Just a quick little update!

I had a few pics to share and a quick JC story!

As you can see from the picture, Drew lost one of his front teeth last night! That tooth has been lose for some time now. We got it out yesterday afternoon. It was still hanging on good from one side but he worked on it, twisting it around and all, and we got it out. He is so brave when it comes to tooth pulling. I really doubt that JC is going to be as good since he was such a pitiful mess last week while he was sick! Which leads me to my next pic...

This was JC on one of the nights that he made me rock him to sleep while he was sick. I really did enjoy getting to do this and love this pic!

Here is a pic of the snow we got last week. As I mentioned in a previous post, we did not go out and play in it this time. This suited me just fine since playing in the snow means a mountain of laundry to clean up afterward! Instead I got my entire house cleaned that day and a bunch of cooking done! This picture was taken actually before it had even stopped snowing, so it is not even the finished product!

JC got up early this morning. Like 5am early! Not really sure what his deal was but he was in a good mood so whatever! He normally is barely awake as we get ready to leave. So while we were waiting on Drew to join us as we were heading out the door, JC starting messing with Drew's backpack. He was trying to pick it up and put it on his back and kept jabbering saying something like back pack. Well, we Drew finally got in there and tried to take it him JC started screaming! So I quickly rushed back to Drew's room and pulled out the old Nemo backpack that Drew had when he was about 2. JC was so excited. We shoved his Mickey Mouse down in it and off we went! He marched right into Aunt Elizabeth's house with it showing it off. He wants to be so grown up like his bubba! So when we get home today I am going to transfer all the diaper bag stuff to the backpack and we will start carrying it to church and all. I guess my baby is getting big on me, quicker than I am ready for I think!

Colds, snow, stomach viruses, and other what not that keeps me from posting!

Oh my goodness! I just cannot understand how it has been nearly 3 weeks since I posted on here. I have absolutely no pictures to show for the time that has passed! But, I have lots to say about what has been going on.

We have really had a winter around here this year. They have missed 5 days of school now and have dismissed early atleast twice. I love a good snow and playing in it a bit but we are really tired of it now. The weather men are saying that we may have it all behind us now. I really hope that is right. If we do not miss any more school days we will not have to go to school on any Saturdays or lose part of spring break.

I have been fighting with an upper respiratory infection for about 2 weeks now. I have had a hard time shaking it which I think is mostly caused by the weather. While we have had a lot of snow and cold weather we have also had some unseasonably warm day mixed up in there. The back and forth temps always seem to send my sinuses and allergies into a whirl. After I got sick with the cold Jim picked up a stomach bug somewhere. It only lasted about 24 hours in him. But, it moved on to the boys. JC got sick last Sunday morning with a fever and just not wanting to eat at all. With JC we know that if he is not eating then something is definitely wrong! So we went to the minor med clinic that morning. They diagnosed him with tonsilitis. We thought that was it until later that afternoon when he started vomiting. It was the most sick he has ever been. He would not eat or drink anything. I was really concerned about him dehydrating. Monday he was still pretty sick and not eating much but we were getting him to drink more. It was not until Thursday that he finally began to act like himself again and eat and drink like normal. Well, by then we thought Drew was coming down with it. He got sick once on Wednesday morning. He ended up going to school with Jim that day because the snow and ice were on it's way and we knew they would most likely only be at school half the day. He never got sick again that day but only ate a very little. He was fine all day on Thursday and ate like normal. Then on Friday morning again he randomly got sick. By that afternoon he had a full blow stomach bug going on. He has been fine all day today and seems to be starting to get a full apetite back. I have cleaned the house from top to bottom! I just hope that it is gone. I am the only one that did not get the stomach bug but feel like surely since I had the cold that should disqualify me from getting a stomach bug too!

So aside from dealing with sickness we have just been trucking along like normal. Life stays busy, as always! We are looking forward to celebrating Drew's 7th birthday! It is so hard to realize that he is about to be 7. He is becoming such a little man. We are trying to teach him more about responsibilty and chores. He has gotten to a point that he can help around the house with many things. He is also a really big help with JC. Although JC does not always appreciate his helpfulness! This year Drew is having a spend the night party. We decided to just let him have a few friends over and let them play and have pizza and sleep over. We are buying a Wii for his birthday. We have talked about getting one at Christmas for the past couple years and just have not done it because the boys have gotten other things. We are all excited about getting it. Drew loves playing the Wii games and I like that it is not so much of just staring at a tiny screen like the ds is. Atleast with the games on the Wii it is a bit more interactive and makes them get up and more around. Drew has been growing a lot spiritually too. We got him a devotional book when he got baptized. He is so good about insisting every night that he do it before going to bed. He is able to read it all himself, which is what we wanted. We wanted him to see the need for developing this habit for himself. He is thinking a lot more about other people and even wants to pray for things when he sees a need in someone's life. It is exciting to see this growth in him. He has a very sensitive heart and cares about others.

JC has reached that terrible 2's stage! Right now as I am typing this Jim has been putting him in time out, over and over again! He has started throwing little temper tantrums. He also is getting to a point that he is very vocal about his dislike of Drew's big brother bossing around. He will frequently come and tattle on Drew. We still cannot really understand what he is trying to tell on him about but it is obvious that is the reason behind it. He has started trying to "talk" a lot more. Most things are still now discernable but he has started saying "I do" when we ask him questions. We can ask him if he wants his milk and he will say, "I do". So he is starting to communicate with us better. You can tell he is at that point where he gets a little frustrated that we do not understand him. I know he will soon be talking understandable more and more. He was so pitiful this week while he was sick. He actually would not go to bed as he usually does. He has never been a rock to sleep kind of baby. Even when he was a newborn he wanted us just to put him down. He liked to stretch out and did not like being bound up in a blanket or held up against you. Well, when he is sick that is just what he wants! I had to rock him asleep for every nap and bedtime the entire time he was sick! And we had to be incredibly careful putting him in the bed because if he woke up you had to start all over. I really enjoyed this! I am so much more of a push over with JC then I have ever been with Drew! I guess knowing that he is my last baby makes me cherish it all a little more. He is doing great staying at my sisters house. We are really happy with the transition. As an added bonus I get to see my sister and her kids everyday! She and I both stay so busy with our families and church that it is hard to find time to visit. This allows us to be more connected, even though most days we are pretty quickly in and out of there.

I also have started a new journey. I have been a little reluctant to blog about it because I am still in the early stages but I will share a little. I have started the running program Couch to 5K. This is a progressive program that trains you to run or jog a 5k. I am at the end of the 2nd week. I really enjoy it. I have even run on some of the really cold days. It is really refreshing being outside and enjoying the beauty around us. Today we all went to the park together and I ran while the kids and Jim played on the playground. Jim has been really been great about it and even rushed home from work a couple of times just so I could get out and run before the sun goes down and gets really cool outside. I am also doing a Bible study and reading a book called Made to Crave by Lysa TerKeurst. She wrote this book about her own struggle with weight and food. The basis of the book is that God made us to crave Him, not food. I know that I have far too often put food above my needs for God. My best friend and I are studying this together. We are not on some big weight loss journey, we just want to get the right perspective and priorities when it comes to how we treat food in our lives and to make sure that we are putting God first, above our food.

Well, that is a lot of information today! Hopefully it will not be so long until next time and I will actually have some pics to share!

Let's just pretend that it has not been 15 days since I posted!

Oh, my poor little blog. How I have neglected you these past 2 weeks. Even now, as I type, I really do not have time to do this but I have no motivation to do anything else and 20 minutes before the dryer buzzes at me again, so here I sit!

Where have the last two weeks gone! Well lets see, I have been buried under a sea of tax paperwork at the office, that is a lot of it. We have been busy around here and have had lots of cold winter weather. Tonight it is actually snowing again and has apparently caused another pandemic case of snow fever throughout Desoto County school kids! I am afraid they will be sorely dissapointed though, as it is far too warm for this one to do anything. Even Jim has now gotten tired of "Snow Days". They have already missed 3 now. That eliminates their 2 built in days that were in February and now tacks one on at the end of the year. There are 2 more days built in at the end of the year and at the rate we are going we are likely to lose those and end up at school on a Saturday!

Well in my rush to make a quick post let me share a few little details about today.

Today was BUSY! I had to check Drew out early today to for a dental appointment. Originally, my plan was to take Drew to the dentist alone and then go back to get JC from Elizabeth's house. But, I ended up scheduling haircuts for Jim and both boys this afternoon after the dental appointment so I just picked him up early too and took him with us. MAJOR MISTAKE: WILL NOT DO THIS EVER AGAIN!!!!!!!! He was HORRIBLE! He was totally that kid you see out in public that you think, "Gee, I cannot believe that mom/dad has no control over their child. That kid is horrible." Yes, that was me today, the out of control mom. If there had been any way I could have gotten somewhere that office waiting room and popped him one good one on that padded rear of his I would have! Thankfully they were really quick and we were out of there in 30 minutes. We actually had time to run home and let the dog out before meeting Jim at the hair salon. Well, he wasn't a whole lot better there, but at least then I had Jim to share the badness with! He did great for his hair cut though, only his second one. She still just used the scissors on him for the most part and just used the trimmers to clean him up. Maybe by next time he will be ready for the clippers like daddy and Drew.

I planned ahead for our busy day and had chili cooking in the crockpot. It turned out to be a great meal for the kind of cold, wet day that we have had. We had that and corn bread muffins (Jiffy mix with a touch of splenda added! Always a hit at my house!) Everyone ate great! The only problem is that apparently for every bite that went in JC's mouth 3 went on the floor! There was corn bread crumbs EVERYWHERE under both kids chairs! I even found a few suspect crumbs under Jim's chair too so I am not so sure he did not contribute to the mess. I had to literally vacuum out JC's highchair, the floor around the table, all of their chairs and the table top itself before I could even wipe it down with a rag! Seriously!!! Not fun! But it is all done now and I am doing this!

I am going to have to get off soon because the warning buzzer on the dryer just sounded, but one for thing...

This morning in the car Drew ask me when he would be a teenager. I told him technically he would be a teenager when he is 13 and since he is just about to turn 7 that would mean in 6 more years he will be almost a teenager. After sharing this information with him I added 6 to my own age and realized that I will be dangerously close to 40 at that point and that Jim will be 40! AAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!! Just the thought of it now is making me edgy!

Oh, and here are a couple of picks that we have taken over the last two weeks...

This is JC using the swiffer floor cleaner. He saw me putting it away after using it and threw a fit to have it. At first I just gave it to him without the cleaning cloth on it. Then after about 10 minutes of him running it all over the floor I told Jim we could stick a cloth on there and at least get some use out of all the activity! He literally played with this for over 30 minutes. He and Drew actually fought over who could play with it! Seriously! Now in about 2 or 3 more years when this is on the "Chore List" for that day and they whine and complain about it and tell me how uncool I am for making them to it, I am going to pull out these photos, and a video once I capture one of them with it, and show them how cool it was at this point in their lives!

First Snow Day of 2011!!

Well, I have just learned that we are now officially out of school again tomorrow, so that will be Snow Day #2. Not sure if I will have to work tomorrow or not. I will wait and see what the roads look like in the morning.

We had the official word of school closing today last night before bedtime. We stayed up a little late watching a movie. It was really nice to see the snow falling and building up and anticipating the fun we would be able to have today!! We did not get to sleep in too late. JC was awake around 7am and we soon had to get up for him. We made breakfast and got dressed for some fun in th snow! We ended up getting out the beach toys for them to play with in the snow. We figured that was the way the rednecks play in the snow anyway! They had fun making snow castles and shoveling the now around!

Wonderful, restful, weekend!

This has been a wonderfully lazy weekend to follow two incredibly busy holiday weekends!

Jim went to church for Men's Breakfast this morning, so we still had to get up and get going, but not nearly as early as usual. I took my shower before he left but just spent the morning in my pjs after that. I got the boys breakfast ready and started some laundry. Just a little bit of around the house chores. I spent the afternoon out with my best friend. We went to lunch and got pedicures. This was my birthday gift from her.

So while Jim was gone this morning I played with the camera just a bit...

JC got his new favorite toy, the laundry basket, out for a bit.

Then he decided to pose for a picture or two!

Drew wanted to play with his new sticker book. JC had to be right there with him for that! They love sitting at the new table/desk area in the kitchen.

After a while I had to go put on my makeup and fix my hair. It was getting close to time for me to leave and Jim was still not home. I took JC with me to the bathroom and he decided to occupy himself with my drawer of lotions and body sprays...

He had them all laid out like this on his own. This picture was actually taken after Jim got home. He jabbered to Jim all about them, as if he was giving a sales pitch on all these products!

He especially liked demonstrating how the caps can be taken off and put back on the body spray bottles!!

Dinner tonight was a pot roast with carrots and potatoes all cooked in the crock pot. It was awesome and I only had one dish to clean up! We are getting ready now to watch the Family Movie Night movie that is coming on tonight. I am excited about it. The preview of the movie looks really good and it is supposed to have only family friendly commercials and not as many commercials as normally during a tv movie, we will see!

Happy weekend everybody! If you are in the North MS area you are probably hearing the tales of the winter storm coming our way. We are not wishing for it but if we get snow I just want it to be enough for the kids to play in. If we get that kind of snow there will be much more blogging to come with snow pics! Okay, maybe I am wishing for it just a little!!

Awesome A's

Today Drew got his report card for the second 9 weeks of school and the first semester. He got all A's for both!! We are so proud of him.

He works really hard each week on his homework and definitely deserved good grades. He was so excited. His ribbon says Principal's List. He got one for the first 9 weeks also. I am not quite sure how we will reward him for his hard work yet. We have a project we are working on for his birthday and may try to purchase that item early as a reward for the good grades, we will see.

JC got a special surprise today too! For Christmas Memaw had gotten him a big teddy bear, which he loved from the moment he opened it. I never expected him to get so excited about a stuffed animal but he just loved the thing. He laid on the floor with it and played with it the entire time we were opening presents at her house on Christmas Eve. Well the bear had a problem, hair loss! I mean excessive hair loss! There was bear fuzz all over Memaw's house that day and when we got the bear home it was not any better. So, of course, she wanted us to return the bear and try to get him another one. My sister-in-law actually found another bear that was similar at another store the week after Christmas. We have not seen them since then though to get it. She is a teacher at Drew's school also. So today when Drew's assistant teacher was walking him to the car I noticed she was toting a huge bear. After a few moments it dawned on me that this was THE bear! JC was very excited about it again! He did not really seem to miss the other bear but was very excited to see the new one. So I took several pictures of him with it tonight for Memaw to see!
Here is the new bear...

Here is JC with the orginal bear on Christmas Eve...

Neither of these pics are that great, but you can see how excited he was about that bear!

JC with the new bear...

THANK YOU MEMAW AND AUNT REBECCA FOR TAKING CARE OF THE BEAR SITUTATION!!

Here is a video of the boys from tonight. The are being a couple of typical, rough and rowdy boys!

A New Beginning

Today was the beginning of some new things. Drew began the second semester of his 1st grade year. JC began staying at my sister's house rather than the daycare. This means that we have to get going extra early in the morning. I am very happy to say that today was incredibly successful! I got up at 4am, yes you read that correctly. I exercised and got ready to go even before our goal time of 6:30am. We probably were pulling out of the driveway at that time exactly. The kids did really good. Drew was tired but I think that was mostly due to staying up a little bit too late last night and that he has been out of routine for 2 weeks now. We arrived at Elizabeth's house by 6:50am. This was great because I had built in 30 minutes to get to her house and it really only took 20! I even had time to run in for a bathroom stop. Which is very important since I had already had 32oz of water during my workout and was working on an additional 24oz on the ride to work! JC was so sweet when I dropped him off. He knew where we were as soon as we pulled up and got pretty excited, but then he realized Drew was not getting out of the car too and seemed a bit apprehensive. As we headed into the house he seemed to realize what was going to happen. After my bathroom stop I came back to the kitchen and knelt down for him to hug me. He gave me a big love and then headed toward the pantry with Elizabeth in order to pick out his breakfast food. You know JC is always good with being left if food is being offered! Once he was settled Drew and I headed on down to Hernando. I actually got him dropped off at school and drove into the parking lot at work at 7:16am. I was really pumped at how well we had done. I only hope we can keep up this momentum! Obviously, since our mornings start so early bedtime has to be early. As I type JC is already down for the night and Drew is reluctantly heading to bed himself. He is resisting right now which is likely to end badly for him! Why do they always have to learn the hard way?!? Jim and I are planning to spend a little time reading and then we will be off to bed soon ourselves. We rarely ever turn the tv on during the week anymore. I really like it this way. It is quieter around the house and although we do miss a lot of the news and sometimes haven't a clue what is going on in the world, we don't really feel like we are missing anything.

Since my last post we have pretty much been letting JC feed himself with a spoon every night. He makes a big mess but I usually have clean up duty while Jim totes him straight to the bathroom. It has mostly been in the chair and on the table. He has not been to bad about getting things on the floor. I really am impressed with how well he uses the spoon. I think we probably helped Drew for longer than necessary. Also, Drew has always been the type that does not want his hands messy so he never would really just feed himself with his hands. JC has none of those inhibitions! It is wonderful that he is so independent but it also is reminding me of how he is quickly moving out of the baby stage of life.

Well I better run for now. We have both kids in bed and I am ready to have an evening cup of coffee and do some reading. Bye for now!