9 1/2 hrs and counting.....

till I have to get the boys up to get ready for school. Because their bus will come about 6:30 am, I'm getting them out of bed about 5:30ish. Itsn't that horrid? Last year David was the first one on the bus in the morning. This year I'm not sure if the boys will be first on or not, but we'll find out soon enough.

It was difficult getting Nathaniel to settle down tonight for bed. He's so excited to go to school tomorrow and see his teacher. Since he's in AM pre-k, he'll eat breakfast at school instead of lunch. He's not one to eat really early in the morning, so I doubt I'll be able to get him to eat something before he gets on the bus.

I plan on taking pictures tomorrow morning, so watch for them tomorrow.

An Outdoor Service

We had our last outdoor worship service at church this morning. It was beautiful out. Sunny, a light breeze and COLD! I'm not sure what the temp actually was, but it wasn't any higher than 60 degrees, probably closer to 55 degrees. The worship team was set up in the shade of the church building, but by the time church started, we (us singers, anyway) were in the sun. The congregation was in the sun from the beginning, so they were relatively warm the entire time. We had a potluck afterwards, and had lots of yummy food to eat. It was a lovely close to the summer.

Two days till school starts! Yippee! I mean, oh, I'm so sad that my kids will be going off to school and leaving me at the house by myself. (sniff, sniff) :)

Is It Really Saturday?

I woke up this morning thinking that today was any other day than Saturday. I'm not sure why. I had stuff to do today, so I don't know what I was thinking. We went to La Crosse for a Sam's Club & Woodmans' run, then after coming home & unloading the car and getting Nathaniel down for a nap, Richard & David went to Black River Falls to go to a bow shop. Richard needed a couple of things to get his bow ready for hunting season, which starts up pretty quick.

There is a BMW for sale right off the hwy on our way into town. Its been there for almost a month, and on the way to La Crosse this morning, Richard & I talked about the possibility of buying it. I know, a BMW would typically be out of our price range, but this one was $2400. Its a '92, with a whopping 282,000 miles on it. We talked about what we'd be willing to pay & we stopped on the way home to take a closer look at it, talked about it some more, called the guy who is selling it & since its basically sold (the buyer is bringing the $ on Monday) and we wouldn't want to pay more than $1800 for it & he's getting $2000 for it we let it go. We'd been talking about getting a beater car to drive so that we're not using so much gas in the Bronco, but we'll keep a look out for something else.

And So It Begins...

the last weekend before school starts. I have all the new school clothes washed & hung up, school supplies in backpacks & ideas for lunches for David since he won't eat hot lunch. Both boys are excited about school starting, Nathaniel more about riding the bus than anything, I think.

Today was pretty uneventful. Ran a couple of errands, took a nap, made salads for dinner & now here we are. The kids are having their snack before bed & I just finished a huge grocery list for Sam's Club.

My allergies are killing me. We mowed for the last 2 days, and the cut grass is making me all stuffy. I walked out to the mailbox and back and within a half an hour I was sneezing up a storm. After sneezing for about the 6th time in as many minutes Richard asked if I was ok. No, I'm not ok! I can't stop sneezing!

We Just Keep Mowing and Mowing.....

and mowing some more. It seems like we no more than get done with mowing the lawn and we have to start over again. We did get the whole yard, about 1/2 an acre, mowed in 2 days. I think that's a record for us. Richard mowed the west side of the yard last night & together he and I got the east side and the back done & used the weed-eater around the entire yard as well. The boys entertained themselves by raking up the cut grass. That, and Nathaniel picked the occassional grape tomato to munch on. That kid loves tomatoes!

I'm so tired I can hardly keep my eyes open so I'm going to head for bed. I've been making myself get up about 6:30, to try and start getting used to getting up early again for school. Its not working. The good thing is that I'll be able to take a nap in the afternoon when Nathaniel takes one. Thank goodness for kids that still nap!

Pre-K Open House & Doctor Appts and the Short Bus?

This afternoon was Nathaniel's Pre-Kindergarten Open House. He was so excited to go and meet his teacher that he didn't mind sitting in the car while I went in with David to leave him with friends. Upon arriving in his classroom, he did briefly say hi to his teacher, then immediately went and found the play workbench and proceeded to pound play nails into holes with a toy hammer. Very cute. He also filled up a shopping cart with lots of stuff, and wasn't willing to share with the other kids. Not so cute. We ended up having to go into the hall for a chat until he calmed down. After that he was better. We found other things to do, so that helped. We were one of the first ones there & the last to leave. Nathaniel didn't want to go, but when I asked him if he wanted to come back, he said yes, and put his toys down and started to walk out the door. He then had to go back and show his teacher (who was David's pre-k teacher) his Transformer tattoos.

The boys' dr appts went well. Neither had to have shots, much to David's relief. When the Dr asked if I had any concerns about David, I jokingly mentioned that there was a problem with his mouth - he can't stop talking. So he jokingly replied that they fix that by stapling it closed, much to David's horror. We quickly reassured him that we were just teasing & then he got a laugh from it as well.

I called the bus barn this morning since I hadn't received any letters about the kids riding the bus, and since school starts on Tuesday, I was getting a little concerned. The lady on the phone was very helpful, and informed me that they would be riding bus 14, not bus 6 that David rode last year, and that it was a short bus. Apparently there are a couple of kids out this way that have special needs, and so the kids on this part of the original route will be getting picked up by that bus this year. Immediately jokes about riding the short bus filled my head, but neither of my kids will care, so I'm not too worried about it. David was excited to learn he was riding a different bus than last year. Anyway, the lady said that she just finished stuffing the letters into envelopes so we should be getting them on Thursday or Friday. Talk about down to the wire!

I Have a Better Perspective...

on last night's FPU preview. Yes, very few people came. However, that doesn't mean that people won't sign up for the class. I know of several people, now that I've thought about it, who are going to take the class. There's the church secretary, the newly married couple, a couple from the first class who had to drop out after a few classes, and a couple who registered online. That's seven people. PLUS the couple who signed up last night, and will be bringing their 2 teenaged kids. Even if that's all we had, thats a good group. And when I talked to my church advisor at Dave Ramey's office about it, he said that a small group is almost better than a large group because we'll all bond. We won't have our small groups that we bond with. We'll bond with the whole class. Very good point.

On to other topics. Nathaniel's potty training has been going very well. He hasn't had an accident (other than #2) since this past Thursday. So it'll be a week in a couple of days that he's been dry. Yippee! I think we're going to switch him from his training underwear to regular underwear another week or so, just to be on the safe side. But I've very pleased with how he's doing. I hardly have to ask him anymore if he needs to go potty. He just goes on his own. I do still ask in the mornings right after he gets up, but he doesn't usually want to go right away, so I wait till he decides to go on his own, and he runs right to the potty. I just keep reminding him to stay dry.

The boys are in bed now. And so far all is quiet. David, I'm sure is asleep. Nathaniel is probably playing a little with all the toys in his bed that he sleeps with. He better get a good night's sleep tonight since he's not getting a nap tomorrow. We have his Pre-K open house from 1-2 pm & Dr appts for both boys at 2:45 pm. But that's the last things that we have to do for the week.

FPU Preview & An Open House

I was so excited about this evening's FPU preview. I baked for about 3 hours this morning so we'd have snacks. The boys and I went into town about 2:15 so I could spend a hour or so setting up tables & chairs before going to David's school's open house. Then it was time to grab some dinner & finish up at the church before the preview started at 6:30.

David had a blast at the open house. We were the first ones in his class, so we got about 10 minutes of chatting with his teacher without interruption, which was nice. I found out her 4 year old twins will be in Nathaniel's pre-k class, so that'll be fun. David was excited to see some classmates from his Kindergarten class last year, a friend from pre-k that wasn't in his class last year & we also went and said hi to his kindergarten teacher. Nathaniel was at a friend from church's house during this, so I could concentrate on David.

The FPU preview. Where do I start? Well, first, it was definetly a Monday. We had problems with the sound system, couldn't find the needed cables, and only 6 people (not including me and my other small group leader) showed up. I had set up 6 tables that would seat 8 each, so needless to say I was a bit disappointed. I forgot, however, that we have at least 2 more couples coming for sure. One didn't plan on coming to the preview, and I really didn't expect them, the other couple was going to come, but circumstances changed & they weren't able to make it. One of the ladies that came tonight was in my first class, but she came to sign her daughter & son-in-law up. (yep, they know, they were just out of town) When I commented afterwards that I was expecting more people, she told me of something that happened to her. She started a Bible study, and the first day, only 1 person came. And the next time, and the next time. Always the same person. She said she asked God why there weren't more people. He said not to count the people, but to feed His sheep. It doesn't matter how many there are, but that they are hungry. Thank you, Karen, for your words of wisdom!

To my cousin, Nancy - I hope you're feeling better!

The Countdown Begins

We're finally home! And so begins the countdown till school starts. 10 days and counting! (including today) David's Open House for 1st grade is tomorrow. Nathaniel's for Pre-K is on Wednesday. Our Financial Peace University Free Preview is tomorrow night. Tomorrow is going to be way hectic, but I have a list! A to-do list, that is.

I have to go get the kids ready for bed, I'll post more tomorrow.

It was a quiet day spent mosly at home. Mom & Dad took the boys to the playground in the sfternoon & I ran a couple errands after dinner without the kids.

Its been a quiet day. My mom is working and my dad took the kids out on a short day trip. Me? I'm waiting to get my hair done.

A busy day. Went to wal-mart, we all took 3 hr naps, made fresh sala, I got rained on while picking tomatoes. Boys are in bed now and that's where I'm going.

We made it to mom & dad's about 12:45 pm. Nathaniel is naapping, David is coloring and I'm going to lay down for a little while since I can't keep my eyes open.

Busy, Busy Day

Well, today flew by rather quickly. I had a fun medical appt that involved an x-ray machine and semi-painful squeezing, and a follow-up Drs appt regarding my migraines, which have not only not gotten better, but have gotten worse. My Dr changed my Rx from a beta blocker to an anti-depressant, not because I'm depressed, but because its been shown to help prevent migraines when taken daily. So we're going to try that and I'm supposed to go back in 6-8 weeks for another follow-up appt. Thank goodness for Tricare insurance!

Nathaniel woke up dry this morning and went potty (yippee!) with minimal objections. He's stayed dry all day! Now if only he'd quit pooping his pants.....

Richard finished his school for his Staff Sergeant promotion. Now he'll be putting his packet in for Sergeant First Class in the next few months. He's been an E6 almost a year!

The boys and I are going to my parents' house again. We're leaving tomorrow and coming home on Sunday. Richard has Wednesday & Thursday off, but has to work Friday and Saturday, so unfortunately he can't come. But he'll have some much needed time to himself.

My posts for the next few days due to no internet access again while I'm at my parents'. Have a great rest of the week!

An Obvious Monday

Today did not start out well. Its been so totally a Monday that I could hardly stand it. First, I had to wake the boys up so we could go pick our dogs up at the kennel where we boarded them this weekend. Nathaniel had wet his bed, but I should really say soaked. I had to wash his sheets & his comforter. I also sprayed his mattress down with Febreeze. (wonderful stuff, Febreeze) David wasn't ready to get up, and attempted to play possum, but it didn't work too well since he'd already talked to me before his possum attempt. After taking them downstairs, I tried to get Nathaniel to use his potty, but he didn't want to.

After the kids got dressed and we headed to the kennel. Got the dogs picked up and made it back home. It was about 8:45 am when we got back home and I again took Nathaniel in use the potty. He again didn't want to, so we had a test of wills for the next 20 minutes before I finally convinced him to pee. I'm sure he'd had to go since he got out of bed, but is stubborn enough to hold it for over an hour simply because he doesn't want to go.

A short while later, Nathaniel began tormenting David by knocking down all the Transformers that he'd set up for his current battle. David can really work himself up into a tizzy when he wants to, and today was no exception. Tears, pounding fists on the floor and stomping his feet in frustration just fuels Nathaniel's fire, but David is still young enough that he can't just ignore what Nathaniel is doing. Whereas Richard can stop Nathaniel with just his voice, I have to physically intervene and pull Nathaniel away from the area, which doesn't work very well, since he just goes right back to tormenting David. Today, I got sick of both David's behavior and Nathaniel's, and told David that he was going to take a nap when Nathaniel did. That must have been the straw that broke the camel's back, cause he actually threw a temper tantrum. Not a throwing himself down on the floor, kicking and screaming, but he threw a toy on the floor and threw himself down on the rock. That really clinched it for me. Then I needed a nap. David cried off and on for an hour because he was so upset (and TIRED!)

After lunch and naps, everyone felt much better! David was acting more himself, and Nathaniel got his birthday package from Aunt Cherie & LOVES the new Transformer Optimus Prime Battle Blaster that he got. Its too difficult to explain, I'll post pictures of it tomorrow. Needless to say, Nathaniel wanted to take it to bed this evening, but we wouldn't let him. Its "parked" in the "shed", aka the box that his gifts came in.

I'm exhausted, so I'm off to bed.

Finally Home!

After about 4 1/2 hours in the car, we finally made it home! It was a warm welcome - it was 81 degrees in the house! We didn't have the air conditioner on since we were gone for a couple of days, but its cooling down nicely now.

After we got the car unloaded we went out to the garden and picked a few tomatoes and some bell peppers. A salad is sounding really good right now! Unfortunately we have no lettuce. :(

The boys are excited to be home and are busying playing with their toys. Or picking them up right now, anyways. Or they are supposed to be.

I have to say that the short posts from my phone made me feel like I was on Twitter. I can only send 160 character texts, so they are only 20 characters more than a Twitter post. I do have a Twitter account, but my posts to it are almost non-existent.

Congratulations to my cousin Laura, who graduated from Baylor University on Saturday!

We just finished lunch and will be heading home in the next 20 minutes or so. We should be home by 5:30 or so. Its been a fun but fast weekend.

It was a long day, but a good one. Played Scrabble with mom AND Nathaniel stayed dry all day long. Yippee for Nathaniel! But it can be a pain to get him to go.

Went school shopping for Nathaniel this morning. We got his supplies & a couple of shirts for him and David. Now we're all done with school shopping! Yippee!!

Two huge potty traing successes today! Nathaniel caught himself before he wet his pants & he went #2 in the potty! I'm doing the potty training happy dance!

Almost back to my parents' house. Both boys are sleeping. David said before he fell asleep, "I'm not tired!" Oh, you aren't? Then why are you sleeping? :)

We're on the way out of the fair parking lot. Its harder to get out than in. We went on the big yellow slide and the boys had lot of fun. Nathaniel is tired!!

Its been a longb day already. No potty accidents yet with Nathaniel, but the afternoon is still young.

We made it to my parents house about 2:30 this afternoon. The boys are excited to see Grandma and Grandpa. We're going to the IA state fair tomorrow.

Toe Paint and a Birthday

This morning as I polished my toenails, Nathaniel, the birthday boy, watched intently. First it was, "I help?" Then, "paint toes" as he sat down in a chair and held his feet up for me. So I turned it into "you go potty and I'll paint your toes." Off he ran to the potty, peed and came running back to the chair. I would've put a lighter color of polish on if I had one, but I don't think he would've let me, cause it wouldn't have been what I had on. Here's the end result. And he's so proud of it. At least he doesn't wear flip flops, so no one will see unless he doesn't have shoes on. I do have to say that Daddy wasn't thrilled.


Then David had to join in. His didn't last very long, however, he wanted it taken off shortly after I put it on. "Mom, nail paint is for girls, and since I'm not a girl, please take it off." Polish, David. Its polish, not paint. Ah, but what do boys know about nail polish?



Today, of course, is Nathaniel's 4th birthday. I can't belive that 4 years has gone by since he joined our family. Its gone by so quickly! But here he is opening his presents.

This is Sideswipe. This was the gift that David bought for Nathaniel with his birthday money he got from Richard's dad. David could hardly contain himself when Nathaniel opened it.

And some twist-up Crayola crayons. He's always trying to swipe David's, so its just easier for each to have their own set.

And a big bottle of bubbles. He loves blowing bubbles, and it was only $4 for 100 ounces. We're going to use it to refill his bubble sword that he got earlier this summer, which is empty now.

Nathaniel and David love watching Tom and Jerry on Cartoon network, so I knew this would be a big hit. They haven't watched any of it yet, but will on the upcoming trip to Grandma & Grandpa's house.

To go with the twist-up crayons, Nathaniel got a big Thomas the Tank Engine coloring book and some markers (only used under supervision). What Nathaniel hasn't discovered yet is that there are over 700 stickers in the coloring book.

This is another Transformer, whose name escapes me. This is from Uncle Chris, Aunt Heather, Owen and Lily. He loves it! Thank you!!

And now, the pie. I know, we're breaking from the traditional cake. Its a chocolate chip cookie pie. Its yummy, but very, very, very rich. I had a small sliver and could barely finish it. In fact, I didn't.

Blowing out the candle......

All in all it was a good day. So-so on the potty training front, but its going to take a while with him.

Nathaniel, I love you so much! You'll always be my baby, but I promise to try to not to treat you like one as you get older. Happy Birthday, sweetheart! Love, Mom

Errands & Potty Training and an Almost BIrthday

This morning I got up at 7:00 to take a shower and get dressed so that I would be up & ready before the boys, mostly cause we're still doing the potty-training thing and I didn't want to have to leave Nathaniel while I showered. I heard him in his room after I was out of the shower, so I went to get him and take him to the bathroom. What I got was a huge suprise when I opened the bedroom door. A huge puddle of pee on the floor (hardwood floors). I didn't know that the kid had that big of a bladder. Not a fun mess to clean up.

So the morning didn't start well in the potty training area, but while we were out running errands for a couple of hours, Nathaniel did stay dry the entire time, and only went potty 1 time. We gave away some cucumbers, picked up some more Tootsie Pops, dropped off some Financial Peace University posters, got David registered for school and played for a little while on the playground equipment at David's school. Oh, and we also bought some local sweet corn. Yummy!

The afternoon didn't go horribly potty-training wise, but it wasn't great, either. Trying to find rewards for staying dry is tough with Nathaniel. The suckers only worked part of the time today. Otter Pops worked so-so, and chocolate milk was so-so as well. If only he wasn't so stubborn. I did lose my patience a little when Nathaniel peed on the floor right in front of his potty. After severely scolding him & making him cry, things went much better. I know, you aren't supposed to get mad about accidents, but he was right in front of his potty! After that, things went better, with no more accidents the rest of the night! He, like all boys, likes to pee outside, so while we were outside in the afternoon he went potty on a tree a couple of different times.

Hopefully tomorrow will be a lot easier on the potty training front. Nathaniel turns 4 tomorrow, so we'll make a big deal about big 4 year old boys not going potty in their underwear and how he's a big boy now and, well, I guess we'll see. I was able to get most of his presents wrapped this afternoon, just a couple left and we're all set. I'm going to have David help me make him a birthday pie while Nathaniel is napping. The Chocolate Chip Cookie Pie that I mentioned last week (Thursday, I think) I'll have to post pictures tomorrow.

And I also want to give a shout-out to my cousin, Laura, who is celebrating her birthday today. I won't talk about how old she is (mainly cause I have no idea). So....

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LAURA!!

The First Day.....

of serious potty training for Nathaniel. I took and stashed away the half a dozen pull-ups he had left and told him this morning that he didn't have anymore. He was not a happy camper. He looked in the spot we normally keep them, and sure enough they were gone. He didn't want to put on the cloth training pants that I'd borrowed from a gal at church (she has 8 boys, and 2 not yet ready to potty train). He went upstairs and was looking in his drawer for something and finally picked out a pair of shorts. He decided to go commando and went about 3 hours without an accident. After that, he was willing to put on the training pants. I woke him up from his nap after 2 hours and got him to go potty, and he did very well until after dinner, and has had several training pants changes since about 5pm, but he's gone through less than 6 pairs of training pants for the first day, so I think that's pretty good for the first day without pull ups. We have been going through a lot of Tootsie Pops though. I'm going to need to get some more tomorrow when we go into town. But hey, whatever works, right?

I (unintentionally) made David cry again tonight. I suggested that tomorrow we go through all his coloring books and tear out the uncolored pages, save them and throw the rest away. He did not like that idea one bit, so much so that he started crying. So I explained to him that it was just a suggestion and that we wouldn't do anything to his coloring books that he didn't want done. He did say we could go through them and throw away the ones he didn't like. I'm just trying to clear stuff out cause he's got about 20 coloring books, about 80% of which have all been colored in except for 2 or 3 pages.

Well, I just spent the last 30 minutes trying to get the boys into bed. David wasn't difficult, it was Nathaniel. I was trying to get him to go potty before bed and he didn't want to, then he did but couldn't, it was back and forth until I was ready to scream. Finally, now they're in bed. But I'll go up in 45 minutes or so and get Nathaniel up and take him potty. Just in case. He's usually dry in the mornings though, so I'm not too worried about it. Tomorrow morning should be interesting though.

A Broken Heart....

Poor David. He made a comment tonight about how glad he was that he was going to get to take all his things to heaven. I had to explain that we didn't take our things to heaven because we won't need them. (I was on the phone with Richard's aunt during the first part of this conversation) I thought that was the end of the conversation as he didn't say anything else. Then I heard the sobs, and turned to find tears streaming down his little face. It wasn't so much the Transformers he was worried about. It was his teddy bear, Bear, that he's had since he was about 2 years old. Amid the sobs and tears he said that he would miss Bear so much, because he was his favorite bear and he was soft and fluffy and always had a smile on his face. (this is making me teary eyed as I type this) I kept trying to explain that we don't need to take things with us because we'll have so much to do in heaven, like talk to Jesus and a few other things, that we won't need our things that we have now, but he just wasn't getting it. I think part of it was he was really tired and the other part was he didn't understand. This kid asks questions I never expected a 6 year old to ask. After about 15 minutes of this, I finally got him to change the subject to his snack for the night, but I know this is going to come up again eventually. I did tell him that he doesn't need to worry about not getting to take Bear to heaven right now because he's not going to heaven for a long, long, long time.

A fun day at the park.....

until it rained. After church, I took the boys over to a friend's house so I could go birthday shopping for Nathaniel. It wasn't very long, about an hour, but it was quiet. I got back to Shelley's house and ended up eating lunch there and visiting for a couple of hours. Shelley and her family live directly across the street from a park, so her daughter took the boys over to play while I was gone. It worked great until it started to rain. When I got back to their house, they were just starting to watch the live action version of 101 Dalmations. While David & Cassie(Shelley's daughter) watched the movie, Shelley and I had a nice visit & Nathaniel took about an hour nap; I woke him up just as the movie was ending. It was about 4:00 when we headed home, but made a quick stop at a local ice cream shop for $1 baby cones. For a $1, they aren't baby cones at all. They are about the size of a regular sized Dairy Queen cone. And $1 includes tax. So for $3 we all had chocolate/vanilla swirl cones. Yum!

I did get my shopping done for Nathaniel's birthday. A couple of Transformers, a Thomas the Tank Engine coloring book, some markers, twist up crayon (I love these, they are awesome!) a Tom & Jerry DVD set and a Max & Ruby DVD. I also got his school clothes shopping done as well. Except for some new shoes, he's all done. Just have to get him some school supplies now.

Chocolate Chip Cookies vs Transformers & a horrible Thunderstorm

This morning I suprised David by asking him if he wanted to help me bake chocolate chip cookies while Nathaniel was down for his nap in the afternoon. "Yes!" was the enthusastic answer I received. So shortly after Nathaniel went to bed, I got out the mixer, ingredients & David got his little chair & away we went.....

David is lovingly posing with my mixer, which I love. It was a birthday present from Richard and the boys this past November. Richard always says he doesn't like getting me stuff like this, but hey, if I want it, buy it! I've wanted a Kitchen Aid stand mixer about as long as we've been married.
I have a secret ingredient in my chocolate chip cookies. Wanna know what it is? Hmmm? If you keep reading, I might just tell you....

David enjoying the batter left on the beater.....

I also have a secret techinique for baking cookies. If you keep reading, I might just tell you......

We got 4 and 2/3rds dozen out of this batch. Would've had five dozen if David & I hadn't had 2 each.

David didn't actually do much baking. He was busy laying out the current Autobots & the Army vs. the Decepticons battle. He did come in occassionally to check on the cookies in the oven. In case you didn't know, these are all Decepticons.....

And these are the army guys, their tank, and their allies, the Autobots...... (the tank used to be an RC tank. Until it sat for a year while Richard was in Iraq & the battery went bad. Haven't replaced it yet.)

And the battle begins......

Last night we had a major thunderstorm. I didn't even know it was raining or storming, for that matter, until a huge, loud, sounded like it was in our front yard, clap of thunder went off about 3:30 am. Woke me up from a sound sleep, scared the dogs & the cat and woke Nathaniel. David? He slept through that. About an hour later he woke up cause Nathaniel was crying cause of a somewhat quieter bout of thunder sounded off. The dogs, Stormy especially, had a really hard time settling back down. She was pacing up and down the hall & kept going into the boys' room, which caused Nathaniel to keep waking up. I even had the door to their room closed and she'd nose it open. Old house, doors don't latch securely. So between 3:30 am and 8:30 am when Nathaniel woke up and crawled into bed with me, I think I got about 2 hours of sleep. So why am I still up at 10:50 pm? I'm not sure, but I'm heading for bed now. Hopefully it'll be an uneventful night. Its supposed to thunderstorm again though. I guess we'll find out later.

Buzz Lightyear, Rainy Day & David the Artist Pictures

This evening as I was fixing dinner (tacos) Nathaniel suddenly runs into the kitchen to show me he was wearing his Buzz Lightyear costume from this past Halloween. They found it in a basket of misc stuff by our semi-neat shoe area, and David helped him put it on. I don't think it would've been a successful attempt had Nathaniel not been wearing anything but his pull-up. But all of a sudden it was Buzz Lightyear vs. Zurg. See the pictures below....

David put his Knight armour on from his Halloween costume, and was playing the part of Zurg...and was winning......

Oh, now Buzz has the upper hand....


This was just them being silly. A note about the big thing they're playing on. We call it "the Rock". One of Richard's friends, Rob, who worked with him at the base bought it while he was here in WI. When his time in WI was up, and he was packing to move back to Utah, he gave it to us since he didn't have room for it in his trailer. Its like a huge, memory foam bean bag. And its oh so comfy to nap on. Just ask Richard or the dogs.....

Buzz reaches for his gun in a desperate attempt to stop Zurg once and for all......

Buzz decides that it was a wise choice to protect Mom's clean laundry from being upset by Zurg...

Here are a couple pictures of the outdoors today. I took these while it was raining, although you can't really tell. The puddles are all ready for Nathaniel tomorrow....

After I took this one I realized that some might find it silly that we have a fan outside. It doesn't work, and we need to throw it away (it was left here by the last tennants) but we haven't gotten around to it yet. Another silly thing? See the garden hose just past the grill? We don't have an outside faucet to hook up the hose. We didn't realize it when we bought the hose. So if we want to use it we have to hook it up to the kitchen sink faucet and run it out the window. No, really.

And last, but certainly not least, David's pictures from his painting time this afternoon.....

I was instructed to take pictures of his watercolor paints.....

David in action. He takes his art very, very seriously.....

But he always has time to stop and smile for the camera.....

Oh, and at 9:00 pm, its still raining......

A Misty, Gloomy Day

Ok, so it was more than misty. It is rainy. It rained for a couple of hours this morning & stopped for about an hour & started up again around 1pm. And has been raining ever since. Ok, so right at this moment, its 2:34 pm, so its only been raining about 1 1/2 hrs, but David asked this morning if it was going to rain all day. Maybe, was my answer. It makes me want to take a nap. Or eat pie. Just kidding. Although I wish I would have brought a couple of slices home from VBS last night. Oh well, I think I'll live. Its actually a good thing that we don't keep a lot of sweets in the house. It would be a perfect day to bake chocolate chip cookies, though. Its about 61 degrees outside and about 69 degrees in the house, the last time I looked at the thermostat. So not too warm to turn the oven on. Maybe tomorrow when Nathaniel is down for his nap. Its too late to start now, if I want to be done before he gets up from his nap.

David, the artist that he is, is painting at the kitchen table. I'll take some shots and post them later this evening.

Pies, VBS and Nathaniel & the Mud Puddle

As I mentioned in last nights post, I had to go take rhubarb out of the freezer to make pies for our final night of VBS, which is tonight. So this morning, before it got too warm, I made a Crusty Rhubarb Pie & a Crusty Strawberry-Rhubarb Pie. Here's a couple of pictures of the Crusty Rhubarb Pie. Its doesn't have a lot of fruit in it, but just enough to taste the rhubarb. The Strawberry-Rhubarb pie wasn't as pretty, so I didn't take pictures of it.... it kind of overflowed the pie plate a little.

These are pictures taken about 5 minutes after I took the pie out of the oven. I wasn't able to catch any of the steam rising from the pie....

The VBS finale went very well. The kids had a blast with all the songs we sang, and the parents seemed to have a good time too. The pie and ice cream afterwards seemed to be a big hit as well. There was so much pie left the ladies in the kitchen weren't sure what they were going to do with all of it. Too much left to put in the fridge until Sunday. There was a gal who helped with the preschoolers that made an awesome chocolate chip cookie pie. Yep, a chocolate chip cookie pie. It was yummy! She's going to give me the recipe, so if anyone is interested let me know and I'll post it after I get it.

These pictures of Nathaniel were taken a few days ago, Saturday, I think, after we got a good rain overnight. There are a couple of places in the driveway that hold water after everything else is dried out. Nathaniel likes to play in the one closest to the house. I usually yell at him to get out of the mud puddle, but this time I didn't, much to his surprise.

Nathaniel likes to run around in his pull up. I think he'd actually run around naked if I'd let him. He was a filthy boy when he came in and in need of a shower. David never played in the mud like Nathaniel does. He's more like me in that David doesn't like to get really dirty.

Is tomorrow really Friday? My week's been all messed up because of VBS. Have a happy Friday!

VBS Day 4

Here are some pictures from VBS. This one of Nathaniel (in the middle) was taken Monday, I think. The awesome ladies that have 20 preschoolers to handle bring them up for the closing each evening. That would explain why Peter (the yawning one) is so tired. Its past their bedtimes.

These next pictures are from tonight. These were taken for a slideshow that is shown at the closing of each evening, to spotlight a particular group and summarize the lesson for the evening. David is down front in the blue shirt to the right of the kid in the green shirt who is crouched down a little. He's such a ham.

David is in the same spot, but the kids moved. Joy, the gal taking pictures said this when I commented on the fact that the kids are all off the ground, "I love taking jump shots."

Tomorrow is the last night of VBS. The directors have organized a "thank you" dinner for all the VBS volunteers, so we're going to that, and since its the last night, its "invite your parents to VBS" night. So after the program we're having pie and ice cream. Which reminds me that I have to take rhubarb out of the freezer to make pies......

VBS Day 3.....

And the kids are loving it! And not just mine. It seems that all of them, with the exception, of course, of a few of the older ones, are having a blast. Tonight there was a game that involved water, and one of the older girls who is helping came in completely soaked from head to toe. Dripping wet in the sanctuary. I think she asked for it. :)

There's a gal who has been taking pictures of everything, and her hubby is in charge of games. They have a little boy, Caleb, who is adorable. The cutest part? He loves to dance. So when we get up to sing songs, he grooves right along with the rest of us. So tonight, I brought him up on stage with me. He loved it! I wish I had some video to post, but I don't think his mom got any recorded.

Any little one or two sentence posts are done from my cell phone. Its free (except for messaging charges) and a way that I can post while I'm away from the internet and not miss a day. Like when I'm at my parents' house. :)

"Mom,God doesn't make junk, He makes humans!" said David on our way to VBS.

Today of All Days....

I woke up with a migraine headache this morning. When I wake up with one, I know its going to be a doosey. But today? I felt like a train wreck. I took an Imatrex at 8:00 am, and another at 9:00 am, to no avail. It didn't even touch it. After another hour and a half of laying on the couch, feeling nauseous and with a pounding head, I called the pharmacy to see if I could take something OTC after taking the Imatrex. The good news? I could take Ibuprofen. During the call with the pharmacist, I was almost in tears, my head hurt so bad. And I typically don't cry when I get migraines, so I knew this one was bad. Then I called our Super Awesome Babysitter's mom, cause I knew she didn't work today. Amid tears I explained what was happening and asked if she could take the boys for a while so I could get some rest and try to get rid of my headache. I knew I couldn't go to VBS with a migraine like that. Thankfully, she took the boys from about 11 am to 3 pm when I went to pick them up. Headache? Gone! Yippee for me! I'd taken 800 mg of Ibuprofen at 11 and went to bed. I woke up about 12 and it felt like it was pretty much gone, but I stayed in bed until about 2:15 when I got up to get something to eat for the first time all day. I didn't want to eat earlier since I was so nauseous; I was afraid I was going to be sick, and no one likes to be sick to their stomach.

So with a migraine vanquished, we went to VBS tonight. David brought his friend, Isaac, who is our Super Awesome Babysitter's brother, and who David and Nathaniel played with for most of the day. It was a good evening. And good night!

A Nice, Relaxing Sunday.....

It was a lovely Sunday. The weather was warm but not unbearably so, we grilled burgers & hot dogs for lunch, then lounged around until it was time to go to VBS.

This year's VBS is "Crocodile Dock", and tonight was the first night, and it went very well. The kids seemed to have a blast & I enjoyed it too. I'm helping lead the music, and its a very easy job. We play a DVD that is basically a bunch of music videos - kids singing & doing motions that go with the words to the songs. So I have to get up and sing and do the motions as well. That's my job. I was a bit hesitant at first when I learned that there were actions to the songs, but after practicing them with David earlier this week, I figured out something I should have realized sooner. The fact that you get up in front of the kids and act silly make it that much more enjoyable for the kids.

Oh my, I'm beat. I think its high time I make it to bed before 10:00 pm. For the first time in more than 2 weeks. Night-night!

The First Official School Shopping Day

Today David and I spent the day together. Richard was working, so I asked our Super Awesome Babysitter, Emma, to come over and watch Nathaniel while David and I went shopping. It was originally just going to be me going grocery shopping, which we desperately needed, but it turned into a school clothes/Sam's Club/Woodman's shopping day, with, after a brief stop at home, another run into town to buy misc. items and school supplies for David.

We got an awesome deal at Kohls for David. Four pairs of jeans for $44 dollars and 4 t-shirts (two for Nathaniel & 2 for David) for $25 and 2 packages of socks for David for $11 for a grand total of $83 with tax. The jeans alone were a great deal. Regularly $24 each, after the sale price & extra 15% discount they were just under $11 each.

Then we went to Sams' for groceries & then to Woodmans for more groceries. I'm not sure what the equivalent to Woodmans would be in the South, but its comparable to Winco in Idaho. Their prices on some things are better than Wal-Mart, but on others, Wal-Mart is actually cheaper.

We headed home about 1:30, since I told Emma the Super Awesome Babysitter that we'd be home by 2:00. We stopped and got the mail on the way down the driveway, and discovered that David had a letter from his school. When we discovered that Emma was excited to find out who David's 1st grade teacher was, and so we had to look his account up on the school district website. His teacher will be Mrs. Lian. Whoever that is. Also in his letter was a school supplies list, and since Richard got home about 2:15, we decided to go back into town to go to Wal-Mart for school supplies and some other non-grocery items.

Since Nathaniel's birthday is coming up on the 12th, David wanted to buy him a birthday present. (a Transformer, of course) He bought the present for Nathaniel with his own money. Money he got from Richard's dad for his birthday. He also has been talking about getting some plastic army men (remember the movie "Toy Story"?) so he got 3 packages of those ($1 per package) and some twist up Crayola crayons that he's been wanting. I swear, that kid is going to be an artist. He'll sit and color for hours.

The list of school supplies was long and redundant. 2 pencil boxes (2? why 2?) 3 packages of Crayola 8 count markers (why 3?) I have to comment on that. The packages of 8 count markers were $2.50 each. OR you could buy a package of 10 Crayola markers for $1 each. Hmmm. Which ones to get..... yeah. You know the answer to that one. Soooo $38 for school supplies. And that was just David. Now we get to do it for Nathaniel, but I think I'm going to take him with me. That'll be interesting.

Somewhere in the midst of the day I ended up with a migraine. About 6 weeks ago I finally went to the doctor because it seemed like I was getting 2 or 3 migraines a week, and because of that I was taking ALOT of Advil. I'd have to take 1000mg just to take the edge off one. Anyway, the Dr. put me on a beta blocker to see if that would prevent them. He also gave me an Rx for Imatrex, which works great when I do get one. So I took and Imatrex when I got home and after dinner I went and laid down and got a nice 2 hour nap. Its still there, just a little, but its pretty much gone, thank goodness. Just in time to say goodnight!

I missed a day!

I realized last night after I'd climbed into bed that I forgot to post last night. Many of you probably think its not a big deal, but my goal when I started this blog was to post something everyday. But I wasn't about to get out of bed at 10:30, turn on the computer and then try to figure something to type when I was half asleep. Especially since yesterday was pretty uneventful. So this is my "missing post". I'll post again this evening about the day's happenings.