Letters to You

Life Happens

2010-10-14T21:45:00.003-04:00

Boy it has been awhile. I think it is understandable, but I wanted to keep some things on my blog. That way if my computer crashes a loses everything I will still have some record with photos! I hope to post again soon......

Summer

2010-08-10T22:39:00.002-04:00

I have spent the summer enjoying life: reading, playing with kids and swimming! The kids have gone back to school and are loving it!

Jack is getting smarter everyday. Josie is still a drama queen, but a sweetie! Parker is busy, taller and getting closer to double digits.

Jack is a character!

2010-06-07T18:45:00.000-04:00

I just heard Jack say...."Pay the electricity bill. That light is out." (The hall light bulb has been blown for several weeks, but needs special bulbs we keep forgetting to buy.)

Photo update!

2010-01-12T14:22:00.004-05:00

Josie's 6th Birthday Party

Me and my baby, Jack at Thanksgiving

All the squirts!

Christmas Picture!

Toast

2009-12-01T12:41:00.002-05:00

We had toast today with our soup. I made cheese toast for Josie and Parker, but Jack does not like cheese so I made his without. He didn't really want to eat it so I said, "Jack, Mama made yours without cheese. Don't you love Mama for remembering that you don't like cheese?"

Jack says, "Yes, I love you, but I would love you better if you put Jelly on it."

Oh my, he cracks me UP!!!

I love my husband!

2009-11-21T23:37:00.002-05:00

I just had a wonderful night out with my husband. We had Thai (Richard had yellow curry and I had Ginger Chicken and we shared some pad thai). It was wonderful.

Then we did something that we do about once a year. We went to the movies. We saw The Men who Stare at Goats. It was really funny. It was so funny that we decided that it was one of those movies that you have to watch again-even though I don't normally like to watch a movie over and over again. I think that this movie must be watched more than once in order to "take it all in". (By the way, I think that it all really happened.)

We had a good night.

Facebook has taken over

2009-11-17T19:34:00.002-05:00

I just don't post on here like I used to because I am always on Facebook. I knew, knew, knew that I would become addicted and slack on the blog. I was a longtime holdout!

Oh well, when something interesting happens, I'll be sure to get over here and post it.

When raking leaves was fun....

2009-11-08T22:25:00.008-05:00

This is fun. (You can tell by the amount of dirt on my face and the expression.)

Josie is practicing for her future career in modeling.

This is what it looks like to try not to laugh when you really want to be mad at your mother for taking your picture.

The raking of the leaves in order to do....

THIS!

Gouls and cuties

2009-11-01T20:41:00.003-05:00

They would not stand still long enough to get a great photo!

It might have something to do with all the candy.

Random thoughts

2009-10-28T01:09:00.003-04:00

My knee hurts really bad. I did not do anything to it, but I can't sleep.
We (the kids and I) are cooking blini tomorrow for a project on Russian culture.
Richard thought that it was a good idea, and so now I am cooking Paella for his class that is studying South American Culture and Seseme noodles for his Asia class.
I'm so tired, its 1:00 am and I have a lot to cook.
My knee hurts.

Letters

2009-10-23T09:40:00.003-04:00

Letters apparently don't come easily for Jack. He has had a hard time, which means that I have had a hard time. But something happened last night while he slept, some synapses fired in the right combination or he just decided that he was going to tell me all the letters that he has learned over the last 9 weeks. Because this morning he is saying letters on books, magazines, the fridge, his flash cards and etc. It is amazing to see his mind work like this!

FDR State Park 2009

2009-10-15T22:20:00.005-04:00

Jack's Quote of the Day

2009-10-04T12:43:00.003-04:00

Richard and I have had some issues dealing with one of our children and yesterday were discussing how to solve the problem. We kept saying how many times we have told them and told them, you know, the usual things like how are we going to get them to understand.

This morning Richard took the kids and was driving to Moultrie while I am working on midterms (I am I promise, just a break). Jack spoke up out of the blue and said, "Daddy, you remember talking about ****(child's name) yesterday?" Richard said, "Yes, what about it?".
Jack said in his infinite wisdom, "I think he has yes and no mixed up."

Richard said it was so funny he had to call me right away and tell me. You tell me what kind of thought processes must a 4 year old have to think like that? Especially when the problem with the child did not involve "yes, you can or no, you can't", it involved making the right decisions.

Dancing

2009-09-29T19:53:00.002-04:00

There is a clown at our house....

2009-09-29T19:46:00.004-04:00

Her name is Josie.
Spurs is the guy's name.

Parker's 9th Birthday!

2009-09-28T23:39:00.003-04:00

Wow, I can not believe he is 9!

Parker had a great birthday (thanks to everyone who came). He got a compound bow, football and money. The perfect birthday for an outdoorsy 9 year old!

Field Trip to Kolomoki Mounds

2009-09-27T23:28:00.003-04:00

Kolomoki Mounds in Blakley, GA

Great Georgia History project!

Homeschool project

2009-09-27T23:24:00.002-04:00

Sounds.....and sound waves

Dinner

2009-09-22T19:06:00.001-04:00

Yum! What else can you say!

Life goes along

2009-09-02T22:27:00.002-04:00

Homeschooling is going well, college even better and life is good.

My kids are enjoying homeschooling and settling into a nice routine. It is time-consuming to get work ready for the kids daily, but it is worth it.

My classes at college are interesting, and have me thinking about public service, specifically running for city council this November.

Just a quick update!

Josie and the Tooth Fairy

2009-08-22T22:28:00.006-04:00

She had a hard time letting us pull the tooth, but once it was gone, she was happy until she saw this photo. Then she said she didn't have any teeth. Her daddy assured her that she would soon grow 2 BIG front teeth and look like Timmy Turner.

Timmy Turner from Fairly Oddparents.

Photos

2009-08-16T21:09:00.003-04:00

This is Wayne after moving into his room (up 3 flights of stairs)!

This is the kids doing a color experiment!

Neat huh?

Moving and more moving

2009-08-09T17:14:00.002-04:00

Well, we got Wayne moved out, and then we decided to move some furniture around in the house, so we have spent the weekend moving!

Jack has settled into a routine with school and is doing better, but still takes a lot of convincing to participate in school activities.

"No, I won't. No, I'm not. No, I can't."

2009-08-05T14:15:00.003-04:00

Is it possible to love and despise your child at the same time? Perhaps I should say his behavior. I have a child that was looking so forward to starting school, but now that he has, he WILL NOT cooperate. He will not try, he will not hold a pencil, he will not sit, he will not stand, he will not participate, he will not do anything other than what he has HIS mind on at the minute. I have even tried letting him just do any of the papers/projects that he wants at any given time, but he will not do it. I tried getting his sister to get him to do it. I don't think that I was that hardheaded and stuborn when I was little (maybe now I am, but not when I was 4). By the way, this is new behavior. He was once my agreeable child. Oh well! We press on and hope that he learns something.

Waiting for Drama

2009-07-30T18:38:00.004-04:00

I have hit a dry spell on blogging....but just wait. I start homeschooling next week, Richard starts teaching again and the following week Wayne moves out and goes to college. We will... have... drama. Can't you imagine? Pray that it is simple, funny drama, not major drama!

Jack crackes me up!

2009-07-26T20:18:00.001-04:00

Richard said, "Jack, do you know how much I love you?"

Jack answered,"Yes."

Richard said, "How do you know that?"

Jack matter factly answered, "Because I'm a genious."

The family at Vogel

2009-07-25T18:16:00.004-04:00

The Grandkids

The kids and family

The "Grownups"

Kids in the Car

2009-07-21T17:41:00.003-04:00

Riding in the car with three children crammed in the backseat behind you is no fun. We don't have one of those DVD players to occupy them. We brought toys galore and I even brought my laptop with movies to play (but that didn't work - it did work at home then we get the 3 kids off from home and it won't work). I just don't know how people traveled before electronics. We had music the kids liked playing, toys for each and they still fought over every thing. We put Jack in the middle to keep Parker and Josie separated because they usually fight worse, but this time Jack and Josie could not get along and when they did they were laughing hysterically and shrilly screaming. I suppose since that was the worst part of the trip, I should not complain.

Home, Sweet Home....

2009-07-19T22:49:00.003-04:00

We just got home and unloaded. Who says vacation is relaxing? It is stressful to pack to get ready to go and it is stressful to unpack and get ready to go back to work/school. Just as I suspected though, I am very glad to be home, to use my own shower, and my own bed. Speaking of bed, I'm off to get in it!

I have lots to blog about in the next few days....meeting new friends and family....new experiences at Vogel State Park....and kids in a car for 6 hours with no (yes, I said nada) television.

You decide: Too much Spongebob?

2009-07-14T12:22:00.001-04:00

Jack was sitting in front of the fire at the campsite and he was intently watching when he said, "Grandma, look at those fire bubbles!" He is right they do look like fire bubbles when sparks fly off the logs.

Lions and Tigers and BEARS, oh my!

2009-07-13T10:34:00.006-04:00

Typical marshmallow roasting...

Worm grubbing....(yes, that is Josie picking up worms)

Our camp! (Daddy knows what he is doing)

BEARS!!! in the camp.

We are having fun and going to continue to have more fun... Updates later!

Leaving Calhoun County

2009-07-10T22:46:00.003-04:00

Can't wait (doing the can't wait dance with the kids, who by the way have been running around the house like we have never let them out before) to leave tomorrow!!!!! I am so excited to get out of town for a little while, excited to do something out of our routine. I hope to be able to update with photos while we are gone.

By the way, to all of you criminal lurkers out there....a friend is house sitting for us while we are gone so we are not an easy target.

July 4th

2009-07-05T19:04:00.005-04:00

We enjoyed the day with Grandparents and swimming!

Oh yeah, and eating sundaes. Hope you had a Happy 4th!

Procrastination

2009-07-01T19:14:00.003-04:00

Why is it that projects never get finished around my house? I have finished school and I thought that I would have more time to do things around the house. Like paint my bedroom, finish the crown moldings, and scour the house top to bottom. But it has not happened and it has been 2 months since I have graduated! I have actually had time to do yard work, which we have not really done in the 5+ years we have lived here. Maybe my lamenting will inspire me to complete some tasks.

Of course, it doesn't really help that my husband, whom I dearly love, will not finish one project before starting one or two more! Our goal is to redo our bedroom. I will post before and after photos. We are painting, adding floor to ceiling shelves on one end of the room and covering the brick coal fireplace with tile. Grand dreams for us slow pokes, maybe it will be finished in 5 more years!

Pearls or Beads

2009-06-25T14:26:00.004-04:00

I really don't have anything important to report. I just thought I would sit down and start typing and surely something will come out of this post. Perhaps, a quotable quote or a pearl of wisdom to be long remembered, you just never know.

The little ones, Jack, Josie and Parker, went to the dentist yesterday and all had good reports. Yes, even Josie, though they gave her a discount since she had fewer teeth than usual! Ha.

Richard and I have been busy planning for the Recreation Program meetings tonight and next week. Hopefully we will have success.

Of course it is possible that I don't have any pearls after all..........just some beads.

Over Time for the Tooth Fairy!!!!

2009-06-20T21:08:00.005-04:00

The tooth fairy is going broke! Josie has lost 2 more teeth. She lost one yesterday and one today. She didn't even have loose teeth two days ago!

I will never wear white again

2009-06-18T19:29:00.004-04:00

The running joke at my house - besides the fact that I burn all bread (that's another post) - is that if a meal is good, then I will get it on my shirt somehow. Well, today we took the 2 little ones to the Mall just to get out of the house. Since it has been heat index of 110 or so the last few days we have not been able to go out and play so we needed to get out!!!! We walked around the book store, went to see the pets at the pet store and stopped to get ice cream. Well, Josie picked vanilla, Jack wanted cotton candy ice cream, Richard chose blue raspberry shave ice and I picked my all time favorite ice cream - Rocky Road. I should have picked vanilla, but then there is no way I would have gotten ice cream on my pretty white shirt. Vanilla is just not Good to me. But I would have spared the white shirt a huge stain.

By the way I think it was really funny that Richard looked like a 3 year old eating blue candy with his blue raspberry ice. His teeth were blue, his tongue was blue and his lips were blue!

Chances..........

2009-06-14T14:00:00.001-04:00

Take a chance! Do something you have never done before this week: try something new, ask questions, or go see someone you have not seen in years. It expands your horizons and broadens your mind. It makes you able to see the differences in people and enables learning. Read a book with a child and you will learn something from that child that you never knew before – I know, I have 3 children under the age of 9 at my house. We always are learning something new, like “Mama, Jack put 12 DVDs in the TV and now it won’t work.” By the way, I learned that you can get 12 DVDs in the TV – you can also get them out and the TV will still work. So try something new, learn something new - just don’t put 12 DVDs in the TV!

Smiling Dog

2009-06-07T22:13:00.003-04:00

We have this silly dog, Coco, that grins when we call her. Anytime she is excited to see us she smiles. Just thought I would share. She cracks me up!

Facebook

2009-06-05T09:17:00.003-04:00

I have been talking to many people about Facebook. It appears to have a huge following, but I don't understand this. Why would you want soooooo many people to know all the information about you? It seems like an extension of High School to me. "I have more friends than you" type thing. Maybe I am misunderstanding it, but I just don't GET IT. I went onto Facebook to look a couple of months ago and found out you can't just visit as a guest, they have to know who you are, email address and all. I found that disturbing, like you have to commit to something without even knowing how it works. So, needless to say, I did not get to navigate the site because I refuse to share my identity without knowing how they will use it. Maybe I'm too private, but I don't think so since this blog is out there for everyone to see. Maybe I'm just afraid I won't have any "friends".......yeah, that's probably it.

Book Club

2009-06-04T21:58:00.001-04:00

The first book is :The Necklace: Thirteen Women and the Experiment That Transformed Their Lives by Cheryl Jarvis (read by July 2nd meeting)
The second book is: Night by Elie Wiesel (read by August meeting)
The second meeting of the book club will be July 2nd at 6:00pm at the Calhoun county Library.

We will have a blog for the book club at http://www.edisonreaders.blogspot.com/ where you can follow and comment. Comments and questions are encouraged in order to help move the discussion along when we meet.

I had fun and I will see you all in July....Sandy

Book Blogging

2009-06-01T19:12:00.002-04:00

Well, I believe that I am going to be blogging about the book club that I am starting on Thursday. Each month we will read a new book and have a discussion about it. I will blog about the book some each month and that way those who cannot attend the meeting can read the blog to keep up. However, if no one shows up to the meetings, then we won't have a book club so I encourage everyone to attend in person.

The Merry (?) Go Round

2009-05-31T17:35:00.003-04:00

I have been debating, internally mind you, about homeschooling the kids next year. Richard teaches and cannot take the kids to school or pick them up because of his hours at work. I want to get a job teaching, but if I do, how will we get the kids to school? I can keep the job I have now, which is part-time, but it is in Real Estate. That means anything can happen in this economy. If I keep this job, I can take the kids to school, but can't really afford the gas on the part-time salary. So, here we go around again! Keep the job, worry about making ends meet and drive the kids to school daily...or...phase out the job, stay home, volunteer and homeschool the kids...or...find a job teaching and let the kids find their own way to school!?! (not really, I would try to find a way to get them to school).

"I love this floor"

2009-05-26T13:13:00.003-04:00

You know how it is when you are sick, like so sick you wish you could just go to the hospital and let them do with you what they will....even when you know that might entail them putting things in places that may be uncomfortable. Well, I was that sick this holiday weekend. I had a long time to think about blogging, ideas drifted in and out of my brain. I was just too sick to even type. My fingers would not cooperate, even now they act like they belong to someone else. Like the instructions from my brain are going through a secondary system before they get to my fingers. It has been two days since I was really sick, but I still feel like a newborn calf trying to get up.

Of course, being a mom you are not allowed to stay sick. Once there is no outward sign of illness (like laying on the floor of the bathroom and thinking, "I love this floor. I am so glad we picked this floor. It feels so cool and smooth.") then you are not sick anymore. Life goes on, work happens, kids need you to fix a bath, make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and then you forget all those great ideas you have for a post on your blog and you end up with a post about being sick, and it did not even involve overindulging............. How sad is that?

The funny things kids say

2009-05-22T09:12:00.002-04:00

This morning Jack said, "Mama, I love you mucher than you love me." How funny is that?

A Visit from the Tooth Fairy is in the works...

2009-05-18T20:59:00.007-04:00

As you can tell from the look of torture on her face...her worst nightmares were realized when the pain from the loss of the tooth became debilitating and she succumbed to the pain by....oh, wait a minute, she is SMILING, how could that be. Oh, yeah, that's right. We told her it wouldn't hurt. Now she believes us.

2009-05-17T23:11:00.001-04:00

Mom,
This is to make up for the half a photo I put up for Mother's Day! I love you.
Sandy

Wayne's Graduation Celebration

2009-05-17T23:04:00.004-04:00

We are so proud of Wayne. This has been a very difficult journey for him since he moved from England. He could have chosen not to go to high school, but he did and now he plans on going to college.

Tooth Fairy???

2009-05-15T09:36:00.003-04:00

What is it with children and their failure to understand the English language when it comes to pulling teeth? You can tell them over and over that it will not hurt when it comes time to pull the tooth, but they scream, cry, yell and hide. We have a 5 year old who is about to lose her first tooth and she has become irrational. She was already a drama queen, but she has exceeded my vocabulary about this tooth. The tooth in question is very loose, not quite ready to pull, but we have been encouraging her to wiggle it and get it ready.........The photo is an example of her showing us how far it wiggles now. This is the most pitiful face ever. I am beginning to wonder if the Tooth Fairy will ever get to visit......

Mom Post

2009-05-10T22:03:00.005-04:00

My loving mother and her mother in this photo with Jack. It seems that Moma was so busy helping with everything, that I haven't gotten a good photo of her lately.......

My wonderful mother-in-law with Josie.

This is me with my crew in Atlanta. I sure do love, love, love being a MOM!

Kids on Parade!

2009-05-10T19:26:00.003-04:00

The Billy Lane King Cotton Charity
Horse Show Parade

May 9, 2009

Parker and his ball team - Edison Eagles!

Josie and Jack in back of Church
Float

We had a big time at the parade and then went to the Horse show later that evening. It is a good place to visit with folks you don't see often and catch up. The kids love watching the horses and playing with other kids from the area.

More later on Mother's Day!

YEAH!!!!

2009-05-04T11:52:00.001-04:00

We made it! and the amazing thing is we did it at the same time!

By the way.....I am still looking for a job!

Jack's Birthday

2009-04-29T22:30:00.004-04:00

Jack's 4th Birthday was Sunday. It was the first birthday where he was really excited and knew what he wanted: Power Rangers and Transformers! He had a BIG day.

Finals!

2009-04-20T15:52:00.002-04:00

I am in the middle of finals this week....and I have senioritis. I don't want to study, don't want to write papers, don't want to drive to school. But I only have 2 more days and then GRADUATION!!!!!!

Once I finish this week, I will have a huge check on my list, but the list is still 3 miles long. Blagh!

Easter 2009

2009-04-13T18:31:00.007-04:00

These guys had a great time egg hunting on Saturday at church with their friends.......

This is the best photo of all the one I took after church Sunday. The kids have discovered that they look silly in the pictures and think it is funny so the only one who did not look silly in any photo was Wayne!

Well, I would love to type more tonight, but have to finish Senior Thesis by tomorrow!

Prom Photos

2009-04-08T20:48:00.004-04:00

As promised......

This is a good picture of Wayne and Adrial. They were excited and getting ready to go to dinner.

Adrial picked Old Mexico for dinner before the prom. (Adrial- I know Wayne has his eyes closed, but you had yours closed in the other one.)

My First Ride

2009-04-07T08:46:00.002-04:00

We had an interesting night last night. Jack woke up with severe neck pain and we found out that Wayne had flipped him over some time the evening before and injured his neck, but didn't tell us. We tried to take him to the ER, but he was in so much pain that we couldn't move him without screams of pain. We decided that we needed to call the Ambulance in case there was something going on more serious. So Jack and I had our first ride in an Ambulance to the hospital. They did a CT of his neck and there were no obvious abnormailities. So, he has a very severe case of whiplash.

Pray for Wayne----his daddy wants to shake the devil out of him!

Challange to post 4th photo of 4th file

2009-04-03T23:44:00.004-04:00

Amazing that this photo came up. I told Richard to randomly pick a number and that I would upload a photo from that file then that number in the file.

Wayne's prom is tomorrow and this photo is from last year's prom! He has a new girlfriend and he is excited about prom this year. I will update with the new prom photos soon!

RAIN, RAIN GO AWAY!

2009-04-02T22:00:00.003-04:00

I have had enough! I want to go outside. I want to play in the sun. I want to feel its warmth on my skin. At least we don't have any flooding problems at our house like many in the area do. Our neighbors have a stream running under their house.

It has been a boring day and the kids were out of school today. We were so bored, we watched BBC News America. What a laugh! It looked like those newscasters were stuck in the 70s. One guy had the pencil thin tie, but it was not just thin, it was plaid (yellow and green!). It was like watching Capt. Kirk of the starship Enterprise.

Then we flipped channels and watched a Hispanic soap opera. Now let me preface this by saying that I don't speak Spanish, but my husband does a little. So it might as well have been an Ancient Egyptian language..........but it was funny. So much drama.

Pray for me..........the kids are out of school tomorrow too. We might watch one of those Japanese strongest men contest shows, Ninja Warrior......I know you know which ones I mean.;)

Rain, Rain

2009-03-28T12:16:00.002-04:00

It is raining. And I am not talking about the nice, cleansing rain of Spring. I am talking about the kind that soaks everything and makes a soggy mess. The kind that means many of my newly planted flowers will be washed away, sagging or just drowned. The kind that means we are stuck......STUCK in the house with the kids. HELP!!!! There are only so many movies that you can watch in one day.

Honestly, this is the only time I am grateful for PSPs and Playstation 2. The only problem is that there are not enough to occupy all the kids at one time.

Opening letter

2009-03-25T16:31:00.000-04:00

Dear Ya'll,
I have been contemplating a blog for some time now and have decided to quit procrastinating and get busy blogging. I don't have time for much today because it took a while to get this thing online and named. Speaking of which, how hard is that? Coming up with the name for your blog that everyone out there can see and will judge you by.