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Sparkle the Elf on the Shelf has returned. We love her. This year was especially great. I’m glad I started her early. Erin was beyond excited to have Sparkle come.
The first morning she was in Erin’s stocking and she literally squealed with excitement. She stood in front of the fireplace all morning talking to her. It was the cutest thing ever.
When it was time to leave she came back in the house 3 times to tell Sparkle bye and that she loves her.
I marvel again at how much I look like my Daddy. I put up his Navy picture on my FB and got comments about how we could be twins! I was at a meeting yesterday for work and people were talking about that same picture.
When I called my parents for a copy of the picture they also emailed me a copy of Momma in her wedding dress. It could be my sister standing there. It’s uncanny. So although Amy and I look like sisters, we each really take after one of our parents. Should we be concerned about this??? LOL
I’m a lot late in posting this simply because I forgot to do it. No excuses.
We met Hard 2 Hold Photography at a park in Huntsville. They took us down into a big creek like ditch! Where they find these places I will never know. There was lots of big trees with cool looking roots and a little stream of water flowing. I’m glad i had dressed E in her pink cowboy boots!
Here is the end result. They turned out perfect in my opinion!!!
Erin and I went to Dallas on Halloween with some friends. Tommy had a football game the next day so he stayed home. The trip was to go to Six Flags and spend the weekend riding rides.
We got there and the workers at Six Flags were dressed up for Halloween. All would have been fine but I totally blame Walking Dead for the scary costumes and make up. They scared even me! The kids didn’t like them at all and one of them got in Haley’s face and scared her to death. It almost ruined her trip!
My little daredevil did not disappoint. She was game for every ride and roller coaster and wanted to ride the big ones too. Thankfully she wasn’t tall enough to ride those yet! I would have been a nervous wreck if she had been. Most of the bigger rides she was tall enough if accompanied by an adult. I’m glad I am a rider too! Her Daddy would have been hurling.
After a fun day at the park, we went Trick or Treating in a fancy Dallas neighborhood. There probably wasn’t a house on that street for less than a million five! The kids wracked up the candy. Erin dressed as Mal. She’s a character from the Disney live action movie “The Descendents”. Mal is the lead and Malificent’s daughter - the evil fairy from Sleeping Beauty. Mal doesn’t smile much until the end of the movie so when I would take E’s picture she would put on her Mal face. She refused to smile! It was hilarious.
All went well until 2:00 am. We were at the hotel sound asleep when the fire alarm went off. I sprung out of bed and opened the door to see the hallway full of smoke. I stayed calm and started throwing clothes on. Erin slept for a minute then finally woke up and came literally screaming out of the bedroom. I had to calm her down and explain what was happening without completely scaring her. We got her dressed and we headed down the fire escape. My heart was racing 100 miles an hour. Of course when we get outside, it’s raining.
Five fire trucks showed up and a couple of police cars. After about 30 minutes outside we were let back in. Someone in one of the rooms on our floor just down the hall had put a Hot Pocket in the microwave and caught it all on fire. It was put out, but so were we. The damage was done at 2:00 am. (Damn drunks!) We had to sit in the lobby for about another 45 minutes while the smoke cleared the hall. We finally got back to the room and it took Erin a while to settle down and go back to sleep. If I’m being honest, I was keyed up too.
Poor baby is still scared of the fire alarm and keeps telling me not to turn it on while she’s sleeping. I’ve promised her there will be no midnight fire drills. She was so distraught that the only thing she would tell Tommy about the trip was the fire alarm. She didn’t even talk about Six Flags and the rides!!!
We were back home and everything was back to normal then on Tuesday Tommy heard the school having a fire drill! It freaked her out again and now we really have a scared kid. Hopefully she’ll settle back down and we can go back to our normal bedtime rituals and not promises of no fire drills!
The moral of the story is tell your kids what a fire alarm in a hotel is all about BEFORE they go to sleep. I just know Erin is scarred forever by hotel fire alarms.
Out of control.
I am now obsessed with my fingernails. What????
I was a meticulous polish girl way back in high school. My nails and my hair grew like wildfire and I spent hours polishing and getting them just right. Fast Forward 25 years…now I’m a full time working mom. I just don’t have time for the little things that I used to do….or so I thought.
The skin care craze hit me hard a about a year ago and I’m still drinking that Kool-aid. I am a user of the product my SIL sells. I love Rodan and Fields. It’s a little expensive, but my skin looks awesome. Stephanie also sells Monet hair products and I buy the deep conditioner. I haven’t gone whole hog on the full product line… yet. I’m sure it’s coming.
My latest obsession is my nails. I can’t get enough of the polish, gel and Jamberry wraps. I went so far as to buy in as a consultant, now I sell them as well. I just love all this primping and preening. I’ve turned into quite the peacock. The only problem is now my nails don’t want to grow as quickly as they used to. Add that to the long list of problems with getting old. Now I’m torn between doing a DIY manicure at home or buying short artificial nails so my Jamberry wraps look cute. I applied them to my short cut off nails, but they would look so much better on a longer set. Hmmmmm, what to do….
Who knew all these direct sell products would actually be worth the money and time. I love all 3 of them above. Go figure. I’ve literally spend years ducking the Mary Kay and Avon ladies. I’ve never hosted a Southern Living party or any other party for that matter. I always thought the stuff was overpriced for what you get. I was wrong. I hosted an on-line party and ended up with about $350 worth of products for free! Now I’m set in the Jamberry dept.
I think I might need an intervention.
The Bestie, Stacey, is on her way over here to spend the day with me.
I booked us each an hour and a half massage and an hour facial. If we have time, I’m going to see about pedicures as well. She was supposed to spend the night but ended up having to be on call. So, she has to go home tonight. (She’s a social worker in a hospital back home.)
I cannot tell you how much I am looking forward to seeing her. It’s been far too long!
When we get together, we just sort of click. She’s the kind of friend that I could go months without talking to and pick back up like we never missed a day. I love that during the week we send each other funny texts. It makes me laugh at our old memories and silly antics. We laugh until we cry when we get together. I’m prepared for my abs to hurt from laughing.
Everyone should have a bestie like mine!
Did my first “walk” for charity this weekend. I’ve donated to tons of them but never actually been in one. My friend Capri battled breast cancer this last year and won. She had a team of walkers so I joined up with her and Amy and I went to Beaumont. It was fun to be back there to see some of my old friends.
It turned out to be a color run. That just means that at about every half mile they would pour dyed powder all over you. In the end, you come out looking like a rainbow. When we were done we had the powder everywhere! I even had it in my socks. As Amy and I were leaving there was a couple getting into their car with garbage bags fashioned into ponchos. We told them what a great idea it was and the guy asked us if we wanted one. Of course we wanted a garbage bag poncho! Who wouldn’t.
The best part was when we stopped on the way home and went into the Whataburger with our garbage bag ponchos on. Needless to say, we got some attention on Saturday. But, it was all for a good cause.
I haven’t talked about my job in a while. It’s been a year now that I moved over to the Homeowner’s side of the company. I will never go back to Auto! At least I won’t go without kicking and screaming!
I’ve been climbing on roofs now for a year and I’m getting better every day. I’m still scared to death on the tall steep ones, but I manage to do my part. As a matter of fact, I have a steep 2 story home this week. One of my teammates is going with me because I can’t carry the 2 story ladder by myself! It’s super heavy and weighs over the 50 lbs limit for my job description.
Most of the people I’ve encountered have been super nice. And I can’t say enough about the guys on my team and my trainer. They are super nice and supportive of me. I can even say the roofers have been great. Most of the time they offer to carry my ladder and help me when I’m up there and scared to death! They’ve all been doing this for so long that they aren’t the least bit intimidated. At first I didn’t like then to see me scared, but now I have no pride. I’ve learned to just be honest and tell them it’s a little too steep for me to be comfortable on. They all tend to help me out and to hold my ladder for me getting on and off when I’m scared. Not sure if it’s because I am scared and admit it or because I’m a woman. I really don’t care. Like I said, I have no pride anymore. I’ll take whatever help I can get.
But I have moved up on the steepness chart. I can climb the 7/12s now where I used to just go up to 6/12. Anything over a 7/12 and I’m not getting all the way on it. I will climb the ladder and inspect that way, but I’m not taking the risk of falling off when I know I would be scared to death up there. There is a reason there is an extra charge associated with anything over a 7/12.
I still carry my pink tool belt and pink clipboard. People get a kick out of it. I still have customers ask me if I’m the one getting up there like they can’t believe a girl does this. It’s hot as hell up there during the summer and freezing cold in the winter but I’m never up there for more than an hour and don’t do more than 2 a day. Most days I just do 1 if I go out.
My choice to move was a tough one. I was comfortable at my desk job where I had been for 16 years but it was time for the change. I didn’t want to have to move to Dallas and I needed to do something else. I had gotten stale and burned out. Now, everyday is something new and I love it. I set my own schedule and don’t have people breathing down my neck. I’m not in an office and thankfully, I haven’t gotten sick in a year! No laryngitis or bronchitis!
Now, if I could just work up the nerve to climb my own roof I might could put up Christmas lights!
We have Pawpaw’s birthday party here yesterday. It was a busy day. Erin’s friend from her old daycare had a party and we were there yesterday morning. It was at the same place we had Erin’s party. The girls loved seeing each other. They haven’t been together since Erin left in August.
Later that afternoon WAM came over and we celebrated Pawpaw’s 69th birthday with a steak and cupcake party. William and Erin got along great. It was super cute. They were sharing things and they were sweet to each other.
I charged the battery for my camera then completely forgot to take any pictures.
The highlight of the day for the kids was bath time. They got in my bathtub for a bubble bath. I turned the jets on and the bubbles went to the top of the tub. All you could see was their little heads poking up from the bubbles.
For those of you who have met Mae Lynn Mize and Scooby Doo Mize you know they are a handful. Scooby is an incessant barker and thinks it’s his job to bark at anyone who comes in the house. He just won’t let up either. He just gets so protective of us, especially me. Mae has no social skills and likes to jump on people to say hi.
Erin has been scared of Mae for a while. My plan to have her have a dog backfired because Mae is so over zealous. But, we’ve rounded a corner. In the past, we’ve left the dogs locked up when Erin is out. She tends to run a skip everywhere she goes instead of walking and Mae takes that as an invitation to jump along with her. Lately Erin has been asking to have them out. So, we leave them out of the kennel for a while and they roam the house. Mostly Mae cleans up anything under the table that Erin has recently eaten. Scooby isn’t fast enough so he usually misses out.
Scooby is also obsessed with the squirrels in the backyard. Tommy feeds them so we have some really big squirrels. They eat the dried corn on the cob off the feeders. The dogs eat what they drop, but 24/7 Scooby runs the perimeter of the yard making sure they don’t come down into the yard. He stares at the trees and barks when they aren’t even out there. He’s really really into the hunt. He will run the perimeter for hours if I let him. I don’t leave them out that long, but he’s never ready to come in.
With that being said, I can’t really leave them out of the kennel too much when I’m here working either. Scooby stands at the window by the backdoor and does this high pitch scream like whine to go out and chase the squirrels. Mae will go with him and run along beside him but she has no interest in catching the squirrels. I can’t talk on the phone with the dogs going nuts in the house.
But, all in all I do love my dogs. Tommy still cannot stand them, but Erin is coming around and loves them now too. Maybe one day we’ll learn so social skills and they can stay out when we have company. But for now, we’ll keep them under wraps.
It’s been a crazy 2 weeks around here. Tommy has been in Dallas most of the time for work. That leaves Erin and I here alone. Scary thought! We have managed to make it together without killing each other. We’re so much alike it’s scary!
It’s been going well except that I don’t sleep well when Tom isn’t here. Not because I get scared of miss him in the bed. It’s because Erin thinks when he’s gone she should sleep with me. So, I end up with a bed buddy. How can someone so small take up so much of a king sized bed? I end up all the way on the edge on my side with her stuck to my side. I get soooo hot and wake up sweating.
I also have to wake her up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom. Which in reality is not a big deal. The older I get the more I have to get up at least once at night to go anyway. So, I just get her up and we go. I ask her in the morning and she never remembers getting up.
Tommy is home this week and goes back next week for another week. He brings her a surprise for every day he’s gone. It’s usually something from the Disney store. If it keeps up at this pace we may be broke by the time he’s finished with this project!
So, this weekend has been spent at the house. The only time we got out yesterday was to take her 5 year pictures with Hard2Hold Photography. We went to a park and climbed down into a big creek/ditch thing. There was a little waterfall and a lot of rock and roots. They see such creative ways to take pictures. When we were done in the ditch we climbed out and went to the playground. We took a lot of pictures on the swings. I can’t wait to see them. Then they pulled out the props. They bought a gallon of Blue Bell ice cream and an old fashioned sundae cup. They bought sprinkles and had her make a sundae. I’m sure the mess is going to translate into the best pictures EVER!
Right now Tommy is at the table with her playing Play Doh and we’re all still in our pajamas and it’s 10:45 in the morning!
Love it!
Erin started getting homework the last 2 weeks. They have about 16 sight words they’re working on and they add to them every week.
Erin is falling behind because she’s a lot like me. She wants to just know them and put no effort into it. She got very upset because she didn’t get it right away and she missed some of them when she and I were quizzing. She gets frustrated because she doesn’t know the answers.
I bought her a Kindle Fire to do our homework on it. I didn’t want to load homework on her iPad. (That way I can still take the iPad away when she gets in trouble.) The Kindle will be just for homework only.
One of the apps I found for it is a flash card app. I love it. I put it on my computer too and I made flash cards sets for her Sight Words and for her Speech Therapy. You can add sounds to it. We’re blocking off time every night to sit down and work on it. So far it seems to be working. She would rather do the flash cards on the computer because it talks too.
Of course, I bought the stylus to go with it too. I got a handwriting app for practicing that as well. Mrs. Meade sent home a note that she needs to be working on handwriting too.
It’s like homework overload in Kindergarten. Life in the Mize house has changed significantly. We used to relax when she got home from daycare. No relaxing now.
Erin starts her speech therapy today. I’m more nervous about it than she is. I explained it as best I could this morning considering I don’t really know what they do exactly.
It’s at Texas Children’s Hospital in the Woodlands so I know we’re in great hands. The only thing Erin worried about was whether it was a boy or girl teaching her. She said she didn’t want a boy. Whew, we got a chick!
Hopefully we won’t have to do this all year. I’m hoping that the 45 minute sessions and work at home will do the trick. Her cognitive abilities are tremendous, she just needs help with her sounds before she really starts reading.
More on our progress later…
The first week of Kindergarten is in the books. Erin loves it so far. I am amazed at all she has learned in just one week. They have 5 Kindergarten Rules and asked us to go over them with them at home. I grabbed the sheet today to read them off thinking it was something new and Erin recited them verbatim!
The hardest part for her is in the morning. They have the entrance doors then double locked doors for the kids to go thru. After the 3rd day of school they do not allow parents back behind the locked doors unless you sign in first and have had the background check. (Yes, I’ve done mine. Did it the minute they told me I needed it! Over-achiever!)
Erin’s classroom is on the first hall to the left and 2nd room. I knew we were going to have a problem after the 2nd day. She was too excited and not paying attention to which way we were going even though I explained to her that we have to pay attention and get to the right class.
On Thursday Tommy said it was a total meltdown. He got to the double doors and was denied. He didn’t have his ID with him so they couldn’t let him back. Luckily there are teachers all over the place in the mornings so one of them walked her back, but not before there were a bunch of tears.
Friday when I took her it wasn’t much better. But as I handed her to the teacher I told her she needed to lead the way and show the teacher where her room was. Hopefully she’s getting it. Today Tommy said she walked with a teacher but never looked back at him. It made both of us feel good to know that she likes school and feels safe and comfortable there.
Our area has grown up so much that there are 12 K-garten classes at the neighborhood school. The classes were fuller than the school likes so they added a teacher. To make up her class, they are taking volunteers to leave the class you’re in to join the new class. The email said that if they don’t get a volunteer from each class then they are going to draw names from the later registered students. Luckily we registered her early so I think we’re safe. She seems to be adjusting well and I don’t want to mess up a good thing. Pray for us! (The Kindergarten class at this one little school is probably bigger than my graduating class! Conroe ISD is just huge!)
Well, we’ve had our first week of school. Erin loves it.
On Monday, August 24, 2015 we started school. We waited for Luke and Jake to come over because they were going to use our gate. We all walked in the super secret passageway in the trees and ended up on the sidewalk right by the school. The boys got a kick out of that.
Of course I took a thousand pictures of the morning. I made the kids stop outside the school so I could snap one of the three of them. They actually cooperated.
Once we got inside Jake lead the way. Erin was following right behind and passed up her hallway. We were trying to get her to learn the way by herself because they only allow the parents to walk the kids back the first 3 days of school.
We found her room and she went immediately to her spot. We unloaded her backpack and put it on the chair. Mrs. Meade had put out a page to color and a little container of Play-Doh. Tommy helped her get her colors out and she went to town coloring. She gave Tommy a hug and a kiss and then it was my turn. We started to walk away and she said, “wait, one more huggie!” I thought it might start to get bad at that point but she really only wanted one more hug. We did a group hug and she sat back down. Mrs. Meade had slid over in that direction and distracted Erin a little while we left.
People told me they thought I would cry but I wasn’t even close to tears. She was so eager and happy that I was elated to see her there.
We’re back from Disney and totally exhausted. We had the best time ever! A big shout out to our “tour guide” Craig White. He has been to Disney more times that I can count and he knew exactly what to do and where to go and when to be there. Annabel is almost 4 so her and Erin were into the same things. (Please read that as Princesses…all the Princesses…)
Erin did okay on the flight there because it was so early. She was excited and patient and pretty much sat still and watched her iPad. The plane ride home was a little different. We were in the next to the last row and seemed like we sat for 45 minutes before the plane took off. She just wasn’t ready to sit still and was fighting going to sleep. It was a long 2 hours back.
We got there and used the Disney Magical Express for our luggage. They mailed luggage tags to us before we left. We put them on and checked our bags in Houston. We didn’t see them again until we got to the hotel. They magically show up in your room. Disney has it down too. They send you a text when your room is ready and you just use your Magic Band (aka – room key and wallet) for the door. Our room was ready before we got on the bus to the resort so when we got there we just went straight up to our room. The room itself was nice but pretty small. I guess at Disney they know you’re not going to be in the room for very long.
We played in the pool Sunday afternoon and then hit up Chef Mickey’s. It’s a restaurant in the Contemporary resort that has all the classic characters. They each come around to your table while you eat. We saw – Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy and Pluto while we were there. Erin got her autograph and picture with all of them.
The next 2 days were the Magic Kingdom. We opted to go there both days rather than park hop. Most of what we wanted to do at Disney were there and we built in time for a nap mid-day. We would go back to the resort to lay down after lunch. Craig took care of all our FastPasses so we didn’t have to wait in line for the big rides. Erin loved the roller coasters. The Seven Dwarf’s Mine Train ride was a pretty big roller coaster. We thought she might get scared on it but in typical Erin fashion she was begging to do it again when we got off!
I think one of the highlights of the trip for me was Breakfast with the Princesses. It was amazing. We got into the park an hour before it opened and headed straight to Cinderella’s castle. We met Cinderella downstairs and then went upstairs for breakfast. While we were eating each of the Princesses came out and we got autographs and pictures with Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Jasmine and Aerial. It was great. Erin wore her Belle costume and her Little Mermaid necklace and they all commented on them. She was beyond excited.
What trip with Erin would be complete without a meet and greet with Anna and Elsa? So we used one of our FastPasses for the line with them. We got to walk thru and they took pictures and autographs with the girls. We also did a story time thing with Belle and she did the same thing.
I was a sucker and bought the Magical Memory Maker package from Disney. They scan your Magic Band after their photographers take your picture and they go directly to your account. We got a ton of pictures with the Princesses and in front of Cinderella’s castle. They take them on some of the rides too and you never even see the camera or scan your band. It just knows you by some sensor in your band. It’s crazy. Tommy and I got plenty of good pictures but they take the professional looking ones and this way all 3 of use could be in pictures together! I would do it again in a heartbeat.
It was hot while we were there but the temp here had been 100+ for several weeks. We got to Disney and it was in the low 90’s. It felt like a relief! The humidity is the same so we were used to it.
I wasn’t the only sucker on the trip. Tommy gave into Erin’s every whim in the gift shops. She came home with 3 new stuffed animals. 4 bracelets and 8 necklaces. I also bought a t-shirt and visor for myself. I never saw anyone in the visor I bought. That either means it’s really, really uncool or I’m a trendsetter.
Tommy also thought I was crazy to buy a new umbrella fold down stroller. It turned out to have paid for itself many times over. You can rent them at Disney but we needed it at both airports and walking around the resorts. It was a lifesaver and by the end of the trip, I had actually learned how to break it down and put it back up.
All in all a fantastic trip and one that we will have a hard time topping. Our plan is to do a Disney trip every other year mixed with a trip to Destin. Florida will continue to get our vacation money one way or the other for years to come…
