Night in the Life of the James Gang

9:15pm I let the children fall asleep in my bed - it's late... I don't want to deal with the normal bedtime production. This way, they are asleep in 5 minutes.

10:45pm After doing some online shopping, I retire to bed and move Kyra to her own room. Henry's bed is like a bunk bed and I'm not interested in heaving him up, so I decide to let him sleep with me.

11:30pm I've been kicked about 5 times while watching TVLand... I debate getting out of bed & moving the Boy, but I am too lazy to do so. I decide it wont be that bad.

Every Hour on the Hour I am kicked by the Boy.

3:30am I am awoken by the Girl - tapping repeatedly on my arm... she would like to sleep with me. I put her between the Boy and I.

4:30am Boy has been kicking Girl and I have attempted to stop him... I lose what's left of my patience and move the Boy to his own bed. He is not happy and attempts to throw a hissy fit, but luckily is still half asleep. He falls back to sleep in his own bed. I rejoice on my way back to my own bed.

5;15am I lie awake for 45 minutes and decide I am mad at Brad... who is asleep on the couch downstairs because our dog slipped a disc in his back & neck. Brad opted to sleep downstairs with the Dog so he wouldn't be alone.... I envy both the Dog & Brad.

7:05am The Puppy wakes up... I take him downstairs & pass Brad asleep on the couch... as I step outside in 40 degrees to let the dogs out, I think about kicking Brad...

Thanksgiving & Snow? No...

We had another great Thanksgiving hosting the Drum family at our house - 35 or so family members came to our house for dinner (I think we were missing 3 people from the entire family). It was a very nice time.

Kyra wanted to show off her new outfit, which if I do say so myself, is friggin ADORABLE!!!


We normally have better luck at a family photo on Thanksgiving, but not so much this year...


This morning, we headed out for more Christmas decorations and at 8am, it was rather chilly so the kids wanted to wear their new hats/gloves...



But by noon? It was rather warm out!!! Brad was assembling outdoor Christmas decorations in a t-shirt! Oh well - maybe it will snow some day!

Ode to School Four

Two weeks ago I wrote a very difficult letter. After much deliberation, Brad and I decided to remove Kyra from her current daycare. School 4 has been an important part of our lives for the last 3 years. Kyra was only 6 months old when we moved her there. The daycare however, is changing. A lot. Come January 1, 2010, her teachers will change, her classroom will change, heck even her school building will change. Half the kids in her class have already left. It was a hard letter to write - one I couldn't even deliver myself.

Then today, Brad sent the director and her manager an email and it made me even more sad. We informed them that, despite the requirement to give 30 day notice for withdrawal (so ours was up December 4), tomorrow would be Kyra's last day at School Four. Ever.

You see, in the last 2 weeks, the school has received 2 bomb threats.... they've received a total of 3 bomb threats over the last 4 months. What kind of psycho nut job would threaten to bomb a daycare?? I can't imagine. In my head, I know it couldn't be possible - that a parent is upset about losing their subsidy or a teacher is upset about losing their job (over half of them did)... but after the 3rd threat, we just weren't willing to take that risk anymore.

This just makes me so sad. I wont even get to say goodbye to some of Kyra's friends or the teachers she once spoke about daily. I'm sure she'll probably never even remember Ms. Michelle, Ms. Crystal, Ms. Kristen, Ms. Katie, Ms. Kim, Ms. Candi, Ms. Tamara or Ms. Jenna... but these woman loved my daughter every day and took care of her as if she were their own... teaching her so many new things. I'll remember them... I'll always remember them.

Henry has been gone from School 4 for 2 years now and when we told him that we were moving Kyra, he said, "But when will I get to see Ms. Tamara again?"

I'll remember her the most. I'll remember how excited she was when she called to tell me that at age 4, Henry was reading books to her class. I'll remember how excited she was when Kyra moved in to her class... how thankful she was when we recognized her birthday... and I'll remember that awful time in May 2007 - when she set aside her personal pain and tremendous grief and put a smile on her face and came to work every day so that my son and his classmates wouldn't worry... so that they would have stability.

Yes, I'll remember them all.

The Leaf Pile

Today's Blog has been written by Henry & Kyra James:



Henry: There was a LOT of leaves in the front yard but not in the back. It was the best time of our whole lives. We raked, jumped, cleaned up after we were done. We used our hands, to put the leaves in the bags and made a pile so we could jump in them.


Kyra: We love you because we put our things away and our dad said that we are good and we get to have some money. And then we jumped in it. Now we are in the house and that is it!


Henry: It was very fun. We got COVERED in leaves! I even covered Kyra! She covered me too! After that, then we started to clean up. It was still very fun but there was lots of leaves. And that is the end of the story that happened to us this afternoon.

Sunny Days Chasing the Clouds Away!

So since it has been raining for the last 24+ hours straight, I thought I'd post a few pics taken just 3 days ago - when it was bright Carolina blue sunshine and temps over 70 degrees!

Here the kids are helping Brad find dog poo in the yard - oddly, they rather enjoy this chore!


Come on - admit it - this child is too cute for words!


Have I mentioned that Kyra knows how to swing? She needs a push to start off, but she has mastered the mechanics of swinging!


This child was beyond excited to wear shorts & a tshirt, let me tell you... they have been put away once again though...

Trick or Treat

Another Halloween - one we've been waiting for... if Kyra were to ask me one more time when she could go trick or treating, I might have lost my mind! And this from a child who I thought had the flu - turned out to be a virus which she in turn gave to me and I basically lost the majority of my voice yesterday. Honestly, I think the family liked that. Anyway, here are some pictures from our fun time.

My favorite Cheerleader & Indiana Jones...


Yes, sadly, the 80s rocker? Is my husband, who I might add, WANTED to dress up and CHOSE this!


No costume for Mommy!



Did I mention he purchased a heinous tattoo for his bicep??


And we are off...


Trick or Treating with the Neighbors...


Getting candy from a Witch Doctor - Henry actually 'got' her costume too!


Speaking of Henry, I had my first parent/teacher conference for 1st grade on Friday. His teacher told me I should start researching "Gifted Children" and that he was like a teacher's assistant because she could put him into small groups with children who weren't as smart as him, and he helped them without making them feel less smart. She was like "Um, not really sure what else to talk about?" I remain totally proud of that Boy!

This Girl? Totally Rules!!!

Love her!!!

Happy 10th Anniversary to Me!

So 10 years ago on October 16, 1999 Brad and I were married. I had to scan this picture in because they didn't have digital cameras then! HA - The horror!!!


We sent the kiddies to my in-laws and spent the weekend in Savannah, Ga. We had a lot of fun, despite the very cold temperature! 10 degrees colder than normal - yuck!

Here we are at the Isiah Davenport House.


OK, I love Paula, but no way am I standing in line to be told what time to come back to eat! There were people in line at 9.30 in the morning! Craziness - this picture will have to do... I looked in the windows though - didn't see her or either son!


River Street at 9:30am - no one is there which is great, but oddly, only stores open are candy stores! Brad rediscovered his love of peanut brittle and I attempted to buy the kids caramel apples, but they did NOT travel well!


Yes, I spent my anniversary weekend at a Train Museum - do not ask me why!



This was my favorite part of the weekend - a horse drawn carriage ride around the city! Thankfully, we had wine and blankets!!


We've had a great 10 years!!

New Teeth & Blue Tongues

We've had a very busy week here... Henry FINALLY lost his very first tooth! He already has 2 adult teeth growing in on the bottom and just a week or so ago, the baby teeth in front were not loose AT ALL! I actually made an appointment with the dentist to pull the baby teeth because the adult teeth had grown in so far. Guess I'll be canceling that appointment.

This tooth seemed like it became loose over night & then stayed loose FOREVER! He would not let anyone near it... which is kind of good because the thought of pulling it out made me want to hurl. I tried to bribe a few teachers at school to do it, but he wouldn't hear of it.


On Wednesday (October 7) he was fiddling with it at After School - using his tongue - and it just fell out. He was BEYOND excited!!! I think I'll always remember this because I was stuck at work until 9pm that night. I had to hear all about the tooth over the phone and it broke my heart. The tooth fairy was pretty generous though - $3... likely due to guilt!


On Saturday, Kyra and I had a total girl day. I raced to get her to gymnastics at 10am, only to discover that it ended last week... so we went and had our toes & nails painted... she chose orange as you can see below.


Then we met Kyra's best bud Sydney & her mom for lunch before heading to Disney on Ice. I was not prepared for the total chill in the arena due to the ice and if that wasn't enough, could not understand the fascination with the Snow Cone... I'm pretty sure it had something to do with the $15 Tinkerbell mug it came in! The girls rather enjoyed the color it turned their tongues too!


Here's a few pics from the show...




In other news - Henry had his first flag football game and sadly lost by a touch down. I'm told that all the boys took the defeat well EXCEPT for Henry! The kid has a serious competitive streak!!! No idea where he gets that from...

Spirit Week

This week is Spirit Week at Kyra's school. On Tuesday, it was Sports Day. On Wednesday it was Pajama Day. And yesterday? 80s Day! Check out the outfit I was able to piece together - complete with the side pony tail and fishnet stockings under a tutu!


Brad tried to teach her "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" but she kept asking "What about boys?" Also? She was the only child who had 80s spirit that day!

Here's another little man who has lots of spirit - the Spikesters!!

Are You Ready for More Football??

Brad and Henry are about to OD on Football. Two weeks ago it was a Panthers pre season game (which the Panthers lost)... this past weekend, they went up to Boone for their first of 3 ASU home games.

They were ready to go! All decked out in Black, White & Gold to include the car!!



Sadly, ASU lost...

Then the next day, my friend offered up his season opener Panther's tickets to Henry and Brad once again... sadly, the Panthers lost again. BUT - Henry positively LOVED getting his entire face painted!



So what did Kyra and I do while the men were watching all of this football? Well we shopped of course, got our nails done, and last Saturday, attended Sydney's birthday party. Kyra chose to paint a squirrel and she painted the entire thing RED!


The ice cream cake was a hit...



I really tried to get a good pic of these two, but didn't have my camera out when they were hugging, so sadly, this is the best I could do!

No football this weekend though - thank goodness - I miss my son! Oh wait and Brad too!!