A new school year

All three kids are now in school. Everyone had a great first day despite a few bumps in the road. Lindsay woke up with a bloody nose. She was also too nervous to eat breakfast. She has practically grown up at Hillcrest PDS but being there all day is something new. There were no tears shed as we parted ways. She and seven of her Kindergarten classmates were stung by bees at recess. She was a trooper! She didn't even cry. I stopped by the school, gave her a Benadryl and she ran back to class. She was very proud to announce to me that she went to school for the first time, visited the school nurse for the first time and got her first bee sting all in the same day.

Evan and Drew are old pros. We got to school and they were off to their classrooms without much ado. Drew didn't even say goodbye. Anyone surprised? Of course not. Today was much calmer. I've been very anxious the last two days. I'm trying to relax. I rush to get my errands done forgetting that I have all day to do them. I've been home for the last 10 years with children. It's hard to believe we are in another season of life with our kids. The house is so quiet. The house stays clean all day. This only child is happy to have some peace and quiet. I miss the kids. I'm glad to see them at three. Our newest challenge: three kids trying to tell me about their day at the same time while I drive them home from school. We are going to have to draw straws to see who gets to talk first.

On another note, Annie opens in less than 48 hours! Rehearsals have ruled our lives. Lindsay is still really enjoying performing. If she didn't love it, I would have pulled her out long ago. I'm not impressed with the way the actors are handled. I think somewhere along the way, the director has forgotten that she is dealing with lots of little girls who have just started school. As I write this, the boys are asleep in bed and Lindsay is still at the theatre. Shame on them!

Happy Graduation/Anniversary

We had to say goodbye to the beloved Trooper. Mark got it the summer we got married. He loved that car. The car had no love left to give. After lots of looking and teetering back and forth, we settled on this:
It's a "tight ride" as Evan says. I think Mark is going to learn to love it as much as he loved the Trooper. I am a little worried that he is going to look for a few accessories at the truck stop. I heard something about mud flaps with naked women on them. So if you see him at a the Flying J, please don't let him buy anything!

My love...

Yesterday was our anniversary. Not a day goes by that I don't realize how lucky I am to have found Regina and that I get to spend my life with her. So, it's only too bad I didn't see our friend's blog post yesterday with this killer music video, because, well...

I love you, Regina!!!



(if you'd like to know what this song is about, you might want to check out our friend's blog who is wrapping up a summer in Africa working on her Ph.D. dissertation)

Physics Master

He did it! Mark is officially out of graduate school. He is the proud owner of a Master of Science in Physics degree. The monkey has been lifted off of his back! We are mighty proud of him. If you are interesting in reading his thesis, An SEGF of the Rh(001) surface, I'm sure he would be willing to share it with you. Just be prepared to not understand a word that you are reading. At least I didn't. There are words and symbols I'd never seen before. Now he's got to put up with us calling him Master! I think he kind of likes it though.

Little girls are not little boys (duh)

In the last five years, I've learned girls are so different from little boys. I know I'll never figure boys out. They think hitting each other is fun. They think anything associated with the bathroom is funny. They can watch endless sports on TV and even more puzzling they listen to games on the radio. One thing I love about boys is that they can be furious about something and in an instant forget about it and move on. As a mom of two boys, I've learned some things like the difference between baseball cleats and soccer cleats. I also know now that a cup isn't just something you drink out of or measure flour with to make chocolate chip cookies.

Though there are many joys associated with having boys, I LOVE having a daughter. Lindsay and I went to a dance shop to buy Jazz shoes last week. I felt so out of place. We were surrounded by pink things, leotards, tights, feathers, tutus. Lindsay was in heaven! She can hold her own around boys. She's tough. But I got to see another side of her. She was in her element. She surprised us all when she wanted to audition for Annie because she had to sing alone in front of a crowd. She overcame her shyness because this was something she really wanted to do.

Little girls are full of hugs. That's the best part. Painting nails, brushing hair and dressing in cute clothes are icing on the cake. Life is SO good.

Up, Up and Away!

The annual family trek to the beach was abbreviated this year. We were fortunate to be able to go at all. Lindsay is going to make her acting debut as an orphan in the Waco Civic Theatre's production of ANNIE later this month. She had mandatory rehersals 3 of the 4 days we were to be at the beach. We left for Port Aransas around 9:30 p.m. Friday. We got into our condo around 2:45 a.m. We spent all day enjoying the sun with family. I am amazed at the size of the M family, 23 of us! The kids really have a tight bond after seeing each other so much during the summer. Uncle David took us up in a two seater airplane. The kids LOVED it! The beach looks so cool from up high! I thought Lindsay might chicken out but she didn't!We headed back to Waco by 8 a.m Sunday morning to get Lindsay back for a 2:00 rehersal.

Big Chess

Drew and Evan love to play chess. They have been begging to play at Baylor all summer. We had to figure out who had the keys to unlock the pieces. By the time we got all the gigantic pieces in place, we are all sweating. Playing giant chess allowed the boys to use both brain and brawn. Evan decided that he liked playing on the computer better.