"Why?"

Yesterday, Z asked "why?" for the first time. I answered her before I realized it was her first time asking me that. Today she asked me again. We have entered the Why phase I believe.

I Am Still Alive!!

Time for an update!
I don't even know where to begin, so I will just go:

June: Jason and I went to San Francisco, alone. I LOVED that city. IwanttomovetherebutIdon'tthinkitwillhappen.
My oldest son, Ben, went to his first fishing camp. I think he enjoyed that, but he would not eat any fish they caught because seeing the fish get cleaned and gutted grossed him out! That's my boy! I believe he enjoyed rowing a boat, and the boat race more than fishing.
My 2nd son, Aaron, turned 8. He helped me make a homemade cookie cake for his birthday, and his buddy Jack came over to play for the day. Aaron is so polite and so loving, and so thoughtful of others. and cute to boot!
Both of my sons stayed a week with their aunt in Jacksonville. This was the second year they have done that. They always have a grand time over there. There's a lot more to do in Jax than here at home.

July 9-16: a family trip to North Georgia; Lake Lanier-Dawsonville. 20 people in one house for one week. FUNFUN!!

August: we prepare for the boys to return to school, Ben to the 4th grade, Aaron to the 3rd.
Zemi turned 2! my baby!

My Mondays and Tuesdays are spent taking care of a friends little girl, Maddy, she is 1 year old, as well as my own Princess Zemi. The girls play great together, and for about an hour everyday, I am a mother to four children. Whew! :)

On the second day of school, Aaron moved up into the Gifted program at his school. Ben has been in Gifted since last year. Gifted is great! There's WAY less homework. :)
This school year marks the first year of emerging independence for the boys. Riding bikes to and from school BY THEMSELVES! Nerve-wracking for MOM. But they sure are happy about it. Thrilled is an understatement. I see every reason to not let them bike to and from school. It's hard to let go and trust sometimes.

Zemi is so smart, and gorgeous. She can say anything now. And can understand everything and follow directions. Currently her favorite words are ice pop, no, and Mickey Mouse ( or Gabba Gabba) I think she is addicted to ice pops. Zemi LOVES to color, give her some paper, and something that makes marks on the paper and she is happy for hours. I have been taking video of her talking and playing from time to time. I will miss these days. They grow so fast. Just last week, it was raining, but we needed to go to a store, and here comes Zemi with her new rainboots! Now that's smart! I did not even tell her to get them (or even remember she had rainboots for that matter, and I bought them for her!!) She FINALLY got her first haircut. But only the bangs. I got tired of seeing her bangs down on her lips, and her pushing them away all the time, so I had them cut across at her eyebrow level. Her hair is quite curly now and when pulled straight, it's halfway down her back. She looks like a big girl now.

My boys are playing football now, both on the same team. I am glad. I don't mind a football game. I even like basketball, which is coming up soon. It's baseball I can't stand. My boys are happy when they play sports. They are doing so well at school. I am blessed to have such great, intelligent kids.

September 11- Jason turned 39. Three Nine. Thirty-nine. 30. 9.

October 5-my oldest turned 10 years old! I have been Mom for 10 years now. I still don't know what I am doing. I feel so bad for my oldest who is the "guinea pig" for my parenting. What works and what doesn't? I think he is an awesome person though, and he is very understanding when I explain why I decided what I did or said what I said. And he is SO good with Zemi--loves to play with her and help me with her. He will drop anything to be with his sister. :)

On 10-18-09, Jason took the boys to their first ever professional football game. The Chicago Bears vs Atlanta Falcons at the Georgia Dome. We are Bears fans, but the Bears lost that game. Too bad. They had a great time though with their Dad and also their uncle.

Both of my boys are taking piano lessons now. Ben is so great at it. He will play some music and I fall in love with him again. It's so beautiful. Aaron has just started lessons, so he can play simple melodies, but he will get to the good music soon. I am determined to have each of my children play an instrument.

So now we are here, 10-21-09:
I am getting an adjustment on my neck from a chiropractor because of some tightness I have had for a few weeks. This will be my second appt. My friend Amy is keeping Zemi for me while I go, and I giving her boys some old clothing Aaron can't wear anymore and also Aaron's former bike. I have been slowly cleaning out things around here. Trying to get rid of extra stuff, old clothing, junk, etc...room by room. There's always someone who wants what I don't.
Halloween is coming up soon, and I have to get a costume for Zemi for our friends chili cookout/hayride that we attend every year.

And what else? I am sure there is something I am forgetting. But I have facebook to remind me via status updates and saved emails also help me remember events.
You can view photos that correspond to the listed events above on my facebook profile. Just friend me if can find me!

That's all for now folks!

Zemi is 2!!!

A Sample of the Fun in Georgia

Here are a few pictures from Lake Lanier. The whole album is on my facebook page, so if you're my "friend", you can view them there, and if you're not my "friend", then please add me. ")

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I Am Here!!

I am not blogging as much...but fortunately, I have my status's on facebook to remind me of days past. Anyhow, here is an update on our life here at the House of B.

July was a busy month for us.

Here is a timeline:

July 4th weekend we went to Jacksonville to pick up the boys from their Aunt Haley's, where they had spent a week. The photos below of the beach are from Vilano Beach in St Augustine, which is not too far from Haley's house. The boys always have a great time during their week with their aunt. This is the 2nd year they have done this trip.

July 10th through July 16th we went to Dawsonville Georgia with the family from Illinois and south Florida for our every-other-year reunion. It was 19 people in one house on Lake Lanier. The boys played so hard in the lake and on the jetski and video games. On Tuesday of the vacation they actually crashed from exhaustion and watched TV all day. Zemi did great with sleeping and playing and shopping. Every night we had wonderful food. We all really enjoyed ourselves this week with the family. Pictures to be posted soon.

July 22 my Mema had open heart surgery. She now has a new aortic valve. Her surgery went well, but the recovery was longer than it should have been. There were several sleepless nights in the ICU, and my Granddaddy was there for the entire time, only going home one night when I drove over to relieve him so he could sleep, and again 2 nights later. I couldn't make it back over again ( Gainesville, 2 and a half hour drive) but after my 2nd night there she seemed to be doing better, therefore Granddaddy felt comfortable going home each night. She finally went home on August 3rd, their 45th wedding anniversary-after about 5 cardioversion treatments to get her heart back to rhythm. I think she is still on oxygen at home, but appears to be herself in all other ways. She gave us a big scare in the hospital, and I thought she wasn't going to survive after my first night on "patient watch"...thankfully, she pulled through. It was certainly a stressful situation for everyone. I hope to visit her at home this weekend ( which is an hour drive for me).

August 2 through today has Ben at his first ever church camp. 5 nights away from home. He was so excited to go, I was nervous for him to be gone. I hope he has had a great time, and I will hear all about it today when I pick him up.

So you can read that I have been busy!!

Zemi is about to turn 2....and she is behaving like a 2 year old. What happened to my sweet baby? LOL She's a little drama queen, and a little bit mean to her brother, and very much so has a mind of her own. I don't deal with attitude very well, oh God, help me through this stage.

School starts on the 24th. Ben will be in the 4th grade, Aaron in the 3rd, and I am looking into a 2 day a week preschool for Zemi, just for a few hours in the morning. She needs the social interaction and stimulation. My boys had a great time when I put them in pre-school, one day a week for each year of age. 2 years old, 2 days a week, 3 years old, 3 days a week. Works for us.

That's all I can think of now. Let me get the pictures up.

From the 4th of July

photos of SanFran

Long Over-Due Update

Ok I know it's been a while. I've been consumed with other things, but of course marking down memories is important. At least I have many updates on my facebook page to remind me of what's happened.
Just a quick update:
Jason had his back surgery on May 28th and he was up and good as new within a couple hours after the surgery-- he is pain free! Yay!! He's waited a long time for that. He has some more recovery and some strengthening exercises to do, but I hope soon he can join me in the many chores of home ownership and also be able to play sports with the boys.
He felt so good after surgery that just one week afterwards we took our trip to San Francisco. He walked for several miles up and down those very steep streets, and we both saw almost everything "touristy" in the city. I had made the itinerary beforehand, so we just followed that. After hours of walking, he had no pain afterwards. He went to his meetings the next day, and I spent the next two days in the city seeing the rest of the famous spots by myself....I love that city, especially the weather, and that is especially because it's HOT here, in the 90's and over there it's in the 60's. I had someone there ask me if I was cold, because I was wearing a short sleeve shirt. The other folks had on wool jackets and scarves. No, I wasn't cold. The weather is so refreshing, so mood lifting. I'm in a depression now because it's so hot here and I know there's better weather elsewhere. There's so much to do in SanFran, the layout of the city is easy to navigate, everything looks gorgeous-- from the homes, to the bay, to downtown, and everyone is so nice. Pictures to come soon.
Aaron turned 8! We had a little pizza party for him, and took him and a couple friends to the movies, and we baked a cookie cake together. He's just having a blast with his new toys and video games, and trips to grandmas for swimming
Of course school is out now, and I am trying to keep them busy, but Tallahassee is lacking for things to do.
Zemi is talking in sentences now...she'll say I love you and I don't know the most often. She has learned how to jump up in the air. She is also very fast when she moves, and very loud when she talks. And she doesn't eat much either. She's tall and thin. Like me I guess. but oh so much prettier.

Recent Pics

Jason

Jason has his appt on Wednesday with his orthopedic surgeon. First he will have an MRI, them meet with the doctor. Hopefully he can get in for surgery right away...and be all better so we can take our trip.
He's still lying on the floor taking pain medication. His mood is better though which tells me the pain is becoming more tolerable.

All This in ONE Day

Well this was not my day.
To begin with, my nose is completely plugged up, and I feel snot draining in the back of my throat...and I can't breathe, which makes eating hard. and for a week I have had some upper chest tightness..I took some over the counter meds and it's better but something in the air is flaring up my allergies. I wish I knew what. I've been sneezing a lot too. I don't need to feel under the weather. I have too much other stuff going on!
Then my internet has been off and on and off and on and off and on. I NEED my internet for communication: emails and such. Comcast had to come out and try to figure out why it keeps shutting off, and so apparently we need to move the connections to get a better signal. Had to schedule a different day for that because the guy who came out apparently doesn't do that kind of work. *rolling eyes
I'm trying to work online as quick as I can before I lose my connection again.
Next: Zemi won't nap. I laid down in her room with her, which I've been doing lately, I nap and she does too, a win-win for both of us. But today she wouldn't go to sleep. I finally let her cry it out after an hour and I think she dozed off, until the cable guy started moving furniture and slamming doors, then that was the end of her nap. So the boys came home and because I was trying to coax Zemi back to sleep, they got to play a computer game and that means they didn't do their chores which makes my house not run properly. And so while I managed to get a little nap, my lawn service men came today and the leaf blower was so noisy it woke me up!
Then we had Aaron's baseball game, and since Jason had a meeting elsewhere, I took him to the game with the other two kids in tow, and since I had the baby with me, I couldn't watch much of the game because she is everywhere running and screaming and I have to chase her, but if I hold her she squirms and yells to get down, and if I put her in a stroller she yells and works her way loose and climbs out. So usually I stay in the monkey bar/slide area and miss the game entirely. I hate not being able to watch my son play ball!! Today it is SO windy! my hair is blowing straight up and into my face and I don't like that at all. and the wind is noisy, I can't hear anything, and no one can hear me too well over the wind. Then after the game they had an end of the season party and trophy handout. Ben ran off to one playground, with my permission, and so when it's time for me to leave with Aaron and Zemi and I mentioned I had to stop and grab Ben off the slides, but he thought I wanted HIM to get Ben so Aaron took off running in the opposite direction ( towards the OTHER playground), and he didn't hear me say "stop!" and I was holding Zemi, a baseball glove, and camera, a phone and my keys and couldn't catch him. So then Ben came running up to me fortunately, and I told him to go catch Aaron THAT way and meet me at the car. Then I get to the car and am buckling Zemi in her seat when I see them run by, so I watched them while I finished strapping her in, and I can see them on the sidewalk a little ways down so I drove up to them but when I got there, they were gone! I looked and looked for them. and because there were about 200 other people there having a pizza party, I couldn't see them, and (did I mention?) the wind is blowing so strong its noisy, no way would they hear me. So I keep looking and looking and feel myself about to have a heart attack so I called Jason and said they haven't come back yet ---HELP!! Just then they came running by and I yelled at them OH MY GOSH WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN I HAVE BEEN LOOKING AND WAITING FOR YOU!!! Well Mom I couldn't find you so I just went back around the park...NO, I said, YOU STAND STILL AND I WILL FIND YOU! Oh I was so angry I was shaking. I almost called the police. Boys should listen carefully and these situations would not happen. And pay more attention to your surroundings when I park! Then you know where I am! AHHHHHH!!!
On top of everything today, the wind is blowing like crazy...very loudly and I can't hear anything over it.
And then lastly, my poor husband has been in excruiating pain for the past few days...His legs are killing him, a side effect of his herniated disk. He has been this way for a few years, but this is the worst episode yet, he says it's a different pain altogether. He has been taking prescription meds for the pain which seem to lessen the pain but not a whole lot. He's trying to get in and see his orthopedic doctor, but they say there's no opening for 2 weeks. I don't believe that myself, and we are trying to see if we can't get in before we go to San Francisco. The appt they gave him is the same day we fly out there, so we have to change his appt anyway. Good news though: He now has insurance coverage. After not being able to get it for three years due to his cancer...finally, the time has come and he can get some back treatments. So I have been doing whatever I can for Jason to help him. Oh and when I went through the drive-thru at WalGreens, the cashier must not have known how to work the microphone because I couldn't hear her, and to top that off the boys were making a racket in the backseat and that certainly didn't help me to hear the lady any easier. And when I say SHHH, they pretend I said GET LOUDER, so I had to pop them on the legs to get my point across.
Do I even want to mention the hassle of getting the boys to take showers--quick showers-- but they don't understand the meaning of quick? And all the sibling bickering throughout the afternoon? What about how Zemi doesn't want to eat anything and throws food on the floor, or takes a bite, chews it up, then spits it out. Or how I mopped the floor because the garbage bag leaked, and the floor got all sticky so I had to mop again? Oh and Zemi climbing on tables over and over again, and just about swinging on the chandelier? And how she managed to get to a bottle of WD40 and bring it to me while I was making a sandwich and so I didn't know she had it or whether she tried to drink it or not, so I spent a few hours worrying about it? So I had to leave my sandwich on a plate and tend to her and when I came back to my sandwich there were gnats on it so I had to throw it away.
I could just throw something and break a window right now. That crash would be so satisfying.