That is the question that Josh and I have been asking our daughter the past couple of nights.  Let me explain...During the school year, bedtime routine is just that-a routine.  Dinner, bath, story, bed.  Let me be more clear.   Dinner, bath..then, one, or both of us reads a story to one or both of the kids, in either of their two rooms (never the same)...They both ALWAYS say they want Papi to lay with them, (not me), so he does, just for about 5 minutes each (ahem...).  Then, J. Ross will inevitably pay us a visit downstairs, in which he looks irresistibly adorable and charming.  Many of you have witnessed this irresistible charmingness.  Please vouch for me!   I somehow, in my zombie-like state, end up putting J. Ross to bed as well.  Mind you, at this point, our daughter is snoozing away, tucked underneath her hot pink bedspread.  I don't know why we ever really "lay" with J. Ross.  He never, I repeat, NEVER, falls asleep while we're in there, and has been known to stay awake hours (yes, I am admitting that!) after the bedtime routine began...Until... "this summer."  Okay, I know we have only had, like, one or two nights of official summer vacation.  All I am saying is, the past two nights, we have followed this bedtime routine as mentioned above, and my son fell asleep within 3 minutes of me "laying" with him.  The weird part is, the roles have reversed.  Anna, who we could always count on to go to bed at the appropriate time, is now the one staying up late and sneaking downstairs to tell us she loves us, etc. etc.  So, here's to, a new routine, more time with the kids, a cleaner house, and all the things that make summer fabulous!  Apparently, I'm not too great at posting during the school year; however, I absolutely love chronicling our summers with photos and memorable stories.  The photo below was taken at a birthday party for J. Ross and his three buddies.  These boys have been in the same class at school since they were one year old, and their birthdays range from May 29th to June 17th.  They are quite the crew.

Halloween pictures

Click here for Halloween pics

Quotes from the evening:

"This is the best Halloween ever!" Anna

"I'm not afraid of dogs, I'm a pirate." (J. Ross said this every single time he saw a dog...except for the first time he saw a dog tonight. The first time, he didn't like the dog jumping on him and got a little whiny...then, Josh reminded him, that pirates aren't afraid of dogs...so, the rest of the night...you get the point...)

"Can I have some candy?" This is what J. Ross said instead of "trick or treat.."

"You look like a witch," said Anna to our neighbor who was dressed up like the Statue of Liberty. Oops.





Happy 30th Birthday Carma, etc.



Last night we celebrated my friend Carma's 30th birthday! We went to dinner, then we went on to hear Carma's husband Tim play. Good times were had by all.

Nicki and me


More birthday pics

Here's J. Ross with his tiny pumpkin at the Farmer's Market. We picked two big pumpkins for carving, and two tiny ones. Good thing we brought the double stroller!

A Packwood family tradition: pizza at Tim's Pizza after Farmer's Market. Countdown to Halloween-19 days
These videos were taken today at the Farmer's Market and the pizza restaurant. I originally took the video in the restaurant, because I knew A and J would want to watch themselves on video (see above picture of me holding video cam). This would keep them still for a while and would give me the chance to have snippets of conversation with Carma and Holly, who came with us today (and who you can hear laughing in the background of this video!). The video ended up being so cute, I had to post it.

Frozen Cheetos




The 7th grade science classes had a special guest from the University of Arkansas come and teach them about liquid nitrogen. Some of my students were there taking some video and they caught me eating a "Frozen" cheeto for the first time ever. I couldn't quite get the breathing through the nose thing down, with my allergies and all.

Our assistant principal seemed to figure it out just fine...







Oh, and one more thing

My mom called me tonight and told me that tonight will be the first night my dad has spent more than one night at home since August 29th. I can just see my dad now calculating and figuring this out. This is a man who knows how many miles his tennis shoes have run, walked, and mowed. He has been working in Baton Rouge since Gustav, and now is back in Tulsa. Enjoy drinking coffee out of your own coffee maker, Dad. Love, Kerri

Stuff

This week, I:

1) Let 60 7th graders create their own personal websites in Current Events class. I have been going crazy trying to keep them from embarrassing me, my school, and themselves. Yikes.

2) am loving the fact that J. Ross tells me he wants "go pedal," when he goes to ride his bicycle, which is really Anna's bicycle. He has been "pedaling" various vehicles for a while now, but, the transformation to pedaling the bicycle was significant enough to change his wording.

3) Made a really cool mix-tape-CD (Michael Scott) that I have been wearing out in my car CD player. On it has: Wailin' Jennys, Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova, and Nickel Creek.

4) took lots of pictures.

This week's pics

5) prayed for my Grandmother Billie. My parents were in Magnolia/Texarkana, Arkansas this week while my Grandmother was in the hospital. She has been very ill the past three weeks, and the doctors have not been able to pinpoint what it was. She is a breast cancer survivor, and was diagnosed with a form of Leukemia called Hodgkins disease several years ago. She is a trooper, to say the least. Here is the sweetest email I received from my dad on Friday:

Late last night we got the word Mom's lung biopsy was negative...they had taken slices from several troublesome areas and all were negative. The results from the bone marrow biopsy are not due til Monday but the oncologist thinks it will be fine. After 18 days in the hospital, she was released today. Very weak and feeble but home...she has a way to go to be normal but is excited to be home.

Before we left the Magnolia Hospital on Wednesday to go to Texarkana for the cancer tests, my dad said, "Let's pray" and our family circled and held hands in Mom's hospital room as my 81 year old dad prayed the sweetest prayer...as he and Mom embraced following the prayer I just about lost it. A scene that was repeated late last night when we got the good news...

Thanks for your prayers...

David

6) saw The Women.

7) was put on a budget (wasn't I already on one?). :)

8) got a Sam's Club membership.

9) am really excited about the Season Premiere of the Office!

10) am watching the Emmy's.

The tour book
What would we do without the tour book? We bought one tour book in Barnes and Noble (DFW Airport). It was Top 10 Paris, and it was a life saver. Since Paris was our first stop, I carried it onto the airplane after drinking my HUGE frappuccino. Like, I was holding it. I didn't even put it in my backpack - I might have even been reading it as I boarded the plane. Could I BE any more tourist-y? I carried that thing proudly everywhere we went in Paris. This is a picture of Josh brushing up on his French right before getting on the airplane. We were SOOO excited about our trip.












Here I am with my huge frap (no wonder I did not sleep on the flight to Paris).
Josh really was concentrating when I took this picture of him at Barnes and Noble. Funny!


Above is another tour book that guided us through Florence, Lucca, and Siena. When we arrived in Siena, we found that someone had left their Italy tour book in the lobby of our hotel. When we were looking through the book one day, the reception guy said we could just have it! This is great, because in Rome our Tuscany and Paris books would be useless. Here are some pictures of Josh with his nose in the Italy tour book. We loved everything about our trip...but, it was SOO nice when we had a tour book, especially in Rome, where this picture was taken.

Josh and sister Deb in the Pantheon in Rome

Josh in one of the museums
in the Vatican...reading what the
Italy tour book has to say about
the Transfiguration of Christ (Raphael)


Museums/Churches
















Baguettes and other favorites

Josh's favorites included baguettes in Paris, some liquidy vanilla yogurt stuff that he could find in the markets in Paris, and crepes. My favorites - A grilled ham and cheese sandwich with a piece of cheese and a fried egg on top (Paris)...Pizza in Italy...Ravioli in Siena...and Paninis anywhere! Oh, and cappuccino.





















Paris


Paris







Venice

A popular place to eat in Italy - the sidewalk