What do I do???

I know it has been a long time (three weeks) since my last post. A lot has been happening since then. I finally got my laptop back from the shop (the last day of school! Big help there!) and now have fast access at home.

I've also started my summer vacation and for the next ~10 weeks, I'm a stay at home mom. So, what do I do? My first day of vacation I did five loads of laundry. Today, was for myself mostly. I got a new hairstyle and sat around mostly reading. I'm trying to get over the "end of school slump" as my husband puts it. Some student also graciously gave me their flu bug too, so I'm trying to recover from that. Other things I'm doing? Watching the cats play outside, watching cute bunnies eat my flowers, feeling like I should be out pulling the big thorny weeds! Since it seems the boys are on different schedules for napping, I've been speding lots of time outside with each of them alone.

Today I was out with Carson. He did the usual things. Pick mommy's flowers, play in his house, and drive his car. He also chased the kitties and tried to throw the toy for the dogs.

Colten was so exhausted because this morning my parents took the training wheels off Colten's bike. He was zipping around so fast and he didn't even need to worry. The hardest part for him was getting started and not running into things since he was going so fast. He even rode almost to my parent's gate and back! He is growing up so fast.

One last thing I'm planning to keep doing is enjoy my view each morning and night when the boys are both busy or asleep!

A much needed weekend

This weekend was a much needed time away from home and kids for my husband and I. My in-laws thoughtfully sent Tony and I to the beach, paid for the hotel and nice dinner out, and watched the boys until we got home this afternoon. It was a thank you for all the stress we've endured building the addition for them. It was a great way to show our work was appreciated!

We stayed at the Quinalt Beach Resort in Ocean Shores and had a great time. We went shopping at the tourist traps and bought the boys some gifts. Then we went to this Irish pub named Galway Bay and ate great Irish food. After being stuffed full of Irish soda bread and pasties we decided to go bowling. Tony was stubborn and kept wanting to score at least 120 points (like I ever would) and finally he clobbered me and won the game with 136 points. We decided to walk on the beach at sunset before heading back to the hotel. This morning we awoke to the view above, and deer grazing in the grass. (If you look close, the brown blob in the middle is one of them.)

This morning we were going to eat breakfast at the hotel buffet, but the wait was one and a half hours!! No way were we that patient when we were starving. Yeah, we could have waited in the casino, but we are not gamblers and the cigarette smoke gets to my sinuses. So we headed in town to the locals favorite spot for some cafe breakfast. We had great service and lots of food. After driving back close to home we detoured by the mall to buy random things and spend the last few hours we had together alone.

It was probably our best weekend away together in quite a while, maybe since our honeymoon. We didn't argue and talked about quite a few random things. We had a great time and both agree bowling was the best. Maybe it's because Ms. Period came to visit so we couldn't hole up in our hotel room, but whatever it was, it was great to re-connect with my husband and feel closer to him than I've felt in quite a while.

One More Milestone

My little boy graduated from preschool tonight. It seems like we were just starting preschool and dealing with potty training yesterday! Though he could be in kindergarten if we wanted, seeing him interact with his classmates reinforced keeping him back for a year and letting him grow up a little more. Colten's IEP (SpEd) plan is due to be reviewed in a few weeks and Tony gets to sign off on this year, since the appointment is my last week of school. I'm sure there will be some social growth goals for Colten to grow towards. I scares me that my big boy really is growing up so fast, and I can't slow it down and enjoy the good times more. I'll just have to look forward to them with baby brother. Only 17 more days until summer!

The day that never gets better!

This morning at 4:30 my husband and I awoke to the smoke detectors going off and our five year old screaming at the top of his lungs in terror! After a few minutes of panic we discovered that we needed to change the batteries and that there was no fire. Unfortunately Colten was freaked out and we tried to get him back to sleep in our bed. It didn't happen. At 5:00 cartoons were finally on so we turned them on for him to watch. The kid is already terrified to sleep in his room at night and has been sleeping on the couch. Now he'll be terrified and refuse to sleep even there! Colten is so cranky when he is tired and this will just make it worse! The only good thing was that the baby slept through it all.
I got to school and did yoga, hoping to eat breakfast afterwards. I looked in the fridge and the yogurt I put there yesterday was gone! Fortunately I had qa frozen bagel and change for a coffee, but still!! No staff have confessed, so it must be some lame TA snitching food!
Then, I got to put a VHS movie in the player for science class, and the VCR completely dies, with the tape in it! I couldn't even get the power to come on!! I gave the kids a worksheet and called the custodian and we had to disassemble the player to get the tape out!
Lunch was good and my afternoon was noisy and busy, but not too bad. Then just at the end of it a kid got upset because girls wanted to sit at his table and he couldn't move. He told the girls that he hated them and they were ugly! It just set me off and was the topper on the day!
One good thing today is that I get to go my mom's and see my brother! He's finally home and we're having a good dinner (that I don't have to cook) for his welcome home. I'd better get some sleep tonight, after we change all the smoke detector batteries, of course!

The joys of chores!

This weekend was a big weekend for chores, but they didn't all go well. I started out Saturday washing laundry and forgot to check all the pockets. I usually give pants a pat down to feel out any possible problems, but I don't usually put my hand into each individual pocket. I should start doing it though. After watching my ipod(that had been lost for a week) fall out of Colten's pocket and into the washing machine, I should have known better. Well, I washed my husband's appointment calendar. Not such a big deal, it is cheap and replaceable. The next load of laundry had been on the closet floor for a week so I just tossed it in, without checking pockets. Will I never learn?!? Tony's new cell phone, one week old, happened to be in the pocket of the old clothes. He had been out painting and had picked up the old pair of pants off the closet floor. He had only 1/2 hour before taken the pants off and put them back on the floor, but with the cell phone in it. We tried to get the phone to dry out, but after a wash and rinse cycle, it just wasn't going to happen. Even worse, we have to pay to replace the phone since it was a work phone and Tony gets a letter of reprimand in his file. For some reason the mayor thinks he was irresponsible. I really should get the letter, not Tony. I was the bad wife. So, did I learn my lesson? I hope so. I'll probably start checking pockets until the next time I get in a hurry and forget. Only 25 work days until summer!! Thank goodness!

Mother's Day

My mother's day was a little rough at times, but overall was a great day. My ideal mother's day is a day when I don't have to mother anyone and instead just get to do what I want. That didn't happen yesterday. It started out with Carson still being sick and cranky. It's just a cold, but he was fussy and that runny nose and cough definitely were not just teething. So I decided that Carson shouldn't go to church because they really frown on sick babies in the nursery and I was feeling a little ill even though I wanted to go and hear the guest speaker. So Tony took Colten and went to church and visited the Great-Grandparents afterwards. He also did a little shopping. I was at home with a cranky child who refused to take a nap for two hours, until after lunch. While he napped I relaxed and read a book, anxiously waiting for him to wake up with the noise of the rain. Because it was raining I couldn't plant plants outside, so I wound up relaxing for over an hour. Husband comes home and Colten gives me this little gift bag. Now, our mothers all got nice cards signed by Colten and Carson, but nothing was planned for me. My husband, being thoughtful, had bought me a freshwater pearl bracelet!! It was so nice, but so expensive. It is hard to be upset with him for leaving me with a screaming child when he gave me this! After a late lunch I headed outside to plant flowers and listen to the toddler scream his displeasure of naps through the monitor. After 20 minutes of torture, I put the kid in his highchair and set him outside in the garage where he could see daddy, but not get into stuff. I don't know who took care of the bugger after that, but I was plugged into my iPod and cared about planting my flowers. My MIL fixed a dinner of left over pizza and watched the boys longer so I could get most of the flowers in the ground. Then came bedtime and the lost loveys. We have TWO loveys for Carson so you always have at least one for bed time. MIL said she set them on the stairs. Ask Colten, "Where did you put the loveys?" He says, "I think I put them by the (exercise) bike." All adults are scouring the house looking for any sign of pale green satin. Finally we get Colten out of the bath, dressed, and march him around to show us where they were. He looks at the bike and says, "I guess they didn't like it here and went somewhere else." At this point both my husband and I are ready to scream in frustration. All of a sudden, Colten walks out to the living room, where we have searched many times, reaches under a couch cusion and pulls out the loveys. We had to have a discussion about hiding brother's things and telling the truth. Finally all the kids were in bed and the Survivor Finale was on TV so I could relax. Some snuggles with my hubby, and I was happy. It was a pretty good mother's day.

Almost Done!!

Here are the latest pics of the addition. We have about two weeks left of finish work, then it will be ready to live in. The most frustrating part is getting our builder, who doesn't pay his bills on time, to get his work finished. We can't finish the trim until he puts in the doors. He also has a long list of small but important things to touch up and finish before we call for our final inspection. It's almost done though! Notice the nice marble tile floors (thanks for installing them Tom!) and the Pergo laminant floors installed by me!! Look pretty good for my first time!