Good job, Danny!

Danny got his first stripe on his belt tonight at Karate.

His tasks were tying his belt and reciting his pledge. He was so excited, and I am so proud!

This week, so far...

It's been another busy week for George and me, and it's only Wednesday! Between budget and legislative issues, work has been a bear. On the home front, Danny has had a really good week.  His favorite part so far was celebrating Grandparents' Day by eating lunch with Gran-ma and Papa Creamer at school!

Megan's having a great week, too.  She actually finished her homework tonight by 7:30, so she had some time to read. She was so excited.

Hope everyone's having a great week!

Lazy Sunday

Sundays after church are most often times to relax and hang out at home. Every Sunday, Megan and Danny seem to vibrate with the anticipation of a visit from Zachary. This Sunday was no exception.

They so love their big brother!

After dinner, we all lay back and listen to music, watch tv or read.

For the most part Sunday truly is a day of rest, and getting our garage door fixed on Saturday afternoon (thank you Capital City Garage Doors!) helped to decrease the stress we'd been feeling. 

Unfortunately, not everyone was so lucky. 6th grade has been very hard on Megan, and she spends most of every weekend playing catch up or getting a head start on the next week's homework. 

She will get a day off eventually, just not this week. She never complains, though, and it makes me so proud.

We hope everyone had wonderful weekend!

Saturday at the Park

After Karate on Saturday morning, George and I took the kids to Oven Park. It is one of our favorite places to go to just hang out, and we figured the kids deserved to relax a little before the weekend of homework and housework set in. Here are just a few pics from our excursion...

Aren't we cute? Megan took this shot with my camera.

Danny had his turn, too, but the shot of him taking it was the cutest.

The kids had fun walking through the gardens...

and hiding behind the fountain!

Daddy and Megan got to spend some quality time talking...

while Danny asked me questions (his face is so expressive).

We caught butterflies with our cameras, as well as...

frogs...

and turtles.

We couldn't have asked for a more beautiful morning. We love this park in all seasons, but it becomes magical in just a few months when the Christmas lights are up. Can't wait!



It's too early for this!

Can you tell Danny was a little less excited about karate this morning?

While still handsome, he looked very tired when we got to his class. I had to tickle-force him out of bed to get ready. Once he got into it, though, he worked hard on the bags.

He loves it.

Inexpensive magic wands are the best!

Despite Danny owning two magic wands, one from his Lego Harry Potter t-shirt combo, and one from none other than Ollivander's, his playtime tonight included magic wand fashioned from a post-Chinese dinner unused chopstick.

It's kind of like kids getting a fancy toy and playing with the box instead. Tell me again why any of us spend money on toys? I can get chopsticks for very cheap!

Calgon, take me away!!!

Another long week ended with this...

"What's that?" you say. It is my empty garage - the one I came home to put my car into today, and when I got there it wouldn't open. It seems that the spring that facilitates the opening of the door is broken, so the garage is still empty because the door was too heavy to lift. I've called to companies to fix it, but considering it is Friday night, we may be out of luck. It never ends!

New lanterns

One of my favorite places to hang out in the early evening is my front porch. I love to look at the herbs and plants there, listen to the birds, and watch Danny play basketball. Because my strawberry plants are pretty much past their lifespan, we decided to get something low maintenance to hang up in their place. I saw these lanterns at World Market (my favorite store) and I just had to get them.

They require absolutely no watering! Anything to make my life more simple.

While I was out getting the pic of my lantern, I caught this little bitty guy on my tomato plant.

After the photo shoot, he buzzed my hair when he moved on. I'm kind of sad that this summer is ending because the dragonflies have been more prevalent this summer than any I can remember. However, I will definitely not miss the mosquitos when the cold weather comes. Can't wait!

A productive weekend...despite the sniffles

Megan had a cold this weekend, so except for Karate with Danny, Saturday was pretty much a day for working at home. Unfortunately, Megan missed her science club cleanup day and her church middle school event, but we had a very productive weekend, going throught closets and collecting this for donation to Good Will.

On Sunday after church, we completed a mini project of changing our bathroom linens. It is amazing how a different color scheme can completely change a room. Here it is before:

and after.

The kids absolutely love the brightness, and the fact that it looks like a big kids' bathroom now. Times they are a changin'.

Happy Birthday, Granny!

Happy Birthday, Granny! We love you so much and can't wait until our next visit. We hope you enjoy your day!

The One and Only

OK, I lied. Instead of sleeping, I sat down to a couple of pieces of pizza and a Newcastle Brown Ale.

I don't even call it beer because it is so far above the others. MMMMMmmmmmm.

Another one for the record books

This week has been another doozy. Aside from 50+ hours of work for both George and me (it was budget submission time for state government), I've also attended  two school open houses
George took Danny to karate class, we helped Megan through 4 hours per night of homework, as well as other daily stuff. Highlights of the week for me included meeting Lt. Governor Jennifer Carroll and finding out today that we won the contest we entered at Megan's open house for a free yearbook! Awesome. Going to sleep now...

Yum, yum

Last night, after attending curriculum night at Danny's school, I needed to make a quick dinner. Luckily, I had the makings for Giada's Rolled Turkey and Apple Quesadillas on hand. I modified the recipe a little bit, using Boar's Head Everroast Chicken (it was on sale this week), but made them pretty much as directed. The kids and I were blown away at how good they are. The smoked mozzarella gives just the right amount of smoky flavor. I am even eating them right now for lunch as I type this. Yum, yum.

Vocabulary and Spelling City

If you have children who need some help with spelling, Vocabulary and Spelling City is an awesome tool to use. It lets you to publish the spelling lists that they bring home from school, and they can play games with spelling the words and take tests on them until they have mastered the words. I love this site!

Saturday morning Karate

Danny started Karate this week, and I can't decide which is better - racing to get him to class after work or getting up early on Saturday morning to take him to the 8:30 class. Either way, I'm playing chauffer for the fall because he's also starting basketball in a month. I miss the summer already!

Labor Day weekend

Tropical Storm Lee caused a very rainy Labor Day weekend for us. We went for our last summer swim on Saturday, before the clouds set in, and the rest of the weekend, we closed ourselves up in the house and watched an Andy Griffith DVD marathon. Believe me, I was happy with the wholesome fun. I got my bathrooms cleaned (yikes!) and did some cooking (homemade pizzas) and baking (cookies and shortbread), but for the most part, we had a restful time. The highlight of the weekend was decorating Star Wars sugar cookies with Megan and Danny,

and then eating them with root beer floats for dessert last night!

Whew! This week can go in the record books...

We have probably had had the busiest two weeks that we've had in a long time. We knew that with Megan starting middle school, we'd have some growing pains, but this was a bit ridiculous.

On day 1,  George and I went to pick up Megan from the new afterschool program at her school. When we pulled up to the front, an "official looking" woman was standing out front with an orange vest and a walkie-talkie. We asked where to pick up children from afterschool. She said, "We have an afterschool program?" This should have been a sign. For 4 days after that, I continuously talked and met with the assistant principal and principal on the complete lack of security during the afterschool program (the official looking woman was gone the next day and hasn't been back, leaving absolutely no-one present on campus except the afterschool teachers). On Friday, we decided to pull her out as it is basically an open campus from 4-6pm. She has officially become a bus rider.

Meanwhile, George and I got severe cramps in our hands from signing and filling out all of the first-day-of-school paperwork on Monday night. One of those forms was called the FERPA form, a form which allows parents to exclude their child's information (including home address) from the public school directory.  On Thursday evening, the parents of these middle school children all got an e-mail stating that if you signed this FERPA form, your child's name and picture will be excluded from everything, including the yearbook, any recital programs, etc.  This blanket removal goes against the intent of FERPA, and we had a major problem with this. As a law enforcement family, our home address is exempt from the public record any way, and after four days of talkng with the school, the school board, the FL Department of Education, and the US Dept of Education, the school board finally saw the light and decided to change the form. Victory!

Along with all of this activity, Megan was dealing with her own activity. Besides having more homework than I have ever seen in a two-week period, she had been adapting to changing classes, opening a locker, playing the cello and riding the bus for the first time ever. Already she's had a delayed bus ride where deputies had to be called. She's also lost her bookbag (I had to search the school for it), and other little things, but overall I'm happy she's healthy and enjoying school.

Luckily, Danny is doing well. Other than a few grumpy mornings, he's had a great two weeks!

Needless to say, I am exhausted!!! So glad it is Labor Day weekend.