A Peek into the Brackmans' World

Deals

2010-08-08T20:27:00.004-04:00

I got a great deal at the store yesterday, I just have to brag a little. I try to work some "coupon magic" when I can to get really good deals from sales stacked with coupons. While I don't do it for all our shopping, I do when I can. I have some blogs/websites I use to help me find and track great deals, and then I buy as much as I can at a great price.

Yesterday I went to Meijer and bought 10 boxes of Kellogg's cereal and cracker sandwiches for $1.25 each, which is a great price. I also had several coupons though, so I only had to pay $6.50 for all 10 boxes. Even better though, I then got a "Catalina" which is a store coupon that prints at the register with your receipt. It was worth $10 on any future purchase! They basically paid me $3.50 to buy those cereals and crackers! I then had other great deals lined up in my next order, and used the catalina on it too.

I ended up with $56 with of groceries and only paid $17! Yay! :)

Remodeling

2010-08-03T22:47:00.002-04:00

No, not the house, the fort! After two years of lots of playing and climbing and storms the boys' fort wasn't looking so great. Jeff, Trey & Roman spent quite a bit of time on it yesterday to get it in top shape again. They cleaned out big sticks and rocks (except the really big ones that are supposed to be in there) and raked the ground smooth again, then they re-built the wall and roof of the fort. Here are a couple of shots from last night. The first one has them with their friend Natalie. In the second picture you can see a couple of trees with no lower branches to the left of the fort, one of them the boys like to climb like you would climb a rope. There's also a big tree even further to the left that fell partially in a storm but is still alive. It's pointing diagonally down to the ground with the tops of the branches almost touching the ground, but yet it's still growing! They climb on that tree a lot too, since it's so accessible. Behind Roman in the first picture is a path leading down toward the creek in the woods. I am so glad we have lots of outdoors for them to play in!

When did he get so grown up?

2010-08-01T21:53:00.003-04:00

My sweet little Trey is 6 1/2 now and getting ready to start first grade. I can't believe it. He is an amazing kid. Today we went swimming with friends for a couple of hours and he didn't wear any life vest the whole time. He's officially a swimmer now, and without any lessons! He also read our bedtime story to me and Roman tonight. I think he gets better every time I hear him read. It has been so exciting to me to have watched him learn to read. I love seeing him try new words and get them, and even when he doesn't get them, he tries and that's all I ask.

Lately I've noticed we've been sharing more and more "inside jokes" and he'll look at me, smile and shake his head when Roman is doing something silly.

He's also become so much more confident and independent over the past year. (Kindergarten was really good for him.) He tries new things - and succeeds! He is strong and fast and smart. He's so sweet too, this morning at church he waited around the coffee table while the coffee was brewing (we were there early) so that he could get the first cup of coffee for me! He even added sweetener and stirred it for me.

Sometimes I can't believe I was chosen to be his mom! I must be the luckiest woman on earth!

Life

2010-07-25T15:02:00.003-04:00

There are so many things I've thought of posting or wanted to post, but life has been too crazy! I realized today while talking to a girlfriend that my life right now is probably the busiest it's been since Jeff and I were engaged (over 10 years ago) when I was finishing college, working full time and planning a wedding at the same time. It's a little overwhelming to think of all that we have going on right now, but instead I try to focus on the fun. (Some days I do better at that than others.) I am loving the ages/stages my kids are at, working at a cool job, participating in lots of summer activities, involved in a church plant, and trying to stay current with friends....

Roman cracks me up

2010-04-16T20:11:00.002-04:00

Trey was sitting in a box at the top of the stairs contemplating "sledding" down. He was hesitating, afraid of getting hurt. Roman, completely seriously, said "Just do it. God will be with you. God is always with you."

You Can't Sneak Up on Me

2010-04-14T16:07:00.003-04:00

A few years ago I was reading something that talked about how spring sneaks up on us. One day the trees are bare, then suddenly you wake up one morning and notice leaves and new growth every where. I realized the writer was right, that does happen! I love spring, and seeing things start to grow again and turn green makes me happy. It gives me hope and, combined with sunshine, energy and enthusiasm! I decided then that I'm not going to let spring sneak up on me even a little bit. I choose - almost daily - to notice the buds on the trees, the grass turning greener and all the new sprouts. Yesterday I noticed my lily-of-the-valley growing, hostas starting to sprout, and the wild plants that line the woods side of our driveway had come back again. I love seeing it happen a little each day!

Soccer!

2010-04-10T16:14:00.004-04:00

Trey had his first ever soccer game today! He was adorable and did a great job! Jeff is the coach of Trey's team and he was great too. They didn't win, but they did a great job working together and keeping up their energy. They ended the game with high-fives and big smiles, proud of themselves and ready for snack!

New Decade

2010-03-25T21:49:00.002-04:00

As of yesterday I am now 30 years old. A whole new decade. Some call it "old". I prefer not to. I'm sad for my 20s to be over, but mostly just because I want time to stop. I like being (relatively) young. I like having young kids and a young-ish (hee hee) husband. But I'm excited too, a new decade is a new beginning. An entire 10-year span to do what I want with. I hope I become wiser in my 30s. That's what I really want. Solomon prayed for wisdom and got it, maybe I will too!

So, how was my birthday? Wonderful. I spent the whole day with my family. They brought me my breakfast in bed - ice cream of course! (In our family the birthday person gets ice cream for breakfast!) It came with coffee and flowers. The morning continued, slow and lazy. We played some games (memory, ring toss), watched a little TV, then Chipotle for lunch! Yum! A bit more laziness before we went out for a hike, it was a beautiful day. For dinner Jeff grilled delicious shish-kabobs (sp?)! Then... drumroll please... my most favorite cake... DQ Ice Cream Cake! And I ate a LOT of it. You only turn 30 once, right? :)

Childhood Book

2010-03-14T21:50:00.003-04:00

There was a really cool big book of Fairy Tales my mom used to have for us kids. It was gray and had great illustrations and lots of stories. I haven't seen it in years and am not sure where it ended up. I have thought about it recently, wanting my kids to know the classic fairy tales. I wondered if I could somehow find a copy without knowing the name or publisher.

Yesterday my boss and I were delivering a wedding together. We got to the church and realized we'd forgotten something, so I stayed and kept setting up while she left to go get it. Unfortunately we were about 20 minutes away from the shop, so it took a while. I finished setting up and was kind of wandering around being bored. I noticed a stack of kids' books on a table with a note that said "take if you'll use!", so I started looking at them to see what was there. I bet you can see where this is going. The book at the bottom of the pile was an exact copy of the fairy tale book we had growing up! I swear my heart skipped a beat when I saw it and the illustration on the cover took me immediately back to my childhood. I couldn't believe it. I grabbed it quick as if someone else was going to take it - even though no one else was even around!

The book was originally published in 1977, and this copy has an inscription in the front that it was a gift in 1979. Right about the same time my parents probably got it. It's in fantastic overall shape, especially considering it's age.

When I got home I told my kids all about this book I used to have, then showed them the one I found. They were so excited to hear about it and read it together. We've decided we'll read a story a night until we finish it, and we started tonight. I'm so glad to share this with them!

Here are pics of both the front and back covers, as both hold strong memories for me. Are the pictures fantastic?

JOB!!!

2010-03-14T21:45:00.002-04:00

Jeff got a job!!! He got the official offer on Thursday, although we were pretty sure it was coming before that. It's with Ohio Health, a big company that's well-known for being a great company to work for. He'll be working in the brand-new Dublin hospital doing admissions. He's super excited about all the technology they have, being so new. It's kind of an entry type position, but their policy is that once you've been with the company a year you can transfer anywhere within. They offer great benefits too, which will be such a relief.

As far as scheduling and my job, we don't know yet. We're not planning on me quitting, but we truly have not had time to sit down and figure out what our schedule will be.

Thank you for your prayers. Please keep praying; for the craziness that is about to commence with a new job, new schedule, etc., etc., for our financial situation as it is again about to change and we're not sure how that's going to look, and for our family!

Warm!

2010-03-07T14:39:00.002-05:00

It's warm out! At least it feels warm. And there's SUNSHINE! I'm so happy to see the sun. I never fully realize how much I miss it until it's back. And it make me feel so happy!

The boys and I went on a walk yesterday to enjoy the sun and higher temperatures. We played Bear Grylls, hiking on "glaciers" and following animal tracks (deer, raccoon, we think coyote, and of course our dogs'). We made a huge loop around some of the land here, since our road isn't great for walking on. I think we had more fun this way anyway.

Today we went to our favorite local park, Liberty Park. I really expected there to be less snow, but at least the equipment was dry for running, climbing, swinging and sliding. It seems everyone was thrilled to see the sun, there were several other families. All us moms were talking about the sun and snow and being so happy to get the kids outside. Like many other areas of the country, we've seen more snow here recently then we usually do in a whole winter.

Tonight is the second service for our new church. We didn't have a service last week because our sending church was having a special service in the evening we all went to. I am excited to see how tonight goes, and how many people are there.

Life Community North

2010-02-21T21:25:00.005-05:00

We had our first service with our new church plant tonight! It was exhausting and hard in a lot of ways, overwhelming too, but I don't want to focus on the hard parts. I want to focus on the fact that it happened and it was great! To me, this "thing" started out as an interesting idea... then an abstract possibility... then a distant reality... before I knew it, it was something I cared about, something I was committing to. Then, suddenly it started to become more and more concrete, and now it has happened. Life Community North had it's first service this evening! We had 35 kids checked into classes and roughly 76 adults in the service! Of course, some of those are people who are excited and supportive from our sending church who won't be regular attenders, but that's okay. We actually had to set up more chairs as people were coming in, we didn't have enough ready! Amazing!

Not the best pics, but pics of a big event none the less!

Jeff and Roman putting bulletins on the chairs:

Our first service:

Kids in the gym:

Faith Like a Child

2010-02-20T21:53:00.003-05:00

I was tucking the kids in to bed (late) tonight, then was going to post about our new church (brand new!), we're having our first service tomorrow! I'm super excited about it! ...

Then something even more exciting happened. I was putting Roman to bed when we started talking about Jesus... then Heaven... then questions about the "bad heaven"... the next thing I knew Roman was telling me "I believe in God and that Jesus died for me and loves me so I want Him to live in my heart so I can go to Heaven"!!! We prayed together, and I couldn't resist peeking at him, he was so sweet and focused on what he was saying with his eyes closed and hands folded. Roman is rarely this calm and focused!

It was so fantastic! All I was thinking about (after a LONG busy day) was putting them to bed and chillin' before I go to bed... apparently God had something else in mind first!

Yay!

V-Day

2010-02-20T19:24:00.004-05:00

It's like D-Day, except with flowers. At least that's how crazy it seemed to me!

We were frantically busy for several days at the flower shop leading up to and including Valentines' Day. Yes, that's a good thing for business, but I was worn out! If I had any idea how many roses I processed and arranged I would tell you, but I didn't even try to keep count. I can tell you that we did arrangements as simple as one rose and as big as 40! We did tropicals, lilies, a bazillion daisies and alstromeria, and tons of my current favorite, beautiful spring tulips! It was so fun and so crazy all at the same time.

In the midst of the chaos we decided to be closed for Presidents' day on Monday... we were too tired to want to be open! Then Tuesday was another wave of the crazy snow storms that have been coming through, so we ended up being closed then too. What a relief, I needed some time off!

God Provides

2010-01-31T23:13:00.002-05:00

"My God shall supply all my needs..."

I continue to be impressed by God. He keeps finding new ways to show us that He will provide for us. Jeff's been out of work for nine months now and our bills are still paid and food is still on the table. He has used a lot of people to meet our needs and even many of our wants. We've had gift cards, checks and cash show up in the mail or at the door, many anonymously and some very large. We've had Christmas gifts given, restaurant meals paid for and so many other things. Most recently we've found some amazing sales combined with coupons to keep us stocked in things like cereal and crackers, and today a doctor friend called in an antibiotic for me (sinus related infection) so that I wouldn't have to pay for an appointment at our doctor's office.

To all the friends and family who have helped us, thank you. I hope that we will be able to pass the blessings on to others at some point.

Day Off

2010-01-18T19:56:00.002-05:00

The flower shop was closed today, so vacation day for me!! Woo-hoo! We slept in, Jeff made bacon and eggs for breakfast and before we knew it our lazy morning was creeping into afternoon. The boys asked me if today would be a good day to go to the mall to use the Build-a-Bear gift cards they got for Christmas and I thought it was a good idea. So the three of us headed out to join all the other people at the mall who had today off. :) We went straight to Build-a-Bear where we had a great time picking out new animals, filling them, and choosing their clothes/accessories. If you've never been to B-a-B it is really cute and the kids love it.

My favorite part of the trip though was at Childrens' Place after B-a-B. I got a few great deals and paid with a gift card that was also from Christmas. I loved that, but it wasn't the best part. The best part was when Trey was asking me something at the cash register and I told him he needed to go back to where he'd been sitting with Roman and I'd be done in a minute. He kept talking and I told him that we would take care of it in a minute, "right now I need obedience". He promptly turned (with a good attitude even!) and went back to where Roman was until I was done. Great moment. What made it even better was when the cashier looked at me and said "Wow. I wish I could get that to work!"

My kids aren't perfect, but they are fantastic for sure. I'm so proud of them. :)

Snow Fun

2010-01-13T17:20:00.002-05:00

Columbus has gotten a record amount of snow this year! Today I got to go out and enjoy it. It was finally above 30 degrees and it was my day off. The boys and I went out and had a blast sledding and playing. Trey did point out that we should've built a snowman, but maybe there'll be time for that before it's gone.

Nala has always loved the snow and she was thrilled to be out with us. She and Marley ran all over the place, and I threw several snowballs for her. I'm very amused with throwing them up in the air for her, she'll launch herself up in the air to grab and smash them.

It's been a great day off!

Good-Bye Christmas

2010-01-07T23:46:00.002-05:00

Christmas got packed up yesterday. I wasn't ready to say good-bye. It seems like each year I've been enjoying getting wrapped up in the Christmas season more and more. Usually by now I'm ready to have my house back from the tree and decor, but I wasn't feeling that way yet. However, I do have limits - even in my holiday mood, and the chaos and clutter and pine needles piled beneath the tree had to be sorted and put away (or vacuumed). So away it all went. The new toys, all the ornaments, stockings and nativity. I considered one more morning of Christmas music, but listening to it while packing everything away didn't seem right. So instead I made a game of packing the (non-breakable) ornaments with the boys and got it done. I was relieved to have the space in the living room again, and it's exciting to say good-bye to 2009 and venture deeper into the new year to see what lies ahead.

I know what lies ahead this weekend... lots and lots of flowers. We're preparing for our booth at the big bridal show this weekend and it has us BUSY. It will make for a long, exhausting few days but it will also be a lot of fun... and include cake tastings!

Organize Schmorganize

2010-01-04T18:57:00.002-05:00

This book, Organize Schmorganize, was written by one of my oldest, dearest friends. Amy Kauffman and I grew up together (she wasn't Amy Kauffman then, but I wasn't Carla Brackman either!) in NY and our families are still close. I'm so proud of her for publishing this great book. It's a quick easy read (I just finished reading it) packed full of organizational tips for the average person or family. I consider myself a pretty organized person already, but I was able to pick up some great new ideas from her book as well. I love her tip of "touch mail only once". One of my worst areas are those two spots in the kitchen where mail (and other papers) pile up. Ick. I think I'll try to touch the mail only once and not let it pile up.

The book is full of Amy's personality - lighthearted and energetic. By the end of the book you'll feel like you're old friends with her too!

The only tip she may never get me to follow is shortening my showers. Sorry Aim, but I love my semi-long, hot showers!

2010

2010-01-03T22:22:00.002-05:00

Happy New Year!

We had a great holiday season! I was pretty sad when we decided we wouldn't be able to go home to NY during the Christmas season as we have for the past several years. That meant not seeing my family, including the brother, sis-in-law and four nieces and nephews that I haven't seen in a year, and the little nephew who just had his first birthday. It is what it is though, and we really enjoyed our time anyway. My in-laws came down for a few days Christmas week and spoiled us; taking us out to dinner and cooking at home for us. We celebrated Christmas and just had a lot of fun. They they took the boys up to NY with them while Jeff and I stayed home. I worked during that week but enjoyed time with Jeff in the evenings and quiet mornings of coffee and hot showers. Then my parents came down New Years day, bringing the boys home with them. I was so happy to see all of them! We had fun doing a little shopping, playing games and, again, going out to dinner!

While the new year started a few days ago, tomorrow feels like the beginning since it'll be getting back to "normal" routines. I loved the whole holiday "life" we've been living for the past couple of weeks, but I'm ready for some normalcy.

As for 2010, I'm pretty excited to see what it holds!

Learning Something New

2009-10-22T21:48:00.002-04:00

I guess I'd forgotten how fun it can be to learn something new. I've been laying the groundwork lately to be able to update the flower shop's website - something I don't know how to do!

I started with figuring out what software I needed, then getting it. After that I had to track down all the right user-names and passwords for our site and our web hosting account, and then came figuring out how to actually use the software and do it. I really didn't have much of an idea at all, but I did some research and spent a bunch of time on the phone with a friend who was willing to help. I started piecing things together, called for "back-up" a couple of times, and, ta-da, I updated one of our pages today!

To someone who knows how to do it, what I did was probably not very significant and wouldn't take much time, but for a total beginner... well, I'm pretty excited about it. I left work pretty pumped that I'd gotten a page done and actually understood most of what I'd done. How fun to learn something totally new!

Osage Orange

2009-10-13T22:35:00.002-04:00

If you were reading my blog last year you might remember when I discovered and fell in love with hedge apples. Well, it's that time again. I have been thinking for a couple of weeks that they were probably about ready, and this past week I had the opportunity to get some. I was so excited to bring them home and smell the delicious smell! I keep wondering if they can make a candle smell like them. I would burn it all the time. I collected enough to have three bowls of them in the house. The smell is just amazing, plus they're so neat!

Jeff posted a pic of one on his facebook and a friend commented that they're called osage oranges. Makes sense, since the smell is citrus-y. She said they can be used medicinally. I had never heard of osage oranges, but when I Googled it there they were! Amazing. Learn something new everyday. They will probably always be hedge apples to me though. :)

Why didn't I think of this before?

2009-10-12T18:22:00.004-04:00

Each fall I want to make lots of apple pies. We all love them, especially Jeff. And apples are cheap. But, I only have so much time (and definitely less of that this year) and never get around to making more than a few.

I bought a bunch of apples on sale last week, then was surprised by old friends from NY who brought us 1/2 a bushel of baking apples when they visited this weekend. That's a lot of apples. :)

I couldn't let them be wasted, and came up with an idea I can't believe I never thought of before. I peeled, cored and chopped a ton of apples and bagged them with the correct amount for a pie in each bag. Then I filled them, assembly-line style with the other filling ingredients. I then sealed the bags, tossed them to mix, labeled them and put them in the freezer. I now have eight bags of apple pie filling to use whenever - all I have to do is the crust!

YAY!!!

Roman

2009-09-19T20:57:00.002-04:00

My sweet little Roman, who is actually getting SO big, has really had a hard time this summer. He's my boy and he doesn't like me going to work. Often he'll ask me in the morning ,"Mommy, can you please stay home today?" It breaks my heart. I kept thinking he would adjust, but he really wants me to be home again. Hopefully I will be at some point... hopefully sooner rather than later.

So now that Trey's going to school he's had another adjustment. He seems to be doing okay with that, he really likes being Daddy's buddy throughout the day.

The thing that really gets to me is the sweet, subtle ways he asks for more time and attention. At night we both go upstairs with the boys to pray with them and tuck them in. Roman has always liked me to snuggle with him, but now he asks if I can snuggle "for a couple more minutes" and "talk about our days". It's so precious to have this little guy asking for details of my day and sharing his too. I absolutely love that time with him.

Oh, Sweet Roman, please don't ever grow up!

Three down, countless to go...

2009-09-03T23:01:00.003-04:00

School morning good-byes that is. I cried again this morning! (Although not as much as the first two days.) I think the emotional aspect of it is magnified by life being difficult right now. If life in general is pushing my limits, saying good-bye to my baby in the morning is going to be even harder, right?

I took him to school this morning, for various reasons, then asked the teacher if she minded me hanging out for the first 15-20 minutes until I had to go to work. She graciously welcomed me in and I was a very happy observer. She is energetic and yet calm with the kids. She was very engaging with their morning routine and the kids were very responsive. I loved the cute morning things she does - calendar, weather, a counting activity based on how many school days there have been, etc. She encouraged participation and I loved seeing Trey get involved. I feel very confident in his teacher and thank God for that. This would be even harder if I didn't feel comfortable with her!

Tomorrow is pizza day at school and Trey asked tonight how to buy a lunch. I told him I was thinking about going to have lunch at school with him the first time he buys so that I can help him, then asked him if he wanted to do that or try it himself. He knows I'm working tomorrow and defninitely wants pizza, so he asked if I could just tell him instead! I'm sure this is one of those moments I need to let him grow up. After all, it is his school, they're not going to let him go hungry, right?

That said, I'm off to deposit money in his lunch account so he can buy for the first time tomorrow... sniff, sniff...

Kindergarten!

2009-09-01T21:57:00.004-04:00

My journaling from Trey's first day of school:

August 27, 2009

Trey’s first day of school. He’s a kindergartner. How did we possibly get here? It seems impossible that he is five and a half years old!

I had to fill out tons of paperwork this week, and some of it asked about you as a person, Trey. I felt like I couldn’t put into words who you are. You’re such an amazing boy and I feel so blessed to have been trusted to be your mom. You are so smart and mature. You take things seriously, but oh can you have fun too! You’re so inquisitive I’m a little relieved to be sharing the question-answering with another adult! It’s amazing though. It’s like you’re always working puzzles out in your head, asking the questions you need to piece together how things work and why. I know you’ll do great things someday. I pray you’ll allow God to lead you where He wants you.

Back to today… we got up on schedule and things went so smoothly. Before I knew it we were walking out to the end of the driveway together – you and me, Roman, Daddy and Grandma. You were so handsome in your manly outfit, new shoes and full backpack. You were pretty serious, so I knew you were intent on what the day was to hold. I tried to give you as much information as I could knowing that a plan helps you manage things. I told you about the bus ride and how we would be at the school when you got there, about going to music class and lunch. I showed you which item in your lunch box was for afternoon snack and then reassured us both that Miss J would help you with whatever you needed.

When the bus finally came around the corner is when it hit me and the tears started to come. Your bus driver was smiling and waving, welcoming you onto the bus. You were brave and excited, although a little apprehensive. You climbed aboard though and waved from your seat until we couldn’t see you anymore.

Just a little later we were parked at the school and anxiously watching for your bus to arrive. I saw your face when you saw us there waiting for you. You were so happy to see us! More pictures of course, I think I took a hundred, and we were walking to your class. At this point I was less emotional, as I was focused on the things I needed to do and the people I needed to talk to. (Primarily the nurse about the blood sugar episodes you’ve had.) We said Hi to Miss J with you and watched from the doorway as you unpacked your backpack and put it where it belonged. Miss J was so welcoming and encouraging. Soon you were playing and we headed down the hall. I went in to see the nurse and didn’t find out until later that Daddy had gone back down the hall to peek in on you. I must admit I was a bit jealous that he got to see you again and see what you were doing.

The day went fast, there was plenty going on, but everything I did included thoughts of how you were doing, what you were doing, and how long until dismissal. And then, finally, it was time. I headed back to the school to pick you up, stopped in the nurse’s office again, and then headed to the gym where you were waiting. As I was asking someone what the procedures were I heard “MOMMY!” and you were running toward me with a huge grin! I can’t tell you the relief I felt to see you there smiling. I was never really worried that you would be safe, I just didn’t know if you were sad or nervous or scared. You were fine though! We sat down right there in the school so you could show me the papers in your bag. You were so proud of what you had done and wanted to tell me all about it just as badly as I wanted to know. I hope you’re always so eager to tell me about things!

As we were walking out of the school you calmly told me that you had been a little scared on the bus. It’s just like you to fight through the fear with your serious face, conquer it, and then tell us about it later. You’re a strong boy, Trey. I am so proud to be your mommy.

Camping

2009-07-21T16:49:00.004-04:00

It's been a while, but I thought I'd share this too...

Over the Fourth of July weekend we went camping with Jeff's family like we did last year. They used to always get a cabin at Allegany State Park and camp for a week and now it seems like the tradition is back. Once again it was a fantastic time. Most of you are on FaceBook and have seen a lot of my pics, but here are some of Jeff's moms that I got on CD today. Some of these were taken while they were there with the kids before Jeff and I got there.

Trey with a fish:

Roman with his fish:

This makes me laugh, Trey does not look like a "happy camper"!
I have no idea what Chris is doing, but it's funny. This is him and his girlfriend Desarae:

Jeff and Trey when we were out for a walk one evening:
Here are Jeff and Chris and their parents at the top of Stone Tower:
And a whole group of us, the Rivera, Brackman and Schutt families:
Me and my Moe:

Playing bocce:

This cracks me up too!
These were at Thunder Rocks where we were climbing and having fun:
My parents had come from where they were camping to spend a few hours with us too:
Roman looking very mischevious:

A whole month?

2009-07-21T16:07:00.003-04:00

Wow, have I really gone a month without posting? Life is still pretty overwhelming right now with Jeff's job (or lack thereof) situation. I'm working almost full time at the flower shop. I haven't yet figured out how to be a working mom. It just has not been an easy transition.

I've tried to fit in as many summer activities with the kids in as I can. Here are some pics from a great afternoon down at the river:

Kitty

2009-06-20T00:01:00.002-04:00

We have a little kitty staying with us this week. She's not ours, we're just watching her. We're really enjoying her too. She's just a baby - 9 weeks old. She's so cute and fun! Tonight she purred for the first time when I was holding her. Kittens are the so great!

Bounce Party

2009-06-19T23:54:00.003-04:00

I'm a little out of order here, but before we went to our friends' house where Roman got his with a bat we were with those friends at their kids' joint birthday party. It was at one of those bounce-house places and we had the whole place to ourselves. The best part? Adults could go on too! We had a blast jumping and sliding, it was fantastic! Here are a couple of my favorite pics:

Roman, mid-jump:

King Jeff:

The Royal Brackmans:

Bumps and Bruises

2009-06-19T23:40:00.002-04:00

I need to write more (non-depressing) stuff...

The boys continue to be boys and acquire lots of bumps and bruises. Trey's eye has healed up nicely I'm glad to say. Then Tuesday we were at a friends house and Roman got hit in the face with an aluminum baseball bat. Ouch. It hurt a lot and had a nice welt on his cheek. It is still pretty tender, but no visible damage. I really thought he'd have a purple cheek, but I guess not this time. It was actually kind of amusing thinking back on it, most of the adults were inside and the kids were in teh back yard. Trey came running in saying "it was an accident, it was an accident, but... I hit Roman in the face with a bat." As soon as the words were out of his mouth we heard the screams from Roman's. Trey really did feel bad though.

That was Tuesday. On Wednesday Trey was running toward the car when he stumbled and fell into it. Good thing his TEETH broke his fall! I wasn't here to see it, but I guess it was a pretty nasty mess. When I saw him he was calm and clean but he has two very loose front teeth, and they weren't before. One is a little cock-eyed too, his smile looks different.

My poor sweet battered children!

Ugh.

2009-06-19T23:02:00.003-04:00

I might be whining a little bit here, so if you don't want to hear it, stop reading now.

Things are tough. No worse than would be expected I guess, but it's not easy. Jeff's been out of work now for 8 1/2 weeks with almost no leads on a new job. He's very stressed out. I'm working about 30 hours/week at the flower shop. I do enjoy it, I have nothing negative to say about my job, except that we're not used to being in this role reversal. Jeff isn't used to being home with the boys so much, and they miss me. I miss them too. Roman especially is having some trouble with the whole thing.

Kodak hugely screwed up Jeff's termination paperwork causing all kinds of frustrating delays. I'm reviewing the termination agreement we finally got in the mail and they actually want us to sign and have notarized a statement that we received the agreement on or before April 26th and have had 45 days to review it. We didn't get it until this week. It's postmarked Jun 10. I don't imagine we'll be signing that statement.

We still have no answers as to Cobra benefits or any potential vacation pay. I'm afraid our medical coverage is going to lapse because Kodak isn't getting us the paperwork we need. We also don't have dollar answers from unemployment because they too were waiting for information from Kodak which was delayed.

I'm so frustrated. I just need to be able to make a plan. I also need some ice cream.

Black eye

2009-06-09T20:42:00.001-04:00

Our church has a large population of young kids and they all love to run around together after the service on Sundays. Our boys are no exception. This past Sunday Trey was running and playing and somehow stumbled and took a bad fall onto a very hard floor. He hit head-first with is brow bone and was in a LOT of pain. He usually bounces back pretty quick, but this one had him out of commission for a while. Thankfully one of our good friends who is also a pediatrician was around and took a look at him, assuring us that he would be fine with a little time and ice. He also approved an adult tylenol for Trey (the only thing available), and Trey was able to take his first ever whole pill, and on the first try! That helped with the pain and he got back to his normal self. These first two pics are from later that evening, the last one is from today (Tuesday), two days later and you can see how the bruising has settled. I don't really think the ones from Sunday really give justice to the amount of swelling he had, so you'll just have to believe me that it was very swollen until the next day.

Turtle!

2009-06-02T22:42:00.003-04:00

Trey and I stopped near the road today to check out this huge turtle! This was as close as Trey was willing to get to him, and you can see his hesitancy! I wanted to take the turtle home (away from the busy road) to let Roman see him then let him go in the field or near the river. I put a stick near his face to see if he'd snap and he didn't, so I touched his shell and he didn't move, but when I put a hand on each side to see about picking him up he swung his whole body toward me on one side... enough to scare me into leaving him there. He certainly didn't think he needed my help!

Kidsbowlfree.com

2009-06-01T21:19:00.003-04:00

If you haven't already heard of kidsbowlfree.com check it out! We got bowling passes for the kids for the whole summer. You do have to pay for shoe rental though, so it's not totally free. Still a good deal for something fun! The boys and I went today, here's Trey:

And Roman... can you tell how slow the ball is moving already?

Waiting to see what happens...

And the final score, although by the end they weren't really playing by whose turn it was, just by whoever felt like going next. :)

Pillows

2009-05-31T23:42:00.000-04:00

Trey has been asking me for a while if we could make a pillow for his bed. He has a standard pillow, but he wanted one made just for him. I came up with the idea to just make a pillow case instead (Alenna, I think your blog gave me the idea, thanks!), and when I explained that he could pick whatever material he wanted he loved the idea. Jeff was gone for most of today and I wasn't working, so it was a good day for a project. We went to Walmart and checked out the material. Trey quickly settled on Transformers and Roman on Lightning McQueen (from Cars). At home I got out my beloved sewing machine and started in. It was a simple project and they were done quickly. Here are the boys, happily settled into bed on their new pillows!

Summertime!

2009-05-26T22:29:00.005-04:00

I think it's finally here! (Summertime that is.)

Jeff's parents came for a couple of days this weekend and we made our first trip of the season to the beach at Alum Creek where we had a great time even though the water was pretty chilly.

Check out Trey's pic when Jeff lifted the bucket off the first piece of sand castle!

We also had our first bonfire of the season, complete with s'mores! Yum!

The fire was Monday evening with our friends Clay and Carrie and their kids Logan and Lauren. They spent most of the afternoon and evening enjoying Memorial Day with us - grilling out, walking in the woods, and of course the fire!

Playing in (and on) and "re-designing" the fort:

Me and Moe enjoying the day:

Hanging around and getting the fire going... I think Jeff was collecting more wood:

Roman and Lauren enjoying their s'mores (and the dogs hoping they will drop something!):

Ups and Downs

2009-05-11T12:06:00.003-04:00

It's been a while since I've posted. Jeff's still on the job search. I worked a full week this past week at the flower shop where I've been working part time. It's a fun place to work, but I was exhausted from being on my feet and I missed being home with the boys. How do working moms get everything done? Jeff was home with the kids and kept up with some of the housework, but when does the rest get done? By the time I got home from work, had dinner, did bedtime with the kids, I just wanted to crash! I'm not working today so I've done the floors and laundry to get caught up.

For the most part we've really had peace in trusting God to provide a job and our financial needs. Some days have gotten harder as time goes on though. It's been three weeks tomorrow morning and it's harder to remain confident. My knowledge of God's abilities has not changed, but keeping my mind and emotions from wandering away from that is getting harder. It's like the movie-style angel and demon on my shoulders with the one whispering about God never letting us down and the other whispering that it's been three weeks, what are we going to do... some days it takes a lot of effort to keep my focus on the right character.

Anyway. Yesterday of course was Mothers' Day. It was beautiful here. I enjoyed being at church, then came home and took a long nap. I'm not usually a big napper and I didn't want to sleep that long, but I was really worn out. I was served dinner and Jeff even made a cake for me! I think this afternoon we're going to go walk the dam, which was our plan for yesterday afternoon until we all fell asleep!

Happy mothers' day to all you moms out there, I hope it was great!

Girls' Weekend

2009-04-29T15:03:00.003-04:00

I got to go on a girls' weekend this past weekend. I met three of the girls I grew up with in Pittsburgh, which was relatively central for all of us. We had an amazing deal on a hotel room that included a little kitchen area. We wandered around the city, rode in an original 1877 cable car on the Duquesne Incline (below is a pic from their website), ate at fun restaurants and walked near the river.

We also enjoyed pedicures and lots of Starbucks - treats suitable to a girls' weekend.

Unfortunately, soon after leaving the hotel Saturday morning my camera battery died, and with no way to charge it until we got back late that evening, I took almost no pictures. I'm counting on my girlfriends to supply me with theirs. I got the one below from one of their Facebook pages. This is us in the incline cable car. Me, Alenna, Alvana & Amy.

Four of My Favorite Things

2009-04-22T16:03:00.004-04:00

Photography. Friends. Pregnant Bellies. Photoshop.

My friend Natalie asked me to take some pictures of her while she's pregnant with their second. I was thrilled to do it, it combined four of my favorite things! I got to take pics of her and her little boy and belly, then play with them on Photoshop some too. Here are a few of my favorites. Most of them are ones I've "played with" on Photoshop.

Changes

2009-04-21T16:44:00.003-04:00

Jeff got laid off today. His boss called early this morning to tell him. It's due to Kodak's financial situation only, and Jeff's direct superior had no say in it. It's effective immediately, although we believe they are giving him a small severance that includes a few weeks of pay and benefits. We were in shock at first, but right now we're doing okay. I can't speak for Jeff, but in between moments of calm and faith I am continually being struck by something else I hadn't thought of. For example, we'll be losing one of our vehicles - it's a company vehicle. And is it even possible to get a loan for a new one when you're unemployed? The good thing is that God has thought of all of it already. I have NO idea what His plan is, but I know He has one.

Can someone please remind me of that in a few minutes when I get anxious again???

Hocking Hills

2009-04-09T15:19:00.006-04:00

Some of my friends' kids who are already in school are on spring break this week, so a few of us decided to head down to Hocking Hills to hike on Wednesday.

The day turned out perfect, the kids did great and the weather was nice. It was beautiful, and with six little kids running around and climbing (and one in a snugli), you can bet I took a ton of pictures.

Look close at the little green coat just to the right of center, that's Roman. The rocks are HUGE:

Logan & Trey holding up one of the big rocks:Logan, Trey, Brianna, Roman, Katie, Lauren:
DANGER KEEP OUT. Hmmm, not good listeners??? (Of course, I took this pic right before going over there with them!

Roman and Lauren at the end of the hike:

Easter Eggs

2009-04-09T15:12:00.003-04:00

We dyed Easter Eggs the other night. That is so fun. Jeff said that in his family it was something they did the night before. I don't remember if we did it then or sooner, but we decided that in the future we'll do the night before too. It seems like a fun tradition.

At our cell group last night our leader had a cool thing he included the kids in - he handed out Easter Eggs to each of them and as he went through the Easter story (at their level) he had them open their eggs one at a time in order (they were numbered). Each child found something inside the represented the next part of the story. For example, there were silver coins for the part in the story when Judas was bribed, a mini crown of thorns in another, a cross in one, and the last one was empty to represent that Jesus' body was gone. It was such a neat demonstration, I've never seen it done like that.

Anyway, here are a few pics from Easter Egg dying.

Spring!

2009-04-03T10:49:00.003-04:00

Spring is here and I love it. It makes me feel so happy and hopeful to see things turning green and new things sprouting. Here are some recent pics of what we've been doing. I have to say though, I've noticed I have lots of pics of us out in the woods, where we are in old clothes... we really do have some better clothes, we just don't wear them in the woods! :)

The deer have been very active these past few weeks, here are some in our back field.

Here are the boys down by the creek.

Some adorable little flowers peeking their heads through the old leaves.

My friend Monica came over with her girls the other day to explore in the woods with us. This is her little peanut - how cute is she!??!

Here is me with both of the girls and Roman. We were relaxing in the hammock after our walk in the woods.

Birthday

2009-03-26T12:01:00.002-04:00

So I have officially begun my last year in my 20s. I'm a little bummed about it. Someone told me I'll get more respect in my 30s, but I don't know that it was much consolation. I did however have a great birthday. Jeff and the boys woke me up with a delicious breakfast in bed. The boys and I played and went hiking during the day, then Jeff brought dinner home with him and cleaned the house before - surprise! - guests started arriving! I had no idea Jeff had invited several close friends for cake. It was a great surprise and I felt so special!

Trey's New Bike

2009-03-22T23:05:00.003-04:00

If you remember, back in January I won a two-wheel bike for Trey (with training wheels), but we've kept it hidden until warmer weather came. Today we decided to give it to him. He was so excited, as was I! As soon as we surprised him with it we loaded into the truck with the bike, the trike and the scooter (we knew Roman would want those) along with Marley and headed over to the park. Trey was a natural on it. He did so well and loved riding all around. I couldn't get very many clear pictures since he was speeding along the whole time! We'll be raising the training wheels almost immediately to challenge him a little more and I won't be surprised if he doesn't need them at all before the end of summer.

Dinner with Strangers

2009-03-16T13:29:00.002-04:00

Yesterday we had some strangers over for dinner. This is not something we normally do, but it was a really great experience...

Jeff got called in to work yesterday morning, so I headed to church with the boys. I did my normal thing - getting the boys into their classes and checking with the Sign-in Desk staff (I help manage things in this department - we have computerized workstations for checking children in to our Kids Life programs) to see if things were going okay and if they needed anything. While I was at the station a new family came to check in their children. I started talking to the kids while another volunteer was entering the family into the system. The kids were sweet and friendly, two girls the same ages as my boys and a boy two years older. Once they were checked in I walked with the family to show them the classrooms each of their kids would be in and explain the sign out process after the service. Once the kids were settled I talked to the parents for a couple more minutes and found out that they live out of an RV and travel! His job keeps him on the road something like four out of five weeks - without going home. So they decided to do it as a family so they can be together. The mom home schools the kids. They try to visit a church where ever they are, and often return to the same churches if they're in an area again, or for a more extended period. What a different lifestyle!

Once I sat down in the service God kind of whispered in my ear that they probably get lonely and the kids probably don't get very many play dates and visits to friends' houses. I had to step out of the service for something else, so while I was out I called Jeff and told him I wanted to do something crazy. He agreed to it, and I invited them over for dinner. They gladly accepted and came over later. We had a great time getting to know them. The kids loved playing together and acted as though they've known each other forever. P&L (the parents) told us that God provides for them all the things they need - including friendships! I have not been the first person they've met who has felt led to invite them over, and when it happens they thank God for supplying fellowship.

They stayed til after bedtime, then headed "home" - to their RV at an RV park. They left town this morning, but we exchanged information and hopefully will hear from them when they're back in the area. :)

Kids' Questionnaire

2009-03-11T15:38:00.001-04:00

I got this from Facebook and thought it was cute...

Ask your child(ren) to answer the questions and type their answers in.

1. What is something mom always says to you?
Trey: I don't know
Roman: feed the dogs

2. What makes mom happy?
Trey: When we do things that you say.
Roman: if I do what you say I have to do

3. What makes mom sad?
Trey: When we don't listen to you
Roman: when I don't do what you say

4. How does your mom make you laugh?
Trey: telling jokes
Roman: doing funny things

5. What was your mom like as a child?
Trey: like playing outside
Roman: I don't know

6. How old is your mom?
Trey: 60
Roman: I don't know

7. How tall is your mom?
Trey: Taller than me
Roman: *holds hands up over his head*

8. What is her favorite thing to watch on TV?
Trey: Doctor movies
Roman: grown-up shows

9. What does your mom do when you're not around?
Trey: watch shows and work on the computer
This is where Roman quit and would only say "I don't know" for everything.

10. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for?
Trey: I don't know

11. What is your mom really good at?
Trey: painting

12. What is your mom not very good at?
Trey: nothing

13. What does your mom do for her job?
Trey: works on the computer

14. What is your mom's favorite food?
Trey: salad

15. What makes you proud of your mom?
Trey: when you do things for me

16. If your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be?
Trey: the pink character from Yo Gabba Gabba cause she's a girl and lives in a place with lots of flowers

17. What do you and your mom do together?
Trey: color

18. How are you and your mom the same?
Trey: we both have the same eyes

19. How are you and your mom different?
Trey: you have bigger fingers than me

20. How do you know your mom loves you?
Trey: cause you told me that before

21. What does your mom like most about your dad?
Trey: I don't know

22. Where is your mom's favorite place to go?
Trey: the store

Date Night

2009-03-10T22:16:00.003-04:00

I had a great date tonight, with Trey! It was time for some Momma-Treybie time, so we left Jeff and Roman to fend for themselves and headed out to dinner. We went to Max & Erma's, a family-friendly place with good food and a build-your-own-sundae-bar. I love ice cream. Trey does too. We're a match made in heaven. He enjoyed his burger and fruit while I ate half a delicious sandwich and brought half home for tomorrow. Then we hit the sundae bar. We had a blast building the sundaes and loved eating them so much that we went back for a third one to split! (Good thing they're small!)

It reminded me of when I was a kid and my family would sometimes go to Ponderosa for dinner after church. We all always got the salad bar, which included an ice cream bar. We would get at least two servings of ice cream each and my parents didn't even seem to care! We would get a cone for the road when we were ready to leave and would often fill the bottom of the cone with toppings (mini chocolate chips, sprinkles, etc.), then ice cream and more toppings. It was so much fun!

Wylie's Homecoming

2009-03-03T21:32:00.002-05:00

After thee and a half years making his happy home at my in-laws', my sweet cat Wylie has come home to us. Shortly before Roman was born we (me and Jeff and his parents) decided Wylie would go live with them. It worked out well for all of us, and it was fun to visit him when we were in NY. Lately though Felipe has noticed his allergies getting worse, especially when he's around Wylie. We decided it was time for him to come home. One big change since he left though -- Marley! Marley has never lived with a cat. The two have met though, and we were pretty sure things would work out.

Sure enough, Wylie wasn't home more than an hour before he had resumed his position as king of the house. He gave each of the dogs a few swats to put them in their places (Marley went cowering!), then calmly explored the house. He learned very quickly that the dogs aren't allowed upstairs. He likes to taunt them by laying out on the stairs about half-way up and peeking out the railing. I tried to get a new picture of him to post, but he wasn't in a camera mood. Here's a pic I posted about a year ago from a trip to NY:

Scrapbooking Again

2009-02-22T22:16:00.002-05:00

Between my internet business keeping me occupied during any available computer time and the computer issues we had for a couple of weeks, I haven't done much scrapbooking lately. Tonight I got into it again and remembered how much I love it. Here's a page I did from some January pictures. If you can't read the bottom left it says: Roman: "Momma, is it okay if Trey blows his bubbles all the way to the ceiling?"

Still at the Flower Shop

2009-02-22T22:10:00.002-05:00

I never followed up with another post about working at the flower shop. I've had a lot of fun and apparently done sufficiently well because the owner, Jill, has asked me to stay on. She's having surgery in a few weeks and needs to know she has some people who can manage things while she's gone. One of my amazing friends has offered to watch the kids one day a week for now, so I'll work one weekday and Saturdays between now and the surgery, then help out as much as I can for a couple of weeks. I am flattered by the confidence she's shown in me - even leaving me alone in the shop a couple of times! I've loved learning about flowers and arranging them. I have learned some cool techniques of how things are done.

Oh and Saturday my boss sent me home with enough pink, yellow and white daisies to fill three vases around my house! They're old enough that she doesn't want to sell them and have them wilt quickly for a paying customer, but not so old that they're not beautiful. So she gave them to me. :) Nice perk of the job!

Coffee Mug

2009-02-16T22:33:00.003-05:00

I stumbled upon this mug not too long ago at Target and had to get it, it's the most-stated "rule" at our house!

This family rule was not well-followed today. It was an especially whiny day. I wanted so much to have fun with the kids and relax as the whole last week has been go-go-go busy, and instead we seemed to battle through the day. I can't say there weren't some fun times and silly games, but there was a lot of difficulty as well.

Oh well, tomorrow's another day.

Banished!

2009-02-15T21:41:00.002-05:00

I caught this cute picture the other day when I kicked the dogs out of the kitchen while we were eating. They left the kitchen, but that's as far as they went!

Trying Something New

2009-02-12T20:08:00.002-05:00

I have a temporary job that has kept me busy this week. I've always wanted to try working in a flower shop, so a week or two ago I called around asking if anyone needed extra help for Valentine's day. I actually got a couple of interested shops and have been working at Flowers On High this week! I'm having a lot of fun doing it. I've really enjoyed the people that work there and the many various tasks I've learned, or at least tried to learn! I've even done a few small flower arrangements, although not without help and guidance. Tonight at home I took an order for a friend of Jeff's who is afraid he didn't order in time to get something for his girl. My boss will be happy when I show up to work tomorrow with an order in hand! :)

One of the best parts is that I'm crossing something off my "things I want to do... someday" list. How cool is that? I am kind of proud of myself for pursuing something just for the sake of trying it.

If I'm too tired to write again before Saturday, Happy Valentine's Day!

"Let the little children come unto me" -Jesus

2009-02-01T18:42:00.004-05:00

Yesterday was a big day. My precious Trey asked Jesus to be his Savior and live in his heart. Trey has been asking Jeff to take him to work again, and since he was only going in for a couple of hours on a Saturday he decided yesterday was a good day. It was clearly God's intent as well. They ended up being in the car for quite a while together and talked a lot. They talked about God and heaven and Trey chose to pray with Jeff asking Jesus to live in his heart. I was in tears when they came home and told me. I love discussing it with him and hearing his child-like faith.

Thank you God!

Half Way Day

2009-01-29T11:16:00.002-05:00

I don't know what's going on today, everything is half-done!

I just went into my bathroom for something and saw my make-up bag still on the counter. I looked in the mirror and realized my make-up was only half done. What the heck?

I went into the kitchen and realized I'd started and never finished putting away the clean dishes. I got to work on it and realized they're only half clean anyway. What's up with that? The dishwasher isn't even a year old yet.

My coffee is only half-caf.

I never got around to getting my sweater out and putting it on, so I'm wearing short sleeves and cold.

Trey's socks never got put on either. He's probably cold too.

I guess it's good my day is only half over, there's a chance to redeem everything.

Maybe it's all about still being stuck in the house. Still haven't left since last Friday. I'll be out today though, I'm taking Roman to the doctor and stopping at the library (and probably pharmacy after seeing the doc). Maybe then things will fall back into place...

Viruses

2009-01-27T22:43:00.002-05:00

I'm plagued today by viruses. Roman has been battling one for a few days. He and I haven't left the house since Friday. That means today was getting rough. He seems to be improving though, I'm planning on getting us out for at least a little while tomorrow. That is of course assuming we're not snowed in. (Snowed in here in Columbus is nothing like snowed in in upstate NY, but nonetheless, if the plows can't keep up there's not much I can do about it.)

Not only has Roman been attacked by a virus, our computer has too. I'm typing this on Jeff's work laptop right now as I'm backing up files to CD on our home computer. Tonight or tomorrow Jeff's going to wipe our computer clean and start from the ground up. I hate doing this, I get stressed that I'm going to forget something and then it's gone forever! I guess if I get the pictures, scrapbook pages and my work stuff anything else can be re-created or forgotten, right? I hope... And next time I have to remember to get DVDs to burn stuff onto, I've used at least a dozen CDs so far!

Here's hoping tomorrow is a little brighter!

I won!

2009-01-24T12:56:00.002-05:00

A lot of the comanies I work with in my business run promotions and competitions to increase their publicity and business. They are also nice for those of us who participate and sometimes win some extra cash and such. There was a promotion going on this month in which I submitted a silly poem to try to win the prize of several extra Christmas gifts for me and my family. There were a ton of entries and yesterday the host announced that she couldn't pick just one winner, so instead she picked five winners each to be awarded some of their gifts rather than one winner to receive all of their gifts. I was one of the five winners (still can't believe it!!!) and will be getting a light saber for Roman and a NEW BIKE for Trey! I am super excited about winning this and Trey getting a bike! We were going to get him one in spring, but now he'll have it ready and waiting as soon as we're above freezing. :) We haven't told him yet, it might be a couple of weeks before we get it, so we'll surprise him then. YIPPEE! I can hardly wait!

Project!

2009-01-19T13:07:00.002-05:00

The boys love projects, so yesterday and today we worked on making picture frames, a project Trey found in his HIGH FIVE magazine.

They are quite proud of their end results:

I'm back!

2009-01-14T19:45:00.004-05:00

The holidays were fun, but a bit hectic and they kept me away from blogging. I'm back now, and starting out the new year with a couple of videos from tonight to make you laugh!

Doubly Special

2008-12-14T22:24:00.003-05:00

Trey loves "projects" - it can be coloring or painting or cutting and gluing, anything. A couple of days ago he drew this picture and gave it to me. It is so special and will probably be one I'll keep forever. Without us knowing why, he asked Jeff and me and Roman each what our favorite thing was. He then sat down alone and drew four pictures, representing each of our answers and his own. One reason this is so special is because Roman's answer was that his favorite thing is "sitting on Momma's lap". Could that be any sweeter? It's also so special just because it's fantastic! I mean yes, it's art by a 5-yr-old, but he came up with this great idea and followed it through by himself! I absolutely love it.

Starting in the top left and going clock-wise, here are the answers he got to "What is your favorite thing?"

1. I said: "Playing with you" (note the blocks and ball we're playing with and the sun shining in the window!)
2. Roman said "Sitting on Momma's lap" (which he really does do all the time!)
3. Jeff said "My family", so the picture is me with both boys
4. Trey's answer to the question is going outside to play, so the green part of the picture is him in a doorway (going outside), and the brown part is him running "really fast" outside.

You can't tell me this isn't precious!!!

The Tooth Fairy!

2008-12-14T21:48:00.003-05:00

My big five-year-old boy just lost his first tooth. This tooth has been getting progressively looser over the last couple of months, and last night it was finally ready to give up it's hold on Trey. It needed a little help from Daddy, but not much. It didn't really even bleed after. And Trey was so excited when the tooth fairy left him two quarters in exchange for that tooth!

He's proud to say that he has another loose one... I have a feeling we'll be keeping that tooth fairy busy for a few years...

Jars of Clay

2008-12-14T21:25:00.003-05:00

Jeff got an exciting opportunity the other night that I must admit I'm a little envious of. :)

We've gotten to be friends with a couple in our cell group - Matt and Karen. Matt is a musician, and it turns out that he knows the band Jars of Clay. And I mean that he knows them personally, cool huh?

Friday night Jars of Clay were playing in Pittsburg along with a couple other bands and Sara Groves, who I love. So Matt invited Jeff to drive out with him where they got to go to the concert, then hang out and watch while the bands did a meet-and-greet, and finally to hang out with the guys in the band! Jeff said they're the nicest guys, he even met the wife and daughter of one of them!

He did also take the time during the meet-and-greet to say hi to Sara Groves and tell her what some of her (very powerful) songs have meant to me. He said her eyes welled up when he was telling her how special they've been to me.

Here is Jeff with Sara Groves:

And with three of the Jars of Clay guys:

Auntie Again!!!

2008-12-10T12:37:00.002-05:00

I'm an aunt again!

My brother Corey's wife Mickae had their baby this morning. I talked to her yesterday afternoon when her water broke and they were heading to the hospital. Jacob was born this morning weighing a healthy 8 pounds 10 ounces! Mom and baby are doing well and Auntie would only be happier if she were there holding him!

I have a five-year-old!

2008-12-09T21:50:00.004-05:00

Trey's birthday was Sunday, he's five now. I can hardly believe it. So here are five amazing things about Trey, and some pics from his birthday!

He is really mature and responsible for his age.
He is smart and loves to learn new things.
He has recently become very independent in all kinds of ways.
He is very creative.
He loves to make us laugh!

Here he is having his traditional birthday breakfast of ice cream

After lots of debate we decided to have the party at home and he wanted monkeys. I found a cute pin-the-monkey-in-the-palm-tree game and ordered it online only to find out at the last minute that they were out of stock. So I made my own. (Those are Trey's decorated coconuts on the side and his monkeys he brought down.)

Duck Duck Goose was a big hit!

He didn't even get mad at Roman for "helping" him blow out the candles. What a great big brother!

Busy Week

2008-12-02T23:21:00.002-05:00

Thank God I'm feeling better, I need all my strength this week! It's been hectic already and it's only Tuesday night. Jeff threw out his back Sunday evening, so he's taken my place shuffling between bed, shower and couch. While caring for him (although I must say that he hasn't asked for much) I've also been trying to get ready for my in-laws coming to visit and Trey's birthday and party this weekend as well as a friend's baby shower, and bake about 15 dozen cookies for the shower and get all prepared for a few very busy days online with my internet business. I wanted to get as much done in these last couple of days as possible so that I will be free to focus on the business during these next few days while I'm in a position to have a lot of work coming in. If you're a prayer warrior friend of mine I'd love prayers for Jeff's back, my business this week in particular and all our activities this weekend.

I'll let you know how things go, and you can be sure I'll have birthday pictures up next week too!

Thanksgiving

2008-11-29T19:42:00.006-05:00

Thanksgiving was wonderful. It was our first time having Thanksgiving dinner just the four of us, and we loved it. We watched the parade on TV (the boys especially loved the giant Horton balloon) and lay around most of the morning, then Jeff put the turkey in. I had made some food and food preparations the day before, so I didn't get too overwhelmed. Even though it was the four of us we went all out. We had all the traditional stuff - turkey and stuffing, cranberries (from fresh berries, my fav!) and gravy, mashed potatoes and sweet potatoes, green beans and corn... and of course apple pie and ice cream pumpkin pie (my grandmother's recipe and my favorite!). We loved it all. Somehow we ended up signing "Who Stole the Cookie from the Cookie Jar?" during dinner, which the boys thought was hilarious, especially when we included Nala and Marley... don't ask me how that got started! After dinner we played duck, duck, goose and Go Fish, then we did dishes before pie. We just wanted to have fun, and it was great!

For those of you who have asked, I'm still sick, but getting more and more functional every day. I hope to be in church tomorrow morning. I spent a lot of Thanksgiving morning on the couch, but was really able to enjoy the afternoon of food and fun. Who knows what this awful virus is.

Here are some pics from our Thanksgiving - cranberries just starting to boil, I think that's the prettiest part of cooking Thanksgiving dinner, and dinner served.

I hope your Thanksgiving was great too!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2008-11-27T10:31:00.000-05:00

Miserable.

2008-11-25T22:10:00.003-05:00

I have been sick for four days now. Yucky, achy, runny nose, sore throat, throbbing head sick. It could be worse, for sure. But it's not fun. I went to my Bible study this morning, desperately wanting to be better, but then came home and crashed, then spent most of the rest of the day on the couch. That's all I really have to say, I just wanted to whine for a minute. Oh, and I should comment that Jeff has wonderfully taken care of most everything while I've been down. He's great. It's too bad that when we're well we wish for a day or two to just lie around doing nothing, but when we're sick we can't enjoy it!

Hedge Apples

2008-11-20T11:20:00.003-05:00

Have you ever heard of such a thing? I hadn't! I was at my friend Nicole's house last week and she had these cool knobby green things in her centerpiece that were so neat. I asked her what they were, she said they were hedge apples and they they grow wild in the woods, her boys pick them up for her. I was fascinated!

Then yesterday I was driving in a country-type area and found a road lined with the trees and the ground covered in hedge apples! I pulled over and picked up a dozen or so of them. They're big, like softballs, and heavy. These were frozen solid, so they didn't have any smell until today when they finally thawed out. They smell citrusy and I love it.

I pulled out my Booma's (grandmother's) punch bowl (also a suggestion of Nicole's) and piled them in it. It is a big, cool centerpiece. I think it'll be perfect for Thanksgiving!

Check it out:

I can't believe it!

2008-11-14T09:49:00.003-05:00

Roman has been potty-trained for quite a while now (thank you God!), but was still wearing a pull-up at night. I figured it would be a long time before he could stay dry at night since his pull-up was always soaked by morning, and often even soaked right through and his jammies and sheets would be wet.

Wednesday night we came home from our small group and sent the boys up to get ready for bed. Roman soon reported that we were out of pull-ups. I hadn't realized since he usually gets his own. Oops. We were too tired and it was too late to go get some so we told him he was just going to have to keep his bed dry. What I didn't tell him was that I was sure it was impossible and so after he was in bed I got extra jammies and sheets all ready for him for when he woke up wet. I dreaded his call during the night... but it never came. Around 7 AM he called me up and told me he had to go potty... and he was dry! Apparently it was all a mental thing for him, he knew the pull-up was there so he knew it was okay to go. Without the pull-up he knew he had to stay dry. I didn't buy more pull-ups, he went to bed in underwear again last night and woke up dry again. We are SO excited!!!

Go Roman!!!

Tonight's Special

2008-11-14T09:36:00.003-05:00

Most days the boys beg me for peanut butter & jelly for lunch, and I often comply. Trey has started asking me lately if he could make it, and I keep putting him off.

Last night I hadn't planned dinner, Jeff was running late and I was going to run out the door as soon as he got home to make it to an appointment. I was upstairs with Roman and Trey came up and asked me if he could make our dinner. He promised he would not use the stove or the oven. I figured he was going to try to make PB&J, so I said yes - but no knives except a butter knife. He headed downstairs to get to work.

After about 10 minutes Roman and I headed down to see what we were eating. Trey had gotten out the toaster from a cabinet, plugged it in and made two pieces of toast. He had a bowl for him and one for Roman, with a piece of turkey lunch meat in each. He added peanuts and separate bowls for some yogurt and I helped him put the butter on the toast. It was adorable! And he was so proud of himself. When did he become so capable and independent???

4000 Hits

2008-11-08T17:33:00.005-05:00

Thanks friends for your faithful reading, I've reached 4000 hits! I wonder how many times you laughed at me... :)

A Day to Remember

2008-11-07T21:06:00.001-05:00

The other night friends of our stopped over for a bit. I was talking to their five-year-old daughter, Katie, and stopped to check out the scar on her forehead, which is from a library injury, believe it or not. I noticed the scar has faded a lot and told Katie "that was a day I will probably always remember!" Trey was there when I said it to her, but didn't say anything at the time.

The next day the boys and I were enjoying a perfect day of Indian summer. We were playing tag outside, then jumping on the trampoline. Hot and tired, we lay down together on the trampoline to look at the sky. Trey told me to roll over and when I did he started gently scratching my back and Roman copied him. Trey asks me to scratch his back all the time, he loves it, so to him this is something he recognizes as totally special and loving. After a minute they stopped and we still lay there, enjoying the day. Trey asked me "Mommy, is this a day you will always remember?" Happy tears came to my eyes and I assured him it definitely was.

Trey, I will forever remember that beautiful fall day and the sweet way you showed me your love...

2008-11-03T11:27:00.001-05:00

Pickles for Pregnancy

2008-10-29T10:52:00.003-04:00

Mickae fulfilled an old pregnancy cliche when we went out to dinner as a family and she ordered extra pickles with her burger. We picked on her incessantly and then added our pickles to her plate as well. She ended up with quite a pile of them! This picture was after she'd already eaten a couple of them!

Baby Shower!

2008-10-29T10:42:00.004-04:00

'As I said, the main event for my trip to NY was my sister-in-law's baby shower. Mickae married my little brother almost 2 1/2 years ago, and I'm so glad. She's really wonderful and a good fit for my brother. They are expecting their first child sometime around December 17th and I can hardly wait. For three years now Roman has been the baby in my family and Jeff's. It's been fun, but I'm excited for there to be a new baby for me to squeeze! Jacob, I can't wait to meet you! :)

The shower was a big success. We had fun and great food. My mom planned a cool activity where everyone made birthday cards for Jake to open - one each year up to age 18! It was fun and very funny. Mickae was blessed with some great gifts, and I think she had a lot of fun too.

This is the diaper cake I made that we used as decoration, and Mickae got to take all the diapers home to use on Jake!

Here are Mickae and her mom, her mom made that blanket for baby Jake and I'm so glad she got to come up to this shower with us!

And, as is tradition, my mom made a beautiful blanket for her newest grandbaby too:

Blogger Friend

2008-10-29T10:32:00.003-04:00

I headed to NY this past weekend with Trey. I was going to be at my sister-in-law's baby shower and Jeff and I decided to make it an opportunity for each of us to have extended one-on-one time with one of the boys. So, Trey came with me and Jeff and Roman stayed home. It was a cool experience breaking up the kids like that. I wouldn't want to do it all the time, but I think once in a while it's good for them.

Trey and I were hanging out with my mom on Friday doing various things and we spontaneously decided to stop at Lollipop Farm to see the animals when we were driving by. (Lollipop Farm is a humane society location with lots of cats and dogs for adoption, some rabbits and smaller animals and some sheep and goats too.)

We pulled in and parked in the half-empty parking lot and as we were getting out of the car a van pulled in and parked next to us. I did a double take when I recognized the driver as my friend Martha! I have known Martha for several years, she and her family are long-time family friends and former neighbors of the Riveras (my in-laws). We don't see each other often now, but regularly keep up on each others' blogs. Martha got out and we laughed and talked. I re-introduced her to my mom, whom she has met a couple of times over the last many years. She had also spontaneously stopped to get some information and hadn't even seen me until she was parked. I believe God has a sense of humor and thought it would be fun for all of us to run into each other. :)

Here are me and Martha in front of the horse statue inside Lollipop Farm:

Enjoying Fall

2008-10-29T10:05:00.003-04:00

Despite the coming winter, we have been enjoying the fall.

Out in our back field:

And a fun trip to the zoo:

Cutest Marine Ever

2008-10-20T21:32:00.003-04:00

And no, I don't mean my brother-in-law Chris! :)

The boys got their Halloween costumes this weekend and wore them to a Halloween party. Friends of ours, Dan & Kayla have two little ones who are friends with my boys and they put on a family-friendly Halloween party. Jeff missed it, but the boys and I had a blast playing games and eating treats. Check out my adorable Marine and his brother, Batman! (I don't think there are any full-costume pictures of Trey in the ones I'm posting, I'm sure I'll have some more in a couple of weeks!)

Birthday Boy!

2008-10-19T22:12:00.003-04:00

My sweet little Roman turned 3 yesterday. Wow. It really does fly. We had a great day, so of course I've included pictures. A little aside about pictures though, my wonderful camera stopped working last week. I'm so upset about it. Because it was Roman's birthday we decided we had to get a camera right away and so we bought a cool little Casio. It's tiny and fits easily in my purse, which is nice. However, we had very little time to get used to it or try out any settings, so I feel like we didn't get all the best pictures from his day. But I did have a camera and did get plenty lots of cute ones, I shouldn't complain. Someday I'll have the amazing camera I dream of...

Anyway, back on track. We had a great day with Roman, he's such a sweet ball of energy... when he's not terrorizing anyone!

One of my favorite traditions we've had with our boys is that the birthday person (and only the birthday person) gets ice cream for breakfast on his/her birthday. So here's Roman, enjoying his special breakfast.

We had a super-cool firetruck birthday party at a REAL firestation. The firemen were great, they were all so nice to him (and us). They gave our group a tour and each kid got to sit in the a firetruck. We had some great friends with us, Roman was surrounded by his friends and their families. It was a blast! Here's Roman when he arrived at the party and put on his "Fire Chief" hat.

Daddy with his birthday boy:

And Roman in the truck. He got to go first as the birthday boy and he loved every minute of it.

As big brother Trey got to go second in the truck, and loved it! I've got to brag a little, Trey is an amazing boy. Like most boys his age though, I knew there was a possibility of jealousy while brother was getting all the attention and presents, etc. So I talked to Trey that morning. He told me he knew it was Roman's special day and that his would come soon. I was so proud of him as he spent the whole day looking out for his brother and celebrating with him. We never had any trouble with jealousy, and he was really able to enjoy the day as big brother.

And of course, a shot of Roman and his cake:

Happy birthday Roman! Every day of these three years has been a gift from God. Life would not be the same without you. I love you.

Bittersweet

2008-10-13T21:30:00.002-04:00

This past weekend was absolutely beautiful. We're surrounded by trees turning all different colors. I was driving (I think it was Friday evening), the windows were open, the air was warm, the sun was bright and the leaves were every shade of red, orange and yellow. I was alone in the car (rare!) and had some good music on loud. (No Mom, it wasn't so loud as to damage my hearing, just loud enough that I didn't hear my phone when Jeff was trying to call me... oops.) It was perfect. The bitter part in my "bittersweet" is that I know winter is on it's way and I just don't look forward to the cold and snow and mud and feeling stuck indoors. I'm going to try to keep focusing on the beauty of fall though so that I don't miss it while I'm worrying about winter. I've been at the computer a lot today as I have some stuff going on this week with my internet business, and from my chair here I have a stunning view of trees. They are right outside the window and all afternoon the sun was hitting them making the oranges and yellows glow. Amazing. Too bad my camera isn't working.

So why haven't I been blogging? I don't know. Somehow it's become something I "should" do, which makes me not do it. Hmmm. I need to get my mindset back to it being a fun outlet... I'm going to work on that. :)

I hope you're all well, leave me a note and let me know you've stopped in to read!

Hurricane Ike

2008-09-21T14:03:00.002-04:00

I told a few people I would post a couple pics from the storm. These three trees are right along our driveway, I didn't have to go more than a few feet in the woods to get the pics. There's lots more damage in the woods - we were so protected to have no damage to the house or cars. Even our trampoline, though it hopped across the yard, was not damaged! God is good!

Crayons

2008-09-21T13:38:00.003-04:00

This is a project the boys and I did a little while ago that turned out pretty neat, but I didn't post it before now!

We went through our big ziploc bag of crayons and sorted out all the broken ones. We took off any wrappers and sorted them by color into a muffin tin (with muffin wrappers in it). When we were ready we put it in the oven at about 200 and it didn't take long for them to melt down. We stirred the up and let them cool before unwrapping them and coloring with our "new" crayons! Bonus: our crayon bag doesn't have any more little crayon pieces!

3 Days of Darkness

2008-09-18T13:59:00.003-04:00

Hmm, that sounds like it could be a book title or something, doesn't it? Actually it's the title of our adventure this week. Sunday night central Ohio (as well as many other places) got hit with the remnants of hurricane Ike. He wasn't nice to us. (Although he wasn't nearly as mean to us as he was to Texas and other places!) Our area had very high winds for several hours, it was amazing to see. Trees were bending so hard they were snapping and falling in yards, roads, driveways, and even on an occasional car or house. We were blessed that all of our damage was limited to trees in the woods. There was a tree in the road near us that Jeff worked hard to chop and move so cars could get through, but our cars and house were safe and the trees in our yard escaped major damage.

Our power was knocked out around 4PM on Sunday. A massive number of people in Columbus lost power, and our electric company had sent a lot of employees to Texas to help, so they were scrambling to recover here. When we finally realized it wasn't coming back up quickly, we tried to make an adventure out of it. We went out to dinner (as did what seemed like most of Columbus - some restaurants still had power), lit candles and played Candyland and Chutes and Ladders before heading to bed. The adventure continued for three days. We roasted marshmallows over candles, went to the zoo, played outside, practiced our letters, sang songs and Jeff and I answered (or tried to answer) 100s of questions about electricity and storms!

We were relieved last night when the power returned, but we were also a little sad. It was nice to have that time together without the distractions of tv, computer, laundry, etc., etc.

Absent

2008-09-02T15:32:00.005-04:00

I know I haven't been on here much. I've gotten involved in an online business and most of my time on the computer is spent working on that. I'm excited about it and glad to be doing it. I just have to continue to figure out how to balance it with the rest of my life, including not fully giving up blogging and digi-scrapbooking.

Anyway, we had a great weekend camping with my family at my parents' cabin. My parents were there as well as my brothers and their families. If you didn't already know, my "little" brother and his wife are expecting a baby boy in December. I'm super excited to have a new nephew on the way. I got to feel him kicking this weekend... I can't wait to meet you little Jakey! So, counting little Jacob, there were 8 adults, 6.5 kids, 2 dogs (1 dog wasn't there).

Here's a great little video of that "little" brother of mine, he's a pyro. For those of you who've known him over the years, it's true that some things never change. :) That's Trey at the end saying "do it again"!

Here are a few cute pictures from the weekend too...

A favorite camping activity - FOUR WHEELING!!! This is me with the boys and my youngest niece, Vanessa

Jeff and the boys enjoying it too

A beautiful sunset

A cute one of my boys

This is our camping weekend family picture

Fun at the Zoo

2008-08-21T10:40:00.002-04:00

Our fun summer activities have continued non-stop! We're tired but loving it. Last week some of Jeff's family was here for the weekend, it was so cool to have them visit.

Yesterday I took the boys to the zoo, we stayed for hour, we were just having too much fun to leave! We saw a tiny baby lemur (monkey) that I thought was adorable. Roman liked that it was orange (they turn gray when they're a little older). We went on the boat ride they always beg for, and most exciting of all, we were charged twice by a 300-pound gorilla! The first time I almost peed my pants. Apparently he's started charging at the glass/fence lately when there are big groups of matching children (we were next to a group) because he thinks they are a bigger pack then his pack and he's trying to show that this is his area. Let me tell you, I do not EVER want to face a gorilla like him in the wild. I have never seen anything like that!

On the other hand, a cute little bonobo (like a gorilla, but smaller) was showing off for us. He was right next to the glass where we were with a few other people and was dancing around and doing somersaults. He was cracking us up, it was adorable!

What a fun day...

Trampoline!

2008-08-09T16:53:00.004-04:00

Grandma and Grandpa and Uncle Chris surprised the boys with a big trampoline (and enclosure) as an early birthday present. Here they are they're first time on it (they were up late, it took a lot longer than we thought to set it up!):

And a few days later we had a JUMP party and picnic with a bunch of our friends!

Update!

2008-08-03T14:38:00.006-04:00

It's been a while since I've been on. I guess we've just been busy busy busy enjoying our summer. Here's an update on some of the things we've done lately. A picture is worth a thousand words, so I'll use lots of pictures and keep my writing short! :)

We made homemade "sponge-balls" for some water fun:

We also made homemade "foam machines" for some bubble fun!

We had a short but very sweet visit from dear friends, here are my boys with Aiden & Seth:

And of course, we've been into a LOT of dirt!

We made friends with a little green frog:

We had a blast "helping" Daddy build a fort and playing in it. (Turns out Momma is good at a lot of things, but fort-building is not one of them. :)

And, we got a new tire swing and have been swinging a lot. We loved the old tire swing, but it was so big it kept stretching the rope and hitting the ground, so it was hard to actually swing on it.

That's all I have for now, hope you enjoyed the update. I'm off to the fort with Trey!

(PS - Martha & Heather, I responded to your comments in the comment section from my last post, you can check it out!)

Scrapbook page

2008-07-22T13:41:00.002-04:00

It was a sad day when my laptop died. It may at some point be revivied with a new hard drive, but not real soon. Fortunately, I had been pretty careful about backing up my scrapbook pages, so I didn't lose any. But I did lose a lot of scrapbooking "materials". I've rebuilt my supply on our desktop and did some scrapbooking for a little while last night. I enjoyed doing this two-page spread about my visit with my cousin and our children playing together...

Moving toward success... one little star at a time

2008-07-19T20:47:00.002-04:00

As you read on my last post, I did not see any immediate success in my "Roman stayed in bed" chart (and that's putting it nicely as I know from all of you who let me know you are laughing at me). And sure enough, that night, we had the same old struggles. But within a couple of days he stayed in bed and fell asleep for nap (quite by accident I'm sure, he was especially tired that day). Accident or not, we had a big celebration that evening. We put a star on the chart and all of us cheered and sang and tickled and high-fived him. The next day was not successful, but then yesterday we had another celebration and received another star. Tonight he earned another star that he will receive tomorrow morning, bringing us to a grand total of three stars this week. All hard-earned and much-valued stars... hopefully each one encourages him to keep it up!

Duped by my two-year-old

2008-07-14T21:25:00.002-04:00

I've found myself trying to explain life with Roman a few times lately. Maybe I'm looking for understanding? Encouragement? Reassurance that we will survive? He's 2 1/2 now and absolutely precious. He's hilarious and loving, eager to help and just adorable. He's also the epitome of two. He's a non-stop ball of insane energy. He's emotionally intense - very excited and happy and also furious depending on the moment. He is into everything and sometimes scares us with his curiosity and daring nature. He's also big for his age, making him harder to hold or carry and also making people assume his behavior should be appropriate to an older child. (Today someone asked me if he was three or four.) He also doesn't sleep much. I mean, we put him to bed and make him stay there, but he's awake, fussing, playing, getting up... on and on... sometimes until three hours after bed-time!

There was an evening last night when we had gotten them both into bed and I cried (just a little) out of sheer exhaustion and feeling so overwhelmed by the constant battle that is mothering Roman. Jeff comforted me, but also laughed a little bit, amused by it all. Two days later Jeff spent 30 minutes getting Roman dressed and ready to go somewhere in the morning, then promptly lay down on the bed and told me "Roman is exhausting!"

On to my story...

In an effort to get him to stay in bed and hopefully fall asleep faster at night, I made a "Roman stayed in bed" sign and showed him how he would get to put stickers on it if he stayed in bed. I talked about how we would be so excited... Then we decided to practice. (Trey was at VBS during this - it was just me and Moe. Jeff came home for something while it was going on, you'll see where he fits in the story...) We put one of the stuffed animals in bed, left the room, waited, then went back in and said "good morning" and told the animal how good it did staying in bed, etc., etc. I tried to get Roman to do it. He didn't buy it. So I said I would do it. He tucked me in, left the room, then came back and celebrated with me my staying in bed. I tried again to get him to do it. No go. He told me he wanted me to do it again, so I lay down, got tucked in and Roman went out. I waited for him to come back. And waited. And waited. I began to wonder what was going on. But, if I were to get up or call to him, I wouldn't be staying quietly in bed as I was supposed to. I waited longer. Then I heard Jeff come in and heard Roman's protests that are typical of him getting caught red-handed and not wanting to be punished. That's when I got up. I headed downstairs to see what was going on. Roman had tucked me in, then gone downstairs and gotten into my purse (strictly forbidden!), found my gum and was shoving it in his mouth (even more strictly forbidden!). That's when Jeff had walked in. I couldn't decide whether to laugh or cry, so I did a little of both. And do you know what Roman said to me? "Mommy, you didn't stay in bed!"

Camping

2008-07-09T20:09:00.004-04:00

Last week was wonderful. We had a good time relaxing and spending time together while the boys were gone, then had a blast when we joined them. We rode bikes and went on the lake in a row boat. We saw an amazing fireworks show and enjoyed our own campfire and sparklers every night. We climbed the amazing "Thunder Rocks", saw tons of wildlife and just loved every minute of it. What a great week.

Here are some pics I love:

The boys wore Grandpa out!

Jeff and his cousin reached the top of a difficult rock at Thunder Rocks. (Some cousins and Aunt Diane came for a couple hours one night.)

They said I couldn't do it, so of course I had to prove them wrong (I succeeded). (This is the other side of the same rock - the same place they climbed up.)

This is me and Jeff and the boys in the row boat, with a great view of the area around the lake and "Red House", which contains the welcome center, gift shop, museum and a restaurant.

Here are Grandma and Grandpa enjoying their turns on the bikes they rented and we shared.

My wonderful Nala, tirelessly doing two of her favorite things: swimming and fetching.

This is Stone Tower, it was our last stop before leaving Allegheny. It was really cool!

And how could I be out in this beautiful park and not get at least a few flower pictures? :) I was thrilled to find Forget-Me-Nots, one of my favorite flowers.

Ahh... Vacation

2008-07-02T14:17:00.002-04:00

A mom doens't really get very many vacations. Family vacations still include a lot of work. So what I have now... two plus days of my kids being out of town, safe and happy with grandparents... that's what I consider a real vacation! Don't get me wrong, I love family style vacations too, but, moms out there, you have to admit that you come home at least as tired as when you left!

So today I got up and went running (didn't have to worry about if Jeff was available to be home with the boys), did some quick cleaning that needed doing (no interruptions means it was pretty fast), took a peaceful shower, scrapbooked a whole page without interruption or guilt and just spent an hour outside enjoying the sun, my garden and my silly dogs who play like little puppies.

So nice...

Better

2008-06-27T16:24:00.001-04:00

Thanks for the encouragement (Heather and Martha, it is so great to hear from you!). The headache has faded (thank you God) and although he fought it to start, Roman is still napping. When he first went down Trey had his quiet time and I took advantage of it to scrapbook. I rarely do it during the day, but it was a good break for me. I scrapbooked a picture I took in March specifically for the purpose of journaling what is now on this page -- the journaling says this:

“Are they both yours?”
“Do they have the same father?”
“Are they brothers?”
“Does the mailman have blonde hair?”
And the most popular:
“WHERE DID HE GET THE BLONDE HAIR?”
These are questions I get all the time. Almost everyone I know has asked, as well as countless total strangers. One even asked Trey if Roman was really his brother! I have gotten one form or another of these questions at least once a week since Roman was born.
It gets old.
Oh, and the answer is YES! - they are both ours!

Groan

2008-06-27T10:42:00.002-04:00

Ugh. I've had this headache for 23 hours now. It had me up during the night even, and I usually sleep through everything. The boys are grumpy. Roman has been throwing fits about everything. (I'm sure part of that is just being two.)

I'm trying to get my day back on track by taking a few minutes to vent (to you!) while I sip my coffee. Roman has been temporarily confined to his room for screaming at me and Trey is amusing himself downstairs. Thank you God for a moment of peace. Please give us contentment and happiness today. Help me to enjoy the precious parts of being home with them today, rather than being frustrated at the hard parts. And please God, take this headache away. Amen.

Frog Jump Festival

2008-06-24T14:54:00.001-04:00

Saturday we went to a local town's Frog Jump Festival. It was SO much fun. The kids got to pick a frog to race. Each race area was set up with a small circle painted inside a larger circle. The frogs started out in the smaller circle and had to get outside the larger circle. The kids weren't supposed to touch the frogs once they were racing, but they could hit the ground near them, talk to them, or blow on them as you can see Roman doing. We let our kids each race three times with different frogs for each race. Our friends were there too, that's Trey's buddy Davis blowing on the frogs with Roman.

We will definitely do this again next year!

Roman

2008-06-24T14:39:00.003-04:00

Roman speaks and communicates really well for his age (at least we think so), but he still has some adorable versions of words that crack us up. We made a little video of some of them so that we would be able to remember after he grows out of them. I hope it makes you laugh the way it makes us laugh! :)

101 Posts!

2008-06-20T13:55:00.001-04:00

That last post was my 100th post on this blog! :)

Roman has cracked us up a few times lately. Last night as I was tucking him in bed I said our ritual "Night night, sleep tight, don't let the..." and he was supposed to finish it with "bedbugs bite", but instead he laughed and said "Mommy, there no bedbugs!". So I told him that I'm a bedbug and started nibbling on his neck, which always makes him laugh. He laughed, but then told me "Mommy, you not a bedbug, you a nice person". It was adorable!