35 posts tagged “brendan”

Thrill the World 2009

Oct 24, 2009
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Brendan's middle school took part in Thrill the World 2009. This is when people all over the world do the Thriller dance at the exact same time. The kids spent several hours after school learning the Thriller dance, and tonight was the big night. Brendan and Jared were side by side, and I was filming what I thought was them. But there was a kid wearing an Obama mask that was in front of and directly between them, so he is in all of the video. I've watched the video several times and I actually laugh out loud when I see President B.O. doing the Thriller dance!! He steals the show!

Brendan and Jared really are in my video, but you have to look past the president to see them!

President B.O. Does the Thriller Dance

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Brendan Wrote His First Song

Oct 11, 2009
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Brendan has been taking guitar lessons since March, and he loves it. His guitar teacher (who is wonderful) has said some very complimentary things about him. He loves playing his guitar, and he seems to be pretty good at it. Then a couple of weeks ago he decided he would write a song for the PTA Reflections contest at his school. Next thing I know he has the music written, followed closely with lyrics. Andrew (guitar teacher) is helping him practice and record it. Today, his friend Jared joined him to practice playing the song. Brendan does the solo. They sounded really good and I am excited to hear the whole song.

Brendan and Jared Practicing "Can't Stop"

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Since UT is No Longer Trying To Lose

Oct 10, 2009
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The Texas/Colorado game is in the 4th quarter, and I'm so happy (and relieved) that Texas has decided they want to win. I thought I'd take a minute while I'm sitting in front of the tv and do some blogging.

Things have been moving fast around here, just like always. I will resort to my old crutch, the bullet point, to bring you up to speed on the happenings at our house.

-I just finished my first long term sub job at the kids' elementary school. It was a 4 week job teaching the gifted and talented class and it was the perfect job to get me back into the swing of elementary education. I enjoyed myself, got reacquainted with the elementary way of doing things, and had some great learning experiences. I think I still was in a preschool mindset as it took me much longer to explain things than it should have, and I realized within the last week that I was explaining things too much, and not leaving much for the kids to figure out on their own. Mental note taken.

-I was offered my second long term sub job, which made me very happy and was a great little ego boost as the principal wouldn't have offered it to me if I had not been doing a good job with the GT class. This one starts in early November and is a 2nd grade class. My biggest behavior problem in the GT classes is in this homeroom, and it's going to be a challenge, but I will surely grow from it.

-My second round of measurements for the Total Transformation contest was yesterday. All numbers went down, including weight. Yay! At my September measurement, my weight had not changed, even though inches and body fat percentage all went down, and Mandi (the trainer) told me to step up my cardio and only do weights twice a week. Evidently this was my magic bullet and I have made myself run on the treadmill and make sure that my heartrate is in the correct range while doing cardio and it has made all the difference. Now that things are in motion, I look forward to seeing how I do over the next 4 weeks.

-Brendan and Collin are playing baseball and enjoying themselves. Collin has a fantastic coach and we are so grateful that Coach Jeff got Collin on his team. He has improved greatly since the beginning of the season, and it has required a lot of patience from Coach Jeff and the assistant coaches. Cole is coaching Brendan's team again, and they are having a mediocre season. They, too, have improved, but for some reason they just can't get their stuff together completely.

-Kaelin is taking jazz and ballet and she really loves her jazz class. She is bored with ballet, but was told by the owner of her dance studio that she needs to take ballet in addition to whatever other class she wants to take. She doesn't complain about it, but she doesn't really like it. She is loving 3rd grade and is still quite the social butterfly.

There are 6 minutes left in the football game, and it appears that Texas has a victory wrapped up. It shouldn't have taken them the whole first half to get this far ahead, but I'm just glad they got here. Hook 'em, Horns!!

How Did This Happen??

Aug 23, 2009
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Brendan goes to middle school tomorrow. How can that be possible? How???

Where Did the Summer Go?

Aug 18, 2009
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I thought of this really profound blogpost the other night as I was falling asleep. Unfortunately it has escaped my very frazzled brain, and who knows if I will ever recover it? So, here's what I have to say instead of the profound post...

The kids go back to school on Monday, and it doesn't seem possible that summer is already over. Brendan is starting middle school and he is so ready. I think I'm ready. It will be an adjustment, that's for sure. Kaelin is going into 3rd grade. She will be upstairs at her elementary school for the first time and she thinks she's pretty cool. Collin is very quickly leaving behind all traces of being the baby and seems to be growing up at an alarming pace. He's starting 1st grade and I've said many prayers for his teacher. I am unemployed for the first time in several years. I'm hoping to sub, but I just got my 2nd reference in yesterday, and I don't know if I'll be on the list or not. I sure hope so because I need to make some money.

I'm still spending time at the gym regularly, and I've signed up to participate in their "Total Transformation" contest. I had to be weighed, measured (body fat % and inches) and photographed, and that wasn't awkward at all (I'm rolling my eyes). It's a 3 month contest, and hopefully at the end of the 3 months my pictures will look completely different and the measurements will shrink. I am pretty sure that even though I was eating healthy food, my calorie intake was too high, so I'm watching my food more carefully. I have the Lose it! app on my iPhone (Cole got me my iPhone for our anniversary...yay) and it's helping me keep up with calories much better than I was before.

And speaking of anniversaries. Cole and I celebrated 14 years on July 29. We took the kids and ate at The Melting Pot. I gave Cole a new iPod and he got me an iPhone. Yay! I love it! The kids loved The Melting Pot. Of course the chocolate was everybody's favorite. We had the original (chocolate and peanut butter) and I think the other one was S'mores.

Camp Wilderness Ridge

Jun 13, 2009
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Brendan was tired when we got there Friday night

Brendan returned home after spending 5 days at Camp Wilderness Ridge. Surprisingly, my city boy had the time of his life. It is a Christian based camp for boys, and they get to do things that city boys don't normally get to do. They went canoeing, fishing, learned archery, shot pellet guns, slept in open cabins, ate outside, and went without a/c for 5 whole days! They had devotionals after breakfast and then had a Bible study with his cabin mates. Their verse for the week was Mark 12:30, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength."

Brendan earned an award for learning 10 Bible verses during his stay at camp. He is telling me he actually learned 11, but he only had time to say 10. Each cabin had a junior counselor and a senior counselor. Brendan really liked his junior counselor, Joel.

He says his favorite thing at camp was archery. There was a deer decoy and he hit the kill zone on it twice! He has really good hand/eye coordination.

As of right now, Brendan says he wants to go back next year. It looks like a really great place for boys to hang out and be boys, and learn a little more about God. If, in a year, he still wants to go back, I'll be happy to let him go back. I'm glad he had the opportunity to spend a few days with male leaders who love God and are interested in sharing that with younger boys. And I'm grateful for those wonderful leaders.

Jason and Brendan were in the same cabin

The Three Amigos - Camp Wilderness Ridge

I Have a Middle Schooler!!

Jun 11, 2009
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DSC09754

It's true! I am now the mother of a middle school boy. Wow! Our elementary school has a really cool 5th grade graduation celebration, Brendan got several awards - honor roll, Six Flags reading award, academic award, outstanding theater arts student, and at least one more that escapes me right now. I am very proud of my firstborn. I've been told that he is referred to by his friends at school as "The Genius." I was talking to his teacher on the last day of school about him going to middle school, and in a 3 minute conversation, she referred to him as a genius at least twice. He kept his PACE math teacher on her toes this year. And I am so thankful to have had a math teacher who worked so hard to keep him challenged. She has recommended that he not take 6th grade PACE math next year, but he should take 7th grade PACE math, which is essentially 8th grade math. So I guess the moniker, "Genius" is fitting.

And while I'm blogging about how wonderful Brendan is, I just have to say that my favorite thing about him is how, after he tells a joke, he laughs harder than anybody else. He cracks himself up and I find myself laughing harder at his laughter than I did about the joke that he told. Sometime soon I'll have him make a video about "Thunder and Lightning." It's classic Brendan.

It's Been a While

Jun 11, 2009
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It's been a long time since I took time to blog. The past couple of weeks have flown by, and some unexpected things occurred. One of which temporarily left me without appropriate words for a blog.

Last Friday was the last day of school for the kids. Tuesday, Brendan graduated from 5th grade (sniff, sniff), Wednesday, Kaelin had her 2nd grade end of year celebration, and on Friday, Collin graduated from kindergarten (again sniff, sniff). I had planned to upload pictures and post about each event, but my week kind of went berserk, and I suddenly had no time. I had a very sudden job opportunity come up that required a resume (the last resume I had was from 10 years ago) and an 8 page application. I'm pretty sure I did not get that job, and as much as I would have loved it, I'm okay with it. I am certain that God has something that He wants me to do, I just have to find out what it is. And also last week, my sweet friend, Liz, who had battled cancer for 6 years, died. Usually when phrasing a cancer battle this way, when the person dies, people tend to say they lost their battle. But I have to think that Liz did not lose so much as she won as she is now in heaven and she is completely healed and rejoicing with Jesus. The world was a better place with her here, and it boggles my mind to try and figure out why God would take a 42 year old mother of 2, but I have to believe He has a perfect plan for all of us, and for some reason, her time on earth only lasted 42 years. It might sound trite and even cliche, but I am better for having known Liz.

Among the sadness of losing my friend last week, the end of year celebrations at school reminded me that my precious kids are growing up and that each one of them is an incredible human being. They all say things sometimes that blow my mind. I can't believe how smart they are, and how creative they are, and I guess I will never know where they come up with some of this stuff. In a way I am sad about my babies growing up, but in another way, I look forward to seeing who they will become. I am so excited to find out what God has in store for them and how they will impact the world. There is no doubt in my mind that they will, and I hope they do it in a big, important way. There are a lot of things that I have done wrong in my life, but when I look at my kids I have to think I'm doing something right. They are too amazing for me to be messing everything up!

Easter 2009

Apr 12, 2009
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Easter weekend this year was really busy. On Good Friday we didn't get to go to the service at church. Both boys had makeup baseball games, and Kaelin had her slumber party with her friends. Then on Saturday, Cole worked at the spring carnival at church, I made cupcakes for our Easter celebration with his family, both boys had baseball games, and then we went to his mom and dad's house for the family celebration. We had a lot of fun and all of the food was fantastic! Then on Sunday we went to church, went to Texas Land and Cattle for lunch, came home for a while, and then went to Grant and April's house to hang out for a while. Everything was fun, but there wasn't a lot of time to relax.

Here are some pictures that were taken after church on Sunday...