Bailey Middle School Open House

Last night the boys' school had Open House and I was able to meet their new teachers. They have 3 teachers that they had last year which is great because I really like them! The nice thing too is that they can mostly tell the boys apart which is really good for them. Their new teachers seem just as good - all young but with experience and plenty of energy. I especially like their Geometry teacher. Young, no-nonsense, but with a good sense of humor and really wants the kids to do well. This is a 10th grade level class and will be hard work but she is available for tutoring, phone calls and e-mail so I think they should make it through just fine. I think I got more pointed looks than the other parents when she said that this class was the most talkative, but I'm really not surprised!! The boys have all of the same classes with the exception of Ryan in Spanish and Justin in Health. This will probably be the reverse next semester. The Spanish teacher said that Ryan was doing very well and could easily teach Justin what he is learning. I'm sooooo happy that everything is going so well this year! Go 8th graders!

The boys started Cross Country practice this week and are both limping this morning with muscle pain, bone pain and just general aches and pain! I tried to get them to run some this summer and they have both said they should have listened to me. I haven't heard this in what seems like years! Glad to hear that I know at least one thing. There is hope.

Today is school picture day and I'm nervous about the boys' longer hair but have decided to pick my battles. I'm getting used to it, but am trying to convince them that it's time for at least a trim. Hopefully this weekend since their American History teacher has challenged them to not watch T.V., play video games or computer games. Can't wait to see how this works out! They do have a Power Point project to work on for Language Arts and say they will do the research for that, read, play outside and play some board games. They're also reading Great Expectations starting next week so should be able to get a head start on that. I'm reading it too since I don't think I did while in school. Their Language Arts class is also taught on a 10th grade level. They actually will get high school credit for the 9th grade classes they took last year and the 10th grade ones from this year. This makes them eligible to get college credit in high school if they do well. Did they do this stuff when we were in school? I'm adding up how much money I will save on their first year of college!

Tomorrow is the baby shower at work so I'm off to get the diapers for the diaper cake and a few other supplies. I'll get them the Diaper Genie (never used one myself, so I hope I can recognize it when I see it!) and a couple of pink outfits. I love girl stuff! I'll post pictures in a few days of everyones' hard work. Many people have worked hard to make this a great shower and I'm very excited to see the fruits of our labor (get it - baby shower, labor, ha ha!).

Happy Labor Day!

Hope everyone had a great labor day - I "labored" at work, but it wasn't that busy. Sometimes over the holidays our patient census goes down and things run at a slower pace. I was able to care for my patients, fill out a few time-off requests, read all of my work e-mail and continue to plan the baby shower for next Saturday. There was a small drama involving a broken bathroom door lock, but since I'm not sure who reads this, I'll leave out the details. Overall, I found the whole situation quite hysterical and hope the injured party can eventually somehow see the humor! I wonder who invented automatically opening doors (a feature for the handicapped) that not even the World Heavyweight Champion could pull closed once it starts to open? I love my job.

The boys had a good first week at school and are currently at a swim party at the home of one of their friends. They've been fed lunch and are now having dinner and I'm having some time with my feet up and the T.V. on. I just love their friends and especially the mothers of their friends!!

Yesterday the boys and I went to visit Mary & Les (my foster parents) and their daughter Debi, her husband Chris and their 5 kids who were here for the holiday weekend. Their oldest daughter Rebeckah is in the 7th grade and had a poster project for Texas History due on Tuesday and needed some help. We were able to cut the poster into the shape of Texas, cut out the 6 flags that flew over Texas and some other symbols related to our great state. Does anyone know what the state snack is? Chips and Salsa, my favorite! We also have an official butterfly, dinosaur, gem, musical instrument and many other interesting items. If you are curious, here is the link: http://www.texasalmanac.com/flags/

Here's a picture of all of the kids with their names from left to right:

Rebeckah, Sean, Ryan, Austin, Matthew, Justin & Hannah in front

A small update on my never ending bathroom project: Roland put in the counter top, grouted it, put in the sinks last week and finished the faucets today. At long last I can stop brushing my teeth in the tub - it's the little things that make me happy! Now I have to finish taking down the wallpaper, prime & paint the walls (at least I've picked out a color that I like), pick out new mirrors, finish sewing the shower curtain and window curtain, sand and paint the shelving unit that goes between the mirrors and paint the cabinets. I hope to finish before my taste changes again! Stay tuned for pictures (maybe by Christmas?).

I just realized that I may be addicted to projects. I have a half-done bathroom, a partially painted chair on a sheet in my living room, a lamp out on the patio table that still needs another coat of paint (for the craft table in my bedroom) and a "craft table" in my living room that has at least 5 unfinished sewing projects covering the sewing machine. This doesn't mention the amount of various sewing and craft supplies I have crammed in several closets and many drawers around the house. Do they have interventions for this kind of thing? I hope not!

Until we meet again ...

Helen's Retirement

Here are a few pictures from my friend/coworker Helen's retirement party. She retired after 26 years of nursing at M.D. Anderson.

Second day of school, First day of quiet!

Today is the second day of school for the boys and the first day in a long while that the house has been empty and quiet. I just woke up from a nap (my favorite afternoon activity) and am gearing up to accomplish something before it's time to pick the boys up from school. After I dropped them off this morning I went to Home Depot to pick up paint for the bathroom, returned some school clothes that didn't fit and made it through Wal-Mart for groceries and such. My plan to start painting as soon as I got home was revised into TV, lunch and a nap!

The boys' first day went so much better than I had hoped. This is the first year that I didn't have everything laid out and ready the night before (even though I've taken them on the first day every single year). So bright and early in the morning we were choosing outfits (favorite shorts still in the dryer, oops!), ironing, going through school supplies, putting labels on some things, eating breakfast and blow drying hair. Boys at this age worry about their hair more than girls I think!

I was open to completely messed up schedules and much frustration, but that was not the case at all. Of course dropping them off in the morning was a challenge - the first day of school is always crazy (Debi, I should have warned you), but they made it in plenty of time. I went back home and scrubbed down the kitchen with bleach, vacuumed and mopped the floor and did laundry. After my shower I went to a couple of stores in search of more shorts for the boys. They had a growth spurt over the summer and are in need of a few more things.

I picked the boys up after school, dropped off some equipment in the band hall that the band director had loaned us over the summer and the boys and I headed to the shoe store in the rain. They had a good day, everything went smoothly and they are in all of the correct classes. They have the same Language Arts teacher from last year (they knew that they would) and she was their 1st period class. Because they are in Tier 4 classes and in band, they have basically been grouped with the same kids since elementary school. This year they get 3 electives and they were placed in different ones for 2 of them (the 3rd is band). Ryan has Spanish and something else that I've already forgotten! Something to do with engineering and building things (?) - I'll ask him again for a more detailed explanation. Justin has Health (a requirement) and a computer class (forgot the name of that one too). The electives are not what they had signed up for last year, but they each think that they will be happy with what they are given. I told them to figure out for certain by today so that if I need to call we can get it done quickly. I've learned after last year not to be shy when it comes to not being in right class - too many reasons to post.

After driving in the rain to several stores and not finding the shoes Justin wants, we returned home, ate leftovers for dinner, ordered the shoes on the Internet and I filled out their usual packet of forms. The homeroom with the most turned in by Friday gets a pizza party for lunch one day. Their homeroom is, as usual, the more organized, intellectual students (they don't like me to say "geeky") so they have a good chance of winning. I think they did last year. We fixed up their band binders from last year, filled out the permission slip for the band party at Incredible Pizza and a miracle occurred when I discovered just the right amount of cash in my wallet to cover the pizza and game card!

We then picked out outfits for today - this requires my assistance because they own similar outfits, don't want to "match" or wear the same color on the same day. They do have many identical shirts (band camp, flute camp, school sports, etc.) and if Ryan wore his red Flute Fire shirt today and Justin wore his tomorrow many students and teachers may become confused and think that Justin is Ryan. So, you can see in the picture from yesterday that Justin wore a polo style shirt with blue shorts and Ryan wore a layered look with khaki shorts and they have different colored shoes. They do share clothes (Ryan wore an outfit today that Justin had picked out at the store) but Ryan is opposed to striped polo style shirts unless they meet certain criteria (one background color, one color stripes and they must be skinny stripes). Gone are the days I just bring home a bag of clothes and they simply wear them! You'll hear more about this as the year progresses.

More later, dirty dishes and clothes are calling me ...

Beauty Pageants, Band Registration & Baby Showers

Right now the boys and I are watching the Miss Teen USA pageant. We were glad to see that the reigning Miss Teen wasn't stuck in rehab or whatnot and was able to make her final walk down the runway! Just kidding - she's cute and I'm sure she will continue to be a positive role model for all young women in America and have a very successful and productive life (I just live by the words of this year's host - Mario Lopez). Unless one of the girls actually stumbles headfirst down the stairs during the evening gown competition I will consider this 2 hours of my life I can never get back. Just joking yet again. They are all absolutely adorable with their fake tans and shiny hair. There's a reason God gave me 2 boys - I'll spare you my opinions on girls and modeling.

Work has been busy as usual this week both in regards to patient care and the personal dynamics that occur with any group of people that work closely together. We have another nurse retiring this month - after 25 years with MD Anderson. Myself and 2 other nurses make up the "party commitee," but the party for the nurse next week is being planned by another group of nurses and not without a few problems, disagreements and even a few tears. Anyway I have 2 baby showers to plan and am excited - they are my favorite. Have you ever seen a diaper cake? They are fun to make and are so cute as a centerpiece. I will post pictures when they are done.

On Monday I took the boys for band registration - fancy term for filling out about 5 forms per child and paying an assortment of fees. Somehow by the time I had turned in all the forms, chatted with some other moms, the band director and the new assistant director (who is the identical twin brother of the boys assistant director from the 6th grade) I had somehow been nominated, elected and sworn in as the Band Booster's Secretary! Actually, it shouldn't be too bad and might actually get me out of working the concession stand at the football games this year - my real goal. I don't mind chaperoning (even the 18 hour trip to Sea World last year was fun) and volunteering at the school, but I just can't get excited about serving gooey nachos and hot dogs for hours to screaming middle school kids after running around work all day. Must be getting old!

School clothes are all taken care of and school supplies purchased so I suppose we are all ready for school on Monday. This is the second year their school has been open and although the campus is beautiful and everything is fresh and new, we had a FEW problems last year. I love their principal and over the course of last year got to know her quite well (with as many e-mails as I sent her and trips to the school that I made, it was inevitable). I guarantee that at the other 2 schools that the boys have attended I was only known as "the twin's mom," and am fairly sure that none of the principals could put a name to my face! Anyway, I have such hopes for this year and am sure to have much to report in the near future. Stay tuned!