Appointment set

We've been busy getting things ready for school. The boys start next Wednesday and I've finished their school supply shopping; under $100 for the both of them. (I didn't think that was too bad.)

Plus our friends from Liberia have returned home and the boys have been catching up with their best buds. We really missed them! (Tristan's 1st comment to Joel was that he looked skinny. I thought it was funny but come to find out from his parents, they were extremely concerned because he didn't like the food there and didn't eat much.)

We'll go and get all the information in regards to Aidan's extra tooth tomorrow afternoon. Wow, it took me almost a week to get up the nerve to schedule it. I'm obviously nervous. Will update tomorrow afternoon with the news. Thanks for all of the support!

Of course it would be my child...

that might have a third front tooth??? I have never heard of this before until our latest dentist appt. Aidan got his first ever panoramic xray to see how his adult teeth that haven't come in yet are looking. Seems to be that he might have (the dentist is pretty sure of it) a third front top tooth (his other two are already here).

We got a referral to an oral surgeon to have him take a look at the xray and determine if the third tooth is compressing the nerve or compromising the other front teeth. If it's not one thing it's another, I tell ya.

Plus he has two wisdom teeth already. With our recent wisdom teeth experience this is not something either one of us wanted to hear. You should have seen his face when the dentist pointed them out on the xray. Priceless.

Happy Birthday Shell!

Hope you have an awesome birthday! We love you lots!

(Wow, this blog has been full of celebrations lately huh? Fine by me, I'd much rather it be this than the alternative.)

100th Post!!!

I can't believe I did it! I think there were others out there that didn't think I would keep up with this blog either, but here I am! Still going strong and loving every minute of it!

WooHoo - here's to 100 more. Keep checking in on us.

Fevers

My sister just called and her girls have a fever now. Wow, I feel badly! This might be passed on from Tristan during our visit or it could be totally unrelated.

Just wanted to let you guys know who might be reading and have children at home to watch out.

I'm sorry if I've contaminated your kids! It seem like it's just children that are getting it, not adults. Whatever this virus is, it was just a sore throat and fever for us. Of course it could switch up depending on the person.

Bummer!

Recap of our trip!

The boys and I flew down to Dallas, Texas Friday to be with our family for the weekend. I was a bit nervous about this because I've never gotten the rental car by myself and actually made the 2 hour drive to Tyler. Plus my copilot came down with a fever the night before (thanks Aidan) and we weren't sure how he was going to do. Things turned out really well - we were well prepared with driving instructions and Tristan was a trooper throughout the day.

We stopped at Nana's to spend the first night with her! The boys wouldn't have it any other way actually. Aidan is very attached to his Nana and loves to make her laugh, which is exactly what they did the entire night.

Saturday we headed over to my Aunt's house for an 80th Birthday Bash for my grandfather. I can't believe he's 80! He's just the same as always. We had a great time - here are some pics.

(Left to Right) Papa, Aidan, Virginia, Tristan and I'm on the floor.

Papa and his daughters. On the left is Sissy and the right is my mom.

Cake time! My cousin's wife baked the cake and it was decorated as his deer lease in Athens.

Tristan and Aidan with their soccer pal Brittney. She's my cousin's oldest daughter (16). The boys really hit it off with her. We are hoping to be able to get them together again in the future whether it's here or there. Maybe a soccer or basketball camp next summer.

This is Aidan, Alyssa (my niece), and me! Perfect picture to end the trip with. We were just hanging out at my mom's on our last day there. The boys decided that Texas is way too hot to live there but they love visiting.

We did have pictures professionally taken on Sunday also. Once I receive mine I'll post those also! Thanks everyone for opening your homes to us and spending the weekend with us. We had a blast and we are so happy that we were able to come. Love you all!

I get to come home to this!

After spending a weekend with my family in Texas, the boys and I came home to a spotless house, a clean dog, a car that was recently serviced and had it's windshield replaced due to a huge crack that has been there for God knows how long, a new battery in my garage door opener that has been causing me problems for as long as I've had the cracked windshield, our outdoor lighting finally in place along the driveway, and a garage door that was repaired because it broke yesterday!

How awesome of a husband do I have? I know it, I'm a very lucky girl! Details from the trip to follow soon. I'm exhausted and there's a mountain of work to get caught up at the hospital.

Bears everywhere!

This is so true! We had a black bear walk into a major electronics store right in the middle of town. I'm not joking - this is crazy and really funny.

Best day ever! (Spongebob episode)

It's amazing when you watch your children excel in something. The boys had a great day on Saturday at their soccer tournament. Tristan played really well and his team got 2nd place. Aidan had one of his best games of his life and his team also got 2nd place. (If you or your kids watch Spongebob and you know the episode where he sings, "The Best Day Ever," you'll get my silly reference here.)

Have you ever watched one of your children do something good and it chokes you up? That happened to me. Aidan was playing so well and all of a sudden I went to say something to my girlfriend next to me and I snorted (yep, I'll admit it) and my eyes swelled up with tears. He was simply amazing to me and I was so proud. Parents were congratulating Josh and I; which I didn't understand-I didn't do anything, it was all Aidan. Another parent commented on how his play in the game was a gift not something you can teach a child. I still start to cry thinking about him!

Sunday comes around and we are all a bit exhausted. We slept in until 9:30 and Aidan tells me that his neck hurts. I really didn't think twice about it because I assumed he was just a bit sore from his day before. At 2 p.m. Tristan is looking for Aidan. (I thought they were together so I was shocked to know Tristan had been watching tv for the past hour by himself. Bad mom!!!) Tristan finds Aidan sleeping in his room. This is so unlike Aidan that I checked on him and he was burning up with a 102.7 fever. I asked him what was wrong and again, "my neck really hurts." One thing popped in my head - meningitis! I looked it up on webmd and sure enough he had all the symptoms. Off to the ER we go.

Now, this is not how I expected to spend my day off, at work in the ER for three hours. Come to find out, he has swollen glands but a negative strep test. He's fighting a virus of some kind and high fevers are the norm for Aidan. It wasn't meningitis because he could move his neck around fine, it wasn't stiff. Yep, I overreacted and had to listen to my husband make jokes about me all night. 3 hours in the ER to get some Tylenol and Motrin which I could have done myself at home. I'm going to chalk up my quick decision to rush him to the ER on my lack of sleep and stress from a busy schedule.

Aidan's doing well now, he's still fighting the fever. At 3 this morning it was up to 103 again. I got a free day off due to this (yeah right, you working moms out there know there is not such thing as a free day off. I'll have to do all of the work in less time now.) but I'm happy to be here with the boys.

I've got to brag!

My hubby got a new job!!!! It's within the same company but it's a promotion and in an engineering area that he finds interesting! The only down side to it all is that it's shift work, no more M-F, 8 am to 5 pm. Big change for us and a leap that could be a bit scary. I'll keep holding down the fort as usual though so hopefully this will be a change for the better.

I'm so proud of him. I've never known anyone to actually interview in the morning and get the job offer that same afternoon. Of course he countered the offer, he could never pass up on a chance to get more money, but today he finally accepted the position. Way to go babe!

What's hot in our house.

I will never remember this kind of stuff so I'm going to put it here.

The boys are into their music right now and this is who they are listening to:

* Pocketfull of Sunshine by Natasha Bedingfield

* Bleeding Love by Leona Lewis
* Low by Flo Rida
* Chris Brown - anything of his is a hit to them!

* Take a Bow by Rihanna. Tristan actually knows all of the words to this one. First time ever this has happened, cool stuff.

Our 4th!

Happy 4th to you! We had a blast going to the Colorado Rapids game last night. They are said to have the largest firework show in Colorado. It was awesome and lasted for 25 minutes. They even allow some of the fans to come down on the field to watch it.

Pregame festivities!

Aidan!

Colin Clark #23, the man of the game.

Tristan!

We got to see this sign 4 times! The game was 4-0 against the New York Red Bulls.

I couldn't get a picture of Bouna on the field so this is a closeup of him on the screen. He's the boy's favorite player - the goal keeper.

Terry Cooke is also a favorite.

They had all of the Colorado mascots there for the halftime show. Here's the Bronco's mascot.

We were a part of the new attendance record! If anyone knows my husband you know this wasn't something he enjoys. He hates crowds.

Aidan on the Rapid's field. It's real grass! The boys were able to see a bunch of their friends at the game also. It's the soccer clique I guess.

What applies to me -

The ones in green apply to me:

Bought everyone in the bar a drink
Swam with wild dolphins
Taken a Ferrari for a test drive
Been inside a Pyramid
Held a tarantula
Taken a candle lit bath
Said I love you and meant it
Hugged a Tree
Bungee jumped
Visited Paris
Watched a lightening storm at sea
Stayed up all night long and saw the sun rise
Seen the Northern Lights
Gone to a huge sports game
Walked the stairs to the top of the Leaning Tower of Pisa
Grown and eaten your own vegetables
Touched an iceberg
Slept under the stars
Changed a baby’s diaper
Taken a trip in a hot air balloon
Watched a meteor shower
Gotten drunk on champagne
Given more than you can afford to charity
Looked up at the night sky through a telescope
Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment
Had a food fight
Bet on a winning horse
Asked out a stranger
Had a snowball fight
Screamed as loudly as you possibly can
Held a lamb
Seen a total eclipse
Ridden a rollercoaster
Hit a home run
Danced like a fool, not caring who watched
Adopted an accent for an entire day
Actually felt happy about your life, even for a moment
Had two hard drives for your computer
Visited all 50 states
Taken care of someone who was too drunk
Had amazing Friends
Danced with a Stranger in a foreign country
Watched wild whales
Stolen a sign
Hitchhiked in Europe
Taken a road-trip
Gone rock climbing
Midnight walk on the beach
Gone sky diving
Visited Ireland
Been heartbroken longer than you were in love
In a restaurant sat at a stranger’s table and ate with them
Visited Japan
Milked a cow
Alphabetized your CDs
Pretended to be a superhero
Sung karaoke
Lounged around in bed all day
Posed nude in front of strangers
Gone scuba diving
Kissed in the rain
Played in the mud
Played in the rain
Gone to a drive-in theater
Visited the Great Wall of China
Started a business
Fallen in love and not had your heart broken
Toured ancient sites
Taken a martial arts class
Played a computer game for more than 6 hours straight
Gotten married
Been in a movie
Crashed a party
Gotten divorced
Gone without food for 5 days
Made cookies from scratch
Won first prize in a costume contest
Ridden a gondola in Venice
Gotten a tattoo
Rafted the Snake River
Been on television news program as an “expert”
Got flowers for no reason
Performed on a stage
Been to Las Vegas
Recorded Music
Eaten shark
Had a one-night stand
Gone to Thailand
Bought a house
Been in a combat zone
Buried one/both of your parents
Been on a cruise ship
Spoken more than one language fluently
Performed in Rocky Horror
Raised children
Followed your favorite band/singer on tour
Taken an exotic bicycle tour in a foreign country
Picked up and moved to another city
Walked on the Golden Gate Bridge
Sang loudly in the car and didn’t stop when you knew someone was looking
Had plastic surgery
Survived an accident that you shouldn’t have
Wrote articles for a large publication
Lost over 100 lbs
Held someone while they were having a flashback
Piloted an airplane
Petted a stingray
Broken someone’s heart
Helped an animal give birth
Won money on a TV game show
Broken a bone
Gone on an African safari
Had a body part below the neck pierced
Fired a rifle, shotgun or pistol
Eaten mushrooms gathered in the wild
Ridden a horse
Had major surgery
Had a snake as a pet
Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon
Slept for more than 30 hours over 48 consecutive hours
Visited more foreign countries than US States
Visited all 7 continents
Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days
Eaten Kangaroo meat
Eaten Sushi
Petted a cockroach
Eaten fried green tomatoes
Read the Illiad
Selected one important author who you missed school to read
Killed and prepared an animal for eating
Skipped all of your school reunions
Communicated with someone without sharing a common language
Been elected to public office
Written your own computer language
Thought to yourself that you’re living your dream
Had to put someone you love in hospice care
Build your own PC from parts
Sold your own artwork to someone that didn’t know it was yours
Had a booth in a street fair
Dyed your hair
Been a DJ
Shaved your head
Caused a car accident
Saved someone’s life

So what I get from this is that I obviously need to travel more.

More pics from this past weekend.

Our team!

Aidan being carried on the shoulders of his cheering squad.

Picture with Coach and 2nd place medals.

A visit to our zoo.

I love zoos! I love going to new ones, old ones, small or large! I can continue to visit the same zoo over and over again and never get bored. Aidan is a complete animal lover and likes the zoo just as much as I do. Tristan is a different story. How my child can hate the zoo I will never understand. His hatred is evident in the picture below:

We have a new area that opened in May and I hadn't seen it yet! This was the first chance that we had to see it and I wasn't going to miss it. We had to drag Tristan along, you would have thought he was being tortured but it was torture on our end to have to deal with his attitude. If I didn't know better I would think I have a teenager already.

We've seen the tiger in the water only once before. This time was even better because he walked down right in front of us and then got in to cool off. Who says cats don't like water?

The grizzly bear exhibit is awesome! They were both in the water right in front of us trying to catch a fish to eat. Too bad we missed the stairs to get to them the first time around and had to walk all the way back up to it. That sucked! I won't ever forget that again but I'm sure I walked off my lunch!

They've also opened a skyride to the top of the zoo. The boys loved the ride (Wow, is Tristan enjoying himself?) and enjoyed the rock climbing area at the top. It wasn't crowded and surprisingly peaceful.

Our view from the skyride back down. What an awesome way to spend your afternoon.