Kindergarten Graduation

Jean Gabriel graduated from Kindergarten yesterday!

His teacher told us that Gabe is very smart and brings lots of "prior knowledge" to the class. I guess watching hours of Discovery Channel is not frying his brain after all!Phillip and Gabe look at a book made by his teacher which included a pic from the first day of class and another taken last week, to show the difference a year has made.

Note to Gabe:
You're growing up way too fast. We love you lots, Squirter Man!

Two more pictures...

Sarah says "Thanks so much, Ms. Jennifer and Mr. Ryan, and Luke, and Gracie for my exersaucer! I love it!".

I saw this dress outside of Chichen Itza (Mexico) and I had to get it. Miss Chunky Butt is about to grow out of it.

Jeeeepers, Creeeeepers....Where did ya get those Peeeepers?!

It usually goes something like this...."Wow! Look at those eyes!", followed by...."Whoooo, Look at those cheeks!".

You caught a what?!

The boys have been having fun together. Last weekend was a total "guys weekend"; included was the new Indiana Jones movie on Friday and a fishing trip with our friend Craig on Saturday morning. Here's some pictures...

Gabe's wide-mouth Bass was a small one; they had to toss him (or her) back.

Somewhere in Stillhouse Hollow Lake, there is a (probably very pissed off) fish missing an eyeball...because that's what Phil caught and is trying to show you here!

This past Thursday, Craig took us out again (I went this time) so that I could see the lake and all the pretty rich-people houses...Gabe's giving the "thumbs up".

Gabe did NOT like swimming in the open water. He wanted to go back to where he caught his fish because he felt safer there.
(Beware of the Big Ol' Fish with one eyeball!)

He REALLY did not like being in that open water....kept worrying about fish biting his butt or whatever!

(Thanks to Craig for emailing these pictures to me. We wish you the best of luck and happiness at your new job; We will missing having you and Mary around here, but we will see you whenever we are in your area. Let's plan on trips to New Orleans and checking out stuff around South Louisiana, okay?)

OKAY...

I've entered into my Yahoo Calendar all sorts of things that are offered in this area for the summer. As soon as we figure out what camps etc. that Gabe wants to participate in, I'll delete some of these things off of it. The local library has tons of things for the kids to do as well.

If any of you local gals want to see this calendar, just give me a buzz....

And I've already decided that we'll spend a week here and a week there (or more) in Louisiana at Phil's parents house. That way, I can visit with my family too and take Gabe around Louisiana and show him around the state (so that he can know what LA is all about). Phil's parents, and his brother have already offered help and places to stay. It will be nice for everyone involved to be able to spend time together. And Gabe is looking forward to ghost tours, antebellum home tours, swamp tours, etc.

I'm just trying to keep us busy and look at the bright side of life; maybe things won't be too bad after all.

Gotta LOVE the Army!

Because of an error in communication, we found out yesterday that Phillip was put on an advanced list for deployment. This list was made about a month ago. He will leave soon...VERY SOON. And so that to-do list that I mentioned in the post before this one, is gonna have to be completed quickly.

Please keep the Lopez family (Phillip especially), our friends who are going to the Sandbox with him, and myself, Gabe and Sarah in your thoughts and prayers. 12-15 months is way too long to be separated from the ones you love.

J~

Updates...

Here's what's going on at Casa de Lopez:

• Gabe is going to graduate from kindergarten next Monday. He's growing up way too fast!
• Sarah is on a growth spurt. She's eating and sleeping A LOT! She's growing way too fast too!
• I'm in the midst of planning what to do this summer to keep us busy after Phillip leaves. I've got a list; I just hope that it helps time go by faster.
• Did I mention already that I HATE deployments? I know that hate is a strong word, but yes sir, I HATE deployments!!!
• We also have a list of things for Phillip and I to complete before he goes. We are slowly getting things done.
• Since our vacation a couple of weeks ago, I'm having a really hard time finding the motivation to do anything. I have a bad case of the "don't wants".
• After our last car trip, we've decided that a mini-van might be in our future. We have lots of stuff to haul and the kids will have friends for us to cart around too, I'm sure.
  
• I think the kids and I are going to the Dallas area in late July to watch the incredible David Beckham play some soccer. Whoooo hoooooooo!!!
  
• The only good thing about deployments is that the extra money that comes in helps to pay off debts and add to savings. I'll need to focus on doing just that and getting our house ready to sell, because when Phillip returns, we will be ready to move somewhere....just wish I knew where.
• If anyone around my area knows the name and number of a good handy-man, would you please pass it on to me? I'll soon have a list of things for him to do too.
• Methinks it's time to change the look of this blog again....Sarah is not included at the top header....stay tuned.
  

I guess that's it for now....
Later Ya'll.

What Now?

I ask myself, "What will be next?".

When we got home on Sunday, we had a message on the machine from some lady named Mary at the doctor's office Lab. I wondered why SHE would be calling instead of the doctor and why we would even need a doctor to call....we weren't waiting for any Lab results on anything.

I finally talk to her yesterday. Somehow, Sarah's PKU Test got lost in transit from the hospital to the State. When Phillip heard what the call was about, he was none too happy and neither was I. If you don't remember, those tests hurt....A LOT. Anyway, Mary asked me to bring her back in to re-test and so, we did that today and Sarah handled it like a champ. She didn't even flinch when she got poked on the foot, but got a little mad when we tried "milking" her little leg to get enough blood out of her to complete the test. Meanwhile, I had a box of tissue ready to catch my tears for just in case she DIDN'T handle things so well.

So this is the third thing we've had trouble with involving Ms. Sarah. First, it was the hospital forgetting the "H" on Sarah for the Birth Certificate, and so we had to go down to Austin to get that fixed...Second, we had to get her Social Security card changed after we got the proper spelling on her certificate changed (but first we needed a doctor's note or Baptismal Certificate to show proof of life....[Don't ask me why a Birth Certificate is not enough]), and now this.....

"What's next?", I ask ya.