Christmas, Christmas!

I am sure most people don't want to see another person's Christmas morning photos, but there may be a few out there who want to see. So here are a few. :)








The boys were VERY surprised this year. Most of the stuff they got they thought was only in their dreams. LOL! Imagine their surprise when they opened their DS's, which they knew cost way too much and they would not be getting them. They had a great Christmas. AJ and I got ourselves some new furniture and a new tv a couple months ago, so we didn't exchange gifts. The boys were very happy with everything though, even though it didn't look like much. It was all little stuff so there was hardly a mess to clean up. Yea!

We spent Christmas Eve at AJ's grandmother's house, like we do every year. The boys always love that.

Christmas day, we opened presents, ate cinnamon rolls, Lindsay and Fam came over. We played games, ate yummy food, and just hung out.

I will post another blog later with he stuff we are doing this week.

Smile.ly—Be Heard. Be Happy.

Smile.ly—Be Heard. Be Happy.

I love trying out free products and do several tests each month for various companies. Best of all, it's free! :) Here is a new place I am trying out. They send you free products and stuff, so go try them out. It's fun and free!

New Stuff

Let me first scream and shout from the rooftops that I finished this semester and I passed that terrible, terrible exam that I have been dreading! Yea me!!!! Whew! I am glad that stupid class is over. The rest of it went well, but after starting with a huge burst of speed, I had to slow down some because of life. I hope to get more classes in this next semester. I am taking this weekend off and then I will start working on the stuff for next semester. Whew!

Avery has some news! Yesterday he finally tied his shoes by himself. We have been working on it, and he would get it some of the time, but he finally did it at school, all by himself yesterday. Yea! On to even bigger news... he read a whole book, perfectly, last night. He can read any old word, anytime, but when they are put together in a sentence he just wasn't getting it. I KNEW he could read, he just didn't know it! He finally figured it out last night and read the whole book perfectly and pretty easily. Yea Avery! It was exciting for him last night. We surprised his teacher this morning, which he couldn't wait to do. She was so proud of him! She also gave him the biggest part in his Christmas play. He's so smart. :)

Santa also called him last night, which was fun. I love that our town takes the time to do that each year.

Sam is doing ok. His lungs aren't doing so well at the moment, but I hope we can take care of it before his normal December pneumonia sets in. He came home yesterday, so proud, because his teacher always compliments him in front of the class, and she says over and over how he is the best reader she has ever had. He loves that!

They are both excited for school to be out after next week, and they are really excited for Christmas. They will be sooo surprised by their gifts this year. I can't wait!

That's about it. AJ has just been working. I have been studying non stop and the boys have been doing their thing. Just a typical busy month in this house.

Whirlwind!

Sheesh! What a crazy week.

It started off nice and normal, and then quickly turned into a mass of craziness by the end of the week.

I worked every day last week. On Thursday, Linds calls and tells me she is being monitored at the hospital (again). So I am in the middle of subbing and at lunch I call her, and find out she is having to be induced because her blood pressure is high and her platelets are way too low. Yea for a baby coming, but it was too early and it was on the worst day! I had her kids come to me after school and I took them all to my house. Sam's play performance was that night, I had all the kids, we had to be there an hour early for the play, and I wanted to be at the hospital! So I went and got them dinner. We sat in the gym waiting for the play to start for over an hour, then we watched the play. It was cute and even the kids liked it. Sam did a great job. He was the King's scribe, and he fit the part perfectly. Cute, cute.


Sam as the King's Scribe




Sam and the King being captured


Being Held Hostage (See how tiny he is! Most of those kids are younger or in the same grade as he is. Cute little runt, though. :)

After the play, I went to Lindsay's house to get the kids sleeping stuff. Then we went to my house and I put them to bed. When I got done, Denisee called and said Lindsay was 7 cm dilated. I immediately got my stuff and left for the hospital. I got there, Lindsay said two (funny and weird) sentences to me, and then sudenly said, "Something's happening!" The nurse was in there and she checked, and yep, here comes the baby! She pushed 2 and a half times and he was here! Happy Birthday, Syler!


I can't believe I made it JUST in time!! Yea! He looks just like Taylor. He is so cute. They wisked him away and we didn't get to see him again for 24 hours!! Poor Lindsay. Had a baby and didn't even get to see him. He was having some breathing issues, wouldn't eat well, and couldn't keep his body temp up. So he was stuck in the nursery, and Lindsay was on magnesium, so she couldn't leave her bed either.

The next day, I was supposed to sub in Avery's class, but when I called to check on them in the morning Lindsay told me all the baby difficulties, so I scrambled around trying to find someone to replace me, and then spent the day at the hospital. Good thing Lindsay and I can talk for hours and hours no matter how long we are together. :) it was pretty funny watching her though. That medicine really messes her up. We finally got to see him that night almost 24 hours later.



The next day, I took the kids to the zoo. AJ's work was sponsoring Cortland Finnegan's (a Tennesse Titan) charity event, and we got to go for free, walk the zoo, play games, bounce, see the Titans, etc. Avery didn't want pictures witht hem, but Sam was excited.



He is so proud of the footballs that all the players signed.

I took the opportunity to get some cute pictures of the boys in the fall leaves, also.





After the zoo we went to the hospital and Syler was in there with Lindsay for the first time! yippee! The boys were so excited!





Lindsay got to come home on Sunday. At that point, they were saying Syler might have to stay until Wednesday. Linds called me on Monday and told me he was a whole different kid. He looked and acted so much better. They ended up letting him come home Monday afternoon. Yea! I spent all morning over there this morning, and I even got to give him his first bath. I'm such a good Aunt. :)

I get to watch Autumn all this week while Lindsay is recuperating. She is so good and I like having her around. :)

My birthday just happens to be tomorrow. Maybe Lindsay will let me babysit as my special present. Hint, hint. ;)

Cuteness

We have gone to the park every afternoon this week. I decided to take my camera today and catch some pictures.

Here is Avery showing us his new trick- crossing the monkey bars!

Stuff

So, it isn't the weekend anymore, but at least I posted CLOSE to the weekend. ;)

Let's see. What's been going on??

Lindsay and I had out International competition 2 weeks ago. It was here in Nashville, so we didn't get to travel any where cool, but it was still fun. We actually went down 2 spots in placement, but our score was higher so it's all good. It was a super hard contest, and a few choruses that have been in the Top 10 for years, didn't make it this year. We are fine with it. Let's see what we can do in 2 years. :)

Last week, Lindsay and I spent a few hours in the hospital getting her blood pressure and contractions to stop. That was fun. She posted pictures of her humungous pregnant feet. You should go look. :)

It was also fall parties, birthday parties, and Halloween time. Fun, fun.

Avery and Sam decided to be Mario and Luigi. They were cute. The whole neighborhood loved them and we kept hearing people call out, "Look! It's Mario and Luigi!" They were popular.




Sam's school play is coming up. He has tons of lines this year and is doing great. Next week are his performances and he can't wait. They have been practicing 2 nights a week, then he has another after school club, and cub scouts, so he is sort of ready for his life to calm down.

Avery is an emotional mess at this point in his little life. He is afraid of EVERYTHING. Thanks to AJ who showed him the scary Thriller Video after my show a few weeks ago. Not only is he a scaredy cat, but he also cries and whines about everything. 5 is not a good age for him. He has always been our happy, smiling boy, but something has changed for him in the last few months. I wish we could figure it out! Anyway, he did learn to cross the monkey bars yesterday, the whole way, all by himself, when we were at the park. he was so proud of himself. It surprised me. He seems so little to be doing that!

Today I went with Sam on a field trip. It was pretty boring, but at least it was something different for them.

I guess that is all for now. Nothing pressing is coming up soon, unless you count a new baby being born in Lindsay's family sometime soon. Happy Fall!

CVS/Target

Here's what I got this week. All for $3.50!! Plus I have $10 in CVS Bucks for next time.

6 Packages of Keebler Cookies
2 boxes of popcorn
4 bags of M&M's
1 Dove Shampoo
1 Dove Conditioner
2 Dove Deodorants
1 Dove Lotion
1 Glucose Tester
1 Airwick Freshmatic

This would have cost $80.

Last week, I think i forgot to post with all of my singing activities, but I got a ton of stuff. Candle, razors, 6 bags of candy, etc and hardly spent anything too. Yippee!

I will post a real blog this weekend sometime. :)

Competition!

Whew! it's been a busy few weeks.

Saturday was out annual show. It was lots of fun, and our best show yet. We did a zombie set, so I got to dress up as a zombie. Fun, fun. :) I also learned the Thriller dance and had to perform it in one week. That was interesting, but it went well. You wouldn't believe it, but we had actually planned the Thriller thing BEFORE Michael Jackson died. Anyway, it was great. The boys and AJ came. It was their first time coming to watch me, and they loved it. Yea!


Me, Linds, and our friend, Lynn

This week is International!! I will be gone all week to.....Nashville! Yeah, not as exciting as Canada, but still fun. Avery is sad that I am leaving, but I know they will be fine. Silly kid. Watch us compete on Thursday. We perform at 5:27 central time. It could possibly be later, if they are runnign behind, but that is our schedule time. The site for the webcast is www.sweetadelinesintl.org/webcast.cfm

Last time we competed, we got 13th. We are really hoping to be in the Top 10 this year. There are some super good choruses competing though, so there is a chance it won't happen, but think good thoughts for us!! If we make it to the Top 10 then we will be performing again on Saturday, so watch us then too. :)

Wish us luck! We can't wait to take the stage!

Meet Our New Pets!

This is Gwen. She is a Sugar Glider. We also have her brother, Ben.



They were born July 31, 2009 and we got them last Saturday, when they were 8 weeks old. Here is what they looked like when they were born.



Sugar Gliders are marsupials, so a cousin of the kangaroo, but much smaller, of course. They live in the tops of trees. The females have a pouch. They are great family pets because once they get to know you, you become part of their family. They love you unconditionally. Not like hamsters or gerbils who would run away the first chance they got. These are more like tiny dogs. :) They are called sugar gliders because they can "fly" by gliding. I read that they can glide the length of a football field.

Anyway, we just got them and they are still babies so they are trying to get used to us. Gwen, the girl, is so sweet. She will already climb all over us and isn't scared at all. Ben is still skittish and doesn't like us too much. He yells at us when we come close, but he is getting better. Last night he climbed on me twice. I had to be perfectly still though. :)

The only bad thing is, is that they are nocturnal, and right now they aren't waking up until after 11 at night. This is not making the boys happy. We were able to wake them up last night, so they got to see them a little bit before bed time, but Gwen was not happy. She was a bit freaked out about being woken up. We are trying to change their schedule so they wake up after dinner. We'll see.

We built them a huge cage and they are in our extra room upstairs. They love exploring it. :) We have been up until after midnight playing with them. The other night they were playing hide and seek with each other in the curtains. It was cute. I also made all of the toys and accessories for their cage. I am pretty crafty! Who would've thought?!

They are incredibly hard to take pictures of because 1) they are quick and move constantly and 2) it has to stay dark because light hurts their eyes. So the room is dark and I can't use a flash. I finally got a few pictures last night, but they aren't great.

Anyway, we love our new pets, and it is helping Sam get over losing Angel a little bit. :)


Gwen eating in her "kitchen".

Gwen coming out of her pouch. (They sleep and feel much more comfortable in pouches.)

Gwen

Weekly CVS Trip

All of this would have cost me $90. I got it at CVS this week for $5!

Here is what I got this week.
1 Tide Detergent
1 Package of Charmin Toilet Paper
1 Gillete Fusion Razor
1 Dawn Dish Soap
1 Listerine Total Care Mouthwash
1 container Clorox Wipes
1 Vaseline Body Lotion
3 Wrigley's Spearmint gum
1 Scope Outlast Mouthwash
1 Diabetes Testing Kit
1 package of q-tips
2 Tide Stain Remover Tabs

I did spend $15 out of pocket for all of this stuff, but i get $10 in CVS Bucks to use for next time, making this $5 this week. Yippee!

Sweet Angel

Here are some pictures of our cute, little hamster that Sam misses so much. This was a couple of weeks before she died.

Sad Night at Our House

Wednesday night was a terrible night at our house.

Sam's hamster, Angel, died that night. It was devastating to the boys.

Sam loved her like you wouldn't believe. He got her out every night to play with her before bed, no matter what. He also got her out during the day time, but always, always at night. He loved her so much and she was a GREAT hamster. He got her when she was just a few weeks old, and from that day on they were best friends. She never bit, she played with him, when she would escape from her cage, he could always find her and she would come back to him. She was perfect for him.

That night he went like normal to get her out. Then he called downstairs and said something was wrong with her. She was 2 years old, so I had been preparing him that she was getting old and she would probably die sometime in the short future. We immediately ran up there, and she was walking funny. He said, "I think her leg is broken." He was sad. We watched her and she was dragging the back half of her body and then she would tip over. She also started gasping for air. She never made a sound, but you could tell she was in pain and really having trouble. It took about 10 minutes of doing that before she died. It was terrible to watch. Poor little thing. She finally laid down, just gasping for air. Sam sat down right next to her and started crying. Then she stopped breathing. The kids were sobbing uncontrollably and Sam kept saying that she couldn't be dead. Then all of a sudden, like 2 minutes later she took a big breath again, and then died all over gain. Sam kept watching, hoping she would start breathing again. They were crying like crazy. It was TERRIBLE. I have nver seen them cry like that before. It was real, fullblown grief. It took 2 hours to finally calm them down and get them in bed. I was sad for her, but mostly sad for the boys. It was awful. Sam talked to her several times telling her she was the best pet and he loved her. He held her again. They put a picture of themselves in the box with her, drew her a card, put in a stuffed animal friend, and made her a nice, cozy bed. Poor kids. Sam wanted he rto sleep in his room with him, but we had to say no to that.

The next day was sad too. You could tell from the moment he got up that Sam would lose it at any minute. Thankfully I was at school all day and explained to their teachers what had happened so they were prepared. I ate lunch with Sam and he talked about it. I checked on him several times and you could tell that he was trying so hard to keep it together. Finally at the end of the day, he got to hold his class pet hamster. They had just gotten him that week. That was it for him and he started crying then. He walked all the way down the hall to me, crying. Poor, poor Sam.

He has talked about her frequently and gets better and better each day, but he really misses her. She was a great pet and a perfect hamster.

Goodbye Angel. Thanks for being the perfect pet for us.

Whew!

Well that was a long, but quick 6 weeks! I finished up my long stint subbing for 1st grade. I loved it, but boy was I busy!!!! I had way too much going on and not enough time to do it. That's why there hasn't been many blog posts.

My class was great. It was a lot of work, but they learned a lot, and it was a great time. I will miss them. They were all sad when I left, and told me they didn't want me to go, but they will LOVE their real teacher, so i am not worried about them at all. I also plan on visiting a lot. :) I was ready to be done though, so I could get busy on other stuff. My own school work kinda fell to the way side, so I am not as far as I want to be. Thankfully, I can make up that time now.

The kids loved me being at school every day, and Avery is sort of freaking out that I won't be there anymore.

Not only was I working every day, doing my normal every day stuff, doing college work, and more, but it is also my busiest time of year for the PTO. I am the volunteer coordinator for the school. The beginning of the year, I have to input everyone's information, find classroom representatives, etc. I have literally been sending hundreds of emails the past few weeks, not to mention all the data I have been typing. Whew!

Sam has also been busy. He joined a club at school called the RAK (random acts of kindness) club. He will be perfect for it. He is so compassionate and loving. He stays one day after school for that. Then tryouts for the school play are tomorrow. He will then be staying after school an additional 2 days a week for that. He also has cub scouts. we were going to add swim lessons, but with everything else, I think we will wait. He is doing great in school, although he says 4th grade is pretty hard. He also will be doing lots of projects this year, which I am NOT excited about. Yuck!

Avery loves Kindergarten, and especially loves his teacher. He comes home every day saying, "She hasn't taught me to read yet!" He can't wait to read like Sam. He can already read words, but he expects to be able to read Harry Potter by now. :) He also wants to learn to tie his shoes, and tons of other things. He is definitely a learner!

AJ has been working a ton. He is the only one doing his job and now that business has picked back up, it is making for longer days. He went camping this weekend though, which he loves, so he should be happy for a while.

Next month is our International singing competition. We also have our annual show. We have been working like crazy for that. We have tons of choreography to learn, and since I am on the front row, I am a dancing machine. ;) I also will be singing in a small ensemble group for the show. It is going to be our best show yet. It will be great to watch. Come see us! You will get to see me dance like crazy, I am right up front almost the whole time on all the songs, and you will hear me sing with a small group, plus it is a Halloween show, so you can imagine what else you might see me do. Come see me to find out! :)

Anyway, things should slow down a little bit now, so I will be back around. :)

Football!

A couple weekends ago AJ took the boys to their first ever Tennessee Vols game in Knoxville. That is a BIG deal here in Tennessee. I was busy here at home working on a paper for school. They took their friend Justin, and AJ took some huge fans from church. They had a great time. They drove the 4 hours there and back in the same day so they were tired, but they loved it. Avery said it was a little boring, but Sam loved every moment. They left at 5:30 in the morning! Anyway, I am sure that will be the first of many more games. They are definitely boys!

$12 for all of this, this week at Target and CVS.

Ahhh! I love saving money!

Yes, I know my blog has pretty much turned in to a see how much I saved blog, but I can't help it! Look at how good I did the last 2 weeks!



This is a combination of last week and this week at CVS and Target.

I spent $17 total for all of this.

4 boxes of Special K cereal- Sam eats this every morning. $.64 each after coupons and sale.
1 bag of 22ct. chips- this wasn't the best deal, but it was on sale and I did have a coupon. Avery will take these to his class on his snack day.
5 things of Edy's Ice cream- $.30 each
1 Tide Stain Release Gel Tabs- about $1
1 huge thing of cocoa butter lotion- $2
2 jars of Planter peanuts- $3
1 Fiber One 4 pk of yogurt- FREE
2 big jars of Welch's Jelly- about $1
1 glade candle- FREE
1 glade reed smelly stuff- Earned $1

That's pretty good if I do say so myself. I could be doing better, but working so much is cramping my style. :) I also have brought our monthly grocery bill down almost $100. WOOHOO!

Mini Vacation

Make a Smilebox slideshow

We had a great time! With all of this global warming stuff (roll eyes)we had a pretty chilly weekend. I froze the whole time we were at Holiday World. It was still fun though. The kids even got in the pools and water slides at the water park. Not me! It was a little bit of a disappointment because it was cold so we didn't get to play as much as normal and also Avery was 1/2 an inch to short for most of the rides. Poor, short kiddo! Our hotel was super nice and they had so much free stuff. I recommend staying at Drury Inns for sure!! They have free sodas, snacks, even alcohol (although we didn't partake of that ;) It was nice. We also went to a cool zoo. Te kids loved it.

It was a quick little vacation, but it was a great time away and we all had fun.

Kindergarten

Regardless of how happy these photos look, it has been a bit rough for our new Kindergartener.

Avery's first full day was today. He went 2 other times this week for 3 hours for phase-in. I knew he was getting anxious because the week before school started he stopped saying he wanted to go, he got whiny, cried more, etc. then he spent the past week with a good friend and her little boy and had a GREAT time there. So great that he never wanted to start Kindergarten. in fact, he really didn't want to come home with me. I am thankful for that, but it did make coming to school harder for him.

The first day he seemed fine. I had told him that I was going to walk him to class before the other kids got there (since I had to be in my own classroom) and he could help his teacher since he knows the lay of the land. :) He said "No! I know how to get there myself!" I told him there were too many supplies to carry in so I would walk with him that day and then he could do it by himself after that. Halfway to school traffic suddenly stopped. We sat there and sat there. Finally, I was able to turn around and we went to school a different way. By that time we were about to be late. I called the school and let them know. Finally we were on our way again. Then when we were almost to the road the school is on traffic stopped again! Ugh! The other way was completely blocked and this way was all backed up because of the other wreck. We finally managed to get to the school, 10 minutes late. It was pouring rain! I rushed the kids towards the door and then who should pull up behind us, Avery's teacher! She got stuck too AND she had gotten rear-ended in the process! Poor Ms. Blackburn. Her first day with students and she was late! We were all frazzled by this point. We ran in her room. I dropped his stuff and told him I would see him later. I had to get to my classroom since school was supposed to already be started. I looked at his face and he had a terrible look. I asked him what was wrong and he burst in to tears!! It was terrible! He said, "I don't want to be here!" I couldn't believe it! This was Avery who has pretty much grown up in the school! He went to school there all year last year, we had been helping Ms. Blackburn all summer, he LOVES here, and he had been to the classroom a million times. I called Ms. Blackburn and pointed at Avery. You should have seen the look on her face! I am sure it mirrored mine! We were both completely shocked. She came over and started talking to him and I went ahead and left. It makes it worse when the parent stays, although it killed me to leave at the same time. I sent a note down to her a little bit later and she said he only cried for a minute and he had already made a friend. I think all the craziness is what did it for him. I bet he would have been fine, otherwise. Darn rain and wrecks!

I talked to him after school and he started crying again! He said he didn't want to go even though he did like Ms. Blackburn! He said it wasn't bad and he had TWO friends, but he still didn't want to go. I told him he had to, of course.

He didn't go the next day because it was the girls turn to go. Thursday morning came and he came downstairs, after getting dressed, and he was crying his eyes out! He cried for the whole 20 minutes until we left for school! We got there and he stopped. He was trying to be brave. As we walked down the hall I could tell he was really trying to compose himself. He was taking deep breaths, closing his eyes for a minute, etc. We went to my classroom first and right outside my door was a HUGE spider. Even Sam wouldn't kill it and he is my spider killer! Finally another girl came over and killed it and we walked into my room, only to find a centipede hanging out in there! Geez! What is with my room?! I told Avery if I could be brave and walk in there with all of those scary bugs, then he could be brave and go to Kindergarten. We walked to his room. his footsteps got slower and slower, and I knew he wanted to cry, but he didn't. I walked in and went to his cubby to drop off a few more things. I turned around and he wasn't with me! He had stopped right inside the door and was sort of hiding there. We laughed at him and he finally came in and found his name on his table. I left and he didn't cry. He said he had a good day and liked it.

This morning he cried a little bit, but stopped pretty quick before school. He told me he wanted me to walk him down so I did. this time when I tried to leave he held on to my leg. I walked him over to his table and he sat down and cried a little bit. No one else was in there yet, so ms. Blackburn talked to him and I left. He stopped after 30 seconds. He really liked his teacher. I don't know why he is doing this. He doesn't adapt to change very well, I just didn't think this was a big change! Guess it is. He said he didn't like it as much today, and they had to already do work, which he didn't like, but he seems better with it now. He said there wouldn't be any crying on Monday. we'll see. He also said he still wanted me to walk him down. I told him I would on Monday, but he needed to go by himself on Tuesday.

So that is the start of Kindergarten for our little boy. I hope next week goes better for him.

Tomorrow we are taking a mini vacation to Holiday World! Yippee!