Moving forward

Well the day has come that we are getting set up to do our banking/bill paying on line!
Since opening new accounts at our new bank and realizing that we could safely keep hackers at bay by making our wireless PC's no longer wireless. Tim has been laying Cat 5 and networking the house. Wondering what that is? Me too. Well it requires him going under and crawling around the crawl space under our house and drilling some holes in the walls! We then worked together by me banging on the floor to direct him where to drill and then feeding some wire through the hole with a rope. We then used that rope when he came back up to "feed" the cat 5 through the holes to make a connection to our internet box behind the TV. Whew.
Bubby as always was eager to help Daddy any way he was allowed and even scored a screwdriver in the deal (see picture)
I'm excited about not having to hassle with writing checks, stamps and then mailing in time for them to be paid in a timely fashion. Since it's so very easy to hack into a wireless system it has always prevented us from moving forward into the technical future. ") So now I can do my bank statements weekly online instead of waiting for my monthly statement to come in. We also have set up an account to get direct deposit and then I will just transfer the funds into my regular checking account so that no one has "access" to our monies. It's a sad truth that with things moving forward making things more "convenient" we have created a whole new criminal.
Again, I am thankful for a husband that seems to be able to do anything that is needed around here! Thanks Daddy Dude for helping to make things easier for me around here! Kiss.

Wednesday playgroup

Well today we all (well most of us) loaded up and traveled to the Fair grounds to see some stuff in the museums. We all had a good day though it might have been alot of work to get ourselves out there! The cool air conditioning was nice and the kids really enjoyed themselves running and touching everything in sight. Let's face it, summers here. I really don't like the heat. Never have.
Well I didn't care too much when I spend my days at the city pool with my friends when I was younger. But now, forget it. I also have a weakness for any kind of museum. I not sure where it came from but I LOVE them. I can remember going to a wood museum in Beavers Bend one time and diggin it. I suppose my idea of a great day would be lunch and a museum.
Anyway we had a great day out there. Bubby of course did not want to leave at all. He never wants to leave anywhere and if he does he is really really tired. T-Bone ran around some but didn't understand that we had to keep moving through the museum. He is at a age when he has those lovely temper tantrums. They are very short, thank goodness. He throws himself on the floor and kicks. Refusing to get up and walk. So when that happens he gets to sit back in the stroller and looses the privilege of being free to roam. He's a smart fella, he figures it out soon enough.
I've done really well with ignoring his tantrums. He can scream, kick and fall on the floor and it does nothing for him. If he's in my way, I just move around him. So he just kind of stops and moves on. In the past if they did last for a while he would get a time out so that kind of nipped that one in the bud. Yes, time outs. His been getting them since he's been able to crawl. Don't be fooled, they understand. Personally I think it's hard for them to be skipping along life's road with no problems and then one day it's different and the hammer comes down. I think it's asking for trouble ") Bubby on the other hand is a different story. A close to four year old has a better memory than a one year old and holds on to a disagreement a bit longer. It can be tricky.
Well we all brought lunches and ate outside on a picnic table. One of the ladies brought a table cover for us (thanks T "). It was nice. We did go back in and tooted around for one last time before leaving. The moms even got involved. How could you pass up the bubble exhibit?
Another successful playgroup completed.


We had leftover spaghetti tonight which explains that last photo of T-Bone, Yum.

Great night out with some friends

Well some of my mom friends in my playgroup got together last night for a "girls night out".
We had decided to attend the 2008 Dallas Art fest with a wine stroll. Thought that since most of us seem to enjoy good wine and art we could combine the two and get some outdoor time as well.
We ended up getting a few glasses of wine and eating some small but yummy portions of grub while sitting back sharing our lives, stories and opinions. When we had our fill we decided to do some strolling to see art that was set up in booths up and down the walk. I won't lie. It was hot. No not just hot, but humid. So after a while we decided to leave and seek some cool shelter. We ended up in a restaurant in Deep Elm that had a great staff and a house band. I really enjoyed myself.
Funny how you can know someone for a while but not really take the time to sit and listen to them.
These ladies are my friends and I feel grateful to be able to not only know them but to share our lives with each other.
I always come back from a moms night out feeling refreshed and with a better understanding of how blessed I am to have a family to come home to!
Husband waiting, children sleeping, it's a good thing.

Some tunage

Well the iPod is up and running. It's taken some time because I connected myself to a nice little virus while surfing the web a few weeks back and well things haven't been running to well on the PC. Thanks to my wonderful man that has some skills, I'm up and running good again! Man it's handy having a guy that can work his way around PC stuff! He's gifted.
I would be so lost without him. When something goes astray, I just tell him about it and let him have my seat!
So back to my new iPod. Wow. It's all making me realize just how much I miss listening to music! I used to listen to music all the time and since becoming a mom it's taken the back burner and I miss it bad! I love ALL kinds of music, thanks to my family. I enjoy alot of big band stuff and all the great and old crooners from my dad. Dino (Dean Martin), Nat King Cole, Engelbert Humperdinck just to name a few. My dad was a great singer and he would sing while walking around at the store or in the house and I'd love to hear it. My sister being 6 years older than me was really into music and she turned me on to alot of good classic rock the 60's and 70's. My bedroom was right next to hers and I could hear her spinning those records (yes, I said records) through our walls. I also love dance music , blues and country music as well from the old clubbing days when I would go out with my friends. I suppose the only style of music that I just couldn't get into was heavy metal, jazz and opera. So with that said, I'm ready to fill up my song lists on that thing and Rock! ")

My Mothers Day

Well I guess you could say that my Mothers Day really began Saturday. I went for an hour and twenty minute full body massage! Yep, that’s good stuff for a mom!

After that I went to the cemetery to leave a balloon in remembrance of my own mom.

She was the BEST mom ever! She was a soft spoken, patient woman, with the uncanny ability to make friends with anyone and was awesome at hospitality. She could break me with a look and not say a word! Did I tell you that she was awesome?

Back to my Mothers day. Well Daddy Dude then made two rib eye steak dinners for our dinner.

Massage and dinner, sounds like a good day to me!

Sunday we all went to eat lunch at a great Chinese buffet around the corner and then went to the Ranger game. Daddy got some awesome tickets from work. We were SO close to the action that we couldn’t take our eyes off of the game in case a ball flew by! It was a bit scary but exciding too.

This was a first baseball game for both boys and they loved it. T-Bone didn’t fuss once and even took a small nap in my arms while Bubby and Daddy went tooting around the ball park to check it out. For mom’s day I got a cool Ranger baseball cap for free coming to the game. It was a bit hot in the sun but a very nice lady that worked the park invited us to stay in some cooler seat in the shade. It was great day at the ball park!

We stayed until the 8^th ending and decided to beat the crowd going home.

Oh and to boot Daddy Dude got me an iPod! Cool huh? I thought so too! Now I’ve got some tunage on! Both Daddy and the boys also got me a sweet card and some lovely peach tulips that are just starting to bloom.

I also got the boys a small gift and let them open it at the restaurant. I wanted to let them know that without them I wouldn’t have a Mothers Day!

Happy Moms Day!

Am I going green?

Well I started my day with running around the corner to my local Tom Thumb's to stock up on some 3.99 lb Ribeye steaks. Daddy Dude and I have started a bi weekly tradition of eating a big ole ribeye with a baked (sometimes sweet) potato on Saturday night. It a great break for me because Daddy Dude prepares it all and clean up is included! Since we never get a date night out but for Christmas dinner with his work, we decided that this would be a good trade off.
But with the steaks running over 10 bucks a pound, we have to catch it when it's on sale. So far God's blessed us and we haven't gone without. But things maybe changing. Prices are going up all over the place. I can't believe that I am paying the same price for my milk as my gas! And a loaf of bread is almost just as much! Yikes. I have really become very frugal this past year. I use the bear minimum of the amounts of detergent, soap, shampoo, water and everything else you can think of.
I do realize that by living where I do I am blessed to be so close to everything. My milk supply comes from the Braums just around the corner from us. And I have a wholesale bread store just around the other corner. I do run to Sprouts bi weekly. It's a good drive but the prices are worth it to me.
I have been throwing around the idea of raising a couple of chickens for our egg supply. Daddy Dude thought I was nuts until last Saturday he asked how much eggs are now days!
My friend and I talked about it today and we are looking into it. How about a garden to boot?
And if the city would permit, I would probably look into a dairy cow too!
Yes it would be work to care for animals/gardens but at least you would know what you are ingesting and the cost would be minimum compared to the store in the long run.
We (American's) by most are such consumers! We buy, buy and buy some more. Not really giving to much thought about the why, what and where part. It's not that I have really changed my views on it all. I've just never cared to find out about it all. I mean when you are informed about something you have a choice to what you can do with that information. You either turn the other way and pretend that you don't know about it or you do something about it.
So in my small way I'm trying to help. Using those weird cloth reusable grocery bags instead of paper or plastic, Recycling, buying more green products and stuff like that. I've even stepped somewhat back from going to the doctor and seek a more "friendly" approach to helping our bodies out when illness or injury arises.
Am I becoming one of the tree huggers that I used to make fun of? Could be")

"Teething" will it ever end?

As you see by the title my little T-Bone is cutting his lower incisors. He'll only have two more to go after this (2nd molars) and we are done! For both of us it couldn't happen soon enough.
Both of my boys turned into some kind of cranky space aliens when they were cutting teeth. My low key, happy faces turn into wet, soggy unhappy faces. It's sad sight to see.
Bubby started teething late (10 months) and took FOREVER! He would cut a set and then we would have to wait a month or two till something else would show through those swollen red gums.
But for T-Bone it seems like he cutting something all the time! You know the routine, clingy, throw a fit on the floor, crying, not eating, not sleeping and passing some of the most smelly poop in their lifetime kind of time!
Other than using some teething tabs and maybe some Iboproven at night we just wait it out and hope that time passes quickly. I miss my little boy and hope to see him soon again!

Homeschooling

Well it's time to start taking a serious look into homeschooling curriculum. Bubby will be turning 4 in July and I would like for him to start a kindergarten program in August. We have been working on lower case letters, phonics, numbers and some soft writing skills. He's done well though I haven't done anything on a consistent time frame. He is probably not ready for all of the work in a kindergarten program but I really want us both to start taking daily time doing some schooling. I hope to develop some good study habits for us both! I won't lie it's a bit overwhelming to think about being the one responsible in your child's education but I really feel that no one could care as much as me about it ") Plus the cost of most good private schools are ridiculous to me. I also learned that they really have no regulations since they are private. I attended all of my school years in public schools, so no thanks. You have to be a very hungry student for education to flourish in a public school these days. Yes I had some teachers that really cared about me but sadly they came too far in between for me to make a difference in my education. I just can't feel comfortable about my children being under someone else's guidance for so many hours in a day. I finally understood the true meaning of an education after paying for my own years later. It's a different story when you are the one paying the teachers to teach you! Yes I feel strongly about it now, I suppose that's why I chosen to teach my children at home. I don't expect everyone to share my position in the matter. If they do great, if they don't great. It's the same with getting them vaccinated, eating fast food, having table manners and everything else you have to choose for your family. I learned shortly after having two children that my parenting decisions was not going to please everyone :)
Everyone has reasons for why they do what they do and those are mine
I am VERY blessed to have a close friend that has already had a few years into the experience of homeschooling under her belt! She has been a big encouragement to me. And it's great to be able to pick up the phone and share my concerns with her when I need to.
I could not finish this blog without first saying how blessed I am to be able to stay at home and teach my children in the first place. I love that I can be the one to guide them through the wonderful adventure of learning! Plus the benefit of learning myself along side them!