Happy 9th Birthday Sage!

She is 9! Sage had been counting down the days for 2 months I think! Just about 20 times a day she would remind us that her birthday was coming. We got a little too many "I wants" and tried to remind her about being grateful for the gifts that she did get.

Along with the gifts she got from dad, mom and Luke, she did get some cash from Aunt Aimee which we spent all day long yesterday at the mall spending! I am so proud of her...she bought all clothes! She and I had a great day together. She is very frugal when she is spending her own money! It is funny, when she goes into a store she checks out the price tags and decides if we are going to stay in that store or leave! She has an obsession with shoes...the Ukrainian kind. If you've been to Ukraine you know what I am talking about. They are so high even I would have a hard time walking in them. She points them out everywhere we go and wants to know at what age she can start wearing them.

She really wanted an Ipod. She had one right after we came home with her. Problem was, she dropped it so many times it finally broke. We found her a hot pink MP3 player that was cheap and is so much better than an Ipod! It has FM radio, voice recording, video and MP3! This way if it gets broken it wasn't so expensive that I will freak out. I don't think the ear buds have left her ears yet! Poor child cannot sing. For some reason she always sings the lyrics right after the singer does. She knows the words so that isn't it. It can be a little annoying when she has the ear buds in and she is singing along really loud to the same station I am listening to.

We had a little drama about what dessert she wanted for her birthday and what Luke thought she should have for her dessert. He can be so controlling! He and I were out grocery shopping and we called home to check to see what she wanted. I guess she wasn't near Drew when we called and he told us to surprise her. She will eat anything (besides fish) so we knew any thing sweet would be fine with her. NOT!!! Boy, she was so mad. She promptly came upstairs and told me "I said I wanted brownies!". Now I knew she really must have wanted brownies because she is rarely disrespectful to me. I guess I should know by now you shouldn't mess with a girl and her chocolate! After much fighting between the kids and a talk with her about how to express herself better, she settled on a strawberry cake. You can see how happy she was just to have cake and singing!

***Sometimes Blogger drives me up the wall!!! I have been working on this short little post for over an hour! Sometimes when I try to close up the gaps Blogger puts in, you delete things you don't mean to delete! One wrong move and you have to start over. Urrrg! They need to be able to let you copy (so if you loose your connection when you are publishing) you don't loose the entire post (it has happened to me more than once!) and you need to be able to "undo". ****

Meet Snowflake...

Last summer Luke's beloved hamster, Bart Simpson pass on to hamster heaven. He was sad and kept begging us for another hamster. We kept telling him no because he didn't like cleaning the cage I didn't feel like cleaning up after another animal or kid.

This past week he asked me if he behaved all the way until Christmas could he have another hamster. Knowing this would never happen, I told him yes. What a stupid thing for me to do!!! He and Sage received some cash (thanks Aim!!) and decided to get a hamster now! Urrrggg!!

I really don't mind hamsters except when they are loose and Luke is crying for days because we can't find it. The first weekend we had Bart, he snuck away from Luke and hid between the bathroom cabinets and the wall!! Luke was distraught and wanted us to rip out the cabinets and sink so we could save him! We were sad for him but not sad enough to destroy the bathroom! Bart was an escape artist and was found wandering through the house more than a handful of times! Each time he was apprehended.

They are supposed to be sharing the hamster but I can already see it is going to be a problem. Sage has no idea how to even hold the hamster which scares Luke and then makes him mad at her. I have explained to him that in a lot of ways his sister is still much like a 4 year old. She doesn't have the same life experiences as he does. He insists I am telling him this just to stick up for her. We have the same conversations when he makes fun of her for watching Barney on TV. I guess it is hard for a 10 year old to comprehend when he has lived here all of his life. So now Sage has to be supervised with the hamster and is not allowed to shake the little sleeping box upside down to wake him up.

As you can see our dogs are incredibly fascinated by little Snowflake. We are not sure

if Zoey (the cream colored one) is trying to eat him or protect him. She even got snippy with Luke when he tried to take the hamster out of the dog bed. Minnie...well she just wants someone to play with!

Let's hope this little hamster stays in her cage and lives longer than a year!

Funny Picture

Sage goes to bed way before Luke each night. She needs her sleep and Luke just doesn't. He is an insomniac like I am. We will tuck him into bed in his room and after we leave, he sneaks into his sisters room. I really wouldn't mind if they slept together but Sage wakes up earlier than Luke and wakes Luke up. If he is up until 11 then I would like him to sleep at least until 8:30.

I don't know what made me go up in the middle of the night and check on them but I found that Luke was not in his bed...no surprise, even though we have rules against him sleeping with Sage. This is they way I found them sleeping.

I think I have mentioned it here before, Sage is the lightest sleeper on the planet! I tried to sneak in and take this picture but as soon as the flash went off she put her hand over her eyes. One of is feet is over her mouth and the other is on her eye!! How in the world do they manage to sleep this way???

4th Of July

*****Some days I really hate Blogger! I can't make this post lay out right!!!****

Happy Birthday America!

Ok, so I am 3 weeks late...there is never enough time in the day for the mom to get done what she would like to get done!

We started off the 4th by going up to the club pool. They were having a DJ, waterslide and other fun activities for the kids. Sage wanted to do every activity but Luke wouldn't hear of doing any of it! He is just getting too cool!

Sage knew what hoola-hooping was but when the DJ said it was time for the limbo she had no idea! I explained the game to her and she was in line! Being tall and skinny with long legs isn't the best for the limbo! She had gone around several times but was very disappointed when she got out. She isn't the best at loosing!

A friend of Luke's parents told us that the club did fireworks each year and they were really good. Since we are new here we didn't have a clue where to go. They invited us to join them to watch the fireworks. We are so glad we did because they were amazing! It was totally a professional show than had to have lasted 25 minutes. It was great!! Here are some pictures of us pre-show...

I wonder what she is telling him??

The club somehow did this to the grass on the golf course. Isn't it cool!

An Update On Our Birds

We have been watching our little bird house and heard some little peeps coming from there. We took the flashlight and a ladder and saw that a whole family was now living in the house. This was really exciting for the kids.

For the last couple of weeks we have been watching the bird parents taking their young food and listening to the squawking of the babies demanding more. Each day we would look inside the nest to see what was happening and how big the babies were getting. We were all really anxious for the babies to start venturing out and watch how they learned to fly.

Last evening I was out with the dogs and went to the bird house and saw there were some ants crawling on the house. I knew this wasn't a good sign. I thought maybe one of the babies had died. I got the flashlight and to my surprise was greeted by a snake inside the house!! And no babies....

I didn't want to tell the kids. We all were so sad. What were the bird parents thinking? They had been working so hard to raise their babies. And how in the heck did the snake slither up the tree?!!! We are all trying to think of a way to have another bird house in a place a snake can't get it.

This is the second time this has happened to us. We had a nest of Cardinals right outside our dining room window in Orlando. We watched and watched those birds. One day one of the babies was out on the ground. I kept putting that little guy back in. I tried to build them a better nest with a box. The parents were so mad at me but I was only trying to save their little baby. One day we checked the nest and they were all gone. They didn't fly away, they were too young.

This time we will do a little more research and try again....

Meanest Mommy In The World

After a few weeks of telling Sage to stop chewing on her hair I have cut it off! I told her that if she kept putting her hair in her mouth, I would cut it up to her ears. When she kept doing it, I suggested she put it in a ponytail all the time...that lasted about 2 days and her hair was down and in her mouth. Drew couldn't figure out what was the big deal. I simply think it is a very gross habit. I think all girls do it.

So one day I was talking with her and she had a big chunk of hair in her mouth. Did I really want to cut her hair? No. But I have to follow through. She cried and begged which made it that much harder! I reassured Drew that I was not going to cut it to her ears but just take off about 4 inches. I am sure the entire time she was thinking "You are the meanest mommy in the world!".

But when we were all done and she looked at herself I think she really liked it! We really took off all of the old hair. It looks so much healthier now! It is still long enough to get to her mouth and I have seen it in her mouth several times. I keep telling her that I will cut it to her ears!

Two Whole Hands

Happy 10th Birthday Luke! I can't believe it has been 10 years since the night I gave birth to this boy. 10 years since I saw his little face for the first time. They say children grow up fast and they weren't kidding! He happily reminded me that in 6 years he will be driving! No!!!

I wish I could lock them away and keep them safe and innocent forever. It seems that the first 10 years of life are so uncomplicated. The next 10 years are such a confusing time for humans. They learn to love romantically and get their hearts broken. The world reveals much more of its ugly side to them and they have to learn how to deal with whatever comes their way. Puberty starts and their bodies do such weird things. Peers become strange and unaccepting sometimes. Can you tell I am a worrier? His first 10 years have been so great for him and he is so blessed. My wish for him this birthday is the next 10 years are just as good.

Anyway, his day started with gifts before Sage headed off to school. He got a new phone from mom and dad. We got him his first phone when he entered 3rd grade because he was going through some anxiety (turns out it was meds causing it) at school. It was free and not fancy. He has had the phone for nearly 2 years and never lost it! He was very responsible with it. I am the one who put it in the washing machine...it still worked but sometimes you couldn't hear him on it. It was time for a new one. He was so excited! He gave Sage is old phone (with the battery removed) and she hasn't put the thing down! She holds conversations all the time with whoever she imagines is on the other end of the phone! Cute!

Here he is with Zoey opening his practical joke gift from my sweet friend Aimee who is like an aunt to the kids. Zoey is sure it is something to eat! He immediately wanted to put the itching powder in his sisters bed!

This picture is of Luke with his special edition of People magazine who is featuring Demi Lovado and Selena Gomez. Selena is his first celebrity crush! He also wanted a full supply of Axe products. I think most of them stink but he loves them and is starting to want to smell nice....

Here he is blowing out the candles. He wanted a "fun-fetti cake with strawberry frosting" and that is exactly what I made him. He added the sprinkles! Know what he wished for? He wished the economy would get better so people would stop loosing their houses and could buy the things they need so other businesses wouldn't keep going out of business! Smart boy!
Having his first bite of cake....yum!!!

Guns and Boys

I just don't get the fascination with weapons and boys. I never have. We never promoted "boys toys" and always allowed Luke to play with what every type of toy he wanted to use. Somehow he naturally gravitated to swords. Swords I don't mind too much it's the guns I hate.

We own two guns and I have been to the shooting range before. I am fine with adults, its the kids that scare the crap out of me. I see Luke's fascination and it makes me so nervous. I have always been the type of parent that didn't think forbidding things was the best approach; maybe it will want the kids to want whatever it is more.

Last week Luke spent the night over at a new friends house and came home raving about all of the fun he had. What did you do I asked. The parents took them to a shooting range. The boys were not allowed to shoot and had to stay behind glass but it made me feel a bit weird. Once they got home they played with air soft guns. We had some neighbors in our old neighborhood that had air soft guns. We told Luke when he got older we would talk about it. I guess he is older...

We broke out our BB gun and he did some target practicing. Next thing I knew we were all shooting the thing! I needed to remind myself about my parenting style and I felt much better when we were doing something I was uncomfortable about as a family...here are some pictures from the uncomfortable event.

Look Who Lives In Our House

The other night I was outside with the dogs and I always head for our little bird house to see if anyone is home. This little guy was just sitting in the house poking his head out...

He usually comes home around dusk and just sits in front of his window...TOO CUTE!!!

New Blog

I have wanted to do this project for a very long time but never have. I have started writing about life. If you are interested here is the link....http://thewayiveseenlife.blogspot.com/