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Surprise!!

That's right! Baby #3 will be here some time this coming February 2012!!

last little bit of summer

I apologize for the shortage of posts and even moreso of pictures--the camera called it quits this week. I'm thinking it's the battery and went to Walmart (hell) for groceries and stopped by their photo center to pick one up and once the not-so-happy photo guy finally came over and assisted me, he let me know that they didn't carry camera batteries and that I'll need to go to Best Buy or Radio Shack to get them. Since I had two cranky kids, a car full of perishables, and avocado dip to make before the cookout, I haven't had the opportunity to go yet. This week, I promise.

I'm pretty sure my blood pressure rises as soon as I pull in to the Walmart parking lot. I try to avoid the place, but it's sooo convenient with it's 24-hour shopping and stock of everything that exists in the world (except for camera batteries). My patience is thin these days, understandably--two kids under 5 and no husband at home, a recurring ant infestation (where the hell are these things getting in???!!), a dog that's getting out of the fence and getting into everything else, a million things to do and keep up with--agh! Some days I shouldn't be allowed in public.

James did fantastic for his second week of preschool. Everyday he announced proudly that he did not have to go to time out! I guess once was all it took? I've been trying to find fun things for Riley and I to do. It's great getting things done around the house and running errands, but we need some fun too! We went swimming on post with some friends Tuesday. Ran errands Wednesday. Had a playdate at the Columbus Museum in the Transformations room on Thursday morning. I'm so sad I didn't take the kids there sooner! The transformations room is downstairs, free! and they have all these neat little stations set up like, a coloring station with markers, crayons and ink (to make finger prints), a bucket of foam blocks, puppets, a room of chalkboard walls with a bucket of chalk in the middle, a dress up station with a stage and curtain for "performing", a shape room, a reading center, and tons of chairs all over for the mamas--although with so much to do, there was rarely any sitting going on. Riley loved it and was all over the place! The whole time I kept thinking how much James would love it, too.

Friday night, some of the girls from our meetup group went to see "The Help". I read the book last month and fell in love with it, so I've been counting down for our movie night. The sitter came and stayed with the kids, I put on my new Anthro dress, and headed out blaring music and singing obnoxiously like a teenager. The movie was really good, and the group of girls I went with were a great movie-going bunch. I'm pretty sure the old couple in front of us were not happy we were there, but we had a blast. It was a lot longer than I'd thought it was going to be, and I tried so hard not to be a book snob about it, but I couldn't help but miss some major parts they skipped or changed. I won't spoil anything for anyone who hasn't seen it, but I will encourage everyone to read the book, because it clarifies and fills in a lot of holes that the movie left.

Yesterday our group had their end of summer bbq, and it was a hit (the one I made the avocado dip for). They had it at one of the community centers on post and had a ton of food and a bouncy house for the kids. The turn out was big, there were several families there that I hadn't met before. One of my friend's husband graduated this year from OCS and I had a nice, long talk with him about Jason and his experience going through it now. I have to say, after gaining a little insight on the ins and outs (that Jason hadn't shared with me yet), I felt a lot better. In the least it made a lot more sense!

Today was our lazy day, cooking, a little cleaning (not enough to count, really) and a whole lot of nothing. I meant to be more productive, but these stupid ants have found a new entrance to the house and got into the jelly cupboard. Ever since I got back from Tennessee a few weeks back we've had a problem with them. While I was gone a whole bunch came in through a crack in the floorboard in the dining room and got into all the cereal boxes and bread! I killed them, threw out the food, cleaned the mess and got some plastic containers to keep our cereal in from now on. Then I had a box of doughnuts sitting on the counter and came home to find the inside swarmed with them! I didn't even know where they were getting in from! I spent the whole week cleaning and killing and throwing stuff out. I put all the sugar in my canisters in ziploc bags inside them, cleaned everything with Windex (tip from a friend!), everything. Once I got rid of them and started to breathe easy, I saw them swarming the Bisquick box on top of my jelly cupboard. This time it looked like they were coming in near the window, so I sprayed there, but I don't know how much good this'll do. I've had to throw away so much food where it's either had them all over it or been sprayed with ant poison or Windex. It's exhausting and frustrating and endless so I'm finally breaking down and calling the exterminator tomorrow. As much as I love summer, I wish it would start cooling off so we can get rid of these things!!

This coming weekend my in-laws are coming and relief is in sight. We're doing good, but it still gets very overwhelming and breaks are rare, so I'm sooo happy that help is on the way! Callaway is having their hot air balloon festival this weekend and we've been looking forward to it all summer. I'm excited to take them and to even just get something done around the house. I have barely been in my craft/sewing room at all since we moved, except to move stuff around in there and I'd love to be able to work on some projects--or even just get it organized enough to work on some projects! I've also got my hands full planning Riley's upcoming birthday party. I've never gotten to throw a big party for either of my kids, so I'd really like to do it up for them this year. Especially since Daddy's missing them both, I'm hoping it'll help ease the emptiness of him being gone so long.

Again, sorry there aren't any cute pictures of the kids this week, but I promise I'll make up for it!

Safari Sunday

For over a month, my neighbor Jenna and I have been trying to plan a trip out to Pine Mountain to the Wild Animal Safari for a weekend. That was when it was raining almost every day, then we both had vacations and life and what-all-else and it never happened. Last night she called me to chat and threw out the idea of going today. It worked! We loaded up the kids this morning and headed out.
They rented one of the vans (old and nasty, but perfect for feeding muddy, drooly animals), her husband Jason drove and she and I sat in the back to child-wrangle. Thank goodness for the safety bars on the window--Riley was ready to jump out and join the wild. A bunch of deer and pigs greeted us in the front, shoving muddy, snotty, slobbery noses through the slats to beg for food.

Then there were the zebras. We were warned not to hand feed them because they especially like to bite. Awesome.

There were so many babies--baby deer, baby pigs. Riley kept saying "baby baby" out the window. Look at this precious little guy!

The giraffe was my favorite. He stuck his huge tongue out and wrapped it around the food pellet (and consequently, my hand) and left a huge spit string. Super gross, but I wasn't freaked that he'd bite me since his teeth were practically a foot away.

Going up?

Fresh from a mud-bath.

The boys didn't feed anything from their hands, but threw plenty out to the animals. I was a little paranoid about fingers getting bitten and James is cautious, so he kept his distance. Riley kept reaching out and sticking his fingers in slime and making me nervous.

The buffalo was by far the drooliest.

Camel.

The bulls loved Andrew (Jenna's son). And the buffalos loved Jason (her husband). In several different parts of the park, they came up to the driver's window (the front windows didn't have the bars there) and he got a spit bath. Over and over.

Llama! This one's for you Kelly! And Dad! haha!

This one didn't mind having his picture taken [since he was getting fed].

Once we made it through the drive thru portion, we got out, washed hands about a thousand times and stopped so the kids could have snacks (yay for their cooler!). Then they had a walk-thru area with some more animals. My camera battery crapped out on me so I had to rely on my phone, so the quality is less than stellar.

They lions and tigers and bears! oh my...

Monkey James!

The obscene baboon. James kept commenting on the "red thing". Oh Lord I did not want to explain that one...

The snake house was James's favorite. In the gift shop afterward, he begged me for this life-size striped snake. All I could think about was cleaning the toy room or making the bed and finding that thing in it one day. Shivers.

One of the workers had a baby alligator, whose name was "Bubba", and James and Andrew got to pet it.

Riley stayed in the stroller for the walk-thru part and didn't even fight it. I guess all the animal adventures wore him out!

The kids just loved it and James carried on about all the animals on the way home. I'm really glad we went. How many people can say they fed a giraffeor a zebra from their car?

James starts preschool

My baby boy started preschool this week.Riley demanded that he have a backpack, too, before we could leave the house.Dressed in his new blue shoes (that were too big for him only a few weeks ago!), with his scooby doo lunchbox and the spiderman backpack his daddy helped him pick out, my little boy walked into his new classroom, excited! Then when he realized I wasn't going to stay with him, he started getting nervous, tugging at my shirt, saying frantically, "I'm hungry! I'm hungry! Let's go eat". His teacher saw that he was getting nervous and offered to show him the toy trucks. Luckily he took her hand, and fascinated with the trucks, didn't even say anything as he watched me inch out the door a few minutes later.His teacher put together these baggies for the parents--first day survival kits: "tissues for your tears and [hershey] kisses for your fears". They were really cute, but guess which mama didn't get to use it?This one! Riley wanted to go to school so badly. He screamed the whole way out of the building, the whole way through the parking lot, the whole time I struggled to buckle him into the carseat, and the whole way home. Then he screamed and cried even louder when we pulled into the garage!

I brought him in the house and plopped him on the couch, gave him some cheezits and juice and put on Sesame Street. After a few minutes, he realized he didn't have to fight anyone off of his snack, he could play with whatever toys he wanted and watch whatever little kids show he wanted on tv. All of a sudden, he got the biggest grin on his face.I was amazed at what I could get done around the house in 4 hours. At first we kind of sat around like, wow it's quiet in here. Then I did the dishes, worked on some projects, did some ironing, and still had some snuggle-time with Riley. It was wonderful!

When we went to pick James up, Riley was so happy to see his big brother again. James was beaming ear to ear.

Each morning he woke up with a big grin on his face (despite a couple sleepless nights where Riley was sick), ready to go to school. He learned the letter "M" which he pointed out to me in our bedtime stories and told me that the "M" says "mmmmm" about a million times. On Wednesday (day two) he fessed up after we had gotten home that he'd had to sit in time out at the playground for "not listening" and that his "friend with the blue shirt sat in time out with me" and he "wouldn't do it again" (I wanted to hear that last part again--he's never said those words before!). I know it's an adjustment for him, being in this new environment, with new people. He's done really well besides that little blip and proudly told me (and his daddy on the phone that night) that he did not have to go to time out the next day. His first "homework assignment": the All About Me poster. We pasted pictures onto it and I wrote down his answers for such riveting questions as:

1. What's your favorite color? "Blue"

2. Favorite food? "Macaroni and Cheese" (it was actually "monkey cheese")

3. Who are your friends? "My cousins, Skylar, Evan and Will, my brother and Batman"

4. What do you want to be when you grow up? "A Daddy"

The last question was a lot more complicated than that....I was excited about asking him what he wanted to be, since I realized I'd never asked him before. The conversation went like this:

Me: What do you want to be when you grow up?

J: [thinking...] A mommy like you!

M: Okay....well, what kind of job would you like to do?

J: [thinks another minute while playing with his trains] A Dani!

Haha!! That clever little stinker thought he'd be more specific as to which mommy he wanted to grow up to be! It was the sweetest thing ever. And by God, if he wants to grow up and be a mommy he'll be the best little mommy there ever was. However...we needed another answer for our Christian school poster questionairre and I didn't know how they'd react to a little boy wanting to grow up to be a "mommy".

Me: [laughing]Well...what about a daddy? Little girls grow up to be mommies and little boys grow up to be daddies.

J: Alriiiiiight [reluctantly], I be a daddy.

So "Daddy" it was. Then I reassured him, if he really wanted to, he could be a mommy. Someday, he'll write a book.

Riley never did fuss again when we dropped James off the other two days of the week. Instead he came home, plopped himself down and started playing with all the toys that James usually hoards to himself (namely the trains). He's loving all the undivided attention and when the boys are reunited after school and naptime, they rough-house and play together like they really missed each other. And I'm a much more productive, calm mama these days.

Neighborhood cookout

I know I've mentioned our neighbors about a thousand times, but seriously--these guys are worth bragging about! A couple months ago, some of the women in the community threw out the idea that we should have a meet-and-greet cookout while the weather was warm and there was gas in the grills. The idea becames door-to-door-delivered flyers, which led to a meeting to set the plans in motion, then another meeting a week or two to finalize everything and finally--last weekend the tents were propped, grills fired up and everybody filed over into the cul de sac with casserole dishes and we had a great time. There's a DJ that lives in the neighborhood, who set up his equipment. Everyone was up dancing, having a good time. James complained a little about the noise and sat with me while I played awkward white girl at the table, but Riley jumped right on in!

One family set up a sno-cone machine, popcorn maker, and made funnel cakes.

There was soooo much food! We started a couple hours early, around 2 o'clock, because it was threatening to rain. Aside from a small sprinkling, nothing much happened so we stayed for hours and ate, talked, played, and ate again.

Many of the neighbors are grandparents, and had their grandkids there. Crystal, one of the women who organized the whole thing, had her granddaughter there and Riley clung to her the whole time! She was his girlfriend--feeding him, dancing with him, playing on all the trikes and riding toys. He was hooked!

She taught him the cupid shuffle! It was precious. Everybody was cracking up at him out there. He kept dragging her by the hand back out to dance after that.

The only complaint anyone had about the day was the heat. Everyone was red-faced and sweaty, but there were plenty of cool drinks and three tents set up for shade. The kids all played so hard, there were no fights at bed time (however pulling Riley away from his girlfriend to head home that night included a couple tantrums).

The turn out was great. Everyone was so friendly, asking us about Jason, talking about the kids, where we've moved from, God, and talking on every subject. Watching my kids running around the cul de sac and through the yards with all the other kids, chasing each other--it was perfect. Exactly my dream of the quiet subdivision, friendly people, and my kids being able to go outside and play and have other kids to play with. And to feel safe.

We talked about starting some cookouts earlier next year, around the Spring when it's not too warm, yet. I hope that Jason will get to go to one and meet everyone like I have, before we end up moving next. I hated that he couldn't be there. It's been so wonderful to have such a support system, especially with Jason being gone, and being new. After six moves in four years, I can tell you how hard good neighbors are to come by! From day one they've been here for us, before they even knew us--before the moving truck was empty! We've never had that before. I'm so grateful that we ended up here.

Trip to Tennessee and Kelly's Birthday

Per James's request and to avoid feeling bummed all week, we packed our suitcases and the diaper bag, loaded up the dogs, and were Tennessee bound.
After 7 hours of driving, this was so good to see. Pretty sunflower fields.

Watering tobacco fields.

Almost as soon as I parked in the driveway, and the kids and dogs took off, my throat started getting sore. I was sick all week and boy was it nice to have the grandparents helping (and Drew, too!). The kids were still feeling a little funky from their colds the week before, but were perked up after a couple days. I laid on the couch, read "Push" by Sapphire, and ate probably 8 quarts of mom's chicken noodle soup.

My sister's birthday was the next weekend, so we stayed through it (since James will be starting pre-school, it would be our last visit for a while). The boys helped Grandma make "Aunt Gee-Gee's" ice cream sandwich cake. [I promised her I would post the pictures of the kids licking the spatulas until after the party! haha]

For the record--they weren't sick anymore!

When I finally started feeling better around the weekend, I got together with my friend Emmy, who recently got employed as a freshman english teacher at our old high school, for some school shopping and celebrating her birthday (her day is the same as Kelly's, so it takes some manuevering to celebrate with everyone). We shopped so hard! Like 8 hours straight. By the end of it I was famished and she humored me by going to a mexican restaurant for a super late dinner. I ate ridiculously fast (and much!), but we earned it!

My good friend, Neil was in town, en route on his move to Wisconsin for grad school, so we got together for some catching up. We ate downtown at Demos (I haven't been in years, probably since I was pregnant with James, and I've been madly craving some Demos lately). Lunch was lovely and made up for all of the time we spent searching for parking [impossible].

Afterward we hit up the Frist center to see the Andy Warhol exhibit. It was fabulous!!

I wish I could have taken James to see it, too! I'm going to make a point of it to take him to the Frist, especially the kids art-making center the next time we're in town.

We also got to check out the Shaker-furniture exhibit afterwards (perfectly, ironically planned). I'd love to take Jason to see it, I know he'd love to see the cases of hand tools and chairs and dressers.

After we parted, I finished up shopping for my sister's bday gift and met up with my friends, Amanda and Jacob for our Olive Garden tradition. I'm so glad they were able to meet up last minute!

It always seems so surreal to me--we're all "grown-ups" now! When did that happen? College grads. Grad school. Teaching. Engaged. Married. Babies!! I can't help but think it's all a big joke and we're just playing a bizarre game of pretend.

I've created a monster! My kids love coke. They didn't even have half of those small bottles, but still James was up til midnight (but so was my mom!). He apparently got our genetic gift of caffiene sensitivity. Riley takes more after his dad.

They both looked like little crack babies, running and screaming maniacally right after the first few sips!

Kelly had all her friends over Sunday to celebrate with a Vegas-wedding-bunco themed party. Dad made pizzas for everyone, we ate the ice cream sandwich cake the boys made, and played bunco.

The boys were fans of the cake, too :)

The card I got her--because we're two little old ladies of course!

We had a great time with everybody, even if much of it was spent sniffling and sneezing. The boys got to play with their cousins, I got to see my friends, did some productive shopping done, got my Demos fix, saw the Warhol exhibit, and kept busy enough that we didn't mope around after Jason left. Sometimes, keeping busy is all you can do not to lose your mind. We're pros.