Company's coming!!

I'm really excited about this weekend. My friends Lori and Laurie are coming to town and staying with us. We'll be scrapbooking all weekend with Tammy and Trina. It's going to be a really fun weekend.

We're settling in with the new school schedule. Adam's first day was yesterday. In his classroom, each child has a name on a shape in a specific color. Adam's name is on a blue circle. These shapes are also repeated on the carpet in the form of a circle. This gives the kids an idea of where to sit during circle time. Adam was all unhappy because a girl was sitting on the blue circle. He has it in his head that the blue circle is his spot and his spot only. The little girl was happy to move so Adam could sit in "his" spot. He wasn't very happy when I left, but he had a great day anyway. When I picked him up, he told me that he had a great day and that he really likes school. Then he proceeded to tell me all about his day. It was so great to hear about everything and see that huge smile on his face.

Now all I have to do is finish planning what I'll be scrapbooking this weekend, get it packed and finish cleaning the house. Sure looks like a short list. Looks is the key word here...

My neighbor asked me...

So, who's the cute guy riding the bus? This is a neighbor who has a 4 year old daughter. It turns out that the school's principal rode the bus with the kids today (and he's the cute guy). They've had staff riding the buses this week because of the heat to make sure the kids are ok. It's really nice to have school staff that care that much.

Matt's excitement was that he lost a loose tooth while riding the bus home today. And he had a great day at school. Adam got to meet his preschool teachers and explore the classroom today. He liked that they had cars to play with, made some artwork for me, but he liked that they have toilets just his size the most, lol! Ah, the life of a three year old.

Woo Hoo!!!

It's the first day of school!! Matt had a great morning and was looking forward to his day. He's got his kindergarden teacher for second grade this year. He really liked her, so I'm happy for him. I hope the excitement doesn't wear off.

We were in Chicago last week. Didn't do much. I was planning on going to the Field Museum, but Adam got sick and was on antibiotics that upset his tummy, so a day downtown was a little daunting for me. We visited with two of my brothers and my parents. The boys had a great time spending time with their cousins. When we were in Gurnee, we did drive up to Kenosha, Wisconsin where they had two small museums that we took the boys to. We went swimming one day, too, but got rained out.

I got to go to Ikea while visiting my other brother. I love that store! I'm going to order a desk from there for my scrap room, I think. Their prices can't be beat and they have fun stuff. I got both boys new comforters. I got two different patterns and it just figures that they both want the same one. I also got some really cool organizers for my scrap room, too. I put one together with Adam and have yet to do the other one. I want to sand them a little - the finish isn't as smooth as I would like. Then I'm going to either stain or paint them. I've heard rumors that they're going to open one in the St. Louis area, but so far, nothing concrete. It would really be nice. Of course, I'm sure the novelty would wear off eventually, but they have such cool stuff!

Baby, it's HOT!

Oh, I'm ready for fall in more ways than one. It's been a pretty mild summer, all told, but we're at the beginning of a monster heat wave. The boys refuse to even go outside to play because it's too hot. We were planning on heading to the pool yesterday, but the little guy fell asleep in the car on the way home from lunch with dad. School starts in less than two weeks! Both boys are pretty excited about going back to school, which is a wonderful thing. Matt's going to start practicing getting up early this coming week, so he's ready for school.

Matt has finally mastered riding a bike! He really hasn't been motivated to try, but suddenly he wanted to try again. It didn't take long - only a couple of runs up and down the street and he was cruising. He still needs some help getting going, but once he's moving, he's great.

It is possible

To burn mac and cheese - the microwave kind. It's been a busy weekend and we had a huge lunch, so I was making mac and cheese for the boys for dinner. I got Matt's made and put Adam's into the microwave to get the pasta to cook. I went out on the deck to see if the cat would come in and I came back about a minute later (really, no joke, only a minute) to smell something burning. I stood there thinking that it can't be the microwave, but being the cautious person that I am, I checked anyway. It was the microwave. In my hurry to get something made for the boys and the various other distractions, I had forgotten to pour the water into the bowl with the pasta and I was nuking dry pasta. There was smoke, but thankfully, no flames. Now the house smells and it's hot outside and I don't want to open the windows, but it smells...

So went my day. We had pancakes for breakfast, though. The boys' favorite is with mini chocolate chips, but I like mine plain. Yum!

Not a vacation post

I thought I'd take a break from the vacation posts, although there's only one day of activities left, really. I've been busy with the boys - running myself ragged while trying to tire them out, lol! Actually, I'm doing pretty good, but I'm tired of dh being on the road. I miss him and the boys miss him, too. DH will get back to town and he'll have about a week to prepare for the family visit.

My niece is being baptized in a few weeks and the family will be making the trip down - parents, two other brothers with their families... Now we have to figure out where to put everyone. We'll be able to house two groups pretty comfortably. Not sure where the third group is going to go.

I took the boys to Bounce U (http://www.bounceu.com/) last week for an open bounce session. There was only one other child there with his mother. We practically had the place to ourselves. It was a lot of fun. I had to get in and play around with the boys as well and let me tell you, after 75 minutes of bounce time, I was ready to quite. The boys were just as exhausted. It was well worth the admission. I'm going to try to organize a session for some school friends to come out and play sometime next week, too.

Adam fell asleep at 5 pm yesterday and wouldn't get up for dinner. He promptly woke up at 10:30, just as I was getting into bed for the night. **Sigh** I finally got him to sleep and at 2:30, Matt comes into my room in tears. He's got an ear ache, poor baby. We got some analgesic ear drops today and we're going to see the doctor tomorrow. He was fine a good portion of the day, but as the day wore on, his ear started hurting more. I hope he can make it through the night without too much pain. I'm pretty sure it's an ear infection and not swimmer's ear. He described it as starting as pressure building into pain...

My vacation, day 4

Well, we were really tired out by the Desert Museum, but we went ahead and went to the Pima Air and Space Museum (http://pimaair.org/index.php). They've got an actual SR-71 (http://www.pimaair.org/Acftdatapics/Lock%20SR-71.htm) that you can see and I really wanted the boys to be able to take a look at a real spy plane. The fates were against us, though. You could see the plane from a distance, but the hangar it was in was closed to the public. Apparently, they've just built a new hangar and the grand opening was later that week. :-(

We did get to go through the Air Force One that President Kennedy used. It was pretty cool being able to go through the inside and see where a former president flew and worked. The cockpit of the plane was pretty cool to look at as well. The interior pictures didn't turn out, but here are my boys doing the presidential wave.

One of the downsides of this visit was that they were only accepting cash - apparently, their credit card processing equipment or connection was down. Of course, we don't carry much cash, so we didn't have enough cash to go on the trolley tour of all the aircraft. We tried walking part of it, but it was so bright, the surface was faded blacktop and concrete or white gravel. I couldn't look up, I couldn't look down and I didn't have my sunglasses. I just didn't come prepared. That and it hit 108 while we were out there. We did go to the space exploration hangar and that had a lot of really neat stuff. Not just space craft, but information about what the planets are like (and it was dark and air conditioned, lol). I could have spent another 2 or 3 hours in there. The boys seemed to enjoy themselves, which was the main point of the trip, so we accomplished that.

My vacation day 3

On our next day in Tuscon, we drove out to the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum (http://www.desertmuseum.org/). This is actually a combination of a zoo and a botanical garden. However, it's limited to animals and plants that grow in the desert for the most part. I've been to the Desert Museum several times in the past, but this was by far the most fun and rewarding visit.

When we arrived, one of the keepers was feeding crickets to the lizards in the lizard enclosure. I'd never seen so many lizards out and about in the enclosure before and Matt actually asked if he could feed them as well. The keeper let him help. It was pretty funny, though, since the crickets "tickled" his hands.

When we went in, there was a docent talking about saguaro cacti and how slowly they grow. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saguaro These are the cacti that you tend to see as a standard cactus in cartoons, etc. The tall ones with the arms. It's kind of interesting to know that these cacti only grown in very specific areas and one of those is around Tucson. These cacti grow slower than trees - in order for them to flower, they have to be around 50 years old and they don't grow their "arms" until they're around 75. Anyway, while I was talking to the docent, Lee and Adam went down one of the paths and had a Gila Monster cross right in front of them on the path and climb up the wall on the other side. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gila_monster) Lee spent his school years in Arizona and had never seen a wild Gila Monster in all those years, so he was really excited about it. Of course, I was holding the camera.

There was a booklet that was designed for kids to take through the museum that the boys wanted. It essentially took you through the entire museum (it's all outdoor) looking for stamp stations where you could stamp a footprint into your book of some of the animals that are kept there.

At one point, we were walking along a path that had a wall covered in some sort of ivy. It turns out that there was a little rattlesnake taking a nap in this ivy. We stayed until someone came to get it out. They said that it was a young one - probably from last year's hatching. It was nice and calm the entire time - it didn't even rattle when they took it out of the vines.

After lunch, we saw a presentation about venomous animals of the desert - namely the Gila Monster and the rattlesnake. The boys loved it when the Gila Monster relieved itself on the table in front of everyone. The thing to know about Gila Monsters is that they don't attack people - if you know someone who was bitten by one, they were bugging it and put their hands too close to it. My personal favorite was when they were talking about snake bites. The poison center in Tucson profiled snake bite victims. 75% of bite victims were considered bites that shouldn't have happened - the snakes were not avoided when people knew they were there. The vast majority of these bite victims fit the following profile: 1. male, 2. young, 3. alcohol was involved and 4. the victims had tattoos. For some reason, this profile just really struck me as amusing.

The variety of plants blooming were pretty great, too. I got to see the saguaro's blooming, although it was the end of their bloom season. Of course we were there during the hottest and driest time of year. The temps were hitting 108 just about every day we were there. It wasn't bad in the shade, but once you were in the sun, it felt like you were just baking.

Some of the other animals that we saw were: wolves, mountain lions, beavers, deer, bears, rams, river otters, coyotes, javelinas (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peccary). I think we saw every animal that they have on display at some point or other. It was really great. The boys had a great time, too. Those stamp books really motivated them to want to see everything.

My Vacation - day one and two

I had spent the week before we went on this trip trying to clean up the house - I hate coming home to a mess. When we got home, I was so glad that I did! It was refreshing to come home and not feel the weight of all the chores that were left undone descend upon my shoulders.

I got up before it was light out - which is really early during the summer! I got the boys up about 5:45. My friend, Tara, offered to drive us to the airport so we wouldn't have to park there. She's a great friend. We got to the airport a little before 7 am. Our flight was leaving a little after 8 am. The boys were very good through the airport, checking baggage and through security. Matt was really responsible and a huge help with Adam. I took a folding stroller for Adam, so he just enjoyed the ride. Once we got on the plane, Adam got nervous and a little scared. I managed to distract him with some books and he did fine. Matt did really well too. We flew to Dallas where we had to change terminals. I was a bit worried about that, but if you have to change terminals, Dallas is the place to do it. They have a little train system that will take you around without having to leave the secure areas of the airport. It took is only about 15 minutes. We had time to grab some lunch and then headed to our next flight. This time, Adam wasn't afraid at all. We got to Tucson and dh was there to pick us up. We were a bit tired, but in good shape. We took a detour to the rehab facility where mil's been staying to say hello. Adam fell asleep in the car and slept through the whole visit. Since the boys and I were still on St. Louis time, we grabbed an early dinner (late lunch for dh) and headed back to mil's house to get settled.

The next day, I woke up early, Tucson time. I got up and went for a run. The altitude just about killed me! When I mentioned this to one of the many walkers that I saw that morning, she said that they weren't that high - between 3,000 and 3,500 feet. I think St. Louis elevation is about 500 feet, so it made a big difference to me. It was beautiful out that morning, though - it was in the mid 60's and no humidity. I didn't even break a sweat. Well, I probably did, but it evaporated so quickly that I didn't feel like I was sweating.

After everyone was up and ready, we drove out to Tombstone. DH went there all the time as a child and I'd been there once before, around 10 years ago or so. I was shocked by how much everything had changed. I was disappointed by how commercialized everything was. You couldn't even go into the OK Corral without having to pay an admission fee. It was all really expensive, too. We paid the admission to go into the Bird Cage Theater - dh wanted to go in there since it had been highlighted in one of the Ghost Hunters episodes and he wanted to see it again. It was kinda cool to be standing where they had seen a ghost. The highlight of the trip was a mine tour that Matt convinced us that we needed to take. I'm really glad that we went on it. They took us down to the Good Enough mine. I believe that it was the first mine that was opened in Tombstone. The silver mines were the reason that the town was there. Our guide was very knowledgeable and a wealth of information, as well as a good sense of humor. It was amazing that the whole mine was cut by hand. Both boys were exhausted by the end of the day. We drove back and went to visit mil, but both boys were asleep, so dh just went in and dropped some things off for her and we went "home".

Some recent layouts

I've been scrapping off and on a bit lately. Sometimes it takes me a while to get something finished, since I get interrupted a lot.

This one was a quick one. Sandylion patterned paper and stickers, Hambly Studios overlay and Lil Davis clay tiles.

Adam was such a cute pirate! The overlay reflected a lot of light and this was the best pic I could get - sorry about the poor quality.

This next one is of Matt when he was 4. DH threw a frisbee at him and Matt didn't duck. He came in, carried by Dad, bleeding from the eyebrow. It was a pretty deep cut, but didn't need stitches, thank goodness. The circle pp is Paper Studio (I think). I used my Just Rite Stampers monogram stamp on this. I made the round stamps that say OUCH in the middle. The outer ring of text says "killer frisbee". I really love this stamp - it's incredibly versatile. I really liked using the circles on this layout. The arrow was something cut out by my friend Tammy for me - she sent me a huge set of all kinds of arrows.

This last one was of Matt holding Adam when he first came home from the hospital. He was such a protective big brother. The insipiration for this layout came from an idea book called Layout Blueprints. I really enjoyed using the ovals. The paper is from Piggy Tales - love those patterns!

I'm back

I survived flying with the boys, lol! They were actually very good on the flights, although I did have to sit between them to keep the peace. Adam was a little frightened at first, but then enjoyed the flights.

The visit actually went very well. MIL was in a rehab facility the whole time we were there, trying to recover from her back injury. DH, the boys and I would run and do stuff during the days and then at the end of the day, we would stop by and visit her for 30 minutes or an hour. It was just enough visiting time - both for her and for the boys. We ran around just about every day we were in the Tucson area. Here's the list of places we visited: Tombstone, Arizona Sonora Desert Museum, Pima Air and Space Museum, Reid Park Zoo. By far, the most fun day was the Desert Museum and I'll post about it later. I was really disappointed when the battery on the camera died, though. For some reason, it just won't hold a charge. I guess it's time to replace it.

Our flight home was cancelled, so we had to come home a day later. I didn't know this until we got to the airport ready to go home on Tuesday. American Airlines cancelled the flight because of bad weather in Dallas (we were connecting through Dallas) a day or two before our flight. And because it was "due to weather" we were not compensated in any way for this major inconvenience. The weather was just fine in Dallas on Tuesday and the flight leaving an hour after ours was just fine, but we couldn't get on it because it was full. I'm still pretty steamed up about it. In the future, I will avoid flying american airlines if at all possible. This cancellation was totally a load of *&^%.

Anyway, more on our trip another time. It's really strange being home and Tasha not being here. I really miss her. I keep thinking that I see her out of the corner of my eye, but there's nothing there. The distraction of the trip and being away from home has put some distance on the whole thing, but it still hurts.

What a depressing beginning to the summer

Well, all I can say at this point is that the summer has got to get better. I had to put Tasha down today. She had quit drinking and was at the beginning of kidney failure. I know it was the right thing to do, but I just wasn't ready to do it before my trip. It was a really tough trip to the vet's office. It was actually easier to go home, but it's been a really tough day. I'm going to miss that kitty.

The good and the bad

The good news: the sectional finally arrived today!! They had a tough time getting it in, but they did it. Our basement walkout door was too narrow to bring the couch in that way, so they had to come through the front door and carry it down the stairs. It was really tight with the biggest piece. I sure am glad that it fit, though. DH was joking around that we were going to have a new family room sectional since they weren't going to be able to get it to the basement. It's a very good thing that it fit, though. After all the expenses this month, we can't afford to buy new furniture in the near future.

More good news: Adam is doing really well with the potty training. Once I got him to go on the potty once, he's doing really well. I knew he was ready, but he had himself convinced that he couldn't do it. To get him to go on the potty, I moved the potty chair to the family room, sat him down on it in front of the tv and then pushed as many fluids as I could. Eventually, he just had to go, hee, hee. Might not be the way the experts recommend, but it worked for him and that's all that really matters right now.

The bad news: MIL fell in the shower on Monday. She called her sister to come and help her. MIL just wanted her to help her get to bed, but her sister called the ambulance and they took her to the hospital. Good thing, too. It turns out that she fractured a vertebrae in her back. DH is out there now. He already had a ticket to fly out on Tuesday, which is a very good thing. He's now trying to convince her that she needs to go to a rehab facility rather than come home. Ideally, he would like her to move closer to us in the midwest, but that's not going over well with her. She needs to move to assisted living, but she's fighting that as well. It's really stressing me out!!

More bad news: Our 16 year old cat Tasha has kidney disease. We're not sure of the extent yet, but I may have to put her down if she doesn't respond well to treatment. The poor cat is down to 6 pounds and it hurts me to see her so thin. It's going to kill me if I have to put her down. As irrational as it may seem, I'm angry with dh for not being here to help me deal with things. I really understand that he needs to be there for mil right now. Unfortunately, I think that it's the right thing to do, but I'm also upset at the same time because he's not here.

WOW!! It's been over a month!

Yes, I'm a bad blogger lately. I have no real excuses other than I haven't been on the computer much lately. It's not just my blog that I've been neglecting.

The weather's been nice out, so I've been working on the gardens a bit. I still have a pile of compost in my driveway that I need to move. It's much smaller than it started out. I originally had 3 cubic yards and most of it is gone. My plants love the stuff. I'll have to take some pics of my garden and post them. It's raining out right now, so it'll have to wait a bit.

My mil's health problems are getting worse. She's taking some medication to suppress hormones to keep the cancer from growing. I think it's causing her other, more immediate problem, though. She's developed neuropathy. It's something wrong with the nerves and she gets lots of pain in her arms and legs. It's a constant thing and it's really wearing her down. Her doc has her on some medication to help control it, but it doesn't seem to be working. She complains that she's weak, in pain, has lost coordination... It just goes on and on and I'm so frustrated that I can't do anything to help. I looked up the drugs she's taking and they both have those possible side effects and the cancer drug might be causing the neuropathy. A big concern that I have is that even though she can hardly make it down the driveway with a walker, has to lift her legs into the car, she's still driving! She's going to end up hurting not only herself, but someone else as well. It's tearing dh to pieces. Mil's sister is going out of town next week for two weeks, so dh has decided that he needs to go for a visit and take care of her. She does need someone and I'm glad that dh can do it, but he also can't jump on a plane and fly across the country each time she needs someone to be there. I would feel so much better if she moved into an assisted living facility. She's talked about doing it, but has also commented that the units are too small and what would she do with all her "stuff". DH needs to try to help her sort out what's going on with her health (I'm not sure she talks to her docs like she should - i.e. tell them what's going on, really) and try to convince her to get into the assisted living facility. I really think she'd like it. She's a very social person when she's feeling better and would enjoy the atmosphere there. Then again, maybe I'm just trying to convince myself of this and I'm full of s*^t. Seeing your parents age and their health deteriorate sucks!!

School gets out next week and dh wants me and the boys to meet him out at mil's the week after. I can't believe that school's almost out. It's crazy! Matt is growing up so quickly. He's not a little boy anymore!! Adam's been working on potty training. He kept telling me that he was too little to use the potty, lol! Once I got him to go on the potty once, he's been doing really well. He goes when he needs to without my having to prompt him. I'm so glad - the end of diapers is in sight!!

I've been scrapping a little here and there. I've had a layout that I've been working on off and on for about a week now. It's not that I'm having problems, it's finding the time... I'm going to try to update here more often, too.

I'm sad today

I found out today that a good friend of mine is getting divorced. Surprisingly, the divorce is amicable and she says that since they made the decision, they've been getting along better. I guess some people just aren't meant to live together.

For some reason, I'm really sad about it. Sad for her, sad for him, for the kids... It's a good move for her, it really is. So, if this is a good move for them, why is it affecting me so much?

With divorce as prevalent in our society as it is these days, I'm surprised more of my friends aren't divorced. I guess I live a charmed life and when reality rears it's head, it takes me by surprise. Makes me look at everything a little differently, I guess.

Life's looking up

I sure am in a better place this week! I went to help in Matt's new class - the one he goes to on Wednesdays as part of the gifted program. I spent a little over an hour there and was very impressed. With the teacher, the program and with Matt. I was so happy to see Matt pay attention, stay focused and get his work done. It's been a real worry for me - hence the ADD evaluation. If I had seen him in this classroom before we did it, I wouldn't have even bothered to do the evaluation. Granted, this classroom is much more active and students are encouraged to do things their way, as long as they get things done, but Matt wasn't getting in trouble, he was doing his thing and working just fine. I can't even put into words what a relief that was! I think that the problem in his regular classroom is that he's bored and hasn't figured out how to sit quietly and not get himself into trouble, but that should come with age.

It feels so good to be getting back into my routine this week. Adam is feeling better - he didn't start getting better until Saturday. We went to the gym yesterday, he went to school Monday and today, I got some errands done. In essence, I feel like my life is back to where it should be - or at least in the ballpark. ;-)

Frustrated...

We had Matt evaluated for ADD and the results are inconclusive. The doctor said that it's really difficult to diagnose really bright kids because they don't have the problems of keeping up in school. Last night I went to a seminar about the differences between boys and girls relating specifically to gifted children. I got a lot of information out of it, but the biggest thing I got was that most of the boys were very high energy, impulsive, etc... Well, that seems to be the general description of ADD as well. The parents of boys who were there were also complaining that the schools were trying to label so many of the gifted boys as ADD, but the parents didn't truly believe that they were. It's just so strange because Matt show some signs of ADD such as getting easily distracted, not finishing work, fidgeting and not sitting still. However, he excels at spelling, reading and math, which ADD kids don't tend to do. We're not ready to medicate him, but our pediatrician didn't have any other suggestions of where to get additional help. It's so frustrating to not have a direction to even look to get help. My game plan is to check with the school counselors and see if they have any suggestions and to do a lot of reading.

On the other hand, I've been practically holding Adam during all his waking hours for the past 3 days. He caught some sort of stomach bug and it's just really doing a number on him. It started Monday night and seems to come and go. Today, I thought he was getting better - he was hungry mid morning and ate some saltines, almost a full waffle and a bunch of nilla wafer cookies and managed to keep them down. Tuesday and Wednesday, the only things he could keep down were popsicles, so I thought this was a great improvement and was thinking that the end of the tunnel was in sight. This evening, he had no appetite again, drank some sprite and then got a really bad tummy ache. Then he managed to lose everything in his stomach, which wasn't much, thankfully. I don't know how, but he's managed not to get dehydrated, thank God! I felt so terrible when his stomach was hurting, though. It lasted a long time and practically had me in tears because I was helpless to do anything to make it better. Lee tried to help with Adam, but the little guy wanted Mommy and there was no changing his mind. He was exhausted, so now he's sleeping peacefully - I hope it lasts all night, at least. We both need the rest. I hope that tomorrow will be another improvement.

Rambling...

I recently "ran" into someone I used to know when I was growing up. I ran into her on an online scrapbooking forum and we got to chatting - I asked her if she was Lithuanian and then we figured out that we knew each other. It was pretty wild to run into someone like that.

It got me thinking, however. I had told her that I left for college and never went back, which is really what happened. She's still active with the Lithuanian community and so are her kids. She's very active in scouting, which is part of what I miss in my life here. I have so many good memories of my younger years in scouting, especially camping. Things changed quite a bit, though, as I got older. There weren't many girls my age for some reason and I got grouped with some girls who were a year older than I in scouting. To make a long story short, they made my life uncomfortable and I never have figured out why they didn't like me. The only thing I can think of is that one had a crush on a guy I dated, but I can't imagine that could be the only reason, but who knows. Anyway, after chatting with this other gal (we knew each other, but she was my older brother's age), I got to thinking why I never felt like I wanted to move back and a big part of it seems to me to be these experiences in my teen years. Now, don't get me wrong. I had some great friends in high school, just not in the Lithuanian community like my parents would have wanted. I had a lot of fun in high school and had a good overall time. I never felt like I didn't fit in anywhere - I always had some good support and friendships. I just knew that there were some places I didn't fit in, but that was ok with me for the most part.

I think we all want to be accepted and valued - it's part of human nature. We tend towards activities and groups in which we are accepted and appreciated. I guess that the friendships that I made later in my life (I did have high school friends that I kept in touch with through college) were stronger. Well, that and I met dh while in college and he had no desire to move north.

I just found it interesting that we all seem to find or make a place for ourselves in which we're comfortable. I'm very happy with my life - I love my dh and boys, I love where I live, my neighbors are great and I've got some great friends, although not all are local. It's just interesting to take a look at how I've arrived at where I am.

Friday, finally?

You know, I've been thinking since Wednesday that it's Friday, lol! I think it's a combination of having a lot of stuff going on this week and the time change. My body is protesting this time change - there's just something wrong about getting up so early, lol!

Matt started his classes in the gifted program this week and we had two meetings in the evenings in relation to that - one a parent orientation and the other a presentation on what they'll be working on for the rest of the year. The program seems fantastic. I guess it should be - it's gotten all kinds of awards nationally. I picked Matt up Wednesday and he talked all the way home about his day (this was a half hour car ride). He never talks to me about his regular class this way. It's nice to see him so excited about something at school. We also had parent teacher conferences with his regular teacher as well this week. He's doing really well academically, but has trouble with being able to sit and finish work if he's not interested in it. Matt seems to really like something until he feels he's mastered it and then he doesn't want to do it anymore. I guess he gets bored.

Adam and I went swimming (more like splashing) yesterday after I worked out. He's been in swim lessons and really doesn't want to get in the water, so I thought this would help him out. He loves getting a noodle and kicking his feet while holding on to it. We spent about an hour in the pool before I got too cold to stay longer.

Adam told me yesterday that he doesn't like kisses anymore. :-( Hopefully, this is just a phase. Hugs are still good, though. It's funny that I don't want Adam to grow up. I always expected Matt to be more mature. I guess it must be something to do with Adam being my baby, lol! I don't know if it's because I don't think I'll have more kids or because he seems so much younger than Matt that I think he should stay little for a bit longer. No wonder there's all this psychological theory with respect to birth order. Much as we try, I don't think we can treat our kids in the same manner. That's a good thing, though. Each of our kids is an individual and should be treated as such. Sometimes I need to remind myself of this and give the boys the time and attention they deserve. It just seems so easy to get bogged down in the not so fun details of daily life (cooking, cleaning, etc) and forget why I'm staying home.

The doorknob caper

So, this morning, Adam's not listening to me. I'm trying to get him dressed so I can go work out and he's not cooperating. He shut himself into my old office (soon to be his new room) and locks the door. Nothing I say or do convinces him to open the door or even unlock it. Me, I'm royally pissed. I go down and get my screwdrivers and try to pick the lock. I checked every @#%#$#$ doorjamb in this entire house and no key for the door. Picking the lock doesn't work and Adam's still not unlocking the door. So, I look and see that the screws to the doorknob are on my side of the door.

I unscrew the doorknob and take it off the door. Still can't open the door because the other part of the whole thing is still keeping the door closed. Of course the operable part of the doorknob is now in the room with Adam... I called my neighbor to see if she had any suggestions and she had none, but was going to come over to take a look anyway (and probably see if she could make me see the lighter side of this whole fiasco). Just as I get off the phone with her, I hear a door opening upstairs and closing again.

The little stinker just put the doorknob back in the door, unlocked it and opened the door just to show me that he could. I finally managed to get him to open the door again. Of course, he comes out of there so proud of himself for opening the door after I took everything apart. He's got this grin on his face. Good thing he's so dang cute! It sure makes it easier to get over my temper, lol! I got to the gym, though, and had a great workout - it's amazing what some anger can do. Hopefully, I won't be too sore tomorrow.