Noah & Nile's Kindergarten Graduation:

Well, we made it through Kindergarten. The ceremony was short and sweet. The boys did very well and were so handsome. We have them pre-registered for next year and will be registering James and Jonah as well. I'm so excited! Nile and Noah's teacher this year, will be James and Jonah's teacher next year for Mother's Day Out. I think they're gonna love it!
ON TO FIRST GRADE!

Another year gone by...

It's May 2010 already. Tonight is Nile and Noah's K5 Graduation. I can't believe that Kindergarten is over already. The year went by so fast! But then, they always do. When you're young, you seriously don't realize how fast time just .... flies by! Your parents warn you. Your grandparents warn you. Your teachers warn you. But until you're in your 30's or 40's, you just don't get it. Add kids to the mix and WOW! Watching them grow up, day to day, year to year... The old cliche', "It seems like yesterday, they were just babies." :o( No longer a cliche'. It's your mantra. And yet, the daily routine is oddly the same. Just a slight change in they type of activities throughout the day. Hmmmmm
I can't even begin to list the events of the last year. But here's where we are now...
Nile and Noah's last (official) day of school was yesterday. I say "official" because it was pretty much just a play day. With a water slide, squirt guns, sprinklers, pizza and tons of fun. They had a blast! And so, as previously posted, tonight is their K5 Graduation. They will have little cap and gowns and everything. Too cute! I will try to post pictures later...
They had a really good year this year. They are reading already, writing in cursive and starting math and multiples. We have discussed and debated and pros-&-conned the idea of sending them to public school next year. The cons won. We just can't do it right now. They are doing so well and seem to be so far ahead of other kids in their grade. As long as we can afford it, we'll keep them in private school. We've talked about sending them to a bigger private school, but I don't know. I like the fact that there were only 10 kids in their class this year and we knew the names of all of them. We had a pizza party in their class for Nile and Noah's birthday and it was fun. (I have pics) So they will be going back next year with James and Jonah! Whoo hoo! Gonna start James and Jonah in the Mother's Day Out program two days a week. I think they're gonna love it!
As for the rest of the goings on around here. James is sick. He started throwing up around midnight Tuesday night and has had a pretty high temperature, on and off, since then. I took him to the doctor yesterday and the back of his throat is bright red and has little ulcers and puss pockets. Eeeeewww. I know. My jaw just dropped. His temperature was 102+ and that was a couple hours after I gave him Tylenol. So they tested him for Strep right there. It came back negative, but she sent it to the lab just to make sure the first test didn't miss something. We should get the results on Saturday. She did say he has a virus. One of those with a big long name that I can't pronounce. So, it's just gonna have to run it's course. Keep Motrin in him to keep the fever down and help with inflamation in his throat. Poor little guy.
I can't think of any other Big Big news.
More to come....

To Blog or not to Blog...

It's been almost a year since my last entry, and I'm wondering if I should even continue with this at all. Especially since being introduced to Facebook. But I like this Blog since I can pretty much post anything I want and ...well, that's it. I can post anything I want. So I think I'll keep it. And I'll try to post something later tonight. An update of sorts... If you're interested...check back later.
Good Things!

Per Usual

...the last month or so has been very busy around here. My last post was...well...low key. ALL of the kiddos were sick. Well after a couple of weeks and a couple, or three, visits to the ER, we finally got all of them well again. Nile and Noah ended up with double ear infections and Bronchitis. James and Jonah both had double ear infections and Jonah's ear drum had actually ruptured from all of the congestion. I felt horrible! We are such bad parents! When the doctor told us about his ear drum, I just thought of all the time that Jonah was so fussy and crying (even with tylenol) and any one of those times he could have been in just dire pain from the pressure on his ear. My sister Lela's ear drum busted the same way and she said it was extremely painful. Like someone sticking a knife in your ear. Until it ruptured, then it was immediate relief. But just the thought that Jonah was going through that and there wasn't a thing I could do about it...and we had no idea. {Sigh}

Anyway, we had four kids on three different kinds of antibiotics. And I have to say, James and Jonah did much better with taking their medicine than Nile and Noah did. So after about day two of antibiotics, it was like day and night with the kids. They were eating normally, jumping around and fighting with each other. N/N were eager to get back to school and J/J actually started sleeping through the night again. Whoo hoo! Next week is their checkup and hopefully all is well.

And so...just like the passing of this random sentence...my birthday slid by with an...eh (shrug).

April is here and it's already the middle of the month. On the 11th (Saturday) Mom had her confirmation with the Catholic Church. It was a very nice (but long) ceremony. Sunday (the 12th) was Easter and we had a really nice day. Lela and Lee were here. Lee was riding out with Ken at work. Iris and Lily stopped by on their way back from Glaydys's house and stayed all afternoon. Sharon and Mom had cooked the night before so we had some deeeeelicious food for lunch and Sharon stopped by on her lunch break from work. Mom's birthday was coming up on Monday (the 13th) So Me, Lela, Noah and Nile made some cupcakes and decorated them with some candles and sang happy birthday to mom. It was a nice day and I really didn't have to do much cause there were so many people here to entertain the little ones that it was quite a relaxing day. The clean up on the other hand was a real chore. But it was worth it. So I have some pictures ...I just have to remember how to put them on the blog. LOL
And here we are...J/J are napping...will be up any time now. And N/N are playing outside in the mud. We have had a couple of really rainy days and they are taking advantage of the...yuck outside. Oh! I have to tell you about the latest additions to our family. I don't think I posted about it last year, but around November/December we found two praying mantis. We found them about two weeks apart from each other. The first one was a green female that was affectionately named Spike. We kept her for about two weeks. She was awesome to watch. We kept her in a plastic container with holes in the lid and some sticks for her to climb on. We caught bugs for her everyday. And she ate ALOT! Her favorite were flies. Which I absolutely hate. They are disgusting! Bleh! So catching them (in a cup) and feeding them to Spike was honestly...FUN! Those flies had no idea when they came into this house that we had one of the coolest fastest predators on the planet, in our kitchen. It was so cool to watch her stalk and strike...and eat. So anyway, she got fatter and fatter and fatter. She looked like she was going to explode. {I think I have some pics somewhere} So about a week or so later, she stopped eating. Then one morning, there was an egg sack on one of the sticks. So I did some internet research which said that female Mantis die shortly after laying their eggs. And so...I had to let her go. She had to be free in her last days. (sniff sniff) So sadly I released her on a plant outside and slowly walked away. I didn't cry. Really. I didn't. Now during her time in captivity. She was an absolutely delightful pet. The boys took her to school for show-n-tell. And they watched her and fed her everyday. Well, about a week after her release, we found another female mantis on the back deck. This one was brown. She was affectionately named...Stingray. LOL And so the cycle began again. And believe it or not...she layed an egg sack too! So, we had these two mantis egg sacks in a little plastic container with holes in the top. We kept it in our kitchen window. And because the sacks have to (winterize) we left them in the window all winter long and into spring. And believe it or not! One of the sacks hatched. Yesterday. We had about 30-40 tiny praying mantis running around in the container. Then they started escaping. Anyway, they have to eat really small things like fruit flies. Well, I don't have the time or energy to try to catch that many fruit flies everyday, so we released the babies this morning. They are happily laying in wait on our garden plants. They are so cute too. We did have to keep some though <-- you knew that was coming right?! So we have five baby mantis in their little habitat. And Noah found some tiny bugs on our basil plant, so we put them in there. FOOD! Hopefully they'll be able to eat something soon. They normally eat aphids...which...on a normal day, we have a ton of on the dandelion plants in our yard. But! since we've had a ton of rain lately, we have no aphids. Anywhere. Hopefully they'll return soon so I can feed our babies. Cause if they don't have food to eat...they will eat each other. Bleh! I never thought I'd be happy about aphids in my yard! LOL And yes, we still have one more egg sack left. Hope they hatch! (grin)
So that's that for an update. Hope to have more soon.
Luv ya!

When you've got the sickies...

Well there is a hush in the house that's kinda ...kreepy. I have all four kiddos home with me today. N/N are home sick from school and right now all four are taking a nap. I don't think that has ever happened in this house before. Unfortunately it's due to illness. There is some bug that's going around and it just keeps making the rounds with our kiddos. I foresee another night-time run, for ear infections, to the ER in our future. (sigh) Poor things. They are misserable and it just has to run it's course for the most part. On top of that...I went to rent some movies for them cause I knew they wouldn't be playing much. So I got a new release and when we tried to play it...guess what...it didn't work. And my mom had already left (she watched the kids so I could go) and I wasn't about to call her back over so I could run up and replace it. Uggghhh! So annoying.
Anyway, that's what's up here. Hope everyone out there is doing well. TAke care.

Oh yeah! I've got some recent pics I've gotta post so check back with us...

I can't believe it's March of '09...

...and I haven't posted since last year. Isn't that horrible. Well, let's take the time to catch up...
November- went well. we had Thanksgiving here at the house and had a few friends/family come to visit.
December- came in with a bang. We all got really sick. Everyone except James and Jonah. Fortunately, or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it, we didn't all get sick at the same time. Nile got it first, then Noah, then Ken and then Me. And when I say sick, I mean we were sleeping with puke buckets sick. It was horrible! But, it passed in time...a couple of weeks and we headed into Christmas time. We went to Houston to visit Kens mom and had Christmas there. It was a nice visit and the kids had a blast playing with their cousins. Then we headed home and had our Christmas here. How is it, as parents, you try to limit the amount of ...well...crap your kids get and somehow you end up with a lot of crap anyway. Curse you Grandparents, Aunts and Uncles! Oh yeah! .... you too Santa.
January- came around and it was time for Nile and Noah's 5th birthday. It was simple and sweet. And they got a lot more of the afore mentioned crap. It was a nice day and I will cherish these simple birthday parties with just family because I know as they get older they will want something more elaborate and expensive and loud. They've already asked us what Chuck-
e-Cheese is. (Sigh) Will someone out there invent a television commercial blocker? Something that just blanks out the dredded comercials during kids shows.
My brother in law came to live with us for a while. He has moved back to Texas from one of those Yankee states and is getting back on his feet. So I have been honing my cooking skills (LOL) by cooking for three adults and four punks. But...as long as someone will eat it...I'll cook it.
My sister Julie also moved back to Texas and has taken up residence somewhere in the Austin area. Whoo hoo! we're glad she's back too.
February- was relatively uneventful. Our Nephew Brad came home from Iraq and stayed with us for two weeks. It was nice having him here...and safe...but he's a typical 20 something and pretty much ate, stayed in his room and chatted on the computer. LOL He left about a week ago and we hated to see him go. But the military is something he seems to enjoy and we are very, very proud of him. We love you and pray you stay safe Bradley and we can't wait to have you home again soon.
Alas, it is March. And here we are...
The month has been flying by. The boys are all doing well and growing fast. N/N are in K-4 this year and love going to school. J/J are now 18 months old and talking up a storm. They aren't forming sentences yet but have alot of words. They love hanging around N/N, but they tend to irritate their older brothers more than anything right now. Nile is doing great with his Physical Therapy and we're hoping to have him walking full time by the time they go to Kindergarten this fall. Ken is back on reserve status and is doing his "one weekend a month and two weeks a year" training. But he enjoys being back at the PD and being home everyday. As for me... I pretty much do the SAHM thing...get kids ready for school, load them up and drop them off, come home and grab something to eat, clean up "morning mess" change diapers and put little ones down for a nap, hope that they sleep for at least an hour so I can get some household chores done, don't get as much done as I'd like before J/J wake up, feed-change-play with J/J, load them up to go get N/N, pick up kiddos from school, come home and put J/J down for second nap, try to get more done while N/N have afternoon snack and watch T.V. for a while, babies wake up, start getting supper ready, start "night-time routine" which lasts for about four hours, put J/J to bed, then get N/N ready and put them to bed, clean up, get a shower, try to relax with cup of tea and watch something on the DVR, realise I'm exhausted, brush teeth, check on kiddos, kiss husband goodnight and try to crawl into bed at a decent hour. Lather, Rinse...REPEAT!
(Sigh)

Curse you Halloween candy hander-outers who gave out those Mini Snickers!

Well, things have just been a chuggin' along here. And as I sit here

typing, I'm chowing down on those cursed Mini Snickers. I love them. They were one of the only things that got me through morning/afternoon/evening sickness when I was preggers with James and Jonah. And now I have a soft spot for them...actually, I have several soft spots because of them. Curse you Mini Snickers!
Last night was Halloween. We juggled with the idea of taking the kiddos to a Fall Festivals at one of the local churches. But when the time actually came to go, we decided to just trick or treat around the neighborhood like we've done for the last three years.

And we weren't disappointed.
As many of you know, Kenneth is one of those people who just likes to meet and talk to people. So we know just about every one who's house we trick or treated at. Makes for a nice safe trip anyway. So we made the rounds...two blocks up, one block across, two blocks down and up our street to head home. We started out right at sundown and there was hardly anyone out. But as soon as it got really dark, prople just started coming out of no-where. It was nice to see. There were groups of 10-20 people sometimes. All together we hit about fifteen houses and got enough candy to last a year. As for costumes...I know you were waiting...Noah went as a ghost. Not some fancy store bought ghost he actually asked me (about a month ago) if I could make him a ghost costume out of a sheet. And since we just happened to have an old white sheet sitting around...snip snip snip...ghost costume. He looked so cute. And, he was the only ghost out there last night. I couldn't believe it! Nile went as a pirate. We didn't know he was going to be a pirate till a few days earlier. He had changed his mind several times...pirate...diver...policeman...pirate...something else...pirate. So, he finally decided on pirate. He was so cute. Even with the little fake scar on his face. James and Jonah went as skeletons. Nile's Physical Therapist has twin boys and she let us use her costumes from last year. They are just black sweat suits with white bones one them. So cute! And it was perfect for the cool weather we've been having. J/J didn't actually trick or treat, they pretty much just chewed on the flashlight and people watched while N/N did the trick or treating. We had a good time. And got to visit our neighbors.
The boys are doing quite well in school these days. They actually look forward to going...most of the time. A few weeks ago they had Show-N-Tell. Noah wanted to take his Beanie Baby snake and Nile wanted to take a real snake. I couldn't find one. I think it's getting too cool out for them now. But I did find two little baby frogs. I think they were tree frogs because of the shape of their feet. So, I got and old plastic container, drilled some holes in the lid, added dirt and sticks and stuff and wha-la!...frog habitat. We found two Beanie Baby frogs and a little book on frogs and headed off to school. Nile and Noah were so excited. When we got to school, all the kiddos wanted to know what was in the container. The teacher said they were a big hit. And I have since learned that every Thursday is Show-n-Tell day. So last week, again, we needed something to take. Luckily, I founda little baby gecko. So cute. Add one little mini habitat, a lizard beanie baby (yes I collected beanie babies), a print out on geckos and it's show-n-tell time. This poor little gecko didn't make it through the day though. Poor thing. Oh, it made it through school, all the way home and was miliseconds away from being released. I took the top off of the container, and after explaining to Nile that the little gecko had to be let go so he could catch some bugs for supper and we could catch him again tomorrow (wink wink), I told him to dump the container over and let him go. About ten minutes later I went back outside to check on the release and there is Nile holding the little thing between his fingers. Nile has big hands and is really strong (upperbody) for his age. The poor little thing was squashed to death. But, I didn't tell Nile that and just took him from Nile and "let him go" under the house. Poor thing. Nile has a huge heart and would have been devastated. Anyway, every day now they ask me if it's SNT day. I have no idea what we'll do this week.

Another day in the life of...

Well, I don't know how long I have to get a blog in, but I'm going to give it a shot. J/J are napping and N/N are outside playing, getting filthy dirty. Ken is heading to Louisiana right now so I've confiscated his laptop. I'm not good at typing on this thing, so in the interest of ...well...interest...I'm gonna leave the typos in starting.......now.
What has been going on since the last blog entry?
Right after J/J's birthday, I got sick. Itlasted abouta week. Felt like the flu...but not...kinda. Ilost my voice, which was really bad cause I doalot of yelling from the windows when N/N are outside playing and I can't get outside cause of J/J inside. To talk to the boys, I had to actually whisper. It was really annoying. Anyway, when I was on the upcurve, Ken got sick. Luckily, none of the punks got it. I was really sweatin' that one.
N/N are doing well in school. they complain about having to go (in the morning) but absolutely love it and have so much to talk about when they are picked up. last Thursday was "Show N Tell" day. BRB Jonah is now up and trying to play with the keys. So I will write more later...I hope...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JAMES AND JONAH!

They're one year old today. Whoo hoo! We don't have a big tadoo planned or anything. But we do have some family coming in from the Houston area. Ken's mom, sister and two nieces are coming. Ken got an ice cream cake, for the kids, and is (right now) getting a carrot cake for the adults. We'll probably order some pizza for lunch. Normally I would make the pizza myself, but I'm exhausted from lack of sleep last night and feel like going the easy way out. So we'll have a small little celebration with a few family members.
Hopefully I'll have some pictures soon.

Milestones: walking about 10 steps at a time. putting things in and out of containers. James loves passing things to other people...especially if you say "thank you". Jonah says -"dis" and "dat" which is obviously "this" and "that". pointing with one finger. learning to drink from a regular cup. "talking" on the phone to friends and family. That's all I can think of right now.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JAMES AND JONAH!

Where do I begin...?

Well, we'll start off with an "itchy" subject...

I dropped N/N off at school this morning to find that two of the boys (brothers) in their class have lice. Or, as the boys put it..."We have bugs in our hair." I have to scratch my head just thinking about it. Yuck! So, they were lining up all the kiddos, to be checked by the school nurse, on their way out to the playground. As the kids played, they were going to disinfect the classrooms. The two afore mentioned boys, were being sent home and were patiently waiting for their mother/father. This is my first experience with lice. I didn't know if I should bring the boys back home or what. The teacher said it wasn't neccessary. What a way to start the day.

After dropping the boys off, the little one's and I headed to Landa park for a morning walk. It was a nice morning and J/J were in a pretty good mood so we did two laps around the park. They boys did really well and loved seeing all the ducks, geese, squirrels and birds. Speaking of squirrels...the one's at Landa park are really bravel little suckers. They came running up to the stroller! And not just one at a time, sometimes there were four or five or six at a time. It was like an "attack of the squirrels" movie or something. The only thing I could figure was in their brain...stroller = kiddos = snacks that get dropped on the ground. Hence, stoller = food! As I walked, I wondered if I should bring some Cheerios or something next time. But then I thought, should I encourage this behavior? I mean, one of these squirrels got within about three inches of the stroller and I thought it was going to literally jump up in the thing with J/J. Now, I like squirrels. They're cute and fuzzy and all that. But in Texas you really have to worry about rabies and what not. So no squirrels allowed = no Cheerios allowed. Did I overthink this thing?

So we finished our walk and I was starving, so I totally blew my "workout" by going through the Whataburger drive through. LOL Yes! it was worth it. Whataburger rocks!

Well, a couple of weeks ago a little Hurricane named Ike rolled through the Texas coast. So, my sister, her husband and his mom came to stay with us for a while. We stayed up watching the news most of the night and for the next few days. They ended up staying for about a week. Then headed back to find that her mother in laws house had water and power but their house only had water. So they had been staying at her house up until yesterday when her power went out again. So they are now back home with a window unit and a couple of generators. I need to call them today to check on them. Fortunatelly, both of their houses faired well and they only lost a few trees/branches/fences and fish. Ken's mom and sister also live in the Houston area. His mom has been without electricity for going on two weeks now. His sister lost power for about a day, but then it came back on and his mom has been staying with her. Luckily, their houses faired well also. Except for the power thing. {update} I talked to my sister today and they have power again at her mother-in-laws house. So...whew. I think that my mother-in-law is still without power though.

Later.

September 11, 2008

I just had to blog a little post with today's date on it.
I don't have much to write or say except that the World will never forget what happened this day seven years ago.
The victims and their families are always in our thoughts and prayers.
G*d bless America!

Sand...surf...and a sea creature with a neon green snorkle...

<---Jonah enjoying a brewsky on the beach. (he found Grams' empty beer can) ...What do you do when the oldest two punks are at school and the youngest two punks are taking a nap; you're exhausted and not feeling well and you could not fold any more laundry if your life depended on it? You Blog! Like I said, the oldest two punks are in school. For the next hour anyway. So far they seem to enjoy going to pre-K. I love it when I pick them up, ask them how school was and did they learn anything new today, and they start telling me about their day. Usually at the same time, then we have to calm down and take turns. They usually have a new song that they are learning and they'll both start singing it. It's so cute! Nile is usually raring to go in the morning, but Noah tends to have a meltdown until he is actually in the classroom and realizes that he's not going back home. We pretty much have our new morning schedule down. It helps when you have most of their lunch/homework/school bag ready to go the night before. This past weekend we went to Corpus to spend some time at the Coast. It was really fun! And I wasn't as stressed out as I thought I would be. You know how it is when you travel with kiddos and they're out of their element. But James and Jonah did suprisingly well. They slept good and we, somehow, managed to pretty much keep them on their regular schedule. We stayed at the hotel that Ken has been staying at all summer and it was nice. We had a two room suite with a kitchen and fireplace (but we couldn't get it to work). Ken took Nile and Noah down to the pool, which they absolutely loved and wanted to spend every minute in. So, pretty much every free minute was spent at the pool. On Saturday afternoon, we headed down to the beach. Of course we took HoWhee and it was great! We drove down on surf side, found a nice little spot and parked it. Nile and Noah had a blast but were a little disappointed they couldn't find any portuguese man-o-wars. We did get to see a Coast Guard (dolphin) helicopter and jet fly right over us, and there were plenty of periwinkles and crabs and other little stuff to play with. Unfortunately, Noah lost his snorkle. We had just bought them a new mask and snorkle set the day before and he left it sitting on shore and the tide came a rollin' in and just sucked it out to sea. So somewhere out there, there is a sea creature with a neon green snorkle. LOL That was the only explanation that would calm him down. As for James and Jonah, they were content to just sit there and eat sand and seaweed. Does that count as their fiber for the day? We did get them in the water (which was surprisingly warm) for a while. Once the initial shock wore off, they seemed to like it. They kept trying to crawl into the surf. After about an hour and a half, everyone started getting hungry and cranky so we cleaned up and headed back to the hotel. I tell you what...it was so nice to have a shower in the van. We were able to get all of that sticky salt water off and rode home relatively comfortable. We had packed some snacks, so we started a movie and snacked our way home. And while the punks bathed, Ken made buffalo burgers on the outside grill. By the time everyone was clean, it was supper time. All in all, it was a great day. The kids had a blast... I kept my promise to Noah about getting him to the beach this year... And we're planning another trip in the next couple of weeks. Of course it all depends on huricane season too. Man it's been active this year! Gotta go...the little one's are waking up. We have pictures, but I used my SLR instead of the digital. So I have to get them on CD and download them for ya. Anyway, the weekend was great.

The second day of school...

I'm posting this even though I didn't get a chance to finish what I was going to write. Can you guess why? LOL Anyway, I'm hoping to get back to it sometime soon, but I've caught a bit of a cold and don't feel like doing much of anything that's not absolutely neccessary. So here's my partial post...
>08.28.08
I was going to try to post yesterday. As it was the first day of school for Nile and Noah. But, I never got around to it. I ended up doing some of the housework that gets put off (with four active boys in the house) and just never sat at the computer long enough to write. So, today is the second day of school for Nile and Noah, James and Jonah are napping, and here's how it's been going...
We kinda prepped them last week that school would be starting. And it was really nice when their teacher came by to say "Hi!" and refamiliarize them with her. <--- does that sentence make sense. Anyway, she came by and brought some "homework" for them to color and hang on the wall when school started. So, yesterday, I got up early...actually, James and Jonah got me up early...around 4am. So, I just headed to the kitchen and started making the boys lunches for school. And when I got Nile and Noah up at 7am I thought for sure it would be plenty of time. NOT!!! So I altered their schedule this morning and got them up at 6:45am and things were better. Next week, it will probably have to be 6:30 cause we were still 5 min. late this morning. I hate being late. Anyway, after waking them up yesterday, they were kinda whiney and kept insisting they didn't want to go to school. We kept reminding them that their friend Savannah was going to be there and she would be excited to see them. And they have a brand new classroom and teacher this year. So after a little convincing, they had breakfast and we put their uniforms on and we headed out the door. (There's actually alot more little stuff that goes on with the morning routine, but I don't have time for all that right now. Sorry. I know how important those little details are to you all. :op ) So, we got to school and Nile was ready to go right away. I had to convince Noah to go though. I finally got him out of the truck by telling him it was against the law to leave a 4yr old in the vehicle by themself and I could get a ticket...or worse! Well, we wheeled up the new ramp headed toward the new classroom and Noah stopped half way up. So, Nile and I continued and when Savannah saw Nile she screamed "Nile!" then said, "Nile, where's Noah?" So I headed back towards Noah and told him Savannah was waiting for him. He smiled and headed up the ramp when he heard her yell out the door, "Nooooooaaaaahhhhh! Where are you?" LOL How cute is that?! Noah started running up the ramp and right into the room. So I stuck around a while as they got settled and proceeded to tell the teacher (when she asked about rules at home) that one of mommy's rules was to not put things on the baby's heads. LOL I knew they'd be alright. The day was going pretty good and I got alot of things done around the house. So I had planned on heading over to Kohl's to see if I could find some more uniform shirts for the boys. We ordered some online that had the school logo on them from a uniform company that was advised in the new school handouts. Well, we only received two of them, the other were on backorder. So when I dropped the boys off at school and saw that they were the only one's in the full uniform with (logo) shirts, I decided to cancel the rest of the order and just go get some plain ole blue polos for them to wear. That's what the other kids were wearing so... I was going to head to Kohl's and look for some plain blue polos.

Well, it's 0526 hrs...

...and the little one's and the big one's are still A-S-L-E-E-P. Well, the little one's had a bottle at 0500 and then went back to sleep. Yes, sadly, we refer to our children as the "little one's" and the "big one's". But, whatdayado?
So I thought since I was up, I'd try to blog a little.
Things here on the homefront have been realatively...the norm. Well...the norm for us. A couple of weeks ago, when Dolly hit, we had some family come and stay with us. My sister Daisy and her family were without power and water and running out of food with no fridge. So they headed up this way. My dad and stepmom decided to stick it out, but did send my little sister Lilly with my sister Daisy...is there a flower theme going here. Lilly...Daisy... Anyway, my little sister Karen is in Spain for the summer, so she wasn't home. But Daisy, Lilly and the crew came to stay a while. It was actually pretty fun. Daisy has three boys that are about the same age as ours. Her youngest just turned a year old. So all of our boys had such a blast playing together. I'll have to post some of the pics she took while here. And I have to admit, it was nice to have some extra hands around. Just to be able to run to the store for a little something, and not have to haul all of the kids, was nice. Although, one day we decided to take all seven kids to Walmart. That was an experience. Whew! Then on a couple of days, my cousin Claudia and her family showed up to visit. They are from the Valley also and were staying with their Aunt in Austin. They have three boys also and she is pregnant with their fourth....a GIRL! They were without water or power also and stuck it out for a few days. But with being pregnant and with three kids...you just can't do that for very long. So on a couple of days, we had TEN boys, all under the age of eight, running around the house. It was ... loud! And fun! The kids had a blast and we got to talk for a while. So it was a busy week at the Copeland Compound.
What else...
Noah and Nile will be starting school (K4) in a few weeks. They have to wear uniforms this year and I haven't been able to find anything I need for them. Sigh. I'm kinda excited about them going again this year. They really seemed to enjoy it last year. Plus, it gives me a little break during the day to try to get things done without two extra little one's around.
Ken was notified a few weeks ago that all of the CG Reserves in Corpus Christi are going to be Demobilized. Which means...he's coming home! And going back to his "free-world" job at the PD. It's going to be weird. He's been activated for seven years now. We won't know what to do with him home full time. Gonna take some getting used to again. You know, you kinda get into a "routine" and get used to things being a certain way. But, we adjusted with kids/two sets of twins. Now that was an adjustment! So, October 1st will be his last day on active duty.
I'm getting hungry. This morning will be Banana chocolate chip pancakes. It's pretty much become my Saturday morning routine. Most other days we're running here or there. But Saturday is the Sabbath, Shabbat Shalom, and no where to go so it's pancakes for breakfast. Whoo-hoo!
I can't think of anything else to update on. Family is all doing well and we're just chugging along.

Shalom

Synopsis...

...Since I haven't written in a few months, I thought I would just do a little synopsis of what has been going on ...

April -

1st: School

3rd: School

4th: Physical Therapy/Occupational Therapy (PT/OT)

7th:PT/OT

8th: School-left early for Dental appt. for Nile and Noah...teeth fine. Noah has soft spot on one of his back molars, have to keep an eye on it. Made appointment to have the boys back teeth sealed.

10th: School for Noah/Spina Bifida Clinic for Nile

11th:PT/OT

11th,12th,13th,14th,15th: "All Hands" in Corpus for Ken.

15th: School

16th: PreOp for Nile's MRI

17th: MRI for Nile/School for Noah but he didn't want to go because he was upset about Nile's "Dr. appt."

21st: checkup appointment for all of the kiddos.

22: Dental appointment for Nile and Noah - Noah had two teeth sealed before the gas started to wear off. Dr. advised they could not work on Nile due to his "health issues" without a clearance from his pediatrician. Made another appointment for Noah's other teeth.

23rd:PreOp for Nile's surgery. This was a six hour appointment, not including the drive time. One way is 45minutes on a good traffic day. I was very impressed with Nile this day. He did extremely well considering all of the time we spent just waiting to see the doctors.

24th:School

25th: PT/OT

26th: Lela comes down to watch the kiddos during Nile's surgery.

28th: Surgery on Niles feet. All goes well, but he has to stay overnite for observation due to his sleep apnea.* His feet are casted with split casts that will come off in a week and regular casts put on. He does very well that night. I packed some new blocks that I got him just for the hospital, and his Gramms got him some new Army men as well. So we spend much of the evening playing on the floor ( I put a blanket down) playing and building. The next morning we went down to the cafeteria to get breakfast. Nile got to chose anything he wanted. Even if it wasn't Organic. LOL
*I put an asterix here because I do not believe Nile has Sleep Apnea. He has been tested at a Sleep Apnea lab and they diagnosed him with a mild form but they did not actually observe him sleeping. They hooked up a bunch of monitors to him and kept track of his oxygen/heart rate/etc... My opinion on the subject is his tonsils are getting in the way of his breathing. He doesn't stop breathing, there's just nothing gettin in there. His tonsils are so swollen most of the time, he just can't breathe. He can''t sleep on his back because they block the back of his throat, so he sleeps slightly sitting up. So, he has an appt with a different ENT next week and we will see about getting his tonsils out.

29th: Nile released from Hospital

May -

1st:School

2nd: PT/OT

5th: PT/no OT

6th: School

8th: School Field Trip to the Fire Department. It was so fun! The boys loved it!/Followup appt. with Orthopedic Surgeon to check on Niles feet and be recasted. He wanted Red but they were out. Then he picked blue...out. So we went with green. The Techs were calling him the Green Machine. LOL

12th: PT/OT

13th: School

14th: Radiology Appt for Nile's Ultrasound

15th: School

17th: Beach to Bay run for Ken in Corpus... The boys and I stayed home cause they were sick.

19th: PT/OT for Nile and Dental appt. for Noah

20th: School

21st: Followup with Urology for Nile

22nd: School

23rd: PT/OT

27th: Last day of School for the boys. The 29th was actually the last day, but they were having water games and a jumpy thing and Nile still had his casts on so we went to the Whitte Museum instead. We had such a good time.

30th: PT/OT

June:

2nd: PT/OT every Monday and Friday

3rd: Dental appt for Noah

5th: Nile's cast removed. There were several pressure sores on his feet that needed to heal. He still has one on his heel that has not healed.

6th: PT/OT Mom is admitted into the hospital. They advise her that she has Legionaires disease and possibly a mass on her heart. After several days, and several tests later, they advise her that she does not have Legionaires disease nor a mass on her heart. She will get a second opinion from a specialist in Houston later.

13th: PT/OT then head to Lela's house in Houston. Mom has a dr's appt with a heart specialist on Monday.

16th: Still in Houston. Mom has appt and dr. advises that her heart is fine. Whoo-hoo!

25: Dr. appt. with the pediatrician to check on the pressure sore on Nile's heal. Dr. advised that it is fine and should heal soon. One of the problems that we face with his feet is that he doesn't have "normal" circulation down there, so sores/cuts take longer to heal. Much like a diabetics feet/legs.

27th: Appt with the new Orthotist to be fitted for RGO's

30th: Court date over Dusty (my mom's dog) A neighbor has complained that he is barking all day...which is a crock.

July:

No PT/OT till second week of the month due to the 4th of July holiday. Whoo-hoo!

10th: Apptment for me in the A.M. then Dr. appt with a new Orthopedic surgeon to get second opinion on Nile's feet.

23rd: Dr appt for Nile with a new ENT

24th:Lola goes to the Vet and James & Jonah have their 9mo checkup

So that is what's been going on. In between those busy days above, we have managed to make a few trips to Sea World, extend the back deck and Ken has done alot of work on the Duplex for our new renters. So...that's it for now. I'll try to post some new pics and do another real update later. Right now I have to wash some grape tomatoes for Noah to munch on.

Shalom

Hello, my name is Sheila and it has been 18 days since my last post...

Is there an anonomous group for chronically bad bloggers?

The last few weeks have been extremely busy. Since my last post, our daily schedule has been in a total uproar. Ken's work shedule has changed on a day to day basis. So I never know when he will be home or for how long. Which, as far as therapy appointments, dr's appointments, dental appointments and the everyday stuff that seems to come up, it's really a pain. Cause when it comes to making appointments with the military system, it's not like calling a regular "free world" doctor. You can't just call an leave a message and expect to get a call back the same day by someone. You're lucky if they call you back in three days. And as far as making an apptment, they call you, not you call them. And if they pick a day, you better hope your schedule is free cause it may be another month before another appointment becomes available. But I digress. Anyway, we went to the Valley this weekend to visit my family. For those of you who don't know where the Valley is, it's way down there at the tip of Texas by Mexico. Anyway, our dad lives down there as well as some cousins and some siblings. I hadn't been to the Valley since the oldest boys were 6 months old. So almost exactly four years. When I started figuring it in my head that way, I couldn't believe how long it had been. So, me, my mom and the four kiddos piled into HOWhee, the van, and took a little trip. And I have to say, it was so nice having an "RV" to travel in. While the babies slept most of the way, the boys watched videos. When the kids got hungry, we just stopped along the way and had sandwiches and snacks from the fridge and warmed up bottles for the babies in the microwave. And I don't have to tell you how nice the potty breaks were. No public restrooms. So nice.
We left Friday morning and got there that afternoon. We stopped in at the airport to pick up a rental car for my mom. It was her birthday (on Sunday) and she really wanted to toodle around and visit some old friends. So that evening we just kinda hung out at dads house. My sister daisy and her family came over and my Cousin Claudia and her family came over. They each have three boys. The oldest boys will be six next month and the youngest are 9 months and 11 months old. So our boys had a blast with all the kiddos around. My dad had an in-ground trampoline and they had so much fun jumping on that thing. Ken and I want to install one in our back yard. Saturday was cousin Sammy's birthday party. All of the cousins, friends and neighbors were there. My brother and his kids even came over that afternoon. The boys had a blast! We got home waaaayyyyy past bedtime and the boys were exhausted. Sunday everyone came over again and we BBQed and the kids played and played. By the time Monday rolled around and it was time to go, the boys didn't want to leave. And I don't blame them. We were suppose to leave on Sunday, but my mom called in sick and I canceled Niles therapy and we stayed till Monday. We had so much fun! We plan to go back soon but Nile has surgury coming up on the 28th, so it will have to wait till at least his recovery is over with.
Which leads me to our next subject: Nile's surgery on his feet is schedule on the 28th and this week has been jam packed with dr apptments and MRI's and preop apptments. Sigh. It's been hectic. And next week will only be worse. So I'm getting really anxious and nervous about that coming up.
But I gotta go now. A messy playroom has been staring at me and haunting me all morning and I can't take it anymore. I hope to have more pics soon so check in later. PEACE

Today is my birthday...

...at least for the next 2 hours and 55 minutes anyway. And I have to say that this was one of those days where you wish you could just crawl back in bed and hide under the covers. It started out really bad. Really bad. I've had minimal sleep for the past two weeks and last night was no different. My attitude was just...horrible this morning and I think the kiddos picked up on it cause their attitude was horrible as well. I could not get a thing done and James and Jonah were on opposite nap schedules. One was sleeping while the other was up and vice-versa. Early in the afternoon after looking around and seeing ... a pile of dishes still in the sink, a dishwasher that needed to be unloaded, a load of dirty diapers that needed to be washed, a playroom that was a disaster and believe it or not...and I hate to say this... but I was still in my pajamas and hadn't even brushed my teeth yet... I decided I was letting all of that stuff stress me out. I was getting aggravated because I wasn't getting anything done. And I wasn't getting anything done because I was getting aggravated and that was being reflected back in my children. They were getting aggravated and whiney and acting up. So I just said...forget it. I'll do it later when the kids are asleep and right now I'll just relax and play and enjoy the day. And you know what? My day got better. It actually wasn't to bad after that. My mom even stopped by after work to help with bath time and bed time. Which was a blessing. Everyone got bathed and there was no acting up or whining or crying about going to bed. It was pretty stress free. Aaaahhhhh.
And so... gleen what you will from that run-on paragraph. I'm going to have some sunflower seeds, watch Law & Order and chill out cause the diapers are done washing and ready for the dryer, the dishwasher is cleaning my filthy dishes that sat all afternoon, LOL I've had my shower, have clean pj's on and it's not quite time to brush my teeth yet. Oh, the playroom is still a mess, but if I cleaned it up tonight, it would just be a mess by midmorning tomorrow anyway. So I'll shut the door and not worry about it.
Sleep tight.

ps...I finally made those brownies I mentioned in a previous post titled " A really lame post", they were sooooooo good and easy to make. There's not much left. Just thought I'd let you know.

Spring Break is over and it's back to school...

...for Nile and Noah. They were really excited about seeing their friends again. And we were excited about getting a little breather...ie...only having two kids instead of four for the next few hours. It gives us a little break to do some of the chores that get put off. Like changing the sheets on all of the beds, washing the comforters, hanging out the laundry....stuff like that. Although, I still haven't got the latest load of laundry out on the line yet. But that's because Jonah didn't take as long of a nap as he should have and he's in his excersauser right next to me. Happy...happy...happy. Actually, he has that look on his face. You know the one that says...I know you just changed my diaper but...
I hear James stirring...BRB.

It is now three days later. I didn't get a chance to "BRB". Sometimes that happens. You wouldn't believe how many Blog drafts I have saved on here. I started one the other day about something that happened during nap time. Here it is:
March 18, 2008
Baby blankets...we had a bit of a scare with a baby blanket. You know the kind that you usually get as baby gifts. They have ducks on them or balls or stripes or whatever. Anyway, we had put James and Jonah down for a nap the other day. They were in a little onsie so we put a little baby blanket on to cover their legs. They were taking a good nap. It was one of those wonderful days when they actually sleep for about two to three hours. So I went in to check on them and James had the blanket wrapped around his head and neck. It was wrapped around about two times! I had to literally unwrap it from his neck and face. Scared the ... poopie outta me. He was still asleep even after I got the blanket off, but I woke him up just to make sure he was OK.


My (phone) alarm is going off. Gotta pick up the boys in about a half hour. So gotta make this quick or it will go back into the draft file. LOL
Anyway, things are chugging along here. The boys are back in school and Tuesday and Thursday mornings are a race to get them out the door. For some reason, no matter how early I start out, the time just flies by and I'm racing to get everyone loaded into the car to get them to school on time. Not much has been going on around here. We didn't do much for Spring Break. Ken and the boys planted a small vegetable and flower garden. We can't wait for some tomatoes. One day we all went down to Landa Park. It was so nice. There were alot more people than we thought there would be, but we found a nice spot under a tree and had a picnic. Or tried to. For some reason, every bee in the county decided they liked our little spot. So we ended up packing up everything in the van and Nile and Noah and Ken went to play while I sat relaxed with the little ones. We stayed for about three hours. It was a nice day out. Can't wait to do it again. This time, when there's less people there.

All the boys are growing fast. Nile and Noah are growing so fast. They spend most of their days either outside, if it's not too hot. Or in their playroom doing arts and craft stuff. Noah is quite the little artist. He loves anything that has to do with colors, markers or paints. Right now he's into glue sticks and making different pictures with colored paper and other ...stuff. Nile is still into his cars, action figures and any kind of bug he can find to put into his little bug habitat. Unfortunately it's up to me to remember to let the poor little bugs go. Sometimes...I don't remember. Poor things.
James and Jonah are six months old now. James has mastered the art of rolling back and forth. Jonah is just now getting it but doing just fine. They had been sleeping through the night, but for some reason last week, Jonah would wake up about every two hours. Drove me nuts! I was so sleep deprived, it was like having a newborn again. Man I was draggin'. But, they both slept through the night last night. Jonah didn't wake up till 4am and James woke up at 6am. So I got about six hours of sleep last night. Not bad.
Well, I gotta go get the kiddos. James and Johah are napping...sigh...I gotta go get them and load them into their car seats. I hate having to haul them out when they finally settle down for a good nap. Sigh.
Gotta go!

A really lame post...

Well, Nile and Noah are at school...James and Jonah are napping...and Ken has gone to Home Depot....again. It's a good thing we own stock in the company. LOL

Anyway, what better time to write. Right?

So...things are pretty much on track here. Knock on wood. All the boys are healthy and we're just chugging along.

I don't have much of anything exciting to write about. Which for me...is exciting...cause that means there's no crisis. Whoo hoo!

I love my new kitchen. I was going to try a new recipe today...Cream Cheese Brownies. Yum! http://www.tammysrecipes.com/cream_cheese_brownies I'll let you know how they turn out. By the way, this is one of my favorite websites... http://www.tammysrecipes.com/ It has some really good, quick and simple recipes on it. I check it every time I get on the computer.

Here's another recipe I absolutely love...and so...I must pass it on:

Chewy Granola Bars

1 cup brown sugar

2/3 cup peanut butter

1/2 cup honey or maple syrup

1/2 cup (1 stick ) melted butter

2 Tbsp vanilla

3 cups rolled oats

1/2 cup wheat germ

1 1/2 cup fixin's...

such as trail mix, raisens, coconut, peanuts, chocolate chips, dried cranberries or other dried fruit. Mix first five ingredients-blend well-stir in dry ingredients-blend well. Press into a greased 9x13 inch pan and bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes. Cool and cut. Yum!

Ok...it just started raining again. This weather sucks. But it's good baking weather. Perfect for making Brownies...LOL

We're in the process of trying to get a wheelchair lift for our new van - HOWhee. I'm very appreciative of all of the medical benefits and equipment that we get through the military...but...it is a pain in the hiney to get anything done on a timely manner. It takes an act of Congress. Oh yeah! Speaking of Congress...Former President Bill Clinton was in Corpus last week and Ken met him and shook his hand. He was kinda excited...even though he's Republican. He said he'll probably never get to meet another president...former or not. So...there's some excitement for ya!

Just some of my favorite things:

Cloth diapers...we've started using them again. Whoo-hoo! I love it. Ken hasn't quite got the hang of it yet but...it really saves on diapers.

My Mai Tei Carrier...It's actually more like the "Frankenkozy"...I made my own... here's the pattern... http://www.sleepingbaby.net/jan/Baby/FrankenKozy.htm I love it! I put the babies in it and within 5 minutes...they're asleep. Literally...5 minutes. It's so easy. I have a pic of James in it, but it's on the other computer so I'll post it later. I highly recommend them. Mine goes with me wherever I go. See pic to the right -->

My new van - HOWhee.

My old suburban...I miss it

My new Honda...it's speeeeeeeddddyyy!

My new kitchen...let's get bakin'!

My new/old house...it's roomy.

http://www.elise.com/recipes/

http://www.tammysrecipes.com/

http://www.thepioneerwomancooks.com/

My new/used computer.

Nile and Noah's playroom.

Exersaucers... my sanity savers.

Our new computer screen/tv...it can be used as either. Love it!

My new washer and dryer...and my new clothes line that Ken put up for me.

Homemade Pizza...check tammy's recipes website for dough recipe. Love it!

Mother's Day Out for Nile and Noah...and the fact that we've

registered them for next years K=4 program.

Gosh...I'd better stop here...the list could go on...and on...and on.

Namaste.