Random updates

I can't believe it we've made it a year. Eric has completed a whole year of school, I have completed yet another year home with the kids. I am only about 50% more insane than I was last year at this time. But the big milestone is that we thought if we could make it through this first year of this graduate school process we could make it through the rest of the duration, however long it would be. Certainly things are different than we expected, but overall we are doing well and I guess we are stronger, isn't that how the saying goes? This time has made us review our priorities realize what is important and what is not. I think we've also decided what to do if we do eventually have spending money. Of course that changes daily.
The kids seem to be doing well. I think Gwen is pretty excited to go to school, in about a month! She is a little confused though, she thinks her VBS teacher is going to be her preschool teacher. It is going to be rather interesting to drop her off and then have Nate. I think he is going to be lost without her and I am hoping that errand running will be easier with just him, but I don't think it will be! We are still working on several things with Gwen, manners and being nicer to her brother. She apparently needs more focused attention. I am working on trying to work with her on some of that stuff but I really hadn't noticed how much she just grabs stuff from Nate and just expects him to take it. I am also trying to encourage them to work out their stuff on their own. I don't think that's going to work out though...
Nate, what can I say about that kid, except trouble. Man does that kid listen only when he want to. I don't know really how to make him listen, sometimes he is great, sometimes I just want to pull out all my hair! Randomly he has started peeing on the potty, only in public, when Gwen goes to the potty. He did start peeing on the potty here at home first, but I haven't convinced him since then to do it again, and seriously in my head I had no intention of potty training him for a while, like when he was 2.5 or 3,certainly not 2! So, I haven't really been pushing it. Because as we may remember, I am not the best at remembering to remind the children to pee. (well you might not know that, but I am, I hope all my children have the iron bladders like Gwen and that we don't have to utilize public restrooms a lot.) I am looking forward to having some Nate & me time while Gwen is in school. I feel like Gwen gets Mommy and me time while Nate is napping, but Nate doesn't get that time. Maybe he will be less of a wild child if he gets one on one time...I suspect we will spend a lot of time reading, he will read and read and read with you...
In other news I have volunteered to co-lead our Mom's group at our Church. I just hope that someone volunteers to co-host with me, otherwise I don't think I will be able to do it, being new in town and all. Monthly they schedule a someone come and talk to the group or just talk about stuff. Considering I haven't been a member of this group for a year yet, what do I know. I guess I am just feeling that I've got to get out there meet people and make friends. I feel like I have been meeting people, we have like this "honeymoon" period and then things happen and I don't see or hear from them again. I used to get upset and worked up but whatever. I don't want to waste time and energy worrying about when I could be worrying about other things, like my fighting kids or my garden. Whatever has been eating my garden has apparently found greener pastures and I actually harvested 2 plum tomatoes today and am excited to make "Penne alla Vodka" tomorrow with stuff from my garden. We have been harvesting cucumbers and some onions and a little bit of lettuce and I am so excited because it looks like my eggplants are sprouting!!! I am hoping to get some eggplants this year, because I geniunely like eggplants but they are not something that I routinely buy, but if I just had them around, I would eat them.
Nothing on Eric tonight, this post has taken entirely too long...he's the same old same old, going to work, coming home, doing stuff but nothing I think that could be reported on the blog as newsworthy...maybe that is just because I am too tired to add anything else!

Beaches

A couple weeks ago I found out we had "beach" around here. There is a big lake here and I don't know if the sand is naturally occuring there, but it was there and we were there and we had a good time. The water was probably about 80 deg, perfect for me, growing up at the Gulf, but my girlfriend that was there thought it was too hot, not even refreshing, the kids and I loved it. Sadly it took out a pair of swim shoes I had for 10 years or something, sure it isn't that sad to most of you, but I start at the pool next week, what I am going to do. So, here are some pictures of the kids getting ready to go to the "beach".
Gwen was a little freaked out about going into the water and drowning, fortunately we had this swim suit with the floaties in the drawer still. She felt much better.
We packed a lunch and ate after we played in the water. The kids had a great time, Nate didn't really want to get into the water, he sat on the edge and played with the toys.
Gwen was all in. She loved it!

It was a little challenging to bring the kids to the beach by themselves, because they both wanted to do different things. But, we all survived and had a good time. It was a good dry run for our next beach trip. One of our friends from Huntsville was going to the beach for the holiday weekend (4th of July) and asked if we'd like to join them. We said YES! It was theoretically a 3.5 hour drive, I won't go into why we won't ever know how long it was! But needless to say we all had a great time and are thankful for the opportunity to see our friends. Sadly, I didn't get any pictures of us all together, apparently because we were having too much fun to pull out the camera! Seriously, the kids loved the beach and the water (the Atlantic, cooler than the lake!) The kids learned to jump the waves and play in the sand and have some fun...here's a slide show from the beach trip.

Dr's appointment

Today was Gwen's 4 year Dr's appointment. Yay Gwen!
Here are her stats:
Weight: 35lb ?oz (50%)
Height: 39 in (50%)
She has grown almost 3lbs and 3in...I don't know exactly for the weight, but for the height 2.5 inches in a year! Same percentages as last year, and the Dr mentioned BMI-which she said was a little high in the normal range...nothing to be worried about. Gwen appears to be growing normally and doing everything on schedule, so we don't have any worries. We decided to go ahead and give Gwen her 5year shots because we weren't sure if the preschool required them, and thought better to be safe than have to come back later. So she got 4 shots today! That didn't go so well, she cried and cried and told me she couldn't really walk, it hurt. She seems to be doing fine now and when has even allowed me to take off her bandaids. That was hilarious. The way this Doctor's office did the visit they had 2 nurses come in and do the shots simultaneously. And then they put the bandaids on, well we talked alot about the bandaids-we don't use bandaids at home. So then when one started to come off a little she showed it to me and I just ripped it off-fast, fast fast! She kind of looked shocked for a minute and she said "Thank you!" I asked her if she wanted me to pull the other one off and she said, "No". But, she just came up to me and asked me to pull the other off, so all is well.
Sadly after we went to the Dr's office we went grocery shopping and on the way there Gwen said, I have to go potty! I was a little distracted trying to speed us out of the car and get to the bathroom on the other side of the store from the entrance that I accidentally scrapped a woman with the cart. I stopped immediately and apologyzed and she started in on me "I know you had to see me here" Well, of course I did, but on those carts to use with kids, you can't really see that at the bottom it comes out again. I felt terrible, I still do, but part of me ceased to feel sorry when she was so mean and yelling at me. I told myself, don't let her bad attitude ruin your mood! Sure it was my fault, but it wasn't like I just ran off and didn't apologyze. Grr lady, I hope your day gets better and someone that you tell that story to will tell you how hard it is to drive those big carts! (especially when the one that has to pee is standing on the other side trying to help you steer)...I wanted to laugh though when she said "you are lucky I wasn't really hurt", what is she going to do, sue me, and get what from me exactly, we don't have any thing left to give!

Happy 4th Birthday!

Today my little big girl turns 4. I'd like to say it seems like yesterday that I birthed her and I miss those baby years, I don't. I like her and appreciate who she is now. How sweet she is and how she seems to be turning into a cleanly person. I hope this keeps up, because her brother, not so neat, but then she wasn't so cleanly at 2, so maybe he will be too. But, this isn't about him now is it. This is about Gwen, back to Gwen. She is definitely coming into her own as a person. She is still not sure about things and has definite opinions and you never know when she is going to change her mind. For example, after Nate had his birthday cake we discussed what kind of cake she wanted she told me a Strawberry Shortcake cake. One with Strawberry shortcake on it. For almost a month she told us that and then within the last week, she changed her mind! She decided she wanted a cookie cake! Ugh, well I made her a cookie cake, because that's what I do as a Mom!
She also seems to really be looking forward to school. I hope that doesn't fade. She had a great time at "Bible school" and wants to go back. I was so proud of her going to class everyday without fussing and participating in the concert. I was so proud, had to fight back the tears. I suspect the same thing will happen come preK and Kindergarten.
She is mostly a good kid, she does have her moments when she doesn't want to do what we ask her to, but mostly she is a good listener and if she didn't have to compete with that troublesome younger brother I think she would be much more cooperative.
Sadly today she woke up with congestion, but doesn't seem to have any other symptoms, but maybe a little crankiness. We had a big day today we got up ate breakfast, opened presents, picked blueberries (~2.5lbs, she was the star picker!), played at the play area, had lunch, cake, quiet time, went to a party with the bouncy house, went to Best Buy, came home, attempted dinner and then put the kids to bed! A day we won't forget about for a while. I think fun was had by all! Here is a slide show from today.

Happy Father's day...cookies

I realize that Father's day was almost a month ago, I think by now you must all realize that I am a little behind in the blog posting. I am thinking that at least I am getting it done-better late than never. At least that is the philosophy I am going with today. So we made cookies for Daddy for Father's Day, this time I let Nate help decorate.
Look he actually decorated the cookies, before he tried he to eat them all.

Look Gwen is getting to be quite the expert. Of course we still have to review that 5 lbs of sprinkles is doesn't really stick to 0.5lb of icing.

Nate hard at work...do you see the cookie he completed

Do you see what I mean about the sprinkles?

I let them eat a couple cookies.

The cookies we made...I helped on a couple.

More of the spoils.

Nate sneaking more cookies.

RAIN!?

Over a month ago we had rain, we really haven't had any since and I think it had been a while since we rain, so I did what ever responsible parent would do, I put a chair by the door and let them play outside. (And yes, Gwen is holding a baby in her dress)

They had a grand time.

Nate loved it!!!

Nate wanted to play in all the puddles.

Picnics

Conveniently for the Grandparents the kids birthdays are a month apart so when they want to buy group gifts instead of a bunch of toys, highly encouraged! For their birthdays this year Grandma got them a picnic table with umbrella! We would probably use it all the time if it wasn't so hot/buggy. But when it is not so hot and not real buggy we use it and the kids seem to enjoy it! Of course they get a little distracted by playing with the umbrella, but I don't have any pictures of that.
I don't really know what is going on here, but this is where it placed it in the backyard, since it is rather inconvenient to have it right in front of the back yard. We will likely move it again later but for now, a good spot.

Bad planning

You'd think I'd learn my lesson, not so much! Well, I guess that is not true, I must start looking at calendars when I plan stuff. I looked at the map and realized that Kiki is not that far from us, relatively speaking. I asked her if she'd like to meet-up. She said sure! I hadn't realized that she hadn't met Nate yet! We decided to meet-up almost half way between us. I gave Kiki some dates to meet but didn't check with my calendar, oops! If I had been thinking clearly I wouldn't have planned a meet-up for the day after VBS week, but what can you do? Maybe I will learn for next time. Sadly, we got stuck in traffic, I don't know how long poor Kiki had to wait for us. We decided to meet up at Cracker Barrel. It was good, Nate was beside himself with sleepiness and apparently Gwen was also, they both fell asleep on the way home. We ate lunch hung out on the porch. I think we all had a nice time. Here's a slideshow from after lunch.