SALT & PEPPA

So this is Sarah Caroline and my cousins little girl Christina. I don't know how Christina gets so dark but she looks totally native during the summer.

Sarah Caroline on the other is about as fair skinned as you can get. She actually has a great tan she's just so pale you can't tell. She loves to show her tan line on her waist and say see I do have a tan.

One day on the beach my Aunt Bobbie said " look at them, that's salt and peppa" so for the rest of the week that's what we called the girls.

By the end of the week Sarah Caroline was asking if we could call her "seasoned salt" because she really had a good tan. It didn't work....just didn't sound right.

I will post more from the beach trip a little later.....

See ya, E

I'M TORN -BEACH OR MAYBE BABY-

I'm torn between going to the beach and staying home to wait on Mr. Walker Monroe Zakeri.

I haven't been to the beach for more than one night is several years. I love, love, love the beach. I've been waiting on Walker for nine long months and I love, love, love him and his mom and dad.

I have this feeling that if I do go to the beach my little puddin is going to get here while I'm gone.

All of my family is going to the beach July 25 until August 1. They go every year and always have the best time.

I've got a couple of feelers out on a room at the resort where they will be staying so we will see.

Michele and I went for a walk the other night and I was talking to her about it and I told her if I go and she has Walker while I'm gone I don't want to know anything about it. Of course I quickly retracted that statement and told her I wanted updates every 30 minutes.

Well I will let the blogosphere know my decision as soon as I know what it is.

HOW COULD YOU RESIST THIS FACE?

How could you not say OK to the pool when this is what's asking?

"DOG" DAYS OF SUMMER

It was so hot for a while even the dogs next door need a break from the heat.

Can you tell they love their pool?

MIRACLES

WOW!!! It's about the only word that can describe how honored I feel to have been asked to attend the ultrasound of the greatest friends ever.

Yesterday I went to Virginia College with Michele and Aaron for a FREE ultrasound.

I really can't tell you what an honor it was to witness such an intimate and personal moment. Granted they have met Baby Zakeri via ultrasound a couple of times before but its still pretty intimate.

During both of my pregnancys I always loved hearing the heart beat. Hearing it just makes the whole thing real or more real if that's possible.

I can cry at the drop of a hat, sad movies, Maxwell House Coffee, and Hallmark commercials. I warned Michele that I would cry when I heard the heart beat and what do ya know, I did, I tried to hide it but I don't think it worked.

The girl doing the ultrasound took so long that Michele almost passed out from being on her back for almost 30 minutes. I guess what they say about the weight of the baby on the inferior vena cava is true. After some (a lot) of sweating, some gagging, a glass of water and some petting from sweet Aaron she was fine in a jiffy.

I was a nurse for 13 years. It takes a lot to make me nervous unless its someone I know and love. In other words if it's my kids, I freak out. My husband, I freak out. One of my closest friends, you guessed it, I freak out. I almost went into FULL panic mode, I DID NOT LIKE THIS. Thank goodness she felt better quickly!!!

I am so ready for that little man to finish cooking so he can come out and meet all of us. We are so excited.

I will seriously have to hold myself back. I MAY JUST EAT HIM UP!!!!

Thank You Michele and Aaron for making my day!!!

DADDYS OTHER LITTLE MAN

Well since I blogged about everyone else today I thought I should mention our other child. The one of the feline persuasion. His name is Cheech and he LOVES his daddy.

When Wayne comes home from work Cheech is sitting at the door waiting like a dog. He stays right under his feet until Wayne speaks to him and pats him on the head.

This cat loves my husband so much that when Wayne isn't here the cat will sleep in his chair at his desk. When we go to bed at night he puts his back to Wayne and his feet on me and pushes until there is no way we could touch. To make myself feel better about this I say he like to "make his biscuits" on me cause i'm softer.

Sometimes I wonder if the cat realizes i'm the one who feeds him, waters him, and cleans that glorious litter box.

Cheech does tricks like a dog. He will lay down,talk, and roll over. Most of the time he only does it for Wayne but he has been known to lay down for our great neighbor Aaron. Granted Aaron had a traeat in his hand but he did do the trick.

Cheech is a Maine Coon and he is a very big boy. He has lost a little bit of weight but he is currently somewhere aroung 22-24 pounds. He was hovering around 30 pounds.

Sometimes Wayne calls him fat boy and usually the result is he will nibble on me with his very sharp teeth!!!! Maybe he's telling me to quit feeding him so much. Could this be?

HOW DOES THIS HAPPEN

This is what I got the week after the sleep over when I told Sarah Caroline to clean her room.
Maybe I should start telling her to clean her room every night at bedtime. Do you think it would make her go to sleep on time without argument. Nah to easy!!!

THE LITTLE SLEEP SLEEP OVER

One might ask what I was thinking, if I had lost my mind, did I hit my head, or was I dropped on my head as an infant. The answer would be yes to all of the above!!!!!

On April 10th Jackson had his sleep over so on April 17th it was Sarah Carolines turn.
When I ask her who she was going to ask she started rattling off names like crazy. I had to put the brakes on and tell her that she could invited three friends. It always works better with an even number of kids. Sarah Caroline has on orange, Belle has on blue, McKinley has on black & white and Josie Mae has on white.

McKinley came home from school with us and the giggling started as soon as they got into the car!!! Soon after we got home Belle got here and it got a little louder, I actually had to call them out on the stomping upstairs because my kitchen windows were rattling. When Josie Mae got here at around 5:30 the girls went slap crazy. I haven't seen so much hugging in all my life, you would have thought they hadn't seen each other in years. They had just left each other two hours earlier.

I bought a chick-fil-a nugget tray for dinner and the girls ate until they were about to pop.

They played outside, inside, all up & down the sidewalk. When it started to get dark I told the girls we were gonna have to go inside soon because it was cooling off drastically. I was freezing!!

We were cleaning up all of the bikes posters and markers at this point it was about 8:15. Josie Mae said "is it almost time for us to take a nap"? I just laughed and told her that it was almost time for a bedtime nap. When we walked inside she went running up the stairs yelling that she was gonna brush her teeth first. She was very ready for bed (so was I).

They had a pillow fight and almost beat me to death. Josie Mae literally rang my bell, I saw spots and stars. I got on the bed in a fetal position with my head covered with my arms and McKinley yelled "DOG PILE"!!! All four of them piled on top of me and about squished my guts out.

The festivities continued until around midnight when I went to the bedroom door and told them for the 500th time to settle down. There was so much junk in the floor that I couldn't get the door open enough to see in. I told them that McKinley and Josie Mae were tired and they needed to calm down. They started laughing and said McKinley was already asleep. Sure enough when I got into the room enough to see, that sweet girl was curled up on the bed sound asleep with three other girls jumping on that same bed. I guess when you have two sisters you learn to sleep through anything.

That was the last time I heard from them until 7:15am when I was so rudely awakened by my child smacking me in the stomach a pillow. When I got my eyes open there were four blond children with pillows ready to have another fight.

They had pancakes for breakfast and were outside by 8:30. I was constantly telling them to ssshhhh it's early please don't wake up the neighbors.
Do you have any idea how incredibly LOUD four 7 year old girls are?

By 11:45 everyone was gone. My house was so quiet it almost scared me.
Sarah Caroline fell asleep by noon and slept until 4:00. When she woke up she started the I'm bored routine. I told her she could go clean her room because it was a disaster. She decided to go to the Nanas house so she could play with our nephew Steven.

Wayne and I decided to go on a date. We went to Sol Y Luna for dinner and to the Barking Kudu to hear a band. The name was Yo Big Fat Momma Booty Band. They weren't bad.

So this sums it up
see ya!!!
emily

BIRTHDAY BIKE

Sarah Carolines birthday was April 9th. The poor thing got sick as a dog at school and had to check out. When we got home she kept asking for her present and I was trying to hold off until she better but I gave in.

I let her and her fevered up self ride down the sidewalk to "see how it peddled" and it turned out to be a great photo op.

More to come about the birthday...

emily

I'VE NEVER CLAIMED TO BE A BAKER

Why did my cupcakes come out of the oven with a HUGE dip in them????

I do not know why or how this happened. All I know is they were UGLY but very YUMMY.
My thoughts on why they did this:


1. They knew they were going to Sarah Carolines first grade class for snack.
2. They knew kids love anything with loads of sugary icing.(I had to fill in
the hole!!)
3. They knew the first grade only has recess one day a week and this wasn't the
day for it.

I did make more cupcakes that afternoon and they came out great. They had the perfect "muffin top" and everything.

If any of Sarah Carolines classmates parents read my blog I'm sorry if they came home from school on April 9th on an huge sugar high.
Blame the UGLY but YUMMY strawberry cupcakes with way to much homemade pink cream cheese icing.

JACKSONS 12th BIRTHDAY

WOW!! I can't believe how long it has been since I have been here. For all two of my readers I will try to do better.

I'm gonna go back and in time and catch everyone up on the last month.

Jacksons birthday was April 5th. He wanted to have a sleep over so on the actual day of his birth we just had some cupcakes. I have no idea what he was wishing for but it must have been a good one.

When we were planning his sleep over I asked him how many friends he wanted to have, you know I was expecting him to say ten or some crazy number.
The silly child said two. I really thought I misunderstood so I ask again, and again I got the number two.

His main request for his party was that Sarah Caroline NOT be here. She didn't mind at all because she loves going to the Nanas house.

David came home from school with us and Noah got here right after school.
I really was expecting a loud free-for-all, I don't know why because Jackson is my more quiet child, quiet meaning he knows what an inside voice is!!! Anyway the boys were so quiet I could have forgotten that they were in my house. I kept going to his bedroom door and listening for something inappropriate but all was good.

I ordered pizza for dinner and let me tell you how much three 12 year old boys can eat. IT'S AMAZING!!! Where do the put it? Two large pizzas and an order of cheesy bread GONE in about 20 minutes.It's a really good thing Wayne wasn't hungry when he got home from work because he would have been out of luck!! I got my two pieces before I even told the vultures the food was there.

That was just about the only time I saw the boys without looking in the bedroom. All three of them are HUGE gamers so that's how their night was spent. VIDEO GAMES!!!

SNAGGLE TOOTH SARAH CAROLINE

Well the other tooth has fallen out on its own. Its been loose for a couple of weeks and I tried to get her to let me pull it on Tuesday but she said "one pullin is enough for one day".

Michele had come over for a short visit before Sarah Carolines bedtime.
I don't know about yall but my child is always starving when I say the word bedtime. I have now started telling her to "get full" about 30 minutes before bed.

I really wanted this tooth out so we had pizza for dinner. I just had a feeling that without the McPhee tooth it wouldn't take much to get this one out.

Needless to say she was sitting at the table eating away while Michele and I stood at the bar and talked. All of the sudden she looked at us with eyes as big as saucers and says "my tooth's gone". It was a little hard to understand because she had a mouth full of food. She wouldn't swallow because she had to "find her tooth". It was under her tongue. Found and crisis diverted.

She was all smiles and thought it was the grandest thing since sliced bread until she realized that her "S" didn't come out right.

She freaked out about her S because she thought "it might make her miss words on her reading test". I assured her that her teacher knew she could say the words properly and she was only going to sound funny until her teeth came in.

I don't think she has stopped grinning yet!!

She did say that she wished she would have let me pull it on Tuesday when I pulled McPhee. Oh well at least she now knows that pulling a tooth is almost painless.

THE TOOTH

Sarah Caroline has had a loose tooth FOREVER. It would get really loose then tighten back up over and over. Every time we would try to talk her into pulling it she would FREAK OUT!!!! Well her spring pictures were Wednesday March 11th so we started talking about pulling it on Sunday afternoon. She just lost her mind every time I mentioned it.

We had nicknamed this tooth the "Nanny McPhee". Every time it would tighten back up it would stick out a little bit more. As you can see it was sticking straight out, it was just gross. She thought it was so funny because we kept on talking about it. Believe me people it wasn't funny or cute.

Our friends Michele and Aaron told her they weren't going to look her in the face until the McPhee was GONE!!! It still didn't work.

On Tuesday afternoon I started on McPhee as soon as she got in the car at school. The tooth has got to come out today pictures are tomorrow, everybody will be so excited, the tooth fairy will come....

In order for me to pull this tooth I had to give her $20 bucks and promise to go to Arbys and get her the largest jamocha shake they would sell me. Thank goodness they only sell one size. All of this on top of doing the crazy mom dance and singing the crazy pump it up song. Anything to take her mind off of what I was about to do.

I told her we would both scream and while we were doing this I would pull it and she wouldn't even know when it came out. It worked. YIPPEE!!!!

The tooth was so loose I could almost stare the thing out. It just fell out when I pinched it.

At bedtime we put the tooth in an envelope and put it under her pillow for the tooth fairy. Good riddance I say. I was so sick of looking at the ugly thing I was ready to squeal.

She got $3 from the tooth fairy and all is well.

ANGER MANAGEMENT

Well I think I may need anger management today.

Jackson my 11 year old is in the pre advanced placement classes at school this year. He's a smart kid, not to much gets by him. He makes really good grades when he applies himself but he's getting to the age where I have to push him to do his homework. You know how it is.

Well his science class is studying the weather and all that it entails. There are 6 kids per group and they are graded as a group. That is my first problem!! Even though this is an AP course some of the kids aren't "AP material". I'm not saying they aren't smart just maybe not quite ready for the independent study this class requires.

The rules plainly state that you may NOT use the teachers board to write on you must bring your own. The girl who did the forecast on Monday didn't bring her board. Is this the childs fault or the parents? The child who went on Tuesday did slightly better at least he did a forecast board.

Just because these children didn't follow instructions my child will be penalized. I understand the kids needing to learn how to work as a group but ultimately they should be graded on their individual days work.

So today is Jacksons day! Last night we did his forecast board and he was all ready.

We had talked to our wonderful neighbor Michele Zakeri who works at Fox 6 about getting one of the meteorologist to come and talk to the class after Jackson finished is presentation. We found out yesterday that this was definitely going to happen. We were so excited Jackson even did the little "I'm gonna get extra credit dance". We went and bought a thank you card for the class to sign for Mr. Washington and I was so proud of Jackson and so appreciative of Michele for setting all of this up.

This is my MAJOR problem

Well.... This morning Jackson gets to school a little early to get "set up" and he tells his teacher whom I will not name (Mr. Lee) about the surprise speaker and Mr. Lee says it's not really a good day. IT'S NOT REALLY A GOOD DAY!!! Has this man lost his mind? He teaches AP science and AP history. Every other day is science. Today just happened to be history day. They had a test on the cold war. Mr. Lee said that one student, whom I really wont name, wouldn't be done so it's not a good day. Why couldn't he stay in the classroom with the student and let me take the rest of the class out to see the Fox 6 STORM TRACKER HUMMER. How many times does is happen that your studying weather and you have a real live weather professional that can come speak to your class. McAdory gets such a bad rap. Every little bad thing that ever happens is publicized and this was something positive.

Mind you now i'm supposed to meeet Dennis Washington outside the school at 8:25 and Jackson called me about this at 7:53. He was crying a little. I could tell. He wont admitt it but he was.

When we get off of the phone I go into a blind rage. I was ranting about what an idiot this teacher has to be and my feelings were so hurt for Jackson.

I immediately call Michele to see if by chance she has Mr. Washingtons cell phone number. She goes to work on her phone and after much crap i'm sure, reaches him when he was about half way here. She told him the dilemma and he understood. Thankfully.

Now i'm so mad i'm shaking, I just want to go down to that classroom and give him a huge piece of my mind. I want to go to the board of education. I want to go to the PTA, I want to go to who ever will listen to me rant.

What better opportunity to show the children that we adults care about their education and at the same time let educating them be fun.

I understand the need for structure and lesson plans but couldn't Me. Lee have put the test off until tomorrow. If the kids knew the work today they would have known it tomorrow.

One of my favorite sayings is "ignorance is more expensive than education".
In this case the teachers ignorance cost my child maybe just a little bit of education.

Thank You for letting me get on my soap box!!!!

xoxoxo E

SNOW IN THE SOUTH? IT DOES HAPPEN!!

So it does snow in the south. I grew up about a mile from where I live now and this is so rare. The last time there was this much snow it was 1993, they said it was a blizzard and it really was!!

It just happened that both of our children were "gone to grandmas house". I'm sure if they were home the snow in our yard would not be so perfect. There would be little footprints all over the place.

Jackson called from Ama's house this morning at about 8am and said I needed to look out the window. I wasn't very happy at first, it is a weekend, 8am and I was still asleep. Needless to say I was up and looking out the window in a few minutes and could not believe my eyes.

By 8:45 I was up dressed in all my winter warmness and outside with the camera. I felt like I was 5 again. I couldn't stay in the house, it was WAY to cold outside so I would go in for a few minutes and right back out into it I would go. Just walking down the street seeing what I could see. As if anything was any different from the last time I walked down the street.

Things do look different all covered in white and it's always so quiet.

Why is it so quiet when it snows? Who knows I guess I should just enjoy the peace and quiet.

HAPPY SNOW DAY!!!

DERMATOLOGY GENIUS

WOW!! Sarah Caroline has had a crazy great recovery from her recent eczema outbreak.

We had actually used the same ointment before but had always used Dove Soap and Aveeno lotion with it. THE KEY IS NO DOVE AND AVEENO... Cetaphil is a miracle worker along with lots of prayer.

Today her hands are clear, not red at all, and soft. She is so proud of them she just shows them off to everyone. She also knows how we should take care of them, she tells me what to do to them and when she should take her medicine. She gets in the car after school and says I put my new lotion on after PE, then again after lunch, but should I use it when I'm packing up to come home?

Sometimes she is so grown up it scares me, then I can look at her other times and she is still a brand new baby.

Being a mom is just one big adventure!!!!!

A TRIP TO THE BIG TOP

Saturday my sweet neighbor and I took my kids to the circus.

We kept our destination a secret from Sarah Caroline. We wanted it to be a surprise and I didn't want to answer all of the

usual questions where, when, how far, and how much longer. I know it sounds so mean but if your a parent you know it just goes on & on.

As we are paying to park the lady says"enjoy the circus" we thought the cat was out of the bag for sure. We were walking to the ticket window and Sarah Caroline ask if we could get "popcorn for the show". I don't know what kind of show she thought we were going to see but it was fun watching her try to figure it out.

During intermission the kids had to have snacks so off I went.

Ten minutes and $45 later I return with popcorn, cotton candy with THE HAT, a lemonade and a snow cone in a circus cup. And I thought the movies were expensive!!!

In the end it was worth every penny and more the kids loved it (even us big kids).

On the way home Sarah Caroline said she was going to take a big old fat nap when she got home and really did it.

You know its been a really good day when your child says "this was the best day of my life EVER" as they are drifting off to sleep.

After she was asleep Jackson and I were talking about all of the stunts and such and he said "I'm glad the circus was inside because I can't see all that stuff in a big tent". It took a few seconds for what he ment to sink in then I just had to laugh.

You just have to love them...

KIDS SAY THE DARNDEST THINGS

Last week Sarah Caroline went to Ama's (my mom)house to spend the night. She told my mom that I had gotten her an appointment with a psychologist for her eczema. You know my phone was ringing!! Ama ask if I thought her eczema was bothering her psychologically I told her I didn't think so but wanted to know why. She said Sarah Caroline had told her about her appointment and I exploded in laughter. I told her the appointment was with a dermatologist not a psychologist. We both got a good laugh out of it.

ECZEMA

My 6 year old Sarah Caroline has severe eczema on her hands. We have treated it for 4 years now with apparently all the wrong stuff. It makes me feel like a BAD Mom. Our pediatrician whom I love has given us all the right meds and told us to moisturize but I have been using all the wrong products.

Yesterday I took her to the dermatologist, only to learn that I could have been making this condition worse. We had to change laundry detergent, soap, and lotion. I have to stop using dryer sheets and fabric softener. Who knew .

Last night in the bath she used all of her new cedaphil products and loved them. She said the lotion felt so good. After the atarax that the great Dr gave her yesterday she went to bed last night without argument and did not call me into her room after the final goodnight kiss. This was the first night in a long time that had happened. It was nice to be able to get in bed, watch Private Practice, and then a movie with Wayne without having to go back and forth to her bedroom.