Citizen Megan

With 39 kids in her class, the competition was fierce, but Megan prevailed and became Scotty's Citizen of the Month! It must be all the bribery I have been imposing on the teacher. All kidding aside, I am very proud of Megan. 4th grade has come with quite a few changes, including a lot more homework, and a lot more tests, and heavy emphasis on personal responsibility. Megan has adjusted really well to all of these changes, and her hard work is paying off.

Jackson watching the ceremony with his class. There were lots of kids we knew who were Citizen's of the Month, and it was great being able to cheer them all on.

It's A Man Thing?

Today I will highlight a difference between Eric and I (that is probably supposed to be me and Eric, but I still can't get that grammatical rule right). I also have major problems with apostrophes! Anyway, I lay out Jackson's clothes in the mornings, then he dresses himself. Now this morning I was busy getting ready and hadn't really seen Jackson in his clothes until it was about time to go. However when I glanced in his direction I could immediately sense and see a problem. I say sense because you know as mother's we do have a 6th one. It is the same sense that we get when we know the kids are misbehaving, or we know exactly what they are going to say and when they are going to say it. What can I say, we are amazing! But what I sensed and saw was that Jackson's shirt was on inside out. Now I wouldn't really expect Jackson to pick up on this, but I would probably expect his father to. Especially when Eric had taken the time out to comb Jackson's hair before he left. This involved standing Jackson in front of the mirror for at least a minute, thereby getting a clear front and back view of his shirt. Now I am guessing Eric didn't notice because he was focused on a task, and if I may be so bold to say, men seem very task oriented. Whereas women see the big picture. For example, when I noticed Jackson's shirt was on inside out, I was brushing my teeth, listening to the radio, telling Megan to get her backpack, and getting my shoes on.

Eric when you read this, this post was born out of love. And Jackson's hair did look really great. But that glaringly white tag is pretty noticeable, is it not?

Lotto

I have watched many shows titled in some way, "How The Lottery Ruined My Life." If you have not seen them, they basically go something like this: I won the lottery, it ruined my marriage, my kids are now ungrateful brats, and I blew through 10 million dollars in a year. Well, I would like to put out there that if I win the lottery I am certain it will not ruin my life! I am confident that I will spend and save it wisely. I am more confident that it won't ruin my marriage, and I promise I won't let it ruin my kids. That being said, I am willing to risk any ill effects.

By the way these are old, non-winning lottery tickets. Do you think you could be a responsible lottery winner?

Sadie Of Wal-Mart

I don't know how many of you have ever seen the web-site called People of Wal-Mart. If you haven't click here to discover some hilarity. The site mostly features people in various states of unusual dress and undress. Then picture me and Sadie at Wal-Mart. Then picture Sadie getting diarrhea. Then picture her getting it all over her clothes. Oh, and all over the floor. Now since Sadie is long past the age that I carry around diapers and wipes, FOR GOODNESS SAKES I WAS SHOPPING AT WAL-MART FOR THE DIRECT PURPOSE OF BUYING SADIE ELMO UNDERWEAR, picture me ransacking the diapers and wipes aisle, and changing her diaper and cleaning her up in the less than hygienic bathrooms. And finally picture us continuing to shop with Sadie proudly strutting her stuff (because you know she WILL NOT sit in a cart) while multitudes of people stared and I am sure thought to themselves "What is wrong with that woman? What white trash, bringing her baby out with only a diaper on!" But watching that little girl of mine so unself-conscious will probably be a highlight of my year. Definitely worth a few stares and judgments.

Oh and you should have seen some of the stares, and looks of confusion, I received from the other parents when I had to pick Jackson up from Kindergarten a few minutes later! I may start bringing her there naked everyday to see what happens.

Mt. Charleston-Rainy Edition

Saturday we decided to escape the heat, and headed up to Mt. Charleston. On our way we noticed dark, threatening clouds hovering over the mountain.

For good, or for bad we are not abandon our plans type of people, so we persevered and hoped for the best.

Even when it started raining.

We headed up just past the ski resort to hike.

It had stopped raining, and was overcast and beautiful.

Sadie even proved to be quite a decent hiker today. She usually loves to be carried, but today insisted on walking. You never know what to expect with that girl.

Counting how old the tree is.

Jackson is a rule follower. To take this picture we had to go off trail (which apparently you are not supposed to do). At first Jackson refused to jump the fence. He finally acquiesced, but shortly before this picture was taken, he jumped up and exclaimed, "I am not doing this!" Since he is in this picture, you can gather that we forced him into it.

After a while it started raining again, so we raced as fast as we could to the car.

We headed down to the meadow where it was not currently raining. Soon after I took this picture Jackson stepped in an enormous pile of horse you-know-what. He then exclaimed, "Sure didn't see that comin." Oh how I love that little boy!

Eating plants!

Fearless Megan.

Ever wonder where Megan gets her corniness from? Look no farther than that man in the tree. When we left Mt. Charleston the temperature was 56 degrees. Not even 15 minutes later it was 96 degrees! Amazing!!!

Hidden Talent

Have you ever discovered a hidden talent in your children that you never knew they had. Well yesterday I found Jackson's. I'm sure it will get him far in life.

"Can you do this with your ear? I can't, but I certainly tried."

12 X 12 - September

We started off our day, with a minor crisis.

Apparently while playing, Megan somehow lost her bubblegum. Now instead of informing me of this, she continued to play until Jackson asked her what that pink stuff was in her hair. Well it turns out her bubblegum ended up thoroughly stuck to head. So she started off her day with a haircut. I have been trying to convince her to cut her hair for months, so this ended up being a happy accident for me.

The kids spent the rest of the morning thoroughly cleaning the house. Now they do not usually spend their Saturday mornings doing this, but were being punished for infractions from the previous day. T.V. was also taken away!

After Eric got home, we decided to head up to Mt. Charleston. This picture so accurately describes Jackson and Megan. Megan can't stop talking, while Jackson sits quietly, listening and thinking.

It is hard to imagine anyone being louder than Megan in the car, but I can assure you that Sadie is! That girl demands attention.

We had a really wonderful time at Mt. Charleston, and I of course took a lot of pictures, so our time up there will have to be a separate blog post.

Megan is hilarious! She is quick witted, and will do anything for a laugh. Here she is pretending to be a D.J. We happened to be listening to Ice, Ice, Baby by Vanilla Ice (seriously what did I do before my IPOD), and every time Vanilla Ice says, "If there was a problem, yo I'll solve it, check out the hook while my D.J. revolves it," Megan puts on her D.J. hat and spins those imaginary records. She also plays the part of back-up dancer. I, take the part of Mr. Ice himself, since I know every darn word of that song. Jackson refuses to play along, and Eric is supposed to be the back-up rapper, but is always forgetting his part. He says he doesn't know all of the words, but I think he is just embarrassed to admit that he does.

We had a 40 minute wait for dinner, so we headed over to Pottery Barn Kids to look around. Sadie fell in love with this baby and stroller. She would take the baby out, give it a kiss, and then tuck it back in. It was unbearably cute.

After our foray at Pottery Barn we headed over to P.F. Chang's for dinner. FYI if you go to P.F. Chang's web-site you can sign up for a card that will give you 10% off every time you eat there.

Jackson is still a little rusty using chop sticks, but Megan is an old pro.

When we got home we discovered we were out of diapers and wipes! AGAIN!!! I swear I run out of diapers and don't realize it more than any other person on earth. So Eric had to run out and pick some up.

In the meantime Sadie hung out in her Ariel swim diaper. Did I mention it was 10:45 p.m. before Eric got back. Good thing my little Sade is a night owl.

School Girls & Snakes

Eric and I enjoy dressing up. Take that as you will. But what I really mean is we love to dress up for Halloween, and this year we were able to dress-up a little early. We were asked to participate in a skit for the Dating Game for the Young Women at church.

I was supposed to be a 15-year old school girl. And if you think it was easy dressing up like a school girl as an adult, I will tell you that it was not. It is quite hard to pull off innocent school-girl and not naughty school-girl. I had to force myself to leave the high-heeled Mary Jane shoes and mid-riff baring shirt at home, and instead opted for baggy clothes and Converse. The church can thank me later.

Eric was able to channel his inner biker for his part as Snake Felony. I had to choose between a nerd, a jock, the biker dude, and the all around perfect date! Now you might think I would choose the all around perfect date, but when he says things like, "My Mom is my ideal woman. She's cool to be around, yet keeps her standards high no matter who she's with," I had to think to myself, really, do I need to compete with his mother? No thank you. I preferred Snake Felony, who said, "I'm an old fashioned guy. I think it's important to help a girl on with her dog collar, kick open doors for her, and let her wear the helmet." Now that is my kind of man. So if I would have been 16, I would have chosen Snake Felony. Because as Tim McGraw says, "I may be a real bad boy, but baby I'm a real good man." And if that doesn't describe Eric, I don't know what does.

Cuddle, Kick And Tackle

Something overtakes Jackson and Sadie right before bed, and they become hyperactive and crazy! I should say, even more hyperactive and crazy than they already are. Chasing each other while screaming as loud as they can, often dominates our evenings. We finally told them they could scream as loud as they wanted in Jackson's room, which they did. I captured these pics of them on the couch from the other night.

They start off cuddled nicely together, watching T.V.

Jackson leans in for a kiss.

Sadie decides she must pay him back for the kiss, so she hits him in the head, which they both think is hilarious.

Then the kicking starts.

Followed by tackling. While Sadie was tackling Jackson, he kept saying over and over again, "Sadie I just love you so much. Sadie you are just so cute. Sadie I love you." And even though they appear to be fighting, you can tell he means it.

After wrestling for a few minutes, Sadie decides she has had enough and attempts an escape.

Before long they are once again cuddled up, holding hands this time. The holding hands touches my heart, and makes up for most of the screaming.
And yes Sadie is still addicted to her bottle.

"Are your evenings dominated by screaming, or any other loud noises?"