Honest and so Innocent

Reece got to hang out at my work today. He was there a little longer than usual, but handled it pretty well. One particular lady that works with me, is particularly fond of Reece. She is the mom of 3 teenagers, and misses this age very much. We were getting ready to leave, when she gave him a big hug to say goodbye. She started talking to him, and asked what kind of toy Reece would like her to buy for him. Well, I knew exactly what his answer would be. "I really, really want a Wii," came out of his mouth. Followed by, "The MarioKart Wii."
It's so amazing how innocent kids minds are. Honesty is a great quality too. Eventually, this honesty thing might embarrass me when I least expect it. It is just so funny! A little sad too, because I wish I could get those boys the Wii they've been wanting for so long.
The lady at work decided she was going to get Reece some kind of toy (undecided at this time), and accompany it with a bag of M&M's. So, tonight at dinner, what does Reece tell Riley? "We are going to get a MarioKart Wii and M&M's." Uh oh... I don't think he will let this one go for a while.

Now That Jake's Not Going to School...

...he has taught Riley how to play Chess.

Check out that Chess board!! And, Reece just pretends he knows what he is doing.

On a silly note, Reece was picking out what to eat for breakfast the other day, when he said, "If I don't eat, I might die." What a wise 4 year old I have. =D

Happy Birthday Grandma Sally!

Whew!

Recently we took my computer in to the shop, to hopefully get fixed. For some reason, one day, it just wouldn't turn on. We have another computer, and it doesn't seem like it would be the end of the world to just trash it, but almost every picture of my boys from the last 3 years was on that computer. Finally we got the call that it would cost $400.00 to fix it. Ugh! Perfect, since we got over $1700.00 in medical bills in the mail, for Reece's tests. OUCH! Fortunately, we were able to get all of the files and pictures on a disc for less than half the price. YAY!
So, I've learned my lesson, and will do a better job at backing up my pictures. For this was an expensive close call. Whew!

Happy 5th Birthday Camryn!

Happy birthday to my niece, Camryn! We love you and hope you have a great day!

Congratulations Jake!!!

I finally got my husband back!! This week, Jake has officially finished his schooling, and he earned his degree in psychology. I am so proud of him. Jake went 18 months straight, worked more than full time, and still did his best job at being a dad and hubby. Next, does he go for his masters??

Rough Day for Reece

Reece had a rough and torturous day on Wednesday. Unfortunately, we had to start the day off with a funeral. My dear friend from church had her father pass away on Easter. Jake was at work, Riley had school, and Wednesday seems to be a difficult day to find sitters. That left Reece and I all alone. I braved it. We got there a little early, and I admit I allowed Reece to play his DS only until the service started. Anyone who knows Reece, knows he is high energy all the time! He wiggles and whines if he is bored. He is hungry all day long if he is not being entertained. Most the time he was lying down in the pew. He is my difficult one. Riley isn't much fun either when he is bored, he is just more lazy and mopey. (If that's a word.) Exactly opposite of Reece. Reece also has to go to the bathroom when he is bored, for this is a sure way to get up and about for a bit. Long story short, it was a long service, only because Reece was bored the entire time. To my surprise, I learned afterwards that there was a nursery provided. Ugh! I'll know next time.
So, Reece and I were dressed extra nice for the day. I had many small errands to run. Not Reece's favorite thing. I asked where he wanted to eat lunch, and of course it was McDonald's. We went in at 11:45 to a McDonald's that has a play place. The place was PACKED!! Reece didn't understand why we had to wait. He then asked if he could have a cookie with his meal. My response was, "No." He told me, "Aunt Jaime lets me all the time." Rotten kid! He tells us this all the time. "Daddy lets me." "Mommy let's me." It never works, but he is persistent. Well, no cookie today. Then we went to sit down to eat. He gave me the silent treatment, because I didn't want him to play in the play place, that was busier then I'd ever seen. You see, Reece had his brand new, very nice clothes on. I know I may be a little weird about my kids getting dirty, but if he was wearing anything else, I would've allowed it. Finally, I told him next time we will get to play. He gave me a smile and said, "Yeah, next time when I don't have my nice clothes on." End of drama. He finished his meal, and we left for the next errand.
As much as I love that my kids are old enough to not have to drag the stroller out, today would have been a fabulous day for a stroller. Reece did well. We did a ton of walking. Eventually, his only mission was to look for the next place he could sit. His legs were tired. He also complained his church shoes were hurting his foot. He's never been in them so long, and walked so far in them. Guess it's time for new shoes. As much pain that he says he was in, it didn't really slow him down. He ran and jumped every time he got a chance. We went in and out of stores. I could tell he was so bored of it, but he really didn't complain (other than the shoe thing.) Of course, something about Reece brings all kinds of attention. All I heard was how cute, or he looks like a little model. He is such a ham! He acts shy, just to get more attention. Pretty soon this little boys head will be too big for our house.
When all my errands were finished, I had a little time to treat Reece. I took him by my old work and got him a brownie ice cream treat, before we had to pick Riley up from school. When we did park to get Riley, he began hopping on one foot, because his shoe hurt again. When he saw his friend Brynn, 2 seconds later, he ran full speed back and forth, up and down the sidewalk. Poor kid must've been in a lot of pain. Not even a long day of running around with Mom, can wear this kid down. He played outside almost the rest of the day, and at 9pm, when I tried to put him to bed, he was still wired. Oh, what I would give to have an ounce of this kids energy...

Easter in Wichita

We had a quick Easter weekend. Jake and I both worked on Saturday. Amazing, Aunt Jaime took the boys down to Wichita that morning (THANK YOU!!!), then we drove down late that night. Saturday's weather was beautiful! Too bad Sunday's weather was the exact opposite. It rained all day! It was sad, but thankfully we got to have a great egg hunt last weekend.

Easter morning, we went over to Aunt Joanna's house for an indoor Easter Egg hunt. Joanna did great and hid over 100 eggs for the 6 kids. They had a blast. Little Alex, who is about 18 months, found 6 eggs and 2 balls. It was too cute. Below is Riley, showing me his eggs, while focusing on cartoons. He's amazing!

Owen ate the Easter Bunny!

Owen, Aidan and Colby being silly.

At my parents house, we had another small, indoor hunt. We did the best we could, and here are all the cousins showing off their Easter baskets. It's rare to get them all to sit so still.

Brotherly Love!

Easter Eggs

On Friday, we decided to dye some Easter Eggs.

Posing in front of our eggs (and our mess.)

Reece showing off the fact that he can use those silly wire-things, that come in the box of dye.

Riley took this picture of his egg, with his name on it.

The Phantom of the Opera

Last Thursday, I finally got to go see "Phantom..." I've wanted to see this ever since I was a little girl. My sister, Jody, promised she would take me to see it, if it ever came back. I remembered this. Conveniently, Jody doesn't recall this. If I remember something, it surely happened, right? Now it is a joke, but I'm still waiting for my ticket reimbursement. =)


The show was SO much better than I ever imagined. You always have an image in your mind, and then you worry you have been building up the greatness too much. At least I do this often. It did not disappoint. Jake and I were in the 3rd row, and did not miss a thing. I'm ready to go back! Count me in next time, and maybe Jody will treat me then.

Aaron, Dawn, Joanna, Tammy, Jody, Jaime, Me and Jake

Thursday April 9, 2009

Happy 7th Birthday Sydney!

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UPDATE

My wonderful husband downloaded a scanning program for me, on his computer.

Here is a picture of Sydney.

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Picture to come soon...
My computer that has my wonderful scanning program is in the shop, and hopefully will return soon, if at all. Anyhow, happy birthday to my niece, Sydney. We are all thinking of you and hope you have a great day! Love you!

Who's being punished?

The boys are in the process of being punished right now. They are in a bad habit of not taking good care of their expensive toys. The expensive toys I am talking about, are the Nintendo DS video games we own. I have a small container that holds them safely, because I find it a little annoying putting them back in the cases each time you want to switch games. It is a system that works very well, except when 2 little boys are too lazy to put the games back in this container when they are done with a game. For Valentine's Day, we got them a Sonic Rush video game, and it was lost within 2 weeks. They lost DS privileges for this and life moved on. Just yesterday, my favorite game (Super Mario Bros.) was lost. I wasn't very happy. I told the boys they couldn't have the DS back until, one or both games were found. Thankfully, I was in a rare cleaning mode, and decided I needed to vacuum out the couch. Sure enough, when I stuck the hose down in the cracks, up came Super Mario Bros. I showed the boys, and we talked about how we take care of the games. I got back to the couch, and 2 seconds later, up came Sonic Rush. Once again, I stopped and talked to the boys. Told them how much money these games cost, and we can't leave games on the couch anymore. Since both games were now recovered, the new punishment was no DS for 2 days.

This brings me to who is being punished? Sure, the boys can't play video games, which is pure torture to them. However, for 2 days we have to listen to Reece beg and ask to play the DS...ALL DAY LONG!! He is the most persistent boy ever! He doesn't comprehend what he did wrong, or the word NO. It is pure torture for me! He doesn't give up. At least, Riley is old enough to understand a punishment, he knows not to ask and he also has school to take up a lot of his day time. Reece is at home, bored out of his mind. What makes it worse, is we now have Sonic Rush back in our possession, and he hasn't seen that game in many weeks. I'm glad the punishment was only for 2 days, and we are half way there.

Reece update...I lost count

Today was the big day. We just got home from the Neurologist checkup. Here is where we stand on his condition. The "tic" has been just as frequent, but not as dramatic. His face is no longer involved in his movements, but his hand is more of a shaky, or tremor movement. It is still happening a lot, especially when he is concentrating. For example, eating and writing can bring out the worst of his "tic." Since it is no longer in his face, the Doctor felt this was a good sign things are slowly reversing.

This entire time I was thinking "No News Is Good News," I should have been a more pro-active mom. When we showed up, the only results they had were from the EEG. That is the only test that was taken at the hospital we have been going to. Something in the back of my mind told me to call and make sure all the results had been sent to the Doctor, but I ignored it. Thankfully, since all the hospitals we had to visit, were all affiliated with each other, it didn't take long to get all of the results. No seizures showed up in the EEG. The MRI was clear. All the blood work came back good too. The only blood test that was borderline, but not even an issue, was the "Auto Immune" results. The way he described it was, Reece may have an issue getting over illnesses. It was so borderline, that it probably isn't really an issue at all. He just wanted us to know that this was the only result that stuck out to him. He feels like this is getting better, and to stay on top of this, we will go back in 2 months, just to check out the progress. WHEW!

As a mom, until this is gone I will still be just as concerned. The true test will probably be when he starts school. Preschool begins in September. We will just take this one day at a time.

Tomorrow is MY big day! I finally get to cash in my Christmas present and go the "The Phantom of the Opera." It will be so much fun. Three sisters, one brother and two in-laws were able to get tickets for the same night and I can't wait. Most of us will get to go out to eat before it's off to the show. I don't think we've ever been able to do anything like this as adults, and without kids. Have I mentioned, I CAN'T WAIT?!?!

Hilarious...

...unless you know nothing about college basketball. Old men are so funny!

(click below for the guitar hero commercial, featuring Coach K, Rick Patino, Roy Williams, Bobby Knight and Metallica)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u11_FIkva0c

Easter Egg Hunt

Today, the boys friends, Tyler and Logan Ringel, invited us out to their Grandma and Grandpa's house for an Easter Egg Hunt. The weather cooperated and we had so much fun! It was extremely windy, and I felt it was cold, but the kids didn't notice one bit. Their Grandparents live about 45 minutes away, and own 30 acres of land, the hunt was a blast! They had goats, chickens and a couple bunnies. The kids had a great time running around, and I hope they sleep good tonight. This weather is getting me more, and more excited for summer.

Eggs in the sandbox.

Reece

Riley

Oh yeah, and the Easter Bunny came for the hunt!

Reece gave the Easter Bunny a hug, and when we got home asked if he was real.

Tyler showing off her real bunny. I think his name was Kissy Foot?

Towards the end, we had several cranky kids fighting over the chance to ride this toy mower. Reece finally got his turn.

On another note: Today at lunch I was telling the boys that Dad seems to not listen to me. Reece's clever mouth said, "Yeah! Cause sometimes Dad doesn't want to hear you."

Thanks Reece... you'll learn someday.