About Me

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I am happily married to Paprika, my husband of 21 years, and we have two beautiful little girls who joined our family much later than we anticipated, but we are eternally thankful they arrived. I am also a teacher/librarian with 20 years experience in public education currently working as an elementary school librarian.

Thursday, March 29, 2012

You Know It's Spring in Texas When...


Well, I've been just slightly negligent in keeping up the blog....things have changed a bit since my last post TWO YEARS AGO. Spice is now in kindergarten (for a few more weeks anyway) and Sugar is a big second grader. A family member asked about starting a blog so I checked here to see where I'd gotten my design and after I watched the video of Sugar's first day of kindergarten three or so times while bawling over how much she's grown up, I decided it was time for an update. Here are the girls posing in the bluebonnets. It's a Texas tradition, you know!

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Innocence Lost

I knew this day would come. I just didn't realize that it would come so soon. I didn't really expect that my girls would remain innocent forever. I just thought we might make it to the double-digits before it happened. Well, too late; it's already happened. My sweet little girls have figured out the difference between girls and boys. That's right....you heard me. Sugar and Spice know the difference between boys and girls. Oh, I know what you're thinking..."What kind of mother would allow this to happen? Obviously they've been exposed to something they had no business seeing or hearing." Well, I really don't know how it happened. But they found out. And just in case you haven't heard....girls have eyelashes.

Friday, January 29, 2010

The Formal Dinner Party


Sugar's teacher held a formal dinner party at her home this afternoon for the entire class as a culminating activity for the nutrition and manners units of study they completed this week. It was fantastic! I'm sure the kids will remember it for the rest of their lives. First they gathered in the living room where Ms. Matejka took photos and served all of her guests hors d'oeuvres . As she circled the room offering each child a cracker with canned cheese, she reminded them of appropriate responses if they did not want anything or thought they wouldn't like it. She even instructed them in the fine art of taking a small bite if you're unsure and then hiding the rest in your napkin until you can get rid of it! :) Next each of the gentlemen was instructed to invite one of the ladies to join him at the dinner table, which was set with black and white table cloths, silver charges, specially folded napkins and goblets of water. The courses included chicken noodle soup, garden salads, sorbet, the main course ( fish sticks, macaroni and cheese, green beans, carrots, and corn), and dessert (brownies presented on a plate with chocolate syrup, whip cream and sprinkles). During the salad course she provided tips about how to move food around your plate if you don't like it so that it appears as though you're eating and how to respond if your host should notice that you are, in fact, not eating. The party ended with the presentation of the hostess gift (some lovely flowers and a bracelet that the room mothers thoughtfully picked up) and a tour of the house. I wish kindergarten could last forever!!!

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

The Birthday Dance

Sugar's teacher goes above and beyond what any parent could expect to make each of her students feel special each day, but birthdays are a major event! The birthday boy or girl is greeted at the entrance with a message in sidewalk chalk and a blow-up cake, he or she receives a special birthday gift (which is top secret and must be opened at home so as not to spoil the surprise for others!), and then the birthday dance begins. If that weren't enough, the principal bestows a birthday blessing upon him or her during chapel service. It was incredible and I'm so glad I got to be there to see this!

Sunday, December 20, 2009

All I Want For Christmas

Sugar originally wanted a horse for Christmas. We managed to convince her that Santa wouldn't bring a horse to a family that wasn't prepared and didn't have room for a horse. Well, now she wants a sled. So far, we haven't been able to budge her from the sled request, no matter how many times we say that there's not enough snow in this part of Texas to ride one. She insists that, "She's going to use it for something else!" What? We haven't gotten any kind of answer to that. I guess we need to hire a Santa who can tell her that he doesn't bring sleds to little girls in Texas. Anyone? Anyone? Thankfully, Spice is a little easier to please.

Thursday, December 10, 2009

Perceptions Are Funny Things, Aren't They?

We received a notice from Sugar's school last week informing us that vision and hearing screenings were being conducted. I asked Sugar whether she had had her eyes and ears checked. She responded with a very convincing no. We continued to discuss her day at school, when suddenly she exclaimed, "Oh! We played 'The Eye and Ear Game'!" Hmmmm. I asked her to describe the ear game for me. She explained, "First you put on these headphones that are a little bit squeezy. Then you listen for a beep and when you hear one, you raise your hand." She went on to tell me about the eye game: "You stand way back at the green tape. There's robot fingers on the wall and some go this way, some go that way, some go like this and some go like this. *turning her hand to point up, down, left, and right* You have to look at the chart and tell which way they're going." "Sooooo," I asked. "You haven't had your eyes and ears tested yet?" "Mommy!" she replied. "I already told you I haven't had my tests!!!" ***Disclaimer: Sugar passed her screenings with flying colors. This is a photo from last year when she decided to try Paprika's glasses on for size.

Saturday, December 5, 2009

I Can't Believe I Haven't Posted Since August!!!

Wow...it's been a while. A LONG while! I've intended for weeks, *ahem*, months, to put something new up, but it seems that the blog is constantly falling to the bottom of the priority list. Tonight was the Burleson Christmas Parade and we rode the HCCA float along with several other families and Ms. Werner, the school administrator. It was WICKED cold, but we had a great time. Spice LOVED throwing candy out to the other kids on the street, although they had to risk their very lives to get it since her tosses never managed to land very far from the trailer. Sugar took herself right up to have a seat by Ms. Werner and spent most of the parade sitting with her. I was only slightly jealous. Actually, I was quite proud of her. She can be very shy and clingy at times, but it's obvious that she feels very comfortable with her teacher and Ms. Werner. We are so glad that we chose to send her to HCCA!