Update on the kids

Ok...so enough blogging about me and my sewing, right!! I want to update you on the things that the kids have been doing lately!!

Abby is growing and her behavior is changing daily. For the better that is!! It is really getting easier to deal with her and her behavior!! She is starting to understand consequences and privileges!! In my mind...it is about time. It only took 4 and a half years for this to sink in. I guess that is what you get when your child is hard headed, like you and your husband:-)

Ryan is potty training right now!! Before you stop reading because you heard enough about me potty training, he is surprisingly easier to train than Abby was. STOP reading here if you don't want to read about poop: Ryan pooped in the potty today and when he went to flush it he said, "Look mom, a nana (banana)!!" I could see a confused look on his face, as if to say, "Why would you flush a banana down the toilet?" Anyway, this was the most hilarious part of the day!!!

This past weekend was Memorial Weekend and we didn't have anything planned. On Saturday, we went to Talladega and toured the race track and the museum. It was quite an experience!! I actually enjoyed. There were a lot of cars and we even got to see the actual car that was used in the movie Talladega Nights!!! Sweet Baby Jesus, it was a site to see (LOL)!!!

Anyway, we are gearing up for summer in our household. This means lots of swimming in the pool and going to the waterpark!!! Hopefully, we will have a fun summer with lots of pictures and memories:-)

They are ALL sleeping!!!!

I'm the only one that is awake and working!!! Even Papa is sleeping!!! I guess the football game wore him out! I wonder who won the game!!

By the way, we had another Hannah Montana Sleepover last night!! My girl loves them sleepovers. She told me this morning that she fell out of the bed last night. I remember a commotion but I didn't realize that she actually fell out of the bed. I know that she is a rough sleeper, so I chalked it up to that. She also snuggled up close to me during the night. I asked her if she did that because she fell out of the bed, and she said yes.

I'm really glad that she is taking a nap today because her incentive today is to go play outside. We are working on cleaning out our flower beds outside and she really enjoys helping me. Whatever makes you happy baby...That's what I say. Plus it doesn't hurt to have a little help in the garden!!
Lata....

Patriot Day

In honor of Patriot Day, I wanted to write a post about how I feel 7 years later. First of all, I told Abby about it this morning, complete with pictures from a book. She seemed to really understand (she understands a lot for her age). I didn't show her any gory pictures(in case you were wondering). But I did tell her that some bad people crashed airplanes into the WTC. Her reaction: "That makes me sad!!" I haven't gotten the why's yet, but I'm glad because I'm not sure that I want to explain that part to her. The flag at her school was at half mast, as was the flag at the car dealership that we went to today (that is another post, look for it soon). She didn't really notice that the flag at her school was at half mast, but she did notice the one at the car dealership (it is a really huge flag). She asked me, "Why isn't the flag all the way at the top??" I told her, "Remember what we talked about earlier? How those planes crashed into those buildings? We need to remember that. When you see at flag the is in the middle of the pole, you need to remember that something happened." She told me again, that it mad her sad to think of people crashing planes into the buildings. (That is all the details that I gave her BTW. I didn't really want her talking about it all day and I'm not sure if I really want her to understand it completely right now.)

Anyway, back to my feelings...I'm sure most of us remember exactly what we were doing when we heard the news. I was in my last semester in college. I had an 8 am class that morning. Normally, I ran late, but that morning for some reason I was a little early.

I remember that I parked my car at 7:45 and I walked straight to class. Class went on as usual because no one had heard the news yet. Before my 9:45 class started someone walked in and said that the "World Trade Center Towers had collapsed" and that was it. No elaboration or anything. BTW, this person wasn't very trustworthy, so I (being a skeptic) didn't think twice about it. Actually, I did think twice about it. I thought, how do TWO buildings fall down on the same day? This guy must be an idiot. After that class, Eric and I met up on campus as we usually do. We headed straight for the McDonald's near campus (because there was a TV there) and we were glued to the tube for most of the afternoon. I think that we both must have left at some point because we did have other classes to attend that day and I had work.

I don't remember anything after the McD's trip until I arrived at work. Everyone there was glued to the television also.

Next thing that I remember is getting home. My sister had the TV on and she was watching MTV News. WHAT??? Oh no this was not acceptable. Had my mother been there it would have been on CNN. I immediately changed the channel to some sort of normal news program and I watched the news come in all through the night.

My feelings today are somewhat similar to those that I felt on that day. The utter sadness has changed with time. I am no longer brought to tears by the pictures and accounts of what happened. Though, I did feel a little choked up this morning by the presidents speech at the Pentagon, I held it together. (No matter who you are, whether you like him or not, he was the President on that day and he, along with Guiliani, helped this nation through that tough time.)

Two years ago on 9/11, hubby and I watched World Trade Center with Nicholas Cage (we weren't actually with him). I think that everyone needs to watch this movie. I was particularly impressed with how they added in some comedic interludes at just the right time in the movie. I was really expecting to cry through the whole movie, but I didn't. The movie showed the true heroism and courage that all involved had within them.

I hope that everyone had their moment of silence and remembered (or tried to remember) exactly how they felt on the dreadful day. I know that I did (can you tell?)

Ok...I think that I'm done now. But before I go I want to leave you with this http://www.cassyfiano.com/2008/09/remembering-9-11-2. It is a blog I found while searching for 9/11 material. I thought it was very good. Hope you do too. And also, my song of choice for today would be Have You Forgotten? by Darryl Worley. Check it out!!!

Not so good!!

Abby really had a rough day yesterday. For some reason, she wouldn't listen and she kept hitting Ryan. He is discovering how to talk and he keeps saying "Mine". Well, Abby doesn't like this one bit. Every time he says it, she either says it back to him or hits him. I know CRAZY!!! Most of the time there is nothing there when they say MINE. Even more crazy!!!

Ryan had his 18 month check up yesterday. He weighs 28 lbs and is 34 inches tall. He is in the 75th percentile for his weight and 90th percentile for his height. I guess he will be tall. The doctor said that he doing well. I also had a list of questions to ask him about Ryan. Things like: Is it ok that he drinks all the time? I fill his sippy cup and not 5 minutes later it is empty. I also asked the doctor about the screaming. Some of you know......THE SCREAM that comes out of my child. I asked the doctor if Ryan could really hear himself as loud as we do. (Thinking that maybe he had some hearing problems.) NOPE just being a boy. If he can get a reaction out of you or someone else by screaming, then he will scream.

Conclusion: I have perfectly normal children who scream, hit, disobey, and drink constantly. Kids what cha gonna do with em??? Love em right!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And I do....I sooooo do. (Even though it wasn't an awesome day.)

Day 2 of Fun in the Sun

Today was our second day of Fun in the Sun!!! I didn't really plan on being in the sun this much all in one week, but that is what happened.

Yesterday, we went to the waterpark because I just realized that the waterpark will be closed during the week after August 8th. With that in mind, we will be at the waterpark a lot in the next couple of weeks.

We really had a good time yesterday. We started out at the wave pool which has a beach area and that got kinda crazy. All Ryan wanted to do was run away from me. So, we headed to the kiddie area. The kids really have a blast in this area. We stayed there for a little while and then we went in the lazy river. I have finally found out what works to get two kids in the lazy river and not having any drownings. They both had arm floaties and they both had rings around their waist. We stayed in the lazy river for two and a half rounds. That was pretty cool. When we got out of the river, we were in the old kids area so we checked it out a bit. Abby is still too young to play in this area, but I wanted to see what it was all about.

Ryan had a blast going down the "big" slide in the kiddie area. The only things that went wrong were one time I put him down on the concrete. He didn't have his footing just right and he fell and scraped his knee. Then a bigger kid was not watching where he was going and pretty much ran over Ryan. After that, Ryan had enough and decided that he wanted Momma to hold him the rest of the time. Momma said "I don't think so!! I think it is time to leave." So off we went. Of course, Abby didn't want to go. By the time we walked to the car she was ready. Of course, Ryan fell asleep on the way home.

Today, was day 2. We went to a friend's house for a pool party. It was really fun. Again, I put both kids in arm floaties and rings and it worked really well. I had more luck this time with bringing two kids to the pool and not being stressed out. Anyway, Abby did her own thing and Ryan was trying to do his own thing. All Ryan wants to do is do what Abby is doing, so I have to separate them so that he doesn't see what she is doing. Most of the time, he is not capable of doing what she does. Anyway, Ryan and I found our groove after eating a bunch of snacks.

Stay tuned for more fun in the sun as our summer quickly comes to an end.

PS I know that public schools start the first or second week of August, but my kids don't start school until September 1st. We will have almost a whole month with pretty much nothing to do. Even the free movies are finished the first week in August!!! This will save a lot of money on gas, though!!!

Help I have OCD

Hi!!! My name is Candice and I have a problem. I have a terrible case of OCD. I like to do things a certain way and if it doesn't go that way, I have trouble breathing. I know it sounds crazy but it's true. My house doesn't have to be in perfect order but certain things do have to be in a certain place.

Well, apparently, I am passing this on to my daughter. We had visitors this weekend and she told her Paw-Paw that he needs to put the seat back down when he leaves the bathroom. Now, this is the same girl that not even a week ago went to the potty and lifted up both seats. She was about the fall into the toilet when I got there. I asked her why she lifted them both up and she said, "That's what AJ (her cousin) does!!!" While that is true, my girl was holding on to the cabinet next to the toilet for dear life.

Anyway, back to the OCD thing. Papa folded some towels and I had to go and scream into a pillow. While he did fold them, they have to be folded a certain way or they will not fit into the cabinet. He sooooo did not fold them the right way. Anyway, that's all I have for now. Tune in next time and I will probably give you more OCD moments to laugh about.

Lata gata!!!

"Golf" of Mexico

I know that I didn't spell it like the body of water but I did that on purpose. You see, Abby has this thing where she just makes up a name for something. Her and Ryan have this set of toy golf clubs and they love to play with them. Well, the other day she told me that she forgot to put away her golf of mexico. Yes she said it just like that. At first I didn't know what she was talking about until I looked outside and her golf set was out in the yard.

Then today, she was putting away her skates and she saw Papa's golf clubs. "Momma, look!! That is Papa's "golf" of Mexico." Now you understand why I call her crazy girl.

Stronger and Thicker

My girl just told me, "Hey mom, new clorox wipes are stronger and thicker AND they can clean anything." Then she went and spilled a cup of water!!!!

What's up with that?

Last night was like any other normal night around here...OR WAS IT??? We ate supper, had some ice cream, and got ready for bed just like usual. The only thing different???? I'm still not sure. The boys passed out...Eric went directly to bed at 9, he almost forgot to kiss the kids good night. Ryan usually cries in his bed for at least 10-15 minutes, but not last night. PASSED OUT

As for Abby and me, I cleaned up the kitchen and did some laundry. Then I went to lay down in bed and guess what...WIDE WAKE!!!! Since I couldn't sleep, I went into the living room to get my palm so that I could quietly play games in bed and I noticed that Abby was sitting up in her bed. I went in to tell her to lay down and try to sleep and she told me that she was having a "Care Bear Birthday Party" I so wanted to play that game with her but it was after 10 so I didn't want to go down that road. It sure would have been fun, though.

Anyway, what the heck was wrong with us last night? Were the stars out of line? Maybe it had to do with Venus??

Wow, That's a new record!!!

Ok, so for the most part Abby takes ok naps. Sometimes it takes her a while and other times it just doesn't happen. The one thing that I have learned with Abby is that I can't put her down too early. By that I mean that she doesn't usually take a nap until 3 or later. If I try to move naptime up at all, she doesn't take one. But if we don't talk about it until around or after 3, we are ok and we end up sleeping. Today, we learned, played games, and read books. Not a very active day at all. We read a book at 3 and then after the book, I told her that it was naptime. I got the usual "I don't want too's" and the "I'll take a nap in a little while", and then I held her for a little while and we talked. I told her that Mimi was taking her nap (I just got off the phone with her) and that if she took a nap at the same time as Mimi, she would dream about being with Mimi and playing with her. After I put her down, I did some laundry and cleaned up a little, then headed upstairs to do some sewing (I'm trying to make some pants for me). When I got upstairs, I put a timer on so that it would remind me to go and check on her to make sure that she was sleeping. I set the timer for 4 and I just checked on her and she is SLEEPING!!! That has got to be a record. A little over 20 minutes. YAY!!!