The house smells like Lysol...

We have had strep throat and type A Flu in this house for 2 full weeks now. Today was the first day all the boys went to school. Marty missed 3 days of work this week and I missed 2 (which is all I work so I guess that's the whole week...). Since copays are now $25 for us I spent $100 on Doctor visits (had to take each boy in to check for strep) and Marty had to be strep checked as well. I am happy to say we are at the tail end of this most trying endeavor. We certainly have caught up on our movies and books though. Nolan says we are having movie marathons! I actually made it to Target today (to buy medicine of course) so that's a good sign that I was able to get out of the house. Anyway, enough complaining. We are as always, thankful to live in America where we have good doctors and good medicine.

The Wuestes had a good visit here in San Antonio which began and ended with us Schimceks, sick. We didn't get to spend near enough time with them. We are looking forward to a visit from the McDonald cousins next.

The New Year is looking good with Marty getting fence quotes so we can keep those pigs out. They had a special about it on the Today Show this morning. Showed the damage the wild pigs are doing in the South. They all seemed to think it was quite funny - HA. Colin and Nolan start basketball tomorrow so our rest from sports is officially over. Right after Basketball, baseball will start. My head is starting to hurt again so I will sign-off for now.

Bacon Anyone?

Finally - caught in action. You'll have to zoom in a little - he was much bigger in person. Marty set the alarm for 3:00 a.m. and there he was digging up our backyard. We were suprised it was just one piggy but when Marty threw a rock (which hit and knocked over the flood light...) the pig ran into the woods and we heard more of them. You wouldn't believe how torn-up our backyard is. We watched him stick his nose and root up an entire foot or two of grass in one movement. Hopefully we scared them for awhile but the only solution is to put a fence up. That's our New Year's project. Merry Christmas everyone.

Annual visit to the Christmas Tree Farm. Yes - it was quite hot that December day! As always, we had a great time.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to All! Even though we are exptecting a high of 82 today we are staying in the spirit. Cara texts me pictures of the snow in Chicago and Crystal and John emailed pictures of a giant moose in their front yard - that helps. We are looking forward to a visit from the Wuestes - they arrive Christmas night. We are also excited about the Alaskan McDonald's visit in January. The boys are enjoying their time off. I am looking forward to today because I get to stay home ALL DAY! Christmas shopping is as done as it is going to be for me this year. Thanks to my dear friend and boss Jennifer McCarville, the final gift was purchased last night. I searched 2 Targets, Wal Mart, and 2 Barnes and Noble for the Harry Potter legos Matthew wanted and they were sold out. Jennifer called me last night from the Target across town and bought it for me! Yay. The boys are having a hard time leaving their wrapped presents wrapped but it helps that they opened presents from their Aunts Kara and Krissy, Uncle Nathan, and Granny last night. I will have to post some pictures later. I no longer have the patience to upload pictures on this computer and only use my laptop now. Merry Christmas to all and a Happy New Year!

Stoey's Post

It has been just about a year since we lost Stoey. I blogged about how the hogs dug up the bulbs we planted on her grave site the very night we planted them. In the heat of the summer (I think this picture was taken June 4th), this beautiful flower appeared on her grave. Mind you this was a YEAR of drought conditions very little rain with very high heat (in the hundreds already that month). I was so amazed and humbled at God's creation's ability to survive. I attribute this photo to our girl who we still miss very much.

February Rain

You would not believe the rain down here. I actually had a job interview yesterday (yes, I do look for the perfect job from time to time) and it was cancelled because the college the library is a part of was closing down due to flooding! I love the rain and after last year's drought, will not complain one bit about it. The boys do seem to be bored with it though. Nolan and Colin like to go outside eveyday afterschool and haven't been able to do that this week. Otherwise things are going well here. Everyone is doing well in school. Colin and Nolan are gearing up for spring baseball (Marty will coach Colin's tball). Matthew says he's not playing which is fine with me although he does need some sort of physical exercise so we're working on that. Nolan is playing basketball with the Y but has yet to play an actual game (has been to 3 practices)! The first game we were on a church retreat at which Nolan was hit in the head with a rock while hiking and his father announced (in front of him) his "head was cracked open" and he was going to bleed to death. There was indeed a LOT of blood but his head wasn't actually cracked open thank goodness. He had to get 3 staples at the "local" hospital which ended up being about 1 1/2 hours away. That sealed my decision about not living too far from the city! Try keeping an exhausted 7 year old awake who has just undergone a traumatic experience, was up late the night before, and has been up all day (it was dark by the time we reached the hospital)! My dear friend Patty (who drove Nolan and I to the hospital since Marty had to change our van's flat tire and I was too panicked to wait) had all kinds of electronic gadgets (3 nintendo DS's, video camera, regular camera) and lots of questions for Nolan to keep him alert. Anyway, long story short he had to miss the next basketball game as well per doctor's orders. Last week's game he refused to play in - just to remind me that I am a still a mom and just because the boys are older, does NOT mean they are easier! Ha Ha. That's all for now.

"Size matters not" - Yoda (Star Wars)

Check this out. Little spider in our house caught and paralized this guy. That's a geunine South Texas scorpion there.

Even Pirates need to rest.

Baseball Season Again (when is it not baseball season???)

Well, all three boys will be playing this fall. Starting this week - practices 4 nights a week. But, thanks to a large blessing from God, RAIN!! Practices rained out yesterday and certainly today as it is non-stop rain.

I have been on rants over recess and Presidential speeches the last couple of weeks. Can you believe a 6-year old is allowed 15 minutes of recess during an 8 hour day?? Poor babies is all I can say. I am going to keep pushing on this issue and see if common sense will prevail from our district at some point.

Some statistics: Northside Independent School District (NISD - our district)

• has 85,546 students
• on it's webiste it boasts itself as "San Antonio's Premier School District,"
• it is one of Texas' five largest school districts,
• 24.4% of the student population is white/anglo,
• that would mean it has a 75.6% minority student population.

And guess how many of these 85,546 students were allowed to watch the 1st minority President of the United States encourage them to take responsibility for their education, and challenge them to set goals? That's right, 0, big zero. Wow, talk about questionable motives. That day felt a little like 1955 around here. But not to worry folks, the high school football players and coach came the very next day (in their cowboy boots and belts) to talk to our kiddos about goals. Wow, is it really 2009? Not so sure here in south Texas. That's my rant for today. Will post pictures soon. Colin's first season of t-ball!

An unworthy Blogger

I cannot for the life of me make those pictures looked organized in any fashion. I deleted half of them by accident and had to reload (another 20 minutes). Also, I thought I used to be able to add captions but can't seem to do that either. Very frustrated at the moment. Anyway have a funny small-town-Texas story to tell. The boys started at a new elementary school here in Hazard County Texas (ha ha). The school mascot is a coyote. They had their first pep-rally today. The principal introduced a kindergartener whose family had donated a "special gift" to the school. A dramatic presentation ensued whereupon the curtains to the stage were opened and a covered object sat upon a table on the stage. It was in the shape of a coyote. I assumed someone had sculpted a coyote out of wood or an artist had donated a statue, etc. Well, as the child and his father proudly unveiled the object it was, indeed, a coyote. And Sarah Palin style (sorry Cyrstal for that bad memory), it was a REAL COYOTE (stuffed of course). Yes a real, DEAD, stuffed coyote will now adorn the halls of our new school. I don't think the kids really got it but the adults were a little quiet. Odd but very Texas..... On a related note... On my morning run earlier this week as I turned up the hill in my neighborhood, someone had crafted a sign and placed it in their yard. It said "Mountain Lion spotted 8/19 in our backyard, 9:30am. They are thirsty, and hungry." It was 9:45am that I was running; I didn't make it much further up the hill since every sound I heard terrified me. I found a large stick in the backyard and ran in a different neighborhood the next day... That's all for now.

Summer Recap

Matthew's Robotics Trophy

Grandpa with all the grandkids!

Great Wolf Lodge

Beach Boys

Tiger Stadium: Detroit, MI

As I began this post, I clicked on my photoshop software to load photos and the "blue screen of death" (as Marty calls it) appeared so I gave up for a few hours. Here I am again. Wanted to recap our summer. To begin it was/is HOT, HOT, HOT and DRY, DRY, DRY. We made the best of it anyway. I will say that we only made 2 trips to SeaWorld and none to the zoo due to the heat. We spent a lot of time at the pool and in the house with neighbor kiddos.

June
Our main event in June was a week long visit to the cousins in Ft. Worth. We stayed a couple of nights at The Great Wolf Lodge Resort. It has an indoor and outdoor water park including tube rides, a wave pool, water playscapes, etc. The kids had a blast and Uncle Mikey made margaritas at night for us adults (thanks Mikey). Colin still asks when we are going back! We were able to catch a Rangers/Astros game while there as well. Our seats were right up against the bull pen so Matthew was able to see the Astros pitchers warming-up. Some of which he had their baseball cards with him! We took the kids to Let's Jump for indoor exercise one day and to the park and pool other days. I went for a run with my half-marathon sister one morning and caused her to walk much more than usual! It was a fun trip.

July
Matthew attended baseball camp at UTSA for a week in July. Most of his buddies from little league were there but he still wasn't sure he enjoyed it that much (too hot). Nolan and Colin began piano lessons which are still going very well with their "cool" teacher Josh. Matthew and I were able to take a trip with Grandpa and Aunt Cara and Tori to Detroit to visit Aunt Dale and all our neices, nephews, and cousins the boys had never met. Matthew was an awesome "big cousin" and enjoyed meeting 6 new cousins. I had a wonderful time visiting with my sister Dale, brother-in-law Don, and my neice and nephews and their families. It was actually cool up there and rained! While we were in Detroit, Nolan and Colin enjoyed a science camp at Colin's pre-school. They played with real earthworms, made ice cream, made goo, and many other things. They also had a blast staying with their Grandma. She took them to McDonald's, the movies, and most importantly let them eat ice cream and watch as much SpongeBob as they wanted! When we returned for Detroit we began a week of VBS. This was especially fun this year because we took Matthew's best friend Jimmy and Nolan and Colin's buddies Cierra, and Schyler along with us each night. All had a great time - including mom and dad who worked the rec station.

August
Because June and July had been so hot, I was convinced that August would give us a break. Today is the 28th and apparently no break is in store. I will say that we did get some rain last night and a little this evening - praise God! We took an amazing trip to the beach (Port Aransas) for 3 nights. The boys played and played in the water and the sand and Marty and I relaxed. I realized that this was the first trip to the beach that I fully enjoyed in 10 years! That is because Matthew will be 10 in October and I have been so stressed about babies/toddlers on the beach for the last 10 years. This year they were finally old enough to just play and not get into trouble or danger. We caught a crab and a baby jellyfish. Matthew attended a Lego Robotics camp at the UTSA School of Engineering the last 2 weeks of summer. He loved it. Although he says he wants to be a professional ball player when he grows up, I think we know what other direction he may be going in (hopefully following his dad's engineering degree). He won 2nd place at the "sumo-bot" competition the last day of camp. This included competing against middle school teams! He has yet another trophy to add to his bookshelf. All three boys have started a new school this year. Matthew and Nolan are at the new elementary in our area and Colin at a pre-school much closer to home. Both schools are working out great. It is a blessing to be at a school of 700 kids instead of 1300 (last year) - and the new school appears to be much bigger physically if you can imagine! That's the recap for now.

Nolanisms

Some Nolan stories.

His front 2 bottom teeth have been very loose for a couple of weeks. Last week he appeared at the door after getting off of the school bus with his 2 teeth in his hand. He said "Mom, my hand is getting sweaty and tired from holding these so long." I asked when they fell out and he said another boy's backpack hit is face (accidentally) and they fell out on the bus. I assumed this was in the afternoon. As the story progressed and Matthew got involved, I found out that the teeth fell out in the morning just as the bus arrived at school. My first thought was "Oh my goodness, have you been holding those teeth in your hand all day???" "No!" he said just since I got them." I am thinking here - they fell out this morning - how in the world does this make sense? Full story from Matthew is that they fell out in the morning as the kids were unloading the bus, they couldn't find the teeth and went on to class. In the afternoon, the boy whose backpack caused the whole incident found both teeth on the floor in the bus! Crazy. Anyway, the tooth fairy brought him $2.00 and he was happy. Matthew insists that he once saw the tooth fairy fly away in the night. This story is a point of contention in our home however because Colin saw the tooth fairy at school during dental week and she "was tall as a person and did NOT fly"!

Today was fiesta parties at the elementary school. I arrived early to help set-up Nolan's classroom. He gets good behavior marks everyday (maybe one bad one all year) so I was checking out the behavior chart (color-coded). I am smugly thinking to myself "Oh my Nolan is sooo good at school, let's see who the mis-behaving kids are." I was looking at those names on the yellow line (warning line) and saw the familiar names of those Nolan says get in trouble often. I smiled as I didn't see Nolan's name. I continued to look and lo and behold there is Nolan's sunshine (with his name on it) down on the orange line (one before the red - office line). That's what I get for being so smug. "What happened to Nolan?" I asked the teacher (the kids were not in the class - they were at gym). She came over to quietly tell me that according to the other kids at his table he said "Jack A__." She was very polite and said he likely heard it at school and it wasn't a big deal but she had to skip the warning line for that. I didn't bring it up to Nolan until we got home (didn't want to ruin the party for him). He was embarrassed and upset about it but apparently did say it - says he heard it from another boy at the table (wooo - at least he didn't say he heard it at home!).

I have to tell dentist stories because this is really one of the harder jobs of moms. I always take the boys to the dentist. Never mind that the last appointment was at 5pm - still mom with 3 boys and no dad. Of course 2 sets of cavities on 2 boys. So here we go discussing the snacking schedule and how EVERY food has sugar in it besides water. Can we hold this lecture with Grandmas and Dads please??? Anyway, as I am talking to the dentist (it is now 6:40 - 1 hour and 40 minutes later) Colin is becoming increasingly restless and Marty is calling and texting every 2 seconds. As I apologize to the dentist for the interuptions and continue to silence my phone Colin is climbing on me and literally pulling my shirt down. I know the dentist has seen worse but it really makes a mom feel like a loser when she has to face the cavity issue yet again. Yes we brush twice a day, yes we use Act at night etc, etc. My kids have their mom's teeth (and sweet tooth), what can I say???

What is a Boy

An academic-type friend of ours in Austin once told me (as our children were playing and I made a comment about boys) that "gender is a social contstruct." What I didn't reply to him was that while I hold a bachelor's degree in Sociology and fully understand "gender contstructs," the scientific fact of the matter is: sex is now, always was, and ever shall be a biological fact that cannot be changed. He of course had 2 girls...

A co-worker of Marty's forwarded this to him. His father, Alan Beck, wrote it.

What is a Boy

Between the innocence of babyhood and the dignity of manhood we find a delightful creature called a boy. Boys come in assorted sizes, weights, and colors, but all boys have the same creed: to enjoy every second of every minute of every hour of every day and to protest with noise (their only weapon) when their last minute is finished and the adult males pack them off to bed at night. Boys are found everywhere—on top of, underneath, inside of, climbing on, swinging from, running around, or jumping to. Mothers love them, little girls hate them, older sisters and brothers tolerate them, adults ignore them, and Heaven protects them. A boy is Truth with dirt on its face, Beauty with a cut on its finger, Wisdom with bubble gum in its hair, and the Hope of the future with a frog in its pocket. When you are busy, a boy is an inconsiderate, bothersome, intruding jangle of noise. When you want him to make a good impression, his brain turns to jelly or else he becomes a savage, sadistic, jungle creature bent on destroying the world and himself with it. A boy is a composite—he has the appetite of a horse, the digestion of a sword-swallower, the energy of a pocket-sized atomic bomb, the curiosity of a cat, the lungs of a dictator, the imagination of a Paul Bunyan, the shyness of a violet, the audacity of a steel trap, the enthusiasm of a firecracker, and when he makes something, he has five thumbs on each hand. He likes ice cream, knives, saws, Christmas, comic books, the boy across the street, woods, water (in its natural habitat), large animals, Dad, trains, Saturday mornings, and fire engines. He is not much for Sunday School, company, schools, books without pictures, music lessons, neckties, barbers, girls, overcoats, adults, or bedtime. Nobody else is so early to rise, or so late to supper. Nobody else gets so much fun out of trees, dogs, and breezes. Nobody else can cram into one pocket a rusty knife, a half-eaten apple, three feet of string, an empty Bull Durham sack, two gum drops, six cents, a slingshot, a chunk of unknown substance, and a genuine supersonic code ring with a secret compartment. A boy is a magical creature—you can lock him out of your workshop, but you can’t lock him out of your heart. You can get him out of your study, but you can’t get him out of your mind. Might as well give up—he is your captor, your jailer, your boss, and your master—a freckled-faced, pint-sized, cat-chasing, bundle of noise. But when you come home at night with only shattered pieces of your hopes and dreams, he can mend them like new with two magic words, "Hi Dad!"

As Colin Sees It

Funny things Coin says: Most nights after we've put the kids to bed, Marty sits down to watch a little TV. This usually involves sports. Some nights (if Colin's had a nap that day), Colin gets up to watch with us. As a general rule, Marty controls the remote :). One night the three of us were watching and Marty left the room for one reason or another. Colin's eyes lit up, he looked at me and said "Mom, now we can watch Cooking!" A boy after my own heart.

Today in the car Colin asked me "why a head is called a head" and "why don't tornados get hooked if they step on a hook?" It is very windy today - thus the tornado discussion.

Updating

Today is a day for updating. I uploaded pictures to my facebook page and hopefully corrected this page. I am posting a picture of a baby garter snake I found in my front flower bed Tuesday morning. The big news today??... It is RAINING!!!! I am excited - spring rain - maybe the garden will make it afterall. We are back in baseball season and after playing for 5 years now - Matthew is finally on the Astros team!! We are very excited about this and have an excuse to buy Astros gear. If you come to one of his games, wear Astros stuff. Colin and I are off to the dentist this morning so I'll write more later.

Feral Hogs

Stupid pigs dug up the bulbs and the nice mulch, etc around Stoey's grave. Thank goodness they didn't dig deep enough to get her. I am up late putting off going to bed - don't know why. We are leaving in the morning for a spring break trip to the Davis Mountains State Park and the McDonald Observatory. Mom and Dad are going with us. It has been hot here but supposed to get cold and rain tomorrow. We really need the rain - I think this place may just dissolve into dust soon if not. Seriously - everything si brown and I wonder if this is what the dust bowl looked like just before it happened? That's all for now. I am going to try to loosen security on this blog so mom can read it. Good night.

Winter Update

Well, I've realized that if I continue to wait until I find time (or I guess make time) to upload photos I may miss a lot of blog worthy info. So here goes a post-Christmas update without pics. The biggest and saddest news is that we lost our beloved Stoey. Stoey (short for stow-away - from my college no-pets allowed apartment days) has been a part of our family since our family began! Marty and I found her as a kitten in the parking lot of my apartments off Riverside in Austin in college (we weren't even married yet). Anyway, she was our kitty from day one and welcomed each one of the boys into our family. They've never known life without her. She was an old girl at 17 and finally decided it was time to go. She just refused to eat so after a trip to the vet we decided to let her have it her way. She died last Saturday night. We buried her in the backyard and planted bulbs there to always remind us of her. She was our good girl. We do still have our Lucky (the stray we picked up about a year ago). He is still a little confused as to why I am letting him eat out of Stoey's food and water bowls.

A Funny Boy Story
I just love having three amazing boys. Thursday Nolan, Colin, and some neighbor boys were out playing in the backyard. Colin came running in to notify me that "Lucky caught a mouse but it isn't dead and Nolan is trying to catch it." I ran outside knowing that Nolan would indeed catch the mouse if I didn't intervene. I found the boys (3 of them I think) under the neighbor's deck with the mouse cornered under a wheelbarrow. Nolan had his bug-catcher jug (big enough for a mouse) open and ready to capture the creature. Worms, bugs, snails I can handle (he brings them inside in containers all the time) but I had to draw the line at a mouse. I had to explain to them that mice have diseases that we don't want to catch! I wish I'd had my camera.

Other News
We are off to sign-up yet again for baseball - this time only Matthew (whew). Nolan and Colin want to continue with swim lessons which is great with me.

We are in a bad allergy season here with the cedar (all over our backyard). I had Nolan allergy-tested (which was an ordeal - poor guy) and he showed up highly allergic to cedar, dustmites, and of all things cats. This came about 4 days after Stoey was gone (she's slept in his room everynight since he was out of the crib). Poor Nolan. We are working on clearing some allergens in this house to get him feeling better.

Marty has been working lots and doing jobs around the houses. We got the boys' room painted and it looks great. I have been cooking alot and really enjoying that. I'll post some recipes soon.
I guess that's all for now.

A Few More Things

Forgot also to mention Nolan had his first field trip in kindergarten. They visisted a pumpkin patch and learned all kinds of things. Also Colin sang his heart out in his Thanksgiving Program at school. Finally, here is a picture of a wild fox the boys spotted in our back yard a few weeks ago. Oh also a picture of Grandpa and Aunt Cara with all the grandkids at the beach in October.