A moment to remember....

So, most people know I'm not the most modest of people, especially when it comes to birthing and nursing. But even I got a little tickled over the craziness of this moment today...... Kathryn has not been latching on right and therefore hasn't really nursed yet in her first 24 hours of life. We're really struggling. All day I've been waiting for the lactaction consultant to stop by. And all day I've been waiting for the bezillion of people that said they wanted to come and visit to show up. So of course, Here comes Debbe and Josh just as Alicia calls to confirm what room I'm in. And it's time to try and nurse again, so James and Josh head downstairs to get a snack in the cafeteria and in walks Miranda with Josiah, Evangelina, and Jordan in tow, followed immediately by the lactation consultant. While normally I would have asked her to come back later, instead I apologized to my guests and had her stay to assist as Kathryn still wasn't latching on. As she is busy poking and prodding and trying to jam my boob into baby's mouth, in walks the nurse who is roped into assisting the LC. While they are busy jabbing and pulling and playing with me and baby in walks Dr. Noffsinger, one of our pediatricians to exam the baby. He's roped into helping as well... so imagine, I'm laying in bed while not 1, but THREE people are grabbing my boob and my baby trying to get her to latch on all the while my wonderful friends are sitting there watching. LOL I felt sorry for them, but in the end we discovered Katy-but is not tongue-tied, she is pushing out with her tongue and is therefore basically clueless! We started her on a binky to encourage proper suction. I'm doing everything else right, just keep it up and she'll catch up eventually! What a moment to remember though!

Welcome Kathryn Ann Trettel

On December 19th, 2008, as Roman celebrated his 9th birthday we also welcomed into the world Kathryn Ann Trettel. She weighed 6 lbs even and was 19.75 inches long. She has brown hair and big blue eyes. Bethany didn't handle it quite as well as we'd hoped. On the evening of the 18th I was checked in and cervadil was started. The moms brought the kids over to say good night and Bethany asked then if the baby had to come home. "Can't they keep her here??" That was the start of a bit of a rough patch, but I'm sure she'll come around. It was apretty easy labor and delivery. The cervadil was in place for 12hours. They broke my water the next morning around 7:30 am and started the pitocin drip around 8. The epidural finally arrived around 11am as apparently EVERYONE wanted one that morning so took the anestesiologist awhile to actually get to me. Doc came in and checked around 11:30 and I was 6 cm and -2 station. She left to go back to the office (adjoining the hospital) and 2 contractions later I was announcing I either really had to poo or this kid was coming. Went from 6-10 cm in less than 5 minutes! Then it took another 10 to track down doc and get her back over. She basically walked back to her office had a message waiting and ran back to L&D! By the time she got in and everything got prepped... while waiting on doc the nurses wouldn't touch me or let me move, "Don't even breathe if need be!" knowing baby girl would basically fall out at any second. LOL I even asked at one point why they couldn't just catch and they admitted it was far too much paperwork! LOL Finally got everything prepped and me in position and of course there's no contraction to push on... wouldn't that figure?? LOL Two minutes later out she popped with one good push. So far she's a really good baby. She's been wide eyed and cooing at everyone since the second she was born. The kids came by later last night and got to meet her for the first time. We had a big celebration/birthday party as we wished Roman a happy 9th birthday and welcomed Kathryn to the world. Cake, pizza, the works, it was crazy!!! Mom, Barbara, Kari, Kermit, Abby, Megan, Emma, Miranda, Josiah, Evangelina, Jordan and the 6 of us were all there to celebrate. It was madness, but hey, the kid might as well get a crash course now in what life is like in the Trettel clan!

I have 3 stitches from her quick exit and some "road rash" as doc calls it, but overall I feel great, and Kathryn is just perfect! The big kids have a fun few days planned with the Jones's while mommy and daddy enjoy the quiet and bond with our new baby girl.

No Cowboy Fans Allowed!

In our house everyone picks and chooses their own team. We don't have a "family" team in any sport and usually everyone roots for someone different. For example, Roman is a Jeff Gordon, Ravens, Marlins fan while James is a Kevin Harvick, Steelers, Orioles fan. Hope roots for Junior and loves the Redskins, while Bethany is all about those "Rothlisbergers"! So this weekend Hope comes across her old Redskins cheerleader costume and talks about how Catherine/Kathryn will wear it someday. Bethany comments that perhaps she'll be a "Rotherlisberger" fan instead. I casually mention that she may not like either.... "Maybe she'll be a Cowboys fan!"

Hope - "C-c-cowboys??" "Maybe I could just train her from birth and make her a Redskins fan."

Bethany - "Yeah, if she's gonna be a Cowboys fan, maybe we could just give her back!"

Happy Birthday B & Happy Halloween!!!

Just wanted to wish my FIVE year old a big HAPPY BIRTHDAY today. And a Happy Halloween to everyone else. I will be trick or treating tonight with Captain Rex of the Storm Troopers, Gabriella from High School Musical, and a very special little BEE!

Build-A-Bear Workshop

Today we celebrated Bethany's 5th birthday at Build-a-Bear Workshop. Our leader, Darbi, was fantastic. Bethany had a blast! She was joined by Roman, Hope, Abby, Megan, Emma, Abby C, Sam, Rebecca, Elijah, Makayla, and Austin. BAB was doing a Toys for Tots drive, so each child got to build a bear to donate and one to take home. They had a treasure hunt, stuffed their bears, did the heart thing - Bethany's got a birthday wish heart from each person, that's a LOT of hearts! We then headed over to Copeland's Cheesecake Bistro for ice cream sundays, cheesecake, and of course baby plates and Princess Leia and Luke Skywalker drinks - B's favorite! All in all it was a great day and we have one super happy birthday B!

No living with him now!

Roman was on fire at this weekend's football game, as was his whole team. They won by 2 touchdowns. Roman played a fair amount today and of course... it's all because of HIM. LOL He bragged to his coaches after the game on what the season would have been like if hadn't been injured. Yup, definitely no living with him now!

It wasn't a completely perfect day though. During the Junior game, Roman and Eric got into a fight and Roman got caught off guard and fell and hit his head really hard. He went hysterical and confused and for a moment we thought we were headed back to the ER with a concussion, but in the end he was just THAT hysterical. We've had no problems with Eric this season, but last year he and Roman got into it a couple of times on the field leaving small scars on both of them. They get to playing too rough and it just gets out of control and turns ugly in the blink of an eye. Fortunately it's the last game and Eric does not attend Roman's school, so we won't have to deal with him again till next year.

We calmed him down with an unexpected visit to the Gendron's. Thank you Tracey!!! That Elijah time was just what my boy needed!

How did that happen???

Today I had my appointment with Dr. Stone and a growth scan to make sure Catherine/Kathryn is growing on target. She is just perfect. BUT, that's not the shocker. When we ran through the vitals, my blood pressure, which has been averaging 145/89 throughout this entire pregnancy DROPPED to normal levels! Seriously!!!! Heading into the 3rd trimester it is natural for blood pressure to raise, not drop. What the heck?? We'll take it though! Instead of moving forward with weekly appointments and growth scans, doc has decided we can wait and see how it goes. I go back in 3 weeks for a regular OB check, then 2 weeks later for a checkup and growth scan. That takes up to Thanksgiving. WOW!

Not even a shadow

When someone breaks a bone there is almost always a shadow of the fracture left from where the bone fuses back together. When they went to xray Roman this week, they could find nothing, no fracture, no sign of a fracture, not even a shadow remains. He's been released of care for his broken finger, and no more need for the buddy tape or splint, and he will not require any physical therapy or prolonged care from this injury. That is one HAPPY BOY!!!! We were advised to go ahead and tape his first 2 fingers together for this week's game, but that it was total precaution as he has completely healed, but may have weaker muscles from being splinted for nearly 6 weeks.

Tie in Double OverTime

Roman got to play his first real game of the season! We put on his splint and wrapped it with sports wrap (yellow to match his uniform!) and off he went. His first play out and he jumped the start and coach took him right back out. He beat himself up on the sidelines for a bit, had a quick talk with dad and finally approached coach and asked to go in. That's exactly what Coach West was waiting for! He knew he was finally ready, really ready to head back out, because this time Roman WANTED to play. At the end of the game they were tied and into overtime they went. At the end of overtime they were still tied, so into double overtime they went.... once OT started, Roman never came off the field switching between offensive and defensive lines with more determination than probably any other player on the field. At the end of the second overtime they were still tied and the game ended in a draw. Roman's response.... it wasn't a total win, but I told you we wouldn't lose if I was on that field!

Yup, there'll be no living with him now!

NAME OUR GIRL!!!!!

Okay, so we have finally decided on a name, but need help with the spelling and middle name. So, look over the choices, and weigh in in the comments section on what you think would be best. We've decided to go with Catherine/Kathryn for our newest little lady.

Soooooooooooooooooo,

Do you prefer Catherine or Kathryn??

And for a middle name, we've narrowed it down to 2 also - Ann or Alexis??


Catherine Ann Trettel
Kathryn Ann Trettel
Catherine Alexis Trettel
Kathryn Alexis Trettel

Which one would you choose?? James and I like both of these spellings and have elliminated other spelling variations, so no need to add Katherine or Katharine or Catharine or anything else to the list, these are the 2 we like. Catherine is the traditional Greek spelling while Kathryn is the traditional English spelling of the name. We may or may not use a nickname, all depends on her personality once we actually meet her. And no adding an "e" to Ann either, it's like that on purpose, after Aunt Philly and Aunt Kari!

EDIT BY JAMES: Roman threw a curveball this morning on us and came up with Rachael as a middle name. Julie and I both gave the "not bad" nod so I reckon it is on the list too.

Catch Up

Man, it's been awhile since I was last here with an update. Soooooooooooooooo much has been going on with us! Yeah, i know that happens a lot lately! I guess with the baby on the way it's only gonna get crazier! I'll try to highlight the big things.....

1. Baby Update!!! Looking back through it looks like I haven't posted since we found out we're expecting another baby GIRL!!! I've had 2 u/s's already confirming this. She may have been stubborn to show her heart and major organs, but was definitely not shy about mooning the camera! LOL Yup, she's DEFINITELY a GIRL!!! Perhaps even more stubborn and ornery than Bethany.... is that possible?? After the initial shock of yet "another sister", even Roman has gotten on board with the excitement as we begin to prepare for her arrival.... in just a little over NINE weeks! Yikes!!!!

2. Bible School - All 3 kids attending VBS at Celebration Center in August. They had the BEST time. It was an awesome program. They are still singing all the songs they learned there. Roman found he knew several kids his age that go there and we are now attending on occassion while still trying to figure out where we need to be. Trinity also got a new pastor that we like a lot and look forward to getting to know better. For the time being we're bouncing primarily between these two.

3. Football and Cheerleading - James is coaching flags this year while Roman is playing in minor's and the girls are cheering for flags. James team started off with a bunch of 5 year old riff-raff. About 95% of the team are newbies that have never played football. It was a rough start as they headed into their first scrimmage game matched against a team on almost entirely 7 and young 8 year olds. The size difference alone in the teams was ridiculous and his little ones folded quickly. Many ran off the field crying, most everyone else stood around dazed and confused and not listening at all as they picked their noses, their wedges, or blades of grass on the field and let the other team literally run all over them! It wasn't a pretty site and the coaching staff was more than a little frustrated. Somewhere in the mix everything just came together though! His little team of riff-raff is currently UNDEFEATED!!!! LOL How that happened we don't know, but after a 31-6 stomping last week we stopped wondering and just accepted it. They are on fire! The girls have been enjoying cheering for them too and look so cute out there shaking their booties! Poor Roman's team though has had the exact opposite season. They kicked butt in their scrimmage game, and have not won a single season game yet. Roman has been benched all season (see below) and has been blaming himself. It's been a looooooooooong season where he's concerned! Poor kid!

4. Broken Finger! - Yup, you read right, the night before the first official game of the season Roman was playing basketball before practice and fell and jammed his finger, or so we all thought. As we arrived home it kept swelling more and more and started turning black and blue all down through his hand too. I didn't like the look of it and my mommy sense told me I couldn't let him play the next morning without knowing for sure the extent of damage. Expecting to be told it was a bad jam and all was fine, Roman and I headed to the ER. The ER is never fun on a Friday night, BUT even though we were there for almost 4 hours, I must say the staff was fantastic. Getting through the paperwork crap took the majority of that. Once we were fully in the system the ped on site sent him straight to Xrays before being seen saving us a ton of time! Once we got back to Xrays we were home in less than an hour! And the news was official.... his left index finger was broke just above his lower nuckle and overtop his growth plate. NO FOOTBALL. We went the next week expecting to be casted and hoping he could play then, but the break was into his growth plate, though does not appear to have done any permanent damage, and so they opted to hard splint/soft cast him. NO FOOTBALL. He took on the role of waterboy and did it with a smile despite the joking he got from friends and feeling miserable everytime they lost as the coaches bit their tongues with every urge to put him in. Poor kid. He's really been beating himself up over it. Oh, and despite it being his lefthand (he IS lefthanded of course!) he has not slowed one single bit with writing or usuage. Actually, this break has had the opposite affect as he now feels invincible! LOL The kid who has been scared of height since birth is now climbing to the tops of trees, walking across the TOP of the monkey bars like a balance beam, and generally taking on the persona of spiderman scaling and jumping off everything! It's like the last 8 years he's been hestitant to do these things for fear of breaking something. Now he's broke something, it wasn't so bad, so no more worries! HE'S DRIVING US CRAZY!!!!!!! The good news is that everything is healing quickly. He was upgraded to buddy tape last week and only uses his splint for PE, Recess, and FOOTBALL! He was cleared to practice this week and depending on what the CQL officials say regarding his splint, he may get to play this weekend. Not psyching him up too much, just in case they say no, but he will come in full gear this weekend just in case. Of course, if he plays and they win, and there's a good chance they will, they'll be no living with him!

5. School - Roman and Hope headed back to school last month. Hope is doing fantastic, straight A's as usual, no worries at all. She did not get the teacher she wanted, but didn't take more than a few seconds to wrap the one she did get about that cute little finger! Hope has Mrs. Kroll this year. Roman has Mrs. Thomas, and for some reason I just really really liked her from the second I met her. I don't know what it is, but I was jsut 100% confident with her and her ability to teach my child from the moment we met. We've had a few issues already this year, but overall it's been a smooth transition. He has been talking more than usual, which I find funny since past teachers comment on how quiet he is - but also a great sign of his comfort with Mrs. Thomas too! Then 2 weeks ago he came home with an F on a science quiz. Note Science is his BEST subject! We grounded him for a week, or rather, until his test came back to which he got an A! We had a looooooooong talk about grades and expectations. While I do not believe in pressuring a kid too much, or expecting all A's from him, I do expect a lot more than an F! It didn't help that part was a graph related and he did all the graph work correctly and just wrote down the wrong answers not paying attention! He has a high C in science right now as his midterm grades just came in, but I know he'll pull that up to a B before report cards. It was a tough lesson, but I think we are at an understanding now and hopefully he'll stop screwing around so much. Apparently it's very much a 3rd grade BOY issue as all his friends parents are complaining of the same things! LOL

6. Daisies - Daisies is the only other activity we're involved in right now. Both Hope and Bethany are in the girl scout program and loving it. Last year Hope's troop was 7 girls big, this year it's more than doubled that! We went on a field trip to the firehouse on Monday and had a fantastic time! Our fireman was a young kid who was just awesome with the kids. Roman went begrudgingly and admitted afterwards it was the best firestation tour ever!

Okay, that's the short of what we're up to these days.

Time just flies by

I have several things I want to post and just no time to do it these days! Here's a quick highlight of our summer......



1. Swim Team was a HUGE hit with Roman! He did fantastic placing 2nd several times in individual freestyle and backstroke and swimming his relay team to 1st place in their final meet. He even made it to Champs his first summer out in both Relay Medley and Freestyle Relay. At the awards ceremony he was given the Coaches Award which goes to the kid with the best attitude, a role model, spirited and encouraging, and always willing to work. They mentioned how every morning he's right on time running into the pool, kicking off his shoes and shirt and diving right in eager to get started despite the early 8 am hour. Now, anyone who knows us knows we are never on time for anything! LOL This was 100% all Roman! He got sick of waiting for daddy and the girls to drag out of bed and early on began getting himself up and out the door riding his scooter to the pool to ensure he wasn't late. He is also not typically a morning person at all. Getting him up for school and out the door by 9:20 is a tiring task which just goes to further show just how much Roman loved swim team!!!



2. Teeth are falling out everywhere!!! Hopey lost 2 more teeth this summer and just last night Bethany lost her very first tooth! She was soooooooooooooo excited! She fell on Friday and busted her mouth knocking the tooth loose. Upon further inspection we quickly noticed that her permanent tooth was already in placed and surfaced, so she would have lost it in the next few weeks anyway. We left it be for a few days to let the pain dull and the gum heal some, but last night it was poking her and just barely hanging on and for the first time she let me touch it without screaming and that's about all it took to fall out. She squealed with excitement and nearly missed the toothfairy as it was pushing midnight before she finally settled down and drifted off to sleep.



3. Baby appears to be doing well and growing so far. Our big u/s is coming up later this month!

4. Cheerleading and football season are kicking off. WOW, already??

5. Bike riding - The girls are enjoying learning to ride their bikes and Roman just took off one day on his.... which he has refused to ride or even try since we refused to put training wheels on it! AS usual with him, when he was ready off he went with full confidence!

Okay, there's a lot more, just little time these days!

Swim Team

This summer Roman has been enjoying Swim Team! It's a big commitment (for James! hehe) with daily practices at 8am. I can not tell you how proud we are of this kid. He gets up every morning with a smile, throws on his suit and heads to the pool by scooter while James struggles to get him and the girls caught up to him. He is loving and thriving on swim team. Two great coaches, Coach Ally and Coach Brian. This is his first non-team sport and it's taken awhile to sink in that yeah, he's part of a team, but more importantly he needs to concentrate on HIS strokes, HIS times, it's really about HIM. Once he got that through his thick skull he's been thriving. He is doing great on all 4 strokes and mastering his freestyle. In fact he was awarded the Coaches Award for model behavior (lol who'd have thought THAT! LOL) AND swam his relay team to a 1st place finish earning himself a spot on relay for Champs! That's a BIG deal in swimming, but especially as a first year!

Coach Brian has been recruiting Hope all summer who we informed had to swim the length of the pool unassisted before joining. Of course by mid summer she did and B was right behind her, so looking like we'll have 3 on swim team for next summer!

Roman as an Only Child

This week the girls are at Aunt Kari and Uncle Kermit's attending VBS with Abby and Megan. While Roman is home with us enjoying his time as an only child! Here's a few things we did...

- WallE - hated it! All 3 of us really disliked this movie. I don't know why all the great reviews, we thought it stunk!

- Laser Tag - a first for dad and the boy and they are now addicted!!

- shopping - yeah, he scored several new toys and stuff he really didn't need, it's a lot harder to say no when there's only one! LOL

- spoiled - yup, spoiled spoiled spoiled with days of video games, hanging out with dad, eating at his fav restaurants, you name it, we did it and we all enjoyed every second!

Yes we missed the girls tremendously, but they had a great time and appear to have missed us very little! LOL

What happened to June?!?

WOW!!! What the heck happened to the month of June?? For me it's been 60 hour work weeks and little free time. Insanity at it's highest! School has let out for the summer. Roman has finished up baseball season and rolled full swing into swimming. And he's LOVING it!!! That boy rocks! Two 5th place finishes and a 4th in his first meet. He finished 4th and 5th again in his second meet this past Tuesday, but shave over a full second off both times in freestyle and backstroke. The girls are loving easy summer life spent lounging around the pool with all their friends. And this week they are visiting Abby, Megan and Emma and having a great time. It is VBS week at their church so Aunt Kari and Uncle Kermit invited the girls up for the week. We pick them up on Sunday. Boy do I miss those 2! Life is certainly QUIET without my girls around and I have been seriously outnumbered for the first time in ages! Roman is thoroughly loving being an only child for the week too.

Well since I don't have much time to catch up on here right this sec, I am going to go ahead and tag this in officially for anyone who reads and has not yet heard our great news. Pandemonium in the Trettel house is reaching an all-time high come 2009 as we increase our family by one more. The kids are ecstatic. Roman is praying hard for a baby brother this time. I am officially due January 4th, but assuming all goes well he or she will arrive the week before Christmas... Roman's birthday week! Yikes! Two Christmas babies!!! My next doctor's appointment is in a week, July 3rd. I will officially be in the 2nd trimester and ready to relax and begin to prepare for this little one's upcoming arrival. I just need to hear that heartbeat one more time, and outside the 1st trimester to really feel confident this one's a keeper!

The trip that just didn't want to end!

I'll keep it short.....

Got to the airport plenty early, checked in without a hitch, found our flight deck, went for breakfast, flight deck moved. Then flight deck moved AGAIN. About 10 minutes to boarding the "delayed" sign began to flash. A guesstimated 1 hour delay, which turned into 3. Nothing more assuring than watching a bunch of technicians working on the ENGINE just before take off!!! We board and get settled in. Oops, there's an electrical failure! Everyone must get back off. BONUS.... we each get a $10 dinner voucher, a $25 off coupon for future flight or upgrade, AND a free round trip ticket to use anytime in the next year. We are SUPER excited about that! Let's face it, flying is NEVER cheap with a family of 5! I lucked out and grabbed up these tickets for less than $600 for all 5 of us which is insanely cheap, but to know we're getting TWO flights out of it... now THAT's a BARGAIN!!!! We spent out meal vouchers at Outback for a nice meal that made me nauseous as everyone ordered rare steak... yuck! And poor Hopey was so exhausted she fell asleep sitting straight up with her fork still in her hand. Finally boarded the plane around 6:45 for a 2 hour flight that took a little longer even due to storms over Richmond which rerouted us west, but we DID arrive back to Baltimore safe and sound. AS it was so late and we were all so exhausted we opted to spend the night with Jim and Gail and take our time getting home on Monday.

So that's the short of our return that never wanted to end! Yeah, I know, I could have done better, but I'm exhausted! LOL

5 - 4 - 3 - 2 - 1 Party Time!!

Today was Andrew's graduation party. Ronda, Kari, Renee and I spent most of the morning prepping food and decorating the pool area. Everything went off without a hitch and we all enjoyed a great party. As usually it was difficult getting the kids out of the pool. They're addicted to that thing! In the middle of the party the shuttle went up without a hitch. We watched the preparation and count down on the TV then ran out to the yard to watch the shuttle take off. Roman was in awe!

Graduation Day - Congratulations Andrew!!!!

Today was Andrew's graduation. So hard to believe this kid is out of high school! Wow. Am I really getting THAT old?? Or rather is Ronda, cause let's face it I was only 12 when he was born! LOL It was a gorgeous sunny evening as we all headed to his school's footfield to watch the ceremony. And it actually wasn't half bad either. The speakers were almost entertaining even. The kids also enjoyed seeing another big cousin walk down the aisle to except that most important piece of paper! It's important to me that they know WHY we're there and what it all means and the significance of a high school graduation. I know because of the example set by their big cousins, my kids too will someday walk across a similar stage to except theirs!

More KSC and beach fun!

Since Abby and Megan were at Aunt Ronda's, Bethany did NOT want to leave. So, she stayed with them and James, Roman, Hope and I headed back to Kennedy Space Center for more fun. It was strange not having the Bmonster with us, but we all had a fantastic time! We started with the Shuttle Launch Experience and this time Hope didn't chicken out. In fact, she loved it!! Then we toured Explorer and caught the Launch status report. We had to exit that a bit premature in hunt for a bathroom. James and Roman then headed to the rocket garden while Hope and I went to the playground. We had a quick space dots break then caught "Mad Mission to Mars", a fun children's skit. It was partially 3-D and also had audience participation. My kids are very leary of volunteering for such things, well, maybe not B, but Hope and Roman definitely are! So, when the first 4 volunteers were called up they sat on their hands with heads down to avoid notice. LOL All the kids had to do was hold a ball so show the solar system... no big deal. So the next time a volunteer was called, Professor Hope Von Braun hesitantly raised her hand. She got to go up, they were VERY excited to meet her and then she got to demonstrate gravity by shooting off a rocket across the stage. Way cool! She was very proud of herself! Next up..... a wacky space chair?? The possibilities alone sent Roman's hand flying up into the air before he could think straight. Much to my amazement he ran on up too, AND was not disappointed. The new captains chair was decked out with boosters that raised him to the roof. As he grinned, the two astronauts started a cheer.... R-O-M-A-N Roman Roman!!! He pumped his arms in the air in triumph and just totally played into it. It was too cute! After the show we headed to see the robots and called it a day. There was soooooooooooooooooooooo much more to see, but Sarah was getting out of school early and we all wanted to head to the beach too.

We made it back to Ronda's in time for lunch, then packed everyone.... Kari, Kermit, Abby, Megan, Emma, Sarah, James, Roman, Hope, Bethany and me .... into cars and headed for the beach! The kids swore they saw lots of dolphins and manatees while crossing the river. I'm not too sure they weren't imagining them, but I can say for certain that we saw plenty more sting rays once at the beach! A whole group of about 8 that twice swam past us. The last time they passed Kermit yells, "Kari, STOP!" What does she do?? She takes off running as fast as she can to get out of that water! LOL It was a little rainy while we were at the beach and quite windy. Still we hung out for a good hour or more before heading home for a dip in the pool and dinner before attempting to settle in a baby and 5 excited kids ages 3-8 for the night, all in one adult free room! After a busy day in the sun, they surprisingly began dropping like flies with little fuss!

Kennedy Space Center

Today we slept in, then got up and headed off to Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. I used to work out at Kennedy and James worked as needed on as an ultra-sonic tester for the rockets out of Canaveral Air Force base. We loved being a part of the space program while we lived there and looked forward to passing this onto our kids. They didn't disappoint! Roman was fascinated by everything. Hope and Bethany enjoyed it too. We decided to start off with the tour. Our 3 hour tour was closer to 5, but hey, we saw EVERYTHING! Of course, with a launch just a few days away they got to see the shuttle on pad A from the observation deck. It was a bit hot out there so we treated ourselves to some space dots. Man are those things addictive! Roman loved the little astronaut helmet they served it in and washed it out in the bathroom and carried it with him the rest of the day. After the tour we went into the gift shop, he set it down and walked away! Later we stopped for nachos and ice cream and he convinced the cashier to give him another. We ended our day at Kennedy for the new Shuttle Launch Experience! Man was that awesome!!!! Bethany was too short so we had to do a parent swap with her. Hope just barely made the cut, but when the noise and smoke and cautions during the video prior to simulation scared her enough that she was NOT going near that thing! LOL James, Hope, and Bethany were escorted to a live feed room to watch. They saw the same video, and us in the simulator, they just didn't feel the motions. Basically it starts by putting you on your back feeling as if you're in a shuttle ready for lift off. The count down begins, you feel the rumbles as the boosters fire and the vibrations of lift off. You're walked through every step of the way, as the engines die down, then back up again before entering orbit where they simulate a feeling of weightlessness and open the doors overhead with an aerial shot of earth. It was amazing! When we came off James got to go on while I stayed with the girls. Roman loved it so much he snuck on with James for a second ride! During their ride and listening to me explain it to another mom on kid swap, Hope decided it wasn't so scary, but it was too late. The park was closing and we were late for dinner!

Of course Ronda was also late for dinner, so we missed our reservation and had to wait. On the way over she called and said it was a reservation for 15 that she had invited some friends. Doing the math, with 5 additional people, our suspicions were confirmed.... Kari and Kermit surprised us by arriving a day early! We all met at Dixie Crossroads, a family favorite and the most amazing rock shrimp ever!!! You just can't get seafood like that in Richmond! The kids were really surprised and so excited to see Abby, Megan and Emma. Once we finally got our table everything went perfectly. We had a great waitress, the service and food were excellent, and everyone was in great spirits. The perfect ending to a great day!!

Big Day for Animals

In coming to Florida the kids learned a lot about the local wildlife. We saw alligators at the zoo yesterday. Hope's biggest wish was to see a real dolphin. So, in crossing Banana River to head to the beach today I reminded them to keep an eye out for dolphins and Sarah saw one! It was hanging out next to the bridge. We quickly stopped and when he surfaced the first time we could have reached out and touched him he was so close! We watched for a good 15 minutes in awe. As we were preparing to the leave, not more than 15 feet away this giant tail came out of nowhere and we all recognized the classic manatee! He sat in the water within view for awhile, but never resurfaced for us. Still it was quite exciting!

We then headed off for a fun day at the beach! We spent several hours there, just our little family and Sarah. The water was great! However, our neighbors, well, let's just say shocking!!! The 2 ladies next to us were sun bathing in the buff, or nearly. They at least had the decency to keep their bottoms on, though there were little left to the imagination with their tiny string bikinis. And yes, they were topless, and NO Cape Canaveral is NOT a nudist beach! The shock on several of the men's faces walking by was priceless! Sarah and I couldn't stop laughing at one in particular. He was kinda creepy and kept walking back and forth pacing in front of them. He would openly gawk, then sit and just stare at them, get up and pace, the sit on the other side of them and stare. It was crazy!!!

There were also 2 fisherman just past the bathing nudies and one of them caught a large sting ray. He was probably a good 3 foot in wing span. The kids enjoyed watching him real him in, then set him loose again. We spent the rest of the time building sand castles so Bethany could destroy them and catching minnows. Roman and Sarah also did some boogie boarding.

After that we headed back to the house for a swim in the pool and dinner. After dinner we kidnapped Andrew (he was finishing a final!) and headed back to the beach for an evening walk. This time to Cocoa Beach as Andrew wanted to show us where he works. He works at an Inn in Cocoa Beach about a mile from the pier. We met the two dogs that live at the Inn and headed for the beach. We started towards the pier, not expecting to actually make it. Roman and Bethany of course headed straight for the water and wasn't long before they were drenched, despite numerous threats and attempts to keep them from the water. They didn't grasp the concept of walking on the beach. Why go to the beach and not get wet?? Kids! About 3/4ths of the way to the pier Sarah remembered it was karaoke night there, so we set off to join the fun. Of course we all arrive in bare feet, covered in sand, no money, and 2 dripping kids, but hey, it's the beach! No one even gave us a second look. After 1 fantastic singer, and too many horrific ones to count, much griping from Andrew about wasting so much time there, and 2 sleeping kids, Sarah's turn finally came. She same Redneck Woman by Gretchen Wilson and did fantastic!!! It was great and lots of fun.

On the way back to the Inn Hope announced she had to pee.... NOW. Andrew weighed the options, grabbed her and ran back to the pier. We saw her riding on his back as he ran thinking, what an idiot! LOL NO WAY would have put her on my back! LOL We knew all was fine when they returned later the same way. Once back at the Inn Andrew gave us a tour of the hotel. It was neat for the kids to see what goes on behind the scenes. He also took us back to meet his birds. Andrew was hired on 2 years ago primarily to maintain 2 Macaws that live on the property. Although he does many other things for them now, he still also take cares of the birds. One red, one blue, they are absolutely gorgeous! They are too big and their claws too sharp for the kids to handle, but they did get to pet them and we got pictures (again, if Sarah will send them to me, I'll post some!).

After a dolphin, a manatee, a sting ray, 2 macaws, a full day in the sun and water, plus a 2 mile walk on the beach, the kids crashed hard!

Happy Memorial Day!!

Today Ronda, Andrew, Sarah, James, Roman, Hope, Bethany and I headed to the zoo, well, after Ronda took us for a detour! Yup, she got lost on the way!! We're following behind her with James in the passenger seat... "Where does she think she's going?" "It's off Wickham, I'm telling you, it's off the Wickham!" "The woman couldn't get herself out of a brown paper bag!" "Does she ever come off the island?" "I'm telling you, she missed the exit." "She's wrong!" Of course we get off the next exit, which is a good 10 minutes up the road and my cell rings.... "Julie, where's the zoo?? Andrew thinks we passed it and should have gotten off at the last exit! I thought it was this one." hahahahahahahaha, yup, James's "I told you so's" were enough to drive even the sanest person mad!

In route back to the zoo, we stopped at RJ Gators for lunch where all 3 of my kids actually ate alligator tail! AND, they LIKED it!!!

Finally we arrived at the zoo. We toured La Selva, then quickly made our way around the Florida wildlife exhibit to get back around in time to see the alligator feedings, which about 15 minutes after what should have been the start, we read the small print that says, "Wednesdays and Saturdays only" Ooops! Roman was disappointed to miss the feeding, but loved seeing the alligators up close like that. Next we went on the train. It sucked! We didn't really see much on the train ride itself, and the conductor was all kinds of rude, but seeing James get in and out of the tiny kid sized train was worth the laugh! Sorry hon, but it was funny!!! After the train nightmare we stopped for cold drinks and headed to Australia. Several years ago when Andrew and Joey were maybe 12/13 years old, we took them to this same zoo and in the middle of the Australia exhibit they got their first real up close and personal lesson on the birds and the bees as we had to explain just what exactly these 2 Kangaroos were doing! Andrew couldn't stop giggling through the exhibit just thinking about it, and fortunately, my kids were spared this life lesson!!! They did however, thoroughly enjoy feeling the Lorey's. They were beautiful and fun. I'll post pics if Sarah sends me some. There were tons of them everywhere and the kids got to hold, pet and feed them. Can't say as much for the giraffes though. When we got to Africa the only animal in sight was the white rhino. While he was awesome to watch, we were disappointed to learn the giraffes were not out and our tickets to feed them were worthless. Oh well! Overall it was a really nice day!

Oh yeah, and later in the evening, Sarah pulled Hope's tooth #9 out! Hope was thrilled!!!

And....... we're off!

After a busy night with the wedding, we all slept in. I unpacked and repacked the suitcases, weighing them in to make sure we didn't go over the 50 lbs weight limit that would cost us an additional travel fee. Once complete we set off for the airport. Jim dropped us off. He is going to bring our car over to long term parking next Saturday to save us a few (or $60) bucks. When we arrived we went through baggage, got our boarding passes, walked through security, stopped to pee, and walked right on the plane. No waiting whatsoever. The pilot even shaved a full half hour off trip. We were scheduled to arrive in Orlando at 5:05 pm and arrived instead at 4:35 pm. We had luggage in and hand and were picking up the rental by 5:05! Ahead of schedule we headed off to Merritt Island. I know they have been having a dry spell, but I am seriously surprised by just how brown everything is on our beautiful beloved island! Anyway, we arrived at Ronda's a little after 6, dinner was waiting, and the kids quickly found their way to the pool, where I believe they would probably spend the rest of our trip if we let them!!!

The Wedding

The kids' officially have a new aunt! Welcome to the family Aunt Karla! (officially - as Karla has been with us for over 6 years!)

Today Rob and Karla got married. The ceremony was beautiful, as were her two little flower girls! Although we were running a tad late to the wedding and weren't 100% sure we were even going to make it in time, and things got a little stressful getting there, once we arrived, all was fine. The wedding was outdoors at a lovely old mansion. The weather was perfect and overall the entire evening was too! The girls came down the aisle with their heads held high and smiling the whole way. They forgot to throw the rose petals till about half way down, at which point Bethany all but froze, grinning from ear to ear I think she dumped every petal from her basket as her feet appeared glued to that one spot and the bridal party tried desperately to coax her down further. She just stood there grinning and even waved at a few! Finally as the bride began to make her entrance, Hope just pushed her the rest of the way. It was priceless! Bethany told me before the ceremony that she just didn't think she could stand there that long and not talk, but she did great, once she made it down the aisle!

The reception was just as wonderful. Bethany danced her little behind off with nearly every guest in attendance. She finally began to crash when they slowed things down to throw the garter and bouquet, but she hit the dance floor immediately after determined to keep up. She was half asleep and sitting on her bottom in the middle of the dance floor moving to the beat when we finally drug her away to say goodnight! Hope was a little off this evening. She just wasn't feeling well, a little peaked, and coughing. I just hope she's not getting sick for our trip! And Roman, well, I think for him at this age weddings are just icky, boring at best. He did love that London Broil though, as he went back for 3rds and then 4ths when the chef wasn't looking!

It was a beautiful wedding and I wish Karla and Rob much happiness!

Big Foot Boy

Last night we had to go and buy Roman new shoes as he was blowing a toe out of his old ones. He was in a size 4, just slightly smaller than MY feet. The new shoes?? A size SIX!!!!!! His foot is much bigger than mine now and he's only 8 years old!!! My baby boy is getting too big too fast! I was shocked and a bit saddened to realize that his next shoe shopping trip will most likely be in the men's department, no more boy's! It didn't help at all that he also bought a new shirt while we were out... a small men's! How did this happen?!?

A drunk, an amputee, and a blonde try to move a couch....

Sadly, there's no joke about this one! Though I have NEVER laughed so hard in all my life!!!!! So, Jeni (the BLONDE!) is moving to Kansas next week. She wanted to give her couch to Bernice as she's not taking it with her, but didn't have a way to move it. So last night I go to help Jeni move this couch. Bernice meets us there to get it off Jeni's 2nd floor apartment and into my truck. Brilliant idea by the blonde.... let me go see if my neighbor, Jim, will help us move this thing! Great. She's gone a lot longer than expected and Bernice and I are trying to figure out what the heck she's doing. So she comes running back up hysterically speaking something about a Jim and a missing arm. Turns out Jim, who is drunker than a skunk, has a brilliant idea too..... let me ask my friend to help us! Problem being, the friend is an amputee with only 1 arm! Bernice runs down to peak and see what's going on and comes running back up the stairs holding her side, bent over, laughing hysterically.... "Oh my god! Jeni got us an armless man to move the couch!!" I don't think I've ever laughed so hard in all my life. Not AT the man's prosthetic arm, not AT the man himself, he was just as sweet as could be, but at the thought of a drunk and a one armed man moving this big couch we were all too lazy to move ourselves! To make it worse, the drunk comes upstairs and pushes the couch down the stairs for the one armed man to bear the brunt of the weight, then he proceeds to SIT DOWN on the top step and push the couch down one step at a time as he scoots his behind down each and every step! I was in tears and had to hide in the back room. It was just too much!!!!

Took them 30 minutes, but they FINALLY got the couch down the stairs and into the truck. We set off for Bernice's. Now Bern lives all the way on the other side of Richmond and took us through a scenic detour straight through downtown Richmond. It was a nice drive, but we had no idea where we were by the time we got there! Well ,as we pull up her daughter in law comes over to help. She's DRUNK! LOL She is trying to perfect the appletini and was practicing a wee bit much last night! Before we left she comes running back across the yard with a shaker in hand to share. I got out of sampling cause I was driving, but Jeni sucked it up and had a drink. I thought she was gonna get sick! Apparently it was VERY strong!!!

So finally we're in route to go home. Bernice gives us directions, right, right, left on Laburnum and take 64 all the way out to 288. Easy enough! We get on 64/95 and start talking. Thinking we were on 64 and knowing it's a bit of a drive neither of gave the time lapse a second thought. Besides we were yapping away and not paying attention anyway. Next thing I know Jeni says, "Have we passed Broad yet?" I dunno, let's see if we can figure out where we are..... Oops!!! We're on 95, NOT 64!!! And we're just a few miles from Kings Dominion by this point, a good 30 minutes north of where we needed to be! So we turn the truck around and finally head back. It was after 8 before I got Jeni safely home. We're thinking "The three hour tour, the three hour tour!" by then!

It was an adventure of a night to say the least!

Baseball Season

As I've mentioned before, Roman is playing baseball for Reams this spring. They have yet to win a game, and while I have strong opinions on why and how to resolve the problem, I will keep all that to myself so as not to stir the pot!

Most games Roman walks away with his head down in complete frustration. It is hard to watch. He is a competitive spirit and all this losing is wearing him down. Last week James took him to the batting cages and we bought a pitching practice net that is not only helping his accuracy, but also his catching as the ball returns as hard as is thrown! Basically we decided we'd take it upon ourselves to truly teach him a game I have always loved.

The result.... at last week's game he hit his first ball. Truly hit it, hard enough to safely make it to base. Of course he had to slide into 1st, but not from pressure, all for show! LOL He's been dying to do that! After a few more plays he found himself on 3rd base. For a team that had to date only scored maybe 5 runs all season and faced such ending scores as 1-20 more than once this season, scoring was HUGE! So, as Roman's awaiting his first score of the year, the ball is hit. He's running.... the ball is being thrown home.... the catcher is standing ON the base awaiting the catch and blocking home plate. What does Roman do?? He never slows, he puts his chin to his chest, with batting helmet on, he plows over the catcher, who is half his size, and sends him flying backwards. Coach West (his football coach) begins jumping up and down cheering him on beside James. "THAT's my lineman!!" "No fear!" "Can't wait till football season!" "Did you see? That kids' built like a brick house!" began ringing all around us. Later I asked Roman what on earth he was thinking..... he says, "Mom, that was Providence.... PROVIDENCE!" (the ONLY team to beat them in football last season) "All I saw was that kid that knocked me down at football and he wasn't gonna stop me this time!" LOL I told him it was NOT the same kid, he swore it didn't matter, they may have lost the baseball game to Providence in the end, but Providence did not take Roman this time around!

James jokes that they're on track for a perfect season.... of loses! It really is a bit pathetic, but we are slowly seeing a little bit of improvement in the team with each game. And I am getting a lot of compliments from the other parents on how great Roman looks at the plate. His batting stance has been perfected and he is good for one big hit almost every game now! Who knows, maybe they will pull off a win before the season's over!

I survived!

Happy Belated Mother's Day to all!!! I hope each of you had a wonderful one. I actually got to spend it with my mommy, so who could ask for anything more?

So, we survived the weekend!!! Bethany's recital was at 10am. We had to be there by 9:15. She was too cute for words. All the concerns on what she might do on stage with that big of a crowd were for nothing.... she was nearly perfect! Just the picture perfect little ballerina who barely missed a step through her entire performance. I didn't go to the parade as it was starting to drizzle as we left B's recital and I wasn't sure if they were done by then or not. James and Roman seemed to have had a good time when we met up with them later. Apparently Roman horded his candy while his fellow scouts tossed theirs very quickly. By the end he was the only one left with anything! Hope's recital was at 6 and we had to be there by 5:30. Her 1st number was tap, which was done to the old country song "Convoy". A song i truly don't like! They enter the stage in squatting formation scooting in backwards while holding on to the person in front of them. I have dubbed this number the "train wreck" since the first day I saw it! Boy did they make me look the fool! Those girls were fantastic. For 6 year olds it was quite shocking. They all did fantastic!!! The ballet number went almost as well. Poor Hope was expecting flowers and at least one sibling to greet her in excitement after her last performance, instead it was just me. I told herI didn't get her any flowers, and that greatly disappointed her..... I didn't, my mom did! When we got back to our seats she was thrilled with her awaiting reward for doing so well. We stuck around till the end so she could go on stage with all the big kids before heading home and literally crashing!

Sunday came much too quickly. The kids brought lots of goodies to my bed. A beautiful stain glass butterfly picture frame from Roman, a wonderful hand print with poem from Hope, and a finger painting picture from Bethany to name a few. We then went and woke Grandma up. We all got dressed and headed to church. Then out to lunch at Olive Garden with the Perkins before saying goodbye to mom. The rest of the day was spent lazily watching movies and relaxing with my babies. A perfect Mother's Day!!!

Baseball, Recitals, Moving, Grandma.... Oh MY!

Whew! It's been one crazy week, even by my standards! This week we had Bethany's recital rehearsal on Monday, Roman's baseball game on Tuesday, Hope's recital rehearsal on Wednesday. On Thursday I helped Jeni pack for a few hours after work and Roman had cub scouts. Tonight mom arrives, tomorrow are the girls recitals .... they got stuck in different shows!... and Roman has a parade for Cub Scouts, then Mother's Day on Sunday! All this after having NO weekend last weekend and working a 50 hour work schedule!

This is insanity, even my standards!!!

Bethany the Baker

Last month Bethany snuck into the kitchen undetected while James was playing video games. A short while later he discovered her in the kitchen with a small ball filled to the brim with cake mix and water and about to crack in egg to add. Not knowing what measurements she had already used, he went ahead and transferred the contents to a larger bowl and helped her finish her cake. It was AWFUL! And Bethany couldn't have been prouder!

So, earlier this week B came up to James and said, "Daddy, can you play some Call of Duty or Halo please?" As she gave her sweetest, 'I'm not up to anything, really!' smile. He questioned, "Why?" Finally she confessed... she was gonna try to sneak in and make another cake for Mother's Day.

Hopey-isms

Hope was just laying here talking about she had to spit out her chit-chat and get all her 'chit-chatcherin' done before she gets to school. That got James asking if I had ever bloggedabout her 'Hopey-isms'. Here's a list of a few regulars that always crack us up:

This fall she was be 'cheerleadering'.
At ball games she goes to get hotdogs at the 'concussion' stand.


okay, those are the 3 I can think of off the top of my head this morning... hey, it's still early! I'll keep this list updated as they come back to me.

Life through Roman's Camera

I uploaded Roman's camera, as I've been using it to take pics too... hey, his is nicer than mine!!! LOL Anyway, here are a few pics worth eternal capture from the eyes of my son....

The Crazy Tooth

Okay, so this post is nearly a month late and I can't remember the exact dates, but it must be documented! Last year Hope lost her 1st 2 teeth, the bottom center ones. Before doing so, both permanent teeth came in behind them and pushed them out the front. What dentists dub "shark teeth"! So I suppose it should not have been overly surprising that her top 2 front teeth were just as stubborn. I do not have a pic of the first on that came out, which was literally loose for more than 6 months!!! By the time it came out her second one was loose too and looked like she had lost her 3rd and 4th top teeth, which she hadn't. Then her permanent tooth came down and popped the 1st loose tooth out. Then the second permanent tooth came down and for weeks that blasted tooth would not come out. Here's a pic taken on 4/14 (Wacky Wednesday). The following week I pulled it out cause I couldn't stand looking at that crazy tooth anymore! LOL

Catch up

Well, it's been awhile since I posted and I'm determined not to let this get away from me again. I have several drafts started from the last few weeks, but need to set aside some time at home (hahaha) to upload some pics for them before publishing. Overall life is insanely hectic in the Trettel house!!! We are winding down dance this week. Baseball is in full swing. Cub scouts and Daisies are winding down too. The kids are in testing and end of year stuff which stresses Roman out. It stays light entirely too late outside making bedtime near impossible these days, so we're all more than a little sleep deprived! And I am busy busy busy working on a big project at work that has had me insanely busy. I'm not the type of person to put more more into a job than is required in my 40 hours a week. To be honest I don't care for overtime because it takes away from family time. Sure the money is great, but is it worth it?? This project hasn't bothered me much as I know there is a firm end date. We basically have 6 weeks of this project and the bonus pay will come at a good time. I've tried to maneuvre OT to early morning hours that don't interfere with the kids, but it is exhausting! This past weekend was my turn to work. Although, for Jeni, unrelated to work, I elected to miss Roman's Sat baseball game, having to miss Sunday's as well because I was just too exhausted just about killed me. I NEVER miss games and that was a guilty stab in the heart. I tried, but man I was tired. Basically my weekend went something like this... Saturday got up and mowed the yard. Went to Jeni's for a Cinco de Mayo party and stayed until she kicked me out around 6. Watched a movie, then went to bed at 8 and slept till 11. Got up, started pumping the caffeine and settled in to work from home. By 3 am on Sunday it was clear that I was not going to get everything done from home, so off to the office I went. Returning home a little before 9 am Sunday morning. Roman had a 1 o'clock game, so after finishing up a big more work, I finally crashed at 9:30 planning to sleep for only 2 hours. When James woke me at 12 to tell me they were leaving I felt like the worse hangover ever and had to admit defeat and spent the rest of the day sleeping and watching movies. They didn't come home till 7 that night. It was the first time I had seen the girls since Friday at dinner as they spent the weekend with Gma. I had barely seen Roman and James much more than that all weekend. I managed a nice last minute dinner with the 5 of us and we all hit the sack for an early bedtime.

So on top of work and regular routine I am trying to make it up to them with some one on one time this week. Yesterday was with B as she had her dress rehearsal for her recital. Hope's in on Wednesday so I'll get some time with her then. Roman has a game tonight that I will NOT miss. Thursday I am ditching them all to help Jeni pack and mom will arrive on Friday. hmmmm, guess with Mother's Day coming up on Sunday, all I really want this year is some kid time. I sure do miss them when times get crazy like this!

On the 23rd of this month we head to Baltimore for Rob and Karla's wedding, then fly to Florida on the 25th for a week of much deserved vacation! I can not wait!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Bike Riding

I am slightly embarrassed to say none of my kids know how to ride a bike. Roman is now 8 and still using training wheels. Problem is we haven't lived in a place they could learn to ride bikes since we left Florida... Roman was 2, Hopey just 9 months at that time. Our current neighborhood has great streets for bike riding. So, with gas prices so high this summer, we decided do something different and "go green" and take a little of our tax returns and invest in a great family activity... bike riding! Yup, even James and I got knew bikes, which neither of us have owned since we were kids. Boy did we forget how fun it can be! Bethany is a hellion on wheels. No big shock there, right! Hopey is slow and lazy and doesn't want to peddle for long. She fell once and tried to give up for good. Yup, no big shock there either. But Roman. That boy won't even try! He's demanding we put training wheels on his new bike before he'll get on it. He's EIGHT! It just kills me and James. He'd rather ride his scooter or even rollerblade than bike ride. Still he got a new one and we're forcing the issue. This summer we will be spending a lot of time close to home from the looks of it. Instead of wasting the gas to drive 3 blocks to the pool, they WILL be riding their bikes back and forth. Wish us luck as we get their little chunky butts in shape and teach them this great childhood pastime. Surprisingly, a lot of their friends don't know how to ride bikes either. What is happening to this generation!??!

On a side note.... OUCH!!!! My butt still hurts from those few hours of riding on Saturday!

Cold Packs

The Dobie, has recently been renamed to Dr. Hope. See, Hope is the only one in the house that ever seems to know exactly where the bandaids are. Secretly I think she's been hiding and hording them, but haven't been able to prove this theory as I still have no idea where she keeps getting them from. With spring in the air and baseball season in full swing, it was time to restock the first aid kits, something we do every spring. Since Hope was doing such a great job patching boo-boos and reminding everyone to wash their hands and whatnot we decided she could be Dr. Hope and bought her her very own first aid kit, a Medibag. The idea was for her to keep it under the sink in the kids' bathroom and note that it was the only one the kids could get into without help or at least asking, and maybe the ones in the other bathrooms would miraculously be there when we need them! Hope agreed to these terms and was given the responsibility of her new Medibag.

Of course this means the B-monster got into it! I came home late last week to find the contents scattered throughout MY bedroom. I called Hope in to address it, pick up the mess and put it away where it belongs. Aside from confirming it was Bethany's doing she did so with little complaint and in doing so discovered the cold pack. "Mom, what's this?" "That's a cold pack, be careful with it, cause if you crack it it won't work when you need it and it's a one time use thing. Use it, then throw it away." "Ohhhhhhh, okay, the next time someone gets a cold I'll crack it and toss it! Will that make them better faster??"

Wacky Wednesday

Wacky Wednesday just may be Hope's most all time favorite school day!! She came home the day before and it was all she could talk about. She must have matched 20 different outfits to come up with the PERFECT one for Wacky Wednesday (yes, she really did wear this to school, and out to dinner, and to Roman's baseball practice!)

Report Cards

I'm not sure I've ever bragged on my kids schooling in the past, and certainly not in awhile at least. So here goes. Roman and Hope are both amazing!!! Both were blessed (and seemingly B too) with natural intelligence. Or rather, they easily just get it! Schooling has always come easily for them. Both could have (and most certainly Bethany, though it ain't gonna happen) started Kindergarten a year ahead of schedule and I have no doubts in my mind that they would have excelled and done just fine. We don't have to work extremely hard on their academic lives and for that I am soooooooooooo thankful. I am truly blessed in this department!

Their latest report cards.... drum roll please...... Hope Elizabeth got ALL E's!!!!!!!!!!! That would be the equivalent of straight A's. Roman dropped off a little this time around. He came home with 5 S's and 4 E's. Most kids would kill for a report card that great and it would be the equivalent of A/B honor roll. But Roman, he was pretty devastated. He's known he's been "off" lately. We've discussed it, his teacher has apparently discussed it with him recently, and according to him he's been having a lot of issues with his friends at school on top of the added pressure of helping out more at home these last few months while James has been laid up. He's just going through a rough spell, but that's another post for another day.

Last night was baseball practice, so of course all the mom's are asking the kids how they did. One of the mom's asks Hope.... "How did you do on your report?" Hope, "I got 5 S's and all the rest E's. I did grrrrrrrreat!" ummm, Hope honey, that was ROMAN's report card you were looking at not yours! So when I told her she got all E's, she just shrugs and says, "Well, that's good too." and walks off. LOL Roman on the otherhand was even more devastated to hear that Hopey pulled all E's, something, thanks to his chicken scratch handwriting, he's yet to pull off himself. All the same, we were thrilled with them both and stopped by the store on the way home from practice to pick up "Alvin and the Chipmunks", a much wanted and well earned DVD.

I know Roman is a bit upset over it, but I'm so proud of them both!!!

Sarah for Brevard Idol

My niece, Sarah, is in a local singing competition in her hometown, similar to American Idol. You can go online to view her performance and vote. Voting ends today, but we've spent hours this week logging votes for Sarah and it shows as Bethany can not stop singing the "Sarah Song". In an attempt to capture the moment for Sarah, I got this video. In it you will see her frustrated in the beginning where she proceeds to hit Roman for singing with her. Later on Roman's game controller sitting on the table begins to vibrate and sounds like someone farting. B can't help but jerk her head to look. Then in the end she is upset over her substandard performance... which was captured half a dozen more times, but this one was just too funny not to share!

Good luck Sarah!!!! We love you!!!!!

Army Time

While spring cleaning this weekend Roman found his watch. It's a camouflage band with a compass and other military type things on it. So, after lunch the boy comes in, looks at his watch and says, "Dad, it's 12:04." All proud of himself he walks into the den and sees that the clock on the Verizon box says 12:02. He comes back into the foyer where James and I are talking and says, "Well, it's really 12:02, but it's 12:04 Army time. That's just cause there's 100 minutes in an hour on Army time!"

Let's go to Canada... where the camels are!

So, we're driving to Jeni's yesterday taking the "scenic" route and of course it's the long way around and the kids were cranky and tired and hungry and the "are we there yet?"'s started about as fast as we got out of the neighborhood. Finally Hope makes a comment, "We have to be getting close to Baltimore already we've been driving so long!" NOTE - it's been about 15 minutes in the car! I look at our direction and make comment, "Well, in this direction we'll end up in Canada before we get to Baltimore." And Hope says, "REALLY?!?! Canada!! I can't wait to see all the camels!"

Under further investigation we discovered that the further north you go the warmer it gets because camels live in the desert. At one point she makes a comment, "You know Canada... where the camels are!" in this slightly airheaded voice and Roman hits his head with his hand in a 'd'oh fashion' and says, "HOPE, it's not the camels, it's the moose! Lily says, 'I'm from Canada, you know, where the mooses are' not camels!" Hope's response, "Oh yeah, the moose!"... those of you not up on Hannah Montana this comes from an episode where Miley's friend Lily is in disguise as 'Lola' her assistant so no one will put Lily and Miley together to let out Miley's secret of being Hannah Montana. When someone asks who she is she says, "I'm Lola.... from Canada.... (with hands up in antler fashion) where the mooses are!" Hope was clearly confused, but at least she knew enough to know camels live in the desert!

April Fools!!!

Yeah, I know it was yesterday. It's been awhile since I actively participated in this evil day or fun and I had forgotten just how much fun it can be. And so it started off as normal as any other day. At work James called me... we need to prank the kids, what can we do?? After tossing around this and that we decided he would yell at them when they got home from school and ground them. Here's the tales told by the kids....

HOPE - Well, dad said, "Hope, why did you get a bad report from music class today?" and I said, "I dunno" and he said, "Hope, what did you do that was so bad in music that the teacher had to send a note home?" and I said, "I dunno" and he said, "Do I need to ground you for a week?" and I said, "I don't know what you're talking about." and he said, "April Fool's!" and I said, "Oooooooooh, I get it now. (hehe) He's funny!" And then at school I said to Cassie, "Cassie, there's a dolphin behind you" and she turned around and I said, "April Fool's!" and then she says, "no there's really a dolphin behind YOU" and so I turned around and she said, "April Fool's!" and then.....

ROMAN - Dad got me goooood! I was really freakin' out!!!

Yup, that was all I got out of Roman, so had to turn to James for the run down of how this one played out. And apparently when Roman got in James met him and immediately began laying into him. "What happened in the lunchroom today??" "Nothing" "Who were you trying to pick a fight with today in the lunchroom?" "No one, I swear!" "Why did Mrs. Dunn have to call me then?" "I didn't do anything, I swear! I sat with my boys today, but we didn't cause any trouble, I swear it!" "And I guess you're gonna tell me that you didn't get moved to the silent table either! I think I'm gonna have to take away Xbox for 2 weeks since you won't fess up to it. I've already spoken to Mrs Dunn, she told me everything." At which point Roman was completely freaking out and on the verge of tears and James couldn't keep it up.... "April Fool's!!!!" He didn't find it as funny as Hope did!

By the time I got home I was greeted at the door and informed I had poisonous spiders on my head, a bear behind me and a goat in the kitchen! All I have to say is those kids better beware of April 1, 2009, cause it's on now!!! To add to the fun of the evening I did fix an April Fool's dinner for them that I think they all loved. When called in for dinner they were greeted with mini cheeseburgers, mashed potatoes and gravy, and peas as well as a big birthday cake for Trooper.... yup, our boy turned 1 yesterday!!! Happy Birthday Trooper!!!.... anyway, as Roman griped about the size of the meal, which was small, he soon came to realize it wasn't all it looked to be. The mini hamburgers were made of cookies and starburst, the mashed potatoes and gravy that they all came in griping about having to eat was really vanilla ice cream and caramel, and much to their shocking surprise, the peas were, well, peas! LOL I told them it was a small dinner cause we had a big cake to eat. Roman (thank you grandaddy!!!) did his well known "Oops" swipe on the icing of the cake and I just wish I had the camera at the ready to capture his face when he realized it wasn't icing, but the real mashed potatoes! hahahaha I had made up a meatloaf over the weekend and baked it in two round cake pans, stacked and iced with mashed potatoes, then decorated with grape tomatoes and topped with a Scooby Doo candle in honor of Trooper's birthday. I even left a jar of cherries on the counter to throw them off, and they had NO IDEA! It was priceless! Of course that was the real dinner, and yes, instead of saving the leftovers, Trooper got to eat the remainder of his "Cake". He was in heaven!!!

I'm loving the kids being old enough to appreciate such things!!! The ideas for next year just keep flowing.....

My awesome girls!

This weekend we bought a full set of crate style furniture off a lady on Craigslist. Roman had baseball practice during the time we set to pick it up, so Jeni came over and road with us to help with lifting as James's back is still not 100%. When we arrived we met the nice lady who I had been corresponding with. Her husband had lined up a few friends to help us load the furniture - totally unexpected! Overall it was the easiest transaction ever. They were a really nice couple with an adorable 8 month old daughter.

So, anyone who knows my girls knows they seldom ever meet a stranger. They are obnoxiously friendly and very outgoing and being that James and I constantly have people hanging out, they are just as accustomed to interacting with adults as they are children. No surprise they took to this lady immediately! By the time the furniture was loaded and I went to round them up to head home, I find Bethany curled up in her lap with Hope sitting as close next to her as possible all singing and talking to the baby. I just shook my head, grinning (who could help it!), apologized explaining they know no strangers and have issues with personal space. Lucky for them they are both adorably cute with bubbly personalities that makes even the most hard hearted of people melt. Apparently she was enjoying every minute of it. This morning when I arrived at work I found an email for her awaiting me. This is what she had to say....

Julie- I hope you didn’t have any trouble getting the furniture moved in and you are happy with it. I also wanted to tell you that your daughters are absolutely precious. Polite, friendly and a joy to be around… I hope Megan is exactly like that when she is older!

What an overwhelmingly awesome compliment! Can you even imagine?? I have been grinning all morning, just so proud of my little ladies! I mean *I* know they're terrific kids, but there's just something so heartwarming when others, particularly complete strangers, go out of their way to acknowledge it! This is a first time mom of a small infant and to hear her make that last comment about hoping her baby turns out like my girls just makes me overflow with pride for them! I love them so much!!!! And when you get a compliment like this, you just have to stop and let that warmth and pride of it wrap around you a bit and hold tight to knowing that you must be doing something right, cause let's face it, parenting is scary stuff! Yes, they can be rotten at times, but overall I really could not be prouder of my kids. All of them! (Roman just wasn't included because he wasn't there!)

Spring Break

I do believe all in all we had a boring, relaxing, easy spring break this year. The kids were happy to be heading back to school today and James and I were happy to send them! They had a lot of late nights, sleeping in till noon, eating a lot of junk, watching movies, playing video games, and playing outdoors. We made it to the park twice, managed a bit of spring cleaning, and had a "date" with our neighbors while James got a much needed break.... since Rich was out of time (convenient being spring break and all!) Tracie invited me and the kids over for movie and popcorn one night. That was nice, something different, and as usual the kids (and I) had a great time! Otherwise it was just hanging out with some much needed downtime!

On the down side there was LOTS of fights and bickering. Tons of dramatic tears, even from Roman, and basically I've decided that my children are doomed to be constant movers and over-achievers. It is quite clear that they have no concept of downtime or how to just relax. hmmm.... I can't imagine where they'd get that from!

Inherited Boo-hoos

I have determined that this MUST skip every other generation.....

For a bit of history let me tell you of my beloved mother! She is an amazing person. Probably the strongest person I know. She is very kind hearted, always thinking of others before herself, especially her children. My mother suffers from a great deal of pain, but rarely will you ever hear about it as she is not one to ever complain! I can not say enough wonderful things about my mom, nor how proud I am to be her called her daughter. And yes if she is reading this she is most likely already beginning to tear up!

See, my mom isn't perfect. What mom is? My mom is often naive and for some reason things just always happen in her presence! I could spend days, weeks, maybe even months writing up tales of her, but for now, that's not what this is about. See, my mom is a crier. She cries at nearly every movie she watches. She boo-hoos through her soaps regularly. Tears stream down while reading a book. And yes, she was the embarrassing one with the white hanky in the front row blowing her nose, wiping her eyes, and waving her hanky at me on stage for every recital, concert, play, speech, basically every moment of life regardless of how big or small! I have teased her unendingly for pretty much the entirety of my life.

Me? No, I'm not much of a crier. True something will hit me every now in then, but I seldom cry. Kari, being a much more emotional person than I, still isn't much of a crier... not like mom! Sure I swell with pride and want to yell out, "Hey, that's my kid!" when I see my 3 in the spotlight, and while I may occasionally wave, never has it been with a hanky in hand.

In my previous mention of hysterical genetics skipping generations I must confess.... my girls have totally inherited the boo-hoo gene from my mother! Hope can not watch a movie without crying. She cries over books and pretty much everything in life. A complete drama queen. Even movies that she has seen 2,000 times she STILL cries over (yup, just like her grandmother!). For instance in High School Musical 2 Troy and Gabriella break up. Hope KNOWS this as she has the movie memorized, but still as soon as Gabriella breaks into the "break up song" she loses it and goes into complete hysterics!

Bethany has always been a stronger, more independent spirit... so we thought. B tends to cry more out of anger than anything, but last night as I lay in bed with my girls watching the movie "Eight Below" and listening to her sob, these heart wrenching painful sobs, literally crying herself to sleep over a dog that gets left behind all by himself, I couldn't help but laugh thinking, "Yup, every other generation and both my girls are doomed to be hanky wavers!!!!" (she was asleep before they confirmed that dog had died, boy was I thankful for that!)

Happy Belated Easter

I completely forgot in my last post to say HAPPY EASTER!!! (even though I know it's 2 days late). We had a great Easter. We got up early Sunday. The kids quickly hunted down all the eggs and found their baskets. Before breaking into them though it was upstairs to get dressed for church. We had to be there by 8:30. They each were allowed a small handful of candy to take with them, but otherwise their new goodies had to wait till we got home.


At church the kids had an Easter egg hunt during Sunday School and scored tons more candy and stuff. It was the first Sunday the band played so far this year. James being laid up with his back and Debbe out fighting breast cancer has kept the band appart since Christmas. Stacey was working, so I was recruited to play bass guitar. Boy was I nervous! I hadn't picked up a guitar in over 10 years and even then I was no actual player, just learned a few songs to humor James! I had practiced hard on 1 of the 3 songs, but the other two I didn't even know about until Sunday morning! Yikes!!! I pulled off an almost convincing show though. Don't know how, must have been a God thing! The kids also played handbells and did a fantastic job as usual. Bethany is so expressive to watch, a true little entertainer.


After church, Jeni went with us to Robius Landing park for a picnic dinner. We hid some of the kids plastic eggs and let them search for them. Roman and I threw the baseball around some, practicing his catching. We played on the little dock and went for a hike in the woods. It was a really nice day. Cool, but nice! Afterwards we said bye to Jeni and headed home. Once home, everyone laid down and slept a good 3-4 hours! I think we all needed that very much. Gma came by for a late dinner and we all snuggled down to watch Enchanted before heading back to bed.


Overall it was a nice quiet family day, so very different than the year before. Looking back through it does not appear that I blogged on last Easter. I know, I wasn't a very good blogger at all last year! But a year ago on Easter Sunday 2007, James was baptized. Anyone who knew him prior to this would have said, "Hell would have to freeze over before you get him to church on a regular basis!" Well, apparently there was some truth in that because on Easter Sunday of 2007 we got our only snowfall of the year here in Richmond! LOL It will take him awhile to get past the certainty that hell must have frozen over that day as he handed his life over to Christ! Afterwards we had a last minute party at our house to celebrate. The day before I had 2 people coming over after church. They held band practice that afternoon and James asked if he could invite anyone that didn't already have plans to join us..... no one had plans! LOL We went from a planned meal for 8 to feeding 50+ in less than 24 hours. I just threw on another turkey and added a ham and a few more sides and voila! It was a fantastic day but sooooo opposite this year's Easter. Equally wonderful, just different!

Easter and the Easter Bunny

We have never really talked about the Easter Bunny much in our house. It is the one holiday I try to downplay in the commercialized hype and stick to the real reason we celebrate. Of course we do dye eggs and the Easter Bunny does come and hide the eggs and leave treats in the kids' easter baskets. We don't decorate the house, and if we do it's with flowers, crosses, doves, mostly spring or religious symbols instead of cute little chicks and bunnies. The eggs don't even get dyed until the night before right before bed and pretty much either get eaten or tossed in the trash the next morning after they've found them. Easter baskets are packed full of candy and a few toys or odds and ends. I try to keep it to around 3 non-candy items and we never make a big deal out of the gifts, the candy or the Easter Bunny. To me, Easter is the number 1 most important religious holiday on the calendar and from a spiritual standpoint pales next to Christmas - which I will fully admit, while the birth of Christ is a significant event too, I totally get caught up in the gifts and fellowship, the cookies, the smells and everything about Christmas. Easter is more of a relaxed time of reflection. We don't build the commercialized hype of the holiday and to the kids the biggest preparation of Easter is picking out the perfect dress or shirt AND tie, to dress to the max and go to church on Sunday morning! Even in the years when they were young and we were not attending church, they still got new outfits and dressed up for a nice family dinner. (you'll notice from previous entry.... for Hope, Easter is definitely about the clothes! haha)

Roman and Hope are both at the age of recognition right now and they want answers. "Is that bunny in the mall real?" "Is that the REAL Easter Bunny??" NO, he's a man or lady in a ridiculously big crazy suit making it fun for the kids (my kids have NEVER gone to have their pic taken. Yes, we do do Santa though!) So, in the midst of a walk last night, I found it very interesting to hear their "Tale of the Easter Bunny!" What do kids think who's parents have never really addressed nor fully acknowledged the Easter Bunny. Who's parents admit that there is no big costumed bunny like those in the mall coming to our house. Who's parents don't even comment on the Easter Bunny except to say, "No, I've never seen the Easter Bunny and I'm not sure anyone else ever has either." What assumptions do they come up with once outside stories, fables, and commercialization come into play... especially in a public school setting??

Last night Roman and Hope discussed it with me over a walk. I was a bit surprised at their acceptance and story, but they universally agreed this IS the true story of the Easter Bunny. It's also one I've never heard before and couldn't help laugh at the convenience of it!

According to Roman and Hope, the Easter Bunny is quite small, like and average bunny, who hops around from house to house. But when he gets to a front porch he grows to be huge, the size of a grown up person in order to reach the knob to come in. He's very concerned about kids, so he disguises himself as a parent or familiar adult before entering the house to hide the eggs and deliver the goods. That way if a child wakes up and catches him, he won't be scared of a gigantic bunny, because it will appear to be a familiar face, even though it's really not. Or as Roman puts it, "The Easter Bunny is a small average bunny that hops to your house, then grows and grows big and tall before morphing into you, Mom!"

That sure is one clever E.B. huh!

For the record, I don't think I ever bought into the whole bunny thing, not even as a little kid. I think it's the most ridiculous of all the imaginary fairy tale creatures, but like my younglings I liked the candy, the toys, and even hunting those eggs, so I kept my mouth shut! LOL The toothfairy, Santa, even Roman's most favored - the little Leprechauns, are more believable! And I never understood, still don't, the correlation between a bunny and eggs. If anyone would care to explain that, go right ahead!

Easter Outfits

Hopey, "Mom, I HAVE to have a new outfit for Easter tomorrow!"

umm, sweetie, tomorrow isn't Easter, it's Thursday, Easter's on Sunday. We still have time.

Hopey, "NO, tomorrow is Easter at school. We're having an Easter egg hunt and I HAVE to have a new outfit. I always get a new dress for Easter."

Took some convincing, a few stores that had nothing of major interest - aside from some very impractical mini prom dresses-, and the breakdown of buying her Easter dress for Sunday, but finally she agreed to wear regular clothes to school today. We're in VA, home to lots of red clay and it rained all night. No way was she getting a new dress to destroy at school during her egg hunt! She was cracking us up with her determination though. Where does she come up with this stuff??

H.B. Solicitations

So yesterday at lunch I notice I have a missed call on my cell. It came in at 11:15am from my sister Ronda. Ronda is next to impossible to get in touch with most days and rarely remembers to call for a chat. Her having the same gripe about me and we don't talk nearly as often as we should, or as we used to I should say. NEVER does she call in the middle of the day, at least not since I moved from Florida. So, knowing it was her birthday and curiosity getting the best of me, I called her back, expecting to get voice mail as usual, she answered. We talked briefly for a few moments. She wanted to know what sizes the kids are wearing these days and general chit chat. After a few moments she stopped and says, "Come on, aren't ya gonna say it?" "Say what??" "Come on, starts with an H, second word begins with a B...." "What ARE you talking about?!?" as I try to hold back a laugh. To which she blurts out "It's my birthday! You're supposed to say Happy Birthday!" .... seriously Ron, you're calling just to solicit Happy Birthdays?? hahahaha



As planned, the kids and I called her last night to sing Happy Birthday! As expected, we had to leave it on voice mail! hehe