Pre-K Day 1

Wednesday September 8: First Day of School, Sierra Vista Preschool

Please enjoy the following interview with Tater Davidson, 4-year-old student in Mrs. Allen's Pre-K class:

(In the car on the way home) "So babe, tell me about yor first day at school!"

"Hmmm... no I don't really want to talk about it now."

(Later that evening) "How about now? Want to tell me what you did at school?"

"Um yeah - we played a lot and my teacher taught me all about centers. There's a writing center and a book center, I mean reading center... that's the big tent thing in the corner. And there's a dramatic play center with all the costumes. And the blocks center. It has blocks. And there's an art center."

"Cool! What's in the art center?"

"It's just art, Mom."

"Oh. Well what about that cool table with beans you can scoop?"

"That's the bean center. Well, she didn't tell me that. She didn't tell me about the beans at all - that's just what I want to call it. There's also a motor box."

"What's that?"

"The motor box has all the toys. Like a bookshelf but with toys. And that's all the centers"

"Did you learn any rules of the classroom?"

"Yeah, but I can just remember one - don't pull the curtains in the reading center. Or it will fall down in a million pieces. Oh yeah, and we have to share."

To conclude the interview, Tater would like to make the following public service announcement:

"This is the school that is at the back of Sierra Vista. If you see a classroom that has a reading center, that is the place. Call 555-4968-688329 if you want to come visit."

Snow My Goodness!

For the first time in... I can't remember how long, San Angelo got a SNOW DAY!!! I watched the news from 5:30 on, waiting for them to say something, and then, at 6:15, there it was. No classes for SAISD today. I had to rewind the tv to play it back. And then jump up and down and scream silently, because Tater and Randy were still sleeping. But snow it did, and much fun was had.

Love that West Texas snow...

We spent lots of time running around, making snow angels, throwing snowballs, playing Freeze Tag (how appropriate), putting Tater's mittens back on for the 50th time, and then he decided to eat some snow. This was his method of choice; laying on his tummy in the driveway and sticking his face in the snow to eat it like a little puppy. Goober child...

Mama's snow angel

Mama's other snow angel

Our awesome snowman: We planned to make a bigger one later, but it melted too fast.

The fort became a snow fort.

The snowballs, they were a-flyin'

Tater's little mitten-prints in the snow on the slide

Short lived, but we'll take it any way we can get it. This morning, about 10:

And this afternoon at 4:30

All in all, a great day. We played a Wii tournament, lots of playdoh and games. We consumed way too much hot chocolate. I cleaned nothing. Tomorrow - life as usual, but today? Today was a memory I will treasure.

Family Portraits

Courtesy of my uber-talented friend Jenny with Sprinkle of Grace. Do I have a gorgeous little boy or what?!?

Future Blackmail

I really love this 3-year-old stage that Tater is in. The stage in which he does hilarious things and still lets me get them on camera. There are other 3-year-old stages I could live without, but that's a different story...
So I just can't help but share.

OK, so that one's not really that bad, but it was his first day of "school" and I had to throw it in. Can't resist a cheesy grin.

Captain Underpants himself.

Captain Underpants taking a lunch break. He wore that goofy hat for at least an hour.

And my personal favorite...

Mr. Singin' in the Rain. And in a visor and jacket. Do you notice a trend here? My kid doesn't wear pants much.

30 is the new 20

Yep, that's right. I am 30 now. Officially in my 30's. And in honor of my big milestone day, my wonderful family, headed up by my mommy and seester Dana threw me a wonderful surprise birthday party the Saturday before my birthday. I, of course, was clueless as usual; it really was a surprise.

The plan was to have dinner at Mom's with the in-town siblings. We all went over a little earlier than planned so the boys could play a little longer before the cousins went to a baseball game (my fault - yes, I nearly messed up the surprise) and then started getting ready for dinner. Then the doorbell rang and I saw 4 of my sweet friends standing there. And of course, then I realized what was going on... realized why Mom hesitated when I asked if we could come over early; why the projector was out in the dining room (Mom made this fabulous slide show of my life; beyond sweet); why everybody was acting just a little weird. :)

So we all enjoyed some good food, some INCREDIBLE chocolate cake, and some hilarious pics of this ridiculous 30-year-old growing up. Oh, and the boys played. And played and played.

Mom asked everybody to make a "top 30" list for my for my big day; it was the coolest thing ever. Kerry made a list of scripture promises; Dana made a list of quotable quotes; Sara made a too-great-for words list of "Fri memories" shared between the two of us; Crystal made a very cute anagram with my name that actually had 30 words; Christyn sent a list of 30 pieces of advice; my sweet Sabi, Sara and Alison gave me 30 Dove chocolates (woo hoo!) and a facial. There were a few other lists of memories and messages too; and Mom gave me a gorgeous scrapbook to keep them all in. I just felt so very loved. My favorite list, though, was from my dad and step-mom. Even though they couldn't be there, Carla made a ton of great food, and Daddy made a just plain awesome "list." He picked out 30 symbols that represented things he loved about me and different memories we shared. Like a package of "Maw Maw cookies," like my grandmother always gave us, or a paint set to represent my creativity. It was so very touching and so very sweet. I managed to keep from crying all evening until I opened his bag... luckily most everyone was gone already.

It was a wonderful night. I just feel so blessed to have such wonderful people around me. I know a lot of time and effort went into my night, and I can't tell everyone how much I appreciated their thoughtfulness! Even to those who wanted to be there but couldn't; I love you and I thank you so much for thinking of me and for loving me.

So, all in all - turning 30 wasn't so bad. Oh, and by the way - my whole "30 by 30" isn't quite done yet. I didn't manage to get all the way to 30 yet, but I will... and then some. The joy of doing for someone else is just too good a feeling to give up just because I had a birthday.

A precious moment...

We've been keeping an eye on the weather tonight, and I just told Tater that it looked like the storm wasn't coming after all. his emphatic reply was, "Jesus stopped the storm!" I smiled. "He sure did, baby. God can do that, huh?" Very quickly, he said, "Let's pray to God, come on."
So we folded our hands, closed our eyes, and this is what my precious boy prayed.

Dear God,
Thank you for stopping the storm.
Thank you for taking a bath.
Thank you for Nico, and
Thank you for putting me together.
Aaaaaamen.

Date-Day with Tater

Today is my last official day of summer; tomorrow I go back to school for staff development days, and even though I have a four-day weekend, I have a feeling a big chunk of that will be spent on school stuff. So today, I refused to even think about school (previous sentence excluded) and decided it would be Tater's day. He planned the agenda and we shared a fabulous morning together. A morning that plumb wore him out, hence giving me the time to post documentation this afternoon. :)

We started the morning at the river; we went to Kid's Kingdom yesterday and saw some newly hatched baby ducks (when Mommy did not have her camera), so of course we had to come back to check on them. Sadly, they were all gone. We're hoping they made their way down to the river, and were not eaten by hawks, like the nice man we met yesterday told us all about happening to the last group of baby ducks he watched hatch (thanks, dude).

Here's a rare Tater/Mommy pic, taken by a not-very-skilled-in-self-portraits Mommy.

We arrived around 8:15 and had the park to ourselves for quite awhile, which was really neat. I played and climbed on just about everything Tater did (except the slides - there I draw the line), so I'm counting that as my workout for today.

He went up.

He came down.

He swung for the briefest of moments... I'll never understand how a kid as fearless as he is doesn't like to swing.

Then we decided it was time to feed ducks. There is a little pond right across the street from the park, so we walked over to say hi. We took our deliciously stale bread and made some friends very quickly. Those ducks are surprisingly well-conditioned to that Mrs. Baird's bag. In the same little pond lives a random crane of some sort - he was a little snobby and too good for our bread - he opted for the native minnows for his morning meal instead.

Tater was fascinated by the minnows. They attacked the bread with as much ferocity as the ducks, but they took much smaller bites.

Finally, we moved on for the next leg of our journey - exploring across the river. We went across the same bridge I remember crossing the very first time we came to San Angelo before we moved here.

There we made some turtles very happy with our remaining bread, but that's a blog all it's own. Then it was on to the little path that leads to the Sunken Gardens. I told Tater there were two paths we could take; one was a nice sidewalk out in the open, and one was back through the woods and might be a little creepy. I couldn't contain my pride when my adventurous boy chose the creepy path. We played it up too - listening for scary noises, looking for strange bugs or other critters... when we finally got to the garden, T wasn't the least bit impressed with the flowers twice his height. He wanted to go back to the "forest," so off we went, stopping to throw rocks into the stream every now and then.

Well, by now we were pretty worn out, so we took a little snack break at the Visitors' Center. Daddy called while we were resting.

And on our way out, we just HAD to have a quick sheep ride.

And then we were ready for more playtime at Kids' Kingdom. Finally, Tater found some kids to play with and we stayed until almost noon when I practically had to drag my sweaty, sunscreen-plus-sand sticky boy away. He chose Burger King (or Kings, as he says it) for lunch, which, of course, involved more playing... indoor, air-conditioned playing this time. Finally we rounded out our date with snow cones. What ending could be better?



Poor tired, sweaty boy. Naturally, he fell asleep on the way home, and has been asleep for over two hours now. We had a blast, but the day isn't over. I'm sure the afternoon and evening will involve playing puppets, watching Bolt, and eating mac n' cheese, all the the current faves. I am just so blessed to be this little boy's mom.

30 by 30 update

I just realized I never posted the result of my big Day One endeavor - seeking the forgiveness of my "enemy." Well, it couldn't have turned out better.

I left the note I wrote her on her pile of stuff when we were on a break. Then I waited. I wasn't sure she had even read it until after lunch, we both happened to be the only ones in the hallway at the moment. She walked toward me with a smile on her face and gave me a hug. I'm talking a real, genuine, squeezy hug. She said she agreed with and was great with everything I had said in my letter, but that she was not up for a truce (what I'd asked for in the note). She said, "Not even a truce; it's just over." I couldn't do anything but grin this big, ridiculous smile. The rest of the week we laughed and joked like nothing had ever happened, which is exactly what I was hoping for. That right there made the entire 4-day (semi-boring) workshop worth it.

I was thinking of doing a weekly update with some of the fun stuff I was doing, but then it occurred to me that would be bragging, which pretty much defeats the purpose. I would still LOVE some suggestions though - I may run out of creativity once school hits. Anybody have some neat "random acts of kindness" ideas I can use??? Anybody know of a need I can fill? Anything I can do for you?

30 by 30

OK, it is no secret that I am not in the least looking forward to turning thirty next month. Yes, next month. In 31 days to be exact. So in all my wallowing in self-pity, I came up with an idea. An idea to make this not so much about me. Because in my reflections and thoughts for self-improvement, I have come to realize that as much as I gripe about the self-centeredness of others, I'm a pretty self-involved person myself (yes, I did purposely put that many self-hyphen words in that sentence).

So back to my whininess over turning thirty... I already decided I am going to buy myself a fabulous German chocolate cake from Halfmann's. On my birthday. But up until then, I am going to do something for someone else. Something that helps, uplifts, encourages someone else. And something that brings the glory to God, not myself. Because it's not about me (another mantra to add to my list - It's not about me, it's not about me).

Yeah, I know it brings to mind that episode of Friends where Phoebe wants to do something unselfish and Joey says there is never any truly unselfish act, since you feel good even when you do for others... and she lets a bee sting her, not knowing that the bee will now die. I will admit, I'm not opposed to the "warm fuzzies" I will get. But I can't think of a better birthday present, can you?

So the plan is, starting tomorrow, I will seek out opportunities to DO for others. Actually, I already have a plan for day one. I will admit, this one is a little selfish, but definitely for the greater good.

I can count on one hand the number of people on this planet I do not get along with. One of them is a fellow teacher that I am spending the week in a training with. There is a long history of hurt feelings and grudges on both sides, and for all our sakes, it needs to stop. Tonight I wrote her a letter apologizing and asking for forgiveness and a truce. What is it the Bible says about showing kindness to our enemies? Heaping coals on their heads, right? But I don't want her to be an enemy. I'm not naive enough to expect friendship, but to set both our souls at peace and for the good of our departments, I have to try.

They are not all going to be that "big." I don't think I have that many wrongs to make right, or at least I hope not. :) I'm actually just planning to keep my eyes and ears open for opportunities the Lord puts in front of me. And any suggestions are welcomed. But every day, for the next 30 days, I will shine His light.

And when the big day comes, I won't be able to help but be content. Yep, selfish after all...

And the Lord will grant the desires of your heart...

Several things over the last year or so have made it very clear to me that God is in control of my life, not me. And while I still don't understand the "why" on a lot of things, I'm learning to accept and trust in His understanding. I'm reading through Proverbs (Lord knows I could use a little wisdom) in my study Bible, and this little side note stuck out to me. I will do well to remember:

Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life. Proverbs 13:12

"Unfulfilled longings are familiar to every woman. Sometimes when a woman must wait for her deepest hopes to be realized she can become heartsick, despondent, even desperate. Consider Rachel, whose longing to have children not only caused her to feel like she would die from the pain of waiting, but also led her to take matters into her own hands in order to get what she wanted (Gen 30: 1-5). In a woman's quest for relief from disappointment, she can be tempted to manipulate and demand that her desires be satisfied according to her timetable. Or she can suppress her dreams and desires and settle for much less than God has planned. Either way, she loses. How much better off a woman will be when she trusts God to fulfill her dreams, when she waits on him instead of manipulating or giving up. Only He sees the whole picture, and only He has the power to fulfill her heart's desires (Gen 30:22-23)."

I have lately been praying not so much that God would grant my desires, but that He would shape my desires to match His own plans for me. While I will admit I am not quite whole-hearted in my prayer (it's just so hard to let got of control!), I feel He truly IS changing my mind-set. And that is a great place to start.

Big Boy Room

My baby is a baby no longer. My great big 3-year-old is sleeping in a great big 3-year-old room now - all by himself the whole night, I might add (hence he is no longer in mine). We got him a twin-size mattress but left it and the box springs on the floor. Once we're pretty sure he's not going to go rolling off it all the time (he is quite the flailer when he sleeps), we'll put it in an actual bed frame. He loves it - when he first saw it, he thought it was the coolest thing for jumping on. And jumping off. The bedspread is the one we used to have on Samm's bed before she lived here, so I didn't have to buy a new one! Yay for recycling!



I copied these little star hooks from ones my mom made for my new baby nephew's room. Even though I intended them for cowboy hats and jackets, Tater is having fun putting his silly dress-up hats on them. The little cowboy shelf is one of the few decor carryovers from the baby room... I just think it's too cute!

I put in new curtains, but just the top panel. We don't have blinds on these windows and they all get direct sun in the morning, so we've always doubled up on the tab-tops to block out the light and heat a little more. Before he had 2 red panels so I replaced the top only with blue (there was too much red in his room). I kinda like the layered effect. I didn't iron the curtains, which bothers me a little, but I figure a few more weeks of this heat should knock the wrinkles right out, right?

This is the dresser that a friend gave me (actually, all the dressers in this house were free gifts from friends!) that I repainted with my sister's help (post-bedrest) before T was born. The lamp is a repainted $1 garage sale find. The barn-wood mirror - $3 at another garage sale a few weeks ago. The little quilt was $5 at a craft show in Ballinger before T was born. I call this my wall of bargains. :) The only thing I have left to do in here is find a suitable living space for all his stuffed animals. I stole their box to store the stuff that used to be under his bed. Until then they'll just stay stashed by the toy buckets.

And this is my favorite wall. That is indeed a real rope hung on the wall with hooks and tack nails. It's authentic too - the roper who used to live here left it out in the roping arena out back, so it's nicely "weathered." Here's a close-up. I'm a little too proud of this idea - I just think it turned out so cool!!!

And I do have to say that it is kinda sad that the only room in this house that I consider to be finished, decor-wise, is the bedroom of the three-year-old male... who really couldn't care less. He does really like the rope actually - he told me it is "awesome." :)

That's all that matters.

Bullet Train

A little randomness - need to warm up the old blogging muscles.

• Today July is halfway over. Meaning my time off is halfway over too - I have a week of workshops the week before actual in-service starts, so as of Aug 3, I'm back at work.
• That really bites.
• Tater's big boy room is done. Pics will be the next blog.
• I've incredibly bummed right now - my brilliant photographer friend Jenny is going back to teaching and will now be limiting the times she does photos. And she is incredible, so she books up fast. So because I took it for granted that she would always be there, I have put off booking our family pics and it will now be November before we can get them done. I'm ridiculously mad at myself.
• I have a lot of projects I wanted to get done this summer but have only checked 3 things off the list. I think I'm gonna just have to be good with 3 or so more, because the motivation just ain't there.
• It is still up in the air when/whether Samm will be back. Thoughts and feelings regarding that are varied and will be kept.
• I am evidently not too terribly committed to my weight-loss goals because I have lost a whole pound. The goal is 10 before the first day of school.
• I just ate half a bag of mini-rice cakes - the caramel corn ones. And I wonder why I'm not losing weight...
• I think it is unfair for an almost-30-year-old to still be having to deal with acne. Hence I have been tanning. I know it's bad but I hate not being able to wear cute tops in the summer.
• Plus tan fat looks better than white fat.
• I am not excited about school yet. I wish I were. There are evidently a ton of changes to our state standards. I don't really care enough to try to figure them out yet.
• Wow, now I remember why I don't blog - so stinkin' negative!! Maybe I'll try again tomorrow when I'm in a better mood.

To Blog or Not to Blog...

I have been awful lately. I have not written, nor really wanted to write. Well, I have wanted to write, but I just don't have anything to say. Well, I have plenty to say, but there's only so much I can say. There's so much stored up in this heart of mine, but it's not "out loud" kind of stuff. And I need to post some pics of these kids of mine, but I haven't taken a lot lately. I kind of feel like I'm in some strange la-la land lately and am on auto-pilot. I am busy or tired or zoned out on Facebook (an addiction I really need to overcome).

But there are 4 days left of summer school. Then I am reclaiming my break, my time and my mind. I will write more. Maybe even tomorrow, after T and I go on our marathon garage-sale/flea-market spree. See, my next project is turning his room into a more big-boy sort of space. We are in need of bigger-boy stuff.

So if anybody even still reads this, stay tuned. I will be back to boring you soon. :)

To my Mama on Mother's Day

Dear Mom,

I love you. First and foremost, I love you so very much. There aren’t words to describe how grateful I am to you, in so many ways and for so many reasons.

Thank you for being an incredible example of a mother; you have taught me more through the way you live than you’ll ever know. You have been such a picture of Jesus for me – thank you for your servant’s heart and your quiet passion for Christ. Thank you for raising me in the faith – for teaching me the path to righteousness. Thank you for showing me a mother’s unconditional love. Over the years, you have demonstrated the boundless patience, mercy and wisdom that I hope to show my own kids. Your selflessness is an inspiration and an encouragement to me; I know I would not be the mother I am without your tireless example. I would not be the woman I am. Thank you for your patience with me all along the way.

Thank you for loving my kids. I can’t describe how blessed I feel to be able to hand my little man over to you every day. I know I don’t say enough how truly appreciative I am, but I want you to know how invaluable it is to me to know Tater is learning and growing with you. Thank you for your well-stocked pantry that both my darlings raid daily. Thank you for loving Samm as much as you do. One of the things I love about you is your huge heart; in that heart there is truly no difference between biological and step-grandchildren – they are all yours and that’s all that matters.

Having you for a mother has been one of the biggest blessings in my life. I am so glad to be able to call you my mother and my friend. I am so grateful God decided to give me to you; but truly, you are God’s gift to me. And I am so indebted to you for the life you have poured into me. Thank you will never be enough.

I love you Mama.
Jenni

Capitol 10k

Yes, I know it is hard to believe, but I did actually go through with running the Capitol 10k in Austin March 29th. Well, "running" is not the word I should use, though I did do a little of that. I finished the race, and truthfully, that was all that really mattered to me.

I started semi-training back in September, when my uber-inspirational friend Jenny invited everybody to run the race (a very special race to her) alongside her. Then Samm got here, and I let that be an excuse to quit, though I didn't really need an excuse. See, I don't really like running. In fact, my mantra there at the beginning went something like, "I hate this, I hate this, I hate this..." And so, I quit and returned to my previous slug status.

Then Sara asked me if I was still doing it. And my answer was very vague, but she pressed and I caved. So I started semi-training again. But not really. Dedication to something I have little interest in just doesn't make a lot of sense to me. But going to Austin meant hanging with my Fri for the first time in forever, so I was definitely in! I just decided that I would set an easy pace - do what I could and not worry about times or how many old ladies passed me.

Then race day came. It was stinking cold, but I was strangely jazzed. The race atmosphere was just incredible. There were a record 18,000 people registered for the run that day - there were just people everywhere. Amazingly enough, we ran smack into Jenny right before the race, so I wsa thrilled to get to see her. Plus Sara made us these awesome t-shirts that nobody gets but us (that's the beauty of it!). And even though I am SO not a runner, I really felt like it that day!

And then they blew the horn. And we all just stood there. There were about 2000 people in front of us, so it was a little like a cattle drive for a bit. But then we broke free and ran. And I ran longer than I thought before I told Sara I'd see her at the finish line. Then I did my thing - admittedly faster than I thought I would. I of course walked up all the nasty downtown Austin hills, but I did run more than I thought I would. There's just something about being surrounded by people who are pushing themselves that makes you not so quick to give up. I did walk plenty though - they have these race photographers around and every single one of them caught me walking, looking like I'm about to die. But I didn't die, and I finished 6.2 miles in an hour and 15 minutes. Not great, but not total crap.

But most importantly, it made me want to do way better than "not total crap" next time. I am going to continue running. I am going to find a way to like it. And I am going to be proud of myself next time I cross a finish line, because I will have a real goal that I will have honestly worked for. (note - I say all this in the future tense because I am just now recovering from my awful shin splints and the nasty foot-tendon pull that I caused by not training properly - Wednesday will be my first day back on the road).

So I'm not done. Thank you, Jenny and Sara, for giving me the push I so desperately needed. I may be calling when I need it again.

Rodeo 2009

Ah, rodeo. A time of excitement and irritation in my household. Excitement especially for the other 3 members of my family, slight irritation for me, since I end up basically a single mom for the entire month of February, cleaning up messes, literal and otherwise. But this year was not too bad. R and our friends who came up from San Antonio rented an RV to stay in both weekends, so he didn't have to mess with trying to come home at 2 am and leaving again 5 or 6 hours later every day. And amazingly enough, everybody stayed well for rodeo this year, ever Randy, which has never happened. Samm really got into helping out at the rodeo - her daddy put her to work and she took her job very seriously. I was really proud of her. She ended up staying out at the trailer the last weekend too... even rode the mechanical bull! I think she had a lot of fun in spite of herself. :)

Here's Samm's first bull-riding experience - just the tail end. The guy running it went pretty easy on her at first and she was doing great.

A tradition I hope we continue - Tater and Daddy with all the bull-fighters and Lecile Harris, the most famous rodeo clown in the country. We got a pic like this at Tater's first rodeo, but unfortunately didn't last year. He and I were both sick last year and only made it to part of one perf - he was very cranky and very little picture-taking occurred.

At the carnival - Tater wasn't as ready for the rides as I though he was. He was just plain scared. I put him on the motorcycles, and it was great until they started moving. He screamed so much I had to ask the guy to stop the ride so I could take him off. Then we rode the carousel together and he even cried a little there. We went before the Friday night perf, so he may have just been worn out, I don't know. But even when we came back Saturday, he had no interest in getting back on those rides. Samm didn't really either, just the big swings.

Then Saturday night, Sara and I got an actual babysitter (for the first time for both of us!) and had a girl's night out. We had great seats and enjoyed a great performance!

And I'll leave you with a few pictures of my beautiful kids - taken especially for Grandma Mueller. My only regret is that I didn't get a picture of all us together this year. Oh well - I know a great photographer - I'll be calling her really soon. :)