The Daily Durham

Check Ups

2011-08-09T15:35:00.000-05:00

Both kids went for their 4 and 6 year old check ups.

The next picture was taking my our pediatrician, Dr Khan (The Children's Clinic). We LOVE her! She has a great bedside manner and is so easy to talk to. She takes her time with every patient, which means you do have to wait a while to see her, but it is so worth it. Most times Dr. Khan calls me personally with test results or questions. I can't say enough nice things about her.

She knows that Ella wants to be a doctor when she grows up and always takes a little extra time letting Ella use her tools. While Dr. Khan was talking with Eric she let Ella borrow her stethoscope. Dr Khan said, "Give me your phone! I've got to take a picture of her examining you! We will love looking back on this one day when she is a doctor!"

The last picture is at Granny and Papa's House (Scott's Parents). Last week our AC in our rent house went OUT for the 2nd time in less than a month...So we went to Granny's House to cool off. The kids enjoyed playing Candy Land with her. Luckily the AC was fixed the same day it stopped working.

Summersing and catching up

2011-08-01T14:25:00.001-05:00

Last week Ella attended a week long day camp called SummerSing at FBC.

They learned 4 or 5 songs with motions during the week and then had a big performance on Friday night. She had a FUN time! We will definitely be back next year!

Her ~~boy~~friend, Ethan was there. They have known each other since they were 3 and I think they both decided at 4 that they will marry each other one day. Serious stuff! lol

The weird thing is that before me and Lesley (Ethan's Mom) knew what gender baby we were having, we both had Ella and Ethan picked out for our girl/boy names.

Eric had a "GWATE" (great) week because he was an only child from 8-5 every day!

We went to the $1 movies to see Curious George, we played at the park, pool, McDonalds, and played with play dough.

He was a perfect angel and so sweet. Every night he would squeeze my neck and tell me over and over how "gwate" his day was with just Mommy.

Here is our photo shoot before church. We were running late and I didn't have time to figure out the timer on my camera. We need more family pictures!

After church, I enjoyed a long nap. Scott is always so good to let me get a nap in on the weekends.

The kids know not to bother me. It's bliss!

After my nap, Ella was quick to report that she accidentally cut her arm with her scissors. Then I noticed she was missing some of her eyebrow and then Eric came running into the living room with long piece of dark brown hair in his hands. I kept saying, "Maybe it's just her Barbie's hair...maybe it's just her Barbie's hair..."

But it wasn't Barbie hair. Ella decided to cut her bangs off at the scalp and accidentally cut off some eyebrow, too. oops. She cried and cried and Eric just smiled. He loves when he is the "good" one. lol

She cut her arm because she was also trimming her arm hair.

Monday at SummerSing, Carter the Bully deciding to make fun of Ella ALL DAY LONG because she has dark hair on her arms. By the time I picked her up at 5 she burst into tears and didn't eat dinner that night. He had tormented her all day long and she was so upset. She is very self conscious about her hairy arms and had already had to deal with kids making fun of her in kindergarten. We talked about it many times and will continue to have the conversation about God making her that way.

I talked to the camp director and she was so glad I made her aware of Carter The Bully. This wasn't his first offence (surprise surprise) and Carter only bothered her 1 more time that week. Ella told me, "On Wednesday, Carter told me that I was hairy and I just looked at him and said, DUH."

It's really hard when my own child is hurting to not feel like I need to warn her about the big, bad, mean world. I want her to have a "glass half full" view on life. It was nice and easy up til now to keep her protected from many bad things that happen.

Now every day she is full of questions about life, death, and divorce. Before I would answer her with short and sweet little tidbits that satisfied her. Now she asks things like,"But why did God make my arms so hairy if he knows kids will make fun of me?" and "But why do her Mommy and Daddy not live together anymore".

About being hairy: I told her that God probably knew she was strong enough to not let a bully bring her down. Her response was, "Oh yes, I am strong, but I don't want to have to deal with a bully.".

Then before I knew it, I quoted my Dad, "Well, nobody ever told you life would be fair!"

I'm turning into my parents!!!!!

Let's Go Fly A Kite and btw Blogger is driving me nuts

2011-07-27T11:40:00.000-05:00

Blogger is driving me CRAZY! I haven't been doing updates b/c Blogger keeps turning my pictures when they upload. It keeps some going the correct way and then decides to change up others...I don't get it! Does anyone know how to fix this??

Yesterday the kids went out to Granny and Papa's to fly their $1.50 Big Lots Kites.

The pipeline out at Granny's and Papa's always has a nice breeze...

now for a bunch of sideways pictures b/c of blogger. Please adjust your necks. ahhh

So the pipeline always has a nice breeze, but 5 minutes after we arrived the wind stopped completly, thus Ella's beginning stages of frustration....see below

We are going to go back out tonight in hopes of flying the kites "way up in the sky" according to Eric.

So Granny took them on a Gator ride instead!

We love visits out to the farm!

I'm staying busy with Spell It With Style.

I've been working on these framed monograms for twins for Megan. I've been following her blog for a long time. Megan is Mommy to Cohen and soon to be Sloane and Knox. She is a beautiful person on the inside and out and has given me so much inspiration. You can follow her blog here:

http://www.inthiswonderfullife.com/

I'll do an update when she does her post of the nursery reveal!

Here are a couple more of today's projects:

McKenzie's

and Clara

Thursday

2011-07-15T10:51:00.000-05:00

Pudding Mouth....gross I know.

I got in some new fabrics for Spell It With Style...

Jack came to play

Eric used these blocks (from when I was a teacher) to make our family! Very creative!

Staycation at the lake

2011-07-13T19:32:00.000-05:00

I just got a brand new camera and I'm in love! Prepare for loads of pictures:

We've spent the last few days at Lake Jacksonville.

More to come!

Fashion Fairy and Flowers

2011-07-07T11:32:00.001-05:00

Ella came out last night looking like this: Wowza!

She was speaking with some kind of British accent and said to me,

"Hellooooo. I'm a Fashion Fairy and girl, I can make you over in no time at all."

I can't tell you how happy that made me....she doesn't think I need much pazazz to be fabulous! lol

And here is a video of Ella and Eric playing some kind of pretend pinata game. Yes Eric has on a skirt. Yes Scott, Pop, and Papa it is normal for a little boy with a big sister to play dress up in girl clothes.

And my flowers! I'm so proud I have kept my potted flowers alive through these 101 days!

Last weekend

2011-07-07T11:18:00.000-05:00

On the 3rd we went out to Scott's parents: Granny and Papa. The kids love riding in the Mule.

Being patriotic

Relaxing in Papa's new favorite chair

Then on the 4th we headed to Jacksonville to spend the day with my parents: Nana and Pop.

Pop smoked the most delicious ribs I've ever tasted! They were seriously GOOD!

Around sunset we headed out on the lake.

Ella and Eric

Me and Scott

Happy Birthday America!

Midweek Randoms

2011-07-06T18:12:00.000-05:00

All the good pictures from our weekend are on Scott's phone. I'll work on getting those posted later tonight.
We made a quick trip to my parent's house on the 4th and enjoyed a fun afternoon/evening at Lake Jacksonville. The kids couldn't wait for the big firework show the city puts on at the lake. But by the time it started (9:15 pm) they were so exhausted. Eric kept asking if it was almost over and Worry Wart Ella was concerned about the lightening off in the very very very very far distance.

Today Ella (6 yrs old) worked on making her own book. Here is the first page:

"There was a girl who was in the yard."

I love how the East Texas Twang totally makes it into her invented spelling. lol

The kids played really well together and I got 2 Spell It With Style orders finished:

The picture quality is not so great b/c I use my iphone. I've got to do some research and buy a camera!

8"x10" Land of Nod "Lots of Dots" letters for Jaxen in California

and a stacked black and white name plaque for Sophia in California.

Our appliances rebelled

2011-07-03T13:30:00.000-05:00

Our appliances started rebelling this week.

Our month old refrigerator almost flooded the house. I came home to find a steady stream of water shooting out the ice dispenser of the refrigerator door. It was a big mess, but could have been much worse. It took 2 trips to Lowe's and my teacher voice, but Lowe's is giving us a new frig! Yeah!

Then early Saturday morning, I woke up around 2 am stuck to the bed sheets. I went to see what the thermostat said: 83!!! We keep our house between 74-76 so 83 meant something was broken.

I was nice and waited until 8 am to call our landlord. She kept telling me she was sorry but nothing was going to be open this holiday weekend and we just might have to wait until Tuesday July 5?????

No mam! I called my parents to double check, but I was pretty sure that was not acceptable and unreasonable. They agreed.

So I practiced my teacher voice again and told our landlord that the AC must be fixed today or she would need to pay for a hotel room. Luckily she got on the ball and our AC was working 5 hours later. Thank goodness!

Ella was sick Wednesday-Friday and was finally feeling better when we took these pictures.

pretending to be asleep

Eric loves his black cowboy boots and black cowboy hat.

He says when he grows up he is going to have 2 horses: A nice horse and a bucking horse.

The other day Willie Nelson's famous song came on, "Mammas, don't let you babies grow up to be Cowboys" and Eric kept yelling, "Oh yes I will!"...funny thing is that he has never been on a horse.

Scott's parents were keeping Cousin Will this weekend.

The kids had a great time playing with him.

Eric may or may not be getting sick. He is running a low grade fever and says his throat hurts....we shall see!

Summer Fun

2011-06-29T18:02:00.000-05:00

We have enjoyed a couple of fun trips to Lake Jacksonville with my parents, Nana and pop. Ella is usually very timid, but for some reason, she was a dare devil this last Sunday.

She is standing up in the tube!

The kids did some fishing with "special hooks", which means no hooks, just weights. They are WAY too dangerous together with hooks. Everyone pretty much has to clear the pier area if they are really fishing.

We love days at the lake!

I've mentioned it before, but in the summer Ella gets to dress herself and do her own hair.

Black bike shorts underneath her denim shorts.

Clips and more clips in her hair.

And lots of jewelry.

And then Eric gets involved, too

Scott: Notice he is wearing a BOY costume!

Jack played with us today!

So I can remember all the things Ella says:

and by the way Ella is reading this as I type...

Ella said," The boys (talking about Jack and Eric) played really well together today and they did a great job listening to me and following my rules.".

Who is the boss, sweet Ella?

First Trip to the Dentist

2011-06-29T09:41:00.001-05:00

Both kids had their teeth cleaned yesterday for the first time and it was a success! (Yes I know I was supposed to start taking them when they were one, but that never happened.)

It was a little shaky at first because the hygienist wanted Ella to go first and Ella started her silent, cover her face cry. Little brother, Eric stepped in and said he was brave and would go first! He did great!

When it was time for Ella to get in the chair she did awesome, too. The hygienist went on and on about how little tarter both kids had and how well they must be brushing their teeth. Hahaha! We do try to brush twice a day but let me assure you that both kids were just lucky to inherit a healthy mouth from me. I've never had a cavity-thank you very much.

Ella was also thrilled when the dentist used her "tooth counter" a.k.a. sharp hook looking instrument to wiggle her bottom tooth. It's loose! She read in one of her books that eating apples will help her tooth get looser so she is all about eating apples now.

I don't have any pictures of the kids getting their teeth cleaned, but here is one of them getting a prize from the toy chest.

And what is a great way to celebrate not having cavities?

sugary ice-cream, of course!

Last summer Eric wore a batman cape everywhere, but this summer he is loving his cowboy boots! It maybe 105 degrees outside, but he will not wear flip flops.

Video:

I'm Back...for real this time

2011-06-28T12:24:00.000-05:00

So...it's been a LONG time since I've blogged. Life is much calmer now. We've had a lot of changes in the last few months that left no time for blogging. More on all that later.

For the most part, this is my first "normal" summer as a stay at home Mom and I'm LOVING it! This is the first summer in 5 years that I have not had a house FULL of extra children. I've been able to take Ella and Eric to swim lessons, art lessons, zoo camp, library story time, swimming, and more swimming.

And I can go to the grocery store any day of the week....it's the small things that make me happy! I'm able to enjoy my own 2 kids and give them lots of attention and loving.

More random updates:

I got a summer "bob":

I surprised Scott Fathers's Day weekend with a child-free night away to Houston. It was fabulous!

And Spell It With Style is going great! I'm working on getting a shopping cart on http://www.spellitwithstyle.com/ so customers can purchase there and at my etsy shop.

Give away at Screweduptexan! Win 4 tickets to Six Flags over Texas

2011-06-06T19:04:00.001-05:00

http://screweduptexan.com/2011/06/not-summer-bummer-give-away-four-tickets-to-six-flags-over-texas.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+FreshConfessionsOfAScrewedUpTexan+%28Fresh+Confessions+of+a+Screwed+Up+Texan%29

It was warm yesterday!

2011-02-01T11:27:00.000-06:00

We enjoyed the spring-like weather yesterday!

This little man keeps me laughing. Eric is so full of LIFE!

Always in motion. Plays hard. Loves hard.

Ella is my nurturing little mama. She is thoughtful, sentimental, and wise beyond her years.

We went to a birthday party for a 65 year old relative. I looked around to see where Ella was and spotted her sitting beside 2 ladies in their late 50s. She was chatting away and having the best time.

(Eric was running around with cousins. At this same party, we were sitting down for dinner and he THREW his dinner roll across the table at me like a fast ball.

Last picture is from last Friday. Scott and I went to eat lunch with Ella at school. She was so happy!

Pictures by Eric

2011-01-19T17:59:00.001-06:00

Yesterday I needed 15 minutes so I let Eric have my camera:

2 things to note here:

1.) B.E. ((Before Eric)), I never let Ella touch my camera, much less walk around the house taking pictures.

2.) Notice that I'm smiling and pleased that I'm getting 15 mintues to answer work emails.

goober

Bathroom shot: Note to Eric: This is the place where you are supposed to go pee and poop....in the POTTY!!!

Calgon

2011-01-13T20:47:00.000-06:00

I'm pretty sure no one reads this blog anymore due to my blogging hiatus, but here you go:

Today was one of those days.

We had fits:

Meet Ballet Super Hero Ella:

There is so much going on with her outfit that I have no words.

Ballet Super Hero Ella telling Cowboy Eric he isn't playing correctly

Cowboy Eric taking a moment to reflect on Ella's words:

And Cowboy Eric having fit #671 and Ballet Super Hero Ella saying O.M.G.

Did I mention I have a stress fracture in my foot?

Calgon take me away!

Rocky Start

2011-01-10T16:18:00.000-06:00

Ella's class is studying landforms and she has a rock collection due this week.
So this past weekend we headed out to Granny and Papa's house to find rocks.
This is what Ella did the first 20 minutes:

Turns out, she was "in a mood" b/c none of the rocks were special. She wanted to find diamonds and other precious gems....HA! I guess you could say our trip to Granny's house had a rocky start!

So while Ella had alone time by a tree, Scott, Eric, and myself worked on HER project. Isn't that what being in gifted and talented classes is all about? ha

Princess Ella finally came around and found 4 rocks that were a "little bit special".

it's been almost 3 months!

2010-12-30T17:01:00.000-06:00

I'm a very bad blogger. I've just been too CRAZY, happy busy to sit down and rewrite it all.

On top of all that goes with being a Mommy, wife, and childcare provider means...I've been (thankfully) close to swamped with my home based business, Spell It With Style.

I'm not complaining, but whew! I've never worked so hard in my life, but never been this fulfilled, happy, and at peace. If that makes any sense. Having Spell It With Style as my main JOB feels fabulous.

I've gone from keeping extra children 5 days a week to 2-3 days AND I am getting to take Ella and Eric to school 2 days a week! I've been a stay at home mom for 4 years, but I've never been able to do the things that stay at home moms do b/c I've been happily taking care of other peoples' children.

I never thought driving around town during a weekday would feel so liberating! Lol!

Life is good. I'm looking forward to the new year!

PS: I will have a new post at least once a week!

Trip to the zoo

2010-10-03T21:06:00.000-05:00

Saturday I took the kids to the local zoo. It was in the 60s and felt fabulous!

We rode the train, too

And played at the zoo's cool playground

Both kids are now into dressing themselves on the weekends...their ensembles are very unique!

Scott had to work 10 hours on Saturday...missed you babe!

Next weekend I have a booth at Lufkin's Fall Market at St. Cyprian's School. Come see me Friday 4-9 or Saturday 10-5!

Man I love this little guy!

2010-09-29T09:14:00.000-05:00

Eric can be such a toot, but his little face always makes me smile.

I kept saying, "Eric. Smile!!"

I got lots of silly faces instead.

Happy Wednesday! Life is good!

2010-09-27T20:46:00.000-05:00

I love this song! It has her mama and new husband in it!

Fall is in the air!

2010-09-27T13:08:00.002-05:00

Jordyn Gourley

2010-09-12T08:54:00.001-05:00

One of my customers (Kim) just found out this week that her 3 year old daughter, Jordyn has cancer:

Little Jordyn was taken to the University of Iowa Children’s Hospital on September 7th after a CT scan found a tumor in her skull. She is currently going through the process of tests to determine what type of cancer is involved and what treatments are needed to help with a safe recovery of this beautiful child.”

Less than a week ago they were a normal family and now their world has been turned upside down. Jordyn has an older and younger brother.

Please pray for Jordyn and her family.

Send me an email (spellitwithstyle@yahoo.com) if you would like to send cards or care packages to her.

balancing act

2010-09-01T21:56:00.001-05:00

I am so thankful that Spell It With Style is doing so well! I am getting orders every single day. I've shipped to Japan, Australia, UAE, Canada, and about half of the US. It's pretty cool to earn income doing something that 95% of the time doesn't seem like that awful 4 letter word. "Work".

I feel content and productive. I feel like I'm doing what I'm supposed to be doing.
I don't know why it's taken me 31 years to realize that creating and designing are what make me happy.

As a child, I l loved art projects, making place cards and menus for Thanksgiving dinners, creating birthday cards, writing poems, arranging vegetable trays, making up songs, etc.

With all that being said, I'm also still trying to figure out how to call it a day from Spell It With Style. Working from home is harder than it sounds!
I keep children til 5:30, dinner, bathe kids, bedtime routines, and then work on spellitwithstyle nonstop til 10-11, go to bed with my mind full of too much information, my feet hit the floor at 6 am and then I do it all over again and again and again.

And I've had my first rude customer encounter....I knew it was inevitable. Her chalkboard was damaged in shipping.

I know that no one wants to receive damaged items and I will always replace items. But her email correspondence about this issue was just plain rude. Sarcastic. Blunt. RUDE. Many ~~not so nice~~ thoughts raced through my mind, but after counting to ~~100~~ 10 I chose not to take her rudeness personally.

Long story short, I'm staying up later tonight to make her a new chalkboard so I can ship it to her first thing tomorrow morning. She will not appreciate it, but that's part of retail/dealing with the general public.

Random Kid Updates:
Ella LOVES kindergarten and her teacher! I'm so thankful. I love that she comes home smiling and tells me so many wonderful details about what she learned.
Eric LOVES his mother's day out teacher and is talking in class!! Last year he didn't say 1 word!!
Potty training day 416: still not happening...pee is 80%, poo is .005%...go ahead judge me people. I once judged and God gave me a boy who doesn't care about using the potty. But God also gave me a sweet little boy who says (on non-mother's day out days), "You the best Mommy. I'm soooo glad I stay with you!"

First Day of Dance

2010-08-27T08:42:00.000-05:00

I think this has been the best week of Ella's life! She loves kindergarten and was sooooo excited to go to dance for the first time.

My parents will get a kick out of this....It seems Ella has inherited my "trying to concentrate tongue thing". When I took gymnastics when I was little, I would always stick my tongue out. Ella did the same thing!!!

Her class is in the evenings so I get to take her and watch!!! I'm loving it!

Gingerbread Man Drama

2010-08-24T20:37:00.000-05:00

Well....
Today Ella came in the front door from school (delivered by Granny) and went straight to her closet.
She got in the back corner of her closet and just started boohooing.
Oh yes, I have a photo!

You can just see her arm with the navy dress. She buried herself in princess dresses.

Between sobs she told me, "We just kept searching and searching for the gingerbreadman and.......we......never.....ever.....found him!!!!!"

It's tradition in East Texas to try to find the gingerbread man on the first or second day of kindgergarten...It's a fun way for the kids to tour the school as they search for him.

And to make matters worse, when she got back to her classroom, they.....ate.....WAHHHHH....mr gingerbread man!!! the horror!

The combination of Ella's new schedule of waking up early and going to school all day (without rest time) equals major meltdowns over minor things.

Ella is a kindergartener

2010-08-23T10:48:00.000-05:00

It's official.

Ella is a school girl.

She has to wear a uniform, but she says she "cheers up her outfit" with crazy socks and shoes!

We were out the door early early early! The first day of getting both kids ready was a success.

It decided to rain right at drop off time...Ella's main concern was not getting her new shoes wet...That's my girl....Eric's main goal was jumping in as many puddles as possible...he even managed to kick water up my leg. That's my boy!

Ella's first assignment was to draw a picture of something fun she did this summer.

I hope you are having a wonderful first day, my Ella bella!

I can't wait to pick you up and hear all about it!

The night before Kindergarten and Spell It With Style

2010-08-22T19:20:00.000-05:00

Ella is so excited! She's been giggling like it's Christmas Eve. I can't believe she if off to kindergarten tomorrow!!!!! I will take lots of pictures tomorrow morning. I've taken the day off tomorrow so I can take and pick up both Ella and Eric from school! I've got a wad of kleenex in my purse!

Also, check out another giveaway at Melanie's blog:
http://notsofishyreviews.blogspot.com/2010/08/giveaway-and-review-50-gift-certificate.html

And Laurie at Laurie's Life Blog , has a very sweet post up which feautures my creations!!
Check it out!

all my blog posts vanished

2010-08-21T20:09:00.000-05:00

I can't even begin to say how frustrated i am with blogger right now. All of my posts (pictures and text) are gone. I have no idea what the problem is. This is the 2nd time I've had a blog disappear.
If any of you have had this experience or know how to find my post, PLEASE let me know. I never got around to having my posts printed and bound in a book.....and I'm just sick that all those memories are gone.