Catching Up

It has been a while since I posted. There has been quite a bit going on. I thought I would take time today to just say a few things that are in progress at our house.

Three weeks ago, Mike started back for work week. I had applied to several positions in the City school system. I hadn't heard anything. I had interviewed for one position, but did not get that position. I had decided that it was likely that I would work at the preschool again. Maybe, since that is only a part-time job, I could pick up some hours doing something else. I was thinking that I was ready to go back to work full-time.

Wednesday of that week I had breakfast with a lady from church. I had agreed to help with the Christmas program activities. We met in order to go over some details. While at breakfast, I got a phone call. It was from the City school board office. They were calling to offer me a position. (I had still been watching the job board and had not seen this one posted.) They wanted me to work as a preschool assistant. (that is actually what I was hoping for!) Of course, I accepted the position. I asked them when they wanted me to start working. He said he would check and call me back. He called me back at 9:30 and said, "Could you be there at 10?" "Sure!" I called my dad right away and asked, "Do you have any plans today? I just got a job and I need you to keep the boys until 3. Oh, and do you have plans the rest of the week? No? How about hanging out with some boys?"

That Sunday, the day before school started, Adam did not feel well. He was running a fever before church and complained of a stomach ache. He felt so bad that he could not walk upright, in fact he laid on the couch all curled up. I started to worry that it could be very serious. After church I went home to find him feeling better. However, that evening his fever went to 103.3! I was quite concerned. I called the "on call" pediatrician, I told him the symptoms. He said that there was something going around to give him fever reducer, and if the fever did not go down, take him to the ER. I was so glad to see his temp go to 101! He missed the first day of 2nd grade. Then Tuesday, I was having some trouble keeping his temp down. I took him to the Dr. I was thankful that I was able to see the Dr. that I talked to on Sunday evening. He came in the room to find Adam asleep on the table. The Dr. said, "I remember talking to you on Sunday evening. I have read what you told the nurse. I had in my mind what I was going to find when I came in this room. He is much sicker looking than I thought he would be!" He ran several tests (really I don't think he even told me all that he was testing for He m--he didn't want me to worry)Everything came back fine. He just had a REALLY bad virus! Adam missed the next day of school, then things started to turn around. He started school on Thursday.

School is going well for all of us. It has been an adjustment. In addition to all of these changes, we are trying to get things moved from one house to another. We were lucky enough to get early possession of the place, so moving and cleaning are in full gear. It is a busy time.

Puddle

This morning I was taking a few things out to the car. I noticed puddles on the carport and the cooler temperatures. I remembered it had rained last night and was thankful for that. As I was putting my things in the car, Austin came out and said, "Mom, you've got to see this!" My first thought was that he'd found some amazing worm or something. But, when I got to him, he showed me this puddle.

He said, "doesn't it look like a persons face?" Honestly, yes it does! I had not taken time to notice it, but Austin took time to enjoy the puddles and see that this one has an eye, nose, mouth, and even some crazy bangs. He even said that this "person" has a big collar."

I'm so glad that sometimes my boys make me slow down and see things in a different way!

Summer Fun

The other day, I checked my e-mail and found a message from a girl in our Sunday School class asking anyone in our class if they were interested in swimming (they were watching their neighbors house and had pool privileges). We said we were interested, and got ready to swim.

We had so much fun. The diving board was close to a ladder, so Adam was able to jump and swim to the ladder. Another thing he did was have a floaty just beyond his jump range and he would swim to that. Both boys played and played!

Several hours after we got to the pool, I started to think, "Maybe I should start thinking about supper." I decided that I would start to clean up toys and gather my things, supper needed to be made, and I knew the boys were getting hungry. When I mentioned that I was getting ready to head out, Rebecca said, "Why not stay, eat with us." They boys were eager to agree that this was a good idea. "Okay, we will stay."

I was truly amazed how she pulled a meal together in such a short time, really no time at all! After we ate, I'm not sure how Jay found out that Austin loved military things, but he went and got his things.

Austin put on his maroon beret, and his dog tags. Jay even taught him the proper way to salute. He loved his camo, and saw all of his patches. Jay showed him pictures of different places he went. He talked about staying in a tent, etc.

They live on a cul-de-sac, and it was a beautiful evening. We decided that it was a great time to go play and ride bikes. Jay and Mike were able to instruct the boys how to ride a 3 wheeler down the hill, brake and turn. They would spin out. I just hope they never try this once they get their driver's license.

Then they decided they would play street hockey.

My boys have never played hockey before, but had a wonderful time. Sometimes, there was not a ball available, so they would take an apple that had fallen from the neighbors tree and use that.


Yes, it did get messy at times, but they had fun!

As we were leaving, Adam was saying how tired he was. We came home and it wasn't long until I was asking where Adam was. He had put himself to bed! I guess swimming and playing hard will do that to a little boy.)

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Since we are getting ready to move, I am trying to clean out my freezers. This evening, Adam happened to look in the freezer and found some bread that I had stuck in there for them to feed the ducks. Adam got very excited, and asked Mike if it would be a good night to feed the ducks. They decided that it was not only a good night to do that, but it was a great night to ride their bikes to do this. This is a favorite activity for the boys, but riding bikes to do it makes it so much better!

One thing I love about the relaxed schedule. We can visit with friends and do random fun things at a drop of the hat. School will be starting soon, so we have to enjoy these times while we can.

I Almost Used This...

...for my August header. It is a wonderful picture. I love the expressions on my boys faces. I even got permission from the photographer. However, I decided against it.

Here is my reasoning: When I started this blog I named it Moments With My Boys and there is something that I like about getting a picture of my boys in a random moment, or in a seasonal activity, to use for my header. I have the above picture hanging on my wall. I enjoy it every day. However, this past weekend, when we went to Riven Rock to play on a hot Sunday afternoon, I got this picture...

In this picture, I can see the fun the boys are having--being soggy, loving the water, and enjoying their cousins.

As much as I love both pictures, one belongs on my wall, and one belongs on my blog.

House Saga

The spring when Mike and I were engaged, we found a home that was a very reasonable price. We bought this home and said, "This will be our starter home." We have been in our "starter" home for 12 years now. At times, I thought this starter home had become our "forever" home.

However, I do love to look at homes. I love to look on the internet and see what local houses are for sale. I did not think that we were at a place to buy right now, but I enjoyed looking to see what was out there, and dreaming about one day...

Recently, I was going through a neighborhood, and I saw a house for sale. I knew this house. I used to babysit the children that grew up in that house. I decided for "old times sake" I would go home and look it up.

I went home and looked it up immediately. The price was out of my "price range" (especially since we were not looking). I found it fun to watch, and look, but I was not serious.

I did find it hard at times to be in our "starter home." We had run out of space! There was one day last week that I needed to get something out of Adam's closet. I pulled one thing, and an avalanche came tumbling down on me. I sat there in this huge mess, and cried! (We needed a larger home!)

I don't exactly remember how this happened, but on Saturday Mike and I looked at the house on line. I was very excited about the possibility of having a bigger home. Mike wondered about this or that (you can't tell everything from pictures). Mike and I decided to schedule a showing for Sunday afternoon. As we talked more on Saturday evening Mike got more excited, I gained more concerns. We decided that we would go through with the showing for practice (for when we were ready to actually buy). When we were on our way, Mike quoted a number and said, "that is the top number I will offer for this house." However, we were not going to buy so there was no worry there.

We didn't want to make the boys excited about this since we were sure we were not going to buy this house. We told my parents that we wanted to go on a date since had a gift card. Mom said she would pick the boys up after work, so we had time to go eat, then went to the showing.

Once in the house, we both fell in love with this house!! As we talked, we were told that the price was coming down very close to what we said our offer would be. We left and said, we need to buy this house.

We went to get the boys and disclosed to Mom and Dad what we had done. We wanted their opinion on this property. Soon I was on the phone asking if we could see the house again. We were told to "come on over."

We took the boys and they loved the house as well! They chose their rooms. They were very excited.

Monday I went to the bank to see what our numbers looked like. I gave them the worst possible situation. They worked the numbers and we thought this is not the best situation, but we can make it work.

Tuesday, the realtor came over to tell us what our house was worth. Later that day, we were given the amount. I knew of someone who was looking for a house to buy in that price range. I called her and told her what I knew. She was very excited, so was her husband.

I couldn't believe how things were going, things seemed so perfect. Almost unbelievable, too perfect! I just kept praying that whatever happened that it would be the Lord's will, not mine.

We invited the people I knew over to see the house. They seemed to think that it was perfect! They went home and contacted their realtor.

Wednesday, we went to the Real Estate office and put a contract on the house we wanted. However, we made it contingent on the sale of our home.

Thursday, our realtor came over to take pictures for the listing of our current home. He put a key box out for showings, and put a sign in the yard. He left our home by 9 am.

Around 11 we got a call that an offer had been made. We went back and forth a few times. By 3 pm we had come to an agreement. Mike and I were soon at the office again to sign papers for the contract on our house.

The house that we are buying (if all goes well) is only about 1 mile from our home. It is in the same school district, however the home is a little more than double the size of our home now.

Mike and I feel that this truly must be God's will. It is truly amazing how the numbers lined up. The buyer was right there. Their numbers lined up. So far, everything has gone so smoothly!

Old Radio

When we first moved into our house, Mike bought me a radio to have in the kitchen. This radio was small, had little "power," but it also had a tape player.

This little radio worked well for many years, but then I upgraded to another radio. (one that has a CD player!) The knobs were starting to come off and the door to the tape player was broken.

I decided it was time to get rid of the radio. Mike had one more thing to do with the radio before we got rid of it. He let the boys...


...totally destroy it! They had so much fun!

I'm glad that Mike sees fun activities in things that I claim as junk!

8 Years

8 years ago, on July 25th...

~It had been a very normal, hot July day!

~We had hot dogs and macaroni and cheese for supper. (We had that frequently at the end of my pregnancy. I was too tired to think of any other meal!)

~My friend, who was going to be in the delivery room with my, called me on her way home from work. I told her, "Only 3 contractions all day. Not today!"

~We went to Mamaw and Papaw's. I began to get frustrated at the "Braxton Hicks" I was having.

~Went to Wal-Mart, on the way to the car, I had to stop and grab a post during one of my "Braxton Hicks."

~About an hour and a half later I decided since these silly "Braxton Hicks" were coming 2 minutes apart, maybe I should get them checked out.

~I could not contact anyone. My friend was not answering her phone, Mom was in the garage and could not hear their phone, the mid-wives office did not transfer their phones. We finally got ahold of Mom, took Austin to the hospital with us and she met us there. I finally got ahold of my friend, all I had to say was, "GET HERE NOW!" (she didn't want to miss it, but I was already at 9cm!)

~My mid-wife was at a movie, when they finally paged her STAT! she came--with only about 20 minutes to spare.

~Adam joined our family only 50 minutes after going to the hospital.

Not to be outdone, Adam wanted to make his own birthday cake, just like Austin. It has been really hot here, so we decided to do a NO bake cake.


It is ice cream sandwiches, with a pudding type filling, and cool whip on top.

We had to add M&M's to make it colorful! I think it is beautiful!

Happy Birthday, Adam! You are a sweet boy, a creative thinker, and always keep me on my toes. You add so much fun to our family. I feel so blessed to have you as a son!