Where To Begin...

Well, we just got word. I have many emotions going through me right now. I'm super happy, extremely sad. It just can't always be a win/win.

Jake has been promoted! He will train in a couple of weeks, to have a better paying position in Salina, KS. He was approached with this job the same day I lost my job! Miraculous!! We will live in McPherson, eventually, because it is halfway between Salina and Wichita. I'm so happy to be so close to Wichita, and to be living in a much less expensive place. I've heard great places about McPherson, and a lot of great athletes come from there. (Good for my boys!!) It's a big change, we with out a doubt needed! Right now the boys and I will stay here through the selling of the house, and I want the boys to finish school here.

I'm sad. The only reason is I've made some amazing friends here. A couple years ago, I never thought I'd have friends I'd be so sad to leave. It happened. This is the longest Jake and I have ever lived in one place, and our roots have been planted here for sure. Good thing KC isn't more than a quick road trip away. I always envisioned the boys going to the same school growing up. There are teachers that Riley had that I really wanted Reece to have, but it wasn't in the cards. They are still so young, I know they will adapt well. I was so happy, until I started receiving sad text messages from my true friends.

Selling the house is the next hurdle to close this current chapter in our lives, but it will be a chapter never forgotten. I LOVE MY FRIENDS!! This isn't the end of our friendships, just the end of us being around the corner, or a short drive away! (I'll be calling you to crash on your couch one of these day!!)

Inspiration...

I believe that everything happens for a reason. People change so that you can learn to let go, things go wrong so that you appreciate them when their right, you believe lies so you eventually learn to trust noone but yourself, and sometimes good things fall apart so better things can fall together. ~Marilyn Monroe

The way I've been feeling lately, I needed to come across this. I have so many uncertainties these days. I truly need things to just fall into place. I need something to be easy for once in our lives. I pray for this daily. I trust whatever is supposed to happen, will happen.

Update on Reece's walk-a-thon... his preschool earned over $900.00 for Haiti. It was so cute watching them take laps. The line leader was a little slow, so Mrs. Alton snuck around and brought the cones in a bit. They got 15 laps in!

I feel like my blog is boring! Other than my drama, life is pretty uneventful! Jake and I are busy trying to get our home ready, in case we need to put it on the market. (Details to come, if things fall in place) Currently, he is painting our countertops to update them! It's exciting!!!

Just Keeps Coming...

Oh the worries of a preschooler... Reece just showed me some school papers. He says, "Mom! This is Marfur Jr. He died. A bad person shot him." (insert a very concerned, sad face here) He was showing me a picture of Martin Luther King, Jr. I'm not sure what to think of how Reece is feeling at this young age. Overall, I do think he handles things well, I just hope inside he's not truly stressed about the awful things of the world.

Worries of a Child...

Today at preschool, Reece learned about the earthquake in Haiti. When I picked him up, the first thing he told me was about at "town" that had 2 earthquakes, but they were far away. He asked me where the earthquake came from. The ground, was my answer. He asked how the ground does this. I told him I would go home and draw him a picture. From the minute I picked him up, I felt he was very worried. I told him we won't have an earthquake here at home. Then he asked why it would happen in that "town" and not here. All I could say was he was very blessed to not live where an earthquake would take place. It's scares me how worried Reece always seems to become when sad things happen. A 5 year old shouldn't have to worry about this part of life. But then that makes me think how awful it is that there are so many 5 year olds in Haiti that have no choice.
Reece's preschool class is doing a walkathon on Friday. He is trying to collect donations and his class will walk in a circle for about 10 minutes. It's so cute! The money is going to a Christian fund that uses 97% of profits to help with the aid. Reece is so excited. His class is learning that Jesus will be happy about them helping, and giving to those in need.

Riley cracked me up today after school. He came in and opened the pantry for a snack. "I can't STAND this!" I paused in shock... I thought he was upset about something. "I like these wheat crackers so much! They are so good!!" Ha! Ha! He's learning new expressions all the time, and rarely uses them in the right context. He's so funny!

I Got My Books!!

They came in the mail this week. It was a week and a half early! I love them!! The best way to describe them is.... have you ever gone to a big event, and gotten a nice program? Like a musical or sporting event. They are put together like that. They randomly choose pictures to put on the front and back. If you want, you can choose specific pictures. There is a table of contents. Shows the name of each post, and which page the post is on. Each post starts with the name, then all the pictures, followed by everything you wrote. So, if you wrote after each picture on your blog, it's combined at the end. It's not hard to figure out which pictures you were writing about. What makes it the best, is that the comments are last! I love being able to keep these, and I'm so happy I chose to make a hard copy of my blog.

On a different note...I lost my job on Friday. It was hard, but I was in a verbally abusive situation, and I know this is for the best. It is just hard to see it this way, at this time. Not sure what's going to come about, but until then I hope I can sell some jewelry in the mean time. Jake has some changes coming along at work...nothing final, but maybe a fresh start is around the corner. Let's pray so!

Progress Report

Reece got his 1st progress report this week. It was great! His skills are for the most part right on track. He is the oldest in his class, due to where his birthday falls, and he's doing well. He's still working on patterns, and I need to teach him our phone number and address. He missed those days in class. He knows we live on Ingrid street. He counts to 29 without skipping numbers.

What I love about this preschool, is that the teacher always writes a letter about the student. I just wanted to share parts of the letter, but I loved it so much, I have to put the entire thing here, so bare with me....or skip the following.

Reece is such a great little boy. I am enjoying him in out class this year. He is so conscientious. Sometimes he seems so serious and then he will break into a grin.

Reece is so sharp. He recognized all of his alphabet and the letter sounds! He is quick thinking with his numbers and very precise. He has great recall. He is an independent worker and does a good job of completing tasks.

As our semester has unfolded, Reece has deemed himself the rule keeper. If there is any infraction by anyone he reports it to me and usually tells the person what they need to do to make things right. (insert smiley face) I am glad he is working to keep things right and safe. I don't want him to get so caught up in that role that he can't just enjoy himself and fully engage in whatever he is doing. I am trying to encourage him to take care of himself and not to report on other's behavior quite so much.

Reece is a good friend to everyone. He has good reasoning and insight when we have group discussions. He expresses himself very well. He definitely knows right from wrong and is a good role model.

I hope he is having as much fun at preschool as I am having him in our class!

Ha Ha!! I love it! I don't love that I have the tattle tale, but that is totally Reece!! Hey people: Don't break the rules! I'm so glad he loves school, and his teacher enjoys him. Reece is already sad to go to Kindergarten, because he loves his preschool that much. He just has no idea, that it only gets better (at least for a while.)

Happy Teeth! (sort of...)

The boys and I had our check up at the dentist yesterday. Overall, everything went well. For me, it was the first time in a while they told me things look great, see you in 6 months. Usually, it's "let's keep an eye here," or "do a better job at this." So, I was pleased and relieved.

Riley is going back next week to get a couple teeth sealed. They are weak, and precavity. This makes me sad. I feel like I've failed him. We really take good care of his teeth. I let him brush on his own in the morning, but I always help at night to really make sure things are clean. I'm just going to have to do better. We also learned that he is missing 2 of his 6 year molars. They just aren't there. We can already see where his wisdom teeth are, but no molars. She's not super concerned yet, but it could effect the way his teeth/mouth develops later on. Too early to tell. We've already been having regular consultations with an orthodontist, so we'll keep on top of that.

Reece had a really good check up. Last time, we learned he had an extra top tooth. Weird. It's a baby tooth, so it's not a big deal. We also found 2 loose teeth! Wow! My baby is close to losing his first tooth! He's right on track with Riley. It just feels like he's earlier, because Reece is still in preschool, but their birthdays are 6 months apart on the calendar, so it's about right. I think this bothered Reece a little bit. We tried to get really excited about the tooth fairy, but I think he's a little freaked out about his teeth falling out. He's being brave though. The dentist was very pleased with his teeth spacing too. I remember with Riley they were always concerned with crowded teeth, which is why he's seeing the ortho.

There you have it. Riley's missing teeth, Reece has extra teeth. Maybe mine and Jake's genetics weren't supposed to mix....but, we made such cute kids that something must be right. =)

Nothing Blog~Worthy...

Well, 2010 has come in very uneventful. Nothing too exciting going on, even though I feel like we are busy all the time. Maybe that's just in my head. The most interesting thing going on, is this KILLER ICICLE hanging outside my front door. It's seriously a death trap! This picture doesn't do it justice, but it's monstrous!!! Beware!!

On another note, Reece got very sick on Sunday. It started at dinner time. He was very sick, and it got ugly about every 15-30 minutes until around 1 o'clock in the morning. The poor kid was miserable. He started out with no fever, then it spiked in the middle of all the drama. By the time it was over, the fever was gone. Reece slept the rest of the night, but now he's not eating. All appetite is gone. Today it took him 4 hours to eat 1 piece of toast. Hope this doesn't last long. When he is lounging on the couch, he does well, just looks a little pale. When Jake got him out of the house yesterday for a few minutes, he was weak and borderline lethargic. It will pass soon...

Reece doesn't really love me these days. Wish I knew why, but he is Jake's sidekick right now. If Jake is home, Reece is seriously glued to his side. He likes Jake to carry him from room to room. He comes in our room and tackles Jake in the morning. If I was gone, he'd be okay. He doesn't dislike me, just not his favorite. What do I have to do to get some love from this kid? Give birth to him, give in to his every want or need, clean up his vomit and sleep next to him while he's sick? Oh, wait! I did ALL this!! I just can't win with this kid. Thankfully, Riley appreciates me. He's so sweet!

That brings us to Riley. Riley had his 1st ever basketball game on Saturday. I'm going to need a better camera to get some good shots. (hint hint Aunt Jaime) Anyhow, he did really well. I was so sure that I going to have a heart attack the first time I watched a game. Not the case. I really enjoyed it. You know you LOVE a sport, when you enjoy a bunch of 7 and 8 year olds butcher it because they still have no clue. Riley even brought the ball up the court a few times. He had fun, therefore I'm so happy!!

Fun Times!!

I just want to share (maybe because I'm super bored at work), but Leesa and I have officially made it 1+ week on our new blogs, and we're having so much fun!!! I'm so glad I'm doing it! It hasn't taken much time out of my days, and I'm learning so much about Leesa! Feels like she's my new great friend! Fun Times!! 1 week down, 51 to go!!

Snowy Days

We've had 2 snow days in a row now. It's so cold and windy outside, I didn't want to step out to get a good dramatic snap of the crazy snow, so this is what you get.

This is by far the best snow day ever!! Jake and I both had the day off, so we all got to stay inside and warm. Except for the time that Jake went outside to shovel the driveway, and got wind burn on his face. Other than that, we're doing good and the wind is so strong that it blew the snow right back on our driveway. =(

We've done nothing but stay in our pajamas, play the Wii, watch movies, and I think I'm off to make some hot chocolate right now!! Our high tomorrow is a whopping 0, and Saturday was supposed to be -2, but has since upgraded to 2!! A 4 degree swing baby!!

Warm thoughts sent this way are always welcome!!

B.A.N.A.N.A.S.

Is it possible to become allergic to bananas? Something strange is happening with Riley and bananas. As a baby he loved baby food bananas. As a toddler, eating table food, he never ate them. I swore it was a texture issue. He's always had them, and has been a terribly, picky eater his entire life. A couple of years ago I tricked him into eating some new foods. I created a plate with 5 small groups of healthy food, sliced and ready to eat. I made him try all 5, and then he got the choice of which 3 he wanted to eat all of. Surprisingly, he told me that bananas are so good, and that he didn't know how good they were! Well, we got Riley to love bananas! Yay!!
About 6 months ago, Riley started complaining about a tummy ache, right after eating bananas. They gradually got worse, so I decided a half banana might be best. Nope. Still the same. The agreement was he wouldn't eat them anymore. There goes the only healthy item my kid likes.
Today, he just forgot he couldn't eat bananas, while at his friends. He wanted to come home immediately after eating one. You know it's bad if he wants to come home. I brought him home and he doubled over in pain. It kept getting worse. I tried a home remedy from my friend (wink, wink Leesa) and gave him some warm Dr. Pepper to sip on. He immediately said it was better. Then it got bad quick. He acted like the pain was stabbing him. Gas pain, I assumed. Of course, our family doesn't have gas medicine in the house, we never need it. My sweet neighbor brought some Rolaids over, and before Riley got them down, he got sick. Ugh! But, the tummy ache was gone. So, do you think this could be an allergy? Is the banana too acidic? Hopefully, Riley remembers this, so he doesn't go through this pain again...

It WAS a Task...

But, I did it!!! I've turned my blog into a book! Yay! I was having doubts. For 2 days I was trying to make 1 book, and it kept timing out. I tried making 2 books, and I got the same. I was beginning to believe this was a joke, and not even possible. Finally, I tried just doing 2008, which was 4 months total, and it immediately made my book. So, I did 2009 in thirds. After that, it took no time to order my books. On January 22nd, I will have by blog in my hands. Can't wait!! I'm just going to try to order every 4 months. And to make things better...free shipping!! Just the cherry on top!

New Year's Day found us taking Christmas decorations down. It was a great team effort. Afterwards, I asked the boys if they liked our house when "Christmas was put away?" I got a mixed response. Riley enjoys how much space is in our house without the tree, but Reece said our house is boring without Christmas. Just can't win around here!