Panoply

Barry and I took the kids out to Panoply on Friday night. This is a local arts festival held every year in Huntsville on the last full weekend in April. We have been going for several years now, and have always enjoyed ourselves. This year was no exception, and we all enjoyed spending time together. Kyle and Megan had a ball making all of the arts and crafts for kids. They made masks, disc-fish and clay creatures. We sat and listened to Celtic Fiddlers; a family of 3 girls playing fiddles, with mom and dad playing along on piano and other instruments. Josh and Kyle got very bored with this very quickly, but the rest of us enjoyed them. We walked around and visited the student art tent, which featured some amazing pieces from school-aged artists across the valley. It always amazes me to see how talented these kids are. A lot of the tents/vendors were not set up yet, which really was disappointing, but we consoled ourselves in some yummy food! Barry had never had a funnel cake before, which I thought was amazing, so I insisted that he have one. While Kyle and Megan were busy making clay creatures, Barry wandered over to the food vendors, and when we caught up with him, he had a plate full of hot funnel cake, covered in powdered sugar. We promptly helped him inhale it, then helped ourselves to some pizza, grilled corn on the cob, a gyro, corn dogs, and Kayti's favorite... chicken on a stick!

Here are a few quick pics of our evening. Enjoy!


Megan loved these ducks, and thought that they looked like a cross between a duck and a chicken, so she started calling them, "Chucks"!


Check out Barry's blog to see the great pic he took while we were there.

ABC's of me

A- Attached or single: Attached, to my wonderful hubby, Barry
B- Best Friend: Barry... and my daughter, Kayti
C-Cake or Pie: Both, please!
D- Day of Choice: hmm... this is a tough one. I love Fridays because it means the weekend is here. I love Saturdays usually, but they can be awfully crammed full of things that have to get done, or activities to run kids to. I do love Sundays as well, because they are so relaxing, but they also mean the weekend is over.
E- Essential Item: My family, and pajama pants!
F- Favorite Color: I find myself really drawn to greens right now.
G- Gummy Bears or Gummy Worms: Sour gummy worms are pretty dang good!
H- Hometown: Born in Fayetteville, Tn, but I really feel that Madison is home.
I- Indulgence(s): Cheeburger, Cheeburger Fries, and Sonic peanut butter fudge shakes.
J- January or July: July! I'm a warm weather kind of girl.
K- Kids: 4 fabulous kiddos - Kayti (almost 16), Josh (14), Kyle (12) and Megan (11)
L- Life is incomplete without: my family close around me
M- Marriage date: June 11, 1991
N- Number of Siblings: 3 sisters, 1 brother, 7 sisters-in-law (and another one soon!!) and 9 brothers-in-law
O- Oranges or Apples: both, with a little fruit dip on the side!
P- Phobias or Fears: bridges
Q- Quote: "In all of living, have much fun and laughter. Life is to be enjoyed, not just endured."~Gordon B. Hinckley. I love this quote, and have it framed on my wall.
R- Reason to Smile: Date nights with my hubby, babies, new movie rental and a bowl of popcorn
S - Sappy or Adventure Movie - Sappy, for sure
T- Tag: everyone
U- Unknown Fact About Me: I would like to be ambidextrous (able to write as well with my left hand as my right). Does that sound too lame?
V- Vegetarian or Oppressor of Animal: I'm a full blooded carnivore, to quote my daughter.
W- Worst Habit: biting my nails
X- X-Rays or Ultrasounds: I've usually had better outcomes from the ultrasounds... babies!
Y- Your Favorite Food: Does sugar count as a food? I have a crazy sweet-tooth! Although there are times that the only thing that will "hit the spot" is a good steak. 
Z- Zodiac: Aquarius

What not to do...

... to your school secretary on Secretary's Day: Have a Code Red drill, without telling her beforehand that it is a drill!!! I answered the phone this morning, and it is one of our local police officers, calling to tell me that we need to put the school under Code Red, or lock-down. For those of you who are unfamiliar with this term, it means that there is an inturder in the school, or danger headed to the school, and the school must be locked down, literally. Talk about freaking me out!!! I ran and got our principal, who told me to call it over the intercom, and then we went into action. She then pulled us aside and let us know that it was just a drill, but the rest of the school didn't know it, and we needed to keep it that way. I at least could breath again when she said that, and we spent the next 30 minutes or so with police officers going through the school. They were testing to see how prepared we were, and it turns out that we did very well.

Our principal made it up to us by buying us lunch today.... yummy Casa Blanca!! She said she was sorry to scare us so badly, but we all did a great job, and exactly what we were supposed to do. We did field calls the rest of the day from parents; some thankful that we kept their kiddos safe, and practiced keeping them safe, and some ticked off because we didn't let them know before hand that we were going to be doing a drill.

So, to all you secretaries (or Professional Administrative Assistants if you prefer), I hope you had a great day, and your boss did something great for you!!

Pay-backs

One of our Assistant Principals at school, Mr. H, is a HUGE prankster. The man loves nothing more than to get one over on someone. Last week our principal and her husband went out of town for a few days, so some of us in the office thought it would be a great time to finally pull one on him! We each took turns calling his voice-mail one morning and letting him know that we were sick and wouldn't be coming to work that day. I know it was mean, but we were actually coming,and he deserved to sweat it for a few minutes! Well, we did "get him" and we all laughed about it, including our principal! Mr. H called her and "told on us", but she thought it was great!

This week 2 of us have actually been sick, or have had sick kids. I took a planned day off today to do some fun things for myself... haircut, manicure, pedicure, shopping (you get the idea!), and guess what... I am sick today! I still managed to get out, but I've had the sniffles and coughs all day. Josh is also home with pink-eye. I think this must be a "cosmic pay-back" and one that I'm sure Mr. H will get the biggest kick out of. To quote Scar in the Lion King, "Life's not fair, is it...?"

De-stressin'

I started this post on Sunday evening, and didn't get to finish it, so since I'm up at 4:00 AM and can't sleep, I might as well finish it off.  

It has been a long and stressful week, and I was thankful for a pretty quiet weekend to destress.

I have mentioned before how much I love the people that I work with... they are great people. One of the ladies has had a rough week, and was only able to be at school one day this week. My thoughts and prayers are with her right now, and I have missed her so much. It's just not the same without her there. I ran the office almost by myself for a few days this week, and I have to admit that I didn't like it very much!

On Friday we had severe weather roll through the valley, and the afternoon was a nightmare at work. If you really want the details of a school office during severe weather, just ask, I will be happy to bore you with the details. I think I will spare all the rest of you here, though. Let's just say it was a LONG afternoon, and it was well after 4:00 before we eventually got all of the kids on buses and out of the school. My stress level was at an all-time high, but I was very thankful that all of my babies were safe. We were supposed to have more bad weather moving in that night, but thankfully it all went south of us (lucky for us, not them, I guess!), so I got myself cleaned up a bit and met Barry in town for dinner. Before I made any plans with Barry, I asked the kids if they felt they would be ok if we went out, and they all about fell over themselves to let me know that yes, they would be just fine, and I should hurry up and go. Hmmm... I guess my stress was stressing them out, and they were all too happy to get rid of me for awhile. I tried not to let that hurt my feelings too much... hee hee! It was nice to get out of the house and relax a little. After we ate, we headed out to Bridge Street and just walked around. It was great to actually spend a little time with my hubby... things have been hectic for him at work as well, and we haven't seen too much of each other over the past couple of weeks. 

We woke up Saturday morning with not a single pressing thing to do (except for laundry... yuck!), which is quite a change for us. I actually cooked a big breakfast, and we all were able to sit down at the table and have a meal together. Afterwards, Barry had to run in to work for a few minutes, so Megan and I tagged along. After he was done we browsed through a few stores, and looked at new computers and flat panel TV's. We were very good, and left empty handed! Megan did con us out of a new bathing suit, so she was very happy!

Saturday night Kayti and I went to see several of our youth from church perform in My Fair Lady at the high school. They did a great job, and we really enjoyed the play. We were going to all go out afterwards for ice cream, but it was after 10:00 by the time the play was over, so Kayti and I just came on home.

My lesson on Sunday went well. As it turned out, our lesson covered the same topic as all the Sacrament Meeting talks - the Priesthood. The bishop joined our class, and we had a nice discussion. We talked about how the Priesthood has blessed our lives, and it was great to hear some of their comments and stories.

My older sister, Kathy, called me on Sunday evening. We talked for over an hour and a half! We haven't talked in a while, and it was great to catch up. Her husband recently lost his job, and they have decided to move back home to Idaho and look for work there. They plan on going after school gets out so the boys don't have to move so close to the end of the year. Steve was able to get a 2-month severence deal out of them, so they will be ok until that time. If their house in Utah sells quickly, they may drive out to visit for a couple of weeks before settling back in Idaho. They didn't sell their house in Idaho, so at least they have a home to go back to there.

We got word last night that Barry's youngest brother, Dave is now engaged! We are very excited for him, and his fiance, Jessica! No word yet on a date, but I will keep everyone updated!

Well, the kids are all up and moving this morning, and so I need to do the same!!

He's at it again!

I took Josh to the grocery store a few days ago, and he talked me into getting some ready-to-bake mini cookies. I finally made them today, and as I was popping one into my mouth I was thinking, "These things are just a mouthful of heaven!!" I handed Barry a plate of them, and he said, "What are these, Cookie Monster Droppings?" He really is just too much sometimes!

Funny

Barry and I went grocery shopping today, and as we came out of the store, it was raining. We hurried and got the groceries put into the van and headed home. Barry then made a great statement:

"This is vegetable department rain."

I laughed out loud! He is always saying great things like that. I told him that I had never quite heard it expressed that way. I've heard it called misting and drizzle, but I think this will be our new family catch-phrase!

With Apologies...

I have been all out of sorts for the past month or so, and I have not been very good about keeping up with things. I know that I have tons of emial, voicemail, and messages that I have not returned, and I apologize for that. I have been having lots of dental work done (including having a wisdom tooth removed), and it has taken me a while to get back to feeling like myself. (As a side note here, I had my wisdom tooth removed by an oral surgeon, who sedated me, and I have come to the conclusion that all dental work should be done this way... put me to sleep and wake me up when it is over!) I love my dentist, though (and not just because he is family) because he is taking good care of me and my teeth, which I obviously have not been doing such a great job of lately!

Due to feeling like crud lately, I have not done much of anything to lose weight. I couldn't eat much for a while, but when I did start eating I wanted good ol' comfort foods... can I tell you how much I love mashed potatoes! Megan has challenged us to not eat fast food for the month of April. We have already sent that out the window, but we are trying to do better. I am also trying to improve the quality of the foods we eat at home... more whole grains and less fats/sugars. We are on the go a lot, so it can be hard to eat better when you are only home for 30 minutes in the afternoon, and then have to run out the door again for more activites. But, we are working on that. Barry and I both are drinking more water and less soda. I think that I mentioned before how much I love my Sprite! Well, I am happy to report that in the past month I have only had 3! That is amazing considering that I would have at least one a day. Barry has a really hard time drinking water, and has had a real addiction to Coke/Pepsi/Mountain Dew. He is now cutting way back on those. He will drink a big bottle of Propel, then refill the bottle with water and drink that. It is a huge step, and I'm very proud of him for it. I have gone out walking twice this week. The first time was just to blow off some steam because I got ticked off at Barry for something that he said very innocently, but at least it got me out of the house! I got up this morning and went again. My aching legs are just another testiment to me of how out of shape I am! I only went about a mile, but at least I went. I have thought about  joining a gym (there is one in town that gives school employees a discount, which would be great!), but I don't know that I would make the time to go, and I'm not sure that I would want anyone else to see me trying to work this plump body out!

In other family news, the kids are doing great. They just got their report cards, and each of them had A's, and one B. All of them, except for Kayti, are taking their SAT's this week (standardized acheivement tests). I had to take Megan to the doctor last week. She had developed an annoying cough that we couldn't get rid of. She wasn't running a fever, or congested at all, and I had to wonder if it wasn't allergies. As it turned out, that is exactly what it was, so she is now taking both Zyrtec and Singulair. They seem to be doing the trick, and the cough is gone. She has to go back to the doctor in another couple of weeks for her 11 year old check-up, and she will get shots, so she is not looking forward to that!

Well, I suppose that I should get up from here and start on some housework. The mountain of laundry is taunting me!