Long time, no blog

So, I have been busy, very busy, which leaves me no time to update you on our latest happenings. But now with two weeks off, we have all been able to "power down" and enjoy waking up in the morning at a casual pace, sipping on coffee, and cuddling on the couch watching cartoons!

We ventured up north for a quick trip over Christmas and had a fabulous time at Grandma and Grandpa Schmidbauer's. The boys had so much fun baking cookies, playing in the snow, and telling Grandpa "Don't call names" when he decided to tease them! We also visited Grandma Roemer and saw her amazing new condo and the boys visited with the cousins and had fun in her new play room! Thank you everyone for such a great time - we miss everyone so much already!

Pictures to come...

Fever

Chase woke up with a fever last night around 3:30. It's amazing how fast mommy worry can set in and how it can make you stay awake for the hours that we should be sleeping. And so for the rest of the night, I stayed in his bed with him, staring at him, to be sure that he was still breathing.

All in a Name

Me: Chase what is my name?
Chase: Mommy
Me: What is his name? (pointing to Landon)
Chase: Landon
Me: What is his name? (pointing to Andy)
Chase: Daddy
Me: What is your name?
Chase: Big Boy

Bed

Chase wet his bed last night...then crawled into my bed and wet mine.

Trick or Treat!

The kids had a great time trick or treating with their cousins! Chase did not want to get into costume - he was not a big fan of wearing anything but a cape - he went as a superhero. Landon had a great time this year dressing up and running around in the rain!

Halloween day!

The smell was getting to him!

Yay! It finally came! We kicked off our Halloween day celebration with pumpkin carving. The boys lost interest in it after a while, which left Andy doing most of the work - he did a great job!

Goggles at nap time?

Chase insisted on wearing his goggles around the house and around town on Saturday. He wore them to the grocery store claiming that his eyes wouldn't get wet (it rained all morning) and also wore them to nap in - perhaps in his dreams he may have needed them?

Old...old...Halloween

The boys have insisted that they will wear costumes from the old costume box - no new costumes being bought this year. And every day their costumes change. Today just happened to be the pirate vs. the princess.

So Tired..

I know this feeling - I have been here before - when babies just don't sleep through the night. But my boys are no longer babies but it still feels the same. Chase is having some stomach issues which is waking him up at night. Then he wants to sleep in my room, and so I lie there thinking about Chase, worrying while he is restlessly trying to fall back asleep, winging his arm around every few minutes, trying to get comfortable until he falls asleep. And then I am still laying there, thinking, worrying, for another hour. Finally asleep until I feel Landon's gaze upon me. He had a nightmare, and then he jumps in. And it is many more minutes until I fall back asleep and I wonder if I tallied up all of the minutes how much time did I really spend sleeping? I don't think coffee can even put a dent into this morning.

Great Weekend

We had a fantastic weekend! With a teacher workday tomorrow, I was able to relax and not worry about lesson plans this weekend. We just hung out as a family - we took the boys fishing and they finally caught two fish - one baby small mouth bass and the other a sunfish! They were thrilled and they "pet" them before we threw each of them back. They were surprisingly so patient and are really into it (perhaps it could just be their cool Spiderman fishing poles!)
We also spent a few hours baking on Saturday. Landon brought home apples from a field trip last week and we turned those into apple pie tarts which he thought was pretty cool. And we also baked molasses cookies for Aunt Heather's birthday! The boys helped with all of it - I am really enjoying their age right now- they can just be so much fun and so sweet!

Copperhead + Trail = Ahhhhhh!

This morning I went for a jog - it is steamy outside - warm and steamy, but I was feeling great! My knee finally worked out it's kinks into about mile 3 1/2 and as I was rounding back home, a guy on the trail was running towards me but then hesistated, jumped, and turned around only to point out that there, lying spread out on the trail was a Copperhead snake! I had never seen one before and probably would not have known what it was. But the nice guy proceeded to grab a stick and carefully... oh so carefully, move the snake off the trail and send it on it's way. The snake complied but did so with a bit of hissing and darting of the head toward the nice guy who risked his life. I am hoping the snake will not show up again for a while and thank you guy on the trail - good karma back to you!

Bomb Threat? What?

Today there was a bomb threat at Landon's school. I almost had a full blown panic attack as I rushed over to get him (I left my class - luckily a teacher was there to cover - to run out and get him). I was not alerted (by email) until 2:15 (after all of the high school kids had already gotten home safely). His classroom is on the first floor of the highschool and there is an elementary school ATTACHED to the high school. Landon's class was moved to the library in the attached elementary school and just hung out there all-day-long. I was grateful to have been able to pick Landon up when I got there. I argued that I had 4 minutes in my favor with the nice man blocking my way. They were telling me that I couldn't get him between 2:30 and 3 because the elementary kids were dismissing early. So let me get this straight, dismiss all of the highschool kids at 12:15 (the threat occured at 11:30), move the four year olds over to a school that is attached to hang out in the library all day, dimiss the elementary kids next, and save the four year olds for last... huh? I don't get it... and still don't.

Flu Strikes the Roemer House

It is true... Landon came home yesterday with a 102 temperature which keeps dipping back down and spiking again - it is such a weird virus... whatever he has. He will be staying home with Andy today and despite feeling sick, is content about playing his new DS Lite game and hanging around the house all day!

Growing Fast!

Myrtle Beach trip

Fun in the ocean!

My cute boys!

Cutie Chase

Panther preseason practice

So hot!

Chillin in the stands

A few pics to catch you up on the boys - it has been a while!

Night Terrors

I am not sure what is going on with Landon these days, but every night for the past week, I have rolled over to find him staring at me VERY closely and breathing in my face. Last night, after he startled me awake, he claimed that someone was knocking on his closet door. I told him to climb in to our bed but he needed to be still so we could all sleep - I took the lazy route - I didn't feel like walking him back to his room. After a few arm flings in the face and sharp toe nail digs into my leg, I told him that we needed to go back to his room and check out his closet so he would feel better about sleeping. No one in the closet, under the bed, or even under the covers - we did a complete check, and after I agreed to leave the bathroom light on so he could see down the hall, did he let his tired eyelids close.

No baby

Today while Landon was riding his scooter around outside, I was enjoying the 90 degree September day in a tank top (which was fitted) and comfy capris, when along comes Landon who stops and says, "Mommy you are going to have another baby? Your tummy is getting bigger." And then he rode off. And for the record, I am not having another baby - perhaps I should lay off the bread and butter and jelly combo?

Gag reflex?

Yesterday Andy was heating in the microwave a broccoli and cheese wrap for an after dinner snack. Chase immediately smells (while he is having his after dinner snack in his booster) the broccoli and cheese combo and tells me, "Mommy, you stink!" Then... more of a pleading "It stinks!" Then... gagging.... crying.... and more gagging and this just went on until the smell evaporated from the kitchen.

Tie for every occasion?

"Do you boys want to go the pool today or to Aunt Heather's?" I ask. A definite Aunt Heather's was the response from both Landon and Chase. Both are very excited to see their cousins. Landon rushes off to his room to get ready to go. He comes out with a t-shirt, mesh shorts, a clip on tie, and is searching for his watch. "I want to wear my tie and watch so I look nice for Heather" he says.

Scan

I got the call from my dr. yesterday about my MRI scan. It is well... good news and bad. Good news is that nothing appears to have torn - my ligaments look great. But there is something funky going on with the front of my minsicus disc which is causing me to have fluid build up around my knee. This is what is causing me all of the pain and discomfort. The temporary fix - a cortizone shot to the knee which will inject anti-inflammatory medicine directly to my knee. This should help with the throbbing at night and general discomfort during the day. If this does not prove to work, I may be looking at another knee surgery. I am praying that I will be lacing up my running shoes by next weekend.

All in a Morning

Today was Landon's day for show and tell and his school. He wanted to bring in sea shells "From Myrtle Beach" he declared as I buckled him into his seat. And off we went to school. He carried those shells in as proud as can be and was so thrilled to be showing off something that was his to the class. I gave him a kiss and walked out feeling like this could be good day. (I was on my way to my MRI appt.), so half day of school for me! As I was sitting at the stop light waiting to make a left hand turn, some dude behind me begins to beep his horn, and flash his lights, scaring the living daylights out of me! He quickly puts his Toyota ForeRunner in park and quickly jumps out of his truck, the pit already in my stomach hits rock bottom as I am frantically trying to figure out what could be the matter. The man runs to the back of my car, pulls something off and comes around to my door. I am quickly trying to find the auto window and no sooner than I had it down, he runs up, hands me my cordless phone from home without a word. I say thanks, he smiles, then nods, and runs back into his car just as the light turned green. Thank you whoever you are, you deserve good karma back to you!

Off to my MRI appt. I have been having major knee issues on my left and after two months of muddling through runs with clenched teeth, decided it was time to really get it checked out. The lady who called my name - can't figure out how to pronounce my last name. "Roemer" I say. "Just like roaming but spelled different" I give a half laugh. She doesn't think it is amusing at all. "Okay" she says, "Take off watches, earrings, beepers, pagers, and any other metal. Do you wear a pace maker?" "No" I say. "Place your belongings in this locker, lock it and take this key with you." I follow her accordingly as her Sergeant-like manner was intimidating. Then she says, "Follow me." I follow her to the MRI room - I knew only because there was a sign on the outside door. She never muttered a word as I tried to keep up with fast clip pace. "Sit here. Take off your flip flops. Swing your legs up here and then lie down. Do you wear a pace maker?" "No." I reply again (thinking it must be part of the preparation - ask twice, just in case). "Here are your ear plugs. Put your leg in here and don't move. This will take about 30 minutes. Oh and here is hand held device - push this button if you need anything or feel like you need to get out."

No sweat - 30 minutes. They move me under a huge hanging table. I begin to look around, check out the ceiling, not moving at all. Then, my little hand held device slips out of my hand and lands on the floor. Whatever, I will get it later. But as I am laying there, I discover that my rings were left on. Immediately I begin to play out all different circumstances in my head. Will the lazers do some funky thing to my rings and then cause an exposion? Will the rings burn up around my finger? She stressed so much about NOT wearing any metal. And now my little button to press is laying on the floor! Panic rushes over me! "Yoooohoooooooo!" I yell and begin to wave my arms. No one notices. "HELLOO!" Again nothing. I wiggle to the edge of the table, quickly finagle picking up my hand held device and promptly hit the button. "Is there a problem?" A voice comes over the loud speaker. "Yes! I still have my rings on!" I yell frantically! "That's not a problem." Oh. I think to myself.

A few minutes later, loud sounds, bumping, more loud sounds, more bumping. Then the door opens, few I think, this is over finally. "You moved your leg" comes a voice from behind. "Do you see where your knee is positioned?" "Uh...yes, I reply." She says, "You cannot move at all. This is going to take longer now." She says with a huff. I apologize and explain about picking up the button device thingy. She tells me it is not even necessary to have it - it's a "just in case thing" she scolded and then briskly walks off. "Oh but I did need it." I mutter under my breath.

I am just glad that experience is over. I will keep you posted on my scan results.

Hot, Hot, Hot!

It has just been plain hot here in SC since we have returned from NY. We have been bouncing from the lake to the pool with squirt guns in between! Today we took the boys to the Panthers football practice in Charlotte today (pics to come) and we could barely stand for five minutes without sweat dripping down... well, everywhere! After naps, we took the boys to the YMCA pool where they had an absolute blast. Landon could not get up the stairs fast enough to take another turn down the water slide. Even Chase went down a few times. I asked Chase today how old he will be in April and he tells me five. But I can see with his "I can do anything that Landon can do" attitude, he really believes that he is 2 going on 5.

And finally, after tucking Chase in tonight, I was walking out the door and told him that I loved him. He told me that he loves me "older" with his million-dollar-smile. Sometimes he is just plain edible!

Wow! What a vacation!

I don't even know where to begin! We had such a great time in WNY visiting with friends and family. We started off at the "long hair Grandma's" house (as Landon would say it) and then down to East Aurora with Grandma Sandy. Thank you everyone for your wonderful hospitality - we really, truly had a blast! Here are just a few pics which barely capture all of the fun we had!

Toddler Time?

I took the boys over to Toddler Time (which is a time set up for 3-5 year olds) at our local library. We were in luck yesterday - a policeman was coming in to talk to the kids and answer questions they may have had. After a few silly songs and books, the officer wandered in, in what seemed like street clothes (except for his belt full of "gadgets"). He pulled up a chair and looked all the kids straight in the eye. After a brief introduction, he began something like this, "Have you heard of jail before? It's not a fun place to be. Does anyone know what our job is?" Silence and stares. "Our job is to chase down bad people and when we catch them they go to jail. Do you think that they have tv's in jail? Nintendo's? Can they play outside? Would you want to go to jail?" More silence and quick shakes of heads from the children. "And we have dogs on our force too. Do you know what their job is? They have these incredible noses that can sniff out drugs. You don't ever want to do drugs - they are bad for you. You can go to jail for doing drugs. I am going to show you my taser, and pass around my handcuffs..." We left shortly after that.

Fourth of July!

Fruit Smoothy Mustache

Walking/riding to the parade

Aunt Heather's pool party!

Fourth of July in Tega Cay, South Carolina is quite a celebration. Not only is it our country's birthday, it is also the birthday of our beautiful city,Tega Cay - we celebrated it's 27th birthday this year. They kicked it off with a parade and ended with fireworks from the clubhouse. We put our kids to bed watched from our porch. All around us the skies were lit up with all sorts of fireworks courtesy of the neighbors (they are legal down here in South Carolina). Each neighbor seemingly trying to be bigger... better... and while enjoying the the show from all around... I knew exactly where the hose was... just in case I needed to spray down my roof!

Melts my heart...

"I ah you mommy" said Chase.
"What buddy?" I say.
He repeats, "I ah you mommy."
You love me?
Yes.

Southern boy

We went to the pool today after our morning errands. We were all playing in the big pool when Chase jumped out, lips purple, and said he was cold and wanted to go home. Our temps "dipped" to about 84 degrees today along with a nice breeze. I think I have a true southern boy on my hands - I may have to break out the winter coat when we go up to NY this summer.

I Jump High!

And so I am realizing rather quickly how different Chase's personality is from Landon. Landon was/is always so cautious...watching, absorbing his surroundings before he joins into a group or takes the "plunge" into any activity. Chase reminds me often of how daring and risky he is. He loves to sit in the rocking chairs on the front porch, lean to one side on the arm of the chair so the other side lifts off of the ground, only to quickly lean back to the other side to set the chair back down just-in-time. Tonight we took a walk to the park and the boys were playing. Chase was running through the tunnels and Landon was climbing... until he fell off a ladder. As we were tending to Landon, Chase took a running leap, and did a free fall from about a 4 foot drop. I even heard his little body hit the ground. He was definitely hurt and upset, and as I picked him up from the ground, brushed him off, and did a quick examination, making sure that there was nothing broken, he declared through his tears, "I jump high!"

A lake, a boat, and two spotters?

Andy and I have been anxious to get out to ski and wakeboard with the boys on board. So, yesterday after many jumps off the boat and a brief football throwing session, we decided to give it a try. I went overboard first and with review mirror in place, along with Landon in the passenger seat and Chase on Andy's lap, it was a success! I taught Landon the hand signals and told him that most importantly, tell daddy if mommy falls! Things were good. Then Andy's turn. I admit I was a bit nervous about driving the boat, watching the boys, and oh yeah, making sure Andy wasn't being pulled through the water by his ankle, but again, we had fun and Andy got his wakeboarding fix in for this weekend anyway!

A cool 94.4 degrees

I was getting my running shoes laced up yesterday after being out on the lake and knew that it was hot out. How hot exactly? 94.4 degrees in the shade. But for SC, that is actually considered cool when there isn't a ton of humidity. So, I took my jog anyway and surprisingly, there were many others who also thought it wasn't so bad.

More Maui pics

Luau

Scenic pics

Make a boat competition

Thought I would post a few more pics from our trip last month. I was just looking through them again and thinking how great a trip it was!

I have spent the majority of these past few days policing Landon and Chase. It begins first thing in the morning when they argue over which show to watch (this is mostly Chase). Then goes on to what to have for breakfast. I have learned to never, ever, give either boy anything different for breakfast or the crying/whining will begin right then.

Then Landon... "Look what I have Chase" and then runs away. Then Chase... "Whaaaaaaa!!!!!!" Then he runs in and points and says something like "Nandon". And it goes on and on. Taking toys, teasing, running away, more teasing, more taking....

Today, I decided that maybe (just maybe) they would be little angels for me while I went to get my violin tuned up and ready to go for the one moment that I may get in the next 18 years to play. So I took them into the the music store which has a ton of fun little gadgets including $500 dollar violins that are dangling off of the wall at just the right height that little 2 and 4 year olds can reach (a money maker perhaps?). So as I am talking with the very nice man-behind-the-counter, the boys were plucking away at what I thought was a keyboard in the back. But as I wandered to the back, I realized that there was no keyboard... they were swinging the violins back and forth on their hangers and plucking on the cello strings that was sitting on the floor. We left quickly but not before Landon chased Chase to where he tripped and hit his head on the floor.

But I am leaving you with a picture of the two of them at a moment in time that they could be sweet to each other.

Meet me in St. Louie!

Chasey Chase!

Da boys...

Landon at the zoo

Joey, me, Gretch

Danny, me, Gretch

Race car exhibit

Scott AFB festival

The boys (all three) and I flew out to St. Louis to see my sister and her family - we had a great time! We made a visit to the Science Museum, the Zoo, Long Acre Park, Scott Airforce Base festival, dinner with the adults (Joey included!) and played on her very awesome blow up water slide! The boys were great on the flight - phew! The pilot even let Landon look in the cockpit before we seated ourselves. Instead of commenting on how very cool all of the lights, meters, and cockpit "gadgets" looked, he walked up and said, "Hi. I Landon and I am four." Then turned and walked out.