Tuesday, May 30, 2006

this is for erin...

I put the child's name on them too. I think this one turned out really cute.
this is a toddle hand that i did at one of my parties. This is the painted bases of course.
these are three of the most recent ones i have finished completely. I have a bunch that aren't on bases yet. Analise's is the on on the right with the purple ribbon.

just pictures

As you already know... Kelson can fall asleep in the strangest places. This time he was in trouble and was told to SIT (not lie down) on the naughty mat. Cade was in trouble too, so he was on the "Steelers" mat in the office and Kelson had to sit in the kitchen. He got real quiet and this is what we found him doing.
Two days later this is where I found him not eating his lunch. What do we do? I was cleaning the house and Analise started fussing... then I didn't hear her again... I walked out and Cade was here talking to her, telling her she was ok and that he was right there. It was pretty sweet.
I'm glad he wasn't a pooper when it came time to take a picture. I love this picture.

Cade's class had a special Mother's Day program for us. We had to wait in the hall and when we walked in the entire class was dressed the same. It was adorable. They had refreshments, flowers, gifts they had made, songs, and a poem for us. Cade wouldn't do half of it. He's kinda a pooper when it comes to such things.

Kelson at his first dentist appointment. He was SO good! Didn't really surprise us... he LOVES to brush his teeth. He did whatever they asked him to do with no problems. Cade on the other hand still pitched a fit.

The classes went crazy when the train pulled up. Scared all of the adults; about 100 little kindergarteners screaming and running around as this train pulls up only feet from them. It made my stomach jump just watching it
It wasn't a long trip, but still called for some entertainment. My ipod came in handy with the boys!
Kelson looking out the window saying goodbye to Greensboro!

Our first train trip. Well, not Tio's. Cade and Kelson had so much fun! I had to buy these tickets for the train field trip back in February. We had bought one for Grandpa to go with us. He got back from Mexico at 4am that morning. Tio Marcos was nice enough to take his place. The boys where thrilled. I don't think it was the highlight of Marcos' day... but we were glad he came with us!
Cheeto had a load of bark chips delivered. Cade and Kelson were such little helpers. It was so hot that afternoon too. Our boys are growing up!
Kelson's Curious George Cake!
Kelson and Grandma are ready to blow out the candles!
SSSSSHHHH! Tio sleeping! not really... analise really was though. Aren't they sweet? Marcos was almost alseep until we started taking pictures!
Analise thought she was pretty sneaky! She gnawed on it until it was soggy! Yummy!
Grandpa and Analise on Mother's day! This was taken between the hail storms.

Wednesday, May 17, 2006

Appalachian Bathroom

Llano Update (Cheeto's Brood)
Quick story. I'll try to do a full update tomorrow morning.

Teresa was getting a serging lesson yesterday from Shena around lunch time. Christian Hines (who works with me in the office) and I went home to eat lunch with them. It was a beautiful day. Sunny, 70 degrees. Just before Christian and I left to head back for work, we were all talking by the open front door (glass screen door was still closed). Kelson was in a pretty good mood, and said that he wanted to open our car door for us when we went out (not sure when he started doing that). So he went outside, but the rest of us were still talking. Shena, Christian and I had our backs to the door, but Teresa was able to see out the glass screen door. All of the sudden she goes "What is THAT?" We all turned to see Kelson standing on the sidewalk just in front of the door, pants and underwear at his ankles, holding his shirt up, peeing on the grass. Kid has never done that before that I know of. And he couldn't do it in the bushes, or in the backyard. He did it in the front of the house, facing the street! How do you discipline a child when you are laughing hysterically?

I'll share pictures later - well, not of Kelson peeing, but others we've taken recently.

Tuesday, May 09, 2006

Miniature Train Set

Llano Update (Cheeto's Brood)

Sorry about the weird font. Something's up with Blogger and I don't have time to try to fix it.

So far so good with the early rising. I've set my alarm each day for 2 minutes earlier than the day before. 6:01 this morning.

We had a good time last night for FHE. Grandma A. picked up Little Caesar's, then we headed over to Larry Miller's (Stu's dad's). Marcos had told us the other night that he had a great big train set in his basement. We thought the boys would like it. You should have seen the boys faces when they saw what he had set up. Cade went nuts...big grin, "oooooooooohhhh." He had about six different tracks. He had a Polar Express "D" scale hanging from the ceiling that the boys could see right up close if they sat on the stairs. He also had a great big "L" shaped setup that had 3 different scale models (Lionel, HO & N). It was pretty cool. I know there were several pictures taken, so I will be sure to include them. He also had a bellows looking train whistle that Cade loved too. I think he was more excited about the whistle than the trains themselves. He would have just made the whistle blow all evening if we would let him - but it was a pretty loud whistle and he was getting a bit rough with it.

Kelson had his first trip to the dentist this morning. He had been before, just not as a patient, so he was familiar with the place, but he did a GREAT job. He was a little nervous when they laid the chair back...he had a death grip on the arm rests, like he was going to fall out of the chair if he didn't. But otherwise he did a great job. Listened to the assistant, opened and closed like he was supposed to, etc.

Cade on the other hand, had a rough time. He didn't cooperate much. He didn't pitch a fit, just wouldn't open his mouth until the actual dentist came over. They've tried to get x-rays the last couple of times he was there, but he won't let them. He gags on the things they put in his mouth and I think it freaks him out. The good news is neither of them had cavities. That's easier on my pocketbook.

Dad should be home from Mexico today after being there since the end of January. When Marcos told Cade he was coming, Cade looked like he didn't believe him. I guess is been that long.

Marcos and Stu went to eat lunch with Cade (they took him an egg sandwich, which is Cade's favorite when Tio goes to eat with him), then he stopped and picked me up and we went and got Kelson and took Kelson to lunch at Chik-fil-A. Best part was Marcos actually paid. I'm always up for lunch when somebody else is paying.

Thursday, May 04, 2006

WARNING - Boring Post!

Llano Update (Cheeto's Brood)
So another one of these infamous Cheeto experiments has begun. Not so much an experiment as another attempt to become a morning person. I've been trying for about 10 years now. Haven't had much luck yet, but I'm not giving up. I have a new technique for getting out of bed that I've been using for about the last 7 days. I know, that doesn't sound like a very long time, but it's a start.

I've always had a problem getting myself out of bed if I didn't HAVE to. I always seemed to rationalize and talk myself out of it when the alarm went off. "I really didn't get as much sleep last night as I needed. I'll just sleep for 10 more minutes." or "Man, my eyes hurt. I'm just going to close them for a second - let them rest for another second."

I have been checking in on this blog by Steve Pavlina since I stumbled on it from "My name is Will, this is what I clicked." I got real interested in seeing how Steve's polyphasic experiment was going. I don't know that I will ever try it, but of course I liked the idea of having four more hours per day to accomplish what I'd like to. Anyway, I read this article by Steve recently about getting up when your alarm goes off. He suggests that you practice getting up when you are conscious. Get ready for bed, set your alarm for two or three minutes out, lay in the position you would if you were asleep, close your eyes, then when the alarm goes off quicly turn off the alarm and get out of bed and start your routine. He says to do that several times.

I didn't do that. The only part I took from his suggestion was to consciously prepare in my mind HOW I'm going to get up in the morning. I decided that what I would do is turn off the alarm, immediately stretch for about 3 seconds (literally counting in my mind "one-thousand one, one-thousand two, one-thousand three"), peel the covers off, sit on the edge of my bed, feet on the floor, for another three seconds (no counting this time), then stand up and start my day.

I realized that my lack of a wake-up routine was what was keeping me in bed. Sometimes I would lay in there and try to get my bearings, or talking to myself ("just a few more minutes - if I go back to sleep now I can get 20 more minutes before I absolutely have to get going - it's Saturday, I don't need to be anywhere for 2 more hours"...etc).

So far so good. Really haven't had any close calls. My goal is to slowly get my wake up time to 5:30 (before the end of May). That will give me time to do some exercise (my next great, previously failed mutlitple times, experiment). I've been up before 6:15 every day so far. One day was out of necessity at 5:30 so that I could be in Statesville by 7:30 to take a Long Term Care licensing test. The rest of the days have been voluntary. Now it looks like the problem isn't really waking up in the morning, it's getting to sleep at night.

I usually get REALLY sleepy at about 8:00 each night, which is obviously much to early to go to bed. But for some reason about 9:30 I get a second wind and don't feel sleepy again until about 11:00 - 11:30. Compounding the problem is Shena's inability to go to sleep when it's quiet. She needs a radio or TV going in the background to get her to sleep, and I absolutely can't sleep that way. I need white noise. Anykind of organized sound keeps me from falling asleep very deeply. So I have to stay up until she goes to sleep...and often what happens is as I am waiting for her to go to sleep with the TV on, I get into a show and wind up watching it to it's conclusion. I guess that keeps me from blaming her entirely.

I'm open for suggestions on how to solve this problem. Let me know what you think.