Sugar Cane | NaBloPoMo day 30

I scalded the milk, oil and sugar this morning, and then later added yeast, flour, and various other ingredients and created the most magnificent dough.  After letting it rise for a couple of hours I pulled the 6' long folding table out of the garage, scrubbed it down and set it up in the middle of my kitchen.  It's that time of year again! Time to make the cinnamon rolls!

The plan this evening was to roll out the dough and get a few pans made and ready to freeze, but my Kiddo had other ideas. He's been bugging me for a couple of weeks now for a new pillow. His current one is pretty lumpy and worn - we've had to wash it so much because of nose bleeds and allergies - the filling is shot. So tonight I made the trek to Target to get him a new pillow. I also picked up one of those allergy covers; it's supposed to be water proof and keep out all the allergen stuff. I put it on the new pillow and man, those things are noisy! But I thought I would give it a shot anyway and so I put the pillow case on over it and brought it to the kids' room, shortly after bed time.  Kiddo rejected it in less than a minute, coming out of his room to ask for his old pillow back. So I took off the allergy cover and let him try it again and a couple minutes later he said he still wanted his old pillow. I gave him the old one back - by this time the little one was complaining about his pillow too (copycat!) so I gave him the new one. I laid them both back down and left them to go to sleep. I went into the kitchen to prepare to roll out my dough.

Five minutes later, I hear bickering coming from their room so I went in to see what was going on. Kiddo was standing in front of Port's bed and he had taken the cover off the new pillow and put Port's pillow back on his bed. I asked him what he was doing and he said he wanted to put two pillows in one case. And he wanted the pillow back.

Too late, kid.

I told him no, he couldn't have it back and he couldn't put two pillows in one case. He asked about stacking two pillows on top of each other so I gave him Port's old pillow and he pitched a fit. I told him to go to sleep and left him in his room. He cried and cried - Hubby and I both went in there to tell him to calm down and go to sleep. About 10 minutes later he came out of his room, marched up to me in the kitchen with his little hands all balled up into fists and he told me that he was going to "fuss and cry all night long if I didn't give him that pillow back!!"

Hubby and I burst into laughter. 

We made him go back to bed - it's a good thing we both have a sense of humor. But 10 minutes later he was in there coughing pretty much non-stop. I brought him some water and when I walked in I discovered he was laying on the floor. I asked him why and he said he refused to sleep in his bed. *shakes head* Oh the DRAMA! I made him get in bed and once again I left. 

10 minutes later he was still coughing, so I brought him a cough drop. When I left his room, I noticed that I had stepped over a piece of paper on the floor in the hallway just in front of his door. Thinking it was some random drawing that had some how made it's way to the hallway, I picked it up to throw it away. But there was some writing on it...

"Dear Mom, 

Im stupid! Remember when I refused the pillow

Youll hate me by now.

<3 Kiddo Fry"

So, the teen years are going to be smooth sailing, right?

Until,

D :)

The Little Things | NaBloPoMo day 20

I took my monkeys on a date tonight.  It's been a lazy day; I had a headache for most of it and I just didn't feel like cooking tonight. Daddy was out on a photo shoot and so since it was just me and the boys, I thought we'd do something fun. They were so good and totally enjoyed the restaurant and all the fun decor; I was really surprised. And now I know I can go back there, get them a big bowl of chips, a stack of tortillas and some re-fried beans and they will be happy little campers.  Best of all, we can all eat on the cheap! Woot!

I am looking forward to this week and having Kiddo home from school. We'll have one of his friends hanging with us most of the week, so the boys will have a playmate to keep them occupied. Now I just have to think of a couple of well placed activities to keep them all from getting bored. I think it will be fun!

Until,
D :)

Someone Like You | NaBloPoMo Day 2

I think like most moms, am constantly wondering what my kids think of me.  Am I the mean mom, the nice mom, the fun mom or the ____ (fill in the blank).  Sometimes I think I am being the good mom, and my oldest will mutter something under his breath like "you just don't care for me" and I wonder what the heck gave him that idea. But I guess, in the eyes of a 7 year old, not allowing him to do something he wants to do, even if it's what's best for him, is the equivalent of "not caring". I am fairly certain Port thinks of me as the pushover mom; and perhaps I am just that more often than I care to admit. 

And while I am always wondering what they think of me, I don't put much time into how they see me. I mean, I see me like this.

Or at least that's how I imagine I look, even when my hair is in a bun and I have no makeup on. ;) Sadly, I don't always, nor often, look like I do in the above image. But a girl can dream of days like that, right?

I guess I am pretty lucky that Kiddo is a pretty good artist. Through his drawings, I sometimes get a glimpse of how he really sees me. 

Apparently I somewhat resemble Nanny from Muppet Babies cartoons. I am so tall I don't even fit on the paper! (and apparently I also wear my cat pajamas with jeans?? shh! Don't tell anyone!)

This next drawing, while sweet, is a bit disturbing...

What is up with my hair???

Oh well, at least I have a head in this one.

Until,
D

November Rain | NaBloPoMo day 1

Since it's been almost 2 months since my last post, I thought it might be a good idea to once again participate in NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month) again this year.  And luckily, since yesterday was Halloween, I am fresh and ready to go with some fun pictures to share with you. 

First, in case you are coming over from NaBloPoMo or are new to my little blog, that chick on the left is me. That is probably the newest images of me - I sort of have a thing for self portraits. However, this lovely capture was created by my wonderful friend, Kim, over at KimberlyTM Photography. Kim has, until now, mostly been a "thing" shooter (and mostly flowers), but she was interested in me giving her a little portrait photography lesson of sorts so we went out a couple of weeks ago and played. She also does hair, so I have to give her props for my fabulous cut and color. And yes, that is a blue streak on top and blue underneath. I LUV it!!

So, yesterday, the boys had a blast trick-or-treating in our friend's neighborhood (our hood pretty much sucks for ToTing) again this year.  We started the door to door trek just before dusk. 

I had some fun with my wide angle lens - his cute little cookie face looks even cuter all distorted. ;)

And of course, Kiddo had to get in on the wide angle lens action too. I can't believe he actually looked at the camera! That, my friends, is a rare thing. 

And on Friday last week we made our annual visit to the pumpkin patch for some pictures and a ridiculously expensive pumpkin. Here is Port with his shaggy hair, Molly the Cat who goes EVERYWHERE with him, and his little pumpkin.

And Kiddo with his pumpkin (notice he is NOT looking at the camera. *sigh*)

  And my sweet guys together. This was the reward for the yearly excursion. ;)

It feels good to be back to blogging again. Hopefully I can once again make it through the November challenge.

Until,
D

Something To Talk About

Today is the first day of school! Kiddo started first grade today and he was absolutely thrilled to be going back to his favorite place. He almost fell out of bed this morning when I woke him up - he jumped up so fast! He ate breakfast, brushed his teeth and got dressed in record time and then we had to sit around for 10 minutes waiting for the right time to go.

Lots of things have been happening this month - so much that the thought of blogging about them is overwhelming, which is why I haven't posted anything in a while. Basically, life as we knew it came to a halt and we are starting on a whole new journey of craziness and uncertainty. The last week of July, Hubby was finally laid off (we've known it was coming for about a year now, we just didn't know when), and in the same week our van broke down, Hubby had a health scare, some other medical stuff and he started working from home. Basically, July sucked. One day, I reminded Hubby to pick up some adhesive to re-attach a loose tile in the bathroom, and when he went to check on it, this happened. Yay.

But there were some good moments. Kiddo lost both front teeth. He looks and sounds adorable now. ;)

There was lots of gardening, despite the 105+ temps for the past 65+ days, my plants are still growing. Even this guy was HUGE.

Every few days, this is what I pull in from the garden. The tomatoes are gone now and the zucchini has been demolished by squash bugs, but the okra and peppers are still going strong. 

Pickled okra...need I say more?

Kiddo's birthday is coming up and so he had a very small, very awesome party last Saturday with just a couple of his best buddies. I made cupcakes.

Everything seemed to be looking up, but then on Sunday, our other car broke down.  So now we are down to a couple of road bikes and a dual-sport motorcycle with expired inspection. Hmm, I wonder if I can get 2 car seats strapped to that thing???

Thankfully we have amazing, wonderful, kind and generous neighbors that allowed me to borrow one of their cars so I could take Kiddo to school this morning. It is so nice to have angels so close! Kiddo did not want me to walk him in to his class, but after I complimented him on his shirt and how cool he looked he allowed me to go in. He walked in like he owned the room, marched straight to his locker like he had been to it a million times before, tossed his backpack in and greeted everyone in the room. He is a superstar! ;)

We are potty training Port right now, and that deserves a whole blog post to itself. It is quite the adventure.

Thanks for reading - I will try to update more often now.

Until.
D :)

That's Life

So let's see....where to start?

We are still alive and kicking - relatively speaking. I had thought our health problems were taking a turn for the better and then on last Wednesday, after t-ball practice, Kiddo started complaining of another ear ache. Things went from bad to worse very quickly and he was up all night with excruciating pain in his right ear. Sometime in the wee hours he said he felt a pop and a whoosh of fluid; the ear drum had blown and he found a bit of relief. I made an appointment for him for Thursday afternoon, and while he wasn't experiencing any pain in the left ear, the doctor said it looked really bad too. He actually physically cringed when he took a look in Kiddo's ear!

So, the doc referred us to an ENT.  3 massive double ear infections and 2 double ear drum perforations (the left ear blew later that day) in the past 3 months - something needs to be done. He said it could just be a resistant bacterial infection (the first infection was bacterial), or it could be allergy related, so we are trying yet another kind of antibiotic (which I am really having a hard time with) and I am pretty sure the ENT will recommend tubes. I truly hope it is something we can avoid.  The pediatrician wanted to try using some Flonase along with the antibiotic, but I informed him that Kiddo has a big problem with nosebleeds and so he decided to skip that step and go straight to the specialist. I am hoping I can see about getting the angry blood vessel in his nose cauterized and we can be rid of the nosebleeds for a while.

Kiddo's first t-ball game was last Saturday.  I was in Houston for a baby shower, so Hubby did the game with the boys.  Kiddo had a great time, and even hit 2 home runs!! He was so excited! Hubby said it was quite comical; if a kid made contact with the ball and hit it off the T, everyone would start running the bases and scrambling for the ball. I guess you can't expect much else from the first game with a bunch of 4-6 year olds!

Port had an awesome birthday - so awesome that he is still asking me every day for more presents and grandparents and birthday cake. He looks all over the house for boxes and bags, and whenever the Fed-Ex guy comes by with a print order, it takes me 10 minutes to get Port to understand that the box isn't for him. He cracks me up. He loved his "happy birthday", as he calls it. I can't believe he's really three.

Kiddo's ENT appointment will be some time next week. This week, however, I get to take Port for an EKG.  When he was a newborn, he failed his heart test in the hospital (it showed an abnormality).  I was supposed to schedule a follow up EKG for him at 6 months old, but I totally forgot. And now, I have been reminded by the pediatrician a couple of times and we are also about to lose our health insurance (Hubby and the kids; I haven't had it in years) so I decided I had better get it done while I can.

We are losing our insurance soon because Hubby is now officially a temporary employee with his company.  The buy-out is complete, and the remaining employees of the old company will be laid off as soon as the transition is final. yay. I am trying to stay positive and look at this as a good thing; I think the not knowing the exact end date is what keeps me up at night. I just don't know what to expect.

Pictures from recent events to come; right now I am swamped in client edits and so personal images are in the back of the line.

Some good lines from Kiddo the other day - I shared these elsewhere, but I wanted to put them here to keep:

Walking out of the school: "I wish I could lay in bed and poot all day."
Driving Home from Sonic: "Mumma, when I grow up I am only going to vote for you." Me: "You are?" Him: "Yeah. Don't you want to be president?"
Sitting at the Table: "I only like giving myself wedgies. I don't like giving them to anyone else, just to myself."

Until,
D :)

Ache

I know, I fell off the planet. The day of my last post, Kiddo came home from school with very bright, red cheeks.  By dinner time, he had developed a lacy rash on his arms.  Because I was going to be working on my birthday Saturday, we decided to go out that Friday night for my birthday dinner, and everything went really well. It was a nice night; normally I am hesitant to take Port out to restaurants because he is just at that age that he is very difficult to deal with. He doesn't like to sit still, he can get really loud and that, among other things, makes most meals out pretty unbearable for me. But anyway, I guess the birthday mojo was working for me and dinner was a very pleasant event. By the time we got home, Kiddo's rash had spread to his legs.

Thankfully it was only Fifth Disease, so he didn't have any other issues; he just looked funny. Within a couple of days it was gone. I shot a beautiful wedding with Allen on Saturday and then on Sunday had an amazing senior session in Lockhart and McKinney Falls State Park.  It was a fun but tiring weekend. On Monday, I had what I call a wedding hangover - after shooting weddings I am often very sore for the next few days. It didn't really hit me until Monday though; I guess it was because I had a long session on Sunday as well.

The week went pretty well and then on Friday I woke up feeling like I had been hit by a truck.  Every part of my body ached and I was in serious pain. At first, I thought maybe I had finally succumbed to the flu.  All these weeks of not getting what everyone else had finally caught up to me. But, as the day went on, I realized that if I didn't think about the pain, the rest of me felt fine. I had no other symptoms aside from that.  It was very strange - I felt like every joint in my body had severe arthritis, with the pain multiplied by 1000.  I ached in places I didn't even know could ache. My hands, feet, ankles and knees were the worst, but I ached in my arms and my neck, my collar bone and shoulder blades. I had a headache as well.

And then I remembered, when reading about Fifth Disease, a little blurb about how it is much worse in adults.  I remembered reading that adults suffering dealt with body aches and joint inflammation.  And I remembered that a sweet friend of mine and her husband were afflicted with the same thing after their children had Fifth Disease. It all became clear.

Fifth Disease is sort of like Chicken Pox in that, once you have had it, you are very unlikely to get it again. Apparently I had never had it as a child.

Thank your lucky stars if you did.

I had to stop Google-ing it after a while, because I started hitting all this information on complications that can result if you have an autoimmune disorder. I am so thankful that it didn't activate or irritate my lupus, because it could have been very scary.

But, it still was brutal.  Ibuprofen took the edge off, but for the most part it was just tons of unrelenting pain.  The third and fourth morning was by far the worst. Swelling had set in and I would wake with my hands and feet looking worse than they did when I was pregnant and had pre-eclampsia.  I couldn't get my rings off and things like typing and writing were very uncomfortable. I couldn't grip anything and was afraid I would drop anything I touched.

The second day just happened to be Saturday. I was scheduled to shoot a wedding in Dallas with a friend and fellow photographer. It was a full day event.

I have to say, I think that wedding saved me. The drive there and back (4+ hours each way in the car) was brutal. I popped ibuprofen every chance I could and just tried not to think about it. But once we were there, the adrenalin kicked in and I really didn't feel too bad for most of the day. The only time it really bothered me was when I tried to sit down and my knees just couldn't handle it. It was a blessing that I *had* to move all day.

Sunday was pretty painful, but thankfully I had the wonderful distraction of dropping the boys off with my inlaws for a few days! Woo hoo! Monday was pretty bad too, but as long as I stayed active the pain was manageable. The more I moved, the better I felt.

We were all supposed to go to Big Bend for spring break, but with all the pain I was in, and the wonderful addition of Kiddo getting an ear infection, we canceled our trip. Thankfully, Grammy and Happy volunteered to take the boys on Sunday for a few days for fun, so we, of course, let them.  The boys had a great time, but Kiddo's ear infection got worse and moved to both ears, and by the time we got the boys back on Wednesday he was running a fever and had burst an ear drum.  The other ear drum burst later that afternoon. I was starting to feel a lot better on Wednesday, thankfully.

So we got the kids back and then I was up all night with Kiddo and his poor ears. He was in a lot of pain. I took him in to the dr Thursday morning and sure enough he had perforated both ear drums.  The goo and big glops of gunk that were coming out of his ears was totally disgusting. He got another script for antibiotics and some drops for his ears and he began feeling better that day, thankfully.

The only bad part is, he can't hear a thing.

The only way he can really hear us is if we get right in his right ear and yell.

*sigh*

So that's where I've been. I am shooting another wedding tomorrow and have another senior session next weekend. I am a blissfully busy girl.

Now, if I could only get everyone healthy. ;)

Until,
D :)

Dance In My Dreams

This week started out completely sucktastic when, after a sleepless night, the boys woke us up at 5am by kicking the wall that adjoins our rooms. I finally gave in and got up at 6 and ended staying up because they were ready for breakfast. After dropping Kiddo off at school, I took my chances and took Port to Walmart to pick up some much needed items. After spying a Cars nightlight, Port screamed all throughout the store because I refused to buy it for him. Then he screamed all the way to the grocery store because I didn't get him one of the birds that was in the parking lot!! He fussed all through the grocery store and ended peeing all over me in the checkout lane. Then he cried all the way home because he was wet.

There just isn't enough coffee and chocolate to make up for that.

Kiddo came home that afternoon complaining of a headache and he was running a fever. Other than the headache he felt fine, but I kept him home from school on Tuesday just in case. Apparently there is some weird virus going around that only gives you a headache and a fever.  Tuesday he acted fine even though his temp went up and down a couple of times. Really the only indication that something was wrong was his red face and glassy eyes when the temperature rose.

He was a bit weepy though - a little more dramatic and cuddly than usual.  But at dinner last night he kind of freaked me out when out of nowhere he started crying. I asked him what was wrong and he cried out, "What am I gonna do if you die?!?"

{commence to melting into a puddle}

It took me quite a while to get him to calm down from that one. I don't know what possessed him to think of something like that. But I have to say it left me feeling uneasy.  When I picked him up from school today he was pouty and mopey and said he missed me and that he was homesick all day.  This boy LOVES school - I don't know what the heck is going on with him right now.

And of course, Port has been really snotty the past couple of days. Last night he woke up repeatedly screaming for a tissue. Poor guy.

The weekend was fabulous - I was able to get out and plant one of my gardens. I seeded for carrots, broccoli, brussel sprouts, onions, peas, lettuce, spinach and some early cukes and zucchini.  I put some seed in a sprouter last Friday for several kinds of peppers and tomatoes, and within 4 days the tomatoes sprouted! In a few weeks I will plant the other bed with the tomatoes and peppers, green beans, dill, basil and okra. I already have garlic growing there that I planted last fall. I can't WAIT until it's ready! I would really love to try some potatoes this year, but I am afraid I am out of room. Maybe in the fall I can try for a small crop.

I am convinced that Port thinks the only reason I have the garden beds is so that he can dig for worms. The boy LOVES finding worms and holding them in his hand. He asks me repeatedly every day to go out and find worms.  It was fine when I was going out there to turn the soil in the empty beds, but now I have one planted and am about to plant the other. I don't know what he's going to do when he can't go out there and dig anymore. He's gonna be MAD. 

Anyway, today I placed an order with Gardener's Supply Company for some fertilizer and some plant supports (thanks, Mom, for the gift card!) and then I received a catalog in the mail this afternoon and already have another 10+ things I want to add to my list. *sigh* If only I had some extra cash. Ah well.

I had the weirdest dream last night. I was back in college in the music building and a bunch of us were getting ready for a school prom-like dance.  Dr. Barrett and one of my high school guy friends was there helping out and a bunch of us girls were putting the finishing touches on hair and makeup.  I was trying to help out a few of my friends but then suddenly my left hand started tingling and itching. I looked down at it and little thin brown worms started coming out of my hand. They would come out really tiny, and then grow pretty big and long and I would drop them.  It didn't really bother me in the dream - I kept scratching my hand and shaking off the worms, but I couldn't help my friends like I wanted to. So we finally finished getting hair and makeup done and we jumped in a bus and headed over to the high school. When we got there, I realized I hadn't changed into my dress so I asked my high school friend to drive me back over to the college to get my dress. But the darn worms wouldn't stop coming out of my hand, so I couldn't communicate properly and he didn't understand what I needed.

For an hour after I got up this morning my left hand felt funny.

I don't know what it means, but I think I will lay off digging up worms for Port for a few days. ;-)

Until,
D :)

Upside Down

I couldn't be a nurse.

Sure, I can take care of my kids for a few days while they are sick. It's the mommy in me that allows me to do so, but even my "mommy-ness" has it's limits. After so long, all my empathy and understanding and gentleness and kindness just gets sucked dry.  I start feeling like a caged animal. I want to claw at my skin and run screaming out the door... My hat is tipped to the nurses and professional caretakers to the sick and elderly. I just couldn't do it.

I just wrote a big long post, and then realized it was almost the exact same thing I wrote last week. whoops.

So where I left off was on Friday.  Hubby was feeling better, but on Saturday he relapsed and was back in bed for 2 more days. He finally went back to work on Tuesday. Port thankfully started feeling better on Sunday, but it was at the peak of Kiddo feeling bad so it was pretty frustrating for him. He wanted to run around the house after being cooped up and immobile for most of about 4 days, and Kiddo could barely move. Port would cry and cry that he wanted Kiddo to run - it was truly pitiful.

Kiddo was still spiking a fever off and on all day Monday and Tuesday. On Wednesday he finally seemed to be heading back to his normal little self, but for some reason he had almost completely lost his hearing. He said his ears didn't hurt or feel full, but we had to yell right in his face for him to know what we were saying. I thought I was going to be able to send him back to school on Thursday, but then right before bed on Wednesday night he spiked a fever again. It shot up to 104.5.

I was at the end of my patience and sanity by that point. I had been dealing with 3 sick people for a week. I got very irritated with Kiddo - not one of my finer moments for sure. Thursday morning I was done and defeated, so I called the doctor. Turns out he has a massive double ear infection caused by a mycoplasma infection. The boy had walking pneumonia. The doctor said that is probably what all the boys had - most people get over it on their own and it presents itself in very much the same way the flu does.  And they are normally misdiagnosed or not diagnosed at all because it goes away in a week or so. But in Kiddo's case, the ears presented the infection and it was clear that was what he had. So, he got a big ol' dose of antibiotic and is starting to feel better. His hearing was a lot better yesterday, but today it seemed to be gone again. He went back to school on Friday (after missing 5 school days and being sick for a whole week!) but he was totally exhausted by the time I picked him up.

And Port was doing fine all week until I brought him over to my friend's house for a bit while I took in a meeting with a bride.  When I picked him up he was warm. Today his nose was running all day and this evening he had a lot of goop in his eyes. I cannot do this again!

Tonight Kiddo started talking about wanting to go to bed at about 6PM. That is not a good sign either.

Me? Well, so far I seem to have escaped it. I started running a fever last Friday. That day I went to the grocery store and bought a 2# bag of clementine oranges.  I finished off the bag on Saturday and bought another. I just kept eating oranges - every time I could think about it; every time I walked into the kitchen I peeled one. And I hate oranges. I am a huge fan of citrus, but I have never been able to eat oranges very often.  But I did; I ate them all day for days. Each one was like a shot of afrin - they would clear up my sinuses and they made me feel so much better.

And I never got sick. The fever stopped Friday night and I was spared this nasty thing that took down my whole family. So far, so good. I am still eating them, just not as often. I am kind of getting sick of them. In the last week I've consumed probably 7 pounds of the clementines. Ick.

I may be glowing orange by Monday.

Until,
D :)

Fever

Sick, sick, sick, sick, sick.

That's what we are over here at the Fry household.  Ugh.

I had a FANTASTIC time in San Antonio at the Imaging USA convention.  I will have to give you a recap soon when I can put two thoughts together. Right now I am fighting a fever and severe sinus pressure, so forgive me if this doesn't make a lick of sense.

So when I got back Tuesday night, the boys were in bed. When we got up the next morning, Port had a little barky cough for about an hour. I was a bit concerned, but Hubby said he hadn't noticed that either boy was feeling bad, but he did say that Port had fallen asleep several times on Tuesday in random places.

A couple of hours into Wednesday morning, Port started running a fever. This kid does not do fevers half way.  When he gets one, it comes on fast and strong and HOT. Before I knew it he went from fine to glassy eyed, teary and red.  I started the Tylenol, Ibuprofen rotation. And let me tell you, if I wasn't on time with it almost to the minute his temperature would shoot right back up immediately.  Without meds, he was running right at 105 degrees, with meds he cooled down to a balmy 102.  Poor guy, he was miserable.  It's funny though, even when feverish he still wanted to play; he just couldn't do much for very long.  He did alright that night but Thursday morning was running a very high fever once again.

Hubby started feeling bad Wednesday night. It started with him as more of an allergy type thing.  He had a hard time at work on Thursday. By the time he got home Thursday evening he was a walking zombie. He went straight to bed and spent most of the evening there.  Port was still running a super high fever - just before bed time it spiked again despite the meds and I ended up putting him in the tub for almost an hour to cool him down. After that he felt much better and even started running laps around the house.  Kiddo started complaining that night of an earache, so I loaded him up with some ibuprofen right before bed.

Hubby couldn't sleep at all and laid in bed moaning for a few hours before moving out to the couch. At about 3:30 AM, Kiddo got up to go to the bathroom and didn't make it.  Hubby was so out of it (I think he was running a super high fever) all he could do was wake me up and then go back to moaning on the couch.  I got Kiddo cleaned up, gave him a dose of Tylenol (because he was running a fever at that point) and put him to bed in the spare room and went back to bed. I decided right then that Kiddo wasn't going to school today, so when we got up finally it was well after 8.  Thank goodness for the extra sleep; I think we all needed it.

Port's fever was back down to low grade today without meds and he felt so much better. He got upset a few times because he wanted to run but Kiddo couldn't run with him. He just didn't understand it. Hubby spent most of the day in bed and is feeling much better now.

I started running a fever this afternoon, but I am doing my best to fight it. I really don't want to go through what Hubby went through.

Kiddo's fever began spiking this evening - poor guy, he could barely walk when I put him to bed. I didn't want him trying to navigate the ladder to the top bunk, so I laid out sleeping bags on the floor for both of the boys to sleep in.  Kiddo was so miserable; I could barely get him off the couch.  Hopefully tonight was the worst of it and he feels better in the morning. Hopefully everyone feels better before it hits me fully.

Because it will hit - and I don't know if I'll be able to power through this one.  Mommas should never get sick.

Until,
D

Old Things New

Gosh I can't believe it's been over a week since I blogged here.  I apologize for the absence.  Things have been pretty crazy around here, as usual, and I am finding I am so tired in the evenings that I can't really complete a thought on a blog.  I haven't been really feeling up to par either, so I am particularly tired most days.

Anyway, the excitement this week - Kiddo lost tooth number 3. It was pretty funny because his 2 adult teeth that are growing in take up more space than the 3 he lost, so when the tooth fell out I couldn't really tell where it came from!  Poor kid; I hope he is ok with having crooked teeth for the rest of his life.

It has been bitterly cold here (and by bitterly cold, I mean below 70). I am about done with it.  I don't mind staying in the house all day, but for some reason, when it's cold outside I get cabin fever much quicker than usual.  I guess when I do actually go outside, I need it to be sunny and warm.

This weekend I am headed to San Antonio for my first ever photography convention. I am all scheduled up with classes and workshops and I just can't even begin to express how excited I am. I will be away from the family for 3 1/2 days, which will be...well weird.  I mean, it will be great, and I know I will enjoy it immensely, but I will also miss my guys something awful. I don't know how parents deal with being away from their children for long periods of time - I don't think I could do it. 3 days seems like a lot to me, though I know it's really nothing.

So my goal is to take lots of pictures and some videos and make this thing super fun - so don't be surprised if you see a bunch of stuff from me on line for the next few days. Speaking of, here is a quick shot I took of a 4-wheeled "senior" that I found while I was out on a high school senior photo session last week.

The boys have been such a mess today.  Port has been acting out all day - to the point that I am ready to put him on the curb.  We hosted my father in law for two nights this week while he worked on some stuff on his property and I think all that excitement was just too much for both my little guys.  I am not sure Port has slept at all for two days.  Today came to a head with Kiddo when I had to completely separate him from his brother by making him stay in my room with the door closed. Every time they were within 5 feet of each other they were fighting over something. I kept pulling them apart and they kept seeking each other out; little magnets! As soon as Kiddo was hidden away, Port went looking for him - and they had just been at each other's throats minutes before! Some down time apart did Kiddo a bit of good, but Port was still a mess.  He ended up tantruming (I know, not really a word) to the point of needing a time out, twice.  During the second one he worked himself through it to the point of calming down, and when I brought him out of his room to apologize and get some cuddles, I picked him up, he laid his head on my shoulder and promptly fell asleep. Poor little dude.

He woke up just before dinner time and was still a mess. A fun bath and some butter cake with fluffy chocolate icing made it a little better though. ;-)

I took the above image of him when I had the great, great pleasure of grabbing a quick lunch with my high school prom date!  Mark happened to be in town on business and he invited me to lunch. It was so great to see him again - I think it's been about 10 years (was the last time at Mike's wedding??).  I think I only said a couple of stupid and/or embarrassing things, so overall I think it went well.  I wish we'd had more time to chat. Unfortunately I had to rush off after only an hour so I could be on time to pick Kiddo up from school.  Next time, I think we should get both our families together - with our 2 boys and Mark and Tanya's 3 girls together it should make for quite the interesting evening!

I would post a picture I took of Mark during lunch, but I was only able to snag one and his eyes were closed.  You lucked out this time, Mark, but I will get you next time. ;-) Thanks again for a great afternoon!

There is a ton more I could say but I really don't want this to be a brain dump post. I hope you all have a great weekend!

Until,
D :)

Release Me

Well I didn't want to end the year on my blog with that depressing post from last week. Things actually got worse from there. The tummy bug hit Port pretty hard. First there was a day of high fever (105 at the highest) and then there was a day of vomiting.  I was thrown-up on more times than I care to recall and ended up doing multiple loads of laundry throughout the day.  Port handled it really well, I have to say.  He didn't really cry much; you could tell it freaked him out a bit, but he always recovered quickly.

Thursday night we took a risk and took the boys to look at Christmas lights at a couple of local hot spots.   Thankfully we didn't have to get out of the car. Port was so distracted about the pretty lights that he did great. Of course, when we got home he threw up again a couple of times.

The next day was a day of horrible diapers and almost more messes than the vomiting caused.  By Friday night I was pleading to God for some relief!

Saturday, Christmas morning, was such a blessing. Port woke up excited and energetic and everyone else felt good too.  There was no more vomiting, no more bad diapers and everyone could eat!

 {mmm, homemade caramel apple cinnamon rolls!}

Yippee!! The boys were super excited about their gifts and I think Hubby got more play time out of the boys' toys than they did!

I am so thankful for a beautiful Christmas day! God is certainly good.  We were able to enjoy the morning; some enjoyed it a little too much!

We even made it to the inlaw's place for dinner.  I made my first ever brisket in the oven.  It turned out pretty good but it looked horrible! I am not sure how to make a brisket look pretty, but next time I attempt to cook one I will have to do a lot more research. 

So yes, Christmas was great! I would like to wipe the couple of weeks leading up to it from my memory (except for the time spent with family of course), but thankfully the big day was great.  The rest of this week was awesome too - we got to spend more time with our family and Hubby and I even got 2 1/2 days of kid free time while the boys stayed with the inlaws just a few miles up the road.  It was so nice to be able to have a couple of date nights! I got a ton of work done and slept in for 3 mornings.  Pure delight! By Thursday though, the silence was getting to be too much and I missed my boys terribly.  I had a family photo session that afternoon and left straight from the location to go pick up my boys. 

Port acted so strangely.  When I showed up, I walked up to the house and he was playing in the living room. He could see me through the door and he was all smiles.  The problem was, the door was locked and I couldn't get in (Grammy was in the back of the house and didn't know I had arrived).  My poor baby was twisting the door knob and trying with all his might to open the door and he couldn't do it. I walked around to the back of the house to try the back door and it was locked too. By the time I got back to the front, my baby was in tears. Grammy finally heard the commotion and unlocked the door. Port cried and cried and clung to me for dear life. It was as if he had repressed all the sadness of me leaving a few days before and finally it all came to the surface when I returned. He wouldn't let me out of his sight for the rest of the evening. When we got home, he didn't want to go to bed and ended up screaming and crying for about 45 minutes before passing out. He was so exhausted, but didn't want to sleep in his bed.

We had a pretty good day today, and we decided to stay home tonight and have our usual low key New Year Eve.  With so much that has happened in the last few weeks, I just really didn't feel up to another night out.  I cooked a bunch of snacky, finger foods for "dinner" and we all enjoyed a "feast" (as Kiddo called it) and the kids went to bed on time. Woot!

(for the record, jalapenos stuffed with cream cheese and blue cheese, wrapped with bacon and baked are DIVINE! YUM yum, yummy, yum, yum!)

ahem

So tomorrow begins the new year and I am so excited at all that is on the horizon. I am ready to let go of the bad things that happened this year and start out fresh and positive.  I have some great personal stuff coming up this year and also some really great business stuff too. I can't wait to see what happens with everything and of course, share it all with you.

I'll close this with a partial quote from a post on my facebook page (that I stole from my cousin - she got it from dailyword.com) ...

I release and let go, ready to make the most of this present moment.

As I reflect on the events of the past year, I recognize successes and failures, gains and losses. Each event has taught me something and made me wiser. Knowing this, I acknowledge and release the past year in gratitude.

In contemplation of the coming year, whether I am excited or apprehensive, I know the spirit of God will empower me to meet every situation with confidence and strength. With this in mind, I release any concerns I may have about the future.

Today I am ready to stand tall in this present moment. I appreciate the now, perfectly balanced between the blessings of the past and the promise of the future. This is the moment of power and action. I am ready!

He has made everything suitable for its time.--Ecclesiastes 3:11

Wishing you an amazing New Year full of great fun, happy family, yummy food, fond memories and overflowing prosperity! See you in 2011!

Until,
D :)

Hurt

The day started out bright and early, about 30 minutes before my alarm was to sound, when I pulled a sleepy Port on top of me in the bed. He was warm and snuggly and went right back to sleep, as did I.  It was only 30 minutes later that I discovered the reason he was so warm; he was wet.

Good morning!

About 30 minutes after dropping Kiddo off at school I received a call from the nurse. Kiddo had fallen in his classroom and landed head first on to the back of a chair.  The nurse (a substitute for the regular nurse) told me that they had 4 head injuries yesterday and that Kiddo's was way worse and she asked me to come pick him up. I was a little perplexed at why a bump on the head was enough to send him home, but the nurse knows best, right?

He wasn't bleeding, his pupils were not dilated and he had not thrown up.  But she wanted him to go home and rest.  When I walked into the nurse's office, my brave little guy began to cry.  But it wasn't because he was hurt or even because he looked like this...

It was because he didn't want to go home. He was worried about missing school. Poor guy.

On the way home though, he figure out that going home could be a good thing after all. He told me that when you feel bad you get to sit on the couch and watch tv all day.  And as soon as we got home he stripped off his school clothes and put his jammies back on.

I suppose he wanted to fit in with Port and I, who were still in our jammies.

Yes, I went to the school in my jammies.  Give me a break, I hadn't even had my first cup of coffee yet!

Anyway, he seems to be fine. He had a little headache for a while but some Tylenol took care of that.  The bump is bruising up nicely and will be the star of the show when we take our family portraits this weekend. Whee!

I took the boys to Sonic during our afternoon snack time and allowed Kiddo to get a root beer float. On the way there, Port was excitedly exclaiming "hooray ice cream!!" over and over.  When we pulled into the parking space to order, I turned around to find him sound asleep.  Whoops!  Kiddo and I still enjoyed our treat (cheddar peppers for me), and baby brother got his later when we got home.

Twice today Kiddo has asked me if we could go on a "money walk".  According to him, a money walk is when you go for a walk and look for money lying on the ground.  He said that is people need money they can just go on a money walk and pick up all the coins they need off the ground.

Maybe he hit his head harder than I thought...

Until,
D

The Show

Only 3 more days left of NaBloPoMo and maybe then I can get back to posting something a bit more interesting.  The good thing about this, I guess, is that is has me "writing" every day, even if it is only for 5 minutes just before midnight.

I had an amazing newborn session this morning! The baby boy was 15 days old and super sweet. He let us maneuver him every which way for a good hour and a half before he got hungry or even showed the slightest signs of annoyance. He didn't want to do every pose we tried, but he did most of them pretty well.

I was absolutely amazed at how well the boys played together for the rest of the afternoon today.  They got along so well! They spent a good part of the afternoon running in and out of the house, making up all these silly games.  Then Kiddo decided that they were going to put on a "show" for Hubby and I. So after dinner (in the pitch blackness of the back yard) Kiddo drug us out on the back porch and they did their performance. It was so cute - it mostly consisted of Kiddo running around and making things up while Port copied everything he did. It was pretty cute! Kiddo had set up a bunch of "obstacles" that he ran around and jumped on a few times, and then he played some sort of frisbee game then he ended the whole show with a song and dance number.  We were cracking up the whole time. When he finished the song, Port took over and started singing the theme song from the Cat in the Hat show on PBS. That was hilarious!

It's probably going to be a rough morning after we drop Kiddo off at school. Hopefully the readjustment to our normal schedule won't be too hard on the little guy.

Until,
D :)

Wake Me Up Inside

I thought yesterday's 4:30 wake up call was bad enough, but when the screaming started this morning at 2:30, I would have given anything for a couple more hours of sleep.  I tried to ignore him; I paced the floor for several minutes thinking he would just settle down and go back to sleep. But when I went back into the hallway for the 3rd or 4th time to listen, I noticed that not only was he crying hysterically, he was actually out of bed and at the door.

He never gets out of the bed unless it's really bad. 

So I opened the door and found my little sweet boy absolutely soaking wet from his neck to his feet.

Major wardrobe malfunction.

I don't know what happened with his diaper.  And I really don't know where all that pee came from, but he was a mess. And he was freezing. Poor guy.

I got him cleaned up and dry and warm and there was no where to put him because his bed was soaked too so we went to the couch.  He fell back to sleep relatively quickly, and I laid there most of the night under him, listening to the annoying whirring sound the dvd player was making. I had forgotten to turn it off when we went to bed.


Getting Kiddo to school this morning was trying; he was moving slow and I had no patience from the lack of sleep.  But we made it, and once back home I was thankful when Port wanted to play outside for most of the morning. I've been falling asleep at my desk all day. Everything was going as well as could be expected until I heard Port crying out on the back deck.  I walked out to find him standing on the step, with his pants and diaper halfway down his legs.  The fantastic part was that he had pooped first! Woo hoo!

Soooooo, since he was covered, I had to carefully carry him into the bathroom and just hose him down. He had made such a mess!

Seriously, this is not the week for my washer to go out on me. OMG the laundry!!!

This afternoon the boys were playing in the back yard and had a fight and Kiddo threw a big wooden steak at Port and hit him in the head. It left a nice goose egg and a little busted spot. Seriously, what is with that? Do you remember when he threw a rock at Port's head??

ugh

On a good note, I am leaving tomorrow for a weekend in Dallas to shoot a family session for one of my clients and a wedding with Allen.  Thankfully I am riding with him so I don't have to worry about driving. I am so excited to see my friend and her family and do the session for her. It should be a wonderful and fun weekend...if I can stay awake!

At least I won't be dealing with anymore potty accidents.  I hope.

Until,
D :)

Oh Lone Stranger

I had a really rough evening with the boys last night.  After such an early wake up that morning, I think we were all pretty worn out by dinner time. It was bath night, and per the unfortunate "usual" lately Kiddo highly protested taking a bath.  Port wasn't too eager either, which is weird for him. So they both whined and fussed and generally protested all the way to the bathroom. Then they whined and fussed while getting undressed. Then Port peed all over the bathroom floor while I was waiting for the tub to fill up. Joy. As if I hadn't had enough pee to clean up that morning.

So by the time they actually got in the bath, I was beyond frazzled.  It was all I could do to keep it together and my goal was for them to play in the tub a little bit while I relaxed.  But the whining and the fussing and the arguing just didn't stop. They weren't playing with each other, they just fought over the toys and everything else they could find.

At one point Kiddo accidentally tossed a tub toy out of the tub and he asked me to get it for him. When he asked, he forgot to say "please" and so as I was getting it for him I reminded him that he needed to say it. He just looked at me with a blank stare. Thinking he may not have heard me over Port's rendition of "Oh Lone Stranger" from the Veggie Tales, I repeated myself, "you need to say please".

Again a blank stare.

By then I had already handed it to him and so I said, "say thank you" and again he just stared at me.

This is sooooo not how I raised him.

And, being at the end of my rope already, I just snapped. I grabbed the toy out of his hand and tossed it in the trash. I told him that if he wasn't going to be nice and say please and thank you then he didn't deserve the toy.

He then told me he didn't want to live here anymore.

I offered to help him pack.

I know, I know, probably not the best way to go about it - but I was so done. I just didn't have my wits about me and I snapped. Of course he immediately "changed his mind" and took it all back, but I was determined at that point to teach him a lesson. I told him that he could forget about going to school and seeing his friends because since he was moving out of the house he would have to get a job so he could pay for a place to live.  That upset him even more so I dropped it and let him marinate on it for a little while.  Then when I was getting him out of the tub he sheepishly asked me if he had to go pack his stuff. I told him no, and then we had a nice long talk about the power of words.  How, when you say something to someone, even if it is just because you are angry or upset, and even if you take it back or apologize, the other person can forgive you but it still hurts.  I told him that words are one of his superpowers and that he needed to be very careful about what he says to people.  I reminded him how he felt when one of his friends told him she didn't want to play with him anymore. He immediately got upset at the memory - it was the perfect example because even though he and his friend have since made up and are playing together now, the memory of what she said still upsets him. I told him it was the same thing when he tells me he doesn't want to live in our home anymore. I told him that Daddy and I work really hard to provide a place for him to live and clothes to wear and toys to play with and food to eat.  I asked him how he thought it made us feel when he said something like that.

He seemed to understand it. So we went about the evening.

As the boys were getting ready for bed, I was putting the sheets back on the bunk beds. Kiddo kept getting underfoot and I was struggling with the sheets and the whole situation pushed me to the limit again. I snapped at him to move and as he did he busted out into another chorus of "Oh Lone Stranger".

That was it for me; I put them to bed 20 minutes early because I couldn't take it anymore.

Thankfully they didn't notice and went right to sleep.

Until,
D :)

Another Layer

On Friday the school sent all the Kindergarten kids home with a giant "turkey feather" cut out for them to decorate and bring back to the school this week. As usual, when Kiddo came home, he pulled everything out of his backpack and scattered it all about and I didn't find the "feather" until late Sunday night.  Then, in a swift stroke of pure genius on my part, I placed it in a stack of "important papers" {cough} on my desk and it was once again forgotten (more like buried...). Yesterday, after school, Kiddo asked me about it.

It took some digging, but I eventually found it. I had Kiddo read the instructions to me and he decided that he was going to decorate his "feather" by drawing something on it in marker. I thought it was a great idea - he is an amazing artist so I just *knew* he would come up with something awesome. He got down on the floor of the kitchen with a set of markers and went to work. I went back to my computer to finish up editing a family session I shot a couple of weeks ago.  Every now and then I was brought out of my zone by giggles and laughter coming from the kitchen, but I figured Kiddo was just drawing something funny.

Well, I was right. Sort of.

20 minutes later he came out of the kitchen with the feather, giggling wildly.  He was very proud of his creation and couldn't wait to show it to me.  I took one look and almost fell out of my chair.

Kiddo had drawn a bunch of the Veggie Tales characters - not unlike him as we are pretty Veggie Tales obsessed right now. The problem was...he drew them all, um, uh...

passing gas.

Oh yes! He is all boy, that one.

*sigh*

Each character had a lovely expression on their face and a cloud emerging from their back end with the word "pfffft" written inside. And as Kiddo roared with laughter and giggled so much he teared up a little, I frantically scoured my brain for an idea on how to fix this atrocity.

I came up with a plan. I cut up several pieces of colored construction paper into little geometrical shapes and instructed Kiddo to create a paper mosaic with the pieces; thereby completely covering up his "artwork". Thankfully he agreed and worked on it for a bit before bed. He will finish it up today after school.

Thank goodness for layers. ;)

Until,
D :)

Treat Me Right

We had a great Halloween! Despite it being on a Sunday, I think it worked out pretty well. Our pumpkins were designed by Kiddo this year.  He drew the faces he wanted and Hubby carved them for him.  They are very Veggie-Tales-esque. The one on the left is the spitting image of the Peas in those cartoons.

 

For the second year in a row we were invited to hang out with Julia and her family in their neighborhood.  They always do up Halloween in a big way - the majority of the houses on her street and on the surrounding streets go all out with decorations and candy, and several even set up barbecue pits and big screen TVs and make it a block party.  One of the neighbors sets up a little kid friendly haunted house in his garage every year, and it is the hit of the block!

We were so thankful to have a fun, safe place to go where the kids could hang out with their friend.  Kiddo and 2 of his buddies showed up in the exact same costume! We were overrun with Darth Vaders. lol!

 Kiddo's old Dash costume fit Port perfectly, so that was his "choice" for this year.  Poor guy, he may never get an original costume while his brother's old one still fit him. Thankfully, at this age, he doesn't care.

 There was a little light saber fighting between the forces of good and evil...

 Here is our whole crew setting out to trick-or-treat.  We had a pretty good sized group this year.

 One of Julia's neighbors dressed as Facebook! I loved her costume! Or should I say, I "like" her costume! ;)

Kiddo of course was an old pro at the trick-or-treating part, but it was quite humorous that at every house he would boldly announce that he was allergic to peanuts.  A couple of times I saw him pull back his bucket when someone tried to put a Snickers or other nut product in it.  While I am very proud of him for being verbal about it, it was a bit embarrassing that he was making such a big fuss about it. I kept telling him to just accept what he was given, say thank you, and then when we were done we would trade out with our friends that could have the peanut candy.  But he insisted on telling every single person that he couldn't have peanuts and he would ask for something that was peanut free. 

I have to say it made me proud.

Port was a little hesitant at first to go up to strangers and get the candy, but after a few houses he was doing great.  He would very cautiously approach and then just stand there in silence.  Then he would sometimes whisper a thank you before cautiously walking away.  At times I couldn't get him to let go of my hand to go up to the house.  I think next year will be a good one for him when he finally understands what it is all about.

We made the rounds and made it home before bedtime (yes!).  The boys were exhausted and completely zonked out before I even made it back to the living room after putting them to bed.

Sadly, Hubby stayed home to hand out candy to the kids that came by our house, and he only had about 4 visitors. Our was the only house on the street with the lights on, so not many even ventured up our street. So pitiful!  Now I am left with all this candy and I have no idea what to do with it. I certainly can't eat it all so I may just send it to work with Hubby. I know it will get eaten there.

Hope you all had a wonderful night of spooks and fun. Now it's time to bring on the official Holiday Season! I am pulling out the Christmas music! Woo hoo!!!

Until,
D :)

Apologies

I am getting into the rush of things now and the big clock that sits in the front of my head counting down to the end of the year is ticking quite loudly. My brain, most of the time, is now filled with not only the jukebox selection of the day (Apologies by Grace Potter and the Nocturnals, in case you were wondering; video at the end of this post if you care to listen) but a running list of all the things I need to do, purchase, create and avoid for the next 2 months. Because, quite frankly, October is over and in my world I am officially in the "holiday season".

May as well pull out the Christmas music. Mwahahaha!

Anyway, I realized this morning that November starts next week which means that my yearly NaBloPoMo quest begins.  So, you have something to look forward to - a post every day for the month of November! Woot!

Sorry.

Hopefully I can keep things interesting, but as you know, if you've been following my blog for more than a year, NaBloPoMo often forces me to talk about the daily mundane things just to get a post out. But I will try to do better this year.

I always try to do better. It doesn't always work.

So I've been meaning to blog about my cloth diaper experience in the past couple of months.  I have always been a big advocate of cloth diapering. I cloth diapered Kiddo until he potty trained. I loved using cloth, Kiddo was much more comfortable in them and we rarely had issues with diaper rash or anything else.  So with Port, I cloth diaper too.  I am able to use the same diapers I used on Kiddo (saving me TONS of money) and it works out pretty well.  Port is susceptible to diaper rash and for some reason the cloth doesn't help that (it actually has almost an opposite effect) so I have to change him the instant he gets wet or he will break out.  But now, he is so stubborn about being changed that it is really becoming a pain to get him to cooperate for a diaper change 4-6 times a day.  Teething brings out those wonderful, frequent, messy poops too and the cloth diapers...well they just aren't cutting it anymore.

Because he hates being changed so bad, he fights me and runs away and denies he needs one for as long as he possibly can. It has come to the point that, unless he was poopy, he is only getting changed about twice a day. And anyone that cloth diapers knows that you pretty much have to wash every 2, 3 days tops or the diapers get real ugly real quick.  But when we are only using 2-3 diapers a day (we've always used sposies at night), it doesn't make sense to wash every 2-3 days because there's not even enough to make a small load. But then I let the diapers go a little too long a couple of times and getting all that clean and sanitary again was disgusting and a headache to say the least.

Sooooooo, about 2 months ago I quit cloth diapering.

I feel pretty bad about it, but it is just easier at this point.

And I am kind of debating whether or not to go ahead and try to sell the diapers I have. They are still in great condition (especially the smaller ones), but I know that diapers have really come a long way since 6 years ago when I bought them.  But, on the very, very slim chance we have another baby some day, I don't really want to have to buy another set. Slim, slim, slim...

So - anyone out there interested in a barely used set of Medium sized Fuzzi Bunz or a slightly more loved and used set of Large Fuzzi Bunz? I wonder if I can even get anything for them at this point.  I also have a few other kinds of cloth diapers that are in even better condition because I used them even less. And a couple have never been used.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

In other news, I met up with my friend Jen and we took the boys to the pumpkin patch on Monday. I had to get those yearly pics in before all the pumpkins were gone. Of course, we chose by far the windiest day of the year to go. Thank goodness I don't have long haired little boys!

This first shot is a crop from one where Port is standing in front of Kiddo. I just stop and stare when I see this image. Kiddo looks so grown up! ugh!

 Is it really too much to ask for SOMEONE to look at me?? Really?? Hello?!? Look at Mommy!!!!

Look at Mommy, boys!

Seriously, look at me! Look at the camera! Look over here!! Boys!! Kiddo! Port! Look at Mommy! Where's Mommy?!? Hey!!!

I give up. 

Until,
D :)

Stuff Like That There

It's been a busy couple of weeks here again. Last Friday we took the boys to Kiddo's school Fall Festival.  They got to dress up in costumes and play games and ride rides.  Kiddo had a blast. I think Port didn't care for it much. He wasn't fussy, just not really amused. There wasn't a lot for him to do (that I felt comfortable with) except watch his brother run off and play with bigger kids.  

 
Kiddo however, jumped in the bouncy house (and now daily asks for us to get one for the back yard!) played put-put, bean bag toss, did some weird bumper tube thing and got in the larger-than-life Hamster ball. Have you seen these things??? Crazy!

 Yes, that is Hubby in the hamster ball above. Kiddo is in the one below. He didn't quite grasp how to make it roll...

The boys got to try cotton candy for the first time (a total hit of course). Somewhere around 7:45 we were standing in line for balloon animals and Port told me he wanted to go to bed! Poor guy, he was pooped.  He's never asked for bed before, and this time he was serious.  He wanted to go home, put on "jammas" and "have bed."  I felt pretty guilty for keeping him out so late - both kids' attitudes were pretty volatile the last half hour we were there.  Thankfully though the balloon swords made everything fun again and we made it home without a melt down.

On Sunday Kiddo lost his second tooth.  He was eating pizza for lunch and a few minutes after he had finished eating he came running up to me and said something was wrong.  He said his mouth felt funny. I looked in and sure enough, the tooth was gone. The look of horror on his face was hilarious and he grasped his throat with both hands and gasp as he said "I swallowed it!?!?!" I asked him if he had felt anything crunchy in the pizza and he said no.  He had been drinking something too so I went over to the table to look in his cup just to make sure it hadn't fallen out in there and that was when I spotted something sitting on the table. Right in the middle of everything was his sad little baby tooth! Somehow it fell out of his mouth and landed on the table and he didn't even realize it. I picked it up and held it out to him in my palm. He took one look and exclaimed,

"WHAT tha??"

Yeah, that got a laugh too. Hey, I'm just glad I didn't have to decide whether or not to dig through poo to find it. Shew! Dodged a bullet there!

Monday Kiddo came home and announced that he was chosen as Wildcat of the Week at his school.  They bestow the honor on kids who have displayed good behavior and respect. They get a special poster hung on the wall with pictures and fun facts about themselves, their name is said over the intercom and the parents are invited to come have lunch with them on Friday.  Kiddo was so excited.  He can't wait for our lunch. I am so proud of him!

Friday is also picture day. Joy. Of course, I am a tad annoyed at the whole school picture package thing. I know I can take better pictures of him if I need to (like to give to the grandparents and such), but I do want a school picture as well, just to have. All I want is one 8x10, but noooooooooo! You have to buy a package. It looks like the cheapest I can get away with and still get an 8x10 is about $26.00. Sheesh!

Money, money, money, money, money. It is always something. And I don't mind paying $25 bucks for a nice 8x10, but we all know the picture will be crap. lol

Well I should get back to editing and preparing my quarterly taxes. Joy.

Until,
D :)