Proud Mom

This past Saturday was the district PSIA (Private School Interscholastic Association) competition. It's like UIL, but for private school and the kids compete in various academic competitions. Shauna was picked to represent her school in Storytelling and Creative Writing. Creative Writing was first at 9:00am. It was pretty chaotic at school where the competition was held because of so many kids being there. There were 10 private schools represented in this district and it was for 1st graders through middle school. That equals tons of active kids!

Shauna felt really good about her Creative Writing work but we had to wait 3 hours for the results. Only one bad thing in the day was when Shauna lined up to go to her Storytelling competition, a girl from another school yelled at her and made her cry. Really bad timing - but I tried to be cheerful and tell her not to let it ruin her day but I think it did affect her a bit. (Is it bad that the protective Mom side of me wanted to smack that little girl?) I got to watch the Storytelling competition and thought all the kids did great. Shauna received a qualifier ribbon for her effort in Storytelling.

When they gave the awards for Creative Writing, they started with the qualifier ribbons. When all those were given out, it dawned on Shauna that it meant she was going to be receiving a medal! The look on her face was priceless as they awarded medals and her name was yet to be called. Her best friend, Katya, took 3rd place in Creative Writing and Shauna took 2nd place! We are so proud of both girls! Unfortunately, in this competition only the 1st place finisher gets to go to state, unlike the other areas where the top 2 go. Shauna was disappointed in that, but we told her she did great to finish 2nd among all those students! I need to post a picture of Shauna with her medal but forgot the camera at home today.

While we were at competition, our Furbaby #2 (Holly), had a major injury on her leg. We think she got caught in a barbed wire fence. Hubby was home doing homework but had to change plans to rush her to the vet. The cut was so bad (bone exposed - sorry if TMI) that they had to knock her out to fix it surgically. She's doing okay now but I feel so sorry for her wearing that lampshade thing on her head so she doesn't pull out the stiches and staples.

Vacation

We had a lovely vacation in Florida. We spent 7 days at Disney World and 3 days with Charles' family in the Tampa area. I must say, 7 days at Disney is a bit much, but we had a fabulous time! We even squeezed in a day at Universal Studios. The weather was perfect. We had a great time with the family also. We got to see Charles' grandmother, who will be 94 next month and is constantly on the go. The kids had a great time with their cousins, Mallory and Eryn. We even got to see a Tampa Bay Lightning hockey game. Shauna says she wants to move to Florida now!

I want to thank my travel agent (Papa AJ) for helping put together a great trip!

Here are a few pictures to share:

Shauna is thrilled to finally have arrived at Magic Kingdom!

We could have literally touched this giraffe because he was so close to the jeep!

Shauna meets Mary Poppins. She asked Shauna about her "badges" and Shauna corrected her, telling her they are called "pins".

Shauna after having her face painted by Disney Hollywood Studios special effects artists.

Shauna meets Pinnochio.

Can you believe the size of that Rice Krispie Treat that Ethan got? It was HUGE!!

Mommy and Shauna after picking strawberries with Charles' cousins in Florida. We had a great time and you can tell, she loved to eat them!

** Edited to add pictures of Charles and Ethan to prove we were all on vacation together!

Here's most of the family (without Ethan) posing with Mickey!

This is the picture I "snuck" taking of Ethan. It's tough to get a picture of a teenage boy!

Charles got to "act" in the Disaster ride/movie. He played an evil scientist!

Courtesy People!!

I must ask, why is it that most normal people turn into crazy, raging, idiotic, rude people when they get behind a car? So working in Houston, I sit in terrible traffic quite often and encounter all kinds. Really, if someone is trying to get out of a parking lot somewhere, is it really going to get you to where you are going faster if you purposely block them in? I think there are some courtesy rules that we need to help:

1 - When you are leaving a sporting event, concert, etc where there are a TON of cars, please use the one from each side processes (you know, I go, you go, person behind me goes, person behind you goes, etc.) It really makes the whole parking lot empty much faster.
2 - Driving a car at 80mph down the freeway is not the time to be putting on makeup, reading a newspaper or book, etc.
3 - Just because you turn on that blinker doesn't mean you get to immediately move over into my lane! Wait until there is some space!
4 - Lay off the horn, it just irritates people more, and sometimes just down right scares the crap out of that bad driver making them do something more stupid!
5 - The HOV lanes are for cares with more than ONE person in them!! Quit crossing the double white lines to dash in and out of those lanes at your will! (And, why does there never seem to be a police officer around to catch these idiots?)
6 - You are not to drive just 55 mph in the fast lane on the freeway. The fast lane for those who don't know is the far left lane, or the passing lane.
7 - When you see a sign that a lane is giong to end, begin merging as soon as you can. Do NOT wait and try to drive down to the very last minute and force yourself in. In TX, you might get shot for something like that!

I'm sure this list could be about 50 items long, but I just needed to vent a bit! Thanks for reading! Comment and share some of your driving pet peeves and suggestions!