Happy New Year!

We rang in the new year with friends from the neighborhood along with a couple who went to high school with Andy and their kids. I can't say we exactly made it up until the ball dropped, but we were closer this year than any year since we have had kids! The boys had fun running around with their party blowers - they thought it was so fun! This year my motto is "the year of change". I don't know who, what, or where, but I am determined it will be a year of exciting change!

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.