I've Been Called Out!

A dear blogging friend called me out a couple of days ago on Facebook for not blogging as much. I admit I am guilty as charged. I haven't been blogging and I have no real excuse. Or I could make excuses all day long but it still wouldn't change the fact that I haven't blogged. And they are really thin excuses.

Work is busy. Spring and summer are always busy times during the pest control season what can I say. I am still clocking 45 hours most weeks and the weeks I'm not doctor appointments and such has taken the place of work hours. The kids are definitely keeping busy. Since the beginning of May we have sent them on school trips to Holiday World, strings camp, birthday parties, and softball practices and games. Bryce and Belle play on a youth level softball team while Brady plays on the younger youth team. Since Brady will be 11 in September, he also has the opportunity to play "up" on Bryce and Belle's team so he actually plays on two teams this summer.  He has been in for his 6th grade physical and his back to school night is next week. Bryce picks his schedule up next week for 8th grade. Belle registers for 7th grade August 1st. As if this isn't enough we have softball practices Wednesday evenings and just last week we found ourselves with four games in three days. Even with Hubs taking a local job, he is still up and gone by 3am so he is usually ready for bed if not in bed no later than 8pm so most of the running for the kids falls to me. I feel like I am constantly going somewhere.

Earlier in the spring, we took the kids for eye exams and new glasses.

I was afraid Brady would get his and decide he absolutely hated them because they are very blue. I was also afraid of the teasing he might endure because they are so blue. Fortunately all I have heard about is the compliments he's received on them and so far they have lasted longer than the last pair of glasses he had knock on wood. What you don't see in these pictures is that I have also been given glasses for the first time in my life. Turns out my time on my computer has been affecting my eyes and left me with blurry vision especially when working. I don't believe there are any pictures with my glasses as of yet and don't expect there to be any time soon. Darn!

I could probably tell you mounds of stories about the kids and their softball days. Belle is moving between 1st and 2nd bases and loves both positions. Bryce usually plays 3rd and loves it as well. Brady ends up playing catcher or in the outfield since he is smaller and not as experienced on the larger field. Brady was ecstatic last week to get a "home run" last week. Because of many errors made by the other team, he was able to run each base before they stopped trying to tag him out. He rounded the gate grinning ear to ear and bouncing. For the first time all season, he finally felt big enough to run with the other kids.

The cats are growing like weeds. They absolutely love open windows, paper wads and chasing each other up and down the hallway.



I don't have any updated pictures of the dogs as of yet. That will be on my list of things to do for my next blog.

Things around the house hasn't changed much either. We don't get to church as often as we should. I have been kicking myself lately for this but I can't seem to get motivated. I can sit here all week long and think that I really need to get to the next service but Sunday rolls around and. Nothing. Don't know what it is that is holding me back. And it is totally me. Hubs can get up on Sunday morning and ask me if we are going and my response? A shrug. I just don't know. Just something that is really heavy on my heart and mind as of late and something I just can't seem to remedy no matter how hard I try. Something I've been trying to work on and will continue to work on.

Now I must finish some work I brought home from the office. Janjanmom, I am expecting you to call me out again if I haven't blogged again soon!

Various

I need more time in the day I think (proof would be that I started this particular entry over a week ago). Or at least I need more energy. And a better memory. I have been meaning to update more from my time off and it seems time keeps getting away from me so here is a very, very quick rundown.

For Christmas, Hubs bought me this:

And I love it! My Christmas photos, the critter photos and any of the recent kids photos were taken with this camera. I just wish I had more time to play with it.  And that I could remember to take it on days I really intended on taking it!

For our anniversary/Christmas gift, he bought me this:

He knew that I had been looking for the last 5 years or so for the perfect (for me) set. While the ring he put on my finger 14 years ago will always be special to me, I wanted a set that I absolutely loved, one that I knew would be my final set. I found this one a little over a year ago and fell in love with it. I sat back and watch and waited, hoping that it would be brought out in a smaller version but it never was. He surprised me with it just before our anniversary. I was ecstatic. I've been wearing them 6 months now and they still catch me by surprise.

We have managed to cruise through the last couple of months fairly easily. Belle and Brady finished their basketball seasons. Unfortunately Belle didn't make the spring league for the middle school which was very disappointing. We have three weeks of school left and I will have two kids in junior high and one in sixth grade. Where does all this time go? And who decided it needed to move so fast? Bryce is 5'6" at 13 years old. Belle is 5'2" at 12. Both of them are now taller than I am. So. Un. Fair. 

May is determined to keep us busy. We have a strings pizza party for Belle and Brady for practicing, a strings party for Belle for graduating out of the elementary school strings program, a trip to Holiday World for all three kids (on the same day wooohoooo) for their end of the year celebration, and a strings camp for Belle and Brady, which Hubs has agreed to chaperone. 

I hate how much I haven't blogged over the last year. I feel like there is so much I'm going to forget by not writing it down and sharing. Hopefully that will change over the next few weeks, or at least that's my intention. Hopefully I will be back later this week with more pictures.

More Pictures

 Building a snowman

 Working hard

Gotta make a snowball

 Still working hard

 Finished product

With snow seats we had to build

Here it comes!

The snow was deeper than she was tall...I love those ears!

Gotta catch him

Still chasing

Getting closer

 Almost got him

Back to Belle

Deep in thought

Watching the work

The finished snowman

Wearing Bryce's boots because they were convenient....they were HUGE!

Still more pictures to come as time allows and hopefully a story or two...

Pictures As Promised

 10th birthday

 Spike

 12th birthday

 13th birthday

 First Christmas

 New hat

 Sleepy

 Bashful

 Christmas morning

 Christmas morning

 Christmas morning

 Christmas morning

 Christmas morning

 A lesson

 Morning nap

 Mandatory putting the toy together

 Trying to hide

Naptime

More to come...

First Time Ever!

My Christmas cactus that I bought 5 years ago had one bud come out last year but it never open up. Eventually it fell off and I was heartbroken. This year, not only did I have one bud but 5! After watching it daily for weeks, this one finally opened up and two more are right behind it. For those that know about Christmas cactus, this one is not a forced bloom but come out on it's own. Awesome!

A New Year, A New Post

Wow. I cannot believe how fast time is passing me by. Over the last few months, Brady was injured in a football practice (not bad but enough to end his season), Belle turned twelve and Bryce turned thirteen. I am now the parent of a teenager! How did that happen? When did that happen? At what point did time skip 10 years from when I had three kids under the age of 4? Hubby has taken a new job. We have been through Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas. And I have not put up a single post about life in the Shortymom household! I'm horrible!

So I'm here to update.

Brady dislocated his ring finger during a football practice before the last ballgame. This dislocation was so bad that we initially thought that it could possible be broken. So we raced to the emergency room where it was eventually put back into place, given a splint and the official word that his football season was over. For us, the end of the season was a relief after a drama filled season full of disappointment from him and us. Because this is a small town, I cannot go into full detail but we we/are very disappointed on how things went on the football field. So much so that Brady was willing to quit at a couple of different points. He is fully healed now, active in basketball season but unfortunately his finger will never be "normal" again. The size of his knuckle has never gone back down to it's original size and probably never will. We are grateful that it was a minor injury compared to what it could be.

A couple of weeks later was the beginning of basketball practices. Four practices a week between Brady and Belle on four different nights has been keeping me busy. So far Belle's team has lost one game (this past weekend). Brady's team isn't undefeated but he's actually learned more this season than he has previous seasons so we were excited. We were excited to learn that he had a new coach this year, one who works with all of the boys and not just some of them.

Then we came to Belle's and Bryce's birthdays. They each had friends come over (different nights, whew!) and spend the night at the house. I'm still reeling from the fact that I have a teenager and one that's toeing that line. Just doesn't seem right! Their birthdays are so close to Halloween that there wasn't any time for breathing before we raced out to go trick or treating. Bryce didn't trick or treat this year but rode in the car with Hubs, Brady went as yet another ninja, and Belle. Belle was my difficult child this year. Belle wanted to be Chuckie this year from the Child's Play movies, movies she's never seen mind you. Unfortunately we just couldn't get all of the details worked out so we bought a mask and a wig and she went as some zombie thing that really doesn't have a name. They had fun and that was all that mattered.

November brought us a whirlwind of basketball activities, science projects, book projects and getting ready for Thanksgiving that I won't bore you with. Hubby found a new job in the middle of all of this. A job that allows him to be home a lot more often. He is currently working for a job that allows him to stay over night two nights in Tennessee spread out during the week so he's not gone consecutive days. This means he's home all weekend plus another day during the week. We were excited that it finally worked out for him to find a local job allowing him to be home basically full time. Of course we have had our battles during the adjustment but nowhere near some of the battles we've had in the past adjustments. Awesome!

December found us scrambling as we were still running basketball up until the week before Christmas and trying to get the shopping done. There were days I felt as though I hadn't stopped for weeks trying to get everything situated. I didn't even get the tree up until two weeks before Christmas things were so hectic. Unfortunately during all this running, we started getting sick. By Christmas, Belle was improving from a nasty cold she had picked up, I had it full force and Hubs was just starting to catch it. This didn't keep us from having a great Christmas (a white Christmas!). I will have pictures to post soon to catch up visually on all that has gone on. New Years Eve found us in bed by 9:30pm and passed out cold at midnight thanks to the wonderful sickness. Just so much entertainment at our house!

Just last week we had a rescheduled strings concert. We also picked up basketball practices again and had our first game this past weekend. I hope to have pictures up over the next couple of days of some of the things missed over the past few months. Then maybe I can get into the habit of updating regularly again.