Neurologist Update

Today, we had our follow-up appointment with our Pediatric Neurologist. We love Dr. Jones, and it's always fun getting to spend a few minutes with her. We talked about all of the issues that have been going on - especially the day that James nabbed my phone. We talked about how in some ways it seems like we are reverting back to those crazy toddler days before we even knew what was going on with James.

We started off with her letting me know that his MRI looks exactly the same as it did the last time it was done... which is a GOOD thing. Don't get me wrong - I love that result, but I was wondering if these behavioral issues were the result of a change there. That isn't the case - so we're back to the drawing board of finding the balance for James.

She gave us the all-clear on the MRI for 18-24 months -- so we don't have to worry about that again for a good while... which is nice.

We also talked about a test that a friend of mine mentioned -- it's a cheek swab test that brings back a list of what medications work well for the patient and what won't work at all. The website for the test paints it a bit differently - as in the test is a miracle that will magically tell you the exact medications that will work best... sadly, that isn't reality. Dr. Jones explained that it basically brings back the patient's detailed liver reaction to each medication -- which can be helpful, but it doesn't directly point you to specific meds. She did say that one benefit to the test is that it can stay with him for life -- so if anyone ever needs to put him on medications later in life for whatever chronic illness may or may not come... it'll have information on what drugs might work best for him.

I feel good about that given that I can't help guide him on what he might be allergic to - where I can with Tyler to a certain degree. At least as far as my medical background goes - so the only mystery for Tyler would be John's medical background... but even there - we know that John isn't allergic to anything.

After talking through that test - we looked at what tweaks we can make to his medicines - so for the next couple of weeks, we are going to try a new patch that gradually doses his medicine over 9 hours. I don't know how the patch will work, but it's the same medication that he has been on and we've had success with it -- so as long as he will keep the patch on, it might work well. Additionally, we are going to give him one of his other pills a couple hours earlier to see if that'll help slow him down in the witching hour when he just seems to be like a tornado.

Lastly, we talked about how he is doing academically - which is hard for me to answer. I'm of the mindset that they are always behind, but I know that is partially me being hard on myself. I feel like in some areas they are doing well, and others we are a bit behind... but I think overall we are doing as well as we can. Everyone keeps up for the most part - so we will just keep plugging away. I hope everyone is having a great start to their week... and I'm hoping to get back to this blogging thing more often -- since we're 95% over this flu now.

Catching Up

Since my last post -- we've had a doozy of a week and a half...

James got his MRI taken care of, but that was an ordeal. My poor buddy got stuck several times before the nurses decided that they should give him some gas to knock him out so they could get it. We decided that we won't ever try that again without giving him the gas, to begin with... I'm not sure who had more trauma from that experience - John or James. While James was getting his test done; Tyler, John, and I went downstairs for some breakfast. I wasn't feeling that well so I didn't eat, but we learned that Tyler has no problem with hospital food. HAHAHA.

John woke up that morning feeling under the weather, and he was set to travel to Belguim on Sunday - so I made him a doctor's appointment that he could go to once we got everyone home from the hospital. We went back upstairs, and after a few minutes, they called me back to see James. He woke up talking and has not stopped since... unless he is sleeping. They told us that he might be groggy for the rest of the day from the anesthesia... they lied.

He was back full speed from the moment we got home. Ready to go, but we tried our best to keep him at a slower pace for the rest of the day. John made it to the doctor, and they told him he had bronchitis.

By Saturday, he had a 102 fever - so he called and talked with his team leader, and they decided to cancel his trip. Thank goodness they did that... by Monday, I was diagnosed with the Flu A. I made it to the doctor on Monday evening, and then the ice storm hit - so the city was shut down on Tuesday and Wednesday. Well, by Tuesday evening - we knew Tyler had the flu as well... but with everything closed, we couldn't get them to the doctor until Thursday morning.

Thursday morning, both boys were diagnosed with Flu B - so we've been quarantined ever since. John was able to work his meetings in Belgium from home so he has been with us the whole week. While we were at the pediatrician's office - we discussed with him the possibility of John having been misdiagnosed with bronchitis earlier in the week - and he thought it sounded plausible. He told us that the Flu test can be falsely negative, however, it normally is accurate for most -- but at that point, there wasn't any need to go back for another flu test because Tamiflu couldn't help him at that stage of the illness.

We are hoping that we can get completely over this Flu and get back to normal again -- with a good LONG break from being sick. I mean, I haven't sneezed or coughed that much in my LIFE. My shoulder blades hurt. My lungs hurt. My nose hurts. We are all exhausted. Back to bed for me...

Minecraft Ghast Pinata

We chose this time to make a Ghast pinata, but you could easily make this as a TNT, Creeper, Enderman, or really anything Minecraft your child's heart desires. We got the idea from another blogger, but there are some design changes we would make when we do it again... which apparently will happen in April because James is determined to have everything Tyler did. (Don't worry friends that attended... there will be changes and some different ideas.)

Supplies Needed:
print out of the face of your pinata
1 (24pk) Pepsi or any other soft drink that has a square box
Candy and/or toys to fill the pinata
masking tape
scotch tape
glue stick
bottle of glue
wrapping paper in the color that matches your pinata (explained below)
crepe paper matching your pinata (explained below)
2 zip ties
rope

We started by letting Tyler fill the pinata with candy and little toys for all the kids. He was so funny making sure to fill it precisely in a specific pattern... even though when you move it, the candy and toys will shift and mix together.

Use masking tape and seal all the edges. We used a butter knife to split all of the seams gently so that we didn't disturb the cube shape. This is a 24 pack of Pepsi box that we used, but you could do this with any 24 pack that you can get. (I don't know if they make these shape packs for Coke.)

Wrap the box after you seal all of the seams with white wrapping paper, or use whatever you have that you can wrap the box with the design on the inside. You'll want the white on the outside so that it doesn't interfere with your design. If you do a different design - consider using the base color of your design for your wrapping paper... for instance, if you do a Creeper -- I'd do green paper; Enderman -- black paper; TNT -- red paper; and so on.

We made an excel template that had the face designs for all of our craft projects... (spoiler alert, I can email this to anyone that might be interested in making one of your own.) this template was very helpful. Glue the design onto the box with a glue stick. We put the extra gray pieces on the box but ended up covering most of them with the crepe paper.

We took the crepe paper and cut little frays into one side of the strips... for the texture. (if you look at the very bottom of the box you can see how it was cut so that you see the little fringe effect) We used a bottle of school glue and a brush to glue the top edge of each piece of crepe paper to the box. This takes a while, and we set it on another smaller box to be able to let it dry and get finished. 

Here it is all finished and drying for a bit -- we added the crepe paper to the sides and a sign to the back so that we didn't have quite as much to glue there. We found a Minecraft font and downloaded it to use for our sign, and we downloaded images from Google to use on the sign.

Here it is in action -- next time we make one of these -- we will cut some cardboard from an Amazon box or something to help strengthen the top where you attach the rope - so our plan is that we'd add a piece or two across the top inside of the Pepsi box just below the handle, secure it to the sides, and then attach the rope there because once you fill it with candy it's just a bit too heavy for the original handle to hold it up. We had 12 kids hit this thing, but with the first initial swing the handle gave way -- we were lucky it lasted through everyone getting one turn to hit it.

Summer Reading List

To know me is to know that I love books... I come by it honestly because my Dad and his 3 brothers have entire rooms loaded with book shelves we are talking about floor to ceiling types of hoarding situations. I'm not at that level yet, but I did just take 6 boxes of books to Half Price Books yesterday to sell them... so maybe I'm closer than I think? (Don't answer that!)

I'm always reading on my Kindle App at night -- and I've worked my way through all of the Hannah Swensen murder mystery books, the Coffeehouse Mysteries books, and am now working my way through the White House Chef Mysteries. The fun part about all 3 of these series is that they have a food element to the stories, so there are also recipes included for the things that they talk about in the stories. I haven't made any of them yet, but a good friend of mine is making at least one recipe out of each book as she reads them.

My summer reading list includes these fiction titles, but several other things as well -- want to peek into my bag of books? (click on the photos to be taken directly to their listing on Amazon)


I'm on the book launch team for this book, and y'all it's amazing -- I'm 2 chapters in and it's literally life changing... seriously, you want to RUN over and preorder a copy of this book today! It comes out on June 27th, and truly -- you will not regret the life-affirming words on these pages. Here is the description from Amazon:

"Women often feel like they have to have it all together in order to live a meaningful life. Instead they feel inadequate, overwhelmed, and exhausted as they to figure out how to do it all. Author, business owner, and mom to three Lara Casey offers sound and grace-filled advice: “We can’t do it all, and do it well. But, we can choose to cultivate what matters.”

Welcome to the journey of getting messy in the rich soil of possibility—embracing imperfect, grace-filled progress to grow a life of joy.

Written as part encouragement anthem and part practical guide, Cultivate offers wisdom from God’s Word alongside lessons Lara has learned in her garden. Woven throughout is her personal story that helps release readers from the pressure to achieve and gives them freedom to move from planning to planting a meaningful legacy. “It’s in the imperfect—the mess of the dirt--that good things grow,” Casey reminds readers. “Peonies grow through the dirt, and so do we.” Readers will learn to embrace the season they’re in, finding balance as they interact in fresh ways with their current life scenarios, with God, and in the communities where they are planted.

Special features include

• Actionable Cultivate It prompts throughout the book
• A ten-week Cultivate Together discussion guide with questions for small groups
• “Grace from the Garden” vignettes provide encouragement and inspiration

Find the joy and the freedom that comes in cultivating what matters, little by little, with God’s transforming grace."

I need this in my life -- I need simple, easy, and imperfect... I need more real and less Pinterest worthy snapshots of what life isn't. I'll be putting this one at the top of the list, it's first up after I finish Cultivate. I've got Emily's Next book on preorder as well! Here is the description of the book from Amazon:

"As a busy wife, new mother, business owner, and designer, Emily Ley came to a point when she suddenly realized she couldn’t do it all. She needed to simplify her life, organize her days, and prioritize the priorities. She decided to hold herself to a standard of grace rather than perfection. This mantra led to the creation of her bestselling Simplified Planner^®, a favorite among busy women everywhere—from mamas to executives and everywhere in between.

Grace, Not Perfection takes this message from a daily planner to an inspirational book that encourages women to simplify and prioritize. Designed with Emily Ley’s signature aesthetic, this book gives women tangible ways to simplify their lives to give space to what matters most. With a focus on faith, Emily reminds readers that God abundantly pours out grace on us—and that surely we can extend grace to ourselves.

Have you been told you can have it all, only to end up exhausted and occasionally out of sorts with the people you love? Are you ready for a new way of seeing your time? Learn to live a little more simply. Hold yourself and those you love to a more life-giving standard in Grace Not Perfection, and allow that grace to seep into your days, your family, and your heart."
My sister sent me a text yesterday about this book -- so naturally, I had to get it -- but the premise sounds like it's right up my alley. It's a book about setting up schedules and routines so that everyone knows what to expect next and if that doesn't speak to my sweet James' need for order and structure. If this one sticks with me -- I'm going to check out their book Managers of Their Chores. Here is the description:  "Completely revised and direct from Titus2! What resource could be better than Managers of Their Homes to bring families peace and order? The answer is the newly revised Managers of Their Homes!! Managers of Their Homes has been thousands of moms' go-to resource for the past 17 years. But with time, comes even more experience besides our own and the pilot families who tested it out. We've gained new insights that we realized were vital to include in this treasured book.

Each chapter has been extensively revised and more helpful tips added. You'll also find a special chapter on how to schedule when a mom faces health challenges or is on bedrest. Plus, what good is a schedule if you can't make it run smoothly? Schedules ARE stress-busters, but you need the proper tools to make it that way. So with that in mind, we've given practical help on implementing despite the challenges you face.

In addition, the chapter on putting your schedule together with the included Scheduling Kit gives an optional route if you choose to subscribe to the online scheduling software (ScheduleBreeze). The book's new design and format makes for a super easy and comfortable read.

Grab your revised copy of Managers of Their Homes now! Can you imagine how wonderful it would be to go to bed each night, with the peace of mind that you accomplished what you wanted to each day, such as a clean house, AND homeschooling? Tens of thousands of moms prove it is possible, every day. This book INCLUDES the Scheduling Kit."

I saw an interview a week or so ago or maybe it was a podcast talking about it -- but this book sounded like something that interested me. I feel like I need some help and tips to help make sure that my kids are better than what I'm seeing lately -- both in my home and in the world. 
"In The Collapse of Parenting, internationally acclaimed author Leonard Sax argues that rising levels of obesity, depression, and anxiety among young people can be traced to parents abdicating their authority. The result is children who have no standard of right and wrong, who lack discipline, and who look to their peers and the Internet for direction. Sax shows how parents must reassert their authority—by limiting time with screens, by encouraging better habits at the dinner table, and by teaching humility and perspective—to help their children thrive in an increasingly complicated world." 

I heard someone mention this book, and it just sounded like something I needed to check out -- I can't decide where it'll fit in the order of priority -- but it's definitely in the top of the stack. Here is the Amazon description:  "Today’s busier, faster society is waging an undeclared war on childhood. With too much stuff, too many choices, and too little time, children can become anxious, have trouble with friends and school, or even be diagnosed with behavioral problems. Now internationally renowned family consultant Kim John Payne helps parents reclaim for their children the space and freedom that all kids need for their attention to deepen and their individuality to flourish. Simplicity Parenting offers inspiration, ideas, and a blueprint for change:  
• Streamline your home environment. Reduce the amount of toys, books, and clutter—as well as the lights, sounds, and general sensory overload.
• Establish rhythms and rituals. Discover ways to ease daily tensions, create battle-free mealtimes and bedtimes, and tell if your child is overwhelmed. 
• Schedule a break in the schedule. Establish intervals of calm and connection in your child’s daily torrent of constant doing.
• Scale back on media and parental involvement. Manage your children’s “screen time” to limit the endless deluge of information and stimulation. 

A manifesto for protecting the grace of childhood, Simplicity Parenting is an eloquent guide to bringing new rhythms to bear on the lifelong art of raising children."

Journey of Loving my Family Well

Can I take a second to laugh at my boy, Tyler... I mean that boy gets so weird in front of the camera... he almost always looks like his eyes are about to pop out of his skull.

This year, I'm seeking out ways to love my family in more tangible ways -- to be present and love them in more effective ways.

How do I want to do that -- I'm thinking of Bible studies with John; daily devotions with the boys; date nights with John at least monthly; date nights with the boys.

I was thinking that the boy's date nights would work by dividing and concurring... i.e. James goes out with Mom one month then Dad the next month... and the same with Tyler. That way each of them has a special time with one of us each month.

I gave John a year of planned out dates as part of his Christmas gift -- so we just have to choose a day each month to accomplish them. I'm hoping that by the end of the month we can get January's date planned, but he is still working around the clock on a big project at work -- so hopefully it will wind up soon.

We got the One Year Devotional for Preschoolers 2

 

For our first trial run of doing this -- I wanted something very simple and short that we could read while they are having their dinner at night. Just a 2-3 minute talk and hopefully it will get them talking about things that the reading bring to their mind. 

Next up, I need to find a Bible study for John and I to work on together. We did get a really cool journal for Christmas -- so we're going to be working on that this year too. 

 

Those are some of my initial ideas for how I can work toward trying to be more dialed in with my family. Of course there are others that I am looking into -- so I'll let you know about those as I learn more.

Turkey on the Table

Lately, I've noticed my kids are just totally ungrateful for the blessings that they have in their lives. I know this isn't an uncommon phenomenon in our culture, but I really want them to be thankful for all that we have - so I'm working on a strategy to help them see that they have it pretty darn good. In school, we've been talking about praying for others and being thankful for the things that we have.

With November coming up -- I remembered something I saw last year, by the time I saw it though - they were sold out of their inventory.

This is directly from their website:

Did you know that gratitude is a learned behavior? Turkey on the Table^® is a book & activity that encourages the whole family to express and display their gratitude.  Our goal is to turn thankfulness into a daily routine.  As parents, we want to instill values in our children that help them understand and appreciate all of life’s blessings. Cultivating a grateful heart helps create a happy child!
Not only will your family experience the benefits of being thankful, you will also experience the joy of giving, knowing that 10 meals will be provided to someone in need with each Turkey on the Table^® sold. To date, over 102,000 meals have been donated by Turkey on the Table^® through our partnership with Feeding America^® .
I absolutely love that they've combined the program with giving back to give meals to those in need. I can't imagine a better learning lesson than to talk to the kids about how some people don't know where their next meal will come from. I've looked into taking them to pack lunches for school kids that can't provide their own - it's a sack lunch program for needy children in our area - but they aren't old enough yet to go help with packing them.

So, we're going to try this - I love that when it comes time to do it again - you can just get new feathers from them in all sorts of different styles. We will start it on November 1st, and go until the end of the month. I'll read them the book in school on November 1st, and set him out on the kitchen table -- then we will add to him every night when they're having dinner. It'll be our new family tradition, and it doesn't hurt that the turkey is super cute!

I can't wait to see what sorts of things that they answer because I'm not going to let them use the same answer everyday like they've done before -- in order to get a feather it has to be something new to add. I haven't opened the box yet to preview the story, but I'm sure that it will be great too.

I would encourage y'all to get one for yourselves -- you've got a week and a day before it's time to get started -- so order TODAY, and share in the journey with us!

Leave a comment below if you've used Turkey on the Table already -- or if you're planning to start it this year!

I also have been loving my personal hair color that I get from eSalon - I took a survey that told the colorist some things about my coloring and skin tone, and sent them a photo of myself so that they could custom mix my color for me. They auto-ship it to me every 12 weeks... and all I have to do is take the time to put it on. Easy peasy!

Field Trip Fun - Houston Children's Museum

About a week ago, we went to a special Homeschool Day at the Children's Museum of Houston. It was a great day, that the museum closed for the day -- and let us come play at a discounted rate. Several of our homeschool friends were also there, but it was hard to keep everyone together -- as the kids just sort of start running from exhibit to exhibit.We did our best, and had a few minutes together.

The boys had a great time on their first visit to the museum, this was our first stop -- it was a room with a lot of gravity/physics/electricity type of games and simulations -- this was a golf ball table where they had to bounce the balls off of the obstacles and get them to fall in the holes. When they fell through, they dropped down and rolled back to where they are standing. I wasn't sure we were going make it past this toy because they loved it.

Somehow we rounded around to a room all about letting the kids explore Mexico. They had a VW bus that the kids could pretend to drive, and a moped with a cart on the back so this is all of us piling in with James our little chauffeur. Tyler enjoyed playing with the little Mexican Market, and the home that was made up there for them to be able to make pretend tortillas.

When we walked out of that area devoted to Mexico and found some face paint crayons -- I'm not sure what else to call them, but the boys begged me to give them bunny noses and wiskers -- so I let them do it. Of course Tyler then tried to wipe them off immediately and made a mess on his face. They had sponges in the display for you to get the crayons wet -- to then use on your face -- so he grabbed one of the sponges and wiped it right on his face making his lips and everything green. Oiy!

Next up, we find the little city -- it is so great. Everything is set up for the kids to learn about banking, paychecks, jobs, and everything in between. There is a Bank, Post Office, Stock Market, News Station, Election/Government Room, Police Station, Ambulance, Grocery Store, Restaurant, and Vet Clinic. It's absolutely adorable. Each area has a sponsor -- so for the grocery store -- it's sponsored by H-E-B and looks like the inside of the H-E-B stores. The boys of course loved it!

Tyler might have enjoyed the grocery store more than James -- which I thought was odd. I thought James would have been thrilled with getting to play with this. They both loved the one in Memphis that was set up like the Kroger stores there.

Next up, they hit the vet clinic and played in there for a bit. They had all sorts of cool stuff in there - skeletons of animals, x-rays, food, treats, play animals, even a set of cages for boarding the animals. It was really adorable. They enjoyed it almost as much as the Ambulance... which we hit twice and stayed for a significant amount of time.

Here we are driving the ambulance... they loved it and the lights flashed when they turned on some of the switches. They played here for a good bit, and in the back of the ambulance as well. This is right up their alley -- because they love playing all things doctor/rescue/fire/police related.

I cracked up because there is a little toy defibrillator there in the back of the ambulance, but James mostly liked giving the patient shots while Tyler wanted to just check his heart all the time.

This is James driving the police car -- which is super cute! They have a little crime lab that they can explore in as well, but neither of them had much interest. They also had a deal where you can be the 911 dispatcher and decide who should respond to certain emergencies.

This is Tyler and I in the postal truck having some selfie time. They love taking pictures with us like this -- so I indulged them a little bit. I think they really loved all of this little city.

James and I in the same postal truck -- he also loved the little delivery bike too. They also had a bike in the first room we went in that allowed them to ride and create electricity to light up a strip of lights. He really got a kick out of that.

Here we are back in that original room riding on a lift -- there is a lesson in that about something, but we missed it because all he cared about was being lifted off the ground to then slowly fall back down. He made me take several videos of it, which is hard when I'm the one videoing AND pulling the rope to lift him up in the air to fall back down.

A great time was had by all, until we went into the little gift shop -- I told them they could choose something small -- Tyler picked a little pack of jelly beans, James wanted a $45 dollar school bus. Then he backed of to a $20 school bus... this all ended in no one getting anything -- and me carrying James kicking and screaming all the way out of the museum and to the car. He was still screaming and crying when we got halfway home. UGH! Some days are wins and some are epic losses -- this one was a combination of both.

We are learning a LOT of lessons around here these days -- like how dessert isn't a right... it's a privilege that can be lost. We usually negotiate them into fruit if their attitudes aren't good... but last night they went off the deep end and lost their devices for the rest of the day AND their dessert. Tyler cried himself to sleep and James was fine other than the loss of the iPad.

They are good boys, but this whole idea of disobeying and all of that has been the hardest thing for us to work through. I guess it is for everyone -- but MAN, can they catch on a little bit? We've also been working on proper responses to anger -- like calming down, talking to the offender, and then working on something else to take your mind off of things. Instead of reacting in anger and punching your brother repeatedly... the lesson isn't getting much traction yet.

James Update

You see this guy with the cape? Whew, he is a whirlwind! He is always happy and has a great time everywhere he goes... he has never met a stranger. He is a bit impulsive, and struggles to stay focused. When he was 2, he was diagnosed with neurofibromatosis type 1.

Neurofibromatosis Type 1 (NF1) -- Neurofibromatosis type I (NF-1) is a tumor disorder that is caused by the mutation of a gene on chromosome 17 that is responsible for control of cell division. NF-1 causes tumors along the nervous system. Common symptoms of NF-1 include scoliosis (curvature of the spine), learning disabilities, vision disorders, and epilepsy.

To be clear, at this time, James has none of these tumors, and all of his MRIs have come back clear. He does have the spots, and definitely has ADHD - fairly severe ADHD actually. He struggles with what they call motor planning, as well as being able to be still to do anything for more than 15ish seconds depending on the activity. He can hyperfocus on certain games and videos on his iPad, but most other things he can't stick with.

He has been in therapy for a year and a half now, and some things have started to click a bit for him. His fine motor planning has been the biggest delay for him, and he still struggles with pinching and gripping things properly, but we still work with him. We've had to stop therapy because private therapy was just too expensive even with insurance coverage.

We did have him tested earlier this year for a special program within the public school system, and he tested out of that - so he wasn't able to get any extra help there. I was amazed that they felt like he was on par to start Kindergarten in the fall, but we're thankfully going to homeschool him and keep working on things at home.

He has seen a developmental specialist twice, and while I don't completely think she gets a good picture by sitting with him for an hour -- we've gotten some insight there as well. She was the one that suggested testing him for the special preschool program within the public schools - she was really the one that made me decide 100% to school him at home. She said that with the way schools here are designed - they are open concept so that all of the classrooms are in blocks of 4 that are basically only separated by bookshelves and things that leave the area open - he would really suffer with all of the distractions.

I'm not willing to let that happen to him, and I think the older he gets the more we can talk through ways for him to cope with these types of issues. There are absolutely things that interest him though - washing machines, vacuums, mechanical, and medical things seem to be things that he hyper-focuses on.

He goes to see his neurologist for a check up in a week, and it's always nice to get her input and advice. We've also got him set to start our Kindergarten program in about a month, which will be exciting to get us into a routine. James thrives on routine the most - he loves knowing what is coming next.

He sure is a sweet little guy, still wearing size 2t-3t most of the time - he has the smallest waist so we have to stay in that size for his pjs... but they look like capri pants. Otherwise we have to really cinch up his pants to get the length correct. He is still wearing the same size shoe as he was 2 years ago too. He is getting taller though, so that is good. His weight is still hanging in there at 35 pounds too. James is a precious little man, and we love him with all of our hearts!

Worst Mom in the World

I swear that every time we walk into a store -- it's like the whole world comes apart for these two boys. Like suddenly they forget every bit of sense their little bodies had and they become two of the biggest hyenas I've ever witnessed.

I feel people looking at me like I haven't taught them any better, which I can assure them... I have. I continue to tell them that people aren't going to want to be around them if they continue acting like this, but it really falls on deaf ears. Am I alone? Is it their age? Is it the fact that they are only 6 months apart?

I have no idea. We can be at home, with them acting completely civil -- go out for a quick errand, and they act like they can't hold it together. Running around the grocery cart, smacking each other, trying to squish their brother inside the carts that have the "driving car" on the front... then finally they are not even riding IN the stupid driving car that they desperately had to have. It's my favorite to be pushing those impossible to steer carts with no children inside.

It's a problem, and I'm not sure what to do about it. Should I ignore them, and have confidence that it'll stop? It's the same thing at restaurants... so I feel like I've got to train them somehow, but then there is the deaf ear problem. Oiy! Boys!

Help a momma out... why are my children crazy in public? Are yours? Can you at least tell me yours are so that I'll feel better? I know most of you have angelic children because I see them in the grocery store and wonder why mine are doing doughnuts around the cart which everyone else has their kids sitting still in their cart.

Our First S'mores

This was our supervisor -- HAHAHA -- Dixie was not thrilled that she didn't get to partake of the spoils, but her tummy was glad to not have to deal with all that chocolate.

Here we are in process of getting the dessert ready. The boys did pretty well staying back and only watching from their chairs. We of course made the obligatory coat hanger roasting stick. I'm sure that John would have liked to roast the marshmallows a bit more, but I was concerned with getting any of the melted stuff in our gas logs.

Then came the eating... and some happy boys!

A good time was had by all involved, and I'm pretty sure that the boys will be ready to enjoy them again anytime.