Hanging Out At Home

Although I would not call our weather "cool" by any means... we are still having temps in the mid to high 90's.. it has improved enough that the boys can now spend some time in our backyard. The summer months are brutal and since we don't have a swimming pool we pretty much stay inside for most of the summer. We look forward to our fall break because that is usually when we rediscover our yard again! Yesterday the boys helped me clean off the patio and then they decided to have a picnic lunch in the back. (Notice Rock circling like a shark looking for fallen food!)
I have had trouble getting Connor down for a nap this week. I am not sure why. He didn't take a nap for three days in a row, I was beginning to go out of my mind. However, yesterday he finally crashed. Not in his bed but on the floor... hey, I take whatever I can get!

While he slept Travis and I decided to make some sugar cookies. I was amazed at how much Travis could do by himself. Once I got the dough going (and it stopped sticking!) I pretty much let him do most of the work. He did a great job.

I know you are thinking Travis looks rather tall.... well, here is our trick... Yes, step stool! He's getting bigger, but not that big! At the end we had some dough left so Travis decided to put it on the cookie sheet and roll it out to make one big cookie. When I pulled it out of the oven I discovered that he actually made Russia! LOL

Who knew he was so talented?? This is how he chose to decorate his Russia cookie.

Here are the fruits of our labor. I helped decorate or else Travis would have been frosting cookies for hours. Together we made a pretty good team.

Connor woke up and dove right in to one of the cookies. He loved them!

Here is the chef himself...

Now THAT'S how you eat a cookie!!

California Adventures

Hello! Yes, we are still alive! Gosh, the last few weeks have been a whirlwind around here. The last week of September I wasn't sure if I was going to make it out alive. Fortunately, we all made it. On Friday, October 1 we hopped on an airplane and headed for Santa Rosa to visit family and friends. Even though Connor did not take his scheduled nap he was an ANGEL on the airplane ride. I could not have asked for anything better. I do believe he is going to shape up into a wonderful traveler just like his big brother. Earlier that week Travis had been to the doctor and was on two antibiotics. Well, just as our luck would have it, it all began draining into his chest as we were sitting in the airport. Luckily we have a wonderful doctor's office here in town. I called them and they called in a nebulizer for us to pick up once we got into town. It was our lucky day because that Walgreens was open 24 hours so we were able to swing by and pick it up at 10:30 that night. Phew. Crisis averted. After a weekend of doing constant breathing treatments Travis was on the mend. If you are wanting pictures, then this post is for you! Here are the boys hanging out at the top of Grandma's stairs.

The weather was absolutely gorgeous the entire time we were there. Here are the kids with the California grandparents. Notice Travis had to give himself bunny ears. Strange kid.

I just love this picture of Connor. He is an outdoor kiddo!

Even though Travis wasn't feeling himself he still had some fun kicking the soccer ball around with Connor.

Ever since Travis was 2 this bridge behind Grandma's house has been a big hit. Connor loves to stomp across it too. They both realized young that the harder you stomp the louder the noise and the more fun you have.Aren't there child labor laws in California? LOL They both loved sweeping the leaves off the sidewalk for Grandma and her neighbors.

Travis has waited YEARS for Charles to give him the time of day. Finally, after years of "patience" Charles and Travis had some real bonding time. Too bad Connor would interrupt them by running and screaming at Charles and scaring him half to death. It reminded me of the scene in Finding Nemo when the little girl is shaking the fishy and Nemo and his friends are shaking with fright... Well, anyway, Travis was on cloud nine when Charles would sit still and let him pet him. Even if it was only for 20 seconds at a time.

One day we were brave enough to head out to the coast. It is always a gamble when we head out there. We never know what to expect, it is often windy, foggy, and freezing. Again luck was on our side. It was a BEAUTIFUL day! It was slightly cloudy at first but then the sun came out and we just walked around, hung out, and enjoyed the fresh ocean breeze. The boys loved it. A beachfront house could be in our future... one can dream, right??Building a sandcastle. Moat and bridge included.

Connor just stood there watching the waves. I think this was the most still he was the entire vacation. We even had time to get out the camera and capture the moment!

More ocean creatures for the collection.

We LOVE the beach!

We heard that there had been some humpback whale sightings out at Bodega Head so we decided to go take a look. Unfortunately we didn't see any. (I don't know what I was expecting... whales doing tricks? Sea World demonstrations? No such luck. Better luck next time I guess!) It was a little to scary looking down at the steep cliffs with Connor trying to run around. Back in the car we went and off we drove to Petaluma to meet Uncle Billy and eat some of the most delicious hot dogs we have ever eaten.

I think sidewalk chalk is a must whenever we visit Grandma. This time was no exception!

Here are the kids with Lucy.

Having fun on the horses at the park.

Unhappy cowboy?

Of course we had to have some time visiting cousins. Travis just loves hanging out with the older kids. Connor was not cooperating for this one, that explains his absence. Gage, Travis and Renee all look great though! I remember when these two were Travis and Connor's age... scary how fast they all grow up!

There were two major highlights for me on this trip. One was my 20th high school reunion. I had so much fun visiting with so many people from high school. The next day a few of us went out for brunch, it was so great to catch up with each other. The second highlight was meeting up with one of my roommates from college. For two years we lived in an "I Love Lucy" apartment complete with a pink toilet, bathtub, and sink in the bathroom! We both learned how to defrost a freezer in that apartment too. (Isn't that what college is all about??!) Heather and I had lost touch with each other for many years. Getting married, moving around the country and having kids can do that to you! Last year we met up again on Facebook and during this trip she drove up to Santa Rosa with her 4 girls to visit us and hang out at a local park for a few hours. We had so much fun. Even though it has been about 15 years or so it felt like time had not passed at all. I am so glad we are back in touch! I have missed her! Here we are with all of our kids, she has 4 girls (one set of twins) and of course I have my 2 boys. Who knew all those years ago that we would have ended up with this crazy crew? We are hoping to keep in closer touch and not let 15 years go between visits. ;-)

Daryle's mom got this rocking horse YEARS ago.. I remember seeing it when Daryle and I were dating. Travis has had years of fun rocking on it... but now he is getting a bit too big for it! Now it is Connor's turn to have all the fun. (I tried getting Connor's picture on the horse with no success!)

Here is Charles, letting both of my boys pet him. Travis misses him terribly, good thing he had a nice big dog to come home too. As you can see we had a wonderful time. We did lots of other things too, I just didn't always have the camera handy. I was having too much fun. Mid week Connor got to take a trip to the doctor's office. He had a fever for three days and just wasn't himself. The doctor said he was getting the croup. We got some medicine and were on our way. Good thing we now have a doctor in Santa Rosa. Only my kids would need a doctor while on vacation! Thank goodness we have friends in all the right places.

Now I have to get back to the housework that has been neglected for far too long! Until next time....

Raiders in da House!

It finally happened. The Oakland Raiders came here to play the Arizona Cardinals. Daryle has been on cloud 9 about it since the schedule was announced sometime last spring. The day arrived as any other day arrives except these two boys were ready to get their game faces on! Here is a demonstration.
Last week Daryle made a special trip to Party City to get their silver and black face paint. These are faces only a mother could love! LOL

Evidently while walking around Travis found another Raiders fan close to his age also sporting some interesting face painting!

If he wasn't so cute this picture would be scary! They had a great time, even though the Raiders lost at the last second. You may be wondering where Connor and I were. Well, Connor enjoyed some one on one time with Grammy and Grandpa (and dinner with Great Grandma) while I was at home writing 5 papers for my online class and studying for a midterm that I have to take on Wednesday. Thank goodness for grandparents, that's all I can say! My kids have the best grandparents in the UNIVERSE!! I still have to make it through conferences this week, midterm tomorrow and get everybody packed. I am looking forward to boarding that plane at the end of the week because that is when I will be able to breath a sigh of relief!

Finally...

I have been trying to upload these pictures for two days now! I am not sure if the problem has been blogger, my computer or user error. Anyway, finally I got a few pictures on here to share. We have a little lime tree in our backyard. It sure yields a lot of limes for being so "little"! Here is Daryle picking some limes off the tree. I sure wish our orange tree would produce a little something. After almost 6 years and no oranges I am not sure what to do.

Here are Grammy and Connor at Travis' basketball game. (Thank goodness it finally uploaded after about 6 tries!)

Now if only Travis would pay attention to us the way he listens to his coach and teammates...

My little basketball player. He sure does LOVE sports! It's a good thing he is pretty coordinated too.

WATER!!!

And just in case you were wondering what was going on in the stands while I was able to play with Grandpa's camera, well, here is the truth. The grandparents were having tons of fun entertaining Connor and keeping him busy. Thank goodness for grandparents!!

After the game they found this tether ball off to the side of the gym. They never slow down, except maybe when they are asleep. Ha!

Budding Photographer?

Oh I know, two posts from me in one night!! Geesh! You would never know that I spent 6 hours today doing homework for my last two classes. Tomorrow I hope to catch up on the housework. Daryle did keep up on the laundry for me, that was a big help. Connor got out this camera and chased me around the house telling me to "Smile Mommy!" I thought he was pretty cute so I got out my camera to get some shots of him. He was so cute! Perhaps photography will be in his future?
Here he is checking it out, making sure the strap is around his neck properly.

Hmmm.... upside down... not sure if this is genius creativity or, well, you know...

Smile Mommy! (Too bad there is no film... yes I said film... the camera is a few years old...)

The little fella likes to give directions too.At least he takes directions well too. Look at this cutie pie!

I know I just did a big post of Travis' basketball pics but I just found this one on our camera. I thought it was cute and shows just how much fun Travis has on the court.

Last weekend Daryle and Travis went to the dbacks game and Travis got his picture taken with these giant bobbleheads. Wow, they are tall!

Well, that about sums things up. Everybody is in bed, we hope for the entire night, and I am sure we will all be up by 6:30. That is when Connor decides we all need to be up! I can't wait for him to realize sleeping in is a good thing!

Basketball Game

Finally we had a moment to take some pictures of Travis playing basketball. Grandpa brought his camera, but since we are still figuring out all the bells and whistles the pictures are a bit blurry. I think I have figured out the problem so that the next time the pictures will be better. For now, enjoy!

Travis actually made a basket on this one!

Travis is very good at guarding too.

Today Travis scored two baskets. He loves playing all sports and is actually pretty good at all of them. I don't want to jinx myself, but the last three games Connor has actually sat right by me. No more running up and down bleachers and being chased onto the court! I have found that a couple of books, a Leapster, and a few snacks are enough to keep him tame. It also helps when the grandparents come along too, extra hands always help! Only three games are left, then we have a break until soccer in January. That's one thing about having boys, sports keep you pretty busy year round!

Change of plans

I have not had the camera out this week, I have been too busy getting my last two classes figured out. My original plan was to take two online courses this semester and then graduate in December. Well, the graduating part stays the same (thank goodness!) but the two on line courses had to change. I am still doing one class online, thankfully that class was set up exactly as I had thought. However, the other class was completely different. The in person version of this class is done in 8 weeks, but the online version was 16 weeks. I figured it would be fine that I would have twice the time to complete the work since it would be spread out over a longer period of time. Well, Monday evening I logged on and sat at my computer in total shock. In addition to being completely exhausted from my day at work this was all I saw, "Must check in online every day or at least every other day to watch for updates..... all work will be done with your online group... you will be graded entirely as a group.... only 2 things are graded individually.... you must be engaged in the class for the duration of the course, all 16 weeks.... no assignments can be turned in more than 1 day early.... you get the picture. What? All group work? Online? I can't turn in things early?? I was starting to panic. Plus, this class was a pilot for a new online format. Thus, I was spending a lot of time looking around trying to figure the system out. I was having trouble finding things on there. I spent over an hour just in awe of all the smiley faces bouncing around the screen. (She even had a link on there for proper use of emoticons...) It was as if a PowerPoint presentation was running around on my computer. My head was spinning and I had this sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. To say I was feeling overwhelmed is an understatement! I figured I would just go to bed and look at it again in the morning. Before heading off to bed I did check into the in person class and I found out it was going to be on Wed nights with a nice teacher I had heard about from other classmates. (The reason I didn't take her class to begin with was because I wanted to be home in the evenings. I have missed so much in the last two years by being gone one evening a week!) I decided that was my back up plan as I went to sleep Monday night. Tuesday morning I went on line again and thought to myself, "I CAN do this!" That afternoon I was at school and I had a moment to check my email. I had a friend request from facebook as well as a message from an unfamiliar name. I investigated a bit more and realized it was somebody from my online class. I remembered the name because this individual had already disclosed in his introduction that he was autistic and spoke at national conventions around the country. Great. (I have nothing against autistic people. I have taught many and they are some of my favorite people ever. I just knew from the minute I saw his intro that he was going to be in my class and sure enough...) I realized that the teacher had formed our groups that morning so he was "johnny on the spot" by getting our group together. It seems we had an assignment due on Friday already. My heart started beating a little faster and I got that feeling in the pit of my stomach again. I closed it up and went along with my day. After school I got the boys home and we were doing our thing. At 5:30 I had to take Travis to a church class and there was a parent meeting during that time as well. Daryle stayed home with Connor. When I got home (after 7 pm) I noticed there was a message on my phone. Daryle said he didn't recognize the number or name so he didn't answer it. Yep. You guessed it. It was the guy from my class. Get this, I never even gave him my phone number!! I told Daryle about the facebook contact and now this. That was when real panic started to take over and I started to freak out. He didn't call just once.... he called, hung up, called one minute later and left a rather lengthy message and then an hour and a half later he called a THIRD time!! AAGHHHH!! I was already having high anxiety about this class and now THIS??? I was putting Connor to bed and Daryle was putting Travis to bed so once again we didn't answer the phone the third time around. I told Daryle I felt like I was being stalked. I said it sort of jokingly, but sort of not. I decided in the morning I would email the teacher and tell her I was going to check out the Wed. evening class. So, Wednesday morning I got online to email her. Well, it seems this student decided to send me an email on my NAU account. He was "very worried because it was Tuesday evening and our first assignment was due on Friday." That was when I about lost it. In less than 24 hours this guy had found 3 different ways to track me down! I emailed my teacher about possibly switching classes and I told her about what was going on with this student. She is an awesome teacher because by the end of the day she had met with her department chair, they got in touch with this person's advisor and I had an apology from him on Thursday afternoon. I was told they did not disclose my name to him and I know for a fact that I was not the only student who he contacted that day. I am sure he probably can figure it out though. He seems pretty intelligent. It was humorous though how he said he figured his group members who weren't responding might be "deadbeats, or lazy"... I had to laugh! Poor guy, he doesn't have a family to take care of nor does he have a full time job. I would never think of myself as a deadbeat or lazy! Anyway, that took up my entire week's worth of energy. Now I am in the Wed night class, the teacher seems great (she is from Bulgaria...sort of like a Russian accent. We already discussed the beauty of Russia since she has lived there before. I like her a lot!), all group work will be done in class and the best part is that I will be done in 8 weeks (well now 7!) and then I can just finish up the other online class. It's a good thing this was a three day weekend because boy did I need it! ;-) I am finally breathing normally again and that feeling in the pit of my stomach is finally gone!