Collin sayings

Tonight as I put Collin to bed, I say, you need to put your pajamas on, and he says, "nope I'm fine in what I've got on" (underwear), so I say to him, "alright, but I don't wanna hear in 5 minutes that you want your PJ's on you hear me.". To which he replies, "that's okay I'll do it in 4 minutes". I laughed out loud and said well alrighty then, but it got me thinking of a few other things he'd said this week.

For example, Collin has really been wanting to buy lego's in particular Jack Sparrow lego's , he wants them and he wants them NOW. He says the other day, "I'm going to buy some lego's today", I ask where he's getting his money from and he tells me "I'm going to use my money, the money that's in your pocket..." hmmmm, smart cookie!

Another time this week, I tell him to get out of his PJ's and get dressed and he says, I'll only get dressed if we go to the store, and I tell him no that's not happening. He retorts with "well mom, I guess we are staying here all day long then..."

This morning, Collin wakes me up and says I ate 2 gummy vitamins but the 3rd one accidently got my spit all over it, should i eat that one too... I said how did you open the vitamins, and he informs me he turned and turned and turned it and it finally opened for him.... wowzer!


And as if on que, as I'm typing this, he comes out and sets his head on my arm and says my head hurts, well I say mid type, "It's because your tired, go to bed", he says, "nope, it's because my head always hurts when it's not watching cartoons" and looks at me... he is in bed now... :)

Halloween

This year for Halloween we had a Green Lantern to protect us with his lantern ring, we had a Black Spiderman (not Venom and you would be corrected sternly by Spiderman too if you said that) and we had a Ninja that all of a sudden turned into an Army guy at the last moment. I felt well protected at the Boo at the Zoo

and at the trunk or treat at church



and at the Preserve, where I love to go each year because I have tons of friends that live in the subdivision and my kids always have to use the rest room at some point during trick or treating.

Josh's short trip

It was amazing to have Josh home even if it was for a short period of time. I can't imagine doing what he does, I have the boys and my friends and family. He has his soldiers and guns. I sleep in a comfortable bed for 8-9 hours a night. He is constantly on different missions and getting sometimes no sleep at all.

He is an outstanding man and what a great father. The boys absolutely adore him. I am glad he was able to come home even for a brief period of time. I will miss him this year and wait for him to hurry home to me.

It's great to be 8

Cregan turned eight on Friday, he was super excited. He turned 8 and got to have his dad home for his birthday. Josh flew in on Wednesday night very late and left on Sunday. On Cregan's birthday, Josh and he went shopping just the two of them he got this SWAT outfitand then, we all went to Chuck E. Cheese. We tried convincing him of going to the Olive Garden and a movie but nope... it was Chuck E. Cheese all the way. He had a blast playing games and getting tokens and then picking out the presents he wanted, after that we went to Steak and Shake and got milkshakes. It was a fun evening.The next morning was busy, like most of my Saturdays are now. First, Clay and Collin went to the church for practice on the Primary Program and then rushed home to get Josh and Collin and take them to soccer game and then back to the church to pick up kids and set up the church for Cregan's baptism!!

At 2pm, we had a double baptism for Cregan and our friends son Andrew. It was such a fun and spiritual baptism. Andrew's brother gave an outstanding talk on baptism. Bob (Cregan's grandfather) baptized him and then Tanya (my sister in law) talked on the Holy Ghost. I was so happy with how it turned out.

After the baptism, we had an ice cream bar in the gym and the kids were all jacked up on sugar so that was a lot of fun as well!

Soccer

I recently signed up Cregan for soccer with 3 of my other friends that I go to church with. And it feels great to have this huge cheering section at every game, all of us cheering for each others kids and bundling up against the frigid dropping temperatures.... They are the Crew and now I wanna take him and the boys to a soccer game in to see the Columbus Crew.... we shall see about that.

But I'm pretty lucky to have such great friends that are there for me while Josh is gone and ask if I need help with getting the chairs outta the back of the van, or ask if Cregan needs a ride to practice. I should have done sports like this years ago.... live and learn

When Josh came home from training for a week and a 1/2 we decided to do not much as far as going on vacation, seeing as we had been vacation like 3 times.... So for the first couple of day, we just hung out together and then 4 days before leaving, he decided to paint the outside of the house. Of course, we fought about the colors because we fight about everything that goes into the house, see here to read more about that.

I thought the colors were too dark and that it wouldn't look right. I... was... wrong...

And although we rushed to get the front and the back and it rained for a few days oh and I stained the front porch during this time as well...! It was not as difficult, like I thought it would be. All in all it turned out nice, and tons better than the eye sore we had before

Pirate Party

Here's a belated post about our friend down the street Andrew. He turned 8 recently and had a pirate party on the Santa Maria downtown.

The kids all got dressed up as pirates and went to the boat for a private party, it was loads of fun and included a treasure hunt and sword fighting

Another year away

Josh left last Sunday, ironically on September 11th, for active duty in the Army. He's National Guard unit will be attached to a unit in Afganistan in a few months and he'll be there for a year. It's really hard having him go, he is such a help with the kids and frankly being a single mom sucks... but it's more than that... I will just miss him...

On Monday we went to a wonderful closing cermony, the speakers (and there were plenty) did outstanding jobs. Tanya (Josh's sister) and her kids came up too and after the ceremony we all went out to eat. It was a lot of fun sitting there laughing and talking.
And as I sat there and looked around trying to take my own mental photograph, a thought came to my mind, I was going to be OK this time. My kids are a little bigger, and that small difference will be huge. When Josh left for Iraq the kids were 2, 4, and 7 and now are 5, 7 and 10. That's a huge difference...


It won't make him being gone any less painful, but easier? Maybe, I don't know yet... I guess I'll have to wait and see.

Collin

My baby turned 5 today!! We are celebrating his birthday until his daddy comes home from training but I am so excited for him. Everyday for the past 2 weeks, he would wake, put both of his chubby fingers on my face and say "my birthday is today?", so when I woke him up this morning and told him today was his birthday, he was beyond himself with joy, he screamed and squeeled for a good 5 minutes!!

The cutest thing he did today was as we were sitting in church, he says with news bent down, I look like a 4 year and then he would pop his legs back to normal and say, now I"m a 5 year old... a friend suggested I should put him on a chair and say now your a 13 year old... but I don't think he would get the humor..

NCLEX

When I graduated nursing school I knew the journey was not complete yet, I knew I had to pass the state boards before I was a "real nurse". Unlike many of my friends, I didn't take the boards right away, I really wasn't in that big of a hurry to find a job, but wanted to spend the summer with the kids and Josh. We did a lot this summer, beach twice... King's Island ... and numerous trips to the movies... but one thing I consistently did all summer was study.

I felt if I had a spare minute, I should be studying. If the kids were by the pool, I should be studying. If the computer was on and I'm on facebook, I was also on a website, taking practice quizes... all ...summer... long....

The day finally arrived, I had a 2pm appointment. The minimum number of questions are 75 and the max is 265, you have up to 6 hours to take the test. And because it is computurized, the questions will get progressively get more difficult the better you do.

SO I go in, take the test and come out in 45 minutes! I got the minimum amount of questions and a lot of EKG strips and select all that apply questions. I felt there was a slim chance I actually passed... but here's the thing - this whole summer, I never would study a particular part in my books, I just couldn't get it.. I couldn't grasp the content, therefore, I skipped it... the day before the test, as I sat with a friend, I specifically said let's go over this, I feel like I really need to know it. She and I went over it but said it probably won't be on there when I couldn't get it after several times of going over it...I still felt prompted to study it, so I did that night and the day of the test...
THE TEST WAS FULL OF THAT MATERIAL! Thank heaven I listened to the still small voice prompting me to study the particular information! I would have not done as well, but I did do well and now I am a NURSE!!

Don't mess with an abscess..

Clay started complaining about his tooth on a Friday night, he had a friend over so I thought at first it was an excuse because he was overly tired. As the night progressed on later and later, I realized two things, 1. he was in pain, and 2. he had a good set of lungs... after pain meds, he finally fell to sleep. The next day, we got numbing stuff and temporary filling stuff at Kroger and I hoped I could fill the suspected lost filling and he's pain would subside until Monday.
But here's the thing... there was no lost filing... oh jeez.. it was a cavity I thought, well, he was going to have to wait until Monday with a cavity and brush better. So we had meds on Saturday every 6 hours and went to bed, around 3am Clay came into my room complaining about his mouth and it looked like this....

I kinda freaked a little bit and wondered what to do... gave him meds, and waited for a decent time to call my friend who's brother in law is a dentist. He (the dentist) saw Clay at church 1st thing on Sunday and confirmed it was an abscessed tooth... we started antibiotics and got his tooth pulled out the next day, what a mess...

Apparently when you get a cavity and then a loose tooth, that infection goes into your mouth and causes a lot of pain, it can be serious and go systemic too, scary, scary, scary....

Emerson

Both boys are at Emerson Elementary this year, and although I'm totally psyched about it, Clay needed some convincing that this was for the best. Clay has been going to his elementary from grade K and had a lot of friends. But I knew this magnet school was better academically and that the school was smaller so there is a lot of opportunity for more fun.

Cregan went to Emerson last year and I couldn't believe how much homework he had in comparison to Clay's 3rd grade. Having written that though, Cregan was reading and doing math that Clay wasn't doing until 2nd grade. Plus, my friends Sophie and Missi have there kids in school there and I love that if I need a backup, they are there for me.

Clay, met his teacher and looked at his class and still wasn't convinced, that was until the teacher said, oh and you need a flash drive for all your projects to do at home... wow, he's face lit up and he was eager from then on... plus the 1st day of school the 4th graders beat the 5th graders at football...

Clay turns 10

10...double digit's! I can hardly believe I have a 10 year son!! Where does the time go? This year Clay wanted to have a Captain America party, he also wanted to have a sleep over with some of his friends.
The day came, we had ordered the cake, got all the supplies, made the Captain America shields, pool was cleaned out, Josh was bringing home the pizza...everything was planned...
Then the kids came....and they all jumped into the pool...then the thunder came and they all jumped out of the pool...and then Josh called and says he's going to be late...and I can't put 9 kids in a van to get pizza, in the rain...OH NO!!


All was saved though, ordered pizza, sun came back out, kids ran and played and still didn't get to bed before midnight...but had a BLAST! And now I have an emotional, sensitive 10 year to deal with

Outerbanks

This year we were truely blessed we got to go to the ocean twice.

On our way back from Virginia Beach, we were already planning our next adventure to the beach. We planned this time to rent a house on the beach and go with Josh's brother and his family. It was a long trip down to Avon but once we got there we knew we had made the right choice in locations!

This town had 1 tiny hotel, a dairy queen and a food lion, everything else was locally owned and operated. The house we stayed in was in a cul de sac and we were about 3 house away from the bridge to the sand. So we were so close to the beach, we went early in the mornings and looked for shells which we found TONS and put our chairs and umbrella out, we'd go back in, have breakfast, hang out and then go to the beach, and then Josh and Ryan would fish in the evening.

One of the most relaxing vacations ever!

Virginia Beach

The Friday of Memorial Day weekend around 3:30pm, I ask Josh if he wants to go to Cedar Point the next day, "it's free." I say (for military). He says "do you have anything going on this weekend??"

Nope, nada, nothing planned.... this NEVER happens for us, one of us has something planned ALL THE TIME. He says "let's go to the beach", hmmmmm...."OK..."

We get on the horn, start calling hotels for the next night, we finally find something on the ocean and start packing. We drove until it got to late, stayed in a hotel and started out the next day. Traffic was AWFUL! everyone and their brother had the same idea I think! But we wrestled through and finally got to the beach, it was magical (as it always is). I love the ocean, the sand, the waves all of it!

Here's a view of the hotel to the right and down the beach -


The boys had NEVER BEEN to the ocean, had NEVER knocked over by the waves, had NEVER tasted that salt water, had NEVER built real, honest-to-goodness sandcastles, had NEVER seen a sun rise on the ocean or seen dolphins in the water but that weekend we rectified all of that! We played for hours that first day and then went to an ALL YOU CAN EAT seafood buffet. It was mediocre, but that didn't even matter because we walked the beach after in the dark, and then walked the board walk.


The next day we did it all over again.... and the last morning we were up at 5:45 like everyother day, but this day we actually didn't go in for a while after the sun set, we stayed out in the ocean and played and played.


There was sand EVERYWHERE! and the kids were THROUGHLY BURNT! and the trip ride home was very, very LONG!! But it was worth every second, every moment to take them to Virginia Beach

Pinning

Well after many, many, many years, I finished Nursing school. It was a long, long, long road one that if I'd known from the beginning how hard it would be I wouldn't have taken it, but totally worth it!

The pinning ceremony was a really neat experience, it was more like a "mini" graduation with just the CSCC nursing department and family and friends. There were talks from the head of the department and the student presidency and then there was the actual "pinning" of the RN pin onto all the students and then the lighting of the ceremonial Florence Nightingale lamp.

Josh and the boys along with Leah (my mother in law) and Helen (my grandmother in law) were there. It was special to have them in the circle of all the nurses when we passed the Nightingale lamp. (both Leah and Helen are nurses). The boys were generally well behaved but to head off any nuisance I packed IPODs, Itouch, and Ipad and DSI and snacks!

Along with the family, I had 2 good friends come. It was wonderful to have Megan and Crystal there!

/div>

Preschool Graduation

Collin graduated preschool today, it was adorable to see him all dressed up in his cap and gown, and looking like such a big boy. He sang songs and got a "diploma" and then we had a luncheon outside in the picnic area. Next year I'll be sending him to a different school but he has so enjoyed his time and I've enjoyed seeing his personality shining all by himself without the assistance of his older brothers. He really is so funny and happy all the time!

Changes

Times they are a changing, as much as I'd like to freeze my kids in the ages they are now, what with the snugging into bed and kisses given freely at any given moment, I realize that life is happening even if I don't want it too. The boys are getting bigger and bigger and more mature each day.

For example, last week I get into the car and here the end part of something not meant for my ears, Clay was teaching Cregan how to spell "fun" - Yes---- F.... U.... n - he was teaching him how to mini cuss ----!!!! You can imagine my horror at this and here's another example

Tonight, Cregan is on his big boy couch pitch team, this is the real league, everyone is on the field, in "ready position" which means hands on knees looking at the batter, nope not Cregan, he's kicking the dirt and picking his nose!

Yep, the joys of children growing up.... then there's Collin who really, really believes there is a Mario world and if we would just look at the yellow pages we could find it, I am apparanetly incompetent as a mother because I don't know how to get him there!!

Cinco de Mayo

Cregan had a Cinco de Mayo party at school and had to give a presentation, well the whole class had to and Mrs. Dapoz told them to give them "with expression". That is NO problem for Cregan, he gave an outstanding and expressive presentation on the volcano in Mexico. Here is a copy of his talk

Paricutin Volcano

by Cregan Hughes

There was a farmer and his son working in the corn field.

When the farmer was almost done, the plow went into the earth.

The earth cracked.

The farmer and his son ran away.

A volcano was born. Lava and ash shot out of the volcano.

They call it "The Monster".

This happened in 1943.

Health fair

We are at the VERY END of a long journey in our family. I'm just about done with school!! My final is done and I just finished my 2 healthfairs, and all I have left now is the pinning ceremony next week. Well actually I have to pass the state boards, that's kina a HUGE deal, but as far as Columbus State Community College goes it's over!!

The health fair was really nice, we had the first one at the college and it was nice and all but the one the next day was even better. We did the Health Fair in downtown and it was not the nice side of downtown if you get my drift. We were in a church that holds a free store, where people can come in and "shop" for clothes for free. As I looked around at the different people coming in, it really hit me these people need to see this health fair stuff more than anyone else. As I see a mother with 2 kids walk by and take some pamplets for Domestic Violence, or see an elderly man get screened for diabetes it makes it worthwhile! Also we got to go help with the free store and that was amazing! I will definetly be back and want to bring the boys and let them see how fortunate we are.

Last Day of School

Today was the last day of school and the kids and I have a mini tradition that we go to Tim Horton's and I get them all "sugared up" before school. I like to think of it as a fun last present to give the teachers before finishing out the school year. Something to really help them appreciate the summer that much more... I'm just a giver you know...

After Tim Horton's, I drop them off and plan for when they get home. I made a big banner this year (which I should have made a picture of before the boys came home because it was ruined pretty quickly after that, and I attacked them with water balloons! It was so fun!! and now I have officially a 4th graders, 2nd grader and a Pre-Ker...

Camping Out?

Cregan asked Josh if he could sleep on the trampoline a few weeks ago, It was a night on the colder side and a Saturday night, so I wasn't super thrilled about the idea. Josh forever was like "sure let's get ready", they got double PJ's on, double blankets and ofcourse the laptop to watch movies...
Clay and Collin went to and Collin almost made it through the whole night, but came in around 5:30. As for me and Laynie (the other female in this house, even though she's a dog) slept soundly in a quiet home, not too soundly though. I seriously had a hard time falling a sleep not having all my munchins in their own beds...

Clay had a special "ball" at school the other day, he was the narrator in a play and then there was a dance afterward for the whole 3rd grade. No one said so but the boys took it upon themselves to ask girls to the dance, Clay didn't ask anyone, but one of Clay's friends asked a girl for Clay, she said yes, but the next day said she couldn't go with him because she was going with someone else, I was secretly worried for Clay, was he sad, embarrassed, hurt that this girl had backed out? I asked him if he was OK, and he replied, "oh yeah, I asked Mrs Tucker and she's going to be my date... so ofcourse I had to get a picture of Clay and his "date"!!

Friendship

We went to the park the other day with Sophie and Jack and my cousin Zeek, and on the way we picked Andrew from down the street and when we got there we found our other neighbors there with there son Ben. What a fun afternoon it turned out to be all these boys playing together, I just had to capture the moment, it goes so fast!