First Lost Tooth

Hannah lost her first tooth yesterday. Unfortunately, she was eating at the time and swallowed it. She wasn't upset, though. We wrote a note to the Tooth Fairy and put that under her pillow. Hannah was thrilled to find cash under her pillow this morning.

Hannah shows off her missing tooth
Putting the note under her pillow
Showing off her note and missing tooth. The note said, "Tooth Fairy. I lost my tooth. I think I swallowed it. Please leave money. Love, Hannah." She also wanted me to sign it. LOL!!!

Same Story...Different Day

Jacob was feeling better when he went to bed last night. He was even able to eat a little, which was comforting to me. I was hoping he would be feeling better today since I had a MOPS meeting that I really didn't want to miss. (And because it sucks when they're sick!)

I got up a little earlier this morning since I knew I'd have to shower before taking the kids to school. Jacob woke up and told me that he felt well enough to go to school so I got my clothes together and headed for the shower.

I then woke Daniel and Hannah up for the school day. I fixed everyone breakfast and was getting things together for the day. I had stopped by the computer to check my Facebook for the morning when Daniel came walking in with a picture that he wanted to give to one of his teachers. I looked up to respond and noticed he had goo around his right eye. Upon closer inspection, I noticed his eye was bright red. Ugh. So much for MOPS this morning.

I called the school to let them know and Mrs. R, the secretary, told me that there are several adults with pink eye. Hannah and Daniel were the only kids that she knew of that had it. I then called Lynne, my table leader last year and a Steering member this year, to let her know that I wasn't going to be there and that she would have to be in charge of the table this morning. She then drops a bombshell on me. She and her family are moving at the end of the school year. What?!? Her husband's being transferred to Alabama (he's in the Army) and he'll be leaving soon but the rest of the family will hang until May. That makes me sad. Not only because she's a good friend of mine but because Hannah and her son, Andrew, are such good friends.

I got off of the phone and Hannah asked me what was wrong. I told her that my friend was going to be moving away and she gave me the biggest hug. It was so sweet.

So, I get Jacob and Hannah to school and Daniel and I head home. At 9AM, the phone rings. It's the school nurse. Jacob's complaining of a stomach ache and I need to come get him. Fine. Daniel and I pack it up and head to the school to get Jacob.

And that's where we are now. I was actually looking forward to spending time with just Daniel today...since he's not really sick and hasn't been home just him in years. Oh well. At least I have one that's happily in school! *knocking on wood*

Busy Weekend

Hannah was named the Star of the Week for this week and that meant that she got to bring Fiona, the class mascot, home. We took pictures of all the things Hannah and Fiona did and put them in Fiona's scrapbook to share with the class. Here are some of the photos.

Hannah and Fiona working on Hannah's poster
Hannah, Fiona and Hannah's gymnastics teacher, Julie
Hannah and Fiona at Sunday School
Hannah and Fiona color at lunch


We also had the Blue and Gold Banquet last night. It's the big party where all of the boys get their new ranks. Jacob got his Webelos award and Daniel got his Wolf award. Jacob is the most decorated Webelos in the fourth grade and that's pretty cool. He has 10 Webelos pins and is well on his way to his Arrow of Light (one of only two Cub Scout awards that can be worn on the Boy Scout uniform). The last requirement for him is to visit a Boy Scout troop and do an activity with them but he'll knock that out easy. They had a magician there last night and Hannah got to be part of the big finale. She was so excited about going up there. After it was over, she kept asking me, "did I float?" LOL!

Daniel's den won the centerpiece award for the second year in a row (thanks for the macaroni art idea, Deb!) All of the centerpieces were really nice but ours had a lot going for it. The boys really did theirs on their own, it wasn't just a store-bought project that the kids assembled and we tied Scouting in with it. Plus, they looked really awesome! Here are the photos from the evening. (you can click the photos to enlarge)

Jacob in front of his den's centerpiece project. They made this out of foam.
Hannah levitates while the magician runs a hoop around her.
Daniel won a door prize...a crank/solar powered flashlight/radio
This was our Packmaster's last Blue and Gold. He's been running our pack for 9 years and will be heading up to Boy Scouts with his youngest son. Rodger is the guy sitting in the middle. This is a photo of our whole pack.
All of the Webelos I boys.
Daniel's den centerpiece project.
Daniel's den.


Jacob woke up this morning with a stomach bug. Fun fun. I just wish the boy could keep something down. Not even water is making it. Ugh. It's going to be a long day.

For Crying Out Loud

Well, it's Thursday and Hannah's home...again. Her left eye was still a little gooey this morning but her right eye was sealed shut. It took a few minutes just to unglue it. My hands are red and cracked from so much hand washing and I've been trying to sanitize everything she might have touched. Unfortunately, I'll have to keep doing it until her eye stops gunking up. Ugh. Have I mentioned that I hate pink eye?

Last night was our weekly Reflex class for jiu jitsu. Reflex class is where you take the techniques we've learned and put them into action. Essentially, it's over an hour of fighting. Last night was the biggest class that I've ever seen. Since there are certain requirements that have to be met before you can go, not everyone is eligible to attend Reflex class. Anyway, there were 10 of us (4 girls, 6 boys) and they really pushed us past our comfort zones. Val is my usual partner, and I did roll with her but I also had to go up against Karl, Greg, John and Dave. What's funny is, occasionally I was the bad guy for some of these guys. LOL!!! My arms are so bruised today. But it was worth it! :)

How Sweet

We were coming home from dropping Jacob off at Keshet class this afternoon when Daniel saw this...



He told me that the sun rays are "ways for God and MeeMaw to peep down on us." I wanted to hug him.

Bloobedy Blah ('Cause I Can't Think of a Title)

The kids had a four day weekend and were finally headed back to school today. Before Dad gets all mad about the days off, Monday was President's Day (we don't get Lincoln's b-day like in IL) and yesterday was a teacher's in-service. Anyway, we'd noticed last night that Hannah's eye was a little gooey and I was crossing my fingers that it wasn't pink eye. This morning, she woke up with a big gooey, crusty eye and I knew she had it. Ugh. I hate pink eye. So, instead of all of them being back at school, Hannah had a sick day and we packed it up for the Walgreen's clinic to get drops. It's already looking much better.

Last night, Daniel's Wolf den came over to make macaroni art. We copied Deb's Wise Guys but morphed them into presidents. We've got an Obama, Jefferson, Teddy Roosevelt, Lincoln and Washington and I did Ford as an example (he was the only Eagle Scout). They look awesome!!! Here's the one I did.


Jacob got his High Brown belt in TKD last night (Mike got his Saturday). Now, we start preparing for Recommended Black. Jacob wants to test in December, which I'm told is a good goal. Mike would like to test sooner. It's a lot of work.

*All forms from White to Recommended Black (with only 3 mistakes allowed, total, from white to high brown...that's 10 forms plus Recommended Black)
*10 3-steps
*Board Breaking (hand and foot)
*500 Acts of Kindness
*50 hours community service
*Make up with an enemy
*Written test on a variety of Korean words and phrases

It's all cold and dreary here...I wish the sun would come out.

Another Happy Birthday!!!

Okay, so it's two Happy Birthdays!

Happy Birthday to my brother-in-law, Jeff and my niece, Mary Rose!!! Enjoy your day!!!

Happy Birthday!!!

It's Daniel's 8th birthday! Where does the time go? It seems like just yesterday he was born and now he's 8.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY Little Man! We love you!!!!

This Is It...

My last official thing as Room Mother for Hannah's class. Once the Valentine's party is over today, I'm done. DONE!!! Never again will I be the Room Mom. NEVER!!! Whoo Hoo!!!

Sorry...I'm a little giddy. :)

Oh, This Makes Me Mad...

So I just got off of the phone with a friend that has a kindergarten age boy at our school. They are trying to do to her son what they did to Daniel last year. They want to do the observations and whatnot and have already proclaimed he's got an anxiety disorder. I told her to ignore all of it. Don't do any of their tests. She said that she'd already turned them down but she's ready to pull him out and homeschool for the rest of the year.

Honestly, this is the only thing that I hate about our school. So quick to want to put kids on meds. Arg!!!!!

It's Thursday and I'm Losing My Mind

I woke up to the sound of fighting. Always a good sign, right? Apparently, Daniel woke up a little before 6am and Jacob was up soon after. Considering they were up, goofing around, until around 10pm last night, the early morning wasn't the best idea. Breakfast was a flurry of hitting, kicking, biting (yes, biting...I HATE that from both toddlers and my almost 8 year old) and screaming. Fun, fun.

Their school has Kindergarten Round-up this morning so Hannah is off of school. The boys hate that. "That's not fair!" Jacob told me, over and over again. "If Hannah gets a day off of school, that means WE get laser tag," Daniel then informed me. Ummm...no. (Nevermind that they have Monday and Tuesday off next week) I was going to let Hannah sleep until 8am, which is what I used to do until she started going to school with the boys. Daniel decided that, once again, that wasn't fair (even though he set his alarm clock for the ass-crack of dawn) and woke her up by screaming at her at 7:30am.

Needless to say, we the addition of Hannah, the house got exponentially louder. I couldn't wait for 8:15 to come so I could drop the boys off at school and, hopefully, regain what little sanity I had left. The boys fought right up until that sliding door shut at the school. I let out a sigh of relief and drove home.

Right now, all I hear is the sound of the dishwasher, Diego on TV and Hannah happily humming to herself. I'll enjoy this while I can. I'm seriously thinking of investing in some earplugs for this afternoon.

Obama Counter

*Update* Nevermind...I just changed my template and it fits! :) Check it out over there on the right side of the page.

Check the bottom of my blog for the Obama Counter. It shows how many days, hours, minutes and seconds left in his administration. I wanted to put it up higher on my page but it gets cut off. Just know it'll be there. :)

Wednesday Thoughts

It's hard to believe it's Wednesday already. I'm not sure where the time is going but it seriously needs to slow down just a little.

It's been so nice here for the past several days. Highs in the 60's, sunshine...ahhhh. It's been just wonderful. Especially since it's February. On Monday, we had some Severe Thunderstorm Warnings pop up in the morning and I got so excited. Don't get me wrong, I don't want tornadoes or anything, just a good thunderstorm. I waited and waited...the storm blew through and all we got was some wind. I was so mad. Last night, we had a nice thunderstorm come in, so that made it better. It's been raining for about 12 hours now and that's good because we really needed it. Sump pump is working, so I'll enjoy a rainy day until it starts snowing, which it looks like it may do at any time. It's gotten so cold...of course, that's normal for February but I already miss the 60 degrees we've been having. (As I've been typing, sleet has begun hitting the window. Ugh)

I had a MOPS meeting yesterday and it was so fun. I thought of my crafty sisters because we made a bath scrub. Epsom salt, olive oil and some essential oil. I can't believe how well it works! I'm going to have to make some more of this stuff on my own.

Again, I'm going to rave about the wonders of Facebook. Yeah, it can be annoying at times but through it, I've been able to reconnect with so many people. Grade school friends, high school friends, college friends and, most recently, a dear friend that we'd lost touch with years ago. Yes, Tommy, I'm talking about you! I know you read my blog. :) That's okay 'cause I've been reading yours, too. LOL!!!

I've discovered that I've become even more of a coffee snob. I'm completely addicted to that Zao Coffee that some of you got for the holidays. Mmmm. Cheri (the owner's wife) goes to my MOPS group. Occasionally, she brings a 12 oz pack of coffee as a door prize. I didn't win this week, but there were a lot of us ready to fight over it. Again, there's free shipping (because he actually brings it to your house) to anyone in Johnson County but they'll ship the coffee anywhere. And, it's shipped the same day it's roasted. Here's the link Zao Coffee. YUMMY!!!

Fun With Names

I stole this from Sara's Blog because I thought it was pretty funny. So here's mine...

WITNESS PROTECTION NAME:(mother and fathers middle names)
Marie Bruce

YOUR MARRIED NAME: (first 4 letters of your first name, first 4 letters of your spouse's first name)
Barbmich


YOUR SECRET SPY NAME: (your first name backwards)
Arabrab (I actually had some friends in high school that called me this!)

STAR WARS NAME:(the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first name)
Ginba

DETECTIVE NAME:(favourite color, favourite animal)
Green Meerkat

SOAP OPERA NAME:(middle name, last four letters of where you were born)
Anne Nard (LOL!!!)

SUPERHERO NAME: (2nd fav color, fav drink, add "THE" to the beginning)
Purple Dr. Pepper

FLY NAME:(first 2 letters of 1st name, last 2 letters of your last name)
Bagi

STREET NAME:(fav ice cream flavor, fav cookie)
Cake Batter Oatmeal Raisin

ROCK STAR NAME: (1st pet's name, street you grew up on)
JJ Lawndale (that actually sounds pretty cool!)

YOUR GANGSTA NAME:(first 3 letters of last name plus izzle)
Ginizzle

YOUR GOTH NAME:(black, and the name of one of your pets)
Black Oriana

YOUR NEXT CHILD'S NAME: (name of your fav beer, fav candy)
(no favorite beer) Reese's Pieces

Holy Cow I'm Sore!!!

I think my friend, Val, is trying to kill me.

She's worked up this weight program for us to do and is making me do it. She even picks me up...like I can't be trusted to actually drive there myself. LOL!!! The other day, we did chest, arms and cardio. Yesterday, I couldn't lift my arms above my head. Ugh. Today, we did legs. I'm already having a hard time walking. When she dropped me off at home, she said, "good luck in class tonight. Hope your legs work!" Hah hah. Very funny.

Actually, I'm pretty grateful that she's taking me under her wing since I have no idea what I'm doing with weights. It feels good to work out again.

Yay for Hannah!!!

Hannah has been seeing the Reading Specialist all (school) year because they said she wasn't "at grade level" with her letters and whatnot. (Don't get me started...kindergarten has become first grade which makes me mad...it also says something when over 50% of her class goes to the Reading Specialist) Anyway, we got a letter today that said...

An assessment of Hannah's reading skills indicates that she will exit our reading intervention program. The additional support in reading has helped your child as reflected in the data we have collected.

At this time, your child is able to participate successfully with her classroom peers during reading instruction. Your child has the reading skills and strategies to succeed without additional reading intervention at this time. Please continue to reinforce reading at home to ensure that your child maintains or increases their current reading skills.

Hannah's thrilled...Daniel's mad because he hasn't tested out quite yet (actually, he did but the Reading Specialist and I talked and think he should continue to go through the end of the year...but don't tell him that!)

Pinewood Derby, Chili Cook-off and Some Stuff

I just realized that I never posted the photos from the Pinewood Derby. We did much better this year. I can't remember the exact standings but I think Jacob came in 8th of 14 and Daniel was 7 of 21 or something like that. Every year, we learn a little more about how to build a better car. Jacob did win Most Realistic Looking Car, and he was excited about that. Here are some photos.

Hannah and her friend, Katie, watch the race.
Rodger gives Jacob his award for Most Realistic Looking Car.
Mike and Jacob watch the Webelos I race.
Jacob and friends watch the Webelos I race
Daniel and friends watch the Tiger race.

On Saturday, our synagogue held it's annual Chili Cook-off. Mike signed me up as a competitor and I took in my chicken chili. It was a blast. I didn't win but that's okay. We made a bunch of new friends and the kids won some prizes as well. We did win the big raffle of the night, which was a $250 portrait package for the family. Nice! Especially since we didn't do family photos last year. Here are some photos from the Chili Cook-off.

Jacob and Mike with their silent auction win...a big plate of chocolate! All of us right after set up.
Daniel's poster for my chili
Hannah's poster for my chili
Jacob's poster for my chili. If you can't read it, it says, "Vote Mom's Chicken chili. (It's the best) Good with chips! Try it with cilantro! Yummy!"

Jacob wanted to win soda (it was all he talked about for three days before) and he did!
They asked a former player for the KC Chiefs to come help and he did! Here's Daniel and Hannah with him. (I can't remember his name!)
Friday, my van decided to freak out on me. It starts but whenever I slow to a stop, it stalls. It starts back up again but it's really annoying. So, it's off at the dealership getting fixed. Ugh. I hate it when I don't have a car!