Are you ready for some FOOTBALL????

Can you believe it is that time of the year already????

We have been living and breathing football the last few weekends. Of course, any excuse to dig out a cheerleading outfit and you can count Kaelin in.

Our Cowboys have not been too successful the last two weekends, but the season is early.

We will keep cheering them on.

Kaelin took a cupcake time out.

This weekend we will come out a winner no matter what. It will be Texans vs. Cowboys and we are fans of both. So either way, we win.

First Soccer Game :(

This picture just totally sums up our soccer experience...

To put it gently, FIFA is not calling to sign Kaelin for the US World Cup team...

We started out okay (but could have used a nap).

Then the other team showed up... it was all downhill from there. Kaelin spent her time away from the ball. She would run her heart out, but never get near the ball.

Kaelin got head butted by another player and that was the end of it. She totally lost it on the field. She was crying hard and loud. She ran over to Todd, who is the assistant coach. He could not calm her down, so she came to me. I could not calm her down, so she got to sit on the sideline while the rest of her team played. She finally started cheering them on. All of the parents sitting near us looked over at her. There were no tears. She was yelling "Go panthers". This was a flashback to the way she behaved in tee-ball as well. Her calling is probably in cheering rather than the actual contact sports, but we keep pushing the sports.

And the drama continues...

Stop the madness... I am going to absolutely lose what is left of my mind.

Two nights ago...

Kaelin went to bed crying so hard that she could hardly catch her breath. Now... before you go off feeling sorry for her, you must read what the drama revolved around.

I was packing Kaelin's clothes for school. I packed an absolutely adorable pair of pants with a cute ruffle shirt. I put in a pair of sandles. This just set Kaelin off. She said, no... she wanted to wear tennis shoes. In an effort to limit the debate, I put a pair of tennis shoes in her bag.

Problem solved... Right???

Not that easy... she starts crying because the tennis shoes don't match that outfit. Okay... so I go back to the closet and show her a couple of other outfits. Each outfit came with a problem. The first outfit was a white tank top and a pink skirt. She insists on telling me "they can't wear tank tops to school". My response... "BULL". She was just making up stuff. Next outfit had some other problem. By this time, I am DONE. I leave the original outfit in the bag with sandals and tennis shoes and walk out of the room.

I heard her start BAWLING!!! You would have thought someone chopped off her arm.

This morning... (not drama free by any means)

As I was driving to work in my car with no A/C. If you are saying... WHAT.... no A/C.... then you were not alone. That is exactly what I said this morning when I got into my car. Last night Todd was working on my brake lights and I guess he messed with the A/C fuse (accident????). The fuse was put back into the wrong slot, so I had to ride to work with no A/C. This makes for a VERY GRUMPY... 8 month pregnant girl.

Shouldn't that have been enough....

Of course NOT... I was almost to work when my cell phone rang. It was Lisa (Kaelin's baby sitter). Lisa said Kaelin was having a little melt down and really wanted to talk to her mommy. So, Kaelin gets on the phone... all I hear is a bunch of sobbing. I tell her to calm down and tell me what is wrong. She finally calms down enough to tell me ...

"Mom, you packed me a pop tart this morning and I really wanted strawberry oatmeal".

(After contemplating driving my car off of the bridge I was on) I responded "Kaelin... seriously you must be kidding me. It is breakfast... nothing more."

Lisa had some oatmeal and fixed it for her, but I am sure the drama did not end there. I bet I get an earful as soon as I pick her up.

Is that what I think it is?

If you are thinking.... "what am I looking at here?".....

While in Corsicana during the labor day weekend, Kaelin got to assist Todd in dove hunting. Her job was to take care of the dead birds (YUCK). So, along with her baby dolls, she would drive her little jeep to help get the birds, then she would drive the dead birds around (next to her baby dolls). This is just soooooo NOT up my alley. First of all, I am not a hunter. Second, I don't really care for any type of meat that does not come pre-packaged from my local HEB/Kroger. Finally, how much can you really sterilize the jeep to get all of the dead bird germs out?

I tried not to rain on Kaelin's parade. She seemed to be enjoying herself.

Homework

So, the only homework Kaelin has come home with so far, has been for Todd and I to do... What's up with that? I thought parents were not suppose to have to do homework.

We had to make Kissing Hands... this goes along with a story about a baby raccoon who has to leave his mommy to go to school. The little raccoon is sad about leaving his mommy, but the mommy is also sad about her baby leaving. So, they came up with kissing hands. Mommy raccoon made something for her baby to look at while he was at school, so if he got sad, he would have something to remind him of his mommy. (The story goes something like that)

These are Kaelin's Kissing Hands. (But don't laugh at the picture... it was all I could find. That is our engagement picture - 11 years ago. Todd had hair, my hair was long, and neither of us had any gray... wow... 11 years and a baby makes a difference)

So, we made Kaelin some Kissing Hands. Her teachers are creating a binder for each child. Kaelin can go get her binder anytime she wants to see her Mommy and Daddy. (although... knowing Kaelin, she probably won't go get her binder too often. She does fine at schoool.

The 4's

Whoever came up with "terrible two's" or "the three's are worse than the terrible two's", must not have had a 4 year old. I am here to tell you the 4's have presented an entirely new set of challenges, obstacles, and struggles. In fact, if I could find a mental institution that would take reservations, I would probably have a standing reservation for days like yesterday.

I say "days like yesterday" because it was off the chart, but in reality it has been going on for several weeks.

I am hoping to look back at this blog post when Macie is going through her ferocious 4's and be able to say "thank goodness this stage is just temporary". (If I look back in 4 years and we are still in this stage with Kaelin- I will definitely take advantage of the mental institution.)

Where to even start...

The 4's have brought sassiness to an entirely new level.

The defiance has become intentional.

The independence has exceeded a 4th of July celebration.

The time out spot has carpet that has been worn thinner than the rest of the room.


You might be saying "how could that sweet little girl cause any problems"... that is what I have been saying, but she is just proving to me daily how she can find new ways to get into trouble.

Yesterday... The Mother of the Ferocious 4's (so far)
I go to pick Kaelin up and Mrs. Lisa looks as though she is about to begin shooting fire from her ears. I knew this could not be good. She tells me the stuff that Kaelin and her son, Bryson did during the day. (It just got uglier from there.)

It started early in the morning. Kaelin and Bryson wanted to feed the fish. Mrs. Lisa told them they would have to wait until she was in there with them.

Did those two wait....

Of course not, they each dumped an ENTIRE can of fish food into the two fish bowls (plus all over the cabinet and all over the rugs). So... what happened...

One of the fish died.

I think those two got in trouble (time out), then they had to go to Wal-mart to replace the fish (since the fish was Addison's fish and she was at school during all of this). So Lisa decided to brave Wal-mart with both of the little monsters in tow.

Were they better in Wal-mart....

Of course not, they would not sit down in the basket and they kept fighting with each other. When I asked Kaelin about the incident, this is what she said (it sounds funny now, but trust me, there was no laughter last night). "Well, mom, Bryson wanted to sit in the front of the basket but he would not sit down. I wanted in the back. Then Bryson wanted in the back and he would not sit. So, Mrs. Lisa spanked his hinney and said we need to listen to her. I told Mrs. Lisa that I was listening. But that just didn't happen, mom. So we both got put in time out." The story went into a little more detail but that is the major part of it. The part that cracks me up (but not last night) is when she said "but that just didn't happen". No... it did not.

So, I talked to Kaelin the entire car ride home. Todd must have seen the fire coming from my ears because as soon as we got out of the car he said "Uh Oh... Kaelin, are you in trouble". We told him the story and he talked to Kaelin for a while.

We took all of Kaelin's privileges away (no TV, no swingset, etc). About an hour later, we went out to eat (where she got in trouble AGAIN). We went to eat Mexican food and I caught Kaelin out of her seat stepping on chips. She was crunching them into tiny crumb size pieces. I thought to myself... wow... this is something a two year old does. Are we just now going through our terrible two's.

We get home and she proceeds to get into more trouble. (When it rains... it pours). Todd was on the phone and Kaelin decided to play her guitar right in his ear. When asked to stop... did she... NO. She got a spanking and then sent to her room. (If you are thinking... wow... she was just playing a guitar... then re-read above). This was all in ONE day.

We did make Kaelin call Mrs. Lisa before she went to bed. She apologized for her behavior. This is when it finally began to sink in. Kaelin started crying when she was apologizing. She felt incredibly bad by this point (finally... we are making some headway- maybe). When she was laying in bed, she told me she felt sad and it was making her stomach hurt. I took advantage of this opportunity to talk about what happens when we make different choices. She seemed to understand but I am sure it will be something with have to revisit many times.

We were all in bed by 9:00 PM (completely and totally exhausted).

First Day of School

Kaelin's first day of school.

She is in the star class, which is very appropriate. She is my super shining star.

This is the final product on operation "curly hair". She was so super excited (even though the humidity did a real number on it as soon as she went outside).

I went up to Kaelin's school so I could get some cute 1st day of school pictures since I was not able to drop her off myself - due to a stinkin' meeting. When I got there, they were in chapel. Some parents would have been afraid if their child saw them they might cry... not my child. The only thing she said "Mom, you are not here to take me home are you?" I said "No". She said "Good because I am not done playing". So- you can see there were no tears shed- at least by Kaelin. She loves her school. (this picture cracks me up because of the girl sitting next to Kaelin- you hold up a camera and kids immediately start "cheesing" for you)

Cheese... Isn't she just the cutest thing on earth?

She is going back to her class- as a special honor, she gets to hold the teachers clip board (she is already sucking up to the teachers- Way to go Kaelin).

Night before school

Kaelin was so excited about starting school this year. I really hope that love of school continues. She wanted her hair to be curly, so she had me curl her hair on sponge rollers. (Stay tuned tomorrow for the final product)

She had to run down and show her Daddy her hair. She just knew that he would be so excited (and he pretended that it was the best news he had been told all day). She wanted her picture with Daddy. So this is Kaelin and Daddy the night before school.

Despite how excited she was, she slept amazingly well. She got up at 3:00 AM to come in my room because one of her rollers was coming loose and she wanted me to fix it. So, I fixed her roller, she crawled up in our bed, and then slept until it was time to leave.

Happy Anniversary Mamaw and Papa

Mamaw and Papa are celebrating their 59th anniversary today. Can you imagine 59 years? I can't, but I sure hope to.





Aunt Debbie, Uncle Truman, and I were talking about their upcoming anniversary and the first thing out of my mouth was "59 years- wow... bless Mamaw's heart".





We hope you have a very happy anniversary. You have given all of us something to try to attain.





We love you.

Happy Birthday Dad

Today is my Dad's 57th (but he would hate for me to let that secret out) birthday.

He is spending his birthday in Costa Rica- what a tough life.

What do you buy for someone who has already treated himself to a trip to Costa Rica? Seems like everything else is just piddly stuff.

Happy birthday dad- we love you and would love to be in Costa Rica spending your birthday with you.