Friday Follies

I am starting a new idea of posting my follies of the week every Friday. I figured it would be funny and why not laugh at myself? I hope I can remember all my follies! Chances are there were ten times as many as what I post on here. I'd love it if you joined me and did the same! I have no feed thingy and no clue how to do one - no interest really either. It would be fun if you left a comment saying you did the same on your blog and I can laugh at you too! Join me!

*Of course the most glaring folly of all is that I am doing this on a Saturday. Oh well, it will be clear in the next bullet why this happened. I hope.

*I waited until Friday night to complete four, yes four, major assignments for my graduate level course that were due the next day. I was up until 2:30 in the am. Go me. I did finish and they weren't too shabby if I do say so myself though I was rather delirious by the time I was done.

*I lost a cell phone. Well, I think Brooklyn lost it but regardless, we can't find it and are still looking.

*I put my name in the pool of candidates for English department chair. What was I thinking?! But I kind of want it and I kind of don't.

*I let Dillon have some pop from my straw and ketchup. BIG mistake. The messiest baby ever has just turned into the shrieking messiest baby ever.

*I keep forgetting that now that I'm older, days of the week and dates on the calendar no longer creep up on me but bum rush me.

This is not a folly - it's just a cute boy. Isn't he getting so big and precious?

So, What Does An 11 Year Old Take Pictures Of With Her Digital Camera?

A camera that is nicer than her parents? A camera that Santa brought her, that she begged for? Take a little trip with me, if you dare, into what it so important that Brooklyn felt the need to photograph it.
Nice, huh? Yeah, if you are self-obsessed or creating umpteen different versions of "portrait of the artist as a young girl".

I did like this shot, so precious:
And this is sticky sweet (that was fresh from the oven chocolate chip cookie goo):
She was even so generous as to loan the camera to her brother for his field trip. My favorite shot is the one up some famous dead guy's nose.... I'm sure whoever it is, is very proud.

No, No, No, No!

It just can't be.

Wordless Wednesday: Attitude already? Or was it just a tart popsicle?

A busy week makes a long post!

Caleb, Brooklyn and Seth headed off for their last day of school on June 12th. It was a half day so I'm sure it was full of games and goodbyes. They were finished by 11:15. Kind of begs the question, what was the point of that? Anyway, I took a picture thinking it would be fun to compare the first day of school to the last...
Here was the fist day:
And the last: (Caleb was right, I stood them in the wrong order, oh well.)
Is it just me or do they look so much older! Wow kids grow so fast.

Bobby's birthday was the 12th, the last day of school. For his birthday Bobby got to stay home with all the kids while I finished out the school year. Yay, fun for him right? Not only that but his boss insisted on putting him on a conference call for over an hour where she was not pleasant, to put it nicely. I managed to salvage his day but it was not an easy task. We had a tasty Red Lobster dinner and came home for cake and ice cream. I had no candles but Bobby made the best of it.
Happy 32nd birthday honey - you're the best!
The children came with me on the Monday after school was out because I rushed home on Friday and had a couple of things to finish. While there, I went to the book room to shelve some books and heard my name called over the PA asking me to return to my room. I can not begin to say how many scenarios went through my head. The forerunner was that they were fighting and being so loud that someone called and complained. What I found was nothing like that. Seth was sitting in a chair with a paper towel wadded up against his mouth, crying. The teacher next door heard the commotion and came to find that he'd fallen off one of my tables onto his face. Great. The floor in my room is tile too so his mouth was not a pretty sight. Here he is this morning. The swelling has really gone down. The amazing part is that since almost all his teeth are missing already, he didn't knock any of them out.
Hey, it really doesn't look too bad does it?

I would post more on Brooklyn but she is not home much these days. She has planned sleepovers with her friends since she will not be here for a month. My dad and Sheryl bought the kids tickets to come spend a month with them in Houston. The kids are very excited about it and Brooklyn has been making plans to see her friends there too. She's my social bug!

Dillon is officially crawling. He did the inch worm thing for quite some time but now he has the hand, knee coordination down pat and he's fast! He is already up on his knees grabbing at chairs and boxes so I'm sure pulling up is not far behind. Here he is! Watch to the end and he says 'hello' with his cute froggy face.



Ayden loves to play outside. Caleb just came running in shouting that I had to get a picture of Ayden on the scooter. Here is Ayden 'riding' the scooter, showing off his mad skills.

Tag and catch up

I was tagged by my friend Angie to take a self portrait. The rules are that once you're tagged, you must take your picture right then and there. No editing. No changing clothes. No adding makeup. Sorry, we wanna see the real you. I was tagged a few days ago and took the picture then and there. Bobby will tell you. I had just gotten home from work and I was super tired so I look gorgeous. :P I never wear make-up anymore so at least that was a non-issue. So here that is. (wow my face is really crooked)
I tag Brooke, Kate and Marcie.

I never did take a picture of Brooklyn in her Easter dress. Last night the choir from her school was invited to perform at a board meeting. She wore her Easter dress and I finally took a picture.
She also made the honor roll on her last report card. We are very proud of her for keeping her grades up!
Caleb and Seth have both worked very hard to bring their grades up too, and they did. Caleb even got an award just for that - the B.U.G. award (Bringing Up Grades) Good job boys! Now we're going to work on organization and listening to directions.

Four months and a bit more..

March 19th came and went and, although I did not post it, I did take a four month picture. Here is Dillon four months strong.


Dillon is the happiest baby. He is teething right now, you'll see evidence of that in the pictures with drool dripping from his chin, but he grins through the discomfort! He can roll from tummy to back and from back to tummy. He thinks it's the funniest thing. He gets a big grin on his face when we lay him on the floor on his back and promptly turns over. Then, he just as promptly spits up from being on his tummy. He is so funny though. He yells and talks and laughs. He responds to most everything with a smile. I doubt there will be many pictures of him without a bib. He is the drooliest baby I have ever had. I am excited about taking all the kids in for a group picture sometime in the near future, so be on the lookout for that. Dillon sleeps from 8-10 hours a night. He gulps down his bottles and wants more. The only difficult thing about him is that he likes his bottles very warm, and even that is not too difficult. Really, Dillon is a joy and we are thrilled that he is part of our family.

Ayden thought Dillon needed a hat while swinging.

Dillon likes the jumparoo - yay! Ayden hated it and I thought we'd wasted $80.

So many milestones

I suppose with five children a busy household is a given. Lately it seems like we are just hitting one milestone after another. Today my baby is 3 months old! Time has flown with him. He is so strong and talking all the time. He will sleep all night about three nights out of the week. I went to take a picture of him for his monthly photo shoot and could not find the hat. I found one similar and took it anyway. I also decided to leave him in just a diaper so that he could show off his fat rolls. Hey, why not? It's the only time in his life that it will be socially acceptable, not to mention I didn't want him to spit up on clean pajamas. So, if you need a reminder of what he looked like one month ago, click here. Here is Dillon at 3 months!
Another milestone tonight was Dillon's first taste of cereal. I know it is early for cereal but he was spitting up so much tonight and has been so hungry lately that I thought the rice might help settle his tummy. He loved it! He was a bit impatient, as he is used to the flow from the bottle, but he gobbled it down! Here are my two favorite shots.

I love the cross eyes look! Hilarious.

Seth brought his report card home. It really was not the best. He is having a hard time concentrating in school and it is really showing in his grades. We are working on that. While we do work on that, we are celebrating each success. He received the "Good Citizenship" award. Seth is such a friendly, helpful little boy. I am so proud of him.

I also thought he would like to share his current passion. Seth wants to make movies. Not when he grows up, he wants to make movies now. His first ideas have been greatly inspired by his favorites. The most recent is Harry Potter 8 - Return of Voldemort. The idea, for you Harry fans, is that Harry sees a dementor and when he tries to vanquish him, nothing happens. It did not work because it was not a dementor, it was Voldemort. Here is the cover of his book/movie. The medium changes all the time between those two.
Caleb really wants to write also, but using a different outlet. He has an email and he wants a blog, like his sister. He checks his email faithfully (he wants more everyone!) and is working on earning the blog. Caleb writes reluctantly at school so we have a deal. If he brings up his writing grade for the next marking period he can have a blog. All three older kids love getting on the computer. This truly is a different generation, more so than I could ever have imagined.
Brooklyn also earned the "Good Citizenship" award and was on the "Honor Roll". We are so proud of her. I wanted a picture but she couldn't find her certificates and she said we could wait to update her info because she and I are spending some time together on Saturday. We will take some pictures and give more information then.

Ayden mimics everything we do and say (oh dear - huh). He is using complete sentences like - my turn, I want on (the light) and I don't want this. Very opinionated, our little man. He also is imitating what he sees while he practices on the potty.

Christmas Part II - Christmas Day

I'm mostly just going to post pictures because they tell the story well. Santa visited and brought the kids all they asked for. After we raided the stockings we got ready to go to Bobby's parents. It was a gorgeous day, a nice drive and a great lunch. Everyone had a wonderful time.

Ayden eating some chocolate out of his stocking.
Bobby, half asleep, watching the kids go crazy with the stockings.
Grandma and Poppy gave Dillon a Santa suit for the occasion. Isn't he sweet?
Brooklyn with easy bake oven treats and Seth's new Star Wars book.
Brooklyn got a bike. She's growing so fast. I'm nervous about the independence that it means.
Caleb likes to play Battleship so he got an electronic one from Santa.
Seth has been asking for a guitar for so long! Watch out world, he's coming!
Ayden loves his new kitchen!

Brooklyn and Seth dig in to Grandma's treats with their two cousins.Caleb tries out the divinity.
The tree was gorgeous!

Poppy and Ayden are best buds. Ayden loves to play with him.
Brooklyn loves having another girl to play with.Bobby sitting back with Ayden...
Grandma taking a chance to cuddle with Dillon. He slept most of the time we were there. Why won't he do that at home? LOL