So Long SUMMER

This has been a very busy summer. I can't believe it's been 3 months since my last post. All I can say is my evenings have been full of normal household duties, yard work and the beginnings of painting the inside of our house. That has been very time consuming b/c it can only be done with the little angels are sleeping.

We managed to take a family picture before summer began. Everyone participated this time without much drama at all.

We got some great shots of everyone!

Our little K-9 addition that came along around Christmas time...she's outta here. It really makes me sad, but man did it have to be done. Annie was a wonderful, wonderful dog. She was soooo good with all of our kids. They could step on her, lay on her, play with her ears and mouth, take her food, it just didn't matter. They only drawback that she possessed was her hunger to RUN AWAY. She always looked so content when she was in the house or backyard with us, her loving family. But the minute, and I mean minute she saw a cracked door, she was GONE. She would not only get out at the most inconvenient times but she started to show aggressive behavior towards other dogs when she was out roaming around after her "escape". We tried to work with her, I bought a few books to try and train her, we even got a shock collar....all to no avail. We decided it was best to give her away. So I had Steve take her to the local SPCA....which is a no-kill center. They won't tell me what happened to her since we "signed a contract" when we dropped her off, but she didn't even make it to the internet the next day. I'm sure that since she was a purebred lab, they snatched her up from the shelter and found her a good home. That's how we got her in the first place. She was found RUNNING alongside the road and a lab rescue picked her up and my friend adopted her. Anyway, we all miss her but we don't miss the constant dog hair, dog poop and yelling at everyone to close the door already!

The first day of Brittney's summer vacation, I went on a girls only weekend to Las Vegas. My longtime friend Amy told me to buy an airline ticket and the rest would be taken care of thanks to her mom's love of gambling. Let me just tell you, it was a heavenly trip. We got to catch up on gossip, nap, eat, drink, gamble, enjoy a Kenny Chesney concert, see Wayne Brady live, eat a cheeseburger in paradise, drink a margarita in margaritaville and shop. No butts to wipe and no one else to worry about but ourselves. It was a great way to start the summer out!

We went on our second annual Bayhouse trip with friends....

This was our view every night. The boys loved to count as the sun disappeared into the water. I wish I was back there right now for this view alone.


We had a great time until day 4 of the 6 day trip. Jace ended up throwing a fit b/c his darling big sister was aggravating him and he threw his head forward hitting his gum on the wooden arm of a futon. This caused him to bend his tooth backwards. He was screaming so much and was in so much pain...I called my dentist. They told me to push it back into place and that's pretty much all they could do. When I "snapped" it back into place, he immediately felt better b/c all of the pressure was relieved. But after a few days, we noticed that it was extremely loose and becoming discolored.

...............This was right after it happened.

So we made an appointment at the pedidontist that I worked for in high school. He determined with an x-ray that Jace had indeed cracked his tooth up in the gum on one side. The other tooth was also broken in the gum but it was done before this trauma. He could tell this because it had already tried to heal itself. He told us that we needed to extract both of his front teeth (or else wait a couple of months for them to fall out on their own) and we had the choice of leaving him toothless or ordering him a kiddie partial. Well, figuring that he will not be getting any permanent teeth until he's around 7 or 8, I couldn't fathom the thought of him being toothless for 3 or 4 years. So he just received his "partial" last week and is adjusting nicely.

..................This is after the "extraction" which he THOROUGHLY enjoyed. (I'm sure now he will be scarred for life when he has to go to the dentist.)

Can you tell he wasn't really into posing for the camera with his teeth? We had to pull his lip up to get a good view.

The bayhouse turned into an expensive trip after all of that, but it was worth every penny. The boys went fishing for the first time (Jace went "shishing"). They caught a "shish"...ok, so maybe it was a fake fish (a lure to be exact). But they thought it was the greatest thing to cast the rod and reel and catch a fish. Brittney got to bond with her BFFs for the entire week and we went to the beach countless times. Jace is still not very fond of the beach...I'm not sure he ever will be.

Brittney went to her YMCA camp for the 3rd year in a row. This year her cousins, McKenna and Marshall went with her. They enjoyed having each other there.

My mom had foot surgery during the month of July so she was out for 4 weeks. During her absence Steve was Mr. Mom for a month. Wow, what a change it was having Steve enforce boot camp rules. I must admit though, some of the changes have been wonderful. For example, the boys used to snack whenever and wherever they wanted throughout our house. Steve enforced the rule of eating only at the table or bar countertop. He noticed that they snacked less and the mess wasn't as bad in the house at the end of the day. We were having to vacuum daily in order to clean up all of the crumbs. Also, he got them to play independently. I don't know if it's b/c they know their limits with different people in their lives or what, but he could tell them to go and watch a movie in their playroom instead of hogging up the TV in the living room ... and they would! They like for me to RIGHT there with them...all of the time.

We bought season passes to Splashtown for the summer. We've definitely gotten our money's worth out of these passes. Brittney has thoroughly enjoyed taking a friend along and having a little more independence while I was in the baby pool area with the boys. We have some friends who always like to join us!


As far as the painting goes....we've done the half bath, Brittney's room, a long hallway, rotunda and kitchen. There's LOT more to go.

Brittney even participated with her room. For some reason she had lots of energy to help when it was all about her. She hasn't volunteered so easily when I ask her lately to help in the living room and dining room.

We enjoyed 4th of July with friends in the neighborhood next to us. We watched fireworks over the lake. Jace and Cade were not too fond of them when we were so close. They insisted that they cover their ears and also that WE cover their ears.



But now it's back to school time. We finished up school clothes shopping today, met the teacher and confirmed who's in who's class. Monday is the big day around here. Brittney starts 5th grade and Jace and Cade will start a new preschool. It's an exciting day to look forward to.

Bye Summer!

More Memory Updates for ME

Seeing as how my memory is truly fading with age (and children)...here are a few more important milestones for me to remember.

This past Easter, the Easter Bunny made his annual appearance at our house. Just as he did for my daughter Brittney (at 2 1/2 years of age), he managed to successfully take away Cade's binky. Cade has been addicted to this thing since he was two days old. The nurses at the hospital noticed that he tended to get a little fussy and restless in between feedings so they tried this binky on day two. I don't remember the hospital offering this for Brittney but I was at a different hospital with her.


Cade had gradually eased into only having his binky at night and if he was severely upset about something. He was known to even camp out in his bed for a little while longer just to get "a fix". He would usually have more than one also...one for his mouth and one for each hand. Jace never cared for one, but would feel left out at bedtime. So we usually gave him one to naw on. He would usually put holes in them, but Cade the binky detective would always find the holes and promptly throw them away. This led to me placing a desperate online order when we were down to only 2-3 binkies one time.

The timing was not good, but the Easter Bunny had to do his job. For Brittney, I explained to her that the Easter Bunny was taking her binkies to the babies that were crying. She liked the fact that she was going to help the babies (she was obsessed with babies). She was all for it and never again asked for it. Of course the huge basket that was left next to her bed filled with chocolate, other candy and toys didn't hurt the matter.

Cade on the other hand insisted that he didn't care about the crying babies, he needed his binkies. But we went through with it anyway... he cried for a couple of nights. I almost caved on the second night, but realized that it was more of a crutch for ME and not HIM. Ever since that night, he simply announces that he gave his binkies to the crying babies and he didn't need it, he was a BIG boy!

That he is! What happened to my baby in that picture!

Potty training is COMPLETE and has been for several months now. This feat just seemed to happen. We did not push the matter and just waited for them to show interest. School helped them realize that everybody pee pees and it's okay. We put pull-ups on them at night for a while but then realized that they were waking up dry and then peeing once they were up and moving. So, I nixed that a few months ago. We have BIG BOYS all the time now...always in underwear. They are quite regular too, let me tell you.

Jace ended up qualifing for speech therapy through the school district for next year. I'm excited that we are catching it early and also that my tax dollars are going to be put to good use. My medical insurance doesn't cover any speech therapy, so it would have cost me a lot of money to go through the private route. Now, I'm going to get Cade screened. He has a lot of issues too. He's clearer than Jace, but still hard for others to understand. Jace barely squeezed by with the school district's standards, so I wonder if Cade will qualify. Of course, since it's the end of the school year, it's too late and his screening will have to wait until August. Jace's therapy doesn't start until August...and will include a 30 minute session once a week at the elementary school that Brittney attends.

We've skipped the past few Sundays, but we've tried to get the kids back to Sunday School. Jace and Cade absolutely love it now. They are sooo cute when it's music time for all of the children. All of the classes get together and sing different bible songs. It just warms my heart to hear them catching on to the songs and singing them throughout the week. It's such an good influence.

But let me move back in time to the first trip to Sunday School. I was rushing everyone to get out the door. Cade didn't want to put his shoes on, or was it Jace? One of them was crying...then when we finally got in the car, the other was crying about something. Brittney had an attitude because it was early and she wouldn't know anyone in her sunday school class...at one point on the FIFTEEN minute trip to church ALL THREE of them were crying. I was wondering if it was worth it. I was about to lose it. BUT, now they talk about Sunday school all the time. So I guess the torture was worth it. I compromised with Brittney and let her be an assistant in the Kindergarten class. She always has funny stories about how prissy and bossy the little girls are in the class. I hate to tell her that she was one of them when she was that age too!

This is a random thought to end on...but the other night after a brief walk, it started to drizzle a little bit. After it finished, we walked into our backyard and saw a beautiful rainbow. Jace and Cade were so excited and could name almost every color. It's fun to see things through their eyes! This was their 2nd rainbow, but they were still ecstatic. Too cute!

ELMO

This past weekend we (me, Cade and Jace) attended a birthday party for a coworker of mine. Her daughter, Peytan, was turning TWO. She is absolutely adorable - it was the first time I officially met her. Her chubby cheeks reminded me so much of Ms. Brittney when she was turning two. Brittney chose not to go to the party b/c she got a better offer to go swimming with her friend...imagine that?

Anyway, Natalie (my friend and coworker) decided against a moonwalk for the party, because Peytan does not like them. She instead got a train for an hour and an appearance by Elmo for an hour. Let me tell you, this is one birthday party that we made sure to be on-time to.

Once the train arrived, the boys could have cared less about anything else. Cade was mesmerized by the hum of the motor and leaning over the train car to see the ground move!

Toward the end of the train trip, Elmo showed up. He attempted to get in the train with the birthday girl...but it wasn't well received. They tried to get Elmo to sit in our train car, but that didn't go over too well either. So the train riding came to a end very suddenly. Jace and Cade were not very sure of him and neither was the birthday girl. (At the time that's all of the kids that were there.)

But once Elmo started to interact and play with the kids, he was a big hit for my boys. Jace especially would not LEAVE.ELMO.ALONE!

Imagine how fun it would be though if you were three and you got to play ring around the rosey with Elmo....

bounce around on balls with Elmo....

and pretty much have Elmo all to yourself...

It would be pretty much the best day ever!

We had a great time. I'm glad we were able to get Natalie's money worth. Although toward the very end, Peytan give in and sat on Elmo's lap.

I really need this BLOG!!!

I have put this blog as my last priority in life right now. But it's recently come to my attention that I NEED THIS BLOG. I will have absolutely NO recollection of my children's lives with out it.

I've always thought my life was somewhat organized. I guess that would be BEFORE Cade and Jace were born. Once they came into the picture, my photo albums came to a screeching halt, my somewhat-clean house became a not-so-clean house, what was left of my sanity started to slowly disappear, and really the last three years are just a blur EXCEPT FOR WHAT IS ON MY BLOG!

I came to this realization when I had to fill out some paperwork regarding Jace's speech. We're concerned that his speech isn't advancing as well as Cade's. I hate to compare the two, but since they are twins and the differences are right in our faces, it's hard NOT to. Anyway, Jace got screened through the school district a couple of weeks ago and they decided he needs further testing because he didn't meet the minimum requirements. So, then the huge packet of paperwork came to me in the mail last week. Wow, this is going to be a thorough evaluation...as it should be. But I was actually embarrassed that I can not find information on his first year of life. I have the journals that my mom and I kept of every feeding, wet diaper and poopy diaper for the first 5-6 months, but other than that....I'm a horrible mother. I can not tell you when Jace spoke his first word, what it was, or who it was to. I guess I was relying on my memory. Ha Ha...big joke. That's not going to happen.

So, blogger...I'm at your mercy. Just to update myself on my children. Here's a small summary of my childern and what's going on in their lives.

BRITTNEY, BRITTNEY, BRITTNEY

You are definitely our first child. Every moment of your first 7 years is documented, photographed or videotaped. I have records of every word or sound that you muttered.

I can not explain how hard is it for me to watch you grow up. You've always been so mature for your age! I have always been so proud of your ability to associate with people - adult or children. I will never worry about your "social" life because I know you will always be surrounded by friends. You have very good taste in the people that you hang out with too. There have only been a few that I disapprove of and deep down I know that you agree with me.

But yes, I want you to slow down the growing up. One day you will regret that you didn't take the time to just be a kid. You've told me from the age of 3 that you couldn't wait to be a grown up. It broke my heart then and still breaks my heart today! I guess that since cheerleading is your "thing" you're surrounded by older girls and exposed to many things that I would prefer you NOT know yet.

I'm trying to get you to put down the cell phone, stop texting, stop emailing and spend time with your family. I know you are a busy little lady, but we all love you and still enjoy your company. Even though there's a bit of attitude and eye rolling coming out of you these days. You'll always be my baby girl and you hold a special place in my heart. I know you will be great at whatever it is you chose to do. You are wonderful with kids and they really take to you. Your brothers adore you (in spurts) and wouldn't know what to do without you. Your dad and I wouldn't know what to do without you. You are an absolutely beautiful girl both inside and out.

CADE, CADE, CADE

You are just like your Uncle Mike. You not only look just like him as a child, but you are just as fascinated by motors as he is. You love trucks and tractors and cars...pretty much anything with wheels and a loud motor. You love to "growl" like a motor and you HAVE to figure out how things work.

You are talking up a storm lately. You have cracked me up with some of the things that come out of your mouth. You told Nana the other day that she had "snake" bruises on her legs...talking about her vericose veins. You told me that Jesus made you so cute when I asked you. I promise to start writing more of these down now.

The world is so new to you and I love seeing it again through your eyes. Speaking of your eyes, oh how beautiful they are. They are such a clear blue and you have such an angelic look about you. Now sometimes you wake up and your hair has "horns" and clearly aren't an angel, but let's not talk about that little stubborn streak.

You can eat ice cream like it's going out of style. Actually diet-coke floats are your preference. You can snack til the cows come home if we let you too! You really like to eat...you actually outweigh your brother by a pound now. 36 pounds to be exact.

You are the shy one when you're at school or around a big group of people. But lordy when you're just around us, you are an active, talkative, non-stop little boy.

You can melt my heart with a simple..."I Wuv you mama!" Oh what a sweetie you are.



JACE, JACE, JACE

You have a tough front that you put up, but deep down inside you are the softest little teddy bear. You absolutely LOVE dogs, babies and your friends. You are the outgoing one who is always telling me to tell someone HI or look at the baby or the dog. You will actually grab my face and turn it to LOOK at it. You have such a tender heart. We were watching Garfield the movie the other day and there's a scene where Odie runs away. You were so sad for him, I actually saw tears well up in your eyes. It just melted my heart.

You have such a soft side, but you're the first to start wrestling with friends and at the same time gritting those little teeth. That's when we know you're hyper...the teeth gritting. I hope your teeth make it.

I don't cook much, but when I do you are the first to tell me that it's "yummy for your tummy". You enjoy food yourself. Thank goodness that you have your dad's metabolism and body-type. You are long waisted and long and lean.

Right now you are mesmerized by the TV. It's the only time you sit absolutely still. Little Einsteins is your favorite thing. You are obsessed with your rocket from the series. It's a bath toy but you take it everywhere...the car, the doctor, to bed and even on walks.

Your speech is understood about 75% of the time to us, but about 50% of the time to everyone else. I just don't want you to develop self confidence problems if people can't understand you. You tend to get shy if people ask you to repeat yourself. I know you will grow out of this though because I notice progress on a daily basis. Now we are encouraging proper speech and trying to not use your "baby/toddler" words. It's hard though, because it's just so darn cute! And so are you!!

We're Still Alive and Kicking!!!

Oh my gosh! I can not believe that it's been SOOO long since I've posted anything. I've still been an avid blog reader (not such a good blog commenter though). Life has just been busy as usual.

We had a great Christmas with family and friends. Santa wasn't the boys favorite person...maybe next year...but the gifts were well received. Brittney had a bad experience with a scavenger hunt that Santa left for her. Note to Santa (and any other readers with 10 year old dramatic girls), just leave the goods out in the open. Don't wrap them, don't leave a note, and especially don't tell Santa to be creative and incorporate a scavenger hunt with clues...it won't be received well at ALL. Matter of fact, unless you want to almost ruin Christmas for your daughter with tears and all, don't participate in this event. Of course, if you'd like to get a good laugh and join the "bad parent club" like Steve and myself, go ahead and do it. I will spare you all of the details but it was some funny stuff.

New Year's was good. We celebrated at some friends house and EVERYONE attended and stayed up to long enough to count down to midnight. The boys had so much fun running around with a few kids their age, Brittney had a few friends her age, and we had great adult conversation. It was a wonderful way to bring in the New Year.

We endured a very LONG cheer season during our new house transition also. We traveled out of town to Dallas 3 times, San Antonio once and Galveston twice. At least there wasn't any out of state travel this year. Brittney had an outstanding time at this new cheer company. Her team placed first at all but 2 competitions. She finally won the coveted Cheer Power leather jacket. She couldn't wait to wear it to school...it didn't matter that we had a record high that week. Then at their end of year Spirit Rally, she won the Most Valuable Cheerleader for her entire team. It was such a big honor and she was ecstatic!!

Rugby is also in full swing for Steve. He's been a traveling fool. There were a couple of weekends that I was out of town with Brittney for cheer and Steve was in another town for rugby. Thankfully we had the grandparents lined up to watch the boys. Those cheer competitions are long and loud and not child-friendly at all.


Speaking of the boys, they are completely potty trained. They have been now for a couple months. Now we just need to work on their AIM. I'm spending more time cleaning bathrooms than I have EVER done so in my life.

It's so weird to be out somewhere and they tell me they need to go potty. We are frequent visitors to bathrooms everywhere. Once we were out to eat at one of our favorite places, Spanish Flower, and I took them to the bathroom SIX times. Thankfully this place has exquisite bathrooms and Brittney and Steve were there to "hold down" the table. I didn't mind taking them except for the hassle. After all of those visits, I took their drinks away from them and got us out of there as quickly as I could.

They still wear pull-ups at night. They have recently become lazy and wake up dry but don't feel like going pee-pee as soon as they feel it. So they are wetting in the mornings. Then they can't stand the feeling and change into underwear as soon as possible.

They are the best of friends at times, playing so nicely and politely. But then they are the worst of friends, biting, yelling and taking each other's toys. They are typical brothers.

Brittney has written a lot of stories this year as a fourth grader and always like to refer to her brothers as "cute but evil". That pretty much sums them up.

How can she say that about these adorable faces????










Hopefully my next update won't be SOOO long.

Let me Introduce our Newest Member.....

ANNIE!!!!!! Our new 2-year old yellow lab!


My friend and coworker adopted Annie a month or so ago. About a week after getting Annie, my friend came down with pneumonia and was in and out of the hospital. She knew that Annie needed a better family environment as it is just her and her older son at home. After weeks of trying to arrange a "meeting" we finally had her son bring Annie over so we could meet her. Well, we decided to let her "spend the night" and after that we ALL decided that she wasn't going ANYWHERE!


She is so gentle and so loving with the kids. They absolutely LOVE her. I LOVE her, Steve LOVES her, she really seems to be happy! I love the fact that she is 2 years old and house trained. She goes potty everytime we let her outside and she sleeps ALL night. We totally missed the puppy stage! YEAH!!!

So far her only fault is that whenever she sees an open door or gate, she darts out! We've had to chase her a few times. BUT hopefully she will learn where "home" is and learn her boundaries soon.

Annie was an early Christmas present for our family and one that we'll have for a long time.

Speaking of Christmas. Good lord, I can't believe it's right around the corner. My shopping is almost complete, the Christmas tree has been up for a while, we've made cookies but it just doesn't FEEL like Christmas. It will, of course, on Christmas day but it just doesn't feel like the Christmas season with the warm weather we've been having. It just can't make up it's mind.


Today our new neighbors are having a Christmas party with an appearance being made by none other than Santa Claus himself. I'm sure I'll have some hilarous screaming pictures of the boys with Santa. We haven't attempted to take pictures with him yet because of the crazy lines at the mall.

More to follow soon...