wish us luck!

We are going out tonight and leaving Sloane for the longest time ever- 6 hrs! With a babysitter! EEEK I am nervous. I know, she is 16 months old, time to cut the cord, but she is my baby and it is really hard to do! She has never stayed with a babysitter before so I am freaking out just a tiny bit. The fact that she was up ALL NIGHT LONG last night doesn't help me feel better about it either. Ugh! Hopefully it all goes well.

Cameron's art

just thought I would post some of Cameron's latest artwork- I love the people he is drawing these days!

my daughter the bully

Our neighbor brought her little girl Avery over the other day- she is just 2 weeks younger than Sloane. So far Sloane hasn't really taken to her and will usually just stay far away. When she came over the other day though, the second Avery grabbed one of Sloanes toys, Sloane ran over there and started screeching 'mom!' I guess she was telling on Avery! LOL! She did this for about 30 minutes, every time Avery would pick up a new toy. Then they were quite behind the couch, and when I looked Sloane was following her around and pushing her!!! Avery didn't even cry about it or fight back, she just took it! Poor girl. Finally after Sloane got in trouble she started being a bit nicer, but not much. Who knew, my cute little girl is a bully!

TGIF!!!

Well, the kids have survived a week of school! Cameron LOVES school!!! He didn't want to come home on monday! He is such a different kid than he was even a year ago. He used to hate going and it would take him about a month to get used to any changes, but not anymore. Ethan has been enjoying 4th grade too. He has had a bit of homework but not too much...not yet anyway! He starts soccer this coming monday, he has really been looking forward to playing again. I am not looking forward to trying to keep Sloane off the field during games- it will be interesting for sure. We were thinking of getting Cameron into soccer but jim is working alot this fall so if there are games it 2 cities, I cant stretch that far so we decided to wait until spring when Jim will be home on weekends more.
Sloane is doing well- she isn't minding being home alone without the boys as much as I thought she would. She is talking alot these days, nothing clear but Jim and I usually know what she is saying. Of course now that I am trying to think of what she says I cant think of many of her words- go figure! She says shoes, fish, baby (daaada),no(nanananana), night night(nini), boo! and a bunch of animal noises- elephant is her favorite!

I got my hair permantly straightened last week. It is soooo nice to not have to straighten it myself now. Unfortunately, it stripped the color out of my hair so I had - god forbid- brown hair for a week now!!! AND I wasn't allowed to pull it back because it would crimp my hair (do you know how many times in a day Sloane pulls my hair???) but finally today I am going back in to have it colored so I will be red again- yeah! Just in time for the big concert tomorrow night- Depeche Mode, here I come!
Shoulder surgery is set for next thursday- I am so ready for it. The hospital was nice enough to call me yesterday (1 week before my appt) to inform me that I have to bring $1200 with me for my copay. Niiiiice! Not a problem, dont we all just have an extra grand laying around the house??? jerks!

First Day of School

Today is the first day of 4th grade for Ethan and the first day of Cameron's new preschool! They were both really excited. Gone are the days of me picking Ethan's outfits for him- he is all about looking cool now. Unfortunately, this morning he woke up with a huge zit on his chin- it was like saying welcome to 4th grade- you know have hormones!!!! I am not ready for that yet! But Ethan was looking forward to school and friends he hasn't seen all summer. Hope he has another year as great as last year!
Cameron was even excited! I figured that might last until he got to school then he would freak out and get clingy like he usually does, but nope- my shy boy has grown up and he was totally okay with me leaving him in his class. His days will be longer than he is used to- he used to stay about 4 hours twice a week, and now he will be gone 5hours three times a week PLUS a day of speech therapy.

Now both my boys are gone all day and I don't know what Sloane and I are going to do to keep busy. She loves playing with the boys and now she is going to be bored like crazy! Looks like we will be spending time at the park! At least today we should be okay- the neighborhood girls are meeting up for lunch after not doing it all summer long- I miss my girl time! It almost made it worth sending the boys off to school! LOL!

end of summer

Well, it's now the end of summer. last night we went and met Ethan's & Cameron's new teachers. From the sounds of it, 4th grade will be alot of fun and not a whole lot of homework. He will have 5 different teachers this year! Cameron's preschool teacher seemed very nice and he enjoyed the classroom. He is going to a new school this year so I hope he does okay. They both start school on monday- Ethan at 8am, Cameron at 9am. I think Sloane and I are going to be bored without the boys around to entertain us!
Next weekend I bought some concert tickets- Jim and I are going to see Depeche Mode in Dallas. Since Sloane did well with my mom, I feel better about leaving her with a babysitter. I can't wait for the concert. Depeche Mode is the first big band I ever went to see in concert so it will be cool to go again! Too bad I can't bring my camera :(
Then Sept 3 I go in for shoulder surgery. I don't have any torn ligaments, just a deformed shoulder bone (I guess it usually happens to old people) so they just have to go in and shave off part of the bone and make it straight again. The dr said recovery is 8 weeks but that I can use it as soon as I want to- it will just hurt like hell! LOL! I just hope that I can still take care of Sloane afterward, Jim will only be off for a couple of days afterward to help me and after that Ethan wont even be home to help me so I will be on my own- yikes!

summer pictures

Ethan has wanted his head shaved for forever! Finally we caved and did it. He loves it!

lollypop lips!

She was one sleepy baby!

Grandma Lisa's visit

My mom came for a visit and we all had alot of fun. We went to 6 flags the day after she got here. It was 100+ outside and wow, it was brutal! I think at one point we all thought we might die from heat! LOL! Ethan was tall enough to do all the rides so he did a few scary ones which he loved. Cameron did quite a few rides too and there were even some Sloane got to do- I dont think she loved it exactly but she didn't cry...though I think on one she was just to scared to cry. What a trooper she is! We did end up losing Cameron right before we left. Thank goodness we found him quickly- someone had taken him to a security guard. Hope that never happens again!
We also went to a water park- I had won tickets for it during a school fundraiser last fall. The lines for the big slides were really long so mostly we just splashed and played in the wave pool. That was a great way to spend a hot afternoon.
Before my mom left, we went to the stockyards to do some shopping and just walk around. That's always a great place to take some fun pictures!
Perhaps one of the best things that happend while my mom was here is that Jim and I went on a date! Not just any date, but the first date in 2 years! All we did was go to a movie, then out of lack of anything better to do, we went to the carwash, then came home. Sort of lame but hey, we are sort of out of the loop when it comes to dates these days. And Sloane actually did well! Now I guess I can go out more often- that will be nice!