10 Days of Dry Diapers

It's been 6 days so far and we're very proud of him.
Ryan really wants to wear underwear to bed. He doesn't like having to put on pull-ups at night-time, but I wasn't sure if he was ready yet. He's been potty-trained during the day since about March of this year, but as moms know, just because they can do it during the day, it doesn't mean they're ready to wear underwear at night too.

But the last couple of weeks, he's been asking to wear his underwear. So we made this chart - I told him if he can go 10 straight nights and wake up with a dry Pull-Up, then he can wear his undies to bed. He's so excited. Every morning, he wakes up and lets us know his diaper is dry, and he gets to put a sticker on his chart. So far, he has completed 6 days straight and we are all very proud of him. Only 4 more days and hopefully he'll be wearing big boy pants to sleep in!

"I Need My Sleep"

Ryan has been in a bad habit of waking me up every single night, anytime between 11pm and 5am. I will hear his little feet padding through the kitchen and into my room, then he'll climb up into my bed. I'm a light sleeper, so all this wakes me up. When he climbs up, I'll move over for him and tell him "1 minute, ok?" He's fine with that. He only wants to lay there for a minute, then we'll get up, he'll get a small drink of water, then go back to bed. 99% of the time, he doesn't get up again until morning.

While it's sweet to have him lay with me for a minute, it's also exhausting. I really want to sleep all the way through the night. So last night as I was putting Ryan to bed, I told him that I really wanted to sleep and asked him not to wake me up. He insisted "just one minute." I told him no and argued back that I really want to sleep all night. I don't want to be woken up; I'm really really tired and need to sleep. Again, he insisted that he wanted to wake me up so he could lay with me for one minute. I'm sorry, but even though that's sweet, I'm desperate for a full night sleep. So I told him one more time "Ryan, please do not wake me up. Mommy's tired and I really need my sleep. We can hang out in the morning." Finally, he gave in to my pleading - he threw his head back, rolled his eyes, and said "Ah-wight! I won't!"

It was so cute. He loves me so much that he's willing to give up something he loves so much. I think that's so sweet. :) And to top it all off - he didn't wake me up. He let me sleep all night long. And he knew it too because first thing this morning, he ran into the kitchen, looked up at me with those big blue eyes, and with great excitement, he said "Mommy, me not wake you up!"

A Day of Firsts

First Progress Report:
Every 3 weeks JD is supposed to get a progress report so we know how he's doing in school. We got his first one today. His FIRST PROGRESS REPORT EVER! I guess I'm pretty nerdy because I get excited about stuff like that. Overall, he's had a great start. He received "Satisfactory" marks in Writing, Counting to 20, and Work Habits. He also received a "Satisfactory" rating in Conduct. Of course, he takes after his Mom! :-P

First Spanish Book:
JD's class has a daily rotation called Specials. Three of the five days, his class has PE, one day they have computer class, and the other day they go to the library. Today was library day. We always like library day because that means we have a new book to read before bed at night. So when I got home tonight,, I pulled the book out of his bag, and saw that he got a book by Jonathan London called "Froggy Se Viste," which I'm sure is a great book . . . in Spanish. Bummer. No new book to read tonight.

B-B-B-Birthday Week(end)

Why do we get only 1 day to celebrate our birthdays? I think we should get a week. Well, I'll settle for a birthday weekend. My pals at work kicked off my birthday weekend today with a really pretty (and scrumptiously delicious) chocolate cake.

Tomorrow I'm taking the day off work - I'm going to work out, get a pedicure, and maybe even do a little shopping. Then I'm picking up Ryan, we're heading back to the house and waiting for Bud and JD. Then we're taking the boys to Nanie & Bada's to spend the night while we go out for a night on the town. Or dinner. And a movie? Not sure what Bud's got planned, but whatever it is, it involves sleeping in. Yay!

This Little Light of Mine

Do you remember that song from Sunday School or Vacation Bible School? The one where you hold up your pointer finger and move it around, singing about keeping the light of God's Word in your heart. Well, the boys love that song, especially Ryan. I have it on a Veggietales CD and Ryan likes me to put the song on, hold up our "lights" and sing out loud. But it's really cute because he doesn't hold up his pointer finger. . . . he uses his thumb.

Papa's New Hobby -- Trains!

My dad ("Papa" as he's known to the grandkids) has gotten himself a new hobby. And it's a very cool one. He has decided to build a model train set - complete with all the life-like scenery. So far he's just got the track glued down to the plywood, but that's step 1 and it's done.

Bud and I took the boys to his house yesterday so they could check out the train. The boys really liked it - but I think Bud liked it the most. Him and my dad just couldn't get enough. It was really cool watching how excited they were about it all. . . . like little kids in a candy shop.

Papa taught the boys how to line the train up on the track, and he also let them be the conductor - they got to control when it stopped and started, and how fast it went. JD loved doing that.

They both just watched that train go around and around on the track. I think the boys are gonna love going over there and seeing how the train model set progresses. I think they'll look forward to seeing what has changed each time we go visit. And to tell you the truth --- I can't wait to see the progress myself! It makes me so happy to see my dad this excited about something again. :)

My dad decided to do this because he had a train back when he was a little guy. His dad (Papa Jack) bought him one, but since they're so expensive and he didn't want it broken, my dad wasn't really allowed to play with it. So my dad decided to build one now because he remembered how much he liked having that train with his dad, and wanted to be able to do the same thing now.

Goodbye Red Truck

Yesterday we sold Bud's red truck - a 2006 Chevy 1500. In October, we would have had it 2 years, which is actually above average for the length of time Bud usually holds on to a vehicle. He changes vehicles almost as often as he changes his underwear. I can't even count how many he's had since we got married 10 years ago.

But anyway,he wanted to sell it since he doesn't drive it much anymore. Since he got his little gas-saver Civic in May, he's only used his truck to hog hunt 2 or 3 times a month. So it was just sitting there and we were making payments . . . . on a hunting truck! Needless to say, it made sense to sell it, and he did - yesterday to a 16-year-old kid who was ready for something reliable. He'd been driving a jacked-up Dodge diesel that he bought at a used car dealership, and it had left him stranded a couple of times. Given our history with diesels, we know how expensive it is to repair and maintain them, so we know what he's going through.

We put an ad on Craigslist about 2 weeks ago, then reposted it on Wednesday night last week. On Thursday, this young boy and his mom contacted Bud. They set an appointment to meet up on Saturday morning. We met at the bank, he test drove it through the parking lot, and liked it. So we went inside, he paid off the loan, and that was it. It went so smoothly, I know it was meant to be. Now we're relieved of about $400 in payments and insurance! Maybe I'll get something new next year sometime. We shall see.

Sleep Training Flashbacks! AGH!

Last night was NOT a good night. I had serious flashbacks to when Ryan was a baby and didn't sleep through the night -- would lay in bed and scream and cry for hours.

About 4-5 times a week, it's typical for Ryan to come in my room at some point during the night - he wants to lay down with me for 1 minute, then he wants a drink from the kitchen, sometimes goes potty, then back to bed. It's about a 5-minute routine, which isn't too bad honestly. I know some families whose children crawl in bed with them every single night, or won't go to sleep unless they're in the same bed, or won't go to sleep unless mom/dad lay with them until they fall asleep.

Bud and I have been very diligent in our sleep training, starting back with JD. We firmly believe that the kids should have a good bedtime routine and should sleep and stay in their own beds. Of course, when there are special circumstances (ie. sick or thunderstorm that wakes them up) when they can sleep with us. When I'm out of town for work, JD sleeps with Bud. But we make it very clear that it's a special situation and won't happen each night. They're ok with that.

Last night was different though. As usual, Ryan came in the room around 2:20am - I let him lay with me for a minute. While we were laying there, he said he needed to go potty, so I walked him to the bathroom. I should have known something was up when he didn't want to stop for a drink in the kitchen. After he went potty, he said he wanted to go back to my room and lay with me for a minute. I said "no, we already did that." And then it was on......he started crying and no matter what I said, he wasn't accepting "no" for an answer. I started getting angry because he would not go back to his bed. I finally carried him to his bed and by this time he is all-out wailing! I was afraid he was going to wake up JD, but instead he woke up Daddy. Bad idea! Of all people, Daddy doesn't like to be woken up in the middle of the night. So Bud came in Ryan's room and took over for me. (Thankfully.) He tried talking to Ryan, then commanded him to lay down in his bed and stop screaming, then gave him a few spankings. Nothing worked. After about 10 minutes, Bud finally had to walk out of the room.

We went back to bed, but couldn't sleep because Ryan kept crying/screaming. I finally got up and shut our bedroom door, hoping to block out some of the noise. It helped a little. The crying/screaming went on for almost 45 minutes! That's when I started praying that God would give Ryan some peace, that He would show his presence in Ryan's room so he would be comforted and could go back to sleep. I'm not kidding, almost instantly, Ryan got quiet. Thank you God!!!

As a side note, Ryan picked a really bad night to do this. I've been battling sinuses/allergies right now so I haven't been sleeping well anyway. I've also been really stressed at work, so alot is on my mind. I even had one of those 2am-sit-up-straight-in-bed-ah-ha moments last night where I realized I'd made a mistake on a file at work. I laid there trying to figure out how I was going to handle it. About 20 minutes later is when Ryan came in. Then by the time the entire ordeal was over, it was about 3:30. Needless to say, I didn't get much sleep.

My Mom & Dad

At Timothy's birthday party a couple weeks ago, Kelli and I stole a few moments with our parents and took some pictures. We don't seem to have many pictures together, and since we had them both there, it seemed like a great time to update the scrapbooks!

All throughout our childhood, everyone told us that I looked like our dad, and Kelli looked like our Mom. Now I see pictures of myself and can see my Mom. I think I'm starting to look more like her as I get older. I think she's still very pretty, so I'll take it as a compliment. :)

A Fire in Our Neck of the Woods

Friday, September 9th was an interesting day. I was flying home from California, Bud was at work, Ryan was at Nanie's, and JD was at school. As I was boarding my flight from Sacramento to Las Vegas, I saw on Facebook that there was a fire on Hwy 211 near Potranco. My immediate thought was about JD - his school is on Potranco. It's a few miles from 211, but I know how quickly those fires can spread. There's been a fire burning near Austin in Bastrop for over a week now and it's burned up thousands of acres and more than 1,700 homes. One family had only 10 minutes from the time the sheriff showed up and told them to evacuate to the time that they lost their home.

So knowing that, I started getting nervous. I called Bud, but he didn't answer the first time. I sent him a text, but he almost never responds to texts. I just kept watching Facebook to get my updates from friends. Finally, as the flight attendants were telling us to turn off our phones, Bud answered. He said that he was already "on it." I had to trust everything was going to be ok. I said a quick prayer, turned off my phone and sat tight through the 1-hour flight to Las Vegas. As soon as we landed, I saw on Facebook that the fire was still burning, so I called Bud. He said that JD's after-school care program was being evacuated to Medina Valley HS. Bud couldn't get a hold of his mom - she wasn't answering either phone, but he was able to reach his dad, and he was on his way to pick up JD from school.

I learned later that Chester turned on his strobe lights and drove "very quickly" to get to JD's school. People thought he was responding to an emergency, so they were moving out of his way. He got to JD's school just in the knick of time. . . .the kids were getting on the bus. Apparently there's a rule that says once a child is on the bus, he/she isn't allowed off until their final destination. Luckily, JD hadn't gotten on the bus yet, so Chester grabbed him and off they went, away from the school and the threatening fire.

The fire burned all afternoon and into the evening. By the time my plane landed and I drove by 211 on Hwy 90 around 11:30pm, it seemed the fire had been extinguished for the most part. The air still smelled of smoke and ash, but I didn't see any billowing smoke or orange glow.

This has been such a hot and dry summer. We've had many many days over 100 degrees, and haven't had a good downpour since last Fall. It's been miserable, and the dry conditions are a perfect breeding ground for wildfires. Hopefully we won't have any other close calls like that.

Here is a picture that was on Facebook, taken by my friend Lance Bippert from his house off Hwy 90.

This is a picture from Saturday morning - the boys and I drove by the spot that was on fire.

Another picture of the area that burned.

In CA and Missing Out in TX

I am spending this week in Northern California making agency visits - my usual quarterly visit to the territory for which I'm responsible in my underwriting position. Traveling is fine once I'm here, but it's such an inconvenience in life's daily routine. My days here are very long, waking up early to check email, walking around (in heels) visiting agents all day, then staying up late checking more emails and logging sales calls. While I don't have to do any cooking or cleaning, I spend a lot of hours working. All of this is fine, but the biggest interruption is missing Bud and the boys. And today. . . . after more than 2 weeks in school . . . today is the day JD brought home homework for the first time. I wish I was home to take a picture and document his first time doing homework, but I can't because I'm 1,600 miles away.

I also missed Ryan's first day of Mother's Day Out in his 3-year-old class yesterday. It makes me so sad that I didn't get to walk him to class on the first day, take his picture in his new classroom, and meet his teacher. According to Nanie (she dropped him off), he had a great day - went into his room without crying or anything. He was such a big boy, and I wasn't there to experience it.

I really miss my little guys this week. The bright side? In 48 hours, I'll be on a plane heading back home.

Happy 5th Birthday Timothy

We all had such a great time celebrating Timothy's 5th birthday today. He had a bowling party at Bandera Bowl. Just walking in that place brought back some old memories. My very first job ever was at Bandera Bowl. I worked in the nursery when I was 15 - watching lots of children while their parents bowled on leagues. That was a tough job. Sometimes I had almost 20 kids at a time, and sometimes a few of them were infants. I remember freaking out - holding and feeding one baby while trying to calm another crying baby, at the same time watching the older kids climb the shelves in the closet and hoping that no one fell before their parents showed up.

We hung out at lot at Bandera Bowl when I was in high school, so it was kinda cool going back there today. The kids had a great time bowling, eating pizza and cake, and running around being crazy kiddos. Timothy, JD, Ryan, Austin and Addison played on one lane while the big kids played on the other lane. It was really cute watching the kiddos try to muster the strength to roll the ball down the lane. But it was even cuter watching Bud show them how to throw a "granny shot." LOL!

Nice form Timothy!

You should have seen the excitement on JD's face when he knocked down even 1 pin!

Love this shot!

After every shot, Ryan would throw his hand up and yell "Strike!" like an umpire in baseball.

Happy Birthday Timothy! We love you!

My Love/Hate Relationship

. . . with donuts. Ugh! Those little devils. I love them so much that I hate them. I hate that I love them. I kinda wish they hated me. But they don't. They love me as much as I love them.

Almost every Friday my boss brings two dozen to the office. I guess it's his sick and cruel way of ending the week and starting the weekend on a good (bad) note. To top it off, he puts them on the desk next to mine. Why me? Oh yeah, it's the only empty desk in our area. We really should hurry up and hire someone to fill that desk so I don't have to hear those devilish delights scream my name for an ENTIRE DAY!!! I just don't have that much fight in me. It's too much. So much so that I gave in today. Not once (because I usually give in once), but twice. TWICE!!!

The sad part is that I've been working out so hard for the last few weeks, complaining that I can't lose any weight. So what do I do? I lose all my willpower and consume about 1,000 calories of pure holey sugary bliss.

Donuts. Donuts. Donuts.
I love you. I hate you. I love you. I hate you.
Yep. I love you. I do.

Kisses, Hugs & Chocolate Fingerprints

JD is in the middle of his 2nd week of Kinder and he still hasn't gone through the lunch line to buy his lunch. He doesn't want to. I established a lunch account for him, and it has money loaded on it, but he's not sure what to do or how to do it. So I told him to pick a day this week and I'd meet him for lunch and show him how. Of course, he picked Pizza Sticks day. So I headed up there for lunch today. So excited!!

When I got there, he was standing in line crying. He doesn't like their chocolate milk (he says it tastes like coffee) and Mrs. Wilson wouldn't let him bring his water from his backpack. But he quickly got over it once I arrived, and we went through the line. . . got our pizza sticks (which were mozzarella cheese sticks that were breaded and baked), pizza dipping sauce, corn, applesauce and chocolate milk. He paid for his meal using his account, and I paid for mine using cash. A whopping $3.50 for the adult portion (which was the exact same thing as the kid portion).

And let me just say. . . I don't remember the food tasting that bad. Yuk! The pizza sauce was nothing more than a can of tomato sauce, so it was a little tangy and bitter. The pizza sticks, as I said, were breaded mozzarella sticks, the corn had zero flavor. The applesauce was the best thing on the plate. And the chocolate milk. Oh how I remember my love for school chocolate milk in the little 8oz cartons. Yummy! Not anymore. I have to disagree with JD about the taste though. I didn't taste like coffee - it tasted like chocolate-flavored cardboard. These poor children - they're missing out on the good stuff we used to drink!

The real highlight of the day came as we were paying for our trays in line -- JD bought himself, for the first time, a snack coupon for 75 cents. That meant that after he ate, he could go pick out an ice cream snack. He was so excited as he walked up to the big refrigerated bin of ice cream heaven. His eyes huge, his mouth watering. He examined his options for a few moments, finally stuck his hand in, and pulled out a Neapolitan ice cream sandwich. He turned around and looked at me with the biggest grin on his face.

We went back to the table where he opened the package and quickly ate the entire thing, other than the one bite he shared with me. I just loved watching him enjoy that ice cream sandwich. He looked so content amongst all the craziness of 5-year-old lunch time. He loves ice cream, and he loves having his mom sit with him at lunch. I'm still COOL enough that he likes to have me around in front of his friends. He even kissed me, hugged me (leaving his little chocolate fingerprints on my back), sat on my lap, and took a picture with me.

When our time was over and he had to go back to class, he gave me a big hug and said goodbye. But when we pulled apart, I noticed he was biting his lip -- trying really hard not to cry. But he couldn't hold it in for long. A few tears escaped his eyes, and it broke my heart but also made my heart smile. Because that only meant that he loved me and didn't want me to leave him. I walked with him as far as I could then said I Love You and watched him walk down the hall, concealing my own tears the best I could. Then I turned, walked back to the parking lot to head back to work . . . .with a smile on my face and chocolate fingerprints on my back.