A song by Sibley

Today I was doing some laundry and Sibley was in the next room with the door open. She was playing dress up and was looking for something. At our house we like to make up songs a lot. Some of you might recall the Todd song from earlier this year. At any rate, she didn't know I could hear her and I heard her sing these words (to the tune of Hot Cross Buns):

Where is it?
Where is it?
I'm so glad that Daddy's home,
Where is it?

I thought it was really sweet and wanted to share. We are all so glad to have him home. One day right after he left I found Skyler in his office, holding his picture and sobbing. She is such a Daddy's girl - always has been. I will upload some pictures from his trip. He said the town reminded him a lot of Wetumpka. It had a river and a quaint old downtown. He took a picture of the first Sentry building because it reminded him so much of the Elmore County Courthouse. He even got to see some Civil War reenactors do a canon shot demonstration. This brings up the two main differences I see between Stevens Point, Wisconsin and Wetumpka, Alabama. In Alabama the Civil War soldiers would have been in grey not blue, and the deer would have been on someone's wall or in their freezer as opposed to wandering leisurely through town without a care in the world.

Hip Hip Hooray! Bryant comes home today!

The true story of a very brave and selfless woman -

There recently was the death of a 98-year-old lady named Irena Sendler.

During WWII, Irena got permission to work in the Warsaw Ghetto as a Plumbing/Sewer specialist.

She had an ulterior motive...

She KNEW what the Nazis plans were for the Jews (being German).

Irena smuggled infants out in the bottom of her tool box she carried, and she also carried in the back of her truck a Burlap sack (for larger kids).

She also had a dog in the back that she trained to bark when the Nazi soldiers let her in and out of the ghetto.

The soldiers, of course, wanted nothing to do with the dog, and the barking covered the kids'/infants' noises.

During her time and course of doing this, she managed to smuggle out and save 2500 kids/infants.

She was caught, and the Nazis broke both her legs and arms and beat her severely.

Irena kept a record of the names of all the kids she smuggled out and kept them in a glass jar, buried under a tree in her back yard.

After the war, she tried to locate any parents that may have survived it and reunite the families.

Most, of course, had been gassed.

Those kids she helped were placed into foster family homes or adopted.

Last year Irena was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize....

She lost.
Al Gore won for doing a slide show on Global Warming.

Breaking news

All of the Wal-Marts across Alabama sold out of ammunition as of
> yesterday. A Walmart spokesman said " We are trying to restock as quickly as
> possible but we are also selling out of most firearms as well; even slingshots
> and BB guns are selling at a record pace."
> A reliable source said that one of the purchasers commented that while
> Russia may have invaded Georgia, "they sure as hell ain't gonna find
> it so easy to march into Alabama."

My sister, Jenny, sent this to me and I thought it was hilarious. Just wanted to share.

How bout' this weather we're havin'?

I woke up this morning to the pitter-patter of rain on the roof and the sound of gently rolling thunder. And yesterday it was so humid. I love this weather. It reminds me so much of home. Yesterday Sibley and I were outside and we agreed that it felt like Alabama out there. The best part is that the rain brings the temperature down about 30 degrees! It gets me excited for fall. I even went and bought some blue jeans. And it makes me feel closer to home, since the South is getting rain from the remnants of Fay right now. On a sidenote, Sibley fell asleep at 7:45 yesterday evening and is still sleeping! The rain must make her sleepy.

Happy Birthday Skyler!

I can't believe our Skyler is ten years old. Skyler, we love you and are so proud to be your family. You are a beautiful girl, inside and out.

Here she is blowing out her candles at Cheesecake Factory! And many more........
After lunch, we did a little shopping. Then we went to a big water party at our neighborhood park. The girls had the best time on the water slides. Then, since they were so muddy from the park, they decided to take a little dip in the swimming pool. It was a marathon birthday. We were all worn slap out. We slept for 12 hours straight.

And Happy Birthday to you too, Logan Reid! Only very special kids are born on August 23rd!

Just when I thought I was getting old...

Inflation! Can y'all believe school lunch is now $2.50 a day? That's so much money. It really is cheaper to bring your own lunch to school now. I told the girls yesterday that when I was in first grade, school lunch cost $1 a day. They were amazed. So I was pondering these things and thinking about how old I must be if when I was in first grade school lunch was $1 a day, and now it is $2.50. I am certainly looking and feeling older these days. Then I checked my email today and I got one from Facebook saying, "John Emerson Enslen wants to add you as a friend." For those of y'all who don't know, that's my daddy!!! I thought it was the cutest/funniest thing ever that my daddy is on Facebook. And I wondered to myself, "Can I really be that old if my daddy is on Facebook?".

And if you think it's weird that I call my father "Daddy", then you aren't Southern because no matter how old a Southern person is they always call their father "Daddy." My daddy calls his father "Daddy" and he is 81 years old. Or is he 82? And it's not "Mom" either, it's "Mama". Just some random cultural learnings of the South, in case you were the slightest bit interested.

I finally got back on the treadmill today!

It has been almost a year exactly since I sprained my neck while substituting PE at an elementary school. As soon as I got done with physical therapy from that, we all know what happened and things went down hill from there, way down hill fast. Any of you who have seen me lately know that I have gained 30+ pounds over the past year. Sometimes lately when I walk by a window in the mall or see a picture of myself, I don't recognize myself - literally. I even have back fat rolls now. Just when I go and buy new fat clothes, I "grow" out of them. (At least I'll have some clothes to wear when I get pregnant I guess.) So I got back on the treadmill today and walked for 45 minutes. I really enjoyed it once I started. I guess I had just forgotten how much better it made me feel. I plan on adding a minute every day until I get to an hour. I can't really diet because I have to keep something on my stomach all the time with my antibiotic or else I'll throw up. Nice, huh? But I have about 6 weeks or so left on the medicine, and then I will really be able to watch what I eat and get the weight off. I hope to be back to normal at Christmas, that is if I'm not pregnant by then. I feel like I am too fat right now to even go to Yoga class, but maybe once I lose 10 pounds or so I can start going back to classes at the gym. I guess my thinking is that by telling everyone this I am acknowledging the problem, publicly committing myself to doing something about it, and telling y'all so that I will be held accountable if I'm not true to my word. I'm only thirty. I'm too young to be fat and ugly. And I just want to feel good and get my energy back again. Go me!

Another Scentsy Consultant on my Team!

Yes! I have a new addition to my Scentsy team. Gena Watts, Jeni Ennis' stepsister, in Alabama joined today. I am really excited about having someone from home on my team. If anyone there wants to have a party, let me know and I will put you in touch with her.

Movie Review

Tonight I took the girls to see Kit Kitridge: An American Girl. It was really good, a great family movie. It teaches kindness and compassion. And it wasn't always predictable, like some kids' movies. I was actually surprised at some of the twists. I highly recommend it. I give it an A+.

My Cutie Pies

This is a picture from a calendar photo shoot the girls and I did for a friend several months ago. I was still really sick, which is pretty obvious, so I don't like it of me, but I think it is really cute of the girls.

Skyler's Birthday Party

We had to celebrate Skyler's birthday early this year because Bryant won't be here on the actual day. She wanted to have a party at the Rec Center again so that she and her friends could climb the rock wall. Everyone had a good time and Skyler racked up in the presents department - 4 new Webkinz! And the girls outdid themselves on the cupcakes. They were delicious!

p.s. I gave Sibley permission to sneak a peak at Skyler's presents while the big girls were all on the rock wall.

Lil' Chefs

Skyler and Sibley made cupcakes for Skyler's birthday. Skyler is having a Tropical Birthday theme, so she wanted tropical red flowers on her cupcakes. She and Sibley practiced on wax paper and then they were ready. They made the cake batter, iced the cupcakes, and decorated them pretty much all by themselves.

Sibley plays a song...

Bryant worked with Sibley for just a few minutes on the piano the other night and now she can play a song. I guess we're ready for some lessons. Sorry the picture is so dark.

And they're off to school!

I can't believe Sibley, my youngest, will be in 1st grade and I still don't have another baby. We really want one - all of us. The girls are always asking me when I'm going to have a brother or sister for them.

Anyway, this post is supposed to be about them starting school. I think Sibley will really like her teacher this year. She hatches chicks at Easter time and the kids get to hold them. Really sweet.

Skyler got a good teacher too. I sub for her a lot and she is really fun. The kids in her class always have a blast. I still can't believe she is starting 5th grade, has braces, and wears the same size shoe as me now. Can you? Crazy, huh?

Update: Skyler really is growing up. She got her first real babysitting job tonight. She is pretty excited.

Sibley was so worn out that she fell asleep at 5:30 p.m. We'll keep our fingers crossed that she is out for the night.

Sibley's new favorite pastime and other random thoughts...

I gave Sibley a couple of jobs to do around the house yesterday. When she was finished, she said "Now it's time for me to do what I do best!". I asked, "What's that?". She matter of factly said, "Sneakin' up on Dad in his office." Since Bryant has started this new job with Sentry, he has been spending a lot of time in his office doing training on his computer. She thinks it is so fun to sneak up on him while he's in there working. I'll take some pictures later and post them. My camera has been missing, but Bryant found it last night!

I guess we are all pretty happy that he gets to work from home now. I keep telling myself that when I think about him leaving me to go to Wisconsin for training for ten days. I shouldn't complain because I get to see him almost all day everyday. And he could have a job like David Ennis, where he has to leave us for 5 weeks! (So sorry Jeni. I can't stop worrying about you.) So I have a lot to be grateful for.

Skyler was busy last week helping her 4th grade teacher set up her classroom. We also got her a flute for orchestra. Still can't believe she is going to be a 5th grader. Tonight is Meet Your Teacher Night at school. Skyler and Sibley are excited.

I got an email last night saying that I was the top Scentsy salesperson on our team for July. Thanks Jeni!