Cuter than Ever

As promised, here are the pictures showing my daughter being cuter than ever. She is also in ballet starting today. (Gymanstics is on Mondays.) See, she does get to do some things! Anyhow, she absolutely loves, loves, loves to dress up in costumes and her ballet clothes were no different. Anyhow, as I promised, here are the pictures from todays ballet class.

Posing before class:

Learning to Walk like a ballerina:

Hopping on one foot:

Supposed to be listening to the teacher, but posing for mommy:

Practicing first position:

As you can see, I was right. She was cuter than ever. I said it was possible AND she gets to look all dressied up every week now, twice a week. Who am I kidding?! She is darn cute all the time! Thanks for looking and stay tuned!

Learning Experience

Alright, I often wondered how you parents of multiple children, especially those with little ones, could get your schooling in for you children. I figured it our today! Naptimes are sacred. I had my niece and nephew for a while today and wasn't sure how well it was going to work, but we finished everything during naptime and I even got lunch started, so when the little one woke up, we were done and having fun playing already. I believe I can do it now. Now that we have done it once, I know we can do it again. Call me anytime if you need me to watch the kiddos Michelle. LOL! We did great and had fun too.

Gymnastics Pictures

Well, today was a successful gymnastics day. Anna did excellent and had a great time. She also looked super cute in her outfit. She wouldn't take it off, so she has worn it all day. Oh well, she does look cute in it. Here are the pictures. Enjoy!

Posing at home before we left:

Walking the balance beam:

Front Roll (aka somersault):

Waiting her turn (couldn't resist the photo):

Crab Walking (its dark, but she did great at this skill):

Cinderella Cookie:

I know, I know, what does the Cinderella cookie have to do with anything?! Anna got this from my mom today and I thought it looked so cute and real, that I snapped a picture of it. She will eat it tomorrow with her lunch, or as an afternoon snack. Now, did my beautiful girl look cute or what?! Just wait till Wednesday! I bet she will look even cuter! Not possible you say? Just you wait and see. LOL! Tune in Wednesday for more details!! :-)

Gymnastics

Well, today is Anna's first day of gymnastics. I am super excited for her as I think she will enjoy it. She has absolutely no idea what gymnastics really is, since we have no cable and the television is almost never on, except for our movies, but we have her enrolled anyhow a the community center. She loves that she got to get a new outfit for it too. I will update this with how she did and pictures after the class today. I can't wait to see her in there!

Hard Day

Those that know us well, know what a hard time we have been through over the past year and a bit. I am having a hard time with emotions today and keeping them in check. I know everything happens for a reason, but why did this particular thing happen to us. I have been questioning God all morning and know that there will never be an answer to it, I will just have to learn with the consequences of some peoples actions, but it is hard on the human side of me to have to deal with it. This change meant so much and has hurt me and the family so much that some days you don't want to move on, just sit and cry, but you can't do that as there is nothing you can do about it now, but today is one of those days. I just feel like sitting down and crying all day and questioning God. It is nopt my place to question him, but I want to. I don't think we will ever be done thinking about this horrible thing. It will be in the back of my mind always. I will never understand and will always be trying to figure it out. Most days I do good. Today is not one of those days.

Appeal Denied

Well, my mother's disability appeal for her own private disability insurance was denied. I don't know what the heck they are thinking. My mother can not do nothing near to what she could do. There is something seriously messed up in their heads! How can they sleep at night knowing the misery they are putting her through. My mother can not even open a water bottle anymore, or take out trash. She moved down by me just a few short weeks ago after her doctor told her she needed to live with someone or live by someone who could help take care of her. This isn't enough for those people to give her the disability money she deserves? I guess not. I hate that they are putting her and us through this. This is so freaking stupid. Even the state of Texas SSI doctor says she is disabled. She has no grip and loses her balance at the drop of a hat. She can not do anything quickly at all. This is all from a woman who used to chase her kids around the house with a garden hose, go camping, bake homemade goods from scratch, keep a garden and flowers, mow the grass and pretty much anything you can think of. I hate seeing my mother and knowing that she can't do all that, but I am darn lucky that we still have her and she can still be here with us. She truly needs this disability money, and the appeals take so darn long. It is upsetting to me. My mother had to cash out her 401K retirement to live off of and I know that isn't going to last forever. What then? She has already willingly given us grocery money, but I don't like to take it because I know she has nothing coming in and she is running out. Please, if nothing else, keep my mother in your prayers. She is a loving and caring woman and she doesn't deserve the mess that they are putting her through. It is only the devil trying to get us down and it is very upsetting to me. Please pray that the disability people see that she really needs this help. My mother would work in a heartbeat, if they would let her. Thanks so much. I love you mom and so does Anna. God bless you and we will pray our way through yet another appeal.

Anna and My mom:

Eyes

I am still upset about what you can use food stamps for, but I guess that will never change.

On to other news, Anna is going to the eye doctor this morning. no, this is not the first time she has been to the eye doctor, but it is the first time I get to take her. Daddy took her last time and I got the second hand reports. This time I get to be right there while they check my little girls eyes. She really, I mean REALLY wants glasses, but we have already told her she will only be getting them if she needs them. I think she just likes them because Mommy and Daddy both wear glasses. I can't see a thing without mine, I have been wearing them since the third grade. I will let you all know what happens later. Have a good day.

Update: She does not need glasses yet. She is slightly far-sighted, but she is correcting that herself, so as of right now, no glasses. They did dilate her eyes for part of her exam and said she should clear up later today, but as of bed-time, she still had really dilated pupils. She was tired of seeing fuzzy, or however it was. I know it wasn't clearly, because she wouldn't look at a book. Anyhow, she is fine and needs no glasses.

I have a problem!!

The problem is that I am annoyed by people who can check out in front of me and buy ALL their children a $2 candy and not have to pay a darn cent for it! Yes, I am talking about people on Food Stamps! When the heck was candy a necessity? Here we are struggling to buy the basic of the cheap (no name brand) food, and they are checking out with almost $10 in candy for their children. Yes, they had $10 worth of candy, and it was paid for with my tax dollars! Are you kidding me?! I see that as a large problem! I think that is one thing that needs to be changed. Milk, meat, bread, they are all necessities, but candy? GIVE ME A BREAK!

Korral Night

We went to the K. Korral with our church last night and kids and adults alike all had a great time. There were sheep, buffalo, horses, deer and even camels. There were swings, sand, and little rides. Anna was in heaven. She got to feed animals and touch them and play in sand. It was so much fun and so exhausting at the same time to try and keep up, but it was well worth the experience. Here are a few photos from our trip.

Initial Horse sighting and not sure what to do:

Playing in the sand, but she would never really sit down:

Two ducks we followed to the pond:

Feeding camels (they have fuzzy lips):

Feeding deer (some of the little ones called one Bambi, it was too cute):

Swinging in the sunset (too cute):

Sorry, thats all the pictures for now. We have a WHOLE lot more, but I don't want to overload you. Hope you enjoy and have a great day.

Pictures

Alright, here are some pictures from this week. The first are Sunday, Anna is spinning in circles making her dress flare out. She calls it her "ball dress." It is a very cute red gingham dress and she loved wearing it. (That is a horse in her hand. She loves horses and brings one about anywhere.)

This next one is from yesterday. We went out to the local 9-11 memorial and tried to explain it as simple to her as possible about our freedoms and the reason for all the flags. She really liked all the flags and seemed to understand what we were talking about. She was genuinely sad about all the deaths and asked if they were in heaven.

Here are some long ago promised pictures. The first shows Anna writing mom and cat. Two of her favorite words to write. She usually writes mom and our last name and tells me she wrote my name. It is very cute.

This one is Anna's first picture of a horse and she asked me to spell it. Excuse the backwards 's.' It was written solely by a 5 year old, all I did was spell it.

Alright, that is enough for today. Hope you all have a good day. We are heading to a "Kiddie Korral" with the church tonight and I will try and get some cute pictures and post them too. God bless.

SO FUNNY!!!

Alright, if you have a weak stomach, don't read this, but on one of the blogs I read, the story was so hilarious to me, that I have to give you a link. It is called Spit Up, and she writes about her two boys. I think Barrett is 2 and Fisher is a baby. Please follow this link to read. I died laughing tonight!! By the Way, Jeremy thinks I am weird for thinking this was funny, but it was too hilarious. I thought I had about heard it all with kids!

Slacker Needs More Time!

I have gotten no where on the unpacking of my mom! I feel like a slacker. I have been so busy with daily life, that there really hasn't been nuch time to go unpack her boxes. UGH! I need to get over there and get her straightened out. If I can line the rest of her shelves, we can get rid of all the boxes in the kitchen and bathroom counters. The other thing I need to do is get her living room in order and cleaned up. Then, at least it will look a bit better. To add to that, I need to take that broken bookshelf out so we can at least get in her spare room and then we need to start moving things around in there to make room for the new bookshelves or whatever she puts in there to hold all her movies and books and such. It is still alot of work. If only I could find more time in the day to get over there.

I am still trying to get used to homeschooling as well. We are losing the lessons this Friday due to an Eye Doctor's appointment in the morning, then there is the homeschool kids meeting in the afternoon (good socialization), and then I work. Where do I make that up? I also work on Saturday all day, so Saturday night is out. Can I do it next Sunday afternoon? I wonder. I guess it wouldn't hurt to try. The least that will happen is it doesn't work and we re-do it next Monday?! Who knows.

As for everything else, I know I promised you pictures of a few things, so i guess I can get busy and start downloading some from the camera so you can see them, but then again, that may throw my schedule off too!! LOL! I can't believe I just said that. Anyhow, I will get them up here, I promise. Have a great week and hope to be on again tomorrow.

Still Here

We are still here. I have been extra busy, and my mother's place still is not much better than the day she moved in. We have gotten rid of some trash, and I have lined about half her kitchen shelves and started to wash and put away dishes, but there is a lot more to do to make the place a home. I need to finish breaking apart another bookshelf that never made the move...well, it actually made the move, but two cats somehow knocked it over, and it is in about 3 pieces now on the floor and on top of other boxes. It looks pathetic actually, but it will be Sunday or so before we get it cleared out.

Anyhow, then there is Anna. Michelle (my sister-in-law) told me today that Anna acts just like me. She says she acts like me and makes the weird faces that her daddy, Jeremy, makes. I am glad that people are realizing that she is very much our little girl, I have had NO doubt ever. She has always acted just like I did, but I don't remember doing it so young. Did I act that way at that age...Mom?? Dad?? If I did, I am sorry. I don't remember it. Anyhow, if she is soooo much like me, then how come we have such attitude issues lately? She thinks she can act like everyone else and we will just tolerate it. HAH! Fat chance! That attitude is going to hit the road and quick. I do not like having a snotty little girl. I want my sweet baby back, the one who always complied and says yes ma'am, and yes sir! I don't like the back talk and I think we are getting there somedays and other days I feel like I have done something wrong. Anyhow, any tips on how I can keep her on track? We already read the Bible everyday and i have her learning Bible memory verses. Any other hints? Need more ideas!

Anyhow, I better close this off for tonight and go play games. LOL!! Have a great weekend all.