Another year over!

 
I absolutely love this picture I took of Matthew the other day. It really shows his determination and energy!

Hooray for Matthew! Another great year has come and gone.

I was a little concerned about first grade. I had a terrible experience and actually had four first grade teachers. Between moving away from Alabama and teachers having babies, I had no consistency. Matthew's year was nothing like mine! He had a wonderful teacher who really "got" him. He thrived in a more challenging academic environment. He told me one of his favorite things about his teacher was how she gave great tests! And he did finally get his perfect attendance certificate. I guess this means that I can't plan any trips during the school year next year. Matthew is already talking about a repeat performance!

One funny story from a few weeks ago....Matthew had to have a reading benchmark test where the child has to read a story and answer questions based on their story. They are tested for speed as well as acuracy. Matthew, who has a great vocabulary and can read 100 page books without difficulty, had a problem with only one word...."lazy". He had no idea what it meant! His teacher and I really got a kick out of that! I guess lazy really isn't in his vocabulary! I could have told her that from the time he could crawl!

I tucked the boys into bed tonight, and Matthew had big tears in his eyes as he told me how sad he was that he was about to never be a first grader ever again. Then Thomas, who was laying next to him with his head propped up his his hands, said, "Don't worry, Buddy. I'll be in first grade really soon and I will tell you ALL about it!"

I am mostly excited and slightly terrified at having the whole crew home this summer. I am bound and determined to have a better one than last year. Not moving will help a ton! ;)

Have a great holiday weekend!

Our unofficial start to summer.

Before
 












After
 
 
Many say that Memorial Day is the unofficial start of summer, but for us, it is the day that Matthew gets his hair shorn off! Matthew, our resident Chia Pet, has more hair than any child I know of his age. We think he loses several pounds with each haircut! I like his hair long, but Mom gets trumped every May! Bryon and I compromise by letting me keep Thomas's hair longer. I can't resist those humidity curls!

Of course, everytime he gets his hair cut off, we are reminded of one of his biggest injuries. Every major injury Matthew has ever sustained has been at church! The biggest was knocking out most of his permanent front tooth. This one comes in second...

One Wednesday night when Matthew was 4, he was waiting for me after class, standing on a drink cooler. His back and his head were resting on a corner in the middle of the wall. That doesn't seem plausible, but the wall jutted out slightly, maybe where a wall once was? Anyway, the cooler that Matthew was standing on gave way, fell over, and Matthew hit his head hard then slid down the corner of the wall. Fortunately, my dear friend who is a nurse was standing there and helped me with the large amount of blood coming out of his head. We took him to the E.R. and the doctor put 4 staples in the back of his head. At the time, I thought it was a great place to have a scar because no one would ever see it. Then I remembered that he was a boy who likes to keep his head cool in the summer by shaving off his hair!

Of course, if you know Matthew, he isn't bothered by it one bit. I don't think I know a child with as much self confidence! ;) It is just one of many battle wounds that he will sustain in his boisterous life!

Last week of school!

Well, we sent Matthew off this morning to start his last week of school. I have been reminiscing thinking about how much fun my last weeks of school were. We would decorate paper bags, set them out around the perimeter of the room and place in them our treasures from the year. Then, my friends and I would dream about what the next year would be like. What a fun week!

I am exited to get to bring home Matthew's journal from the year. The kids started the year with an empty notebook and wrote a daily entry about anything going on in their little minds. Matthew's teacher has sent his home a few times for me to get to look through. The entries vary from 5 pages full of facts about Washington D.C. to "I love the Mavericks". That will be a fun read this weekend!

We had a fun and relaxing weekend. Bryon and I took the three kids to see a Baylor baseball game yesterday. I haven't been to one since I was engrossed in Little League and was AMAZED at how fast the pitcher threw the ball! We had a blast and the kids got to meet all of the players after the game and get their autographs. The players were so sweet and I just wanted to give a huge hug to the ones who paid special attention to Thomas telling them that he was about to play "Major League T-Ball" and Matthew telling the players what position he played!

I am looking forward to a fun week. No Mother's Day Out, which is a nice change for a few weeks, and fun activities at Matthew's school.

The end of an era

 
 
 


Today is a day for bittersweet nostalgia. I picked Thomas up from pre-school for the very last time. I really thought I was OK with it until I saw him contentedly swinging on the playground. Then tears filled my eyes as I called him my preschooler for the last time.

I am always excited for new beginnings. I will be thrilled to walk him into kindergarten for the first time. It is just hard for me to say goodbye. Each of my children are completely different and they pull at my heartstrings in different ways. Thomas has always been my ray of sunshine. His blonde hair and brilliant smile must be why this comes to mind. In his entire life, he has never cried when I dropped him off at school. He was always eager to go, but excited to see me at the end of the day.

We feel particularly blessed that Lauren was his teacher this year. Lauren and Thomas have always had a special relationship, and I thank my lucky stars that my incredibly talented and patient sister got the opportunity to teach my little "T". He has learned so much this year.

So today, we close a chapter in his sweet life.

If I am this bad now, I am dreading the day that we send the kids to college!

A young Bea Arthur?

My parents are going through my grandmother's old house and getting rid of things she no longer needs. One thing is her wig from when she had cancer 7 years ago. Thomas and ME particularly like the wig! I am sure it will wind up in a Halloween costume some day!

 
 

Dinnertime conversation

We just finished dinner and I had to write down our conversation before I forgot it!

I recently wrote about Thomas and ME's sweet relationship. However, they do have one point of contention. Anytime I ask Thomas to pray, ME quickly assumes the "prayer position" and spits out, "Dear God, thank you for my food. Thank you for my God. Amen." as fast as her little lips can go. Sometimes this bugs Thomas, sometimes it doesn't. Tonight, it was a big bugger. It sent Thomas into a huge teared cry.

Then Matthew steps into the conversation using his most professorial tone. "Thomas, you have to remember that Mary Beth is two. She doesn't have a big brain like you and me. Take my advise and use kindness in words and in deeds."

ME? Small brains?! Mary Beth just looked at Matthew with a look of "I don't know quite how to react to that."

Thomas put his head on the table, looked at Matthew, and uttered these words while opening his mouth a millimeter, "I don't feel like following your advise."

Oh, I thank God for my two big brained and one small brained children!

And don't think I won't use the "kindness in words and deeds" the next time Matthew decides to forsake his own advise!

Catching up

It has been quite busy since last I blogged, so let me fill you in!

Thursday was Matthew's Economics Fair. Bryon went into work late to help me by watching the little two so I could attend the Fair and Elizabeth McCullough's funeral. Matthew learned all about wants and needs, goods and services, and buyers and sellers and all the first graders took turns buying and selling goods and services. Matthew was a buyer first and I got to help his class with their "service" which was painting nails. When it was Matthew's turn to sell, he sold his class "good" which were book marks. You could hear him over the din of the noisy first graders yelling, "Get your bookmarks! You will need them over the summer!" He looks exactly like the wall street stock brokers! Hilarious!
 
 

Friday was Matthew's track day at school. When we were leaving to go, Thomas said, "Let's get into the truck." I said, "We aren't taking the truck, we are taking the minivan." Thomas: "But you said it was TRUCK day!" The kids were adorable and Matthew's class came in first place in the tug-o-war contest.

 
Saturday, we devoted the entire day to mulching our back yard. We took the boys over to the mulch pile close to our house and loaded up two huge truck loads of mulch and then came home and spread it all. Bryon and I are still having a hard time moving! I am happy with the results and pleased that this arduous task is complete!


 



Sunday was wonderful. Matthew ran into our room to wish me a happy Mother's Day. He really gets into holidays! He had written a 5 page book on reasons why he loved me all by himself. It was so touching and I will keep it forever. Then, he made me breakfast in bed. This consisted of a Weight Watcher Smoothie and dry cereal. "I didn't want to put milk in it in case I spilled it!", he said. Bryon and the kids gave me a gift certificate to a local clothing store. I am getting into a bit of a "frump girl" phase and have been wearing my Cape Cod T-shirt just a little too often! It was nice to pick up some new things yesterday! This picture of ME was taken Sunday afternoon. She wanted to wear her fairy wings and watch Barbie Rapunzel, or "Barvie Apunzel", as she says. I put in the dvd and walked out of the room for a minute. When I came back in to push play, she was already asleep! What a sweet Mother's Day gift looking at her little face asleep!

Today was Mary Elizabeth's kidney follow up in Ft. Worth. We got up really early and dropped Thomas off with Lauren. She has a lot going on this week and was a SAINT to watch Thomas! ME and I had a great "girl trip" and I enjoyed some one on one with her. She had a renal ultrasound done. Her doctor looked at it and said she had quite a bit of scarring on her bladder and left kidney. Her right one looks like a kidney. Her left one is a lot smaller and not shaped like a kidney. What we are doing now is taking her off antibiotics (Yippee!) and keeping our fingers crossed that she has no infections this year. We will go back in a year and retest her.

I really enjoyed our time together today. Mary Elizabeth is really turning into a fun little girl. We were walking in the hospital today and a lady complimented her bow. She stopped dead in her tracks and said, "Thank you. It matches my pink shirt!" She made friends everywhere she went and talked to everyone. She is definitely my little social butterfly!

That's all for now. Off to bed. It's been a long day!

A photo blog of the last week

This is a photo blog showing what else has been going on in our lives this past week.
 
We have been spending tons of time on our new playset. I already don't know what we did without it! My kids want nothing to do with toys. We just spend our mild, overcast days swinging and sliding.






 



We had a new niece born last Friday! Bryon's sister had her third girl in 4 years and we all enjoyed getting to see her on Saturday. We went to Bryon's parents house for the day to see Avery and to pick up Bryon's new car. His Avalon was totaled in his wreck several weeks ago, so we replaced it with a Honda Accord Hybrid. Leonardo DiCaprio would be so proud! Bryon does a lot of driving with his job, so a Hybrid was a good choice for him.





 
On the way home on Saturday, I picked up my Mother's Day gift. A new birdbath! There is a great place on the way home from Conroe that sells all things concrete. I am really enjoying it.


 





Thomas had kindergarten roundup last week as well. This was highly anticipated and I had my parents watch my other two to make it a one on one date with Thomas. He literally ran into school and started introducing himself to his future classmates! When it was over, he looked at me with wide eyes and said, "This is it?" I think he was thinking that he would get to go to class. I told him the real fun begins in August. I am looking forward to doing kindergarten again!

A few final thoughts about Elizabeth McCullough

I just needed to write a little more about my coworker, Elizabeth McCullough. I went to work today for the first time since the accident. This was a difficult day for the entire office. When I arrived, a chaplain from our hospital was praying with the staff. After these words, I walked over to her cubicle. All over her cubicle, there were pictures of her two children and her husband. Her daughter looks just like her. Same brown hair. Same kind eyes. I hope this brings Elizabeth's mother some comfort knowing that a piece of her daughter lives on.

What really hit me like a ton of bricks was seeing her calendar. She had a calendar that had a different bible verse for each day. The nurse who had her cubicle across from Elizabeth recalls that Elizabeth shared the scripture with her often and would say, "I wonder what that means?" Sitting on her desk was the page for May 7, 2007. It said:

"Into your hands I commend my spirit; you will redeem me, O LORD, O faithful God."

I can't believe that those were some of the last words she ever read. I hope these words gave her peace as she walked out of our office and into her fate. God rest her spirit.

I am using this tragedy to recommit myself to live each day like it was my last. To hug my kids one more time. To not get frustrated over little things. To say sweet things to my husband. To be kind to others. To reach out to those who seem lonely.

A sad day

It has been a sad day around here. One of my good friends was over at my house for lunch when I got a call from my mother. She called me around noon to inform me that one of my coworkers had been killed in a car accident while going to see a patient. She was on a two lane highway turning left onto a gravel road. An 18 wheeler was behind her going too fast and decided to try and pass her to her left at the same moment that she turned left. My friend graciously ducked out of the house and I have had a hard time getting off the couch today.

My mother directs the agency I work for. She had the unenviable task of going to the scene of the accident and identifying her body. The DPS officers asked her to come out with Elizabeth's contact information as all they could make out in the car was her work badge. They couldn't reach her cell phone. Mom had just seen her in the office 20 minutes before the accident. Mom really cared for her and joked around with us that there were too many Elizabeth's at the office.

Elizabeth was a beautiful and incredibly sweet nurse. She was only 24 and had two young children. She hadn't worked at our agency long, but I really enjoyed the time I spent with her. Two of our most recent conversations keep swimming around in my head. The first was a few months ago when she was asking me for help in finding a place for her daughter's 4th birthday party. The other, our last conversation together, involved a mutual patient whose family was having a hard time accepting that he was dying. It is just so hard to believe that our patient outlived Elizabeth.

Here is the first report of the accident.

Please say a prayer for the McCullough family tonight. Hug your husband and children tight. Enjoy everyday that we are given.

Butterflies!

 
 
 
 
 

When I was planning my garden, I wanted to put a huge emphasis on flowers that attract hummingbirds and butterflies. Looks like they took the bait! My garden is swarming with both. The hummers are too quick to take pictures of. Everytime I see them, my camera is not in hand. Taking a picture of one is my new mission! The butterflies have been much more cooperative. What a fun hobby!

Winding down

 
 
 
Well, it looks like the year is finally winding down. Matthew had his final piano concert on Monday night. He has been in a two year program at Baylor since his first weeks as a kindergartener, and now it is over. I always got a kick out of watching the director and student teachers react to Matthew! These women and men are very artsy, very plain jane, very musical, very soft spoken. Most of the kids in the program were the same way. And then there is my full of testosterone, sports loving, loud voiced, full of energy Matthew who walked into the room and completely changed the atmosphere! Matthew was pretty legendary around the piano program! He played beautifully on Monday night and never missed a note! I guess there is room for lots of different personalities when it comes to the piano.

Monday night was one of Matthew's last games. Only one more day of baseball and it is over for the season! This is always bittersweet for me. I love getting to know the players, parents, and coaches and I will miss them dearly. On the other hand.....I can now feel less guilty when Mary Beth unwraps her burrito from Taco Bueno and says, "Thank you for making my meal, Mommy!" Baseball was three times a week and took out 5p.m.-7p.m. Perfect conditions for eating out! I am ready to start cooking again.

Less than four more weeks of school. Didn't Matthew just start 1st grade? Are you telling me that in four weeks, he will be telling people that he is a second grader? Thomas's kindergarten roundup is just around the corner. He is chomping at the bit to get started! I am so happy for him but am taking in every morning watching him wrapped up in blankets as Matthew rushes to get ready for school.

Our birthday bonanza month is winding down today as well. We have 5 close family birthdays in two weeks. Bryon's 36th was this weekend and we had a fabulous time celebrating his life and how much he means to us. I took him to a great new restaurant close to our house on Saturday night while Lauren and Josh watched the kids. We are returning the favor for them to celebrate Lauren's birthday, which was last week, very soon. My mom's birthday is today. Happy birthday, Mom!

Yes, I am ready for the semester to wind down and to have all my chicks at home. I go through a nesting phase every year around this time in anticipation of all three at home all day every day. Get rid of excess! Pare down! Make a list of rules, activities that will last us the next 2 1/2 long, hot months!