The First Day. . .

Well I made it. Whew!!!!! I only cried a little this morning. I really wanted to cry when they came home. (not like that). I met them at the bus stop because of our wonderful rain we have needed for so long. Thomas got off the bus and had this huge grin that covered his entire face. He ran and jumped in the car. I asked him how he liked his first day of school. He said it was great! So I guess my tears and worry were for nothing. My baby is so grown up now.



I asked him how his day was and he said they let me keep my eye open during rest time. He got a green fish, which means he had a good day and did not get called down too much. No home work for him, yet.



Jack had a good day too. He is so excited he is learning cursive writing. He has wanted to learn that since he was in first grade. They learned i and t and put it together for it. I told him he needed to work on his printing before he started on cursive. Oh well.

So I guess our first days of school went well. I only hope the rest go as smooth.

Wanting to do more. . .

Ok, I am feeling my mortality today. I watched "The Bucket List" last night. If any of you have seen it you know what I mean. I cried through the whole thing and laughed at the same time.

There is so much I want to do. There is so much I would like to expose my kids to as well. Now I am not at my end or anything like that, it just really makes you think about things. You think about the things you've done and the things you always say we'll do that next year or when we have enough money we will do that.

I was at the Bridal Show in Greensboro for The Pampered Chef last week and there was a travel agent besides us. I talked with her at length about a cruise to Alaska. I would really like to take the kids, I think it would be a great experience for them and me. I know they are young and may not appreciate everything but I think they would look back on it as a wonderful thing. I asked the travel agent to send me some info on Alaska. I just got it day before yesterday. It has some great stuff in it. It has several different trips you can do. A couple of them have land excursions too. The one that most peaked my interest was the one where you could actually walk on a glacier. I thought that would be awesome! You also got to go to a gold mine and pan for gold and "finders keepers." Jack liked that part.

I guess the point to all this is that I really would like to take the kids on this trip. The movie just sealed it for me. I won't ruin it for those that have not seen it. Why save and save and put off things until you can actually afford them. Now I am not saying spend everything you have. I am not crazy. It's just we all say I am going to do that or I am going to do more with my kids and then you turn around and there not there anymore. They have there own families or their in college and it's not cool to go on vacation with your folks anymore.

Now Mark is going to be the problem. He is the more level headed one in our family. He always says we'll do that after the kids are grown or we need to save more money first. Now I said I am not crazy I am not going bankrupt to go on vacation or anything like that. But, I think I can scrimp and save and do more shows and pay for our trip to Alaska. So with that said; I am going to set my plan in motion. I would like to go next year so you guys keep me honest. The kids would be 9 and 6 by then. I think I could handle them on an ocean liner. What do ya think?

Oh, did I mention that I am an eternal idealist. HA HA!!

PS: I went on a 9 day trip to Europe with my 8th grade class. I loved it. My parents did not go. I am not sure of the exact cost but my folks were not made of money. I know they did without so I could go. I did not quite appreciate all of it until later in life.

I'm back. . .

This has been the craziest summer ever. I thought summers were for relaxing and being lazy. We have been anything but. I am so ready for school so I can slow down a bit. Jack went to summer camp and had a ball. He went trotting off to his cabin with his suitcase and sleeping bag and said, "See ya Mom." I was a little hurt. We followed him to the cabin to make sure he got everything put up and set up right. We met the counselors that would be staying in the cabin with them. This was a church camp so I felt comfortable leaving him. There were about 8 little boys and two adults in the cabin. Those poor guys (counselors). After we got everything unpacked Jack said ok it is time for you to go. Again I felt a little hurt. No clinging, crying except when I got in the car to go home. I know I should be glad that he is so independent that is they way we raised him and the way we want him to be. But why is he so independent. (Sorry a Mom moment there)

Mark and I took Thomas to visit Marks' sister for the night. Thomas did not want to sleep upstairs without Jack. We took him to Robbies' house and as soon as we got there Thomas says, " don't you have some place to go?" Why do my children want to get rid of me? Do I shelter them to much? Do I hover to much? Well, I don't care I'm the Mom and that is my job!

I guess I should be proud that my children are independent. I am proud they are independent! Jack is still talking about all the fun he had at camp. This was only for a weekend next year he gets to go for a week. He is very excited about that too. His favorite part was the nature walks and all the fun stuff the guide taught them about nature and history. He got to canoe and swim, go on hikes, have camp fires, and arts and crafts.

He seems so grown up since he got back.

There is no such thing as a frigid. . .

We went to a family reunion this past weekend. I got to see most of my cousins. I have not seen them in probably 2 years. When I was little we went to my Grandmothers every Christmas and got to see everybody there. When she passed away we started doing a reunion every year at someones house. This year it was at my cousin Oliva Anns' they live in Tennessee. They have a pool and horses. My kids played in the pool all day, of course. We had lots of great food. My relatives are the best cooks. The men can cook too. My cousin Chris brought a fabulous Gazpacho. No one had seen my kids in two years so everyone was giving them a hard time. That is a family tradition. You have to aggravate the children. That one has been passed down from their Dads and so on. My Uncles used to terrorize me and my sister and cousin. They would chase us and tickle us till we wet our pants. I think that may have been their goal. Well my cousin Chris was going on with Thomas and asked if it was frigid in the pool. Thomas' teeth were chattering like he was freezing. Thomas replied, "there is no such thing as a frigid." He still affirms that there is no such thing as a frigid.

Jack got stung by a bee while playing in the pool. He is not allergic, thank goodness. He cried and screamed a lot but that was about it. Now he runs from anything flying around no matter if it is only a fly. I took some great pictures of Jack jumping off the diving board I will try to get some of them uploaded sometime. They are really good, he is right in mid air.

It was great to see everyone at the reunion. I wish we could get everyone together more often but everyone is so busy. It is hard to find a time when everyone can come.

But Mommy. . .

Some days I feel like my first name is "but." I bet if I heard "But Mommy" once today I heard it a thousand times. Why is it that children feel the need to argue with every point. Jack would argue with me if I said how pretty the blue sky is. He would say but Mommy it is really a pink blue not a true blue. Is is just because he is 8 or is it just because he is a boy? My husband hit the nail on the head the yesterday. We went to out neighbors for a fabulous 4th of July party. They had a cook out and fireworks and all kinds of things for the kids to do. They had a pool, a blow up water slide, and a slip in slide. Now I ask you wouldn't any child or adult be happy with that. Well we told Jack not to go to the pool because we could not see him over there and he whined and stomped, but mommy. Mark said, "He would not be happy if he had a million $$ he would want two million $$. " But Mommy why can I not have two million $$? Well, am I the only one this happens to?

I do believe Jack will be a lawyer some day. He should at least, he loves to argue. It truly does wear me out some days with his, "but mommy." I never knew that boys could whine so much. I always thought it was the girls that did the whining. I have been proven wrong on that one.

I have decided I am going to try and stop the arguing. I do not remember taking issue with my parents as much as Jack takes issue with everything I say. If he is doing this now what is he going to be like when his hormones hit. I had planed on taking them to McDonalds as a treat while Mark was out of town last week. Jack proceeded to argue with me about what he wanted to order. I put my foot down and I turned the car around and he came home and ate a turkey sandwich. I told him I was not listening to the arguing anymore. I think I am going to take this approach more often.

Happy 4th of July!

Finally He's Home. . .

Yes, finally my dear hubby is home. The kids are so glad. They missed him so. (he has only been gone a week) But I guess a week for a little one is quite long. Thomas says, "I know you are planning something for just me and us." I think he meant "me and Jack." Mark always does things with them after he has been gone, like go to the movies or bowling ect. . . Mark has taken the week off and so we are planning a day trip to a local amusement park. The kids don't know that yet. If they did I would never here the end of it. Mommy is it time to go yet? Mommy is it tomorrow yet? Is it time to go? You know the drill. We won't be doing the pool this week since he is off. He is not a pool kinda guy. We might get to go to the lake though. We all enjoy fishing! Of course I don't get to fish as much as I used to because I am watching and making sure that nobody falls in.

Here is a little funny aside:

Mark and I had not been married too long when we bought our first boat. It was a bass boat. I love to fish and so does Mark. I always joke that I caught him because I could out fish him. HA HA HA! I like deep sea fishing personally. One day we went out on the boat and I had packed us a picnic because we were going to be out all day. It was an early April. Still a little nip in the air. We had been out for awhile when it began to rain. Now, that is one thing I do not like to do is fish in the rain. But, according to my husband that is the best time to fish. We were really catching the fish but I was cold and wet and my hands were frozen from the nice breeze we were getting. I was ready to go home and get into some dry clothes. I had on my bathing suit, a t-shirt and shorts, sweat pants, and a rain suit coat. We were in a cold rain. Well, if any of you know die hard fishermen they never want to stop if the fish are biting. I urged Mark to go in. I was cold. Much to his dismay he went toward the ramp. My job was to make sure as we approached the dock that the boat did not hit it too hard. It was also my job to get the truck and back it down in the water so Mark could load the boat. So I go up to the front of the boat with keys in hand and Mark was approaching a little too fast. Instead of getting on all fours like I usually do, I simply stood and put my foot out to stop the boat. As I said, Mark was approaching a little fast and hit the dock with the trolling motor and was scrapping it down the dock. When Mark heard that sound he through the boat in reverse to back it out. Well I lost my balance and fell between the boat and the dock rear end first. The water was pretty cold! I came up laughing because I still had the car keys. It was terribly funny except for the damage we did to the trolling motor. It had to be fixed. Mark was terrified that I had hit my head on the dock. He was afraid I might not come up. He was very happy when I did bob up with keys in hand. He was very apologetic for several days after that. Every now and then I remind him of that day. We both have a good laugh then.

No Joy in Mudville. . .

Well, we lost our game today. Actually we lost two games today. It was sooooo hot. The poor kids were just little puddles. We won our game last night and then played this morning and lost then had to play again and lost that one too. So we are out of the tournament. Poor Jack came out of the dugout crying and said it's over Mommy we don't get to play anymore. He was so sad. It broke my heart. They were playing some really good teams from other areas.
We will retire his jersey this year and move on.

Our next adventure will be football. Yes, I am a ball park mother. As long as my kids are having fun and want to do it I am there for them. The football thing I am a little worried about though. He moves up to tackle this year and he is not that big. He is fast though so I hope that will help.

I guess we will spend the rest of our summer basking in the sun at the pool. Yeah!!