One day, I will have all my ducks in a row, have a clean house, and be organized.    I wish it could be now, but I'm trying to figure out do I just accept it or just keep trying.....   The life here would be more peaceful if it was nice and orderly.   The only thing I can halfway manage to do is keep the clothes washed and keep loads of dishes rolling.   Other times, I look around and it's an immediate turnoff to try.   I don't know if it's an attention disorder or what.  I just look and get overwhelmed, so I don't do anything.  LOL    That's just honesty.

We will be starting our "schooling" next week even though we are doing a couple things until then.   I wanted my boys to learn cursive and get a little better with how quickly they do the basic addition, etc.   When we start up, they'll be just a little better with it all.  

My youngest son, Justin (6), is really, and I mean REALLY, into superheros.     I try to keep it on the safer level by just doing the old Batman from 1966.  I don't have to worry a whole lot about stuff that year that is sneaked into the newer versions.   Same goes for Superman.  We kinda stick with the George Reeves Superman.    It's pretty safe.    I'm just picky about some of that stuff.   When they have ratings of PG and PG13, I don't even go there because there's stuff they don't really need to hear.   It looks all innocent.....at first.   Then, NOT.   They understand that "whatsoever is good and of good report, think on these things."     I realize that at times 1966 is a little weird, but not NEARLY as weird as the 1990s and 2000s.   Right now, I enjoy watching Justin come into the kitchen to save me and clobber the enemies.   He pulls me close and says that we're flying.  :)   For that one minute, I feel like I actually am flying away from my adult problems.    I enjoy looking at things through my boys eyes.

Joshua and Justin are very different in wonderful ways.  Joshua (8) is very detailed, loves to put things together AND take them apart.    Every now and then, he doesn't get them back together.   He has to know how something works.   He really isn't interested in alot of pretend.   The only reason he pretends sometimes is that his little brother DOES and needs someone to pretend with.  Josh is good with math and writes pretty well, but he has a tougher time with spelling.   Justin on the other hand has a tougher time with math.   He IS a good speller though.   You know how he learned to spell?  Google.    He's researched his interests at 4 yrs old and he learned to spell!   He does know his phonics,  he can sound out words, and is an amazing reader.

Alot of people worry about "socialization."   I don't.  I actually attended a private school and I was so scared.....scared to talk, scared to answer questions, etc.   My boys like to make friends and they act respectfully.   

Some people worry that their chilldren will not learn how to act in a room full of people.   People say "don't talk to strangers," then they get upset when a stranger speaks to them and the child does NOT speak.  hmmm.    I think what the parents need to worry about is bad influences, bad manners. And THAT can come from over-doing it socializing.  If you worry about socialization and just put them out there, you may wish in the long run you hadn't done that.  

A Long Break. Now, Let's Try Again!

Wow.  Hello again! It's been a few years since I've written about this life with my babies.   And now they are not my tiny little babies.  They are quickly growing up.  *sniff*   I'm glad they are healthy and growing, but still.......   you know the deal.

To update, my babies are 8 yrs old and 6 yrs old now.  We've been through a ton of diapers, formula, sippy cups, straws, and food!    We are still in the same house, but I'm finding that we need to make more space.  Older boys have different toys! The older boys don't play too much with trains and they don't read baby books.   We are now nicely covered in monster trucks, army men, Captain America helmets and shields, and whatever it takes to make them superheroes!! 

I homeschool my boys.   I've been through several curriculums to figure out how they learn the best.   When they were tiny, we used ABC Mouse with a couple of workbooks and readers.   We were then blessed to find a local homeschool co-op that would meet every other Friday.    They taught music, art, science, or community.  There the mothers brought in their used books and I was able to get Abeka books for free or very cheap.  So those books were mixed in the curriculum.   Then I set them up with Time4Learning.    This is an online curriculum.   It covers every subject in an animated style to hold the boys attention.  We still had a few workbooks tossed in there.    Now, we are using Abeka DVDs/textbooks/workbooks.   This allows them to see a classroom setting, see the teacher and students, interact to a point, and do their workbooks. Their favorite subject so far is Bible.

The homeschool co-op that I mentioned before schedules field trips each year.    We've been down the Augusta Canal on their small boat and been through their museum.    We've been to Artsy Me which is a place that has what I'd call "raw" pottery.    Anyone can go in, pick a piece of pottery, pick their colors, and sit at a table and paint.   It's actually quite relaxing.   For Mother's Day, we picked some tiles for my boys to paint.   They painted the background a light color, then put their "painted" hands on the tile for nice handprints.     I think next time my youngest son wants the "hamburger" pottery to paint.     As long as he doesn't try to eat it, I think we'll be fine.  :)   We've been to the Morris Museum of Art.   We're also planning to go bowling soon as the last homeschool co-op trip.

There is plenty more to come.   There has been so much happen and it's gonna take a while to get caught up!!  

It's a God Thing.......

That's what keeps replaying in mind. It's what a lady at Walmart said yesterday...... something that brought tears to my eyes...

I'd seen the lady walking across the aisle at one point. But I had no idea she was going to be behind me in the checkout line. Here's the story.......

I went to Walmart with $15.00 cash to buy bottle liners and some jarred baby food, and another thing or so for Justin. I needed milk and eggs. Then I saw some other things I needed and knew that I could use my debit card for the rest. It wouldn't be that much. I needed dog food and some cream for this crazy skin problem that my husband and I have.

Well, after I put the dog food in the cart, I decided to double check to make sure I knew where my debit card was. hmmm. No debit card. Not the one from the particular bank that actually had money in it. I had another debit card but I didn't know at that moment how much THAT bank account had in it. Probably nothing.

So, I started putting the dog food back, the creams back, etc. I thought, "OK, this should still be covered by the $15.00 cash.

I got to the register and I watched my bill go to $19.

Uh-oh. I gave the cashier my $15 and pulled out the debit card that I was really unsure of. And sure enough, the cashier quietly slipped me a piece of paper from the register that let me know it wouldn't take that card.

I gave her back $4.00 worth of groceries which happened to be the milk and eggs. She was giving me back 9 cents when the lady that I'd seen earlier and who HAPPENED to be about 4 behind me, came all the way up to me and told me that she'd buy what I had to put back.

I looked at her and told her she didn't have to do that. She said "It's ok, it's a God thing...."

At that moment, my eyes started puddling and I was trying to hold back, but the tears slipped out anyway.

She told me to just pull forward and when she paid for her things she'd pay for mine.

I waited for a while because like I said, she was about 3-4 people behind me. It's hard to imagine how she saw everything that happened between me and the cashier from that distance. And for that matter, I was trying to keep it low-key.

Anyway, she told the cashier she was paying for what I couldn't and the lady rang up the items. I slowly reached for my bags. She said for me to go ahead and take them. It was alright.

She looked at me so confident and bold and glowing and said to me these words: God loves you! He will always provide for you. You just raise your boys right." I hugged her and felt like I'd known her forever. All I could do was thank her several times. I couldn't say anything else.

I don't know her name, but I do know that we had a God thing going on...........

He does provide. He provides the way He wants to in His time.

Another good, yet challenging day!

The next few posts are posts that I started during November and December, but never finalized. You know how it goes: 2 1/2 yr old, 1 yr old, trying to keep up the house, let alone keep up the blog. So at this moment I have a chance to "finalize" my drafts from earlier!!
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I emailed mom last night to see if she wanted to go to the mall with us today (Fri). She said yes.

So she came over here about 10:30am today and we went to the mall.

When we got there, we noticed the Christmas band starting to play. It looked like the Salvation Army people were going to be speaking at a particular time. I don't know for sure, but that's what it looked like.

I wanted Joshua to have a good time so he rode the rides that are in the middle of the mall. A motorcycle, a Ninja Turtle doodad, a helicopter, and a car. And a boat. Then we walked down to Books-A-Million where they have that nifty little kids section with the Thomas the Tank Engine railroad to play with in the middle of the store.

Oh man. He was having a BALL! Then daddy came in the store after he called me and found out where we were. He was on lunch so he wanted to see his little boys.

After a while though, we had to leave and that was NOT a popular idea with Josh. Daddy had to be the bad guy and get him out of the store.

So we all left, daddy went back to work and we went to IHOP. I don't know why I thought it was going to be easy.

I had Joshua who didn't want to sit down. Here's the conversation:

Me: Ok, baby, sit down in your big boy seat.
Josh: *Sits down.
Josh: *Gets out.
Me: Josh, sit in your seat.
Josh: Cain't get in.
Me: Yes you can.
Josh: Cain't get in. Stuck.
Me: Why?
Josh: Cain't get in.
*Struggles
Josh: *goes over to the window at the end of the booth.
Me: Josh, get in your seat.

And so on..............

Overall, it was a good day, but boy was it challenging................... When Josh "cain't" do something.

The past few days......

has been pretty iffy with Joshua.

He's almost 3 yrs old. Will be in February.

He has toys that has been "his" for so long. And he wants them to stay "his" and nobody elses. He's had attention that was "his" and nobody elses.

Until now.

I know I've posted it here before, but he totally wants to be the baby again. He wants his toys to stay his and he wants the attention of course. He wants his crib, he wants his pack-n-play, he wants to eat baby oatmeal.

He doesn't want to poop in the potty. He LOVES to hear about the Thomas the Tank big boy pants, but when he feels like he has to "go," we tell him he needs to go to the potty, and he says uh-uh. And continues to go in his diaper. He runs from the potty when he has to go.

But he WILL go get the potty and put the lid down and step on it to get to the sink. Or he WILL sit on it when he knows he doesn't have to go.

He acts up and definitely gets attention, but not the good kind.

Yesterday, it didn't take much and he went into a pretty rough mood. I took them out to Chick-Fil-A yesterday and Justin fell asleep. It was his naptime anyway, so we went on and I got to spend time with Joshua. We even got icecream.

When supper time came, I tried hard to make sure he had the supper he likes but is good for him too. We all sat down to eat, except for Daddy who wasn't here and wasn't going to be here until 10-11pm last night. I'd been telling him every so often, "I love you Josh." So when I stepped away from the table a minute, he called me back and said "Tell Josh."

I looked at him and said "Tell Josh what?" Then I got in front of him face to face and said "I love you, Josh." That's the only thing I could figure he wanted me to say.....again. Then he said it again, "Tell Josh." I told him "I love you Josh."

His big brown eyes let me know that he was soon going to be back to Joshua again.

Last night after supper, I gave them a bath and got them ready for bed. I told Josh to go ahead and get in his bed and as soon as I got Justin in his crib, I'd be in there to read him whatever books he wanted to read. So off we went.

I got Justin to sleep and I went in there to read to Josh. He told me to get in. So I crawled up on the bed and we sat there and talked! Talked about Christmas, Thomas the Train, trains in general.

He was the happy Josh I was used to. Then we heard the rattle of daddy's keys in the door.

He and Daddy are still working on it. They need a full day out all by themselves!
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His first haircut!

I'd been a bit antsy about my littlest big man who was soon going to need his very first haircut. Joshua's first haircut, he didn't want to sit in the seat by himself, but when he sat in our lap, he was very still. The stylists were in awe with how well behaved he was.

But Justin's personality is different. He's very active and all I could see in my mind was him sitting in either my husband's or my lap and wanting down the whole time. I could see him turning from side to side trying to see what the stylist was doing. I could see his hair gapped up because he just would NOT be still!

Well, we took Justin to JCPenny's hairsalon today. All 4 of us went.

When we got there, my husband looked at the back of Joshua's pants and they were soaked! Not because of a diaper leak, but because he accidentally spilled his drink down the side of his carseat down toward his pants. I asked the lady there if they had a dryer and I was thinking hair dryer. Little did I know that she would take me to a clothes dryer. I had no clue there was a washer and dryer there, but it all makes sense now!

Anyway, I drift.

The sweet stylist got Justin a booster seat. To my surprise, he sat in it. Also to my surprise, he didn't keep turning and turning like I'd pictured in my brain. He sat for the most part still. He looked up at her a time or so and got her tickled, but he was basically still. He didn't try to get down. He didn't cry.

He sat there looking cute as could be only looking around at here just a very few times. Of course when he looked at her quickly, she had to move quickly around because she had his hair between her fingers.

To my surprise, his hair was NOT gapped up because of any twisting and turning. She did a beautiful job on his hair and he was a champ!

Of course, we have his first hair that we'll file away just like we did Joshua's hair.

And of course, I took SEVERAL pictures. But they didn't mind. They knew I'm a mommy!!

Whoa. It's been a while!

Yep, I'm finally sitting down here with a cup of hot chocolate, my husband hasn't come home yet, and both boys are in bed. I'm glad they've been easy to work with while my husband has been working late for a few night.

My Josh is such the big man. But he still tends to go back to his "younger days" when he was in his crib, in his pack-n-play, in his bouncy seat....back when he crawled and pulled up. That's only been a little over a year ago!

He sees his little brother, Justin, who is now 11 months old, doing all these things and getting positive attention that he decides he's going to do it.

He loves to get in the pack-n-play with Justin. They get in there for probably a good 20 minutes and just play and "read" books. This is good while I'm trying to get a few things done in the kitchen. I just pull the pack over into the dining room and put them in it. We talk in between their reading.

While Josh wants to do whatever Justin does, he's also learned his A-B-Cs and 1-2-3's up to about 30 or so. He knows his shapes and colors and does educational games quite well on the computer. He's familiar with the A-B-C Bible verses too.

Thing is, nobody would really believe me because if I ask him to do it for me in front of someone else, he just sits there or says "can't" or "hard." Maybe one day he'll surprise me. We go over alot of this stuff and we do it in front of Justin. Justin hears it and should pick it up little bit by little bit.

Now. Justin. He's quite a character. They BOTH are, but Justin - he laughs alot. This past week and a half, he's started crawling up the one step that goes from the living room up into the hallway. Or from the dining room to the kitchen. Off he goes exploring. He walks well holding on the couch. He just hasn't got the nerve to let go yet. He stands there in front of me or my husband while we try to coax him away from his comfort zone and he just bounces and bounces and smiles and claps and then he slowly sinks to the floor and crawls to us. I know he'll walk to us pretty soon.

Justin is like a little turtle. Not as in speed, but as in head strong. When he's headed somewhere and I turn him around because it's somewhere he doesn't need to go, he turns right around goes back. He does this several times in a row. He wants to go where he wants to go. Of course, I'm persistent too because I don't want him hurt.

Then there is the morning that I ask my husband to feed Justin breakfast because I need to run grab a shower. I feed him the first couple of bites, then my husband takes over. Justin looks and takes maybe one bite, then bursts out crying! My husband is shocked. He tries to feed him again and Justin just will not eat. Then I go over and feed him a couple more bites then asks my husband to try again.

Same thing happens again! Justin looks at him and cries. My husband just walks off.

So I'm thinking whats the difference here besides the fact that I'm the momma and he's used to me feeding him? I don't know. But when I asked my husband where his cap was, he looked at me funny. I asked him to put on his cap and try again. My husband put on his cap, sat down and continued to feed Justin.

Go figure.....

Then there's the other time I was holding Justin and he reached up and took off my glasses. I looked at him and quietly said "no-no." I didn't raise my voice. Maybe I startled him when I didn't do my usual smile. Cause he looked at me, raised his eyes to the ceiling while his face was changing.....and he cried so hard!!

I'll probably have to work with him a little differently than I do Josh. Actually, I'm still learning with Josh. Sometimes I handle situations right and sometimes I don't. I know I handle it right when his response is positive and we both come up smiling. If I don't, we're just both frustrated.

But still, it looks like Justin may be extra sensitive.

Oh yeah, before I forget. There are alot of mornings (even tho it hasn't happened alot this week) that Josh gets on up and comes in where we are and hops in the bed with us. Its just for the last couple of hours.

When he's able to do that, he's in a pretty good mood most of the day.

But one morning, Justin just happened to be up first (around 7am or so )and I had him on the bed with us. Josh did his usual run down the hall and when he got to the end of the hall and saw us, his ENTIRE face changed. He came on it, but it went downhill from there. All day.

So it's interesting how much those little guys are like adults. When any little bit of the morning routine is off, so is the rest of the day.