All in a Day!

Have you ever had that feeling that if you stepped out of your shoes at a particular moment and was the onlooker rather than being you, you would judge you as the mom-who-never-disciplines-her-kids-and-repeats-herself-one-thousand-times-in-one-minute-what-the-consequences-will-be kind of mom? I swear I would never be that mom, until today when it happened. I had to make one quick - and I mean quick - return at the mall today and had no choice but to bring the boys along. I sometimes think it is a great field trip and hope that they appreciate that there are many things to buy, but we don't buy all and often we buy none of it.

I knew I was in trouble when we walked into the mall and the boys sprinted down the shiny, newly waxed walk ways through one department store into the mall area where it became a full out race to the fountain, only to beg me for pennies to throw - which I had none. We then walk into BR to return pants and the boys decide to play hide and seek in the clothes racks as the sales person graciously grins and says "Oh, I remember those days..." and probably mumbles under her breath..."Dead beat mom who can't control her kids." but continues to smile.

As I am making my return, the boys decide to sit on the soft, leather bench - phew, I think - great, calm idea only to find that they begin to wrestle on the bench and Chase pins Landon down and sits on him. Another polite grin from another sales person, I finish my return and we leave immediately.

Next stop, Walgreens pharmacy in which the boys decide that the decibels in my voice are impossible to hear to the kid-ear. Landon ended up being punished after sitting on his brother in the massage chair and squeezing the air out of him, and had to sit at my feet while I discussed why I did not want the generic facewash but the real deal that was actually prescribed to me (turns out they get a big bonus at the end of the year if they push the generic - who knew?) and the lady was annoyed at me, my kids, the situation...

And so now we are home sweet home - boys are spending time in their rooms, and though I rarely allow myself an afternoon cocktail, decided that today would be a great day for one!

Powering Down!

It's funny how we can get all caught up in our own lives and live in our little bubbles until we have a chance to take a step back, slow things down, and take in the many little moments that make up a day, rather than sprinting to them, racing through them, and relishing in the memories after it's over. I feel so lucky that I am able to have a few months off each year to power down, and do just that.

This summer has been really incredible. I have been enjoying my time with Landon and Chase and although it is a constant battle to remind them of their manners, not to fight, and to clean up after themselves, we have had such a wonderful summer so far! And although we have events planned daily, there is never any rush to get to them, and when it is over, no rush to get dinner made. It is a nice feeling.

Our Instant Gratification World

Oh my... I don't even know where to start in on this one. I see it creeping in every day... like the oil spill in the Gulf - you know it is pouring into the water, spreading and creeping throughout ... you know it will have an effect... but just not sure what the overall impact will finally be.
I am beginning to see this with our society and especially through my boys. With the internet, DVR, ipods, and even satellite radio, there never needs to be any waiting - no commercials, no fast forwarding through cassette tapes to get to the song you want to hear, only to rewind and wait patiently to hear it again. With DVR, shows are taped and you skip through the commercials and again, no waiting. Where does this leave our society? Chase today was telling me that he just "can't wait" to watch his show. Both boys will ask if we can "skip" through commercials on the radio to hear the next song. It amazes me that with all of this amazing technology, we are creating children who tend to be even more impatient and have less of an attention span. If they don't like something, they skip through it. Or if they are surfing the internet, they don't have to read an entire article, but skim and then jump to another site. After all, don't we all do this as adults? So perhaps we are all a bit smarter these days, but with more road rage and poorer manners? The jury is still out. We'll see in twenty or so years!

Landon and Chase one year older

The last of the big happenings in 2010 (so far) is of course, Landon and Chase's birthdays! We celebrated by taking a trip to Duck, NC with our dear friends from NY. We hiked up the gigantic sand dunes in Kitty Hawk, visited an amazing lighthouse, along with a few museums, and just hung at the beach adn pool. We all had a wonderful time!

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Backing up Take 2

Landon joined a soccer team and proudly wore the number 10 while Andy helped out as the Assistant Coach. They both had a great time!

Backing up

Daddy is my hero!

Aunt Jodi came to say hi

Chase loving the popsiclesPre-surgery but post crazy-syrup-stuff - Chase claimed he was seeing double of Handy Manny!

I do this often, I realize that I have not kept anyone updated and feel terrible for moving so far away and cutting off all communication. So I first apologize for that. Secondly, I am going to try to be better about writing letters and getting the boys into writing as well so we all can keep in touch more often.

A few happenings in the year 2010... I said that this would be a big year of change (at least that is what my January motto was). Instead though, we have been having a great time just hanging in Tega Cay, SC. And although there hasn't been one huge change, there are have been several small happenings.

1. Chase had his tonsils and adnoids removed in February. And although Chase has a fuzzy idea of what happened, I was pacing the halls down to the minute of when he woke up from surgery. All went well and we "bonded" during our overnight hospital stay. Here are a few pics...

To sneeze or not to sneeze!

Chase woke up this morning, walked into my room and says, "Ugh... my sneeze won't come out."

Long time, no post

It was a hot, hot, hot day!

Chase cooling off!

Fountain in Savannah

Forsythe Park

Savannah Riverfront

The Cotton Exchange

Great lazy place!

Chase lasted a minute!

Beach fun!

A gas station in SC that actually has roosters running around as pets!

I don't even know where to begin. This has been a blog title in the past. It has been so long since I have had even one uninterrupted to write and even as I type, I am being summoned to help Chase brush his teeth. On that note, we had a wonderful getaway weekend to Hilton Head Island with a trip to Savannah embedded. It was so very hot but the boys found a great way to cool off in the Savannah "Spray Pad". It was such fun! Here are pics from the weekend... I promise to write again soon... hoping for more than a quick second.

Rewinding

I am rewinding time to include pictures from the Brattonsville candlelight Christmas tour. Brattonsville is a historic estate that dates back to pre-Revolutionary War era. As we toured the grounds, within each building, a different scenerio was being renacted. The boys were most interested in making thier own candles which took many laps around the circle to have enough wax for a simple birthday candle. It sure makes me appreciate how much easier life is today.

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!