First Day of School

Wow, what a long day today has been.


First, I got up with the girls (Bobby was off today, and made breakfast for the girls) and helped them get ready for the day. Catherine wanted a ponytail and curls, so I plugged in the curling iron, moused her hair and we got busy! We got cute 1st day of school outfits, so both the girls looked super cute. Of course I got some really cute picture of the girls... I won't even mention that I'll have to walk to the bus stop 3 times a day for nearly 200 days.



Look at my big 2nd grader!!!! Catherine's bus is about a qtr after 8. I don't think you can see it, but her skirt has brown/pink plaid, and so does her shoes! :)



Abby is afternoon Kindergarten (transportation was all messed up this year - we waited over 30 minutes for her bus after lunch). She was sooo ready for school, she could hardly wait.

She cracks me up! She said to me "You know Mom, now I have to be cool, since I'm in school now." well....I think she looks pretty cool in this picture! :) LOL

This girl was so ready, she practically ran to the damn bus and never looked back. She was ready for her adventure on her first day of school. I was surprised at my emotions to tell you the truth. I thought I was ready and prepared, shoot, Bobby and I have joked around about how we were going to celebrate when both girls were in school (You know, he does have every other Monday off). I'll confess though, I was pretty bummed out...my little girl was leaving me for the first time, I had no control, I couldn't pop in and see how she was doing - this was her thing. I had no control over anything for the next 3 hours. It was torturous - and my darling husband knows me better than I know myself. He called it, he knew that I was tearing up behind my sunglasses. He knew that I needed some space to myself to deal with my emotions. I didn't out and out cry or anything...but indeed I was sad. I've been so proud of Abby, for how much she has grown up over the summer - it's unbelievable how much she has grown up. I'm very proud of her and I just hope for the best for her.

Anyways.....Bobby made spaghetti for dinner, I had carpool duty and took all the girls to cheer practice (I worked on PTO stuff), after practice the girls played on the playground for a few minutes and Catherine managed to fall off the slide, nearly breaking her arm. Frozen Lima Beans to the rescue (the only thing their good for!).

We came home, did the bedtime routine, and I got a phone call. A previous PTO president called to tell me how wonderful all the PTO forms looked this year, all fresh and new - revamped and exciting. I can't even begin to tell you how happy that made me! =) =) =)


So.....what did Bobby and I do while both girls were in school? Don't worry, no need to blush....we played our delux version of Monopoly!!!!! Do you remember one of the very few times he commented on my blog.....Well....in the last week, we've played twice....the first time I thoroughly stomped him...and today, he completely dominated. :( At least he'll play Monopoly with me now......after 11+ years!!! :) It helped to pass the time away.

Abby came home with lots of information (it wasn't like when I had to 'pull teeth' from Cat for info from her first day), it was a fun day. She had a great time at recess, she made new friends, she can't remember their names. She enjoyed the day, and is ready for tomorrow when she can go back again.

My Cheerleader!

Catherine cheered her first game the Saints losts to the Buffalo's (it was a 1-0 game) our football players had some really great plays and tried real hard. Catherine enjoyed it, but it was long about an hour and a half standing out there cheering. She did well...she needs to work harder for some cheers to be in sync better - she'll get there.

Afterwards we went to Cold Stone Creamery, the girls turned in their summer reading vouchers for a free kids creation ice cream. They both chose cotton candy with white chocolate chips mixed in. Bobby choose the "Peanut Butter Cup Perfection", I of course choose the "Coffee Lovers Only" - can you say DELICIOUS?!?! :) It was worth every calorie!

-By the way I'm officially a size 8 now. This morning when I woke up, I was laying in bed on my back and I touched my tummy and realized that my stomach is completely flat when I lay down...in fact, my hip bones and my ribs stick out. I don't recall ever being that "skinny" in my life! :) No more ice-cream.....that was it until I steal one of the mini-chocolate bars out of the kids trick-or-treat baskets later in October! :) LOL

We also took the girls to Barnes and Nobles were Catherine got to choose her free book for reading 8 books and filling out their form. She got Ivy & Bean, and then we bought the second installment to her Tiara Club series that she's reading. She's already on the fourth chapter in her Ivy & Bean book - she's such a good reader.

Abby's playing with modeling clay creating Sponge Bob and Patrick, and other critters requiring her personal stash of hair clips.

I'm off to spend some time with the family...take care...Happy Sunday!

Summer's over

Summer is officially over with school starting on Monday. It has been a long and very busy summer. We've had many trips, lots of fun outings, and thoroughly enjoyed our summer with the girls.

I can't believe that Abby will be starting kindergarten. She's grown up so much over the summer. At the end of June I wasn't sure if she would be ready - my little baby girl, but now, I know she is ready. She's had lots of growing pains in her legs and is now taller. She shares things easier, she is helpful around the house (just don't ask her to pick up Daddy's socks because "eww, they're so gross!"), she's very loving towards her big sister (finally).

We had an open house where she got to visit her classroom, meet with her teacher (again) and ride the school bus to learn all the safety rules. That was on Tuesday, and she has asked everyday since then if today was the day to go to school. She is soooo anxious and excited about going.

Catherine is ready as well. She didn't get the teacher that she was hoping for but took it well. She held back some tears that were trying their best to pop out. I think she'll do well. At back to school night I took home the 2nd grade Anchor word list...which has something like 100 words that 2nd graders are expected to know how to read/spell at the end of the year. The first time she saw them she was able to read all but 3 without stumbling.

Catherine's first game to cheer at tomorrow - she's excited and can't wait. I'm so proud of her, she's learned all the cheers really well and is so cute!

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Well for my news...the small spot that is coming back were the tumor used to be is okay for now. We won't do anything with it. The two lumps on my neck need to come out to determine if they're lymphoma. My surgery is scheduled for September 19th. Wish me well!

My sister Teresa needs all your prayers you can give her, she's still healing from her surgery. She's started chemo therapy last Wednesday - it will be a long road over the next few months. Thank God her ovarian cancer was only Stage 1-C so she has a really good chance of full cure.

Yes I'm blogging at 1am

:) I can't sleep.

My neck is hurting me from my biopsy. I don't remember it hurting me this long last time.

My MRI is scheduled tomorrow morning at 10:30. I don't think I'm nervous...been there, done that several times over now. I guess I'm a little anxious. I won't know the results until the 23rd, that's when I see my Dr again. -sigh- I hate waiting!

I have a ton of stuff to do, and I can't turn my thoughts off and go to sleep - don't you hate that?

I got out of bed, worked on some more PTO stuff. I've been looking for some pictures to update the PTO PowerPoint slide show that I'll be presenting on Back to School Night. Which of course you know that means I de-railed train of thought big time and took a trip down memory lane looking at lots of pictures from the last couple year. Take a step back with me....look at how tiny Abby was just 2 years ago. She will start Kindergarten in less than 2 weeks. Abby still has a baby voice when she speaks it is so adorable you just want to hug and kiss on her all day. She is a feisty one though, I don't worry about her as so much as I worry about her getting into trouble!

-sigh- remind me why kids have to grow up?!

My have the kids gotten so much older... Bobby and I have lost so much weight... We've bought a lot more stuff for the house... We have so many wonderful friends... We have been so busy... - Pictures really capture time and memories.......what a trip!

My contacts are out, glasses upstairs on my nightstand.....I can't see anything beyond this screen.... okay, I see a house that needs some cleaning. I'll do that tomorrow afternoon. After my Dr's appt., and after I get some groceries. I'm tired now so I'm off to bed. Love you all!

It's my BIRTHDAY!!!!!!

Look what my fabulous friend Jenn brought me this morning!!!! She brought me some very yummy coffee and donuts! :) I can't remember the last time I ate a donut! That was so sweet, because she knew that I always let the girls have a donut for their b-day breakfast. She says "Did anyone get you a birthday donut?" And handed me a box of donuts!!! :)

Yesterday I came home from the Dr's office (my biopsy and my general Dr - I've had a migraine headache since Monday with nausea,etc... so she gave me some migraine medicine which has really helped) to these balloons on our front porch. :) I looked at Bobby and said "I told you I didn't want black balloons!" he tried not to laugh and said "I didn't do it, I can't help if your friends did it"......well there was a black balloon caper that was pulled on me! Bobby and friends of ours emailed back and forth working it all out. Turns out, they couldn't have come on a better day - a day where i really needed some cheering up. They did the trick! Their card was hilarious too so it was just perfect!

What a dull place this world would be without friends!

My second Mom called (MIL) me first thing, then my Mom called. My terrific sister Teresa called me too. The day isn't over yet, I'm sure others will call. I called my twin sister Sherri and wished her a happy birthday. I sang part of a song on her answering machine/voice mail, "Happy, Happy Birthday Baby". When we were little, Mom had signed us up for Pizza Hut's birthday club, so every year we'd eat our little free personal pan pizza in the tiny corner booth, and we'd play the oldie song "Happy, Happy Birthday Baby" on the jukebox. It was our little tradition for a long time. :)

I'll update later with other birthday happenings! :) Cheers!

UPDATE:

Look what my marvelous husband brought home when he got off work early today...He said he was lucky in finding the one hydrangea (apperantly there's a wedding going on, and they've all been taken!) :)

I had to rush off to a meeting at the school for PTO stuff then came home grabbed the family, I jumped in the passenger seat and Bobby took us all out to eat. We went to Red Lobster which made the girls extremely happy.

Afterwards we went to the Mall.....can you say Starbucks Cafe Mocha? We stopped into the Children's Place, we got Catherine a really cute cheetah print backpack, a couple cool printed Tee's, Abby got a really cute cheetah print skirt and pink top. I love getting the girls really cute stuff!!!! We went into a bunch of other stores, we found the perfect housewarming gift for friends of ours that just bought a new gorgeous house. I can't wait to see their reaction. :D

We came home....Bobby just fixed me a drink.....took a couple quick pictures (it's the end of a very long day and my hair is horrible but I guess I have to have a "Birthday" picture...so here I am 30 years later.....

August 1st!

Happy August! Enjoying your summer?

9 more days of being 29... :)

I went to my ENT's doctor's office for a check up. There are two more lumps on my neck (one I knew of last year, and I had an MRI, which didn't show anything), one just popped up last week. So next week I have a biopsy scheduled. Then we'll go from there. There is a small lump reforming where the tumor was removed back in March 2004. We knew there would be a chance of it coming back, because he didn't completely sever the nerve (the tumor was on the vagus nerve) because it would damage my vocal chords. So, we'll see about that later too. Just pray for me please! This is all put into perspective though, by our friends Dave and Ruth calling from their vacation. Their 8 year old daughter Selena had a seizure and lost her eye sight for a bit. They took her to the ER and they've found lesions on her brain. She's already had MRI's, EKG's and other tests - a spinal tap is being preformed today to find out more details. Please, please, please pray for her!!!





On to good news.....







Jenn and I signed our girls up for cheering this fall (they are sooooo cute!). Catherine has already had two cheerleading practices. She's really enjoying it. In her honor, I took a page from the girls Bratz coloring book, scanned the image, cleaned it up and digitally colored it and put it over a background photo. :) Yes it was purely a waste of time - but it was fun! :) Now I've got to go do laundry which I was putting off! :)