Oh, Tanner!

Tanner keeps life interesting. Last night as we were driving home from practice he informed me he knew where babies came from. I said, "Oh?" He told me they come from a very gross place. "You know, the same place on a girl that balls are on a boy." Always great conversation in the Holmberg house.


This has been a crazy couple of weeks. The boys are both playing basketball and baseball has started up again. Someone has a practice or a game everyday of the week. I feel like all I do is drive kids around. Brad has also been working a lot the last week and was called out 3 nights this week, so he wasn't even home. I finally got the boys into bed and sat down to relax before bed, when Tanner came down and told me he had thrown up. I asked where and he said on the carpet. I should have known that. Then it occurred to me that Tanner had Hawaiian punch at dinner. Of course he did!! He then got that, "I'm going to throw up look," and I yelled at him to go to the restroom. He ran in there and threw up in the sink. I guess I should be happy he hit the sink, but the toilet would have been so much better. I then spent the next hour cleaning up the, ide of his bed, the carpet, the remote controls, the game boxes, a baseball hat, and a sink. His bedroom now has two red stains on the carpet. He keeps saying he wants wood floors in his room and I am thinking that might not be a bad idea. Oh the joys of motherhood!!

Nerd Alert

I am not a fashion diva. I know that probably comes as a surprise to most of you, but fashion is not my thing. I am comfortable in jeans and tennis shoes for the most part. I don't think I need to be put on that show What Not to Wear, but I could dress a little better at times. I do spend the majority of my time at my kids sporting events and these aren't exactly black tie affairs. I don't think I look bad and do know how to match my clothes.

I try very hard to make sure my kids look good. They always match even if they are just wearing basketball shorts and t-shirts. It drives me crazy when I see a kid that is wearing mix-matched clothes. Tanner has a good friend that always comes over wearing green shorts and an orange shirt or some other crazy combination. One day I was taking them to the movies and I made him go home and change into something that matched. I feel the same way about character shoes. You know like Bob the Builder or whatever cartoon character is in at the time. I guess teaching in some low income schools I would see the mix matched clothes, cheap character shoes, and uncombed hair and it isn't the look I want for my kids.

That brings me to today. Mason had a basketball game and before we left he told me he needed new socks. He has been wearing the no show socks and he wanted some that came up a little bit higher. We went to Academy and he picked out the ones he wanted. They are black and come up about mid calf. I told him I refused to buy him black socks to wear with shorts. He insisted that everyone wears them. I finally gave in and bought them and he changed in the car and was very proud of his "new look". All I could think of was an old man mowing his yard with shorts and black socks. The kind of person we always made fun of. We made it to his game and he ran out on the court. He was the only one with high black socks. After the game I asked him about no one else sporting this new look. He explained to me once again that all the kids at school wear them. I am trying not to sweat the small stuff, but it is hard. I also think the socks brought him bad luck. This is the first game in a couple of years that he hasn't scored a basket. His team lost 30-8. I let him know what I thought, but he said it wasn't the socks. At least I tried to help him. Maybe someone should call What not to Wear and we could do an intervention.

Not a jail bird after all...

I spent one entire day of my Christmas vacation taking a defensive drivers course to clear one of my tickets. I ordered my driving record and assumed it would be here in time for my court date today. I got a little nervous when it didn't arrive by Saturday. I haven't dealt much with the law and wasn't real sure what would happen if I showed up to court without my driving record. I told the boys I would call them if I needed to be bailed out of jail. I got to court about 45 minutes early and while sitting in the car waiting I decided to go through the paperwork. Oops I had missed getting a notary to sign one of the forms. I zipped out of the parking lot and was on the look out for a bank. Thank goodness I found one quickly and got my form notarized and got back with still 25 minutes until court. I didn't know where to go, but finally figured out. Wouldn't you know I was not the only person that didn't have all their paperwork. They have a process for idiots like me. I got a 10 day extension. Surely my driving record will arrive before then.

Today I was looking through some old pictures and found another picture of evidence I was a law breaker. The first picture is of me in my high school graduation gown. And yes that is a bottle of alcohol I am holding. I believe my mother was taking that picture and the alcohol was given to me by an adult cousin. Mom, how could you condone such bad behavior? It is a wonder I turned out to be such a productive citizen and not a wino under the bridge. I kind of remember that night. I believe I drank the majority of that bottle by myself and had my first hangover the next day. It was not pretty. Notice I said my first hangover. I am not a fast learner and have had a few more since then.

Happy 2010

This year was a little more low key than last year. We were invited to a couple of parties, but with Brad's new work schedule we decided not to go. Brad changed jobs in November and he now works in Texas City. He has to be at work at 6:30 and it takes him an hour and 15 minutes to get there and two hours to get home. He leaves the house by 5 and gets up at 4. His used to stay up late every night. Now he is in bed before me. The boys were invited to go to Time Square Entertainment with some neighbors. That left Brad and I alone. I don't think we have been alone on New Years in 11 years. We went to eat at Los Cucos. Had a couple of margaritas and really enjoyed each others company. Brad went to sleep around 9. I stayed up waiting for the boys. They were supposed to get home at one, but at 11:50 they were knocking on the door. I was glad to see them. We got to bring in the new year together. 2009 wasn't a bad year, but it could have been better. We hope 2010 is a wonderful year! Happy New Year!

Cookies, kittens, and Christmas

We had another successful Christmas with once again our kids getting too much. Brad seems to over do it with the boys. I am not a whole lot better. That just means our boys get spoiled. Brad mentioned on Christmas eve as I was telling him that we had over done it again, that he remembers a Christmas where all he got was a model of the space shuttle. I asked him if he was sad and he said yes. I guess he doesn't ever want our boys to feel the same way he did that Christmas.

Tanner got a kitten for Christmas. Penny isn't real sure how to feel about her. She keeps hissing at Penny and she just turns her head. I told the boy that is what you do when a bully is picking on you. Our new little family member is a bully, but very cute. She is perfect for Tanner. He said, "She plays with me and she lays in my lap when I play video games." Who could ask for more.

I spent one whole day baking cookies. It was fun. The boys didn't help me this year and I had picked out a cute recipe for some snowman cookies. They enjoyed eating them though. We have one more Christmas today with my mom and sister. Then we will be going shopping so the boys can spend their Christmas money. I am not looking forward to the malls.


We got to talk to Kyle on Christmas day. He sounded really good. It is crazy that he isn't able to talk to his family but once a year. It was nice hearing from him and he seemed happy. He will be gone for another year and a half. That is a really long time to go with out seeing your family. I don't think I could do it.

Whiz Kids

This six weeks has been a very trying time for my boys. Their grades are not real good. Tanner went a week with no ADD medication, so I can kind of explain that. In fact last week was the week with no meds. We practiced his spelling words during the week and he knew them. I got his test back yesterday and he made a 45 on the test. He didn't even do that bad the first time I quizzed him. I asked him what happened and he said, "I don't know I guess the words just fell out of my head." No joke buddy!

Mason is failing math at the moment. I talked to his teacher and she said he doesn't understand adding and subtracting mixed fractions with and without regrouping. She asked me if I know how to do this. Well, let's see, the last time I did this was ummmmm........6th grade!!! I don't know. The good news is school has come a long way. All the textbooks are online. I got online and there is a man that walks you through how to do the problems step by step. I did the tutorial and then took the online quiz. I will have you know I made a 100. I then had Mason take the quiz and walked him through it step by step and he seemed to understand much better. He then took a quiz and made a 25. This was better than the 0 he made before the tutoring. Last night we spent the night redoing the two quizzes and I tried to make sure he really understood. He had a test today. When he got home I asked him how he did and he said he didn't finish. I asked how he thought it was and he said some were easy and some weren't. He is just so full of details! The results of this test will determine if he stays in preAP math or if he needs to change classes. In the meantime if you need any help adding or subtracting mixed fractions just give me a call!

Snow in Katy

Christmas is fast approaching. Last Friday it actually snowed in Houston. It was so much fun. As I was on my way to work I noticed snow flurries mixed with the rain. As the morning went on it really began to snow, big flakes too. I have lived in the Houston area my entire life. I can only remember it snowing once when I was a child. I was spending the night with a friend and when we woke up it was snowing. Her mom wouldn't let us go outside and play so I decided it was time to go home. I went home and played in the snow with my brother and sister. The first year I taught in 92 it snowed. The school had a fire drill so everyone would go out and see it. I actually had a little girl cry because she didn't understand what was coming out of the sky. Christmas eve when Tanner was 3 it snowed. It was so nice and a very nice Christmas gift. The boys were so excited. Last year it snowed but didn't really stick. Then it snowed this year. So here I am 40 years old and I have only seen snow a handful of times. This is why we get so excited around here when it does snow. I don't think I would like living where it snows all the time, but it is fun for a short time. When I say a short time I mean a short time. It snowed enough to cover the roofs and ground. We got out of school about 2 hours early. I was so excited to get home and take some pictures of the boys in the snow, but when I drove up it had already melted. Bummer!