Christmas @ the Howells :)

Merry Christmas Everybody! Ashley & Blaine- Wish you were here!!!

It's me - Mimi

Robin hasn't posted in so long I decided to take advantage of her blog. I have experienced some extreme sadness in the last couple of weeks.

My mail, as well as my neighbors mail, is delivered to a little mail station. In the little station are twelve normal size mail slots and two large boxes for packages. Whoever gets a package gets the key to the large box placed in their slot.

Every day I go out to get my mail and I'm so excited - I can't wait to see what I received from my numerous online shopping expeditions. First I look to see if the keys are in the large mailboxes. If the keys are there, no one received a package. If the keys are gone - well, that means they are in SOMEONE's mail slot. Oh I get SO excited if one of the keys is gone. Then I open my mail slot expecting the key to be there. Some days it is, I use it to open the big mail box and retrieve my package. But some days the key isn't there. It must be in someone else's mail slot. I immediately go into a deep depression. Someone else received a package. It wasn't me. Oh the sadness I experience. I hope I get some grief counseling for Christmas.

Reegan's 2 Year Pictures

Great Expectations has taken our pictures since I was pregnant! Our pictures have always turned out extraordinary and these are no exception! Annette catches the TRUE Reegan in all of her 2 year old glory!

BTW when Ree is in her ballerina outfit she is not a 'balle-rina'... I was corrected by her one day and she told me "I not a balle-rina mommy I'm a 'balle-reegan' " :) Ya gotta love her!!!

http://greatexpectationstx.blogspot.com/2008/10/reagans-2-year-portraits.html

'Pickards' from Aug-October

It's been a while since I've uploaded pictures. I wish i had a good reason....but i really don't! Maybe this post will catch me up a little :)

I love this picture. It was the first day of school. Ree has KILLER bed head in the mornings!

Ree LOVES to be naked. One min you look at her and she is fully clothed shoes and all...I swear 10 seconds later she is naked as a jay bird and so proud of herself !!!She was insistent that she help 'Bang'.(and yes....naked...hopefully she will grow out of this stage!)

Kob and Ree's new toy....

Ree's B-day! Playing her new piano from Aunt Kim, while chillin with G-Gdad. I can't believe my baby girl is 2. She is so much fun and has a killer personality! She has an incredible since of humor!

Can we watch this new movie now? WOO-HOO!!! I'm Driving!!!!
Ree got her first hair cut at 2 years old! Her Daddy watched VERY closely to make sure Martha didn't cut too much!

Heather and the kids came down for Columbus day weekend! It's always fun when they come visit!

:)

Uuuuggg

Is it possible to love my new job and hate it at the same time? I love my school, principal, co teachers....but the work load is so insane! I want everything to be perfect....new lesson plans because I've never taught 6th grade history....i grade everything...i give the kids a million chances to make up work even though i preach to them that i wont...and grading...uuuuggggg...AND I took on the yearbook...by myself, I'm insane!

We had administrator walk throughs today. These are walk thru's from very high up peeps at the admin building. I know that i do my job well but it seriously stressed me out! I haven't REALLY been observed in ATLEAST 4 years...really 5 or 6. I am always paranoid that i'll screw up! I did well and got "exceeds expectations". After i was so excited that they were gone, i found out they do this atleast 4 times a year....on top of PDAS! HOLY MOLY!

Our house is looking good, they say they'll be finished by Friday...we'll see!

I will post pictures....really!

I'm with Mere, i would be a better wife, mom and teacher if i could work part time....but i'd be broke!

Next post: dedication to Reegan....she turned two on the 18th....wow...shes two!!!! How fast time flies...

What we've been up to....

There have been lots of things going on in the Howell house. you've heard of some of it but now you can see some pics!

This is how it all started. We wanted to redo our extra bath and tile the 2 hallways...

and then this happened.... Furniture on the driveway before the sun was even up....On a better note. Why does Reegan have a diaper on her head? Because she doesn't need it on her hiney!!! SHES POTTY TRAINED!!!!!! Remember the pic of the front door earlier? red floor...gone....wall to the left of the door ...gone...and the other wall is down to the studs and will be gone soon!

this was a week or so ago. there is tile down in the living and dining area. the studs are still in the wall. we are waiting on it to quit raining so they can brace the wall in the attic.
We made ree's closet bigger! the left hand 3ft of her closet use to be a desk! Now its all closet! can you see the new carpet in there too??


I'll have to download the pics from this week in the morning. Pictures coming up: new kitchen cabinet doors and drawers, enlarged master closet, and completed extra bathroom!

Did i mention that the 'guys' as reegan calls them have been here for 10 weeks. 2 weeks before the flood and 8 weeks after!

Reegan was listing the people that live in our house today the list was: mommy, daddy, reegan, and 'guys'!!! Well...they pretty much live here!

BTW I LOVE my new job!!!! More on that later....it's 10pm and my bed is calling me!

wow I'm a bad blogger!

Ok so I left you hanging last time about our flood. It happened on July 9....it is now Aug 7 and we still have at least 2 weeks to go on getting our house back to normal! I do have pictures, but there at home. We are at Mimi's so Ree can take a nap at Mimi's because they are tiling our den today. For some reason it is difficult for her to take a nap at home with 6 workers and a tile saw going!

While we're at it we are enlarging Reegan's closet and the closet in the master bedroom! I'm more excited about that than i am the new carpet (when you've lived with concrete and carpet tacks for 4 weeks getting carpet is pretty amazing!). They put carpet in Ree's room and the back bedroom on Friday. Our room might be later in the week...or next week! At this point it doesn't even matter! We're also knocking out the wall between the living room and the den. When you walk in the front door the entry hall, living room, dining area, kitchen, and den will all be one big room!! I think it will be cool!

I think my new school is going to be great! I love my new principal and my room is coming along. Did i mention that it has baby blue tile half way up the wall, and a really bad tropical mural. Amy and I are repainting on Saturday! OH and btw.... My principal asked me if i would teach reading...YUCK! But what do you say "No, I'm sorry, I realize English was my minor but I would rather teach 6th grade history because it isn't a TAKS tested class." ...I don't think that would go over too well....but it IS what WANTED to say :) She is suppose to make her decision by the end of the week.

We're still alive...I think! (pics to come)

Wow i cant believe my last post was almost a moth ago! Well lets see...what has happened in the last month

1. Thought hooking up the water softener would be a great summer project. Called the Culligan Man to start her up and make sure nothing blew up in the process (it hadn't been hooked up since we lived here). CM got it hooked up and 30 min later the ceiling in the office fell in and water was everywhere!!!

2. Culligan somehow thinks that this is not there fault...hhhmmmmm

3. Thought this was a good opportunity to do a small remodel. Tile in office, hall, entry way, and extra bathroom. New countertop and shower tile in extra bathroom.

4. Decided i should apply for a new job

5. Got a new job

6. New camera got stolen (kob bought me a new one since it was cheaper than filing on insurance!)

7. Contractors start on small remodel

8. Water line busts under extra bathroom sink in the middle of the night (contractors had nothing to do with it...just an old water line). ALL but 150 sqft of our 2300 sqft house were DRENCHED. We had 1 1/2 inches of water all over the house. Found it at 3:30AM

9. Call the emergency cleanup ppl at 4:30am

10. by 6:00am all of our carpet and hardwood floors are being removed from the house

11. 6:15 am, the sun comes up, the Pettys go get us breakfast and we sit on the driveway in our wet furniture.(Thanks mimi and petty's for coming to our rescue!)

12.The three of us move in with my mom for 5 days

13. Content adjuster pops in (5 days later) and assesses the damage of our 'things'

14. Contractor discovers that the tile that was already laid....has to come up!

15. we're back in our house with only cement floors, piles of damaged furniture, and boxes of decor. The contractor was nice enough to cut up our old carpet and cover the carpet tacks so ree wont accidentally step on them. We all still wear shoes inside!

16. Structural adjuster comes tomorrow...

I'll post pictures soon!!!

:)

What a Cutie!

Linda's Best Gift EVER

Is this not the coolest gift ever? It is the bottle tree Jonathan and Heather gave me. Jonathan made it and it has SO much personality! It could be my neighbors think I'm weird. Oh wait, they already think that. They have nice little red geraniums in their front yard. Not me - nope - I have a bottle tree! I would appreciate it if you would all go to the liquor store and pick out something in a bright colored bottle, go home and drink it, send me the bottle.

Oh yeah, here is a picture of Reegan learning to brush her teeth without a toothbrush. She didn't get it - just rubbed the toothpaste on her face.

Midnight Movie!

Gotta give a shout out to the Williams family who introduced me to midnight movies last year!

You guessed it some girl friends and I went to the FIRST showing of Sex in the City!

We got home at 3 AM....I left my house this morning for work at 7:10, am giving finals all morning, have graduation tonight, and a full work day tomorrow .... I am exhausted...AND IT WAS ALL WORTH IT!! I would go back again today and watch it if I had time! This is my new FAVORITE movie of all time!

On another note...I'm officially 30. It wasn't painful...no blood or tears....so i think it will be fine.

Ohhh-ohhh!!! We got a new camera! I think I'm in LOVE! Rebel XTI. It is SO much better than my little pocket size digital camera(ya know the kind that has a stupid delay between when you push the button and when it actually takes the pic). Now i can get decent shots of Reegan at the exact moment i push the button.

(disregard the non matching pajamas!)

"...To YOU"

Happy Birthday to you, Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to Mimi, happy birthday to you!







We had a pool party for mimi on her birthday....except Reegan was the only one in the pool! Her mimi went and bought it for her this morning!

8 more days of school!!!!!! sorry Leslie :( ...wish y'all got out sooner! I can't imagine having to go into June.

On Sunday Reegan will be 20 months!!! WOW!!! And no I'm not quite ready for another one!

* Mothers day was a blast! I love it when we are all able to get together, it is so much fun! Laine and Reegan went for a ride in Paco's chariot!!!
Laine and baby Blake!

* Granny took a very comfortable looking nap.....
* Reegan ran into the living room last night after her bath (naked) and i tickled her hiney. She laughed, then backed her naked hiney up to her daddy saying 'hiney, hiney' and shaking her head yes wanting him to tickle it! Then she would die laughing again!!! she did this to both of us for about 5 min, it was cute!...She won't think this is cute when shes older!!!

*I am SOOOOOOOO ready for school to be out. You know how Seniors get in May...they think they own the world and can do ANYTHING! I'm ready for them to MOVE ON!!

*I was showing someone how to post a blog the other day and that's how the last post came about....random pic i know! It was actually from Dacy's wedding in Vegas...uummm 4 years ago??

* AMY IS PREGNANT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YYYYYYYYYEEEEEAAAAAAA :) I think this is the PERFECT time for her to start a blog! hint-hint!

*Ree's new favorite songs are ABC's, Row row row your boat....and ....Apple Bottom Jeans!!! I have a video of her singing and dancing to it...I'll post it later.

*Ok, i need you to finish this sentence "My child would go to bed a lot easier if he/she wouldn't ________________" I'll tell you my ending after i hear yours!!!!

Up on the Housetop Click Click Click by Linda

I was at my mother's house yesterday. I don't normally see her undressed but she had just gotten up (11am) and walked through the kitchen. What - What is that noise? Click Click Click. I looked around, it kept on. Click Click Click. Want to guess? Her toenails. I'm serious! Her toenails are so long they are clicking on the floor. That is SO gross. I'm taking her for a pedicure tomorrow. I hope she doesn't put someone's eye out. The toes in this picture look WAY better than hers look.

Three Trips to IHop

As most of you know my grandparents eat dinner every evening at IHop with some friends of theirs. They meet at 5:00 every weekday. There have been times that my grandmother isn't ready until 6:00 (so their friends were waiting on them for an hour!) so my grandad made the rule that if she wasn't ready at 5:00 they would eat at home. (some of you may remember this from the 'horn honking' episode)

It all started one beautiful Monday afternoon....

My grandad called my mom about 5:25 and said

Grandad:"Well, your mothers gone..."
Mom: "What???"
Grandad: " She wasn't ready by 5 so I told her we were eating at home. I didn't see her for a minute and got to looking for her and she was gone! She took the car and went to IHop!" (TRIP #1)
Mom: "you stay there we'll go check on her"

We go to IHop to see if she actually made it there...the whole way arguing about who was going to go in and talk to her and attempt to get the keys....saying things like "you're her daughter, you do it", "she likes you more", "lets rock, paper, scissors for it!". Either way I lost and had to go in. The plan was that I would go in and get the keys from her and see if their friends would take her home.

(TRIP # 2)As I go in my grandmothers back is to me, she is sitting in a booth by herself, and she is talking to the waitress

grandmother: "where is everybody?"
waitress: "Jo, no one has been here in 2 days.... Where is Tommy?"
grandmother: "He said he was going to stay home and eat a PB & J sandwich, and i told him I was going out!"( in her sassy little voice!)

I walk around and sit in the booth across from her...

grandmother: "HE sent you didn't he"(with an evil glare...)
me: "yes...you know you shouldn't do this, right?"(as sweet as i could sound...)
grandmother: "do what?"(as if she had absolutely NO idea!)
me: "Drive! Remember that you don't have a valid drivers license!"
grandmother: "hmmmfff" (you know...the way a 2 year old says it when they don't want to do something!)
me: "you can't drive home. give me the keys and I'll come back and get you when your finished eating"
grandmother: "I wont drive, trust me" (accompanied by a big shit eating grin)
me: "please give me the keys, it's illegal for you to be driving (Not to mention HIGHLY unsafe!!!)"

grandmother: "I'm a big girl and I'll face ALL the consequences!"

....more begging...more NO's....I finally walk out telling her that if she wasn't going to give me the keys that I would go and get the extra set from their house.

We get to their house to pick up the extra set of keys. when we pull up we notice that the small trailer in the driveway has been moved several feet across the driveway into the bush.....a light goes on...'that explains the LARGE scratch on the bumper'...she hit the frappin trailer!!!

.

.

.

.

.

We head back to IHop with the extra set of keys (TRIP #3). My mom decides that it would be easier not to be confrontational and just get her home safe so she unlocked the car and waited...and waited...and waited.

Did i mention that she was sitting in there without her oxygen tank. She did have her purse though...but it had no $ in it! We're not sure how she got out of there without paying...

When she got in the car she was chipper as could be...Commented on the flowers, with a big smile! She finally asked "is the whole family mad at me?"..."yep"...."hhhmmmppphhh" ( back to the 2 year old attitude!)

The End.

P.S. The next morning (well, really around noon...) she got out of bed and walked into the kitchen where my grandad was sitting at the table paying bills.

grandmother:"That's right where Dan Rather was sitting!!"
grandad: "Really? Dan Rather was here?" (wondering what kind of response he'd get!)

grandmother: "Yep, we talked for a long time!"

...and off she went to sit in her recliner....and to my grandad...it's just another NORMAL day....

YFZ Ranch

Yes, we live near the YFZ Ranch. You got it, the one where the 416 children have been removed because of suspected sexual abuse. The women claim they are "normal" but it seems to me they have all had a lobotomy. They can hardly carry on an interview much less a conversation. The children don't know who their mothers or fathers are. They force the girls to marry at a very early age to older men. Male teenagers are tossed out by their parents, on the request of the higher ups. They are just dumped with very little education, no money, nowhere to go. They are referred to as the "lost boys". One of the detectives involved in the raid at the YFZ said the bed they found in the temple, sometimes referred to as the marital bed, had twelve chairs surrounding it. So they all watch? That is so sick.