My Buckalew Bears

It's Friday, so that means it's school T-shirt day. The PTO always has a new T-shirt design each year as one of their fundraisers. The last few years, they have offered both regular T-shirts and girl "bling" T-shirts (which are more expensive). The kids were excited to wear their new shirts today.

Courtney came bounding down the stairs this morning saying, "I don't want to be late!" When I asked her what she was going to be late for, she said "Preschool!" The poor girl thought she got to go to preschool every day the other kids go to school. She cried and cried when I told her she has to wait until Tuesday for preschool. Potty training went about typical today -- not as good as yesterday, so we've still got some work to do. (I can hope that she will have a "lightbulb-go-on" moment and just all of a sudden have no accidents, but I seriously doubt that will happen.)

McKay and Brian just left for McKay's first baseball practice. They will probably be a few minutes late because Brian got stuck in traffic coming home from work. I couldn't take him because I'm supposed to be here from 3:00-6:00 for the furniture delivery. (It's 5:20 and it still hasn't come yet.) McKay is playing on a YMCA machine-pitch team again. He has a different coach this year, so hopefully he will enjoy it as much as he has in the past (he had the same coach the last two seasons). Games start a week from tomorrow, so our Saturdays will quickly become much busier than they have been.

It's starting to thunder and get dark outside, so it's possible the boys will end up coming home from practice early!

Making Progress

A couple of noteworthy items from today. First, Hannah did remember to bring home BOTH her lunch box and her water bottle - yeah! Apparently she and McKay made a deal this morning that he would pay her $1.00 if she brought them both home and she would pay him $1.00 if she forgot. But as they came in the door, they were arguing about some "loophole" McKay was insisting on that negated their deal (something about Hannah taking another boy's drink at lunchtime and how that was doing something "wrong" but Hannah said he just gave her an extra one he didn't want...) Anyway, they both seem to have forgotten all about it.

And secondly, Courtney managed to keep on the same pair of pants and underwear ALL day today! We had her preschool orientation this morning where she got to meet her teacher and see her classroom, etc. and I think (hope!) that maybe the whole "you-have-to-go-potty-at-preschool" repetition did some good once preschool finally came. At bedtime tonight, she even said something to me to the effect that she really planned all along to wait until preschool started (not that I'm really buying that). I'm just very pleased with today's outcome and hoping and praying that it's not just a one day thing. Tomorrow will be the bigger test, I think, where she's not actually going to preschool.

Okay, so maybe those two things aren't anything earth-shattering or even things anybody else really cares about, but they're a big deal around here. Every little step forward is something to celebrate!

I did actually take a few pictures this afternoon as well! Here is my newest little pianist practicing:

She is doing really well and is very excited. I have noticed that she tends to quickly memorize the little pieces and then just look at her hands as she plays them. When I try to remind her to look at the music instead, she gets easily frustrated when she makes mistakes. So we'll keep working at that.

And here are my silly girls playing "Mommy and Babies" or something like that. Hannah of course is the mommy and the other two are the babies. They somehow managed to squeeze Hayley into this little toy shopping cart and you gotta love Hannah's great pose for me. :-)

Finally, since I had taken pictures of the girls I decided to take one of McKay in some of new school clothes. He promptly tried to stop me by telling me he "hated" this new shirt (he wasn't there when I bought it) because it made him "look like a girl". Go figure. I think it's fine, but I seriously doubt I'll get him to wear it again (good thing it was on clearance at Wal-Mart).

Tomorrow, most of the furniture I ordered last week is supposed to be delivered, so I'm really excited! Here is a sneak peak of the chair/ottoman (it is a huge ottoman!):

I think it will look nice in our "music/library" room, especially if we paint it a neutral tan-type color. Plus, it seems really comfy! We're also planning to put a bigger bookcase in that room -- maybe this one:

I also ordered a bigger white bookcase for the girl's bedroom (McKay will get the old one that's currently in the dining room):

Won't that be cute with little baskets in the top cubbies for the girls to keep all their little "stuff"?

And here's the dresser that we got for McKay's room, plus a matching 2-drawer nightstand:

I think I'm going to get him a desk at Target this weekend (I didn't like the matching desk they had at the furniture store). This is the one I'm thinking of -- pretty simple, but hopefully functional. I wish it had bigger drawers on the side, but I think it will work, especially since I ended up getting him the nightstand that has drawers.

The dresser for the girl's most likely won't be included in the delivery tomorrow, but hopefully won't take too much longer. I dont' have a picture of that because it is a new line that isn't on their Web site yet (the store is Ashley Furniture). And, I must be turning into a new-furniture-addict because I also just ordered a little sewing desk/console to keep my sewing machine in our bedroom. As it is now, I have to haul it downstairs to the kitchen table anytime I need to use it, so my little mending jobs tend to pile up. Here's what that looks like:

Let's see, what other furniture do we need??? Actually, I think I've probably used up the furniture budget and then some. :-) Hopefully soon I will have pictures of the "real deal"!

The Question of the Day

It's much later than I should be up (again), but I had to post tonight before I head to bed. I'm sure you are all wondering about the big question of the day -- did Hannah bring home her lunch box? The answer is Yes (hooray!) but she forgot her water bottle. :-) Last year, I think she went through about 3 water bottles. The bus driver had her lunch box this morning, so she took it to school with her and did remember to bring it home. I hope it quickly becomes a habit for her.

In other events of the day, Hayley finally got brave enough to climb all the way out of her crib by herself tonight. She was calling for me as I was downstairs washing the dishes, but I didn’t go up right away and the next thing I knew, she was coming down the stairs. The other night she came downstairs and I thought she had climbed out, but it turned out that I just forgot to put up the railing. But tonight the railing was up. I knew it was going to happen eventually, and she has stayed in the crib longer than any of the other kids (mostly because she didn't get forced out to make room for a new baby). But the crib sure is nice for getting her to take naps and settle down at bedtime a little easier. Maybe she'll stay there a little while longer until I'm ready to deal with the transition to a "big bed."

And speaking of big beds, McKay has all of a sudden gotten scared to sleep in his new room by himself. Tonight when I came back up to put Hayley back in bed, I found him with his pillow and blanket on the floor in the girl's room. Brian got him to go back to his bed, but he soon went back to the floor in the girl's room. I decided to just let him stay there, and eventually he must have decided the floor wasn't that comfortable because he did go back to his room (albeit still upset quite a bit). Hopefully this too is just a quickly passing phase for him.

Tomorrow is Courtney's preschool orientation and meet the teacher day. She is SO excited but has made several comments today about not being potty trained yet. So we'll see what happens there.

Okay, time for me to call it quits!

Orientation Time

I'll start tonight by reporting that it's the 2nd day of school and Hannah has yet to bring her lunch box home. It's going to be a long year. We talked this morning as I packed her lunch in a paper sack how she would look for her lunch box as soon as she got to her class. She said she wanted to switch her lunch over from the paper sack, which I said was fine but to please take the empty water bottle from yesterday's lunch box and put it in her backpack so she could bring it home and reuse it. As soon as she got home, I asked her where her lunch box was and she gave me a blank stare and said "Uh, on the bus?" (Can you sense some mommy frustration here?) Hopefully the bus driver will have it in the morning.

Then I asked her if she switched her lunch over and she said she did. So where is the empty water bottle? "Uh, I put it in the paper bag and told someone it was trash." (More mommy frustration.) I told her if she doesn't bring it home tomorrow, she'll likely be stuck with paper sacks the rest of the year.

Tonight was orientation night for both 1st and 3rd grade. They had one start at 6:30 and one at 7:00, which was supposedly enough time to allow parents to attend both if they needed to (as I did). Well, it didn't quite turn out that way. 3rd Grade was first -- they start in the cafeteria with the principal going over school-wide stuff then you go to the individual classroom for more specific info (which is what I'm really interested in). That was supposed to end about the time the principal's portion of the 1st grade orientation ended in the cafeteria, so we could get to the teacher part of the 1st grade session. I ended up leaving the 3rd grade teacher part early to go over to the 1st grade part, and missing some of that as well. Oh well.

I did learn that McKay's teacher is indeed pregnant -- with twins! She said her due date is Thanksgiving, but the babies could likely come early. She has a sub arranged and said she plans to be back in January. That will be interesting to have a long-term sub.

Also this morning we had our planning meeting for Hayley's little preschool group. I'm excited for it to start! There are going to be five little 2 & 3-year-old girls in the group so that will be a lot of fun. I get the first turn teaching (two weeks at a time) and we're starting next Tuesday, so I need to get busy and plan out what I'm going to do!

Back to School!

The first day of school is finally here and gone. Overall, it went well for all involved. It was no surprise that the kids got up willingly -- and a little early -- and we made it out to the bus stop in time for a couple of pictures.

Here's my big 3rd Grader McKay. He decided to get one button-up shirt this year -- he wears almost exclusively T-shirts. I tried to get him to try wearing it with a white T-shirt underneath and having this be an outer, un-buttoned shirt, but he would not have anything to do with that. By the end of the day, he was complaining about how uncomfortable the shirt was, so I doubt he'll choose to wear it very many more times.

And my cute little 1st Grader Hannah. Of course it didn't take long before her nice white clothes had stains of all kinds (syrup, lip gloss (!), pizza, ice cream, and who knows what else) but hopefully they will wash out okay. It turns out a little girl at our bus stop is also in her class (just lives across the street).

And here are the two of them together:

Courtney & Hayley were also up and dressed in time to go out to the bus (I imagine many days they will still be in their jammies).

I'm not sure why Courtney had been crying in this picture, but she cried quite a bit this morning. She cried asking when they would come back home, but she especially cried asking why she had to wait so much longer to go to her preschool (it starts next week). She wanted so badly to get on the bus with them this morning and go to school. I'm trying to use this to help keep her motivated in the potty training area (telling her she needs to know how to go potty to go to preschool) and she didn't do too badly today, but still had some minor accidents as usual.

I made the kids stop for a picture before they got on the bus (they were anxious to get right on). Our stop is one of the first on the route, so there are only a handful of kids already on the bus.

About 5 minutes after school got out today, it started pouring rain. Since the kids had piano lessons right after school, I drove the van down to the bus stop (just two houses down the street) so they wouldn't get wet. I took them to their lessons and went to the library while we waited.

They both said they had a great first day! McKay said he really liked his homeroom teacher and he especially liked that she told a lot of stories. I didn't get a lot of details out of Hannah, but that's pretty typical for her. She did start off with a bang, however, by leaving her lunchbox at school (hopefully in the classroom!) and by forgetting to turn in the papers we had picked up at "Meet the Teacher." Unfortunately, this happens quite frequently with her and I hope she is able to improve this year. There were countless times in kindergarten when she would have something in her backpack to turn in, but despite my reminders all morning long and as she got on the bus, she would still forget and it would be sitting in her backpack when she got home again. I need to find a way to help her remember things like that.

Tomorrow is orientation for both of their grades, so I'm sure we'll get lots more info there!

Time for Butterflies

Twas the night before school starts and my goodness, you'd think it was Christmas Eve or something. Not surprisingly, it was a little harder than usual to get everyone settled down tonight.

Hannah has all her new clothes waiting in a little pile and she even made a sign that says "Hello my name is Hannah. Hello Mrs. Eagleton" that she said she was going to tape to her back tomorrow. :-) She can't wait to start first grade and FINALLY get to eat lunch at school.

McKay, on the other hand, kind of surprised me tonight. Up until now, he has seemed quite excited for school to start but as the evening wore on, he started making comments like he didn't want to go to school. At bedtime, he wouldn't turn his light off, but he wouldn't tell me what was bothering him. He did say he decided he wants to ride the bus to school for a few weeks at least, instead of riding his bike after a couple of days like he initially had wanted. Finally, he admitted to me that he was a little scared. I suppose it's the whole new teacher, new class, new grade deal, plus the ominous 3rd grade TAKS test that he has mentioned several times already. They make such a big deal about this test and I'm pretty sure he would pass it if he took it right now (and I've told him that), but he still seems to worry about it. Hopefully his excitement in the morning will overshadow any worries or fears he has.

I think the worst thing about tomorrow will be that the minute the kids get off the bus after school, I have to whisk them away to piano lessons so I won't get a chance to really hear all about their first day until a little later. You know there will be pictures and all the first-day reports here tomorrow!

Now I have to get myself ready for waking up an hour earlier than I have all summer. (Biggest bummer about school starting!)

New Rooms

All the kids are sleeping in their "new" rooms tonight (although technically, we didn't do anything to Hayley's room). They are all excited about it. Here's the progress we made today.

Hannah & Courtney's room got the wallpaper border and white valances:

McKay's room got a navy valance and new baseball bedding (plus we took the box springs off so you can see more of the headboard):

Now we just need to finish up the furniture aspect and get all the "stuff" moved around and put in a spot. I spent a couple of hours at a furniture store this afternoon and bought several pieces that will be delivered next week (except for one dresser that was out of stock so it will come later). I ordered a dresser for the girl's room (on back order), a dresser and nightstand for McKay's room and a chair-and-a-half plus a very big ottoman to go in our dining room downstairs (which we don't use as a dining room -- it's our "library/music room"). I hope it will be decent furniture. I've looked around quite a bit and am just ready to get some furniture in the house!

Our company left this afternoon -- we are grateful for all of their help. Lots to do tomorrow to get stuff put away and get other stuff ready for school on Monday!

Think Pink!

The painting party is in full swing! It's a lot of chaos around here, but we're having fun and getting some work done (well, actually, I'm not doing an awful lot of work -- Brian's sisters are doing most of the work -- they're awesome!).

We start with an emptied-out room:

decide on a color (always a tough decision for me!) and start painting!

Have lots of helpers:

then put together some new bunk beds:

and there are two very happy and excited girls!

Brian's not too sure about the totally pink room, but the girls love it. We still need to put up the wallpaper border and white curtain valances tomorrow, then get some more furniture (a white dresser and bookcase are planned but don't have them quite yet). It is most definitely a girl's room now!

McKay was feeling a little left out and really wanted his new room painted too. He was set on blue at first, but we said blue would be too much because his new bedding is blue and he wouldn't want to do all the walls a darker blue. We were finally able to convince him that a neutral tan color would work well, so he helped pick out a navy tabbed valance and new curtain rod and Julie also managed to get that room painted tonight too!

He doesn't get to sleep in his new room until our helpers are gone (they are leaving tomorrow) and we still need furniture for his room too (a dresser and I hope a small desk).

Lots of fun changes thanks to lots of super helpers! THANK YOU!

In other news, I took McKay and Hannah to the school for "Stop & Drop" where they get to meet their teachers, see their classrooms, etc. We got them their new school T-shirts and went to Hannah's classroom first. She got to pick her desk and saw some of her friends from Kindergarten. Her teacher was very nice -- I'm not sure of her nationality but I'm guessing she is Filipino or Hawaiian. (I could be totally wrong there...)

Next we headed to McKay's classroom to meet his teacher. We found out that there is no separate GT (gifted & talented) class this year because there are 8 teachers, so he does have a "switch" teacher. He also saw a couple of kids from his class last year that are in his class again. His teacher looked to me to be expecting a baby (but I'm not positive), so it's possible he will have a long-term sub at some point in the year. We all liked her as well!

Only a few more days to get things settled and ready for back to school!

Let the Party Begin!

I really should be in bed right now, but wanted to post something quick first. I had to go grocery shopping tonight and got a late start, so it is past bedtime by now.

I'm excited to get started on the kid's rooms tomorrow! It looks like there will be extra helpers coming too! I talked to Julie this evening and she is coming tomorrow early afternoon and bringing her married daughter Ashley with her (whose husband just got deployed to Iraq) and also Brian's sister Teresa. Plus all their kids (except the teenager) -- 6 cousins to play with! I feel like I have a zillion things I need to get done before they get here, but I'm excited. Hopefully the next few days will go smoothly.

McKay has spent most of his day today playing a new flight simulator game that Brian got. He loves it and wants to buy a joystick for it (except he just spent all his money on a car racing game!). He has been learning all kinds of things about different planes and how to taxi and land and all that fun stuff. He woke up at 5:40am this morning and then tried to wake Hannah up to go watch him play! (I made him get back in bed until 6:00 and let Hannah sleep.)

I ran into Hannah's piano teacher at the grocery store tonight and she said she thinks Hannah is very bright and is just going to take off with the piano. She has really been enjoying her lessons so far and is doing great!

It's another no-picture day today, so I am headed to bed!

T-Minus 7 and Counting

Next Monday is the first day of school for McKay & Hannah and they are getting excited. Today we were surprised to get their postcards in the mail telling them who their teachers will be. (My understanding was that the cards were going to be mailed today, not received.) We were on our way home from piano lessons when we stopped at the mailbox, so everyone was in the van. McKay didn't want to look at his card initially -- not sure why he was so nervous, since there isn't necessarily one teacher he did or didn't want to get.

Hannah's teacher is Ms. Eagleton, who is a new teacher to their school this year. I'm sure we'll find out more about her on Thursday when we get to go see the classroom and meet the teacher.

McKay's teacher is Mrs. VanZandt, who he was pretty surprised to get. He tells me she is the "GT" teacher (gifted & talented) and is the only 3rd Grade teacher that doesn't have a "switch teacher." Most of the 3rd grade teachers partner with another teacher so one teaches reading/language arts and the other teaches math/science and they switch kids halfway through the day. Apparently, in past years at least, Mrs. VanZandt keeps her class all day and teaches all subjects.

The kids can take the gifted & talented test starting in 2nd grade, but I decided not to have McKay take it last year. (He is giving me a hard time now for not having him take the test!) McKay's been pretty curious about why he's in her class, so we've been guessing that either she is not going to be the GT teacher this coming year, or someone told us that if there's not a full class of GT kids, they will place other kids in the class. I'm sure we'll find out soon enough!

I took the kids this morning to go look at a used dresser that was for sale (found through the online classifieds, of course!). It was a little bit of a drive and it turned out to be older than I thought (probably from the 50's) so it wasn't in the best condition. The drawers didn't work that great (plus there weren't as many drawers as I initially thought). So we are going to pass on it and probably just end up buying some new ones.

I am getting increasingly frustrated with my little 4 1/2-year-old who is just having major issues with potty training. She had an accident on the couch tonight (she was not wearing any pants at the time because she had wet them earlier and had taken them off). I don't know if it is going to be an issue with her new preschool or not. They have never said the kids have to be potty trained, but I'm sure they expect the 4-year-old class to be. We've tried all kinds of rewards and incentives and discussions and charts and we never seem to get anywhere. She just makes absolutely no effort, despite her constantly telling me that she is going to try. (Yet I know it is not an issue of bladder control because I have seen enough to know that she can do it if she wants to.)

Okay, enough about that! It is time for me to go to bed. No pictures today -- something must be wrong! :-)

Yesterday's Pics & Dress #1

The laptop is working for the moment (I think Brian is going to order a new hard drive), so I was able to get the pictures from yesterday transferred over. Not that they're pictures of anything unusual (or even that great of pictures) -- just our usual Saturday around the house.

The girls have been playing with our larger Tonka dump truck and fire truck -- sitting or kneeling on them and then scooting themselves all around the house. It is very noisy when they're on the kitchen floor! (And you can tell it was a didn't-get-anyone's-hair-combed day too!)

McKay spent a good part of the day yesterday playing his new car racing computer game that he bought at Target (with the money earned from selling some of his Rescue Heroes). Brian helped him get it installed and McKay was extra excited to learn that our computer steering wheel works with it. (The other racing games we've tried with this steering wheel control haven't worked.) The pedal part is broken, but McKay said you can use some of the buttons on the steering wheel to control acceleration and braking.

And finally, I did wear one of my new dresses to church today. I had McKay take a picture this morning:

I guess I am keeping this one since I wore it. :-) The other one is a dark purple (two pieces) with short sleeves. I'm still deciding on that one.

Primary went pretty well today. At least our kids remembered the topic of Sharing Time at dinner time. I'm just glad it's over and I don't have to worry about that every week right now. I do need to start worrying about my real calling (RS Enrichment Mid-Week activity specialist, or something like that). I am meeting with the counselor over Enrichment this week to go over ideas for starting up the mid week activities again (we've taken a break over the summer since so many people are gone).

One more week left until school starts! It's going to be a busy week -- a few appointments, plus bedrooms to re-do and kids to move around! And maybe even some remnants of a hurricane to boot!

Down and Out

I had a few pictures I was going to share from today, but it appears that the laptop in the kitchen (where I transfer pictures) is in need of some first aid. Fortunately, we have a very good resident computer doctor in the house, so he is working on it. (I think he is going to have to replace the hard drive, but he is trying to get a current backup made right now.) The good news is that I just got my computer back upstairs that has been in Brian's "shop" since before our vacation. He upgraded it with lots of stuff so I can work on home video projects and also so it uses a "raid" to guard against losses from any future hard drive failures. (Sorry I can't explain that in better terms!)

I'm very glad to get a faster and better computer and am excited to get back to some home video projects. The worst part about getting a new computer is the time it takes to set everything back up the way you like it -- installing programs, setting up favorites and e-mail contacts, fonts, etc. But it's getting there!

This afternoon (during naptime) I went out for a little bit over to the mall to do some shopping at JC Penney. I had gotten a $10 off coupon in one of their mailers for this weekend and decided to go look for a new dress -- something I've wanted to get for awhile now. This weekend happens to be tax-free weekend in Texas (no sales tax on clothing, shoes, etc.) so it turned out that parking at the mall was a NIGHTMARE! I swear it was worse than the last shopping weekend before Christmas. There was not a parking spot to be found in that huge mall parking lot. I drove up and down a few aisles, but in every aisle there were cars already watching and waiting for someone to leave.

Finally, I saw some empty spots across the main "mall ring road" (that goes around the perimeter of the mall parking lot) at one of the restaurants. So I parked over there, but then I had the daunting task of crossing the mall ring road without any traffic signal or crosswalk (and did I mention how many cars there were?). I was finally able to dart across and make the long hike up to the mall. SO, SO glad I didn't have any kids with me! (I don't think I could have crossed that road with the kids or would even have attempted it.)

The store was plenty crowded as well, and they had lots of sales going on in conjunction with tax-free weekend. I decided that although I like having new clothes for myself, I really do not like shopping for them so much. I don't mind shopping for clothes for the kids, but for some reason, shopping for myself is difficult. I have a hard time knowing what style or color to try, or what pieces might look good together and I usually don't have a lot of time to try on endless combinations. So I get a little frustrated with my style ineptitude (is that the right word?).

I did end up getting two dresses (well, one dress and one that's a matching blouse/skirt). I don't know if I'll keep both of them, but I figured I'd at least let Brian give his opinion and then decide. If I wear one to church tomorrow, I'll try to have somebody take a picture.

That was pretty much the excitement of the day, other than selling a few more things on the on-line classifieds (like our double stroller and some more toys). I figure I should be asking more for our stuff since most of it is selling pretty quickly after I list it, but I also figure getting something for it is better than nothing! Both Hannah and Courtney have each picked out one of their less-used toys to try selling as well (we told them they get the money from selling it).

Tomorrow is my big debut subbing for Sharing Time in Primary. Wish me luck!

They're Lovin' It

Since we didn't make it downtown to the Museum of Natural Science yesterday morning, I'd told the kids I'd still take them to lunch. (It turned out that it didn't really rain until later in the afternoon, so we probably would have been fine as far as water on the road, but I think it ended up better all around that we didn't go.)

We went to Target to look at what furniture they had. McKay had also sold some of his Rescue Heroes that morning, so he took along his newly-earned money and decided to buy a car racing computer game. Then we went to McDonald's for lunch -- of course the one with the big playplace!

We rarely go out to eat (unless we're traveling), so this is a big treat for my kids. And Brian is not a big fan of McDonald's, so we never eat there while we're traveling, so my kids think it is extra fun. This was sort of our end-of-the-summer treat.



The video console was a big hit with them (our kids think they're video-game deprived!), although not all of the games were working (or not working for 2 players), so there was a little squabbling between the girls.





And Hayley was happy to take over all of the girl's Happy Meal prizes -- little Build-a-Bears with clothes.



In other news, we are watching the predictions for Hurricane Dean and hoping that it doesn't come too close to us. Brian and I were talking last night about how some people are already starting to think it is going to be another Rita and buying up batteries and bottled water. But we also think if it does head our way, a lot of people who tried to evacuate during Rita and congested the freeways would just stay home this time. We will keep watching the news!

Rain!

Tropical Storm Erin has brought some rain to South Texas. Fortunately, we are not flooding up here like areas south of here have been. I've just been glad to get some rain to cool things down and water the lawn. :-)

I had been planning to brave an outing with the kids this morning and take them down to the Museum of Natural Science downtown to see the Butterfly Center and possibly an IMAX movie. But with so much street flooding yesterday and more rain predicted for today, we have decided to play it safe and stay home. (Well, I told the kids we'd still go out to lunch to make it up to them.) McKay and Hannah were pretty disappointed, but I just don't want to risk getting stranded somewhere.

Today is also the start of the tax-free weekend here in Texas, where there is no sales tax on clothing items (and certain other school-related things like backpacks). We might try to go do a little shopping, although I imagine there will be large crowds. I have most of their school shopping done, so we don't need a whole lot.

Time to go get the gang dressed for the day!

Going, Going, Gone!

Hooray! - The bunk beds are sold and gone!





I had a few more responses from our classifieds listing on the bunk beds and one couple came to see them this morning. (I think he told me on the phone that he is a Houston firefighter.) They brought their truck with a trailer and ended up taking the beds with them! (I did end up lowering the price to $150.) Fortunately, the two of them were able to carry the heavy pieces down the stairs okay -- I certainly couldn't help in that department.


McKay was so excited to help take the beds apart and ran down to the garage to get Brian's cordless drill and helped take out a lot of the screws. The girls were also very excited to help carry drawers and such out to their truck. Even though we didn't get quite what we hoped for out of them, it is so nice to have them sold!


Julie picked up the new bunk beds for us today and is coming down next week to help me paint and decorate. I can't wait to see the finished rooms! Now I just need to hurry and find some other furniture like dressers...


After the bunk beds left, McKay and I went through his clothes and decided what was too small and what to keep (he is growing too fast!). Then he decided to take down the shelves by himself:




So now the floor in there is a huge mess -- we'll have to tackle that some tomorrow!


McKay also decided as he was going through some things that he wants to try selling some of his Rescue Hero toys on the classifieds (he has been watching how much we have been doing on there). So he set them up and took a picture and I posted it for him tonight. We gave a "take all" price as well as individual prices, so we'll see if any of it sells. We told him he could keep any money he earns from selling them.


I have to end with a couple of pictures of my cute, funny girls tonight. First is Courtney fresh out of the bathtub:




She and Hannah recently have wanted me to wrap their hair in a towel after their bath (like they see me do when I shower). They think it is pretty neat (and her other towel is about falling off in this picture!). The funniest part of this was that McKay also had to try having his hair wrapped in a towel after his shower too! He didn't keep it on long because it was too tight and he announced that it was a "girl thing." :-)


And finally, little Hayley (who is almost 3!):




She came galloping down the hallway with the hat and horse and since I had the camera right there, I had to snap a picture!

Buy and Sell

My life seems to be a little consumed lately with our community online classifieds. I wrote a while ago how I discovered this web site when I was looking for furniture as we re-do the kids rooms. I have since bought a few things, sold a few things, and am in the process of trying to sell (and possibly buy) even more things!

We bought bikes and a few toys and I'm still looking possibly for a decent dresser and/or desk for McKay to use in his "new" room. I've sold a few of our toys and have listed several more things that aren't selling quite so fast (like our old recliner chair and one of McKay's old bikes). But the main thing that we've been trying to sell is our bunk beds. Here is the picture I posted of them:

It has been a frustrating experience. We started out asking $200 for them (we are keeping the mattresses and they are pretty marked up and scratched in places). Now we are willing to take $150 or maybe even less. They have generated a lot of interest -- especially after I first listed them -- but it has all kind of fizzled. I was trying so hard to be "fair" and keep the order of who responded first, but people have just not responded or shown up when they initially indicated a lot of interest or wanted to come see them and by then, other people I've held off (in keeping the "fair" order) are no longer interested, or whatever.

So, here's hoping they will sell in the next little while, because we need them gone when we paint the rooms and put in the new bunk beds. We are just going to get some simple white traditional twin-over-twin beds for the girls to use in the room. We hope it will give them a little more room to play in there (without this "T" shaped bed) and make the room a little brighter and fun for them. We were going to order the new bunk beds online, but found out the Web site also has a store that happens to be very near Brian's sister Julie's house and it's cheaper if they don't have to be shipped, so she is going to try to get them for us and just bring them down. (She was planning to come down anyway in the next week or two to help me work on the rooms.)

All in all, it's been a learning experience for me, and I'm sure I have a lot more to learn. I have never been one to be very comfortable in bartering or negotiating (or just plain selling things, for that matter). I've been surprised how quickly a few of our things sold (within a few hours) and will also be surprised if a few of our things even sell at all. We're trying to think of what "stuff" we have that someone else might want! Anyone out there want some bunk beds? :-)

The Eve of a New Week

It's late Sunday night, and I should be in bed, but I've been finishing up a few things on the computer (namely the monthly family newsletter I compile) so I thought I would post briefly. Mondays are always big days it seems like -- lots of laundry, cleaning, etc.

Tomorrow is an especially big Monday because Hannah is starting piano lessons and she is SO excited. She has been wanting to take lessons like McKay for awhile, and I've tried working with her a little myself, but it is so hard for me to do with all the interruptions, etc. Plus the kids seem to take the lessons and practicing more seriously when it's not just Mom they have to report to (most of the time, anyway -- McKay has been fighting his practicing recently). So instead of having her do soccer again this fall, we decided we'd let her at least try piano lessons. I think she'll pick it up okay -- she's done pretty good with the very little I've done with her.

McKay has had his lessons on Tuesdays for the past year, but in order to get their lessons back-to-back, we have to switch to Monday afternoon. (They take lessons from a lady in the other ward.) It's not cheap, so it's hard for me to pay someone else sometimes, but hopefully they will both get to the point where they can at least play hymns and such. I have a feeling Hannah is going to be asking me all day long if it's time to go to piano lessons yet.

Speaking of piano, I have been subbing as the Primary pianist the last two Sundays, so it's been fun for me to be back in Primary and watch my kids from behind the piano. The girls still have a hard time sitting still, especially Courtney. Next week, I've been asked to fill in and do the whole Sharing Time presentation. I have actually never done that before when I was the secretary, so it is kind of scary for me! I need to start thinking about some ideas. I told the chorister today she would probably have lots of time for Singing Time. :-)

I'll end with just a few pictures from the weekend (how can I not include any pictures in my post?) :-)

Here is Hayley having her breakfast cereal while her kitty eats her own cereal (plastic doll cereal). Hayley asks for cereal almost every morning. She and McKay are the only two who eat cereal with milk in it.




The girls watched a Tom & Jerry episode on Saturday about traveling to Mars, and right after it was over they hurried upstairs to play "astronaut." When I came up to this scene, Hannah & Courtney were the astronauts in their rocket with the little red chairs and they were communicating with Hayley who was in the part of the rocket that got detached from the main part. All 3 of them told me that they are now going to be astronauts when they grow up and go to Mars.


Brian wanted to try making homemade dry ice rootbeer like we did in Wyoming, but we didn't have a container big enough to mix everything in (and we were planning to cut in half the recipe his mom used). So we bought us a 5-gallon Igloo water cooler. There have been other times when I've wished I had a large container for mixing punches or whatever, so it should be nice to have this. When I stopped to get the dry ice, the people in the checkout line with me were very curious about it!



Finally, this afternoon Courtney pulled out this bead jar (you put the little beads on a "frame" with a bunch of tiny pegs and then iron it so they kind of melt together and stick to each other). After Hayley's nap, she came to the table and started making her own "masterpiece" as she kept calling it. (And after this, Courtney was supposed to be cleaning them up for dinner and ended up dropping the jar on the floor. Those little beads are a big pain to clean up!)

Hot, Hot, Hot!

Our summer has definitely turned hot and dry this week! The rain seems to have disappeared (that means I need to get out the sprinklers before our lawn whithers away) and the heat is on.

The kids were outside this morning trying out their new bikes when we saw our neighbors and found out they were going swimming, so of course my crew begged to go too. I had been thinking today might a good day for swimming, so we hurried and put together some sandwiches to take for lunch and got ready to go.

Today's pool was Cranebrook, which is a fun and popular (i.e. crowded!) pool because it has a big water playset and a big, fun slide.

The last time we went to this pool, Hannah decided after some initial trepidation to try going down the big slide with me. We went down once and she was fine (the water at the bottom is only a couple of feet so she can easily stand in it). She decided to do it again, but I was trying to help Hayley at the same time and she ended up going under slightly, which she didn't like and refused to go down the slide anymore. Today she decided to give it another try and she definitely overcame her fear!

She spent a good part of our time at the pool going down the slide. Every time I saw her, she was trying some new "pose" -- on her back, hugging her knees, waving her arms, etc. She and Courtney would go down together and link arms and such. She seemed to really be enjoying it.

McKay took Hayley down a few times (she also came down with me a few times), and also went down solo.

Hannah posing for me by the dumping buckets:

Courtney hanging out in her floatie:

The kids by the water playset. The water all around the playset is fairly shallow (2 ft. and under), so Hayley and I spent most of the time just sitting and playing in this water. It is great for her -- she likes to "glide" on her stomach either with a floatie ring or without and play with her little watering can and bucket.

The other fun thing about the playset is that the kids have some control over the water that sprays out everywhere. There are wheels they can turn to decrease or increase certain sprayers or ropes they can pull to dump water or water "guns" they can squirt from up on top. It's a lot of fun! (There is also another area of the pool that is more a "regular" pool for swimming -- just not as big as some of the other Woodlands pools have.)

The kids convinced me to stay a little longer than we usually do (cutting into naptime) and I gave in because it was such a hot day and felt good to be in the water. I noticed this evening that we all have rosy cheeks (should have reapplied the sunscreen) and I definitely have spots on my shoulders and back that didn't get sunscreen on them! (Some spots on my back I just can't reach and my shoulders I was just not very careful with this time.)

Now we need a good thunderstorm to come through and maybe cool things off a little!