{swirling}

*that defines my brain right now. The job I quit, well let's just say it's about to do me in.

*I am going to quit again after this trial. Really.

*despite the little message that made it's way to me via email tonight.....I absolutely refuse to stoop. I have withdrawn myself from that game completely. Regardless of what was thought, I was sincere. Interestingly, I guess she was too. It really is unbelievable.

*e HATES school. He begs me not to send him. He complains of being very bored. Although the only draw has been "the girls"....apparently there was alot of kissing going on today. Haven't we traveled this road before? I am having to send a note to his teacher tomorrow. And, it was actually them, not him. Surprisingly.

*n is doing fine. Geometry. That is just so strange?

*my boys are beyond exhausted. After a great weekend/Monday of fun with their friends they are pretty much down for the count. Thanks MW and TH for all the fun!

*my new declaration, excitment and commitment to Wednesday night services/Bible study since I purposely kept that night totally open for church. Well, my 2nd week into it compleely derailed thanks to a phone call from an attorney tonight for Thursday morning depos....I want to give up there too, but, I won't.

*thanks so much for the prayers for Scott's Fayetteville appointment yesterday. Very much appreciated!

{i am in love....}

i've had my eye on this beauty for a long while now. yesterday, after i had lunch with the girls to celebrate {or mourn} the return to school of our little ones, we made a stop at the antique shop. i could not stop thinking about it....so i went and brought it home today.

as i pushed it down our lane to snap a picture of it...it was very difficult not to think of the mother that used this for her baby years ago.

amazing.

{continued enrollment}

He went again today. But, not without protest.

He has asked to "skip." Several times actually.

How did he even know that term?

I think the only thing that got him there today........

.....a girl.

This is going to be a long educational journey I'm afraid. ;)

{barn raising resumed}

I suppose I will post it here as well as my other blog since the majority of it will be for our family with my office/studio incorporated. But, this is it, FINALLY! A few minor changes including some rock added to the bottom of the front. The windows will be different on the side as that area will house the studio/bathroom. The loft willl be above my studio where you see the brown x and the white door will actually lead the to barn area. I think we are going to add a patio to the back as well. Just happy to be 'under construction' again.

I think?

{i am quite concerned}

*that I will be having a Kindergarten drop-out. His day actually went fine yesterday {per my analysis not his}; I did better. He had a good day overall with the exception of his complaints related to nap time. He forgot we packed a lunch of his favorites and went thru the lunch line to obtain something he will not eat...a hamburger. The french fries saved him. He is very impressed with the cafeteria ladies....doesn't that sound vaguely familiar? Noah always wanted me to get a job in the cafeteria. It was his dream job for me. Evan explained that they were just so nice fixing all that food for all the kids. Even though he hated the food. He was beyond CrANkY when I picked him up. A lot of tears even if you looked at him. I forgot how long those days are for the little ones. Even though I've had him on a protested back to school bedtime routine for weeks leading up to this....the night owl in him is struggling. He wants to be set free. He succumbed to tears last night when he realized he had to go back all.week.long. For whatever reason, he thought it was going to be one day a week? He revolted. He now hates school and does not want to go back. And tells me this every chance he gets. This could make for a very, very long year. He was a grumpy bear this morning. I hope he and his teacher survive without too many battle wounds today. Trust me, I've said many prayers.

*we were driving down the drive way and he remembered he had not brushed his teeth. Thankfully we had some extra time - u turn in the field. Bless his heart....he had a rough start today between that and crying over his breakfast.

*having said the above, he fell asleep on the way to school this morning. I realized it when it was time to drop him off. He woke up and flew out the door. I'm not sure he even knew where he was. Noah was chasing behind him to make sure he made it to the right room. He could be in Booneville for all I know. {kidding, Aunt J}

*Noah - well, things are going very Noah-ish. No concerns as of yet. He loves it all.

*we are about to start building the barn/studio/office. I'm excited but nervous - I do not enjoy big projects like that at all. Give me a hot glue gun and I'm all over it. Making decisions like this......hurts my head. But, the outcome will be more than worth it I think. I hope anyway!

*Wednesday night services start back tonight. I am excited - just hope Evan will be okay. Because I think the turkey needs to be in bed as soon as he comes home today.

*Before sunrise, I was outside with Molly this morning. Geese flew overhead. A very welcome sound. I saw some on the way to school as well. Ahhhh.....that time of year.

*The boys swam last night, trying to get as much in as we can. That little pool has seriously been the best investment ever. For $400 plus 3 bags of salt - the giggles and fun it has given them has definitely well worth it.

*I get to see my friends tomorrow for lunch! Can't wait!

*I'm off to light a pumpkin candle and get after it for the day....

{here we go again}

Evan goes back to school tomorrow.

{restoring order}

I am very happy to announce WE HAVE AIR!!!!!! Oh, Happy Day!

Happy, happy, happy, happy day.

We are still sitting at 81 degrees - but, considering how hot it got while they installed over the past 24 hours - it may take a while to get it really comfortable. I'm not complaining because the end is in sight!

I have felt terrible over the last couple days - I think the lack of sleep this past week finally caught up and caused a major crash. But, I am dragging myself up and am now trying to tackle this mess. There is dust and I don't know what in the world 'else' due to the installation. Even the carpets need shampooed d/t some many trips in and out, in and out. I'm drinking some coffee as I gear up for it.

And, we have a mouse. I'm just hoping nothing else got in as they had to cut out the ceiling of the air closet. A mouse is ALL that got in. I am convinced of it. And, the following...I am not kidding one bit...Scott bought TWENTY mouse traps yesterday. TWENTY. We have one mouse. He hates mice worse than me if you can imagine that. They are everywhere. Poor Molly is either having to stay in our laps or be kenneled right now.

I survived E's first day of Kindergarten yesterday. Survived and nothing more. It was much more difficult than I thought it would be and I anticipated it to be horrid. It was. And, more. He did great though! I'll be back to blog on HIS day, not MINE. {wink}

Also, I purchased my first little "project". I'll post pics of that as well. But, I had always spied those rooster lamps on the blogs. I am not a themed kitchen kinda gal, but I do have scattered bunnies and roosters. I try to be a bit subtle with it. Well, subtle with the exception of the HUGE metal rooster on my island. But, the other day at DG - they have a new shipment of mid-sized lamps - some really pretty bases for only $7. I bought a rooster one and a plain red shade. I will 'fluff' up the shade with my hot glue gun and some fringe. I'm thinking it will be easy, mindless and really cute......the price of it even better. ;)

I'm ready for fall to be in the air, but, for whatever reason not to rush the seasons, but I am super-excited about Christmas this year. No idea why? And, on that note I had the boys with me on a quick trip into HL the other day. Noah was disgusted that they still had their Christmas stuff out! ha! I had to inform him it had been pulled back out a couple months ago because Christmas is only 4 months away. He was so confused!

Off to scrub my bathroom. You're jealous I know!

{i think i can, i think i can, i think i can}

I know I can.

Because I have to.

I think?

Well, I do...because, I missed the homeschool cut-off date.

So, I have to, unless I want to go to jail.

And, I really don't want to.

Enough of that.

I am really not breathing very well here.

It was very obvious to me...this was it...our last day before a new chapter.

He was oblivious, he carried on his day, just like every other.

Bittersweet.

Really bitter.

Really sweet.

So, I took random pictures of how we have spent most of our days over the past year.

It was never mentioned, but he more than fulfilled his lego quota for a week! :)

He built lots and lots of "shooters" that would shoot "2 million miles then blow up". He blew up quite a few. They really did blow up?

Those sweet little hands have logged in hundreds of hours on legos.

So have the teeth, but we won't go there.

He constantly comes to me throughout the day. All day long showing me his new creations and treasures. I won't even tell you how I will miss that!

BIG LUMP.

Another premiere while at my desk.

ahhh...the demonstration. this one crashed in to the wall to the left of him. Our walls have lots of character! lol!

This is what he brought to me when he told me he wanted salad for lunch.

We had salad.

He threw a few impromptu concerts today.

Like most days.

Best part, free admission!

He is convinced that he can convince his music teacher that he absolutely can bypass the piano and go straight to the guitar. His piano teacher informed us that he {piano teacher} is very strong willed. Well, so is E!

I caught these from my desk as they were happening......excuse the plant and lamp fringe to the sides.

I am actually thankful the heat/no air conditioning caused me to move my work station to the living room. I've been missing out on alot! Not sure I will move it back.

He changed? I'm not sure why, but that tends to happen alot with him?

He is finishing up the last of the paperwork that will go to school with him tomorrow.

Notice the empty popcicle sticks?

This is for me. Their folders are ready for incoming and outcoming forms. My entire house is in utter chaos right now because of the air outage, but, my folders are ready.

One for each.

He just HAD to try on his backpack to make certain it was not too heavy for him.

Then he saw the camera and tried to duck. He begged me "DO NOT put that on your blog".

Well, maybe.

He's ready! He asked to sleep with us tonight, so he is snuggled up next to Daddy. Daddy did not complain once.

I will end this here and not get into how my heart is feeling. But, I am excited for him. And, not to overshadow Noah - been there, done that with him and always hate to see the summer end with him as well. But, after 10 years, no baby at home. It's super hard.

So, I am off to clean a little. Not sure I will sleep much. But, I will be praying for our next chapter!

xoxo! I love you boys!

ps. you could have made this easy on me and been not so pleasant to have at home, then maybe I would be able to be excited summer is over like I hear so many moms say in the check-out line. But, nooooooooo you had to make it so hard because you're so stinkin' wonderful to have around. 24/7.

{not doing well here!}

about tomorrow.

at all.......

{is that air?}

well, not yet, but the unit should arrive in FS tomorrow. PRAISE THE LORD! And, I truly mean that!

The past week has been trying to say the least. We have managed to stay at home although the boys were sent to Mimi's and Poppie's the first night as we tried to get things settled. We are either all sleeping, aka camping, in the living room or all 4 sleeping in our bedroom. We have sheets on the doors. We avoid the rooms that have no air. Laundry has piled up worst than it has ever been. Ever. I avoid anything that produces heat so that means the washer, the dryer and stove. It has been too hot to do much after the heat peaks for the day, thus little vacuuming, floor care, etc.

It's terrible. But, every night when I lay down I can't help but think of the millions of people (especially the little ones) all over the world who would absolutely be thrilled with this situation. We do have a window unit and some stand up units. We are not sleeping on the dirt floor of a hut. So, really, I have nothing to complain about.

Even the bill.

Heart attack as we opted to go for a high-energy saver.

Ouch! Hopefully it will pay for itself relatively soon!

But, as of tonight, the old unit has been torn out and hauled away. I have major clean-up to do. They will start the installation tomorrow night and we should be up and running at some point this weekend.

I am past ready! But, thankful that it was as comfortable as it was!

{happy 4th grade!}

Well, I put my happy face on today and we celebrated Noah's first day of school! He seemed a little nervous and unsure when we left him, but I guess that is totally to be expected.

The famous back to school shot I take every year. He looks thrilled doesn't he? Can barely contain it?

Me and my brace-face smile, I cannot wait until these things are off!

On the way to school, Evan informed us "I hate school!" And, that was without him even starting today? Then, he fell asleep on the way home. Tomorrow will likely be very interesting.

This is what he retreated to when we got back home.....

His little life is about to change in a big way!

I am excited for what the year will bring them both. Happy first day Noah! You make us very proud! Hope you have a wonderful year! I'm looking forward to our evening snuggles filled with reading. We somewhat got off track with that over the summer...but, it's one of my very favorite things.

Love you so much!

{it's a new year}

Paperwork signed, checks made out for lunches and t-shirts, lunch planned, clothes ready, supplies bagged, pencils sharpened, boys in bed.

Heart very, very sad.

But, excited for what the year will bring them.

So goodbye summer, you didn't visit us long enough, but you gave us so much fun!! We will miss you dearly........

{does this surprise you?}

No, these were not cooked at the same time.

Let's go for the gold {or soot, in this case} and not only burn one or two, but let's just go ahead and add another one.

For a starving little guy.

Can we start over today?

I'm somewhat afraid to leave my house!

{only me}

Who gets up and neither car will start?

Seriously.

That adds a tad of stress to the "meet the teacher" I had planned on being at by 9 am (so I could get everything else completed), Scott's MD appt at 10 am (his parents are scurrying down here to get him), the trash that needs driven down to the highway, the last minute back to school errands and a very important dinner tonight.

And, now having two vehicles fixed.

Ahhhh..........I am breathing.....

{savoring}

these last days before school starts.

The house is a wreck. But, that's okay.

I am allowing a marathon afternoon of Wii. That's okay too.

I have a mountain of laundry. It will get done. Eventually.

We still have no central air, but, camping in the living room with a wall unit....well, it's working. We just pretty much stay out of the other rooms.

The boys had a great time with friends last night and friends today. A great bunch of boys! & I adore their moms!

I want to do as little as I can from now until Thursday.

Well, that's after my birthday party tomorrow.....I have quite the day planned. ;)

{special order}

Who would have thought that when I took that order for a "cheeseburger with mustard and pickle only, fries and a coke"...that the cute little guy ordering would get a bonus of a wife and two little joys somewhere down the road?!?

So, here I am sitting in our home TWENTY ONE years later...listening to the boys play in their room, scott snoring on the couch, molly in trouble in her kennel with no air conditioning still...

Even with all of the mountains, hills and valleys we've had together...I am very grateful for our life together. We have a strong history of love and laughs that has seen us through some pretty dark days. I am excited for the days to come!

So, it's always fun to re-live that day as well as all of the early days that carried us to "here". I was IMMEDIATELY smitten with him and without a doubt knew he was "the one".

God is AMAZING!!

{Just FYI}

And, yes I am very, very strange for even posting this to my blog.

But, there is a story behind it.

Really.

When I was pregnant with Evan I did everything by the book and beyond. Which included no caffiene, little sugar, healty eating overall, etc. At some point of my pregnancy, Dr. K promised me it would be okay to have a little of the above without causing an issue.

Big mistake.

For whatever reason, Scott purchased me a bottle of Coke from the northside of town (it was on his UPS route) and they were WONDERFUL! I didn't know it at the time, but they were made with real sugar. Real sugar? Seriously?

They were brought in from Mexico as they were the only Coke factories "near" that used actual sugar. So, even after his wreck, we would occasionally make a trip to this little store and buy me a little stash.

Well, when I saw the retro cans this week in WM - I had to give it a try. At first, I couldn't tell the as much of a noteable difference as those we purchased straight from MX - but, there is a definite difference.

Not that ANYONE would be interested in the history of it, but, I found this as well...... & the boxes and cans are super-cute too! The "throw-backs" are also in FS. ;)

NEW YORK (AP) — Dr Pepper is prescribing some sugar this summer in honor of its 125th anniversary, the latest in a series of temporary moves by soda makers to temporarily swap out high fructose corn syrup.
The spicy soda made by Dr Pepper Snapple Group Inc. is rolling out Dr Pepper "Made With Real Sugar" this weekend through early September.

Cans and bottles will feature old logos in the company's deep red, and colorful designs with lions and bright swirls of color harkening back to the 60s. Popular phrases such as "I'm a Pepper" also appear.

There are six different can designs. The company wanted to bring back the sugar version to help highlight its past, which dates to the creation of Dr Pepper by pharmacist Charles Alderton in Waco, Texas, in 1885.

Dr Pepper declined to say if it will try out sugar in other brands such as Canada Dry, 7-Up and A&W Root Beer.

Manufacturers are testing sugar drinks as people's appetite for them increases, as some become concerned about high fructose corn syrup. Though they're nutritionally almost identical and equally caloric, some consumers believe corn syrup is less healthy than sugar.
They're also racing to come up with natural, no-calorie sweeteners and reformulate their beverages, though they haven't been able to apply that to major soft drink brands yet.

Last summer, rival PepsiCo Inc. launched real sugar versions of Pepsi and Mountain Dew, calling them "Throwback" and using old packaging designs. Pepsi Throwback was so popular the company brought it back for a brief time in the winter. It declined to say what the drink's prospects are for the future.

Coca-Cola Co. offers a kosher version of Coke that uses sugar (look for bottles with yellow caps), often available around Passover. Mexican-made Coca-Cola, which also uses real sugar, can sometimes be found in the U.S., and fans pay a higher price for it. One Dr Pepper bottler, Dublin Dr Pepper, has been making the soft drink with sugar since 1891, in the drink's home state of Texas.
More could be coming. PepsiCo's Sierra Mist line will now be reformulating into a sugar-sweetened version called "Sierra Mist Natural," according to a report Thursday by trade publication Beverage Digest. PepsiCo, based in Purchase, N.Y., did not return messages seeking comment.

The industry switched to high fructose corn syrup in the 1970s as a cheaper alternative to sugar, said Gerry Khermouch, editor of Beverage Business Insights. There seems to be growing demand for it, as evidenced by Pepsi's success with Throwback, even the second time around, he said. But drink makers are also wary of sending a message that there's anything wrong with high fructose corn syrup. "In some ways their worst nightmare is that this thing sells through the roof, because then that's telling them something about how consumers feel about their product," he said.

I'm weird, I know, but I always relate those super-sweet Cokes to my rocky, rocky pregnancy. Anything sweet besides the outcome was a bonus!!

{cake, anyone?}

I'm about all caked out.

Just for the record {my memory} I wanted to jot this down.

We had a double layer {albeit it was smaller than ordered, thank goodness!} pirate cake for the birthday party. But, because it was smaller, I added the above 30 cupcakes.

Then, for his actual birthday - I couldn't stand the thought of him not having a cake - depite the fact we still had a massive amount of leftovers. Thus, a double layer fudge cake. He was in fudge heaven.

And, the family party. Well, you can see where this is going because I have a crazy personality when it comes to birthday parties. Two more cakes.

I know, I know?

Another fudge because he requested {had left overs from two nights prior}, but because my mom cannot eat chocolate - a double layer Italian Cream.

I do not care if I ever see another cake for a year! :)

But, I will ;)

{getting there}

Very reluctantly, but I am.

Due to the chaos of not having a working air conditioner and basically "camping" in our living room...any small feat is a huge thing at this point.

Yesterday I went through every single pair of shoes they had and determined at this point, the only thing that is needed is a pair for Noah.

I went on a quick grocery shopping trip this evening as the boys were convinced they were starving. So, I started my stash of school lunch/snack supplies. I am a little stressed {actually alot} because Evan will not have lunch until 12:40 and he is such a picky little eater anyway. I'll add the fruit next week.

I know he will not starve, but, it makes my mommy heart a tad nervous....

Am I really at this point?

Summer is gone pretty much. BOTH boys are going to school. Everytime I start feeling sorry for myself I am quickly reminded that it will be okay.

Tonight's reminder was that I learned a dear friend from school and church as I grew up will be saying goodbye to her son tomorrow as he leaves for Basic.

I have nothing to complain about.

At all.

{evan's birthday party!}

Of course, I loaded these in reverse order.

But, who wouldn't want cake first?? And, I used those trick candles I mentioned earlier.....so fun! As you can see, he didn't give up too easily!

He huffed and puffed and huffed and puffed some more......






It totally cracked me up!

The cake was half the size it was suppose to be....thus a mad dash across town for 30 cupcakes. Of course, we had WAY too much cake!

But, pretty cute nonetheless...

He had alot of sweet friends there to celebrate.....we missed those who could not make it!

I failed to take any pictures of the swimming little fish! {& I'm missing little Olivia in the pictures, I think she was over at the slide pretty much the whole time}. The kids stayed cool and despite the horrid heat we've been having the adults fared pretty well except for about 30 minutes in between the shade and breeze leaving and a nice little shower that moved through. Really, that part couldn't have been much better!

Thanks to everyone for making his day so special! He loved it!