Saturday, July 11, 2009

Sam's "Party" + Pneumonia




Yesterday we had Sam's party. Like I said in the last post he decided he didn't want a real party, that he just wanted his best friend and best cousin (and siblings, of course) to come. We went bowling, went to Walmart to pick our birthday presents, went to eat pizza, and then came home and played until late. He had a great day.

In other news, I have 3 infections right now. Really?! 3! How many does a girl need. Argh! I ended up spending all afternoon at the doctor's office and at the hospital on Thursday. I have pneumonia, a sinus infection, and a bladder infection. For real, it's summer! WHY???? I pretty much have to take a small pharmacy of medicines. I have an antibiotic, a STRONG dose of steroids, for a LONG time, an inhaler that shoots powder into my lungs, a nasal spray, singulair to help my lungs, and I think something else. We spent an hour at the office and then spent more than an hour at the hospital getting a chest x-ray and stuff. This was after taking Sam for a follow up visit earlier in the day for all his rash stuff. The kids were good though. Thank Goodness. What makes it worse if that Sam just happened to be out of all his medicines at the same time as I needed all these new ones. Over $500 worth of medicine we needed. YIKES!!! Our insurance makes us pay out of pocket and then they reimburse us, but it is several weeks later. I sort of freaked out, and we ended up looking online and I found 2 coupons. One for the inhaler, which made it FREE, a $280 savings! Then I found one for Sam's Singulair, which was a $110 savings! WHEW!! Have I mentioned I LOVE coupons! We still had to spend a lot but we saved so much, so it helped a ton. I was doing okay with the pneumonia. I didn't even really feel sick, I just had a terrible cough and couldn't breath. It's the medicines that are killing me now. I would rather be sick than take all of these medicines. The inhaler gives me an instant headache. The heavy dose of steroids make my stomach hurt terribly and today I started shaking so bad and my muscles all tensed up really tight. I pretty much feel like dying right now, all because of the stuff that is supposed to make me better. It's kicking my butt. Sigh.

Anyway, here are some pics of our fun party day.





Silly Kids

Best Friends

Sam excited after a Spare.

Little Kids watching the ball go down teh lane. Cute!


Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Happy Birthday, Sam!

9 Years old! I can't believe it! Geez! That's big. Sam's birthday was Monday. This was the first year he decided not to have a party. Instead, he wanted his best friend and his best cousin to spend the day with him just doing something fun. :) So to make it a bit more fun, we surprised him by having a little family party. The boys were upstairs playing. I had wrapped all of his presents from us and made him brownies ( he likes that better than cake). We called Avery downstairs, lit his candles, and then called Sam down. As soon as he got down we started singing "Happy Birthday!" He was so surprised and excited. It was funny. I couldn't get any good pictures because he was jumping around so much. LOL! Anyway, he blew out his candles, opened his presents (mostly all Transformers) and then we ate his "cake". He loved it! The next day Julie and her kids came up for a short, surprise visit, and Taylor had come over to play before that. He has had a good week. Today we went to a fun kids place that we have only been to one other time. Later this week will be his "party" with his 2 best friends. Here are some "party" pics.







Sam is such a sweet boy. I love seeing him get older and more responsible, but at the same time it makes me sad. How can my little boy be this big already? He is calm and quiet, and just has a sweet disposition. He loves using his imagination and acting things out. So far he is still a little boy. He wants to play with toys still, isn't in to all the techno gadgets, and is happy just being a kid. Whew! He is super smart. He loves to read and always has a book. He loves the magical, mystery books. He especially loves series and is always looking for a new group of books to read. He is ready for 4th grade, but is enjoying having this break. He is learning that things take practice and he won't just automatically be able to do something and get it perfect the first time. This is a harder concept for him to handle. He likes being right the first time. I wonder where he gets that from. ;) He loves Avery and can't imagine not having a brother. They play together well, although the fighting was getting a wee bit bad a few weeks ago. I fixed that quickly though. :) He loves Transformers and pretty much any action figure. He loves the computer and plays on it pretty often.

He learned to write in cursive this year. He learned multiplication (one of the things he has to practice) and he is swimming really well. He wishes he was better at sports, but is it hard for him with all of his breathing problems. Swimming is definitely his thing though! He is just really maturing and growing. He is one of the most responsible kids I know.

He is very compassionate, especially when it comes to animals and bugs. He loves going outside and catching bugs or finding hurt bugs and helping them. At recess he was always the one exploring, finding hurt creatures and rescuing them. He rarely gets in trouble and asks me frequently why people choose to do bad things. He doesn't get it. Good! We have been talking a lot lately about more grown up things like drugs, smoking, driving, etc. Being a teenager is one of our favorite subjects, and he swears he is still going to use his manners and not be rude. I hope so! He is a good listener and usually fixes himself after the first warning.

He is our quiet, caring, steady boy. We never have to worry about him, and always know he is doing the right thing. He loves his family and watches out for our well-being all the time. He is the peacemaker and wants everyone to be happy, although he does have a bit of a temper at times. We are working on that. We are always having people comment on how good and polite he is. Everyone knows his name and he is the popular kid that everyone knows. He is our calm and cool kiddo.

Happy Birthday, Sam Sweeney! We Love you Lots!!!

Monday, July 6, 2009

CVS Savings- Made Money Today!



Woohoo! I did great this week at CVS! They ended up paying me for shopping there this week. :)

Here is how much I would have spent this week. $45.65

This is what I got:
3 packages of Sunflower Seeds (we go through these like crazy)
2 bottles Dawn Antibacterial Dish Detergent (we were completely out)
2 bottles Head and Shoulders 2 in 1 shampoo
2 bottles Listerine
2 packages of tape- FREE after Extra bucks
2 packages of mechanical pencils
1 pencil sharpener- FREE after Extra Bucks
2 tubes of Colgate Total Toothpaste- $.16 after coupon and extra bucks
1 gallon of milk (we were out)

Here is what happened. I bought all of this stuff and ended up paying $2.92 out of pocket after using my CVS Extra Bucks ($23) (remember this is like cash in CVS).

When I got home I realized they charged me wrong for the toothpaste and didn't give me my Extra Bucks for next time.

I went back to the store. They refunded me $3.83 plus gave me my extra bucks. This means I made $.91 in cash today! PLUS I have $11 in Extra bucks to use my next trip.

Woohoo! This is all stuff we use regularly and I won't have to buy it on my monthly grocery trip. Yippee!

Friday, July 3, 2009

July Fun

Party Time! We went to a friend's house tonight to play and do fireworks. It was fun! I have lots of pics and I am really excited about my fireworks pictures. I probably won't post them all here, but look at the rest on facebook. I sort of like the pictures better than seeing the actual, real fireworks in the sky! LOL! By the way, I started school on Wednesday, and I already passed my first class! Yippee! The rest probably won't go as quick, especially math, but at least one is out of the way, and I hope to test out of several more. OK, so on to the pics!










Thursday, June 25, 2009

CVS Savings



So everyone knows how I can't stand to spend money. I seriously hate it. Also, I do lots of things to save money like grocery shop once a month, use coupons, etc. Well, I have been reading abot all the great deals you can get at CVS. I finally decided to try it. I was leary because I hate going o lots of different stores, etc, and it sort of seemed complicated, but today was my day to learn the ropes.

I got the above items all for $13! Well, really I spent $23 out of pocket, but I got $10 back in CVS bucks to use on my next trip. Without the sale and coupons I would have spent $41.26. I got the 3 sunscreens (expensive Aveeno too!) for $7, the mustard for $.50, and the Lifewaters for free. The milk was regular price, but we needed it and since I was already there I went ahead and got it.

I had 3 more items I wanted to get; deodorant, Thermacare heat wraps, and 5 SoyJoy granola bars, but they were out of those items. I would have gotten all of those for $.99. Next time I know to go earlier in teh week.

I already know some of the things I am going to get next week and I get to use my $10 CVS bucks, so I am hoping to get more sunscreen andstuff for under $5. If I can do this right then we will not be paying for things like shampoo, deodorant, toothpaste, etc, which will save us a lot on our already cheap grocery bill. Now if I can find te time to go to 3 different stores to get groceries then we would be saving even less. I doubt that will happen though, so at leatthis helps out some. I think I did pretty good for my first time, and after this I should be spending less than $5 a trip. Yea!

Friday, June 19, 2009

School's Out for the Summer

Ahhhh, how I love summer. Not so much the terrible heat and humidity, but I love the laid back relaxig part, for sure!

What have we done this summer? Swim. That's about it. What have we not done? Rushed around, doing a thousand things a day. Sigh... Love it!

This week we got to see Julie ad her kids. Yippee! We went to the jumping place where we had Avery's birthday party. Fun, fun. Then we ate lunch at a yummy new place in town. After that was the splash pad, but it got rained out, well more like lightninged out.

I took the kids to Barnes and Noble in Murfreesboro. Sam gets a free book each summer for participating in a reading program at school. After that we had appointments to get the boys'hair cut. We picked books and then I looked outside. it was super, super dark and I knew we needed to hurry before it started pouring rain. We ran up to the front to pay, and a lady stopped us and said, "We aren't checking out right now." I was like, "What?" She said we needed to go tothe back of the store. I told her we needed to go. She said we were in a tornado warning and everyone had to go to the back of the store. We went back and waited. No tornado came. We finally got to leave and we made t to the appointment just in time.

We went grocery shopping, and the kids were actually good. Thank goodness. going once a month is great, and saves a lot of money, but it takes a long time, and bringing kids is not ideal. Sam said, "Mommy, I don't know how you do this by yourself!" Sam helped a lot. It was nice. :)

Yesterday we went ot our favorite place in the summer. It's a wading pool that has sprayers and stuff. it's about 30 minutes away. AJ asked why we were going there when we have a pool in our backyard, and don't have to drive anywhere. I told him it didn't have cool sprayers and mushrooms. ;) We got there at 10:00 and stayed until 3:00. The kids loved every minute of it and never asked to go. Avery was splashing around like a frog. he is so comfortable in the water now. Yippee. We had some trouble with some of the other kids, who's parents were not watching them at all, but it was lots of fun. I probably had to yell at 3 kids, none of which were my own. Sometimes I really just don't understand some parents.

While we were there, Lindsay watched my kids while I went to the car for a phone call. It was my final interview for school. Yes, I finally decided to go back to school so I can become a real teacher with my own classroom. I am excited, but nervous. I researched a ton, and found a school that I think will be a great fit. It's more based on experience and competency than it is on classwork and stuff. I learn the things I need to, and then take a test, and I am done with that class. I can go as fast as I want, and don't have to wait for the semester to be over. I can just take the test and go on to the next course. All of my subbing experience goes in to play, so I am hoping I can test out of a lot of things quickly. In fact I am hoping to be all done in 18 months to 2 years. I like to just go in and get things done, so I won't be wasting my time, which is nice. So unless something happens with financial aid, I am a student, and start July 1st!

I also have a new job at church. I teach the girls ages 14 and 15. This week will be my first week teaching. I have never worked with the teenagers before, so this will be different. I hope they are nice to me. ;)

Oh, did I mention that Avery learned how to swim by himself a few days ago. He is doing great. No floats needed. He can swim both above and below water, float, and swim on his back. It's pretty cool. He looks so tiny in there swimming around like a fish. Thank goodness for shots! That was all the help he needed. He couldn't wear his water wings for several days after his shots, so he finally just learned to swim. Yippee!

Anyway, I guess that's it for now. Here are some pics for your viewing pleasure.


The boys in the mushroom

Cute Avery

Avery in his goofy goggles

Swimming Sam

Shark Sam chasing the 3 litle kids

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

The Kids

So, I thought I would make an all about kids post.

Today we had to get up EARLY (in the summer!) and take both boys to the doctor. Sam to see a dermatology specialist and Avery for his Kindergarten check up.

Let's start with Avery.

He's a tiny little boy, only 10th percentile for his age group. Everything is normal and he is right on track. He is doing everything he should and is doing great. He is sooooo ready for Kindergarten. We have been playing word games and he can totally spell and sound out most words. Now to put them all together and read. He LOVES learning and wants to really read soooo bad. He ASKS to practice everyday. it's cute. The other day I asked him to tell me some nursery rhymes. He probably told me 15 of them!!! I had no idea he knew and could remember perfectly that many. Wow! He was excited to go for his check up this morning because he knows that's one step closer to Kindergarten. He was even excited to get his shots! He didn't stay excited though! He had to get 5 shots in his arms today. The first one he was fine, didn't even flinch. The 2nd one he cried a little and wanted to be done. Then we turned him around to do the next 3. Those were the bad ones. He was really crying for them and the last one was apparently the most painful (she said that's why they save it for last) and he was yelling at that point. It was sad. Poor kid. He didn't move his arms after that for more than an hour. He did really good and was brave, but it really hurt him. She said the last one would probably cause swelling, be painful, and cause a fever for a couple days. Lovely. We promised him donuts afterwards if he was brave for his shot. So we went to Krispy kreme where the boys actually got donut sundes! Disgusting. It grossed me out. I couldn't believe they could eat that. YUCK! You should have seen Avery trying to eat it. He wouldn't move his arms so he was pretty much licking the ice cream like a dog. Finally by the end he managed to figure out how to use only his lower arm to get the spoon to his mouth. Pretty funny. This was a cool Krisy Kreme where it's all glass so you can see them making the donuts. They sat there and watched them make a whole batch. Anyway, by the time we got home he was moving his arms again and semed fine until the Motrin wore off. Hopefully tomorrow won't be bad. He is a cute, wild child. He is sooo smart and i love how willing he is to learn. Oh, here is a weird thing about him though. I go to the Y several times a week to do Zumba. He can't STAND the nursery there. He really hates going. He hasn't gone very much this year because I usually went while they were in school. Getting out of the habit was not a good thing for him. He has hated the last couple of weeks, and complains and complains. He cant even really tell me why he hates it so much. I think it is just too overwhelming for him. There are a MILLION kids in there, really, way too many, and the teachers aren't very nice at all, and one in particular has a really gruff voice, is loud, and seems mean, even though she isn't. He is not good with that type of person. I guess he is used to his quiet, soft-spoken mommy. Awww. Anyway, I tried taking him in there yesterday. He started crying before we even left the house!!! He's not done that since he was 3! We were walking in and he actually stopped dead in the doorway and would not enter the building. I don't understand why he hates it so much, but I felt bad for him. They were playing outside, Kinley was in there waiting for him, but he just did not want to go. I wasn't going to miss my class either. I ended up just taking him in my class with me. He sat in the corner with nothing to do, and just watched the whole time. I was SURE that would make him see that going to his class was a better idea. it didn't work! He MUCH prefered sitting there bored than going in his class. So I guess until he can move up to the next class that will be our plan for now, since neither of us are budging on our Y terms. :) I really don't mind. He didn't bother anyone at all, and if he wants to be bored than fine. I would rather him choose to be bored than force him to go somewhere he really can't stand, especially when it isn't hurting anything. It's weird though! he's quirky!

On to Sam. Sam's rash, including the butt part that I previusly mentioed came back last week. It went from bad to worse really quickly, and within 2 days he had the rash over his entire body, even his face again. I took him back to the ped. She just said it was his eczema and that maybe that would be how it manifested itself from now on. Ummmm, no. He can't go around every month with a butt he can barely sit on that bleeds and pusses! They had scheduled a dermatologist appt for him, but they couldn't get him in until July. Ummm, no. AJ pulled some strings, he has connections ya know :), and got him into another specialty dermatologist. We took him this morning. Apparenlty he still has staph, and it IS eczema, but it is infected eczema. So she gave him more antibiotics, another prescription cream, special bath soap, and some special lotion. We go back in a month and she will figure out a good course of treatment, I guess for the rest of his life. Sigh... I am still not quite sure about that diagnosis. I don't understand the rash all over his body thing, or the butt rash being eczema, but we will see, I suppose. He has had eczema his whole life and it is just now manifesting like THIS? Hmmm. ANyway, he also had to get a steroid shot. Those things HURT so I was worried, but he did just fine. Didn't even flinch. I guess getting allergy shots every week for the last 6 years really numbs you to shot pain.

Let's see, what else. Sam has so gotten an attitude lately. Argh! He is the biggest arguer. i wonder where he got that from? **roll yes here** Me, of course. I guess I deserve it. He also has really been antagonizing Avery, which anooys both Avery AND me. What's funny is that I always was amazed at how good their relationship was. They rarely fought at all. I thought it was the age difference, and the sweetness of my boys, but that has apparently ended. Sigh... I knew it would happen eventually, but why in the summer?!! I did talk to him about it today and hopefully we have worked out an arrangement to get this fixed and fast. he's always been so sweet and nice, so this is sort of surprising. i guess it had to happen at some point, that's what siblings do. Darn it. Anyway, he is loving summer. We swim just about every day which is his very favorite thing to do. He also tries hard to do nice things for me, and is constantly trying to help me out or do things to make my life easier. Sweet boy. I hope he stays that way. ;)

We really have great kids, and we are lucky to have them. Even though they bring us our challenges, especially with Sam's medical mysteries, we couldn't ask for better kids. Even Avery, who we consider our wild child, is calm and sweet compared to most other kids. We are just used to laid back, go with the flow Sam, so Avery is crazy compared to that! LOL. At church the other day Avery's teacher came in to the room we were in and she said, "Avery's not here today!" I was like, "Um, yeah, he should be!" Then she said, "He's just so GOOD and quiet, we never have to worry about him at all. I guess I just missed him." Which is srt of good and sort of bad. :) He is also the helpful one and is the one doing the right hing when asked, etc. Good, good boys. I love them.

Anyway, enough gushing about their sweetness. I am sure we all feel that way about our own kids, I just think mine are particularly sweet, for the most part, well except for Sam's attitude lately. ;)-

Here are some pics of them enjoying Krisy Kreme. Disclaimer*** Taken with my camera phone***.





P.S. Sorry for any typos. Something weird is happening and when I try and backspace and type soething else, it erases the letters in front of it, causing letters to be missing, etc. I am sure there are a lot of mistakes. Sorry!

Thursday, June 4, 2009

Summer Beginnings

So the summer so far has been pretty lazy. Yea for lazy! It's so nice to just get to relax and go with the flow after the busiest month of May.

Basically we have been swimming every day, with a few things thrown in here and there. We totally love having a pool in our backyard. I have gone to the Y to do Zumba a few times, but I hurt my knee with all that twisting my first morning, so I have had to take it easy. Darn it. yesterday I felt dumb because I had to do everything low impact. I even had to stop early because it hurt so much. Darn knee!

Tuesday we were supposed to go see one of the cheap summer movies (our theater has kids movies for $2 and some other theaters in teh area have free movies). Anyway, we got all up and ready to go , and then I just happened to check which theater it was at, and I had it wrong! I thought it was the one here in town, which is 2 minutes away, but it was the one 35 minutes away. At that point we wouldn't have made it in time, so we went store hopping instead. I really need a new swimsuit, but I can't find a cute one, cheap enough anywhere. We spent the rest of the day in the pool.

Yesterday we went and played in the fountains at our Hospital. The kids loved it. After we left there, we had lunch, and then came home and jumped in our pool for 3 hours, until it started raining. We are definitely water dogs around here.

Today I had to take Sam to the doctor again. His rashy problem, yes the same one from a month ago, is back and hurting him. We are going to see a specialist on Tuesday. Thankfully it is cooler and rainy today, so they aren't missing the pool.

I have also been working hard trying to get Corporate sponsors for our Annual Golf Tournament. It is international this year, which is expensive, so we are trying to raise as much money as we can. I am definitely doing my part to help. I have contacted over 20 businesses this week.

A little while ago, I told the kids that I didn't feel like making dinner, and one of them needed to. :) Avery said, "I will!" he ran right into the kitchen and started pulling things out of the fridge! I said, "Avery, we are having chicken burritos". He said, "No we're not! We are having what I am making!" I asked him what we were having and he said pancakes and curly chips (Sun Chips). He had gotten the forzen pancakes out and was totally going to make dinner! It was too cute. i told him that I needed to make it tonight since I already had the chicken out, but maybe next time I will let him make what he wants. :) He doesn't really like the burrito so I will let him make himself a pancake to go along with the rice and beans. Weird, I know, but he will like it. Cute kid!

Ok, back to my dinner making, and back to my sponsorship forms to fill out. Happy summer!

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

The End Has Come

Another year gone by. Can you believe it? Avery graduated Pre-K today and Sam is going in to 4th grade! Geez! This year sped by, even more so than normal. It seems like school was just starting and I was helping Sam's teacher get her classroom set up. Now I am there taking everything down and packing her up. Crazy!

Avery is SOOOO excited to be a Kindergartener. He doesn't even care that preschool is over. He has already moved ahead to Kindergarten. He has visited his new Kindergarten teacher that past few weeks and talks to her like she is his best friend! It is WEIRD! :) He pretends to be shy around people, but he is not the least bit shy with her. He tells her all kinds of stories. It's funny. This morning he said, now I am in Kindergarten. Can I go tomorrow? He's not to happy about waiting all summer. She has been teasing him, telling him that he is going to know so much about the class and where everything is, that he will be the one showing everyone when school starts. I will be subbing for our favorite teacher while she has a baby at the beginning of the year, so Avery gets to go stay at our friend's house for a week before Kindergarten actually starts (they go later than the rest of the grades). He can't wait for that either.

For graduation today they "took a trip to Kindergarten Island". They sang lots of songs about getting to the island, etc. Singing, especially with actions, is not his thing. He looked so bored up there, in fact, he yawned several times. What's funny is that besides me, he is the biggest singer in the house. Here are some graduation pics for ya.





Sam is so gonna miss 3rd grade and will especially miss his teacher. He LOVED her. She is so nice and a great teacher. We will all definitely miss her. Avery will definitely be getting her in 3rd grade. :) None of us can believe he is already to 4th grade. How did he get so big? I remember well my time in 4th grade. I guess I better be a really good mom now cuz he will remember it! ;) I am already stressing bout him going to middle school in two years. He's gonna go from a great school where he has had the best teachers and his mom working there all the time, to middle school where everything changes, his teachers aren't hand-picked, and parents aren't really invited in. Big shock I am sure. i am going to start easing out the next couple of years. I can't believe I will have 2 boys in real school. I already still go back and hlp all of Sam's old teachers, and now I will be adding two more. Not sure how that's going to work! Here are some pics of Sam with some of his best friends.



Pretty much we have been super busy at school teh last few weeks. Today we didn't get home until 5ish. Tomorrow we are going back, even though there is no school for students, just teachers. Friday they go back to get their report cards and then they are done.

For Memorial Day we cleaned and did yard work most of the day, and then Linds and Fam came over and we swam and ate, etc. Here are some pics of that.







We really don't have anything planned for the summer. Mostly just relaxing and lounging around. We will probably just stay around here, swim, and do the fun stuff in the area. Ta Ta for Now!

Monday, May 11, 2009

Spring Fling

This past week was pretty laid back. I didn't work at all, and just caught up on things around here, and did some things to get ready for the end of school. I missed my class though, so I ended up going to see them on Thursday for their Mother's Day Program.

Friday was Spring Fling. It's our yearly carnival type thing that is always on a Friday night. The kids love it! I have a few pictures and that's about all I have to offer to Blogland this week. The next few weeks will just be busy doing all of the end of the school year stuff, and that's about it. It takes all my energy! So enjoy the pictures! :)

Nevermind, for some reason it won't let me add pics right now. I will try again later. Argh!

OK, I got it.


Avery's Favorite thing to do at the Spring Fling.




In the firetruck


Sam loves to go to the "emergency" tent and get all hurt. Avery made up this whole big story on what happened to Sam. LOL!


This was Mother's Day at AJ's grandmother's house. Sam made a sign (the thing he is holding) that says "The Best!" and it had an arrow pointing to me. Awwww! We couldn't get it in the picture though. :(

By the way, I had to take all of these with my camera phone, so that's why they don't look very good.