Christmas Tree

On Thanksgiving weekend, we went out and spontaneously decided to cut down our own Christmas tree for 2009. We went to a tree farm at the base of the mountain nearby. Tree after tree....hundreds it seemed....we just couldn't find the perfect one. We would find a tree, get ready to pose for a picture and then we would spot another one off in the distance. We were all finally able to agree on tree.

Once we got the tree up, we couldn't find the lights. We searched everywhere. It wasn't until a day later when Matt realized that the reason we didn't have lights was because our artificial tree is a pre-lit tree. LOL! Once we figured that out, we were able to add lights and decorate.

We took the kids out to Hallmark again this year to continue a tradition we just started last year. Each one gets to pick out an ornament so that eventually when they are headed out on their own, they will each have a set of ornaments to take with them.

Brian setting his Polar Express Ornament.

Katheryn...we aren't sure what statement she was trying to make but she sure had us laughing.

Teresa's Birthday

I can't believe we don't have any pics from the girls' night out but that's okay. Teresa and her friend Wendi have birthday's just one day apart. Last year it was celebrated in New York. This year they decided to meet in the middle which turned out to be Gettysburg, PA. Gettysburg leaves much to be desired for a GNO but we made it work.

Then that Sunday, Matt and the kids took Teresa out for a late lunch at the Macaroni Grill. Afterwards, we stopped by Burlington Coat Factory. Matt did his best to get us all home in time because he had invited some friends over for cake and ice cream.

Ethan showing his meatball from Macaroni Grill

Brian enjoying his pizza.

Katheryn enjoying her meatball.

Matt wants to be Rod Rowdy from The Price is Right!

Thanksgiving 2009

Trying to remember back to Thanksgiving...it seems so long ago. The holidays got here so fast and went by even faster.

Matt's parents flew up from FL to join us this Thanksgiving. It was wonderful to be surrounded by family. My parents, brother and his fianace joined us as well as Matt's Aunt Lisa, cousin Ryan and daughter Ana. The table was full of wonderful foods and the turkey was delicious. We bought an oil-less turkey fryer that uses infrared heat. A 14 pound turkey was finished within 2 hours and tasted sooo yummy!

Notice there are no women in this pic! They're cleaning up.

Brian and Ana enjoying their pumpkin pie.

Matt passed out like he did all the cooking! Ana, Katheryn and Brian

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Ethan finds the red!

Oh Ethan, my wonderful youngest son, Ethan. With having my first exam for my microbiology class tomorrow, most of my day has been spent at the computer and in my notes making up my own test questions. I would really love to do well on this exam. As I went to take a study break, I found Ethan at the kitchen table being artistic. He had some paper and scissors which was a big concern for me and then I saw his head. He was covered with some kind of gooey stuff that I at first thought was paint. Upon further examination, I came to the conclusion that it was lipstick...possibly belonging to Katheryn. At this time, Katheryn and Brian walked in the front door, home from school. I asked Katheryn if she had lipstick in her room and she shook her head and seemed a bit confused. I asked her to take a look around the house to see if she could see what it may have been that Ethan used. Well, she found Brian's iDog and it had been made over. She then found my purse was dumped. Aha! He took my lipgloss compact from my purse!!!! When I asked him if I could wipe it off, he said no and that he liked it. *sigh*

School is in session

The kids have been in school for about a month now. Brian has adjusted very well to Kindergarten. I had gone in prior to school starting for an informational meeting with his class teacher. That was the hardest thing for me to sit through. All the parents met in the cafeteria and the principal introduced herself and went over the activities for the evening. We then walked to our child's classroom and sat in those tiny chairs. Brian's teacher had quite a bit of information to share and I was very concerned about Brian's meals. How was he to eat lunch because he is on a GFCF diet. Everything we make comes from the freezer because it has no preservatives and it needs to be heated or it needs to be kept refridgerated. I asked about access to microwaves and got a huge NO response from the teacher. I was a bit offended the way she answered me but then, I know she had a lot to get through. Then she gets to dismissal and car riders. Brian will be riding the bus so the car rider line didn't concern me but I was shocked to hear how dismissal happens. The kids are released on their own. When they go out the door, who knows who is taking them. I let my concern be heard and the teacher's response was, well, we've never had a problem with it, it's worked out well so far. I was in shock. I again questioned her and asked what would happen if a step mother or a parent who was not supposed to have contact with the child shows up before the parent could. The child recognizes the parent and goes with them and next thing you know, the kid's parent is at the school wondering where her child is. Again, I got the same response. I just shook my head and started to get bad vibes about this class. She then proceeds on and lets us know that she is the only adult with 17 kids. I was shocked. Brian's IEP states that there will be an aide in the classroom for him so to hear that she will be alone did not sit easy with me. By the end of the meeting I was a bit shaken. I waited my turn after a few parents had stayed after to talk about my concerns with the teacher. Especially surprise birthday parties. I wanted to make sure there was some way to bring cupcakes in for Brian to eat that are GFCF if his classmates were celebrating. I didn't want him to feel left out. It was so late the principal finally made her way to the classroom with Brian. I spoke with the principal and she was much more understanding of my concerns and we were able to come up with a plan for Brian's lunches. The school will provide a GFCF lunch for him as soon as I brought in a doctor's note. The next week I had the note and Brian was set. We do still pack his lunch but I am thrilled that the option is available to him to eat a school lunch. Katheryn is enjoying her 5th grade year. This is her last year at the elementary school. She is so thrilled to be able to have a locker. I told her they were training her up for Middle School. She and Brian walk together to and from the bus stop everyday. It's so nice having them walk together. Next year Brian will be without Katheryn but at least I can enjoy watching them leave in the morning together. I as well have started back to school. I am taking 3 classes this semester with the intention of graduating with an associates after this semester. Ethan goes to the YMCA while I am in class. The first day he loved it but now it is difficult getting him to uncling from me when I drop him off. It's a great place and he tells me all about how they played outside and the friends he has made. I think it's just a little bit of seperation anxiety in the morning and then he's okay.

Katheryn and I had "the talk"

So many things have been going on that I finally stopped to take a moment to catch up. I wish I could do this as things happen but I get so caught up with our daily activities that blogging seems to have taken a back seat. So, here's a memorable moment that I've been wanting to post. This happened in the summer about a month before school started. Katheryn is now in 5th grade and this is the year where the school seperates the boys from the girls and they introduce to them their anatomy and physiology. So to prepare Katheryn, I decided that I would talk to her so that the information she hears at school will not be so shocking and so that she can hear it with a sound mind. To start our conversation off, I asked Katheryn to join me in the dining room. She sat down with a look of, "uh-oh, am I in trouble?" I then asked her if she has noticed any changes going on with her body and immediately she takes her hands and thumps at her chest and says, "yeah, these!" I chuckled and we talked about it. I explained to her the importance of wearing a bra everyday to school and proceeded to tell her about puberty. I told her she was going to grow hair in her armpits and genatalia area and she asked me what her genatalia area was. I explained that to her and she responds back with, "oh, I just call that area a piece of fruit like kiwi or strawberry." I was dying inside with laughter but I had to keep a straight face. I didn't want her to feel uncomfortable talking to me. I then proceeded on to the menstrual cycle. I think I lost her here. I explained to her that every baby girl is born with tons and tons of eggs. At that moment, she blurts, "what?! I have eggs?!?" I then went on about menstruation and how the egg is released and where it settles and if it's not fertilized then the lining sheds causing blood. Well by this point she looked totally confused. I asked her to tell me what she knew about sex. Thankfully she didn't know too much other than it involved kissing. I could be naive and she may now more than she is letting on but I honestly think she is clueless. So I then grabbed some pictures to show her. Suddenly, she stops, waves her hands towards her face and says, "mom, it's hot in here, can you turn on the air or something?" My toes were freezing! It was no where near hot in our house and I wanted to bust out loud with laughter but I contained it. It was hard. So we continued with our conversation and talked about the fertilizing of the egg and what happens when the egg is fertilized. We talked about abstinence. Katheryn during this part of the conversation had her head buried in her hands and screeched out, "mom, why are you telling me this?!" LOL! "Mom, it's so hot, I'm hot!" The next part of the conversation went like this with her saying, "I think living a solitary life with animals will be just fine for me!" "Katheryn, what will you do when boys start taking interest in you and want to hold your hand or something?" "Well, I will punch them out or I will tell dad to." Again, I am just dying with laughter inside. She then asks me if she will die from the bleeding. I explained to her that it was a sign of her becoming a woman and she then said that she doesn't want anything to with becoming a woman and she wants to stay a kid forever. Unfortunately, life doesn't work that way. Then she asked me what boys get to go through and there wasn't really a whole lot compared to a girl. I don't think she liked that. I then of course immediately had to run upstairs and call Matt. I could not help but just laugh out loud for the next 5 minutes with him on the phone and I told him what had just happened. Our little girl is growing up and she just doesn't want to. :)

*WA-HOO* It's a Celebration!

This morning I woke up at 6am and shortly after at 6:30am, Ethan came to my bedroom door knocking. I let him in and he immediately heads to my bed and jumps on it mumbling to me about something I couldn't quite grasp. He then hops off the bed and says, "you are beautiful mommy." I about melted and had to give him a big hug. We went downstairs, he had breakfast and then I changed him out of his pull-up and into some Lightning McQueen underwear. As I put them on him, I told him that Lightning McQueen does not like to get wet or poo'd on and that if he needed to go, he was to go in the potty. Ethan replies, "don't get McQueen wet; go potty." I went to the basement to work on a window pane frame I had and when I came back up to the kitchen, I saw Ethan on the potty and he was grabbing some toilet paper. I went to him and asked if he went pee and he said he went poo! I couldn't believe it!!! He actually went all on his own without my prompting. I am so excited!!! We're getting closer. Hopefully he can keep it up. **WA-HOO!**

School Evaluation and Classroom Placement for Brian

We arose early yesterday morning for Brian's 9am appointment at the elementary school. He was tested and evaluated for classroom placement for the upcoming school year. Things seemed to go well. One of the three kindergarten teachers took Brian back to a classroom and when they came back, she shared his test results with me. Brian maxed the shapes and colors as well as writing his name begining with a capital and the remainder in lowercase. He did pretty well with grouping. When the teacher asked him to group together 3 things, 4 things, etc. he was able to. He got 4/5 on this one because when she asked him to group 5 things, he counted 4 and didn't add another to make 5. When we went out to dinner last night, I had him group peanuts at the table and he was able to. He had a little trouble recognizing all the letters of the alphabet and numbers so we'll have to work more on that. I think he has lost the memory of those since being on summer vacation. He recognized a few of the sight words and had a little bit of trouble with the front/back and direction of reading a book. Not quite sure about that one or how they tested for it. He also only counted to 7 on rote counting which I KNOW he can do at least to 10 if not more. The teacher said that perhaps he was just nervous with someone he didn't know. I honestly think that he may have been distracted and interested in the new surroundings...which may be the ADD. I'm not positive, but that's my hunch. She then stated that Brian did well and that he tested average among his peers. WOW! For him to have a diagnosis of autism and then to test average with his typical peers almost brought tears. It's such an emotional feeling to know that our hard work, research and dedication to him has gotten him so far. I remember him playing solo or even parallel playing among other children and now when we go to the park, Brian is the first one to ask a child to play or what their name is. :) I'm so proud of him. The next part of the evaluation was with the speech therapist. Our neighbor's daughter had gone in before Brian and when she returned, the therapist said something about th sounds coming out as f sounds which is typical. We're actually working on that in speech with Brian now. Anyways, Brian goes with the speech therapist next and when he returns she smiles and says, "he's great!" She then asks if he goes to speech and we talked a tad bit about his sessions now. She doesn't have any concerns for him so now I'm left wondering if his speech therapy received at school will be reduced. Hmmm. The therapist was also to hang out a bit with Ethan earlier while she was waiting for students to evaluate. She had a small chat with Ethan about what he was coloring. As we were leaving, she said that I should keep an eye on Ethan and his speech patterns. I stopped and I was a little annoyed; not with her but with our past. I had taken Ethan to be evaluated for speech when we were in NC. They did see him however, I was told that he really did not need speech therapy and was testing within the range. We of course then moved and I asked for a referral for him to be evaluated. He was tested and the results came back as him not needing speech therapy services. And now, just a quick chat at the school, and the speech therapist is suggesting that he may need some service. We talked a bit about that and she told me that he was evaluated via medical views and that it's different than educational. She told me to check into Early Intervention, which is how Brian was able to start pre-k in SC at age 3. So on that note, I better go so I can research it and see if I can get Ethan into an appointment. If I can get him into pre-k this year, then that would be wonderful!

Just CAN'T get ahead!

Going to bed late last night and waking up extremely way to early this morning is surely why I am tired, I thought. After the 3 hours the kids have been awake, I'm ready to just go back to bed. Wait, maybe this all started last night on my way to bed. For the past three nights, Ethan has not allowed us to put a pull up on him for bed. Matt and I will wait for him to fall asleep to change his underwear to pull ups. Last night, Matt fell asleep with Ethan in our bed and Ethan was only wearing his underwear. I went to bed around 2am and started to change him when I realized he was wet. He had pee'd in our bed. I woke Matt up to let him know he was sleeping in pee and I'm not sure what happened after that. I took Ethan and put him in bed with Brian after getting him cleaned off and then I went to bed in the guest room. I think Matt continued to sleep in the other bed. LOL! I woke up then at 6am this morning to Cody barking wanting to be let outside. I dragged myself down to let him out and then crashed on the couch. I remember hearing click clack of the dogs footsteps on the kitchen floor and then some crunching by the dog food. I just figured that my mom's dogs were eating their breakfast. Then I realized, my mom's dogs were still in the kennel. I bolted up and when I looked toward the dog food bowl, I see a BIG Black DOG! It's Cody!!! He had let himself back into the house through the basement door, made his way upstairs and into the kitchen and helped himself to my parent's dog's food. LOL! I then get the poodles out of the kennel, let them outside and when they come back in, JJ dumps the dog food bowl all over the kitchen. I had to clean that up and Ethan and Brian try to help when Ethan then dumps the water bowl all over the kitchen floor and it mixes with the dog food. Nice slushy dog food on my kitchen floor now. I proceed to clean that up and I start to cut open a watermelon for Ethan when he then says, "sorry." I look, and he has now pee'd all over the kitchen chair and left a puddle. Nice. I'm cutting watermelon, making pancakes and cleaning up pee. **sigh** I asked Katheryn to help me out with cleaning the basement while I worked on the upstairs. My mom then comes to pick up the dogs. Ethan at this point now is just wearing a t-shirt because I had him take his underwear and pants off from when he pee'd. We go outside to say goodbye and Ethan starts to pee on my mom's foot!! LOL! So funny. I couldn't stop laughing. She then leaves and I came inside to make a comment on my facebook page about him peeing on her foot & while I'm typing, I see Ethan peek around at me with a red hand towel. I asked him, "what are you doing" and he replies back in his innocent voice, "nothing" and then runs off. I immediately got up to check on him and my bathroom floor is flooded with water!!!! I'm trying to get the house cleaned, bed sheets washed and dinner prepped because we are having some friends over for dinner tonight who we met in Germany. It is now about 1pm and I have accomplished very little. Ethan is not allowing me to move ahead and I have sooo much to do before they get here in about three hours!!

Word Wall Words and Bob Book

It's been a crazy week with trying to potty train Ethan and get Brian prepared for Kindergarten. As part of Brian's readiness for Kindergarten, I have taken his word wall words from pre-K and wrote them onto index cards. I then took them and taped them upside down and facing towards the door so that Brian can flip a card up to see and read the word. I have used three doors in my kitchen for his words. He just about has one door mastered. It's amazing how much is lost over summer vacation. When we first started he only recognized about 5 words. Then, tonight Katheryn was helping Brian read through some Bob books that we had bought for her when she was in Kindergarten. These are the greatest books to help a child get started with reading. It progresses with the child's level and the child feels so proud when they finish. Brian came downstairs with the Level 1 Book 1 of the Bob Books and read. These books are very thin and contain simple one-three word sentences but he was reading!! I wanted to make sure he wasn't just memorizing because of the pictures so I had him trace the words with his finger as he read and he did!!! I was so darn proud, excited and stunned all at the same time. And to think he asks me if he can sell his sister.

Potty Training - Day 1

Well, I'm getting down to my last bit of pull-ups. When I bought the box, I told myself that this would be the last box of pull-ups I would buy. With my supply running low, I thought today would be a great day to start training Ethan to go potty. When he woke up, we pulled off his pull-ups and replaced them with Elmo underwear. He didn't want them but I put them on him. After breakfast, I had him sit on the potty and he said his pee pee wasn't going to come out. We tried again about an hour later and still nothing. I mentioned that we had apple pie and if he could go #2 that he could have some. This got his attention for a minute but then it quickly faded. He didn't care. More hours passed and he had two accidents. I told him that if he could go pee in the potty, he could have candy. He demanded candy right then but I stuck to my guns and said not until there's pee in the potty. I had then gone upstairs to clean up the boys' room and put laundry away when Katheryn came racing upstairs. She said Ethan went and sat on the potty and when she thought she heard water, she went to check on him and saw that he was peeing in the potty. He then flushed, pulled his underwear up and washed his hands. Amazing!! I thought, potty training is going to be easy! Well, I thought too soon. An hour later, he pee'd in his underwear again. I changed him several times after this and finally he came to me to open some carrots. I asked him if he had to go pee and he started to back away from me and said no. Hmmm. Something tells me he's wet...again. Sure enough...he went in his underwear...again. Potty training is some tough business. I then went outside later to wash the car and clean out the garage. Ethan came out too and was just in a shirt and his underwear. He was so gosh darn cute running around like that. I just wish potty training were just as simple. At dinner, Ethan got a bit fussy because his corn cob was too hot. I cooled it off but I think he was also tired because he went into a screaming rage and suddenly stopped screaming. Right at that moment as we are all trying to eat dinner, Ethan is standing beside my chair and pee starts running down his leg , past his shoe and onto the kitchen floor. Great! I hadn't even finished dinner. I quickly strip him and take him to the bath. We then read a story together and now he's peacefully sleeping. Tomorrow is another day. ;0 Hopefully I can get him potty trained by the end of the week but at this rate, that may be just a bit too ambitious. ;-)

Babies come from God

Brian has been on a quest to see who knows where babies come from. He asked me the question all parents wait for ... "where do babies come from?" My response to him was that babies are a gift from God. He seemed satisfied with that answer and that was the end of it. A few weeks ago, we had gone to Subway and a lady was in line ahead of us and was holding an older baby and Brian went to her and asked, "where did your baby come from?" She turned and looked at me and told Brian that we leave those questions to your mommy. He responded back to her that her baby was a gift from God and that he was a baby once and that he was a gift from God as well. :) I was so proud of him...spreading the good news! :) Then this morning, as I was at the dining room table, he asked me if he was born. I told him that yes, he was born in Germany. Then he said "God made me born?" I told him again that yes, God gave him to Matt and I as a gift and that he grew inside and then had to be born to come out of me. Then he asked me if he was a cute baby. I told him, "yes, you were a very cute baby." He then says, "yeah, I am adorable" and walked away. LOL! He cracks me up. :)

Wood Stain - Color: Grapevine

I finally was able to get to a set of old wooden window panes Matt and I had acquired from our rental home in S.C. There were two of them and I remember telling Matt 5 or 6 years ago that we needed to keep them. He looked at me with a puzzled look and just said, "ok." We've moved now three times with them and I am finally getting to them...well, atleast one of them anyways. I went to Lowe's and I got a small can of wood stain that I had them color to Grapevine. It's a purple sort of color. I was going to a reddish/rusted look and this was the closest I could find. After spending about an hour pulling out the nails and sanding off the layers of paint, I was finally ready to stain. I am so proud. It looks great. It's about time I did something with it. The kids kept asking me what I was going to do with it and I decided to hang it in my Americana bathroom downstairs. Instant primitive wall art! I am going to put some hooks on one end and a nice ribbon to hang it by. I was careful to clean up after myself because I do have Ethan who likes to explore everything. I even made sure to tap the stain can lid on very tightly. I left the window pane outside to dry and came in to check my facebook. As I typed in my password, here comes Ethan with the can of stain and he dropped it onto the dining room floor....which is WOOD! My heart dropped and I panicked! I thought I was going to have a heart attack. I quickly rushed to grab paper towels and thankfully, because the wood floors are finished, I was able to wipe the stain away. The Grapevine colored stain. I immediately sent Katheryn outside to double check and make sure he didn't get any stain any where else and she said he didn't. I'll have to double check but boy was that scary! I saw $$$ having to be spent for new hardwood floors.

July 4th Weekend

We had a great July 4, 2009! Matt was home from work Fri-Mon which meant lots of family time. On Friday, Matt and I spent the day getting ready for our backyard BBQ for Saturday. We put up a canopy and set up the tables and chairs. Matt and Katheryn cut the grass in the backyard while I got the inside straightened up and laundry finished.

Saturday was busy with food prep and cleaning the house. It worked out pretty well. Our friends came between 2 and 3 and Matt grilled up the chicken, dogs, brats, shish kabobs and burgers which all turned out very delicious!!! The spread of food was wonderful. Everyone brought a side or a dessert and I think I've gained about 5 lbs because everything was just so wonderful.

Around 6pm we had a convoy of 4 headed over to Antietam Battlefield for fireworks. It was soo much fun. They are absolutely the best fireworks show around this area. They lasted for about 30 minutes. Matt was able to secure a spot earlier that morning right up front by the Maryland Symphony Orchestra.

Our friend Wendi and her daughter were able to spend the night with us as well as another of Katheryn's friends. On Sunday, we had some left overs from lunch and headed out to play mini golf. Matt ofcourse won. :) We then said our goodbyes to Wendi and her daughter and headed to the pool. The kids enjoyed it however Katheryn was miserable and grumpy. She was trying to make everyone else have a horrible time because she didn't bring her bathing suit. She got over it though once I ordered some pizza and fries for the kids. :) It was a great time.

Then on Monday we went to Frederick to pick up my $50 spa gift certificate that I had won on the radio. Since we were in Frederick, we decided to stop in at Verizon so I could get a new battery for my phone. Well, batteries are an accessory and would cost $40. I was then told that I had a $50 credit towards a new handset and then the deal of buy one LG brand phone and get 4 free looked interesting. Well, because I needed a new battery, we went ahead and I picked out a new handset. I love the phone that I had and ended up getting an updated version of it. I don't love it yet but it's very similar. Matt updated his phone and we got Katheryn her first cell phone since it would be free. So now Katheryn has her very own cell. Look out!!!

Afterwards, we drove to Cunningham Falls for some hiking. The boys absolutely loved it and Katheryn was there with her new cell phone taking pictures and video. LOL! She is so tickled to have this phone. LOL!

We ended the day coming home to some more BBQ and enjoying the evening on the back patio. The kids and I lit up some sparklers and Brian and Ethan took to them very well. Brian was actually dancing with his sparkler in hand while Katheryn was the opposite. She was completely afraid to hold it and dropped hers on the patio and wouldn't go near another one. LOL!

It was a great weekend with family!! I truly enjoyed every minute spent.

Matt and I waiting for fireworks skimming through a home improvement magazine.

Brian and Madison walking to the fireworks.

So cute!!

Unbelievable!

After having a bam, bam, bam from Ethan this past hour, Katheryn has just informed me that he fell asleep on the living room couch after watching a movie. I am totally praying that he is out for the night so I can get some cleaning done. Everyone....pray with me!

Double Whammy!

OMG!! Here we go again....double whammy today all within 30 minutes of each other. It has been a very long day. Last night we took the kids to the town carnival because it was family night. $10 to ride all night long which is a great deal for our family. Matt and the kids each got wrist bands and they basically rode the rides until closing. We got home around 11pm and I finally got to sleep by 1am. This morning I was back up at 5am. I enjoyed the quiet morning and the time to myself but once 7am came, I had to wake up the kids to get them out the door to Brian's speech appointment at 8:30am. From there, we went to WalMart. I never get the boys' hair cut there but for a one shop stop, I caved in and got them each into a chair. They were on opposite sides of the salon but we managed it. After their cuts, by the way I won't go to WalMart again for cuts, we picked up a box of hair dye. I told Katheryn I would highlight her hair. She wanted to dye her hair red but I told her blonde highlights that were suttle would look much better. She didn't agree with me so I pulled the mommy card. I told her that I was the one with the money and that if she wanted highlights, she would do the blonde. :) We finally get home and I start to prep the sink area in the kitchen to start the process. After washing her hair, Katheryn thought I had dyed it. It was so funny. I then mixed the dye and we started. I decided to go all over her head and not just the top part like they do in the salon. I wanted it to look like they were her natural highlights. As we were at the end and drying her hair, I walked into the kitchen and there was Ethan with the spatula coating his head with this blonde dye!!! OMG!!!! I quickly grabbed him and whipped his head toward the sink. I quickly rinsed his hair out and thankfully there wasn't any damage. LOL! I couldn't imagine a blonde haired Ethan. Finally Katheryn's hair was dry and she ran next door to see what the neighbors thought. I got great compliments and the whole natural look was accomplished. I then decided to try making a bold mark on Brian's hair just in the front but because he has dirty blonde hair, the dye really didn't do much but lighten his baby fine hair so you really can't tell. So, the double whammy kicks in here. As I'm cleaning up the dye, Katheryn comes downstairs and says, "you aren't going to like what you see upstairs." She then proceeds to tell me that Ethan grabbed the tub of vaseline and smeared it on the walls and carpet. How do I get that out of the carpet???!! Ugh! OH NO! I sit here writing this blog and Brian is at the front door telling me that Ethan has just picked my flowers in the front. I checked it out and he took all the beautiful pink geranium blooms and destroyed the plant. The pink petals are now all over my front porch. Someone please please please take Ethan for a few weeks...please. LOL! Off to clean I go.

A Mommy No-No

There comes a point in parenthood when a mommy will learn something of such value that she needs to share it with other mommies so that they may either prevent or encourage such an event. Today I would like to share a lesson I learned while grocery shopping with my three wonderful children. :) Mommy No-No #1: Never EVER randomly ask "who wants a watermelon?" while grocery shopping with 3 children. If you do, be prepared to have 3 watermelons presented to you as being the best watermelon and make sure to look at your youngest's watermelon first or else it just may end up being dropped on your foot. Your foot will of course cushion the watermelon's fall so it doesn't bust open all over the place which was nice of your youngest to drop it on your foot. Great thinking on their part....he must have known if it didn't land on my foot that there would be a great mess to clean up. I hope other mommies out there will learn from my experience and take my advice. :) Stay tuned for more Mommy No-No's in the future. :)

Trip to NC

We recently drove to NC this weekend to check in on the house and to get some paperwork and repairs straightened out. We didn't tell any of Katheryn's friends we were coming and we didn't even tell Katheryn. I told her we were just going to go pick up Matt and stay at a hotel that had a waffle maker. She was excited about that. Friday we left here around 4:30 and reached Matt's work by 6:30pm. We were on the road by 7pm and on the way we stopped by a friend's home in VA to deliver a graduation gift to their daughter. It was great timing. The kids played outside and Brian was doing a great job with dribbling a basketball. I think I may look into signing him up to play. He was doing really well with it. We left there and made it to our hotel in NC by 2am. The beds were twin beds with a little bit extra and Matt had placed Ethan on one and Brian and Katheryn had crawled into the other one. Matt then joined Ethan as I was getting things put away for the morning and when I went to crawl into bed, there was no where for me to lay. So I curled up at the foot of Katheryn and Brian's bed and later hopped into bed with Ethan and Matt. I surely didn't get a good nights sleep after driving. The next morning we met with the realtor and went to the house. We checked out the repair list and most are minor. It turns out that the inspecting company couldn't find any major damage to the house so started to fill the paper up with minor things like spent light bulbs. Ridiculous. The best part was that the moment we drove into the neighborhood, Katheryn's excitement was bursting out of her. She jumped out of the van and immediately ran to the neighbors home. Apparently there was a lot of screaming going on down there and at pitches the human ear is just not accustomed to. We then took Katheryn and two of her friends to the Cumberland Dance Academy recital where her other friend Alanna was performing. Alanna had no idea we were coming. This is the dance studio Katheryn used to dance at while we lived in NC. Terry, Alanna's mom, took Katheryn backstage at intermission and Katheryn surprised Alanna. I wasn't back there but I heard the excitement was overwhelming. Later that evening, we spent our time with our friends. Our friends Diana and Warren had a BBQ and Percillia and Chuck came up too. It was so wonderful. It felt like home all over again. The hardest part of it all was sitting in Diana's kitchen where I could see our house. Brian really wanted to just go across the street and go home. He said he misses our old house. It breaks my heart. :( It really is a great home. We miss it.

Ethan posing for pictures at Diana's home

Brian at the hotel the morning we were leaving.

Katheryn and her friends after their sleepover...so hard to say goodbye

Katheryn and her friends after the dance recital

Katheryn after suprising Alanna backstage

Saturday night was a great night. Great food with great friends. Katheryn spent the night at Julieann's and I was so happy because that meant I could have a place to sleep that night. Brian wanted me to sleep with him so I did. Matt and Ethan slept together and Brian and I slept in the other bed. Before going home, we had brunch with Alanna and her parents at Cracker Barrel. It was a long trip home. We hit traffic right before Fredericksburg and also outside of Germantown. It was a long car ride home. We stopped at McDonald's in Stafford and Brian was so excited. He got out of the van and kept telling how great it was to be going here and that he wanted french fries. With his GFCF diet, we never ever eat out unless I bring his food with us. So this was a real treat for him. After 11 hours of being in the car, we finally made it home. Normally, this trip is 6.5 - 7 hrs. The kids were great though. They are truly great travellers.

Scholarship!

About two weeks ago, I was having a really hard day with the kids. I was constantly cleaning up messes and just not happy how the day had turned out. During the afternoon, I received a call from the YMCA offering a child care spot for Ethan. I asked that they keep him on the list for August when school started back and they said it would be fine. About a month or two before this, I had filled out a scholarship application with the Ft. Myer Spouses Club. Well, I checked the mail once Matt had gotten home and there was a letter addressed to me from the spouses club. I opened it and voila! I had won a $1000 scholarship! I was so excited that the neighbor ran home to make some strawberry daiquiris to celebrate. She used strawberries that we had picked a few days before. It was so yummy!! So everything is falling into place. I have money now to pay for two more classes and I only need two general classes in order to complete my associates degree. I'm so excited! I have a child care spot available for Ethan and Brian will be attending Kindergarten full time in the fall. There is no excuse for me not to pursue my associates now. It's just an exciting and wonderful feeling to finally have this part accomplished. Then in the spring I will apply for the nursing program and take microbiology. Then I will have two years to go before becoming an RN. Things are on track and looking good.

Then about a day later, I received a letter asking me to attend the award ceremony at the Army Chief of Staff's home at Ft. Myer. Matt was really excited about this. I on the other hand didn't think it was such a big deal but when Matt was excited, I figured that this must be a good thing. He told me that it would be bad for me to decline the invitation. So we got a babysitter and went. It was really nice. It was a really big deal apparently. There was so much food and there were congressmen and reporters. Altogether I believe there were 48 scholarships awarded that night and 2 spouse scholarships. I fell into the spouse category. Matt tried to take a couple of pictures but I think he had the camera on the wrong setting. They are a little blurry but you can still make it out. The Army Chief of Staff's wife is to my left.

Me accepting my scholarship

Me announcing my field of study

With our recent visit to NC speaking with friends, I'm really thinking that I'm moving into the wholistic medicine area of the medical field. I've done so much with Brian and Ethan just through diet that it amazes me how much a diet can heal our bodies. I'm really starting to believe that organic is the best way to go. I'm starting to read a book now called "The Hallelujah Diet" and it's basically two different approaches to the american diet from experience and a scientific standpoint and reaching similar conclusions. Something about eating a raw diet is best. We shall see. I'm sure it'll be helpful in our family and just maybe it'll heal Ethan's allergies as well.

Tired out

On my way to bed one night, I found Matt in bed sleeping with his laptop on his chest. This was too funny and I couldn't resist posting this. He literally comes home from work, eats dinner and heads to bed exhausted from his day.

School's out! Dance Recital!

Well, school is out and the kids are enjoying their summer vacation so far. I on the other hand wish they were back in school. It definitely came too quick for me. I'm adjusting to the schedule though and we're back on track.

Katheryn and Brian had their dance recital June 7th. The kids did a great job. I was so proud of Brian for getting up on stage and doing his stuff. He loved being up there under the bright lights. Katheryn did a great job on her dances as well. She was in three dances; ballet, hip hop and jazz. Getting her hair done three different ways backstage was quite the challenge. The first hairdo was a bun, the second was two french braids down the back and the third was a pony tail. All in all, the kids had a great time however after seeing the quality of the dancers and their performances, I will be looking for a new dance studio for Katheryn to participate in. Katheryn was beyond the dancers in her age group and I thank the studio in NC for that. The difference is amazing between the studios.

Katheryn and Brian backstage

Katheryn backstage: Her jazz costume

Truffles for Katheryn's teacher

Katheryn's last day of school is today. Hooray for her...a little sad for me. This means that she will be in 5th grade once summer is over. Her last year of elementary school. Time surely flies. We went out yesterday to WalMart and Katheryn picked out some fabric to cover the box we planned on putting her teacher's truffles into. So while the kids were at school, I got to work with making more truffles and decorating the box.

The materials.

The box covered.

mmmmm....homemade truffles

The finished product.

It was so nice that I was able to fit 12 truffles into this box. I love the fabric that Katheryn chose too. She's so excited to be finished with school. Everything is coming to an end and soon summer pool days will be here. Whoo-hoo!!

The last stop for Pre-K

Here are pics of Brian's bus dropping him off home for the last time. He came home with oodles of gifts from the teachers and afternoon bus driver.

The bus turning into the development.

Ethan waiting for the bus to turn around.

You can see it...here it comes!

Brian giving Mr. Derrick a hug after giving him his truffles.

Mr. Derrick and Brian posing for a pic.

Sleeping comfortably

Just a couple of pics of Ethan at the dining room table fast asleep. I don't know how he was able to sleep in this position. We thought it was hillarious!

His feet aren't even touching the ground.

Thumb in mouth.