Down on the farm

Today Aiden had his first field trip in his Pre-Kindergarten class and mommy had the privilege to chaperon. We went to a little farm on the Northshore.

He had fun! I, on the other hand, enjoyed watching him have fun. Not so much fun for me. I always say I want to live in the country, but once I get out there, I realize just how much of a city girl I am. Bugs, heat, dirt, ACK!
We watched a cow get milked,

we pet some animals,

rode a hay ride,

and the teacher even kissed a pig! (No picture taken, just utter shock!)

Aiden and Drew (the most "active" child in the class that I had the privilege to chaperon. Cute as a button!)

Two hundred and forty

This is my 240th post.  I actually haven't blogged in over a week and still do not have the urge to really do so.  So, I will keep some privacy in my life for a limited time and take a break from blogging.  I hope I catch the blog bug again soon.  I like the memories in black and white.  To be continued...

My three sons

I've been healed!

As I type this, I am smiling. I did the cleanser last week and today is my last day on it. Yay! It is really nasty going down in the morning. It smells like pepper, tastes like it, but immediately my breath tastes (and smells, I'm sure) like GARLIC. Grosssss! I have been eating well under my 1200 calorie mark and still doing the gym. I have lost...ready...eight point nine pounds. Can we round that up to nine? hehe YAY ME! I am fitting back into some of my clothes, but NOT all of them. Now I have thirty four pounds to go and at this rate, I KNOW I can do it. I just can't eat. That's all. This week did help me figure out what I SHOULD be eating because a little menu comes with the kit. I downloaded an app on my iphone and have been tracking my meals. The app is "Lose It!" and it is really cool. Oh, I like the app "Weightbot", too. Looking forward to next week!
FYI-I started this "Weigh in Wednesday" on July 22, almost two months ago, needing to lose thirty five pounds because I was gaining weight at a scary rate. After gaining more weight (not losing), going to the doctor for tests, getting off some medication, and doing the gym all this time, I have lost one pound total. I'll take that. I finally feel like I am on the right track and can lose it. I am healed! Can I get an Amen?!

Back to work

Well, for Jude, at least. While he was home, my momma's boy, Ro, became a complete Daddy's boy, and it is safe to say I was not happy about it. lol When Jude left this morning at four o'clock, I new I was back IN with the Shim. When the boys woke up after seven, Aiden came in my room and was crawling on my bed, all over. I was looking at my iphone and apparently had tunnel vision. It was dark. A few minutes later, I thought Aiden had climbed in the bed. I felt someone staring at me. I looked up at him to see what he wanted, and it was ROMAN. He had slipped in and climbed up the other side of the bed. When I looked at him, he looked sad. I asked him what he wanted, and this is what I got. I put the phone on video record...

Mommy will be number one again in no time! hehe

She Wants Revenge

...is an awesome band that makes you dance when you hear them. Seriously. Jude doesn't really groove unless he is intoxicated but he was moving to the beats Saturday, too. We went to see them in concert and they were outstanding.

Two other bands opened for them and I liked them also, Kill Hannah

and Paper Route.

The singer of Paper Route

was oh so gorgeous (don't tell Jude, shhh) and I think I really like that group now. These are all semi-new groups. Anywho, we had fun, heard some funky new music, even saw Rachael some (she got me hooked on SWR) and overall, had a wonderful adult evening.
She Wants Revenge

Us

Accidental picture, but I like it!

Paint, please

Jude is on vacation this week so I decided to put him to work. When we purchased our house, um, three years ago, I wanted to paint the kitchen. The lady before us put up an ivy wallpaper in our small kitchen and it made it look like so much was going on in there. Very busy! It stayed that way for three years. Who has time to paint and keep three kids out of a kitchen for over an hour? Well, WE DID IT! We went to Home Depot and I picked out a salmon/rust color called Miami Spice. We started on Tuesday and it only took a few hours to get the primer up. It took two days for the primer to dry. Damn humidity in Louisiana! We finished the kitchen on Thursday and it looks ten times better. I even found it therapeutic to paint it. All those classes are paying off at C&C. I am so happy with outcome. It's the small things in life that matter:)
Halfway primed

Halfway put back together

Breaking up is hard to do

While attending the Open House at the boys school last week, I went and seeked out the picture of the little girl Cullen is crushing on. When I read her last name, I instantly realized who her parents were. I brought Cullen to them immediately so he could meet them, and by the time they were done, Cullen was noticeably bummed. They basically, in a not so sweet way, told Cullen they do not approve of their daughter "liking" boys. They told him they could remain friends (duh, it's fourth grade, what else could possibly happen) and that the little girl was going to return the ring to him. He was so upset once we got in the car, and I felt for him, but honestly, he just got his first dose of the Protective Father/Mother. I think they tried to over explain themselves to a nine year old boy and they could have skipped it all and given the dose to me. I am not sure I would have let him buy a ring twenty four hours in to the "I like yous", but he did, and it is what it is. I hope he takes this as a life lesson to slow his roll and enjoy being a kid. Life goes by so fast, he will be worrying about kids of his own in no time. Well, I hope in twenty years time, but whatever. As I told Jude last night, if we don't teach him right right now, we could be grandparents in six years. He'd be fifteen. Kids have kids in high school these days. Hell, it happened often when I was in school. That is such a scary thought and I will do anything and everything to keep my Cullen on the straight and narrow.
The little girl, since that evening, has been out with the swine flu. Nice. I am waiting to see what the outcome of all of this is. Lesson to be learned: Messing around with girls will get you cooties!

09-09-09

Today is Weigh in Wednesday, and guess what? I am back up on the weight chart and now need to lose a total of 43 pounds (again). WTF?! I went to GNC today and purchased a seven day "Complete Body Cleansing Program" for thirty bucks.

I plan on completing this by next week and getting back on my prescription diet pills, Adipex, WITH diet and exercise. I think my metabolism just said "You know what? You're 31 now. Screw you. We're outta here." I have no idea what is going on but I am going to do everything I can possibly do to lose this extra weight.

Family

Definition-
a : a group of persons of common ancestry : clan
b : a people or group of peoples regarded as deriving from a common stock : race

There are many definitions for family but this one is most fitting at the moment. My dad's brother's son, which makes this person my first cousin, contacted me through Facebook a few days ago. The last time I spoke to my first cousin was probably twenty plus years ago. The inner feelings are swirling and I am about to babble on. Now, if you know all my business, you know my father and I have not had a close relationship. When he and my mother divorced, I was about eight, and she got the kids, literally. My father is not much of a family man, and I am not sure if it is personal choice or if he was just raised that way, doesn't know any better and just hasn't changed. I really haven't figured him out. I was once a daddy's girl when I was little. He hung the moon when my parents were married. Things changed after my parent's separation. As a child, you expect to be a priority in your parents life and it was never that way for us with him. I stopped speaking to my father when I was about the age of 18 because I felt like I was always getting let down by him. I just decided to not have him in my life by not calling him. It was really that simple because he didn't really pursue a relationship with me. Maybe a card or two over the twelve years with my name misspelled on it, but that was really it. I am sure he will say he was just respecting my wishes. He did get updates from my sister, I suppose. They still talked. I could write a book on all that goes into it, and maybe one day I will for only my children to have so they will know all their mom's history, but it is a really long story with lots of minor details and for the most part, one sided and uninteresting. He wasn't abusive or anything, I just want to clear that up. So, not having my father in my life also consisted of not having his parents (my grandparents) in my life or any of my father's family for that matter. Aunt, uncle, cousins, all that jazz. When you are younger, things like that do not really matter to you at the time. Life is so busy when you are young with girlfriends and boyfriends and discovering who YOU are. But then there comes a time in one's life that you marry, have kids of your own, and then start to wonder about your own childhood, family, history, etc. I decided to accept my father for who he was, because you can't change people, and have him back in my life, if he would have me. I called him on Father's Day two years ago and just said "Hey, how's it going?". I am sure he was expecting my call because of my big mouthed sister informing him, so he was not so caught off guard. We chatted and we speak every so often on the phone. There is so much I do not know about my dad and his side of the family that I am sure I will never know. His mother is still alive, though I haven't spoken to her, and his brother just passed away a few months ago (my uncle). My father remarried a few years after my parents divorced and didn't have any more children. My mother also remarried when I was 18 and she gained a twenty something year old stepson. I called my stepdad, Dad, for many years. When I realized he was no better or worse than my own biological father, just very different, I realized you just have to accept people for the way they are. That's about the time I picked the phone up and called Mike, my real father. Of course I didn't learn any of these lessons until I was entering my thirties, but I am glad I did, even then, because I am now open to a relationship with all of my family. I don't know where the past umpteen years have gone, but it is nice to see my father's side of the family in pictures (on FB and picture sites from my first cousin) and to have contact with my cousin that I remember visiting when I was young. I hope to get to know him better and maybe get to learn a little more about my father's side.

Destin, in 24 hours

A few of our friends (Amy, Andie, Heather and Mandy w/ Alex, Scott, Eric, and Ben) planned a trip to Destin for the Labor Day holiday and since we couldn't stay the entire four days, we decided to make it for one. We woke up at ten-ish on Saturday and dropped the kids off at the inlaws. I drove four hours to hang out with friends that we could have easily hung out with back at home. That's not the point though. Jude is on vacation this week and he needed some manfriend time. We had fun and it was worth the eight hour (total) drive. We arrived at the condo, went down to the beach,

hung out by the pool,

had a delicious grilled steak dinner, and had yummy hot brownie a la mode for dessert. We ended up leaving all the sleepy heads around eleven thirty that night. We were supposed to go sleep by my friend Dawn's in Navarre so I could squeeze in a few hours with her before heading back the next day, but the bitch (I say that lovingly) fell asleep on me before we made it over there, and we ended up getting a hotel. I considered driving straight home that night, but was getting very sleepy by one in the morning. After getting some great sleep, we headed home to see our boys. Life is good.
I didn't take too many pics. I was busy squeezing in fun!

Jude and I

Manfriend time

Relaxing at the pool

Amy cooking

Mandy playing dress up for us, after discovering Majitos

Tiny pieces of my heart

At the end of the first day of school, Aiden got in the car, sat in his seat, put his stuff down and said "Here Mommy". I looked to see what it was and all I could see was his two fingers smooshed tightly together. So I put my hand out and he dropped a tiny pebble in my hand. I asked him "What's this?". He said "That's for you". I told him thank you and put it in a little compartment in my car. The following day, this entire scenario was repeated. Very cute, I thought. Well I picked him up from school yesterday and realized it has been the same ritual every day since the first day of school. He doesn't forget. As I placed the pebble in the little compartment, I had a moment looking at all those little rock pebbles he has picked for me each day.

To me, the rocks would have had no value, but as gifts from him, they are now tiny pieces of my heart. He is just like his daddy; sweet, giving, thoughtful, the list goes on. I am one lucky lady to be surrounded by four caring men, big and small.

It's none of your business...

is one of my favorite old songs by Salt n Pepa,

but unfortunately they didn't play that tonight at their one hour long concert for fifty bucks. I am not sure how I feel about those two things, but overall it was a fun night. I loved seeing them in concert! Steph and I hadn't hung out in a long time and I forgot how funny things are with her by my side. We laughed, sang, and danced for that hour and had the best time. I love me some old music and I love me some Steph!

Not the best photo (waiting on STEPH to send me some)

September+friends=FUN

I am so super excited September is here. I've been waiting!
Here is a quick peek at my future:
*This Friday, the fourth, I am going to MS to a concert with my Steph (my BFF from back in the day) and we are going to have the most awesomest time ever. We are going to shake our asses to some old tunes and sing at the top of our lungs to one of our favorite cassette tape groups from the nineties!

*Jude is on vacation starting this Saturday, the fifth, and will be home for an entire week. Woo hoo! We are going to Destin Saturday with four other couple/friends and are super excited to chillax with some of our peeps for the day.

*I am going to another concert with Jude on the twelfth for a band that is a little unknown but I ABSOLUTELY love their music (thanks to Rachael) and cannot wait to be blessed with their presence. Those smaller concerts are the best ones! I hope Rachael goes. I need to get on that:)

*My lovely friend "Madelyn" is getting married and will be having a shower on the thirteenth. Lord, help her. Whenever our group (Brandi's friends) get together, all we do is cause a scene. I am so happy she has found the man of her dreams and I plan to party it up with her. Um, celebrate.
(She is in the black tee)

*My BFF, Dawn, is coming in from Florida for a girls weekend on the eighteenth and we are going to act like freaks and stay in the FQ. We will drink, drink, and drink some more. Lasting memories are in our future!

*That Sunday I will travel my butt back to MS for a girls day condo getaway with some fabulous girlfriends that bring pure joy to my life. What are our plans? Drinking by the pool!


*Jess, Kenzie, and I are planning a September lunch, so I look forward to catching up with them this month, too. We go way back! They are a blast.

So all in all, I plan to be intoxicated every weekend in September of 2009. Go me!
Really, I just want to say that I have some of the greatest friends a girl could ever ask for and it seems like I will get to hang with majority of them this month. I truly think friends are a gift from God, because without them, all you have is family. Family is great, of course, but friends make life more FUN.

The last time I blogged about how wonderful life was and how fantastic my friends were (on Myspace) the joy was ripped from under my feet a few days later with the Brandi story. You never know when someone will be taken from you. I want all my girls to know how much I love them and if you are not in my September, damnit, you better make plans with me soon (STACEY!!). There is always October:) Love to all!
PS-I may be bragging on my girls a bit, but you would too if you had my friends:)~ They're the B-E-S-T!

Weigh in Wednesday

Nothing. I have been doing the gym (or some sort of strenuous exercise) five out of seven days, but not eating so great this week. I promise to try harder. Still thirty seven pounds to go. At least I haven't gained this week.
There is always a bright side to everything:-)

Rushing it a little?

Last night when we were at church, the boys went in different playrooms down stairs. They had a great time, as they were all all-smiles coming out. As soon as we got in the car, Cullen says "Mom, I have something to tell you". I look at him and he is just a smirking. Me: "What?" Cullen: "There's this girl, and she was just in the same class as me, and her name is Leslie, and we go to school together, we're in the same class, and, well, everybody tells me that she likes me, so tonight, I asked her if she likes me and she said yes, and she asked if I liked her, and I said yes, and now we are boyfriend and girlfriend." WHAT? Fourth grade. OMG! So I asked a few questions about her and apparently this little Leslie had another boyfriend at the beginning of the school year (all of two weeks ago) and they broke up. Now I do not want to start with the name calling yet, lol, but I do not need any little girls breaking my big boys heart. As he was going to bed last night, Jude yells, "Cullen, turn the light out and get in the bed." Cullen replies with, wait, you ready for this? "I have to read my bible first." If you know anything about this household, that was a full on belly laugh. I mean, I am proud of him for the new interest and initiative, but I never in a million years thought I would ever hear one of my young ones say that. It looks like Cullen has a little bit of a church bug, too. When he woke this morning, he found time to fix his hair. He hasn't done that since the second day of school. Seriously. So anyways, this afternoon he called Nanny JuJu and asked her to take him to the mall when he was finished with his homework. She came and got him. When he arrived home, he had a video game and a RING. Yes, they have been courting for twenty four hours and he has purchased her a butterfly Mood Ring that cost FOUR dollars. "It's from Mexico." He was so proud to show this to me and I have to admit I really wasn't sure what to say. I told him it was cute and tried to think back to fourth grade, but that was so freakin' long ago. Isn't this all a little sudden? There is an open house tomorrow at his school and I told him I could not wait to meet Leslie's parents. His response was "They don't know about us. They don't like that she has, you know, boyfriends and stuff." Imagine that! And the plot thickens...

I tried to sneak in his room to get a photo of it at 10:30, an hour after he went to bed, and the turd was still awake. When I grabbed the ring, he was right behind me. I told him I wanted to snap a photo of it; because one day he will appreciate that I did.

Busy bees

Today-
*8:30 carpool lane
*9:00 gym
*10:00 Kids museum


*11:00 lunch at the mall
*12:00 window shopping at the mall
*1:00 Roman gets a haircut (A+ for behaviour)
*1:30 grocery store visit
*2:30 hour nap with Ro
*4:00 carpool lane
*5:00 bath and wash clothes
*6:30 church course for two hours
*9:00 homework with Cullen
*11:00 sleepy mommy

I thought I would highlight the days events because I am too tired to do anything else with them. My pocket camera broke this morning so I really do not have any fun pictures, although it was a really really fun day. I love my one on one time with Roman and picking my older boys up from school and hearing about their day.

Ironman stinks

As you all know, I am STILL potty training Aiden. School is helping but no miracles are happening over here. Tonight, after he got out the tub, I put Ironman underwear on him and sent him to bed. A few minutes later I went to check on him and smelled poop. I said "Aiden, did you poop on yourself?", to which he replied, "I don't like Ironman!". Whatever! Poor Ironman undies. May they rest in peace.