First Day of School

Whew! 11 posts later, and I'm finally on the last post (for right now, anyways). Last Wednesday was the girls' first day of school. Both of them have really good teachers and were so excited to go! This was the first year that I didn't cry. Abby is a 2nd grader this year, still in team time. That is really nice because her class will be pretty much the same kids until 5th grade. Since they do "team projects" 2-3 times a week with the other grades (1-5), she already knew her teacher and her teacher squealed (yes squealed) when Abby came to Information day. I think she will have an awesome year. She told me she loves her teacher because she is funny. I'm thinking you need a good sense of humor to teach 2nd graders.
Jillian is so excited to be in the "big school" with Abby. All she talked about this summer is that she would get to be at the pole with Abby at the end of the day for pick up. Steve had a Dr's appointment Wednesday afternoon, and took the rest of the day off (he had use it or lose it hours, belive it or not), so he got to go with us to drop off Jillian for the first day of Kindergarten. It was the first time that he has been able to go, and thought it was really neat to see what all they do. Jillian had a new teacher this year. She is new to the school, but not new to teaching. We ran into her at Mardel's the day after Information day. I'm thinking that's a good sign! She seems really sweet, Jillian loves her and she remembered Jillian's name outside of school after only meeting her once. Like I said, I think this will be a great year. We did have a couple of first day "hiccups". Abby called me from school about 12:00, and told me that she broke her shoe on the playground, and could I bring her a new pair (one extra trip to the school). Jillian came home with a band-aid on her leg from falling off the monkey bars and landing on the rocks. What a first day!
I was really proud of myself. I did NOT sign up for homeroom Mom this year. That is a HUGE deal for me. I have always been the homeroom Mom for one of my children. i signed up to bring things for the party or help with them, but not to be in charge of them. Steve was very impressed. I have just decided that it is too much with working as much as I do during the school year.
Here's too another great school year! Hope you all had a great first day!

Tooth #4

I'm glad I took pictures with just one tooth missing from the top. 2 days later, the other top tooth was ready to go. This one was a little more attached to the gum than the last one, but it came out with the first yank. This one bled a little bit more, so the tooth fairy left her $1.50. I guess inflation has really gone up in the last 25 years or so! :) You have to love that toothless grin!

A Day with Jack Jack

Leann had a meeting one Thursday, and Josh was out of town, so we watched just Jackson. It was really neat to watch the girls play with him and mother him. He really likes music. The girls would play their Hannah Montana CD and he would just jump along and dance to the music. He had a pretty good tea party with Abby too. It was neat just to have him one on one. Love you, Jackson! Next time we will have to just have Josh! :)

I can Tie!!!!

Apparently, August 13th was a big milestone day in our house. Jillian learned how to tie her own shoe. I knew she was trying, and my Mom said that she was close. She kept wanting to wear her "tie shoes", and so I tied one while she tied the other and showed her the steps one at a time. Once we did tha, she had it figured out! We are so proud of her. She picked up on this skill pretty fast.

Missing our first upper tooth

Abby finally got tired of her wiggly tooth because it was getting harder to eat. On Wednesday, August 13th, she had her Daddy pull it. This was our first one not pulled by the dentist. It scared her, but she did really well. This beautiful tooth was worth $1.00.

First Attempt

Abby's 3rd tooth was just hanging by a small piece of her upper gum, and she thought she wanted me to pull it. Luckily, Leann was over getting ready for the blogger bash. I needed her to tie a slip knot for me and take pictures. I didn't have enough nerve to yank it, so it waited a few more days. This was our failed attempt, but it did make it more loose!

Haircut anyone?

Jillian was playing with her bunny the other day, and decided that the computer chair made a good hairdresser's chair. She found a mirror, put it in front of the bunny and began her work. I must say, I was impressed with the creativity.

Me and Jilly being Silly

Abby was spending the night up at the church, and Jillian was feeling a little left out, and wanted to take pictues. She loves to bounce up and down on my legs while I sing a little song to her. We did that for a while and then took pictures of ourselves. It was a great time!

Craft Projects

The girls had been begging me all summer to paint. That is one thing that they love to do, and I hate it! Just because it's alot of work for me. They had been really good, so I took them to their favorite place, Hobby Lobby. They picked out these items from the unfinished wood section, and we took them home, got out the craft table cloth, changed into our paint clothes and began working. They had a great time and have really used them for items in thier rooms. Pretty good deal! :)

End of Dance Class

The girls had their last dance class at the Poteet theater on August 1st. They had a fun last class and enjoyed the break from "boring things" this summer. Since I hurt my back at the beginning of July and spent most of my time in Physical Therapy and trying to work, they really looked forward to getting out! :)

Ears Pierced, again!

We let Jillian get her ears pierced when she was 3. She threw such a fit about it AFTER she had them done that once we were able to take out her studs, she would not let us put any back in. I told her that was fine, but to never ask me to get them done again. At the end of July, she had been begging me for over a week to get them pierced and I kept saying "no", because I told her that I would not go thru that again, even though she promised me that she would not throw a fit (and she is 2 years older). On my birthday, while I was at chorus, Steve took her to walmart and got them done. He said that she didn't even cry. I guess that she understood that "mom" wouldn't let her get them re-done, but that Dad would! :) She has been taking care of them herself (and doing a good job). I guess that just goes to tell me that she was just too young. We'll see what happens when she can take out the studs and change them out!

Hang On!

Because I'm going to catch you up! I haven't filled you in since the end of July, and A LOT has happened since then! I had a birthday (21 again :)), and I got a lot of nice gifts. Some Born shoes and clothes from my parents, Cottonwood gift certificate from the hubby and kids, lunch out and Sharpies (yes, I asked for them) from Leann and the Priebe clan, flowers from my sister, Shannon, and money from Steve's parents. I also got several cards from people and a lot of calls. Thank you all! I didn't take pictures of all of my gifts, but I took a picture of the flowers that Shannon sent me so that she could see how beautiful they were the following morning. Happy Birthday me! :)

Finally I have music back in my life!!!

Well, I finally was able to try out for the OKC Canterbury Chorus on Friday of last week. I was stressing it all week...actually all year since they only hold tryouts once a year. (Flashback) If you don't know me I love music. Any type....playing or listening to. I have always loved to sing. I didn't really like to sing alone....but...that will come later. I sang in the middle school chorus and then the High School Chorus. I really just took chorus to meet chicks.....that did work out because my wife of thirteen years (hopefully that's right) was in my Senior year chorus class. I married into a singing familly. But the music they sang was Barbershop style......???? What is Barbershop singing? Well it's when you are getting a haircut and everybody in the salon starts singing! No...it's not that. It is a distinct four part harmony of voices. Tenor, Lead, Baritone, and Bass. The point of singing barbershop is to stay closely in tune to the lead while holding your own part against the lead singer/s. Just listen to the music to all the old Loony Tunes cartoons and you will hear barbershop singing. So....being married to a barbershop family...which all sing baritone...I fell into a barbershop chorus about 5 or so years ago. It was a a wonderful chorus called Music Central and all the men there sang awesome. We competed and usually won most of the competitions that we went to. Anyhow I played that game for a couple of years then I let Cheryl have a turn. We couldn't both do it because we would practice on the same day....and babysitting is not cheap (thanks Leann). So for about 2-3 years Cheryl has been singing with the OKC Chorus and they are going to Hawaii this fall for international competition. I did singing valentines and christmas sing outs with my father in laws quartet because he was out of town here and there for a couple years. Talk about nerves. Try holding your own part against three other people and making it enjoyable for others to hear. Needless to say, I sang baritone because everybody else did....at least in the family. If you don't know barbershop baritone then you are very lucky. Well sort of. See....barbershop baritone sounds awful when sung alone. Why you ask? It is because our role is usually to fill the bass sound by singing a fifth above the bass. Ugly. However, when you put all the part together and the chord rings you are in heaven. Oh yeah...back to Cheryl...So Cheryl is now practicing on Tuesdays and is going to competition soon and I very badly wanted to have some sort of music in my life. I played drums in a band and we did the state fair a couple times but the other members were stuck in the past and did not like to play any new songs...so I gave that up. I heard about the very well spoken of chorus called the Canterbury Choral Society. I looked into it and I knew that it would be fun to sing with a classical choir again. However when I looked into this the season already started and they were not accepting any more auditions for the year. Boy, was I bummed out. Another year w/o participating in some sort of music. So..for about a year I pondered on what I would sing for audition this year. Since high school I have been hooked on the King's Singers. If you don't know who they are....youtube them and you will taste a piece of heaven. Since I knew most of their songs I chose Loch Lomond as the piece that I would present to the chorus director for the Canterbury Choral Society for my audition. (Back to the present) For about three months I would listen to Loch Lomond and sing the harmony. I think I drove my wife crazy singing all the time at the house. Anyhow, I arrived last Friday at 6pm for my 6:15 audition. I looked around and there were no other men sitting and waiting to try out. I though hmm....did I get the date and time right? Oh well....I was next....man I was nervous. The director came out and introduced himself and walked me into the music hall with six of the section leaders staring at me. I asked him if he needed my music and he stated, "No. Just give it to the accompanist." I sang this song for three months a cappella so I think I surprised them by saying that I would sing without a piano. Anyhow...I asked the pianist to give me a low cdf and she played those three notes. I was about to start but I stopped....closed my eyes and told myself to calm down. Within a second, I took a deep breath and I sang that song with the best sound that I had ever sung. I was going to sing two verses but I was on a roll so I thought I would stop when I was rolling well. I looked at all of them staring at me with a smile and the director escorted me out and then I had to wait only a few minutes to have them come out and tell me that I made it. I am now singing tenor II. We had a retreat on Saturday and a rehearsal on Monday. We are practicing Bach's mass in B minor and some other baroque pieces right now. Talk about a 180 degree turn from barbershop. I love it. There is something about 150 people singing all in tune and singing classical songs that only one can dream to sing. Anyhow....I finally have some music back in my life and I am blessed by God to be part of this group. Our first concert is Saturday October the 4th and we are singing with Kelli O'Hara. The funny thing is that we have not looked at a piece of music for this concert yet due to the complexity of Bach's mass. Anyhow....now I have a new hobby. I am singing with the Canterbury Choral Society!!!!

Anniversary and Stitches

Really, does the title surprise you? Steve and I went to Lake Tenkiller for a few days of R&R for our anniversary. It was really hot! We did float down the Illinois river one day, hung out at the cabin, and went fishing. I managed to read almost an entire book while Steve fished. He even caught fish in my presence! That was a first! Everytime he has taken me fishing (even to the spots he "always" catches fish), he never catches any when I'm there. We were so excited, it appeared that I was not bad luck after all! Steve wanted to go out 1 more time to fish, and I said it was fine with me, but I was getting too hot. I decided to stay in the cabin (with the AC), he would go fishing and we would meet up for a nice dinner. Close to the meeting time, I hear the key card in the lock and get up to greet Steve. My first question is "should I be concerned that you have a sock on your head"? He pulled the sock away (which was clean before this), to reveal his lovely adventure. his lure had gotten stuck on a rock and he was waving his pole back and forth to "unstick" it, and the line came back with a force and the lead weight hit him in the forehead. After I stopped laughing, we went to the local convience store and bought hydrogen peroxide and Q-tips. I cleaned him up and put a band-aid on him and we just decided to stay in for the rest of the night. We were going home the next day, and we ended up at mercy after hours (again) to the tune of 3 stitches. I told him he was lucky...I could have put a princess band-aid on his head! Only us! At least we can laugh at ourselves!

Summer Days

The girls had our last water slide adventure with our neighbors across the street. They moved the middle of July, and the girls will miss them terribly.

Forth of July

I know! I'm probably the last one to post from the 4th. It's been a crazy summer. Actually a crazy year (read "why us"). We had a great time on the 4th. We got up early and watched the parade. We even actually had shade for about 15 minutes. We then went over to my parents house and grilled hamburgers and hot dogs. We went home and "chilled out" for a while and then took the Smith kids with us to the fireworks. Madison and Abby begged to get in the van as to escape the noise and Jillian just put in her ear plugs like Papa. Jacob sat on my lap the whole time and just kept saying "oh, that is awesome!" It was a great holiday!