Day Out with Justin

Having Fun at the Farm

Welcome Home

Fall "F"otos

October is B-U-S-Y !!!

Okay, I admit it...facebook has pre-occupied me and I have been cheating on my blog page! Is that a sin?! hah
Joel and I have had a busy month with the boys and lots of fun. We went to a farm in Gibsonville and rode on hayrides and this funny cow train thing. The boys jumped in huge bins of corn kernels...found out at home that Justin stuffed some in his pants' pocket and they were falling out everywhere :)
Justin also stole his first item...a square piece of 80%cacao chocolate candy from Michael's craftstore....this is quite crazy b/c my first theft was at a craft store in Burlington and i stole a pack of gum...so, thanks to my mom, I had to return the gum and apologize. It was soooo traumatizing to me that I made justin do the same. I was probably 4 or 5 years old then. (no, it wasn't yesterday!)
We went to a local church's pumpkin patch and bought our pumpkins. We carved the big one and I roasted the seeds; which the kids didn't care too much about. I made a delicious pumpkin pie for Joel (his fave) and he wanted even more! Speaking of food...if you haven't had my rosemary bread, it is to DIE for! We had some tonight with the pasta fagiole i made. I love to cook and bake. I also love flowers in my garden spaces. The newest favorite this month however is the pumpkin souffle soy candle i bought from Sydney candles. Ok, my cheap trick for this month is: I love to have lotion in my car for a quick moisturizing moment. So, get a small hotel bottle of lotion...once you're done with it, refill it with the pump lotion by pumping the lotion into the opening of the little bottle....so easy and you can put the little travel size in your car. Don't ever tell me you're "ashy"! Our halloween will consist of a 4 year old boy Batman and a 5 year old boy Skeleton. Enjoy!

Too Much TV?

How much is too much for kids? On the Kindergarten information sheet, it says they should only have 2 hours a day.

I have been feeling bad about letting Bryan and Justin watch so much tv while I do work, household chores, escape from being a mommy, or whatever else. Bryan doesn't get to watch tv in the "am" b/c he has to hurry to school; however after I drop him off at school, Justin and I come back home and I start working and Justin is babysat by PBSkids or Noggin for about 1.5 hours! yikes! THEN, when Justin comes home from preschool he watches another 2 hours until Bryan comes home and maybe some more...until I call it quits with work at about 4pm and send them outside while I cook dinner.

I don't enjoy this schedule, BUT I do have work to get done.
I really need some input into this...I mean, I majored in Human Development and Family Studies and I still don't know. I talked to one teacher the other day and she said it's okay b/c a mom has things she has to get done.

I also think, well, what if my kids were in a family of older kids who played video games or watched older kids' tv shows....my boys would be doing whatever the older kids do too...for just as long!

So, let me know what you think....I see maybe this is only a "season" while Justin is in preschool and once he goes off to school, the tv watching time will shorten.

hmmmmmm

Love & Respect

For the past 2 Sundays at Grace, Joel and I have been taking a class called "Love and Respect". It's based on a videoseries. Everything is so true and "funny". Women see the world through "pink" glasses and men see the world through "blue" glasses. A woman says "I have nothing to wear!" and she means that she has no NEW clothes and wants to go shopping!! oH yeah!
A mans says "I have nothing to wear!" and he means that none of his clothes are clean! (hopefully not to slam the wife's skills)?

So, you see, we have alot to learn about men and women's differences. Joel and I are trying to "communicate" through our misunderstandings or disagreements. Just by saying "did i respect you with that" or "did i show love to you with that" opens up communications.
It all boils down to this: A man wants his wife to respect him and a woman wants her husband to love her.

Fishing Trip

Wow, what can I say...Joel and I took the boys fishing on Saturday at Lake Higgins. Justin is very into fishing rods; basically any gizmo/gadget, but his pawpaw got him a new rod for his birthday and we wanted to try it out...well, the whole fishing thing that is!

We checked in to the marina and the guy waived our pier fishing costs (for some reason)?? maybe he just wanted to be super nice b/c he knew what "fun" we were about to get into (haha)

We bought a container of worms for 2.75 (bryan asked for the small worms) and headed to the pier. The rains from the hurricane had just cleared and it was a bright sunny day. Only one other man on the pier, so not much competition. I was ready to have fun....because i LOVE to fish. The boys just kept casting their lines and reeling them in...a fish wouldn't have had time to even see the worm. And, their hook would get wrapped around the end of the rod tip and I kept getting called to help. I just wanted to fish. So, I helped and it continued happening. Then, they were happy to watch me a little and i snagged the smallest bream for Justin to reel in. Joel has very sensitive skin and burns like toast, so he gave me a 15 minute notice to wrap it up...so, we looked at the other man's load of fish in his bucket and gave him our container of worms and called it a day (err..an hour). We made memories, but remember, I LOVE to fish...so, i'll go back one day on my own :) shhhh!

First Week of Kindergarten

8/26/08 First Day of School for Bryan
The whole fam got in the car and drove to drop him off...the line was forever, so i jumped out of the car with Bryan and escorted him into school (after) the tardy bell rang! He rode the bus home later and everything went great...he really enjoyed his first day!!
8/27/08
Second Day of School (Torrential Downpour/Tornado watches/craziness)
I can't BELIEVE the craziness of this day! After the morning drop-off
> problems I faced yesterday, I was determined to get in the "front" of the car
> line today, so we left at 7:10 and we were the 8th car in line so I was so
> happy about that! But, I drove up and let Bryan out of the car and he walked
> to the school, but looked back like "where am i going and what am i doing?"
> My heart just sank b/c I couldn't jump out and take him to his class and I
> started driving away and wondering if he would find his way?! I didn't think
> he would, so I started praying that God would help him figure it out and
> someone would direct him where to go.
> I got home and told Joel and Joel told me to call the school. I did and Mrs.
> Sims said he was there! whew! I just imagined him walking in and then
> turning around and walking back out of the school; possibly getting run over
> by a car.
>
> He mentioned to me this evening that whole incident and told me that he was
> walking down the hall looking around and 2 ladies came up and asked who his
> teacher was and he told them Mrs. Sims and they said, "come sit on this black
> line". Bryan told me that he wanted me to walk him in tomorrow! So, I just
> emailed Mrs. Sims to figure out the details of the morning routine.
>
> Well, you're smart for finding the New Garden school parking on the first day!
> I saw it looked empty, but I thought the traffic flow would go rather
> quickly...NOT!
>
> So, this afternoon, Joel and I were waiting at the bus stop at 2:35 and a car
> pulls up and a man tells us that the buses are "grounded" due to weather.
> So, I call the school *(2nd time today)* and they said I could come pick him
> up. So, we jumped in the car and got Bryan home safe and sound. I can't
> believe they finally released the buses at 3:45 today! He wouldn't have
> gotten home until 4:25 or so?!
The pitiful thing is that Bryan was pouting when we picked him up b/c he wanted to ride the bus home again!!!! What we do for our kids...and what thanks we get :) haha

Babes

My first son, so caring, loving
sweet and fun, can't believe
you'll start K this year.
I love you!
My second son, so carefree, loud, loving and fun, oh how I love you so!

"Check, check" ! Am I on?

Okay, here goes...my very first post on my very own blog. I love the pictures and would love to add more, but that will probably slow down my page and you might get frustrated! We wouldn't want that.

I was able to enjoy God's creation today in abundance. I gathered red, ripe tomatoes, and nice green cucumbers from my garden. My camera caught some pretty shots of petunias, roses, and butterflies in action. I helped my man clear out a trail in the woods and we took down a very dead tree with termites overflowing out of it...kinda creepy!

Had the best ice cream cone tonight...Blue Bunny Mint Choc Chip...very creamy! I should've taken a pic of the boys' faces with it all over. So, this first post is very random and I guess I'll get better as time goes on. Stay tuned for more...