The best bike EVER!

Isn't this the cutest bike in the universe! I love it! If anyone has some extra $$ and would like to buy me a present, this is what I would like. I think I would want to bike everywhere.

It All Started With A Smell...

It was Saturday afternoon, nice & hot! I walked into the garage to help J-man get his bike out. An overpowering stench takes hold of me. NU & I figured something had died in there. We were hoping it might be a potato or something simple like that. After arguing with each other about who we could possibly call to come and find the source of the smell, we decided we would have to do it ourselves. So, here was our project for Sunday.
We got up early Sunday morning and started ripping everything apart. We pulled out all of the cupboards, with care, to see what was under/behind each of them. Nothing! We went through all the food storage to see if there was anything in there. Nothing! Once the cupboards were out we decided that some wire shelving would be a better idea. So, off to Costco. We got all the shelves put together and then the fun began.
Most people don't know this about me but I HATE to run out of anything! It is some crazy fear I have. I think it stems from being a poor student and thinking that I wouldn't have $$ to replace things once they're gone. Some might say that I hoard things-I disagree. I love to throw things out! I am all about purging and getting rid of the junk! I'm going to call it my "better safe than sorry" syndrome. ( Sounds nicer, don't ya think!) I just like knowing that when push comes to shove, I'm going to have what I need.
One of my sisters has this syndrome as well. I'm not naming names but she knows who she is. She will often call me from VA (oops!) and tell me that she bought something wonderful, i.e. a beautiful tray of raspberries, and she is going to save them to use in something delicious. Well, that time never comes-the raspberries go bad because she didn't use them and it was just a big waste of money. It wasn't that she forgot to use them. It was that she didn't want to use them because then they would be all gone and what if she couldn't get more. I understand completely!! Don't worry folks-we're both in a 12 step program for this. It sounds really crazy when I have to tell other people about it :)
So, back to the story. The garage is torn apart and the wire shelves are built. I start putting it all back together. It made me so happy! I organized everything! All the food storage is on one shelving unit, paper products on another shelf, and extra car wash towels and cleaning supplies on another shelf. I organized all of the food from the pantry and put all beverages on a shelf that the J-man can reach. I am able to see all of it at a glance and know what I need to stock up on. It made me so happy. It made the garage so clean. I had to call my neighbor over to look at it and admire my work. She appreciated it also-she has been in a purging state of mind as well.

We never found the source of the smell. It's gone now. Maybe it smelled just to motivate me to clean it all out and start over. Well, whatever it takes.

The Best Time of Day!

I love mornings! I like to get up early (sometimes I am better at this than others.) I like having a few minutes to myself before anyone else wakes up. I like the quiet of the morning. I enjoy that the whole day is still ahead of me. It's open to possibilities. I'm not bothered yet by a list of things that need to be done-haven't had to argue with JMU about playing his DS-I'm not worried about the things that went wrong that day. I love the sunrise. The color of pinkish orange that creeps across the mountains out of my front window. I so look forward to early summer mornings-crisp air, wet grass, a warm latte, quiet outside. I have started noticing that the sun is coming up just a bit earlier these days.
At our house, we are all morning people. Nikole gets up early to work before all the calls start coming in. Jayden, well he's an early riser as well. This is one of the best moments of the day! I hear his feet hit the ground and he comes down the hall. His warm little body climbing over and snuggling. He always professes his undying love in the early morning. It's full of "I love you" and "you are the best mom in the entire universe!" He and I have a little game we always play. We each try to think of a way to tell each other how much we love each other-I love you more than all the stars in the universe! I love you more than all the sand on all the beaches of the world! I love you more than all the grass in the world! I love you more than my DS and Wii! We snuggle together and he tries to wedge his warm little body as close as it can be. I know that the days are numbered as to how long this will last, but I'm enjoying every minute of it right now.
I loved running with Carin in the early mornings. It's time has come again. I have made so many excuses the past few years. It's time to pursue this again. I think I have put it off for so long because I know that the first few months of getting back into shape is awful. But then...hearing your feet hit the ground in a steady rhythm is amazing! I promised myself I would enter my 40's this year feeling good about my body. I have some work to do. I figure if I post this for the world to see I will hold myself accountable. My cousin & I (my sister's were supposed to be involved also but they are SLACKERS!) have chosen to do this together. We are going to be accountable to one another. We usually have some good laughs along the way. I think that will help.

Bring on the new year!

Well, we made it through the holidays! It was touch and go for awhile. I'm not sure what it is about birthdays and holidays but Jayden always struggles. We have tried for the past 4 years to figure out a better way but we've yet to come up with something. I've spoken with a few adoptive parents and birthdays are always a struggle. Jayden's seems to be worse because it's followed by the biggest holiday of the year. Next year, the beach!
It was fun to have everyone in town for Christmas. The kids had a great time the Robert's Winterfest 2008-sledding, snowmobiles, Wii, and cousins!

Can I interest you in a peanut butter sandwich?

Here's the deal: DO NOT READ THIS IF YOU ARE EASILY OFFENDED!!!!!

Consider yourself warned if you proceed and don't get mad at me.

I have shared this story with Granny and Aunt Kim but not really anyone else due to it's graphic nature. But, recently Adri heard it and couldn't stop laughing. She feels the story needs to be shared. I think it gives a glimpse (be it good or bad) of our life in the circle. It's never a dull moment with JMU! :)

I don't really let JMU chew gum if I can help it. He pulls it out of his mouth and plays with it. It eventually ends up somewhere it shouldn't be. This night was no different.
JMU got a hold of a piece of gum. I saw him chewing it and was busy trying to make dinner so I didn't want to fight with him about throwing it away. We ate dinner-I forgot about the gum-and it was bath time. I told him to go jump in the tub. Next thing I know JMU comes into the kitchen all wet and dripping on the tile. Here's what happens next:
He says "Mom, I think we have a little problem."
I say "What's a matter? Go get back in the tub. You're getting the floor all wet."
He says "Well, you're going to get mad."
I say (in my best fed-up Mom voice)"What? Just tell me."
JMU says "It's about the gum. Ummm, I got it on me."
I look at him. I'm looking for the gum somewhere. I don't see any.
I say "Where is it? Is it in the tub?"
JMU looks down at his naked body and points to his p****. Then, he points.
I am confused, mad, and finding this a little funny. Mostly mad.
I say "How on earth! For the love!! This is why I don't let you have gum. How did you do this? I told you to keep the gum in your mouth. What on earth were you doing wrapping gum around your p****?"
I don't let him answer any of these questions because I am still in disbelief.
JMU says "I'm sorry! I was just playing with it. I tried to wipe it off and it won't come off."
I say "Come on. Let's go into the bathroom. Let me get it off." At this point I'm thinking it will just wipe off. Oh no, too easy. We go into the bathroom. I make him lay on the counter. I tried to wipe it off with a wash cloth (no), soap (no). I yell for NU to come into the bathroom. It's all over the entire p**** area. NU just looks at me and asks how we get it off. This is where it gets good-I remember Kim telling me about getting gum out of Kennedy's hair. I remembered her mentioning butter and peanut butter. I don't know why it works-it just does.
So, I go the the kitchen and grab a cube of butter and the peanut butter. I head back to the bathroom to see what comes of this.
Picture me-greasing up my son's private parts with peanut butter and butter-trying to pick off gum. JMU is laughing during all of this. It may have been fun for him. I don't think I had this much "bonding" even when I changed his diapers!
Anyway, we get the gum off eventually. Used a 1/2 jar of peanut butter.
The next day I tell Kim this entire episode. It gets funnier the more I think about it. Kim started calling it p**** butter.
Lesson learned-Don't come to my house asking for a peanut butter sandwich. You never know where it's been.

It's been a while.

Ok. I've been anti-blogging for quite some time now. I think I'm ready to start keeping it real. We just got back from Hawaii. We always love it. Everyone has asked how it was and it got me thinking how sad it would be if I said "bad." It was wonderful! We had beautiful weather the entire time. The awful 6 hour flight wasn't so awful this time. Yes, it was long but it was so much better than the previous years. Our friends, the Sheriff and his wife, joined us this year. The kids had a great time playing together. We went to the North Shore and played in the waves. I would like to say we all enjoyed it but NU & AW wouldn't get in the water. NU claimed her usual deadly fear of sharks(this from a grown adult.) AW wasn't scared of sharks ( I don't think she was aware of that possibility.) but she was scared of all other living creatures in the sea. It seems that JMU and Little AW were the only ones brave enough to join SW, JW, and myself in the VERY large waves. I don't know if that's good or just plain dumb on the adults part. Thank goodness for swim lessons and life jackets. (It's also good that Granny wasn't there to witness this fun.)
We stayed in Honolulu for the first couple of days. I have a hotel that I stumbled upon years ago. It used to be the Mandarin Hotel. The hotel has a center court that has 6 dolphins living in it. If you arrive at feeding time you can see a great show. Well...we went to see the dolphins and it just happened to be the day that the Vet. came to give check-ups. We were the only people watching and SW started talking to the Vet. It turns out that he knew SW's Vet. in PC. After he was done with the check-up he brought JMU, AW, and Little AW in to pet the dophins. It was so amazing!

We took our annual trip to North Carolina in July. It's always great fun. We visit Oak Island with some friends of ours-Mitzi, Erin,Jaxson, and Addison. Erin's family has been vacationing here every summer for the past 20 years. We now tag along for the fun. We all rent beach houses right in a row. Every night someone in Erin's family hosts dinner and lots of fun.

Oak Island is about 30minutes away from Wilmington, North Carolina. It is truly a vacation-there is nothing to do but play on the beach! From the moment JMU woke up, it was "let's go to the beach." We played in the water (which is as warm as the bath tub), gathered sea shells, looked out for sharks, and went ghost crabbing every night. The weather was pretty great the whole trip. (Apparently we missed some hurricane that was headed our way.)