My New Blog

Well, I'm probably crazy, but I've begun writing a third blog!! My Sonshines Three & Me is where I'll write about being an older "new" mom while mothering two teenagers...the humorous side and the struggles. Please come over and visit!

My Three Sons and the Furry One

This son of mine turned 17 in January and finally decided it was time to get his driver's permit! He has found that driving isn't as easy as it looks, but he's persevering! (And Mom is having a nervous breakdown as his passenger but is keeping it to herself!)

This kiddo has suddenly gotten into basketball, although, he didn't make the school team (big frowny face). He hasn't hit his growth spurt yet, so maybe next year he'll have better luck. Baseball will be starting soon anyway. He's also getting used to life as the middle child! After 14 years of being our youngest and the youngest grandchild on my side of the family, he has lost his position to his little brother.

As for this little guy, he has been busy working out a sleep schedule, doing some teething (his big brothers got teeth early), and discovering the joys of Sesame Street! He just coos and babbles as he watches his favorite show! (Okay, I know this is kind of bad since he's only 3 months old, but he just loves Elmo!)

Then there is this crazy mutt! He doesn't know what to think of his littlest brother. He licks him as soon as he gets a bath and is very interested in the new baby toys, especially the stuffed animals (which he must also lick)! However, he does make an attempt to share his dog toys with his new sibling!

That's my family update! Praise God that everyone is adjusting nicely to all of our recent changes!

A New Normal

A new normal...that has been the story of my life for almost a year now. Our family has had to make several adjustments since last April. On Palm Sunday, I discovered I was pregnant again. This news was met with mixed emotions by my husband and I and our two teenage sons. We feared another miscarriage, and there was much trepidation about what a new baby would mean for our household.

Don't worry, this story has a happy ending, but getting there was a challenge and resulted in our future (the one we had planned anyway) being rewritten. (I know it's what God had planned for us all along.)

I've been wanting to continue with this blog, but for several reasons, I was unable to write any posts while pregnant. Since giving birth, I've just been too busy and tired, but now I'm finally ready to give it a try. I'm also toying with the idea of starting a third blog but thought I should first ease my way back into writing on this blog.

I know I need to update some things on here in addition to posting and am hoping to start doing that over the next few weeks. I'll also fill you in on my pregnancy and the changes we've had to make around here. I've missed writing and blogging and hope you'll join me as I muddle through my new normal!

Daniel Finn

Around Here

Yes, I dropped out of the blogosphere for a while again. I can't believe I didn't lose any followers! Thank you my dear friends for sticking around! As always, just pure busyness has kept me away.

I finished up my school year on June 3rd. It was a bittersweet ending as it was the toughest school year I've ever had as a teacher and because it was the last one at the preschool I've taught at for the past 7 years. I gave my notice back in March so that my boss would know in plenty of time that I won't be returning in the fall. I've decided to try to get my master's in special education. I just completed my first 12 week course and will begin a 6 week course next week. Between these two classes I have to earn 3.0 GPA to officially be accepted into the program. (Because I didn't have a 3.0 when I graduated from college 22 years ago! Boys were more interesting than school was back then. Just being honest! Actually, I earned two degrees simultaneously back then....a BBA and an MRS!) Hence, homework has kept me very busy, especially when being a teacher and a student overlapped for two months!

I know it may seem odd that I quit my teaching job in order to earn a master's in teaching, but I knew I couldn't juggle work, school and my family. Since my kids aren't going anywhere in the near future, work had to go! And I think my whole family is happy about my decision! Even though I have homework, I'm much more relaxed.

Of course, I'm getting little jabs from my boys. My oldest likes to tell me that I'm lazy since I quit my job, and my youngest's comment was, "Good, now you can clean the house!" Nice, huh?! Even one of my classmates said, "So, you're going to do nothing?" Oh to be 23 and naive! Okay, so for the last two weeks I haven't gotten out of bed before 9 AM, but I have been cleaning!! I even took the curtains down in our living room and hand washed them in the bathtub! Come on, give me some credit!

Living on one income again is an adventure. I've definitely been cooking and baking a lot more. However, I have found that it is cheaper to buy a brownie mix than it is to make them from scratch. We didn't join the pool this summer because we didn't feel we got our money's worth the last two summers. Naturally, one of our vehicles has had issues since I stopped working. It sounds like a rocket and will go even if your foot isn't on the gas pedal! And our mechanic can't figure out what's wrong with it. The kids have been good about waiting for movies to hit our local cheap theater. You can't beat $3 matinees and $5 evening shows! Even the snacks are cheap.

Then there's the dog. I've been dreading having to take him to his yearly vet appointment this summer because it's always so expensive. Rather than doing that yet, we've had other vet bills because poor Otto has actually been sick! He's six years old and this is the first time he's been ill like this. Apparently he picked up a parasite from somewhere, and we are now shopping for new carpeting! As they say, when it rains, it pours.

This post kind of sounds like a downer, but I'm actually pretty happy. Like I said, I'm more relaxed now and I'm getting to spend a lot of time with my family. My kids are excited because I'm baking for THEM rather than my students. I even made my very first cheesecake for Father's Day. It was delicious! Thanks to our friends who own a beach house, we will get to take our yearly trip to the Outer Banks this month. We just won't be able to stay as long since I can't miss class.

I hope life is slowing down for all of you this summer so that you can enjoy just being with your families! I'll check back again soon!

The Passing of Childhood

Oh, the silence. My boys are out enjoying this lovely weather on their last day of summer vacation. Their last day of freedom. My last day of freedom too, and although I have a hundred other things I should be doing, I thought I'd take advantage of the quiet and write a post.

We were naughty today and skipped church and went out to breakfast instead. I'm sorry God! The boys wanted to go to dinner tonight to celebrate the end of summer, but I figured breakfast is cheaper. Plus, I really wanted some french toast. We were planning to go to church as usual....really we were. But when that alarm went off, I just wanted one more morning of sleeping in a little. Tomorrow I'll be rising at 6 AM. (I don't know if I'll be shining!)

Sam will be starting high school tomorrow and Coop will be going off to middle school. Wasn't it just yesterday that I was sitting on my front porch while they drew with sidewalk chalk and rode their bikes up and down in front of the house?

I realized the other day that I'm no longer at that stage of life. A new family has moved in across the street from us. They have two preschoolers and a newborn. One day recently the preschoolers were out front from morning until night drawing on the sidewalk and riding their bikes and scooters. I could hear their squeals of delight all day long. That's when it hit me that the next generation of little ones is here and my kids aren't among them.

The neighbors that my boys used to play with are just about grown. One just got married, one has a baby, another one is a senior in high school and her younger sister is starting high school just like Sam. That gang of kids from 10 years ago is no longer the lively bunch on the street. They hardly see each other anymore.

Yes, this all does make me sad. Especially since I should have had a newborn myself this spring. However, I realize that God has provided us with different seasons of life, and I'm determined to enjoy each of them. Even though I miss my babies, my kids are fun to be with. We have lots of laughs together. And everyone is potty trained!! I love to see my kids learn a new skill and become more independent. I'm happy for them, and it shows that my hubby and I are doing our job.

I pray that each of you can enjoy and appreciate your family no matter what season you are in. It all passes much too quickly!

Happy Birthday Cooper!

Today my youngest son turns 12! I can officially say that he is 12 because it is now after 4:05 pm. Coop likes to be exact! He was our 9 pound, 11 ounce, 21 inches long bundle of joy! (His brother was even bigger!)

Here are some pictures from his impromptu birthday party at our house on Sunday. He wanted a big chocolate chip cookie instead of a cake. Worked for me because it was easy!













I found a poem that I wrote about Cooper when he was a baby and thought I'd share it here.

CLAMORING COOPER

Clamoring Cooper is a very loud boy.
He yells and he yells and he yells at his toys!

He squawks and he shrieks at Sam his big brother,
All the while smiling at his almost deaf mother.

He shouts at his father so that he too might hear,
Even though Daddy is sitting quite near.

He screams while he eats, he roars while he plays.
Clamoring Cooper bellows all day!

----------------------

Happy Birthday my little love bug!

A Salute to Mr. Mom!

Chatty Kelly's Thankful Thursday list got me to thinking about all those Mr. Moms out there. These dads have no problem taking over the reins while mom is away or feeling under the weather.

When my kids were really young, we had a neighbor with two young boys. Her husband would travel for work or go off and play golf while she stayed home with the kids. (We can't begrudge him for the working part.) I remember that she wanted to go away over night once, and he wouldn't let her because he didn't want to have to care for their kids alone for that long. At that moment I was so thankful for my own husband.

Eric has always been completely capable to function alone with our kids. He changed diapers, made formula, and bathed them when they were little. I know they won't ever starve while I'm gone because he's a much better cook than I am! (He has been known to make a meal and freeze it for us when he was the one who was going to be away from home!) Several times Eric has helped the boys work on a project like cleaning a closet while I've been away. He will encourage me to go do things, which can be a task because I am a home body by nature.

As most of you know, next week I'll be attending the Greater Philly Christian Writers Conference for 3 days. When I told our older son, his reaction was, "Woo hoo! Man party!" I quickly burst his bubble when I told him I would be commuting back and forth and, therefore, would be home at night!

However, if I was going to be away for 3 days and 2 nights, I would have no qualms about it. My hubs is an excellent Mr. Mom!! Thank you Lord for giving me such a wonderful husband. Please bless him and all of the other wonderful Mr. Moms out there!

Home for the Moment!

We're back from our camping trip. We had a terrific time with our friends from college and their two kids! Their kids are the same ages as our kids, except that their younger one is a girl. She gets right in there with the boys though!

We were camping on our friend, B's, grandmother's property. She's in her 90's and now lives with B's parents. B and his siblings and parents share the property as a weekend getaway. They were kind enough to give us permission to camp there for two nights. I'm not sure how many acres there are, but there are plenty of woods, a pond and a lake to keep you occupied. We had fun on the row boat and paddle boat, and the kids had a blast fishing!

There is also a small house on the property, so we had access to a real bathroom! They have a golf cart there that we could drive back and forth between the house and our campsite. Since we were in the middle of no where, we could also be as noisy as we wanted to be and no one bothered us!

The kids enjoyed building our fire and setting off some "safe" fireworks. There is a field that we use to shoot off rockets when we're there with the owners, but we didn't have all the stuff we needed to do this.


One snake was spotted! Thankfully, not by me!

Our friends' daughter must have had the "lucky" fishing pole. As soon as she cast into the water, she got a bite. I believe she out fished all of the boys! Although, Sam definitely caught the largest fish.

Apparently our tent has lost some of its water resistance. It didn't rain at all, but I woke up last night to dew dripping on my head. I had on a sweatshirt, so I pulled up my hood and covered my head with my sleeping bag. I woke up with a wet pillow and wet hair. YUK! I think it's time for a new tent! We'll have to check out some sales at the end of the season.

It was wonderful to be outside and to enjoy God's glorious creation! And God saw that it was good. Amen!






Sam & Coop sleeping on the way home!

Just for Fun

I feel like I've been rather serious this week, so today I'm just posting some photos of Sam skateboarding. This is an activity that brings him much joy. Of course, these pics were taken prior to the broken foot! Our friend, Bill, took these photos for us.

Have a beautiful and blessed weekend everyone!

Letting Go of Those Babies

I'm lamenting because 1 minute ago I became the mom of a high school student, and in about 45 minutes I'll no longer have anyone in elementary school! Sigh...where does the time go?!

UPDATE:

We took the boys to Red Robin for lunch to celebrate the end of the school year!

Here's Sam trying not to smile, while Eric fights his way into the picture.

How's that lime Coop?

Foto Friday

Today's Foto Friday theme is Summer. Well, since my kids aren't out of school yet, and we've had SO MUCH rain, I don't have any pictures that scream summer yet. So these will have to do for now.

Don't my boys look like they're having so much fun in the pouring rain? These were taken at the WWII Weekend last Friday.

Here's Otto the Super Dog enjoying a sunny moment in our backyard! His soccer ball is deflated. He pops every ball we give him. Alas, the boys were away, so he had no one to play with.

Okay, here are two videos of the boys shooting a machine gun at the WWII Weekend. The first video shows Sam, and the second one shows Cooper.

Go check out Mrs. Tracy's pics over at Our Journey, post some of your own and let her know that you're participating. I want to see some sunny photos!

Weekend Update

I haven't been on here too much this week because I've been trying to get things done around the house. It has been going more slowly than I'd like, but at least I'm making some progress!


My planned Sit on My Tushy and Do Nothing Day on Monday didn't turn out exactly as I had planned. First of all, my younger son's IEP meeting was rescheduled for 8 AM that morning. So I had to get up as usual and be at his school by that time. When I got out of that meeting, I ran into some other 5th grade moms and chatted with them about the end of year events coming up. As I was talking with them, my hubs quickly scooted out the door to get to his "business" fishing trip. Since he had to leave before the bank opened, I had to go make a deposit for one of the travel baseball teams that he is the treasurer for. Oh, what sacrifices I make! (Actually, I can walk to the bank from where I live.)

When I got home, the dishes needed to be done, of course. Then I decided to do two loads of laundry and fold the huge mound of clothes that was just sitting in one of my baskets. After that, the dog and I went outside and watered our vegetable and herb gardens. (Well, I watered the gardens... he "watered" elsewhere in the yard.) I also hung out the load of towels that I had washed. I think I worked on cleaning up my dining room table that day too. I had gifts from my students sitting all over it. (I still need to do my thank yous!) I did get to read a little bit and watch my soap, but I did a lot more than I had planned to do! The truth is, I had a pretty relaxing weekend last week and didn't feel the need to "sit on my tushy" (not to mention that I felt too guilty to do so!).

On Friday, we kept our boys home from school and went to Reading for the World War II Weekend. It poured the entire day! We had to buy tickets to go to this event, and we had other things scheduled for yesterday and today, so we had to go on Friday. Due to the rain, they didn't do any of the reenactments, which was a bummer, but we still saw some pretty cool stuff. Both of our boys got to shoot a 30 caliber machine gun (with blanks). Man, that was loud! They had a lot of veterans doing talks and signing books. We got to meet several of the actual Band of Brothers veterans, and they signed a book for my husband! Here are the pictures.

This pic shows Clancy Lyall, Bradford Freeman and Don Malarkey.

Here are Malarkey and Buck Compton.

Here is my hubby in awe of the fact that he's speaking with Buck Compton!

And lastly, Ed Tipper.

Sorry ladies if you're not WWII buffs. Maybe your husbands will be impressed instead! There were tanks, jeeps, motorcycles and planes everywhere... some of them German. There were many encampments set up, and you could also see what life was like on the home front. We watched them do an old time radio show. It was neat to see them do all the sound effects! After the radio show, there was a typical public service announcement trying to get people to ration gasoline for the war effort. "Remember, if you ride alone, you ride with Hitler!"

We also listened to three of the Filthy 13 speak. They were really funny. Apparently, the movie The Dirty Dozen is based on their story. (I honestly thought that movie was a western!) Regarding serving in the war, one of the vets said, "We went in and did what we had to do. We don't apologize for it, and we don't brag about it." He also mentioned that 1200 WWII veterans die each day. So we're really losing this part of our history quickly.

Long post today, huh? Eric and the kids are fishing in Cape May today, so I'm home alone! However, I'll end this now. Have a beautiful Sunday!

Happy Birthday

Today would have been my brother, Jackie's, 56th birthday. Jackie got sick when he was around 5 years old and was diagnosed with a brain tumor. He died in October 1963 at the age of 10. My mom has said that she doesn't really remember much about President Kennedy's assassination because my brother died only a month before that happened. My family had their own personal grief to deal with at that time.

When Jackie died, my oldest sister was 11 and my twin sisters had just turned 8. I wasn't around yet. Before he died, my mom caught him making out his will. She was so upset that she took it and ripped it up. Jackie told her not to worry because she would have another baby. I was born in November 1964. I have always felt a connection to him because of what he had said to our mom. I also think that his comment is why I am a Christian today. I am meant to be here. There is a reason. God created me for His purpose. His purpose isn't always clear to me, but I keep striving to do His will.

Happy Birthday Jackie. I know we will finally meet in Heaven one day.

Ramblings by Me

If you've been following me for a while, you'll know that today is the day I've been waiting for. I'm done with work until August 31! Summer vacation is finally here for me! You might also remember that I declared June 1st as my personal Sit on My Tushy and Do Nothing Day. Well, my plans have been slightly altered. We were supposed to have my younger son's IEP meeting next Friday. However, the meeting has been moved to Monday at 8 AM! So that means I have to get up as usual and be over at his school by then. Bummer! Not that I was planning on sleeping in that day, but I wasn't planning to have to be showered, dressed and out the door so early.

As I'm doing my end of the school year happy dance, I'm looking around my house and thinking, "Yuck! Look at all that dust and clutter." Cleaning up is definitely on my agenda between now and when the boys finish up their school year on the 18th. Yes, I have 18 school days without children for 6 hours a day! Of course, there will be one day spent at my younger son's 5th grade picnic and another day spent volunteering at his school's end of year carnival. Plus, we're taking the boys out of school next Friday to go to a World War II show. Both of our boys, especially our youngest, love anything to do with WWII. There are going to be planes, tanks and different vehicles on display along with a lot of other WWII paraphernalia. Also, there will be many veterans making appearances, including several who were depicted in the show Band of Brothers (which we've watched at least a dozen times!). It will be educational, so I don't feel badly about taking them out of school for it. Hopefully, I'll get lots of pictures that I can post here. We're going to Gettysburg again this summer too.

My dear assistant teacher was so sweet to me today. She gave me a gift as a thank you for helping her through her first year with us! She (we'll call her M.) was only supposed to work for us this year. My former assistant (B.) needed to take this year off because her youngest child was going to kindergarten and the schedules just didn't mesh. B. is coming back in September to resume her position as my assistant in my 4-year-old class. However, due to some staff changes, we were able to offer M. the position as my assistant for my 3-year-old class and as Head Teacher for our 2 1/2-year-old class. M. is so happy, and we're thrilled to have her back again! Here's a picture of what she gave me.

She said she has the same bag and carries her Bible in it. The inside of the bag is pink and it has the following verse in it; "Faith, hope and love ~ but the greatest of these is Love." 1 Corinthians 13:13 I was so surprised by the gift and love it! I can't wait to read the devotional and to use the journal.

We actually have NO plans for this evening. I am thrilled! I think my hubby and I are going to sit on the porch later, have a glass of wine and just enjoy some togetherness. Tomorrow will be filled with baseball...first my younger son's game and then we're going to a minor league game with our church.

I pray that y'all have a blessed, fun-filled weekend!

I'm Back

Hello out there to all of my bloggy friends! I am still alive. I've got about four days worth of blogs to read, but I don't know if I'll get the time to do that. I'll probably just go read everyone's most recent post. I was just busy on Thursday and Friday and then went to visit my parents Saturday morning and didn't return until Sunday night.

We had a nice time, although, I woke up with a killer headache Sunday morning. I had to take some Advil and go lay down with a warm washcloth on my head. I finally felt better after lunch.

Just a little more background on me....I'm the youngest of 5 kids; I have 3 older sisters; my brother died a year before I was born (brain tumor); my oldest sister is 12 years older than me and the twins are 9 years older. So all of my sisters are in their 50's, and my parents are in their early 80's. All of my siblings were out of the house by the time I turned 9, so I kind of grew up as an only child. My kids are the youngest grandchildren; the 7 others range in age from 16 to 31. I've been an aunt since I was 12! Now I'm a great-aunt to my niece's daughter, and she is expecting another little girl in July. (And this one will be named Tinkerbell Ranger according to her big sister!)

It's kind of strange to me when our family gets together because my sisters grew up in a different time and literally a different place than I did. I'm not really close to any of them, however, I'd say my oldest sister and I have gotten to know each other better in the last 10 years. I think she and I are most alike, and our husbands get along the best. Plus, her 26-year-old son gets along great with my two boys.

I meant to take pictures over the weekend but never got my camera out. I could kick myself! This is rather morbid, but I always wonder when I see my parents if it will be for the last time. I wanted to get some pics of them and the kids. Plus, we should have gotten photos of my sisters and I with our parents. All of us only get together about every 12 to 18 months.

My mom, my oldest sister and I are going to try to get together later this summer to do some canning from our gardens. I've just never done it before and feel intimidated by it. Since they've both done it before, they can teach me. (I really regret that I never let my mom teach me how to sew!)

I guess that's enough about me for right now. I pray that each of you had a beautiful and relaxing long weekend!

Foto Friday

Today's Foto Friday theme is Outside Fun. Since we're just getting into the summer of 2009, these photos are a little old. The first two pics are from our trip to Gettysburg in July 2007. You'll see Sam and Coop pretending to be dead soldiers. Then there is a photo of Eric and I.
The next two pics are from our trip to the Outer Banks in July 2008. The first one shows Sam playing wiffle ball on the beach. Then there is Cooper posing with his boogie board.
This last photo is of Eric at Six Flags Water Park during our trip to Illinois in July 2008. We were out there visiting his family.
Foto Friday is sponsored by Mrs. Tracy over at Our Journey.

The Sabbath as a Day of Rest

Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work,...
Exodus 20:8-10


Our home dates back to at least the 1860's. Therefore, we have no central air conditioning. We have one window unit downstairs and two upstairs, plus fans and a ceiling fan in the kitchen. All of these do keep our house cool during the summer.

Every spring I go through the same ritual of cleaning all of the fans and the filters of the air conditioners. It is 90 degrees here today, so guess what I've been doing for the past hour and a half? Since it's not even May, I refuse to put on the a/c's, but the fans are going. (Besides, we had an incident with an Easter egg and our downstairs a/c unit. Let's just say we have to get the egg out of there SOON!)

Each Sunday, after we go to church and have lunch, I always have a mile long list of things to get done around the house and/or to prep for Monday's class. Along with this list comes guilt because I know the Lord has commanded us to observe the Sabbath and to take it as a day of rest.

My question for all of my bloggy friends is do you take Sunday as a day of rest or are you running around like I am? If it is a restful day for you, what do you do during the week to prepare and make sure Sunday is a day of rest for you and your family? Please let me know because I want to fix this for myself and my family!!! I appreciate your answers as you all are a blessing to me.

My Husband is Sweet and I Am Clueless

It is absolutely gorgeous here today! My hubby will be at the baseball fields for most of the day. He called me earlier to check in and suggested that the four of us go out to dinner tonight.

Then he began talking about next Saturday. He said that perhaps we could get someone to take the kids for the afternoon and the two of us could go on a long picnic if it's a nice day. My reply was, "Cooper has a baseball game." Eric is one of the assistant coaches for this team. He said he would tell them he couldn't be there for the game and would get someone else to take Coop to the game. My reply was, "We're going to miss Coop's game?" Eric said yes. I was surprised and confused.

Then Eric went on to say that we could take the few hours for ourselves to talk and reflect. Talk? Reflect? That's when I understood what he was trying to do! Our baby would have been due next Saturday, and he wanted to just spend some alone time with me. He said he doesn't want it to be a sad time for us. Well, at this point, I was almost in tears as we were talking on the phone. I don't know how I won't be in tears during our time together next Saturday.

My dear, sweet husband! I pray that I can keep it together on Saturday for his sake and because I don't exactly like to cry in public! Please pray that this can be a nice time for us and a time of healing for our hearts.

Play Ball!

As you can see, we had a gorgeous day for the Opening Ceremonies that kicked off our baseball season! It is the first time in many, many years that we haven't had nasty weather. We did almost have one glitch....the power went out all through town for about a 1/2 hour. My hubby was slightly panicking about that. No power meant no sound system, and worse yet, no snack stand! It came back on in time though. Praise God!

Here's my hubby (below) giving his Opening Day speech. He did great! I was quite impressed considering how much he dislikes having all eyes on him. (Of course, he is in sales for a living, so he has to be used to it by now!) I stayed close by in case he needed any help, but he didn't!

This is the first year that we've had t-ball teams in the league. Here they are waving their hats as they're being recognized during Eric's speech. A few of them are my current and former students. Throughout the entire organization, 550 kids are playing in our league this year! That's the highest number yet. Even if we didn't include the t-ball kids, the numbers are higher than last year.

Easter Monday Pics

The schools here always have Easter Monday off, so our Youth Group planned a trip to an indoor skate park and to Dave & Buster's (kind of like an adult version of Chuck-E-Cheese). My hubby is the one on the right in this intense game of hockey. You probably can't tell, but his tongue is out which means that he is seriously concentrating!

Here's our Sam showing off his stuff at the skate park. Thank you to our friend, Bill, for these cool photos!