Crazy Happenings

We've had two fires in our neighborhood in the last 3 weeks. Both are total losses. The first family has a 1st grader at Mathews and a preschooler. I'd never met the family before, but had the opportunity to meet them in person at a birthday party two weeks ago. They had a repairman at their house working on the furnace. The mom and two girls were out running errands while the dad was at home. The repairman went to the car to write up everything, and while he was in the car the homeowner turned the heat up...it was at 50 while he was trying to work on it. Well, apparently a current went through the wires and it sparked the furnace in the attic. The attic was on fire for about 20 minutes or so before they even knew it. So sad, but they are all okay. The company is liable, but that's not going to bring their stuff back. Lesson to be learned - fire alarms in the attic...

The one on Saturday was a street north from us and close to the school. It was an older couple who collected antique cars. They started the car and it sparked a pile of oil that was in the garage. They escaped, tried to put it out with an extinguisher in the garage, but the car blew up. They are fine, they got their pet out, but once again...the house was a total loss. The kids and I walked down the street and watched it for about an hour. It was so sad..really makes you think. Do we have copies of all our credit cards, passports, licenses, all important documents? What's our homeowners policy for fire? Do we have a video of room to room in our house? Do we have copies of it with our parents? We now have a few projects to take care of.

Here are some pics of the fire from Saturday.

Seriously Slacking

So much to do and such little time to get it done. One of these days I will update this thing. Had a great 1st day back to school. I really do love my job!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Bags packed, car loaded, kids occupied with electronics, we left for the ranch on Tuesday after school. With George Bush opened all the way to 30, it made for a quick escape from Plano. We made the trip in about 5 1/2 hours, which isn't too bad considering that we stopped a couple of times, it was dark which is a slower speed limit, and we were constantly on the lookout for deer. When we were leaving Comanche and headed toward Brownwood we saw the biggest buck on the side of the road. Chris and I agreed that was probably going to be the biggest deer that we saw on our trip :)

I'm looking forward to hanging out with Chris and the kids on the ranch today. I'm thinking of my friends who have lost loved ones this year. It is going to be a tough day for them and I wish you a day filled with remembering old times and making new memories of your own.

Today we're going to attempt to take some family pictures for our Xmas card this year, ride out on the land looking for critters, and watch some football. GO BRONCOS!!!

p.s. Chris was so disgusted with the Broncos after last Sunday's game that he changed his shirt when it was over. That was a first for me and I am hoping that he gets to wear his shirt ALL day today!

A lot to catch up on....

I don't really even know where to start. Our life right now is full of games, games, practices, and more games. Grace had a FANTASTIC weekend of games. We've had to make up all of the games from the rain, which led to a game on Thursday, one on Saturday, and one more on Sunday. She had 3 goals this weekend. Two on Saturday and another one on Sunday. She was ON FIRE!! Fun times!!

Caden is still going through phases. He's really particular about everything. Sometimes love and logic just doesn't work.

Remy is proving to be a silly dog. She is getting the hang of the potty training, and is even doing a great job on her leash. We are still working on the "down" and not jumping on the kids, but it's a work in progress. Her latest trick is to climb the rock wall on our swing set. Yes, you read that correctly. She goes up and down the rock wall. The first time she went down the slide, but after that she decided to just jump. Now, she goes up AND down the rock wall. She's really starting to mellow out some, and she is a very loving dog.

Grace decided that she wanted to be the Twister game board this year, and Caden wanted to be scary. It's funny that he chose that since he won't go into a dark room by himself right now :)

We've had lice go through our house, the kids went to Disney for a week with Gma Mem and Granddad, and they both had Flu A. We're ready for the holidays and some down time. I am even thinking of getting out the X-Mas decorations next week so that they'll be ready to go when we get back from Ann's at Thanksgiving. I haven't done a lick of shopping, but I figure that it'll all get done. Happy Monday!!

Good Grief...Grace!

My little smarty pants..so proud of her!! I just was going through her folder and looking at the work from the week. There's a blue letter from her reading teacher attached to a test. The gist of the letter is that it's their first test, first tests can be challenging, and that the grading on the first test is very lenient. Points will be taken off for spelling, no excuse words, and not using complete sentences. Hmmm....turn the letter over...Grace got a 100!!! Atta girl Grace!

96 on a math test, 100 on another math test from last week. She is off to a great start this year!!

Getting Back to it....

The transition from summer mom to working mom seems like it's been a little rough the last few weeks. We are all having our "days" it seems, but just not on the same one (smile). We have something literally every afternoon of the week. Monday - soccer for Grace, Tuesday - piano, Wednesday - CCD, Thursday - baseball for Caden, and Friday- soccer for Grace again. Then...the games on Saturday and Sunday. It has not left us with a lot of down time, and that has been a huge part of the transition also.

My mental health rests on me getting some time to myself each day...even 5 minutes to go to the bathroom by myself. I also like the time to be when I exercise. I have been making a lot of excuses lately, but this morning Remy and I ran 3.0 miles without stopping and it made me realize that the time for excuses is over. So...cheers to a great school year!

Grace is Turning 9..

Grace's birthday is Monday, September 7th. To celebrate she brought a cookie cake to school on Friday and she is having 4 friends spend the night tonight. My sweet baby girl is definitely growing up.

It seems like yesterday that she was born. Finding out that the baby in my belly for 9 months was a little girl was the best surprise ever. I'm so proud of her and the little girl that she has turned into.