New Web Site!

In an attempt to work on my web skills, I have gotten a new web site and moved my blog to it. You can find my new web site at http://www.andreasplace.com and my blog at http://www.andreasplace.com/blog. It's not very pretty right now, but I will be working on the layout.

Zachary's Second Haircut

I took Zachary for his second haircut today. He cried almost the entire time. Here is a picture of him with his new shorter 'do.

Hannah's Pep Rally

Hannah has been in cheerleading camp this summer (her idea, not mine), and today they had a pep rally to show everyone what they've learned. So, I left work early and got to daycare about 10 minutes before the pep rally was supposed to start. When I drove into the parking lot, I saw they were already outside, and thought maybe they were practicing. But, when I got inside, I was told they started a 4:00 instead of 4:30 like I thought. I couldn't believe I messed up the times, but I hurried outside and caught the last routine of their pep rally, and I got to see Hannah get her certificate for completing the camp. As soon as it was over, I heard another mother say she thought it started at 4:30, too, and she had missed most of the pep rally. I didn't think much of it, so I went and picked up Zachary from his room. He had bumped his head again today - I swear he must have the hardest head, because it never seems to bother him. I was about to walk out the front door when the assistant director said they were going to do the pep rally again. Apparently, they had printed up two sets of fliers, one set for 4:00 and one set for 4:30, and had accidentally mixed the fliers together. So, about half of the parents got the 4:00 flier and the rest of us got the 4:30 flier. The cheerleading coach apologized to all of us, and the 7 girls whose parents missed it the first time, did their routines again.

Construction Paper & Denim Shorts

While shopping for school supplies and clothes for Hannah, I have realized that two things are surprisingly hard to find - construction paper (the 12 x 18 size) and denim shorts for girls. Neither Target or Wal-Mart carry the large size of construction paper even though it is required by all of the elementary schools in our district, but I finally found some today at Office Depot. I am still searching for denim shorts. Hannah says she doesn't want them; maybe little girls don't want to wear them anymore, and that's why they're so hard to find. But, she needs something besides jeans that will go with all of the shirts she has, since it won't be cool enough to wear jeans until at least a month or so after school starts.

Vote for Pet of the Week

If anyone reads this before Sunday, go here (myFOX Pets: Pet of the Week) and vote for Sarge for Pet of the Week. He belongs to my co-worker's daughter and needs more votes.

Climbing

In his quest to get into everything possible, Zachary managed to climb into the bathtub last night. I was in class so I didn't actually see him do it. Bill was running the water for Zachary's bath and had turned his back on the bathtub. He heard Zachary walk into the bathroom, and then a crash and splash. Zachary had gotten up high enough to flip himself over the side of the tub and into the water with his clothes still on. He was a little scared, but not hurt. I guess I will be lowering his crib to the lowest position this weekend.

Zachary is 15 Months Old!

I took Zachary for his 15-month checkup this morning. He is 32 1/2 inches tall and weighs 24 pounds 13 ounces. He is finally starting to talk at home instead of just at daycare. He likes to say "B" words like ball, bug, and book.

Grandma

Well, it has been a rough few days. Grandma's funeral was today. I already miss her so much. Here is a picture of her with Hannah and Zachary last Thanksgiving (Hannah was, of course, hogging the camera).

Random Thoughts on a Strange Day

I should be studying, but it has been kind of a strange day. Zachary seems to have a stomach bug of some kind. He acts like he feels okay most of the time, but he is more clingy than usual, and he is running a slight fever. Daycare called me to pick him up about 3:00 this afternoon, and I couldn't get there my normal way because 820 was shut down for hours this afternoon. So, I drove through parts of Fort Worth I have never seen before. I do appreciate my GPS, though; I told it where I wanted to go and to avoid freeways, so I was able to avoid the parking lots of 820 and 35. And, we had to cancel on our monthly Dinner Club, because Hannah and I weren't feeling that great, either, and we didn't want to pass our germs on to anyone else.

Another random thing - I went to Subway for lunch today like I almost always do on Fridays. While I was standing in line waiting to order, I thought the man standing a few people in front of me looked really familiar. He was dressed a lot nicer than most of the people you normally see in Subway. I finally realized he was one of the local news anchors, Brian Curtis. He looks a little different in person than he does on TV.

Pictures

Here is a picture of Zachary splashing Hannah, and a picture of Zachary in his Aggie cap. I have posted more pictures on MySpace.

Redecorating

I'm in the process of redesigning my blog. This may be a long process with school and everything else going on; I may not have much time to work on it. The banner picture is one I took before sunset a month or so ago.

Hannah did go to her first sleepover last Friday at Madeline's, but I don't know how much sleep was actually involved. She was pretty tired on Saturday. We got a small inflatable pool for Hannah and Zachary to play in. Zachary likes to stand up in it and splash. I have some pictures of them playing that I will post later.

We had our roof replaced on Thursday. I don't know what time they started working, but they finished after 7:00 that night. We have also been having air conditioner problems; it blew out three fuses between Friday afternoon and Saturday afternoon. It's not fun to wake up in the middle of the night to a warm house.

Storms, etc.

We had thunderstorms this morning. Hannah was hiding from them under her covers when Bill went to get her up. I think they have mostly passed by now, but we may have more tonight and tomorrow morning.

Zachary had a sore throat earlier this week; it was viral and not strep, so we just had to wait for him to get over it. He seems to be doing much better, and is back to his normal self of annoying Shadow and getting into everything.

Hannah is starting cheerleading camp at her daycare tomorrow. I don't want her to get into cheerleading, but she really wanted to do it. She is also probably going to her first sleepover at her best friend, Madeline's, the first weekend in July. We hope we don't have to pick her up in the middle of the night.

Ashlyn Jewel

I have a new niece! Ashlyn Jewel was born early yesterday morning. Everyone is doing fine, and I hear that Anna really likes her baby sister.

I also posted some pictures from Hannah's graduation on MySpace.

Hannah's Graduation and Wearing Jackets in Near 100-Degree Heat

Hannah graduated from Pre-K on Saturday. I have pictures, but haven't gotten them off of my camera, yet. It was a cute ceremony; they sang some songs, received their fake diplomas (we got the real one after the ceremony), and watched a slide show. The kids really enjoyed the slide show.

This morning, Hannah was watching the weather while we were getting ready for work and school, and she told me she wanted to wear her jacket today. I told her she didn't need it today, and she argued that it was windy and she needed her jacket. I don't know if I ever convinced her that she didn't need it today, but she apparently didn't think it could be windy and hot (high of almost 100 today) at the same time.

Hannah's Tooth

Hannah lost her second tooth last night. We think she swallowed it, because we couldn't find it after dinner. So, she drew another tooth for the tooth fairy. I also registered her for Kindergarten yesterday. She's excited about starting Kindergarten and going to a new school.

Hannah's Tooth

Hannah lost her first tooth today. She was on the playground at school when she lost it, but she didn't realize it was gone. She told her teacher that her tooth hurt, and her teacher told her that was because it was gone. They looked for the tooth, but couldn't find it, so Hannah drew a picture of her tooth to put under her pillow for the tooth fairy.

Zachary went for his 1-year checkup today. He weighs 22 pounds 14 ounces and is 30 inches tall. He is standing more by himself, and will take a couple of steps before he decides to drop and crawl.

Happy Birthday Zachary!

Here is a picture after he finished his birthday cake at his party on Saturday.

NASA's top-10 views of Earth | CNET News.com

These are some really cool pictures taken from the International Space Station. Photos: NASA's top-10 views of Earth | CNET News.com

Hail Storm Pictures

I posted some of the hail storm pictures from last Thursday to MySpace. The hail we had was about marble-sized, but we had quite a bit of it. It piled up in places and did some damage to our flowers and bushes and put some dings in our back fence.

Zachary is feeling much better. He is back to his normal self and is ready for his birthday party on Saturday.

I also posted some pictures of Hannah's soccer game on Saturday. They won 3-2; Hannah played defense. The coach tried to get her to play forward for part of the game, but she wanted to keep playing defense.

Graduate School

I found out today that I have been accepted to graduate school at UTA. I will start classes at the end of May.

Poor Zachary has been sick since Thursday. I took him to the doctor this morning and found out that he has an ear infection again. She prescribed him some antibiotics, so he should feel better soon.

Exploring

We finally replaced the old Explorer with a new one!

We bought it last Thursday, and I have already put quite a few miles on it. Zachary is taking a few steps at a time before he falls down. I posted Easter pictures on my MySpace page.

I Love Texas Weather!

Well, after the snow last Thursday, the high today was almost 90 degrees. Here is a picture of the house last Friday morning about 8:00. The snow had mostly melted on the streets, sidewalks, and driveways, but there were still patches of ice in places. Our snowman didn't completely melt until Monday morning, when it rained. He left behind a nice little pile of grass that got rolled up inside him.

Zachary took one step by himself on Wednesday at daycare. He is standing up longer and longer without holding onto anything. Today he got to visit the young toddler class (the class he will be moving up to soon). He even got to play outside with them. One of his teachers told me she has never seen a baby like Zachary that has absolutely no fear of being outside.

New Pictures

I posted a few new pictures to my MySpace page. Hannah had her first soccer game of this season yesterday. She played defense and goalie, where she stopped one goal. Here is a picture of both kids before the game.

Busy, Busy, Busy

I've been really busy lately, so I haven't had much time to post to the blog or even transfer my newest photos from my camera. Zachary finally got his two front top teeth in last Friday. He will not eat baby food anymore, so he has started eating table food.

I have decided to get my Master's degree, so I am in the process of applying to the University of Texas at Arlington. They're Mavericks instead of Longhorns, so that's a relief.

Hannah is starting soccer again; her first game is Saturday. She's excited.

Crazy Weather

The weekend was beautiful and spring-like, so I actually washed the Explorer, which hadn't been washed in who knows how long. I should have known, nothing can bring on rain faster than me washing a car. Monday was warm and humid; I felt like I was back in Houston. And the storms hit early Tuesday morning. Unfortunately Tuesday is also our garbage pick-up day, so I woke up just before 4 AM, heard the wind, and feared the worst - garbage all over the yard. I couldn't go back to sleep thinking about it, so I had to get up and check (Bill was out of town). Luckily, the wind had just blown the lids open, so I went outside and closed them, since it was raining a little. We got some thunder and lightning after that, but nothing more serious. I was glad I sent the kids' jackets to daycare, because the temperature started falling in the afternoon, and it was in the 4os and really windy when I picked them up. It was near freezing this morning.

Hannah likes to bring the newspaper in and mentioned getting it this morning, so I told her she could, but she needed to hurry, because it was cold. When we got to daycare, she went in ahead of me, and when Mrs. H. made the comment to her that it was cold, Hannah said "I know. Mama made me get the paper this morning."

9-Month Checkup

Zachary went for his 9-month checkup today. He weighs 20 pounds and is 29 1/2 inches tall. He also has an ear infection, but it doesn't seem to be bothering him. He had to get one shot today, but as soon as I picked him up, he stuck his fingers in his mouth and stopped crying. He recovers much faster from a shot than Hannah does.

Crawling and Christmas Pictures

Zachary started crawling yesterday. He only crawls a few inches and gets upset, but I'm sure he'll be crawling all over the place in no time. I had to stay home with him on Tuesday because he was running a fever, but he had recovered enough by Tuesday afternoon to start getting into everything, including the USB cables plugged into the front of my computer.

I also posted some Christmas pictures on my MySpace page a few days ago.