TN PLAY

Schools are so creative when it comes to teaching. Megan's school had a TN play that helped them learn the history of TN. Megan dressed as Catherine Sevier. Others dressed as Daniel Boone, Davy Crocket, Indians, Civil War Soldiers, BB King, Dolly Parton, and of course ELVIS. Each child performed a small skit about their character. Dolly Parton came out singing "9 to 5", Johnny Cash sang "I walk the Line" and even Tennessee's famous Amy Grant performed. HA!! Unfortunately my camera went dead at the play but here is a pic of Megan at home in her costume.

I thought this was a cute pic. At the start of the season both girls were on the same team. Megan begged me to be on a different team because of a friend. She even said "I don't want to play softball if I can't be on Tatums team"..So I got on the phone and did what I could to make her happy. To make a long story short, Megan was placed on her friends team and Rachel was left on the original team. When I called Rachel's coach to tell her what was going on, she was none too happy and thought it was something she had done. Let me set the picture for you, Coach Ray grew up playing softball. You can look at the lady and know that she played softball. She's even got the husky voice to go along with it. So...yes I had made my daughter happy but I had made Coach Ray very unhappy. So poor little Rachel has paid dearly by always being the last to bat, always in outfield, and sometimes catcher. (kids hate catching). Coach doesn't like me at all, which we probably could never be friends anyway. She probably didn't understand why I was giving in to my daughter's plea or why I was making it harder on myself by attending two practices and two games each week. I have no idea myself!! So back to the photo, Rachel and Megan played against each other and Rachel is catcher and Megan is up to bat. I like to imagine that Rachel was saying something mean...Like bata bata bata Strike and Megan was telling her to Put A sock in it!!! At least that's the story I will tell when I show this picture to them 25 years from now. HA HA!!! oh by the way..Rachel's team won that day playing against Megan's team.

Megan doing what she does best!!! Notice how she has pushed her shirt down around her shoulders. DRAMA!!!

The END!!

All things must come to an END!! But something else must begin. Not sure how that goes but close enough. School is ending tomorrow!! Goodbye to 4th and 2nd grade and HELLO to summer for now!! Beginnings....Camps, Swim meets, vacations, and lazy days of summer. I can't believe my daughter will be in 5th grade next year!! WOW!!! She is growing up so fast. She is begging for independence but of course I can't seem to let go of the reins. I've loosened up some but not nearly as much as she would like. Luckily for Rachel, she is getting to do so much more than Megan did at her age. Megan went to camp the summer after her 3rd grade year. Rachel is going this summer for the first time. Megan has recently been giving more free range of riding her bicycle around the neighborhood, which in turn means that Rachel can also follow along. Older siblings do have it tough. I believe even Rachel got her ears pierced a year before the age Megan got hers pierced. I guess if I was to have a 3rd, they would even start earlier than the two older ones.
I"m looking forward to a great summer. I'll be sure to post all my exciting adventures.
First up starting this week is City Playoffs. My tennis team made it to City and we start play tomorrow!! YEAH!! I can't wait. Deep down inside I really would love to make it to state. I guess I wouldn't be human if I didn't have some competitiveness inside of me. But I also know that we've accomplished a huge strive by making it this far. Congrats to all my teammates!!! Way to go girls!! ANd GOOD LUCK!!!

Quick Post

I'm going to the gym at 2 so I thought I'd update my blog. I sold my Sixxiz Die Cutter for $86 dollars on Ebay. YEAH!! The other item closes tomorrow morning. The Umansky Family had a great weekend. We had two softball games back to back. Then I took the girls swimming at the pool. It was a beautiful Saturday. Only a little windy. Sunday was much cooler. This is the last week of full days at school and then next week we go 3 half days. I hate that we have to return after Memorial Day. Bummer. The girls are going to Victory Ranch this summer so Sunday, Megan and I went to Target and bought a few things they will need for camp. They are so excited about camp. Who packs 4 weeks in advance for camp? Rachel was at a friends house on Sunday but when she got home and saw that Megan had started packing, she too wanted to start.

Today was my last New Neighbors Tennis match for the Spring. Out of 10 games, we won 6. Not bad. USTA has ended and my 2.5 team is going to City Playoffs. It starts next week. I haven't arranged a sitter yet but I'll make it work. State play offs are in June if we win City. My 3.0 team did not make it to City but that team is getting ready to start Tri-level in June. Tri-level is where each week 3 courts are played. A 2.5 court, a 3.0 court and a 3.5 court. It never ends!!! It's a lot of fun!!!

The house is still coming along. It's very exciting. I'll post some pics when I get a chance.

Time's up-gotta hit the gym!!!

My Ebay experience

I'm always giving stuff away!! Shoes, clothes, furniture, etc... My house keeper gets everything. She comes to work and I see her wearing a cute top when I realize, "Hey, that used to be mine".. she once told me if I was to come to her house I would see all my stuff. I once had a yard sale when I lived in Cordova. It was a lot of work and I had to get out of bed early which I hate!! Not to mention, I didn't make a lot of money. I've played around with ebay over the past 4 years or so. My first item to sell was my daughter's snowsuit. I don't even remember how much I sold it for. Probably not enough to even cover shipping since I always list items as FREE SHIPPING. Right now, I have a die cutter listed with the bidding starting at $25 dollars. As of tonight, it is at 51 dollars and I still have until Sunday. I also have the DVD Madagascar listed. I was going to sell a LOT of 20 Disney DVD's but then I decided to list one and see how it sold alone. I started the bidding low, $3.99, and as of tonight, I have 1 bidder willing to pay $3.99- probably what it will cost to ship it. At Easter, I listed a dress that Megan wore last year to her communion but it didn't sell. I may try re-listing it with a better description and a better picture. Basically, I just want to clean out some closets and have fun doing it!!! Maria doesn't need a die cutter or the movie Madagascar. Several months ago, her purse was falling apart and my mom brought her one from home. If her shoes start falling apart, I'll find her an old pair but for right now...I'm going to give EBAY a shot. Oh...I almost forgot. Dan sold his old Iphone on there for like 200 dollars or more..I don't remember. He listed it AS IS and stated that it had fallen in water. Amazing. Here are a few pics from my listings. I know it's boring but it's all I have to talk about tonight.

Memphis Musical

Rachel's 2nd grade class performed a Memphis Musical last week. The children dressed in poodle skirts and leather jackets. They sang an alphabet song about Memphis. A is for A. Schwab's, B is for Beale Street, C is for the City we all love, D is for Desoto, E is for Elvis, F is for Field trips so fun, G is for Grizzlies, H is for our History, I is for Issac Hayes, etc..... They also sang different songs like "You ain't nothing but a Hound Dog", "Walking in Memphis", "Leaving on a jet plane" and "Old Man River". It was very cute!! Here are some pictures from the show. Grandma made Rachel's poodle skirt. The program was on a Thursday and grandma showed up with the skirt on Wednesday at 3pm. The skirt did not fit and she had to tear out the entire waist and put in an elastic waist. It was a mess. We were in panic mode that night but luckily by bedtime she had it sewn back together and Rachel was posing for us with her new skirt and converse sneakers. Notice the Orange earrings she is wearing. The poodle is red, the leash is red, the scarf is red but SHE had to choose Orange earrings. HA HA!!!

Weekend

A great weekend all in all despite the rain. Softball and Soccer were canceled but I always welcome cancelations when it means I get to sleep in. I love sleeping in on Saturday morning. The girls spent Saturday night with my mom. Dan and I went to the Brooks Uncorked Auction. It was a very nice event and I think they raised over 150,000 dollars. Not bad at all!! If people are hurting from the economy, I didn't see it Saturday night. Maybe you didn't read the event we went to..UNCORKED. The majority of the auction was wine and the cocktail party was all tasting wine. So far, my experience with Auctions is yes more money is spent when there is alcohol involved. The online Auction that our school had recently raised close to 23,000. In the past we have had Live Auctions and over 100,000 dollars has been raised. HUGE DIFFERENCE!! People don't mind being outbid online. They don't know who has outbid them, but during a live auction when you see your buddy raise his paddle against you-IT"S WAR!!!!! Or a silent auction when someone writes their name down and then you hurry to write your name down...and on and on!!! HA HA.. Very humerous if you ask me!!!!
Sunday was mother's day and it was very peaceful. All I ask was to not be responsible for anything!!! We met my mother at exit 25 to pick up the girls and then we headed to Spring Creek for brunch. Yummy!!! I don't make that many salads at home but I love eating salad at the club. They had every food imaginable on the buffett. For dessert I had carrot cake, and it must have had at least 500 calories in one slice. It was awesome. Not to worry, I've played tennis this morning and I went to the gym. Happy Monday!!!

Tire Swing lesson

I want to write this down so I don't forget it. Yesterday at lunch, I sat next to my dad and I remembered that I've been meaning to ask him to please come put up a tire swing at our new property. When we visit to see the progess the house has made, the girls can swing. I knew my dad could do this task because he owns the equipment to climb a tree. So yesterday my dad explained to me how it is done. First you take some fishing string or any other nylon string and tie a rock to the end. Then you take a sling shot and you shoot the rock over the tree branch. Once you have the string, you will tie it to the rope you will use for the tire swing. Then you use it as a pulley. After you have your rope in place, you then can tie the rope around the tire. Interesting huh??? I thought so. All this time, I thought my dad was going to climb the tree and place the rope over the branch. I ask him how he knew this and he said he had read it years ago when he too had put a tire swing on our property in Gates. Anyway.. so now that you know how-GO OUT AND PUT UP A TIRE SWING!!!

1st Communion

Today, we celebrated Rachel's first communion. The rain did not hold off but the mass was beautiful. I have a new favorite song at church. "One bread, One body". Rachel looked so pretty in her white dress. When we went shopping for a dress, the one she chose was the first one she tried on. That also happened to me when I chose my wedding dress. Today they only took the bread and not the wine, because of the recent Swine Flu. We've had a school in Collierville with an unconfirmed case. The school is now closed for 7-10 days. We also were not allowed to shake hands today when we offered a sign of peace. I wonder if this is a first for the Catholic community. Hmmmmmmmm... In the Baptist church, everyone takes from a small cup unlike the one glass that is shared by everyone in the Catholic church. Even without the swine flu, I'd prefer them use seperate glasses. Here are a few pictures from the big day! Enjoy!!!!

Tennis WIN

Just wanted to post a picture of my tennis team. Only two members are missing from the picture. We went to Colonial Country Club yesterday and brought home another WIN!!! Gaby and I played on the doubles court and we won the first set 6-4. The second set was a little tougher and they beat us 3-6. Luckily we pulled it off and beat them in a tie-breaker with the score being 10-5. I think what messed us up in the second set was the fact it started raining and we had to stop play twice. I lost my momentum. I was also a little rattled by my opponent who served her second serve immediately after missing the first serve. She didn't wait for us to move the ball or even glace where it went. One time, I should have called a let because the ball was on our court but instead she immediately serves instead of giving us time to move the ball. I think that's where experience comes in to play. There are some things you just don't know to say or think to say until it's too late. Happy Tennis Playing!!!

2nd opinion!!!

This is for all parents who may need reminding that it's important to get a 2nd opinion. Rachel has had mulloscum since July 2008. I took her to the peditrician and he told me that it's fairly common, it's on everything, yes it's contagious but there's not really anything one can do about it. He said it can last up to 2 years or longer. So I trusted the doctor hoping it would go away on it's own. Last night, Rachel's inner thighs, outer thighs, private, legs, bottom, were covered in little white dots. It looks horrible. Apparently the heat irritated it and caused it to flare. So this morning I called a dermatologist and saw him at 8:30am. Dr. Baker informed me that yes it was Mulloscum and that the new bumps were eczema, and he prescribed me an ointment and also told me to give Rachel a antihistamine until is clears up. He wants to see her in two weeks and then he will use Liquid Nitrogen to freeze them off. (if it doesn't look better) I was so relived to hear a doctor taking action instead of telling me to wait it out. My poor baby has had more problems related to her skin. She's allergic to cats, dogs, birds, mold, dust, peanut trees, cashews, mango and kiwi. I just want to say that my heart goes out to any parent who has to deal with medical problems with their child. It's exhausting. My minor problem has consumed my day and I can't imagine what it is to deal with a major medical issue. Thank you God for giving me healthy children. And one last request-Please help Rachel's skin to heal.