Saturday, September 26, 2009

project 365, week 39

a rainy, but fun week.
i'm trying to get back into my blogging groove. i've managed in the last couple weeks to post entries between my project 365 posts, which could be either good or bad considering most of them are accounts of usually horrific or embarrassing (or both!) experiences with my beloved preschoolers. :)
heres the week...

SUNDAY, september 20th
the cast list was finally posted for ANNIE and i got the part of grace farrell, the secretary to mr warbucks. its a big part and i'm super excited about it!! 'kiwi' is the name of the cast i'm on. because its the holiday show, they've triple cast it (yes, three separate casts...crazy!!!) because there are performances every night in december. the normal performance schedule is friday and saturday nights, and a sunday matinee. a lot more shows means a need for a lot more people to do it. they dont want us to have to be up there every single night--especially during the holidays. i dont know that anyone could.


MONDAY, september 21st
homeschool with colby is going very well. we definitely have our moments, and i do mean we. this is our little area where we sit and go through our books and worksheets and stuff together.



TUESDAY, september 22nd
allen and i celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary today, however i managed not to get a picture of our date. leah and i did take the kids to the imax that afternoon, though for a 3D ocean movie, which is right up colbys alley. molly learned that even at a museum, you can still sit in timeout. i love the full-body pout.



WEDNESDAY, september 23rd
still rainy; i dont even know how many days in a row this is (but we're grateful!). the kids used my bed pillows and 'to be washed' laundry piles for an obstacle course. it kept them busy for about an hour.



THURSDAY, september 24th
my first ANNIE rehearsal!! this is the outside of the theatre. 'man of la mancha' opens next weekend, and several of my friends are in it. i really hope i get to go!



FRIDAY, september 25th
we spent the morning at a birthday party with a great group of friends.
molly is enjoying her baby-bop cupcake.



SATURDAY, september 26th
on my way to rehearsal number two, and the first dance rehearsal!! yay!!! thursday night's rehearsal was vocal.
i did not have my hair down or my scarf on by the time we were done. the rehearsal stage we are using is actually a converted warehouse behind the theatre, and theres currently no a.c.
we were sweaty messes at the end of the hour. but it was sooo much fun!!
i know this is a lame picture, but i knew if i didnt take one while i was thinking about it, i wouldnt have one for the day. its been that kind of week!


have a fabulous week!! hopefully you're getting some autumn weather. we had a few days of it, but its back up in the 90's again! ugh. gotta love central texas.


Tuesday, September 22, 2009

the rules according to colby

today in the car, colby randomly said
colby: "mommy, when i have my own kids, i'm not going to give them any directions. i'm going to let them do whatever they want!"
me: "you are huh?"
colby: "uh-huh."
me: "so if they want to eat candy for breakfast, you're going to let them?"
colby: "well, no. they can't do that."
me: "what if they don't want to drink water and all they want is juice all the time?" (aka: my kids)
colby: "they won't do that!"
me: "so you'll make them drink some water?"
colby: "yes. water is healthy for you. it makes you strong."
me: "ok. what if they want to run out in the street without holding a hand?"
colby: "no. they can't do that either."
me: "so i guess you will give your kids some directions then. you see why we need directions? they keep us safe and healthy, dont they?"
colby: "yes, but i'm only going to give them those three directions."
me: "just those three? no candy for breakfast, drink water, and hold a hand in the street?"
colby: "yes just those....and no screaming in the car....and don't talk too loud in the library....and no hitting the other kids."
me: "what about eating their vegetables?"
colby: "oh, yes thats a good one. and if they dont want to eat them i'll tell a funny joke and when they open their mouth to laugh i'll put the vegetables in their mouths!! hahahaha!!"
me: "wow, thats very creative. (does that mean i can shove vegetables down my kids throats under the pretense of telling a joke??) anything else?"
colby: "like what?"
me: "i dont know. can you think of anything else that might me important?"
colby: "nope. i think thats it."

this conversation cracked me up. i dont think its a coincidence that it came on the heels of a trip to mimis house. mimi tells them they can 'do whatever thay want' at her house. so when we go down there, colby wants me to leave so he doesnt have to follow directions. it hurts my feelings a little bit, but i try to keep in mind that he's four (almost five). but it was nice to hear him think through some of those things and realize that they are important and that theres a reason for me "giving him directions" all the time. :)

molly has been pushing the boundaries too, not unusual for her, but the other day she tried to play the sympathy card. she was cutting paper while i was scrapbooking, and colby came in and started messing with her (in a playful way). she played back by poking at him with the scissors.
me: "molly, we do not use the scissors that way. you cut paper or you put them down."
she did it again. so i took the scissors away from her. in true molly fashion she hung her head and stuck her bottom lip out. she pouts with her whole body. its quite amusing really.
then she looks up at me with big watery eyes and says
molly: "mommy why do you want to hurt my heart?"
me: (trying not to laugh at her) "what?"
molly: "you hurt my heart, and when you hurt my heart you hurt Jesus' heart." (this is said with the sincerest expression of broken-heartedness while she holds her hand to her chest. really. i'm not making this up.)
me: "no ma'am. when you dont follow directions you hurt mommy's heart and Jesus' heart. when you disobey you hurt mommy and Jesus. i'm sorry if your feelings are hurt, but i gave you directions and you chose not to follow them." ....blah blah blah, you get the picture.
then she went back to the full body pout.
not even three and shes pulling out all the stops.
man, oh man.

so i have one whos already coming up with his own rules, and one who will go as far as she can to not follow them. it amazes me that two such completely different personalities can come from the same two parents.

on a side note, today is our 8th wedding anniversary! so yay for that!!
my parents are taking the kids overnight so we can go to dinner and maybe a movie or a show somewhere. its great timing too, since i start rehearsals probably at the end of the week.

until next time....

Sunday, September 20, 2009

the new grace farrell

wooo hoooo!!!
i just found out that i got a part in ANNIE (as in little orphan).
its been a week long process, with auditions on monday and tuesday, then callbacks on wednesday, then waiting and waiting and waiting.....
grace farrell is the assistant to mr. warbucks, the lady that goes and gets annie out of the orphanage, etc.
heres one of the songs i get to sing. this is actually from the movie.



i get a couple of songs and dance some. lots of lines.
i'm beyond excited and cant wait to start rehearsals later this week.
i'll keep ya'll posted on the process. :)

thanks for all the 'well wishes' and for those of you that have been checking back for news.

Saturday, September 19, 2009

project 365, week 38

very very fun week!!
i had auditions for ANNIE tuesday night. those went really well and i got a call back wednesday night. those also went really well, and now i'm waiting for the cast list to be posted. i was hoping to have news at this point, but no such luck. my morale has dwindled as the days have progressed. it could go either was really. i was not the best, but i was definitely in the running i feel like, so we'll see.

we went to houston thursday and friday. you can read about the worlds worst car ride home in the previous post. it was a doosie, thats for sure.

my parents 30th wedding anniversary is in a couple weeks and they're having a party in honor of and want a few pictures to display. a photo session my mom had set up with a friend of theirs fell through due to inclimate weather, then said friend left on a week long cruise, so mom asked if i would do it for them (i used to play around with photography and did a few sessions for friends of mine back in the day). i hadnt taken pictures in that capacity in such a long time. it was a lot of fun. allen gets back late tonight from vegas. he didnt win any money, but he didnt lose much either, so i guess we're good as far as that goes.
here are my pictures for the week.

SUNDAY, september 13th
the kickoff of our new sunday night C3 service at church. the format is a little different and the music is a lot different. i on the rotating list of worship teamers and i had the priveledge of getting to do the first one. it was awesome!




MONDAY, september 14th
molly had an upset stomach monday morning, so we stayed home all day in case she was coming down with something. she was talking to my mom on the phone in the picture. she was obviously very distressed about something.




TUESDAY, september 15th
fooling around with the black and white setting on my camera. i forget i have it!




WEDNESDAY, september 16th
mac n' cheese for lunch. thats all molly has wanted lately. the good thing is i can mix veggies in with it and she doesnt mind. she makes the best eating faces.

THURSDAY, september 17th
a trip to mimis usually means toys. this time was no different.



FRIDAY, september 18th
on the way home from houston we stopped at a rest stop for molly to pee and there was a really pretty creek area behind it. we did a little exploring before getting back on the road.



SATURDAY, september 19th
two of the many shots i got of my parents this evening.



have a great week!!! hopefully i'll have some news regarding the show pretty soon!!

Friday, September 18, 2009

here we go again...

i had so many great bathroom mishaps with colby when he was first learning. i knew it was only a matter of time before molly had some of her own.
yesterday she peed in the toy section at walmart and i had to buy her a completely new outfit, panties included. i also had to tell a walmart employee that my daughter had just left her a gift on aisle 20.
neat.
i also (same day) had to let both of my kids pee in mimis flower bed. we showed up at her house to surprise her but she wasnt there. molly was doing the tee tee dance, and i didnt know what else to do, so i sent her a flower bed at the corner of the house. colby probably could have held it, but if molly gets to pee outside, he sure isnt going to pass up an opportunity to do the same.

then today it finally happened. molly peed in her carseat.
she couldnt have done it when we were running errands around town, or just a few minutes from home. no. she did it on our way home from houston this afternoon with an hour still to go. fabulous.
and i was by myself with the kids. no spousal support. he's in vegas for his 40th. hence the trip to houston in the first place.
allen left thursday morning for basically 48 hours of live authentic casino texas hold 'em. one of his buddies put a trip together for his 40th birthday and we surprised him with it, so he's there with 3 friends till saturday night.
his mom has been wanting to see the kids, and since he's gone and i'm hoping to start rehearsals for ANNIE soon (no word on that yet. i did get called back and should know by monday if i'm in or not) which will make it near impossible for me to go anywhere overnight, i figured i'd take the kids for a surprise visit.
we had a great time visiting, shopping, eating; all the usual stuff, and i loaded the kids up around 3:30 this afternoon.
that would normally put me home around 6pm, which is perfect. that means we eat dinner at home, and i can bathe the kids and put them to bed.
....or not....
i guess maybe molly drank more than usual today, because we stopped i think 3 times to pee in the first hour. 1 time she went right on the side of the road. well, actually it was a rest stop, but there were no bathrooms, so i just had her strip down and squat in the grass. i really really really had to go too, but wasnt even about to do that, so i figured i'd hold it till i could find a decent gas station or place to eat. at this point i was planning on stopping for dinner because with the three stops already (and who knows how many more), we werent going to make it home till about 6:30.
we'd been back on the road about 20 minutes. the pressure on my bladder was growing by the second, my car speakers suddenly stopped working, and i was getting hungry. now, any one of those by itself would make me a little edgy, but all three?? i was not in a pleasant mood.
then i hear molly in the backseat:
molly: "i tee tee'd mommy."
me: "you have to tee tee again?"
molly: "no. i already diiiiiid tee tee."
me: "what? are you kidding me?"
so i pulled over (at yet another rest stop), ignoring the fact that i'm about to pee all over myself, and take her out to pee in the grass again. i didnt think she had actually peed. sometimes she'll start to pee, realize shes wearing panties, and stop it long enough to get to a toilet. so i was thinking thats what had happened.
nope. she had peed. a lot. she was soaked. her carseat was soaked. and to make it even more interesting, the pee that her carseat hadn't absorbed managed to i guess drip back behind it onto the actual seat of the suburban and pool underneath, and out from under it a little bit, dripping down the sides.
me: "molly, you just peed like 20 minutes ago! where did all this come from??!? why didnt you tell me you had to tee tee again?"
molly: "because i didnt have to tee tee."
me: "well, obviously you did!"
then, like a horrible person. actually, like a person who was about to add to the urine pool if she didnt find a bathroom soon, i put molly back in her carseat, buckled her in , and kept driving.
molly: "mommy, i have tee tee! change me! i'm wet!"
me: "deal with it molly! you shouldnt have peed on yourself."
i proceeded to say some things i shouldnt have said along the lines of, 'now we cant stop for dinner because no ones going to let us in to eat if molly has pee all over her!'
yeah, not my finest moment.
then colby started crying because he was hungry and was thinking we weren't going to stop and eat. to be honest, i didnt know what we were going to do. i think my bladder had run out of room and the urine was filling my brian, because i really wasnt thinking logically and all i was concerned about was finding a bathroom!! one of the frans gals may be willing to pee all over herself in the car, but i was not about to join that club.
part of me thought i could just get home and take care of everything there, but we were still a good 45 minutes away and i could not possibly wait that long. i finally pulled over to a gas station, and ran in like a crazy woman pulling my kids behind me (molly was still very much urine soaked).
after i took care of business, i pulled the car around to the side of the building and got molly cleaned up. took the cover off the carseat, wiped it down, changed her clothes, the whole nine yards. then i apologized to both of them for getting so upset, and colby said, "you must be really hungry, huh mommy?" because my kids know if i get too hungry i get cranky. i laughed and we drove off into the sunset.
the end.
actually we drove across the street to a hole in the wall cafe because it was almost 7pm at that point. we ate a yummy dinner, and i bought the kids vanilla (guilt) milkshakes for the road.

now i'm going to crash in my own bed with colby, who's joining me because daddys out of town.

happy weekend!!

Saturday, September 12, 2009

project 365, week 37

praise God we have rain!! sweet, sweet rain!
it blew in thursday night and hasnt stopped since. we got out and played in it yesterday. i think some areas have gotten over a foot, which is fantastic! we've needed it so badly. no joke.
labor day was monday of course, and allen took friday off this week instead of thursday. friday is actually his "normal" day off, but during football season he switches to thursday because he has parking lot duty with the youth group on friday nights and does chapel for the high school football team on friday afternoon, so it really is a workday for him. all that said, this was kind of a weird week. i'm still not sure what day it is. :)

SUNDAY, september 6th
no picture. my sincerest apologies.

MONDAY, september 7th
happy labor day! some of you may have read my blog entry from thursday about our monday outing. my friend april and i took a very last minute trip to san antonio to go through the wildlife ranch (a frans family favorite) with the kids. i saw this sign when we got out to use the restroom and visit the petting zoo. do i even need to say anything? really?



TUESDAY, september 8th
we're about to lose a section of fence; damage from that crazy tree-stealing storm we had a few weeks ago. allen had to temporarily fix it this evening so it doesnt come crashing down into our yard.



WEDNESDAY, september 9th
this was part of mollys ensemble she wore to church wednesday night. i think she might have been channeling an early 80's madonna.




THURSDAY, september 10th
i went to my friend traceys house to go over my song for my audition on tuesday. i'm singing 'as long as you're mine' from WICKED.
FRIDAY, september 11th
hooray for rain!! we got out and played in it for a good hour or so.



SATURDAY, september 12th
our first sunday school social of the school year. we were supposed to go swimming at this really neat 'swimming hole' in austin, but because of the rain we went to seletas house (shes my co-teacher) and played games, baked cupcakes and cookies, and decorated them. we had a really really good time.


so i'm auditioning for ANNIE (as in little orphan) on tuesday. cross your fingers for me!! i feel good about this one.
i'll let you know how it goes later in the week.
have a good one!!

Thursday, September 10, 2009

for april

monday was labor day as you all know.
this is one of those holidays that just arent a big deal to us. i know a lot of people plan big barbeques and get togethers, or take their last little family vacay of the year.
not us.
i cant remember ever making plans for this holiday. sometimes something will come together last minute. thats kind of what happened this year.
allen was out doing the yard. i went ahead and did school with colby (why not?) and we were kind of in and out. zach and april called to see what we were doing, and since we were just at home hanging out they came to hang out with us.
somehow in our conversation that afternoon, the drive thru safari in san antonio came up and april says, "we'ver never been! lets go do that today!"
it was almost 2pm at this point. s.a. is an hour and a half away and zach had to be back by 7pm for his first football (flag) game of the season. (side note: who schedules a leagues first game of the season on labor day? dont they know most people schedule barbeques and get togethers, etc, blah blah blah?)
anyway, so zach couldnt go, and allen didnt want to go if zach wast going to go. he wanted to finish the yard anyway.
so april and i loaded up the kids and headed to san antonio.
we had a good time. we've been several times and its always great. it was a little crowded with it being a holiday, so the animals werent very interested in what we had to offer, i think because they had been eating all day. plus it was pretty hot so most of them were staying up under the trees. of all the times we've been, this was the least exciting, but since april and adler hadnt ever been, it was fun to experience it with them. i think adlers favorite part was being out of his carseat and getting to walk around in the burban. :)

one of the highlights, or low lights as it were, was molly flashing the patrons at cracker barrell, where we stopped to eat on the way home.
i took her to the bathroom, but she had already peed (in her pullup). i took it off of her, threw it away and was going to run out to the car and get her panties. before i could do that i had to go back to the table to get my keys out of my purse. in the 10 seconds it took me to find them, molly pulls her dress up right there in the middle of the restaraunt (we were sitting right at the entrance on the other side of the hostess stand) for everyone to see she had nothing on underneath. this was apparently information she thought she needed to share with the general public. i'm sure they appreciated it.

shes still very into wearing dresses and princess stuff and red ruby slippers. she wanted to dress herself for church last night, and i pretty much let her wear what she wants to wear. you know, self expression and all that. so this is what she had on to go to church....


you cant see in the picture, but shes wearing her tap shoes. she had the ruby slippers on, but since she was being a ballerina she needed to wear dancing shoes instead.

when i picked her up from church, one of the workers pulled me aside and asked if i could please not let her wear a leotard and tap shoes anymore. 2 other kids had accidents waiting their turn for the potty because molly was taking so long to get her leotard and wings on and off, and she insisted on doing it by herself. she also managed to squish several fingers (unintentionally i hope) as she was parading around in her tap shoes. they do hurt. so i guess she will no longer be able to have complete freedom in her style. not at church anyway. ironic.

Saturday, September 5, 2009

project 265, week 36

dear september,
thank you for bringing cooler temperatures to central texas.
of course, i suppose cooler is a relative term, seeing as how its still hot here. but 90 is definitely cooler than 100. so thanks for that.
i could kiss you on the mouth.
yours truly, amy frans
we are 2 weeks away from it officially being fall!
hobby lobby has their holiday decor out, starbucks brought back the pumpkin spice latte, and thanks to a little bit of cloud cover we managed to stay out of the triple digit heat this week. so yay!
i hope everyone is getting back into the school groove. we enjoyed the first UT football game of the season this evening. the last time i went to a UT football game i was 2 days past due with colby. the experience was far better this time for multiple reasons, the obvious being that i'm not 40 weeks pregnant.
on a side note, molly is a bully.
she and colby have been at each other constantly (or what seems constant to me) this past week or so. today she yelled at him and he started crying and saying that she scared him becuase he was afraid she was going to hit him (she sometimes takes it upon herself to swat him when she deems it necessary, which despite her best judgement, it usually isnt). i just dont know what to do. nothing i'm doing is working (swatting, time out, talking to her civil...y. is that a word? taking something from her, losing a priviledge). it doesnt matter to her. shed rather be a meanie. she even pushed one of her little friends down this week, "just to be mean."
so, moms who have had this issue before, what should i do??? lay it on me. i welcome any and all advice. whether its between the siblings advice, or just general 'my kid is a bully' advice.
thanks in advance. :)


now for some pictures....

SUNDAY, august 30th
i gave molly a haircut today. not half bad if i do say so myself. i've seen worse...like when i tried to cut colbys hair a few months ago. yikes! poor kid.




MONDAY, august 31st
colby read thru his very first book today!! we're 30 lessons in to 'teach your child to read in 100 easy lessons', so i thought i'd pull out the bob books to see if he was ready for those. he's now read the first 3.

TUESDAY, september 1st
leah and i took the kids to the japanese tea gardens and te witte museum in san antonio. beautiful! and we had pretty decent weather-low to mid 90's.
WEDNESDAY, september 2nd
we're studying different countries, so i put a world map up on the wall in our schoolroom. colby was fascinated, and we spent a good half hour or so just looking at all the different flags and finding the countries that go to.


THURSDAY, september 3rd
we played around with the idea of getting a playscape for the backyard, so we spent the better part of the afternoon shopping, pricing, and talking through our ideal set. the ones we'd want to get for the kids are waaaay out of our price range. its been put on the back burner, or maybe just taken off the stove all together. but it was fun to dream.



FRIDAY, september 4th
took colby for a haircut. they spiked it in the front with some green gel. not sure how i felt about that, but he loved it.



SATURDAY, september 5th
tailgating, a ridiculous amount of food, friends, UT football game. a great day!! allen and i even bought new UT shirts for the occasion. :)


have a fantastic week!!!
if you're in the north, please send us some rain and cold!!