Two Years!

Today marks the day that I began blogging two years ago! I can't believe it has been that long. I also can't believe that I have blogged so little! I am trying to do better at updating it on a weekly basis and maybe that will happen in year three of this.

Well... let's see what's new. Jacob is now 6 years old! I cannot believe how quickly the last 6 years have gone by. I thank God for every day that I have with my boys. They truly are a daily blessing in our lives. Jacob had a great birthday. We all headed to Putt-Putt where we spent time together on the bumper boats, go-karts and playing golf. I could not believe how much Daniel enjoyed riding in the go-karts. I wish I had a picture of us driving those things around, but of course, Dylan and I were a little busy doing the driving!




Jacob with all of his birthday gifts!


Blowing out his six candles on his strawberry shortcake! My Mom made some of this for the boys the last time we were at her house and he specifically requested it for his birthday dessert.

Our summer vacation is in full swing! The boys and I spent this past week in Midlothian catching up with our friends. We had a blast! The boys really enjoyed spending time with their grandparents and friends. My parents gave Jacob a blow-up pool for his birthday and the boys had a blast playing in it. Well... I should say that Jacob had a blast playing "in" it and Daniel had a blast playing "near" it! He is still not a fan of water. He has never enjoyed being in a pool except for the summer when he was less than one year old. I can understand the fear of a full-size pool, but this pool was just slightly bigger than a bathtub (which he LOVES), but he still wouldn't get in. I'll have to keep working on him.

We got a chance to go to the Metro Richmond Zoo while we were in town with our buddies, The DuBruelers! We were all so excited to see each other and it was great to get to spend the morning together. It was a hot day, but I think we all had fun. Baby Allison did not enjoy the heat, but she sure looked cute in her hat! Of course, I just realized that I don't have a single picture of her - oops! I guess that's what happens when you're not quite old enough to feed the animals. :)


The boys trying to feed the fish.


Hanging out in front of the tigers.






I was so proud of Jacob - this was the first time that we had been at the Zoo that I didn't have to talk him in to feeding the giraffes. He just walked right up and put out his hand.


Daniel and Ethan check out the alligators.

On Monday, we are on the road again. This time, we are off to my sister's to visit them for a week. We're hoping to squeeze in a trip to the DC Zoo, but I'll be happy just to hang out by the pool. :)

Our Summer vacation has started off with a bang. Jacob has strep throat. Again. Yuck! This is the 3rd time since Christmas. The pediatrician said that if he continues to get it, we'll have to go to the ENT for a consult on whether he should have his tonsils removed. I'm praying it doesn't come to that, but on the other hand, it would be nice to say good-bye to strep throat forever!

On the up side, we have finalized all of our travel plans to visit everybody! It's going to be crazy, but we will be on the road to visit everyone over the next three weeks. Basically, we will be traveling during the week and come home for the weekends. The boys and I are excited that we are going to be able to see all of our friends and family.

As for me, I am just counting down the days to the beach! We are going back to Topsail Island in July and I can't wait! Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go get on my treadmill before I can even think about getting into a bathing suit! :)

Our Life in Pictures

It has been a crazy life here the past month or two. It's been full of Easter egg hunting, circus going, furniture moving/shopping, swing set building, trampoline acquiring and assembling, baseball gaming... the list goes on and on.

This is Jacob's last week of Kindergarten. Yikes. He's now going to be a first grader. I think I just sprouted another gray hair just thinking about that. Where has the time gone??? He will be 6 in eleven days. Daniel will be 3 before the end of summer. Whoever said kids keep you young, must not have actually had kids. 'Cause right now, I feel awfully old. :)

Let's see... where to start with what is new. Here are the boys at Easter:


Yeah, I think they're kinda handsome, too. :)

Jacob has been doing baseball since the end of March and he loves it! He's actually pretty good at it, too. He gets better with each game. We're down to our last three games this week. I'm sad that he won't have that to look forward to each week, but I'm glad the season is ending before the 100 degree weather arrives.


Up at bat...


Made it to first base! (He's doing his signature move here - the Jacob thumbs-up!)


Home Run!


My parents with Daniel.


Next, it was time for Daniel's crib to be packed up.


Always willing to help.


Trying out the tools.


Jacob gives Daniel a hand.


Beep! Beep! Coming through!

After that, came the "big boy" bed. (AKA: my brother's old bed!)


Getting ready to climb in!


Look at me in my big boy bed!


All tucked in with Elmo.


And then there was the sweet discovery of an ice cream truck in our neighborhood:








And lastly, testing out the new swing set:


Swings? Check!


Slide? Check!


Monkey bars? Check! Good to go!

Up next in June: Jacob's birthday, trips to Georgia and Midlothian and lots of other fun! Can't wait to share our summer memories with you guys.

Worst Week Ever?

Ever feel like you are having the worst week ever? Yeah, that was us last week. Monday started with a trip to the doctor for Jacob. He had strep throat. Oh yeah - and a "foreign body" in one of his ears. OK. Never thought I would be at the doctor's office for that issue. If it were Daniel, I probably wouldn't have been so shocked. But, Jacob? He never does stuff like this. So, Tuesday morning, we are getting ready to head off to the ENT's office. That's when I notice that he has broken out in a rash from his shoulders all the way down to the tops of his feet. Yikes. I call the nurse and she thinks it could be an allergic reaction to the antibiotics.

Meanwhile, we still have to go to the ENT doctor, so I gave Jacob some Benadryl and off we went. We arrived at the ENT's and everything was going OK. Jacob was really scared about getting all of this done, but he did really well. Until they actually pulled it out. Apparently, it must have been a little bit attached to the inside of his ear because the doctor said that it probably felt like someone just ripped a scab off. You know - off of the inside of your ear! OUCH! All in all, I still think he was a trooper. The doctor said that most children have to be sedated in order for them to get things out. Oh - and what was in his ear? A balled up sticker. It was one of those small rectangle stickers that some stores put on items. You know the kind that they put on with a sticker gun and a price or date is stamped on them? It was all the way shoved down next to his eardrum. How in the world that didn't bother him, I have no idea!

After we were done at the ENT's, we stopped by his pediatrician to pick up a note for school. His doctor went ahead and took a look at him and said it was NOT a reaction to the antibiotics. It was strep rash. But, he would need to stay home from school for a third day. Great. We left with our note for school (which had the wrong dates on it and I had to go back to get a new one) and headed off for our closing on the refinance on our house. Phew - what a week! And it was only Tuesday at this point.

Nothing major happened on Wednesday that I can think of. Praise God! Thursday - Dylan's radiator busted. We took it to the shop on Friday and they wanted $500. Dylan decided to do the repair himself. We saved about $400 doing it ourselves, but I have to admit that I didn't think he would be able to do it. He definitely proved me wrong.

Then came Saturday. My parents came out to see Jacob's baseball game and then we all went out for lunch. After my parents left, we decided to start looking around for some furniture for Jacob. Daniel has been out of his crib for a week now. He is getting so big that we were afraid he was going to break the bed. No kidding. When he wasn't sleeping in his crib, he would just walk around inside the crib in laps or jump up and down. So, now he is sleeping on his crib mattress on the floor. We decided we would buy new furniture for Jacob and Daniel will get Jacob's current furniture. So, we headed out to Farmville to check out a furniture place out there. On the way home, Jacob started complaining that his stomach hurt, so we stopped at a gas station. And hello, stomach bug!

And that was my worst week ever. Except, I should really say it was Jacob's worst week ever. I mean, the poor guy had strep throat (with a lovely rash to go along with it) and a stomach bug all in one week. Yuck.

Saving for a Rainy Day

Yes, I know - we're all well aware that the economy is bad right now. So, we have been doing everything we can to stretch a buck around here. I've always been an avid user of coupons. I am one of those people that will not buy something at a store if I didn't bring my coupon with me or if I know a coupon will be coming out shortly for it. I try to never pay full price for anything, but with groceries, that is kind of a challenge. I mean, ground beef never really goes on sale. Well, actually - I did get a pack of ground beef at Sam's last week for 25% off, so I guess that's not really true. Anyways, like my two dear friends in Midlo (you know who you are!), I am in love with coupons!!! Dylan has actually started to get into it, too. Last night, he asked me if I have been keeping track of how much money I have been saving. Uh... no. I just know that when it comes time to pay, I love that I am saving $20-30 on average because of coupons.

Here's a picture of my latest haul. It's not a standard grocery trip by any means. These were just items that we always keep on hand in the house and they were on sale.



5 packs of applesauce cups
4 packs of orange cups
4 cans of soup
8 boxes of Mac & Cheese
Frozen Lasagna
Frozen potato skins
Cheez-it Crackers
Soft Scrub

Now, the retail price of all of these items is $45. You know how much I paid??? $16!!! That's right. I saved $29 because of sale prices and coupons. I know, you're jealous of my mad couponing skills. It's OK. :)

And if that didn't do it for you, here's a picture of what we paid for gas last weekend:



No, your eyes are not failing you. It really does say $0.79/gallon!!! Thanks to Dylan's Mom (Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!) and her Ukrop's points, we were able to fill up for less than I have ever in my entire life! All I know is that I am going to be very sad when my tank is empty and I have to fill up for almost $2/gallon. :(

Spring is Here!!!

Well, it's the first day of spring and I watched it snow on the Today show this morning. Hmmm... seems like we might be waiting a few more weeks for the weather to catch up with the new season. Jacob woke up this morning so excited that it was finally spring! He was confused when I told him it was going to be cold today and he would still have to wear a jacket to school. He told me that all of the trees were going to grow leaves on them today and then he wanted to know if spring break started tomorrow. Poor thing! It seems he has been waiting a long time for spring to start, only to find out that it's not all it's cracked up to be at first. I guess him and I will both be working on our patience while we wait for spring to truly arrive. :)

School's Out... Forever!!!

Or at least that's how it seems! There is no school again tomorrow and I wouldn't be surprised if it was cancelled on Thursday, too. At this rate, Jacob will be in school until July! I don't mind that he's home from school - I'm actually loving it! We are having a blast sledding and walking around outside. Of course, the best part is we get to have hot chocolate when we come in. :)

And Daniel has really gotten into sledding! It's hilarious! Yesterday, when Dylan came home, we got him to ride on the sled with either Dylan or myself. He loved it! Well, today I took the boys out again. Daniel wanted to ride down by himself, so I put him on the sled and off he went! Then, Jacob and I rode together. When we got to the bottom of the hill, I looked up at Daniel and he had already gotten on the sled by himself and was coming down the hill! He was having so much fun and I was having fun watching him. Dylan should be home soon to take the boys out again and this time I am getting pictures! I don't know very many 2 year old kids that would go sledding down a hill by themselves. It's just too cute!

Here's some pics from our sledding yesterday:

Dylan's first attempt at sledding. Umm - it didn't go so well. :)

At least he was a good sport about it!

Jacob shows off his new sled.

Daniel had a blast riding down the hill with Daddy.

A REAL snow day!!!

After months of waiting, we got a real snow day!!! Eleven inches to be exact! Yep, the weathermen were wrong. But, what's new, right? I guess they should have stuck with their original prediction of 5-10 or 7-14 because all of the Lynchburg area got anywhere from 9-12 inches! But, I'm being told that the Richmond area news is reporting that Lynchburg only got 2-4 inches. Ladies and Gentlemen, I show you Exhibit A:

Anyways, you should have seen Jacob when he came in our room this morning. Last night, before he went to bed, we told him that they were now only calling for 3-6 inches of snow. Dylan told me before he left for work that the news was reporting that we had an average of about 10 inches here around town. So when Jacob came in and I told him that we actually got 10 inches of snow, his eyes just about popped out of his head! It was just too cute!

So, we ate breakfast, got all bundled up and headed outside. Daniel had a blast! He wouldn't sit on the sled, but he still had plenty of fun pulling it up and down the hill. Jacob had a ton of fun trying out our new sleds. He wasn't going very fast, though. So, while he went down on the inner tube-style sled, I came down behind him on the other one. Well, I immediately took off flying! Oh - and remember how I said I came down behind Jacob? Big mistake! I bumped into him and since I was going so fast to begin with, we just both started flying down the hill together. We must have looked like an out of control train. I had to stick both of my legs and arms down in the snow to stop us. We had so much fun!

The boys check out the snow on the back porch.

Jacob tries out his new sled.

Daniel had fun just walking up and down the hill.

Jacob finally got to make a real snow angel!

Snow!!!

Well, first they were calling for 1-2 inches, then it was 2-4 inches. When we woke up this morning, they were saying 5-10 inches or maybe even 7-14!!! Woo-hoo, right? Yeah, that's what I thought, too. Well, now we're back down to 3-6 or maybe a little more than 6 inches. Schools have already been closed for tomorrow. And at this point in the season, we'll take whatever we can get. As long as we can build a snowman and do a little bit of sledding, we'll be happy. And probably trapped until Thursday! :)


This was when it had just started to fall. Jacob and Dylan headed off to the store to buy some sleds! We're keeping our fingers crossed that we'll actually be able to use them tomorrow.


Daniel is practicing for tomorrow. Too cute!

Is it Spring yet?

Jacob is home for the 2nd day in a row with an ear infection and I am beginning to get a bad case of cabin fever. It all started Monday with a runny nose. Then, he started coughing. OK. I could see where this was going. I gave him some cold medicine and Motrin. Tuesday evening, he started complaining that his ear hurt. Of course, by this time, the doctor's office was closed so I would have to wait until the next morning to make an appointment. Wednesday morning he woke up still complaining about his ear. We made an appointment and off we went to the doctor's. Us and everyone else in the county, apparently! That waiting room was packed! And everyone was on the sick side. There was this one mother there with her teenager and the whole time she was sitting there with her jacket pulled up over her mouth and nose. Doesn't getting sick from your kids (& other people's kids!!!) come with the territory of being a Mom? It was actually kind of funny to sit there and watch her.

We finally saw the doctor 1 hour and 10 minutes past our appointment time. She looked Jacob over and looked in the ear that he was complaining about. It was fine. She said there was some fluid in there (typical with having a cold), but no infection. So, she looked in his other ear. Jackpot! Well, not really - but you get the point. She sent us on our way with a prescription for antibiotics and some numbing drops. OK, now I don't know about you, but my kids have had a handful of ear infections and I had never heard of such a thing. It's these drops that you put in their ears and it actually takes the pain away. I can think of a couple nights that these would have definitely come in handy!

So, this morning I sent him off to school and 2 hours later, I got a phone call from the nurse. She said that she looked in his ears and now his other ear is infected. At least we're already prepared with all the meds. Oh yeah, the meds! I had to go to Walgreens FOUR times yesterday to get his medicine. Ridiculous!!! Apparently, everyone that was at the doctor's office also went to the same pharmacy as us. They are usually so good about being able to get a prescription ready in 30 minutes. Not yesterday. Yesterday, it took them over an hour and a half. Of course, all that time was spent just puttering around town wasting time until it would be ready. There was no sense in heading home to only have to go back out and pick it up. And then, it ended up that they only gave me 1/2 of the medicine that I would need to give to him over the next 10 days, so I had to go back out last night to pick up the rest. Geez.

Again, is it Spring yet???

Another "Chance"

Of snow!!! They are calling for snow tomorrow morning. And no, I am not excited. Once again, we will only be seeing an inch of snow. That means that school will most likely be cancelled and the snow will be gone before Noon. Ughhh...

Please, oh please, God. Either make it stop snowing or give us a good foot of snow. These small accumulations are killing me!!!

Counting Down to October...

I know, I know! It's only February. But, right now, I have my eyes on the prize. So to speak. You see, on October 11th, I will be crossing the great divide. You know the one. The one that separates the 20s from the 30s. Eeeek! Actually, turning 30 doesn't bother me. OK, it bothers me a little. But, I figure with 9 years of marriage and 2 kids under my belt, I can't really stay in my 20s forever. People might start to get a little suspicious when I have teenagers and I say that I'm still 29. :)

Anyways, I'm actually looking forward to my big 3-0. I wish we were still back in Midlothian, though. I told my husband that I wanted a birthday party for my 30th and while we could still have a party here, there really wouldn't be anyone for me to invite seeing as I don't have any friends in Lynchburg, yet. Still working on that. So, why am I counting down to my 30th birthday if it's not to look forward to a big party?? Because I have vowed that I will not spend my 30s the same way that I have spent my 20s. How's that, you say? FAAAAAT!!! So, the great quest has begun. So far, so good. I've had a few setbacks (cough... ice cream... cough), but overall, I think I will come pretty close to achieving my goal by October.

All I have to say is thank God for my iPod!!! It's the only thing that keeps me going when I am pounding the pavement on my treadmill to nowhere. :)

Back from the Frozen Tundra

Yes, it's almost a month after Christmas and I finally took the Christmas music down. It is a miracle!!! The boys and I headed up to my sister's this past weekend. We had a great time! The kids got to go outside and "skate" on the pond (well, soon to be pond - right now it's just an underwater spring that causes water to rise up to the ground) and they had a great time. I think Daniel even enjoyed himself. I know I did. My sister and I got to go shopping where I proceeded to spend entirely too much money. I got some great deals, though. It's a good thing I don't live up there so close to outlets or our bank account would be in big trouble! Ha! All I know is that it was FREEZING up there! When we took the kids out to lunch and shopping on Friday, it was 15 degrees! Brrr! That night, it was between 0-5 degrees. I don't know what I was thinking. I knew it was going to be that cold up there. But, it was only a 2-4 degrees warmer here at home, so it wouldn't have mattered where we were, I was still going to be cold.

Jacob had a four day weekend thanks to Lee-Jackson & MLK days. We woke up Tuesday morning to get ready for school and... SURPRISE! We had snow! Just under an inch, but it was still enough to cancel school. So, he ended up with a 5 day weekend. I have really enjoyed the break. I can't wait until summer vacation and we can just bum around. No schedules, no lunches to pack, no homework. Geez... you would think I was the one in school instead of him!


Daniel checks out the snow in the driveway.


So happy to have a snow day!


It didn't take long for a snowball fight to start!


They came after me once they were done with each other.


Jacob had to make a snow angel on the sidewalk since there wasn't enough snow to make one in the grass. There was about an inch of snow when we woke up, but there wasn't much left by the time we made it outside. The boys still had a great time, though. We're still hoping for more snow over the next couple of weeks.