Back to School

Wow I cannot believe it is school time now. The day started off well and I pray that the boys day continues to do so. This is my first full day alone for almost seven years! I really can't say I am excited or sad. Things happened so quickly but the place is REAL quiet. Thought....hmmmmm....I should update my blog. Freedom of choice! Fun! Okay, I might like the time alone...today...for now.

Are they home yet? Ho Hum...
Is Aiden doing super hero moves in front of the class?
Is he eating everyones snack?
I bet he is already trying to learn how to read.



Is Aaron wiggling so much that he has fallen out of his chair?
Is he showing all his friends his THREE missing front teeth?
Does he remember how to read?



Why isn't Rick calling me? Doesn't he know I am alone and lonely?
Will the boys be embarrassed if I try and look in the windows of their classrooms?
Will I get arrested?
Should I just yell, "keep your hands off your brother!!!" in an empty house and will it make me feel better?

Wow I miss them... tick tock tick tock

When Good Intentions Go Bad

Today we (the boys and myself) went with Gram and Grandma Skinner to the store. When we turned into the parking lot something caught my eye.

Hmmm...the boys would probably like to see this. They probably have never seen or touched one before is what I was thinking to myself. We went into the store and as we were going in I told the boys I wanted them to see something when we left and to please remind me.

I am really interested in the boys getting a chance to look at places, textures and anything that catches their attention. I know, I have boys...one of my rules is it has to be appropriate.

It all started with lil A one day. We were driving down the road and he has always felt the need to tell me about every stop sign. Yes I do stop at them. I don't know what the attraction is for him but he does like them. But this day he piped up and said, "I just wish I could touch a stop sign."
It melted my heart. Wow, this is one thing I could do. I was hesitate because I had on a brand spankin new pair of shoes on and...it rained lately. Oh well. We did it. We stop the car (I do that at every stop sign) get out and tip toe to the sign. I raise him up as high as I could and BOP he smacked the sign. All was perfect in our world.
Since then I have tried to stop and let them explore our lives.
In the past we have jumped out of the car and touched a dancing wind guy in front of a business (the owner walked out of the business and kinda glared at us and we waved bye and jumped back in the car with the boys screeching with laughter. Okay I was laughing too), Big A got to touch a sinclair dinosaur in front of a gas station. Lil A was asleep.
Then there was today. I spotted cattails. Cooool! They would love this!

Hahahahaha, I had no idea. I am silly like that.

They really liked them. Aiden wanted to know if he could eat it. I tell him no but that it was suppose to stay like they are now and then they would seed and get fluffy....in a few days....little did I know.
I cut two off and let the boys take them home. We stuck them in the ground by my goldfish pond. The boys thought they looked great there.
Don't they look great....err ummmm...doesn't IT look great?

Guess what...Ruby happened. *sigh*



Don't let her sweet face fool you!

This evening Rick stepped outside and the boys followed. I decided to stay in and "surf" some blogs. Shortly, Rick walks in and says, "you see the kids on the trampoline."
He caught my attention.
I have seen the boys on the trampoline alot of times. So I ask him is it bad? He shrugs his shoulders and sits on the couch. I get up and look out the backyard. What the... I look at Rick and he says Ruby found the cattails. I couldn't resist. I grabbed my camera and here we go.
Oh wait, I think I have seeds stuck in my hair still.
Hmmm...How did that get on the trampoline? Rick!?!!??!





Honey, you starty, you cleany. Good night!

Busy weekend

This last weekend was packed full. One of the fun things we did was go fishing for crawdads with some great friends. The kids had a blast and I think the guys had fun to. The guys went first and would fish a spot and then the kiddos would get in the water when the guys were done. It worked out great because the guys would know how deep the water was to make us moms happy and while the kids played in the water the guys walked over to the next watering hole. It was beautiful there. I am sure the water was cold. I didn't get in the water because I wanted to take some pictures. I snapped a whole memory card full. Here are some of the takes.














Also planned was a night with Gram and Grandpa at the carnival. They take the boys every year it comes to town. I tagged along this year because of some bad storms in the area and we would be able to go straight home if needed. So...I took pictures! Yay me! Things went great and the weather behaved itself.Aiden went up the slide with two friends and they planned to go down it all together. Well, I guess thiings didn't go as planned when he got up there. Another little boy went down with them. So, Aiden chose to turn around and be done with the whole ride. Felt pretty bad for him but he was fine by the next ride.


Gram was the official rider of the scrambler. I tried to stay back in the sidelines since was Gram and Grandpas night with them.
Due to my anxiety, I rode this ride with Aaron the first time he rode it. He still seems so small. Too small to ride this. But Grandpa bought my tickets and let me step in to settle my fears. All went well and I was able to breath a little better when he rode it by himself. I am shocked at how little they can be to ride some rides. Sometimes I wouldn't mind having shorter kids.
Earlier this summer I found out that Aaron is tall enough to pay full adult price at our local amusement park. Does that mean he is big enough to ride the roller coasters? Not if mama is there...sorry boy.

Aiden likes the smaller rides and so do I.

April Updates

I hope everyone is having a blessed spring season. I have really enjoyed the warm up. Rick is already threatening to turn the A/C on. Nooooooo!!! I love to soak up the heat and I plan to do that and store it up over the winter. It is the only thing that will get me through it!
We worked alot around the house this weekend. One of the projects that was completed was the first run through for the garden. Tilling! I am mentally planning what veggies we are going to plant. Tomatoes are at the top of my list of course! Another thing we did was burn up alot of trash in a bon fire last night. Mostly what mother nature gave us over the winter season. Aaron wanted to roast marshmellows but I told him that wasn't a good fire to roast them in because of some trash in it. He then told me ok, then can he have just some plain ole marshmellows. Their minds just amaze me sometimes.
Some of the things going on around here: We have started soccer last week and if the rain holds off then we are suppose to practice twice a week. They are just in "fun soccer" and are not competing. It is alot of fun for us to watch them.
Aiden went to his kindergarten screening a couple of weeks ago and he scored 86%! He has really grown alot over this last school year. We will be on summer break in about a month. If we are having it, the boys will be going to summer school. Aiden gets to ride the school bus then! I am very excited for him.
We have field trips coming up real soon. Aaron is going to the zoo and Aiden gets to goto the childrens fair in St. Joe. Mom gets to go to both! I will try and post some pictures of the trips.
Kindergarten is going to put on a program in a couple of weeks. Aaron has some lines he needs to learn.
A burst of blue
A splash of green
A flap of wings is all that's seen
A whisper as it flutters by
You're oh so pretty butterfly!
Pre-K will also have graduation practice coming up soon also. He will have a couple of lines for his too. All of them do I think. Both grades.
Here are some pics that I have taken over the last month. I hope you like them. I enjoyed taking them.
I really admire the boys coach. She has done a great job with the kids. She has patience of steel! She would separate them into to teams and she would give instructions to one side and walk to the other side to tell them and only to find out that the first group she talked to followed her across the field!

I was so proud of the boys here. But I do fear that they don't give the rest of the kiddos a chance. COACH! I don't want the team parents mad at my babies. Want me go borrow a lasso? I can find one around here ya know.

Run boys! Run!!!

Watch them elbows and we must goto WalMart and invest in some shin guards. Owww! Aaron made a goal and I guess got a finger in the eye as a reward. Must....try...to...not....baby....them. Bad time to quit a bad nail biting habit.
You talkin to me? You want some of this?

Oh come on guys, have fun please. I really didn't mean the threats I made about spilling the egg dye! Honest!

Best purchase the Easter Bunny has ever made...Will they look at me funny if I make the boys wears those at the grocery store?

Look at those fingers! I can't leave the room. I just know it! They will paint each other. I don't care you can call me controlling. I call it peace for mom.


My babys eyes...MMMMMM I could swim in them all day. Beautiful. Peaceful. My heart melts all over again.

St. Patty Day Pre-School Style - My Photo Gallery

St. Patty Day Pre-School Style - My Photo Gallery
My latest scrapbook page. This was St. Pattys Day for Aaron in pre-k last year.
Click on the link to see my other pages.

I Believe Spring will Spring

Ya know, I like a nice snowy winter...during Christmas. After that I am done, done, DONE! This year we had a very snowy Christmas. It was kind of cool. We started to get our snow storm Christmas Eve which cut all the festivities short for everyone. Rick, the boys and I loaded up in the Jeep to head home and get the boys in bed. I still had alot of wrapping to do. The roads were pretty slick but not too bad. We arrived home safely opened up the garage got the Jeep parked then the lights went out. Garage door left wide open. Grrr....I mean Brrrr! Rick had to manually get the door down and we escaped into our warm house. You should have seen it. Trying to convince the boys to goto sleep in a very dark and very quiet house. Finally got them to settle down and then I had to be quiet enough for them not to hear me wrapping gifts. I would have loved to gripe about the situation to Rick but he lucked out. I had to be quite so I wouldn't wake up the boys, wrap presents in the dark and fume. But eventually the lights and heat came back on and I was smiling again and wrapping the presents. Christmas went well. The next day we drove to mom and dads to have Christmas with them. Thank God for four wheel drive. There were snow drifts in the snow and it was fun and scary to bust through them on the way. Poor Rick he had to listen to me the whole way. Glad he didn't pull the Jeep over and boot me out or tell me to drive it myself. He's a good guy.



It snowed all Christmas day and alot more that winter. As a matter of fact, it snowed alot all over the U.S.


I did get outside every once in a while to take some pictures because I knew I would regret it if I didn't. I had a silent war with myself everytime I did have to go outside. I really don't like to be cold! I am glad I did get out there...now.


The boys hardly went outside this winter either. They really didn't even show much interest. They can be alot like their mother. Am I teaching them to be rolly pollys during the winter or is it they are like me? Who knows. Whatever it is, I refuse to be quite about how I feel about the cold.

Also, is it bad that when I see Aaron touching the clothes lines all I can think about is the day he is tall enough to go hang clothes for me on the warm days! Wow! Luxuary! Hmmmmm....oh, okay sorry I am back.



Now, in March, the weather actually did a huge change March 1st. Warm up! Above freezing! Glory! We will soon be able to climb out of our frozen dens! I am thrilled! Outside boys! I will once again regain control of my home!


Let the melting begin! Drip, drip, drip.


Moving on, when we were buying our home, the prior owner told us about some flowers that come up by the propane tank at the end of winter. She said they weren't really big but she knew that every season she saw those coming up she knew that winter was not going to last much longer. Guess What! The flowers are out. They make me smile. Maybe we will be back in flip flops soon.

Flowers, I have been waiting for you. Where have you been all winter?