1 Week Down...

Only 35 (round-a-bout) weeks to go...of school that is. No really, I like my job...I would just like to know whose idea it was to start school on a Monday??? (NOT NICE) We have become accustomed to starting school on a Wednesday or Thursday, which makes the back-to-school adjustment a lil' easier. This is going to be a random post, simply because this week was pretty uneventful...Let's see, here are some thoughts from this past week:

* Sleep...Who needs it? Emery waking up at around 1 and 4 was not a big deal before school started. HOWEVER, now would be a nice time for her to decide that those 2 bottles really aren't necessary!

* Trey went #2 on the potty this week! Woo hoo! That one deserved a chocolate milk shake, but apparently that's not good enough, because it hasn't convinced him to do it again.

* You know it's going to be a fabulous school year when you have more kids in a class than computers. (which happens to be the case with 4 out of 6 classes) SWEET.

* Grandma & Papa are in town for Labor Day...YEAH!!! Trey is WAY excited, as are Joe and I.

* Is it me, or is it brutal that the week after the Olympics end the networks decide to interrupt our shows for the political conventions? SERIOUSLY.

Okay, that's all for now. Both kids are napping (what?)...I better shut my eyes for a little bit! Maybe I'll dust off the camera this weekend, but don't get your hopes up. Sheila, come take some pics for me! JUST KIDDING.

:: Typical ::

Sorry, no pics this time...

Well, I went back to work on Friday. It was actually nice to be surrounded by adults. Don't get me wrong, I love spending time with Trey and Emery...but adult interaction is definitely needed! I got to my classroom and got logged in on Friday and lo and behold, the software update that I kind of need on Monday, is not done. SHOCKER. (sarcasm, in case you don't know me). We have updated from Microsoft Office XP to Office '07. I'm not real excited about it...simply, because the first time I opened '07, it took me 10 minutes to figure out the little round button at the top left is not for decoration, but it's the old file menu. I'm all for change, sometimes, but not this one! :) Anyway, enough technology talk. Let's just cross our fingers that the installation people got busy over the weekend.

Joe and I spent this weekend getting his new room ready at his school. He will be teaching Geometry this year, and had to switch rooms. Therefore, he needed some decorating help. We finally got that done today...let me tell you, you can get creative trying to keep a 2 1/2 year old entertained in a high school classroom. Thank goodness for dry erase boards and a computer with a projector that plays Toy Story for the 100th time. When we got home from school, I put the kiddos down for a nap (now for the reason behind the Typical for the title post)...I go in to check on Trey 2 1/2 hours later, and he is BURNING up. Temp = 103.somethin'...FANTASTIC. Got the clothes off, into the bath tub he goes! Is he acting funny you ask? NOPE. Typical self. However, that is not where the typical comes from. How about the fact that school starts Monday morning, and my son is getting sick. TYPICAL. We went all summer with nothin', but here we go. Oh well, we'll survive. I checked Trey again before bed and it was down to 101.9, so let's hope it is on it's way down...we shall see! Stay tuned.

:: Love It ::

Last week my friend Sheila (Daisy Pearl Photography) came to Houston to hang out and blessed us with some of her talent. She rocks! Trey loves his new buddy. By the way, she lives in Dallas but will hopefully be coming to Houston quite a bit this year, so let me know if you'd like to get in touch with her. Enjoy the pics!

1st Recipe Post :: Virginia's Family Meatloaf

This is dinner tonight...I figure I get enough recipes from blogs that I would start sharing:

Virginia's Family Meatloaf:
1 1/2 lb. ground beef
1 1/2 rows of saltine crackers
1 med. onion, chopped
1 egg
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
4 tbsp. ketchup
1/2 cup milk

Mix the meat, crushed saltine crackers, beaten egg, 2/3 chopped onion, salt, pepper, ketchup, and milk. Form into loaf in 9 x 13 pan. Pour sauce mixture (see below) over the top of the loaf and bake at 325 degrees for 1 hour.

Sauce:
4 tbsp. vinegar
4 tsp. brown sugar
1/2 cup ketchup
2 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
1/3 onion (left over from above)
*I always double this, b/c we love the sauce...

:: When Mommy's Away... ::

...Trey will play! So, this morning, I made a much coveted trip to H-E-B on my own. However, halfway thru the veggie dept. I realize that my phone is in the truck. One of two things needs to happen here. I need to park the cart and go get my phone, or I need to speed it up...just in case Daddy happens to need something. Hmmm, speed it up. I load the groceries in the car and check my phone to see if I missed anything. 2 text messages from Joe. *ruh roh*

Text #1: Trey was nice enough to make a bath for Emery without my knowledge


Text #2: No worries, no flooding


Here's the story: When I left for the store, everyone was still asleep. Joe was awakened by the sound of the cup hitting the floor. He goes into the bathroom, almost eats it b/c the floor is slippery....here is what his view looked like:

"Look Daddy! I fixed Emery's bath!"P.S. Notice that her bath is stocked with
cough syrup and Cars band-aids...Nice.

Hmm, what else does she need?

By the way, Trey is sitting in the sink...with the water on. I have Joe trained well, he told me he took pictures b/c he figured I would want to put it on the blog. He's right. I have been a bloggin' fool the last few days, but don't get too used to it...I go back to work on Friday. Yuck.

:: Much Better... ::

Okay, so in my last post I was a little hard on Trey. Let me just say the last 2 days have been much improved. And as sad as it is to say, I think I owe some of it to Thomas the Tank Engine. :) You see there is a web site that Trey LOVES...one of their games is identifying different expressions. For a 2 year old, Trey is pretty good at the game. The two expressions he has down are the sad face and happy face. Thank the Lord that I have a son who really cares how his mommy feels. So, I have started using these faces to my advantage. When Trey acts up, I tell him that mommy has a sad face. I'll be darned if he doesn't stop in his tracks and start listening to me. SUCCESS! It is also very sweet that a few minutes after I have had a sad face, Trey will come find me and ask me if I have a happy face. SWEETNESS. Now ask me if 10 years ago I thought I would ever be blogging about sad/happy faces and Thomas the Tank Engine? :) Oh well, whatever works! Some of my positivity in this post may be due to the fact that I got to have a SANGRIA MARGARITA yesterday that went very nicely with my retail therapy! (God Bless Daddy and his morning off!) P.S. I managed to spend less than $10, but I still feel much better! :) Hope everyone has a good weekend!

:: Please Tell Me... ::

...that it is completely normal for a 2 1/2 year old to throw themselves on the floor and scream bloody murder (not cry, just scream) when they cannot keep the Thomas the Tank Engine book from the Dr.'s office. *sigh*. Please tell me that it is completely normal for a 2 1/2 year old to scream bloody murder when it is time to leave the toy store. (notice, that one was just scream, not throw themselves on the floor....that's improvement, right???). Today has been at least a 2 margarita day, anyone game? Oh wait, stinkin' football season...it's not bad enough yet that I would elect to drink and drive, so I guess the margaritas are out.

I'll back up for a minute. This morning started out with me needing to just "run" into the Dr.'s office to weigh Emery so that I can make sure she is gaining weight. (She is now 8 lbs 7 oz! Woo hoo!) Well, since I am mother of the year, I cannot bring myself to leave Trey in the car, while I "run" in anywhere. Simply, because Trey would probably figure out a way to hot wire the car and be on 290 before I could turn around. Long story short, Trey was reading a book while we were weighing Emery. I let him finish reading, and then one book turned into two books, and two books turned into...well, you get the point. Picture this: I'm holding Emery (b/c I elected not to lug the carrier in), and I am trying to get a kicking, falling on the floor, and screaming 2 year old out the door. EMBARASSING. (Why is it that we can't beat our children into submission in public anymore?? JUST KIDDING, don't call CPS) It doesn't help your situation when your 2 year old looks like a 4 year old. Trey's consequences: no movies in the car or at home, no books in the back of the car, and no favorite night night until nap time (this one is huge, as he carries this nasty thing everywhere)...along with me telling him how sad it makes mommy when he acts like such a bad boy. Fast forward a couple of hours. Our friend Sheila came over to go to lunch with us. Unfortunately there is a really cool toy store next door to Newk's. We discussed how we should act when mommy says it is time to go, and I explained that I was not buying him anything. He really just likes to go in there and play with the train table in the back. I caved and I let him go in, but I also thought it would be a good chance for him to redeem himself and show me he learned his lesson. Wrong, well partly wrong. This fit wasn't quite as bad. He didn't end up on the floor...plus, thank God for Sheila, who was able to take Emery and I could snag Trey before he had a chance to end up on the floor. This time only partly EMBARASSED. Okay, I'm rambling...but this blog thing is a great release, at least until I can unload this on daddy about 9 o'clock tonight when he gets home.

P.S. Joe doesn't have football until tomorrow late afternoon, and he doesn't know it yet, but he is babysitting! :) Can we say RETAIL THERAPY!

:: You Could Say... ::

...that I have become obsessed with my blog background. I have a problem making up my mind, hence the new background. P.S. Don't look at the time, I should be sleeping. Oh well.

We are super excited about tomorrow (oops, I mean this morning)...our friend Sheila (aka Daisy Pearl Photography) is coming over to hang out and use Trey and Emery as guinea pigs! Yee haw!

Okay, Okay...going to bed now. I think.

Our Last Free Weekend...

This weekend was our last weekend as a full family of 4...at least until about February when daddy is done with basketball! :) Two-a-days for football started this past Monday, and will finish up this Friday. Joe gets in around 8 p.m. and is pretty worn out. 4 hours in the Houston heat will do that to you! Seeing how sweaty he is, firmly reminds me why I played and indoor sport. I am really looking forward to football season starting. I love watching high school sports. However, I don't know how much I will be watching with Trey in tow. That brings me to my next topic...a babysitter. I found one!! Not an everyday babysitter...we already have the world's best babysitter for the kids during the day...aka Grammy. I'm talking about one for date nights and to free me up some during the week, even if it is just to go grocery shopping. One of my former athletes/students is going to LoneStar College (aka Cy-Fair) and is interested in earning some extra money...can we get a hallelujah? She is awesome, and I totally trust her...which says a lot being one of my former students. If you're a teacher, you know what I mean. (We wouldn't trust most of our students with a pen, much less our kids! Ha.) Okay, I have started rambling. Back to our weekend.

Last night my mom (we should just call her The Life Saver)...came over and let Joe and I go on a date. We figured if we didn't go last night, we might forget what each other looks like before we could go again! We went to Red Fish Grill off of 249 and Cypresswood. I had been seriously craving sushi, seeing as how you're not supposed to eat it when you are prego. This place has AWESOME sushi and a great appetizer called Tempura Fried Shrimp with Southwestern Salsa. Joe and I split a Crunchy Roll. I think I could have eaten 3 rolls, but I behaved myself. After that we paid Circuit City a little trip to drool over the camera that we want to invest in. And of course it wouldn't be a date night if I didn't need to run into Walmart to grab something. We are such the old married couple. We don't like to leave our 10 mile radius! :) All in all, the date was awesome and we got to talk without any interruption which was really nice!

Today, our day has consisted of an awesome service at church and then home for nap time. However, before nap time, we warmed up the camera. Enjoy the pics below! P.S. Sorry for the long post! :) Hope everyone has an awesome week!

:: 5 Minute Photo Shoot ::

This is what I did today during Trey's nap. Enjoy!

:: TAGGED ::

What Were You Doing 10 Years Ago?
Heading to SFA and about to meet Mr. Joe!

Things On My To-Do List Today:
Actually put on make up and do my hair, take my brother to the dr., hang out with the kiddos, and do some laundry.

What Are Some Snacks You Enjoy?
hmmm...what do I not enjoy? chips and queso, any kind of dip really!

What Would You Do If You Were A Millionaire?
Pay off cars and house, College funds for the kids, donate to our church missions...

Name Some Of The Places You Have Called Home:
Houston...aka: Cypress, TX and Nacogdoches, TX (I want to move back!)

What Are Some Of Your Bad Habits?
Laziness and procrastination

What Are Some Jobs You Have Held:
Teacher, Volleyball/Softball Coach, Babysitter (back in the day)...and of course MOM! :)

Who Are You Tagging?
Mandy and Kim

:: Our Weekend ::

This was our last weekend before the infamous saying..."We now interrupt your marriage for football season!" Friday night we got to go hang out with some friends (kids in tow). I partook in my first 'beverage'!! Yahoo! Saturday morning, Tabrae and Maddy came to visit. I used to teach/coach with Tabrae and unfortunately they now live in Dallas...so Trey only gets to see Miss Maddy every once in a while. They are so funny to watch together. Trey is SO bossy, and he meets his match with her! I love it! A lot of the playtime was filled with the adults refereeing who had what toy, but they still had their sweet moments. There are a few pics below...

Trey is definitely the kisser...

Ruh Roh... That poor bus...

A pleasantly surprising trip to Pappasito's...I got to have my long-awaited MARGARITA! :)
Had to throw this one in there...she was a trooper with the chaos of two 2-year olds!