Randomness

***Matthew started baseball for the first time ever this weekend. The old Matty came home beaming from ear to ear. I can't tell you the last time I've seen him like that. It felt so good. I really see progress with him, and I know I don't disclose all the trouble we have with him, but take my word that it is such a breath of fresh air to see positive progress! Mike went with him and ended up helping the coach, by pitching to the boys most of the practice. Matthew ate this up, loving that his dad was helping. Mike is lucky to make it to the kids games, but to a practice, and be involved made his day! (although Mike hand was pretty sore that night LOL! from all the catching!)


***Tatum is planning on getting her class ring. (I know it is time already!) It will be like the design below except it will be her birthstone color which is pink, and it will say Tatum in cursive on one side and Lebanon High School 2012 on the other. She is so excited. Since she is our first, Mike and I had to decide how to handle this with 4 kids, so we finally agreed to pay half. Tatum is thrilled with this and already earned almost her half this weekend babysitting (man, she gets paid bigtime!).

***My workout partner and I wanted to mix it up a bit and try something new. The Y had these new machines put in that was like a never ending escalator. We do the elliptical machine all the time so thought it would be no big deal and give it a try. Oh. My. Word. We lasted 5 minutes, and felt the need to let our hearts stop beating on the outside of our chest! Our legs were all shaky and we only burned like 60 calories. No Thanks! It did say we climbed 21 floors, and we do have a goal to maybe to 6 minutes next time! LOL!

(that is a model...not me:)

***Summer favorite spot to play right now is the staircase {{sigh}}. Her and her side kick Abby are always on it in some world of pretend. Her newest thing is to use a step and pretend it is a bed. She even puts in the snore sound to try to convince you she is asleep.

***Jake had a rather bright purple hickey appear on his shoulder. I mentioned to him when I saw it that he shouldn't be giving himself hickeys. Completely surprised Jake said "I have a Hickey?!?!? Where?!?!? I didn't do that!" I told him if he causes suction on his skin like that, that a bruise called a hickey would appear. You could see the realization hit his eyes of remembrance of, of coarse him being a dork and sucking on his arm. To see this appear was a total surprise though. Boys are so weird!

Plantation Dreaming

I have always been fascinated with the south. The hot sultry weather. The Spanish moss dripping from the trees. There have been many books that have taken me back to the the era the the southern ladies sitting on their wide verandas drinking their ice tea. Long hooped dresses, and unimaginable parties and dances.

The inspirational stories of the lives of slaves on plantations and all in entailed. The echo of their singing as they picked cotton, and somehow made it through that time.

The civil war, and how terrifying of a time that had to of been. The movie that brought this home the most to me was Cold Mountain, describing the rawness of that time oh so well. How far our country has come! How far it still could go...

Now, don't laugh at me, but even years ago, Tatum's favorite Nickelodeon show Gullah Gullah Island gave me a taste of the flavor of there. Some of the culture, and the beauty of the land.

This year we have again booked our condo in South Carolina in Myrtle Beach, but instead of going in the summer, we will go in September. Last year (our first time there) I was teething at the bit to to tour one of the many beautiful plantations. Myrtle Beach isn't really near any of them, and it just didn't happen. So this year, Mike told me that if I planned ahead we could take a day out to make a day trip to one. I found this one online, and it seems like the neatest one yet! It is called Boone Hall Plantation and was actually shut down for the filming of the movie "The Notebook".
They have all kinds of tours, and even upick fields for strawberries, tomatoes, cantaloupes, and all different kinds of fruits and vegetables.

Do you know of any really neat plantations in South Carolina besides Boone Hall? If you do, please let me know! I am still investigating:)

Date Night

With Mike working over 12 hours a day, 6 days a week, trying to run our business with our new store added, his one day off a week is to say in the least bombarded! The kids want him, I want him, responsibility wants him, sleep and guitar and his neglected workout catchup want him. It is alot to fit into one little day. The poor guy, I know he is overloaded with us. I just feel like I am spilling over with things to tell him, wonderful ideas I have had (I am always thinking stuff up!), questions, business questions, calendar updates, stories, discipline with the children, and just plain lovin!
Today was huge with all he did, and right now he is asleep on the couch while the boys watch Pirates of the Caribbean. But I have plans for us later...

I have bought our own copy of Twilight for us to watch tonight in our comfy bed, with an encore of Six Feet Under (we are up to season 4).
I have baked a lattice peach pie that is sugar topped, with vanilla ice cream .

And with Tatum babysitting late, and the young ones in bed, he and I can just enjoy each other. Ahh!

Summer's 2nd Birthday Party Recap

Sorry it took so long to get this put together. I can't believe it has already been a week since the party.

Everything went so well! The weather was beautiful and Summer got a good nap in before the party. We had family kind of come and go due to work schedules, but it all worked out fairly nice.

At Christmas, Summer wasn't too sure of unwrapping presents. That didn't seem to be a problem anymore! LOL! It took us one demonstration to her on how to rip the paper, and she took it from there! She unwrapped everyone of her presents herself.
After one was opened, she would go get another. I was trying to space them out a little due to the different people coming and going, but gave in because Summer was persistent now that she had this unwrapping thing down pat!

She got several cute outfits from both of her grandmas. She got a Dora the Explorer Big Wheel from us, along with chalk and Wonderpets (her major favorite thing right now) figurines. Uncle Timmy came later with a bag full of shovels and buckets and a big stuffed horse, and Malinda gave her weebels, and a ball.

The theme was Dora, and we had a big Dora pinata. I felt it would be extreme to have (especially knowing my boys) the pinata busted opened with a bat. I thought she is only 2, and for her to see people hitting Dora with a bat would be upsetting! Everyone thought I was nuts, but I didn't care. We ripped opened the backpack in the back and spilled the candy out that was for the kids to collect. Grandma helped Summer gather hers, and again, she caught on real quick as to what to do. She loved it!

My nephew Robert and Matthew with their "loot".

I borrowed my friend Amy's cake pan to make this special cupcake cake. The top part is a chocolate cake and the bottom is a yellow cake.

All Summer really wanted to eat was the ice cream LOL!

Here she is with my brother. This picture is more amazing than you think. For some reason Summer has been really weird with Tim, and cries when he trys to talk to her or pick her up. (Which is the CRAZIEST thing in the world, because my brother is like the sweetest, most Gandhi like person I know) Last year on her birthday, she only allowed her to be near her. Not touch her. At family gatherings she eventually warms up I guess, but this day, I think she just called a truce and accepted him.

After cake, we all went outside and played with her toys! Chalk and Big Wheels!

It was a great day. Wahh!! Where did my baby go! I am already pining for another {{sob}}. They sure do grow up fast!

ShantyTown

Tatum's High School, for the second year is doing a really neat activity with the teenagers. It is a chance to experience first hand what it is like to be homeless, just for one night. It is called Shantytown and the kids will be building their "boxes" to sleep in overnight outside. Here is some of the note I got on it...

..you will be joining many other students for one night on the grounds of Lebanon High School. You will work together to build a "Shanty" a box-like structure, to sleep in for the night. Several volunteers will be assisting you throughout the night as they share in this common experience. You will participate in activities such as :setting up your box, walking through the soup-line for dinner, watching a movie related to homelessness, and listening to a speaker on this topic.
...students will be allowed to wear the clothes on their body (including extra layers), bring sanitary items, and use extra resources to keep themselves warm throughout the night (e.g. plastic to keep out the rain). In order to strive for realism of this project, students are asked to keep their resources to a minimum (e.g. no extra food, abundant resources, IPODS etc.)

She has signed the paper to do it! I think it is really neat chance for her to experience this. It isn't until April 17th, so hopefully it will get a little warmer!

One of my very good friends works for the major paper here in Cincinnati and I know she helped covered this story last year. Hmmm...I wonder if they do again this year....well, Cindy...you know who to look for to interview!!! She will be there! Huddled in her box, learning a life lesson:)

Wordless Wednesday~Day at the Park

Busy Weekend

This weekend was a busy one, and I will be sure to do a post with lots of pictures of Miss Summer on the day of her party soon! Saturday was the day we celebrated and before my family arrived Jake had his first flag football game. Tatum was at a sleepover, so whoever went to the game needed to pick her up on the way back. Mike ended to do this, so I could clean and run to the grocery with the other 2 kids and get ready for the party. With him not having but one day off, we really are scrambling to squeeze allot into that one day. Especially since he had been out of town all week. Matty has been having trouble for over a week with a sore throat and cough, and I took him to the doctors earlier in the week, but after a strep swab, the doctor told me (after telling me his throat didn't even look that red to her) that the rapid results were negative, and she thought he just had allergies. (Doctors have a good way of making moms feel wrong) She gave him some Singular to try, but it just didn't seem to be doing the trick! He seemed not right to me and just getting sicker. The doctor had said in addition we could give him the clariton on top, so I did. So when he seemed to get really tired and drowsy, I wrote it up to be all the meds! He curled up in Summer's little bed and slept through half her party. When he got up I gave him Ibuprofen, and within 30 minutes he was running around with his cousins like there was no tomorrow! So then I thought he must be doing better....

Well Saturday night boy did he have fevers all night and by Sunday, Mike had to go to work and Tatum was due to volunteer at church, but I knew we couldn't go because Matty was too sick. We ended up just dropping off T and picking her up. I thought about waiting until Monday when the Doctor's opened again, but Mondays are so hard to get an appt. and UGH!

I took him to Urgent Care. It is just like a Dr.'s Office, but they are open on Sundays. Same cost as a regular office visit. It is a pain there, but thank the Good Lord I went! When they did the throat swab, the nurse looks at me and says "his throat is bleeding, and his tonsils are the size of golf balls!" Oh My Gosh! My poor baby! She said that culture had barely hit and it turned positive for strep.

I got the shot in his butt. It is the most effective. Starts working so much quicker. His poor butt is soooo sore though. It is really thick stuff. I got him a Wendy's frosty on the way home. Thank goodness, Tatum is old enough to stay with the other kids, because that would of been awful in that waiting room with the others. There was one lady there that had her throw up bowl...yech!

So needless to say Summer's actual birthday (today..Monday night as I type this) was spent with one sick kid home from school, 2 at school, and 1 very busy husband at (guess) work. I am so glad we had such a sunny fun party day on Saturday!

I will leave you with the cutest darn kiddo on the planet singing her rendition of Happy Birthday to herself:)

Summercat is Two!

This was us. On our big trip, two years and 9 months ago. We had gone to Disney as a family of five, and were going to come home with a decision on weather we were going to try for one more child or not. We had put a deadline of making a decision on this trip. I think it was the last day as the kids played in the pool before we left for the airport, that Mike and I came to our decision. Our decision to try one more time to have our family grow!

I was soooo excited and had been studying and reading up on the Shettles method. I was hoping I could help the odds of having another girl. Tatum was turning 13, and next in line were my 2 boys. Oh gosh did I read and study!

When the time came for our ultrasound....

it was a girl!!! Oh, how I dreamed and planned. I was so excited to get this chance again. I felt so blessed! My dreams of having a houseful of children were coming true, and 2 girls and 2 boys, was just beyond too good to be true. I am so thankful to God for all I have been blessed with.

Scarlett Summer came into our lives on March 23rd, 2007.

I will let the pictures tell the story. Happy Birthday Summercat. We love you so much!

Mommie and Daddy