What a week

sooooo, picking right up from the last post........ Apparently I had been driving around with a flat tire for a while (the little light that tells you when there is a flat tire had been on for a while ...I just didn't bother to check), so both Trent's dad and my dad tell us "Hey you guys have a flat tire. Need to get that fixed." So what do we do? Drive around on it for a weekend, don't get it checked and then on Monday morning when I'm driving....with 3 kids in the car....in the rain...I have a slight panic attack and beg God to please let me get home safely. We arrive safely and I immediately check the tire - less than 10 lbs of pressure. Not good..... Anyway, I called my dad and
1.) asked if I should just put air in it and keep going ....or
2.) if I should go get it check out.  (I don't know about these things!!)

After a little fussing (I can't believe you didn't get that checked out yet....Gary and I both told you about that....how much driving did you do this weekend....JENNIFER!!!!), I calmly ask if he would mind driving me to the tire store because I don't know if I could handle a blow out. Of course he came right over and we made it safely there. No big deal, just needed to replace 2 of the tires because of the GIANT piece of PLASTIC that was stuck in the tire too big to plug. UGGG

SOOOO, I tell myself I must be more careful. I must slow down and pay attention to things.

Fast forward a few days to a garage sell where I find this awesome remote control truck for the boys to play with in the back yard. I mean this thing will go over anything. I could see hours and hours of enjoyment out of this wonderful find. Wyatt is ecstatic to say the least!! When we get home, of course my arms are full , so the truck lands beside the van and I make a mental note "need to remember to take this outside so I don't run over it." The battery is charging inside all day, and that afternoon while rushing off to soccer practice, I did the inevitable. Yep I backed right over the truck and CRUSHED it like a pancake. No excuse...I even saw it while I was strapping Weston in and said to myself out loud "I need to move that truck before I back out." Too bad that slipped out of my mind in the 2.2 seconds it took to close Weston's door and open mine. There were broken hearts and goose egg tears.

Soooo, it's my birthday week, things must get better! Will is off for fall break but Wyatt and Weston are still in MDO this week. It's beautiful weather, full of sunshine and cool breezes. I wake up Tuesday in a good mood. Will and I are going to have a fun day. I step out of the shower and a migraine threatens to approach....no, it will go away....fast forward 5 minutes...nope it's here. Vision is completely gone, major light and sound issues, nauseous and then the pain starts...all the symptoms. I'm sitting on the couch while Trent rushes around (late for work) trying to get the boys fed, dressed and ready for school. I tell him I can't drive so I call dad (again) to come help. He drives me and the boys to their school and offers to take Will home with him so I can rest. After about an hour or so of resting in the complete darkness and quiet with all the curtains pulled, the call comes from school.

"Hi Jennifer, Wyatt has had a little accident. He was washing his hands after going to the bathroom and jumped off the stool. He bit his lip and will probably need stitches. He's in the office but you need to come pick him up." That's the first time I have ever been called to school to pick up a child that is hurt! I rushed right there...probably shouldn't have been driving but I could see by this time so it was fine. Then it was rush, rush, rush getting Weston to dad's (side note: mom and dad are building and addition to their house and this particular day it happened to be the hvac guy, the direct tv guy, the electrician and the brickers all there needing dad's input - and he had Will and Weston to entertain!) getting Wyatt to the doctor and then all 3 boys back home and out of dad's hair!  No rest and that silly migraine lingered ALL day.
Wyatt was super cool about the whole thing. He was tough and says it doesn't hurt at all. He bit "clean through" his bottom lip according to the doctors (it's right below the pink part of his lower lip). In the end, he didn't need stitches, just tape to hold it together. The doctor said to keep it taped up for a few days and don't brush his teeth for a few days, but it should heal very quickly. We asked him why he jumped off the stool. His response, "I was trying to fly......But I forgot to put my arms out." Yep, in Wyatt's mind, if he had put those arms out to fly, none of this would have happened.

Oh and one more odd thing. I bit the inside of my cheek a week ago and it has turned into a mouth sore. The pain is getting unbearable (and I actually do have a high tolerance for pain). So I turned to baby orajel. It helps soooooo much ....for like 30 minutes. I have been sticking strictly to the "no more than 4 times daily" instructions on the label so the actual time of relief is very short overall. Today I decided to check into REGULAR orajel. Yep they actually have that! And guess what? It's almost 3 times stronger....who knew? It works much, much better.


And when driving home tonight, that little tire light came back on. Here we go again!

A Trent Moment....and Kiddo Goodness

First, the "Trent moment".

Okay, so the other day I had a moment....okay, so maybe it was more than 1 moment but who's counting? It is referred to as a Trent moment because Trent was SOOOO accident prone while we were dating and first married. (This goes hand in hand with Trent bites and Trent words...I need to write a whole post on him!) Thankfully his luck has changed, but I seem to have taken over. Anyway, I had a little accident with the van. I wrecked it into the truck. No big deal. I just backed right up and BOOM into the truck I slammed. I'm okay with it now. Probably won't be so okay with it when we check into getting it fixed.

And there was that other incident 2 days later. Like I said, who's counting? So I almost hit an old man walking down the street....totally wasn't my fault. Key word...ALMOST....I did not actually hit him. He did slam his hands on the hood of the van, but he didn't have to. I was turning out of our street and he was walking down the wrong side of the road. I looked but didn't see him, looked the other way and then turned out into the street. When I turned, he was right there slamming his hands on the hood screaming mean words. The boys call him "that rude man". The way I see it, he should have waited until I pulled out of the street before crossing it. I call it common sense, but whatever. Trent has been laughing at me for weeks now. (yes this actually happened a couple of weeks ago but I'm just now "okay" enough with it to post!)

Trent's ammo below:

Now on to the kiddo goodness. Much better right?  At 6yrs, 3yrs, and 1 yr they are full of wisdom and silliness....and dirt and noise because that's what little boys are made of. Just come on over if you want proof. It's very loud and there is always, always, always dirt, food, toys or some other form of yuckiness on the floor. ALWAYS.

At 6 years old, Will amazes me with how smart he is! He's doing algebra (7 + blank = 11) and he fills  in the blank. He's a great speller (did NOT get that from me!). He can spell METAMORPHOSIS. Wild right? He is very much a "natural leader" as his teacher says. Which also comes with a bit of bossiness. Last month at the top of a water slide at a water park, a little girl was behind him and saying “go go go”. Will slides down, waits at the bottom of the slide for her  and then tells her “you know, you really need to learn to be more patient.” He is also very open and honest and doesn't like to be in trouble. He has gotten "in trouble" once at school. He got a “yellow” on his behavior (warning). As soon as he got in the car he starts talking about it (he was very upset). “You know why I got a yellow on my behavior today? Because I didn’t put my name on my paper but I didn’t hear Mrs. Braswell tell me to do it. She said it like 13 times and I didn’t hear her. But she just didn’t know I have a problem with my hearing.” I say to him, “but Will you don’t have a problem with your hearing.” He says, “yeah I do mom. Don’t you remember last year in Kindergarten when I had to go to Dr Willis all those times and he hooked up those things to my ear and I had to say what I heard and I had a hearing problem.” I told him that the last time they checked his hearing was fine and he didn’t have a problem anymore. With a shocked and kinda sad face he says, “oh, okay then”.

He's playing goalie in soccer this year. It's the first year they have goalies! He loves it and does a really good job....when he's not posing for pictures instead of watching the game!!

Here are Will and Wyatt with their mean goalie faces!

Oh, Wyatt....sweet, sweet Wyatt.

3 years old. I love this age. He says the funniest things! Every day he asks, "mom, is it tomorrow?" "no, Wyatt, it's today...it's always today." We go through this ritual each morning. A good way to bring in days of the week!
He was talking about Will the other day and said we needed to do something "because he'll be a teenager here in a couple of seconds."
Playing the I love you more game. He says, "I love you more than cartoons."  I say, "I love you more than everything." He stops, gets quiet and says, "no mom, you can't do that. You have to love God more."
Wyatt seems to "accidentally" do alot of things. He said, “hey mom. I’m sorry. I accidentally drank that old coffee.” I said, “how did you accidentally drink it?” he said, “I accidentally walked over,  accidentally grabbed the cup and accidentally put it to my mouth and drank it.” I said, “was it good” he said “no, it was old”. 
He likes soda's but never gets to drink them. They drink milk, apple juice or water around here. While at church camp this weekend, he got a Pepsi out of the cooler and started drinking it and drinking it and drinking it. He looks up and says, "uh oh mom. I accidentally drank all of it."

We were going to meet a friend at the playground…Wyatt throws his hand to his head and says “ohhh”. I say, “what are you excited?” he says, “I’m embarrassed excited”.

He is very serious about soccer this season. He has scored a few goals already! Check out that game face!

Weston....oh Weston...wild, crazy, 1 year old Weston is into everything! Especially this bucket. Don't know what it is about this bucket but all the babies seem to love it!

No mom, I didn't pull all those cups out of the cabinet.....Nope, not me!

If there is a way to climb it....he will do it! Please stay in the boat Weston!

It always comes back to that sweet, adorable smile. Gets him out of trouble every time! It's terrible to fuss at him because he'll cut his eyes at you, smile and give you a giant hug WITH an audible kiss. Then he'll start laughing...see below! How can you be mad at that?!

Summer Summary

As the summer went by I knew there were so many things I wanted to post and record but I just could not find the time. Sounds like an excuse, but literally I was so tired by the end of the days (and any break during the day) that I would take advantage of the time and get some rest. For me personally, I have never been as exhausted as I have been this summer.....no exaggeration!! I actually went to the doctor and had blood work done because they thought it might be a medical problem! No worries though, I am healthy and things are settling down. I'm feeling back to normal....well as normal as I can be with a 6, 3 and 1 year old. Anyway, I hope to do some "back posts" soon to journal some of the great adventures we have had this summer, but for now I'll settle with a nice Summer Summary.

July - It was a busy month filled with loads of fun!!! We went to Gulf Shores on vacation with, well, these guys....

"These guys" include: Mom, Dad, Uncle Kerry, Aunt Jane, Uncle John, Alan, Kyle, Abby and Landon. It was a big group!! - 13 plus a highchair  :) - We rented a big house and had a great section of beach just for us! It was so fun to spend the time with family that we don't see as often as we should. I'll have a vacation post at some point, but here are some of my favorite pictures of the kiddos.

       As soon as we got back from vacation, Will started Junior Park Ranger Camp. It was a 2 week camp 5 mornings per week. He learned all about how to be a park ranger in a fun hands on way. They took hikes, observed nature, learned about insects and animals, played in creeks and even got to see a "birds of prey" show. He did this with his best bud Aiden. They had so much fun and Wyatt says he can't wait until he gets big enough to go.

        Vacation Bible School was another fun thing that we included in July! This year the church decided to have VBS each night for 5 nights instead of just 1 full day. This was really fun for the kids to meet up each night, go to a different class and learn something new and then end each night with a puppet show!!  The "classrooms" were so elaborately decorated that we were actually at church each night the week before to decorate. My classroom was talking about "The Flood" so why not turn the entire room into the ark....so we did. Complete with a wooden floor, floor to ceiling cages for the animals and a wall size 3-D rainbow. While the kids had a blast, the adults had the gospel meeting. What a great way to get everyone involved!

   As for the weekends, yep they were all booked up. The first 2 Saturdays were spent traveling to and from vacation. 3rd Saturday - camp and baby shower; 4th Saturday - spent the weekend in West TN for a family reunion and 5th Saturday - spent the weekend in a mountain chalet in Gatlinburg for a different family reunion. Daddy Jack and his brother and sister have not had a family reunion in more than 10 years, so it was awesome to get together and spend a FUN weekend together. 

Although very busy, not a bad way to spend a few weekends - Gulf Shores, state parks, West TN and Gatlinburg!  

And to close July - Will started school July 28th. Yes, school started in July. Yay year round schedule :)

August- things started to slow down a tiny bit. While school is getting into full swing, we find out that Weston needs ear tubes. So he has surgery the day before starting Mother's Day Out for the first time. He was a trooper and both the tubes and his first day of MDO went well. Wyatt was SUPER excited to start school again and LOVES going each Tuesday and Thursday. Weston is still crying when I drop him off, but he has fun during the day. He also went for his 15 month check up and I need to update his stats on that.

   We went to Beech Bend for the Dollar General picnic and all the boys had such a fun time. They have a new water park that is perfect for the boys right now. Soccer has started and the first games are this weekend. So... the past couple of weeknights have been packed with practice! Between Will's practice, Wyatt's practice, church, homework, doctor's appts, dentist appts and everyday, normal chores/errands - I'm becoming quite the busy soccer mom.

Oh and Trent and I celebrated our 9th anniversary in August! We were able to squeeze in a date night for that! Harry Potter and P.F.Chang's made for the perfect night :)

Now bring on Fall! Will's birthday part to plan, Family Church Retreat next weekend, Wyatt's birthday party to plan then a relaxing week in Gatlinburg for Fall Break in October. Hayrides, bonfires and Halloween!

A Little About Wyatt

Lately Wyatt is really growing his own little personality. Actually, he's had a fairly big personality for a while now, but it seems to be showing up more and more.

("Actually" -- one of the words Wyatt uses All The Time!)

I say, "hey Wyatt, let me take your picture." And he says, "okay, I'm the hulk!" 

The other day I overheard him playing with Will and he says all gruff and tough, "If you want to save the universe, you'll have to go through me.....my name's Bob"

If he's impressed by something, the usual response is "wowzers".

If he's asking for something, it's usually pretty detailed. "I wanted the medium size flag for my pirate ship."

Something we're working on right now is accountability. Wyatt has begun to use "puppy dog" (the stuffed dog that goes EVERYWHERE with him) as an excuse for things. "But mom, that wasn't me that hit Will, it was puppy dog. I try to tell him to stop but he just won't listen."

Or I hear this, "Mom, my brain just told me to do bad things."

Wyatt is so sweet and loves to show his love. He gives lots and lots of hugs during the day (to me, his brothers and especially daddy) and if I'm feeling sad or upset about something, he'll sense it, run to me, wrap both arms tight around my face and give me the biggest hug. It's so sweet! At a baseball practice this season, Wyatt randomly runs to the dugout and yells "Hey Will, I just love you so much!!"

Puppy dog gets love to. Like I said, he carries him everywhere. I'll glance over at him on the couch or something and he'll be talking or singing to puppy dog and I've seen him say, "I love you puppy dog" with a big hug.

As for singing, Wyatt sings all the time. Here he is singing "This world is not my home." 

 

At mother's day out, Ms. Annie his teacher says Wyatt sings church hymns alot. She says, "it just blesses my heart to hear him." She said on the last day before Easter, the church bells played "Up from the grave He arose" to mark the time. She said Wyatt sang every word with the church bells.

He doesn't always sing such sweet songs. Another one I hear him sing quite often is "I like big butts" from the Yogi Bear movie. That's just funny. He does a little booty shake dance and says "I like big butts and I cannot lie" over and over.

His favorite thing to eat right now is Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwiches (oh and of course chicken nuggets - as he would say). It's so cute when he eats pbandj it's ALL OVER his face! I have to wipe his face off from his eyebrows to his neck. He's also trying a little psychology on us. The other day I asked what they wanted to eat and he said, "Well Mom, you KNOW my favorite is Krystal's, but today I'll take chicken nuggets."  - He's had Krystal's maybe twice in his whole life and trust me, it's NOT his favorite!

That's our Wyatt! 3 years old and a bowl full of fun!!