma and Mallie....

Tripper sliding down the hill by the house...


Tripp and Emma decided they were going to slide down the playset on the real snow covered slide... I would have a picture of that, but SOMEONE has been borrowing my batteries out of my camera for the Wii...

Oh, Wait... It is my new van!

Isn't she lovely?

Here is Emma on the playset...

We snuck back inside for snowcream...

I tried a new recipe with sweetened condinsed milk.

It sucked.

Bad.

So I went back to regular milk, sugar and vanilla.

Yum!

We went outside back to the Hill of Death.

Dave sent Tripper down first.

He flew over the hill, jumped the embankment and landed in the road.

Well, I am not sure about the sequence of events.

But when Tripp was going sledding this morning,

I told him to be careful, and he said, "Don't Worry, Mom. I will. I won't fly in the road this time."

So I am pretty sure my story mentioned above is close to the truth.

Dave got paid back for not protecting my be-be.

This picture makes me laugh.

It may end up as my screen saver.

Take that, heartless Daddy.

And then, Me and Dave had to hug up for our picture.

My kids like this. Every time Emma looks at it, she says, "Awww."

Snow, Snow... Yes or no?

Sorry.
I was in Dr. Suess format...

So, I am sitting here at 6 a.m. - just waiting - waiting to see if the snow and ice are going to hit us.

Our county announced school closings yesterday afternoon. I checked to see if my school was closed, but no, it is not. Many other universities are - but not mine.

That is Ok. I am great with that for two reasons....
1. I am taking my handwriting workshop today.
2. I will get to drive my new van to town!

Yep, we finally did it. After months of watching the other van grow weaker, we traded it in yesterday on a newer model.

I was sad as I drove it out of the driveway for the last time.

Then, I got over it.

Even thought we are supposed to have tons of snow and ice, and I will not be able to travel anywhere, I will have my pretty van sitting in the driveway.

A Teaching Semester.

I am absolutely loving school this semester. I am doing a Reading Block. I am learning about the fundamentals of Reading, how to get children to be interested in reading, and how to set the example by exploring my own reading and writing.

I found out today that I get to take a HANDWRITING workshop. I am thrilled! I always wondered how teachers get that neat penmanship and I worried how my sweet little kindergarteners will learn their letters correctly if I am not positive how to do them myself. So, this Friday, I go into class and register for one of my four workshops... I am going to try to get into HANDWRITING first!

In just five short weeks, I will be teaching in a classroom. I am so excited about this.

In this class, I am also responsible for writing in a journal. Sometimes, I use thoughts that I have blogged about. By the time I get home, I am too tired to blog, or my brain is dry. I have "explored my feelings" so much that I don't feel like exploring ANYTHING else.

I guess this is a great semester update compared to what I usually say....

Back in the saddle again ...

Nothing new to report here -

• Still van shopping...
• Still going to school...
• Still doing laundry...

School has hit me full force. There was no honeymoon period this semester - you know, where you kinda break into a routine a couple of weeks after school starts.

I will report back tomorrow when my last school project is complete.

The Great Van Search 2010

Um, so yesterday Emma and I took the van hunt into Cookeville.
She and I went from dealership to dealership, looking, getting out, checking out price tags....

And then, there it was!

Dream Van!

White in color, it was a used Toyota Sienna.
Seat Warmers. Automatic Doors. All sorts of gadgets. Buttons. Automatic Trunk.

The only thing that this van did not do is drive itself.

So, I get into the van, have a super warm hiney, and go for a test drive.

Guess What!?!

All I could think about is how much it would cost to replace the gadgets when my children destroyed them.

Sad, huh?

I texted and called Dave during the process. He trusts me. He knows I am not frivolous. He told me to do what I wanted.

So, I gave the van back.

I told the salesman that yes, while it was the most comfy van E.V.E.R., that I had three children who did not understand that I would melt down when the van's doors broke from constant opening and closing.

I told him that I would get a van like this only when I had NO CHILDREN AT HOME. This van is for someone who will keep it spotless, someone who doesn't have a four year old son with an addiction to Hawaiian Punch.

The search continues...

TGIF!

I am so very thankful for the end of the week. There are not any plans for the weekend. I am looking forward to relaxing at home, hopefully I will finish Twilight...



School is fantastic! I love L.O.V.E. my Reading Block. It makes me happy.



Everyone was in bed early last night... before 9 p.m. That meant that everyone was happy to get up this morning. Well, I guess not happy, but no long heart breaking sobbing from that sweet four year old.

Today, as I was driving home from work, I passed Brad on the square. I thought, "Wow. It is Brad. That is strange to see him in this town." It was almost like a celebrity had came by! :)

I guess I am a true blonde.

Random Thoughts and Various Happenings - Bullet Style!

School is back in session! Since I don't like to have to work at blogging (it is too much like writing a paper for school if I over analyze) I am not going to try to transition my thoughts. Here they are- easy to write - easy to read - in bullet style format! (I wish my teachers would take papers like this instead of insisting on MLA or APA...)

• Yesterday was the long day of the week... it ended up easier than I imagined, yet I was exhausted by the end of the night.
• The kids are still not getting in bed like I would hope. We are, for some reason, feeling the need to try to do some things with them. We went to a basketball game on Tuesday night. Tonight, Tech plays Austin P. - that would be fun....
• Eli's 14th birthday is coming up. I always think alot about when he was born this time of year... I think about how I felt 14 years ago this month, how I had no idea what was about to happen to me, the anticipation of waiting on my first child, my plans I had for the future...
• We are still van shopping. Last time we bought a van, six years ago, it took us about a month. We drove an '08 yesterday. But man, is it hard committing.
• On my drive home from school last night, I realized that the last four vehicles that I have owned were dark blue... now my van now is kinda purple tinted, but is often mistaken for a dark blue color. The van I drove yesterday? Well, it was navy blue also. There is a silver one that is identical.
• The anniversary of Roe v. Wade is tomorrow. I know that not everyone is pro-life, but think of this... it is so hard to imagine. Since 1972, 52 MILLION babies have been aborted in the United States. When I think of this number, I think of how upset everyone still is over 9-11 (and rightly, they should be) - that number was 2,895. Yet, we, as a nation cannot gather courage to voice outrage at the 52 million innocent children lost. Children, people. Come on.

I guess I will close on that one.

Wednesdays.

This is the view of town from my yard... see the top of the courthouse? I love this!

Today is my first crazy Wednesday... it goes something like this:

7:15 a.m. - leave and take the kids to school. Eli first. Then Emma. Then Tripper.

8:30 - my 1st class starts.

11:50 - get out of class.

12 p.m. - go to work

2:30 - leave work and go pick the kids up from school... Tripp first. Then Emma. Then Eli. Then I will take them home.

*I guess Emma really is the middle child* :)

3:00 - be back at work

5:00 - leave work and go back to school.

6:00 - class starts.

8:50 - class ends.

9:20 - arrive home.

And start over.

So, I am a little anxious to see how this works. Iam going now to lay church clothes out for the kids and get them up to start our day.

Busy Weekend!

What started out to be a slow weekend has turned into a crazy weekend.

I was pleasently suprised with a last minute shopping trip with my favorite almost -14 year old, Eli.

We got to hang out all yesterday together. We had such a good time. He is pleasent to be around and we shopped for him some new shirts for church. He also needs shoes because his are yucky. Now that Dave has access to shoes, well, I can't buy those out anymore.

On our way out of town, we stopped and looked at the van that I would like to have.

I am cautious about buying a new(er) car and I am weighing my options out.

My van has had it. With 204,000 miles, it has many problems surfacing, and many problems that I have been ignoring for some time.

At a certain point, a montly trip to the mechanic is more expensive than a car payment.

I don't like the fact that I could be stranded at anytime, especially now that I am driving to the big school in another town every day. And I also think about the fact that in less than seven weeks (!) I will be responsible for being in a classroom in a real school every morning! I would hate to have to tell my principal and my own teachers my van issues.

Anyways, I have been taking my time and weighing out the options.

In other news, due to MLK, my children and I do not have school tomorrow. I do still have to work.

Conversations.

Tonight, I let the kids put on their bathing suits and play in the tub. They had a new Spongebob squirty thing, and that lasted every bit of three minutes.

Then, they played, and splashed water out all over the floor.
Next thing I heard was, "I babatize you for the remission of your sins."
Tripper had decided to "babatize" Emma. I guess she needed it.

Following that, Emma took her turn and babatized Tripp.
I heard, "I babatize you for the remission of your sins. I now pronounce you husband and wife."

First Day of School.

So today I started my first day of a new semester.

Boy, was I scared.

I talked to my sister all the way to town. That was distracting and was sooo nice.

When I pulled into the parking lot, I was really scared.

Couldn't have been more scared if I had TEN BEARS chasing me. (Now that is scared, Dave)

So I go in, the two teachers are there, about thirty students are already there, and music by Prince is blasting over the stereo.

They are serving us breakfast.

It was weird.

I loved the class. I am going to learn alot.

Non-Crunchy Mommy?

A couple of days ago, I ventured out to the big city by myself for a couple of hours. I had to go pick up a few things and do a couple of Christmas returns. Emma is growing so fast, she needed some long sleeved tops for school... anyways, it was a mad dash, but I got most everything done.

My Story -

So, I am standing in line at Wal Mart and there is a lady in front of me. She had two children with her - a baby in the shopping cart and a little girl who was about four.

As she completed her order, I noted that she was digging out her coupons for all items. Loads of coupons. And I looked at her remaining items on the belt - organic eggs, organic milk, Mom's choice whole wheat, whole grain cereal (one box only!), whole wheat shoes, organic tube socks... well, you get the picture, right?

I looked at the lady, her kids and her stuff. How does she do it?

One of my favorite bloggers talked about not using or liking processed foods and not feeding her family processed foods, yet, I feel great if I can open two cans of vegetables for dinner per night or get them outta the frozen food section at Food Lion. If you don't make mac n' cheese and chicken nuggets from a bag, then what do you eat?

And really, how does this lady only buy one box of cereal? Not only am I in awe of that, how does she get her kids to eat cereal that doesn't sport a cartoon character on the front? I am thrilled when my children choose Mini Wheats in the morning...

So I guess what I am saying is that there are some moms who can get it all done... well, I am thrilled when my children are clean, with brushed teeth, matching socks (not the pink ones for Tripp anymore!) and they have drank some milk, ate some yogurt, and maybe some fruits and veggies. I guess I should be more concerned to see where the milk came from (maybe the cow should be organic) and I should care if my eggs came from organic chickens.

But I don't.

I am thankful that they actually eat food.

In the mornings, it is a mad dash. We have frozen waffles wrapped in paper towels handed off to each child as we walk out the door. I put them in the toaster as the kids put their shoes on.

Should I be making fresh pannacakes with fresh fruit at 5:30 a.m?

I really don't know where I am going with this.

Tuesday... um, Tuesday?

I have no cute blog title and really nothing to blog about. Maybe if I type aimlessly for a couple of minutes, something will come to me.

Nope.

Not yet.

Nada.

Oh, I know. Last week on Facebook, there was an email sent around, asking women to post their bra colors on their pages. It started early that morning... I think I got my first invite by 6 a.m.

Then, it backfired.

I saw two different posts that day in which people were upset - one guy quoted scripture from the book of Matthew; another compared "us" to 7th graders.

What is funny is that it was for Breast Cancer Awareness.

What is even funnier is that the guy who quoted scripture always has pictures of him kissing his wife. Passionately, sometimes. What if I am offended by them?

And the chick who said that "we" are like 7th graders, well, chances are she has put her vacation pictures in a folder on Facebook and in those pictures she is wearing a sundress, a halter top or a bathing suit where we can actually SEE her boobs - or the cleavage she shows, anyways.

That is so funny for me.

Let's talk about Facebook, for a moment, shall we? I think that I have told my dilemma with FB before - I have heard stories of women and men who "befriend" past boyfriends, girlfriends and "partners" only to end up leaving their marriages for the other person; I have saw people post inappropriate pictures of their children naked.

Is FB that great of a thing? I feel like deleting it all the time. But then I would have no idea what my best friend from high school, my BFF from Partytime and my current BFF have going on.

We are of a time where no one picks up the phone: we text, we IM, and now, we Facebook people. What is the world going to be like in 5, 10 or even 20 years?

Monday Updates...

Well, it was another snow day and again - I had to go to work.



I am thankful for a job.



I am thankful for a paycheck.



The kids are scattered out today. Eli is at a friends house and Emma is with Mallie.
Tripper got some one on one time with Grandma.



Dave went to work also.



Last night, we stayed up together and watched a movie.

I didn't even fall asleep.



The school countdown has begun. I am scared (like a bear is chasing me) and nervous.

A little anxious, even. What if my teacher doesn't like me?



Tomorrow afternoon, I am going back to have my hair done again. Maybe this time I can get stripey-red hair.



Oh, I have been trying - for two weeks - to read that stupid Twilight book. really. two weeks.

It kills brain cells, I tell ya.

I am not even going to attempt to finish it.



It is written in such plain text, that goes on and on and on and on.... anyways, it bored me and made my brain hurt. It was a waste of time and I only made it thru Chapter Two. I would rather do laundry.



I guess that is why it appeals to such young teenage girls - it doesn't challange them. To me, it was like wasting time watching Frank the Entertainer... after a few minutes, one would think, "Why?"



I have probably just offended my many readers who are in love with Twilight - so somebody, somewhere, please sell me on this book. Please.

Beauty Shop Update.

Well, my inner hooch won. I picked out a couple of hot'ish red pictures from the books... showed them to the hair lady.

Somehow, I ened up with mousy brown hair with a hint of red when I turn my head justso.

The only thing different is the gray.
It is gone.

I think that my hair rebelled to what was happening.
Frump really won.

Friday, YEAH!

Happy Friday, Everyone!

Let's see.... today's updates.. oh. I know.

I am going to get my hair colored today.

Because I am on a downward slide to frumpy -I am almost 35, I am a mother of three, I drive a van and I have an addicition to cardigans - I am going to have my hair cut and colored this afternoon. My inner hooch says, "Hey Mel. Do something sassy. Dye your hair red. Make it stripey. Get Dave's attention."

My cardigan/turtleneck wearning outward momma says, "Stick with your basic brown. It is cheaper. It is easier to dye. You can cover your gray better. You will not embarrass yourself."

Wonder who will win?

When I leave the salon (or beauty shop) I always have pageant hair. When I wake up the next morning, my hair does not look much different then when I went to sleep. One day last April, I had my hair cut. I stopped at the red light by the house. The lady in the car next to me looked at me like this:

Then, when I got home, my kids looked like this.

So, anyways, it will be interesting to see what happens tonight. I will keep you updated :)

SNOW!

Finally - it is the snow I have been waiting on.

But wait!

When I prayed and begged and pleaded

for some snow for my children to play in,

well, I never thought about the fact that

I STILL HAVE TO GO TO WORK.

So here I am, sitting in an office with no windows.

Waiting.

To.

Go.

Home.

and make some soup.

I think that I need to go to the grocery store yet again.

This will be my fourth trip this week.

I guess I need to be more specific

and pray for snow that drifts up over my front door

and does not allow me to

drive the 1 1 /2 miles

to work.

One day

I will

be

a

teacher

and I will

be on

my children's

schedules

and stay at home

and play with them.

Sometimes it is best not to complain.

This morning, Tripp was complaining about brushing his teeth.

Nothing new there.

We were running late.
We had to go get Mallie.
Eli tells me, "Me and Emma are gonna go get in the van, OK?"
So I say, "Eli, don't forget her coat."
He says, "OK."

And they are gone.

Teeth get brushed.
We get in the van.

We go get Mallie.
I take Eli to school.
He gets out.
I take Mallie and Emma to school next.

As they start to get out, I notice Emma does NOT have a coat on. She is putting a hoodie on from the trunk - a hoodie that is lightweight, that I keep extra for ballgames when the wind is blowing.

I was just so mad at Eli, I couldn't see straight.

I took Tripp to school next. Dave pulled up in front of me. I told him that I was going to Eli's school to tell him that because of him, I have to go back home, get Emma's coat, and take it back to her school. She cannot be without a coat.

And I did. Eli had no excuse.

Then, I went back to the house to get Emma's coat.

I walked into the house and there was a burning smell. I checked the coffee pot. It was turned off. Emma's coat was not in the usual coat place. So I walked thru the house, checking for her coat. And the burn smell got worse.

In the living room, up against the heater, was the Disney Princess Chair. Burning. Smoking. Stinking.

IF Eli hadn't forgot Emma's coat, IF he would have actually listened, well, our house would have burned down.

I picked the chair up, and took it outside. The plastic on the seams stuck to my fingers.

I guess that today I am thankful for Eli's goofiness and his thirteen year old hard-of-hearing issues.

A New Years Eve Story.

Not too long ago,
in a galaxy far, far away,
there was a bored mommy
who was trapped in a hotel room
with three screaming kids
who were hyped up on
Christmas Sugar and Coca-Cola.

With no quiet time foreseen in the upcoming future,
and the prediction of a bedtime past midnight,
the mother looked for ways to entertain the youngsters
and keep their grandmother from selling them off as slaves.

Exasperated, the mother twiddled her thumbs
and tried and tried to amuse the children.

More chocolate at the candy store did not work-
It only made it worse


Swimming in the pool did not work.
The children were whiny and dripping wet.

As the situation became more and more tense,

finally the mother had an idea!

Self Portraits!

Self Portraits with funny faces!

Fish Face!

Whiny face!

Nah Nanna Boo Boo Face!

Oh Sh** Face!

Please help us face.

When the mother finished with one child, she took on another.

Finally, the kids overtook the adults.

'

And the Grandma had to call for help.

The End.

Funnies. Or Not.

COMING SOON!

I am working on a couple of posts... I am going to tell you about My Roles *inspired (or copied) from my friend Jenni; also, I am going to show you how much my daughter and I look alike (copied from another blog that I read).

Here are a couple of things that the kids have said recently.

• Emma told me that I am her daddy's "love monkey."
• Emma and Tripp were playing a game in which Emma had a ex-husband.
• Tripp asked during the quiet time at church tonight if "he could make a pilot in the floor in the livingroom tonight." Instead of making a pallet (a bunch of blankets on top of each other to make a fake bed) he calls it a pilot.
• We saw my brother and his wife in WalMart yesterday while we were getting groceries... Tripp called my brothers wife "Aunt Melissa" - I thought you would like that, Aunt Melissa :)

First Day of the New Year!

We got back from a cute little getaway with my mother in law... it was good to see Dave and Eli!
Dave arrived home a few hours before I did - and he cleaned the house! Even the toilets! What a wonderful way to start a new year!

At midnight last night, we were standing on the streets of downtown Gatlinburg, listening to music and watching people dance and toot horns, while wearing crazy hats. I am glad that Dave enjoyed going to his football game in Atlanta, but boy, did I miss kissing him at midnight.

Now, less than 24 hours later, my little kids are in bed, and we are thinking about Bible Bowl 2010 that starts tomorrow morning at 7:30 a.m.

There are lots of exciting things that I am anticipating this year... while I know that I am not in control, I am anticipating great growth for my family.

Here are some things that are happening:

• I start school *my ninth semester* in less than two weeks.
• Dave's store is really doing well.
• Eli will begin high school later this year.
• Emma will start 1st grade.
• Tripp will begin kindergarten.
• We are all insured as of today :)
• My house is coming together. slowly.

I am really not making resolutions, yet I am going to try my hardest to do better on all levels of my life. Here is to a new start!