Update...I tried to keep it brief :)

There are so many, many things that have been happening I’m just going to do an update and overview on my life.

1. The bathroom is in the process of being remodeled. My brother came down and helped Chuck finish tearing it out and then putting the subflooring back in after reinforcing a couple of floor joists. He also replumbed the tub and showerhead because apparently even though you get the same type of shower controls they are NOT interchangeable. That was one weekend. The next weekend, Chuck went to start cutting the holes for the controls and such into the tub surround when we realized that the controls would hit smack dab in the middle of the decorative lip. So, Chuck cut all the pipes out, resoddered them and fit them all back in and they work perfectly now! We got the shower surround up without too much more of an issue and then called around and got estimates to put up the drywall, mud and tape it. While I *can* do this all myself, it takes me a looong time when I can only really work on it on the weekends. So, its worth the $275 to have someone else do that portion of it for us. Well, we got a call from the drywall guys brother yesterday that our drywall guy is unavailable and indisposed to finish the bathroom but that he would be able to come out and add the last coat (um, huh? What about finishing the first coat and the second coat?) and installing the fan/light. Chuck questioned what the heck was going on and our drywall guy got nabbed for a felony domestic and a warrant for unpaid child support. Rock on. Straight up nice dude, right?

However, the bathroom is now coming along nicely and looks better than the original drywall guy was doing it.

2. Zachary has had a horrible week. He’s been incredibly off and I’m sure some of it can be attributed to the change in his routine by not being in school any more. On Thursday of last week, he went off over something incredibly minute in detail and slammed his head into the wall over and over again until he had a huge goose egg on his head. Then after he finished that he took a three tiered toy bin and threw it all into the middle of the room. Saturday wasn’t too much better when he had issues because I said to turn the game off to go get ice cream. Needless to say, he didn’t get ice cream. I’m hoping that this week he starts to pull out of this and adjusts to being at home a bit better….just in time to start summer school and change the routine up again. ;(

3. Elizabeth got her first hair cut. By her brother. Yes, yes, that’s right Lucas decided on Thursday (Thursday wasn’t a very good day in our household) to take a chunk out of Elizabeth’s hair. Luckily (for her and him!) it’s not too bad. Just causes her hair in that spot to stand up when I try to pull it into a pony tail.

I’m thankful though, because it was literally HOURS after going and getting her 1 year old pictures done. Which turned out adorable (like there was any doubt!)! I don’t think that the individual who took the pics felt it was her best one, but it’s PERFECT Elizabeth. It shows her personality so well. I’ll have to scan it and add it in so everyone can see what a gorgeous little girl sh’es becoming. And a flirt, OMG, I’m in for trouble.

4. Lucas Michael, besides cutting his sisters hair, is officially driving us nuts. It’s gotta be the age. And being the middle child probably doesn’t help things. He has some major issues picking up. Never wants to pick up and usually waits until his brother does it all and then he gets to get off the hook. Well, Saturday, I’d had enough. At school, they praise Luke on what a good helper he is, how he always helps pick up, he’s the sweetest boy ever, and on and on. Well, I sent Luke in to do their bedroom and Zachary stayed in the living room and helped me (a lot). There was about 15 minutes of toddler work in their bedroom to get the toys picked up. Do you know how long he was in there? SIX HOURS. Yes, you heard me right. SIX HOURS. Chuck allowed him out to eat breakfast and lunch and then it was back into the bedroom to pick it up. I’m talking like 15 or 20 toys (some little stuff) and a few markers and about 5 articles of clothing. He cried and threw a fit and I told him he was going to stay in there until it was picked up. He may be stubborn, but he ain’t even started to see the stubbornness of his momma. It finally got done, by him, after Daddy promised him that if he cleaned it, he could have back his toys that I took away about 6 months ago. Which included his Light Up Blue Light Saber. It was clean in about 40 minutes…including vacuumed. Obviously, Daddy should be giving the incentives more often. But then again, I only took away so many toys ;)

5. My friend had her baby girl about 4 weeks early. After many complications including Riley’s lungs collapsing, being born with literally no blood, her oxygen level not raising about 20% for almost 3 hours, the uterus rupturing and the placenta detaching and the fact that Riley was passing blood onto the momma and it wasn’t coming back, she is looking on the upswing of things. She’s a little over one week old and is off all the machines except the ventilator and was removed from 5 of her 6 medicines. I just pray that this baby girl keeps fighting and comes home with Mommy and Daddy soon.

So, that’s me in a nutshell. I’m going slightly crazy having all 3 kids with me most of the time and then having an additional 2 kids that I babysit on Fridays but I’m trying to make the most of it and get as much sleep as possible. We’ve got plans to go to a Children’s museum this week, splash pad next week, then a playdate and County Fair the following week….all dependant on little boys’ behavior though. So we shall see….and I won’t be holding my breath.

Summer is here and so are the mohawks!

So, as promised to Zachary near the beginning of the school year, if he still wanted a mohawk come summer he could have one.

When the discussion of summer school came up his first question was "can I still have a mohawk?"

He didn't forget still. Yesterday was the last day of school.

Today was clipper time.

(That's just colored gel by the way. I am not so cool of a mom that I would let them get their hair permanently dyed.)

And not to be out-done by his brother, Luke requested one for his hair cut too.

I think they are absolutely adorable! Chuck however is an old fuddy duddy and says they look silly.

So, they are happy and feeling way too cool (Luke still has an airbrushed tribal tattoo on his upper arm). I can't wait to show the 'rents. Hehehehe

I'll spare you all the events at my dr.'s for today. I may blog about my idiot dr. tomorrow.

Welcome to the 21st century!

I JUST ordered cell phones for Chuck and I.

These are the first cell phones we've ever had (I had one for work a long time ago, but it wasn't ours, kwim?)

And we LEAPED into this century with a bluetooth phone for Chuck and a VCAST/1.3 mpx camera phone for me. In PURPLE.

Edit: Well, let's back that train up...it's subject to final credit approval. So we may not get the service anyways. We'll see.

Another one of those "I'm so thankful" posts

This weekend our area was hit pretty hard by the storms. When I was younger, I LOVED storms. I would stand out with my dad and watch them come in...with the sirens going off and everything before my mom would yell at us all and tell us to get our asses in the basement. I always thought she was a little it of an alarmist at times.

But now that I'm a mom...well, let's just say things have changed.

I think if we had a basement I'd feel a little more comfortable knowing that the kids could be safe, but we don't. And after the tornado of last year I'm even more than a little leary.

It really bothers me being at work because I don't know what's going on. Not that Chuck can't handle the situation himself, but the not knowing kills me (Yes, I have some control issues.) Saturday night when day 2 of storms struck, I was here by myself with Luke and Elizabeth because Chuck and Zachary went to Cedar Point for the day (and had a great time I might add...here's Zachary in line for the Demon Drop. Um, yea. He rode it.). I wasn't nearly as nervous as I was on Friday but I did stay up until 12:15 watching the radar and listening for sirens.

And then it struck again yesterday! But we weren't home...and it didn't hit nearly as bad where we were at.

This round of storms has knocked out power for 31,000 people in our area. Many people in our small town have no power and likely won't until Wednesday. One woman lost her life when the storm kicked up with little warning and knocked her travel trailer over onto her, killing her. Her son is 10 and goes to Zachary's elementary school.

So, while we are having issues with the NEW van not working, the shower still not being finished because of yet another round of problems, more money going out to those two things to help fix, my stupid teeth literally breaking off just sitting here...

at least we have our lives. And our power. And all those close to us are safe and well. For all those things, I am thankful. I'm thankful for these reasons right here...

Interrupt your normally scheduled programming

to bring you the latest news in my house.


WE HAVE A WORKING TUB!!!

It's been 6 days without a tub/shower in our house and it's fixed. I'm going home tonight and taking a bubble bath I think.

I can't even describe how excited I am.

We now return you to your normally scheduled lives.

My baby is a graduate

A graduate of kindy that is. It's been a rough week, between not having a bathroom, my van not working and not learning of the kindergarden graduation until Monday night at 8 pm, but tonight went amazingly well.

We started out the evening by everyone taking baths in a storage tub in the kitchen since the boys hadn't had proper baths since last Friday. We couldn't have our graduate walking for his diploma being all grubby!

Then off to an early celebratory dinner at the Top Buffet. I'm so glad our kids love chinese. It's fast, cheap and easy. And it's such a treat for them, especially since they get to serve their own ice cream.

Then onto the school. We dropped him off in his classroom at 5:45 pm and left him to get his "2008" sash on and headed to the gym to take our seats. They handed us a program upon entering the door and we corralled Luke and carried Elizabeth up the bleachers in the gym to find some seats in the center. I perused the program to find out that my son would be in the graduating class of 2020. That just sounds so foreign to me. So far off. But I know it won't be.

They started the graduation march on their little stereo and in march the kids. In pretty much a straight line with a few stragglers, all the kids searching hard for their parents in the huge audience and waving madly when they did. Zachary came out and did the search. And again. And again. Made it to his seat, still looking for us. He knew we were there...we walked him in. I yelled his name. I could read his lips when he said "I HEARD them!" and he finally located us....and jumped up and waved his little arm off.

The principal did the whole speech about thanking all the parents for being such an active part in the kids' lives, blah blah blah.

Then the kids performed a few songs..I like Peanut Butter, the Button Factory and a slew of others. Zachary perfomed so well. Singing and doing all the motions so enthusiatically and really getting into them. And in between times? He sat. No screwing around, just sat and was respectful of those speaking and the situation that he was in. I think he took his graduation very seriously.

There was a really cute, albeit very long, picture slideshow presentation. In which there was a close up shot of Zachary making a funny face. It was just such classic Zachary that it made me smile...through tears. Because the very first song that they used was this one....


This song makes me think of my kids as it is every time I hear it. I have wanted to make a photo montage of them with this song, so to hear it as his graduation song, made me more than a little misty eyed.

As he was standing there at one point, waiting to start singing one of his songs, I saw him as I would an 18 year old. At his high school graduation. It made the breath catch a bit in my lungs to picture him all grown up, a man, ready to face the world. I've had this happen a couple of other times since he started school...and it always hits me like a blow to the chest. A reminder that the days are too short that he will be my little boy. I couldn't help crying. It seems like just yesterday he was Elizabeth's age....learning how to walk, how to talk. No more...he has found his voice for himself.

You can see that for youselves, as he corrects the other kindergarden teacher when she misprounces our name. This video is just so "Zachary".



Congratulations buddy. I love you and am so very, very proud of you.