Gardening and keepin' out the riff-raff

The neighbor had a gardener who was nice enough come over and give me advice about keeping out the deer and whatever else had been eating my tomatoes and stuff. He said human hair and pee. Well, sometimes for fun we let the kids pee in the yard, around the garden...where are cool like that. Fortunately for us we have no neighbors behind us and the people on the one side hardly ever venture outside. The neighbor on the other side knows of the peeing suggestion and also is blocked from seeing most of our backyard. So one evening last month, this happened!
No pooping, just peeing. I swear he would have been out there for like hours. This is why I think he is not ready for potty training. Sure he can pee at will, but I don't think he knows how to control it yet, like he just pees, doesn't hold it and pees all at once.

I have one picture of him holding his shirt up in all his glory, but Eric made me promise not to post that one.

We did actually put his pants back on and let him play, as you can see here.

Library fun!

Our library had a summer reading program. We participated in the reading program. For the adults you had to read 4 books, for the kids 0-10 you had to read 15minutes a day. We read to the kids all the time, so that is no problem. I also participated and did 4 books in short order. Eric on the other hand picked a really long book to read as #2 at 10 days until the end of the program he realized that he still had 3 books to read and picked some short stories and plays to finish out his list. And you know what, that turkey won a prize! A $25 gift certificate! I might be still angry, but he took me to the movies for free, so I guess I benefited also. At the beginning of the summer reading program, the kick-off, the library had a big event. We went and had a good time, they had all kinds of free stuff for the kids, a bouncy house and games and books. The only problem was that it was super hot and the lines were long, so we left. We decided to go back for the ending. This is time we decided to go early and the library had done a much better job, a lot of the stuff you had to stand in line for was inside! We got their early enough and the kids decided they wanted balloons from the balloon lady, and man was she skilled. Nate picked a frog and Gwen a flower. They also decided to get their faces painted. Which was a huge step for both! I had forgotten my camera, but I snapped some pictures when we got home! Enjoy!
Nate is wearing a hat that Gwen made, they had the hats there and fabric markers...Nate made one also, but just did like 1 or 2 swipes of the marker and went on with his day.

His frog, he can also wear it as a mask.

The kids went through the inflated slip-n-slide type thing and ran his face painting. I was so impressed how still he sat (relatively!)

Gwen and the flower...pink of course!


One day last week or so Nate refused to nap and when Eric got him out and found him like this, frog on his head! That boy!

My 2 kids

I often consider the difference between my two kids and their temperement. I have started to think of them as I-can-do-it and I-can't-hear-you. Can you guess which is which? I think the difference and temperment of the kids can be told in this story.
I have been trying to get the kids to eat better so I have been making the kids eat some kind of fruit and then they can get a snack. Gwen gets it and I often find her eating fruit. Nate, still difficult about it. The other day I told he had to finish his grapes, he had 4 left. Nate refused and cried and cried about it. He was crying so much I couldn't hear Eric's phone call, so I went into the other room to finish our conversation. I hear Gwen call from the other room and come running. Nate had pulled a chair up into the pantry and was trying to help himself in the pantry. He reached an open bag of lentils and spilled it all over the floor. UGH! He made a huge mess, all in the pantry. I was about to clean it up when Gwen asked to clean it up. I thought sure, handed her the dustpan and little broom. And she THANKED me for letting her clean up Nate's mess. She cleaned the whole thing up! I helped her clear some of the boxes of cereal and stuff so she could get all the lentils up. She did a great job and thanked me several times. It was so nice after hearing all the complaining and moaning from her brother.
Now granted this won't always be the case. But the differences between 4 and 2 are great. And the differences between my boy and girl are also great.

PRESCHOOL!

This week Gwen started preschool! It is a weird thing to have only 1 kid for half the day and to get up so early to take Gwen to school. But here we are with a preschooler! It has been a long week for us. The festivities started Saturday, Eric and I went to a child protection class where we learned how to notice the signs of abusive situations and considered what we should do if we suspected something. It was interesting and informative! Then we went to Mass followed by a Ice Cream social where we were supposed to meet some of the other new families at the school. We met 1 or 2. The next day we had the "meet the teacher" where we meet Gwen's teachers and got our packets of information, had pictures made and you know took pictures. Wednesday morning I had oreintation with the other parents of the preschool kids. We learned the drop off procedures and things about the class and signed up for when we wanted to volunteer. It was a busy morning!
Thurday was the big day, Gwen's first day of preschool. I was a little nervous she wouldn't get out of the car. She had been acting nervous and we were worried she would not get out of the car. But she did! The school doesn't use buses so they have drop off procedures. The eighth graders help with the drop off-you pull up to the stop sign and then everyone from the stop sign to the cone (about 10 cars) lets their kids out. Fortunately Gwen's teacher was outside (she told us she would be so they would see a familiar face) and I waved her down and she came and got Gwen. Fortunately the teacher has been doing this for a long time, she grabbed Gwen's backpack and just said some stuff like, "what do you have in here? I bet something special?" reached for Gwen's hand and out she went! All the kids meet in the school hall for prayers, but the preK kids go to a different room off the hall because apparently it gets overwhelming waiting with all the big kids. One of the eighth graders walks the preK kids into the little room with toys. When it is prayer time they come out and then go to their room and start their day. And I think that is all we know except for the schedule they gave us. We do also know that at the end of their day they come back outside and wait on the benches patiently for the parents to come get them. Here are the pictures from the first day! I should mention Mom and I were both taking pictures so some of them are repeats, or almost the same...

I was a little sad I couldn't go in with Gwen and take those cute first day pictures of her with her teachers and her desk. But we did take pictures at the meet the teacher...I think we got a picture of her with everything with her name on it! After the meet the teacher we went to dinner, both the kids wanted to sit next to Grandma!

The zoo

This summer has been a good one for us, we were able to meet up with all the Godparents this summer! I don't think we have been able to do that ever. The weekend before last we met Jess and her family at the zoo. It is about half way in between us. I was surprised how nice it was. I don't know what I expected, but I know that I didn't expect the kids to survive so well, especially since we had a very late lunch and Nate skipped his nap...oh he was tired, we are were (I even have proof of someone yawning, but I didn't include it!) Here are the pictures in slideshow form

I should explain some of these pictures, but I am too tired to do it now...if you have any questions let me know.

A visit

A couple weekends ago the Godfather came to visit. The kids had a great time, Uncle Eric brought presents. We had a good time and I sent him home with a cucumber, which is what I do now, because I have been getting lots of cucumbers from my garden. I don't especially like cucumbers, but they are growing on me...ha,ha! Fortunately Southern Living had a couple recipes for cucumbers this month, we might be trying one tonight, but I can't make any promises! I got on a tangent there, sorry...here are pictures from Eric's visit, in slideshow form, of course.

I still haven't been updating this thing regularly. Sorry...I have a lot going on and this has been slacking. Here is a picture from Gwen on campus. We met some friends at the kids museum one day and brought some lunch and met Daddy for lunch on campus. The kids were hilarious, they spent a good portion of the time chasing squirrels. I have never seen anything so funny, Nate was chasing this one squirrel and instead of running up the tree he (or she, I don't know) ran around the tree, this went on for some time and I almost fell on the floor laughing. It went for like 5 minutes. I sadly didn't get a video of that, but I did get one of Gwen sitting on the bench. Sadly we also saw some girl doing some publicity photos or something, made us feel a little dirty, fortunately we had already finished lunch.
The kids really enjoy taking out all the pots and pans and sitting in the cabinet. Gwen asks they can play "pots and pans are handy"...I don't know why she calls it that, but she does.

We usually check on the kids before we go to bed, Eric runs out one night and says I need the camera. Apparently he had both shoes on but Eric missed it with the camera. Nate loves shoes and well, I let him where whatever around the house.
This is from when we went blueberry picking on Gwen's birthday. He told Eric he wanted some blueberries, for some reason Eric handed him the bucket and then this happened!
Have I mentioned my boy loves the blueberries.
The birthday girl required a picture, we obliged.

We have had some busy weekends and some unusual stuff going on around here. The ladies that were leading the Moms group at my Church had decided it was time for them to step down. I've decided to co-lead the group with another Mom I've met recently. I think we might be in over our heads, but we'll muddle through (I hope). The group has a lot of little side things-playgroups, Meals for Moms, Bible studies. Fortunately they already already have leaders for all the little side groups, we just have to coordinate the monthly meetings with a subject of our choosing.
Sadly Eric's Grandmother died last week and so he drove up to the funeral in MD. It was a long couple days for Eric.
We've also visited with some friends. Not as many friends as I would liked to have visited with this summer, but I guess kids get sick and things don't work out. But, I have some posts upcoming (I swear) about the visits we did have.
We are gearing up for Gwen starting preK this month...in about 3 weeks!
I haven't been able to go to the gym in the evenings because of break between classes so I have been getting up and going to the pool at 6am! It means I have been trying to go to bed early and getting up early. It has been nice to be home in the evenings and I have missed swimming. But man it has been hard on me, I forgot how much harder it is to breathe underwater, even though I have been going to the gym for 6 months and have been working pretty hard at the cardio. Breathing underwater is completely different. I am glad that the pools have reopened after all the construction. I definitely feel like an old lady in the pool.

I think that is about it for now...I must go to bed soon, early morning.

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.