Day 2 of 1st Grade

Last year on Kate's first day of school I took a picture of her eating her breakfast. She requested that I take a picture of her today since she was eating the same breakfast today, eggs. She was also happy because her hair wasn't sticking up all over the place this year.

Today was the first day that Kate took the bus to school, so I took a picture like I did last year that shows the bus disapperaring into the morning darkness. (The kid has to catch the bus at 6:55 am!) I also took a few extra pictures because we arrived at the bus spot--the end of our driveway--early.

 "Happy, happy, joy, joy. I'm going to school!"

 Today's fashionable outfit.

 She's looking like one of those The Price is Right girls showing the attributes of the Hummer. Is that show on anymore?

And there she goes. The bus usually picks up the girls down the road first then comes back and picks up Kate on the return. Today he picked her up on the way to their house. She was so excited when we saw the bus' headlights turn down our road. She was jumping and waving. Perhaps her bus driver stopped because he thought she had an emergency.

The Firsts

School started today. Daddy's Li'l Doodlebug is now a first grader. She was so excited that she had great difficulty getting to sleep last night, but no problem springing out of that bed this morning. I drove her to school, as requested, and will pick her up afterwards. She doesn't want to do tae kwon do, which I think is a good decision. With all of the excitement, she will be physically and emotionally drained by the end of the school day. I know Rick is sitting on the edge of his seat waiting for the pictures, so I will stop yakking and start showing.

 Last year we took a picture of Kate by a particular tree. I thought I got her in the same location again; however, I was wrong. Hobo wanted to be pet and when he wants to be pet, he tries to put his left on you. Kate was fearful of getting her snazzy outfit dirty so she ran to the center of the driveway. Doesn't she look stylish?

 Outside the H2 at School. This year she picked out a messenger bag that you had to color yourself rather than a backpack. The little bag on the ground is her new lunch bag. I have the school lunch menu for this week and all of September. I will be packing a lot of lunches.

Kate with one of her friends. They were waiting for their teacher to open their classroom. Don't they look happy? I am so very, very, very thankful Kate loves school.

This past weekend Kate cheered at her first football game. It was actually a scrimmage, so it was practice for them, as well as the football players. We had to be in Tuscola (about 55 miles from our house) at 8 am. We only had to stay until 12 pm even though the football teams scrimmaged until 3pm. The girls did a whole lot of cheering. Kate enjoyed it; however, there were moments of drama and by the end all of the girls, including the older cheerleaders, looked exhausted. Photos of Kate's first ever public cheerleading experience follow.

 Katie's down on the end.

 In this photo and the next, Kate just looks like a cheerleader. She naturally has the stance of a cheerleader. She is also very good at it, you know, being loud, vivacious and jumping around.

 Actually interested in the game

 Team picture. An volunteer school photographer was walking around taking pictures and she lined the girls up for a photo. I obliged too.

The Mighty Mights, Kate's team, helped the older girls cheer at one of their games. This was the last game they cheered and you can tell. You'd be hard pressed to find two cheerleaders in the exact same position.

That's it for the firsts. First grade and first cheer performance. 

Happy Birthday Baby Girl. . . . .

. . . but she's not a baby girl anymore. Last Tuesday Katie turned six. It was a tough birthday for me because the weekend prior while organizing in the shop I found a toter of keepsakes from when she was a baby. Seeing those items unearthed a flood of memories. Earlier that week I found a bag containing all of the keepsakes from the hospital, such as the gown Rick was wearing, the caps we were wearing. It all has gone by so fast and gosh, when I look at Katie now, I cannot even remember how small she was that August 14 six years years ago.

We like to change what we do for Katie's birthday. Last year we did the big princess blow out and went to Disney. We were planning on flying over to Disney for a quick four day vacation, but because of tae kwon do belt testing and my doctor appointments, it just won't work out. We also looked at going to the Gaylord in Grapevine, but there really isn't anything going on for kids during the week days. So we settled for a "Just The Three of Us" party. Rick and I decorated the dining room, ordered the cake, got flowers and managed to wrap all of the presents without her every catching on. When she woke up from a nap on her birthday, we had a sash for her to wear that said "Birthday Girl" and we escorted her to the dining room and her throne. It was a bit of a surprise for her because we never let up that we were going to do a family shindig at our house. She thought we were going out to eat. Anyway, we sang "Happy Birthday"; she blew out her candles which had colored flames; we ate cake and she opened a mountain of presents. Katie said it was her best birthday ever. So like Rick said, "Mission accomplished."

As for presents, her main present from us is a redone bedroom with the piece de resistance being a new loft bed. We also got her quite a few Lego items to build. From her Aunties she got a leather kit where she can make a wallet, key chain, coin purse; a jewelry organizer and nail polish. From her cousins, Aunt and Uncle, she got money. From one set of grandparents she got money and the other set got her books one of which is recorded in her grandparents voices; and a rock painting kit. After each gift she said, "Thank you. I really appreciate it."

She still loves Scooby Doo

 We went with the jewel tones of purple, green, pink and turquoise. Those are also the colors of her new, big girl bedroom.

 Waiting to be escorted to her party

 The traditional "blowing out the candles" shot

 Let the ripping begin!

As noted in the beginning of this post, I was running into a lot of stored keepsakes and that is because we are doing major reorganization/reducing. We emptied Kate's walk-in closet and put a closet organizer in there and it looks so nice now and you can even walk in it! I have finished the kitchen cabinets and drawers and pantry. The dining room cabinets are next, as well as our walk-in closet. It is freeing to rid the house of junk and to simplify and downsize. Nine years ago a fire destroyed everything I owned. While struggling to find a positive from the devastation, I found relief in no longer having a junk drawer and that stays with me to this day. If I haven't used it in six months, out it goes. I try to do this every six months. Rick does not follow the plan because we have the gigantor Quonset Hut, but I feel mentally happier without crowded drawers and closets.

A week ago Saturday, Kate tested for her red belt in tae kwon do. There are four levels of red belts and this is her first one, so she has three more red belts to test for before she tests for her black belt. She's nearing the end! She loves tae kwon do and we are so proud of what she has accomplished.

Acting as the attacker in a one-step

 Taking down her black belt partner in a one-step.

 Doing her high-blue belt form during testing

Now, as for doctor appointments. I am back on bone loss medication because I am showing bone loss. No big shock there because of my lactose intolerance and low calcium intake. I also broke down and saw my doctor about my migraines. I am on a daily medicine that I take whether I have a migraine or not and another prescription that I take if I do get a migraine. The second medication stops the migraine rather quickly, but the daily medicine did not decrease the amount of migraines so the dosage was increased. Another issue I have is a numb patch on the outer side of my left thigh. It started as soreness, progressed to intense itching then numbness and intermittent red hot tingling. I was referred to a neurologist and have another test to go through. The initial thought is that it is Guillain-Barré syndrome, albeit a mild case and not deadly as some cases can be. I am already on the upswing. As a side note, I was in the exam room waiting for the neurologist and in walks the mother of one of Katie's tae kwon do friends. We were both a little taken back especially since we have chit chatted at tae kwon do. I typically don't know the last names of the kids in tae kwon do, so I never made the connection.

Yesterday Kate received her red tae kwon do belt at the Team Chip tae kwon do Belt Ceremony.

 Kate sliding her high-blue belt behind her signifying putting her past behind her.

 Her black belt presenter tying on her red belt belt. She looks pleased as punch with her new belt.

 I have absolutely no clue what this pose is all about. I stopped taking pictures after this because I could tell more weird faces were going to come.

I know I am forgetting some major event of the past few weeks, so if the forgotten included you I am sorry for the oversight. Kate starts school next Monday and I hope to have a little more time, but not to spend on myself, just to clean this darn house! We have just been running, running, running and I have been struggling just to get dinner on the table. It's a good night if we are eating before 7:30 pm. Time to get Katers out of the bathtub before she's a prune. Ciao.

Why Is That News?

USA Today has an article on their mobile app titled "Hollywood Reacts to Paul Ryan VP Pick". Am I the only one that is saying, "Why is that news?" Just because those in the entertainment industry have the mode and ability to voice their opinion to the nation does not make their thoughts more valued or more informed. Just because they're famous does not make them politically intelligent or for that fact intelligent at all. Geez, USA Today, you've disappointed me.

Weeks Worth of Doings in One Post

You'll never know how many times in the last two weeks that I have started a post and never published it. More often than not I didn't publish the post because it dealt with the Aurora, CO movie theater shootings. I have read one article about the shooting and refuse to read anymore. The media tends to sensationalize stories though the Aurora story doesn't need it. This week's People has stories of some of those who died in the massacre. I skipped those pages of the magazine. In every mass tragedy there are people involved who take heroic actions, just got married, just welcomed a new child or whose life was ended when they had great plans in store. This country is circling the drain and I don't need the media to try to manipulate my emotions because I can produce my own tears when these senselessness acts of violence occur. Am I sticking my head in the sand? No, I still get the facts, but because of the numerous tragedies perpetrated by man I cannot mentally handle the personal aspects of the story. And no Mr. Media, I don't give a shit about what Psycho Man Shooter or what his online dating profile says. I miss the days of Walter Cronkite. Final note, don't get me started on the gun control issue. I firmly believe if the theater had not been a gun-free zone that ass would have never opened fire or his head would have been blown off after his first shot.

So. A lot has occurred in life since I posted last. Despite the death of a two-month old child, life keeps rolling along. I think that is what always strikes me as the most strange when a tragedy befalls a person or nation; life goes on.

Katie has joined the Anson Youth Cheerleading Association. She had cheer camp this week. She was so-so about cheerleading camp. She does like cheering but it's a tough group. And you know how little girls can be. . .Like Rick said, Kate is at a disadvantage when it comes to socializing. We don't live in town; she didn't go to Pre-K and we don't have any neighbors. The friends that she has made prior to going to school--at MOPS, ballet, tae kwon do--all live in Abilene. Also, Kate is the only 1st grader on her squad; all of the others are 2nd graders. Big 2nd graders don't want to hang out with baby 1st graders. I am not saying that Kate is without fault. She likes to lead, which doesn't always go down well with other kids and she can be intense. Anyway, I am concerned about her schedule. She'll have cheer practice two times a week; ballet one time a week; and tae kwon do three times a week. Add those up. They equal 6, she has 5 week days. One day will be a double up day. And to top it off, the Pee Wee football league plays on Saturday mornings. At least it is not for the whole year. We'll have to take it one day at a time.

 Part of their dance routine.

 Showing off their certificates for completing Cheer Camp

 More learning and practice.

I have been driving my new vehicle for about a month now and I love it. But some habits are hard to break. Since the SRT8 sat so low to the ground, I had to slow down for each bump and dip or risk tearing the front end off or cracking the belly pan. The other day I went through the car wash with the Hummer and instead of pulling straight onto the road, I found myself driving along the front of the wash bays to the side street because the dip before the main road is less angled there. I know people laugh at me because when I pull up in this beastly vehicle all 5'3" of me gets out. The H2 and me make an odd pair. I look like a 2nd grader next to it. Rick says I am spoiled because when I parked next to a Hummer H3 my comment was, "That's small!" For the record, H3s are a lot smaller, about the size of a Jeep and I was truly surprised by the the size difference. Matter of fact I am surprised how many vehicles I look down on while driving the Hummer (Literally, folks. I am not that big of a snob!) Here's a photo of the Hummer when Rick brought it home. (He had to drive it home from Chicago.)

Hummer H2 with Hobo in the foreground

The Hummer is the Silver Ice Edition. They only made 750 of the Silver Ices. It has every option except the heated steering wheel, so it is pretty loaded. Katie's loving the DVD player. Rick, not so much. The screen flips down from the ceiling. Rick has smacked his head on it twice when he has leaned back to help Katie with her seat belt. My SRT8 is a Chrysler and the H3 is a GM product so the location of all the buttons, switches and doodads are different. I still don't know how to set my favorite stations on the Nav/XM radio. I also couldn't figure out how to answer my cell phone when the H3's bluetooth picked up the call so Rick had to show me.

Hobo. He has made great strides in the last month. In June he started letting Katie pet him but still refused to let anyone else get close to him. One day Katie was petting him by the front steps. I came out of the front door and slowly joined in the petting. When Rick came home from a trip, he let Rick pet him and when our neighbors/friends Don and Geri stopped by, he let them pet him. He wags his tail when he sees Kate, Rick or I and comes trotting. He'll walk up the driveway with me to unlock the gate and listens very well. When he sees me for the first time in the day, he gets so excited that he makes a weird noise. It's a closed mouth whine/grunt. He now wears a collar with a name tag and I have started him on K9 Avantix. Both Rick and I tried a leash on him. He let us attach the leash but then he turned his head; looked out of the corner of his eye at us with absolute disgust and then lied down. So we are at baby steps with the leash. We cannot take him to the vet until we can get him leash trained. I often wonder what he has experienced in his short life. (We figure he is 1 1/2 years old.) The first time I opened the gate with Hobo by my side, I had the gate's chain hanging from one of my hand's. Hobe took one look at it and ran all the way home. He doesn't like loud noises like the compressor. Prefers to eat when no one is around. Does not play catch--he fears you are throwing something at him. Doesn't like the water hose on full blast, but he is getting braver with this one. Since he has such a strong reaction to chains we assume he was chained as a puppy and perhaps broke free and ran away. He may have been beaten with his chain. He undoubtedly has been abused or relentlessly teased because he cowers if you use a stern voice. He obviously has had things thrown at him and must have been stealing food from other dogs given that he won't eat unless he is alone. I call him Hobee Doe, Beau, Hobee. He is our dog. He has a home.

More pictures.

Kate's redone professional TKD composite photo.

Katie and the dogs found this snake while they were on an adventure. It is a Long Neck snake, not a Coral snake for which they get mistaken. He is eating a lizard in the photo that is why it's hard to make out his head or tail.

Katie at Cheer Camp that the Anson High School Cheerleaders put on. She attended the camp in June. Wow! Am I behind in posting pictures.

We purchased our box again for the Texas Cowboy Reunion Rodeo. We originally got the box three years ago when our friends moved from the area. This year since we had just bought the Hummer, I was hesitant to spend the money, but if we didn't buy it we would have lost the box for the foreseeable future. Basically someone has leave it to you in their will or pass it on to you when they leave the area, so you don't give one up easily. Some families have had their boxes for generations. The boxes seat eight and are ring side. From the thundering horses, I have had dirt flicked down my shirt and in my bra and I get the jeepers scared out of me when they come racing by rail. The rodeo is four nights long and each night we invite a different group of friends. This year was a lot of fun. The first night of the rodeo was 4th of July. We had our friends/neighbors Don and Geri join us, as well as E.L., Peggy and Linda, the people that lease our cotton land. Afterward we all went to the lake where Rick and Don shot off $200 worth of fireworks. They finally had to start firing 4 at a time so we won't be there until 3 am. Rick said it was his best fireworks display that he has ever created. It was also his most expensive he ever purchased, but with the great time we had with our friends, it was priceless. Here are a few pictures from the rodeo.

Before the Star Spangled Banner. Texans love their State flag and you rarely see the US Flag without the Texan Flag near by.

The Six White Horses of HSU (Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene.) I found out this year that there are six horses because six different national flags have flown over Texas: Spain, France, Mexico, Republic of Texas, Confederate and United States.

"Oh my aching back."

This picture made me laugh because the horse has his rear legs tucked up so the man's jean clad legs by the rails look like the horse's legs.

This horse was feisty from the get go.

 She promptly threw the rider and fell on top of him. The horse was fine, but they kept her down until they could get the cowboy out. If they hadn't she would have further crushed him and trampled on him. Turned out she wasn't too happy about being separated from her baby, so the baby was brought out to the ring. They happily greeted each other and trotted off together to the back stage area.

I love taking pictures of the barrel racers because then you can see how close the horse gets to the barrel and what an incredible angle these horses circle the barrel.

These ladies were the San Angelo Ambassadors. In our area we have the Sheriff's Posse, a group of women who ride for The Cure (breast cancer) among others. Texas has oodles of riding groups that perform across the state, country and globe.

One of the entertainment acts for the rodeo was a female trick rider. She was awesome and she had an awesome horse with an awesome disposition. When most people start to ride, they aspire to stay upright in the saddle. I wonder why she wanted to hang upside down from one.

Here's a rainbow picture that I captured one day. And yes, as evidenced by the rainbow, we have been getting rain, not a whole lot and the lake levels are still low. However, at least this year the cotton has popped up.

So that's it for now. Sorry for the long post, but I didn't want to leave any for later because you know what happens. Later never comes. Ciao.

Not Your Typical Monday

Today I attended the funeral for Ezra, the two month old little boy that died unexpectedly. So pretty needless to say, today was another tough one. During the service, Ezra's grandparents, aunts and parents read their letters to Ezra. His maternal grandmother composed a beautiful poem. His mom and dad managed to inject humor into their emotional reading and his maternal aunt sobbed so deeply that my heart just broke for her. After the church service I rode with four other friends to the cemetary to attend the graveside service. I was thankful that we did not have to see the tiny casket being lowered into the ground. I would have been a wailing mess then.

One thing that amazes me is the deep faith that Ezra's mom and dad exhibited. For example, at the funeral service in the church we sang a song and the daddy raised his hand in praise to the Lord. At a time when most would be questioning God and the meaning of it all, he praises his God. They remembered their son with laughter by recalling the dirty looks he'd give his older sister, his belches and his farts. I feel small and insignificant in my faith in comparison to theirs. Their grace and faith is a beautiful thing to see.

So it wasn't your typical Monday, but I dearly enjoyed seeing my MOPS friends again. I will miss meeting with those ladies twice a month. I have never seen or been part of a group of women where no one judged another and there was no back stabbing or cattiness, which is extremely rare in a group of women that large. The group as a whole feels like one big hug. MOPS does have another ministry for moms with older than preschool children called Moms Next. We had talked about starting a chapter here in Abilene. Perhaps we need to revisit the idea again. I need it. Not so much for the guest speakers or topics, but for the contact with the other moms.

It's late and the morning comes early. Ciao.

Visitation

There is so much to blog about:  the new vehicle, the rodeo, Hobo. I'll get to it tomorrow or maybe the next day. I'd rather share with you what I did today. I paid my last respects to a 2-month old baby boy who died unexpectedly. I know Ezra, the baby boy, because his mother is a member of my MOPS group (or the group I used to belong to before Katie got too old.)

Visitation was at a funeral home in Abilene. I have great difficulty walking into a funeral home so I had contacted some friends earlier in the day to coordinate our arrivals. When I arrived Gayla, a MOPS Mentor, came up to me. I don't know what it is about Gayla, but she asked me how I was doing, I started crying. Death and funeral homes have me teetering on the edge as it is and couple that with seeing Gayla and the floodgate opened. After those tears, my next stop was with the parents of Ezra. More crying and for all my eloquence all I could say while hugging was, "I am so sorry."

In the main room at the funeral home they had a video playing that had a picture slideshow of Ezra set to music while two doors down the little guy lay in a casket. Gayla accompanied me into the room where Ezra was. Previously I have seen another child in a casket albeit older than Ezra but I had the same reaction. It  looked so wrong. A casket shouldn't be that small. Teddy bears shouldn't have to be placed in a casket. Little babies shouldn't die. The room was very quiet unlike what was going on in my head. It was chaos. I was pleading, denying, bargaining, and questioning. I could not even compose a complete sentence nor prayer in my mind as it jumped from emotion to emotion. Though I was gently crying on the outside, I was sobbing on the inside. 

Ezra's death has hit my MOPS friends pretty hard. Some know Ezra's mom pretty well while other are acquaintances, such as myself. Why it wounds everyone deeply is a mommy thing. Once you become a mother you can empathize so much deeper with another mom than you could have ever empathized with any other person in your life. You look at your child and say, "What if that was my child?" Each child tragedy is a situation of "There but for the grace of God go I". 

Rick didn't think it is a good idea that I attend the visitation and/or funeral. He's worried how it will affect me. Heck, I'm worried how it will affect me. But sometimes you have to buck up and do what is heart wrenching to be supportive of another. Tomorrow is the funeral. I'll be there.