COLORFUL IMAGES

This is the original picture Tracy took and the following are with color enhancements. Pretty cool huh!

JAN 2009 ICE STORM

My friend Tracy, who also lives up here on the mountain, took these photos. Thank you Tracy for sharing them with me.


If you blow this picture up and look at the deer that is eating in the middle...it looks like it has a collar on. Tracy swears it isn't hers-which I believe becaues her kids are scared of dogs and they look kinda like giant dogs to a kid. haha

Dalton and his boat.



Dalton and Ethan trying to float their boats.

This was a project where the kids made boats from things at home, with their families, and then took them to school to see if they would float. I think Dalton's sail fell apart and wouldn't float. (but it did float when we were at home, but we also use deeper water to float it in too)

DALTON AND HIS STICK HORSE "BROWNIE"

This stick horse was another project the kids made at home with their families and then they did stuff at school all week with them ending with a Stick Horse Rodeo on friday.(which Dalton would not participate in)

DALTON'S FRIEND ETHAN

Don't mess with Ethan, he is one bad cowboy! haha

DALTONS FRIEND KAITLYN

ICE ICE BABY

I am sorry it you have that stinking song in your head now.

We are suppose to get an ice storm tonight. We are in the south, we should be getting snow but not ice. I would like good old fashion snow. You can not do anything in the ice....but fall on your butt. This is suppose to be our forecast for the next 48 hours. I am prepared! ( I think) I joined the rest of the non working people at WalMart today to stock up on the necessities: milk, bread, toilet paper, and some food items that you can fix when you don't have electric. No I am not firing up the grill!! But we do have a fire place and I have hot dog roasting sticks and we can have hot dogs!! Beyond that I am at a loss. haha Just kidding. I bought lunch meats and cereal and...............oh no I'm glad it is only suppose to be for 48 hours or we will have to lick the paint off the walls!!!!

MOBILITY...OUR WORD FOR THE DAY

Children, they are always doing something amazing or saying something that will completely throw you off guard. This evening Dalton was playing with enough cars to have his own auto show. He decided to bring one of them out of his room-a noisy one of course (thank you Shellie and Steve) that honks, plays the song "come on and take a free ride" (classic rock from the late 70's early 80's for those of you who are sitting there scratching your head trying to figure out if it was Beyonce or Kid Rock who sang it...haha) I think it might have been the Steve Miller Band but I wouldn't bet the donkey on it! Anyway, I have a yucky head cold complete with the nose that feels like it is full of concrete so you can't breathe but yet your nose still some how seems to run..?...go figure, and the wonderful "my head is going to explode" headache that goes with it. I asked Dalton to take it back to the other room which for the first time tonight he did what I asked on the first asking. but just a minute later here he came with it again. I begged him (probably snapped at him) to take it back to the other room. He said "oh it's ok mom I turned the sound off so all it has is "MOBILITY". I forgot all about the fact that it still made noises going across the floor because I was floored. Mobility. Where did he come up with that word, and better yet he knew how to use it. This is the same child that couldn't stay focused at school today and he had to miss his recesses to catch up on his work. HELLLLLOOOO. Can somebody please tell me what I am missing??

I know this is not the first time he has shocked me with a so called vocabulary word and it will not be the last. I think I better line the floors with soft mats.

I HAVE TO VENT

I have to vent on behalf of all of the thoughtfull parents/people out there. Dalton was invited to a classmates birthday party for yesterday. On the invitation there was the typical R.S.V.P response. We responded that we would be there. This party was being held at a local pizzaria/arcade place where you purchase a certain birthday package. We got there about 10 min. early and the room was full of kids with their parents standing outside of the room trying to look in. IT WAS SO CRAZY AND LOUD IN THAT ROOM!! The kids were to have pizza, drinks, cake and to get a few tokens. (perfectly normal party of this sort) Unless you have a bunch of people show up that did not tell you they were coming!! The mom said she had 5 respond to the RSVP request, there were 22 kids there!! I am sure they had to purchase extra drinks, pizza and coins to accomodate past what she had planned, according to the RSVP's, and had ordered from the place. I know her son had a great time and that is what is important but I felt so bad for her and her husband. I know they were frazzeled!!

Ahhh. I feel better. And for those of you who read this and never really understood why you needed to give a response----THIS IS WHY! You are to let them know YES you can come or NO you can not come. NOT read my mind!

This is not personal to anyone in particular. We are all busy. Just do it.

DALTONS FIRST MOVIE AT A THEATER

Needless to say Dalton is just beside himself. We took him to see his first movie at a Theater today. He has been to the drive in several times when we lived in TN. but this was a new first. We took him to see Hotel for Dogs. It is such a cute movie! Dalton loved it too of course. Watching Dalton's reactions were priceless. The first time something loud came out of the surround sound made him pop up in the seat and his eyes grew huge and he had a big ole smile on his face. We have surround sound but not like that! I am sure, tomorrow, his room will turn into a Hotel for all sorts of stuffed animals. It kinda looks like that already anyway.
We let Dalton pick out his drink and snack which he went for Sprite and Sugar Babies. He said he didn't want any popcorn. Denny and I had popcorn-who goes to a movie and doesn't get popcorn?? Dalton ate about 4 sugar babies and said "here mom do something with them." He then proceeded to eat popcorn. I believe it is just natural to want to eat popcorn! Anyway with three of us eating it it didn't take long to reach the bottom. Dalton leaned over to me and said "mom go fill this thing up with more popcorn". It made the lady 2 seats over from me giggle. I of course said "ask your dad". ( after all he was sitting in the aisle seat) I thought Denny was going to choke on his soda! Dalton was not very happy about not being able to get refills on his popcorn-the popcorn he didn't even want to begin with. I brought an emergency sandwich bag of candy left over from Halloween which Dalton dove right in to. So much for discreetness.

Denny wasn't very excited to go see this movie but we told Dalton he could pick it out, and Denny ended up liking it too. (Denny wanted to see Madagascar 2) I highly recommend this movie and it doesn't matter if you have kids or not you will leave feeling all warm and fuzzy inside!

TIME TO PLAN ANOTHER PARTY

Today I met with some of the other room mothers to plan the Kindergarten Valentine party. They only get 45 minutes for this party so it has to be quick and easy. We have decided to make ice cream sundaes and let the kids decorate them with the Valentine sprinkles etc. We will try and come up with an easy and quick game and give them a little "goodie" bag to take home with them. We are needing more ideas for games if anyone has any.

There have been three other mothers besides myself who have been key in making the parties a success this year. It has been great fellowship getting to know one another, without the kids around, while doing something for our kids to enjoy. We like our little gatherings and might create a party each month for ourselves just so we can have those few hours to kick back, laugh and share stories, usually about our kids and family which reminds us of how much we love and appreciate who they are and who we are..........MOMS.

BLOG

I am behind on my blog-I need to get some pictures developed. So I am going to give a big SHOUT OUT to Dalton's Aunt Linda because I know she has been checking the blog for new entries. Thanks for keeping up with my blog!

WOOP WOOP

FIRST DAY BACK

AHHH, the first day back after Christmas break-how wonderful it was! I am pretty sure it was good for Dalton too. Dalton came home today in a very cheerful and loving mood. Mom and I have received lots of hugs and kisses since we came in. This is a nice change because usually he comes in all crabby and doesn't want to tell us about his day.....I think he would rather be at school with friends.
I am getting back into my routine too. After dropping Dalton off at school, mom and I went and did our usual Monday morning grocery shopping, put the groceries up, did several loads of laundry, got a nice fire going in the fireplace since it has dropped down to 29 deg. after having a few days of weather in the 60's and 70's and I even already know what I am fixing for dinner. Woohoo That feels like accomplishment after having extras (not naming any names) home for the past few weeks and feeling like all you do is chase your tail. That and most of us was sick for the past 3 weeks off and on. Let me clarify that....Denny did not get sick and he attributes that to "cheese" in his diet. First, lets just clarify that the word "diet" is just a word for his daily eating habits. Second, I don't think it has anything to do with any particular type of cheese. With Denny any type of cheese will do as long as you put it on anything and everything. yuk I'll take sick and my cheese in moderation. If you listen closely I bet you can hear his arteries hardening from where you are!
It looks like we may be getting ice tonight so my "back to normal" may be short lived. =)

SCIENCE LESSON

It was incredibly nice outside today so Denny and I decided to work on one of our New Years resolutions-organizing the garage. Dalton was playing outside and every once in a while he would come in to see what was going on. I believe he was practicing his supervisory skills. On one of his trips into the garage he was listening to a conversation that Denny and I were having about W-D 40. ( I know we are so uncool) Denny was telling me about how it was developed to prevent rust etc. and W-D stood for "water displacement". Dalton had apparently been listening carefully and without missing a beat said "no I don't believe you are right daddy." Our sides still hurt! And yes, Denny is right.

MY RESOLUTIONS

Do I dare make resolutions?? of course I do.

This year I really need to focus on my health. I would like to help make my family healthier too. Dalton needs to learn to eat more veggies. Sometimes Dalton doesn't want to eat meat either. He wants cereal or hotdogs. I would like to install a routine for us....such as a set eating time, walking time etc. We pretty much fly by the seat of our pants right now.

I want to become even more organized around the house. I do pretty good at keeping my kitchen cabinets organized and neat but I really want to focus on the closets, the garage and the storage building. I also want to repaint my dining room. If you just rolled your eyes at me-STOP IT! I know we have lived here less than a year but the color just doesn't go with the stuff that I already have and it is cheaper to paint than to get all new stuff. Ah, see it doesn't sound so silly after all;) I want something neutral. It is currently a tuscan redish orangeish brownish clay color. (visulaize that one!) I will take a pic and put it on here so you can see what I mean. I will do a before and after.

I also want to make more family time. I would like once a month to plan an outing where we go do something fun, educational and memorable. I do not want to be the one who has to come up with everything because then I am too controlling over it. But, I will start out and plan the first one this month. Or maybe we can come up with different ideas all at once and put them in a jar and pull one out every month and just go with it!! I think I like that idea best!

I also would like to see my family and friends more! But that also means that they have to come here too!!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!

We have started our new year off nice and peaceful. Last night it was the four of us, Michelle and Aubrey got to come over and was here until about 10. The kids played nonstop, sometimes they fought like little married people, but they had a great time...I can tell by the mess they made! lol Mom, Michelle and I played Rummy-O until past midnight and Denny .........well, he gave up and went to bed before midnight. He says he heard the fireworks that our neighbors sent off at midnight. By 1am I was past my crashing point and I fell asleep watching the ball drop-again. (third time I think) I forgot to mention that I made home made lasagna with salad and cheese garlic bread. It was sooooooooooo good if I do say so myself! I had bought some finger food stuff for our late night snacking but we were all too full to even think about it.

I look forward to school starting next week. Dalton missed the whole week before Christmas break so he is stirr crazy and that makes me mommy crazy!!

We completed the de-Griswalding of our house yesterday and got everything back in the storage building. yahoooooo Denny was busy playing with his new lawn sweeper so I used Dalton's wagon to make the 10+ trips back and forth to the building. I feel like I am getting my house back and I feel the need to give everything a major cleaning!!!! If it would stay warm enough I would even do my windows!! I really want to do the outside-when the exterminator comes and sprays the out side he does around the windows and it runs down the glass sometimes. I feel like running out and giving him the windex and paper towels. But, I don't because I like them and I don't want to run them off! haha

As I raise my hot chocolate mug up.."here's to a new year, family, friends, health and happiness".