School

This week at our house we've been focused on school. Specifically, the start of it. And let me just say right now that this week has kicked my tail. I'm exhausted! I've never been so ready for a weekend in my life. It probably has something to do with the fact that I spent all of last weekend with my girls in San Antonio. I'll fight the exhaustion any week for weekends like that!

The upcoming Labor Day weekend is going to be bittersweet for our family. It's the traditional weekend when we go Squirrel Hunting with the Lastname family. But, this year, our little family of 5 isn't going. We are opting to stay at home and rest. And save some gas money. And skip the stress that comes from being gone all weekend right before the girls and I start school for real.

Oh,we've been playing school for 2 weeks now. That's what workdays are, playing school. You get to set up your room, sort and resort all the new school supplies you just bought, and laminate. Lots and lots of stuff has been laminated over the past two weeks. But Tuesday, I'll have a room full of Pre-K students and hopefully none of them will cry when their mommas leave. And hopefully we'll all have the time of our lives learning about God's wonderful world together.

Since I teach Pre-K, we talk a lot about growing, and learning, and changing. We talk about how they start the year only able to recognize the letters in their name, but by the end of the year, they can write every letter and so much more. They leave my class ready for Kindergarten. Not because of anything I've done, but because God moves in their little lives so powerfully.

I love that my class is named Ms. Jenni's Butterflies. It really is a miracle to watch these precious babies grow from caterpillars to butterflies over the course of the school year.

This is what is hanging on one of my walls.

Bubba started school Monday morning . . . bright and early. Here's a pic of him with his homeroom teacher Mrs. D. She's young, exciting, and Bubba really enjoys her class. I'm so thankful for all the teachers he's had. Each one has been perfect for him at that time in his life. I have no doubt that Mrs. D will be the perfect teacher for him as he meanders through 3rd grade.

Here's Bubba while experiencing one of his favorite family traditions, ice cream on the first day of school. Honey stayed in town and we all went and had a sweet treat to celebrate a successful start of the year. I love hearing all about his first day. He usually finds way more to talk about if we're eating some chocolate. I guess it's true that a way to a man's heart is through his stomach!

Last night was meet the teacher night at The Preschool. The girls are going to be in my class this year. After praying about it, my mother's heart wants to soak up every last minute of the girls while they are here at home. I've never thought I could be a homeschooler, but I guess this will give me a small taste of it. We'll just have about 10 extra kids thrown in there for the fun of it.

I can't believe I'll be sending my babies to school next year. This emotion is such a huge surprise to me because I was always the first one to say I'd be throwing a party the minute I dropped all of my kids off at school. But now with T minus 12 months to go, I'm not so sure I'll be as ready as I'd thought.

One last one, just for kicks. Bubba is the reason I wear high heels as often as possible. Here we are, both flat-footed. He loves that he's getting so tall. Me? Not so much.

**An extra 10 pts given to the person that can guess the Old Testament story that is depicted in the mural behind us.**

The cat's out of the bag

If you're keeping score at home, you've probably already noticed that I've been changing some things on the blog. I am anticipating some other, more drastic, more professional changes in the near future, but for now, we here at Talking Hairdryer are sticking to the stuff that my soon-to-be 8 year old can explain to me. Because despite all appearances, I am computers challenged.


One of the things I was passionate about when I began this blogspot was that I wanted to remain somewhat anonymous. I didn't want to use the real names of my kids or husband. So I came up with nicknames. (Yes, they're nicknames. My husband is not really named Honey. And, contrary to what you may think of Texans in general, I do not have kids named Bubba, Brooke, or Mary TuTu.) But, during the beginning stages of creating this blog, I was pressed for time and used a nickname for myself that seemed more personal and unique. jen. It was the name I would be known for across the internet. jen. When commenting, posting, or otherwise communicating in the blogging community it would always be signed with "jen".


About 18 months in to my blogging experience I pulled my head out of the sand and realized that I wasn't the only "jen" out there. Apparently, there were others. Many others. Jen, Jenn, Gen, Genn, jen, jenn, Gin, gin. They're all pretty much the same, and while "jen" might be personal, it wasn't unique. So I started using the name "jen at conversations". This seemed to be the perfect solution to my problem. It made my signature more memorable.


"jen at conversations" was short-lived when I realized that while "conversations" alluded to my blog name, "talking hairdryer" was the most whimsical and intriguing part of my blog title. So I became "jen at talking hairdryer". And for the most part, I like jen at talking hairdryer. It's a little long, but I feel settled.


Or, I did feel settled. Until a week or so ago. When it finally hit me smack in the forehead. In case you haven't heard, I'M NOT THE ONLY JEN OUT THERE. There are probably quite literally hundreds, yea thousands, of jens, Jennis, Jennifers, Jenns, Gennys, Ginnys, Jennys, and . . . oh, the list of variations could go on. So how much more anonymous can you get? I dare say that if I told you that my real name was Jennifer until about 2nd grade when I changed it to Jenny (with a "y"); and that I have gone by Jenni (with an "i") since about 5th grade when I was attempting to make my mark on life before I started Jr. High, you probably still wouldn't know who I was. (Unless you knew me in the pre-blogging years.) Because I just dare you to Google the name Jennifer, or even Jenni, and see how many matches you get.


So, long story short, Jennifer is passing out awards just for being a Jennifer! And she gave me one! And it's my first blog award. EVER.

And, I'm so excited that I got an award that I threw caution to the wind and told all y'all my real name. I believe that it is my distinguished honor to bestow this gift to some more Jennifers. So I hereby give this award to my friends Jennifer, and Jenni.

Oh, and from now and forever more, until the mood for change strikes again, I will forever be known as "Jenni at talking hairdryer".

This just in. . .

It gives my son a twitch to think of a whole entire weekend without Disney Channel. "Mom, we can't go to the family reunion and be gone 3 whole days! What if something great comes on and I miss it?" Any day spent without Disney Channel on the nearest TV is pure torture for him.

So, he spent a good part of last Thursday afternoon looking through the programming guide on the DVR making sure that he wouldn't miss a thing. I comfort myself with the fact that this activity isn't entirely void of educational value. After all, he has to read the names of the shows and times that they air. And there is some need to understand the whole time zone factor so he can properly plan to record the show he wants at 8/7 c. Finally he decided that the only show he just couldn't miss was a movie airing Friday night. So the DVR was set.

Yesterday, while the kids were watching said movie, we saw it.

The commercial advertising the celebration extravaganza surrounding the premier of High School Musical 2! At least in 7 year old terms. The celebrations will begin with a "Suite Life of Zach and Cody" marathon, which just so happens to be Bubba's favorite. In between episodes of Zach and Cody, they will show all of the little teasers that reveal just enough about the new movie to get you excited to see it. When the marathon is over, and the premier time gets closer, they will air a cast party so that you can watch the movie for the first time with all the cast members. It will be just like you are there with them in person. Of course the main event is the movie, followed by a new episode of Hannah Montana, Bubba's second favorite.

Did I mention that the movie starts at 8/7 c? That's PM, in the evening. The Zach and Cody marathon? It starts at 10/9c. That's AM, people, in the morning! I am guessing over 12 hours of Disney Channel that day. Now I'm beginning to twitch.

I've got to hand it to Disney, they've truly outdone themselves this time. They have assembled an army of marketing geniuses. And their tactics seem to be successful. Bubba is already asking if he can record the Zach and Cody marathon. I'm pretty sure that will be a "no".

If you read it in the blogsphere, it has to be true

My mom swears up and down that I was potty trained by the time I was one. I believed her until my first child turned one, and I realized that even my son, the most brilliant one year old in the world, who, by the way, gets his dashing looks from his daddy and his intelligence from his momma, had no idea that toilets had another use besides lifting the lid and playing in the water.

It was at that point that I began to question the sanity of my mother. Or at least her memory. But, then she got my Mema to back up her story, and so who can argue with the memories of both Momma and Mema?

So, I wanted to write about Brooke's latest accomplishments. You know for posterity. That way, when I am older and my memory isn't as sharp as it is now, and I begin to tell stories about when my children were younger, there will be proof that it actually happened. Exactly the way I said it. I'm even going to post pictures so that no one can accuse me of exaggerating.

Brooke has the spiritual gift of Wii bowling. If ever there is a Wii bowling competition for money, we will be there. Over the last couple of weeks she has beaten us all, much to the emabrassment of her 7 year old brother. Honey and I just sit back and laugh in amazement.

A few weeks ago she beat her sister. Which isn't all that amazing, since they are both 3.

But, just a couple of days ago, this was the score. I promised I wouldn't mention the name of the player she beat, dragged around, and wiped the floor with.

If you'll notice on the score card, she rolled 5 strikes. No one in our house has ever done that, in real bowling or in Wii bowling.

This is her taunting us.

Life is full of those bittersweet moments. When you experience two totally opposite emotions at exactly the same moment. The times when you can't decide what you think or how you want the story to end.

Tonight at the baseball field, emotions were running rampant. Mostly because everyone there was feeling torn between at least two of them at any given moment during the evening. And I know from experience that keeping more than one of anything under control for any length of time is trying at best. And that goes for emotions, too.

It's tournament time here in our neck of the woods, and that means two things: 1) The very looooong baseball season is nearing its end, and, 2) anything can happen. Any team can beat any other team given the right circumstances and the right weather conditions.

Our team entered the tournament as a #8 seed. We beat the #9 seed, and then lost to the #1 seed, and were promptly moved to the losers' bracket. (Accept now they call it the "lower bracket"-- "losers' bracket" isn't really PC.) Tonight we were paired up with the #6 seed, the Mets. And truly, they are our nemesis. We played them last year and came up short 2 out of 3 times. This year we had a hard time beating them. They are a tough team and consistently good. No one likes to play them because they know it will be a battle, not impossible to beat them, just a battle to get it done. Of course we were the visitors, and by the middle of the 4th inning we were winning by 4 runs.

My emotions began to battle. Our kids were playing great against a really tough team. I mean stellar fielding, and superb batting. We were in our zone. It was such a beautiful game, it was just meant to be that our kids would win and advance in the tournament. As much as I cheered, yelled, and encouraged, every fiber in me was screaming just as loud, "Can't they just loose gracefully to a great team and let the season be over already? I mean, how much longer will our lives be controlled by baseball?"

Every time I would get excited that our boys made a great play or got a great hit, that little red devil sitting on my shoulder would whisper, "If they keep playing like this, they'll never loose!" It was tourture, y'all.

Then it was time for the Mets to take their 4th inning turn to bat. Time had expired on the game, so if they pulled ahead, it would be over. By this time the crowd watching the game had grown, mostly because there were other teams there ready to start another game as soon as ours was over. And most of the growing crowd was cheering for us, not because they liked us, but because if we beat the Mets and eliminated them, their team wouldn't have to play them. The crowd was cheering with such excitement that evidently, it was flowing over onto the field. Our kids were going nuts and unfortunately their stellar fielding went down the drain. The Mets were able to tie the game up by the end of the inning and that meant we were headed for extra innings. Our kids scored another 5 runs in the top of the 5th and at this point, I thought, "We've fought this hard and played this great, it would be a shame to loose."

The Mets ended up comming back in the bottom of the 5th and beat us by 1 run, ending our season. Knowing it was the end of the season wasn't as sweet as I thought it would be. The boys were so dissapointed, they'd played their hearts out, and they missed out on getting to shave the coach's head by loosing.

But, I have a feeling, that next week when we are relaxing in the pool instead of getting ready to head out to a baseball game, it will be a little easier to accept.

I hope we didn't break your really cool and expensive camera!

Probably all of my readers already know that we had a portrait session last week. Laci Adkins used to be in our youth group, but now she is all grown up with a college degree to prove it. She has started her own photography business and we're just doing our part to get her started. Well...and getting some great pics of our family in the process. If you want to see more click on the picture above to see her blog entry about our family.

Laci was so professional and creative with our awkward and not so super-model like family. Come to think of it, Mary TuTu, being three and all, did in fact allow her spoiled, moody, I-can't-believe-we-aren't-finished-yet, super-model side come out a bit. And it just made for more cute pictures, because we all know that only super-models can pull off "pouty". Click on the image above and it will take you to Laci's web-site.

Laci even made our too-cool-for-this seven year old look sweet and endearing. That's talent, y'all. Brooke seemed to love the attention and would smile and laugh perfectly on cue. Of course the cue had to be something like, "Brooke, Mommy tooted!" or "Brooke, Daddy stinks!". Yes, that is the mark of true parenting sacrifice...being willing to be the butt of a joke for the sake of the family heritage. If you want to see all of our pictures, click on the picture above, but you will need to e-mail me for the password.

FINALLY!

I think that I was just as ready as the kids...school's out for summer! Here are a few pics from the last couple of days.

We loved our first grade teacher! We will miss her so much and can only hope that our second grade teacher is half as great!

Here is Bubba and a couple of his buddies after I picked them up this afternoon. I said, "Show me how it feels to be out of school for the summer!"

Supposed to be packing...

I'm going to be packing for a few days so I probably won't get much computer time. I thought that since there would be a lack of posts here, the least I could do is post a cute picture. Bubba got a Wii for his b-day. Gran and Grampy do their best to keep the kids cool, and Bubba decided that you just can't be cool without a Wii. For those of you as un-cool as me and who haven't heard of a Wii, let me explain. It is a video game console that requires the player to actually get up and do the movement desired on the game. We love the Wii because the whole family can play. Bubba is great at it all. Honey and I like to bowl, but Brooke LOVES to play boxing. This is a picture of Mary TuTu playing tennis in her dress, crown, and heels. I guess she wants to make sure she is ready should her prince show up at Wimbledon.

So, ummm. . .

Brooke got a "Doodle Bear" from Santa.

I was tempted to throw her into the washer with the bear. Knowing this one, she would have loved it! I was, however, thankful that she limited her artwork to her own face. I need a Dr. Pepper!

I realized this morning that I couldn't find Mary TuTu. I looked in the house for her and decided that she must be in the back yard. When I went out to find her, this is what I saw.

The biggest news of the week!

Before and after shots. He was so brave!

Welcome to my world!

Brooke's and Mary Tu Tu's teacher sends home a report every day about their day. It includes things like what the Bible story was about(God made. . . ), what they did in PE(played on the toys), when they went to the restroom(every 2 hours), if they had any accidents (usually not), if they ate their lunch (usually not their own, but frequently enjoy other's lunches), and so on. At the bottom is a place for "Additional Comments".

Lately, my girls have been having trouble at nap time. Not too long ago they had to go to the office during nap time. They had them across the room from one another, and they were spending their time talking to each other, across the room, like it was some kind of slumber party, instead of going to sleep. Well, needless to say none of the other kids could go to sleep because of all the lively entertainment, so, they ended up in the office.

Well, today, I guess we had another, I-don't-want-to-go-to-sleep spell, because, this is the quote from the "Additional Comments" section: Brooke must have sang every song she knows before she went to sleep today.

Take me out to the ball game. . .

We just found out that Bubba's baseball team will be the Riverdogs. They are the Yankee minor league team in Charleston, SC. It looks like the team colors will be yellow and navy. We are supposed to go to the first team meeting tonight. His coach will be the dad of one of his friends, and the husband of my teaching partner. Bubba is excited that he knows several kids on the team. We are excited that he will have a positive and encouraging coach.

If I am not mistaken, this team won the championship last year in t-ball. So, we are getting in on a good team. We are now in the 5-6 year old division. This is the coach-pitch level. This will be Bubba's first organized, youth-league sport experience. When we went to sign ups, I was feeling a little overwhelmed, nervous, and really behind. Who knew that you had to start them so early! Four years old. Apparantly there are lots of kids who start that young. I was definitely not ready to be a "soccer (or baseball) mom" when he was 4. Honey wasn't even ready to start this year. When I found out how long the season is (March - July), I wasn't ready to start either. It seems like he has his whole life to be competitive. I know it will be good for all of us. You know. . . we aren't busy enough.

Vocabulary

We've been home this week sick. No, I'm not going to complain about it this time. But, it has provided us with some extra family time. We haven't done much else this week other than stay at home and keep our germs to ourselves.

Since we have had all this time together, I have seen a remarkable advance in the girls' vocabulary. Two year olds are interesting creatures. They use such simple sentences 98% of the time. "I want oatmeal, please." and "No, sissy, that mine!" are the two most popular at our house right now.

But then there is that other 2% of the time when they bust out with something more than the one syllable word and you just get to chuckle. Yesterday at lunch, Mary TuTu was eating for the first time in about 24 hours so we were letting her have anything she wanted and could keep down. She had finished the lunch I fixed for her and she was still hungry, so we were giving her suggestions about what she could have next.

"Do you want more oranges?. . .turkey?. . .crackers?. . .jello?. . ."

Mary TuTu interrupts us by saying, "No, Mommy, actually I want some green beans."

Economics

Before T-giving break, Bubba's kindergarten class was studying economics. They learned that it meant "the study of what we need and how we get it." They also learned what our 3 basic needs are: food, shelter, and clothing. They even incorporated these themes into their T-giving program. (incidently, Bubba was the lead Indian in their play)

So, yesterday morning, I was driving Bubba to school, and we were talking about getting back into things after a break and this was our conversation:

You know you'll probably start talking about Christmas pretty soon. Yeah, and probably about what Santa's 3 basic needs are. Mom, what do you think they are? I don't know. What do you think? I think that they are food, clothing, and transportation. Sounds good to me.

He's a growing boy!

Every 5 minutes he is saying, "Mom, I'm hungry." I can't keep up with him. It's like his legs are hollow. I really can't imagine where he puts it all. Today I ran out of food, so he found a Smurf and ate it. He said it tasted like chicken.

Housekeeping

I wanted to share a funny story that illustrates just how far down-hill my housekeeping routines have gone. We have Bible study for the teens every Monday night. So, usually this is vacuuming day, and most weeks, all we have time to vaccuum is the living room. When Bubba was about 2 he noticed this pattern and so every time I got the vaccuum out he would ask, "Kids commin' ?" Most of the time he was right someone was comming over. . .that is how I make myself do housework, invite someone over. But occasionally I vaccuumed just to be clean.

Well, apparently, I have gotten better about vaccuuming, because this doesn't even phase the girls. In fact, most of the time, they sleep right through it. But last night, as we were finishing up dinner, we were planning on taking the girls straight from the dinner table to the bath because we had spaghetti, and so Honey asked Bubba to pick up the toys that had been left all over the living room, kitchen, and dinning room. Brooke heard the request to pick up toys and she asked, "Kids commin' ?"

Just let me have my moment

Well, Bubba is growing up. I know he has been doing that since the day he was conceived, but it is really hitting me lately. You would have thought that starting kindergarten would have sparked this, but I made it through that relatively easily. (He cried for 2 weeks, so that made me cry, but that didn't have anything to do with "growing up.")

Now he loves school and is doing great. He got his first report card Tuesday. Of course he got all S's. (quote from Bubba: "Just in case you didn't know, that's the bestest grade.") Well that did it. I started noticing all the little things that he does, that he couldn't do this time last year. Then I was getting ready to leave one morning and I was going to wear my tennis shoes. Well, I pulled a pair of socks out of the drawer and unfolded them. I almost put them on, but something stopped me. They weren't my socks. They were Bubba's. I tried them on just for fun, and they fit! Have we already gotten to the "family sock drawer" stage? Would it just be easier to share socks? Ewww, I do not want to wear the same socks as my 5 year old son. I like things just the way they are. I guess I'll have to get the permanent marker out.

Guess Who?

We can't decide; is this Brooke or Mary TuTu?

"If you're happy and you know it. . .

This is a test. I am trying to figure out how to post pictures. Most of the people reading this have already seen this pic, but. . .

I caught Mary TuTu playing Bible class today. She was singing "If You're Happy and You Know It" and telling her students about Baby Moses, or was it Jesus? She can't keep them straight yet.