Saturday, May 31, 2008

Another Goodbye!



To all of my Fairview Heights, O'Fallon friends....my good friend Whitney DeSambourg is moving your way next week. She is the one in the middle of the pics. She is a hoot and a half! She is actually going to be living in St. Louis, but I will be happy to give you her info if you that work over in St. Louis would like to meet up with her! She won't know anyone and I am sure she would love to meet some friends! We went out for Mexican food with her last night, and tomorrow will be the last day we see her before she moves.... We will miss you Whitney!! We love you! Keep in touch!!
CB

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

What Goes on Behind the Scenes...when I go to check my blog or e-mail....

The first time I went to check my blog this afternoon, I had left Ben downstairs sweetly eating a pizza for lunch at his playroom desk....this is what I came back to find......as if coloring on the wall was not a creative enough outlet...how about sponge painting with his pizza....I have got to hand it to him...I have never thought of that! It is a good thing we have not painted that room yet!! Thank goodness for Mr. Clean Magic Eraser!!




The next time I went back up to look some things up for Coffee Break, Ben was supposed to be having, playroom time....remember how I posted what works for me a while back, well it turned out a little differently today. I heard him screaming, I ran downstairs, he was screaming because his spiderman flip flops were wet. I looked him over, there was white stuff on his leg, so I asked, "What is on your leg?" He replied, "Baking Soda, I am sorry, Mommy" I walked over to the bathroom and saw this in front of the pantry....then into the bathroom the entire floor was flooded over and there was a piece of baking soda box sitting in the bottom of the toilet...even the sides of the walls were covered in water....I think he was trying to wash it off of his legs and feet...the moral of the story,
*Don't leave the Baking soda on a pantry shelf that can be reached because your kid might want to play with it? Wait a minute, how does he even know what Baking Soda is or what it is called?
*Lesson Learned---Baking soda actually does a fantastic job cleaning tiled floors...I think I will use it again!!



After I had finished cleaning up the mess of Baking Soda and Water, I thought to myself, where is Ben??? This is what I found....

I guess he was ready to get out of his wet clothes! Now he was quite calm and watching Noggin. Enjoy! Hope everyone has a great day...I think I will take my laptop downstairs now!!

CB

Sunday, May 25, 2008

Destin Florida Family Trip


We had a great time in Florida this past week with my family. The boys really loved it! We were there with Lorie, Josh, my parents, and we got to see my Aunt Suzanne, her husband Bobby, along with their kids. Sorry the slide show is so long...you don't have to watch all of it, mainly for the family... hope to do it again next year!

Enjoy!

CB

Thursday, May 22, 2008

Coffee Break

To those who are interested, our next study title on Coffee Break is going to Be.....

Where Do You Draw The LINE???
Where do you draw your moral/ spiritual line?
Is your line drawn in the same place that God's line is drawn?
How can we not be "judgemental," but still be a strong christian example and person of God to our children, friends, at work and in the community. Where is the place where your opinion of what is right collides with God's opinion?
This is something I have really been thinking about for myself lately. Whether it is a line drawn socially with my friends, or being a wife or mother? We are going to look at several scriptures to study this. I want to make sure I know where to draw my lines...sometimes I feel that they can change. We are going to take a deep look at this and hopefully this will move an inspire us as people of God to be more confident of the examples that we are setting.
I will start posting this next week, which is the first week in June!! Hope everyones' summer is off to a great start.

Thursday, May 15, 2008

A Hard Mommy Week!!! A Glimpse inside my life for real!







We have all heard the saying, "when it rains, it pours" and I think that this goes really with how children behave. When we have a bad week, it can be REALLY BAD!! You know we all want to paint our children in a wonderful light to others, but sometimes you just have to throw up your hands and let the "Joy, Joy, Joy" come from down in your heart! All that being said, our week started our really bad. It was Ben's last week of preschool, and Monday, he had his school 3 yr. old program. He does not like being in programs, so as soon as he saw me, he bolted right off of the stage. His teacher, Mrs. Julie, tried to convince him to go back up, and he repeatedly told her and I no, so we thought it was a lost cause, but at the last minute, he told us he would go back up if I went...so, I thought, if this will help him overcome his fear, I will put my embarrassment behind me and go...I did this, and we got to the second song, which was "Down in my Heart" and as you can see in the picture that another mom took of me with my own camera...that I was doing the motions to "The Joy, Joy, Joy," all by myself(the pic with me and the hands by my head), while Ben was running down the steps of the stage, around the stage and up behind the piano. This did not end well. While all the parents were video taping, I decided that it already looked stupid enough that I was up there, much more with Ben ruining it and acting up in the program, so I got off of my knees, caught him and carried him out of the auditorium screaming so that his class could have their last song, without distraction.






On Tuesday, he seemed in a better mood, so when we went through the Starbucks drive thru he asked me if he could have his drink(kid's choc. milk with whip cream) I said sure, because that is a special treat, and he ordered it and then told the lady in the speaker, "Thanks, Cupcake" He also yelled in the Dr.'s office yesterday to a lady that was talking on her cell phone, "Hey Lady, your too Loud!! I can't hear my show" and then after that I told him that he was not to ever talk like that to anyone again. He proceeded to tell me not to ever say no to him again because that was unacceptable behavior! Oh My!!!! Last night, I was telling Earle about all of his, "ugly talk" and told Earle that today, I was going to put a stop to it. So at 6:45 this morning, he wanted to get up and go downstairs, our rule is he has to wait until the clock says 7:00...so I told him no, he had to wait, and he told me no he was not going to wait, and so I said , yes you are and told him to tell me yes mam and he proceeded to say, yes, sir, and not comply...so, I took his Superman P.J.'s away from him, for the way he was talking to me and I also took his favorite toy....and this fit that I have recorded for you is when he had "cooled down" a little. His tantrum lasted about 30 minutes this morning. (Yes, I had posted another video glimpse, but after thinking about it, I decided to delete it, I was not sure I wanted him displayed in that light...but from the description, you get the idea)








I love my son, tremendously, and I will go to the ends of the earth for him, but I share this with you, so that when you are having a bad mommy day, maybe you either won't feel alone or you can think of us as a worse case scenerio either way, hopefully it will make you feel better. Ben is a child with an extra ordinarily strong will, so we really do have a hard time sometimes. Lately as a mom, I have had to learn that the only thing I can do in front of other moms is hold my head up with confidence, so that he knows that whether rain or shine, I am confident of him and also to be extremely consistent. I am queen of leaving parks, play dates and any other situations when he cannot act appropriately and although Monday was really horribly embarrassing for me, I am not so embarassed anymore, and I know I am trying my best, so who cares what anyone else thinks! He has taught me so much and he is such a blessing. --CB


Recap of Program

Monday, May 12, 2008

A Visit with Friends!!













We had the the honor of Rochelle and Doug Waddill and their three children, Briley, Braden and Blake, coming to visit us this past weekend. I am so glad they came! It is so great to still have close friends that have been our friends for so many years...14 years I think!! Anyway, the kids had a blast. We just sort of let them run wild outside most of the time. They ran through the sprinkler, ate tons of junk food, and had a blast. Ben and Braden pretended to be "Supermen" almost the entire weekend, and they pretty well entertained themselves. By Sunday afternoon, they were so tired, poor Braden was asking if he could please take a nap! Briley played with the boys and was also really helpful...I felt bad that I had no, "little girl" dress up clothes, so we made due with some old honeymoon lingerie that we tied her up and pinned her up in and we called them "princess clothes" as you can see in the pictures. The little babies were really good as well. On Saturday night, we got two girls to come and babysit them all and went out to eat at a place called "Friends" that is on a nearby river. It was a great night and weekend!! We are so glad they made the trip! Doug and Earle spent quite a bit of time playing the Wii, and the night before they left, Rochelle was finally coaxed into playing Guitar Hero reluctantly...and I think she may have actually liked it a little...so of course I was snapping pics to preserve the moment. This is Ben's last week of school...so this week, I will be basking in the last few hours of "kid free" time!! (Collin doesn't really count yet) Hope everyone has a great week!! Enjoy the pics!!



CB






P.S. About the Stimulus Check post: Clearing my Name!!



I am embarassed to admit this, but my husband's advice may not have been completely accurate. I think that your stimulus check is not the same as it was the last time. Earle did some more reading on it, and it looks like it will not affect your taxes for this year!! He said he would post to "clear my name" but that is okay! He is truly right about these things...like 99.9% of the time...so what is a girl supposed to do...I believed him!! But the good news is, I think we can go for it and spend our checks!!! Sorry for the scare!! Have fun buying some good stuff!!