The Story of our Days

Home with Silly Boys

2011-10-19T05:10:00.000-07:00

*Important update first: Dalton told me that his music teacher didn't call him stupid. She just said she can't believe someone came to school without a jacket. So no call to the principal after all.

Dalton says he has a bad headache today and he's running a slight fever, so we are home today. This is good because Cole had a bad cough last night, so he's on actual meds today too.

I just turned around and noticed that Cole is putting a bean bag on his head then covering it with his hat (inherited from either his Daddy or his Pappy). He's being silly and also walking around putting the bean bags on people's heads.

it's going to be a day filled with Mama cuddles and silly boys. I can just see it now.

Those 2 Boys Who Live Here

2011-10-18T17:31:00.000-07:00

Dalton forgot his jacket in the van last night. So I sent him to school without a jacket thinking that the teachers would make him stay inside as a consequence for not having a coat. Nope. His music teacher said, "Anyone stupid enough not to bring a coat, deserves to be outside and cold." This Mama is not happy about a TEACHER telling Dalton that he's stupid. NOT HAPPY AT ALL.

Dalton came home from school completely frozen. Mom made him hot chocolate and covered him with a blanket. We got him home and made soup for dinner and also gave him some meds. Because we gave D meds and vitamins, Cole needed meds and vitamins.

Just a few minutes ago, Cole was coughing really bad, so this time he really did need meds.

Tomorrow might be a long day.

(Cole also needed to have his nails cut because D had his nails cut. Monkey see, Monkey do)

Larry's Facebook Updates

2011-10-18T17:27:00.000-07:00

Tonight at dinner, Larry said he is saving up his Facebook updates so that he can post them when he comes back to FB land. Here are a few I found humorous.

--"Broke my toe today. Dropped part of my bobcat on my toe. Ouch"

--"Dalton got his first white belt in TKD. So proud of him, even though the kid made me cry"

--"Broke a nail doing laundry."

Camping

2011-10-18T13:02:00.000-07:00

I am beyond excited to be going camping with my friend Karyn and her family. Karyn and I met in college and have the type of friendship that I love. We haven't seen each other in 10 years, but I know it'll be like we've never been apart when we get to the campground. Love that type of friendship.

Karyn and her hubby have 3 kids, so Dalton is BEYOND thrilled to be going camping WITH OTHER KIDS MOM! DO YOU UNDERSTAND? MORE KIDS! YAY! He's also planning on requesting that Q (Karyn's only boy) sleep in our camper, because their camper "Obviously has girl germs". Ahem...

But yes, I know we are going to have the best time this weekend. It'll be fun to be with old friends. And it's an interesting experience to be planning a camping trip with another woman. She has ideas for meals and has some things already planned...so I'm not just saying, "HEY Go buy this stuff so I can do all the cooking this weekend." Woohoo!

And we're having good food too...beef stew, chili, hobo dinners...good stuff.

Hopefully we'll get some great pictures of our time together so that Dalton can add them to his friend book. Well, and so Mommy can too!

White Belt

2011-10-18T06:21:00.000-07:00

When Dalton started Tae Kwon Do, he was told he would get his first belt when HE earned it. He had to show improvement on his attitude and his focus during classes. The instructor (who totally rocks, by the way) said most kids get their belt after 2 weeks of classes.

We have been rewriting the story of our days lately because it's not a "normal" routine for us to have Dalton involved in something after school. Normally I go get the boys M-Thursday unless my mom and dad bring them home for us (Fridays are always someone else's job because I work late). The boys and I get home somewhere around 6:15 most nights and then I make dinner.

Now that D needs to be at the TKD academy by 6, things have had to change. If Larry is in town, he goes to get the boys and we either meet at home or at the school. If Larry isn't in town, I try to leave work 15 minutes early, and my parents feed the boys so D isn't hungry at his class. Typically 1 parent takes D to class and the other stays with Cole (unless Larry is out of town, then I take D and keep Cole with me).

It's been an adjustment for me because I like routine. I like knowing what's coming up in the evenings. But it has been SO worth it for Dalton. He's started listening when we ask him to do something. He's polite, well, he's always been polite, but now it's even more so. And he's behaving on the bus. We still haven't been able to convince him to stop trying to control his brother -- but it'll come.

Friday night we went out to eat for the first time since we started D at Star. Normally we feel like we are trying to organize the circus at our table when we're out to eat. Dalton is flinging cars around and Cole is all over the place too. It's almost like these two don't know how to eat at a table. Friday night, Dalton sat very calmly at the table and ate his food and didn't fling cars around. It was glorious.

So anyways, back to the point of this post. Last night Larry took D to class, and Cole and I went shopping. Right before they came home, I got a text from Larry saying that D had gotten his white belt 2 classes early.

We are all VERY proud of the kid and the strides he's making towards becoming a better student, friend, and son.

Good Job Dalton!

Drama

2011-10-17T14:40:00.000-07:00

Larry and I have both come to the conclusion that we need to unplug from Facebook a little bit. It has become nothing but a point of frustration for me. I enjoy keeping in touch with friends, but it seems like the people I really want to stay in touch with are not on FB much anymore. So instead I'm reading posts filled with drama or snarky comments. These posts don't sit well with me. I know I'm empathetic enough that when I read snarky comments all day long, I become snarky. So, the best thing for me is to walk away for a little while. I will be doing a mini-detox this week with a full detox over the weekend.

The other issue is that it seems like people will CREATE drama on Facebook. And I'm just tired of it. Tired of the passive aggressive comments or the "no, I'm not really talking about you" (oh wait, maybe I am) comments. Status updates seem to constantly be filled with multiple levels. And it's getting old.

And it's also getting old that each time one of us say something about "working through some issues" or "highly stressed today", our friends immediately ask, "Are you and Larry ok?" (or the opposite). Some of our friends are LITERALLY waiting for our marriage to fall apart. And it's disheartening to know that. So away we go. I am going to make a list on Facebook of the people I love the most, and those will be the only updates I'll read this week. I'm also pointing people here because my cute stories about D & C will be posted here instead of on FB.

Hopefully after a week filled with love, support, and prayer, Larry and I will come out of the other side feeling better about issues (outside our marriage).

Now, since you've listened to me rant, I'll give you a cute D story:
We were helping him get into his gi for tae kwon do. I was tying his top and Larry was cuffing his sleeves. Dalton looks at us and says, "It's like I'm a famous person."

That kid just cracks me up.

October Challenges

2011-10-03T08:37:00.000-07:00

I realized one day last week that September is always kind of a blah month for me. Larry lost a grandma in September the year we got engaged...and I lost my grandma 1 week later. Larry wasn't close to this particular grandma, but I was close to mine.

When I lived in Kentucky, Grams lived with us. She was there 4 days a week for me to get off the bus. We played Yatzhee or Rummy each day and had a snack together. She liked her oatmeal with honey, but knew I liked a little peanut butter added to mine. She came to live with us in Germany too -- for as long as her Visa would allow. And when we moved home to Indiana, she split her time between our house and my Aunt Sharon's house. My cousins and I were pretty lucky to have this woman to help mold our lives. She wasn't perfect, but she was a wonderful Matriarch to our family.

This year on our anniversary Larry had to go out of town for work. Now, we weren't going to do anything big on our anniversary...but at one point it looked like we weren't even going to SEE each other on this day. But he changed his route a little and came to our house to eat dinner with the boys and me. Loved that action. And his boss felt bad for taking Larry away on our anniversary, so Darrell gave us some money to go out on a "proper" anniversary date.

Other than that, September just kind of proved to be challenging. It was sort of one small thing after another. Many of those I cannot even remember today (other than thinking we might have to put our dog down and coming out one day to a flat tire)...but the entire month felt off.

So in October, I'm challenging myself to a few things. I'm not sharing them here...but I will say that this weekend I succeeded at 2 of those challenges. I will also say that the weekend of the 21st - 23rd, those challenges are OFF because we are going camping with my friend Karyn and her family. I feel kind of sorry for that campground --- because I'm pretty sure our 5 kids are going to REALLY like one another.

In other words, September was kind of BLAH, but I am VERY much looking forward to October.

Green Chicken Taco Pizza

2011-10-02T17:08:00.000-07:00

So I've made a goal with myself about trying to save money by not eating out as much. I know when I buy food to cook, I am more likely to want to stay home and eat. I've also learned to cook as much as I can on the weekend because that way I only have to reheat, or throw a few things together but most of the work is done. Saturday I cooked a whole chicken in the oven with some seasonings we bought from Texas Roadhouse. I also cooked a 6 pound pork roast in the crockpot (that recipe is super tasty).

Today for dinner I used some of the dark meat from the chicken to make green chicken taco pizza. It sounds kinda nasty since the word green is in the title...but oh my goodness was it tasty!

Now, let me give you some back story here...Dalton is a picky eater. He used to be VERY picky until we made some changes. We started eating dinner at the table at least 5 times a week. We started making more foods from scratch and letting Dalton mix them together. We call anything that has multiple ingredients a rice bowl or a burrito bowl because he doesn't like casseroles. (Odd child). We started putting the food ON the table, instead of bringing pre-made plates to the table. Somewhere along the way the boys started setting the table without being asked and are thrilled when I start walking out of the kitchen with food.

So anyways, tonight I used the precooked chicken. I poured half a packet of taco seasoning into the chicken after it was reheated. On top of that I added half a jar of green salsa, then about a cup and a half of water. I let that bubble and gurgle until it was reduced down.

Now comes the really complicated part. Are you ready?

Use pre-pizza crust. I rolled out a tube of pizza crust and smushed (it's a word, just ask me) it around until it filled my pan. I poured on regular taco sauce (which we call smooth salsa). Smooth it around then add the chicken mixture on top. When that's all situated to your liking, cover it with cheese. Take my cousin Shannan's advice and use cheese you shred yourself. Bake according to your crust's directions.

When the pizza is done, cover it with your favorite taco parts -- lettuce, tomato, salsa, and ranch were on our list tonight.

I knew the pizza was a hit when Larry didn't think about having sour cream on it until we were putting the 2nd pizza away.

We're all pretty excited about having leftovers one night this week.

God is Hunting Him Down

2011-07-17T09:48:00.000-07:00

I've felt like I needed to return to church for about the last 18 months. I've been hesitant though because...I just went back and erased all the reasons I had come up with. They were all just excuses and they were my excuses for being lazy about finding someplace to worship. Let's just leave it as, "I didn't return to church because it's hard." That's what it all boiled down to.

Larry started feeling the pull to GO to church (he's never been a regular church attendee). His manager at Sprint is studying to become a minister with his uncle's church. A co-worker transferred into their store so that he could attend seminary in Elkhart. (That co-worker is getting his Masters in Divinity and Theology, I think. Also, that co-worker is a hispanic Mennonite, which just seems odd to us). Anyways. Then a 3rd co-worker decided he has heard the Call to go to seminary. Tim will be studying to be a Youth and Family minister.

So now Larry is working at a place where 3/5 employees are going into the ministry. And they talk to him about it. And they talk to him about Him. And Larry starts talking about wanting to start at church. But he's not there yet.

So God sends M to see Larry. M is involved with missions trips (to Haiti specifically). And she starts talking to Larry about the things they see in Haiti and she starts talking about what Larry's strengths are and how he could help. Larry starts to see more of the Light and feel more of the pull that God has.

So in May, we started our journey to finding a family church. We have a list of requirements that isn't very long, but a couple points we're sticking with. (Funny, telling God what you want...but there it is)

At the first church we visited, the message was about being invited to church. Hmm...Larry's first message from God was that we are all invited. Fitting.

We went to another church and another church and at about the 4th church, we had the message that we don't need to have all the crap in our lives. The STUFF in our lives doesn't make our life better. The stuff just fills up our homes. Larry deals with this a lot. There are many GOOD reasons for that struggle, but it's still a message I'm SO glad he heard.

Today we went to a church where the main message was, "You don't have to do this alone. You don't have to walk this walk without help. I can help you. I am here for you. Tie yourself to me and let's be together." Such a wonderful message.

Afterwards Larry told some Masonic family of ours that he feels like God is hunting him down.

And I have to completely agree with that. And I'm thrilled that God loves our family enough to hunt Larry down and say, "HELLO! Come here and listen!"

testing

2011-05-24T08:28:00.001-07:00

testing

Birthdays

2011-04-21T09:24:00.001-07:00

My Best Friend and I have all our children's birthdays within 4 months of one another. Boom-boom-boom-boom. It's busy but fun. Luckily, they will be home visiting for 2 weeks in June. And over those 2 weeks, Mason turns 5. Not at all sure how that is even possible, but it's true. And Mason has decided he wants an Angry Birds birthday this year. So I'm attempting to make him stuffed Angry Birds for his birthday present. I'm starting with trying to make him about 4 different designs (probably a couple of each so he can create a decent game).

Cole's birthday is next in our family. I decided today (and Larry's ok'd it) that we are having an Art Party for Colton's 2nd birthday. He loves to draw and color, so we're going to just lay out a bunch of art stuff and let him (and everyone else) go at it. Then the pictures that are drawn for Cole will get made into a book for him. Luckily, this is something Lisa and Tim can add to when they are visiting. :)

Then next up is Dalton's birthday 2 weeks after Mason's. Dalton wants to go see Transformers on his birthday (it comes out ON his birthday), then we'll probably have a party with family.

Last, but not least, is Rissy. She'll be 3 this year. And since she's the only niece, I have approximately 3000 ideas of things to make for her. Not sure what we'll actually do though. :)

Do you ever feel like Birthdays gang up on you? These 4 birthdays aren't even the only birthdays we have from May - September....you can add in a myriad of aunts/uncles, Lisa, my Dad, my Mom, and Hunter (our only ACTUAL nephew). It's a busy time!

Cell Phone Manners

2011-02-23T19:01:00.001-08:00

Please note...the following is what I consider to be etiquette for using your cell phone...

1. Do not call someone after 10pm unless:
a) you know the person is awake -- as in YOU ARE 100% positive
b) you are worried about the person in a true and caring way
c) you are NOT calling someone about business -- calling after 10pm about business is tacky
d) the person told you to call later than 10pm
e) you are bleeding or someone in their family has had an emergency.
f) you have just learned how to speak again after 15 years of silence

2. Do not call someone before 8am unless:
a-e) See all above reasons for calling after 10pm
f) you think it's a good idea to wake the entire household up -- and honestly, how many parents are happy when you wake their kids in the morning?

3. Do not TEXT someone after 10pm unless:
a) you have been carrying on a conversation with the person and it's just continuing after the witching hour.
b) you have a demanding reason for "hoping" they might possibly answer your late hour text
c) you have express written permission to text that person at any hour
d) you have HUGE NEWS. And by huge, I mean gargantuan (we learned that word in story time today...the kids loved that word). As in, "I know it's 11pm, but I just took a pregnancy test and after 3 years of trying...we're having a baby!" or "Hey, I passed the bar exam!" or something along those lines
e) you have suddenly turned from a hippo into a human and you are excited to have opposable thumbs. And seriously, how many of us could text that?

4. Do not text someone between the hours of midnight and 7am unless:
a) you are going to the hospital
b) you are going to jail -- and somehow magically retained the use of your phone
c) someone is dead/dying/bleeding
d) you just noticed that someone's car was being stolen...but perhaps a text isn't the best way to deliver THAT news

No matter what...please understand that it is never ok to text your friendly cell phone representative at 3am (because you are awake) to tell him that you might come see him at work today. Yes, I speak from experience here.

No matter what...it is not cool to call someone at 10:15pm to say, "Hey, what time do you work tomorrow?"

If you know the person works 1st shift and follows those hours most of the time...these are the rules I think most people should follow.

OH, and if you are someone who was in our wedding...or someone our kids call Aunt/Uncle...or someone who is part of our family...you are exempt from all these rules.

Absent...

2011-02-21T18:46:00.000-08:00

To Whom It May Concern:

Please excuse Beth's absence from her blog. She's been dealing with real life crud lately and finds it difficult to write something interesting when dealing with real life crud. Also, who wants to read about someone's septic needing to be pumped, then a furnace going out a week later, and during those two activities about everyone in a house getting sick?

Thank you for your understanding.

Cleaning 1/28 & 1/29

2011-01-28T20:16:00.000-08:00

Friday:

Loaded dishwasher.
Organized other dirty dishes so the kitchen looked cleaner -- do you ever do that? Please tell me that you do that too!
Went to the bathroom with the plan of cleaning 1 shelf in our closet...cleaned that 1 shelf, organized everything that went back on that shelf...then cleaned our shelf that hangs above our toilet (thinking Larry won't be able to find anything in the bathroom tomorrow). Came out of the bathroom with an entire grocery store sack of trash -- GAH! Tomorrow I need to wipe down that shelf, work on the other shelf (we only have 2 shelves in our closet that hold stuff other than towels), and do a general cleaning of the bathroom.
Did a load of laundry -- tomorrow is folding day. Ick.

Larry was equally busy tonight before I got home. He cleaned off (what we call) the game table and straightened up the living room. Trust me, with the two little tornadoes who live here, cleaning the living room is a J-O-B!

Tomorrow we're taking a load of stuff to the storage shed (our Christmas junk)...and I might start cutting out the present I'm thinking about making my 5 favorite long-distant friends for Valentine's Day.

I'll update tomorrow with everything that I get done before Game Night.

Ideas

2011-01-17T12:52:00.000-08:00

So, I told you I'm trying to win a Silhouette right?

It cuts vinyl -- which is what I'm really wanting it to do. My "other" cutter cuts my scrapbooking paper perfectly well....but it doesn't cut reverse images. I have ideas of things to do with vinyl and they all include reverse images.

So I'm on the hunt for a Silhouette. And because Larry and I are watching our pennies (and our nickels, dimes, and quarters too), I'm trying to win one because that would just be FANfreakingTASTIC. (and yes Dad, that is a teacher-y word)

SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOooo, I am entering another contest...I'm glad most of you that read this love me, but I promise, my very next post will be a fun post. Or I should promise, it won't mention the Silhouette. K?

Silhouette Giveaway

2011-01-17T12:43:00.000-08:00

I am very interested in the Silhouette cutter. It's similar to a Cricut in what it can do, but polar opposites in HOW IT DOES IT. Perhaps I'm just not using my cricut to the best of my abilities...but I really am drooling over a Silhouette. So I'm entering another giveaway for one -- I figure someday I will win one. Or else the Silhouette people will decided to give ME ONE TO TRY OUT, then I can give one away to one of my readers! Wouldn't that be lovely? Did you hear that Silhouette people? I'm up for a giveaway too!

But for now, I'm entering this giveaway...over here...see it? :)

21 Day Challenge...day 1

2011-01-05T18:57:00.000-08:00

Day 1 Challenge: Clean 1 Junk Drawer

Ok, I'm going to say that I did this. Sort of. We don't have junk drawers in our kitchen...or most other places in our house. We just sort of have our stuff spread about.

So I took the challenge as "Clean 1 drawer in your house".

I cleaned out the entire dresser in Dalton's room. It's the one that Cole uses for his clothes. After I do laundry, I will re-organize the entire thing because right now the thing is empty.

I haven't taken any photos yet. I will take them once there are clothes back in the dresser.

I did want to check in though because we are supposed to review our progress.

Day 1...complete.

Silhouette Giveaway

2010-12-27T17:17:00.000-08:00

Have you ever heard of the Silhouette cutter? It is very similar to one that (I happen to own) that is named after a bug---and rhymes with "picket". Familylicious is giving away a Silhouette with a pretty sweet prize pack.

One of the ways I can enter to win this S_W_E_E_T machine is to blog about it. They want to know why I want a Silhouette. So here are my top 5 reasons...

1. With my "Rhymes with picket" machine, I cannot cut vinyl to be put onto shirts. Well, I can, but I cannot flip it backwards. So I can only cut out graphics...not words. And I really want to be able to design my own shirts. I have plans, ya'll.

2. NO MORE CARTRIDGES. *sigh*...love that fact.

3. It simply plugs into your computer and sits with your computer. Although this can be a minus for it to because my other machine is portable.

4. I am dying to do wall vinyl. Yes, I can do this with my machine, but I want to do it with THIS ONE.

5. *mini story time*...my husband LOVES to have the newest and best techy items. He wants the coolest phone and the best everything else. We have 4 gaming systems because we, apparently, cannot make a decision. Now, onto how this affects me. I like to have the coolest crafting items. I have no extra money to buy one of my own, so I'm doing my best to win one.

And those are my top 5 reasons for wanting this awesome machine.

A new FUN Craft Blog I Like

2010-12-26T15:52:00.000-08:00

Dinner...with lots of extra L-O-V-E

2010-12-22T19:36:00.000-08:00

Ok, so Dalton goes through phases where he wants to help me cook. He hasn't helped me in months.

Tonight I was expecting him to be crabby with me because I would not let him spend the night at Ganny and Pappy's house. He was just getting ready to "get his FIT on" when I said that he'd want to eat dinner with me since we were having spaghetti.

After that I was deemed the world's best Mom. I'm not above bribery, so I'm good with him thinking I'm the world's best Mom.

When we got home, I told him that he could play the computer while I made dinner. Nope, he informed me that he was helping me cook dinner.

"Look, I've already got my step-stool." Please keep in mind my 5 year old is almost to my shoulder and does not need the 6 inch step stool. AT. ALL.

This is about the time when Colton flipped his ever-loving lid. DALTON WAS ON HIS STEP STOOL. He proceeded to start pulling Dalton, pushing Dalton, yelling at Dalton, tattling in his baby talk...all over Dalton standing on the stool.

Dalton refused to give up the stool. "Mom, I had it first."

True story.

This problem was solved by getting a dining room chair for Colton.

So now I've got Dalton on my left helping stir the meat and Colton on my right doing....well, anything he wanted. He helped stir the pasta. He tried to dump my jewelry bowl I keep in the kitchen. He picked up every single thing on the counter. But he was with Mommy and D and he was happy.

When I make spaghetti, I measure the salt for the water in my hand. So Dalton needed to add something to a pot...so he added a pinch of sugar to the pasta sauce.

I look over at Cole about then and he has his hand out. He wanted to add something to dinner too. And so it went with everything...stirring, measuring, tasting...Mommy did it, Dalton did it, Cole better do it too.

It took me longer to make dinner tonight. That's for sure. But both boys declared dinner to be the BEST DINNER EVER. And I can't complain. It was made with 2 extra doses of love.

Somehow I don't think that chair will be coming out of the kitchen anytime soon though. Cole was excited to help cook tonight.

Another Copy Over Post

2010-12-22T06:51:00.000-08:00

Ok, apparently my other blog is still readable, I just can't write on it right now...and I'm fine with that. But I had to rescue this post from inevitable doom...

From February 2010: STEER CLEAR DEAR

Well, last night I got to mark some an event off my life list that I wasn't really interested in doing. I hit my first deer. Actually, as my friend Scott says, I'm an overachiever and I hit 2 deer.

We were driving home from Mom and Dad's house about 7:15pm and I didn't even see thedeer until I hit them. And I mean that literally. I did not see them coming across the road or in front of me until I hit them. The front of my van took a bit of damage from the first deer. He basically bounced off my hood.

The 2nd deer hit me in the front quarter panel. It's pretty squashed. And it makes my door squeak whenever I open it. I can assure you that I am not a fan of that sound!

Before I tell you Dalton's reactions, let me say that the boys and I are all fine. The van is drive able, although I don't recommend attacking deer in a minivan.

When we hit the deer, Dalton says, "Mommy, that was that?" He had loads of concern in his voice about what we just hit. When I told him he starts wailing, "What if that deer has a Mommy who is sad that you hurt him? What if THAT WAS THE MOMMY? Her kids are going to cry. I think that deer had a brother and you hurt him..." it went on and on and on. There is a reason we say that kid is going to be on Broadway one day -- he's got a dramatic streak wider than the Grand Canyon.

He investigated the front of my van when we got back to Mom and Dads (to check for damage). He didn't like that I scared the deer enough that he pooped on my van. Let me tell you that I didn't like the fact that the deer POOPED ON MY VAN. My dad (ever the comedian) says, "You scared the shit out of that deer. HAR HAR HAR." ahem.

Dalton also didn't like the fact that there were white hairs on my van that came from the deer. That means, "HIS TAIL WILL BE COLD." sigh

This morning we went by that spot to see if the deer were there and when I told him, "Look D, the deer aren't on the side of the road. That means they went to live back in the woods."

Dalton asked, "These woods or those woods?" Pointing at two sets of woods near the accident sight.

I picked one and he wailed, "BUT WHY NOT THOSE WOODS? THEY ARE NICER TO LIVE IN." Apparently the kid knows his woods and the poor deer are stuck living in the "ghetto" woods instead of the "mansion" woods. As I said...one day, BROADWAY.

Maybe he'll win a Tony...he's got the streak.

Perfect House

2010-12-21T12:53:00.001-08:00

Larry and I are NOT in a place where we are planning to move anytime soon. We are not financially ready for that, nor do we think our house would sell very fast (or for what we owe). Thank you, Economy, for that!

But Sunday we went to look at a house during an Open House. We've discovered what our basic ideal layout includes. There were things that we didn't care for, but it was nice to finally be able to say "WOW, this is a wonderful home."

Let's be honest, I'm normally the one who is picking things apart. I'd love to move into the ideal home without having to do any major remodeling.

This house would be that ideal home. If only we had about two hundred EXTRA thousands of dollars lying about.

Want to know Colton's favorite part of the house? The garage. None of the houses he's in have a connected garage. He had no clue what that big open space was for, but he knew he loved it.

Dalton's favorite part was probably just getting to poke about a house that isn't his.

Larry and I both liked, well, just about everything. Lots of land...TONS OF STORAGE...4 bedrooms...completed basement...TONS OF STORAGE.

Have you gotten to see YOUR perfect house?

Dalton's Birthday AGAIN (July 2010)

2010-12-19T19:03:00.000-08:00

Dalton turned 5 yesterday. He chose that for his birthday he wanted the following:

1. A trip to Chuck E. Cheese (This was chosen over putt-putt and bowling)

2. Spaghetti for dinner at Ganny and Pappy's house (my parents)

3. Cupcakes with pieces of Pop-tarts inside with ice cream scoops on the side: the Pop-Tarts were for scooping the ice cream

4. A sleep-over at Ganny and Pappy's house

He got all 4 of those.

He was thrilled with his presents. And he got a nice assortment of presents. He doesn't know he will get more presents tonight, this time from Gramma Mel. And I am sure he will love those too!

At 5 Dalton is one of the most kind hearted, loving children I've ever met. He is also working on his sense of humor. A couple weeks ago he asked Larry, "Why did the buffalo cross the road?" (I'm sure that not the right animal, but I can't remember what he said) Larry said, "I don't know."

Dalton said, "Because it was the chicken's day off." HAHAHAHAHAHAHA - he laughed long and hard and even slapped his knee a bunch of times. "Wasn't that funny guys?"

Dalton is very big for his age and sometimes people get mad at him when he acts like he's 4. They tell him, "You are a big boy, you should act your age." I quickly tell them, "He IS acting his age. He is 4 years old."

Dalton loves his little brother and that feeling is very much reciprocated. They play together sometimes and watch TV together sometimes. Dalton loves to go into Cole's bedroom and play peek-a-boo while I try to finish getting ready in the morning.

Dalton is a wonderful boy and I'm so glad that God graced us with his spirit in our household!

A Gift (July 2010)

2010-12-19T19:00:00.002-08:00

Ok, so I went to read something my cousin Shannan wrote as a guest blogger onEmily's blog, and decided to read some of Emily's writing. If you have time, you should definitely read Shannan's post about craggy farmers, aprons, overalls, and gardens. She writes beautifully and I'm so glad that God decided that the extended Sissom family needed her (she's married to my dad's cousin's son...but she's still family).

ANYWHOO, I was poking around on Emily's blog when I saw that she posed this question:

Who is a gift to you?

I had many people pop into my head...

Dalton --hello, all children are a gift from God...

Colton --yes, he's a gift, but I also think he's God's little "Payback" in a walking-talking package

My parents --I know raising me wasn't always easy, but I never EVER doubted theirlove...and how much of a gift is that? Immeasurable!

Lisa -- good friends are one of the best gifts and she's definitely the BEST!

But I think the person who is the biggest gift to me is my husband. Larry and I should have met years before we did. We worked at the same place (K-mart...ick). Near as we can figure, we worked there less than a week apart. We knew a few of the same people. His dad knows some of the people who were like 2nd parents to me in high school. We grew up 10 miles apart, but it could have been 1000 miles.

When we met, he told me 3 days later, "I think we're going to be together for a very long time." We're going on 10 years of a relationship now. It's the longest either of us have been with another person. He's not jealous, but he knows I am. He treats me well when I need it and ignores me when I need it.

He has come to know that sometimes when I'm crying there is truly no reason. Or if there is a reason, I can't put it to words. He supports me regardless what I want and truly "WANTS ME" to have more time away from the house.

He loves me like no one else ever has and that means the world to me. I know I can gripe at him and he isn't going anywhere. He is truly the best gift I have been given.

I love you honey!

Worth It (july 2010)

2010-12-19T19:00:00.001-08:00

Last night, as promised yesterday, we had smoke sausage kabobs. Our veggie choices were cherry tomatoes, onions, green bell peppers, and mushrooms. This was all served with rice (which I am the only one to eat last night).

Dalton was told he needed to pick 5 chunks of veggies. He chose 3 cherry tomatoes, a piece of onion, and a chunk of mushroom.

After eating 1 tomato, his brother promptly dumped Dalton's plate on the floor. Ahem, thanks Cole.

Since he still hadn't eaten all his vegetables, he was told he needed to help Daddy eat his. [He did NOT want to start over on vegetables with a fresh plate] Apparently, he ate more than 5 pieces. He told Larry he didn't like any of them, but he tried them.

And that's where we are right now. He doesn't have to like it, but he has to try them.

He also had a bite of my rice because he always insists he doesn't like that either. (or mashed potatoes for that matter)

We finished off the evening with a trip to Dairy Queen because Dalton had a coupon for Summer Reading.

He told me it was worth eating his veggies because we let him eat his entire cone. That kid cracks me up.

Dalton's Birthday (July 2010)

2010-12-19T18:52:00.000-08:00

Oh we had the best day. I am so glad that I've made the choice to take the kids' birthdays off. Each year I know that 2 of my vacation days are spent on them (unless their birthdays fall on the weekend, of course).

Dalton chose Chuck E. Cheese for his birthday. When we walked in, he told the man at the door that it was his birthday so he got a sticker. We played at Chuck E. Cheese for a couple hours, and Dalton won some pretty cool prizes. Cole even played some of the games and discovered that Daddy knew how to go down a slide -- and Daddy even taught him how!

Please enjoy this pictures from our time at Chuck E. Cheese...because I enjoyed taking them!

Riding a ride --which I'm sure Dalton could tell you the name of...but I have no clue! He spent a lot of time riding stuff, then coming and telling me "HEY MOM! I just rode the *blah-blah-blah*". [He didn't actually say BLAH BLAH BLAH, but that's how I heard it...sort of like Charlie Brown's teacher.]

I don't know why, but Cole loved this particular game.

Riding the monster truck on Cole's token...Cole decided he did NOT like it.

Two of my handsome HANDSOME men. :)

Silver Beach (parts 1 & 2) [August 2010]

2010-12-19T18:46:00.002-08:00

Part 1:

Yesterday Larry had the day off. I love when he has Sundays off because we actually get to do Family Stuff. After Dalton told us that he had never been to the beach, we decided that Sunday we'd go to the beach. We didn't figure you could start Kindergarten (GAH! *SOB*) without having played on the beach.

For those of you who are stinky at geography, Indiana is smack in the middle of a bunch of other states. No oceans ANYWHERE CLOSE for us. Instead we went to our "local greatlake" and played on the beach there.

Sunday morning when I told Dalton that we needed to get a move on, he asked "Why?" I replied with, "Um, because we're going to the beach. We have to get going."

I love how his mind works because his response was, "We need to take sunscreen. I hear the beach is pretty sunny." Yeah, we're kind of hoping it's sunny...'tis the entire point of the beach.

After stopping at Meijer for water and gasoline, we were on our way. We were lucky to get a great spot on the beach and it wasn't even that crowded!

I'll write more tonight, because my camera cord is at home. I will leave you with this comment of Larry's as we were cleaning up to have lunch...

"I was having fun until now. Now, I AM DONE WITH THE SAND."

Part 2:

Ok, so Dalton was immediately IN THE WATER. He ran straight in and was thrilled. The water was 80 degrees and just choppy enough to make it fun. There were small waves that Larry and Dalton played in for about 2 hours.

Dalton was thrilled to spend his entire day in the water. He came out for a few minutes to play in the sand with Cole and I, but for the most part he was in the water.

Colton was ok with the water to start with. He was smiley and happy, but was more interested in the sand toys.

By the end of the day, Cole was having a blast in the water too. He never did like going out very far into the water, but he loved being up where the tide was coming in and out. He stomped on the waves and splashed about. He loved splashing, then listening to me shout at him for "getting Mommy wet".

We finished out the day with a late lunch at Silver Beach Pizza. Within 10 minutes of being in the van on the way home, Cole was asleep...within 15 more minutes, Dalton joined him.

Overall, it was a great "First Beach Trip" for both boys.

Dalton's First Day (August 2010)

2010-12-19T18:46:00.001-08:00

Please ignore the woman sitting in the corner of the room (see, right over there...yep, in that corner). Yes, ignore the woman sobbing.

Trust me. She's an emotional wreck.

If you are nice to her, it'll just make her cry more.

Trust me. I'm a moron like that...oops, I guess I just admitted it was me, huh?

Yes, my baby started Kindergarten and yes, I was a wreck that day. Literally. Sick to my stomach, cried 2 or 3 times. Bawled like a newborn the night before.

Larry found it all humorous. He gets a kick out of my "runaway emotions" over stuff about the boys growing up.

*waiting on the bus...reading a quick book with Dad and Pappy*

Why am I telling you all this instead of talking about the boy starting school? Because he's a boy. So when he got home, here's what I got..."School was great. I can't wait to go back. I stayed on green. Can I have some milk?"

*I promise, he didn't get on the bus while it was dark...it was just cloudy that morning.*

I guess maybe I did want to have a girl. I want to know what he did at school and he can barely remember the bus ride home.

*they write each child's bus number on their hands in the morning...helps with getting them back on the same bus in the afternoon*

He was very kind to one of his pre-school friends. His friend was VERY sad about starting school and Dalton sat with him and rubbed his back. It was so sweet. (Yep, that made me cry too)

He was soaked when he got off the bus...between sweating while playing all day (2 RECESSES MOM! 2!) and getting to drink from the water fountain (always a joy for him)...he was soaked. He woke up very easily this morning though and was so happy to get on the bus. And his friend was sitting in the front seat too!

Comments (3):

Lisa Troyer @ 08/20/2010 ( 6:47:46 AM )
I am with you on the emotional stuff Beth! I felt so sick that whole first day Mason was in Preschool. The only reason I was able to keep from crying was because I didn't want Mason to get nervous. I barely held it in! And yeah with boys...sigh. How was school? Did you have fun? Yes. Sigh.
Billie Fultz @ 08/20/2010 ( 8:20:05 AM )
EXCELLENT post Beth!!! I smiled and cried when I read it. Brought it all back in a flash! Although I will say you were a bit more reluctant to let go of my hand. Love you Baby!!

Good Thing Salsa isn't a Vegetable (September 2010)

2010-12-19T18:20:00.000-08:00

So one of my friends needed a smile today...too much negativity in her life and all. So I wrote her a little message about Dalton (who is very much like her son)...I hope you enjoy our dinner adventure from last night!

Dalton does not like any of his foods to touch. The only exceptions are obvious ones like sandwiches and pizza. Oh, and anything that has cheese touching it...because, hello, who doesn't like cheese?

So I made nachos last night. I didn't have enough hamburger for our entire pan of nachos so I added black beans to it. For Dalton's, I only added a bit of the meat/bean mixture...cheese, chips, ranch. Done. I handed him his plate and he said, "Oh good...no vegetables for me."

Larry and I ate our nachos straight off the cookie sheet because I had a helluva time getting them off the sheet onto a plate...so I gave up. I put sour cream, salsa, and taco sauce (the smooth stuff) on ours.

I sat near Larry on the couch and we chowed down. Dalton looks over and says, "I need a plain chip please." So we find him one and he proceeds to pick up a chunk of salsa and eat it. Then he asks for another plain chip and finds another chunk. Lather, rinse, repeat for the entire tray of nachos. I ended up having to get the jar of salsa to add more to our nachos because the brat ate all of our salsa.

Then he asked for a plate of chips and salsa. (He still hadn't eaten *his* food yet).

At the end he said, "Thanks for not making me eat any vegetables tonight Mom".

Did I mention that the salsa was corn and black bean salsa?

Yeah, good thing there wasn't a single vegetable in there.

Time Line (October 2010)

2010-12-19T18:18:00.000-08:00

5:15pm (only 15 minutes late)...FINALLY leave work.

5:45pm ... arrive to pick up the boys.

6ish pm...leave for home.

6:15pm...arrive home -- Dalton IMMEDIATELY heads for the computer to play Cat in the Hat or something -- Cole follows me into the kitchen after he throws a fit (he wanted to go outside)

We were eating by 6:30pm...leftover spaghetti -- YUMMY.

Sidenote: Cole has taken to coming to the kitchen to "steal" bites of dinner while I cook. He's really cute because he acts like he is being sneaky. I'm thinking that this "cute" behavior might bite me in the butt when he's a teenager.

6:50 p.m. ...I take a bathroom break....at which point Cole climbs into the tub fully clothed and tries to turn on the water. Therefore he gets stripped down to his birthday suit and gets to play in the tub (at this point Dalton is still on the computer -- by now playing Sesamestreet.org).

7pm...switch boys for tub vs. computer. Cole gets to watch those danged DUCKS while Dalton plays in the tub.

7:10pm ... Dalton is still in the tub -- Cole goes down for the night (for the first time).

7:30pm... after Dalton got out of the tub we played on the computer for a few minutes alone and talked about his day. He was asleep by 7:40pm...at which point, Cole got back up.

Cole was wound for sound...he played with me, screamed he wanted the DUCKS, finally realized Mommy meant no, and played with me some more. We looked at a coloring book. I found out that Colton can match pictures up (WOOHOO!).

About 8pm, I put Cole back to bed and I haven't heard a peep since then.

We had a great night where I got to spend lots of alone time with each boy. I hope it's nights like this that the boys remember when they are grown-ups.

Learning is Fantastic (October 2010)

2010-12-19T18:14:00.000-08:00

I have always been fond of learning new things. I like to learn about different things. But I've discovered that, lately, I like to watch others learn things more.

Maybe it's the teacher in me. Because, trust me, once you're a teacher...you always look at things like a teacher. And Librarians are very similar to teachers in their thought process.

Maybe it's the Mommy in me...but I am LOVING watching my children learn new things.

Dalton is learning to read. Did you hear me? My baby is learning to sound words out and figure out what different combinations of letters mean. Today I turned around to look at him in the van and realized that he was READING the back of his video case all on his own. He was sounding out words and seeing how many of them he could read. There were some HUGE words on that case, so he didn't read much of it. BUT HE WAS TRYING. He was working at it. He was SOUNDING THINGS OUT. Everytime I see him trying to learn this new thing...this huge thing...this wonderous thing...I get all teary eyed.

I love to read and I know he will love to read too. And I get teary eyed because I know it's so important to HIM that he learns to read.

This kid is going to knock the world's socks off once he's reading everything around.

Now then...Dalton isn't the only one who is learning new awesome things. Colton is mastering some pretty huge language skills too. He's starting to learn to talk. I've been noticing (a lot) lately that he babbles in sentences. He's got fluctuation in his tones and has meaning behind his garbles. But now his babbles are starting to be seasoned with REAL WORDS.

We drive past a landfill each morning. Garbage trucks are always at the landfill dropping off their loads. He loves to see garbage trucks. And he can say garbage truck.

He also loves to say DUCK (actually, he always yells that word). He says truck and points out any truck he sees. He will tell you, "Dadddd truck" when he sees Larry coming down the road. He knows names for lots of people, our dog, Mom and Dad's dog, and more.

It seems like every day he is learning new words or signs. He doesn't use nearly as many signs as Dalton did, but he has a lot more verbal words than Dalton did at this point.

oh, and Colton's favorite word right now is HAAAAAAAS (horse). Let me tell you, I never knew how many horses I drove past daily until he rode with me to work yesterday...cause he pointed out every single last one of them.

Thankful (from November 2010)

2010-12-19T18:10:00.002-08:00

Yes, I know. Thanksgiving was 4 days ago. I'm a little late in this post. I prefer to look at it as being 361 days early for next year. Ha! Truly, I didn't take much time online for things other than the necessities this weekend. So now I'm taking some time to write things I'm thankful for.

Friends...always the first thing on my Thankful list. Possibly not the most "essential" thing (things such as housing, security, love come to mind for that...), but definitely one of the most needed. My friends keep me sane. Scott dropped by Saturday for like 15 minutes. That's all. When he left, I felt happier. And no, I wasn't happier because he left. I was happier because I had seen him. I love spending time with my friends. When Lisa visits, I know I will see her for about an hour or two. And that will last us until Spring when we venture down to her neck of the woods for a weekend (I swear, I'm trying Lisa!). I think it speaks of a true friend when you can spend a total of 8 hours a YEAR with someone and it's, somehow, enough. We could EASILY spend 40 hours a week together -- trust me, because we used to when we worked together -- somehow, though, those 8 hours a year become just enough. We send each other funny cards and cute texts and we harass each other on Facebook. We know what's going on with the other one's kids because we take that 30 seconds a day to THINK about the other one and pay attention. I have many more friends than these two, but these two are the ones I know I can lean on when I need to.

Family -- oh boy do I have a fantastic family. My sons drive me absolutely bananas. They are such monsters sometimes, but I can't imagine my life without either one of them. They are such a part of my life and world, sewn into the very essence of who I am. Dalton read his first complete book this weekend (I've only told approximately 90 people so far, I'm not proud or anything!) and Colton has learned a few more words to say. Their accomplishments are such a part of my world, I'm thrilled to get to have THEM call ME "Mommy." And on those rough days, I try to remember why I'm so thankful for both of thesekids.

Larry and I are also SO lucky to have such wonderful support from some of our other family. Our parents, aunts, uncles, favorite cousins...like I said...we're thankful and blessed.

That brings me to one of the people in my life I'm the most Thankful for. Larry. We drive each other mad sometimes. But the thing is...I know I can drive him crazy for a week straight with hormones and stress and just being me. And on that 8th day, he still smiles when I walk in the door and says, "Hi honey. I'm glad you are home."

I'm a very lucky woman!

What are you thankful for?

Comments (1):

Lisa @ 11/30/2010 ( 9:34:59 AM )
Oh so true! I am honored to be your friend, truely!

I am thankful for much of the same with just some name substitutions. :) You of course,one of my bestest friends, my dear friend in Nebraska and Minnesota, my sweet monster kiddos, a great hubby and also, I must give a shout out to God. Who has taken care of us always.

Dalton Read His First Book

2010-12-19T18:10:00.001-08:00

My 5 year old sat down and read his first book this weekend.

You might be wondering what the big deal is about this. I am a librarian and an avid book lover. AVID. My husband likes books too. My Mom reads like crazy (gee, wonder where I learned it). My Mother-in-law reads all the time.

In our family...reading your first book is a BIG FRICKIN' DEAL!

He read "It's Not Easy Being Big". It is a Sesame Street book. He read through it once by himself...adding a few words here and there. Honestly, he was just following normal English sentence structure. Then Larry pointed out that the word "You" wasn't actually there. After that, he took off.

(Now, I went to school to be a teacher (early elementary to be exact). I see the different "mistakes" that could have been marked against him...but I'm ignoring that because I think this is definitely a milestone! So if you are reading this and thinking, "Oh, he's just reading a repetitive book..." or "But, the text in that is so easy..." or "ANYTHING ELSE"...please don't try to explain to me that he wasn't really reading the book. Because to you I say, "PESHAW" and also, I stick my tongue out at you.)

I'm very very very very proud of my boy! I know that this is just the first of MANY books that he will read this year.

Now I'm off to look up books that I can buy him for Christmas. We need more books. Shhh, don't tell Larry.

3 Ring Circus

2010-12-19T08:15:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we took Jamie to get 2 round bales for her horses. Larry and Jamie could have easily handled the job, but we all went because we try to spend as much time together as possible whenever Larry is off.

So off to Bristol we go. We stopped at Larry's favorite gas station to get fuel. Then we had to stop at a gas station in Bristol to get cough drops. We finally get to Jamie's about an hour later than planned.

In the backseat of the truck we had Colton (behind Larry), Jamie (in the middle) and Dalton (behind me). As we're driving Colton is announcing "Haaas" (horse) as we pass by farms. Now keep in mind, we were on a road driving into AMISH country. We passed by a lot of horses. And he announced EVERY SINGLE LAST ONE OF THEM.

Then he realized there were horses on the other side of the road too, so he started announcing THOSE. "Haaaas"....."Haaaas"..."Haaas"

Dalton is in a slightly jealous phase right now. If we acknowledge Colton in ANY WAY, Dalton starts doing whatever Cole was doing. Since we were acknowledging Colton's announcements "HAAAAS HAAAAS HAAAS", Dalton started announcing all the horses. Then he got bored with this, so he started announcing random stuff. "FENCE"---"House"---"GRASS GRASS GRASS" and so on. He ended up bored with this game too and started saying REALLY random words such as "HEDGEHOG".

Yeah, we don't have hedgehogs in our area.

So far our circus sounds like this...
Cole--"Haaaas"
Dalton--"Fence"..."Mailbox"..."Pothole"
Cole--"Haaaas"..."Haaas"..."Haaas"
Dalton--"Tree tree tree"
Cole--"Haaaas"
Dalton -- "Hedgehog"

ALL AT THE SAME TIME.

Now if you add Jamie into the mix, it was really crazy. Jamie was actually telling us stories. I'm so glad that she knows she can talk to us. She tells us random things that go on and doesn't feel like she can't tell us the stupid stuff she does. So while Cole is announcing all the "haaaas's" that we're passing and Dalton is competing for attention, Jamie tells us about when she superglued her lips together. Oh wait, I should tell you HOW she said it.

"Dad, did I ever tell you about the first time I superglued my lips together?"

Yep, she said FIRST time.

That backseat was definitely the world's smallest 3 ring circus yesterday!

EDIT: We went to get more hay yesterday...and the 2 ring circus (Jamie wasn't with us this time) ensued again.

Hello Again

2010-12-19T08:13:00.001-08:00

I am having issues with my hosting company for my other blog...so I'm moving back to this one. Honestly, I've had nothing but problems with them since they started hosting my blog, so I'm not really sad to be leaving them.

Before I drop that blog tomorrow, though, I am going to copy some of my posts over to here so I have them. Some of them were things that I wanted to remember to add to the boys' scrapbooks, so please bear with me while I copy and paste some stuff.

Thanks!
Beth

CrunchyPenguin.com

2010-03-02T17:43:00.001-08:00

If you are interested in what's going on with us...check out my main blog

www.crunchypenguin.com

And also, check out my other blog on BLOGGER "Healthier Me"

Make sure you take a second to comment because I love knowing who reads my words!

Busy Family

2009-10-01T17:35:00.000-07:00

It seems that every time a season is changing, our family gets busy. Now that Fall is here, we are going to horse shows, celebrating 4 birthdays in October, having a party, and who knows what else. I tend to do "spring cleaning" in the Fall. I want the house to feel good when we have to close up the windows.

I don't mind being busy, as long as I have the time to get stuff done around the house too. Saturday morning I think I'll get up and clean, workout, come home and finish cleaning before we go celebrate Scott's birthday.

So if I disappear for a while, please know it's just because we are trying to fit in as much as possible into this season. Winter will come soon and that means we'll be stuck inside more.

The Circus Came to Town

2009-09-18T10:07:00.000-07:00

If you would like to read about our adventure to the Big Top, please head over to Crunchy Penguin. I wrote the entire adventure there!

Convertibles Are the New Roller Coasters

2009-08-12T20:05:00.000-07:00

Saturday night I decided it was just too hot to cook in our kitchen. (We had forgotten to turn the AC on before we left that morning...oops) So we decided to go to Hacienda for dinner. Yummy Yummy.

Scott and Justin met us

too since they were plannin

g on coming over to play games later that night. When we were getting ready to leave and head to our house, Larry told Justin to give me a ride home.

See, Justin has a sweet silver convertible. A Mitsubishi Spider to be exact. Larry's been trying to get me to ride with Justin for a while. So while I was finishing changing Cole's diaper, Justin came up to me and asked if I wanted a ride.

Um, hello. It was 80 degrees out and gorgeous. Did I want a ride in a fancy dancy sports car? Um, yeah.

When Dalton saw Uncle Justin's car, he asked if he could ride home with Justin and Mommy. Justin said yes because he's a good uncle and all. So Larry told Scott to grab D's car seat. Dalton was SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO excited about riding in the convertible, that he carried his own car seat over to Larry.

Larry got Dalton all situated while I got Cole into his spot in the truck. When I turned around to get in with Justin, this is what I saw.

This look is Pure Excitement.

He's already talking about when Uncle Justin will take him for another ride.

Gotta love Uncles.

Finally

2009-08-07T15:42:00.000-07:00

Thursday

2009-08-06T19:42:00.000-07:00

I am very happy that Scott started coming over again tonight. We went for a walk with Dalton and Colton. He brought Pizza...yum! Then we watched the season finale of So You Think You Can Dance. My 2nd choice won!

On the other side of happy thoughts, Dalton got to play with his friends tonight. I'm hoping he gets to play with them a lot tomorrow!

Making tie dyed shirts tomorrow, woohoo! I can't wait! I love the process and seeing what the end results are.

Family Reunion

2009-08-03T16:08:00.000-07:00

We had a Sissom Family reunion Saturday. The Sissom side of my family is my Dad's mom's side. For those of you 'in-the-know' that is my Nana. This is the first time I can remember all of Nana's siblings being together at once in a LONG time. Cathy even came home from Arizona for the reunion. No one knew Cathy was coming, so it was fun to see their shock at seeing her.

The cousins in my generation have all started having kids, so Dalton was in his heyday. He loved playing with all his cousins. At the end of the day, he said the boy in the red shirt was his favorite. That didn't surprise me much because Will (the boy with the red shirt) is the oldest boy who played with him. Dalton LOVES bigger boys, so I figured Will was one of his favorites.

Colton was a hit at the reunion. I remember years ago being at a family event and being one of the youngest there. I was like 15 at the time. There were no little kids at that event. We've changed that. There were kids EVERYWHERE and I was very proud of them for getting along!

I even got to meet my cousin Shannan for the first time. She and I are friends on Facebook. She is married to my cousin Cory. We've been at events together, but we've never gotten to talk much...so it was great getting to say HI in person!

I hear a rumor that there is another reunion being planned for 2010. I think it will be fun!

Happy Birthday Dad

2009-07-30T07:30:00.000-07:00

You are the best Dad a girl could ask for. You've taught me a lot along the way and I hope you keep teaching me for many years to come. You've shown Larry that our family is pretty awesome. We love having you and Mom showing us how to rely on one another. It's also nice knowing we have you to rely on also.

Thank you for being the BEST Pappy in the world! Dalton is already over-the-moon in love with you, and I know Cole will be there soon. Perhaps as soon as he's awake more than he's asleep. :)

I hope today is as awesome for you as you deserve. I love you Dadn.

Love,
Smertz

General Updates

2009-07-29T19:06:00.000-07:00

Check out my sidebar over there...feed my fish. It's fun. Honestly, that's the whole point. They won't die if you don't click your mouse a couple times to drop a bit of food. You MAY find yourself still here in 10 minutes though, still feeding the fish. It's kind of like that rice game where you earn rice for a 3rd world country everytime you spell a word correctly. ADDICTIVE.

Check out www.crunchypenguin.com if you haven't already. It's a place I can go to write about stuff that isn't family oriented (and some that is!). I'm really enjoying having a creative outlet, so stop by and let me know what you think.

I'm going to do a batch of tie dye shirts next week (I think). If you are interested in one, email me at crunchypenguin [at] gmail (dot) com. At this point the colors I will be making are hot pink, bright purple, a couple different blues, red, orange, and grey. Those aren't the only colors I have, just the only ones I plan on making AT THIS POINT. If you want a shirt using someting besides those colors, talk to me.

Vacation is in less than 3 weeks. I can't wait!

Time for bed. :) Hope everyone has enjoyed the crappy July weather. I'm hoping August doesn't flip the weather and make it as hot as Hades all month. I hate the heat!

Stay tuned tomorrow for a special post. :)

Colton's Check-up

2009-07-24T18:23:00.000-07:00

I had planned on getting up at 6:30 this morning. Colton wakes up almost every morning about 6:15-ish. Not this morning. Oh no, this morning he slept til 7:15 and woke me up. Apparently I had turned my alarm off, so I started out my day 45 minutes late. Not a good way to go.

We managed to be out the door at 7:45 to the doctor. Luckily the office is close, so we made it right at 8am. As Dalton would say, "Phew".

Cole started out the appointment flirting with the check-out lady. She talked to him and he smile very big at her. We weighed him and he's 14 pounds 11 ounces. He's gained 6 pounds since birth. And he's 24 inches long. This means he's gained 3 inches in length. All three of those inches come in his torso I think.

The doctor checked him out and he seems to be perfectly healthy. He can do everything the doctor asked about. I told him that he's having cereal a few days a week and Dr. B seemed to think Cole is ready for cereal daily now. He's apparently eating enough formula daily to make his system ready for cereal.

We finished off the morning with a trilogy of shots and an oral booster for a chaser. The rest of the day Colton has been sleepy and a little crabby.

I'm glad he's a healthy boy, but i hate seeing my sons get shots. It always tears my heart out.

Doctor Tomorrow

2009-07-23T17:25:00.001-07:00

I am taking Colton to the doctor in the morning for his 2 month check up. He is growing like a weed and eats as much as a teenager (or so it seems). Dalton was bigger than him and he didn't eat as much as Colton does. I am seeing that in the future I am going to have a HUGE food bill when these two get older!

I'll write more tomorrow with Colton's stats and what the doctor says.

Just Because...

2009-07-18T04:26:00.001-07:00

Pool Fun...hopefully today we'll get to have beach fun.

Being loved on Dalton's birthday.

The many faces of Dalton.

"Mommy, did you know there are lights up there?"

Biggest Loser

2009-07-18T04:13:00.000-07:00

I worked out this morning (at 6am *gag*). I didn't let the DVD kick my butt and for that I'm very proud of myself! It was only 30 minutes, BUT it's the only 30 minutes I've worked out since August of last year. I can't complain about that. :)

About halfway through the video, Dalton woke up. He asked what I was doing and came to watch me. Two years ago, or even a year ago, having him watch me would have made me turn the video off and spend time with him. I am not a big fan of someone watching me workout. You can join me and I"ll be thrilled as punch, but don't sit there and watch me.

So, anyways, Dalton is sitting and watching me and suddenly says, "I need to exercise too!" So he starts doing his version of the movements along with me. He was INCREDIBLY cute working out. He kept cheering me on telling me, "Good Job MOM! Keep going! Don't give up."

For once, I was almost inclined to wake Larry up just so he could see the cuteness...of Dalton, naturally. There's nothing CUTE about me working out!

Yowzers

2009-07-17T10:56:00.000-07:00

Has it already been a month since I posted? I need to get on the ball apparently.

In the last 4 weeks we've had tons of things happen.

Dalton turned 4. I want to know who allowed this to happen! He's supposed to still be my little guy and now he's my big one! *sigh* He had a rocking good birthday and then got to celebrate it again over the weekend with Daddy and GrammaMel.
Colton turned 8 weeks old. SHEESH, someone make them stop! 2 months already? Not possible. He's smiling at us more and more. Larry and I got to see his first HUGE smile. It was great. He's my little Mamma's boy. I can't say that I hate it. Especially when he buries his nose into my neck to smell me. It makes me melt!
I returned to work. Now I'm sleep-deprived AND earning an income. I have made it through my first week without any tears on my part. Dalton, on the other hand, is very confused about why he's spending so much time with Granny and Pappy. The first couple days he kept saying, "I'm going there again?" Now tomorrow he'll probably be wondering why we AREN'T going there!
Larry and I bought a camper. We're selling on that we have and replacing it with the newer one. Now I get to start loading it with supplies for our WY trip in August. Fun stuff! And being the good MommyLibrarian that I am, I have already started getting books for this trip -- for Dalton AND the adults.
I am starting a new blog (completely different than this one)...more details to come on that one. :)
I went to ALA in Chicago. For those of you who aren't superb with library acronyms, that's the American Library Association conference. Which means I came home with some decent swag. I am really enjoying one certain book...which I will review at another time. I got to meet Mo Willems also! WOOHOO! I love Knuffle Bunny...so much so, that I'm spending 2 weeks of storytime on his two Knuffle Bunny books.

Well, I think that updates us. I'm SURE I'm forgetting something...but I can't think of anything else right now. New pictures will be posted soon. If you are just dying for some NOW, find them on my Facebook page!

I love my kids

2009-06-05T20:00:00.000-07:00

My goofy Dalton. He was hiding under the table during lunch and Daddy caught this picture. Luckily we get to see this smile a lot!

Ahhh, such a sweetie. He gets the hiccups a lot (he has them now). He is very hungry in the evening. He is already starting to follow movements with his eyes. He is 15 days old and I'm so in love with him, I wonder what made us wait so long to have baby #2.

SWEET STORY of the DAY...

I get to witness the sweetness of my 3 year old every day as he falls in love with his brother. Tonight, I put Cole in Dalton's bed to see what he would do when he climbed to the top bunk (AKA the Attic) and saw his brother.

His response was the biggest, sweetest smile and then he gently laid down in the bed next to Cole and held Cole's hand. He continued to hold Cole's hand until I tried to take Cole out of the bed because Dalton was already asleep.

Colton's Birth Story

2009-06-02T09:45:00.000-07:00

I think I'm finally ready to be able to write this without becoming a big bucket of tears from the memories. Colton's birth was definitely not as easy as Dalton's. The recovery has been different too. But before I write about the recovery, I should write about the birth process.

We arrived at the hospital at 5am on the 21st of May. When we were walking in, I was literally barefoot and pregnant. The shoes I had worn out of the house that morning were hurting my feet, so I took them off to walk into the hospital. My feet were very swollen...along with my hands. I was very happy to be getting ready to have the baby because I was ready to reclaim my body--and get to meet Colton, of course.

We got to our suite in the birthing wing. The first 'trauma' of the day started shortly after that...when they had to try to get my IV in 7 times. They could find my veins, but they couldn't get the IVs to stay in the veins. Eventually (after the first 4 pokes) they called in an IV specialist...who had to try 3 times. She eventually put the IV in my elbow, which is the last place they want a new mom to have her IV. It makes it very hard to hold the baby and move around.

Once the doctor and all my nurses had come in to check on me, I was wheeled down to the OR. We got my epidural put in with little difficulty, but I wasn't getting numb very fast. I could feel where they would poke me and where they were putting alcohol swabs on my stomach. Finally the doctors said that I could either let them do the surgery with however numb I was then, or I would have to be put to sleep for the operation. Larry was a saint during the surgery because I had 'hot spots' where I could feel them cutting. He just held my hand and let me squeeze as hard as I needed to. He also kept telling me how awesome I was doing. He would ask the doctors how much longer til Colton came out and made sure I knew what was going on. He did absolutely everything I could have needed him to do.

My doctors had a few problems convincing Colton to come down and out of me. Doctor Morgan was sort of joking that Cole had been hiding from him for the entire pregnancy. Everytime they tried to find his heartbeat, Colton would flip so Dr. M couldn't measure his heartbeat. Now that it was birth time, Colton had moved as high into my abdomen as he could possibly get. One doctor was pressing on the top of my stomach and the other was doing everything possible to convince Colton to come out. Luckily for me, Dr. Morgan won the battle and Colton came out screaming.

As soon as Colton was out of me, the pain specialist pumped me full of antibiotics, a pain med that I couldn't have til Cole was out of me, and a "downer" to relax the shakes I was having from the epidural. The last medicine knocked me out and I was snoring pretty quickly. Larry found that pretty humorous. I managed to wake myself up every few minutes to look at Colton and watch the nurse clean him up and weigh/measure him.

He was born at 8:17am. He weighed 8 pounds 10 ounces. Colton measured 21 inches long. (and because I know some of my friends will understand this, his first APGAR score was 9---much better than Dalton's first score of 5).

When I got to recovery Colton immediately latched on and was perfectly happy to stay there until they took me back to my room.

We were met in our room by 2 grandmas, a grandpa, and his big brother. Dalton was immediately in love with him. Dalton's favorite stuffed animal is his lamb and he brought Lamb over right away to show Colton. I thought that was incredibly sweet of him. He's been showing Colton all of his favorite things ever since then.

Over the next few days in the hospital, we were visited by lots of friends, cousins, and aunts/uncles. Colton was definitely welcomed into the world surrounded by family and friends. He's also been showered with love from the moment he was born.

Even though his birth was extremely painful, having him in my life is well worth it. I will say that I am very happy we had decided to have my tubes tied, though. I do not want to go through another birth like that.

Shoes

2009-05-17T12:39:00.000-07:00

Ok, so can someone tell me when Dalton decided he was too cool for shoes? It doesn't seem to matter how cold his feet are anymore, the kid won't keep his shoes on.

At least I know his feet are tough--like his Daddy's.

The last 2 weeks...oh boy

2009-05-15T18:33:00.000-07:00

So the last two weeks have been interesting. So far, May has not been a nice month for my family. It started with Larry not feeling well...it had been about 3 weeks since he felt well. So he went to the doctor. I made Dalton an appointment because he hadn't been feeling well for a while and wanted to make sure that Dalton wasn't getting what Larry had.

The doctor was about } { close to putting Larry into the hospital because he was sooooo sick. Bronchitis and left ear infection. OH BOY!

The doctor checks Dalton and says, "Well, he has a left ear infection starting and has some rattle in his chest as well." Let's do antibiotics for both of them. OH BOY! $80 later, we had our cough syrups and antibiotics and everyone was home resting. (well, not Larry...he went back to work...*sigh*)

Fast forward 3 days and guess who went to the doctor to get checked for a "rattle" in her lungs. YUP, me. 3 for 3 we all seemed to share the same symptoms. Sign me up for antibiotics too. *sigh again*

That same afternoon (Saturday) Dalton vomits chocolate milk all over my van. OOOH BOY! Later that afternoon he starts with junk coming out the other end. Poor guy.

Monday I went to the doctor because Colton had been kicking so hard I was truly worried that he had made my water break. Doctor says, "Nope, you look perfect. Go home and rest." 2 hour nap ensues for Mama and Dalton (who is still sick with stomach flu).

Tuesday I woke up to a very sick Dalton who seemed to be showing signs of dehydration. This had me very scared and I kind of blew up at Larry over the phone. Dalton's doctor had me bring him in to see one of his partners who assured me that Dalton wasn't dehydrated, but put him on a medicine for vomiting.

Finally by Thursday, Dalton was able to eat something AND keep it in his stomach AND not have diarrhea.

Oh, and Wednesday I found out that he had shared his stomach bug with Mommy. *triple big sigh*

It's been a rough week this week at our house. We're all super glad that Dalton seems to be processing food in the right order again, Larry's home, Mommy's on Maternity Leave, and we all get to spend time together for the weekend. 6 days and Colton will get to join our circus of a household.

A Killer Day

2009-05-02T12:46:00.000-07:00

Wow, I didn't get anything else accomplished last night. Just ran out of juice and decided to enjoy some time with my boys. Today I started out the day by going to have a shoulder massage. It wasn't a full massage, just shoulders and arms...but it was sooo nice! My shoulders have been pretty knotted up, so I'm glad Larry insisted that I do it. I truly do have a terrific husband!

Then I went over to the UP Mall area and gave 2 of my yearbooks to Patrick. Then I did some shopping for work and went to meet Dalton, Larry, Jamie, and Jamie's mom & little sister for lunch. We went to Red Robin and it was YUMMY. We had a terrific waitress and the staff kept our table cleared and drinks full.

When I came home I decided I was tired and laid on the couch for a short nap. Pretty soon Dalton got home with Larry and Dalton climbed up on me to cuddle and nap. He's running a fever and seems to be pretty yucky feeling. Nothing huge, just not feeling really well. Now he's napping on the couch and I'm getting ready to head to bed for my nap. He hasn't fallen asleep on me in a long time and it was so nice to get to cuddle with him while he fell asleep. He told Larry that he was going to lay with Mommy for a long time. I can guarantee you that Mommy didn't mind at all!

OK, nap time for me....then I have to get ready for our friends to come over and play games later tonight. I hope your weekend is going well!

Vacation Day 1

2009-05-01T07:49:00.000-07:00

Well, I got to start the day off by sleeping til 8am. This was, of course, after being up 3 separate times to (in order) 1) pee...2 hours later Doc wanted out...at 4am Dalton woke up scared. But from 4-8 I got to SLEEP! woohoo!

A friend of mine has started making "The Done List" each day. She starts with a to-do list, then changes it over to a DONE list at the end of the day. I thought I would do that the next couple days for a couple reasons. 1. My urge to nest with this pregnancy is amazing me. I seem to have this energy to work on the house that I never had with Dalton. 2. I took vacation to try and get more of the house in order for Colton's birth...and if I keep track of what I actually accomplished, it makes me want to do more. So as of 11am on Day 1, here is my list.
1. Slept in! YAY!
2. Cuddled with Dalton -- no matter what else is on my list, this always comes first...if Larry's involved too, it's even better.
3. Made breakfast -- Yum.
4. Looked at a catalog with Dalton -- he LOVES the Toys R Us flyers that come to the house.
5. Did a load of laundry -- which reminds me, I need to go fold that load
6. Vacuumed the game part of our front room
7. Cleaned off the game table. (friends will be over tomorrow night, and now I don't have to worry about it tomorrow)
8. Swept the kitchen.

Be back in another couple hours with another update. :) By the way Tiff, I'm soooo not going to clean my closets with my nesting issues...wanna come clean mine too? :)

A New Blog

2009-04-29T11:11:00.000-07:00

OK family and friends, I've been inspired by Tiff to get my blog back in motion. Colton will be here in just 22 short days and I want to have some place (besides Facebook, which I am hopelessly addicted to) to update all our loved ones on the progress of our family!

We are getting very excited about having Colton as part of our family and not just as part of Mommy. Dalton's looking forward to having Mommy's lap back and having Mommy be able to do things with him again (like wrestle). Mommy is looking forward to fewer feet in her ribs and the knowledge that my feet will be a normal size again soon. For some reason it's only 1 foot that swells (my left) and it's always the same one. This morning my right shoe was too loose and my left shoe was too tight. Oh, Mommy is looking forward to her normal clothes too! My maternity wear is lovely (Thanks Mom and Dad) but I'm tired of the same outfits week after week. I think Larry is more apprehensive than excited, but I know he's looking forward to being able to hug me again without getting kicked by Colton. As for Jamie, I think she's just looking forward to holding a baby! She's a great big sis! We'll have to see how Dalton shares his big sis with Cole.

Soooooo, I am hoping that I can keep up with this blog better than my other. I'm on all of Google's services more than I ever was on Xanga, so it should prove a bit easier. Plus, I'll need a place to brag about my family!