August 28, 2008 WHOOOHOOO

Just got off the phone with the school and they informed me that Alex had the best day today since school started. Maybe last night worked!!! Still gotta make it through tomorrow but today was good. Yipee!! Pic to come tonight....... Mommy's going to El Acupolco for bosses retirement dinner.

August 27, 2008 Another bad day

Today when Michael got Alex off the bus he said it was written all over his little face that he'd been bad at school. He'd been talking and disrupting class and just making trouble in general. So another sad face for the day. It all seems to be occuring in the late afternoon so we may try to up his bedtime a bit and see if more sleep helps. Right now he goes to bed around 8:15 on school nights. Tonight we're going to bump it up to 7:45 and see how that works.

We did set him down and tell him that he is not going camping this weekend with us. Only problem is that means that Mom and Dad don't get to go either. We don't see it fair to dump him off on my Mom and Dad for the weekend and disrupt their plans. So Michael and I decided that IF he can get a smiley the next 2 days we will go and let him go. He just doesn't know that. Right now he is absolutely devastated that he is not going camping because he thinks that Mommy and Daddy are going anyway. He just laid on the couch and cried like I've never seen him cry before. We think that this may be just what he needs. Tough Love as hard as it is.

I forgot to mention that they got a lima bean out of his ear yesterday. Not sure how that got there since he doesn't eat them. We shelled some at Amy's on Monday so I guess that's where it came from. Who knows. They flushed it out of his ear yesterday at the Dr. Took a lot of work and the possibility of going to an ENT. ACK!!

August 26, 2008 Dr. appointment

Today Michael and I took Alex to the Ped. for his 5 year well check and to discuss the possibilites of having him tested for ADD/ADHD. We've started the school year off on a rocky note and don't want him to get behind so early on and never catch up. He had a great check up he's in the 90% on his weight and 75% on height. He'd actually gained 8lbs since last year and grown 3 1/2 inches. Dr. was very pleased with him but does see our concern with his overactivity just from being in the office with him. He just doesn't seem to know when to stop. So we've got an appointment set up for November to have him evaluated and we got some tips from the Dr. on how to deal with things for now until we find out if there is something wrong that he can't help or if we just need to totally revamp our parenting. We'll see. It's a long ways off yet and hopefully school will not be a huge issue. They just told us to limit sugar intake which we do and be sure to let him have plenty of opportunity to run out his overabundance of energy. Discipline for an ADHD child is totally different. They advised us to try making him march in place or run a lap around the house as punishment to burn off some energy. We'll see. We feel very good about what we are doing, the Dr. assured us we were doing the right thing and were doing fine with him. Time will tell........... I'll post a pic later........

When we got to school to pick him up he was on the playground and by the time I got checked in at school and out there to get him he'd already hit a little girl. The teacher was talking to him and he ended up the day on a sad face. :o( We're supposed to be camping this weekend at Green River and we told him if he was bad this week he wasn't going to get to go. Hopefully tomorrow will be better.

August 25, 2008 Tis the season

It's getting to be that time of year. The turkeys are back. There were about 15 of them behind the house tonight after dinner. Alex sat and stared out the window all through dinner. Kept telling Daddy to shoot one. We're gonna have our hands full. :o)

August 24, 2008 Action pics

Aunty Jo is still on a pic taking mission. LOL She's got to have an action shot for her "homework". So here's the lucky one flying through the air. Great shot Jo!

August 23, 20008 First sleepover

Today Ty came over to stay the night with us. The boys get along great so it was good to have him here. They are quite busy and I've decided that 1 child is plenty. :o) Especially 2 that are the same age. We got the dirtbike out to ride and Ty almost caused me to stroke out. He hit a tree first time around and threw himself over the handlebars. No injuries, he jumped right up and got on and took off. Ended up having to turn the gas down to keep any other mishaps from occuring. They swam, played on the trampoline and just had a great time. Thought we were going to have to call Mel to take him home as Ty got homesick when bedtime came around. We survived though and both were fast asleep on the couch by 9:30.

Couldn't take any pics as I didn't have time to take 1 eye off of them. Two five year olds are busy!!

August 22, 2008 Bunco night out

Tonight Grandma D came up to stay with Alex while Mommy went to BUnco and Daddy went to work. Bunco was at Belterra, yummy buffett but no winnings from the boat. Grandma D will be leaving in the morning to head back home. We'll miss you!!

August 21, 2008 Olive Garden

Tonight we met up with Grandma Donna, Great Grandma Ruth, Grandpa Jim and Anne and JD and V at the Olive Garden for dinner. Of course I forgot the pics. Grandma D if you have a good one or 2 send them to me so I can upload them to the blog!! :o) It was a good night. Alex fell asleep on the way down there and was bashful at first, but then he got turned on and was the entertainment crew.

August 20, 2008 State Fair with Ty

Today was early release at school so Mel and I decided to take off early from work and take the boys to the fair. School lets out at 2:15 on early release so we met in C-burg and took off from there. The boys were soooo excited. Luckily Mel has a van and we were able to put the squealing pair into the back and have a bit of peace and quiet for the ride down. We got there and decided to go into the exhibits for a bit first and then take them out to ride rides. We went through the state police booth called safety town where they ride trikes through a town and follow rules just like you would with driving a car. We saw the horses, cows, sheep, you name it. Finally we had to go out and ride some rides. They had a blast. We got them the unlimited bracelets to ride with so we didn't have to buy individual tickets for them.

August 18, 2008 Stewed tomatoes

Not much went on today. I stewed tomatoes this evening. Pretty easy. I added garlic, onions and Italian spice so they will be ready to eat straight out of the jar. Yummy!!

August 17, 2008 The HAM!!

How could I have forgotten about the ham. The one that we rubbed down for 30 days with sugar, salt and whatnot is finally done. We took it down on Saturday to see if it was good or bad. Thank goodness it was good. It's very salty as county ham should be but probably wouldn't have been as such if we'd taken it down in May. Either way it survived he winter, spring and summer in the barn rafters and is now resting comfortably in our freezer. :o)

August 17, 2008 New Cleats

Last night after dinner we ran into Hibbets to check on some cleats for Alex. We got there about 15 minutes before closing so we told them what we were looking for and they just brought out what they had in his size. There were 2 pair. Nikes that were gray with a yellow swoosh and then.............this is what we ended up with. As soon as he saw them it was over. :o)

At least we'll be able to pick him out on the field. There's no place like home, there's no place like home.................

August 16, 2008 Soccer

This morning we headed out to sign Alex up for fall soccer. Grandma's treat! Yeah! Then it was off to the grocery for a few needed supplies for the salsa. It's a new recipe that we've never made. Should be interesting. Once we got back home Grandma D. took Alex shopping for his soccer ball and shin guards. Cleats are optional but I'm sure we'll have to have a pair. So Michael and I enjoyed a quiet afternoon of canning salsa. What fun. No really it was nice to have the time to ourselves as it is a rare thing anymore. Plus it was good times for Grandma and Alex to get to know each other and of course make a lunch date to Mickey d's. You just can't pass up the Golden Arches. Later that afternoon Michael and Alex took turns kicking the ball around and testing out his mad soccer skills. Games will be every Saturday morning not sure on the times yet. We are going to Madison tonight to eat at The Pines and will try to find some cleats for little man while we are out.

Who knows what tomorrow will bring!! There hasn't been any goat wrangling yet!!

August 15, 2008 Grandma Donna

Grandma arrived this afernoon. She's going to stay the weekend with us and visit and then head off to the Ville to stay with Great Grandma Ruth and visit other family while she's here. Alex is very excited that Grandma D is going to be having a sleepover. He's going to get to sleep on the hide a bed in the couch. LOL It'll be like a campout for him.

We had a big dinner tonight of chicken, corn on the cob, fresh tomatoes and green beans. Yummy. All the finest from the garden. We picked enough tomatoes to make another batch of salsa. I'm not too awefully excited but whatever. Michael will be here to help and Donna said she'd help too with whatever we needed. I don't think she knows what she's gotten herself into!! :o)

August 11-15

I know I know. Still behind. :o) Alex is now in kindergarten and he has homework!!! Can you imagine?? Not just a little either. It's like several pages each night to do and practicing writing his name. School has not gotten off on the best foot so far. He was in the principal's office 2 times on Monday. Hopefully things will get better SOON!! Michael gets Alex off the bus at 4:15 and starts on homework, I get home from work, cook dinner and then Michael leaves at 6:00 for work. Then comes the bath and bedtime and WOW where has the night gone. It's pushed MY evening routine well into the wee hours of the night. I'm out feeding the dogs now after Alex is in bed at 8:30 and then trying to keep the garden under control.

We got a new puppy. Like we needed another dog. He's just like Ellie our Great Pyranees. We picked him up last week. He's had several names so far. Alex likes Fireball, Daddy liked Moses and Mom likes Sasha (Alexander in Russian). So far Mommy is winning!! He's going to another LGD for the goats. Right now we have him in with the boys. I'll post a pic of him a bit later!! Mom has taken several with her camera but I've not had a chance. She took them to Walmart and had them developed so hopefully she hasn't deleated them from her camera or I'll just have to snap one of my own. :o)

August 10, 2008 Corn Corn and more Corn

This morning Dad and I picked corn from the garden for the first time. It was crazy. We had a wheel barrow heaped up full of ears and the entire back end of the Rhino filled up with corn. There were at least 200 ears to shuck and then can. All in all it ended up taking almost 8 hours to get it all done and that was with 2 pressure canners going. Didn't get a chance to take a pick. It would have been covered in corn silks if theit had been anywhere near the kitchen.

August 9, 2008 Birthday party for Alex

Today we had a birthday pool party for Alex. It was a bit chilly for swimming since the nighttime temp had been dropping for the last several days. Grandma Ruth came for a bit too and her and Alex got along famously. They tossed the frisbee and had to save it from the goats since Grandma had a crazy arm and threw is over there. She also had a terrible time dealing with the fact that we have weeds in the landscape. LOL We kept trying to convince her that we put them there on purpose but she didn't go for it.

August 8, 2008 The mad chef

Crazy lady grilling chicken for dinner with a captive audience waiting patiently for dinner.

August 7, 2008 Happy Birthday Alex!!

Today our little man turns 5. Not sure where the years have gone. They have absolutely flown by. Not only was today his birthday but his first day of kindergarten as well. We decided to put him on the bus this year to allow Mikey to get a little more sleep and keep me from having to leave work and take him to school. He absolutely refused to get on the bus to go to school this morning and proceded to make me feel about an inch tall. :o) I took him to school and he ran right in just fine. Since it was his birthday I took cupcakes to school for the class at 2pm. He was very excited and I'm the class's new favorite person. LOL I told him when I left that he had to ride the bus home or he'd have to stay at school. He got on like he'd been riding forever. Oh, well. We'll see how tomorrow goes. He got batman gear from Mommy and Daddy for his birthday and was soooo excited.

August 6, 2008 Table full of canned goods

We've been canning almost everynight, or at least every other night. I've got a cabinet full, taken boxes to mom's and now I've moved on to filling the back table. :o)

August 5, 2008 Monster tomatos

We have had the best year for veggies. We can't get over it. Very tired of the garden but we'll enjoy it this winter. Here's a Mr. Stripey tomato that Mikey picked today. That's a 64oz water jug sitting behind it. It was a meal in itsself. All we've been eating lately is stuff from the garden. Makes the grocery bill look really nice.

August 4, 2008 BOGO

Gotta love the buy one get one caps on the Pepsi products. LOL We usually get at least one of these everytime we buy a soft drink.

August 3, 2008 Photographer Jo Jo

This morning JO JO called at 9:00am to see if Alex and I were ready to have our picures made. I was in the tub and Alex had just gotten up so we spruced up and got out of the house so Daddy could sleep and went to let her take some pics. She's bought a really nice camera, lighting and backdrops and is getting all sorts of books on photography. Alex was good for a bit, :o) it didn't last long though he got really tired of having his picture taken. They turned out really well and I have them in email so I don't have to hook up the camera to the computer to get them. hahahaha

Later that afternoon we were having dinner with Mom and Dad and Jo Jo and Dusty. It's becoming a Sunday afternoon "thing" not every Sunday but here and there. It's very nice. Alex decided to scare the Sh!t out of everyone doing a backflip off of the pool ladder. He came down and scrubbed his back on the ladder. It looked like he landed straight on his head, luckily his back took the brunt of the blow. He's going to have a nice bruise I'm sure. It immediately turned red and blue. Needless to say it turned into a great evening gone bad really quick.

August 2, 2008 UGH!!

This morning we got up earlier than we would have liked. :o) Dad, Mom and I ran to Shelbyville to pick up stuff for fence and odds and ends for dinner tomorrow night. We got home around 1:30 and just in the heat of the day got to start working on streching fence so we could move the goats again this afternoon. I don't think I've ever sweat so much in my life. Alex fished in the pond for a bit and then rode his motorcycle for awhile. It was just miserable to he ended up going to Granny's and helping her make plum jelly.

August 1, 2008 Where is the time going

I cant' believe that it's now August!! Alex will be turning 5 in six days. sniff sniff, sob sob We are in no way shape or form ready for a birthday party. :o) Guess we'd better get a move on. Today didn't amount to much around the house. Michael set posts for more fence. Yes, you read right, more fence. This is it though. No more. Famous last words right??

July 31, 2008 hummingbirds

Alex is fascinated with hummingbirds now. I've bought a couple of feeders and hung them out on the front porch. He would sit out there forever watching them. It's very cute. I will be posting pics, but Michael and I bought a laptop and I'm petrified to hook up my camera to the nice new computer. :o) I will try to get up the nerve this weekend.

July 30, 2008 More canning

Tonight I canned 26 more qts of green beans. Nuff said.................