Halloween Sneak Peek

A couple of days ago we went to Target to get a Halloween costume for Harrison. He had wanted to be a vampire, but they didn't have any vampire stuff. I told him we could go to a different store, but he saw the Spiderman costume and wanted that one instead--and that was fine with me! This is the "bad" Spiderman from Spiderman 3. He really wants to wear his costume, but we told him he has to wait until at least Friday (his school party). So every day he keeps asking when his party is and how days it is until his party. Violet can still fit into the giraffe costume she wore last year so that's what she's wearing this year. Veronica thinks she wants to be Tinkerbell again, but she will need to get something new because her wings are broken.

Veronica's First Day of Second Grade

Today was Veronica's first day of second grade. She was very excited and a little nervous. The pictures show off her new haircut. She doesn't like it because it makes her look like a boy. But it sure is easy to comb now! She is riding the bus again this year--so far so good. Veronica was a little down about not seeing her friends Jonathan and Joanna at the bus stop. They moved to Washington D.C. over the summer. She knew they wouldn't be there, but she still missed them. She had a good time at school too. She likes her teacher. But probably what she like most of all was that I was the one who had homework tonight. I couldn't believe all of the paperwork I had to fill out for her! I should expect it, but it still seems like it gets worse every year. Here is the checklist of items I had to fill out: Registration Card (2-sided), Halcyon Student Information Sheet, Internet Use Form, Receipt of Halcyon Student Handbook Form, Home Language Survey (I told David I should confuse them by filling out the Spanish side of the form in English--he said I should fill out the Spanish side in French), Employment Survey (this is the "are your parents migrant farm workers so we can get more money from the federal government" form), Vision/Hearing Screening Permission Form, Receipt of Code of Conduct Form, Media Release Form, Discipline Plan, and Health Record. Whew! I'm glad that we don't qualify for the free/reduced price lunch program, because that one is a REALLY long form--it even has bubbles to fill out with a number 2 pencil! In a few years I'm going to have to fill all of these out twice, and then thrice. Hey, that could be an excuse for not updating the blog . . . hmm . . .

Back to School Bash

Wow! Where has the summer gone? Tonight we went to Halcyon Elementary's Back to School Bash. (The first day of school is Monday the 10th.) We met Veronica's second grade teacher and got to look around the classroom. Veronica's teacher is Mrs. Robinson (and yes, David and I couldn't get that song out of our heads all night--Veronica, on the other hand, didn't have a clue what we were talking about!). As far as I can tell, there are only 2 other people in her class this year who were in her class last year. The concept of going to the same school, but always having different people in your class each year is still really foreign to me. It doesn't phase David because that's all he ever knew. He and Anne were never in the same class even though they are twins. Speaking of Anne, she is here in Montgomery now. She bought a house and should close next month. She'll be living here for the next 2.5 years while she completes her latest Air Force assignment. Her husband and son are arriving tomorrow. Veronica and Harrison can hardly wait to see their cousin Nathan again. They keep asking how long it will be until Friday! Nathan is 8 months older than Violet and will be 3 in October. In other news, I've been asked to teach English Composition again at Auburn Montgomery. That will start in about 2 weeks. I'm looking forward to it, but David is probably dreading me being gone 2 nights a week! Well, this should be long enough of an entry to last for another few months! Just kidding. I'll try to write more. I promise!

What We're Doing on our Summer Vacation

(Okay, so this picture is actually from Mother's Day--but I haven't downloaded the pictures from the camcorder yet). As for summer, well, so far Veronica bridged from Daisy Scouts to Brownies. They had a little wooden bridge for each girl to walk over and then they gave them a brownie to eat. Later the scouts had a sleepover at the troop leader's house. It was the first time that Veronica slept away from home without us. She was fine--she wanted to stay for a week! It was strange for us though. We had visions of what it will be like when she goes to college someday. Harrison is playing t-ball through the YMCA. He seems to like it about as much as Veronica did (which is moderately), but he does run the whole way around the bases and will stay on the field without one of us with him (usually). Veronica is doing the Holy Spirit Catholic Church Vacation Bible School this week and Harrison and Violet started summer pre-school (twice a week). And I went to the dentist today (no cavities). Can you stand the excitement?

The Graduate

Here's a link to a video of my graduation ceremony from Auburn University Montgomery: http://graduation.aum.edu/archives-Spring-2009-2.html. I'm in the third row (seated). They do the School of Liberal Arts first (so I'm close to the beginning), but the Masters last, so I'm the second to last person to walk across the stage during the Liberal Arts section. Interesting trivia: the interim Dean of the School of Liberal Arts was the second reader on my thesis (From Les Octonaires to The Octonaries: One Pluralist's Search for Truth in Translation). Since he is a French professor, he said, "Felicitations" (Congratulations) when he shook my hand on the stage. I said, "Merci" (Thanks). After putting it in the proper format, my thesis was 165 pages long! More trivia: One of the people on stage who guides the candiates as they approach the podium is the mother of someone in Veronica's class at Halcyon. As I walked past her she said, "You're Veronica's mom! I'm Grant's mom!" You might notice her talking to me briefly in the video.

Spring Break Fever

Here are a few videos to show how Veronica and Harrison are holding up during their Spring Break. We didn't go to Ohio, but we did go to two playgrounds (one that had HUGE puddles from the rain earlier in the week and that the kids decided to turn into swimming holes). Last night Veronica and I went to her neighborhood friend Joanna's house for a backyard campout (we stayed until 10 PM) and made s'mores. Unfortunately Joanna's dad is in the Air Force and just got transferred to Washington DC. Today David took a half day and took Veronica and Harrison to the zoo while Violet took a nap. And tomorrow Violet is going to a birthday party at Build-a-Bear Workshop. So we did do SOME things! But looking at these videos, you'll see that Veronica and Harrison were getting a little stir crazy. You can hear Violet's voice on the Harrison video because she was in my lap when I took it. Enjoy!

Spring Break!

This coming week Veronica, Harrison, and Violet are all on Spring Break. Veronica was devastated when she found out we weren't going to Ohio. She just assumed that every time she had a vacation she was supposed to take a trip to Ohio. She told everyone at Daisy Scouts that she was going to Ohio to see her Grandma and her friend Sarah. She even told David that she wouldn't be able to see him when he got back from his training class in Atlanta because she would already be in Ohio! I'm just glad everyone is healthy again. The kids were sick, then David had the flu and I had some upper respiratory infection that acted like the flu. But we're all on the mend now. And in even better news--I just finished the conclusion to my master's thesis! It's 129 pages long. Now I just need to incorporate any final edits from my readers and make the sure the bibliography is complete. My graduation is May 9th at 2 PM. Yippee!!!!!!!!!!

How We Celebrated Presidents' Day

Here is a video of how we celebrated Presidents' Day. We went roller skating! It was the first time for the kids. Veronica really loved it and wants to go back tomorrow. Harrison was less enthusiastic. He preferred to run out onto the skating area in his socks. I'm really surprised that he didn't get run over. Violet loved the music, but was agitated because we wouldn't let her run around. David and I got skates too. It took a little while to get used to skating again, but I managed to do as well as I ever did (okay, which admittedly was never very great!). David didn't really get the chance to get the hang of it again because he had to deal with Harrison and one of us had to keep Violet subdued at all times. Oh, and yes, he did fall on his behind. All in all, I think Veronica and I had a great time!

Scenes from the Holidays

Here are a few images from the Christmas season. First there's a picture of Veronica and Harrison on Santa's lap that was taken at Holy Spirit Catholic Church during their night out with Santa. Veronica's Daisy Scout troop went as a group. Next is a shot of Violet at the YMCA in Montgomery and a shot of the Y's Christmas tree--it's still decorated like that for the record! And yes, Violet does have a black eye--she pulled a Christmas stocking off the mantle and the stocking holder hit her in the face. Finally, from our recent trip to Ohio for post-Christmas/New Year's, there's a shot of Veronica and Harrison enjoying the snow at Great Grandma Haren's house. As you can see, they haven't learned the difference between snowmen and snow cones yet.

We're Baaack!

After a long break for Christmas and New Year's everyone is back to their normal routine. Yes, even I am back to putting off writing in my blog! Here is a story for all of you who enjoy hearing about the joys of parenthood. On Monday, Veronica had a dentist appointment. No one was back to school yet, so I had to take all three of the kids to the appointment. It's a pediatric dentist though, so they have an interesting waiting room--lots of park benches and fish tanks. Anyway, I successfully got all three of them dressed and in the car and actually made it to the dentist on time (9:30 AM). Just as I was parking, I heard Veronica exclaim from the back, "Eww! Violet threw up!" Yes, Violet had thrown up. Fortunately all she had "eaten" so far was juice. She did get a little bit on Veronica's leg though. I got out the wet wipes, handed one to Veronica, and then wiped Violet clean. Then we went in to the appointment. Again, fortunately, they saw Veronica almost right away and Violet seemed fine. Violet looked at the fishies while Harrison and I played with his toy knights that he got for his birthday. It didn't take very long and Veronica was done--no cavities--yea! Then I had to go to AUM (my school) to pay my last registration fees--I WILL graduate this spring. I had to wait in line a little while and Veronica and Harrison got antsy. They decided it would be a good idea to run laps up and down the hallway and then run up and down the stairs. Violet preferred to cling to me. She was starting to feel a little feverish. Finally, I got everyone rounded up and back in the car and home. Just as I carried Violet into the house, she threw up again. This time on me, and the floor, and the carpet. Since I didn't have anywhere else to go I gave her bath and put her down for a nice long 4 hr nap. While I was getting her cleaned up, Veronica and Harrison helped themselves to the pantry. I heard Veronica say something like, "Hey, Harrison, let's see how many crackers we can fit in our mouth!" Needless to say, there were a ton of cracker crumbs on the carpet when I came out of Violet's room. Violet was sick the rest of the day, but was better the next day, and was able to go back to school today. I'm not sure if she actually had caught something or was just exhausted from our trip. Maybe both.