Update

We've been pretty busy over the past 6 weeks, so I'll give a brief recap to catch you up to speed.

The week of Thanksgiving we drove to Indiana to visit my family. We hadn't been up there since last Thanksgiving (though we had seen my family over the summer when they came down here.) It's a 14 hour drive to get there and we always have a debate over whether to try and do it in 1 day or break it up into 2, but we almost always end up doing it in 1 to get it over with. Last year we did the whole "let's just sleep and leave whenever we get up" thing which put us arriving at my parents around 11:30pm. That wasn't great, so this year we left our house at 4am. There are definite pros and cons to either option. The con to leaving so early in the morning is kids. Cooper is a terrible sleeper lately

. So of course he woke up when we carried him from his crib to the car (even though we did everything possible to avoid that, kept the lights low, stayed quiet, didn't stop to change his clothes or diaper. Just picked him up and carried him straight out there.) He then proceeded to STAY AWAKE until sometime after LUNCH! While he really didn't behave badly, it's stressful when your 17 month old is awake for that amount of time. You always assume he's on the verge of a tantrum of catastrophic proportions so you feel a bit on edge.

Ultimately he only slept for about 1 hour out of 14 on the road. Fun times. The rest of the time he alternated between whining, playing (limited amounts of this), watching movies and eating.

Garrett of course did great. 5 is a great age for traveling. They get what you're doing and are excited to see the people you're going to visit and they're just happy to have unlimited amounts of time spent watching movies. And it's even better when

the movie watching takes place on the laptop since little brother is watching "baby" movies on the portable DVD player.

Our visit was lots of fun. We took my parents and the 5 grandkids to have professional pictures taken of all of them. We celebrated Thanksgiving, Christmas, and my birthday. Keith and I got to go see 2 different movies. Grown-up, non-animated movies. And we suffered through Cooper's bad sleeping habits. He wakes up at the drop of a pin, so imagine how well he slept in a pack n play (that he's on the verge of outgrowing) at the foot of the bed where his parents slept. The first few nights were a nightmare. Then Keith and I took turns sleeping with Garrett on the air mattress in the family room while the other had to suffer through a bad night with the monster. Most people would prefer an actual bed to an air mattress, but not when the bed comes along with a screaming roommate.

Since our trip, I feel like we've been in a whirlwind of Christmas. Christmas parties, Christmas presents, Christmas decorations, etc. Keith's work has a party, my work has a party, the boys' school has a party, our SS class has a party (which we missed because it was the weekend before my birthday which was the only chance we had to celebrate it.)

I actually think I'm done with my Christmas shopping. I don't want to say that too loud for fear my mind will start conjuring up more people to add to the list. Yesterday on our weekly Walmart trip, I finished out the last of our list, mostly people at the boys' school along with our angel tree gifts. Now I get to wrap them all. I used to love wrapping presents, but now it's just one more thing to add into mix.

Before I end this to get back to my mile long to-do list, I had to quickly share about our experience at Keith's work Christmas party. In the past, these parties have usually been held at the Dallas Arboretum or the Dallas Aquarium. They always have a luncheon rather than a formal dinner and we eat lunch, play a few random games for door prizes and then spend the rest of the time walking around the venue. This year they changed things up and booked the party at a movie theater. At first I was very skeptical. While I'm always on board with going to the movies without my children, that seemed like such an odd thing to do for a Christmas party. And I guess it's still a little different, but it really ended up being a lot of fun.

The theater where they held the party was Gold Class Cinema in Allen (just in case any of the locals are curious.) When we walked in, they had this huge lou

nge area. Very different from the typical theater. There are couches and chairs and tables all over the place. On one end of the lounge is the "concession stand" which really was more of a bar than anything else. Keith and his coworkers had voted on what movie they wanted to see, so there were 2 screens open with 2 different movie options. Keith and I had already seen "The Next 3 Days" on Thanksgiving, so we chose "Morning Glory". When you walk into the theater itself, all you see are a bunch of huge recliners. There are half the number of seats in this theater as the typical one because of the size of these recliners. When you sit down, there is a fluffy blanket rolled up at your seat and the recliner lays almost flat at the push of a button. One of the armrests opens up to store your jacket and/or purse and in between 2 seats is a small table with a call button.

At each table was a menu with 6 or 7 lunch options on it. We circled what we wanted for lunch and the menus were collected. Then our drink orders were taken and we munched on the (fancy) bowl of popcorn sitting at our table while we waiting on the food. Drinks were served (in real glasses) and about 20 minutes into the movie, our food was delivered. Anytime we needed a refill, we just pushed the call button and someone would come to your seat quietly and refill your glass. With about 30 minutes left in the movie, a plate of cookies and brownies were brought to each table for dessert. It was so fun and a really neat experience! If you happen to live close to one of these theaters you should check them out. I looked up their website and they are very few and far between (only 2 in Texas!) And they definitely aren't cheap. $25 just for the ticket. But it really is an experience, not just a movie. I certainly wouldn't go there on a regular basis, but for a special occasion it would be fun, especia

lly if you're a big fan of the movies like we are.

I always have millions of blog posts running around in my head but haven't been taking the time to sit down and write them. But hopefully I'll have time to blog about getting a year older and maybe about the fun that is involved when you're the only girl in a house of boys. But until then, Merry Christmas blog friends!

Halloween and some things

This was the year of the candy.

In the past, we haven't participated in our library's story hour. I remember observing a few minutes of it several years ago and thought "There's no way Garrett would ever sit still long enough for this!" But this year, a friend's mom contacted me and asked if we would come to Story Hour. All of her son's Story Hour friends had moved up to kindergarten so he didn't really know anyone attending and she thought we might want to attend, so I decided to try it. Garrett is of course old enough to cooperate now. Cooper is a different story, but since Garrett seems to like it, we've been going a few times a month.

This past Wednesday was the Halloween party at Story Hour and we were there with our Batman and lion suits ready. Our Story Hour has the kids trick or treat to the moms so we got PLENTY of candy. And I didn't even have Cooper participate. He just stood with me to "help" pass out candy. Or to screw up a library computer while I passed out candy. Whatever. Then we had pizza and desserts galore. It was a fun party.

On Thursday, the boys' school had their Halloween parties as well. Their school's tradition includes trick or treating to businesses around the square in our town (our church is only a block or two off of the square, so we just walked it.) That was lots of fun and, again, PLENTY of candy. They had PB&J, cupcakes, cookies, etc for the party too. Then on Sunday, our church had Fall Festival. Cooper stayed home with Keith while Garrett and I attended. We didn't need a repeat performance of lunch on Sunday (I'll get there in a minute.) And again, lots of candy, fun, and games was had. Garrett played every single game in our church's Fellowship Hall, plus a Darts game set up outside that was new to Fall Festival this year. (He popped 2 out of 3 balloons! I was impressed.)

We had just enough time to get home, sort through the candy, and prep for trick or treaters. We had WAY too much candy to even consider going trick or treating ourselves and I knew the boys would enjoy getting to see all the kids coming by our house in their costumes. So we handed out all of the candy that I had culled from our stash. Yes, we regifted our Halloween candy, but don't worry, I sorted through all of it to make sure everything was properly wrapped and nothing looked suspicious.

We had a very well behaved group of kids show up over the course of the trick or treating. Aside from the incessant doorbell ringing that some kids enjoyed doing, they were all polite and never complained about what I was giving them (lots of suckers. Sorry kids!) One group of kids showed up and I was hurriedly handing out the candy when I came to one of the last kids in the group. A little boy dressed up as a very cute clown (no makeup or mask). With Down Syndrome. Can I just say that had he not been with a group of friends, I would have emptied out every piece of candy I had into his bucket and given him a big hug? Instead, I just gently patted his arm and told him I really liked his costume. He smiled real big at me and ran off to be with his friends. I have to confess to getting a little choked up after I closed the door.

Backing up a bit, Sunday morning was a special Sunday at our church. We are in the process of building a new campus because we have outgrown our current one. The new one is just a few blocks away from the old one and the youth building is close to being halfway done. We have just started a new fundraising effort in order to start building a children's building. So, instead of our typical Sunday morning of 4 (yes 4!) services at our current building, we combined all 4 services into one big one on our new property next to the youth building in progress. We had hundreds of folding chairs set up under a tent with a makeshift stage for the band and pastor. It was awesome.

One of the services that we have on Sunday mornings is a service for hispanics that's done entirely in Spanish. Some of the people who lead their music, joined with the band who leads the English speaking service's music and they lead the music in a bilingual bit of awesomeness. We sang songs like "I Am Free". Which has an echoing part in the chorus where one group sings "I am free to run" and then another group repeats it. Well, on Sunday, the Spanish speaking group sang it in Spanish and the English speaking group repeated the line in English. I got goosebumps just listening to it.

After the service, all of the Sunday school classes congregated to eat a picnic lunch together. Our class has many children among us, so we chose to go the easy route and order pizza. Everyone brought their own drinks and lawnchairs and we set up in a corner of what will be a parking lot and enjoyed lunch together. Cooper was awful. First off, he was wearing overalls for the first time since he was a newborn. He kept sticking his hands inside them for some reason and at one point, he tripped and fell flat on his face because his hands weren't out to catch himself. He wanted Garrett's juice. He wanted our soda. He did not want his water. And he let everyone know about this. He also wanted to join all the big kids playing football. So it was fun trying to keep him out from underfoot, out of everyone's stuff and off the ground when throwing his (many) tantrums. He was the youngest in the group at this lunch, so he didn't quite know what to do with himself.

But on the other side, I got to watch Garrett playing with other boys his age. His current close friends are all girls, which has its pluses and minuses. He rarely does anything physical with them (aside from fending off some attempts for kisses. He's not a fan yet, thank goodness.) But he also gets caught up in crazy girl drama (it's interesting considering that they're only 5, but it does happen.) So I got to watch him (attempt) to play football with 2 other boys his age. He actually got in there and mixed it up! Tried to steal the ball a few times, jumped in the middle of tackles, etc. I must admit that I was impressed. Up until this point, he's never really shown me that he would be willing to go to lengths like this. And he also is a bit big into crying when things don't go his way and very competitive. But surprisingly no crying took place and he seemed to have a lot of fun. Especially for a boy who had never even picked up a football before (we have none, but I will remedy this at Christmas.) Thankfully (I guess...), Cooper kept me busy enough that I couldn't have micromanaged, explaining to him how to play, why he should stop whatever, etc. I know he has to figure out stuff like that, so I'm glad I wasn't able to get involved. It's a big challenge for me to keep my mouth shut in areas like this! It's also why I will never coach any team that he plays on. It would not end well.

I apologize for yet another lengthy post with no pictures. If we're friends on Facebook, I promise I have posted many recent pictures there, so be sure to check them out if you're so inclined.

Cancer

It's such an ugly word. For some reason, it seems like I'm hearing about (and knowing) more and more people being diagnosed with it. I don't know if it's just because I'm getting older or if it's because it's becoming more prevalent.

Over the past few years, I've read at least 3 different blogs written by parents who were in the throes of battling cancer with their children. One was an 18 month old boy who lost his battle recently. Another was a 2 year old girl who also lost her battle. And still another was a kindergarten girl who is fighting hard as we speak. I don't know why I read these blogs. They're certainly not uplifting, save for seeing the grace of God so blatant and real with all of these families. But I still read. And I cry. And my heart breaks for these families. And I pray fervently that this will never be me. I will be honest and say that I take that one step further and pray that if cancer must enter our home, that it's me who would deal with it. Not my kids.

While cancer hasn't entered our home, it has certainly pushed it's way into our realm. That's not to say that I've never known people with cancer before now. I know I had a great uncle who lost his battle with it many years ago, but I am much more aware of it and knowledgeable of it now than when I was a child.

My uncle Mike is currently in the fight. He's undergoing treatment out in California where he and my aunt Debbie live. He has written many letters to his family and friends during this battle and they have always been so encouraging. Even in the midst of a literal fight for his life, he shares his uplifting attitude and spirit with us. Could I be so positive while dealing with cancer? I don't know.

My friend and coworker Beth just recently found out that she has pancreatic cancer. She's a mom of 2 kids in her 30's. (I'm pretty sure that last sentence describes me too.) She and her husband shared her story at church this past Sunday. It was simply amazing the grace and peace that poured out of them while they were speaking, a few short days after receiving her diagnosis. She leaves on Sunday for MD Anderson in Houston to begin her fight.

Beyond the obvious, the hard part about watching someone you know and love go through something like this is not really knowing what to do about it. How can I help? I don't truly know the answer to that, but I will direct you to my friend Steve's blog. He is taking on an interesting method for raising awareness and money for cancer. Prostate cancer specifically, but also cancer in general. You should check it out.

I think the first, and most important, thing to do is to pray. I am specifically praying for God to heal Mike and Beth if it's his will. God can perform miracles even in the grimmest of circumstances. I would ask you to pray for them as well.

Aldi

When I was growing up, one of the grocery stores that I remember my mom shopping at was Aldi. Of course this was pre-Super Walmart days. We would go to Aldi and then go to one or sometimes two more stores before grocery shopping was officially done. But I know Aldi saved them money which is why we shopped there. And when you have 5 kids, saving money is pretty high on the list of priorities.

Texas has not had any Aldi stores, atleast not any in our area. Until recently that is. I'm usually trying to find different areas where we can save money when possible. Though I know coupons are a way to do that, I will admit that I haven't spent the time and devotion to that aspect of savings yet. So yesterday I decided to look on Aldi's website and find where the closest store was. I also read up a little on the store to familiarize myself with it since it's been awhile since I've shopped there. I'm glad I did because one statement included that they do not accept credit cards. I am absolutely NOT a proponent for people having credit cards and using them like some magic money tree. Keith and I explicitly use our cards solely for necessary purchases that we could afford to pay cash for, but instead use credit for convenience as well as the benefits that our cards afford to us. We always, ALWAYS pay our credit card bills in full every month and have never had an outstanding balance on them before.

I say all that to say that I typically pay for our groceries with my credit card. I refuse to use my debit card outside of my bank's ATM because I don't want my account information to somehow end up in someone else's hands. It's one thing for someone to get their hands on my credit card. Bottom line, that's the credit card companies problem should my card get stolen. If my debit card gets jacked, that's my personal bank account that's effected. There's a huge deference between the two. So, I took out some cash and headed to Aldi first thing this morning. (You've gotta love rabbit trails...)

Garrett was not too hyped about trying a different store for our shopping this week. If for some reason we don't go to our local Walmart, we typically shop at another Walmart in our area. So Walmart is basically all he knows for grocery stores. I had no idea he would care one way or another, but he most definitely did...

We got there and I discovered that you have to rent a cart for a quarter (you get the quarter back when you return the cart so it really doesn't cost anything). I got lucky and found a cart in the parking lot instead. I don't particularly enjoy juggling 2 kids while walking through a busy parking lot, so any chance I get I always load them up in a cart to walk from the car to the store.

I knew going into the store, that they only sell their brand of things with a very few exceptions. I really didn't think name brand stuff mattered to me. Most of the time I buy the Walmart brand for a lot of things, who cares if it's another store brand, right? Well, I must admit I had a harder time shopping there than I was expecting. Though 99 cent gallons of milk certainly made it easier on me. Bottom line, Aldi may end up being a good place for me to go once every month or every 6 weeks to stock up on canned goods and meat (and milk!). But I just can't bring myself to buy off-brand soda. Yes, I should just stop buying soda in the first place, but I only drink one a day, so please allow me that luxury. I also must buy Kleenex Viva paper towels. And Cottonelle toilet paper. And Ruffles potato chips. Turns out I'm more of a namebrand snob than I knew. So for this week, we're trying Aldi's brand of chips (maybe we'll convert). But I will confess to stopping by Walmart on my way home to buy a couple 2 liters of Coke ($1 each).

Besides the cheap milk (seriously, that is so cheap. It wasn't that long ago I was paying $4 a gallon at Walmart! Now it's around $2 or a little more...), I also found a Butterball turkey for 99 cents a pound (Christmas dinner's main course? check...), most meat was a good deal cheaper, and they had a stack of Dr Suess books for half off of what you can buy them at Walmart or Target. Can you believe this former elementary school teacher did not own "Cat in the Hat" or "Green Eggs and Ham" prior to today? It's a travesty.

Aside from no credit cards and "renting" a cart, you also must bring your own bags and bag your own groceries. That's not a problem for me, however, when you throw in 2 kids in the mix (one being Mr. Uncooperative this morning) the bagging thing becomes a bit of a challenge. I ended up walking out to my car with a cart full of unbagged groceries and a bunch of recycled Walmart bags, strapped both of my boys into their carseats and then proceeded to bag my groceries and load the bags into the car at the same time. Had I actually put my own quarter in to rent my cart, I would have then had to walk it back to the store in order to get my quarter back. But since that wasn't the case for me this morning, I ended up giving my cart to another shopper who had parked next to me. He tried giving me a quarter for it but I didn't take it.

So all in all I would give this attempt at saving money a thumbs up if only for the fact that I did save a little money. I also got to experience a different store and learn what is important to me in the grocery scheme. I probably will go back again closer to Christmas and stock up on freezer related foods (and milk) but I don't think it will be my weekly choice for grocery shopping.

Happenings

I have many random and varied things to say today, so I'm going to go with the tried and true bulleted list.

•Allergies have been kicking.our.butts. this season. I'm not sure why, but all 4 of us having been suffering over the past several weeks, it's ridiculous. I took both of the boys out of school early last Tuesday because they were both not feeling the greatest, we missed Wednesday Story Hour at the library and then missed Wednesday night activities at church, thanks to the loads of snot and lung hacking going on. Stayed home from work and school on Thursday due to the same. We also missed Sunday activities at church because of it. I think we are FINALLY turning the allergy corner the last couple of days. Cooper's nose is still snotty and Garrett still occasionally sounds like an emphysema patient (but what asthma child doesn't on occasion?). But I'm done keeping them at home. They're not contagious so I think they're just going to have to deal with their issues until whatever is bothering us, finally goes away.

•On Saturday, Garrett was feeling pretty decent, so we went to a friend's birthday party. Keith stayed home with the snot monster. I was glad we went to the party because the attendance was low due to it being a holiday weekend. Garrett had fun and was super hyper thanks to his asthma meds. Everyone got to see albuterol-Garrett, who is apparently lots of fun at a party, but not as fun at home.

•I'm feeling a touch of the Mommy guilt because, even though the boys missed school last Thursday thanks to allergies, I let them miss again yesterday. Keith took the day off and we went to the great State Fair of Texas. I had to keep telling myself they're just missing preschool, but I still felt bad for doing it. However, we had lots of fun at the fair. Keith and I haven't been in 6 years, so obviously the boys have never been. We got there right when things were getting started for the day. We looked at the new vehicles that they always have on display at the fair. I took pictures of Garrett in all the sports cars (I'll post them later.) And Keith insisted it was time we buy a new vehicle. It won't happen, but he loves to talk about it. After the car show, we caught a dog show. The cool part about the dog show was that all of the dogs were dogs that had been rescued from shelters across the country. They did some really cool things. Then we got stuck in Stroller Traffic Jam '10. The overwhelming majority of the people in attendance at the fair on Tuesday were mostly families with small, stroller-riding children, like us. So when you attend something like a dog show where you have to park your stroller in a designated Stroller parking zone and then sit in the stands, you know it's going to be crazy when it's a free-for-all in the parking zone after the show. Thankfully I didn't have to throw too many elbows to make it out of there alive. Garrett and I did "Little Hands on the Farm" after that. Which is a joke unless you were born and raised in the city and have never seen a live farm animal up close and personal. We got to feed "chickens" (read, plastic birds that didn't move), gather their "eggs", milk a "cow", sheer a "sheep", etc. It was a crazy maze of fake animals which I couldn't have found my way out of if I wanted to, so we had to complete all the tasks so we could leave. Thankfully at the end, the kids got to "sell" their goods (the "eggs", "milk", "wool", etc) and get money that they could use to buy a snack. So we got a free bag of Cheetos for our trouble. I know I shouldn't make fun because I'm sure Garrett enjoyed himself, but I don't think it would have been that hard for them to get some real animals for some of those barns. This is Texas after all.

•I figured I should split by fair talk into 2 bullets, lest I look ridiculous. (Who am I kidding..) After feeding plastic animals, it was finally time for the entire reason for Garrett wanting to come to the fair. Rides. He has never ridden any amusement park type rides before (with the exception of a carousel). So he was super psyched for this part. The fair has a "kiddie" ride section next to the bigger rides, but we couldn't find it at first, so I decided to ride the "Tilt a Whirl" with him. I figured that would be a pretty tame ride to introduce him to rides, plus I've always loved those. It has been years since I've ridden any type of ride like this and it was so fun. Though I will say my stomach isn't quite what it used to be. Garrett loved it and we both laughed and screamed the entire time. After the ride, we finally stumbled upon the Kidsway. Garrett rode an airplane ride and then the bumper cars. At which point we had to tell him no more rides. (The cost of things at the fair is simply absurd.) Plus it was lunchtime. If you know anything about the Texas fair, then you know about the variety of fried foods they have. I wouldn't have minded trying some of those, but we ended up getting some chicken tenders and rolls for our dinner. At the chicken place, the girl gave us a free cookie for Cooper. He had fallen asleep on Keith's shoulder, so she found him extremely cute and wanted to reward that with a cookie. It wasn't the first free thing we were give while there, when we first got to the fair and were about to buy our tickets, a woman walked up to us and handed us a free child's ticket and said they didn't need it. Awesome! She saved us $11. Yes, $11. I'll get into the cost aspect of this in a minute. After eating, we had a grand total of 2 tickets left. (You have to buy tickets to pay for everything at the fair, including food. We had guessed how many tickets we would probably need for the food and rides and came pretty close.) Unfortunately, 2 tickets doesn't buy you much of anything, but thankfully on our way out, I saw a vender selling popsicles for 2 tickets. Killed 2 birds with one stone. Used the remaining tickets and consoled my child who was crying over not getting to ride any more rides.

•I just have to add that Garrett has been excited about the fair for months. He happened to spot the enormous Ferris wheel that sits at the fairgrounds year round one day and has talked about going to the fair and riding that ride ever since. We told him a few days ago that we would be going to the fair and every morning he would wake up with an updated tally of how many days were left until fair day. When we finally got to the fairgrounds and approached the ferris wheel, Garrett got to see exactly how big this ride actually is. (It's huge! I was having some anxiety issues just thinking about riding the stupid thing because I knew Garrett wanted to ride it. I have huge fears of height.) He decided that was a ride for a 6 year old, not a 5 year old and he would wait and ride it next year. Good call.

•The cost of the fair. How so many families can go to the fair and seemingly do it up way more than we did, is far beyond me. It cost us: $15 to park, $30 for Keith's ticket and mine (as I mentioned above, Garrett's was free, otherwise that would have been an additional $11), $30 in tickets for food and rides. Obviously Garrett rode 3 rides, I rode 1, and our lunch was 8 chicken tenders, 2 rolls, and 2 bottles of water split 4 ways. It's crazy how much everything costs and yet people still go! I'm glad it's there because it's a fun time, but it's certainly not an inexpensive time. I can't imagine how it would have been if we had let Garrett ride more rides or if we were all super hungry at lunch. Of course our remaining 2 tickets, I spent on a popsicle, otherwise we would have been out $1 because you can't trade your tickets back in for money.

•OK. No more fair. The other night we kept our friends' kids for them for a few hours. It's so funny listening to two 5 year olds talking. Here's one of their conversations:

G-"Drew, you want to play with Playdoh with us?"

A-"Drew hates Playdoh."

G-"What? Who could hate Playdoh?"

A is Garrett's best friend. She told me many times throughout the evening that Garrett is her boyfriend and they are going to get married some day. She also tried to kiss him several times. I am very interested to see where their friendship is at in 10 years.

•Someone in my area drives a Tony Micelli van from "Who's The Boss." Every time I see it, I always start singing the theme song "There's a time for love and a time for livin'..." It's made me really miss that show. I think I'm going to have to see if I can buy the seasons and rewatch them. That was good TV. Though I know back then it was a bit scandalous to some that he would live in her house, but boy is that tame compared to what we see now. The next time I see this van, I will try to take a picture.

October

I can't believe it's already October. But I am loving the weather we've been having. Everyday we get to play outside, get some fresh air, and add something new and different to our daily schedule. Unfortunately during the majority of summer, we can't do much outside because of the heat, so we're trying to soak up the sun now and make up for it.

The boys are still loving school. Garrett has taken more naps at school this year, than he ever has in the past years combined. I guess in his old age, he's discovering the pluses to a good nap in the middle of the day. Cooper is also napping wonderfully on his nap mat. I actually got to see him yesterday during naptime. He was laying very peacefully on his mat, covered up with his fuzzy blanket, sound asleep. It was really cute. The other kids in his class were still awake even.

He's not a big fan of playing with other kids yet. Or even having them play in his general vicinity. Apparently he gets all the playtime he needs with Garrett. His teacher said he has a well defined "bubble of personal space" and he does not let anyone in that area except for the teacher. She has discovered that when she has the other kids doing something like playing with Playdoh or coloring, that's a good time for Cooper to get to play. Then when it's playtime for the rest of the class, she lets Cooper color or do something else. He likes to do his own thing. And I'm ok with that.

I'm wanting to get back into my workout routine. It's been a few months since I've exercised and I'm actually missing it. I'm still watching what I eat, for the most part, and have lost an additional 5 pounds, for a total of 25 pounds gone thus far. But I know if I would start back with exercising it would come off faster. Back when I was exercising, I would do so during Cooper's morning nap. He slept just long enough to give me 30 minutes on the treadmill and then 10-15 minutes showering and getting dressed. Of course he now only takes one nap a day and that's in the afternoon. Honestly, after lunch I have little energy to do necessary cleaning, much less voluntarily get on the treadmill for half an hour. So I'm going to attempt getting up 45 minutes early every morning (starting Monday) and try to do my exercising before the boys get up. The drawback to this is that it means bothering Keith a bit earlier than he normally starts his day. But I can't avoid that with the treadmill in our room (and no other place to put it in the house). When I asked him about it, he was fine with it, so I'll hopefully try this out next week and see how it goes.

Hand, foot, and mouth disease is going around Cooper's class right now. I'm crossing my fingers that he doesn't get it, but it won't be the end of the world if he does. Garrett had it around Cooper's age and the worst part about it was the high fever. Here's hoping Cooper's antisocial tendencies will pay off in a lesser number of germs coming his way.

Lately

So, I'm a terrible blogger. I think we established that a long time ago. I just thought I would post a quick update as to what's been going on around here.

Last Friday, I took both of the boys in for checkups at the doctor. It was Garrett's 5 year checkup and Cooper's 15 month checkup. Everything went well beyond arguing a bit with our doctor over flu shots. We don't get them, he thinks we should. That's the gist of it. Cooper still had to get 2 shots, unrelated to the flu, but Garrett didn't have to get any. Garrett is about 44 inches tall (if they measured him, they didn't tell me how tall he was. So that is just from a height chart that they have in the exam room.) and 38 pounds. He's still my tall bean pole. Cooper is 31 inches and a few ounces short of 24 pounds. He's 50th percentile for height and 45th for weight. Which is so funny to me because Garrett has always been 85-95th percentile for height and barely 10th for weight.

Either the shots or teething (or a random bug) gave Cooper diarrhea beginning Friday afternoon and ending yesterday. We're still dealing with a yucky diaper rash as a result. Because of his "issues," Keith stayed home with him yesterday morning while Garrett and I went to church. This would end up being a very bad thing.

As I was backing out of our driveway, I hit Keith's truck with my SUV. Awesome. I've never done anything like that before (if you don't count kind of rear-ending someone in the high school parking lot when I was a junior. But that didn't do any damage to either vehicle.) I actually went on to church before telling Keith because I was dreading it. I knew he would be really upset because keeping our vehicles looking nice is important to him. We just spent a good bit of money fixing his truck where someone had backed into it awhile back and they didn't have any insurance. Thankfully I didn't do any damage to his truck, but got a nice little dent in my SUV.

Once I got home from church, I immediately went in and told Keith what happened. Partly because he would see it as soon as he went into the garage and partly because I knew if I wasn't the first one talking, Garrett would have immediately blurted out "Momma hit your truck!" And that wouldn't have looked good. Keith thought I was joking, but of course I wasn't. He spent some time outside looking over the vehicles and then sweeping the garage (in order to calm down, I'm sure.) But ultimately he was really nice and forgiving about the whole thing. Of course it was completely an accident, but I wasn't paying attention so it was totally my fault. Thankfully it looks like we might be able to do paintless dent removal rather than having to take it to a body shop and have it fixed and painted. It will cost less this way, plus it will be fast and probably look better in the long run.

During the time when I was at church, I taught Garrett's SS class. His teacher was out and the other Pre-K teacher was out as well, so I had both pre-k classes combined. But thankfully that only ended up being about 12 4-5 year olds. It's such an interesting age. I got to hear lots of "our teacher doesn't do it that way!" and "I wanted to be line-leader!" sob sob sob. Surprisingly enough (or not), both were from my child. I hope he's much better, behavior wise, with his regular teacher than he was for me.

We are enjoying the nice finally-fall weather down here. Yesterday and today's highs were only in the 70's!! I sat in the driveway while the boys played yesterday afternoon and Keith mowed the yard. I also managed to trim the boys hair while we were out there. It's so much easier to do that outside than it is inside. I didn't use my electric clippers this time, I'm trying to let their hair grow out just a little, so all I did was trim around their ears and neckline.

This morning, we did our weekly grocery trip and I learned a new trick. We used one of the carts that has the extra kids' seating on it. (I hope that makes sense, there's a spot for 2 additional kids and they sit facing the child that might be sitting in the regular cart seat.) Garrett sat in the bigger kid seat and Cooper sat where he always does in the front of the cart. Doing it this way, they were facing each other which meant that Cooper was much better than he normally is. Who knew? Though pushing that cart through Walmart was a bit like driving an 18 wheeler, I think we'll try it again next week. Cooper did manage to get a hold of a box of Ritz and ripped the barcode right off of it (thankfully I found that piece and the lady was able to check it rather than having to call for price check resulting in everyone behind me in line forming a lynch mob.) But that's much better than throwing a dozen eggs on the ground, breaking half of them.

And now you are caught up on us. Minus pictures of course. While I do take pictures somewhat regularly, I'm just not great at getting them over here. I apologize for that!

15 Months

Yesterday, Cooper "turned" 15 months old. He's really changing a lot lately and learning all kinds of new things. I just wanted to jot some of this down for my own personal record.

•Since starting school, he has taken 2 naps on his napmat. The first one was an hour long and the second was a little over an hour and a half. I seriously cannot believe he's been doing this with little problem. One Thursday when I'm not quite as busy, I have to sneak down to his room during naptime and get a quick picture of him doing this. There's actually quite a few things that he's been doing at school that makes him seem so grown up, that I would also love to catch on camera. I may have to sneakily follow him around one day and get some pictures. I must say Cooper's first year of MDO has started off 100 times better than Garrett's did. Though I have felt guilty about starting him so young, that may turn out to be a good thing.

*He walks all the time now. He still has a bit of the "frankenstein" look to his walk, but he's pretty steady and has no problem bending down, picking something up, and carrying it around while he walks. He hasn't taken to running just yet and surprisingly he really hasn't tried to climb much yet. He was attempting more climbing when he was still crawling than he is now. Though the other morning when I went to get him out of bed, he had one leg hiked up trying to sling it over the side of the crib in order to attempt an escape. Thankfully that side of the crib will raise up a few more inches if we need it to, so he should be contained for awhile longer.

•He has been sleeping terribly lately. I'm assuming it's teeth, but who really knows. He's relatively cheerful during the day so I don't quite understand why his teeth only bother him at night. But he's typically up for anywhere from 30 minutes to 2 hours almost every night. It's loads of fun. I've found myself sleeping through some of his crying because I'm so tired. Keith always hears him though. One of us usually goes into his room after he's been crying for 10-15 minutes (to try and give him time to go back to sleep if he will) and we check to be sure he's not sick or stuck somehow or without a pacifier. So far none of that has been the case. I've tried a multitude of things to see if anything would remedy the situation. Putting him down in less clothes, putting him down in more clothes, turning on his ceiling fan, turning off his ceiling fan, turning on a nightlight, turning off the nightlight. Nothing has helped. I assume it's a phase that will eventually be outgrown.

•He's starting to say quite a few things. This is surprising to me because Garrett was a late talker. He didn't say much until he turned 2 and after that. Cooper says the following somewhat regularly: here, hi, bye, eat, all done, more, momma, daddy, night night, go, bath. I also hear him copying words that we say randomly. His teacher told me the other day he said "here it is" at school very plainly.

•He also understands a lot. I can say "it's time to eat" and he walks over to his highchair. If I say "it's bath time" he walks to the bathroom door. If I say "it's time to go night night" he walks to his room. (That's not to say he goes to bed happily. He always cries for 30 seconds to a minute after I put him down for a nap or for bed. He must let me know he's not ok with this, even if he's cooperating.) If I ask him if he needs his diaper changed, he lifts his shirt with one hand and pats his bottom with the other. Sometimes he will just do that if I haven't asked him if I need to change him and I know that he needs a new diaper.

•On the negative side, he's really aggressive. He throws things, he hits (so far no one but our family. I hope he doesn't start hitting other kids.), he throws fits (laying on his stomach and kicking his legs type of fits), he screams and yells when he's mad or frustrated. A funny story related to this: last Saturday our family went to eat lunch at Texas Roadhouse. We love eating there. It's always really loud so I don't worry about our boys disturbing other people since we can barely hear each other. I had given Cooper some pieces of a roll to snack on while we waited for our food. Keith and I each had a Coke we were drinking plus a new cup of Coke that the waitress had brought to us. Cooper had been throwing things, so I had taken everything away from him except for the bread. He picked up 2 pieces of bread and threw them in Keith's direction. One landed in Keith's current cup of Coke and the other landed in Keith's new cup of Coke. I have to confess that we both just busted up laughing (which I know is terrible, but it struck as so funny.) Of course a little bit later, he picks up a bigger piece of bread and throws it at Garrett, hitting him in the head. I have a feeling we will be cutting back on our eating out pretty soon because of him. (We only eat out once or twice a week as it is, but that may drop to once or twice a month.)

Lastly I had to share another funny story. Yesterday, the boys and I ate lunch at Cici's with a friend of mine and her son. We were done eating, the 2 older boys were in the game room playing video games and she and I were talking. Cooper was playing with a Spiderman action figure. I looked down at the table and he has Spiderman laying down on his back, with a cracker under his head as a pillow and a napkin over his legs as a blanket. I laughed so hard that I cried.

5 Years

(I started this right after Garrett's birthday last month, but I'm just now getting around to finishing it.)

Dear Garrett,

You are now 5 years old. I can't hardly believe it, but you've been telling me your age constantly so it must be true. You are most definitely the light of my life (alongside your dad and your brother of course). Some of the things you tell me just blow me away. I'm always in awe of what you know and what you've learned. You don't talk about kindergarten much, but I can say that I'm not quite ready for you to start yet. I'm pretty sure you'll love it though. You enjoy most opportunities to spend time with other kids your age and you love to learn (most of the time.)

Here's what you're up to lately:

•You weigh about 40 pounds and you're roughly 45 inches tall.

•You have taken to biting your fingernails lately. I'm not sure why.

•You're at the beginning stages of loving sports. You seem to be a lefty with throwing a ball, but you do pretty much everything else with your right hand.

•You're very competitive and do NOT like to lose. I'm trying to get it through to you that "it's just a game" but you're not buying it.

•While you have your moments of inability to sit still, you're finally showing me that you can sit still when necessary. We went to our first story hour Wednesday morning at the library and you did really well sitting still while the librarian read 3 (3!? Really? These are preschoolers. That seemed way too many.) books. You even contributed to the conversation when appropriate (and you would have just kept on talking if I didn't shush you.)

•You are a great brother. Rather than arguing with me over the fact that Cooper is your brother, like you used to, you now tell me I can't do or say certain things to Cooper because "he's my brother". It's nice to see brotherly love going on, but you're learning quickly that your argument isn't going to get you far with me.

•The other night at church, a boy in your class ripped your "scroll" that you had made. (This boy was very proud of this and made sure to come up and tell me that he ripped your scroll when I picked you up...) You really surprised me by acting as if it was no big deal. I was so proud of you for not crying about it or throwing a fit or hitting the other boy for doing it (I was kinda tempted on the last one, I will admit.)

•Your handwriting is getting better all of the time. You can write almost all of the letters, legibly, and you like to practice writing our names.

•You are very determined to learn how to tie your shoes soon. You want to practice a lot, but so far it just results in a big knot.

You are such a great kid. Always willing to help out. Very much a "rule-follower" (when you're of a mind to do so.)

We love you so much!

First Day of School

Today was the boys' first day of school. Insert first day of school pictures here. (I promise I'll post them later.) Yes, I dressed them in matching outfits for their first day. (You know you were dying to know that.)

The first day of school pictures almost didn't happen. I looked everywhere for my camera and couldn't find it anywhere. My cell phone takes really bad pictures, so my only other option was a 35 mm camera (which is, incidentally, out of film). I called Keith asking him if he had any idea where the camera might be and he didn't know. Finally I found it on our kitchen countertop, which is not a place I normally put it. I took a couple of mediocre pictures (Cooper was not cooperating) and then we left 5 minutes later than we should have.

When we pulled into the parking lot, the skies opened up and it started flooding. (Thank you Hurricane Hermine...) So I got to wade in 5 inches of water, back and forth, with, first, an armfull of backpacks and lunchboxes, set them on a bench in a covered walkway leading up to our church. Came back out to the car, grabbed 2 bags of school supplies that never made it to "Meet the Teacher" last week, took them to sit on the bench. Then finally walked back to the car for the boys. Don't worry, the car was only about 10 feet from the end of the covered walkway so I wasn't leaving them to make these treks. But I was wading in water the entire time I was going back and forth. Not to mention trying to juggle an umbrella. And did I mention I was wearing close-toed shoes and jeans, rather than my usual capri pants and flipflops? That made it even better.

Thankfully the drop off went pretty smoothly. And I was headed up to the church office in no time. I was able to get a good amount of work done in a couple of hours and then I headed out to run a few child-free errands. My pantlegs were still wet at this point, by the way. Before I left the church, I peaked in on the boys. I have to tell you that Cooper looked so cute sitting at the table eating his lunch like a big kid. I had to giggle a couple of times while sneaking a peak at him through the window in the door.

After my errands, I swung back by the church and picked up Cooper. I didn't want his teacher to have to suffer through naptime if I could avoid it. That won't be the case every day, but since I was free today, I picked him up and took him home for a nap. I was able to eat my lunch in peace and quiet and even catch up on watching the news and reading a book. Cooper woke up at just the right time for us to head back to the church to pick up Garrett.

Both of the boys had great days. Garrett got to be lineleader for the day which he was thrilled about. He behaved himself and did a good job participating. I think he's the oldest in his class, so I hope he's setting a good example for the other kids. Cooper's teacher said he did great. She couldn't believe that he ate everything I sent for his lunch. What can I say, he's a big eater! She said he did not appreciate the other kids attempting to hold his hand or "baby" him in any way. That doesn't surprise me at all. (He is the youngest in his class, so I'm sure the others think he is a baby.) She sent home his "colorsheet" which was cute. He had scribbled a little with a purple crayon. Now my main concern is when he does have to nap there. On Thursdays, I work a longer day, so I may not be able to pick him up until 2 (which is when school ends) so hopefully their naptime won't be too crazy.

The best part of the day was the staff members who made a quick pass through the hallway where the boys were to see Cooper at "school" and then coming back to report to me how he was doing. They would say "He looks so cute sitting at that table with his paci in his mouth!" It's nice when other people care about your kids.

Garrett's 5th Birthday

Today is Garrett's birthday. And not just any birthday, but his 5th birthday. Half-way to 10, birthday. One year from kindergarten, birthday. It's funny how fast that time seems to fly when you look back over it from this vantage point. But in the beginning, it feels as if your child will never outgrown this stage or that phase. And you'll forever be cursed with a child who plays in their poop (or some other crazy phase that you just have to suffer through with some kids.)

Garrett is smart, loving, loyal, friendly, talkative, stubborn, cautious, persistent, crazy kid. It's awesome to think of how much kids learn over a very short time-span and how firmly developed his personality already is.

I have many stories about him that I want to share. However, we've had a very busy weekend full of partying and presents, cupcakes and little sleep, so I'll share the stories later and just stick with pictures for now.

This year, for the first time, we had a "friend" birthday party. We've always just stuck with family parties and invited one couple who we are good friends with (and they have a son who is close to Garrett's age.) But this year I figured Garrett has some pretty well-developed friendships so it would be fun to invite some of those friends to a party. We had it at a local kids' gymnastics facility and it was a lot of fun. I wasn't sure how many people to expect at the party because I limited the number of invitations we sent out. While Garrett is a people person and loves doing things with his friends, he's not a huge fan of big crowds, so I didn't see any point in overwhelming him with every friend he knows. We sent out 10 invitations to friends of Garrett's from school and church and everyone came except for one. I was really surprised by the turnout, but it was great.

Here are a few of the pictures from the party.

Things that Stay at Home Moms Would Like You To Know

I've read a lot of different articles based on the "Things that .... wish you knew" so I thought I would take a stab at one for SAHM (stay at home moms). This will NOT be an all-encompassing list. Some of the things I list, certainly do not apply to all SAHM and I know there will be things I neglect that others would have the top of their list. I'm also not writing this as a complaint, just an observance after having been a SAHM for a little over 4 years now.

•Our husbands' don't make loads of money, therefore allowing us to stay at home. We cut back a lot in order for this to happen. I could go off on a tangent describing all the areas we cut back in, but I'll save that for another post.

•We do not sit around eating bon bon's all day. If I have a snack of any sort, I would have 2 beggars right at my feet asking for a bite. It's not worth the trouble.

•We don't sit around watching soap operas all day. If I even show an interest in turning the TV on and changing the channel to a non-animated show, there would be lots of cries of "I want to watch my show!" Again, it's not worth the trouble. If I happen upon some freetime during naptime, I might watch a show on my computer, but that's the extent of it. (And it wouldn't be a soap opera. I'm just sayin'...)

•We get asked to volunteer for a lot of different things because everyone assumes we have lots of available time on our hands. If we turn down your request, please know it's truly because we don't have the time for it. We're probably already up to our ears volunteering in other areas and really don't have the time to add anything else.

•We really don't have lots of free time during the day. Lots of time is spent doing the following: preparing meals, serving meals, cleaning up after meals, getting out toys, playing with toys, putting up toys, getting out a game, playing the game, putting up the game, discipline, time-outs, reminders of why we don't jump on the furniture, tending to bumps and scrapes from when the kids don't remember why we don't jump on the furniture, refereeing fights (yes, I'm already there and Cooper is 14 months old), reading books (sometimes many, many times on the same book), chasing toddlers, keeping toddlers out of rooms they shouldn't be in, keeping toddlers off of things they shouldn't climb on, keeping toddlers away from toys and things too small for them to play with safely, arguing with preschoolers, explaining rules and manners and basic etiquette to preschoolers, doing crafts and cleaning up after crafts with preschoolers, answering one million and one questions throughout the day. Notice I didn't even touch on housework (aside from cleaning up after meals and toys). No laundry has been done yet, no bathrooms have been cleaned, no vacuuming, dusting, mopping. Not to mention the volunteering most participate in. The errands to run. The playdates scheduled. The groceries to be bought. Our days really are full. Even if it may not seem like that's possible to some.

•Our homes are not always clean. Very, very far from it. Sometimes we contemplate hiring a housekeeper. Until we remember the fact that we don't, in fact, have any money to pay them.

•We do not have home-cooked meals every night. There are many cereal nights. Sandwich nights. Breakfast for supper nights. Fend for yourself nights.

•We don't love our children more than anyone else loves their children. We don't think we're better than working moms. We get just as stressed out with our kids as everyone else does. Maybe moreso since we rarely get a break.

•We don't constantly go and do things. I personally limit the trips we take to places like the park, zoo, museums, etc. I want them to be special experiences, not routine and expected.

Bottom line, we want people to know that we're just like everyone else who works a "real job". We don't always get a lot accomplished. Our days can be tough and hair-pulling. We sometimes question whether or not this is what we should be doing. But we continue to stay at home with our kids. Not because we don't have other options in the work place. Not because we don't want our kids around other kids. Not because we're "old-school" and think that a woman's place is at home.

But because it works best for our families.

One Year

One year from today, I will be preparing myself and Garrett for his first day of school. Laying out clothes, fixing a lunch, getting his backpack ready, stuffing Kleenex into my purse and all available pockets on whatever I will be wearing that day. Just generally rushing around, trying to make it to school on time along with everyone else.

Can I just say that I'm not ready? That typing this actually gives me great feelings of apprehension and lots of sadness? Yes, I know that's life, kids grow up, they start school, but it really does feel like this has come up on me so fast. I remember when I was teaching school, I used to silently make fun of the parents who would be seen leaving the kindergarten hallway on the first day of school in tears. I always thought those kids looked plenty big to be bringing to school and I couldn't figure out why in the world parents would be sad about this day when they knew it would eventually come. I want to go back to that old me and slap her a little.

Yesterday morning at church our pastor talked about a tradition he started with his boys where they would say a quick prayer when they dropped their boys off at school every morning while they were still in the car. He started this when his oldest son was in kindergarten. His son just recently turned 16 and will now be driving himself to school so those mornings of his dad praying for him in the school parking lot before he walked into the building are a thing of the past. Just hearing that story made me tear up a little. How ridiculous am I.

What I do plan on doing is to attempt to savor this next year. Do breakfast out on occasion, go fun places during the day while school is in session for everyone else, just generally try to soak up these remaining 364 days I have of being the main focus for my child. I will soon become someone on the sidelines along with many other someones: teachers, coaches, principals, friends. I'm just not ready for it yet.

The One With All The Pictures

I initially want to apologize for a lack of pictures being posted lately. I've been doing most of my blogging from my work laptop (not during work time!) and it doesn't have any pictures on it. So now I need to apologize for the inundation of pictures on this post. It covers the last couple of months, briefly.

Back in July, we celebrated Keith's birthday. Nothing fancy, just broiled steaks and ranch-style beans the day of his birthday (on which he didn't get home until 10:30 pm) and then the following weekend we had cake and icecream. So here are "the boys" about to sing Happy Birthday.

This was Cooper's first time to have cake after his birthday party in June. He was thrilled and gobbled up every bit of the piece I gave him. Though he did offer to share a crumb with Daddy. It was his birthday and all.

This summer, we've had quite a few preschool playdates with other preschool families at our church. A different outing has been planned every week. We missed some and made some. Juggling both boys didn't allow me to take many pictures at the outings, but here's one from our bowling trip. It was Garrett's first time bowling outside of the Wii. As you can see from the picture, his technique still needs a lot of work. He looked more like a basketball player throwing a chest pass than he did a bowler bowling a ball. And the racket from the ball being lofted was not pleasant, but he enjoyed bowling. He actually bowled 2 spares. Though they did have pads in the gutters for the kids so that helped.

This is very common around our house. Garrett enjoying Cooper's toys whenever he can. And asking me to take a picture of him while doing so. (Sorry the flash washed him out here. He's not really this pale in real life.)

Cooper found Mr. Potato Head's glasses and had a lot of fun wearing them. I took quite a few pictures of this, but this one is one of my favorites.

A new favorite pasttime around here. Cooper has decided that he needs to color when Garrett does. So far he has actually kept the crayon on the paper and he really likes it. Garrett gets annoyed when Cooper continually tries to flip pages when he's in the middle of an intricate picture. But for the most part he's an extremely patient brother.

Garrett loves playing dress-up with his action hero costumes. Sometimes his ensemble requires a belt, so every now and then one will be laying around in the living room. Cooper decided to do his own dressing up, but figured the belt works better as a scarf. He loves draping things behind his neck like this.

And just to prove that our days are not all fun and games. We see this face a lot. I don't know what he was mad about here, but we've already entered the beginnings of terrible two's at 14 months old. He hits, he throws fits, he throws toys, it's lots of fun.

Cooper "Walking"

Cooper loves walking like this. He won't do it any other way.

My apologies for the lighting and the brevity. My memory card was almost full so I didn't have much room to work with.

Our Weekend

The weekend got off to a rough start because Keith worked until midnight on Friday. It looks like that is the last of his late nights for awhile, but I really don't like staying up that late anymore. I could have gone to bed, but I ended up staying up till he got home.

On Saturday morning, we went out for breakfast. I always enjoy eating breakfast out when we can. It's crazy though that Cooper now needs his own breakfast rather than just eating off of our plates. He has a pretty big appetite.

After breakfast we drove down to Keith's sister's house for a birthday party for 2 of her kids. One has an August birthday and another has a September birthday, so she just has a family party together for both of them. Since Cooper ended up not getting a nap beyond some sleeping in his carseat, he was a bear that evening. Keith and I went to bed by 9pm because we were so tired from staying up late the night before. At 11:30pm, I woke up to Cooper crying. Garrett used to do this when he would get "overtired". I always knew if he didn't get a good nap in, he was not going to sleep good the night either. Cooper apparently is keeping up this tradition. He was up for about an hour before he finally went back to sleep. I tried a few things to get him to sleep, but he kept waking up. Keith held him for awhile to try and calm him down, but ultimately he had to cry himself to sleep.

Sunday morning we both woke up feeling as if someone had ran over us with a truck. Cooper definitely got up on the wrong side of the bed and was throwing fits right and left as soon as the sun came up. We ended up missing church because we didn't want to have to hand him over to the nursery workers to have to deal with an extremely cranky kid. I hate missing church when we don't have to, but in cases like this, I feel like it's better for everyone involved if we just stay at home. I ended up putting Cooper down for a morning nap (which we've done away with for awhile now) and he slept for almost 2 hours.

I was able to get all of the laundry done and mostly put away and Keith worked on putting pulls on our hallway cabinet. Both boys get into this cabinet all the time. On the bottom shelf is all of our games and puzzles and on the top shelves is where I keep all of our craft stuff and office supply stuff. Since Garrett has access to it, he's painted his carpet along with writing all over in his room with marker. I've been wanting to make these cabinets inaccessible, but there wasn't any way to do so. They're right outside of Garrett's room so if I put up a gate, then he wouldn't be able to get into his room (plus he can get over gates if he wants to). So we put pulls on them and then I bought a child-safety latch that goes over the pulls and keeps the doors from being opened. It's so nice! Now I just need to reorganize those cabinets now that little hands can't get in them and make big messes.

That afternoon we did a little shopping. I've been needing to buy Garrett's birthday presents for awhile now, so I dropped the guys off at Sears and then went to Toys R Us. I met the guys back at Sears when I was done and Keith decided we need to get new bath towels. So we picked out 2 new ones for each bathroom (so basically a new towel for each of us). Towels are expensive! But all of our current ones are 8 years old, so I guess it's time to start buying a few new ones here and there. Then we went to another store and looked at new bedding. We've had the same comforter on our bed for years now, not to mention the same pillows. We ended up just buying new pillows because all of the comforters I liked were more money than we wanted to spend.

Last night we worked in the yard, mowing, weedeating and pulling weeds in the flower beds. Even with watering our new grass everyday, it's still dry out there and there are some areas where the grass is looking a little brown. But I'm sure that can be attributed to the 100+ degree days we've had for awhile now. Keith has upped the watering schedule, so hopefully everything will perk up soon.

It's hard to believe that tomorrow Cooper will be 14 months old and in 13 days, Garrett will be 5!

Our Day

Today we had a fun day.

This morning we went to a local kids' gym which is the same place where Garrett's birthday party will be held in a few weeks. I've only been there 2 other times and, incidentally, those times were in the winter and the spring. Not the summer, till today. Turns out the building isn't quite as cool as you might hope it would be given the 100+ degree days we're having right now. So the birthday party will be interesting. On the bright side, she has lots of fans all over the place, so hopefully everyone will find a good spot in order to keep relatively cool.

This afternoon has been spent helping Cooper practice his walking. He and I have walked all over the house with him just holding on to one of my fingers while he led me around. I'm in hopes that by doing this regularly, he'll start walking independently soon. He did stand up in the middle of the floor without holding on to anything for the first time, so that was good.

Something else that he's learned today is how to open the doors in our house. Of course I was expecting this to happen at some point, but I really thought it would be AFTER he learned how to walk. Kind of backwards if you ask me. Our doorknobs have lever handles, so they're pretty easy for little kids to open, unfortunately. He's now tall enough to reach the lever on his tiptoes and he pulls it down and pushes on the door. Of course, if the door has to open by pulling, then he can't open it yet, but of course the rooms I don't want him in and therefore keep the door closed, all open by pushing them from the hallway side. So I've had to bring out my 2 babygates who have been waiting on the sidelines (we bought 3 babygates when Garrett was a baby. That tells you how active that boy was.) Now we get to juggle a stepstool around these gates as well, in order for Garrett to have access to a bathroom and his bedroom. On top of all of this, with the stepstool hanging out in the hallway today, Cooper has learned how to climb on top of it to stand. How the boy is learning all of these things and still refuses to walk is beyond me!

And on a sidenote. There's a stomach bug going around our area right now. Anytime I hear about bugs like this, I always get paranoid. I feel like I'm constantly watching my kids for any signs that they might have it. Constantly checking myself out for any symptoms. I feel like a crazy person and I hate being that way, but in the back of my mind I'm figuring that we'll probably get it somehow and I want to be on the lookout for it. And if I knew it wouldn't send me over the edge, I would probably avoid going out to very many places because of the chance of catching it, but I'm trying not to go completely overboard with my OCD. Please forgive me for being this way! I keep telling myself once Cooper is a little older, I won't stress about bugs like this as much because I don't remember worrying about it before he was born. And Garrett has always been super healthy and I've never worried about it much, but I find myself being more of a worrywart as of late. I'm not sure where that's coming from. Does anyone else do this or is it just me?

Getting Ready

Today the boys and I stepped out to do some school supply shopping.

Garrett has been going to mother's day out/preschool for the past 3 years, so buying supplies for him is nothing new. But it was different to be buying supplies for 2 kids instead of one. Especially since Cooper will only be 14 months old when he starts going this fall. I waited until Garrett was 2 before I sent him for the first time. But now that I'm working at the church again, I have no other choice but to put him in MDO for 2 days a week (though he may only end up going once a week. We'll see how he does. And how I handle it.)

Now, don't get me wrong. I am not a mom that must be with my kids 24/7. I relish opportunities that will afford me a bit of a break, even going so far as to volunteer to mow our yard when Keith is home in order to have some "me" time on the mower. Yes, I'm weird. But I will admit to some guilt over putting Cooper in "school" so young. I feel like I should wait one more year, but I also keep reminding myself that Garrett was in daycare for the first year of his life, so that basically compensates the amount of time that both will ultimately end up spending away from my care. But I still can't lose the guilty feeling.

Back to supply shopping, I will confess to feeling a bit of a "rush" when getting the supply list for the first time. As well as going up and down the supply aisles at the store. I always loved that part of "back to school" when I was growing up and I even enjoyed it the years that I taught school. Stocking up on crayons for a quarter and notebook paper for a buck was always fun for me.

With the boys going to MDO at our church, we have to buy additional supplies that I would assume are not included on a public school's supply list. Items like rolls of paper towels (4 per child) and boxes of baby wipes (also 4 per child. And these are obviously for clean-up. And dirty diapers.) Throw in things like paper plates, ziplock bags, and kleenex, on top of the usual suspects, we had a bunch of supplies in our cart this morning. And subsequently in a closet for now until Meet the Teacher day in a few weeks.

Garrett wasn't too happy to discover that he wasn't getting a new backpack, but Cooper was. I've tried to get Garrett's backpacks to last for 2 years before buying another one. His current backpack is only a year old, so I told him he would use it again this year and then get a new one when he starts kindergarten. But he did get a new lunchbox. Mostly because I hated the one he had last year. It had 2 compartments, which I did not use because I didn't want to have to worry if Garrett would remember to check the second one at lunchtime. So I would cram all of his food into one compartment just to be sure he got it all.

And on a side note, they really don't have backpacks for little kids. Sure if Cooper was into Cars or Toy Story, I wouldn't have had a problem getting him one, but he's not there yet (and I know it really doesn't matter. But I didn't want Garrett "borrowing" Cooper's). I found one Elmo backpack, but it was tiny. I know the main item that goes into their backpacks is a folder and that backpack wasn't near big enough for one. So we settled on Hot Wheels.

The part that I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around is Cooper taking naps on a nap mat, on the floor, with other 1 and 2 year olds around him. That should be interesting.

Girls' Night Out

I very rarely have a girls' night out. Sometimes I'll get out by myself in order to do some shopping that would be impossible if I were accompanied by the rest of my family. But going out with friends rarely happens. Maybe once a year.

My friend Kelli called me yesterday afternoon and asked if I wanted to go to the movies. But first, let me back up a little. About a week and a half ago, Kelli called to chat and during our chat she asked me if I had seen the Twilight movies. We got to talking about them (yes, I've seen the movies and read all of the books. Twice. Don't judge me unless you've read them. They really are good.) She hadn't read the books, but she had just finished watching the second movie and really wanted to go see the third one which is out in theaters right now. I hadn't seen it yet, so we decided we would do it soon.

Fast forward to yesterday and we made plans to go to the 7:30 showing at a local theater. But first me and the guys went over to their house for supper. Kelli picked up a to-go order from Chili's and we ate at their house. Which is nice when you have two 5 year old's (in 20 days technically) and a 1 year old. Then she and I headed out to the movies leaving the dads behind to take care of some crazy boys.

I was so stuffed from my dinner, I didn't even get anything to eat or drink which is pretty amazing because I can't hardly resist the yumminess that is concessions.

The movie was really good. Definitely the best from this series so far. I still feel like books-turned-movies tend to be really lacking on screen. If I hadn't read the books, I would feel confused about some things that aren't addressed in the movies. And I spent most of the ride home filling Kelli in on those details that weren't made clear (without giving away anything from the last book. I promise!)

While I'm sure our night didn't nearly measure up to many other girls' nights out, it was still pretty fun since we rarely get to do stuff like that. Her birthday is coming up in a few weeks, so we may just have to do this again soon.

And as an aside, I don't understand why people are vocal in their criticism and disdain for parents who bring small children on flights, yet we seldom hear criticism of the parents who choose to bring their small children to an adult movie. And by small children I mean a 2 year old and a baby younger than 1. To a movie starting at what should be close to their bedtime.

So instead of focusing on a movie that I paid $10 to see while leaving my own children behind so they won't disturb and distract me and the rest of the movie-goers, I get to watch a mom and a dad alternate pacing back and forth with their baby (right in front of me, as we were on the front row of the "stadium seats"). Seriously? It's not "necessary" for parents to bring their babies to movies. (Kids movie? Have at it. When you go to see a kids movie, you expect to see and hear small children.) Wait until the movie is available to rent and watch it in the privacy of your own home after putting your kids to bed. Or let them waller all over you while watching it, if that's your druthers. Which it apparently is for those who take their kids to the movies with them.

However, there are times that call for parents to travel by plane with their small children. (Wedding, funeral, attempt to avoid an excruciatingly long drive in order to visit family you haven't seen in forever...) I don't want to see eye rolls and hear sighs when I enter a plane with my child, yet I could bring a squalling kid up well past their bedtime to a movie they shouldn't even be seeing and no one will even bat an eye.

And the best part about the whole scenario was the dad verbally (and loudly) reprimanding his BABY for crying.

Goings On

Keith has still been working long hours. He's hoping those will end real soon. So am I.

Cooper finally took a couple of independent steps yesterday for the first time. Of course he has to do things his own way on his own terms. Not only is he waiting more than 3 months longer than Garrett's first steps, but he's also refusing to take any steps towards me. If I stand him up in front of me, he either sits down and laughs, or he free falls towards me assuming I'll catch him (and of course I do.) The only way he's taken steps is just in walking back and forth between the couch and his toy basket. Every now and then I've looked up to see him take a step here or there today, but he hasn't walked more than 2 steps in a row. I'm curious to see how long it will take before he's walking more than crawling. At this rate, who knows.

I took the boys to the library today and let Garrett check out 5 books. (The limit is 10, but I don't want to have to keep up with 10 borrowed books. 5 is plenty.) When we were checking them out, the librarian asked Garrett where he got a tractor book that he had chosen. He told her where it had been and I explained it was propped up on display and asked if it was ok for us to take it and she said it was fine. Turns out they had been looking for the book for a long time and couldn't find it anywhere. And it was open and on display on a shelf. Sounds kind of like me when I'm trying to find something. She told Garrett thanks for solving the mystery of the missing book. On the way out of the library, Garrett asked why he didn't get a sticker for finding the book. Apparently we need to talk about being proud of our accomplishments no matter how minor they are and whether or not they are tangibly rewarded.

Garrett's birthday is coming up in just a few short weeks. I can't hardly believe that he's going to be 5. I'm just not ready for that yet. I think we're basically ready for the party though. It's going to be so nice having it someplace other than our house this year. I just need to either order some cupcakes from somewhere or start making plans to make my own cupcakes this year. I also can't decide what to do for a meal for our family after the party. We'll have some extended family here who won't be going directly home after the party ends at noon, so we need to figure out what to do for lunch. There will be about 14 of us in total and several who have food allergies. So I can't decide if we should just come home and I should have something already made or if we should find somewhere to go where everyone could find something that they can eat and where we also wouldn't have to wait forever for a table to hold all of us. Who knows what we'll end up doing.

On Tuesday we went swimming for one of the first times this summer. It was actually Cooper's first time to swim in a big pool. In our area, there aren't any public pools nearby. The closest one is about 20 minutes away and it's not very clean. But one of our friends who lives nearby has a pool and she invited us over. (She's given me a blanket invitation to come anytime, but it's just not in my personality to show up at someone's house and swim without an invitation for a specific day and time.) It was a lot of fun. Garrett loves to swim. I never did sign him up for lessons this summer and I'm kicking myself for that. But I think if we had regular access to a pool, it wouldn't take much to teach him. I taught myself how to swim in our neighbor's pool when I was younger. Cooper also really enjoyed the water. He splashed a bunch and was extra talkative. Maybe we'll get in atleast one more swim before the summer is over.

Please pray for my friend Mary. She just had her new baby, Megan, this week and Megan has a blood infection and will be in the NICU for the next week or two. That's all the details that I know right now. I haven't been able to talk to Mary, I've just been updated by her sister and sister-in-law on Facebook. Mary and I have literally known each other since birth. (Well, her birth, I'm 6 months older.) I have very few memories before the age of 10 that don't involve her. Even though we haven't lived close to each other in years and years, anytime we get together, it's as if we just saw each other. I love friendships like that. She currently lives in Florida and of course I live in Texas, but thankfully our parents only live about 45 minutes apart. So whenever we're both in Indiana for a visit at the same time, we always make plans to get together. I'll keep you posted on Megan and Mary. Thank you in advance for your prayers.

Funny Garrett Story

Today, Garrett was drawing a picture (thankfully on paper and not on his carpet as he has done lately.) He showed me the picture and I asked him what he drew and he said "God." God took up the entire page from top to bottom. Then Garrett went on to say that Superman was really little compared to God, but Superman can fly and God can't.

I said, "Well, God could fly if he wanted to. But he doesn't need to because he's everywhere all the time." Hard concept to explain or grasp, especially when dealing with a 4 year old.

Garrett focused on the fact that I said he "could fly" and said "No way. God can't fly. He has feet."

Me, "Superman has feet too and he can fly. What does that mean?"

Him, "God is a person and people don't fly."

Me, "Superman is a person and can fly. So God can too."

Him, "Well, in my Bible, the pictures do not show God flying. But all the pictures I've seen of Superman, he's flying."

Apparently we need an illustrated Bible showing God flying so Garrett can grasp that concept (and know that Momma was right about this one).

Weekend Recap

First I have to say that I'm sorry for my sporadic posts. Now that I'm working again for our church, my writing time is spent writing articles for the bulletin and other aspects of my job.

On with my weekend.

Last Friday, me and the boys went to visit my grandparents. They live about an hour away and we try to get over there for a visit every other month or so. We had a good time visiting with them along with my aunt, 2 uncles, cousin, and her daughter. We went to Fuddruckers for lunch, which is always a good choice. Before we left another uncle, aunt, and 2 cousins came by on their way to Oklahoma. So we visited with them before hitting the road to come home.

Thankfully Keith was home around 7pm that night, which is early for him lately. He's been working roughly 7am to 10pm every day plus working Saturdays. So not only did he come home early on Friday, but he was off on Saturday too. It was nice! On Friday evening, I kicked off our mowing marathon. Since we killed everything in our yard, reseeded, and have been watering and fertilizing like crazy, our new grass is growing by leaps and bounds, which requires more mowing than normal at this time of year.

Saturday was spent with more time in the yard before it got too hot. Then we went to lunch at Texas Roadhouse. I love that place. Once we got home, I vacuumed, mopped, and did laundry. In the middle of all of that, I somehow managed to break my little toe. Pretty fun. I was stepping over some toys and kicked a corner on our wall. My toe caught and snapped. Now it's swollen and purple. Thankfully I've mostly been able to walk with just a little limping. I've made sure to not wear any close-toed shoes and to keep my weight shifted onto the inside of my foot instead of the outside. If it bends a certain way or gets hit (I've noticed my boys hit and step on my feet a lot! Didn't even realize it till now.) then it really hurts.

On Sunday we went to church and then ate lunch at Chili's. We normally don't eat out twice in the weekend, but we were enjoying the fact of a "normal" weekend for a change. After Chili's we had to go shirt shopping for Keith. He has worked for the same CPA firm for 11 years now and the entire time the dress code has been business casual. Khakis and polo shirts with the occasional button-down. For some unknown and absurd reason, they've decided to implement one business dress day a month. That starts this Wednesday. Keith has a suit, a multitude of ties and several dress shirts, but most of his dress shirts don't fit him well in the neck. When we bought them, they weren't necessarily purchased to wear with a tie.

And just a brief lesson on shirt sizes (which I just learned this weekend), the bigger the neck size on a shirt, the bigger around the shirt is. Keith has a bigger neck, but not necessarily a big stomach. (He's 6'6" and weighs 275, "big stomach" is a relative term.) So the shirts with a comfortable neck look kind of tent-like on him. But he'd rather not choke to death on a tie, so we bought a couple that will work along with some button extenders for the shirts he already owns. Turns out you can buy these little things that clip onto your shirt's button and it will extend the neck size about 1/2" or so and it's hidden by your tie knot so no one will ever know.

Once we got home, Keith put together Garrett's new wagon. Keith's grandma got him one as an early birthday present. The only wagon we had was a little one meant more for kids to pull their stuff around in, but this wagon is more for kids to be pulled around in it. It has a seat with a seatbelt on it and everything.

Last night after the boys went to bed, we watched "Shutter Island". It was an interesting movie. I didn't know anything about it ahead of time, besides the fact that Leonardo DiCaprio was in it. Keith and I both thought it was good, though hard to follow at times. Now that we've seen it to the end, it all makes sense, but when you're watching it for the first time, it's confusing.

And in other news, Cooper is getting really close to walking independently. I seriously didn't think it would take him this long. He's been pulling up and walking holding onto stuff since he was 9 months old. He will now walk holding onto just one of my hands instead of two. He stands for long periods of time in the middle of the floor and takes falling steps. He's intentionally falling and he will take a step or two on the way down. I hope he'll start walking soon. Mostly because he's moving up to the toddler nursery at church in 6 weeks and around that same time, he'll start attending Mother's Day Out in the toddler room as well. I'm sure it would be a good thing if he was actually "toddling" once he moves to these classes.

How old were your kids when they started taking steps? Garrett was 10 months old. Cooper is 2 weeks away from 14 months and still no independent steps.

Our Weekend

On Friday, the boys and I went bowling. As I mentioned before, this was Garrett's first time to go bowling outside of Wii and plastic balls and pins. He actually bowled 2 spares, though I will add that his lane had bumpers on it, but it still actually possible to get a gutter ball, even with bumpers. So I was impressed. Though I will add that we still need to work ALOT on taking turns. For those of you who are interested, you can go to kidsbowlfree.com and sign up your kids under the age of 15 for free bowling games each week (assuming you have a participating bowling alley close to you). You only have to pay for shoe rental (which was less than 3 dollars for us) and you get 2 free games each day (3 days a week or something like that). Anyway, it was a good deal. Just be prepared for a headache after listening to little kids bowl 2 games. I ended up with a migraine by Friday night because of it.

Keith had to work on Saturday. He's been working a lot of hours lately. He leaves at 6am and doesn't get home till 10pm. On Saturday he worked from 7am to 4pm. So the boys and I picked up lunch for him, us, and everyone working for him on Saturday and we took it up to his office and ate with them. I'm hoping he'll get this project finished this week because we have plans to go out for his birthday on Saturday, but if he has to work, we won't be going anywhere.

Sunday afternoon, he worked a little here at home while I finished laundry, vacuumed and mopped. A pretty boring weekend.

Since Cooper turned 13 months old on Saturday, I wanted to briefly write down what he's up to this month for my own information.

He has 4 teeth, 2 on top, 2 on bottom.

He stands alone for long periods of time and walks along the wall, but still refuses to take any steps. He physically could, but he won't.

He's saying more and more and his babbling actually sounds like attempts at talking. I remember Garrett's babbling and it never really made any sense or had anything decipherable in it. Cooper seems to say thank you, done, daddy, momma, hi, bye, and night night. Daddy, Momma, hi and bye you can definitely tell that's what he's saying. The others sound very close, but not quite right.

I've dropped him down to one nap a day because he wasn't taking 2 good naps a day. He would sleep for 2 or more hours in the morning and barely sleep 30 minutes in the afternoon. That makes for a very long day. So I try to keep us semi busy in the mornings, and then put him down for a nap around 12:30 or 1 and he'll sleep about 2 hours. So far it seems to be working well.

He's outgrowing a lot of his 12 month clothes and moving up to 18 months. He's wearing a size 5 shoe, but getting close to outgrowing it.

He loves milk. If I try to give him a cup of water, he will throw it and throw a fit because he wants milk instead. He needs to drink some water because he's had a bit of an issue with constipation, but it's hard to get him to drink much of it.

He fell the other day and skinned his chin on the wood floor. I'm afraid these wood floors are going to do more damage to the boys than I'm ready for.