So Long SUMMER

This has been a very busy summer. I can't believe it's been 3 months since my last post. All I can say is my evenings have been full of normal household duties, yard work and the beginnings of painting the inside of our house. That has been very time consuming b/c it can only be done with the little angels are sleeping.

We managed to take a family picture before summer began. Everyone participated this time without much drama at all.

We got some great shots of everyone!

Our little K-9 addition that came along around Christmas time...she's outta here. It really makes me sad, but man did it have to be done. Annie was a wonderful, wonderful dog. She was soooo good with all of our kids. They could step on her, lay on her, play with her ears and mouth, take her food, it just didn't matter. They only drawback that she possessed was her hunger to RUN AWAY. She always looked so content when she was in the house or backyard with us, her loving family. But the minute, and I mean minute she saw a cracked door, she was GONE. She would not only get out at the most inconvenient times but she started to show aggressive behavior towards other dogs when she was out roaming around after her "escape". We tried to work with her, I bought a few books to try and train her, we even got a shock collar....all to no avail. We decided it was best to give her away. So I had Steve take her to the local SPCA....which is a no-kill center. They won't tell me what happened to her since we "signed a contract" when we dropped her off, but she didn't even make it to the internet the next day. I'm sure that since she was a purebred lab, they snatched her up from the shelter and found her a good home. That's how we got her in the first place. She was found RUNNING alongside the road and a lab rescue picked her up and my friend adopted her. Anyway, we all miss her but we don't miss the constant dog hair, dog poop and yelling at everyone to close the door already!

The first day of Brittney's summer vacation, I went on a girls only weekend to Las Vegas. My longtime friend Amy told me to buy an airline ticket and the rest would be taken care of thanks to her mom's love of gambling. Let me just tell you, it was a heavenly trip. We got to catch up on gossip, nap, eat, drink, gamble, enjoy a Kenny Chesney concert, see Wayne Brady live, eat a cheeseburger in paradise, drink a margarita in margaritaville and shop. No butts to wipe and no one else to worry about but ourselves. It was a great way to start the summer out!

We went on our second annual Bayhouse trip with friends....

This was our view every night. The boys loved to count as the sun disappeared into the water. I wish I was back there right now for this view alone.


We had a great time until day 4 of the 6 day trip. Jace ended up throwing a fit b/c his darling big sister was aggravating him and he threw his head forward hitting his gum on the wooden arm of a futon. This caused him to bend his tooth backwards. He was screaming so much and was in so much pain...I called my dentist. They told me to push it back into place and that's pretty much all they could do. When I "snapped" it back into place, he immediately felt better b/c all of the pressure was relieved. But after a few days, we noticed that it was extremely loose and becoming discolored.

...............This was right after it happened.

So we made an appointment at the pedidontist that I worked for in high school. He determined with an x-ray that Jace had indeed cracked his tooth up in the gum on one side. The other tooth was also broken in the gum but it was done before this trauma. He could tell this because it had already tried to heal itself. He told us that we needed to extract both of his front teeth (or else wait a couple of months for them to fall out on their own) and we had the choice of leaving him toothless or ordering him a kiddie partial. Well, figuring that he will not be getting any permanent teeth until he's around 7 or 8, I couldn't fathom the thought of him being toothless for 3 or 4 years. So he just received his "partial" last week and is adjusting nicely.

..................This is after the "extraction" which he THOROUGHLY enjoyed. (I'm sure now he will be scarred for life when he has to go to the dentist.)

Can you tell he wasn't really into posing for the camera with his teeth? We had to pull his lip up to get a good view.

The bayhouse turned into an expensive trip after all of that, but it was worth every penny. The boys went fishing for the first time (Jace went "shishing"). They caught a "shish"...ok, so maybe it was a fake fish (a lure to be exact). But they thought it was the greatest thing to cast the rod and reel and catch a fish. Brittney got to bond with her BFFs for the entire week and we went to the beach countless times. Jace is still not very fond of the beach...I'm not sure he ever will be.

Brittney went to her YMCA camp for the 3rd year in a row. This year her cousins, McKenna and Marshall went with her. They enjoyed having each other there.

My mom had foot surgery during the month of July so she was out for 4 weeks. During her absence Steve was Mr. Mom for a month. Wow, what a change it was having Steve enforce boot camp rules. I must admit though, some of the changes have been wonderful. For example, the boys used to snack whenever and wherever they wanted throughout our house. Steve enforced the rule of eating only at the table or bar countertop. He noticed that they snacked less and the mess wasn't as bad in the house at the end of the day. We were having to vacuum daily in order to clean up all of the crumbs. Also, he got them to play independently. I don't know if it's b/c they know their limits with different people in their lives or what, but he could tell them to go and watch a movie in their playroom instead of hogging up the TV in the living room ... and they would! They like for me to RIGHT there with them...all of the time.

We bought season passes to Splashtown for the summer. We've definitely gotten our money's worth out of these passes. Brittney has thoroughly enjoyed taking a friend along and having a little more independence while I was in the baby pool area with the boys. We have some friends who always like to join us!


As far as the painting goes....we've done the half bath, Brittney's room, a long hallway, rotunda and kitchen. There's LOT more to go.

Brittney even participated with her room. For some reason she had lots of energy to help when it was all about her. She hasn't volunteered so easily when I ask her lately to help in the living room and dining room.

We enjoyed 4th of July with friends in the neighborhood next to us. We watched fireworks over the lake. Jace and Cade were not too fond of them when we were so close. They insisted that they cover their ears and also that WE cover their ears.



But now it's back to school time. We finished up school clothes shopping today, met the teacher and confirmed who's in who's class. Monday is the big day around here. Brittney starts 5th grade and Jace and Cade will start a new preschool. It's an exciting day to look forward to.

Bye Summer!

More Memory Updates for ME

Seeing as how my memory is truly fading with age (and children)...here are a few more important milestones for me to remember.

This past Easter, the Easter Bunny made his annual appearance at our house. Just as he did for my daughter Brittney (at 2 1/2 years of age), he managed to successfully take away Cade's binky. Cade has been addicted to this thing since he was two days old. The nurses at the hospital noticed that he tended to get a little fussy and restless in between feedings so they tried this binky on day two. I don't remember the hospital offering this for Brittney but I was at a different hospital with her.


Cade had gradually eased into only having his binky at night and if he was severely upset about something. He was known to even camp out in his bed for a little while longer just to get "a fix". He would usually have more than one also...one for his mouth and one for each hand. Jace never cared for one, but would feel left out at bedtime. So we usually gave him one to naw on. He would usually put holes in them, but Cade the binky detective would always find the holes and promptly throw them away. This led to me placing a desperate online order when we were down to only 2-3 binkies one time.

The timing was not good, but the Easter Bunny had to do his job. For Brittney, I explained to her that the Easter Bunny was taking her binkies to the babies that were crying. She liked the fact that she was going to help the babies (she was obsessed with babies). She was all for it and never again asked for it. Of course the huge basket that was left next to her bed filled with chocolate, other candy and toys didn't hurt the matter.

Cade on the other hand insisted that he didn't care about the crying babies, he needed his binkies. But we went through with it anyway... he cried for a couple of nights. I almost caved on the second night, but realized that it was more of a crutch for ME and not HIM. Ever since that night, he simply announces that he gave his binkies to the crying babies and he didn't need it, he was a BIG boy!

That he is! What happened to my baby in that picture!

Potty training is COMPLETE and has been for several months now. This feat just seemed to happen. We did not push the matter and just waited for them to show interest. School helped them realize that everybody pee pees and it's okay. We put pull-ups on them at night for a while but then realized that they were waking up dry and then peeing once they were up and moving. So, I nixed that a few months ago. We have BIG BOYS all the time now...always in underwear. They are quite regular too, let me tell you.

Jace ended up qualifing for speech therapy through the school district for next year. I'm excited that we are catching it early and also that my tax dollars are going to be put to good use. My medical insurance doesn't cover any speech therapy, so it would have cost me a lot of money to go through the private route. Now, I'm going to get Cade screened. He has a lot of issues too. He's clearer than Jace, but still hard for others to understand. Jace barely squeezed by with the school district's standards, so I wonder if Cade will qualify. Of course, since it's the end of the school year, it's too late and his screening will have to wait until August. Jace's therapy doesn't start until August...and will include a 30 minute session once a week at the elementary school that Brittney attends.

We've skipped the past few Sundays, but we've tried to get the kids back to Sunday School. Jace and Cade absolutely love it now. They are sooo cute when it's music time for all of the children. All of the classes get together and sing different bible songs. It just warms my heart to hear them catching on to the songs and singing them throughout the week. It's such an good influence.

But let me move back in time to the first trip to Sunday School. I was rushing everyone to get out the door. Cade didn't want to put his shoes on, or was it Jace? One of them was crying...then when we finally got in the car, the other was crying about something. Brittney had an attitude because it was early and she wouldn't know anyone in her sunday school class...at one point on the FIFTEEN minute trip to church ALL THREE of them were crying. I was wondering if it was worth it. I was about to lose it. BUT, now they talk about Sunday school all the time. So I guess the torture was worth it. I compromised with Brittney and let her be an assistant in the Kindergarten class. She always has funny stories about how prissy and bossy the little girls are in the class. I hate to tell her that she was one of them when she was that age too!

This is a random thought to end on...but the other night after a brief walk, it started to drizzle a little bit. After it finished, we walked into our backyard and saw a beautiful rainbow. Jace and Cade were so excited and could name almost every color. It's fun to see things through their eyes! This was their 2nd rainbow, but they were still ecstatic. Too cute!

ELMO

This past weekend we (me, Cade and Jace) attended a birthday party for a coworker of mine. Her daughter, Peytan, was turning TWO. She is absolutely adorable - it was the first time I officially met her. Her chubby cheeks reminded me so much of Ms. Brittney when she was turning two. Brittney chose not to go to the party b/c she got a better offer to go swimming with her friend...imagine that?

Anyway, Natalie (my friend and coworker) decided against a moonwalk for the party, because Peytan does not like them. She instead got a train for an hour and an appearance by Elmo for an hour. Let me tell you, this is one birthday party that we made sure to be on-time to.

Once the train arrived, the boys could have cared less about anything else. Cade was mesmerized by the hum of the motor and leaning over the train car to see the ground move!

Toward the end of the train trip, Elmo showed up. He attempted to get in the train with the birthday girl...but it wasn't well received. They tried to get Elmo to sit in our train car, but that didn't go over too well either. So the train riding came to a end very suddenly. Jace and Cade were not very sure of him and neither was the birthday girl. (At the time that's all of the kids that were there.)

But once Elmo started to interact and play with the kids, he was a big hit for my boys. Jace especially would not LEAVE.ELMO.ALONE!

Imagine how fun it would be though if you were three and you got to play ring around the rosey with Elmo....

bounce around on balls with Elmo....

and pretty much have Elmo all to yourself...

It would be pretty much the best day ever!

We had a great time. I'm glad we were able to get Natalie's money worth. Although toward the very end, Peytan give in and sat on Elmo's lap.

I really need this BLOG!!!

I have put this blog as my last priority in life right now. But it's recently come to my attention that I NEED THIS BLOG. I will have absolutely NO recollection of my children's lives with out it.

I've always thought my life was somewhat organized. I guess that would be BEFORE Cade and Jace were born. Once they came into the picture, my photo albums came to a screeching halt, my somewhat-clean house became a not-so-clean house, what was left of my sanity started to slowly disappear, and really the last three years are just a blur EXCEPT FOR WHAT IS ON MY BLOG!

I came to this realization when I had to fill out some paperwork regarding Jace's speech. We're concerned that his speech isn't advancing as well as Cade's. I hate to compare the two, but since they are twins and the differences are right in our faces, it's hard NOT to. Anyway, Jace got screened through the school district a couple of weeks ago and they decided he needs further testing because he didn't meet the minimum requirements. So, then the huge packet of paperwork came to me in the mail last week. Wow, this is going to be a thorough evaluation...as it should be. But I was actually embarrassed that I can not find information on his first year of life. I have the journals that my mom and I kept of every feeding, wet diaper and poopy diaper for the first 5-6 months, but other than that....I'm a horrible mother. I can not tell you when Jace spoke his first word, what it was, or who it was to. I guess I was relying on my memory. Ha Ha...big joke. That's not going to happen.

So, blogger...I'm at your mercy. Just to update myself on my children. Here's a small summary of my childern and what's going on in their lives.

BRITTNEY, BRITTNEY, BRITTNEY

You are definitely our first child. Every moment of your first 7 years is documented, photographed or videotaped. I have records of every word or sound that you muttered.

I can not explain how hard is it for me to watch you grow up. You've always been so mature for your age! I have always been so proud of your ability to associate with people - adult or children. I will never worry about your "social" life because I know you will always be surrounded by friends. You have very good taste in the people that you hang out with too. There have only been a few that I disapprove of and deep down I know that you agree with me.

But yes, I want you to slow down the growing up. One day you will regret that you didn't take the time to just be a kid. You've told me from the age of 3 that you couldn't wait to be a grown up. It broke my heart then and still breaks my heart today! I guess that since cheerleading is your "thing" you're surrounded by older girls and exposed to many things that I would prefer you NOT know yet.

I'm trying to get you to put down the cell phone, stop texting, stop emailing and spend time with your family. I know you are a busy little lady, but we all love you and still enjoy your company. Even though there's a bit of attitude and eye rolling coming out of you these days. You'll always be my baby girl and you hold a special place in my heart. I know you will be great at whatever it is you chose to do. You are wonderful with kids and they really take to you. Your brothers adore you (in spurts) and wouldn't know what to do without you. Your dad and I wouldn't know what to do without you. You are an absolutely beautiful girl both inside and out.

CADE, CADE, CADE

You are just like your Uncle Mike. You not only look just like him as a child, but you are just as fascinated by motors as he is. You love trucks and tractors and cars...pretty much anything with wheels and a loud motor. You love to "growl" like a motor and you HAVE to figure out how things work.

You are talking up a storm lately. You have cracked me up with some of the things that come out of your mouth. You told Nana the other day that she had "snake" bruises on her legs...talking about her vericose veins. You told me that Jesus made you so cute when I asked you. I promise to start writing more of these down now.

The world is so new to you and I love seeing it again through your eyes. Speaking of your eyes, oh how beautiful they are. They are such a clear blue and you have such an angelic look about you. Now sometimes you wake up and your hair has "horns" and clearly aren't an angel, but let's not talk about that little stubborn streak.

You can eat ice cream like it's going out of style. Actually diet-coke floats are your preference. You can snack til the cows come home if we let you too! You really like to eat...you actually outweigh your brother by a pound now. 36 pounds to be exact.

You are the shy one when you're at school or around a big group of people. But lordy when you're just around us, you are an active, talkative, non-stop little boy.

You can melt my heart with a simple..."I Wuv you mama!" Oh what a sweetie you are.



JACE, JACE, JACE

You have a tough front that you put up, but deep down inside you are the softest little teddy bear. You absolutely LOVE dogs, babies and your friends. You are the outgoing one who is always telling me to tell someone HI or look at the baby or the dog. You will actually grab my face and turn it to LOOK at it. You have such a tender heart. We were watching Garfield the movie the other day and there's a scene where Odie runs away. You were so sad for him, I actually saw tears well up in your eyes. It just melted my heart.

You have such a soft side, but you're the first to start wrestling with friends and at the same time gritting those little teeth. That's when we know you're hyper...the teeth gritting. I hope your teeth make it.

I don't cook much, but when I do you are the first to tell me that it's "yummy for your tummy". You enjoy food yourself. Thank goodness that you have your dad's metabolism and body-type. You are long waisted and long and lean.

Right now you are mesmerized by the TV. It's the only time you sit absolutely still. Little Einsteins is your favorite thing. You are obsessed with your rocket from the series. It's a bath toy but you take it everywhere...the car, the doctor, to bed and even on walks.

Your speech is understood about 75% of the time to us, but about 50% of the time to everyone else. I just don't want you to develop self confidence problems if people can't understand you. You tend to get shy if people ask you to repeat yourself. I know you will grow out of this though because I notice progress on a daily basis. Now we are encouraging proper speech and trying to not use your "baby/toddler" words. It's hard though, because it's just so darn cute! And so are you!!

We're Still Alive and Kicking!!!

Oh my gosh! I can not believe that it's been SOOO long since I've posted anything. I've still been an avid blog reader (not such a good blog commenter though). Life has just been busy as usual.

We had a great Christmas with family and friends. Santa wasn't the boys favorite person...maybe next year...but the gifts were well received. Brittney had a bad experience with a scavenger hunt that Santa left for her. Note to Santa (and any other readers with 10 year old dramatic girls), just leave the goods out in the open. Don't wrap them, don't leave a note, and especially don't tell Santa to be creative and incorporate a scavenger hunt with clues...it won't be received well at ALL. Matter of fact, unless you want to almost ruin Christmas for your daughter with tears and all, don't participate in this event. Of course, if you'd like to get a good laugh and join the "bad parent club" like Steve and myself, go ahead and do it. I will spare you all of the details but it was some funny stuff.

New Year's was good. We celebrated at some friends house and EVERYONE attended and stayed up to long enough to count down to midnight. The boys had so much fun running around with a few kids their age, Brittney had a few friends her age, and we had great adult conversation. It was a wonderful way to bring in the New Year.

We endured a very LONG cheer season during our new house transition also. We traveled out of town to Dallas 3 times, San Antonio once and Galveston twice. At least there wasn't any out of state travel this year. Brittney had an outstanding time at this new cheer company. Her team placed first at all but 2 competitions. She finally won the coveted Cheer Power leather jacket. She couldn't wait to wear it to school...it didn't matter that we had a record high that week. Then at their end of year Spirit Rally, she won the Most Valuable Cheerleader for her entire team. It was such a big honor and she was ecstatic!!

Rugby is also in full swing for Steve. He's been a traveling fool. There were a couple of weekends that I was out of town with Brittney for cheer and Steve was in another town for rugby. Thankfully we had the grandparents lined up to watch the boys. Those cheer competitions are long and loud and not child-friendly at all.


Speaking of the boys, they are completely potty trained. They have been now for a couple months. Now we just need to work on their AIM. I'm spending more time cleaning bathrooms than I have EVER done so in my life.

It's so weird to be out somewhere and they tell me they need to go potty. We are frequent visitors to bathrooms everywhere. Once we were out to eat at one of our favorite places, Spanish Flower, and I took them to the bathroom SIX times. Thankfully this place has exquisite bathrooms and Brittney and Steve were there to "hold down" the table. I didn't mind taking them except for the hassle. After all of those visits, I took their drinks away from them and got us out of there as quickly as I could.

They still wear pull-ups at night. They have recently become lazy and wake up dry but don't feel like going pee-pee as soon as they feel it. So they are wetting in the mornings. Then they can't stand the feeling and change into underwear as soon as possible.

They are the best of friends at times, playing so nicely and politely. But then they are the worst of friends, biting, yelling and taking each other's toys. They are typical brothers.

Brittney has written a lot of stories this year as a fourth grader and always like to refer to her brothers as "cute but evil". That pretty much sums them up.

How can she say that about these adorable faces????










Hopefully my next update won't be SOOO long.

Let me Introduce our Newest Member.....

ANNIE!!!!!! Our new 2-year old yellow lab!


My friend and coworker adopted Annie a month or so ago. About a week after getting Annie, my friend came down with pneumonia and was in and out of the hospital. She knew that Annie needed a better family environment as it is just her and her older son at home. After weeks of trying to arrange a "meeting" we finally had her son bring Annie over so we could meet her. Well, we decided to let her "spend the night" and after that we ALL decided that she wasn't going ANYWHERE!


She is so gentle and so loving with the kids. They absolutely LOVE her. I LOVE her, Steve LOVES her, she really seems to be happy! I love the fact that she is 2 years old and house trained. She goes potty everytime we let her outside and she sleeps ALL night. We totally missed the puppy stage! YEAH!!!

So far her only fault is that whenever she sees an open door or gate, she darts out! We've had to chase her a few times. BUT hopefully she will learn where "home" is and learn her boundaries soon.

Annie was an early Christmas present for our family and one that we'll have for a long time.

Speaking of Christmas. Good lord, I can't believe it's right around the corner. My shopping is almost complete, the Christmas tree has been up for a while, we've made cookies but it just doesn't FEEL like Christmas. It will, of course, on Christmas day but it just doesn't feel like the Christmas season with the warm weather we've been having. It just can't make up it's mind.


Today our new neighbors are having a Christmas party with an appearance being made by none other than Santa Claus himself. I'm sure I'll have some hilarous screaming pictures of the boys with Santa. We haven't attempted to take pictures with him yet because of the crazy lines at the mall.

More to follow soon...

We're IN!

We've officially made the move to the new house. Actually, the move took place the day after Thanksgiving. It seems like an eternity ago! In that time I have packed and unpacked so much crap that I've decided to become a minimalist. It's been really hard deciding what to get the kids because I've seen all the crap first hand that they haven't been playing with.

But back to the house...it's SO wonderful and it's SO roomy. I actually have empty drawers, cabinets and closets. Can you imagine? I've NEVER had that before. My laundry room can actually hold the washer, dryer, spare refrigerator plus a storage cabinet and we STILL have room to move freely. It may be my favorite room in the whole house.

All of the kids have adjusted very well. Brittney didn't have to change schools at all, since it is a block from our old house. So, she's in heaven. The boys just took right to it. Their room still has all of their familiar stuff so there was no adjustment there. They are further away from me now, so I have to keep the monitor turned on just in case. The first week or so they would wake up and wouldn't come out of the room. They would cry until I came to get them. But now, they're fine.

All of the rooms were bigger than I had imagined after we moved the furniture in. I went back to the old house to grab a few remaining items and was amazed at how small it looked. Of course everything was out and it always looks different without any furniture, but still...I was amazed. We sold our old house for a second time (we're keeping our fingers crossed) and should close on Monday the 17th. I truly can NOT believe we found another buyer in less than 10 days. Especially with the current market conditions.

This was our second moving day to get all of the "little" stuff that the movers didn't get on their 7 hour run. I caught Cade taking a donut break...he's all about the food.

Jace looks so upset about the move, doesn't he? They have been obsessed with the movies Shrek and Daddy Day Care for the past month. I'm sure that's what he's engrossed in in this picture. They can quote the movie line for line almost. (So can I.)

Jace was "helping" me wash dishes.

Cade was enjoying his tractor in the new backyard. That's about the only thing at the new house that isn't as big. It's about the same size as our previous house, but there's less cement because our old house had a detached garage. They were used to having a long driveway attached to the back patio and garage. Now, we have a small slab right outside the door and no covering over the porch. We'll eventually do something back there, but they sure don't seem to mind yet.

And here's the kiddos in front of our little Christmas tree (with non-breakable ornaments).

Jace loves the shower in the new house. He insists on taking a shower every night. Cade prefers to stick to the bathtub. UNLESS the jacuzzi jet button gets pushed. I've never seen 2 little boys go from happy to screaming at the top of their lungs in 1.2 seconds!!! It was hilarious!

We're really into the potty training mode these days. The boys LOVE to pee-pee in the backyard. I know it sounds hillbilly-ish, but they are obsessed with it. They will go on the potty too. But tomorrow my mom has decided to take them to preschool in big boy underpants. It's a big day in the Kearley household for this. We'll see how that goes.

Let's see, what else. Oh... Brittney is getting phase I done of her $4800 orthodontic treatment (ouch!). She is getting 4 braces on the top teeth and is OH so excited about it. I had braces on for 4 years and have been trying to warn her of the pain involved. BUT she's oblivious to my advice. She loves our new office set-up where she has her own desk space!

Then the boys have their first dental appointment on Thursday. I've told them if they don't "wa-wa" they can pick out a truck at the store. SO, we'll see how the bribery works. I'm sure it will not go well and there will be lots of screaming involved.

We're all looking forward to the upcoming holidays. All of the major essential stuff has been unpacked and put away, now I'm down to the nitty gritty stuff that needs to be ORGANIZED. Yuck, that's not the fun stuff to do.

Box by Box, we're getting closer to settling in. Happy Holidays everyone!

Thankful!

We're still above water over here...barely! In all our "moving" excitement, the sale on our current home totally fell through last week on the VERY day we were supposed to close. We were devastated, in disbelief and just so mad we didn't know what in the world to do!

We were, as many people do, depending on the equity in this house to get us into our new home. With no lump sum, we thought it was a lost cause and all of the money we've given to the builder would be gone. But, we were able to manipulate all the numbers to go forward with the new house and we were going to just take our chance on selling our old house. It's such a leap of faith for us. We don't want to go from owning 2 homes to living under a bridge!

As I pondered how silly all of this housing drama sounds, several things made me jump back into reality!

I wanted to jott down a few thoughts I've had in the last few weeks:

• It poured the other night and the thunder and lightning kept waking the boys up, so I went and slept in Jace's bed with him. They were instantly calmed by my presence. Jace even snuggled up to me so that we were forehead to forehead. He gave me the sweetest smile and I winked at him....he did his version of a wink back to me. Then he drifted back to sleep! MELT, MELT!!!
• Cade hurt his foot by jumping off the bed Friday night(I know, it sounds like a song we sing around here). He bruised it so much he couldn't put weight on it for 2 days. Suddenly my independent toddler was transformed into a dependent toddler. He either crawled around pretending to be a doggy or else I had to hold him. It was so pathetic to see him WANT to go outside to play but he knew it would hurt his knees if he crawled. By the end of Saturday, my back and arms were killing me. It really made me realize how extremely lucky we are to have healthy children with no disabilities or hindrances of any kind in their daily lifes. SO SO THANKFUL! (Luckily by Sunday afternoon he started to stand and take steps on it. He has a pretty good bruise on his foot so I know it's still VERY sore. Today he was walking with just a slight limp).
• Jace thinks it's so funny to get a kiss from someone and then WIPE it off. He will wipe my kisses off all day and just laugh and laugh. But when it's night night time and I tuck him in, he gives me the best kiss that his big juicy lips can pucker up and he announces "I not wipe kiss off now". AGAIN...MELT, MELT.
• As grown up and independent as Brittney Marie can be these days, she still likes to have her mom around. She actually BEGS me to come and meet her for lunch. I need to take advantage of this time b/c she still wants me around...in a few years I'm sure this will all change! For now, she and Cade are still my little ducklings that follow me everywhere!

I am extremely thankful for my family! We are so blessed to have each other and also to have our health! I've been able to put my life into a little better perspective over all of this. I truly believe that things happen for a reason...we may not know or understand what the reason is at the time. So after finding peace with our real estate decision, today we got a contract on our house to lease it for a year with intent to buy it after that! So, keep your fingers crossed for us!

Happy "Durf" Day

My babies are now officially THREE!

You should have heard them. "Today my durfday, can I have candy?" "I want ice cream, it's my durfday!" Funyuns for breakfast..."sure, it's your durfday"!!

Since their birthday was on Friday and we had Brittney's school carnival that night, we had a small celebration Saturday evening. However, they got to celebrate at school with birthday cookies and birthday crowns (that they refused to put on at school).

We all agreed that in an effort to minimize all of the boys' toys (and so that we have less CRAP to pack and move in the next few weeks) that we would ALL go in together on a couple of big presents. So, both grandma's and grandpa's contributed to the John Deere tractor fund.

It was a BIG, no it was a HUGE hit!! We have been absolutely cracking up at how fast they like to go. But we've also been quite impressed at how GOOD they maneuver these things. I remember that Brittney got a Barbie Jeep when she was 3 and she couldn't even turn the steering wheel on it. I guess yet another difference between girls and boys!

They LOVE them. In the two days they've had them though, the pin to hold the trailer to the tractor has been broken and one of them doesn't go in reverse. I guess I'll be on the phone this week to try and get that fixed. It's crazy what little quality goes into things like this.

Happy Birthday boys! We love you and hope that you had a great birthday. Now that you're 3, could you please potty train yourselves already??

Blogging is My LAST concern

GOOD NEWS!! We have sold our house!!! We will close on November 5th and lease it back for a couple of weeks until our new house is ready. They are saying we'll be in by Thanksgiving. At the rate things are going in our lives, that will be here before we know it.

Brittney turned TEN!! She had a skating party with 10 of her closest friends. (I wish I had that many close friends). They had a great time. The whole Kearley crew attended. I even put on a pair of skates and took Jace and Cade for a spin around the rink. Then the skating police came over and said that it wasn't allowed....fun haters!!


The boys LOVE all the development behind our new house. The water district is putting in new walking paths, bridges and waterfalls around the lakes. They LOVE tractors (that's what they call every piece of construction equipment they see.)

I think I've decided to hang up my blogging hat. I just don't have the time or energy to donate to this site anymore. It seems to consume my evening time whenever I dopost, and I just have so many other things that need to get done. I will check back on my "blogging" friends from time to time. Once things settle down around here maybe I will be able to pick up where I left off.

See ya!

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Today starts our week long birthday stretch.

Today is Steve's birthday, tomorrow is Steve's mom's birthday, and Sunday is Brittney's birthday. Needlesstosay September is a pretty expensive month around here.

The boys were so excited to sing to him when he finally got home. Daddy had a rough birthday...he is sick with a cold, but still had to go to work, then had open house at school, THEN he had to go and pick Brittney from cheer practice.

The boys were fresh out of the bath when Steve got home..... (please excuse Jace's nude nose picking, he's a boy what can I say?)

Happy Birthday Honey....now you're just as old as me!! We're 36 years YOUNG.

TAG - 8 random facts!!

Casey has tagged me and since she's my new blogging friend I must participate. 'Cause that's what blogging friends do.........



1. I am a DVR fanatic. I record Regis and Kelly, Oprah, Ellen and The View EVERY day. After all the kids go to bed, I like to spend "my" time laughing and watching as much as I can while NO ONE is bothering me...including Steve (sorry honey). There are some nights that I fall asleep in the chair (which was originally purchased for Steve to lounge in). Now granted I don't have time to watch ALL of them, but I still like to know that I have it recorded.

2. For my 20th birthday present from my parents, they paid for me to get a breast reduction. I was already around a 36 DD (and outgrowing out of that). So I went down to a small 34C and just loved the difference. But now after having 3 kids and gaining and losing weight, I wish I would have gone smaller and gotten a little more LIFT.

3. Speaking of boobs, I didn't breastfeed any of my kids. I never ever had the desire and the thought of it actually grossed me out. I've only met 3 other people who agree with me on this matter. I know that it's natural and healthy and ALL the good statistics about breastmilk, but I always chose the formula route.

4. I am still friends with my BFF from Junior High School, Amy. She now lives down the street from my mother...which is about 10 minutes away. She is one of the people that agree with me on the breastfeeding issue.

5. I was named Teresa because it was my mother's chosen name in the CONVENT. Yes my mother was a nun...obviously before I was born. Plus it was my grandmother's name, Theresa. Can you imagine the guilt trips that I've endured during my life time? My mom was a pro at them.

6. I worked for a children's dentist in high school. I could never understand why the moms (or the kids) freaked out when we tried to take the child into the back by themselves. That was their policy because they believed the kids behaved better without the parent there. NOW I can't imagine having my child taken back without me. Weird how your priorities change when you're a parent.

7. When it comes to food, I'm a highly sensitive TEXTURE person. I don't like beans (except green beans) because of the texture. The list goes on and on. BUT my hubby is pickier than I am. My daughter is the pickiest of them all. Jace and Cade will eat almost anything, thank God.

8. I have NO tattoos. Even though I've sat through Steve getting 2 of his 3, I can't think of anything that means enough to me that I should have it permanently tattooed onto my body...except my family and thankfully I get to see them everyday and I have a lot of pictures. Who needs a tattoo?

There, I'm done. Sorry it took me so long Casey.

Maybe the end is near????

I knew I shouldn't have jinxed Brittney in my last post by saying...."luckily Brittney was able to avoid the bug". She came home from school Wednesday with a horrible stomach ache. By the end of the evening she had the virus full blast....both ends going (sorry Brittney). She made a miraculous recovery in 24 hours though and was back to school today.

We are entering day 7 of virus fest for Jace. Everyone else has gotten the virus and is pretty much done with it. (Our family is still VERY gasey, but otherwise doing ok.)

Jace seems to be in the 3rd phase....the first was fever, the second was throwing up and now the third is diarrhea. I feel so bad for him. He finally asked Nana to go poo poo on the potty after the 6th diaper blow out this evening.

I feel bad too b/c we went ahead and sent them to their new school today too. It started Wednesday but they obviously weren't up to going then. I apologize to all of these mothers if they happen to catch this virus. It's deadly but he was totally fine yesterday ALL day. Another reason that I thought Jace was fully recovered ...see exhibit "a" below.


He was being awfully quiet Thursday night. Cade was in the living room with me and Brittney. We just assumed that Jace was in the front room watching Barney. When I went in to check on him, he was walking out of Brittney's room. Apparently he was jealous of her beautifully painted toenails and took matters into his own hands. Yes, this is RED nail polish that he painted in her room over our NEW beige carpet.

I had to laugh and snap the picture. I mean look at the detail....he got in between all of the toes also. That takes talent.

I was very surprised that more polish didn't make it onto the carpet. He only got a small amount and we were able to get most of it out...we moved the rug to cover the spots that hung around. (Isn't that nice of me to do to the new owners of our house?)

Steve comes back home tomorrow. Thank God! It's been the week from hell around here.

Yesterday when I was at home with ALL THREE kids sick, about 10:30 a.m. the phone rang. I was washing my hair and Brittney didn't pick it up. I went to see who it was a few minutes later and listened to a recording telling me that they were showing our house between 11 a.m. and 12.

I was in TOTAL freak out mode!!! The house was a pig-stye!! None of the beds were made, there were dishes everywhere, toys everywhere, puke everywhere!!

I was thankful Brittney was home. She ran to clean her room and the front part of the house while I threw dishes and clutter into cabinets and random places such as the oven and dishwasher. We were mad cleaners for 20 minutes straight. We managed to dress everyone and grab a few necessities and hit the door at exactly 11 a.m. I was literally dripping sweat when I got into the car. Talk about lighting a fire under someone's butt.... But the house looked great, I couldn't believe we did it.

Now, I've been tagged by Casey

I must come up with 8 random facts about myself....

Virus Fest of 2007

Whew-ho, what a party we have been having around here.

Let me re-cap some exciting things that have happened:

• Jace started running a fever last Thursday evening.
• I started alternating Tylenol and Motrin every 3 hours (sleeping AND awake hours)
• He would only throw-up if his fever got over 101 degrees.
• UNTIL Monday....when the pukefest began. I believe the total for the day was 8 times.
• THEN Cade got it too Sunday morning. He, on the other hand, just threw up one time and has been incredibly whiney and clingy.
  
  This virus didn't want to exclude me for some reason, it's nice like that. I started getting an upset stomach on Saturday morning and was incredibly tired and achy Sunday and Monday. I just got to feeling up to par.
  
  But Nana came down with it today...so I'm home with the boys. Thankfully Brittney spent the entire weekend with friend so she's been able to dodge this horrible bug so far. Steve has been out of town since Saturday and won't return until this Saturday...I'm sure he's so upset that he's missed such a happenin' time here.
  
  Jace and Cade were supposed to have Meet the Teacher at their new Mother's Day Out yesterday and they were supposed to start their classes today. I just knew they weren't 100% when Jace decided to throw up one more time before bedtime last night AND they were begging to go to bed last night at 7:30 p.m.... that's just unheard of around here. PLUS they slept until 7:30 this morning. Their little bodies are still trying to catch up from this nasty, nasty bug.
  
  If I have to watch Barney ONE.MORE.TIME....somebody please come and take me out of my misery!! AND also Kid Songs....the boys LOVE these cheesey videos.
• 
  
  Look what we've learned to do........(it's their newest thing)....they think it's just hilarious. (I wonder where in the world they learned this from?
• 
  
  I sure hope they get to feeling better soon. When all they want to do is lay around, it's just not normal behavior. I guess I'll regret saying this, but I miss my crazy (healthy!) boys!
•