Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Happy First Birthday Drake!







Happy Birthday to our littlest little man, Drake. Drake was born one year ago today. He was very anxious to enter the world and didn't even wait for the doctor to get there. Ever since that day we have been blessed with one of the happiest babies I have ever seen. He is also all boy, walking around and jumping on people, he also loves to be tossed around. He loves his big brother and big sister. He also loves to eat. I don't know that he has a favorite food, but he will cry if one of his siblings walks past him with a juice pouch and he doesn't have one. I am also proud to say that we have made it a whole year breastfeeding and that he has had no formula at all :) Drake's smile is totally contagious. We had his birthday party last Sunday and he tore right into his cupcake. His party was dinosaur themed as chosen for him by his big brother. His actual birthday was today and I cannot believe it has been a year already. He is walking more then crawling now too. My baby is getting so big!


Happy Birthday to you!


Happy Birthday to you!


Happy Birthday Baby Drake!


Happy Birthday to you!


Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Happy Birthday Mom(Grandma)!

Happy birthday to one of the best mom's out there! My mom is the closest I have seen to Superwoman. She raised her own kids while working full time as a teacher and then retired so that she could watch the next generation of kids, her grandkids. At any point she will be in charge of six kiddos, of whom all but one are under the age of six. And she will be adding two newborns this winter/spring. On top of all this she has many other projects she is working on. I do not know how she does it, I just know that we are very lucky to have her. I only hope that I can be half the mom to my kids that she is to us. Happy Birthday to Mom from us and also Happy Birthday from the kids to one of the best Grandmas in the world!

CJ's First Day at School (otherwise known as crying at the bus stop)





Our oldest, CJ, had his first day of school yesterday. We were all very excited, but no one more so than CJ. He had made a paper chain and had been counting down the days. He got all dressed up nice in his new school clothes and had his new backpack ready (which was almost as big as he is). The big yellow bus came and CJ eagerly hopped up on the steps, turned around and did a few poses (who taught my son how to Vogue?) My mom told me that I would be like all the stereotypical kindy mothers and crying as my first born got on the school bus for the first time. In a twist of irony we turned around to see my mom wiping her eyes saying something about how she couldn't believe he was big enough to go to school. Craig later reminded me that I was not untouched.....that I had been doing the same thing only two days ago. So off our big boy went to school. We went up a few minutes later to visit with him and check out some things at the school. When we got to visit him he was eating a grape snow cone and making new friends. After that Craig and I went out to lunch to celebrate CJ's first day and reminisce his younger years (a whole total of five). Later that day CJ came home on the bus with his big cousin Bryant and again stopped on the steps to pose for his adoring paparazzi. He proceeded to tell us all about his first day and how at every instance he would sit down and a girl would sit next to him. He vowed that the next day he would NOT sit by any yucky girls. He also told us how his new friend had two strikes on the first day.......my son is making friends with the wrong crowd already :) The only thing that didn't go smoothly was that CJ was upset that he got a tiger clap applause instead of round of applause when he told the class his favorite color.


Kaylee wanted to go with her brother so badly.....she keeps saying "I ride the bus when I get bigger". Drake was very excited to see his big brother when he got off the bus in the afternoon. I had also sent chocolates for CJ to give to his bus driver and his teacher, which I thought would be a good way to start the year. Craig told me that boys do not do that and that I was trying to kiss up to the teachers. Hey, a little bit of chocolate as a kiss up bribe or for any other reason is never a bad thing to give. Today CJ came home from his second day of school with his first homework assignment. You would have thought his teacher had given him a ticket to Disney World. It was the first thing he wanted to come home and do. I can only hope that his excitement for learning will continue and that he will always want to do his homework right away. It's a good thing I am an optimist, huh? Although, I do like to think that Craig and I have started CJ on the right path to becoming an independent person with a love for learning and knowledge.

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Our Day At The Zoo





Yesterday was our last day before CJ's first day of school. I decided we needed some fun after the recent bad things happening in our lives. So the kids and I, my mom and my nieces and nephews went to the zoo. Our zoo (St. Louis) is ranked one of the best in the country. They have a new exhibit that features dinosaurs that the kids loved. Thankfully the kids were almost on their best behavior....five kids under six, one nine year old, and two adults (one of which had to work the night before and hadn't yet gotten to go to bed). The weather was great and the zoo was not very crowded at all. The kids had a wonderful time! Afterwards we treated them to frozen custard at Spanky's. Here are some pictures of our adventure.

Thursday, August 14, 2008

We will miss you Sheba!

Today our beloved dog Sheba, had to be put down. We have known for about a month that she was probably suffering from chronic liver failure. She was fine this morning and hten all of sudden just got really bad (I wont go into details). Sheba was a very big part of our family. Craig and I got her when Craig was still in the army. We got her to keep me company. So we have had her for almost nine years. She has been there through all of the kids being born and was really good with them. Sheba slept with CJ every night. At about nine o clock she would be waiting at the door to his room to go to bed. Just last month CJ gave her a pep talk about watching over the house while he was gone spending the night at Grandma's. She was one of the best dogs you could have. We will miss her greatly. She will always be part of our family.

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

Murphy's Law

I should have known.....things were going to well....it's Murphy's Law and it will get you every time. We were doing so well getting everything paid off and getting the fixed up. Then it happened.....starting with Sheba getting sick last week and the big vet bill that produced. Yesterday I went to the dentist for the first time in quite a few years. The good news is that nothing is majorly wrong, just a good amt of minor cavities which need to be filled. The bad news is that I am so terrified of the dentist that he told me that I need to go see a sedation dentist. My dream appt right? Go, take a few pills, sleep through the entire thing and wake up with it all fixed. Well, it is going to set us back a pretty penny. The insurance does not cover the sedation part at all and only eighty percent of the work. Thankfully they have a twelve month no interest payment plan that all we need to do is qualify for. Here's crossing our fingers and toes. Last night at dinner going over some differences in Craig's paycheck we found out that he was overpaid and we will now have to subtract that out of our budget as well. However, it would not be right to keep money that really did not belong to us (which they would probably come after later anyway). Then the most disgusting part.....all of our drains backed up and sewer water was flooding the house. So there's more money for the plumber.....I told Craig he needs to consider becoming a plumber for what they charge an hour! :) Thankfully it was only a clog and only took an hour to fix. Now the cleanup begins. We had to go and get a Rug Doctor to clean it all up. I can't get the Dora song out of my head....."Clean up! Clean up! Everybody do their share!" Thankfully everyone's health is in good standing. Except for the mysterious stuffy and runny nose that everyone around here has seemed to catch. I am thankfull that I have been working some overtime and that all this stuff won't put us back to far, it's just kind of disappointing. However as we have all been saying lately "It is what it is". At least I now can use my disposal without holding up a baking sheet to shield me from flying food and we will have some nice clean carpets. :)