Cassidy's holiday ballet dance

Here is Cassidy's ballet class doing their Christmas dance....for your viewing pleasure...enjoy!

Megan's holiday ballet dance

Here's Megan's ballet class doing some work and their Christmas dance... for your viewing pleasure....

another hunting adventure

Megan's hunting with her dad this weeking, and bagged her 2nd deer - a 4 pt. She was very excited. Her dad bought her a smaller gun that he would have to tell you about because I know nothing about it other than it has different pieces that mean different things that I again know nothing about. And it has a scope. And a pretty pink camo case. :) So, yay deer meat for the freezer!

Christmas card chaos

Here's some of the outtakes from the annual Christmas card photo shoot. I swear, you would think it would get easier to take a picture as the kids got older....you would be wrong. 45 minutes of fun. I did get some cute pictures though...just not these...

dangerous...

so, while we were trying to get the tree uncrumpled from being in the box for a year, Mom and the girls were busy making little cookies in the Easy Bake Oven. I would go in and set the timer on the microwave for them when we'd put the cookie in to bake (you gotta love something that can be baked by the power of a lightbulb!). Well, I guess I wasn't paying as much attention as I should have, and when I set the timer for 11 minutes, I must have actually set the microwave to COOK for 11 minutes...now - for you to truly appreciate this, you must know that we keep EVERYTHING in our microwave because of Dan and Maks. They will steal things off of the kitchen counter, so our microwave was chock full of a loaf of bread, some french bread, a pan of brownies (covered in aluminum foil), a box of donuts, and who knows what other treats...I think perhaps 6 minutes had passed before Jon noticed that the microwave was actually RUNNING...not the timer. Things were not good in there. Seriously not good. Melted plastic all over bread. I think we pretended the brownies were okay and ate them anyway. Everything else was garbage bound. The Easy Bake Oven cookies were delicious. That's the most important thing.

The Nutcracker

The Nutcracker was this weekend, one of my favorite (and craziest) weekends of the year. Megan was a Chinese dancer and Cassidy was a mouse. And there were men in tights! 4! One of which I'm seriously considering stalking (see picture!)....haha! Ahem, back to reality.... The girls did a fabulous job - they had 2 performances on Saturday, and they worked really hard, and I think we are all a little sad it's over. Oh well - just 4 months till tryouts for next year... We are super excited that MaMa Sandra and Aunt Lauren are in town to watch their girls perform. Now, I gotta get rid of my bah, humbugs and do some decorating around this house...I'm really trying to convince everyone to just let me do the nativity and the mantle, but no one's buying it...so I guess the tree it is...

thanksgiving

We were in Baton Rouge for Thanksgiving - and time with family is definitely something to be thankful for! Here are some pics - with my sister, my friend Ida, Megan and cousin Annie, Cassidy and cousins Molly and Ally.

teenagers and vampires and werewolves...oh my!

Yes, I was one of the millions of crazies that waited in line for HOURS to see New Moon last night. I went with Coleen, Sandra F, and Vicky R - we were lucky - we grabbed some dinner, and scooted over to the theater at Market Street at about 7. We only had to wait outside for about 2 hours before they brought us into the theaters to wait til 12:01, which was nice since I've been sick since Wednesday (thank you, Jon!). So, all in all, just a 5 hour wait to see some hunky vampires and werewolves. Oh yeah, and listen to whiny, annoying Bella...I would love it if there were less Bella and more vampires and werewolves. Directors and writers, are you listening? So, the countdown to Eclipse's release of June 30th has started...anyone else ready to camp out?
PS - the moms actually almost outnumbered the teenagers at our theater...

LAUREN - BACK IN THE USA!!!!

I picked up Lauren from the airport yesterday - what a completely fabulous feeling to be able to reach out and actually give her a hug...I don't think I have stopped smiling yet. I'm sure I will when I take her to the airport this afternoon...but I know she needs to go home to her mom and dad. I just want to keep her and sit on her for a little while longer. I'm a little greedy that way, I guess. But I'll get to see her just next week for Thanksgiving, so no problems. She looks so awesome, so beautiful, so peaceful for all that she's been thru and dealing with. The girls and I have had a fun day with her - we went on a bike ride and had a picnic in the park and played some game where you have the choice of picking between 2 options. My head is still spinning from Lauren's giving me the choice of sneezing every 5 seconds or having hiccups forever. Nice.

They got SO much accomplished at the Courage House when the volunteers were out there last month. It's AMAZING! But I'm in a little overload now, knowing the things she needs to accomplish here, before she goes back to Tanzania. Please pray for her, that the things that she needs to happen will all fall into place.

She took some pics so I'll get her to email them to me so I can post some here. Both of Tanzi and her and the girls!

Veterans Day

Today is Veteran's Day - a day to honor those who serve our country so bravely. I went to the Veterans Day program out at the Conroe High School Football Stadium with my friend Coleen. It was really nice - they had a parade review with several high school ROTC units (? is that what they are called) which was very impressive. There was a pretty good turn out too, which is awesome to see the community coming out to show their thanks to those men and women in the military. It was awesome to see the vets walk across the field to put banners on flags to commerate their branches of the military - it made me miss my family members that are veterans so much - I wish they could be here with me to attend these programs, because I am so proud of them and what they did/do for our country. So be sure to tell the veterans in your life how much you appreciate them and their service to our country...and even those strangers that cross your path...you will be glad you did.

tricks or treats?

So, we went and did our trick or treating with the Wolsky's - Cassidy and Sarah thought the sky might cave in if they didn't get to spend another evening together! Cassidy was a girly ghost (thanks Meagan P for the costume!), Sarah was a vampire bat until her wings broke, then she was a cat, Charlie was a box of popcorn, and Megan was grounded so she was just walking with me, the queen of the vampires. Lucky her. Cassidy and Sarah did share their candy with her, so I thought that was nice of them. The girls were funny - they emptied their candy out and split it up by who liked what. Sarah seemed to get the better end of the deal! They brought out a bucket of stuff they didn't like, which was really all the good stuff, so me, Melissa, and Luke ate it all while sitting by the fire pit outside chatting. Hope you all had a great evening and had all treats and no tricks.

Walking for Evan

Saturday was the Walk Now for Autism, and we walked for Evan. Team Evan had quite a turnout - Christian, Coleen, Evan, Meagan, me, Jon, Megan, Cassidy, Miss Amy from school, Chris' dad Larry, and our friends' the Wolsky's - Luke, Melissa, Charlie and Sarah. It was down at the Reliant Center, and it was a pretty long walk (for me anyway, I'm used to either walking from the kitchen to the couch, or making a thousand trips up the hallways at David Elementary!). They had lots of stuff to do out there - a band (which was ridiculously put right at the starting line...hello, think that might freak out a few kids?), some jump houses, and a whole group of Star Wars Storm Troopers that I really wanted to take some pictures with, but we were already on the way out, and Jon wouldn't let me. After we worked up an appetite with all that walking, we headed to a burger joint called Smashburger which was extremely tasty. And after what felt like 5 minutes of resting, it was time for the Tigah Party at the Pierces. We love us a Tigah Party! And LSU won, and looked good...nice. A fun day with our friends, and being able to make some noise about Autism. Cassidy says we need to kill the disease. Word.

3rd grade program

The 3rd grade program was Thursday - it was based on music from Indonesia. It was very cool because the kids actually wrote the music that they played. I love the music teacher at our school - he really has made the music program about music. So, I added a video of the program for your listening pleasure...enjoy! Cassidy can rock the xylophone!

cassidy

Bug has been busy updating her blog. Enter if you dare.....

update on Lauren and Tanzania

be sure to check out Lauren's blog http://www.laurenedens.wordpress.com/ - things are definitely happening over in Africa!

Just an update on my fundraising...my friend Linda James, who very generously did a Mary Kay fundraiser for Lauren and donated ALL of her profits from her sales from our fundraiser to C2BU dropped off a check to me today for $240!!! I am so excited about this, and so thankful that I have the most supportive friends in the world - I don't think any of you will ever know how much I treasure each and every one of you.

So, as of right now, my grand total raised is $3,230.00, and I'm still collecting - if you want to donate - you just let me know, or you can donate online at http://www.c2bu.org/ - just be sure to let them know it's for the Courage House Tanzania.

Welcome to the world!

Meet Isabella! She's my BFF Ida's new granddaughter. Is she the most beautiful little thing or what? She was born 10-2 around 10:30 am weighing 6 lbs 11 oz. She has Ida completely wrapped around her little finger already (actually she had Ida wrapped while she was in utero!) - my mom has always said that grandchildren are so much better than your own children, and I think Ida agrees (although Andy would beg to differ I'm sure, just as I think my mom should like me better than my kids! haha). I can't wait to get to BR so I can hold her. Congrats Andy and Maria - she is adorable!

livestrong Daddy!

Today is Cancer Awareness Day, or LiveStrong Day, so I am dedicating my blog today to my dad. We found out in 2003 that he had cancer. I don't think you can hear anything scarier said to you than those words. But, thanks to prayers answered, he has been cancer free since his surgery at the end of March 2003. So, Daddy - I love you!!

no good deed goes unpunished...

so yesterday, when I picked Cassidy up from school, there was the cutest little dachshund under my yukon. I tried to coax s/he out from under there, not happening - he was a little scared. He had a collar but no tags. After I started the truck, he ran into the woods. So I tried to get him to come over to me so I could take him to the vet to see if he was chipped, but he wouldn't come to me. Cassidy was having a fit, sure that he would perish if we didn't rescue him, so I told her that we would grab her a snack and come back before we picked Megan up. So I crawled thru the thorns and thicket and he kept moving away...finally I caught up to him. I grabbed him and he turned all cujo and snarly and bit me. Ummm, hello little dog...I'm just trying to help you. So I said - forget this (well, maybe not not just that...), and put him down so he could go hide again. He just barely broke the skin on my thumb, of course. He stayed in the same area, so he seemed to be waiting for his people - I hope his people realize where he is and come get him. But not before this morning's big rain, so that little dog could get a big soaking and sit there and think to himself while he's all cold and wet....hmmm, you know, I should have been a little nicer to the sweet lady that tried to rescue me yesterday. I wouldn't be all wet and cold right now. Little bugger. And that's what I get for trying to help out small little dogs that look lost. Jon's just glad that he didn't end up at our house, and that there is not a picture posted here of the little dog and my other 2 dogs that have surprisingly similar stories, without all the biting and snarling. haha. Now, let's just hope the stupid dog doesn't have rabies.

Character Parade

This week was the Character Parade, where the kids dress up as characters from books. This kicks off a district wide reading program. Cassidy decided to be Hannah Montana, which she will also be for Halloween. She very well could be a secret pop star!

update on Courage House fundraiser

Just to let you know how I'm doing on raising money for Lauren's Courage House in Africa - I sent an envelope to C2BU today with donations of $2,850!!!! I was just thrilled that I was able to raise this much money. I'm so lucky to have such generous friends who were willing to help support something that means so much to me. I'm going to keep on raising money, so if you want to donate, you just let me know or you can donate online at http://www.c2bu.org/donate.cfm .

more weirdness...

okay, just when I think I have seen it all...I go to Walmart. haha. The girls and I were at Walmart Saturday doing some shopping - the girls were browsing the nail polish. Megan decided she REALLY needed some fake press-on nails. Um, no she doesn't, says I. So, as I am checking out all the different things they have in this section while she and Cassidy are looking at all the different fake nails they have (Megan likes the flowers while Cassidy prefers the boneheads, of course)....you won't believe what they have. Fake press-on toe nails. For real. I really didn't know what to say about that. I guess it would come in handy on those days you don't have time to throw ANOTHER coat of polish over the chipped up polish on your toes....

work of art?

Jon went to BR on Friday, so he went with Megan and I to take her to school. We parked at the shopping center and walked on the trails from there and came across....this. I can't decide if this is incredibly imaginative or the grossest thing I've ever seen...or both. How long have kids been smooshing their gum on this poor tree on their way to and from school? Anyway, I felt the need to share, just because I couldn't decide how I felt about it...

1st day of school

it's finally here - the first day of school - 3rd grade for Cassidy and 5th grade for Megan. I think they look so grownup and ready to conquer the world. Me - I went for coffee, and now have to clean the house. I could use a BIG nap. Know why? Because school has started...and now the craziness begins for me...at 2 schools. Anyone got a cloning machine I can borrow?

meet the teachers...

the girls met their teacher this week. Megan had hers on Thursday night at Collins. She's in 5th grade now. She has 3 teachers. Why I only have pictures of 2 I have no idea other than it was a little chaotic that evening. And people were making noises when I took pictures. Really. Her teachers all seemed so nice, and one of them is a LSU fan. She has a locker too. So she is big time. I think she's going to have a great transition to intermediate school. Cassidy met her teachers last night. She was a happy camper, and I've heard awesome things about her homeroom teacher (this is only her 2nd year at David), so she's off to 3rd grade ready to take on the world. They both have friends in their classes, so they are happy about that. Me, I might just cry on Monday. My kids are growing up way too fast.

craziness

Because there's just not enough insanity in my world, I took my kids with me to my doctor's appointment yesterday. We were there for 2 hours. With one DS. (the other one's battery had died on the way there, when there was not enough time to return home for the charger) Let's just say it was not the most enjoyable 2 hours of my day. Today, while we were running errands, listening to the current soundtrack of our lives, Michael Jackson's greatest hits, thank you Cassidy, PYT (pretty young thing) was playing. I laughed and said - that was us, pretty young things. They informed me I was a POT - a pretty old thing. They thought that was very funny. I'm not so sure. They said that their dad was a HOT - handsome old thing. How did he get the better end of the stick?

Courage House Tanzania

I'm raising money for my sister-in-law Lauren - she's in Tanzania, and they are going to start renovating the house that will become a loving and safe home for "at-risk" kids. It's going to take $15,000 to make this happen. My goal is $5,000 and I'll be collecting donations until August 21st. If you'd like to donate, please let me know. Lauren is really out there changing the world and making a difference. I want to help her, and I have the courage to ask you to help too! So please donate!