Mock Trial Competition 2011

Saturday my oldest was involved in the Regional Wade Edwards Mock Trial Competition. It was to be held at the High Point Courthouse. She had to leave at 8 am. I arrived by 10 for the first competition. It was an easy victory for the first round. Our team was very good and experienced. We broke for lunch at 12:30 then had to be back in court by 2 for round two. This was a little harder. Both teams were good and it was a close call as to who won. But amazingly, WE WON! So now was 5 pm and the team had to prepare for the final round K. burst into tears because she was shocked they won and she did not really want to do it again. IT had already been a long day. But she rallied and really shined in the final trial. Her cross examinations and closing argument were awesome! The other team (besides wearing hooker heels they could NOT walk in ) was really good too and had won last year. It was a tough competition but at 7 pm the judge awarded our team with the "best attorney" and "best witness". We thought we had won but they gave the victory to the other team. Unbelievable! They said they had never seen the losing team get both best attorney and best witness but lose. Oh well, it was very exciting and a fun day, but very L O N G.

Lilly Gets Her Braces Off!

Lilly got her braces off on Monday and her teeth look GREAT! Really beautiful smile on my beautiful girl! She is equally pleased and thus very motivated to wear that retainer 24/7. It has been 4 days and she is doing great with it! One week before she got her braces off, I took my youngest to the orthodontist. She will be getting an expander and 6 braces on March 15. So I plan to enjoy my one month free of the trips to the orthodontist!

Dangerous Combination

Two dogs and one pack of sugarless Orbit sweet mint gum don't make a good combination. On Super Bowl Sunday, about 9:15 pm I discovered a shredded package that use to contain 13 sticks of gum. My oldest had taken one out and left the package on the kitchen table. Well, I thought Jack ate the gum and remembered it could be fatal so I called the after hours vet. I was directed to bring him in as soon as possible. Problem was I did not see either dog with any gum wrappers and neither had "sweet mint" breath so I took both Cooper and Jack to the vet at 9:40pm. After making both dogs vomit ( for only $500- I am not kidding!) and inspecting it for gum, we discovered that Cooper had eaten ALL 13 pieces. Some were even intact and in the wrappers and according to my husband, "could be passed out to friends" ( yeah, right). So now we had to leave Cooper hospitalized for the night (for another $250) so they could check his blood sugar every two hours and monitor him. We were up all night phoning the vet to check on Cooper and I picked him up at 7:15 am. I fed him and walked him then called my vet. She wanted him for the day to continue monitoring him (that was only $80- what a bargain!). Now it is 6:00 pm and Cooper is home resting. We think he will be fine but have to watch for liver damage this week. Yuck! Moral of this story: XYLITOL, the sweetener in all sugarless gum, is HIGHLY TOXIC TO DOGS!!!! We no longer allow gum in the house.

My baby turns EIGHT!

We have been "coaching" M. to not grow a year older for, ah about 4 years now. "Forever Four", "Forever Five", "Stay Six", "Stay Seven" we chant each year but it is not working. She keeps getting bigger and older. She is my absolute last baby and I need for each year to be a double year from 4 on. I really enjoy the 4-9 year old. So to have two of each of these would be FABULOUS! Now if I could just wiggle my nose and make that happen. Oh well, the day has come and gone and M. turned EIGHT! She was delighted of course! We had a family lunch at Sticks and Stones for some yummy pizza and lots of presents! Then a trip to the party store to get huge, orange balloons inflated along with some regular balloons for the party. A party with girls AND BOYS! Eleven of each at an inflatable party place. We also got the black light/glow stick option to amp up the fun. It was frenetic, loud, not nearly long enough, and a whole lot of fun for the 2nd graders! The party was followed by a super secret sleepover for 5 of the girls. This is where the party started to loose a little bit of its luster. It was too much. M. was tired, the girls were loud, rowdy and a few were high maintenance. It was the L O N G E S T sleepover of my life. Eleven hours and they only slept for less than six. The bottom line- no more sleepovers with that many girls! (And probably not after a great party!)

day 4 of no school

On Monday, after we stayed up late on Sunday night finishing the science experiment, a snow storm was predicted. Well school was cancelled. I was notified at 5 am by my middle daughter, 5:30 am by the school system, then my alarm went off at 6:45 am and then the dogs. So I did not get any "extra"sleep. The snow finally started around 4 pm. And we got about 1" tops. It was a mix of snow and ice. Day two, we slept late since school was called at 8 pm. M. got to "sled" down our icy driveway with her dad but really it was not good snow. No snowman or snowball fights. Day three, school was called off at 5 pm the night before. Roads were icy in the morning but a lot melted off with the temperatures in the mid 30's. Ok, so now at 8 pm, school has been called off AGAIN! Enough already. I am leaving for Vegas tomorrow just to escape. No, really, I am going but it was already scheduled. But now I really feel I need and deserve it!

Science Experiment 2011

After putting off the experiment for a full week, although we should have done this over the holiday break, we have finished! Last night about 9 pm! Then, as luck would have it, no school today because of the threat of snow. No flakes yet- at 2:21pm! M. was super excited to conduct her first science experiment. We ran through a list of possibilities before arriving at the "winner". One of the rejected ideas- watching a scary movie every night before bed to see if it caused nightmares. Yeah, right, I vetoed that one right away because guess who would be the one losing sleep when in fact, scary movies DID cause nightmares. Then L. and H. set out to terrorize my baby to see if she would get scared. It worked! She screamed, cried and did not trust them for about a week. So we settled on an experiment to see if "lefties" were more ambidextrous than "righties". Each participant got 3 throws of a bocci ball to get it closest to the target with both dominant and non-dominant hands. Turns out lefties are not more ambidextrous but they are more accurate. Cool, huh? Next year I promise we will start much earlier!

The homemade gifts for 2010!

Every year I make my girls something for Christmas. I have made pajamas, dolls, matching doll p.j.'s, purses, photo albums, hats and scarves, sock animals and much more. This year I decided to skip it. But I kept having thoughts of what a bad mother I was NOT making something, so on December 20th (and we exchange gifts on Dec. 24th) I went to my local yarn store for inspiration. I found the perfect solution! Fingerless gloves with a beautiful cable pattern and picot edging! Got great yarn in a washable wool blend in marine blue and a steel blue then began knitting. Almost 24 hours a day!!! I made 2 pairs which I finished on Dec. 23rd and one sock (with the second one not quite finished) so all 3 girls had a gift handmade by Mom under the tree! I felt much better and the older girls LOVED the gloves and even requested that I make them socks too! M. was sweet and mentioned that she really would like another sock to go with the one I gave her! Back to the knitting needles!