Easter Weekend Snapshots...FINALLY!!!

Easter weekend was spent in big C-town visiting both our families.  We were in wide open spaces, so the kids were able to run around and enjoy the beautiful weather.  We ate such good food all weekend, cracked a few cascarones, brought home FAR too much candy from all the egg hunting, and played lots of games(egg toss, egg roll, & egg relay races) just to name a few!

Sam and Great- Grandma Lillian(my dad's mom who is 90) had a fun time interacting with one another!

Running behind on time before church, we took a very quick shot of the kids in their Easter finery AFTERWARDS, but before changing into "play clothes" that I knew would get filthy from spending a day in the country.
Annie and cousin Grace are attached at the hip every time they get together...they are 10 days apart and love each other dearly!  They even have a secret handshake!!

Jack is prepping himself for the big "Egg Roll" by becoming one with his egg...

Showin' some muscle...

Entrusting my camera to someone else doesn't happen very often, but I was videotaping the competitive action that was going on, because you never know when you may need to submit a clip to America's Funniest Videos...Haley caught me and Sam in a moment!

Sam loved tossing the frisbees...

Whenever the extended Holland family gets together, there are ALWAYS games to be played by all...

Annie took her role on her relay team very seriously!!

Silly Wabbit...

These cousins love each other like no other...15 in all!! Patty, Caytlyn, Sarah Beth, Emma, Annie and Grace decided to do some posing in the bluebonnets...Maggie, we missed you!!!

Wishing everyone a wonderful Spring!

Oversight...

It has come to my attention, I won't say how, that another MONUMENTAL event happened this week, and I failed to mark this great occasion by mentioning it in my blog...not sure how things like this happen!  Maybe it's my brain after having 3 children, maybe it's my neighbor sending complaints about our barking dog through the mail, or maybe it's that MY BROTHER doesn't return my calls and when he does call, only wants to speak to Wes?????  ;)

Whatever the reason may be, I am so sorry for the VERY UNINTENTIONAL oversight in marking my baby brother, Brandon's entrance into the "real world" as a working man!!!  

Here he is at my high school graduation, at the sweet age of 5!  Doesn't he look a lot like Jack?

And here, one year later, wearing MY letter jacket!!  Isn't it lucky that I have such GREAT pictures in my possession and NOW get to share them with the world?!?!

Brandon was just 4 when Wes and I started dating, so they really have grown up almost like brothers and are very close.  I feel so lucky, to have my brother and sister here in the same town as we are, because we get to celebrate a lot of special times together.  Brandon's girlfriend, Haley, is already part of the family, since they've been together now for almost 6 years!!  He insists that they will get married in a couple years at the Justice of the Peace, and just have rings tattooed on, so as NOT to worry about spending any money on a ring, or ever losing one!!  We THINK(hope) he's joking!!!  

We are VERY PROUD of all his accomplishments...who wouldn't be, after hiring an employee who can do this!!

Our children are very lucky to have so many aunts and uncles who love to spend time with them wherever they may be, and Brandon is always so good about taking care of the kids...unless he's too busy on the golf course, having BBQ's with his friends, etc....

Brandon, you know we love you and can't believe that you're all GROWN UP!!  We are very excited for you as you start this new chapter in your life and hope you will enjoy your new job and that it will lead to many more exciting adventures for you in the future!   And I am so flattered that you took the time to check out my blog!!     Love ya, Pooky!!!

Shout out!!!

I am soooo excited about my newly MADEover Blog!!!  You have to go check Jennisa out over at "Once Upon a Blog"...she is incredible and a stay at home mom too!!  Wes and the kids let me get a "makeover" as an early Mother's Day gift so my blog wouldn't be so drab anymore!  Love, love, love it!!  Thank you, Jennisa!!

Also wanted to give a SHOUT OUT to my mom this morning...I don't even know if she has checked my blog out since it's creation, but I wanted to tell her CONGRATULATIONS on her spelling student who won the regional/area spelling bee last night and now gets to go to the big National Spelling Bee in Washington D.C. the end of May.  The newspaper that will sponsor her, will fund the student's expenses and one other person, but my mom wants her mom to be able to go with her since they have worked so hard with her all these years to prepare her for these competitions.  We're hoping the school district will offer to help so my mom and her other teacher can go too!!  My mom has been teaching middle school for 36 years, and is trying to hold on for at least one or two more, and to have something like this happen, especially in a small Texas town would be a big highlight for her!!  We'll keep our fingers crossed!  

One more SHOUT OUT to my sister, who just found out yesterday that her entire 3rd grade class passed their first portion of the TAKS.  For teachers, this is a high pressure situation, so to have that out of the way is a big deal, especially with a challenging class like she seems to have this year.  Way to go, Mrs. Musch!!

Hope everyone is recovering from Spring Break...I know I'm getting there, but my house could still use some help!!

Happy Birthday!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY,  this weekend, MAMAMIA!!

Wishing you a wonderful, birthday!!  You have become my DEAREST friend over these last 10 years and I don't know how I'd get through this adventure, called life, without you!!  Thank you for being YOU!!!  I feel so blessed to not only know you, but to have you as such a special friend!  You are amazing!!!!!

"A Friend is someone who knows all about you, and loves you anyway."

~Anonymous

Spring Break Fun!!

Spring Break....it's not just for kids anymore!! Even though us moms are NEVER really on any kind of break from laundry, cleaning, cooking, breaking up fights, entertaining, etc., it has been SOOOOO wonderful having this time to sleep in, stay up late, and not have a SINGLE commitment to be anywhere!!! I love my life and everything and everyone in it, but sometimes you just need a moment to stop and catch up before you add on anything else! Even Sam, although not in school, was so glad just to stay in jammies all day Monday and be SILLY!!

The kids had spent the weekend visiting Grams, Pops, and Great Grandma Lillian and even got some early egg hunting in at Grandma Nita's assisted living home...I'd love to have some pictures to show, but my mom is not quite as obsessive with the camera as I am. I did see the 4 or 5 snow cones they each claimed to have when their dirty laundry came home. All worth it!

We've slept late, made a trip to the new library that recently opened around the corner from us, had a few movie nights(The Bee Movie, Enchanted, and Nancy Drew), went to get ice cream after dinner in our jammies...we stayed in the car of course :) played games, rode bikes, went to an egg decorating party at our friends' Anna, Wesley, and Spencer's house, then plan to round out the week with a trip to the movies to see Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who and then back down to visit our families for Easter. So even though our time has been busy, it's been at a much slower pace where we are just enjoying one another and having fun!

Aunt Lindsey has also made her way over to visit, since we never get to see her during the regular school week, and has gotten to do lots of fun projects with the kids too! Monday, they baked and assembled a Fruit Pizza, which as of today, is COMPLETELY gone! She loves to come over and get them all STIRRED up...I told her I can't wait for the time to come and I get to come make a mess at her house with her kids!!!!

THE FINISHED PRODUCT!!!
Jack is on a strawberry kick right now if you noticed with feeding himself in almost every picture, so he isn't completely like his Uncle Brandon yet, he will eat some fruit and veggies! They have had a good time having "Crazy Aunt Lindsey" come over, and I have welcomed having another mind/body here to "share" in our Spring Break Fun!! Lindsey, we love you and are so lucky to have you in our lives!! Thanks for spending your much deserved time off with us!

Heart of a Champion

Heartbreak for your child...it starts early over the littlest of things.   Not receiving a special toy, being told they are not someone's friend, losing...all we can do is comfort them and tell them it will all be ok as we try to "redirect" their minds to something else.  Annie had Bike Rodeo at school this week.  She has been a great rider, without training wheels since the age of 4, after begging us to take them off for her.  We had hesitated and "redirected" her for a few weeks, because WE THOUGHT she wasn't ready, she would fall, get discouraged and never want to try again!  But on Mother's Day 3 years ago, we couldn't deter her any longer and took them off!  She zoomed off on her bike as if she had been riding it for years!  All we could do was laugh and be proud!  Last year in Kindergarten, she was one of a handful who had her training wheels off, and to our delight won 2nd place in the Bike Rodeo!  She was very excited!  

Fast forward to 1st grade and Annie being eager to practice for  this year's event.  For the last couple weekends, she asked us to take her over to the school so she could practice, because she just knew she could win!  She was determined and in her practices did very well!  But even with that confidence building in her, we did our best to try and keep her a bit grounded by saying how proud we were just for the fact that she was participating and caring so much to put in the practice.  She listened to us, but I think still thought she won last year, she'll win again this year!  Oh, the mind of a 7 year old!!   Bike Rodeo morning, we walked her bike over and saw it was going to be a much bigger pool of kids trying their best to win just like she was!  She did wonderful, but so did several of the other girls I watched compete, many who are her friends, so I knew it would be close!  The PE teachers said the results would be announced that afternoon.

The moment I saw her face at pickup time, I knew she hadn't "officially" won!  She didn't tell me at first, but she didn't run up with her usual excitement to see us.  As we walked home, I asked her what was wrong, and she told me she didn't win.  My heart broke for her as I could tell she wanted to cry, but since we were surrounded by other kids, she was holding it all in.  I just told her repeatedly how proud we were of her because she participated and gave it her absolute best!  I also asked, would you have rather sat and watched as others had, or been out there riding, and when I heard her answer, "riding", I knew that she would be ok, and that this would just be a lesson to build upon!  

In the time capsule we kept for her of all the mementos to save from the year she was born, we have a copy of the song "I HOPE YOU DANCE" by LeeAnn Womack.....it was my hope for her then, and it continues to be my hope for her now, that EVERY TIME she gets the choice to sit it out or dance...I Hope She Dances!!!  

Check out my playlist to the right if you've never heard it, or would love to hear its message again!

 

Our Champion and her proud brother with her participation ribbon!!

Books, books, books

My dislike or disinterest for reading in my adolescence that I mentioned in my first post, I learned quickly in my college years, made it a bit more difficult in college to build on the knowledge I was already supposed to have acquired.  Jeopardy was also a popular game show back then, and I hated watching it with Wes...especially when the categories were related to literature.  However, when I took my Children's Literature course as part of my education degree, that all changed!  The class professor, Dr. Hines, was SO passionate about reading and getting children to love reading and showed us how important books should be in a child's life.  We were given assignments to read all sorts of children's literature from picture books to small children's novels or chapter books.  I remember falling in love with Number the Stars and The Giver, both by Lois Lowry and started purchasing books to build up the library for my future classroom.  That love has now carried over to my children!  I read to them when I was pregnant, and from the day they were born, they have been surrounded by books.  Our whole nighttime routine revolves around "jammies, teeth, books", and I cringe  when Wes will use "not getting books tonight" as a punishment for not having their rooms picked up or whatever the case may be, which they absolutely HATE!!  Even Sam, our 2 year old, begs to have his books before bed!  Unfortunately, it means our bedtime routine takes a good hour, especially now that Annie is at the age where she is reading to us and also wanting us to read to her various chapter books.  Her favorites right now are the Magic Treehouse series, where the brother and sister are named Annie and Jack, and any involving horses or unicorns!   Barnes & Noble and the book orders from the kid's teachers are so hard for me to shop, because I not only want to buy books that they are interested in, but ones that I think  look good too!

Just one shelf in ONE of the kid's rooms...they're even arranged by season for me to pull out for the "appropriate" time of year!!  pretty funny, i know!

After I began teaching, way back in 1996, Oprah had started her Book Club phenomenon and again, when I saw that passion and love for books and reading, and saw "how cool it was" to be a part of, I slowly found my way to enjoying grown-up books too!  These are the books I have on my nightstand right now...some of them I've read, or started, or just got for Christmas and haven't had the time OR THE ENERGY to begin.  Until...

I heard Oprah once again speak of her LATEST book, A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle and the online 10 week course she would be conducting every week.  She raved about how this book will transform your thinking and really "awaken" you...and if you read that first entry of mine, you know that I was looking for some transforming to get me out of the gloom & doom I was feeling.  I didn't even buy the book until the "course" had already started, but the more I heard about it, and found out I only had to read one chapter a week, I knew this was an opportunity not to pass up, so WHY NOT?!?  It is only the second week, and the book is amazing!  I highly recommend it to anyone who is looking for spiritual inspiration.  

One of my favorite quotes that I have hanging on my board in the kitchen...

"Children are made readers on the laps of their parents."   Emilie Buchwald

Happy Reading!!

A Tale of Two Cities

My 3 babies who I LOVE to the moon & back!!

High School English class and given the assignment to read A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens...

I wasn't a big reader then...I relied on Cliff Notes to get me through my projects.  Annie, Jack, Sam...if you're reading this, do as I say, not as I did!  And now, I so regret that, because I've heard it is a well known novel! :) But what I do remember is the opening lines..."It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of innocence", and so on...those lines have been playing over and over in my head lately as my family and I have been dealing with some "not so fun" grownup decisions...My husband and I began dating my Senior and his Junior year in high school 18 years ago, we graduated from college and he went on to pursue his oratory gift in law school and became an attorney and I pursued my love for children and taught Kindergarten.  One by one, we then began to have 3 healthy, beautiful children whom I have the ABSOLUTE pleasure and honor of being a stay-at-home mom to...DEFINITELY THE BEST OF TIMES!  But as you get older, I am finding, those "not so fun" decisions creep their way into your life, either by choice OR most of the time, on their own.  Unfortunately, as much as we don't want it to, money begins to play a big role in lots of these decisions...do we stay in a job that finds itself going in circles??  Do we sell a place that our future plans revolved around...which then in itself, leads to other questions...where will we go?  Where will our children go to school?  Can we uproot them or at what point in their schooling should we uproot them?  There are a lot more factors involved than what I listed, or it definitely would not seem like "the worst of times" were very bad at all.  I just keep going back to the question of how can this be??  How could we have planned and prepared and done all the right things only to get to this point, where we feel conflicted at praying for guidance and answers on what to do, yet see such heartbreak felt by other families for various reasons and look in the faces of our children and feel like the RICHEST people on Earth??    

That's my question to THROW OUT into the universe!  

My best girlfriend, Monica and another sweet friend, Jennifer have encouraged me to start blogging!  I never thought I had much to really "blog" about, and certainly never intended for my first entry to be sooooo dramatic, but it was something that needed to get out!!  I'm hoping to feel connected to other's more by sharing more of myself in this non-intrusive way, because generally, I'm a pretty shy person, who usually just stands back and listens!  I think this will be a fun adventure!