Two by Two, about ME!

Two names you go by
1. Susie (or Susanne if you are my mom, dad, sister or brother!)
2. Mrs. Solo (at school)

Two things you are wearing right now
1. a skirt and tank top
2. bra and underwear ( I HATE wearing a bra...)

Two things you want in a relationship
1. laughter
2. love (would it have been appropriate to put money here??)

Two of your favorite things to do
1. read
2. stamp while laughing on the phone

Two things you want very badly at the moment
1. a cold drink, which I am too lazy to get up and get
2. for my kids to see my parents again
3. to take my bra off

Two pets you have or had
1. Jamba, our cat
2. Bo-Bo, my cat that Chris practically killed. Just ask him.

Two people who will fill this out first
1. Keeko, my sister
2. Denise, since she has bloggers block sometimes!

Two things you did last night
1. entertained foreign students
2. ate fresh strawberries

Two chores you don't like doing
1. folding laundry
2. dusting

Two things you ate today
1. beef enchiladas
2. pasta salad

Two people you talked to last
1. Keeko
2. Mom

Two things you're doing tomorrow
1. teaching (yes, STILL!!)
2. swimming at the pool!

Two favorite holidays
1. 4th of July
2. Christmas

Two favorite beverages
1. Dr. Pepper
2. beer

On a different thought, please pray for the English girl who was stolen while on holiday. Yes, I know, it is easy for us to say "But her parents left her ALONE!!"
At the end of the day, I do not blame them for a parenting mistake, for who are we to judge?
However, I am so very sad they don't have their daughter. Just think if it was one of OUR kids. Just think if it was YOUR kid.
Wouldn't you want the entire world to pray for their safe return?

Memorial Day weekend!

I hope everyone had a great long weekend. I only have two more weeks of school, and then my summer can officially begin. So much to show you -

We joined a pool for the summer, so here are some pictures of that!

Molly was "watering" the sidewalk. I wonder what she hopes will grow...?

Mikey and me playing in the pool. He was pretending to wash his hair with a vegetable scrubber, and I was the shower. He is so silly!

The picture of our empty backyard. Now, we need to do something about it!

Chris gets to work!

More construction to come!

Chris and Mikey went to Memorial Day services. Molly had a HORRIBLE tantrum, so I stayed home with her - I was not letting her go ANYWHERE like that today!!

And lastly, we had some friends over for a cookout. What is Memorial Day without a cookout??

They are from Korea and Turkey, and I am having fun teaching them some slang. I wonder what to teach then next. Hmmm... hee hee

Here is a great contest that I found through Wendy.

5 Minutes for Mom has one for tutus for the girls we all have.

I'm going to post this now to see if my links work. Poor Wendy has to teach me all of this over the phone two time zones away!

I'll do a real post this weekend, promise.

Working hard!

There has been so much going on, and the weather is finally pretty, so I haven't been blogging much recently. Sorry! Chris built the kids a sand box, 6x8. He and Mikey painted it, and it was filled in that Sat. morning. What a fun project for them to do together! It has a lovely cover that fastens down, and the kids love it.

Chris sent me flowers at school. I thought it was for nothing, but that was too good to be true. LOL Pretty, aren't they??

I had this same giraffe when I was 2. Actually, I had two of them, because I parked it in the driveway like it was my car, and my mom backed over it. So, my mom bought me one several years ago. Here is Molly on it. What do you think, Mom?

This is Kapri's book, as a finished product.

This is the first page, and it says "Kapri is happy."

Kapri is sad.

Kapri is angry.

Kapri is sleepy. So, the books were short, but labor intensive for 3-4 year olds!!

My mom bought me a Cricut last week. For nothing. What a fantastic day to get a box in the mail for ME, and have it actually be for ME!! And, it was a surprise!! Yeah for Mommy. She knows me.

I leave you with this parting shot. Dollar pitcher night at The Gaff. It was fun.

Life got BUSY!

Sorry for the lag between posts, it took a comment from Wendy to get me going before I head to bed.

Here is a picture of us on the HUB lawn, having a picnic on Tuesday. It was nice to see Chris again!

We had a field trip at school to a "retirement home". I told the kids we were going to sing to some grandmas and grandpas, and told the parents we were going to sing to "old people". Not PC, but true, right? The other bus had a stow-away on board as we headed back to school. Some lady decided she was going on a bus trip, and just sat there, waiting to go somewhere. Anywhere. The staff had to get some retirement home staff to come get her off the bus. Sweet old lady. Just wanted to go somewhere.

Then, we had Young Author and Artist night at school. A huge success, but a butt-load of work to get ready for. Our class made some adorable books. Let me describe them:

I took 4 pictures of the kids faces - one happy, one sad, one angry, and one sleepy. I printed them out on the computer and cut them out to be about 6x4.

The kids cut out 4 circles for heads, and I glued each picture on a head. Under it we printed out the words on the computer and glued them down.

We traced the kids hands and cut them out. We painted the kids feet, printed them, and cut them out. I made a "neck" that no one could see for the back out of poster board, and then took an 11x18 piece of construction paper. I cut a triangle out of the short end so it had "legs". The kids took some ribbon, glued it down for a belt, and decorated the "shirt" with foam shapes, sequins, buttons, anything we could find to glue.

I added arms of construction paper, glued the hands on, the feet on, the neck on the back, the head on, and added the cover called "The Many Moods of _____"

Each page said "_________ is happy." " ______ is sad." You get the picture?

I'll try to take a picture of one tomorrow at school before I send them home and post them. They were the absolute cutest things, but took an insane amount of work. Thank God for my assistant, Michele. She keeps me sane, on track, and organized. I really couldn't do it without her.

Then, we also had to crank out Mother's Day stuff. You know, card, poem, gift. By the time it was this weekend, I was B-E-A-T.

Mikey and Molly go to school 5 days a week, so their classes had "Mother's Day Teas". They sang songs, we had refreshments, and I just loved them in general.

Funny things from Mikey today:

Chris : Who has gas??

Mikey: Who else? Mowwy Hewaire....

After the bath, wanting pajamas on:

Mikey: Who are going to do first? Soccer boy, or the little girl who cries?

Of course the answer had to be "Soccer boy, who scored two goals today!!"

Here is a picture of the little girl who cries and always has gas during her Mother's Day Tea.

I sure do love her!

The kids and I found the Jelly Belly Bus at the grocery store, and got free samples of "recipes".

The cinnamon apple pie ROCKED!!

My Second Interview



1. You have 2 children very close in age, did you plan on having them so close? Do you like them so close in age or do you think it would be easier to have them farther apart?

They were planned to be that close together! I had Mikey when I was 33, and didn't have time to spare, really. My friend, Wendy, had hers 15 months apart and convinced me I could do it, too! Well, mine are 12 months apart (almost 13) and I was MUCH older than good ol' Wendy....it was tough!

I had gestational diabetes with Mikey, and he was a month early, spending a week in the NICU. He had acid reflux, colic, and was lactose intolerant. NOT an easy baby. It was difficult, to put it lightly. No family around to help out...I decided if I was ever going to do this again, it was going to be right now.

In the beginning, it would have been easier to have them farther apart. I don't really remember much of Molly's first two years, and that's a shame, but, now I am so thankful and praise the Lord that he gave them to me when he did. They are extremely close, protective, and best friends. Don't get me wrong - sometimes they physically attack each other - but they will not let anyone else attack the other one, in any way, shape, or form. They really do LOVE each other. Long may it last.



2. Name a moment that stands out in your mind that defines who you are today.

Who am I today? That is a tough question to answer every single day, much less in general! Who am I?

I am a walrus...(If you didn't grow up watching The Breakfast Club, you won't get that one...)

I suppose I had an epiphany in college. I woke up, and in one morning I changed my major to Elementary Education from Communications (about 1/2 my credits didn't transfer over) and I went to the the Detachment and dropped out of ROTC after 2 years of being one heck of a good cadet. I decided I wanted to teach small children, that I was created to do that, and nothing would stand in my way. Everyone was shocked, to say the least, but I never looked back.

It meant that I had to go to school year-round, and go an extra semester, but I was so happy! I had finally found my calling.



3. What is your favorite childhood memory?

I wasn't really a child anymore, but I remember working in the office my senior year of high school during my study hall. I ran errands and things for the secretary. I loved her. Anyway. I was a big fish in a small sea there. It was a small school, I was in a million activities, and never got in trouble. I took advantage of that and told the secretary sometimes that I had "errands" to run, and she'd just smile and look away. I'd run get my best friend, Amy Jo, out of study hall, and we'd drive all the way to Roanoke to go to McDonalds to watch the boys from the other high school as they drove around. We thought we were all that and a bag of chips.
Or maybe it was winning the 1600 at Regionals my sophomore year. I loved running in 8 different state meets, between track and cross-country. That was my life.



4. If you could have any superpower what would you want and why?

I want to be able to wriggle my nose like Samantha in Bewitched. She could have the house clean, or dinner cooked, or be somewhere, or change her clothes, etc. all by wriggling her nose. It's like buying time. And a maid. And a cook. All rolled into one.



5. If you could change anything about yourself what would it be and why? Cannot be anything physical..

There is so much to change. I'd be more patient. With everyone. I'd read my Bible more. Every day. I'd tell people more often how much they mean to me. I'd exercise more. Or make sure I had the time to do it.

I'd spend less and save more.

The list could go on and on. But at the end of the day, after we've said our prayers, we should be pretty happy with ourselves. Because this is how God made us. Wonderfully.


And for a picture, here is Molly reading. She IS wonderful, isn't she?