Monday

I am in the blogging doldrums right now. We are keeping busy everyday, but mostly just boring stuff that isn't blogworthy.

Matthew ended his basketball season this weekend. We didn't have enough players on the team, so Bryon had Thomas play! It was so much fun seeing how excited he was! A smile didn't leave his face the entire game! He even got two jump balls for the team. Matthew also had a great game and scored 10 points. I was very proud of him and even prouder that he got the ball several times and gave it to Thomas so he could have a chance at scoring. Love those brothers!

Last night was bookclub and I enjoyed a great meal and fellowship. I did NOT like the book, however. Eat, Pray, and Love is getting rave reviews from bookclubs nationwide, but it just made me feel bad. The author was my age and decided that she just wasn't happy in her marriage so it was time to leave and travel the world. Yippee for her! It doesn't matter what destruction she left behind as long as she is happy, right? Sorry, I just don't sympathize with her.

We have an unusually busy week this week with the awards banquet for Matthew's team, and a trip to the metroplex for more testing on ME's kidney. I am praying that we get the anwers we want and can get on the road to recovery.

Have a great week!

My son, the budding gastroenterologist

Lately, Matthew talks about being a doctor on a daily basis. The books he writes are now being signed by "Dr.________". He also wants to know the longest name of doctor that he could be.

I watched Matthew's class while his teacher was out today and started browsing Matthew's daily journal. This is what he wrote last week:

When I grow up, I want to be a docter. If you ever wondered what docter I wanted to be....I want to be a gastrointroligest. I will help people's small intestentses. I will go to coledge and work hard and studie hard. I will be a Masters Sicence (MS). I deserve to be a gastrointeroligest and if that doesn't work out, I will be a pedeatrishen & if that doesn't work then I will cure canser and if that doesn't work, then I will be a lung docter.

Does this mean he has given up his dream to play professional football?

Valentine's Wrap up

Another Valentine's Day has come and gone! We have had a great week full of love. Tuesday was the younger two's Valentines parties. When I went to pick up ME, all of the little girls were sitting quietly watching Dora and ME was sitting next to the only little boy in her class trying to kiss him! Early signs of boy craziness? Let's hope not!

Tuesday night, I made a big Valentine's dinner for my family. Bryon and I have made New Year's Eve and Valentine's Day family holidays. We hardly ever go out and when we do, we don't want it to be evenings when we can't find a babysitter and have to wait in line for an hour! We had our traditional spaghetti along with pink cupcakes.

Bryon knows that I prefer roses with roots still attached, so for Valentine's Day, he got me this bareroot beauty pictured at the left. It came in the mail today. I was much more impressed than ME!

It was colder here than it was in Newport, RI yesterday. Crazy, freezing cold weather!

Hope you had a fun, warm Valentine's!

Need a laugh?

I can honestly say that I have only one hot button issue with Mary Beth. If she sees shampoo, lotion, tootpaste, soap, gel, etc. that is out, she WILL put it in her hands and either wipe it on her shirt, pour it on our carpet, or , most often, wipe it in her hair. We try to make these items extremely unavailable! Even as I write, I have a bottle of pink hand soap sitting on our mantle. I figure her vision of heaven is the American Airlines checkin trash cans!

I had her in my lap curling her hair for church on Sunday and while my eyes were focused on not burning her neck, she got a handful of gel and stuck in on the front of her hair. Think Something About Mary. Not my favorite moment after washing, drying, and curling her hair. Last week, I caught Thomas playing barbershop with her by putting green toothpaste in her hair.

Tonight, after a long day of driving to the metroplex for ME's appointment, I raced back home to get the boys and get Matthew ready for basketball. That's when I heard, "Oh no. I messed up my hair!" Yes, little darling somehow got oatmeal all in her hair! This is two minutes before heading to basketball. I stuck a hat on her and off we went. BTW-The scowl on her face is because she is sad that her hair is messed up!

And no, she isn't president of the Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer fan club. She skinned her nose during a fall at church last night!

The appointment was interesting. It turns out that the pediatric urologist thinks her reflux is worse than I was originally told. We go back in two weeks for a VCEG--a rather unpleasant test that involves catheterizing her, pumping her full of liquid, holding the liquid in her bladder, and then peeing it out. As an 18 month old, she refused to do this last part and made me put her on the potty! Then, we will discuss options which the specialist thinks will more than likely be surgery. I feel confident in the doctor and know that he will point us in the right direction. I am just thankful that her problem is fixable. We are so blessed.

Bangs!

To bang or not to bang. This was the question I have been asking myself for a while. Yesterday, I put her hair in pig tails and long strands from the front kept getting in her eyes. I decided to cut a few whispies. We can grow them back if needed, but at least her hair will be out of her face!

weekend highlights

What a beautiful weekend we had! I am so grateful that the cold and rain have abated giving way to warmth and sunny skies! Here are a few highlights:

*We had fun watching Matthew play basketball on Saturday! Watching my kids play sports is one of my favorite parts of motherhood. My heart just beams watching Matthew score goals, be a team player, and work off his boundless energy! I have met such wonderful people whose kids play as well. I look forward to many years ahead of sports watching!

*Saturday, our church sponsored a huge dodgeball tournament. Bryon played on an adult team on Satuday night. What a hoot! I haven't had that much fun in a while! My parents watched Mary Beth because she isn't the most cooperative bleacher-sitter, and I was expecting a packed gym. I have never seen the boys so still in my life! After the tournament, Matthew said, "I can't wait for three more years until I can get beat up, too!" We have also had game after game of dodgeball at our house since then. It has become our second favorite sport after......

*FOOTBALL! We had a family night making salsa and watching the game and the commercials. I am always a little sad at the end of football. Eight more months to go! I really liked the Oprah/Letterman spot and the Coke commercial. I made the boys go to sleep after the third quarter, mean mommy that I am. Matthew was teary having to stop watching the game. I explained to him that he needed a good night sleep for school tomorrow. Then he wailed, "Why did you EVER sign me up for school in the first place?!" The meanness doesn't stop in our house!

*I was so happy walking outside yesterday with the unexpected warmth in the air. A day in the 60s is downright toasty after the month long temperatures in the 30s and 40s! I was able to use part of yesterday afternoon to prune rosebushes in anticipation of the coming growing season. I can't wait!

*We are gearing up for Mary Beth's big pediatric urology appointment in the metroplex this week. This month marks the one year anniversary that we have been dealing with kidney issues. Since her diagnosis of kidney reflux, she has been on antibiotics every day for a solid year. I am hoping that we get some good news this week and can find a solution to the problem.

In Harm's Way

I just read a fabulous book that I highly recommend! I have always been a WWII history buff. Some of that has to do with the fact that both my grandfathers were in the war. My father's father was at the Bikini Islands when they were testing the atom bomb. During test runs, they just had the sailor's put their hands over their eyes. Not exactly a great radiation deterrent. My mother's father was a officer in the navy in both the European and Pacific theatres. His ship ran supplies to the troops.

I think I also admire how these men fought the war and lived their lives. They witnessed horrible things but were able to be thankful they survived and helped rebuild America after the war. They were, and still are, extremely patriotic. They were the last great cowboys who weren't subjected to the Oprahfication of America. I just admire them so much. I know that the veterans of this war are dying at an an amazing rate now. It is sad to me that this bit of American history is only really known to the 80 and 90 years olds.

I highly recommend the book, In Harm's Way. It is about the sinking of the USS Indianapolis. Of the nearly 1,200 sailors, only 317 made it through the 4 day ordeal after the ship was torpedoed and sunk. The navy didn't know that the ship was missing and subsequently as many as 50 sailors a day were eaten by sharks. Many more died from the elements. Can you imagine what CNN and MSNBC would do with this story today?

I have been thinking a lot about this part of history particularly because my Uncle Harold died two weeks ago. Uncle Harold and my great aunt had their first date the day Pearl Harbor was bombed. He then joined the service and was at the beaches of Normandy on D-Day. I just watched some home movies of him in 1994 after he attended the 50th anniversary of this event which he helped to organize. It is interesting to read his obituary and see the amazing things that he was apart of and to realize that he could have been just another person that you see in the grocery store. This is why I love working with the elderly! Again, I highly recommend this book as well as the book, Flyboys about the pilots in the Pacific who helped take Iwo Jima.

My Pottery Barn wall

So here it is. If you are coming into my house from the
garage, a long hall dead ends into our bedroom.
From this angle, there is an entrance immediately to
the right into our laundry room. A few steps later,
there is a hallway that leads to our guest room/office
(that is the doorway you see). This hallway was a 6 foot
space with nothing on it. I finally got up the courage to
frame my favorite pictures of the kids from when they
were 1 to 2 years old. I have many more, so I am looking
for more hall space! ;)