Vacation Time - woo-hoo!

Literally on our way out the door for vacation in Colorado. Ready to get away from this heat for a while. Will check back when we get back. Have a great week all!

Did He REALLY Say That?

Yeah, so if any of you have kids like my oldest, you're probably broke from buying food. The boy literally eats more than I do. He'd eat an entire pizza if we let him. And 5 minutes after that pizza he'd say, "I'm hungry" or "guacamokie?"** This is no joke. Earlier on, people would say, well if he's hungry, he should eat. After all, look how tiny he is. Yeah, right. Let's just start all the bad over eating habits early just because the kid has no sense of fullness. Most who know us the best can now testify that, no, he shouldn't eat just cause he SAYS he's hungry.

Okay, so this morning I asked what they wanted for breakfast. And out of Ian's mouth (sheer accident, I'm sure) comes...are you ready for this..."I'm not hungry. I don't wanna eat." If I wouldn't have been sitting, I would have fallen. I literally went to feel his head to be sure there was no fever. Guess what I found out? The kid's got a great sense of humor! For as I'm walking away, he says, "Toast?"

**Guacamokie is Ian's guacamole...just in case you didn't get it.

Another knocked out tooth...is that really necessary?

Yes, he did it again! Benjamin was running with the football away from his brother. Being the careful boy his is not, he turned his head for a second. In that second, he managed to swerve his body too much to the right, smacking himself into the barstool. Now let me tell you, it just did not look like a very hard hit. He cried, I went over to console. Then Jim tells me there's a lot of blood. As we attempt to look at him, Jim says it's his lip that got busted. As I look a bit more, I notice the space where he knocked out his first tooth is bigger. Jim was in shock when I told him I think he knocked out another tooth. "NO WAY!" were his exact words.

Sure enough, once the blood cleared a bit and we managed to get Benjamin's hands out of his mouth for a few seconds, we could see the missing spot. I ran over to the barstool to look for the tooth. I found it a few feet from the scene of the accident. I found 2 pieces. I was confused however, because one looked like a whole tooth, the other looked like a piece, and I couldn't get them to go together. Of course, I panicked thinking he had also broken a piece off another tooth. After looking at the second piece, Jim informed me it was only a pebble. Whew! After feeling a bit silly, I was quite relieved.

The meltdown of the episode didn't last near as long as the first one. Does this mean he's getting used to it? No, no, no, no! It also didn't bleed as much or as long as the first time. And mommy didn't freak near as much as the first time.

So, his nickname lives on...BooBoo!

Catch Up Time

Summer is going pretty good so far. Ian is doing extended year and has 2 more weeks left. Since its from 8am-2:00pm, that leaves a lot of time spent with Avery and Ben together. They always play really well together and I think have enjoyed their time. But it's always nice to hear, "when will Ian be home?".

This past week, Avery did a Princess Ballerina day camp Monday-Thursday. She really enjoyed it and looked darn cute! They had a 30 second 'recital' the last day. Avery completely froze. Oh well. She was still cute.

We took Avery and Benjamin to a nearby mini-aquatic park. It's a great way to beat the 98 degree heat without having to endure the bigness of a water park. Of course, Benjamin waited that day to have his first poop until about 10 minutes after he'd been playing in the water. No biggy. Just changed and went on as usual. They've also been swimming in the little backyard pool. That's a nice easy way to beat the heat as well.

Of course, they've all been swimming at Grandma's a few times. And of course, I forgot to take pictures each time. I always like to get their 'first swim' of the summer. So, pics will say first swim, but it'll actually be later. Who'll know?!

We've gone to visit my family once since school's been out. My newest niece is just adorable.

Jim leaves for Chicago to visit his dad next week for a week. So, I'm planning my 'time alone' today at the pool. No kids, no noise, just me.

My niece on Jim's side left yesterday to live with her dad. It was a sad day. I won't go into how all worked out that way, but I'm sure if she's going to live with her dad, you can guess the jest of the reason why. I know it's absolutely the best thing for her. She's actually been living with Grandma and Papa for quite some time now, which has been great. But life was just too 'unknown' and topsy-turvy here. I know she would have rather stayed here and stayed living with them, but she needed to get away and start a new, stable life. We'll still see her when she comes back to visit, but it's just strange now to know that we won't see her as often. I'm just thankful for the closeness of our relationship. Rambling now.

I get a mom's night out tonight! So excited. These are some new mom friends that I don't get too see all at once too often, and they are so much fun. Looking forward to it.

I think that's about it.

Green Thumb Yet?

                                            Begonias, overtaken by Impatiens

                    Rose moss, verbena, lavender, rosemary, birdbath

                                          Pentas (planted pink and white)

                   Yea! Ripe! And tasty! Just picked another one today.

                                                     Dusty Miller and Verbena

                                                                 Avery's Daisies

Okay for those of you who are really good at the gardening thing, please don't laugh. I'm just getting into it and have been enjoying it, thanks to my MIL. I just decided to quit thinking so much about what to put where and with what, and just plant.

So, I'm the proud mother of 3 finally ripe tomatoes and plenty more growing. That's the extent of the veggies so far. Luckily, Ian's only picked and tossed one tomato over the fence.  I've got a bush bean plant started, but not sure what it's gonna do.  Not really even sure what one is.

Then I've got the decorative items. I'm one of those that sees it wilted or 'dead' blooms and thinks, 'That's it. I've killed another." MIL says, "no, they'll come back. Just keep watering as needed and watching." So, I do, and they bloom. Puts a smile on my face. Avery has a couple as well and she's very proud of them.

Goal for next year or later this year....pull the front bushes and plant veggies in back.

Know What Bugs Me?

Okay, I'm not a person that gets bothered by much. Well, the list grows a little the older I get, but that's beside the point. If I get bugged by something, I'm generally pretty quick at letting it go. A) because many of them I'm guilty of myself, and B) really, what good does it do to gripe and gripe about the same thing. Don't get me wrong, I have a subject or two that can get me going at the thought of it. However, that's not for today (or anyday on blog).

I'm a big fan of Craigslist. We've gotten many a good deals on it, and never been scammed. I'm pretty darn picky though. That helps. Okay, so there's this item we want to purchase. I mean REALLY want to purchase. That doesn't happen too often. Most of the time, I hesitate so much, it's either gone or I decide we don't need it. But not this one. I've emailed the person twice about it, left them my email address and phone number, told them I'd come get the item that day, blah, blah, blah. HAVEN'T HEARD A PEEP BACK! So, okay if they sold it....TAKE THE DUMB THING OFF THE FOR SALE POSTING FOR CRYING OUT LOUD! Now, my husband, being the kind man he is, says they may be out of town. Okay, possibility. But seriously, I emailed them THE MORNING IT WAS POSTED. If you're not going to check your email or are not that serious about selling, DON'T POST. If you're serious about selling, but don't check your email, LEAVE A PHONE NUMBER. Are ya'll feeling my frustration? Okay, I'm done. Overall, it's a really, really, really, stupid thing (oops, we don't say that in our house :)) to get stuck on. So, I'm over it.

Year 5 Anniversary; Tooth Fairy Overrated

Well the time has come around again. The 12th will be the 5 year mark of our first of 3 diagnoses. It hits me differently every year. This year feels especially remarkable as I see how far Ian has come and how incredibly happy he is the majority of the time. I feel especially blessed as I realize that the only medication we have him on is clonodine, and at a very low dose (sometimes lower than we would like). Hearing about all the meds is one of the things that scared me the most about this diagnosis. I'm not saying that Ian will never need to be on anything 'heavier', but I am soooooo glad his quality of life is such that we have not felt the need to change things. So, Ian, I just want you to know how incredibly proud I am of you and how much I love you! You are my big boy! Now, could you work really, really hard on the potty training thing, PLEASE!

Okay, wait til you hear this. Avery lost her first tooth last week. We've never been big fans of the whole 'imaginary character' things...one being the tooth fairy. However, with Avery being the only one who will actually be interested in the whole thing, we decided to tell her that the tooth fairy is one of God's angels, and that when she leavese her tooth under the pillow, the 'angel' replaces it with gift from the God who formed her and created her teeth to fall out and grow another. Well, that night I had her tooth in a little box ready to put under her pillow. She just looked blankly at me and told me she didn't want it there. I explained that that is how the tooth fairy gets it and puts her surprise there. Again, weird look. Then, as she looks around her room, she tells me she doesn't want the tooth fairy to come. Hmmm, what do I do now? So, I tell her that if she doesn't want her to come, she won't, but she can't be mad in the morning. She told me she wouldn't be mad in the morning. So, I complied and took the tooth with me. Low and behold, I never heard another word about it! She said nothing about it in the morning, or any time since! What's up with that? I'm thinking it kinda freaked her out to think that 'someone' might come in her room while she's sleeping, although I told her she would never even know. That's my little angel!