School Daze (and we haven't even started yet!)

We had Open House at school last night. It was hectic, for sure. Always is. Tons of kids, grades K through 12 with parents and siblings, coming to find out their teacher, or schedule (6-12) and meet all of their teachers, and determine where all their classes are. Meeting the resource room teacher.

Poster in the Special Education Director's office

Alex is in the same classroom E was in for 5th grade. The teacher isn't the same, well kind of. She was the long-term sub when E's teacher was on maternity leave. That teacher has since moved to a different position and the teacher who subbed took over 2 years ago. So we've had some experience with her. She is nice and had her classroom all laid out with the books they will use, what kind of work she'd like to see on book reports, etc. They are going to do 6 book "projects" this year, where they read a book of their choosing - teacher-approved, of course - and then make a small project, such as a poster, brochure, diorama, etc, and then do a short oral presentation.

He doesn't know what days they have specials yet, but should be taking computers, art, music, gym and Spanish again this year. Last year, and throughout summer, Alex said he wanted to play soccer, but the last two weeks he changed his mind. After I signed him up. I even had all the paperwork at home filled out and ready to turn in last night. He had decided that he would at least sign up and go to the first practice to get practice and game info. His biggest reason for changing his mind? Cub scouts and Choi Kwan Do! He wants to make sure he has enough time to do both of those! What a smart kiddo. Well at least he wasn't to s ad when I realized I'd forgotten all the paperwork at home last night! He actually made sure to tell me that he was absolutely fine with it and he'd much rather work on earning belts at Choi, and awards in Scouts.

Alex was a little upset last night when he saw the class list for his teacher. While he knows several kids in his class, and he knew his best friend and a couple of other good friends wouldn't be in his class (they are in 4th grade and there's no 4/5 split this year), he had hoped a certain good friend would be in his class. Unfortunately he's in the other class. I was proud of him though, because he took it in stride and remembered that they would have lunch and recess together as well as all of his 4th grade friends :)

E is rotating classes this year. It's his first year rotating, because, as you may know, even though he's been in a regular education classroom with no aide since the beginning of 3rd grade, he was in a self-contained "elementary style" classroom for 6 & 7. They have such a large class size for his grade, that it's been split into 3 sections for all of middle school. Previously, due to interest from many families, they had 2 rotating sections - A & B - and one self-contained section - C. Because of the school size, logistics almost required it to be like that as well. At the end of last year, they did a survey asking if there was interest in staying with a SC class, and over the summer we received a letter stating that there was little to no interest, so there would be 3 rotating classes. The high school building was under construction during the summer and there was a small addition put on to one of the hallways. That will now be used for one of the sections of 8th grade. Section "A" was always seen as the "advanced" class, while not honors, they seemed to work at a slighter quicker pace. "B" did all the same curriculum but the pace may have been different. The kids have all been at the same levels for learning basically. They took the kids from self-contained last year and split them between B and C. No biggie. I was a little concerned about E being in B, because of the pace. He's smart and usually ahead in many subjects. B & C will be in the 4-8 building, while A will be in the high school. I was also concerned about him not having algebra this year, which is required for him to go to International Academy next year, should he apply.

I voiced my concerns last night, and I'm so glad I did. The HS resource room teacher made sure to talk to the vice principal for me, and I received a call today!

She wanted to reassure me, that although they aren't teaching Algebra as a class, they are offering the Algebra test for the students! They do it in April, and if they pass, they get credit for taking the class. Sometime in January, E's math teacher should give us some study topics (not a specific study guide and they won't actually be teaching it) to practice with, and they do apparently use an Algebra book (?). Also she wanted me to know that the only reason they didn't put him in "A" was because it's his first time rotating, and they didn't want to throw him into a whole new thing to quick. Since it will be a rotating section AND in the high school vs the middle school building that he knows well. She said if he does really well with rotating - handling transitions, frustrations, etc - as well as his grades, we can revisit it and consider switching him at the end of Trimester 1!!

So, now it comes down to this: Should we just let the math take it's course, or should we do some "homeschooling" for Algebra? And I don't mean extra practice. Basically a real class. Where I go get the Algebra book and Teacher's book, and we sit every day and have a half-hour lesson. More formal than just practice. So he doesn't feel like he has to just figure it out on his own. He's a very visual learner, and I think he will need to be taught some of the concepts he's never been introduced to. I know homeschooling isn't something Jason and I agree on, but they are still going to a traditional school. I'm just thinking of something extra, to give him an advantage when it comes to going to the school he wants to go to for high school. It's not about what I want here, it's about helping him. If the school isn't going to have a traditional Algebra class, but they are willing to test him to pass it, then he needs to actually be taught some of it, right? Thankfully, for him and I, math is fairly easy for him and one of his favorite subjects (math and science are top right now, followed closing by history. Of course he loves to read so reading is not too far behind. Writing and gym are definitely at the bottom of the list, though!), so even though it's not my best subject, with the help of some good textbooks, I think we will be just fine.

E has Art for 1st hour for Trimester 1, which he loves. MTSS(math/reading standards)(M,W-F)/Computers (T), Math, Reading, Social Studies, Lunch, Science and finally Writing. I think it's fortunate that 3 of his best subjects and one of his absolute favorites are in the morning, and his top favorite is right after lunch. He'll be able to concentrate without being hungry on Science. His least favorite is at the end of the day, after lunch and he can look forward to going home after. Hopefully he will get along with all of his teachers, and also continue to deal with frustration and transitions well. His perfectionist attitude has been coming out a lot in Choi Kwan Do, and we've been talking about it daily. I know that it can affect not only his attitude but his assignments, others' responses to him and the atmosphere in the classroom. Two of the teachers are new to the school this year (MTSS and Science), 1 (reading) worked in the preschool before but is new to the MS, 2 (Math and SS) have never taught E but we've talked and they know him, 1(writing) he had in an earlier grade and she knows his difficulties, but hasn't taught him in several years, and the computer teacher I'm not sure about. The art teacher is pretty awesome. He's been there since the school opened 12 years ago, and E had him in 6th and 7th grade. Mr G actually chose Ethan for the Spirit award for his classroom last year and said he saw how much he'd grown and how hard he'd worked on dealing with his frustrations! E is looking forward to Tuesday morning :)

I really need to help Little J  with his potty-training. It's so hit or miss, and I know better than to rush or force it, but I'd really like to have him fully potty-trained day and night by January (October would be better ;) ). I want to put him in preschool at least part-time, during the day, so I can pursue some dreams of my own. More on that later, once the plans are set in stone.

2014 Goals - Where are we now?

Turning 33 isn't really a milestone birthday by any means, but I do feel like I'm getting older, and at the same time, I know I am still young and have (God willing!) a long, long life ahead of me. Many years to enjoy my husband and marriage, to watch my children grow up and go to college, get married, start their own families. Then I think about the fact that it's already April... and it doesn't feel like we have accomplished much this year in terms of our goals.

So today is as good a day as any to sit down and reevaluate. To see where we are, what we have done, and what isn't working or we want to add to the goals.

When it comes to my personal get fit goals, I've been failing miserably. I'm going to give myself a pass on the past. I can't change what I did or didn't do yesterday. I can only move forward and GET MOVING! I will spare you the details of my weight in numbers, but know this: I have not lost any more weight and *may* have packed on a few extra pounds. With it being spring now, I think being able to get out of the house and enjoy the beautiful weather should help. Bike rides and walks during the day with Jack, park trips with the older boys, etc.

Switching back to organic has been slow going. We've been changing some things over, but for the most part we are stuck. I don't want to raise our grocery budget and we feel comfortable with what we can purchase with that amount but only if we buy a majority of "conventional" foods in terms of the expensive items, like meat, dairy and even some produce. I'd rather my kids get more conventional fresh fruit than less organic fresh fruit, and at this time, it just doesn't feel feasible to add $100 or more each week to our budget. We are saving for our first long-distance family vacation so we can pay cash vs using credit, and trying to slowly pay down credit cards. I know I don't need to justify myself but I want to explain.

Dairy is still pretty prevalent in our home, though I feel I'm eating significantly less. We have been trying new recipes consistently, including the delicious sloppy joe one I shared on Facebook.

Our doctor and dentist goals haven't had much progress, but I did hear about a doctor for Jason and I. It's just a matter of calling and scheduling an appointment. Dentist appointments will be scheduled very soon. I am considering not worrying about my wisdom teeth as they are not causing any issues.

Jackson's thumb surgery has been done and his thumb is finally almost fully healed. Keeping it clean is not the easiest with a two year old, but luckily he loves his Lightning McQueen bandaids! We took the final one off last night before bed, and surprisingly he was upset that we didn't put a new one on. To the point of tears! We felt since it looks completely healed (it had a small bump a few days ago still) and since the last bandaid actually irritated a small patch on the other side of his thumb that it was time to let it just breathe.

I haven't made much headway with reading 50 books this year. I thought I would have more done but haven't finished a single book since my last update! I did borrow 6 books from the library on Friday that I hope to read by the end of April, and purchased 6 new books from the book fair (The Hunger Games trilogy, and three ghost story books by Mary Downing Hahn - although those are definitely kids' books, I loved the one I read by her as a child and thought the boys could also read them). So my current count is still at 1.

I restarted my knitting project for the 3rd time, and I've decided it's going to be a scarf. I think. Haha. I haven't even started thinking about learning to crochet, and my Spanish and German have taken a backseat. Mostly because I've just kind of forgotten to use the duolingo app.

Having added Genealogy and making our family trees to my personal goals for the year, I've been working on Ancestry diligently and love using the Ancestry app on my tablet and phone. We've seen some really neat old documents like census records and war records, as well as yearbook photos and other family photos from distant relatives. Sharing this leads me to another goal for the year: stepping outside my comfort zone! I recently contacted a relative I never knew about: a cousin of my dad's! I learned that my grandmother's biological father had remarried and while he died very young in the early 50's, he and his 2nd wife had two children. My grandma knew about them but had only met them once. I had some details my aunt had shared with me and without revealing too much, I contacted a woman who had a picture attached to the man I thought was my great-grandfather and asked if he had been married before or had any other children, etc. She responded and confirmed the information I had from my aunt about his death and remarriage prior to that. I found out that she is the child of one of his other children, and we are planning to meet soon. There is more to share, but I want to share with my grandmother first as it is very special and I am hoping to see her sometime this week to tell her all of this exciting stuff!

Obviously posting 2-3 times a week on here has NOT been happening but now that I have the laptop, I seriously hope that I actually spend some time writing more often. All the other personal goals haven't had any progress as of yet.

Ethan:
Finished first session of Level 2 in swimming and was *this close* to moving to the next level.
Participated in Annie, Jr at school (play).
Considering starting a Minecraft club at school with mom's help.
Has read the following books and is currently at 15 books for the year: Little House on the Prairie, By the Shores of Silver Lake, The Long Winter, Little Town on the Prairie, Big Nate in the zone, Big Nate flips out, Big Nate goes for broke, Big Nate in a class by himself, Big Nate on a roll, Big Nate strikes again, Korea book (can't remember the title), The Jacket, Essential guide to Minecraft.

Alex:
Finished Level 1 of swimming and moved up to Level 2 for next session.
Participated in Annie, Jr at school and really enjoyed it. Contemplating theater day camp in August.
Fractions are mostly mastered and he's working on the harder problems at school.
Has read the following books and is currently at 17 books for the year: Little House on the Prairie, Little House in the Big Woods, By the Shores of Silver Lake, The Long Winter, Little Town on the Prairie, Little House in Brookfield, Little Town at the Crossroads, Big Nate in the zone, Big Nate flips out, Big Nate goes for broke, Big Nate in a class by himself, Big Nate on a roll, Big Nate strikes again, Lemony Snicket's Series of Unfortunate Events no. 9 and Super Fudge.

Jack:
Moved to own room.
In a toddler bed and sleeps well at night, most nights.
Knows blue, purple, red, green, yellow, orange, brown, and black. Gets confused on white and pink.
Can count to two most times, and 3 sometimes. Skips numbers but tries to count higher.
Recognizes most letters and sings the majority of the Alphabet song correctly.
Knows circle, triangle, square, diamond.

First update in quite a while!

Finally! It feels so nice to be typing on the laptop and actually writing! I'm pleased with the work the computer repair place did. It was a great price too. While we had to wait almost 3 weeks because the screen was backordered, they replaced it within about 3 hours this past Saturday. We were using the laptop hooked up to our desktop monitor. Not very convenient. The only time we were even bothering was to pay bills or for Jason to do his homework.

It's been a very busy couple of months around here. Ethan and Alex finished swim lessons for this session just a couple of weeks ago, Catechism is wrapping up for the year this next weekend (I believe) and all the hard work they put in to play rehearsal paid off. Saturday was spent at Catechism in the morning followed by "call" at 5pm and the show at 7pm. I went alone to watch that night, while Jason stayed home with Jackson. It turned out so great! The director did a great job casting the parts. The actress who played Annie has an amazing singing voice! As well as many of the other actors and actresses. Ethan and Alex did good in their parts. I wish I would have gotten some pictures or video but no luck. On Sunday, Jason's parents came up for a visit and to go to the show. The boys had to be there at 1, and the show started at 3pm. Jackson slept for about half of it and near the end he got antsy so we stepped out. It worked out nicely since I had gone the previous night. Everyone else was able to enjoy the show.

We had the Blue and Gold banquet a few weeks ago for cub scouts and my parents came up for it. It was really nice.

My dad's SMILING!! For a PICTURE!!

My beautiful momma and handsome daddy! They just celebrated 41 years of marriage!

My dad showing the boys his Eagle Scout card!

Daddy and Jack-Jack <3

Our Pinewood Derby was March 23rd and Jason's family came to watch and to celebrate my father-in-law's birthday. It was great to see Jason's dad, sisters, brother and niece. We missed having his mom come up but were glad his mom and dad made it to the play. Alex's car did really well coming in 2nd and 3rd for each race. While he didn't win a trophy OR a spot in the regional races, he had so much fun and loved making his car this year. We all got to see Jason in action emceeing the race. He's such a ham...

Last week, Jackson and I spent the whole week volunteering at the Scholastic book fair. It was crazy busy for a lot of the time, but we had a good time. He keeps begging to go to the "library" - where we held the fair - and to school, since he got to hang out in the preschool classrooms on and off throughout the week. I am so thankful to the preschool teachers and the other 2 moms who were also working at the fair, including the fair chairperson. She did an amazing job with it, while also working in the preschool in the mornings. She was always right there when I had a question or needed a hand and I hope I did as good a job as she says I did. She even bought pizza Friday night for my boys and I and her family! And took Alex to the spring carnival while E, Jack and I kept the fair open late that night! Talk about awesome teamwork. I would work with her again in a heartbeat. Plus she's such a nice lady! Shout out to CINDY!!

I wanted to write a quick update on our winter fun list so here goes.

We dropped a few more things: sledding; snowman/snowfamily; ice bubbles; s'mores; origami; coloring contest.

We did the following but mostly without pictures: paint a picture - just mom and Jackson; make a fort; play payday - just the boys.

Also I decided to move a few things to our Spring activities. It will be an "unofficial" bucket list and will most likely blend over into Summer. Just things we still want to do but haven't yet. No pressure. Those items are: Lego movie; bonfire; ice skating - indoor arenas are plentiful; go for a hike; video game contest; Detroit Institute of Art; Detroit Historical museum; library event.

The family portrait is being added to our 2014 goals.

Unfortunately, we fell very far behind on our "Saint studies". The nice thing about it not being required is that we can do it at our own pace and will catch up and keep going throughout the year :)

Tomorrow I'll share a 2014 goals update since it's somewhat long!

By the way, April is Autism awareness month! In fact, today is World Autism Awareness! Let's not just promote awareness, but acceptance.

Change can be hard

even if and when it is needed. Sometimes, the desired change is better in theory than in action.

And, sometimes, maybe, just maybe, that change is much easier than anticipated.

Thankfully, this has been one of those times.

Let me set the stage. Explain how it all started. Way back in January (ha!), I made up a list of goals for each of the boys. Including Jackson. Knowing full well that all of his personal goals for the year would be implemented by mom and dad. Knowing at least a few were huge life changes for such a little guy.

Fast forward to Friday, sometime before 4am, the bazillionth time of Jack waking up, and me just moving him to our bed so I *selfishly* - my words - could get a little more sleep. The kicking, and squirming, and hands in the face started. Not really an ideal situation for any of the three of us to get more sleep. Jason spouted off to me - as nicely as he could for 4am while tired - that I really need to just put him back in his bed, etc. I lost it, telling him, yes that would be nice but he is wide awake now, hates the crib, etc. A *ahem* disagreement ensued, until about 10 mins or so later, Jackson and I headed to the living room to read 9 books (yes I counted!) and then watched Sprout for a bit.

6am rolls around, and Jason is ready to walk out the door and another small discussion occurs. I'm at my wit's end. I just want ALL of us to be happy, comfortable and sleeping well. Jackson doesn't really have a "schedule" when it comes to sleep. I'm tired of sleeping on the couch with him several partial nights a week and Jason doesn't want him in our bed because then he can't sleep for work and school.

After taking the boys to school, Jackson and I got to work. I sorted through the closet and all the garage sale/donation items still in the guest bedroom to make a list for next year's taxes, and placed all the bags and boxes for donation on the front porch temporarily. Then I moved the queen mattress, and box spring to the family room, as it was too heavy to move anywhere else alone. After taking apart the bed frame (just a simple metal frame), and moving that also, Jackson's clean clothes were moved from his dresser to the identical dresser already inside of his closet that was being used for storage. He doesn't have a lot of clothes to hang up, so it's perfect. With how heavy the dresser is, I like it out of his reach. He can't yet open the folding closet doors, so that's a blessing. Since the first dresser was now empty, it was also sat in the family room. Next was Ethan's desk, which got completely cleaned out and sorted through, before finding it's new home - also in the family room, but the only thing moved that will stay there. 3 trash bags and lots of heavy furniture later, the room was almost completely empty. We have a small wooden bedside table that we left, but removed the door and latch from so now it's a good cubby or possibly bookshelf for Jack.

In need of a new bed for Jack, as I know how much he dislikes the crib, he and I searched online and came across a Disney Pixar's Cars bed for less than $70! We are still going to use the crib mattress, and he loved the bed. It turns out Toys R Us carries the bed, as well as the right size bedding also in the Cars theme, so I ordered them to be picked up in store that day. We had to wait until after school to go get them, and when we did we also got another baby gate and a light-up Cars wall art.

When Jason got home, boy, was he surprised to see me putting together a new bed in an almost empty room, as he had no clue what I had planned. He had to help me finish, as it was a bit more difficult than I anticipated, but was a breeze with his help. Thankfully he also made some fish sticks and fries for the boys for a quick dinner.

After the boys had eaten, and we had our own dinner of Zen Salmon and a side salad, it was time to have Jackson check out his room. We moved some toys in there and made his bed all up for him. He climbed right in and laid down for a second. Since he wasn't sure what to think, and said "not bedtime, mommy" I figured, oh boy, this isn't going to be very easy, but we shall see...

Much to my surprise, come 9pm, he willingly went to his room, climbed in bed (coolest part for him I think!) and laid down. "Blanket, pweese, mommy?" All snuggled up, with his monkey by his side, we read a few books, and his eyes got heavy with sleep. After several slow blinks, his eyes opened no more, so I stood to leave after a few more minutes and finishing the book we had started, to ensure he was asleep. I shut off the light, and up popped his little head, with a frantic little voice saying "no mommy! turn on light!" I instead turned on his wall art, and went back to his bedside and sang several nursery rhymes, before running out and resorting to amazing grace and jingle bells :) This time he was surely asleep. I just had to quietly "sneak" out the door, and over the newly placed baby gate (he can open the door, and we don't want him to wander to the basement stairs or something in the dark, his door stays open, we can clearly hear him, and any of us, including his brothers, if need be, can easily lift him out in an emergency.) So now it's 9:30, and he's fast asleep in his own bed, in his own room, and the other two boys are ready for bed too. After "good night's" all around, even mama is tired and heads to bed. I figured I'd be up in a couple of hours with an unhappy toddler.

Well I was right about being up, but very wrong about the reason. He stayed fast asleep. I, however, woke up almost every two hours, worried, and had to peak in on him! He did wake once at 4, needing a diaper change, but it was sort of funny how it happened. I had woken for what felt like the umpteenth time, but just to use the bathroom myself, and on my way there, I walk right by his door. I heard a faint voice talking inaudibly, and then the unmistakable "mommy, diaper? MOMMY, diaper change, pweese?" I quietly entered his room, changed his diaper without taking him out of his bed and therefore barely disturbing him. I don't even think he opened his eyes, and he went right back to sleep until just before six.

Talk about change! I thought, oh it MUST be a fluke. Surely, this barely 25 month old little boy who has needed to cuddle almost every night of his life, couldn't possibly be growing up so much so fast! I mean, he stop nursing less than 2 months ago, had his second birthday just over 6 weeks ago, had thumb surgery on Monday and freaked out a bit after waking from the anesthesia, crying uncontrollably for me until they came and got me - thankfully only a couple of minutes - and now he was willingly going to bed in his own bed. AND sleeping through the night?! Impossible!!

Wow. I've been a fool. I honestly didn't think he was ready. Apparently, having his own "real" bed - as well as room - was what he needed. Don't get me wrong, I wanted to buy him a bed a couple of months ago at a mom-to-mom sale, but Jason had said nah, we didn't need it because he didn't have his own room, he just needed to sleep in the crib. Well we were BOTH wrong. Me for not thinking he was ready, and Jas for thinking the crib was just as good or better than a big boy bed.

Last night went smoothly as well. After watching Free Birds, and having pizza for dinner, Jackson got a quick bath before we sat and watched Ender's Game, during which he bounced back and forth between mom and dad, and even went to lay down for a few minutes. He wasn't ready to fall asleep though and wanted some cuddle time with Jason, during which he fell asleep. After the movie was over, Jason was able to lay him down without waking him - let me tell you what, it's much easier in a small bed than into a crib! - and he slept until about 4am again! After a diaper change, I sang him back to sleep until just after 6 when he woke up yelling "mommy, daddy, move gate?? PWEESE??" Instead, E decided to go in there and play cars and trains and go-go's with him and Alex joined him a few minutes later.

Two days in, and while I still woke a couple times to check on him, I did sleep a bit better myself last night, and he is gaining some confidence and sleeping longer stretches for sure! Plus, it's nice not getting kicked in the head or stomach or back ;)

So we can officially mark off "move to his own room" and "transition to toddler bed" off of Jackson's 2014 goals!! Now just to start potty training...

Oh and an update on his thumb! (This was also on our Health goals for 2014 - "Jackson's thumb surgery") I never shared a post about it, even though I meant to. Monday, we had to drive down to the D to be at the children's hospital there at 6:45, and hit a couple small snags. The first was just a bit of heavy traffic, and then the parking garage cost $3, up front, cash only. Oops, I didn't know that, having never been to this particular hospital, so I had to drive around until I found an ATM, and pull out some cash. That stunk as it cost me an extra $3 ATM fee! After finally parking, we were able to enter, only 30 minutes late now, at this point. My cell phone rings loudly, as I'm trying to contain Jackson's excitement for a new place, and figure out where we are supposed to go. Oh great the hospital calling. I answer, explain what happens and am told to go to admitting/reception to check in and then proceed to the surgical reception area after that. I checked Jack in and read him a couple of books while we wait. Finally, we get called back to fill out the paperwork, and I'm told we have an estimated patient responsibility of blah, blah, blah, will I be paying anything on it today? No, not today - we are STILL dealing with the other hospital mishap in billing for his other surgery, and I'm not interested in making a payment until I know the exact, correct amount from our insurance company and receive an actual bill, besides the fact that it's almost 2k for this... - she says something, half under her breath, about how they really like you to pay something the day of service. Oh, well sorry, don't have it today, I think to myself. She goes back to get something from the printer for me to sign, stating I understand the estimated bill, and here's where to send it, etc, and I hear her talking to another admissions lady. One says "oh, you have one too?" Other "yeah, ugh." something else that sounded like "I hate when they do that." but I couldn't be sure. Oh really? Great customer service so far...

Time to head to the surgical reception area, where we sat for just a few minutes, until called back to the "check-in" pre-op area. He was weighed and measured - almost 30 lbs and just shy of 36 inches - and checked over. The orthopedic surgeon, nurses, anesthesiologist all came over to talk to me and go over what would happen. His thumb was marked and we waited for what felt like just 2 minutes! They had me change him into hospital pants, socks and a gown, but Jackson was angry at me for taking off his car/truck jammies! No gown for him, just pants and socks. Then it was time for mom to put on a gown, cap, and mask - I got to go back with him, while they put him to sleep! YAY! much better, as he did not want me to leave or to leave me. We laid him down, and they put the mask on. He was not happy at all :( He cried and yelled, but was so brave too. After just a few seconds he started to drift off to sleep. I gave him a kiss and was escorted back to the pre-op area. Within 15 minutes, the surgeon came out to tell me the surgery was done, and went well. In just a few minutes, he'd be waking up and they should be able to bring him to me. After what seemed like forever, a nurse came to get me and take me the post-op wake-up recovery room, as he was upset and unable to calm himself. Jackson was very happy to see me, as I was him. He cuddled right up, and stopped crying within moments, drank some juice and fell back asleep. We moved back to the pre-op/recovery area, and waited for a bit. He woke up, had some more juice, and we sat for a few minutes. The nurse came in and checked him over. The anesthesiologist came in and said he was ready to go home :) IV was removed, we got him dressed and went over at-home instructions. He went back at 8:25 and I was signing check-out papers at 9:25!! How's that for awesome!? The morning didn't start out great, but the nurses, doctors and staff (besides admitting) were so kind, helpful and patient! We will definitely be using this hospital for any future needs for any of the boys - which hopefully won't be anytime soon of course.

We were able to remove the gauze in two days, but I did change it once after the first day, as it got quite dirty while he ate. Then the steri-strips fell off on their own by Friday, and the incision is almost completely healed already! They also used that glue stuff to seal it. His thumb and palm were quite swollen and bruised the first couple of days, and the bruising has slowly gone away as well as the swelling. It's still slightly swollen and sore, though no longer purple, and he doesn't like it getting cleaned after meals. We have to be super gentle but I don't want anything getting in there, or it getting infected. Bath time is the easiest time to get it clean of course, so we just do the best we can right after eating, and then clean it well at during his bath and let it kind of soak in the bubbles :) Bubble baths have become our best friend this week! Actually, we had to add more baby bath soap to our grocery list, as we ran out yesterday!

On top of all that, Alex managed to injure his foot on Wednesday during gym class while jumping rope. Instead of stopping, he continued to jump, went through the day limping and walked over to the HS for play rehearsal when it started hurting even worse. He went back to his classroom and then finally to the office to call me to pick him up early from rehearsal (he didn't even last 15 minutes!). I picked him and Ethan up rather than drive back a 3rd time that day to get E at 6:30, and we went home. Making sure his foot was ok, I made him stay off of it for the rest of the day, and sit out of gym class on Thursday. He just pulled or twisted something in the top of his foot when he landed funny on his toes. I let him know that he really should have stopped jumping right away, and kept off of it for a bit until the pain was gone, and that he got very lucky he didn't cause himself serious harm! He promised if anything like that happens again, he'll stop, take a break, and call one of us if necessary, so we can see the dr to make sure it's just a strain. Alex is fine now, and although it did hurt a little yesterday after we left Skyzone, he said it wasn't too bad at all. I reminded him that if he needs to stop jumping rope in gym this week because it hurts again, that's fine! Luckily they have tomorrow off, so he can take it somewhat easy and stay off of it a bit more.

It's been a pretty crazy week! After all that, we spent a whole day ticking things off of our winter fun list! Look for a nice, long post tomorrow for that. We had such a fun family day yesterday, and even though mom and dad are a little under the weather, we made the most of it, that's for sure. Jason is at City Airport for little while today, and plans to go tomorrow for a while too - he's off of work for the holiday at his regular job - so we are just having a lazy morning around here. Grocery shopping in a bit, maybe after Jason gets home, by myself. I don't know that we could all survive a busy Sunday morning grocery store visit. Although, they could help pick out things they want for snacks...
 

2014 Goals: Part 4 - The little Hamers

*A quick note about these goals. I have asked the boys for their input on these, but they have yet to get back to me. I am writing up some things that Jason and I would like for them to achieve as well as things we know they can achieve. I will add more as they share their own selections. *

Ethan

1. Complete Level 2-4 of swimming lessons. Currently enrolled in Level 2 as part of our Winter Fun List activities. We are hoping to "graduate" to the next level and finish Levels 3 and 4 over the spring and summer.
2. Read 50 books. He will be keeping a list to share with mom and dad.
3. Start learning a second language, his choice.
4. Participate in a play. There is a school musical in March, and he has auditioned. We should know something soon.
5. Learn to cook at least 3 recipes/meals/foods. Considering signing up for a cooking class at the rec center.
6. Take a video game design class through our rec center.
7. Make a comic book and share!
8. Volunteer with mom.
9. Go to overnight camp.
10. Go to a school dance. This will be easy as there's one coming up!

Alex

1. Complete Level 1-4 of swimming lesson. Currently enrolled in level 1 but as he has previously taken and was *this.close* to "graduating", they may move him to level 2 (it was in late 2011/early 2012 when he and Ethan took their first classes, so he has had a couple of years of practice in his grandparents pool.) Hoping to finish Levels 2-4 throughout the spring, summer and fall.
2. Earn his Bear badge for Cub Scouts. He has actually finished all his requirements, we are just waiting now ;)
3. Become a Webelos Scout.
4. Earn 5-10 belt loops for Scouts. We just found out last night that as of March 2015, they are discontinuing the belt loop program, so he is hoping to earn a few more before then.
5. Participate in a play. Same as Ethan, he has auditioned for the school musical and should know in the next few days.
6.  Read 50 books. He will also keep a list for mom and dad.
7. Start learning a second language of his choice. He takes Spanish still in school, so he may consider expanding on that using Duolingo.
8. Learn to cook at least 3 new foods/recipes/meals. Also considering a cooking class at the rec center.
9.  Practice and master fractions. He can do it but seems to be having a bit of a hard time with them.
10. Go to overnight Cub Scout camp!
11. Go to overnight camp with E. 

 Jackson

1. Potty-training!!! YAY! ;)
2. Move to his own room. Yes, he's currently still in our room, but in his crib most of the night from bedtime till 3am or later. He's been sleeping better every night, and last night, not even a peep from 8:45pm till 6:15am! Thankfully we have a guest/extra bedroom, we just need to clear out the queen bed and E's desk. I have some ideas on how to rearrange the house to still allow E a "private area" for homework.
3. Transition from crib to twin/toddler bed. I'd LOVE to get him a car or fire engine bed or even a train!!
4. Level A and B swimming lessons. This month's sessions for his age groups that are at an open time are full, so he isn't enrolled yet. We are hoping to enroll in March, and continue through the summer. He can't take Level C until he's 3 but then may be able to repeat to keep learning/practicing.
5. Learn some simple words in German. I chose German for him, because of my own knowledge of the language and ability to teach him some objects, foods, colors, etc. It will truly be simple words, as my skill level, especially for teaching, is beginner/intermediate. Should be fun, though!
6. Learn colors. Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, black, white, brown. Currently working on.
7. Learn basic shapes. Square, Rectangle, Triangle, Circle, Oval, Star, Diamond, Crescent. Somewhat knows most, and is able to actually name them. Can point to correctly most of them, when asked, most of the time.
8. Learn to count to 10. Currently counts to 2 consistently and occasionally 3 and 4.
9. Learn his ABC's. He currently knows A-G of the ABC song :)
10. Spend the night at his grandparent's house. This may be harder for me than him...

Throwback Thursday 2014 #1

In honor of Baby J turning 2 (!?) tomorrow, here's the cutie on his actual birth day!

I still remember the day I found out I was pregnant with him. It was just a couple of days before Mother's Day 2011, meaning I got pregnant just after my 30th birthday. I never thought we would have a third child and we have been so blessed by this little guy, just like we have been by his awesome older brothers. Sometimes the best thing in life are the littlest (biggest!) surprises :)

Happy (early) 2nd birthday, my littlest man.

Busy weeks ahead

The next 3 weeks are busy ones for our household.

First up is Jason's 34th birthday!! Its this Friday and I have a small surprise cooked up for him and a special dinner in the plans, too. He doesn't want anything but who am I to resist a little fun? ;)

Then, of course, next Wednesday is Christmas Day. The boys decided they would like to sing at the children's Mass on Christmas Eve so we are going to 4pm Mass and they will sing some songs with the "children's choir" - its really just a group of kids from the k-6 catechism classes that are going to rehearse for a half hour before and then give their all, not truly a children's choir. Since we are going to an earlier Mass, we can get a good night's rest and spend Christmas morning opening our gifts here at home.

On Saturday, we will be spending the day at my parents with one of my sisters and brothers-in-law, 4 of my nephews, 2 of my nieces and my soon-to-be niece-in-law (is that even a word? Lol).y mom has to work all week so it worked out well for everybody.

Either Friday or Sunday will be spent at Jason's parents for our Christmas celebration with his brother and niece, his sister and her boyfriend. His other sister and brother-in-law won't be able to make it as they are traveling to his parents this year. I think its great that they are able to share their holidays, trading off each year. We all get an opportunity to see them each year, just at different times.

Saturday is also a big day foe our little family. Its mine and Jason's 13th wedding anniversary! My mom has requested to keep the boys for an hour or two while we go to dinner or something.

After that its the New Year and everybody is celebrating. My newest favorite day for January isn't until the 3rd though. Our little baby J will officially be TWO! he's grown so much over the last two years and he's so sweet. I can't believe how big he is and how smart he's becoming. He's a little too much like his brothers ;) I swear they scare me sometimes.

I'm looking forward to everything settling down after the beginning of the year before it gets super crazy around here with Jason's 3 classes 4 days a week starting up on the 13th or 14th! This means I will be in charge of getting Alex to cub scouts while dragging the other two with us on 3 Tuesdays a month and 1 Wednesday a month. I think we will be doing either a lot of crackpot meals or super simple meals for the next few months.

Family field trip

Today, I kept the boys out of school and we took a field trip.

Target sponsored a Family Day at The Henry Ford Museum, meaning admission and parking was free! Since the reason behind the family day was honor and remembrance of the 50th anniversary of JFK's assassination, we were going to try and see the car from Dallas.

Our morning started a little slow with the boys all sleeping to 7:30 or even 8! I snuck out of our bedroom, which Jack currently shares with us, and took a quick shower while he slept a bit longer. When I got out, he had just woken up, E was up reading, and Alex was still in bed, but waking up.
After making a quick breakfast for the boys, I went through our weekly budget and started some laundry.

Before we left, I printed off a little packet of activities about JFK including a coloring sheet, vocab list, crossword, word search, and a multiple choice quiz for the boys to do in the car.

We made it down there just before 11am and got to see many really neat things. There are tons of old farm equipment, cars, carriages, furniture, appliances and housewares, trains, airplanes, an Abraham Lincoln exhibit, the Oscar Meyer wiener mobile, a bus diner and many other things. I think our favorite might have been a really neat LEGO city with skyscrapers taller than me! There was so much detail, from the cornfield to the helicopters, a concert stage to the Willys building! The boys were enthralled by it.

I realized something about Alex today. He is definitely our budding photographer. He got an inexpensive digital camera last Christmas, but it got misplaced sometime during the year. Alex really wanted to take pictures, so since I had our nice camera with us to take some pictures, he was put in charge of it ;) He did a pretty good job and asked how to use the zoom and other buttons. I have to upload the pictures still but I can't wait to go through all of them.

We did have a couple of things that could have gone smoother. First, lunch. We didn't pack because I'd forgotten the expense of eating there... That and the "restaurants" weren't easy to navigate with 2 boys and a toddler in a stroller by myself. The first one only had hot dogs, which E won't eat - it's a sensory thing. The 2nd one had no place to sit and 4 daily specials, none of which any of us wanted. The third is a cafeteria style set-up. Think hospital cafeteria, where there are 3 different main "kitchen" areas: a grill, an "oven" and a salad bar, and then a refrigerated section with yogurt, desserts, and bottled drinks, and a fountain drink, plus the cashier. Now add about 30 people beside your family. It was really difficult to navigate the stroller while carrying a tray overloaded with food. We managed to find a seat after a minute and hurriedly ate our food, as the people who sat beside us were less than polite to the employee and made me uncomfortable.

Jackson needed cleaned up, and when we made it to the bathroom, the older boys sat outside while I went in to change him. There was no changing table :( so I had to use what I can only assume is a designated changing area on the counter top. As I lifted him out of the stroller, I discovered he had wet through his onesie and pants, and had a dirty, not just wet diaper! I'm so glad I remembered to grab a clean outfit before we left. While practically wrestling with him to change his clothes, I heard a mom and her kids coming in, and one of them asked her where the boys in the hallway's mom was. She said something along the lines of "I don't know where their mom is" with a somewhat exasperated, if not judgmental tone. As she was walking in the door, I said "the boys in the chairs? Yeah, they're mine. I thought they were too old to be in the women's restroom". She said sorry if she sounded judgmental, that she was tired, etc. I'm sure she didn't mean anything, but I wanted her to know they were being left unsupervised to roam the museum. :)

We walked around some more, and then Jack needed changed again, and since he had another dirty diaper, I used the last few wipes in my purse. The boys were all pretty exhausted so we decided to call it a day at around 3pm. We didn't get to see the Presidential car because there was a super long line due to the day.

It was a good time, and I think they learned something, plus saw some really cool stuff. The museum has changed since the last time we were there a few years ago, with some new exhibits.

If I wasn't struggling to keep my eyes open right now, I'd upload all our pictures, but they will have to wait till tomorrow. I'm so glad that we decided to play hooky and take a family fun day instead. 

I definitely learned a lesson though from today: Pack lunches or leave and eat elsewhere. Bring a backpack with plenty of diapers, wipes and maybe even 2 outfits for Jack. Know that I can trust my older boys to wait outside the restroom for me while I change Jack and/or use the restroom myself. Although, we did come out to them NOT sitting where I told them to, but standing over by the ATM "checking out all the signs". Silly boys.

Productive Saturday

Last night it took us about 2 1/2 hours to set-up all our stuff! We made it home just a few minutes before Jason got home from his Friday business class, around 9. I made a mental note that we needed to be up no later than 7 so we'd have time to stop by the bank and get change because I'd forgotten.

 We woke up a little late this morning and it threw the day off some. Since I didn't want to rush Jackson eating his breakfast and make us even later and Jason had nothing going on today, they had a daddy/son morning. On the way to the school to meet Julie, I remembered the boys needed rice and instant mashed potatoes for the Thanksgiving food drive the church is holding. We stopped at Meijer and grabbed those 2 items as well as some cash for the sale - I remembered our bank doesn't open till 9am on Saturdays. By the time we got to the school, we had missed Julie :( I felt really bad that she had gone up there to look for/wait for us! I considered just keeping the boys with me, but decided to drive them over the their catechism class. I made it back over to the school just a few minutes late, and was able to get $10 worth of ones from the ladies collecting admission fees.

When I had gotten there, the family next to me gave me some money they were holding from my first sale of the day! In the 3 hours of the sale I made about $100! I did spend $14 though, buying Jackson 10 outfits and a toy, and 5 shirts and 2 pants for our niece. After we were all done, I gave the last 3 maternity items to one of the pregnant teachers and almost all of the 8/10 and some of the 6/7 clothes to a friend who I knew would be able to get some use out of them. Still had a truckload to bring home, but it's all good :)

Julie brought the boys back over to me, and between her and her boys, and my boys and I, we got the truck loaded up. On the way home, we stopped and grabbed some lunch to take home.

I had to run back out to grab some diapers, milk, bread, and a couple of other things. I don't think in 11 years of being a parent, and 3 boys (one currently in diapers almost 2 years, one for about 4 and the other for 3), that we've ever RUN OUT of diapers! I would of sworn that we had another box in the closet. While I was at the store, E and Alex got some video game time, and Jackson fell asleep.

I guess the week and morning caught up with me, because I went in to read in our bedroom where it was quiet, and I ended up crashing for about 4 hours! Jackson and I both woke up around 8. He's up playing with train tracks and his new car toy. I have a feeling it's going to be a late night for him...

He was loving climbing in and out of this box. It's the perfect size!

Jack loves it so far.

Look at the great job he did building the track by himself!!

Tomorrow is supposed to be rainy and warmer, and I'm pretty sure we are going to just have a lazy Sunday around the house.

Now to go finally get myself a (very) late dinner. Hope you all have a great rest of your weekend!

When ouch could have been much worse

So, I fell today.

I'd love to tell ya that that's a metaphor for something. Anything. But, alas, that is not the case.

I had just wrestled a sweatshirt on a sleeping toddler. With my right arm only. Because he was asleep on my left shoulder. He'd fallen asleep on the living room floor for about 45 mins when he woke suddenly and was cranky. I cuddled him and he fell back asleep and I didn't dare disturb him, for fear he would wake again and be very cranky until bedtime.

I grabbed his coat (to put on after the car ride, it's way too bulky for safety in the carseat), his hat that I'd slip on as soon as I'd sit him in his carseat, my sweatshirt and my purse. I slid my feet into my shoes as quickly as I could which meant they were only half-way on really. Knowing full well this was not a good idea, I still proceeded out the door, as we had to go get the boys and were leaving at the last possible moment.

Stepping down the last step, somehow, without even really realizing it, I tripped, or missed the step. I'm still not sure.

In that moment time slowed, my mind, after a momentary panic, went completely calm and I could see us falling and "see" what was about to happen. My left knee made contact with the cement of the garage floor, and ever so slowly, as if time was actually standing still, I dropped our things from my right hand and placed it around the back of Jack's head and twisted my body at the hip, falling so I was on my side and he was in my arms, safe and sound. He lifted his head and giggled as he opened his eyes. I sat him on the step to collect myself and stand up and he just sat there looking at me as if nothing had happened.

In that split second that it took to turn him from the cement and keep him safe, all I could see was what would have happened. He came so close (but not really) to banging the back of his head!

Not only am I grateful for that "moment" of time - mere seconds in reality - that my mind reacted and allowed me to react, I am so grateful he is ok.

I did bang up my knee badly though. In fact, it hurts a little to walk and bend it, and it's got a nasty bruise. It's not swollen too bad, and I'll take a bruised knee over anything worse any day!

By the way, if anybody is wondering, yes, I am a klutz ;) and I will take this as a reminder to slow down a bit in life and also to give myself ample time when it's time to pick the boys up from school.

Fun week, indeed!

For our mini-vacation this year, we went to Michigan Adventure again, due to Ethan winning 2 free tickets to the park.

Having spent a week in Muskegon last summer, spending a day at Michigan Adventure and doing some other things, we decided to take just 3 days this time around.

Jason found a KOA campground that had a "park model" cabin/camper for us to rent about 45 minutes from the park, in Allendale.

Tuesday morning, after a quick breakfast and loading the car up, we started our drive across the state. The older boys had their DSI's to play video games for most of the ride and the toddler slept about half of it. We stopped at Burger King for lunch and to get out of the car for awhile about half-way there.

A quick trip for some groceries and then we made it to the cabin to unpack the car. Swimming came next, in the campground's pool. Even Jackson joined in the fun! The boys played on the playground and swings, and we walked around a bit.

Jason cooked us up some cheeseburgers on the charcoal grill - the boys each had a regular, but we splurged for him and I and got black and blue burgers, seasoned with loads of black pepper and stuffed with blue cheese! Seriously tasty!

After dinner came a bit more "exploring" and an attempt at fishing. It started getting dark and Jackson was getting sleepy, so we went back to the cabin for the night. While I got Jack down for bed, Jason took the boys outside to have a campfire, complete with s'mores and a scary story. Poor Alex wasn't too fond of the scary story, so Jason stopped early and came in. After all the boys were sound asleep, Jason and I sat outside for a little while.

Jackson actually slept from about 9:30 till 5:30am! That rarely happens!

Wednesday, we went to the amusement park and had so much fun. Ethan went on a roller coaster first thing with Jason, and I took Alex to ride a couple of rides by himself, while Jack and I watched him. Jack loved watching all the cool rides. After quite a few rides, we grabbed a quick lunch over by the water park, and all changed into our swimwear.

The water park was my favorite part. All three boys got to do something fun in there, including the wave pool, and for the older boys, water slides!

We did have a big scare at one point. Before we even entered the park, we went over what the boys should do if we should get separated or lost. I took Jackson in the tidal wave pool with the older boys and Jason waited outside off to the side. I decided to take Jackson out after a few minutes so we could warm up and I guess Alex saw me and followed me. I didn't realize it though and because he was a little ways behind me, he didn't see which direction I went. He walked around for a bit looking for me and Jason, while we were standing off to the side, talking and looking in the giant tidal wave pool, filled with so many people, trying to catch a glimpse of each of them. We saw E, but no Alex anywhere. Trying not to panic we walked toward the front and continued to look, thinking he was just lost in the sea of kids in the water. After about 10 minutes and still no Alex, I started walking toward the front of the water park to see if he had maybe wandered to the bathroom or for a life-vest (he mentioned maybe wanting one) and as I turned to start going around the corner, I saw him with a security guard, with a scared look on his face. Pushing Jackson in the stroller, I walked as quickly as I could to meet him and wrapped him in my arms, asking where he'd gone! I was almost in tears, and thanked the security guard, who told me he had gone to the first aid station and asked for help. I'm so glad we told the boys who to go to and what to say. I never, ever want to feel that way again. I really don't think Alex does either!

It was time to leave the water park then and ride some more rides, followed by a bbq dinner, more rides and finally time to go home. Jason mentioned stopping for some ice cream on our way back to the cabin, so we were on a mission to find some soft-serve. We found a little place called Whippi Dip between Muskegon and Allendale and sat outside in the warm summer breeze, as it got darker and enjoyed some yummy ice cream.

We had to check out by 11am on Thursday, so we packed up all of our things and got on the road. We decided against fast food for lunch and found a little hole-in-the-wall Mexican restaurant in Howell called Mexicali Allie's. It was pretty good and the boys all ate their cheese quesadillas, E ate his rice and Alex ate his refried beans. I decided on a ground beef taco, a bean tostada, beans and rice while Jason chose a chunk beef burrito, ground beef taco, beans and rice. Jackson ate a bite of beans but didn't really dig them, which surprised me, because he loves them on tacos at home!

Once we arrived home around 3, we were greeted with a "Welcome Home" chalk sign from Julie and the B's!! Well, actually two, the first on the driveway by the garage door and the second on the sidewalk/patio area by our back porch! That was really cute and sweet. At the last minute, on Monday evening, (because I forgot to find someone to watch the dog and none of our neighbors were around to ask) I sent Julie a text asking if she'd let the dog out a few times and feed and water him each day for us while we were gone. And because she's an awesome friend and my hero, she agreed!

THANKS AGAIN JULIE AND BOYS FOR HELPING US OUT! IT WAS SO NICE OF YOU AND YOUR FRIENDSHIP MEANS THE WORLD TO US!!!

Side note here: Make sure to follow Julie's new blog as she branches out from here and hopefully we will both grow our readership! 

After we settled back in here at home, unpacking and ordering pizza for dinner, Jason suggested go-karts and/or mini-golf. I thought that sounded like a fantastic idea. When we got to C.J. Barrymore's, we had to see if the boys were tall enough to ride the "faster" go-karts. E is plenty tall enough and Alex is borderline. However, the lady at the counter asked how old he was, and when we said 8, she told us "Sorry, he has to be at least 10 AND 54" tall to ride those ones". After buying E's ticket and mini-golf tickets for all of us except Jackson - he had to be a spectator in the stroller as he's still a tiny bit too young to play :( but he didn't mind, he laughed at all of us - we went over to the turbo track to find NO ONE else in line. E was going to be out there all by himself! Jason ran back in and bought a ticket for himself and they raced each other while we looked on. 

Mini-golf was fun, we chose the "green" course, and I did really well the first 5 or 6 holes, hitting it in with 2 strokes (par was 3 for every hole), then I kind of stunk for a while and then believe it or not, I, somehow, got 3 - yes, THREE! - holes-in-one! I don't even think JASON did that, lol. But Jason came in way under, winning the game. I had 63, E had 68 and Alex had 69.  

Jackson slept all night AGAIN! I'm loving the fact that he's sleeping anywhere from 7-10 hours a night now, although I know it could change at any moment. I'm relishing in the fact that I'm getting some good sleep myself now, except of course when my own body decides it doesn't need sleep, but I'm really, truly tired...

Yesterday (Friday), we are still technically on vacation, as Jason took the day off of work and the boys are not starting school for over a week. However, it sure didn't feel like a fun day. After having used up quite a few things before we left - milk, bread, peanut butter, eggs, you know the staples - I had no choice but to go grocery shopping, hopefully before lunch. Since I try and go "big grocery shopping" every other week and just get a few things that would go bad if I bought too much, and it happened to be shopping week, it took a little longer to plan the menu and grocery list out. Jack-Jack and I left after 11am and didn't get home till after 2! He was so well-behaved and patient in the two stores. We ended up going to Meijer for most things, and Costco for meat (they have organic chicken and ground beef for a good price), eggs - again organic, 2 dozen, great price - and a few other things. I even got 4 loaves of organic whole wheat bread for $11.38. I know it sounds kind of expensive, but even Aunt Millie's at Meijer is almost $3/loaf and it's not organic, but is my second choice. Meijer organic is about $4, I think? Regardless, we got everything, snacked on some samples and a slice of Costco pizza (eh, not my favorite) and came home. Jason took the older 2 out while we were gone, after lunch, to get new rotors for the front brakes on our van and to sell a buddy's riding gear. When we got home and got the van unloaded, they weren't home yet. We decided on leftovers or sandwiches for dinner. Jason was supposed to have his class last night, and still needs to find his 2 books, so he took off early, only to find the campus bookstore closes at 2pm. He stayed up there, went to class, his professor was a no-show so they all submitted attendance paperwork, and he took the long way home - meaning he rode his Harley around for a little while.

Today was a beach day. We decided on Lake St. Clair Metropark as there's a beach, playground, splash zone/sprayground and for an extra fee, a pool with water slides. We skipped the pool and slides and opted for free. I packed up some sandwiches, fruit, tortilla chips/cheese puffs, juice boxes and other picnic snacks for us, while Jason gathered our towels and beach gear. After everyone was dressed for swimming, we drove over and enjoyed 4 hours there! It was such a beautiful day, the water felt great, and the boys all got along. E even made a new friend that he and Alex played with in the water for a bit. Jackson went swimming - well sort of - and played happily in the sand. We ate our lunch and Jason and the older boys went back in the water. I took Jack to change his swim diaper and wash the sand off of his little bottom and change my own clothes, and then we met the 3 of them in the splash zone. After about 15 minutes (they were over there for about 20 before we even managed to make it back over that way, lol), we decided to call it a day.

Now that we are home, Jackson is taking a nice nap, E and Alex are playing video games, and Jason is off at the tattoo parlor getting more work done to his right arm. It's really nice looking so far, but he wants more added to it. While they are all occupied, I'm taking some "me" time and writing, finally!! Although, now I should probably go make some dinner for my little loves, because I know Jack will be awake soon and it's already 5:30!! Where did the day go?

Oh yeah, and tomorrow, we get to go hang out with JULIE and her little men! So excited. It's going to be an afternoon filled with visiting a metropark, geocaching - hopefully we will have better luck than before - and a cookout with friends.

I have a ton of pictures from our vacation, so I may make a slide show from them and share them that way. Still trying to figure out my photo software on this computer and I received it as a gift in December! Oh well.

7 Quick Takes ;) - July 5, 2013

--- 1 ---
Just the 3 of us!

Yesterday was the 4th of July. Independence Day. We didn't have our 2 older boys with us, so it was just Jason, Jackson and I. After a light lunch, we went to Great Lakes Crossing and walked around for a couple of hours. Jack LOVED the animals at Bass Pro Shops. He was pointing at them and trying to name them. Even the fish were just the most amazing thing to him! We decided to have dinner at Toby Keith's I <3 this bar and grill. It was pretty good. I ended up ordering a half-rack of St. Louis style ribs, baked beans and sweet potato tots.

We didn't go see fireworks last night, but we sure did hear them. Our dog is a scaredy-cat and spent the whole night whimpering and whining. I can't wait till people are done shooting them off... 
Actually since Monday, we've just been kind of not doing a whole lot. Jason has had class most evenings, so Jack and I have been spending time together.

--- 2 ---
Technology growing pains...

While at the mall, we passed the Verizon Wireless store. My Droid X2 has been acting up for the last couple of months. Missing texts, not dialing, dropping calls, the screen freezing up, having to do a hard reset by removing the battery. It has gotten quite irritating. I'd already gone over once to the store nearest to our house, but the customer service rep was less than helpful (kind but unable to offer me a replacement). So when Jason suggested stopping in to this store, I wasn't exactly enthusiastic. However, the very nice lady looked up our information and found that not only do we have insurance, but also the extended warranty, meaning they would replace my phone with something NEWER, of equal or better value! For FREE! And it won't change our plan or "renew" our contract so we won't lose our current unlimited data. I should be getting my brand new Droid RAZR M on either Monday or Tuesday! It looks pretty sweet. Smaller phone, but all screen, so it's actually a bigger screen, lighter, faster, 4G, and I won't lose my apps. I'm pretty thrilled to say the least.

--- 3 ---
From me to you! 

I want to let people know that if you get a message from me on Facebook, I'm not spamming you, nor am I just trying to bug you or sell to you. I'm genuinely reaching out to help others. My thought is this: If I don't reach out to so-and-so and they DO want help reaching their goals, I'll never know, nor will they know I want to help them. If I do reach out, and they don't need or want help, at least they know I care, and if they ever need support, that I'm there. Also maybe they know somebody that wants or needs assistance. So please don't mind my messages. If it's not of interest to you, a quick no thanks would be grand, but if you forget or don't have a minute, I understand. Just know that it's not to bother you or because I think you are in particular need of something. I figure all of us could use some support at sometime or another. :) Thanks for your understanding!!!

--- 4 ---
It's all relative

You don't realize how much you are alike (and different at the same time!) until you spend a lot of time with family members. This past weekend, after dropping the older boys off, I picked my mom up and we drove down to Columbus. We stayed at my sister Heather's house for the weekend, and while it was fun, it did get a little, ahem, tense? sometimes. Really it was over silly stuff, and most of it was myself overreacting. I do want to apologize though, again. Love you!! We threw her a bridal shower, and even though no family from out of town came in (...), we still had a good time and made the most of it. Jackson had a blast running around with all the "little" girls that were there. They ranged from 4-12, I think? Oh my gosh, he was so funny. Back at the house, he'd chase the dogs, yelling "dog" or "gigi" (one of Heather and Matt's pups names). Jack loved that they were almost all smaller than him.

--- 5 --- 
Shoe important!
 

Looking for boots for the wedding party proved fruitful. We found a pair all of us girls liked, though a different color we originally talked about. We did have to go online to order them (planning to do so this weekend actually) and found a better deal too! I promised I would share a picture if it was alright with the bride-to-be and she obliged :)

Justin Boots Red Torino

On top of finding those, yesterday proved fruitful too. I found a new pair of tennis shoes for exercise, walking and hopefully, eventually, running! They are Asics, very cute, comfortable and not terribly expensive. I guess, after reading the description on the site linked below, they are technically trail-running shoes, but whatever ;)

Asics GEL-Venture 3

I'm still on the lookout for a good pair of tennis shoes for everyday wear to replace my 4 year old Sketchers shape-ups that I love but are worn out... I did find a pair of Sketchers D'Lites that I like, but wanted to price them elsewhere before I got them. These look and feel good, and even though they are actually considered "athletic training shoes", I could wear them everyday, with jeans or whatever.

I'm not much of a shoe or fashion person, but since I'm losing weight now, I need to start slowly replacing my clothes with things that fit. I may need a fashion advisor... anybody want the job? LOL.

--- 6 ---
Finding myself in my hobbies is a chore in itself

I got married pretty young and never really developed a sense of "self", so to speak. I didn't really have any hobbies or at least I didn't really grow them? As I build this blog, and grow as a person, I want to find new things to do. Photographing things has been fun, but I always seem to put it away and never learn more, or I forget my camera and miss out on opportune shots!

I have tried learning to knit, and while I did successfully make a hat, I just don't seem to take the time to work on my projects!

Excuse after excuse, really. I have got to stop that.

--- 7 ---
Kicking the Summer Bucket List starts...

NOW! Well actually tomorrow. Well, technically, it already did a few weeks ago, BUT we only did a few simple, already scheduled things. Now it's time to hit it and hit it HARD! Ethan and Alex will be excited to get moving on it and start doing some of the fun things we have listed. I think first thing we should cross off is making homemade donuts. A couple of weeks ago, we found a BabyCakes donut maker on clearance at Meijer and snagged it. Sunday morning would be a great day to do this :) I will try to remember to snap some pics of the process and the aftermath! I'm thinking using our whole wheat pancake batter recipe, just a bit thicker might work? Any thoughts? I'd like to make them a healthy version. They are basically baked, not fried, and we have tons of King Arthur's white whole wheat flour, and fresh berries we could add. We'll see how they turn out!

Thanks for reading!

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!

Surgery, birthday and bucket lists... oh my!

It's been a pretty crazy 7 days around here!

Jackson's "adventure"

First, Jackson had a minor surgery Tuesday, which took all day long. He had to be there at 10:30am, with the surgery scheduled at 11am, and since he was having general anesthesia, it meant he couldn't eat past midnight, nurse past 2:30am and he was only allowed water, apple juice, or pedialyte till 6:30am. Jack was a trooper, but they never even came to get him for surgery till 5 minutes to 1! Then what should have taken about an hour, ended up taking an hour and half, plus then I was still in the waiting room at almost 3. They finally brought him out to me, he woke up and was in and out of sleep for the next hour, while I nursed him and we attempted to give him tylenol with codiene :( Not my favorite thing to do, but he was miserable at that point. Finally, we had the all clear and made it home around 5. Thankfully, Jason was able to leave work early and get the boys from school, though Julie offered too. That's a good friend right there!

Waiting...

Playing with "new" toys

Mama and Jack-Jack

Finally home: Daddy and Jack-Jack

In case, you're wondering, he had a "Fowler-Stephens one-stage orchiopexy" and it is expected to remedy the problem. (After you google that, know that yes, he is sore and a bit bruised, but all is well and even though he has a slightly wider gait at the moment, he will be fine :) )

 

 

Alex's Birthday!!

Alex turned 8 last Thursday and decided he would like a digital camera as his present. We didn't do a huge celebration, but he took watermelon slices to school for his treat, I made him a (dye-free, natural) chocolate cake with decorated homemade frosting and natural food coloring (made from annato) for the words, and he was given his presents.

From his brothers: 2 new Skylanders, one is a giant and the other a regular size one, as well as a storage bag.

 

From mom and dad: a new digital camera, a camera bag and memory card (plus some rechargeable batteries ;) )

Mom forgot to buy candles, so Jason improvised and grabbed the 3's from his cake in December and the 2 from my cake in April and we just counted that as 8, LOL! Alex and Ethan both thought that was funny. Jack really wanted some cake -------->
(Not sure why he has 2 sippy cups out... but looks like one had water and the other milk)

Summer Bucket List

Home Depot Workshop

So first thing Sunday morning, after we had breakfast and all that fun stuff, we took the boys over to Home Depot for their craft. They each got to make lawn-mower pencil holders. Even Jack got in on the action!

  It was a lot of fun and they even got to paint their creations! Jack, of course, wanted to just play with his and kept calling it a car. He still plays with, driving it around.

So bucket list item #5 done (home depot workshop - June 1st)

Tons O' Trucks

Then it was off to Tons O' Trucks, where we met up with Julie and her boys for a bit!

This is only one of many, many pictures we took but blogger is being finicky and not uploading anymore right now! Anyway, bucket list item 7 done! YAY!

There were lots of neat vehicles including a swat TANK! Of course, Jason's favorite was probably the GNX. :)

E and Alex each planted a flower to bring home and we got some free goodies, like chips, spray hand sanitizer and some teddy-bear shaped cold/hot packs for the first aid kit, as well as some coloring/activity books.

Alex also signed up for a free kids' hockey clinic in July! He's super-excited to try it out. The nice thing is that the kids don't need experience playing hockey OR even ice-skating!

We attempted to do our picture scavenger hunt but there were so many people and there was so much to see that it didn't work out. Plus Alex's camera settings were all off and it kept freezing up on him, as well as the photos weren't coming out clear. Now that we have that all figured out, we can plan it for another day.

More Birthday Celebrating!

Sunday afternoon, Jason's parents, sister and niece came up for a visit to celebrate Alex's birthday. He got a new skateboard and elbow and knee pads and wrist guards. Of course, he had to try it out right away, so Jason took him in the basement along with Grandpa Joe and gave him some quick lessons. I swear, the kid is a natural at anything daring! ;) After a little practice, we had cake and ice cream and played outside before Grandma and Grandpa and the girls went home (I say girls because Madison (Jason's sister) is only 17 and Jason's brother's daughter is almost 4).
For Alex's birthday dinner, he wanted to wait and go out Sunday night, so we went to Bagger Dave's - which was a new restaurant and bucket list item for us! It was ok, but we've had better burgers. I did really like their mac and cheese, though!

It's settled down around here now, at least till this weekend. We are possibly going over to the VFW to plant some flowers with the cub scouts on Sunday. In the evening, I have my kickoff for my June challenge group as a Independent Team Beachbody Coach. Looking forward to just getting caught up on the laundry and finding and organizing all the garage sale items. Jackson does have a follow-up with the urologist tomorrow afternoon, so we should know how everything is going.