Life...it get's in the way.

Once again life has gotten in the way of me keeping up here. So much has happened since the beginning of the year. Mike got a promotion at work and he is now working 8-5 as the EMS Training Chief for Joplin Fire Dept. Matt is finishing up preschool and getting ready for kindergarten. He is playing baseball and games begin next week. I don't know that it's going to be a great season but we'll see. Drew is getting used to going to Nana's every day just in time for momma to get out of school. As for me, I am finishing up my school year and getting ready for the summer. I can't wait to read a lot of books and watch the kids play.

A New Year and some reflections

As this new year gets underway, I am sitting here the last few days thinking of things I hope to acheive in the next 12 months. Of course at the top of the list is be a better mommy, wife, teacher, friend, sister and daughter. We'll see how the year goes. I am also hoping to get better at birthdays and holidays and all those special days in between. I have been awful as of late and I continue to blame it on having little kids. Well, my kids are now 4 1/2 and 3 so I can't continue to use them as scapegoats. I also hope to update this blog more often. I read other blogs everyday and make time for that so I NEED to make time for writing as well. My goal is at least once a week as in past but who knows what life will bring.

I am sure that life will bring more unexpected things this year as always. I've learned to take the bad with the good. I just hope that it's more good than bad this year.

In reflecting on last year I want to take a minute to remember some very special people in my life that I've lost. My uncle Richard who was a great uncle and is very missed by all of our family, my grandpa Leroy who brought my love of singing to life with my cousins, and Mike's grandma Donna who was a wonderful great grandma to my boys. All three of them are missed every single day. Not a day goes by that I don't think of them and wish they were here. I know though that they are watching from Heaven and looking out for us. We love you and miss you!

Make a Smilebox greeting

Busy, busy, busy

That would be us. There have been so many things to do with such little time to do them in. We are getting ready to have the living room floor refinished. That has made me go into overdrive to get things put away and cleaned up so that the mess afterwards is minimal. I am not really looking forward to this at all. I will however love the end product I'm sure.

In the midst of all of this Mike is getting two vacation days and we're going to try and cram a mini-vacay into this weekend with the boys and then a Sunday/Monday trip to KC to tour the Harley Plant. Wheee! So much for trying to relax before school starts.

And to top it all off I must get things at school finished so that I don't have to spend the weekend before putting everything up. It's going faster than I first expected. I've got to get everything cleaned up and then I can finish putting out the rest of the stuff.

Let's just say that I might officially go nuts in the next 10 days.

Stressed out

That would be my current state of mind. I hate the last week of July and the first two weeks of August because I just don't have enough time in my day. Instead of being able to go to school the past two weeks, I have been cleaning and purging in my house. We are almost cleaned out and rid of all unused trash. Just wish I could get my husband to get rid of his crap in my dining room and office. Most of it needs to find a new home. We have lots of "technological" devices that we don't need! They sit around and don't get used. Ugh! I guess by the time I get to go back to work next week I will have my house ready to go and junk free!

I'm Free, I'm Free!

I am officially out of school! I left the building at 2:30 and I'm not looking back. I have lots of odds and ends to here at home but I can do those here while the boys play. Mommy will still be engaged in adult time during workshops and such. I am excited to be able to play in the dirt, playdough, bubbles, toys and read lots of mommy books this summer. I have a stack in there that I want to get read. I also hope to catch up on my sleep! That seems to be lacking a lot here lately. And last but not least I hope to get this blog caught up. I have just not had time this winter to keep up and I'm hoping to be able to sit down at least once a week if not more often. Yay for summer!

Wow, it's been a while....

Three months almost. I don't know where the last three months have went. We have been incredibly busy and been on a vacation-although I wouldn't necessarily call it that. I wanted to blog that as we went but that just didn't happen. Here a quick recap of the past few months:

January- not much happened. It was really a very blah month. It started off really upsetting with the death of my uncle. Not expected- a tragic car/work accident. The boys were pretty healthy during January.

February- A better month over all although we did end the month with Drew sick with some kind of viral infection that had to be treated like RSV/pneumonia because of his cough and check congestion. That was 10 days worth of medicene right before vacation. We ended the month leaving on our road trip to Reno.

March- This month started out with our road trip to Reno for Mike's Grant Writing Summit. Let's just hope that next year they do the 7 day cruise. Reno was not that great although we did see a lot of country and landmarks that we would never have probably seen. We stopped at the Grand Canyon and that was an experience within itself. I would love to go back but drive there instead of taking the train. What a racket! The month has continued with both of the boys contracting another viral infection and colds that won't quit. We are currently in the process of getting Drew evaluated for his speech through First Steps. He is starting to pick up some words and more vocabulary but he is still missing his beginning sounds for his words. He has the b and m sounds but the other developmental sounds he is still missing. The whole first steps process is really frustrating because you have to wait on everyone else. I am very prompt and respond as quickly as possible but it takes at least two days to get a return call or e-mail from the coordinator and I haven't even heard from the therapist this week. Grr! Today we went for a hearing check to make sure that isn't his problem for his speech. He didn't pass and had some mild hearing loss due to possible fluid behind his ears. I have to call the doctor on Monday to make sure that we don't need antibiotics or be checked. Then it's back in six weeks for another hearing check. I'm praying that he passes then because if not it's onto the ENT probably along with surgery for tubes. At this point, I can't handle my baby going through surgery. I know that his hearing can be fixed with it and that it needs to be done now rather than later when he is really effected more. I just don't think I can handle that.

So that's where we are right now in our life. I have about 38 days of school left and I can't wait for this year to be over. It's just been a rough year for me and the students. The ice and snow that we've had has just created havoc with our school calendar. We have been in school too many days without a break. I am so ready for Easter to be here. Let's just hope this stupid snow this weekend will not be anything.

Christmas 2008

Well, we are done putting away all of our Christmas decorations and new toys so I guess Christmas is done for this year. We got way too many toys again this year and our house is so full that I don't know where we'll put anymore. Our house looks like a Toys R Us! The boys had a great day although I'll not forget the constant "Mommy I want to go home and play with my toys" that I heard all day long. We made it without daddy although it wasn't easy by any means. I missed his help all day. He did get to enjoy the santa toys with the boys because we got them up around midnight to see them. I was worried about that and didn't want him to miss it. We did acquire our famous Christmas illness that we seem famous for getting. I really hate spending my break from school taking care of sick children. I'm just waiting to get it now because they have both had it. I am seriously considering telling everyone that if you want to see us on Christmas then come by but if you're sick or have been within the last week stay away. We don't want your germs! Oh well, I guess we'd probably get it anyway. I'm just being grumpy about it. It's not letting me post pictures right now so I'll be back to post them later.

Drew is potty trained!

It's official. He is trained and it has been super easy. Other than being a little lazy at times, he is doing great. We've also been going through a bit of sickness the last few days and that is not helping. He actually will not use the potty chair now either. He only wants to sit on the regular toilet. I am so happy that this has finally came! No more diapers. Yay! Only pull-ups, which are still expensive. Now I won't want to have another child because I won't want to change diapers again.

Sorry It's Been So Long

I haven't posted in a while...about six weeks I guess. The boys are growing and learning lots of new things. It's something new every day. We survived Christmas and I'm trying to sift through all of the toys and clothes and put them away. The kids are enjoying their toys and having fun. More to follow....

My Baby is 2...

and his momma is so sad. I can't beleive that it was two years ago that I woke up at 4am to my water breaking and then laboring all day and evening to end up with a stubborn child who would have to come c-section anyway. And to this day he continues to be stubborn. I wouldn't know where he would get that from. He is honestly the light in my life and I really don't know what I would do without his shining little face. When he got into that poison last spring we very well could have lost him. But God knew his momma needed him. Yes I get mad at him and frustrated at the things he does or doesn't do, but I would never give him up in a million years. As I think back over the past year, he has done so much growing and evolving as a little man. He still doesn't talk like I want him to but golly gee look at his brother who now talks up a storm and did the same thing. I only hope the next brings as many blessings and fun as what this year has brought!

Hellish Halloween

Here are the 2008 Halloween pics. We made it through yet another year of Halloween. I hate halloween. I don't think I've mentioned that before but I really do. I know the kids have fun and everyone loves seeing what they are dressed up as but I HATE IT! There are too many places that we have to go to and we really don't have time for other houses because of that. We have to go in and say hello and visit for a bit at each stop. Well, let's say that we visited at only a couple of places this year...ahem. I wanted to be done early because Mike had to work the entire weekend and we needed to get home early and spend some family time. Well, we didn't get done so early and Drew fell asleep in the car. It probably didn't help that we had been in the car most of the day traveling to Joplin to get the boys' flu shots. I'm just glad I had the day off! I guess I'll get over the awfulness of one night a year. They are only young once. One of these days I will be wishing that they were still little and I was still trick-or-treating with them.

Presenting....

Our new baby girl...Shadow

She loves the boys and Mike has her spoiled and lets her in while Molly is outside. Every night it's a chase-fest when she comes in. Her belly is so fat....she fits in nicely! Hehe! I said I never wanted a cat but I think we'll keep her.

Halloween Gifts

I finally got the mail yesterday and the boys had a gift from Aunt Shara and Uncle Ryan. They both got a new pair of jammies and a new movie to watch. Thank you Ryan and Shara for our jammies! We stayed nice and warm last night when it was so cold.

This is from last night at bedtime. Daddy has gotten them into the habit of going to sleep with a movie because it's easier at naptime for him that way. So, it has spilled over into bedtime....grrr. Drew is now in his converted toddler bed and can get out at will. He will crawl out during the movie and get into bed with Matt. Mike found them somewhat like this and hollered at me to get the camera. I don't know why Drew has taken to this hat but he loved it. He lost it at some point because he didn't have it on this morning. They really do love each other although at times it is hard to know that!

Our Newest Addition

No, I'm not expecting another child. We have another addition to our family. Most of you probably already know about her but we have a kitten named Shadow. She is gray and a cutie and loves to follow everyone around. The boys love her to death and get so excited when we go play outside on the porch. She is actually spry and alive and Drew is being very nice. Now Molly on the other hand isn't so loving to our new little girl. They both do not get along too well, mainly because Molly is very jealous. I really didn't want another animal because one is hard enough to take care of but since Shadow basically adopted us we didn't have much choice and I wouldn't let her be "gotten rid of". Crazy of me I know but even I got attached right away. Pictures to come....

It's almost done!

My roof that is! They are almost done with it and probably would be done if all of the boards were replaced the other day. Dustin is supposed to come by and finish it tomorrow and then I can pick up my yard! I'm so excited! We ended up with a bit of damage in the laundry room and kitchen but we're redoing the kitchen next year so I don't guess that matters too much.

As for the boys, Drew has decided he can pee on the potty. I would love to get him potty trained but I'm not sure if we're going to get it done. I had hoped to get it done over my 3-day weekend next week but I also want to go to SDC so I don't know if it will happen. We could wait until Halloween weekend and do it then. We'll see what I decide.

Here a few pictures:

Drew getting in the bathtub by himself before momma realized what he did!

Matt sitting in Daddy's fire truck.

Drew sitting in the drivers seat of Daddy's fire truck.

It's Raining, It's Pouring

After two weeks of work, Mike finally got all of the roof tore off. I never thought it would happen but it did. Then they started saying rain. He waited and waited on Dustin to come by and he has this inherant problem with saying he'll be places and he never makes it. So at 6:30 on Thursday night we had no covering on our roof and Mike had to go to work on Friday. Guess what didn't get covered. You guessed it- the roof. So Mike asked Dustin to come by on Friday and put up the paper. We were spared on Saturday morning when it rained. The only spots that I saw were in the bathroom but we're redoing that anyway so it doesn't matter.

Fast forward to Sunday. Dave and Mike finally got started on the roof around noon or so and worked straight through until about 7:00 Sunday night. All they got finished was the East end and half of the back. We still had around half to 2/3 uncovered but had tar paper on it. I prayed that would work. Guess what? It didn't- big surprise. I walked into my laundry room last night around 6 or 7 and the water was running down my walls. It was standing in the floor about a half inch and the light was full of water. Dustin came over and the tar paper had blown up. We have major water spots in there and it looks terrible but it's just the laundry room that no one really sees anyway I guess. Then around 8ish I heard dripping again. I look up to see water spots all in my kitchen and water dripping down the cabinets over the cooktop. I freaked out majorly. Dustin came back and tarped it and thought the satellites were causing it to leak. I did climb up in the attic to make sure that it hadn't ruint all of my baby stuff up there. My most prized possession- the boys' cradle made by my great-grandpa was up there and I would have died if it was ruined. It wasn't even wet so I was greatful for that.

Hopefully the rain is done and we can get the rest roofed asap. He talked about doing it today. We are going to owe Dustin so much labor we'll never get it paid back at this point. It really ticks me off in a way that we haven't had any help. But that's another post.....I won't even go there now.

New Babysitter

Mike and I went out last night in search of laptops that we like and to look at other things. We also had to get some groceries and other stuff for the house. Of all the babysitters that we have, none were available last night. So, we called Shelby Davidson who had been dying to watch the boys. She jumped at the chance. Obviously they had a great time with her and Spencer. Spencer sent Mike a text message at one point and told us not to hurry home, they were having a blast. I was worried that they would be a pain for her and she'd never want to watch them again. I don't guess they were because she was more than eager to watch them another time. It just get a bit expensive for us! I want to pay whoever I ask to sit well enough that it's worth their time. I remember sitting when I was younger and it not really being worth my time for the money. I guess it doesn't hurt once in a while to have someone else watch them and pay them. I'm just glad we have someone to fall back on if no one can watch them.