Happy Birthday, Roan!!

Today, my sweet boy turns 7! How can this be? It seems like just yesterday he got here and turned our world upside down! He and Libby are 18 months apart. I'm not really sure why I thought that was a good idea... it's great now, but when they were little...wow.

This is the boy on his 5th birthday. It's one of my favorite pictures. He had such tiny Chicklet teeth. He's really changed a lot in two years. What a difference adult teeth make!

He will KILL me someday for posting this... but this is one of my all-time favorite pictures. When he was younger, he went through a very long dress-wearing phase. Dresses, high heels, tiaras. This pictures kills me.

Some things about Roan that I don't want to forget:

1. He's in first grade right now. He is apparently a math genius. It makes sense and it is very easy for him. Spelling is a different story, unfortunately. He really struggles with it but we work on it a lot at home.


2. He is desperate for a dog. So, he reads dog books and prints dog pictures and talks incessantly about our someday-dog.


3. He is completely obsessed with Monster High toys. He has all of the dolls except one or two of the very latest ones. He saves his money to buy them and plays with them all the time. It's funny though, because he worries what people will think about this. I don't think he'd ever want his best friend to know!


4. He's in Boy Scouts right now and loves it. Last week, he watched some Native American dancers, and now is interested in doing that when he gets farther in Scouting.


5. His best friends right now are Ryan and Drew.


6. He is incredibly compassionate. He has a soft heart and worries about other people. I love that about him.


7. He loves to watch iCarly, So Random, and most of the other tween shows.


8. When he grows up, he wants to be a Rock 'n Roll singer, an actor or a musician. He says he is "destined for the stage"!


9. He speaks his mind. He will tell you what he thinks and will let you know when he believes something is wrong or unfair.


10. He has a real heart for people with disabilities or other differences. He has a natural way about him that puts people at ease. He's a sweet boy!

Happy birthday, Roan! I'm glad I'm your mom. You make our family complete!

Baseball look-alike

I've never been much of a sports fan. I liked football, mostly because I was always in the marching band... well, Shannon is a sports fan. A BIG sports fan. So I have now watched games in the last six months than I had in my entire life. Now that we're watching the World Series, I've realized that Shannon has a twin in Texas.

This is my sweet husband...

...and this is Mike Maddux, the pitching coach for the Texas Rangers. Except for the beard, I think they look a LOT alike. Nevermind that no one agrees with me. I asked Shannon's daughter, Mallory and she looked at me like I was insane. Shannon doesn't see it, either. Granted, Shannon's face is a little fuller, but there is a huge resemblance, don't you think? So I watch the ball game every night just to see Mike Maddux and laugh. I also think Dave McKay, the first base coach for the Cardinals is hot. He doesn't look so much like Shannon, and not as handsome...but still easy on the eyes. How is it that I know all these sports figures? I could probably name most of the players on both the Cardinals and Rangers. The things we do for love...

Roller skating!

I won't lie. I never learned to roller skate. Oh, my friends and I loved going to Skateland on Friday nights, I even had a birthday there once. I invited about 10 friends; my mom had a compact car. It was a huge pile of teenaged girls. Mom never forgave me. Anyway... I would go with my friends, and do my best, but I was never very good. I always came home with blisters on my feet... but hey, there were cute boys at the skating rink. I could ice skate better, but I still was not good.

Well, now the time has come for MY children to learn to skate. Here in Jeff, we have Sk8 Zone, and we can skate for 2 hours on Sundays. They've suckered me into taking them a couple of times now. I try to get Shannon to come along, but, no luck. I have visions of him in the 1970's, with his bell bottoms, big hair and funky gold medallions...on roller skates... sorry. I got distracted. Anyway, Libby and Roan are getting to be pretty good skaters!

Libby, lacing up her skates. This girl is determined to be a good skater. I have no doubt that by next summer, she'll be tearing up the rink.

And Roan... he definitely wants to learn to skate, too, but he's a little less tenacious than his sister. He's mostly interested in skating over to the snack bar.

Sweet Libby, skating on her own on the beginners rink. When we went this past Sunday, she got on the "real" rink and went around all by herself. When she sets her mind to something, there's no stopping her!

Our trip to Sk8 Zone is never complete without a game of air hockey. This game, Roan beat Libby and he was SO proud. He walked around like a banty rooster. Last weekend, Libby kicked his tail and he nearly lost his mind. We had a little lesson in sportsmanship that day.

Kids can have their birthday parties here. I took this picture because there is apparently a child named "Thojuree". Seriously? Enough said.

A New School Year!

Wow, time flies! The kids are growing up so fast! This is our second year at Pioneer Trail Elementary; Roan is in 1st grade and Libby is in 2nd. We had Open House last Wednesday night. Each teacher gives a short presentation, and the kids get to drop off their school supplies.
Libby is so cute. She had to get her desk arranged just right! She's so excited that school has started; she never complains about going to school or doing homework. She does very well with little effort.

Roan is so happy that his best friend, Ryan, is in his class again this year. Most of the summer, he complained about having to go back to school...then suddenly, he said "Mom, I must be growing up. I think maybe I'm excited about school now. When I think about going back, I get all tingly!" He spent several minutes getting his desk organized, too!

First day of school! Ready to conquer the world!! Have a great year, kiddos! XOXO

Welcome Back Breakfast

I'm a PTA mom... and now the Chairperson of the Hospitality and Staff Appreciation Committee. I'm also a helper on the Apparel Committee. One of the things the Hospitality Committee does every year is coordinate a Welcome Back meal for the teachers the week school starts. I put together a breakfast last Tuesday. Volunteers brought in breakfast casseroles, muffins, fruit and juice.

This is Libby, Roan and their friend, Jordan.

The kids hadn't started school, yet, so they helped me get everything set up. Roan says he's "a good arranger", so he kept busy putting out the plastic ware, cups, etc. Libby helped arrange the casseroles and juices. They thought it was cool.

Here's the spread. Yum! It was hard to leave without stealing a plate!

The Cat With No Name

Back in May, we got a new kitten. We had been cat-free since February, which made us all sad; except Shannon, that is. He's not really a pet-person. A friend at work had some kittens so she brought the cutest girl to us. There was a huge and ongoing discussion about her name. I liked Peggy -- because of the Capital One commercial: "Hello, Prime Credit, this is Peggy". I laugh every time. Then we thought of "Crystal Gayle" because we love 'Talladega Nights' so much: "I got mauled by a Cougar, my Crystal Gayle shirt got ruined, and I learned nothin' 'bout drivin'!". I laugh every time at that, too. Then, we finally settled on Isabella. It was a name the kids could agree on.

We took her to the vet to have her toenails out and spayed. I got a call from the doctor who told me "Isabella is a boy-a!". Yeah, we apparently had a transgendered cat. So... what to name this kitty now?

Given the 'Talladega Nights' reference, Shannon and Sean wanted to name him 'Ricky Bobby'; in fact, that's pretty much what he was called all summer. Libby wanted to name him 'Frank', which was cute. Roan didn't really care. Now that this poor kitty is half-grown, spoiled and pretty rambunctious, I think we've finally settled on a name.

We call him "Humphrey". It fits him. Right now, he's a teenager, and a little difficult. He likes to attack your leg as you walk by, bite you any and everywhere... but he's also a lover. So, welcome to the family, Humphrey McGowin!

Happy Birthday, Libby!

Monday, August 15 was Libby's 8th birthday. I just can't believe she's half way to her driver's license! She's really grown up a lot this past year; even her little face has changed since getting her adult teeth. It seems like she ought to still be a toddler with big bouncey curls. We had a party for her at Bonker's on Sunday. Her best friend, Clara was there, along with several family and friends.
This is her with her Hello Kitty cake. She was a little upset with me because she didn't want a cake cake, she wanted a cookie cake. I swear she never said cookie cake, she swears she did. There was drama, but we recovered.

On her actual birthday, I took the day off work and we celebrated. We met Libby's BFF, Clara and her mom (and my BFF), Amy at Chili's for lunch. Because it was her birthday, Clara's birthday 3 days later, and Roan's half-birthday, our sweet server brought them each a chocolate shake and had all the restaurant staff sing 'Happy Birthday'. They all thought that was awesome!

Roan LOVED his shake. He drank it so fast, it gave him a bellyache!

Clara wasn't too sure about whether she wanted her shake... she enjoyed at least a little bit of it!

Some things I don't want to forget about my little Libby:

• She loves Carrie Underwood, the Black Eyed Peas and Lady Gaga. She's starting to hang out in her room and listen to CDs while she draws or reads.


• Right now, she loves to watch 'Shake It Up', 'iCarly', and she's recently started watching 'Pokemon', even though "it's more of a boy show"!


• She has an unbelievable vocabulary. If you didn't know better, you'd easily think you were speaking to an adult.


• Her favorite color is purple.


• She now likes to fix her own hair.


• She has become an excellent reader. She is able to read anything you give her now. She loves books in a series (like her mom!) like Junie B. Jones, and The Magic Tree House.


• She loves to annoy her brother. After years of him pestering her to death, Roan is finally getting his just desserts.


• She's been taking piano lessons since she was about 3 1/2. She has really improved in the last year with her instructor, Ms. Deborah. She can read music easily now; she just needs to develop a better sense of rhythm.


• She is so mature for her age. I can trust her to make good choices and to behave. The one thing that is surprising, though, is that she is not good about keeping her room neat. Hopefully, that will come in time!

Happy Birthday, Libby Lu! We love you!