Not Necessarily

Last night Nate woke up in the middle of the night in a frantic hurry because he had to use the restroom. I started to assess him to make sure he wasn't sick.

Mom: "Nate, does your belly hurt?:

Nate: "Not anymore."

Mom: "It hurt before?"

Nate: "Well......it did earlier, but not necessarily when Gracie got home."

Necessarily. What 4 year old uses the word necessarily? I don't even think Grace used a word like necessarily at 4.


In other news, today was Gracie's Track and Field Day at school. In years past, the kids never really competed against each other for first place, second place, etc. because they were in Pre-K and Kindergarten. However, Grace, now being in First Grade, got to compete for the first time against her classmates. There was a 50 yard dash, a 100 yard dash, a softball throw and a standing broad jump. Grace has been working hard practicing for these events for the last several weeks at Grandma and Grandpa's house. Well, I am proud to say that she won First Place in the 50 yard dash, Second Place in the 100 yard dash, and she says she thinks she may have won third in the jump. She did compete against only the first grade girls, which there are 5 of, but we are still very proud of her and she is pretty proud, too.

Can't Believe

That Nate slept until 10am today! First day ever either one of my kids has slept that late. I was asleep myself, but I thought it sounded pretty quiet in the house. He did go to bed a little late last night, but it was only about 10 and he's gone to bed that late before. Little peanut must have been tired.

It's Over

The longest cold weather streak South Florida has had since 1940 (officially from the National Weather Service) is nothing but a distant memory. For the last 2 nights we have had to use the AC which makes me a little unhappy. I loved being able to use my heater, something I haven't done in years really. There's just something so warm and cozy about the heater. I love the heater smell, too. I really LOVE the cold air, even though it freezes me and I wear about 1,000 pieces of clothing. There's just nothing like it. On the coldest day we had, I think the high was around the mid to upper 40's which is completely unheard of here as a high temperture.

My body even subconsciously must love the cold. I must have tried to donate blood at Gracie's school's numerous blood drives, in the past, I don't know how many times and I have not been able to because my iron numbers were never quite good enough. This must have gone on for at least 2 years and every single time I am rejected. I went this past Wednesday to try yet again, completely convinced I would be turned away a few minutes later. To my surprise, my numbers were no where near being rejected this time. See, I need more cold weather in my life.

But really, I felt so blessed to have so much cooler weather. Usually one day here and one day there, but 12 straight in a row? Pure heaven on earth. Well, at least it was for me.

Fantastic

That's the word to describe the cold weather we're having. And yes, I will say cold, because, well, it is. Temps in the 40's and 30's is cold. Now I really don't care if its colder somewhere else, because it will always be colder somewhere else, and if the people who live in that somewhere else think its cold where they are, they should move and not try to one up me. I wear flip flops 99% of the year and I own a very light sweater. I don't own layers to layer up when its cold, so yeah, I am a little chilly. If I lived somewhere else where it was colder, I would buy more appropriate clothing. Usually we have this kind of weather for like a day or two, but since we're having nearly 10 days of this sort of weather, it tends to stay a bit chilly and makes me a bit chilly because I don't own anything warmer.

Anyway, I went off on a tangent because I know if I say it's cold here, some one some where will say, "Oh you're lucky. Its so warm there. You should be here where its X degrees." It always happens. And the intent of my blog is to say that I think its FANTASTIC that its cold. I just wish it was like this more often so I could be better prepared for it. I can't even believe it, I am soooo excited. I just love this weather. It feels so refreshing. It really clears my head. Last night we must have had a ton of houses in the area with fireplaces going because the firewood smell was so strong. Made me feel as I was someplace up north. The strong cold front is going to be lasting for more than likely at least another 10 days. Yay. This makes me happy. But a little cold.

Poor Nate

Nate has been sick with a nasty cold for a while now. It started just after Thanksgiving, and has just been awful for him. The last 4 days he started running a low grade fever, so today I felt it was time to bring him into the pediatrician's office to get checked. That, plus last night he said his ear hurt, so it was time to take him in. Well, just a mere 5 days before he turns 4, my poor little Nate Nate has not one infected ear, but two infected ears!! Poor kid!

Brothers and Sisters

Good Deal!

I got a really good deal on cereal a couple of weeks ago, but I have been sooooo busy I hadn't had time to post about. I am really quite impressed with myself and I wish I had more room so I could have purchased more. I bought 8 boxes of various Kellogg's cereal for $9.06 at Target. How? Well first Target had a sale- buy 3 boxes get 1 free, so they only charged me for 6 and I got 8. Then there were Target coupons for $1 off 1 box of Kellogg's. Even though I got 2 boxes for free, you can still use a coupon on them because you are still buying them, in a way. So I used 8 coupons and saved $8. Then I had a manufacturer coupon that saved $1 off of 3 boxes, so I used 2 of those coupons for a grand total of coupon savings of $10, and my total savings with the sale was probably around $17. In the end, each box averaged about $1.13 a box! How awesome is that?

Orlando

Ray and I were able to take a little vacation to Orlando for a couple of days, and so on Tuesday we did just that. We got back tonight and had a good couple of restful days. We stayed with Ray's sister, Katie and her husband Eddie. I had an old ticket to Universal/Islands of Adventure, and Ray had received a free ticket in the mail, so we spent the morning riding some rides, had a great little lunch and then spent half of the afternoon finishing up at the parks, then headed back to Katie and Eddie's house. That night we had dinner at Katie and Eddie's house with Ray's youngest brother, Rob and his girlfriend Sherrie. Today we hung out with Katie at the house for just about the entire day and then headed out for the drive back home around 4pm. It was a definitely a nice, much needed break. Thanks Mom (and dad, except I know dad isn't reading this) for watching the kids for us to make this happen! It is MUCH appreciated!

Phew!

Its been a while, huh? Almost a whole entire month. Quite honestly, there hasn't been a whole lot to talk about. Life has been crazy, as usual, but nothing exciting has occurred. I guess a bullet list of some "maybe" interesting things and tidbits from my life, and maybe some totally random comments would be a good format for today's blog.

• I am extremely proud of my little girl. She got her report card, and while they do not get letter grades until 3rd grade, she had all 91-100 on all subjects, and the 91 was in penmanship! She also had all 1's for behaviors except for a 2 in something like talking. Apples don't fall far from the tree. That saying is true.
• Its been good to get to see family more often. Ray's sister Katie and her hubby Eddie moved to Orlando and we've seen them a couple of times already. Only problem is, that when I saw them in the past I was either on vacation or its been Christmas, so my brain is constantly confused, thinking its Christmas every other weekend. Ha! Glad to have you back, KT
• Whoa, really. Is it TOO much to ask to just be a smidgen cooler? I mean seriously, its been 90 degrees or higher for almost the whole month of October with no end in sight. Please, just let it get a little cooler. It's Fall for Pete's sake.
• Nate has this obsession with cars lately. He's always asking what this does and what that does. He knows that the age to drive is 16. He's 3. What 3 yr old is counting the days until he can drive? I don't even think I thought about driving until I was like 13 or 14. Anyway, tonight I was playing around with him and I told him that when he's 15 he's going to turn 17 next and poor kid thought if he skipped 16 he wouldn't ever be able to drive. So cute.
• The other day, Nate was so cute (when isn't he cute?). He asked for some monies (which what he was looking at was some change in my car) and said he wanted to use it to buy a gift for Grace. Awww. Isn't that sweet?
• 7 more weeks until I get a school break. Yay!
• Its really fun seeing some of Grace's work from school make it home. Some of her assignments require her to answer questions in sentences. Its cute to see what she writes because there are a lot of words she doesn't yet know how to spell. some of the words are: PEPUL (people), PISIFIC (Pacific), MENE (many). My favorite is pepul. That's how I think it should be spelled, too.

Well, that's about all I've got for now.

Thing I love

• Snuggling up with my kiddos
• Snuggling up with my hubby
• My husband
• My kids
  
• The sound of rain hitting my window
  
• The sound of thunderstorms
• FALL
• The smell of Pumpkin Spice candles
• Nate's one freckle on his cheek
• Grace's loving and giving heart, and the birthmark in the shape of a heart on her ankle
  
• That I have the best husband in the world!!!!
• That my husband is tall
• Hot Chai Tea lattes
• Cold Pumpkin Spice Lattes
• Hugs from my kids, especially when they come up to me all on their own to hug me
• That I have a great family
• Vacations
• Relaxing
• Napping
• Doing nothing sometimes
• Doing well in school
• Sleeping on the sheets for the first time after they've been washed
• keeping my windows open on a cool day
• The Fray
• Coldplay
• The cold side of the pillow (Nate loves this, too, as he constantly flips his pillow over for the cold side)
• Chocolate
• BROWNIES- yum
• Pizza
• Water
• NOT reading
• That my nephews are in town for TWO weeks!
• Learning new things
• Watching my kids learn new things
• Watching my kids grow, as much as I hate it, too
  
• Blankets right out of the dryer
  
• Playing in traffic
  
• And long walks on short piers
  

Funny Craigslist Postings, Volume 1

You can come across some funny Craigslist posts sometimes. Ray came across this one, from the San Fransisco Bay area. I figured I would start posting some funny Craigslist posts every now and then to make for some good blog content when I have none, so here you go:

You hit me with your Prius

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Date: 2009-07-25, 3:23PM PDT

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Me - Bicyclist, heading to jury duty on 10th Street, Friday at 8:50am.
You - Prius driver, crossing over two lanes, hitting me with your car and speeding away.

I was hoping we could catch up for a cup of coffee, so I could get your views on the environment, and strangle you.

Not Much

Not much new has been going on around here except for school.

Nate FINALLY begins his new speech appointments with the Public School. This saga all started back in December at his 3 year old check up. His doctor expressed concern with his speech, calling it a Speech Articulation Delay. She gave me a referral to go to the hospital's speech department. We had some insurance issues going on, but had finally got them all resolved and Nate in to see the speech therapist around the beginning of March. At the same time, I had made an appointment for Nate for the Public School Board, knowing that the insurance would not pay for continual visits. That appointment was set up for the end of April, almost 2 months later.

Well when the end of April finally rolled around, we were very disappointed to find out that the appointment Nate had was just a "screening" to see if he needed to be evaluated further, and even more disappointed to find out that that appointed wouldn't be until more than likely August.

We got a call at the beginning of August to go get Nate evaluated. Yes, even after "screening" him and being told that yes, he does have a speech problem, they have to "evaluate" him. I'm not sure why they couldn't evaluate at the screening, but what can you expect from a government-run program? Anyway, we got a call a day or two later saying that Nate indeed did qualify to get speech therapy and that after school started he would get called for an appointment. Last week Ray went in for an appointment for, get this, to be told that Nate would get started with appointments. Sheesh. They could have just saved some money and told us this back in April. So 6 months after I made the first phone call my poor boy is FINALLY getting started. The only good thing I can say is that thank goodness I don't have to pay for it.

Is this just a foretelling of a future with government health care? Can you imagine waiting 6 months to see a doctor? Scary.

First Day of School

The day went very smooth and both kids had a great time and I was told Nate was VERY, VERY good. He was the best behaved kid in the class. Honestly, there isn't much to say, so I will just post some pics from the morning.

Bad Blogger.....What Else is New?

Yes, I know I am a VERY bad blogger. However, in my defense, things have been extremely busy! I have been getting the kids ready for school next week, getting ready for some crazy finals in my Microbiology lecture and lab classes, getting things ready for me for nursing school, going away on a last minute trip to see Ray's brother, John and our sister-in-law Wendi, and our nephews Isaac and Elijah (well it was last minute for me since Ray was planning on going alone with the kids). There will be a blog this week with some pics as Wednesday will be Nate's first day of school, EVER!

Anyway, while next week my schedule will lighten up some, I will still be busy getting the house in some sort of order before I start school, finishing up some last minute shopping for nursing school, and helping Ray get the work paperwork caught up so that when August 24th comes around, there is less on his plate.

Look for another blog around Wednesday or Thursday!

Update!

I am FINALLY feeling better. My only complaint is I still have a cough and its very annoying, and my voice is still a little hoarse. Other than that, it seems like all is well.

Yesterday I took Grace to get a haircut. My plan was to get it significantly shorter, but to keep it slightly past her shoulders. Ray and I had discussed the option of Grace donating her hair, but at Locks of Love, you need a minimun of 10 inches to donate, and that would have made Grace's hair VERY short. However, when I started talking with the haircutter, she suggested we go a little bit shorter and Grace could donate her hair. I told her I thought it needed to be 10 inches, and she advised me that Pantene had a program (Pantene Beautiful Lengths) and they only needed 8 inches. It was going to be a little bit shorter than we had planned, but Grace really wanted to donate her hair, and I really wanted her to do it as well, so we went ahead and got a shorter than expected haircut. The concensus from everyone i

s that it is GREAT!

I'll post some better pictures later when I upload them to my computer. For now, you can see this one: