YAY!! It's fall!

It's that time of the year again! My favorite time of the year. FALL!!! So how early is too early to decorate for Halloween? Apparently for us the second week of September is not too early because we are completely decked out! It looks like someone vomitted Halloween all over my house!

We only decorated the inside. We don't want the neighbors to know we are crazy or anything. I will do the outside next month.

It has been three years since I've seen all my Halloween decorations and it was like Christmas...only spookier! Most of my stuff I had only used one time before my move back North so I didn't even remember most of it.



I found this vintage cat mask that I had bought the Halloween before I moved back here. Jayke wanted to try it out. This is not NOT his costume for trick-or-treating, of course. That I'm saving for a later post. I will say we had the annual costume debate and I was able to persuade him into being something more age appropriate than what he was wanting...probably for the last year. I think I said that the previous Halloween though too so we will see.



Here is The Boy decorating our Halloween tree. Yes, we have a Halloween tree, actually two but I can't find the other one. Whats a holiday without a tree to decorate???



I would use The Boy's CROP for decorating purposes however, I think we saw how that turned out! Hopefully I will have some fall field trip pictures later, pumpkin carving pictures, AND finally, the costume pictures! LOVE FALL!!

A Student AND an Athlete

I had no idea there would be so much homework in kindergarten!! The Boy missed a day of school last week and when he came home the next day he even had make-up work to do. So far he doesn't mind doing homework. He gets most of it on Fridays so I make him sit down as soon as he gets off the bus and do it to get it out of the way and lets be honest, mostly so I don't forget to have him do it. I wo my homework while he is doing his. I go through all the notes from the school and fill out anything that needs to go back to school. We also go through the menu for the following week and decide IF he will eat each day. He seems to like to take his lunch about once a week. I get his lunch money ready and back in the bag so I won't forget that either. Proof for my parents that yes, I do know how to be organized sometimes!



Soccer started tonight. I don't know who was more worn out The Boy or his mother. I felt like I had played or something. I'm not used to getting up at 6a.m. and going all day. We didn't get home until almost 7:30 then there was dinner, homework, and a bath. By the time that was done it was bedtime. Good thing we took those naps after school! LOL

I think soccer will be more fun for him this time because he is now one of the older ones on the team again. He came close to scoring a couple of goals tonight and saw one of his friends from his class. He has a couple of friends he talks about everyday now, Ian and Ben. I guess there was a playground incident Friday that his friend, Ben, tried to save him from. Some girl was choking him on the playground because he wouldn't play with Parker. I don't know who Parker or this girl is but if she chokes my boy again I may have to go find her...or put him back in karate so he can take care of her himself!

The Boy and His Crop

Okay, so it isn't much of a crop. Someone should tell my mother that you HAVE TO WATER YOUR GARDEN!! I think he has about 5 gourds that made it. I have no idea what happened to the pumpkins although if I had to guess, it would probably be safe to say LACK OF WATER killed them! I know they planted flowers as well and there wasn't even a hint of a flower in the vicinity. Plenty of weeds and hard, cracked, dry earth though. Oh well, as you can see The Boy is quite proud of his poor little plants. We just don't talk about the ones who tragically died.

Roadblock!

Jumpin' Jumpin"

We went to a birthday party for my friend Holly's daughter a couple of weeks ago. Jayke had a blast jumping on the trampoline with her younger daughter, Kennedi. He didn't want to talk about it when we left though. Girls are off limits. I tried to tell him it didn't mean anything if he played with a girl. His response was that he wished Holly didn't even have a trampoline so he didn't have to go there and jump on it anymore!

If You Pitch it They Will Come

Apparently if you pitch a tent in your front yard little girls will show up with Capri Suns wanting to play.

Just School and Stuff...

We went to Jayke's open house as school tonight. Seems silly that they would have open house so soon. He showed me around his class room and pointed out all the kids. He had one little girl chasing him around the room which just about made his eyes roll out of his head. He HATES having any attention from girls or having anyone mention girls in front of him. It always induces eye rolling and evil glares.



I think riding the bus is still his favorite thing about school. There was one day he came home and asked me if I could pick him up the next day because he couldn't find a seat that day. I made him ride though and now everything is fine again.



We have already had homework. He prefers to drag his little chair out and sit at the coffee table to do it. I make him do his homework as soon as he gets home from school so we don't forget it. I still haven't decided if I like his teacher or not. I've had several things come up that have made me wonder about her but I'm trying not to form an opinion yet. I have a conference with her on October 22nd so I will know better after that. One of the issues may be more because of Jayke than the teacher. There is some fibbing going on about whether or not she will tie his shoes for him or not. He comes home from school with rocks in his shoes everyday and says that the teacher won't let him take them off to get the rocks out because he can't tie them himself. I haven't quite figured out if she really won't do it or Jaykeb just won't ask her to.


Soccer starts again next week. I wasn't going to put him in this fall because I was concerned that going to school and soccer was going to be too much for him. He is already exhausted after school but that is getting better now that he is getting into a routine so we are going to give soccer a shot and see how it goes.

I am also adjusting to getting up at 6 a.m. for the first time since I went to school and getting to work by 8a.m. for the first time EVER! I no longer have to take a nap every afternoon and am finding it easier to fill the long afternoon and evening with activities other than laying on the couch watching NCIS reruns. It is actually kind of nice to have all that time to get stuff done and errands run. We will see what happens when it is freezing cold and still dark out when I have to get up in a couple of months.

Almost...

....ready for the training wheels to come off!

Much Better

Here he is with his new NOT A PURSE school bag. You can't see but it has Mario from Mario Brothers on it. Much cooler than that PURSE I sent him with the first day.

School is going well. He is exhausted everyday when he gets home as am I from getting up so early. I think we will eventually get used to it but for now we don't do much...just come home and lounge. I am signing him up for soccer again so we will be even more worn out. Jayke hasn't really gotten the concept of time yet. He can tell time but doesn't understand that 1a.m., for instance, is in the middle of the night. The other night, as I was putting him to bed, he asked me to please get him up at 1a.m. so that he would have time to eat a pop tart before the bus came. He also had decided that he had had enough of school and would just go on back to Oma's from now on like he used to. You should have seen his face when I told him that he would be going to school for ATLEAST the next 13 years!

Is That Ketchup on Your Nose?

Day four of school did him in! He didn't eat lunch because he didn't like it and fell asleep at the table before he could eat what I gave him when he got home. Good thing I didn't get him up at 1a.m. like he had asked me to. He thought getting up at 1a.m. would give him ample time to eat a pop-tart before the bus picked him up this morning.

Finally Water is OK

Okay don't fall out of your chair...I said I might put up more pictures. Guess I got bored enough to finally do it. Not to much excplanation for these other than Jayke's two days a week at my dad's has greatly helped with his hatred of the water. He is slowly learning to swim...with floaties still. He also will jump in from the side which is a huge accomplishment because this causes him to get water on his head which he hates! Here are some pictures I took when we were over for AJ's birthday.

School Daze

Due to poplular demand...or rather a bunch of grouchy relatives, I'M BACK! At least long enough to post a couple pictures of Jayke on his first day of kindergarten.

He started school on Wednesday and was very excited. Turns out he was only really excited about riding the bus though. School he couldn't care less about. He is anxious to use the computers but acts bored about the rest of the situation.

After the first day I found out that the kids on the bus made fun of his school bag because it was a tote like we were instructed to send and to the other boys resembled a "purse". Being the over-prepared mother I am...or maybe that is the shopaholic that I am...I had a brand new back pack all ready to go in place of the "purse" the next morning. Day two went smoothly.

Day three didn't happen. A fever, sore throat, and sore legs happened. There went the perfect attendance award. On the other hand, I am now going to work at 8 a.m. Something I have NEVER done. Yes, it is slowly sucking the life from me too. I have to come home and take a nap at 3 o'clock. I'm hoping this is a temporary situation and as I adjust to the disgustingly early time I have to haul my groaning carcass out of bed these days it will get easier. Naps at 3 o'clock will hopefully no longer be necessary. 3 cups of coffee and 2 Diet Cokes before 9 a.m. will hopefully not be necessary for much longer either. I'm spending all my time running to the bathroom instead of working.

So that is my brief update about the beginning of school for The Boy. If I get ambitious I may come back and put some pictures of him swimming on here as well. Enjoy!

Out of Control!

I can now fit in my pre-pregnancy jeans again!!! Goal met so I had to set another one. Went out and got myself a personal trainer...what am I thinkin?

New Door Color

Painted the front door...much better. Now just don't look at the crappy yard. I need to start mowing more often...obviously!

He's Back!

I got my boy back finally. He was gone for 14 days and it was too long! A week is good but 14 days is a loooonnngg time! When you are kid free your phone rings a lot more to go out and I am exhausted!

Jayke had a great time in Florida. He played golf, played in the gulf (he didn't even mind getting his head wet!), went to the Mote Marine where he pet stingrays and held a sea urchine, he went to the bird sanctuary and got a pelican tatoo. He ate a ton of chicken, mom says that is what he wanted for every meal. He swam in the pool almost every day where he was a hit with the old people and he made one new friend named Price. Jayke says Price really liked him! But of course...who wouldn't?!

He came home with a nice tan and a new haircut then it was off to soccer.



Since we moved up an age group it is a little harder for the kiddo now. He hasn't scored any goals yet but he keeps trying. As you can see from the picture, most of the kids are a lot bigger than Jaykeb. Maybe in the fall it will be like it was last summer where Jayke was one of the bigger faster kids. Until then he is just out there running as fast as his short little legs will carry him...which is usually about 10 steps behind everyone else!





I'm not going to list everything I did while he was gone...lets just say I had fun and kept busy. I have found some friends on Facebook who I hadn't seen or talked to for 20 years. It's funny how all that time can go by but when you see the person again it's like you just saw them yesterday.

I'm trying to get back to taking pictures more frequently again and hopefully that will lead to blogging on a regular basis once again. Don't hold your breath though!

He Did What?

Okay...I don't know who my anonymous commenter is but here is your Easter post you requested. I meant to put this up the other day but Facebook is consuming me.

I wasn't going to color eggs this year. Seems like such a waste. Jayke doesn't get creative with them so they are all the same...which to me, is crazy. You know me, I want to do something fancy with them not just drop 'em in a glass with one color. Anyway, Ryan, Angi's husband gave me the biggest guilt trip over it so I colored eggs with The Boy.









After we were done and the mess was cleaned up, I was glad I did it. Jayke colors them then immediately eats them. Another reason it is a waste to me. We don't even do anything with them. I've been eating boiled eggs now all week. Good for the diet, but not much fun.





The Easter bunny came to our house of course. He hid exactly 8 eggs. I guess that is all he could find in the garage in all our boxes that are still packed. The Boy didn't care. They had chocolate coins in them and he didn't count. He had plenty of stuff in his Easter basket to occupy him. Shortly after that Oma came over with stuff for both of us. She doesn't seem to get the concept of giving me my stuff in a basket from the Easter Bunny so that The Boy doesn't catch on. I got a garden hose, a sprayer for the hose, paper plates(yes, paper plates) and a picture for my new house. Weirdest Easter basket ever. The best part was that it was delivered in spurts throughout the week.

She told Jayke she got me paper plates and trash bags for Easter and he had a fit. Told her that wasn't a good gift and she wasn't giving that to his MOM! That's my boy...always lookin out!





After that it was off to my dad's for the big hunt! I requested the eggs be filled with $100s but I guess dad didn't like my idea. They had quarters in them instead. I thought there would be a whole lot more pushing, shoving, and possibly even a dip in the freezing pool out of the crowd who were there for the festivities but everyone was pretty well behaved.

We each had an egg with our name on it and we were told only to take our own egg and all the others were fair game. I guess we really let my dad down by not taking each other's eggs and causing an all out war. Only one of us got shoved in the mud. Dad said we must finally be growning up. I think it was more like the yard was big enough for us all to be in our own area!

I won the hunt with 18 eggs, one of which I gave to a screaming boy who wanted it, making me tie with AJ. Our eggs with our names on them had $50 bills in them so I was close to getting my hundred. After the egg hunt we spent the afternoon shooting foam bullets at a target held in front of my sister's head. Best Easter gift Jayke ever got was that target and two guns. We were obsessed! We even let Jayke play with it a little.




Jaykeb got some gardening tools from the Easter bunny and went right out to work in the garden with them. I'm just waiting for him to dig up some of Dad's flowers and all hell to break loose!



So, there is your Easter update. I may have another one later about some of our outside pets at our new house and maybe even some more pics of the house. That is MAYBE...so whoever my anonymous commenter is can keep their shorts on. I will get around to it!

One quick story about The Boy before I head to Lowe's for MORE paint. Jayke went to Florida with Oma and Opa on Tuesday. They will be gone for two weeks and yes, I want him to come home already. Anyway, I called them Tuesday afternoon to make sure that they didn't leave him at some rest stop along the way. Afterall, this was going to be his longest road trip yet and he gets pretty cranky just going to Anderson to my dad's which is 30 minutes! Mom answered and said he was still a passenger but hanging on by a thread. The movie player wasn't working which I'm sure any parent knows is DISASTER! Apparently The Boy had been entertaining himself by spitting spit balls through a straw at them from the back seat and better yet, he took it upon himself to CUT MY MOM'S HAIR!

Now, you may ask yourself, why did he have scissors in the car? That was my first question. I guess he wanted to brush my mom's hair so she gave him her travel bag to get the brush out. He was just brushing away and then she noticed he was doing something else. CUTTING HER HAIR! She had a pair of manicure scissosrs in her bag and he just got them out and started cutting.

I called back later that night to make sure they hadn't killed him yet. They had made it to Valdosta, GA. That would make the next day a shorter drive. They had also gone straight out and bought a movie player, a bottle of bourbon, and Zanax! Don't worry. I called Wednesday afternoon and all was fine. They had made it to Florida safely and were already trying to drown Jayke in the gulf.

Home At Last!

Okay. I finally took a couple of pictures of the new house. When I say a couple that is exactly how many I took. I don't have enough finished to take anymore. We are still stripping TONS o wallpaper and painting. There are floors that need replaced which wouldn't be that bad except we have pulled up what was there and now I'm living with the not-so-desirable stuff that was underneath that. I did get one light fixture but still have atleast three more to do. I have gotten most of the horrible green front door painted. I had it almost done, had to go pick up Jayke, then it got too cold to paint again. Maybe I will get that done yet today....wouldn't hold my breath if I were you though.

So Here is a picture of Jayke on the couch looking oh so happy to be photographed. I had to threaten to take away all his trucks and cars if he didn't sit for the picture. Forgot to bargain for the smiling face though. Decorating style is completely different for this house than it was in the last. I know the picture doesn't show much but you can get an idea. We are still painting this room too.




And another view of the toooooo white room. Can't wait to get it painted.




And here is my wall of Jayke in my new office...




Just put this room together Saturday morning. I still have another couple of pieces of furniture to put in it so I only photographed the one wall. There is a blank spot in the middle where two smaller photos will go when I find them.


We are glad to be in. It's weird doing all the normal things again like grocery shopping, laundry, and running the sweeper. Not sure if I really thought this move thing through all the way. I had it made in the chore department before!

We got the dogs moved in last weekend and I've never seen a happier little boy. The first day we were here he ran up to me and asked me in a super excited, yet totally serious voice, if we could live in this house forever and NEVER have to leave it. I told him we'd be here a long time he didn't have to worry about it. He no longer wants to be at my mom's house all the time. He will go there for an hour or so then ask to come back home. He sleeps in his own room without debate even though it is clear on the opposite side of the house from mine. He has also taken it upon himself to be totally in charge of all aspects of the dogs. He feeds and waters them everyday and also goes out and pooper scoops the yard. He made the phone call to my mother all on his own to please bring the pooper scooper over from Grammy's the other day. He means business!

He is loving climbing the tree out in the front yard too. I found him with a bunch of stuff that he dragged out of the garage piled up under it this afternoon so that he could climb it without my help. Not sure if piling up suitcases and boxes under the tree is the best idea in the world but it seemed like a totally normal "boy" thing for him to do and he hasn't been able to do that until now. He can come and go as he pleases and he does. In and out all day long.



As for me, I'm just getting used to watching tv in a living room on a couch instead of laying in bed. I've spent the past 16 months in bed it seems like. Now I don't have time to lay around and I'm glad. Having something to do is much better.

Cheater Cheater

I admit, I'm a cheater. I've been cheating on my blog with Facebook. I can't help it. It's addictive. Being able to snoop on all your old friends from years past and present...and old boyfriends...snicker. I had a someone contact me today who I haven't seen since I was in Girl Scouts with her. I'm always shocked when people remember me for some reason. I remember them so why wouldn't they remember me. I'm just weird that way I guess.

Anyway, thought I should explain my further absence from the bloggity blog. We are finally moving Saturday morning!!! I get the house Friday. Hoping to slap some paint on the bedroom walls Friday evening so we can move the beds in Saturday. I will TRY to update after we are in. Busy busy!!!

Look What I Bought!

Well...here it is. Please ignore the front door color. I will be changing that ASAP!!! We close on March 10th. Just in time for Jayke to go to kindergarten round up at his new school.

The Par Tay

Finally! Pictures. In my defense I have one puter with a virus and the other with a sick cd rom which has caused me to not be able to get it hooked up to the router. Enough with the excuses and on to the par tay!

As you can see by the picture of the cake I went all out as usual. Probably...no definitely...went overboard. Oh well. Your one and only kid only turns 5 once right? We had games which they really didn't care about because we also had a bounce house. Pretty much I could have thrown the bounce house in the middle of the room and forgot about everything else. Angi brought over her hotdog roller thingy and we had hotdogs cooking carnival style the whole time. Dad brought his big popcorn popper but I decided it was so big and heavy that we really didn't need it.




Somehow the moms all ended up taking over the little sunglasses that were meant for the kids. I managed to get my friends to stand still for a minute to get a picture. I didn't have as much luck with the kids.



This was Jayke's first pinata. He got the first swing but didn't crack it open. The bigger kids ended up bus ting it later. Mike and Ryan held a board with the pinata in the middle. I told Mike I should get to go first. After all I would be blindfolded with a big stick...

Jayke got lots of presents and I think he had lots of fun even if he was a little intimidated when all the girls started showing up. We don't have many boy friends. There were a total of 3 boys there...including Jayke. All the sides of the family came. I was so busy with kids I didn't get to talk to anyone though unless it was regarding a game or where something was. When the kids started leaving I was ready to bust out the margarita machine! Next year it's going to be Chuckie Cheese's and done!