2008 has in fact made me a worse blogger...

So I haven't blogged for over a ever!

We had the Medieval Faire on February 17th. Tati's Stretch class had to make things from Medieval times. Tati's guild was the toy guild.

She made rag dolls.

She was also an entertainer. She played the flute with a few other musicians.

It was interesting. But I did get to meet Tati's friend Paige's mother. Chris is cool. Sometimes at my kids' school the parents are stuffy and snobbish. So it was good to meet some one "normal." Ok so I am not normal but I'm not stuffy and Chris and I get along really well. Since Tati and Paige are good friends and they are in stretch together it's likely that we will be spending alot more time together. So it's nice to have another hoosier like me. LOL

Then February 28 Adrianne and Eddie came to town. Oh I was so happy. It was so nice to not have to talk to her via email and actually get to sit in the same room. I wish so badly that they would all move down here. I'm working on that. :)

So Thursday night Adrianne and Eddie were super tired from flying all day. We ordered pizza and called it a night.

Friday we went to the Arch and to the Old Courthouse. I've lived in St. Louis my whole life and never been to the Old Courthouse. It was really cool.

Adrianne and Eddie in front of the Arch. Adrianne and Eddie went up, Karl wouldn't go up because the one tram got stuck this summer. So he refused. lol

Karl and Adrianne. Doesn't Adrianne look like a 15 year old? She's so tiny.

It's so nice to see them together. Karl and Adrianne haven't seen each other in at least 19 years. I am so glad they have reconnected.

The Old Courthouse was so amazing. The history there is amazing. I didn't even know the Dred Scott case was held in that building. We are going back and taking the girls.

Saturday I took Bree to her basketball game. And then Cianah and Tati were in the Academic Olympics.

Tati competed in the Scholar Quiz. It's like Jeopardy. Ok so Chris (Paige's mom mentioned above) played along during the game. During a 5 minute round Chris and I knew 3 answers. Ummm are you smarter than a 6th grader? The answer to that is NO. Apparently not. lol

Cianah competed in the Spelling Bee. She took 3rd place.

Saturday Night we went to Cicero's Pizza in Ucity

The oldest 3 Hobdy's.

Adrianne was sick on Friday night so she was just starting to come back to life.

The boys drank lots of LaChouffe.

After Cicero's we headed to Laclede's Landing...The Big Bang. OMG! The boys were so DRUNK. Adrianne and I enjoyed laughing at them.

Eddie singing along to the best the 1980's has to offer. lol

I know this surprises most people....but Karl was drunk too.

Adrianne celebrated her birthday with us so we HAD to get her on stage. As you can tell...she was very excited about that.

Sunday we went to play mini-golf.

It was gorgeous!. 70 degrees and sunny.

Then Karl cooked up a steak and fish meal. Mallory, Sean and Susana joined us for dinner.

Monday morning Adrianne and Eddie left (on her birthday.)

So after They left us the 70 degree weather went with them. We got 10+ inches of snow.

Tati's stretch class competed in a Rube Goldberg contest. Rube Goldberg is a process to take the simplest task and make it as complex as possible. They had to "raise a flag."

So the dominoes fall and hit a plastic fork. The fork hits a spool, the spool rolls down a "lane"

and hits a ball. The ball rolls down the "slide" and hits a matchbox car.

The matchbox car goes down the 2nd part of the slide and falls into a cup that has a string attached to the flag. As the cup goes down with the weight of the car...the flags comes up.

That completes February and most of March. Some pretty major events happened at the end of March and I'll blog about those separately.

2008 hasn't made me a better blogger

So not much going on in Hobdylife. I was sick most of last week. Still coughing periodically today but I am nearing the end. Finally. Only now I tihnk the kids are getting it. Fingers crossed they don't.

So since I can only manage to get off a shot or two at any of Bree's games. I reluctantly handed my camera over to Karl. Turns out, this is a good idea. There are actually pictures of the game that way. :)

Here are a few of the last 2 or 3 games. And guess what???? They finally won a game. And by a good margin. 14 - 8. Bree didn't get any points but she took a few shots which is one step in the right direction. We're getting there.

She actually made this free throw. Missed the 2nd one and the 2 following free throws. But as it stood that game Bree's one point was the only one for the whole game. LOL

This is the game they won. She shot...but missed. But look at that form!!! Way to go.

Look at them all over her. And she still took the shot. Ok she missed again. But hey we're progressing right?

I don't think she was shooting here. But maybe.

Another shot attempt.

She can dribble though. And she's not intimidated by anyone. She really does play well.

Since Tati's Medival Faire was "snowed out" on Friday, they've rescheduled for this Thursday. Look for those pictures soon.

So much for being a better blogger....

Ok so it's been awhile. I'm at a depressing point in my life. My little girl is starting High School next year. UGH!!!

I'd much prefer to keep her little forever.

This is a picture of her starting the first day of Kindergarten.

I asked her if she was scared. To which she replied, "No mom, why would I be?" This is pretty much the approach Cianah has taken in life. She's willing to try everything once. Then she knows what she likes and doesn't like. She's always been very independent and a free spirit.

So as I'm putting her on the bus and scared to DEATH, she's all smiles.

She waves goodbye and thinks nothing of it. All the while I'm having a breakdown inside. She's starting kindergarten. Wow. I feel the same way about High School. I was in High School once. I know what this means. Boys and friends. Peer pressure and boys. School work and Boys. Ok so it's the boys thing I'm afraid of the most. :)

Things have changed since I was in school (it's only been 15 years.) There is considerable pressure on her at 13. They really want you to know what you want to be when you grow up...now. Hell I don't know what I want to be and I'm 33 years old. So we've been busy reviewing the courses offered. Looking at the courses she can take for dual college credit. They have a FABULOUS engineering program, but I'm not sure Cianah likes math enough for that. They have a GREAT IT program...you can graduate and be certified and ready to come out of HS making $30K a year, not a bad gig. She's not into computers enough for that. She is a WONDERFUL artist, so we've looked at graphic design, illustration, and other art related fields. She was not impressed with the income potential. She tossed around medical school, but decided that she wasn't sure that she wanted to be in school until she was 30. So I think she's checked that off the short list. I think right now she's leaning towards law school. She said she likes to argue so she should be good at that. :)

We'll see how it all works out. All I know is that I am scared to death that she is starting HS. It doesn't seem real. She makes me so proud. She is such a fabulous kid and I really enjoy being her mother (most days.) I want to keep her with me forever....I don't want her to grow up.

Here's the real problem. Tatiana. I can't even imagine HER being in HS in 2 years. WOW!!!

We had a slight "incident" at school last week. She has a huge crush on a boy at school. Ian.

So she started writing him notes and sticking them in his locker.

He, with maturity well beyond his 11 years, told her, "I am flattered by your compliments but I don't like you that way." He also mentioned that he had a girlfriend and asked her nicely to stop with the notes.

Well Tati....didn't stop. She kept writing notes and even brought him a "present." (Some watch we had lying around.) She got mad when he broke it.

As if stalking and harassing the poor boy wasn't enough...Tatiana tells her friend she is so mad at Ian. This is a direct quote..."I am so mad at him I want to hit him over the head with a water bottle until he is unconscious. Then I hope angry dogs attack him and I'll throw him in dumpster."

Ok that's SLIGHTLY over the top. So the school called. Karl and I have addressed this with her many times. Leave him alone. Stop with the notes. He was very nice to tell you to stop and you are not taking the hint.

WOW!!! We are going to need heavy duty counseling for this one. She is very boy crazy. She just wants a boyfriend. And apparently she will stop at nothing to get one. Only she doesn't get that crazy doesn't attract a lot of men. It attracted Karl...but most men aren't fond of crazy. lol

So I'm thinking we just need to hire our own personal shrink to be on call 24/7. lol

To think this sweet innocent little girl....is a stalker.

I know she would never actually hurt a fly (until I find the bodies I'm sticking to that story) but I am seriously thinking she needs some counseling.

So I think well be calling the EAP helpline to find a counselor....I'll let you know how that turns out.

She's a good kid. You know there's a fine line between genius and insanity...Tati might be on the edge.

In other news. Tati and Bree are getting braces. Karl and I met with the ortho yesterday. OMG, this is so expensive. After insurance $3050 each. We'll be paying $6100. Who has that kind of money? They want $1540 to start treatment and $95 a month for the next 4 years. Crazy! Even though my divorce decree says Sean is responsible for 1/2 of the medical expenses over what insurance pays....he didn't sound like he wanted to help out in anyway. "I'll see what I can do, but I'm not promising anything. I've got stuff going on right now." Really? I guess I don't. I have never asked for any help on medical bills. Not with the tonsils being removed, not with the finger almost being amputated, not with the concussion, not with the prescriptions they get on a monthly basis, not to mention normal doctors visits. Nothing. I did ask when I had to buy Tati's 4th pair of glasses in 2 years...but I got no help then either. He is such an waste of plasma.

It's ok, we'll make it work...like we always do.

Bree has started basketball. Her first game is Saturday. A double header....I'll post pictures. Tatiana has started tennis again. Not sure when the first tournament is...if nothing else I'll take some pictures at practice. I was going to take away tennis, but the wise Karl said anything to keep her mind off boys. :)

She's got a Medieval Faire on the 1st so I'll post pictures of that too.

This must be a busy time of year

So again I haven't blogged for awhile. I thought being off work for almost 2 weeks would make me blog more. Quite the opposite. I was much happier sitting around in my PJs doing nothing. :) I did log into work at least once a day to check emails and make sure nothing major was happening.

Christmas went well. The kids got too much and my husband is a brat. lol He knew 90% of his presents before he even got them. I even pulled a Karl on the 21st and made him pick up his own webcam for the Xbox. :) I don't think he cared. He was already shopping. (which is a rare event)

Christmas Eve my mom stopped by. She got the kids extra controllers for the Wii so I have many pictures of them all (including my mom) playing the Wii. :) Great fun. My mom was a trooper. Her shoulder was bothering her but she still managed to play a whole game of baseball with Karl. I'd like to say Karl the video game "pro" beat my mom badly. Not so much. He won, but I don't think the score was that far off. Tatiana killed me. After the end of the 1st inning they called the mercy rule. :) What can I say?





Cianah in what was referred to all day as the hooker outfit, where this kid gets her style sense is beyond me.

Cianah doing the happy dance! Bryana, whining as usual. It's not fair when she loses.

But when she does well, everything is fine.

Defeat is SO not fair.

Look at that stance!

A batter, batter...swing!

And she SWINGS!!

She so missed her calling! lol

Karl batting. Apparently I need to buy HIM some new pajamas every year. He resorts to wearing shirts with holes in them. This is not from wear, he splashes chemicals on his clothes at work and this is what they look like. At least it's the clothes and not his skin.

Also notice my "special" child on the couch. Covered up because the hooker outfit didn't keep her warm in December.

I took WAY too many pictures on Christmas day. If you'd like to look at all 5 million: http://hobdypix.smugmug.com/gallery/4117002#240101163

The Pajama shots from Christmas Eve are just comical now. They know that's what the gifts are and they try to act surprised.

Yeah! House shoes!!!

Stephanie was in town over the holiday and came to visit.

She looks thrilled to see us, doesn't she?

We were thrilled to see her. Please don't look too close. Cianah "experimenting" with her new makeup kit used red lip liner as eyeliner. She said she liked it...made her look like her eyes were bleeding.

Do you think she needs a therapist now? Or should I wait until I find small animal carcases? Weird child!!!

So the 29th I dropped the two littles off with their dad and picked up 6 Colenurgs. I try to get them each alone (except for the twins) on their birthdays. Since I missed Kendale & the twins they got to come along for Kalen's birthday. Then why leave Kayla at home alone? So I got her too. Then Korey was working so I should just get Kyle too right? How's that for a trade off? Drop off 2 pick up 6. I think I got the short end of that stick. lol

We went to Chuck E Cheese. What fun. I hate bad kids. I "persuaded" at least 3 kids off the skeeball lanes. One little girl asked Kizmet if she could have some of her tokens....UM NO! Go ask your mom.

I also made Carol and Bob join me in the fun. :)

Here's the link to those pictures if you'd like to see them: http://hobdypix.smugmug.com/gallery/4117728#240154421

Then New Year's Eve. Karl and I usually take the kids to First Night St. Louis. Since last year they seemed bored with the whole thing we opted out. We actually went out on New Years. So unlike us.

We went to see Metal Studz and Extremely Pointless.

ROCK ON KARL!!

Metal Studz is a spoof of an 80's hair band. So I knew and liked most of those songs (well I liked them 20 years ago anyway..lol)

Extremely Pointless is much harder and the crap Karl likes...Tool, Rage Against the Machine, 311...I can't stand that. He liked them but was not as impressed with their guitar solo. "Tom Morrello (sp?) is one of the top 10 guitar players." Yep, don't know who that is, I just nodded my head. Whatever. lol

So then more to entertain ourselves than anything else...we put Karl in pink feathers. :)

Doesn't he look cute?

He wasn't even drunk. That was my night and I didn't get drunk. I'm such a wimp. :)

Aren't we cute?

Marsha and me with the lead singer of Metal Studz. Ok that is a wig. lol

I swear he is Bret Michaels meets Dana Carvey.

We are SO going on the next Rock of Love! lol

It was a comical show. :)

Then back to work on the 2nd. I was so busy those three days FLEW by. Month end PLUS being off for two weeks helps to relieve some of the downtime. Plus after being off for two weeks I wasn't ready to go totally postal. :) (But I'm getting pretty close now.)

I had a 80th birthday party shoot on Friday night. Oh how I hope that I have that much spunk when I'm 80.

And it was twins. :)

I think you are pretty up to date with Hobdy Life. I'll try to do better in the new year to blog more often.

It's basketball season and tennis season so there should be plenty of those shots. And we have the medieval night with stretch coming up and who knows what else.

It's been a busy December

So it's been awhile since I blogged. And we've been busy. :)

December 8th I shot the annual Holiday Party for Tenet. I worked there for over 8 years so it's great to see people and touch base. Most of them I actually do stay in touch with, but it's good to see the others as well.

Carol is always my assistant. She's cheap labor. I buy her a quarter pounder from McDonald's and she assists. :) How can I beat that deal? Plus she's assisted so many times now that she can actually help me break down without me having a panic attack that something is going to get broken. lol Plus she used to work there too, before I stole her and Marsha to come and work for me. :)

So Friday night (12/7) Karl "bought me" (and by that I mean he told me that's what he wanted to get me for Christmas and made me go pick it up) a flash. So I left work at 4:30. Shillers closes at 6:00. Now this drive SHOULD take about 20 minutes. Well a few things complicated this drive. #1 it was Friday night, traffic is always horrible on Friday nights. #2 I was heading towards the Galleria which #3 is at the 170/40 exchange where all construction is happening. So it took me 30 minutes to get onto Brentwood from 170. #4...this is a big one. My Dear sweet friend Crystal....who I know FULL WELL can't give directions to save her life gave me an alternative route to get to Schillers. Make a left on Manchester she says. When I turned left I thought I think Shillers is West of here, I'm heading East. Then I doubted myself until I got to the city, then I knew I went the wrong way. So I'm melting down, thinking I'm not going to get to the store in time. Calling Karl, calling Crystal....about to abort the whole mission. Between Karl and Crystal I was able to stay calm enough to make it to Schillers 5 minutes before they closed. WHEW!!!!

So I had my new fabulous flash for Tenet's Holiday Party. All went well. Pictures in front of the beautiful tree.

Here are a few

Shirley & Marisa

Angelia and Bernie

(Just shot her mom's retirement party.)

Candace and Lil' Wesley

(Shooting their wedding in October)

December 9th spent the day with the Kayser's (Carol my assistant's family) trying to shoot a family picture. Her granddaughter Bianca moved to Louisiana so she wanted to get a family shot before she left. After 4 or more hours we made the best a several pictures to get this one shot.

Not the best family photo I've ever taken, but it's hard with two babies who are ready for a nap and three teenagers who are trying to make the babies happy and not looking at me. lol The 4 year old was fabulous. He's a bit of a stinker, but he is always good with pictures. :)

December 13th we met up with John Tate and the kids got their Wii. How much fun is that? We had to hide the Wii remote that night so they would go to bed. They love it. :)

Friday December 14...Bunko night. I've been playing Bunko for over a year, I've only won once. And "won" is a relative term. I actually got the prize for being the biggest loser. :) I must really not be good at that game. lol It's a good time to hang out with the girls. Drink a little, talk a lot, eat a lot, and maybe even play Bunko. :)

Saturday we had our first accumulating snow fall of the year. I know the kids were mad because they didn't get to miss school. It hit us in two waves. The first one was not so bad, but by the time the second one was done we had about 7 inches. Our subdivision plows so it's usually no big deal to get out. Plus the Durango is 4x4 so all bets are off. :) They plowed our circle and left the pile at the end of our driveway. Karl and I spend at least an hour out there breaking up the snow bank so I could get my little car out. :)

Here are a few shots of Bree making a snow man. (I fell asleep before the finished product was complete)

This is one round one of the snow storm so you can see the first round was not so bad.

Good wet snow though. It stuck together really well.

The snowball got a little heavy for Bree. Took all her strength to finish rolling it.

This is the face you get when you make your 13 year old put on a snow suit to go out and play in the snow. She was ticked off. And wouldn't go out in front with Bree. God forbid I try to keep her from getting frostbite. BRAT!!

Tatiana didn't go outside until I was already napping so I got no shots of her. I'm not sure if did that on purpose or not. I don't think she like the idea of a snow suit either. lol

Sunday, December 16th, I shot my friend Melanie's family pictures.

I'd love to put all 7 kids up individually but since I'm already recapping the month I'll spare you all the picture overload. lol

Monday, December 17 was Tatiana's make up concert. She did very well I don't think she was happy that I was snaping pictures though.

I got this face first!

(Mom you're embarassing me)

Then this face.

(STOP!)

Then this face. I think this was her final attempt to get me to stop taking pictures. Too bad I don't listen well.

Here she is actually playing.

So December was a busy month. I took off work starting 21st and I don't have to go back until January 2nd. So I'll update you with Christmas pictures very soon.

Right now it's 5:00 and I'm still in my pajamas. Spent the last two days in pajamas too. (I am bathing though) lol

Another hohum week

So I promised pictures from Bree's basketball game last week. After uploading, most of the shots were just her throwing in to some one else. So I passed on uploading them. This week is a different story.

I like to call her "Lil Lisa" (Lisa Leslie) because this weekend, she was on fire. My baby is back. I think the rust of the not playing in a year may have finally worn off.

So here's a picture from before the game. Although sometime you can catch her talking just as much during the game. LOL

Here she is driving down the court. Ok so it was after a throw in and at this level they are only allowed to use a half court press so she really wasn't challenged at this point. But hey, she can dribble, right? :)

This is towards the end of the game. She drove down and was backing up on this girl. If you look closely you can see the scoreboard. Lets just say, they didn't have 14. :) And she drove all the way down, took the shot....and missed. But she's getting there. We've been working on shooting form this week. And by "we" I mean Karl. :)

It's still an improvement. Last year she'd drive down and try to find some one to pass it to, even if she was under the basket. She never had the confidence to take the shot. So we're on the right path, just need to work on actually making the baskets. :)

Today was Tatiana's winter concert. It was cancelled. Apparently if we have a small amount of freezing rain the world comes to an end. They rescheduled for (I think) the 17th. So look for those pictures.

In other news, I've decided that having a full time job, part time job (photography) and being a mother and wife just isn't enough. I enrolled in school. Yeah!!

I'm aiming for my MBA in 5 1/2 years. So Cianah should be finishing her freshman year in College when I graduate.

Starting out in the Associates program for Business Administration in case I want to change my major. If nothing else the additional education will help advance me in my current job.

The truth is, the things I'm passionate about, don't pay. I can't see putting myself through 5 years of schooling to make less money than I do now. Not that I'm wealthy or make a ton of money, but let's be for real. Starting salaries for teachers, $30K to $40K. Social work, let's not even guess how little those poor soles are paid. Psychology...unless I get my PhD I'm not sure I can even get a job. So we're back to what I know...business.

Classes start in 2 weeks. UGH!! Not a lot of time to prepare. I figured the longer I wait, the more excuses I'll come up with to not go. So I'm off to "college." Of course I'm taking online classes so I miss the joys of campus life, but then again I'm not sure I'd fit in there anyway. lol

Wish me luck in my continuing education.

I think Karl may go back too, just not right now. He said to give him another year to live out his childhood dream of being a professional video game player, then he'll reevaluate. :)

It won't take him near as long to finish. He already did 2 years so most of those credits should transfer. So he's ahead of me in the game there.

Thanksgiving weekend

So being off work for four days was wonderful. I wish I could have that every week.

Since we did Thanksgiving with my sister on Sunday we got to stay home on Thanksgiving. I cooked a big meal. Susana and my mom stopped by. My mom is allergic to the the dogs and the cigarette smoke so she didn't stay long. She brought her stuffing for Karl, so all is well. :)

I got up with Melanie and hit the day after Thanksgiving sales at 4:00 in the morning. We hit Toys R Us, Target, Walmart, Kmart, and Value City by 10:00. She had to go to work after (haha) and I went home to take a nap.

Susana and I went out for a bit that evening. Dropped Tati and Bree off with Christa (Sean's wife) and went to Panera for a bite to eat. We hit Gordman's and then home to watch some TV with Karl.

Cianah spent the night with a friend so nice quite night. Saturday so didn't feel like Saturday. I slept a lot. Trying to recuperate from the day before I'm sure. Cianah cleaned the WHOLE house (including her sisters' rooms.)

Susana came over to get Cianah to hang out at the mall. This is a slightly sore subject. Karl says he doesn't think this was intentional or deliberate so I'm trying to let it go. She took Cianah up to Mallory's job. Ummm, what part of out of my life (and my kids) do you not understand? So Mallory gives her a gift for Christmas (and something for the other 2 girls as well.) My opinion is...if you want to see the kids, work it out with your brother. Don't have your mom bring them to you. That's sneaky to me. And if it wasn't planned then why did she have the gifts there? I don't know maybe they came from her store and she just bought them right then? I don't know and I don't care. I'm letting it pass. My energy is not well spent worrying about the intentions of others.

So Saturday night Karl's drunk behind drops a glass on his foot. He bled all over my floor. LOL I butterflied him up and he's good to go. Last week he slammed his thumb in the car door. He had so much blood pooling under his nail that he took a drill and drilled a hole in his nail to relieve the pressure. Crystal thinks this makes him a stud. lol

So after the thumb drilling and sliced foot, he said he's ready for a tattoo. LOL He's wanted a lion with dreadlocks for a long time, just never had the courage (I guess) to get it. He wants one eye the African Flag and the other eye Puerto Rican flag. I say he just needs to get my face tattooed on his forearm. He said he'll pass. lol

Poor guy.

I'm like 90% done with my shopping. That usually means I end up buying more. :)

Cianah has a iPod nano, a coat, some jewelry, make up, a new cell phone, a death note necklace, speakers for her iPod, and a mini digital camera. She had an expensive one 2 years ago and lost it so cheap it is.
Tatiana is getting an iPod Shuffle, new cell phone, makeup, Dream Girls DVD, digital camera, Night at the Museum DVD, and I still need 2 other things for her.
Bryana is getting an MP3 player, twin babies with a stroller car seat and high chair, bratz doll (a big one that is like 2 foot tall), digital camera, a coat, Shrek the 3rd, and some polly toys. I have a rain check for a bike.

Then they all get PJ and some slippers. This for the traditional, "Mom can we please open one present on Christmas eve?" To which I say, "Sure as long as I get to pick the gift."

I got my niece (Ashanti) a baby Bratz doll and nephew (Qualil) a Hotwheels 18 wheeler that comes with 5 matchbox cars. Haven't started on the other nieces and nephews. My sister seems to think I should not buy for them this year. So we're still in negotiations.

My mom is getting a plate. (See previous blog) I have NO idea what to get Karl's mom, plus I think she reads this so I'd leave her gift out anyway. LOL

OH YES and my fabulous father-in-law (yeah so I'm not married to his son anymore, I still love my father in law the same) is getting the kids a Wii. Karl and I are chipping in a small amount and he's covering the bulk. So cool.

So all I have left is Karl's gift from me. I'm not sure is this is really for "him" as much as it is for the kids, but he asked for Rock Band. So they can all play together.
Then the few things for Tati, maybe Bree's bike, maybe my nieces and nephews in MO and my sisters in NJ. They are not making it easy on me though. I'm a bit of a freak when it comes to Christmas. (It's my mother's fault.) I don't get into other people buying me gifts, it actually makes me feel uncomfortable. But I LOVE, LOVE to give gifts.
If they don't help me out with some ideas, maybe the girls and I will just bake some cookies and ship them off to them. I don't know. It's just my small way to say I love you. Sappy and corny, but true.

So no pictures this week, just my babbling. :)