I don't know! lol

So many thoughts and emotions are running through me. I feel like I need to be running and I don't even know where to go. Our lives have been so busy these past few months. Cody turned 8 on March 26th! Austin turns 2 on May 5th! Eric and Dad went back to work this in April. It was a good thing financially, but, lemme tell ya I miss that man! I have yet to get back into a groove. Homeschooling is the only thing I feel like I'm accomplishing and I'm barely able to get that done! Cody hasn't been cooperating here lately and I don't know if it's his ADHD or the warmer weather or what! He isn't listening and he's whining about every lesson which is not like him. He'll have his last Math class on Wednesday and we're done with Art and Music (thank God, cause those were the worst subjects EVER!). He has about 8 history classes left and maybe 10 English and 10 science! We're wrapping up the year. I swear this week though he has forgotten EVERYTHING I have ever taught him! It's driving me nuts. We're also struggling at bedtime. He has a doctor appointment on Friday, so, we'll see what he says and go from there.

Cody decided this year that he wanted to play ball. So we're doing that. He has roughly 2 games per week and they are either at 5:30 or 7:00 which is aggravating and schedule wrecking. If it's the 5:30 games we don't eat supper until late. If it's the 7:00 game it's messing up bedtime/bathtime routines! It's driving me nuts already and we've only had 3 games! It doesn't look like we're going to do well either! I somehow ended up as dugout Mom and that's nervewracking too! I was told last week that I pretty much suck at it. Thanks! I can't help that I don't feel comfortable yelling at other peoples children and that I have a toddler who desperately wants to play ball. Austin attempts (succeeds mostly) at running onto the field during every game! Mom is keeping the book, so, she can't help out as much and Eric and Dad are lucky to get to show up at all! I will say this though, tonights game, wasn't too bad! Austin pretty much did what he was told. He only succeeded onto the field 1 time and ran off to the basketball court 1 time as well. This is an improvement.

Construction on the dining room is still in force, it's just not going fast, with the boys back to work and all. I'm pretty sure we have a paint color picked out and the rest is already bought just needs finished up. It would probably have gone smoother if Eric would have helped Dad drywall.

I don't have a career. I feel like I have no special talents and I don't know what to do with myself. At some point, I want to have a career I just don't know what I want to be when I grow up. Since the age of 5 I have said that I want to be a teacher. After working in a school district as a paraprofessional there is no way that I want this career anymore. I want to do so many things and the things I want to do can't be rolled into one or two degrees! I wouldn't mind journalism, cosmetology, paralegal, secretary, and the list goes on and on. One of the problems is that there isn't (or doesn't seem to be) a high demand for most of these professions around us. If I said I wanted to be Amish I'm sure that I could accomplish that as there are an abundance of them in our area lol. Everyone I know seems to be a nurse and frankly I don't have the desire to do that. It seems like that's all there is around here, nurse, factory work, cosmetology, fast food, and retail. I just don't have a clue what I want to be. lol

Other than that everything is fine. There I'm done whining for awhile. My violin is still playing for myself and my pity party, but, I'm done putting it online (for now lol).

Spring is here and I'm loving it!

Spring has definitely sprung here in southern Ohio. Our forsythia bush has bloomed, the Easter Lilies are up, and there is that smell in the air that is just SPRING! The other day we made a trip to Chillicothe to return Cody's chest protector and exchange it for one that fit good and as we were making our way home I kept smelling this sweet smell. I asked Eric if he smelled it and he didn't so I wasn't sure what it was. All the sudden it was really strong, it was the trees lining Yoctangee Park! They are in full bloom and so beautiful, so I just rolled my window down and took as many deep breaths as I could before the flow of traffic took me away from the trees lol. I'm not sure what kind of trees they were but they're beautiful and they smell good.

We're wrapping up the school year here and while we're still learning, I can at least see the light at the end of the tunnel. I can't wait for this summer break and a much needed vacation.

We celebrated Cody's 8th birthday a couple of weeks ago. We had a nice turnout. The weather wasn't cooperating very well but, it was nice for everyone to get together. I love watching my two families meld together and I catch myself just sitting back at staring at the loved ones around me. I like that my family can do that.

Austin will be turning 2 in May and boy is he rotten lately. I think that we have hit that "terrible 2's" full fledge and are embarking on the "trying 3's"! He asks why after EVERYTHING.
Me: Austin go to the bathroom it's time for a bath.
Austin: Why?
Me: Because you're filthy.
Austin: Why?
Me: Because you were playing outside.
Austin: Why?
Me: Because it's nice out.
Austin: Why?
Me: Because God is showing us how beautiful his love is.
Austin: WHY?
Me: Because He is good.
Austin: WHaaat?
Me: Because He is good.
Austin: Who?
Me: God.
Austin: Oh, okaaaay. Loves you.

He is a riot for sure. He's definitely a handfull though. My Mom gets a little irritated with me because I say that he is bad all the time. But, he is. Believe me, that's not anything to be proud of. He's just so stinking rotten that half of the time I want to pull the my hair out and the other half I want to cry because he's so cute!

Here's another anecdote of Austin. We are constructing a larger dining room and the men were up on the roof putting the shingles on and so forth. Austin was playing on the ground by the swingset and he sneezed. My brother says Bless You! Austin said Thanks AMEN! He screamed Amen at him lol. We have been working on our prayers and stuff and he has struggled with remembering to say Amen. Well he doesn't forget now lol.

I love my boys. They are so cute and sometimes not that well behaved, but, they are mine. There definitely could be worse. I love my family, my wonderful husband, my in-laws, my family, and our extended families. I love it all!

snow among other things

Well we finally got a good snow down here in Southern Ohio. Hence, my husband is out playing in it on the four wheeler. He somehow contracted poison ivy while cutting up some firewood for the garage earlier in the week. He's pretty itchy but we're wondering if it's poison ivy or oak or sumac. He usually gets covered head to toe when it's ivy and he only has it on his wrists and eyebrows (from wiping sweat).

We went to Dayton to the doctor the other day. Cody needed some prescriptions refilled and he got a cold a couple of days before the appointment. We wanted to make sure it wasn't anything Dimetap couldn't take care of. It wasn't so he and now Austin are both on Dimetap for a little while. That's one thing about winter that bugs me is the stinking colds. It doesn't help that we live in Ohio where one day it's 42 degrees out and the next day it's 25 with a windchill of 18. Crazy Ohio weather I swear.

Everything has been going pretty good. Austin slept all night in his bed one day this week and the next night he didn't sleep at all. Last night he tossed and turned a ton and was literally kicking the crap out of my chest.

Cody is doing excellent at school. We have left the Roman Empire, the Islamic Empire, and now we're learning about the Vikings. He's started his multiplication tables and is continuing to read at what is now calibrated as an 8th grade reading/comprehension level in grade 2!!!!! He's so smart. I don't know where he got that from. lol

We're continuing to pray for a dear friend of the family. She will hopefully be getting a much needed surgery early next week.

I've been planning Cody's birthday party a little at a time. He'll be 8 in March this year. I have so far ordered him a Birthday Boy t-shirt he knows nothing about. I picked the day and time of the party. And, yep that's it that's all I got...lol.

I can't wait for Spring to get here. I have been tanning a little and trying to monitor portions so that by the time full fledge summer gets here I can be in a bathing suit on the boat and not worry about which fat roll is hanging out of where. Yeah now get that image out of your head I dare ya....lol.

Somehow I have managed....

Somehow I have managed to not post anything for months. That is awful! Not that I haven't had plenty of stuff to post just that I haven't posted anything...lol. I don't know where to start even. I guess I'll start with homeschooling and work my way from there.

Homeschooling is everything I thought it would be and more. I love homeschooling Cody most of the time. It's so fun to watch your child "get" a concept and give you his points of view on the topic. The curriculum of Ohio Virtual Academy is much more advanced than a regular public school. So much in fact, that it keeps me thinking about our subjects after we are done with them. History is by far the most in depth to me. We have learned about The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire, Christianity (how it was spread throughout the world), Catholicism, and The Islamic Empire so far. These are topics that our local school district teaches in Middle School at best. As much as I love homeschooling I don't think we'll be continuing next year for more than one reason. The first reason is Austin. Austin is one of those I have to have my Mommy for everything children, and while that is great on one hand, it seriously debilitates our school days. The second reason is more of a financial reason. I feel like I need to be contributing more financially to our family. So we'll see how this summer goes but more than likely Cody will be going to the local school for third grade next year.

We had an awesome Christmas season filled with tons of family and memories. We got a couple of Christmas surprises. The first being that my sister-in-law (Eric's sister) is expecting baby number 2! A complete surprise to all including Karen and Jason. My brother and his wife will start attempting to get pregnant in the spring/summer! Two of Eric's cousins are expecting as well.

Oh I have so many thoughts running through my head right now it's really hard to put them in order enough to get them typed out lol.

I feel "lost" most times anymore. I don't know why but I wonder what my purpose is. Obviously it's to be a mother and wife and those roles are my upmost favorites. But don't I have anything else to offer the world? I have been thinking about journalism and such. Something I could do at home and send in somewhere but I for one have no clue how to do that and where I should even start. An online magazine (is there such a thing? I don't think it's called magazine.) would be awesome but again I have not researched or done anything about it. In my wonderful world where I have an amazing husband/best friend and two awesome boys how could I possibly feel like something is missing? I almost feel ashamed to type it on here and it may make an editing cut before I publish. I just feel blah. Eric is laid off right now and maybe it's our financial issues that cause this blahdism but I just feel blah.

We have big plans for this tax season. Hopefully we will be able to pay off our truck, pay off a small loan to my Grandma, and give Mom and Dad some money towards the groceries and electric bills that they've had to pick up the tab on. I don't know where we'd be without them. We'd also like to get Cody's four wheeler fixed and a chest protector bought for him. We'll see how that goes. Our original plans was to buy a boat but that's not feasible at this time. We're working on our financial situation and trying to get ahead of it. We do not, by no means, spend outside of our means, but, you have to have means to pay your bills and with layoff pay it's just not there.

This is all I have time for right now. More to come I'm sure.

Oh p.s. Austin calls Karen's baby bump Noah. So when we find out the sex of her baby let's hope for Austin's sake it's a boy! lol.