More Eye Frustration

December 11th we took Izaac back to the eye doctor to update his prescription. A week later we were called, and in we went for them to replace his right lens with a stronger lens. Ever sense that day Izaac as been pitching fits about wearing his glasses. He looks over them, under them, anything to avoid looking through them. When we asked him about it he said he could not see with them. So I called the eye doctor and the technician said it was a stronger prescription and he would need to get used to it. So we continued reminding him to look "Through!" his glasses! Well, last night he and we had enough of the bickering over the glasses and Tobie did an impromptu eye exam. With the glasses off, he could read just fine out of the left eye, with the glasses on, he could not read. We decided that they must have put the same new prescription in both lenses instead of just one. Also, when we patched the left eye, which we are supposed to do, he did not complain about wearing the glasses. So we just assumed (I know, I know) that they had updated both sides to the new prescription. That leads us to this morning. I call the doctor and a tech. tells me to come in Monday at 5:30 pm to see the doctor. Not being happy with this we decide to call back, just so we can see if they can do a quick measure of the lenses. Well, this time I get the lady who replaced the lens in the first place, and the one who told me he would just have to get used to it...anyway, she seemed to notice my stress level on the phone and told me to come right in. In we go. I explain to her what the problem is and she tells me that she only replaced the one left lens, and left the right one the way it was...WHAT! Did you catch that. She said left lens! WRONG! So I go on to explain that the right eye is the weak one and his left one is the one we keep patching to help the RIGHT eye! I can see her frustration as well, because who ever took the notes from the doctor proceeded to write incorrect information and instead of writing the prescription for the right eye, they wrote it for the left eye. And I am sure if she cut the lens incorrectly she would have been in some sort of trouble. I watched her read the papers no less than 5 times and she pointed out what was written on the papers for me to see. I am sure she was just trying to CYA. I guess she did not want to take the fall for this one. So for about two weeks, this poor kid who can not see well out of his right eye, and depends on his left eye to help him get by has been virtually blinded by glasses that were meant to help him. UUUGGGGGG! Luckily they still had the original lens for the left side. Now they are reordering his new lens for the right eye. Two weeks progress lost? I hope not.

Here Comes Christmas

I really can not believe that Christmas is just two days away. Time really flies when you have things to do. I ventured out yesterday with the kids...huge mistake. But I actually can not say that the kids behaved badly it was the others around us. And you know if Izaac points out someones bad behavior it must be pretty bad. We even stopped on the sidewalk outside of a store and I explained to him that the day was going to be what we made it. That if we ran around acting crazy and mad at everyone then we would have a bad day. But if we relaxed, walked at our normal pace and smiled and were nice to everyone our day would go so much better. The trick worked. We did fine, but I will not venture out of the confines of Friendswood today. If it is not in my little town, I do not need it. Yes, some of you know the mall is in my city...but I don't adknowledge that fact. So I might leave the house, but it will be in the opposite direction of the mall:-)
Thought i would add another snow picture.


Good tidings to all...and to all...avoid the mall!

Eyeball Update

So we had Izaac's 30 day eye check to see if he has made any progress in his right eye. I am glad to say that he has had some progress, he has gone from only being able to read the top line of the eye chart to the third line. But (there is always a but) his right eye is still not doing the job it needs to be doing. So now we have yet another eye adventure. We are to find red and green glasses to use to teach Izaac's brain that it is not doing its complete job. Again, I do not fully understand what is going on with his eye/brain, but this is what I got from the appointment. If we put the colored glasses on his face and let him look at pictures, words, toys etc. that are also covered with a red and green overlay, his left eye will see just fine, but his right eye will not see what is under the red overlay. So his brain will go "Hey! Something is supposed to be there!" and hopefully teach the brain to make the connections. Right now that is what the idea of the patch is. Patch the left eye to force the right eye to work. It is working, just no as well as we want. The doctor has also upped his prescription in the right eye. He started at a +1 and is now going to have a +3. In the beginning they could not even really correct Izaac's vision with lenses but now I am guessing they can correct it more, hence a stronger prescription.

We will go back to the doctor in another 30 days to see if we have made any more progress. Cross your fingers that this patching, red eye, green eye thing kick his brain/eye into gear.

Oh No, Snow!

Well, I have to admit we were caught a little unprepared for our "snow storm." Winter clothes are a joke around here, and as you can tell from Ivy's picture we dressed a little like hobos. She actually went to school like that. She picked a dress out to wear so I did not want to discourage. I consented as long as there were jeans under...thus the hobo look.

If you look closely at Ivy's face you will see mulch. Izaac taught Ivy the fine art of eating snow, well when I ran in to get the camera I came back to mulch face. I guess she got a bit of dirt in her mouthful of snow.

Izaac had a blast! He was too young to remember or enjoy our last snow but he sure made up for it this time. We stayed out playing until around 11:30 pm...with the hopes of a "snow day." No such luck, so we were all up bright and early with very little sleep and snow still on the ground and covering most surfaces.

Yo Gabba Gabba!

Shelly hooked Ivy up with more Yo Gabba Gabba gear then she could ever hope for. It is also very easy to get her dressed when I ask her if she wants to wear, Foofa, Brobe or Toodie.

Time Out

I have been meaning to post these pictures for awhile...You can see Ivy's handy work on our wall. Then the results of her time out on the stairs. Luckily this happened when I was out, so Tobie got to do the punishing. Mean Daddy:-)

Glasses and Patches

Some of you know and some of you don't know that we have started a new adventure in our life. Eyeglasses and patches for Izaac. So the story goes...a few weeks ago I get a call from Izaac's school nurse. He failed his eye test. Her results showed that Izaac's right eye was only seeing at 20/60, but his left eye is 20/20. So I made a call to the eye doctor and got an appointment for the following Monday. We go in and the doctor confirms what the school nurse found. What he said...at least what I understand is that Izaac's right eye never made the connections it needed to see correctly, and therefore his left eye has been compensating for the right eyes failures. And even with the glasses they could only correct his right eyes vision to 20/50, not good! At this point I was quite upset because I sat through his whole eye exam and could see just how bad his right eye was, and I was wondering to myself why had we not picked up on the problem. You would think he would have problems with physical activities or sitting too close to the tv or something. But the doctor said that there really was nothing we could have noticed. I heard him, but I still was upset with myself, thinking that we missed something. So anyway that was Monday, and Tuesday we picked up the glasses and started the whole routine. The first night did not go well. After we put the patch on, he actually sat at the kitchen table and sobbed because he could not see the tv. It just broke my heart. But it has been going well. Izaac does not have to wear the patch to school, gymnastics or while doing physical activities like riding his bike...which leads me into the accident.

So here is my bad mom story for this month. On Monday of this week, I had the all the kids, Izaac, Ivy, Kyle and Tyler. We had a really good day and around 2pm we finally decided we would go outside to play. Well in the confusion of getting everyones socks and shoes on I forgot to take off Izaac's patch and he forgot to remind me. Well, with the patch on Izaac has a HUGE blind spot, and well, Ivy was in it. Izaac was actually looking at me and when he turned his face forward it was too late to stop and he slammed into the side of Ivy and her tricycle. She went flying and you can see the results on her face. I am so thankful she was on her tricycle, because it could have been so much worse that when I think about it it makes me sick to my stomach. I saw the whole thing and it was like watching a movie in slow motion. I knew what was coming but could not react fast enough. That is a time when you really can see the delay in the brains response time between what you realize is going to happen and your body doing somethin about it.

So the adventure continues. We go back to the eye doctor on December 11th to have his vision retested. So pray that his brain and eye do what they need to and we can get him out of the patches soon.

Joke

Joke, as told by Izaac.

Why did the cow man want a dog? Because he wanted a long skinny dog.

Now here is the real joke.

Why did the cowboy want a dachshund? Because he wanted to get a long little doggie.

Tobie told him this joke one night and he repeated it to me in his way. I thought it was a one time thing and he would forget the joke...but no. I am watching my nephews a couple days this week and we were just sitting around the table and Izaac announced..."Do ya'll want to hear a joke?" After the punch lin Kyle looked at me like "what" so I had to repeat the real joke for him. I am still laughing to myself, because Izaac will tell you the joke with all seriousness and he doesnt skip a beat. He just does not realize that his joke doesnt make sense to anyone but himself. Oh the humor of a 5 year old.

Four Crazy Weekends

So I posted about three crazy weekends and then at the end prayed for a relaxing next weekend. Well that next weekend (last weekend) I was a chaperon for 46 high school students for a Saturday trip to the Houston Museum of Natural Science to see the Body Worlds exhibit. I had a great time, the kids behaved themselves and I feel like I spent my time with kids who probably would not have been able to go on their own. But, man was I tired. So here I sit...weekend number 5 and I actually don't have to go anywhere, unless I have forgotten something and now its just too late. So what to do....I guess I could clean my messy house.

Halloween Table

So I said I would post some pictures of the Halloween/Non-Birthday party, and this is the third time I have sat down to do it...I did not do a cake, just tons of cupcakes so that the neighbors could just pop in and pick one up. No one really wanted to try the brain jello. Robert had a bite from the part that was not exposed to the many poking fingers, and he said it did not taste all that bad...just not very appetizing looking

Three Crazy Weekends!

So I have already tried writing this blog once...and at that time it would have been only two crazy weekends. But seeing that many of you are bolggers yourself, you will understand when I say "The site ate my blog." I had the whole thing written including four pictures, I was making adjustments to it and then...gone. So this is going to be a quick run down of the following three weekends. And let me preface it with saying I am glad that we did it all and had a good time, but sitting here right now I am exhausted.

Three weekends ago...

Shelly and the kids came for a visit. We managed a trip to the Dewberry farm and had a wonderful time. The last time we went I was BIG pregnant with Ivy, and I would have said that I would not go again. Knowing that I might have had a slight bias due to the fact that I was HUGE and hated every picture of me, we went because Shelly wanted to go. We love Shelly, so off we went. Well we had a fabulous time...and not just because I was not gargantuan but because they actually stepped it up and the place is well worth the money. Shelly made the cutest dresses for the girls. Don't they just look sweet:-) During our walk back from the pumpkin patch all four kids shoved themselves into the wagon...it went bad quickly.

Two weekends ago...

Garage sale. No, it was not fun. No, I did not get enough sleep. But we did get much need "junk" out of the house and made $350 in the meantime...enough said.

Last weekend...Halloween and Ivy's non-party, Birthday celebration and Travis' wedding in San Antonio.

Even though Ivy will not be officially 2 until the 8th of November, we went ahead and celebrated early. On Ivy's real Birthday, Adam would have been working, and we like to plan around him so he can be included in the festivities. So Friday night we did the whole trick-or-treat birthday party for Ivy. If you normally get invited to the kids parties, please do not feel slighted...We decided against the big party and opted for only family. Mainly to maintain what little sanity we have left. We then left early Saturday for Travis' wedding in San Antonio. We had a wonderful time, and hope to get back to that area again. I will post wedding and birthday photos in the up coming blogs:-)

So now Wednesday is almost over and the weekend is sneaking back up on us. This is my prayer for the weekend...Dear Lord, Let the nights be long, let my kids sleep past 7:30am and let us not have to go anywhere. Amen

Where has the 10 years gone?

So Friday, Tobie and I celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary. I am still having a hard time believing that 10 years have passed. I remember when I was a kid the idea of a year was this massive length of time. And it always seemed like it took two year just to get to Christmas. Now that I have children I am beginning to realize just how fast a year disappears.

When you look back on a day that means so much in your life it is funny to see what you actually remember. Like I remember sitting and waiting at my parents house waiting for the limo...which we found out later had forgotten to pick us up, and someone at the church had to remind him to go and get us. I remember that the only food I had before the wedding was a banana because my stomach was all in knots. I remember Tobie and I laughing at the weight of my flowers (they were deceivingly heavy)while we were kneeling in front of the priest and all of our friends and family. I remember that I had all of one sip of beer at my reception because anytime Tobie and I sat down we ended up taking pictures...I don't even know if the food was any good. But most of all I remember being happy. Even when the kinks showed up during the day, I still remember how happy I was. And I remember all of this like it was just yesterday.

So what is my hope for the next 10 years...I think that I hope that I can slow down enough to appreciate all of the little things that build up those years. So when my children ask me about an event I can recall it...even if it seemed insignificant at the time.

Oh, and by the way the 10 year anniversary gift is tin...good luck with that. I even saw one site that was offering gift ideas and they listed tin snips as an option. Good grief!

So to my wonderful husband...Happy Anniversary! I'm so glad we took the plunge:) No tin for you!

Welcome October

Well, Fall is finally here and on some days it actually feels like it too. Tobie has gotten most of the Halloween decorations up on the house and the kids already have their costumes.



Tobie picked out Ivy's outfit and I think it is the perfect one for her. We were not sure what Izaac was going to pick but when he saw this one, he could not resist.

I think Ivy's face shows exactly how they were both feeling:-)

I'm Done

I think I have officially reached the "I am done talking about the hurricane" phase. I went back to work today with instructions from the heads of the district to "Let the kids talk about it." And after 7 periods of hearing about the destruction, and having to share my story...I'm exhausted!

With that being said I did have four students who lost everything. They lived in Seabrook and, don't anymore. Very sad, but they were holding together very well. I did have one student fall completely asleep sitting up in his chair, to the extent of drooling on himself. He lost his house and has been living in a small travel trailer with no electricity, until yesterday when the electricity came on. I also still have one student that is unaccounted for. I am hoping she will turn up soon.

Our weekend was very uneventfull. Tobie worked on our front garden that got pulverized by Ike, but is looking good now.

Tobie loves decorating for Halloween and has begun the process of spookafying our house. I will have to post some pictures when he is done.

They are Melting the Ice!

Okay, I am going to get on my soap box for a little bit...so bear with me...or just don't read.

I have issues with the handling of FEMA ice. Three nights ago they showed aerial photos of FEMA melting bags of ice in San Antonio, and dozens of truckers sitting idle in Houston at the Reliant stadium. When interviewed in Houston, one trucker said they had been sitting there for days, waiting to be told where the need was....GALVESTON!!!!!!

Yes, I do agree with people who say that those lazy, cheep, taking advantage of the system people who could now just drive to the store to buy ice, but instead are sitting in long lines for free ice, do not need it. I agree!

This is just one quote I take issue with.

"He said the agency decided to unload the ice and let it melt because it would be more expensive to keep it frozen indefinitely to fill some unknown future need. Scorza did not know how many trucks or how much ice was headed for Seguin, but said if any areas on the coast needed more ice, FEMA could supply it immediately. "

Unknown future need? Indefinitely? GALVESTON people! I does not take a degree or even a slightly intelligent person to see where the need is. The people in Galveston and in other areas around here are still hurting and if FEMA can't see that I don't know what good they are being. Galveston is going to need it for awhile and I feel it is a slap in their face to say there is no need.

Okay, I'm done.

Hurricane!

I LOVE this picture! This barometer belonged to my Grandfather, I don't know the story behind it except that my Dad said, every day his Dad would tap it. Well, I tap it everyday and was very excited to see if it would work when a hurricane came. It does slightly change when we have a storm rolling in, but WOW! did it ever work! Click on the picture so you can get a better view. Look to see where the black hand is pointing.

Evacuation Ranch Days

We had a wonderful time on the ranch. The kids got to enjoy the animals, and Tobie and I enjoyed the clean country air. We would love to own some land in the hill country, even if we just hold onto it for a while before we can build a house. Just dreaming big, I'm sure land is expensive were we were looking.

Ivy really enjoyed the animals. She showed no fear. I remember the first time Izaac saw a horse out side of picture books...screaming and tears if I remember correctly. She got very excited every time we took the walk down the long "drive way", for she knew what we were going to go do.

One evening we all loaded up in the back on Mr. Edgars pick-up and went to feed the cows. Again, Ivy showed no fear. Here she is in the pasture...the hands in the mouth thing is a new habit. Not so tasty when you have been running around with farm animal....Yick! She is also covered in blue chalk dust and road dirt. Cant go to the country and not get dirty right:-)

Izaac also enjoyed the animals. He does not know which one is his favorite, but he keeps bringing up "hamberger", one of the new bulls that is going to slaughter:-) Don't know if he gets the joke.

Thank You!!!!

Sorry about the previous grumpy post!

But what I really needed to tell everyone is "Thank You". The outpouring of concern, prayers, well-wishes and offers from a place to stay to places to do our laundry, was overwhelming! We weathered the storm just fine...it was creepy...I would probably do it again only I would send my kids away with someone. Tobie and I were able to do damage control throughout the storm, so what did happen was lessened. As Shelly told me and I found out, it is very hard to leave your house. But leave we did.

Monday after two and a half days in the dark, we had had enough. I think the decision was finally made when Tobie had to stand in the FEMA line to receive ice, to try to save what little food that was still cold. So with offers to go to many different houses we finally decided to make a "vacation" of it and we headed to a small town outside of San Antonio. Tobie's friend Travis grew up in the area and his mother and step-father own a ranch and they thought the kids would enjoy the country and the animal. They were right.

So two people who had no clue who we were took in our whole family including the dog. So thank you to Mr. and Mrs. Kathy and Edgar Dodson, who took us in, fed us, let us enjoy their home and made us feel welcome.

I have many pictures to add, and they will come in the following days. But until then, Thank you everyone. Please keep the people in this area in your thoughts and prayers. They are going to need them!

It's called insurance right?!?

So the insurance adjuster just left...don't know what to say right now so I thought I would share a picture of the damage in Izaac's room.

There was other water damage but the pictures are not as interesting as this one. We are worried that the insurance is not going to pay enough to cover our deductable...rotten insurance. I know our damage is not as bad as others, but we pay our insurance like everyone else and when we have damage you would hope the insurance would pay. That is the point of insurance right. It almost does not seem worth it. Not in a good mood. I will add more pictures when I'm not so grumpy.

Boarded up for Ike

Front Door Cam

Tobie set up a web cam so everyone can see what is happening around our house...at least until the electricity goes out

http://tlabauve.endoftheinternet.org



username: labauve

password: ike



Check it out.

If you are not from Houston and are checking on us. This is the best site I have found for pictures...www.chron.com

12:45 pm

Tobie finished the house. I checked on the Shea's house, but decided not to go to my parents...I knew there was just too much that I could find to do. So I just figured that what I did yesterday was going to have to be enough.

So Far So Good

So far it is very calm here. Tobie is finishing up boarding the windows and strapping down the last things in the back yard. I am going to be headed to my parents neighborhood to help out the Shea's house. Both my parents and the Sheas went out of the country during Hurricane season. I think there was ulterior motives in that move:-) I took care of Mom and Dad's house yesterday, but I am sure I only scratched the surface. Hard to decide what to do to someone elses house...but after the Shea's I think I will run through their house again.

Mom did call at 2am this morning...sounds like they will make it to Atlanta and then probably have to stay there.

Mandatory?

To leave or not to leave has been on my mind quite a bit this past 12 hours. When I was leaving work on Wednesday, Ike was going to Corpus and they were only giving us Friday off...for what I can only assume was to pacify the paranoid teachers. But from the time I left work at 4:30 to the 6 o'clock news, we went from not really worrying about it to questioning what we should do. So all day today I have gone back and forth as to my plans.

Tobie was not and is not leaving. He feels that if the water or wind is going to do some damage than he could be here to do damage control. Last night we were not even going to board up windows...my how things change during the night. Well turns out almost every neighbor boarding windows, and here we are without a truck to even go get wood. But the goodness comes out in people during storms and a guy Tobie was helping board up his house offered us wood and clips to do our house. So now I feel a bit like we are living in a cave, not so bad because it helps keep the house cool:-) Gotta find that silver lining right.

But, I do want you all to know that I have heard and debated all of the advice that I have been given. As of right now I am staying here, and I don't think it is going to change. I feel safer being here with my family then trying to venture cross state with who knows what other crazies that might be in the car stuck next to me an my children in traffic.

So I'm sure I will be the subject of "bad mom" conversations and that is okay. But I have decided that I can not deal with leaving Tobie here by himself. So we are going to do this as a family...Ike has been fickle so we will see again tomorrow. I will keep blogging as long as I have electricity.

Murphys Law

So I cursed myself. You say nothing is going on and everyone is doing well and Murphy's Law will catch up with you.

Item #1 I said...Izaac has had all good days but two. This week alone two bad "days". Sounds like Izaac had a typical, nothing I do is right day, yesterday. Then when he got home and after he told me all about it, while eating his snack; fell out of his chair, hurt his leg, big crocodile tears, layed on the couch with ice and conked out. Today, he was so tired he fell asleep on the bus. Our neighbor who watches him on Wednesdays freaked out because he did not get off the bus, so the bus driver had to make an anouncement to wake him up...Kindergarten is catching up with him.

Item #2 I said...No exciting news...Ike is coming, where exactly...they are not quite sure. As of right now we are out of school Friday. There is a little bit of evacuation going on, no major freak outs yet.

Mom and Dad have been gone visiting one of their neices in Europe...They fly in Friday night...into a hurricane.

Woo Hoo! I will watch what I say:-)

Slacking

So Tobie informed me that I was slacking in my postings, because the last thing I posted was the first day of school. Well, I don't have much to post about I guess. No new pictures (that I am definitely slacking on), no exciting stories. So here are some basics of the past two weeks.

Izaac is doing well in school. He has received reports of "Good Day", "Great Day" or a smiley face every day but two. And those two days the reports were not all that bad. One funny one was, "Had to be reminded about the proper use of the maniplatives". For anyone who is unaware of what a maniplative is in school, its basically a hands on learning item...beads, string, blocks, you name it...So what exactly proper use was, and what Izaac was or was not doing, I'm not quite sure, but it was not bad enough to move his clip.

We have been storm watcing as most of you have been doing...we got only slightly prepared for the last storm...which included getting cash and milk. Sad I know. Waited and watched. Kept in touch with Shelly through the storm by text. And recieved no rain at all.

My new job is going very well. I am enjoy the students, small classes, co-workers and the added sense of responsibilty and consequences the students have. Its the best of two worlds, small classes and relationship building with my students but consistent consequences for misbehaviors. I am enjoying going to work every day and that has not happend for me in a long time.

So now we are watching Ike...enough said.

Yea! Kindergarten!

This was not the "first day of school outfit" that I choose, but when Tobie tried to put it on him he was not content (sorry mom). So needless to say we did a quick wardrobe change. No need to make school a traumatic event on the first day. The original outfit is very handsome, maybe picture day:)
So Monday was the first day of school for Izaac, and it went very well! Yea! It has been a challenge figuring out how he was going to get to and from school. My work day starts at 7:30am and ends at 3:30pm with no leeway, and Izaac can not get into the school until 7:45am and has to be picked up by 3:30pm. Luckly a lady down the street offered to help. At first she was going to pick Izaac and some other kids up from school...but it turned out to be way too many of them so we decided the best option was going to be the bus. Tobie did the car rider thing for the first day and decided right then that Izaac was going to ride the bus both directions. Calling the place a mad house at drop off and pick up times would be putting it lightly. So today, Tobie and Izaac waited out with the rest of the kids and their parents and Izaac got on the bus with no problem...he was actually really excited about it. Its hard getting information from a 5 year old about his day, what he thinks is important and what I think is important information is two different things, but it seems to be going well. His behavior sheet has read Great! and Great Day #2 ! I can not be happier. His teacher has already taught him to spell red and one. Hopefully this pace will keep up, and he will be reading in no time.

Just One More

Okay, just one more birthday photo. Here are the entries into the "Lego Car Show" at Izaac's birthday.

Death By Power Point

So I have just spent a week listening to and watching some of the most non-entertaining power points of my life. There were about two that showed movie clips along with their power points...but that was it. I realize that there is a bunch of information that a new person needs when they come to a new school district, but OMG!!! I can not stand another person reading from the slides!!! I wish I could say that I learned a ton of new information but if pressed I would say in the four days so far I learned 4 new items...I guess one item a day is not bad if I had not spent 7 hours at each event. I also realize that in a district as large as Clear Creek, people come in with all sorts of different backgrounds...but to sit through a lecture that included how to turn on an over head projector is a form of cruel and unusual punishment. Yes, I am just complaining, and no, I do not have a solution, but there has to be a better way. With all of that said, I am still thrilled to be in this district. I can see why they are one of the top districts in the state. They demand very high standards from their teachers, but have also found ways to help them achieve the goals set for them. Intimidating, yes, but very doable. Some of the 4 things I learned this week, I was wondering why the two previous districts I worked in had not told or required me to do these things. Makes me wonder what CCISD knows that the others do not. So needless to say I am going to have to work on my orgaizational skills...updates to come...

Oh. Cool side note. I "knew" the superintendent of Alvin ISD...and by that I mean he knew my parents from church. 5 years ago I introduced myself as Maryanne and Curtis Posts daughter. In all of the following interactions (which are few and far between) he remembered who I was and spoke to me. Well a year or so a go, he moved to CCISD as their new superintendent. Wednesday morning I was walking into another wonderful meeting and from behind me I hear "So how have you been doing?" Well, being in a state of drowsiness from staying up late watching Phelps kick swimmings butt...I rambled on to the superintendent. Anyone in a right state of mind would of just said "Fine, thank you. And yourself" So a half and hour or so later he is giving his welcome speech and I have to be honest in saying that I was not paying all that much attention until I noticed some of the lines that I said to him. I actually thought for a moment that he was "stealing" material...as if, right. Then proceeds to ask where "Megan" was sitting. I raise my hand, with what I was sure was a deer in the head lights look...and he continues with my story of exhaustion...don't quite know what lead up to the story, but I'm sure if I had been paying attention it would have been good...welcome to CCISD Megan:-) Guess I need to get more sleep.

Wow! I am Tired!

Day one of new teacher training and we went full force until 3pm. I get in a terrible habit in the summer of not having much of a routine...and I really paid for it today. Things went well...I'm just tired and have a headache. They seem VERY organized...refreshing! I will update as I go through the week.

Time Flies!

So I'm down to two days of summer. As a new teacher this year I have to go back a week before all of the other teachers. But, I am actually looking forward to it. I have been getting some very good "vibes" from Clear Creek ISD and am getting very excited. I went to visit my new school and was pleasantly surprised with the school and my new room. In some schools new people don't necessarily get a prime room, they get the rooms that the veteran teachers don't want. So needless to say I was not expecting much....but I was very surprised. I received an all in one lab and classroom...done well, and will function well. The lab tables are built into the side walls with walls of EMPTY cabinets! There is a sink, electrical plug and internet plug at every station. Then in the middle of the room is where the desks will go. I have a projector and an ELMO! Thoes of you who do not know what an ELMO is, its an updated overhead projector...no transparencies needed, just put what you want to show under the light and it projects it...in color! Woo Hoo! And I also have a storage room, in my room. That is really nice! I don't have to go down the hall to do anything! Now we can work at our desks, stop and slide over to do the lab!!! I know, only exciting for a science teacher, but I had to gush for a bit...I'm even planning on taking pictures and posting them...yes, I am a nerd...embrace it.

Party Pics

The Dads get in on the lego building fun.

Izaac and his cake...He is so proud!

















The Moms have to help!
















Ivy builds with Kyles help

Lego Cake

Legos was the theme of Izaac's birthday this year, and I think it was a success. The cake was once again a collaboration between Tobie and I. The idea is that the cake is being built and is unfinished...

I actually think this has been our best cake yet.

The Summer Trifecta

So Izaac has had a big summer! First he learned to swim, then to roller skate and now he can ride his bike without his training wheels. Tobie took him out one day after work and it took him all of about 15 minutes with Tobie helping the he was off on his own. I missed the whole thing! I was trying to put Ivy down so we would not have to worry about her while Izaac was learning and so I missed it all. So now that Izaac has riding down, Tobie has upped the bar....He is going off the curb and popping his front tire all in the goal to hop up the curb! Be still my heart! Why can't we just be happy with biking in a straight line...I guess its a boy thing.

Chickens Just Back From the Shore!

Weekend Fun

The Swanson's made a visit two weekends ago and we had a wonderful, yet crazy, loud, rambunctious, exhausting time! Which is always a nice step away from our normal weekend routine. We had tons of plans and got very little of it done:-) The boys managed a trip to Pelican Island where Tobie got to finally take his jeep off road, and almost got stuck. The girls made a trip to IKEA. We all got to go to Tyler's roller skating birthday party on Sunday. I knew that was going to be trouble...Jaxon has been roller skating for the past three years, an activity done every week at their school. Izaac on the other hand has never been on skates. It took Izaac most of the party to figure it out, but by the end he had developed a partial run/skate that was pleasing to him. He did get sad often seeing Jaxon zoom around the ring...he wanted to know why he could not skate like Jaxon. But with a little perseverances and a lot of falling he managed to enjoy himself. I will need to take him back this summer, that is definately an tiring activity and might manage to get a nap out of him...something he gave up ages ago. Than Erik and Tobie took some pictures of Kristy and Travis in a park for some of their engagement photos. And in true 4 year old form the boys got in the way many times. If there is a camera out, you had better be taking pictures of them. The boys fight constantly, but as soon as it is time to go the tears start because they are leaving. I love this photo...don't know how much longer they will pose like this, hopefully a lot longer.

IKEA Encounter

So last weekend when Shelly and I ran up to IKEA we ran into Sarah and Robert...and you all thought Houston was big:-) well they asked me to give them ideas for Izaac's upcoming birthday. At the time I was drawing a blank so I told Sarah that I would blog about it so that anyone else who was stumped as to what 5 year old boys are into theses days (at least my 5 year old) could have some help. We are throwing a LEGO party so that is always an idea, along with any "building" kits. He likes the animated Transformer series and as it turns out they now have the action figures to go along with the show. He into sports...swimming is the big one right now. He has out grown his Thomas bike...its actually quite funny to see him riding it....think big kid on little bike...legs going a million miles an hour...comedy relief in the front yard. He also need a new scooter, wore his other one out! He still plays with his leapster and V-smile. Loves puzzles, art and crafts, games...typical kid stuff. Hope this helps...

Zero to Sixty

So up until this summer Izaac has not been all that interested in the pool and swimming. We would go and he would last less than an hour (sometimes even just a half and hour) and pronounce that he was done and getting out. All of this while wearing floaties and definitely NOT getting his face wet...to the point where if he did get his face wet we would have to wipe it dry. Then this summer began...My first week off we went to Mom's pool in the hopes that this year would be "The" year Izaac would enjoy swimming. Well day one, he would not take off the floaties...but we did convince him to put his face in the water....that was five minutes of fun. Then he opened his eyes under water....another five minutes of fun. Then the goggles...that fun lasted the rest of that day. The next day he was convinced to take off the floaties....and he has not stopped sense! He swims very well for a kid who has never had formal instruction. He can jump off the side and swim back. He retrieves things from the bottom of the pool (shallow end of course). Does the dead mans float. And surprise of all, yesterday he busts out with the freestyle. I am in awe! He does wear us out though...because he spends 90% of his time under the water we are constantly dragging him up and insisting he take a break. He has the invincible feeling right now so we have to be extra diligent watching him. And to make what could be a relaxing time at the pool even more stressful...Ivy is not even a bit scared of the water! She jumps off the side, goes under and does not even bat an eye. Even playing on the stairs we have to be on constant watch because she has no fear. Can't wait to see what the next pool trip brings...

Who Knew! Pre-K Graduation!

I had no idea that they had Pre-K graduation...but sure enough! It was a very well planned event with songs and marching in lines...I'm impressed Mrs. Sarah could get 22 four to five year olds to preform as well as they did. I have a feeling we will be doing this again come the end of Kindergarten. Hopefully the cap and gown will work again, and if anyone needs the use of the outfit, we are renting it out to pay for it:)

The Big Show!

For the spring semester we signed Izaac up for The Little Gym, to learn gymnastics. Don't really know how much gymnastics he learned as apposed to having a place on Monday nights where he could burn off some energy bouncing off padded walls. I take that back he did learn some new tricks, and he had tons of fun. Don't know if he will do it again next semester. We are trying to let him do one new thing each semester to see what he enjoys. Maybe soccer next?

A Little Late

Last time the Swansons were here we decided to abandon the couch for a little while and head up to the new park in downtown Houston. Of course this was awhile back but I am behind on putting the pictures on my blog. We had a very nice time, but do not know if we would go back just for the park. It was difficult to find parking and the shade was limited....but we still enjoyed ourselves.

Summer - Day One

So the summer has begun and as many of you know I have both kids for the summer, and in previous summers have gone a bit crazy. Working outside of the home has given me the structure I need to get up in the morning, get dressed and get myself and the kids out the door. Being a stay at home mom, I'm not so good at. So to all of you who do it every day, I salute you. Here it is almost 10:30 in the morning, I'm not dressed and neither are the kids. BUT...I have fed them, which is a BIG challenge for me...I would prefer to change diapers than have to figure out what to feed them...sad I know. Anyway here is my accomplishments for today, because I have heard from a very accomplished stay at home mom (Shelly, that is you)that it is better to make a list of what you have done as to a list of what I have not done. So here it is. I have worked out on the Wii Fit, but only two of the four sections because Ivy woke up. Got the trash out. Set up a Lego sorting system for Izaac. Delt with 5 Ivy melt downs. Made an Isabelle free play zone for Ivy (okay so I'm stretching it there a bit) and cut coupons. So needless to say, I need to work on my days, but this is only day one:) Wish me luck!

Welcome Isabelle

Well it took us a long time to get over losing Butch, but we finally made the decision to get a new dog. She is super sweet, loves the kids and is very energetic. We got her from the League City Animal Shelter and they put her age at about two, two and a half...we think she is more like one, one and a half. She definitely has some puppy tendencies, chewing and mouthing you being her two big ones. She wants to be near you every second that she can and if you scratch her belly she will be you BFF! Don't quite know her breed, mutt most definitely, a lot of some kind of hound (Plott hound is what they told us Im sure so we would over look what else she is mixed with) some pitt, you can see it in her face if she looks at you right, maybe even some lab. I think she might even have some greyhound in her based on her running style, but seeing that no one knows her back ground we will never know. We need to get her to our own vet, maybe he can give us a better estimate of her age and breed.

Three and a Half Days and Counting!

Yes it is finally true! School is almost out for summer....I know, some districts are already out, but remember Alvin in all of their wisdom kept fall break. So some districts were out today but we still need to go through finals. I'm looking forward to summer, I plan many trips to the local library and anything else that is inside and cool. We have a Lego store opening up in our mall, so I envision many trips there as well. I hope to see many of you this summer!

Crime and Corruption in Friendswood

So I never got to blog about Tobie taking care of his ticket....So when Tobie missed his court date, the City of Friendswood charged him $200 for bond...They set a new court date and while we were both suffering with the stomach flu Tobie got his car inspected with the idea that with the new inspection, Friendswood would just charge court fees and Tobie would be on his way. So, court day arrives, Tobie goes in without any idea as to the charges for the two tickets. Apparently Friendswood does not post the prices for what each ticket is worth. Its not on the back of the ticket and its not on their website. So they divide this big group of people up into two groups...Tobie assumes into moving and non-moving violations...again its not posted so he has no idea. He gets up to a court clerk, shows him the inspection...well apparently Friendswood needs new roads. They claim that Tobies ticket was going to be $297, but just for him $197...suspiciously close to the $200 bond they already got out of Tobie. When he paid the bond, the clerk told him he would get back any money that he did not have to pay toward his tickets...hmmmmm. Sounds like a scam. How much would the ticket have been if he did not have to pay the bond??? So Tobie goes up to the check out window and the lady tries to tell Tobie that she does not think they can write a check for less than five dollars and Tobie was only due three dollars!!!! Talk about a scam! So with no posting of what anything costs, they seem to be able to make up any price they want, and sense they already had $200 from Tobie, they were going to find a way to keep it. Tobie said when he left, he felt "Dirty". Like they were pulling a scam on everyone who walked through the door. So surprising to both of us, last week we received a check for $3 from the City of Friendswood. I guess they decided that they actually knew how to write checks for less than $5.

Ticket for no inspection $197 Ticket for no proof of insurance $0....Feeling like you go ripped off by the City of Friendswood...Priceless

Sick Again!!!

I can not believe it!!! I am sick again. This time with strep throat! I think the last time I had strep throat, I was in college. I just can't seem to catch a break. Luckily HEB has a clinic, so instead of me just getting worse and worse until Monday, I ran up to the grocery store and got seen in 15 minutes. I love that place. Saw the nurse, got a prescription and grocery shopped all in about an hour. Now that is what I call service. Hope everyone has a good Mother's Day.

I fell of the wagon

Ever sense Tobie and I had our touch of stomach flu I have fallen off the FLYlady wagon. So far the only thing I have managed to keep up is making my bed in the morning. I have randomly this week swished and swiped two of my bathrooms....but I have fallen back into my old ways of waiting until the weekend to get things done. I guess what is good about the system is that I can just jump back in and not feel too bad about it...

So Far a Better Week

Well we finally have ordered some of the pictures that were taken of the kids way back in March. Here is just a preview.... I will be sending them out soon. We got two poses of each kid...none together though. It was hard enough just pealing Ivy off my leg to get the pictures we ended up with. Luckily there were enough to choose from. Not enough of all of the cousins together though.
The dreaded TAKS has started today...anyone out of TX, that is our state standardized tests. This week they are testing math, social studies and science. All spread out because we have to provide every student with a TI-83 graphing calculator. Needless to say there is not enough funds to have one calculator for every kid, so they just spread the math test out for 4 days. On other teaching notes I have officially been offered a job in Clear Creek ISD! I am so excited. We live in CCISD and Izaac will be starting kindergarten in August, so it means alot to me to be on the same calender as Izaac. I will be teaching Biology for a charter school in the distrist. I am a little anxious, Ive been at the same shool for 5 years and after awhile you get comfortable with your daily routine. But it was definately time for me to move on. This week I have to sign and turn in my acceptance letter to CCISD and write and turn in my resgination to Alvin ISD. Oh, and they need my college transcripts...weird...its not like I'm just out of college. I have been doing this for 9 years, so I don't really know what my grades in intermediate swimming and underwater photography (yes, I'm serious) has to do with my new job:). Oh and best still...Magic, Ritual and Religion. Man, I loved college!

Oh What a Crazy Week

So just when you think, life is going smoothly...Wham! So here is the story for the week. Tuesday morning I woke up feeling just a bit "off"...but I went to work anyway. First period I started feeling light headed, every time I stood up I would get wobbly, so I knew something was coming. By second period I started getting chills...hot, cold, than hot again....then the tummy started rumbling. I decided to go ahead and plan on not coming in on Wednesday, thinking I could make it the whole day...WRONG! A major downfall of being a teacher is that it is very hard to just walk away...you cant just forward you emails and calls, there are all these kids that would go berserk if left unsupervised...anyway I made it to noon and gave up. The front office managed to get some other teachers to cover my classes. Which I hate doing, even though they get paid, they don't get their off period.
So, I managed to make it home where I slept the rest of the day away, nursing a fever and stomach flu. Tobie made it home and Wham! It hits him around dinner time. So there we are two grown adults who really just need to be in the bed and two kids that need to be feed, bathed and put to bed. That finally done, Tobie and I felt like dying all night long...
Morning comes, we all sleep a little late. I barely get out of pj's and I really mean barely, I threw on a pair of flip flops and out the door we go.
They turn Ivy AWAY!!!! Pink eye they say. By this point I am so weak I can not complain and Im almost in tears because all I want to do is go back to bed and sleep away the pain! So I call the doctors office and I manage to get in right away...Double pink eye. She can return to school on Thursday!!!! SOB!!! And to make matters worse. Im in my pj's remember, no make up and I did not brush my teeth. I really thought I would be back to the house in 5 min. Just goes to show you your mother was always right when she said "Never leave home with out clean underwear on". Im sure that carries over to "Never leave home in your pj's" Because you are bound to be pulled over by the cops or end up at the pediatricians office with all the well dressed mothers of Pearland:)lol!
Meanwhile the story gets worse. Tobie has to take the mustang in to get it inspected so he can get cleared of a ticket (whole other story) whose court date is Thursday at 6:30pm, and he has to have proof of inspection. So Ivy and I follow Tobie in the mustang to get it inspected. Of course there is a wait...Finally we get done. Medicine for Ivy. Back home to nap. We both suffer the rest of the day but both decide to go to work Thursday. Which we both regret. Than Wham!!! Tobies court date was Wednesday at 6:30 pm not Thursday at 6:30. So for just over 14 hours Tobie was a fugitive! Funny I know! So he had to post bail to get a new court date. I'm laughing as I'm writing this...because, really! REALLY! Oh! AND we missed Mrs. LaBauves birthday. Both of us had it scheduled in our new fancy phones, but no, not even that could pull us way from our horrid nightmare that was the stomach flu.
So there it is. Things are going great and just to remind you, you are not in charge:) God laughs and gives you stomach flu, pink eye and a fugitive husband! Thanks, Lord, point taken:)
Oh and forget FLYlady when you cant get out of the bathroom! My house is a pit! I will start again this weekend.

And the Award Goes To...

Okay, I just think this is hysterical!!! They definitely win the Parent of the Year Award!

Just a quick update...If you read the last blog I was a bit overwhelmed by my FLYlady schedule I worked out for myself. Well I took Halie's advice and slimmed down my daily routines, and now it seems very manageable.
The Swanson's came for a visit this weekend and we had a very nice time. There is a new park open in Houston that we tried out and then went to Katz for lunch...very yummy. We have pictures so I will download some soon.

Okay! So I Have Issues!

If you have been following be quest to be a FlyLady, it sounded like I was doing pretty well. And in reality I guess I have been. My bed is now made every morning, all of my bathrooms are visitor friendly, my laundry is actually under control, even though I have a basket of socks to match and a basket of Ivy's clothes that often don't get put away because she is asleep by the time I'm folding my load for the day. But, I am finding that I am beating myself up over not getting all of my planned chores done for the day. I think my control journal is pretty close to what I need, with the exceptions of a few changes I want/need to make. But what has happened is that I'm getting "behind". I have had a few things pop up this week that has thrown off my after work routine thus leading me to not get everything done. I know I should not be obsessing about it but I like to stick to a plan once I have made it....and I have been working hard to catch up.
Here is proof that I have issues...One night I was falling asleep sitting up on the chair downstairs, so when I finally realized what I was doing I just got up and went to bed...WITHOUT shining my sink. It drove me so crazy that by the time Tobie came to bed, I was still awake and I told him that I did not shine the sink...I know he must think I am nuts... BUT not nuts enough to actually get out of bed and fix it.
More proof! Izaac is now swishing and swiping his own bathroom. Not that that is a bad thing, maybe just weird for a 4 year old. Now if he will just keep up into adolescence. But back to the issue at hand:) So when I bought the new toilet brush for the kids bathroom, I told Izaac that I would teach him how to clean his bathroom, thinking that he would not be interested...but for three days afterwards he bugged me to teach him. Now I am worried I have passed on my "issues" to him. He has a "procedure" for the toilet. He plunges the brush in and swirls it around exactly 11 times. Who knows where he got that number from, but I could not sway him from it. And one evening we were all upstairs watching tv and he ran into his bathroom, went, and then proceeded to want to clean the toilet because he just went in it. Issues! I guess I should not complain. I just don't want him losing sleep because the toilet has not been swished:)
To all you moms out there who want the get your kiddos involved, I was a little worried a first thinking he would get into all kinds of chemicals. Plain water in the toilet and a baby wipe for the counter, sink and toilet exterior surfaces:) Works like magic.
So there you have it...just a few of my issues. Fly on ladies! I'm going to work on not losing sleep over the fact that I have not completed my zone for this week (kitchen if you are follwing the plan)...sorry, issues.

Too Cute!

This is how Ivy came home from school one day. I think she looked like a bug with antennas. And yes, that is an entire piece of pizza. Heaven forbid you cut it up into small pieces and it does not look like what Izaac has.

FLYing

Well, Flylady is going pretty well. I have kept up my basic morning routine, I just need to add to it. I have also managed to keep up with my before bed routine, again I need to add to it. I have been working on my control journal for the past week and I think I finally have it in the order I want it. I put it into action this afternoon with a partial "home blessing". I do not have one day to devote to the whole home blessing so I have decided to split it up into three days. I also worked my zone cleaning into two days. It is a starter plan and I will make changes as I go. I have already placed notes at the bottom of some of my pages. I know it is weird but I really enjoy checking off everything I have managed to do in the day. So I feel pretty good about it...lets just hope I can keep it up...I really like the results so far, so maybe that will be enough encouragement.

Remember I am Still Learning

Now just because I managed to figure out how to put video on my blog does not equal up to me actually knowing what I am doing. In my attempt to rid spam from my comments, I apparently blocked all of my friends from leaving comments. So with the help of my BFF Shelly, you can now once again leave comments on my mindless ramblings.

To all of you who are FLYbabies or Flyladies, I am proud to announce that I have shined my sink, picked my clothes out every night this week and I am working on writing my morning and evening routines...oh yea I managed a 27 boogie...I cleaned out all of the candy from the past holidays that have been hiding among our stuff on our shelves in my kitchen cabinets. I am pretty sure it was more than 27 pieces but I could not stop with 27 (did not even take 5 min). I know I am either supposed to throw them out or donate...well, I am taking all of it to my kids at school, and leaving some in the teacher work room, so that is like donating it right:) Wish me luck, I am going to try and swish and swipe my bathroom, put a load of laundry in the machine, make the bed and empty the dish washer in my attempt to start a morning routine...baby steps, I know, so if I do not manage all of it, I will keep trying. I am looking forward to my sink tomorrow.

And the Parents of the Year Award goes to....

Don't really know what to say! The video speaks for itself. I challange any of you to take the award away...just show it on video and you too could be a "Parent of the Year"

School Easter Party

This year the kids Easter party at school was during spring break. So I was lucky enough to get to go and watch the kids have their egg hunt. I was keeping the kids home with me during Spring Break, so we made a special trip to school just so they could participate. Ivy did not quite understand the concept of hunting eggs. The teachers and I finally got her to pick up one egg, which she kept a death grip on. With me being there she never wanted to get off of my lap, which made hunting eggs hard for her:) Izaac had a very nice time. Even though we did not get to stay long enough for him to eat. Sad, but they were going to sit down and watch a movie...and by then I had enough fun for the day.