February Flu

Every February we get sick. It has happened since Nolan was six months old and came down with the Roto Virus. I hate that about February. I actually was starting to think that we were going to miss it this year - no such luck! Yesterday when I picked up Hudson from my mom's he threw up. I really didn't think that he was sick since my kids gag and throw up all the time over everything. Just last week I was buckling Hudson in his car sat and he threw up. Turns out his new little jacket collar was "too tight" and made him gag and throw up. Right!?! It wasn't even tight at all - I think it just must have touched the side of his neck in a weird place or something. Anyways, like I said - this is common for us so I really didn't think he was sick! Smells, shirt collars, throwing fits and anything messy looking can make my kids puke. Ugh! Anyways, it turned out to actually be a stomach bug that lasted for three days. Then on Saturday when I thought we were finally past it Nolan threw up. Sucks. Here are a few pics from the other day with Hud just laying on the couch with Daisy.

We Are The World

It's weird when your kids know more about current events than you do. Nolan came home from school today telling me about the "new" We Are The World song. He didn't know about the original one. We talked about it and I explained to him why the first one was made and why they remade it. I hadn't really heard the new version just a part of it off the radio. He asked me if I would download it from i-tunes for him. (hilarious) He was naming all the different artists in it. Like how does he even know? Then he said "Did you know that Lil' Wayne is going to jail? But he hasn't had to go yet because he has REALLY bad teeth." Seriously? How does my kid know that some rapper is going to jail and needs dental work? We don't even really watch live TV at our house when the kids are awake so unless they were talking about that on Curious George, he did not learn about that at home! I asked him who told him all of this information and he said that all the kids were talking about it at school. Kindergartners? It was SO funny to me!!

Anyways, I downloaded the song and listened to it in the car last night for the first time. I didn't really like it at first but when I heard the part where they left in Michael Jackson, I had to choke back tears. I guess it just shocked me and saddened me instantly. Such a loss, so much magic and talent lost to drugs and society. The love in his voice was so evident and so selfless. I was truly moved to tears by the passion in the song even if it wasn't exactly what I expected. This morning I downloaded the video from i-tunes because I was trying to figure out all the voices. Scott, Nolan and Hudson all watched the video too. It made me think of being a kid and gathering around the TV to watch the world premiere of original video on MTV with my parents. It was such a vivid memory that I had not remembered until today. I was exactly Nolan's age. I wonder if years from now he will remember huddling around the laptop to watch the new one? I wonder if in 25 more years there will be a third version released and if he will watch it with his kids? Weird.

Lights Out!

Well after my post on Thursday things went a little crazy around the Mays' household! We lost power about 11pm on Thursday night and it didn't come back on until Sunday night at 9pm. That was three full days of being homeless! Ugh! We toughed it out on Thursday night since it was late and everyone was still warm in their beds but on Friday morning we were cold and had to leave. I packed up the boys and went out to Mimi and PaPa's for the day while Scott was at work. We played in the snow and made snow ice cream and had a great day! When Scott got off work we went up to the mall and killed time just hoping the power would come back on. No such luck! We ended up going out to Nana's and spent the weekend with her. Scott and some of our neighbors took turns driving over and stalking our neighborhood all weekend. Reporting back to each other for any signs of progress. FINALLY the Oncor trucks and tree trimming trucks were in our neighborhood on Sunday. It was hard to be away from home for days even though my mom was an awesome host. I just kept thinking about all the things that needed to be done at home - laundry, grocery shopping and cleaning! Luckily our office was closed for Presidents day so I was able to still get stuff done on Monday before going back to work.

Our Valentine's plans changed a little but we were still able to spend time with the boys and have a date night which was great! We took the boys to the Dallas World Aquarium on Saturday and met up Becca and Conner at Twisted Root for some yummy burgers. The boys loved the aquarium. We took Nolan on his 2nd b-day but just hadn't made it out there again until now. Hudson is a lover of all animals and spent most of the day saying "Awwwwe!" in this sweet little voice about everything - even the snakes, bats and the tank of Piranhas. This lady was standing beside us when he was talking about how "sweet" the little Piranhas were and we were all cracking up! The boys got to feed some of the birds blueberries and pet a few things. It is really a neat place. My favorite thing to see were these teeny-tiny monkeys - I don't remember what they are called but they were full grown and the size of hamsters. They were so little, but sure had a mouth full of teeth! I am putting some pictures below but they not very good because my lens kept fogging up!

After a fun day with the kids, my mom watched the boys and we went out for dinner. I wanted to try this new place in Fort Worth that I have heard about from a few people called Tillman's. We didn't have reservations but we figured even if we had to wait a while we would just have a drink at the bar. When we got there it was closed to walk-in guests for Valentines. :( Then we drove around forever trying to decide where to go. It was kinda a bust for a little while because we tried a few other places that had unbelievable wait times. Just when we were going to call it quits and head back to A-town we passed Joe T's and decided to give it a try. Joe T's never disappoints! We got right in and we sat in a back room that was all candlelit and quiet. It was perfect. Good margaritas and yummy fajitas. Sunday, we went back to the church that we visited last week. We really like it and are thinking about joining it. Last weekend we visited it without the boys just to see how it worked and check it out without introducing them to a place we weren't sure about. It turned out to be a perfect fit for our family! We went early so that we could get the boys checked in for the first time. We talked about it all week to Hudson because he has never been left in a daycare setting before. He seemed okay when we first went into his room because there were lots of toys and things to do, but once he realized I was leaving he flipped out. They said to just leave him and they would post his ID number on the screen if he didn't stop crying. We made it about 10 minutes into the service when his number flashed on the screen. Poor baby! He just had no idea what was going on and was so upset. I ended up just sitting in the "cry room" with him for the rest of the service. I hated that he felt so scared but he is going to have to learn to go. We will try again next week and hopefully it will be better! The ladies were great and very helpful and said sometimes it just take a few weeks for them to get comfortable. I hope so! Nolan loved his class and had a great time. The church just started a new series called "Love Busters" and it was a good message. I have really been putting my focus on God. Praying for His guidance for my family and help to be the person I am supposed to be. I feel his presence in everything I am doing lately - "ask and you shall receive". God's will is really working in my life these days and I am grateful.

Surprise Snow Day!

Today went much differently than I had planned but it was a wonderful surprise! I had jury duty today and was summoned to be at the courts by 7:30am. This threw a major kink in our typical weekday routine. Scott and I decided to switch boys for the morning and he would just go in to work a little late to take Nolan to school at 8am and I would take Hudson out to MiMi's on my way to court. I woke up late (must have turned off the alarm) and jumped out of bed. I was rushing around the house trying to get us dressed, packed and out the door when I realized it had snowed! I was shocked - and not just a little snow, A LOT of snow! I turned on the TV to find out if the schools were closed. (and hoping maybe the Arlington Municipal Courts would be too) They weren't; so I hopped into the car and trekked out to Mansfield to drop of Hud. I went to jury duty which was super boring and after hours of moving rooms and waiting around, I was finally dismissed. When I walked out of the courts I was surprised to see that it was still snowing. It had accumilated to about 5 inches! I decided to pull Nolan out of school early, we ran to Kroger and then went to get Hudson. Scott left work early and met us back at the house about 3:30. We bundled up the whole family and played outside. It was cold but actually really nice. It was so much fun! All of our neighbors were outside so we visited, threw snowballs at other families and all went on a walk up to the school. I loved playing with all the kids in my neighbor when I was little and it's always a little sad to me that the boys don't really have that same situation yet. Today was different though, our street was full of kids and adults all outside playing in the snow! I love how adaptable my boys are - they had just as much fun playing with Brad (our 50 year old neighbor) as they did playing with the kids! Brad even chunked a snowball at another neighbor as he drove by waving and literally hit him because his window was rolled down. It was one of those once in a lifetime shots that he just happened to make - hilarious! We also hung out for a while with another family from down the street. We have met them before but never had the chance to really get to know them. Their kids are exactly the same age as the boys, their little boy is named Hudson and he is in Kindergarten at Nolan's school, they have a dog named Daisy and a boxer and they go to the church that we just visited and are thinking about joining! We joked that we are living parallel lives just five house apart! It was a neat day to actually spend with all our neighbors - we have a great neighborhood! After all the fun in the snow the boys were tired and frost bitten. It was time to go inside and get warm! This week, Scott let the boys take a shower in our bathroom (all on their own) when I went to work out. Nolan now knows how to turn on the water and adjust the temperature. He washes himself and helps Hudson. I couldn't believe that they were such big boys. It was really cute! I got fresh warm towels out of the dryer along with feety pajamas and was ready to dry and dress the boys when they finished their "big boy" shower! We had easy hoggie sandwiches for dinner and played with the boys until bedtime. I know they had a fun day because they both went to bed without a fight and were snoring by about 8 o'clock! Scott and I finished the day with a little lazy, snuggle time on the couch watching netflix. It was one of the best days I have had with my family in a while. We needed a snow day and I think God knew it! :)

Lunch

Momma:
"Nolan, what did you have for lunch today?"

Nolan:
"Um, I had chicken nuggets."

Momma:
"What eles did you eat, what was the side dish?"

Nolan:
"Ketchup."

The "OM" Orginal Messer

My PaPa has been converting all of his slides over to digital images over the past few weeks. He has been randomly sending me pictures from when I was a baby/toddler and it is SO weird how much Hud looks like me at that age. I sent an email out to all my friends to show them a few of the pictures and everyone agreed. It is just funny how genetics work...why does Nolan look so much like Scott as an adult (but not at all like him as a child) and Hud looks just like me as a toddler? Funny how we ended up with one of each of us. Anyways, today I received a new email from PaPa with two new pics that were so funny to me. I was about three in these pictures and it turns out that Hudson and I are more alike than just our looks as you can see from the pictures below.

The first one is of course VERY similar to what Hudson looked like the day he wrecked our bathroom. (I only wish I had gotten a picture of his face before Scott started washing him!) Looks like I was the original messer! Ha Ha! This was me with Granny's lipstick all over my face...at least I kept it on my face...or they caught me just in time.


This picture is hilarious too because he has been doing that EXACT same thing lately where he just walks in the room and shouts "I'm Dead!" and then falls to the ground! They said I went through a phase where I did that too - isn't that weird??? Maybe personality is partially formed from genetics...grand. I know what I have ahead and it's not going to be easy!


These last few are just sweet ones of my parents and of me and Granny. I think that my mom looks just like Becca (or actually Becca looks just like my mom) in the picture below and I of course look like my dad (minus the crazy hair and mustache of course)and my granny.

Cards for Crazies!

Here is an email I received today:

Hi Ivy,

We have a strange request for you... It seems as though all three of our daughters "love" Nolan this year. They have been talking about Valentines for the past few weeks and are all worried about what to get Nolan. Can you send us a few suggestions of some little things he might like? Also, we are a bit worried that he might like one girl more than another and we were wondering if you could just keep in mind all of the girls and try to keep it fair. We don't want any broken hearts at the party. :)

Thanks & any questions please email or call us,
Crazy Mom #1, Crazy #2 and Crazy #3 (left the names off just in case someone happened to read this that might know them!)

Are they crazy or am I? Who the heck has time to sit around and worry about their 5 year old's love life? I thought it was the funniest email ever.

Here was my response:

Hi Ladies -
No worries. Your girls will get the same SpongeBob valentines that Nolan picked out for the rest of the class. Nolan hasn't mentioned anything about wanting to buy anyone a special Valentine present and I am certainly not going to encourage him at 5. :) Please don't get him anything other than what you will be purchasing for the whole class. I am worried that would embarrass him or might hurt the other little boys feelings if they didn't get a special gift from a girl.
Thanks!
Ivy

I think it's sad when parents have come down to this level. I understand that it is coming from something that they think is good - they are just trying to make sure that none of their little girls get their feelings hurt. But the truth is that love hurts sometimes and you don't get to master-mind your kids life. What happens when these girls are 13 and they don't get a carnation sent to them in homeroom class, but their best friend does? That's just life and part of growing up. You can't and shouldn't shelter your kids from it or they will never learn to deal with life's hardships. So sad that this is what is happening in the world today.

I did get a the giggles all day long about it though. One - my kid is a stud, which is hilarious. Two - these parents need to get a life. :)