Brothers

This Memorial Day weekend has really stunk weather wise - hence why I've been able to blog more. But one thing I've really enjoyed is seeing my boys together. They set up their cots (that they use for camping) in Jay's room and they have slept on them every night this weekend with another night planned tonight. They seem to have no problem falling to sleep at night and in the mornings when they first wake up I can hear them giggling - music to my ears. They have spent the weekend helping Mike lay the stone for my new office, riding bikes together and hanging out in the yard, when it's not raining. This morning when Jay didn't think I was watching I saw Nick fall off his bike. Jay took off like the wind to come to his brothers aid, helping him dust himself off and pick up his bike. It warmed my heart.
As a side note, my office is almost complete but Mike has wanted to surprise me so I have no idea what it looks like. The week of June 5 I will be gone for orientation (for my new job). Mike will finish the office that week so when I return I can dig right into my new job. I'm really excited but I also know this will be a really big transition for me. Stay tuned, I'll post pictures when I return from orientation of the big unveiling. Ha. Hope everyone is having a great weekend.

Happy Retirement

My mom retired on May 27 after 27 years of teaching! What an accomplishment. Now she'll settle into her summer and we'll get to enjoy her more since she'll have more free time.

Hugging her good friend, Dava, who also teaches with my mom and presented her with her retirement gift.

A big hug from Nick.

Our group photo. I'm holding Lauren and she has her back to the camera but she looked adorable that day!

End of school year wrap up

Last week Jay's class performed a play. Jay was a monkey. Isn't he cute? He wasn't overly thrilled to wear the hat with ears but I thought he looked pretty adorable. As we wrap up 3rd grade all I can do is smile. Third grade was by far the year Jay worked the hardest and his hard work paid off. Jay has some fabulous teachers who have helped him every step of the way. They were always very encouraging and positive. This year Jay seemed to have come to terms with the fact that he'll have to work harder than the average student. Once he figured that out and accepted it, the sky was the limit for him. At the end of the year he had caught up to his appropriate reading level and tested out in fourth grade/seventh month math! Imagine how over the moon me, Mike and Jay were! I'm so incredibly proud of Jay. He continues to work hard and make good choices. When I think that he's 9 and he's now lived half his life with me - since in another 9 years he'll be 18 it takes my breath away. Jay still reveals his heart every now and then and when he does, it's heaven on earth. Love that boy!

Here is Nick with his fabulous teachers, Mrs. B and Mrs. M. It was a great start for Nick to begin Kindergarten. Mrs. B. and Mrs. M. were always positive and encouraging. Nick really had a soft spot for Mrs. M. and when I asked him if he would miss seeing her during the summer, he said No because he was giving her enough hugs everyday to last throughout the summer. Nick continues to make our family laugh daily. He isn't shy and has the best mannerisms of any 5 year old boy I've ever seen.

Jay, age 9, finishing up his 3rd grade year. Full steam ahead for fourth grade.

Nick learned how to ride his bike with no training wheels about 2 weeks ago. Now he doesn't get off his bike. This picture above is all Nick - riding his bike with his sunglasses and his penguin backpack.

Sunday adventures

Recently I heard a radio broadcaster say she thought Sunday mornings were the most stressful mornings of the week. I wholeheartedly agree and when you read about my Sunday morning adventure, you'll agree too. The boys and I went to church this morning and they didn't complain - that should have been my first clue that things were going to go terribly bad. As we were walking out the door Jay asked if he and Nick could have suckers on the drive to church. I agreed and out the door we went. We were late to church but we took our seats and not 5 minutes into the service Nick announced, "Mom, I have to take a turd." Keep in mind Nick does not know what an inside voice is. I scold Nick for his rude remark and we head to the bathroom. When we return I notice Jay is pulling gum out his braces! Apparently the sucker he choose had gum in it too. Children's time arrives (and Jay is still picking the gum out of his braces) and Nick particpates. The message is about following God's road and the minister asked a mother in the congregation if she had ever gotten lost while driving and the mother replied that Yes, sometimes she did get lost. That's when Nick said in his booming voice, "Well then you need to get a GPS!" The end of the children's message ended with Nick telling everyone that cars aren't meant for dirt roads, fourwheelers and dirt bikes are meant for dirt roads. Nick went to Sunday school and Jay and I settled into hearing the sermon. We had a substitute minister today who just happened to deliver her message right in the middle of the aisle, about 2 feet from us. About 5 minutes into the sermon Nick came up from Sunday school crying hysterically. When it became clear he was not going to settle down I took him out of the service. When he finally stopped crying he said he had tripped (He is so my child in this regard) and hit his ear. I got him settled down enough to return to the service and thankfully the minister finished her sermon so I grabbed Jay and hi-tailed it outta there. Some mornings are just like that!

Aunt Mimi ROCKS

My sister so out does me in the aunt department. To be fair to me, I had two kids by the time Lauren came along so I was not able to devote as much time to her as Kim did to Jay and Nick in their earlier years. But the thing is she still puts me to shame and she has two kids now!!! Where did I go wrong? I got Nick this penguin kit for his birthday. I'm embarassed to admit this but he's been asking me to help him work on it since I got it for him and there was never enough time to sit down and just do it but never fear, Aunt Mimi was there! She came over for dinner on Sunday night and Nick asked her to do the project with him. She passed Lukie off to me and Nick and his Aunt Mimi sat at our dining room table working on his penguin project. And my sister does all this with very little sleep. It made me feel guilty that I had been "too busy." Nick loved the time with Aunt Mimi and I loved watching them. Aunt Mimi, you're the best!!!

37 and still doing what I want

It was my 37th birthday this week. It was uneventful (but nice) except something tells me I'll remember my 37th birthday for years to come because it will be the year I was about to make a huge transition in my professional life. As most of you know - because I've written about it - I was a strong willed child but let me tell you I'm an extremely flexible and accomodating adult - total opposite of my childhood personality. I recently read a book by Kendra Smiley about her strong willed child. Her strong willed child who is now her fully functional adult, Aaron, also added tid-bits in the book. He is an adult who listens to reason but isn't afraid to take risks. When I read the book it was March and I had no idea what the months of April and May would bring my way but as I read it I thought to myself, What the heck happened to that strong will of mine? But then April came and my brother in law advised me of this job opening and I wasn't afraid to apply. Then I got a call for the interview and my excitement grew. A week later I got a call with a job offer. Now before I continue I want to be clear that I truly believe the Lord opened doors for me concerning this job and I also want to be clear that I did not take this decision lightly, it was a decision I put a lot of thought into. The truth is no one really does what I'm about to do - no one resigns from the company I work for after they have worked there for 16 years - that's not to say it's never been done but I can tell you it's rare. The bottom line is I explored every option and I wasn't afraid to jump on the opportunity presented to me so the way I see it is age 37 is going to be a whole new world for me but one I am not afraid to conquer. After all, I can still do what I want!

St. Louis

I'm finally posting the last of our St. Louis pictures. I have many more but these are a few of the good ones. We really enjoyed ourselves. At the time of this trip, I had accepted the position for my new job and Mike and I knew I didn't get vacation time until January so we knew this was our last "hoorah" for awhile.

Bear Grylls vs. Larry the cable guy

Since my last blog was basically a rant I decided to change gears for this blog. I actually had this cute blog all thought up in my head but clearly I was too much of a grouch to write about it so here goes. During the Mother's Day church service our minister said the beautiful thing about mothers is they know what special gifts and talents their children possess before the child has any idea of what those talents are. It was my ah-ha moment because it's so true. I was a strong willed child (I know, hard to believe but true) and my mom has said she recognized it and used it to my advantage. She knew what I was capable of achieving, it was just a matter of gently guiding me (and trust me with a strong willed child you don't push but gently guide) in the right direction. Jay and Nick have so many special qualities/talents but if I were to name one talent that really shines for each of them, with Jay it would be his physical strength/ability and with that comes Jay's willingness to work hard at everything he does, there isn't a lazy bone in Jay's body. With Nick, I'd say it's his extroverted nature, his ability to make a conversation with anyone and everyone and find the humor in everything. When I was pondering these two qualities in each of my boys it occurred to me I live with Bear Grylls and Larry the cable guy. I mean seriously, Jay is Bear Grylls, the survivor who can be dropped by a helicoptor in a desert and has to make his way to water, food, land, etc....he problem solves, is one with nature and is determined to get to the end result - being rescued. Anyone who knows and loves Jay knows this describes him perfectly. I'm seriously thinking of writing the Discovery channel to see if Bear could possibly take along a 9 year old side kick sometime. Ha, only kidding. On the flip side, Nick is Larry the cable guy. Have you seen his new show, "Only In America," on the History channel? If not, I highly recommend it, it's hilarious! He travels all around America, talking to everyone, making jokes and just being amazed at everything America has to offer. During one show he went to the smallest town in America - some town in Nebraska, population one. Anyway, he organized this huge cookout, invited folks from neighboring towns and spoke to everyone. During another episode he dressed up in a Mermaid costume and swam with "Mermaids." During all of his shows he is laughing and just having a good time with people. So even though my Mother's Day might have stunk, I'm so over it now, afterall I have Bear Grylls and Larry the cable guy to entertain me!

One grouchy mother

This is going to be one of those blogs where I'm just gonna real. There is no sense in trying to play if off like I had a good Mother's Day because I didn't! My first clue that things were not going to go well happened about two days ago when I asked Mike if he had taken the boys to get me anything. His response was, "When have I had time?" To his credit, he has a point. He's frantically trying to build my office for my new job. But I was a little disappointed. This morning when I got up both boys gave me their crafts they made at school - which I did enjoy and since I try to find the humor in everything I did get a chuckle over the keychain Jay gave me spelled, "Grate Job." After the gift giving, it was all down hill. Jay was irritated that I was making him go to church on Mother's Day - heaven forbid. It was the same ole song and dance - I'm the worst mother because I make him go to church and he hates going to church anyway, blah, blah, blah. I was just hoping to avoid the same song and dance because it was Mother's Day. We get to church and during a few of the hymns I see Jay - out of the corner of my eyes - putting his hands over his ears, laying his head down on the next pew - Oh Yeah, it was really delightful, however I choose to ignore his ridiculous behavior because he was at least being quiet and sitting sit. I ditched my "lovely" children after church and head to brunch with my mom and sister which I was looking forward to. Turns out my sister's Mother's Day morning wasn't any better than mine. When she arrived for brunch I asked her how her morning went and it was like lighting a fire. At one point during the bruch while my sister was going off about her bad Mother's Day, my mom pointed to herself as if to say....."Hello, you two girls are ruining my Mother's Day now." We didn't stop though, we kept up our ranting! So once it was all said and done my sister and I basically ruined the brunch my mom was really looking forward to and I could tell she was annoyed with us. She forgave us but like she said, "it wasn't exactly what she had envisioned." After brunch I spent my day being a total grouch and "thanking" Jay for his lovely behavior that morning that put me in a bad mood which in turn made his nana annoyed with me. Now that the day has ended I just have to shake my head. I'm ready for a new day tomorrow and I apologized to my mom for being such a brunch time grouch. Better luck next Mother's Day.

Desserts Galore

On Nick's birthday we had breakfast at the restaurant at our hotel. When our waitress found out it was Nick's 5th birthday she brought him a chocolate cake to celebrate - for breakfast and all. Jay and Nick LOVED it. These next few pictures are Nick's reaction to getting the cake.

There is a really funny story behind the picture above. Nick had literally stuffed himself for his birthday dinner with the biggest lobster you have ever seen (Yes, his favorite food is lobster, crazy!). When the dessert tray came Nick could hardly bring himself to look at the tray, let alone eat dessert.

But then when dessert arrived as a big chocolate dome Nick somehow was all smiles and made room in his lobster stuffed tummy.

Wait for it

I was going to post more St. Louis pictures tonight but instead Jay gave me a good blog title. I'll post more pictures this weekend. I know I have written this before but Jay's former daycare provider, Christy Kelson (we love Christy!!) once said that Jay's unsolicitated displays of affection got you everytime and it's so true. You never know when Jay is going to "dish it out" but when he does, you just melt. With Jay you really have to wait for it. This week at dinner when I told my family I had given my boss my resignation (my boss whom I'm worked for for 13 years) Jay asked me how she took the news. I replied she seemed shocked, supportive and sad all at the same time. Jay said, "I can see that mom, if you worked for me and you were leaving, I'd be sad too." Once again, you have to understand, Jay also could have said, "Well why the heck would she be sad?" Then tonight he and Nick were fretting over what to do for me for Mother's Day. I told both boys to not sweat it. I suggested Jay write me a note with the reasons he loves me. I fully expected a lot of eye rolling but instead he said, "That would take me too long, mom, because I'd have pages and pages of reasons why I love you." He said it so sincerely and I was truly touched. I pray that Jay one day finds a woman who gets him and appreciates his quiet nature. Jay is so much like his dad. I remember once my mother in law told me that Mike is not going to go on and on and gush all over me but that he's loyal to the bone. Mike and Jay have taught me that as long as I wait for it, they come through everytime.

The big announcement

I have worked for the same company for 16 years. In one week I'll be 37 years old and during the last six months I just haven't felt the right fit with my company. However, that being said I've been a loyal employee for 16 years. This is the company that not only gave me my first professional job right out of college but hired me while I was in college to work part time, truly a blessing. Bottom line, this company has been good to me. But today I resigned. My last day with the company will be May 20. If you would have told me even six months ago that I would do something like this I would have told you you had a screw lose. Now don't worry I didn't resign from a job without another job. Last week I accepted a position with another company doing the exact same job but there is one major perk to this whole scenerio, I will be working full time from my home. Life sure comes full circle because this is truly a blessing as well. I am excited for this opportunity and have done my homework. My brother in law use to work for this company and spoke very highly of it. Additionally, he still has friends who work there who also speak highly of the company. The last three weeks have been a whirlwind but never has there been a doubt that I was doing the right thing. I prayed the Lord would make it crystal clear what I should do and every door continued to open for me so I walked through them. I am proud of myself for "stepping out of my box" and getting this opportunity. I am excited to be an employee of this company and I am sad to be leaving my current company, especially the amazing group of women I work with. Stay tuned, more to come......

Nick, penguins and giraffes, OH MY!!!

Since Jay turned 5, we have done something special for his birthday. Since this was Nick's 5th birthday and he has an April birthday and he LOVES penguins and giraffes I figured it would be perfect to go to the St. Louis Zoo on his birthday. He loved it and I have to say the penguin exhibit at the zoo was incredible. It made me fall in love with penguins. When we were there I mentioned to Nick that penguins really are the perfect animal and he couldn't have picked a more perfect animal to love and his response was simple, "Yes, I know!"

This picture cracks me up. Let me tell you the story behind it. We were having a terrible time finding the giraffes. We had made a huge circle and kept coming back to where we started. We knew the giraffes were there but we were getting frustrated. The picture above is Nick sulking because he thinks we are never going to find the giraffes.

But Wa-La, we found the giraffes and I had a very happy 5 year old!

Happy 5th birthday, Nick

I vividly remember feeling kind of sad when Jay turned 5 but I have to admit, I haven't been that sad with Nick turning 5 but track me down on his first day of kindergarten and it might be a different story. We did quite a celebration for Nick's 5th so perhaps I haven't had time to be sad. I'll post many more pictures this week. We took a trip to St. Louis and it was a mini-vacation my entire family enjoyed. The picture above is Nick standing by the number 5 in his pre-k class. He finally got to move his picture to the number 5, truly a proud moment for Nick.

Enjoying his cupcakes with his classmates. He was very specific, he wanted white cupcakes with blue sprinkles.

Another very specific request with Nick. He wanted a white "stacked" cake with a giraffe and a prisoner on it. My sister picked the cake up for me and called me laughing - only Nick would pick out a cake like that.

The Birthday Boy in his birthday hat from his Pre-K teacher. Thanks Mrs. Brutlag! P.S. Did you notice his T-shirt? It has a giraffe on it - big surprise.

Easter pictures

The four of us - ready for church - jeans and all! The Lord doesn't care what you wear, all that matters is that you show up.

My sweet boys! I thought they looked so handsome!

Sweet Lauren! I thought she looked so cute in her Easter dress!

And Lukie makes four! I love these four little munchkins.