47 posts tagged “kaelin”

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!!

Quotes from Collin

Sep 8, 2009
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My little Collin is quite the character. Every single day he says or does something that makes us laugh. He's given us 2 memorable quotes over the past week or so.

Quote #1: Collin earned a Transformers Bumblebee toy that he wanted and was happily playing with it upstairs. I heard yelling and he told me Kaelin took it out of his hand. I called them both downstairs and made Kaelin apologize to him, which she did with typical 8 year old girl attitude. Then she went back upstairs and Collin was still standing in front of me. He looked at me and said, "It's okay, I forgive her."

Quote #2: We went to visit my parents over Labor Day weekend. Kaelin wanted to take Cookie, but we wouldn't let her. She was crying Friday morning at breakfast and I was talking to her trying to get her to understand why Cookie would be happier at home. Collin said to her, "Whenever I have tears, I just drink some milk, and *poof* they're gone."

I just don't know where he gets this stuff!

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.

Mischief and Majesty

Jul 5, 2009
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Kaelin performed in her dance recital a little over a week ago. She was in a ballet class and a jazz class, so she did 2 dances at the recital. There were 4 girls in her jazz class, the dance was really good, and Kaelin was the best dancer in her group. Of course other parents might disagree, but she was. ; ) Her ballet class was much bigger, and they also had a really cute dance, but they were just a little bit off during the recital. They were wonderful at dress rehearsal, though. Here is the video from dress rehearsal:

Ballet Dress Rehearsal - Reflection

Now for pictures. Some were taken at dress rehearsal, and some were taken at the recital.

It's Vacation Bible School Week!!

Jun 16, 2009
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I'm teaching Kaelin's 2nd grade class with my friend, Angie, and so far we've had a great week! We have music with one of the first grade classes and today there was discussion about what heaven is like. One of the first grader's said, "Heaven's like Chuck E. Cheese's." I suppose that's an accurate statement for a 7 year old!

Quotes From Kaelin

Jun 13, 2009
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Earlier tonight we went to pick up Brendan from his camp. As we were driving to the camp, we passed a pasture full of cows of many different colors. Kaelin saw a black one and said, "There's a black cow, that's how we get chocolate milk."

The Baby Girl Is Growing Up!

Jun 11, 2009
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My only girl is growing up. Everyday I look at her and I am amazed that she is mine. She is uniquely Kaelin. She is

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smart, creative, beautiful, and she knows exactly what she wants at all times. And she never hesitates to let everybody else know what she wants. She loves Miley Cyrus, nail polish, Bath and Body works, shoes and hats, and anything girly. In these ways she is the total opposite of me when I was a child. But she is Kaelin, and I see great potential for her to do wonderful things in her lifetime. At her 2nd grade celebration, she received several awards. She received awards for A honor roll, a Six Flags reading award, outstanding theater arts student, and I think one other award. Her preschool teacher is still under the impression that she cannot talk, but she has found her voice in a big way. Kaelin had what was basically the lead role in her class's play. She not only talked, she did hand motions and talked loudly. Ms. Lee would be so proud!

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...

Kaelin's "Friend Party"

Apr 11, 2009
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Last Friday we celebrated Kaelin's birthday with her friends. I had convinced her to wait until the Hannah Montana

Hannah-montana-movie-poster

movie came out (thanks, Melissa, for that idea) to have her friend party, and she thought it sounded fun so she agreed. It was just over a month, and she was very patient. The girls came to our house, I took them to the movie (6 girls total), I bought them each a drink and a small bag of popcorn per 2 girls, and then we had a sleepover at our house, complete with presents and cupcakes. Shockingly, there was no drama among the 5 girls (1 did not spend the night) and everybody seemed to have a really good time.

The Hannah Montana movie is actually pretty good. It deserves its G rating as there is absolutely no language or situations that are offensive. Even the outfits that Miley and Lilly wear are acceptable to this very conservative dresser. The production quality is much better than the tv show, and, much to my surprise, the storyline is quite good. It is somewhat predictable, but still good. As always, Miley learns a life lesson or 2, and in the end, everybody is happy. If you are the parent of a Hannah Montana fan, I would urge you to take your HM fan to see the movie. As a side note, I loved hearing all the little girls sing along with the songs in the movie. It was so cute!

I stumbled upon the cutest blouse from the Hannah Montana line of clothing at Wal-Mart. It was on the clearance rack for $3, so I bought it for Kaelin and she loved it. I knew she would. She wore it to the movie of course!