Coming soon..... *updated with slideshow*

Christmas pictures taken with my NEW CAMERA!

oh gawd! warning:TMI

Well, I've been sick. Deathly sick. I've never had a "kidney" infection before, but now I can say I have and I wouldn't wish that on anyone. I've had my share of "bladder" infections, but this one spread to my kidneys. I went to the doctor on Friday after peeing some blood (TMI, I know) and I had one of the nastiest infections they had ever seen. I couldn't walk, I cried when I hit bumps on the drive over, and I was on the verge of puking from all the pain. I'm on day 4 of Cipro, Lortab and phenegran and my pus and blood infested urine seem to be back to normal! What a week for us sickies!

HaPpY bIrThDaY bRyCe!!!!

My dear son is now a 5-year old :( Boy do they grow up fast. We had a special day today, just me and my boys. We went to CEC which has become a tradition for the boys on their "actual" birthday day. Then I took him to Julia's bakery to get some cupcakes for dessert tonight. Of course he got chocolate (that's my boy!) with sprinkles. We're going to let him open his present from us tonight after dinner. Just a little family party before the big whoo-ha on the 11th. I have some pretty cute pics of him when he was a baby...maybe I should get together a Bryce photo montage ;) I'll add that to my to-do list!

mERry Christmas Eve

Hey! Notice the "ER" in my title? Yep, that's where we were yesterday. I had no choice but to take Bryce in yesterday. He woke up with a fever of 100.3 so I gave him motrin. Three hours later his fever was actually higher at 103.3, so I gave him tylenol and put in a call to the ped's office. The only appt open was at 4:45...grr... I stuck him in bed to rest and a few minutes later I hear a big "thud" and find him on his bedroom floor wailing. He tried to stand up but his legs were too weak. He was still on fire at 103.5 after all these meds AND a lukewarm bath. We headed on to the ER. He definately has an ear infection. I was beyond pissed about this yesterday too!

Here's the backstory....

We've all been fighting some upper respiratory crud for the past week or so. Drew was doing the same thing as Bryce was last Wednesday night. A fever, guarding his right ear, yadda yadda. As a mom, you know. Ear infection. We went to the walk-in appts at Dr. E's office on Thursday. Yep, ear infection. He gave him a round of antibiotics and the kiddo was back on his feet!

The next morning, Bryce and I woke up feeling like we had been hit by a truck. I drug us into one of the "minute clinics" down the street to get us a z-pack or similar antibiotics. That was a no-go. We left with antihistimanies! WTH?!? I didn't see the scripts since they faxed them to Publix for me, you know....free antibiotics and all (never miss an opportunity for FREE). When we picked them up, she said "That'll be $16." Uhh.....why? Because we DIDN'T GET ANY ANTIBIOTICS!!!! Now, I'm not a doctor, and I don't claim to be, but common sense would tell you that what's good enough for D is good enough for B. He didn't need any $8 cough syrup. Hell, I had that at home already. So what did I do? I called them. Demanded some cillin. Did I get it? Nope. "It's a viral infection. It won't do any good." Blah, blah, blah. Well, we've got the amoxicillin now!

A little bummed

I won't be able to go to the book signing that I so desperately wanted to go to :( Chris and I are taking a "One Month to Live" bible study on Wednesday nights, and the first class is the same night as the book signing. There's no way around it. I guess I'll have to catch her next time!

Vinyl Attraction

In addition to the numerous Christmas ornaments I made this year using my Cricut, I also ventured out to the "home decor" side a little. The "Imagine, Create, Play" words are in the bonus room just above the toy cabinets. I also tried my hand at tile, which is the other image. It would be really cute with a red ribbon added to the top! I cut "JOY" in red and put it on my mailbox, too. Sorry, no picture of that since it's 9 degrees outside this morning! BRRRR!!!!

Here comes Santa Claus

We had our annual Santa playdate at Stacie's house this past Saturday. It was lots of fun, as usual. Bryce came armed with a list this year so he wouldn't forget to tell Santa ANYTHING! Drew didn't like the fat guy, but I went ahead and snapped pics anyway. I have a few that my mom had made of me when I was at that age just bawling in Santa's lap! It will be cute when he's older :)

Hey all you Plum fans!

Janet Evanovich will be at Borders on West end January 7th for a signing. Her new book "Plum Spooky" is the next one to be released! I'm for SURE going! This will be my first "signing" and I'm really looking forward to meeting someone halfway famous.

Things I learned last weekend

Everyday I seem to learn more about myself. I'm changing. I'm realizing what I can and can't do...some things that I could do in the past that I can't seem to get away with anymore. I noticed a few things this weekend.

*I don't think I'm meant to consume alcohol anymore. Cranberry juice and vodka was my drink of choice Friday night. The first one was WONDERFUL. I'm blaming the second one on my headache the next morning.
I guess I've drank maybe 10 or so times since Drew has been born. I just don't have that desire. It's a sad thing, I know. I had rather have a big Diet Coke or a Starbucks Latte. I've realized that I can still have a good time without the booze.

*I CANNOT CROCHET! I've been trying since Friday. The beginnings of three scarves have hit the trash. I don't have the patience AT ALL.

*The phrase "You can do anything if you put your mind to it" does not apply to me. There was another crafting "flop" other than the crochet mishap this weekend.

*You can redecorate by "repurposing" things in your house. I moved around some decor from different rooms and it has really freshened up the place.

Some pics you haven't seen yet

I'm finally getting around to uploading Halloween pics and while I was at it I threw in a few more on the slide show.

I took the boys to the dentist on Wednesday. Yep, both of them. I just love where I take them. It's totally centered around kids and they are familiar with the fears and tears that come with a dental visit. We see Dr. Mallette at Children's Dentistry. They have XBOX's in the waiting room along with puzzles and movies. When you go back, there are tv's mounted on the ceiling showing a movie. All the cleaning tools have special names and the kids get to visit the treasure box and get a balloon character (or sword in our case) when they are done. Oh yeah, and the token character toothbrush, flosser and toothpaste.

When I took Bryce for his cleaning last time, Drew was about 7 months old. They encouraged me to bring him in next time Bryce was due. I never took Bryce in for a cleaning that early because my ped always said it could wait until they were old enough to follow directions. But anyway, they made it quick and painless. Drew is going to have some crowding issues which were obvious to the dentist and I have noticed this as well. He got flossed and had a fluoride treatment. Bryce did great. He's weird in a way that he LOVES having his teeth cleaned/flossed/brushed. He will randomly go in the bathroom during the day to floss. It's a good habit to have!

TGIM

Thank goodness it's Monday....well, almost. I know that's not commonly wished for, but after the weekend and drama that unfolded, I'm grateful that a new week is about to begin.

My middle sister's b-day was Friday. We took her out to Fulin's for dinner (which was super scrumptious). It was rainy and nasty, so the plan was to head over to our house for gifts and other festivities. I then got the phone call that changed the weekend. My youngest sister (just 16) was driving and she got into a car accident. My other sister was also in the car. They were able to walk away, luckily, but the jeep was totaled. Two other cars were hit (my sis's fault...failure to yield) and those people were alright too. Since my parents were on their boat like every freaking weekend, we were left to straighten out the mess. That's a whole entirely different blog post.

So we're sitting there while the cop is filling out the report and everyone's adrenaline is settling down. I'm trying to decide if they need to go to the hospital or not. My sister took an airbag to the face and she's beginning to feel the burn. Her head also hurts some. She decides she'll wait until our parents get home and then see if they will take her in. My other sister busted up her knee pretty bad, and almost went in that night but put it off until last night. She went into the ER and they gave her a pretty full work-up. X-ray's and CT scans. Luckily, no bones were broken. Her CT scan showed that her liver was lacerated, probably from the seat belt. There were also a few other abnormalities like swollen adrenal glands, swollen spleen and pancreas. I've never heard of that...especially in someone her age. If anyone has some insight please share. She has to go in 5-7 days for a follow-up. And just in case you were wondering, my parents went straight back to the boat yesterday morning.

ABC's and 123's

Monday night, I went to a "Prospective Parents Meeting" at Discovery School. I love the concept behind DS and I would love it if Bryce could attend there. I would say he's kindergarten-ready right now, probably due to his age (almost 5), but he also catches on to things fairly quick. I would love for him to have that extra push in kindergarten.

Now, I don't think Bryce is uber-smart or anything. He's just VERY interested in learning. He excels with numbers (can count to 150 and do some addition), reads about a handful of words, writes the alphabet and numbers, but doesn't have much creativity. He has absolutely zero interest in coloring and gets frustrated when he can't do something perfect.

I did find out on Monday night that the odds are not in his favor to get accepted though. The cafeteria was full of parents, who when asked by a show of hands if they were there for kindy testing, almost 97% of the room raised their hands. The school is also lowering the number of K classes from 4 to 3.

The testing is on January 10th, but we will not find out the results until early spring. Wish us luck!

Back in the groove

I'm feeling so much better the past couple of weeks. I actually feel like doing stuff and I've quit putting things on the back burner (like this blog). My brain has been in a fog lately! I'm finally able to focus and accomplish a few things instead of stressing about them and never getting anything done.

Drew has shot up like a little weed over the past few weeks. He's really talking quite a bit which I'm not used to since Bryce was slow to talk. Here's a little sampling of his vocabulary....

-ma ma
-da da
-bye bye, and just bye
-hi
-MINE! (with an attitude)
-nigh nigh
-ball
-pat pat
-light
-baby
-tickle tickle
-uh huh (for yes)
-uh uh (for no)
-Bry
-MiMi

It's very sweet :)

As for Bryce and his tonsils....apparently he DOES have sleep apnea (by my own determination) and I'm going to lay down with him a few more nights before his appointment next week just to make sure it wasn't a fluke thing. I'll at least feel better about it. I hate the thoughts of him having this surgery, but I guess it's better now than later on down the road.

That's all for now, I wish I had the camera card so I could upload some recent pics! I will do that soon though. I'm off now to tweek things on this blog a little and I hope to have lots of posts to follow!

all better

We have had the nastiest stomach bug here that I think we've ever had. Bryce started puking Friday night, and it was mine and D's turn yesterday. YUCK! I am so, so glad we are finished with that. Eww! I actually had to call-in to work, which I never do.

I went and got some Halloween crafts for me and Bryce to work on this week while he's out on fall break. I got one of those foam "haunted pirate ship" from Michael's (which are on sale for $4.99 this week!), a snap-together Star-Wars tie-fighter and a pail to decorate for trick-or-treating. He's really been anxious to get going on any of these, so I cracked open the pirate ship....yeah, we'll be waiting on D to take a nap before we finish that. He almost bit a chunk out of the foam while we were spreading the pieces out.

About the Zumba thing mentioned previously...I'm beginning to have second thoughts about it. I really, really, really want to do it, but thinking about it more made me realize that it's just going to become something that will take me away from my family more. Anyway, still mulling it over. I've got to decide something soon though!

Halloween costumes

We're good to go with the costumes this year. We bought Bryce's costume a few weeks ago...he loves to dress up and play, so he's already worn his a few times. I had a really hard time deciding on Drew's costume. He's not real keen about having things on his head, so many of the costume I loved had seperate hats, and if you didn't wear the hat then you couldn't even tell what he was supposed to be. I think the shark costume gives him no choice :)

well I did it

I've done the unthinkable! I registered for a class that will certify me to be a Zumba instructor. I have tossed this idea around in my head for a few months, and when I got wind of a class in Brentwood I just went ahead and signed up. I'm so excited (and just about as nervous). I don't see myself teaching classes on a regular basis, probably more like a substitute teacher. I did find out that if I get on the sub list at the Y then our membership is FREE! The class is two weeks from this Sunday, and I'll be looking for some students to practice with!

Oh, I almost forgot! Here's the latest with Bryce's throat...
His tonsils are still big. He's started talking weird again, so I made him an appointment to see Dr. Goco in about 3 weeks for a second opinion.

another moment

I had another mother moment last week. I really had to bite my tongue when I picked up Bryce from school. Okay, so his teacher this year is just a little different to me. I can't explain it. Bryce had such a sweetheart of a teacher last year, so maybe I go a little spoiled.

All the kids were up playing while they were waiting for their parents to pick them up for the day. There was one boy that was sitting in a chair at the table, and I really didn't think anything of it. I was helping Bryce get all of his stuff together, and the boy got up out of the chair (not sure where he was going...) and the teacher had the nastiest tone with him. It was a "Get back in that chair, RIGHT NOW!" sort of thing. Yeah, I talk to Bryce that way from time to time, but I don't expect a teacher at a mother's day out program to speak to a child that way. Really, he wasn't hurting anyone....but I don't know what he did to get in the chair in the first place.

I wanted soooo bad to tell his mom about how nasty the teacher sounded, but then talked myself out of it. It wasn't my business, but on the other hand, I would want to know if the shoe was on the other foot. I hope she was just having a bad day because I have my eye on her now.

3 days

Three very long days. I decided to give up drinking diet sodas and any drinks containing sugar substitutes. I have/had a huge addiction, and I didn't realize how bad it was until I decided to quit drinking them. I've always heard that aspartame wasn't good for you, but I read this book over the weekend called "Skinny Bitch", and it went in a little deeper about the dangers and that caused me to do more research on my own. I'm having some pretty bad headaches and pain in some of my joints (mainly my shoulders). I haven't given up caffeine completely (yet). I substitute my morning coffee with tea (no sugar) and that's been a lifesaver!

But enough about the negative stuff, let me tell you how things are changing for the good. My skin and hair are looking better each day. My appetite has really decreased. That was something else I learned about the diet sodas. Each one you drink is a constant surge of insulin. This is taken from a website when I did my "researching"


That may be just what happens when we offer our bodies the sweet taste of diet drinks, but give them no calories. Fowler points to a recent study in which feeding artificial sweeteners to rat pups made them crave more calories than animals fed real sugar.

"If you offer your body something that tastes like a lot of calories, but it isn't there, your body is alerted to the possibility that there is something there and it will search for the calories promised but not delivered," Fowler says.

Perhaps, Bonci says, our bodies are smarter than we think.

"People think they can just fool the body. But maybe the body isn't fooled," she says. "If you are not giving your body those calories you promised it, maybe your body will retaliate by wanting more calories. Some soft drink studies do suggest that diet drinks stimulate appetite"

I really this is something I can continue long-term. I have initially set a goal for me of two weeks, cold turkey, no diet sodas. I know this will get easier!

HAPPY 1ST BIRTHDAY DREW!!!!

I just can't get over how this year has flown. It really does go so much faster when you have two kids. Drew's birthday was yesterday, so I decided to take him and B to Chuck E Cheese for some playtime. I've done this every year for B (taken him to CEC for his "official" b-day), so I wanted to carry the same tradition over for Drew. He lasted just about an hour before we had to come home for lunch and a nap, and then preparations for today's party. We had so much fun, and are so thankful for the friends and family that we have. We've been hanging out at home s-l-o-w-l-y taking each toy out of the box for him to play with. It's been a perfect day, and a perfect 1st birthday for my boy!

down

Last Thursday night, someone very close to me let me down in a major way. I'm so disappointed in her. I tried every way to help when she needed help, only to see her spiral down the same path that, for a short time, she had come out of. I will spare the details because not only am I upset, I'm also humiliated in her behavior. All I know to do is pray for her, and hope that her night of incarceration will trigger a turn-around.

Cultures are negative

Got the official call from the Dr's office this morning that the overnight strep cultures were negative. B's tonsils are almost meeting in the middle now. Dr. Eastham said that he was concerned about his tonsil size when he saw him in January for his well-child visit, but these are crazy big. He really couldn't explain it, and really the only reasoning he did give me was MAYBE he had mono at the same time of the last strep. They didn't test for that at the walk-in clinic, but they did yesterday (which was also negative). He's on another round of antibiotics for 10 days and then we follow-up with Dr. Eastham. He said if he's not any better after this round then he'll refer us to an ENT.

Thanks everyone for the well wishes! Fortunately, he doesn't feel bad or complain at all about it.

Attack of the Kirby salesman

This past Friday evening, I was hanging out with Bry & D waiting for daddy to get home and kick off our weekend when the doorbell rang. It was a really, really nice man telling me how he and his wife just moved to the area and they were opening up their own business cleaning carpets. He was offering to clean one room in my house, the only thing he asked in return, was that if I was pleased, I would help spread the word about his business. There was no obligation to buy anything. Who wouldn’t want a free carpet cleaning?

Now I was in a perfect situation. Just last week, I had a steam cleaned the carpet in my living room. Not only that, I vacuum every other day since the D-man puts any and everything in his mouth. My carpet is not just clean. It’s very clean. So you would think that I would be in a perfect position to say, “No thanks. I’m sorry.” Close the door. Done.

He told me it would take about 20 minutes, so I figured what the heck. I'm all about supporting entreprenuers and local businesses. Twenty minutes...remember that number.

He called his "guys" and they arrived 5 minutes later. It's now 4:35. Three big boxes get lugged into my living room. I noticed on one of the boxes the infamous "Kirby" brand. At any rate, the sales guy was going on about how cute my son was, and how lovely my home was, all the while, he is setting up a display of some sort, featuring the attachments of the Kirby vacuum cleaner.


The goal of the Kirby vacuum demonstration it to demonstrate how much dirt has been left within the carpet. A "Dirtmeter" attachment is used in place of a vacuum bag, while "dirt pads" are placed inside the attachment. When the vacuum is turned on, dirt lands on the pad, and is shown to the customer. The salesmen frequently replaces used dirt pads with new ones, leaving evidence of dirt around the vacuumed area.

The second goal of the demonstration is to show you how inferior your vacuum is. He whips out my handy dandy Hoover Fusion with "cyclone" suction power and vacuums my living room.

Here's how it went from there...

“Have I vacuumed this with your machine about the way that you would have?”
It is acceptable what you have done.

“Now that I have used the Kirby, do you see all this dirt that was left in your carpet.”
I have the ocular proof.

“If you had a chance to get this remaining dirt out of your carpet, would that be something you’d be interested in doing.”
The remaining dirt is upsetting to me and its removal would be most welcome.

“Wouldn’t you feel better if your son wasn’t crawling around near all this dirt?”
That’s an affirmative.

“If your machine is missing this much dirt, and you bought it to do precisely that very job, to remove dirt, then don’t you think it’s time you fired it and got something that will do the job.”
Can one really fire an inanimate object?

“You know what I mean. Get rid of it.”

He then leaned in for the final sales pitch. “Look, your machine isn’t getting the job done.” He then went on to talk about “superior suction power” and how the dirt in my carpet was going to destroy it by midnight unless I made some drastic changes, and that if I really, really loved my children, I would do this. For them. For their future.

Frankly, he had a point. I wondered "How much does this thing cost?"

It was now 5:45

“Would you like this Kirby in your home,” he asked.

“It depends,” I said. “How much does it cost.”

Now I knew that Kirbys were expensive. But when he handed me the flyer telling me the price, I honestly had to keep myself from laughing out loud. Want to know what the price was?

$2,049

Over two thousand dollars. It was at this point that I knew I was going to have to turn rude on him.

I did apologize for wasting his time, but I did let him know that there was absolutely NO WAY I was going to pay that price for a vacuum cleaner. Dude brings out the financing sheet. He told me I could afford to pay $30 a month (for the next 4 years), that he knew I could spare a dollar a day.

It's now 6:30

6:30 is feeding time around here, if not earlier. After I put my foot down about not purchasing the vacuum, I went into the kitchen to start cooking our dinner. He sat in the kitchen packing up his things. He had to call for a ride (just a little freaky), but finally got loaded up and stood outside by the mailbox waiting for the van. I told Chris he was gone, and how much he came off the original price to try to make a sale. We decided we would yank his chain for some giggles (since our Friday night was now shot) so we went outside and offered him $100 for the vacuum. He had to call his "boss", but it is unbelieveable what just happened....He sold it to us for just a little more than what we offered! Holy crap!

He came back in to do the paperwork (his ride still hadn't arrived...hmmm...) and finally left us with our new Kirby at almost 8pm. What a ride!

Back to the doctor

I'm taking Bryce to see Dr. Eastham in the morning now matter what. These are his tonsils...taken just a few minutes ago. He doesn't have a fever or even act sick. The only reason I thought to look at his throat was because he was talking weird today. His tonsils have been this big and red since atleast the end of May. They have big pits in them, which from what I've read, means that is scarring from chronic tonsillitis. He also has about 8 or 9 enlarged lymphnodes in his neck that have also not gone down since May. I'm afraid of what the doctor will say, but I think they should definately look better by now.

Hip Hip Hooray!

Bryce went back to school today! Hey, that rhymes :)

He's been very anxious to get back since the open house Thursday. I took a few pics, but my card wasn't in the camera and I'm not talented enough to pull them off. Luckily Lisa took somee for me, so I'll post those when I get them.

TGIF

Oh.my.goodness.

What a week. Well, what a crazy two weeks.

I'm about to throw a bunch of info your way, so beware. Lots of stuff on my mind, and I'm not really wanting to seperate it all into different posts.

Last night was the open house for Bryce's MDO. We got to meet his new teacher, and let me tell you...I really think she's going to make them toe the line. Which is a great thing, especially since Kindergarten is right around the corner! Bryce is a good kid, don't get me wrong, but he gets out of ALOT of things by batting his eyes and turning on the waterworks. He knows what it takes. I think this year will be a great experience for him, and hopefully he will learn lots! I pulled out his Kindergarten workbook yesterday just to get him going again. We colored shapes and worked on writing the letter "A". At the end of the lesson, you're supposed to go through and quiz them things that begin with the letter "A". Well, there was a train on the page. An "A"lligator was conducting the train, and hauling "A"pples. Bryce KNEW this, but here's how our conversation went....

Me: What's in the train, Bryce?

B: bananas

Me: bananas? Are you sure?

B: yep, bananas

Me: who's driving the train?

B: A Crocodile

Me: Does Crocodile start with "A"?

B: nope, but it's a crocodile

Alright, I could still be confused by an alligator and a crocodile, but apples and bananas? He thinks he's clever ;) Just another reason why I would NEVER homeschool.

We're off today to the land of Wal-Mart to get a few necessary things. I only make a Wal-Mart trip about four times a year. I try to steer clear of that place as much as possible. I think the crowds of people mixed with the size of the place just don't sit well with me. I'm definately more of a Target girl. I'm sure I'll have a story when I get back...I always do.

I got an e-mail FINALLY that "Fearless Fourteen" is available at the library!!!! Right when I'm in the smack-dab middle of "The Choice" by Nicholas Sparks. Oh well. I had to pass on "Fourteen" the first go around because when I had planned on picking it up Chris had left with my library card And my wallet. It was the last day to pick it up, and they had closed by the time he got home, so I went back on the HUGE waiting list...and now I'm so EXCITED to finally get to read it!

On the custody front...
Our first home visit was last Monday. It was weird. That's about the only way to put it. She came wanting to "observe" our family, so we're all hanging out in the living room playing. Bryce is doing his usual, "Hey, watch me do this" stunts, and Drew is being pretty good. Then she starts an interrogation process of sorts. She's asking about drugs/alcohol, arrests, criminal activity, financial status...basically things I felt just weird letting Bryce hear her ask us. Luckily there's not much to tell, but I couldn't believe she did that infront of the kids. Anyway, she was nice and all. I tried to make her feel welcome. She snooped in the pantry and refrigerator, and toured the house. That was really it. We don't know anything at all yet, but she did say that she has to come by two more times. Oh boy!

We're really doing some soul searching about this entire situation. First of all, can we financially afford to go on? This first gig cost us just a little under $5K. O-U-C-H! We just got that statement a couple of weeks ago. There's tons more legwork to be done for the final hearing, which in turn means more moulah. Secondly, what are our odds that we could get custody now? We shot our wad the first time. The biggest thing we had on her really didn't make the judge flinch! Chris called the atty and he said "Factually we have enough for custody, but judicially you never know." Our atty was so PISSED after the first hearing. It really was ridiculous how it was handled. I think we really had our bubble busted after that and now we're contemplatig our next move. I don't put a price-tag on K's safety, but if the judge saw him in any immenent harm, I feel like he would have acted on that day. We just don't know what to do or where to go from here.

My 11 month old

Well, as of yesterday :)

Only one more month until my baby has his first birthday! I can't believe it!

Yesterday was Bryce's first soccer practice. It was short and sweet! Made momma real happy since I had to get to work. The coach worked real well with the kids, and I think he's finally at an age where it's not complete chaos. All the kids followed directions so good. He learned how to stop the ball with his foot and kick it back. Games start a week from this Saturday :) I took some pictures, but they sucked...I guess from being in the gym.

If you had a couple of hours.....

If you had two hours at home alone, how would you spend your time? This actually happened to me yesterday. It was sort of an impromptu daddy-take-the-boys-to-Chuck-E-Cheese day playdate yesterday, so I didn't have anything "planned" to do. I thought about soaking in a bubble bath, but it was the middle of the day. I thought about working on my scrapbooks, but couldn't find the motivation. I thought about power cleaning the house....nah!

I ended up putting on my bathing suit, grabbing my book, and laying out by the pool. It was extremely relaxing. I never get to just LAY there. It was such a beautiful day and I'm glad I got a little "me" time!

Just had to end today with this.....

Members

Chris and I officially joined church yesterday. I transferred my membership over to Fellowship. It's so nice to belong!

Happy Birthday Hubby!

Happy 37th Chris!

We've been celebrating his birthday all weekend :) He took off from work Friday and today and it's been sooo nice having him home! Poor guy was trying to help out by doing laundry yesterday, and I was in the kitchen and heard a horrible clanking in the dryer. I pulled everything out to find his ipod in the bottom. It's toast now. Too bad it didn't happen BEFORE I did birthday shopping. We got him a new drill (that he picked out), a hat, some XBOX points and aftershave. I got the yummiest (rich, but yummy) cake from Julia's homestyle bakery. It's over by Pei Wei, and I highly suggest checking it out. They have cookies, pies, cakes, coffee....oh my!

My mom was trying to fish for ideas on what to get Chris for his birthday. I cleaverly suggested that they just BABYSIT for us tonight so we can go out and have a "grown-up" dinner at Bonefish or something like that. I know it's a tough time for everyone right now financially, so I would rather spend time with him (and he definately feels the same way). That's been a big downer for me lately. It's been like we have been running on our track and not really getting to be "husband and wife". The kids are pulling us in opposite directions these days, but we managed to have a little "time" this weekend.

finally!

Finally...I'm getting around to blogging a little :) Nothing extremely exciting has been going on with the family lately, hence the lack of blog entries. Add to the mix Mr. Drew, and that really leaves me with pretty much no time to be on the computer. I'm not at all complaining though. I have been quiet with so many people lately and sort of a "shut-in" because I've been savoring the moments with my babies. Drew is almost 11 months now and the reality of "my last baby" is hitting me hard. He's growing up sooooo fast. Everyday he does something new. He's walking all OVER the house now and just babbling his head off :) So cute!

Bryce is starting MDO in less than two weeks, and the soccer season starts next week! It's his first organized sports team (well, if you want to call it organized). I was glad to hear that they don't keep score. It's not a competitive league, it's just to teach the fundamentals of sports and group play. We're going to Dick's today to get a soccer ball and shin guards. I will definately shed a tear when I see my little Becks all decked out for his first shoe game.

Bryce said the cutest thing last night....I'm a huge Big Brother fan, so the POV comp was on last night (and being such a big fan with the After Dark show, I already knew who won) and I got up to get a drink. I came back and sat down on the couch with the fam. Bryce raised up and said, "Momma, Jerry won the power. The power of veto!" Awe!

So, I can't say how often I'll post over the next few weeks...it may be tomorrow, it may be the next day...it may not be for a week. I'm soaking it all in right now.

Tag, I'm it

I've been tagged by Rachel and Shannon


Here are the rules:

a. Link to the person who tagged you

b. Post the rules on your blog.

c. Write six random things about yourself.

d. Tag six random people at the end of your post by linking to their blog.

e. Let each person know they’ve been tagged by leaving a comment at their blog.

f. Let your tagger know when your entry is up..



A)
Shannon and Rachel each tagged me :)

B) done

C) Six random things about me
-I have naturally curly hair that I battle with a flat iron after each washing.
-I am double-jointed in 4 fingers and all of my toes.
-I know every word to Jay-Z's "Big Pimpin'"
-I don't like ice cream.
-I still hang out with my high school friends.
-I love to fall asleep with the tv on.

So for (D) and (E), I think from reading all the blogs that I read...everyone has already been tagged :)

Off to do (F) now!

bye bye Sprint

Hello Verizon!

I've been with Sprint for about 6 years. After numerous dropped calls and lots of dead air space on the interstate, I was ready to switch to another company. Originally I had wanted to go with AT&T. We have Dish Network, AT&T landline and internet. I thought we could get a pretty good discount with one of their widely advertized "bundle" packages. Wrong! You only get a 5% discount for bundling your junk. I had my heart set on an LG Shine phone, picked out the plan and everything. I had gone in earlier in the week and spoke with a salesman. I took Chris back with me the second time so he could ask any questions I may have forgotten. This sales guy threw something out like, "to get this phone for $49.99 you have to purchase unlimited text messages for $20 a month for the next six months." Ummm, no thanks. Do you really get a discount at that rate?

We thought we would be better off just going back with Sprint then. We decided to stop by the Verizon store first, just to make sure, before heading to Sprint. The Verizon store was SO FREAKING PACKED! It was insane. Chris put our name on the list, and we "tried" to look at phones. Luckily, I knew I wanted a slider so that narrowed it down a little. I was really turned off while I was looking at the prices posted on the phones. The kids were cranky, since cell phones are the FORBIDDEN toy that they are only allowed to play with in the most desperate of situations, so we were ready to bail. A manager/bouncer-looking guy stopped us at the door. So, to make a long story short, they made us very happy customers!

Some 4th of July pics!

We partied with the neighbors this year. It's pretty sad that we have lived here three years and really haven't gotten to know a lot of the people around us. We were fortunate to meet some really great people!

Everyone pitched in and bought about $700 worth of fireworks. It was quite a show. Bryce loved it this year (unlike last year), and Drew actually fell asleep. Only that child could sleep through explosives going off. Totally a child of his routine.

Got Shirts?

I'm not sure if I'm just in the "shopping mood" or what, but lately I've really been digging the shirts Kate has been wearing on TLC's Jon & Kate Plus 8. So I sat down to browse on the computer and see what I could find. I ended up ordering the "Grateful Mom" shirt and a shirt similar to her "MOM8" (to the 8th degree). I can't wait for them to get here! Cheezy, I know. Now I feel like such a stalker ;)

an update is coming...

I know I left you hanging. I'm going to come back to this today, promise.

Blog going private

If you're a reader of my blog, and would like to continue, please comment with your e-mail address so I can send you an invitation to read it. Due to the circumstances we're under right now, it's best that I do this so nothing can be found to use against us in the near future.

p.s. If you don't have a blogger account, feel free to e-mail me at mondickens at yahoo dot com so I can add you to the list of readers.

TO DO - AND ALREADY DONE

TODAY:

-pilates (done)

-drop off stuff at Goodwill (done)

-Meet Libby for lunch (done)

-Shop for new outfit for court (done)

-iron clothes (not done)

-confirm with sitter for tomorrow morning (done)

-swimming lessons (not time yet)

-go by AT&T store to look at phones (not done)

TOMORROW:

-court at 9am

-Zanies for celebration or mourning...depending on how above event pans out


My stomach has been churning today. I haven't been nervous AT ALL about the court thing until I talked to Chris earlier today. He will have to go on the stand. Not that we have anything to hide, I guess I just thought it would be a fairly quick hearing and only the lawyers would be doing the talking. I don't like the element of surprise. I hope he handles the questions well. We are, of course, putting her on the stand tomorrow in return. The paralegal at our attorney's office also said that she has character witnesses to speak on her behalf tomorrow. What! Our attorney told us it wouldn't come to the character witnesses when we met with him initially. Of course we could drag a parade of people in there that could say great things about us and our parenting skills, but I don't know how anyone could miss work on such short notice. Hopefully our evidence and the people we have subpoened will be enough to pull us through successfully. Please say a little prayer for us! I'll post an update tomorrow afternoon when we get home.

Lookie what I found! eak!

It's a black widow spider! See the red hour-glass on it's belly? It's dead now and long gone down the garbage disposal. I found it in a web under my chaise. I was laying out in the sun on Wednesday and there she was. I've been so creaped out since! I hope there aren't any more out there!

If you're looking for something good to read....

then try a book by Philippa Gregory. She writes historical fiction, and has grabbed my attention. My newest fascination is with King Henry VIII. I'm currently reading "The Other Boleyn Girl", and I can't wait to read her others from the Tudor series. (The Other Boleyn Girl, The Queen's Fool, The Virgin's Lover, The Constant Princess, The Boleyn Inheritance, The Other Queen). I've always been such a light reader and liked the silly, smutty stuff. I've suprised myself with this book! Give it a try!

-livid-

Well, let me start by saying it has been one heck of a week. A very weird, strange week.

My neighbor has officially PISSED me off, so now I'm posing a WWYD situation. I would LOVE to hear how you would handle this....

Here's the back story....

Our neighbor never ever cuts his grass. Well, maybe 3 times a year. Just kidding, more like 10. So, it's always so high. This week the grass on the side of his yard closest to our house came up to my waist, no kidding. He'll mow the front, but never the rest. We have to look at it. Well...he came home yesterday with a brand-spankin' new riding lawnmower. YEE-HAW! I don't think he owns a weed-eater either, so this should be interesting. He gets everything geared up to mow. Chris and I are all excited and staring out the window, thinking the days of the waist-high yard may be a thing of the past. Chris went out to inspect the yard work last night (yep, we're the anal neighbors) and noticed that the neighbor blew his waist-high grass all over our fence. Normally I wouldn't have been SO upset, but we just rented a pressure washer two weeks ago to wash our fence. Last week, we stained our fence and still have another coat of stain to go. Now I'm pissed. I didn't react on it at the moment and I didn't let Chris either. I guess I'm getting a little older and more level-headed. We decided if we were still upset tomorrow and he doesn't clean up his grass (which was piled up literally 6 inches up our fence) then we would say something. I had to go out to work last night and got home around midnight. I walked to the side yard and I guess I was still upset about it. I went into the garage and grabbed a rake. In my rage, I raked all the grass by the light of that big 'ol moon we had last night. I placed the huge pile right infront of my neighbor's car. That's me to a "t". Passive-agressive. Thinking he'll see that we raked the grass and *think* that we don't want it there, and hopefully it won't happen again. Any suggestions on what to do if it happens again? I would like to keep it civil, but....maybe if I piss them off they will move ;)

oh so zen

I went to a new-to-me class today at the Y called Yoga Ball. I loved doing yoga when I was pregnant, and today I decided I wanted to do something a little on the soft side so I jumped on in. Man, oh man. I thought pre-natal yoga was hard! We were doing some c-r-a-z-y poses in there. Here's a picture of one (the one I thought was the hardest) called "half-moon"....

Well, I just about ended up on my head with that one! So much for thinking I was taking the easy way out today!

AUGH!

Well, I have to change the sheets on every bed in the house today! I just changed them a couple of days ago, too! Bryce had a little "leakage" before he made it in the bathroom and then decided to lay down in my bed and watch cartoons while I slept ;) Drew woke up and his diaper had leaked too. YUCK!

I don't know how, but we made it to the Y today at 8am for kickboxing. The usual teacher was out, so we had a sub. It really works me harder when someone else switches up my routine. She didn't do as much kickboxing, it was more bootcamp-ish stuff. We did stair runs and laps, jump-rope and jumping jacks...just throw in a few killers and I would've felt like I was at high school basketball practice again! Whew! I'm beat! We're going back today at 5 for Bryce to start his swimming lessons.


We bought tickets to see Jon Reep on the 25th of this month! I'm so so so excited! My mom's group is planning a night out to Zanies on the 21st, and I was pulling up the calendar to show Chris who the comedian was, and we saw that Jon Reep was coming!!! He was the winner of last season's "Last Comic Standing", and he made us both laugh so hard we could've peed our pants. Chris whipped out the AMEX and bought us some tickets! I got someone to cover part of my shift and we will actually get a night out together! I think the last time we were alone together was either at an attorney's office or getting our taxes done. I can't wait!

Postponed....

Our attorney had a death in the family and had to travel out of state for the funeral. We got a call today that the hearing has been rescheduled for June 25th. Just a couple more weeks left of walking on pins and needles!

Weekend stuff

I worked diligently Thursday and Friday to pull together a yard sale. I had quite a few home decor things to sell, some of my fall/winter maternity clothes and tons of baby clothes. I got everything organized, priced and hung Friday night. I placed signs at every intersection pointing people my direction. When all was said and done (at 11am for me) I made about $70. I really didn't sell but 25% of what I had out there. I don't know what's up. All the yard sales I've had in the past really went well, but Saturday there wasn't much traffic at all. Now I'm stuck with a garage full of stuff that's too good to take to Goodwill, but I don't want to store it anymore. I really wasted a Saturday.

Saturday night, I went upstairs and decided it's time to get back into scrapbooking again. I realized what goodies I still had after going through it for the yardsale. Anyway, I haven't made a single page since Drew's been born. It felt weird to me. I can't explain it. But...here's what it turned out like....
It's a group shot from Bryce's MDO and a picture of him on his first day. The pocket holds a tag for journaling (which I still need to do). Maybe I'll get my mojo back.

On Sunday, we went to church. I was really glad to be there after missing last week. I just don't feel right when we can't make it to church. Drew slept right through as always, and Bryce had fun in his class. Afterwards we went to TGI Friday's for lunch (without tomatoes or lemons..ha!), and to Kohl's for some clothes to wear to court on Wednesday. Home for a nap, and then the rest of the day in the pool! fun!

recent reads

Whew! I've been on a reading binge lately! I just *adore* the library. I'm still in the process of "Good in Bed", but I hope to have that finished pretty soon. I'm on the wait list for the sequil "Certain Girls" and I can't wait!

Green cleaning - take 1

I began researching "green" cleaning methods earlier this week after becoming more aware of the harm that the chemicals in common household cleaners can cause not only the environment, but my family. With Drew at a stage where he puts EVERYTHING in his mouth, I decided that I should better monitor what I'm putting on the surfaces he most comes in contact with.

I'm still somewhat skeptical of the so-called "green" products that stores have on their shelves now. It's becoming so cool to be green, that I'm afraid some manufactures may be using the timing to their marketing advantage. With that being said, I chose to research some recipes for household cleaning using common products that are non-toxic. Today's adventure began with white vinegar, water and baking soda.

I came across several ways that vinegar can be used (I have used vinegar in my prior cleaning experiences, but just not to this extent). I tackled the appliances in my kitchen this morning with "great success" (said in my best Borat voice). I started with my caked-up-funkified can opener. I took the blade apparatus off and soaked it in straight vinegar for about 10 minutes, rinsed it with water, and VOILA...clean! I cleaned the base of the can opener with a mixture of 1 part water to 1 part vinegar that I mixed in a spray bottle. This was e-a-s-y! I used less elbow grease than I normally do with my other cleaners.

I then cleaned out my washing machine (nasty, but easily done), coffee maker and toaster oven. For the toaster oven, I mixed baking soda and water in a small bowl until it was pasty and scrubbed the pan with a sponge. It rinsed off so well. No grit, no grime.

You know those stubborn lime stains around your kitchen faucet? Soak a paper towel with straight vinegar and wrap it around your faucet. Let it soak there for a few minutes and wipe the scum away!

I also found a tip for cleaning the microwave. Now, my microwave was mostly clean from a Spaghetti-O mishap yesterday at lunch, so this didn't get fully put to the test. Mix 1 cup warm water with 1 tablespoon vinegar and two drops of dish liquid. Heat in microwave for 3-4 minutes and let stand for 15 minutes. Wipe down with a damp cloth.

This entire experiment cost me around $3. I got a gallon of vinegar for $1.48, a small box of baking soda for $0.38 and two spray bottles for $0.96 each. I'm looking forward to playing a little more with lemon juice and some essential oils!

Just a swingin'

The baby swing has by far been our best purchase in awhile. Drew absolutely loves to swing and so does Bryce. I guess that's about the only thing these two yahoos have in common. We've added a mandatory "swing session" to our daily routine :)

Drew @ 7 Months!!!

My big guy is still growing so fast! He's sooo close to crawling now that I expect he will be all over the house by the end of the month. He's such a social baby, which works out in my favor. He loves to go. We can be anywhere. The more people that are around, the more he loves it. Chris got a swing for him yesterday and put it on the swingset and he loved it. I'll have to get some pictures of that today!

The Gift of Kindness

I get daily devotionals e-mailed to me and this one really stood out so I thought I would share :)


Suggested Bible Reading

So then, putting away falsehood, let all of us speak the truth to our neighbors, for we are members of one another. Be angry but do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not make room for the devil. Thieves must give up stealing; rather let them labor and work honestly with their own hands, so as to have something to share with the needy. Let no evil talk come out of your mouths, but only what is useful for building up, as there is need, so that your words may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with which you were marked with a seal for the day of redemption. Put away from you all bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander, together with all malice, and be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you. Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

-Ephesians 4:25 - 5:2 (NRSV)


Today's Scripture

Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you.

-Ephesians 4:32 (NRSV)


AFTER placing several items in the grocery cart, I headed for the check-out line. Since several customers were in front of me, I found myself people-watching. Soon I noticed an irritated man in the next line. He was waiting behind a young woman with a fussy child. She was beginning to count change, and she looked worried. "Don't tell me you don't even have enough for the groceries!" the man said loudly. "How can you come in here without money?"

The young mother was $20 short when all her change was counted. What the woman had was food for a meal, food for the child, and diapers. She had no frills that I could see. I found myself passing a $20 bill to the cashier. The young mother was embarrassed but looked genuinely grateful.

As I walked out of the store, the irate man came past me and said, "You know she probably does this all the time. You've just been taken."

My immediate response was, "God knows my heart. I am not worried." Despite the feeling that I had no money to spare, I had given freely. And I realized God had given me this opportunity to test my faith.

Barbara A. Smith (Ohio, U.S.A.)

Can I get a do-over?

I need to rewind and start my morning off on another foot. If you don't want to hear a down and depressing story, then go back now. I got paged for work at 5:40 this morning. It was Labor and Delivery. They don't play, so when they call you know it's usually an emergency. When I called them they let me know they couldn't find heart-tones on a baby. This happens alot on patients that have a larger body habitus than their equipment can penetrate, so I just figured it would be a quick scan to calm their worries.

Man, I was wrong. I got there and received the story from the nurse. This girl had shown up early this morning to be induced. Totally normal pregnancy up to this point. After the nurse told me she was 99% sure this baby had passed, I asked her to come in the room with me while I scanned to run interference. The expression on my face can sometimes give way to what I'm seeing on the screen, and I didn't want to be the one to break it to her. The nurse was really helping to distract her while I did the ultrasound, so the "Is everything okay?" question didn't get asked to me.

I feel so horrible and sick. I'm imagining the excitement and anticipation they had when they arrived at the hospital this morning, and the extreme reverse of emotion they are probably going through right now. She talked about what she was going to name her baby, how the nursery was decorated and how all of the family was in town for his birth. Please say a prayer for this family.

Lessons from a Mom

Subject: 15-step program for Parenthood

Thinking of Having Kids? Do this 15 step program first!

Lesson 1
1. Go to the grocery store.
2. Arrange to have your salary paid directly to their head office.
3. Go home.
4. Pick up the paper.
5. Read it for the last time.

Lesson 2
Before you finally go ahead and have children, find a couple who alreadyare parents and berate them about their...
1. Methods of discipline.
2. Lack of patience.
3. Appallingly low tolerance levels.
4. Allowing their children to run wild.
5. Suggest ways in which they might improve their child's breastfeeding, sleep habits, toilet training, table manners, and overall behavior.
Enjoy it because it will be the last time in your life you will have all the answers.

Lesson 3
A really good way to discover how the nights might feel...
1. Get home from work and immediately begin walking around the living room from 5PM to 10PM carrying a wet bag weighing approximately 8-12 pounds, with a radio turned to static (or some other obnoxious sound) playing loudly.
(Eat cold food with one hand for dinner) 2. At 10PM, put the bag gently down, set the alarm for midnight, and go to sleep.
3. Get up at 12 and walk around the living room again, with the bag, until 1AM.
4. Set the alarm for 3AM.
5. As you can't get back to sleep, get up at 2AM and make a drink and watch an infomercial.
6. Go to bed at 2:45AM.
7. Get up at 3AM when the alarm goes off.
8. Sing songs quietly in the dark until 4AM.
9. Get up. Make breakfast. Get ready for work and go to work (work hard and be productive)
Repeat steps 1-9 each night. Keep this up for 3-5 years. Look cheerful and together.

Lesson 4
Can you stand the mess children make? To find out...
1. Smear peanut butter onto the sofa and jam onto the curtains.
2. Hide a piece of raw chicken behind the stereo and leave it there all summer.
3. Stick your fingers in the flower bed.
4. Then rub them on the clean walls.
5. Take your favorite book, photo album, etc. Wreck it.
6. Spill milk on your new pillows. Cover the stains with crayons. How does that look?

Lesson 5
Dressing small children is not as easy as it seems.
1. Buy an octopus and a small bag made out of loose mesh.
2. Attempt to put the octopus into the bag so that none of the arms hang out.
Time allowed for this - all morning.

Lesson 6
1. Take an egg carton. Using a pair of scissors and a jar of paint, turn it into an alligator.
2. Now take the tube from a roll of toilet paper. Using only Scotch tape and a piece of aluminum foil, turn it into an attractive Christmas candle .
3. Last, take a milk carton, a ping-pong ball, and an empty packet of Cocoa Puffs. Make an exact replica of the Eiffel Tower .

Lesson 7
Forget the BMW and buy a mini-van. And don't think that you can leave it out in the driveway spotless and shining. Family cars don't look like that.
1. Buy a chocolate ice cream cone and put it in the glove compartment. Leave it there.
2. Get a dime. Stick it in the CD player.
3. Take a family size package of chocolate cookies. Mash them into the back seat. Sprinkle cheerios all over the floor, then smash them with your foot.
4. Run a garden rake along both sides of the car.

Lesson 8
1. Get ready to go out.
2. Sit on the floor of your bathroom reading picture books for half an hour.
3. Go out the front door.
4. Come in again. Go out.
5. Come back in.
6. Go out again.
7. Walk down the front path.
8. Walk back up it.
9. Walk down it again.
10. Walk very slowly down the sidewalk for five minutes.
11. Stop, inspect minutely, and ask at least 6 questions about every cigarette butt, piece of used chewing gum, dirty tissue, and dead insect along the way.
12. Retrace your steps.
13. Scream that you have had as much as you can stand until the neighbors come out and stare at you.
14. Give up and go back into the house.
You are now just about ready to try taking a small child for a walk.

Lesson 9
Repeat everything you have learned at least (if not more than) five times.

Lesson 10
Go to the local grocery store. Take with you the closest thing you can find to a pre-school child. (A full-grown goat is an excellent choice). If you intend to have more than one child, then definitely take more than one goat. Buy your week's groceries without letting the goats out of your sight. Pay for everything the goat eats or destroys. Until you can easily accomplish this, do not even contemplate having children.

Lesson 11
1. Hollow out a melon.
2. Make a small hole in the side.
3. Suspend it from the ceiling and swing it from side to side.
4. Now get a bowl of soggy Cheerios and attempt to spoon them into the swaying melon by pretending to be an airplane.
5. Continue until half the Cheerios are gone.
6. Tip half into your lap. The other half, just throw up in the air.
You are now ready to feed a nine- month-old baby.

Lesson 12
Learn the names of every character from Sesame Street , Barney, Disney, the Teletubbies, and Pokemon. Watch nothing else on TV but PBS, the Disney channel or Noggin for at least five years. (I know, you're thinking What's 'Noggin'?) Exactly the point.

Lesson 13
Move to the tropics. Find or make a compost pile. Dig down about halfway and stick your nose in it. Do this 3-5 times a day for at least two years.

Lesson 14
Make a recording of Fran Drescher saying 'mommy' repeatedly. (Important: no more than a four second delay between each 'mommy'; occasional crescendo to the level of a supersonic jet is required). Play this tape in your car everywhere you go for the next four years. You are now ready to take a long trip with a toddler.

Lesson 15
Start talking to an adult of your choice. Have someone else continually tug on your skirt hem, shirt- sleeve, or elbow while playing the
'mommy' tape made from Lesson 14 above. You are now ready to have a conversation with an adult while there is a child in the room.


This is all very tongue in cheek; anyone who is parent will say 'it's all worth it!' Share it with your friends, both those who do and don't have kids. I guarantee they'll get a chuckle out of it. Remember, a sense of humor is one of the most important things you'll need when you become a parent!

bring.it.on

Bring on the warm weather! After yesterday, I officially diagnosed myself with "seasonal depression". The winter months have been miserable for me. We've stayed inside and it's gotten SO old! I was cured when the temperature reached 75 degrees. Move over couch-potato-cabin-fever Monica. I finally found my energy supply! We played outside a majority of the day (which by the way REAllY helps keep the inside of the house clean ;)). I pulled all the weeds that had grown up and washed the car. This was all in addition to pushing Bryce on his swing, blowing bubbles and throwing the football.