In the Swing of Things

Life has been busy!  The boys just finished up swimming lessons.  They are still going strong in soccer and baseball started last week.  This is our first year of coach/machine pitch baseball.  It will be fun to see how far they come this season.  There is a lot of room for improvement!  And, last, but not least, they are starting swim team at the end of May.  That will be interesting.  They can basically stay afloat, but I'm not sure they are swim team material.  Time will tell!  My main goal is to get them swimming very well.  We aren't aiming to win meets, but I want them to be strong swimmers so I can take a chill pill when they are around water.  And, so I can sign them up for triathlons in 2014!  :)

Speaking of triathlons, Jen and I just registered for the Kansas 70.3 Half Ironman in June.  As of this moment in time, I'm very excited!  This will definitely push me physically more than anything I've ever done.  It will be 7-8 hours of non-stop activity.  I've been training, but I don't know that I'll ever feel ready.  Especially on the bike.  That stuff is hardcore.  And I've got some work to do.  But my ultimate goal is to finish, and I know I'll make that happen!

The school year is winding down and we are ready for summer vacation!  I can't believe next year I'll have a kindergartener and a 2nd grader.  Doesn't seem possible!

We are still hunting for the "perfect" house.  Does that even exist?  Thank God for my parents.  They are going to let us live at their old house (that is still on the market) until we find something.  Truly a saving grace at this point in time!

We (mostly Bodey) have had a rough week.  Our lizard, Scooby, died Saturday.  We really liked that little guy.  Well, actually he was a girl.  Bodey was extremely upset.  His teacher said he was crying about it and just not himself.  Breaks my heart!  Poor little man.

Well, I better get back to watching The Three Stooges with my boys and their sleepover friend, Cooper.  It's 10:15 and they are still hanging in there, but all appear to be a tad sleepy.  Here's to hoping!

Auto-Mode

Good thing I decided to take time to read Cori's blog, or it could have been 2014 before my next post.  But she reminded me of a milestone in Bodey's life that his slacker mom has not properly documented.  Bodey went to Kindergarten Roundup a couple of weeks ago!  Overall, it was a success and he is very excited to go to a "real" school this fall.  May 3rd, he will be graduating from preschool, while Booker finishes up college.  Or so it seems.  It is all going way too fast for this mom.

We have been super busy with swimming lessons, soccer, and now baseball has been added to the mix.  But the most time consuming event lately is that we sold our house!

Last fall, Dusty and I decided that we'd like to find a house on a little bit of land.  That way my boys can go outside and be cray-cray all day long if they want.  We currently live in a subdivision.  I can honestly say it has been the best place for us to have lived for the past 8 years.  God hand-picked our house for us.  It was Dusty and my first house.  It was the house that we brought our first baby home to, followed by baby #2!  It is where our kids 1st Day of Daycare, 1st Day of Preschool, 1st Day of Kindergarten & 1st Grade pictures have been taken.  There are so many memories that have been made here!  But equally as important, without living in this very house, I probably wouldn't have met my best friends.  If we wouldn't have moved to Basehor, I probably wouldn't have taken a job in KCK.  But it was the shortest commute, so I did.  And I met Kim and Melissa!  And right down the street from this house lives someone so very close to my heart.  She is the ONLY reason I am dreading this move.  I've been lucky enough to live just houses away from my best friend, Cori.  That's a pretty special thing.  Our kids have grown extremely close.  Well, probably to the point where they think they are siblings instead of friends.  I truly do consider them family.  However, I have to remind myself that just because we don't live houses away from each other, doesn't mean we aren't best friends and won't see each other anymore.  To prove this, in comes Jen.  If I hadn't have moved into my neighborhood and met Cori, I would have never met my other best friend, Jen.  Now, Jen doesn't live in the same 'hood as me, but we are still extremely close.  I still see her on an (almost) daily basis and love her to death.  Wow, long story short and as un-sappy as I can be, my life is better because of this house.

I've been praying about his move since December.  Is it right for us?  Is it the right time?  Dusty and I aren't really "subdivision" type people.  But maybe our kids are?  Will God give us the red light if we are making a mistake?  Will He give us green if we are in line with His plan?

A couple of weeks ago, we were finally ready to put the house on the market.  I warned my neighbor of our plans, just so she wouldn't find out by seeing a sign in our yard.  That was on a Thursday.  That Saturday, one of her friends came to our house twice, and bought it.  4 days before we listed it.  We never thought it would be that easy, and expected to go through the agony of keeping the house "show" ready month after month.  We also thought we would have time to find something we like to move into.  No such luck yet.  But, it is a good problem to have, because our biggest hurdle of selling the house is behind us.  For the short-term, we are going to move to my parents old house and keep searching.  It's been stressful, but exciting at the same time.  We are excited to see what doors are opened for us in our future!  God knew why we moved into this house, I wonder what he has in store for us next!

Can't Believe I Let Him Turn 7!

The new motor scooter!

We took 9 boys to The Croods for his party.

We were placed in a party room for an hour.  With nothing to do.  9 boys get a tad rowdy, but they had fun being crazy and playing pop the balloons with forks.

Brownies and ice cream had them all sitting for a minute or two.

Some good buddies.

Hope your wish comes true!

Believe it or not, they were all mostly silent the entire movie!

Crazy birthday boy!

Respect

All wrestling season, Booker and Dusty had an ongoing reward (bribe, prize, whatever you wanna call it), that if Booker got a gold medal, Dusty would buy him a Swiss Army knife.  Bodey's reward for gold would have been a rocket.  Booker got gold, so he got to go pick out a knife.  He was so super excited.  We had all the talks about being careful, being responsible, asking permission to use it, having supervision, etc.  After owning it for not quite 24 hours, he sliced his finger.  He grabbed it, looked at me, and ran off to hide in his room.  I asked him if he got cut and he uncovered it to find blood gushing out everywhere.  Then he started crying and saying over and over again, "I'm not responsible.  I need to be 10.  I'm not responsible!!!"  Bodey took one look and went even more ballistic and went screaming to get daddy.  When Dusty came in I could just hear the butt chewing Booker was about to get, so I cut him off before it could start.  But, surprisingly, he wasn't planning on taking Booker down.  He came in and said we aren't taking it away from you, you aren't grounded from it, you're not in trouble, blah blah blah.  Then we made Booker use it again.  Trying the old theory of getting right back in the saddle.  We weren't sure if it needed stitches or not, but decided no.  I'm not really sure still, but it seems to be healing ok.  Here it is after 2 days:

Ending on the Perfect Note

Yesterday was our last wrestling tournament of the season!  It was time, it's been a long season and I think we all started to get burned out.  Last weekend, the boys wrestled their first open tournament.  They both wrestled 50 lbs and ended up in the same bracket.  It was a huge tournament with fierce competition.  Booker ended up taking 4th place and Bodey ended up in 6th or 7th.  But they both did really well and we were so proud of them.  Booker wasn't having it though.  He was very disappointed in himself and nothing we could say would change his mind.  He said he hates wrestling and just wants to do soccer.  It boiled down to the fact that Booker really wanted a gold medal, and didn't believe he could ever do it.

Fast forward to this weekend.  It was their second open tournament.  Booker pinned his first kid in 51 seconds.  He gave us a small little smile, and was pretty excited.  Then he pinned his second kid in 13 seconds.  His smile was a little bigger.  Then he pinned his third kid in 36 seconds.  Smile - a tiny bit bigger... but not huge.  I cried I was so excited for him.  After 2 years of wrestling, he finally got his first gold medal!  And he earned it.  He was just so humble about it though.  He did admit he was proud of himself and he had a lot of fun.  And he decided he doesn't want to quit wrestling after all.  :)

Booker and his first GOLD!

Bodey had a really tough bracket and ended up losing all of his matches, but really gave his all and wrestled tough.  I was so proud of him.  That kid is going to be unstoppable when his maturity level catches up with his strength.  A short 8 hours after the season had ended, he asked me how many more sports there are until wrestling again.  I told him soccer, swimming, baseball and football.  He's also ready for next season.

My little wrestlers.

TMJ, IBS and Zzzzz's

Lots of letters?  Lots of problems.  But, problems that have been resolved.  It's been over a year and half since I quit my job in the corporate world.  It was miserable.  Not all jobs are miserable, but CST was.  In all ways possible.  I was completely stressed out, all the time.  Upper management was missing his head, which lead to many unfair and ridiculous situations.  My boss was worthless, but no one would admit it.  Instead, let's just give him a raise!  Dumb asses.  Long story short, the absurd amount of stress led to my jaw  getting massively inflamed all the time, to the point where I couldn't close my mouth.  I went to the doctor and the dentist and decided it was stress induced TMJ.  And I was so tense all the time that I randomly got a permanent "click" in my neck.  Still have it.  Won't go away.  My doctor put me on some kind of anxiety medication, that actually helped, but I decided not to refill it.  I was constantly at the chiropractor trying to relieve all the tension and pain in my neck and back.  Every morning, Monday through Friday, I would have diarrhea 4-6 times before noon.  Saturday and Sunday, perfectly normal.  I cried just about every day - not only at home in the evenings, but I'd actually have to step outside and call my husband bawling just to take a breather!  That's not right people!!  And, sleep?  Yeah, well, I didn't.  These things are not healthy, and certainly aged me!  Since quitting my job, my jaw is yet to swell, I don't have diarrhea, and I sleep.  Still have the weird click in my neck, but oh well!  I've been thinking about how happy and less stressed I am.  And I made the best decision, in my mind, to stay at home with my kids.  We are expecting a large snow storm here tomorrow, and last night I couldn't stop thinking how stressful it would have been if I were still working at Hell.  Obviously, schools and daycares will be closed.  Why?  Because it's not safe to be out driving on the roads.  But, don't you dare miss showing up at CST!  Find someone to watch your kids and get your butt there, even if you are putting your own life at risk.  And if you don't, be prepared to be called out.  Why?  Because the CFO with his head up his butt will send his little secretary around the building to do an attendance check.  I do not, in one little bit, miss those miserable days.  But daily I thank God for getting me out and where I am today.

Bodey's World

Bodey:  "Mom, why isn't it one-dee-one?"
Me:  "Why is what not one-dee-one?"
Bodey:  "Well, it's twenty-one and thirty-one, why not one-dee-one?"
HAHAHAHAHAAAAA.... Eleven!

At last weekend's wrestling tournament, in front of several other parents, Bodey told me I have a big junk in the trunk.  Thanks for pointing out the obvious, you little __________!

Even better though, is I told Bodey's teachers and the older lady that owns the preschool that he told me I have a big junk in the trunk and his two teachers and I laughed.  Then the older owner lady said, "Don't let him ever look in my car!"  BWAHAHAHAHAAAA!

Bodey has been using the word "literally" in context.  A lot.  This kid cracks me up!