Because Someone Might Like to Know These Things

I ran across this question in my latest Reader's Digest...

Where did the word "blog" originate?

Answer: The word "blog" is short for "Web log," a site one establishes for the purpose of putting one's thoughts online for the edification or amusement of visitors,
WHO MAY LEAVE PIECES OF THEIR OWN MINDS BEFORE DEPARTING. (emphasis mine, obviously)

Also-

Did you know that you can click on any of the pictures that are posted and see my children's adorable faces just as big as you could ever want? I didn't know this, but Matt informed me of this fantastic feature for those of us with less than 20/20 vision.

It's a great world. A great world indeed...

No Child Left Behind

Well, it's one week later and Miss Sassy Pants finally gets to attend her VERY FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL EVER!! I went in her bedroom this morning and asked her, "What is today, Abby?" She yelled excitedly, "It's my first day of school!" Suddenly, a panicked look crossed her face and I worried this was when she would change her mind about the fabulousness of it all and I asked her what was wrong. "Mama, don't forget my juice (long pause) and PLEASE don't forget my milk!" I guess hydration should be everyone's first concern when it is 137 degrees outside.

She had a great day. No tears. In fact, I barely got a kiss before she charged onto the playground to run around with all the other 2 year olds. When I picked her up from school I asked her what her favorite part of the day was and was expecting to hear about storytime or painting or music. Instead she said, "Orange bubblegum. My teacher give me orange bubblegum and I chew it, chew it, chew it. I love it!" Seemed like that kind of thing would be a choking hazard, but that's what I get when I throw my two year old out into the world...

Another first for the twinkle toes happened last week - her first ballet class. Oh heavens, sweet mercy. I have dreamed of having a little girl and dressing her up and sending her off to dance class for as long as I can remember and this experience did not disappoint. She was thrilled to wear the outfit and the shoes and she loved every minute of her dance class. There was ballet and tumbling and long ribbons and musical instruments and there will be tap next week - it's all too much joy to hold inside!

I Can Practically Smell the Freshly Sharpened Pencils

This seemed like as good a time as any to break out the camera for a good ol' fashioned photo shoot. Drew was more cooperative than usual, and Abby kept jumping in the picture and saying "Drew needs one more hug for his first day of school."

I guess the hugs helped because Drew had a fantastic day! He learned all about the five senses and was able to name them all for me with the encouragement of his new (and super-nice) teacher.

He also told me he played kickball today! "Mama, I kick the ball...run to 1 then 2 then 3 then home and nobody catch me - I the winner!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Drew, you'll always be a winner to your daddy and me!

It's A Whole New Generation, Folks!

So, ummm, yeah. My kids do yoga. Lest you think for one minute that I'm one of those moms - I promise I didn't teach it to them. We are lucky to pull off a craft project at our house, so we certainly aren't doing a full hour of yoga every morning or anything like that. But, Drew went to this fantastic summer camp that was just perfect for him, and it seems they began every day with something called "Yoga Youngins." Something about warming up the body to help them be more receptive to learning - sounds fancy and super-smart to me, and I was more than excited for Drew to show me all his moves. However, he wasn't very forthcoming with the yoga until recently. Now that he realizes I get giddy with joy during his demonstrations, he's more likely to declare it "yoga time" and show off some of his best stuff. And, if you think for one single second that Abby will let Drew have the spotlight to himself then you have obviously never met my daughter. She's a rock star too! So, I give you : my own little super, duper yoga youngins!

Here they demonstrate One-Legged Downward Facing Dog

(there are adults in my yoga class who don't do this as well as my toddlers!)

Next, we present our Balance Poses

And, I give you a brand new pose invented by Abby Grace:

"The Gangsta Pose"

I took lots and lots of pictures (as usual) and they were more than happy to show off for the camera. Drew wanted me to show him my yoga poses so I joined in on the fun. Next thing I knew, Abby was running to her room. She came back a second later with her princess camera and started taking pictures of me! I was laughing hysterically at her imitation of me. Drew had to take pictures next, so then I got pictures of them taking pictures of me.

I guess it's clear that whenever Matt decides to send me back to work I could have a thriving career as part of the paparazzi. Maybe I could even use the princess camera...

They Sure Don't Let You Do This Anymore...

I was scrapbooking a recent Sea World trip this weekend and it brought back memories of this picture that I just begged Matt to pull out of the attic.

Yep, that's me! Couldn't tell you how old I am, but it had to be the 80's with that rockin' outfit! My dad used to be Sea World's attorney so we got all kinds of perks - this had to be the best one! I can still vividly remember the freezing water and the feel of the whale's rubbery skin. I don't think it even occurred to me to be afraid.

Anyway, it was a fun memory so I just thought I would share!

My Super Stylin' Sporty Minivan

Heavens to mercy - has it been a crazy week! Oh wait, the week is only halfway over...can't wait to see what else is in store! It started out innocently enough - my husband decided to wash cars on Sunday because the van had gotten to the point where you worry about people using their finger to write "wash me" on your back windshield. An impending thunderstorm drove him back inside to watch golf, so my super-cool minivan remained filthy. It's just as well because now my van looks like this...

Actually, it looks much worse than this now - but, I don't want to get ahead of myself.

We packed up the van Monday and headed to the other side of town to a consignment shop that wanted to give me tons of money for old baby things that were cluttering up my house. The store wasn't open when we got there so we made a quick trip inside Toys R Us for a fantastic sale they were having (got to replace that clutter!) Anyway, we pulled onto the road that runs in front of the stores (let me emphasize - it was the main road that had the right of way) and all of a sudden there was a white car on the hood of my van. Pure terror - I cannot even begin to describe the feelings of pure terror that went through me, though I continue to re-live it in my mind. The car flew out of nowhere - I didn't see it until I had crashed into it, and I don't remember it flipping over, but there it was, on it's roof when we finally skidded to a stop.

With little thought about the other driver I ran to Abby's door because I needed to get her out of the car rightthatverysecond! She was screaming, but thankfully she was unharmed - just scared (and probably a little annoyed that this maniac had interrupted the Cinderella movie she was watching). Several bystanders had called 911 and two fire trucks, two ambulances, and three police cars were there within minutes (I called Matt while we waited). The other driver had crawled out from under his car and appeared to be fine.


Just as the paramedics were taking us to the ambulance to check on Abby, a bystander who had waited with us (he had heard the accident while inside the Borders next to us) brought over a lady who had witnessed the accident. God bless this woman for being willing to come forward with what she saw because Lord knows she's received more than her fair share of calls from insurance companies over the past few days. She told the police that the man in the other car was "flying" and that the lady "didn't have a chance." Can I get an Amen?


Ugh - I was on the main road and this guy was coming out from the row of parking spots. His defense was "I didn't have a stop sign." So, he was going straight across this little intersection and decided he needn't even slow down since no one thought it prudent to actually put a stop sign in a place where common sense dictates you STOP! And, he was going fast because I never even saw him coming - he was just there - scaring the living daylights out of me and my baby girl. The police did determine he was "at fault" and he received a citation for "failure to drive with due care." You think?


Matt and my good friend Kari arrived at the very same time to rescue us. Kari loaded most of my consignment junk in her car and then let Abby play with her kids while Matt and I took care of all the "business" that comes with an accident. Police report, towing company, insurance reports, etc.


Fast forward past all the boring stuff to the more interesting updates. I went to visit my car at the insurance place and it looked so much worse. The whole fender was hanging off of the car - exposing all the insides that are crucial to actually getting the car to run. I just knew it was worse than we thought, and that was confirmed later - the estimate was over $15, 000 in damage and a month to make all the repairs. I'll let you digest that for a minute...


Ok, on with it now because there haven't been any breaks for us. I'm going to spare you more of the insurance junk that has caused lots of stress for us and get to the bottom line. They still haven't gotten this guy's car insurance company to admit 100% responsibility so we are still waiting to see how this will all work out (and we have now enlisted my famous father as our attorney).


Abby has been to her doctor and appears to be in perfect health. I'm very sore (as you would imagine) so I visited my doctor this morning. He's going to see me again next week to keep track of how the sore ribs and back are healing, but he's more worried about my head. The man thinks I have a concussion. This is embarrassing, but hilarious, so I will share. He began by asking me to perform some subtraction. "What's 7 from 100?" I got that one right - 93. He did about half a dozen more and I'm pretty sure I got them all wrong. At one point I asked for a calculator because my husband is an accountant for crying out loud and he still needs a calculator for simple math. No calculator was forthcoming so he moved onto other questions, "What does it mean if I say don't cross the bridge before you come to it?" I had a pretty good answer for this that seemed satisfactory to him. Then he asked, "What does it mean when you say a rolling stone gathers no moss?" Ummm, I really didn't know this one (even before the accident) so I rambled for a few minutes before he motioned for me to stop just making things up (Mom, I'm blaming you for this lack of knowledge - Matt has now explained it to me and I discovered I didn't do all that bad with my rambling answer). To break the tension, I blamed my shortcomings on "baby brain" and said I was willing to discuss the age old question that every mother struggles with: Huggies or Pampers? He didn't seem interested, but a few minutes later when he asked me what I preferred I could not figure out for the life of me what the heck he was talking about. I was diagnosed with a mild concussion. This didn't bother Matt, who promptly drove the rental car to work and left me to care for his two children. Let's all pray for my kids...


This has been long, I know. But, you also have no idea how much I have left out, so you are really getting the short version of the story. Everyone is fine and that is the most important thing - I really am so grateful that we (especially my Abby) were not more seriously injured. Abby has been telling everyone that her blue car has a "boo boo" and she will kiss it to make it better - that is, if we ever get it back.


And, in case you were still wondering...Pampers all the way!! :)

1,460 Days

Happy Birthday Andrew Joseph!!

(Yes, I know it was yesterday - we were a little busy!)

1,460 days is how long it takes to grow from this...

to this



and from this....




to this!

Happy, Happy Day my sweet boy!