mmmmm M&M's yum

When we get yummy sweet treats, I like to buy something special and small. Last night I had to grab a few last minute things at the store and I found a box of 5 M&M icecream bars. M&M's have a special chocolate YUMMY candy shell... and so do these 5 icecream pops! They're pretty small in size, maybe 2" in diameter; Ezra thought it was delicious!

Jesse only ate about 1/3 of his, but he had fun with it. Honestly, he prefer's a banana over this type of treat usually... when he saw Ezra with one he had to try!

One last thing - I have two really white really blue eye'd boys!

carefree kind of day

We had a very relaxing day at the park; we went to our favorite park at the lake and found a perfect spot under some trees by the water and just enjoyed the outdoors. No toys, no music, no TV, no worries, just us - enjoying nature. It was great - and we'll likely spend alot of days this way this summer!

first carousel ride

We go to Concord Mills Mall often, and this Carousel has been inside for as long as I can remember... but I just now decided to jump on it! We had fun! We were 1 of 3 parent/child sets on board. I'm a mid-morning, mid-week mall mom - I like to go before the tourists arrive :).

Ezra was a little 'too old' for it in his opinion, but he was a wonderful big brother to enjoy the experience w/ Jesse. Ezra's in that in-between stage where some things seem to juvenile for him, and then again some are not. I love that he was secure enough in his boyhood to embrace this little happy moment with Jesse ;). Big brothers rule. Go figure that I took the video w/ my cell, thought I took 3 of them - and the only one that saved is the pacifier one!!! Oh well, I'm not trying to be in denial - my kid still likes his paci, there I said it. Excuse the poor quality, I keep forgetting to charge the digital camera battery! Jesse hugged the horse bye-bye when the ride ended... I missed getting that on video.

random bits

This past Monday Jonathon took a business trip to Myrtle Beach Hard Rock Park. The company he works for is handling designing all apparal for the park. While he was gone I took a short video on my cellphone of the kids waving hi to him - he's rarely away for dinner/bedtime and so I wanted him to see them at dinner as usual. Jesse decided that the pool looked cozy, so he jumped in with all clothes on... Ezra was practicing light sabers and TaiKwon Do. None of the videos are great quality, they were all taken w/ my cellphone.

The video below is from Jesse's toddler class this past Wednesday, he loves the music portion of the class. I plan to catch Ezra at TaiKwon Do next week, this week he was in an area in the room where he was blocked from view from the observation window. Hopefully next week they'll have him lined up closer!

Finally, this last little clip is of the boys having some indoor fun today ... at full speed. Jesse and Ezra love playing this game. Not sure exactly who came up with it, but Ezra grabs pillows and rushes back and forth as if he has to make it to the other couch as quickly as possible. It cracks Jesse up, and Jesse says "ready set go" over and over for Ezra to keep going. Two boys, with lots of energy!! I dream of having that energy!!!

how things are growing

We have lots of tomato's growing, Ezra's super excited - especially after the recent tomato contamination recall. We're glad to have our own growing for now!

Basil and Oregano are doing great, we made a lasagna this past weekend with these yummy herbs and wow does fresh make a difference in taste!
We haven't had alot of squash produce yet, they're coming on now - so we went to the store today to pick up 2 more for dinner tonight. I prefer the organically or locally grown squash and I was so surprised at how small the veggies were! Mine was actually bigger!! I only picked one today, mine is far left one in the picture below. Even the color was more yellow then the ones from the market. Ok, so I cooked 1 squash, not much to write home about - but they're are more to come from the 3 plants we have managed to nurse along in the dry heat.

Pitiful, that's the only thing I can say about the strawberry's I planted. Tiny, puny and pitiful. Full of flavor, but I like to call them my preemies. Maybe next year... For now, I search out the Farmers Market and EarthFare for organic berries - otherwise, we will have none :(. I am keeping the dirty dozen list with me when I shop, and strawberries are exposed to alot of chemicals/pesticides unless they're organically grown... this is why I wanted my own. Oh well, so the Family Berry Patch didn't go as planned, back to the drawing board.

boy humor, all reality

I have the privalage to mother 2 boys, this comes along with lots of interesting things... moms of boys understand. I expected some things, because I grew up w/ two brothers, but because they were older I didn't always pay attention to some of the conversations my parents had with either of them. I know that that girls come along with an equal share of interesting things; so today I thought I'd share a few recent things that have gone on in our house related to Boyz Only. I can't help but journal these conversations, and I keep alot of them saved to private just for a family journal... I hope anyone who reads this and has raised or are raising kids of their own can sit back and laugh and enjoy the similar memories/moments they have of the art of raising kids!

Todder Talk:

Jesse: where'd it go?

me: where'd what go?

Jesse: the paci, where'd it go?

me: where did you put it? is it by your trains? (he's back to paci this week - ugh, slow process of weaning)

Jesse: uh, no, I don't see it

me: (phone call from work at this very moment) oh, I see it (while I tell my employer to hang on a second), it's over by your balls.

WORK: Ahhhh, Sarah, what are you talking about?

me: good lord, I'm sorry - I throw all class out the window at this point - I have two boys, one's interested in puberty and all about it, and the other is obsessed with any ball - so yeah, that's where his passy is, on the floor beside his ball pit balls - not by his balls. (I was glad it was a person who knew me well enough to laugh with me)

Jesse: yay! There it is!!

9 year old questions...

Ezra: what's puberty?

Me: what do you mean? do you want me to explain it all to you?

Ezra: well my friend at school says it's when you fall in love, it means you're old enough to fall in love

Me: well, ok - puberty is actually changes with your body, and mind. so I guess he's not all wrong, but mostly it's more about growing up and changing physically and then mentally to match your physical changes.

Ezra: what do you mean physical changes?

Me: (wishing my husband were home for this one) well, the short 9 year old version I can give you is that your body will change, your shoulders will get wider, your 'boy parts' will get bigger (trying to really be tactful about this), your voice will change deeper, your muscles will take shape more, you'll get taller, you're sweat will become a little more stinky, acne will begin to show up on your face possibly, body hair will grow in places....

Ezra: stop right there, that's gross - let's not go over where hair will grow, I think I'm good. Doesn't sound like falling in love at all. I'm going to go play with my hotwheels now, thanks.

HA!!! This is what it's like to have boys in my house right now. Balls and puberty.

eliminating the yuckie!

Since reading this about Quartenium and how it can affect the skin, as we've ran out of shampoo's and soaps we've slowly switched over to all natural ingredients - mostly Berts Bee's for the kids since they use so little (lasts forever) and for us I'm buying whatever's the most reasonable cost. It was quite interesting to me to learn about Quartenium, since it's a skin irritant and can cause contact dermatitis... it's ironic that it's found in high doses (above 15) in dandruff shampoo's of all things!!! I was particularly surprised at the products in our house that had this in it! With two kids who have very sensitive skin, we just started slowly switching a few things as we could.

We've switched to Clorox Greenworks as our main house cleaning product, and have learned how to make our own cleaners with simple things like vinegar and water, lemon juice, etc. Less toxins make more sense to me. Honestly, after starting this, I've spent LOTS less on cleaners and get the same, if not better, results in cleaning.

Then this came across my computer as I was reading a blog... Triclosan. It is found in lots of things, from soaps to toothpaste - it's an antibacterial and after reading about it, I find myself frustrated! Healthy Child Healthy World posted this article about how triclosan works, and how a 6th grader (there's a built in article on the link I've included) compared how her natural soap to antibacterial soap and how handwashing with plain soap/water is just as effective as antibacterial... but without the Triclosan.

No wonder cancer is increasingly more common this day and time (good heavens I've exposed myself to all of this stuff until recently!), I find it interesting that in the "old days" alot less BPA, Triclosan,Quartenium,and other toxins (pesticides in food) were used and people lived much longer healthier lives. I've even become apprehensive to buy canned foods so often, because BPA from certain can linings leaches into the food at a higher rate because it's heated so much in order to preserve the foods. I've began buying everything I can grown locally/organic - we visit 2 local farmers markets on the weekends in order to get a great price on healthier veggies until our mini-garden starts producing more. I'm glad to see that grocery stores are starting to incorporate 'locally grown' foods into the market section. When I can't find organic fruits, I use this guide to help me decide whether it is important enough to buy non-organic, or should I wait. The list shows the fruits/veggies in order of which are treated w/ the most pesticides. I also learned the differences in organic labels and do my best to find 100% organic, or organic labels as they have the least amount of exposure. Does it cost a little more? Sometimes, but 10-15cent a can is ok for our budget differences, I usually go online to the individual manufacturer's site and request coupons and/or samples - once I do this I generally receive coupons for 6-12 months by mail because they're interested in keeping customers and spreading the word. Harris Teeter has their own brand of organics now that is modestly priced in comparison to other name brand organics.

I guess I'm becoming an "organic" freak. I had always somewhat laughed at others for that in the past, and always felt that maybe they thought they were somehow better then me for being in the "organic cult". HA - now that I'm so interested in this I feel like a total jerk for having thought that - because in reality those feelings were only because I didn't understand their cause, their motives. This is because I never took the time to find out how beneficial changing a few things around could be to my own families health. It doesn't cure diseases, I'm not naive, but it certainly makes me feel better to know I'm not adding too that risk. You could look in my pantry, fridge and freezer and find non organic items {gasp}; but we're slowly changing to products as we find ones we like that are comparable. Not everyone can afford all organic, that's true - we fit into that mold. Dining out isn't organic and we still do- so by all means, we're just trying to do what we can at home - little by little making our little world less toxic.

the 'nunny'

Jesse calls this the Nunny {bunny} Song... one of Jonathon's friends mentioned that his kids liked it and since the first time Jesse saw it he has loved it. I just think it's adorable and the words are so sweet. Jesse has began singing it when we play it, I keep trying to get that on video but each time I grab the camera to video he stops singing!

case of the mommy brain

Thought I'd share a laugh. Today we went to run errands, and I am pretty serious about making all errands work in one trip so we went to the doctors office, then to visit Jonathon at work as a nice surprise, then to Walmart to pick up some gardening items we needed, and then I decided we'd have junk lunch. We do 'junk lunch' about 1 time a week during the summer, and today we went to Taco Bell/KFC combo (those are weird to me, but ok) as I'm sitting there after I order, I realize that I do not have my debit card. I don't ever carry cash, so this was funny in a 'Sarah you're an idiot' type of way.

Hmmmm, I used it at Walmart... and then I handed it to Jesse....DUH. He likes to pretend to swipe it; I typically help him swipe it and then I put it away but not today!!! I totally forgot to get it back from him. What did he do with it? I looked all in the car... inching my way toward the window feeling like an idiot. So I grab my receipt from Walmart and call them.... over and over and over and over I call - with no answer. I finally get an answer and I barely get the words out 'I think I let my card in the garden center' and I got transferred w/ no 'hold please' the call transfer didn't go through and I was disconnected! By now I'm at the drive thru window where I explain that I'm without cash, without my debit card - and I felt pretty silly! Thank goodness there was a credit union in the same parking lot!! I asked them to hold my order long enough for me to grab cash at the bank and they did - the manager must have had a good laugh. Went to the bank, back to KFC/Taco Bell went in got food (still trying to contact Walmart this entire time), got back in car (with 2 lunch hungry kids in tow) started driving back to Walmart... I wondered if the card was in the cart, the parking lot, or where? FINALLY as I am pulling into Walmart they answer (14 trys - and I told them about that part) and the cashier that helped me had my card! WHEW!!! She said it was on the floor and she just noticed it - thank heavens no one stole it! We've already been ripped off in the past 12 months by stolen identity - I didn't need to be the dummy who allowed my card to be stolen!

So... the quick errands today weren't so quick after all. I had a serious case of the mommy brain going on - pretty sad when my 9 year old is how I realized that my 2 year old was the last person with my card - good thing he (Ezra) has a young healthy memory. Note to self - get the toddler his own pretend card.

progress

Well, not anything to write home about really... but I consider being able to breath through my nose progress! I'm also getting my voice back! We spent Monday just running a few errands and hanging out at the house. My plans for our schedule on Mondays and Fridays are for freetime at home, or go to the park or pool - but it's me that holds us back so far this week. I can't see anything good coming from being in the heat and getting my head all stuffy again. I think I have cabin fever, because a drive to the bank was refreshing - getting out of the house was just simply a must!

Jesse has a rash of some sort around his mouth, and it looks sort of similar to how thrush looks... but then again, not really. After google.com showed me some pictures of oral thrush, it didn't really resemble that. His is tiny red bumps around his lip, almost looks like isolated mini chicken-pox and he had a very very thin layer of white on his tongue (almost like he just licked a white sucker and the white stayed there - very thin) for a couple of days - though the doctors office didn't seem to be worried because it's not 'raised patches' but just for safe measure they called in Nysatatin - I'm glad to have it, but I am always skeptical of prescribed medications. I learned alot while talking to a triage nurse at his ped's office and now I understand that everyone 'has' the bacterias that cause thrush, it's basically yeast. She's seen it in toddlers many times, and gave me pointers...she agreed that IF it is thrush, then it's a very mild case of it at that. I prefer natural remedies if and when possible, so I called a trusted source and found that Grapefruit Seed Extract works like a charm in about 2 days to clear this; there's also Gentian violet but I didn't want to paint him purple unless I had too! After 3 applications it's 100% gone in his mouth, and the little bumps around his mouth are going away too. I think they'd be gone already if he wasn't drooling so much; his last upper 2 year molar still making it's appearance, almost all the way thru.

Beware, here's where I promote a newfound product...because I'm kindof glad I spent the extra $ to get it now!! GSE is not cheap, I found it at EarthFare (Nutriteam: Grapefruit Seed Extract) and I was pleasantly surprised that there are TONS of things GSE can be used for! My bottle will last me a long time even if I use it for most of the things it can be used for - it takes so little to do the trick! It stops parasites, bacteria, candida, mold, virus, algae and lots more, and can be used as a sore throat gargle, add a few drops to a spray bottle of water and spray the diaper area and it helps get rid of diaper rash, it is found to treat dermatitis (including poison oak, and ivy)...Grapefruit seed extract can be used to clean fungus and mildew off of shower stalls, tile, swimming pools, hummingbird feeders and birdbaths. It is user-friendly, and environmentally safe. GSE can be used in the garden to control aphids, snails, fungus, mildew, and algae. It can be used as a rinse for fruits and vegetables as well, or for a more thorough treatment, soak them for fifteen minutes and then rinse thoroughly under cold water. Adding GSE to a carpet shampooer will help to remove odors caused by bacteria left from pet, food , mold or mildew. It is reported that ten to fifteen drops per gallon in the reservoir is effective in killing staph, strep, aspergillus, salmonella and many other pathogenic organisms that are present in some carpets. Gargling with GSE and water will most times handle even the most resistant Strep germs. Naturopathic doctors recommend gargling with two or three drops in five ounces of water three or four times daily, you can't do it too often. I'm not opposed to prescribed medicines, but if I can get a natural remedy to work first, that's the way I go. I am excited that there's many uses for this stuff!

weekend wrap-up

Well - I must admit this sinus infection has been the mother of ALL infections. I haven't really been in the mood to blog/journal or even talk! I even had to cancel my lunch out with my dad on Saturday, I have had NO voice, I've ran a fever on and off for about 8 days now and in general feel like caca!!

Overall we didn't go anywhere over the weekend, we pretty much stayed home and played indoors and outdoors during the day. Ezra read two of his books from the library, hung out at the neighbors house a bit, and just goofed off at home. Jesse and I worked in our container gardens for a while, he helped me add new soil and vegitable food; I've noticed some of the squash are wilting and I worry that they're either getting overheated or not enough nourishment... I'm watering early in the morning (7am) and again around 7pm. We have healthy tomatoes coming on at about 1" in diameter right now. There's one eggplant bloom (pictured below) so far - those have been slow to mature.

We had a nice fathers day considering, Jonathon's dad came by for a little while on Sunday. I made Jonathon's favorites for dinner and the kids did some one of a kind art work for him along with their cards.

speechless

Literally, I have no voice. I realize that this makes some people happy. HA. I called the doctors office early this morning and managed to get enough sound out for them to understand I'm no better, in fact - I'm worse! They actually wanted to add in Phynegrin (that's prob. spelled wrong) in order to prevent me from being sick from the antibiotic... this would be great in a world where I have no responsibilities - but I'm a real mom with real kids... so I declined the offer to be what would seem like a coma on meds for days. They called in another antibiotic; my doctor is apprehensive to do that because I have a medical history of anaphalactic shock with antibiotics and with my brother's recent death by anaphylactic shock I suppose they're justified in concern of a recurrence based on family and medical history. I am glad to have a doctor who pays attention to details. Hopefully this medication will do the trick!



I have lots of journaling that I will share soon about things around here! For now, I'm trying to be on the mend!

the bug

Today we went for library time; Thursdays this summer will be library time for both boys. Jesse will enjoy a 45 min 'laptime' reading activity while Ezra enjoys freedom to explore any book in the juvenile fiction or non-fiction section.

We also signed up for several special library activities this summer that include Snakes Alive, Magic Show, a special story teller, and Nothing Bugs Me.

Ezra checked out 3 books today, and so did Jesse. Ezra was so eager to read, that he's already filled in one 60 minute time slot!

update on sick ppl: Jesse's better, I'm not on the mend yet - it seems that the antibiotic I am taking is not agreeing with me, it's making me sick! So I'm getting a new one I suppose...yuck.

Summer Break begins...

Well, it's a let down, for me personally, to begin summer break with the worst sinus infection I've ever had. I must say, I have had tons of them, and this one takes the cake. It really does take a lot to make me want to sit on the couch and do nothing - I'm generally task oriented, but today is just total BLUGH!

We had a doctors appointment at 9:40am, we also had an appointment at 10:10am for Jesse's gym program that we signed up for this summer. Go figure the doctors office didn't get us in until 10:20, even though I arrived as an eager beaver at 930! We missed Jesse's weekly activity and even though he didn't seem to care, I did :(. I have this mega plan for the summer, I don't want my working from home to impede on the "summer fun" that spring break brings, so I'm creating a schedule in order to hold myself accountable for my time. Tuesdays will be TaiKwon Do for Ezra, Wednesdays will be gym for Jesse (both boys get one 45 min per week fun activity for the summer) and Thursdays are library day for both boys. Mondays and Fridays will be for fun times at home, our local park, or one of our community pools that our hefty HOA fees pay for.

So today ended up being about doctors offices, medication and the grocery store. We did manage to get by Sonic at 3 for a half price slushie - my favorite flavor of slushie is half-price HA! I don't drive to fast food restaurants often, but we will totally take advantage of happy hour at Sonic this summer!!

Happy Day

Oh happy day for Ezra! He's officially a 5th grader! He received all of his EOG testing results, writing test, and report card - and he's officially DONE being a 4th grader! He's super excited about summer, and we have some fun things planned weekly for the boys individually and together too! Jesse and I surprised Ezra early at school, after lunch - Jesse went waltzing down the halls saying loudly 'Where's Eza? Where'd he go? Where's he at mommy?' 'Eza? Eza? Eza????' He doesn't say the R in Ezra's name. It's so sweet to hear him call for his brother. We picked him up early, the teachers received some end of the year thank you goodies and we headed out. Mrs. Miranda (Ezra's main teacher) is expecting her first baby in August, so we are eager to hear from her when he's born, she promised the class she'd be by to visit with the baby when school starts.

After getting home early, we played, hung out, talked and then celebrated with pizza. We rarely eat pizza, it's just not good for us in general, but it was a treat to Ezra and we enjoyed it. After pizza I told Ezra I needed him to run an 'errand' with me. He had no idea... we were traveling to his former TaeKwon-Do instructors building. He went there for 2 years during the time he was at the previous elementary school, they were his after school program and TKD class combined. He liked it then, and we had to stop after he was transferred to another school - it just didn't work out with the TKD class schedules. We decided to surprise him with 10 lessons this summer, and possibly continue it next school year! HE WAS SOOOOOO SURPRISED!!! He literally had a tear of joy in his eye as he walked in to see his former instructor - who honestly is one of the most kind hearted and patient role models Ezra could possibly have. He is near and dear to our family, and always will be. Ezra loved his class and can't wait to go back for more!! His instructor is now a 5th Degree black belt!! Ezra's so proud to be back in TKD!

We will begin TKD for Ezra for the entire summer on Tuesdays, and then Jesse's activity begins on Wednesday's. Each boy is going to have a special day of the week with their own 45 min activity; and then on Thursdays we'll do library time. Ezra will enjoy age/grade appropriate activities, and private reading times while Jesse does toddler laptime occasionally. Certain Thursdays they'll blend all age groups for group activities. One of the activities is Snakes Alive; I personally can't wait to see that!! There will be crafts, etc., and I'm so excited to have the local opportunity right around the corner to help fill days with fun activities for the boys! With the price of gas so high, we tried to be mindful in finding and agreeing to activities that are within 5 min of the house. Mondays and Fridays will be free days, we'll probably swim in our pool(s) in our neighborhood or play at the splash ground at one of the pools, the other day will just be there for errands, relaxing, or whatever we want to do around the house.

We're planning a trip to the beach this summer (thanks stimulus refund), it will be the first time we've gone since Jesse's birth. I'm excited. We're also planning to visit our family in Texas late summer, early fall. We hope to have a fun summer break!

update on the sick: Jesse is much better - and sleeping much more restful w/o coughing. My sinus infection has become the worst sinus infection in the history of my sinus's. I can't bend over without feeling like the pressure in my head will explode out of my eyes or ears. Hopefully prescription antibiotics will help. I haven't taken any antibiotics in almost 3 years! Time for the big guns!

countdown

2 more days until school's out. Ezra can't wait! Today they watched movies, cleaned out desks and cleaned up the classroom. He doesn't know it yet - but we've got a great surprise planned for summer for him!!! We told him he had a surprise on Tuesday, he's ITCHING to know what it is!!!
Update on sick people: Jesse is still coughing alot, and has lots of activity in his nose :) I'm still sick - haven't changed much since last week... may actually go to the doctor with this one. Sinus pressure is so bad it hurts to blow my nose.

weekend wrap-up

This weekend we took it easy; Jesse had round two of his cold and I'm at fault for it. I've been sick, and I've not went to the doctor... I guess that's what moms do - we hold the martyr title to a degree when it comes to pushing forward even when we feel bad! Well, I'm guilty. I've been working more then usual lately, and I'm sure that less sleep, and more work has added to my body's inability to fight off this yuck.

Saturday we took a family trip out to the airport overlook and had slushies and watched the airplanes. Both boys enjoy that and we usually try to go one time a month. It was really too humid outside to do much else, after dinner we had a family and neighbor water gun fight - and we were ALL soaked! After the water war was over, all of the kids used the rest of their water in their water guns to 'feed' our garden. HA. At least they're not wasteful!!

Jesse and I napped together on Sunday - he wanted to take his nap, and was in his bed coughing and squirming the entire time, so I just went up there to join him and see if elevating his head on my chest would help - and it did :) we slept for about 2 hours I suppose. I rarely nap, when I do I usually regret it because I never feel 'rested' afterward. It was nice to take a break from working during 'down time' in our house. That's usually when I work, clean, or read. But not this time - I was snoozing and needed it so bad! We had Richard and Ava over for dinner Sunday evening and the kids enjoyed a little time indoors hanging out!

unsetteling

It isn't odd for me to grab my cellphone and call my dad or my husband to see if they'll go to a local news website to find out what's holding me up in traffic lately. I drive from one end of the county to the other, literally. I generally take inner city roads to get there, as the highways are usually in worse shape for school commutes in the mornings. So I take Hwy 49 past UNCC to Harris Blvd to Sharon Amity to Independence to Idlewild to Providence and we're there. This is about 30-40 min one way, 4 times a day - depending on traffic. In the last 4 weeks, at least one time a week I will see a swarm of police helicopters along w/ news helicopters, followed by a rush of many passing police cars. I know this is the case in many major cities - but it's becoming almost a everyday thing during our commutes. This is just one more reason why we are looking into other options for our family, this includes location. The housing market stinks right now - but is it ever going to be wonderful? Maybe we should just put the house up for sale on our own, and little by little do minor fix ups and start looking elsewhere. We don't plan to look too far away, but outside of Meck. county for sure.

Here's what I ran into today, literally. I saw a helicopter hovering over/near Ezra's school area, and as I picked him up it was slowly moving toward Independence where we were headed, little did I know that it was a major arrest in progress. We were in VERY slow traffic, and when we finally were allowed to approach the intersection at Independence/Idlewild we saw the giant police van (like the one they use for SWAT or special situations), several news vans, police everywhere, and it was seriously right beside us, we could see everything. All the way down to all of the evidence they were gathering from the vehicle, they were putting it in brown paper bags for evidence. It's pretty sad this day and time what someone can be stabbed or robbed over - well, the word is really just 'pathetic'.

In the words of Hal David:

What the world needs now is love, sweet love

No, not just for some but for everyone.

Field Day

95 degrees for the day - humidity is high, it's dry and just gross! Ezra had a blast during field day; they had water stations for bottles of water whenever they needed them, lots of sprinklers to run through for cooling off, indoor and outdoor activities. There was even a dunking tank! Ezra had changed clothes by the time I arrived to pick him up. He had been soaked he said! They wrapped up the afternoon w/ some treats from the teachers, and a movie! I think outside of the 3 field trips he's been on, this was his favorite day of the school year!

on the homefront

Just a few quick notes:

1. I'm sick w/ a sinus infection... anyone know where I can find one of the below contraptions? HA! It hit me like a ton of bricks. I have been very fortunate with not getting sick in a very long time... I guess I'm due. Both boys are on the tail end of their colds, allergies, sinus.... problems - now it's my turn!



2. It's forecast to be 98 today, and 99 tomorrow... I think Friday should be somewhere near the temperature of hades also... outstanding heat for the southeast in early June! Heather, did you send Texas weather my way? Take it back :)


3. No poo marbles yet - hopefully this is the case for the rest of the day! I really don't think he swallowed one, but it still bothers me!


4. Ezra has field day tomorrow - in the grossest highest humidity possible! Even though he will be sweaty and gross - he's still excited!

That's it for now - back to the tissue, water, mucinex and advil.

passing the test

January of 05 proved to be a pretty tough test for Jonathon; he took a stress test, had a heart attack while taking it, and well - if you read my blog at all you know the story from there on 0ut... Jan. of 06 posts have some of the details.

Each year after he has to take another stress test; yesterday was that day for him. They pushed him to the max with his test, and told him by phone today that his results were above average for having had his surgery and prior health concerns. He was also pushed harder then the average stress test in order to test his hearts endurance - and his heart said 'HA, TAKE THAT!'

It makes me so happy that he's another year healthy according to all of the tests! It also makes me feel grateful that he's had a 2nd chance at a healthy heart, and we're not taking any chances with our lifestyle, as a family we eat healthier and go on nightly walks together... Ezra understands that it benefits our health. As for Jesse, it's just what we do!

24-48 hours...

Why am I watching the clock? Because I went to the accounts office today, spent an hour w/ her taking care of some personal things; and while Jesse played with her toys and brought me this and that to look at - he somehow found marbles. You're already fast forwarding to the possibilities, right? Well - I didn't know that he had found marbles (Darlene didn't realize they were out of the box she keeps them in with the game), and was digging in my file sorter to get out some documents and within literally 30 seconds he found them, and tasted them. She's pretty sure that she only had 3, and the way I found out was within the few seconds of this transpiring, he coughed and acted as if he was choking and then spit one out. So - had he swallowed one, I'd assume he'd have reacted just like he did with just putting it in his mouth and gagging/spitting it out.

This goes to show that even though I pride myself in safety, staying home, and being 'here' for my kids - that vulnerability and dangers are always possible. I can't literally watch him 24/7. I should have done better at assessing the toys and doing a mental inventory.

What happened next? I felt stupid for not realizing she had marbles - yep, I cried and I'm not ashamed to admit it. I felt guilty for allowing my 2 year old to be in harms way when it's my job to assess the area that we're in when it's not home, where it's really policed for danger. Guilt makes me cry. I'm secure with that :) it makes me feel human.

Then... Darlene called her mom, who is a registered nurse in the ER; she told me to watch him for 24-48 hours with a mindful eye. She explained what to look for, and that most likely he did not swallow a marble if his reaction to having one in his mouth was to immediately gag and spit. She said if that made him gag, then trying to actually swallow one would have most likely resulted in choking. Darlene is 99.9% sure she had only 3 marbles; needless to say it still concerns me. Since then I've also called my ped, just to let them know of the worst case scenario and to find out what to do if I need to bring him in (i.e., make appt. or just show up?)... they told me the same things to look for as symptoms, etc. and also said that it sounded less likely that he swallowed it.

Life lesson for me was to pay better attention when we're in pubic - I take for granted that I prepare my home for our kids safety but I can't be so casual when it comes to somewhere else. I can't and won' t put my kids in a glass box, yet in this case I should have paid closer attention.

What am I doing now? Thanking my lucky stars that he didn't choke right then and there; and waiting 24-48 hours for any symptoms that I was told to look for... and I'm now officially on poop patrol. Fingers are crossed. I'm also officially not letting him watch My Fair Lady because then he'll want to practice talking w/ marbles ;)!

Sunny Sunday

It was warmer this weekend then it has been all spring, but we still spent it outside! Sunday morning Jesse and I went to pick up my work while Ezra and Jonathon stayed home relaxing. Since we drive to Salisbury to get my work on weekends we usually try to plan a stop by to see Jennifer and her crew. Brittany and Nicholas were snoozing, and so Jesse and Alexis hammed it up outside for some playtime with the playhouse and cars. We took time to stop and hang out with their goats for a few minutes, Jennifer fed them while Jesse tried to get them to play ball with him. HA! One thing is for sure, he knows what a goat is!! He kept saying 'hey goat' and 'bye goat'.

Above: Jesse playing ball with the goats... HA.
Below: Jesse and Alexis having a blast together.

Above: Alexis letting Jesse know how the car works...
Below: Alexis kissing Jesse goodbye. :)
In the playhouse together cooking up some fun.

While Jesse napped, I filled up his little toddler pool. Jonathon and Ezra went to see a movie, and I took advantage of an empty house (while Jesse was sleeping of course) and worked some! We grilled out and since it was so warm today Jesse got in his pool. Last year he would get in and out over and over, but this time once he got in, he didn't want to get out - he got mad at us when we made him!

Jesse swiped this cone from our sidewalk; it had been there for several days all alone with no purpose. We got tired of it looking junky so we let him put it in the garage, now it's become his most favorite toy. It's pretty versatile, if you put a ball on top its just the right height for toddler batting. In the pool it becomes a place to pour water that never seems to fill up! HA!

Ezra says "please stop taking pictures dad"

"ok, you give me no choice but to give you funny faces now"

"Cowboys and Pirates anyone?"

That's pretty much our day in a nutshell - we were lazy, Jesse cooled off in the pool, and we just hung out talking and goofing off most of the day.

I finally took time to update the 08 photo journal, May 08 and June 08 photos at http://familyof4faries.smugmug.com