So, what do you think?? This will probably be the half-page ad for the football programs that will be sold at home games. (minus the smears, of course!) In color, it's so vibrant. I really wish it could be in color---we ARE paying color prices to get it published. But, it will be black and white. He went to the school and got his jersey so we could take a few pictures today. I think they turned out ok. He was happy as long as he didn't have to smile!! Next up, we get to design a yearbook ad telling him how much we love him. Do you think he's worth it??? Just kidding. He is. I think. ;)

Yesterday was fun dentist appt. day for the kids. Tyler's all good, Hadley has two cavities (her first) right where her braces have "bumpers"---one on either side, matching teeth. I think it's no coincidence they are there. Pretty irritating that the braces are causing problems! And, the big, bad news was for Lance. He had to get 7 baby teeth pulled because the permanent ones were coming in and the dentist didn't feel they would turn loose on their own. Poor guy!! When they handed him his baggy of teeth, he said,"I think I lost the fight!" Funny kid. On a happier note, he cleaned up from the tooth fairy. Ha!

Well, that's it for tonight. Have a great rest of the week!

They're baaaaaaaack

This is the dark pile, minus a load already in the washer... Ay yi yi! It sounds like they had a wonderful time. Hadley even said she thinks she likes 4th session better than 2nd. Good news for us for next year so they can go at the same time again! It's amazing the difference in the house. It stayed relatively clean, was pretty quiet--not much happening. Add these two to the mix and watch the chaos appear! Lance never did get lonely for them--he stayed busy enough with friends and other stuff. I really thought he'd miss them desperately, but no.

I'm sure there's more I should update, but I've got laundry to do. Ha!

So Dad and Lance have tails... thanks to Nana.


Overdue. It was so awesome to see Grandma's progress. What a strong lady she is! I always knew that, but it was great to watch her in action. She's been out of the hospital almost a week. I hear she's doing great at Danny's... Sure wish her secretary there would take some dictation... :)

She's UP!

I was so proud of Grandma today. I got there just as she was finishing up her afternoon gym time. Even after that workout, she was able to walk about 200 feet with little rest about halfway, do some more exercises in the bed, and finally sit up for supper. Considering all that's happened since last Thursday, I'd say that's pretty AWESOME!

That was definitely the highlight of the day... Not much else is happening. Lance went swimming and spent the night with a friend tonight. Hadley went swimming at a friend's house. Tyler didn't move much after his workout this morning. Hope your Wednesday was a great one!

Sorry for the blog drought... Mom pegged it when she said I was enjoying time off from EVERYTHING, even the blog.

I'll start off with the last day of school. It was a huge success--Lance and all the kids had a ball. The day was full of fun--breakfast together in the gym, awesome video prepared by yours truly, memory book signing, music, and the fifth grade walk you see below. No tears for Lance, unlike Hadley who cried all the way through! If he looks funny, it's the ink goatee and graffiti from the memory signing--some of the kids began using their bodies as the canvas... Oh well. It was fun!
Next, the limo picked us up out in front of the school. It was supposed to be a surprise, but didn't work out that way. It didn't matter--they were all SO excited!

Next stop, the middle school they will attend. We got there just before the ending bell so we had time to get a shot in front of the sign there. We also picked up Hadley and a friend. Lance was so sweet to give up a spot for Hadley to be able to have a friend. He's a good kid!Then we drove to the Cadillac Ranch. We were all very surprised to see that all the cars were painted yellow--no graffiti! I was afraid we wouldn't be able to paint. I've never seen them freshly painted without graffiti. The people who had just painted the cars were still out there. One young guy asked us to wait a few minutes before tagging the cars while he took pictures. When he was done, he told the kids to get after it. We talked to him and found out he was the son of a local artist/art columnist for the newspaper who had passed away earlier that week. In honor of his dad, Stanley Marsh and this guy got together to paint the cars bright yellow. Pretty cool, huh? It was awesome for us--the boys had clean canvases to leave their marks. They loved it! The weather was perfect--almost NO WIND. Yay for no dirt blowing in our faces while we painted! :)


We did some driving around to finish out our two hours, then it was back to the school for a picnic and water balloons.

After the party was over, nearly all the boys ended up at the neighborhood pool to swim the rest of the afternoon. Lance was pooped by the end of the day--it surely was a full one!

After our first week off, Hadley did the volleyball camp at the high school. She wasn't crazy about having to be there at 8:00 every morning, but it was good just to be touching the ball. Gotta stay in practice for nationals! :)

And, almost forgot about the CF walk. We had a great turnout! Our team had 40-50 walkers. Lance was very proud. Mom and Dad also came for it and we got to spend some time with them that weekend.

Then, just when I thought we were ready for some summer fun and relaxation... Last week was a total bust! My good friend's mom died on Monday after a long illness. Her service was on my birthday. Not so fun.

Now on to better news. Not. Grandma and Jean came for a short visit last Thursday morning. They hadn't even been here 2 hours when Grandma fell and broke her hand and hip. She had surgery Thursday night and moved to rehab yesterday. It's going to be a long, tough road for her recovery. But knowing her, she'll do everything in her power to be back on her feet as soon as she can.

I had requests for pictures, so I took a couple. Robert, the tongue-sticking out is just for you! Ha!
Ok... That's the highlights and lowlights of the last few weeks. Have a great rest of the week!

Just sharing a few pics. The ones above are from game day. Lance had a great time playing the games and running around with friends. It's so hard to believe that this is our last game day... We've been going to game day since Ty was in kindergarten! They also combined it with family picnic day so it was a nice one. The picture with Lance putting on his cleats?? He had me bring them so he'd have more traction for the tug of war... :)


Ty had a football cookout one night last week, followed by the black and gold scrimmage game the next evening. He had a good time. So did Lance at halftime! The bottom picture is of Ty and Reece from church. For future reference, he's #95 in his brand, spankin' new jersey. They haven't had new ones since the early 90's. The booster club had to buy them, of course...

As fun as I thought the Indiana Jones theme was, wouldn't ya know it wasn't his pick? Lance, of course, liked a grunge look better. So, I did this one. Oh well... It is his shirt and it only uses 2 colors, so we know it'll work... Hope you like it 'cuz you get to wear it! Ha! :)
Oh. And, yes, the video is finished. Honestly, I don't even want to think about it,watch it, look at dvds, anything! I am SO glad it's done. SO glad!

Been working on the Team Lance shirt design today. What do you think? If we use screen printing, we're limited to 4 colors, so I don't think he could make this work for that. He has another printer that can do many colors, but the quality is different. Anyway, not sure if this will be it or not. We have to turn it in tomorrow morn. I just don't think I'd like it as much without the map and grungy paper. May is such a crazy time of year... Every time it rolls around, I think it's worse than December. 'Course when December gets here, I think otherwise.

Ty played in the traditional black and gold game on Friday night. Then on Saturday morning, the parents of seniors had group pictures made while wearing their son's jersey. I kinda dreaded it--just because I didn't want to have my picture made. But, it was actually sorta fun. He's soooo glad that spring training is over. For some reason, he did not enjoy it at all. At all. He has semester tests this week. He should be exempt from a few, but I haven't hear from him about that. Some kids are done for the year because they are exempt from all of them. That'd be cool...

Hadley is all finished with soccer. At least I think she is. The coach called a surprise scrimmage, then canceled almost as soon as he called it. They'll have open practices in June, then tryouts in July, so it's not much of a break. Volleyball is on--we still plan to go to nationals. The coach is having a hard time getting the girls all together, so we've been off for about 2 weeks. She also has 6 weeks tests this week.

Lance is super excited about his party on Friday---we've handed out most of the invitations and had a good response so far. A few kids weren't home, so we'll have to deliver the rest tomorrow. His week will be filled with fun stuff--family picnic day, track/game day, awards day then memory morning where we will show the slide show, distribute memory books, etc. Then PARTY! Would you like to see his invitations? I thought they were fun.
Well... That's going to do it for this post. Hope you all had a meaningful, relaxing Memorial Day.

Probably won't getcha ten for tuesday. In fact, I'm not even planning to try. Sorry.

I did want to share this flyer that we've handed out to a few of Lance's friends to invite them to walk with us in June. If you're so inclined, we'd love to have you too! He was so proud last year to see that big group of people out there walking and wearing his shirt. It was pretty cool...

Obviously, we should have started all this a LOT sooner, but right now, I'm just doing the best I can. Click on the picture to enlarge it and see all the details.

That's all for now. Have a great week! Oh and Mom asked me if Ty had forgiven me yet. I wasn't sure, so I asked him. No. He has not.

Metal mouth. Brace face. Grill, yo.

Well... It's done. T and H both got braces today. Notice, only one kid let me take a picture. The other one is mad--so mad, in fact I'm barely being spoken to. We've "forced" him to get braces. He's going to be a senior. His social life is over. Nothing like writing a $2500 check (25% of the total bill!!) and then being made to feel like a terrible parent. It's a good thing I've got him to remind me--otherwise I might get the big head.

Dr. S made it sound like H needed to get her wisdom teeth out as soon as the braces come off--and almost made it seem like she should've gotten them out before now. Sure would be nice if people would tell us these things beforehand... Isn't that what we pay them for? We let Ty's go longer than we should have--thus the real need for braces... Ay yi yi! Hadley will probably wear her braces for 2-2 1/2 years. She needs a special appliance to help correct her bite. (The new headgear--luckily it goes inside her mouth, not on her head!) Ty could get them off sooner than 1 1/2 years, if he follows the rules.

Sorry for the lack in updates. It's been crazy-busy around here. I just finished my stint at WT and am on the home stretch for the video. I'll probably work like a mad-woman on it til early next week, when I hope to have it FINISHED. **David had an intern from WT working on his computer at work the other day. The intern saw my picture and recognized me as the 'one who doesn't pay anything' for books. It's nice to have a reputation.

Other than being furious with me, Ty is doing spring training football and winding down the year. H will finish soccer this weekend, but volleyball will continue through June if all goes as planned. Nationals will be the last week in June. She's also drawn the attention of the AHS basketball coach. He has talked with her several days in a row now. They're doing spring training for bball during morning athletics with the AHS coaches watching. He's been telling her that she could probably swing two sports her freshman year and that she would be a great fit with the bunch of girls that are a year ahead of her. Little does he know that bball is third on her list and completely conflicts with soccer... I think she's enjoyed the ego boost, at any rate.

Lance finished Tobi today--Yay! That gives us back over an hour every day!!!! :) His cough is almost gone, and he's excited for the end of the year fun. We're planning to have a big party for him like we did for Hadley on the last day of school. Remember the limo/picnic? The yellow Hummer limo was already booked, but we got the white Hummer. Lance didn't seem to mind. I guess we'll do about the same thing as before--run to Bonham and take pics (and also pick up H), Cadillac Ranch to spray paint the cars, a little driving around, maybe another stop or two, then back to the park for a picnic and water balloon fight. He is super excited and is making out his invitation list. Can you believe the cost of the limo has NOT gone up in the last two years?? I really dreaded reserving it because I was afraid it had kept pace with the price of gas. What a pleasant surprise to hear the SAME cost! :)

I'm sure there's more to write... and I apologize for the single pic, but I'll try to post again soon. TTFN!

Ten on Tuesday

1. Enjoyed some family/company this past weekend. Mom, Dad and Ginny were all here. It was great to spend time with them, even though it was short.

2. I subbed today in kindergarten. It wasn't the best day, that's for sure. I had one really tough customer. The principal ended up coming to get her about an hour before school was out. At the time, she had been remanded to a carpet square by the wall (teacher's request) and was crying and yelling. Nice. Oh yeah. That's why I don't want to teach full time.

3. We meet with the band teacher on Thursday to see what instrument Lance is suited to play next year. He has his heart set on saxophone, but the teacher makes you try several. Hopefully, he'll be able to do the one he wants.

4. This is TAKS testing week. All the kids test--Lance only has one day of testing, Hadley has 2 and Tyler has 3. The great thing for Tyler is that if/when he passes the tests, he won't have to take any more for the rest of his HS career.

5. Guess what I'm having for dinner tonight? You got it---scraps! Hee hee...

6. Right at this moment, we're missing the Fortenberry family reunion in OK... Sad day.

7. The next two weeks are going to be rough. My seasonal job hits and all the 5th grade stuff and Jr/Sr banquet stuff comes to a head at the same time... Turns out, April and May are every bit as busy as December. Feels like it anyway.

8. Sorry... I'm going to be a bum again and leave you with this list...

Have a great week!

Ten on Tuesday

1. I think doing a "ten on Tuesday" list is making me lazy with this blog. Once a week posting isn't really cutting it and I've not included many pix. Sorry!

2. Tyler really knows how to push my buttons. And sometimes, I'm not even sure he's aware of it! The other night, we had leftovers for dinner. No major crime, right? There were 2 different meals to choose from, not to mention sandwiches, etc. An hour or so after we ate, he was back in the kitchen eating again. I reminded him that we had just eaten and I'd just finished cleaning up the kitchen. He said, " Well, all we had was scraps. I'm still hungry." AAAARRRRGGGHHHHH! Did he say scraps??

3. A spider just crawled into my keyboard before I could get him. Do you think he's surviving the punching of the keys?

4. I HATE STRESS. Can I just leave it at that?

5. Mema is making her big move to assisted living this week. Talk about stress...I know it won't be easy for her. Or us.

6. Lance is feeling better--still coughing but on the mend. But, he's having a hard time with his size right now. He's been teased some (by friends even) and it really bothers him. I just hate that!

7. To lighten the mood--mostly mine, I'll share some funnies. These make me laugh out loud!








8. Hadley had a game-free weekend last weekend so she was able to attend a MS event at church called Disciple Now. She had a great time and is now working on an online guided Bible study and chat/forum as an extension of the weekend. Cool, huh?

9. We've had some beautiful weather the last couple of days. High 70's, low 80's and lots of blue skies. Looks like spring is really here! Today's a bit windy, but still pretty nice.

10. Tyler found a Bricklin on ebay and has decided it is totally the car for him... I don't even remember the cars, but they have doors that swing up like a Delorean. He even texted me about it during school today. It would be a fixer-upper/play car. Hmmmm.....

Ok. That'll do it for today! Have a great one!

Ten on Tuesday

Tuesday again? How can that be? Sure seems to roll around quickly, doesn't it? These pics are just for fun. I don't think they go with any of the posts... Sorry!


1. Lance's appt. went pretty well yesterday. Everything looked good--he had gained about 2 pounds, grown a little (he's 53 3/4" and 70.2 pounds), lung function looked pretty good-one area was down a bit, but he's coughing some and may need to start an antibiotic-tbd today), and we saw improvement in his bone density. He is still officially in the osteoporosis category, but has improved. His spine saw the least improvement, so the doc was quick to point out all the activities Lance shouldn't do. (That upset Lance of course.) We will continue the citracal for now. The doc said the process would be slow, but we are moving in the right direction. I guess we'll recheck in 6 months or so. Lance said something kind of profound yesterday. Once when the doc was out of the room, I reminded Lance of Dr. N's manner---to lay it all out there--no sugarcoating. He said, "Yeah. I don't like to hear it all but sometimes it's good to know what you're up against." Isn't he amazing?

2. It is WINDY here today. The kind that makes you feel gritty all over. Gross.

3. Hadley has a soccer game tonight. In the wind. Even grosser.

4. I'm going out with my girls tonight--Debra, Debbie and Jayme. Fun! (I'm leaving the game a bit early.) Back already. We had a wonderful time as always.

5. My dad is here again. We've gotten to see him a lot lately--almost seems like he LIVES here. Now there's an idea...

6. I'm plugging along with my projects... Hopefully, I can really make some headway this week and get these things finished. I am READY!

7. I'm having a hard time thinking of interesting tidbits to share. It's one of those SS/DW things. You know? Same stuff, different week! :)

8. I have my computer back--complete with BIG new hard drives. I haven't had time to get it all situated, but the old drive is still there with the new ones, just need to do some rearranging and backing up.

9. Lance has started feeling worse. He's coughing enough now to keep him awake. We started one antibiotic tonight and anticipate starting a second one tomorrow. That, however, is a whole 'nother story! Our lovely insurance is giving us fits about the second one. I'm supposed to hear more tomorrow. I really wish money grew on a Stewart household tree!

10. I finally finished listening to Double Cross and am now working on Jodi Picoult's new one---Change of Heart. I can't decide if I like it or not at this point. I'll let you know!

Ok... There's my update. Off to bed! Yay!

Ten on Tuesday

1. Probably no pics today. My main computer is sorta 'in the shop'. A friend is installing new hard drives so I can complete the mondo project that is the 5th grade video. I hope to have it back soon...

2. I have 80 cookies to make for the Wednesday night trek group snack... I think I'm going to make snickerdoodles and peanut butter cookies. Yum!

3. Hadley is having a ball with her new camera. Her only complaint? The memory goes too fast! We're on the lookout for bargains and will probably get some soon. That 10 mega pixels means bigger files than her old camera, especially when you FILL it with video (that has sound!). Thanks again B&G!

4. Lance is taking the math TAKS today. He wasn't too worried, but I'm sure he'll be relieved when it's over.

5. Ty and Hadley have 6-weeks tests this week. No TAKS for them this week. They'll have more TAKS tests later in the year, I think.

6. Lance finally used some of his Christmas gift card money and cash. He bought a fancy new airsoft gun. It broke the first day he used it. David fixed it, but it broke again. I went back to the store and talked to them about it. They happily exchanged it for us---YAY! Lance decided to go a different route and chose a smaller, cheaper gun in it's place. That left him with some store credit, which I'm sure he'll use in no time.

7. Bunko was a success. I guess. At least it's over! Ha! It was time to sign up for next year and I picked July. (May ends the times that have been chosen for this year.)That means I'll get to do all this again in 3 months. Whooo hoo. But, I decided it would be easier to do it in the summer because next year is Tyler's SENIOR YEAR and who knows what our schedule will be like. =0

8. David will be in town part of today, so we're meeting for lunch at Joe Taco's. It's new so we decided to give it a try.

9. Lance has another scan this week to see if the Citracal is beefing him up enough. If there is enough improvement, we'll probably just keep up the status quo. If not, we'll probably have to try a prescription medication to stop/improve the osteoporosis. We actually had a scan last week, but due to an oversight of the staff, we have to do it again. I got a call over the weekend apologizing and assuring me the charges for the first one would be reversed... It's a pain in the rear to do over, but I guess it's not the worst thing that could happen.

10. Hadley's last regular track meet is tomorrow. After that, they'll do the city track meet, which is on 2 different days. I think we are ALL so ready for it to end. That will free up some time for her after school, which is premium time!

Well, there ya have it. The "catch-up" for the week. Have a great one!

Marble Project etc

The marble project was judged and graded yesterday. Ty's group made a 105! I'm really proud of him for that! I went to see all of the projects yesterday--their's was right in line with many of them. There were some better, some worse than Tyler's. 'Course the ones I thought were better were decorated cuter and done by girls. :) Once they had their grade, they immediately started the demolition. I know they're relieved it's all over.



And, just for grins, I thought I'd include a picture of Lance and some of his buds playing airsoft up at the park. They've been meeting there almost daily and having a great time. What a bunch of hoodlums! :)