March?!

Wow, February sure went by quickly. We've been so busy the past week or so. Xander spent more time out of school due to weather, I think one whole day and maybe two 2-hour delays. My bible study has also been cancelled the past two weeks ~ last week for snow and then this week because the power went out during a thunderstorm and the sump pump broke, so the restrooms were out of order.

Jason's parents came to visit on Sunday afternoon and the kids were able to con them out of some money. They were both pretty excited to get a five dollar bill, they're used to only having singles. That money, on top of allowance and three visits from the tooth fairy made Xander a very rich little boy. Yes, I said THREE visits from the tooth fairy. He's had this one tooth on the top that has been loose for almost six months now, and he wouldn't let anyone pull it. It's made for some serious battles where tooth-brushing is concerned. Two other teeth ended up coming out first, and the other one had been hanging on so long that the adult tooth is already sticking out. He currently has an adorable lisp.

One of Xander's teeth fell out on Saturday while we were at an old friend's for dinner. I used to always look at my mom's wedding album and ask why I didn't know anyone who was in her wedding. I thought, if these people were that close to you that you would have them in your wedding, why don't you still talk to them any more? And now I understand, as our dinner host was one of those friends for me. I've known her since first grade, we were in each other's weddings, and then life plus a few miscommunications on both sides occurred, and here we are. Currently we live less than 10 minutes from each other and we had a nice time reconnecting, so I'm hopeful we will do a better job at keeping in touch.

On Tuesday the kids and I went to Red Lobster for dinner with my mom and step-dad. We needed to get together on that specific day and, unfortunately, Jason had to work so he wasn't able to join us. My dinner came with dessert though, so I gave him half. The kids were crazy-hyper after we ate and my attempt at taking them to Whole Foods with me was futile. They were running laps around some cases of wine in the meat department and then when I was looking at some chicken I heard Xander shout

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"Everybody dance now!" and he had a whole chicken standing up on its legs and was dancing it around the meat case. The song he was singing was what we used one year in high school for drill team tryouts, but he heard it from Shrek the Halls and now I will just never think of it the same way again.

At bed time I asked Jordis why she was acting up throughout the course of the evening and she said, "I was mad at Xander because he woke me up today when I was trying to get my booty sleep." On Wednesday she had her first gymnastics and hip hop class. She was easily the smallest one there by about 6 inches, but she jumped right in and had a smile on her face the whole time. She's been practicing her stand-ups (hand stands) ever since.

I now have a cold and am glad that this week is coming to a close soon. Hoping to rest up over the weekend and prepare a little Mardi Gras shindig for us since Fat Tuesday is right around the corner. Have a great weekend!

Reading

I'm so excited, the little man can do some reading!

Maybe this is normal for kindergartners, but I don't remember being able to read at his age. My mom used to tape words around the house on things, like "up" and "down" at the stairs, "light" on the switch plates, etc., so maybe I knew some sight words too and just don't know it. But either way, we're super excited.

Not only does he know most of them, but if I make sentences them he'll read sentences up to 9 words long. He got a new set of flash cards from school today so I can't wait to make better sentences for him with more variety.

We also got his first grade card yesterday and were really impressed. He is well surpassing all of his goals for literacy. In the fall he already knew the number of letters they want him to know at the end of the school year. Along with exceeding the goals in every other category he is also one reading level above expectations.

For whatever reason he just can't grasp the concept of money, and we are still having some behavior problems. But the good news is that he has proven he can learn in a typical classroom setting, which is the goal.

Hopefully it will only get better from here.

Don't look, Mom!

I've wanted a tattoo since about 1993, when I skipped class in college one day to accompany my dorm-mate to the tattoo parlor off of Vine St. in the university district of Cincinnati. However, I've always been averse to needles and blood, so I wrote it off as something I would never have the courage to do. It has become a joke actually. Just going into a tattoo shop with Jason over the years has made me sick to my stomach, and I've had to retreat to the outside world that doesn't smell like rubbing alcohol and has no whirring of tattoo guns.

In 2001 my friend Jen and I went to Jason's hometown for Mardi Gras and told our co-workers we were going to get tattoos while we were gone. It was just so darned unfortunate though that we showed up when they were closed.

Over the past year or so we started selling off the kids' baby items and outgrown clothing and I've been stashing the cash.

(I'm not telling you where because then I'll need to come up with a new location).

I've been telling Jason it's my Tattoo Fund, and then we laugh, because we both know that'll be the day. But we went on vacation, and I always said if I had the opportunity to get a tattoo from Randy's (the place pictured in the photo above) that I'd do it. I always thought I'd want my tattoo on my lower back, but I decided if I was going to go through the trauma I may as well put it where people will see it. And then, on the last available day we had, we were at the store and I said to Jason "today is the day," because I knew I wouldn't do it at home. It was now or never. I decided where I wanted to put it and Jason got his mom to babysit so he could take me to the shop as soon as it opened. I still wasn't sure what it was going to be when I got there, but it came to me in a moment of clarity so we drew it up and got to work before I changed my mind.

I knew it wasn't going to go well, but I wasn't quite expecting to be leaning over the trash can within the first few minutes. A nice break, cold rag, some Sprite and smelling salts got me to the point of continuing, and after awhile I was all good with the outline. At one point I had considered just leaving the outline, but I knew if I got up I'd be upset that I didn't get it filled in. I figured since I was used to it by this point that the rest would be a piece of cake.

WRONG!

The shading was much worse than the outline. Quite frankly, I would have rather had an epidural. I ended up taking a break long enough that my tattoo guy had time to eat dinner. But when all was said and done I LOVED it!

It's my tribute to being Cajun by marriage, but in Ohio State colors. The kids' names are on it, as well as 717 which is our anniversary and also Jason's unit number. I was so excited when we left, I couldn't wait to go to our family cookout and show it off. I was even feeling so much better that I pigged out, especially enjoying a venison/jalapeno appetizer and cousin Shannon's amazing brownies and bread pudding.

I called my mom to share the news, and let's just say she was not pleased. Yeah, we'll just stick with that. But I guess that's how mom's feel sometimes.

After tipping the tattoo guy extra for putting up with my "difficulty," we still had enough money left for Jason to go get a matching tattoo the next day. Instead of Ohio State colors though, he got his shaded yellow and purple in a tiger stripe pattern for LSU. For some reason my mom doesn't seem to be upset about his 4th tattoo. Where's the love?


Typically when we go out of town we try to get a Christmas ornament from the places we visit. But I was thinking we could start a new tradition of getting tattoos instead. We're going out of town this weekend.....ha, ha, I'm so funny.

Christmas Carnival

Today was the annual Christmas Carnival at Xander's school. He was so excited to go. I was excited about the free coffee and Tim Horton's donuts because I didn't get a chance to eat before we left the house.

Cookie decorating had to be first.

Carnival games....


Face painting...




And Jordis' visit with Santa. She told me she wasn't going to pose for a picture, but I thought this would actually be funny when she's older so I had them take it anyway.

I also gave the kids money and BaDee took them to the Secret Santa shop to help them spend it to buy a gift for Jason and myself. I used to get my mom the most horrible things at my elementary school's Secret Santa, so I can't wait to see what she helped them buy.