Happy Fourth of July!!

I hope that you all are enjoying a wonderful 4th with your families! Last night I met my sister and mom at a neighborhood park to watch the fireworks at the Wold Golf Village. The kids had a blast playing on the playground while waiting for the show to begin. Mom brought a TON of glow in the dark bracelets for the kids to play with. Little did we know how helpful they would be!



As the evening ticked away and the night sky grew dark; we found it was next to impossible to see the kids playing out on the field. Even with them standing right next to us! But thanks to the other worldly glow of the glow sticks, we were able to find them pretty easily!!! See for yourselves!:

The fireworks were- eh. Nothing exciting, but the kiddies loved them. That's all that matters, right? Saturday is the REAL celebration anyway! It's Alexis' 7th birthday!! Woo-woo-woo! We are having a family party for her tomorrow and a second party on Tuesday for her friends. It's going to be a Karaoke Party! No, I WILL NOT be singing! I'll tell you all about that later!

Until then, be good and God bless!

Growing up...

I was made very aware this weekend of the fact that all the little people in my life are growing up- FAST! It's a sad fact that makes me both proud and a little nostalgic for the days when they were all little! Alexis has been an avid gardener since the time she could toddle out to the garden with her PaPa. She loves to grow tomatoes, datil peppers, carrots, and strawberries. She's now purchased a ridiculous number of Lady Bugs to help protect her precious produce from the ravages of other buggies.

Cora delighted in watching them swarm all over in their plastic container. "Dem Sissy's budggies!" She's talking so much! And once again I will say that she is too adorable. Sunday she found a pair of tongs and went around pretending that she was "Bob"- one of Alexis' hermit crabs and pinching everyone with her "claw"! "My Bob! MY Bob!" Which translates into, "I'm Bob! I'm Bob!" She refers to herself as "My Tora!" when you ask her who she is, and when you ask how old she is she replies, "My two!" Oh, and now you can ask her WHAT she is and she says, "My a durl. Deucie hims a boy!"

Deuce is growing up as well, and loosing that "little baby" look every day. He has one of the sweetest smiles I've ever seen! Man, oh man! Is he EVER a momma's boy. My sister has her work cut out for herself!

I took Alexis to see her bestest friend Celine in her very first dance recital. Lexie has been in dance for years now, so she was so excited to see Celine in her first! "Beans" as she is sometimes called did wonderful!!! She was so cute and all the other girls were watching HER to remember their dance steps. She took this dance stuff SERIOUSLY! And then on Friday her mom took her to get her hair cut for the summer. May I present...The new Summery Celine.....

She LIVES!!!!!!

Contrary to popular opinion; I am indeed still kicking. In fact I've been pretty darn busy! I realized today that it has been close to a month since the last time I posted. I miss not blabbering on and on about me and my ridiculously exciting life, and I know how much you've missed reading about it all! Actually, I have missed writing, but with school wrapping up and schedules changing... I have had a hard time working in a new time to blog. I usually blog when there's a lull in school or during breaks. Since that's over for right now I'm going to have to set aside a new time to blog.







As I write this I am sitting poolside, overlooking as the munchkins take their daily dip in the swimmin' hole. It is a stunningly beautiful day here! The sun is shining in all it's glory, while the wind gently brushes the heat away. I could sit out here all day! (I promise I won't blog that long, though! Ha! Ha!) I know, I have such a hard life. I think I'll just take a moment to catch you all up on a few things...











Like I mentioned; SCHOOL'S OUT FOR SUMMER! Not forever, just for the summer. We've already had to beat down the boredom beast! We had to compile an "I'm Bored" list. This list is clearly displayed for all to see, and when someone declares "I'm bored!" they are referred to said list, where they choose an activity to do. Everything from playing a board game to swimming are on this list. We add to it as we think of other things to do. Believe it or not, it really has worked! At first we had to remind them to consult the list when they declared their boredom, but after a few times they started doing it on their own. Several times the kids have even gone to the list themselves to find something to occupy their time. I think we can officially call the "I'm bored!" list a success!











Lots has been going on, on the family front. Somethings I'm not quite ready to blog about. Please keep my sister and her family in your prayers, they could use them right now. Both Alexis and Celine have their dance recitals coming up soon! This will be Celine's first, Alexis is an old pro at them, this being her fourth- I think! Cora is talking up a storm! She surprises me every time I see her! Both she and Deuce had their first hair cuts recently. Deuce looks like a little man! I'll share some of the pictures I took of them this weekend.






























Well, I think that will be all for now. I promise to blog again soon!

Be good and God bless!

Happy Second Birthday, CORA!

Boy, do they grow up FAST! It seems like yesterday we were all waiting for the little lady to join us, and today she's turning two! And she proudly proclaims to one and all: "I two!" So sweet, so funny! That little girl makes my heart smile! I love all my nieces and nephews, each has a special place in my heart, and that child is no exception. Imagine what the life of a two year old must be like. She's no longer and infant, but completely able to get around and explore the great big world around her. And does she ever! That kid is fearless! At last she can speak to you and you understand exactly what it is she's been saying, now she's wondering what took us so long to learn to understand what all that gibberish she's been spouting meant! She's learned the power of the word "MINE!", and now she's mastering the whole "potty" thing, and doing quite well at it!

Her latest thing is the "mike" she got for her birthday. No it has nothing to do with Hanna Montana, that's more Alexis' style. The "mike" that she refuses to let out of her sight is really a bike, that she mispronounces as "mike". She rides it everywhere, refusing to walk anymore. It's a hot little number; a Barbie Hot Wheels, and although she can't quite reach the peddles, she can still get exactly where she wants to go!

It's quite obvious that Miss Cora is changing and growing every day. It's amazing how much they change in just a year! Before we know it I'll be bloging about her getting her driver's permit! I am going to love watching this little daughter of God grow and develop into the creature He created her to be. She is a joy and a blessing, and we are all blessed to have her smiles and hugs to brighten our lives.

Happy 2 to You, CORA! We love you very much!

Big HUGS and SMOOCHES from your Aunt Sissy!

Be Good and God bless!

More funny things that kids say...

I could have a blog JUST about all the crazy things that the kids say from day to day, but in an attempt to keep all the funniness in one place, here are a few that I've been saving up for you:

Celine ask each and EVERY day "Is it cold or hot outside?" before she gets dressed, and we tell her which it is. But lately, with the weather changing so frequently and being cool in the morning and hot in the afternoon, I've just started telling her what type of clothes to put on, ie. shorts or pants. Well, the other day on a cool morning, she had her usual inquiry, and John Paul responded to her, "It's cold, so be sure to wear long sleeved pants!" After explaining to him that pants don't have sleeves and that by calling them pants they are already "long" and that "shorts" are well, short; he replied, "Yeah, whatever. She knew what I meant." Well, so much for trying...

Grant and Meg were working on a paragraph for a Creative Writing assignment he had to do, and he was trying to think of a topic to write about. After Grant had been sitting there, unable to come up with any ideas, Meg asks him what the problem was, "I don't know, I'm just not feeling creational today." As a collective "Huh?" resounded through the room, Meg, without missing a beat corrects him, "It's creative. Creational is not a word." Grant's brilliant response: "Whatever. You knew what I meant." Are you noticing a pattern?

Katie has been trying to potty train my soon-to-be two year old niece, Cora again. And she's playing the nay-nay (candy) card again. This time to help her distinguish between her love of all things candy, and the use of it as a reward she has started calling the M&M's and Skittles she's using as a reward "Potty-Money". Well, I don't think it worked, because now, instead of asking for nay-nay, which is pretty cute, she calls ALL candy "potty money". She's a very determined little girl, and will forcefully and loudly declare, "Momma, I want potty-money!", no matter where she is. I think it's safe to say that Katie is probably getting some strange looks in public.

Celine is beginning to understand the concept of keeping track of the time of day it is. That's big for a six year old! She has a little digital clock on her desk, and it was put there to eliminate a few of the dozens of times she requests for me to tell her what time it is. So now, instead of my having to dictate the time to her, she that it is her duty to now periodically inform me of the time. The other day she says, "Shanny, it's ten-oh-oh, o'clock." It took a moment for me to focus and figure out what she had said, then we had a little lesson in reading time. She's now asking me how to read the time on her clock, so I guess I haven't really solved my problem of updating her on the time of day. At least she'll be the smartest six year old she knows! Being able to tell time and all!

Be Good and God Bless!

P.S. It's about 11:43 AM. Just in case you were wondering.

Tests, family, and Anointiation

I know I already posted for today, but in order to move beyond my preoccupation with a certain man who will remain unnamed, I have decided to post about some of the things I have stumbled across this week. (I also will not tell you that I am listening to iTunes as I type this. Can you guess who I may be listening to?)



OK, this is the last week of the Third Quarter for us at Ave Maria Academy. Did you know that we had our own Academy? Well, we do, and it's the dreaded "End of the Quarter" around here. That means LOTS of reviewing and testing, oh and lots of grades/paperwork to complete and get ready to be sent off to be recorded. On top of all this Meg has jumped a jet and flown out to California to a conference, so I'm here with the kiddies, ALONE! Well, Donna's here, but I'm alone in the schoolroom. Honestly it's not been bad at all! In fact, it's been quite quiet. I have no idea why, but as the old saying goes, "Don't look a gift horse, or a quiet kid in the mouth". Alright I made that second part up, but I'm not about to question why they are miraculously muted! Anyway, I have felt a bit stretched from time to time, especially when everyone wants or needs my immediate attention. It's just a matter of tying the others to their chairs tight enough so he/she can't wriggle free before I can finish helping the other one. KIDDING! I find myself asking, "Can you wait just one moment more while I finish helping ___________ (insert Celine, Brian, Grant, or JP here). They've been very patient for the most part, thank goodness! Believe it or not, we are actually AHEAD of schedule! All of them have very light work tomorrow. I am completely confused as to how that happened, but I'll just refer to you to the old saying from earlier!


The other day while reviewing with Grant for his Religion test, Grant asks me, "Hey, Shannon, how do you spell 'anointiation'?" It took me a second to figure out what he was asking me. "What are you talking about, Grant?" (I was a little flustered, because I was doing a, ACTUAL Spelling test with Brian, and was feeling a little stretched!) Grant clarifies, "You, know, anoitiation, like in the sacrament: The Anointiation of the Sick!" I lost it! I laughed so hard. All he could do was say innocently, "What?" After I pulled myself up off of the floor and composed myself, I calmly reminded him that it was the Anointing of the Sick, and spelled that word for him. Too cute, too funny!


Now, on to my other favoritest gaggle of kids, my SISTER'S! (Man, I need some grown-up friends!) My sister tells me that my nieces and nephew are jealous that I don't write more about them here. Well, it's not because I like the other brood better or anything! :p It's simply due to the sheer volume of time I spend with these munchkins. You do have to admit that they provide one with oodles of amusing antidotes to share, though. So Katie decides to share a few funny moments with me, fully expecting to see them appear here in print. Being the accommodating Big Sis that I am, here they are:

Kate and Chris, her hubby, (I know my boss' hubby is Chris, too. Don't blame me for the confusion! Chris is a very common name, people!). So Kate and Chris asked Meg, who is also a professional photographer, to take the family's pictures last weekend. For whatever reason, there seemed to be quite a discussion about Cora's hair, and how it would be worn for the pictures. It was decided, after much debate (?), that she would simply wear it naturally. She has the most beautiful curls, so that would look oh-so-cute! Well, as Kate finished coiffing Alexis' hair, Cora steps up on the stool in the bathroom and declares, "Cora turn! Want bow!" Katie and Chris turn to one another and say, "Cora has spoken!" The result were adorable pictures of the whole family, and Cora had her bow. I'll be sure to post the results of the photo shoot once we have them back!



















We attended the BIG family reunion on my Mom's DuPont side this weekend. There are so many people that we rent the St. Johns County Fairgrounds to be sure we have enough room! It lasts for days, and Sunday is the giant family supper. All of us were there, and wearing the requisite name tags. Alexis says to me, "Aunt Sissy, there sure are a LOT of Sissy's here!" It seems that our family has the tendency to nickname the girls in their families "Sissy". Man, I thought we were confusing Cora by calling Alexis Sissy and me Aunt Sissy, but that child was turning in circles with all the people being called Sissy there! Poor kid, she had no idea who was who! I think that Lexie was a bit confused too. She was happy to get to compete in the egg toss with her Daddy, though. She ended up with egg all over her, but she had a BLAST!



There were several adorable little play houses there. I'm not sure why, but I can tell you that I am sure that Lexie and Cora had a ton of fun playing in them! Maybe they were houses from Munchkin Land? I think Deuce was a little young to be interested in them, but he loved being able to run around and visit with everyone!






OK, I am typed out. Hey, guys, feel free to post comments and questions. Maybe I could do a question and answer post! Until next time:

Be good and God bless!

Hairy Situations...

There seems to be a common thread to many of the conversations with the kids the past few days: Meghan's hair. Brian started it all off while making some window clings he got for Christmas. There was a girl super hero and he says, "I should make this super hero for Meg." I assumed it was because it was a girl and so is Meg, but nope. He tells me it's because they both have curly hair. That's all well and good, but then latter on he is telling his mom the story, and Celine pipes in, "I love Meggie's hair. I wish I could dye my hair curly!" OK, how cute is that???

My adorable niece Cora has decided that at the mature age of 21 months, that she is ready for potty training. My sister tells me that yesterday she actually refused to wear diapers, and after a few hours of wearing pull-ups she discovered that pull-ups are not exactly the same thing as "big girl panties", so she wanted to be wearing those instead. Now, for those of you who don't know my sister's middle child: Cora is fiercely independent! She does only what behooves her to do. My sister, knowing this child's profound love of nay-nay(candy), promised her that she would be rewarded with her favorite food group, candy, hoping that it would speed the Potty training experience along. The conversation went something like this:

Cora: "I want nay-nay.

Katie: "No, Cora. No nay-nay.

Cora: "I want nay-nay, Mama."

Katie: "If you go pee-pee on the potty then you can have some nay-nay. Wanna go pee-pee on the potty, Cora?" (Nodding her head and grinning broadly as she asks this)

Cora: "I want nay-nay, Mama!"

Katie: "Then, let's go pee-pee on the potty."

Cora: "OK, bye!" (As she walks away.)

Latter that day, after a successful potty attempt, Cora called her GiGi (grandma) to tell her about the triumph, and handed the phone off to her mother. As Katie is telling Mom just how cute Cora is in her big girl panties, she shrieks, "OH_MY_GOODNESS! (one word) I_GOTTA_GO! (again, one word) Cora just peed all over the floor!" And clicks off the phone. Now as a nanny I have assisted in the potty training of several children, and have experienced my share of accidents, and it's not always a funny thing when it happens to you. But somehow it becomes wickedly funny when it's someone else, especially your younger sister who put you through HECK when you were children. Sorry, Katie, but I loved this story.

Be good and God bless!