A bit of fan-service...

Happy 2010-The Wright Sisters by ~Naiyru on deviantART


Is this utterly cute? I love having an exceptional artist for a sister! Thanks for the 'fan-service' Bridget!

Happy New Year Y'all!

Glitter Graphics Maker & MySpace Layouts

You know you live in 2009 when...

1.) You accidentally enter your email password on a microwave.

2.) You haven't played solitare with real cards for years

3.) The reason for not staying in touch with your friends is they don't have email or a blog.

4.) You'd rather look all over the house for the remote instead of just pushing the buttons on the TV.

6.) Complete gaming systems can fit inside a shoe box with room to spare.

7.) The original Super Mario Brothers, Sonic the Hedgehog and Legend of Zelda are seen as 'vintage'.

8.) Your TV doesn't even have any buttons to push.

9.) Your boss doesn't even have the ability to do your job.

10.) You still use the term "rewind", even when watching a DVD.

11.) And you were too busy to notice there was no number 5.

12.) You scrolled back up to see if there was a number 5.

13.) Now you are laughing at yourself stupidly, as a blog entry just got the best of you.

In honor of the ending of 2009...

All About me...Christmas Style

Welcome to the Christmas edition of getting to know your friends. Okay, here's what you're supposed to do, and try not to be a SCROOGE!!! Just copy and change all the answers so that they apply to you.


1. Wrapping paper or gift bags: Wrapping paper...nuttin like opening up a present by tearing into it first!

2. Real tree or Artificial? Real...or rather live. I prefer plant it over trash it.

3. When do you put up your Christmas tree? Usually around Dec 10th...not too early but plenty of time to enjoy it.

4. When do you take the tree down? Sometime after New Year's.

5. Do you like eggnog? Yes...but cut with skim milk...that makes it not so heavy.

6. Favorite gift received as a child? A little black purse with lip gloss and other early teen makeup stuff I got from a cousin.

7. Hardest person to buy for? My husband...had to drag out ideas for that man!!

8. Easiest person to buy for? This year was Ivy and Riley...so many great ideas!

9. Do you have a nativity scene? Yes...as long as a little people Nativity play set counts

10. Mail or email Christmas cards? Snail mail all the way, baby.

11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? A box set of a season of Married With Children. Poor John, it was all a misunderstanding. At least he's gotten years of practice now!

12. Favorite Christmas Movies? Muppet Christmas Carol, the kid's new Curious George Christmas movie (very cute), The Santa Clause, and Mickey's Christmas Carol

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? Early fall when I bought the first thing...can we say Walmart clearance?

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? I know I have...I think I'm doing it this year too!

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? My Fudge, Mom's cookies, Dad's dinner with Oyster Stew

17. Favorite Christmas song? I always like "Angels We have Heard on High" for some reason

18. Travel or stay home for Christmas? Travel to mom's, travel to John's parents, the travel to dad's...

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer? yes

20. Angel on the tree top or a star? star-for some odd reason all the bulbs in the star are red...O_o who the heck designed the devilish Tree star?

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Morning...though growing up we always openChristmas PJ's on Christmas Eve.

22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? Crowds, traffic, commercialism, bah-humbugs and the fact that stores are merchandising off Christmas earlier and earlier every year...(didn't change Kristy's answer cuz I Totally agree!)

23. Favorite ornament, theme, and color? We get a new ornament each year for the one big thing that happened that year...babies, new house, etc. This year's is very cute!

24. Favorite Christmas Dinner? Dad's roasts are always yummy.

25. What do you want to do for Christmas this year? The same thing we do year after year! Plenty of family and good food!


Well it's your turn...enjoy! Merry Christmas!!

Happy Turkey Day!

Riley's Coloring

Ivy's Coloring

And of course Mom had to get in on it too!



TWAS THE NIGHT OF THANKSGIVING,
BUT I JUST COULDN'T SLEEP.
I TRIED COUNTING BACKWARDS,
I TRIED COUNTING SHEEP.

THE LEFTOVERS BECKONED -
THE DARK MEAT AND WHITE,
BUT I FOUGHT THE TEMPTATION
WITH ALL OF MY MIGHT.

TOSSING AND TURNING WITH ANTICIPATION,
THE THOUGHT OF A SNACK BECAME INFATUATION.
SO, I RACED TO THE KITCHEN, FLUNG OPEN THE DOOR,
AND GAZED AT THE FRIDGE, FULL OF GOODIES GALORE.
GOBBLED UP TURKEY AND BUTTERED POTATOES,
PICKLES AND CARROTS, BEANS AND TOMATOES.

I FELT MYSELF SWELLING SO PLUMP AND SO ROUND,
'TIL ALL OF A SUDDEN, I ROSE OFF THE GROUND.
I CRASHED THROUGH THE CEILING, FLOATING INTO THE SKY,
WITH A MOUTHFUL OF PUDDING AND A HANDFUL OF PIE.
BUT, I MANAGED TO YELL AS I SOARED PAST THE TREES....
HAPPY EATING TO ALL - PASS THE CRANBERRIES, PLEASE.



MAY YOUR STUFFING BE TASTY,
MAY YOUR TURKEY BE PLUMP.
MAY YOUR POTATOES 'N GRAVY HAVE NARY A LUMP.
MAY YOUR YAMS BE DELICIOUS.
MAY YOUR PIES TAKE THE PRIZE,
MAY YOUR THANKSGIVING DINNER STAY OFF OF YOUR THIGHS!!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL

Feeling a bit better...

Here it is Friday, and Ivy's transition into her new class has been utterly seamless.

So it turns out that I misunderstood how fast they were working her into the new class: Monday was 30min, Tuesday was supposed to be 1 hour, but she was doing so well that they kept her for 1 1/2 hours and Thursday she sprinted to the door at 1pm and stayed there until 15 minutes before class ended. Apparently she loves it. Go figure!

I've come to the conclusion that Ivy will never be predictable. When you expect her to have problems with something or act badly (like 4 hour plane flights) she is cool, calm and collected. Then there are the things she throws ya for a loop on...like having her hearing tested. An utter ballistic fit. And it wasn't just a tantrum, you could tell she was terrified, but for the life of me, I can't figure out why. Her hearing is just perfect, but she has this sensitivity with her ears...no clip-on earrings, no head phones, and she plugs her ears when she's scared. Odd.

I also found out that Ivy's new class doesn't do much paperwork / worksheets, so I've been feverishly printing and creating worksheets for her to do between school. I'm surprised at the things I've already made for her that she can do with out explanation or help. Matching a letter with the animal (T for Tiger), coloring specific shapes certain colors...etc. She really is a smart little cookie.

On a side note...making all these worksheets for her has caused the teaching bug to bite me again. I think I want to go back and finish my associates degree but change it to teacher's aid for now. I really like the little kids in Ivy's class so maybe working at a preschool could work for me. I think I'd enjoy that.

Um...not too sure about this...

Well, last Thursday we had Ivy's Evaluation review / IEP meeting (Individual Education Plan) to help her speech along. On the positive side, they found no cognitive delay. No Autism or any other disorder. The speech and language however...is rated at the same level as a 3 year old. We were expecting that as Riley can hold little conversations with Ivy, and they understand each other. Very cute to just listen to.

And now for the eye-brow raising part. They decided that instead of pulling her out of her class for 30 minutes with 3 other kids that need help also, it would be better for her to be taken out of Mrs. Briggs / Ms. Kristina all together and placed in a Special Education class with other kids with the same problems.

Now I know what you're all thinking...What's the big deal? If you've ever met our daughter, you'll understand just how bad she does with change. Especially when it's change taking people that she loves away from her. Daddy leaving for work used to be hell, not to mention dropping Kim off at the airport. Getting her to understand that they were in charge and that mom will back them up almost no matter what was a huge challenge, as was Fall break. Geez, I hate to think of how she's gonna handle Christmas break...

Now she has to start all over. New teachers, new friends, new routine. They don't even start at the same time so that Ivy can't see her friends anymore. 1:00pm - 3:00pm. Plus, they don't even have recess. How is she gonna contain all that energy? At least now that it's under the Special Ed program, I don't have to pay her tuition anymore...but I HATE those words...

Special Education. I freakin' hate the stigma that follows those two words.

I really feel like I've let Ivy down somehow...I wasn't helping her develop as she should...I suppose. All these thoughts just run thru my head...should have put her in daycare/preschool to be around other kids. Should tried for State help programs earlier...shoulda...shoulda...shoulda...

Well, today is her first day over in the new class room. They wanted to just put her in permanently, but Briggs and I thought...not with Ivy. They are now going to gradually ease her into it...one day this week, two the next and so forth. It will probably help that Ms. Kristina will be taking her over to the other classroom, but being left there without knowing anyone? Hopefully I'm just overreacting and she'll be just fine. We'll see in about 1 1/2 hours...

Ivy's Class Halloween Party

I finally got to go volunteer in Ivy's class and yesterday was their "Fall/Harvest/Halloween" party. This was so fun! I really need to go volunteer more...perhaps on a few Thursdays when John's working from home or drop Riley off at Grandma Linda's for a few hours. I helped with two of the craft centers: making spooky houses and glitter glue faces on jack'o lanterns.

Ivy and a few of her friends...one who also dressed up as Minnie!


A class full of costumed kids!


As they were going through their 'morning' routine, (the date, day...) it was Ivy's day to check and post the weather. It was so cute...she runs over to the window while the other kids were singing their weather song, runs back over, grabs the sunny sticker and with great enthusiasum yells, "It's sunny outside!" at the end of their song. Apparently that's her favorite thing to do.


Munchin' on the party food...her Teacher had a great idea...instead of a lot of sugary foods, she assigned each parent a color to bring a healthy food. Green cucumbers, black olives, yellow cheese...


Ivy was the only kid to put the olives on her fingers...yeah, that's my kid!


Minnie Mouse zoomin' around on a trike...her fav thing to play with.

Ivy's First School Picture!

Heh...so cute, even if she's not fully smiling! I think the whole thing was confusing to her, hence the bland smile. If ya look close enough, you can see the faint freckles that are on the tops of her cheeks and nose! Hard to believe that cute little thing is mine!





I'm so glad she loves school. Over the fall break she was quite distressed over not seeing Mrs. Briggs and Ms. Kristina. Just didn't understand the point of fall break I suppose. But I kept her busy with printouts of the letters they're learning in class and practicing writing thank-you notes to Auntie Kim, Uncle Steve and her Great-grandfather in NY (for her birthday presents). Sorry if you didn't get one yet...that's a lot of writing for a little girl and I didn't want to over load her.

Truth Tag

Yet another tag stole from Kristy's blog

1. What was the last thing you put in your mouth? My finger...don't look at me like that! I just finished a cinnamon roll.

2. Where was your profile picture taken? Uh...wow. I really don't have a profile picture!

3. Can you play Guitar Hero? Nope, never tried and don't care to learn.

4. Name someone who made you laugh today? The kiddlets-they have a bad habit of that!

5. How late did you stay up last night and why? Um, I worked a half night last night, so...4:00am?

6. If you could move somewhere else, would you? Probably not, I Love my Arizona.

7. Ever been kissed under fireworks? Not that I'm aware of...

8. Which of your friends lives closest to you? Nate and Jen

9. Do you believe ex's can be friends? Yes, if they are able to move on with their own lives first.

10. How do you feel about Dr Pepper? Pure heaven-sent ambrosia.

11. When was the last time you cried really hard? Really really hard? Probably Nick's death...five years ago. I'm not a huge crier.

12. Who took your profile picture? Haha...trick question! Don't got one!

13. Who was the last person you took a picture of? Ivy and Riley holding hands walking to Ivy's class room.

14. Was yesterday better than today? Hmm...kids took a nap...working another half night tonite...not as tired as yesterday, so yeah better today.

15. Can you live a day without TV? Yeah, but it's so habitual it would be interesting.

16. Are you upset about anything? Hah...Not really.

17. Do you think relationships are ever really worth it? Of course! How else could you torment anyone on a daily basis with out a relationship with them?

18. Are you a bad influence? haha...oh yeah...right Karen?

19. Night out or night in? I like calm nights in (Okay as calm as two crazy kids will allow), but nights out alone with john are always nice.


20. What items could you not go without during the day? A little time to write at my computer and a bottle of VitaminWater.

21. Who was the last person you visited in the hospital? My dad and his mystery heart problem.

22. What does the last text message in your inbox say? O_O Um...a naughty phrase in Japanese from John...but I won't translate...hey this is a truth tag right?

23. How do you feel about your life right now? Very good...have a great husband, great family and friends...life is good.

24. Do you hate anyone? I don't waste my energy hating someone not worth my time.

25. If we were to look in your facebook inbox, what would we find? Haha...nuttin'! Don't got a facebook inbox!

26. Say you were given a drug test right now, would you pass? Duh...

27. Has anyone ever called you perfect before? Only with added sarcasm.

28. What song is stuck in your head? Meow, Meow, Meow, Meow...Meow, Meow, Meow, Meow...ha! Now it's probably stuck in your head as well!

29. Someone knocks on your window at 2:00 a.m., who do you want it to be? A hot Saiyan...lol...only kidding! Okay, I'm not.

30.Wanna have grandkids before you’re 50? Sure...I'll still be 'young' to keep up with the little brats.

31. Name something you have to do tomorrow? The norm...get up, feed kids, take Ivy to / from school...work another half night for the 8th day straight (Yay, only 3 more regular days to go before I get a night off)

32. Do you think too much or too little? I like to always be thinking about something...next vacation/trip...upcoming chapter I'm writting...

33. Do you smile a lot? Yeah, except when I'm concentating. Then it looks like I'm frowning or pissed off.

YOUR TURN-GET TO IT!!