Good grief!

Tim left Sunday morning (at 4 am!!) to fly to Japan....and it was just a terrible couple of days! First, I was pulled over for speeding, which I was NOT doing, the cop was a jerk...but luckily he gave me a warning. Chloe (my kitty) has been very sick. Not eating, drinking, barely moving, etc. I took her to the vet and we have her on antibiotics - she does seem slightly better this morning....my brakes have been making a horrible grinding sound....and I found out that my sweet, precious little boy - you know, the one who has been telling me he has been going to conditioning for soccer every afternoon after school...with lots of details "we ran two miles, then did sprints"..."the coach and I talked about taekwondo today"...HAS BEEN LYING TO US FOR THE PAST THREE WEEKS!!! He has not been going. At all. Why? Because he didn't know anyone, and he knew he wouldn't make the team anyway. AAARGH. I am speechless. Really. OK, well, I did have a few little things to say to Clay....starting with - You WILL go. We are not quitters in this family, and you don't not do something just because it is hard. He went to the coach and told him that he hadn't been going because he was intimidated, etc. The coach (apparently) has told him to come and be ready to work. So we'll see. Clay has lost his cell phone, among other things, and is VERY VERY grounded. Little brat. We have the quote above written on our pantry door, and Clay has to memorize it by this weekend. Very apropos, don't you think?

The icing of the cake was when the girl who stole Paige's camera sent her a taunting message about her camera...saying she thinks Paige must be so upset about "losing" her camera...she knows how much SHE loves HER new camera because her daddy gave it to her and she misses him so much, etc. etc. blah blah blah. All lies. Her father died of a heart attack a few months ago (which by the way, is the only reason we did not call the police) was unemployed for the past three years, on disability, and hadn't paid child support in about three years either. He DID NOT get her a camera. Ugh....

Tim got home last night, and hopefully things are looking up! Chloe DOES seem slightly better this morning, my van is going in later today to have the brakes looked at, Clay has been on his best behavior, and it is a beautiful day here!

Happy Birthday to my baby girl!!

Paige is 13 today - I can't believe my baby is now a teenager. Yikes. That means I am now the mother of TWO TEENAGERS!!

Paige's "cake" for her party yesterday was lots of cupcakes - chocolate with peanut butter frosting, and vanilla with a pink buttercream frosting...
The girls swam...
rode the "big banana"....
and ate! Hotdogs, chips, punch, ice cream and cupcakes....a nice sugar overload to send them home to their parents!!

Paige had a wonderful party - I think everyone enjoyed the banana and had fun...

It's Friday!

It's Friday...finally! I thought I'd share some photos from around our house....
A rosebud, my orchid, Clay cutting the grass (and bellowing "in the jungle, the mighty jungle...." as he did it!)

Tim watering my plants...
and the big pot of chicken noodle soup I just made! For some reason, I have been craving chicken noodle soup - probably because of the 4 day migraine I just got over. Anyway, I finally had a chance to make some, and I plan to freeze half for when I inevitably get sick later this fall when the kids bring home some hideous virus. When I get sick, there is never anyone to make ME homemade soup - so I did it for me. The future me. You know.

Tomorrow is Paige's 13th birthday party. She is having some girls over to go on the big banana and swim, and she wants hotdogs for dinner. I am making two kinds of cupcakes tomorrow - chocolate with peanut butter frosting (her favorite) and just in case anyone is allergic to peanuts, vanilla with pink buttercream frosting. I can't believe my baby girl is going to be 13. I will officially have two teenagers. Oh my.

I have been battling a migraine for the past couple of days - yuck. I'm feeling slightly better today, and hoping the migraine doesn't come back! Chloe and Sushi appear to be getting along a bit better...they were both taking a nap in our bathroom together yesterday. No one was growling or hissing - a miracle!

We have had a rather unpleasant experience. We hosted the church youth group's end of the year party here at our house/pool on Sunday afternoon. At the end of it, Paige discovered that her new camera that was a birthday gift from her grandmother and a bracelet were missing. Yep, at a church function "someone" stole her camera and bracelet. The unfortunate thing is that we are pretty sure we know who took them. Clay witnessed one girl leaving Paige's room (the last one to leave) with something wrapped in a towel and a "guilty look on her face Mom"...he urged Paige to go check and see if anything was missing, and...I asked the mother if she perhaps "accidently" picked it up when she got her towel and asked her to check...naturally _____ denied having it. What can we do? We don't have any proof.

Paige is so angry and hurt. The one positive thing to come out of this situation is how wonderful Clay has been to his sister. He has truly been in protective, big brother mode - and I love seeing him be so sweet to his sister!

We are all shocked that someone - who professes to be a Christian, no less - could be so ugly. The kids are both very angry (and truthfully, so am I!) but I am urging them to pray for this person, because she is obviously a very troubled and unhappy person...and to just let it go.

Paparazzi Mom strikes again!

I thought that since a picture is worth a thousand words, I would let the pictures do the talking for this post...unfortunately, my son, my husband and that darn heron were less than cooperative! Tim just gave me a dirty look and said, "Don't even think about it" whenever I got my camera out. Clay did the whole shy celebrity thing and covered his face ever time the camera made an appearance...and the stupid heron flew away every time! In spite of their poor attitudes, I DID manage to get a couple of shots...
Clay working on a homework assignment (before he realized I was there...)
Thank goodness Paige (aka the GOOD child LOL) was cooperative. I got her cleaning the kitchen...
snuggling with Sushi....
...and working on her thesis for the History project (while the rest of us were watching FSU kick BYU's butt!!)...

The weekend=sleeping late!

When Chloe was a kitten she always used to climb up onto the bottom shelf of the bookcase and sleep. For some reason, she has started doing that again. It's so cute, because she doesn't really fit up there anymore - she is half off the shelf...
Hooray! It's Saturday, and that means we all get to sleep late. Paige and I slept until 8 am, Tim slept until 8:30, and Clay woke up at 10:00! Because I couldn't really think of anything to blog about today, I grabbed my camera. My kids immediately groaned and said "uh oh"...that's not very nice, is it?
Clay stumbled out of his room in his pajama bottoms, grabbed a piece of cinnamon raisin toast and the sports section of the paper....Tim harrumphed and said, "huh, all he needs is a big belly, some coke bottle glasses and a hemorrhoid or two and he could be an old man." It cracks us up that Clay is all about the sports section - because that is the one section WE never read! Where does he get that?

Today we will probably try to get out on the boat for a bit so the kids can ski and I will do a bit of cleaning. Tomorrow the kids acolyte at church, and then in the afternoon we are hosting the youth group end of the year party.

Another sunrise...

OK, I know that I take a lot of sunrise pictures....but every morning when I get up and see it, I just can't resist! I mean, c'mon...could you? Each one is just a little bit different, after all!
I didn't get a lot accomplished yesterday. Tim was home, and so he did the early morning drive to school with Clay - which meant that I got to have a bit of a slow, lazy morning. It was wonderful! I did get some party invitations for Paige's birthday (which is next week - when I will officially have TWO TEENAGERS!), and went to Whole Foods - my favorite grocery store. Last night, while I was watching So You Think You Can Dance and addressing birthday party invitations...my fabulous husband was helping Paige with her homework - longitude and latitude. Isn't he a great father? The kids and I are so lucky.

For some reason I was in the mood to cook yesterday - probably because Tim was on his way home (is that some weird "nesting" type of thing?)...Anyway, I made a big ol' pot of vegetable soup...the pictures didn't really turn out so great, but the soup was delicious...
...and then I made homemade granola. Also delicious, but a lot of work - especially when my family eats it all up in one sitting!! I made two batches and I am putting them all on granola rations!

It was a beautiful sunrise this morning...
(Yes, that's right. Once again, I was up BEFORE the sun!)
Yesterday was a windy afternoon, so when I saw the eagles out I decided to walk down the dock to see if I could get a good photo. On the way there I saw these flowers in amongst the weeds...aren't they pretty?
The eagles were both on the neighbor's boathouse...just hanging out...so I decided to try to get a little bit closer...
This is as close as they would let me get....
...and then they were off!

It has been a year since I started this blog. 261 posts later, I ordered a book of all the blog posts. Ssshhh.....it is a surprise for Tim. I think I am going to give it to him for Christmas. Don't say anything. I think I am safe writing this on the blog, because he never reads it. As I was looking back over some of the older entries, I realized how much I have enjoyed it. It is such a wonderful way of preserving the day to day memories...the things that don't seem important at all at the time - but looking back, are very special. I wish I had had a blog when the children were babies, toddlers, entering school, etc. Oh well - better late than never! I have especially enjoyed reading back over the entries Clay and Paige wrote. How about you? What would you like to see more of (or less of)....let me know!

Yesterday's post was all about Clay and the teenage stuff - so I have to tell you that my sweet boy got in the car yesterday when I picked him up from school and the first thing he did was apologize to me. This morning went much more smoothly - his room is actually pretty neat (for him!) and he even hung his towels up! He really is a good kid, and so is Paige!

Just another manic Monday.....

Sunday was a nice day. My sweet, darling children were getting along SO WELL!! I don't just mean that they weren't arguing...they were cooperating and being nice to each other!! Really! Ok, Ok...full disclosure - Clay had a project in English and wanted Paige's artistic ability, so he was, um, sucking up? Whatever. I thoroughly enjoyed hearing them working together and being nice. Anyway, there is the finished product above.....

In other news, Paige finally named her cat. Meet Sushi. Yes, she is named after a food - but if you saw how this kitty eats...and eats...and eats....you'd think it was fitting too!

Yesterday the kids and I ran a few errands and then headed over to the new farmer's market at Whole Foods. There wasn't much there yesterday - I hope it gets better! We did buy some cucumbers, tomatoes, onions, and a pathetic looking canteloupe.

Tim is off in Tokyo, so I had the early morning run to take Clay to school. I confess that my inner mommie dearest made an appearance again this morning. I basically nagged the poor kid the entire way to school...."You'd better start picking up your towels in the bathroom"...."Why can't you put the cereal away when you are done with it?"....blah, blah, blah. Of course, then the darling boy started with that lovely teenage attitude - you know the one...the just slightly disrespectful tone of voice, the long suffering (?!) sigh....so then I had to start in on him about his attitude. Honestly, I don't know how he can make "yes ma'am" sound disrespectful - but he does! Not a nice way to start the day - for either of us. Now, I am feeling a little bit guilty. Oh well. C'est la vie!

CLAY:

I am excited to go to youth group this afternoon. There is always food to eat (dinner) and I can have as much as I want. The only thing I don't like about our youth group is that there are one or two kids who are....annoying. Disgusting. Bratty. And rude. I'd say more, but my mom said I can't. :((

School is OK. I like being in high school. I like the fact that not everyone knows me. It's pretty easy too. At least so far, for me...I think because I am coming from a private school and have seen a lot of the stuff before.

The parents are trying to sell our house, but I don't want them to because wherever they are planning to move I won't be able to fish and ski all the time. Mom and Dad say that we can snow ski and I will still be able to fish, etc. so we'll see.....

PAIGE:

I finally found a name for my kitty. Her name is Sushi. She is taking over everything of Chloe's. She eats her food, sleeps in her basket....Chloe still doesn't like Sushi very much. Sushi chases Chloe around everywhere because she wants to play, but Chloe just wants to be left alone. I'm trying to teach Sushi not to bite. Her meows are really quiet too. She lies to cuddle at night.

School is fine. I am making a lot of new friends. I have two big projects I am working on. One is a science project for the Science Fair and the other one is a history project for the History Fair. The bad thing about them is that they are going on at the same time. So one thing is due one week and then the other one is due the next week. It makes it really hard. I don't know why they do it that way. It doesn't make much sense. English is still my favorite subject. Mrs. Teel, my teacher, is really nice and she makes it a lot of fun.

I'm starting back doing tennis. It is really fun, but my arms are sore!! Dance is good too. I am taking modern, contemporary and ballet, plus I am doing the reparatory group (dance competitions and stuff) also I think I might start taking a tumbling class.

I remember...

September 11, 2001...approximately 8:55 am...I was in my bedroom getting ready for a friend's baby shower, with the Today show droning on in the background. Tim was, thankfully, home - out running errands after dropping the kids off at school. I heard Katie Couric and Matt Lauer talking about a "small plane" hitting the World Trade Center, and then watched as a second plane hit. I remember thinking, "that is not a small plane!"...a few minutes later they showed the second plane hitting the tower from another angle, and with a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach I recognized the logo on the plane. Tim was home at the time with an ear infection, and I was so thankful that he was home!

Clay was in first grade, and Paige was in pre-school. I remember that we tried to protect them from the news, and explained what happened in very simple terms. Clay knew that more was going on though, and we would find him hiding behind the door when we were watching the news. A week or so later his art teacher took us aside at his school to let us know that he was "acting out" - taking clay and building a plane or a tower, and then smashing it. When Tim did go back to work, Clay had a very hard time dealing with him leaving...he was so afraid Daddy wouldn't come home.

My blog today is dedicated to all those who lost their lives on September 11, 2o01. I remember.

There isn't much going on around here - school, homework, dance, etc. for Paige. School, homework (lots too - about 2 1/2 to 3 hours per night) , taekwondo for Clay....plus he starts conditioning for soccer today. Monday, Wednesday, and Fridays they will do conditioning - LOTS of running, etc....then on Tuesdays/Thursdays he will will do weight training with the JV coach. Then after all this, soccer tryouts are in the middle of October.

Tim is home this whole week, and has been busy with all the house stuff that has piled up while he was gone - pressure washing the roof, taking care of the pool, repairs on the dock (loose boards, etc.), yard work...blah, blah, blah.....

And moi? I spent yesterday calling all the veterinarians around the area trying to get Paige's little no-name kitten declawed. She is a maniac with those claws! I made an appointment at our low cost clinic ($90 for all 4 claws) but they can't get her in until November 30! Yikes - our furniture will be in tatters by then. All the other vets are outrageous with their pricing - about $300!! And that is for only the front claws! Ugh. So....I guess I will be calling the other place every week hoping for a cancellation so they can get her in earlier!! In other cat news, Chloe (MY kitty) is still not pleased that there is a new kitty in the house. She still hisses and growls whenever "She who has not been named" comes around. Which is often, because the kitten wants to PLAY with the big old hairy mean kitty! It's rather comical. Paige is absolutely thrilled with her "baby" and just loves on her all the time...

Labor Day

Today is Labor Day, and it has been overcast and gloomy. We spent the day being lazy - reading, Tim took the kids for a quick jaunt on the boat, more reading.....Chloe and Misha (??) got acquainted....
A B-17 flew around the lake - NOT something we see every day....we had grilled buffalo burgers for lunch....
Clay caught a large mouth bass - in the creek!!
...and he had his first clutch driving lesson. First Dad explained and demonstrated....
Then Clay sat in the driver's seat...adjusted the rear view mirror...
...fastened his seat belt, gave it a little gas....and stalled....
...then he got the hang of it ....and my baby boy was DRIVING (in the driveway)....wow!

A new kitty

First, I must apologize for the fact that the photos are sideways - new computer, and I haven't figured out how to turn them the right way! I'll work on that...in the meantime, just turn your head!!

We finally found the "perfect" cat for Paige. She is 6 months old, and (we think) a Balinese, or a Balinese mix. Absolutely beautiful, and very sweet as well.
Paige is in love with her new (thus far nameless) feline friend. We're calling her Misha for now, but still looking for a better name. If you have any suggestions - let us know!

Princess Paige rides in a limo!

Paige was invited to a 13th birthday party for a new friend from her new school - and she was getting picked up in a limo!! In this photo she is anxiously awaiting the arrival of her limousine!
Mom! You're embarrassing me!
I think she looks WAY too comfortable in there....
This was the fun part - watching that LONG vehicle trying to back out of our long, narrow driveway.....hee hee hee......

A comment from Clay:

Hey everyone,

High school is going well. Whenever it rains I have learned to follow a varsity football line men. They do seem to clear a path. My classes are going well too. I like all my teachers and I have made some friends!

Life at the house is going on as usual. My mom praises me one second then yells at me the next. Yup we are just a typical family with a teenage boy. Our driveway is covered with dead locusts and frogs. I kill the locusts and my cat (Roxy) kills the frogs. It has been really windy ... not good fishing weather. Our lake is infested with gar, they are everwhere.

Dad has just started flying a Tokyo trip. He is ALWAYS grumpy for like the next day or so, but he takes me water skiing so all is good. Speaking of water skiing I am finally slalom skiing!!! I can go in and out of the wake and even cut some. I'm just a little apprehensive about cutting in and going from wake to wake. I know that I can I just get scared.

It was a blustery afternoon, so the eagles were out. I love listening to them call to each other and watching them soar!

TGIF!!! I'm telling ya - I LIVE for the weekends lately. These 5:30 am mornings are killing me. Unfortunately, tomorrow will be another early morning because Clay is taking a practice ACT test up at the high school in the morning. Oh well - Monday is a holiday so we can all sleep in!! WOO HOO!!

We don't have any big plans for the holiday weekend. Tim gets home tonight, and the kids an I have been cleaning the house all afternoon because our new realtor is coming in the morning to take some photos of the house. Other than that - I plan on being quite lazy and doing absolutely nothing!!

Homework!

Paige LOVES her English teacher...her homework is all done online in that class.
Clay was organizing his notes for AP Human Geography - which is turning out to be very homework intensive...still an interesting class though, which he is enjoying.
MORE homework....
No, Chloe wasn't working on homework...but isn't she just so cute??

Today has been a rainy, yucky day - and tomorrow looks like it will be the same. Apparently, the junior high is finally finished with going over the policies and procedures and they have finally gotten around to academics. Paige had homework in English and Geography tonight. Clay had homework in every subject. (Welcome to high school, kid!!) We started the day with a run to the orthodontist with Paige because she had a loose bracket. Tonight, Clay and I will be going to a meeting at the high school for soccer. Clay is feeling a wee bit intimidated about trying out because apparently around 80 kids (or so) try out each year for about 24-25 spots. Tim and I have told him to at least try - you never know!