Past few weeks

It has been crazy. We were going along all good. Loving our home and our lives. Then we decided to check again to see if any waterfront opened up that we might like. We do that ever so often. Go nuts and wonder about waterfront. So we find one. And it's pretty cool. But it has a whole Mother-In-Law suite. What would we do  with that we wonder. So we call my MIL. Guess what? She has been needing to ask us about the very thing. She needs to move in sooner than later. Well that's pretty inspired so we look at the cool waterfront house and get an offer in. AT THE SAME EXACT TIME someone else puts in an offer. They offer cash. I can't do cash right now. They win. No cool waterfront house for us. 

In the mean time we pray a lot and decide MIL does need to move in soon-ish. Like within the year. It is time to look for a place with a separate suite. So we look. We look and look. I fall for several that go under contract before I can even offer. What is going on? The housing market here is picking up in a  huge way. So weird. But we trust in the Lord and know something will work out. 

Then I see Bess. As in the house on Bess Road. I know online that I'm gonna buy this house. My husband is not as sure, but he wants to see it. I drive by it like 10 times before my agent gets me in. I know the school there, the parks (FOUR really close), I map out how to get to the grocery stories. I peek in the windows. I own this house in my mind. Here it is: 

 Look at those trees. LOVE. It is huge. The price is good. We get in. The MIL area is so nice, way bigger than the last one. Perfect. The boys all get separate rooms AND Brian gets an office AND I get a craft room. It has the coolest terraced backyard patio situation. Hardwood floors. Miles of cabinets. It does need a new roof and a new AC system. It's Florida people, can't mess around with that stuff. Even with those expenses it's still a good price. So we go home and pray. My prayer is something like, "Please let Brian know this house is perfect. Or let me know it's not... but I know it is." I'm sure Brian's is something like, "money, square footage, roofs, plumbing, electrical boring boring" Together we just ask for guidance. We go to bed. In the mean time I have been getting sick. Brian wakes me up in the middle of the night to tell me he thinks we should put an offer in.

That offer was just officially accepted. We need a home inspection but otherwise we are good. We should be moving in about 40 days.

That means I have to sell this house! (New house purchase is not contingent on this house sale, but I can't just hang out with two houses, so I gotta sell this one.) So taking down photos and paintings, packing, repainting, carpeting, cleaning, cleaning, cleaning. And I'm dog sitting and  hosting a friend's kid's party in the next month. (Neither one I'd give up for the world, love the dog and all the people involved, so no one offer to break those plans, I'll work it out)

So that's great for whatever this mystery illness is. It is the same one I always have. Sore throat, cough, mostly at night, tired... Then nothing and it gets better. I'm allergic to stress.

In other news Ethan had his birthday party. I am tired and can't blog all about it, but look at this awesome Tie Fighter he and Stephen built. Love those guys.

Huge Flamingo

Here is one of the largest balloon sculptures I've made. It is a huge flamingo. I LOVE IT.

Weight loss, Disney, house hunting, balloons...

We really have been busy. Last month we went to Disney twice. Here are some pictures:

 Calvin LOVES Ethan. You can so see it here in this pic. Total adoration.

 Calvin became a pirate. Jack Sparrow made it official. This was a big deal for him. Calvin loves pirates. That Jack Sparrow was REALLY good too.

 Splash park joy.

 Wet Ethan.

 Meeting Jake. HUGE deal.

 Stephen was always there of course, but he was serious about rides and such and didn't ever want to stop for photo ops. I did catch a few. Here he is with Ethan.

 Calvin was happy to pose though!

I could post 50 pics of Disney, but I think that covers it. We had a blast.

So weight loss. It is slow. VERY slow. I'm frustrated. But I'm way healthier too. I have been working out a lot and I can feel that I'm stronger and have more endurance. So that's very good. I have not lost much though. I did finally take "before" shots. Here they are (no makeup, in my pj's with wet hair, super duper sexy I know):

 One of the most fun things going on is the balloon making. I am thinking I really should consider parleying this into a job. I'm actually pretty good. And it is FUN. And seeing the kid's faces is GOLD. Look at this cute puppy balloon:

So I told you we were done with house hunting. Then Brian sees a house in our neighborhood that is for sale on the water. We love our neighborhood. We want water... We check it out. It is a bit of a financial stretch, but not impossible. It is huge. There are trees in the backyard that you could put swings or forts on. And there is water. It has a downstairs mother-in-law suite. My mother-in-law is interested. That would help the financial. Me, the MIL and the kids are game. Then Brian decides no. I will admit I'm confused and frustrated. I think it could be great. But I already live in a beautiful home that I love, so I'm not really upset. Maybe a little. I guess I'm torn because I can't tell how serious he is about looking for a waterfront property. waterfront is his dream. I want to see him get that. I guess if I have a dream it's a slightly larger house. But I'm not hung up on that. I am pretty much living the dream already. (the Mother-in-law part will have to be revisited. There may be a need there in the not too distant future, but my great house now does not have a possibility for that.) So that's that I guess. I'm trying to be a cool and supportive wife and not a shrew who insists on moving.

Kids are all doing well. Calvin got out of that not-sleeping-always-fussy thing. He is always happy and sleeps fine now. Ethan is back in school and doing great. His writing needs work, but otherwise he is fine. I expected that so I'm happy. He is actually enjoying it now which is new and great. Stephen continues to do great. He is a cub scout now and LOVES THAT. Here he is in his adorable uniform. He already has some new swag on it, he got his bobcat and two activity badges.

I painted the table and chairs in my dining room. I love it.

Well I guess that's all for now. Of course there was more, but that's all I can think of to add. We are good, happy, fairly healthy (cold going around the house) and having fun. Can't ask for much more. 

Calvin and sleep

For two nights in a row Calvin has messed up my sleep. Yesterday he woke up well before dawn and though it was time to get up and talk to Mommy. ONLY Mommy will do for this. So I got up WAY early. The night before Brian and I had been up way late too, so I was tired. And crabby. Then last night the same baby would NOT GO TO FREAKING SLEEP! He was up talking to me till 2am. If I left the room he would scream and wake up everyone else. Brian tried to lay with him but all he did was cry for me. WTHECKCALVIN! And today he might have slept in, but today is the day he CANNOT sleep in because I leave in the morning and am gone for hours. 

Look at my little sleep eating monster. SLEEPING. Brian lets him nap sometimes. If I catch him doing this in the middle of the day I wake him the heck up. Or take a nap myself. But isn't he sweet? 

Last night while talking to me he goes, "Mommy, guess what?" "mmmff,wha??" "Baby butt!!" "mmmmok" (these noises are me mumbling because I'm trying to sleep.) "Mommy guess what?" "mmmmzzz" "Shake your baby butt!!" then he jumps up and shakes his baby butt. It's one in the freaking morning, but still so cute.

 Anyhow I'm tried. But after picking the kids up at school I bring  them to the Children's Museum. Gotta let them play and also keep them out of Brian's hair, as he is working from home. I bring in my balloon stuff to work on a few things. And I'll be honest, I hope a few kids want stuff too. And they do! I ended up making a balloon for every single kid. Like 40 of them by the time I leave. (there was a group there.) And everyone loved it. If I had taken the offered tips I bet I would have made $30 to $50 dollars. I made:
monkeys
puppies
monkeys on trees.
flowers
swords
a pig
monkey on tree hat
horses
unicorn
zebra
ladybug bracelet
a football (which I'd never made and didn't like AND they wanted it in red of all colors, but the kids loved it)
I think that's it. I taught a few kids how to make their own swords and they loved that.
I'm exhausted, but it was so much fun! I have a party coming up for Church where I'm doing balloons and a charity event where I'm doing them too. (North Florida School of Special Education) So I'm excited.

Here is a recent creation. It is a snail. I LOVE his mouth.

 Here are some of my balloons. I have a lot of them. Yo

Dreams

Do any of you have reoccurring dreams? I have had a few, some drop off, some I've always had.
1. Super hero/spy dreams. Not always the same, but a common theme in my dreams is that I have to save the world with either my super intelligence or some amazing martial art type powers.
2. Sharks. I'm not really afraid of sharks in real life, but in my dreams they always kill my dad. Which would suck. I like my dad a great deal.
3. Aliens. I'm totally freaked out by aliens. I'm actually not going to dwell on this because it will freak me out. But remember those Time Life Books on Aliens? They were HORRIBLY scary to me. Just the commercials, I never saw the actual books.
4. One where me and my mom are trapped in a bathroom. We can't get out and I cry and cry and my tears fill up the room and we both drown in my tears. This is the most upsetting for me. I always wake up terrified from this one. So much so that I have to get up and turn on lights and stuff. (because you are so less likely to cry yourself to death if the bathroom light is on?)
5. The house dream. I dream all the time about a certain house. Actually found this house on my recent house hunt. Freaked me out. But it had a sagging foundation and was in an area my kids could not play outside without armed escorts, so I didn't buy it. Two story, 100ish years old, lots of great molding/trim, my bedroom looks out over the back yard, which is fenced, storage under the stairs, play room next to the kitchen...
6. My least favorite: The normal day dream. Like I dream that it is tomorrow. Wake up and feel cheated. I mean no sharks, aliens, super powers or amazing houses? No fair! Also in that dream I always get something done that I've been putting off and wake up all happy that it is done, but nope, still need to do the thing.
7. Teeth stuff, usually that they fall out, sometimes they break.

So those are my most common ones. What about you.

I read that all blog posts have to have a  photo so here is an unrelated photo:

Calvin with fishing pole balloon

Surgery, colds and my mom.

I had a bit of surgery last Monday. It went well but knocked me on my butt. Then I got this super cold that is going around. I actually cried yesterday I felt so bad. UGH. I'm sure you want to know more about the surgery though? I had girly stuff done. I can't have babies anymore. But that's not WHY I did it, I was having problems, and this is a two birds one stone solution. Because I have enough  babies. The perfect number of babies. Anyhow fairly minor, but I'm taking a while to feel 100%, then I came down with this nasty cold. 

The good news is that my mom came up to help me out for about 5 days. Awesome! My mom rocks. She spoiled me and my kids. She cooked and cleaned. She sang me Soft Kitty and rubbed my back. She took the kids to and from school. She read books with them. Awesome. 

The last day she was here I was feeling a bit better and she took me shopping. Yippee!

Look at this amazing Octopus picture! She also got me the floral/shell stuff that is in the blue vase and the birds. 

 These are not from mom, but I have not shown them. I got these on vacation, then framed them. I love them.

 Mom also brought me this painting. It has been in her house for a while and I coveted it, now it's mine!

 She also bought me a new shower curtain. Which needed a new liner, and hooks, then also new bath mats. But it is an amazing transformation! I liked my bathroom before, but this is awesome. I moved the old curtain to the boys' bathroom and it looks awesome there! So it's like TWO new rooms!

I realized I didn't take any pictures OF my mom while she was here. Imagine a slightly older, skinnier version of me reading to my kids here:

Nice isn't it! :) 

Well I'm going to go nurse this cold more. Talk to you soon.

Balloon Animals!

A few weeks ago I went to a library story time. There was a lady doing balloon animals. She only was making the dog. (seen here in orange in the middle photo) I was entranced. I've always liked balloon animals. I watched her make dog after dog and decided I could do it. She happily let me try as there were way more kids than she could make for and appreciated help. And I could do it! I always assumed I'd not be able to. 

So I went online and ordered a bunch of Qualatex balloons and a pump and a simple instruction book. (Which was silly, don't get a book, go to youtube.) I tore through that 100 balloons in a few days. I can't stop making stuff. At the party where Stephen got sick I made probably 20 balloon dogs. Then I came home and started studying how to make more advanced animals. Like the penguin. How cute is he? The flower looks simple, but it is one of the hardest for me. The monkey and bunny are not too hard but I won't be able to memorize them for a bit. Swords are the most easy, I even taught Stephen and Ethan to make those. 

I'm hooked, I placed a second order for a few hundred more balloons yesterday. Love it! 

Where is this new hobby going? No where. I mean I'd love to make them for kids I know at parties and such, but no, I'm not planning on a balloon business. I just love making these critters and seeing the joy they give kiddos.

Last NIght *

*read the title in the tune of the Traveling Wilburys Song.

Yesterday was pretty cool. A friend of Ethan's from school (back when he went) had a birthday party. He made sure Ethan got an invite. So we went. It was super fun. I LOVED all the adults at this party. The kids played well, but I seriously loved these parents and grandparents. So it was a total blast.

After that party we stopped at home then headed to Savin's party. Savin is a good friend of ours who has the BEST parties. She has recently moved one county south of here, which is GARBAGE, but we were excited to go down there and see her.

Savin is Cambodian. Cambodian food is AWESOME. But there are a lot of peanuts. So Stephen usually can't eat much. There was a new dish last night, amazing steak on a stick. Stephen was getting hungry so he asked if he could eat that. I asked Savin. She didn't know, her dad was the cook on that one. We asked her mom and dad and they said it was safe. So he ate it. And it was AWESOME. So he ate two. Then looked up at me and I knew. I told Savin to double check for me. Yup. Peanut sauce. They thought we were asking about peppers.

So Stephen's face is swelling, his lips are swelling, he is crying and gasping. I calmly bust out the epi pen and give him a shot. Savin has a friend at the party who is a nurse. She gives him benydril and tells us to get to the ER.

At the ER: The epi was wearing off. His breathing was getting worse. Then they can't get a needle into him. They only have these thicker gauge needles. They discuss if it is worth running around looking for tiny needles or if they need to just force this huge thick one into his tiny vein. They decide to force it, they don't have time to look for tiny kid needles. Took FIVE times to get it in. Going back and forth on his poor arms. He is freaking out and asking for his Grammy.

So I decide to call Grammy. Because they are asking me to see what I can do to calm him and all. So I call my mom. And scare the crap out of her. I try to be gentle, "Mom, I'm in the ER with Stephen, he is going to be FINE, he can't talk (his throat is almost shut he just has to breathe) but he needs to hear from you. I need you to chat to him, I'll talk to you in a minute." And I hold them phone up to Stephen. He listens to my mom chatter about cool stuff like an upcoming visit and such. And it works. He settles down and they get the IV in. I get back on the phone with my mom and thank her. I update her. She tells me to call back in an hour or so. I promise to.

I look at the arm they finally got the IV in. FREAKING BLOOD EVERYWHERE. The guy apologizes, he is cleaning it all up, the IV is safely in. They also had given him more epi in his leg. So he's a wreck.

They give him all sorts of meds. His breathing sorts out within just a minute or so. They didn't have to put tubes in his throat. Which is good. They had already opened the pack and all. But it hurts and is scary so they don't WANT to do it.

He gets super tired. Stress and some of the meds. I ask, and they tell me he can sleep. Then we sit there for five hours. Because they want to make sure he is good.

Ethan waited the entire time in the waiting room. He refused to sleep or rest while his brother was back there. Calvin had fallen asleep early on. I was able to keep Brian updated.

And that's what I did yesterday.

Today everyone is fine. Actually right now Stephen is rambling to me about Mario Brothers game. So I rekon he's fine.

A Poetic Valentine's Day

We don't usually do much for Valentine's day, but this year we are. I ordered Brian a cool present that will come tomorrow. We have a babysitter tomorrow and mystery reservations that Brian made us. He also got me both cut flowers and potted ones. And I wrote him this poem:

Teal Poem

I wanted to express my love

With words that you’d hold dear

and reference your favorite teams

but I cannot I fear.

Not much rhymes with “teal”

except maybe heal

and not much rhymes with “mustache”

and I refuse to do those stupid puns

Not much rhymes with “jaguar”

Unless I promise you a new car

Which I can’t because we both know

We don’t do that crap.

Not much rhymes with “Jacksonville”

Oh I did pay the car insurance bill,

Because I’m romantic like that.

Go Falcons!

It is based on a poem that Stephen wrote me: 

Poem:

Dont read teal valintinsday

I love that your my mom

so kind and gineris

your so so so sweat

helpful and that is why

As you can see it's a work of genius  But Brian said at first he thought it was a "Teal Valentine" and was a little bummed it was not for him and football themed. So the above poem was written for Brian. Because all the best kid poetry is always for me. 

For Valentine's Day Ethan is refusing to eat the TINY lunch I made him. He was starving to death but now it has been 3 hours and he's still crying about how his mashed potatoes are touching his lasagna. Guess how lovey I feel about that. No, wait, stabby, I feel stabby about that. But I'm trying to just not care. Just sit there my sweet middle child and let your tears salt your food. 

Current Obsessions

Kids change their loves so much. At least, mine do. So every once in a while I like to note what my kids (And Brian and I for good measure) are currently in love with.

Calvin: Age 2;

•  Mickey Mouse, which is great as we plan to take them to Disney next month.
• Pirates especially Jake and the Never-land Pirates
•  puppies
• bugs
• spiders
• trains
• wolfs
• dinosaurs

Ethan: Age 6

•  "Baby toys" as he calls them, he loves to play with toddlers and their toys
•  Dinosaurs, especially the Imaginex line of dinosaurs. He wants ALL of them. He's pretty close too.
• Wild Krats show, this show has remained popular with him
• Phineas and Ferb (My personal favorite kid show)
• Eric Carle, He only owns one of his books, but at any time we have 5 or more out of the library
• Nurf Guns

Stephen: Age 7

• Science. Beekman's World, Nova Science Now, Science Friday, any science he can get his little hands on. 
• Phineas and Ferb
• His DS game system and other video games. 
• Pokemon
• Riding his new bike, after years of telling him bikes were cool he finally mastered it and now loves it. 

Erin: Age 34

• Zombies, Vampires and such
• Reading more than is probably healthy
• Octopuses
• Painting stuff like furniture and such, generally fixing up the house. 
• Several stupid shows I should not like, Dance Moms, Face Off, Project Runway and so on. 
• Working out. I won't say the dieting part is something I enjoy, but I'm doing that too. 

Brian: Age 34

• Sports. Watching them mostly, but playing basketball as well
• Autographs. Of sports people. He has some list of everyone he is trying to get. It's actually all very organized. He finds a great deal of joy in that.
• Outdoors, hiking, canoeing and such. The man loves that stuff.
• Secondary Market shows, such as Storage Wars and Auction Kings. 
• History

I think that's us for right now. Posts without pictures are lame, so here is Bootsie snuggling Stephen. We can't let this go on for more than a few minutes because Stephen is allergic, but it is so very cute.  (I just realized those are CANDY WRAPPERS in his BED. Totally NOT allowed.)

Sick and Perspective

Calvin took this photo of me. It makes me wonder if this is how he sees me. I don't know how I feel about that. 

So a few days ago Brian came home and took a shower and then put on TONS of clothes and got under blankets. Said he could not get warm. Then he was all hot. You know where this is going, mystery fever. But he felt better within two days.

Last night I felt sick. Sort of dizzy. So I go to bed, wake up. Stephen says he is sick. I say, "Ok go back to bed." and we do. Well Stephen may have felt bad, I won't go as far as to accuse him of lying, but he was FINE by the time we got rolling on our day. I, however, was not. Crazy hot, then crazy cold. Every joint I have hurt. Weird ones even. So I have all 3 kids running around being crazy, Brian working from home, so they need to be quiet and I feel like I'm going to die.

But my family rocks so it went like this: The older boys did a pile of Home School work in the morning, then did the dishes. (Healthy enough to drive me insane, healthy enough to do the dishes.) Then I made them lunch and put the baby down for a nap. The other two I have no idea what exactly they did, but they did it together, in their room and quietly. The baby didn't stay down, because turns out he has the hell fever too. So he gets in bed with me and watches Netflix on my Nook while I snooze. Because Calvin can't sleep when he's sick. I think he thinks he will quietly slip away in his sleep or something. Probably he just can't get comfy. He doesn't know about Tylenol PM yet.

Of course I was terribly crabby today. But I managed to shove a Stofers in the oven and everyone complimented my great "cooking". AND I did bedtime without yelling at anyone, so I'm like a super mom.

And that's my day. If Brian is any tell I'll be all better tomorrow. Which would rock because we are supposed to go for Sushi tomorrow and I'd like not to miss that.

In other news: I learned how to make a balloon dog the other day. It was super cool. So yesterday I ordered cool supplies to make balloon animals. I'm hoping to be the Balloon Animal Girl at church parties.
I also ordered Brian's Valentine's Day present. I got him the 3 Wolf Moon T Shirt on Amazon. Search that and read the reviews. Hilarious! Of course it was way over our "About $5" limit, but it is sooo funny.

Rules I wish we had

I believe I've mentioned I had 3 kids. So I'm like a total expert on running a household. IN My MInd.

Here are some rules I think I should have but do not:

1. Bedtime means lay in your bed quietly until you fall asleep. Period. This never EVER happens here. I'm the worst at bedtime in the world. EVER. It is actually where I fail most as a parent.

2. All food needs to be consumed at a table. I'm even down with some snacks or even meals at the coffee table in the living room as a treat. Right now my 2 year old is running all over the house with a banana. Will I get him to clean up the peels he has scattered? There really is no telling, but it hardly matters because the apple peels he left all over this morning are still in the living room so what's a few banana peels on top of that. I need a dog. To clean this crap up.

3. Boys clean bathrooms. Never in my life have I peed on the floor behind a toilet. Do they not realize that happens? I'm not just talking to the babies here. Men too, what happens in your mind that you see yourself get pee on the seat and think, "Hmm. I'll just leave that." I actually have two theories. A: When a boy starts pottying on their own moms and dads are so happy. We cheer and praise them. Even before good aim sets in. So in part of a kid/man's mind they are hearing their mom cheer for them just for ATTEMPTING to pee in the potty. B: one of the good parts of being a boy is not having to wipe when you pee. If they took a square of paper and wiped the toilet seat or floor would they just be wasting that special no toilet paper power? I don't know. But I clean bathrooms, so what is going on in the minds of these boys had better dang well NOT be, "Erin/Mommy will get that later." Because the idea of that makes me stabby.

4. Times for snacks. I thought schedules were stupid. But getting asked for snacks CONSTANTLY drives me freaking insane. And with 3 of them eating when their bodies tell them to it really is constant. I wish we had 3 meals and 2 snack times and no one expected to eat any other time. Not even running around bananas. (Had oldest kid pick up the peels by the way, 3 kids does have benefits)

5. One cup per person per day. There are 5 of us living here. I wash about 20 cups a day. I'm pretty sure they get a new cup each time they drink a sip of water. Because they want me to spend my whole day washing dishes and toilets.

6. On that note, no layering. No you cannot address the coldness outside by wearing 3 T shirts. You can wear one and a coat like a normal person. You can't wear two pairs of pants, you can wear one warm pair and have slightly cool legs. My children refuse to wear jeans, so they don't have the warmest pants, but that's not my fault is it? Also it's Florida. "Cold" here is like 65 degrees. Just buck up.

Well that's all I can think of right now. Here are some photos to make this post more fun. 

Calvin wanted his pic with "dirt".

Stephen cried for hours over a wasted $.75. Because he never gets anything and who knows when he would have three freaking quarters again. I almost killed him by the way. 

This bird is more photogenic than anyone in my family. Pretend it's me. 

Well maybe Ethan beats the bird. He's pretty stinking photogenic too. 

Brian meeting Mean Joe Green. 

Blurry photo and weight loss

After feeling so good about myself yesterday when I saw that photo I decided to step on the scale yesterday. All time high. 207 my friends. UGH.

So I still feel good about myself, but this weight is out of hand. I don't have any good quality recent fat girl photos. This one my son took on Christmas. Sorry for the blur. But you CAN see my huge gut. Which is the most dangerous place to store fat of course. So it's got to go.

I have been praying and researching what I want to do for about a month. Today I made my decisions.

I rejoined my gym. I loved the gym, then sort of started slacking off, eventually I convinced myself I'd just run from home. That lasted a few month and then it was done too. But I really miss the gym. And my gym has Kids Club where I can drop my little monsters off while I work out. It is hugely stress relieving for me to get a bit of time away from the kids and to work out. I included classes in my membership so I can do the Zumba class I miss so much.

I'm also signing up for Weight Watchers. I'm going to do the combo thing where you go to the actual meetings AND have access to all the online stuff. I actually found out that a friend of mine is in the same meeting time that I plan to go to. She joined in October and has lost 26lbs. That is AWESOME.

So that's what's up. I'm not going to make this into one of those cool weight loss blogs, but I'll do occasional updates. I hope this is it. I'm not depressed, but I'm a bit desperate. I am motivated. In the past I've started because I was depressed, or felt pressure from my husband. I don't feel that now. I feel encouragement from Brian and I honestly feel GOOD. I'm happy, I feel pretty, but I want to feel better. And look better. I won't lie to you, I am concerned about my health, but my main concern is my looks. Might be horrible of me, but there you have it. I want to look good. In clothes and *gasp* out of them. And I want some new clothes. Cool, cute ones. And I want them by this summer!

Photo magic and a train table.

 Usually in photos I look bad. I don't SHOW you those, so don't mention the millions of good ones you have seen. But in the vast majority of them I look hugely fat, with terrible skin and lank, oily hair. But sometimes I look amazing. And this is one of those times. THIS is how I look in my mind by the way. When you see me with unwashed hair, no makeup and sweats on and wonder who I think I am walking around with my head high, it's because in my mind I am this girl. Unfortunately Calvin didn't get the memo that we were taking the best photo of Mommy in years, because he has the, "I'm not too sure about this, and also the sun is in my eyes" look. If he had smiled I'd get this put on billboards around town. It's photo magic. This was yesterday. We went to a park in St. Augustine. It was just a wonderful day.

This is a train table I made. It is WAY smaller than one you buy, but I like that. I didn't want to loose half my room to a stupid table. I made it out of an old coffee table that had broken legs. I nailed down all the pieces. I painted the table this simple white so it would take up less visual space in my new screen room because I want it to stay looking huge and open. Calvin LOVES it. Ethan likes it quite well too, as you can see here. So I'm happy I made it.

That's about all. Home School is not my most favorite thing ever. I love seeing Ethan advance so quickly. I love that I feel like his time is not wasted. But I don't really like it for ME. I find it frustrating and somewhat boring. Also my house is not as clean as it could be now. And it is oddly tiring for me. But for right now it is what I'm doing and it is doing a world of good for him so that's good.

Bookshelves

So I saw THESE SHELVES and had to have them. And the people put a cool diagram. Easy peasy!

Well they were easy. But mine do not look like theirs. Mine are not so perfect and lovely. But they will do.  Every time I build something I wish I could take a carpentry class. I think of cool projects, but when I go to actually make them they are a hot mess. I wonder if my tools are part of it. I don't have a power sander, maybe if I had one I could have made these so much smoother. Anyhow I'm going to love them just as is. They look so cool with the books on them. This is in the narrow hall to the kid rooms. That is the bathroom door you see, then there is a bedroom on either side of these shelves. (I painted that flower thing, by the way.) These are to hold library books that we have out. Then we see them easily and keep them segregated from the other million books we own.

So I told you yesterday that I was teaching the 9 and 10 year olds. It got changed. Changes are very common at the beginning of the year and with a new Presidency, so it wasn't a shock. I am now teaching the Nursery class. That is babies from 18 months to 3 years old. BEST CALLING EVER. I've been saying for about 5 years that I'd love to serve in the Nursery. You get to supervise playtime for a while, then give a super short and active lesson, there is snack and singing. It's basically toddler play time but at church. And my own toddler is in there, so that's super fun! On the other hand I was super excited for the other class. And that's the awesomeness of my church, because we fill all the positions ourselves everyone gets many opportunities to serve in different ways. I bet someday I'll teach that other class, and it will still be awesome then.

Random, with new doors

Look at this photo Calvin took of me: 

 Bootsie loves to sleep with the boys. 

 At our favorite restaurant. Pepe's Hacienda in Jacksonville, is AMAZING, cheap, authentic Mexican. 

 Here are two wreaths I made for a Valentine's Day swap I'm in. They are hanging on my NEW DOORS to the office! I love the doors so much. 

In other news:

Homeschooling Ethan is going well. There is a learning curve for both of us. I love how much material we can cover in such a short time. He loves sleeping in and not being told he is a horrible person at school. Which, by the way, has not ended. Several kids have asked Stephen if Ethan is out of school because he is so bad he got kicked out or told Stephen they are glad Ethan is gone because they hate him. Stephen is horrified and shocked by this, of course. I kind of hate kids sometimes. 

Speaking of kids, I have a new calling at church! I'm not the Primary President anymore. I'm now a teacher of the 9 and 10 year old kids. Super fun! I love teaching. I have enjoyed being the Primary President so much, but I'm also happy to have a chance to do something different. Change is good. 

Terrible Twos still going on. Calvin is great in a million ways, but TROUBLE. It's mostly fun though. 

Updates

Ethan, as you may know, is having issues at school. It is a long story, but he's being verbally bullied. I cannot seem to get the school to take it seriously. It is affecting his academics. He actually reads less well than he did at the end of last year. So I'm pulling him out and home schooling. I am going to waitlist him for a charter school that I think will serve him better. Stephen is still doing well so I'm leaving him but I am putting him on the list for the charter school too. We shall see. 

 Terrible twos are still in effect for Calvin. He is the sweetest but he's also driving us all insane.

Here is one outdoor shot of the house in the daylight with the new paint. I have to get a better one soon.

Home Reno

Because I have not been posting you have missed out on all the fun of us loosing our minds and deciding to move. Well unless you are my facebook friend, then you got every painful moment. Basically we decided we wanted to move because our house felt small. Also it's not on the water. Or historic. Basically it's boring. 

So we looked at some cool houses in Springfield. This is a neighborhood right near downtown. Every once in a while it tries to come up in property value. The houses there are AMAZING. Huge 100 year old historic charmers. That need work. The area is marginal. Some homes have the work done and people live in them and are happy. And the other half or so are vacant and barely livable. There is also a good bit of crime. Not terribly serious crime, but it's not really a play outside unsupervised area either. But it's so beautiful. Oh and the schools for that area are dreadful. But not the worst ones we saw... Anyhow the house we liked there needed a terrifying amount of work and we gave up on it. But it was beautiful and I still dream about it. 

Then we found one on the water. Real water, deep water. With access to the huge St. Johns River. The house was very large too. And the water! Oh and cheap. I mean really cheap. REALLY CHEAP. Of course there are reasons for that. It is about a mile from the MOST TERRIFYING NEIGHBORHOOD I HAVE EVER BEEN IN. Springfield felt economically depressed. Ken Knight felt like it wanted to rip me out of my car and kill me. In front of my baby. Then kick him down a gutter. I'm not kidding. I have never felt such hostility. But, like I said, it was a mile from there and on the WATER. So I bring Brian out to see the house too. And he loves it. It is Brian who wants water. We discussed for hours first the safety of the area and came to terms with it. The schools are absolutely not going to happen. Home school or Private. PERIOD. But I'm still game. Brian looks over it, there is some water damage, needs a new roof. Still cheap enough to justify that. So he goes in the attic. And there was an attic in the attic. I should have taken photos, you are not picturing it right. We figured out that they did an addition and instead of tieing it into the old roof, they just build an entirely new roof over the old one, using the roof rafters going into the top of the old, smaller roof. Like the old roof is the support for the new one. Is that even code? Anyhow it just decided it all for us. We decided not to put an offer. 

In the mean time I was collecting quotes on work we wanted to have done here. You know, if we were to stay. We wanted a huge super pool enclosure and covered patio. Do you have any idea how much money that was going to be? Like twenty thousand dollars. So I got quotes on just making our existing patio into a screen room. Bingo: 

 Nice right? And it's plenty big. We also got a brand new pool motor and filter. That was a disaster. It cost more at every single turn and I had to argue about the price and I don't think we will work with them again. But it's done, so that's good. The screen room, by the way, did not go over on price.

At the same time as the screen room we had our house pressure washed and painted. We did the garage door white, black trim and a bright red front door. I've always wanted one. Oh and we did the soffat (sp?) white. It looks amazing. Here is the door.

I can't seem to turn my photos right. They look right on my computer then are sideways on the net. Sorry about that.
Also I'm getting a new camera. Mine died. Stephen got one for Christmas and he loves it but I do not love it. So I bought a new one from Amazon, my favorite store.

Next up is doors. Brian works from home a good deal. In our totally open office/craft room/sports collection room. The problem is that I have several children, one of which is 2. So the no doors is hurting my marriage and sanity. I literally, several times a day, have to take the kids into my bedroom and hide so Brian can do his conference calls. So this week we are having EXTERIOR grade doors installed. We need a HUGE span for the one opening because it's 72 inches and the other opening is 32. Wide for interior, but standard exterior. So that works well. We are all hoping this provides a good buffer. Screaming children still will not be allowed, but we could talk or watch TV quietly I hope. Also it will look so much nicer than the baby gate and book cases that I'm currently blocking that off with. Yup, making a wall out of book cases. Sounds awesome, is terrible.

Calvin is in the TERRIBLE Two's. The other two didn't do this. They were horrid at 3 going on 4. But darling at 2. Calvin is darling, but also horrid. He throws stuff, and the kid has wicked aim and is strong. He bites and scratches. He says no. He thinks he can live on candy and fruit. He whines. He is super loud in sacrament. He breaks things. He climbs. He can get stuff off the top of my fridge. I have a knot on my forehead that is from him. He wakes up every day at 6:30am and will not consider going back to sleep. Also he ONLY wants me at that hour, no one else can give him breakfast and cuddle him. He is also a sweetheart. He can really play well now. He says, "I love you" and "Thank you" and "You're welcome" all the time. He suddenly doubled his vocabulary in the past few months. He makes funny faces. He has the best laugh. And we love him to pieces. But he is also driving us nuts.

Well that's what's up. I'll post good pics when I get a camera. :)