Nate took 2nd in Forms

For the past month, Nate has been practicing his Karate as much as he can. He had a competition this past Saturday which our studio was hosting. He was doing 2 forms: one with Kama weapons and one Free Form, which is without weapons.

I was extremely nervous about the Free Form, because he had private lessons to learn the form just 1 week prior to the competition and there were some harder moves that he just couldn't nail...But he did in the competition! He took 2nd in the form. Way to go Nater!

Wicked!

I went to Wicked last night with my Mother-in-Law and a friend. Not quite the same as in NYC, but it was still great! Great seats, Great fun!

Before Wicked, I had to go to traffic court, because I seem to have a lead foot lately! I had gotten pulled over for failing to stop at a stop sign, which shouldn't really be where it is placed anyways. There is never more than 1 car there! But as I digress...The motorcycle cop told me I failed to stop at the stop sign, I was going 36 in a 25 and my window tint was too dark. He came back with my ticket and told me he was giving me a warning for my stop sign and speeding, but that I had to get my window tint fixed. I tried explaining that we bought the car that way from the dealer, but he really didn't care about my sob story. He just told me to get it fixed before the court date. Awesome Hubby called the dealership and told them to "Make it right". They ended up stripping the old tint and retinting it legal for free! Yay! But...2 weeks after my first ticket, I got another ticket. This guy was a jerk and wasn't going to give me a warning, so needless to say, I got to go to traffic school this past weekend. Fun stuff! But the great news in all of this is that I don't have any tickets on my record!

Biting Friends

My husband got home from his trip early this week. We were all very happy to have him home...
When he got home, I noticed about 100 bites all over his arms legs and neck. He thought they were mosquito bites, but they weren't as big as the normal mosquito bites. I promptly emptied his bag and did all of his laundry as soon as we got home. The next day, his bites were itching more. He was going crazy. I had him smothered in hydrocortizone to help with the itching. It seemed to work a little bit. His parents came over that night and his mom looked at him and asked if he was sure it wasn't "Chiggers". Never heard of them and so it didn't really register for either of us. The following day, he started blistering on some of his bites. I looked up chigger bites, and his bites looked EXACTLY like them. And chiggers are known to be in lake areas in the Southern states, which was where he was. Sure enough, he has chigger bites all over him...
But now I am freaked out. I stayed up a lot of the night on Tuesday because I was doing research on these microscopic creatures. These creatures can stay on your skin for 2-5 days. He was in Louisiana less than 5 days ago when I realized what he had! I kept thinking I was having things crawl all over me that night. Questions I have been asking myself: what if he still has some on him and they start living in our bed? I stripped the bed this morning and wiped it down with Lysol. But remember the previous paragraph where I mentioned that I promptly emptied his bag? His bag was on the bed on the comforter that cannot be machine washed. Do I need to fumigate the room? Are these things going to start taking over Arizona like the Africanized bee because he brought them with him?(Probably not, but you never know) And why on Earth did God create these things??? They are nasty!

Other than the Chigger bites and all that goes with it, I am so happy to have my husband home! We have not been apart for a very long time. It was good for him to be away for a few days. The last time we were apart from each other for longer than 1 night was when I was in the hospital after having Nolan, which was almost 5 years ago. As much as I really enjoyed having a Queen-sized bed all to myself, I really enjoy sharing it more...And having meaningful conversations at dinnertime!

Welcome home Honey! We missed you and love you!

Entertainment for the Boys

I am trying to entertain the boys while the hubby is away. So many times, I end up giving in to their requests for TV or Video Games. I really want to do something fun with them while he is gone AND while they are on summer break with their mom. I want them to be able to have memories of summer vacation of doing fun and inexpensive or free things. I had the oldest in Swim Team, Basketball Camp and Karate, but Basketball camp will be over after today and I really want to do something really great this Saturday...Any ideas?

PS. I deleted my last post because it was just too depressing for me to read over and over.

My Birthday today!

Thank you Brenda for all you have done for my birthday! You really know how to pull someone out of their funk!

As I woke up today to say bye to my husband (He is on a golf trip with our neighbor in Louisiana), he said that it looked like we got a visit from the Birthday princess (That would be BRENDA) I looked outside and saw the great balloons and chalk on the sidewalk. Immediately, I knew it would be a better day, even though Rob is not here to celebrate it with me.

After Rob left, I went to my computer and saw all the wonderful wishes from everyone on Facebook. Thanks Everyone!

Then, after taking the boys to swim lessons and Basketball Camp, I saw that Brenda devoted a post just to me...It's great to have friends who care so much about you!

Rob's Broken Leg

Rob broke his leg a couple weeks ago riding Nate's Ripstik. He has been in a bit of pain. The hardest part for him is not working out in the yard. I don't remember the last time our yard looked this bad! I wouldn't mind taking it on, but Rob comes from the old school where the man takes care of the yard (Although he helps me with the inside too.) He's my Wonderful Rob...
He went to the doctor today, and the doc said that it looks like it is healing OK. Rob has to wear the boot for 6 weeks. So now there are 5 weeks left...Hopefully. His foot/leg is bruised in spots that I didn't know bruised! Poor guy. The photos that I posted are from last week, which was 5 days after the accident. This week, he has bruising going up his shin,all along the side and on the bottom of the foot, on top of the toes. But he is a trooper. If it were me, I would get a doctor's note to get me out of work for several weeks, but not Rob. He went back to work last week, the day after he got his walking boot!

So Close!

Nate got 1 B. He was so upset. He just couldn't seem to be happy with himself. I was proud of him, but I guess I played it up too much before he got his report card that he COULD possibly get straight A's. Now, he feels that he won't be rewarded at all! But he got A's in reading and writing, 2 subjects that he has gotten B's and C's in his entire elementary school life, So WAY TO GO NATE!

A kid who gets straight A's???

We got Nate's progress report this week and saw that he is on track to get straight A's! He has struggled with attention issues at school since day 1 and his report cards have reflected on this deficit. I was so happy to see that he is doing so well, but now I feel like I should reward him.

Rob and I differ a lot on rewarding our boys and have never been close to the same page. He thinks $.25 a day (yes...I said 1 quarter!) is a good allowance and I feel that $5 a week is good. I feel like the kids should have new shoes for school every year and he thinks that if they don't have holes in them, they are still fine as hand-me-down tennis shoes. We rarely spend money on clothes because our neighbors spend an incredible amount of money on their boys and they give us all of the clothes...For instance, I got a bag FULL of Levi jeans, size 8 and 10. Some of the labels were still on the jeans. There were probably 5 to 6 pairs of each size! Don't get me wrong! I am not complaining in any way! I am SO completely grateful for the awesome clothes. We have gotten Sideout t-shirts, Old Navy polo style shirts, skater shoes, Old Navy trousers...NICE STUFF!!! But I just have no sense of reality in spending money for my boys. I feel that we are WAY under the norm (except in sports) on spending for kids, but I see others who are excessive. I want my kids to grow up with a respect for money and material things.

Do you reward your children for their good grades? What type of allowance do you give your kids? And what age do you start?

Update on Rob's new niece

Well, they did an MRI and CT scan on Rob's little niece Katlyn. They diagnosed Retinoblastoma, a very dangerous Cancer that attacts children under the age of 2. She went home yesterday because all of her other issues have gone away with being premature. She is just having problems with her left eye. They have to take her to UCLA soon because it is a rapidly growing Cancer, and I guess UCLA is the only place that specializes in Retinoblastoma.

Please keep this family in your prayers.

Perfect Day for us, Hope for a new niece

Well, we woke up extremely early to get to the early service at church yesterday. There was a special guest worship leader this week. Her name is Kendall Payne. She was so awesome! I have added her to my playlist.

We were home by 9 AM! We were able to relax and enjoy the wonderful holiday without rushing around. I absolutely love Easter! We had our awesome brunch that I was salivating over just thinking about. We were able to take naps. And then I cooked a great dinner for 16 people! It was a fantastic day! We had my family over, minus my "up-North" family, who are all getting ready for their Make-a-wish trip this week! Rob's step-dad, sister, niece and niece's boyfriend came. His mom didn't make it because she was at the hospital with her newest granddaughter, who is having a few complications. She is in good hands, as she is at the local Children's Hospital. They are thinking that she has cancer in the eyes and doing a bunch of tests. Her mom had the same thing when she was a little girl. Mom is now blind and has 2 glass eyes. But there is more hope now in this day and age. I pray that this precious little baby girl will go home soon to his mom and dad.