James almost didn’t pass 2nd grade. Summer school took up the month of June. Then we spent our summer “Daycation” in Brenham at the Blue Bell Ice Cream Creamery and Washington on the Brazos. It was pleasant and made the boys super tired (score!). We bought an above ground pool despite some negative reviews we received. It happened to be the best thing we could have done for one of the driest and hottest summers ever. We spent almost every day in the pool. The children turned brown. Good times.

I found out that I can make 3D cakes. Who knew? It’s fun and challenging….perfect for me. I started back to work at my old job. I’m happy to spend time around other women my age. John’s job is drama as usual. We are all grateful that he has his job regardless.  John and I celebrated our 10 year wedding anniversary.  It was a lovely trip to Fredericksburg for just us two.  We enjoyed the cabin and the area.  I can’t wait to go back.

The holidays came and went pretty quick as well. The boys had fun with their costumes. James got to be two things. Merlin for school and a zombie Slash for trick or treating. Tommy was Where’s Waldo. They were cute. Thanksgiving….ate. Christmas made me realize that I have too much stuff. So breakdown involved reorganizing. We got to spend NYE in Downtown Houston. We enjoyed it so much. There was so much going on at Discovery Green like art cars, Arc Attack show, artists, lights, music, ice skating, and so much more. What an awesome way to end 2010.

Now, here we are at the end of January 2011 and we have started to clean out and redesign the garage. It neverends for us…

Spring break is upon us and my current job is to entertain the most bored child in the entire world. Nothing satisfies him what so ever. I have concluded that we have wasted our time and money buying toys and games at his request because they obviously hold no interest to him. What isn’t helping right now is the fact that he has pretty bad allergies to tree and grass pollens so I have him indoors while he recoups. His lack of interest for things in the house is causing us both to plunge into an exasperated disposition. Speaking of the most bored child in the world…eh-hem…universe, an issue with a very loose and bleeding tooth injected a bit of excitement and fury into our day. After tackling and crying and bleeding and screaming, I exhaustingly retrieved a nice little purchasable relic for the tooth fairy.

Oh look! He found the play dough! Sweet!

We’ve come a bit closer to completing the office. The built in from the kitchen has been successfully modified and placed in its new forever home. We’ll soon paint it white to match the décor and theme for the office. In keeping with the affirmed “year of construction 2009”, the kitchen looks dreadful. It is a mess. I am certain we are about to embark upon a most challenging kitchen remodel. As we removed the built in desk and wall cabinet from the kitchen, we discovered that the only form of security holding it to the wall were a series of a hundred or so brad nails. I kid you not; brad nails. John simply pulled the cabinet off the wall with just a smidge of effort. We were flabbergasted. Our thoughts and eyes shot immediately to the rest of our so called ‘custom’ cabinetry in the kitchen. Now all I fear is one day one of my kids will try to climb up as the cabinets give way followed by unimaginable consequences. I can’t stand the thought. We will remedy this as soon as we can.

Where is my lucky four leaf clover or pot of gold at the end of a rainbow? Perhaps a St. Patty’s Day miracle would be perfect right about now.

I am a lucky girl, no doubt. I have a husband who can do this kind of thing; rather, I have a husband who is not afraid to give it a go. He seems to be pretty good at facing these inflowing challenges; whether they are by choice or by some unfortunate and unexpected event started by a decadent force whose motivation is to mock our weariness and financial shortcomings. My only desire is that we wouldn’t make it so easy for this force to succeed.
What doesn’t kill us makes us stronger. Those little hiccups we survive day in and day out build up our immunity to the more difficult trials approaching. Yes, undoubtedly they will come and some with a vengeance. So I’ll sip my Hairclip Coffee Surprise, forth knowing that this, too, shall pass.

 Since we were at the imaging center I went ahead and requested images of my abdomen/pelvis be performed as well. Last month I underwent camera endoscopy. The procedure is to swallow a pill about the size of a small grape tomato that contains a tiny camera. As it travels through the digestive tract it takes pictures giving doctors a view to the places they would not normally see. It is a great tool in diagnosing Crohn’s disease of the small bowel. Undoubtedly, the pill I swallowed has lodged itself near my stoma. Not the outcome I had hoped for. The term JamCam comes to mind. The only way to get it out at this point is surgery. I’m not looking forward to that.

Oh why not? Let’s get the family x-ray portrait package! John has had issues with his finger to the point he felt it could be broken. His x-ray revealed nothing. Much to his disappointment, we believe arthritic symptoms are what is causing his finger/hand/grip troubles.

Tommy didn’t have any pictures taken that night, but his presence in the clinic did not go unobserved. In order for him to leave James alone long enough to finish homework while in the waiting room, I occupied him with his own pencil and paper. It worked for about 62 seconds. Luckily the waiting room was not full and only 2 other waiting room inhabitants could witness a sudden wrath of engaged scamper resembling an escaped bouncy ball hitting every wall, floor, and stationary object in its path. There was no explanation for it and I chose to just let it be. We were about to be contained in a tiny exam room not intended for a family of four. I chose my battle wisely…

Splint in place, homework finished, John’s finger problem unsolved, my stuck camera found, Tommy along for the ride, dinner in the car, and a skipped bath put kids in bed by 9:15pm and John and I in a vortex of insane. What a night!

Our year has started off pretty well as a family.  James had struggled in reading, but has since started to turn things around.  He simply had to convince himself that school is his life and there’s nothing he could do to get out of that.  He has lost four teeth to date.  He is immensely amused by this life event.  Once, the tooth fairy happened to ‘forget’ to put the dollar into his tooth pillow.  Thankfully we ‘found’ it on the floor beside his bed.  What a silly fairy.  Tommy has finally decided he can talk.  What language it started out with we are unsure, but now he’s coming around to English.  However, I’m pretty much the only person who can translate his babble.  He is fluent with words such as ‘no, yea, and butt’, plus one sentence we hear all too often; ‘I broke it’.  One thing that remains a mystery is why he insists on calling me ‘Mop’. 

The Kfam has declared 2009 as the year of construction.  In addition to that we have declared February as the month of ‘destruction’.  The ongoing effort to customize our home revealed the following.

(Gumption + Whim) – (Manpower/Time) x $$$ = “WHAT WERE WE THINKING?” 

Our house isn’t very old, yet it screams for updating and a functionality reform.  On the surface, we have a pretty nice looking kitchen.  Unfortunately, it has user capability issues.  We often play ring around the island just to navigate through.  It’s impossible for more than one person to be in there working comfortably.  I can’t tell you how many arguments have started simply because John and I tried to share kitchen space.  Kitchens are supposed to be the heart of the home but ours deems to be the marriage destroyer.  When John is home, I avoid the kitchen as much as possible.  It’s for the best.

Three goals for 2009 are:  1) take a ‘real’ family photo 2) complete two rooms which do not include major construction 3) diet…again

Happy Birthday to my dad (aka Pop) who turns 54 today!