Tuesday Twelve-ish

Been "quiet" around here...sorry bout that!

1. We spent the better part of this morning/afternoon with my grandfather. The boys love going to "Pappy's House" and it's always nice to visit with him.

2. Zachary is digging his golf clinic that he is going to, it's pretty cute seeing all the 4 & 5 year olds out there.

3. I just called an canceled my Gap Card (and don't tell but I MAY have canceled 1 or 2 others as well....but that's IF we had that many cards....). I have cut them up but that has proved to not be quite enough for my self control...especially since Gap lets you save your card online haha....bad, bad.

4. I am never having surgery again....I can't keep the blasted Dr. bills straight. I don't know why they can't make it easier on the patient and let it be paid into ONE account that the appropriate Dr. then gets paid from...instead *I* get 6 bills...from the anesthesia Dr, the hospital, the surgery dr., the drs, dr...etc etc. It's insane!

5. Speaking of I need to call and make a follow up...it's still rather strange having no feeling in various places of the left side of my face. I am guessing that's somewhat normal and it takes a while for my nerves to reconnect....guessing or hoping.

6. Shamefully I have NOT been to the gym in well over a month...and um yeah let's just say I look mighty cute in my dresses lately because I am afraid to even attempt to put on the shorts.

7. Robert and I bought lots of yummy food this past weekend and are actually enjoying cooking some different meals like THIS one and I cannot WAIT to do try THIS one.

8. I just updated my Lilac Hill Photography website...check it out. Lots of new faces!

9. Jakeb goes back to school in 2 weeks...he actually said today he's ready to go back.

10. Zachary is super stoked to go and I know it will be awesome for him to start. He really really needs the activity of it. I however am not sure how I feel about him being that old already!

11. I can't believe the amount of rain we are getting in July!

12. I got a tattoo while we were in Texas....if you haven't seen it yet it's HERE. Is it bad I still haven't told my Dad...at nearly 30 years old and I am afraid to tell him....sad. 5 dots...for us my bestest Jen helped me come up with it. I love it and yes it hurt...no I didn't cry...or even tear up, but then again it did take less than 5 minutes.

13. I have lots of pictures I need to get smacked up here..I will...eventually.

Sassitude

When Robert and I began this parenting venture going on 8 years ago, I know we both didn't envision letting our kids run wild and be utterly disrespectful. And up until recently I was thinking we were right on track the kids were relatively polite and respectful. However it's come to my attention that they are growing increasingly LESS polite and respectful....they are turning into wild, unruly, disrespectful, embarrassed to go into public with children.
Today was the last straw for me....picture this: Me on the phone with the bank over a $260 charge that has been taken out of our personal checking account that is 110% not ours...me trying to walk to a quieter portion of the house because the 2 older boys are getting loud, while walking away I am waving my hand at them to hush. 10 seconds later Jakeb walks into my room LOUDLY saying "MOMMY, MOMMY, EXCUSE ME, MOMMY!" I shoot him a shut-up look and shove him out of my room....5 seconds later I hear a very loud slap on bare skin....1/2 a second later I hear Zachary scream as loud as he possibly can...and then Jakeb start yelling that he didn't mean to hit him that hard and that he hit him first...2 seconds later Zachary starts trying to come into the room crying loudly. At this point my blood is boiling. I quickly get off the phone with the woman and apologize. Miraculously do not flip out on the children but instead snatch their little arms and march them to their rooms where they have been sitting for the past hour. I am STILL furious with them for that behavior.
I get that kids fight and kids get rowdy but that doesn't make it ok. Jakeb gets 2 pts for saying Excuse Me...but then looses 3 for yelling it at me while on the phone...and looses more than I can count for smacking his brother. So I call my mother to vent and bitch about their behavior. Come to the conclusion that I need to seriously stick to what I say and follow thru. Zachary yesterday got on the phone with a friend of mine...this friends children are VERY well behaved and polite. Before Zachary got on the phone I listened to her 7 year old speak so politely to his mother..."Yes mam, no mam, thank you" etc. And then Zachary gets on and the first thing he yells into the phone at her is "PEACE OUT, YO!" Are you kidding me!?! Yes that's my child...nice. So it's on...seriously I am done with the disrespect.
What's bad is after I got off the phone with my mother I sat down and was watching a show on Disney with sassy, rude, disrespectful children....first off I felt like my parents for thinking that because I remember my dad saying the same things about sitcoms. and secondly I see SO many kids like that....just down right rude. No I don't think TV is to blame but TV in combination with no discipline or discussions about the behavior= a bad result. So with that being said we are officially onto Behavior Reform. Wish me luck Jakeb shouldn't be too hard to steer straight...but Zman aka wild child aka Monkey Man....um yeah not so easy. And I won't even mention Gavin.

Oh right....

I was supposed to be "reporting" in on the daily eating choices I made. Right so Friday we went out of town--to visit my bestest in Dallas LOTS of fun--obviously we ate out all weekend. Monday I am thinking we were good...yep yes we were Wow. Yesterday just Pizza at lunch. So I guess not too shabby.

Finances...

So as previously posted Robert and I are working on a budget and trying to stick with it...(though over the years we have learned we aren't so good at that...but we do keep trying..). So there have been many conversations about it lately and apparently little pitchers DO have big ears...and they often over flow at the mouth. Today at Target Jakeb asked me how I was paying "for all this stuff!" I told him with money of course--after all it IS payday. And then got a semi lecture from him about the things I was buying that were NOT on the list as well as him asking me if I was putting it on a credit card. Robert and I were not so smart with credit cards in college and are still paying for it so he's gotten the "credit cards are horrible" speech. So right, we get up to the register and I am unloading all the stuff and hear Jakeb talking to the cashier..."So we don't have any money because went on vacation and we spent it all and we had to put things on a credit card" UM Shut up, boy!
Firstly while we did spend money on vacation that we didn't really need to spend we didn't put anything on a credit card (I am assuming he is confusing the debit card) and secondly it's not his business and certainly not the poor cashier at Target who wasn't sure how to respond LOL. As I checked out I laughed and said um yeah this is my debit card not my credit card and explained to her that he recently has gotten a credit cards are bad speech. She was slightly shocked...and it was then that I realized Jakeb is at that age. The age when some kids begin walking up to strangers and start telling them their life story. I have never been a big fan of those kids because they leave me feeling just like that poor cashier today...slightly chuckling saying uh yeah ok, not sure how to respond to the kid...however today I realized *I* have one of those kids. I hope he doesn't tell everything to his 2nd grade teacher....this past weekend he told my mother-in-law I said she was crazy. Yes someone needs to learn how to keep a secret (though I am virtually positive I did NOT say my mother-in-law was crazy).

Wordless Wednesday...

Well wordless as I can be...which isn't much...pictures from our trip...
DC fireworks...


Iwo Jima Memorial..

Women in War Memorial...

Changing of the guard..
classic...tired kids...Robert on his crackberry...


That dot in the back is the White House...
Lincoln Memorial...across reflecting pool




Jefferson Memorial

FDR Memorial

Not a fan of the sand...



My view...


Did I mention it's SUPER crowded??


Burying ZMan in a hole...

Eh...yeah

So I got Sonic today at lunch....I know, I know I JUST ranted about this...but we were gone ALL day long....I had to eat I could have packed a lunch but seriously who wants a PB&J that's sat in the car all day. Right so anyway....Sonic Cheeseburger, fries, and did you know you get a FREE route 44 upgrade if you get a combo?! *hanging head in shame*......

Tuesday 12

And we're off...

1. I can't believe summer is coming to an end so quickly! Jakeb starts school August 10th...less than a month away!

2. I also can't believe Zachario is starting school...as the day approaches I get more nervous for him than I thought I would be....though I know he will do AWESOME.

3. Did I mention we had a fabulous time on our vacation?

4. We are heading to Dallas for the weekend on Friday to visit my friend Jen and her husband, Jason. I cannot wait....I am so stoked. But am, as usual, nervous about leaving the boys...though it's only 2 nights.

5. Next week our friends kiddo's are coming to stay for a few days...the kids are super stoked. They moved to NC last summer and Jakeb misses his "first best friend" a lot.

6. Robert and I are working on sticking to a budget and it's terribly difficult. We like eating out A LOT. But it's killing us financially and we have to get some discipline and now.

7. Have I mentioned that discipline aka self control is not my strong point? Makes it extra hard...I ate 2 meals out today. Not a good start.

8. Maybe I should hold my self accountable here...I will...in fact that's a glorious idea...from here on out I am blogging our meals...home or out...it's here. I can see it. I am on here every.single.night. I have time to quickly post if I managed to stay on the wagon for the day or not.

9. Robert claims that my biggest "Achilles heal" is that I crave Dr. Pepper and that causes me to want to grab food on the go...this MAY be true but I still refuse to buy it for the house...again no self control I would drink it ALL day. Plus I am goofy and don't even like people seeing me buy it in the grocery store LOL...yes I am weird.

10. I did shuck, blanch, and freeze some corn on the cob the other day...I really don't mind cooking it's just getting started that I have issues with....that and I want someone else to do it for me.

11. The kitten has now chosen Zachary's bed to pee on...she's not off to a good start...

12. I am virtually positive she just went upstairs...so gotta go.....darn cat!

Home again...

Our trip to VA Beach and Washington DC went marvelous. The kids trouped around with us dragging them all over DC with minimal complaining. All 3 fell asleep on the Metro on the way home from the 4th festivities...sweet boys LOVED the fireworks and were SO excited to get there. We really had a great time, the beach in VA was PACKEd with people. I have never been to a more commercial beach in my life..nor a beach so crowded it was crazy. But the kids had a blast on the beach. The waves were wild, and they could only handle going in just a ways before we had to keep life jackets on them. 2 big scary moments while were there...1st was Zachary getting into water over his head, I was right next to him so I jumped over to grab him. Grabbed him and went to put my foot down to walk out of the water and realized *I* couldn't touch...talk about scary since the waves and current were nuts. I had a brief moment of panic and then realized I was back to were I could touch. Because of the rip tide there was a small area that got quite deep right on the edge of the beach...it went from my knees to over my head very quickly. I can swim but not well enough, plus trying to hold on to Zachary. Yikes. I watched other kids get close to that area for a bit and then let the life guard know that it dropped like that...I would hate for something to happen and me not say anything! So all was well and the boys stayed in life jackets from then on out!

The following day we got down to the beach and got situated...Robert ran out to the water and I was putting more sunscreen on Zman. Jakeb starts dancing around saying he has to go potty (yes POTTY) I told him hold on a sec and he gets panicked and says he can't. Robert is in the water so I can't just run off and leave so I yell for him and hand Jakeb the key and tell him to get a head start I am right behind him (we were RIGHT out from our hotel)...I could see him the entire way and I ran behind him before he was even off the beach. I ran into the hotel and no Jakeb...asked the receptionist and she didnt' see him come thru. Told her if she saw him to tell him to wait for me there. Ran up to our room...no Jakeb. Back downstairs...No Jakeb. Not panicking yet start asking around no one has seen him. Check the downstairs bathrooms...no Jakeb. By this point everyoneworking in the hotel is looking for him...parents that were in the lobby are looking for him. I walk out to see if he went back to Robert on the beach...dont' see him. Apparently instead of walking in the hotel lobby he walked into the garage (the doors to the hotel is right by the garage) because he got scared. Then when I walked into the hotel he walked back out to find Robert...but couldn't. THANK GOD Zachary looked up and saw him running down the beach. Robert then asked him were I was and saw me looking for him so he sent Jakeb back to the hotel to get me...but a hotel worker stopped him and brought him to me who had walked back into the hotel. Which freaked Robert out because he didn't know who grabbed him LOL. All ended well but everyone got freaked out. And more talking about what to do when you are lost started....because instead of telling someone he couldnt' find us he took off down the beach trying to find us! Yikes! And I must say that the Hampton Inn staff was amazing and seriously hopped to trying to find him...all of them on their walkie talkies all over looking for him.

Now despite those 2 scary events...we really had a great time! I think it was one of our more fun trips, it was great. We got to see lots of seriously cool things in DC...I mean seriously July 4th in our Nations capital! Monuments and memorials and the Smithsonian. Very. Very. Cool. The boys had their first experience with public transportation, they thought that was cool. We got some lounge time on the beach and had a blast giggling and laughing as the waves knocked us down...I managed to get body slammed into the sand at one point..YOWCH! But it was dang funny LOL. Overall a great trip...I have TONS...I mean TONS of photos. I am sure I will get some posted up in a few days :)

Look whose growing...

If you recall Gavin turned 3 in May, and to be fair I of course had to get some pictures for the event! So today was his day...with this gorgeous weather I snagged the opportunity to snap some pictures of Mr. Stink Pot...he did perfectly well and was quite the model. See for yourself...seriously tell me he's not A-dorable...



Ok I will stop here....there are more on the Lilac Hill Blog as well...

Tuesday 12, 13, 14....

I never seem to keep it under 12 so we will just see how far I get and promise not to get TOO carried away....

1. Gavin is on a food strike lately....drives me bonkers. Until about 12:45 today all he had eaten was 3 bites of a blueberry muffin, healthy.

2. Jakeb and Zachary are w-i-l-d lately.

3. We are trying to plan another "vacation" for this next week....Robert has a trip to Virginia Beach and are tagging along, he only works 2 of the days and we are going for 5.

4. We are pondering going up early and spending July 4th in DC...if we can manage the travel....currently reservations have been made but we'll see.

5. The boys seriously thought we could bring the new kitten with us and Zachary nearly burst into tears when I told him that was impossible.

6. After this week Zman is done with camps for the summer....he did 2 camps at the Discovery Center...Dinosaurs 2 weeks ago and this week is at Bitty Bug camp. He has enjoyed them but the driving back and forth has gotten old.

7. Jakeb had Art camp last week and loved it...he has another Mid-July. Crocodile Hunter!

8. We have been cleaning and moving things around in the house...it will tide me over for a while, things are a lot less cluttered...makes me happy!

9. Somehow I managed to leave BOTH my sunglasses and my cell phone in the store today...neither of which I realized leaving at the same time...which required 2 trips back to collect them. Lovely.

10. The cool front we are having is awesome....seriously.

11. I have been supremely lazy lately....like I haven't even had a shower today.

12. Yet I did give both dogs baths yesterday...go figure.

13. Gavin is refusing to sleep and it's infuriating me...so I am stalling...

14. Is it Friday yet?

Pet Review....

So we have been thru quite a few pets over the years....our one true loyal whose been here from the beginning...my very first "on my own" pet. Bailey aka Baydog. Bailey is fast approaching 9 years old and has gotten grey faced over the past year or so. I still oddly remember the date I got Bailey...January 17th 2001. From the "pound"...he was the cutest puppy EVER...with a little lightening bold bent tip on his tail I just knew he was perfect...and he has been...for the most part.
After getting Bailey we were told of someone trying to get rid of their "beagle mix" so we took him in and ended up with "Tucker". He was about 4 years old when we got him, and a bit ornery. Our favorite thing about Tucker was the howling he would do when he would scratch his back on the floor...he would moan and howl with happiness LOL. Tucker disappeared sometime in 2005. About that time we also somehow ended up with Zoey the cat....Zoey the cat's stay at our house was short lived and she soon got to move in with my Mom.
After Tucker's disappearance we adopted a Lab/Rottweiler mix pup from a kid in the neighborhood...we named her Nia. And she was cute as any puppy could be...Nia's story however is quite sad. One day I hoped in the car heading out to get her some puppy food...kicked it in reverse and had no clue she was under the tire sleeping. You get the gist of the story...I was devastated and horrified, cried for days.
So after our brief stint with Nia and Zoey we were back with just Baydog...again we--er I--decided he needed a buddy. So off to the pound we went again...this time we came home with an adorable white pup. Said white puppy became Brody, and upon our first trip to the pet store we were told "Oh that looks just like a great Dane puppy!" Sure enough Brody soon became a quite large puppy! At our old house we had a giant yard and he was happy as could be. When we moved to this house our yard and house just got too small for both Brody and Bailey. We struggled with the decision to find a new home for Brody and then bit the bullet and did it. It was awful honestly and the boys still say they miss Brody, now 3 years later. He was a sweet, sweet dog but just so darn big. Shortly before getting rid of Brody we got Izzy kitty. She is the best cat ever, seriously.
Hmmm where next....oh yes Catty. Yes she was a cat. We got her in September of 2006 and she was Izzy's half sister, we also "fostered" 3 of her siblings as well and found homes for them. As previously read Catty got sick recently and had to be put to sleep.
We did try out another 6 month old puppy. This craigslist puppy was definitely not for us. Her name was Lilly and was supposedly a beagle/Dalmatian mix...who LOVED to terrify my cats and poop on the floor. This puppy lasted less than a week before I took her back to her owners.
We have heard numerous stories of the newest dog addition...Maddie the Boxer. She's wild, she's crazy, she drives me nuts, but she's the sweetest girl ever. She chews and chews and jumps and bounces and one day may dive thru my sliding glass door...but has a face that cracks me up daily.
AND the newest addition...Rose. A 10wk-ish black fuzz ball of a kitten. She's already been threatened to be evicted for pee'ing on our bed...MY bed, my duvet AND duvet cover, not once, but FOUR+ times. But the boys are crazy about her...so yes we are nuts. And Izzy isn't pleased at all. Not at all. So if you have kept count to who is left...that's 4 pets. 2 dogs, 2 cats. Bailey the Original, Maddie the Spazz, Izzy the Watch Cat, Rose the Fuzzy Pisser. Yes it's a zoo thankfully we have a decent sized house and a fenced yard. I vacuum like crazy and manage to keep the fur from flying fairly well.

Poor quality...I pulled into the garage to this...crazy dog sticks her head thru the cat door...

Conversations...

Wanted to blog these before I forget...this past weekend as we were riding in the car to a friends house. I was telling Jakeb and Zachary that both of my friends we were visiting have babies and we need to behave and be gentle etc. Which of course brought on THE question from Jakeb, "How DO babies get in tummy's anyway?" cough*um*well*chuckle*cough*...now he has asked this before and I have dodged it quite well, answering with things like well a mommy and daddy love each other or well they are there to grow etc. And that worked just fine...this time nope...The whole when a "Mommy and Daddy love each other" line didn't work...he again said well no "How do they get there then..." and then said..."do they Mommy's eat a special food or something?" I love it, love the innocence still there. Robert then said well we'll talk about IT later...gah! "No, no we can talk about it now" I said. And then remembered what a fellow blogger had told her son...and went for it..."well when Mommy's and Daddy's love each other and they hug and kiss and stuff...and hey look out there at that cool tree..." Crisis averted, innocence saved...didn't even have to say the S-E-X word. Whew...yes we shelter in this house LOL. After all he's only SEVEN...and his brothers were in the car...we have plenty of time for the REAL conversation.
Then yesterday I was out laying by the "pool" (you saw pictures of this pool)...the boys and I were chit chatting and Jakeb blurts out..."You have wrinkles...wrinkles right here" (and points around his mouth). I said gee thanks, that's great. Zachary jumped to my defense after a quick study of my face and proclaimed "No she doesn't!" so they then are back and forth as to whether or not I do actually have wrinkles. Nice. I did let Jakeb know that's not really something people want to here and we left it at that. BUT not 30 min later, Zachary and I are sitting on the chair and he is smacking my thigh...and then annouces..."Hey look, I can make waves on your leg!" Lovely...so I have wrinkles and wavy legs...aka flabby. Joy of joys.

KaraTAY!

This past as well as the last...and quite possibly the one following are picture catch up posts....
So without further ado, I bring you the "Karate" post. The past week both Jakeb and Zachary tested for new belts at karate...both are doing VERY well and we are so very proud of them. Jakeb moved up to solid orange belt and Zachary is up to orange stripe. The difference is because of their age. So here ya go...

Jakeb...he is in the center closest to Sensei Taylor...


Orange Belt!


Zachary...practicing before with Jakeb


Doing his Kata...

Getting new belt


And Zachary with his very best friend Caroline...