Happy 3rd Birthday to my Nor-Nor

RCM, this picture is for you!!!!

We say this all the time, about how quickly time goes by. Sometimes I get sick of hearing myself say it, but it seems even more so today as we celebrated Nor-Nor's third birthday. We cannot believe she is 3. It really feels like yesterday that were at Northeast Medical Center, about two hours away from meeting our second born child. She was born at 6:31 p.m.........three short pushes and she was here. Our Nor-Nor loves Dora, so a Dora party we had. I don't think we could have been more Dora.

Nor-Nor: You are our precious little girl and you have made our family complete. It has been such a joy watching you grow up, discover things, and become such good friends with your brother. You two may have your tiffs from time to time but it's so sweet to see you two sticking together in new and unfamiliar situations. I'll never forget when we saw you and Tug holding hands at church waiting to get in the bouncy house. Those are the moments I live for. You have some spunk my baby. Always use that for good!!! I can't wait to see what the next year holds for youand our family.

Our Week in Review

January has completely flown by. One more week and we are in the month of LOVE. Let's see.......this week. Monday, was a holiday so T and I took the kids to daycare and just spent the day relaxing. I wasn't feeling so great. Didn't begin to feel better until Wednesday evening. I had this stomach thing going around. For most people it was a 24/48 hour thing, but mine wanted to linger. No fun. Finally decided by Wed, after having an accident, that I was in need of some medicine. After 4 doses of medicine I am convinced that I won't be going to the bathroom until, yum, March.

We had teacher workdays on Tues. and Wed. These were MUCH needed. Both T and I worked our tails off. Actually we had been to the school on Sat. to rearrange my room. I like it much better. I might post a picture soon. Major organizing of files and getting everything straight. I could use another week of teacher workdays.

We got new students on Thursday for the spring semester. This is shaping up to be a much better semester than the fall. I cut my numbers in half in yearbook. From 21 students to 10. I can't express to you how giddy this makes me feel. I got rid of most of my dead weight. We finally made deadline, in fact we are ahead on pages. We have about 74 pages left to turn in. But the work isn't nearly over. These pages are some of the big ones: band, ROTC, spring sports. We'll keep plugging along. Can't wait to show you all the finished product. I am teaching a class of English I, which I have never taught before. It's a class of repeaters, but the class is small. That's a blessing. Then I have a class of English III Honors. Oh how I have missed my juniors and the English III curriculum. Love it!!!

T has officially been the principal at the alternative school a year this week. What a year it has been in that arena. He works so hard!!! He is off to San Antonio this coming week. I am not sure if I will survive without him for 4 days. I am not ashamed to say that I am VERY spoiled by my hubs. We'll end out next week with our little girl turning 3 on Sat. What in the world???? Nor-nor isn't supposed to be 3 yet. But I guess I have no say in the matter. :(

37 Years of Serving

We went to Columbia on Friday to celebrate Richard's retirement from MEPS at Fort Jackson. After 37 years of service, R has decided to retire. Actually it's been longer than that. Granny shared with us on the way to Ft. Jackson that R has worked at the base in some capacity since he was 16. That's 50 years of work. Wow!!! I have been joking for the last while that R better get an application into Walmart to be a greeter. I just can't imagine him sitting around the house. He just can't sit still. I hope he enjoys retirement. He deserves it for sure. Everyone had so many nice things to say about him and it was quite evident that he will be greatly missed at MEPS. He has processed in 14 years over 40.000 recruits to all branches of the military. Incredible!!!

Unfortunately I have had all weekend what T had last weekend. I think today will be a much better day than the last two. At least I am hoping so. Thankfully it has been the weekend and some time off with rest. And I sure have rested.

They are calling for 2 to 4 inches of snow tonight. I hope for the sake of the kids, the snow comes through. Although I do wish it snowed this past weekend instead. I really need these two workdays before the start of the new semester.

Season 8

Call me crazy........call me kooky, but I am completely stoked. AMERICAN IDOL is back!!!! I haven't been as addicted in the past few years as I was at first. I just don't have the time. You better believe I was plopped in front of the television last night as the judges descended on Phoenix. I realize they let some of the bad ones through for comedy's sake, however, really what prompts these people to audition in the first place??? Who is deluding these people into thinking they can sing? Nevertheless, there were some good ones who will find their way into Hollywood. Somehow I always manage to really like the person who is voted fourth or fifth from the acutal winner. I am still bitter about George Huff not winning from season 4. I am not sure about this new judge either. She seems not as nice as Paula Abdul, who never wants to be mean. We shall see..........let season 8 begin.

Hide the Thimble

Okay, you have to be wondering what hide the thimble means. I had this brainstorm a while ago. What is it that we did for entertainment when we were kids? I remembered that we often played hide the thimble at my grandmother's house. Now you are wondering....how do you play??? You take a thimble (sewing item and very cheap) and hide it in any room you choose. You can put it in plain sight or make it really difficult. It's up to you to set the criteria. You can make it really easy (as I do for my little ones) or the older the kids get, make it difficult. I remember at Gram's house as the older we got the more complicated the game became. My kids love this game. You can also give hints about whether a person is 'hot' or 'cold.' Nor calls this game "hide the symbol." Love it.

T woke up sick this morning. So I guess that means that this stomach bug will not pass this house. Ugh!!!!!
Potty Training Update #2: Nor had two not so-good days at school (Tuesday and Wednesday), but the rest of the week was great. She still is having a little trouble with #2. But we are still working at it. I swear we started out this process with about 12 pairs of under*wear, but they seem to have all disappeared. I am about to be off to Target (one of my favorite places). Hopefully they will have some good sales.

To round out this post.........HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Amanda!!! Welcome to the club girl and I hope you have a fabulous day!!! Love you!!!!

A Trip to Boone/Blowing Rock

Gracefully Turning 30

This is a picture from the cruise we took on New Year's Eve around Lake Norman. A very interesting cruise to say the least. There were no more than 70 on board, but there were certainly some crazy-acting folk..... Overall we had a good time.

I love an ice cream cake!!! This one was homemade and awesome!!!

Wow!!! My first post of the new year. Still can't believe it's 2009. My mom and sister did a fabulous job of making my 30th birthday special. Thanks mom and sis!!!! They put 30's everywhere!!!!

Update: Potty training day 9: We went cold turkey the day after Christmas. The whole time we were potty training Tug, everyone kept saying. "oh you'll get through this, just think girls are easier to potty train than boys." Well........that appears to be true. I don't know if it's being in school that has helped Nor, seeing Tug go to the restroom, or what. But she seems to have picked it up a lot quicker than he did. We shall see. It was soooooooooo hard with Tug and some regression too. Hoping for the best here. We are tired of buying diapers. I think we are about to go cold turkey on sippy cups too. My babies are growing up way too fast.