Goose Feathers

Chloe recently found a small feather on the rug in the living room. This was the following conversation between Chloe and Steve:

Chloe: Hey! I found a goose feather!

Steve: You did?!?! There must have been a goose in here!

Chloe: Yeah!

Steve: What did the goose say?

Chloe: I want my feathers back!

We all laughed and laughed. She was very proud of herself.

I love this comic strip.

11.19.09: ""


I really like the "Pearls Before Swine" comic strip, not sure if it appears in any papers, but I get it on the internet for free everyday.
It never ceases to make me smile.

Besides, I haven't written anything on here in a long time.

I'll post an actual "state of the family" update soon.

G'Day all.

Cahaba Trip

 

We took a trip to Cahaba a while back. Chloe loves to go out there so we can have a picnic. The boys like it because there is plenty of room to run around outside. Steve and I like it because it is so full of history. For those of you who do not know, Cahaba was the first capitol of Alabama. This picture was taken in front of an old slave house. The "big house", as it probably would have been called, is no longer standing but you can still see where the corners of the house were. There are lots of markers standing in this "ghost town" telling about stores, houses, churches, prisons, and citizens. There are even street signs up. If you ever get a chance to go out there jump on it! You won't regret it!

Everything has changed

I just noticed that I haven't updated since July. So much has happened since then.

Mike is now 14 and has started going to a new private school this year. He is loving it! There is only one class per grade (except the 5th grade). The school has K3 through 12th and there are only 14 kids in Mike's 8th grade class. His teacher is wonderful and the rest of the staff at the school are very nice. I can tell that these people are very dedicated to educating these kids. So far Steve and I are very pleased with Mike's progress and with the school. Due to some trouble he got into over the summer he is no longer allowed the privilege of Taekwondo along with many other privileges that well behaved children have. He has made a complete 180 with his behavior and he is slowly but surely getting his privileges back one by one but this will be a long (very, very long) process. His class has been chosen to run the school paper and he is excited about this opportunity to learn a little about journalism.

Justin began the 7th grade this year and so far things are moving along pretty well. Justin is very excited about science class this year. His classroom is actually a science lab. They have been conducting experiments and he is loving it. It really makes me happy to hear the excitement in his voice when he talks about what he did in science class for the day. Also due to the trouble over the summer, Justin is not playing football this year. He is, however, enjoying watching his little step-brother play his first year of football. It is amazing the amount of growing this child did over the summer. I cannot believe he is going to be 13 years old in a month and a half. Where has the time gone?

Miss Chloe Beth started taking Kindermusik classes on Wednesday mornings. This class will run through the fall. It has been a pretty slow go getting her interested in the group activities. She has a mind of her own. She just likes to play with the instruments. She is a little over 3 feet tall now and weighs about 25 or 26 pounds. She hardly ever takes a nap anymore. She hardly ever eats anything except ice cream, dora soup and popsicles. She enjoys playing with her friends, Lyndee and Ferris. She also likes Lyndee's little baby brother but I think it mostly has to do with his toys.

Steve is still slaving away at work and home. Poor guy. He never gets a break. His most recent shop project was building a toy shelf for Chloe. He worked on it for 2 to 3 weeks before it was complete. Chloe was so excited when he brought it in and she was able to put her toys on it.

Harmony still continues to let us think we run the show around here but he knows the real truth. He even has Chloe trained to feed him every morning.

I got a job working at night and on the weekends. I had one job and worked there for a while but got a better offer so I went where the money was. I just finished my first week there and I am exhausted! I only worked 25 hours but I only had one day off. The job is in retail and I enjoy my work in the apparel department. I think I may have found a place to stay for a while. Everyone at work is very nice and the work isn't hard at all. Basically I spend my time folding and hanging clothes. That is something I've been doing for a long time. (No jokes about my procrastinating laundry habits, Steve) I also pick up Ferris from his school in the afternoons right before I get Mike. I enjoy the fact that I still get to see my friend, Jenn, every day even though she started working full time during the day.

Steve and I celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary and thanks to a dear friend, we were able to go out to a nice dinner together. That is something we hadn't done in a very long time. It was a great night. The kids spent the night with my parents and we had the whole house to ourselves! Fantastic!

All and all things are just dandy here at the White house. Hope you all are doing well too.

Silly Songs and the Toddlers That Sing Them

Taking form from my friend Tracy, I am going to let you guys in on a little funny thing Chloe did last night:

(While watching a Baby Einstein video about life on the farm)

Chloe: (singing) "The cows give us milk. The cows give us milk. I know an Ariel. The cows give us milk."

Steve: "No, Chloe, you sing Hi Ho the derry-o. The cows give us milk."

Chloe: (While looking very sure of herself and like Daddy doesn't know anything) "No, Daddy, its Ariel."

Congratulations, Mike!

He earned his Sr. Yellow Belt at his Tae Kwon Do testing this past weekend!!

A Long Year

It has been a long year. We miss her just as much today as we did when we found out we were going to lose her. The pain and sorrow get easier as the months drag on but we still feel a void in our lives. We miss you, Grandmother.

 

Growing up so fast!

I took some pictures of the kids this past weekend. They are all growing up so fast! It seems like it was only yesterday when Mike and Justin were 2 and 3 years old. They were so cute in their cowboy boots and diapers. I thought I'd share a few pictures with all of you so you can see how big these beautiful kids are getting!

All 3 of my babies:
 

Mike-13:
 

Justin-12:
 

Chloe-2:
 

I'm a Big Girl Now!

 

Y'all see that thing in Chloe's mouth? It has been her companion from about the age of 1 month. She has broken that habit! It only took 2 nights. She mentions it every once in a while when we put her to bed but she follows the word "paci" with the phrase "No paci. I'm a big girl." She is also completely potty trained!!! This was the one thing I was not looking forward to when having another child was concerned. I put her on the potty once and she understood that she was supposed to do that from now on. She has only had a few accidents and they were either when she was very busy playing outside or when she had her bladder infection. We are so very proud of our big girl! Alas, it is bittersweet. Our baby is no longer a baby.

Goodness Me!

It's been a while! I guess I should update everyone! Here goes:

I'll go ahead and get Steve and me out of the way because everyone really just wants to hear about the kids. Steve is happy building birdhouses and working out in the shop these days. He got a little promotion at work. That is a very good thing in these hard times of layoffs and whatnot. I'm glad they finally realize what an asset he is to the company. He works so hard. I have been happily hanging with my "mommy" friends as usual. Home schooling is going well, I suppose. Hopefully I can get my oldest boy through the 7th grade without too much ado. My hair is now cut above my shoulders. I said I'd never do that again but I did. I love it, too!

Mike recently tested for and earned his yellow belt in Taekwondo! We are very happy that he has found a sport that he loves and is going to stick with! I think he is getting a little restless from being home with Chloe and me all the time. Summer will be here soon enough and he will be able to hang out with his brother, step-brother and cousins and have a little fun. He will have to work through the summer to catch up on his school work. That is not going to be much fun for anyone but it is a necessary evil. We've heard of home schooling parents say how their child went from C's and D's in public school to all A's with home schooling. We are beginning to think that they have to be exaggerating a bit. Mike was a C student in public school and is a C student with home schooling. Surprisingly enough, Math is his best subject! That's pretty strange because we both hate Math. We are looking forward to seeing what the 8th grade has in store for us!

Justin is looking forward to the beginning of baseball season. Opening day is April 4th. Unfortunately, this is going to keep me from attending my cousin's wedding in Georgia. I hardly ever get to spend time with Justin and I feel like I should be with him for his first day of baseball season. Justin has a new cell phone and is very proud of it. He never puts it down. Texting seems to be his life these days. I have a feeling he will be finding a summer job to help fund his upcoming football season in the fall. If anyone needs yard work done I know a boy that will be available to do it! Justin's grades seem to be alrighty! He is a smart boy. He just has to make sure he applies himself.

Miss Chloe Beth has grown about an inch, I think, since the last post. Steve built, painted and hung a beautiful measuring stick on her wall. It's painted pink and purple and looks like a huge ruler. He did a great job! Chloe has been practicing her painting skills lately. She loves to dip the paint brushes in all the different colors and paint on coloring pages. She has a very vivid imagination. She is using complete sentences all the time now. Her verbal skills are phenomenal! She was potty trained after day one. She still wears a diaper to bed because we have some left. Normally she wakes up dry. She had a UTI about a month ago and this caused her doctor to send her for an ultrasound of her kidneys as a precautionary measure. I will call tomorrow to hear the results of that but I'm sure everything is perfectly fine.

All and all everything in the White House is hunky-dory. Harmony, the cat from hell, is still keeping us in line. Picture taking has been pretty limited lately. Maybe summertime will provoke me to use the camera a little more. As always, leave us some comments so we know people are actually checking in on us!

Our big girl went to the doctor today for her 2 year check up. No shots were involved, thank goodness! Doc says it's time to get rid of the "paci" and we need to start giving her regular milk instead of chocolate. I'd disagree with him if he didn't have 5 of his own kids. He says she's a big girl now and we need to begin treating her like one. Maybe we'll start next week (insert pouty face here). Doc says she's growing nicely. She weighs 24 pounds, dressed with no shoes, and she is 34 and 3/4 inches tall. So, once again she is in the 80th percentile for height and 15th percentile for weight. Tall, skinny, blonde haired and blue eyed. How many boys will Steve kill before it's over?

 

Chloe is turning 2!

 
 
 

Yippie!

I had a great birthday celebration 6 days early! Thanks!

What We Are Doing These Days

It's been a while since I've gotten on here and updated everyone so here goes:

Chloe will be 2 in 6 days! I can't believe how quickly these past two years have flown by us. She is a very active little girl. She always has something to say. She has a wonderful imagination. Earlier tonight she was making Mickey Mouse and Goofy eat pretend ketchup soup. It was hilarious! She plays all day with her kitchen. She loves to help me do laundry by throwing the clothes in the washer and yelling at them to "Get in there". She goes to the doctor for her 2 year check-up on the 20th. I'm thinking she's 34 inches tall and 23 pounds but we'll see how right or wrong I am soon.

Harmony continues to lay on our laps, make "biscuits" on our bellies and legs, bite the boys, remind us when it's time for his canned food in the evenings, run and hide from anything that rolls along the floor (even the broom). He still hates visitors. He's tolerant of Chloe but he will slap her when she yells at him to "wake up! wake up!" when he feels it's needed.

Justin made the "A B honor roll" at school for this past 9 weeks. That was quite a surprise for us, coming from the kid who wasn't doing his homework because "it's boring". He's not playing basketball this year because of some misbehavior but he is looking forward to baseball season in the Spring.

Mike is being homeschooled after getting himself into some trouble with people (who he found were not his friends) from the junior high he had been attending. We are very disappointed with the Montgomery school system. It's sad when hardly any of the public schools are meeting the minimum requirements. Homeschooling seems to be going well so far. Math hasn't gotten too hard as of yet. Mike has also started going to Tae Kwon Do classes twice a week. He is loving it! His instructors say he is learning very quickly. He will have testing at the end of February so he can get his next belt. We are very excited that he has found something he really enjoys.

I have been having fun spending time with my new "mommy" friends that I met through a local playgroup. I have met lots of wonderful women and have become friends with quite a few of them. The only drawback is that a lot of them are military and will be leaving eventually. We've already had to say goodbye once but the upside to that is that her mom lives right down the street. We still get to see her and her daughter when they come home for a visit. I've made some great friends and I feel really blessed to have these women there for support and friendship. Other than that all I can say about myself is that I have found a new love of learning while homeschooling. I wish I would have paid more attention when I was in school. History is so interesting to me now. Maybe I'm just a dork. Speaking of being a dork; I can't wait for the Sims 3 to come out in February. I never thought I could be so excited about a stupid computer game but it's so much fun!

Steve is finally better after a month of being sick with a very nasty, very stubborn sinus infection. I think today was the first day he has been able to breathe through his nose. He's working hard at work and at home (as usual). He's getting ready to build some more cabinets for the kitchen. I'm very excited about that! After such a hard year last year I am hoping 2009 brings him nothing but happiness. Chloe keeps him busy with back rides through the house and trips outside to "touch trees" (which is just an excuse to go outside and walk around for a bit). I'm hoping he can get back into his photography and work on his website. He does such a wonderful job with that stuff.

I'll end this with saying, "I hope this finds everyone healthy and happy." Leave us some comments on the blog so we know people are actually checking in on us!

Through a Little Boy's Eyes

You were everything a boy wants in a father
larger than life
A Superman
You could outrun a go-cart bare footed
Break Craftsman sockets with the turn of your wrist
A Messiah
dispensing wisdom from a leather recliner
A Craftsman
Never a drawing, just a pile of wood and then, a table, a shed, a wooden toy
A Rebel
With the stories that always left out the good parts
Never backed down
You were up and gone before I awoke and I was fast asleep before you turned in
But you always had time for me
and my questions
Through a little boy's eyes you were the greatest man who ever lived.
and through a man's eyes, you still are
A father
A mentor
A friend

written by Steven Scott White on December 31, 2008


We miss you, Dad...