BAH HUMBUG

WELL, my Christmas Tree lasted all of four days. I had to take her down last night and box her up (know that I wanted to set her on fire so boxing her up was much kinder.) Four times between 5:15 and 6:00 I had to pick her up off the floor and stand her back up (this is no easy task-she is 5 ft around at the bottom and 8 ft tall.) The first time I believe was an accident (however, they had no business doing whatever it was they were doing) the next three times were intentional. Once they realized they could knock her over they just kept doing it. Since I do not have a Xanax salt lick this move was absolutely necessary!! I do have a 3 foot tabletop tree that I will pull out and somehow hang from the ceiling to keep them from picking her up and throwing her at each other or using her as some sort of weapon. So for now we are treeless and I’m okay with that. Judge me if you like - I do not care!!

AND if one more person tells me “things will get better”, “cherish these days you will miss them one day” or” they aren’t little forever” I may set myself on fire or have myself voluntarily committed.

At least I got the christmas pics taken before I had to box her up!! I have not intentions of pulling her out again until 2015!!

Merry “Treeless” Christmas

So once upon a time, long ago and far away I always thought it would be fun and magical to have children especially during the Christmas season; well my boys have knocked this fantasy right out of me and are snickering in the corner because I ever thought it possible. Really don’t we all want the Hallmark Movie Channel Family Christmas??? Well, mine are more like Griswold Family Christmas. I stayed up late Friday night putting the humungous artificial tree up; I went ahead and put the lights on so I could take pictures of the boys “decorating” the tree Saturday morning. The plan was to really decorate once daddy got home from work on Saturday. Why is it that I refuse to accept that I am no longer aloud to make plans?? Any who, so after breakfast we changed into our super cute Christmas outfits that mother made for the boys and began (note: this is the second attempt at Christmas pics-first time was at mothers-NOT GOOD) so after an hour and a half, lots of tears and three broken ornaments later I gave up. Here are a few of the good takes.


I think once we get closer to Christmas and all the festivities begin I will feel better about the holidays but right now it is just a lot of unnecessary crazy!! Like I don’t already say no, stop and don’t enough!! Now I have a giant tree in the living room teasing my children and begging for trouble—I hear it calling their names and they can’t resist. The lights have already been pulled out and shoved back in there like I wouldn’t notice and all the ornaments that I felt safe putting on the tree are now just at the top so there is nothing attractive about this tree maybe it knows it’s unattractive and that is why it is taunting the boys??

CUTENESS

So Jackson is pretty chatty especially at bed time the other night I was tucking him in and laying with him trying to convince him to shut his eyes and his mouth below is the conversation that took place after we said our prayers:

Jackson-Momma, I love you!
ME-I love you too Jackson!
Jackson-I love daddy!
Me-I love daddy too!
Jackson-No you don’t! You can’t or you would have a map to the ocean!
Pause for laughter
Me-Do you have a map to the ocean??
Jackson-I do, there are sheshells, wish(fish), whales and sharks. I don’t like sharks.
Me-I don’t like sharks either!
Jackson-Me eiter!
Jackson-You my favorite Kristy!!
Me-You are my favorite Jackson!

Last night I asked Jackson who pulled on the Christmas lights and he said Cooper (Cooper was asleep and had been asleep for at least an hour) so I then asked Jackson if he was telling me a story (lying) and he proceeded to tell me the story of the Goldilocks and the three bears???

JESUS, SANTA AND THE ELF ON THE SHELF

Don’t be confused-I am in no way trying to imply that Jesus is in any way similar to the others listed above. Understand this is all coming from the mind of a 3 year old. We tell him Santa is watching so you better behave, we must be sweet to our little brother because it makes Jesus sad when we are ugly to others. Now Jackson is asking about the Elf on the Shelf. He saw one at Aba’s (Ava’s) the other night and he has asked a few times about it so I was explaining that “Fred” Aba’s Elf hides and watches and reports to Santa. Well this just baffles him and he wants to know why, where is he hiding, where is Santa and why can’t he see him and is Jesus hiding too?? Then the next questions are how will Santa get in the door? it is locked? and the gate is up? etc. etc. So each night at bedtime his little mind is in over drive trying to come up with good questions to keep him from having to go to bed so after what seemed like hours of questions the other night I finally tell him “enough, go to sleep I am not going to sit in here anymore if you keep on talking“--his response to that is “please momma don’t leave me in here alone with Jesus.” Of everyone hiding and watching why has he decided Jesus is the most frightening?? Seriously, a strange little man with crazy ears wearing tights is hiding on the shelf and a fat man wearing a red suit is breaking into peoples houses leaving toys and taking cookies and Jesus is who concerns him?? This is something we must work on!!

That’s all for now!!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!

Things I am thankful for!!

1. My Lord and Savior and his presence in my life.

2. My wonderful husband/best friend and all he does and puts up with for me and the boys

3. Jackson –my wild sweet boy who will either teach me to be patient or put me in the state hospital

4. Cooper –my tenderhearted little monster who had to toughen up quick in order to survive the last 18 months with his big brother

5. My parents and brother and all they have taught me and all the help they have given with my crazy kids

6. My in-laws and all their support and encouragement

7. My grandparents and their kindness and patience with my children-AND granny cookies of course.

8. My extended family and all the crazy memories and stories we have;

9. My friends who I don’t get to see or spend as much time with as I would like but they are always there when I need them.;

10. My job and their patience with my having to be out with my sickly children;

11. My co-workers for taking up the slack when I have to be out;

12. My babysitters for not killing my children;

13. AND again for my wonderful husband for taking over in the mornings so I can go work out;

14. Freedom-to read the bible, to go to church, to write this blog, vote, etc., etc., etc.;

15. Electricity (a/c & heat)

16. Coffee-oh how I love it;

17. My Camera and all the wonderful memories I have been able to capture (hush it I know I haven’t uploaded them but promise that I will);

18. OxyClean;

19. Washable Crayons/Markers;

20. Goldfish/Smiles/Cheetos -aka bribes for a few minutes of silence;

21. DVR –especially the pause button;

22. Bedtime;

23. Music-all kinds-it’s good for the soul;

24. disposable diapers/pull ups;

25. Bathrooms (most bathrooms) more specifically indoor plumbing; AND toilet paper

26. The Bradford Pear in front of the Sones' house;

27. AGAIN, my husband for understanding that sometimes I need to go to bed before the kids

28. Frozen lasagna or really all frozen food-so convenient when momma is tired!!

29. Dr. Pepper (I miss this but know that if I must have one I can easily go purchase one)

30. Pay at the Pump

31. Yoga pants

32. 0 point foods

33. Big fat warm boot socks;

34. Birth Control

35. Flip Flops

36. Extra Dessert Delights (Key lime Pie and Strawberry Shortcake) YUM!!

37. Beth Moore-books, videos, bible studies, devotional-all things Beth; hope to see her live one day!!

38. Razors (and my husband’s ability to use one despite the fact that he hasn’t in weeks) what is that about-not so thankful for the full beard he now has but…what do you do?

39. Cell phones-my sitter and husband can reach me at anytime (as we as everyone else)

40. The Future-Jeremiah 29:11

CATCH UP!!

My house is a wreck and filled with chaos if you were to listen in you would hear lots of, screaming, crying, chasing, stomping, threatening, random things flying through the air and crashing against the floor/wall/someone but mixed in there is also lots of laughter and love. Every day is crazy no matter how much time I spend organizing and preparing nothing goes as it should (or how I want.)

Yes, selfishly I would love for things to run smoothly but if this were to happen that would mean that everyone, including myself, would have to wake up in a good mood every day. Really?? I can’t do it how can I ask that of my husband and children? Travis works 6 days a week ten hours a day, most weeks, I can’t expect him to always come home in a good mood ready to take on our two wild boys and keep our house spotless when I can’t do it and I only work 5 days a week 8 hours a day(on a good week.) I’m sure if you were to ask Jackson he rarely gets what he wants (candy for breakfast, play in the snow in September, mommy stay home all day every day, play in the street, drive a fire truck) same goes for Cooper who would be a happy camper all day every day if he were allowed to walk around sucking on a tube of toothpaste. I also have to consider everyone that the four of us come in contact with through out the day and the moods and bad attitudes that come with that.

I am realizing that I am not only placing unrealistic expectations on myself, my husband and my children but also on every random person we come in contact with.

SO, my house will remain a hot mess, my kids will continue to run wild and scream and my husband is forgiven for occasionally being moody after working approximately 60 hours a week. I will not complain I will do my best not to complain because I’m blessed that my husband is willing and capable of working so hard for us, my children have voices so that they can scream, legs to run, feet to stomp, arms to flail and hands to throw. I am grateful that this beautiful chaos is MINE.
Blessed are you when you are at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and His rule. (Matthew 5:3-The Message)
For God Himself has said, I will not in any way fail you nor give you up nor leave you without support. I will not, I will not, I will not in any degree leave you helpless nor forsake nor let you down or relax My hold on you! (Hebrews 13:5-Amplified Bible)
August

Well let’s see if I can remember!! Jackson started preschool and I started back to work full time. Two weeks in I get a call from the school to come check on Jackson. It was obvious a trip to the clinic was necessary. Jackson was having a full blown asthma attack. No we’ve never been diagnosed with asthma. So we spend the next three days in the hospital and the next two weeks jacked up on albuterol treatments every four hours. Our scratch test is scheduled for the end of November. THAT should be an interesting day. Pre-school is a no go this semester hopefully we will be back in January and I may never work a full forty hour week until my children are grown.

Cooper never stops talking-we can’t understand most of what he is saying but it doesn’t stop him. Jackson is incredibly jealous of Cooper and tries to kill him every chance he gets. Cooper is just as mean and provokes Jackson as often as he can. I need a referee. They are very entertaining until someone gets hurt.

September

Well I’ve obviously blocked this month out entirely the only thing I remember is Travis turned 37!!

24 hours later—Seriously, I am still stumped!! I feel certain that it is best I can’t remember. Self preservation sometimes requires suppression.

So September is not completely blank I will tell you that Jackson has decided in the past few months to give up on sleep!! He used to go to bed by 8:00 and sleep until 5:30 or 6 but that’s over. He’s now up until ten or later most nights and up and down all through out the night, not sure what is up with this but it is very frustrating especially since I get up at 4:45!! Cooper is my sleeper. He is still sleeping 10 to 12 hours a night and napping a couple of hours during the day.

October

Jackson is wild and moody like a girl and has a temper like you wouldn’t think possible for a little person but there are several times through out each day that he can be the sweetest thing. He pulls chairs out and makes room at the table for his Sunday school friends and tells me at least 7500 times a day that he loves me and at least once a day every day he says “hey, I love you to pieces and put you back together.” AWESOME!! And he never means to do anything and he’s always sorry, especially once he sees the spanking spoon.

Travis and I enjoyed a weekend without the boys, Travis worked Saturday and I cleaned-what does that say about us?? That Saturday afternoon we went to Southern Miss Homecoming!! We haven’t been to a Southern game together in 13 years. We had a blast and weren’t real sure what to do with ourselves without the kids but we did have fun and realized just how old we really are. Not getting home until 1:00 a.m. is for the birds.

Last week was very eventful. Monday afternoon I get a frantic call from the sitter I can barely understand her for all the screaming and panic. I did make out fell and 911. I told her I was on my way and rushed home that two miles of course took FOREVER. I get home to Jackson outside face and shirt covered in blood. It looked like something from a horror movie. Once I got him calmed down and cleaned up he told me a tree fell on his head come to find out the wind had blown a pecan out of the tree and the pointed end caught him right on top of the head. ONLY AT MY HOUSE. Cooper and Jackson fight like we are hosting an event for UFC. Understand they haven’t fully mastered fighting like a man so there is still a lot of hair pulling, scratching and biting along with the head butting and below the belt kicks. Again, I need a referee!!

Madi’s birthday party was this past weekend at Wiggles and Giggles, The boys had a ton of fun until it was time to move from the play room to the party room. Sheriff Rushing was at the party and I almost had to ask him to intervene a few times, Cooper had a meltdown and screamed for at least 20 minutes so we left early and missed out on the cake and presents and I didn’t get to visit like I wanted to but the boys had fun playing and terrorizing me. We are terrible at trick or treating. We only made it to 5 houses in 4 hours and no one left their costumes on for more than 10 minutes at a time so each stop required us redressing everyone before knocking on the door and each stop took at least thirty minutes but we did enjoy visiting with everyone.

Uncle Bill caught some blue crabs and Jackson was fascinated and a bit afraid. If anyone came near he would shout NO, THEY WILL BITE YOUR WINGER (FINGER)! Cooper was not afraid and attempted several times to get inside the giant Styrofoam cooler with the crabs but he managed to keep all of his wingers!!

I have tons of new pictures but no time to upload them all so maybe that’s what I do next year when we get a weekend with no kids!!

Oh AND Travis tore something in his left knee last week and will have to see Dr. Weatherly next week to determine if it will require surgery.

THAT’S ALL!!

Once again it’s been a while. Working part time is WAY harder for me than full time it is almost impossible to find time for anything b/c our schedule is so out of wack and each day is different but we’re making it.

Cooper’s doctor has given us the go ahead to start Jackson back at Easthaven so he will start Pre-School next week. He’s pretty excited. As long as Cooper does well with being exposed to everything Jackson brings home he should be able to start in January. YAY!! I won’t know what to do with both kids in one place. I might get to sleep as late as 5:30!!

RECENT NEWS!!

Last Sunday I made the mistake of giving Jackson change for his offering. We discussed putting it in his pocket and leaving it there-that should have been the end of it right-HA!! So about fifteen minutes later I hear Travis freaking out and Jackson has the change in his mouth and has now swallowed it. So we made a few calls and asked some nurse friends of ours what to do and they assured us all should be fine but take him in ASAP if he starts complaining or throwing up. WELL OF COURSE first thing Monday morning he’s finding me in the kitchen crying about his tummy hurting so I rush around and get him ready and head to the ER for x-rays and dirty looks. Trav only saw him put two coins in his mouth and took the rest away from him. I didn’t think to count what he had taken from him so when they x-ray Jackson’s belly they find four coins stacked perfectly one on top of the other. Seriously, as we’re waiting I am expecting social services to come in the door at any second. Swallowing coins is pretty common and usually not cause for alarm but when you have four coins stacked that can be a problem if they pass that way so they admitted us to the hospital for observation-OH THE JOY!! Being trapped in a confined space with a three year old is miserable for all involved. He found the call button for the nurses with in minutes of being admitted so every 4 ½ seconds they were being buzzed. So after 4,765 calls the nurses are wishing we weren’t there and I am certain they were already thinking we were crazy and this only confirmed it. After numerous x-rays this week the coins are still in his tummy but are no longer stacked so now we just wait and hopefully next week when we go back for x-rays we will be all clear.

Never a dull moment!!

TIME

I know I’ve said it a million times before but there really is never enough time in the day. Especially now that I am part-time, I still have the same work load and responsibilities just fewer hours to accomplish everything I need to accomplish in a work week. The days I am home I am running around trying to get caught up on house work and squeeze in something fun and some quality time with the kids. We plan play dates and fun activities which are great for the kids and I enjoy them too but once it’s over and we are home I am overwhelmed and exhausted which then leads to things getting out of control in the house again meaning another day will have to be spent catching up from all that was left behind and to do. I can no longer take both of my children to the grocery with me, IMPOSSIBLE, so I have to wait for a time when Trav is home to watch one of them which leads to one or both screaming and throwing a fit, after they go to sleep or before they wake up. Understand, that my kids go to bed around 7:30 and this is the time I spend getting their bags ready for the next day, taking a bath, spending time with Trav, reading, enjoying the quiet. Since my kids go to bed at 7:30 they are up pretty early, on the days we have to get up and get moving I have to wake them up and neither one is happy about it, the days we can sleep in-no one does, we are all up by 6:30 ALWAYS. So to grocery shop after they are in bed cuts in the time I need to recharge and to go in the morning before they wake up and before Trav has to leave for work means I need to get up at the crack of dawn. I don’t mind waking up at the crack of dawn, I have always done it and it really isn’t so bad especially if it means I get to have alone time even if the alone time is spent in Wal-Mart with dozens of other people. So if you are ever in Wal-Mart at 4 a.m. or 5 a.m. on Saturday morning, please pretend that you don’t see me, b/c your assumption would be right-Yes, I did just roll out of bed, brush my teeth and put some shoes on and I am pretending I am alone, you see--the tons of people stocking the shelves, the giant loud machine buffing the floors, the fork lifts and pallets lining every aisle, those things have nothing on the volume of my two children and the obstacles they are able to create.

Enough ranting-the boys are fabulous-ALL BOY but fabulous!!

Cooper 1st birthday was May 5th, we had a check up which went well, he weighs 20lbs and is 30 ½ inches long, freakishly tall and freakishly skinny. We’ve switched to whole milk (which is seriously close to being as expensive as formula) and are working on weaning him off the bottle. He will eat anything we will let him, he loves grilled pork chops, chicken, hamburger, peas, granny’s chicken and dumplins, grits, pancakes, sausage, sweet potatoes, rice, green beans, the list goes on, this means we are no longer having to buy baby food, WHOO HOO!! He never stops talking, constant jabbering. He’s been saying ma ma, da da, dog, ball, Jackson and thank you for many months; now he says lots of other things that we aren’t real sure of. He has been walking since he was 9/10 months old. He waves bye and pretends to go to sleep. He doesn’t like it when Jackson gets in trouble (but he’s getting pretty accustom to it since it happens frequently.) In case you didn’t know, the world revolves around him and if anyone forgets this he is quick to remind them. This leads to many fight bt/w him and Jax because as far as Jackson is concerned the world revolves around him.

Jackson will be turning 3, July 6th; this blows my mind b/c I vividly remember his delivery and it does seem like it was just the other day. He is growing so fast and learning so much. He never stops talking and asking why, how, what, when, you name it he’s asking about it. Let me brag- he is already super talented when it comes to sports, he’s mastered dribbling the basketball while standing still, moving forward, backward, and to the side, he’s learning the alphabet and numbers and he never forgets anything. NOTHING!! The other day a man pulled into the parking lot as we were leaving and he hit us-no one was hurt not even the Tahoe. Now every time we pass that parking lot he asks “what did that man do?” He is real concerned with when Santa is coming and would rather not have any part of the Easter Bunny ever again, when he plays with the toys the Easter Bunny brought him he is quick to remind me that he does not like the Easter Bunny and does not want to see him again.

We are really looking forward to summer and spending time with good friends and hopefully making lots of trips to the river. The boys love it. I will post pictures later.

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY