Shelly's Blog

One of the best things about blogging is finding friends all over the world. (In an awesome way, not a creepy chat-room type way.) We're lucky because we've built a community of people we can count on, even if they're people we've never met. Here is a guest post that proves the amazing power of the internet: My name is brandy. And I have a blog .And a plea.I use my blog to showcase the crazy I meet everyday, share the stories of the kids I teach and document my love for tequila, dairy products and the abdominal muscles of Ryan Reynolds. Rarely do I talk about personal issues on my blog- as personal as the dude that I adore (who I actually met through my blog- single ladies, let that be a very good reason to blog, the possibility of meeting someone as wonderful as my man), but I need your help. And it involves my dude.He's a guy who made math comics for my class, so they would love learning about addition. He's the kinda guy who sends my friends gift cards when t

Once again, I managed to ignore my blog for a couple of weeks. We have been so busy that I just haven't had a chance for any updates, but I'll try to make up for it with our month in pictures: Alyssa's Christmas program at school was "The Fear Not Factor" and she played an angel in the choir of angels. After the Christmas program, the class had a party. They had lots of food and exchanged gifts with their Secret Santas. We brought Abigail and Ashley home with us and ended up going to Imaginations to paint. The older girls painted Minnie Mouse and the younger girls painted a wall plaque that said LOVE. Over the weekend, we decorated sugar cookies to give as gifts to some neighbors for Christmas. We hosted Christmas Eve at our house and invited both Glenn's and my side of the family. We had a big crowd, but everything turned out really nice. Christmas Day, the girls got exactly what they wanted. Alyssa got a DSi and Jessica got an ipod touch, among many other th

This past week, we took pictures for our christmas card....all four girls. LOL On Wednesday, Jessica had a dance practice at Northwest Mall to get ready for their performance in the Heights. On Saturday, we went to the Heights for "Lights in the Heights" and the Stingeretts danced to Jingle Bell Rock. The SAS cheerleaders did some dances, too. Enjoy our week in pictures! Picture taking for our Christmas Cards More Christmas Card pictures Practicing at NW Mall for the Jingle Bell Rock Dance Ethan, Kathryn, and Alyssa at NW Mall Jessica and Ryan at NW Mall Glenn and Alyssa at Lights in the Heights Kathryn and Alyssa at Lights in the Heights Ashley and Jessica before the dance Alyssa at the Parade

As it looks, here, I haven't posted for almost a whole month. I wanted to post something around Thanksgiving, but for one, I forgot my camera, and second, I got sick! I ended up with a cold on Thanksgiving Day and I am just now starting to feel better. We had a great time visiting with my family on Thanksgiving at Donna's house, but like I said before, I forgot to take pictures so I got nothin' for you. Today, we had a very rare snow storm in Houston. Evidently, we broke some records this year. It was the earliest that it has ever snowed here in Houston and it's going to be really low temps this evening. I watched the snow start and stop from my office on the 8th floor and it looked really beautiful! Jessica had a dentist appointment today and I had to call to make sure that the office hadn't closed. Lucky Jess.....she was still able to get her cavity filled and sealants put in. Dr. Perkins said that she didn't need to be numbed because the cavity was so small.

We seemed to have passed another weekend at full speed. (Seems like that happens alot lately!) I am hoping that next weekend we'll be able to relax a bit, but Jessica has already planned my saturday to take her out to lunch at the 59 Diner and to go to Imaginations. *Sigh*, I guess I only get to relax in my dreams. This past Saturday, we attended my cousin, Tim's wedding. It was held at the Courtyard at St. James Place and it was really beautiful. The food was great and the company even better. We all got to dress up, which we don't get to do too often. Of course, Glenn had to work, so he didn't get to attend with us, but we went with Mom, Dad, Donna, Brianna, Glennie and Angela. Brianna, Alyssa and Jessica at the wedding On Sunday, Alyssa had a woodworking workshop at Rockton's Woodworking with the rest of her Girl Scout troop to earn a badge. They made a little box that turned out really cute. Alyssa making her treasure box The Finished Product!

We were a little late getting pumpkins this year. We ended up getting them on Friday and on sale at Walmart for $2.00 each! Jessica and Alyssa carved their pumpkins from start to finish, with no help from me. I think that's a first! Saturday, we spent the day at the St. Ambrose School Halloween Carnival. I worked the 7th grade drink booth from 11 - noon with several other SAS parents. We ended up very sticky from the sno-cones.....yuck! After working the drink booth, I made my way over to the 4th grade booth which was the 5 pin bowling game and worked that one from noon - 1:00. We went home around 2:30 and got ready to go to Donna's for trick-or-treating at 6:00 with the rest of the family. We had a really great time! I took Alyssa to her orthodontist appointment this afternoon. I had to make it for the Tomball office because the Jones Rd. office wasn't opened this week. It was a long way out but it didn't take us very long to get back home. We were home by 4:30 and the

Houston weather stinks, lately. It's Monday morning, and it's raining again. We went through so much rain over the past couple of months that I'm just tired of it. BUT, on a better note, this past weekend's weather was really nice.......especially Saturday! Jessica did her dance routine during half-time at the SAS Varsity Football playoffs at St. Thomas High School. Unfortunately, we lost the game in the last few seconds. That means football season is over for us, but Jess will still be going to practices for an upcoming show they will be doing at the Downtown Aquarium in December. Jessica will also be trying out for the SAS Basketball team on Tuesday. She has been practicing all weekend and plans to come home this afternoon for more practicing. Keep your fingers crossed that she makes it! Alyssa went to the dentist on Friday afternoon and got the last two teeth pulled. She did really great this time around, too. She looks really cute with all of her teeth missing....

Time sure flies when you're having fun.......at least that's what most people say. It seems like that's what's been happening lately, and I guess if you really look at it, we are having fun. At least somewhat! It looks like we're barreling on towards the end of the year already. Can't believe that it's already the beginning of October and before we know it, it will be December and we'll be looking the Christmas season right in the face! The backyard is still coming right along. We got the fountain a couple of weeks ago and now we're just working on the landscape bricking around some of the beds. Alyssa is going full swing with her ballet class. Haven't been really successful getting her there on time, but we're still working on that. Hopefully, Monday will be a different story. Alyssa's orthodontist told us at her last appointment that she would have to have four of her baby teeth pulled since they weren't coming out like they were su

It's amazing how much can be done in so little time, isn't it? Over last weekend, we got the electricity run to the back of the yard for the lights we'll put in within the next couple of weeks. We're also planning on getting a fountain to put in front of the three cypress trees in the center of the yard. We still have a lot to do on the landscaping but we're getting really close to being finished. On Monday evening, Alyssa started her ballet class. Since the class started at 5:45, I had to get her from Nana's and over to our side of town in record time.....luckily, we made it with a few minutes to spare. Let's hope it goes as smoothly the rest of the time. Of course, I forgot my camera, but hopefully, I'll remember it on the next lesson. Keep your fingers crossed! Also, this past week was spirt week at the school. Monday was crazy sunglasses, Tuesday was crazy sock and shoe, Wednesday was crazy hat and tie, Thursday was crazy hair and Friday was s

This past week, school really got into full swing. The kids have already had lots of homework and tests at school that they had to study for. Meet the Hornets night at school was on Friday and Jessica performed with the school dance team - the Stingeretts. Alyssa got to go and hang out with her friends. Afterwards, Jessica had her first jr. high dance of the school year. She had a lot of fun dancing and hanging out with her friends. Now that the first Stingerett dance is over, now Jess will have practice every Wednesday for the games that she will performs in. ..........And speaking of dancing , Alyssa has been officially signed up for ballet class at the Carolyn Roberts School of Dance. We bought her leotard, tights, dance skirt and ballet shoes this past weekend and now she really looks official! She's very excited about getting started which will be in about two weeks, Monday nights at 5:45, which means that we're really going to have to move our butts fast to get back to t

Last week was the first day of school for the girls. They started on Thursday for half days and then this week full time. They have already had lots of homework and quizzes and it's been a little hard to get back into the swing of getting up early and going to bed early. This past weekend, we celebrated Johnny's birthday with fajitas and football. Our group was small but we all had a great time. Jessica starts dance practice this week to get ready for the "Meet the Hornets" night. Then she'll get to go to the dance afterwards. Alyssa starts her ballet classes after Labor Day so we'll need to get her leotards ready to go :)