At a podcasting workshop...

and of course I am going to find SOME way to incorporate Disney. LOL. It's a sickness, I know. Anyway... we were playing with Microsoft Movie Maker functions and I had these 2 pictures from our trip last December...

On the countdown...

So close, but so far away! Wohoo... we leave for Disney in 93 days. The kids are getting excited, I am past excited and I need to get planning!

We'll be there soon Mickey!

Coby TF-DVD7750... what a piece of junk.

I'm a stickler for car seats... and seatbelts. Probably because I was saved by my seatbelt in an accident in 1989. I remember the days of crawling all over the car while we went down the road. I absolutely don't allow this. So the question is, how do you entertain your children and keep them still on the 3.5 hour trip to the Grandparent's or even better the 16 hour trip to Disney World. A DVD player- how else?

My parents bought us one for Christmas several years back and we had very few problems with it... until Caleb left it hanging by the cord outside the car door in June of 2008 (I didn't realize it) and I drove off and lost it somewhere between Carthage and Center. Ooooops.

We were heading to the Grandparent's for the 4th of July- so I bought a new one from Walmart- couldn't find the one we had previously so I got a Coby TF-DVD7750. Worked great for about 3 months when the cord went bad- it has one unit that plays the DVD and the 2nd screen is a "slave", attached by a 3 part cord- the video portion of the cord quit working. I called the company and sent them $12 to get a new cord. All is well in DVD land again right? Fast forward to July 2009, one year and one week after buying the unit- the kids and I are headed to my parent's house to see my sister and her family, we are 30 minutes out of Carthage and the stupid thing just stops working. I pull over take the DVD out, reload and then I get the message "wrong disk". Hasn't worked since. I looked it up on the internet- this thing is JUNK. I have read ONE good review and oh, 50 bad ones. We used this stupid thing a total of 10 times maybe and it is a PAPERWEIGHT. Junk pure Junk!!! Customer service? What do they say? "Clean it with a DVD cleaner and canned air." Did that. 10 or 15 times. Doesn't work. Oh, and they were rude on top of that.

So now, we are again in the market for a portable DVD player. I will be doing my research this time.

I will NEVER buy another COBY product. I recommend you don't either.

First Day of School...

Hard to believe that my babies are 8 and 5... in the 3rd grade and kindergarten. Where did the time go? They are so grown up. I am proud of myself, I did not cry at all today. I was strong- and it was TOUGH!

Sydney was up and dressed by 7am, Caleb was a bit tougher to get up, but once he was up and ready he was absolutely NOT interested in taking pictures (which is easy to see). I managed to get a few before Caleb just absolutely refused anymore. Sydney would have kept smiling. She really is such a ham. We got in the car and off we went. Since Caleb and Sydney's schools literally sit back to back we decided to walk Syd in and then walk Caleb to class. First off, Caleb is in 3rd grade and did not want to be walked in, he wanted to be dropped off. He was very unhappy about going through the Primary school to take Sydney to class. All the teachers remember him and all said "good morning Caleb," which was usually me with a grumble.
We got Sydney to her class and settled in. She was so happy to see a friend from her Pre-K class last year and she sat down to color. She waved goodbye and was off. Caleb was glad to finally get out of the Primary and over to his school. We passed his new Sp. Ed teacher in the hall and he actually talked to her... getting happier by the moment. We went into his new class. Several boys were really happy to see him- it is so great to see that he has made so many friends over the year. He took his seat next to friend Darren. I asked if I could take his picture. HIs response? "Moooommmmmm, we took pictures at home." Nonetheless I snapped a few anyway, much to his dismay.

After that Phil and I were out of there. It still seems so strange that they are so big. They were just babies the other day.

Both of them had great days at school, love their teachers, classes and everything. I think this is giong to be a great year. And we couldn't be more proud of both of them.

I'm all EARS...

Sydney has talked about getting her ears pierced on and off for about a year. The last time we were visiting my parents my mom offered to take her to have her ears pierced. She freaked out. No, she wasn't ready and told us that she had to be six. I really haven't mentioned it to her since, and she has not mentioned it either.

Imagine my surprise when I picked the kids up from the sitter on Wednesday and Sydney told me first thing that she needed to have her ears pierced. The sitter said that she had been telling her the same thing all day and wasn't sure where it came from. We talked it over with her Daddy and it was decided that we would let her get them pierced.

So today after we attended Sydney's meet the teacher (Caleb's was yesterday evening), Caleb, Sydney and I headed to the mall in Longview to get her ears pierced at Claire's. To be honest, I thought she would chicken out. I had been trying to prepare her for the past couple of days that it will hurt for a few minutes- and tell her what to expect. When we got out of the car, all she asked was if she could bring her little stuffed kitty with her. We went into the mall and into Claire's- they were just finishing up piercing a teenage boys ears. She hopped up in the chair, picked out some adorable 14K earrings that are pink stones in a flower. When they put the first one in, she didn't even flinch! The second earring caused a slight grimace (becuase she knew what was coming). But there were no tears! Not a whimper. NOTHING. I couldn't believe it!

So now Sydney has pierced ears and she is SO proud- she tells everyone she sees!

Getting ready for school...

Well...

We found out who Caleb's teacher is today. He has Ms. Asher... we don't know much about her, but so far I have heard good things. Meet the teacher is next Thursday, so we will find out soon enough!

We found out that Sydney has Mrs. Johnson a few weeks ago. A good friend of ours daughter had her for Kindergarten and loved her, so we know Syd will be in good hands.

The summer is drawing to a close... the kids will be back in school two weeks from today! I go back to work officially next Monday, although I have been working on and off for the past month or so... there is just so much to do in my new position!

More summer memories... it's almost over...

Thoughts/Memories of Summer

I can't believe it's August. After today I have one week left until I head back to work and 2 weeks until the kids are back in school. The summer has gone so incredibly fast and been so much fun. This is my first summer ever at home with my kids and I have really enjoyed it. I thank God every day for leading me to complete my Masters Degree which lead to this job at the college that I enjoy so much and allows me to spend so much time with my family.

Here are some memories of summer 2009...

Caleb at Cub Scout Day Camp













Cousin Ally and Sydney at my parent's house














Caleb, friends Wade and Jake, and Sydney at the beach on Dauphin Island, AL












Caleb (and Sydney) swimming in the backyard pool

It's almost time for Fall... school, pumpkins, football, and lots of new adventures!

Here we go...

OK, so I'm jumping into the world of blogging.

Why would I do such a thing to myself??

Mainly because when I am scrapbooking I have trouble remembering what I wanted to say about certain events, so I thought I would put them here and then cut, paste, print... voila... instant journaling!

I also thought this would be a great way for the grandparents and relatives to keep up with the everyday life of our two kids. So here we go. WELCOME to our life!