That's my Girl!

Okay, only 2 weeks in between posts.... that's not too bad is it?

It's just been crazy crazy around here, and it's only getting crazier! Why does gas have to be soooo expensive right now!

D1 had her annual Cheer Camp the 3rd week of July.... and once again came home with "Most Explosive All-Around Cheerleader" for her group! Woohoo! That's 8 years in a row... think we've found her niche?! Her competition team performed at the camp awards that Saturday. Hubby and I were positioned in the upstairs viewing room.... all of a sudden I see D1's head through the window! I'm thinking "Okay, I'm on the 2nd floor. Why can I see my tiny little daughter's head level with the 2nd floor?" Not certain that I really wanted to know, I bent over through the window (very cautiously I might add) and there is her coach (a buff, college boy) holding her over his head, his arms completely extended, holding her tiny little size 4 feet in his hands. AAARRRRGGGHHHH! I think what scares me more is how he gets her there..... it's just tossing her up and catching her feet in his hands! Gosh how I wish I was so fearless!

Then the following week the boys started football practice! HOW CUTE!!! They get to dress in full pads for the first time tomorrow. I can't wait for the games to start. It's going to be a lot of fun. It's hard to believe how big they've gotten... they'll be in 2nd grade this year!

So now between Cheer and Football.... I've got practices all week long, every night. And on top of that PTO stuff is starting! Meetings and schedule pick-ups, dance planning, etc. etc. I LOVE MY LIFE!!!

Woohoo! Score!

We made it to Hallmark just in time to buy some of the limited ornaments they had available! Mind you, it was only 10 minutes after they openend!!! I managed to get a handful of ornament gifts for Christmas presents, and racked up a bunch of Hallmark points at the same time!

Oh!... and I won a $25 gift certificate in their drawing! Double BAM! That means more ornaments!

I got the kids their usual ornament series...
D1 - Pony for Christmas
D2 - Nick & Christopher "Speedy Delivery"
D3 - Snoopy Legal Beagle
Hubby - Happy Haulers
myself - Pansy Fairy

and others: Bananas for You, Peppermint Pals, Stars & Stripes Santa, Bunny Hug, Oh What a Grill, Taz (for Pops), Belle (for niece), Lighnin McQueen & Mater (for niece), Christmas Belle (for Big Mama) and some others I can't say :o)

And not all the ornaments are out yet! October is the 2nd premier :o)

Christmas in July!

The day I live for, yearn for, wait for AAALLLL 1/2 a year..... the first sign of Christmas! It's Hallmark Ornament Premier today. D1 and I are off with Big Mama to seek out the most coveted ornaments. Our Hallmark store sends out special invitations to their best customers (read here: the top % of spenders) to come shopping early. I should have bought stock in Hallmark years ago... if only I'd known!

It just get me thinking about what to buy for the kids, how I am going to set up my Snow Village this year, and how amazing our tree will look. A couple of weeks ago when the kids and I were shopping for a village piece for Big Mama, it got them in the spirit, and they asked if we could go home and put up the Snow Village. I can't tell you how happy I am that my kids enjoy Christmas and the season just as much as I do!

Hubby took D2 and D3 to football evaluations this morning. They are so excited to get to play. The way they tackle each other and clothesline each other in the living room, they should be good at football. Now let's just hope they don't get scared about other kids doing it to them. I've told them they better not turn-tail and run the other way!

Then the kids are going to stay the night at Big Mama's house tonight! Woo-hoo! Don't know what hubby and I will do. All he said was that he didn't want to go Christmas shopping :( You have to know, that anytime we are alone after July, we always seem to end up at the mall picking up gifts. Of course I'm thinking we need to go by Toys R Us because Darienne found "THE PERFECT" bike and that's what we plan on getting her. Afterall, she is still riding her Queen Amidala bike she got when she was in Kindergarten! Think it's about time?!

Well, my ride's here! We're off!

Dog-gone-it!

Delta called.... ETK, I'm believing what you say about them.... our flight to ATL has some changes. The flight out is just a time change; instead of leaving at 2:20, we now leave at 2:00 and arrive at 5:07. No big deal.

Then the girl starts in on the flight back... departure time change from 4:50 to 5:05 (again, no big deal). All I heard next was "the flight has been picked up by our blah blah blah blah blah." It was greek to me. So I asked if that was one of those little hopper planes, and she didn't say ANYTHING for the longest time! Finally she spoke up and said, "It's a 70 passenger". "Yeah," I said, "one of those little hopper planes!"

So now I'm trying to figure out if I want to fly on one of those. I'm thinking not. I'm already so terrified to fly, I get car sick driving just a few hours away, and the motion of the bathtub is enough to make me puke. Isn't that little plane going to bounce / rock / move around a whole lot more than a larger plane? Isn't it going to fly lower in the sky? Isn't it going to go slower? HELP! What should I do?

I asked my "o-so-smart" representative if I could change my flight without penalty and she did say yes. So I can choose between an earlier flight.... leaving at around 3:00, but that means we won't have as much time to hang out on Sunday before we leave. Or a later flight.... leaving at around 6:00-ish, but that means we won't get home until 10:00 or so and it will be a school night.

So how is traveling on one of those little hopper planes (that seem to always be the ones who have crashed / fallen out of the sky / have problems)? Let me know what you think!

School Supplies

Remember when you were a kid, the excitment of new school supplies? Or am I just a dork? I get to relive all those memories through my kids!

The lunch boxes are appearing on the shelves, and I noticed Target was resetting their seasonal area on Sunday. It's getting to be that time :o)

Finding that PERFECT lunch box --- nothing else compares! And it also allows me to be the hero for my kids.... I can't tell you the number of hours I've spent searching online for the one they were looking for. I wonder what they'll want this year.

The other great thing about school supplies as a parent.... I control the money now and I can buy whatever cool little gizmo I (uh-hum, I mean they) want!

I told you so!

I do believe I said I would not be good at keeping this updated! Things around here just get so hectic!

For July 4th we went camping at Inks Lake State Park. I was so worried about the weather because there was a freak thunderstorm covering ALL of Texas (except the panhandle and El Paso!) I was glued to my computer all day Monday checking weather forcasts for the Burnet area (guess I could have spared a moment to post!) The forecasts varied from 40-70% chance of rain for the days we would be camping.... but most said HEAVY RAIN, not just a chance of a thunderstorm... HEAVY RAIN. And when you camp in a tent HEAVY RAIN is not a good thing.

We discussed canceling our plans and heading to San Marcos for a shopping trip, but decided to stick it out for at least the first night. So we packed up all our camping gear, loaded the igloos full of all the necessities, and crammed the kids into the van and headed out. It poured rain until we got about 30 minutes away. So by this time I'm really thinking we made a bad decision.

We arrived at camp, chose the perfect site that was on the water and began setting up. Being
the mom that I am, we of course had to decorate for July 4th, so I came prepared with a multitude of American Flags. After we finished setting up, we decided to go check out Devils Waterhole... I have no idea where the name came from. We took the trail down to the waterhole, then went up the cliffs that overlooked Devils Waterhole. It was stunning! There were a bunch of hooligans jumping off a large cliff on the other side of the lake. We told the kids "No way! Don't even think about doing that. We are just here to swim!" And headed back to camp for dinner. Luckily, it never rained!

The next day we got our suits on, slathered on the sunscreen, blew up a gazzillion floats, and headed back to Devils Waterhole. The water was FREEZING! I could barely stand it. I laid on my pink float the whole time, and have come to the conclusion that I need one of those Coleman floating islands to just park my butt in when we go to a lake! We watched person after person jump off the cliff into the water below. (There were even some idiot grown up diving head first! The last thing I wanted to see, or wanted my kids to see, was a dead body floating in the lake) We finally decided we'd let the kids do the short jump (about 15 feet)... seemed safe enough, they had on life-jackets afterall. I told hubby that I bet D1 would love to do the higher jump, what did he think? So he tells the kids he'll only come jump if someone will do the higher jump with him! Of course all 3 want to do it! Next thing I know, all my babies are hurling themselves off a 30 foot cliff into unknown waters below. Signs saying "Underwater hazards present. Swim at your own risk. No lifeguard on duty" all around! WHAT WAS I THINKING!!! But they loved it! And I guess I should be glad that I don't have sissy children :o) We spent several hours down at Devils Waterhole... letting our kids jump off a 30 foot cliff. Hubby and I got burned to a crisp since we laid out on floats, completely surrounded by reflecting water. Bad thing is we were candy striped for a while.... the bumps on the float evidently wore the sunscreen off! Hubby's burned on his front and I'm burned on my back side so we're a great pair! Still no rain on day 2!

The next day we were trying our hardest to avoid having to be out in the sun too much. (Of course the kids are like fish that must swim if there's enough water.) Our plan was to go tour Longhorn Caverns that morning. We took our time cooking a big breakfast, going to the store to buy more ice, changing shoes, etc. The cavern was extrememly cool! Hearing the history of how it had been a fugitive hide-out, a Commanche Indian councilroom where they held hostages, and even a dance club and speak easy. The kids loved it! And it was 3:30 by the time we had to go down to the waterhole :o) That meant only 2 hours of swimming! And NO rain! Woohoo!

Morning came and we packed up camp :( It didn't seem like long enough. We left Inks Lake and drove down to San Marcos to still fit in some shopping! And never had a drop of rain!