Picture Day

I thought I would bore ya'll with some pictures I have taken lately.


He took a bad tumble off his bike last night on our nightly walk/bike ride. It was mostly my fault because I was chasing him and he was really going pretty fast while giggling and before I knew it, he was down with his bike on top of him. He was not a happy camper and it scraped up his nose and forehead and hands pretty good. But he is tough and got back on the bike and rode home.

The Jack Room. I already have plans to upgrade his bed to a twin size by his fourth birthday. He will be getting Laura's bedroom furniture and Laura will be getting a new full size bed. I am afraid to say that he is close to outgrowing the toddler bed that he has been in for the last year and a half!

Love the little coat hanger with the baseball jacket I just bought him. I can't wait until it gets cold enough for him to wear that. Of course it won't happen until oh November or December around here.

The shelves full of trucks. Actually the big fire truck is missing from the bottom shelf. It was in my family room at the time of this picture. But this is the shelf that Jim built and I painted.

Playing hide and seek. His hiding spots are getting better these days. Here he is hiding in the hamper in the bathroom. Before, his hiding spot would be 5 ft away from me and he would yell "try to find me". Then I would have to go through the exaggerated process of looking for him in plain sight. He's getting sneakier.

And because we were fooling around with the camera this morning, I snapped this one of the two of us.

Room Clean Out

It took me four hours this morning to clean out Jack's room. I did it in a big way. I took everything out of his closet and bagged up about half of the clothes that no longer fit. Then I organized it all over again with his "school" clothes front and center, then the t-shirts altogether, and the semi-dressy shirts altogether.

Then I tackled his dresser drawers and again bagged about 5 pairs of perfectly good pants but are a couple inches too short. Now his drawers are all organized with the pants all folded in one drawer and all his jammies folded in another drawer and the third drawer has misc stuff.

Then it was time to tackle the BIG project. THE TOYS! I cleaned out the toy chest and again threw out a ton of crappy toys. I am proud to say that all the puzzle pieces have been found and all the books are in one spot, and all the trucks are up on the shelves and all the trains are put away.

I know I know, it will only last five minutes, but at least it was good for five minutes!

I may just take some pictures and post them later today. But right now the boy and I are off to Barnes & Noble for storytime reading of Curious George. Fun times.

What a Week ... Phew

What a week we have had here at the Jackaroo World. Let me just try to numerate what was going on this week.

1. I was trying to get over the cold/crud from the weekend.

2. Trying to figure out Jack's school issues and finally settling on the school close to home. Getting him all enrolled and settled there. Calling his old school to notify him that he wouldn't be going back there. I didn't go into any reasons. I just didn't want to deal with it all at the time.

3. Started to take care of baby Andrew this week. Trying to figure out how to deal with a newborn again and with a three-year-old at the same time. Bottles everywhere in the house! And 10 diaper changes a day! Egads!

4. Trying to outfit Jack for the new school in the proper "uniform" colors (blue, white, khaki). And then getting a notice the second day that he is supposed to wear a red shirt the next day because of some picture they are doing for the yearbook (I guess all the kids were in the shape of a star or something to that effect). I had to make an 8:30 pm run to the store (after a 12 hour day with baby Andrew) to go get the required red shirt since the only red shirt he owned was a t-shirt with dinosaurs (big no-no).

5. Having a three-hour root canal performed yesterday. Fun times there.

Thankfully Jim was a huge help to me this week taking Jack to school every morning and dealing with him yesterday after my root canal. Thanks Honey.

But I did have a good ending to the week when Jack came home from school with his backpack full of goodies he did over the week. And I have to brag that my son got a smiley face sticker today because he was a good boy at school. Made my day right there. But now if you will excuse me, I am gonna go crash for the night while the boy watches Curious George. Night Night.

Root Canal Aftermath

Well I had the dreaded root canal yesterday. I do have to say that it wasn't as bad as I had imagined it to be. I must have gotten some pretty good numbing stuff because I really did not feel anything much other than a lot of pressure. However that drill sound is enough to drive you crazy and think you are feeling something when you really are not. Ewwww. I didn't think that it was going to take over three hours to complete and let me tell you three hours in a dentist chair is really not comfortable at all. My back hurt worse than my tooth.

So now I have a new temporary crown on the remaining stub of my tooth. It is my first crown and it does feel weird. Oh and this morning when I tried to bite into an english muffin was not fun at all. In fact, it hurt so bad, my eyes started to water up and felt faint for a second. Yeah not going to be chewing much today, I can tell you that much. I decided yogurt was a better breakfast after all. But all in all not that bad of an experience. It isn't something that I would want to do everyday, but not the pain torture that I thought it was going to be. It was not anywhere near as bad as when I was 16 and had my wisdom teeth dug out. Now that pretty much ruined my 16th summer!

Things I Have Learned

While taking care of baby Andrew for the last two days, I have learned a few things.

1. Dealing with a baby on a good night of sleep is immensely better than on two hours of sleep.

2. I know that I am done done done having any more kids of my own. Just the thought of doing all that over again, makes me ill. I am too old!

3. All babies are different in the own little way. While Jack did not like car rides and usually would scream at the top of his lungs making me want to crash the car, Andrew is the total opposite. Andrew will cry when the car is NOT moving. It makes red lights seem really long.

4. And finally, it doesn't matter if you have had a good nights sleep, 12 hours of dealing with a 6-week-old is hard work. I had him yesterday from 7:30 am to almost 8:00 pm and it was one very long day, especially considering he fought sleep from noon time till about 5:00. Thankfully, Jim got up around 4:30 and had Andrew asleep soon afterward.

So that is my observations of having a new baby around the house. Jack is so good with him and is showing absolutely no signs of jealousy toward Andrew. He loves to hold the bottle and feed him and will help me get a fresh diaper and will even throw away the stinky diapers for me. I just can't believe how good my son is turning out and how great he is lately. I think we turned a corner from the terrible threes, which were so much worse than those terrible twos in my opinion.

To update on the school issue. Jack is absolutely loving his new school. He came home and showed me what he did yesterday. He was so proud to pull his folder out of his backpack and show me all the work he did. My son has a school folder and a school backpack! He is growing up way too fast. I really believe now that his getting the "bad" teacher at the old school was a blessing in disguise. I am really happy with the new school and how Jack is loving the whole experience.

And in other news today, I get to go and get a root canal today. How fun is that? Yeah I have had for years and years a problem gap in my teeth and if I don't floss like 6 times a day there, I get bad decay. And that is what happened and it just has gotten worse over the years, so today I get to fix it with a root canal. I have never had a root canal, nor even a cavity in years, so not sure what to expect today. They told me that root canals are not as bad as their reputation. We shall see about that.

Three and a Half Years Ago Today

Three and a half years ago today, this little boy came into my life and completely changed it for the better.



And now, how is it that he is this big boy now going off to preschool?


My oh my how the time flies!

Holy Cow!

What a day it has been today.

First off, Jim took Jack into the new school to get him all signed up. He wasn't dressed in the "uniform" so I didn't think they would let him start today, but he did. And what a big OUCHIE that was to the wallet! $575 later, Jack is now a student of the school. Yes, I know, it is a fortune. They seemed to find a fee for everything and then they add another fee on top just because. The tuition is $235/month, but all the extra fees added up big time.

So while Jim was taking care of that, today was my first full day taking care of baby Andrew. And I ended up lugging him through four stores today trying to find the proper uniform for Jack. Who knew looking for white polos and blue or khaki shorts would be so hard? All the schools started a couple of weeks ago (including Jack's new one) so the pickings were slim. I found three polo shirts in his size, one pair of blue shorts, and two pairs of long pants for the kid. I think an internet search for uniforms is in my future tonight. Oh and all that cost me $90!!

Then Andrew and I went and picked up Jack from school. He came out all smiles and didn't seem to miss his old school, thankfully. He said he liked his teacher and had fun playing on the playground. So far so good with the new school. Then his new teacher handed me a list of school supplies I needed to buy. Oh my gosh. It had 25 items on it ranging anywhere from crayons and paint to wipes, paper towels, hand sanitizer and even q-tips! Sigh. A trip to Walmart was in my future.

So back home we go and I feed Jack and Andrew. Change Andrew two (or three?) times. Turn on Thomas for Jack. Andrew goes to sleep (yay!). Then I get to get my dirty dishes cleaned up. Andrew's Dad picked him up at 6 tonight. He really was a very good baby today and not sure, but he seems easier than Jack was at that age. I am sure it will come back to bite me once I just said that.

So as soon as Andrew was picked up, Jack and I headed off to Walmart for the school supplies. And yes, I got every single one of those 25 items! Well except the first one - backpack and he already had that. And the grand total of the school list? Another $44!

So to recap today - Baby duty for 9 hours and total spent on preschool stuff - $709.

I will take the official "first day of school" picture tomorrow and post. He looks so grown up in his little uniform. Waahhhh. Where did my baby go?

Sickening

It happened again. Right here. A 9-month-old baby died in the backseat of an SUV a few days ago. The father was supposed drop the baby off at daycare, but instead forgot and went to work at the bank. I guess the baby was trapped in the car from 9 am until 4pm! And the sickening part of all this? I drove right by that car four times that day! I was in that area that day and had no idea that a poor helpless baby was dying right there. Nauseating to say the least. I am sorry, but there is no excuse for forgetting your baby!

On another note, I skipped church today. I have been fighting the crud and it has been fighting back. This stuff has knocked me on my butt with the latest wonderful symptoms being throwing up and diarrhea. Yay! Jack and Jim are out doing stuff together so I could have the house to myself. But I have basically been going from bed to couch and back to bed again all morning long, with side trips to the bathroom. Exciting stuff.

It Should Not Be So Hard!

I never knew that preschool could be so hard. I am really torn up about Jack's preschool issues. You see, we went to the "get acquainted day" and I went in there with a wide open mind about his teacher. I really wanted to give her a chance and boy did she fail miserably. First off, this woman has been to our home only two weeks ago and met me, Jim and Jack. You would think that she would kind of remember who we were when we walked in. But she did not know us and had to ask Jack his name again and then me. So strike one within 30 seconds.

The other strikes came when the teacher just stood off in the corner and did not interact at all with the kids. I mean not once did she go up to them and want to play with them or show the room or anything! She just stood there. And she didn't even talk to us parents unless somebody walked up to her to ask her a question.

The final blow was when I found out that one little boy named Kamden from his class last year was not coming back like I had thought, mainly because of the teacher. And two other little boys, were being dropped also, again because of the teacher. So that meant that Jack would of been in a room with 6 girls and one other boy who was moving away in November. Now, that just don't cut it for me. Jack is all boy and he needs boys to play with. When I brought this observation up with the director, all she told me is "Jack will make friends with the girls", meaning she was not going to change the classes around. But he wasn't making friends that day because he was sitting in the corner by himself and none of the girls would play with him. My very social child was relegated to the corner by himself.

So with all those strikes, we have made a decision to pull Jack out of that school. And believe me it is tearing me up inside. If he had gotten the good teacher with his two good friends Kyle and Seth, I would have been one happy mother, but I am not going to keep him in a school with a teacher who should not be teaching three-year-olds and where he has no friends! I know this is tearing me up more than it should, but I guess it is because I was really looking forward to this school year with the other mothers who are now really great friends and the great teacher I so wanted him to have. But it all blew up and now he isn't even going to that school now.

So Jim and I went and checked out a Christian academy that starts out with PK-3 and can go through high school if we wanted to keep him there. It is more money, but I do feel he will be getting an actual education versus three hours of playing, they are a bit strict, but I think that is good, and they wear uniforms. The uniforms are just polo shirts with either khaki or blue pants. I feel bad because I know Jack is going to miss his old school and his old friends, but I do think he will flourish at the new school, or I hope so. The school for the Pre-K is half day everyday, but as they told me, if I am not ready for the full five days a week, I don't have to take him everyday, but I do have to pay the full money of course :).

I honestly did not know that it would be so hard and that the decision to put him in the new school would upset me so much. Argh! This parenting thing is hard with all these hard decisions. Geesh. Oh and I caught the crud that Jack had for a few days. My sinsuses are about to explode with the pressure and basically feel like total crud right now. Fun times!

It Is Getting Closer

To School Time! Next Tuesday, I get to pack Jack up and send him to preschool for three precious hours. I really do not know what I would do if preschool was not available, because I know he is getting tired of me and well quite frankly I am getting tired of trying to keep up with his endless conversations that go on and on and on. Seriously, he will start off with talking about a dump truck and pretty soon it is a full blown conversation involving bulldozers, trains, pickup trucks, sports cars, and the difference between diesel and gas fuel (yes he knows the difference). And all these things have their own personalities and I have to know the intimate details about those personalities. It is exhausting. He seriously NEEDS more kids his age to share in these conversations!

So today we are off for the "get aquainted day" at school. We missed all these activities last year because he didn't start school until mid September. So this is all exciting to us, especially knowing that he really is going back to school in a few days.

Then we are going to Kyle's house so Jennifer and I can have adult conversation and the boys can talk about the personalities of every moving vehicle ever created. I call that a win win situation.

Passages of Time

It was 2 years ago today that Hurricane Katrina swept through this area and changed the lives of many of my friends forever. It upsets me that the media forgot that the hurricane actually landed in Mississippi and not New Orleans. Yes, I will admit that N.O. was and still is devastated, I have seen part of the devastation myself. But so much of the media is focused on what the flood did over there and forget that entire TOWNS were basically wiped off the map. You drive anywhere near the beach and in a lot of places, all you will see is empty concrete slabs that used to be somebody's house.

I will never understand what these people really went through, and hopefully never will (knocking on wood). I have talked to countless people, including Jack's preschool teacher last year, who lost their house. But what makes me so proud of my fellow-Mississippians, is that they are picking themselves up and moving on. Nobody will tell you that it isn't hard, but it is being done. And that is something that New Orleans doesn't seem to understand, that they just need to pick themselves up and move on and they don't need to rely on the federal government nor President Bush to do that.

Last week, I was talking to my dental hygienist about what she went through. It was really tough two years ago. Her house was one of those empty slabs. They lost everything! Her church was a beautiful old church near the beach that was destroyed beyond repair and just recently was torn down, saving the old steeple, though. Even her place of employment, the dental clinic was destroyed. But she and her husband, two kids, and two dogs lived in a Fema trailer for months until they found a house to rent, which they lived in for almost a year. Only just in the last 6 months, did they get to move back into their newly re-built house. Yes, everybody who was here was changed forever, but they are stronger for it. And I am proud to call myself a Mississippian because of it.

Also, it was one year ago yesterday that Jim, Jack and I left California for good and embarked upon our crazy cross country drive that included two cars, four animals, and one two-year-old. The best decision we ever made!

Big Happy Dance

We are refrigerating once again in the Jackaroo House. Yes folks, after 2 1/2 weeks of being with absolutely no refrigerator, we are able to keep cold milk once again. Big Happy Dance! Of course the technician was supposed to be here between 1 and 5 yesterday and of course, he showed up at 4:30 pm! What a shocker! Do they ever show up at the early time suggested?

So you all know what that means don't you? I get to go on the biggest grocery shopping trip ever. I do believe that I am going to have to take out another mortgage to cover this today! Oy! And the thought of carrying all those groceries into the house and putting away, let's just say that mere thought makes me sick.

Oh and to update my social calendar with all you folks, I have yet another pampered chef party on Thursday to go to. My neighbor is having one - of course. So to sum up my social calendar this week - Southern Living party tonight, Pampered Chef party Thursday night, Girl's night out at the movies (Nanny Diaries) on Friday night, Pampered Chef party Saturday afternoon, and finally another Pampered Chef party on Tuesday night. Got all that?

Parties and Buying Stuff

What is up with Pampered Chef? It seems that everybody on the Mississippi coast is hosting a pampered chef party. I am invited to three parties in the next week! Of course, there is Jennifer (aka Kyle's Mom), who actually is a consultant and is always on me to either host another show or become a consultant myself, is having a "host appreciation night" at her house next week.

Jim also called me and told me his Sergeant's wife is having a party on Saturday and he said that I would go. Considering it is his Sergeant and all, I am thinking that I should go, ya know?

And then just last night, I called a friend from church who has been missing for a couple of weeks just to see if everything is okay, and she mentioned that she was having a party tonight and I am invited to go over to hers! I told her that I might not be able to make it since the other two parties are coming up.

Oh yeah and tomorrow night Jennifer (aka Kyle's Mom) is also hosting a Southern Living party! Geesh people, I am going to have to get a whole separate calendar for my social/buying obligations!

The Blog Curse Strikes Again

I should have known better. I wrote this morning about how great Jack has been lately and sure enough the blog curse struck me down. You know the one that if you write about whatever good thing your child does, the blog curse fairy will come and turn your child into the very opposite thing of what you wrote about. Jack was THE whiniest today that he was in a long time. Nothing would make him happy today. He had to complain about everything, including the size of his ice cream cone when we went to get ice cream after church today. I sure hope tomorrow is a better day and this isn't the start of some new whiney phase all because I happened to post that he was good!

My Good Boy

Not too sure what is going on with Jack these days, but he has been amazingly well behaved. I took him to the Discovery Center Museum (aka "the big playland") and let him play and run wild for about two hours. When it was time to go, he did not make a huge fuss about not wanting to leave and did not scream and throw himself down on the floor. Yes that is the usual way that we leave that place. And because he was such a good boy, I took him to Chickfila for lunch (they have the best toddler playland in the city) and let him play there for another hour. And again, when it was time to go, he was a perfect little boy! He just put his shoes on and said "bye" to all the other kids there and off we went! Purely amazing!

I have been trying to instill the chore thing and plan to buy that chore system I posted on earlier when we get past this month of super big bills (house insurance, car insurance, and car tags all due at the same time!). So Jack has been making his bed, with a little help from me. He also has been setting the table for dinner by getting out the silverware and the placemats and he is so proud of himself when he puts them just so on the table.

Not sure how long this good behavior is going to last, but I am loving it while it does. He has been so much fun to be around lately! My good boy.

Our Newest Part-Time Resident

Meet Andrew. He is our new part-time resident of the Jackaroo house. He is almost 5-weeks old and the son of our friends Stephen and Holly. I am going to be watching him two or three days a week when Holly goes back to work in a couple of weeks. Yesterday, Holly brought him over so she could go to the doctor baby-free. He is a really good baby and I was absolutely shocked how well Jack took to him. Jack was so gentle with him, except for the one time when he wanted to show Andrew his train and he bopped him over the head with the train. But other than that, Jack was so good and showed no jealousy at all. He was even willing to put on hold our very intriguing game of The Hungry Caterpillar Game so I could feed Andrew.

I do have to admit though, that I do suffer from Mommy amnesia. Wow, I forgot how much work babies really truly are! But it should be fun and interesting at the same time trying to juggle both Jack and Andrew. I understand now what all you mothers of multiple children have to deal with! Phew!

You Have to Check This Out!

For all my fellow Mommies out there - you have to check this site out. It has a great system for getting your child to do their chores. I found out about it yesterday when I went over to Jennifer's house so Kyle and Jack could play. Jennifer told me that she heard about it from Katie, another mother at Jack's school, and she saw the proof that it works first hand.

Anyway, it is basically a board that you put up on your wall and you hang these cards with chores printed on them and when your child does the chore, they put the card in the "I did it" slot. At the end of the day or week, you with your child count the cards in the "I did it" slot and they get the same number of tokens as cards. They can either spend their tokens for something small, like candy, right then or save them for something bigger in the future. It teaches them responsibility, counting, and the idea of saving.

It is called "I did My Chores" and I am very excited to start this system. I kind of started it last night when we were getting ready for dinner (spaghetti - no refrigerated items needed) and I asked Jack to set the table. He went and got the placemats out of the drawer, then he got the forks out of the drawer and set them oh so neatly. It was so cute and he was so proud of himself for doing that. I let him have a piece of candy after dinner.

I will let you know how it works out. I need to sit down and figure out what chores and what rewards he gets. Jennifer had an idea for a big reward to go to the Big Rat's house aka Chuck E Cheese. Considering how much I hate that place, that will be a huge huge reward!

Shave Time

Refrigerator Woes Update

We finally got a real live honest to goodness human being to come to our house today to look at our refrigerator. The one that is not refrigerating. The one that turns gallons of milk into solid smelly pieces of sludge (hope you weren't trying to eat :) ). And of course, he looked at it, plugged in the computer (who knew that you can plug a computer into a refrigerator? Not me) to see what was wrong. He did a few grunts and "ahh ha" and came to the conclusion that the fan is broken and not working. (No, really, you think?) And of course, as is our usual luck, he did not have that part with him and will have to order it. So we get to be without a refrigerator for at least another week! Oh Joy!

Well there is one small silver lining in all this - it is extremely hard to cook without refrigerated items and I have given up trying. No cooking for the next week!

Weekend Recap

Well it looks like Dean will not be coming our way, although we are still watching closely and are ready to run north if need be. I feel bad for those who are in its way and will be praying for those folks. It is no fun to be under the fear of hurricanes, I am learning.

This weekend was fun. On Saturday, we met the part of the family in Hattiesburg and had lunch. Our niece is starting her freshman year at Southern Miss in Hattiesburg. I think her mother, Jim's sister Carla, is not handling the separation from her baby. From what I hear many tears have been shed by Carla. I wonder how I am going to handle that in 15 years?

Yesterday was a full day with church and then meeting Kyle and his mother at the waterpark for some fun in the very hot sun. I am so done with the fun in the hot sun right now. Summer can be over for the year as far as I am concerned. Of course Jack and Kyle had fun while I got to do some girl talk with Jennifer. But I do believe that was the last waterpark visit this year. They are only opened a couple more weekends and to be honest, I just am not into splashing as I was back in May. Bring on the cool weather! Unfortunately, the cool weather around here just doesn't start until November!

Oh and very soon, we can look forward to the love bug invasion. They were here last year when we were moving into our house, and I just remember the swarms upon swarms and really and truly wondering why we were moving to this place. No, I do not like those love bugs! They are nasty, very nasty little creatures. And I didn't even know they existed until last year!

Living On The Coast

Thanks to Dean, we have our first real hurricane threat since moving here. I don't like that feeling of wondering whether or not next week we will have to run north to Grammy's house. I guess it is all part of living on the coast and the downfall of living in such a beautiful part of the country, but it doesn't mean that I have to like it. I am just glad that we decided to live seven miles inland and not blocks from the beach.

So, Mr. Dean, just stay away from my house!

Met The Teacher and Other Fun Times

Jack's new teacher, Miss Brianna, came to the house yesterday for the "home visit". She was exactly as I expected, she did not raise my expectations any further. She was cool and reserved, but also friendly. I do think a lot of her problem is that she is shy and doesn't know how to express herself very well. So we are going to give her a chance.

She brought Jack the new t-shirt that he is to wear on Thursdays to chapel, which he thought was really neat. She also brought him a small bible that he also is supposed to take to chapel every week. And the boy absolutely LOVES it. He loves his bible so much, that he had to take it to bed with him last night and fall asleep with it. I asked him whose book is the bible and he answered me "Jesus's book". So I think he understands.

So I am entirely stoked about the upcoming school year and can't wait for it to finally get here. He starts back on September 4th and I already have all the important dates written on the calendar.

In other news, it seems that broken down refrigerator is really completely dead. The freezer side is not working either and while it is still freezing in there, the temp keeps going up daily. And of course, we have to wait until Monday before the repair guy can get here from the land of "no real people" at the GE service center. I have been using my neighbor's refrigerator to keep our milk because they are away on vacation and I have a key to their house to look after things.

The fun times just keep coming here at the Jackaroo house!

Heart Breaking

I have been trying to introduce the concept of Jesus and prayer into Jack's life. We have our nightly prayers where we say thank you for everything (including the doors and windows) and we ask that Jesus looks over sick Papa and Daddy at work, etc. Well I could tell that it has made Jack think and yesterday while driving in the car, he came out with this little gem.

"I asked Jesus to go pick up my Sissy in California and bring her back here." Broke my heart right there. He misses her so much and how do you tell a three-year-old that Jesus can't do that right now and his Sissy has to be in California right now? So sweet my child is.

Scary

You know what is really scary? Going 3 months in between hair color jobs and seeing how you really would look all naturale. The gray! Very Very Scary! Thank Goodness Friday is a coming and I am going to be sitting my butt in the salon chair.

School Issues ... Already

I found out yesterday that Jack did not get the teacher that I wanted at his preschool. There are two teachers for the 3-year-old class and one of them is absolutely phenomenal. Miss Jackie is the perfect preschool teacher who is bubbly and energetic and oh-so nice. She and I formed a friendship last year when I would help out with the parties and other things. I absolutely heart her. And I was not shy in letting everybody know, including the director of the preschool, that I wanted Jack in Miss Jackie's class. In fact that is really the one reason why I signed him up to go to this school again this fall, and not try to find a school closer to home. As it is, I do drive 20 miles to this school.

But, alas, Jack got into Miss Brianna's class. Miss Brianna is about as opposite of Miss Jackie as you can get. I have spoken with her a couple of times and there is no energy, no enthusiasm, no life. She is the equivalent of a wet noodle, so to speak. In fact, one of the other mother's said to me that if her son got her this year, she was going to pull him out of that school. But she doesn't have to worry, because she got Miss Jackie. Supposedly, they put the older threes with Miss Jackie and the younger threes with Miss Brianna, with February being the cut off. Jack got shafted being born 5 days into March. I even called Kelsey, Jack's awesome teacher from last year to see what she had to say about Miss Brianna, but she really couldn't say anything. But she told me that I was not the only one who was concerned and she understands my feelings.

So now I am really wondering about the whole thing. Is she really as bad as all that? Will Jack still thrive in her class? His two best friends are going to be in the other classroom, how will he take that? Should I look around at the preschools closer to home? I love the christian-based curriculum they have, but I know there are two other preschools near here that are run by churches.

Miss Brianna is coming tomorrow for the home visit that all teachers do before the school year starts. I am going to see how she is and how Jack reacts to her before I make up my mind. I may just go visit the other preschools today and maybe get on their waiting list, just in case.

Argh, I did not think that school issues would come at the age of three! But I guess they do.

Monday Stuff

I hate GE appliance service center! When I made the appointment for them to come look at our refrigerator, I made it for Monday between 8 - 12, thinking that it would be today. Silly me, it was for NEXT Monday! I tried to call them to see if I can get another one for oh say sometime THIS week, but you literally can NOT talk to a human being. There are no options at all for talking to real live people. It only gave me the option of the appointment that I already have. So I tried to call Sears, where we purchased the stupid thing, and they told me that I had to deal directly with GE, the land of no-real people. I don't know how we are going to go all week without a refrigerator. We have already lost everything that was in there, but we need milk! The boy thrives on his sippy milks!

I also have a HUGE HUGE headache, bordering on migraine today. So thinking at all is pretty much out of the question. Jim is off to some training class today, so no help dealing with the boy who is insisting on we play hide and seek. The mere thought of playing hide and seek makes me want to vomit - literally.

And I don't know about you, but I am so ready for summer to be over. You know when it is April or May and you are all excited for the warm weather to be here - that feeling? Yeah that feeling is so over for me right now. I took Jack swimming yesterday and our pool was the temp of a hot tub - literally! It has been consistently over 100 degrees here with the heat index around 110 and I am just saying this - I do not like it!

So that is my Monday, how is yours going?

I also want to congratulate Jane from the Moose Family. They finally received their referral for their little girl from China! I am so happy for them because I know how long they have waited for this to happen. Go on over there and congratulate them!

Now I am going to lay down and NOT play hide and seek. The boy is going to watch Tom and Jerry and play with his trains. He may not know that right now, but that is what is happening.

Yep It Is Hot

Of Course

Our refrigerator is not refrigerating. It is not working at all. And of course, it is very well stocked at the moment (a rarity). And of course, it is Saturday and I can't get a repairman to get here to look at it until Monday. And I am not sure if it is still under warranty. If they go by the date that we purchased and paid for it, then it is not. However, if we go by the date that we took possession and was delivered to us, then it is still under warranty - by like two weeks. Of course.

1 1/2 To Go

I only have 1 1/2 rooms to go before my entire house, as in every single wall, is painted. I have been painting all morning long and have finally finished my bedroom and half of my bathroom. I only have the other 1/2 of my bathroom and the guest bedroom left to paint! Yay! I chose a soft sage green for my bedroom and bathroom and I am thinking of a gray/taupe for the guest bedroom.

I told myself at the beginning of the summer that I was going to get the rest of the house painted by the time we were here a year. Well that year is up next month. How that is possible, I do not know. But hopefully, I will make good on my promise and actually get it done.

But right now, I am tired! Four hours of painting and my neck is seriously needing a trip to the chiro! I really want to crawl to the couch and watch tv right now for oh about 10 hours. But there is a problem. Jack is bored and wanting to "do something." I guess motherhood comes first before comfort huh? I am so not going to be able to walk tomorrow. I just know that right now.

Is It Wrong?

Is it wrong to let Jack trash his bathroom by letting him play in the water just so I can have 30 minutes of "me" time?

Jack's favorite activity as of late seems to be playing in the water. He will take about 250 toys into his bathroom, use the toilet to get himself up on the counter and proceed to get water all over the bathroom, all in the name of playing. And when I say all over, I mean down the sink onto the floor, on the door, on the ceiling and soaking his rug. And the thing is, I let him do it, just so I can get something done. You know something important, like looking online for new window treatments for my bedroom.

Big Boy Sizes

I started shopping for school clothes for the boy today. He has absolutely NO clothes that fit him anymore, except for a few shirts and some shorts. And that includes shoes. He has a pair of crocs that he has been wearing all summer long because he basically has no other shoes that fit.

So off we went to start this massive undertaking to outfit the boy again. I measured his feet and he is now a size 11! I am guessing the size 9 1/2's from last year are not going to cut it. So he got a brand new pair of sneakers ala Spider Man that light up. And of course, now he won't take them off his feet.

My next mission was to get some long pants, even though it is now 189 degrees outside. I started with the 4t's and soon realized that these were not going to work at all. I had to go over to the big boy section! He has outgrown all the toddler sizes! I bought him two pairs of pants - one jeans and the other black jeans sized 4. The problem is, that while he maybe in length be a size 4 because the length is just about perfect, his waist is NOT a size 4. Next shopping trip will be to buy some belts to keep the pants up!

I am by far not done with the shopping. I figure I need a minimum of three or four more pants and more long-sleeved shirts. I need to do this in stages so the money leaving my pocket won't feel quite so badly. Oh and while putting socks on the boy for the first time in months, I realized that all his socks are way too small for his feet. Add that to the list!

Oh yeah, there are 27 more days left until his school starts. Not that I am counting or anything. :)

Yep It Is August

It is soooo hot and humid here right now. Yesterday it hit over 100 and the humidity was give or take a bit right around 5000%. My hair? Has not been straight and without friz since May. I gave up on in a long time ago. And last night, Jack and I went walking with our neighbors and after an hour of walking, we all were drenched in sweat. Literally. And it wasn't because of the hard walk we were doing since we had two three-year-olds with us, no it was because of the ungodly oven that we presently live in. And when we got home from the walk, all of our windows were steamed up and could not see through them. Yes it is hell here.

I am thinking it is too hot even to go swimming at the moment! That is hot.

The First Time

Jack had his very first dentist appointment this morning. I am SO PROUD of him. He did so good. I was quite amazed at just how good he was. First off, the place is totally geared for kids. He is a pediatric dentist and it is a very fun place with a huge mural of fishies on the wall. When you walk in the back, they have all the tables arranged in a circle with tvs installed in the ceiling for each table! How cool is that?

They started off with xrays and he did good for the first two, but did NOT like the ones in the back and kept spitting them out, so we settled for just two pictures. Then he went over to the table and he got to pick out which color table he wanted. Of course, he picked orange (his favorite color ya know). He did really well with the whole procedure and let the hygienist clean his teeth and even floss. I was told that I should be starting to floss his teeth, especially the back molars. Um yeah okay. Do they pay for my fingers that are going to be bitten off?

The dentist did the exam and he said everything looks perfect. He has all of his baby teeth in and they are spaced really nice and even. If he keeps this up with his big teeth, it will mean no braces! Yahoo! Save a small fortune there. He also had no cavities.

After it was all done, they gave him a new Diego toothbrush, new toothpaste, a pencil and he got to pick a toy from the treasure chest. He was so proud of all his new stuff. I can say that his early childhood dentistry is going to be sooooo much better than mine ever was. I had Dr. Dodge, who did not believe in Novocaine to fill cavities! I probably had five cavities filled with no Novodaine whatsoever. I was literally in college the first time I had Novocaine! And he was sooo old, he had shaking hands and I would call his technique the OPPOSITE of gentle! I was so happy when I heard he died hehe. Is that wrong? Anyway, I am just very happy that Jack doesn't have to go through that and maybe he will have a better outlook on going to the dentist than I do!

The Bullet

There is nothing like getting a phone call from your doctor with the words "the doctor found something in your left breast and we need additional mammogram views. When would you like to schedule an appointment to get another mammogram done?" Those words can put dread and fear into you like nothing else. And those are the words that I received two weeks ago. And the soonest they could get me in for the additional-very-powerful-all-digital-can-see-any-little-speck-of-something-wrong-mammogram was last Friday. I had to go to the hospital because of their super duper machine there, as opposed to the not-so-super-duper machine at the doctor's office where I had the first one done. They even had my previous films on the wall with the "problem area" marked out for the tech to zero in on. Of course she could not give me any information or clues as to what she saw. Talk about aggravating.

While I was at the hospital, I was talking to another lady who was called back for "additional views" also and she was not handling it very well. She was breaking down crying right in front of me. I felt really sorry for her, because I know only too well what she was going through. I hope she got good news today.

But after calling the doctor bright and early this morning, I was given the all-clear. There was no abnormalities at all in my left breast, which by the way produced hardly any milk when I needed it to. After hearing the news, I feel like about 3 tons of weight has been lifted off my shoulders and can actually breath normally for the first time in two weeks. The bullet has been dodged...this time.

I just wonder, however, do these doctors have any idea what they put us through when they do this?

It's going to be quiet around here

It was a sad day for us today. Laura left to go back to California today. We are going to miss her. She just kind of fills in our family when she is here. Jack practically worships his sister and it very nearly brought me to tears when he had to say goodbye to her. She really is a great girl and a huge help to me when she is here. She helps me clean and watches Jack whenever I need her, all without complaining once. I sure got lucky in the stepdaughter department. And it just isn't the same without her. The last 7 weeks sure flew by fast!

We also had a little get together here at the house with the family. It was Uncle Dan's birthday today so we combined his birthday party with Laura's fond farewell party. So that helped ease the transition for us, but now that everybody is gone, we are all feeling the loss of Laura. :(

Again?

The Duggers have done it again! They just had their 17th child. I remember she had her 15th child a couple of weeks after Jack was born. I remember sitting at home in my bedroom watching tv while trying to pump what little breastmilk I could and being in total shock that a woman MY age just had her 15th child. I can't even fathom. And she home schools them all! And here I am counting down the days until my one child goes back to preschool in the fall!

One of my many questions about this family is, how do they find the time to actually do the deed that gets them pregnant in the first place?!?

It Is Sad This Is Needed

I saw a piece on Good Morning America this morning about children dying in hot cars when they are left alone. They mentioned that there is now a devise that you can hook to the car seat and it will go off if you get more than 10 feet away from your baby!!! Is this really necessary? Do people really just forget they have a child in the backseat??? Do you really need a reminder when you just happen to forget you have a child? Sort of like when you forget you left your headlights on? Sadly and obviously there are people out there that need this since there are so many deaths per year by people just walking away from their cars with their babies left to burn up - literally. Are they really that busy?

Now I don't know about you, but whenever Jack is in the car with me (99.9% of the time), I have never ever forgotten he was there. When he was an infant, I kept looking back in my rear view mirror to see his little face in his little mirror, just to know that he was alright. I never for one split second forgot that I had a child back there. And now, with his constant chatter about trucks, trains, planes, and pretty much any other mode of transportation, it is just impossible to forget that he is there. I even find that I drive a lot more carefully with him in the car than not. I am more willing to be more patient and wait for traffic a few seconds more, just so that my child is safe.

And for those who leave their children INTENTIONALLY, well I have to respect for them at all. They know better and unfortunately the small ones have to pay the price for the adult's stupidity.

I think it was a sad day when this alarm was created and that it is at all needed.

Another Three Hours

We just got back from the waterpark, where we spent another three hours in the sun and the water. Nothing like riding the waves and slides to make your hellish morning seem that much better. Ahhhh. All relaxed and ready to spend the rest of the afternoon in a good book while the kids play/fight in the other room. :)

Being a Cop's Wife

I am a cop's wife. He works 12 hour shifts at night. I know it is NOT an easy job. I don't think I can comprehend the situations that he has been in nor the people that he has to deal with on a nightly basis. I hear a little about some of the cases, like the family disturbance with an 8-week-old infant in the middle. Or there was the case of the guy raping a 2-year-old little girl. I am sure it is very hard to restrain and not kill that person.

However, there is the other aspect of the job. The one that I think about every time he walks out the door, I fear the worse. And every morning when he walks in at 7 am, I feel at peace once again. Most days I am okay with this because I know it comes with the job of being a cop's wife. But there are days like today, when it is 8:30 am and still no sign of him and I keep calling his phone to no answer, that I am at my worse. I don't want to be one of those women who freak out over a few minutes late (although I am, but don't let on too much), but a full 90 minutes later, I am completely and 100% freaked out. So I call the police station and sure enough, he is there and is in the middle of processing a DUI, which I understand takes a whole lot of time to process. So after talking to him for 30 seconds and realizing he is still alive and kicking, my adrenaline-rushed body turns to anger. Could he not have called for 10 seconds just to say "hey I'm here"???? Argh. I will never get used to this. Ever.

Back

We are back from the in-law compound. We decided at the last moment to run up to let Laura see her grandmother and Aunts and cousin before she has to go back to California. And oh my word. Let's just say that there was some drama going on in the last couple of days. It had to do with Laura saying things to people about what I supposedly said about somebody else and then those people getting upset about what I supposedly said, when I never ever said anything like it in the first place. We called Laura on it and she still is denying the whole thing, but who do you believe when you have three adults versus one 11-year-old girl??? So Laura at the moment is very grounded for lying. Drama. Ya got to love it.

I also have to take my dog into the vet today because of her bad back. She is a dachshund (weenie dog) and has had bad back problems for years and while we were up visiting the in-laws she threw her back out again. So hopefully medicine and bedrest will help her.

We had to leave this morning at 4:30 in order for Jim to get back home and get ready to go to court as cop's have to do quite often. So besides the drama and sick doggies and kid's fighting and husband's off at work, nothing much else happening around here.

Hung Over

I have a hang over. No, it is not from any type of drink, although that might have been more fun. Instead, it is from spending five hours at the waterpark yesterday! We went with Jack's friend Kyle and his mother, Jennifer and ended up chasing after the boy for five whole hours! I think a truck hit me!

Jack had a good time and it was the first time since school let out that he had seen Kyle. It was so cute to see the two of them together and they gave each other hugs and held each other's hands when we walked around the park. So cute. But it also seemed that they had different ideas of what was fun to do, since they just kinda did their own thing in separate areas. Jennifer and I were constantly having to break off our conversation to run off into the water to find one of them. But it was fun to get to talk to Jennifer again and make plans to do grown up girl stuff when school starts up again in September.

But now, with a hang over and all, I seriously need to clean my house, do laundry, and do something with that huge pile of gross dishes in the sink. Sigh.

Must of been the barbeque

Well our friends Stephen and Holly had their baby boy last night. They were here at our house on Saturday night for barbeque. Jim got to use his new smoker for the first time since he got it for father's day. He made smoked ribs and smoked pork. Talk about yummy! We had a total of about 18 people over to the house and it was a big success and always fun getting together with this group of people, all from our church.

Anyway, our very pregnant friend, Holly, told everybody that it looked like she was a good week away from delivering because she had been to the doctor on Friday and he said nothing was happening, despite having a due date of the 26th. So much to our surprise when we get to church and hear that our Pastor is not preaching that day because they are at the hospital delivering their baby! And sure enough he came Sunday night, not even 24 hours after she told all of us that it was going to be awhile. HA! Things can move fast. This is the baby that I am going to be taking care of when Holly goes back to her nurse's job in a couple of months, so I am very excited to meet him. :) I wish I could tell you the name, but alas after 9 months of trying to come up with a name, they do not have a name last I heard. Maybe they do now, hopefully, but we shall see when I go see her tomorrow.

But I just want to congratulate Holly and Stephen and their little baby boy!

In The Tummy

We have two close friends who are pregnant. One of them, Holly, is due any day now as her due date is the 26th. I will be taking care of that little boy (who still has no name at the moment!) when Holly goes back to her job as a nurse. It will only be two days a week and it should be both interesting and good to have a baby around the house for Jack.

Our other friend, neighbor Erin, is due in September with a little girl. I have been explaining to Jack that both Miss Holly and Miss Erin have babies in their tummies that are going to come out soon. And when the babies come out, we will be able to see and hold them. Of course, all this has prompted conversations between Jack and I about how he used to be in my tummy when he was a baby, which is quite comical to see him process this information. It usually leads to "I don't fit in your tummy anymore." But I tell him "no you don't, but you will always fit in my arms." And then he gives me a big hug and tells me that he loves me. Que the heart melting.

I guess all this talk about babies being in tummies has got Jack to thinking. Just today he walked up to me and told me that he had a "puppy in his tummy and it was going to come out soon." Hehe. Pretty cute stuff.

My Little Southern Redneck, Ya'll

When we moved to the south, I did wonder if Jack would pick up on the southern accent. I wondered because it seems that the Mississippi Gulf Coast does not have what you would call a real "southern" feel a lot of times. It has a lot of different mix of people from everywhere because of the military bases and the casinos. So there is not a huge prevalent southern accent heard here a lot.

So it was with lots of laughter when just yesterday we heard the first bits of southern accent coming from Jack. We went to New Orleans yesterday to do the kid friendly parts of the city, like the aquarium. The kids loved it. We had a lot of fun. As we were out by the Riverwalk walking along the Mississippi River, Jack pointed to a big ship and said "Look at that big ship over thayar". It was so cute that we kept having him say there over and over again. And we have noticed other words that he says with the southern accent like "I like Chip and Daaayyle".

Yep he is our own little Southern Redneck in the making.

The Weekend

This past weekend was uneventful yet eventful at the same time. Uneventful because it rained all weekend long, including most of today. So that meant that we had a lazy weekend. It was Jim's weekend to work, so it was just me and the kids inside the house pretty much all weekend. Our big excitment was a trip to Walmart on Saturday and of course there was church yesterday and both trips out of the house meant I was drenched for the rest of the day. Oh and all that rain also meant that my potted flowers out front drowned and are looking very dead at this moment. Sigh.

Anyway, the eventful part came about because of my husband. I just want to preface this by saying that I love my husband very very much, however (you knew that however was there didn't you) he has the most tender heart when it comes to animals. And his job where he comes into contact with stray animals all the time does not help. Remember the puppy he brought home? Anyway, he struck again. Actually he struck again twice! On Friday morning he called me up and said that he had 6 puppies in his car that he found on the side of the road. Yes they were all cute according to him. And yes, I said a big fat NO to actually keeping one. But he did bring them by here for Jack to see. I refused to even go out to see them.

And then on Saturday morning he struck again. He came by again at 6:30 in the morning with this tiniest tiny kitten in his car. Again he found it on the road. It was tiny and very scrawny. Kind of like when he brought home our other cat Sammy. Remember? So he asks me to just take it until the animal control officer can come pick it up. And there was my mistake, in letting the thing into the house!! The kids were not up yet, so Jim takes the kitten and puts it on Laura's pillow. Of course it takes a split second for her to fall in love with the thing. And then Jim has this idea that Laura could take it back home with her to California if her mother okayed it. Well her mother said maybe if it wasn't a girl cat, which I don't understand, but there are many things about that woman I don't understand.

So today, I made an appointment at the vet to determine the sex. I knew I should have taken the kitten myself, but I had just finished painting my laundry room and really did not want to do the job. So Jim took the kitten into the vet. And of course the cat is a girl. And then he proceeds to spend $150 on this kitten that I said we were NOT keeping. We do not have the money for that at all in anyway shape or form. Period. And of course Laura's mother flat out refused to have us send the cat to California, which prompted a lot of tears from Laura. In fact there were a lot of tears flowing in the house for many reasons at that point.

Now we have this kitten that I am absolutely refusing to keep. I know I am being the heavy, but I am always the heavy when it comes to these things. To say that I am a bit upset would be a huge understatement. Anybody want a cat?

Because I Have Nothing Else To Post ...

I thought I would steal this survey from Erin.

1. Do you still talk to the person you FIRST kissed?
Nope.

2. Have you ever seen your best friend cry?
Yep.

3. Do you have anything to say to anyone?
Like what?

4. What was the last food you ate?
Apple

5. Did you get any compliments today?
Jim told me I looked beautiful. I get that everyday. I am lucky.

6. Did you ever go to court?
Only one time. It was not for a nice thing.

7. Whats the fifth text message in your inbox say?
What is a text message?

8. Are you friends with your neighbors?
Yes. We got very lucky with our group of neighbors.

9. What languages do your parents speak?
English.

10. What towns have you lived in?
Okay here goes: Battle Creek, Berrien Springs, Arlington, Waltham, Kirkland, Bellevue, Murrieta, Temecula, Lake Elsinore, Gulfport (five states in all)

11. What's the last piercing you got?
My 2nd holes in my ears that I let close in because I didn't like the placement of the holes. Never re-pierced them.

12. Do you get distracted easily?
I don't think so.

13. Do you get jealous easily?
I don't think so.

14. Have you ever played Spin the Bottle?
I don't think so.

15. Have you ever had a crush on your brother or sister's friends?
My brother is 11 years older than me and we didn't grow up together so no.

16. Have you ever gone to a beach?
Yep. I live about 5 miles from the coast.

17. Have you ever had a stalker?
Yep. A creepy guy in college.

18. Do you remember your music teacher's name from elementary?
It was Mr. Sine right Amy and Steffie?

19. How good is your eyesight?
My right eye is really good. My left eye not so much. I had the laser surgery done on my left eye about 10 years ago, but it is going bad again.

20. Have you ever gone to a party?
One or two :)

21. Would you ever want to swim with the sharks?
Sharks - no. Dolphins - a most definite YES.

22. What would you say if I told you I was in love with your brother?
Good Luck. You are going to need it.

23. Have you ever been out of the country?
Yep.

24. Have you seen one of your best friends naked?
Yep.

25. What's the best wedding you've been to?
A friend I used to work with in Seattle. It was huge with like 12 bridesmaids and a catered dinner like I have never seen.

26. Would your parents be mad if you got arrested for fighting?
Probably

27. Where are your sibling(s) right now?
Idaho and Florida

28. What's the last dream you can remember?
That I can remember has to be when I was pregnant. It was me giving birth to a baby who proceeded to age to an old man right before my eyes. I was crying that I missed out on the baby stage. It sorta feels like that in real life to be honest.

29. Who was the last person who called you?
No idea. Laura is the one who gets all the phone calls in this house.

30. What time did you wake up this morning?
5:22 am.

31. What is the last item of clothing you bought?
A dress for our weekend in New Orleans.

32. When was the last time you were sick?
Don't remember. Maybe last winter sometime.

33. Who's the last celebrity you touched?
I think it was when I was 15 and I was at a John Schneider concert (Dukes of Hazzard/Smallville guy) and he leaned down and gave me a kiss. Ahhhh. Be still my heart.

34. What's in your back pocket?
I don't have a back pocket right now.

35. Who is the last person you took a picture with?
Probably Jack.

36. What is the last thing you drank?
Protein Shake

37. Last person you hugged?
Jim

38. Do you wear colored contacts?
Nope

39. What were you doing at 4am this morning?
Sleeping

Daily Random Stuff

Jim took Laura to see the new Harry Potter movie tonight, so it is just Jack and I at home tonight. Right now he is watching Ice Age 2 and I am hoping he will go to bed early tonight. As far as Jim and Laura, I am pretty sure that Laura is going to be scared at the movie tonight. I remember I took her to see the last Harry Potter movie and she practically jumped into my lap when the scary water scene came on. Jim was on duty last night and talked to some people who were coming out of the the theatre after the midnight showing and they said it was the best one yet.

Anyway, not much happening here. I can't seem to keep Laura from getting bored. We went to Hobby Lobby today and bought some stuff to finish her room and I was hoping that would make her excited, but alas, she is a pre-teen girl who doesn't seem to smile or get excited about anything in the world. Again, thanking my lucky stars for having a boy and I won't have to go through female angst and hormones with two girls in my life. Thank you Jack for being a boy!

I finally started to paint the shelves that Jim made about six months ago for Jack's room. I was going to paint them all different primary colors, but then I saw the foam stamp things at the hobby store and decided a different course of action. Instead, I painted the shelves white and then using the primary colors (and orange of course), I am foam stamping trucks, airplanes, trains, and cars all over. It is looking pretty cute, if I say so myself. I will post a picture when I finally get the whole thing done, which could take awhile considering I have to do it with a certain boy trying to "help" all the time.

So tomorrow it is back to "trying to entertain Laura" again. It should be a bit better because she is having a friend spend the night tomorrow. I bought some pizza crusts and toppings and will let them make pizzas for dinner, along with root beer floats. Should be fun for a minute until the pre-teen female angst hits again!

All Things Jack

It has been awhile since I did a list of all things Jack. Things he likes, dislikes, or whatever. So here goes:

** He has started thinking that Daddy is the "other man". He becomes very jealous of Daddy when Jim is showing me affection. Jim will say "I love Mama" and Jack will pipe up and say "NOOOO She's My Mama!" While this is quite cute and I am flattered that I mean so much to the child, we do need to nip this one in the bud I think.

** The boy will not sleep alone anymore. Or I should say, he wants to sleep with me all the time. I started a few months ago letting him sleep with me when Jim was working. I liked having him near with me. However, now he will not sleep alone. Every single night is a struggle to put him to bed, especially on nights when Daddy is home.

** His favorite color is orange. He will tell you that quite often. In fact, when we were painting Laura's room, he came to me and said "Mom, we need to talk. I want to paint my ceiling orange. Orange is my favorite color." And that was a quote. And no his ceiling did not get painted orange.

** He calls me Mom now instead of Mama or Mommy. I miss hearing Mama.

** He wants to grow up fast. He keeps saying he is going to be "thiiiissss tall" with his arm reaching way up to the sky. He has grown almost 2 inches since the start of summer, so he is on his way.

** He is very strong-willed. When he puts his mind to something, it is like changing the weather to change his mind. And stubborn is that child. Every single day there is a battle about something. Be it the underwear (Bob the Builder vs. Superman) to wear or trying to get him to eat something. Good Lord that child is causing me gray hairs every day.

** He absolutely loves to swim. He has come a long way since the beginning of the summer when he would not get away from the side of the pool. Now he either wears his life vest or his inner tube and kicks himself all over the pool with no fear. I plan on putting him in swim lessons in August after Laura goes back to California. (Yes she is going back by the way.)

** Speaking of Laura, the kid practically worships his sister. It will not be pretty when she leaves in a month.

** He loves to go fishing. He can sit out on the ocean pier for hours at a time. He must of received the fishing gene that skipped a generation with me. I am sure that in a few years, I will see him riding his bike down to the lake with his pole and tackle box in tow.

** He is about the most social kid I have ever met. He loves his friends and says he misses them all the time. He talks about his friends from school and how he can not wait until school starts again (me neither). He is quite the ladies man with at least three girlfriends.

** As far as food goes, it depends on the day as to what he will eat. However, he can and will eat cereal three times a day if I let him. And not the sugar variety either. No, he loves Raisin Bran, chex, cheerios, granola. Pretty much anything with milk.

** If I let him, I do believe the child could drink a half gallon of milk a day. He absolutely loves milk. Maybe that is why I was craving the stuff when I was pregnant?

** He has so much energy and can go pretty much all day long nonstop. I try to enforce "quiet time" during the afternoon with varying degrees of success. I just wish they could invent a way to bottle that energy and give it to me!

** He loves to sing. He makes up songs on the fly about whatever he happens to see at that particular moment, such as trees, and will sing about trees for about 10 minutes.

** His imagination is phenemonal. We don't need to buy toys for this one. No, he just plays with whatever imaginary thing he needs at that moment. And expect you to play along with him. We have a good ole time pretending to cook with nothing but air.

** All in all, he is a very happy, well-adjusted, strong-willed, energetic, imaginative little boy. I just can not believe that he is going on four! The time does fly by.

The Week, Family, New Orleans, Plantations, Alone Time!

This has been a whirlwind few days. It started off with going to visit Aunt Ann, Uncle Bill and Grammy on the fourth. Of course, as you can see, Jack loved being there and so did Laura.

We got back home on Friday when Jim and I left for our weekend alone in New Orleans. We had a great time being all by ourselves for the first time in almost four years! I didn't even miss Jack all that much, but I have to admit that today I was happy to get home to see him. And from what I hear, he didn't have any problem with me being gone either. Not bad because that was the longest time that I had ever been away from him ever, so I think we did pretty good.

Of course Aunt Ann spoiled the kids rotten as is her way :). I did hear of one time when they decided to go to Krispy Kreme at 7:30 at night and load the boy up with sugar. HA! That will teach her. From what I hear he was bouncing off the walls for hours. Now she knows what we go through when she brings gummy worms and proceeds to give the boy the entire bag and then up and leaves us with the resulting consequence. HA! She has lived through the boy on a major sugar high now. It ain't pretty.

Making flag cookies with Aunt Ann and Sissy.

Grammy C. and Jack enjoying a chair together.

There is a nest in the corner of Aunt Ann's porch with three little baby birdies. So cute.

Mama Birdie feeding her babies.

All-American Fourth of July kids.

The kids had a blast in Aunt Ann and Uncle Bill's pool. In fact, Laura even went swimming when it was pouring down rain. She's a fish, I tell ya.

On Saturday, we went driving on River Road where the river plantations are located near New Orleans. There are absolutely beautiful and stunning plantations along the Mississippi River dating back to the early 1800's. The first one we went to was the Laura Plantation, which was run mainly by the women in the family for generations, the last being Laura, hence the name Laura Plantation. Of course, we had to buy Laura a t-shirt from there.

The front of Laura Plantation, which was a creole style plantation. I learned that the creole or French people decorated their houses in the bright colors while the American plantations were all white. I thought the history and the tour was fascinating.

We then went down the road to Oak Alley Plantation pictured above. This place was beyond breathtaking. Named after the 28 oaks that were lined up in front of the house. The oak trees were actually planted in the early 1700's, over a 100 years before the house was built.

The trees were gigantic and beautiful. Here you can see that at one point the giant tree limbs actually grew down to the ground and started to grow back up. Very beautiful trees.

View of the oak alley from the front porch.

We had a fun time in New Orleans. On Friday night we walked around the French Quarter, had a few drinks and dinner and just loved being childless. On Saturday, we spent the day touring plantations and then went out to Antoine's for dinner. Very nice and it was fun to dress up for dinner for a change. But the party animals that we are, we were back in the room and asleep by 10:00 that night. Yes, it is a fact that we are old!

We stayed in a fabulous little bed and breakfast, The Chimes. I highly recommend it for anybody who might find themselves in New Orleans.

Anyway, that is my last few days. Now it is back to normal stuff.

Happy July Fourth!

I hope everybody will have a very happy and safe July Fourth. I am taking the kids up to Grammy C and Aunt Ann's while Jim has to stay here and work. If you are a cop, you do NOT get July fourth off. Period.

Jim bought some sparklers and fireworks. He bought these so-called kid friendly fireworks. The thing looks like a ladybug and the lady at the fireworks stand said they just spin around and will pop up about a foot or so. HA! We actually did one the other night and that thing popped 30 feet up and went boom! It then fell back down onto our roof and rolled off almost on me. Yeah kid friendly. HA! Jack didn't like one very much, but he LOVED the sparklers and kept wanting to do another one and another and another.

When we come back, we are bringing back Grammy and Aunt Ann to babysit the kids and Jim and I will be off on our weekend alone to New Orleans! Alone!!!! Can't wait.

Happy July Fourth!

More Family Projects

We had another family project day. This time it was planting flowers in the new flower boxes that Jim attached to our fence. As you can see, both Laura and Jack were quite the helpers, as I sat back and was photographer :).

Laura is growing up to be such a beautiful young lady. I can hardly believe that she used to be a little girl when I first met her and now she is an almost teenager! These kids who insist upon growing up!

Family Project Day

The other day we had family art project day. Jim got the idea of buying bird houses to put on the fence posts out back. So we went to Michael's and bought four different birdie houses to paint together. Each of us painted a bird house, even Jack (with some help of course).

Mine

Laura's

Jack's (he called it his bird barn)

Daddy's

We enjoyed doing these so much, that I went back and bought two more. And because I video everything these days, here is a very short video of Jack and Laura doing the other "bird barn". Quite cute.