And They Swam And They Swam. . .

Okay - back momentarily to our busy summer. I'm determined to cover it all, so here we go!

The girls decided (OK, I decided) that we should try out swim team this year. I in particular, did not want us to stay in our pajamas all day every day this summer, which is what we tended to default to last summer. I figured that if we joined swim team, we'd be up and active - and we were. The girls swam four mornings a week. At first they were in the same practice group, but because so many kids signed up, they split them up into three groups. Gracie landed in the intermediate group, and Maggie in the advanced group, so they swam at different times. This meant we were at the pool from around 9:15 to 11:00. I would take my current reading material for my class, and sit in the shade. Both girls really improved their swimming this year - I would say they are now better swimmers than I am. They most certainly have better endurance than I do!

So, here's some of our swimming shots:

The girls swam four meets - we went to two, Nana and Granddad covered one, and Mimi and Pepaw went to the all-city meet at the end. This was, I think, the second meet. (I forgot the camera for the first one - Bad Mommy!)

These are the girl's team photos:

And here they are at the end with some of their ribbons.

They both did very well, and improved their swimming immensely. I am very proud of them!

Girl Scout Camp

The girls signed up for Twilight camp again this past summer. The first night of camp the forecast (and the sky) were ominous. I just couldn’t bring myself to drop my kids off at a park with very little shelter and leave them there, so I took my laptop with me and parked the car nearby. I worked on a paper from my “mobile office,” which was hot, hot, hot! The first night was about planting or gardening, and I took a break from my studies long enough to snap a few pictures:





The second night of camp I informed the girls that I would not be staying for the night’s activities, but would be dropping them off and heading home to work on school work. Maggie’s reply was, “Good decision, Mom!” I wasn’t sure whether to feel complemented or insulted. I’m not exactly sure what the theme was that night, but they came home with masks and something that was either an apron or a cape. I think the theme may have been something to do with drama. Anyway, they each grabbed kitchen utensils and gave themselves superhero names. I snapped a few photos, and Maggie asked, “So are you going to put that on facebook?” I looked at her and asked, “Do you want me to?” She said she did:



Hm. How long do you think she’ll want photos like this to be out on the world wide web? I think the time is ticking away. . .

We've Got a New Demographic in the House

August is a big birthday month in our family. Last week we went to Texas to see my grandmother and take her to lunch in honor of her 86th birthday.



We had a nice visit, and then headed to my Mom's to spend the night. The next morning we headed to their church - the small town Baptist church where Mom and Mike got married and have recently become members. When they asked visitors to raise their hands, we obliged, and we were given a visitor card to fill out - one for the entire family. As we got ready to drop it into the plate, Jerry glanced at it and started laughing at me. I had checked the age demographic boxes for fourth grade, sixth grade, ages 35-39, and ages 40-44 - one box for each member of the family. Jerry was laughing, since my 40th birthday was six days away, yet I did not include myself in the 40-44 demographic.

Well, I'm in a new demographic now, and I must say, it feels just fine. It actually feels a lot like 39 did a couple of days ago. Although I do admit to looking in the mirror in the mornings at my laugh lines and wonder just when the heck those happened. (Can't say that it bothers me that they're there. I put in a lot of good laughs to get those, by golly!) So, here's my 40th birthday documentary photos:





I had a good birthday. Jerry made his wonderful, marvelous breakfast taquitos (AND cleaned the kitchen!) Next we watched Harry Potter 6, since the girls had finished the book this week. We took a traditional birthday nap, and then I helped Maggie mix up some cake batter so she could make me a easy-bake cake while I turned the rest of the batter into cupcakes. We topped off the day with dinner at Johnny Carino's and ice cream at Coldstone Creamery - just the perfect way to end a decade and start a new one.



The only thing was that after all that food, I couldn't eat the cake! That was okay, it meant that I got to drag my birthday out until lunch the next day. That cake was super special - Maggie put a lot of effort into it! It was three layers:



With chocolate icing:



And sprinkles!



And it was delicious!



Thanks to my lovely family for my wonderful birthday!

First Day of School

Wow! This is practically a blog in real-time! I can't remember when the last time that happened was! Today was the first day of school for the girls. First day was actually in jeopardy for Miss Gracie. Wednesday morning she woke up with a fever and cough, so she did not get to go to her information day event to meet her new teacher. (It also meant that I did not get to go the the same event to gather volunteers for the library - ack!) I took Gracie to the Dr. on Thursday, and he said that since her fever was gone, she was okay for the first day of school, even if she does have a cough that curls your toenails.

We have a new middle-schooler in the house, so the girls start school 30 minutes apart - Maggie now has to get up 30 minutes earlier. Well, 15 will probably do it, because she gets ready a lot faster when her sister isn't there to "help" her and vice-versa. If she rides the bus though, it comes early - 45 minutes before the first bell, so I think we'll be a parent drop-off, if only because I don't want to get up that early. We practiced riding bikes to her school yesterday, so she has that option, but we haven't figured out how to deal with a musical instrument yet.

When we picked up Maggie's schedule last week she was scheduled for both orchestra and band. Not quite sure how that happened, and since I'm only planning on shelling out money for one instrument, she got her schedule changed. She's decided to play the violin in the orchestra, and is eager to get her instrument.

So, this morning the girls posed for their usual first-day pictures by the door. Maggie is ready to walk out, but Gracie still has 30 minutes, so she didn't have on shoes:



And here's a close-up of their bright shining faces:



But Gracie wanted to remind Maggie that, although she may be in middle school, she's still going to be keeping an eye on her:



Ah, sisters.

Jerry wanted to mark the memorable day of starting middle school with Maggie - she's almost as tall as he is now:



And then we were off. The middle school has a double line for dropoff, which is a little nerve-wracking, since Maggie has to cross the other line to get to the school. I took the camera with me, but she escaped into the building before I could get a shot. Then I zipped back to the house to make Gracie's sandwich for her lunch, and it was off to the bus stop. The bus was a bit late, as it always is on the first day, but we found out why the bus route number changed - they have a sparkling new bus for the route!

And now I must get to my own schoolwork. I still have that last assignment from my summer course hanging over my head, and I want to finish it before fall's classes start on Monday. And away I go!

Tuition Trip

Once my summer school started I did my usual weeks worth of waffling about whether to drop the course (like a normal, rational, sane person would have done when presented with my calendar of events). Of course, the drop date came and went, and it was time to pay the tuition bill.

The girls and I made a day of it, driving down to Norman and using the free Sam Noble Museum passes that the girls had received when they signed up for the local library’s reading program. They had a scavenger hunt for the kids that day that led us through a temporary exhibit of wildlife artwork that was just beautiful. They had to find the number of elephants in the exhibit and things like that. Eventually we made it to the discovery room, which is hands-on and one of the girls favorite things to do. I spied Gracie digging for fossils and quickly snapped a picture:



Just because I knew I had taken the same picture in 2007, when Gracie chose to visit this museum for her birthday. Here’s that picture:



Hard to believe it’s been four years since we moved here. Another couple of years and we’ll set a new record!

Next we had to stop by the mammoth statue and stage our photo of being squashed. The girls were really into it this time, with Maggie, as usual, taking the award for dramatic performance in the role of girl squashed by mammoth:




After our museum visit we headed to the student union where we had to visit three different food kiosks for everyone to be satisfactorily fed. The girls love food courts. They think it’s great that we can all get what we want without having to argue about where to go. Next we headed to the Bursar’s office, where I paid the equivalent of a small country’s GNP for the privilege of having a completely stressed out summer. We walked around a bit after that, checking out the fountains, statues, and squirrels, all of which are found in abundance on the OU campus. Here’s Gracie petting a sheep statue outside the library:



So, for a day that I had to shell out a lot of money, it wasn’t all bad. I had a great time with the girls, which was something that was to be in short supply for the next seven weeks or so. And I love spending time with my girls!

Island Time

Jerry and I had our fifteenth anniversary this May. We decided last year that we would do some type of trip, but until a couple of weeks before our trip we hadn’t decided exactly what. We consulted our friends, family, and guide books, and decided on St. John, US Virgin Islands for its natural beauty and laid back pace of life.

After a flight through Atlanta to St. Thomas we took a ferry to St. John, directly to our hotel, the Westin St. John. We disembarked the ferry, got our key, and headed to our room, but met another couple at the door! Turned out that we had been upgraded to a beachfront room since we were celebrating our anniversary! When we finally got there we were very pleased – here’s our view:



The hotel manager also sent champagne and chocolate covered strawberries to our room, along with a nice note congratulating us on our anniversary. We pretty much crashed the first evening, and took our time breakfasting the next morning before we met with the concierge to see what there was to do. We decided to take a tour of St. John to get the feel of the island before we scheduled any activities. Here we are overlooking the main town, Cruz Bay:



We saw several of the beaches, and stopped by the Caneel Bay Resort, which has some pretty well-preserved ruins of one of the old sugar plantations:



We stopped to get a photo at Trunk Bay, which is the most popular beach on St. John. We talked to several locals that said that the reason it’s most popular isn’t because it is the best beach on St. John, but because the picture taken from the overlook is so pretty, that’s what everyone sees in the guidebooks and wants to visit.



Since Trunk Bay is most popular, it has the most amenities, including an underwater snorkel trail. You swim from buoy to buoy, and there are signs embedded in concrete at the bottom to tell you what you are looking at. We decided to head there our first day, just to get our fins wet. We waded into the water, put our fins and masks on, stuck our head in the water, and were face to face with a stingray. After we followed him around for awhile we headed out to the underwater snorkel trail. It was pretty, but the weather was overcast, so I got a bit cold and headed back to the beach after the snorkel trail. Jerry swam all the way around the cay (the island) and said it was very pretty on the other side. Here we are post snorkel:



Since our snorkel gear rental was for a 24-hour period, Jerry decided to see what was off the beach area at our hotel when we got back. I decided to walk the beach alongside of where he was snorkeling, and we both collected seashells – lots of pretty ones. As we walked back to our room from the far end of the beach Jerry gave me a plumeria bloom, which I thought completed my island look nicely:



The next day we went on an excursion to the Baths, which were in the British Virgin Islands – I got a stamp in my passport! (I had stamps in my old passport, but I haven’t been anywhere since I got my new one!) It was very overcast and sprinkled on us for most of the trip, but the Baths were nice. They were stones, not pools. We didn’t really know what to expect! The next stop was supposed to be some caves to snorkel around, but the sea was too rough, so we went elsewhere. We saw lots of coral, barracuda, and some conch, but they were too deep for us to pick up. Here’s us on the boat and at the Baths:





The next day we decided we were tired of being wet and chilled all day, so we spent it in town, shopping. We ate some island Bar-B-Que at Uncle Joes, which was very good, and Jerry tried a green tea smoothie at one of the cafes that was pretty good.



Our last full day we decided to try the beach that the locals said was the best. There was no road access, so you had to take a taxi or shuttle to a drop-off point, and then hike about half an hour to the beach at Waterlemon Bay.



We staked out our spot on the beach and started the swim to the cay, where the good snorkeling was supposed to be. Along the way we saw lots of starfish, big as dinner plates, all over the bottom of the bay. The locals were right, the snorkeling was great around the cay. We went around it, and then up on its beach for a rest before heading back to the main shore. On our way back we took a bit of a detour and saw a sea turtle, which I swam along side of to get a good picture.





All in all, we were out over two hours in the water. It was awesome snorkeling, but the sun had come out, and I ended up sunburned on the backs of my arms and legs. I had gotten a rash guard shirt to avoid sunburn, but it wasn’t enough. Next time it will be long sleeves and board shorts!

Motherhood

You always hear that motherhood is a lofty position. I am reminded of how mom-centered our household is whenever I try to sit at my desk and concentrate on schoolwork. Everyone can be occupied with other things, but as soon as I sit down and stay in one place, here they come:



Sometimes the girls will bring their own books with them. In this picture they were enjoying some of the 29 picture books I had checked out for my first children’s literature assignment. I was quite dismayed to find that I had overshot the library’s due date by a day. Ten cents a day adds up quick when you have that many books checked out. I hear it’s an occupational hazard.

It’s not always the girls who want to be near. Sometimes I get another admirer:



Still, if there was any question that moms are important, Maggie clinched it when the girls were playing a while back. They were playing hospital with all their stuffed animals, and Maggie had a list of ailments on her white board with lists of animals affected underneath them:



In case you can’t read it, possible reasons for hospitalization are:

• Unable to use legs
  
• Walking Problems
  
• Brain Damage
  
• Oxygen Problems
  
• Eating Problems

And. . .

• No Mom.
  

‘Nuff said.

A Very Busy Summer

I can't be sure without going back and checking, but I may have a post or two in the past that was titled the same way – a Very Busy Summer. It seems that each year as the summer draws to a close, I have to put up a post detailing everything that we did the past summer because I was too busy during the summer to post. I would just like to confess that in the past years, when titling my posts, I LIED. I know this, because this was the busiest summer that I have ever had, and whatever I thought was busy in the past, that wasn’t it.

First, we had the end of the school year for the girls. This was a big year for Maggie. She had an end-of-fifth-grade party, and I manned the concessions. It was really interesting to see all these kids that she’s been with since second grade, and how much they’ve grown up.

Next in the fifth-grade lineup was a talent show. Maggie and a friend had decided to do a dance routine from the Wii Just Dance game. They got together and practiced, but they needed the music to play on the sound system at the school, so I went out to Amazon to download the song. Well, I hadn’t realized that the song on the game, which is rated E-10, had been heavily sanitized to maintain that rating. I felt a bit uneasy seeing that the song was offered in two versions – explicit and radio edit. I thought that the radio edit would be the one that is one the game, and after previewing the 30 second snippet available, I downloaded it. Well, IF it was sanitized at all, I couldn’t tell. I had to call the other mother and let her know that our girls would NOT be dancing to that song. The girls had to pick a different song – one I knew its entirety, and learn it quickly the morning of the show. Maggie was upset, but we explained why the song was unacceptable, and she seemed to understand. I hope that when it comes time for her to control what goes into her ears, she will remember these lessons.

Gracie finished out her year with the third-grade’s mini-society. Her group made decorated flip-flops, pencils, and bracelets. They sold out quickly and counted it a big success. She and Sterling manned the table first:



The last fifth grade activity for Maggie was graduation, which Jerry and I attended. Here she is getting her diploma from her teacher, Mrs. Bradley:



They also had an autograph party that afternoon. I showed up for that too, but Maggie told me that I did not need to stay (I think I was embarrassing her) and so I watched the all-school sing along at the end of the day at Gracie’s invitation, and then headed home. Here’s Gracie’s grade – they sang “Surfing USA” by The Beach Boys.



My summer vacation didn’t last long – I started school on June 14 – but Jerry and I celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary with a relaxing vacation to St. John before summer school started. While that was going on we started swim team, practicing four days a week in the morning, did Girl Scout twilight camp, VBS, Gracie’s birthday party, church camp, and finally, a mission trip. In short, a very busy summer. Let’s see if I can catch everyone up!

Sticking To My Principles (or "How To Get an Ulcer in One Easy Step")

I would say that I am usually a pretty easy-going person. Now, whether close friends and family would agree with that assessment, I couldn't say. Perhaps not. Every once in awhile though, something really gets my goose, and my easy-going nature goes right out the window.

One Christmas, there was a particular store that I felt had not acted honorably towards me as a customer, and I was ready to take back all the gifts I had bought from that store up to that point because I felt that they didn't deserve my patronage. As I was ranting about the situation to my sister (It's the PRINCIPLE of the thing!) she calmly said to me, "Your principles are going to give you an ulcer."

Hmmm. So now, whenever I get miffed I think of Amy and try to make a judgement call about whether the issue is worth getting an ulcer over. Usually, it's not.

Today I got good and mad. It's been building since last month, when I ordered additional prints of the girl's spring school portraits. We have lots of family that we give photos to, and they all have the specific sizes that they prefer. In the fall you can select a package that meets your needs, but in the spring they just print a package and you can either take it or leave it. Our problem is that the package isn't quite big enough. I went online and ordered one additional 8x10 and two 5x7's of each girl. That's what was on the "review order" screen before I paid, but when the order confirmation screen came up after I placed the order, it had one 8x10 and two 5x7's of Gracie, but four 5x7's of Maggie. I immediately hit the "contact us to modify or cancel your order" link, but they did not respond to that message or the subsequent e-mail I sent until after the order shipped. This begs the question - Why have that link if you can't actually modify or cancel the order? Whatever. I kept my cool, and when the order arrived, I followed the instructions, sent back the extra 5x7's of Maggie, and in due time received a replacement 8x10 - of Gracie!

The same day it arrived it was back on its way to the photographer with a note explaining that I had actually wanted an 8x10 of the same child that was in the photos that I had returned, complete with the original job number, child id number, and the re-order number. I described what she was wearing in the photo. I did not insult anyone's intelligence, and thanked them for their attention to the matter. Surely, I thought, I would get a picture of the correct dimensions and subject. I know I dream big sometimes, but this seemed reasonable.

Well, today I received a reply via e-mail. It said that, "while we would like to be of assistance, regrettably, we are unable to make changes to orders." As easy-going as I like to think I am, this pushed me right over the edge. I have already paid to return incorrect orders twice, and now they are just going to refund my money and have me reorder it on their buggy website? I think not! I immediately fired back an e-mail. "Regrettably, that answer is unacceptable."

"Regrettably? Regrettably? Oh, you just think you regret. You just wait until I get ahold of you!" is what was going through my mind. The main problem was getting ahold of anyone - no phone numbers anywhere on the website. I got the local representative's number from the school, who gave me the national 1-800 number for sales, who gave me the number for customer service, who transferred me and my righteous anger to someone in the lower-grade section. I told the young lady there what had transpired, and she reordered my 8x10 at no charge to me before I even had a chance to get warmed up.

Strangely, I feel a little deprived.

Guess I'm not as easy-going as I like to think!

Taking a Deep Breath

Believe it or not, today was day 14 of my summer break. I feel like I've been holding my breath since my last assignment was turned in, but now I can relax and enjoy the rest of my break. Why the long wait? Well, today I got my grades for the semester. Normally by the end of the semester, I would have a good idea of where I stood, grade-wise, but this semester I had a professor who didn't actually grade our assignments. Or, at least she didn't bother to mention it to us. I ended the semester with 30 assignments completed, eight graded with actual grades entered in the gradebook, and another five looked at with feedback, but not entered in the gradebook, and no word whatsoever on the other 17. So, when I clicked on the link today to check my grades, I wasn't exactly sure what I'd find. While the end result was good - I've managed to hold on to my 4.0 GPA - the process was less than pleasant. Unfortunately, the fun isn't over. I have this professor again this summer, but at least she will only be teaching one class. We will see if anything changes.

The other thing that I've been holding my breath about is our anniversary trip. We've been saying that we wanted to do something special this year - it's our 15th anniversary after all - and today I booked the trip. We will be heading to St. John, one of the US Virgin Islands, for seven days in June. Now that I've booked the trip, I can start getting excited about it!

So, as I mentioned, it's day fourteen of my summer break. I've been catching up on all the things that seem to fall by the wayside during the school year, cleaning out a few drawers, closets, etc., getting the semester's schoolwork properly documented and filed and put away for future reference, and researching our upcoming trip. I've read a few books too - Jerry and the girls got me a Kindle for mother's day - so far I like it, although I've downloaded so many free books, I may never get to them all. Another thing I am always worried I'll never get around to is my scrapbooking, but I've managed to do a couple of months worth of photos in the last couple of days.

The girls are not out of school yet - they still have this week and next week before they get to have the joy of summer vacation. I've signed them up for swim team this summer, which means they have to be at the pool bright and early in the morning, four days a week. It's a preemptive strike against spending all summer in their PJ's, which is exactly what they would do if given the chance! (I can't imagine where they get that from. . .)

As usual, the last month of school has been jam packed with all sorts of activities. Of course, the SUPER BIG DEAL of being a third-grader in Oklahoma (at least at our school) is the big Land Run Reenactment. Gracie was pumped! Here we are in our getups:



Gracie was in a family of four girls - they called themselves the Prairie Gals. They decorated their wagon to the nines:





Because everyone else was wearing long dresses and boots, Gracie (who wore not quite period authentic tennis shoes) was elected to run as fast as she could to try and claim the only "plot" of land in the shade while the rest of the family came as quickly as they could with the wagon. Although Gracie made a valiant effort, there was a lot of folks headed for the shady spot. We ended up in the shade of the wagon for our lunch, but it was a beautiful day, so we didn't mind.





After lunch, games, and other activities, it was time for the hootenanny and the Virgina Reel. Gracie was excited about this - in fact, the day before she had asked me if we could practice the dance. I actually do have a recording of the Virgina Reel on my iPod, so we practiced through one or two iterations of the music (it's about 11 minutes long.) The she gasped, and said, "I MUST practice wearing my dress so I don't TRIP!!) and she scampered off, put on her special dress, and the practiced dancing some more. She was totally ready when it came time to dance.



Of course Easter was late this year - I bought my dye early, because I had a hard time finding any last year - but then we waited until the last moment to dye the eggs. The girls did practically all of the preparation by themselves this year. By the time I got in there, they were practically done!



Maggie had told me that when she got moved to the back of the classroom recently, she had trouble seeing the board. I got the girls in for eye exams, and sure enough, Maggie is nearsighted. She was so excited to get glasses, and Gracie was so disappointed that she has "healthy" eyes and didn't get to pick out a pair. It's funny how they look forward to the same things that I dread. It's only a matter of time before I have to get my first bifocals - perhaps if I looked as cute as this, I'd feel different!



As we hit the last couple of weeks of school, the fifth grade is in a whirlwind of activity. They lead off with their program - a search for the American Treasure. Maggie had her first singing solo, and she did great!





Once that was out of the way they went ahead and watched "The Film." Yes, THAT one. When Maggie got home she said, "We Watched 'The Film' today."

"Oh really?" I replied. "What did it talk about?"

"Mostly stuff you have already talked about, like the period, and hair growing, and stuff like that. They talked about how a baby develops inside your body from an egg and a sperm." She said.

"So, do you have any questions?" I asked.

"Just one." She said.

Oh boy, here it comes, I thought. And sure enough. . .

"How does the sperm get there?"

Luckily for me, Jerry came home from work right then, and I told him that his daughter had a question about the film she saw that day. HaHaHa!!! Anyway, so we answered the question together, and obviously, I lived to tell about it.

And so they keep growing up. Sometimes I wish I had a pause button so I could enjoy all the great moments. And maybe a fast forward or rewind button to deal with the not-so-enjoyable moments. I'll just have to do my best without those handy things!