Are you a deleter?

For all you TiVo fanatics out there, of which I'm one, when you've watched a program that's recorded do you immediately delete it or not? In our house we call Jim "the deleter" because he just randomly and arbitrarily deletes programs without any regard to whether everyone who may have wanted to watch that program has had a chance to do so or not. Can you tell I'm bitter?

I, on the other hand, can't stand to press that delete button. What if I want to watch that same show at some other time in the future? Much better for the TiVo brain to decide for me when it should be deleted.

On another TiVo topic, what do you have on your To Do list? Just for tomorrow, Thursday, we have 17 shows that are set to record!!! Because I know you're dying to know here's the list: Project Runway, Dora the Explorer, The Wonder Pets, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, 30 Minute Meals, Full House (twice), Arthur, Cyberchase, 30 Minute Meals (again and again...that's 3 times in one day), The Most Extreme (a weird Animal Planet show that Jackson likes), Survivor (of course), Grey's Anatomy (of course!), ER (why? I don't know), The Suite Life of Zack and Cody, $40 a Day (Rachel Ray gets way too much of my TiVo time). What's on your To Do List? I wanna know.

Second Gymnastics Meet...4 More to Go

Jordan's second meet was last Sunday. Her session started at 4:00 p.m. at a gym that was about an hour away. The meet ended at about 8:00 and the coaches and some team members and their parents wanted to get something to eat after...and Jordan wanted to go too. That meant that we didn't get home until after 10:00 p.m....on a school night!! Jordan had a great time which is what the whole thing is about. She did fairly well in two events...vault and bars. She still needs to work a little on her floor and beam routines but she's a hard worker so I know it'll come with time. I'm proud of you Jordan!

For anyone who cares, here's the rest of the pictures.

Must Blog More

I just can't seem to get the hang of keeping a journal...electronic or otherwise. I seem to have it in my head that I should only record the bigger events here when in actuality the whole reason I started this darn thing was to capture the everyday moments to help me remember those down the road. I'm more likely to remember the bigger things without writing them down. The little things are the ones I'm going to need help recalling.

So in that vein...here's two mundane things from yesterday:

1. 30 Minute Meals was TiVoing and Jensen was standing in front of the tv watching very intently. After a few minutes I asked her, "What's Rachel making?" Jensen thought for a few minutes then finally said, "water and leaves." Cracked me up.

2. Chicken Bryan is my favorite thing to order at Carrabba's and I wanted to try to make it at home. I found this recipe online and gave it a try last night for dinner. It was awesome! Tasted just like the meal in the restaurant. Had a nice bottle of wine with it and saved ourselves quite a bit of money.

Someone please remind me to blog more...

CKU

Back from CKU! I really tried to set up a flickr account to share the photos but flickr just doesn't like me for some reason. I kept going around in circles with them saying I had to use my yahoo id but when I did that it wanted me to associate my flickr account with my yahoo account but it wouldn't ever let me log into my flickr account. And around and around. I finally gave up and just put the photos on the yahoo photos thing. Here they are...and they're not all that exciting.

I agree with Heather that I really liked CKU-Albums that we went to last year much better. This year, I just didn't really learn much of anything new. I made a few cute pages that I'll definitely use and I did get quite a few handy tips from the two photography-related classes, but I don't think those things were worth the tuition. Plus, I feel like we got quite a bit less product this time around. All that said, I still had a great time with 3 great girls and I'd spend a partying weekend at the Galleria with them anytime!

As usual, Jim did a great job with the kids while I was gone. It makes it so much better to go away for the weekend when I know I don't have to worry about anything at home. It's almost like they don't really need me...hmmmm. Anyway, I missed them all but I'm glad that Jim gets to spend alone time with the kids as well. They do all kinds of fun things with him that they don't do with me so I know they enjoy it too.

And to top off a great weekend, guess what I won at my local Randall's grocery store last night when I went in to pick up something for dinner? This!! Our store was having some sort of grand re-opening celebration this past weekend where they had all sorts of promotions going on. Of course, I didn't really know anything about it since I was gone all weekend. The cashier rang up my stuff and it popped up on her screen that I was an instant ipod winner! Jordan's been wanting an ipod forever but we've resisted (I mean, she's only 9!). But I'm taking this as a sign and we're going to give it to her for Christmas. She'll be soooo happy!

12 on the 12th...September 2006

I wanted to get this posted closer to the actual date, but just didn't get to it. Here it is now.

1. This photo was taken at about 6:20 a.m. as Jim was leaving for the airport. Not an unusual scene by any stretch.

2. The never ending pile of laundry awaiting me.

3. Jordan on the way to school. Today was picture day. We had "words" about her hair. I spritzed her with hairspray and that apparently ruined her whole day.

4. Jensen insists on carrying her own backpack. She looks so little.

5. I volunteer in the library at SFE every Tuesday. Today was Jackson's class's library time. He checked out a Star Wars book.

6. These are the gates into the apartment complex we are currently living in. I go in an out of these gates about 10 or 12 times per day. They are loud and creaky when they work. Quite a few days they are just stuck open.

7. The end of the school day. Jackson and Andrew, crazy and wound up as usual.

8. Off to drop Jordan off at gymnastics practice at R/B. I'll be back to pick her up at 6:30 p.m.

9. This was my haul from about 2 hours of shopping this afternoon. I got 3 shirts and 2 pairs of earrings at Chico's. I think these are the only clothing items I've ever purchased in there. Generally not my style...don't know what happened today. I always find jewelry in there though. I love the fabric pouches they put all your jewelry purchases in. I'm all about the cute packaging. Also found a cute bag at Ann Taylor Loft. However, it's already been returned. I loved the look of it, but once I got my stuff in there it didn't look as cute. Hmmm. Maybe I need to carry less stuff.

10. Finally! Windows where there were no windows for so long.

11. Jackson's new watch. He actually got this a few days ago. He knew exactly what he wanted...a metal band with actual numbers and hands, not a "diginal" watch. His whole motivation for this purchase is so he can keep an eye on the time while we're in church. I hate to tell him that watching the clock doesn't make the time go any faster.

12. The new bag I ordered for CKU arrived today. I'm actually leaving for CKU in two days! And I'm totally not ready!

9/11

I wonder how many people are going to write about this today. Shortly after the attacks happened in 2001, I had written down all my thoughts about it, but I've since lost my notes in our fire. So I thought I'd take this opportunity on the 5 year anniversary to write about it again. I know I won't remember a lot of the details about how I felt that day and the days after but I guess some info is better than none.

That morning, I had Jackson and Jordan home...we were getting ready for school. Jordan was in preschool and Jackson in MDO. They were eating breakfast and we were watching tv. I don't remember what station it was but it was not a local channel. Probably something like nick jr or disney. Jim called from work. He was working at Enron at the time and had been at work for a while already. They had tvs everywhere in his building always turned to cnn or the financial news network. He asked if I was watching the news. Of course, I wasn't. I was probably watching Dora the Explorer or something equally innocent.

I just couldn't believe what I was seeing on the tv screen. Initially I kept thinking it had been some sort of terrible airline mistake...that had to be it. Until we saw the second airplane hit. That is when everyone knew it was being done on purpose. What kind of people would do such a thing? All this time later I still don't comprehend the motivation behind such an act.

When it was time to take the kids to school I wasn't sure what to do. I went ahead and got them in the car, and drove to Holy Comforter. I remember feeling so weird on the car ride over...like it just wasn't right to be taking them to school that day...but I felt like we should stick to our routine. All the other moms at drop off were feeling the same way but we reluctantly left our children and started to go about our day.

I had a few errands planned that morning and I remember the first place I went...Joann Fabrics. How weird is that. I remember being in the store shopping for my mundane craft items and feeling all the time that this just wasn't right. I left the store, drove back to school and picked up Jackson and Jordan right then. I just really needed them with me, in my sight.

The rest of the morning I was glued to the tv like the rest of the nation. Jim's building downtown was evacuated and everyone sent home thinking that other big buildings in large cities might be targeted. I was relieved when he finally got home. I just wanted us all to be together in the same room.

The rest of that day and evening we had the news on non-stop. I remember we were all sitting at the dinner table and Jordan asked why the tv was still on while we were eating. We weren't really sure how much to tell her about what happened (she was only 4) or how appropriate it was for her to be watching the news coverage that day. I can't remember if we turned the tv off or not...or the exact words we used to try to explain the horrible thing that had happened that day. I'm sure it wasn't adequate but we always try our best to explain things to the kids and at the same time make sure they still feel safe and protected.

Five years later I still find myself looking up at airplanes I hear passing overhead to make sure they're going to keep on going like they're supposed to. And five years later, after all the time and money the u.s. government has spent on the "war on terror" and all the military personnel that have died, I don't feel any safer than I did right after 9/11. I still feel like a similar attack could happen again at any moment in any location and it'd just be the luck of the draw if it wasn't in my city.

Gymnastics

Last week I wrote these notes:

I'm sitting at Rowland Ballard watching Jordan take a private gymnastics lesson trying to nail down her round off back handspring before her first meet next weekend. I'm so proud of her. Her coach always tells me she's one of the hardest working kids on the team. And I know that about her. She goes to gym practice 3x/week for a total of 7.5 hours and often asks to go to the extra open gym times. She (almost) never asks to skip practice and really loves it. And they are tough workouts...I could never do the conditioning she does let alone the actually gymnastics skills. I don't know (or care) how far she'll go in gymnastics, I just want her to keep on enjoying it like she does now.

After her doing gymnastics since she was 5 I can't wait for her to experience her first meet. I'm so nervous for her but she doesn't seem to be at all. No matter how it goes, I know it'll be something I'll never forget.

Well, today was the first meet. And as it turns out, she was nervous. It was a long, tiring day (much like swim meets...a lot of sitting around for very little actual competition). Jordan said at the end that she felt she didn't do well, but I was proud of her and know that she'll only improve with each meet.

The toughest aspect from my point of view was the hair! I knew it would be a fight so I started prepping Jordan a week ago about it. She would have to wear her hair in a tight bun, high on her head. If it's not a loose, low ponytail Jordan doesn't want to do it. And to top it off...we had to use gel...and of all the horrors...HAIRSPRAY! We had a few tears, and a few words, this morning while we were doing it. She felt like she looked like a dork but as it turns out, she looked exactly like all the other girls. And they were all beautiful.

I didn't get any really good pictures. Flash photography was not allowed plus I didn't bring my digi rebel...only felt like lugging my little canon elph along with the video camera...seemed like a better video event anyway rather than still photos.

The next meet is in two weeks. Can't wait to see how it goes.

I had a couple more pictures to add but blogger is just not cooperating.

End of Summer

It's here. One of the biggest signs for me is when the littlest one starts school...our preschool starts about 2 weeks after the other kids start school. Since our elementary starts in the middle of Aug...it's definitely still summer here. But now, Jensen has started and it's after Labor Day so summer is winding down.

At first I was just wishing she could start right when the other kids did...I was ready for some kid-free time...but I actually really enjoyed those two weeks with just her. Each one of the kids is totally different when they're by themselves than when they're with any of the others. No one to fight with I guess.

Jensen is my girl-y girl...loves my "nake-up" and always wants nail polish on her fingers and toes. So, one day we went to the nail salon together. I really wish I had had my camera with me. She was soooo cute! I got a pedicure and she got her fingers and toes painted and sat there so good just waiting for it all to dry. Everyone in the salon couldn't believe how good she was.

We also got our hair cut together one day and she got such a cute cut!! I wish my hair could do this.

I finally got my salon buddy! I'm sure I'll be paying for highlights and facials by the time she's 12 so I might be regretting this introduction to the salon world. But, I'll be saving money on Jordan since I have to drag her kicking and screaming into a salon just to get her hair trimmed once a year.


The other sign that summer is over...our last trip to the beach. Although this was my first trip this year (I really don't love the beaches here in southeast texas) Jim and the kids have gone a few times. I have to admit...I had a great time even though the sand here should really just be called mud.