Bringing them back, one by one.

Claire came home yesterday...Steven met my mom and dad at a mall just outside of Houston for the pickup. From what I can tell, the reunion between Ethan and Claire was just joyous! (Do I need to explain "sarcasm" here? lol!) As they got in the car, Claire tossed a rolled up piece of paper at Ethan and said, "Here. I made a present for you. It's a telescope."

After all that love, they are back to their old selves today...screaming and fighting over a Sponge Bob ball!

I got a little work done while Claire was gone, but not as much as I thought I would. It was really nice having that time with Ethan...and I know it meant a lot to him, also. Even though he is the only boy, he is still the middle child, and a special one at that, so he never gets time with just me and Steven...sometimes one or the other, but never both. So, it really was great!

Breakfast, anyone?

I'm thinking Ethan deserves a trip to Krispy Kreme for nice, hot, fresh doughnuts this morning! lol!

Well whaddaya know...

I've got a few free minutes!

How in the world did I manage that, you ask???

Well, thanks to the best Nana in the whole world, who got here just in time on Wednesday to save me from a monster anxiety attack, Allison and Claire are with her in Houston, and I'm down to only one child. Who is the sweetest little boy on Earth when you are with him one on one! It really is so special to have that kind of time with him. Now I'm going to move on because I'm tearing up and we really don't need full blown tears here! lol!

Anyway...at this moment, Steven and Ethan are enjoying some time at the swimming pool together.

And I am ALONE! ALL ALONE!

IN MY OWN HOUSE!!! I DIDN'T HAVE TO LEAVE TO GET SOME PEACE!

And this, my friends, is the best feeling of all!!!

Summer just isn't the same once you have kids.

Ya know? They are home from school and bored and whiney and I could go on and on and on.... And mostly, all they do is fight.

But...this is Boot Camp Summer. They are going to learn to respect each other and our house, cars and things if it's the last thing I do. And before you say anything, the psychiatrist and the psychologist BOTH agree! In fact, all 3 kids are starting therapy next week-so it's not just Ethan anymore.

I'm not tolerating anything, and they are spending lots of time in their rooms. Steven is taking them on "marches" when he gets home from work...really, it's hiking up a really big hill. Mountain to me! He makes them call him "Sir", and the whole time he is talking to them about their place in the family and the special things they bring to us and to each other. He makes them say nice things about one another. He is teaching them how they are a team and how to work together...whether it's helping each other climb over a rock or it's a hypothetical situation he throws out there. He's showing them how, if one wins, they all win. If one loses, they all lose.

What's funny is, if one of them starts whining, he makes them drop and do 5 push ups, sit ups or squats. After only 2 times Claire stopped whining, and it only took Ethan once! lol! And actually, I think the funniest thing is, when they come home, all they can talk about is how much fun they have had! *Knocking on wood here, but* I hate to say anything because I'm afraid I'll jinx it-but I can actually see a difference in their behavior today. They've only been to their rooms once!

Their behavior has been so horrid they have only been to the pool once so far this summer. (That's their reward.) But, maybe we will get to go more often very soon!

Ta-DAAAAAA!!!

My new Jeep!


Of course, it needed a special keychain...so I custom made one! lol!
This is the life!

Why I'm never around anymore...

1. I rarely have internet service...it's been like this for a couple of weeks, and I have to wait until next Friday before Time Warner can come out. Don't they realize people need their blogs???

2. *This may gross you out.* The new kitten we found? She was doing great. Then all of a sudden she got diarreah. Yuck. So we locked her up in our bathroom. She was only getting worse, so we took her to the vet on Friday. Apparently, she has a really bad bacterial infection, so she put her on some antibiotics. Either she is getting worse, or the antibiotics are giving her extra diarreah, because she never stops 'leaking', if you know what I mean. It's awful...like Rotavirus for kittens. All we do is give her a bath and clean the floor...wait a few minutes and do it all over again. Of course, these things only happen on weekends when the vet is closed. grr!

3. The more I do to make things easier on me, the harder the kids work to make it harder. Take paper plates and cups for instance: we got some so they would be disposable, therefore cutting down on kitchen cleaning time. Does it work? Of course not...because, even though we told the kids NOT TO TOUCH the things except for eating and drinking, they decided they would make perfect art projects! Therefore, making a huge fucking mess. So, between that and their regular mess, it's just all too overwhelming.

Why can't everything just be regular around here for a while, and not always a crisis???