Peter Pan

This precious little thing stayed home from school sick today.  Actually, she was sick yesterday and I'm a ruler follower.  You must be fever free for 24 hours to go to school.  So today, she got to go to work with me.  On the way inside I had my arm around her back and told her I really didn't want her to grow anymore.  I told her this was the perfect age and she can stop growing now.

She looked up at me, and in a choked up voice said, "Sometimes I don't want to grow anymore either.  I could stay this way forever....like Peter Pan."  Aaahhh, way to melt a Mama's heart!  That's a moment I'll cherish forever!

Bullet Blogging

It has been so long since I have blogged that I wasn't sure how I could ever possible get caught up. Until I read a friend's blog and she did bullet blogging! Sounds good to me!

• Today is Ellie Grace's 9th birthday! I keep telling her not to grow and she keeps disobeying me! How is this possible that my baby is 9??!!
• Abby is a munchkin in Union High School's Wizard of Oz. It has been keeping us more than busy, but the debut performance is tomorrow night. I'm so proud of her!
• Hannah has not only adjusted to Cascia Hall, she is thriving and loving it. So glad we made the decision to move her.
• Daniel has been a traveling fool with his job, but is enjoying his work.
• All three girls are taking guitar. Ellie Grace got drums for Christmas.
• It's not very quiet at my house.
• Santa brought Abby a Westie puppy for Christmas. I feel like I have a newborn again. It's exhausting.
• Ellie Grace is playing basketball. It's so fun to watch this shy little girl come to life when she holds the ball. It's crazy how aggressive she can be. She loves it.
• I ran the Disney World Half Marathon in January, benefiting The Scott Carter Foundation.

I think these are most of the main highlights in my life lately. Hopefully I can get back to regular blogging. That is...if anyone is still reading.

Diorama

EG was assigned a project in school of designing a diorama. Now, before you jump down and look at the picture I must tell you I am not "one of those moms". I'm not crafty, or artsy, or Hobby Lobbyish. I don't enjoy projects and I think my kids should do the bulk of the work.

That being said, I cheerlead all the way. I give direction and provide supplies and I give lots of moral support.

Now that my disclaimer is out of the way....the first night we worked on the diorama I got this email to my inbox. I think she meant to send it to a friend, but I'm sure glad she accidentally sent it to me.

At arc we do this project where we get to pick a project. I picked the shoe box thing where we decorate the box. It has to be a one room school house. I love it! It's so fun!!!!

I am doing it with my moms help. She's awesome. I might do another one (but smaller) too! Everyone will like it! ARC is so fun! I love it!

As if that wasn't reward enough, here she is with her finished product. Mind you, it's far from perfect. But, to me, the fact that she can take full credit for it makes it an A+!

Life Is Sweet in Sugar Land

This past weekend we went for a quick trip to Sugar Land. It was the first time all of us had gone back together since the move. Our first stop: Lupe Tortilla, our favorite Mexican restaurant. We have MISSED this place!!!

Next we drove by our old house and visited our friends Pam and Tyler. Tyler didn't want me to take a picture, but I tried.

Abby spent 2 nights with her dear friend Megan. Megan's Mom was so sweet to include another friend, Kyla, in the playdates. Abby had such a wonderful time.

Ellie Grace stayed with us at the hotel, but got two very special play dates with Brooke and Sophie.

Hannah stayed with her very best friend, Katherine.

These two were inseparable when we lived here. It just so happens that Katherine's Mom grew up in Tulsa and her parents still live here. It's a lucky coincidence that we get to see them at least once a year! Alice was so sweet and had a cookout/swim party so we were able to see some more people. The kids had a great time.

I hung out mostly with Lazy Mom Leslie,

but we did manage to meet up with some friends for lunch.This is me with my friend, Melanie.

A funny story here. When I was uploading my pictures on my new Apple computer it had me label faces. Those of you with Apples know what I'm talking about. You label people's faces so that you can sort by say, pictures with Hannah or pictures with Abby. Well, it starts to recognize faces and ask you, "is this Hannah?" When I was tagging this picture it asked if Melanie was Hannah. A little while later I went to workout with my trainer. She said she had just seen my pictures on facebook. She said, "there's one picture of you with a girl that looks like she could be your sister." We pulled up the pics and she was referring to Melanie. Too funny!!

I also got to sneak in a lunch with my Aunt Raini and crew. Of course we ate at yet ANOTHER Mexican restaurant. They were afraid I might be getting tired of Mexican food, but seriously??? NO WAY!!!

Spring Fling

One event we look forward to every year at school is the Spring Fling. This year's theme was western. Seeing as how we spent the last two years in Texas we love a good western theme! My girls still had last year's cute rodeo shirts hanging in their closet so we were good to go.

EG's grade did square dancing. It was so precious.

Here she is with some precious friends:

Abby's grade did Miley Cyrus' "Hoedown Throw-down". It was also pretty darn cute!

After the performances we are allowed to go back to the classrooms and see what the kids have been working on. Each year, all the classes publish books that they have been working on. We stopped at EG's class first. Her book was just precious. It was basically filled with short stories, which were all events from her life. She had one page of artwork and one page of writing for each story. Everything she wrote about was just so precious, but I had to show you this one. Remember Unlucky 13? Well, EG hasn't forgotten!

Poor girl! It was such a traumatic day. She remembers it vividly and knows it was the day her daddy almost died.

Abby's class did a poetry book. They had all different poems in there, and she will definitely kill me for this, but I can't resist. Sorry this photo isn't great, and the book is still at school.

The part my camera cut off on line 3 says, "I wish that people would give me food and I would not have to clean my dish." Maybe I'm cracking the whip a little too hard over here??

Ever Wonder What God Is Trying To Teach You??

I do! I definitely think this year my family's health has either been under attack (i.e. Job) or God is trying to teach me something.

This actually started the week of Christmas. I received one of those phone calls that will stop you in your tracks. My mammogram came back abnormal. For some you, this might not be shocking, but we have NO history of breast cancer in my family. None. Zilch. Neither of my sisters or Mom have ever even been called back on a mammogram.

I had an appointment at the hospital the day before Christmas Eve. Not a very fun start to the holiday. After another bad mammogram there, they performed an ultrasound. All I was told was, "looks benign. Come back in 6 months to re-check."

Well, this didn't settle real well with me, my mom, or my doctor. My doctor made me an appointment with a breast surgeon, just to be safe. We were leaving for a ski trip the day after Christmas so the appointment would be when we returned. As much fun as we had on our trip, it seemed as if a big cloud loomed over the week. But, it was finally determined by the breast surgeon to, in fact, be benign. Whew!

The same day I was called about the bad mammogram, I must have been a nervous wreck because I sliced my finger opening a can of soup. Thanks to a good friend for stitching me up. That little finger caused me some havoc for several weeks.

Three weeks ago I woke hope with a horrible case of hives. I mean horrible I'm not going to post a picture of my face, but my lips were swollen, eyelids swollen over, etc. I looked like I had bad plastic surgery. I have never had an allergic reaction to anything! Ever! My friend, Gayle, drove me to the urgent care and I'm so glad she did. They gave me a steroid shot. When I got to the parking lot I started feeling lightheaded and before Gayle could get to me I fainted. Are you believing this story? Crazy! And of course Daniel was out of town. We never really figured out what was causing the hives, but the best guess was an allergic reaction to an antibiotic I was

taking. I probably need to go for allergy testing because every so often, like this morning, they reappear very mildly.

As if all of this isn't enough, I received a phone call from a mom on Hannah's gymnastics team. "Amanda, I don't want to alarm you, but Hannah has fallen. They have her stabilized and I can see that she is wiggling her toes." This is not a phone call any mom wants to receive. Ever! Hannah had fallen on her back. They wanted to call an ambulance, but I knew that would scare her so I raced out to get her. (yep, Daniel out of town for this one too!) Luckily, her x-rays came back perfect. I am so so thankful for that, but a few weeks later and she is still hurting so we are headed to an orthopedist this morning to have her checked out.

And finally, last night at her gymnastics class, Ellie Grace hurt her wrist. Honestly, I almost didn't even take her to the doctor. It was swollen, but she could move it so I didn't think it was broken. (Mother of the year here) But, I decided better safe than sorry, and sure enough, broken wrist. It is so swollen that they were not able to put a hard cast on it yet. Instead she has a soft cast. The doctor asked if I had an orthopedist. Well, conveniently I do and I will be there tomorrow. She sent me with the x-rays and I will talk to him this morning while I am there with Hannah.

Again, I'm not sure if I'm under attack or being pruned for His glory. But, evidently I'm a slow learner! Whether or not this is the point, I have learned not to take good health for granted. I have learned that life can change with one heart stopping phone call. And, I have learned that even though we think we are in control, we really have none.

Flies, and Frogs, and Locusts OH MY!

This is one of those cute stories that I'm sharing with you that's really more for me. I don't want to forget it.

Daniel has started a little contest in our house to encourage the girls to have their quiet times each day. Sunday was the first day and Ellie Grace wanted to read about Baby Moses being hid in the basket. She had that story that very morning in Sunday School and she thought that would be a good place to start. I couldn't agree more.

On Monday night at dinner she told us ALL about what she read. EVERY. LAST. DETAIL. It was actually quite impressive, but took a good 20 minutes. So, after dinner she decides she's going to continue reading on in Exodus since the first night went so well.

After about 15 minutes she came downstairs crying and tossed her fuzzy purple Bible onto the coffee table. She said through her tears, "I don't understand anything that's going on. There's flies and frogs and I have no idea what He's doing." Bless her heart! That precious little 7 year old girl was reading about the Plagues in Exodus. She sat down with me and we read through every single plague and capped it off with the Passover.

Now at camp when she sings, Pharoah Pharoah, Whoa, Let my people go, she will have a whole new understanding for it! How lovely are the feet of those who bring good news!!!! Even little feet!!!

Lunch With My Girls

I've asked every day this week to have lunch with the girls. Every day it's a no. I'm dying to be a fly on the wall in their new school, so I "surprised" them! I figured if I came with fast food it was ease the embarrassment!

There's a special table for parents and the kids can invite 2 friends to join them at this special table. Here is EG and her friends:

Here is Abby with her friends:

I didn't dare press my luck by taking a picture of Hannah!

Doesn't Slumber Mean Sleep?

We are on the final countdown of our time in Sugar Land. We have exactly one week left. Things are starting to happen. Pictures are off the wall, drapes are down and folded and it's starting to look bare.

Tonight I let the girls each pick one friend to have sleepover for the last time. Aren't they all so cute???

We had pizza and ice cream sundaes and I even bought The Princess and The Frog in hopes that will keep them quiet. Do you think we will get any sleep tonight? We are totally outnumbered!!!

Yee-Haw

Last year when the rodeo was here we just did the expo building stuff. I thought that would be plenty for the kids, but EG felt cheated. She wanted to "see some real cowboys"! She talked about it All. Year. Long. Why didn't her parents take her to the "real rodeo"?

This year we did the rodeo up big. I pulled the girls out of school a bit early and Big D. took off from work. We even had cute rodeo shirts:

We ate turkey legs:

We rode rides:

And.....(drumroll please) we saw the "real rodeo".

My kids favorite events were the Calf Scramble and Mutton Bustin'. Although, Barrel Racing came in a close 3rd (mainly because it had "girl cowboys")

My favorite quote of the night was hands down this: me to EG, "Maybe when you grow up you will marry a cowboy and live on a ranch and Daddy and I can come visit you." to which EG responds, "Ugh. Who would want to live in West Texas?" Now how did she know there was a lot of ranch land there and even more importantly, how did she know it wasn't that desirable a location??? Too funny!!!

Xanadu

Our roller skating adventures continued today when we hit the roller rink for President's Day! My kids have been looking forward to this for a couple of weeks, and, I have to admit it, I was kinda looking forward to it myself.

I was flooded with memories the moment we stepped inside the rink. I mean, seriously, they have the same carpet and decorations that they had way back when (come to think of it...it probably is the SAME carpet). All of us had to rent skates except for Tootie, I mean Ellie Grace. She brought her own cool light up skates. That girl skated so hard and so long that she eventually lost her stopper. It just fell off!

Abby had a little more difficult time. That girl probably fell down no less than 50 times. I probably need to give her Tylenol at bedtime tonight.

Hannah brought her friend Grace with her and they seemed to have a great time. Hannah ended up trading her skates in for roller blades.

All three of my kids were literally taken aback when they realized I could skate. Hannah kept saying, "you're good!" Why are my kids always so surprised when I can do something?? I know I am their Mom, but I did have a life way back when.

The day was complete with races, but no Hokey Pokey. I was looking forward to that! If only Big D had gone with us. I could have finally gotten that couple's skate that I never got as a child.

My Baby is Seven!

Where does the time go? How in the world did my baby turn 7? I always tease her that she is disobeying me by getting bigger. I tell her and tell her to stop growing, but she does it anyway. She laughs every time!

She had her birthday party today at Lifetime Fitness. (By the way, I hear they are building once in Tulsa...it's incredible..can't wait!)

First on the agenda: rockwall climbing!

Next stop: swimming pool!

This is my kind of party. The kind where the kids come home exhausted and fed!

Wanna know something kinda depressing? This was the first party that we didn't have any grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc. attend. Wanna know something else? This is the last birthday party we will have in Sugar Land. Happy Birthday, sweet baby girl. Now, STOP GROWING!!!

Tootie Herrold

Anyone out there remember The Facts of Life? If you were a fan like I was, then when I say "Tootie" you aren't thinking about a "toot" you are thinking about the Kim Fields character on Facts of Life that was always wearing her roller skates.

Ellie Grace has turned into Tootie. She is in a wheel phase. For Christmas, she asked for and received, a spark scooter, roller skates and a skateboard.

This afternoon, a neighbor friend showed up on our doorstep with roller blades on. They skated all afternoon.

For her birthday, she asked for Heelys. Heelys are tennis shoes with wheels in the bottom so you can skate on a moments notice. Tonight, she received an early birthday present from Juju and Paki. She is so excited she can hardly stand it.

If you see a cute little girl go rolling by, chances are it's Tootie Herrold!

Ski Trip

We surprised the girls with a ski trip to Copper Mountain, Colorado. We didn't tell them until Christmas Eve and it was so fun to see how excited they were. They have never been skiing and have been asking to go.


We were not planning on leaving until the 27th, but due to the blizzard of '09 we thought we better head out on the 26th. What a mess trying to get out of Tulsa. For the first 3 hours we couldn't go faster than 35 mph. It was absolutely awful. I thought we would never get there, but once we got past Stillwater, it was smooth sailing. Kansas and Colorado sure know how to take care of their roads!


I'm getting ahead of myself. Hannah woke up that morning with a sinus infection and a fever. And we are headed into high altitude. We tried to find an after hours clinic Saturday morning, but because of the snow and ice nothing was open. So, I had the brilliant idea of calling her doctor in Sugar Land and having the doctor call in the prescription to a Walgreens in Wichita. We picked her meds up on the way! She would have two days of antibiotics in her system before she started ski school.


We drove and we drove and we drove and drove. And if you have ever driven that loooong stretch of Highway 70 across Kansas you know what I am talking about. We finally made it to Denver and crashed in a hotel. The next morning when we woke up and looked out of our window we could see the mountains. What a sight!


It was just about an hour drive to Copper Mountain and we were so thankful we split the drive up. I hadn't been skiing since high school. Two things were drastically different. For starters, I don't remember the mountains being so breathtaking. In fact, I'm not even sure if I looked at the mountains as a teenager. Sure, I skied them, but I don't think I actually looked at them. Secondly, it was much more physical on this middle aged woman than on a teenager. I couldn't believe how sore I was.


Daniel was impressed that I could actually remember how to ski. My claim to fame on the trip is that I didn't fall once. Granted, I wasn't a daredevil, but it was like riding a bike. It all came back to me.

The kids did great in ski school. This picture is of the girls on the bunny slope. They rode this little conveyor belt up the hill and then snow-plowed (these days they call it "the wedge") down. Hannah got to go up on the mountain her first day of school. The second day she was skiing blues. Simply amazing! And all without poles. She got her poles the third day which was a big deal to her.


The other two were stuck on that bunny slope so we pulled them out the second afternoon and took them up with us. All they needed was a little prodding. They did great. We were so impressed.


The third day we skied together as a family. I was a little nervous about it, but everyone did great. It is such a surreal feeling to see your 8 year old fly by you on the slopes. Crazy!


It was negative 2 degrees the morning we got up to leave. We stopped back in Tulsa where it was 15 degrees with more snow. As much as I loved being with family, it's nice to be back to 50 degree weather! The kids played outside on their new spark scooters and skateboards and roller skates. One more day of vacation and then back to reality on Tuesday.


It was a great two weeks of family time. My heart is full and happy!

Family History

Do you remember last year when Abby did a report at school on her family history? She talked about how the Herrold clan came from Germany, yada yada yada. Well, it's EG's turn to have this school project. I asked her if she wanted to do the same thing Abby did (which would make it sooo easy for Mom) and she said no. I asked her if she wanted to talk about how my side of the family came from Italy. She said no. She wants to talk about how she is from Oklahoma (said in her thickest Texoman accent!)

So, after I got approval from the teacher to focus on Oklahoma as our "country" of origin we set to work. It actually ended being pretty cute. She told about how her (use fingers to count) great great great great grandfather Hiram Herrold was in the Oklahoma Land Run. She explained that some people cheated and they were called Sooners. She also talked about how much our family loves the Sooners. A girl with true Sooner Pride!

Turkey In Disguise

This is the third and final time that one of my kids will have the "Turkey In Disguise" project at school. The assignment is to disguise their turkey any way they want. They are then displayed through the hallways. Last year, Abby disguised her turkey as Hannah Montana. This year, Ellie Grace decided to make her turkey into an angel. So fun...

Art Ala Carte

Our PTA sponsors this great program called Art Ala Carte. It was originally brought into the school when art funding was cut and K-2nd didn't have art class. Now, thankfully, we do have art back in all grades, but this is such a great supplemental program and the kids love it.

Last year I became familiar with it only because my kids brought home such great projects. Honestly, the things they did in Art Ala Carte were more impressive than what the did in regular art class. (hope the art teacher isn't reading this!)

This year, I decided to volunteer. I am so thankful that I am able to stay at home to be able to do these things with the kids. My girls absolutely love it when I volunteer in their classroom. They think it's so neat!

Yesterday was the first session of Art Ala Carte in 1st grade. The children learned terms such as: mood, cool colors, warm colors, shading and tinting. They used oil pastels to create their own version of Van Gogh's Starry Night. Here is EG super proud of her creation:

A Girl and Her Shoes

I am not one of those Moms that goes out shopping when the season changes and loads up on clothes and shoes for all my girls. I try to buy things constantly and rotate whose turn it is. I can't afford to do a big shopping spree. It's less painful this way.

This weekend it was Ellie Grace's turn to get new tennis shoes. And, boy, did she need them. We went to Dillard's and she immediately spotted these cute brown Sketchers. She was smitten!

The only problem with this type of shoe is that she has a very narrow foot! Shoes that you slip on just don't work well for her. They are too loose across the bridge of her foot. Coincidentally, these are the shoes she is always drawn to. I always let her try them on, crossing my fingers that this time they will fit. After trying them out in the store, she decided these were the shoes for her. She loved them. She was so proud she lugged that big bag all up and down the mall. She even slept with the box in her bed.

This morning Ellie Grace popped out of bed so excited to wear her new shoes to school! (such a girl!) When she finally made it downstairs, tears were streaming down her face. The shoes didn't feel so good. They just didn't fit right. We tried them with a different pair of socks. Now tears combined with snot. She was devastated! This might be an understatement. I told her we would go back tonight and exchange them for a different pair, but she just cried, "I don't want a different pair. I love that pair!"

With about 10 minutes 'till the bell rang she finally put her old shoes on and hopped on her bike. She cried the whole way to school. I walk her till the school is in sight and then wave her on. She made it almost to the crossing guard when she threw her bike down and came sobbing back, "I think I need another hug!" Man, this is a girl who has emotionally bonded with her shoes.

I surprised her at lunchtime by checking her out of school and racing to the mall. She was thrilled. Here is the pair she picked out:

Upon returning to school (we made it back in time for class), her teacher asked her if she had a doctor's appointment. Ellie Grace responded, "No, my Mom took me to get shoes." I asked her what the teacher said, and she answered, "Well, those are cute shoes!"

You gotta give it up for a girl who cries over shoes!