14!

Shaun turned 14 on Sunday.  14!  It doesn't seem real that he can be that old.  He's almost grown.  It makes me sad, and happy at the same time.

In typical teen fashion, he didn't want me to make a big deal about his birthday over here on the blog, but I can't NOT write about his birthday.  It was a pretty good one for him, I think!

We had church, of course, but before we left in the wee hours of the morning we gave him his gift from us.  A new bike that he can ride.

Chris and I already had his present last week.  A laptop.  Then, while he was out with my parents over the weekend, he found what he really wanted...a three wheeled bike.  This was on Saturday, the day before his birthday.  Chris had to work late that night, but he and my dad still drove to Cleveland to pick that bike up when he got off.  I'm so thankful for my Daddy.  It was a late night for him!  

Chris parked the bike outside by the front porch and the next morning, after Shaun was dressed for church, sent him out to get something from the car.  It was still dark outside, and no one could really see.  It took a minute for Shaun to see his present.  So funny!  He loved it!

After church and choir practice, we went out for a late  birthday lunch.  The 14 year old requested Texas Roadhouse.  Our friends the Willocks, whose son is a good friend of Shaun's and just happened to have a birthday the day before, went with us to help celebrate.  My parents and another friend of ours also came.  That was one crazy lunch!

The Birthday Guys enjoying their dessert.

When we came home, it was bike riding time.  The boys rode with their cousins until it was dark.  After that it was time for The Walking Dead.  For the boys and Chris... I went to sleep.  I was exhausted!

It was a great day celebrating our great son.  We love you, Shaun!

It's way too early and I'm up again.

It would appear that I'm an insomniac again. It's 5:21 am and I've been up for about an hour.  I'm tired but I can't sleep and so I'm catching up on Parenthood via Hulu.  

It's raining.  I'm hungry.  

We all went shopping together yesterday.  The family and myself.  Shaun is THE pickiest shopper I've ever seen.  4 stores and he couldn't find one pair of shoes he loved.  Maybe I need to let my mom take him.  

I bought bras yesterday.  Bra shopping is my least favorite shopping of all.  I found one I loved after Violet was born and I've been wearing it ever since.  Chris said it was time for a new one, so I went into the "bra store".  It was kind of a sanctuary because it's the only place the boys wouldn't follow me.  I tried on about 30 bras, seriously, and finally found some new ones.  I was in there over an hour.  Uninterrupted.  Maybe that's why I took so long.  

I'm kind of a blog junky.  I read so many about so many people.  It's my guilty pleasure, I guess.  Reading gossipy blogs.  Lately, I've been lurking on a new one...    I Got My Refund. 

Did you know that there was a "glitch" over at the IRS for the early tax filers?  It's been quite the saga. 

I'm considering a romantic relationship with The Little Salad Bar's yogurt spinach dip.  I'm telling you, it's so good.  Only 45 calories.  I could eat it with a spoon, but usually I eat it with carrots, bell peppers, or pita chips.  Oh, yum.  

And now C's alarm is going off.  Nice. 

S Words

S Word # 1:  Snow

I know.  The snow is SO last week.  Literally.  This is the last time I hope to have the need to write about it for a long, long time.  I wasn't a fan of the snow.  So, it's an S word.  

S Word # 2:  Sh*t

THE actual "S Word".  As in, "Mom, so-and-so said the S word!"

For the record, my own children don't say this word.  Someone may have used this quote in reference to me during my childhood.  Or not.  Also for the record, I myself do not curse on a regular basis.  I used to, a lot, back in the day, but no more.  But, back to the snow...I stayed out of it as long as I could.  Last week when the sun finally came out and the boys had spent numerous hours outside playing in the snow, I finally convinced myself to go outside.  I bundled up and inched my way down the porch steps.  And then I promptly twisted my ankle.  And, yes, I said the mother of all S Words.  And Violet heard me.  Sigh.  I don't even know where it came from.  It just slipped out.  Chris heard it, too.  I might have even said it several times in a row, my ankle hurt so bad and I was so MAD at the snow that caused me to trip over my own feet.  Most people wouldn't even admit this, but I'm honest!  Ha!

S Word # 3:  Shut Up

This one only recently became a bad word in our house. I used to say it all the time, but I'm having to train myself to stop.  Because the other day  when the kids and I were in the car, Shaun told his brother to Shut Up.  And then I heard, "Shut Up" in Violet's sweet little voice.  

I digress. 

Horse Banquet

Now, I may not like horses, but I love my niece Keri-lyn.  Horses just happen to be her thing, so I was happy to go to her awards banquet last weekend.  I'm late writing about it, but it was a very memorable banquet and I never want to forget it, so here goes!

First off, I feel that it's important to note that this was an awards banquet for Keri-lyn's first horse show season.  She's been riding about a year or so, I think, and she loves it.  And she's great at it.  I love that she's found her "thing"...the thing she loves that makes her light up inside. 

I joined my sister and her family, my parents, and my Granny at the banquet.  It was a potluck with tons of food and I ate way too much.  After that, the awards started.   

Keri-lyn won an award.

And another.

And she just kept on winning!

I lost track of how many she won.  

And then, she won Student of the Year.

This one came with a cash prize of one thousand dollars.  What a great night for her!  She works so hard and she totally deserved that award.  She'll use if for horsey things...things she needs that I know nothing about.  Ha!  

I'm so glad that I was able to be there on her special night. 

Snow. Second time around.

Well, it snowed yesterday.  Again.  I don't like the snow, and I didn't go outside yesterday.  Neither did Shaun.  We did, however, take this shot of Jordan from our kitchen window.  

He worked forever on that snowball.  A friend of ours made an Instagram comment that "He never does anything on a small scale.  Look out world!"  Very true!

More snow and ice is expected for today.  In fact, the news called today's forecast a potential "historic and catastrophic event". 

I think I want to move to Florida. 

Kiosks

I spent some time at The Mall of Georgia yesterday.  I hardly ever get to venture out to the "big mall", as my son calls it.  It's just too much of a hassle to go with all three kids.  Plus I don't have time.  We usually make do with the mediocre stores here in  Gainesville.

Yesterday, though, Jordan was invited to a movie birthday party at the MOG.  This party lasted 4 hours, so I was excited about having 4 hours to myself... Chris and Shaun were still at church and my parents took Violet home with them to spend the day.  I dropped Jordan off with his friends and the theater, and then I didn't know what to do with myself.  Ha!  I mean, I couldn't remember the last time I was out by myself.  

All.  By.  Myself.

I got lunch in the food court.  By myself.  I used to be so self-conscious about eating alone in public places, but now I relish it. I ate slowly.  People watched.  Read.  Talked on the phone.  Sent texts.  Watched many Bruno Mars videos on the mall's televisions. I sat there for an hour.  Just sitting.  It was wonderful!

Then, I window shopped.  No real money to spend, but at least now I know what I want to buy when I do have money.

One thing I don't really like about MOG is all of the kiosks.  They've gotten worse and worse over the years.  I first noticed them getting out of hand a few weeks after Violet was born.  The family and I were at the mall.  Chris and the boys went off alone and I had the baby in her stroller.  Seriously, probably two weeks after my c-section.  I know I had no business doing so much so soon, but I did anyway.  I was tired, it was hot, and I was sore and winded from all the walking around.  I was walking back to the food court to meet the others when the "Sutra" man snagged me.  I am convinced that these people look for ladies who feel the most haggard, tired, and unattractive.  

I happened to be wearing my hair curly that day because I had a non-sleeping newborn in the house and getting an extra 30 minutes of sleep was much, much more important to me than straightening my hair that morning.  

The "Sutra Guy" started out by telling me that my hair is beautiful and asking me if I ever straighten it.  I was really not in the mood.  I was sweaty and I was wearing a maternity outfit when I wasn't pregnant anymore because I couldn't fit into my regular clothes yet.  I told him no thanks and kept walking.  And he followed me!  The next thing I knew, he was straightening a strand of my hair.  And yes, it was really straight and beautiful.  But I stated that I just didn't have time for things such as hair straightening at the moment.  And then that fool had the nerve to ask why.  

Seriously?

I gave him a "are you kidding me?" look and then turned my gaze to my beautiful baby girl sleeping away in her stroller.  He got the point.  

The same thing happened the next time we visited MOG a few months later.  Same  place.  Same guy.  This time my hair was straight and again, he went on and on about how beautiful it was.  Only this time he asked if I ever curled it.  

Really?

That time I escaped, but this whole scenario repeats every time I'm at the mall.  

Yesterday, while I was walking around the mall, I thought to myself that I was amazed that the Sutra guy hadn't accosted me.  And, I swear to you, at that moment I heard a familiar voice say, "Wow, your hair is so gorgeous.  What kind of straightener do you use?" 

Bwahahahaha.  They tricked me.  They switched places!  I was all the way down at Baby Gap and they found me!  I told the guy all of this.  And the next thing I knew I was in his chair and he was straightening my hair.  I told him he'd already proven to me how wonderful the Sutra is, but he insisted.  I also told him that he had to straighten the whole thing and not just one strand.  He obliged.  

For the next few hours, I was constantly barraged by salesmen peddling their ware.  It was annoying.  They just don't take no for an answer. And oh, my gosh...all of the cliches they used.  My favorite line came from a woman who was selling exfoliators.  She asked me how in the world I had 3 kids because I look soooo much younger than 33.  Ha ha! I    almost said, "Yeah right, lady.  I know EXACTLY how I look today.  I've been up since 5:30 am and I haven't stopped going since.  I'm tired.  That's how I look.  Tired!"  But I didn't.  And then she dropped the F-Bomb while describing the Dead Sea.  Because, of course, what other words would you use to describe the body of water that produced the product you're trying to sell?  I'm still shaking my head at that one.  Next time, I'm definitely taking my kids.  It's funny how kids can deter the kiosk workers.  Ha!

I picked Jordan up and we began to walk outside.  As we left the food court area, I heard another voice.  "Your  hair is gorgeous...what kind of straighter do you use?"  Same old kiosk that's been pursuing me for over a year, but different guy.  Somehow he missed me on the way in.  I told him that I used a Sutra, just so we could get out of there.  I was technically telling the truth since my hair was in fact straightened with a Sutra just a few hours ago.  And, for the record, I think my Chi does just as good of a job. 

One more thing...

I just remembered some funny moments from the kids' appointment today that I don't want to forget:

I should say first that Violet hates going to the doctor lately.  She starts screaming as soon as she sees our nurse(who is very-VERY-sweet) and doesn't really stop until after the appointment's over.  She especially hates having her ears checked, which is really unfortunate because because that's why she was in the office today.  We have to lay her down, I stand at one end of the table and hold her little arms down, and the doctor kind of lays on top of her and checks her ears.  I thought that we had perfected this "routine" when Jordan was a baby and had so many ear infections.  But, Violet is even harder to hold down than her brother.  Go figure.  The doctor and I finally were able to keep her still long enough so he could check and by then we were both practically sweating.  He was trying to ask me questions and I was yelling, "What?  I can't hear you!" .  It really was a sight.  The doctor wound up having to check the ears again with this tool that blows air into the ear.  It checks for pressure or something that indicates an infection.  So, I held Vi and tried to calm her down while  Dr. O went to get the tool.  When he came back, Shaun asked him what he was going to do with the tool and the doctor tried to explain that he needed to blow air into Violet's ear.  Shaun looked at the doctor and said, "Can't you just do that with your  mouth?".  Ha ha!  The doctor answered, "Well technically I guess I could..."  and then I piped in with, "Really, why do you have to be so fancy?".  And then the three of us burst out laughing.  And then we had to go through the whole wrestling match with Violet again.  

She was finished then and it was Shaun's turn.  But I guess she was ready to go because she started putting on her coat and handing me my purse.  Then she looked at the doctor and said, "Bye!". 

So funny!

Fabulous

As days go, this one has been pretty fabulous.  Chris was home and we had a Family Day.  He's been working lots lately and we've missed him!  We woke up early and drove to Clarkesville so that Chris could pick up some music equipment from a friend.  The funny thing is that this friend has had said equipment for years... I know it has been at least 10 years since I've seen these friends of ours.  It was GREAT to see them again.  

Also up in Clarkesville live our friends from church, The Reeder family.  I had sent Melissa Reeder a text that morning and told her that we would be up her way, and that text resulted in an invitation to come see her alpacas.  Her family has a whole farm for them and we've never seen them, so of course we stopped by.  

I do  not really care for alpacas,  but these guys were pretty cute.  Here's some photographic evidence that I was actually close to an alpaca.  And she didn't spit on me!

We had to be back in Gainesville at 1:30 because Shaun and Vi had appointments with the pediatrician.  The bad news is that Violet has another ear infection.  The good news is that now we know why she's been acting so grouchy.  

We didn't have time for lunch before the appointment and everyone was starving so we went to Loco's.  The boys all had wings.  Lots and lots of them.  

We finally bought a new washing machine on the way home.  Praise the Lord!

And then it was time to celebrate my oldest niece's birthday.  Keri-lyn's 11!

This weekend is going to be crazily busy, so we were so glad to spend the day together. 

The Strong-willed Child? Or The Steroid?

I think we've hit the terrible two's early.  As it turns out, Violet's not so different from her brothers in this way.  Her little "personality" has been making appearances here and there for the past month or so, but now it's shown itself in full force.  

Okay, well.  In fairness, some of it could be the fact that she was on a steroid for her cough for a few days.  Let's just go with that, shall we?  Even though she's been off The Steroid for a few days because her mood swings were so bad that I didn't really see the point in them.  

Last week, on day 2 of The Steroid, I took all three kids grocery shopping.  I didn't have a choice because I had put it off so long that we were literally out of food.  The kids started to complain, so I gave in and went food shopping. Ha!

We went to Aldi first.  I love Aldi.  I love it even more when Shaun is with me because he really is a big help with his sister.  And he's old enough to push the cart back to the corral all by himself.  I really was just going to get the bare basics and get back home.  Enough to last through the weekend.  I thought the trip would be easy enough.  Oh, how wrong I was!

Violet was just...terrible.  She was terrible!  I've never seen her act so badly in her whole life.  Usually, when we're out at any store, she's a social butterfly.  She waves and says "Hey" to every person we pass.  Seriously.  Every.  Single.  Person.  Most people ooh and aahh over her when she talks to them, which is probably why she does it.  It really is adorable.

Not this day.  

First off, she wouldn't sit inside the cart. I mean, she just wouldn't.  I know all the people who haven't had any babies are laughing and shaking their heads and wondering what's so hard about making a one year old sit in a cart.  After all, I'm so much bigger and stronger than her.  Or so I thought.  She  really proved me wrong.  I finally bribed her with a sucker from the bank.  All of that green food dye worked it's magic and she finally settled down and we were able to start shopping.  

I muttered under my breath to the boys that we needed to hurry up and get out of there.  They agreed.  I started barking out orders for things for them to grab.  Aldi was really crowded that day, especially for 2:00 in the afternoon.  Everyone was in everyone's way.  I knew we were finished as soon as that sucker melted away, so I was in a panic.  And then, only halfway through the store, the sucker disappeared.  

And my sweet little baby girl started screaming.  And climbing out of her seat.  Strangers passing by tried to talk to her and she just sulked and snarled her nose up at them.  I somehow managed to keep her inside the little seat on the cart with one hand and pushed the cart with my other.  I know it would have been easier to just hold her, but something told me that if I lost this battle, I'd lose every other future grocery store battle and I'd never be able to shop with her until she turned six years old.  So I bit my lip and we forged through.  I was embarrassed.  And sweaty and flustered.  The boys were embarrassed.  We finally (praise the Lord!) made it to the checkout line and then I swear my older kids just spaced out on me!  I couldn't unload because I had to hold Violet in the seat.  The boys started unloading the way they usually do.  We needed to be quick so I could let the cashier know that I needed to keep our current buggy before she started putting our groceries in another one.  Violet started grabbing random things off the shelves (including a big stuffed Valentines bear) so I dealt with her and when I looked up again both boys were looking at candy or staring off into space. Meanwhile, the cashier started putting the groceries that were already on the belt into another buggy up at the front of the line. 

 "Jordan!  Ask her if we can use this cart!  Hurry!"  

"Um....what?" said my eight year old, his eyes still on a Snickers bar.  "Mom, I have enough money for this candy bar.  Can I buy it?"

"What??  Forget the candy.  Please just let her know that we need to keep this buggy!"  Because can you imagine trying to bag our groceries up while wrestling with Crazy Baby?

Then Shaun yelled at the cashier  and asked if we could keep our cart. Oh my.  I know she thought we were the rudest people ever.  She told us that of course we could keep our cart but then she had to wait for me to get to the front of the line.  And my boys just stood there..."Boys!  I need to get by you.  Everybody's waiting!"

"Mom, can I please have this candy bar?  I have my own money!"

"Yes!  Get the candy.  Please move!"  Please remember that all of this time Violet had not stopped screaming once.  Jordan moved out of the way, but Shaun tried to shrink himself up against the wall so that I could get by.  Not sure what he was thinking, and I ran over his toe with the buggy.  That's when I heard snickering behind me.  Apparently the man behind us in line found us extremely amusing.  

I finally managed to pay and told the boys to forget trying to bag everything up at the counter.  We'd just do it at the car.  When we got to the car the boys started bagging everything all on their own.  Bless them!  I was so proud of them.  In the meantime, Violet was arching her back in a desperate (and unsuccessful)attempt to stay out of her car seat.  It took a good five minutes, but I got her in there.  

We finally left.  But we still had one more stop to make.  Kroger.  I was tempted to just forget it, but I only needed 5 things and Vi had calmed down.  She was covered in green sucker, but she was calm.  So I just went for it.  Into Kroger.  And Violet sat in the cart like she usually does.  For about five minutes.  Then she lost it.  I grabbed the first thing I saw on the closest shelf, a bag of yogurt covered pretzels.  That quieted her down.  Of course she still tried to snake herself out of the straps and escape when she thought I wasn't looking.  And of course we ran into some people we used to go to church with who had never seen her before.  They commented on how cute Vi is and I just had to say, "Well she's usually cuter.  When she's smiling and not green."    And of course there was a lady handing out samples of sausages that gave us a ten minute speech about her product with me smiling and inching away as I tried to keep my baby from climbing out of the seat and getting a concussion from falling and hitting her head on the floor.   

I was ready to collapse when we got home.  

That was the day that I used my Mom Card and ended The Steroid.  Her cough was better, anyway.  

Then today, it happened again.  This time at the library.  We had to get books for Shaun's science project.  I had written down what we needed and then left the list at home.  Again, all three kids were with me.  And again, Violet showed out.  She loves books.  A lot. And she wanted her hands on every single one she saw today.  Usually, she'll sit at a table or on the little couch and look at her books while I help the boys if they need it. Not today.  Every time any of us tried to do anything with her she just melted down.  Cried.  Screamed.  In the library!  Shaun found what he needed.  We just got all the books on the subject of his project, since we couldn't exactly browse through them with Violet acting the way she was.  

There was a long line at the desk so we used the self check out.  Jordan loves to do this, but he's not patient enough.  He moves the books before they're scanned and then has to put them back and then the same thing happens with the next book.  I tried to do it myself but just couldn't manage.  And Violet was still screaming and yes, we were getting all of the stares from every one of the library patrons.  

So, I got her out of there!  I took her outside and hissed at the boys to finish checking out the books and just hoped for the best. 

I went outside so that I could watch through the window.  Jordan tried to do it, and he didn't do it right, and Shaun was getting frustrated and giving me "I can't believe he's doing this" looks through the window.  It took forever!  When I would put Vi down she'd try to run off, so I had to hold her.  She struggled and cried and I'm surprised that no one called the cops on me for kidnapping.  

Well, the boys finally finished and made it outside without setting off the alarm.  Then we walked to the car and Violet pulled her old "arch the back" routine.  Aaauughgh!

What a trip.  

Today's Monday and her last dose of The Steroid was on Friday.  So I'm not sure what I'm dealing with... yet another strong-willed child or just The Steroid.  I guess time will tell. 

Jordan's Birthday '14

Jordan turned 8 last week.  I'm pretty positive that he'll never, ever forget his 8th birthday because it snowed!  He said it was the best present ever.  

Even though some of our plans were messed up because of that pesky snow, Jordan had a good day.  He requested a waffle cake, so that's what he had for breakfast.  Along with some bacon, of course.  Every eight year old boy needs bacon on his birthday. 

We're not really morning people, as you can plainly see from the blurry-eyed look on his face, but he really enjoyed his breakfast.

We had planned to join our family at Stevi B's for some pizza that night (Jordan's request).  I really didn't think it would snow...and no  one thought it would snow as much as it did!  So, plans got canceled.  The cousins couldn't make the drive into Gainesville safely, so we asked Jordan if he wanted to reschedule his birthday dinner.  His answer?  NO!  So we left as soon as Chris got in from work that afternoon, before the roads were too bad.  

The boys did this while they were waiting for me to get ready:

Our first stop was to pick up Jordan's present.  He asked for an aquarium and he wanted to pick it out himself.  When we arrived at Petsmart, we found out that they were closing early due to the weather.  We only had an hour to pick out the tank, and an hour is how long it took!  Chris and I didn't think about how a tank has to be set up and running for 24 hours before you can put the fish in, so we had to break that news to Jordan.  

He finally made his decision on a tank and some fish to purchase the next day and then we drove over to Stevi B's to meet my parents.

  And of course, Stevi B's was closed.  Due to inclement weather.  Jordan chose to dine at the Chinese Buffet in the same shopping center as Stevi B's, to everyone's delight. 

Can you detect my sarcasm?

Chinese Buffet isn't really on our family's list of top places to eat, but Jordan loves it.  So that's where we went.  

The boys wanted to ride home with my parents after dinner, so we met them back at my parents house for cupcakes.  Finally, to top off the day, all of the cousins took a nighttime sled ride.  

Jordan said it was the perfect day!

We weren't able to go pick up the fish the next day like we promised because the roads were icy and all of Gainesville was shut down.  So we went the following day and picked out 8 little fish.  I think Chris loves the tank and the fish almost as much as Jordan does.  They named all of the fish and watch them all.  of. the.  time.  

It's cute.  Jordan made this video to send to my mom.  Ignore the mess on the countertop  and just focus on the cuteness.  

For the record, these fish are NOT going to become a permanent fixture on my counter.  My husband wants to keep it there for a few days to "make sure everything is alright with the fish".  What?!  I think he's living out some secret dream of his with this fish tank.  Ha!