Smarty pants!

Well, folks here she is. My sister Megan, aka Miss Smarty Pants! You wouldn't know it by looking at this picture, but we just found out yesterday that she is Calvary Christian Academy's "Class of 2006" Valedictorian! Congrats! I'm so proud of her. I'm really not all that surprised, seeing as she has always blown me away with her intelligence. She excels at everything she does! I'm so excited about flying down there in May to see her graduate. Now I guess I'll get to hear a cool speech too! This may be the first speech at a graduation that I'll actually be interested in hearing. Maybe she'll even mention her AWESOME sister in it! (hint,hint)
Anyway "Mego", I'm so proud of you and all you have managed to accomplish in the past 18 years. You are amazing! I'll be there soon to put away 10-20lbs of crawfish with ya! Tell Shane to get ready! I'm bringing our crawfish hats with me. Love ya!

Jogging "pays" off!

I was out on my evening jog tonight gazing at the beautiful sun setting behind the Rocky Mountains. We have such a good view of the mountains from our neighborhood. There is one area of my jogging trail that gives me a view of Pikes Peak. It is just so beautiful up here. On one side of me was the sunset and on the other side of me was the full moon making its way up into the sky. Ahhh! Ya'll are jealous aren't you? You should be! It is actually possible to jog a good ways up here without breaking too much of a sweat. Anyway, I figure by posting these pics and talking about the mountains enough I could convince some of you to move up here too. I figure my "powers of persuasion" must be pretty good considering I've gotten you all to start blogging. Come on, you know you want to!
Anyway, the point of this blog was to show you what I came across while jogging. Like I said, I was just minding my own business doing a little exercising, when I saw something on the ground where the street meets the sidewalk. As I got closer my heart started beating faster and faster. Not because I was about to hurl from exhaustion, but because I could see what it was. I couldn't believe my eyes. No, it couldn't be...or could it...no....that's just silly....oh my gosh, it is....a $100 bill just lying on the ground. Of course I pick it up. Just when I thought life couldn't get better, I realize the stupid thing is FAKE! Can you believe it? I was ticked!
I finished running home, trying to beat the sunset so that I could go grab my camera and take some pics for my blogging viewers. It wasn't until I got home and after a re-enacting the money lying on the sidewalk for my picture that I noticed what it said on it. I of course, knew that it was fake from the moment I touched it but I couldn't help but laugh when I actually read the writing on it. Can you all make it out from the pic. For those of you with bad eyes, it says: "THE OVERWEIGHT STATES OF AMERICA. For anyone serious about losing weight....". The back even says, "LOSE WEIGHT NOW" right under whatever building that is on a $100 dollar bill. Anyway, my point is how ironic that while out jogging and trying to "lose weight now" I stumble across a piece of money that God knows I'm gonna stop to pick up, tells me that I'm "overweight" and I need to "lose weight"! Pretty funny, huh? I at least thought it was. The best I can figure is that some gorgeous, amazingly skinny, non-mother type is out driving around throwing these FAKE $100 dollar bills out the top of her BMW convertable knowing that us poor, digustingly fat losers that are eating styrofoam crackers and getting shin splints are gonna stop and pick them up. My mission is to find this woman and strangle her with my MP3 player cord. Wish me luck!

"To be, or not to be?"

These are some pics that I took of my kiddos not too long ago. As you can see my 4 year old, Emily is very photogenic! The problem is that she hates having her picture taken. This is so frustrating for me, seeing as how I am an "aspiring" photographer. I love taking pictures, but it is like pulling teeth to get her to cooperate. My older daughter, Peyton on the other hand will pose every time she sees a camera. (as you can see in the pics posted) Yup, that's her in the pink boa. Did I mention she loved "props" too! She'll actually ask me, "Mom, is this a good pose?" I have gotten some great pics of her too, but their not as natural because she is always "posing"! Like I said, I would like nothing more than to make photography my 2nd job. (second behind being a full-time mom) I look at the sites of professional photographers that are making money hand over fist by doing the same thing that I love to do. Take pictures. I love being able to capture the true essence of a child's face, and those candid moments that describe their little personalities. I would love nothing more than to be making money doing something that I love and have such a passion for. The problem is that I'm scared too death to do it! At least for someone else. I guess I'm just so worried that they won't like what I like. I'm so scared I'll screw up! It is all fine and dandy when I don't get the lighting just right, or I take a blurry pic when it is with my kids, because they're "MY" kids. But what happens when someone starts paying me money, and I screw up! That's not cool! I guess I could drive myself crazy with all the stupid questions. I just need to buck up and do it! I'm starting to sound like my "whiny kid"! Didn't I just blog about her a few blogs back? Maybe I'll start acting like my "no-it-all kid" who believes that she can do it all! In the mean time, I'll just keep taking pics of my beauiful babies! Aren't they cute! Yeah, I know I'm biased!

Happy Birthday Jeff!

Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, you look like a monkey and you smell like one too!

NO really, HAPPY BIRTHDAY BUD! I love you! Just wanted you to know that I was thinking about you. Maybe one day we'll all be so lucky to read another blog entry from you. I will wait with baited breath? (is that how you spell "baited"?) Oh, well you know what I mean! Have a great birthday!

Venting!

I'm about to go CRAZY! Today almost did me in! As you know if you keep up with my other blog, "The Hatcher Hookup", Andy has been sick since friday morning. He is normally a wonderful, content little boy that plays and hardly ever fusses! Well, this "little man" is about to drive me nuts. (believe me, I wasn't too far from it to begin with) He's not sleeping, he's not taking his bottles, he wants to be held constantly, he won't play with his toys, etc... Enough already!!!
The girls are usually a big help to me. They help play with Andy while I get myself ready in the morning. They are pretty good about helping me clean up when they are asked. But lately, they've decided to turn on me too!
Peyton is going through some stage where she thinks that her ideas are better than mine. So, when I ask her to do something, instead of saying, "Yes maam", she says, "But....mom...I....". (sound familiar?) Oh, and when she doesn't like what I ask her to do she crinkles up her face like she is about to start crying, and stomps her foot. Now, most of you that know me know that this behavior does not fly with me! The first time I witnessed the "face crinkle" and the "stomp" I said to myself, "Oh, I'm nipping this one in the bud right now!" I've made it my mission this weekend to break her of this habit, and quick!
Emily, my soon-to-be four year old is the queen of "whine"! She's got it down to a fine art! Sometimes I try to cut her a little slack, seeing as her sister is usually behind a lot of the aggravation. But, lately every little thing sets her off! I don't know if it is just because I'm tired and my nerves are shot or what, but she is a major factor in my "going off the deep end"!
I've decided to use this blog entry to VENT! Don't get me wrong, I love my children and I don't know who I would be without them, but after weekends like this one I need a break! The combination of the "sick kid", the "no-it-all kid", and the "whiner" is leaving me with no other choice but to try out the "Stress reduction kit" at the top of this blog. I'll let you know if it works!