The crazy month of December!

This month is half over and it has flown by. Our 7 year anniversary was on the 7th, Aidan's birthday is the 17th, and my mom and stepdad have bdays during December was well. With homeschooling, Christmas shopping, basketball practice and games, and family events, I am wondering where this month has gone! My sister told me to update my blog, and I must admit I have let it slide. It seems that every moment of every day is filled with something.

So, let's see... my little baby is turning 6 years old tomorrow! We had a Star Wars birthday party for him. I spent a good portion of that Friday morning constructing a lightsaber cake. He loved it! I guess those 2 cake decorating classes were worth it, to make my little man happy. :)

His cousins, Kaitlyn and Ryan, and his best friend, Nathan, slept over. It was chaotic having 5 kids in the house, but fun! They stayed up until midnight with Joel, watching...Star Wars, of course! Here is a pic of them, camped out in the playroom.

The next day, after a fun morning of playing in the house, we met up with my dad and stepmom at the roller rink. We all went roller skating- even little Preston!

So, there is only a few days until Christmas. I have now spent too much time updating thisblog. :) I have Christmas wrapping to do, candy to make, and kids to teach. Ahhh!

Taking Facebook too far

Lately I have been thinking about how much I hate Facebook. What? HATE Facebook? But, you think to yourself, you are ON Facebook! Yes, yes- I am. I don't hate Facebook per se... I hate the people who seem to make their lives exist entirely on Facebook.

Lets call them... The Facebook Freaks.

I see the updates- I know when you are buying a purple virtual cow to live on your virtual farm, I see how often you have won a bejeweled game (and I note that you have been on facebook all day playing this to get the highest score), I have received your virtual hugs, kisses, and even your virtual martini. If you want to buy me a drink, please make it something I can enjoy!

This facebook freak also supports every cause- lets save the rainforests, reduce toxic waste, lets save the whole freakin planet from our computer! If you would just join me in my plight by clicking a button, we can save the world! Woooo!!!

Why do these people live entirely online? When did living on facebook become acceptable socially? Will these people get married online? Post their vows on their walls?

I would apologize to the person whom this offends, but frankly if you are offended- well, just send me a virtual butt kicking. I can take it.

Sigh

Joel and I talked a lot last night and we can't agree on the Brady house plan. He brought up the point that adding a sunroom to the plan was expensive and wasn't serving the purpose well. I want the sunroom for our informal dining area, as the house only has a formal one and we have 2 sets. He made the point that we have to walk through the living room with food every day to get there. Could get messy and impractical.

He wants to just eat at the bar in the kitchen, but my answer is no way! I am home all day, every day, and we eat every meal at our breakfast table unless it is a special time or we have company. I would be willing to use the formal one for dinner, but to eat at a bar otherwise? For years? I don't know if I can do that.

So, we are still looking. Getting the house ready if we can agree on another house plan in the neighborhood. I made progress yesterday in my organization at least!

One more concern- we will be moving to Mebane schools and they are good. Joel thinks he should go there, I see him flourishing with homeschooling. Sigh.

There's no place like home!

Isn't it amazing how you look at your house differently when you think about selling it? Joel and I talked yesterday about putting our house on the market in 30 days. 30 days?!? I am excited but nervous. It is hard enough to keep the house semi-clean during the day, but there are things to be done. Closets to get and KEEP organized, paint touches, carpets to clean, windows to wash, pantry to organize, clutter to get rid of. When you live in your home every day you look past the pile of shoes in the garage, the finger prints on the fridge, the toys toys toys.

So, I have to get this house ready and keep the boys from destroying my progress. Notice how I am hiding on here instead of tackling it head on. Well, I better go start trying!

House Hunting

This Halloween, we took Harry Potter and Hedwig to trick-or-treat with a Ninja and the Bride of Darkness. The cousins had fun walking, getting treats, and even getting a scare from one woman who took Halloween very seriously in her horrifying mask. It was nice spending the holiday together.

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We spent the rest of our weekend looking for a house. This has been an ongoing process/fight as we hope to move closer to our family. We live in the middle of nowhere, otherwise known as McLeansville. So, we are hoping to move back to Mebane, which is a short 20 minute drive from our family and a 5 minute drive from my mom's office, the library, the park, and more. We found the house that I am hoping to buy! It is in Governor's Green, a DR Horton community. It has good schools, if Aidan goes to public they are good. The house is a Brady- here is the floorplan.

The room titled guest suite will become a tv room/playroom for the boys. We will also have one extra room not seen on the plan- off of the family room back door would be a sunroom around the size of the dining room. The bedrooms upstairs are huge and the loft will be perfect for 2 desks for the boys. So, I am sold on the house- we just need to convince Joel!

The PERFECT Blog

Have you ever noticed as you peruse blogs that everyone seems to have the most perfect life? Especially when I stumble upon a homeschooling blog of a devout Christian..."Oh, I have 10 kids and we are just loving every minute of it!" "I got up at 4 today and baked muffins, gathered eggs from our chickens, washed the floors, worked out for an hour and prayed in my Bible" "Joe Jr. has written his own encyclopedia and he's only 7!" OK, that was a bit much, but HONESTLY. This is what you will find and it is a bit depressing. Why? Because it isn't reality. If it is, let me know- I must be a terrible mom.

My alarm is my children, crawling all over me begging for breakfast at 7 AM while I try to hide under my pillow. Breakfast is often a bowl of cereal, and those floors...well, I wouldn't eat off of them if I were you. Of course, my kids do- 5 second rule and all that- and I bet that those blogging moms would be appalled. I try and hit the gym 3 times a week but most weeks I drag myself there once and hope that it is enough. Life isn't anything like a blog. Life is full of frustration, worrying that you are doing everything wrong and praying that your children turn out OK. Blogs can be so superficial- you let the world think you are doing OK. You don't tell them about your problems, you create this guise of perfection. I am guilty as well. I surely don't want to air my dirty laundry for the rare person who stumbles upon this blog by mistake; however, I hope to be honest.

Whats the deal with Star Wars?

As one of two girls, I never watched Star Wars growing up. I saw it once on a date in middle school and I cannot for the life of me tell you what it is about.

I can name 5 or 6 characters, but do not see what all of the fuss is about. Sorta like the Beatles. All you need is love...all you need is love...all you need is love, love- or is it that all you need is someone else to write your lyrics for you?

With that said, I am now a mother of 2 boys who gravitate towards weapons with a passion. When my older son was building with some tube shaped blocks a couple of weeks ago, I pleaded that he make something constructive- not a weapon. I said, "No guns, no swords, no knives." Down to the kitchen I go... soon I hear the yell of my younger son darting down the stairs followed by his brother who has made...an AX. Yep, an ax, which of course he was swinging at his brother. Granted, it was plastic but it was rather forbidding looking.

Today, my older son decides he wants to become a droid (apparently a S.W. character). He taped paper around his arms, legs, and chest and was shooting people with a rolled up sheet of paper. He then proceeded to tell me about the different movies, the toys he wanted from the movies, and would not stop talking. So what did I do? I turned on Star Wars. :)
Here I am, enjoying a rare moment of quiet as my baby naps and my older child becomes more obsessed.

Autumn Fun!

We decided to visit a local pumpkin patch a few weekends ago to experience some fall fun. We enjoyed a hayride, met a calf who was only a few weeks old, stuffed a scarecrow, and more. The boys had a blast petting the animals, except for the goats....one goat decided it didn't like our boys and tried to horn them! There was a bubble maze and we each got to pick our own pumpkin. It definitely got me in the spirit of autumn!!!

Loose tooth already!

My baby...OK, I know he is technically not a baby at 5 years old, but he is MY baby, has a loose tooth! This is his first and man it is loose! So, first the training wheels on the bike come off and now this. When I saw that tiny little tooth wiggling around in his mouth, it brought tears to my eyes. I remember when that tooth first popped into his mouth and already it is ready to go... sigh.

I feel so blessed that I was there with him today to watch his excitement-that I am always with him and Preston for every experience.

1st week of homeschooling...

Well, it is official. We have started to homeschool! We started a new math program today, called Math U See. We are using the Alpha level. Today we started talking about the place value of numbers. Aidan can add and subtract but doesn't understand WHY 30 is bigger than 20, only that it is. Aidan is learning his continents, where to find them, and today we talked about Asia. We have been working on our Hooked on Phonics for reading and Aidan is doing well. This week we talked about plants and their uses, differences, etc. for science. Aidan learned some Bible songs about the Creation and Adam and Eve, as well as a song to remember the days of the week. It has been an interesting start. I am sure we'll find our groove soon.
He is finishing up his soccer season in a few weeks and will start with basketball for the first time. I hope to get him started with piano lessons in the next week or so as well.

My baby is coming home

Aidan's last day of school is this coming Tuesday! I am excited to be bringing him home to homeschool. I spoke with his teacher yesterday about my concerns- how Aidan is very unhappy, etc. and she put the blame on him. In a mean tone, she said "Aidan wants to do what Aidan wants to do when Aidan wants to do it." She told me she was getting him ready for the real world and this is KINDERGARTEN- time to grow up. Woah. So, I realized that they didn't care if he was there or not. It was draining my time, money, gas, and sanity. So, Tuesday is his last day! 3 days at Myrtle Beach for a little vacation, and we will start school the following week. I am scared but excited!

I love this age!

Ok, I have to post these cute stories from my sweet 5 year old, Aidan.

Aidan and I were talking about our visit to Eastwood lake on Sunday and he told me how much fun he had jumping into the water. I said, "Oh, you liked jumping off those docks, huh?" He said, "No, Mommy, those aren't docks. Those are there to catch the goose poop so it doesn't go into the lake". :) The docks were, as usual, covered in poop and he thought they were there to catch it.

Later on, I was discussing with Aidan the concept of "tri" meaning "3". I gave him the example of a triangle, a tricycle, triplets, etc. After I couldn't think of any more examples, he said, "I know! A moose tri". I asked what that was, and he said, "You know, when a moose wants to do something and it has to try". I cracked up.

Gotta love the things they think. :) Hope that made you smile.

Anxiety...

I'll admit, I worry. I worry about money, my children, my choices in school, the meaning of life, the state of my marriage, my family, and more. I have OCD and because of this, I worry about the same things, every single day, all day long. Right now, my main worry is about my son, Aidan. He is not thriving in school right now and I feel like I should take him out. He is ahead of the class (he can read, they are doing vowels), getting into trouble, refuses to go, pretends to be sick, etc. It also costs money, gas, and 80 min. of my time every day I don't carpool (at least 40 min a day, at minimum). However, he is gaining independence, making friends, and I'm hoping it will improve. It has only been 2 weeks. I feel like homeschooling will grant my peace from this anxiety...
So, I am trying to look to the Bible. Philippians 4:6-7 states, "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus"(NIV version). On a side note, one of my favorite scriptures in the Bible follows, 4:8-9. Read it. :)
I am not supposed to be anxious, but how do I resist worrying? My mom tells me I must get it from my grandmother, Bessa, who (my mom thinks) "wakes up every morning and picks something to worry about".
I guess I will just continue to pray and hope that prayer alone can help. I know my family is quite sick of hearing about my worries. I am going to try and not worry for at least the rest of the day. Thank goodness it is already 6 pm!

My little boys are growing up.

So, two huge milestones have come to fruition at the same moment. My older son, Aidan, is starting kindergarten on Tuesday. My younger, Preston, is now in a big boy bed. Where has the time gone?
I have mixed feelings about kindergarten. On the positive side, it is only 3 hours a day. It goes from 845-12, 5 days a week. He will be home for lunch and have time to play with friends. The teacher seems sweet and his best friend, Nate, will be with him. Unfortunately, I am not ready for my baby to be gone every single day. I like having him home with me. Aidan doesn't really want to go, but because I have a feeling we will need to homeschool after this year, it will be good for him to socialize for one more year. I have decided that our boys will not attend public school- ever. After reading Gatto and various statistics, I would not put my children in even the best one. I am OK with private schools, but there are still issues there- bullying, drugs, etc.
As for Pres, he is doing well in his big boy bed. We moved the full size bed out of our guest room and gave it to him. The crib and baby stuff are now all in the guest room- which is now the baby's room. Now I just have to get pregnant! We no longer have a space for guests, but we rarely have people stay. Preston will have a pirate room. The bedding and wall mural are on their way!

Baby Dreams

We have tried, without luck, to get pregnant for 3 months now. It seems that everyone I know is pregnant or has a new baby, making it more difficult. I am so thankful for my 2 beautiful, healthy children but I do have hopes for more. I will just keep praying for another!

Emerald Pointe was a blast! I took the boys yesterday and today. We went on the lazy river, ate cotton candy, and I watched them enjoy all of the slides. Preston barely made it to his crib before he fell asleep for nap today! Here are some videos of the boys I took today.

Canine Clinic and Wet and Wild!

The stares I got at the animal shelter clinic today were priceless. Each month, the Guilford County Animal Shelter offers rabies clinics for 5 dollars an animal. With 3 dogs, this is quite a steal. Joel is out-of-town so I towed my 2 boys and 3 dogs to the clinic. I had Preston on my hip, the chocolate labs on leashes, and Aidan next to me with Belle. Yes, I heard the whispers... HOWEVER, my dogs and children were very well behaved. In fact, they acted better than those with only 1 dog to control. It was a bit stressful, but worth it.

This afternoon, the boys and I are heading to Emerald Pointe, Wet and Wild. I am sooo excited! There are two kid sections and we went ahead and bought season passes for me and Aidan. Preston is free and we got 2 guest passes for Joel. I am going to take them during the week a lot the rest of the summer. Next year I will buy them at the start of the season. In 2 visits, they pay for themselves. I know they will sleep hard tonight. I told Aidan we will probably go tomorrow too, as our schedule is free. Aidan starts Vacation Bible School tomorrow night at Harvest. I think he will have a lot of fun.

Bad luck...bad karma?

So, Joel told me that his company is having major layoffs. We won't know anything right away, but there is a good chance he will lose his job. The day after he tells me, our van DIES in the
middle of the road.



We had it towed to the dealership this morning and now I have a stinky, smoky, not very attractive Chevy car of some sort. I miss my leather interior in my minivan. Arrgh. So, since bad luck usually strikes in 3's, what is next? Granted, he is still employed but I dont have a good feeling about this. We will be tightening up our finances until we are sure he is OK.

Next weekend is my birthday....turning 26. Yep, entering my late 20's officially. How did the time sneak past me? I am not too excited about my birthday, like I usually am. I am just happy seeing family. I am getting old, huh? We have a water slide in the backyard and my body aches today from going on it. I think my bones are creaky now, lol. Ah, well. I don't mind getting older. Being a SAHM is so rewarding, I'm just enjoying each day God blesses me with.



Oh, and I graduated!!! Summa Cum Laude (4.0 GPA) and elected to Phi Beta Kappa. I am so proud and happy to have completed my BA. My sister threw me an awesome graduation party with family and friends.

Youdata.com

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It's real. They pay. You should check it out.
Click this link to sign up. My MeFile ID, eva628, in the "Referral Code" will tell them I sent you.
http://www.youdata.com/join/eva628

Vacation 2009

I am sitting here in my hotel room in Florida... Aidan and Joel have gone back to the water park and Preston is napping. So far, this vacation has been fun and exhausting. We left on Friday and arrived at Compass Cove in Myrtle Beach on Friday night. The boys enjoyed the pool until it was too cold and we started the morning there as well. We enjoyed the beach, miniature golf, and relaxing. Preston was adorable as he tried to whack the ball with his club. Aidan was great at making Joel annoyed- he would fetch his ball for him, making him start over again. We left on Sunday and made the long trek to Orlando. The Runaway Beach Club is nice- it is our third visit here. Monday was spent at the Magic Kingdom, a good 9 hours of excitement. Preston rode on his first roller coaster, which was a lot faster than we expected, and was jumping up and down for the Tiki Room bird show. Aidan enjoyed the Pirates ride, but could not stop talking about the water park. Today is water park day- the morning at Blizzard Beach, this afternoon they are going alone to Typhoon Lagoon. Aidan went on a zip line and dropped into the water, and both boys enjoyed the small water slides. We are looking forward to 2 more fun days of DISNEY! :)

Praise for Mommy

As a mother of young children, you never seem to get any time to yourself... even when you have to pee! Yesterday, I was doing just that and Preston walks into the room. I get up and he rushes over to see. "Mommy went pee-pee", he said and proceeded to flush the toilet. He then smiled and said, "Good job, Mommy!". I could not stop laughing.

Museum of Life and Science

This Saturday, I took the boys to the Museum of Life and Science in Durham. This is one of my favorite museums and I have the best memories from taking Aidan there when he was small. Preston and Aidan both enjoyed learning and exploring. Inside is an animal rock wall they both climbed, very active snakes to watch, and beautiful crystals and rocks. We saw a bear outside and had a fun train ride through the woods.

The best thing was watching an emerging butterfly come out of its chrysalis. I have never seen that before and it was amazing!

What a week

A week ago today, I found out that I was accepted to UNC's Graduate School! I was excited, surprised, nervous, and worried. So many factors played into my decision, but the main one was, of course, how my children would be affected. After looking at the time UNCG would take (year of student teaching, plus part-time for up to 5 years at night), I knew that if I wanted grad school, UNC would be the choice. I hate the very thought of leaving them, so I will put off grad school for a while. I just want to enjoy motherhood.

I had to take Aidan to the doctor yesterday, poor thing was lethargic and had a high fever that would not go away. Turns out he has tonsillitis and the doc gave him a scrip for an antibiotic. Luckily, when he has ibuprofen in his system, he feels a bit better. He even helped Joel rig up his swing today. The boys had a lot of fun swinging today and will have countless hours of enjoyment from it.

This is the castle project Joel and Aidan have been working on... and it is supposed to get even bigger! This is only one tower that you see here.

Snow Day

We were greeted with 5-6 inches of snow this morning. The white blanket on the trees was especially striking against the dark branches. Aidan and I agreed that it looked like we were in Narnia. I made pancakes and sausage for breakfast and after bundling up we went outside. The four of us trudged through the snow to the end of the development where there is a big hill. With one half of a cardboard box, we had a blast sledding down the hill together. After a fun morning romping in the snow, we went home for some homemade hot chocolate. What a perfect morning. :)

Girl's Night Out

I am excited to be getting some time with the girls tonight. Kristen, Mom, and I are going to Southpoint tonight for shopping, dinner, and a chick flick. We never get a chance to hang out, sans kids. I have been exhausted today, I think I still have a bit of a bug from earlier this week. I wanted a nap, but Aidan made sure that never came to fruition. Ah, well.
I spoke to Aidan the other day about what babies are like when they are born. I told him how they are covered in blood. I then told him that he had a full head of hair, but a lot of babies are born bald. He said, "Mommy, I know why they don't have hair. They didn't want to get blood on it!" The things they think. :)

Blegh

I am sick. Not sick enough to crawl into bed and enjoy a nap or get out of doing chores. Sick enough to blow my nose 100 times a day and feel disgusting. I am trying to motivate myself to do my homework for my Philosophy class... notice I am not doing that yet. The dishes stare at me and the dust bunnies are dancing. Off I go...wish me luck.