Ok kids, please, if you dont mind....

My babies are growing up way too fast all of a sudden. What seemed like eternity to get to, has suddenly sprang to our feet in a blink of an eye. I have had more than a few heavy sobbing can't breathe, head pounding cries already and I have a feeling tomorrow will suck. Brian has to work but has permission to go in late to be able to see Laci off into her first day of school. Christopher begins class changing and homework for the year and just like that, the new year has started rolling...and will likely roll quickly into the next month, season, and eventual year. Its dawning on me that life somehow got by while we were wishing for the next thing. It's funny how that happens. I swear I was just telling my mom on the back patio that I was pregnant with Christopher, and I was just registering for a baby shower with Laci, and I was just coming home with her from the hospital. And wasn't I just making cupcakes for Christopher's pre-k graduation? And going to his first open house? Didn't laci just take her first steps and we realized all hell was about to break loose? What happened? Where are my tiny babies? My boy is 7! Seven! He loves star wars, plays a DS, laughs at all the right jokes on MadTv, and can stay up til 11pm on Saturday night....he is in second grade...and can read whole books to me, and do double digit math addition. My baby, my little girl, she pairs color matching jewelry to her outfits, she wants a pink rifle, she loves shopping at the mall, and plays barbies. She can sing, and dance, and is starting Pre-K in the morning. I am confused. When did I end up standing on the side of this road, waving goodbye as I packed lunches and fixed booboos? Suddenly my life is in a different place...and for a change its me scared to open my door and wanting a light on. It's scary in this new place, this place where my kids grow up and I am left wanting to watch Sesame Street one more time and rock someone to sleep. But ready or not, here it comes....and starting tomorrow I enter the next phase of my life. The phase where I am the stay at home mom of two school aged children, where I cook and clean all inside the quiet place in my head, the phase where I watch the clock waiting to see my babies again all day, and where the house stays clean for more than 15 minutes at a time, and I long for a mess, or a spilled cup of juice, or someone needing me for something. Tomorrow begins a change in my life, and I don't like change anymore. Tomorrow I watch my baby boy jump out of my car and wave as he walks into school wearing his size 2 shoes, and big bookbag, hair spiked up and some shirt that screams silly young boy instead of Thomas or Power Rangers, then I take my baby girl, in my head still wrapped in her lady bug blanket, smiling and cooing on her pink cupcake boppy, and open my door and take my 4 year old silly, spunky, diva by the hand and walk her into class, where she will run to her friend and want to play and wave goodbye....and I will surely cry again. Tomorrow my whole world shifts again....and ready or not, here it comes.....too bad I'm not ready.

Happy Sunday....enjoy every second, because in a second, it will be Monday.

Neuters and Puppies and Open house....

But First....

Thank you Kellogg's, for making the ever so delicious Raisin Bran Crunch. This is my favorite "adult" cereal and make me happy just eating it, LOL, and since I just finished off a heaping bowl of it, I wanted to give props where props are deserved!

Anyhow, yesterday ended up becoming a MUCH more busy day than I had anticipated! After getting Clover dropped off we went to look for hangers (fail) and then we came home and pretty much relaxed for a few hours, but then I found out I was getting 2 foster puppies and suddenly my afternoon got crazy! We left to go get Christopher at 2, then picked him up and drove to the feed store for some high quality puppy kibble since these guys have some catching up to do, and then to the vet to pick them up where I learned just how behind they are. Little Brae has to have shots every 2 weeks to get his lungs built up so he can breathe good, and both are pretty tiny and need to learn to eat solid food. So after getting all of that taken care of it was a mad dash back to the house so Brian could take Christopher to swim class, then after that I got the pups settled in some and went back up to Ballground to pick up Clover who was a whiny dramatic mess as expected. We got him home and settled in, got the pups cleaned and in the half bath, got the girls out to play, and then had laundry and dinner to do. Me and Brian decided we would share a pizza instead after the kids went to bed so we ordered dominoes and had a little late quiet dinner.

After making puppy much, bottle feeding, and cleaning everything and feeding everyone it was finally bedtime.

This morning, my alarm clock went off, but after a very restless night of storms, whining, and Christopher up 3 times for various reasons, I turned my alarm off and accidentally fell back asleep!!! I woke up in a stressed out frantic panic this morning when I rolled over and it was 7:27!!! Luckily Brian had gotten up with Christopher and got him off to school, but I feel horrible since today he is meeting his official teacher and I am sad I missed getting him excited for that this morning. That will NOT happen again!!

This morning I was going to go check out a consignment sale but I am not sure I feel like dealing with the heat and sun again right yet, so I may end up sitting home....still not sure yet.

I got puppy grooming to take care of today and then tonight we have Laci's pre-k open house!!! Yay! I am so excited for her and I know she is going to love it!!! We are heading up at 5:30 and I hope its awesome! I will report back on that tomorrow!

For now, its going to be about 112* with the heat index today, so be careful! Lots of love!

Snip Snip!

Doing my part by removing some of Clover's this morning. Today I dropped my baby boy off to get the big snip! He dragged me half across a parkinglot wanting to play with another small dog in the car next to us and as he is dragging me along, I see the look of horror on the other owners face and all I can say is "he's friendly! he's friendly! I promise! He wants to play!" and do everything I can to stop i flip flops on gravel! Ugh! He is such a bad boy!! I have got to get him working better on a leash and get some manners and for God's sake NEVER forget to put his prong on him again in public!

After we got him weighed (a surprising only 85 pounds) we got him crated and did the paperwork and left. Laci rolled over in her carseat and I asked what was wrong and she lost it! She started crying big heavy sobbing alligator tears and said she was sad we left Clover and that she didn't want them to hurt him or keep him....awwww....silly thing, he wont feel a thing, and when they see how destructive he is they won't want to keep him either! LOL! So I finally calmed her down and we were on our way...wishing all along I had a bandaid for my burning swollen torn open finger thanks to trying to maintain Clover on the leash....

Today is another semi quiet day. The weather man urges us all to stay in unless necessary thanks to the intense heat and humidity and I am all too happy to do as I am asked. I am still trying to figure out the wire hanger mess, but at least I finally got my tags printed for next week's consignment sale!

Well have a happy day! I will update after we get Clover later this afternoon!

Brrr....it's so cold out!....yeah JUST KIDDING!

Yup...that about covers it. Somehow we are under an advisory that it is about to get even HOTTER here in the Southeast before we start cooling down temporarily during rains possibly expected by TS Emily....now...I don't know about you, but this news SUCKS! I have been dying and now its going to get *hotter*???? Ugh!!! Well, they say sweating burns calories...yet somehow I haven't dropped 20 pounds...hmmmm....

Anyhow, morning two of school went even smoother than morning one, making me feel like either A.) I finally have this school morning stuff figured out and under control or B.) I am getting set up for a major chaotic event next Monday when both kids start school....but, I will take it while I got it easy peasy!

Today will be a fairly productive day, having me at the movies with Laci this morning watching Despicable Me (again) for a buck. Then I am going to swing by the dollar store and try to get some metal hangers and safety pins, and then I need to go pick up some crates, and then get home and do some cleaning and start dinner. I am hoping to have dinner done by the time Brian gets in this afternoon. I need to find the hangers and stuff and get the stuff washed again and hung up in time for the consignment sale next weekend! 

Tomorrow Clover is getting neutered. I am a little nervous for him, but I know this is for the best and hopefully will curb some of his grosser habits when it comes to the females he lives with, and maybe have him stop cramming his nose in Brian's crotch all the time and my boobs! Blah!

Christopher had a good first day of school. Pretty slow moving and not a lot of work being the first day, but I am sure that will change quickly....now if they could just get him a solid teacher that would be great!

Off for my day! Stay cool!

2nd Grade!

HAPPY AUGUST!

Well today is the day! I was up early again, thankfully not as early as yesterday, but still early enough to enjoy a quiet cup of coffee before the day got going. Christopher woke up in a great mood and was bright eyed and bushy tailed and ready to go right off the bat. After a breakfast of strawberry waffles and orange juice and some tooth scrubbing and hair gelling, we were ready! The line to get into the school was brutal and I had totally let that fact slip my mind, so after the 20 minute wait we finally parked and headed in. Christopher did pretty good getting to his class for the first time after he wanted to make the original turn towards kindergarten and 1st grade hall. Brian was able to have today off so he got to go too and see where the class was since he had to miss open house last week. We got him in class and all settled in and got a quick pic and a kiss goodbye and he is all set for his first day!

Today will be a pretty low key day, I am thinking me, Brian and Laci will head to the pool for a quiet swim for a few hours and then spend the rest of the day cleaning and organizing as usual! Seems like the more I do of that, the less my house seems clean and organized! Ha!

Anyhow not a whole lot more to report on at the moment, same stuff with heat/humidity, messy house, crazy dogs, and busy afternoon planned that will probably end still a mess and with me watching netflix, LOL!

Lots of happiness on this first Monday of August!!

50, 0, 7

That's what my countdown chalk board says in my kitchen now....50 days until Daytona in September, 0 days until Christopher starts school, and 7 days until Laci starts! The end of the summer happened a lot faster I think than even I realized, but I am kind of happy and kind of sad, but I am still expecting a whole lot more summer fun....if this awful humidity ever breaks! I know one day I am going to open my door in the morning and be able to breathe! I know it! But, for now, I will just continue to wait...and hope.

Yesterday was great fun at the river. The kids did really good, and I wanted cold water, and by God I got it! That water was so cold that whatever body part was in it for a few minutes would be red! My hands were screaming in tingly coldness for the first hour or more we were there...but eventually I had the courage to make one leap of faith into the water and thought my heart would just blow up! It was freezing!!! We had a nice picnic lunch with everyone and laughed a lot and the girls had fun collecting snails and sending them off on leaf boat rides in the rushing water flowing over the big rocks, and the boys had their "base" set up and had fun playing and throwing rocks, and riding the current down the river a little and just doing boy things. 

It started to rain so we came home, we were all freezing! The kids got a nice warm shower in and into some PJs, and I made some coffee and the afternoon sailed by. Sadly that wasn't the way the night ended. Christopher has gotten too carried away with playing video games and stuff this summer because we have been stuck in the house and it's been easier to let him do that than force him to do other stuff...I failed him there...but his reading over the summer has taken a down spin and that became very apparent last night when I asked him to read to me while I labeled his school stuff....after almost an hour and a half of tears I found out that I apparently yell too much, and he is really struggling to read. I took the DS away for the next week and we talked for a long time, we finally came to some conclusions on things we both can do to change the way homework time goes, and I spent a long time explaining to him that I do the things I do bc of how much I love him and because I know he is ridiculously smart and I just want him to know that enough to push himself to do better too...he went to bed, I went to the garage to cry my eyes out (and as I listened to fireworks outside I realized I forgot the get together across the street I was going to go to) and cried for a good 20 minutes like a baby before finally getting it together and drying my then puffy eyes and going upstairs to get Laci to sleep too. 

Today I plan on working on a game plan. The new school year begins tomorrow and I have to give my time to my kids more. I thought I was doing that already but clearly I am not. So I am praying that God gives me the strength to find a way that life around the house can work better and smoother and that I can become a better mother than I had thought I already was. 

I was up and down all night and finally gave in at 3:50 this morning. I got up and took a shower in the kids shower and now I have been sitting down here drinking coffee and thinking more on life. Its going to be a long day but maybe better....maybe some answers will come to me finally....and if nothing else maybe I will get to sleep better tonight.

Hope your Sundays are all beautiful!

Broken cars, school events, and heat!

It was a hell of a day yesterday. Starting off with the car starter dying, just one day after the battery in the blazer dying, and then a frantic call to Brian when I realized he had been off to get gas for almost an hour. Running upstairs I found 5 missed calls from him on my phone and with the history of 3 accidents now with him I freaked out and panicked as I called him back. Luckily, he was just walking in the sweltering morning sun and humidity home and told me about the car. I jumped in the blazer (which started right up thanks to a new 100.00 battery) and picked him up. 154.00 later and one very irritating morning the Corolla was fixed and Brian was off to do a partial day at work.

I then packed the kids back up and we went to Old Navy and got some shirts for Christopher during an awesome 4.00 sale they had going on in the kids department, then we went to BJs and got some snacks and stuff to be fully stocked for the beginning of the school year, and the mass amount of food inhaling it seems to bring with it. LOL! I was excited to get a lot of stuff, and thanks to some really good coupons it was only 60.00 total for a bunch! Even Brian who had already finished with his 2 cars and met us there was impressed.

The rest of the day was a hot slow moving day. I took off right after getting home from the stores with the kids to go up to the school and work the Kindergarten registration for the PTA. I love working it on that day, although it wasn't set up like it was last year and I am afraid we really dropped the ball on getting the amount of people to join that we did last year. After that, I met Tiffany and we went next door to Freedom to do Matthew's open house. Wow, what a nice school! Holy Moly! I mean, my goodness, this middle school is bigger than both my high schools probably combined! An absolutely gorgeous school though and one I will be proud to have my kids attend some day....but if they have direction like their daddy, they will be lost for days, LOL! After that it was just your basic hanging at the house, which was a night that ended with me crying in the bathtub realizing that my kids are growing up...way faster than I had realized, and I feel like I missed so much somehow. This has been the summer from hell, and I really feel like the kids don't understand the kind of weather we had this summer, and when you pair that with the finances, its been a recipe for a long boring cooped up cabin fever kind of summer. I am telling you, fall can't get her fast enough! I have some serious making up to do!

Today I am sitting here drinking my 3rd cup of coffee, and then we are packing up and heading up to Blue Ridge for the day to play at Horseshoe Bend Park with Tiffany, Eric, and the kids. My kids have no idea, and I am a little scared of the kids drowning, getting lost, getting hurt, getting kidnapped, and all that jazz, but, we are going anyway! I am about to hop off here and pack the cooler. The kids have no idea where we are going so that should be fun too. Ha. I hope today proves to be that burst of fun I have so desperately been searching for for the end of summer vacation. Its hard to believe tomorrow night we will be preparing for school the next morning! Wow!

Well, I hope everyone has an incredible Saturday...including us!

Happy day!