The middle finger and hell...

Brayden and I were talking about the devil and hell and how one ends up there; deep stuff for a Monday morning ride to school. We were talking about how some people don't believe in God. Brayden says… "Destiny (a girl in his class) doesn't believe in God" and then with strong conviction and a sound of irritation in his voice he says "God made her!! She should love him to death. I love him to death!"

How we came open the subject in the first place is kind of funny too. I had hurt my finger and I showed it to him, it happened to be my middle finger… so of course I get the "Ummmm, you're in trouble… you just stuck your middle finger up at me". So I explained how God doesn't make dirty fingers and that the middle finger is just as good as the rest... you just have to be careful how you use it. He said "it's ok to stick it up at the ground, because that means you're sticking it up at the devil and we hate the devil". I told him if he felt the need to give a hand gesture to the devil he could give him the thumbs down or better yet, just stick out his tongue at him… so he did, while holding his open palms to each side of his head. Take that, Mr. devil!!

Finally...

Ok, so I’ve been promising for over a year now that I would tell you all about the story involving Brayden and the school being put on lock down. I believe it was the third day of Kindergarten. The morning began as usual as I dropped Brayden off at his class. I guess it was around 10am when I received a call from his teacher. I could tell by the sound of her voice that something was wrong. She began by saying that everything was fine…. now, however they had an incident with Brayden. She explained that when they came back inside after recess that she noticed Brayden was missing. So of course they checked the bathroom, the hall, etc thinking surely he had just lingered behind somewhere. She said that she was 100% sure he had come in, because he was at the beginning of the line with her and she saw him walk through the door. After a quick check of the classroom and bathroom turned up empty, they immediately put the school on lock down. They called his name over the intercom, they searched every closet, every bathroom. Just as the teacher had picked up the phone to call the police... another student noticed movement under a stack of chairs. There were 4 stacks of chairs in the corner of the room, he had crawled under them and hid all the way back in the corner. He had been in the room the whole time and ignored all of their efforts to find him. His teacher was so shaken up when she called. He says he was just playing hide and seek… he thought it was funny. He soon learned that he was the only one that thought it was funny. Let’s just say he learned his lesson and he hasn’t hidden from anyone since then.

Oh the drama...

So Brayden came home from Adventure Club one day last week and informed me that his old girlfriend (Chloe) from waaayy back in preschool is going to AC too. Well, now they are boyfriend and girlfriend again... however there is a little hitch... he is sharing her with Logan, one of his buddies (also from the same preschool class as previous mentioned). So I asked him how that works and this is the exact answer I got...

Brayden: "I get it on Sunday's and Logan gets it on Saturday"

He then went on to explain the others days in which they get "it". So I asked "what do you get".. and he says "we get to be her boyfriend". It was so funny! I knew what he meant, but I had to ask anyway.

By the way, he came home Friday and told me that Logan had moved on and found a new girlfriend, so now Chloe is just his girlfriend.

Trip to Mississippi

Brayden, mom and myself just got back from a wonderful trip home to Mississippi. We had a great time!!!! I already miss everyone and can't wait to go back in November. We spent one day at Lake Tiak-O'Khata with Teresa and the gang. Brayden had a blast. Baylee stayed with us for most of the trip and what a blessing that was. They had so much fun playing together. Here are a few of my favorite pics from the trip...

Big update: Marital Status

So if you’ve noticed I haven't posted in a while, well that's because I haven't really felt like putting the following out into the world...but it is what it is so here it goes...

As some of you know, Bobby and I separated about 3 months ago. In fact, it was the weekend after my last post... if I would have known what was coming I probably would have skipped the update post. For those of you that didn’t know about the slpit, it’s a long, tangled story that we won’t get into here, but if your curiosity is killing you, please feel free to ask. We aren't technically divorced yet, but I will be… there is no going back to that relationship. We are waiting until January to make it official. Why you ask… well for those of you that are closest to me, you know why and you understand and think it makes complete sense. If you don’t know why, don’t waste your time wondering, just know that I’m an intelligent women and must be waiting for a good reason. Again, if you feel you just have to know… then ask me. Well I won't really elaborate much further, but so your minds don't go nuts wondering what happened...there was no major event, no cheating, etc. We just both know it's time for it to be over. It was an amicable split and we are still on good terms and get along well. Brayden has adjusted well and for now it doesn't seem to have any major effect on him. I'm sure in time he will struggle and have his moments but we will both be there for him. Any advice you have to offer is much appreciated. Just keep us all in your prayers.

Yes, we are still alive and kickin'. A blog is just like Church, once you get out of the habit it's so hard to get back into it. Well, I'm committing right now to start making both a habit again. We haven't been to church in months and every Saturday we promise each other that the next day will be our Sunday to start back. The alarm goes off and we snuggle closer together and decide to wait until next Sunday. So that's been going on since umm, last summer maybe. Way too long. And well it's been 3 months since I've updated the blog and even longer (at least a year) since I've really updated everyone on what we've all been up to but I don't have time to write a novel, so here is the very quick and unorganized version.

Bobby opened his own Auto Detail business, closed it 4 months later and then reopened it last week. Business is good. I got a promotion at work in January and I'm now the Walmart.com account manager for Dorel. So when you see one of the many Dorel items on Walmart.com, you can think of me. I really love what I'm doing.

Brayden is doing great in school academically but is still struggling to sit still and be quiet. He had about 3 weeks in a row where I thought we were going to seriously have to start taping his mouth shut and gluing him to his chair. The last 2 weeks have been good though so I'm keeping my fingers crossed. I guess if you ground a boy enough and eventually take away every privilege except eating, then he'll finally get a clue.

We got a dog... her name is "girl". That's the name she came with. She belonged to Bobby's younger brother. She is 3 or 4 yrs old. I thought the name was corny at first and wanted to change it... but I catch myself saying "come here girl" all the time, so I guess it's the perfect name. She is a great dog... already housebroken, does tricks, minds very well and loves Brayden. She is a beagle/terrier mix. I'll attach a picture soon.

Ok, that's the important stuff... now here is a list of just random things that I probably would have blogged about it if I was keeping up with this like I should have been. If you're interested in more details on any of them, just ask.

• Bobby and I have both set up Myspace pages. I used to think it was for kids, but now that I've set up a page... I'm addicted. We are competing to see who can get the most Myspace friends... I'm ahead!!
• We told Brayden the Easter Bunny wasn't real.
• Our latest fun thing to do as a family is play Lego Star Wars 2 on the playstation, yes even me.
• We got a free canoe...that had a hole in it. Bobby patched it...
• Bobby and I went on a 3 day canoe/camping trip on the Buffalo River. We almost sunk the patched canoe.
• We got a hamster and then we gave it away 6 months later.
• Brayden's "girlfriend" moved to New Jersey, she moved back... now he says she moved again...oh the drama!
• We contemplated moving to North Carolina so Bobby could go to Nascar school. We chickened out. Maybe some day though...
• We decided to have a baby and then we decided to wait and then we decided to adopt and then we decided to wait and it's kind of gone on like that for 6 months and where are we now? Um, I think we are still waiting. It changes weekly.
• We went to Mississippi for Thanksgiving and had the best Thanksgiving I think we've ever had.
• I joined a gym and ate really good and lost about 15 lbs...then Thanksgiving in MS came and I threw it all out the window and have yet to jump back on the wagon. The 15 lbs however have jumped back on me. That's another one of those things that I'm going to start back on along with blogging and going to church.
• I learned I have a heart murmur.
• I had fender bender with an idiot that didn't have insurance.
• Brayden caused the school to get put on lock down and the police were almost called (I know I've been promising to elaborate on this for months)

I am sure there are many other things but my brain is fried and this is all that comes to mind right now.

Bringing us up to speed....

Ok, so I know it's been quite a while since I've posted, but's it's not from a lack of material -it's from a lack of time. New Year's Resolution #6 - Update Blog weekly.... we'll see.

So, the last time I posted it was to let everyone know that Brayden had started the Big "K", ...Kindergarten. So, we're 4 months in and he's doing great...well intellectually he's doing great. His behavior the first few months was lacking, but he's finally started to get that under control. It's not that he's really misbehaving, he just won't quit talking...(imagine that, my kid likes to talk). Mom says that was always the number 1 complaint that my teachers had about me. His teacher says that it's very hard to get on to him because he's so funny and he's just trying to put his 2 cents in and participate. She encourages participation but not when it means he's talking more than her. I guess there could be worse things, he could be mean and hateful...instead he just has alot to say.

As far as his school work, he amazes me. His little brain has learned and absorbed so much in the past 4 months. His latest accomplishment is being able to count by 5's to 100. He can actually keep going but his attention span is gone by the time he gets that far. He can spell about 20 words and he is beginning to recognize words that he sees in his environment. I'm looking at his latest Interim report right now and he has a + (means mastered) by all but 1 of the 25 skills. The 1 not mastered reads "Locate 2 dimensional figures within 3 dimensional objects". I'm not sure I can do that :)

Ok, so I've talked about behavior and intellect...that leaves me with social skills. Any of you that know Brayden, knows that he is quite the social butterfly. He never meets a stranger and he will talk to anyone that gives him the time of day. He switches best friends as quickly as he switches his underwear. Everyday I hear about a new friend that he's made at recess. Not just Kindergarteners but 1st and 2nd graders too. We went to Wal-Mart last night and we saw 4 kids that he called by name and said hi to. It's like that everywhere we go. Brayden also switches "girlfriends" about once a week. He has talked about girlfriends since he was 3 years old. In preschool, he seemed to keep them for a lot longer, I guess that's because he only had a handful to choose from. Now that he's at a big school, he's sorting through them much more quickly. I asked him about a girl the other day and he explained to me that they had "breaked up". Where does he get this stuff??? I think he just says he has a girlfriend for the sake of having one, because when you ask him what he thinks about girls it's usually negative. I just called him in here and asked "what do you think about girls" he said " (with his thumbs down) they're yucky and they cram the food in their mouth when they eat at lunch". So even though he's always talking about his girlfriends, I don't think I have anything to worry about...yet!

So that's a recap of how school is going. I mentioned in my last post about an incident he caused at school that almost involved the police. I really will get to that...but right now motherhood is calling. Actually it's screaming... "mom can I go outside and play".

Long time, no post...

Ok, I know, it’s been forever since I’ve posted. I keep thinking about and putting it off. But I’m at work today and my mind is wandering, so I decided to catch up on some of the blogs that I used to read; that inspired me to post something. Well, the biggest thing that has happened since my last post is that Brayden started Kindergarten. Remember this post?? Well after a lot of thought, we did decide to keep him in a Pre-K program for one more year. The pediatrician recommended waiting simply because he was a boy and so close to the cut-off, my co-workers said to wait, and my fellow bloggers said to wait…so we waited. We didn’t base our decision solely on everyone’s opinion, but they were definetly a factor. We did however choose to put him into a new preschool, one that was more academically challenging. A few days into the new program, he began to have some major behavioral problems. This was new to us; we had never once been told he was behaving badly at the old school. In hindsight, that’s probably because they let them run around like banshees all day anyway. So we would address it with him and things would get better for a day or so and then he’d have a rough couple of days again. At first, I thought it was because it was a new school and a lot more structure than he was used to. Well, 3 weeks into it, his new teacher called me and asked if my husband and I could come meet with her. So we went the next day expecting to hear that she was expelling him or something. But, it actually turned about to be a great meeting. Her first question was “who told you to keep him from going to kindergarten this year”. We explained how we had come to that decision and she basically told use (in the nicest way possible) that in her opinion (as a teacher for the past 20 years) that we had made the wrong decision. She said that he was so smart and well beyond where he needed to be to start Kindergarten. She said that she felt like the bad behavior stemmed from being bored. She said he would finish his “work” within 5 minutes of sitting at the table. Therefore he was left to twiddle his thumbs while everyone else finished. Well I’m sure you can imagine how long a 5 year old boy can sit still and keep to himself. She said that he would try but that after 15 minutes or so he was going nuts just sitting there. She said that she was willing to let him stay and that she would try to give him more advanced work, but that he was way beyond the other children and would probably struggle all year and maybe even regress. That was on a Wednesday. We thought about it for a while, but I think my husband and I both immediately knew what we needed to do. So I registered him the next day and he started Kindergarten on that Friday. He only missed 3 weeks, and his new teacher said that he would have no problem catching up. Well we are on week 3 and he LOVES it. His behavior has been great (well except for one little mishap on his third day that almost involved the police – more on that later). He is excelling and has already learned so much in this short amount of time. I got an email from his teacher today and it said, among other things, “I really enjoy having him in class, he’s very entertaining! He’s also very quick to learn what I am teaching and he enjoys learning as well.” I’m so proud if him. He’s becoming such a big boy and continues to amaze me everyday.

Stayed tuned – I know I have a lot more stories and Braydenism’s from the last few months that need to be posted before my memory reaches capacity. I’ve just got to do some brainstorming first and dig them all up.

Mixed up feelings?

On the way to preschool this morning Brayden says (in his most sad voice)

B: Mom, I'm a little shy today.
T: Your shy??? (this boy has never been shy, so I had to confirm that's what he said)
B: Yeah, I'm just a little shy.
T: Why are you shy today?
B: Because I want daddy (he had to go to work early, so Brayden didn't get to see him)
T: Do you mean that you are sad because you didn't get to see him.
B: No, I'm just shy.


Lately Brayden has been on this kick where he calls his nana, "your mom" when he talks about her to me. Papa is "your dad" and Uncle David has just recently become "your brother".

For example, he was sitting at the dining room table tonight coloring and he came across a picture that Nana had done. He calls me into the room and shows me the picture. He says "Your mom used to draw these when she went to school" We also went out to my brother's house tonight. As we pulled in he says "Your brother is in the backyard, I can see him". When addressing them directly he calls them by name though. It's so funny!


Ok, one last "Brayden Story" as mom and I call them...

Did you know that the Lion King has a Lion Queen?? Well if you discuss the movie "Cars" with Brayden you will hear lots of talk about the Lion Queen. If you haven't seen the movie, Lion Queen (known to most as Lightening McQueen) is the star of the movie. :)

Works For Me Wednesday

HAPPY MEAL MINUS THE MEAL

There are several times throughout the year that McDonald's will offer toys that I really would like for Brayden to have. For instance, they currently have the "Cars" cars. There are 10 of them I believe. I wanted to get all of them for him, but I didn't want to feed him 10 Happy Meals in the process, so I just buy the toy. I think it's like $1.14 per toy. I run by McDonald's like once a week during the series and see which new ones they have. Most of the time, I buy them while Brayden isn't with me and stash them. They make great little rewards for good behavior. It's hard to find toys that your kids will really like for less than 2 bucks these days. He loves getting his cheap Mickey-D toys though. I assume other fast food places would sell just the toy as well, I've just never asked.

One last thing, I usually buy 2 of each of the Disney Series ones. I keep one in the original package and stash it away for good. I thought it would be cool to give them all to Brayden one day when he leaves the nest. I wish I would have saved some of mine from my childhood. Have you seen how much those things go for on Ebay??

Click on over to Shannon's for some more great WFMW tips!!

On the menu...

Peachy Delight (somewhere between a peach cobbler and peach crisp)

1 - 29oz can of sliced peaches in heavy syrup
1/4 c - of water
1 - package of butter pecan cake mix (you can use other flavors of cakes mixes)
1 - stick of butter
1/4 c - sugar
1 tsp - cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Pour canned peaches into a 9x13 inch baking pan; make sure juices cover peaches. Add water, sugar, and cinnamon. Stir in pan.

3. Cut stick of butter into dry cake mix using a fork or pastry blender. Pour evenly over peaches. Do not mix into peaches.

4. Bake in preheated oven for 45 to 55 minutes, or until the juice mixture is bubbly and the top of the cake mix topping is crusty and golden brown.

(you can use fresh peaches as well, but you will need to increase the sugar to 3/4 cup)

Brayden came in from outside and informed me that him and his buddy from next door were "having a sundae". I naturally think ice cream. So I ask him where he got it? He says outside, so I must go out to inquire. I walked out the door and saw something I definetly wasn't expecting.....

Wanna see a sundae??

Works For Me Wednesday

I'm not feeling very creative today, so I'm keepin' it simple....

What are you doing with all of the WFMW tips that you really like?

Well if you haven't come up with anything yet, check out my very first WFMW tip. It works perfectly for keeping up with all of the wonderful ideas that are shared each week.

Check it out here!!

For more WFMW tips, click on over to Shannon's

According to Brayden...

Cupcake with Sprinkles = Pupcake with sprinklers
Jimmy Neutron = Nimmy Neutron
Ranch = White Sauce
Guitar = Bittar
Power Rangers SPD = Power Rangers Cass-Pa-Dee
Lightning Bugs = Lighty Bugs
Cartoon = Kid Movie
Dr. Pepper, Coke, Sprite, etc = Root Beer
Computer = Pewter

The funny thing is that for most of these is that he truly knows how to say them, and sometimes he will slip up and say them correctly and not even realize. But for the most part he makes a point to call them the incorrect name. The bad part is that me and my husband have now picked up his version and began using them.

I know there are more, but those are the only ones I can thing of right now...

Enter To Win...

This weeks WFMW involves labels. Whenever I go to an expo or fair or some type (baby fair, home expo, craft fair…etc) I take a sheet of labels with me that have my name, address, phone, and email. Why? Because these type of venues always have several booths that have drawings and contests. I like entering these types of things, but I hate filling out the little forms every time, so I usually would just skip them. But now it’s easy, I just peel off a label and stick it on. I actually won something at the last one!!

For more great WFMW tips click on over to Rocks In My Dryer!!

Recent Conversation

Radio: Yeeee-Haaaww
B: Mom, when I grow up I want to be a cowboy.
M: Maybe you can be a cowboy for Halloween
B: Awesome! Do you know where to buy a cowboy suit?
M: I can order one off of the computer.
B: How?
M: I will pay the computer and it will mail us one. (Ok, that’s not exactly how it works, but I just didn’t want to get into all of that this morning)
B: Oh cool, that’s awesome.
*pause*
B: (sounding doubtful) Are you sure mom?
M: Yes, I’m sure.
B: Yea! Awesome.

WORKS FOR US WEDNESDAY

Washing my son’s hair at bath time has always been quite an event for us. He can play in the water outside all day and get it in his ears and face, but if it happens at bath time – let the screaming begin. One night during the hair washing battle, I wondered what we had done with the little hair washing visor I had purchased a few months back. I hadn’t seen it for months; I assume we trashed it because it was worthless. It was one of those visors that is made specifically for washing hair. It was very flimsy and it didn’t cover his ears. We had trouble keeping it on too. As I sat wondering what we had done with it, I thought of his Spiderman visor. So I went to get it and we’ve been using it ever since. It works perfectly. The wide band covers his ears and the cardboard visor is strong and withstands the water. I start by putting it around his neck and then bringing the front and sides up under his hair. I hang it on the shower nozzle when we are done so that it can dry. This definetly works for us. Now my husband and I don’t argue about who has to wash his hair.

We purchased this one at Wal-Mart in the Infants/Toddlers department.

Note: The strange brown mark on his neck is a batman tattoo.

For more WFMW tips, click on over to Rocks In My Dryer...