Happy 6th Birthday Ellie!!

It's hard to believe that it was 6 years ago today that I was up at Round Rock Hospital in labor with this little girl!! She made us wait on her even then. I started labor around 3 am and she wasn't born until 9:56 pm.

I brought her breakfast in bed this morning (upon request). Eggs, bacon and cereal!

Happy Birthday beautiful girl!!

There's no accounting for taste!

This is Frank (huge male basset hound) and Lucy (odd little female dachshund). In case you're not familiar, Lucy is the one sexually harassing Frank. She's been doing this to him their whole lives! It's hilarious! She probably did it to him about 100 times this weekend. Every time you turn around, there she is... gettin' frisky! Can you imagine those puppies?

We think this is her attempt to "dominate him". In other words, she wants to make Frank her bitch! Ha! The thing is, Frank doesn't mind at all. In fact, he hardly seems to notice that she's doing it. He just lays there! Who needs cable?

Why can't we take a decent pic?

It was the perfect occasion. We were all dressed up and inadvertently, we all matched! But we just didn't manage to get a decent pic! We didn't even really try I guess. It's a lot of trouble. A lot of effort. And too many times, I just don't make it! The effort, that is. It's seems like it takes all the energy I have just to get us all there and stay sane, much less take a decent picture!

Not to mention that it would have been a wonderful opportunity to get a picture of the whole family all nicely dressed.

Here they are in the order we took them. No one mentioned to me that my flash was off until right before the last one! Ooops!
We had to do some bunny ears to start with.I don't know why it's gotten so hard to get them to just smile nicely!

This one had real potential... damn flash!

Oh, well. Maybe I'll make us all put on the clothes again sometime and fake it! (If you look closely, you can see my new necklace!)

Ellie's charm bracelet

More jewelry posts! I just wanted to show you all how Ellie's James Avery charm bracelet is coming along. She's had it about 2 years now. Erica got the idea to get it started for her and she's gotten charms for every birthday and Christmas since. It's really beautiful now when she wears it!

The flower bouquet is her newest charm that Grace picked out for Ellie's birthday. So pretty! I showed it in the spot I want them to put it in the pictures above and below.

That's Ellie's new beanie baby kitty that Grandma gave her this weekend. Ellie wanted me to take it's picture with the bracelet. Silly girl! We had to go thru Uncle Garricks whole beanie baby collection (probably 30 or so). Remember how popular those were? Luckily we didn't wind up bringing them all back home with us. Just 1 for each of the kids!

I'll have more pics from this weekend coming soon!

My Mother's Day present

My Mother's Day present finally came!! I decided I wanted a Lisa Leonard necklace. I ordered it the Friday before Mother's Day. It took 3 1/2 weeks, but I finally got it!! It's the open circle necklace. I added a pearl. I thought that was so appropriate since it's both the kid's birthstones!
This is side is the side I'll be wearing facing out most of the time with the kid's names.

Then on the back I had them put Stu's name and my name. I love it!! It's bigger than I'm used to wearing, and heavier. I'm sure I'll grow accustomed to it's feel soon. It will be a nice reminder of the ones I love when I'm away from them.

I don't have a picture of it on me yet, but here is one from the website so you get an idea of how it will look.

Love it!!

My kids accomplishments

So, I try not to do this too often, but I have to brag a little. The kids just did such a good job this year.

Logan hasn't always had the easiest time. For a little while I regretted my decision to send him to school right after he turned 5 instead of letting him wait a year. Things would have only been easier for him if we'd waited. He's always done well, but it's taken work and hasn't always come easily. Even this year. At the beginning he had some trouble on a math test they gave him. So he went to tutoring with his teacher after school once a week for a about 6 weeks.

He's always gotten good grades on his report card (he ended up with an overall core average of 91), but those state tests were a different story.

I was nervous about 3rd grade since that's when they start taking the TAKS test. I'm so happy to say that not only did he pass, but he did really well. He only missed 3 ?s on the math and 4 ?s on the reading. His math score was actually commended!! (That just means that if you make a certain score they call it "commended") I'm so proud of him!!!

And Ellie! She's been amazing. She started reading in Pre-K and has grown leaps and bounds in Kindergarten. I never used to believe people when they said that their kid just started reading kind of on their own. Especially since that was NOT the experience I had with Logan. We worked really hard to learn to read. But Ellie's a natural at it! It amazes me on a daily basis.

Her teacher did some testing at the end of the year too and she did awesome as well, scoring way above the district passing score in everything! The reading level goal at the end of Kindergarten is a 3 and she scored an 8!! And the math assessment district goal is 35%, she scored 90%!!! I'm so happy that at least so far, things are going so smoothly for her.

So I just have to say, Way to Go Logan and Ellie!! Mom and Dad Love you and are soooo Proud of you!!!

Kindergarten Celebration!

Ellie's last day is today. This morning we went up to the high school (right next to our school) to see the Kindergarten Celebration. First they all sang 2 songs. So cute, yes I was crying. Then they called each child's name by class and the principal gave them a little necklace with a cap and 2010 written on it. (That's her in the front row with the blue and purple dress.)

Afterwards we walked back over to the school where they conveniently were letting everyone sign out their kids and take them home! I wasn't planning on taking Ellie home since I have to go pick Logan up at noon anyway. Also, I figured they'd just be playing and stuff. Ellie likes school.

We were standing there watching kid after kid be signed out and leave. I asked Ellie if she wanted to go home and I was about to take her so she wouldn't feel abandoned. Then I noticed that there were only going to be 2 other kids there and they were both her good friends. So I asked her if she wanted to stay and play with them and she said OK.

Then I asked one of the little girls left if she was staying and she said yes. Then started crying. It was soooo sad. I tried to comfort her and I told her Ellie would be staying too and they could play and have fun. I felt so sorry for her. I also couldn't believe how many parents took their kids home. What a scam!! How smart of the teachers!!

So Ellie's up there right now with the other 2 girls left. Her teacher said she was going to have them help her pack up her room. I'm sure she'll have fun. I hope it stops raining before I have to walk up there and get them!!

Congrats Ellie!! I can't believe her Kindergarten year is over! :-(