Autumn Fest at South Todd 9/27/2008

I took the boys to play at the Elkton Baptist playground for most of the day then we grabbed a snack and Granny and headed to Autumn Fest at South Todd Elementary. The boys did the cake walk, bingo, the train, you name it they played it. The finale of the night was the drawing for the prizes- the students all sold tickets and the grand prize was a $1000. gift card to Wal-Mart. I joked that I was going to sit in front so I could claim my prize. I was shocked when they drew my name and I just sat there. Jake's name was called since I bought the winning ticket from him (I had about $80 invested in these darn tickets! LOL!) we went down and claimed our prize. Jake wasn't excited about me winning or the fact that he got $50 for selling the ticket, he was excited because his class gets a party! Jake is on the left, Josh is on the right- their principal Camille Dillingham is in the middle. let's go to walmart! ;)

Silly September Boys.... 9/29

Josh on the left, Jake on the right. Showing off their new lunch boxes. They are wearing long pants, t-shirts and jackets and they still think it is freezing outside and they want me to drive them to catch the bus at the end of the driveway. They end up having me sit on the ground and they huddle up on me and shiver until the bus comes- it's 70 degrees!

after school clothes- they were ready to go to town in this get up- notice the boots aren't necessarily in pairs! they would wear these all the time if we let them.
Josh strikes a pose....

Cheezin at Mommy!

when 4 year olds are quiet....

Jake is in the front and that is Josh tucked back in the back corner!

BEWARE!!! I asked the boys to go play in their room a few minutes so I could hear while I was talking on the phone. I was surprised to find that they rearranged the whole room in 3 short minutes- everything was in the bed! When I asked what they were doing- the typical response, "Nothing Mom". Never a dull moment... and I mean never! LOL!

Visit to preschool

Jake's classroom above- they just got back from the playground, washed up and are waiting for lunch.

Josh's classroom above..... the way to make a preschooler's day- put his face on one of these duties! The boys get SO excited when they have a job at school. Some of them crack me up- Soap Pumper, Light Switcher... plus the ones listed below. I'm sure there are lots more. As soon as they get off the bus they tell me if they had a job that day. This set of cups is from Mrs. Lindsey's classroom. Jake's class has crayons and he was the line leader that day but I had left his room before I got the idea to take the pictures and I didn't want to disrupt things by going back.
Jake playing on the slide....
Josh in the Sandbox
Granny and I took a bunch of bingo prizes to the school for Autumn fest and they told us to go back and see the boys while we were there. They were playing on the playground so we visited them there- they wanted to make sure they didn't have to leave with me and that they were going to get to ride the bus home- so sweet! LOL! They had lunch and we left so we could get home to get them off of the bus. Their first question when they got off the bus- "why did you come to my school today?" 4 years old and I'm on their territory already! ;)

Wanna know how I spend my Wednesday nights???

This is how I spend my Wednesday nights- hanging out with 12-16 three and four year olds at Awana Cubbies at Elkton Baptist Church. The boys love it and it is such a blessing to be able to work with these little ones. This is Gracie- Jake's one true love- at the moment anyway, and Josh.
Josh's favorite girl is standing behind him- he's been sweet on her since last year at Cubbies so I guess it is his first long term relationship! LOL!
This is the first time they have ever all worn their vest on the same night so we had to take a picture to celebrate!

while the boys are away....

Ok, some Mom's cook and clean all day while the kiddos are away (three hours for preschool doesn't qualify as all day, but you get the idea) but how did I spend my morning today???? Putting together Hot Wheels Village in our dining room!!!!!! Jake was so excited he started jumping up and down and Josh even tore himself away from the Wii to come check it out. It was a good day! LOL!

progress on the playroom

Jake wanted a place to watch videos and Josh likes to play the v-smile on the other tv so I got this one out of the attic and Skip put in an outlet for us so now Jake can watch videos while he plays and draws.
this will be the place where they will do art projects when I get it organized- right now it's just a mess!
Josh playing video games. Frank got their train table set up this weekend and he got the football that they won at Bible school last year hung up for me- one of those projects I've wanted done forever but haven't been able to figure out how to do myself! I've moved it all around the room while I worked on cleaning up and now I love how it turned out hanging in the corner! I'm just glad they didn't win the pineapple that was given away this year! LOL!
I think most everyone that reads the blog knows that I've been working on getting the old house on the back of the property where we can use it for a year or so now. I have my scraproom there and I have a storage room where I store stuff for the CPOM consignment sales. The kitchen has been a mess- you can see progress on it on the crafting blog- there is a link on the side and the oldest posts have pictures along the way. Anyway, here is how the boys playroom looks now- still a work in progress but I've got Frank on the bandwagon helping me out with some stuff now so that makes things go faster. I'm hoping the boys can play in there this winter when it is too cold to be outside. It's nice to have a place to move toys out of the house and then they have new stuff when they go there so they like that too.

Singing at Church

We had homecoming at church today and a great singing after lunch. The boys really enjoyed it until they got worn out. The got to sing two of their favorite songs in front of everyone so they thought that was a lot of fun.

Jake and the tire swing

Jake loves this old tire swing!! He begs to swing on it every day- rain or shine. I love to see him play on it because my brother and I played on it when we were little. I rescued it from the trash last fall and Skip put it up for us and the boys have loved playing on it ever since. He headed over right after he got off the bus- tossed his shoes off and got his socks good and dirty. He had a blast and that's what matters. ;)

Don't tell Josh....

but if the boy wants to dress up and sing with Taylor Swift I HAVE to take his picture right?! LOL!

9-11-2008

7 years since 9-11 and so much has changed. I still remember where I was on 9-11-2001. I had just moved back home from San Antonio and had started my job at Hopkinsville Community College that week. My boss Greg came in and told me a plane had flown into a building in NYC- we had no idea what else was to come. We watched in horror on the news in the back room of the library, spent the day trying to get on the CNN site online but everything was backed up. We were wondering what was going to happen next. Being close to Ft. Campbell we knew lots of things there had been shut down- just in case.

It's hard to fathom how our world changed that day. The sudden burst of patriotism was wonderful and unfortunately has faded somewhat. I think 9-11 was one of those life moments that our parents talked about when we were growing up that anytime someone mentions it you will remember where you were, what you were doing and how you felt.

This year I scrapbooked for a couple of hours with my friends in Clarksville and we talked about 9-11, where we were and all of that. After we were finished I met, Pat, Frank and the boys at Ft. Campbell where they played at the water park and on the playground. Josh got sick spinning on the swings so we came home a little early and they took a nap.

Family Trees for Preschool

Jake's tree above and Josh's tree below.....

The boys had to take their family tree to school the first day. We worked on them the week before they started. It was tough to find pictures that could be printed small enough to go on the apples that I cut to use on there but I think they turned out pretty cute. The boys wanted a picture together on there too so we decided to put a picture of each boy on the trunk of his tree. They are going to be displayed in their class all year. The first week of school each child stood up in front of their class with their tree and told their classmates who all the people were. We had a lot of fun with it- the boys especially loved using the glue!

Josh helped us take things to help others...

Josh was tired and ready to have Granny get his jammies on when we took the first load of stuff to the interfaith center so after they got home from school yesterday he was ready to take his load of stuff to donate. The toys they gave away were still in the building and I was very proud of them that they didn't want to drag it all back home. Josh said he "guessed the kids who needed toys hadn't gotten there yet."

any secret cures?

Does anyone know a secret cure for a ruptured ear drum? If so please share! I've been taking antibiotics for a sinus infection since before we went to Florida last month. My ears keep hurting worse all the time, so bad that it keeps me up for hours during the night. I keep going back for more shots and more antibiotics. No luck getting over it. Sunday morning about 1:30 I woke up when I had a pop in my ear and then a static sound. I got to the doctor today and found out it had ruptured in one ear and the tubes in both ears are really swollen. No more antibiotics this time, just steroid shots. Hopefully in a couple of weeks it will be better.


so, if you know of any quick fixes... I'm all ears.... sorry, I need to go to bed! lol!

I also asked if he had any idea why I'm not losing more weight since I'm walking 4 days a week after the boys get on the bus and I'm drinking lots of water and watching what I eat pretty closely- except on pizza night when I splurge and have two slices! I was shocked to find out two of the medicines I take to avoid having migraines are steroids! I finally quit taking prednosone after being on it two years and gaining 45 pounds and still having migraines that lasted weeks at a time. (They said that is a low gain for that long on it and they expected it to be double that- I wish someone had told me before I started taking it!) 45 pounds is a lot, especially when you are nly 5'1"! So, hopefully I can join the gym or find something that works to get this weight off again. I told the Dr. if I had gained it eating cake and pie that would be ok but this stinks! ;) I was below my pre-pregnancy weight before I started taking prednosone and only had 2 and a half pounds to lose to make my goal. I'm trying to get back on track in spite of the meds. We'll see what happens. Ok, I really need to go to bed! ;) Marla

Helping Others.....

Jake proud of what he's accomplished..... below he is carrying his old toy kitchen in to give away.
lots of toys to be shared with kids who don't have a lot. The blue ball thing on the right was tough for me to let go. The boys learned to pull up on it and played with it for hours and hours. It also played one of the songs that was played when we used to go to SPURS games when we lived in San Antonio- Go Spurs Go! I thought about keeping it but I figured the boys were giving away a lot of their stuff that they really wanted to keep once they saw it loaded up, and it would be fun for another little boy or girl to play with too, so we let it go....

clothes, books, baby stuff, toys
the van packed full of goodies to give away....
Check out the proud look on Jake's face!

I help with Awana Cubbies on Wed. nights and the boys love to go. Mr. Bob and Mrs. Linda are great and the boys think Mr. Bob is some sort of super hero. ;) Part of our lesson this week was to help others within your church and to do things to help other people. This is what we have done so far......

We gathered up two bags of little toys for Kent and Terry to take the next time they go to Nicaragua on their mission trip. The video they showed us was touching and heartbreaking. Seeing so many little kids with no shoes really touched my heart- I couldn't help but think about all the shoes the boys have that they hardly ever wear or never wear. I'm hoping to send a bunch of shoes when they go again. I keep thinking that they are working on the souls of the families there which is the most important thing, but since I can't go I'd like to work on their soles.... cheezy I know, but I think about those poor children and say a prayer for them when I am laying in bed at night. I thought the little matchbox cars the boys don't play with, happy meal toys that are discarded shortly after we get home and things like that might bring a smile to those kids faces so I'm trying to save as many as I can for them to take when they go.

Locally we decided to clean out a bunch of toys, clothes and coats to go to the Interfaith center in town. It is sponsored by the local churches and families can go there to buy things they need very cheap or if they can't afford to make a donation they give them to them. We gave about 7 big boxes of toys, 6 kids winter coats and 2 winter baby bunting sleepers, several bags of clothing, some books, and some house hold items. I explained to the boys that people who couldn't afford things would be able to have toys, coats and clothing for their children because they shared what they had. Jake said "just like Jesus shares". What an amazing thing to come out of the mouth of a 4 year old. I hope he remembers things like this as he gets older. We have a wonderful church family at Calvary Baptist and I can't think of a better place for them to grow up learning about Jesus and all he did for them and continues to do. Josh is excited to share toys he has outgrown too. He asked if once the other kids get them if he could go and see them and play with them. He was sleepy and didn't go with us to drop things off tonight but he wants to go take more stuff tomorrow- I'm already working on loading the van again! It's fun to share with someone you know needs things and can use them.

The sunflowers- on pages! :)

Since I shared the sunflower pictures here I thought I'd share how they turned out. I think I'm going to add a big sunflwer on the bottom left for journaling. If you haven't been to the Dickinson farm just south of Elkton on 181 you should check it out- it is really something to see!

Ready for School

Jake said " I can swing myself- Hallalugah!" the stinker heard me one night when I thought they were asleep and I came out of the room and said "the boys are asleep, Hallelujah!" He put his own spin on it. My Aunt used to swear he was going to be a preacher when he grows up. She had him raising his arms and waving them in the air when she said "Amen" when we visited and they were just 9 months old! My Dad's side of the family on his Dad and Mom's side was filled with Preachers and Evangelists, Gospel song writers and the like so maybe it's in his blood. He might have to tone down his taste in cars though- not many preachers can afford a corvette! LOL!

Ok, I'm aware that you have seen these children before.... but I like this picture so I had to post it! The swing picture is a milestone for us.... The boys said Mrs. Lindsey taught them how to swing themselves! YAY! We've worked at this forever but we never accomplished it so thank you Mrs. Lindsey- and Mrs. Robin too. I'm sure they both worked at it but Josh was telling the story. ;) They can now start the tandem swing and the individual swings all by their big boy selves!

Delivering the Mail

We visited the Ft. Campbell post office Thursday and the boys got to play on the belt, play at Dad's desk and sit in a mail truck. They thought it was great!

Making the trip to Granny's house

Here is Jake headed to Granny's house. I thought this was cute because when I was his age I was making this trek the opposite direction... from Granny's house (my Mom and Dad's) to Nanny's house on the hill where we live now. I wore out the grass going back and forth and my Grandad used to tell me he was going to build me a tunnel so I wouldn't have to get wet when it rained and cold when it snowed. Of course I believed him! ;)

Rainy Day

The boys were excited that we got rain last week and they got to wear their rain coats to school!