10 on Tuesday - Better late than never...

So, I'm way behind... here's a 10 on Tues with a lot of pictures to bring us up to date!

1. One Difference between boys and girls - stickers from the Dr. Having been to the Dr. and the Dentist over the past couple weeks, the kids picked up a few stickers. Is it an age thing or a gender thing?? Sarah likes to save her stickers and do something with it later. Will has it on his shirt usually pretty high up where he can barely look at it before we are out of the office. I have put a few stickers in the wash too forgetting they are there.
2. If you have a budding artist in your family, you need this book or anything by Ed Emberley. Sarah borrowed this from her teacher for the weekend and the animals she is drawing are fantastic for a 5 year old. Each animal in the book is presented step by step using shapes, numbers and letters and dots. It's pretty cool. Since we had to return it to school, I'm looking into getting Sarah her own copy soon.
3. Sarah is taking karate lessons and truly loves it. This is a completely unexpected interest. Here she is....

4. Easter in San Diego was a blast. The kids had so much fun hunting eggs in Gammy and Papaw's front and backyard. The Easter Bunny got a bit creative with his placement. It worked out since the same said Easter Bunny had to help the kids get to his eggs. :) (Look about a foot in front of Will's feet if you can't spot the blue egg.)

5. Our yard a month ago - befores and the after. I just want it known that I mowed all this down. It was hard manual labor but it felt pretty good.


Sarah Standing

Sarah Sitting with the dog. I spy KC... do you?


And after. The funny strip is where I was going to go for a 2nd round and cut it down even further but then decided against that.

6. The school's disco fundraiser was a few weekends ago. We like to dress up so here we are. Many have noted Andy's resemblance to Fred from Scooby Doo and now we are contemplating that being next Halloween's costume. I know a friend who did the whole family in Scooby and it was super cute!

7. One of Sarah's favorite games right now is Pretty, Pretty Princess. I think she mostly likes getting Daddy to play with her. He only puts on the jewelry when she makes him or when I just put the earrings on him. Will also loves this game.
8. Sarah's reading is going well. I caught this picture of her reading to Will awhile back. It was Dr. Seuss' birthday at school and she was dressed "wacky" for it. Will is actually pretty good about sitting still when she wants to read to him. He's very patient with her.
9. How long does this last??? I'm hoping for a long time. They are such buddies right now with the occasional fighting.
   
   
10. For fun.... A picture from almost exactly 5 years ago of Sarah and one of Will at the same age. Fun to see the difference.

Sarah at almost 5 months

Will at almost 5 months (love the big bald noggin!)

10 (5) on Tuesday - The RIP Edition

I am dedicating this 10 on Tuesday to those who have passed on.

I have found myself crying a bit yesterday and quite a bit today as I prepare a condolence package to mail. The mother of an old friend of mine passed away last week from cancer. I only reconnected with this high school friend over the past year or so but I feel this death more than I expected so here it goes...

(I apologize ahead of time for the downer theme)

1. To Miss Georgia (the mom mentioned above) - Much like my own mom, she was always around in high school. 1 of a team of moms helping us do everything and get everything the most out of our high school years, in a good way. She always had a smile to share and even after years of not seeing her, a huge hug to share. I was blessed to see her last fall/summer? looking well and enjoying time with her beautiful grandchildren. May her family find peace and keep warm memories.
2. Which reminds me of Andy's mom and that's probably why I'm crying. I think what makes me the saddest is knowing that my kids didn't get quite enough time with her. They remember her but her memories will fade. Which brings me to...
3. While sad, I am so wonderfully grateful more each year for my own parents. I love seeing the adoration in my kids eyes in regards to their grandparents.
4. It seems every time someone passes I think back on my own grandparents who have all passed on, the last one 15 years ago. I cannot believe it has been that long. I still get tears every once in awhile over that. I wish they could have stayed around longer.
5. That also makes me grateful to be an adopted granddaughter to Andy's 3 living grandparents. They have truly treated me as one of their own and it is a lovely feeling.

So with that, I end this - I figure with such a heavy subject, 1/2 of 10 is better than a full 10.

I wish love, hugs, happy memories and peace to anyone who has lost a love one both recently or years ago. It is character building for better or worse and each loss becomes a part of you and travels with you.

Much love. S

March Madness 2010

It's that time of year again. Last weekend, all 4 of us created brackets, even Will. I'm not able to post a scan of the full brackets but I will list our Final 4 picks. (Also, the brackets are all marked up from the 1st round.)

Will's picks:

Final 4 - Georgetown, Morgan State, North Texas and Siena

with Georgetown taking on Morgan State for the win.

(Poor Will has already lost all 4!)

His strategy, as far as I could tell, was to pick teams with names or full names over states. North Texas was the only one that slipped through. His choice of Georgetown was a no brainer since his favorite animal to sleep with is George the monkey. He was a big fan of Sam Houston and Murray State too.

Sarah's picks:

Final 4 - Maryland, Montana, Florida and St. Mary's

with Montana taking on Florida for the win.

(Her final is already gone but oh well!)

Her strategy - I have no clue. She picked places she knew - San Diego, California and after that, I have no idea.

Andy's picks:

Final 4 - Maryland, Kentucky, Syracuse and Texas A&M

with Texas A&M taking on Maryland for the win.

His strategy - Some upsets, some obvious winners by their rank numbers, and loyalty to places we have lived before, hence his final 2.

My picks:

Final 4 - Maryland, New Mexico, Duke and Kansas State

with Maryland fighting Duke for the win.

My strategy - More upsets than Andy, leaning toward the underdogs and some loyalty to Maryland who won the whole thing while were living out East (many years ago!).

And.... who is in the lead after Round 1??? That would be me. YAY! We'll let you know how it goes. For now, I'm the most obsessed with checking the scores.

Also - I know I'm way behind in blogging so I'll try to fix that this week.

10 on Tuesday

1. For Valentine's Day, we did our taxes. How romantic! They are in the mail which is actually really nice. They are also already filed away in our folder. That's a pretty big deal for us since 2007 taxes are missing in the mess somewhere. We have the electronic copy but the signed one is hiding out.
2. And the weeds came.... some big rains, some nice weather and the weeds are out to play. I hate that, especially in the front yard among the gravel.
3. And the trees grew.... if you have followed this blog and/or seen our backyard, you will understand how happy I am that our tree still missing its leaves has finally started to grow. Its brother tree has been sprouting leaves like mad for many weeks now and is way ahead. I feel that it is always a waiting game every spring as to whether we killed a tree or not!
4. I love the winter Olympics. I've decided that they top the summer ones for me. I enjoyed the swimming but I live for speed skating and figure skating and ski jumping and all the other sports that go along with it.
5. Watching Sarah's face as she enjoyed pairs skating yesterday was priceless. The look of shock and awe and joy when the men threw the women or caught them after many spins was fantastic. She did get bored after 4 skaters but she still claims that the pairs are her favorites. We'll see if that holds up after the ice dancing competition.
6. Will has a full GeoTrax city set up on our rug for the week. He is still looking at the pictures of the other trains he wants. At least he's easy to shop for, right? It would have been bigger but Andy ran out of tracks. I think he's had more fun setting it up than Will has playing with it.
7. Since the weather has been so nice, we've been eating outside a lot already. It's so nice. I think this year, we'll keep doing that more. The only thing odd about it is that pancakes and spaghetti (not together!) are not really outdoor foods.
8. The kids have a new favorite past time outside - the pirate treasure hunt, in which Sarah or Mommy or Daddy hides 25 gold coins in the yard and the kids have to find them. They LOVE it.
9. Sarah has started listening to a book on CD as she falls asleep. She's listened OVER and OVER and OVER to Zombies Don't Play Soccer. It's time to get some more books on CD, I guess.
10. I don't usually give up anything for Lent but this year I'm debating it. I'll let you know what I decide. I feel like I'm up for a challenge!!

Happy 3rd Will!

Happy Birthday to my little man who is 3 today. Where have these 3 years gone?? You are still that roly poly boy I had to tote around on my hip FOREVER and who still manages to catch a ride often because Mommy likes the cuddles. I don't know what we would do without your bright smile, endless energy and enthusiasm, and general ability to make us and everyone around you smile. Have a wonderful day today!

10 on Tuesday

1. My 5 year old doesn't think people can be Valentines so every card she reads cracks her up. It's kind of silly.
2. I am thinking of having a St. Patrick's Day party in our backyard. With the foot high clover, we could have a 4 leaf clover hunt. It's such a mess back there.
3. I keep receiving samples and mail from Similac. I finally got online to figure out how to stop it. They gave me an 800 number. I am totally a child of the digital/internet age. I was very annoyed that I had to jump through hoops and wait on the phone to get myself off a mailing list. The customer relations person is lucky that she was very nice but really?? It would be one thing if I had a young baby and was deciding on formula but Will is almost 3 and I haven't purchased formula in 2 years. I am a waste of your time Similac and I never used you to begin with!
4. After a notice from the HOA, we finally took the white icicle lights down. They blended in with the stucco so we didn't really care but apparently neighbors do. Next house we live in will not have an HOA, unless I really, really love the house.
5. I forgot how it is to plan a playdate with someone you don't know very well. Add to it that Sarah is at the age where it could be with or without Mommy and Will. She's at a new friends house right now. I have a feeling she's having a blast! Hopefully we can have her friend over to our house soon.
6. Andy pulled out the boxes of legos over the weekend. I'm not sure who had more fun, the kids or us. Both kids have been playing with their police space ships this week.
7. My dad + my niece alone for a whole day - I'm praying for him. I would be saying the same thing if it were my dad plus my 2 or even just one of them. I think he will be going to bed early and sleeping well tonight! On the other hand, I think my niece will be in heaven today and staying up late from the excitement of having Grandpa to herself all day.
8. 9. and 10. I am cheating and not doing anything for the last 3 because of a busy afternoon! I figured better to get this out than sit around thinking of more. :)