This about sums up the week

ETA: The week's definitely not over. Clemson just lost to Maryland. Yes, folks, it's going to be a rough fall in the Cool House.



If you can't tell, he is sleeping standing up. He started off on the couch, but eventually ended up standing.

We have been crazy busy this week with work, school, soccer games, choir, Open House and general busyness.

Adriana and I had a rough week with homework this week. Being busier than normal did not help. She just decided all week to take her sweet time to do her homework. Finally, one day I collected her homework and told her she would have to turn it in not completed because she did not finish in a timely manner. Didn't have as much of a struggle with her the next day.

She did enjoy reading her story this week which was on "Johnny Appleseed". It was one of my favorite stories when I was in elementary school, too. Her teacher and student teacher made the week fun by finishing it with an apple party where they had apple pie, apple cider and apple butter. Her teacher told me they wouldn't do that again because the children had been stuck inside all day because of rain, so to say they were bouncing off the walls was an understatement.

At Open House, Cara's teacher told me that she has seen a complete turnaround in Cara this year. She said her behavior is much better and she has only been in the Watching Chair one time so far.

Adriana's teacher had the students make a picture of themselves and place it in their desks. The parents had to pick out their child. I thought about taking a picture of Adriana's picture at her desk. Yep, thought about it, but it was after I was at home.



And this was what I found at the end of the day yesterday. How sweet.

Our annual town festival

This weekend was our town's annual festival that celebrates the town's heritage.

Our house, as much as I moan about it, is in the prime central location for the festival. In fact, we would walk to events and walk back to the house for breaks.

The day started off with a parade minus a band. So sad, a parade without a band. Oh, well, it was still fun. Adriana's Brownie troop was in it. She marched with pride with her new Brownie beanie hat that she was able to purchase with cookie bucks.

We then went to try barbecue at the cook-off. Someone asked me which one was the best, and I couldn't tell them because it was all good.

On a side note, some of the food vendors were set up not far from our house. When Adriana and I were walking to go get in line for the parade, she asked me why barbecue was always at everything. I told her that is just the way it is in the south.

The children enjoyed a couple of rides and they tried their hand at making sand art. And, I made a fool out of myself trying to be the "cool parent" in a bounce house.

The girls and I returned to the festival at the close to see if my number was pulled to win some money. (Don't worry, they were giving away tickets. I didn't gamble.) Adriana had big plans for that money for herself. Like a laptop. She doesn't quite get the concept of the value of money. Needless to say, we didn't win.

We were pretty pooped last night after being outside for so long.

I think I have it figured out...

why Cara was so sick Friday and why none of the rest of us came down with it.

I was checking bookbags tonight and I happened to notice that Adriana's snack and drink that I packed for Friday were still in hers. Uhm, that tells me something.

So, I go and ask Adriana, "Did you get to go out for recess?"

Adriana has her head buried in bed and won't look at me.

Bruce says, "Maybe it rained and they weren't able to go out."

Me, "No, Cara's class went out and the weather was fine that day."

I asked her again and I can hear her start to stammer.

"Did you miss recess or was it the whole class?"

You see, if the whole class missed is one thing, that means everyone was in trouble and had to miss. If she was the only one who missed, that means that she did not complete her work in a timely manner which has been an issue.

Adriana's reply, "Well, T___ got finished first and went out."

Me, "So, did you get to go out at all or did you miss all of your recess?"

Adriana, "I missed all."

Me, "Did you get your work done?"

Adriana, "Yes, ma'am."

I told her that she was only hurting herself and she needed to finish. (Or figure out to ditch the snack and drink before she comes home.)

I usually ask her about recess and such on the way home from school, but since Cara was not feeling well my mind was elsewhere.

So, my theory is she slipped something to Cara to make her sick or bribed her to pretend to be sick. I think I am shaking Cara down in the morning for some answers.

Poor Cara

Poor Cara got sick right before school let out on Friday. As I was walking up to pick the girls up, Cara's teacher assistant called my name. Now, sometimes it is not a good thing when the teacher assistant calls your name, but she reassured me that Cara was not in trouble, she just wanted to let me know that Cara was complaining about her stomach hurting.

Evidently, she started complaining about her stomach while they were at recess, but she didn't really get sick. School was about to let out, so they didn't call us, which I thought was fine.

Cara came to me in the foyer and said she was about to be sick. I asked her if she needed to go to the bathroom, and she said no, she would wait until we got home. And, bless her little heart, she did. She didn't get sick in the car, but as soon as we pulled up, she said she needed to go to the bathroom.

So, I headed to the local pharmacy and grocery store to stock up on anti-nauseous medicine and Pedialyte.

She fell asleep in the early evening and Bruce put her to bed where she slept until the next morning. When she woke up, she was talking a mile a minute and was obviously much better. She said she was even well enough to eat barbecue at our local festival later that day.

So far, she rest of us have escaped it. Whew!

The house is on the market!

Yeah, do a little happy dance with me as our house is officially on the market. We couldn't have picked a better time, don't you think?

We decided to go ahead and list it commercially with the hopes that if someone is interested in the commercial value, they probably won't want to see the inside. We are surrounded by commercial property on our corner, and everyone is wanting to sell, so we are thinking someone may want our whole block. We can keep hoping.

If the house doesn't do well commercially, we will try selling it residential. So, if you are looking for a house/investment property in Mayberry USA, just give us a call.

The only stipulation I ask for in the contract is that I am allowed to drive the bulldozer that razes our house. Actually, I am learning as Paul says to be "content" in all things. If we had not had a low-cost house, then I would not have been able to stay home with the children like I have and I would not change that for the world. (At least, most days I would not change that.) And it is a roof over our heads. It might not be much more, but it is at least that. I am sure many people in this world would give anything to have a kitchen with harvest gold flooring and country blue counter tops.

And, for those wondering, we have identified a house we would like to buy, but we have to sell this one first. All in due time.

Grandparents' Day

Adriana and Cara's school invites the grandparents to come eat lunch with the children once a year. Last year, only Adriana had lunch at school, so the grandmothers only had one trip to make. This year, they made two trips one and a half hours each way because each grade level has the lunch on different days.

I have pictures, but I didn't take them. They are pretty good except the ones with Cara do not include any grandparents. Oh, well. Enjoy them anyway.

We do appreciate that both grandmothers came to eat with them. The girls were thrilled.

We have a sleepwalker on the loose

For about the last year, Adriana has taken to sleepwalking. She hasn't done it that often, but she has had a few incidents. It kind of reminds me of when she was about two and would have night or sleep terrors. This week, the sleepwalking has gotten worse.

Last night, she was up twice within an hour muttering something and I finally climbed into bed with her. Even while I was in bed with her and Cara (they share a bed), Adriana tried getting out of bed and I had to pull her back in.

Tonight, she came into our room and was saying something about her spelling words. Bruce took her back to bed and he said that she stopped on the way and started to sit down at our table.

She normally does this when she is completely exhausted. She was last night because she had a full day, and today she had school plus Girl Scouts. I was hoping she wouldn't sleepwalk tonight, but she already has.

Hopefully, this is a phase and she won't be grabbing any kitchen knives on her way to our room.

Seriously, please pray that she is able to get some restful sleep soon.

Two students of the week!

Quick mommy brag-both girls were named student of the week for their classes. Yeah!

Cara met me first during pick-up time and was so excited to tell me she was student of the week. Adriana then came out and showed me a pencil she had received. She told me that she, too, had been chosen student of the week.

Let me break this down for you. This means that Cara managed to stay out of the watching chair and her name off the board for this week, which is a huge improvement over last year. And, Adriana must have been pretty cooperative and did her work in a timely manner this week.

Adriana did much better this week with homework, and she has wanted to go to the library to read some extra books for her Accelerated Reading points.

Last year, I pushed Adriana to read her A.R. books, but this year a light seems to have gone off and she has been asking to go read extra books. She wants to catch up with her friends who can read entirely on their own. She may do that soon.

So, yeah, I am proud of my girls right now.

Soccer season is upon us

Soccer season officially started for us last night. Cara is our only player this year. Adriana decided she didn't want to play, and Cara decided she would after I told her I was pretty sure she wouldn't be on the same team with the boy who accidentally busted her lip last year.

Cara's first game last night was in a neighboring town about 25 minutes away. Since we are trying not to wear out Adriana too much, I took Cara while Bruce stayed home with Adriana and Jonah.

Right before the game, Cara asked me if I was going to yell, "Go, Cara." I reassured her I would. I took a few pictures and some video. She saw me doing that at one point, and started posing. You think she has had her picture made one too many times?

She played hard, even blocking the ball at one point. (Okay, more like she was standing there guarding the goal, not paying attention and the ball bounced off her leg.)

Her team lost. Seems to be a family tradition.

Two down, one to go

This week we are in the process of potty-training Jonah. After over seven years, I can't even begin to imagine a world without diapers and no wipes.

Jonah has kind of prompted this himself. I had jokingly told Adriana that her summer project was to potty-train him because she likes to play the role of big sister. She worked with him for about 15 minutes and that was that.

The last couple of weeks, he has been taking off his diaper as soon as he wets it and wanting another one. Plus, he has been waking up dry, so the time is here.

Yesterday, he and I went to the store and bought him some Clifford pull-ups. I am trying the approach that some have said about telling him he doesn't want to get Clifford wet or dirty. He thought it was funny to get Clifford wet, but he did try to avoid getting him dirty.

In fact, he tried so hard to keep him from getting Clifford dirty that he stripped his bottoms off during soccer practice because he had a slight accident. Everyone enjoyed the show.

We will work on modesty later.

Labor Day rest

Today, we spent the day resting and relaxing as a family. We had a very busy week last week with homecoming/revival, conferences, business meetings, school, etc. that we decided today just to rest.

In years past would have headed somewhere during the weekend or on Labor Day itself, but this time we decided to stay home.

Adriana gets very tired very easily and requires a lot of rest. If we go on a trip anywhere or do too much in a weekend, she spends the next several days trying to catch up on her rest. We are finally realizing now that she is in second grade, we don't need to take her off too much.

Also, with the economic times what they are right now, saving money does not hurt.

We did ride about 10 miles up the road to a great barbecue place that we have never been to in the eight years we have lived here. We have heard a lot about it and have been told how good it is, but we just have never been there.

It was really good, except I felt sorry for Cara. One of the reasons we decided to go there was because she loves barbecue. She said she wanted a barbecue sandwich, which we ordered for her. After we placed the order, we found out the barbecue is vinegar based. When it came, it did not look at all like the red barbecue that she loves. She wouldn't eat it and looked so disappointed. Adriana shared some of her ribs, and I quickly became full on my chicken, so I asked her to help me by eating some of it. She ended up fine, but we learned a lesson. Next time we go back there we will order ribs for her.

So, Cara's lesson for the day was the differences in Southern barbecue.

These pictures were taken on the front porch of the restaurant. Adriana saw the rocking chairs and wanted to rock outside with Daddy. She was joined by the two others, which didn't make her too happy. Cara wanted her picture made with the "Three Stooges" picture up above her head.

Some pictures for your viewing pleasure

I have now downloaded pictures from my point and shoot camera of a couple of adventures we recently had.

My mother came down for a few days before school started and wanted to have a tea party like the one the girls and I had previously. Adriana decided she didn't want to participate in this one, but she did loan Cara her Sleeping Beauty dress. Of course, Cara was all for the tea party.





Bruce doesn't understand the purple and red hat, but I figure a few people out there have heard of the Red Hat Society.

Last week, Cara and I went to a paint your own pottery place to do a little artsy stuff. Once again, Adriana decided she would stay home. So, this gave Cara and me a chance for a little one on one time.

This week, we needed to pick up our pieces and Adriana decided she wanted to go. I debated about telling her no, and that she had her choice the weekend before, but she really loves artsy type stuff. Here are a few pics from that experience.






Adriana made the mug for me. She later told Bruce she made for me because "I love my mommy." After the week she and I had with homework, I shed a few tears. See, I knew it was the right decision to let her go.