Grateful Friday

Today I'm grateful for:

• A couple of (semi) quiet minutes to blog


• My brother, who agreed to run with Abbie in her 5K tomorrow on his birthday :)


• The internet, so I can do my Christmas shopping online at 11:30 pm instead of going to Wal-Mart and Target 20 times.


• Starbuck's Cinnamon Dolce Latte


• Our Christmas cards from Costco that turned out really cute


• But most of all, that this is Tim's last weekend of regular classes, whew. He has finals the week of the 15th but the light is clearly visible at the end of the tunnel!!

Boys...what else can I say?

True...I swear...

Today Cameron comes running into the kitchen with his right hand behind his back. He looks up at me with his uniquely Cameron "crazy" face. With the ever present mischevious twinkle in his eye, he announced to me, "I have a surprise in my pants for you....BOING!!!" I found myself simultaneously breathing a sigh of relief that his hand was actually empty and dreading the day he starts Kindergarten. I was at the school yesterday and saw the principal in the hall. I feel the need to introduce him to Cameron soon in case he wants to consider early retirement or put in for a transfer to a new district.

Don't forget the lyrics...

It's been awhile since my last post, but I didn't realize it's been THIS long. There are a lot of things to catch up on...maybe this weekend. Tonight I wanted to post two cute song mix-ups that each of my boys did today before I forgot about them.

Cameron:

"A B C D E F G, wonder what you mean to me?" (his version of twinkle, twinkle little star). He has gotten better singing his ABC's on his own and sometimes it comes out: ABCDEFG JKJKJK MNOP WXYZ.

Cooper:

Tonight the kids took the Little People Nativity into the bathtub. Earlier today we heard "Shoo Fly" on Radio Disney. While I was cutting Cooper's hair after his bath, I heard him singing "Jesus, Don't Bother Me...Jesus, Don't Bother Me".

Happy Birthday Pappy

We headed off to the Kersey Valley Maize Adventure . I found it on the internet and although it's only 30 minutes from our house, I don't know anyone that's been there. We got a little nervous because the final couple of miles to the "farm" is not the most attractive. Then all of a sudden there is this little mini theme park oasis. It was fantastic. It was all set up like an old west mining town. We had a great day!! Hope you had a nice birthday Pappy!

There was a big bear and this huge jack-o-lantern carved from tree stumps.

Not sure who had more fun on the Jumping Pillow, the kids or Daddy!! I'd never heard of these before. It's like a giant balloon buried in a sandbox. So cool.

Cameron didn't want to jump, he was content playing in the sand.

The little kids went through the small maize maze and collected their ABC's along the way. The big maze was 4 miles long and can take several hours to get through, so we skipped that one.

After digging for dinosaur fossils, we cooled off in the water and panned for gems. This was Abbie's favorite part.

A beautiful day at the Amazing Maize Maze!!

The Big 3-6

Happy Birthday to me. Tim was in class and Abbie was at Girl Scout camp but I still had a fun day with Grandy, Aunt Cathy and my boys. We drove an hour or so to the Brushy Mountain Apple Festival. We had a great time and other than a 20 minute scenic route detour when we missed the sign for the shuttle parking, things went very smoothly. "We" enjoyed the obligatory festival indulgences of funnel cakes and cotton candy, a couple of apple treats of the caramel and candy coated variety, and the tad unusual roasted corn on the cob :)

The crafts were the best part. The pottery was beautiful, some photography and prints came home with me but my most favorite was some recycled art...glass bottle wind chimes from Bottle Benders. They either use flattened (how do they do that?) vintage bottles attached to driftwood (what I got) or they use newer discarded bottles and color them in all kinds of ways. Seeing a whole tent of them displayed in the sun and chiming in the breeze was so beautiful. So creative.

The boys enjoyed visiting with each and every single one of the hundreds of dogs welcomed there.

BUT, Cooper trampling through a pile of doggy discards was easily the lowpoint of the day :( It was quite obvious that the pile did not belong to the teeny doggie in the picture. It was much more likely to have come from some ginormous mutant dog/horse hybrid.

All in all it was a great day. And tomorrow wil be too. Off to a pumpkin patch adventure for Pappy's birthday. I predict more photos.

Transitions

I've been cleaning out closets the past week. Trying to stock them with appropriate attire for 45-85 degrees. Gotta love the seasonal transition into Fall. I do love Fall but it is hard to dress for the day sometimes.

My biggest saddness though has to be that this is the first year that my baby girl can hardly wear ANYTHING from the previous year. She had a tremendous growth spurt over the summer. Some growth up but mostly out. It really surprised me because we were very active at the pool this summer so I didn't think that it was just weight gain from being sedentary at home over the summer. Her spurts had usually been coming towards the middle of the school year. I really think she's just hitting that "stage" already. Ugh, boo-hoo. It might have been my mom that said she's transitioning into a young lady. But I want her to stay my baby girl.

I was an early bloomer. I got my first bra in 4th grade, she's just a year away. It's also incredibly hard not to impose my body image insecurities onto her. So far that's been my biggest struggle. Not to tell her to stand up straight and suck it in. I have said it to her and it kills me that I can't take it back. I'm not one that remembers lots of things from my childhood but I have vivid memories of being teased by my dad. I can't believe I'm possibly doing the same thing to my daughter. She already seems so much more confident than I felt at her age. I don't want to damage that. I think we're heading into that age range where they say that it's harder raising girls than boys.

Smarty pants

Cameron brought me a decorative plaque that I had layng on the shelf in the den. He handed it to me saying, "Mommy, dis a octagon, dis a octagon." I had to count the sides real quick but sure enough, he was right!! And they say TV is bad for pre-schoolers!! I sure didn't teach him that :)

Family Day

I was worried this weekend that we wouldn't be able to go to our first family Wake Forest football game. It rained non-stop for like 36 hours or something crazy like that. It finally stopped enough for us to attempt it. I'm so glad we decided to go. We had such a good time even though Wake got beat bad! We almost left before halftime because Cooper started getting a tummy ache but he perked up quickly and started hooting and hollering like all the rest of us.

His favorite thing was yelling "TACKLE HIM". He was so cute. Later in the game the sun barely poked out and there was a rainbow for about 5 minutes. We finished off the day with Hot Krispy Kreme doughnuts on the way home.

2nd runner-up

I changed my picture tonight. We were having a fun family night dinner and the kids started getting silly so I grabbed the camera. Later, I remembered this picture I took at Harkers Island over Labor Day. I love this one too but I think I'll stick with my choice.

Busy day...

Today was picture day at school for the boys. I'm so glad that they'll only be seen from the waist up. They had cute matching $2.00 yellow polos thanks to bargain queen Grandy. For bottoms, I just put them in khaki pants. Problem was that I just grabbed Cameron's from last year and they were major highwaters. And I couldn't find any shoes that looked right so he wore his ratty hand me down Thomas sneakers. It looked pretty funny actually but who cares... it won't be in the picture!!

After we dropped the boys off, mom and I went shopping where some of "Her Royal Bargain-ness" rubbed off on me. I need to find a dress for Tim's graduation in January. I was planning to look in the after Christmas sales but I was just flipping through the clearance rack at Marshall's and POOF! the perfect dress jumped out at me. The right size, not strapless (UGH), not pink with purple polka dots, only $20.00...perfect!! And mom found the perfect shoes to go with it...also on the clearance rack! A whole formal wear outfit for $50.00!! I'm so excited!! We will have to buy Tim a new suit. His last suit purchase was when he was 50 pounds heavier.

Later, mom watched the kids while I went with Cathy to what turned out to be her pre-op visit for having her pacemaker replaced. After running the diagnostics, turned out that her battery went in to "backup" mode on the 3rd of the month.

I'm ready for the weekend. It's supposed to be really nice weather and I want to get outside in the yard and do some desperately needed weeding. The crabgrass is so overgrown from all the rain we've had in the past few weeks that it is all the way up to the house in some places. It doesn't even look like we have any pine needles around our shrubs. I'm sure our neighbors love us. Before and after photos??? We'll see.

Singing with Cameron

I'm busy catching up on some paperwork for Tim. Cameron is in here with me and he's watching some Noggin. They're singing some songs and leaving some blanks for the kiddos to fill in.

Zee: Row, Row, Row your...
Cam: BOAT!
Zee: Gently down the...
Cam: STREET!

He did pretty good. So I thought I'd try one myself.

Mommmy: One, two, buckle my...
Cam: SEATBELT!

That's my boy. Safety first!

15 Years of Us

The kids and I have been out of town for the past three days and Tim just left for the next 3 days. We got to spend a whole 22 1/2 hours together for our anniversary. So romantic. The big surprise was that Tim sent me flowers on Wednesday before we left. It was a HUGE shock. I made the mistake probably 10 years ago to say something like "flowers are pretty but they are such a waste of money". I've gotten flowers twice since then. He sent a bouquet of 15 flowers, 12 red, 1 pink (Abigail), 1 white and 1 yellow (the boys).

I was in such a funk last week I really needed that little pick-me-up. It was totally unexpected and so appreciated. This year has been hard. I know we would have done so much more to celebrate this milestone if not for his school. He feels bad that he has been less than attentive. But I try my best not to complain and I think I've done a really good job of resigning myself to being "pushed to the side" for 17 months. I knew what we were heading in to, I'm just ecstatic that we are so close to the end. He's done with August classes. Just 4 more months. We already received the Save-the-Date for the class graduation dinner in January.

Last weekend's trip for me and the kids helped a lot too. We took Grammy to Harkers Island to scout out some houses for sale. (On the drive down, we passed through New Bern and right past Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point. That's where Tim and I began our life together so it was fitting that we were in the area on our 15th anniversary weekend. It was just sad that he wasn't with us.) Grammy and Pappy are trying to decide if they might want to get a weekend place at the beach. I think if they do, it will end up being a full-time deal, forget about weekends only!! Thursday night we drove the 20 miles over to the historic Beaufort waterfront and ate the best seafood at the Net House. OMG only the best meal I've eaten in ages!!! We walked up to the waterfront and listened to a Jimmy Buffet type duo playing some live music. Kids all over climbing in the Live Oaks and dancing. I took some pictures but they are on my phone and I don't know how to get them off since I don't have email on my phone. Friday we looked at houses and then packed up a couple of beach bags and hopped on a flat-bottom skiff ferry at Calico Jack's to go over to Cape Lookout. The kids played with the marina dogs while we waited to board. No...that's not me in the bikini. The brown dogs are Chesapeake Bay retrievers. This little guy with Cameron is Jeff, he's 5 weeks old.

Cameron was not crazy about the 10 minute boat ride to Cape Lookout. It was fun but I can't blame a 2 year old. It was like the Log Ride, only at 40 miles an hour. He cried most of the ride over but he was so tuckered out on the ride back, he actually fell asleep.

Cape Lookout was amazing. We were on the inlet side (vs. the ocean-side) so there were virtually no waves. It was kind of like being at a lake. The water was so clear. The kids played without being knocked over by waves and their suits weren't packed with sand.

In the distance you can just barely see Shackelford Banks famous for the wild horses that live on the island. We're headed back next weekend for the Labor Day holiday with daddy and Pappy. Grammy found a house that she wants Pappy to see. It's a rental, so we are actually going to stay there and see how they like it. It's going to be like an HGTV episode of Sleep On It!!

Tim and I are planning to try to get out one night for dinner by ourselves so that will be our anniversary dinner. Can't wait!!

Happy Birthday Big Boy!!

Cooper turns 5 years old today! I remember my first contraction at 4:00 am that morning. I was sleeping on our old couch. That couch sunk down in the middle and it fit my round middle just right. He was born about 15 hours later. I used a CNM from my OB's office. Cooper was my most satisfying birth experience. I was calm and felt the most in control of what was going on. At about 5-6 cm I asked for an epidural. 20 minutes later when anesthesia got there, I felt like I had to push. I had gone to a 10 in that short amount of time and a couple of pushes later he was here.

Cooper is very laid back and "chill". Some people think the birth experience can have an impact on the child. Who knows. Let's see now...Abbie took forever to push out and she is a major slowpoke, we just discussed Cooper, and Cameron's delivery was out of control and crazy fast. Hmmm, pretty much spot on.

I've never read about the "Middle Child" syndrome. I know it must be hard to be you sometimes. Cameron takes so much of mommy's attention and Abbie is old enough to get to do all the fun things. I worry about whether you get your share of our attention. I took you to Lowe's last weekend and we used your kiddie wheelbarrow to carry our stuff. You were such a great helper that everyone noticed!! This fall you are going to play basketball at the Y. You are so excited about it.

Stupid Blogger...

I had a couple more paragraphs and I lost them because Blogger wouldn't save them. Let's see if I remember.

• Your favortie word is DAMAGE, as in tree damage after the storm the other night or car damage on any car that appears to have been in an accident.


• Your favorite color is red. Your favorite team is whichever team is red.


• You wanted a basketball goal and a skateboard for your birthday, which you got.


• You are so excited to go back to school and see your friends.


• Grandy and Aunt Cathy took you out for your birthday today. You had lunch at Chuck E. Cheese and then went to Toys R Us


• Sunday we went bowling with Pappy and Grammy and got your basketball goal.


• You want your room painted Camouflage. I'm going to get started when school starts.

Happy Birthday to my sweet boy. I can't believe you are already 5...

Wonderful Day

Today was a great day. I dragged us all to the pool. I'm sort of OVER the pool for the summer. My 2 best girlfriends were supposed to be there so I decided we should get the most out of our membership fee as possible over the last 2 weeks. You might have guessed that my friends didn't end up coming but it was such a glorious zero-cloud-low-humidity-cool-breeze day, that I didn't even mind getting stood up.

We stayed for 3 hours and Tim was home when we got back. Cameron took a nap after a little convincing. I'm just not ready to completely retire the naps. I'll let him play trains quietly in his room for at least one hour. Today he fell asleep on the floor...after he pulled all the wipes out of the container. When I got him up, the first thing he said was "wipees". Yes, son, I noticed.

We hopped in the car to get some dinner. I don't often enjoy taking all the kids in to a restaurant. Tim goes in to get the food and we eat in the van, a "van-nic" if you will. We rolled down the windows and listened to Radio Disney. It was a good time.

Then we actually splurged on marble slab ice cream even without a coupon! Tim and I went last week and they have the best Double Dark Chocolate ice cream. Cooper got Birthday Cake ice cream. It tasted freakishly like a grocery store bakery birthday cake. We ate out on the patio and the kids ran around in the grass. We went home and let them run it out some more.

Just a fun day that actually felt like we had our normal pre-MBA school life back. We had daddy back. Even if just for a few hours.

4 months and counting...ooh, I think I need a new ticker!

P.S.- I want to clarify the ticker I set up for Tim's countdown. I'm not delusional and expecting some big 6-figure Fortune 500 salary when he graduates. No, rather the dollar sign represents the enormous student loan we will have to figure out how to begin paying back WITHOUT benefit of that aforementioned 6-figure Fortune 500 salary!!

tired

I'm so tired these days. As much as I was looking forward to summer break, August is here and I'm ready for school to start. 2 weeks until Abbie's open house. I am so ready! It's impossible to keep anything cleaned up with all 3 kids here all the time. Plus, Cameron will not stay in his seat to eat. I find crumb trails all through the house. And mouthprints on the couch where he runs and does his faceplants to wipe his mouth. It's a good thing we have the cheap-o denim couch from Rooms to Go. It's been fantastically easy to wipe clean.

That's all I can muster for now.

All Of Us

Cooper drew a picture for me, from "All of us". Can you guess which one is me?? :)

Belly Flop

My little fishies

Lesson of the Day:

You are not allowed to open you eyes at the pool unless you are wearing goggles :)

Half way there...

Summer vacation is half over. Happy? Sad? Yes! The past few months have been a bit mind-numbing. We had a lot of family business issues that are finally coming to a resolution. I haven't blogged much because Tim really didn't want IT all "out there" and it really was all we were talking or thinking about since May. I'm so glad it's pretty much over. It finally feels like we're getting on with life.

We have had a great "lazy" summer, mostly hanging out at the pool. This is only our second summer joining a pool and we only went a handful of times last year. We joined a new pool this summer and it is really nice. This is week 2 of the group swimming lessons. $45 for 2 weeks of 45 minute classes. I think that's a real bargain. Abbie and Cooper have improved drastically.

I started Abbie with a few private lessons. 10 days ago the most she could/would do was dunk herself up to her forehead. She wouldn't even jump in the pool. Now she's trying to teach herself to dive off the diving board. I'm amazed. And so proud of her. She's a "scaredy-cat" type so we've had many talks recently about saying "I can't do it". I don't like hearing her say that. I urged her to say something more positive like "I'll try it" or "I think I can do it". Within a couple of days she had so much more confidence.

Cooper's class is just focusing on basics like getting their arms and legs to move at the same time! He's finally jumping in...sort of. He wants to jump off the diving board so bad. He's been up there, about 3/4 of the way to the end, probably 6 times. But ends up getting down. Pretty soon he'll just go for it. He's ready to go back to school. He says he misses his friends (2/3 of his class are my best friends' kids that we are the pool with every day) and he keeps asking when his next lunch bunch day is going to be.

Cameron likes to jump in when I catch him but he won't go in by himself. This pool has a small seperate baby pool but the "big" pool starts off at a 2 foot section that is roped off from the main pool. It is so much easier to keep an eye on everyone.

The rest of the summer should be pretty exciting too. I'm in the middle of working with our contractor on the plans for our new deck. If I wait a couple more weeks, I could maybe save on demo costs since the old one is just about ready to fall down. The problems have been trying to work around our septic tank and the fact that we have access to the deck from the kitchen and from our bedroom...on opposite ends of the house. Even if we don't use the access to the deck from our room we still have to have the deck there since it's the second story.

Cooper's 5th birthday is coming in 3 weeks. He wants to go to BounceU so we're going to BounceU and then go get pizza for dinner.

Oh yeah, then there's our 15th anniversary in 4 short weeks. I have nothing planned. I feel like we can't really plan much while Tim's still in school. Maybe we'll just skip this year and do 15 next year! Like I'm going to do with my birthdays from now on.

Tim only has 9 more weekend sessions of school left. That sounds better than 5 more months left. One day...hopefully next year we will be able to finally have a honeymoon. I feel like I say that a lot..."Maybe next year"..."hopefully soon".

Hopefully maybe next year really this time, finally :)

Happy Birthday "Baby" Girl!!

Well it had to be something big to get me back to the blog. What could be bigger than turning EIGHT! We just got home from day camp and so far the highlight of the day was hearing her birthday "shout-out" live on Radio Disney today. She was so excited. While I was talking to the producer I actually got choked up. My baby is eight years old. She is such a big girl now. I had no idea that eight was so grown up. There is nothing that remotely resembles a little kid anymore.

Abbie, I love you so much. My three babies...my heart, my soul, and my spirit. You are my SPIRIT. You are so much like me yet so much more self assured and indepentdent. I can't wait to see where life takes you.

A snapshot of your life on 7-2-2008:

• You finished second grade this year and are considered a "well-above average" student
• You love to read but hate to write
• You like math okay but the timed tests get you every time
• You love science and say that one day you want to invent a car that will run on the sun or wind (techie stuff like daddy)
• You are becoming quite a good artist (creative stuff like mommy)
• You love constellations
• You still can't ride you bike without training wheels
• You love swimming lessons
• Tomorrow your instructor is going to get you to jump off the diving board but you don't know that yet :)
• You love anything Pokemon related
• You are sort of "over" Hannah Montana
• Your favorite song is Bleeding Love by Leona Lewis

Happy Birthday baby girl. We'll have lots more fun and photos to share after Chuck E. Cheese tonight.

Owen Greene

I finally heard from the coordinator at Tim's school. Here is a link to the Greene family blog if you'd like to read about Owen and follow his progress. He does have neuroblastoma and just completed his 3rd round of chemo. Please add him and the Greene family to your prayers.

http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/owengreene


It's following the courageous stuggle of families like Owen's and Leslie's...their strength in the face of adversity is so incredibly inspirational. It humbles me and has put our recent family situation in perspective. We have so much to be thankful for. We're healthy our kids are healthy...the rest will work itself out.

Cameron's first beach trip

The Beach in Bullets...

• Tim decided (on Wednesday night) that he would be finished up with work and wanted to leave on Thursday instead of Friday
• THURSDAY:
• Spent all day packing like a fiend
• 1:30-left to hit the road and get Abbie from school
• 1:45-McDonald's drive thru
• 2:00-returned home to get my clothes that I left hanging on the doorknob, and Oh would you look at that, there's my bathroom/toiletry bag on the bed. Whew, close one.
• Arrived 5 hours later at Oak Island only to find the bridge next to the beach house closed so we had to drive back to the other end of the island and go the long way.
• FRIDAY:
• Awake to cell phone ringing at 7:30-ish I think. Forgot to tell mom we were leaving early. She can't find us and she wants to make sure we made it through the tornadoes that hit near our house!! Our neighborhood was spared but just a few miles away, one road of homes was devastated. Thank God we were safe.
• Stormy morning at the beach. Afternoon cleared and we headed out.
• SOOOO windy we did not even sit down. Cameron couldn't even stand up.
• SATURDAY:
• Beautiful day. Headed to the beach. Breezy but tolerable, compared to yesterday.
• Headed back to the house for late lunch, showers and naps.
• Drove 1 1/2 hours south to Myrtle Beach.
• Arrived at Myrtle Beach greeted by "Welcome to Bike Week". Harley Davidson motorcycle kind of bike week. The boys loved it. I was just glad that it wasn't the other bike week. The crotch-rocket, street-racer, laws-don't-apply-to-me bike week. Did I mention that SC is a Helmet-optional state?
• Had a great time at Broadway at the Beach . Not sure how this place relates at all to Broadway, however.
• 9:30- head back towards Oak Island.
• 10:15- Tim asks me where the beach house key went.
• 10:15:05-my heart sinks into my stomach and I begin to pray frivolously that Tim just accidentally left the key in the door.
• LONG DRIVE BACK TO THE ISLAND
• No key in the door. Rip the car apart. No key anywhere.
• 11:20- Call Bill. Leave message and ask if there is another key somewhere.
• Look for a hidden key
• 11:30- Try Bill again, find a key!!!
• 12:00- in bed!!!
• SUNDAY
• Wake to the house shaking from severe thunder and lightning storm. Retrieve beach umbrellas, towels and bathing suits from around the yard.
• Pack quickly to get the heck home.
• Get to the bridge to leave the island, forgot Grandma's diamond ring and other jewelry on the bathroom counter.
• Go back and get jewelry
• GET OFF THIS ISLAND!!!!!!!!

I'm Back...

I'm trying to get back in the blogging mood. I want to update on our "vacation". I hope to get to that this week. But for now I'm trying to get my calendar updated for the last 3 weeks of school. So many things to do...testing, parties, graduation, etc.

These are the weekly quotes on my calendar for the next 2 weeks:

"There are only two lasting bequests we can hope to give our children. One is roots; the other, wings." -Hodding Carter

"There is nothing in a caterpillar that tells you it's going to be a butterfly."
-Buckminster Fuller

Dare to dream...

Can it be? Are we actually going to take a vacation? We have plans to go to the beach for a long weekend for Mother's Day. I won't believe it until we are heading down the road. We need to get away so desperately.

The past 3 weeks have been such an ordeal. We have had some major family issues that finally came to a blow last weekend. We are mentally worn out. Tim has been working so hard at work and at school he can barely think straight. We need some family time to re-connect.

Oops, did I do thaaaat????

It's been a couple of weeks since I posted. I've been waiting/hoping for the past week that Tim could de-virus my pc. On the nights he's actually been home at a decent time, he's run scan after scan attemtpting to vanquish the virus I caught...to no avail. As soon as one is quarantined and deleted, another pops up. It's been a few days since he's been able to try again. Like dad said, "The cobbler's children...". At least I've been able to do a few things on the laptop. I managed to email myself a few things I needed to work on and thank goodness I can access my email on the web. I'm actually getting used to the laptop. Kind of likin' it. I'd like it even more if it was one of those cute colors like green or pink. I digress.

So, are you wondering how I got the virus. That's the worst part. I feel so silly saying it. Last Wednesday I got my hair cut, so on Monday and Tuesday I was surfin' for hair styles. Something got me on one of those websites. The good news is, I really like my hair :)

Baby Greene

I meant to ask Tim if he had heard anything more about Baby Greene. I'd like to know a name or even if it's a boy or girl. I did some quick research on cancer in infants. 50% of cancer in babies this young is Neuroblastoma. It sounds like this is possibly highly curable in babies despite the aggressive presentaion. And sometimes the tumors even spontaneously disappear. What a miracle that would be. Without sounding patronizing, if your baby has to be diagnosed with cancer this might be the one with the best outcomes. I am praying that since the Greene family has to be in this situation, that their baby has the form of cancer that has very high cure rates in these tiniest of patients. I pray that they find the best doctors and that their child responds to all the treatments and is quickly healed.

Mystery Money

The mystery of the money has been solved. Abbie brought home an award certificate from the art show. Her teacher told her the certificate was supposed to have been in the envelope, not a blank sheet of paper.



Abbie had her Outstanding student ceremony on Thursday. One student per grade is drawn at random to come to a pizza party with the principal. She got it!! She had the best week!!!

The Greene Family

Wesley Greene is a student in Tim's MBA class. We don't know him very well or know his family at all. They have been given devastaing news about their 6 month old baby. The baby had exploratory surgery and was found to have stage 4 cancer with tumors in the liver, spinal cord, bones and a mass behind the lungs. The doctors delivered chemotherapy directly through the heart and are going to see if a stem cell transplant is an option.

Please add this family to your prayers. Pray for these parents to have faith in God's plan. Pray for this tiny angel to be free from pain and fear.

Matisse Artiste

Which is the real masterpiece by Henri Matisse???

Well I guess Abbie holding her blue ribbon probably gave it away :)

I am so happy for her. I love the picture too. Honey, in case you are reading my blog in your spare time (ha-ha) I would like this framed for my office for Mother's Day.

p.s. -she might have won $25 for her first place showing. Today she had an unmarked envelope (other than her name) in her folder containing a mysterious blank sheet of paper folded around $25.00, probably unmarked bills. I will have to investigate....

Grateful Friday

I have been wanting to keep up with Grateful Friday posts but it's usually Saturday by the time I remember that Friday is over. I read an email this morning and it was absolutely just what I needed for Grateful Friday:

I AM THANKFUL:

• FOR THE WIFE WHO SAYS its HOT DOGS TONIGHT, BECAUSE SHE IS HOME WITH ME, AND NOT OUT WITH SOMEONE ELSE.
• FOR THE HUSBAND WHO IS ON THE SOFA BEING A COUCH POTATO (or downstairs working/studying),BECAUSE HE IS HOME WITH ME AND NOT OUT AT THE BARS.
• FOR THE TEENAGER (or 71/2 year old) WHO IS COMPLAINING ABOUT DOING DISHES BECAUSE IT MEANS SHE IS AT HOME, NOT ON THE STREETS.
• FOR THE TAXES I PAY BECAUSE IT MEANS I AM EMPLOYED .
• FOR THE MESS TO CLEAN AFTER A PARTY BECAUSE IT MEANS I HAVE BEEN SURROUNDED BY FRIENDS.
• FOR THE CLOTHES THAT FIT A LITTLE TOO SNUG BECAUSE IT MEANS I HAVE ENOUGH TO EAT.
• FOR MY SHADOW THAT WATCHES ME WORK BECAUSE IT MEANS I AM OUT IN THE SUNSHINE
• FOR A LAWN THAT NEEDS MOWING, WINDOWS THAT NEED CLEANING, AND GUTTERS THAT NEED FIXING BECAUSE IT MEANS I HAVE A HOME
• FOR ALL THE COMPLAINING I HEAR ABOUT THE GOVERNMENT BECAUSE IT MEANS
  WE HAVE FREEDOM OF SPEECH..
• FOR THE PARKING SPOT I FIND AT THE FAR END OF THE PARKING LOT BECAUSE IT MEANS I AM CAPABLE OF WALKING AND I HAVE BEEN B LESSED WITH TRANSPORTATION .
• FOR MY HUGE HEATING BILL BECAUSE IT MEANS I AM WARM.
• FOR THE LADY BEHIND ME IN CHURCH WHO SINGS OFF KEY BECAUSE IT MEANS I CAN HEAR.
• FOR THE PILE OF LAUNDRY AND IRONING BECAUSE IT MEANS I HAVE CLOTHES TO WEAR.
• FOR WEARINESS AND ACHING MUSCLES AT THE END OF THE DAY BECAUSE IT MEANS I HAVE BEEN CAPABLE OF WORKING HARD.
• FOR THE ALARM THAT GOES OFF IN THE EARLY MORNING HOURS BECAUSE IT MEANS I AM ALIVE.
• AND FINALLY, FOR TOO MUCH E-MAIL BECAUSE ? IT MEANS I HAVE FRIENDS WHO ARE THINKING OF ME.

I am going to be much more aware of the things I find myself complaining about and try to remember to show thanks for the little things. God has truly blessed our family and I have nothing to complain about.

Mommy Confession/Abbie's Great Week

Last week Abbie brought home a letter. It was a Congratulations for having her artwork selected to be in a local art show at the library. There were 2 tickets to attend the opening night and awards presentation.

This past Monday she came home and told me that she won First Place but we missed the ceremony. I grabbed the tickets to check the date and sure enough we missed it. I was heartbroken. I could not believe that we weren't there for her first big winning moment. She was okay with it but I wasn't. I don't even remember actually looking at the date, that's why I was so upset with myself. I didn't want her to think it wasn't an important accomplishment or that we weren't proud of her. Luckily the art will be on display for a few more weeks so we can go see it and get some pictures.

Then on Tuesday she was selected as the March Outstanding student for her class. There is a ceremony and the principal hands out certificates and a tee-shirts. And I already wrote down the date!!!!

Crazy Days...

I have a new job. I am the VP of Operations of Nitor Solutions. My husband is my boss. I told him I wanted my title to be Queen of All Things That Matter. Tim's business is taking off and he no longer has time to do the billing and other administrative tasks. I'm actually looking forward to it. It's nice to feel needed for something other than wiping a butt.

We are converting the dining room into a home office for me. On Saturday, we're driving 10 hours to Atlanta and back to go to the Ikea store there. I hope it's worth it. I've never actually been to one but they seem to have really nice stuff for the most reasonable prices. We're kind of looking forward to just getting away without the kids, too. We've barely had time to talk in the past couple of weeks.

I just found out that they are opening an Ikea in Charlotte next year. Doesn't help me now, though.

I have a "Bad Mommy" confession but it will have to wait. Lost is getting ready to start. It was nice to watch Ashton Kutcher...mmm...but I really missed the Enhanced Lost. I, for one, needed the refresher to remember what happened and to clue me in to things that had gone right over my head.

Duh...

I just noticed when I logged in tonight that I had 5 comments to review. I didn't even realize that I turned that on. I was starting to think that nobody loved me :( So a belated thanks for your comments. You like me, you really like me :)

1500

I hit the big 1500 today on my site counter! It was me!!


*Now, an hour and a half later it's up to almost 1530...I've been playing around on my blog so much today that all of those are me too :)

Thank You God

I must have thanked God 1000's of times already in the last half hour. My hands are a bit shaky now that the numbness is wearing off and I've had a chance to think about some of the 'what ifs'.


Tim was getting ready to leave the house around 11:20 to go study and was giving the kids kisses good-bye, sometimes he does sometimes he doesn't. Thank God today was a day that he did. He couldn't find Cameron. He wasn't in the playroom with Abbie and Cooper. Luckily, he found him right away but he had spotted him outside as he walked past the front door. Today is in the 40's and the wind is blowing so hard the windows are rattling. Cam had on just a t-shirt and pants, no shoes or socks.


Around 11:00 Tim had gone down to the garage to bring a bookshelf around and into the house through the front door. Cameron must have followed him down and slipped outside while I was answering the phone and getting to the front door to let Tim inside. Of course we then tended to the furniture.


Forward to 11:20 and Tim spots Cameron climbing the stairs to the front porch. He is clutching the sucker he got at the portrait studio and screaming "Mommy". He was out there this whole time. I'm so thankful for so many things at this point...

• that it's cold out and he didn't have on any shoes because that deterred him from wandering off or playing in the driveway which he probably would have done otherwise


• that today was a day that Tim took a few extra minutes to say Good-bye to the kids before he left to back out of the driveway.


• that he was actually leaving the house today or who knows how much longer Cam would have been out there

Things that I will do as a result of today:

• I need to put the knob cover back on the basement door


• keep that door closed at all times


• ****Always know where all my kids are any time I am going to get in my car


• Thank God for my beautiful, healthy children

Amen

Momnesia

I learned a new word on the Today show this morning:

• MOMNESIA: the mental fuzziness and memory lapses that set in shortly after childbirth.

The Today show doc said that it is only temporary, lasting about a year after said child's birth. I beg to differ since my affliction began approximately 8 years ago with no cure in sight.

I Googled Momnesia and found this blog of the same name. It's pretty cute. I espescially like this entry about Office Vocabulary. It's very "Office Space". Love that movie. Makes me kind of glad to be home takng care of my....

....hmmm, ummm, sorry, I forgot what I was gonna say :)

The Shortest Fairy Tale

My favorite email last week...

The Shortest Fairy Tale

Once upon a time, a guy asked a girl "Will you marry me?"

The girl said: 'NO!'

And the girl lived happily ever-after and went shopping, dancing, camping, drank martinis, always had a clean house, never had to cook, did whatever the hell she wanted, never argued, didn't get fat, traveled more, had many lovers, didn't save money, and had all the hot water to herself.

She went to the theatre, never watched sports, never wore friggin' lacy lingerie that crawled up her ass, had high self esteem, never cried or yelled, felt and looked fabulous in sweat pants and was pleasant all the time.

The End

Leslie's Journey

Please read this blog about Leslie's Journey. I found her blog through my cousin's blog. I don't know Leslie, nor does my cousin, but anyone who reads about her daily journey through cancer will feel as if she is their sister, daughter, or best friend.

Please add Leslie, Tyson, and TJ to your prayers. You can also go to OurPrayer.org to submit a prayer request for Leslie and her family. Please take a moment to visit their blog and let them know that you are praying for Leslie's complete recovery. And pray for God to give them the strength, both physical and spiritual, to get through the hard days ahead. Thanks-

24/7

I just realized that since Cameron is now officially 2, my kids ages are 2, 4, and 7. And they certainly do keep me busy 24/7 :)

Almost a month...

Wow it's been almost a month since my last post. No good reason, just too tired to do it in the evenings after getting the kids to bed. It's 2:30 right now so maybe I should try for the afternoon to blog.

My timeline says "Happy Birthday" for Cameron today but it was actually yesterday. I did try to blog yesterday because I thought it would seem like I was a really crappy mom not to even acknowledge my baby's 2nd birthday. But when I sat down to upload photos from the mini birthday we had recently with Grandy and Aunt Cathy...aarrggh!!! There were no photos on my camera. 125 photos were gone...disappeared. I tried not to scream. I convinced myself that I had already uploaded them and just put them in the wrong folder somewhere. NOPE!! Then I remembered that Tim took the kids to the office last week and needed the camera to take some pictures. HE DID IT!!!!! It's always his fault. NOPE! Sorry honey. He said he let Abbie take some pictures so I asked her about it. I was happy that she fessed up and did not try to lie about it at all, which she tends to do these days. She had taken some pictures of Cooper and wanted to erase them and accidently hit erase ALL. I had no idea she even knew how to do that. She's 7 1/2. I wanted to spank her but I don't spank anymore. So I just yelled and I later felt horrible about that too. I heard her in her room saying, "I hate myself!" I went in and we talked some more. I was still just so upset. There were so many pictures on there that I remember really liking. I was also upset with myself. I initially gave them the old digital because I did not want them to use my good camera. But Tim sent Abbie back upstairs for the new camera. I should have said no. I wanted to say no but I just gave it to her because Tim asked for it.

So the point of this is that I don't really have any birthday pictures of Cam to post. There were some really cute ones of the kids playing with the Thomas "train" that Aunt Cathy made from cardboard boxes. They LOVED it. They had the best time playing in the boxes. I'll have to try to round the kids up and see if I can re-create the moment, good luck! I took 2 or 3 pictures last night when we had some birthday cake. Here's the best one.



He was mad because I told him "No" when he reached for the candles. Wow, I know it was 7:00 and almost the end of a long day but I didn't realize his shirt was THAT filthy. Funny what you notice in a photo that you don't normally notice when it's right in front of you all day long. I'll have another chance for pictures when Grammy gets back from her 2 week trip to Key West. She sucks.

Abbie's home. Homework time. Good to be back!!

Stuff

• You can learn many things from children. How much patience you have, for instance. -Franklin P. Jones

It may not be Suppernanny approved, but I have resorted to "locking" Cameron in his room at bedtime. I put the doorknob cover on the inside when we put him to bed. We are done with the crib. There's no turning back now. I caught him straddling the rail on at least 3 occasions. We went through a couple weeks of "let's count how many times he gets out of bed". He was usually back in the hallway by the time I turned around and sat down in the family room. Sometimes I would just stand up and point and he'd go back in his room. Sometimes he's fight and scream the whole way. Sometimes I'd ignore him for a few minutes and he'd "sneak"farther and farther down the hall. This could, and often did, go on for over an hour. I felt bad for Cooper too, since they share a room and it would keep him up. So I finally decided it was time to take drastic measures and use the knob cover. We take it off when we go to bed. Now he might cry for a few minutes or play around in his room, then eventually he'll climb back up in bed and go to sleep.

What I can't figure out is why he doesn't do all that at naptime?? My theory is that he's plenty tired at naptime and just crashes. He can still sleep 3-4 hours sometimes and maybe he's not tired at bedtime. I'm going to try to get him up from his nap earlier. That should be fun. He is so cranky if you wake him up before he's ready.

The second grade is celebrating spirit week at school:

• Monday: Favorite sports team. GO DEACS!

• Tuesday: Favorite Hat Day.

Tomorrow is "Webkinz Wednesday", Thursday is pajama day, and Friday is school shirt day.

Quote of the Day

I haven't added any new quotes in awhile. This was forwarded to me today in an email. I've heard it before but it just seems so relevant for me these days that I thought it was worthy enough to make the cut:

• Inside every older woman, is a younger woman...wondering what the Hell happened? - Cora Harvey Armstrong

Manic Monday

Conversation with Abbie:

A: When did you meet Daddy?
M: In high school. I was 17.
A: Did you sit beside each other in your class?
M: No, daddy was a year behind me. Like if I was in 2nd grade then Daddy would be in 1st grade.
A: What?!?! Daddy got held back?!?!?!


Things Cameron can say: (even if you can't understand it):

• waffle, more waffle, cakie (pancake), more cakie, orange juice, more orange juice, cookie, more cookie, well you get the idea
• while pulling your finger, c'mon
• whenever he hears something beep he yells, READY, as in Dinner's Ready.
• he knows all his body parts
• when standing on top of something: JUMP (I swear one time he said "watch this")
• when he doesn't want to do or eat what you want him to: oh-ank-u (no thank you)
• rec, sec, GO!

I guess he can say more than I thought because I can think of lots more. He's starting to put words together into sentences. Sometimes he'll start to get upset about something and I'll say "talk to me, tell me what you want" and he'll look at me and try so hard, this long babble sentence will come out and then the last word will be something like "juice".

Things I meant to post a while ago:

First-A couple of weekends ago, I was startled awake around 7:00 am by our house alarm beeping that a door was opening. It was still pretty dark but I shoved Tim in front of me and we went to investigate. It wasn't the front door. Tim likes to leave the door to the downstairs open "for proper ventilation", whatever. Then I hear Cameron crying out "momma, momma". Panicking now! Tim went down the stairs and Cameron was just out in to the garage. I could not believe that he had gotten out of bed, opened his door, closed his door, ran down the hall, got downstairs and I didn't hear anything until he opened the garage door. I thought I was a pretty light sleeper. The transition to the big boy bed has not gone too well, so he's back in the crib for a few more months!

Next-I think this might have been the last year Abbie believes in Santa, boo-hoo. I almost blew it but she sort of believed me, at least for now. Abbie got a Giselle barbie from Santa. A week ago, on the phone, her friend Audrey asked me where it came from. Not really thinking, I said "The Disney Store". A bit later I hear Abbie, now on the phone, say "Nuh-uh, it was from Santa." I felt my heart sink. An hour or so passed and I thought it was forgotten, when Abbie came up and asked me if Santa was real:

M: Well of course, If you don't believe in him then he won't come.

A: So you and Daddy don't put the presents out under the tree?

M: I can't make any words come out so I just shake my head NO

A: (skeptically) O-kay.

Whew, that was close. I'm just not sure if it was good enough to last another whole year.

Better now

I'm better today after my ranting last night, so I thought I'd try to grab a couple minutes before Cameron gets out of bed again to jot down a few things that I'm grateful for today:

• snotty kisses
• BBQ potato chips
• a little boy that gave up his blankie because he's a big boy now
• my step-mom who started coming over once a week to help me keep my laundry caught up
• my friends and blog buddies that remind me that I'm not alone

Why...

I've been trying to find the opportunity to blog about a few things. I've even written a couple notes on my calender so I won't forget about them. I just can't seem to figure out when I'm supposed to have time for anything I want to do. I make time for the things I have to do. None of those things seem to be anything for myself, Why? I just wanted to get back to working out this week and Cameron got Croup so I couldn't go. I was going to go while Abbie was at brownies, then Tim got stuck at work. I'm having a pity party right now. When do I get to do something for me? Even when I try to, somebody screws it up, why? I was supposed to go to breakfast with some friends tomorrow morning. Cameron sounds some better but I need to just shove some tissue up his nose, it just runs continuously. Now Cooper has a bit of a cough.

Mom takes care of everybody, but who takes care of Mom? I can't really tell that this Wellbutrin (generic) is doing anything. I'm really disappointed. It's way too expensive to keep taking if it's not going to work. That's another thing that pisses me off. Tim takes 3 medicines that total $20 a month. I take 1 and it's $60, why? It's a 1 month supply but it's 60 pills, so I have to pay a double co-pay, WHY? The monthly rate for my health insurance premium is 50% more than Tim's and 3 times higher than the kids...WHY? The only time I go to the doctor is to have babies and that's over and done with! And that price doesn't even include a maternity rider. When do moms catch a break???