Yesterday, I taught Austin how to ride his bike! He was never too great at riding with his training wheels, and I've asked him for a long time to just try it without the training wheels, but he kept saying no. So, yesterday he came to me and asked if he could try it. At first I just held onto the back of the bike, but he fell over once and said it wasn't working. The next time I held onto his seat and his handle bars and told him to feel it out, and I let go. He's been riding ever since...and it took all of 5 minutes to learn. I'm proud of him.

Today, he was really excited and wanted to show the boys he can ride his bike, and pummeled Sam. I mean the poor girl (Austin too) has scrapes from head to foot. Sam got the worst of it though, her entire right leg is raw and meaty and her back is scraped in a couple of places, her poor little neck is all scraped up as well. She's such a tough girl. I was at work when it happened so I don't know all the details other than Austin ran her over with his bike and then biffed it himself. Alex was MIA and unharmed.

I got some brown paint for an accent wall, the wall behind the TV. I tried putting red on it, but the square I painted took 3 coats and I think that it could use at least another 2 coats. I put the brown on and it is nearly covered, so 2 coats will be more than enough. I might still use the red paint in the hallway, it's a much smaller space to cover and if it takes the whole can I won't worry too much.

Our 11th Wedding Anniversary

Today we had our 11th Wedding Anniversary. It was very low key and a great day. We were going to plan a trip to the beach but decided that neither one of us wanted to drive that long and it wasn't going to be super hot here, which means that it wasn't going to be hot at the beach. Instead we went to the mall and shopped around.

Last night we got our anniversary present to ourselves. We weren't planning on doing anything, but it's funny how kids kind of force things on you sometimes. Let me explain...

Wednesday Austin and Alex were watching a cartoon on TV downstairs and the Dish froze or something of the sort, which froze the screen. It really made Austin mad. I mean it REALLY mad him MAD. So, it's still unclear what exactly happened, Austin kicked or punched the TV to attempt to make it work. In doing so, he put a crack in the TV that is 1 1/2 - 2 FEET long. Mind you, it already had a fist size crack in it from when Alex hit it about a year ago. So, after watching it for awhile with one side of the screen one color and the other side another color we decided that we would go to look for a new TV.

Hence the reason for our anniversary present. We got a nice Samsung HDTV. It is the top of the line brand new TV that has programs integrated into it, such as cooking shows, fitness shows that are tailored for all sorts of things, kids shows, artwork slides, etc. It has a special color frame thingie and the works. It's crystal clear. So, since we got that fancy smancy of a TV, we had to have a DVD player that does Blu Ray, right? So we got a Playstation 3 package that includes the 80gig hard drive and comes with 2 games. I hate to even mention how incredibly huge it is because that would imply that we spent a fortune on it (which we did), however, we did save over $1500.00 by getting things together in a bundle...and you all know how much I like to save money. LOL

We're going to be scrambling all week to get the paneling torn down and the room painted downstairs so when they come to install it it'll be ready for it. They are going to fish the wires through the wall to avoid anything dangling, should be pretty nice. We'll see how we manage to get it all done considering I'm working Mon-Wed and then we have plans on Thursday next week and are camping next Friday and Saturday.

Now I have to rush to the store to get some things before the boys come over next week again to watch the kids. I'll be working Mon, Tues and Wed and a couple of hours on Friday next week. Hey, gotta pay off that TV right?

We had a computer update that was going to be about 1 1/2 hours long, so instead of putzing around the office, I decided to treat myself to a manicure and pedicure. It was very nice and relaxing. The lady even massaged my shoulders and neck while my nails were drying. It was awesome!

Ok, now I'm going to get these coupons organized. :)

You can't even see the picture Alex drew, because he drew it in pencil, but there it is on the door just above the door knob, partially torn.

Both cute and sad

So, the other day I went through some of Austin's great artwork from school. I found some really great pieces, two of which I could frame nicely. So, I did. They turned out lovely. I'll have to post some pictures tomorrow or sometime. Anyway, I didn't tell the kids that I was doing that, Sam was helping me by getting into things, but she didn't really know what I was doing. Anyway...the boys later, I think even days later, noticed them hanging on the wall. I put them up in the storage room to get them off the floor so they wouldn't get broken, but the intended place will either be downstairs or in the entry hall by the front door. Austin and Alex marveled at how cool they looked and Austin was really proud that I would put up his pictures from Kindergarten. Alex asked me at the time why none of his pictures hadn't been framed and put up, and I realized that he hasn't done any as he hasn't gone to preschool yet or made any pictures at Speech Therapy yet. So...the next day Alex wanted to draw some pictures. He's very creative and drew me some nice pictures and gave them to me. I thanked him and praised him for how wonderful they were and then promptly put them on the counter. Well, I had every intention of putting them on the frige since they were on notebook paper and only about 3x5, just not at that moment because I had chicken all over the place trying to get it into freezer bags. What he apparently did later was take the picture of his choice (for there were many made that day) and found a nail that was low enough he could reach and poked a hole in his picture and put it on the nail so that he could contribute to our artwork display. It was so darn cute. But then of course, I felt kinda bad because I didn't realize he only made the "artwork" in the first place so that I would recognize him and frame his things too. It was so cute and unexpected that I thought I'd let everyone know how much of a darling little sweetie pie he is...sometimes.

Tonight I did a little shopping. I got 19 boxes of cereal, 1 bag of chex mix, 1 gallon of milk, 4 packages of baby wipes, and 15 bottles of Mountain Dew crap (I'm donating that one to the pantry)...and I spent a grand total of.....$15.00, plus I got 4 free movie tickets! :) Not too bad.

Anyway, long day. I worked quite a bit and will be working for the next two weeks at both home and the office. It'll be nice to have a change of pace, but one that I'm happy I don't have to get used to. I certainly am very grateful to be able to be a stay at home mom. The office just really could use my help right now and I've found some pretty great baby sitters..so it's a win win situation so I've been told. :)

I am hoping that we'll be able to go to the movies tomorrow to use up some of my free movie tickets. I have 5 tickets that will be expiring August 2nd. Gotta get to the movies! :)

Fun in the sun.

Today we played at the park with a Fountain and everything. The boys and Sam had a ton of fun. Then we played over at the monkey bars, etc. and Alex, bless his little heart, can cross the monkey bars without assistance now. I'm so proud of him. Sam was playing and let me know when she needed to go potty, and even went poop in the toilet at the park. I was very impressed...once again no accidents today so far.

After that we went to Theresa's house and played over there. They have one of those gigantic inflatable swimming water slides/pools and the kids loved it. They thought it was the greatest thing, although I think they were a bit cold. They played outside for several hours today all together and I think are a bit relieved to be inside playing with toys. Sam crashed pretty hard on the way home. It was really fun.

I'm getting ready to make dinner. We're going to grill some bobs with beef, green bell pepper, mushrooms, squash, tomatoe, potato, and carrots. Then we'll eat it with caeasar salad. Should be yummy. :)

No accidents today. Sam went poop and pee in the toilet all day. :) She's pretty consistent with pooping in the toilet, but the pee thing has been slower. I think that she's just lazy about it. However, I put girlie underware on her today instead of a princess pull up, and she wouldn't pee in it. So, I think that has to be the trick. I just have to make sure that she is wearing regular underware. We'll see if we have success tomorrow as well. She's pretty funny though, whenever she poops she says, "Eww mom, that's so discusting." or "That's so gross, ewww." Cracks me up everytime.

We broke open the Moon Sand tonight and the boys got to play with it. It's actually very neat, although getting it out of the molds proves to be a bit tricky. Alex had the most fun though trying to make things, his little imagination is just running wild lately. He's proving to be quite the character, and so funny, too. He's coming up with things and saying things that just about knock me out of my seat. His speech is so much better as well. His "f" words are coming automatically now, which is very cool. Ian says that he is improving markedly and has a great brain.

Austin has learned that his best friends are cranky and sarcasim. It's been quite difficult getting through to him that those pals are not good ones, and he should trade them in for, well at least ditch them. Oh well, I guess most kids go through this stage.

I've got to get some work done. I'm planning on a day at the park tomorrow with the kids and the neighbor. We're just going for a couple of hours to play and snack in the nice sun. Which reminds me that I need to make sure they have shorts to wear. Glad I sat down to write, which made me remember that.

What a great July 4th! We definitely had great seats right in our front yard of the fireworks. They went on for hours and the only complaint was that we had to swivel our necks around because they were just all around us. The BBQ turned out really good as well. There was plenty of food and desserts and it was just a great time overall. I think we'll have to do it again next year.

Jon has left to go golfing with Wayne, Vern and Matt this morning. I hope they have a good time. I'm planning on a good work out and then making Chicken Bog for our street BBQ/get together. Our neighbors are very friendly and have invited us to this yearly day after the 4th get together. They didn't really put a time on it, but rather just said to come when you smell the grub. :)

I forgot to get a picture of it, but the cutest thing happened yesterday. I heard some rustling around in the living room while I was cooking, so I peeked around the corner. Sam (black eyed Sam) was snuggled up on the couch reading a book, totally fasinated and entrawlled. The funny thing was though is that she was looking at the Book of Mormon, and not the picture parts. It was so darn cute. She sat there turning the pages carefully and enjoying herself for about 15 minutes. Strange little girl. Jon and I both thought it was so funny.

A few of the Laney boys came over this evening and had dinner with us and then watched the kids while Jon and I went out and watched Hancock. We really liked the movie and thought it was great. There were some things we wished were explained a little better, but overall it was fantastic.

We came home and found that they had drank 1 1/2 cases of soda...crazy huh? I guess that's teenagers for ya.

We're getting ready for the BBQ on Friday, I hope it turns out like I want it to and that I have all the food I need. I'll get a total head count tomorrow so I can do my final shopping in the evening.

Ok, enough for now, gotta head to bed.