18 months old

I know I say this EVERY month but I really cannot believe how fast this time goes by. Sophia LOVES shoes and putting on her pj's over her clothes these days. She can put the pants on but puts both legs in one hole. She is talking so much now and trying so hard. She LOVES baket baaaal (basketball) and still growls when she hears or sees a dog. When she sees us put shoes on or grab our keys, she walks to the door and says, "car car, I go car car". She usually cries when daddy leaves for work because she wants the car car.

If you ask her where body parts are she can point and tries to say the word.

Hair, forehead, eyes, ears, mouth, nose, chin, cheek, stomach, goolie (bottom) arm, hand, fingers, leg, knee, foot, toes and elbow. She still will not let me put her hair up for more than 15-2o seconds.

She follows Jonah and Luke around and gets so excited when they come into the room she is in. They are awesome big brothers and love her so much.

105 outside and no AC

Monday morning Justin got up at 3:30 so he could leave the house at 3:50am to pick up a coworker and catch the red eye out to Houston. This is after he has been working literally 72 hours strait. He was doing some contract work for a friend from 8:00pm until 7:00 or so the next morning Thursday and Friday night after putting in a full days work for GE. He would catch a couple of hours through the night but for the most part worked. He was exhausted and really did not want to head to Houston.

He sent a text at 5:50 that morning saying they were pulling away and would let me know when he landed. Another one shortly followed with they are heading back to the gate for mechanical problems. I get the boys off to school and when I get home at 7:45 he sends another text saying they are now boarding the plane. Needless to say he was a little tired from getting up at 3:30 for no reason.

The day goes on and I notice it getting a little warm in the house and just figure its really hot outside and do not think about it. I go and pick the boys up at the bus stop and when I get back I really notice it so I walk over to the thermostat and it is 82 degrees. I am melting people... melting. Do you remember what you just read people? JUSTIN IS OUT OF TOWN! Of course he is. It is the first day of school and we are trying to get in a routine so its not like I can just pack up and go stay with my parents for the night.

I call my brother since he just had problems with his and he gave me the name of a guy. He first said that he would come by and take a look. He got here and went and took a cover off the unit and said there was a little problem... a wire had burned and he saw metal pieces down in the bottom of the box. I am no AC repair guy but I know that can't be good. So the temp is now 84 degrees upstairs and Sophia's monitor is reading 88 in her room. THANK GOODNESS we have three units and the one in the master bedroom and the office is working.

The repair man could come at 11:00 the next day so I brought the boys mattress' downstairs to my room and Sophia's pack n play to the office. We had an early dinner and headed into my room to shut the doors and watch tv. It was finally bedtime. I could not wait to crawl in bed. Then the teeth grinding started and the talking in their sleep. It was a sleepless night but at least there was air conditioning!

The guy came out the next morning and fixed it within a couple of hours. It was cooled down by 2:00 or so and I could not have been happier.

Jonah's first assignment for 2nd grade

Meet the teacher night was a little crazy... we went to both the boys rooms and Sophia was screaming to get out of her stroller and wanted to touch everything and I was not paying close attention to what was on whose desk. I just grabbed the stack of papers and would go through them when we got home. When we got home I went through the stack and there was a brown paper bag with instructions to fill it with three things that tell something about you.

Now, there is only one problem. Whose desk was this on? I asked the boys if they remembered and of course they did not so for some reason I thought it was on Jonah's. Jonah went upstairs and grabbed a lego ship he built, a Wii game and a Pokemon card. Well, come morning I thought about it some more and remembered Jonah doing this in first grade so I thought for sure it was Luke's bag. I then took Jonah's items out and Luke filled it with his items.

Off to school we went! When I asked Luke's teacher if the bag assignment was hers she looked at me with a blank stare followed with a big fat "no". Now I feel horrible! Mr. perfectionist was not going to have his assignment on the first day of school. As soon as I got home I emailed his teacher to let her know and gave her a heads up that he might be upset. She said it was fine because they were doing a few a day. PERFECT! Jonah can take his tomorrow.

Jonah gets home from school and I have him go and grab his three things. Done, it is in his backpack and ready for tomorrow. So tomorrow came and he showed his items and brought his bag home and when I opened it was I ever shocked to see what he had replaced the lego ship with... Look below folks!

I about DIED! All I could think of was that he has been put on the "list" to watch. A call has been put into CPS, the counselor has been put on alert and they will now pat him down everyday he walks in the building!

I had to call him down to ask what exactly a grenade says about him. His response, "oh, it was just random, everyone put a random thing in their bag". Then I figured out exactly why he put it in there! It was sitting at the top of the stairs and oh so convenient to grab.

I wish I could have been a fly on the wall to see this all go down and the look on the teachers face of course!

First day of school

My little babies are growing up.

First Day of School... more pics

This morning the boys were actually excited about school. I decided I better wake them up early so they could get moving. That was a mistake... they were ready within 20 minutes and wanted to leave the house. We decided to walk to school this morning for some crazy reason... it was already 85 degrees at 7:10 in the morning and the humidity was about 90%. By the time I got home I needed another shower! The boys went right into their rooms and were actually smiling unlike a lot of the other kids who were already sitting at their desks. I asked if I could take their picture and got a big fat NO so I did not want to ruin a good thing.

I cannot even believe that one of my children is wearing a BUTTON DOWN shirt WITH a collar! Who is this kid? He is still telling me that his pants are too tight and so I have to undo all the adjustable waist and let them sag. Here is to a great 1st and 2nd grade year boys!

Happy early Anniversary

Justin has been talking about getting a new shotgun for a few years now. I have NO idea why he has not done it but FINALLY today he went out and got one! This is one happy man with his new Browning shotgun!

Eye doctor

Today Luke had an eye doctor appointment to have his eyes rechecked from his six year appointment. We were there for over an hour for them to tell us that everything was fine and there was NO concern! I must say I am relieved because the night before we went Luke told me that he wants red glasses!

Meet the teacher

The boys got to meet their teachers last night and were actually excited. When we got to the school it was nice to hear everyone calling out Jonah and Luke's names. Jonah was Mr. Joe Cool and high fivin' everyone and saying, "what's up". The boys saying hi to Luke would just keep saying his name.

Luke has Mrs. Norris and when we walked into the room she said, "hello Luke". My response, " uh oh". :) She laughed and then asked Luke if he remembered her from the bus line. That was a sigh of relieve for mom and dad. ha ha ha He has a few friends in his class so he was excited.

Jonah has Mrs. Edwards. I think she is new to the school and his classroom is in the old science lab so he is not in the second grade pod. He thought that was pretty cool. He knows a couple of people in his class and seemed OK with it.

We of course had to stop by and see Mrs. O'Connell and Mrs. Hilliard. The boys were excited to see them and Luke thought it was pretty crazy that Mrs. O'Connell knew who his first grade teacher was.

Luke told me last night that he was so excited because he was going to get to read to the kindergarten class now that he is in first grade.

Where has the time gone?

Pick your nose Tom Hooter!

Pick your nose Tom Hooter! Tom Hooter is Nina's uncle I believe and when they would catch him picking his nose that is what they would say. It has kind of stuck around all these years and now we say it to our kids. We have big brothers to thank for this new trick she has learned. They love making her do things that she should not be doing :)

Little monkey

Sophia is a little monkey these days. She is JUST like big brother Jonah. We had to put the kitchen table chairs on their side because she was climbing on the table. As I was blogging the other day she is in the boys bathroom directly behind me and I hear the water come on. I turn around and see this. I of course had to grab the phone and take a picture. She got up on the stool and then used the cabinet to give her the extra boost.

Maybe I should look into getting her a helmet!

Ghosts

The boys came down stairs this morning telling me that there were ghosts in the house. They were telling me all kinds of things that the ghost has been doing. They opened their closet and the blue sleeping bag moved without them even touching it. Jonah even told me that the ghost gave him chills twice by running his hand down his back.

The proceeded to build a fort and said that we will know if they have been here while we are gone because it will be knocked down. Jonah asked Luke if he had touched his pillow pet and when Luke said he had not Jonah said the ghost must have done it.

They say that the ghosts are easy to see because they have a gray outline. I cannot wait to see how many more stories I get to hear today. I love their imagination!

So later this afternoon the boys come over to the balcony and Jonah says, "mom, we figured out what was cursing us." He then holds up a figurine of ET and pretends to shoot it and throw it over the balcony.

What is that noise?

I woke up at 5:00 this morning because I heard a strange sound. I laid there for a minute and thought surly that is not what I think it is. I finally got up and went and looked out the window and saw RAIN! WOOHOOOOOO I wanted so badly to wake Justin up and tell him that it was raining. I could hardly stand it. I went back to the bedroom and grabbed my phone to look at the radar and saw this. It was a sight to see.

I think we went a month and a half with NO RAIN and our yard is dead and we have huge cracks in our driveway. The street even buckled at Legacy just north of Lebanon due to the heat and no rain. I am not sure how much we got but we will take it!

More bike accidents...

You fall off your bike you get right back on... So last week Luke ate the concrete with his face but was willing to go back out... and ride his scooter that is! Oh well, he will get back on eventually, right?

So they boys were wanting to ride and so Justin dusted off the cobwebs from his bike and got some air in the tires and hit the pavement... wearing flip flops. So they take off for a bike ride and I stay home and put Sophia down for the night and sit down on the couch to relax and about 20 minutes later Jonah comes in boohooing. He said he was hurt bad and held up his arm to show me. I ask him where dad and Luke are and he said that he left them at the pond. I asked him if daddy knew he was coming home and he told me that he did not know.

I calm him down and let him take a bath so he can hold his arm up and get him bandaged. By that time Luke comes in and I throw him in the shower and get them in jammies and teeth brushed and then in walks Justin. SERIOUSLY dude? His toe is bleeding and he has torn a toenail and his flip flop is covered in blood and then he turns to show me the back of his leg.

Well, the back of the leg was from his foot slipping off the pedal and he did not even know he was bleeding. The toe thing did not happen until he got home. Jonah tossed his bike in the front lawn and ran all the way to the back to come in through the garage and so of course Luke followed suit when he got home. Justin was talking to the neighbors so he grabbed the bikes and was rolling them up the driveway and tripped on his flip flop and jammed his toe on the bike. O U C H!

He comes in and showers and the boys help him get bandaged up. I am thankful that they are all ok and even more thankful that I was not out riding because I can only imagine what could or would have happened to me!

Here are the boys battle wounds.

Wallets

We were bored to death and it was way too hot to go outside so I got online and looked for some crafts that we could do. I found a how to on Duck Tape (This is "duck" tape, not duct tape) wallets. We were off to Hobby Lobby to find the colors we wanted and here is what we came home with. They both have pockets and the boys love them.

SCARED TO DEATH!

BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEPPPPPPPPPPPP Justin and I have NEVER jumped out of bed as fast as we did this morning at 3:00! I knew that it was the beep that meant you have about 20 seconds to disarm the alarm before it goes off.

I ran to the front door and looked at the keypad and the red lock and number 3 were lit up. That meant that a door opened and I knew that station 3 was the garage door into the house. I did not even think twice before I punched in the code to disarm the alarm. Not once did it occur to me that someone could have actually been in the house waiting! Justin went to the laundry room and opened and closed the door and I went back to the bedroom and noticed the wind was blowing so I figured that one of the boys just did not shut the door good behind them.

Of course now we cannot fall back to sleep and I can't even close my eyes, I am watching the door like a hawk. I kept thinking maybe someone is hiding in the laundry room and what if... Needless to say it was a sleepless night.

Dang its H O T

This summer has been a scorcher! We have not even been swimming a lot because it is so stinking hot. They are saying that if we go a couple of more days with temps over 100 then we will beat the record back in 1980.

Look mom! No training wheels.

We have been trying to get Luke to ride without training wheels but he never wanted to try. FINALLY tonight he wanted to try. Why not? It's only 105 so lets do it. I walked him out front and had no shoes on so I went in to get some shoes and Justin went down the street with him and he got it THE FIRST TIME! WOOHOO Lukie! He was so excited.

I came out and snapped a picture and some video and came back in and 5 minutes later I hear Luke crying so hard and Justin telling him that it is OK and happens to everyone. HE ATE THE CONCRETE FACE FIRST! Thank goodness for his helmet. Of course his palms were scraped and his knee messed up. We told him that he could take a bath instead of a shower and he was pretty excited but still crying. We got him all cleaned up and bandaged for the night and then I told him the story of when I fell off a moped and was all scraped up and bandaged and it was the first week of my freshman year in college. I even told him that some of the football players asked if I was in a motorcycle wreck. I was gimping all around and could not bend my knees and my arm from the elbow to the middle of the arm were torn up. At least the boys thought it was funny... at the time it was not funny to mommy :)

Now, let's hope that he will get back on the bike!

Rash, rash and more rash...

About three weeks ago I noticed two little red dots on Sophia's knee. I thought they were just bites so I did not think anything about it. So a couple of days pass and there are three more of the same dots on the other side of her knee. What is it? Justin put some Cortizone cream on it and we went about our business. A few more days pass and it is OUT OF CONTROL! It is all over her knee and working itself up her leg and now on the other knee. I noticed it turned red when she got hot. She was not bothering it so I just kept putting cream on it.

We left for Austin and the few days we were there it got worse. I decided to cut my trip short so I could get her to the doctor. I took her in and drum roll please....... MOTHER OF THE YEAR once again (and am very sure not the last time I will earn this title) She has Strep! I told Dr. Kaplan that I had been putting Cortizone cream on it and he said that it only makes the rash spread. Fabulous!

So he gives us a prescription and sends us on our way. We get home and when I opened the medicine I must admit I did want to vomit at the smell. The girl would NOT take it. We tried everything. Putting it in yogurt, milk, juice, everything. She refused.

A couple of days later I call the doctor to see if they can just call in another prescription that she will take. Of course the rash is spreading even more and so they want to see her. Dr. Kaplan is out of the office so I have to see another doctor. She tells me that it does not look like Strep even though she tested positive for it last week (READ THE FILE). So she wrote a prescription for Amoxicillin and we were on our way... or so I thought.

Again... this medicine thing was not working out so good. She would take it every other time or so and now the rash is from her neck down to her feet. I am SO OVER IT! I take her BACK to the doctor yesterday and FINALLY they give her a Penicillin shot right in her booty. She was not happy. She cried and cried and kept grabbing her crotch saying, "ouch, ouch". We had to wait in the office for about 10 minutes to make sure she did not have a reaction to the shot. We also got a prescription for some cream to put on the rash. Sad thing is that I did not even ask what he thought this could be. It just looks like bumps and not what started out on her knee. I just want it gone.

Who is this kid?

I knew that one day I would either forget that Jonah wore his pants under his armpits or that he would NEVER believe me... so I of course took pictures. So the other day he was running around with no shirt on and I could NOT believe what I saw! So of course I took a picture.

Not only is he "saggin'" but his undies are showing AND they are adjustable pants that he did not want me to tighten. I really thought I would never see his belly button again.

Shooting skeet

Justin decided it was time to take Jonah out to shoot skeet. They headed out Sunday morning with Chad and Jonah was super excited. Justin said that he did better than him. Jonah has still not stopped talking about how much fun it was and how he cannot wait to shoot a duck!

FOR THE LOVE!

FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS HOLY! Just once and yes, that is ALL I ask, just ONCE can I ask Luke to take a shower, brush his teeth and put his jammies on without him whining and throwing a fit? How old are you dude? SIX

I am not even exaggerating people. We do the SAME routine EVERY single night and it is an hour long process and in the end there is A LOT of yelling and my blood pressure spikes! He could have showered, brushed his teeth and put on his jammies in 10 minutes if he would just DO IT the first 35 times he is told. I dread night time and feel horrible when I yell but talking, telling, asking and bribing do not even work. It is a NIGHTMARE I live every single night and I am SO over it. I will take any suggestions because I might become an alcoholic just to deal with his fits.

I have even thought of just letting him not shower and sleep in the same clothes and not brush his teeth and see just how long he would go being so dirty. As you all know, that will never happen, I am a clean freak. :)

Jonah... Jonah, Jonah. Why is it when he gets in trouble he immediately blames Luke and yells at him that it is all his fault. It drives me insane. I calmly (I know, hard to believe) call him to come here and explain to him that when "Jonah" hits or does whatever wrong that it is JONAH'S fault, not Luke's! Jonah likes to stomp down or up the stairs when he is in trouble so he now gets to stomp in place for three minutes when he does this. He complains and he has to start over.

I need a drink!

SHOWER, JAMMIES AND BRUSH TEETH WITH NO COMPLAINTS ONE TIME THAT IS ALL I ASK!!!

Aunt Amy's

The boys have been asking all summer when we were going to Austin to see Aunt Amy. I kept telling them that I have to see when she was going to be home because she is in El Paso all the time now. We finally came up with a date and I did not tell the boys because I wanted to surprise them. It worked out perfect, Justin was going to Wisconsin for work and Aunt Kelly asked if the boys could spend the night the day before we left. After the boys left with Aunt Kelly I started packing and got the car loaded ready to hit the road that next morning.

I got to Kelly's a little before 10:00 and the boys were so sad that I was there so early. I told them that I had to be because we were GOING TO SEE AUNT AMY! They were super excited. We had asked Kelly to join us but she could not make it work.

We got in the car and Jonah said, "this day just keeps getting better and better." Two hours into the trip Luke says, "mom, are we almost to the airport?" I told him we were not going to the airport and his response, "but, you said we were going to see Aunt Amy right now."

I giggle and tell him that we are driving there and we are half way there already.

I knew that my sister was heading to Dallas from San Antonio to stay for a few days and we would miss her the first few days she was here. She called me to tell me that they were just in Austin and asked where I was. A little while later I called her to see where she was and she was in Georgetown and so were we. I asked what exit and she said, "260." and we were at exit 264. I told her that I would be looking for her and wave and small world, we saw each other! That was kind of cool. I know, it sounds dorky but it was cool!

When we got there we unloaded the car and went shopping for a little while and then went to dinner and came home and put Sophia down and they boys watched Harry Potter and Auntie and I got to watch our trash TV! It was perfect.

The next day we let the kids swim and just hung around. They played pool and with their Legos.

They boys of course slept with Aunt Amy and Sophia and I took the spare room. They love sleeping in her room because her bed is super cozy.

Now, you did NOT expect the Mortons to be out of town and have it go smoothly... DID YOU?

The last night there Amy came into my room around 10:30 telling me that Jonah needed some new pants, he had barfed and it got all over them. I jump up and run in there and Jonah is laying in bed with a horrible look on his face. Amy gets the AUNT OF THE YEAR AWARD! She insisted on cleaning up the vomit. Jonah made it to the toilet but he said it was dark in there and he could not see and THAT is why he missed and puked all down the front of the toilet :) Which, I do have to believe that because he pukes A LOT and he always makes it down stairs to my room, wakes me up and makes it to the toilet EVERY time!

I had to put him in the shower because it was all down his legs and Amy is STILL cleaning up the mess. We then have to change her sheets because Jonah crawled in bed after the incident.

I knew that he would most likely NOT do it again because he ate so much junk all day that I told him his tummy was going to get sick. It happens EVERY time and he never listens! It happens at least once a month folks. Auntie of the year said that she would take care of him and for me to go back to bed. I fought her on it but she did end up winning :) I of course did not sleep well wondering if he was sick again though.

Amy you are # 1 in my book.

So as if THAT did not top off the trip. Sophia pooped in the bathtub the next morning. SERIOUSLY???

We cut our trip a day short because of this rash on Sophia's knee that had been there about a week and was spreading out of control! I get her into the doctor and it is a type of strep. It is not strep throat, just a rash. She is now on antibiotics. MOTHER OF THE YEAR! I held off taking her to the doctor and put Cortizone cream on it, to have Dr. Kaplan tell me that the cream makes IT SPREAD! Great parenting moment right there.