December, January, February

For some reason I don't have a lot of pictures, that doesn't mean there wasn't a lot going on though.

In December Chris accepted a job in Erie, Pa. He started December 20th and has been commuting there during the week, most weeks, since January. It is so hard to be without him, the boys and I miss him terribly and I just keep praying that the house sells soon so we can be together again. (chris took this picture in Erie during one of their storms which make Cinci storms look silly)

In preparation for listing the house again we had our entry floor refinished.

One of Aiden's favorite gifts from Christmas.
The boys at Nana and Papa's in Maine for Christmas.
The boys stuck in the "fish bubble" at LL Bean in Freeport, ME.

January was FULL of basketball, so was February for that matter.

Zach...more basketball.
I don't remember what I did but I won the worst mommy award. I win this often.
We had some snow days but with 4 wheel drive it didn't stop us from getting out.
With Chris gone it was up to Aiden and I to clear the driveway and sidewalks.
Aiden's a great helper with the snowblower.
I've been working on this blanket off and on...mostly off....for about a year. I'm about 1/3 done.
I learned to make homemade key lime pie. It is so easy. AND so very, very yummy.
Buster with his ball. Don't you love how his tongue is sticking out the side of his mouth :)
People camped out waiting for Chick-Fil-A to open. We were not one of those crazy people.
One of Aiden's circuit creations. He has 3 sets of these circuits, one from Nana and Papa and 2 from Chris and I. He loves to experiment and create. I think this was his radio. Such an awesome kid.

Hello? Anyone still out there?

Talk about absentee blogger. My goodness!

Things got busy and there was so much I wanted to say and then it got overwhelming all the things I wanted to say so I just ignored it. HA!

But I'm back. Hopefully to stay.

So here's what I've been up to the past few(ish) months.

October: (In no particular order)

Baking yummy, yummy, homemade, from scratch, honey whole wheat bread

I turned 33. Taken on my b-day (16th) with Allie, my princess.
Went to the pumpkin patch and tried to get a Christmas card picture....it didn't work out so well :)
Made some art for the wall (I painted a huge canvas and then wrapped fabric around cardboard cake circles--fun project but it didn't turn out quite like I planned. I think in our next house I will put the fabric in embroidery hoops instead of on a canvas)
Visited my parents in Illinois.
Had a sleep test. Diagnosed with sleep apnea, mild. I stop breathing on average 6 times an hour with the longest being 67 seconds! I can't even hold my breath for 67 seconds!

November: (again no particular order)

We gave Aiden one of his birthday presents (a powerwing scooter) early so that he would have nice weather to ride it in. Nothing worse than having to wait months to use a present that you love.

Aiden writing his name on his birthday crown at school.

sleeping on the drive to Disney (the sleeping only lasted about 10 minutes)

Driving-at Disney

You can't really tell from the picture but there was a double rainbow at Disney.....what does it mean???? :)

Boys with Donald...at Disney (do I need to keep saying that??)

On Thanksgiving Day, and Aiden's birthday, my parents treated the boys to getting themselves dressed up like pirates. It was really hard to get pictures because it was so dark in the room. The one above is Zach.

Here's Aiden. He was super excited, thus wiggly, plus my poor sensory guy didn't really like having all that paint on his face. They got their pictures taken at the end and it took all his might not to rub the paint off. In fact as soon as we got back to the room he scrubbed it off. but despite that he did enjoy himself.

The boys favorite ride, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.

Seeing Stitch, one of the very few autographs the boys waited in line for.

This is Aiden, yes he's on the dinner table, opening all the birthday gifts from family.

The boys are home from school so I will leave you with Aiden saying "Peace out" from the backseat on the loooooooooooong drive home from Disney.

I hope to post December and January tomorrow.

stress

I have been resisting the craving for ice cream and chocolate for almost one week now (except for the cinnamon ice cream my in laws bought but that doesn't count because I didn't buy it). I am feeling very stressed and it is leaving little brain power for more interesting things like

*blogging

*sewing

reusable produce bags

reusable snack/sandwich bags

napkins

*scrapbooking

*home decorating projects

*bill paying/budgeting

sorry I haven't been around as much as I thought I would be, it's not because I don't have anything to talk about, I could talk for days, but there is just so much other stuff going on that I just don't have the time.

*Aiden will be tested on Monday for dyslexia and other learning problems. Insurance doesn't pay a cent of this testing which could cost as much as $500 but no one said kids would be cheap. We have a conference with his teacher tomorrow, his progress report was mainly U's and N's.

*Our house is still on the market, I so wish we could just walk away from it just so we could move on instead of being stuck in this holding pattern.

*and those are just the two biggest things, needless to say there are also 100 little things going on as well.

I'm going on a women's retreat with ladies from church this weekend and I am very much looking forward to it. Hopefully it will help me calm down and relax.

sleep

I love to sleep. Problem is I usually have insomnia and now Chris thinks I may have sleep apnea. Seems he listened to me breathe the other night and said I would stop breathing and my stomach muscles would tighten and then I would breathe/gasp in. Having listened to him for 5 years before he was diagnosed I know how scary that is so I go in to see a sleep specialist on October 20th and he will decide if I need a sleep test and when that test will be.

Until then I am exhausted.

Although last night I went to bed at 6PM and slept until 7:30AM.

And by 4:50 tonight I was ready to go back to bed. Sigh. Hopefully I'll have more energy when I get this whole sleep thing figured out.

aiden says.....

(Aiden lost 4 teeth within a week or so this summer)

(I really love this kid)

A cute conversation between Aiden and I on July 26th, 2010

Mom is there a yellow ash?
No
Only a blue ash?
Yes
I wish there was a yellow ash.
You don't like blue ash?
Well, only if it's a light blue.

I wish our house was sold and we could move. To Blue Ash, Yellow Ash, or Light Blue Ash. At this point I don't care, I just want out.

monday

So it's Monday night and I feel like I haven't sat down all day (it's 7:00PM).

8:00 my morning started late because I didn't get to sleep until 1AM and then I turned off my alarm at some point between 1AM and 8:00AM (I usually wake up at 7:15). Luckily I had enough time to wake up both boys, grab a quick shower and make two lunches. Missed out on reading my Bible reading before waking up the boys and having breakfast.

8:35 I took the boys to the bus stop.

8:45 I came home had a small glass of milk and read my Bible reading

9:00 I left with all three dogs to go visit the vet.

10:00 I left the vet almost $400 poorer and with an appointment to get Izzy's teeth cleaned.

Between 10-1 I ran to Hobby Lobby, Goodwill, Tuesday Morning, Chick-Fil-A, and the Antique mall to find various items for the house and projects I want to work on this week. Oh and lunch-I shared with the puppies :)

1:30 I got home and spent an hour working on my Bible Study homework that I am behind on.

From 2:30-3:45 I cleaned the family room, "big room" (our empty Formal Living/Dining room combo), entry way, and scrubbed the kitchen.

3:45 I welcomed home my two boys. Went over all of their paperwork, signed planners, and checked homework.

4:20 I started Pizza Dough for dinner with my good friend Jenny W. (Hi, Jenny).

4:40ish Jenny and kiddos arrived, we chatted, finished dinner, ate dinner, and chatted some more.

6:30 they left, I checked blogs and am now blogging myself. (Boys are outside playing)

Now it is 7:10 and they must come inside for baths/showers. I still need to write my shopping list/errand list as Tuesday is my errand/grocery day. Hopefully I can go to sleep before 1AM 'cause I am TIRED :)

Because a post isn't complete without a picture:

(Zach soaking wet from the firetruck's hose-block party at Centerpointe Christian Church to kick off the new school year 8/2010)

Sunday

"Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go." Joshua 1:9 (NIV)

Just a little thought for Sunday on Saturday night :)

Quinn

I had a whole 'nother post planned but I downloaded 636 pictures off my SLR camera and found some of my niece that I wanted to share.

(Side note 1: I really want a new SLR but the one I want is about $1200 for the base only not including lenses ($400 for the 50mm fixed and $300-500 for the zoom lens) so I have a feeling it will be a few more years before I am able to enjoy that desire

Side note 2: Chris took these pictures, except for the last one, they look quite grainy on the blog but much better in iPhoto)

"Like my glasses?"

Quinn is walking now, you can barely see it but she's up on her tip toes. So very cute.

I love this one, she was going straight for the camera :)

She takes everything in and was refusing to smile for us but later, when the camera was gone, she was all smiles and giggles.

"Hello there"

Here's one of the Family. All 9 of us.

weekend, hormones, and teacher gift

We had a wonderful weekend this past weekend. On Saturday we hung out for most of the day, Chris went to the HART adoptathon with Rocky. Rocky is a very sweet Greyhound/lab mix who loves to be with his people...but when he is not he chews and destroys crates....so he lives at the vet and we take him to adoptathons. :)

On Sunday we went to church, then out to a BBQ place for lunch, after that we headed to the antique store-where the boys were surprisingly good and Aiden used his saved allowance to buy a bike. When we came home we popped popcorn and watched Ghostbusters 1. (On a side note when I watched that movie as a kid I had horrible nightmares but it didn't bother the boys a bit. Was I a wimp or is it just that kids are exposed to so much more now that ghosts and statues coming alive don't bother them?)

Hormones...

Zach's not mine.

Sigh. He is being such a different boy lately, makes me sad. He told his best neighborhood friend to "Leave" and shut the door in her face today, got a C on a test he didn't study for but could use his book for (if we are being completely honest both Chris and I tried to get him to study but he put up such resistance that we decided he should learn the hard way), and he got in trouble for talking in class.

OK. One by one. Why these things bother me.

1. Telling his best friend to "Leave" First of all that isn't how we treat people. Second of all I know he has all these strange feelings and she can be a bit mean and probably deserved to have the door shut in her face but that's not how we treat people. And third that's just not how we treat people.

2. C on a test. First let me say I don't care about the grade, if he had studied and tried his best I would be happy with a C but he didn't try his best and he didn't study so the C bothers me. AND he didn't care-when I was checking over his paper and I asked him how he felt about getting the C he said he didn't care! This is a child who wants to please the adults around him and who would have been devastated to get a C a year ago.

3. Getting in trouble in class. He never gets in trouble. Never. But he was talking when he shouldn't have been. Sigh. (Side note-the other boy who asked Zach a question didn't get in trouble and the Mama bear in me was not happy about that and wanted to e-mail the teacher but the Papa bear in the family gave me "the look" so I kept my mouth shut and will not e-mail the teacher)

So after all of these events Chris and I sat down with Zach and had a talk about respect. Respect for your friends (no shutting doors in faces), teachers (give them your full attention, study) and parents (study when they tell you to). We also shared stories about study disasters we had in our past- ie not studying and then failing, we told him about asking for help if he needs it-both Chris and I had math tutors in college (mine had a fake nose but that's a story for another day the important thing is it made Zach laugh). (Another side note is that Respect is the virtue of the month at church, hmmmmmmm)

And because no post is complete without pictures. Here are the gifts I gave the boy's teachers at Open House. (Both boys have 2 teachers, Zach has one for Math/Science/Social Studies and one for Reading/Language/Spelling. Aiden has his teacher and an aide that helps 4 children in the room, one of whom is Aiden.)

Each teacher got a bundle of sharpened pencils, a Bliss bar with a note "Hope you have a blissful year," 4 (handmade) chalkboard tags, some blank cards that I sewed apples onto, and a huge, shiny Red Delicious apple.

I know these pics probably would have been much more helpful before the school year started but just look at it as they are really early for next year :)

Thursday Thankfuls

This picture has nothing to do with the post.....This is Zach on pick up day at Springhill with his counselor Otis.

*I'm thankful that my husband was able to leave for work a little late today, especially when Zach reported that there was water coming from the kitchen ceiling. (someone came yesterday and supposedly fixed that leak)

*Thankful that when the repair guy was late coming to fix the leak Chris was able to come home so I could get some errands done.

*Thankful that Whole Foods is only 25 minutes away.

*Thankful that it was a nice night for the neighborhood kids to all play outside.

*Thankful for cooler weather.