Evie's 2nd Birthday

 

Evie turned one this week. She's doing so much these days. It's almost hard to believe that she is just one and not five. She started walking at 7 1/2 months and didn't look back. Right now, she's really in love with all things cats. She has a favorite stuffed animal of a kitten that she totes around with her and loves and so this year I decided to go with a kitty cake. I think she loved it...as much as a one-year old can love a cake. She'll appreciate it when she grows up and sees these pictures.

Her first birthday was bitter-sweet. First of all, my dad missed it. Just barely, too. It's a hard time at this point in my life. I can barely hold myself together, let alone keep a smile on my face. Dad not being here was harsh. Harsher than I ever thought possible. That being said, I did my best. I couldn't not make her a pretty cake, so that is what I threw all my attention to. It kept me busy, and busy is good these days. You can't cry when you're busy.

Lots of family showed up. I'm thinking it was mostly because they knew it would be a good distraction from the over-powering sadness. Evie, bless her heart, is young enough to not know the loss and sadness that others are feeling. In a way, I'm thankful. Alex and Abby are having a hard time dealing. As I write this, you should know, it's been two years since this day happened. I'm post-dating this blog so it's recorded. So anyone who happens on this post will understand that I can remember it well, though it felt as though life was a dream at this point.

Evie is so busy for a one-year old and I'm so happy  and blessed to be her mommy. I think, despite all the crazy, it was a good time. Or goodish, I suppose. Once again, there was an empty spot where Dad should be - an empty sound to 'Happy Birthday' with his baratone voice missing. It was a hard time. Oh...and also...thank you to my good friend Mandy for taking the time to record this in pictures for me as Evie managed to throw my camera across the house and destroy it just days before her birthday. Stinker.

Mmm...cake.

Present time for the big girl.

Look at that perfectly bald head.

Mandy told me that this picture perfectly captures this time in my life. I was barely hanging on, but had to be a mom too.

The cake looks like her special stuffed animal kitty.

Here comes the grumpy.

Alex's 7th Birthday: October 17, 2013

Alex is seven years old. What a goofball.

Well...it's only a month late. So, now that I've addressed that, let's not waste any time.

Alex turned 7 years old on October 17th. Alex's age lines up directly with how long we've lived in our house and how old (plus one year) three of our five cats are. What he wanted to do for his birthday was  have a slumber party. I was completely on board for this prior to my dad's passing. As my emotional capacity was dwindling quite severely, I ended up opting out of the slumber party and convincing him on slightly different plans. He got to invite quite a few friends from school to enjoy cake, popsicles, punch, a silly string extravaganza and a pinata. He seemed okay with it until I told him he could have his best bud, Kyler, spend the night after the party was over. It sweetened the deal just enough that I didn't harbor too much guilt for being the uncool mom who broke her word. It was Alex's first birthday without my dad....aka Grandpa. It was rough for everyone. Especially mom and the kids.

 We started off with the silly string craziness. I had a mummy halloween decoration that I attached to this chair...

He was less than recognizable after it was over. It was the fan favorite target. Remummified!

Alex got tons of presents. Thanks everyone!

Cupcake and popsicle time!

Can't leave Evie out with her cupcake. She enjoyed it thoroughly.

Alex with his shark pinata. Which, by the way, is still in pieces in my backyard. Wow, I'm lazy.

Abby. This makes me laugh. Good shot, picture taker (Mandy?).

And how did Evie spend her time? With her new best friend, Uncle Jake. I still don't get it. I swear he wears some kind of baby catnip or something. She even fought to get out of my arms to go to him. Way to go bro. You just sealed the deal as future babysitter. ;-)

The silly string was a huge hit! The kids loved it. Here's the thing about silly string: Its short-lived...very short-lived. But it was fun, nonetheless. I originally set out to have a silly string fight with each other. After reading that it can be torture to remove from hair and how it can only be removed with peanutbutter, I had to nix that idea. (We are peanut-free here.) I ended up setting up targets all over the backyard (thank you awesome weather!) and had them spray those in a mad, crazy frenzy. It was a hit and I do believe they enjoyed themselves. Then, we had our first pinata experience. I lost the top of my broom and ended up with a bruise on my knuckles (thank you Abby). But otherwise, they enjoyed that too. It was filled with shark stuff...naturally.

I went full on lazy this time and didn't even decorate a cake for the kid. Rockin' my lazy-mom shoes these days. It was cupcakes and popsicles for the win this go around. He came away with a ton of shark stuff to add to his ever-growing shark collection. This kid is crazy for sharks! He has over 30 shark books now. And still wants more! Crazy kid.

Best buds, Alex and Kyler. I love it! They are so fun together. They both love sharks.

My homemade shark decoration. It was Alex's idea. It's still sitting in my laundry room.

The sleepover was a blast for the two kids. Alex and Kyler are just a hoot to watch play. I'm glad he has such a great buddy. Makes me smile. They watched tv, played football and had a great time while eating everything but the dining room table.

As far as where the kiddo is in life, well...I'm really proud of Alex. He's seven and so smart and creative. I'm really blessed to have such a responsible kid. He's had some wacky cards dealt him in his young life, but has handled them all with a sense of maturity that you wouldn't normally see in kids his age. It's great to see how much he matures and grows in the span of a year. He's almost 60 pounds and just over a foot or so shorter than I am. He's in a "special" class at school with one other kid because he's a bit ahead of the other kids in his grade. They needed to get him somewhere to keep his mind expanding and pushing him to limits beyond what they are learning day to day. He's also doing AR and enjoying that. I don't know where he gets his brains from, but we are proud of him. I cant wait to see how far he comes in another year. What a ride it's been! Happy birthday Alex!

Nightmare

It's been a month to forget.

Pretty much, that sums it up. I know that I should be sitting here on the couch every night, documenting my life and my children's lives so that one day, they can look back and read about how it was, once upon a time. But as I said before, the last month...well...I'd rather just not relive it. Ever. I don't believe I have any readers for my blog other than the random family member that checks in from time to time. So, I'm sure everyone knows the basics to why I'm avoiding my cyber-writing duties. My dad passed away a month ago.

It sucks.

It sucks very badly.

It sucks so bad, that I've had almost zero will or want to do just about anything of value since it happened.

Depressed? You bet your butt I am! Angry? Heck, ya! Sad? Beyond words. I am heartsick and broken inside. So please forgive my absence. I know I wasn't the most avid blogger before, but this has been quite the hiatus...even for me. I'm functioning on basically all of the lower levels right now. You know...hygiene, eating, drinking, taking care of the kids. Anything nonessential is just pointless for now.

My dad was so wonderful. He was the kind of man who never met a stranger and his laugh was infectious. He was the best grandpa you could ask for and now? Now he's gone. I know he's healed and flying high in the loving arms of our Lord now. But that doesn't help my hurt go away. The worst of it is watching my mom shatter into millions of pieces each day and watching her fall into my arms so I can keep her from hitting the ground. Telling my children that their grandpa died was the hardest, most horrible thing I've ever had to do. Hearing their cries and watching their hearts break was torture.

Each day, I wake up and think it was was just a nightmare that I am leaving behind, only to remember that it is all too true. Each day I cry, even if it's just while I take a shower. I miss my dad. I miss him more than I ever thought possible. At his funeral, I had the honor of giving a tribute to him. I also had the honor of writing his obituary. If one can call that an honor.

I don't know what else to say about it, but I owe it to my family/friends that try to keep up with my life through this blog to at least explain my disappearance. But don't worry. It's not just my blog that got back-burnered. I can't even seem to write on facebook anymore. And my book? That one I just published? Yeah. Don't care. Will I get back into the swing of life again? Will I go back to blogging? Yeah. I'm sure of it. Just not today.

So what can I tell you from my living nightmare? Hug your parents. Tell them you love them. Tell them how much they mean to you. If they do something that drives you crazy, cherish it. You'll miss the crazy when they're gone. Take pictures of them...with your kids. Be appreciative of them. Be thankful for them. Because you still have them. You never know how much you miss someone...

...until they're gone.

Miss you dad. Love you.

(My dad's obituary...if you're interested.)

Published!

So after many, many denials from agents and after several edits...and more edits...and maybe one or two edits after that...I'm published! Okay. Not really. I suppose self-publishing is still "publishing" in its loosest form. But, in my opinion it's just barely squeaking past that "officially published" line. Basically, I gave up on the traditional route and decided to forge my own path. I wrote a book and didn't want to sit on it for the rest of my life. So, I researched and debated on which way to go and how much to sell it for. I decided to use Kindle Publishing for E-books (it's digital) and now, I am proud to say, that I am officially live and ready to go on Amazon.com! My book is called The Gateway to Imagia: The Tale of Sam Little and it is going to (fingers crossed) be a part of The Imagia Trilogy. As of today, I have sold 11 copies. Most of them are to friends and family, but just this week I sold my very first word-of-mouth copy. Yeah! I have a page on Facebook for my book. I am pretty proud of how it turned out. You know...for a digital book. I have plans to release the paperback version of it for sale on Amazon.com. But in order to do that, I have to purchase an ISBN for my book to sell it. I need to sell 48 digital copies to fund my paperback version. Only 37 copies to go!

So if you feel so inclined, check it out! You can download the sample of it for free at Amazon.com. If you like it, it's for sale for $2.99. If you like it, and even if you don't like it, I'd love to hear what you think! Like my facebook page and let me know.

It's official. I'm a writer! Yeah, baby!

To buy my book or download a free sample, click here: 

The Gateway to Imagia: The Tale of Sam Little 

To visit my official Facebook page, click here:

The Gateway to Imagia Fan Page

Summer Vacation - Swim Lessons Round 2

My fish were at it again this summer! I decided that signing the kiddos up for another round of swim lessons would be great for them. Last year, I went with the YMCA and it was a great program. This year, as Josh was barely working and we've been up and down with our union issues (that's for a whole other post), I decided to give the local pool a try. It's a small town and a small pool. But here's the deal: They were exactly the same as the YMCA. Oddly enough, I'd go as far as to say that it was better. Not only did they get to go to the pool five days out of the week for two weeks, but they also got to swim with kids they knew from school. They had a blast! My kids are fish in the water. I guessed at their level and was totally wrong. I put them in level two, but the instructor said they were really level three or four. Seeing as how those two classes were so full, I figured we'd just go with level two and I'd bump them up next summer. It was a cheap class and totally worth it (even for the extra pool time they got at the end of lessons).

The best part was watching Alex and Abby do something I didn't really think they could do. They both jumped off the "high" dive. It's not really that high, but it's higher than the low dive. I couldn't believe how proud I was when I saw those two kids leaping like crazies off into the deep end. They swam great! I was popping with pride! I love keeping them busy during the summer and they love it too. I am totally going to sign them up again next summer. Oh...and as for miss Evie during swim lessons? She loved the little splash pool they have for wee ones. She loves water! I even squeezed my post-partum, fat butt into a bathing suit multiple times so that I could take her out in the water in her fancy lady-bug floatie. I have a feeling she'll be a fish too. Here's some pictures of my little divers (well...cannon ballers, at the very least).

Summer Vacation - T-Ball Time

Now that the kids are in school, using the term "summer vacation" actually applies to us. Before they were in school, it was just plain, old summer. This summer went by way too fast. By the time school started, I wasn't ready for it to be over. I really miss my kids being home. I'm glad they are learning and making friends. I just really enjoy having them home all day with me. Even when all they do is fight with each other and create giant messes in the house, I still miss it. The house these days is way too quiet. Evie agrees, I do believe. She randomly goes to the front door, cries and says "bye-bye, bye-bye, bye-bye!" This is her way of saying she wants to go see the kids. She has even begun to say rough versions of their names. (Still no "ma-ma though. grrr.)

Anyhow, this summer was pretty crazy. We had a lot of fun and a few firsts that we got to experience. The first big "first" for us was the grand entrance of sports. Alex played T-ball for the first time. He loves sports, so we couldn't deny him when he wanted to play. Granted, the greatest part for him was that he got to be on the same team as Kyler (his best bud). We had practice twice a week and five games. It's an inner-city thing that our town does through the recreation commission. It was fun and a learning experience for everyone. I played baseball/softball as a kid. It was fun to relive that through my own child. Abby wasn't interested in playing. At all. She ended up having a play-date with her friend from pre-school the same day Alex had his first game. She was more than happy to do that instead of go see brother play ball.

Alex did pretty well for his first round of team sports. He learned some fundamentals and got to have a good time with his friend. All in all, I'd say it was a good experience. I imagine he'll want to play again next summer and that's fine by me. I will say that it was pretty funny watching those little five and six year old kids try to figure out which way to run and throw. It was pretty cute and cracked me up a few times. It'll be interesting to see how much they will retain when they play again next year. Team sports, round 2  starts this week: Soccer. Yep. No clue about this sport. Gonna be interesting!

Batter up!

Third base and waiting...

Run home, Alex!

Waiting to bat with his buddy.

Mr. Cool with his John Deere hat.

Next up: Summer Vacation - Swim Lessons Round 2

First Day of School (the late, late post)

First day of school.

So, as my friend Mandy pointed out to me today, I'm epically failing on the blog front. I have a handy little post-it note on my computer with a list of things I need to write about, but have yet to do so. Fourth of July, swim lessons, the entire summer, the garden (that is mostly dying now). And of course...the first day of school. Oh, I did take a picture of my school-bound duo. I'm not lazy! I swear! Truth be told, I'm obsessed with my book right now. As soon as I finish everything for the evening and have the three wee ones off to bed, I go straight to Mr. Laptop and start working on my book. But that's not what this is about. (It's almost up for sale! yay!) So back to the first day of school...two weeks ago.

Abby is off to a great start for her first year of full day school. Kindergarten is a bit intimidating and a little too long for her, but she is getting better each day. The first day of school, she used her pink Barbie backpack and loaded it up with her lunch. Since then, she's gotten a new Phineas and Ferb backback that she is in love with, which helps her excitement level. She did fantastic on the first day! No tears or anything! I was super proud of my little Kindergartner. I will admit that I'm having some difficulty getting used to her being gone all day. I miss her and her awesome imagination and antics like crazy. Some days I turn on random shows on Netflix to fill the background with noise so that I don't go crazy. I honestly think I'm not coping nearly as well as Abby is.

Alex, on the other hand, is on to first grade. He's got the whole thing down, old hat. He wasn't very excited to go to school once he found out that his best buddy, Kyler, wouldn't be in his class. Turns out that the three recesses he has is spent playing with him, so he's getting more excited to go each day. We're still dealing with the post-summer routine switch. They go to bed at their normal "school bedtime", but it's not working out so well. Alex, my little ravenous reader, can't sleep. He sits on his bed and finds the tiniest bit of light source and reads. And reads...and reads some more. So when wake up time hits in the morning, I practically have to drag him out of bed. I actually have started threatening him with ice water to pour on him. (yes. It's that bad.) We'll get there. Or not. Either way works for me.

In short, the first day of school went pretty smooth. I've been eating lunch with Abby and saying hi to Alex everyday. I'd like to say it's mostly for them, but it's for me too. The days drag and Evie misses them horribly as well. It's going to take some getting used to. Ah, life changes. We all must adapt.

9 Months Old

9 months old

T-minus three months until little miss Evie turns one year old! Also, in a completely related countdown, three months until I am breastfeeding, no more. I'm trying to treasure the whole closeness and sweetness of the breastfeeding experience. I am. I really am. But here's the thing. Have you ever tried to breastfeed an octopus? No? Well, that's what it's like right now. Evie thinks that she can eat upside down, walking around (no joke), play with toys, bite (hello first tooth!), and watch what everyone else in the house is doing...all at the same time while eating. She also is (are you ready for this?) patting my...um...breastfeeding utensils when she's hungry. I hate to say it, but it's a little awkward for me. But here's the deal with Evie. She's busy. Very, very busy. She officially gave up crawling a week ago and is a full-on walker now. She climbs, she bounces, she even tries to run. As of now, she can wave bye-bye, nods her head 'yes', signs a few words and gives kisses. She's eating mostly finger foods now, as she rejects being spoon-fed 90% of the time. Literally, she rejects it. Spits out anything on a spoon that goes in her mouth.

At her 9 month check-up, she is checking in at 18 lbs 4 oz. By far, she is the lightest of my three. The doc says that she is way beyond her peers in the mobility department and that is why she isn't gaining a lot of weight. He told me it's time to up her calories. I'm also supposed to introduce the major allergens that they used to tell us Americans to hold off on until the first birthday. Apparently, America got it wrong with the whole "wait until they're one" method. According to the studies, countries that don't hold back on peanuts and the like have almost zero food allergies. I gotta admit, I'm a little nervous about giving her stuff, but I guess we'll do what we can. Waiting late in the game didn't help Alex so we'll try the other way with Evie. Here's hoping. He wants me to give her peanut butter soon. I'm hesitant, to say the least. We'll see.

So Evie's a busy girl and right now her biggest problem is missing her big brother and big sister when they are at school. She isn't coping well with that. She gets pretty cranky when they are gone. The moment they get home, she becomes the happiest little thing on Earth. Oh. And she is a horrible sleeper. The doc told me that if she won't sleep in her crib, I should try co-sleeping. I laughed. Docs don't normally tell you that. But apparently, because of her high skills for movin' and groovin', doc says it's okay. Who knew? I laughed because I already co-sleep half the time. I lie. It's more than half of the time. I won't say how much more.

Happy nine-month birthday, baby girl!

She's so silly! She was actually riding this stick horse around the house yesterday. How did she figure that out??

She is in love with this kitty we bought her so that she would be more comfortable in her crib. We call it Baby Kitty. She carries it everywhere.

Guess who figured out what the fun toilet paper roll does?

Jelly Bean Tree

Okay. So I have a new goal. It's simple. Just one word.

Blog.

Yep. I've been...well...preoccupied. I could easily be blogging every other night, but I've chosen a different way to utilize my computer/personal time. Do you remember me confessing that I wrote a book? Well, I did. And it's quite done now. By 'quite done', I mean I'm in the final stages of getting it published. And by 'published', I mean self published via the internet for e-readers. After more denials than I care to admit from agents, I am trying something different. Anyhow, as this post isn't supposed to be about this, I'll just sum up by saying that I've spent my evenings getting it ready and decided it was more important than blogging. On to the real post now.

Abby is by far my most creative kid. She comes up with some really fun and strange ways to play or spend her time. Right around jelly bean season (Easter), Abby decided that she wanted to grow a jelly bean tree. She marches to the beat of her own drum, that girl. So I just smiled. What I didn't know at the time, was that she actually meant to accomplish this impossible feat. She went out and planted one white jelly bean in the yard. A couple of weeks went by and wouldn't you know it. A plant grew in that very exact place. When it came time to mow the yard, she reminded me not to mow over her Jelly Bean Tree. I smiled again and complied. What were the odds that a plant would actually grow in that same exact spot that she planted that jelly bean? It had to be winning-the-lottery odds. It grew. And it grew. And it grew...into a curly dock weed.

Abby and her Jelly Bean Tree.

"They smell like jelly beans, mom!"

She was convinced that those tiny seeds growing on top would turn into jelly beans and pop out one day. So in an attempt to support her wildly imaginative theory, I went along with it. Also, I needed to cut it down before those seeds spread across my whole yard. So I told her that if she lays out bowls under a Jelly Bean Tree, that legend says, when the first sun on a summer morning touches the plant, jelly bean fruit will fall.

Getting ready for the harvest.

She was super excited and she went out to place bowls under her tree. The next morning, she woke up and went out to find her magical surprise. Jelly beans! Some of them fell on the ground and were ruined. But her bowls had plenty of "fruit" in them and she gathered her booty up and ran inside to have a jelly bean breakfast. She even shared them with her brother! What a sweetie!

Her bounty of tasty fruits!

So Abby's Jelly Bean Tree was one of the most creative things she's done so far. The funniest part was when Josh realized that I kept not mowing down the giant weed in our yard. When he asked why and I explained it to him, I don't think I've ever seen him smile so wide at something so random. His only words were, "What were the odds of that?" Abby - that girl makes me smile. I will miss having her around all day when school starts. Yep. I truly will.

8 Months Old

8 months old

Am I seriously going to have a one-year old in four months? What is up with that?? I know I'm a few days late here, but just a few short days ago little miss Evie turned eight months old and boy, oh boy! That girl is on a mission! She must have heard me talking one day to the kids when they asked me how long it will be until Evie is walking. I told them that Abby was the earliest walker at 8 1/2 months. Apparently Evie decided she could totally beat that record. She took her first steps at 7 1/2 months old. It was four steps to mama. And she's been getting better every day. Just tonight she took about ten steps to me while at vacation bible school. She monkey crawls, waves bye-bye, signs "all done", claps, and started climbing stairs. Holy cow, that girl can move!

With the speedy mobility has come the joys of fishing things out of her mouth...constantly. But the worst part is that she won't lie down in her crib. She stands up, latched on to the bars with her little hands, and screams like she's being tortured. Not "sad" screams. No, no. I call them "horror film" screams. She's not just unhappy. She's (for lack of a better term) royally pissed off! Thus, the days of sleepless nights has come to pass. I don't sleep through the night because she doesn't sleep through the night. At all. She gets up every hour...on good nights. It's exhausting. So, do I sneak in a little co-sleeping? Yup. And I don't sneak it in, either. About half way through the night, I flat out give up! She lays that little head on my pillow and is out like a light. I partially pass out shortly after. Altogether now, say, "Mommy complex!" She's got it bad. This too shall pass though and I will miss parts of it.

Otherwise, all is well with Evie. She's eating more solids everyday and gaining weight like a chubby little pro. I haven't had her officially weighed, but according to my scale, she's about 18 pounds. She's a sweetheart and I'm just so happy that I get the privilege of being her mama! She's at that fun age where she is learning so fast and I'm having a fun time watching her grow.

 

Here she is standing on her own. I am going to try to get a video of her walking tomorrow and post it. You know...in all my spare time. :-)

The Deep End

It's more obvious to me now that two of my children possibly have fish genes spliced into their system. Last year I signed Alex and Abby up for swim lessons at our closest YMCA. It cost a minor fortune for someone on our budget, but was well worth it in the end because both of them took to water like they have gills. By summer's end, they were crazy kids in the water. This year I wanted to further their skills with a second round of swim lessons. I decided, due to financial restraints, that I would sign them up at our local pool.
1. We can walk to lessons. It's two blocks down the street.
2. It was much cheaper. Nuff said.
3. They have a baby pool for Evie to play in when the kids are swimming.
All around, good idea. So basically, this was their first week. Monday, they already knew most everything they instructors taught (I should have bumped them to level 3, but had no way of knowing until they started). By today, they were both in the deep end of the pool. What?! Yep. That's right. They can survive in water. Granted, they just started learning how to tread water and there is NO way I'd just let them go in the deep end and play for a long period of time without me or Josh. But they surprised even me. Two years ago, I wouldn't have dreamed that I'd be sitting on the sidelines watching my kids jump into ten feet of water without having a small panic attack. Today, I just sit there and smile - nervous breakdown free.

Yesterday, Alex jumped off of the "high" dive. (It's not really that high...small town pool ya know.) Today, He did it without the instructor helping him get to the ladder. Then today, Abby jumped off the low dive and then strutted right over to the high dive and jumped! I was so dang proud of those two monkeys! I think we'll do swim lessons every year until they cap out at level 5 just so they get two straight weeks of pool time. It's worth it and I feel super comfortable when they are around water. And the really fun part? Evie loves the pool! She loves tootin' around in her lady bug car (complete with inflatable shade canopy!). When she sees the kids playing, it's all I can do to keep her from climbing in. So does that mean I've tortured the world by getting into a bathing suit? Yup. Pretty much. It's worth it.

Sharks on the Brain

Alex and his hammerhead shark chicken dinner. The chicken looked like a shark and I got creative. He was the happiest kid that night.

When I was growing up, I was obsessed with Star Wars. At least, I thought I was obsessed. The truth I can now see is that I knew not what obsession truly was...until now. When little boys grow up, it's pretty common to hear them get excited about certain things. Trucks and tractors and dinosaurs are generally the two big boy-loves you hear about. Sometimes a few sports get thrown in there as well. Alex has had his fair share of loves. Trucks and tractors were a phase. Then he moved on to The Wiggles. That lasted the longest and he still holds a special place in his heart for the Aussie Fab Four. When he wore that yellow, long-sleeved Wiggles shirt every single day from age 2 - 5, I thought we'd known obsession. But once again, not so much. In between we've had the football-love and The Avengers-love as well. Buy oh my! Alex. That kid! My goodness, has he got it bad!

About a year and a half ago, Alex began getting interested in all things Ocean. Because of his new found interest, Josh and I thought we'd feed that by finding the closest aquarium and taking the kiddos to that. We found one in Oklahoma and once Alex saw that they had a shark tunnel, he was pumped to go. We went last summer around this time and he had a blast. That was just the beginning of his ocean love. Fast forward to today...

He never stops talking about all things ocean. Especially sharks. Never. Stops. Talking. About. Sharks....NEVER. When I ask him to think about something else for a few minutes, he says, "I can't! I can't get sharks out of my brain, mom!" When we go for walks, he will literally talk my ear off about all things ocean and sharks for the entire trip. He owns about ten shark books right now and is begging for more. And the kid reads them...by himself...every day. He Googles. Yes. Googles. He finds the name of some random sea creature and types it in to Google so he can find pictures about them. He wants to be a Marine Biologist and go scuba diving with sharks as soon as he can learn how. I seriously can't explain the level of obsessed this kid is. You just have to hear it to believe it.

This summer we are going to go back to the Oklahoma Aquarium. This time, I can guarantee that he will know every single name to every single creature in that place and will be able to tell you at least one fact about each one. He's asked if we can go to the New York Aquarium and about six other ones he's read about. He can spot a pea-sized picture of a shark in any book he finds within moments and will beg to cut the image out so he can keep it or buy the book if that won't work. We spend hours checking out and reading the shark books he's found at our local library. A year ago, I wouldn't have known one shark from another. They were all great whites in my brain. Today, I can name and identify at least 30 of the 400 species of sharks in the world and tell you a little about them. I know terms like "midnight zone" and "denticles" and can tell you  just which shark is the "garbage can of the ocean."

Sometimes, Josh and I just look at one another and start laughing when Alex gets his shark and ocean lectures on. It can start to drive us a bit batty at times, but who knows? Perhaps he'll be the next Jacques Cousteau. Here's my big question though. How is it possible that things like Scooby Doo and Sponge-Bob give this kid nightmares, but the most frightening creature on Earth doesn't even faze him? And if you're wondering whatever happened to Alex wanting to be a Chiropractor? Don't worry. He says he wants to be a Chiropractic Marine Biologist that scuba-dives with sharks. When I asked him if he would fix the sharks backs he pointed out to me that sharks don't have bones. They have cartilage. It made me laugh.

Evie is 7 Months Old

Seven months old.

One of these days I'll go back to the good ol' blog postin' days and actually get things up more than once a week. Not anytime soon, but I'm still hopeful. Sometimes, I'll be walking around thinking, "Oh that's cool! I should take a picture of that and then write a blog!" But then I never get around to it. Evie just keeps me hopping these days. If I'm not fishing things out of her mouth, then I'm rescuing her from falling over and bumping her noggin. Busy, busy! That's her (and me apparently).

So I know I'm a few days late, but Evie is 7 months old. What is she up to at this crazy age? What is she not up to, would be the better way to put it. I believe I totally skipped the sixth month posting (I think). But two days before her sixth month, she started crawling. Within a week of that, she was practically a pro. And by her seventh month, she is currently doing way more than I can keep up with. She's crawling like a pro, pulling up to everything (seriously...everything), cruising where she can, trying her best to let go and stand on her own and saying Mama when she's really upset I left her with daddy. She's starting the finger food days. Banana puffs, sweet potato puffs, Cheerios, tiny bits of toast (as of tonight), and her favorite, graham crackers. She's on about 75% of the different fruits in veggies in the baby food aisle and still fights me on peaches, pears and carrots. She still wakes up all night long and wants nothing more but to sleep on my pillow with me (I know. Not safe.). But best of all, this girl is one happy little baby! She loves to play with and follow Alex and Abby everywhere and loves to sit with us at meal times. All around, little miss Evie is just doing wonderful! I'm so blessed to have such a happy and fun little girl...even if she does keep me on my toes nonstop.

Is she not the happiest little girl you've ever seen?

Sap I Am

This weekend I had my annual garage sale and I was super pumped to get rid of some of the unnecessary clutter in the house. Now that we've sealed the deal, so to speak, for not having any more kids, it's time to let go of all the baby stuff that we no longer need. Evie is moving right along and leaving lots of those fun items I've had for six years well behind her. But who has two thumbs and too much sentimentality? This mama. That's who.  Watching the stuff I've used on three babies get loaded into some random person's car was so much harder than I expected it to be. My nursing pillow...*sniff*...that helped my three little babies do countless hours of tummy time on. My Old MacDonald farm play mat...*sniff*...that three tiny babies learned to roll over on. Baby clothes...*sniff*...that I changed over and over through all the spit up and diaper explosions. The baby bath tub...*sniff*...that I gave first baths for three little naked babies in. Ah heck! I'm just an over-sentimental sap! But the worst was the last thing I sold. It was a ratty old (probably recalled) baby bouncer that I bought for a whopping quarter at a garage sale when I was pregnant with Alex. I called it the magic bouncer because, despite it's old crusty nature, each kid loved it like crazy. I actually almost kept it. But I knew that it would be better used for someone else's baby. I actually cried when it got loaded into that car and drove off. I also am kicking myself for letting it go. So my sweet daughter, Abby, told me tonight when I was telling Josh how much I regret selling it, that I can go buy it back from them when their baby is done using it and they sell it at their own garage sale. And that if I pray about it, God can help me find it. I gave her a hug and told her that it was a fantastic idea!

Our last picture with the Pink Bouncer. *sniff*

So here I am. Letting go of the baby scene. I never thought it would be so hard. I know that we're done and that we all must move on as our children grow, but dagnabbit, if it doesn't sting like crazy! Perhaps our paths shall cross again Pink bouncer. Perhaps.

Summer's Arrived

Now that Josh has started a job, I'm at home running around like a mad lady with the three kids. Evie started crawling...and pulling up...and cruising the furniture. Apparently she just can't wait to do these things for my sanity's sake. This has made my days very long. I'm not complaining about Josh working. I'm very happy that he is out of the house and attempting to bring some money back into the picture. But I forgot how much work it takes to keep a baby from crying and falling over nonstop. Between that and Alex and Abby, my days are just a big ol' bag of crazy. Alex and Abby want to be outside all of the time. I'm happy to say that they are already dealing well with heat. We keep our house at about 78 degrees during the day which is a step up from the 101 degrees our house was when I was a kid, so my kids can count themselves lucky. But I also don't want to raise a bunch of heat sensitive pansies. So I make them go outside and sweat. However, now that it's hot enough to swim, they begged me to put up our old friend the Big Blue Blob.  Today was that day. It was a lot of work to dust that bad boy off and get it filled up, but it's officially done. They've also officially swam in it twice already.

Evie is such a busy little gal that I have to entertain her nonstop no matter if I'm inside or outside so this is turning out to be a long summer already. I'm not sure how it will go, but I hope she's ready to do some heavy sweating. I have a feeling we'll be outside a lot.

And with summer, as it seems to be each year lately, comes our annual city wide garage sale in town. And I've been participating for the last couple of years. Now that we are officially done popping out babies, I'm selling off everything that I won't be using anymore (changing table, baby bath, billions of pounds of clothes, etc.). I must admit, I'm having a pang of sadness at seeing it all sitting in my house with price tags on them. I've had that changing table for six years. I've changed six tiny butts over and over again on it and my heart does a little flip at the thought of these days being in the past. Of course, that flip of my heart isn't big enough to pop out another kid. But it does kind of hurt. I'll miss those tiny butts being changed. Huh. Who knew I'd miss changing 20 poopy diapers a day?

P.S. I don't have time to edit my blog posts these days. I'm just lucky to have five minutes to write anything at all. So if you see a weird grammar issue...oops. My bad.

Super Hero Geek Squad 2013

I loved our family pictures that we took last year so much. (See Super Hero Geek Squad 2012 here) It was fun and cost us zero dollars (which is always a win in my book). I just have one problem. Our family wasn't complete the last time we did our super-hero pictures. Now that we are plus one more with miss Evie, I had to go for our next round of photos. I got my mom to take the pictures again this year and we all piled in the van to go be total geeks...and love doing it! This year, I decided to change things up a bit. I want to do something totally dorky every year like this. In 20 years, my family photo wall is gonna rock! I'm trying to convince Josh we should all do a pirate themed one next year because we will be going to my brother's wedding in California (I hope we can go anyways). We can totally do a beach background with that. He hates pirates. But ya know what? My camera, my gig...my rules. (insert evil, maniacal laughter here).  So without further ado, here is round two of:

Did I make my kids wear pairs of my old glasses for the sake of a fun family photo? Yup. (click to see larger formats)

Uh-oh! Someone activated The Geek Squad signal!

Quick! To the Geekmobile! Wait. Did we install the car seat right?

Evie will get her mask next year. Ya know...for identity secrecy issues.

Training to save the world is hard work. Especially with a super baby attached!

Training starts young in our family.

But even the Super Geek kids need a break.

Nailed the side kick last year. Had a baby via c-section and nailed it again this year. Oh yeah!

Teaching proper side kicks are easy with a flexible baby.

Incoming!!

We girls gotta be strong!

Little BatGeek may be small, but he packs a punch.

We've taught them well.