Time Capsule Opening. . . Drum Roll ^*^*^*^*^*^*

I told you we had a lot of celebrating to do for this Grad.  We celebrated yesterday to my Mom's and Sprat opened his time capsule that we sealed on his first birthday.  Lots of treasures were  found some worth a little dough and some just  very sentimental.  I think Sprat got a kick out of opening it and seeing everything we had put in it.  I know we all had fun watching him.  There were pieces of history enclosed with lots of pictures.  He had a C3PO pez dispenser still in its original packaging, pictures of the hubbs Dad from his service years and patches from his time on the police force.  Mint uncirculated coins from his year of birth, some Joe Camel advertisements from relatives that worked at RJR,  metal toy tractor from my hubbys youth, the cork from our bottle of Champagne from our "romantic" meal we had in the hospital right after we had Sprat, and all the cards from his first birthday and his infant Baptism.  So many memories. . .

Poppy enjoying the cake and festivities . . 

Getting ready to open the time capsule. . . 

Taking in all of the fun. . . 

I do not give a lot of parenting advice but this is and was a very cool idea and I am so glad we did it.  I highly recommend doing one for your little one if you have one.   Stay tuned, we have one more party before Sprat goes off to school. . . 

Growing, Growing, Why???

I do not know what bug this is going around but it is a bad, bad bug. My poor Big T has had it twice, and now the hubbs and I have it.  I have almost rubbed the finish off of my door knobs with Lysol wipes,  and oh the laundry I have done.  Laundry, laundry everywhere. . .  nothing clean to wear.   I am trying to keep Sprat from getting sick due to his severe allergies to antibiotics.  I am trying to keep Big T from getting sick a third time.
Big T was invited to attend a new school in the Fall, it is a STEM program and it will give him an opportunity to try some new things.  Big T is a different kid and marches to his on music, we are going to give this a chance and see where it takes him.  He will still be able to play sports with the high school so he is thrilled with that.  He looks forward to playing lacrosse on the same team as his brother.
It is hard to believe that Big T is finishing his 8th grade year and Sprat is finishing his junior year in high school and in just a few short months I will have a senior and a freshman in high school.  Am I really old enough to have  two high school students, I guess I am, these days I could have two college students.  It just makes me feel really old to think of my babies, one in his last year of high school and one in his first year of high school, to me they are still my precious babies.

This chubby little fella will be a Senior in just a few short months.

This very cute little guy will be a Freshman in those same short months.

Kids Learning Responsibility. . . .

Big T is taking a sort of economics and family life class this session.  They are learning about family.  Today he brought home an egg that he has to take care of for a week.  He has little Bob in a shoe box with a blanket, he also wrapped it in a make shift diaper.  He has to carry it with him every where he goes.  This is going to be interesting.  
I thought he was going to get the  mechanical baby.  Evidently this is what they do now to teach about babies.  This is good because it is supposed to go with him every where he goes but it does not whine and cry and wake him up at night. I think the mechanical baby is a good form of birth control too.  Kids learn  how draining babies can be, they don't just sit quietly in your shoe box. 
That is just my opinion.   Here is a picture of my grandegg. 

The Little Things Count. . .

This is for new Mommies or soon to be Mommies.  When I was pregnant with Sprat I was so excited about having a baby and when we found out it was a boy I was thrilled.  I read all the books and was trying to prepare my house for this wonderful new addition.  I wrote out this long birth plan and gave it to my doctor, it detailed everything I wanted during my pregnancy and my labor and delivery.  The one thing I listed in it numerous times was that I did not want a C-section.  I was absolutely terrified of having a C-section.  I was very fortunate that my hubby had a working relationship with my OB and when it came down to it, he did everything he could to keep me from having a C-section.   It did not work out that way and I ended up having a C-section and I am very glad I did, poor Sprat was wedged in my pelvis and they had to use suction to get him out, even with the section.  I think I was terrified of the unknown.  My doctor was the BEST, he took such good care of me, Sprat, and the hubbs.  
The hubbs and I started a savings account for Sprat even before he was born.  We had a big jug and put all of our extra change in it for him and once he had a social security number we opened a savings account in his name.   I still put our change in his account and in Big T's.   I found this really cool time capsule in one of my baby gadget catalogs and I got one for Sprat.  On his second birthday I had requested that everyone bring something that meant something to them to put in his time capsule.  The hubbs and I added a few personal things from us and that were popular that year.  We sealed it and will open it on his eighteenth birthday.   The time capsule itself was a large tin can, sort of like a popcorn tin, it had directions of what to put in it.  It has been so long since we did it I do not remember what all we put in it, so I am pretty excited to what we will have.  I also did one for Big T, his was not a professional tin I just used an old popcorn tin and again we put things in it for him specific to when he was born.  
The other thing I do is write to my kids.  I write them notes about how I felt during different times of their lives.  Sometimes I write once a year and sometimes I write more than that, it depends on what is going on with our lives.  I write just on plain notebook paper and then I seal it in an envelope.  These I will give them when they graduate high school.  Each envelope is dated so they know when they were written and they also include a little money.  Some have a $20 some have a $10 but this will give them a little money for their graduation to do with as they please (with in reason).   Even if your kids are older you can still do the letter writing.  I hope it will mean something to my kids to have my thoughts and feelings and even prayers for them on paper.
These are just an example of some of the little things I have done and am doing for my kids.   If you have you would like to share please feel free to post a comment below.  I would love to hear from you.

Teenagers. . .

We celebrated Big T's birthday yesterday at the Super Bowl party.  In another year I will be the mother of two teenage boys, oh my goodness.  Time does march on, whether we want it to or not.   I remember being a new mother, a mother of a preschooler, and a mother of elementary boys.  Time is going by at warp speed, I blinked and now my dear precious babies are growing up.   You want them to grow up but, then again, you want them to be your babies again.   I remember sitting with them laying on my chest sound asleep.   They were so tiny and fragile and they smelled so good.

The top picture is Big T only a week old and the bottom picture is Sprat at about six months old. 

Now they are stinky, grouchy, gruff almost men.   No matter what stage of motherhood you are in, love your babies, they are your babies no matter what their age.  Love them and remind them often of where they came from, that they are a part of you.  

These babies grow so fast. . .

I think I am having a mid-life crisis.  I know I said that earlier and this may be my theme for this year.   My oldest is getting ready to turn 15 and will get his permit.  He plays football on the JV team and seems to be doing well.  I hardly see him during the week because of school and practice.   He really is growing up, how could I have let this happen.  I still see those chipmunk cheeks and that toothy grin.
Big T is also growing in to his own this year in middle school.  He seems to be adjusting to changing classes too.  He is quite excited about his technology class and he really likes his teacher.   They are working in robotics and rockets. 
This is going to be a crazy year.  Imagine if I am this bad now,  how bad I will be when they graduate.  Just be ready  for a lot of sappy, crazy, and goofy mom stories.

My New Cover Picture. . .

This is a throw back picture to 2003 when my sweet Big T was just a Tiny T.   This was from his first beach trip.   Time goes by so fast, that was Big T's poem that he wrote that I posted yesterday.  It was part of his language arts homework.  I thought he did such a good job it warranted sharing with the blogosphere.

I started this blog to share the funny quirky  things that my kids said and did on a daily basis.  I love sharing things here, it is a means to get things off of my chest and, some days, brag just a little.
Motherhood is a crazy roller coaster, some days I feel so positive and excited about things I could burst, other days I feel like I could just explode at the drop of a hat.  I know we all go through this and it is supposed to be normal.  Huhhh!!!   Some man must have said that.  I guess it is important to remember that in life there are ups and downs and we hope that there will be more ups than downs.   I remember being frustrated with both boys trying to potty train and now that is such a distant memory.  I guess that is one more thing I should remember, the bad stuff fades away and all you remember are those blissful times when your little angel says, "mama" or "dada" or one of my favorites from Sprat, (while trying to put on his zip up hoodie) "mama, mama, I can't get my neighborhood on."   You just have to bust out laughing.  Or when Big T had been somewhere and I had not seen him in a day or two and I looked at him and told him, wow! you have a grown a foot.  Big T looks down at both legs and asks earnestly, where?
 We had difficulty getting pregnant with Sprat but things happen in God's time not ours.  Big T was a complete surprise and we could not have been happier.  We almost lost him at 25 weeks, when I went into preterm labor.  One of the scariest things I have endured as an adult.   Dear hubby was two hours away in a deer stand and I had Sprat age 3 and did not realize I was in labor.  We did make it to term, thank goodness.   Yes, I guess the good does out weigh the bad.  It is just sometimes so difficult when we are living the bad to think about that.
So if you are a mom or trying to be a mom focus on all those good things so that when those years have flown by that will be what you remember.

Sprats' Birthday. . .

Sprats' birthday is fast approaching.  He went to his first concert last weekend to celebrate.  They went to see Carnival of Madness.  It rained, stormed and they had a delay, they got wet but they all had fun.  He got a new pair of tennis shoes, a size 12, heavens to Betsy he has BIG feet for a soon to be 14 year old.
Thinking about his birthday made me want to pull out his baby book and my pregnancy journal and revisit those days before his birth.
I had forgotten about the nick name dear hubby had given him before he was born.  Hubby went with me to one of my visits to hear the baby's heartbeat and he said it sounded like a diesel engine humming, so he called him "little diesel."  I had forgotten all about that one.  All of the boy names I had picked out and we did not use any of them for either son.  It is funny all the things you write down with the first child that get forgotten as time goes by.  I am so glad I wrote those things down.  I was telling Sprat about some of the crazy things that happened when I was pregnant with him.  
Hubby and I like to watch wrestling, yes I am a closet wrestling fan.  There was a particular duo that we liked that do not wrestle together anymore.  They were the Road Dog and BA Billy Gun.  Whenever their music came on Sprat would start bouncing around inside my tummy.  You could see my stomach ripple as he bounced and danced, he loved their music.  
Poor hubby could not eat any meat in the house in my first months of pregnancy.  The mere smell of meat would send me over the edge.  There were days I could be in the bed room down the hall and he would open the refrigerator and I knew it by smell.  I also craved watermelon while I was Great with child.  I remember going to the little fresh market down the road from our old house and buying them almost weekly. I got so big that the little man had to help me get them in the car later on in my pregnancy.  My belly was as big as the watermelons.

Wrestling. . .

Ok, I am going to tell you something that most do not know about me.  I used to be a professional wrestling fan.  Dear hubby and I used to watch it every Monday night before the kids came along.  I have not watched it in years, but last night they were having all the old wrestlers back to the WWE.  I had to turn it on and watch just a little.  It brought back a lot of great memories of our early married years.   Dear hubby and I went to a wrestling event when I was BIG and pregnant with my oldest.  I blended well with all the rest of the red necks out there.  Huge pregnant, screaming at the wrestlers, and eating nachos with extra jalapenos.  Oh the memories. . .
I remember one group in particular that was a favorite, not because of who they were but because of the way my dear sweet baby reacted to their music.  When the music for the Road Dog and BA Billy Gun came on my stomach started jumping.  It was my sweet baby reacting to their music.  He jumped and rolled and wiggled like crazy, only to their music.  This group stopped wrestling together a year after my sweet boy was born, so he never heard about all this till last night.   Dear hubby and I let the boys stay up late last night so they could see some of the old wrestlers that were popular before they were born.   I never let the kids watch wrestling when they were little, they never had an interest in it then and they still don't.  They did enjoy hearing us tell about the old days before they were born and when they were little.  I still remember that feeling of my bell bouncing around with my sweet baby inside dancing and rolling.