What to Wear...What to Wear...

Each morning when getting ready for the school day, I usually pick out a couple shirts for the boys and then let them choose which one they want. If Hunter picks first, then Peyton gets the other and vice versa. I normally just grab one of Hunter's taste and one of Peyton's taste to keep it easy - but sometimes I am surprised. I grabbed a shirt a couple days ago for Hunter as Peyton was already dressed and was quickly informed that he was not going to wear a shirt with stripes. Hmmm - didn't know he had a stripe issue - maybe it was just for the day, but it was a button up, so maybe that had something to do with it - who knows?
Which leads me to this morning, I asked Hunter about a shirt, which is normally something Peyton wears, and he quickly said no. I gave him a Chiefs t-shirt, but the collar somehow got wet and that wasn't going to work - so when I picked out the final shirt - solid orange, he informed me that I he wanted to wear something that wasn't "lame"...and agreed the solid orange shirt was not "lame".
Rest assured...Hunter will be going to school today in a "non-lame" shirt!

Have a great day!

Dawn

Time Out!

Cooking dinner around our house is always a challenge because it normally happens shortly after I get home from work, and of course, the kids want to be in there with me. I usually end up getting frustrated as they are right under feet and between tripping over them and the hot stove, it makes for a challenging time. Tonight was no different...Tanner came over with me near the stove and I asked him to go in the other room, but he wasn't seeing it my way - he got a little upset with me for not wanting him right under my feet and he took off around the corner - I peeked around the corner to see if he was pouting or what he was doing and he had his nose stuck in the corner. We haven't really ever needed to put Tanner in time out, but I guess he has seen his siblings there...and David and I both got a laugh out of him putting himself in the corner. It was pretty cute...he got happy pretty quickly though and it was a short-lived fit.

Have a good one...

Dawn

Mean Mom

Peyton was quite upset with me this morning when we were getting ready to leave for the day. After the boys are dressed for school in the morning and while I am getting ready, I let them either watch cartoons or play a game on the computer - well, this morning, Peyton was not ready to stop playing and it was time to go. Since he wouldn't listen to me, I just walked over to the computer - took the mouse and hit the x on the browser. Oh my - you would have thought that I took away his best friend...he cried and threw such a fit. I was informed on the way to school that he no longer wanted me to be his mom - he informed me that he wants a mom that is not so mean - so I told him that while he was at school that I would be on the lookout for a new mom for him. He made me laugh when he said "you can't find me a new mom when you are at work, because your boss won't let you leave" Well - good point Peyton! :)
I was happy to find out when I got home that he still wanted me as his mom! He came over to me with his little dimples and gave me a hug and said "you're mean" while smiling. My Peyton!!

Hunter was so excited to have his first t-ball game yesterday, only to be disappointed that it got rained out...hopefully the rain will subside so the boys can get some games played - they are all so excited to get out there and play some ball.

Not much other to report with the rest of the family - everyone is doing well!

~~~Dawn

Aubrey and I got our hair cut this morning - much as promised to her! Here is a couple of pictures of Aubrey in her pretty sunflower dress and new shoes - sporting her new hair cut.

Zach had his first baseball game today and he played extremely good! He is normally a catcher, but the team he is on this year has had their catcher for two years, so he will be playing first base - but the catcher was gone today and so Zach was the starting catcher and he made some awesome plays! I was so proud of him!

He had quite the cheering section - Grandma and Grandpa Harris and Jon came up to his game and Grandma and Grandpa Bass came - so he had quite a crowd cheering him on. He had a great hit and tried to make it to second base, but got out on the slide - it was close - but it was a great effort on his behalf.

Grandpa Bass bought snow cones for everyone! What a treat!

Grandpa Harris enjoyed a snow cone...(he is trying to look away from me - he knew I was taking his picture!)

Tanner sat with Grandma Bass while enjoying his snow cone...

Peyton had his first t-ball game this afternoon. He hit the ball on his turn and then just stood there looking at us - it was so cute - he finally got the message to drop his bat and run - luckily he didn't get out and got to first base. Peyton is a left-hand er, but he is a right-handed batter. Last year, we were half way through the season when his dad wanted him to try to hit right-handed verse left and he hits much better - so he is multi-handed when it comes to baseball!

Tanner and Daddy - enjoying the game

It was such a nice day - the weather held out for the games. It got a little cloudy a couple times and we thought during Peyton's game we might need to make a run for the car - but it never did rain. Thank goodness - we wouldn't want any make up games the very first game! The next couple months are going to be extremely busy with games, but it is also quite fun - I actually enjoy this time of year and watching them play their sports. All the running can get quite hectic, but I wouldn't trade it for anything!

Take care...

Dawn

I called and made an appointment for Aubrey & I to get our hair cut today. She came to me not to long ago telling me I needed to make her an appointment - how funny! I told her the other day that I had made the appointment and she was so excited. I reminded her last night that we were going to get our hair cut this morning - well, I got woke up by Aubrey --- "Get up Mom, it's time to get our hair cut". I explained that our appointment was later and she was slightly concerned that it wasn't today, but I think we have made it past that. Now we are discussing how she is going to get her hair cut and I mentioned something and she said "that's not perfect", so not sure what is...but I bet she will let Aunt Barbara know just how it should be cut!

Have a great day!

Dawn

We are hoping for no rain tomorrow - baseball starts! Zach has a game at 2:00 and Peyton has a t-ball game at 5:00. Hunter's first game in on Monday. Let the fun begin! I went tonight to pick up a few last minute things Zach needed for his uniform - and boy is it expensive! This will be his last year in recreational baseball - hard to believe high school is right around the corner.

I think Zach had a pretty good day at work with me yesterday. He might have been a little bored in the morning, but Thursdays are pretty busy with our payment process. He came home to tell his dad that I had caused a big system issue that took all day to fix - trying to make me look bad, I think - but sometimes things occur that that undercover other issues - and that is just what I did - although, not intentionally.

I took him to lunch and we had a pretty nice time - we headed to a little Mexican restaurant close by and enjoyed our quiet time visiting. We don't get much time like that very often. It was very enjoyable to visit with him like this.

When we got back from lunch, we had to head to a meeting with some auditors - so he got to sit in on that and once the meeting was over - David came by and picked him up - it was a pretty good day. This was the last year that he will be able to attend and we both enjoyed our time.

That's about all for now - maybe I'll have some baseball pics to share this weekend...

Until next time...

Dawn

On my way to Hunter's ball practice this evening, Hunter was filling me in about a new boy in his class that just started this week. I guess his name is Devin. It must be hard on a little one to have to start a new school with only a month left, but that's besides the point. Hunter proceeds to tell me about a little girl in his class named Allie and what she said she wanted to do to Devin. Curious, I asked him what that was...Hunter's response was it's a bad word mom that I'm not allowed to say - hmmm, now more curious I ask what the word starts with and he says "S". Well, the only bad word that I know of that starts with an "S" didn't make sense in this scenario - so I didn't say much, and then he said - I can sound the word out for you if you want - so I agreed.
S - E - X. Well, I thought it was funny that Hunter thought that was a bad word, but not something I thought in Kindergarten they would be talking about...and WHY is Allie saying she wants to have sex with Devin at 6 years old? Seriously! I'm sure she doesn't really understand this - at least I hope, but it's amazing what children so young are discussing. I was pretty surprised. Hunter said that one of the other kids was going to tell the teacher about it, but she told them "no tattling". It seems like it's only going to get worse - they are learning more and more at such a younger age - it's scary. Granted, like I said, not sure that she knows exactly what it means, but still...

On another note - tomorrow is Take your Child to Work Day - which I have almost always avoided. I go to work to get away from my kids! :) This is Zach's last year of being able to attend, so he is going to join me at work tomorrow. It should be an interesting day for him. He can watch me put payments for our global entities on Bank of America and our Middle East bank...he can learn the ins and outs of Finance in a short period of time - maybe he can assist me with my bank reconciliation for our Germany account, which has been a major undertaking for me to get straightened out - what a mess! They have a few tours planned to learn about the Health care industry that I'm sure we will partake in. I plan on taking him to lunch - I'm thinking Mexican sounds wonderful - I'm sure he will agree. Then I plan on dad picking him up early - maybe around 2ish. Should be a fun day for the two of us. Hunter is old enough to attend this year - but in my opinion, he's not old enough...I've taken Zach one other year when I worked at Sprint and he had a pretty good time - it should be a good day though.

Take care!

Dawn

Big Excitement!!!

To some this might not be exciting, but to me it is blog worthy news! Tanner has never really like much of a wet diaper and when he needs changed, he will bring us a diaper so he can be taken care of - it doesn't matter if he's wet or dirty - he doesn't like it. I've always thought maybe he might be easy to potty train and hopefully that is a correct thought. A few days ago, David told me that Tanner brought him a diaper and he asked if he needed changed and he said yes - well, he didn't...so David went on about what he was doing and then Tanner messed his diaper. So exciting, because he know what is happening - just doesn't have it all put together yet. Which leads me to my exciting news...just a few minutes ago here he comes with a diaper and I start to change him when I realize he is just starting to go to the bathroom, so I grabbed the diaper around him and run to the bathroom and he had his first bowel movement on the toilet! We made such a big deal about it - clapped and told him how big he was - then we let him flush, he liked that. He wasn't too excited about sitting up there - but I think we're on to something good! I hope to have him potty trained before the end of summer and I don't think that goal is unrealistic...I think he is ready! Yea! No more kids in diapers - I can see it now!!! :)

While we are on Tanner news - we have decided that he must have just had a stomach bug that just wouldn't go away. We withheld milk for several days and he's been begging us for it - the first day I gave him some more, he practically tried to drink the entire gallon - he obviously missed it. He hasn't had any issues - so our guess of the milk allergy was probably incorrect - but a guess we are happy isn't correct!

Until next time...

Dawn

I took a vacation day on Thursday to spend with Hunter on a field trip. We went to Burr Oaks Nature in Blue Springs. It was a fun-filled day with nature walks and learning about different parts of nature. The kids all seemed to enjoy themselves. I got to ride the school bus with them and that was quite an adventure. We took two buses with about 45 kids per bus - and they were all quite talkative. I was amazed though, each time the bus would stop at a stoplight the teachers would raise their hand and all the kids would go silent - it was simply amazing! As soon as the light turned green though and the hands went down, the mouths took off again. I was in charge of five kids, including Hunter, and they were really good. Hunter had me take his picture with the two girls and I'll have to post that, I haven't downloaded them yet. He was quite the ladies man with these two girls. After the nature area, we headed over to Pink Hill park to eat lunch and play on the playground for a little while before heading back to school.
Peyton was also quite excited that I took vacation on Thursday, as he has been asking me every morning if I will please pick him up from school. So, after I got back with Hunter I went down and picked up Peyton and he was so happy! I guess it was a treat for him to be picked up by mom instead of dad for a change.

When the kids and I got home from school on Thursday, David and I headed over to his Grandma's house to dig up some plants for our yard. We transplanted several tulips, irises, some creeping flock, which we just love because we have some surrounding the big tree in our front yard and it grows so well there. I had to expand our current flower bed a little and ended up creating a new one in the front yard - it's still in progress, but got off to a good start with the beautiful tulips we planted. We finished up a little after dark and I was downright exhausted from all the shoveling, digging, etc. I laid down on the couch to relax and my muscles were letting me know how the felt about it. David and I worked so good together though and I really enjoyed our time spend digging in the dirt and making our yard beautiful.

I met my friend Lori for dinner on Friday night and it was such a nice time together. We just don't get together very often and it was a much needed night out. I am truly blessed with the friendship that we have - it is so nice to have such a great friend that you can share anything with.

I went to my weekly WW meeting this morning, despite the fact I was expecting not so good results...and not so good results is exactly what I got! I gained 3lbs this week! What in the world happened! Let me tell you what happened...Easter Sunday dinner at Mom's was amazing and it didn't stop there...I just didn't record anything I ate all week and I have picked back up on my Diet Coke drinking and less water, and I really think that plays apart in things (not 3lbs worth though)! That's okay - I had my fun and now I'm back on track to have a successful week...can't let this get me down.

The kids and I went for a little drive this afternoon and Hunter asked if I'd call his Grandma Bass to see if they were home, so we called and we met her over to visit with Grandma Elliott. I think she was happy to see the kids and enjoyed the visit, although, the kids were a little wild, but not too bad. After our visit, we headed over to David's parents for a while. The kids had their Easter egg hunt since they missed it last weekend and enjoyed their visit.

I hope everyone had a good week...and has a good week to come!

Dawn

Hodge Podge

I've been a little behind in posting, so this will be a hodge podge of things that have been going on.

We have been running to baseball practices four nights a week - so that is keeping us rather busy. Zach has practices for 2 hours on Monday and Thursday nights, Peyton's is on Tuesday nights and Hunter on Wednesday nights for 2 hours. Luckily, Peyton's practice is only an hour - trying to keep their attention for even that long is quite a task to undertake. His practice this evening was quite Peyton-like. I had taken Hunter & Aubrey along with me to play on the playground equipment while Peyton practiced, but Peyton requires pretty much full attention, so I was quite torn between watching the other two and watching Peyton. I've decided that from now on, I won't be taking anyone else unless Zach or David are with me. Peyton is truly one of a kind!

We had a nice Easter with my family on Sunday, with the exception of the constant raining. It would have been nice if the kids were able to go outside and play, but they still had a good time regardless. My brothers and their families were all there and all that was missing was Carrie and her family. It was great to spend the afternoon with everyone and was very good to spend the afternoon with my grandparents. Love you Grandma & Grandpa. I was trying to entertain Grandpa by performing a dance routine for him - I think he thought I was a dork, but I was having fun!

Tanner has been having some serious issues with his diapers, not to get too graphic. We thought he had a stomach bug a few weeks ago and it just never seemed to get better. When I took the boys for their well-child check up I mentioned to the doctor that he kept having these bad diapers. She mentioned that if it went on for over 10 days, that we should bring him back to make sure nothing else was going on. One day last week, David mentioned that he had changed 3-4 diapers and we were both getting concerned that things were not getting better - and then we had a thought...wonder if he is having trouble with his milk. So...Saturday I decided to withhold all milk from him (which is a major issue for him - he loves his milk) and he had no bad diapers - he woke up Sunday morning with no issues. I withheld milk all day and tried to convince him Sunday night that I wasn't giving it to him because I thought it was making him have the issues, but he didn't seem to care! David gave him some milk on Monday and low & behold, within two hours he had the issues again...so, we're now thinking that he has developed a milk allergy. I bought him some Soy milk last night and he is tolerating it quite well - so hopefully this is just a temporary issue. We'll see...

I am still working on my weight loss - it's not a diet, it's a life-style change! I feel like this outlook is helping me make better decisions and helping me to continue to be successful in this change. I am excited that I have now lost 16.4lbs and still going! I don't withhold anything that I want, I just keep track of everything and only allow myself a certain number of calorie/points per day. I've done a combination of Weight Watchers and a program they have been running at work that focuses more on calorie intake, but I really like the point program and I think between both programs and exercising, it has truly helped me to be successful to this point. I have a long way to go to get where I want to be, but am very pleased with how far I have made it thus far! What a journey!

I've probably rambled on enough for tonight...but, I am going to make an effort to try to update more often since I've slipped here lately!

Until next time...

Dawn

Disney on Ice

The kids and I went to watch Mickey's Magical Journey on Ice last night with their Grandma Bass. I was wondering how Tanner would do being that his is only 2 and not sure he would even pay attention, but he watched pretty much the entire show and clapped right along with the crowd. They all seemed to really enjoy it and Aubrey sat glued to her Grandma's lap and watched intently through the whole show. It was a great night and they all enjoyed it.

As soon as we sat down, here came the vendors - Popcorn, who wants popcorn...Cotton Candy...get your cotton candy, Lemonade, Snowcones - in these fancy Disney cups that cost 10.00 per snowcone, Light thingymajigs and the kids all of a sudden were hungry, thirsty and needed to light toy to go along. Grandma bought two containers of popcorn for them to share and Tanner quickly took hold of one of the boxes. He ate the majority of that box by himself and wasn't too into sharing - when Hunter would put his hand in to get some, Tanner would get just a little irritated and don't even try taking the box from him.

After the show was over, we went through the drive-thru at McDonalds and they were treated to ice cream - I think they all enjoyed their evening. I think David and Zach enjoyed their evening too - quietly at home watching movies until the circus made it home.

On a separate note, I took Peyton and Tanner for their well-child checkups on Tuesday and both checked out just fine. Peyton now weighs 44lbs and was 44 inches tall - we thought this was amusing that he was 44x44. Tanner is now up to 28.5lbs (feels much heavier to me) and was 33 inches tall. They both had to get shots - Tanner lucked out and just had to get one, but Peyton had to get four shots and he was not happy! He told me on the way to the doctor that if he had to get shots that he would be running away...well, that didn't happen but he cried the moment the doctor left the room while waiting for the nurse to come back. It was quite a show...cried during shots, through the waiting room leaving, and down the road for 10 minutes. He informed me he wanted to go to school with his teachers and friends who were not mean to him like I was. I tried to explain to him that shots were to protect him from getting bad diseases, but he didn't care. He is now ready for Kindergarten in the fall and doesn't need any more shots - this didn't seem to matter to him either! Tanner cried for a second while they gave him the shot, but quickly stopped and proceeded to watch his brother's fit.

On Wednesday night, I was taking Hunter to his T-ball practice and Peyton joined us. This was the conversation going on in the back seat:

Hunter: "My teacher said that the word Dumb bunnies is a bad word"
Peyton: "That is not a bad word, my teacher said it was not a bad word"
Hunter: "3-4 kids in my class were saying dumbunnies and my teacher said it was a bad word"
Peyton: "It is not a bad word"
Hunter" "but my teacher said it was a bad word"
Peyton: "well, your teacher is just a moron"

I was not expecting Peyton to say that! But, I tried not to call much attention to it either, as I was afraid he would just keep calling people that. They then asked me if it was a bad word and I just explained that it's not one of the official bad words, but maybe his teacher just was tired of hearing it and calling someone a dumb bunny wasn't very nice. That seemed to settle it.

Until next time...

Dawn