Crazy Weekend

Wow is all I can say about Brenden's birthday party. We had 5 ten year olds spending the night and they were here from 4pm Saturday til noon on Sunday. Looking back I wish I would of hidden Brenden's electric guitar. Geesh, one boy wouldn't put that thing down and I had to ask him to put it down while Brenden was opening presents. And another thing during presents was that all the kids were on their cell phones. Can you believe that! A kid who was mad that he wasn't invited was texting a few of them during the present part and I had to ask the boys to all wait til after that was over to pick up their phones again. So during cake I got a picture of all the boys on their cell phones, including Brenden. They were probably all texting each other. So as for the party itself, the boys played in Banzai Falls (the blow up waterslide that has a pool at the bottom), played football, foosball, Wii, and watched movies at night. Two boys said they went to sleep around 3 and another one said he went to sleep around 4 and Brenden and another boy were the last to go to sleep after 5am. I woke up one boy at 9:15 because he had to get ready for church and then all the boys got up. As for presents, Brenden got $20, $25 gift card to Target, $20 gift card to Target, a DS game, a Cavaliers hat from Spencer and Cassidy, a Lebron James Cavs jersey from us and a scooter from us. His favorites are the cavs gear. He is a big Lebron fan.

Today is Micah's birthday. He's been Brenden's best friend since kindergarten and lives across the street. Brenden spent the night there last night and they are doing things today for Micah's birthday. Friday night both Brenden and Spencer spent the night at Josh and Jenny's (our nephew and his wife) for their daughters' birthday. Haley is turning 9, Hannah is turning 6 and Hope is turning 4 all in July but they are moving in two weeks so they had the party early. And on Sunday night Brenden went to the drive-in with Micah and his mom to watch Transformers and didn't get home til 12:15am. So that boy has had like no sleep in the past several days.

Yesterday (Monday) Spencer had his best friend Zach over and Zach's sister Haley who is also 3 like Cassidy and they all played in Banzai Falls. And Spencer lost another tooth yesterday and I was informed by him this morning that the tooth fairy didn't come and that I need to make sure I emailed her yesterday. Man, I feel bad about that! I was so tired (gee, I wonder why?) and completely forgot about it last night. And one last random bit of info, Spencer went jogging with me yesterday and he kept up the whole time. His leg is hurting him this morning since it was his first time jogging. He went two miles with me and I picked up Richard, Cassidy and the dog for the last mile, of which I walked. I've been either jogging 3 miles each night or 2 miles and picking them up for the last mile on days that Richard wants to go too. Brenden goes with me every night but since he was gone last night Spencer said he'd like to go. I didn't think he'd be able to do it but he did and I'm so proud of him.

Happy 10th Birthday Brenden

Yep, you read it right. Brenden is 10 today. I don't know how it got here so fast but it did. I'm pretty emotional about it today probably because it's a double digit. I wrote a letter to Brenden this morning letting him know how proud of him I am, what a great son he is and how much he means to me. I put in some info for him about him over the last 10 years, just things that mom's remember about their kids. I cried a few times while writing it. I also let him know how happy I am to be not only his mom but a friend to him who he can talk to and share things about his life with. 10 years ago he changed my life by making me a mother and I can't imagine my life without him (or Spence and Cass) in it. He's really a great kid. He's got such a big heart that he wears on his sleeve. He's caring and loving. He's smart and athletic. He's responsible and mature. He's every mother's dream child and he's all mine.

Home from Vacation

We got back around 10pm on Saturday night from our vacation. We had a great time. We went to the beach all but 1 day I think and we swam in the pool at the beach house and we all got in the hot tub. The kids love the hot tub, especially Cassidy. She loves to play in the bubbles because it looks like a bubble bath. We saw dolphins on 2 different days in the ocean and I have a picture to prove it. Brenden loved boogie boarding in the waves, Spencer and Cassidy love jumping in the waves, Richard likes finding sea shells and I enjoy taking pictures of it all. I probably took around 200 pictures. The weather was great all week except for Friday when it stormed on and off all day. But in between storms we were able to go to the beach and get in the pool and hot tub. The temperatures were from 85-95 all week long. As always, Richard never wants to come home. Cassidy said on Friday she wanted to go back to her real home because that place was stupid. I think she was missing her toys and her normal routine. Lucky for her we were leaving the next day. Brenden said he missed the dog and his friends but still wanted to stay longer. Spencer never mentioned missing anyone or anything about home but he did say he was getting bored there. Next year we are going to take them to the aquarium in Manteo (another island on the OBX) and see where Blackbeard's ship is instead of just going to the beach and swimming every day. I think this year they got a little bored of doing that every day. So now starts summer break at home with the boys out of school and my house will be full of kids all the time.

I'll post pictures of vacation later this week. I need to edit, delete some duplicate shots, and load them on the computer still.

Finally, the long awaited Easter pictures

Gorgeous aren't they! The kids did such an excellent job, they are all pros by now though.

2 days til vacation

We're going back to the Outerbanks of North Carolina again this year for vacation. I've been so busy this past month helping out my mom since she had surgery on April 29th that I'm am so ready for some chillin on the beach. I'll be busy tomorrow packing up everything. I have one 100 quart storage container packed already with foods and stuff and I have another one to fill with our towels, shoes, hair dryer, bathroom stuff, etc. and I also have to pack everyone's clothes tomorrow. I do that stuff the day before because I'd just double check all over again so I might as well do it on the day before leaving. We'll pack the van up tomorrow night and heading out at 5am on Saturday morning. My mom was supposed to go with us but decided this week she'd better not go as she's not feeling quite up to it. And my brother won't be able to come this year as I'd hoped either. Too bad for them because I'll be hanging out by the pool or at the beach and enjoying hot dogs, steaks, brats, burgers, corn on the cob, wonderful fresh fruits, and can't forget the salt water taffy all week long with not a care in the world. Now let's just pray it doesn't rain all week!

I have had a hectic past 7 days!

Spencer has strep throat and his throat never hurt him. Go figure. I took him to the Dr because he was having headaches and really bad stomach aches and the Dr tested him for strep and it came back positive. I took Cassidy to the Dr on Sunday to the Dr on call for our pediatrician because she was running a high fever and her throat had been hurting her for a few days and she was tested for strep and it was negative. Again, go figure. The one with the sore throat doesn't have it and the one without it does. I have been so busy with mom since last Wednesday due to her surgery and I was at the hospital with her on Wednesday, Thursday, had to get presents for Spencer on Friday and prepare for his party on Saturday. Mom called me during Spencer's party and needed to go to the ER and I spent from 1:30 to 10:15pm with her there on Saturday and she was admitted and got out on Monday. She's ok, she was just feeling very nauseous and in pain from her surgery and they wanted to make sure there was no obstruction or infection and there wasn't. So on Saturday night Cassidy had a very restless night and was running a fever and saying her throat hurt and I could tell it had worsened so I took her to the Dr on Sunday morning because I didn't want her to suffer all day without medicine and I knew that I had to get mom out of the hospital in Columbus on Monday so I wanted to make sure that I could get Cassidy to the Dr. Then after I picked up the boys from school on Monday I had to go back to Mom's and take her her medicine and help her out a bit and Spencer was just not looking good at all. He started crying because his tummy hurt so bad so we left and when we got home both Spencer and Cassidy fell asleep on the couch and Cassidy threw up. She's still running a fever and having a sore throat so no doubt I'll be back at the Dr with her at some point this week. I took Spencer to the Dr yesterday (Tuesday) and he is home again today because strep is contagious for 24 hours. I had to go to mom's last night to make her some smoothies and pick up some medicine for her and make a quick run to the store. I have to go back tonight too since I can't go during the day with 2 sick kids. So as you can see, I have been going non-stop for a week now. Oh, and to top it all off, my van is in the shop getting fixed because something is up with the brakes and traction control system that they've fixed before (apparently not so well) so I'm driving my mom's car for a few days. I can't wait for everything to get back to normal around here.

Focus on Economy