A New Year

Last year was a blurr. I have never felt so alone family wise. I am very thankful that my mother and my favorite Aunt in the whole wide world still live in Texas. It seems that last year was one of the hardest years yet and still was a wonderful year. The family that I grew up with no longer exsists and that is hard. My father and I hardly spoke for most the year and when we did it seemed we were both hurt by one another. Being the person I am I do not have the ability to write people out of my life..... I just don't do that. I have only ever came close to being able too and that was many years ago and I am glad I did not write her off...she happens to have a big heart and just a few problems that she is tring hard to overcome. That being said... My brother who lives with me does not speak to my sister anymore. Why??? Your guess is as good as mine. It makes me sad...very sad. I never thought that anyone in our family would be at odds. My Dad and my brother don't speak either and that sucks. My best friend in the whole wide world got mad at me for some dumb things I said (or how I said them...still not sure) and ignored me for the longest. But I knew she would eventually get over it and speak to me again. Why??? Because we are sisters and we love eachother. We might not always see eye to eye but we are always together in heart. Your family is your family no matter what you do or say. This is something that will never change. Knowing this gives me hope for my siblings. I hope my brother comes around soon and befrieds the rest of his family. Last year also brought my sister to a new location....CUBA. I love that she loves it there but hate that she is there. We used to talk on the phone for litterally hours. She was in Virginia soon after my first baby was born. I waited for the day they got out of Virginia and moved to a new state (Not a fan of Virginia). Her time was up and she moved to CUBA....really? We are not even allowed to visit CUBA. To make matters worse my unlimited phone servise all over the US is pointless. We can't call CUBA. Now I only really need a phone 4 out of 8 days (my mom works 4 days on then 4 days off). Somehow over the last year I have packed on tons of weight. I have never been this heavy and I hate it. I know I am not a fat person but for me....I am too heavy. Soooo to break things down...My Dad lives in Louisianna, My sister lives in Cuba. My Brother lives here in Austin but does not talk to either. My Mom does live in Texas but she lives 5 1/2 hours away. My Aunt lives about the same distance as my mom. Soooo here I am. I am very happy to have the church family that I do. It is nice to talk to other adults from time to time. The only thing that is hard for me there is I am a sunday school teacher so I am with Kinder and 1st graders during the Sunday School. Other folks are attending classes of people there own age and making friends. I really don't want to quit teaching these kiddo's so I continue...year after year. On wednesday I teach more kids. I pretty much know every kid in our church.....the adults are a different story. Why??? I live in a differnt town than my church. I live way out of the way. There is no stopping by for coffee or play dates of kids my kids ages. I know this is me and not them. I should join a small group from my church but sometimes it is hard to attend due to my husbands hunting...fishing...golfing habbits. Sometimes I think about switching churches to one that is close but it makes me sad to think about it. I pray about where God wants me and every time I start to step away from the church God points me back to my church. hmmmm....life is confusing. I trust God and maybe this is his way of telling me Kids are my future. Who needs adult friends when all the kids love you so much. I hardly go into walmart without being spotted by one and getting a big hug. Kids are amazing and I know this first hand. It is hard to think I may never have another kid. My husband is still not on board with adoption. I don't really understand his thought process. I miss my Niece soo much. She lives in Ohio and we had a wonderful visit over the holidays but man it was hard to send her back. I know her life would be easier here with us in our home but God has plans for that one and I am not one to interfere with his will. She is a lovely girl and God is doing an amazing job raising her.
I do have soooo much to be thankful about. I am happy to report my children are healthy...happy...and fun little people. My Dad had open heart surgery and pulled through with flying colors. He is back to work and recovering nicely. While I do have several cronic illnesses none of them are debilitating and I am very thankful for that. My marriage is strong and healthy. My relationship with all of my family is well and intact (even if I say dumb things sometimes). The only debt we have is our house now. Yep...that is it....just the house. I don't ever want to be in debt again. My husband has an awesome job which allows me to stay home with my little boy and be here when my girl gets home from school. Facebook is one of my favorite outlets because I feel more connected to the ones I love even across the ocean. I am fortunate that my high school friends are on FB as well. I miss them so much and it is neat seeing them raise there family before my eyes. The only problem I see with facebook it that it will never replace a hug from one that you love. BUT....if you can't have a hug at least you can see the ones you love hugging others LOL. I have a huge extended family. After my parents devorced many years ago they both remarried. My mom married a man that shares my insane and sometime untackful humor....I don't think I could ever upset that man. I don't really know his children and thats ok. I don't think they want anymore siblings. My Dad married a woman who has a daughter that DOES want sisters so I am always open to the idea of having more sisters. Especialy sense mine is in CUBA. I do wish that my new sister lived in Texas and not Louisianna but hey...at least it is in the US.

Anyway...it is a new year...a new decade and maybe some of the issues will work them selves out this year...maybe not. Maybe I will lose some weight...maybe not. I started at the gym today with one of the ladies at chuch. My starting weight is 142....I would love to lose 20 pounds. Lets see!

I love you all and hope your year and this decade brings you closer to the ones you love, happier than you have ever been, and the picture of health. May God bless you all.

update!

This week was a very full week for us here in the Tichi house. It is the second week of school and both my babies have been a little under the weather with the sniffles (no fever). Wednesday we started our weekly club meetings in Awana's and Toni is in Sparks again and Mikey is in his last year of Cubbies. I am the Truth in Training leader and John oversees all the Awana games.

I think I am going to love getting to know the older kids (3rd, 4th, and 5th grades) and once we get our routine down I am sure we will all have a ball going through Gods word together...teaching is fun.

Mikey started Gymnastics today and I am happy to see him in his new class. He seems to help the younger kids out in his class. Mikey is growing so fast and is just a fun kid to be around. Mikey is full of life and is loving doing his A, B, Cs with me. He is a smart boy.

Toni is loving 1st grade and the teachers have nothing bad to say about her...in fact they send extra notes telling me how much they love having her in the class. And yes you heard me right. Toni has a Teacher and a Assistant teacher in training I guess. Lucky Toni the assistant teacher was in her class room last year so she started school already knowing one teacher. Today Toni made me tear when I picked her up. In Toni's class if they are good for the day they get a "happy" buck. Now once every two weeks they get to spend their "happy" bucks at their teachers store. Well today she hopped into the car and handed me a beautiful candle. I asked her where she got it from and that is when she explained their system. Then I heard her telling Lia that she spent all her money....all $20 bucks. I joined in and asked how she had $20 bucks already on the 9th day of school. She said "well mom we also get other awards like the best behaved for the day". She also said sometimes the teacher will reward her for being the only one that listens. Yeah....her teacher loves her.

The Pool

While growing up I was never scared of the water....I loved to swim. I remember giong into Cleveland to the public pool where there was two diving boards and loving just jumping in the water. I don't know how old I was or really when I learned to swim but I was always in the water. Living in Texas I just guessed that everyone knew how to swim. It is too hot here in this great big state not to be near water in August. Well....I grew up(thank you Lord for letting me grow up) and got married and when I did that I gained 5 nieces and nephews. John and I would take them down to Conroe and swim in the lake. Jessie was 2 and I remember standing in that water over her head letting her learn to swim (back and forth...back and forth). Every year for 2 or three years everysummer we would throw her in and help her out till she was good at it. I was never scared of the water....ever. I remember thinking "I am standing right here, what could happen". Then I had kids of my own and in the lake I was too scared to turn loose of them. I would think "just let go" but they are so important to me I was too scared to let go. What if they dissapeard under the water and I could not find them. What if...what if ....what if. My daugter was two when we out on the lake and watched a guy drown right in front of us. It took them over 24 hours to locate the body of this man. Now I am very uneasy jumping off of things into the water....I still do it but it is in the back of my mind that something could go wrong...really really wrong. I have been terrified to teach my little girl to swim and she is cautious enough not to push the issue. Last year my mom really worked with the kiddo's when she was around and it helped me get over my fear a little. I kept thinking I should enroll them in swim classes this summer but I have a hard time committing to a date. We baught a 3 foot pool and again my mom got them all excited about swimming. My kids look like fish in this pool. Under the water half the time they are in it. Mikey can hold his breath longer than most kids 8 and under. They love the water. Mikey is not scared of anything and I have to really watch him all the time. Yesterday one of my friends posted on Facebook that she was meeting friends at this really nice pool not too far from here so I packed the kids up and joined them. The pool was nice and big. It had a kid section for non swimmers and then a big pool for older more experieced swimmers...with two diving boards. Toni was happy staying where she could touch. Mikey....not so much. I forgot his life vest (yep..I make him wear it when ever we are around deep water). So I had to just keep ahold of him. One problem, he kept saying "don't touch me mom!" I kept putting him back where he could touch and he would just swim out further. Finally I got it...he can swim just fine. He is so tiny swimming all over the water. We went to the 5 foot section well over his head and he kept staring at the diving board. "Mom, I want to jump!" So I let him jump off of the side into the 5 and 6 foot water. I was there to catch him every jump. Again...he kept saying "Mom, don't touch me". I moved over and watched him and sure enough he jumped off went under...came up like a drowned puppy and swam to shore. Toni saw this going on and she decided she wanted to jump off the wall too. She got up there the first time and froze. She would not jump. Mikey went around her three times and jumped. Finally Toni (not wanting to be out done) jumped off and I helped her up and out. She was sooooooo happy with herself. She started doing it over and over just like Mikey. I was in the water now for emotional support more for me then them. Toni said "I want to go to the diving board!" So I did what any mother would do and made her swim accross the pool first to make sure she could handle the swimming. She finished the pool swim and said...."can I go now". I took Mikey and Toni over and put Toni in line to jump. She walked out the first time looked down and panic swept over her. She turned around and slowly walked back off, came over to me and said lets go practice more. Back to the side of the pool. One of the other mom's there said it normally takes about three times till they jump the first time. Soooooo we went practice and back to the board. Same thing...panic. At this point I thought...how am I going to get her to jump. The third time she got up on the board and started to panic, this really friendly guy that is an instructor there said "can she swim?". I yelled to the guy "oh yeah". He went out there with her and kinda lowered/dropped her in. I thought to myself...wow she is going to be sooo mad that she was just pushed in. The guy did not even talk to her at all....except....one....two....three. Well she popped up out of the water with a smile on her face and swam to the shore. She was crazy happy and smile from ear to ear. Mikey was in tears. Mikey saw her panic and wanted nothing to do with that board. He was mad that she was even on it. I could not make Mikey ok with sister jumping off the board and I could not drag Toni away from it. Mikey and I had to go back to the wall and calm him down while Toni was just jumping over and over and over. Toni has no fear of the water now. I do wish I would have let Mikey jump off the board first and you know what they say "hindsight is 20/20" . Mikey is content to jump off the wall for now and Toni is an expert jumper. Too bad I did not bring my camera. Overall it was a wonderful day and I learned just how capable my kiddo's are.

I am a mess....but I know you all still love me.

I really wanted to blog about Toni losing her front teeth but lost the time. So much has gone by I guess I will start with today.


We had such a fun day. This morning I took the kids and the neighbors to a water play scape and it was so much fun. All free of course. One of our friends met us there and soon we had kids running every which way. I had a Doc appointment at three so we all headed home to throw some food at the kids and see what they could catch and eat (that is really what it feels like). Lia decided that she was going to take a chance at the mall with 4 kiddo's while I went to the doc apt. I drove her down to the mall and dropped them all off. Lucky me the apt only lasted about an hour and then I was back to playing. While out I decided to grab some t-shirts from old navy that had the flag on them for a cute picture that I had in mind. Well... turns out that by July 2nd Old Navy is all out of $5 T-shirts. Fine then! We all ventured home. I looked through the kids shirts and found some plain white shirts for each of them. I told the kids that we were going to clean for our half an hour and then instead of school work today we were going to paint. The kids love art. Cleaning went by very quickly and soon the kids were out and ready to go. I taped off Mikey's shirt so he could see a rectangle and showed him a picture of the American flag. OH and by tape off, I mean search the house for 10 min. looking for any painters tape or something along those line. See...I know I had my hands on the blue painters tape just two days ago...grrrr where did I put it. FINE...I was going to go with just plain masking tape. I mean, really, who is that picky anyway. So after not being able to find that, I ran across electrical tape. And not the one I bought yesterday to fix the phone because I could not find ANY electrical ANYWHERE... No I mean the really old tape in the back of a draw that I really don't want to talk about. Anyway, so now that Mikey's shirt looks like a big mess with electrical tape all over it, I let the little man have a brush. Toni refused to have her shirt taped saying that she is an expert in the Lone Star Flag and the American Flag. I pretty much just left her on her own. The kids painted there shirts with such pride that you would have thought they were painting the 16th Chapel. Once the shirts were painted I hung them on the line outside to dry. Toni's dried in about 5 min. Mikeys took over half and hour due to all the paint he piled on. Mikey loved making the dots for the stars on the flag and got a little carried away. If you look at Toni's shirt she has exactly 50 stars (and I am sure this is not surprising to anyone). It was so much fun watching them paint and have fun. After they dried I let them put them on....look in the mirror at how nice they looked...practice there smile in the mirror and then out the door to the front yard for pix. My kids are fun to take pictures of. Their faces crack me up. Mikey wants to have a pretty smile for me...but he can't help his little fake one. After all the pix were taken (you know...mommy is done)...we took off for the pool. I took the underwater camera for that adventure. Toni and Mikey stayed in the pool till 8:45. I finally made them get out and jump on the trampoline to dry off a bit. I was jumping with them and then fireworks started going off. Mikey freaked out a little saying...."Mommy, some one is shooting at us". I told him it was nothing to worry about and showed him in the sky where the lights were. Not enough. He liked the look of the sparks but could not get over the dark and loud bangs. We came in. Both the kids did not want to be alone in the house after dark and came to my room while I changed in the bathroom. Mikey was still scared so Toni asked him if he wanted her to pray for them. He was happy about this idea. It was so sweet. Toni grabbed his little hands and started praying. Not the "Keep us safe Lord" prayer either...I mean really praying. Like, Thank you God for this wonderful day and all the sun shine, Thank you for all of our friends we saw today, I know you will keep us safe even when all the noise is outside, Please help Mikey not to be afraid and know that you are always here with us, Please help the dogs outside not to freak out, and then at the end she asked one more thing "and please let Mommy play with us and do art with us every day...in Jesus name...Amen" I love her. Anyway...Mikey was doing better after that for a little while but then the noise got the best of him again. This time Mikey found sister on his own this time and said "Sister...could you pray for us again?" . She did. Anyway that was our day today. The kids had a blast and so did their mommy.

VBS Crocodile Dock

Toni and two of the girls from her crew

My interactive bayou...the baby snakes.

Our door to our craft room "Craw fish crafts"...yes I drew the craw fish LOL

Toni and Elizabeth playing with the snakes on day two (Snakes are Larry and Joe)

....don't try and count them...over 50.

...I am a dork....but a fun one.

Our church has a wonderful VBS that grows every year. This year we had 574 kids pass through our wonderful Crocodile Dock. I signed up to be a station leader....crafts of course. Let me explain a little bit. First we have to have over 100 volunteers to start. I think we ended up with over 130 but needed more like 150...anyway. Now VBS is open to the public for kids who have completed Kindergarten thru 5th grade. Here is the cool part...we have a preschool VBS as well but it is only available for the VBS workers kids. So...Toni goes to big VBS and Mikey is in the preschool wing having a very fun time with 30 plus kids, he gets to enjoy all the stuff of VBS plus more because his starts when the workers need to be there....7:55. Big VBS starts at 9 a.m. and lasts till 12:30. There are several parts of VBS first we have crew leaders and these are the people that get assigned the kids when they walk in the door. We need more crew leaders than any other position so we call all the teens and adults from the church to help. Each crew has 2 leaders and between 7 and 25 children depending on the experience level of the crew leaders. In Toni's crew she had 14 kids and two very energetic teen girls. Now the crew leaders job is gather up there kids and head to there very own crew room and wait for any late arrival's. Once they are in there room and accounted for they lead there crew from station to station all day. The crew leaders act like cheer leader and help the kids have a fun filled time of learning the bible. They paint there hair...there face...and most of all help the kids write Gods Word on there hearts. They are to help station leaders keep the kids under control and behaved during station times. There are spirit awards for crews with the most spirit. Now don't think these crew leaders get off easy because they just lead from station to station. The Sunday before VBS starts we have a huge dinner and decoration party. Everyone attends...crew leaders and station leaders. We all talk about our stations and rules one last time and then everyone heads to there station or crew room to decorate for the coming week. My station and the other lady with me stayed till around 9 p.m. to rearrange our room and decorate. When we left we saw tons of crew leaders still cutting paper and making decorations for there walls. The last crew leader did not leave the church till after 11 pm. Talk about a well decorated church. Every room...every space was taken and decorated. The large rooms were divided into sections so we could have more rooms. The second part is station leaders. We have Outside games and that needs a few station leaders...we have our big production on stage with singing, dancing, and short skits....that has 3 main singers and then lighting and sound guys... so lets say 6 leaders for that...then we have Bible Blast stories (very important) and that has 2 leaders per room (3 rooms/stations so 6 people all in all)...we have a short video drama that plays 15 min. a day called chatter (3 stations...3 people), we also have craft stations...3 stations..2 people per station (this is where I come in). I am one of six craft leaders. I can not fully explain what goes on in other stations but crafts I know. First lets go back a few months. All the craft station leaders have had meetings about what we are going to be doing and suggestions on the crafts to make life easier in the rooms and then tons of projects to take home and cut, sort, measure...you name it. My station was fun! The other lady (Judy) and I worked last year together doing the same thing. Judy and I decorated our very own snake pond. We put up a interactive bayou that we did not mind the kids playing with and jumping on. We have about 20 min. with each group that walks in the station and that gives us just enough time to explain how to do the craft, relate the craft to the days bible lesson and then help and play with the kids till time is up. Some of the kids finish faster than others...some really really really take there time and make everything perfect and some just slap it together and then need to be entertained. We kept word finds in the room for the kids that finished early and needed to be busy...we also let them take our snakes out and play. The first day we took our "grow-a-snakes" out of the package they were about 12" long...by day five they were over 3 feet long and today about 4'6". The kids loved our room....but there were sooooo many piled in at one time. One of our groups (three crews make up a group) was over 50 kids. Man it was fun! From 8 in the morning till 1 every afternoon last week I was having a blast at VBS. My daughter ended up in tears when she found out the VBS was only one week long and not all summer (truly a heart breaking moment). Mikey was very well behaved and did all that was asked of him (after the first day). The first day was funny for him. He was very well behaved but my little man is a story teller. The teacher pulled out markers and Mikey informed her that he is not allowed to play with markers and that his mom would get him in trouble if he did. Then later that day she pulled out stickers to decorate there VBS bag they would be using all week.....well...same thing. "I am not allowed to play with stickers or stick them on anything". Lucky for me his teacher knew me and just kind of laughed him of and told him she would take the blame...then her happily obliged. Toni was having a blast till they went outside to game...the second day they had water balloons and one broke on the ground beside her and she refused to play because she did not want to get dirty...yep sat on the side lines. Soon she had a follower who decided to keep her company. WHAT...this is Toni...the girl who will lay in the dirt and make dirt angels. She is silly and has her moods. I thought that was funny when the teacher was secretly telling me. My kids are a trip.

Toni's Kindergarten Graduation

Toni had such a great time all year in Kindergarten. She is loved by all her classmates and her teacher simply adored her. I am one proud mommy! I knew graduation was coming and I was looking forward to summer and swimming all the time... but I did not even stop and think about how fast the year went by. My mom is such a trooper when it comes to my kiddo's and let me tell you why. I am 31 and the youngest of three so that makes my mom... 29 right? Well you would think so after this. My mom works crazy long hours. She gets up at like 4:30 in the a.m. and works a 12 hour shift...then drives an hour home before crashing early just to do it again. I called mom and told her that Toni's kinder graduation was on her first day off and I would understand if she could not make it....HA. My wonderful mom worked 4 days in a row...12 hour shifts and in order to make it here for my daughter she drove strait from work all the way to Austin. That's right got up at 4:30....worked all day...left work that evening and drove into the night to be here. She did not come into the door till 11PM. The next morning my little Toni girl was up getting ready for school hugging on her grandma and was as happy as could be. John, Mikey, Kaelyn, Grandma, and myself headed to school for the 8:30 in the morning graduation. I did not expect much as I have never been to a Kinder graduation. It was fun! They had slide shows of all the kiddo's through out the year. Toni made the slide show a few times and it was fun to see all what they did in a years time. My husband even made the slide show! When we went on the field trip they captured him and Toni together and flipped it on the big screen. Then all the kids sang songs together...walked the stage and received there Kinder certificates...so cute. I know my kids are taken care of at school and you can tell because all the kids love the teachers and the principal. The principal got up to make her speech and could not get through it with out crying, she loves ALL these kids and was truly amazed at how smart this particular class was. Toni's teacher got up and talked about her class and how in the years past the lesson plans have worked just fine to keep the kids busy all day and learning...well not this year. She said that she had to come up with more stuff and lessons to do because this year the kids picked up everything so fast. She was giving our kindergartners 1st and 2nd grade work to challenge them. I kept it together for the most part only fighting tears every now and then and then feeling silly for tearing because it is not like she is graduating high school or college. Over all it was wonderful to watch all these kids shine and smile with life and love for there school. CC Mason rocks! ......ok so the last thing I need to share is when I did cry. It was the last day of school (5 school days after graduation...silly I know). Everything was normal, Toni was off to school, Mikey and I hung out for the day, the time came to go pick them up and I got sad. I took Mikey over to my neighbor's house and headed to go get my girl. I sat in the parking lot for about 50 min. waiting for Toni and the neighbor to come out and it hit me....My girl is not a kindergartner anymore...she is in school...real school. A school that is public, attendance matters, grades matter, everything matters and I don't have a baby...or a toddler....I have a grade school child. 1st grade. I teach 1st grade at church and have for 3 years....and now my daughter just turned into that big kid that I teach. WHAT?

Kindergarten Field trip

Last week The kinder class at CC. Mason Elementary took off for Sweet Berry Farms only an hour and a half away from their school.   You would think be the excitement from the 6 year old's they were leaving the country.  All students had to ride the bus there and then fun and activities all day.  Lucky us the PTO picked up all the cost for the students and parents and siblings were invited to go as well.  Mikey was so happy to go hand out with his sister and see all her friends.  John, Mikey, and I all loaded up in the car bright and early as we did not want to miss anything.   We ended up getting to the farm 20 min early  (this might be a first for the Tichi family....early).   We decided to just go play with the baby goats running around till they got there.  When we entered the farm we saw little cups of goat food for 25 cents and bought a few so our boy could feed the goats.  At first Mikey and goats were shy of each other and only one or two would come up.  He loved petting them and now wants a baby goat for our house (we already have too many animals).  Well the more acquainted the little goats got with Mikey the pushier they became.  Soon several goat were fighting for Mikeys food and attention and as luck would have it Mikey was on the receiving end of a head butt.  Yep....one of the goats raised up and went to butt the other but the defending goat moved and Mikey had a head butt planted right square in his chest causing him to fall onto the ground rather hard.  Mikey freaked out and I had a hard time not laughing.   Mikey cried for only a min until he realized he was fine and not hurt in the least.  He went back to feeding the goats but this time with a little more respects for them.  

The buses finally pulled in and tons of little kids with stars in there eyes came off the buses.  All the teachers lined there classes up and we fell in line with Toni's class.   They all had a picnic lunch out at the tables and then off to the strawberry patches we went.  They learned about good bugs and bad bugs first and then they all got there very own ladybug to go release on a strawberry plant. (Ladybugs eat aphids and aphids are the main destroyer of straw berries).  All the Kinder kids were happy to release the bug but Mikey....not so much.  He was in tears because he wanted to take the bug home.  Daddy talked him down and then finally he let his bug go.  Next all of the kids got to pick a basket full of straw berries to take home.  They loved picking there own food.  After all the picking everyone headed to the strawberry guns...it was air powered straw berry flinging messy fun.  Each class was given a banner and all the kids took turns shooting straw berries at it until it was very colorful....the teachers took it with them to hang it up in the classroom.  If was sweet watching all the kids explore the farm and learn about fruits and veggies.  They planed there own pumpkin seeds and played games until the day came to an end.  Parents were allowed to sign them out there or pick them up at school at the regular time.  We asked Toni what she wanted to do and of course she opted to ride the bus home with her class.  It was a fun day and I am so glad the whole family had the day to spend together.  Toni loves her teacher and her class...she is the biggest help with all the other kids...and Mikey.