Meet the Teachers Night

Last night was the annual "Meet the Teachers" night at JVE. We went up to the school and got to see who was going to be academically molding our children's minds for the next year. We were able to show all the kids where their classrooms and desks were going to be. Also dropped off the various school supplies that I'm so glad to have out of the house before someone feels compelled to open and use some of them.

Child #1 will be entering 4th grade. We met her teacher last night. Apparently she was a floating substitute at JVE last year because she knew Child #3 (while he was in PreK) really well. Of course everyone who meets Child #3 remembers him... he isn't nicknamed Mr Personality for nothing. LOL! One of Child #1's best school friends is in her class, they were so happy to see each other they were practically attached at the hip all evening. They want to be in Girl Scouts together so it looks like we'll be seeing a lot more of this friend this year. Thankfully she is a very sweet and genuine child.

Child #2 will be staying in 1st grade again this year. While it was a difficult decision I do honestly believe it was the right one. He needs that little bit of extra time to truly find his footing. He is excited to be in his class. He has Child #1's first grade teacher this year. I really liked Mrs. B when Child #1 had her. She worked with Child #2 last year when they would rotate the kids who were at the same levels between the 5 classes. So she knows his "tricks" for various things already. She can be very no-nonsense when it is needed so I'm hoping that will help to keep him focused and on track.

Child #3 got the Kinder teacher Mrs. C. I was so hoping he would get. She was the student teacher in Child #1's Kinder class then she hired fulltime and got her own class the next year. She knows his PreK teacher really well and understands his IQ level and will definitely keep him occupied and interested. Its wonderful to have a young excited teacher. Hopefully he will go into the TAG program next year.

Child #4 starts PreK this year. HOLY SNIKIES!! She is so excited and Mrs. W. can't wait to have her in the class. She was sad to see lose Child #3 (he is such a charmer) but was resilient because she was getting Child #4. I think all the parents in the classroom was a little bit intimidating for Child #4, she isn't usually around that many very loud adults in a small area. Once we were back out into the hall she was all smiles and bouncing along.

Looks like we have four strong teachers this year. Yeah!

It is soooo quiet around here...

The house really has been pretty quiet around here. The hooligans have been gone the past couple of weeks visit with their Grandma Mawmaw and family in Houston.

It is so very strange to have them gone for so long. I miss them. A lot! I know that Hubby has been missing them a lot too. I miss the snuggles and hugs.

But I've been trying to struggle through... by sleeping late without interruption, watching ANYthing on TV without concern for who might also see it, eating a cookie for breakfast without getting the hairy eyeball from someone under the age of 10 who wants one too... it has been torture. LOL!

But just so you don't think its been all fun and no work!

I planted a bunch of stuff in the backyard to kind of finish out the big raised bed on the left side of the yard. Still have the raised bed along the back fence line to plant with something... I'm think of transplanting some of the HUGE tall grasses that have tripled in size in the front garden bed along the street. They really have gotten HUGE. The left side yard is also still a mess, maybe I'll get to it this summer... or maybe not. I really want to plant Passion Vine along that fence because I think it will grow really well over there and be nice and fragrant. So I should probably wait until September to plant them after the heat.

I have also cleaned out and re-organized my workspace in the dayroom. You can now see my computer desk, though I've rarely seem to use my desktop much anymore I'm usually on my laptop in the living room. My sewing desk is also nice and cleared off of all the clutter junk that just gets dumped on it by everyone.

I got totally caught up on the laundry. It has now taken over a week to create enough laundry to really justify running two loads (1 clothes and 1 towels). It is mind blowing just how much laundry those hooligans create on a daily basis.

I have also been working on all three of the childrens bedrooms. I have cleaned out the shelves in Child#1 room, there are no longer books that she doesn't want on her shelves taking up space. I carted off a huge trash bag of torn up scraps of paper and cardboard. I moved a bunch of puzzles and games to the downstairs dayroom which created a ton of nice space for her chapter books and three shelves of space for a bunch of Lego that I had packed away that I set up for her to have. Castles and Dragons. I think she's gonna be pretty excited. I've also gotten the paint to repainted her dresser and the shelf ends. We've started prep work on painting her nightstand (to match the dresser). I've gotten some more drapes to put up in her room and to also make some pillow covers out of the fabric to match. She's is going to have as "grown up" a big girls room can be for a 10-year old.

I have also cleaned out the shelves in the boys' room. Re-organizing a bunch of the toys and such... especially eliminating any broken or no longer played with toys. I also created a special shelf for each boy that will be for only his personal things. Hubby and I finished striping what was left of the ugly wallpaper border (that Child#2 had torn most off) and prepped the wall with Kilz primer to cover the Sharpie that Child#3 felt compelled to use on the wall because he didn't like the green paint. I didn't like the green paint either but that wasn't how I really wanted to change it. We also started painting the walls the two new blue colors to cover up the dingy blue and fugly limey green that was on the walls. It is AMAZING how much better the walls look with the new colors. The new bunkbeds for the boys room were delivered but we haven't assembled them yet until we are done with all the painting. We need to finish up the second coat and put up the new border trim... once I figure out how to cut the roll of wallpaper in half... or something like that.

We are going to have to repaint the molding in the boys bedroom (and about half the house) because the previous "painters" and I use that term loosely did a horrible job when you really look at it. But that is gonna be for a later date, maybe in a couple of weeks.

And just so the little princess doesn't feel left out... I cleared out some of the junk that had accumulated in Child#4's bedroom. Various toys that didn't belong and re-organized the shelves to hold the stuff that does belong. I've also been working on the pit of a closet that is in her room between a bunch of clothes that Hubby has in there (from when the room was still his office) and the piles of outgrown clothes from various other children... it was pretty scary. I have a sketch print of Tinkerbell that I bought a few years ago that we were going to hang in the dayroom but never got around to it, so I'll frame it and put it up in her room. I also have a bunch of fairy & flower blossom prints to put up into her room in the place of all the Classic Pooh prints to create a more Tinkerbell-esque styled bedroom. I'm hoping she will really like it especially since she is ALL about Tinkerbell right now. I also have a mirror to hang on her closet door so she can see herself when she plays dress up. She loves to play dress up... I've almost finished up painting and decorating her treasure box so she'll have her own special box for her favorite little things.

Its amazing how there is at least one box of stuff from each bedroom full of stuff that doesn't belong in there.

Sadly even with all this time, I haven't gotten it together well enough to organize a garage sale while the kids are gone. Its amazing how quickly the time has passed. There is also just sooo much stuff, I will be taking it slowly I think over the next month or so of sorting and pricing stuff for a garage sale.

Or to organizing the garage...

The Summer Adventure and Quiet Vacation...

Well, its hard to believe but the house is quiet because the four hooligans have just headed out to spend the next couple of weeks... yes WEEKS! with their grandmother Mawmaw and family in Houston. They are basically gone for the rest the month of July. They should be back the last weekend in July unless plans change.

They are going to the Zoo and down to the beach in Galveston for a weekend. Who knows what other fun and exciting things they will do! They always have a good time. I do miss the amazing museums in Houston... Childrens... Natural History... Fine Art...

Hubby and I are going to try to go out to dinner to some places we just can't do as a family either because it isn't as kid-friendly as we'd like or is too expensive for a family of 6. We might try to maybe see a movie or so. Of course Hubby has to go out of town for a week in there for work.

I already miss them and they've only been gone a few hours... its gonna be a long couple of weeks.

Very quiet but long...

Pedernales Falls

I've come to the conclusion that I'm an Oct to April camper... not a July to August summertime camper. At least not in Texas. Its just too damn hot during the summer here! BLECK!!

A friend's family and our family just spent the weekend camping and enjoying the beautiful state park of Pedernales Falls. Her three kids are the same age at Child #1 & Child #2 and they all have lots of fun together. The water was high (from the recent rains) and cool. The temperature was hot. Very hot. But it was the flies that were the worst. Swarms of them at a hint of food. Yuck. I'd forgotten about how nasty they were last year we camped here. The family that was with us last year had a screen tent that we set up over the picnic table area so we weren't bothered while we ate. This time Hubby and I ate dinner on Saturday night after the kids while walking around. The flies were just so horrific that we had to keep moving around or they would just... ick! Definitely putting a screened tent of the list of MUST HAVE for the next camping trip.

Definitely enjoyed sleeping on the air mattress over the thin mattress pad from last month. A bonus was having an electrical outlet to plug into... with an extension cord and the box fan that we brought. Having a "breeze" really does make a difference when its hot out, especially when you are trying to sleep.

The nice bathrooms and showers are also wonderful too. Its amazing how much better you feel even in the heat after having a nice cool shower to rinse the funk of the day off.

Most of Saturday was spent lazing around down on the river in the cool water. Everyone enjoyed the water and had fun.

No one was seriously burned this trip. A few spots of being "sun kissed". So I think we've gotten the kids into the habit of using sunscreen and keeping hats on their heads.

Some how we ended up not taking a SINGLE photograph. How did that happen?

Now I just need to sort through all the laundry and re-pack the camping gear for the "next" trip.

Who's amazing? Who's amazing? Yep, that would be me!!

We are a Star Wars family. Hubby and I grew up on the original trilogy... I still remember seeing the first movie in the theatre. We have all the movies on DVD and the kids love the animated series The Clone Wars... they watch the DVR'd episodes over and over and over.

And over and over and over... you get the idea.

Out of all the kids I think Child #2 is truly the biggest Star Wars fan. He got a bunch of Star Wars Legos for Christmas last year and his birthday this year... I did lots of sniping auctions on eBay. His favorite book is the Star Wars Lego Visual Dictionary... I think he's got every page memorized. Anytime he is sitting reading, that is the book he's got with him.

Well, the Star Wars in Concert is coming to Austin next week. I really wanted to take him but tickets are $65 each... eek! So needless to say that isn't in the budget.

KLRU our local PBS station had a give away for two tickets to the show... and I just won a pair. Unbelievable! Talk about total luck.

So I mentioned it to Child #2 and that we only had two tickets. One would be for him and one would be for either Mommy or Daddy. He didn't have to make a decision right now about who would take him... he could think about it for a while. Without a moment's hesitation...

"Daddy!"

Okay so I'm chopped liver??

Seriously, who is it that finds Star Wars books for him? Who reads those books to him? Who searched and sniped for the specific Lego sets that he would want off of eBay? Who takes the time to carefully swipe under the furniture and pick up any rogue Legos laying around before vacuuming any room in the house? Who listens to him wax on and on about various characters? Okay so we both do that one... Who took the time to record as many of the Clone War episodes as possible? Who found out about this concert? Who tried to get tickets? Who won said tickets??

Yeah, that would be me... guess I'm not amazing enough to be that special parent. Sigh... its hard sometimes to not be jealous when they pick the other parent...

Enjoying the beach

Well, we were talking about going camping with the kids before the weather turned really hot... yeah like it isn't already hot here... but we are talking the scorching oppressive heat that is a Texas summer day. So going to Pedernales Falls State park was gonna be the choice of camping location when I heard the morning guys on the radio talking about camping on the beach at Port Aransas. Hmm camping on the beach, the kids would sooo love that. I remember camping on Pismo Beach CA when I was a child, it was awesome and an experience I wish my kids could have. Soooo in light of recent events in the Gulf with the British Petroleum oil drilling platform exploding and continuing to pump millions of barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico maybe its a good idea to hit the beach sooner rather than later when the oil sludge starts washing up on the sand. I've never been to Port A before so it would be an adventure for me too.

All week the weather forecast kept saying scattered thunderstorms for the weekend. Great camping in the rain isn't fun and at the beach really isn't fun. So we kept watching and hoping that it wouldn't rain. Game plan was to load up and leave Friday morning-ish and stay until Sunday afternoon. Its a four hour drive from Austin. Friday the day went out every direction but how we planned. So we thought we'll leave late afternoon and get there Friday night setup camp and go to bed. As the day progressed we decided we'll sleep at home and get up really early (by 5 am) and head out to get to the beach by mid morning. Yeah that worked... 5 am and its a massive storm outside, thunder, lightning and a gully wash of rain. Good thing we threw a tarp over everything loaded on the roof rack of the truck or it would have been a really unpleasant experience with a wet tent. Needless to say both Hubby and I rolled over and went back to sleep until the storm was over a few hours later. A friend of Hubby's was also at Port A with his family (staying in a condo) and he texted message that it was storming really bad there right about the time we had been planning on arriving to the beach. Sooo because of the Hunter Family tradition of getting a late start on a trip totally worked in our favor. If we'd gotten down to Port A on Friday we'd have been in the rainstorm in a tent with 4 freaked out kids aka we'd have been sitting in the Land Cruiser watching everything get soaked. Or if we had gotten up at 5am and headed out we would have been in the middle of that storm... don't know if the kids would ever want to go camping with us again... don't know if I'd ever want to go camping again. LOL!

So we finally got on the road and heading to Port A late Saturday morning. We did a leisure drive down and stopped at a local Farmer's Market on the way and picked up some peaches and a watermelon.

Hubby decided that he wanted to camp as far away from other people as possible... so instead of camping at Mustang Island State Park where there are shelters and electrical plugins and BATHROOMS... he decides we need to truly camp further down the coast at Padre Island National Seashore... about 4 miles down the beach away from any civilization. seriously?!?! So we didn't even get to have one of those semi-sheltered picnic tables. We were on the empty beach. Yeah got to teach the kids how to make a "cat hole" because there weren't any bathroom facilities.



It was early evening once we picked a spot. The kids went down to play "near" the water on the beach while Hubby and I unloaded and set up the tents. At one point I looked up and with the sun low in the sky and looking over the seaweed dune line between us and the kids I could see them jumping and hopping along the sand all carefree and joyous. It was that perfect Kodak home movie moment... of course the camera was in the truck at the time and the kids all wanted to pose once Hubby got the camera and tried to catch them unaware.

It was beautiful to see though.

After we got the tent set up and a fire going we enjoyed hot dogs and then later of course s'mores. I think that is really the reason the kids love to camp. LOL!

Kids also got to chase a little sand crab around for a few minutes. Especially once it vacated the tent.

Kids went to bed while Hubby and I enjoyed the evening and the stars. We even got to see a little sand mouse scurry around in the darkness.

Sleep wasn't the greatest because we couldn't use the air mattress, the pump that uses the car plug didn't get packed... so it was sleeping on a thin pad... not that great, I'm an air mattress camper now.

A good time was had by all though we made a few discoveries on items to always take with us camping... a good sun cover being one of them.

Everyone got burnt except for Child #2 who kept reapplying sunscreen every couple of minutes... he had a distinct bluish cast from the Avon "disappearing blue" sunscreen. Guess he learned from last year's camping trip to Pedernales Falls where he got blistered on his back & arms. Very bad mommy for not noticing that he'd taken his rash top off and was out of the water/shade most of the time!! Boy doesn't take his rash top off now.

Hubby and Child #1 got it the worst on their backs... definitely two crispy critters.

So I'm about to cook some mushrooms and I reach into the butter box in the fridge and...

This is what I find. It was whole last night when I cooked dinner.

Child #4 also known as the three year old butter junkie strikes again.

I originally thought it was Child #3 who was gnawing on the butter lately because the previous one I found was a stick that had been unwrapped, gnawed on and then *perfectly* re-wrapped and put back into the butter box. Very very sneaky.