Well...I am trying to write at least every couple of days...but sometimes I really struggle to come up with something to say! It does seem like the same ole, same ole a lot of the time, ya know? I had intended to write about Paige's birthday party, but she beat me to the punch...I will say though that I impressed myself with the way I pulled that little shindig together in 24 hours, AND she was surprised!! Yay Mom!!

Now, all our family's birthdays are over until May... we start the buildup to the holidays...with Nutcracker it will be a very busy holiday season this year! Rehearsals begin this weekend, which basically means our nice lazy weekends are over for a while. Oh well, it was nice while it lasted!

Clay seems to have turned over a new leaf - studying hard, getting exra help from the teachers after school, really trying to get his grades back up (it's about time!). I guess I really shouldn't say anything about him getting a bit crazy with the massive surge of hormones...people in glass houses, etc.!!:)

So...another boring post - well, we lead boring lives, what can I say? I'll work on creating a little excitement so we have something to write about....

This is from my birthday party! We had fun! I am the one in the tie dye suit, back row, 2nd from the left.

Paige's Post:

Hi everyone-
Camp Montgomery was really fun! We did underground railroad, which is a game where we go from different stations trying to get to Canada without the bounty hunters seeing us. The bounty hunters were our teachers. We went canoeing, and my team was the only one that didn't flip our canoe over. They made me a cake for my birthday.

On my birthday, I had a surprise party! All my friends jumped out of my closet when I came home. They really scared me. It was really fun, thanks to Mommy! We went swimming and then we had a mudfight, and then we went swimming again. We had hotdogs and chips and punch.

Also last week I found out that my ballet teacher, Mrs. Byrd, wants me to be "young" Snow White in a ballet called Fairest of them All which is in November. So, I will be in Snow White in November, Nutcracker in December, and Grand Prix in January. Wow! For those of you who don't know, Grand Prix is a competition called Youth America Grand Prix and Mrs. Byrd picks certain students to compete every year. I will be doing a variation from Sleeping Beauty and one other probably a modern dance. It is in January in South Carolina.

Ta ta for now!!!

Happy Birthday Paige!

Today is Paige's 12th birthday!! Happy Birthday Paigie! I love you!

We have been enjoying this beautiful, cool, fall-like weather the past two days...so the air conditioning is off and the windows are open!! Yesterday I sat outside and enjoyed my coffee while watching our two resident eagles on the boathouse...they were circling and diving for fish and "talking" to each other - absolutely beautiful!

I am still enjoying the lovely breeze and watching an egret outside of my window and feeling very peaceful....Clay is sitting at the kitchen table doing homework....every so often I will yell, "Clay, get back to work" when I hear non homework sounds with my Mom's Super Duper Hearing....but mostly, I am just feeling mellow.....

Thank you for all the emails and comments about our blog - I wasn't sure if anyone was reading it or not....miss you all.....

I said goodbye to Paigie this morning, as she left for her "team building" field trip. She will return Friday night, and then her birthday is Saturday! She is SO excited about this field trip, because it is really not educational...all about team building activities...and apparantly they have "good grooming" class one evening. The way the teachers explained it is that the boys go with the dads and the Science teacher (male) and talk about being nice to girls, wearing deodorant, etc. and the girls go off with the moms and the female teachers and the head of the middle school and get makeovers - hairstyling, manicures, etc. Definately sounds like more fun for the girls!!!!

I think Clay is pretty excited about being an "only child" for a few days...I am looking forward to being able to focus on him exclusively for a few days as well...also, we need to talk about those frogs....

FROGS????

All right, So I had my nice cup of coffee, watched a little CNN, was feeling relaxed and ready to start my day. I decide to head back to the kid's rooms to make sure their beds are made, etc. and get a start on packing for Paige. Clay had a bunch of books stacked (I thought) in the middle of his room. I go to move the books and put them away and I find that they are stacked on top of one of my nice tupperware containers which is full of about 6 frogs. The books were to keep the frogs in. ICK!! It was probably funny...I shrieked for Tim (thank goodness he was still home) and throw the books back on top of the container (which has now been thrown away)...Tim comes and rescues me from the killer frogs and takes them out to the creek....but, I mean, really...WHY were frogs in my son's room? Why?

Well...the kids are finally off at school, and I am exhausted! Mornings around here are just so crazy...by the time the kids are dressed, groomed, fed, lunches made, pets fed, beds made, rooms cleaned, homework gathered, etc. etc....I am SO READY for a cup of coffee and a few quiet minutes!!

On today's agenda: Paige is leaving for an overnight "team building" field trip in the morning - she will be back on Friday...so I have to pack, and possibly shop for her. I have left the packing until the very last moment and so am not sure if I have everything she needs or not. Clay also has the same type of field trip in two weeks, but he camps in the mountains of N.C. I think I will take a little peek at his list to see if there is anything he will be needing as well! Anyway...Tim is leaving for another trip this morning so it will just be Clay and I for a couple of days. I'm thinking this is a good thing...I get the feeling Clay is floundering a bit this year and maybe he needs a bit of bonding time with Mom! SO, after packing for Paige I will go the the grocery store and stock up on some teenage boy food. The way to a boy's heart, etc. etc. I'm hoping a full stomach will lead to some enlightening (for me) conversations about what is going through his head! Then again, maybe I don't want to know!! Oh well, those are my plans for the day (and week). I must say that I am looking forward to a break from driving downtown for ballet!!

Maybe it is just because I know once Nutcracker rehearsals begin life will get a bit crazy...but this was such a nice, relaxing, quiet weekend. I loved it! We really didn't do anything, so there isn't anything to write about particularly. Tim got home last night without any delays - which is nice (and rare). We went to church this morning - Paige had to acolyte and Clay's youth group was having a car wash during the service to raise money for a mission trip this summer. After church was grocery shopping with Paige, then I did a bit of laundry...Clay worked on a book report, Tim worked out in the yard. Very boring stuff. The thing is though, that I appreciated the serenity of it...if that makes sense...Perhaps it is because these type of days/weekends are so rare for us that I appreciate them when they come along. Anyway, I think that this will be the last weekend like it for a while. Both of the kids have overnight field trips coming up...and then Nutcracker rehearsals start...then the holidays...

Aaahhh...it was such a wonderful, boring weekend.....

Lovely, rainy, Saturday....

Aaahhhh.....It is a rainy Saturday morning. We all slept late and feel relaxed, and a bit lazy. We have decided that we do not want to do anything today. We are going to lie around listening to the rain and reading...doesn't that sound heavenly?

Clay's Comments

Hi. I am currently eating food and typing. I am an amazing multi-tasker! Today I went to a pep rally for my school. It was really good because the cheerleaders did not fall (they usually do!). Go Big Blue! Oh - and the band was good too. This weekend I have homework to do and some extra credit stuff. I also have to clean the turtle tank and my bird's cage. Also my room. I'd better get started.
Bye Bye.

Paige's Post:

Hi. My day was interesting. There was a pep rally and all the cheerleaders were making my ears hurt. The band was twice as loud as the cheerleaders! Some of my friends are cheerleaders and all they do is cheer all day long - and it REALLY gets on my nerves sometimes. I can't wait to get to ballet today. I want to see all my friends...and today is one of my pointe classes.

Adios amigos.

Last night was the open house at the school. The way the school does it is you go to the child's homeroom and then follow their schedule and meet with each teacher. Approximately 10 minutes in each classroom, then the bell rings and you go on to the next class, etc. The only problem was that Tim was on a trip...and I have TWO children. It was rather humerous. I was running from class to class - late to each one, then dashing off to another one. Crazy! I managed to meet with most of the teachers and found out that - surprise, surprise - Paige is wonderful, such a good student, overachiever, blah, blah, blah. Clay, well apparantly he felt that he needed more of an "identity" at the school...so he has decided to be the class clown this year. He has even been bringing his own "props" - bouncy balls, a harmonica, etc. Needless to say, our A/B student's grades have taken a bit of a nosedive....but the important thing is that everyone likes him and thinks he is very funny. (sarcasm!) Those of you who know Tim know where he is getting it! Clay is now (obviously) VERY grounded!! Keep your fingers crossed that he gets his act together (and not the comedy act he has been working on) and gets his grades back up before the end of the quarter.

Anyway, I came home last night...it was late and I was extremely cranky (still a bit of the PMS thing going on)....and my sweet little girl had turned down my bed and put a book on the bedside table for me to read and written a sweet little note which she put on my pillow basically saying she hoped I had a good night's sleep and she loved me. Aaawwww.....I wish I could say that my bad mood disappeared just like that....but it DID make me feel much better!

I am really enjoying this blog...I don't know if anyone is reading it, but it is a bit cathartic for me...a bit like a diary - only not as private! :) It certainly makes me appreciate my sweet little family (class clown and all!).

A word or two from Clay

Hi. This is a really cool idea, so everyone knows what we are doing. Basically, I go to school, come home, do homework and study and go to bed. Then I do it again the next day. I am currently studying for my etre quiz in French. C'est la vie. Wish me luck, mes amies. Bon nuit.

Paige's comments!

I am happy. I got a hundred on my science test. I studied really hard with daddy. I have a history test and math test tomorrow. Yesterday I had a Latin test,a English Quiz, A Reading quiz and a Pop quiz in History-100. I think the teachers are throwing a lot of stuff on us right before Camp Montgommery . I am looking forward to it soooooo much!!!!! All we do is play team-building games and stories. Yay!!!!! All my friends are in my cabin.
I am really excited about Nutcracker too. I am soo happy for my friend-she is Clara. I am a Party Girl, GingerBread Girl, and a soldier. I wonder if my toes will fall off!!!!!! :)
PAIGE

pathetic.....

I have spent the day battling a migraine. Yuck...finally, it seems to have disappeared for now. As I pondered what to write about today, it occurred to me that my life is really all about the kids - staying on top of school, nagging them about their rooms and chores, taking them to all the after school activities (for Paige, this is 4 days per week of ballet classes downtown PLUS weekend rehearsals) not to mention grocery shopping, cooking, cleaning, laundry, etc. It is exhausting - and pathetic! A few months ago I was taking a stained glass class, and I LOVED it! I quit when the kids got out of school for the summer and just haven't started back up again for various reasons, but after my epiphany of how boring and one dimensional my life is....I believe I'll start up again. I think I NEED to!

I do love my children, but I think somehow I have become too wrapped up in them and their lives and consequently have sort of lost my own identity. I used to have a large circle of close friends, but we have all drifted apart as our children got older and developed different interests...and now I have a very few close friends - and it seems that most of them live far away.

Anyway, this seems like it is developing into a rather depressing post. Sorry. It should be upbeat, because I am going to start taking better care of myself - starting with my SG class! I am putting up a couple of pictures of the two pieces I made....let me know what you think....and wish me luck in letting go of a bit of the "mom" and becoming a bit more "Lisa"!!

More thoughts...

Today was a funny day...I heard from three old friends - sort of out of the blue. It was so nice to talk to all of them and catch up...it's rare to have the time to be able to sit and talk - and today all of them caught me at a good time. I have been a bit PMSy the past couple of days (hope that isn't too much information for y'all!) and Tim has a theory that the reason I heard from everyone all in one day is because we are all on the same cycle. Hmmm.....So girls, (you know who you are) is he right? Personally, I think he is full of....

Love you all!

Getting started.....

I have decided to follow my friend Suzette's example and start a blog so that I can keep friends and family updated on what is going on in our lives. I hope it is not too boring...we certainly do not lead exciting lives!

Today's entry will just be a quick update. First, the kids: Clay is in the 8th grade now and will begin soccer season soon. He participated in an exchange program this summer and went to France for two weeks - now he wants to move there! Paige is in the 6th grade and is very involved with ballet. She studies with the Florida Ballet's training program. She just found out that she has THREE parts in Nutcracker this year and is ecstatic that her best friend, Reilly will be Clara. For anyone interested, the performances are December 19-21 at the Florida Theater.
Tim and I stay busy taking the kids to all their activities and making sure that the kids (Clay) follows through with homework and studying.

Tim leaves in the morning for a trip to Brussels, and tomorrow night is open house at the kid's school. I am going to have to figure out how to be in two places at one time...Paige suggested that I do the time travel thing that Hermione did in Harry Potter - if only!

I will try to update this with the monotonous details of our lives, and some pictures as well...hope you enjoy!! :)