I don't like Ike!

Hurricane Ike is bearing down on Corpus Christi. It is not good. UT vs. Arkansas cancelled. Well, postponed. Parents heading to Austin tomorrow. Uncle B supposed to be flying into Corpus on Sunday. Not likely. (He's been on an Alaskan cruise, lucky duck.) More likely he might be coming to Austin? Parents supposed to fly out of Corpus on Monday for 2 week trip to Italy. Not likely. If the storm doesn't make a direct hit on Corpus then they will likely fly out of Austin and head on their way. If it does make a direct hit, well, please say your prayers for what Ike might leave behind.

Brownies

C "flew up" from Daisies to Brownies on Friday. She is very excited to be a Brownie like M. C has a very sweet Troop. Her Troop leader sent photos from the meeting. They are on Shutterfly, so I can't copy them, but you can go look at them here. The older gentleman is her leader's neighbor who is a 92 year old Army Veteran. He told them several stories which left quite an impression on C who can retell them to you if you ask. C kept telling me that he "has lived a very good life."

***Sorry--I am told the link above isn't working. Too bad, cute photos.

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAL!!!

M had her 1st soccer game today and scored her 1st goal! The Cranberry Crushers beat the Sharks by something like 10-0. Several girls on M's team have been playing together for a few years. This was M's first game since P coached her team in preschool. You never would have known it. She was fast, went after the ball, and was a pretty decent little soccer player! Most of all, the team really had fun.

I would show you some pictures, but I am the loser mom who forgot to take my camera. Next week...

Labor Day Festivities

We enjoyed the weekend with friends and family. It was the first time in 3 years that all of the gang was together at our house (the N family have been living in Prague the past 3 years). In addition to Labor Day, we celebrated Craig's 41st birthday and Dawna's upcoming birthday. It was quite a gathering. The group is now comprised of the original 10 adult members and 13 children! We are outnumbered by the rugrats! We can blame this unbalance on Stephanie and Craig (bless them!) who have produced the last 4 kiddos.

It's the First Day of School!

I am not sure who is more excited...Mommy or M & C!?

C got her dream come true and is in Ms. Murr's 1st grade class. M had Ms. Murr. We love Ms. Murr. She also has lots of buddies in her class including Shaine. Life is good for the 1st grader.

M is in Mr. Young's class. Her first male teacher. He definitely made a great first impression on me. Danielle is in Madden's class. That was all she needed to hear. Wouldn't matter if Frankenstein were her teacher--she wouldn't care. Did I mention Danielle is in her class??? Life in 3rd grade is also good.

Reduction of my Catalog Consumption

I confess. I like to get a mailbox full of eye-candy catalogs. I really do. I am the queen of folding down the corners of pages with all the things I would love to have. Reality is, I only rarely actually order any of these items. I basically use them for ideas. I am much too frugal and would prefer to find something similar at a more reasonable price. Most of you know that I love the thrill of the hunt - TJ Maxx, Marshall's, Ross, Big Lots, and yes, it's true, Goodwill (especially the one in Tarrytown) - these are the places I love to shop. You never know what you might find - it's a grand treasure hunt where you don't know what the treasure will be at the end. And sometimes, there is no treasure. But occasionally the payoff is so great! Just ask to see my $7.99 brand new BCBG shoes from the aforementioned Goodwill.

But i digress. Back to the catalogs. I really only want to receive a handful of the catalogs that end up in my mailbox. The rest go straight into the recycling bin - Office Max, Dell Computer, Walgreen's, Sharper Image, etc etc. So I came across a blog, Diary of a Domestic Animal, with a list of web addresses where you can opt out of not only catalogs you don't want, but credit card offers, and non-profit solicitations (think Sierra Club, American Lung Association, etc.). I have spent the last hour filling out the info. Some of them you have to print out and mail in using snail mail, and one of them costs $1. But I figure that time is well worth the reduced junk in my mailbox. Let me know if you know of other sites to get rid of the junk mail.

http://www.abacusoptout.com/
http://www.optoutprescreen.com/
http://www.catalogchoice.org/
http://www.dmachoice.org/consumerassistance.php
and to opt out of many circulars: call 1-888-5OPTOUT

Just FYI, for the catalog choice site, it helps to have the numbers off of the most recent mailing label on the catalog you no longer want to receive. So for a short while, save up the pile of catalogs you want gone, and then go to the site and remove those all at once.

Word Soup

Look what I did at http://wordle.net/ by linking to my blog. (Click on it to see it full size.) Isn't it the coolest? Think of all the possibilities: t-shirts for the Brownie Troops, signs for on the girls' doors, Christmas cards, gifts for friends, etc, etc. My head is swirling with the possibilities.



I am doing a wee bit of work for a friend who is a web designer. She found this site. She finds all sorts of cool stuff on the net. Check out her website/blog at Wright Strategies.

USA! USA!

It is all Olympics, all the time at our house. Today we watched Badminton, Water Polo, Bicycling, Swimming and Gymnastics. I love it! Amazing! Did you catch the 4 x 100 free relay tonight? Un-FREAKING-believable! I am surprised I didn't wake the girls what with all my screaming and jumping up and down on the couch! Did you see the look on the faces of the French team? That's what you get for talking smack!

Meanwhile, we met the Mischtians and the Normands at Central Market for lunch. What a cute crew!

Night-Night Songs

P has a sweet tradition of singing the girls to sleep at night. Sometimes he accompanies himself with guitar or piano (M has a keyboard in her room), but most times it is just accapello lullabies. C's favorite is Pony on a Boat by Lyle Lovett. M's fave is any song that C doesn't sing along on! She used to love Travelin' Soldier by Bruce Robison, but won't let P sing it anymore because now that she has had the meaning explained to her, it is too sad. (If you don't know it, it is a GREAT song that you should look up--the Dixie Chicks covered it, but the original Bruce version is the best.) The nightly repertoire ranges from Wonderwall by Oasis to Her Majesty by the Beatles to April, She Comes by Simon and Garfunkel to anything Willie. There are often theme nights: patriotic songs, songs from musicals, Christmas songs (even in July!), etc. But there is one constant....the medley that symbolizes the end of the road, the songs are over, lights out, time to go to sleep. It consists of Goodnight Sweetheart, Goodnight Ladies, the Lawrence Welk theme, Goodnight, Sleeptight, and finally Happy Trails.

Here is another version of the night-night songs that is too stinking cute not to share. This was sent to me from Aunt Bee-Bah. The girls are gonna LOVE it when I show it to them in the morning.

Sweet Dreams, all!

Orthodontist

M had her 1st orthodontist visit today. She is going to have an expander put in, followed by braces on her front 4. Today they put in the spacers. She says they feel weird.