Hi Honey, We Miss You

Don is on the road in beautiful Santa Barbara. He says it is beautiful, and I'll take his word for it. Hope you are enjoy sleeping in that big king size bed all by yourself.


I dropped Walker off at school this morning, as usual. I offered Reese a ride in but he refused and took thebus, as usual.


On my way to the gym, I stopped at a garage sale on "Richingham Lane". Did not find much to buy ("a Coach bag for $30 when they sell on Ebay for $60!"), but did manage to leave with a handful of Lego mini-figs ($1), Chanel tinted moisturizer ($5) and Bobbie Brown blush ($3).


Next stop was the gym. Bernie and I walked for about 45-50 minutes and did a post-mortum on our Echidnas meeting last night. We were then joined by a friend of Bernie's and then walked another 20 minutes. By then I was done and headed home!


I came home, checked email, started laundry and gave our dog some much needed attention (ha!) and then headed out to school. After registering as a volunteer (and proving I am not a registered sex offender), I joined Walker for lunch. Um, if you can call what he does eat lunch. He sipped a Sprite and ate two Pringles.


The last Thursday of the month I am the First Grade Work Room Mom. Except I forgot that I traded with another mom and was supposed to be there last Tuesday - oops. We worked together and got everything done. The teachers are SO appreciative for the help. Let's see, I made copies, laminated, cut, sorted, counted and distributed. I also took some work home to cut. Still got to get that done.

From the workroom, I picked up Walker. Our first stop was Big Lots to pick up paint. Did you know that Big Lots does not carry paint? On to Elliott's Hardware. I KNOW they have paint. The store has been updated since my last time there. They now have an Ebay center and a huge grill section. Elliott's also had the exact paint we needed!

We came home where I checked email and updated some HOA records. I received three donations in today's mail. I painted Walker's sword, I mean we painted it together. It looks great! Now he just needs to not touch it until it dries.

Walk wanted to play outside so we did that for awhile. Wonder how many mesquito bites I will have? Finally ready for food, I made Walker turkey bacon and eggs. At least he made a healthy choice.

Reese is now home and playing Spore. I have suggested it is homework time. Walker has compleeted his homework package and is now eating the last ice cream bar. He needs a shower.

Hope the rest of your trip is good. We love you and miss you! Hurry home

JROTC

Monday night was the Plano West JROTC Commissioning ceremony where Reese was promoted. He was very excited to participate in the ceremony with his first promotion.

Being promoted meant going on stage and having two special people also come on stage with you to place your new decorations on your uniform. Sadly, Don is out of town on business so he missed the event. In his absence, Reese selected Grandpa Alan and his cousin Mason who is also his best friend. Mason left band practice early so that he could attend the event. How sweet is that?

The formal ceremony was interesting to watch, with the young men and women coming onto the stage with their parents and relatives. The students lead the entire program and did a wonderful job.

Reese was called in the last group on stage. Grandpa and Mason proudly added his rank decoration to the epillete on his shirt.

Except that Grandpa, a former military man, put them on UPSIDE DOWN. Reese did notice when he was back at his seat! After the ceremony Grandpa and Mason made it right by putting them back on the correct way. Funny Grandpa!

Cake was served following the ceremony. Mason raced out to get cake as he was starved. Reese came out at the end and hand none as it was all gone

Dentist Today

Walker and I are having a lovely day today. He had a 11 am dental appointment so he did not go to school today. Today is early release with the kids out at noon, so he did not miss much. By time they eat lunch and go to recess I am not sure how much time is left for instruction.

The morning was nice as we were able to sleep in and not have to rush out of the house at our usual 7:15 am. We moseyed out to to pick up W’s pre-medication prescription, stopped at the grocery story to pick up a gift card (was not ready, have to go back on Monday), and then to Sam’s Club to gas up the van.

At the dentist he refused gas (don’t blame him) and thoroughly did not enjoy the cavity being refilled. It only took a second. I am not sure if she even gave him Novocain. We stayed a bit at the dental office so Walker could play her video game machine. Best part: she did not charge us anything!

We left the dental office and headed to Michaels. I spent $40 (!) on I do not know what. We spent the morning researching Link costumes and bought supplies to paint Walker’s sword and bought foam board to make a shield.

Walker is being very good – he is very calm and playing happily now.

We have group this afternoon. He does seem to be getting better – could it be the benefit of Group?

A Great Day

I've had a great day today!

Meet my Gym Buddy early. We typically go at 1 so I can work out and then head directly to school to pick up Walker. We once went early and it was full of pretty and fit women working out with their personal trainers. Packed with people. Today, it was not busy and I really liked getting my day started early.

Next stop to Sams for a few groceries and fruit for the weekend. Walker has been begging for Matzah Ball Soup, so I have some on the stove.

A good start to the day

Big Difference

Reese at age 7

"Dad, you know ANYTHING!"

Walker at age 7

"How do YOU know?"

A Long Week

It’s been a long week!

Thursday, I met two new PTA members for lunch to help get them started with their new job. As I entered the restaurant my toe got caught in the heavy front door and was damaged. I made it through lunch and then Don took me to “doc-in-a-box”. Fortunately, while it looks REALLY bad, it really did not hurt. Initially, there was a bit of discomfort and lots of blood. Treatment is antibiotic ointment ($60 RX copay!) and wait for the nail to fall off.

Friday night we had about 40 people for dinner. My brand new housekeepers had my house clean and our favorite Mexican restaurant (Blue Goose) catered. The food was wonderful and everyone had a good time.

Reese worked the football game for ROTC and many of our family members headed to the football game to watch Mason perform in the marching band. I am proud of Reese. We told him in order to go he would need to find his own rides as we had our hands full with our dinner company. I was really sure he would end up calling us stranded at school for a ride home – but he did not!

Bryce’s Bar Mitzvah was Saturday morning and his performance was FANTASTIC. He did a great job. My opinion is that Temple has dumbed down the Bar Mitzvah program. Not sure why. I think they do not give the program the attention it deserves. It IS a big deal for the kids and the families.

The BIG party was Saturday night at a Party Barn. The “barn” was decorated cute with balloons galore. The kids had a great time playing casino games, riding a mechanical bull and shooting hoops. Who knew that teens were such poker players?

Sunday was Walker’s first Sunday School session. We did not enroll him last year as I did not think he was ready. He did not want to go, had bad attitude and did not even try to listen or participate in the class. I sat in with him as I did not trust his behavior. The teacher was really bad. Well, she is probably a fine teacher, just not for first grade. She talked at the kids and was not engaging AT ALL. The kids were laying their heads on their desk. The teacher was not aware that she had completely lost the kids. I spoke to administration and we will try a different class next week. I do not want to force him, but I want him to have an opportunity to participate in a religious education.

To complete the weekend, I had Sunday Brunch and Sunday dinner for leftovers with the family. I definitely did not spend enough time with my out-of-town relatives and visitors. We should see them more often!!

Oh and during this I have been suffering with a head cold! I am still not 100%. This is my worst cold in years and years and years. Yuck!

Caught one!

Walker had his hair cut today - he is such an handsome guy. This is the closest I am going to get for a back to school photo.

I actually snuck some photos of him! Here, he is drinking soda so that he can create some burps. Nice.

School week one? Complete!

I think my favorite part of this past week was my return to the gym. Yes, I should have figured out how to work out with over summer break but I just did not make it happen. Yes, I will work and try much harder during the summer of 2009 to make routine trips to the gym. I regret not making it happen this summer.

The best part of going back to the gym is re-connecting with my walking buddy. She is talking about returning to the full-time work force and I selfishly hope that she changes her mind. I do wish her the best of luck.

Walker did great at school. So far, his teacher is fabulous and I expect her to be fabulous all year long! Best of all Walker loves her. She is young and cute and enthusiastic – all signs of a fantastic teacher. Walker says she is his “type”. Walker told me this and he has told her. She questioned him about what does that mean, but she could not get an answer. *I* think it means she is young and pretty (which she is)! We began our weekly homework package. Such hard work for a little guy.

I spent a huge amount of hours at school this past week. I love volunteering and I love helping the school. I love that the school appreciates my efforts. I did way more physical work than I am accustomed to and boy was I tired. Shattered tired. Lifting and moving very heavy boxes on multiple days, working as a cashier and serving lunch. I loved meeting teachers and interacting with the students.

Walker had a horrible night on Friday night – he thrashed and kicked all night long. As a result, Don and I were up most all night long. In addition to thrashing about, he was ranting and raving with “crazy talk”. We finally decided he was sleeping with a bad dream so we woke him up. He complained of a sore throat so we painfully persuaded him to take some Advil (did not want the bubble gum as it was a girl color and did not want the red –yuck). I put on cartoons for him and I fell asleep and he did as well.

Saturday morning he woke up with a full on cold. School began on Monday and by Friday night he was sick. I really expected him to be sick by Tuesday or Wednesday so my prediction was off. Today – Sunday, my throat is feeling scratchy and my nose is tingling. How many days before I have a full on cold? Again, yuck.

Bryce’s bar mitzvah is Saturday and we are hosting a dinner party Friday night and expecting house guests on Thursday. We informed our house guests of Walker’s cold and they declined to stay with us. Cannot say that I blame them. We will miss their company.

In preparation for the bar mitzvah, I shopped for clothes today. I really dislike clothes shopping. Funny that I loved shopping to sell on Ebay, but that is really completely different. My purchases included a three piece casual set from Soma, a silk dress, two bras (marked down 75% from $72 and $78!) from Nordstom’s Rack and two skirt sets from Talbots (25% off clearance price). I did well and am now ready for my weekend and I still dislike shopping for myself!