In the immortal words of Alice Cooper-

SCHOOL'S OUT FOR SUMMER! YES!

This school year flew by, but this month had just dragged on and on. The girls did great, and both of them made the honor roll for the year. Madeline missed out on making straight A's because of one point! I had to laugh though, because it was in spelling, and she's fighting against nature there, with her daddy being a terrible speller and all. ;)

So now we look forward to lots of summer fun, which will mostly consist of swimming in various pools, going to the library and watching movies from Netflix, with occasional trip to Tifton thrown in for good measure. Gas is too expensive to do much more than that. However, I am most excited about not having to get up at 6am for the next two months!

Aunt Carol recently asked on her blog what everyone wanted to be when they grew up.

Up until 3rd or 4th grade I wanted to be a astronaut. I was in the Young Astronauts Club at school, and dreamed of going to Space Camp. Then, I found out you needed to be good at math (which I wasn't) to be an astronaut. After that, I decided I wanted to be a paleontologist. I still wouldn't mind doing that, actually.

In high school, I discovered I was good a two things:

1) I was a good public speaker
2) I was good at talking people into doing what I wanted them to do

Communications, with an emphasis in Public Relations, seemed like a good fit for me in college. So for the brief year I was there, that was my major. I had the thought in the back of my mind that I would work for Disney World behind the scenes. (During my senior year in high school I met a man through my chorus teacher who coordinated performances by different groups and special guests at the parks. His job looked like a blast and he loved it. He had had majored in Communications, and suggested that would be a good path for me if I wanted to do a similar job.)

But then I met James and started on the career path I'm on now. I always knew I wanted to be a mom, and luckily that's worked out pretty well. ;D Becoming a preschool teacher was a matter of being in the right place at the right time. Haooily, it's a job I love and would have never picked for myself way back when.

It's funny to me to hear what the girls want to be, because it's such a reflection of their personalities. Madeline wants to be a babysitter. She loves children and really has a knack with them, even at her age. Isabella wants to be a baker and open he own bakery called, naturally, Isabella's Bakery. She loves to help in the kitchen, so I wouldn't be surprised at all if she went that route someday.

It's sad to say, but I have no idea what James wanted to be when he was little. I know he loved to build things and figure out how things worked. He would have made a great engineer!

Another Reunion, Come and Gone

I'm tired, y'all. May has been a month of crazy busy-ness. I've subbed almost every day, the girls have had numerous end-of-the-year things (Honors Day, Field Day, School Picnic, class parties, field trips), and James has been slammed at work. There's the holidays- Mother's Day and Memorial Day. To top it all off is the Family Reunion.

James took the day off yesterday, and we went to Madeline's Honors Day in the morning. The DH worked out in the yard (planting my Mother's Day gift- three new gardenia bushes!) but I just collapsed with a headache that threatened to go into Migraine territory all day (and still hasn't completely gone away).

I've mopped the kitchen and vaccumed the living room and my bedroom, and after I finish baking these cookies (my mom gave me a HUGE box full of pre-made cookie dough- long story) I'll probably lay on the couch and veg until the girlies get home.

BUT FIRST! PICTURES!!!

A new family picture


Jed, who doesn't like any of his nieces (except the babies) insisted on having his picture taken with all of them (and Nathan). Crazy kid.


Okay, James and I rarely have our picture taken together. (Back in 2001, I decided to make him a little scrapbook of pictures of him and I together. The only problem was I could only find about ten pictures of just the two of us, and five of those were taken on our wedding day! I spent the next few months "staging" occasions for us to have our picture taken together. When he looked at the scrapbook, he said, "Oh. *Now* I know why you kept having us take pictures together!") So, lesson learned, and I try to make sure we have a picture together at least once a year.

I tried to get a picture on Easter, before Isabella's baptism, but we both had oour eyes closed. And my hair looked bad. It was windy. *sighs* So we tried again at the reunion.



My brother David thought he'd be a comedian and jump in the picture. *sighs again*

But we finally succeeded.


David and Eileen and their girls


Mom and Dad


Mom and Dad with all their grandchildren


Jed and his favorite nieces- another picture he insisted I take.


I wish all of the family could have been there. Maybe next year!

FAMILY REUNION WEEKEND!!

Woo-Hoo!

Pictures

I meant to post these the other day. Helen came over last week to go with me to a "day spa" activity the Activity Day girls at church were doing for their mothers/grandmothers/aunts/significant female person. James stepped up to the plate and watched Nathan and Samantha for us, since Ryan was out of town. Before we left, I snapped a couple of quick pictures of the kids together.





Obviously, this picture is of me holding a baby that none of you recognize (he belongs to my good friend Jamie). But it's a good picture of me, and there are very few of those these days, so it's going up on the blog to be admired by the masses. :P

I Like Tuesdays

Tuesday is a good day of the week. There's no expectation of a Tuesday like there is with the other days of the week. It just is what it is, know what I mean?

I'm off today, but subbing the rest of the week. I should be doing laundry or vaccumming or doing something other than what I'm doing, which is surfing the net in my jammies at *looks at the clock* 9:20 am. But I've got the windows and the backdoor open, and I'm enjoying the momentarily cooler weather and listening to the birds sing. I never realized how loud the birds around the house are until one day I was on the phone with customer service at my cable company, and the lady on the other end asked me how many birds I living in my house.

I really should think about what were going to have for dinner tonight. Suggestions?

Wait. What?

We're smack in the middle of a week full of busy-ness. Two field trips, a birthday party, Activity Night, a class party, Teacher Appreciation Week luncheons(for me and the girls' teachers), babies being born, an EQ Presidency meeting AND Mother's Day! I think one could make a strong argument for the month of May being more busy than the stretch between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Y/Y??


And for those of you who care about such things-

The Twilight trailer
Twilight


The last 8 minutes of North and South


Feist on Letterman- It just makes me smile. And I now want to wear a sparkly arm band for all my important appearances. :P

It's Friday! YAY!!

It's been a busy, busy week! So glad it's almost over.

1. I'm very proud of Madeline. The Top Ten AR readers from each grade at her school get to go to Wild Adventures, which is a theme park about two hours away from us. She brought home a note the other day saying she was one of the Top Ten readers in the 3rd grade! She's really excited to go, especially since she has to be at the school by 7:30 in the morning and won't get back until 5:30. :P

2. It's May already? How did that happen? I'm still stuck in February.

3. I read an excellent book last night called Lives of Extraordinary Women: Rulers, Rebels (and What the Neighbors Thought). It features 20 famous (and not so famous) women who helped shape the world and changed the perception of what women could be and do. As I was reading it last night, the girls would ask occasionally who I was reading about. I plan on turning the book over to them tonight.

4. Speaking of reading to the girls, we finished The Penderwicks last week and are six chapters in to The Pendewicks on Gardam Street. Love those books!

5. 5. Funny story- the girls and I are strangley addicted to Nanny 911. It comes on CMT in the evenings. It's like a train wreck we can't look away from.

6. And lastly, may I direct your attention to the Pop Candy Reader of the Day? ;D

Tired, Tired, Tired

We're half-way through a week of craziness. Today was missionary Zone Conference (where I provide lunch for 45 missionaries), and I'm subbing at the preschool every other day. The girls have Field Day and field trips and James is always busy at work. Have I mentioned that I am ready for school to be over?

Random Thoughts

1. I love the springtime in south Georgia. Except the pollen- hate the pollen.

2. We have less than a month until the end of school! *dances a jig* I'm ready for this school year to be OVER.

3. Nothing to exciting going on around here, which is good. No drama. No craziness. Yes!

4. The stack of "To Read" books on my nightstand is ginormous! And it seems like more arrive in the mail everyday. Oops.

5. Season 2 of The Best Show on Television aka Friday Night Lights came out on DVD yesterday. Mmmm...Tim Riggins! All of the rest of our shows come back off of strike this week with new eipsodes- Ugly Betty, and Grey's Anatomy. How I Met Your Mother and 30 Rock have been back for a few weeks now. And I still need to catch up on the complete Jane Austen series from the BBC that has been showing on Masterpiece on PBS. *sigh* The DVR is so full. All the more reason for school to be over!

6. I leave you with random pictures that make me smile.

Mystery Solved!

As I suspected, the neighbors are not a front for a cannibalistic cult, and there are no bodies hidden in the ginormous shed.

James actually spoke to the man who lives next door! James was working in the yard yesterday afternoon, and the guy actually came over to speak to him. Crazy. Turns out he's electrician who is hired to work on huge building projects, like skyscrapers. He's been working on a project in Missouri for the last two years, and he only comes home once a month or so for a weekend. (Which explains why we rarely see him.)

He and the lady have been married for the past eight years, and this house was her's and her ex-husband's. When they guy came home this last time (for a weeks) he noticed how overgrown everything was. Evidently the lady was having a hard time with the upkeep. (Although why her grown son who lives there couldn't have helped remains a mystery!) They decided to cut everything back and cut down the trees to make it easier on her.

So I guess that explains it. It doesn't explain why the lady is so weird, though.

This is made of awesomesauce

A BLUEGRASS version of the Rick James classic SUPERFREAK

Madeline's First Post

This is me and Evainne the giant turtle at Turtle park. On 3/22/08 AKA the day before Bella's baptism.

Reason #5482 Why My Children Are THE BEST EVAH

The following conversation just occurred while watch the LotR marathon on TNT:

Madeline:"We counted hobbits last night."

Me: "What??!?!?"

Isabella:"You know how you are supposed to count sheep when you can't sleep?"

Me:"Yeah..."

Madeline:"We counted hobbits instead."

Uh-Oh

The girls wanted to earn some extra money, so I told them I'd pay ten cents for every dandelion they dug out of the yard (roots and all). So far I've had to pay Madeline $3.70 and Isabella $3.50. And that's only after 20 minutes of work! I fear I am going to go very, very broke. :P

SLACKERS!!

"Come on! Get a blog! Everyone else in the family is doing it!" Mom said. We'll be able to keep up with each other and it'll be so much fun!"

Chuh. Yeah right.

Mom was doing okay for a awhile there, and Sarah and Travis seemingly dived into the deep end of the pool. But no one else has updated! (Although I saw Corey and Nikki did today.) What's up with that, people? It's not like you're busy with jobs and kids or anything. :P

Jennifer's Turn

Five Random Things You may Not Know About Jennifer

1. I have lots of scars on my lower legs and knees, mostly from when I fell down a stone staircase at my Jr High in 8th grade and from my 2005 car accident.

2. I read the entire Anne of Green Gables series at least once a year.

3. I once came *thisclose* to winning U2 concert tickets from a radio station. I was caller #94 and I needed to be caller #95. I'm still depressed about it.

4. I moderate a Harry Potter message board and I'm not ashamed to admit it.

5. Conjoined twins scare the hell out of me. They are FREAKY and need to stop going on Oprah RIGHT NOW! Especially the two sisters that are attached at the head, and the one sister sits on a chair while the other one pushes her around. JUST STOP IT!

Five Things

Five Little Known Facts

James gets to go first!

1. I'm a big Harry Potter fan - books AND movies. (The books are better, though.)
2. I'm as handy outside the house as I am inside. I can work on almost any car, do most home repair (plumbing and electrical included) and I'm a great cook.
3. I am a big fan of British sitcoms and movies. Especially the BBC costume dramas. (But let's keep that on the down low!)
4. I've been known to scrapbook and create dollhouse furniture with nothing but a piece of cardstock and an exacto knife.
5. My second toe is longer than all my other toes. It freaks Jennifer out. That's why she won't let me go barefoot in the house.

Play along!

It'll be fun! :P

Comment to this post and I will give you a letter. You will then post ten of your favourite things that begin with that letter.

Huh.

This is surprisingly accurate. The only thing I disagree is the "feel overwhelmed and therefore avoid large crowds". I don't mind large crowds of strangers. I just don't enjoy large crowds of people I know. I prefer smaller, more intimate gatherings.


My Personality

Neuroticism	50
Extraversion	48
Openness to Experience	35
Agreeableness	35
Conscientiousness	59

You are poised, confident, and clear-thinking when stressed, however you feel strong cravings and urges that you have difficulty resisting. You tend to prefer short-term pleasures and rewards over long-term consequences. You tend to feel overwhelmed by, and therefore actively avoid, large crowds. You often need privacy and time for yourself. You prefer facts over fantasy and are more interested in what is happening in the real word. You are willing to take credit for good things that you do but you don't often talk yourself up much, however you are not adverse to confrontation and will sometimes even intimidate others to get your own way. You are well-organized and like to live according to routines and schedules. Often you will keep lists and make plans.

Take a Personality Test now or view the full Personality Report.