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.

Vacation Bible School Video (cute)

I have to say that I am so proud of Laura and Jack for participating in vacation bible school and actually enjoying themselves.

Here is some videos of last night when they were performing for all the parents. You can see Laura center stage in brown next to another girl in brown (they had to be twinsies) really getting into it. You can also see all my toddlers, including my own son, just kind of wandering around not really caring about the dancing and singing. Just a taste of what my week was like with those little people. But I have admit that I had a blast doing it and am looking forward to next year vacation bible school.

PS There are three separate videos. Different songs in case anybody was wondering why I had three videos looking like the same thing.

VBS Update

Just to update on the Vacation Bible School happenings. Well, I had to kick Dawson out of bible school. He is almost 5 years old and could not sit or stay still long enough to do anything. He was running like a wild child all over that church and I finally said to his mother that he was a security risk. I had six other toddlers to look after and I was scared that I would lose one of them while I was running after Dawson. I feel soooo sorry for his teachers when he gets to school! How embarassing to get kicked out of bible school!

After Dawson left, it became quite enjoyable to be with the remaning toddlers. It is so fun to see them soak it all up. Every night there is a word of the day like "Listen" and when I ask Jack later on what he learned in bible school, he will tell me "I need to listen". So he is understanding it all. Laura is actually enjoying herself also. We are taking her friend Tori every night, so that helps too. But it is fun to see her making new friends at the church and I saw her swapping phone numbers with some of the other girls.

Tonight is the last night. I think I have gotten a lot more out of the experience than the toddlers did. If anything, I learned a little bit more about disciplining a wild child!

We took a night off from VBS last night and went to the Ringling Bros circus. It was the only night that we could make it to the circus since Jim has to work every other night that it is in town. We all had fun watching the acrobats, clowns, doggies, elephants, and horses. Jack sat there for two hours totally engrossed with the whole thing. It was fun to experience the circus through his eyes.

Thomas Recall

I am sure everybody has seen this about the recall of Thomas products. I just checked and we have 5 of the items on the recall list. It looks like anything painted red is on the list. It said that you can send in your items for a refund, but I am having mixed feelings about this. I know that it can potentially be dangerous, but according to their own press release, no child has gotten sick yet. Of course, that could be that they know of at this time. Jack loves these trains. No, I take that back. Jack is obsessed with these trains. Especially the James one and to have to send it away, would be so hard. But on the other hand, I don't want it making him sick or worse!

So what are you other mothers out there doing? Are you sending yours back? Or letting them keep the trains? Decisions decisions!

That Imagination

Jack's imagination is really something. I wanted him to go potty before we went bye bye, so the kid is standing there in front of the toilet pretending to hold something. He turns to me and hands me whatever he is holding and says "can you hold my drink while I go potty?". So he hands me the "drink" and proceeds to go potty. I told him to wash his hands and that I would just put his "drink" on the sink while he did that. I pretend to put the "drink" down and then he yells at me, "YOU SPILLED MY DRINK!". Sigh. I can't win.

Oh My God!

Wow! I volunteered to be the preschool leader for vacation bible school at our church. Oh my goodness what a job! I thought that since one of the kids would be my own, I could do this. Ha! I am humbled by preschool teachers. I do not know how they do it.

Last night, I had 7 preschoolers to watch over for 2 1/2 hours and it just about brought me to my knees. I had a couple of girls from the youth helping me and those poor girls didn't know what hit them. They looked absolutely frazzled by the end of the night. Like I told them, it was good birth control. See what happens when ya'll fool around. You eventually get a three-year-old!!! I do believe they are not going to have sex until they are 30!

There was one little boy named Dawson who I really wanted to kick out of bible school! He had me running all over the church after him. At one point, when we were supposed to be singing and dancing in the sanctuary, he was climbing on top of the piano and grabbed the microphone pretending to be a rock star! Sigh. And I think he broke the microphone. I swear, he made my little hellion look like an angel.

Anyway, wish me luck as I go back tonight. It lasts until Friday night. It is going to be a very long week!

Everyone should have one

A stepdaughter that is. At least one like Laura. She really is a pleasure to have around and she makes my job so much easier. She entertains her brother, she keeps her room cleaner than I keep mine, she cleaned her brother's room (big big job), and she babysat when I had a meeting at the church last night. Not only did she watch Jack and did a phenomenal job at that, but she also cleaned up the house before I got home. Yeah, everybody should have one like her.

We are off to the beach this morning. We didn't go yesterday because it turned very very hot and I was really not into baking on the sand. So instead we are going to hit the beach by 9:30 and leave by noon.

And my treat this afternoon? I get to go to the grocery store all by myself! With no boy. What freedom. Laura is going to watch him while I am at the store. Yeah I could get used to having her around very very easily.

** Update It is now afternoon and we just got back from the beach. I had heard that the UV Index was in the hazard area and man were they right. I think we absolutely baked there on the sand. At 10 in the morning! I can now say with total confidence, that I have the darkest tan that I have had in over 20 years. Not since I used to lay on my little silver suntan bed in the backyard, have I ever been this dark.

Pictures - The Room, The Pool

The girl's room. It really shows up pink in these pictures. Almost hurts your eyes. Laura and I are still discussing what we are going to do with the green paint. Right now, she wants to paint circles of all different sizes. Will post more pictures when that is done.

Also notice the reflection on the wall from her mirror that is on her bed. Laura and I could not figure out what that was in the picture. Her Dad walks up and says "oh its the mirror reflection." Duh. Yeah we felt stupid.

We went to the pool this morning. It was totally gross. There were about 6 dead frogs floating in the water, probably from the huge rain storm we had last night. Anyway, the girl would not go in the water until I had fished them all out. I guess I had to do the mother thing and de-frog the pool. After all frogs were gone, the two fishes had a fun time.

After Jim goes to bed because he has to work tonight, I am thinking about taking the kids to the beach. It isn't miserably hot today (again thanks to the rain storm) and it would be a good beach day. Ahhh tis the life. Pool, beach, fun in the sun. Tough life here.

Horror of all Horrors!

A terrible, horrible, no-good thing happened in the Jackaroo house. It is so bad, it makes me shutter and cry just thinking about it. Our coffee maker died! As in doornail dead. The horror! It is a very scary day indeed.

Thank goodness, we had a backup from years and years ago. But you can bet that I will be at Bed Bath and Beyond buying a new model very very soon!

Got a Girl

Well we got the girl. Of course, it couldn't happen without some drama enfolding. Her plane was delayed from California because of the bad weather in Texas, which meant that she was not going to make her connections in Houston. After a lot of drama with her mother and all, she finally got into New Orleans last night at 10:30, only 3 hours late. We didn't get home until 12:30, but Jack was soooo super duper excited to have his Sissy that he was practically bouncing off the walls. He did not want to go to bed when we got home, but I told him that "it was so late, it was early."

We started off today by going to the water park. Laura and her Dad went off to do the really big slides, including the water roller coaster, while Jack and I stayed in the kiddie pool area and the kiddie slides. Truth be told, the slides in the the kiddie area are quite enough for me. In fact one that Jack can't ride by himself yet, but can go with me, is quite fast and twisty turny enough for me. But I am sure, by the end of the summer, my courage will be worked up enough to go on the water roller coaster. Maybe.

But we all had fun and got home just before the big storm came through the area. It is the same storm that was holding Laura up yesterday in flying. I was invited to a Southern Living home party tonight, but am thinking about not going. Our road is basically one big river at the moment and not really into boating to the party. So a quiet night at home watching the downpour is in store.

The Countdown is Over

Today is the day. The day that we in the Jackaroo house have been looking forward to for weeks. It is the day that Laura/Sissy gets here from California. Seriously, Jack has been missing his sister so much, that it just about breaks my heart. He mentions her every single day. And for the past six weeks or so, we have been counting down the weeks and then the days. Every morning when he wakes up, he said "Sissy gets here in 3 weeks/days". And today is the day we go to pick her up from the New Orleans airport.

And if all goes well, she very well maybe staying through the school year. I am hoping and praying that is the case. It would be so good for her and Jack and Jim and I to have her here with us as a family. Of course, this all has to be okayed by her mother (the wicked witch of the west) and negotations are still continuing on that front. But I think there is a good chance that we will be enrolling her into sixth grade here in Mississippi. Yay!

And speaking of Mississippi, it is HOT and HUMID. Oh my gosh people! When at 6:30 this morning, I am outside admiring my rose bushes, I have sweat rolling off of me. There is something just plain wrong about that. I knew moving to Mississippi would mean hot and humid summers, but this is ridiculous. Enough already. Problem is, it isn't even officially summer yet! I am in trouble.

By Ourselves!

I Can Not Believe It! (as in the words of Quincy from Little Einsteins). Jim and I are going to get a weekend away by ourselves. As in no boy. As in just us. Nobody else. The two of us. For two whole days. Ya'll this is exciting. Big Big News. Because you see, we have not had a vacation by ourselves together in over four years! Big News I tell ya!

In three weeks, we are going to New Orleans for the weekend. Aunt Ann and Uncle "Bailey" and Grammy C. are all coming down to watch the boy and the girl while we go gallavanting to The Big Easy. Did I tell you it was by ourselves? We are staying in a Bed and Breakfast in the Garden District. We get to sleep in if we want! We get to go places and do things without having to worry about a whiney three-year-old! We get to drink! For two days. This is the first time that I will be away from Jack for that long. I don't think that I have ever been away from him for more than 8 hours in his entire life. But I figure with his Aunt, Uncle, Grammy, and Sissy, he should be fine without me for that long.

Of course, I know that on Sunday, I will be racing back home so that I can hug that whiney three-year-old! But until then, I plan to have some fun with his father! :)

Fisherman Jack

Aunt Ann and Uncle "Bailey" came down to visit us yesterday. We always love when they come to visit and Jack gets to go fishing with his uncle. Just some pictures from the fishing expedition last night.

View of Gulfport, MS as it is getting dark.

Jack and his Uncle "Bailey" fishing. I have a feeling that they are going to be quite the fishing duo when Jack gets a bit older.

He loves his Aunt Ann and Uncle "Bailey". Good times when they come to visit.

We Didn't Kill Em

We bought 6 rose bushes about a month ago and planted them in front of our house. They looked beautiful in the pots, however when we got them home and planted, not so much. I thought that we had killed em. But with a little bit of rose food, watering, and a strict talking to, they are starting to flower! Yay! Well four of the bushes are anyway, two of them still look kinda sick. I need to talk to them some more, I guess.

Remind Me NOT To Let The Boy Sleep During The Day Again ... Ever!

Geesh. The boy went down hard yesterday around 2:00 in the afternoon. He was sitting on my lap watching one of his shows and next thing I know, he is snoring. I know that we have been going pretty hard the last few days and it has finally caught up with him. He was worn out. Problem is, he slept three hours, waking up just before Daddy went to work. And boy oh boy was he awake. He was my energizer bunny on steroids last night.

I tried to keep him busy and active by having him help me water the flowers and the lawn and ending with a jumping session on the trampoline. We went inside around 8:00, where he ran around in circles for a good 30 minutes. With the new floors, he is really enjoying using the length of the kitchen, family room, and down the hall as his personal race track. He keeps saying "watch me run fast!".

At 9:30 when I was nodding off in the chair, the boy was literally doing somersaults on the couch. He was quite proud of himself for learning that feat and did it over and over and over again. He wasn't entirely uncaring about my wanting to go to bed. At one point, we walked over to the chair I was sitting in and said "Go to bed Mom". Like he's some teenager trying to get his Mom to go to bed so he can do God-only-knows-what to the house. Um Nope.

I told him that he has to go to bed too. His reply was "Not Me." And he looked at me like I had three heads and six eyes when he said that.

Finally a little after 10, I told him that he could sleep in my bed, which he promptly yelled "yahoo!". He went to get his book about tractors and got in bed to read, while I was trying to read between nodding off. He thought that was pretty neat.

After I turned the light off, he reached over and said "I love you" and gave me a big kiss. Awwwww. Such a little suck up he is.

Remind me also never to sleep with the boy again. Oh My Gawd! We have a king size bed and I found myself falling out of it on several occassions last night. I kept waking up to find his feet lodged in my back and me with 6 inches of the bed. I don't know how many times I moved the child back into position last night, or told him to "put your head on the pillow!".

Um yeah, so now I realize why there are no more naps anymore in the Jackaroo house. I understand completly now.

The Addiction Spreads ...

I want everybody to welcome my friend from High School to the blogging world. We will call her Not Me's Mom and she is hilarious. Ha! And she said that she didn't have anything to write about. She has been making me laugh for the past couple of days. Once you start writing, you just can't stop, I tell ya. Go say hi for me.

So that makes three of us (Steffie) from my little graduating class of 120 that I know are blogging. Yep the addiction is a spreading.

We Now Own a Trampoline

Our neighbors bought a huge new trampoline to replace their smaller one and guess who got their smaller one? We did! This thrills Jack to no end and I am sure that when Laura gets here, she will be thrilled as well. I am just hoping we don't end up in the ER this summer with one or more broken bones!

Here's a little video of the boy on the thing.

Middle of the Night

Jack woke up screaming last night around 2:30. I heard him, but laid there for about a minute hoping that I wasn't really hearing my child screaming for me. And also hoping that my dear husband next to me would get up and tend to the screaming child. And he did. He went in there and all I heard was "I WANT MY MAMA!!!" Oh joy. So husband comes back to bed and a few minutes later, I decide to get up.

Ever since Jack was a baby, milk will usually calm him down. So I went and got him a sippy cup of milk and took it to his room. He was doing the sniffly, hiccupy cry. I am sure he had some bad dream, which has been happening a few times a week lately. He crawled into my lap and we talked for a few minutes. It really is nice to still be needed. After he calmed down, he got back into bed and was asleep right away.

As for me, I tried to go back to bed, but nope, I was awake. Oh joy. So I get up and get a glass of water and get online at 3:00 in the morning. Ebaying. You know ebay is a very dangerous place and most especially at 3:00 in the morning. Yes, I bought something. I am weak. I know it. I bought a ceramic pot with blue flowers and yellow lemons, which just happens to be my kitchen colors. It will look great above my kitchen cabinets. Yes, ya'll I am an addict to ebay.

Then a half hour later, I am still wide awake and what do I do? I watch an episode Designer's Challenge from HGTV, of course! My other weakness in life. HGTV shows.

Finally got back in bed a little after 4 am. But thanks to my wonderful husband, I got to sleep until 7:30!!! I can't remember sleeping that late. Wow that was nice. And now my wonderful husband is outside in 95-degree heat (yes at 9:30 in the morning!) and mowing the lawn. He is the best!

Love Those Weekends when Daddy is Home

Another busy busy weekend was had by those of us in the Jackaroo house. On Friday night, we hosted a get together for about 16 people from our church. It was the first time we did any kind of entertaining here at our house that was not family related. I think it was a success. There were 2 toddlers who also came over, Cori and Andrew. Jack had an absolute blast showing them his room. As the adults were talking in the family room, the three toddlers were destroying Jack's room. Seriously, there was not any floor space showing. Somehow, I don't know how, nor do I want to know how, but they got toys down from the top of the boy's dresser. Six feet in the air! I can just imagine they worked like a little team to get those things down. Scary when you put toddlers together semi-unsupervised. Scary.

On Saturday night, we continued our party ways and went to our neighbor's bbq, where Jack again had a blast playing with Allison. It was fun sitting on their nice deck drinking a beer and talking with grown-ups. Not something that I get to do everyday.

Today was church where I was filling in for the kid's sunday school teacher. I always enjoy working with the kids, even though, I admit that I am always a bit nervous before I do it.

After we came home from church, we headed to the pool with new pool toys in hand. We stayed there about three hours and totally wiped all of us out. Even vampire Daddy ,who works nights, got some sun. And now Jack is passed out for the night. He has been up until almost 11 pm the past two nights, so I think with the swimming and the parties of the weekend, it caught up with the Energizer Bunny. Now it's my turn. Hope everybody had a good weekend.

Operation Exhaustion

In my everlasting quest to tire the boy out, we went to the neighborhood pool this morning. It is hot hot hot and about 2000% humidity today. A perfect day for a dip in the pool. It was really fun and refreshing. There was another little girl there who shared her pool toys with Jack. I keep meaning to go buy pool toys, but always forget when I am at Walmart. He really liked the little inner tube thing and I was able to pull him all over the pool with it, which was good because I feel like I actually got a good workout swimming the length of the pool back and forth.

So anyway, I am hoping the boy will be really tired from the water and sun and the mile walk to actually take a nap today. Soon. We are having people come over tonight from the church and I really would like to get my house cleaned up before that happens. Without Jack's "help". Right now he is eating a hot dog and animal crackers and watching his new favorite show I Spy (thank goodness for something different than Thomas!). Wish me luck.

*** Updated It is now 5:00 pm and everybody is coming in two hours. The boy? I swear on my life that he is the real life energizer bunny. He is going and going and going. Me? I am pooped. The only thing the swim did was make ME want to take a nap.

Obsessed

In my 40 years on this earth, I have owned 6 houses. Is that a lot? I think that is a lot. Of course, that does not include the original house that I was born into (the smallest house in Michigan, I believe) nor the house that we moved to when I was 6 years old. I have also lived in a couple dorm rooms and three different apartments. Yes, I have moved around a lot. Oh and that all was in 5 different states.

In all that moving around, I do not believe that I have ever obsessed over decorating as I have in this current house. I am obsessed. Of course watching HGTV all the time does not help. I record all the shows with House Hunters and Designed to Sell being my favs. And for the last 8 or 9 months that we have been living here, I have thought about how to decorate this house every single day. I think I am done with the majority of the house. The only rooms that I haven't touched are my bedroom and the guest bedroom. I have gone through what seems like hundreds of gallons of paint and hours upon hours spent online looking for stuff for the house. My latest research project was area rugs. We just put down the hardwood floor and of course ya gotta cover them up with area rugs right? So thrifty me found overstock.com and went wild buying rugs. Even the UPS guy who on the third day of delivering rugs to my house said "ya got enough rugs now?"

So after all that, my fear is what do I do when I finish? Start all over? Or will it be time to buy a new house?

Girl's Room ... Part Two

Well after a long day of painting, Jim and I finished the girl's room. It is hot pink. Oh boy is it hot pink. But I have to admit, it looks awesome. The lime green drapery panels look awesome and her new bedding just completes the look. Jim put the PB shelves up today and put her dolls and stuffed animals on the shelves. I only bought a quart of the lime green paint and will hold off until Laura gets here to help me with that. I thought Iwould go get some stencils with her and we can stencil something on the wall with the green paint.

Oh and I have to just say that I totally heart ebay! You basically can find anything on there. I ordered a pink and green flip flop lamp shade. It is absolutely perfect for the girl since the only thing she puts on her feet are flip flops. I also ordered the light switch cover that matches the lamp shade. Of course. I will take a picture of the room and post it here when I get everything assembled and put together. I think she is going to love it.

Of course, Jim and I had to do the painting yesterday with the boy in the room. Of course he wanted to help also with his little paint brush that let him hold. I don't know how the boy did it, but I would put the smallest speck of paint on his brush to "help" paint, but somehow he managed to get that speck of paint everywhere BUT the wall. I don't know how many times I was taking a wash rag trying to get paint out of the carpet. Between him "helping" with the paint and all the trucks he insisted on bringing into the room, Jim and I needed that well deserved beer at the end of the day yesterday.

Hot Pink and Lime Green

Goodness. For the past two hours, I have been digging Laura's room out. She is a worse pack rat than her father! And THAT is saying a lot! I swear she has 4,324 pony tail holders and she never can find one when she wants one. What is up with that? She also has a ton of old stuff that she no longer cares about nor even knows she has, like all her Bratz stuff that she was SO into about three years ago. That Bratz stuff comes with 3,563 pieces for every doll.

Well all that stuff got thrown away in three boxes full of junk today. I also went through and sorted out her clothes and put aside about 90% to be given to a family at church. It is amazing because NOW you can actually see that she has a closet, not just a space full of junk and clothes. Goodness that girl.

I am also doing a makeover for her room before she gets here for the summer. She has gone with the (very) hot pink and (very) lime green colors. I bought her a new hot pink bedspread with lime green pillows, along with green and pink draperies. My Mom and Dad bought her a pink and green rug when they were here in April. Thanks guys, it looks great. I am also going to put up some shelves I bought from Pottery Barn (the best place ever) for her collectible dolls and such.

Hopefully before the weekend is over, her room will be complete. I plan on going to get some paint (hot pink of course) to paint her room. I am also going to get a quart of the lime green paint to do accents. I have been toying with the idea of painting the bottom half of her walls with the green stripes, but to be honest, not sure if my painting skills are up to snuff for that complicated endeavor. It looks easy on HGTV when they do it, but I am sure it's not. Her bedroom furniture will go to Jack in about a year when he outgrows his toddler bed. The dresser has blue drawers and I have been thinking about painting the drawers the lime green, but not sure since it will probably be Jack's next year and I will have to paint it back to blue at that time. But we shall see.

I have to admit that I am having a lot of fun decorating Laura's room. It will be fun to have her around this summer.

Girls Night Out!

I went on girls night out last night! Whoohooo! I went with 3 other mothers from Jack's class and let me tell you, it was so much fun to actually get out of the house alone. Without Jack. I don't think I have actually done this since we were living in California about a year ago. About time ya think?

We went to see the movie Knocked Up. Hilarious. Laugh out loud until it hurts funny. Of course any movie about pregnancy to a group of mothers who just did that three years ago, has got to be funny right? And of course, after the movie, we sat around and talked for awhile. And the topic of discussion? Yeah you got it. Our birth stories. We had to tell each and every horrifying aspect of giving birth. It is so funny to me that women try to one up each other on how hard their delivery was compared to the next one. I think my 20 hour ordeal after a five week stint on bedrest was bad, but compared to another woman who had labor for almost 3 days before they finally did a c-section has to take the cake. And of course there is always the one who had the 3-hour labor and 2 pushes later, she had her baby. Hate those! Hehe.

But we had fun and hopefully will be able to get out again within the next year or so. Lord knows I sure needed it last night.

Fun in the Sun

Today I wanted to make it up to Jack for yesterday's lack of activity due to waiting for the floor installers all day long. By the way, they did show up only to move my refrigerator and stove back into place and tell me they will be back Monday morning "first thing". We'll see what "first thing" means to them.

But anyway, I decided to take Jack to the waterpark today after church. Jim was sleeping all day because he had to work late this morning on some complicated police matter. Something about some girls and purse snatching and runaway vehicles at the IHOP parking lot. I didn't get it, but it made him get home about two hours late. So the poor guy needed his sleep badly. So off to the waterpark we went.

We had a blast. I realized that this will probably one of the very few times, if not the only time, that it will just be me and Jack at the waterpark this summer. Laura will be here in about two weeks for the entire summer and she will be with us, not that I don't love having her, it was just nice that it was just Jack and I for once. This time, the boy loved the wave pool. He loved it so much that when it was time for the waves to start back up, he would go into a fit of giggles anticipating them. And then he would continue giggling all the while riding the waves like a pro. He also loved getting in the inner tube and bouncing up and down on the waves in that thing. Yep, the wave pool was a big hit.

I also laughed my butt off at him today. First of all, he is such a cool looking kid. How I got such a good looking child, I will never know. Let's just say he looks just like his Dad. But these days he has been sporting a pretty serious tan and you put that little tanned body in swim trunks and put him in a wave pool with music blaring, well he just oozes movie star charm. Not that I am biased or anything. So there we were, in the wave pool riding the waves, and laughing, when the waves stopped and the song "The Slide" comes on. You know the one where you stomp to the left and to the right. It is so cool. Well before I know it, my cool child is stomping and clamping and jumping and getting his groove on! It was hilarious and I was really wishing I had my camera to video the whole thing. The kid has rhythm! Who knew?

Grrrr....

I have been waiting around all day long for the floor installers to come back and finish up their job. They told us yesterday that they would be back here in the morning, but they called about 10:00 this morning and said they would be here this afternoon because they "wanted the glue to set some more". Okay fine. It is now almost 4:00 in the afternoon and I have not seen or heard from them at all. My house is torn up. Literally. My stove and refrigerator are in the middle of the kitchen. My washer and dryer are in the garage, along with bucketfuls of sawdust from them cutting in there yesterday that they promised they would clean up. My china cabinet is in two pieces in my den, along with my dining room table. And the kitchen table is in the middle of the family room. Yes, my house is a mess. And there is nothing I can do about it until these guys get back here to replace my baseboards and clean up the mess. In the meantime, I have been trying to figure out things to do with the boy while Daddy sleeps because Daddy has to work tonight. I can't go anywhere because that is the precise time they will show up and then leave. It is super duper hot outside and after 45 minutes of walking and Jack riding his bike, we called it quits. I wanted to go to the swimming pool, but I can't because I have to stay and wait for the possibility they will show up. But it is looking slim that they even will today and if they don't, that means my house will be torn up until Monday.

Yes, I love the new wood floors. But for the last two and half weeks, it feels like my house and subsequently my life is in shambles. I just can't wait until it is all done and put back in order!!!!

Date Night!

It actually happened! Jim and I got a night out. By ourselves. As in with no boy! A true miracle indeed.

We went to see Ron White at the Beau Rivage last night in Biloxi. We went with Ms. Kelsey (Jack's teacher) and her husband and Kyle's mom and dad (also known as Jennifer and Mark). We had a great time. Laughed a lot at Ron White. He sure is funny. And even had a grown up drink! It sure was fun getting out of the house just the two of us.

We dropped Jack off at Miss Ming's (his chinese tutor) house. I could tell the boy was a bit confused about the whole getting dropped off and not getting to go with mama and daddy thing. He kept saying "you are dropping me off?" But he had a blast playing with her son and their dog, a big black lab, named Shay. In fact, he was sleeping when we went to pick him up and didn't wake up even when we put him in bed.

I do believe that it had been almost two years since we had a night out by ourselves. In fact, it was when we went to see Ron White in California! And yes, we do need to do it more often. It easy to forget that you are first and foremost a couple before parents.

In other news, our house is tore up again. The wood floor is being installed in our kitchen and laundry room and is giving me great excuses for not cooking hehe. Hopefully it will be done today and I can get my house back into shape once and for all. Yay!