Swimming Pool?!

Ok, so several day a week I watch my nephew and niece. The youngest, Aydin is just one and has absolutely wanted nothing to do with the water outside at all. Don't get me wrong, this kid loves his bath, but the outside water, in the swimming pool, and the sprinkler, not so much. Th other day, I caught him throwing a ball into the pool, and then he saw the slide. He does like slides, and this was no exception. He didn't realize however that the slide led straight to water. I wish I could have gotten the shocked look on his face, but I didn't. No, I didn't rescue him from getting into the water. I took pictures like any good Aunt would do. LOL!! I did take him out, only for him to find the slide and do it again. Here are a few pictures:

Climbing in to retrieve the ball:

Turned Around and Thinking:

Anna kicked back and relaxing:

I did get a video the other day too and I will post that tomorrow. Don't the kids look like they are having fun?!?! I love summer when we can play outside.

Lost in Neverland

LOL! Funny title, I know. Yes, I am officially LOST in neverland. I am sorry I haven't posted. I usually post like 15 times a month, and this month, well, it really just slipped by me. I can't believe we are in the last week. Anyhow, not much new. Still keeping busy, still working, still struggling to keep my mom's things paid, still, well, just still. We are here and going. On an up note, Anna is D-O-N-E with kindergarten!! Yeah!! She finished last week sometime. The promotion party is still a few weeks away, but we are done and taking till after July 4th off. I am glad for the break. We both need it. She did rather well, and is ready to start first grade. I am glad, but also know that I need a break. We do have her first grade curriculum bought and waiting, so at least that is a little less of a worry, and we can start at any time. Other than that, nothing is new. Been keeping busy. I am hoping to post most of the week. We have some good info, but I never got to it, so hopefully all week you can stop in for a blogging treat. Take care all.

Why Didn't I Think of That?!?!?

Ok, so my husband nicely broke his glasses this morning and I had to take him to get them fixed. No problem. Since we were there, I found a really nice pair of glasses that I fell in love with. I mean they were so cute. I tried them on and plastered my face to the mirror, since I can't see a darn thing without my prescription, and still couldn't tell what they looked like. I looked at my husband and said, "how do they look," to which he did the normal husbandly duty and said "fine." UGH! I HATE that answer. He just wanted to respond and make me leave him alone. Well, while in the car he came up with the perfect solution. So I can see what I look like in whatever pair of glasses, and actually know what they look like, he said to have someone take pictures of me with a digital camera with the different frames on, and then I can look at them and decide that way which ones I like the best! Now, tell me how brilliant is that?! I wish I would have thought of that, but I didn't, so my husband gets all the credit. Now, come September, when I get to have new glasses, I will be going in with a partner in crime to take my picture, so I can actually SEE what I look like before picking out a certain pair of glasses! Now tell me, "Why didn't I think of that?" Thanks for the brilliant idea honey!!

Bulletin Board

I know, school is almost out and we are about to enjoy a few weeks off for summer vacation, but I changed the bulletin board in our school room/ dining room. We have a very small one that we try to change out once a month to a new thing, since it is in our living area. I have found soem really neat seasonal things and have been buying things on clearance for the next year, but this was something that I had to put up. The colors our brilliant. It looks so real (especially if you couldn't see the corkboard background.) Anyhow, I wanted to share with you all, so here is a picture of out current bulletin board:

Sorry, not a perfect picture, but I love the flowers. Anyhow, we do have another bulletin board, but it permanently holds our calendar and other things for school. Its a big mess. Have to have one that way. LOL! Have a great weekend. God Bless!

Work, Work, Work

Well, as you can tell, things have been busy. I haven't found the time to do things I like....like blogging. On Monday, I went to my in-laws and took apart something for our back yard and on Tuesday, I set it up in ours. Here is a picture of the finished product:

Of course, we have had other issues, tall grass, weeds, ants and of course the weather played a part in this whole factor. Here is why we couldn't play on them yet:

We are hoping that today's nice weather will allow us to go out and have some fun with the swing set. The baby swing is on there for my nephew. He is just one, and loves to swing. This set was in our back yard in Fort Worth, but we haven't lived anywhere since then that would allow us to set it up until now. Anna was so excited about it, and then it rained for days. UGH! Well, at least it is back in our yard where we can enjoy it all the time. We shouldn't have too many more of the above issues. And yes, for those who are asking, I did take it down and set it back up by myself. Took an hour to take down and 2 hours to set back up. :-)

UPDATE:

We did get to enjoy the swings today finally! Here are some pictures of the three kids enjoying a fun time:

(On a side note, I have got to dig holes and put the posts burried into the ground. Does anyone know how far to do that?)

"I Want Curly Hair!"

"I Want Curly Hair!" This is what Anna has been begging for for quite some time now. She wanted curly hair so bad she could taste it. I think it is the age and wanting to be like mom, since I have had perm after perm basically all the way since 2002. Don't get me wrong, I have straightened my hair, but the maintenance and up keep to keep my hair nicely straight suck and I eventually, no more than 8 weeks later get it curly again. I just went through one of those said phases. It has been straight for about 8 weeks now. It was no longer wash and go hair....it was wash, dry, curling iron, hairspray, curling iron, frizzy hair. I can't have perfectly straight pretty hair. No, I have frizzy hair. Anyhow, I think I have strayed off topic. Anna has really wanted curly hair and when I told her I was getting another perm and making my hair curly, she said she wanted one too. I told her how bad it stinks and about the rollers hurting your head, but she really wanted curly hair, so yesterday, she went curly. (Although I am not sure how long it will last, since she has stick straight hair, but it is curly, for now.) Anyhow, here are some pictures of Anna's first home perm. I was six when I got my first one too....want to see the pictures? LOL!

Right after she was all rolled:

Right after I tortured her by rinsing out the "stinky stuff": (At this point she NEVER wanted a perm again):

The end result:

It turned out pretty cute, don't you think?! And now, the picture you all wanted to see, a picture of me getting my first perm. I was actually 4 years old according the age on the back. Can you believe I was actually 4 years old for my very first perm? I thought 6 was young. LOL!

Here it is:

Hope you enjoyed it. Anna was okay until we put the actual perm solution in, then she wasn't happy until we put the neutralizer in. LOL! Hope you all have a great week and God Bless.

Frusturated

Alright, as many of you know, I am taking care of my mother, who is fighting for disability. We are waiting on a court date, and in the mean time, I have been paying eveyrthing. This is not easy to do on a minimum wage (or pretty close to it) job. My sister and broher have been not much or pretty close to no help. I am frusturated and tired and really just want them to chip in something to helping care for OUR mother. I was so upset this morning that I worte them the following letter (names edited out to protect the innocent):

>>>>>
I know I haven't heard from either of you because I need money. I am really tired of asking and you both say no all the time. What will you do if she ends up on the street? I can't keep doing this by myself. This is too hard and WAY TOO stressing. It is taxing on my marriage and on me emotionally. It is also starting to affect A, because of the constant stress. If I didn't do it, would either of you care if she was on the street? I can't afford to keep paying it all by myself. I work full time, take care of M's kids 3 days a week, just for the money, I have sold almost everything you can think of, and I have called every resource in the city for help. What more do you expect me to do?! I have no food, we ran out of toilet paper this week (yes I replaced it, but that should NEVER happen), we have even sold some of A's toys for the money. What can I do to convince you two that I need help? Mom's things are not that expensive, and if there were three of us paying something, it might not be so hard on me. Emotionally, I am fed up. I have already paid out over $1200 of mom's things, and that is just what is recorded in my check book and just from February till now. There is more than that. We have a shortage of almost $300 on the rent. The government money was not as much as we were wanting and I can do one of two things....pay mom's rent for the month and break my promise to my family of a trip to Six Flags (for stress relief and a family vacation we have NEVER had before) or keep my promise to my family and have no where for mom to go. I am not sure how to stress that I need help. I know you two are probably tired of me asking, but thats what it boils down to. Can you please find something to help me with? I am tired! I don't understand how you can both think this is all my resposibility. Sorry I had to write this again and I know you two will probably not want to talk to me...I don't care. I want the help with OUR mother's things. I love you both and hope you can find it in your heart to help your own mother in her time of need.

Love
N

>>>>>

Was I too harsh? I am in the right in asking for the help from them, am I not? I know at least one of them occasionally reads my blog and I am sorry, that you had to read this in your mailbox and here, but I can't do this anymore!! I am asking for help. My mother really needs to keep her own place, the lawyer said it herself. What I can not keep doing is paying TWO complete households on my own. Please tell me I am not in the wrong. If you think I shouldn't have posted this, do not bother commenting, I will delete it. I am just venting and frustrated. A blog is for writing my feelings as well as updating people.