I am Thankful...

for the Internet. In the spirit of Thanksgiving, I thought I would post some things that remind be about being thankful. The Internet is a great resource and you can find almost anything that you want, and definitely some things that you don't want. Whether it be something to buy, or information, the Internet has it all. Last night I downloaded a bunch of pictures from the kids birthdays and our trip to Disneyworld, and then I deleted the memory card for the next use. After browsing through the pictures, I noticed I was missing some. I realized I had no pictures of the kids first day at school or Danielle's 2nd birthday. I was devastated! I sulked all night about it. Then today at church I had the idea to check the Internet to see if you could recover pictures from a memory card. I know that even when something is deleted on a computer it is really still there, but I had never experienced this with a memory card before.

So I googled, and guess what? You can! I am thrilled that these precious memories will not be lost nor, the photographic proof that they happened. I love writing down these things so that I can look back at the special events, learning moments, and funny stories. I am thankful for the opportunity to write these down for my children to cherish. I am thankful that the Internet helps us do all these things.

Here are just some of the pictures that would have been lost.

Honor Roll

Williams Magnet School has figured out a better way to honor students who make the honor roll. Instead of a boring assembly with a certificate or ribbon and inviting the parents to attend, the kids get to go on an educational field trip. On Tuesday Brian and his honor roll classmates went to the Museum of Discovery as their reward.

I am especially proud of Brian this semester as he was awarded the most improved in his class. We had a bit of a rocky start this year at school. Perhaps it was that everything was new. New school, new teacher, new friends. Change can be difficult, especially for Brian. But he is doing great. He had an awesome report card, he is reading and doing math very well. We don't even have too many struggles over homework.

I think it was a bit of a learning curve for me too. I struggled to learn a new teacher's personality and style which is unlike other teacher's we have had in the past. I think we have all adapted pretty well. Now how many more days until Thanksgiving break?

Wally & Wicked

Last night we had to attend the 2nd mandatory PTA meeting at Williams. However tonight was actually a treat as we got to listen to Dr. Wallace Goddard PhD, (Wally). He works for the University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension Services. He is a marriage and family expert, and had been asked to speak on stress. He has written numerous books on his areas of expertise, and is always inspiring to listen to.

Most important he attends church with us, and every week we are privileged to be able to hear his words of wisdom regarding marriage and family.

We dashed out of the PTA meeting to head downtown to the Robinson Theatre, for the Broadway performance of Wicked. I now regret that I bought the cheap balcony seats. It was an awesome production, and a great story. I wish I had been more familiar with the music, and had recently watched the Wizard of Oz, so I could have caught all of the innuendos. But Eddie and I did have an enjoyable evening together, just the two of us.

P.S. Today is the day that I got a new short hair cut. Shorter than it has ever been. When I walked out of the bathroom at the theatre, Eddie said he didn't even recognize. He is not thrilled, he prefers long hair.

Translation

Emily came home from school on Wednesday with the following report:

"Today we made Christmas cards for the people in the airport who do not believe in Jesus." Emily is typically very articulate and conveys accurate information, so I was definitely puzzled by this information.

I had to wait until after the four day weekend to ask about this. So today when I picked Emily up from class, I inquired about her report. Her teachers just laughed, and provided the accurate translation which was the kids had made Christmas cards for the Air Force personnel stationed overseas. Too funny!!

Then Emily was embarrassed and was hiding behind me and knocked over a huge shelf that had a big glass bowl and some plants growing on it. Luckily the damage was minimal and no one was on the other side of the shelf so no one was hurt.

Manners

Danielle is very polite. When asked to do something she always responds "Yes 'ir". She does not know yes mam yet, and does not differentiate if she is talking to a sir or mam, so everyone get Yes 'ir. It is so cute how she says it though.

Today, after I sneezed she responded, bless you mommy, sooooo cute! She almost always says please, and sometimes thank you.

How did this one get so polite?? Maybe she just caught on from all the harping on the other two we have done.

Lazy Days

The kids had two days off of school for teacher development. Yesterday, we cleaned house and played at the tubes. Today, I had nothing planned, and so we just played with toys. Emily can play for hours with a book and her princesses. Brian and I built the KNEX roller coaster. Well almost built, Eddie had to come home and finish the project, but I think we did a pretty good job.

Who's In Charge

I missed capturing two very cute things in the past couple of weeks, I wish I hadn't been too lazy to get out the camera, but I am trying to at least capture the memory.

I was not feeling too good, I had a terrible headache so I was napping a little in the bedroom. All the kids seemed to be doing OK, there were no loud noises, no one was fighting, so I let them do their things and I did mine. I went to check on them and Brian and Danielle were watching TV and Emily was playing in the bedroom.

Then things got VERY quiet, you know that QUIET, the kind that makes you go check on them because you know that things are bad.

This is what I found: (Insert very cute picture of Danielle laying on the couch asleep, hugging the remote).

I guess we now know who is in charge of the remote. Maybe Brian found something to watch on TV that she liked and she was guarding the remote so he couldn't change it. And I guess that she was tired. She has fallen asleep before in front of the computer, slumped over in a chair, and also in a chair in front of the TV. I think she gets worn out because she doesn't want to miss a minute of the fun her siblings provide.

The next cute thing that happened recently was one night at bedtime. We had sent the big kids to bed, they have to get up for school, and Danielle hops from one person to the next at night. Usually she goes into bed with them, but then leaves when "quiet" time, (which is not so quiet) is over. Then she comes to see me in bed, so she can get her milk snack. But since she is not ready to actually sleep yet, she joins daddy in the living room to watch TV.

She had made her rounds and then all was quiet, you know that same too quiet. I went to check on her. Eddie thought maybe she was with me, but when I walked into the kids room, I found this: (Insert cute picture of Danielle on the top bunk lying in bed next to sleeping Brian, eating cheetos)!! Kinda reminded me of ET hiding in the closet with the other animals. You had to look closely to really see him.

Ah ha! I did take a picture of this, but had just forgotten.

Here are some other cute E.T. pictures.

Danielle hiding in the hall closet with the blankets and towels

Danielle on the couch surrounded by animal, Brian and Emily helped with both of these creations, I think.