Back to School!

OK-I know...I haven't updated about Christmas yet, but I just wanted to tell a little story about Laurie. I promise to update you all on the holidays as soon as I get a chance! =-)

Aubrey was REALLY grumpy last night. She kept crying and saying she was having a bad day. Jason and I kept holding her and loving on her. I think she was really tired from everything. On the other hand, Laurie read yesterday for 100 minutes. She was reading the book "Frindle" and she LOVED it! Needless to say, we put the girls to bed EARLY. I think they were both tucked in a little after 7:00. We wanted to make sure we could get them up for school the next day.

Laurie comes in our room and asks if we set the alarm-at 3:45 AM!!! I think she was worried she would be late for school. When I woke her up a little after 6, she told me that last night flew by like a blink. I guess she was ready to go to school!

Both girls were ready WAY before the normal time-I wish I had that sense of enthusiasm to go to work. They were ready to go back to school, and I was ready for them to go back, too. I hope everyone has a great first day back to school!

Got to love them!

Sometimes, you just really have to love innocence. A week or two ago, I had to be pulled aside at the Y-after school program to be told what my darling girl had done to get into trouble. It was really hard not to laugh and keep a straight face when I had to talk to her about it later. So, this is how it went:
"Mrs. Smith, Aubrey got into trouble today with another little girl."
"Oh, what did she do?"
"Well...(I can tell he is VERY uncomfortable.) They were sort of licking each other."
I raise my eyebrow at him.
"When I fussed at them and told them they don't need to be doing that. Aubrey stated, 'We were only tongue fighting'. I told them they don't need to be spreading germs, and what if one of them had eaten a bug, then you would be eating one, too."
Trying to keep a straight face, "Oh, and how did they respond?"
"They were pretty grossed out. It was completely innocent, and they didn't see anything wrong with what they were doing."
"Thank you. I will talk to her at home."
So, I asked Aubrey before we left, "Where did you learn that?" Praying that it wasn't something like "You and Daddy do it." And her response, "Laurie taught me." Sigh...apparently, they stick their tongues out and use them as swords in the shower. Needless to say, I sat them both down and talked to them about not 'tongue fighting' because it spreads germs. Now if I can only keep them from 'tongue fighting' until they are 30...

Thanksgiving Day

Wednesday night, the girls and I went to Pie Night at Angela's. Which is a very glutenous activity Jason's family came up with. The night before Thanksgiving you have everyone over and they bring a dessert. That's all you eat-really, that's it. Granted, it is a good idea, because who really has room to eat dessert after a Thanksgiving meal?
Anyhoo, afterwards I took the girls to my mom's to spend the night. Jason and I had registered for the Turkey Trot-a 5 mile race around downtown Austin. Mom said she would keep the girls, so we could go. I am very thankful for my mother. Apparently, my youngest threw up all over her bed at 2:00am on Thursday. Then went to Laurie's room and threw up on the side of her bed. Laurie got Grammy up by shouting "Aubrey threw up!", and as Aubrey was heading to the bathroom-she threw up in the hallway. (Can I just say one more time-I am thankful for my mother!) Jason and I did the race not knowing what was happening at my mother's, and when I called my mom to let her know we were done-she let me know what happened. We got to my mom's, and I sat with Aubrey for a little bit. I just had a sneaky suspension that Aubrey needed to go to the restroom and asked Jason to take her. Needless to say, she threw up all over the bathroom trying to hit the toilet. (I am thankful for that little voice in my head that told me to get Jason to take Aubrey to the restroom.) Poor baby!
I stayed with my mom and Aubrey at Grammy's house while Jason and Laurie went to his family's house for lunch. Jason brought mom and I plates of food and fed me while I held a sleeping Aubrey. A few hours later, Jason brought us some desserts. (He's a good husband, and I'm thankful for that!)
I went back with him to his family's house and visited while Aubrey slept some more. Then Aubrey and I headed home. Laurie went to Avery's house for a sleep-over, and Jason watched the UT game with his family. On the way home, Aubrey kept asking me why no one wanted to be around her while she was sick. She couldn't understand that we didn't want to spread the germs and get everyone sick. Either that or she is learning to give really good guilt trips early!
Aubrey is doing much better-not eating much, but no fever since Thursday at 4. The rest of the family doesn't seem to have caught the bug. I am VERY thankful for that!
Needless to say, there are no pictures from Thanksgiving. You should be thankful for that!

Thanksgiving Luncheon

On Thursday, Jason and I went to Aubrey's class to watch her Thanksgiving program. They sang Thanksgiving songs and then we sat down to lunch with her. Third grade 'doesn't have any fun' according to Laurie's teacher, but we did get to see Laurie during lunch, too. The teacher next to Aubrey's class told me that Aubrey does the best turkey tango! You will have to ask her to do it for you. She is extremely cute! Here's some picture of the program and lunch.

My Brillant Daughter!

Laurie is extremely bright and I just have to brag on her. I have a program on the graphing calculator that goes over basic facts with integers. I wanted her to practice her subtraction facts, so I set it up for her to do 20 problems. I forgot that the program would give problems like '4-5=?'. When she got it wrong-she asked me about it. I explained that when the first number was smaller than the second number, she would get a negative answer. I showed her how to make a negative number on the calculator, and she continued to get the rest right. No other explanation needed-she just got it! I bragged to Jason-he said it was genetics. I'm just wondering why my 8 year old can get it, but my middle schoolers and freshman couldn't...

Halloween Pics!

Here's the girls and Brian (our neighbor boy) on Halloween. Pictures by Diane! Also, Jason gave himself a Mohawk for Halloween. The girls loved it, but you can't get a true Mohawk when you shave your head most of the time... LOL!

Pumpkin Carving Take 2

On October 25th, we went to Taryn's and Tristan's for the annual pumpkin carving party. Luckily for me, Angelique Matheny was there and took pity on me. She carved Laurie's witch pumpkin. She had carved her son's, Isaac, and then carved Laurie's for me. I think she had more experience than me. Jason carved Aubrey's spider one. He took the longest, because it was very detailed. I was surprised she picked that one-due to the fact she had me kill a spider before we went to the party.

Isaac was a storm trooper, Taryn was part of High School Musical, Tristan was a skeleton zombie, and the girls were the witch and the black cat.