Backstage Pass

Our official quartet name is Backstage Pass. We registered last week and had our first rehearsal on Saturday. We have already had 4 offers to sing this christmas and we don't even know any songs. LOL! We did sing a song last night at the TuneTown Christmas party. We got tons of compliments. Our director thought we had a really good sound. It is a pretty big thing if she compliments you because if she didn't like it she wouldn't say anything or would tell you what was wrong in a nice way. By the way...our director is the sweetest women ever!! But...to confirm that she really thinks we have potential , we were offered a chance to have a coaching session with...one of the best. I'm a little over whelmed by that. I don't really feel that we are ready for it, especially since we don't even know any music...or have any picked out to learn. It is an opportunity that we really can't pass up. He will not coach a chorus until they reach a certain level and has coached MANY international winning quartets. He coaches our chorus and has an opening for a quartet session when he comes in Jan. or Feb. (we aren't sure which yet)...we are hoping for Feb.. It's exciting, but overwhelming. So much to do and so little time. Regional competition is in March. Of course our goal is to not be in last place. :)

Happy Thanksgiving and Connor is 3

Finally, I get to sit down and blog. I have tried several times in the past week, but only got a sentence or two typed. Last Saturday (Nov.17) was Connor's 3rd birthday. We had a small party for him and Ean at McDonald's. Connor was grumpy all day despite the party and gifts. Out of all the parties we have had, McDonald's was a really great price and fun for the kids. They even supplied a cake ,hats and goody bags. I wanted to make the party as separate for the kids as possible. I made Connor a Scooby Doo cake (at his request) and Ean got the McDonald's cake. We made sure that they each had their own chance to blow out candles and open gifts.
For Thanksgiving we went down to my Grandfathers in Hohenwald (about a 1 1/2 drive). My family from Louisiana was up and it was great seeing them. The boys play with all my cousins kids and had a blast ruling the basement. We left there around 2 and headed to my Dad's in Chattanooga. We decided to take the back roads...that I got from map it. I am usually a good navigator but this time...it didn't work out so well. Grrr...darn map it! It took us a very long time, but ended up being a beautiful drive. Luckily the boys watched movies the whole way and traveled really well. They always look forward to going to Grandpa and Meemaw's house. Meemaw makes them cake and cookies and gets them all sugared up to go down to the barn. Grandpa gets the tractor out and gives Aiden rides. Connor isn't so sure about the tractor. This trip they had the neighbors horses in their pasture. The boys got to give them carrots and pet them. Connor was actually the one that did good holding the carrots and not being scared. It is strange for Aiden to be scared of something. Connor is usually the scaredy cat. We all had a good time.We stayed two nights in Chattnooga at my Dad's and just got home. Aiden has been really worked up and wild. He gets so excited about things. I'm afraid that he may be this way all through Christmas. Please pray for what's left of my sanity. At 5:00 we really wanted to put the boys to bed , but decided against it because they would be up way too early in the morning. Not that Aiden won't be up early anyway. There have been several mornings that we know he was up before 5:00 and I think that could be aiding in his craziness. 5:00 is just way too early! Connor is still working on using the potty and he is already working on writing his name. Ean,well....he bites and falls a lot. Yay, it's getting close to bed time!

Ean's 1st Birthday

This past weekend I went to a quartet workshop in Birmingham with my quartet. We had a lot of fun and hit it off really well. I have been sick and completely lost my voice. I tried to sing through my croaky voice and made the best of the situation. I got home saturday night after the boys were in bed. Israel wore them out at the park earlier that day. Sunday we went to the Adverture Science Center. We're members and they were having a special thing on trains. Everyone knows how crazy Aiden is over trains. The boys love it there and always have a good time. It gets a little crazy on the weekends, but between Israel and myself we left with 3 kids and it just so happened they were ours. Go us!! Yesterday I realized that Ean's birthday was today. I knew it was coming and have been planning a party for him and Connor, but it still snuck up on me. This morning we all stood around him as he took his bottle and sang happy birthday to him. He looked at us as if we did that every morning and continued drinking his bottle. Today I had a cardiologist appt. in Columbia. Aiden stayed home from school (he only had a half day)and came with us to Columbia. I was afraid that I wouldn't be home in time to pick him up since they were getting out early. I had tried to reschedule, but it would have been a while before I could get in. It was a good thing he was with us because I wouldn't have made it back in time. Nana met us at McDonalds and watched the boys while I had my appt. The boys had a blast! I didn't expect it to take very long, but the Dr. decided to do a "quick" echo that ended up taking 30-45 min and then blood work. My heart hasn't weakened more, but it hasn't gotten better either, I guess it's the same and that could mean upping the meds. yet AGAIN. I always end up bruised because they push so hard trying to get a good look during the echo. I go back in Jan for another one and they will probably start an IV so they can see better without having to push so hard. Now it's bath time and bed time. Yay!!
Happy Birthday to Ean!!

Just another day

Ean is feeling better and no one else has gotten sick. Yay! Sunday we went to a fall festival at a chruch. It is amazing the size of the festival (and church). We have gone before, but the kids really enjoyed it this year. They had huge tents set up for different age groups with games, music and they give away tons of candy. Outside the tents they had large blow up slides and bouncies, rock climbing walls ect. There were literally thousands of people. They also gave away free soda, bottled water, pop corn and cotton candy. Christian bands played on a large stage in the middle of it all. We had a great time even though Connor was too scared to do most of the stuff. Yesterday Aiden had a really bad day at school...his worst day yet. He had 5 warnings, so he was in trouble last night. He has half a day today and he WILL do better. When I asked him why he was acting out his reply was "I was just having too much fun." By the way...have I told you guys that he wants to be a movie actor when he grows up? LOL! Connor has decided that he does not want to use the potty and likes his diapers. He also doesn't want to go to school because he doesn't want to be like Aiden. The stuff that they come up with. Ean has 4 top teeth now, and still only one on the bottom. He likes biting everyone and that little tooth is sharp! He is a great eater and amazes us with how much food he can pack away. Israel is busy at work because it is end of quarter. He is doing really well and staying busy. I had chorus last night and I am really excited because I am now in a quartet. The other ladies in my group are awesome, so it makes me feel really good that they wanted to sing with me. I'm a little nervous because I am the lead and it just seems to have a little more pressure than a harmony part. The Lead is "in charge".We are looking for music to compete with in March.

Oh what a day!

Yesterday was a long day. Let me actually start with the night before. Wed. after school, Aiden forgot to close the van door (it has been raining all week). I noticed that it was open around 5 so I ran out and closed it. The rain was coming in from the other direction, so it didn't seem to be very wet. Thursday morning the kids woke up extra early and woke Ean up. He was crying so of course I was up. Ean had a slight fever the day before and wasn't feeling well. I thought probably from teething. When I was getting the kids in the car, to take Aiden to school ,I noticed the car didn't smell too good. I started hearing a noise. At first I thought it was the radio, but it kept going. I asked Aiden what the noise was. He started looking around and said "There's a cat in our car!". The poor cat must have gotten in the car to get out of the rain and I closed him in. He was scared and meowing which was the noise. When I went to put Ean in his seat I noticed some poop...at least it was on the plastic runner right by the door, but he peed in Ean's seat. That was the smell! We still had Ean's carrier seat in the house so I switch that out. After dropping Aiden off, we came home to get ready to go to Columbia for my cardiologist appt.. Ean was really fussy, so I put him down for a nap at 7:30 and woke him up at 9:30 when we were ready to leave. Went to Columbia (1hr drive) got my medicine increased yet...again and got a whole new prescription as well. Fun stuff let me tell you. Ean was being a little fussier that usual, but I figured he didn't feel well and wanted out of his stroller. Aiden needed some jeans (since the temp has dropped to the 50's)so we drove the hour back and went to Murfreesboro Old Navy. I exchanged a pair of jeans (that were too big for me) and got two pair of jeans for him. I got money back too woo hoo! We had to get gas and then had an hour until we pick up Aiden. We came home and I noticed that Ean was really hot! All I have right now is a cheap ear thermometer that is not accurate at all. I got readings from 102-104...not a temp. from teething. We picked Aiden up and headed to the Dr. (another 45min drive to Cool Springs).They did a blood test and it came back that he had a really bad virus (probably the flu) that could last 3-5 days. Now we are waiting to see if anyone else is going to get it. Lord help us if we all get sick. I have never known anything harder than being sick and having to take care of 3 other people...that need you for everything. It was just one of those days!

13th in the World

I had a great trip to Canada. We stayed very busy between rehearsals and watching the competition. I didn't get to see much of Calgary, but what I did see was beautiful. We had a park right beside our hotel that was amazing. The air was very crisp and cool which was wonderful after the 90-100 degree days we have been having in TN. I got to Calagary around 3:00 on monday after a 30 min. delay on our flight in Denver because 3 people checked in, but never boarded the plane. So, they had to take all the luggage off to fine the missing peoples luggage and then reload. When I got to the hotel my room was not ready so they gave me a $25 certificate for one of the 3 hotel resturants. I put my bags in someone elses room and headed to dinner. It was Thanksgiving day there, so not many things were open. There was a mall accross the street where we found a little market.It was nice to buy a few things and not have to eat out all the time. Tuesday morning we had rehearsal, a lunch and then a few hours to rest and then off to another rehearsal. All my spare time on this day was spent on the phone with Israel because the hotel decided to put through $1200.oo on our bank card. It got worked out in a day or two.On Wed. morning we had a rehearsal and then off to the quartet competition for the rest of the day. Another rehearsal wed. night till 9:00. Thursday morning we had a breakfast at 6:15. I had to be down early because I am on the makeup team. I was very shocked with the $30 breakfast because until then...I had never had a bad pancake. We performed early and got to watch the rest of the chorus's. Thursday night we all met up at 11:00 for Sher (our director) to read the results. We got 13th place and only 1 point from 12th. TuneTown is a fairly new chours (under 10 years old) and this was our first international contest. Also, there were about 30 members on stage that had never been in any contest with the chorus before. We were exstatic with 13 place and our score. Friday we were able to spend the day watching the quartet finals. That night 7 of us decided to walk several miles through the park to find a place for dinner. This was the extent of my site seeing. We decided on Mexican and had a great time even though Canada mexican is very different than real mexican. Saturday morning we had a rehearsal and then off to the chorus finals. WOW! What a show!! Sat. night we performed for another chorus in our hotel. Then off to sing tags in someones room till about 12:30. I caught my bus to the airport at 4:30 on sunday morning. I got home around 1:30, however my luggage did not make it home with me. They did find it and brought it to me about 10:00 sunday night. Ean started throwing up sunday before I got home and continued off and on through out the day. Monday evening Connor and Aiden started throwing up everywhere at the same time. That went on for several hours (yuck!). Then around 2:30 tuesday morning I started throwing up and that lasted the entire next day....our 8 yr. anniversary. So finally it is Wed. and the house is crazy because of being gone and then being sick. I am just now getting the time and energy to blog. I really had a great trip and Israel and the kids didn't miss me too much. I think I am ready to go back. LOL!

Wow!

It's been over a month since I have had time to sit down and type. I really don't have time now, but I don't feel like doing some of the things that need to be done. We are having a small birthday party for Aiden tomorrow. I have decided to take on the task of making his cake. I am waiting for it to thaw before I start decorating. If it turns out ok I will post pictures. It is hard to believe that he will be 5. His first field trip was today. His class went to the pumpkin farm. I think the highlight of his day was riding the bus. We did get to pick a couple of pumpkins and he keeps asking me what I am going to make to eat with them. I keep laughing and telling him that we'll ask Daddy what he is going to make out of them. I am starting to get really nervous about leaving in a week and 2 days!! I am trying to get everything in order, but most of it has to wait till closer to time. With Aiden being on fall break this next week I am afraid that I won't get anything done that needs to be done. I was a little upset because my cardiologist keeps upping my meds. I see her every three weeks and each time she moves one or the other up. It makes me really tired each time the dosage increases. I end up slacking around the house and now I am afraid that I am going to be too tired to enjoy Calgary. My chorus show was last weekend. Israel got to come and was very surprised at how much he enjoyed it. We had some great feed back. Ean has 5-1 (4) teeth now. He has been grumpy!! Connor goes with the flow as usual. His favorite song is twinkle twinkle little star, but he doesn't know all the words. We hear him over the monitor at night singing to himself and he will substitute words like bite bite bite bite to the tune. It is really funny...espcially since EVERYTHING goes in that kids mouth. He also sings to Ean trying to get him to quit crying. My kids are crazy and they crack me up all of the time.

Got Jello?

Fun fact: Did you know that you can not buy just orange jello cups? How do I know this you ask? This week Aiden's class is going over colors. They had a list of snacks that matched the color for each day and asked the parents to sign up to bring it in. I picked orange which was jello cups. That should be easy.... right? I had to run to Kroger and figured I would pick up the jello while I was there. Kroger did not have just orange. They had a six pack of orange and starwberry or raspberry and strawberry. They did have a pack of just strawberry, which would have been great if I had the red day. I couldn't make jello, because from what I understand, everything that you bring for the class has to be purchased/prepackaged. I forgot to pick up coffee so I went to wal-mart and found the same problem. No orange jello alone! I needed to go to Target to get a belt for Aiden, so I figured I would look there. If they didn't have it, I would just buy the strawberry and orange (because I like strawberry) and then it would be done. Which is what I ended up doing. I bought 5 six packs because I needed 15 orange. Connor was really excited about the jello and wanted some as soon as we got home. Let me just say, that when you look at the package you can only see the bottom 3 cups. They were 2 orange and 1 strawberry. When I opened that package the other 3 were strawberry! Each package contained 4 strawberry and only 2 orange! Now I am 5 orange short! I wanted to go back to the store and start ripping into the packages and pulling only the orange out and throwing them in the cart. Like Steve Martin did with the hot dog buns in Father of the Bride. (which is an awesome movie if you haven't seen it). So here I am with 20.....yes....20 strawberry jello cups and I'm still missing 5 orange. I'm starting to think I should have just picked up some cheetos and forgotten the jello.

Ean had a rough day

This morning was my morning to sleep in. I was woken by Israel yelling for me to help. He came up the stairs with Ean in his arms and blood coming out of Ean's mouth. Israel said that he thought he may have knocked a tooth out. I grabbed a towel and wiped away some blood and sure enough, one was missing. Israel had been cooking breakfast and the boys were in the living room. Ean must have pulled up onto the coffee table and fell, knocking out the tooth. Israel held the towel in Ean's mouth to stop the bleeding ,while I ran down stairs to find the tooth and put it in milk. I wasn't sure if there was anything that we could do, so I called the emergency room and talked to a nurse. They told me to bring him and the tooth in. So, Ean and I hurried to the ER. Several hours later we find out that there was nothing they could do. They even contacted a specialist at Vanderbilt.If he were older and had more teeth or more of a gum line they would have had something to anchor the tooth to. Once we got home and everything had calmed down...I have to admit...I cried. It is amazing how emotional I get about my children. It is only a tooth and in 7 or 8 years he will get another one, but I just felt so bad for him. The rest of the day he would bump it(because he puts everything in his mouth) and it would start bleeding again and he'd cry. He is a thumb sucker, so I am sure that wasn't too comfortable either. We've been giving him motrin and he is doing better.
Well,tonight Israel was changing Ean on the couch while I changed Connor on the floor. Aiden was doing something crazy and got stuck on his back between the couch and the end table.I don't know how, so don't ask. (Aiden was crazy all day!) He was about to fall, so Israel got up to help him and fuss at him. Then we hear thunk....Ean fell off of the couch and hit is head on the coffee table. He had a big purple knot on his head. Needless to say ,we are getting rid of the coffee table. The other two kids survived it, but it doesn't look like Ean will. I think the coffee table is out to get him. My poor baby! I'm sure tomorrow will be much better.

Not much

We haven't done much this week. Monday was chorus as usual. It is hard to believe that we only have 7 weeks until Canada. Wow! Getting a little nervous. I also can't believe that Aiden's birthday is coming up. I'm trying to figure out what we are going to do. Now is when all the craziness starts and doesn't finish till after Christmas. LOL! Tuesday the boys and I went to the Adventure Science Center with a little girl (her Mom and little sister) Aiden went to mothers day out with. Her Mom joined one of my playgroups and Cordy and Aiden love playing together. She says she is going to marry Aiden. LOL! Wednesday we had a play group at Chic-Flia. The boys got computer games in their kids meals. So, the rest of the week we have been playing their games. Aiden has already won one of them. Aiden had school Thursday and Friday (today) and he did really good! He hasn't been in trouble yet and we are so proud of him. He is also very proud of himself. Connor has been pitiful while Aiden is gone. He keeps saying "I want Aiden!". We were suppose to go to the Bounce Factory today, but I decided not to go this morning. I'm just not feeling very sociable. I've been trying to give Connor extra attention during the day and he seems to be enjoying that. Ean is mad at me because I blocked him out of the kitchen. He crawls over to blockaid that I built and just fusses. Now why on earth would you do that Momma? I know that is what he is thinking. Thank goodness it is Friday! We are all looking forward to the weekend.

Aiden's first day of school

Today is Aiden's first day of school (kindergarten readiness)and he goes for a full day. I was disappointed about how the morning went because the alarm never went off. Aiden came in at 6:59 (and has to be at school at 7:20) saying he was up. I was suppose to take all 3 boys with me even though I had to take Aiden into the school. I hurried and got Aiden ready and made him a strudel to take in the car for breakfast. I asked Israel if he could drive himself so that I could leave Ean and Connor (who was still sleeping) at home. Thankfully Israel did let me take Aiden and he stayed with the other boys. We got to the school at 7:24 which is fine because as long as they are there by 7:30 they are not late. All the kindergarten parents had to sign in. We met his teacher and the other students in the cafeteria and we all walked to the class room. Aiden was so excited he wanted to lead the line and got to hold the teachers hand. We got to the class room and the kids found their names on their chairs. Then Mrs. Kumlien (known as Mrs. K to the kids) wanted to take every one's pictures. I finally got back home about 7:45 so Israel could leave for work. I was really hoping to be able to take our time and not have to rush. I wanted him to eat breakfast at home like usual. Connor was upset that he didn't get to say good-bye. Hopefully next week will go better.

Filling the hole

Today I took the boys to a playgroup at the splash pad. We have playgroups on Wed. and Fri. and the boys really enjoy getting out of the house. Because it has been so hot, they really had a blast running through the water. I think it was around 107 today.
Update:We had another water leak under the sidewalk a couple of weeks ago. Israel used a sledge hammer and a jack hammer to dig up the sidewalk. The leak was just a little farther down from the last one, so the hole was huge. He fixed the leak himself all in one day. The plumber was going to charge 250 for the leak and another 900 if they had to dig the hole. Tonight Israel finally got around to filling in the hole. Aiden wanted to watch, so the boys and I went outside too. Aiden decided he wanted to help, so he picked up the extra shovel and started shoveling dirt into the hole. Man...I wish I would have had my camera. He did awesome and was quite impressive. I couldn't believe that my 4 year old was helping Daddy shovel dirt and rock back in the hole. He said "Now you have somebody helping you Daddy." After a day of pulling my hair out because of his behavior and then he does something like that. It was really sweet. The hole is now filled.

To blog or not to blog?

I have thought about blogging for a while and finally decided to give it a try. I have several friends that keep a blog so families and friends can stay connected. I am not a good writer and I have horrible spelling skills. So, we will so how this goes. I really hope that this ends up being a good way to document events in the boys lives. Something they can look back on and enjoy.

Today is a blah Monday. The boys and I are just staying at home. It is too hot to go outside to play. The temps have been in the hundreds. Yeah, that's hot. Aiden and I have been butting heads all morning. Connor or Ean seem to be constantly screaming because Aiden is on top of one of them or taking a toy away. yada yada yada. You know how it goes. I have chorus tonight and I'm looking forward to getting away for a few hours. Please let 6:00 get here soon! Ean had his first peanut butter sandwich today for lunch. He is getting so good with those two little teeth. Connor is running around butt naked. We are starting to potty train but will really get busy when Aiden starts school. Which is coming up fast. So, for now we are still using diapers, which means if he is running around naked...that isn't a good thing. Gotta go catch him.