Totally lazy blog post:Soccer and water fun.

Ayman at soccer pratice....It is kinda funny to watch the kids are interested; kinda.

Jennah shows us her tortilla chip. Look closely in her mouth.

Jennah, showing her Daddy an absolutely fascinating leaf.

Jennah and Ayman love to play in the hose in front of the house. They are supposed to be watering the plants, but it doesn't really end up that way. They get way more water then than the plants.

I put the nozzle on the misty setting. It was totally boring, so it didn't last very long. And that concludes my verry lazy, mostly pictorial post. Ayman is in his last week of summer school, i am still plugging along in school myself, and we are moving on September first. Woo Hoo! I love moving, i mean, who doesn't? Packing up all the crap you have accumulated, loading it into a truck taking, it off the truck, unpacking it, getting rid of boxes, settling in. it is totally awesome. Can you detect my sarcasm? Because I am laying it on pretty thick.

So cute

How cute are these two?

Ugh, help!

OK, i am begging the moms out there to help me by giving me some ideas on how to potty train my son. Daytime is great. No problems there. It is the night-time that i can't seem to do anything about and it is pissing me off. How did you get your kids out of that last overnight diaper?
The frustration is unbelievable.
Help!

This girl cannot be trusted.

So what happens when you don't hear or see Jennah for about 5 minutes? She climbs up on to the kitchen counter and helps herself to dry chocolate milk mix. I picked up the camera, to take this picture and what did she say? "CHEESE Mommy!"

Not to be outdone, Ayman also had to say cheese. I think this is one of the cuter pictures of him I have taken lately. Did I mention that he was in the hospital for 4 days in the beginning of June? He had a raging case of viral tonsilitis, that got out of control before we knew it was really happening. He got admitted on a Tuesday, and discharged on Friday afternoon. Jennah stayed with my mom and Gene, where my mother totally spoiled her. Apparently, Jennah has a flair for retail therapy. Mom got her a purse, sunglasses, a skort, mary janes, and Jen picked out a pair of tie-dyed yoga pants from Dillards all by herself. Mom said she carried them all around the store.
Here is something cute. While Ayman was in the hospital, he missed his sister so much that he had a toy phone that he used to call her on. One night we called Jennah (for real) and she was in the bathub, it went a little like this:

Ayman: Hi Jennah, what are you doing?
Jennah: I taking a bath!
A: Your taking a bath?
J: Yeeeeah!
A: Okay, I love you
J: Love you Ayman!

It was too cute. Mom said that Jennah laid on the floor on her back and said "I want to go home." Ayman was doing the same in the hospital. The weird thing is, now that we are out of the hospital and at home, Ayman is different. Not in a bad way. He is actually happier, more outgoing, and very loving to his little sis. It is cute, when he comes home from school the first thing he does is give her a hug and kiss. It is a nice change. It makes me wonder how long he had been sick. Right now, we are trying to get rid of that last pull-up diaper he wears overnight.
I will keep you updated on how that potty training is going. Jennah pees and poops on the potty, and will be going into pull-ups in a couple of days. I am so looking forward to diaper-free days again.

Pasta Update, the first four hours

Pasta's condition has been upgraded to: Good

He is swimming around his bowl and ate his breakfast heartily.
His progress will continue to be monitored.
He appears to be confused at this time, looking for his buddy, Rice.

I will post another update later, when his new tankmate is introduced.

RIP: Rice; Pasta, condition critical but guarded

So a little background here- the kids got 9 cheap ass goldfish at a party on January 28th. Three survived, in my largest pyrex bowl. Then, one of the three commited suicide by jumping out of the bowl, and another went belly up for no apparent reason (perhaps his time had come) so for the last guy, my dad bought a fishbowl starter set at Walmart, complete with gravel and plant. We also got a goldfish, which Ayman named "Pasta", and a black fish with buggy eyes and billowy fins, Jennah named him "Rice". I have kept them in a fishbowl that I have cleaned once a week for the last six weeks or so. Of course, the original guy that was left from the cheap ass crop, (that I named Joe, what a surprise.) kicked the bucket the day after I transferred him to the bowl. Other than that all was good in the fish bowl.
Until tonight.
When I came home from school tonight, the fish bowl had been moved. I thought this was Amr's subtle way of telling me the fishbowl was stinky. So I asked him about it. He told me the kids were looking at it, (which is really why we have them) Oh, and by the way, Jennah chucked a baby wipe in there. "Don't worry, it was dry".... Um, I don't know why this made it ok for me....
At about 1 am, in between episodes of the Andromeda Strain on A&E, I went into the kitchen for some delicious Spumoni ice cream when I noticed something disturbing. Rice was chilling on his side at the bottom of the bowl. Quite dead. Pasta at first glance appeared dead. I tapped the glass and found that he was not. Quickly, I got him out of the bowl into a cup of clean water, he was bad, guys. Gills barely moving, just sitting really still, I proceeded to clean out the bowl, and gravel and plant. I put water back in it, carefully measuring the temp, I mean, I don't want to f&%k with the poor guy even more right? By the time I was done with the cleaning he was a little perkeier. Still, I don't think he is gonna make it. I put him back into the bowl and he got hitched up on the plastic plant....so I gently moved the water around and he started swimming. He is acting erratically, I am hoping that the fresh water will help him out, and that I caught him in time. I added some food to it, so we will see what happens. Either way, I see fish shopping in my future.

Burnout, Ayman's IEP, and Clint Eastwood

Oh my. School is killing me. I am so bored and burnt out by it now. I know I am not done learning- I still have a few classes left. But the classes are BORR-IIIING. I took last Thursday and Friday off because of it. Tonight we the megacode for ACLS, (Advance cardiovascular life support, I think) Which is basically CPR with medications and defibrillation. I did really good, and passed, so I've got that going for me. Other than that, I gotta hang in. This is a short week so that is good, but what about next week? The week after? Arrrrrgh. I see the light at the end of the tunnel. I know it isn't a train. Must. Keep. Going. Hmphhhh.
Today, I had the annual conference for my son. He was diagnosed with a speech and developmental delay when he was three. He has been in Special Day Class (SDC), with an Indiviual Education Plan (IEP) since December of '06. He has been enrolled in state run preschool as well. He goes in the morning to his SDC, and to State preschool in the afternoon. It is good, because with the special day class, the bus picks him up at home at 0700, and then after that they walk him across campus to the preschool, and I pick him up from the whole shebang at 1430. At the conference today I got some good news and some bad news. The good news is- he is doing really well. So much improvement in the last year, the state preschool is doing wonders along with the different therapies the SDC is giving him. He is testing HIGHER than his age in most areas, and just a scoche below in others. However, he still has one full year- he will not start kindergarten until September of '09. they told me today- that he was ready to move on from his SDC. To where? State preschool. Cassie, you ask, isn't he already in state preschool? Why, yes, yes he is. So, Cassie, what exactly does this mean? Well, it means, he doesn't need to go to SDC. Let's take this one step further....He only needs preschool. So, Starting in August, with the new school year, he will only go to preschool from 12-3. This is a good thing, I know. But you know what else is a good thing? My son in school all day. HA. I know I am not winning any mother of the year awards with that little confession. But, whatevs, he is doing good; that is the important thing, and he will still meet with the speech therapist once a week, blah blah blah. So I got that going for me.
I paid off my braces today. You know, I was thinking, I am taking lighter classes now, and not having that payment on the braces frees up enough cash for me to get the DVR service back. I miss it alot. I mean ALOT. It will take some bargaining with my husband, but I think I will be able to swing it, as in, calling Comcast, getting the box and skipping on happily with my life. WOO Hoo. Yep, that is the ticket. Speaking of TV, and (why not? that is really all I do for fun,) I am watching Million Dollar Baby on AMC right now. Now, the subject matter is sad. I agree with the concept of it 100%. I believe in a persons right to die with dignity. Man, I was gonna go off on a rant about the right to die, but I really don't want to open that can of worms. Let's just say it is a damn good movie. Clint Eastwood is a silver fox, grrrrowwwl.
Ok, so that was a bunch of info. boring I know, but I am going to mirror this on my Myspace blog so whadda ya gonna do?
I'm out.

Home appliances, AC service and baking

My refrigerator is taking a crap on me. I mean, not literally but, you get it. I woke up today- and it was sinisterly quiet in the kitchen. I noticed the fridge wasn't cooling. This is bad because it doesn't get cold enough as it is- so it really can't take a break on the cooling. I guess most of them cycle, but this one really can't. Just recently, it stopped making ice- I think the reason for this is that it doesn't get cold enough or something, maybe not but, who the hell knows....moving on. So My dad, Jennah and Ayman and I took a ride to day to look for a replacement. A used replacement. I figured that I could get something for a couple hundred. I showed up at Wilson and Coffey and found this gem- except get this: It has an ice maker. woohoo. the deal with it is, it got damaged in shipment, and they fixed it. you really don't know where the major damage is unless you know where to look for it. They did a nice repair job. There is also a couple of dings on the outside door, but hell, that is gonna happen at my house anyway. so I am gonna buy it tomorrow, and it should be delivered by Tuesday. Thank goodness for that. I had to put everything in the freezer, to keep it all cold. The milk turned, and I had to throw out all the milk and mayonnaise based products. Perhaps, that is why I have had an inordinate amount of gastrointestinal distress....if you know what I mean, and I think you do.

On a more positive note, I was in contact with my Uncle Brian, who is a whiz with all things car related, and he says he can service my Honda's AC for very little cash. I will see if he can check out the thermostat as well (the car overheats when you idle, so no stop and go traffic, and no drive thru). Then, the kiddies and I will have a cool car to ride in this summer. YAY!

I made another cake- I kinda screwed up the topping for it though. I don't think it was a keeper. It came out a little dry, although they have you serve it with ice cream. It is OK, but I don't think I am going to categorize it as a "keeper", but when I upload the pic I will post it. It turned out pretty. My next attempt will be a carrot cake. I love carrot cake. I just have to acquire some spices for the dish. I have a delicious recipe for a cream cheese frosting. wanna hear it? hear it goes:
1 pound (2 bricks) of Cream cheese softened
1 cup of butter (2 sticks) of butter softened (it is low cal)
4 cups of powdered sugar, sifted
1 tsp vanilla
beat until creamy.

Don't ask me what the deal is with me and baking right now. Soon, I will be making a homemade ice cream cake- one of those ones that is rolled up. i saw a neat one on Emeril Live. I have to look in to it.