11-17-06 POW

Hello all, I'm back. I'm glad to hear that you are enjoying the POW's. It is fun to share the lives of the girls with so many friends and family. This POW will be about the GOFAR race last Saturday. I tell you, the weather couldn't have been better. It was warm and sunny and the colors in the trees were amazing. There were about 300 runners from at least 5 different schools and all were excited to run. When I had gone to the meeting about GOFAR at the beginning of the school year I was certain they had told me that siblings/parents were not allowed to run this year due to the costs. I had explained that to Sidney and she was fine with it. When all we got there, however, I saw lots of dads, sisters and friends all suited up to run. Sidney looked crushed. We went over to the registration table and asked if there was any way to enter a last minute runner. They said yes and the smile was back on Sidney's face. Alyssa chose to run with Hayley, her bestest buddy, but allowed Sidney to start out with them. She didn't stay long. The 5K course was entirely on the campus of High Point University. Such a beautiful place! Anyway, they were off and running and all the parents slowly made their way to the finish line. The same digital clock was at the finish line and the same really tall guy was standing in front of it. He didn't have a clue! He stood there at the last race, too. Lucky for you, I have a digital camera. I was able to crop off his head and slide it down so you'd be able to read Alyssa's score. Ha! If he only knew. Sidney was the first of my girls to cross the finish line. If I read the scores correctly, there were 91 girls in their age group and Sid finished 6th. Doesn't sound too bad, huh? Did I mention that she ran the whole 5K (3 miles) in her FLIP FLOPS?!?!?!? They didn't fall apart and her toes weren't bleeding. I couldn't believe it! She amazed the crowd at the finish. She wasn't happy with her score, but taking into consideration the footwear she chose to don, she was pleased. Lys and Hayley were in the same age group as Sid and finished 28th and 29th. MUCH better than last time! I was very proud of both of them. I think Alyssa will want to do it again in the Spring and I think Sidney will wear tennis shoes next time she comes to watch Alyssa race. Ha!

I guess I forgot to tell some of you that I was having foot surgery. I had two bone spurs removed from my right foot on Tuesday and now I am off from work for 2 months or so. Great way to get Christmas off, huh? Anyway, they gave me Meprozine which makes my head spin a little, so I don't take it much. My right leg is my strong leg so when you take it out of commission, things get a little...comical. Apparently it was quite entertaining watching me try to walk with crutches in recovery! I can't balance on my left leg and I proved it by almost landing on Brent and one of the nurses. Ha! It became the general consensus at that point that perhaps they should send me home with a walker. Oh, the humility! Brent stopped on the way home at the "store for old people's stuff" and picked one up for me. I hated it, but it was the only way to get around in the house. No, I'm not taking a picture of it so don't even ask! I don't have to use it much now, I can put some weight on my heel.

That's all for now. I need to elevate my foot for a while and can't do that while sitting at the computer. Any errors in spelling and/or grammar and to be blamed on pain pills!

Take care,

Amy and the girls

11-09-06 POW

Hello all!
This has been a good week. LOTS of Halloween candy to eat....er...I mean...to TAKE CARE of for the girls while they are in school. It's been tough (more on that later). On a brighter note, this week was report card week. I'm honored, once again, to announce that both girls made the A/B honor roll. They both got all A's and one B. Alyssa's was in science and Sidney's was in Geometry (a 10th grade class). I am very proud of both of them! Here is Alyssa, proudly displaying her certificate. Yes, they got to choose dinner that night. I am so eternally grateful that they made it through the Golden Corral stage. Don't get me wrong, I love all you can eat dessert restaurants, but it was getting old. Almost made me wish that they DIDN'T do well on their report cards. Ha!
Sidney has set a goal for herself. She wants to be able to do the splits by the end of the year. She's almost there, I think she'll be able to make it. I remember watching a program on TV of Olympic gymnasts and the training they did. I told Sid that I'd stack some bricks on her head to help her stretch! She politely thanked me and told me she'd do her own training.


An interesting thing happened to me last week. I got the mail out of the box and inside was a fancy, embossed envelope addressed to "the parents of Alyssa Havas" with a return address from Washington, DC. Oh great, NOW what has she done? Is she being sent to a 5th grade boot camp?? I sat down, and it's a good thing. Let me type a little of what was in the letter:

It gives me great pleasure to inform you that in the next few days Alyssa will receive an official invitation to attend a 2007 People to People World Leadership Forum in Washington, DC. Allow me to offer my personal congratulations for Alyssa's achievements. You must be very proud. Selection for participation in the World Leadership Forum is based on the academic recommendation of valued and respected educators. Alyssa was nominated by educator Dana Sherwood (her teacher) of Colfax Elementary, who qualified Alyssa as an outstanding student with high academic standings and promising leadership potential.

I stopped at this point to read the outside of the envelope. Alyssa?!?!?!?! I kept reading:

People to People was founded in 1956 by US President Dwight D. Eisenhower with the premise that peace can be achieved through understanding. Making a difference in the begins with developing your child's own leadership skills and the World Leadership Forum offers a unique opportunity for Alyssa to join other highly motivated and accomplished middle school scholars from around the globe.

I had to stop again. I looked around the room several times, looking for the hidden cameras. I found none. Was this for real? It was signed by Mary Jean Eisenhower, President and CEO. Alyssa? I flashed back to the parent/teacher conference a few weeks back. You know, the one where I was "informed" of Alyssa's love of talking. She couldn't get votes to be V.P. of her class, but she gets invited to DC to be the next world leader. I was truly confused.

As promised, the VERY impressive invitation arrived a few days later. It had the dates for next fall (all in Sept and Oct) and an outline of their agenda for the 7 days. Capital Hill, Library of Congress, Supreme Court, Holocaust Museum, Arlington, Spy museum, Gettysburg, Williamsburg, Jamestown, Smithsonian, all the monuments and nightly Leadership Delegation Meetings, just to name a few. Extremely impressive. Lodging and all meals are included. Are you doing what I did? Yes: the math. They'll pick her up from the airport and stay with her 24/7, one supervisor for every 15 kids. She even gets high school credit if she writes all of this up and turn in the completion certificate.
Then it happened. I saw the price. Are you sitting down? All this can be hers for a mere $2,195! Yes, that is a comma in the price, not a decimal. Oh, and you have to RSVP by December 11th and send them the $300 deposit. I could go on and on about my shock and all of the details, but I'll give you the web link instead. http://www.wlfstudentleaders.org/default.asp . All kidding aside, I told her I was very proud of her, even if she didn't get to go. Alyssa for President????

The color of the leaves are absolutely beautiful again. I spent 30 minutes today just driving around to take in the beauty. I really wish I'd had my camera with me. This whole page would have been filled with Fall pictures. I did, however, take these of Ryan's tree last week. It was beautiful that day. The kids spent an entire afternoon raking three houses' leaves into a HUGE pile and jumped into it until the sun went down. Needless to say, I had leaf crumbles from my front door to my kitchen to the bathroom. Hey, it's only once a year, right????

Have a great week!

Amy and the girls

11-2-06 POW

Hello all!
So many of you have asked: how was the big Halloween party???? OK, OK, I'll get right to it. I hear it was great! I was out of town for the whole weekend, so poor Hayley's mom and dad had to do all the work. From the looks of the pictures, it was a LOT of work!

First, let's get to the costumes. Sidney was a bumble bee in honor of her uncle "B". Yes, those are fishnet stockings on her and yes, she asked me first. As you can see, they aren't my "little" girls anymore. The days of cute little cuddly Halloween costumes are GONE! So many of the kids are dressing up in costumes that are so much more adult, you can't get away from it. No more "Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz". Oh, I saw that one at Party City, too. It was worse than this bee costume! Suddenly I feel old...
Next we have our own version of Marilyn Monroe. How scary are these pictures? She looks twice her age, which is 10, yes. I curled her hair and put that lipstick on her and suddenly my baby was gone. It was at that very moment that I realized that they will be gone and out of the house before I know it. That said: could you hear the champagne bottle POP from where you were???? Ha!! Just kidding. She got the award for Sexiest Costume, even more so than Sidney's bee. That surprised me. It also surprised me to see just how well Alyssa could walk in those high heels. On to the party details.

I am told that about 55 kids came to this party which started at 6:00. All parents of "boys" were advised to pick up all "boys" by 10:00 SHARP or they would find their "boys" left at the curb on the side of the street. No problem. The party was a big success with the highlight being the fortune teller. There was a long line of kids waiting to find out what the future held for them. They had set up a burn barrel to do s'mores, had lots of snacks and drinks, a costume contest, a dance contest and plenty of kids to talk to. After the boys left the party moved inside. There was a stack of horror movies waiting to be watched on assorted TV's and more munchies. It turns out that 21 girls spent the night and set up sleeping bags in bedrooms, hallways and any other surface area they could find. Hayley's parents got kicked out of their own bed by 4 or 5 girls (2 of which are mine) and ended up on the couch. The rowdy girls were downstairs and after ignoring the 2 a.m. "let's-start-winding-it-down" message from Mom, got into a marshmallow fight in the kitchen at 5 a.m. The next message from Mom was a little ... louder. They took the hint and hit the floor. The last girl was picked up at 9:30 and nothing but a messy house and Hayley's exhausted parents were left, along with Sid and Lys. They told me that they got it picked up in a few hours and as they were doing it, they discussed what changes they would make for next year. NEXT YEAR????? Wow, they are really great parents! I told them that I would make it a point to be here for next year, and that I would take a nap that day.

I got home on Sunday and the girls were exhausted. They did, however, want to carve our pumpkin and bake the seeds. It was a VERY thick skinned pumpkin! Sidney had a hard time cutting into it, and even I tried to help. The seeds turned out great, though, and the pumpkin smiled all through trick-or-treating Tuesday night. Both girls brought home TONS of candy. I can't wait to go through it all!
That's all for this week. I hope you all are doing well and we'll chat again soon.

Take care,
Amy and the girls

10-27-06 POW

Hello all!
We made it through another week. The warm days are going away and all the trees are starting to change color. It's really beautiful! I checked on Ryan's tree and it's still pretty green. I'll go over there next week and take a picture. It always has so many colors.
Happy late birthday to Billy! It was yesterday and now he's officially 35 years old. Feels good, right B? Ha! You wish it was only 35! However you spent the day, I hope it was a good day. The girls wanted me to put this picture in, even though it's not a recent one, so here it is in your honor. I had to dig for a while to find it. It is from Thanksgiving 2003!



Alyssa wants to grow her bangs out. I don't have a problem with it, she just wants to keep them hanging in her eyes. We are experimenting with assorted "hair restraint devices" so be patient. Lately she has chosen these elastic headbands. Doesn't she have beautiful eyes? I told her that I always knew they were there, I just couldn't see them. She also mentioned wanting to get her ears pierced. That one floored me. This from the girl who SWORE she'd "never get her ears pierced and never have kids". Let's see, if wait until she's 18 to get her ears done, maybe she'll wait until she's 25 to have kids...

Sidney has made friends with the rich neighbors, John and Harriet. John drives a Porsche, is a CPA in his own firm and dabbles in a few other businesses. Harriet stays home and .... well... does whatever she wants. They are both VERY nice and I've known John for 13 years. Anyway, they fly down to one of their "other" houses (this one's in Florida) once a month and Sidney was chosen to be the cat sitter for Taylor, their 14 year old cat, while they are gone. Sid has to go over there twice a day to feed her and empty her litter box. Get this: Sid gets paid $10 a day to do this! Heck, I'll do it for $10 a day and I don't even like cats that much! They pay in advance, too, so Sid now has $90 in cash for 9 days of work. If you figure out that it takes all of 5 minutes each time she goes, times 2 times a day times 9 days, that's $1.00 per minute that she works. Gosh, I wish I got paid $1.00 a minute!

Tomorrow is the big day. The Halloween party!!! Alyssa has been doing some odd jobs to raise money for it (Lys and Hayley each had to raise $20) and they finally made it. They mostly raked leaves, but once they walked a dog for money. It was a golden retriever puppy that is 8 months old. I think you can get the visual: Alyssa being pulled down the road by an overly energetic puppy with "freedom" on its mind! It wasn't pretty. No surprise, the dog got loose. Sidney and all of the other neighbor kids finally caught it. That was the last dog she tried to walk! I won't be here for the party but Hayley's mom said she'd take lots of pictures. I'll be in Houston for the weekend for a 50th anniversary party. Do you remember the lady in the wheelchair and the man standing next to her in my wedding pictures? They are dear friends of mine and I'm flying down to celebrate their special day.
I hope you all have a nice weekend. I'll write again after Halloween!

Take care,
Amy and the girls

10-19-06 POW

Hello everyone! I'm back!
In case you forgot, last week Brent and I were in ABQ for the balloon fiesta. Joyce came out here to live in my house and watch the kids (by the way: happy birthday - again!) and we hit the skies for NM. The weather was great the day we got there, but it rained the next two days. Blue skies for Mon-Fri, then more rain for the last weekend. Mom and Jim drove out on the last Friday and stayed until Sunday (thanks!) to see the beauty that I've never been able to capture either in words or on film, but found themselves in the rain/wind also. No, I'm not talking about the beauty of the topography. It doesn't please me even one little bit and I'm sorry if those of you who live out that way are offended (ha!). I need my trees and green grass!!!!!

This picture was taken by some of the customers we took up one morning. We were setting up off site (you start off the field at least one mile away and try to fly in) and the sun was coming through the top. It made for a very pretty picture. They were really nice people and very gracious. If you can click on this picture to enlarge it, notice the chalk ovals in the grass. These were part of the competition. On one of the days that we start off site they put tall poles in the center of these circles. On top of each pole they put an envelope. One contains $1000 cash, one has a $7,000 watch in it and another has keys to a Honda motorcycle. Sounds easy, but over 700 balloons are trying to go after the same thing! On other days they place large red "X's" within 10 miles of the balloon field. They are marked on the map and the pilots try to fly over one of them and drop a long streamer. They are weighted like the ones you see in a football game when there's a flag on the play (a football reference...are you proud of me Cheryl?? Ha!), but they are about 3 feet long. They have a sticker on the end with the pilot's balloon name and number. Whoever comes the closest without landing BEFORE the attempt wins a prize also. After you attempt to either grab and envelope or drop a flag, you land somewhere. This picture was taken by our passengers. You can see us running to catch them before they hit a tree. I'm in the back, my head closest to the white Jeep. When we land in neighborhoods we usually solicit help from the little kids who are watching. Anything to keep
off a fence or out of a tree. This is our crew. Clockwise from Brent: Brent, Pam, Wayne, me, Alisa, Mike, Brandon, John and our pilot Tom. Mike is not really the crew - he's the station manager for Continental at the ABQ airport. He's a really great guy! Pam and John live in LAX, Alisa (Pam and John's daughter) lives in DEN with Brandon (boyfriend), Wayne lives in Houston and so does Tom.

Since we are the official airline of the ABQ balloon fiesta we, once again, had the great honor and privilege of taking up the flag on Wednesday while the Star Spangled Banner played. It was so beautiful, it brought a tear to my eye and gave me chills. All 700 balloons had to wait as we were the first balloon to launch. It was quite a sight! It's a little hard to roll up the flag while you're in the air, but they managed. Here are just a few shots of a typical day. I never got tired of looking at them! Each time I thought I had picked out my favorite one, another one would float by and take its place. I could put hundreds of pictures in here but the website wouldn't hold them all! Each crew member took pictures and we are all supposed to burn them to CD's and mail them out to the others. When I get them all put together I'll put them all on a CD to share with you. They are so beautiful!
That's all for now. I got back Sunday night and I've worked 10-14 hours every day since then with no relief in sight. We have the International Home Furnishings Market in town and we are slammed at the airport!! Also, as if it wasn't busy enough at our little 'ole airport, Mr. George Bush brought his GORGEOUS 747 here yesterday. Don't you know I was out on the runway with my camera (it helps to know the airport cops....)! Ha! Gee, Heather and Billy have never seen this plane. Yeah, right! Have a great week!

10-5-06 POW

This will be a short letter because I am strung out on anti-depressants.... I MISSED THE GRAND OPENING OF OUR NEW TARGET!!!!! You know, it's going to take many years of therapy to get over this. How could this happen?!?!? I remember watching the bulldozers clearing the land one day and then it happened: they hang the banner that said "New Target opens October 8". Out of respect, I pulled over in the car to observe a moment of silence. That was truly a blessed day. OK, now, look at your calendars. Is it October 8 yet?!?!? NO!!! So WHY did it open on the 3rd and WHY wasn't I informed PERSONALLY of this rather important change? Alyssa rides home with Hayley and her mom on Tuesdays from GOFAR (running club) and apparently they went to the grand opening. You know: gift baskets, live music, lots of free stuff.....Alyssa is grounded for a month for not telling me.

In happier news, I had a birthday. Thanks again to all of you who sent cards, letters and gifts. It was a nice day, except for the fact that I had to get up at 3:15 and go to work. Sidney, however, was quite the busy beaver while I was there. She and the neighbor boy got all of the decorations out and hung them all over the dining room and kitchen. It was really nice to come home to! I ended up going to lunch with friends, dinner with Brent and all 3 girls and then came home for chocolate birthday cake. It was a great day (except for the part about getting older!

On to Alyssa's speech. She got up in front of assorted teachers, students and parents and calmly read her speech. I don't know this first hand because she FORBID me from going (I think she was afraid that I'd bring the camera...which I would have!). Instead, I got her while practicing at home.

Well, she didn't win. Her friend Timothy won and I was proud of her for being happy for him. She said he'll do a great job and that his speech was better. He apparently did his as a rap song (and I use that word loosely) and won over the crowd. Alyssa's was quite dry, as political speeches tend to be, but was still met by clapping and cheers from the crowd. At least she tried.

I'm off to ABQ tomorrow so there may or may not be a POW next week. If I can get my camera to communicate with Brent's laptop computer I will try to send one from out there. We'll be back on the 15th, hopefully with tons of stories to share.

Have a good weekend!

Amy and the girls

9-26-06 POW

Hello all, and welcome to FALL!!! No, I'm not happy about it. I LIKE wearing shorts and I LIKE soaking up the sun at the wave pool and I LIKE going to the beach! Oh well, you can't appreciate the "warm" until you experience the "cold", right? I'm REALLY going to appreciate the warm when it gets back. Ha!

OK, first things first. It worked...again. I took a picture of the boyfriend and now he's gone. This one lasted 3 weeks, so if you are trying to store Matthew's name in your memory bank -- delete it. He was too busy with football and all so he broke up with Sidney last Thursday. I didn't find out until Saturday. Moms are always the last to know. "Why didn't you tell me???". She looked at me with a very serious face, "well, I told Ashley who told Miss Janie who I'm pretty sure told Miss Joy who told Jonathan who, he denies it but I know he did, told Elise who I THOUGHT would tell you!! Gosh, make me do everything!"...and storms off to her room. Gee, sorry I asked!
Recognize the girl with Alyssa? You'll get to know her. I have a feeling she's going to be mentioned a lot this year. This is the one and only Hayley, once again. Oh, she corrected my spelling of her name. There are two "Y's" to not confuse her with any other girls with a similar name. Yeah, like that could ever happen. OK, so, anyone who knows anything at all about Alyssa knows that for some reason Halloween is by far her favorite holiday and always has been. She goes nuts over it and starts planning next year's the day after THIS year's! This year sounds like it could be quite the social event here in Greensboro. This picture was taken in Hayley's back yard which, over the next few weeks, will be transformed into "Halloween Central". We'll call this photo "BEFORE". Hayley's mom, who stays home with the 4 kids (one in diapers - God love her) somehow got conned into having a party in the back yard on Saturday October 28th. It will be a costume party for 50 of their closest friends (I don't even have 50 closest friends!) and it will be by invitation only. They have even gone so far as to assign a doorman to check invitations. If you attempt to enter the party without an invitation there will be consequences! More on that as it develops.

Saturday I had to work 5-2. Not a bad day, but lots of "down time" for the girls, which can be bad. Around noon or so my cell phone rings in my pocket. "Sidney" is on the caller ID. This could be anything. "Mommy, guess what Ashley and I are going to do?". Many things came to mind, but I answered with "throw eggs at Matthew's house?". She laughed, "NO! We're still friends. Besides, I just found out that one of the other guys on the football team thinks I'm HOT!". I interrupted her. "You are 13 and my daughter. You are NOT HOT! You can't go out with him, I don't care who he is." More laughter. "No, really, Ashley and I came up with a great idea, but I'm afraid to tell you about it because you're too practical and you'll shoot it down." I told her that I was crushed and close to tears over that statement (not really). She laughed and proceeded to tell me about it. "Ashley turns 18 in 3 1/2 years, right? Anyway, she wants a Ford Escape for her 18th birthday and we're going to drive it around the United States. We want to go on the outside and take, like, a month or so to do it! What do you think!!"

Long pause. OK, she had me. I am too practical and would most likely shoot it down for more reasons than I could count, but I was bound and determined to prove her wrong. I floored her: "Cool!", I said. "The first thing to do is to make a list of the cities you want to make sure you go through. That way you can map your route out easier. Next, get a map and take markers to actually draw out the route, using alternate colors to show changes in days. How neat!" She was speechless. "I have to work a few more hours, but I'll help you with it all afternoon when I get home, OK???". Still speechless. She wasn't expecting support. Ha!!! See if you can click on the picture with the cities listed on it. "The Mall of America" didn't surprise me, but Cape Cod did. Sounds like an outside influence to me!

When I got home I worked with them for over an hour. It was actually fun! I "suggested" to them different routes to take (only when asked, of course!) and helped them come up with a reasonable amount of time/miles to drive each day. They were so surprised that I was being so supportive and helpful! Ashley kept saying, "My parents think we're crazy and won't help us." I said nothing, only smiled.

They asked me about the different cities and what there was to see both there and on the way TO them. As you can see, the White-Out was used a few times. They wanted to go to the Dakotas, but not for any particular reason. I told them about Mt. Rushmore and got apathetic stares for a response. Ashley spoke first, "well, you see, this is a FUN trip and that would be too much, like, history and school. Ya know?". I smiled. No problem.

After spending 20 minutes on MapQuest I came back and threw some numbers at them, trying not to be negative or "practical". Don't laugh, we're being supportive, right??? Here it is in a nutshell: this trip is roughly 11,457 miles to be driven in 24 days (don't laugh, we're being supportive, right?) totaling 186 hours of driving. Ha!! (sorry, that slipped out). The rough estimate for gas in vehicle getting 30 mpg through mountains and all (don't laugh, we're being supportive, right?) at about $2.50 a gallon (don't laugh....you know the rest) comes to $950 or so. Food? They're going to get groceries and eat at Subway, they tell me. Let's say $20 a day for food (ha! - oops). Add $500 to the total to EAT. Lodging? Laughter met my suggestion to stay with relatives along the way. No!!! They're going to camp. They looked at each other and came up with $30 a night for campgrounds. There's another $720.

Just when they thought they were done expensing this trip I threw this at them. "Ashley, I'm pretty sure that your parents aren't going to be too happy about you putting over 11,000 miles on a new vehicle in one summer. That's almost the amount you should put on a car for the entire year!". Their faces fell. Mom to the rescue. "Why don't you get on Orbitz and check out the price of RENTING an SUV with unlimited mileage for a month?". The smiles were back and they ran to the computer. Not long after that they came back with a total of about $1000 for a monthly rental. They were so excited, I didn't have the heart to tell them that, even though I suggested it, you couldn't rent a car when you are 18. OK, here's the route. If you live ANYWHERE near the roughly sketched tour in the year 2010, look out! My last question is: how long do you think it will be before they kill each other? Ha! Now you know, Christmas and birthday ideas for Sidney: money! Try clicking on this picture to see the route better. I hope it works!

Have a great day,
Amy and the girls

9-19-06 POW

Hello all!
It's been a week since I wrote, and boy....has it been a week! The girls and I tried (unsuccessfully) to get to Michigan this weekend, but I guess it wasn't in the cards. Mac, Amanda, Kameron and Kadence were home on leave and we really wanted to see them! I even brought my "nice" camera with me with hopes of taking some really nice photos. Instead we got to see the Cincinnati airport for more hours than we cared to and a so-so Days Inn not far from there. I pouted for the rest of the day and then got over it. The girls were sad, too, because they were looking forward to meeting Kadence, my new niece who I haven't even met!!! Joyce assured me that she took lots of pictures and would eventually send them my way.

Instead of visiting family, we had someone sleep over (of course...it's a weekend!!). This time it was Hailey. You may or may not remember Hailey. She was Alyssa's "best" friend until she moved away last July. They rented out their house here and Dad took a job in Phoenix (where Morgan moved to --it must be the city to move to if you are a friend of Alyssa's). It didn't work out so they moved back here, into their old house. Alyssa was thrilled! If you still don't remember her, here's an excerpt from a POW last June:

Alyssa had a little friend spend the night last night. A new one. This one's name is Hailey. She's actually a very nice girl. She has long, naturally curly hair and is built just like Alyssa. I had never had her over at the house, I'd only seen her at lunch during my monthly visit to the school to eat with Alyssa. She seemed harmless enough, so she was invited over. I made the suggestion that we have tacos last night and when asked, met with Hailey's approval. She said she was trying to eat healthier, but since tacos had meat, cheese and some vegetables, she guessed it would be OK. My blank stare at this diet-conscious 8 year old didn't even phase her. Instead, I made sure to drain ALL of the fat off the ground beef. My next eye raising encounter with her came halfway through eating. She and Alyssa were talking and Lys said, "Can you believe that Taylor still likes Austin??" (both parties named are also 8 years old). Trying to be the cool mom by fitting in I ask, "Why is that a bad thing?". Hailey, with her still-serious face, scrunches her eyebrows and politely says, "Well, he's rather unfortunate looking, that's all".
I think I shot salsa out through my nose with that. I coughed down a laugh and said, "what??". She repeated it: "He's rather unfortunate looking". My confused stare prompted her to continue, almost in a whisper: "We're not allowed to say the 'U' word at home". Alyssa though about that for a second and asked, "doesn't 'unfortunate' start with a 'U' ?" I laughed. "I think she means the word 'ugly'. She can't say that word." She nodded and went on chatting. I liked this kid. She talked about her three brothers next, politely describing all of them...until she got to her oldest brother (he's 10). "I think he's incorrigible", and keeps eating. Alyssa, this time, shoots something out through her nose. "He's that bad?", she says. This time I look at both of them in disbelief. I'm dumbfounded! I had to look up the spelling of "incorrigible" just to put it in this letter! "Alyssa," I ask, "how in the world do you know what that word means when I can't even spell it???". She looks at me with a matter-of-fact look and says, "It was in The Sound of Music. One of the VonTrapp children, when introducing himself to Maria, says that the last governess called him 'incorrigible'. I just figured it was a bad thing since they were talking about a boy." Who can argue with that logic? When dinner was over I asked my usual question: Did everyone get enough to eat? Hailey smiles, holding an empty plate and says, "Oh, yes. That was quite satisfying. Thank you." I'm guessing that she got the word-a-day calendar for Christmas...and is using it!

Do you remember her now? That is Hailey and let me just say.....BOY, HAS SHE EVER CHANGED IN A YEAR'S TIME!!! Wow. I first noticed it at breakfast (I was at the sink washing dishes - I haven't pawned that off on any child yet) when we talked about the trip we'd be taking to the mall that day. She said she'd like to buy some earrings today, but not anything too ugly. UGLY!!! I spun around, wide eyed, and said, "Hailey, you said 'ugly'!!". She looked at me as if I had 3 heads. "So?". I turned back to my dishes. Wow!

The next shocker came while listening to them "get ready" in the bathroom. Hailey was putting on her mascara (yes, mascara) and stated that she liked to buy her makeup from Bath and Body works because they didn't test their products on animals. She proceeded to put on several layers of color (with much expertise, I might add) and said she was ready for her next photo. Here it is! The last thing that happened (which made me REALLY notice the change) was on the way to the mall. We went to a mall that was about an hour away (because they have a Nordstrom's), so naturally the radio was playing for a long time. I let the girls pick the station (I had sucked down a handful of Advil anticipating this) and they didn't let me down. Yes, all the music that parents just VOMIT when they hear it came through my speakers, and shockingly....Hailey knew all the words and was singing (rapping) at the top of her little voice. One song in particular made me laugh out loud -- in disbelief. It was at that moment that I realized that nothing is sacred. They took a perfectly innocent children's song and mutilated it. Here's a link to it, and make sure your speakers are turned on. It will start playing after the commercial. You won't believe it: http://www.blastro.com/player/jibbschainhanglow.html

That being said (what is happening to today's youth???), here are a few pictures from Ryan's tree. He would be 30 today and I would probably laugh at him and call him old! Rember how, when we were little kids, we though that people who were 30 were ANCIENT!!! Ha! Sorry this one of Sidney is blurry. She wanted to show off the new colors on her braces. The rubberbands are now navy and silver, her school's colors. She still loves them!

Here is a shot from the street to show you how full the branches are. Doesn't it look great?

A few more of the tree and I'll close this up. The first on is from last February and the other is present day. Hasn't the trunk gotten thick??? Have a good week and we'll chat again soon!

Love to all,

Amy and the girls

9-13-06 POW

Hello all and welcome to a new week! This one has been fun, as they all are, so let me tell you some of the things we've done this week. I had parent meetings at both schools to prepare us for the upcoming (expensive) field trips (get out of school excuses) that are scheduled this year. As you may remember, within all of the papers I signed on the first day of school I agreed to send (pay for) Alyssa to go to Williamsburg, VA in October and for Sidney to visit (with black market bone marrow sales) Disneyworld in Orlando in January. The parent meetings were quite predictable, but different - in a funny way. The blue lettering will be Alyssa's class trip meeting, the red will be Sidney's.

OK, parents. We just want you to know that all school rules apply to this trip as it is considered a school function and we must follow the rules set by Guilford County (where we live). There will be NO electronics, DVD players, cell phones, ipods or gameboys allowed on the bus.
OK, parents. It's a long bus ride, 10 hours to Orlando from here so give them anything they need to be happy. Cell phones, ipods, gameboys, DVD players or whatever. Just remember, if they lose it they are out of luck.

You will need to pack a bag lunch and snack for your child and we would prefer the healthy type. It is a 6 hour trip and we won't be stopping for food. Coolers will be available for the fruit and juices in their lunches.
Pack a lunch, whatever will fill them up. If you send them with 6 cans of Coke it's not a problem. They will be on a bus and they can only ping off of the walls in a small area for so long. They will eventually come down from the "sugar high" and sleep.

Chaperones must fill out the "background check" forms before the end of next week. All forms will be sent to the Police Headquarters downtown and hopefully will be back within the month. They have advised us that it may take up to 4 weeks. Nobody will be allowed to chaperone without first passing the background check. There will be one chaperone for every 3 children.
OK, parents, we need more of you to volunteer. In fact, on the morning we leave you suddenly are available to go we'll throw you on the bus. We will have about 250 8th graders and will need at least one chaperone of same sex for every 7 kids. We don't do background checks on our parents.

Each room will have one chaperone and 3 kids. You will be given the cell phone number for the chaperone who ends up with your child and can call whenever you feel you need to. They will never be out of the sight of the chaperone.
Seven kids and one chaperone will be divided into 2 rooms. We will tape the outside of the doors of the room with no chaperone so the two security guards we've hired to patrol the halls all night will be able to tell when the door has been opened. There will also be two teachers patrolling the halls on 4 hour shifts during the night, so tell your kids that if they try anything it better be good!

Pretty funny, huh? I teased both girls and told them I was going to chaperone their trips. Alyssa was horrified and begged me not to, while Sidney thought it would be fun. Strange, I thought it would be the other way around. I told Alyssa I wasn't going to go because I'd be in ABQ (remember? I'm not spelling that city anymore...) and I told Sidney if she would come up with my $500 and a way to not have to ride the bus home from Orlando (they are driving through the night) I would consider it. I told her that Delta flew nonstop from Orlando to Greensboro and that's probably where she'd find me if I went.

On to the pictures. This one is of Alyssa designing her campaign poster. As you can see she is running for Vice President of her classroom. She was the class representative for the last two years and feels she is now ready to move on to a new level. I was impressed. I asked her why she wanted to be on the student council again and she told me , "because you get to miss part of class one day a month for the meeting". I wasn't surprised by that answer. I asked her why she wanted to be Vice President, how she picked that position to run for, and she said it was "because she didn't know what the treasurer did, she doesn't write well so 'secretary' was out, and Hailey wanted to be President so that only left Vice President". Gee, that sounds logical, huh? She asked me to help her with her campaign speech which had be a no longer than 2 minutes and at least 1 1/2 pages when written/typed out. We opted for "typed" and double spaced the thing. We had been working on it for about an hour when Sidney came into the room. "Let me hear what you've got so far". OK. Lys started reading and I watched for signs of approval on Sidney's face. Instead I got stares of disbelief and horror, especially when Alyssa read, "I realize that the student council is truly the voice of the students and an integral part of the school...." Hmmm....maybe I helped too much...... ha!

This next picture is one of my favorites. I call it the "coming of age" picture. I told both girls that when they started 8th grade they would officially take over the DINNER DISHES!!! Yea!!! I told them they were getting off easy, that Heather and I started when I was in 6th grade. Remember that, Mom? Heather and I would alternate the duties: "Food put away, first rinse, wash, rinse, dry, put away" and we would leave the room when the other was in doing their job. It maintained a certain level of....serenity... in the house, so to speak. Ha! I've gone easy on Sidney so far, although she has asked me to make homemade lasagna for them. One night doing THOSE dishes and she'll never ask for it again!!!

Have a good rest of the day and we'll talk again next week!

Take care,

Amy and the girls

9-7-06 POW

Hello all, we're back and as promised..... a shorter POW.

This week is truly a treat for all of you: you get to see a picture of Sidney's new boyfriend. Oh, I've been corrected: he's not new -- they've been going out a whole week, so that takes him out of the "new" category. His name is Matthew and he lives around the corner from us. He's in 8th grade, plays football and basketball and is VERY nice. Sidney asked me the other day what it was I liked about Matthew. My answer? "He smiles a lot and is not afraid to talk to me". Some other slow week I'll have to tell you about boyfriend #2 who only lasted only a week or so this summer. His name was Luke. And.....we all remember boyfriend #1 from January's POW. His name was Weston, but I teased her and refered to him as Weldon. Soon, she was calling him Weldon. Ha!! They broke up (online) several times over the 4 months they were together and finally threw in the towel sometime in February. My plan worked. I took his picture and made him disappear! I hope it doesn't happen to Matthew. Funny, I never took a picture of Luke and he went away.....

School is getting fun. Remember the math problems I used to share with you from Sid's math class? Those were nothing compared to this year. Yikes! If I can find one of her worksheets online I'll send you the link one of these times. I tell you, Geometry was a LONG time ago and I'm still having to scrape the cobwebs out of the 'ole memory banks to help her. It's just a matter of time before I give up!


One last picture before I let you go. This one was taken at Mimi's house (Dean's mom - Fran) over the summer when they flew to Arkansas for a visit. Sidney likes this picture because she's taller than Mimi in it and Alyssa likes it because her hair is still long. I like it because everyone has a nice smile!! Papa John didn't get to be in it, though. I'm guessing it's because he was BEHIND the camera!

That's all for now. I hope you all have a good week and we'll talk to you again soon.

Take care,
Amy and the girls