Merry Christmas

Kids are playing with toys that daddy just helped open and assemble. Somebody already got shot in the face with a Nerf dart, and sombody already had a time-out. Everybody is taking turns on the "wiggle car". It's rainy and cold. And I can't wait for this year to be over.

My last post was the end of August. The last 4 months have been stressful in a variety of ways and I am believing right now that all that stress and turmoil has weakened me in every way possible. Emotionally, spiritually, physically, medically. I am sicker right now than I have been in at least 10 years. If I could have pushed Christmas back a week I certainly would have. I just want to go to bed and get up on January 4th when the kids go back to school.

One of my resolutions for 2010 is to get back to blogging. In addition to being my "scrapbook" of my kids, I think it helps me vent the aforementioned toxic situations and maybe they won't stew inside me and turn my emotional ills into physical illness.

Thank you to Lisa, who checked in on me a couple of times and I never responded even though I wholeheartedly meant to.

Merry Christmas and a Much Happier and Healthier New Year to us ALL :)

Grateful Friday

Yay! I actually remembered 'Grateful Friday' while it is still Friday! We had such a great week of "firsts" this week that I have a lot to be grateful for.

• For the 16 amazing years that Tim and I have been married and the 20 years we've been together.
• That Abigail is enjoying her new school and making lots of new friends. And after just 4 days, seems more mature and self-motivated.
• That Cooper is loving Kindergarten. His favorite part is getting to ride the bus home. (pictures to come soon)
• That the 3 carpools are running smoothly. One more to add to the mix on Monday.
• That mom's Alaska trip, the one that has been planned for over a year, is finally here!!!
• That Cameron was SO good at his first dentist visit. Laid back and opened his mouth so big that the hygienist even chuckled :)
• That I got my beach portraits back and they look so good

First Day of 4th grade

All packed up and ready to go! Abbie was really nervous about atarting a new school. At Open House last week she was adhered to my side, which is normally not her style. But I understand. All new school, all new friends. She does know one girl in her clas from basketball last fall and her basketball coach's son is in the other 4th grade class along with a friend from her Brownie troop. The classes will do many activities together and she'll get to know both teachers as they are going to try sometrhing new this year and switch off teaching science and math, i.e. Mrs. A will teach both classes math and Mrs. Campbell will teach both classes science.

As you can see, Abbie was all set with her Wake Forest backpack she picked out. We took it to the mall yesterday for monogramming. She picked out the font and the Hot Pink color. Itried to let her pick out her stuff this year. Although, she did not want to pick out her notebook and school supplies. I think they passed her inspection. I scored big points with the recycled pencils made from Chinese newspapers.

The pink bag has her 4 items that she was to bring as a "homework" assignment. They were: 1 item to describe her hobby: her astronomy book; 1 item to illustrate a goal she has for the year: a friendship bracelet she made to give to each new friend she makes; and 2 items to represent 2 character traits she possesses. This was a tough one. I realized that at this age they don't really understand the concept of character traits, much less how to represent them with a tangible object. So we went through a list and she picked "curious" and "adventurous". She took a toy cat to represent her sense of curiosity and a flashlight to represent to represent a sense of adventure.

I can't wait until she gets home so I can hear all about her day!!!

Happy Birthday Cooper-man!

My big boy...little man! You are 6 today and you are so super excited about it! You got to visit your kindergarten class yesterday and you are so ready to go to the Big Kid school on Wednesday. We still have to measure you and see how much you've grown since last year...

You chose McDonanld's for your birthday dinner. What could be better than a LEGO Happy Meal? You're current obsession is LEGOS. We probably have 1000's of LEGOs already.

You are my sweet boy. Always listening and following the rules. Unless, you see someone else doing "it". Then you will follow along, even if you know it's going to get you in trouble. I hope you grow out of that quickly!! At this age I would definately call you a "follower". Much more introverted and observant until you feel comfortable with the situation you are in. But at the same time not shy or clingy. Last night you were very curious about your new classroom and went exploring into all the different areas. I'm looking forward to seeing you blossom this year.

You turned in to a little fishy this summer at the pool. You'll venture up to about 3 1/2 feet but still get nervous about jumping into the deep end, going down, the slide or juming off the diving board. You'll get there...maybe next year.

You got 2 cavities this year, oops! You've also lost 2 baby teeth already and I love hearing your little toothless lisp.

I hate to see any of my babies cry, but when you cry my heart just rips in two. You don't use your tears to manipulate or to show anger. You are a sensitive soul and when you cry it's because you are devastated. You actually try hard NOT to cry but your little chin starts to quiver and your sky-blue eyes fill to the brim and then a huge tear will hit your cheek and I would do anything to stop the next tear from falling.

You are a bundle of 100% pure innocence. I'm going to try to keep you that way as long as I possibly can. I love you from the depths of my soul!

Reaching "low-gluten" status

Well, it's slow going on the gluten-free homefront. I am officially "low-gluten" if that counts. No bread or anything with breading. Still doing a lot of reading and internet shopping/browsing to find GF options. I am a granola-bar-breakfast kind of girl and I found these reallly yummy GF nut and fruit bars from Mrs. May's Naturals called Trio. I'm also experimenting with a bread machine thanks to my aunt Cathy :) Too bad I have screwed up both attempts so far. And at $4.00+ a loaf (boxed mix) I can't afford to make too many mistakes. I plan to mix up my own GF flour/baking mix once I get more comfortable with the whole process.

I'm also happy to know that many "mainstream" companies now clearly label their products as GF. All CHEX cereals are GF. So I will be making some CHEX crispie treats this week. I was disappointed to find out that Rice Crispies are sweetened with (barley) malt flavoring which is "glutified".

Tonight for dinner I made spaghetti. I had corn flour spaghetti pasta and we all ate the GF chicken meatballs. The pasta tasted completely the same to me. I didn't really care for the meatballs. I'd rather just make my own meatballs next time.

We had the freshly baked second loaf of bread. I forgot to put the water in until about 2 minutes after the cycle started. Not sure how much it hurt anything because it was nearly identical to the first screwed up batch that I forgot to put the eggs in.

Both loaves had the texture of cornbread, which isn't bad, I like cornbread. But not to try to make sandwiches out of. Not sure what I'm going to do once school starts. I wanted to just make the whole house GF for the sake of convenience but it seems like buying a loaf of bread for sandwiches may win out. Not sure yet.

Hold on, it's going to be a bumpy ride

I've done a lot of wondering, thinking, and reading over the past several weeks and I am quite certain that I have gluten intolerance on some level. The symptoms are extensive and vary dramatically in each person but I have some degree of all the top symptoms:

• fatigue/depression/lack of motivation
• "brain fog"
• skin rashes
• irregular bowel habits
• joint pain

At this point I have decided not to seek a diagnosis from a physician. There are dozens of tests that have to be done and most are not conclusive in and of themselves. It's the results together as a battery and the conclusion of an experienced doc that confirms. Unless you have a biopsy of your small intestine that is positive for Celiac, that's obvious.

Instead I have decided that our house will go Gluten-free and see how my body, and every body else too, reacts. I will most likely seek out a nutritionist to help teach me how to decode labels and ingredients. The books help but I'm so overwhelmed by all the info in them.

The good news is that on my last trip to Costco, I was able to find nearly a whole cart full of new G free choices, even hot dogs!!

I know I can and need to do this, and will get there eventually. It's just at this point it seems like an insurmountable obstacle to try to remove all wheat, barley, rye from our lives. No more blindly grabbing bread, cookies, crackers, pasta, spaghettios (even Annie's Naturals), pizza, etc. And there's so much more that you don't even think of: SAUCES! Thickening agents, Soy sauce, Ugh!

So much to learn! So much life to gain back!

Cameron's Big Day

He did it, he finally went #2 on the potty! I kind of guessed he had to go when I heard the whimpering and looked in the family room to find him kind of "galloping" in a circle and holding his rear end. He looked at me with his "freaked out" face and we high-tailed it to the potty. Usually he does the stiff-as-a-board thing when I try to put him on the potty but this time he was fine with it and I sat with him and sang to him and he relaxed but still had his "freaked out" eyes.

I told him I'd give him some M&M's for doing such a good job:

Cam: Can I have my bitamins now? In a bowl?
Mom: No, not a bowl. You can have the small cup (I use a small condiment cup).
Cam: Can it be a big small cup?


Also, last night he got a boo boo on his toe and was wailing, he's quite the drama king. For the life of me I didn't see anything so I said:

Mom: Point to it....Oh, that? (pointing out the knuckle wrinkle on his big toe)
Cam: Yeah, I gots a crack on my toe.
Mom: Baby, that's a wrinkle not a boo boo.
Cam: Well...........fix it.

If only I could make a wrinkle disappear instantly...I'd be blogging from my own tropical island right now!!

Pray for Kelly...

A friend of one of my best girlfriends is fighting breast cancer. Kelly is a spitfire of a woman who, on the handful of occasions I've had to hang out with her, lights up the room with her smile. She's one of those personalities that everyone is drawn to and wants to share space with. Just a few short weeks ago we were walking with Kelly's awesome Team Jet-On for the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure celebrating her year long battle with breast cancer. Everything was looking good and she seemed cautiously optimistic. But just this week, while on vacation at the beach with her husband and 3 young children, Kelly had a seizure that has now been attributed to metastatic brain cancer. She has already started radiation.

Please pray for Kelly and her family during this devastating time.

A big day!!

Today Cooper lost his first tooth! The best part...it just fell out, no drama required :) I was drying my hair when I heard a bunch of kiddie commotion. Tim was due home from his red-eye flight from Seattle so I thought it was excitement because Daddy was home. In walks Cooper with tooth in hand. He was just wiggling it and playing with it and it just came out without any blood or tears. I hope the rest are like this, too. Now, hopefully the Tooth Fairy will remember to come tonight ;)

This is my cousin's baby, Morgan Lyn. You know I had to Picnik her :)

Something's up I can't post my pictures. I keep getting internal error messages. I'll try later.

More fun with Picnik.com

My favorite effect is "gritty". Then I used "black and white" and faded some color back in. Then I added blue eye color and added a text box. This is dangerous. Good thing I have lots of empty frames that I need to fill up.

Happy Birthday Abbie

We had the most fun this year for your birthday. Nine years old, wow! We spent the week at the beach camping with friends and cooked on the grill. We bought you a cool beach-y birthday cake and mommy made homemade vanilla ice cream with a mix-in "bar". Tasted great even though it ended up being milkshakes instead :)

You are so grown up now, or at least you think you are. Such a bundle of contradictions, this is a tough age for us both. You will flat out lie right to my face but at least I can still usually tell. You are testing your limits and I'm trying to let you stretch them as far as I am comfortable with. I still want you to be my baby girl but we are beginning the move into those fun 'tween years and I don't want to screw those up for sure!

You love to read. Astronomy, stars, constellations still fascinate you. You love learning random facts and telling jokes. You still haven't learned to ride your bike and seem to have no desire to ever do it?? You really enjoyed basketball this year and are excited to continue next season.

Love you baby girl!!

What's been keeping me from the laundry...

We've been at Myrtle Beach at Pirateland campground with a group of close friends. There's so much to blog about, we had such a great time but I've been uploading all my photos and playing with them on this great website, Picnik.com. It's addictive so don't say I didn't warn you. I've done nearly nothing today but play with pictures. So far this is my favorite.

Grateful Friday Night

• for the best family night in a while.
• Dinner at Chipotle, our favorite...
• then to Wal-Mart where everybody got to pick out a toy after the kids won the "Kids vs. Daddy" Nerf Swordfight Showdown in the middle of the toy department. Mommy stayed a couple isles over letting my heart smile while supressing my urge to tell them to stop.
• Then off to Krispy Kreme for Hot Donuts NOW!! YUM! And found out that KK gives a free donut for each 'A' on a report card. We'll be heading back real soon with Abbie's straight 'A' card. Free donut for each of us! Way to go Ab!!

Cool...

I just noticed that today Cameron is 3 years, 3 months, 3weeks and 3 days old :)

Grateful Friday

This is for you Cindy Lou...;)

• That I cleared the air with my mom. RIP fancy Grandy, HELLOOOO retired Grandy.
  
• For my girlies and the nights we get to go out and laugh, and laugh, and laugh. They don't happen nearly often enough.
  
• For our upcoming beach trip that is finally within sight! And our family beach portrait that we will have made while we are there.
• S'mores with cinnamon graham crackers
  
• That the skies have finally cleared this week. I was getting in a gloomy funk.
  
• The pure little boy joy that is a remote control monster truck. And I'm talking about my husband. I'm glad he has found something that takes his mind off of work right now. He and Cooper have spent some real quality time together the past few weeks going to the hobby shop and race track park, just some good boy stuff.

The first thing I dislike about summer vacation

Having to go to the grocery store with 3 hungry kids in tow is one of life's nightmares. We stopped at the deli to get chicken tenders but they didn't last quite as long as I hoped they would. This was meant to be a quick in-n-out for milk, bread and breakfast items. A quick 15 minutes and back to the house. It was probably more like 30 minutes but seemed like an eternity of being glared at by old people getting their weekly supply of prune juice and bran flakes. Cooper and Abbie were okay but just seemed very "bouncy". Cameron only has 2 volumes: loud and louder. I was so happy to finally be in the checkout line that it took me a few seconds to hear the splashing on the floor from the lidless water bottle that 'not me' set in the cart. More glares from, I'm guessing, the single childless man in line behind me. He changed lines. I think next time I'd actually rather go to Wal-Mart on a Saturday and let Tim watch the kids.

Let's start with Abigail

Got bunches to catch up on so I'll start with Abbie. She'll be in 4th grade next year and our system goes through 5th in elementary school. So in 2 short years she'll be off to middle school. It's unfortunate that in our area of mostly an upper middle class population, our middle school is considered sub-par by many educational professionals as well as parents. I have been fretting over this for the past year or so wondering what we would do since I am not willing to sacrifice her education. Based on the school's standardized testing, Abbie did not qualify for the advanced classes. I admit I was bummed by the results. It just didn't gel with all the 'A's she was bringing home on her work. I even started considering home schooling her since Cameron will be starting kindergarten that year and I could devote my full attention to her.

About 3 weeks ago, I finally decided to schedule her to be independently evaluated by a professional educational testing provider. I'd gotten the number from a friend and heard from several moms that he was wonderful. I made the appointment for the day after the End of Grade testing was over. I figured she'd already be in test-taking mode and we'd have plenty of time to get results back before school was out.

Mr. Haire came to the house to do the testing. The boys and I stayed downstairs so we wouldn't distract her. It took about 2 hours and had an Aptitude/IQ portion and an Academic Achievment portion. Mr. Haire could assess the Aptitude portion immediately, the rest would take about 2 weeks. The final report would show her grade level ability, learning style, her innate strengths and areas needing improvement.

Her final results showed that she had actually placed in the 99th% of students her age. I was blown away. Her overall grade performance level was 7.7 meaning that she correctly answered questions that were directed towards 7-8th graders.

The testing showed that she is a hands-on visual learner. She needs to work on "word-attack" skills. That was a new one for me. Just means that she hasn't developed skills to help her figure out how to spell words that she does not know. She's a superb reader but has problems with phonetics, probably why she doesn't have good "word-attack" skills.

All of this means that she tested into the Highly Academically Gifted program. In a nutshell, she will have the opportunity to receive a private school level education in our public school system for free. We have already gone to the program's curriculum night and met the coordinators and teachers. Tim and I are absolutely thrilled. It is going to be very challenging, but at the same time an incredible opportunity. Although they have to follow the school system's guidelines, their teaching philosophy is so different. Students aren't memorizing material to pass tests, they will actually be interacting, performing, and becoming part of the learning process.

Abigail, I am so very proud to be your mom. Every day I am excited to see how you grow and to witness the person God has created you to be. This testing has changed how I feel about you. Of course it has not changed my love for you. Instead, it has allowed me more insight to the person you are. You are not me, you are not your dad, you are YOU! I need to let you be who you are and try not to make you who I want you to be. That's hard for a mom. Hard to draw the line between "protecting" and "controlling".

I'm excited for next year and all of your "next years". Love you.

Funny Boy

Today Cameron has been particularly vocal. Yes, even more than usual. And he cracks me up. Mostly in the delivery which, of course, will be lost here but I still want to remember these little episodes.

Today when I picked Cooper up from school he told me about his new friend, Peyton. I don't know Peyton yet Cooper was convinced he could describe him enough that eventually I would realize that yes, I do in fact know him. His final statement was, "You know, that kind of short boy that smiles and laughs all the time." To which Cameron replied, "It's ME????"


Cameron has been doing his #1 on the potty really well. He still hasn't mastered, or even tried, #2. I could tell it was coming soon so I left a pull-up on him today. After lunch I was sure I heard the tell-tale grunting noises coming from the playroom. A few minutes later Cooper came to tell me that Cameron was stinky and needed a new pull-up. Cameron quickly followed. With his arms out and hands waiving, he announced "No mommy, I doin' just fine!"

The kids just finished "cleaning up" the playroom before bed. They had on the Kids Bop CD. I just heard Cameron singing out loud, "BIG GIRLS DON'T CRY"

I have one more and Tim would probably die if he knew I was repeating this one. Over the weekend he took Cameron to the potty and he decided to go too while he was in there. Cameron was watching him and said, "Daddy, I got a little penis and you got a big fat penis."

I like to be Spanxed

I missed Grateful Friday last week but if I had posted it would have been:



I am grateful for my Spanx camisole. Love it. Please Spanx me again, I want some more!

WFU Hooding Ceremony

It has been a long journey, but tonight was the final destination. Although he officially graduated in December, tonight was the Hooding Ceremony for the Wake Forest Babcock Graduate School. It was a long night, and the kiddos were worn out by the time we got home, but they were so good during the 2 hour ceremony. We got them in bed by 9:45-ish. I made Tim some "half-caf" and he hopped in the car to drive to Charlotte and start his work week in a plane on his way to Los Angeles. No rest for the weary. Thank You to all our family who was there to support Tim on this special night and who are always there even on the absolutely crappy days too. We love you all.

Tim, I am so proud of you. Way back when...when you first voiced the desire to get your MBA, the only doubt I ever had was where we'd get the money to pay for it. Never once did I ever doubt that you could do it or that you would do it. It was one of those things that you wanted and you weren't going to stop until you got it. Well baby, now you got it. I love you so much!

WE DID IT !!

LOVE

Quotes of the Day

Cameron: I want dat, pwease.
Mommy: No.
Cameron: But I shay pwease.
Mommy: No.
Cameron: PWEASE!!!
Daddy: Cameron, No means NO.
Cameron: No, 'no' means YES.


We're headed for the coast this weekend and there is a restaurant we like to eat at called The Sanitary. Tonight at dinner Tim said, "Oh, and we have to go eat at The Sanitarium." I just about choked on my food. I feel like that's where we eat dinner every night!!

Grateful Friday Addendum

I am also grateful for:

• The experience of being around so many inspirational women at this morning's Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure. And my mom for watching the boys so Abbie and I could be there.
• The pickup-truck-load of free slate that I spotted on the way home from the race. And my dad and Cathy for helping me load and unload all of it, and still letting the boys come spend the night tonight (while Abbie is at a sleepover party)
• The great parents I have who would do anything for their kids and grandkids.
• That Tim was able to head home from Atlanta a day early...just in time for a kid-free date night.

Grateful Friday

I have been so busy this week since Tim is out of town on a project. Also seems like we have had each day scheduled to the max. Not on purpose, just turned out that way. I'm exhausted but while I drive around in the car I always think, "what wil I post on the next Grateful Friday entry"? It's easy to think of them while I'm driving, and hard to remember now that I'm typing.

• The innocence of childhood that makes a 3 year old ask "Mommy, you down dere?" and completely believe it when mommy says, "No, I'm not." And makes a 5 year old far more impressed with seeing a moped than a Lamborghini.
• My kids' health and that their allergy medicines have worked pretty well so far this season
• The success that Tim's business has had in the current economy
• My new shorter blonder bob, bye-bye Sara Palin comparisons
• Coffemate's Vanilla Chai Spice creamer
• The Clairsonic that I bought myself for Mother's Day
• That I managed to save up enough cash here and there to pay cash for the kids upcoming "beach" portraits with a professional photographer instead of using the credit card (especially since they just raised our rate from 4.75 adjustable to a flat rate 11.99)
• My upcoming kid-free overnight beach run to look at houses with Cathy.

Is it contagious or what??

Yesterday I read my cousin's post on Facebook about her daughter's sleep-peeing episode. It gave me a chuckle and was a cute story for the baby book but hopefully was a one-time thing.

This morning at breakfast Tim and I were talking about how both boys were up last night and came in our room. Cameron just climbed in bed with us, but when Cooper came in I took him back up to bed and tucked him in. Then, Tim tells me that while he was still up late working, around 12:30, he heard something in the kitchen. He found Abbie getting the leftover Mac-N-Cheese out of the fridge and getting a bowl. She told him she was hungry. He went ahead and warmed some up for her. Sometime while she was eating it must have been when she woke up. That is the first thing she actually remembers. I think it kind of freaked her out a little too. She asked if we could put the baby gate on her door. She's done this a couple of times over the past few years. We've been up when it happened those times (that we know of!) so we just guided her back to bed.

What to do??

Cameron fell asleep around 4:15, it is now 7:15 and about an hour or so before bedtime. Should I go get him up and he'll be whining and cranky for the next 2 hours before I let him go back to sleep OR do I just let him sleep...in his clothes and quite certainly dirty pull-ups...and have him crawling in our bed around 3:30 am??? What to do, What to do? Maybe I'll check FaceBook one more time before I decide :)

TGIF

Yay! Friday!! We started the morning at the CPA's office this morning and considering that it is tax season, we were actually on cloud 9 when we left. Let's just say that it is turning out to be pretty cool to own your own business...at least in our case. Thank God that back 12 years ago when Tim was trying to find something he liked to do and pick a major he chose the right thing. He loves what he does. And that makes it easier to deal with the long hours.

I'm also somewhat "glued" to the computer tonight because I'm eager to hear from my cousin about the birth of their 4th child today. Three girls and now a.......see, don't you want to know too??? The baby has arrived that's all we know for now, hopefully mom and baby and family are all spending some snuggle time together.

I'm getting a tad more addicted to Facebook too. I feel compelled to check it whenever I check my email since you get those email notifications. I still feel like I don't know what I'm doing. The good news is that right after I signed up, they changed the layout of things and nobody knows what they're doing so I'm not the only one.

Grateful Friday

• Today I am so thankful for my 3 babies. They are good-hearted kids (even when they are being naughty).

• I am so grateful that my kids are happy and healthy and that they keep me laughing during the times when I feel less than joyful.
  
• I love it when they all try to sit on me at the same time, which is getting harder these days :(

• For Cameron because he calls Hershey kisses "hot air balloons" and M&M's "bit-a-mins". This week he decided that there are times when he doesn't like pull-ups anymore and wants to wear his Thomas underpants. Today was his first day at school with his undies and he went on the potty 3 times. Then it was another hour before we got home and no accidents until just a second ago. Good Job buddy!




• For Cooper because he is just the most innocent thing! He continued saying "Thank You" for his Christmas presents well into February. He also says things like, "Today is a beautiful day!" and after playing tug-o-war today, "I pulled with all of my might!" He also helps me get dressed ;)...I was getting my bra on via the hook-then-spin method and I was only on the "hook" step. Cooper walked in on me and said, "Uh, mom, I think you have that on backwards."





• For Abigail because even though she pretends to be annoyed by her little brothers, she loves them so much. Last weekend when we went to a hockey game they got practice pucks from some of the players. Cooper dropped his under the bleachers and by the time we got down there to get it, it had disappeared. Abbie used the rest of her allowance to buy Cooper a new puck at the souvenir stand. When they watched a movie last night and Cooper was a bit scared, she sat next to him on the couch with her arms around him until the movie was over.

My 80's hot flash...I mean flash back

I was doing some forced "spring cleaning". Getting the master cleaned out so Abbie can officially take up her new residence. This kind of cleaning is dangerous for me because I can lose hours going through boxes of random stuff. These boxes were in the basement, then went to our room during the basement reno, now I don't really want them all back downstairs. And we don't really have anywhere to store them anymore, so I had some fun reminiscing. There were many laugh-inducing photos but this is by far my favorite:

OH, to be 16 again!! Something about this photo just makes me want to say "Oh...My...Gawd, Becky! I...like...big...hair and I cannot lie!"

What???

I realize that product warning labels are there for a reason. Some lame-O moron actually left the plastic wrap on the pizza and put it in the oven that wasn't even turned on.

TMI warning: If you don't want to know about my urinary tract health, stop reading now!!

I have myself a bit of a UTI. So today at Wal-Mart I stocked up on sugar-free cranberry juice and got something called AZO Standard for the pain. After I took the AZO, I noticed the psychedelic shades of my reddish-yellow-orange pee. I double-checked the directions just to make sure that was SUPPOSED to happen...whew! Yes, that's normal. But...I also read the warnings this time. Users are warned that staining can occur, and that this medication can interfere with some kids of medical test results. All normal warnings. This is the one that concerned me:

"This product may stain soft contact lenses"

I guess as long as you're not one of the people that pees on their contacts to moisten them, you've got nothing to worry about.

Snow Day(s)

Today the kids were out of school again. We got 5 or so inches of snow yesterday. It's the first decent snow we've gotten in awhile.

I call this photo "Snow Devil".

Cooper was getting buried like he was at the beach or something!

I wish I had a funny "avalanche" video to go along with this photo but no :( Is that mean?

We all had fun, Tim too. He worked from home. But it is time to go back to school tomorrow. I bet it will be 2 hours late. Who knows. AHA, right after I hit "post" I got a school system email...2 hour delay!

Cam's Bday

Facebook

I've succumbed to the peer pressure and started "FBing". It makes Blogger look like pre-school. It is a pain, I think. I know I'm a newbie, but it makes my eyes hurt. It has been fun looking at pictures of all my old high school friends, but other than that, I can't really seem to get in to it. I did just use You Tube and FB to send a video clip to several people. I had tried to email it and it failed. So there is at least 1 useful feature. I enjoy blogging and lately find it hard to carve out time for it. I am really going to have trouble finding time to tell everybody that "I have a runny nose right now" or "I'm watching the rain drops on the windowpane". Am I too harsh? I just don't get it...at least that part anyway.

Happy Birthday Cameron!

It was actually yesterday...oops...oh well! We didn't really do anything yesterday. We had family and close friends over last Saturday for his official party. I do have pictures but I got a new camera and I haven't loaded the software on the computer yet. I've got to find the box. The house is a wreck. I feel like we're moving to another house instead of just moving our bedroom downstairs. Anyways this is supposed to be about my BABY turning 3!!

Cameron...It was such a big deal just trying to figure out if we even wanted to try for baby number 3. Now I can't imagine what we would do without you. You are so full of life and mischief. Always getting into something. This week you started telling me, "Mommy, I not doin' nuffin'.", usually with your hands behind your back. You almost always have some kind of boo-boo, usually on your head.

Recently, during the basement construction, you snuck out of the house. You put on your shoes and went outside to ride your bike. I was fixing lunch and I thought you were in the playroom so I didn't realize you were gone until you poked your head through the door at the top of the stairs and announced "Hi mom!". At least you were wearing your helmet! UGH! We are so in for it when you get older. I'm so glad we got the alarm fixed.

You love to color. In fact, other than eating, it's just about the only time you will sit still. You also love puzzles and pre-school. Instead of crying when I drop you off, you cry when I come to pick you up.

You're our only "lefty". With both Tim and I being left-handed we've been waiting to see if any of our kids would be...and it appears to be you! Sometimes you'll use your right hand, but mostly your left. I hope you are left-handed.

You're not potty trained at all! Probably mainly my fault but you have NO interest whatsoever and I don't want to push too hard. You fight me sometimes when I try to get you to go so...I don't know. It's really not high on my priority list right now. You're showing a few signs, so I think you might be getting more into it. You do want to wear the new Thomas undies I got you so maybe soon.

I love you Cam-Cam. You're my crazy-head. Your silly faces make me laugh every day even if I don't want to.

I love you and I'm so glad we decided to go for number 3!!!

My kids...as defined in terms of coloring

Abbie: Outside the lines

Cooper: Inside the lines

Cameron: What? There's lines?

Grateful Friday

I figured a Grateful Friday would be a good day to return. I think I was so overwhelmed by all the things that I wanted to post about but missed. I couldn't figure out where to start, so Ill just start with today. I'm grateful for:

• The sunny day that gave me the motivation to get all my errands done
• My mom
• That the grocery store had the Thomas cake decorations in stock
• That the friends and family that are coming over tomorrow won't really care that I'm blogging instead of cleaning my house
• That I have friends and family that live close enough for me to see every day if I want to
• That right now all kiddos are off medication and healthy
• That our basement is officially finished as of today (except for the caulking I have to do)
• That I, quite unexpectedly, LOVE to caulk! I am the Queen of Caulk (don't say that out loud)