We are also flying. If you know me and my past history with flying (and a couple BAD experiences at that- think tornadoes and planes struck by lightening, etc), I HATE it. As in terrified, need large doses of tranquilizers … seriously. But it’s ok. The 2 hour flight beats the 20 hour drive with a 5 and 3 year old. That’s what I keep telling myself anyway!

Can’t wait to post pics of our amazing vacation!!! I’m finally getting sucked into the world of Disney, after just a one day trip to Magic Kingdom last year. (and thanks to Jen for the wonderful pics, stories and inspiration…ha!) I’m so super excited to go and I know the whole family will love it!

Brody woke up yesterday and told me he was done with diapers. Okie Dokie! Off to walmart we rushed to buy new big boy undies. And yes, it was that easy. Not a single accident. I never had to ask him if he had to go. Peed and Pooped on the potty on his own like a champ. Dry at nap time… Potty Training in a day. That’s how both of my boys did it. They were both 3.5, but it was effortless on my part and easy because they both chose to do it!

We may venture out of the house today simply as a test to see how he does, but I don’t think it’ll be a big deal. My boys make me so happy. Especially to see the excitement on their faces when they reach new milestones and accomplishments!

We decided to stick with our original plan to homeschool him. Public school just doesn’t sit well with either of us for a whole host of reasons, and despite a little adversity here and there, we stuck with our gut and chose to do the homeschooling as originally planned. Plus after his latest allergy testing and weird skin conditions that seem to get worse when he’s in a public environment like that, we’re just not gonna deal with it all if we don’t have to!

It was a huge success and SO fun and easy to do! We chose to go with the K12 program. They sent us a computer all set up for his Kindergarten program and all the supplies we would need for the year. Basically, every day we have a to-do list on their site and we dig through our text books and workbooks and do what we need to do. He still has a teacher and we do weekly evaluations do make sure he’s up to speed. He does a lot of hands on, interactive stuff tailored just for him, which he wouldn’t get in a large classroom setting. We do projects, field trips, online learning, some video learning and a lot of reading! It’s fun and the more I look through it all, the more excited I get.

He was so eager to learn today and had a total blast. Worked clear through day 10 in his handwriting/phonics course while I was getting other stuff set up for science. Oh well, less we have to do the next few days! He did great and absolutely loved it and I loved seeing his little smile and eagerness to learn. Melted my heart. And how awesome that I get to be there to see it and be the one to teach him!!!

Fun day!

This picture was taken 5 minutes in to the 15 minute test. I’ll explain the markings. On the left, the H stands for histamine and is what a “normal” allergic reaction would look like. D is for Control (they usually would use a “C” here, but our nurse got distracted talking to us and put a D…we had a good chuckle.) On the right there is a M which stands for Milk, an EW which stands for Egg White and a P which stands for Peanut.

Mason’s list of food allergies is much more extensive, but I wasn’t up for putting him through more tests. I wanted to test the 3 most important ones for his diet. As you’ll notice, only 1/3 into the test, they are more than positive. After this, I put the camera down as Mason broke out into hives all over and these little welts turned in to one giant one on his back. A little epi and benadryl sent us home in only a matter of an hour or so.

We started the month off the idea of some minor house renovations. New carpet in a couple rooms, new baseboards and maybe a little paint. That turned into all the previous listed items and kitchen renovation with cabinet and wall removal, new paint in several rooms, new carpet downstairs and up, new tile floor in the kitchen and upstairs bathroom… yeah.

So today, as I’m typing, the tile layers are here. After this, we get our new upstairs carpet next week and the house will be done. Just in time for my Thirty-One Gifts open house. Yep, I’m a consultant for Thiry-One now, too!

Now, I don’t expect to get rich and never-work-again selling Thirty-One, but I think it’s kind of fun. All three of you (maybe we’re up to 6 or so now…) that read this site are more than welcome to come and bring some friends! Should be a good time. Monday, August 16th from 6:30-9pm.

Ok, we’ve covered house renovations, business adventures….now on to vacation!

We went to Mammoth caves for a long weekend. Well, actually we went to Bowling Green, KY, and took a trip up to Mammoth Caves. We had a great time. On the first day there we visited Kentucky Down Under where we got to hang out and pet some Emus, Kangaroos, Camels, have a cave tour and much more! It was an Australian Outback adventure. Fun, but HOT. Heat Index was 107 that day. Yikes.

Day two, we visited a train museum where we got to tour an old early 1900s train. It was neat and probably my favorite part of the trip. Definitely a cool way to learn a little about the history of the L&N railway. That evening we went to the Lost River Cave where we took a boat tour down through a cave, mined for rocks and had a great time. Still hot, but at least part of this museum was air conditioned.

Day three included a trip to Dinosaur World. This place was pretty awesome. Dinosaurs galore! And life sized ones at that. A great place for two little boys who love dinosaurs! They got to do a fossil dig, watch a dino video and explore a 5000 sq ft gift shop. Yes, friends. Five THOUSAND square feet of Dinosaur toys. I thought we’d never get out of there. Luckily $50 was all it took to get out of there. Trust me, it could have been much, MUCH worse. And you guessed it, it was hot. Only 104 today, though for this 90% outdoor adventure!

The rest of the time was spent exploring restaurants, swimming at the hotel and having a great time with the family. Dave’s parent, sister and our nieces all got to join us. It was a great time.

July also brought our 6th wedding anniversary. Crazy to think it’s been 6 years! It’s certainly been a fast 6. That pretty much wrapped up July. August isn’t as busy, but still a big month as Mason starts Kindergarten. But we won’t dwell on that subject just yet. I’m not in the mood to be all emotional and sappy at the moment . Since I’m lazy, you can see my pictures from all of the above events on my Facebook page.

Mason does VERY well with his allergies. He understands that he can’t have certain things and he doesn’t ask questions. He’s just very accepting. He takes what we give him as his substitute and never says a word. I guess that always made me feel better. That he wasn’t upset by it, that he didn’t question and just went with it.

Until Today.

Brody wanted a bite of ice cream. Mason has tried the soy ice cream before and doesn’t like it so when we eat ice cream, I often just give M an Oreo or sucker or something else he does like that he can have. But today, in our kitchen, Mason just burst into tears- unlike any tears this child has ever cried and then he literally just fell into me. He cried and cried.

I knelt down to him and calmed him enough to talk to me. And apparently years of built up frustration just came out. “Mommy, I just want to be like Brody. I want ice cream, I want cheese. Mommy, I just want more food.” As a mother, my heart broke and I joined him in his tears. I could do nothing but hold him and tell him I was so sorry. And I truly am.

I can’t make this go away. I can’t fix this for my little boy. Nothing- that’s exactly what I can do. I’m completely helpless in helping him with this journey he’s been handed. And it makes my heart break like nothing I’ve ever felt. I’m typing this through more tears. I can only try to keep him safe and happy and healthy and get him through. And right now, there’s not even a light at the end of his allergy tunnel. With them getting worse and the list growing, it’s not like I can even begin to find a little hope to even give him that one day he can be like brother.

My heart is broken. This is not an easy life to live. We’re doing the best we can, but to see your child emotionally hurting by a physical problem that you can do nothing about just rips your heart out. Being helpless is so discouraging at times. Today was a day we both let out our frustrations surrounding this. Now, we pick up and keep trucking on and pray that this ends sooner than later.

Academically, I was fairly certain he was ok. I’m not biased when I say this kid is smart. He is. People all the time tell me they think he’s so much older than he is. He’s just a smart kid, well spoken and learns so quickly. Not to mention, this kid has an amazing thing with numbers. He can add, subtract and just simply glance a something and tell you how many are there. It’s eerie at times, really.

I took him over to the new student welcome center for Fairfield City Schools. I had him evaluated to see if he was ready for Kindergarten, or would benefit from a year of Kindergarten Readiness for a year first. He scored perfectly on everything and the evaluator even told me some of the skills he knew were “goals” for knowing AFTER Kindergarten and were 1st grade requirements. She was more than confident he was ready for Kindergarten. And when she did his evaluation, she had no idea he was 4 and wouldn’t even be 5 until after the start of the school year. That made me feel much better. So we registered him.

Now if you remember back, this is much different from my post on home-shooling. After not finding a single home school program that I just loved and felt confident with, Dave and I decided to give school a shot. If he gets too sick, or his skin can’t handle it, then we pull him out if need be. Kindergarten isn’t mandatory anyway in the state of Ohio. If he can’t handle it, we’ll pull him, study from home and give school a shot the next year. We’ll just keep trying it until his body can handle it.

Am I paranoid? Heck Yes. I’ve already gotten familiar with the school nurse and she was so very reassuring. I have a meeting scheduled with her in August as well as one with both her and his teacher the day before school starts to go over everything again. They are already aware of him and his allergies, and I’m making myself known. From my allergy parent support groups, the biggest thing I’ve learned is to make sure you and your child are “remembered”. I plan on working as a room mom and getting active. Kids with allergies can’t get lost in the cracks or fatal accidents are more likely to happen.

So my “baby” is getting ready for Kindergarten. Which means riding the bus and everything. I can’t believe he’s this big. I’m looking so forward to the fun he will have and the things he will learn.

School starts just 2 months from now. Which also means, in just a little over two months, Mason will be FIVE. When did THAT happen?! We’re already working on a super fun bowling party. That was Mason’s choice and his favorite thing to go do.

I recognize all of the men and women who have died serving our country and I am thankful for the fact that they were willing to give their lives for our country. Every year, I try to go out to the cemetery where my dad is buried. Even though he didn’t die while actively serving, he gave over 25 years of his life dedicated to our country as an E9 in the United States Air Force.

He was a Physicians Assistant and served in MASH units (yes, just like the show) in Viet Nam and Korea. When he came back stateside, he served on base at Tinker Air Force base in Oklahoma (which is also where I was born). I have pictures of my dad elbow deep in some man’s abdomen operating. I have all of his medals and pins and honors he received during his time served. I have pictures of him standing with astronauts from many Apollo and Gemini missions where he served as a medic on the Launch Site Recovery Team for NASA. Although he did not die while serving our country, he risked his life for many years doing work not just any of us would give up our lives for. And for Him, I am grateful and proud.

At the cemetery where he was “buried” in the mausoleum, they hold a grand weekend of festivities honoring the fallen and those currently serving. I took part in that, signing cards to send to our current troops overseas, talking with vets and relatives of fallen soldiers, and admiring the memorials they had placed in honor of these men and women.

Because my dad is in a mausoleum, I can’t just take flowers and put them at his grave. From the very first time I went back there, to this day, I take a single red rose and I tape it to his marble stone. In the mausoleum, each person who served our country in honored with an emblem next to their name. I enjoyed my day there and loved being there at a time when people were laughing and shaking hands and honoring each other.

I’m grateful to the men and women who serve our country and to those who have given their lives for our freedom.

On a side note, I wrote a poem that day I went to his grave. As I placed the single rose there, these words flooded me. I rushed to type them on my cell phone so that I could write it out once I got home.

You Are Not Here

As I stare at the marble stone,
Where behind, your body lay-
I realize despite my desire,
I will not see you here today.

Your name is boldly painted
For everyone to see
I often sit and wonder
If you are watching over me

A single rose reflects
The love my heart still holds
There’s a void that can’t be filled
A pain so very dull

Each pedal will slowly fall
And the rose will wither and die.
As a flower won’t last forever,
Neither does this life.

My heart floods with tears
It aches to see your face
Deep in my heart I know
You’re in a better place

To want you here is selfish
I know life’s better there
I can only wish upon the day
When heaven’s home we’ll share

I hope if you are looking down
You’re proud of what you see
I strive to live a life
To which you would be pleased

I miss having you here today
I miss your smile and laugh
I miss the simplest of all things-
I miss just calling upon my dad.

I headed home for a night of peace and quiet (which I call vacation) in my own house, staying up late watching movies of my choice- all the way through, only pausing when *I* needed to, and eating warm food without any interruption whatsoever.

When I arrived the next morning, I found a very tired Daddy and Pap and 4 overly tired, but excited kids. Apparently the night went well. Grandma was in the house with her cell phone. When the kids needed a drink or a potty break, they called her and she ran whatever it was they needed to them, or escorted them to and from the tent to the potty.

The boys had inflatable sleeping bags that are cool, however, my boys flop all over the place when they sleep. Daddy slept between them. Every time they turned over, they fell 5 inches to the ground. Daddy would wake up and push them back up on their mattress. Finally, Daddy just pulled both kids to the ground next to him and they cuddled in close- leaving daddy uncomfortable and with no place to go. So daddy, didn’t sleep very well. And the kids were having so much fun with their light toys, flashlights and new experiences, they didn’t go to sleep til midnight (much later than their normal 9pm bedtime). And sleeping outdoors brings the brightness of the sunrise. So guess who was up at 6:30am instead of the usual 8-8:30?! 6.5 hours of sleep is just not enough for my kids…especially for the rest of what we had planned for that day… but they had fun, and it was a holiday, so who cares?! I certainly didn’t fret, after all, I was refreshed from my 16 child-free/husband-free hours of quiet. What came next actually turned out ok, all things considered.

So after all that good fun, we headed out to the Creation Museum. If you haven’t been there, I suggest it. The museum was awesome, the planetarium was amazing, and the grounds- wow. The gardens were simple stunning. I haven’t seen something that gorgeous in a long time. There was an amazing petting zoo, complete with camel rides and all. We were there about 5 hours, and I felt like that was rushed! I hope to go back sometime (maybe even without the kids) so I can thoroughly read everything again. There is so much information that it was hard to process it that quickly, especially with all the kids who were less interested in all the reading. The kids had a great time though too.

I was worried once we got there that it would be kind of ugly, with the lack of sleep the night before and all, but Brody conked out in the stroller and Mason did just fine. It was a great day.

However, with all the “Buzz” (get it… Buzz…*snort*) about the newest Toy Story coming out, my kids have surely noticed. Every store is laden with TS3 toys and even though we don’t have cable or watch TV to see advertisements, some how they figured out there was a new movie! Secretly, I was excited to see it too, as Toy Story has always been one of my favs. I remember in 1995, when the original Toy Story came out. Loved it then, and still love watching it 15 years later with my boys! I’ll admit, I was underwhelmed by TS2, but I was willing to give #3 a go.

So glad we went to see it tonight. It was the BEST of the 3, by far. Usually movies that have a sequel, and then yet another one to follow, get more lame as they go, but not this one. I don’t want to be a spoiler, but seriously, it was amazing. What I loved is that for those of us who were around when the first one came out back in the 90s, the writers humored us a bit…I sort of feel like I’ve watched Andy grow up. In TS3, Andy goes off to college and it’s the adventure of the toys finding their new home. It had some humor that was over my kids heads that had me rolling, but yet was still young enough, entertaining and enjoyable to my boys.

Toy Story is a well-viewed movie in our house, and we all enjoyed this one tonight. I typically try to avoid the movie theaters because frankly, I hate spending the money when If I wait just a few additional weeks, I can purchase it for what I would have paid in tickets and watch it at my leisure, on my comfy couch, as often as I want, and most importantly in my jammies with my own (cheap) snacks. But, I will say, this one was worth it.

So. Stinkin. Cute.

(and no, Pixar is not paying me to write this… I just had to share my love of TS3!!)