Lil' Swinger

This morning I took Brendan to the park after I dropped Thomas off at school. we went for a walk on the trails, then stopped off for a little swing action. { I know, you might be thinking - isn't he bit SMALL for the swings? } actually- he LOVED them! he sat up fine, and held on to the triangle part, and had the biggest smile on his face! we played peek a boo, and "im gonna get you.." - he had a ball! I don't think he wanted to leave! But I still have some leftover housecleaning to get done before Tom gets back from his business trip from Virginia - Yup he 's gone AGAIN. It's been an awful quiet month . A week in Kansas City, then a week home, then back again, then to Virginia , then next week to Arizona.He's only home on the weekends for me to do his laundry , then off again. - like having a 35 yr old College student! Only past the college and doing the job part- you what I mean ! Well It was hard leaving He had such a nice time and he looked so cute on the swing. I guess I know what I'm getting for Christmas for the swingset in the backyard- another swing seat so he can swing now! Thomas seems to have stopped using it for a while, maybe if he sees his brother using it , maybe we'll get some more use out if again !Hmmm.. Since he loves playing with his brother so much.These two are quite a pair neve rthought I could love them as much as I do. Just too cute for words.

Award Day

Today was Thomas' awards ceremony at his school for the Kindergardeners. They had awards for merits for effort, and attendance, and they give out certificates for cupcakes and pizza and free games for bowling at the local bowling alley and pizza at the pizza parlor and cupcakes at the local supermarket {Publix} for initiative- The Kids were so cute and so well behaved. I felt bad for one boy In Thomas' class- His mm showed up late, and dad couldn't come so he was in total tears! Thomas was looking for me the entire time until he FINALLY looked to his LEFT and saw there I was and I waved and he breathed a sigh of relief cause he saw how upset his friend was and was getting increasingly worried himself I saw. then turned and became involved in the ceremony. -Too cute. I was in the corner because I had Brendan with me in the "cadillac" and didn't know where to park him in the cafeteria so I was kind of off to where the rest of the parents were.Anyway, I'm very proud of him, he's doing much better in school since the year began. He's had his first quarter review already and it was a very good one. He's going to do very well There I think.

First Toofie!

Today as I was feeding Brendan his lunch, I noticed he kept sticking his finger in his mouth and was really irritable- moreso than most days. He's usually pretty fun to get along with. I knew he was hungry, and usually , once you pop something- ANYTHING in his mouth, he shuts up ! This time - uh uh. so I check out his mouth , and lo and behold I see a little bit of white sticking out ! My little peanut is got a little toofer comin in! It seems just about right, because according to my baby book, Thomas was just about the same age- almost EXACT when he got HIS first tooth- 7 months- give or take a week. Brendan will be 7 months in 3 days. He was real up set - thank goodness I have some baby Orajel around - I picked it up last month because he was drooling like a son of a ... I knew it wouldn't be long so figured I better pick some up just in case- Good thing I did ! Today he just seemed unbearable. Like the Orajel wasnt working- I have a teether too, but he wanted no part of it, I tried a banana in one of those mesh feeding bags- that seemed to help some- it was food and soft - easy on his gums- I tried Ice in the mesh food bag, uh uh - didnt like that at all, so we went back to the banana. Then later we went to religion class. I volunteered some and explained I might have to leave due to a teething baby, but B was pretty good- he held out for 45 minutes, then got hungry and tired and noisy, so we left- only had half an hour to go. Not bad. My lil Bombino Brendini's Finally gettin Toofies! So the journey begins! Again.

I Pledge Allegiance...

Today at Thomas' school, Thomas Got to say the Pledge Of Allegiance on the T.V in front of the entire school. He was chosen by the Media Department and was recorded and broadcast for all to see. After I dropped him off at school, I was also going to volunteer at the book fair at 9:00. I had to drop the baby seat off at home,in case Tom needed it since he was going to watch Brendan for a couple hours while I volunteered at the school. When I got back to the school, I missed Thomas by like minutes- I was so mad! Lousy freakin trucks! If I have to get stuck behind one more truck in traffic I'm tellin ya it'll be too soon! I swear they see me comin and Boom! get right in front of me and drop 30 MPH! I hauled Ass to get to his school back in time for the Book Fair, but if I would have gotten there earlier, maybe I could have seen Thomas give the Pledge of Allegiance address in The Media Center where I was doing the Book Fair. Darn. They said He did an awesome job though. said his head looked really round on the screen- like 10 pounds was added- so I guess the camera really DOES add 10 pounds like they say! If only it was permanent- He could use a little weight on him the bagabones! LOL We both had a great day My lil boys a Media man now ;) said he liked being on T.V. Who knows, maybe this could be the start of somethin..

Give Him His Toy!

The other day I was in the store and bought a little toy for Brendan that caught his eye.since then, Thomas has NOT left this toy alone! Dude, you're a little too old to be playing with this age group of a toy,but ever since I got pregnant with Brendan, Thomas has been FASCINATED with baby toys! I think We took away his baby toys a little too prematurely when he was younger or something . Like- ok, youre not 6 months anymore? lets move on...and donated them- and gave him older toys. Now that he sees Brendans toys, He loves playing with him. So Now Brendan has this musical Stacking toy- He had the same thing when he was a baby, just not so flashy, and now won't let Brendan play with it- So now Brendan got all pissed. I was like Give your Brother back his toy! The expression on Brendan's face breaks my heart he was in tears! 5 times I told Thomas Give Your brother back his toy dangit! Youre to old for that! Tell me the toy stage is not starting already. - I was hoping this much in age difference I wouldnt have this problem... but I guess I will. Only it seems backwards- the older one wants the YOUNGER ONES toys , not the other way around,- Ahh well.. thats the logic around my house. -*rolleyes* Such is my world.That's what keeps it fun around here.

Van Repairs

Yesterday morning I was driving Thomas to school, when I'm backing out of the driveway, and my van stalls and dies on me! WTF? I coast into the middle of the street and was like okayy... I put it in drive, try to give it some gas, nothing. I try reverse, nothing.I try to start it. Nothing. What the hell's going on here??! It's a new van for Criminy's sake! I just got it a month or so ago! Ok, 3 months, but that's neither here nor there. Thomas now is getting all upset going"we're gonna be late for school!" and starts crying."No one's gonna be late for schoool" I said as I flag down my neighbor leaving for work and ask for a jump- he obliges and as I get my cables out that I've never used before- theyre brand new that I keep in case of emergency in a kit that I have in my car In case of breakdowns and such_Tom thought I was nuts but HAH! here we are- I told my neighbor " lemme try one more time just in case so we don't damage each other's cars in case its nothing, and the darn thing fired back up again and started! I was like "what the??" and felt like a jackass in front of my neighbor and apologized but thanked him all the same. Then today I took it to my dealership and told them what happened, and they took a look at it for me first keeping it for the day and sending me and the kids home in a courtesy van - that was no picnic- bringing a stroller, a carseat, an infant carseat/w/base plus 6month old and 5 yr old because he had no school today. Then around 430 they picked us up again with a courtesy van when the van was ready - stroller, carseat, baby, carrier/base, five year old and myself all packed in to get my van and when I found out the price to pay for it? My jaw hit the floor!! 434.10!! I was like in shock! I said "what did you do??" I said "All you did was put new spark plugs in right? Thats all my husband authorized you to do ...." they said "yes that's right" so I said "so where did the rest of this money go to? " they said " that was the labor". Again shock. Who charges 352 .00 for labor???! I asked "how much were the spark plugs?" she said "48.00."I said "hell I coulda bought those!" I said I had a coupon for 10% off service and she rolled her eyes she had to ring it all up again - it saved me 40 bucks - whoopee- the price of the spark plugs! So now my grand total was 394 .64 - Those spark plugs better have been dipped in gold for THAT price! That's what we get for not buying the extended warrantee! A repair bill out the you know where! And for what? A misfiring engine from sparkplugs.They wanted to do a tune up, but that would cost 700 dollars! Thanks but what do I look like ? A money tree? I'll take it one thing at a time thank you! If I can fix it CHEAPLY at home I WILL thank you! 352 .00 for labor - never heard of such highway robbery in my life.. If I wasn't going away up north for Christmas I'd tell you to go take a walk... *mumble grumble mumble..352 dollars.....mmmmmm*

A Little Help Here?

Today Brendan awoke from his nap in a bit of a pickle. He started out fine, nice ride to drop Thomas off at school,then a nice deep snooze in the car on the way there and the way home- the daily routine. I then carry him to his crib and lay him down and he's out till further notice. When Brendan Finally awoke with such a distressed cry, I hurried into his room to see what was up besides him! I couldn't help but stifle a supressed laugh at the predicament he had gotten himself into! Not only had he slid himself outside of the cribrails, but had no way of scooting himself back in again! so this I'm sure made him even more concerned and upset To cry out for even more help from Mommy besides wanting to wake up now!So we finally fixed ourselves out of our little situation after a good laugh {although I don't think he found it very funny}and went and had a nice yummy lunch together. I tell ya , this little guy is just full of surprises lately,he sure has me guessing what's gonna happen next!

Got It Covered Mom!

Today while at breakfast,Brendan decided he couldn't wait for me to sit down and hold his bottle for him like I usually do while he washes down his oatmeal, I had to get his Brother off and ready for school- make lunch and make sure he had his clothes on and brushed his teeth and didnt have bedhead- {the usual morning routine}- so he decided- that's o.k. mom- I got it covered.. and reached out to where I left his bottle next to him where I had to run off for a minute of chaos and /or drama and Brendan went and took his OWN bottle and started drinking away.. what's this? no no no !!not so soon!He's only 6 months! My how they grow up so fast right before your eyes! Mr independence! Look at you ! Now if only you can change your OWN smelly diapers we'd be all set! * sigh * a mom can dream can't she?

Soccer Mom

I guess you can oficially call me a soccer mom! I enrolled Thomas in a recreational soccer league by his school that they were advertising in the parking lot so I applied online. When I went to the field to confirm him, what a turnout! Holy smokes! there musta been about 300 kids there all shapes and ages! I wasn't sure how he'd like it, so I bought him shin guards and cleates cheap in case he didn't want to play next season or hated it right after the first practice.. Talk about a duck takin to water! he LOVED it! he was runnin around kickin the ball, chasing kids he never knew, havin a grand ol' time! and given the fact it had just rained he loved it even more- he was splashing in the puddles and grass getting totally soaked head to toe thinking nothing of it-{ there goes my freshly washed van with the grass just been cut too on the field ;(}next week is another practice, and Saturday the 30th is the Jamboree Carnival that kicks off the first games of the season- our first game is at 11:00. should be lots of fun. Thomas does really good with the ball and really enjoys the game. Think we found ourself a sport he likes. I was gonna go with Karate, but think this one is a winner !wish us luck! thought I'd share. Go Braden River Rage! :)

Thomas' New Room

Well we finally decided to fix up Thomas' room. It was a little more challenging than we thought,but fun. I got to help this time, since last ime with Brendan's room I was pregnant and couldn't go anywhere near paint fumes-Tom DID do most of the work since I had to keep the baby away and tend to him mostly, but I did help out with the trim, and taping the room,and helping keep the kids busy and feeding the troops. The gruntwork you might say! I helped paint the doors and the chairmolding and the trim and baseboard in the garage and bring it back in the rooom-I must say it made a BIG improvement- ! Tom did an EXCELLENT job I have to say! Thomas' room looks more mature for his age,and we put a closet organizer in his closet for his clothes, and got rid of some of his toys that he doesnt play with and put some away for when Brendan gets older, and donated some to charity.While we were painting we stored his toys in the living room for a few days while we set everything up and decided what to do with everything because only a third of his toys made it back into his room- Ever see that show on TLC "Clean Sweep"? UHH HUH! LOL Keep Sell Toss or donate BABY! oy! looked like a toystore threw up in our livingroom for a few days! wasn't pretty - good thing we didnt have company over ! which reminds me- I STILL got a pile of a couple toys that have a trip to go to Goodwill to make I never got around to that I was waiting till Thomas was in school to make - maybe this afternoon... Thats how we live round here! So onto the rest of the house- what room is next? Hmmm.. living room? family room? we'll have to see.. for now thought I'd show a before and after of T's room that we FINALLY tackled 3 years later! oh well better late than never!;)