What's up with the Trettels

The end of 2007 and start of 2008 has had us run ragged. So, what have we been up too?? We'll start from the youngest and work our way up....

Bethany - In Sept of '07 B became an only child M-F from 8:50-3:50. As Hope headed off to Kindergarten Bethany's world shook. Being the youngest of 3 children less than 4 years apart in age, we expected her to react heavily to this enormous change, but true to her natural born independent streak, she worked it out just fine. Bethany quickly learned that she loved the one on one time and has just thrived over the last several months. Her personality, large as it was, has literally exploded this year. She is still a bit devilish, always up to no good. She loves to sing and dance, must be the center of the universe and quite the entertainer. She is still sucking those fingers and still leaving a trail of hair everywhere she goes (My Little Pony hair for quite sometime now). Recently she cut her own hair (see picture). A large hunk out of the front of her head. While it was not a devastating cut, it did shorten her hair from more than midway down her back to about chin length! As usually her hair is growing like weeds and after barely a months time is about down to her shoulders already! Her favorite place to go right now is Build a Bear Workshop.

Hope - This past Sept our Hopey headed off to Kindergarten! But a stroke of last minute good fortune she was placed with our all time most favorite K teacher, Ms. Neal!!!! We are thrilled to have her back in our lives. Most kids when you ask them, "What happened at school today?" just shrugs and says, "Nothing" or "How was school today?" *shrugs* "Fine" or at least this has always been life with Roman. Not Hope! LOL Day 1 she came home. "Hope, what happened at school today?" "One kid cried ALL DAY LONG! One girl got in trouble already. And I got fussed at during carpet time." "YOU?? What did Ms. Neal have to fuss at you for?" .... fully expecting to hear how she was running her mouth to a new best friend.... "I kept taking my shoes off and apparently that's not appropriate!" Mainly throughout the last 100+ days to date of school, Hope has excelled wonderfully. With this exception of PE... another "shoe thing".... she pulled straight E's on her last report card. She continues to be the sweetest, most kind hearted child ever. Yes, still a bit of blonde in that head of hers, but truly just a heart of gold and a complete joy! When she says, "Mama, I got $10 for my birthday, can you take me to the store to pick out new toys for Roman and Bethany?" how can my heart not melt??

Roman - August of 2007 gave Roman a YES to a question that has plagued me for years now. "Can I pleeeeeeeeeeeease play football!" With his growing interest in the game and knowing that it would be his last year to play flag football, I caved. This is something I have been adamantly against since the day he was born. I did NOT want my child playing football. And now.... I'm stuck for life! The boy is completely addicted. And I must admit, I was in no way prepared for the drastic change in this kid either. And I'm not talking about pounds that seemed to melt off him from 4 day a week 2 hour practices in the hot late summer, early fall temps. I was not prepared for the discipline and structure of football, the pride and team spirit of 5-7 year olds. It was crazy! We have had Roman in team sports since he was 3 years old. He played 7 seasons of soccer and 3 seasons of teeball prior to joining sports. I know about team sports and what to expect of this age group... I did not know about football! It is like a completely different mentality of hard, near military structure. The coaches are gruff, they bark orders.... and the kids LISTEN! They stress healthy living, healthy eating habits, fitness and hold nothing back on the seriousness of the game and how easily someone can get hurt who is not properly prepared and in shape. They preach about respect of parents, coaches, teachers, and community leaders. They demand excellence in and off the field and poor grades and trouble in school will get a child benched. YES, Roman is only in second grade, but in the football world, flag to pro's, they train and learn the game all the same. It was the craziest most all-consuming thing we've ever done as a family. The 5-6 day a week commitment alone is insane. I mean practices start the first week of August in the middle of summer, for 4 hours a day M-F for an entire month before school ever starts. Crazy, I tell you! The coaches, the staff, the parents, the kids have to give 110% of total dedication for 4 solid months. And you know what? My boy THRIVED!!!! His attitude at home improved, his manners improved, and he had the best ever start to school this year (I also attribute that to the fabulous Mrs. Gregory who seems to just know him inside and out!). Roman has always done well in school. He's an E/S student and rarely ever causes any trouble, but even that has IMPROVED. This last report card Roman pulled straight E's with the exception of handwriting... we'll give him slack on that one, it was always my worst subject too! Aside from football, he is totally into SPORTS! LOL I took him too his first hockey game a few weeks ago and we had a fantastic time. Can't wait to take the whole family in the near future. Coming into spring he had a big decision to make... soccer or baseball through RRAA. He chose to go with his school and we look forward to the kick off of baseball season next week, though I am a bit sad that he will not be playing soccer. Outside of sports the big 8 year old things right now are Transformers, still some Star Wars, and Halo, okay, anything Xbox 360, or gameboy, or even Leapster... so video games! LOL Roman is 100% all boy, but he does have a sensitive side. He is very sweet with his sisters, and I have enjoyed watching him evolve into his own person with his own mind who's not afraid to stand up for what he believes in and put his own unique stamp on what has become his style. There is no more baby, or even little kid left of him and I couldn't be prouder of the boy he's become!

James - Well, he's still James! LOL His Star Wars geek status took a bit of a back seat to football season. James enjoyed football every bit as much as Roman and plans to get more involved in RRAA for this coming fall. We actually have a meeting on that this Friday. Just before Christmas, on December 23rd to be exact, we were coming back from a visit in Baltimore and swung off to mom's for a brief visit as Gloria, Ashley, Joel and John were in town. Well, it was rainy outside and the entrance way into mom's apartment is all tile with 3 steps to go down to get to her door. James took a slip on the top step and came down hard landing on the three stairs with his arm wedged into the railing. Took me and 3 guys to get him up and I thought for sure he'd broken something. It's been a long recovery. Took 2 weeks to get him up without 100% assistance. Was able to then transition him to a walker and eventually a cane. He is out and about now. He is driving, but not comfortably enough to do so with just the kids in the car, unless in an emergency. He is even starting to venture around the house some without his cane now. The back spasms are still bothering him often, but overall he is doing awesome right now! That has certainly put a damper on things lately. With the exception of scouts, we have cut out all activities for all of us. Honestly, it's been good for us. Barbara moved out in the midst of it all and we have been working hard at adjusting to life as 5 again, settling into our house, and spending a lot more quality time together as a family!

Trooper is doing well too. He spent way too much time being cooped up in the crate while James was recovering. I think 3 adults in the house all with different rules and commands was more than a little confusing too. After Barbara moved out James and I sat down and worked out a training plan for the boy and he is just thriving on it! What an amazing difference in such a short time. The chewing is a LOT better now, he is 100% housebroken, almost completely leash trained, and after spending a bit to properly dog proof the first floor, he is one happy pup and very much the family dog we had hoped for!

As for me, well, my part of life hasn't been without drama either. LOL Last August was a nightmare, but worthy of it's own post, so you'll have to keep looking for that one! Just before Thanksgiving I was "laid off". There was a helpdesk opening that offered to me in place of termination with a pathetic severance package that would not have gotten us through the end of the year. So, for my family, I begrudgingly accepted it. With a turn of good luck, 2 guys announced they were leaving the week I started on the helpdesk. I applied for the new opening (that otherwise wouldn't have come as we are in a hiring freeze here thanks to the real estate market taking such a hard hit lately) and the day after Christmas was offered and accepted it. It took a stressful month and a half to get me fully transitioned over to the new job. I've been here, working on the server team for about 3 weeks now and I absolutely love it! Funny thing is, this position was open once before, about a year ago and I didn't apply because I was in comfortable misery where I was... meaning I didn't care for my job or the management changes occurring with it, but it was a job, paid well, and I stuck around without motivation to move on. In that way the lay off has been a true blessing as I probably would not have bothered to apply for this one had I not been downgraded to helpdesk! Outside of work I am making a conscious effort to work on ME. I have taken to going to the gym M-F, getting up at 4:45 to hit the gym at 5am. What am I thinking?!?! I feel really good when I make it and don't beat myself up too bad if I don't. I haven't been dieting, but have been watching what I eat and managing proper portion control for everyone at home. Must be doing something right, cause people I don't see everyday are starting to take notice and I've had a few people this week that I do see nearly every day stop and ask what I've been doing to drop the weight. In truth I've only lost about 4 lbs in the last month, but I have dropped a full pants size and things are just shifting I guess, probably due to the exercise. I am feeling great though, loving my new job, and life just seems to be going right for once!

Baseball season starts next week. The girls were supposed to be playing soccer this spring, but we have pretty much decided to continue on our easy path. They both have dance still anyway, so it's not like they are without or anything. Hopefully the rest of the school year will remain relatively calm, stress free and NORMAL for once!

A Disgusting Night

Recently a good friend of mine began her blog and in reading over it I realized just how much I really do miss this one. I was quite addicted to this thing in the beginning, but with 3 active kids, over time I've just gotten away from it. In reading back through my own words I realize that although I do blog about the crazy antics my kids get into, including some that have lead to the ER amongst other places, that I very rarely post about the bad, the hardships of life. Honestly, it's probably just not in my nature, and Hope will someday shoot me for posting this, but here it is, a horrible night gone completely wrong with the Trettels!

Tuesday night on my way home, it's dreary, misty, overcast and overall miserable. If it hadn't been 60 degrees out I would have sworn we were in for a major snowstorm! However, as usual we weren't even close. I called James to let him know I was going by the store, we addressed dinner. He wanted to go out, I did NOT. I wanted to curl up with the kids, some popcorn, maybe a little pizza and a good movie, okay, one we at least hadn't seen 2 billion times already! So I run into Target.... BINGO! They have a sale, $10 movies for ones like Ratouille (however you spell it) and TMNT (which Roman has been dying to see). So I splurge and buy a few new movies, a big box of microwave Movie Theater Butter popcorn and toss in a box or 2 of candies, sparing nothing here. Ready for a full blown movie night at home!!! Walk outside to head to Little Caesar's for a couple pizzas to finish off my "meal" and it's super sunny, bright and cheerful, no more rain, not a cloud in the sky. I was quite disappointed.

James is on the phone before I can get out of the parking lot. It's kids eat free night at Lonestar, can we pleeeeeeeeeeeeease go tonight Okay, I give in. So I pick up the family and we head to the restaurant. Gma meets us there and has appetizer ready and waiting and everyone is in high spirits. Hope starts handing out her share of the absolute most cheesiest fries ever, which is somewhat out of the ordinary, but not enough to send up flags. By the time we're finishing and soups and salads are arriving, Hope has to go to the bathroom. No big deal, the child has always been infatuated with seeing bathrooms. We go in and she is taking FOREVER! Next thing I know there's a huge potty explosion, or rather, she has major diarrhea. After another 10 minutes she's all better. We go sit down, I scarf down my salad and shes running back to the bathroom. I feel really bad for her now. We get back to the table and everyone's eating and I sit and scarf down my dinner as fast as possible and tell her to come on and we'll go wait in the truck where she can laydown and be a tad more comfortable while the others finish up and pay the bill. So she stands up and proceeds to throw up.... EVERYWHERE! It just kept coming and coming and she couldn't stop. It was projectile vomit everywhere. I'm running for cover. Mom of the year I am not and I do not handle puke at all, not without contributing my own to it at least. Fortunately we were over in a corner away sorta hidden away from others and didn't disturb anyone else's meal. I pawned it off on the waitress while the waitress pawned it off on the poor bus boy and I ran for the door with Hope as fast as I could before I joined her in her puke-fest. She was soooooooooo embarrassed. I felt really bad for her, but honestly I have never seen or smelled anything more disgusting in my entire life!!!!!

We came home, the guys stayed downstairs playing video games while the girls and I laid down upstairs with Hope's new movie, Ella Enchanted, but we decided to forego the popcorn and candy!

The Capital of Russia

This is one of the best Hopey-isms I've heard in months. It's definitely good enough to bring me out of the shadows to post again.

Tonight Hope and Roman and Bethany were one upping each other.

Hope "I can could by 10's!"
Roman "Well, I can count by 5's, 10's, and 20's!"
Bethany "So what, I can count by 1's!"

James, in over hearing this pipes in, "You guys think your sooooo smart tonight, so, who can tell me the the capital of Russia?"

Hopey gets this cocky smirk on her face and grinning from ear to ear proudly announces that SHE knows the capital of Russia. "The capital of Russia is R!"

I Love Up

One of the new shirts Hope bought yesterday during her impromptu shopping spree was a cute little brown shirt trimmed in pink and across the chest has 'I (a pic of a heart) (a pic of an arrow pointing up)' that is supposed to read "I love me". In asking Hope what her shirt says she tells me, "It means I love up! You know, like the sky and the stars, the sun and the moon. Oh and ME! hehe"

How Far will Hope go when Daddy says No to Shopping....

Yesterday James and the kids were in Baltimore to take Buz to the airport. They went up early to beat rush hour traffic through DC. Anyone who's ever driven it before knows why! So to waste some time they went to Arundel Mills. Hope's most favorite thing in the world is SHOPPING! She is a shop-a-holic. Yes, at 5 years old my daughter is an addict! As they were walking around she spotted the Limited Too. <-- a Hopey fav! Daddy quickly said NO as he knows he has a weakness for the Hope-Hope when it comes to feeding her clothing fetish. So as she told me on the phone, "Mom I just got so excited I peed my pants!!!"

Yup, that'll do it! LOL Hope wins! She got her new outfit. LOL Actually it didn't quite happen that way. Hope apparently got really excited when she saw Limited Too and started doing the pee-pee dance. Well the one really bad thing about Arundel Mills is that bathrooms are few and far between. She made it to the bathroom, but had an accident while getting on the potty, part in floor, part in toilet. You get the picture. Enough that a new pair of shorts was necessary. They did not make it back to Limited Too, but instead James discovered Children's Place. Fortunately our closest mall at least does NOT have one of these, and luckily it's summer clearance time at TCP! They didn't get too out of control, but that pair of shorts turned into a skirt, 2 shirts, shoes and flip flops for Hope. Of course Bethany can't be left out so she came back sporting a new purple skort, matching striped shirt, and matching purple flip flops, with an extra pair of flip flops thrown in for good measure. Who can resist $1.50 flip flops?? And wouldn't you know it, TCP had Hawaiian shirts on sale in Roman's size. James and Roman have a huge thing for Hawaiian shirts (gag!), so throw 2 of those in the mix and there you have it....

Cost of peeing your pants 155 miles from home?? PRICELESS!

Thank God for Jelly Bread

Hope's dinner prayer:

God is Great, God is good
Let us thank Him for our food
We fold our hands, we bow our head
Thank you Lord for Jelly Bread!

Congratulations Heather!!!!

A big Congratulations to my cousin Heather on her high school graduation!!!

This past Saturday we headed to the Eastern Shore to celebrate Heather's graduation at her grandparents house, my Aunt Deanie and Uncle Charlie's. I sure hope Heather had a good time, cause I know with out a doubt the Trettel's had a fantastic time! The girls were in heaven. Let's see.... Heather, Leia, Abby, Megan, Rionna, and even baby Emma! Add Hope and Bethany and let me know tell you, that is a LOT of girls! Poor Roman, painfully outnumbered once again.

We had great company, great food - including lots of steamed crabs! Yummy!!! - beautiful weather, and ATV's! What better way to get some testerone back into this party than by pulling out not 1, but TWO 4-wheelers. Uncle Charlie has some great trails marked off through the woods at the back of his property and the kids got their first taste of 4-wheeling. And yes, they're all addicted! The girls screamed, FASTER, FASTER! and Roman got to drive himself once he became familiar with it. It was by far the highlight of the trip. And James is already pricing them out... though my foot is planted on a big fat NO to that.

We left Roman there with Grandma (my mom) with plans of an amazing fun-filled week. He spent yesterday and part of today in DC with my mom getting spoiled, swimming, and going to the movies. They will be heading to Aunt Philly's later today for swimming and a carnival where he gets to ride all the rides with Leia. Then tomorrow afternoon James' dad is picking him up there and he is headed to the lake in PA for the remainder of the week. We plan to join him there on Friday and look forward to bringing not only him, but James' cousin Buz back home too. Buz will be visiting with us next week, so lots going on around here should I not get a chance to check back in.

CBBT

Saturday morning we awoke early after a rough night with Trooper, packed up Roman's bags for the week and hit the road. Our destination: Heather's graduation party in Princess Anne, MD on the Eastern Shore. The kids have never been out that way via VA, only through MD, therefore they got to experience their first trip across the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel, or the CBBT. James has horrible memories of the CBBT as he generally despises bridges, and even more so, tunnels, so 24 miles across the Chesapeake Bay is not very thrilling for him. Me, however, I have great memories of driving that route. I LOVE water and it is just a very relaxing, peaceful drive for me, and I always remembered stopping in the middle of the Bay at this little gift shop, restaraunt and the CBBT being so long that you couldn't see land in either direction while stopped there. I told the kids about it the whole way there, and as we're coming out of the 2nd tunnel with no sign of the middle of the Bay stop I remembered, it became evident that you CAN see land in both directions from the middle of the Chesapeake Bay Bride Tunnel. I was a little taken back I'll admit. How is this possible? I clearly remember seeing nothing but water for as far as the eye could see, and even more so, James also remembers the bridge being sooooooooooo long that land could not be seen. He also remembered 3-4 tunnels along this path, and I thought for sure it was right.... nope, there's only 2!

As we sat there pondering how crazy our perceptions as children differ from today and how enormous this bridge complex once looked to us, Roman spoke up from the back seat to clarify everything. "I bet it used to be really really big, huh mom!" "Yes Roman, that's how I remember it". "I bet they shrunk it some since then. You know, took out the other 2 tunnels and made the bridges smaller!" LOL Yeah Roman, cause the Chesapeake Bay has shrunk that much since we were kids! LOL You always hear how the Bay is endangered, apparently by the Trettel standards, it must be in grave danger! LOL

We never did find my restaurant/gift shop/pier in the middle of the Bay, at least not on the way up there. On the way back I realized it's at the 1st tunnel entrance from the mainland, literally just a couple miles off the mainland and the entire coastline was clearly visible as we went inside for dinner. So much for not seeing land! Was I really that blind as a kid??

Blackberries

Bethany overheard a conversation James and I were having last Friday about the new blackberry I was just issued at work...

James: Where's your blackberry I want to check it out.

Julie: Oh, I left it at work sitting on the charger. Didn't think about it.

This is where Bethany butts in...

"Ohhhhhhhhh, that's not good"

Julie: Bethany, what are you talking about.

"You left blackberry at work, that's just not right!"

Julie: Why?

"Cause it'll probably be bad by the time you get back to work. That's just wrong. I love blackberries, we should have eaten them, now you'll just have to throw them out!"

Hope Update - 5 1/2 years old

Hope Elizabeth turned 5 this past January. She is gearing up to start Kindergarten in the fall and is very very excited about it. She is our little book worm. She spends at least part of everyday practicing writing and drawing. She is also infatuated with learning Roman's math facts flash cards we've been working on this summer and she is beginning to read. I know she will fly through Kindergarten with no problems. In March we took her to see a pediactric opthamologist after she failed the eye exam for her Kindergarten physical. Turns out she's already near-sighted. She does look adorable in her new glass though! She has been busy this year playing soccer and she began dance classes, ballet and tap. In May she had her 1st recital and so just so beautiful on stage!!! Her big passion right now is music. She LOVES music. High School Musical is her fav movie of all time and she can recite it word for word songs and all. It is too cute. She too has made a lot of friends this past year. Her best friend right now is probably Evangelina. Other friends include Madison, Cole, Quinn, Rebecca, and Ella. She is still the sweetest child ever. Still oh so dramatic at times, the ultimate Drama Queen. And still 120% GIRL. It's all about the pink and the flowers and the purses and the clothes. She is a bit of a shopaholic and we're having to keep that in check these days. Oh, and she refuses to clean, it is beneath her, so she has been paying her brother to do it for her. "I just don't clean, it's gross and it's not me." Her big ambitions in life has upgraded (I think) from her former desire to be a cashier at Food Lion. She nows dreams of owning her own business.... an ice cream truck to drive around the neighborhoods selling ice cream to kids!

Roman Update - 7 1/2 years old

Roman has just completed 1st grade. His teacher was Mrs. Powers. He did fantastic in school, his reading has really taken off. School studies still are coming easily for him. Sometimes a little too easy making him hard to keep motivated. He has gotten so big this year it's not even funny. Amazing what a difference a year makes! His best friend in the whole world is still Josh Sammon, whom we did get to visit with last month (but that's a whole other post of it's own!). He has made lots of other friends this past year as well and is becoming quite social. His friends list today include Elijah, Josiah, David, Truman, Quinn, Cole, Matthew H., Matthew J., Ian, Kyle, Zach, Steven, and Chloe. Notice the girl side of his list this year took a dramatic plumet. Roman spent this past year active in soccer and Cub Scouts as well as church - a great change for our entire family. He is gearing up to play football for Reams this fall and quite excited about that, though torn about missing fall soccer. I haven't paid for either quite yet, so we'll see where that leads us. His biggest interests still revolve around sports, cars, Star Wars, and Pirates. And his future ambitions still are pointing towards a career in the military, though the branch has shifted, right now his heart is set on the Army (but last year was all about the Navy). Roman is stubborn and a tad hard headed. He's an observer and the quietest of the family. He is very kind and loving, especially to his sisters. He is reserved and tends to keep things bottled up inside a little too much at times. He is 110% boy. Last night there was a dead fly on the floor in the den and he was determined to examine it. When I fussed as he picked it up he tells me, "It's okay mom, I'm a boy. This is just what we do!"

Been far too long

The kids are growing like weeds and I'm been too busy and too exhausted trying to keep up with them to keep this place up and running. Sooooooooooo many wonderful times and great memories have been missed and a few already forgotten I'm sure. AS life starts to settle back in I'm going to try to get this place back up and running.

A quick update on the last 6 months....

Barbara's house finally sold in March. We are busily trying to get the final touches completed on the Redbridge house to get her moved in early July. Looking forward to getting my house in order once and for all, as well as a few projects I want completed.

Last October we began going to Trinity Church of the Nazarene and have become very involved with out church. It is a small church and very family oriented which is just perfect for us. James has joined the band for the contemporary service and is loving it. We've made a lot of really great friends through our church. On Easter Sunday this past April, the unimaginable happened, James was baptized! Yup, it really truly did snow that morning! LOL

In May we took a trip to Florida to visit the Sammons and then to South Carolina on the way back up for Joey's graduation.... I'll post a full post on this as it was just too big a moment and needs to be captured all on it's own!

Earlier this month we adopted a puppy. He looks like a purebred beagle, but is suspected to be some sort of hound/beagle/basset mix. His name is Trooper and he is too cute for words, and for his own good for that matter. He is a biter and we're having a few issues with that, but otherwise he really is a perfect dog for our family and fits in so well! He travels well, he's obnoxiously friendly (like his big sisters!), and most of the time quite sweet. The kids have so far been doing a wonderful job with him!

Yes there was, of course a lot more to my time away, but those the main things to note for now. I'm sure I'll think of something else later.

Another Year of Farting Deer

It is that time again when the obnoxious "farting deer" return and the even more obnoxious farting deer song is sung nearly every second of the day. We have 9 farting deer, same as last year. Roman desperately wants to add 3 more this Christmas for an even dozen, but I don't think that's going to be in the budget right now. Our neighbors have quite a few in their yard too and you can imagine the looks on their faces when the kids told them just how great their house looks with all those farting deer!

Time Lapse

There has been an insanely large gap in postings here. We've had quite a busy year and, well, 2006 has just been downright INSANE! The first 4 months were relatively normal. We did do spring soccer at the Y again and that was a lot of fun, though we won't be going back their after some policy changes, a few concerning issues, and an increase in cost. But anyway, we managed to end the season on yet another high note! In May we joined the pool at Shenandoah. Roman went from not swimming at all, literally freaking out if water got in his face to jumping off the high dive and swimming in the 12 ft well unassisted in TWO WEEKS! He was AMAZING!!!! He is quite the little fish and hoping to join the swim team in 2007. Hope and Bethany also made huge strides in swimming before the end of summer. Both can swim under water well and above water with floaties. I think they'll be ditching the floaties by 4th of July this year. It's insane watching little Bethany swim around. She is a complete fish and probably one of the strongest most natural little swimmers I've ever seen. But that's B, she still can not be outdone by anyway, especially her big sister!

One big highlight of our summer was spending a week in Hatteras. We went up Saturday morning on June 24th with mom and Barbara in tow. Then on Monday Jason, Angie, Josh, and Madison joined us. Overall we had a GREAT, relaxing, enjoyable vacation. It's always iffy on how vacations will go with friends and family for that matter. But I can honestly say we would not hestitate to vacation with the Sammon's again! The kids were just in heaven, and it was a beautiful week. We got back on July 1st and Hopey went on home with mom for a few days from there. We are still hearing stories about her time there "when I (Hope) lived with mommy's grandma". She was able to attend the family 4th of July party at Aunt Philly and Uncle Dave's and had a blast from what we've heard. I went back to work on the 3rd then off on the 4th. The 4th this year was INSANE! WE spent almost the entire day at the pool for the community 4th of July party. We did join in on the dinner, but headed to Jon and Alicia's instead for Garrett's 3rd birthday party. Then the Sammon's joined us there later for fireworks. Normally I love doing 4th of July fireworks on the Jones's lake, BUT after spending ALL DAY in the sun with NO naps, the kids were just unbearable and we (as well as Angie and Jason) had to bail early to get 5 little cranky monsters into bed. Aside from the rough ending we really did have a wonderful 4th this year.

We also spent a great deal of summer remodeling Barbara's house and packing our own. That is STILL a work in progress. LOL Her house has been on the market for 5 months and still no offers. It is getting hard not to stress about it, but what else can we do?? We practically gutted the place and inside it is like new. The yard needs work, but at the price of the house it's not worth the investment, so we're stuck in limbo waiting for someone to fall in love with the place and take it off our hands forever! Barbara has been living with us since mid-August. We still have work to do on our old house before she will move in there, but two weeks after we began moving into our new house - which we LOVE btw!! - my company move began. It was 6 weeks of long hours and weekend work, and quite frankly by the time October arrived I was just plum worn out!

Roman started school right after Labor Day. He is 1st grade now and has Mrs. Powers for his teacher. He is lazy when it comes to reading and is seeing a reading specialist right now. Not because he is behind, but really because he is having a hard time moving to the next level. As it was last year, the first few months of school were a rough and emotionally draining time for him. One thing we did not do this fall was play soccer. With so many other things going on we just couldn't make time for it. We did, however, let Roman join Cub Scouts. James and I are sharing the den parent responsibilities and overall thoroughly enjoying it! Needless to say life has flown by with barely a moments rest since school began.

Before I knew it, Bethany's birthday was here! She had a Curious George theme this year and it was fantastic. She had a great time! Roman helped me with the decorations and it was really just a lot of fun. I didn't stress at all about it and everything went off without a hitch. The kids played and played and after the bulk of them left, we ended up keeping Megan and Abby overnight - their first sleep over with us! - and Ilana spent the night with Sebastian and Sabrina. To put things into prospective...that would be 1 20mo, 3 3yo, 2 4yo, and 1 6yo. Yup, SEVEN kids 6 and under, AND, we had every single one of them in bed asleep before 9:30! It was a miracle, but a lot of fun too.

From there, honestly I have NO IDEA what happened to November. Where did it go?!? I hosted Thanksgiving this year and I have no idea how I did it because it's all just a blur. I don't remember ever really preparing for it. We had 20 people total and it was a whole lot of fun. Huh?? That just doesn't sound like me! LOL I was plum exhausted on Thursday night, but it was one of the smoothest, stressfree parties I've ever done! Friday morning instead of going out to do my traditional Black Friday shopping I instead got us all packed up and headed out the door. We went up to Baltimore for Dan and Erin's baby shower. It was fun, nice to see everyone, but darn it, why did Dan have to go buy a Wii?? Now that's all James and Roman can think about. LOL We drove home that night as Barbara had surgery to repair a hernia on Tuesday and we didn't want to leave her alone for too long. Was a blessing too as Sat and Sun were in the mid to upper 60's and we put a big dent in our outdoor decorating for Christmas!

So that about brings this blog to current date. Hopefully life will return to some form of normality soon and I will have time and energy to keep up with this blog. I've missed it these past 6 months or so and am a bit saddened at all the hysterical and emotional pandemonium missed for 2006. So hard to believe we on the verge of a whole new year already!

Make-up Dance

Last Friday we were completely disorganized, James was out in left field somewhere and we both managed to completely forget about it being Friday. I was on the phone with James around 10:30 when it dawned on me... "Why aren't you guys at dance practice??" From 10:15-11:15 every Friday Hope Elizabeth has dance class. We signed her up in September for both ballet and tap and she absolutely adores it! She is quite good too. So anyway, I called over to Jessica Morgan's School of Dance and asked what the deal was with make-up classes. They told me there was 4-5 year old ballet/tap class with her teacher, Miss Breanne, on Saturday morning at 9:30. PERFECT! I had never gotten to take her to dance class before and I would finally get to really check the place out. So as I'm shuffling the kids up to bed for the night I explained to Hope that although it was Friday (and normally could stay up a little late) she really needed to go to sleep because she had her make-up class for dance the next morning. Upon reaching the top of the stairs Hope turned around to face me, and with an oh-so-innocent look with troubled expression she asks: "Mom, do you think the boys will be wearing makeup tomorrow too??" LOL Not THAT kind of makeup dance!!!

So Saturday morning we wake up and I get Hope ready for dance, breakfast fed, and out the door on time - which is a rarity for me! On the way there she starts chatting about all the kids in her class, though I did explain they would not be there today, and she tells me about Benjamin. Benjamin is the only little boy in her dance class and apparently he is quite smitten with my little Hope-Hope. She tells me, "Mom, he really truly has a crush on me. I just know it." So once we get in to the studio we see Miss Breanne and Hope gives her a big hug and Miss Breanne tells her how much she was missed the day before and how everyone, 'especially Benjamin' were asking about her. Hope turns to me and says, "See mom, I told ya he has a crush on me." After her dance class on the way home she brings it up AGAIN. "Mom, you know, I guess you could say Benjamin and I have crushes on each other. I'm just a little shy about him. Mom, I really just don't know what to do about Benjamin!" Okay, heard ENOUGH, time to change this subject. She is FOUR! I'm not ready for this!!!

Wow! Where have the last 2 months gone??

It has been so long since I last updated here that I'm not completely sure of where to begin. I have missed so much of the day to day pandemonium by not blogging more regularly, but there is a great excuse for the lapse. The Trettel's are MOVING! There has been a lot of insanity involved with this move. Barbara's house is being sold and she is moving into our house on Redbridge Rd and we are moving 2 miles away in Shenandoah subdivision. We are buying are good friend's, the Sammon's, house, as we're devastated to say they are moving to Utah. We close on the house on August 1st, Barbara's house is officially on the market after many ups and downs and open for showing and we are all living in the now much too small house on Redbridge. In reality I have not posted on this blog since May 1st, as we have truly just been THAT busy. In an attempt to organize my thoughts over the last 10 1/2 weeks I am going to go back and retro-date notable occurances of the true pandemonium at the Trettel house, though I am positive I will not due justice the true insanity of all that has gone on in our lives during this time!

Memorial Weekend

We had a nice Memorial weekend, staying close to home as we continue to clear out Barbara's house of 25 years of clutter, and most notable, we joined Shenandoah's community pool and had a wonderful time there this weekend. The kids are skeptical of the water still, but this is the first year we've joined a pool and the first major access to a pool since we left Florida. Hoping this is THE year for the kids. The water has always been a big part of life for me and James, so our kids refusing to learn to swim has been a bit disheartening. We haven't had the best start either, but hopefully as they get more and more comfortable and confident in and around the water things will change. We plan on spending a lot of time at the pool this summer!

We've Lost Our Minds!

In a move of true insanity, we have halted the remodeling project of our home. Why? Because we're gutting and remolding Barbara's instead. Why? Because we're selling it. Why? Because she's moving into our house and we are about to go to contract on a new house! Our friends Jason and Angie recently announced that he is being relocated to UTAH. We are all a bit devastated by the news, but hey, we know better than most that you gotta do what's best for you and your family, and this is a great opportunity for them. So, they made a good deal on their house, which is in our same school district and one of two neighborhoods we have been watching closely, and quite frankly James, especially, LOVES this house. It will be a great house for the kids to grow up and we will finally have some true stability in our lives, and well, we already know we love the neighbors! But, the madness of what all has to be done to get through this summer is truly overwhelming. One day at a time from here on!

Heaven Sure is Cold

Most cemetaries in WV sit way up on top of a mountain. The locals way back when believed this helped them reach heaven faster as they left this earth as close to heaven as possible. I was explaining this to James and the kids as we were bouncing around along a "goat trail" up the side of a mountain to a family cemetary only reachable with 4x4. Makes you wonder how they get them up there to bury them, huh! Anyway we of course talked a little about God and heaven and how beautiful the mountains are. We even had a baby deer run right across us up the side of themountain. When we arrived at the "dead yard" as Roman had named it, we all hoped out to put flowers on the graves of ancestors and listen as uncle Dave told stories about some of the folks buried there. Well, it was quite windy up on that mountain and as we entered the cemetary Roman tugged on my shirt and whispered, "Mom, heaven sure is cold!"

West Virginia

This past weekend we were in West Virginia with Aunt Philly, Uncle Dave, Steven, Vickie, Leia, Riona, Kari, Kermit, Abby, and Megan. Growing up we would also go up to WV over Memorial Weekend to pay respects to our ancestors and visit with distant relatives and listen to stories of life long ago. I took James many years ago, but this was a first for the kids. We stayed in a log cabin with nice views of the river, and although the cabin wasn't up to everyone's standards, we did have a great time. We visited the cemetaries, threw rocks in the river, hiked 1.5 miles up and back to the observation tower at Seneca Rocks - boy was I impressed with my babies! Roman and Hope both walked with next to 0 complaints all the way up and all the way down. Bethany Nicole walked her little 2 yr old legs off as she hiked all the way to the top on her own and then James and I switched back and forth carrying her down. They all loved it, as did James and I! We also had a great bonfire and let the kids cook their dinner (hotdogs) and dessert (s'mores) over the open fire. And we ended the trip with a tour of Smoke Hole Caverns. It was a really nice weekend and everyone had a great time!