Happy Valentine's Day

This is as creative as it gets at 7:30 a.m. No fancy store pictures of the girls, no cutesy photos either. It turned bitter cold this morning (37F with a stiff wind) and so I dressed them, had them stand together for a photo, and stuffed them into coats to run them off to school.

Hope everyone has a Happy St. Valentine's Day!

A common sight

This is a common sight in our house at the end of each day. They were both so cute sitting on their beds reading that I grabbed the camera for a quick snap. Brenna is "reading" a book we picked up at the library. She is at that in-between stage where she probably CAN read more than a few words, but sure as heck doesn't want to. I know she can read the words BANK and FIRE because both are in the book. What happens is usually that I'll read one or two picture books to her, and then she'll sit in the bed "reading" them to herself - basically retelling the same story I just read.

(By the way, she responded well to the prescription and just has a little cough leftover.)


Cameron meanwhile is plowing through chapter books, especially the Magic Tree House series. I pick up any that I can find that look like new, since I'm being bad and not keeping a list of the ones she's already read. Cameron's discovered some of my old well-read tattered books, including Charlotte's Web and the "witch books" by Ruth Chew. But she still loves to be read to also, so some nights I sit in her bed and read to her. Lately she's been interested in the Dear America series. We've read one Mayflower diary (Remember Patience) and now we're reading another form a boy's perspective (Jasper).

Chef Cameron

Friday night, Cameron made dinner using our new cookbook by Rachael Ray. She made Mini Cheeseburger Pizzas Italian Style. She really enjoyed it since I allowed her to use a knife to cut the onion, mix and form the meatballs herself, and then cook them in the skillet (with some supervision of course). Actually it was quite delicious!

I wonder what she'll choose to cook next!

Working Mom Blues

Brenna has been sick for the last three weeks. First we had a round of strep throat. Mix that up with a little reaction to her antibiotics and she missed four days of school the first week. Then last Friday they tried to reach me because she was running 103F fever.

Though I was in the office, I was actually out of the office attending Convocation. So no one could reach me and they couldn't reach Bryan, and next on the list was my sister, who called Bryan, who tried to call me (who was out of the office and not carrying a cell phone into campus meetings.)

Bryan got her into the dr's office where a assistant said, "Virus" and sent him on his way. She ran the fever all weekend, developed nasal congestion and then her asthmatic cough settled in her chest. "Virus" they said again on Monday via telephone. But she was still running fever and coughing on Wed. so I was able to get her an appointment.

My mom has generously spent some time every day this week helping out, even though it's a 45 minute drive each way for her. She actually took Brenna to the dr. appt, because I could only get the appt in the afternoon and had to make an appearance in the office. They gave Brenna a nebulizer breathing treatment and then the pediatrician (whom I adore) diagnosed her with a mycoplasma infection. (Walking Pneumonia, which everytime I say it in my mind comes out to the tune of "Waltzing Matilda" from those children's songs CDs we used to play when Cameron was two.)

Mom came back today to sit with Brenna, so I could get back in the office to answer the reference questions starting to stack up, attend an Emergency Response committee meeting, and (more importantly) start working on my Powerpoint presentation for Tuesday morning. All I could think about was Brenna. When I'm at work, I'm worrying about not being with her. When I'm at home with her, I can't keep my mind off of work.

Even though she had a good day at home with Nana, and today is day two of a strong antibiotic, her fever spiked to 102 this evening and she became clingy and whiny.

I got the Working Mom Blues. (Now I just need to rewrite this post with rhyme and meter for a blues song.)

1967-2007

Saturday night we celebrated Mom & Dad's Ruby Wedding Anniversary. Lisa decorated her beautiful house with photos of our parents throughout the last 40 years. Leah arranged the photos with music for a powerpoint montage. Brian was in charge of the dinner, with a little help from Bryan. Together they plated a delicious dinner of Steak Diane (from the Brennan's from Houston cookbook) with fancy potatoes, shrimp remoulade, and crab cakes with lemon beurre sauce for the appetizer. We topped the cake with their original wedding cake topper from 1967 and an anthurium, which was their wedding flower.

Happy 40th Anniversary to two great people!

Cool Slideshows

Corporal

Can you spell it? Quit looking at the title, close your eyes and spell it. (I couldn't - kept trying to make it -OL). Maybe I should ask - could you spell it when you were seven years old?

Thirty-two students from 2nd to 5th grade participated in the school Spelling Bee this morning. Cameron qualified by being the 2nd best speller in her class. Sadly, this first word tripped her up and she was disqualified in the first round - along with 24 others. It was disappointing for her, even though the other little girl in her class also went down in round one on the word "patina" (which Cameron can spell - if only they had switched seats!). Round two had 8 spellers, round three had 5, and then there were 3 spellers for a few more short rounds, until the winner finally spelled alcohol and then tariff.

While studying, we wondered how they would call out words - whether they would go in an order, or mix them up between languages of origin, etc. (The Spell It! study book is divided by language of origin.) They went in order starting with the 3rd column of Latin words. Words like precipitate, erudite, intractable, exuberant, retrospective, spectrum, prescription, capitulation, incredulous, December (she can spell the last six....) Ah, but the confusing corporal with the AL not OL.

One fortunate older child got through two rounds with the words mummy and tuna (though down she went in round 3 with gazelle.)

I'm pretty proud. She was the youngest person to qualify for the school spelling bee. It was just luck of the draw that she received one word that she couldn't spell. She sat up there with the others, came forward to the microphone, and tried her best to spell that word.

I think next year will be a good year to try again! Guess which word we will be learning first?

Commercials

Brenna has been sick for the weekend and has been watching a little too much television. She has discovered commercials. She is every marketing agency's dream viewer. Just now...

"Hey Mom! They just showed a Swipper
(a Swiffer).

We should get one.
(we have one)

It's a kind of mop! We need to mop the floors!"

(gee, thanks hon)

Other products Brenna has endorsed this weekend include Easy Off Bam and Lysol Cling. Is she trying to tell me something??