How long has it been?

Over a year! It's been over a year since I posted anything!!! How did I let this happen? Lots has happened in a year. C started kindergarten, and, although we had a tough transition (me more than him), he's had a wonderful year. I love his teacher and have been constantly amazed at his growth and maturity. I tear up everytime he reads to me. C is sweet, smart, and snuggly. A is getting bigger and bigger. I'm loving every second of watching his personality develop. He's funny, curious, and intense. While C is my negotiator, A is my little engineer. Those boys are my world.

They spent their spring break with my father and stepmother and just returned today. DH and I missed them terribly while they were gone, but we did enjoy the break (and the sleep!) They got back today and we realized C needed new shoes so I started out the door. The following conversation occurred:

Me: A, do you want to go to the store with me?

A: No, mommy, I don't have time.

Me: Are you sure? Can you make time?

A: I'm sorry mommy, my time machine is broken, I can't make time until I fix it.

We then spent 30 minutes building a time machine out of blocks so that we could make time for him to go to the store. Alas, though, the time machine broke again and we couldn't make enough time for him to go with me. These boys keep me hopping and I love every second!

Wishes

A couple of years ago, DH and I bought the book You Are My Wish Come True for the boys. It's a very cute story about how a mommy wished for a child and the child was born. It was a favorite for awhile, but later grew out of favor. C picked it up again a few nights ago for his bedtime story.

DH read the story and C asked him if God made C special just like He made the child in the book. DH told him that God had, indeed, made him special.

C said: Did you and mommy wish for me, too?

DH: Yes, we wished for you and for A. We wished very hard for you both and then you were born.

C: (after thinking for awhile) Daddy?

DH: Yes?

C: I really wish you hadn't wished for A.

Visiting Amelia

Wow, what a great weekend! Friday was DH's birthday and I planned a surprise weekend getaway. After work, I told him to get in the car because we had reservations. My plan had been to just get on the interstate and go, but he saw me hide a key (so my in-laws could watch the dog). So, he found out a little sooner than I had planned that we were going out of town. He wasn't thrilled at first, but he warmed up to it!

We spent the weekend on Amelia Island. It was wonderful! The weather was fantastic! We slept late on Saturday and then went to his favorite beach restaurant for lunch. It's a cute little place called "Sandy Bottoms." They have amazing seafood and it's right on the water. We sat and ate and chatted for awhile. I had forgotten how nice it is to have a full conversation with my husband without two kids interrupting.

After lunch we visited Fort Clinch (pictured above), an unfinished fort from the civil war. It was really amazing. I was, admittedly, not excited about going there, but once we were there it was fascinating. We saw the fort jail, barracks, hospital, quarterman's office, and the bakery. I love historical places like that, it amazes me that MY feet were touching the same floor that union soldiers' feet touched. Perhaps I'm weird...

We then went to a local bookstore and met an author of local ghost stories. She was sweet and signed a book for me. Then we got a nap, yes, a nap! After the nap we went to dinner at this cute little Irish Pub that DH loves. We wandered around town window shopping and just chatting. After getting back to the room we watched Frost/Nixon, which was MUCH better than I expected.

Sunday brought us back to real life and back to the boys, who I missed terribly. They had an awesome weekend with grandma, though, seeing a play, visiting the "train store", playing at the park, and playing train. It's funny, I didn't realize how much DH and I both needed a getaway. We're back now and more relaxed, which is good. As a bonus, my mother in law cleaned my house while I was gone!

Hope everyone else had an amazing weekend, too!

Not Me! Monday!

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

Gotta love not me! Mondays!

It was not me who cancelled a pest control appointment for this morning because my house was too dirty to let someone in. I always always always keep my house spotless and visitor-ready.

It's not me who moved into her new office last week and still has boxes to put up. I always unpack and organize immediately.

Finally, it was not me who borrowed my friend's card tables for Thanksgiving and continues to take them in and out of her trunk as she needs space. I always return things promptly. Seriously.

Menu Planning Monday

Hi all! I've been a bad blogger lately, but I'm going to do better. I know, I keep saying that! I'm stealing an idea from the OC Mama and planning my menu for the rest of the week. I'm sure she doesn't mind.....

Monday: Indian Butter Chicken, Brown Rice, Green beans
Tuesday: Ham, creamy ranch potatoes, broccoli
Wednesday: Chinese Orange Chicken, brown rice, salad
Thursday: Gordon Ramsay's Shrimp Pasta with tomatoes and chilies and salad (the boys will not eat this. They'll have buttered noodles and broccoli, probably)
Friday: WHOOOOOOO night out with the girls!

So, I'm completely and totally obsessed with Steph and her slow cooker blog. (I'm not a stalker, Steph, really! Just totally digging my crockpot right now and your recipes are great!) I'll be making the butter chicken, creamy ranch potatoes, and Chinese orange chicken in the crock pot. The butter chicken and the orange chicken recipes are right from Steph's blogs. I'm tickling myself by calling her "Steph" like I know her or something. Really, I'm not a stalker.

Thanks, Check-out lady

This weekend I made the much dreaded trip to Wal-mart to buy groceries. If any of you are "facebook friends" with me, you know that I strongly dislike Wal-mart. I really despise shopping there. However, with our grocery bill going through the roof, my DH has asked that I do the grocery shopping there instead of Publix. So, off to wally world I went.

It was a gross experience. Dirty floors, yucky looking veggies, and VERY crowded. I made it to the check-out line and as the woman who was checking me out scanned my bottle of white wine (HEY, I needed it. I went to WAL MART...ok, really it was to make a Gordon Ramsay recipe that I am itching to try...more on that later), she asked for my ID. This made my day...seriously. Made my day! I said, "Thanks!"

Then......well, SHE said...

"HAha, oh, well, it's not that you look 21. It's that you don't look 40, yet."

So...thanks, check-out lady.

Oh, Hi there!

Phew, it's been awhile, huh? I'm not sure if anyone even reads this blog anymore, I hope you do, though! What a holiday season, in some ways it went SO fast, and in other ways, I'm just glad that we all survived it! This Christmas will go down as the Worst. Christmas. Ever. in my book. I mean, seriously, the worst. Even worse than the one where our house caught on fire on Christmas Eve. Yup, worse than that. For the first time in my life, I was happy to take down my Christmas tree and decorations, happy to box them away, and happy not to think about the holidays for awhile.

It all started late Christmas Eve. My family arrived at my house for the opening of first present (it's always PJs), and the preparation for Santa's arrival. On the way in, my grandfather hit our brick curb with his car and immediately got a flat tire. At this point, my mother-in-law said, "it can't get any worse than this!" Famous last words.

My grandparents brought their dog, Annie, to our house. She's been there may times before and she and our dog, Princess, have always gotten along fine. They got along fine this time too...until...who knows what happened. I didn't actually see it, but, by all accounts, Princess attacked Annie. (However, Annie has a history of fighting with other dogs.) My grandmother, who sees Annie as her baby, threw herself in the middle of the dogs fighting. She ended up with a finger that was severed at the bone. So, Christmas Eve, we not only had family visiting, but an ambulance, EMTs, a police officer, and animal control.

My grandmother went to the ER, and was released Christmas morning, but is now back in the hospital to get a pin placed in the finger. They are trying to save it, but are not hopeful.

The whole incident was awful. A is traumatized, there is a lot of family animosity right now, and i'm at a loss about what to do with the dog. We love Princess, and she hasn't shown any violent tendencies towards the boys. Then again, she hadn't shown any towards Annie, either. I really wish that I could evaluate the situation better, and that I knew more about dogs so that I could determine what the risk is in having her around the boys. I'm really struggling with the decision.

I hope all of you had a wonderful holday season. Here's to a great 2010!