All Alone

It's just me and the critters here at la casa. Gavin started school on Tuesday and now we are on to Thursday. He did "ok" on Tuesday...he was really quite cute taking his lunch box and back pack in and then helping me hang everything up. He was so excited to "go to gool"....til I said, "ok I am going to go now", apparently he hadn't thought that far into it. He cried when I left but was happy when I got back and didn't have any accidents (yay!) and they said he was just fine. Now for today...he knew the drill and every time I talked about school he would get nearly panicky and start saying "no go gool, no go gool....I don't yike gool, Gavy not yike gool" so I just tried no to bring it up. We pulled in the parking lot and he started getting a bit antsy, as I parked he started saying "I stay in car....Stay in car..Gavy stay in car" as in you go on in there and drop off Zachary and I will just wait right here safely and securely in my car seat. Yeah he was not happy about me leaving him today, his cry today was much more upset :( I felt so bad! However...I know it's good for him and for me...so we will keep trucking on. I am a big fan of preschool (2 days a week) so I would send him next year for sure so he has 2 years of it and he probably would cry even at 3, at least that's what I am telling myself. It's good for both of them and it did a world of good for Jakeb.

As for me and my time on these 2 days that they are all "away". Let's see Tuesday I helped my dad do some grocery shopping (he was recently diagnosed with diabetes so I was helping him get the right foods) and then had lunch with some girlfriends. And so far today I have spent money I shouldn't have (shocker right?) and am now sitting happily and guilt free in my office enjoying the rockin' breeze that is quietly blowing through the window. Obviously I am having a horrible time all by myself...just horrible. Hehe.

Here are some pictures from Gbaby's first day...And the big brothers being oh so cute....

Today Is Monday

In case you didn't notice....nothing coming to me for the title so that's whatcha get lol. Busy'ish weekend for us here in the 'boro. A while back I was asked to shoot pictures at a birthday party on Saturday so I did that, while Robert braved it with all 3 boys alone at the ball park for pictures AND a game. They all survived....we will see how the pictures turn out. Sunday we visited with my grandfather and enjoyed the breezy cool day out there. The boys were super cute playing around outside while we were there. At one point they were playing on a platform/horse thing that has been there forever--it's a set of concrete steps up to a platform with steps down the other side....it's old and for when women rode horses--anyway and I came up and told them I used to play there when I was a kid and that my brothers and I used to run all over the farm and Jakeb told me I was "very lucky". I wish we could give them that same stuff to do! It's always so nice going back there...it's what I call home for sure.

Robert is in VA this week and will be home this weekend. The boys had a game tonight they won 19-9. Good game!
OH!! Gavin is starting school tomorrow! Remember I was torn about whether nor not I wanted to send him and finally when I had decided I was going to send him it was too late and there were no spots. So he was 2nd on the list at the end of last year, first on the list when school started and they called my last Thursday to let me know that they had a spot for him. So I am super excited and super nervous for him! I know it will be a good thing for him to do but I am just not sure how he will do...it could go either way. If he cries I won't be suprised and if he doesn't I won't be surprised. I hope he is a good boy and that he does good using the potty like he should! So fingers crossed for my baby!

I am completely slacking on the pic postings but honestly it's a PITA to load them, IMO takes forever...I could resize but that would take the same amount of time but more clicking! I am still trucking away at the 365's for the boys....probably will be more like a 330 for all of them but still covering a year...with a few days skipped here and there. I keep meaning to post a "recap" but alas I haven't.

Numbers...

In the past 60 hours hours I have..

washed 7 sets of sheets (not including my own).
Changed 3434323425667 pairs of underwear (including my own 3x's haha).
Been to 2 baseball games and watched 10 little boys do some awesome ball playing...(including 2 of my own).
Answered 783436545 questions (not including my own) all from Zachary I believe.
Had 2 cavities filled. (of my own)
Fixed 9 meals for 4 people. (including my own
Picked up 4567 starwars men (none of my own)
Picked up 341 Hot wheel cars (none of my own)
Picked up 732 lego's (none of my own)
Picked up 1 blanket 97 times. (none of my own)
Taken 343256 pictures of said toy scatterers. (of my own :) )
Organized 9834656 pictures for the 365 of each boy (all of my own)

I could go on but I think I lost count on everything else...needless to say I am glad it's Friday, I am glad Robert walked in the door 30 min ago, and I am glad I am going to bed....and I am glad I have all these things to do...really I am :) but I still want to "bitch" about it.

Just call me Super Mom...

well that's a stretch BUT I have been quite productive today around the ole' homestead. Which is typically pretty rare, don't get me wrong I maintain but doing much more is a hard task for me to focus on these days. So today I got a wild hair and decided to finally clean our windows and what not...not the glass but the track I guess it's called and technically I only did the ones downstairs but still that's 8 windows and the sills and the baseboards in the kitchen. I also mopped and vaccummed (anyone else still have issues spelling that word?) and dusted...all downstairs--which is my usual plan of attack--downstairs one day upstairs another. I managed also to keep the house tidy in the meantime and get the kids sheets/quilts washed AND got their closets cleaned out and went thru clothes. That's a lot in one day.
As if that wasn't enough I also managed some play time with Zachary...which is also a huge deal. I am not a player, I am just not and I know this. I have major mommy guilt about it but at the same time I have a serious problem making myself stop what I am doing and sit down to play with them. I prefer to watch and interact differently I guess, but I am working on it. But either way Zachary and I played a memory game together and then he wanted to do his "worksheets" (which is a big thing to me because Jakeb never wanted to and Zachary loves to!). So we did a few pages together and then talked about letters and what not. And by gholly the kid also knows what sound each letter makes...actually he has known this for quite a while now because last year when we would sit in the car line to get Jakeb we would do flash cards and he wouldn't know the letter by sight sometimes but if I said the sound he would get it. So right we talked about that and then I explained to him in a different way about words and the starting sounds and all night he's been popping them out to me! Like what does Ball start with? "B" What does Horse start with? "H" he sounds it out and then tells me the letter. Go Zachary!! I think he just one upped his brother who was not doing this at this age. And they were so cute tonight because Jakeb read him his AR book ("The Foot Book") and Zachary told me "I am learning from Jakeb!" awww. Gavin was um...interesting today. I think he's popping crazy pills...really I do. Sweet one minute and nutso crazy the next. I kid you not. cookoo. Not sure what happened to my sweet little blue eyed baby.
Robert is gone to Chicago...and is going to see my friend.without.me. I am going soon damnit. I love Chicago and I want someone fun to go kick it with and she is it...Chicago or not her and I have a blast together. She is one of the few people that I am a-ok being my super goofy super stupid super geeky self with because she is all of the above as well hehe. But instead Robert gets to kick with them...them being my friend and her fiance'...who I have yet to meet. What.the.hell? Right he meets him first, that's messed up. hehe.
So speaking of messed up...check out this line from one of the kids new books...."Then he popped a pickle in his puss. He slapped some glue all over his newfound bone and stuck it onto his model." tell me THAT's not messed up!! Robert read it to me last night...I about died. I read the book tonight and really when you read it all together it doesn't sound THAT bad...except the "pickle in his puss" I mean really there is just no way around that. Dirty vulgar. I swear we are not reading them stories from literotica. It's just one of the "Skippyjon Jones" books--which I love because I get to sing in a funny spanish accent and say things like..Pachycephalosaurus...or "Fossilitos', schmossilitos" really it's quite funny because I stumble thru the whole book. Anyway yeah...good books...bad line. hehe.

Tuesday Twelve

1. I am trying to be good remembering to do these because I really enjoy being able to write things out like this...let's me be more random like my thoughts are LOL. I can't really write a paragraph jumping all over like this lets me. :-D

2. I need to be working on the pictures from this past weekend so I can my disk of photos to Kate...some I am thrilled with others not so much.

3. I really just like holding my new camera LOL...geek. yes.

4. Jakeb brought home a 100 on his math today...seriously I knew he could do this stuff no problem. I am glad to see him back on track. He told me today that his teacher said she is going to have to start tricking him because he is getting 100's on everything and it must be too easy. Gotta love hearing that!

5. Robert just left to go play racket ball with my dad...that should be interesting LOL!

6. I sold several things from my "old" camera on craigslist and brought in some extra dough this past week but now I am down to a lens and a half....which means now I want a new lens LOL. as my mom would say "want, want, want"

7. I am loving (and not loving) Gavin's age. He is so fun sometimes. Just the way he is cracks people up, he marches his little self every where he goes and has no problems letting people know he's in a room. I can't wait to see how he is as he grows....of course I say the same Jakeb and Zachary. They all have such neat little personalities.

8. Robert is going to Chicago tomorrow and I am so very bummed that I can't go with him :( :( My friend Jennifer from college lives there and she will be off of work on Thursday and we could hang out and play around Chicago. Darn kids and responsibilities!!

9. The boys are fast becoming little addicts to the Wii. Great, just what I want. Really I am so not a gamer and really prefer they aren't either....we didn't do video games when I was a kid and spent so much time outside running around.

10. I cracked out on the Wii fit....totally been sucking at doing it. It like got all hard and shit, wth? I like easy don't make me sweat exercises...I mean come on now.

11. I am trying to get back on track with my eating habits...ie eating 3+ meals a day as opposed to 2 and a bunch of crappy snacks.

12. Seriously I want to go to Chicago WAHHHHHHH!

Just in case...

you were wondering....yes those "cheapy redneck" pools are a pain in the ass to take down. However it was fun for the kids this summer and we would buy it again, despite the near perfect 15' brown circle we have smack dab in the middle of the back yard. I am so glad we get to look at that all winter. But the pool is down and ready to be packed away for the winter. I cleaned it and dried it and am just physically not capable of putting it away properly on my own so it's in the garage waiting til Robert can help me.

Type much...

Geesh, I just reread my previous post and good lawdy I obviously was distracted or sumpin! I have about 6 spelling or gramatical errors going on in those 2 paragraphs. Maybe I will learn a thing or two as the kids go thru elementary english again hehe.
Some braggin' on my boys to do today!
*First off---Jakeb brought home a 96 today on a paper...ie he missed 1 and got an "E". On math and can you believe it was the same type of thing that he missed before actually it was harder stuff...shocker right? I emailed his teacher friday and she said she would keep an eye out with him and I talked to him some about slowing down etc and he did great! AND all of his grammar/english etc papers were 100's as always...hopefully he will keep kicking some school butt like I know he can! He also had his very first trip home on the bus today. Man was that nerve wracking! All day long I have been watching the clock so very anxious for him to get home safe and sound. Zachary, Gavin, and I camped out with our lawn chairs lined up in the driveway at 10 til time for him to get off the bus camera ready and waiting. He hopped right off and bee lined home and said it went great...whew glad that was over with. And last but not least he got the game ball at their game tonight. He's doing SO much better with his throwing and ran some kids in when he hit and is overall doing much better.
*Next a brag on the Zman--he wrote his whole name today...well first and last. With my help on only ONE letter the "s" in our last name. I didn't even have to tell him what letter came next on his first he just did it! I am super proud of him because 2 weeks ago he couldn't do it at all and we have only practiced a few times. He's such a smarty boy in disquise it's neat realizing all the things the kid knows that I didn't even realize he did! Like I knew he knew all of his uppercase letters but had no clue he knew most of the lowercase as well. Knows his numbers 1-10, his phone number, birthday, address etc. All things that I am sure some kids his age know and have known...BUT seriously I work with him 1-2 times a month on this stuff and some of it not at all. So that's pretty awesome I think.
*ANd last but not least the Gavinator (as robert likes to call him) is officially potty trained and has been for going on 2 1/2 weeks now. I stuck him in underwear one day and haven't looked back. He's done AWESOME, especially for how little and young he is. Don't get me wrong he has had accidents a bit but come on the kid just turned 2, he is rockin it! He now all the sudden yells "oh! need togo potty weel bad" and takes off running trying to get his pants off LOL. It crackes me up and he of course can't stand at the potty so he does this weird hover thing over it with his feet on the seat poppin' a squat LOL. And of course since his waist is no bigger than a minute we have to roll all of his pants up so they don't fall down. The kid is such a character...he has more personality in that little body than he even has a clue what to do with...nor do we, raising him will for sure be interesting.
So that's all for today....off to get crackin on some pics!

Weekend away...

Welp, I am home from my little {getaway} to Nashville for the weekend. I was able to participate in photography workshop this weekend and decided instead of driving back and forth that I would use it as an 'excuse' for a little getaway. So I did and camped out the the hotelio for the weekend with one of the other girls that attended. We had a nice time and learned a few new little tricks and tips...can't wait to get my pics loaded from the weekend! I brought Robert's laptop with me which is NOT what I am used to at all...I guess I am a bit outdated with my good ole trusty desktop PC but it's what I know and it's hard to flip around suddenly! Either way I got a chance to kick it with some other photogs and some pretty great ones at that and that in itself was a nice "treat".
The kids did well with Robert and I didn't come home to a trashed house....really I can't complain! Robert and the rugrats are down at the neighbors house for a bit and I told them I would catch up with them after I had some down time at the house. ---read: I need MY computer fix for a few minutes, hehe---That and I want to upload a few pics so I could play with my new camera some more! Oh that's right I didn't post about my new love...my family is rockin' and between my mom and my dad and Robert I was able to get the camera I have been drooling over for a year. I am super stoked and I just want to hold it and pet it....and of course take pictures with it LOL. It's fab! Okie doke the pics are done so I am outy.

Where's the Manual?

We are facing new issues here at the B house....school. Last year was kindergarten and kindergarden (now is it with a d or a t?) is easy so it was like no big deal...he went, he did his thing, he came home...all was well. Fast forward to now...first grade. How big of a deal IS first grade anyway? Is that listed in the manual because that's my first question. Mr. Jakeb is having some difficulty with math, however I know he's not mathematically challenged but either way he has now brought home 3 papers with "failing" grades on them aka "U". The paper today was really quite ridiculous because he missed 2+1...seriously he missed it. Now as a college grad (haha I love saying that)--because of course you don't know 2+1 unless you are a college grad...right anyway-- I want to be like come on are you kidding me!? It's 2+1, duh. But I really tried not to say that...however he's known it for a while and I know he does...my guess is that he is rushing thru his work, in fact he has told me this. I keep trying to explain to him that he has grades and tests now and that it's different then kindergarden but now he says he doesn't like school because he does bad on his papers. Great! Not the effect I was going trying to achieve. So he's not ever been a fan of school, he wants to be home playing with his toys and of course now the Wii (because really he needed more distractions). I know the kid is smart, he has 100's on every single thing he brings home except the math stuff. I know he knows it but has gotten confused on some things apparently. Like the paper today was 4+0, 3+2, 3+0 etc...he missed everything that wasn't +0. Which makes me think he just raced thru it looked at one number and wrote it down. Maybe they do math at the end of the day or before playtime? Or maybe he really just doesn't get it. Or maybe there is a chapter on this in the manual. Because I am not quite sure how to tackle it just right, because with Jakeb there is a fine line of too much or not enough...case in point as to why he now doesn't like school. I guess I need to email the teach again...but am trying not to put the cart before the horse and now label him as "having problems" when it's only being 3 papers...BUT what if I just delay it more and it would be better to jump in now? Gah the decisions!

Game ball boy...

The boys had their first game of the fall season this year. Their team won 12-7 (I think). Jakeb had 2 runs in and Zachary got the game ball! Zachary I discovered last year is a switch hitter...as in he can hit both lefty and righty, and he did just that at the game tonight LOL. He got up first go round and hit the ball lefty got on 3rd base and was so darn sweet because he was running his little heart out but little did he know he was the last batter and everyone else was running off the field already, he was so cute I couldn't stand it. But 2nd up to bat he got up and hit the ball righty and did the same thing. Seriously it was adorable he was trying so hard I really felt kinda bad for him because he never got a chance to score a run but he really didn't seem to notice LOL. Anyway because of his switching it up mid game the coach was impressed and said he has never seen that before in tee ball LOL and decided he deserved the game ball. Funny thing is I don't think he meant to, we have been practicing both with him so he's not sure which way to hit at this point LOL. But they both did a great job and it was fun watching all the little guys out there.

I had a productive day today and got my teeth cleaned and a haircut hehe. I am HORRIBLE about doing both shockingly just about worse on getting my haircut...but I finally went somewhere good and got it cut...nothing brave or funky but did get a few layers. My hair is ridiculously thin and fine, like abnormally thin LOL so I can't do a whole heck of a lot...and anyone who knows me knows I don't do a whole heck of a lot with it anyway soooo it needs to be VERY low maintenance. So it's good it's cute and it looks better.

Happy Tuesday!

Scroll on down...

Darn if I didn't have these on the computer earlier so they are showing before the post they pertain to but whatever...

The serious lightage shining on the Centennial...the mist is from the serious sprinklers...
R and R chatting and ignoring me lol... Me...being a goob... Completely out of focus but considering it was propped up with Robert's shirt on the wet sidewalk not too bad LOL. Very lit up Centennial Serious lights and serious sprinklers....others thought it was a good idea to romp thru them...I considered it for oh about .763 seconds and opted for a big fat no thank you.

New do....

Thought I would freshen things up around here :)

House of Whine

Not TOO bad but that's what I am hearing right now from Gavin and a few minutes ago from Zachary...THE whiners of the family.
So here is a Zachary funny from the other day....After baseball practice we were talking to them about how they did etc etc. Jakeb says he wants to play soccer and Zachary chimes in "YEAH SOCCER, SOCCER!" I said "yeah soccer is a lot of running" and Zachary without missing a beat says...."Noooooo, soccer." Maybe it was a "had to be there" but Zachary isn't a runner, isn't fast and doesn't like to so it was funny to hear him say that.
It's getting closer to fall and I am mighty excited! My two favorite seasons are spring and fall. Robert and I's 7 year anniversary is fast approaching as well...October 20th. A perfect fall day it was. Perfect leaves, perfect weather, perfect for an outdoor wedding like we had.
We have had a pretty good weekend, gotta love a long weekend! Saturday night the boysies stayed with the IL's and we went to Robert's friends wedding downtown. After that we met up with another friend of his and had desert and drinks at Tin Angel--I had a French Martini or 2, never had it but it was yum! Then we headed over to Centennial park and pretended we were like the other "free spirited" college kids wandering the park after closing. We stayed until police told us it was closed and time to leave LOL. It was actually kinda funny because Robert spent half the time worried our van was going to get towed. I spent 75% of the time taking pictures in the dark and Ryan laughed at both of us I guess LOL. No really we had a great time just hanging out and talking and we should definitely do it more often. And for future reference for anyone downtown and not wanting to bar hop the park closes at 11pm and is lit like crazy by the centennial...we didn't get kicked out til 12:30. Nice to sit and chill.
Sunday we seriously sat and played the wii almost all day...taking turns and fighting over whose turn it was LOL. We by some freak chance snagged a copy of Mario Cart....love that game!!
And today just about more of the same with some cleaning going on as well. We have had a really nice weekend actually. A lot of nothing and it's been wonderful. The house has been cleaned calmly and we are just hanging out. Robert and I go thru spells of getting along awesome and getting on each others nerves and right now we are getting along better than awesome LOL. Not that we are ever big fighters cause we aren't at all but we for sure annoy each other at times. I know your probably surprised to hear that I can be annoying but it's true.

Happy Labor Day!

The Little simple things...

My friend Jen and I, went to lunch yesterday (at Moe's of course) and I personally had a great time. It's been a long time since I have gone alone to a meal with just one friend. And there is something nice about being able to just sit and chit chat with one person...now don't get me wrong I love our groupy night outs, LOVE them but it's nice to be able to get one on one from time to time. Plus J and I can carry on some good convo's. So we chatted for a couple hours or so and enjoyed the hot but not too hot day on the patio at Moe's (which btw has margarita's but since we had to do the kid pick up thing--we could not par-take boo). Right so as we were leaving I commented about the decent breeze and then started going on about how I LOVE the wind, love the breeze rushing around my face, picking my hair up and just blowing around me. It's one of the best feelings to me. Love opening the door and getting hit with an awesome blast of air. So that's a normal thing to like I guess but I think my liking is a bit stronger than normal, so I started on about the other weird little things I like. Little things and I wonder if other people have those same random little simple things they like...I image they do but just don't even realize it. For example...I love the sound of gravel crunching under my feet, especially if I have on tennies. And not just regular gravel a quite specific type...the smaller crunchier stuff. The sound of leaves crunching. I like the sound of the vacuum sucking up dirt the sound of it rattling thru the hose. I like to sit with a blanket snuggle up to my face and have done this since I was a kid. and a random thing I don't like...I can't stand the way paper towels or napkins sound when you rip them. I love being able to walk around barefoot. I love sitting here in my office listening to the crickets and frogs out in the woods behind our house. The window up here is open nearly 24/7 and at night it's all I hear is their "song" and it really is. It's weird listening to it actually because it really does have rythm and I wonder what it means. Each chirp...or course at times it's just about annoying. I guess my point is that I am glad that despite how busy I feel and stressed I am that I can stop and say that I have at least noticed these little random things about myself and my "world"...these off the wall little tiny simple things that are in my daily life that many times would go unnoticed, but I noticed.
Now of course the big stuff is what I don't notice...like the car in the driveway, maybe I need to broaden my thinking or something.
But yeah anyway...

Die Fly

Die. So I really started this out planning to go on about my family and how lucky I am to have such a fabulous one etc etc. I even typed out the first sentence. But there is a blasted fly doing laps around my head and I can't concentrate on a single thing, so instead I must rant. I can't catch the damn thing because it won't land...it just keeps flying past my head and my monitor. We have an ungodly number of flies in this area for some reason and they dive bomb our back door the second it is open. Last year I didnt' sweat it because the cats dismantled them quite quickly but this year I think the job is just too large for them to handle it. The number I believe has quadrupled. and OMG.I am going to scream the thing had the balls to land on my head! AGH. I hate flies, hate them. It's all fun and games until someone gets smashed...and I can bet it won't be me. Of course if this thing doesn't stop I might just have to. It apparently doesn't realize that messing with my nightly computer time is some serious stuff...addicts kill for a fix. And as addressed previously...

ETA UPDATE: It is with great pleasure that I report that blasted fly met with the 4x6 post it note pad and the wall at 8:54pm this evening. Carry on...

AND also to add that this is post #100!