Realization

I was looking at the calendar this morning and realized that Chloe goes back to school the Thursday after we get back from vacation. We leave in about 2 weeks, we'll be gone for two weeks and then she's back to school that Thursday. Conflicting emotions abound. I've loved the schedule this year but we went on vacation a lot earlier last year. So I think I need a pro/con list.

Pros
1.Getting up at a ridiculously early hour (for the Buttons) was rough but we got through it.
2.The school was tougher academically than her last school and was good for her.
3. The parents of this school are *really* involved.
4. The overall quality of everything was a notch above her last school (which was also very highly rated).
5. Keeping Chloe in the same school is good for her because change is difficult.

Cons
1. Getting up early affected week night things like Life Group. And life in general.
2. During most of the year she had more than an hour of homework every night even though her teacher said they would have no more than 20 minutes of homework a night plus reading. I don't know of a kid that can rainbow write (every letter of every word has to be in a different color) all 20 spelling words in 20 minutes, plus math homework, plus grammar homework.
3. Her teacher was a nice person but I didn't like her attitude toward Chloe, academically speaking. Apparently Chloe's artsy-ness bothered her so when I recieved communication from her it was typically negative. Which affected Chloe's report card. How? Because grades around here are subjective. It just makes me too angry so I need to stop.

Sigh. I haven't been completely happy with any school that any of my kids have gone to. Well, Beech High School was a good school for Amanda. I was happy with that but we moved. It's difficult for Travis and I because we were both teacher's pets. Our teachers constantly heaped praise and attention on us so to have teachers that are indifferent or negative towards my kids is really hard. I guess we were spoiled. I grew up in private school and he did too until the 4th grade, I think. Home schooling is out of the question. I'm not physically able to take that on (I've been sick since the day Chloe got out of school) and we're not financially prepared for it either. So, we'll do what we always do. We'll pray about it and figure it out. Ultimately God knows what Chloe needs better than I do. I mean, it's really a miracle that she got into this school anyway. There are plenty of kids that apply year after year and don't get in. I'm really just not ready for her to be in school again. Of course, I'll be rejoicing when she gets that 3 week break in October, right?

Catch-Up

This season is a whirlwind whether or not you intend to do anything. Seriously, busy. Last weekend was the worship arts concert that I was in. The choir didn't really sing much but we were on stage the whole time since it takes a long time to get a choir in place. And even though we didn't sing much it was really nice to be part of the whole thing. I was really impressed with the quality of music from the band and the amazing stuff that the dancers did. There were back flips and front flips and breakdance-looking-gymnastic-type-stuff. Overall it was really cool- I'm sad Travis missed it.

We had snow on Thursday! Which is where I got the new blog header. The girls and I had so much fun and it was that really wet, packing snow that is perfect for snowballs and snowmen. Chloe and Halle made me laugh because they'd make a snowball and throw it at each other but never hit the intended target. Chloe finally just pressed the snowball on Halle's back. Here are some pictures of the snow. Yes, my Thanksgiving pumpkin is still on my front step. I didn't get any pictures of the kiddos because the batteries died but you can see how much we got. I wish I'd had a sled. I did see deer tracks all over our backyard- super cool. Since I don't do any heavy duty gardening, I'm thinking of feeding them.

Travis has been sick for a week and we found out yesterday it's walking pneumonia. I had a temporary freak out feeling when he told me but it's called walking pneumonia for a reason. I'm not sure if I've ever seen Travis this sick for this long. He will have missed a week of work and with the week he took off for my grandma's funeral, I'm wondering if there will be any vacations this year.

Chloe had her school Christmas program last night. This is the first school that has had a Christmas program. I didn't take the video camera thinking that it would be hard to find a good spot to film. But as it turns out Amanda took a message from Chloe's school and mixed it up in such a way that we were 50 minutes early for the show- so we got a front row seat. Travis couldn't go and I was bummed but I remembered that my camera has a video feature and we purchased a 4 gig CF card for it this past weekend so I was able to record some of it- in 30 second intervals. Which you'll find below. It's pretty pixelized but hopefully Travis can pick Chloe out of the crowd. You can see her head right between the Asian girl and Indian boy on the front row. She was very excited about the whole thing and proved it by posing for the camera.

Ah, we're in the silly picture taking days- I'm so excited!

In other news we were able to refinance our house and signed the papers on that this past Monday. I have to admit that I've wondered if we really made a good choice buying this house. When we were buying it and expressed doubt, people would say "its in Franklin" as though that's the end all in buying destinations. I know in Middle TN there's the attitude that everything in Franklin is made with gold- but you've seen my house. Anyway, it did appraise and we're actually able to take some equity out (we had equity? who knew?) and put in new windows and some other yet to be determined improvements. I'm writing a check to the window guy tomorrow for 7 energy efficient windows! That's the whole house. They should be done by the middle of January, although I think rain could push it back to the beginning of February. I hope it's sooner though because I'm cold. I promised pictures of the house in my last post but I've only got this one.

See anything missing? Does this ring a bell?

I thought I'd taken more pictures of the window with the shutters so you'd probably only notice if you've been to my house. When I was painting the wood around the window, I couldn't leave the shutters unpainted because they'd be a different color. But have you ever tried to paint shutters? I finally decided that I didn't have the time and really needed a sprayer so I took them down. In the whole house there were only a couple of things that I liked and the shutters were one of those things. But in the end I think I like the look of the curtain better. It's a little less convenient but it's cute.

And lastly, we've decorated a bit around here. Amanda is crazy-excited this year and started decorating before I had a chance to. My mom gave us her Christmas village that Amanda has very fond memories of. She set that and the nativity up when we got back in town after Thanksgiving. I haven't taken pictures of the whole thing but here's a shot of my little sweeties putting the star on the top.

And that's a wrap. I'm not sure if I'll check in again before Christmas but I hope you all have a merry one.

Postponed...

I'm going to postpone Open House Tuesday this week because of a phone call I got this morning from my mother-in-law. She told me that Trav's cousins husband (so technically his cousin also but it gets confusing) was killed in a motorcycle accident. I only met him once, last summer during Flugtag . Danielle (his cousin) called and they worked all week to get us together and finally we settled on having a late breakfast at Cracker Barrell. It was the first (and only) time we would see him. He was a nice guy and in the 3 1/2 years they were married was in Iraq for a while. It's just such a shame and tragedy that I haven't been able to shake it all day. It's time like these that make me want to move back home, so that we can be part of our families lives unlike we are now. But it's a knee jerk reaction and certainly not the wise decision.

I took the girls to the park this afternoon and Travis met us after work. The girls played and then Travis watched them so I could take a walk and clear my head. It's amazing how the death of someone you don't even really know can affect you so much. I think it's probably more about the people that I do know and care about and what they're facing that is weighing so heavily on me. I want to be there and I can't be and even if I was, I don't have a relationship with Danielle. Not more than a 'good to see you, how are you' quick catch up sort of way. Anyway, I just don't feel like looking at houses tonight. I'm sure you understand. But lest this be an incredible bummy sort of post I'll leave you with this.


This is the sign that was posted on my fridge this morning. I guess I forgot to tell you all that we're teaching her Jedi mind tricks.

And the modified sign a few minutes later.

A Chloe Quote

Chloe-"I love Eric Carle books".

Amy- "Really"

Chloe- "Yeah, love 'em. This is an Eric Carle book; look at the picture".

This is her very first ever reference to her favorite author- how exciting! I think I may have a bookworm on my hands. I'm not sure which she likes more the writing or the art but either way I'm proud.

More Plant Life...

Our first sunflowers have finally bloomed! I don't know if you can tell how incredibly tall this one is but I took this picture while I was standing beside it. I think that it's at least 7 feet tall. I didn't think that this variety was supposed to get that tall, I thought it was more like 5-6 feet. But this is the one that Halle planted before vacation.

And here it is with me standing on the kids slide. See Trav grilling in the background? We had yummy basil garlic burgers harvested from the basil plants you see next to Trav.

Here's the sunflower that Chloe planted. It's the only one that sprouted out of all the seeds she planted. And I'm really surprised this one did considering that the ground it's planted in has plastic under it and really crummy soil. It seems to be doing fine though. The flower is just a bit taller than I am. I wish I could have gotten a good picture of whatever little critter was busy gathering pollen. His little legs were completely covered in the yellow stuff and it was very cute. Oh, and I noticed it just as we were pulling out of the driveway this morning. I had to put the car back in drive and pull up so that Chloe could see it and she was *very* excited. And she declared that she would be a gardener forever and ever. Oh, and on another note, the little blue flowers that I couldn't remember what they were called?They're forget-me-nots, ha! I think I rolled my eyes at myself when I figured it out.

Chloe flipped a little when she saw this butterfly yesterday. I had to kind of chase it around the plants hoping to get a good shot.

The pumpkin plant is still blooming although these are all guys. Yep, the long stems are males- bummer. The females are on short stems with little baby pumpkins at the base. I'm still really hoping that this turns out well. There are probably 50 blooms on this plant though and some of them have to be girls, right?

Stuff...

Whew! The stomach virus is behind us and thankfully nobody else got it. Although I've been fighting a sinus infection all week. It's amazing how things go from 0-60 as soon as school starts. So here's the incredible rundown.

Monday- Chloe didn't go to school because she was really, really weak and looked like a zombie. And I kind of laid around all day because I had a fever and Amanda and I watched a Gilmore girl marathon. I heard the "la-la's" in my head when I went to bed that night- alone because Travis (and Eric) is working on a huge project at work. He got home really late and he might as well have been the tooth fairy because I was out.

Tuesday- I woke Chloe up for school and she promptly started bawling- and bawling and bawling and bawling. I get her up 30 minutes before school starts, which is plenty of time except for the bawling. "I will miss you mommy. I want to stay with you mommy. I don't want to go to school". But we were running out of time so I ended up barking orders at her and we pulled out of the driveway 10 minutes later than I wanted to. We were still on time though and when I opened the van door I hugged her really tight and she fell into me and just started bawling. It's the same feeling I used to have when I worked, although I think I was the one that felt like crying everyday while she ran off to play. Later that morning, Halle and I ran 5 errands and made it back home in time to toss all of the Costco groceries at Amanda to put away while I went to get Chloe. And after I picked Chloe up and Travis got home from work we ran around to 3 more places to look for shoes and to grab Little Caesar's pizza. The big (and only real) downside to starting school in July is that there are very few school supplies out and the selection of running shoes is beyond pathetic. Chloe has worn shoes that are a bit too small all week because we can't find a pair that I feel comfortable with her running in. Tisra suggested Shoe Carnival and while I don't want to spend big $$$ on running shoes I'm going to have to if I can't find some others by this weekend. Chloe's school will be doing a mile run again at the beginning of the year and they'll train for another mile run for the end of the year so she needs some that are functional and not just cute. I was tired. We ate pizza. We went to bed.

Wednesday- School. No crying because we had Life Group but it involved friends and swimming. She got up with an almost smile. She still doesn't hurry though and I have found her lying on the bathroom floor more than once. I was still busy because I had to run Amanda to work, make two key lime pies and a tub o' baked beans for the party that night. We really had fun but I didn't swim- I conveniently had a sinus infection. I really do and I feel crummy but it was also the "dreaded-church-swimsuit thing". I should probably buy a "mom-kini". You know, all the mom's have them. Cute little tops with a skirt bottom. I wear a FL bikini, not because I look fabulous in it but because I don't want to have a white stomach. So, anyway, I didn't swim.

Oh and you should insert driving Amanda to work and switching cars with her etc. on Tues, Wed, and Thurs. Gaaa!

Today- I took Amanda to work but we left early so that we could go to the mall (awww). She found a pair of jeans that fit her perfectly and she'd been thinking about them for over a week so she knew that she must have them. She also scored a dress that was $80 (maybe) for $7 at Express- she was really, really happy. Then I picked up Chloe from school, brought the girls home and took a 15 minute nap- but I kept waking myself up snoring. Then I went *back* to Cool Springs to pick up Travis so he could leave his car for Amanda to drive herself home. And he took Chloe to orientation so I can fix dinner. I feel like I'm in a race or something.

The really nice thing about Chloe being in school so early is that I'm up earlier and have time to do lots more stuff in the morning like water my plants and run errands. But wow! This is kind of hectic.

It's Girls Day!!!

Well, I guess every day is girls day at the Button casa but today is *really* girls day because Travis isn't coming home tonight. He's felt for a little while that God wanted him to go away and pray so tonight he's headed to a lodge south of here. Of course, we're supposed to have rain, sleet and 3-6 inches of snow (we'll see) but we both agree that we're not going to let fear dictate what God is going to do. And since everything is an occasion for me, I have a mental list of 80 things I want to do tonight. I bought a Barbie movie for the girls that they're watching now and I have a few minutes to blog-yay!

It's not like I don't have time to blog, I'm just trying to direct my time and energy so that I'm more productive. I've been thinking about it for a while and see that since I mostly blog about the good, productive, happy things I do, people that don't know me well probably have a much different view of me than is real. To say that I'm not perfect is, well, um, *duh*. But there are specific things in which I consistently fail. For instance, picking my clothes up out of the bathroom floor. I don't even necessarily mean to do it *and* it drives me crazy about myself but I can't seem to get past it. I'm a terrible housekeeper, no really, I stink at it. I'm not organized and I'm constantly wondering where my time goes. I don't finish projects. I start strong and then fizzle out, usually because I get interrupted or because of a roadblock. Sooo, where to go from here? I have to go somewhere because I *need* order in my life. My kids need to do chores. I'm constantly picking up after them only to have them destroy it in about 2 minutes. It takes focus on my part that I don't have. I've never developed it but I know I can. So four out of the five days this week I wrote down a list of things that I wanted to get done during the day. Wednesday it helped that my mentor came over so even though I felt like "poo" I cleaned the entire house. I put up the last of the Christmas decorations (it was one of those roadblock things that I'd put off) and brought out pictures that I haven't had out since we moved here. Originally I didn't have anywhere to put them but then we were loaned the piano and I have space to put some of them. I did every single thing on my list that day but didn't finish my list for the rest of them. But I'm not beating myself up because I can't help it if I'm interrupted or not feeling well, etc. I'm going to have a plan but not beat myself up if I can't finish it. And I'm also going to schedule time with my kids and time for myself. If I spend hours doing things around the house I deserve some time to unwind and I refuse to feel guilty about it. The whole point is order and balance- not to go crazy in the other direction.

So tonight I want to plant some basil and Italian parsley in little pots- I'm not planting all of those seeds though because I don't need 50 of each plant so if anybody wants some just let me know. I haven't had the gardening bug yet this year and it concerned me a bit but I really want to start planting things now. I'm still not at the point that I can rent a tiller and do an entire garden but I really do like container gardening. You don't have to worry about weeds and things like that. I found some really nice sized galvanized buckets/planter thingy's at Lowe's for about $15. It was in the paint section I think so I don't know what they're actually supposed to be for but they look like perfect planters- with some drainage holes knocked in them of course. I wanted to pick up some oriental poppies tonight (beautiful and they'd make great models for paintings) but I read on the package that they bloom *one year* after planting. I think that I'm a pretty good sport about waiting for things to bloom since I plant from seed most of the time but I'm not that good of a sport.

And in a little note about my sweet little Chloe...

Isn't it wonderful when your kids do something completely out of the ordinary and your close friends are there to witness it? Or not. Last night we met the Kelso's at Chick-Fil-A for dinner. Well, the grown ups were all talking and the kids were in the play area (brilliant, no?) when I saw Chloe looking at a little boy with a really big scowl. Then I saw her turn around and start *punching* another little boy and then the first little boy and then the second little boy and then the first little boy and she were punching each other! I said, "Travis, she's punching them!". So he went inside and did the Dad, "hey, what's going on!?!" thing and Chloe started talking and crying and the boys scattered. Apparently, the boys were being mean to her and saying that they were going to pull her hair, etc. And as Kris put it, "she decided her best defense was a good offense". So my sweet little Chloe that *everybody* always loves, decided to take on two boys at once. I didn't know she had it in her but I definitely saw myself in that play area. Of course, Travis told her to come to us next time and he stayed in the play area for the rest of the night. Is it bad to say I was impressed though? No, I'm never going to tell her it's OK to beat people up...

It was really nice to see the Kelso's too. Those boys are completely adorable.

I recently purchased some fabric for my new nieces fabric cubes. Angie's going with pink and green but JoAnn's didn't have a decent green in the squares I was buying. So I want to go to the quilting store in downtown Franklin but I've either been feeling crummy or the weather has not been conducive to walking outside. Tomorrow is probably out because of snow but I'm getting there next week- I'll have to put it on my to do list. I'm just hoping that have better/cuter fabric than what I find at JoAnn's.

The girls movie is over so it's time to get crackin' on planting and whatever else I plan to do tonight. I should probably start by feeding them dinner...

A Moment in the Button Life

Chloe- "Hey Mom, what if Jesus called that short dude zucchini?"
Amy- (shocked in a humorous sort of way) "Did you just say, 'what if Jesus called that short dude zucchini?'
Chloe- "Yeah. Then we would laugh our heads off!"

My daughter is, of course, referring to Zaccheus as the "short dude". It really sounded like something I would say. I guess it was ridiculous to think that our sense of humor wouldn't rub off on her. I should really watch what I say in front of the little parrot.

I Forgot To Add...

to the preceding post, a funny little anecdote.

About a week and a half ago I took the girls for a walk. We don't walk in our neighborhood because, well, it's kind of scary so we walk in the very fancy neighborhood across the street. (Besides those houses are much nicer to look at *and* they have a couple "lakes".) So as we were walking Chloe said something about a boy named Kevin and that she was "definitely" marrying him. And I asked "so you've decided to not marry Grant"? To which she replied, "nuh, uh, no way! I won't even be his SECOND wife"!

Hmmm, his second wife? So I wondered if that meant his second wife, like he has two at a time or the more obvious definition of a second wife. And where in the world would she get that? But I thought I'd add a sweet photo from when she *was* going to marry Grant- at the ripe old age of 4.

Chloe and Stuff

Chloe's teacher sent home a note on Wednesday that said the school was having an award ceremony and that Chloe was receiving an award and that we were invited to attend. So Travis went (I couldn't make it) and Chloe was awarded a certificate for perseverance. She was so excited! Now, it's tempting for the cynical Amy to think, "Hmmm, what better way to appease a ticked off Mommy than to give her kid an award." But Chloe has had a rough year and she has persevered and I think she totally deserves this.

On a different note- last weekend we went out to the Natchez Trace with the Fadely's and took pictures. Is it any wonder I love fall so much? Or that I love living in Franklin? The parkway is only about 8 miles from our house- love, love, love it!

Happy Birthday Cocoa Puff!

How can it possibly be 6 years since Chloe was born? I woke up this morning with Halle lying next to me (since she woke up at 6-ish and I didn't feel like getting up) and Chloe burst through the door to say good morning- I don't think she remembered it was her birthday. But I do remember that day six years ago and how it went terribly wrong but by God's grace we came out of it just fine. I couldn't imagine life without Chloe and am so incredibly thankful for her.

Actually, as I'm writing this she's sitting next to me and asking me to write about Amanda too- about how she's special and gives Chloe hugs and puts up her hair. What a sweet girl!

We had a great weekend with my parents in town. I showed them all around Franklin and we had a cookout -of sorts, since it rained- and a little party for Chloe. We had to reschedule her actual party because of a stomach bug that passed through the house- ick. Then we spent the day (today) with the Fadely's and had super-yummy cupcakes with real buttercreme frosting, mmmm. I took my camera and forgot to take pictures of the fun though.


So it looks like despite our best efforts Chloe's birthday, as with a couple of the other Button girls, will be a week long celebration. We're putting the kabosh on that though because we're setting them up for a life full of disappointment when they get to real life- or for a lifetime of frustration and empty bank accounts for their future husbands. But for now we're celebrating with a game of "Dora" themed Candyland- this should be fun.

Daisy, Daisy

There is an old song that goes: (Imagine it sung by Veggie Tales characters)

Daisy, Daisy give me your answer do
I'm half crazy over my love for you
It won't be a stylish marriage
I can't afford a carriage
But you'll look sweet upon the seat
Of a bicycle built for two

Halle's version: (sung at the top of her lungs)

AISY, AISY gimme do
I HAF CWAZY
(unintelligible mumbo jumbo) mawiage
(ditto) cawiage
bicycle fow two

AISY, AISY, etc, INFINITY!!!

It's so cute and when she started singing aisy, aisy, I sort of recognized it but couldn't figure out where she got it until we listened to a Veggie Tales CD in the van. And she sings it constantly throughout the day- which means it's stuck in my head too. On the upside she seems to have pretty good pitch for a two year old, maybe she'll be my singer.