Back to School....Yeah!

I saw this cute cartoon in today's paper. I had to snicker just a little bit. Isn't it so true? By the end of summer, we're ready for our little gifts from heaven to venture off to school. Come on, you can admit it. I'm sure you love your little one(s) as much as I love mine but, some days, summer break seems so long. I actually think the start of school is good for everyone involved. The kids get a break from mom and gain a little independence. In return, the moms get some much needed peace and quiet. Of course by the time the school bus rolls up at 2:40 I'm ready to see my little scholar and give him a big hug. What on earth will I do with myself next year when both of my boys are in school all day? Rest, relax, run errands, clean house and, undoubtedly, miss them like crazy!

New ADHD & LD Blog

My oldest son, Garrett, is eight years old. In July 2003 he was diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). In January 2004 we learned he had several learning disabilities (LD) as well. In my search for information about these two conditions, I have amassed quite a collection of websites and such. In an effort to help other searching for the same information, I've assembled all of this into a new blog...."adhdguide." If you're interested, take a look. If you know someone else who may be, please forward this post to them. Thanks!

Hot off the presses...Read all about it!

I have just discovered the coolest thing....magazine covers. You can make any photo into a "magazine cover" at the site I use to host all of my photos for this blog. Isn't this awesome? Imagine the possibilities....birthdays, anniversaries, etc. If you want to give it a try here's you need to go to flickr.

The Man Song

Just wanted to share a chuckle with you today. This song is hilarious! Listen for yourself. Hope you enjoy.

Shake, Rattle & Roll...

Well, we experienced a first in our house tonight! After tucking our boys into bed, my husband, mother and I settled in to watch a movie. We were about half way through and something happened. I was laying on our sectional sofa, my mom was at the other end in the recliner and my husband was laying in the floor. All of a sudden I felt a little shakin' going on. I looked at Darrin and mom and they were just watching the movie like all was normal. Was I going nuts or what? I knew I felt something. Then I figured it was Darrin making sure I was awake and shaking the couch with his foot or something. Nope, his feet were in clear view and there was no moving going on. Well, after about 5 seconds I just wrote it off as "who knows" and went back to watching the movie. How strange! Well, after the movie was over we watched a little TV and to our amazement this is what we heard:

Minor Earthquake Shakes The Carolinas
News Channel 7
Wednesday, August 24, 2005

A minor earthquake rattled parts of the Carolinas on Wednesday night.
According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the epicenter of the earthquake was two miles from Hot Springs in Madison County, North Carolina. It had a magnitude of 3.8. It happened shortly after 11 o'clock. Residents in Western North Carolina and across the Upstate felt the tremor.
There are no reports of any damage.

Darrin and I looked at each other at the exact same time and said, "you know..." He had felt it too but didn't say anything. We'd never felt an actual earthquake before so we had no idea. Hot Springs is a little over 90 miles from us. Wow!

Where's my child?

Well, the day was finally here. The day my son has dreaded since the last day of school in May.....the first day of school in August! For us adults summer just seems to go by in the blink of an eye. But, I do remember when summer time was the most important thing in the world, next to Christmas day of course. Summer was a care free, stay up late, sleep in, relax kind of time. No expectations, no worries and most importantly, no homework. It's the stuff dreams are made of.

This past Monday, August 22, all of that came crashing down for Bubby. Now it's back to bed at 8:30 p.m., homework, tests, rules, etc. He was completely and totally dreading it. He was a little excited. It's always fun to see who you're teacher is and meet your new classmates, but after all that (all of about 10 minutes) the excitement is over. Of course having a brand new $11.2 million school to go back to didn't hurt either. Over the summer his old school was completely demolished and the new school completed. So, that offered a little extra incentive of course.

The past few weeks we've been searching for the perfect backpack and pencil box. Once we found them, the search was on for the mega list of necessary school supplies. We went to at least three different stores to round them all up.

Sunday night he neatly packed everything into his backpack and sat it by the door. He laid out his new "first day of school" outfit which he chose completely on his own. He went to bed with little fussing and dozed off quite fast. However, when I went in Monday morning at 7:00 a.m. to wake him he said, "But, mom, I just went to sleep!" (Over the summer he had gotten use to sleeping until 9:00 a.m. or later.) He did manage to get up with just a little coaxing. I made his requested breakfast of blueberry muffins. He gobbled them up and then we were off. The new school is quite large but we made our way through the maze to his classroom. He found his desk, put his things away and then he shooed me out the door. No kiss, no hug, no nothing! "It's just not cool," he informed me. I left, slightly broken hearted, but doing fairly well......until 3:45 that afternoon. That is when the trauma really started!

I sat at his bus stop anxious to see him, scoop him up and hear about his first day. The bus came and went and Bubby was no where to be seen. I immediately called the school. They would "check on it." Check on it? That's all they have to say to a mother whose child is missing? That wasn't enough for me. I promptly got in my car and drove myself straight to the school. I demanded to know where my child was. Well, they "weren't sure." "This just can't be," I thought. How can they lose a child? I know there are 600+ students to keep up with, but they have lost MY child! After an hour and a half of phone calls, waiting and more phone calls, they finally told me that he had gotten on the wrong bus and that bus was tied up in traffic due to a car wreck. I found out where the accident was, got back in my car and set off to get him. I could just picture him sitting on that bus scared, hot (after 1 1/2 hours on it) and probably hungry. As I was on my way to the accident site I passed a bus. I looked up and saw him standing up pointing to me and mouthing something. I turned around in the middle of the road and stopped behind the bus. The driver had by now put her lights on and the "stop" sign out. I ran up to the bus and there was Bubby. Whew, finally, I'd found him. He was the only child left on the bus. The driver was on her way to take him back to the school so they could call me. I of course insisted that she give him to me right then and there. Although she said she could lose her job for doing so, she could see I was frantic and complied.

So, I know you're wondering, was Bubby okay? Okay? He was ecstatic. He thought it was "so cool" to be the only kid on the entire bus. I asked him if he was scared. His reply? "Nope, I knew you'd find me." I guess I should have been relieved that he had so much faith in me, huh? Needless to say we went right back to the school and found out for sure what bus he was to be on to actually get to our house. Come to find out he'd gotten on the same bus he rode last year, which would be the normal thing to do I thought. However, that bus no longer comes to our development. Well, we found out he's to ride "Mr. Ernie's" bus now, which he was really happy about. The next day, he did make it home safe, sound and on time. He just can't understand what the big deal was and why I was acting so "crazy." He will, in time.....when he has kids of his own.

Wet all over

First off....If you have kids who can read, skip this post just in case they are peeking over your shoulder. I don't want to be responsible for anything! Okay, that being said, here it goes. I slowly rolled out of bed this morning at 8:00am. I am so not a morning person! Anyway, I sat down at the kitchen table with my morning bowl of Froot Loops and the newspaper. It's a ritual I have. I have to have those two things or I can get pretty grumpy. For a lot of people it's coffee, for me it's Froot Loops. After finishing both I slowly walked over to the sink to rinse my bowl before placing it in the dishwasher. I reached to the back of the sink, turned on the cold water and the next thing I knew I was wet all over. The little sprayer beside of the faucet squirted water all over me. What in the world was going on? After closely inspecting it I realized that some witty little comedian had put a rubber band around it to hold the handle down. Of course I immediately blamed it on my hubby. He adamantly denied it. After 10 minutes or so I began to believe him. Although he didn't do it he said, he wished he would have thought of it. Next, my thoughts turn toward my 8 year old son. He is our resident prankster. But, how in the world did he think of that? I nicely walked to his room and gently knocked on the door. He opens it, sees me soaking wet and just starts laughing hysterically. That was all I needed....I'd found the culprit! Okay, I must admit it was a pretty funny prank. However, it would have been way more humorous had it happened to someone else. I asked how he ever thought of that. His reply? "Funniest Home Videos." You know, I try to monitor what he watches on TV and make sure that he's not seeing violence, hearing bad language, etc. Who would have ever thought that Funniest Home Videos would have to monitored too? It's now on my censor list!

A week of "fun!"

Whew! We've just returned from our annual vacation to Myrtle Beach, S.C. We took hubby's mom with us again this year. What a blessing she is. She's more like a nanny than a "Nana" (which is what the boys call her). She let hubby and I sleep in each morning while she took the boys down to the pool. After a late breakfast we'd mosie down around noon or so. It was quite enjoyable needless to say.

We set out on several new adventures this year. First off, we spent a day at Myrtle Waves Water Park. For the price you pay, you have to stay until they kick you out to get your monies worth! But, the boys really enjoyed the slides, lazy river and the wave pool. The highlight of the day had to be when Bubby lost his pants. About every 10 minutes this huge volcano that is over the kid's play area erupts and tons of water comes crashing down onto the unsuspecting victims below. Well, needless to say, he was standing in the wrong place at the wrong time. The water hit him with such force that his swimming trunks were around his ankles in no time flat.

The next day we tried the Nascar SpeedPark. Bubby, to be only 8, was actually a really good driver. I hope that's some sort of indication for the future. Tater Tot, on the other hand, you'd better watch out for in a few years. He all but got ejected from the park. There were little race car go carts specifically designed for 4 - 6 year olds. Okay, not many kids that age can read, right? So, why then do they post "no bumping" signs all along the track. That was the best part of the whole experience for Tater. He bumped his way to first place every single race! Go, Tater Tot!!

Of course since hubby didn't take his golf clubs this year, he was more than eager to take the boys for a fun filled round of putt-putt. Bubby even got a whole in one, legally! Tater managed to get a "2" on every single hole. Of course, it could have something to do with him hitting the ball and then picking it up and setting it down right beside the hole every time.

The boys both insisted on visiting the Build-A-Bear store again. We couldn't really object however, because they had earned their own money before we left. Bubby bought, stuffed, fluffed and dressed "Brownie." Tater did the same with "Rhino." And, they came out broke but happy.

We also visited Ripley's Aquarium at Broadway at the Beach. The Titanic exhibit has amazing, for us adults anyway. The boys just didn't get what all the hoop-la was about. The most chilling thing in the exhibit was the water. You could actually stick your hand into a dark hole and see what 26 degree water feels like. I could barely stand to leave my hand in for 20 seconds. It's unthinkable that so many people perished in the same icy water.

Upon leaving the beach Friday the boys thought we were on our way home, which is just how we wanted it. They were shocked when, 4 hours later, we pulled into another hotel. We surprised them with a day at Carowinds amusement park all day Saturday. They had the time of their young lives. Tater couldn't get over the fact that people would actually "glitter" at the park though. What? Why do you have that funny look on your face? You do know what "glitter" is right? Okay, let me translate..."glitter" = litter...pretty cute huh? They also got to meet their hero...SpongeBob Square Pants in "person." Although it was in the high 90's, it didn't bother the boys one bit. The day was full of fun and excited and a little drama. During the middle of the day, Bubby lost a tooth that had been fairly loose all week. He freaked out because he was afraid the tooth fairy wouldn't know he was in a hotel. Tater decided to sleep with Bubby that night so he could see the tooth fairy. Much to our surprise, he informed us Sunday morning that he had indeed seen her. Apparently she wears a pink dress and has pink eyes. She also came in through the window he said. She didn't open it, just "floated right through it!" Bubby couldn't have cared less what she looked like. He was just elated that she found him and left him $5.00.

Extending our vacation as long as possible, we stopped at the Prime Outlet Mall on our way home Sunday. We couldn't possibly go home with left over vacation money now could we? We did find a few good deals but were happy to finally be home by 6:00pm.

I'm happy to report that as of now, Tuesday evening, the suitcases are unpacked, the laundry is done (although not all put away) and life has returned to normal. Our next big adventure is the start of school on Monday the 21st. So hard to believe that the long, leisurely days of summer are all but over. We'll soon be back in the grind of homework and early bed times. I just hope the boys have had a fun, memorable summer. After all, when you're a kid you live for summers, right?

Green Bananas

If you're a friend, family member or frequent visitor to my poetry site, you most assuredly know that my grandfather, Otis, went home to be with his Lord on May 23, 2005. Since the very moment I heard the news I'm almost constantly thinking of him. Recalling shared memories with a man I was crazy in love with is a daily occurrence now. So many things remind me of him in some way. For instance, yesterday while driving down the road I saw numerous round bundles of hay that had been rolled up and ready to sale. That reminded me of him! He once told me after passing by the same scene along a different road, "You know they've outlawed those round bales of hay don't you?" Falling for it completely I replied, "Really? Why?" Without cracking a smile he said, "Because the livestock aren't getting a square meal."

He was such a man of humor. That was his God given gift I believe. In any situation he could always make you smile. It never failed that every time we passed by a cemetery he'd quip, "You know, people are just dying to get in there!" No subject was taboo for him. He could find humor in anything, even his own mortality. During the last months of his courageous battle with lung cancer he told my grandmother not to buy any more green bananas because he "might not be around by the time they ripened".

He was also a prankster. He'd embarrass many people at work, church, where ever by making them think they had hit him in the head with a door. You see, as he would open it for them he would stop it with his foot and his left hand would immediately go up between his forehead and the door. It would all happen so quickly that it actually looked like the door had hit him in the head, with sound effects and all. Or, he'd make a waitress believe that she had brought him faulty silverware by "bending" the fork. He'd hold it on each end and somehow actually make it look like it was bending. Don't ask me how he did it but it looked amazingly real.

In all of his 84 years he never snored either. How do I know you ask? Because he'd be the first to tell you that he "stayed awake one night just to see!" The very last time I had the honor of speaking with him was the night before he passed away. I had called about 9:00pm thinking he would be asleep and I could get an update on his condition from my Mamaw. To my surprise however, he answered the phone. He sounded as though I had awoke him so I asked if I had. In his slow, tender voice he answered, "No, I was just checking my eyelids for holes." He then told my Mamaw I was on the phone and handed it to her. Just typing that and remembering his last words to me brings tears to my eyes. It was only 15 hours later that I would get the call I had dreaded but knew was coming. I cherish that last conversation with him every single day. That's what's going to get me through until I see him again in eternity. Knowing him, by that time he'll have tons of new one liners to make me smile.

I've written numerous poems in honor of and in remembrance of my Papaw. If you're interested, you can read them at www.poetrypoem.com/carouselgirl.

"Arlington"

While I'm doing things around the house I frequently have CMT on the TV so I can listen to the music. Well, this afternoon was no exception. However, while going about my business I heard a song that actually made me stop, sit down and listen. It touched me in a way few songs do. It made me think about how fortunate we are as Americans that young men and women love their country enough to fight for it and the freedoms she affords us. If you have a few minutes just click on the title of this blog entry. That will take you to cmt.com. Under the "Videos" section click on "Arlington." After a brief movie trailer you'll see the complete video of this amazing song. I hope the words touch you as they did me.

And, since I'm on the subject of the military, I have to salute my oldest brother. His name is James and he's been in the U.S. Air Force since 1982. He's now a Master Sargeant. We're all so very proud of him for dedicating his life to our country. I've written a "poem" in his honor......

Me, You & Him

I've know him longer than you;

But you've seen him more.

He's known me from my first breath;

You have never even seen me.

I love him dearly and always will;

He'll be forever true to you.

I see him seldom;

You see him every day.

I'm extremely proud of him;

He's proud to be a part of you.

How I wish he would come home;

You are “home” to him.

I enjoy daily freedom;

Through you he provides it.

He'll always be my hero;

You should reward him greatly.

© Shane Hawk 2005

It's just too quiet!!!

Just a few short days ago, in the chaos of daily life, I started thinking. "What I wouldn't give for a little peace and quiet." The boys are always having friends over and it seems as though I never have one moment of peace. Well, my wish came true and now I'm not liking it so much.

They both went to WV Sunday with their grandparents. When they first told me of their plans I thought, GREAT! Darrin and I will a mini-vacation this week before our real vacation next week. How nice it's going to be to have total peace in our house for a change. And, as an added bonus, the house will actually stay clean for a week. Yee-ha!

Well, as soon as they left Sunday I piled up in our bed and took a nice, long, much needed nap. (Darrin works on Sundays) I had the place all to myself. No responsibilities and, better yet, no noise. I loved every single minute of my 2 1/2 hour nap I must admit. It was amazing to find the house still in the exact same shape I left it in when I awoke too.

But, by about 9:00pm that evening I came to the realization that it was just too quiet. Plus, there was no cuddling on the couch before bedtime with the boys. There was no one to tuck in either. What had they done to me? They left me!

I guess the moral of this story is to be very careful what you wish for because you just might get it......and then realize it's not what you wanted at all. One thing is for sure though, next week when we do go on our family vacation to the beach, I'm going to relish every single second of it with my babies right beside me!