Friends Forever..the story of a boy and his dog.

I love how my two "puppies" have bonded.

Avery and Alex are like two peas in a pod lately.

I even screw up their names and have been known to call one or the other "Averlex" because I'm confused when I'm yelling at one or both of them!

Avery has an obvious soft spot for Alex and treats him like one of her own siblings.  They can often be found frolicking off into the distance together.  Alex is always looking for his beloved, "Ree" and often asks for her first thing in the morning if she is still in her crate.  As soon as he sees her, his face lights up and he yells, "Ree!" and gives her a big hug, usually knocking her over, pulling her hair, and/or falling on her in the process.  She is so patient with him and will lovingly nip at him but she puts up with SO much abuse from Alex who is constantly trying to love her.

Alex will throw any and all toys of Avery's out to her if she is in the kitchen and loves to be chased and get Avery going.  (That's usually when the yelling from me comes into play, however...it makes me nervous!)

The other day we were in the back yard playing in the water and Alex said to Avery, "Mom, Ree" (Come on, Avery) with a wave of his hand.  He walked off to the playhouse and she followed.  The two of them just hung out back there for quite a while.  Alex sat down (on Avery) to eat his snack, and they dug in the dirt, chased birds, and walked around together like forever friends.   Alex even sang Avery a song.

I can only imagine how tight they'll be as they continue to grow up together.  It's sweet, actually.  I know that Avery will always look out for Alex, and vice versa.  Partners in crime, I have a feeling!

Ahh, the many adventures this boy and his dog will be able to tell someday!

It's The Little Things...Mommy Power

I got a call at work yesterday from my husband who is home with the kids while I work during the day and then we switch "shifts".  He was frustrated because Alex wouldn't take his nap.  My boys historically really enjoy their sleep so this seemed odd to me.  I casually asked him if Alex had his (two basic requirement) blankets and his baby and my husband paused, stuttered, and said..."Oh, that's what he was saying...Um, I'll call you back!"

A few minutes later I got a picture message from Dave:

I texted him back and said "He needed his Baby, didn't he?"  To which Dave replied, "Yep".

*Sigh*

It's moments like that when I feel like I've got "it".  My Mommy super powers were shining and it felt so good to know what my boy needed, even while at work, and be able to "fix it".

Excuse me while I flex my Mommy muscles for just a second.  Ahhhh, that feels better.

Stop over to Starts at Eight and let us know what "little things" make this journey called "Motherhood" worth it for you.

(Not Quite) Wordless Wednesday - Father

Again, I felt it necessary to write something for my "Wordless" Wednesday post.  I promise to keep it short though.  I had wanted to use this photo of my husband and sons in honor of Father's Day a couple weeks ago but alas, I did not.  So, in honor of my own father's birthday (tomorrow!), I post this photo in honor of all fathers out there stepping up to the plate and doing the manly job of being there for your kids and teaching them how to be fine, upstanding members of society.  It's not an easy job, but it's rewarding if you open your heart to it!

Thank you, Daddy for being such a fantastic role model and a strong guide in this journey called "life".

And thank you, Dave, for all that you give, teach, sacrifice, and work hard for every day!  We love you!

Simple Woman's Daybook...July 6, 2010

FOR TODAY...July 6, 2010

Outside my window...the three H's.  Hazy, Hot, Humid.  I'm glad to be in A/C today (we even kicked it on at home, if that tells you anything!)!

I am thinking...about the next few weeks! There are big changes coming down and lots to do and keep straight. Packing, moving, organizing, sorting, scheduling, loose ends to tie up, new plans to make. It's a bit overwhelming but exciting. I just want to get it done and over with so I can feel somewhat settled again. If we had a closing date I'd feel a lot better!

I am thankful for...the long holiday weekend we just had.  It was a great weekend.  Dave was off for part of it so we got a lot of family time, rest, relaxation, fun and adventure in. 

From the kitchen...my cupboards are pretty bare these days.  I really need to do some grocery shopping but hate the idea of buying things I'm just going to have to move in a couple weeks.  In the meantime I can't starve my children though so I'll have to compromise.  I want to start  meal planning.  That's my next goal.

I am wearing...comfy capris and an oversized t-shirt.  Love comfy clothes!

I am remembering...to bring my BFF's birthday present tomorrow.  I'm doing lunch with her today to celebrate and I totally forgot to bring it in.  I'll have to extend her celebration by an extra day and remember it tomorrow.

I am creating...lists.  Lots of lists.  Lists of things to pack, lists of things to plan, lists of things to do. 
I am going...to a concert with my husband on Thursday (my Daddy's birthday!).  My sister has made arrangements to take the boys for the night so we can do dinner, the show, and not have to worry about picking them up late and having to get them home.  (Thanks, Sarah!)  I can't wait!
I am reading...

I am hoping...to lose 10-15 lbs by our camping trip with the Ciravola's in August.  That would be 2 lbs a week so it's lofty but not impossible.  I have to change something though.  I'm spiraling downward FAST!  I started on the Gazelle last night and plan to double my time tonight, walk with Heidi tomorrow, and double my time again by the end of the week.  I'll check back in to update my progress!


I am hearing...the boys playing.  They're actually playing nicely together at this moment so it's relatively peaceful.  (Of course now that I said that it will change, I'm sure!)


Pondering these words..."At the end of your life, you will never regret not having passed one more test, not winning one more verdict, or not closing one more deal.  You will regret time not spent with a husband, a friend, a child, or a parent." – Barbara Bush

(I totally stole this quote from my friend, Heidi, but it was fabulous and sums up my overall theory and perspective.)


Around the house...disaster, chaos.  Clutter, mess.  Dirt, distruption. 

On my mind...my carbon footprint.  I know that sounds granola-y, but it's an issue that is bothering me and I'm trying to reduce my impact on the environment in little ways.

Noticing that...we waste a lot of things in this family.  And we tend to be particularly frugal and practical, comparatively.  I can only imagine the impact everyone is making as a whole on this planet.  I drove down my street last garbage day and noticed all the stuff that people had thrown out at the curb.  I could envision it all filling up the garbage truck and thought "this is just one street, one city, one day of the week".  This goes on all across the country and the world...365 days a year!  It boggles my mind and leaves a sick feeling in my stomach.  I'm not usually all that "tree hugger" but this is one issue that really bugs me.

One of my favorite things...despite my carbon footprint issues above (I recognize the hypocrisy), today one of my favorite things would be my A/C.  Our new house doesn't have A/C and even though we have only used it a handful of times since we bought this house it's just nice having the option when the weather gets oppressive like this week.  Not having the option will make even average days seem hot.  Thankfully the new house is a ranch so that should help keep it cooler.

A few plans for the rest of the week: Zac Brown Band at CMAC, birthday celebrations, photos for Shelby, Walk 'N Talk.

Here is picture for thought I am sharing:

Check out more daybooks at Simple Woman's Daybook.

You're Gonna Miss This...Neighbors

The neighborhood I live in hasn't always been fabulous.  We've had break-ins, loud neighbors, street fights, drug busts, prostitutes, even violence too close for comfort.  However, our end of the street is much better than the other end and we have lucked out with some pretty fabulous neighbors.  

The street we live on has always had a strong Italian history.  Our house and many surrounding us were established in the 50's by Italian families and the heritage here is thick.  As this older generation passed away or moved into nursing homes, their houses went up for sale and in the last few years it's slowly transferring over to predominantly rentals with a few strong holds keeping the street homey.  

I think we've lucked out with our surrounding area and have quite a few good people around us to buffer the rest of the trouble.

Across the street we have a nice family who has made the biggest impact, I think.  Dennis and Michelle live here with an ever-changing mixture of their 4 kids.  Hannah, Lindsay, Sarah, and Adam.  Their granddaughter, Gwen, is a few weeks younger than Nathaniel and they always loved to play together.  They are a very sweet family.  You can always see them helping out the neighbors.  When Nate was born, Michelle brought over a present and she always ADORED the boys.  She had such an infectious spirit and they loved her back.  Sadly, Michelle passed away last Fall.  She was in her 40's and had a brain aneurysm that took her far too early.  She was a fabulous woman.  Very kind and caring.  High energy, and so sweet.  Her license plate on her car said "2cis2luv".  That pretty much sums it all up!  More on this family at another time...

Gloria is a sweet old lady who lives across the street and is one of those strong holds I mentioned.  She comes out and stands in her driveway from time to time and religiously drives to church every Sunday.  She's always been very nice to us!  

Mary lives next door and we rarely ever see her.  She never comes outside and is seen once in a while pulling in or out of her driveway.  I think I've had one or two conversations with her in the whole 6 years we've been there.  She definitely minds her own business.  She has been slipping, health-wise, in the last couple years.  She hurt her back or knee or something and hasn't been able to mow her lawn in a while.  Dave tries to keep up on it and keeps it in check.  I worry about her once we're gone.  Hopefully the kids across the street will help out without Michelle to prompt them.  

*Update (7/7/10) - Since writing this TWO days ago, Mary has passed away.  I arrived home from work today to find the Medical Examiner in her driveway.  It seems she hadn't been seen in a few days and they found her in her house this afternoon.  May Mary be in a better, pain-free, happy place.  

The house on the other side of us has provided some serious entertainment over the years.  It started as a nice gentleman who maintained the house very well.  He apparently lost his job and the house went into foreclosure and that's when the "fun" began.  After that an older woman bought the house for her alcoholic son, Ron, to live in.  He provided years of interesting stories.  That could be a post all its own!  Sadly he passed away in the house, the mother went to an institution of some sort, and the house was sold to a landlord who rents it out to another couple now.  I (sadly?) don't know their names but between Dave fighting with them about snow blowing their snow into Nate's windows and the incident where they shot at a woodchuck in their back yard in the middle of the day and put a bullet hole in our fence just inches from where my kids play,  I have no interest in being friendly.

Ah, Ernie and Phyllis.  Such dear, sweet people.  Ernie would be the neighborhood busy body, I think.  He always has to know what's going on and will often times come over to see Dave and ask him what was going on with cop cars or what to do about troublesome neighborhood hoodlums.  He's great!  

Good friends of ours, Tom and Amy, work with Dave at 9-1-1 and live kiddie corner from us.  We talked about having them over all the time but it rarely happened.  It was nice to have them there to keep an eye on things though.  They'd stop over if they saw the garage door open or wave on their way out.  

Intermingle in a few rentals with ever changing faces, loud music, and broken down cars, and you have our neighborhood.  Out in the country I won't have many neighbors so I will certainly miss these!  

Happiness is...

fresh strawberries during strawberry season!


It was always a tradition of ours for my Mom and I to go strawberry picking during strawberry season.  I always remembered it was time to go because strawberry season falls on or around my birthday.  Even in college I'd meet my Mom at the strawberry fields with a basket, bucket, or bowl in hand (except those many times when I forgot one and she had knowingly brought two!).  We'd eat pick our fair share of fresh, juicy ripe strawberries.  Ok, I'd eat them and Mom would yell at me.  I remember one year I brought my step-son, Nick, to join us and my Mom kept telling me I was setting a bad example for him by eating them.  I couldn't help it.  I volunteered to be weighed when I left and pay for the amount I ate, but somehow it doesn't work that way.

Anyway, since my wee ones came along, this little tradition has fallen by the wayside.  I look forward to being able to introduce them to this fun little task someday soon.  However, this year was not that day.  So, Dave and I stopped at a local farm market and bought fresh-picked strawberries instead.  There were so many of them that a couple days in they were starting to look all sad and pathetic so I decided we needed to use them up.

I enlisted some eager helpers and we they got to work.

Apparently we had a few quality control tasters on staff, too.

Then we Nate mashed those bad boys up...

to make this for dinner:

It was delicious!  Yum!  This makes me want to stop by a farm market again tomorrow to see if there are any strawberries left to pick!!!  I can't wait to bring the boys!

It's The Little Things...Love

This week's "little thing" to share for It's the Little Things Thursday is a warm fuzzy I received the other day from my oldest.  We were driving in the car and I have a habit of sporadically saying "I love you" to my children for no reason at all.  Primarily because I do, but also to remind them that I'm up there while we're traveling somewhere or just thinking of them in general.  Nate usually says "I love you, too" and Alex has adorably started saying "Too" in response.  I love it.

On this particular day I said "I love you, Bug" to Nathaniel and he didn't say anything.  I said it again figuring he didn't hear me over the radio and got no response at all.  The third time I said it exaggeratedly to get his attention and he looked at me, huffed and puffed exasperatedly, and said "I KNOW you love me, Mom!"  It was such a wise-ass thing for him to say so when I was done visibly scowling and secretly giggling, it made me glad.  I'm glad he knows I love him, even if I'm not saying it.  I hope in some small way that that means my complete adoration for my children comes through not only in my words but in my actions, as well.  I may struggle to be consistent, and fight to stay sane.  I yell more than I want to and don't always make the best choices or have all the right answers, but I love my boys with every fiber of my being.  And for that moment, I was thrilled to hear that Nate KNOWS it.  Without question.

Join me over at Starts at Eight to share the "Little Things" in your life that make this journey called "Motherhood" totally worth it in the end!

(Not Quite) Wordless Wednesday - Water Baby

Surely by now you've caught on to the fact that this boy loves him some water....

and I LOVE taking photos of it!!  

Whenever I hear Brad Paisley's newest song, Water, I think of my Alex.

He really is my water baby!

Avery Update

I realized the other day that ever since bringing Avery into our family in February, I haven't mentioned much about her since.  How rude!

Avery has turned out to be a fabulous dog!  She's obviously grown quite a bit and she's beautiful.  Albeit a little needy, a bit skittish, and a lot puppy, but she is great!  She was super easy to housebreak and we haven't had more than a couple peeing incidents EVER...not to mention at all lately!  She is fantastic with the kids.  They love her to pieces (and maul her way too much sometimes - especially Alex!) but she takes it all and comes back for more.  She loves to play with her fellow "puppies".

When Avery wants to play she is incessant.  She'll become very persistent and bring you her toy to play tug or fetch.  She loves constant attention and wants to be with the family at all times!  When she really wants your attention, she'll jump around and get really hyper and even start barking to engage you.

She loves to chew.  On her toys.  On the boys' toys.  On kleenex.  Or garbage.  Or anything she can get her little teeth on!   She's been known to eat baby wipes whole which come out the same way they went in.  (gross, I know!)  Needless to say we've nipped that and no longer throw diapers or baby wipes in garbages she has any access to!

Avery is very smart!  She listens well, comes when she's called, sits and waits when she's told to.  I love that we can let her out with the garage door wide open and she'll run right past the open freedom to the backyard where she's supposed to go.  She's very well behaved.

Avery (before)

We love having Avery in our family!  She's been a wonderful addition!  I promise not to be so remiss in talking about the third "baby" of the family!!

Avery (now)....My how she's grown!

You're Gonna Miss This...

As much as I have complained about where we live, I really love the home we’ve made here. When I look past the neighbors fighting, the disrespectful kids who curse as they walk by and throw garbage in your yard, the break-ins, the noise, the filth, etc, there really is a lot about this place that I’m going to miss.

Just like the lyrics from Trace Adkins’ song say:

“You're gonna miss this
You're gonna want this back
You're gonna wish these days
hadn't gone by so fast

These are some good times
So take a good look around
You may not know it now
But you're gonna miss this”

I started making a list of all the things around here I really like and would miss the most.  I quickly realized that with explanations and the stories I would want to share with them, it would be one L-O-N-G post so I thought I’d start a feature here to highlight some of these things I will miss…Stay tuned for a series of “You’re Gonna Miss This…” posts to help me remember the great things about having lived here for 6+ years.

It's The Little Things...Brothers

Today's "little thing" for It's the Little Things Thursday comes from the bond I see forming between my two boys.  I spoke a little bit about it here, and as rare and fleeting as glimpses of this truth are, it still warms my heart.  I mean it when I say that a lot of time is spent fighting between these two.  They're loud, they bug each other, instigate arguments, fight over cars, chairs, or food.  They hit each other to acquire the other's sippy cup or scream at the top of their lungs when the a book, blanket, or toy is confiscated by the other.  It's chaotic and loud.  As with any other mother of more than one child, I often feel like a full-time referee.

What makes this all worth it at the end of the day is when one of my boys looks out for the other one almost instinctively.  For example, those mornings when Nate wakes up and wonders first and foremost where Alex is.  Or when Alex gets a snack from the snack cupboard and pulls out a second one for Nate, holds it up and asks,"Bot?" (brother).  I love that they care enough to have each other's back, to notice the absence of the other, and to worry about the other's well being.  I even adore that they love each other enough to drive each other nuts.

Please join me over at Starts at Eight to highlight the "little things" along your path that that make this journey of motherhood all worth it in the end! 

Wordless Wednesday...Duck Crossing