Ninja Nightmare!

Ugh! Luke is obsessed with American Ninja Warrior and deems himself a ninja these days! It is like having a toddler all over again!!! Between his ninja behavior and the other two bozos teaching him more ninja tricks...I am losing my mind!!! He literally climbs to the top of my fridge using the handles and sits on the top, spider climbs between wall frames (which he learned from Brian's wall climbing ability!), thinks he can fly (wears the super Luke cape from Aunt Key (thanks for that) and jumps down as many stairs at once as he can fly over, hangs sideways between walls and furniture and the list just keeps going!!! Ninja Luke managed to crack his head open last week while "in training" resulting in 3 staples in the back of his head!!!  BUT in true ninja form...he sat like a champ! I mean, holy cow...the kid didn't even flinch when they gave him two lidocaine injections straight into his head!!! The Doctor even looked down to make sure he hadn't passed out! 3 staples and 2 days later...the Ninja took himself of the "injured" list and smashed the front of his face into a dresser! We are now sporting a giant black eye that gets uglier by the day, complete with sold black eyelid, as well as a knot the size of a marble under the corner of eye! He actually hit his face so hard we had to get xrays to make sure he didn't crack anything! Thankfully bones are okay but we will apparently be sporting this marble sized hematoma for 2-3 months! If CPS shows up one day at least we have picture proof of our crazy ninja who thinks he's invincible!!!  Thank goodness I am heading to Kerry's this weekend to get some MUCH NEEDED girl time with 3 of my favorite 5 girls!!!

My Boys Are Gonna KILL Me!!!

Seriously...this is what my boys are up to! I always said I wanted all boys...word to the wise...Be Careful What You Wish For!!!  UGH!!!!!!

Feelin Sucker Punched!!!.

And my bum luck continues...so far this summer I have broken my ankle, ripped my fingernail off my finger and now had emergency gallbladder removal! For the past three months I have struggled with what I thought was severe heartburn...WRONG! I had even gotten on heartburn medication :) Apparently my gallbladder was on the verge of rupturing and I was clueless! I have actually had three attacks, lasting 4, 6 and 10 hours! The first time I truly thought I was having a heart attack...I have never experienced chest pain like this. The second time was even longer and I assumed it must be severe heartburn as the previous time wasn't a heart attack...WRONG AGAIN! The third and final attack was last Tuesday. It lasted 10 hours and over the course of the night I debated between going to the ER and searching the Internet for what could possibly be causing these excruciating chest pains. I stumbled on the word gallbladder and suddenly everything made sense. After a quick search of rupturing gallbladder symptoms it became very clear what had been causing me all this pain.
   

From there everything moved very quick! I called the gastro and was seen immediately. They agreed with my Internet diagnosis and sent me straight to hospital for labs and ultrasound. Ultrasound revealed my gallbladder was full of stone's and four times the size it should be. Next stop was straight to surgeon's office. He informed me that I needed a removal asap but wanted to wait 24 hours to let the inflammation from the attack die down a little. My parents arrived to help Craig with boys as well as brought a car full of freezer meals to help me while I recover! Friday morning I had surgery and am now home with a bloated, bruised stomach and feeling better everyday! The four holes they made in surgery are healing, the bruises are getting uglier and the bloating will last 4-6 weeks but the chest pains and heartburn are gone...whoohoo!!! Fingers crossed I get clearance on Friday to fly to Vegas and see all my girls this weekend!!!

Ninjas, Slime, Disney & Gators...

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(This is a little out of order but I had sooo many pictures to go through!!!)
What a super fun vacation we just came home from! Two full weeks of FUN!!! This time we took a roadtrip East to Florida!!! We left on a Thursday and drove to Orlando from Houston in one day, arriving at the Nickelodeon Hotel...a kids paradise! My friend Beth and her family joined us at the hotel. Beth has been one of my best friend's since we were both teachers WAY back when in Arizona! We have been close ever since and talk on the phone non-stop, as well as try to visit each other (though not as frequent as we would like!) She has 4 kids all around the ages of mine and we have been pregnant together with two of the kids! All 7 kids had an absolute ball getting slimed, playing on the waterslides, endless swimming, playing mini-golf and video games! Luke's dream came true when he dressed up in his ninja turtle costume and met the "real" ninja turtles! They couldn't have been cooler guys...Raphael actually stepped out of the pack to let Luke be the honorary Raphael with the rest of the guys! After LOTS of pics and a few ninja moves, he even got his shell signed!

Saturday the Williby's left us and we headed to our Walt Disney World Hotel...home for the next 8 nights!  We spent the week thoroughly enjoying all 4 parks...Magic Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, Animal Kingdom and Epcot! Luke was tall enough to ride almost everything making his dreams come true! In true daredevil form...one of his favorites was Tower of Terror! Our little Star Wars fans had yet another magical experience when they were all chosen to participate in Jedi training at Hollywood Studios. The were given robes and light sabers, placed onstage and trained with Luke Skywalker!! As they thought they were ending...Darth Vader showed up for a battle! The kids all took turns fighting him and talked about this once in a lifetime experience for days!

We were also thrilled to be able to meet up with Aunt Chandelle and Serena for a day. We met at Universal Studios City Walk at the NBA Restaurant! (Yet another piece of heaven for my guys!) We had fun exploring the restaurant, had a yummy lunch and then let the kids play in the fountains for awhile! While we are so sad not to be able to see Aaron and Uncle Mike, we hope that next time we make it to Florida Aaron will be on the road to recovery and we can have a whole lot of fun together!!!

After spending 10 days completely exhausting ourselves...it was time to turn the car back towards Texas. But first...a few days at the beach! We left Orlando and headed for Destin and Pensacola beaches! We spent four days soaking up the sun and sand and playing in the waves! The big boys were giddy to spend one morning in their snorkel gear and heading 300yds out to a sunken pier and ship which has turned into a natural reef! After a few days of beyond delicious seafood dinners, long, lazy days on the beach and some well earned R&R...it was sadly time to head home! One more super fun find along the way in the heart of Mississippi swamps was Gator Ranch...the home of "Gator Boys" on Animal Planet! My car of people thought this was way too fun to miss so off we went in search of  gators. Holy cow did we hit the jackpot! We found gators of all ages and sizes, fed them beyond disgusting pellets that resembled dog poop, and even held a live gator! I personally would've been happy if they had left me at the outlet mall off the freeway but in the end am so glad we stopped at this side of the road freakshow! After our gator fun it was time to finally wrap up this trip and make the long drive home. Sadly school is literally less than a week away and we are so NOT in school mode!

First Day of School 2013

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Another school year has arrived and this one hit me hard...like running straight into a building hard! Not one of my kids cried last night telling me how much they will miss me and it means that they are growing up. Brian started 4'th grade, Matt started 3'rd and Luke started Kindergarten...the grade I taught that surely my baby cannot possible be big enough for! He is now going to school full time, five days a week and I am so, so sad. My M/F buddy for the past three years while in preschool is gone. In fact, everything I have spent the last nine years of my life doing is gone as I no longer have kids at home. I no longer have a sidekick that goes with me everywhere. I no longer have Disney channel on the whole day. In fact, I can now run my errands faster and far more productively, I can watch whatever I please on the TV, I can take a shower and go to the gym, I can have a life of my own for the first time in nine years. And you know what...I DON'T want it! I don't want to be alone. I don't want my kids to grow up and I most certainly would rather watch Disney than the horrific, continually depressing news! I literally feel like someone whose whole life has flashed before their eyes while trying to accept it will never be the same. I will never have kids at home during the day again and I am really having a hard time coping with this realization. So many people cheer when summer is over and they get to send their kids back to school. While I will admit there were certainly days this summer I was wishing for school to start, those thoughts were gone as soon as I tucked my three precious guys into bed. I will admit that I have cried more today than I have cried in the whole past year. I drove my own car to take the kids to school so I could cry all by myself (but my dear friend Beth did spend the whole car ride making me feel better and letting me be sad!). I just keep thinking of all the things Brian does now and how "mature" (ahem, ahem...some of you will get this!) some of these things are. It literally seems like yesterday he was the one I was walking into Kindergarten and now Luke is there. After dropping the kids off with Craig and then staying for morning chapel, Craig had to get back home to his career, his job, the thing that defines him. I will admit I was jealous. I stood there like a lost soul trying to figure out what to do next as I am in clear need of a career change after a forced retirement! Once I get through this week (particularly Friday which will be the hardest day for me without my Friday sidekick) I will surely have plenty to do with PTL, classroom volunteering, sports beginning, subbing, cleaning this disaster we call a home, the endless laundry, cooking, never ending errands and so many other things that define me. But for now...the biggest thing that defines me, being a stay at home Mom is really shaken up without the kids here to stay home with.

The good news is all 3 guys had a GREAT day! They love their classes and their teachers, they were excited to see their friends and overall happy to be back at school. After picking them up, (and yes, I was the lady sitting in my car an hour before school ended in my car in the parking lot like a complete stalker!), we went with a few friends for ice cream! WE created our own hand-dipped ice cream bars which was quite the hit for everyone! A fun dinner of the kids favorite meal...Chinese food, wrapped up our night and we are ready for day 2...only 174 more days of school left till summer!!!